It’s January and I’m struggling to create a topic for my blog, and then hit me… How about I document this process? Let’s call it “my” or “Our 2024 SEO Blogging Process.” I’ll create a step-by-step approach on how I blog at SpearPoint Marketing (minus the boring stuff) and include real screenshot image examples and the tools that I use. This includes the idea phase, the writing, the SEO, and what I do after publishing.

Ready?

Let’s begin. 

Also read:

• Guide: Creating a SEO Blog Template

• How to “Humanize” Your AI Generated Content

Want More SEO Tips? Go Here for Free DIY SEO

1. Keyword Research Aligned with Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

A critical component of our process is conducting keyword research that aligns with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Understanding the characteristics, needs, and behaviors of your ideal customers is vital for selecting the most effective keywords for your blog. This involves identifying industry-specific terms and phrases that your potential customers are likely to use in their online searches.

Three-Step Approach to Effective Keyword Research

• Understanding Your Customers: This first step involves a deep dive into the demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals of your ideal customers to ascertain the keywords they might use online. After this, I usually generate ideas using ChatGPT (in screenshot).

• Keyword Discovery: Utilize tools like Google's Keyword Planner, Semrush, or Ahrrefs to uncover a set of highly relevant keywords that resonate with your products or services. My favorite tool lately is SERanking (in screenshot) that provides comparable data.

• Analyzing Keyword Metrics: After identifying potential keywords, evaluate them based on search volume, competition level, and organic click-through rate to gauge their effectiveness.

Targeted keyword research, when executed effectively, can lead to increased traffic and conversion opportunities. Investing quality time in this phase lays the foundation for subsequent steps, enhancing the overall impact of your marketing efforts in the long run.

2. Identifying SERP Competitors

As an experienced SEO specialist, I emphasize the significance of knowing your Search Engine Results Page (SERP) competitors. This step goes beyond mere competition; it's about learning from their successful strategies. Using tools like SEOwind and SERanking, coupled with manual Google searches, helps identify these key players who compete for top positions on Google's first page.

Analyzing Competitor Strategies

After pinpointing your SERP competitors, the next crucial step is to dissect their content strategies. Examine elements like their title tags and meta descriptions to understand their tactics in attracting clicks. Assess the quality, type, and multimedia usage in their content, as well as their blog structure. This analysis is not for imitation but for gaining insights to refine and personalize your strategies, highlighting your unique brand voice and adding value to your audience in the crowded digital space.

3. Outsmarting Competitors with Superior Content Briefs

At SpearPoint Marketing, our edge in SEO lies in crafting content briefs that are more comprehensive and insightful than our competitors'. This involves a detailed analysis of their content against targeted keywords, identifying gaps relevant to our Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), and then creating unique, SEO-friendly content plans. We aim to produce content that's not only engaging and informative but also optimized for both search engines and users.

A testament to our approach is our extensive list of SEO tools, where we significantly exceed the industry average with a meticulously curated collection. This is just one aspect of our 2024 SEO Blogging Process, which is like preparing a gourmet meal, carefully selecting every ingredient for maximum impact.

An example of how we do this is using SEOwind (see above). This software allows us to evaluate our top competitor’s briefs so we can create unique and better ones.

4. Turn the Briefs Into Content with AI

How we do it:

All you need to do is input your high-intensity researched brief into the SEOwind interface, select your preferred tone (informative/professional/in-depth/explanatory), target audience specifics (demographics/tech-savvy or not/business-centered/casual readers), and then watch how this AI tool breathes life into it.

1. Article Structure: Your optimized headers are reformatted as key focal points

2. Comprehensive Content: Notes from your brief expand into detailed paragraphs with compelling conclusions.

3. Engaging Introductions & Conclusions: Captivating hooks and contexts round off each section thoughtfully.

The results? Solid draft ready material…

Remember that these tools don't substitute a human writer completely. It's essential to humanize the content, investing time and effort in proofreading and tweaking, making it more personable, relatable, and adding your brand’s touch.

5. “Humanize” the AI Content - Use 80/20 Rule

In our 2024 SEO Blogging Process, while AI significantly aids in content generation, incorporating a 20% human contribution is vital to add the unique human touch. This humanization involves:

• Injecting Human Creativity: Adding human insights and perspectives to about a fifth of the AI-generated text, making it more relatable and engaging for the readers.

• Fine-tuning Conversational Tone: Adjusting the AI content to sound more natural and less robotic, enhancing its ability to connect with readers on a personal level.

• Enhancing Readability: Ensuring the content is reader-friendly with smooth transitions, coherent arguments, and simplified explanations.

This blend of AI efficiency and human creativity is essential not just for SEO optimization, but to create content that genuinely resonates with the audience, maintaining the irreplaceable value of human input in creative processes like blogging.

6. Fill in the Gaps with ChatGPT

I used ChatGPT to write this section. So, according to ChatGPT…

ChatGPT, OpenAI's language model, is an invaluable tool in the content creation process, especially for filling in gaps and refining concepts. It excels in providing coherent and relevant text for various needs, such as:

• Smooth Transitions: It can seamlessly link different topics, like transitioning from discussing meta tags to image file formatting.

• Enhancing Introductions and Conclusions: ChatGPT can add flair to less engaging parts of the content.

• Conceptual Clarification: It helps expand on topics not fully understood, by using related articles to elaborate on ideas.

• Structuring Logic: The tool aids in ensuring natural flow and coherence in arguments.

• Enriching Language: ChatGPT can refresh sections with dry or repetitive language by suggesting more vibrant vocabulary.

While ChatGPT augments the content creation process, it's important to use it as a supplement to human creativity, not a replacement. It enhances the writer's capabilities, helping to create content that resonates more effectively with the audience. Building a successful SEO blogging strategy involves integrating such AI tools wisely, ensuring they complement and amplify your ideas, not overshadow them.

7. Use Informative Collaborators for Insights and Quotations

Incorporating insights and quotations from diverse collaborators like industry experts, researchers, and business practitioners significantly enriches SEO blog content. These collaborators not only lend credibility and a fresh perspective but also deepen the content's relevance and appeal through their authoritative viewpoints. This collaboration can lead to increased reader engagement and open up opportunities for networking and future partnerships, such as guest blogging or webinars, thereby bolstering your SEO strategy. Networking on platforms like LinkedIn is key to connecting with these valuable collaborators.

How do we do it? We reach out to our network on LinkedIn!

8. Create CUSTOM and "Shareable" Images

In this digital age where visuals often dominate textual content, utilizing stock photos simply won't make the cut. Your audience is likely used to seeing these generic images and may find repeatedly encountering them tiresome or even disingenuous. In contrast, custom-made graphics:

• Reflect your brand's unique personality.

• Allow you to encapsulate intricate information in an easy-to-understand format such as infographics.

• Make your post stand out from a sea of similar articles.

Therefore, investing time in creating custom visuals can significantly improve user engagement and effectively amplify your message's reach.

Why use Canva?

Among various available tools, one of my favourites is Canva—a user-friendly platform that permits designing stellar images without needing extensive graphic design skills. Here's why I recommend Canva:

1. Versatility: Canva offers a plethora of templates catering to different types of graphics whether they be infographics, banners or social media posts.

2. Ease of use: The drag-and-drop feature makes adding elements to designs incredibly straightforward—right from inserting text boxes,to changing font styles and adjusting image transparency.

3. Vast Library: Users gain access to a repository filled with millions of vectors, illustrations and photographs.

4. Collaboration & Sharing: Collaborate on designs real-time with teammates or clients; also download or directly publish creations from within the platform.

9. Optimize the Heck Out of the Content for SEO

Effective blogging in 2024 hinges on thorough SEO optimization to ensure content stands out and is easily discoverable. This involves:

• Leveraging Keyword-Rich URLs: Using short, keyword-focused URLs, as they perform better in SEO, enhancing SERP visibility.

• Creating Value-Dense, Intent-Matched Content: Aligning content with search intent can significantly improve rankings and drive traffic.

• Implementing On-Page SEO Techniques: This includes strategic keyword placement in text, integrating outbound and inbound links for credibility and reader engagement, and optimizing images with ALT text for better search engine interpretation.

It's crucial to understand that SEO is about crafting user-centric content that genuinely resonates with audiences, not just manipulating rankings. With this mindset, content creators can effectively navigate the dynamic digital landscape of 2024.

10. Publish It.

Ready? Deep breath - it's time to hit 'Publish'.

11. Track the Data

After all, we are SEO people.

First, we track keywords in our rank tracker tool on Agency Analytics. We then circle back and evaluate the performance of these keywords on our rank tracker tool and see if we are generating impressions on Google Search Console.

12. Break the Content into Shareable Chunks & Share

Dividing your content into smaller, more manageable pieces gives it greater life and reach. These broken-down fragments act as valuable nuggets of knowledge, each perfectly suited for adoption in various digital contexts.

When taking this step in my 2024 SEO blogging process, I focus on making each chunk rich with information while keeping it digestible and engaging to boost its shareability. This way, not only are we able to easily distribute them across multiple platforms but also ensure they hold their own when standing alone.

Here's how I do it:

1. Identify Key Points: The first step is picking out sections that can stand alone yet still deliver impactful, complete messages. Usually, these will be the main points or vital takeaways from your blog post which could turn heads even outside the context of the full article.

2. Craft Appealing Titles: Each chunk needs a compelling title or tagline. It should entice readers while encapsulating succinctly what that particular piece is about.

3. Size Matters: The size of these chunks matters quite a bit - too small and you may not express your point adequately; too large and you might overwhelm your audience. Aim to strike that perfect balance where each piece becomes a satisfying bite-sized portion of wisdom.

4. Choosing Appropriate Visuals: Striking imagery play an important role in capturing attention on social media feeds laden with info-traffic! Make sure to add relevant images whenever possible to enhance the attractiveness quotient of individual content chunks.

5. For Social Media: Make sure your content is suited for the correct social media channel. For me, it’s LinkedIn.

6. For Email Marketing: Make sure your content is suited for the right email list. For my DIY SEO subscribers: my list consists of business owners, SEO pros, and digital marketers.

13. Measure Performance & Re-Optimize

To ensure the effectiveness of your SEO strategies, it's important to periodically measure and reassess your content's performance. Start by revisiting your keyword performance within a month, then conduct a more thorough analysis using Google Search Console after at least three months. If you identify opportunities to enhance keyword rankings and overall page performance, consider re-optimizing the blog post to maintain and improve its effectiveness in search engine results.