So, there’s good news and bad news. The ‘bad’ news is that to keep your readers coming back to your blog, you need to strategize your SEO optimization which will take calculated development and intentional effort. 

The good news is that many bloggers overlook this important aspect, thereby offering you a chance to get ahead of them. It also means that your chances of monetizing your blog are stronger than most, even if your blog is similar to another. 

Here are ten ways to maximize your blog optimization, make your blog easy to find, and retain loyal readers in 2018:

Design Matters

After choosing a hosting provider and selecting a layout template, be sure to modify it. If you’re not design savvy, hire a professional to make the changes. Pay careful attention to color choices, font styles and colors. These should be simple and clean. Keep your selections relevant to the blog topics and audience you seek. 

Spelling and grammar are important for creating credibility. Impressions do matter and a well written post will go a long way to retaining readers and boosting your SEO.

Follows

Be sure to include buttons for social media follows and reposting options. One of these should be an RSS. If your hosting service does not include one, be sure to find and implement a plug-in. Codeinwp.blog has an updated post about the 5 Best RSS Feed Plugins for WordPress by Adelina Tuca that may be helpful for you.

Keep all your social media connection buttons visible and easy to find. Don’t bury them in the bottom of your page, make them hard to see, or put them on a page other than the blog page. Readers will appreciate the ability to engage quickly.

New Post Alerts

Offer to send new posts to readers via email. Create an email sign up button and deliver an email to them each time you update your blog. This can be done in a newsletter format through a service like Constant Contact or Mail Chimp. Another popular way to do this is to auto generate email from your blog using FeedBlitz, among others.

Get Attention

Create compelling titles and descriptions to attract attention to your post and engage the reader immediately. Incorporate a lot of meaning into a short phrase by choosing powerful words. There is a time and place for fun or clever titles and descriptions, but be careful to be clear and relevant and not misleading.

Navigation

If your blog uses topical categories, sorts posts by the published date, or is part of a larger site, let the reader know. In the sidebar, direct visitors to the main site to read other blogs you have written. Promote other titles that may be relevant to the current subject.

Page Load Speed

Reader attention spans are not long, roughly 5-10 seconds is the window you have to get the page loaded before the reader finds another information or entertainment source.

Also worth mentioning is that plugins and widgets can slow down your site. Some are good and necessary such as photo gallery plugins, but keep them to a minimum. 

Frequency

Frankly, how often you post a blog is up to you. However, data proves that bloggers who post once per week and at a consistent time have greater impact. Readers will come to expect and anticipate your new post notifications if you are executing good content. Consistency will boost your SEO with search engine bots like Google.

If you choose to post monthly or quarterly, adhere intensely to that schedule and make each post really count. Quality will definitely have to rule over quantity. Use the in between times to promote the upcoming post and build anticipation.

Linking

Use links in moderation throughout your blog post to draw attention from other bloggers. It builds community around your subject and encourages readers of like mind to read your blog.

A key to successfully using links is to place them in the natural flow of the text. ‘Click Here’ isn’t enough. Try using a link in a full sentence and, preferably, one that incorporates the full title. For instance, “In the heart warming blog, ‘Evenings with Tommy’ (link to related article), John reflects on his positive memories of growing up with an autistic brother.”

Assertive and Strategic Action

When you publish a new blog post, reach out to other sites that you know may interested in your topic. Perhaps you write about baking a coconut cream pie, connect with a particular chef known for pie making from the Food Network and ask for a mention.

Buy A Domain Name

By purchasing your blog domain name, you ensure that it will be around for the life of your blog, especially if you’ve put in all the work suggested in this article! Unfortunately, host companies come and go, but by purchasing a solid URL, you can be sure that you won’t disappear even if they do. 

Search Friendly URLs

Before you publish your new post, check your permalink. If it is a generic URL that the host company provided for you, consider changing it to a search engine friendly style. Standardizing your naming scheme at the onset of your blog creation will aid in SEO optimization searches, ease the hassle of organizing your files in your computer, cloud, or blog, and enhance the shareability for your readers.

By implementing these ten approaches with purpose, vigor and creativity, 2018 could be your banner blog year!