Building a readership is one of the core goals of blogging. However, it takes a lot more than just writing amazing content—it’s about making connections and showing the world that your blog is worth reading.
Keep in mind that there is probably a surplus of quality bloggers in the same niche as yours. In fact, you may not even be the best blogger in your field or industry. So if you want to win more readers, you need to focus on building trust and gaining exposure from targeted traffic channels such as the first page of SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) and other authoritative blogs.
What is Blogger Outreach?
Blogger outreach is a form of influencer marketing that involves reaching out to influencers who have a substantial follower base and persuading them to share your product or service with their audience. It is a process of contacting the right person with the right offer, ensuring that both parties benefit from the collaboration. Unlike spam, blogger outreach is about personalized and relevant communication. It’s about building genuine connections and offering value, rather than just sending out mass emails and hoping for a response.
Definition and Benefits of Blogger Outreach
Blogger outreach is a strategy used by successful bloggers to grow their audience and increase their online presence. The benefits of blogger outreach are manifold. Firstly, it helps in building relationships with influencers in your niche, which can lead to long-term collaborations and mutual growth. Secondly, it increases your website’s authority by associating your brand with well-respected figures in your industry. Lastly, it drives more traffic to your site, as influencers share your content with their engaged audience. By borrowing the trust that influencers have built with their followers, you can effectively promote your own business and reach a wider audience.
Why Do You Need to Do Blogger Outreach: What is Blogger Outreach?
Imagine you’re planning a huge party in an amazing venue. You shouldn’t assume that droves of people will attend just because you spent a boatload of money on food and decorations. Remember that you still need to promote the event and send out the actual invitations.
Sure, you can invite your close friends, which are a few people guaranteed to arrive. But if you want to attract a large crowd, you need to invite popular people and leverage their network.
When holding a party, you invite the cool and popular kids so they will do the inviting on your behalf. Since cool kids in your school have the influence that you do not have, there is a great chance that a lot of people will attend your party. The same concept applies to your blog — you need to be in the good graces of popular bloggers so they can influence their readers to follow your blog. The question now is: how are you supposed to do that?
In blogging, these are the influencers with an established readership. That’s where blogger outreach comes into play. Say, if you want to bring a thousand people to your site, you connect with at least five bloggers with an audience base of 200+ each rather than send a thousand invitations by yourself. On top of the added exposure, people will be more willing to trust your blog as much as they trust the influencer that linked to you.
In blogger outreach, however, a simple invitation is not enough to bring influencers to your cause. You also need to offer value in your proposition and show them that your blog is worth mentioning.
Offer Trust + Provide Value = Successful #Blogger Outreach
But first, you need to plan your method of approach. Unfortunately, this leads to the biggest criticism in blogger outreach.
The Biggest Criticism about Blogger Outreach
Blogger outreach took the online marketing world by storm a few years back. Not only is it effective for bringing people to your blog, but others also used it in link-building to earn higher rankings in search engine results. But as the practice gained popularity, the real essence of outreach was lost in a scramble for the most valuable connections.
Keep in mind that there is a fine line between “outreach” and just “spam”. Plenty of bloggers and marketers crossed the line by utilizing templates and relying too much on outreach automation tools to build connections between them.
Of course, blogger outreach tools can still be useful in the right hands. In fact, some of these tools will be mentioned later in this article. However, a lot of inexperienced marketers use them as an excuse to turn “outreach” into “sending a bunch of emails and hoping to get a response.” As a result, influencers are more compelled to decline since they know there’s nothing in it for them.
Remember that your target influencers are probably already bombarded with outreach emails from other bloggers. That said, they will quickly notice if an email follows a template. Typically, it starts with a compliment, followed a short statement about a particular article, and then ended with a subtle request to link to a separate blog post. Here’s a skeleton of the “generic” outreach email:
Hey there, I read your post and think it’s awesome. → The usual compliment
I saw your post and think it’s pretty cool. I noticed it links to this site. → The short statement
I wrote a similar article that’s similar to the ones you link to. → The request
Please leave a link to it somewhere in your article. → Just a sign of desperation
How to Do Blogger Outreach the Right Way
Blatantly using a template for blogger outreach is one of the worst things you can do. Aside from this, below are some of the things you need to remember:
1. Classify Your Target Influencers
Keep in mind that it’s not a reliable strategy to focus only on the most popular influencers in your niche—especially if you’re just starting out. These “big name” influencers probably receive tons of outreach emails a day, so there’s a small chance that they’ll even open your email before their virtual assistants delete them.
On the other hand, targeting the “newbies” in your industry is a strategy you don’t want to keep for the long haul. Since they don’t receive a lot of requests from other bloggers, they are the ones who will most likely read and respond to your outreach email. But due to their limited follower base, they’re only good for giving your blog a small increase in traffic.
Determine the criteria for the type of influencers you want to reach out to receive the best results for your blogger outreach campaign.
What you want is to target the “guru level” influencers with a decent amount of readership and social following. Although they may have virtual assistants, there’s still a reasonable chance that they’ll read your outreach email. They also tend to respond well to valuable outreach propositions since they also seek growth for their blog.
2. Personalize Your Subject Line
Always remember to treat your target influencers differently. You need to personalize each outreach email specifically to each influencer to give them a sense that they’re being contacted as humans. First, make sure you create a personalized subject line to make the email stand out in their inbox. Whatever you do, avoid using a compliment as a subject line as it immediately raises a red flag. Remember that no one crafts an entire email just to give a compliment.
Instead, you need a subject line that’s straightforward yet lacking at the same time. Give just enough information to pique their interest and compel them to read the entire email. In other words, never give it all away from the beginning.
For example, if you want to be linked from a blog on web design, you can use something like: On-Page SEO at web design blog.
At first look, the influencer will know that the email is about a “web design blog” and “on-page SEO.” However, they can never be sure if it’s an agency giving an SEO audit for their blog, a blogger trying to put together tips from experts, or a reader inquiring about a particular area of web design.
3. Remove Raw URLs
Simply put, a raw URL is a good indication that an email is constructed using a template or an outreach software. Remember that you need your target influencers to feel more than just a name and email address in a spreadsheet. They deserve more than just emails that contain copy-pasted links content and links.
If you’re trying to refer to another post they did in the past, it’s not a good idea to post a link to it either. You can just refer to it naturally like “a blog post about responsive design a week ago”—the influencer will get it.
But if you need to add a link, especially if you’re referring to the post you want the influencer to link to, make sure it is properly embedded using the post title as the anchor text. Doing so allows you to express your intentions as genuinely and discretely as possible. Despite this, you should never ask them directly to share a link to your post, which leads to the next point:
4. Offer Value in Return
A common mistake that bloggers make during outreach is to promote a post just because it is “similar” to what the influencer has done or linked to in the past. Why? Because there’s no point of sharing something that they’ve already seen before.
Instead, you must highlight that the post you’ve written includes details they may have missed, corrected mistakes they’ve made or exposed the subject from a whole new angle. That’s how you offer value to your target influencers.
A classic example is the Skyscraper Technique employed by Brian Dean. He took a link-worthy page like Google Ranking Factors at Vaughn’s Summaries…
…and made a better version of the same content in his blog.
Brian was able to add value to an already valuable post by making the layout much more pleasing to the eyes and providing more SEO factors than the original post.
In other words, make sure the outreach email focuses on what the original post didn’t have. If they want to be an authority on the latest news and thorough knowledge in any subject matter, then they will surely appreciate your effort in supplying them with new information. As long as your content adds value to what the influencer already has, you may have even your very own software or product.
5. Time It Right if You Want To
Lastly, remember that timing is very important for a successful blogger outreach strategy. While it’s a good idea to reach out to influencers just hours after they post a new article, they probably won’t work on an article they’ve already updated recently. Instead, they will focus on something else entirely, and it will take weeks for them to get back to the post you’re interested in.
If you contact them too late, your outreach email will be buried deep in their inbox by the time they’re interested in taking suggestions. That’s why you need to look for content that’s posted only up to a day ago or find something a few months back. Either way, you need to use tools that enable you to filter your content research according to date.
Finding and Researching Bloggers
To find influential bloggers, you can start by using AllTop, a hand-curated directory of blogs that categorizes them by industry. This can give you a broad overview of the top blogs in your niche. Additionally, you can search for keywords related to your industry on Google to discover blogs and authority sites. Another powerful tool is BuzzSumo, which allows you to find influencers by searching with broad keywords and sorting the results by metrics like Retweet Ratio. Lastly, checking out “Best of” blog posts can help you identify high-quality blogs in a specific category, giving you a curated list of potential influencers to reach out to.
Use Google and Tools like Ahrefs and BuzzSumo
You can use Google to find relevant influencers by searching for keywords related to your niche. For instance, if you’re in the fitness industry, searching for terms like “top fitness blogs” or “best fitness influencers” can yield valuable results. Tools like Ahrefs and BuzzSumo can further refine your search. Ahrefs can help you find bloggers who have written extensively about topics related to your niche, providing insights into their backlink profiles and content performance. BuzzSumo, on the other hand, can help you identify influencers who have shared content similar to yours, allowing you to target those who are more likely to engage with your content.
Approaching Bloggers
To approach bloggers, you need to make a first contact and build relationships with them. Start by following them on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Engage with their content by liking, commenting, and sharing their posts. This shows that you genuinely appreciate their work and are not just looking for a quick favor. When you’re ready to reach out, send a personalized email introducing yourself and expressing your admiration for their work. Mention specific posts or projects of theirs that you found particularly valuable. This personalized approach can help you stand out and make a positive impression.
Make a First Contact and Build Relationships
When making a first contact with a blogger, it’s essential to be personal and relevant. Begin by commenting on their social media posts or blog comments to add to the discussion meaningfully. Sharing their content on your social media platforms is another great way to show that you value their work. When you decide to send an email, make sure it’s personalized. Address them by name, reference specific content they’ve created, and explain why you’re reaching out. Show that you’ve taken the time to research their interests and understand their work. This thoughtful approach can help you build a genuine relationship with the blogger, increasing the likelihood of a successful collaboration.
Tools to Help You Do Blogger Outreach
Finally, it’s time to familiarize yourself with the tools you need for a productive blogger outreach campaign. Bear in mind that even after learning everything you can about blogger outreach, you could still be left not knowing how to get started. That’s why you need to start by building your toolset and learning how to use them.
Learn how to use @buzzsumo @streak and LinkHunter for #blogger outreach
1. BuzzSumo
An indispensable tool in any blogger outreach campaign, BuzzSumo lets you identify influencers and their most popular content.
Once you have subscribed for an account, go to the Influencers > Twitter Influencers tab and type your keyword in the search bar.
The results will show you the different influencers related to the keyword you entered.
Page Authority – If there is a link to a page included in their Twitter Bio, BuzzSumo will show its Page Authority, which determines the page’s trustworthiness based on Moz’s algorithm. The higher the score, the better.
Domain Authority – Similar to Page Authority, Domain Authority refers to the trustworthiness of the domain and not just the page.
Followers – Counts the number of followers the influencer has. The more followers the influencers have, the more reason you should reach out to them.
Retweet Ratio – Rate that influencers retweet the tweets of others.
Reply Ratio – Rate that influencers reply to the tweets of others
Average Retweets – Number of times influencers retweet in a day
These metrics will help give you a better idea of the influencers in your niche.
Assuming that BuzzSumo will show hundreds of results (which it probably will), you can filter out the type of influencers you want to see.
You can further filter your list by determining the criteria for the factors listed in the results.
For example, you want to reach out to influencers with at least 10,000 followers, 5% retweet ratio, 5% reply ratio, and five average retweets. This way, you have a chance of striking a connection with the influencers (based on the reply and retweet ratio) and get more people to learn about your latest blog posts (assuming that you got the influencer to share your post on their social media).
Tick the box of influencers whom you want to target. Once done, you can save the influencers in a list.
You can export the list by going to Influencers > Outreach Lists tab if you want to refer to the list offline or upload it to a different platform.
Take note that BuzzSumo is designed specifically for content research, just like SE Ranking is for SEO research.
It helps you siphon topic ideas and popular content formats in a specific industry. It also analyses content from the most popular bloggers and content sources, which is why it can be used to identify key influencers in a particular niche.
Using BuzzSumo for content research about blogger outreach, you can view the links shared by the influencers.
You can also analyze the links shared by the influencers.
Having both data at hand, you can determine the kind of posts that you need to share to get a reply or retweet from them.
If you have no content under their favorite topics, you can use the links shared to create a much better post on your blog (taking the cue from Brian Dean).
Disclaimer: Any link that points to LinkHunter in this post is an affiliate link. If you click and make a purchase from that link, I will earn a commission from every sale. If you like even to learn more about the plugin, click on the link above or this one (also an affiliate link) for more information.
LinkHunter is your one-stop shop when it comes to connecting with influencers—regardless of where they are in the globe.
In a way, LinkHunter is a cheaper alternative to BuzzSumo if you cannot afford the high price range of the latter. Granted, there are features in BuzzSumo that are not available in LinkHunter (more on this later), but let us focus on what it can do instead.
Once you have signed up for an account, log in to access your dashboard.
From here, you must create outreach campaigns to launch using the tool. There are a few to chose from:
Once you’ve chosen a campaign, fill out the details as you see fit. Enter up to three topics/keywords that the tool will use to search for prospects.
While the tool is search for website owners whom to reach out to, you can craft your email template to be sent to these people.
You can edit the template to add dynamic fields to enter the recipient’s name, URL, and other variables.
Regarding the prospects, you can organize them according to page authority and KWs.
Using this information, you can prioritize which sites to reach out to in your campaign.
The tool fetches the site’s email address and the contact form. Therefore, it’s best to create templates for emails and contact forms so you can increase the chances of getting your message sent to them.
As with most blogger outreach tools, you need to verify the prospect by combing through the list manually and see if you’ll be sending the email to the right person.
That’s pretty much it when it comes to using LinkHunter. It’s simple, easy, and takes away the guesswork from blogger outreach as a whole.
Learn more about LinkHunter by clicking on the links below:
3. Streak for Gmail
If you do not have funds to shell out for the tools above, you can go straight to looking for influencers the hard way.
The one thing you need to consider using, however, is an email tool that lets you keep track of the emails you have sent to influencers.
Streak, initially a CRM software specifically designed around Gmail, is a great freemium tool to use for blogger outreach.
This tool is perfect for bloggers who don’t want to overcomplicate the outreach process with plenty of external software. All it does is optimize your Gmail inbox for contact management.
Once you sign up for an account, access your Gmail to see the difference.
The added Pipelines option on the left sidebar of Gmail tracks the progress of individual conversations, organizes your leads according to priority, highlights messages that demand your attention, and more.
Click on Dealflow to see the contacts you have reached out to so far and which stage are they in your conversion funnel.
To add people in your Streak’s conversion funnel, compose a new email, enter the e-mail address of the influencer, and click the Add to Box icon below the editor.
Once added, you can label the influence by adding notes and identifying which part of your conversion funnel they are in (assuming you have sent your email).
If you are hellbent on sending out templates to influencers, Streak lets you create Snippets that you can send out to them to make your blogger outreach faster and more efficient.
There are no templates to choose from, so you must build your own. Also, make the email personal to each influencer – edit the message before sending it out.
I find myself using Streak more often than other blogger outreach tools. It does one thing: manage your contacts in a single place, and it does it quite well. I suggest that you at least try out the tool and see if it eases the burden of blogger outreach for you.
Conclusion
Blogger outreach ultimately boils down to good relationship building. A healthy relationship, in turn, can only exist between two persons who value each other’s presence. That said, real blogger outreach begins when you stop viewing it as a marketing process and more as a way of gaining friends.
Struggling to keep your audience engaged and craving more from your content? Interactive content might be the game-changer you need to transform passive readers into active participants, boosting engagement and driving conversions.
In this article, you’ll discover how interactive content can revolutionize your content strategy. From quizzes to calculators, learn actionable tips to captivate your audience and achieve measurable results.
Interactive content engages users by requiring their participation rather than just passive consumption. Examples include quizzes, calculators, polls, and interactive infographics. This type of content enhances user experience and increases engagement by making the interaction dynamic and personalized.
Interactive content stands out because it provides immediate value to users while collecting valuable data for marketers. For instance, a quiz helps users learn something new about themselves while giving businesses insights into their preferences.
By offering an engaging experience, interactive content can transform visitors into active participants who are more likely to convert.
What are The Benefits of Interactive Content?
Interactive content offers several key benefits that can significantly enhance your content strategy:
Boosts Engagement: Interactive elements like quizzes and polls grab attention more effectively than static content. Users engage more with interactive features, leading to higher session durations.
Increases Conversions: Interactive content increases the likelihood of conversions by transforming passive readers into active participants. For instance, an interactive calculator can guide users through decision-making, making them more likely to convert.
Provides Immediate Value: Interactive tools offer instant feedback or results, providing immediate value to users. This instant gratification keeps users coming back for more.
Enhances User Experience: Dynamic interactions make the user experience more enjoyable and memorable. A well-designed quiz or infographic can leave a lasting impression on your audience.
Collects Valuable Data: Every interaction gives you insights into user preferences and behaviors. This data is invaluable for tailoring future marketing strategies.
Improves Social Sharing: People love sharing fun and engaging content on social media. Interactive pieces are more likely to be shared, increasing your reach organically.
The next section will dive into how you can implement these interactive elements in your own content strategy effectively.
Types of Interactive Content
Interactive content comes in different shapes and sizes, depending on what you want to achieve. Let’s dive into some popular types.
Quizzes
Quizzes are a fun way to engage your audience. They can be personality quizzes, knowledge tests, or even product recommendations. Think about those BuzzFeed quizzes that tell you which Harry Potter house you belong to—people love them! They not only entertain but also provide valuable insights into user preferences and behaviors. For businesses, quizzes can drive traffic, increase social shares, and collect email addresses for future marketing campaigns.
Polls and Surveys
Polls and surveys are excellent tools for gathering opinions and feedback from your audience. They’re straightforward yet effective in understanding customer needs and preferences. You can use polls on social media platforms like Twitter or Instagram Stories to get quick responses. Surveys can be more detailed, helping you gather in-depth information about customer satisfaction or market trends. Both methods boost engagement by making users feel heard and valued.
Calculators
Calculators offer practical value by helping users make informed decisions based on their inputs. Whether it’s a mortgage calculator for homebuyers or a calorie counter for fitness enthusiasts, these tools simplify complex calculations. Businesses often use calculators to demonstrate the benefits of their products or services clearly. For example, an ROI calculator can show potential savings when using a particular software solution.
Now that we’ve covered these interactive elements…
How to Create Interactive Content
Creating interactive content might seem like a big task, but breaking it down makes it manageable and even fun. Let’s dive into the steps you need to take.
Determine Your Audience and Goal
First things first, know who you’re talking to and why. Are you targeting young adults or professionals? Each group has different interests and needs.
Once you’ve nailed that down, decide what you want your interactive content to achieve. Do you want more email sign-ups or lively social media engagement? Knowing your audience and goal sets the stage for everything else.
Develop Content Structure
Now that you’ve identified your audience and goal, it’s time to sketch out a plan.
Consider how you’ll guide users from start to finish. If you’re creating a quiz, outline the questions and possible outcomes. For polls or surveys, list all the questions beforehand so you can see if they flow well together. A solid structure keeps people engaged until the end.
Create Content
With your structure ready, jump into creating! Keep it simple; don’t overload users with too much information simultaneously.
And remember: clarity is key! Make sure every question or prompt is easy to understand so no one gets confused halfway through.
Test and Optimize
Before going live, test everything out yourself—or better yet—get a friend to try it too. You’d be surprised how many little tweaks can make a big difference in user experience!
Look for any confusing parts or technical glitches that could trip people up. Fix those before launching.
Analyze Results and Tweak as Necessary
Once your content’s live, monitor its performance. Check metrics like engagement or completion rates, depending on the kind of interactive piece you’ve created.
If something’s not working as expected (like low participation), tweak it until it does better! This step ensures continuous improvement.
Best Interactive Content Tools
When it comes to creating interactive content, you’ve got some cool tools at your disposal. Let’s dive into a few of them that can help you make quizzes, surveys, and calculators.
Interact: This tool is perfect for making quizzes. You can use it to create personality tests or knowledge quizzes that keep your audience engaged. Plus, Interact lets you integrate with email marketing services so you can capture leads easily.
BlockSurvey: If surveys are more your style, BlockSurvey has got you covered. It offers robust features for building secure and anonymous surveys. You get data encryption and privacy-focused options, which are great if you’re handling sensitive information.
involve.me: For those who need interactive calculators, involve.me is the way to go. It allows you to build custom calculators that can be embedded in your website. These calculators are excellent for providing instant value to users by helping them figure out costs or potential savings.
