What is the blog?
The Beer Cartel blog can be found here. List of content that can be published can be found here.
This blog is an integral part of our website as it hosts all new fresh content that is produced by Beer Cartel. Fresh, interesting and relevant content helps our website rank in Google and provides a resource for our existing and potential customers.
What content is posted to the blog?
There is a range of content that is added to the Blog. There are two main types of content sources for the blog:
1. Automatically posts are taken from Instagram through to Tumbler and then onto our Blog (if the "Tumbler" share icon is selected when making a Instagram post)
2. Manually posts are added from content that is created for our content emails, beer club booklet article, holidays stories related to beer and the weekly videos that are created talking about beers that have arrived in store.
There are a few critical things to optimise the use of a blog post:
1. Make sure that the content is relevant and interesting. It has to be beer related and either be informative, entertaining or interesting for readers
2. Ideally the content should be between 1,500 - 5,600 words long. The longer the post the more chance it has of ranking well in Google. The first 100 words should mention the keyword once or twice (see below about keywords).
3. For content that is written specifically for the blog (i.e. not automatically pulled from Instagram via Tumbler) place some thought into the headline of the post. It should be very closely linked with what someone would search for in Google. This will assist in helping the page rank well and ultimately drive traffic to our site. The headline / title should be approximately 50-60 characters long, and it should lead with the keyword (see below about keywords).
4. Add links where possible to products that are mentioned in the article or topics that refer back to a brewery page, previous blog post or category page of our website. Links not only assist readers to find other relevant content but it is also beneficial for Googles crawlers to crawl and index the entirety of our website.
Google Keyword Planner - how to find the optimal Keywords to use in your blog and title
An interesting title is critical for success with any blog - Headline Template.
Headline analyser tool for testing how good a headline is by CoSchedule
Headline tool for checking capitalisation of a headline.
Point 3 above can be optimised by using the Google Keyword Planner. This tool will assist in giving you an idea of the keywords that would be best to use in the title of your blog post, the URL of the blog post and as words that are used in the copy of your blog.
This video explains how to use Keyword Planner to find keywords:
Useful Resources on Writing Blog Posts
These are useful reference links to get some information on how to best write engaging content for blogs, especially when considering a lot of content these days is read on mobile devices.
These are highly recommended to anyone that is writing a blog.
http://backlinko.com/seo-copywriting
http://www.copyblogger.com/boring-writing/
Looking for ideas?
Answer The Public http://answerthepublic.com/
Soolve http://soovle.com/
When editing a blog read: https://smartblogger.com/editing-tips/
How to add a post to the Beer Cartel website?
To add a post follow these steps:
1. Log into Big Commerce back end
2. Click to Storefront
3. Click Blog
4. Click the big + icon
5. Write Blog
6. Add relevant tags based on what the topic of the blog post was
7. Click Save Draft or Publish (publish makes it live on the site, but can still be edited if necessary)
Meta Description
Still important from an SEO perspective and playing a big role in search results. This should be under 155 characters, should use action orientated language, provide a solution or benefit, and directly relate to the content. Example: Learn about the benefits of craft beer in cans compared to bottles, as well as the history of the beer can.
Resource here: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-write-meta-description-ht#sm.00001r6oqw7e16dg1yxj3osu69f1v
Adding Images
Images are a great element to add to a blog posts for a number of reasons:
1. They add life to a blog post
2. They break up text on the page
3. They give visual cues to the words on the page and can assist in explaining what is being said in words
4. And probably most importantly, they are a key ranking factor for SEO ranking of the a blog post in search engines like Google (when ALT text code is added, see below)
When adding an image ensure that the image has the following:
1. It is of good quality. A low quality grainy image will not look good and will detract from what can be a very good blog post.
2. Ensure that the image has been compressed as much as possible, without losing too much of the image quality. Ideally the image should be less than 50kb. A small sized image will allow the page to load quickly, which is again a key ranking factor for search engines.
3, Once the image has been added to the blog post ensure that an ALT Text has been added to the HTML coding. ALT Text is the text that is used by Google crawlers to read what the image is, is displayed in instances where the image won't load and is used by visually impaired users. ALT text is a very important part of an image in a blog post. The ALT text should represent what the image is but ideally also needs to have the blogs keyword included in the ALT text (as long as it is relevant to the image).
