Crafting Compelling Blog Posts: Delivering Maximum Value

Do Competitive Research and Figure Out How to Make Your Blog Post Better

Google optimizes its search algorithm to meet the user’s search intent.

If you want to get one of the ten spots on the first page of search results, you will need to meet the search intent better than the content that is already ranking for your target keyword.

So read everything on the first page of search results and figure out how to make your content better.

Here are some ideas:

• Make your blog post more comprehensive
• Format your blog post properly so that it is skimmable
• Include real-world examples, case studies, and data with sources
• Embed relevant, high-quality YouTube videos that add value
• Share your unique experiences

The difficulty of outcompeting your rivals will largely depend on the space you are in. Some industries are lagging behind in terms of search engine optimization. Meanwhile, in other industries, everyone is using the latest, cutting-edge SEO tactics.

Ultimately, though, it all boils down to this: are you willing to put more work into your content than your competitors have put into theirs?

Write a Blog Post That Meets the Search Intent for Your Target Keyword

Don’t Use AI!

If you are tempted to use ChatGPT to write your blog post, we strongly advise against it. Why?

Because large language models like ChatGPT are too unreliable: they have a tendency to make things up and state them as facts. Computer scientists call this phenomenon “hallucinations”.

You might also want to consider the fact that the current flood of “AI slop” is ruining search results. This means that it’s just a matter of time until Google starts cracking down on AI-generated content if it isn’t doing that already. That’s why it’s best to avoid it altogether!

Prioritize Meeting the Search Intent Above Everything Else

Your top priority should be to meet the search intent as best you can.

This means that you might need to disregard some of the common search engine optimization advice if it comes into conflict with meeting search intent.

For example, there’s this popular belief that the longer the blog post, the better. But that’s just not true.

Your blog post should be however long it needs to be to meet the search intent. Maybe that means 500 words, maybe 5,000. It all depends on your target keyword.

Don’t pad the word count just to make your article longer because Google is getting better at detecting fluff and downranking bloated articles.

Always orient yourself towards meeting the search intent because that is the only way to align your blog post with Google’s primary goal of helping its users find the information that they are looking for. SEO tactics come and go but the search intent remains!

Follow Copywriting Principles if You Want to Make Your Blog Post More Captivating

We highly recommend learning some copywriting and following its principles if you want to make your blog posts more captivating.

Also, if you are blogging for business, the purpose of your blog posts should be to attract potential customers and convert them into leads. Copywriting can help you with that. It’s persuasion via the written word.

In our opinion, “Copywriting Secrets”by our friend Jim Edwards is the best introduction to copywriting. It was written specifically for entrepreneurs who want to learn this skill so that they could grow their businesses faster.

What’s best is that you can get this book for free. All Jim asks is that you cover the shipping!

Get “Copywriting Secrets” for FREE!

Add a Call to Action at the End of Your Blog Post

So how exactly do you convert blog readers into leads?

First, you will need to create a sales funnel for your business. If you want to learn how to do that, check out our definitive guide on building sales funnels.

Alternatively, you can read our co-founder Russell Brunson’s book “DotCom Secrets”, in which he explains everything that you need to know in order to build a sales funnel that converts.

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

Once you have your sales funnel, you should create a call to action (CTA) designed to promote your lead magnet. Add this CTA at the end of every blog post.

And if you have several lead magnets, create CTAs for each of them and then choose the most relevant CTA for every blog post.

For example, at the time of writing, we are using six different CTAs for six different lead magnets: four for Russell’s books, one for Jim’s book, and one for our free trial. At the end of this article, we have our “Copywriting Secrets” CTA because it’s the most relevant to the subject.

You can also mention your lead magnets in the article itself but you should only do that when it’s relevant and adds value. It should not interfere with meeting the search intent.

For example, we mentioned “Copywriting Secrets” and “DotCom Secrets” because we assumed that if you were reading this article, you would probably be interested in blogging for business. Both books are highly relevant to that!

Format Your Blog Post for Optimum Skimmability

Usability research has established that Internet users typically don’t read online content in its entirety. Instead, they scan it. This has been true for more than two decades.

That’s why it’s so important to make sure that your blog post is skimmable:

• Use the title tag for the title
• Use the H2 tag for the headlines
• Use the H3 tag for the subheadlines
• Incorporate bullet points, numbered lists, and tables
• Break up the text with images and YouTube videos
• Keep your paragraphs short. Most of them should be 2-3 lines. 4-5 line paragraphs should be rare. Do not go above 5 lines!

We also recommend adding a table of contents at the beginning of your blog posts, especially if they are longer than 1,500 words.

You might also want to preview your blog posts on a desktop, tablet, and smartphone just to see if the formatting looks good on all devices. Keep in mind that mobile traffic makes up the majority of global web traffic (54.67% as of Q4 2023)!

Optimize Your Blog Post for SEO But Don’t Go Overboard With it!

Finally, if you can afford to invest in content optimization tools like Clearscope or Surfer, you might want to consider doing so.

If you paste the draft of your blog post into Clearscope, it will show you:

• Overall content grade. Aim for A++.
• Readability level. Aim for middle school level.
• The word count of your blog post and the typical word count for that keyword. If your word count is way below the typical word count, your article might not be comprehensive enough to fully meet the search intent.
• A list of semantic keywords that are related to your target keyword. Include as many of these in your blog post as you can but only if you are able to do it naturally. Don’t turn your article into a keyword salad.
• The number of times each semantic keyword is typically mentioned in the content that is currently ranking for your target keyword. Ideally, you want to use the same frequency, but only if it makes sense in the context of your article.
• Which semantic keywords typically appear in the headlines of the articles that are currently ranking for your target keyword. You should probably incorporate them into your headlines as well.

The suggestions of content optimization apps can be helpful but they can also lead you astray so don’t follow them blindly. Always use the search intent as your North Star!

Want to Learn How to Write Copy That CONVERTS?

You can have the best product in the world but guess what?

If you can’t convey its value to your dream customers, you will lose out to competitors with inferior products but better copy. Sad but true.

That’s why if you are serious about building a business, you need to learn copywriting.

In fact, we would argue that it’s the single most important entrepreneurial skill.

Our friend Jim Edwards wrote a best-selling book “Copywriting Secrets” for busy entrepreneurs just like you.

In this book, he covers everything you need to know in order to start writing copy that CONVERTS.

“Copywriting Secrets” is available on Amazon where it has over 1,800 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

But you can also get it directly from Jim for free.

All he asks is that you cover the shipping!

So what are you waiting for? 🧐

Get “Copywriting Secrets” for FREE!