seo Archives - Jessica Goddard

You need a blog.

I’ve heard it over and over. I’ve even said those words to fellow business owners, but it took almost a decade in business before I finally found a way to make it happen.

I’ve always struggled with writing content for my business. I have beautiful, eloquently formed ideas swirling around in my head…until I sit down to write. Then, my mind goes blank, just like the screen I not-so-lovingly call the “White Screen of Panic.”

Blog anxiety is real, but I’ve figured out a way to overcome. Like most things in my life, a methodical approach has been my ticket to success.

With a documented process and the right tools, I’ve managed to find my blogging stride. Today I’m going to share it all with you, in hopes that you can also find your mojo.

Start with a Sprint

Whenever I thought about starting a blog a few questions popped into my head.

What should my first post be!?

What if I don’t keep up with it?

What if it’s just really bad?

To alleviate this pressure I decided I needed to start hard and fast – with a sprint. For three weeks I wrote a blog post every weekday.

Instead of feeling like I had one first blog post, I had several (of varying topics)! I scheduled the posts to be published the week after I wrote them so that I’d have a buffer in case something came up that kept me from writing one day.

As for the quality of those first posts? Not my best work, but the beautiful thing about blog posts is I can go back and improve the shabby ones (which I’m currently doing).

After writing every day for three weeks I took a step back and started writing three blog posts every Monday. Now, I’m writing one blog post per week so I can focus on marketing as well.

Trello for Blog Process Management

I manage my blog process, from idea to completion, in Trello.

My first list is the dumping ground for all of my ideas. I color code them based on topic (or blog category) to make sure I have a good mix.

Beside the Ideas list I have one called Up Next. I move cards from the Ideas list to here when I’m feeling inspired by the topic. (I have a lot of ideas so it can get pretty overwhelming.)

Cards in the Ideas and Up Next lists will often have preliminary outlines (checklists), notes, links to resources, etc. to help expedite the blog writing process when it’s time.

As I go through the writing, pre-publishing, and publishing process I move the cards through the different lists (Outlines, Drafts, Graphics and Scheduling, Promoting, Done) to keep track of where I am with each post. Often I’m only working on one or two at a time so it’s pretty easy to manage, but I like the visual reward of moving the post across to the various lists.

Posts in the Done column include due dates (the date the blog post was scheduled for publishing) and images (to quickly see what I’ve posted recently.

Google Docs for Blog Outlining and Writing

Remember that “White Screen of Panic” I mentioned at the beginning? Well, this is where overcoming that reaction comes in.

To make sure I never start with a plain white screen I’ve created a blog template that I use for every post.

At the top of the post, I include a list of all of the SEO and marketing data I will need. This includes:

A keyword
Page description
Text for the featured image
Alt text for the image (also used as the default Pinterest description)
Content upgrade to be used
Copy for social media posts

Having all of the SEO and marketing data figured out makes pre-publishing a breeze. (Need a little help understanding the SEO terms above? Check out this post on simplified SEO.)

I also include a simple checklist of things I’d like to include in each blog post:

Click-to-tweet quote
Formatting (bold, italic, etc.)
Link(s) to internal page(s)
Link(s) to external page(s)

When I first started writing blog posts I would just “wing it” and write the whole thing at once. Now I create outlines first because I’ve discovered it makes the actual writing process go so much smoother and results in much more cohesive posts.

In my blog template, I include a starter outline. It reminds me to include an introduction (hook the reader), a body with 3-5 main points, and a conclusion with a call-to-action.

Typically I write my outline a day or more before writing the post because I like to marinate on the topic. Despite best practices, I only write one draft, editing and formatting as I go. (I don’t recommend this…but, you know.)

Migrate Blog Posts with Ease

So, maybe I’m late to the game, but I just discovered that there is an amazing Google Docs add-on that moves blog posts to WordPress WITH FORMATTING.

Do you realize how huge this is? Before I would apply formatting in Google Docs then migrate and either clean up the messy HTML or paste as plain text and reformat. Now it’s one click and I’m set!

To use the add-on you have to install Jetpack on your website and install a Chrome extension. (Note: I know that Jetpack isn’t the most loved plugin by WordPress developers, but I haven’t had any negative effects since I started using it.)

Don’t use Chrome or don’t want to use Jetpack? There is at least one other plugin that allows you to do it easily, but I haven’t tried it.

Final Blog Prep in WordPress

Once my blog post has been migrated to WordPress it’s time for final pre-publishing preparations.

First, I set the date for when I’d like the post to be published. If I don’t do this first I will inevitably end up publishing the post immediately instead of scheduling it. Next, I select a category for the post, specify tags, and upload a featured image.

Moving back to the post itself I insert the post image and set the alt text. I use the Grammarly extension for Chrome to check for any grammar and spelling mistakes that Google Docs missed and set up my click-to-tweet phrases with the Better Click to Tweet plugin.

