Category: Blogging

Blogging is awesome for your Search Engine Rankings!

Blogging is a great way to get your message out there online and if you can get your blog designed by a qualified team, combine it with unique & well-written content, then your online rankings will be soar.

Blogging is now considered a huge factor when it comes to digital marketing. Known as content marketing, regular updates to your blog will keep the search engines interested and in turn will boost your overall rankings MASSIVELY! According to HubSpot: Blogging is such a scalable and affordable approach that it’s the third-most-common content marketing strategy for businesses. And, marketers that prioritize blogging see 13-times the ROI of businesses that don’t. 

Hopping Mad Designs can help with all of this. We are able to design your company blog – help you with writing and publishing great content and integrate this with your social media – it’s an all-around package, fully intended to generate A LOT of interest and traffic to your website.

What is a Blog?

A blog allows you to publish your own content or message online. There are many types of blogs but the most common ones sit on your website as an extension of your URL.

The actual word ‘blog’ comes from a combination of web and log.

Blogs, generally allow readers to comment on what you have written and is a great way of communicating and interacting with people of similar interests. This engagement is what differentiates blogs from standard web pages.

Blog Designers in Sydney

Blogging has become such a common practice that having a well-designed blog is essential for making your business stand out. Like a website, you should not be settling for a standard template which unfortunately is common practice. Instead, you should be wanting a graphic design agency preferably in Sydney to design and build you a blog that looks great.

The theme of your blog should be in harmony with the design style of your website so as to avoid confusing your customer base and readers.

Using a studio-like Hopping Mad Designs for your blog design will give it the edge it needs PLUS:

– maintain your brand’s integrity by incorporating your corporate style. Most of the best well know blogs have a certain design edge to them.
– be designed to so people will remember it and be more than happy to return
– targeted to your particular audience
– easy to work out – we use the WordPress platform for blogging, which is super easy to maintain.
– built for easy download speeds
– be extra search engine compatible. Blogging is the new SEO and if done correctly, you should be able to blog about your business all over the internet.

Advantages of Blogging for your business

Blogs are very affordable. Your web designer should include a blog as part of the web design package. But, if you already have a website and need a blog attached, the setup cost is minimal. There are free blogging platforms online, but ideally, you should be getting this professionally done. If you are on a very tight budget, then blogging is a cheap and immediate way to reach your readers.

Blogs are simple to use and understand. Blogs that are integrated into your website can be accessed through your content management system. All you need to do is write the article, and presto, your blog is live for the world to see.
Blogs are a great way to keep your readers informed. By having RSS feeds on your blog, your clients can automatically be alerted when a new blog has been posted.

Search engines love blogs. Dominate your online landscape with fresh new content, that will get indexed regularly by Google. If the content is unique and worth reading, then it will have prominence on page 1. Keeping your blog updated on a regular basis shows the search engines that your blog is active and in turn, they will keep coming around looking for new content.

Ways that Blogs can increase your Business Search Engine Rankings include:

– having tittles that your readers will be searching for.
– put appropriate keywords in the content, but be careful not to overstuff the blog with repetitious keywords.
– include links from your blog to other pages within your website and other social media sites. Google will reward you big time for these actions.

Blogging is a great way to market your business. If you have something new to say or have an important announcement, then a blog is the perfect vehicle for this.

Users coming to your site can access this new information simply by heading to your blog page. It keeps your business relevant.

Other Reasons Why Blogs are So Popular

> You are the master of your domain. You can publish content whenever you like and target any market you want.
> You can engage with like-minded people, who will appreciate your input and commentary.
> you can access news as it happens. It’s very immediate and blogs can easily be linked to social media platforms for greater reach.
> Blogs have become the new magazines and newspapers for some people.

Who Reads Blogs?

Blogs are read by everyone. They have become quite fashionable and user uptake and blog readership is skyrocketing. Blogs have no specific audience, age barriers and market. They are used by each and every person who uses the internet.

Why Sydney Businesses Should Be Blogging.