Interactive content is a game-changer for audience engagement and conversion rates. By understanding your audience and setting clear goals, you can create compelling content that resonates. Leveraging tools like Interact, BlockSurvey, and involve.me allows you to craft unique experiences that captivate users while providing valuable insights.
Testing for user experience and analyzing results ensures continuous improvement in your strategies. Embrace these interactive elements to not only attract but also retain your audience’s attention effectively.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the benefits of using interactive content?
Interactive content enhances audience engagement, increases conversions, provides personalized experiences, offers valuable data insights, and has viral potential.
How can I understand my audience for creating interactive content?
Conduct surveys, analyze user behavior, and use tools like Google Analytics to gather insights about your audience’s preferences and needs.
What tools can help create interactive quizzes?
Tools like Interact integrate with email marketing platforms to create engaging quizzes that capture leads and provide personalized experiences.
How do I ensure a good user experience with interactive content?
Test your content across different devices and browsers, gather feedback from users, and make necessary adjustments to improve usability.
Why is setting goals important for interactive content?
Setting clear goals helps measure the effectiveness of your interactive content strategy and ensures it aligns with your overall marketing objectives.
What tool is recommended for secure surveys?
BlockSurvey is ideal for creating secure surveys that prioritize privacy features to protect respondent data.
Can custom calculators enhance engagement on my site?
Yes, involve.me allows you to create custom calculators that provide instant value to users by helping them make informed decisions based on their inputs.
Let me create effective interactive content for your business !
Grab your audience’s attention and ge them to engage with your quizzes, calculators, and surveys to maximize your content strategy.
Struggling to capture your audience’s attention in a sea of content? You’re not alone—many content creators face the same challenge.
This article explores why infographics are a game-changer for effective communication, which is key to your content strategy. You’ll discover how they simplify complex information and effortlessly boost engagement.
Infographics are like the fast food of information, but in a good way.
You get all the essential nutrients without spending hours in the kitchen. Instead of wading through walls of text, you can quickly grasp key points with a glance. This is especially useful when you’re short on time or just don’t feel like reading a novel-length article.
Visual elements like charts, graphs, and icons make complex data more accessible. Imagine trying to understand global population trends from a dense report versus seeing it laid out in a colorful chart. The latter sticks in your brain better because humans process visuals 60,000 times faster than text (source: 3M Corporation).
Infographics also cater to different learning styles. Some people absorb info best by reading, while others need visual aids to really get it. By combining both text and images, infographics bridge that gap and ensure everyone stays on the same page.
Another perk? Infographics break up monotony. Let’s face it: long paragraphs can be daunting and boring. But throw in some eye-catching visuals, and suddenly even dry statistics become interesting.
Uses Language Everyone Can Understand
Infographics break down complex info into bite-sized pieces. Think of them as the universal translator for data. Instead of wading through paragraphs of jargon, you get clear visuals that speak your language.
For example, imagine trying to explain climate change with a wall of text. It’s tough, right? But an infographic can show rising temperatures and melting ice caps in seconds. You instantly get it without needing a science degree.
Infographics also use symbols and icons everyone recognizes. A dollar sign for money or a heart for health makes the message clear at a glance. This visual shorthand cuts through language barriers and keeps things simple.
Plus, colors play a huge role in making infographics easy to understand. Green usually means good; red often signals danger or loss. These color cues guide you through the information effortlessly.
When you see an infographic, you’re not just reading—you’re experiencing the data visually. This dual engagement (seeing and understanding) makes info stick better than plain text ever could.
Next up: how infographics cater to different learning styles and why that’s crucial for effective communication.
Become an Authority on the Subject
Infographics make you look like a pro. When you break down complex stuff into bite-sized, easy-to-understand visuals, people start seeing you as the go-to person for that topic. It’s like being the cool teacher who makes even the hardest subjects fun and digestible.
Let’s be real: everyone loves visuals. They’re engaging, memorable, and shareable. When your audience finds value in what you’re sharing, they’ll come back for more. They’ll also spread the word about your expertise by sharing your infographics on social media.
Numbers don’t lie either. According to a study by HubSpot, infographics are shared three times more than any other type of content on social media. That’s some serious reach! The more people share your content, the more authority you build in your niche.
Think about it this way: if you’ve got an infographic explaining climate change in simple terms with clear data points and compelling graphics, folks will trust you over someone who’s just throwing around jargon-filled paragraphs.
By consistently providing high-quality infographics, you’ll establish yourself as a reliable source of information. This not only boosts your credibility but also helps with SEO rankings since search engines love content that’s frequently shared and linked to.
So next time you’re diving into a tough topic, consider creating an infographic. You’ll not only make it easier for others to understand but also position yourself as an expert in the field.
Much More Sharable Online
Infographics are way easier to share online than long blog posts or articles. Think about it, when you’re scrolling through your social media feed, what catches your eye? A colorful infographic or a wall of text? Infographics grab attention because they’re visually appealing and get straight to the point.
When you share an infographic, you’re not just sharing information; you’re sharing something that looks good and is easy to understand at a glance. This makes people more likely to hit that share button. According to HubSpot, infographics are shared three times more often on social media than other types of content.
Infographics cater perfectly to “doomscrollers”—those folks who endlessly scroll through their feeds looking for something interesting. They don’t have time (or patience) for lengthy reads but will stop for a quick visual summary that tells them everything they need in seconds.
And let’s not forget about SEO benefits. When people share your infographics, you get backlinks from various sites which boosts your SEO rankings. Google loves fresh content that’s widely shared because it signals relevance and authority.
So, next time you’re thinking about how to present your data or ideas, consider making an infographic. It’s not only effective but also much more likely to be seen and shared by a broader audience online.
Now that we’ve talked about why infographics are so sharable online…
Best Practices for Creating Effective Infographics
Creating effective infographics involves several best practices to ensure they are engaging and informative.
Know Your Audience
Understanding your audience is crucial. Tailor the content, design, and complexity of the infographic to their preferences and knowledge level. For example, use simpler language and visuals for a general audience but incorporate technical terms and detailed data for experts in a field.
Keep It Simple
Simplicity enhances clarity. Avoid cluttering the infographic with excessive text or overly complex graphics. Focus on key points and use white space strategically to make the information easy to digest.
Use High-Quality Visuals
High-quality visuals improve engagement. Use clear images, icons, and graphics that align with your content. Ensure all visual elements are high resolution to maintain professionalism.
Consistent Color Scheme
A consistent color scheme creates a cohesive look. Choose colors that complement each other and stick to a limited palette to avoid overwhelming viewers. Colors should also align with your brand if applicable.
Prioritize Readability
Readability ensures viewers can easily understand your message. Use legible fonts in appropriate sizes, ensuring there is enough contrast between text and background colors.
Data Accuracy
Accurate data builds credibility. Double-check all statistics, facts, and figures included in your infographic. Cite reputable sources where necessary.
Logical Flow
Logical flow guides viewers through the information seamlessly. Organize content logically from top to bottom or left to right so readers can follow along without confusion.
Optimize for Sharing
Optimizing for sharing increases reach. Include social media buttons or embed codes so users can easily share the infographic on various platforms.
These best practices will help you create infographics that not only look good but also effectively communicate your message.
Infographics are a powerful tool for conveying complex information in an engaging and easily digestible manner. By using visual elements effectively, you can enhance information retention and appeal to various learning styles. Following best practices ensures your infographics are not only visually appealing but also informative and shareable.
Creating high-quality infographics positions you as an authority in your field, boosting credibility and SEO rankings. When done right, they help build trust with your audience and establish you as a reliable source of information. So, leverage the power of infographics to communicate your message more effectively and reach a broader online audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes an infographic successful?
A successful infographic balances aesthetics with clarity and readability. It should be carefully designed, incorporating well-thought-out visuals, concise text that drives home key points, and accurate data.
Why are infographics a good method of presenting information?
Infographics present complex information quickly and clearly. They are popular because they use visually appealing elements to succinctly convey detailed information, making it easier for audiences to understand and retain.
What are the advantages of infographics?
The primary advantage is their effectiveness in communicating complex subjects. Instead of a lengthy report, an infographic can highlight key points in a visually engaging manner, making the information more accessible.
What is the impact of infographics?
Infographics distill dense information into a concise and visually appealing form. They combine eye-catching visuals with brief text to captivate audiences and effectively communicate core messages across various fields.
Why are infographics effective for students?
Infographics help students retain information by presenting it visually. This format makes it easier for them to remember details compared to plain text alone.
Let me design infographics as part of your content strategy!
I can help plan, research, and design the infographics that you can use to establish your brand’s authority, increase its visibility, and generate more engagement with your content!
Grammarly now has three plans: Free, Pro, and Enterprise. Free gives you basic checks and 100 AI prompts a month. Pro is the right pick for most individual writers and small teams at $12 per member per month on the annual plan. Enterprise is for large organizations that need custom security and no cap on AI usage.
If you landed here searching for the old Grammarly Premium vs Business comparison, you are in the right place. Grammarly overhauled their pricing structure in late 2024. Premium got rebranded to Pro. Business got absorbed into the Pro plan. I completely rewrote this guide to reflect how the plans actually look in 2026.
For those of you who remember the old system, here is what happened:
Old Plan Name
New Plan Name
Free
Free (now with 100 AI prompts/month)
Premium
Pro
Business (3+ users)
Pro (now supports 1-149 seats)
Enterprise
Enterprise (150+ users)
Same basic idea, different packaging. The real change is that AI features now come standard across every tier, including the free plan.
What Is Included in Grammarly Free?
The free version used to be pretty bare bones. Grammar checks, spelling corrections, and not much else.
Now? Grammarly threw in 100 AI prompts per month. That means you can actually use their generative features without paying anything.
What you get:
Grammar, spelling, and punctuation fixes
Tone detection
100 generative AI prompts monthly
Browser extension, desktop app, mobile keyboard
Basic conciseness suggestions
Is 100 prompts enough? Depends. If you are just fixing the occasional email, sure. But I burned through my free prompts in about a week when I was testing it. Writers who rely on AI assistance daily will hit that wall fast.
What Is Included in Grammarly Pro?
This is where most people should start. Grammarly Pro replaced both the old Premium plan for individuals and the Business plan for teams. Whether you are a solo writer or managing a content team of up to 149 people, you are on the same Pro plan.
