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10 Key Takeaways From Writing 500+ Blog Posts
September 13, 2024
What if I told you that I’ve written more than 500 blog posts over the past few years—probably even more, if I actually sat down and counted every single one? 😅
And you bet that, over the course of writing this many blog posts for so many different businesses + service providers, I’ve learned a lesson or two! I’ve written for countless wedding photographers, family photographers, florists, planners, even a sex shop and a scenic jet boat tour company. Across every different client and every different blog post, though, some things remain very much the same. So instead of making you wait until you’ve written 500 blog posts of your own (yikes), I figured I’d let you in on the key takeaways and lessons I’ve learned from my own experience writing, on average, 25 blog posts per month!
I’ve broken these down into quick, bite-sized lessons that won’t leave you overwhelmed or feeling like you have 10 complex new strategies to incorporate into your blog posts—they’re simple, easy to understand, and quick to implement into your blog strategy as it is, whatever that may look like for you. They’re listed in order of importance; you’ll find my top-tier blogging takeaways at the bottom, so feel free to scroll your way through if you just wanna skip to the top few! Sound good to you? 🫡
📌 Pro Tip: Write these down somewhere you can easily refer to when you write your blog posts—the Notes app on your phone, a Notion page, a sticky note on your desk. . . don’t just let them dissolve from your brain 5 minutes after you read this! I’ve included a quick list version of the 10 key takeaways at the bottom of this post so you can easily copy & paste ‘em.
#10: People are lazy
I know we all love to think that everybody is eating up every single bit of our content—that they’re reading every word we write in our Instagram captions, that they’re watching our TikToks all the way through, that they’re scrolling all the way through to the end of our long blog posts. In an ideal world, sure! But realistically, you’ve gotta remember that a majority of the time, people are lazy and just want to skim your content. I know, I know, it’s kinda painful to realize that not everybody is reading all the way through the blog posts you spent SO much time and effort writing. This is why it’s so important that all the key information in your blog posts is placed near the TOP, and is super duper easy to access. Think through what most readers will realistically be looking to find in your blog post, and place it near the top if you can, rather than pushing it down under hundreds of images or 10 other sections of content.
If somebody lands on your blog post from Google looking for a key piece of information, or an answer to a specific question, it’s crucial that they can either 1) find it at the top of your blog post or 2) easily navigate to it. If you’re writing a longer, informational/educational blog post that has multiple sections, I recommend including a table of contents so that readers can easily find the section(s) they’re actually looking for. So when you go to organize the layout of your blog post, make sure your sections are ordered in a way that makes sense + prioritizes the main, key content that people will be coming to it to get!
#9: Don’t overthink your alt text
I will be completely honest, and this is probably a very hot take in the SEO world: I don’t think it’s crucial to add alt text to every single image on your website. 🫣 HEAR ME OUT: yes, alt text is ABSOLUTELY a valuable way to 1) ensure anyone can either see or read a description of what’s happening in your images, and 2) tell Google what’s going on in your images, since Google can’t actually visually see the content. It can definitely help your images be featured on Google for certain keywords/searches.
However: I think a LOT of people get stuck on alt text and think that if they haven’t added the perfect alt text to every image, then it’s not good enough to actually publish. Alt text is NOT somewhere where you should be getting stuck or something that you should be spending hours of your time on. In my experience, your time is much better spent working on your next quality blog post than it is spending foreverrrrr tediously adding alt text to every single image. If it’s taking you too long or you’re overthinking it, move on. Yes, I’m telling you to break the SEO rules 😅
I’ve never seen alt text be something that makes or breaks a blog post—and I’ve never seen a lack of alt text impact the ability to rank on page 1. Yes, it’s great to do if you have the time and energy, but if it’s the one thing you’re getting stuck on and what’s stopping you from publishing your blog posts, truly just skip it. Or only add alt text to half your images. Prioritize the valuable content that your clients will benefit from, not this one teeny tiny aspect of SEO optimization that’s preventing your amazing content from getting out there!
#8: Get rid of the “all or nothing” mindset
I think the problem a lot of us face when we try to implement a new strategy into our business (be it marketing, client experience, etc.) is that we think it’s all or nothing.
I either post a killer blog post every single week, or none at all.
I either write a super in-depth, 3000-word guide or nothing at all.
That mindset is soooo 2020—no thanks, hustle culture. When it comes to blogging, consistency will always beat out frequency—meaning that it’s WAY more important that you’re consistent about your blog posts than it is to publish them super frequently. Sure, in an ideal world, with a team to help you, you might be publishing two amazing, in-depth blog posts per week! But I want you to think about where you’re at in your business and what you REALISTICALLY have the time + capacity for: whether that be one blog post per week, one blog post per month, or one blog post every two months.
Google values consistency and value over everything, so if you can set up a realistic, achievable blogging schedule that works for your business, that will ALWAYS beat out publishing a rushed, mehhh blog post every week just to try and keep up with unrealistic expectations.
Learn How Often You Should Be Blogging For SEO here!
#7: The more eyes, the better
The more eyes you can get on your blog posts (especially within the first few days of publishing), the better! Promote the hell out of your blog posts and don’t be afraid of anyone thinking you’re talking about them “to much”—all you’re doing is showing your audience the incredible, valuable resource you’ve just created for them. They WANT that value from you, but if you’re barely talking about it, they probably won’t ever know it exists!
