There are so many little things that go into blogging. You write and photograph a post – but the work has just begun. Then comes SEO, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, G+, and Pinterest. Here are some tips to getting the little parts of blogging right.
Things to do as you write your blog post:
1. Use an SEO plug in. I use Yoast for WordPress. Yoast evaluates your how SEO friendly your post here. Generally, it works like this: You pick a key word. If my post is about buffalo cauliflower, the key word would be “buffalo cauliflower”. Then Yoast checks to make sure that keyword appears in the posts title, URL, copy, and photo descriptions. You can also write your own meta description for the post. The meta description is snippet preview that appears in search engine. A good meta description convinces people to click the link to visit your site.
2. If you are sharing a recipe, use a plug in like Easy Recipe. This organizes your recipe, but most importantly, it enriches Pinterest Pins.
3. Include at least one vertical image in each blog post. Pinterest likes vertical images.
4. Enter your Alt Text. This is more important than you might think. Your Alt Text is what Pinterest grabs as the default description of your pin. At the very least type in the name of the recipe and your website. Or opt to write 1-2 sentences about the recipe.
Things to do to promote your blog post.
1. Post a links to the post on G+, Twitter, and Facebook.
2. Pin the post to Pinterest.
You might be thinking that this an overwhelming amount of things to do, and that you don’t have the time. If you are going to put the effort into writing the post, you need to be promoting it properly. These little steps go a long way towards increasing your site’s traffic.
It’s equally important for your site to be eye catching. Here are some tips for that:
1. People love gifs and videos.
2. Step by step photos for recipes and DIYs are a big hit.
3. Ads are usually a necessity, but don’t let them clutter your site.
4. Don’t repost similar images within blog posts.
5. Try to keep your sidebar as clean as you can.
Do you have any more tips? Share them in the comments!
Kit Graham is the writer behind The Kittchen, a WCBC founder, who is desperately trying to convince her husband that she needs a puppy.