Writing tools:
Advanced grammar corrections with explanations for why something is wrong
Full-sentence rewrites
Vocabulary suggestions
Tone shifting (formal to casual, confident to friendly, and more)
Fluency help for non-native speakers
AI features:
2,000 prompts per month
Compose: give it a prompt, get a draft
Rewrite: highlight text, get alternatives
Ideate: stuck on structure? It will brainstorm with you
Reply: auto-generates email responses
My Voice: the AI learns how you write over time
Detection tools:
Plagiarism checker
AI-generated text detection
Team and brand features:
Style guide (1 per account)
Brand tones (1 per account)
Snippets for reusable text blocks
Knowledge Share
Team analytics dashboard
That 2,000 prompt limit matters. I have been using Pro for a few months now and I have never come close to hitting it. For solo writers, it is plenty.
The style guide feature is what sells this for agencies. I have worked with clients who had ten writers producing content that sounded like it came from ten different companies. With Grammarly’s style guides, you define the rules once. Product names get capitalized correctly. Banned phrases get flagged. Everyone writes like they are part of the same team.
It is not perfect. Sometimes the suggestions get annoying. But it beats manually reviewing every piece for brand consistency.
What Is Included in Grammarly Enterprise?
Enterprise is for large organizations. We are talking 150 or more users, serious security requirements, and IT departments that need control.
Everything from Pro, plus:
Unlimited AI prompts
SAML single sign-on
Advanced user roles and access controls
Data loss prevention
BYOK (bring your own encryption key)
Confidential mode
Dedicated account manager
Priority support
Team and individual analytics
Cost center visibility
Pricing is not public. You have to talk to their sales team, which usually means negotiating based on company size and which features you need.
If you are in healthcare, finance, legal, or any industry where data security matters, the Enterprise compliance features are not optional. They are required.
Grammarly Pricing in 2026
Here are the current numbers.
Grammarly Pro
Billing Cycle
Price
Monthly
$30/month per member
Quarterly
$20/month per member (billed as $60)
Annual
$12/month per member (billed as $144)
Pro supports 1 to 149 seats. Monthly pricing is brutal. If you know you will stick with Grammarly, go annual. On the individual plan, that saves you $216 over the year. Not nothing.
Grammarly Enterprise
Custom quotes only. Contact their sales team.
AI Features Comparison
Since everyone is asking about AI these days, here is the breakdown:
Feature
Free
Pro
Enterprise
AI prompts per month
100
2,000
Unlimited
Compose (draft from prompt)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Rewrite
Yes
Yes
Yes
Ideate
Yes
Yes
Yes
Reply
Yes
Yes
Yes
My Voice personalization
Limited
Yes
Yes
Style guide
No
1
Unlimited
Brand tones
No
1
Unlimited
AI detector
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plagiarism checker
No
Yes
Yes
Those 100 free prompts disappear faster than you would expect. Every compose, every rewrite, every “make this sound more professional” request counts against your limit. I watched mine drain in about four working days during heavy editing.
2,000 prompts on Pro is comfortable for most people working alone. But if you have a whole team hammering the AI features, Enterprise removes the cap entirely.
Which Grammarly Plan Should You Choose?
I cannot tell you exactly what to pick without knowing your situation. But here is how I would think about it.
Go with Free if:
Writing is not a major part of your job
You mostly need spell check and basic grammar fixes
You want to test Grammarly before spending money
Budget is tight right now
Go with Pro if:
You write professionally (blogs, client work, reports, whatever)
Clarity and tone matter for your work
You need plagiarism checking or AI detection
You are a student writing papers regularly
You manage a content team and need style guides and brand consistency
Go with Enterprise if:
Your organization has 150 or more people using Grammarly
Security and compliance are non-negotiable
You need SSO, BYOK encryption, or data loss prevention
You want unlimited AI prompts across the whole team
A dedicated account manager would actually help you
Can You Get Grammarly Pro for Free?
Short answer: not reliably.
Grammarly does offer a 7-day free trial for Pro right now. You get full access and they send you an email reminder two days before it ends. No payment today, but you will need to add a card to start the trial.
What you can do beyond the trial:
Use the free tier first. It is genuinely useful for basic stuff. Spend a few weeks with it and see if you actually need more.
Pay for one month. Yes, $30 hurts compared to the annual rate. But it is cheaper than committing to a year and realizing you do not use it.
Ask your employer or school. Lots of universities and companies have Grammarly licenses through education or enterprise agreements. I have met people who had access for years without knowing it.
Wait for Black Friday. Grammarly usually does 50 to 55 percent off around late November. If you can hold out, that is the best time to grab an annual plan.
Grammarly vs. Alternatives
Grammarly is not your only choice. Here is a quick look at the competitive landscape:
Tool
Annual Price
Best For
Grammarly Pro
$12/month
All-around writing assistance with strong AI
ProWritingAid
~$10/month
Writers who want detailed style reports
QuillBot
~$8/month
Paraphrasing and summarizing
Wordtune
~$10/month
Sentence-level rewriting
Microsoft Editor
Free with Microsoft 365
Basic corrections for Office users
LanguageTool
Free or ~$5/month
Privacy-focused, open-source option
I have tried most of these. ProWritingAid gives you more detailed style reports but feels clunkier to use day-to-day. QuillBot is great for paraphrasing but does not do much else. Microsoft Editor is fine if you live in Office anyway.
Grammarly wins on integration. It works in Chrome, on the desktop app, in the phone keyboard, and inside Google Docs. That everywhere-ness is hard to beat for professional writers who jump between tools constantly.
Note: competitor prices are approximate and subject to change. Check each tool’s pricing page before making a decision.
Conclusion
Grammarly looks different than it did a few years ago. Premium and Business are gone. The whole thing is now Free, Pro, and Enterprise.
Quick recap:
Free handles casual writing and gives you 100 AI prompts a month to test the generative features.
Pro is the right call for most professional writers, students, and content teams. At $12 per member per month on the annual plan, you get 2,000 AI prompts, plagiarism detection, full-sentence rewrites, and team features like style guides and brand tones.
Enterprise is for organizations with 150 or more users that need serious security controls, unlimited AI, and dedicated support.
If writing matters to your work, the annual Pro subscription is probably worth it. I have saved enough time on editing alone to justify the cost several times over.
Questions about which tier fits your situation? Leave a comment below. I actually read these.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to Grammarly Premium?
Rebranded to Pro in late 2024. Same features, same pricing. They also bumped the AI prompts from 1,000 to 2,000 per month.
What happened to Grammarly Business?
Folded into the Pro plan. Pro now supports 1 to 149 seats, covering everything the old Business plan handled. If you had a Business subscription, Grammarly should have contacted you about the transition.
How many AI prompts do I get with each plan?
Free gets 100 per month. Pro gets 2,000 per month. Enterprise gets unlimited.
Is Grammarly worth it in 2026?
If you write daily, probably yes. The AI features genuinely speed up drafting and editing. If you write once a week, the free tier might be enough to start.
Does Grammarly offer student discounts?
No dedicated student pricing on the main plans. But check if your school has an institutional license through Grammarly for Education. Many do, and access would be free for you.
Can I use Grammarly on my phone?
Yes. They have a keyboard app for iOS and Android that works across all your mobile apps.
How many people can use Grammarly Pro?
Pro supports up to 149 seats. For 150 or more users, you move to Enterprise.
It’s easy to find yourself hitting a wall when writing professionally.
Are you staying entertaining, informative, and engaging all at the same time? That’s a lot to ask of a content writer trying to sell people a service or product with words.
Content writing might sound straightforward to those who have never tried it, but finding new angles and approaches to developing great blogs can be hard. That’s why it’s essential for modern content writers to learn how they can draw from their own experiences and use them to influence their content writing.
In this article, we’ll explore exactly what that idea means and how you can find content inspiration through your experiences.
What do we mean by ‘experiences’?
When thinking about how your own experiences can influence your content writing, it’s important to consider exactly what that means.
To become a content writer, you need to build skills, find a niche, understand the industry, and grasp the basics of SEO and content marketing.
You can draw so many life experiences from within your work, just like a novelist or poet would be inspired by the world around them.
Whether you’re developing social media content, writing email copy, or crafting guides for your blog side hustle, you can find inspiration by thinking back to:
Previous jobs
Personal relationships
Your education
Other content you’ve enjoyed (written, visual or audio)
Take inspiration and experiences and use them in your content writing. Great writers know how to pluck ideas and creative hooks from the world they inhabit to improve their work.
Experiences make your content more informative
Above all else, the internet is a tool for knowledge.
Every day, Google users are searching for answers to a specific question or more information on a particular topic. With that in mind, knowing how to make your content truly informative is vitally important for improving your reach and keeping users engaged. Content writing is a crucial aspect of digital marketing, playing a significant role in creating engaging content for various digital marketing channels such as blog posts, web pages, social media posts, email marketing, press releases, and video or audio scripts.
Your own personal experiences can help you decipher exactly what makes written content that informs and satisfies the user’s curiosity, but also ranks on organic search
Think about your everyday search habits. What form do the answers take? How do you know you’re on a page that’s answering your question? When do you feel you have an answer?
Analyzing this content and making it a part of your typical browsing experience can help inform structure and questions throughout your work or your writing portfolio if you’re looking for writing work.
This has a tangible impact on the quality of your content. You are just as much a typical searcher as any other user, so consider what you want to see and try to reflect it within your content. We guarantee you’ll craft something not just clearer but more genuinely informative.
Experiences highlight pain points and industry gaps
Great content isn’t just about what you say, but how you say it.
As any good professional knows, content writing is about much more than blog posts. It encompasses product descriptions, promotional email CTAs and narrating the customer journey.
Whether you’re an ecommerce store or a food blog, understanding customer pain points and typical industry failings can help you improve your website and win over frustrated traffic. Of course, some of these issues are ones for developers, but good copy can pick up the slack and make the user journey much easier.
Drawing from my own experience with content writing, I have found that identifying and addressing these pain points is crucial. My passion for writing and past experiences, including an online course that solidified my decision to pursue content writing as a career, have equipped me with the skills to tackle these challenges effectively.
Once again, you should think back to your own experience as a user. How frustrated were you when you couldn’t order that jacket online? Would a better description of the material and a more full-size guide have convinced you to buy? What about more explicit instructions about how to pre-order one for when they’re next back in stock? These pain points should concern but excite writers as much as they do developers.
