Written a blog? Here’s your 7 step promotion checklist
I was talking to a client last week and they said ‘Annabel, can you just write this down so every time I publish a blog I know what I have to do’.
Favourite client, your wish is my command. Here it is- every time you publish a blog follow this checklist. Finish your blog, and open this up.
- Optimise the headline
Headlines are critical for getting clicks. You need to pique curiosity and help SEO. Use a free tool like Ubersuggest, type in what your blog is about, and you can quickly see what sort of titles are resonating in your space. Ideally, you want to look for headlines that have thousands of social shares, at least 10 backlinks, and more than 100 estimated visits. This will vary a bit according to your industry.
If you have to change the headline after you post, don’t change the URL. Use a redirect.
2. Check your links
Links are king for organic traffic. Read through your blog and look for opportunities to link to your own content- other blogs, solutions pages etc, and also to other people’s blogs. There’s no harm in even linking to a competitors blog. Citing your sources helps Google recognise you as a credible voice and helps with ranking.
It’s also a great excuse to reach out to people and tell them you included them in your recent blog. People love that.
3. Check your tagging
In most SEO audits I do for clients, the biggest problem is tagging. Tag your blogs under categories, give your images some alt–text, add a meta description, and make sure the title has an H1 tag. Yes this sounds horrible. Yes, it helps.
4. Check your CTA
Oh God, the amount of blogs I read where I get to the end and…nothing. No eBook to download, no contact form…you’re wasting traffic that’s interested in you! Give me a next step.
5. Share on social
In a previous blog post, I listed 42 ways to promote your content. Start sharing your blog on social media.
I like to use an editorial calendar for this because content can be reused so often. Use curiousity evoking language, good pictures, and test paid social.
6. Send an email blast
And send it again in a few days to everyone who doesn’t open it the first time. Email is not dead. Email is alive, kicking, and still a top performer.
7. Still got time?
Get creative with the sharing. Get it in everyone’s signatures. Start answering questions on Quora. Share it with your partner network. Look into paid editorial. Definitely equip your cold-calling teams to talk about it. In reality, this is quite resource dependent, but the more you can do the better!
