Writing articles for your autism treatment center is a well-established SEO tool to increase your rank on Google. But this content works double time because articles also boost your credibility with patients and their families. A win-win!
More than half of marketers1 say they attract customers by writing articles. And websites with blogs are indexed by Google 434% more frequently, which means they’re far more likely to appear on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Articles on your blog provide an excellent forum for you to share therapeutic care innovations, essential autism information for patients and their families, and updates about your center and practitioners. Writing these articles requires a substantial investment of time and effort, but you can maximize the benefits of your blog content by making sure each post is created with your SEO strategy in mind.
7 Tips for Maximizing the SEO Value of Your Content
Creating blog content that supports your SEO strategy isn’t as daunting as it might initially sound. At its core, optimizing your content for SEO means creating articles your patients and their families want to read. Here are seven tips to help you get started.
1. Consider a List or How-To
Before writing your next article, think about making a list—what’s sometimes referred to as “listicle.” Lists are a visually engaging and mobile friendly format in which to present your content, and thirty-six percent of blog readers2 prefer articles written in list form.
How-to articles are also very popular. Readers like them because they’re practical, and they present a clear value proposition for investing time in the article. They’re also the third most popular type of article—17% of blog readers prefer how-tos.3
2. Write High-Quality Content
We’ve said this plenty of times before, but emphasizing the importance of quality material is worth repeating. Would you spend your time reading a clunky, poorly written piece riddled with ill-placed keywords and grammatical errors? Absolutely not!
So don’t write something you wouldn’t want to read yourself. Also, your readers prefer short sentences and paragraphs written in an active voice. Although longer articles do sometimes rank more easily, readers prefer shorter, action-oriented content. Test what your ideal audience prefers to find the right balance between readability and rankability.
3. Use Keywords Sparingly
Carefully select a phrase you know your audience will search for and include those words in your headline, at least one subheading, and distributed throughout your text. This usage rate is a bit subjective so if you feel you’re overusing your keyword, find an appropriate synonym. Your keyword density should never exceed 3%.4
4. Include a CTA
Calls To Action should be a significant component of your articles. They tell readers exactly what you want them to do and how to do it. Beyond that—they work! Email content with a clear CTA has been known to achieve a Click-Through Rate of up to 371%.5
5. Add Images and Videos
Pictures and videos are a popular part of articles, but did you know they actually have a big-time SEO payoff? Readers view articles with images 94% more often than those without.6
But don’t use just any image. Readers are discerning and don’t like the inauthenticity of stock photos. Articles featuring original images convert 35% more than those with stock photos.7
6. Give Your Article a Great Headline
Once you’ve written your article, you need to name the piece. Giving your article a title is far easier said than done because the headline is usually what determines whether someone will click through and read it (or not).
The best titles are six to eight words—this length increases CTR by 21%.8 You may also want to incorporate a hyphen or colon into the headline. Headlines with hyphens or colons are clicked 9% more than those without.
7. Check—Then Check Again
Professionally edit and proofread everything you write. There is absolutely no excuse for not editing. Without a proper review, you risk releasing a low-quality article that will hurt, not help, your page rank.
And editing and proofing isn’t the last step. Whenever you upload your article to your website, preview the page before publishing. You never know what errors you might catch in those final moments before going live.
A Good Autism Treatment Center Website Makes a Great First Impression
Writing a blog is a worthwhile way to educate your patients and improve your SEO, but content marketing is only worth doing well. Need help curating your autism treatment center’s content? Schedule a strategy session by calling 888.307.7304.
For a list of references, please contact us.