Blogging is important for search engine optimization (SEO). As I noted in another post, blogs deepen the content base on your site and enhance your credentials as an expert on a given topic. The more you cover a subject – and other topics related to it – the more you prove your authority to search engines, which helps you rank higher.
As SEO expert Nikki Pilkington states in, you guessed it, a blog post: “A well-written blog post proves you know your stuff, keeps you in [a customer’s] mind for when they do need your services, and ranks on Google for years bringing in traffic without you doing anything.”
The key is consistency and targeting the right keywords and topics.
Consistency does not necessarily mean high frequency. One well-written, comprehensive post per month is perfectly fine. (Keyword research is a whole other subject and something you should do before you start writing blog posts. For more information on keywords, I refer again to Ms. Pilkington and her post about the types of keyword phrases to use and how to find them.)
How Much Time is Involved in Blogging?
This is where things get tricky, especially for smaller businesses that cannot afford a full-time marketing person. Once you have a list of keywords, you have to find time not only for the blog post, but all of the additional elements associated with it. As you can see below in my anatomy of a blog post, there are many tasks involved and the time required can really add up.
- TIP: It’s okay to ask for help. Freelance writers like me work on an as-needed basis to provide content for blogs and websites. Learn more in my post about what freelance writers do or contact me to talk about blog writing.
Anatomy of a Blog Post
To help you gauge the time you need for blogging, here is a breakdown of the various steps involved in creating a post.
Idea
Coming up with an idea is just the start. Once you have the idea, you have to expand on it. Search engines look for depth when assessing the quality of a piece of writing. When I first started working in search engine marketing many years ago, the suggested minimum word count for a post was about 300 words. Now the recommended minimum seems to land somewhere around 500 words. But it has to be focused content; you can’t just add a bunch of meaningless filler to reach a word count. It’s a delicate balance between providing length and maintaining value in your message.
Research
If you are writing about industry trends or citing facts related to your business, you need to conduct some level of research, being sure that you have recent information from credible sources. And keep track of all sources so you can cite them in your post.
Outline
Once you have a topic and relevant research, you need to create an outline for the post, building in subheadings to break up text. At this stage, you should also consider the categories and tags you will use for the post.
Writing
With your outline in hand, you can begin the writing process. Start with a total brain dump on the topic, then revise as needed. Take a break between writing sessions so you can approach the post with fresh eyes. You should also use this time to write an SEO title and meta description for your post. (See Above the Fold for more information on titles and descriptions.)
Editing
Once you have completed the post, take a break then edit line by line to catch any awkward phrasing or typos. After an initial edit, I always recommend leaving a post for a few hours, or a day if possible, then coming back to do a final proofread. (Please do not skip the editing step. Even the most experienced writers make mistakes and a post with errors will reflect poorly on your business.)
Images
Depending on your blog format, you may need to find a featured image. It can take a while to find a picture that feels right, so be sure to allow adequate time. (To keep costs down, you can check free sites like Unsplash or Pexels.)
Promotion
If you plan to share your post on social media, you should also write one or more short, crisp summaries of the topic that will work on the various platforms you use.
A Full Day for One Post?
Depending on your knowledge of a topic and how fast you write, and factoring in time for non-writing tasks like keyword research and the others mentioned above, you might find you need a full day to complete a blog post.
If this sounds like more than you can spare, you can always consider outsourcing your blogging. The cost is probably lower than you think and pays dividends in time saved. To learn more about how freelance blog writing can work for you, drop me a line.
Photo of typewriter by Sümeyye Başbil on Pexels.