8 Blog Post Hacks

Today I’m going to provide a list of blog post hacks that will help you attract and convert visitors from search engines.

Use this list to go from simply writing a blog post to creating a content experience:

1. Link to other articles.
   Internal links from one blog post to another can be incredibly useful to the searcher, which means search engines love them. Links to other relevant articles indicate that you cover a topic really well and if the searcher lands on your blog post they are more likely to find what they need even if it’s not on the page they landed on.
2. Provide author context.
   Provide credit to the person that wrote the article and link to their bio, LinkedIn, etc. Even if this was written by a vendor, like Avalanche, you can put something about how it was approved by an expert on your team and link to their bio page. Author context builds trust with readers and search engines.
3. Add relevant CTAs.
   Don’t just add a “Sign up for our newsletter” call to action on every blog post. Add a call to action that’s relevant to the content on every blog post. That will turn visitors into new contacts/leads. Your CTAs should also match the desire of the reader. Not all CTAs should be “give me your contact information” or “buy this product.“
4. Be skimmable.
   Writing for the internet is different than writing for a book or your mid-term paper. It often needs to be short, choppy, copy. Big walls of text are overwhelming. The vast majority of readers are going to skim through your blog post so make it easier for them to do so!
5. Create a TL;DR summary.
   Add a summary or “Too Long; Didn’t Read” section for long blog posts. Break down what the key takeaways of the blog post are. This may provide some users with everything they need. For other users, it convinces them to stick around and read more.
6. Add a video.
   A lot of people prefer to consume content by watching something. Pair your blog posts with a video on the same topic and you’ll get more engagement both in search engines and on your website.
7. Add more images.
   Don’t just put a featured image on the blog post. If images can help tell the story or better communicate the points you’re trying to make in any given article, add them!
8. Create a table of contents.
   For long blog posts, add a table of contents to the top of the article so people can easily navigate the subtopics/headings of the blog post.