All traffic is good traffic, especially at the beginning when a fresh new blog post likely isn’t driving a ton of organic traffic from Google. If you can get as many eyes on it as possible, even from other sources such as social media, that shows Google that your blog post is valuable, that you’re someone it can trust to position higher in the search results, and it can really improve your SEO.
Promote every new blog post on your IG stories, on your IG feed, in your TikTok videos, to your email list! Talk about it! Share about it! Your people WANT to see it!!
#6: Infusing your brand + personality is a MUST
If you want to really connect with your people, you need to infuse your unique brand, voice, and personality—otherwise you’ll never stand out against the competition. If you just sound like everyone else and have all the same blogs as everyone else, why would somebody choose your site over the rest of them? Get creative and think outside of the box when you write a blog post, and get personal with it: add in personal stories or analogies, make references to your favorite songs/TV shows/artists, be intentional about connecting with readers on a human level. THAT is what will separate you from the rest of the people who do exactly what you do.
#5: Different blogs serve different purposes
You do NOT have to optimize every blog post for SEO. Mhmmm you heard me right — I’m a firm believer that you do NOT have to spend time and energy optimizing a blog post for SEO if the intention of that blog post is not to rank on Google! Different blog posts serve different purposes.
Maybe you’re creating a blog post with the sole purpose of serving clients who have already booked you — no need to put in a lot of effort to optimize it for SEO. Or maybe you want to blog a personal trip you did at Glacier NP, but you don’t really want to be ranking for Glacier NP content — don’t waste your energy renaming those files or researching keywords!
There are MANY more reasons you should give a shit about blogging besides just SEO, and that’s why it’s such a great marketing method: it serves such a wide range of purposes when it comes to generating leads + building trust with your clients.
#4: Anyone can do it!
Literally anyoneeee can be successful with blogging. I PROMISE YOU. One of the coolest things about SEO is that you can get results whether you’re a small local business with 500 Instagram followers or you’re a massive company like Cosmopolitan. In fact, I used to write for a small, woman-owned business who I helped outrank Cosmo on Google—watch a TikTok where I talk about it here! Yes, it’s true that websites that have been around longer + get more traffic may rank higher and more quickly, but you have JUST as much potential to win at SEO as major corporations do. It’s so COOL.
#3: Repurposing is QUEEN
The best way to squeeze the MOST marketing potential out of every blog post you publish? Reuse + recycle the content you write for social media! ♻️ If you’re not repurposing every blog post into at least 50+ pieces of social media content, you’re missing out on maximizing your ROI.
Your blog posts are a GOLD MINE of copy just waiting to be repurposed. Think about all that amazing content you could be using across social media to boost traffic, share your expertise, and connect with your ideal clientele! They’re not just for Google: they’re powerful tools that can help you build trust with potential clients, whether they find you on Instagram, Pinterest, or TikTok. You deserve to get as MUCH out of the copy you spent so much time writing as possible!
#2: It’s literally impossible to fail
The WORST that can happen with a blog post is that it never sees the light of day on Page 1 (or even 2) of Google. . . but even in that case, you still haven’t failed. You can STILL use the content you wrote and repurpose it for social media, turn it into an email newsletter, or transform it into a PDF freebie that you use to get people onto your email list. So there’s no reason to be afraid to fail, because even worst case scenario, you can still get SO much use out of every blog post you publish.
#1: Valuable content > perfect SEO
For my #1 takeaway on this list, I simply MUST state the importance of creating valuable content when it comes to blogging—and how that should always, always be your priority. I’ll preach this forever. It’s so easy to get stuck on a blog post because you’re spending hours searching for that “perfect keyword” that you learned about in some SEO course a couple years back. And if you’re doing that, then you’re not spending time writing actual content that your people want from you. Google does care about your SEO, yes, but how can you expect the Google Gods to give a shit about your blog post if it includes a bajillion great keywords but. . . no real content of value? You should always be prioritizing serving value, solving problems, and answering questions over perfectly optimizing every single header, every single filename, etc.
Want to make sure your blog posts have got all the SEO they need? Check out my guide to the 6 Things Every SEO-Optimized Blog Post Needs!
There we go, friends—my 10 key takeaways after writing 500+ blog posts that I wanted to pass along to you. I hope you can take these and let them encourage you to create content that not only speaks to Google and improves your SEO, but helps you connect with your ideal clients and serve the hell out of them!
Now, copy & paste these somewhere you won’t forget them when you go to write your next blog post!
⭐ Valuable content > perfect SEO
⭐ It’s literally impossible to fail
⭐ Repurposing is QUEEN
⭐ Anyone can do it!
⭐ Different blogs serve different purposes
⭐ Infusing your brand + personality is a MUST
⭐ The more eyes, the better
⭐ Get rid of the “all or nothing” mindset
⭐ Don’t overthink your alt text
⭐ People are lazy
Looking for more SEO & blogging tips for small businesses? I’ve got plenty, but here are a few recent faves:
🌟 5 Free SEO Tools to Boost Your Website Traffic in 2024
🌟 Pros & Cons of Using Third-Party Blog Platforms Like Narrative