Blogs in the past, have been used by travel writers, authors and other educational institutions and have generally been ignored by the business community.

It is only recently that businesses in Sydney have begun to understand the power of blogging and its full potential.

Over the past 24 months, we have seen a huge shift in businesses attitudes towards blogs and blogging in general.

As blogs are so easy to use and because of their popularity with search engines, corporate business blogging is now massive. In fact, some companies will have a team of bloggers and copywriters working for them writing content and articles on a regular basis.

Having something published by a newspaper or magazine is now very ‘old school’. Blogging circumvents this whole outdated process with the click of a mouse.

Some Useful Tips to Successful Blog Writing

> Know your audience and write for them. Your business is probably in a niche market, so your blogs should cater specifically for this.
> Write unique content. This may be difficult in some cases, but if you can write blog copy that covers your area of expertise in your style, then, you will get a wider audience.
> Try to blog at least twice a week. Again, this may prove difficult, but if you are time poor then you may like to contract this out to a web copywriting team who can do this on your behalf.
> Don’t worry if the comments you get back are negative. This is an opportunity to engage with the public and repair any damage. If you are sincere in your replies, in most cases you will win over new customers.
> Make sure you post your blogs on Google +, LinkedIn and Twitter. Search engines look for new content and these links will trigger this search.
> Never hard sell with your blog posts. Over time, and through gaining trust,  your audience will buy from you. Blogging is all about informing, not hard selling.

So, Where Do I Get My Blog Ideas From?

This is a good question as finding interesting blog topics can prove difficult. But, if you think about it and look carefully blog topics can emerge from many places, including:
> Your customers. See what interests them and write blogs about it. Perhaps even encourage them to write a guest blog about their business and publish it. This may sound odd, but believe me, most people will jump at this promotional opportunity.
> Look at what your competitors are blogging about and see if there is a common theme. If you read something you like, then you too can blog about the same topic as well.
> Share real-life working experiences you have. If you are in business, then write about parts of your business that you like/don’t like. Anything of interest is fair game. Even go behind the scenes of your company and share them with your blog followers. Add pictures and video for real effect.
> Blog about something current. Perhaps a news item that is relevant for your audience. A great example would be a home loan broker blogging about the latest interest rate cuts.
> Speak to professional content experts who can create an editorial calendar for the year.
> Conduct an interview with a contractor, supplier, staff member, family member or even a friendly business rival.

How Long Should a Blog Article Be?

Some blogs can be short and snappy, whilst others can be many thousands of words. Blogs are generally tailored to the audience and will therefore vary in content size.

Basically, enough to keep the readers interested. Developing a blog relationship with your readers takes time and loads of effort, but if you are able to keep them reading your blog, engaging them through online dialogue, then you will over time work out the best blog length for your business.

Writing blogs is so important nowadays especially if you want your business to be known as an industry leader.

Plus Google absolutely loves new content on your website, which is essential for SEO and your rankings.

The issue, however, is that many people do not know how to write effective blogs for their website and simply put it in the too-hard basket. Many people simply do not yet understand that blogging is a powerful business tool. Those that don’t are left behind. Those that embrace it see the fruits of their efforts very quickly.

Following are some really helpful tips to get your first blog off and running.

Follow these are you will become a master at content marketing which is one of the best things you can be doing in the online digital space for your business.

# 1. Never copy anyone else blogs, articles, press releases or web pages. Sure you can use snippets of information as a reference from other sites, but never ever plagiarise from another source. Google will pick this up instantly and it will simply not rank your blog. Essentially, a complete waste of time and effort on your behalf. The golden rule here is to keep all content: informative, fresh, unique and interesting.

# 2. Do not copy and paste someone else articles and change important key variables within the content such as places, dates, names, prices, products and other core keywords. Google again is far too smart for this and will pick up on this type of ‘grey area’ plagiarism.

