Five Ways to Use SEO for More Effective Corporate Blogging

Can you really do targeting through corporate blog content? I know it sounds crazy, but this is actually easier to accomplish than you think. In fact, it’s something I’m doing right now with Inside IPO at IR magazine. Using a corporate blog to bring in a targeted audience is pretty easy when you have your search engine optimization plan nailed down. You can use SEO to cut through the many people on the web and bring in those who matter most to you, but this requires some thinking. Take yourself out of the marketing world and think like one of your prospects or clients. This is the first step to using SEO on your corporate blog as a way to bring in the right audience. Here are five ways you can do that, bringing in better leads through search engine optimized corporate blogging: 1. Choose the right keywords: your boss may wonder why your corporate blog isn’t on the first page of Google for general industry terms (such as “healthcare” or “personal finance”). This is where you need to step in and explain the sorts of things your target market is search for (like “kidney treatment” or “college savings plans”). 2. Build content around your keywords: content strategy for your corporate blog won’t be easy. You’ll want some articles that promote products, some that address important or timely industry issues and others that inform are educate. While you don’t want SEO to dominate your content strategy, you do need to make some room for it. Keep SEO in mind when writing all corporate blog posts, and don’t be afraid to put one up every now and then that exists for SEO value only. 3. Align solutions with your keywords: if you have a highly optimized corporate blog, you’ll do a great job of bringing people in your target market into your environment. Then what? It’s crucial that you align solutions and keywords, so that people who visit your corporate blog following a Google search will see that the answer to their needs is something your company sells. 4. Write smart headlines and ledes: and by smart, I mean SEO-friendly. Don’t try to get clever: (a) you aren’t as funny as you think and (b) even if you were, Google wouldn’t care. Instead, be informative, and don’t be afraid to go long. Move some keywords to the front of your headline (there are some ways to do this in the video below). 5. Be disciplined: SEO takes a little extra time when you’re planning, writing and promoting corporate blog content. It’s worth it. If you get lazy, you cede an important advantage to the competition. And, take this discipline to the rest of your organization. People would rather be clever than search engine-friendly, and you need to explain the implications of this. SEO brings a significant benefit to your corporate blogging efforts. Invest in it. Take advantage of it. Ultimately, this is where a large portion of your traffic will come from. Video courtesy of OpenView Labs

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Five Ways to Use SEO for More Effective Corporate Blogging

SEO isn't fun but it's effective. This post and the accompanying video tell you why.

Tom Johansmeyer

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Tom Johansmeyer