By highlighting pain points and industry gaps, you put yourself ahead of less proactive writers and business owners. All experience is insightful, even if it wasn’t an enjoyable one.
Experiences tell you what readers are looking for
How can you possibly know what your readers want from content? Well, they’ve probably told you precisely what they want.
Understanding the skills needed for content writing, such as SEO, social media networks, and effective communication, can help in meeting readers’ needs more effectively.
Ever had a friend complained about all that useless storytelling before a recipe? Take that as a sign to try cutting down your intros. There is insight everywhere, from conversations to comment sections. It might feel aggressive, but previous interactions with customers (whether direct or indirect) should leave an impact.
Your conversations about content and personal experiences with it can highlight the dos and don’ts of online writing. For example, if you worked in customer service, you might have had some feedback about how unhelpful a product description is. Think back to what that person was saying and where they got tripped up. It’s not about appeal to one person’s content preference but recognizing problems for an overall more fulfilling experience.
These might seem like simple principles of writing SEO-friendly content for the web using various tools, but it’s hard to notice these things without thinking back to your personal preferences and experiences. Thinking about what people have told you about their interactions with good and bad content is a brilliant exercise in self-reflection.
Experiences allow you to learn from other forms of content and marketing
A great writer knows they need to step out of their comfort zone now and then.
There are influences to be found everywhere. A good content writer knows that to craft the best copy for this multimedia world; they need to know how to learn from their personal experiences with written, audio, and visual content and the marketing world at large.
Content writers often work on a variety of projects, requiring skills in a range of areas such as SEO, social media, and email marketing. By absorbing podcasts and dissecting significant online video structures, you learn how specific audiences like to communicate. There are many transferable elements that you might have already picked up from just enjoying this content in your spare time. Making a conscious effort to transplant tricks such as tone of voice can quickly make your writing more relatable and enjoyable.
Likewise, if you’ve previously worked in marketing, there are significant experiences you can learn from to develop your traditional written content.
Social media content might be ‘very online’ in nature, but it’s a brilliant exercise in keeping things short and sweet and standing out to low-concentration audiences. Likewise, if you have ever worked on an email campaign, you might have some vital data on what sentence structures and keywords draw a user’s eye.
Marketing is all about experimentation and refining ideas, and there’s plenty of room for that in content. A great content writer knows they need to be constantly updating their work to improve ranking and relatability. So, thinking back to your work or even hours spent scrolling through Facebook is a good thought exercise.
Resources to improve your content writing
To close off this article, let’s look at some resources that could help you improve your content writing and learn how to apply your own experiences to your creative process. Understanding SEO and social media is crucial in the context of content writing, as it enhances the effectiveness of your content creation.
Podcasts – Podcasts continue to be not just a great source of inspiration but a source from which to draw relatable language and topical ideas from. Regarding copywriting advice that focuses on learning from experience, we recommend marketing podcast marketing speakers. Professionals share tips and insights that propelled them to the top of the industry. The copywriting episode with Chelsea Baldwin is a good starting point.
Blogs – It’s been said before, but you must read if you want to write. And by reading, we mean reading a lot. Other blogs are a great source of inspiration and experiences you can draw back from years down the line. For example, the following blog might not inform your current project but give you structural ideas that come in handy later. Of course, the Christopherjanb blog is a great place to go for info, but CoSchedule also covers niche writing, such as developing content for social media.
Video – There’s lots more to YouTube than cat videos. Great content about how to improve your writing skills exists in abundance on the platform. These videos offer excellent advice and insight into how modern users like to have information laid out. This list of channels to watch out for from Carmine Mastropierro is full of good options.
Whatever we do in life, it’s essential to learn from our own experiences, mistakes, or successes. Learning how to transfer the lessons learned from these experiences into our writing is critical for making content more relatable and enjoyable to the average user. As a content writer, having experience in SEO optimization and strong writing qualifications is crucial. While copywriters lean on a structure to please the algorithm, something is said about an injection of unique experiences.
If you’ve never done search engine optimization before, you’re left with two choices. You could use black hat SEO tactics and gain a short-term rankings boost. But you run the risk of getting penalized and find your site spiraling down the search engine results page.
Or:
You could use white hat SEO methods right from the start and comply with the best practices for search engine optimization. In white hat SEO, the focus is on ethical and sustainable strategies that emphasize user engagement, content quality, and adherence to SEO guidelines.
Both methods have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. But it’s hard to recommend against using white hat SEO methods. After all, there are no risks to using them and they have the best chance of improving your search engine ranking.
So why don’t we take this time to look at the best white hat SEO tactics so you can apply them to your site?
Let’s begin.
What Is White Hat SEO?
First, let’s define white hat SEO. What is it exactly?
Simply put, white hat SEO refers to search engine optimization strategies that are in accordance with search engine guidelines such as the ones provided by Google
These guidelines are in place to make sure that search engine users receive relevant and high-quality results. That’s why a website that complies with search engines has a better chance of ranking than those who don’t.
If you’re a white hat SEO, you’re then presumably doing the best you can to follow all the rules set by Google. This is the exact opposite of black hat SEO, which is a white hat approach focusing on ethical and sustainable techniques.
Why People Use Black Hat SEO Tactics
So white hat SEO works wonders. Why do people even bother with black hat SEO tactics then?
It’s simple:
Because it works. At least, some of the time
If white hat SEO is all about complying with the rules set by search engines, then black hat SEO finds ways to game the system by finding loopholes you can exploit to rank higher on the search engine results page.
Yes, there are people who manage to cheat their way up the search rankings. And they can do it quickly too. But in most cases, these gains are only temporary. If and when a black hat SEO gets caught, their site is penalized.
A penalty can do several things — the least of which is ranking a site lower in the search results. In severe cases, a site is pulled out of the search engine results page entirely.
Black hat SEO strategies are rarely worth doing. Though don’t be surprised to find online marketers who’d still swear by its effectiveness.
White hat SEO vs black hat SEO is still a hotly contested debate to this day.
Google Loves White Hat SEO Strategies
The search engine giant has gone out of its way to promote white hat SEO. It regularly releases updates to its search engine algorithm — with some having a bigger impact than others.
All of these updates aim to limit (if not eradicate) sites that use black hat SEO tactics from the search results.
Here’s a quick summary of Google updates that helped reward sites that use white hat SEO techniques:
Fred Update — A group of algorithm changes that removed low-quality content from the search results, especially those that don’t fit Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.
Intrusive Interstitials Update — This update devalued websites that rely heavily on intrusive pop-up ads. This is a necessary update because pop-ups tend to ruin the mobile experience.
Mobile-Friendly Update — An update that rewarded websites that are mobile-friendly. It’s a move that helps users on phones and tablets find sites that will load properly on their devices.
RankBrain Update — This update helped Google contextualize keywords, giving users search results that are relevant to them.
Panda Update — An update that punished sites with thin site content, basically removing low-quality (spammy) pages from the search engine results.
Penguin Update — This update addressed rampant black hat SEO link building strategies that manipulate search engines into ranking pages higher than they should.
Hummingbird Update — An update that improved results for conversational search queries.
With Google releasing one algorithm update after another, black hat SEOs are always playing defense. And once their sites are hit, it’s challenging for them to get back on track. So it’s almost pointless to even attempt to use black hat SEO strategies.
You may as well write a high-quality piece of content that will improve your search rankings using white hat SEO techniques. If you follow Google’s guidelines, there’s a good chance you’ll get rewarded in future updates.
Should You Use White Hat SEO?
Honestly, yes.
Let’s say you get your site to rank using black hat SEO tactics. If you’re new to SEO, you wouldn’t know how to respond to site penalties once you get caught.
It’s even worse if you’re running an SEO agency since you’re intentionally compromising their site’s chances of ranking organically.
White hat SEO techniques are clearly the way to go for long term success.
Not only do white hat SEO tactics improve your search engine ranking, but they also make your website better for your target audience.
If you use white hat SEO tactics, you’d definitely come up with a website you’d be proud to call your own.
The Best White Hat SEO Techniques
There are plenty of white hat SEO techniques that you could use to improve your domain’s chances of performing better on search engines. That’s why it’s really important for you to learn all about them so you can properly weigh your options. White hat SEO services include keyword research, on-page and off-page optimization, technical SEO, content creation, and local SEO to improve website visibility and attract potential customers.
Here are white hat SEO techniques that you should prioritize to get your pages to appear on the search engine results page.
1. Keyword Optimization
Keyword optimization is the process of inserting select words or phrases on a website to improve search engine ranking performance.
Search engines like Google use keywords to determine how relevant your content is to their users’ search queries. So the more keywords you have in your post, the higher your chances are of ranking on search engines. It’s even possible to rank for multiple search queries.
Since black hat SEOs know the importance of keywords (in particular, long tail keywords) for search engine ranking, they thought adding as many as they can to their site content is a good idea. So they did.
However:
This led to a practice called keyword stuffing
It’s the act of inserting so many keywords, it affects content quality. Articles stop making any sense since publishers only concern themselves with adding words and phrases rather than delivering useful content.
They also display a habit of not choosing their keywords, meaning they use all suggested terms and phrases. This shouldn’t be a problem if you can insert them all organically. But when black hat SEOs get aggressive, the content serves as nothing more than a tool for boosting the domain on search engines.
Some black hat marketers would even go as far as hiding keywords in their posts by making the font color the same as the background.
Also, there is such a thing as keyword oversaturation. And Google got pretty good at detecting manipulative posts.
White Hat SEO Techniques for Keyword Optimization
The thing is, it’s not that hard to implement white hat SEO techniques to optimize a website with keywords. And it’s even easier since you don’t have to insert a lot of them for a post to rank on search engines.
Best of all, white hat SEO techniques naturally lead to better site content. So even your users would feel the effects of your efforts. They also make you more credible to your target audience.
Keyword research is easy. And you can even do it for free. But paid SEO tools like SE Ranking will provide you with more metrics and better performance. If you’re serious about your SEO strategy, you’ll have to upgrade to paid services eventually.
To start, you can simply type in your niche or target keyword on Google and review all the suggestions.
In most cases, the suggested keywords that Google provides would fall under the long-tail keyword classification. These are keywords that might not have as many searches but aren’t as competitive either.
This gives you the best chance of securing a spot on Google’s first page results.
You can also look at your main competitors and see which keywords they’re using in their posts. Manually reviewing competitor pages will consume too much time. So we suggest that you use an SEO tool. It can look at your competition’s target keywords and give you a list in seconds.
