The thing about blogging for other people is this: blogging for myself gets pushed to the back burner. I’ve written about the importance of consistency when it comes to blogging, yet here I am, completely ignoring my own (solid) advice. I have many excuses. That’s all beside the point of this post, which is actually about which blogging rules you really should break. Consistent posting is not one of them, but here are three rules that you should have no problem kissing goodbye.
1. Ending every post with a question
This is a silly rule. It’s a direct attempt to engage your visitors, but not every post lends itself to asking for feedback from those reading it. Ending posts with a call to action, on the other hand, is usually a prudent move. Just make sure that it makes sense in the context of the post you’ve already written.
2. Blatant keyword stuffing
Traditionally, incorporating keywords into blog posts went something like this: figure out popular keywords. Choose one to feature in a post. Make sure it’s in the title of the post, the description, the metatags and then use it three to four times in the post copy. This is a little extreme, and following it to the rule can impact the quality of your content in a negative way. The idea is to write interesting content worth reading – forcing keywords doesn’t necessarily jive. This isn’t to say you should abandon keywords. Just use them naturally so you’re writing for your end user as well as Google.
3. Posting every day
The more you write, the more opportunities you have to rank. This is true, but instead of committing to posting five days a week (!), consider letting your content drive your frequency. Most businesses can come up with relevant, engaging content at least once a week – so start there. It’s far better to post something worth reading once a week than five throw-away posts five times a week.
You know what they say – rules are made to be broken, and blogging rules are no different.