Don’t Write a Blog Until You Do This

If you’re writing a blog just for fun, you can ignore this article. If you writing a blog to make money, pay close attention.

The most important thing you can do before writing your blog is finding a keyword phrase that people will Google and find on the first page. Too many people write great blogs but don’t think about how they are going to be found in the intergalactic universe of the Internet. You can make your blog stand out and be read if you’d spend the time to find the right keyword phrase before you start.

There are a couple of tools that make this really simple and fast. The first is, of course, the Google keyword planner tool. You can put in your keyword phrase and Google will give you traffic estimates and costs. The catch is that you have to have a Google Ads account. Setting one up is free and only takes a few seconds.

Once you have a Google Ads account set up, go to your Google Ads account and click on the wrench icon in the toolbar at the top of the page. In the far left column under planning, you will see the keyword planner. Click on it and you will be taken to the planner. After that, the process is pretty self-explanatory. Put in a bunch of keyword phrases that you think you’re going to be writing about in the Google come up with what people are actually searching for. Look for keyword phrases with reasonable search volume and not too much competition. Those are the people that are looking for a solution your blog is going to solve.

The second tool, which I absolutely love, is Keywords Everywhere. This is an add-on extension to either the Firefox or Chrome browsers. When you turn on Keywords Everywhere, every time you do a search, related keywords phrases show up on the right side of the page.

There is a modest cost of using Keywords Everywhere based on how many searches you do. However, the ease and speed of the tool make the cost worthwhile if you are writing a lot of blogs. Here’s a screenshot that shows you what it looks like:

When I write a blog, I think about the topic I want to write on and maybe even write the headline. Then I do a Google search on the headline and see what comes up in Keywords Everywhere. Many times, my headline is not even close to what people are really searching for. By using a keyword phrase that people are searching for, and making that all or part of my blog headline, the likelihood of my blog being ranked and found is much higher.

I’m pretty happy if I can find a keyword phrase that will generate between 100 and 500 searches per month. I don’t like going for the Big Bang keyword phrases with thousands of searches. The competition on the first page of Google is too steep and will take too long for me to penetrate.

Stay modest. Even with 100 searches per month, you are bound to get visitors to your blog that you might otherwise miss. And every visitor is your next potential customer.

By the way, I’ve found a marketing system by John Thornhill that is really impressive. My mentor convinced me to sign up. Man, am I glad I did. John Thornhill’s system is a money-making machine, if you are willing to do the work. Check out the webinar here and sign up for the system. This is not for the lazy, so don’t bother if you don’t want to work hard.

This is a guest post from Doug Noll, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.