But the best way to research keywords is to use seed terms and run them through a keyword research tool.
A keyword research tool can generate tens to hundreds of suggestions based on a single word or phrase. Just enter your niche or target keyword and you’ll get all relevant keywords that you could add to your content.
About Keyword Metrics
As you perform keyword research using an SEO tool, you’ll encounter metrics that might be unfamiliar to you. These metrics will help you select the right keywords to focus on. But you can only do so if you know what these metrics mean to begin with.
Every keyword research tool is different. But there are metrics that you’ll encounter no matter which platform you use.
Let’s take some time to discuss what each metric means.
Here are some of the most common metrics you’ll encounter and how you use them to find the right keywords to optimize your website.
Search Volume — This number signifies how many people searched for the keyword (typically over a month).
SEO Difficulty — This shows just how competitive the keyword is on search engines. The higher the number, the more competitive it is. Normally, you’d want to avoid competitive terms.
Paid Difficulty — This concerns paid search (ads). The more competitive a keyword is, the more people are bidding for it.
Cost Per Click — This also concerns paid search. It shows you the average cost per click for the keyword in question. A higher cost indicates that the keyword is highly competitive.
Marketers who use white hat SEO strategies would often suggest that you find keywords with high search volume and low SEO difficulty. But as mentioned earlier, it also makes sense to try ranking for long-tail keywords.
Ultimately, it will all depend on your strategy.
Just don’t rely on keyword stuffing as it will cause your site to be ranked lower on search engines.
Some SEO tools can also categorize keyword suggestions. For example, some tools separate keywords that are in question form. These are great for FAQ pages. Related keywords give you a better idea of what kind of information your target audience looks for. Keywords that start with prepositions can make high-quality content titles.
Keyword Research Tools
When looking for a keyword research tool, make sure that you only consider reputable platforms.
Perhaps the best place to start would be Google Keyword Planner. Not only are you getting keyword suggestions from Google itself, but it’s also completely free to use.
The only downside to using this tool is that it is limited. There are situations where you don’t get as many keyword suggestions as you’d like.
There’s also Answer the Public, a free keyword research tool that pulls frequently asked terms on Google search. This is great for coming up with topics for future blog content.
You can also try Ubersuggest but just like Google Keyword Planner, the free version can only get you so far.
However:
These should be enough to get you going. Especially if you’re just a new website. You’d have enough keywords to add to your content.
Paid tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs have more features though. And they can return more keyword suggestions thanks to their large database. One of the features that both of these tools have is the ability to spy on competitors. It lets you know which keywords they’re targeting along with their metrics.
In addition, they can track keyword performance on search engines. If your page ranks for a specific keyword that you’re monitoring, these tools will let you know. And they’ll keep an eye on any changes in your search engine position.
White Hat SEO Strategy for Keyword Optimization Case Study
A case study published by Sure Oak showed that proper keyword research and optimization led to identifying content opportunities that their client missed.
Using a combination of on-site optimization and link building strategies, Sure Oak managed to provide their client with high-converting traffic.
Their client’s organic keyword rankings grew by as much as 611% in a year for 17 of its targeted keywords.
In a separate case study published at Moz, a company ranked first for a high-volume keyword in under three months. It had to implement different strategies but on the top of its list is finding topics using keyword research.
The company wanted to rank for a high-value keyword. So it wanted to find one that’s worth focusing on. Eventually, it settled for a keyword that had 9,900 searches per month. The estimated visitors per month for the keyword it chose was over 3,000 users per month.
So you can absolutely make the argument that white hat SEO techniques work.
All you need is the right tool and mindset. You will also need patience. White hat SEO strategies take some time before it picks up steam. Don’t expect to see results right away. After adding high-value keywords, you might need to wait weeks (or months in some cases) before feeling the effects.
2. Content Quality
Online marketers have a mantra: Content is king.
And you can understand why. Search engine optimization simply doesn’t work if you don’t have content to show your audience. So long as you publish content frequently, there’s a good chance that you’ll get discovered by your target audience.
Here’s the problem:
Black hat SEO marketers picked up on this. And so they’ve tried to publish content that brings no value to users and only serves to push their sites to the top of the search engine results page.
How Black Hat SEO Strategies Affect Content
Before we proceed, we should note that poor content does not necessarily mean badly written content. Though that is also a factor to consider.
In this case, it refers to content that offers little to no value. So that includes plagiarized posts and duplicate pages. There also used to exist a practice called bait and switch. That’s when SEOs would make a site or page rank for specific keywords. Once they do, they’ll replace the content with something else which could be about anything.
Low-quality content also refers to spam comments. It’s one of those black hat SEO techniques that introduce keywords not in the main content but through the comments section. It’s also common for the comments section to be used for creating backlinks (more on this later).
Article spinning is also something you should avoid. It’s similar to duplicate content. Only in this case, marketers use software to rewrite an article so it can pass itself as unique content. But in most cases, the articles look really messed up.
Keyword stuffing is also something you should avoid. We’ll discuss this in more detail later. But for now, all you need to know is that repeating the same keyword aggressively in your content is not acceptable. Google is well-aware of keyword stuffing and has successfully penalized websites that use techniques like it.
All of these black hat SEO strategies affect the user experience. If you’re a Google user, wouldn’t you get irritated by search results that don’t provide the information you’re looking for?
That’s why Google keeps on releasing algorithm changes that address these issues.
Today, you’d rarely see websites that rank using black hat SEO to make their content rank.
White Hat SEO Techniques for Publishing Great Content
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to publish good content. But if you’re after great content, that’s a whole different story.
Search engines appreciate in-depth content. That doesn’t necessarily mean that posts have to be long (though it does help). But you do have to make sure that your content marketing techniques include providing unique information that is factually correct.
A long post that discusses a topic in detail also gives you a chance to make your content keyword-rich.
The thing is:
Posts are not all text. Adding images, videos, infographics, graphs, and other forms of media helps your site rank on search engines. Any element that’ll engage your audience helps keep them on your site. And the longer a user stays on a website, the better. It’s about observing the best content writing tips to provide value to readers and search engines.
That’s why it’s common to find white hat SEO marketers collaborating with writers, graphic artists, video content creators, and web developers. All of these elements come together to make the user experience more pleasant.
And when users are happy, so is Google.
That’s why they promote outstanding articles on the search results as much as they can. They know that this is the kind of information its users want to find.
Understanding User Intent
Another important thing to remember is that your content should satisfy user intent. Remember: Google’s RankBrain update focuses on delivering content based on the nature of its user’s query. So Google will prioritize the most relevant articles on its search engine ranking.
When you select a primary keyword, you should consider what sort of data your target audience needs.
Let’s use an example:
If a user searches for a cookie recipe, the intent is clearly looking for ingredients and steps on how to bake cookies. They don’t need a history lesson on its origin. Nor do they plan on buying cookies online. All they need is a clear set of instructions on how to make cookies from scratch.
So give your users exactly what they want.
The more specific the keyword is, the easier it will be for you to determine user intent.
User intent usually falls under one of these three categories:
Navigational — People use navigational search terms when they want to find a site or page but don’t know how to access it. So they use Google instead.
Informational — Informational search terms help people learn more about a topic, person, product, or service. Search terms for a product review, for example, would fall under this category.
Transactional — This is when someone uses search terms that indicate an intention to buy, hire, or subscribe to a product or service.
A Mobile-First Experience
We should also point out that you should write posts with a mobile-first mentality. What does that mean exactly?
Your content will likely be seen on mobile devices rather than on a desktop computer. So your posts should be optimized for mobile devices.
When you create content, write shorter paragraphs, use headings to divide up your main content, use bigger font sizes, and get rid of site elements that could distract the reader from your message.
Of course, it’s also very important for your site to be mobile-responsive.
If your readers can make it all the way to the end of your post, then Google will take it as a great sign. All of these SEO practices will make it easier for your website to get clicks from organic traffic.
SEO Content Tools for Better Website Traffic
There are several tools you could use to improve the quality of your content. Some of them focus on fixing grammatical issues while others are there to help you come up with posts that are unique and engaging.
If you need a virtual editor to catch misspellings or other grammatical flaws as you create content, then you can try using Grammarly* or Hemingway Editor. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to miss even the simplest errors. So it’s good to use tools that’ll alert you when mistakes happen and even offer suggestions on how to fix them.
Coming up with a blog topic can be time-consuming. But with the HubSpot Blog Topic Generator, you can quickly find engaging topics to work on. At the very least, it should give you an idea of the types of posts that are popular about your niche.
CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer will review your title and grade it based on factors like word balance, skimmability, clarity, word count, and sentiment. It’s a handy tool that’ll give you an idea of what titles work and what doesn’t. CoSchedule also has a Headline Studio that lets you do more things to get the most out of your blog title headlines.
Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EAT)
Google prioritizes content that exudes expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (or EAT). If a piece of content has all three factors, Google knows to trust the source and ranks it higher on search results.
This is especially true for websites in industries that have an impact on a user’s health and finances.
For example: If you have a website that produces content about medicinal products, you’ll need to somehow prove that you have the knowledge and authority to speak on the matter. If not, Google will hesitate to include your posts on search rankings. The same goes for sites that provide financial advice or legal recommendations.
Using White Hat SEO to Produce High-Quality Content Works
The secret to his success? Great, valuable content.
In the said post, it was noted that in order to surpass the top ten results, your content should accumulate the total value of all ten entries. In short: You need to blow the competition out of the water.
If you want to replicate the results of the case study, you’ll need to deeply research every aspect of your topic. Offer as much information as you can to your readers, especially if you’re doing long-form content.
More importantly, look at your competitor’s content and see what areas they failed to cover in their posts. And make sure that you cover these topics in your own content.
3. On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing a page to make it rank on search engines. Having high-quality content is a part of that. But other white hat techniques can contribute to ranking on Google search.
These include adding the right keywords in your headlines and meta tags, reducing the file size of your media content, making pages load faster, and cleaning up your HTML.
Black Hat Techniques for On-Page SEO
Black hat strategies for on-page SEO still include some of the ones we’ve discussed earlier like keyword stuffing (adding way too many keywords) and copying content from other domains.
But there are other black hat techniques like spamming meta tags with irrelevant keywords, click-baiting, and using private blog networks (PBNs).
Then there’s keyword stuffing. This refers to content where a keyword is repeated over and over to make the page rank for the term. This isn’t as popular anymore but it still pops up now and then. Keyword stuffing is easily detected now by search engines.
You should avoid using any of these strategies at all costs. Google will easily flag your site if you optimize your website this way. And once it does, you could disappear from the search results. It’s definitely not worth the risk.
Instead, you should try using white hat SEO strategies.
White Hat SEO Techniques for On-Page SEO
There are different parts of your site that you could improve outside of your main content.
Title Tag
The title tag is the first thing users see when they find your listing on the search rankings. That’s why you’d want it to include your primary keyword. You want your title tag to be concise since it has a character limit. Keep them anywhere between 50 to 60 characters for maximum impact.
Make your title tags eye-catching. Users will use title tags to determine if your post is worth checking out or not.
URL
Have you ever seen URLs that end in a random string of numbers, letters, and symbols? Those are actually not good. What you want is for a URL to include keywords.
If your post is about the boom in webcam usage in 2020, then you should have a URL like this:
www.yourwebsite.com/webcam-usage-2020
And not something like this:
www.yourwebsite.com/blog/agfds98432jjhn
Google can and does look at your URL to determine the context of your post. Not including the keyword in the URL is a wasted opportunity.
Also, it makes it easier for people to remember if they need to access the post again (or link back to it) in the future.
Meta Description
The role that meta descriptions play in SEO has gone down over the years. But one thing remains true: Users still see them in the search results just underneath the title tag.
Make sure that your meta descriptions relay effectively what users can expect when they click the link. You can include a few keywords to confirm that your post includes the information they’re looking for.
Include meta descriptions in your content marketing SEO strategies. It can help improve the user experience.
Headlines and Header Tags
Headlines—which are different from title tags—can also help improve your site’s SEO performance. With the right headline, users will find reasons to continue reading your content. The more people engage your posts, the better. It will increase your chances of ranking on Google search.
The same goes for your header tags. These are your H1s, H2s, H3s, and so on. These are natural breaks in your content. They add a natural flow to your article and improve readability, especially on mobile devices.
Both headlines and header tags are useful for inserting primary and secondary keywords.
Image Optimization
Images make your content more engaging. But it can also cause your site to load slowly. If you’re using high-resolution files, you’d want to use image optimization software to reduce the file size.
A smaller file size will make images load faster.
Adding image alt tags also gives your post a chance to rank on Google image searches. So there’s another benefit of optimizing your valuable content through images.
Anchor Text
You can also insert keywords in your anchor texts (links). So instead of using non-descript anchor texts, try using descriptive words instead.
For example:
Check out this post for more information.
The text in bold doesn’t really give search engines any context as to what the link is all about. Compare that to the example below:
Check out this list of Photoshop resources for more information.
Using “list of Photoshop resources” makes it clear to Google and your readers where the link will take you.
What Are Canonical Tags?
We’ve talked about duplicate content being a problem. And you might think that you don’t have duplicate pages.
But here’s the thing:
There’s a good chance that you already have duplicate pages. You just don’t know about them yet.
How? It has something to do with URLs. You can use different URLs to access the same page. For example:
http://www.exampleurl.com
https://www.exampleurl.com
http://exampleurl.com
While all of these refer to the same page, Google sees these as different ones. And that’s the reason why it considers them duplicate pages.
There are other ways for a website to get duplicate pages. But regardless, the solution is simple. And that’s by setting up a canonical tag.
A canonical tag is a string of code that tells Google which page is the master copy. By doing so, it will ignore other instances of duplicate content. There are tools available that’ll help you set up your canonical tags if you’re not sure how to go about doing so.
The Importance of Internal Linking
Internal links play an important role in SEO. Not only do they help Google figure out what your content is about, but it also helps Google discover other pages on your website.
It’s also good for your audience as well. Internal links introduce related pages that they might be interested in. And the more time a person spends on your site, the more reason Google will have to rank you higher in the search rankings.
But you can’t randomly link to different pages on your site. You need some sort of structure. There are many theories on which white hat SEO strategies for internal linking people should use.
However, one of the most popular techniques is silo building. It’s an internal linking strategy where you group similar content, establish a hierarchy from the most important to the least relevant, and link them together.
The idea is to have the most important page to pass off link equity down to your smaller pages so that all pages are covered. You can learn more about it from Bruce Clay, the man who popularized the concept.
Use White Hat SEO Tools to Fix On-Page Issues
Almost every SEO tool out in the market has on-page optimization features. Even better, they let you know which issues you need to address immediately. They’ll even offer suggestions on how you could fix those errors.
Ahrefs is a big name in the industry. But it’s far from your only option. There are SEMrush and Moz too. You will also find smaller names in the market. It could be time-consuming to find them all but it’s certainly worth it as some offer their services at a lower cost.
Here are other SEO tools worth considering:
Ahrefs Broken Link Checker — Just enter your site or page and Ahrefs will check if there are broken inbound and outbound links.
Screaming Frog — A popular SEO tool that checks the status of a site. It reports if there are on-page SEO errors like missing pages and links, no meta tags, and missing anchor text.
Google Rich Results Test — A free tool that lets you know if your website supports rich results. Rich results refer to search engine results that go beyond the blue link. Examples include carousels, images, and other non-textual elements.
Google Mobile-Friendly Test — Works just like Google’s Rich Results Test. Only this time, Google checks if your website is optimized for mobile devices.
Smush — A WordPress plugin that automatically optimizes and compresses your images. It also has a lazy load feature that lets you load images as needed (versus loading them all at once).
4. Backlinks
If internal linking is all about linking to pages within your site, backlinks are all about receiving links from third-party sources.
Backlinks are one of the best SEO methods to get website traffic. When you get links from other website owners, it only signifies to Google that you’re a trustworthy source and that the information you’re providing is useful to people.
That’s why it’s very important for site owners to get as many backlinks as they can.
Black Hat Tactics That Involve Backlinks
It’s no surprise then that black hat marketers exploit backlink SEO practices to boost their websites in search rankings.
When you check any list of black hat tactics, you’d find that the most serious offenders use backlinks to game the system. Here are some of the more popular black hat tactics that people use to get backlinks.
Comment Spam — As discussed earlier, there are instances when people would leave comments in posts where they would leave keywords. The same can also be said for backlinks. Black hat SEO marketers would find high-authority sites and add backlinks regardless of their relevance to the post.
Link Farming — Link farming involves launching a bunch of websites for the purpose of linking back to each other. You could say that creating private blog networks (PBNs) fall under link farming. Google can detect link farming activity. Those that are caught link farming are deindexed from search rankings.
Link Exchange — Working with other site owners to give each other backlinks goes against Google’s guidelines. This used to be a go-to strategy for black hat SEO believers. But because these website owners typically don’t have high-quality content, link exchanges are easy to spot. Google caught on to these shady SEO practices a long time ago.
Buying Links
But of all the black hat SEO methods for backlinks, buying links was the most prevalent. And it comes in many forms too.
The worst ones are those where website owners shamelessly asked people to link back to them in exchange for money. And because backlinks were in such high demand, some website owners became open to selling them.
Because Google hates SEO practices like link buying, they penalize both buyers and sellers once detected.
There are different ways to add backlinks. They don’t necessarily have to come from the main content. They could place backlinks in footers or the sidebar, for example.
Some marketers pay for guest blogging opportunities where they could insert backlinks to their site. Guest blogging, in itself, isn’t a bad thing. But when you have to buy or sell the right to do so, that’s when it becomes a shady practice.
You also used to find black hat SEO professionals that offer to pay in kind. Instead of paying in cash, they’d send product samples instead. In return, they expect the reviewer to add links going to their product pages.
Here’s the bottom line:
Don’t pay other site owners to add links to your site. It won’t work. And even if it does, it’s only a matter of time before Google catches you.
Use White Hat SEO Techniques to Get Backlinks
The truth is that getting links using white hat SEO strategies can be time-consuming and difficult. You’ll need to invest time and money into producing high-quality content that addresses user intent.
That said, it’s certainly possible to get backlinks using white hat SEO. And not only will you end up with quality content, but you’ll also surge in search rankings. It’s a win-win situation for you, your users, and search engines.
Here are some of the ways you could get backlinks using white hat SEO.
You go on Google, enter your target keyword, review all the top posts, and create a piece of content that surpasses the top entries.
That’s the basic concept behind the Skyscraper Technique. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Making content better than your competitors isn’t a walk in the park. You’ll need to do more research, insert better graphics, source data from credible sources, and keep your content engaging.
But if you pull it off, you’ll get backlinks from high-authority sites in no time.
Broken Link Outreach
It’s not that uncommon to find pages with backlinks that no longer work. And if you’re a website that has broken links, you’ll want to replace or remove those links immediately. That’s because Google doesn’t like it when pages have backlinks that go nowhere since they affect user experience.
What you can do is reach out to sites with broken links and ask that they replace the missing backlink with one that points to your domain.
Not only are you helping the website owner with their broken link issue, but you’re getting a backlink in the process.
However:
This only works if you have a page that’s relevant to the one being replaced. For example, if the old link is about the benefits of oranges to the body and you happen to have a page dedicated to the topic, you can ask the site owner to link back to you.
And make sure that you have quality content. Otherwise, none of those you reach out to will link back no matter how nice you ask.
Publish Studies
If you happen to sit on a lot of data, you can release them as part of a study. Writers like referring to studies since it backs up the points they’re trying to make. And it’s not just your average writers. Reporters from news organizations and professionals in the education field link back to studies as well.
Educational (especially sites with a .edu domain extension) and news sites have high domain authority. That means backlinks from these sites are really sought after by SEOs. In fact, there are content marketing campaigns dedicated to receiving backlinks from these folks.
Guest Posting
Earlier, we talked about paid guest posting and how ineffective it is. But if you guest post on sites that are related to your niche, you shouldn’t get in trouble with Google. Why? Because you’re not trying to manipulate search engines.
So if you’ve been invited by a third-party site to write posts for them, then feel free to do so. They’ll probably let you insert one or two backlinks as a way of thanking you.
Making an Effort by Reaching Out to Influencers
You can publish as much high-quality content as you want. But if you don’t make an effort by promoting it to other people, then you won’t receive as many backlinks as you deserve.
Using social media to share your content with your followers is one thing. But when you use social media to seek out influencers in your industry, they can end up sharing it with their audience which improves your reach. You’d also become an authority figure in your field.