Moving my attention to SEO, I insert my keyword and description using the Yoast SEO plugin. Yoast then lets me know how SEO friendly my post is and I make any edits that I deem necessary.

Finally, I prep my social media posts that will be published when the blog post is published using the Social Networks Auto-Poster (SNAP) plugin and schedule my Instagram post using Later.

Wrapping Up

[bctt tweet=”A lot goes on behind-the-scenes of every blog post.” username=”jess_creates”]

My process has changed significantly since I started, and I’m sure I will continue to refine my process and template.

Following these steps has allowed me to focus more on social media and SEO than I was able to previously.

Want to snag a copy of my Trello board and Google Docs template?

Are you totally overwhelmed by the idea of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? It may seem like some big scary concept that you will never grasp, but I’m going to try to simplify it a little big for you and provide some tips for preparing your content.

What is SEO?

First, let’s dispel a couple assumptions you may have.

There aren’t any SEO tricks that will get you on the first page of Google. Getting on the first page of Google involves lots of quality, targeted content (which we’ll discuss) and a diverse marketing plan.
SEO does not involve paying for ads (that would be the SEO’s sister, SEM [Search Engine Marketing]). That’s right – SEO is totally free!

[bctt tweet=”#SEO is the act of preparing content to be read and indexed by search engines.” username=”jess_creates”]

As powerful as search engines are, they are only capable of reading the data you provide for them. They cannot “see” images and their assumptions about what your content is about may (or may not) be accurate.

So, you have to make sure you are providing the data search engines need to fully understand who you are, what you do, and what you’re trying to say.

You are probably already implementing SEO without even knowing it. Following are some key elements to make sure you’re including in every page or blog post that you create.

Essential SEO Elements

Keyword(s)

Gone are the days that you can fill your page with keywords and easily rank at the top of the search results, but that doesn’t mean they are no longer important.

Instead of worrying about the SEO impact of your keyword(s), think of them simply as the subject for your content.

Specifying a keyword (or two) for your page or post may have little effect on your search engine ranking, but it will have a huge impact on the way you prepare your content. Use keywords naturally as you write to keep yourself, your readers, and search engines aware of the overarching topic.

Page Title

Not to stress you out, but your page title is one of the most important aspects of your content. Page titles are one of the best ways to tell search engines and readers alike what your content is going to be about.

A good page title should include your keyword(s), an honest representation of what the page is about, and be attention-grabbing.

Page Description

Page descriptions have little to no impact on your search engine ranking, but they are still a very important piece of SEO.

Looking at a search results page, the most prominent components are page titles and descriptions. The page title is probably what you look at first, then skim the description to decide if the page is worth visiting.

Typically, if you don’t specify a page description the search engine will pull the first couple sentences from your content. Depending on how you write this may be OK, but I prefer to have more control over what someone sees in their search results. I tend to think of my page description as though it were a subtitle – using it to provide more detail about the content while increasing the intrigue.

Headings

Because search engines only know what you tell them, you have to help them understand the order of importance on your page. The best way to do this is through the use of headings.

In most text editors you will have the option to either make your copy a paragraph or heading. Typically you will be given heading number options from 1 to 6.

These heading numbers are important not only from a styling perspective but for SEO. Heading 1 is to be used for the most important topic, followed by heading 2, 3, etc.

A good way to plan your heading usage is to think of an outline. The title of your outline would be heading 1. The first level bullet points would be heading 2. Second level bullet points would be heading 3 and so on.

Under each heading, there will probably be supporting content which typically will be given the “paragraph” property.

Alt Tags

Remember when I said search engines can’t “see” images? Fortunately, there is a way to tell a search engine what your image is about.

Alt (or alternate) tags give search engines a description of the image so they include that data in the analysis of your page.

Most content management systems (WordPress) provide a field for alt text when you insert an image into your content. Try to use your keyword in your alt text if it makes sense, but most importantly provide an accurate description of the image and/or its purpose.

Transcript

With the rise of video comes the increased importance of transcripts. Like images, search engines are unable to decipher the content in a video without a little help from you.

The easiest way to tell a search engine what your video is about is to provide a transcript. Not only will a transcript help search engines, it will be appreciated by people (like me) who prefer to read content and by those who are hearing impaired or are on low bandwidth networks.

It All Comes Back to Content

At the end of the day, everything you put on your website comes down to content.

[bctt tweet=”Your priority should be providing quality content for your dream clients.” username=”jess_creates”]

It doesn’t matter if you’re number one on Google if no one wants to read what you have to say.

One More Tip

If you’re a WordPress user like me, I highly recommend the Yoast SEO plugin. It will help you easily assess your content for keyword usage and provide other useful SEO tips specifically for your content.

May I ask you a quick question?

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Write Effortless Blog Posts Using Trello, Google Docs, and WordPress