How to Add ALT Text to an Image
Once the image has been embedded into the blog post do the following to add ALT text to the image:
1. Click on the image, click edit.
2. Enter in the image title e.g types of beer glasses
3. Click save.
4. Publish blog post
To test that the ALT text has been correctly added go to Content Forest Image Alt Checker, enter the web address of the blog post and click "Check Link". It will then show results of what images have ALT text and what that ALT text is.
How to Create A "Buy Now Link" for products that are in a blog post
To create a blog post which has a buy now link for products use the attached Blog Post Template. It will create products that look the same as http://www.beercartel.com.au/blog/hottest-100-aussie-craft-beers-for-2015/
To do this:
1. Open template below.
2. Download Products from BigCommerce via Products > Export > StockList
3. Copy Data for Products you need into tab Data Input, noting the following when copying across:
- "Product SKU" = "Product Code"
- For the product image address remove the "Product Image Path" (if this is not removed images will not display)
- Some products may have more than one image allocated to the product page, e.g. mix packs that showcase different beers in 2 different images. For these select and copy across just one image address.
4. Copy code below and paste into blog (HTML coding):
<!--Product Thumbnail Starts here-->
<p class="BlockContent">
</p>
<h4>The beers below are all ordered by their relative position in the Hottest 100.</h4>
<ul class="ProductList">
5. Copy Code from Excel Sheet Output and paste into blog (HTML coding):
6. Copy Code below and paste into blog (HTML coding):
</ul>
<p class="clear">
<!--Product Thumbnail Ends here-->
7. Process complete.
Sharing Blog Content
Once the blog has been created and published it will need to be shared. These are the key areas / checklist of where the blog post should be shared. This assists in driving traffic and backlinks for the website.
- Instagram (link via bio)
- Social bookmarking sites (Stumble Upon, Digg, etc)
- Newsletter (paragraph in the email with remainder on the blog)
- Facebook Groups (Craft Beer Crew, We Love Craft Beer, etc)
Social Sharing
Should be available through Sumome but not working.
Can use Addtoany
Click More Options
Choose buttons as Facebook, Twitter and Google+
Add your email address if you want to receive updates on shares
Add the name of the blog in Page Name e.g. Best 12 Beers In The World - Finally A List You’ll Agree With!
Add the blog url to page url e.g. http://www.beercartel.com.au/blog/best-12-beers-in-the-world
Select # 4 services displayed
Click Get Button Code
Paste this including <b>Share:<b> into HTML part of blog
Use buzzsumo for content ideas
Why we blog
- educate our customers
- show ourselves as an authority
- to create SEO opportunities
- to use content as lead magnets
Step 1 decide your format
Ego jacking - stroke people's ego so they retweet it
Step 2 topic & title
Use Hubspot blog topic generator
Step 3 Write intro
- grab readers attention
- can use a joke or anecdote
- explain reason for post, how it will help address problem
- 100-150 words
- needs to be powerful enough that people will share off this paragraph
Step 4 Get organised
Pull together research stats, facts and figures, put the into groups so it is easy to write about. Helps form skeleton of blog
Step 5 Write
Create a paragraph layout of each area/point you want to write on e.g paragraph 1: history of Christmas beer, paragraph 2: flavour characteristics of Christmas beer
This can the provide a guide for the paragraphs to fill with info
Then
Just start writing, can then tidy up after. The first run is your first draft, expect it to need refinement
Power Thesaurus
Length 1,500-2,000 words
Step 6 Proof and format
Use computers speech recognition software to read back to you to proof - will pick up typos and spelling mistakes which you hear
Use subheadings
Bold and bulle points
White space
Consistent formatting
Use of images and gifs
Make it visually appealing
Use Hemmingway to check readability
Write for grade 6-9
Step 7 use images
Look for slightly quirky images
Dont use generic stock shots
Canva, stock websites
Step 8
Call to action
Get their email
Cool mailchimp email collectors
Step 9 Optimise for SEO
Do this after writing a great blog
Have keyword phrase e.g. Christmas beer
Put in title, meta description, body, image file name, image alt tag
Step 10 Write Headline
Aim for 10 words or less
Make it click worthy
Use subheadings
Appeal to people rather than Google (but ideally both)
Writing emails
Use YOU not WE
What every craft beer drinker needs to know
Need help with your Christmas gifts?
Need a better solution for issue?
X tips every target market should know
Timeframe left then your chance is gone forever - be careful though as salesy
Breaking news for target market in location
Join us in location tomorrow
Emailspamtest.com