Writing is only one step in the process of creating a blog post. Creating a successful blog requires you to optimise your blog post in a way that is not only in tune with what your audience needs but is also SEO-friendly. 

So, what does it take to write an optimised blog post? Here are some of the most important features that you need to keep in mind. 

Keywords 

Once you have finished writing, the first thing you need to do to optimise your blog post is to ensure that you have incorporated your focus keyword in the title, the introduction, in one of the headings, and in the body of your blog (about once in every hundred words). 

Apart from your focus keyword, it’s essential to incorporate semantically related keywords in there as well. One of the easiest ways to do so, if you don’t have a professional tool to help you, is to look at the related searches at the bottom of the Google results page. 

Using keywords will also help search engines determine the relevance of your content to the search query. Be careful though, you don’t want to overuse a keyword (known as ‘keyword stuffing’ in SEO terms), as neither humans nor search engine bots are very fond of them.

Optimise your blog title 

What makes a great blog title? There are two things you need to keep in mind. First, ensure that your blog title is as close as possible to the search query, thereby optimising your blog post to the relevant query.

Secondly, create a title that motivates users to click on the blog post. It doesn’t always have to be click-baity. You can always create a sense of urgency or generate curiosity with a smart title that aims to catch a search engine user’s attention. 

Add images and videos 

Images and videos can make your blog more engaging and easier to follow. Remember a lot of users are not used to reading text at length and have rather short attention spans. Images and videos can facilitate their journey through your blog post. 

Ensure you respect the copyrights of any images used though. You could either use royalty free images or make sure you give appropriate credits to the source. Don’t forget to use alt text which is an essential step in optimising your blog post. As for your videos, consider using YouTube to upload videos before inserting them into your post.

Head to How to optimise your blog post in 7 simple steps – Part II to read more.