4 Ways to Make Better Blog Content [Advanced]

550 million blog posts are posted every year.

These blogs are a mix of personal and business blogs. And though their purpose may be different in nature, both types are after the same thing: attention.

With 47% of buyers viewing 3-5 pieces of content before contacting a business, having up-to-date/informative content on your blog has never been more crucial.

Updating your blog regularly gives you the consistent opportunity to inform, engage and incentivize potential customers.

So how do create better blog content?

In this post, we’ll go through some more advanced tips for companies which are already blogging. These tips will be both for SEO and for content quality (the two are very correlated).

1. Ensure Your Content is the Appropriate Length

According to search metrics, the average word count for top-ranking blog posts was around 1200 words. As a minimum, you’ll want to make sure your content exceeds 350 words so it is crawled/indexed by Google.

By writing longer-form content, it forces the writer to create a more compelling post with more anecdotes, facts, and points made.

1200 words isn’t law, it’s possible to rank well with much shorter and longer posts.

Test out how your audience responds to posts varying in lengths. When looking at results, focus on (i) the amount of traffic the post generated and (ii) amount of social shares it received. Then periodically look back at pieces of content to see how they’re performing at acquiring traffic from search engines. 1 in 10 blog posts has compounding traffic (gets more views over time), most likely from organic search.

2. Make Sure You Have The Proper Keyword Density

When it comes to keyword density, err on the side of caution. Old school SEOs will insert their keyword so often it will hurt your eyes – don’t do this. As a point a reference, make sure your keyword density is well below 2.5%.

Google uses what’s called semantic search, meaning your content doesn’t have to match the user’s search query exactly. Google will crawl your content and find synonyms to gain a further understanding of what your page is about.

Now, for the record, it’s still better to match your page title/headline to exactly what people are searching for. To do this, use Google Webmaster Tools to see what queries are driving people to your specific posts.

I’ll show you an example:

In late October we blogged on Twitter shutting down Vine. Two weeks later, we noticed we were ranking for “RIP Vine meaning,” sitting around the sixth position on Google. In early December, we changed the title from R.I.P. Vine to R.I.P. Vine – What Does it Mean, and the following occurred:

We now rank first for that term, and it generates daily traffic.

3. Make Your Content Easy to Read

This point contains two parts, first aesthetically and second, with word choice (technically).

Aesthetically

When it comes to blog posts, make sure your blog uses an easy to read font and sizes it appropriately. For instance, on this blog we upped the size of our text and increased the space between lines – making it easier to read.

Also, when it comes to writing paragraphs.

Short ones are easier to read.

Even if they are just a sentence or two long.

Technically

Blog content should be easy to understand. Avoid using too much jargon and complex sentences.

When you’re creating content, I recommend two things:

1. Running your content through the Flesh-Kincaid reading ease test. If you’re using WordPress (like this blog), you can download the plugin Yoast, which has this feature along with a bunch of SEO tools.

2. Download Grammarly, it will polish up your writing before you hit publish.

4. Add Media to Posts

Do you have a video or graphic that would go great with a blog post? If so, then you should include within the text. Using media effectively helps give additional context to your audience.

For instance, we filmed a video on how to create better blog content. Check it out below: