how to make your writing sing session 2 by saxon henry

How to Make Your Writing Sing

Session TwoNo One Hears an Unsung

Melody

design-bloggers-conference.com 1

What’s SERP Got to Do with It?

If you type “design blogs” into an incognito search in Google, there are

over one-billion SERP returns. I recommend that you add a secondary

subject to your niche to make yourself stand out. My tag comes up

on page 2 of a “literary design” search with over 119,000,000 results.


Write to Your AudienceYour readers are your most important audience but if you

never gain Google’s attention, how will new readers find you so that you can grow your base?

It’s called relevance.


Write Well and Long for Google

I am often asked why I write such long posts—

the point being that people don’t have time to

read these days. I write them so Google will respect my content

enough to crawl my site often and rank me highly on the subjects I cover.


Learn about Hummingbird, Panda and Penguin Algorithm Tweaks

Give Your Writing a Cohesive World to

Thrive Within

• Understand tags and categories and write informative descriptions. Mine (above) comes up on page 2 of a search for “fashion influences design” with over 500,000 results.• Pay Close Attention to Titles—I come up on page 4 of a

search for a subject as significant as “Horace Walpole.”


Write to Expand Your Reach

I was recently approached by “Tudor Times,” a UK-based site, to write paid articles for them. Though it may seem far from relevant, even design and architecture in medieval times can

bring about writing opportunities if you love the subject.


Think Beyond the BlogIf you are blogging every day, why not come out of the effort with a book? Strategize posts smartly and you will have a book with little extra effort. I did so with my blog “The Road to Promise,” which I wrote post-by-post over several years and then published last year as “Stranded on the Road to Promise.”


Take Courses or Hire an Editor

To take your writing to the next level, take composition

courses or hire an editor. With a helpmate, you could

benefit from just a few exchanges or an ongoing

relationship. I am offering today’s attendees a page

worth of edits gratis. If you are interested, I have cards

on the desk here with details.


I hope you’ve benefitted from the workshop. Questions anyone?

TIPS and TO-DOs• Know where you stand by doing an incognito search on Chrome, and

putting in your blog name and phrases of subjects you write about. • A minimum of 300 words per post and 500 words is even better for

ranking on Google.• Study the Hummingbird, Panda and Penguin tweaks on MOZ.com to

understand how to improve your relevance.• Properly manage categories and tags so that you rank well. Add the SEO

Yoast plugin to your site to learn how.• Pay close attention to titles to give yourself a leg-up.• When you are strategizing your posts, think about how they might flow

into a book and come out of your efforts with a published work to show for it; for any long piece like that, do yourself a favor and hire an editor.


how to make your writing sing session 2 by saxon henry

Design