Here’s the quick and dirty:  By creating one powerful, linkable, long-form article, your website can, in two weeks, receive a massive traffic spike, a high volume of social shares, and a steady influx of unique visitors.

Step 1. Figure Out What Your Target Audience Is Searching For

Step 2. Find Out Which Of Those Searches Is Most Valuable For You

Step 3. Write Down What Your Article Needs In Order To Rank

Step 4. Create An Outline For Your Article

Step 5. Reach Out To Niche Authorities For Quotes, Input, And Feedback

Step 6. Write Your Article

Step 7. Publish And Promote

Step 8. Reach Out To Your Influencers And Ask Again

This four-phase approach to search optimization is the key to keeping your blog posts relevant. Get all the details in one handy infographic.

You may have heard about private blog networks (PBNs) before, but you may not be sure what they are or why they are used. A PBN is a network of websites used to build links (and therefore pass authority) to a single website for the purpose of manipulating search engine rankings. This scheme is similar to a link wheel or link pyramid, as it involves several different websites all linking to one another or to one central website.

While these types of schemes were used commonly years ago, PBNs are now considered a pure black hat tactic and should be avoided at all costs, as they can lead to a loss in rankings, or even a manual penalty. PBNs usually provide little to no long-term value to the websites they are linking to.

PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO YOUR OPENING
THEN WRITE A LONG-FORM BLOG POST
Wait a second? If the average reader only spends 37 seconds – why write a 1000 or 2000-word blog post? That’s a really good question. Here’s your answer: for those people who do read beyond the beginning, as in, the highly qualified leads that stumble upon your blog post, they are more likely to take action after reading if they you answered all their questions and concerns and then some.

USE CTAS IN YOUR POSTS
USE A POSTING SCHEDULE
BE VISUAL HEAVY
USE THE WALK-AWAY-SATISFIED TEST
DON’T FORGET LEAD GENERATION SYSTEM MAINTENANCE

A blog is only as effective as its posts. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand offers six paths you can take to make sure your posts resonate with your audiences.

Follow this SEO blog post checklist by digital marketing expert Barry Feldman visualized in this infographic made with Visme.

Links are key to SEO success this blogger outreach definitive guide show you every step to get links. Learn how to find bloggers and build relationship, develop a never say die attitude to outreach

This infographic offers insights into the current state of business blogging, based on feedback from more than 1000 active bloggers.

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• Bloggers are increasingly replacing snackable content with sumptuous feasts
• Fewer bloggers are going it alone
• Visual content is a feast for fatigued eyes
• Promotion is not just for products anymore
• Case for ongoing measurement is gaining ground, inch by inch"

"Coming up with blog titles and topics can be a struggle. Most small businesses aim to publish blogs 3-10 times a month and then use these blog articles to populate everything from newsletters to conversion funnels. When you publish content on a regular basis it's easy to burn through your initial list of blog titles in a few months. Coming up with good titles also takes a lot of time, and when you work on a team defining what's "good" becomes subjective.

Because regular blogging has such a positive impact on inbound traffic, the process of coming up with ideas shouldn't be a burden. Never worry about blog topics again: I'll show you how to generate 100+ long-tail blog title ideas that include estimates of search volume and competitiveness."

Some days it's impossible to come up with a good blog topic. Here are our 5 favorite free tools for blogging inspiration.

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