# 3. Think about the title of your blog and make sure it’s very relevant to the article. I know this may sound like a no-brainer but a lot of people will not think about the title and how it relates to the blog. For the sake of a good example of a well-written title, see what I have done for this blog. It’s relevant as well as eye-catching. Basically, the perfect title. Check out what Hubspot has to say about writing creative titles here at 13 Types of Blog Headlines That’ll Get You More Traffic [+ Examples]

# 4. Write anywhere between 500 & 2500 words. I see a lot of blogs that are just a few paragraphs which simply does not cut it. If you intend your article to be informative, there must be some substance to it.

# 5. Never write for the search engines, instead write for your audience. Repetitive use of core ‘money keywords’ in the hope of attaining better Google rankings will not work. This used to work many years ago and was a favourite ploy among many SEO agencies. Times have changed, Google has quickly woken up to this and will penalise blogs that are crammed with keywords. For example, for a 750-word blog, your main keyword should appear only 3-4 times at most. I know this may be hard but you really have to be aware of being repetitive.

# 6. Use synonyms when describing your main service or offering. Rather than saying ‘web design in Sydney’ perhaps writes ‘website agency in Sydney CBD’ or instead of ‘SEO company’ write ‘  Search engine optimisation agency’. Remember to try to not be so repetitive. Not only wilt make your blog more interesting but Google will reward you for this due to the fact that you have made the effort to try to write something ‘meaty’ for your online viewers.

# 7. Don’t write chunks of text all bundled together. Break lengthy blogs up into paragraphs that make the reading more digestible.

# 8. Start each main paragraph with a short descriptive header that highlights what the next couple of hundred words are about. This will make it a lot easier for the reader to quickly scan the page and go directly to areas that interest them. Make sure that the heading has an H1 or H2 tag – this is easily done if you are using a WordPress blog. You might need some help with this but just Google what I’ve said and there should be enough information about this to guide you.

# 9. Be certain to mention your main core keywords in the first paragraph. Never waffle of too much in the begging without noting them. Readers will want to see this and so will the search engines.

# 10. Try to use point form wherever possible. Note this particular blog and how easy it is to read down the list. People love point form when reading. Perhaps even try to indent these main points or even highlight them with some bold text.

# 11. Try to link between blog articles. If there is a relationship between your blog content and another page within your site link them through an active hyperlink. Only do 1-2 links per site. The benefit of linking is strictly for SEO purposes. If this sounds difficult and you feel as though you might need some help with this, you will probably need to call a digital agency like us at Hopping Mad Designs. Yoast elaborates this by explaining that before your content can rank, it needs links. Google finds your posts and pages best when they’re linked to from somewhere on the web. Internal links also connect your content and give Google an idea of the structure of your website.

# 12. Try to break the copy up with a few relevant images. You can buy these from the many online photo libraries if you don’t have any. Use on 1-2 images and keep them low res ( about 72dpi). also, name the images using Alt Tags and make sure they are relevant to the article.

# 13. Don’t be amateurish when it comes to blog writing. Don’t think for 1 moment that you can write a weak article just for the sake of getting it up there. If your going to do this exercise and want to see the benefits it can create for your business you have to be very proactive with your blogging or content marketing. Also, make sure you do 1 per month as this keeps your site fresh with new information. The search engines do like this.

# 14. Lastly, make sure you add a call to action to your blog. For example, in the end, you might want to add: ‘call us now for a free quote’ or ‘ like us on Facebook’ etc. Make sure you do not repeat the same call to action on each blog. Vary it up a bit.

Hope this all makes sense but content writing, if done properly can add an enormous amount of value to your brand, business, product or service. It may seem like a hard task, to begin with, but once you start this you might surprise yourself and find that you actually like it.

Blog your way to the top of Google and dominate your niche

Businesses will swear blindly that blogging is helping them attract customers.

They have been able to write informative articles which their customer base has found useful and in turn, are attracting a loyal client base that keeps on coming back to the website for a good read.

Blogging works.

It’s as simple as that and if you are a business that relies on its website for lead generation and sales, then blogging should be a key component of your marketing mix. If you do not have a blog on your website, get one and do it fast. If you have a blog that’s been lying dormant for months or worse never been used, then you should start posting as soon a possible.

