Why Most Companies Are Blogging Wrong

​Over the past week, I’ve had the opportunity to look at 20 business blogs that are doing their best to embrace this thing we call Content Marketing.

Yet out of these 20, I’d say 16 are making the same mistake again and again and again. In fact, because I keep writing the same diagnosis to business owners I figured I should start using my brain and simply write a post on the subject….Hence, an unexpected blog article on a Saturday afternoon.

Keyword Phrase Goals:  You have to have them!
But let me just cut to the chase by making this critical statement, one I earnestly hope you will take to heart for your business’ blog from today forward:

If you don’t have a keyword phrase goal for every blog post you ever write, you’re missing the boat -  In other words, if I looked at your company’s last 5 blog posts, from the title of the post alone could I clearly tell what your target keyword goal was for that post??  Yep, that’s the magical question, the one that 16 out of 20 business blogs this past week clearly cannot answer.  People constantly send me emails wondering why they are getting little traffic with their blog posts. Usually, within seconds of looking at their writings, the problems jump off the page and it often begins with the title: Terrible Post Titles.

The Problem with Terrible Post Titles - Although there are some foundational SEO problems that most folks suffer from, terrible post titles takes the cake!  There is a little debate as to whether or not blog titles should be more ‘witty’ (written to attract readers) or more ‘SEO oriented’ (written to attract the search engines).

I submit that it’s usually possible to achieve both, but for over 99% of all blogs in this world that have very few subsribers, SEO in the title should be the first priority. The reason for this is simple--SEO is the gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving. When you rank on the first page of Google for a particular keyword phrase, the new business and customers that can come from that one post can literally last for years to come.   A few of my blog posts drive most of the new visitor traffic on my site.   I repeat my blog posts, not my service offerings are what draw people to my site.  Sorry Mr. Business Owner.  Just the truth....

This is why most folks need to quit with the clever titles that make no SEO sense and start enriching said titles with a keyword phrase, preferably one of the long tail.   While click bait might get an intitial view the SEO value is what will help you and your website. over the long haul.

For example, here is a a poorly written blog title:

“The Big Secret Your Auto Mechanic is Not Telling You”

(As you might imagine, no one is typing in Google the keyword phrase “big secrets from auto mechanics”.

Now take the same blog post, and change the title to:

“The Most Egregious Car Warranty I’ve Ever Seen”

The second title is not only keyword rich (bumper to bumper warranty), but it’s very attractive to readers as well. (It also ranks on the first page of Google for the phrase, as it’s an article on my car warranty site.)


State Your Keyword Goals and Watch the Results Follow
Hopefully, as you looked at different blog titles, the keyword goal(s) of each became immediately obvious. This is exactly how it should be for your company blog. Remember, the key is that you always have a clear goal. Once you establish this one little habit, you’ll notice your organic search visit traffic will start to go up and you’ll rank for more and more keywords with each post.

Your Turn - How do you decide on your blog post titles? Is SEO something you think about and do you have a keyword goal(s) for each article? And if you’re not getting much traction with your blog and its SEO, just write down the url in the comments below and I’ll be happy to respond with a few suggestions in my reply.

For more information about advice on how to blog more effectively Contact Us at Banyan Creative.