It’s also common for publishers to email websites about their posts to see if they’re interested in using them as references in future articles. This is even truer for posts that include studies, infographics, direct quotes from influential people, and other resources that have inherent value.
Tools for Getting White Hat SEO Backlinks
Again, most big-name SEO tools will include features that’ll help you analyze your backlink performance. So let’s focus on SEO tools that are specific to link building.
Hunter.io — Hunter.io is an email finder tool. This will come in handy if you find a site that you’d like to work with but you can’t find contact information for anyone working there.
Prospect.io — Prospect.io is an email outreach tool. Using this product, you can use an email template to draft your message then send it in bulk. You can also track all of your interactions. This makes it easier to manage all of your backlink opportunities.
HARO — HARO stands for Help a Reporter Out. It’s a service that connects reporters and potential sources. Using this tool, you can find reporters who need direct quotes for their stories. And in exchange, they’ll add a backlink to your site.
Check My Links — Check My Links is a Chrome extension that can crawl through content to find broken links. This will come in handy if you’re planning to use the broken link building strategy to get backlinks.
5. Site Navigation
Site navigation is often forgotten as SEOs tend to focus on content and other factors. But make no mistake: Site navigation is very important. It’s one of the SEO techniques that fall under technical SEO.
Even black hat SEO marketers will improve their site navigation because there’s no way around it. Even they would like to avoid the penalties attributed to poor technical SEO.
White Hat SEO Techniques for Better Site Navigation
So what can you do to improve your site navigation?
Here are our suggestions.
Speed Up Your Website Load Time
Google isn’t shy about the fact that they want websites to load fast. It even released a tool called Google PageSpeed Insights to aid users in figuring out if they’re meeting the company’s standards.
If there is code or media content that’s slowing down your site, Google will let you know.
Unfortunately, some of the steps that you’ll need to perform to speed up a website will require some HTML knowledge. So depending on how comfortable you are with coding, you might need to find someone to help. Preferably a person who knows how to minimize HTML requests, use asynchronous loading for CSS and JavaScript files, and defer JavaScript loading.
You can also look for a web hosting solution that has great uptime. You don’t want your site to slow down when there are too many people trying to get to your site.
Use Google Search Console to Discover Site Issues
Google Search Console is a free tool that tells you if your website is facing technical issues that you need to address. While it may not be as comprehensive as paid SEO tools, it still provides great information.
It’s a good starting point, especially for those who don’t have the budget to spare for technical SEO.
Be Mobile-Friendly
You want to have a mobile-friendly site. As hinted at earlier, Google is well aware that most of its users are using mobile devices to access the internet. So naturally, it wants all websites to load properly on phones and tablets.
Fortunately, there are plenty of site builders that offer mobile-ready templates. If you’re a WordPress user, pretty much all of the templates you’ll find on the platform are mobile-friendly.
If you’ve built your site from scratch (or hired someone to do so), then you might have to tweak your code for your website to load properly outside of PC and Mac.
Being mobile-friendly also means removing distractions from your site that might be okay on desktops and laptops but not so much on smaller screens. We’re referring to pop-up ads, banners, and similar distracting elements.
Your content should also be formatted for mobile devices. Sentences should be shorter, you’d have to leave just enough white space for improved readability, and you should avoid having long paragraphs.
Use SSL
Having SSL certification means your domain has security protocols in place that encrypts all communications between a server and a browser.
Put simply: SSL protects your users’ personal information including credit card data.
If you’re an online store, it’s very important to have a site with SSL. But in all honesty, every site should have this certification.
Fortunately, it’s not that hard to get SSL. Most web hosting solutions include SSL when you sign up for one of their plans.
You’ll know if you have SSL certification if your URL starts with https:// instead of http://
Remove Broken Links
You don’t want your site to have broken links. So as soon as you spot them, you need to replace them with working links or just revert the anchor text to regular text.
There are plenty of reasons why you’d have broken links. You could have pasted the wrong URL. Or the landing page could have gone down since you published the post. It could have also been redirected to a page that has since been deleted.
If you haven’t checked your website for broken links in a while, use one of the SEO tools we mentioned earlier to crawl your pages. You might just surprise yourself by how many there are that you need to update.
Check Your Website for Duplicate Content
Just like broken links, you also need to scan your site for duplicate content. You can fix them by identifying which one should be canonical or by deleting the page from your site.
Disavow Backlinks
As much as possible, you should only get backlinks from high-authority domains. But that’s rarely the case. In reality, multiple sites will link back to you — especially as your site grows in size.
If you start getting backlinks from dubious sources like gambling or pornography sites (which does happen no matter what your niche is), then you could submit a disavow request from Google.
Google Support has a step-by-step guide on how you could submit a disavow request. But to summarize, you’ll have to create a list of domains (or URLs) that you don’t want to receive backlinks from and submit it to Google.
Do note that Google only recommends this action as a last resort. If possible, you should contact webmasters and request the link removal before taking drastic actions.
Have an XML Sitemap
Your white hat SEO strategies should always include having an XML sitemap. This will let search engines know which of your pages are the most important.
There are SEO tools that will help you create an XML sitemap.
White Hat SEO Help: Freelancers vs Agencies vs In-House Team
If you’re running a small site, it’ll be easy to optimize your site on your own. But once your site gets more website traffic, you’re going to need help.
So here’s the question: What kind of help should you get?
You’ll likely end up with three options. You could hire freelancers to do the work for you. Then again, there are SEO agencies that are more than willing to lend a hand. Or should you build an in-house team instead?
Let’s look at the pros and cons of each.
Freelancers
Hiring freelancers like myself for your content needs is ideal for those who already know what they want. Since you’re the one handing out instructions, you need to have at least some basic understanding of SEO. Your success or failure is in your hands.
There are benefits to hiring freelancers. It’s usually cheaper to hire freelancers. You can set the terms (for example: project-based vs hourly wage). And it’s easier to reduce or add manpower as you see fit.
Most freelancers are used to acting independently. Meaning after you send out your orders, you can jump back into handling other aspects of your business.
For larger projects, you can even hire virtual assistants so you’d only have to coordinate with one person. Your virtual assistant will handle the freelancers on your behalf.
But:
There are also downsides to hiring freelancers. For starters, you’d have to screen all applicants. There are cases when freelancers are unable to deliver. Or if they do, the quality isn’t up to standard. Only hire help with proven track records or have sample work to show.
Also remember that as their employer, you still need to treat freelancers with respect. You have to be fair even though they are not regular employees of your company.
Agencies
SEO agencies are ideal for medium-sized businesses. They also work for people that don’t want to focus all of their time on online marketing.
The biggest advantage of hiring an SEO agency is that they’ll take care of everything. You only need to supply them with data and they can work out white hat SEO strategies for your business.
Creating an SEO plan is time-consuming. So it helps if you have experts who already know all the best SEO methods. They can tackle keyword research, technical SEO, on-page SEO, and all the other strategies we talked about in this post.
They’ll also prepare reports and bring you up-to-date on your progress.
You’ll have to do your research though. Every SEO agency will claim that they are the best. Try to see which companies they’ve previously worked with. Or seek recommendations from other entrepreneurs.
One possible downside to hiring an agency is that you won’t know if you have their full attention. They typically work with multiple brands at the same time. So you can’t tell how much time they’re allocating toward your success.
Then there’s the cost issue. While hiring an in-house team is undoubtedly expensive, you have fine control over how many you hire and flexibility over what they work on at any given time. You have the freedom to start small and grow slowly. You dictate the pace.
With agencies, you’re at their mercy. They dictate the price. And in some cases, you’ll have to spend a lot to see the kind of results you’re looking for. So take that into consideration as you make your decision.
In-House Team
This is undoubtedly the best direction to go. But if it were that simple, then every website would have an in-house team.
The biggest hurdle is funding. Not only do you have to pay your team their salary, but you also have to deal with the cost of employee benefits, upkeep, equipment, and training.
You’d also have to take a more hands-on approach when it comes to their development. Eventually, employees would want promotions, additional benefits, and perks. You have to keep them all happy and provide opportunities for growth.
But with that said, you want people who are invested in your website’s success. If you hire the right SEO manager, you can come up with new strategies that you know will work for your business. No need to rely on outsiders to make decisions for you.
Having that kind of control, for some people, makes it worth investing in an in-house team.
Hybrid Approach
The hybrid approach gives you the best of all three. Some companies manage to hire freelancers and an agency while working with an in-house team.
Here’s an example scenario where all three work together:
Freelancers are used to generate content for the website either as blog posts or articles. They can also do graphics, videos, audio, and other forms of media content that the website might need.
The agency is there to recommend SEO strategies and report on the website’s performance on search engine ranking. They will also alert the company if Google is about to drop another algorithm update and discuss how it could affect the current strategies being employed.
The in-house team will then be in charge of all the technical and on-page changes that need to happen. It’s also ideal to have your webmaster be a full-time employee.
A Quick Note About Black Hat Freelancers and Agencies
Another thing that you should remember is that black hat freelancers and agencies do exist. And if you’re not sure how to tell the difference between good and bad SEOs, your search engine ranking might drop.
If you’re lucky, freelancers and agencies will let you know right away if their strategy involves black hat SEO. But in some cases, they only state results.
For example, some SEOs will tell you that they can generate hundreds of backlinks in a matter of days. If you’re not SEO-savvy, you’d think you’re getting a great deal. But in reality, what they’re probably doing is generating backlinks from domains that they own. And as we talked about earlier, Google doesn’t like it when sites generate backlinks that way.
And yes, some freelancers and agencies will recommend that you buy backlinks. Not only is that bad, but you’d have to shoulder the cost too. And in the end, that strategy will only do you more harm than good.
Here’s the bottom line:
Be careful of who you hire. You don’t want to use a black hat SEO strategy by accident.
Try looking at client testimonials to gauge whether it’s worth working with a particular SEO freelancer or agency. And if what they’re offering sounds too good to be true, be skeptical.
/* =============================================================================
WebMCP tool registration for christopherjanb.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deploy: WPCode -> + Add Snippet -> Add Your Custom Code (HTML Snippet)
Insert Location: Site Wide Footer
Conditional Logic: NONE (this script self-gates on the URL path)
Prereq: upload webmcp.js to the site root first, so it loads at
https://christopherjanb.com/webmcp.js
(download from https://github.com/jasonjmcghee/WebMCP)
The blue widget only appears on https://christopherjanb.com/mcp/
============================================================================= */