Having a blog on your website is such a great marketing tool. It instantly connects you with your audience and if you blog often enough you will by the very nature of blogging start to dominate your niche.

Related article: 14 Tips for Writing Killer Blogs for your Business

Having said that, what are the next steps and what are the advantages of blogging for your business?

Provide readers with current information

If you are able to provide your readers with current, topical information they will keep on coming back to your site for more juicy bits of relevant news. It’s a way of neatly establishing your website as a ‘go to’ resource for information they need. Relevance is the key so make sure your articles are up to date and on topic. Over time as you gain confidence writing and you begin to get more inquires from your site, you will become more of an authoritative in your field. People, customers and clients will reference your site and your customer base should grow organically. This is the power of blogging and this is the main reason you should be actively doing this weekly.

Blogs are great traffic generators

If you want to bring in new business then SEO and Google are a great way to get to the top of the rankings. But, Blogs also have their place as they are able to rank organically without any SEO. Sure you might not be targeting really competitive keywords, but if you blog enough you will start to see traffic and sales inquiries increase. Blogs mean that you do not have to rely purely on SEO.

Blog adds personality

People want that bit extra. Before they buy or engage with you they may read what you have to say on your blog. If it is written with a bit of personality or flair then the chances of it engaging the audience are far greater. In the online world, you must have a point of difference. You need to set yourself apart, offer something different and a blog is a perfect platform that allows you to express your opinions, views or thoughts. The more colour and life you can add to your blog, the more it will resonate with the reader and this is the ideal situation. Glam it up, add some spice, have strong opinions and watch your engagement peak.

Promote yourself as a serious market leader?

Your business blog is a great platform to sell yourself even further. If for example, you have a legal practice and you blog about an area of law you specialise in. Why not finish the blog off with a paragraph on why your business is the best in this area of law and why the reader should use you. Obviously, you do not want to do this for very blog. But try to find some space within your article where you can give your company a bit of a plug.

For those that have never written a blog before here are some pointers to get you started in the right direction.

• Write for your audience? There is no point in being too clinical with your blogs if it’s just going to bore the pants off your readers. You want them to be engaged, excited and interested in what they are reading. Also Read: How to Write a Blog Post: A Step-by-Step Guide [+ Free Blog Post Templates]
• Keep the tone friendly and keep it in line with your brand. Your tone or style shouldn’t be aimed at the younger market if you have a conservative audience base.
• Make your headline attention-grabbing. This is what people are going to read and this is what will draw their attention. Catchy titles will get their eye.
• – Have fun and don’t treat it as a chore or else you won’t be able to sustain the process. Remember it’s your business so everything your write will be beneficial to you if it gets more business. If you have fun and make the writing process enjoyable you will see the benefits.
• Don’t repeat the same titles of your blogs in the hope that they will help with your main keywords getting on page 1 of Google. Far too many businesses will blog about their main service in an attempt to further enhance their rankings. This is spammy and will work against you. Keep the blogs real and keep them natural. This is really the best advice I can offer from a person who does this regularly. Moz tells us that the goal of the headline is to stop readers cold and draw them into your post. You can’t do that if you use cute, clever or confusing headlines.

What’s next – how do I start blogging?

If you have an open-source CMS such as WordPress your blog should be easy to set up. If you are keen to get the process going and want to capture new clients, get in touch with us here at Hopping mad designs and we will help you set up your blog and even provide some help with your first few articles.

Following are some great ideas to help you start writing better blogs that your clients, customers and blog followers will absolutely love.

Why Do Google love bloggers?

Writing blog articles can be an extremely difficult task and to add to that making Google love and rank your blog is even harder!

One of the best things that you can do for your website is to publish a blog post. This is because blogging is great for your search engine optimisation, web traffic and establishing your business as an authority in its field.

Why is Blogging Great for SEO?

