Your pet business website is live and running, but you’re not getting the web traffic you wanted. Everyone keeps telling you to blog, but there’s just one problem...
You may not have any idea how to do it!
Or, maybe you don’t understand how it ACTUALLY can help your business.
How does typing up a bit of content about random topics help my business?
Result: You end up avoiding blog writing altogether because you think it’s too complicated.
But, the simple truth is that copywriting and SEO sound like scary terms, but they don’t have to be!
The key to successful blog content is writing copy that pleases your readers but also ranks on Google. The two factors that play a role in this are copywriting and SEO. Businesses owners new to content and digital marketing may not be fully aware of what these are.
Your blog posts need to appeal to your readers but also solve a problem.
Let’s start with the basics.
What is Copywriting and SEO?
Copywriting is more than just producing written content. The end goal with copywriting is to encourage readers to take some sort of action: reach out and contact you, subscribe to your email list, or even buy one of your products or services.
SEO is short for search engine optimization.
To better understand this, you have to think about the process you go through when you search for something on Google. You may start to type in a topic, which is known as the keyword. Sometimes, Google will add in suggestions as you’re typing out a phrase.
Once you submit your search, you’ll see pages upon pages of results, right? But here’s the thing. You probably won’t scroll past the first 3 or 4 website links, or at least you won’t go past the first page. Those are the top ranked results determined by Google because those web links were optimized in a way that Google could determine that they were top quality.
So, you want to make sure that every page on your website is optimized with keywords that your target customers are searching for! That’s exactly how you produce content while keeping SEO in mind.
There are lots of ways to do this:
1. Research keywords that your target audience is searching for.
The best content on the website didn’t create itself. The writers’ behind the top-ranking blog posts put in the research before they even began writing. Go to SEMrush.com, and start doing research of your own. From there, plug in the URL of some of your competitors’ websites. You can see what their post popular content is.
2. Select 1-2 long-tail keywords.
What even are keywords? They are specific words and phrases that your target is searching for on Google. A regular keyword is something like “pet store” or “dog boarding services.”
A long-tail keyword is a phrase that’s a bit more detailed, and you’re much more likely to rank in search results. A long-tail version of “dog boarding services” could be “dog boarding services in San Diego.” The bigger brands aren’t typically concerned with long-tail keywords so this is your chance to boost your web traffic over time!
To test the waters on keyword terms, I use KWFinder.com. It tells me the likelihood of ranking for certain keywords and provides suggestions. You can view a sample search result below!
3. Use an eye-catching title.
Once you have a list of long-tail keywords to use, it’s time to start creating blog posts! First and foremost, you want the title to your blog posts to be clickable. That’s the first step to capturing new readers. Your title should provide an emotional connection, while giving away a promise of sorts of to be a solution to a problem.
Here is the biggest mistake I see: you’re so caught up in a creative title that you end up with one that doesn’t make much sense. If your readers can’t tell what the blog post is about by reading the title, they won’t even click on it. Instead, you actually want your blog post title to be explicit! Make sure it tells the reader what they will be reading about. That helps generate more clicks to the post, but also helps Google know what your content is about as well.
4. List posts and “how to’s” perform best.
When you’re starting out as a blogger, you may want to consider writing these types of posts first. They generally perform well on Google, and have the highest click-through rates. They are easier to read for your audience!
Get my list of blog post ideas for pet businesses here to help come up with topics!
5. The first sentence should grab your reader's’ attention.
You’ve created a headline that enticed readers to click on the link to your blog post. Woo! Now what? Well, now it’s time to get them to stick around. You have a matter of seconds to grab their attention, so you have to make your first sentence count.
6. Aim for 500-750 words (at least) to each blog post.
Your blog posts should contain at least 300 words. The higher your word count, the more opportunity you have to use your long-tail keywords, which improves your SEO strategy. This word count obviously does depend on each business, but 500-750 words is a general and overall recommendation.
7. Have a short, simple URL slug.
The slug is the portion of your web link that’ll take you to a specific page on your website. For example, you may have written a blog post about dog care so the end of your URL may be “/dog-care-tips” which is the slug portion of your web link.
8. Choose the right typeface.
Typography actually plays a huge role in your blog’s success. You want your readers to be able to come to your site, and be able to physically read it, right? Of course! So, you want to choose 2-3 fonts that complement each other, but remain legible. Canva is a user-friendly design tool that can help you consider different font combinations.
9. The colors of your blog posts matter too.
As business owners, we tend to just pick black when writing website copy because it’s professional and simple; however, did you know that black is hard on the eyes? Most professional bloggers actually recommend dark grey for blog posts because it’s easier for readers to read your posts and therefore, will enjoy reading your content more than if it was a black font.
10. Separate your text with headlines.
In the setting on the backend of your webpage, you have options to transform portions of your text into “Header 1,” “Header 2,” and so on. Make sure you’re utilizing the difference headline sizes because that does make a difference to Google!
11. Your post should be skimmable.
Have you ever noticed on Facebook that articles links will tell you how long it’ll take you to read each one? There’s a reason why that’s happening! People have a really short attention span these days, especially when it comes to browsing the web. News articles are very short and concise because the writers know that most readers are tuning in with their smartphones, while they’re on the go. You should treat your blog the same way. Here are some quick tips to make this work:
Your sentence should be less than 20 words each
Break up your paragraphs with headers that give more summarization
Use graphics to make your page visually appealing and space out your text as well
12. Spelling and grammar are still critical.
You can use Grammarly to help you if you’re not quite feeling confident in your copywriting skills (hint: it’s free, so why not?).
13. Include page links from your website as well as outside sources.
Support other bloggers by including their content on your website. Backlinking is a GREAT way to show Google that you aren’t focused on just upping your searchability. You also care about providing QUALITY content for your audience, no matter where it’s from. If you’re linking to other pages on your site as well as other people’s sites, you must be creating great content for your audience. Google will recognize that as well and reward that!
14. Create a meta-description.
A meta-description is the portion of the web content that shows up under a web link in Google search results.
Don’t skip this step because Google will automatically generate a meta-description for you!
15. Optimize your graphics.
Another benefit of graphics is that they can help you rank on Google. If you plug in your keywords into the image titles, Google will scan those keyword terms too!
16. Market your blog posts across the Internet.
The final step is to promote your content! When your website is linked to other web pages, Google will reward you. It determines that your site must be sharing quality content if other websites are sharing it! Here are some quick ways you can promote your blog:
Write social media blurbs and include your blog link in it, too!
Create a pin graphic for Pinterest, and make sure each pin links back to your site
Share your blog posts on Stumbleupon and Blog Lovin’
If you have business partnerships, maybe look into cross-promoting each other’s content either on social media or even via each other’s websites
See where I’m getting at here? Include your blog posts links in various places. If you follow all of the previous steps about copywriting, people will show an interest and want to read your content!
These strategies have helped me improve my copywriting, implement powerful SEO strategies, and grow my web traffic over time. And you can do this for your business, too.
There are lots of pet lovers out there that would love to buy from you - they just need to know about you first!
P.S. If you want a killer website template that provides a stunning home for those blog posts as well as comes with a course to teach your how to nail your SEO and copywriting, walks you through the website set-up, and comes with tons of extra freebies and training, head to the Pet Marketing Unleashed shop to grab your template and join the Website Unleashed Academy!