A blog makes your website larger by increasing the number of pages. Each individual page is able to target a set of what is termed ‘ long tail keywords’. The more and varied blog posts you can write, the more keywords can be targeted. And this will ultimately lead to more web traffic. Ideally, you can write a blog and have it ranking within a couple of weeks. Google absolutely loves new content, and blog writing is the best way to get Google to keep coming back and indexing your website. The more you can dominate your niche with great, informative copy the more people will have eyeballs on your website and in turn more web traffic. It’s a simple rule; create copy and generate traffic.

A must for all blog posts is to have a set of social media links somewhere on the page. The idea is that people who read your post are able to share it with friends, the family who might also find it interesting. It may be as simple as a blog post about a recent cooking recipe but if it is shared and ‘liked’ on the social media platforms, then this will also result in Google loving the blog.

Can Bloggers Forget About Google?

Some businesses that blog strictly for SEO purposes are happy enough to just have their article rank and are not concerned about what the audience thinks. As long as they are up there, then that’s good enough. Well this might be fine for some people but for me and I’m sure many more out there, this is not what blogging is about. Blogging should be more about entertaining and informing your audience, even spicing their day up with juicy articles that make for good reading. That is what it is all about and if you write for your audience, you will be rewarded.

10 Tips For Writing Blog Content That Your Customers Will Love.

1) Who is your reader and write accordingly.

Write for your specific audience – cater to their needs and write blogs that will interest them. Try to avoid being over generic. Covering all industries and sectors in 1 article will alienate your readers.

2) Understand your market.

Write at their level. Just because you may be an authority in your field, does not mean you have to be over professional or condescending in your tone. Try to keep it light if the occasion calls for it. On the other hand, if you need to be technical in your writing style, then do so. But make sure that this one blog is for that particular segment of your audience. HubSpot tells us to keep your buyer personas, motivations, challenges, and interests in mind. It’s also important to choose topics that will resonate with your potential customers and address their pain points.

3) Kill them with kindness.

Be certain to address all your audience concerns or questions they may have. Be sure to answer to the best of your ability and if unclear, refer them to another site. Whether it’s money, finance, health, well being, housing or travel, make sure that the interaction you have with your readers is open and honest and overly polite – they will remember you and pass your details on. This is a great way to foster, nurture and grow a new client base.

4) Invigorate your posts.

Keep your blog posts upbeat and engaging. If it starts to get boring, and you feel like you are losing interest, have a break and continue writing later. Maybe add a video in the blog to keep people on the page, more informed and more excited about the topic.

5) Keep the language simple.

Obviously, this will help users read the blog. Overcomplicated grammar will just annoy the user.

6) Don’t forget about headings and subheadings. Users like to browse the post and skip to points of interest. Make their reading experience easier with bold headings combined with bullet points that allow for easy scanning.

7) Be topic-specific.

Each heading should be about 1 subject. Never deviate from this or merge topics within a bold heading.

8) Use links on your blog.

Link internally to other relevant blog articles ( and in this case write effective SEO blog articles ) you may have written, or link to external pieces of interest.

9) Think about writing amazing, eye-catching headlines.

This will encourage sharing, more reading and like all good blog posts, a better ranking on Google. For SEO purposes, think about having your main targeted keywords in:

– Two to three sub-headlines;
– In your opening statement plus every one to two hundred words. However never overkill this part of the blog, even though it may be very tempting. You want your blog to sound natural, not sterile and clinical. Your readers will soon pick up on keyword stuffing for SEO purposes and abandon you very quickly. Optinmonster tells us that Your headline will determine whether or not someone reads your blog post, becomes a subscriber, or purchases your product. That’s why you need to put a significant amount of focus on crafting better headlines.

10) If you are passionate and knowledgeable about a topic, then go for it.

Write from the heart and not for the search engines.

If you write for your audience will that blog post be SEO friendly?

In simple terms, the answer is a definite yes!

A blog post written for your audience will always be SEO friendly and if you follow the above 10 points, you will be well on your way to getting your post ranked and hopefully more potential customers.