This is the fourth part of a series of guides on how to succeed with blogging. This guide was written by the team at FastWebHost.com who have helped thousands of blogs setup and achieve success over the last 10 years.

So far we’ve shown you how to build your blog, how to grow your blog’s followers, and how to  make money from your blog. By now you’ve realized it all comes down to how well you create your content - whether it’s writing words or taking photos or singing songs. That’s what we’re here for today.

To have great content on your website you need to do 2 things on a regular basis:

1. Create stellar content
2. Measure results and do a content audit

Creating Content

1. Understand your readers

You need to understand who your readers are and what they want in life. All good blogs are focused on certain topics or areas of life. That’s why travel blogs may talk about the foods of different localities, but won’t really talk about cooking or foods as a standalone subject.

More importantly, there are probably plenty of blogs on the subject you choose to work with, but your readers come to you for a specific reason. You need to understand that reason, the emotions behind it, and target your content towards those emotions.

Not sure where to start? Ask your readers what general topics they’d like to see more of. Then plug the topics and keywords into google trends and buzzsumo to see what’s trending.

2. Work through lists

Jot down ideas on your phone when inspiration strikes and keep a list of topics you can work on. Don’t worry about how you’ll flesh them out, that’s for later.

Once those ideas have a chance to marinate, you can start working on them. You should always try to take a unique stance on the topic - say something different, or try to say it in a different way.

If you ever run out of ideas, remember that most ideas work well with multiple types of content. Expand on a part of something you’ve written about before, or turn your list article into an infographic.

3. Be consistent

Once you’ve figured out what your audience likes you need to be consistent with it. Deliver what they want on a regular basis, but don’t rush. Remember, there’ at least 10 other people who are doing what you’re doing. Your audience comes to you for your style and quality. It’s perfectly fine if you publish only once every month.

The trick is to stay engaged with your readers in the meantime. Show them sneak peaks or work in progress on social media. You can even let them have a little control over the production process by asking for feedback on Facebook or twitter.

4. Team Up

Invite guest bloggers to contribute to your blog. They can write a complete piece which you can publish. They can collaborate on a piece with you by joining you for an interview or discussion. Or they can simply contribute a few thoughts to a piece you’re working on.

This helps bring more fresh perspectives and unique angles to a post. You can also use this to argue multiple sides of an idea for your readers.

Auditing Content

Once you start, there’s an impulse to just keep moving forward and create new content. But you need to stop once in awhile and go over what’s been done. You should do an audit at least once a year, or more depending on how often you publish.

An audit will show you what worked best, what didn’t and what can be re-purposed. You can also identify old content people are still reading, and update them.

1. Make a List of Your Content

Start by making a list of everything you’ve published. Get them all onto a spreadsheet and categorize them by what they are, what they’re about, and what they’re meant to achieve.

2. Decide on Metrics

Next you decide on what you want to measure. Each of your pieces of content would have a different objective, and so you would probably want to measure a different metric for each. In general though, some metrics tend to be useful for all kinds of content. Things like page views, time on page, bounce rate, goal conversion, and social shares are always useful metrics to have.

3. Review Analytics

We love Google Analytics. It’s free to use and can be used to get both an overview and in-depth look at your content’s performance. You might also want to look at analytics from your social media. If you’re using any other 3rd party analytics, you should record their results in your spreadsheet too.

Once that’s done, you need to divide your content into 3 lists - ones that are doing well, ones that are doing ok and can be improved, and ones that have never done very well.

4. Decide What to Do

For content that’s doing well: See what they have in common. There must be a reason they do better than the others. These audits are a great way to figure out your formula for success. Then figure out how you can make it better either by improving the content itself or finding new ways to reach more people with it. Or example, turn your best videos into info graphics so you can share them on Pinterest. See if there are ideas or points within the content pieces that can be fleshed out into their own posts.

For content that has potential: Figure out why they’re not doing better. Low click rate on social media could mean a poor title or feature image. High bounce rate could mean the opening paragraphs aren’t entertaining enough. Or it just might not be the right fit for your audience. Once you figure it out you can improve them.

For content that’s no good: You’ve got two choices here. You can try improving them, or you could just remove them altogether. It might feel wasteful to remove content you worked hard on, but in some cases it’s the best choice. Maybe the post is no longer accurate, or your views have changed and you no longer support this idea. Let it go and move on.

5. Create a Plan for Future Content

All of this should help you figure out what works better and what doesn’t. It should help you figure out your formula for creating better content. At this final stage of the audit you reflect on what you’ve seen and condense it into a clear plan and guidelines for future content, so that next year’s audit goes smoothly.

So that’s that. Now you know how to write better content, and that means you’ll be able to get more readers and more revenue from those readers. If you don’t have a blog yet, there’s no time like the present to start. Get over to our WordPress page and pick a domain name and you’re good to go.

SEO is often considered to be complicated and confusing with a dozen of to-do’s and information out there. In reality, it is a bit of rocket science.  An essential aspect of enabling startups as well as giants to grow steadily and with high value, SEO is not instant magic. There are a few things to consider before investing in SEO to get results that are impactful and of high return to your investment.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of bringing improved visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine without any ads - it  is referred to as "natural", "organic", or "earned" results. The higher ranked the page is on the search results page as well as of higher  frequency, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users; these visitors can then be converted into customers.

Patience is virtue

Invest with the right amount of energy and time. Though some companies might not be able to afford to wait and requires immediate results, it is absolutely necessary to plan ahead and have some time allocated to rank those perfect keywords. Further, pay-per-click advertising (PPC) can deliver immediate results while determining simultaneously whether a keyword is worth ranking for.

Content, content everywhere

One thing marketers get stuck with is the continuous surge of quality content which is needed to get Google’s attention. To be viewed as a resource, you will need relevant and timely content which in turn makes the path to ranking for target keywords easier. Important to keep in mind, not every organic search visit will convert. You might need to protect the search position of a keyword that converts.

Your Profit > Your Investment

In order for you to receive a positive return on your investments, it is important to consider a few other things first.

Take note of the competition around you in your industry. SEO can be a very competitive issue in some industries - in that case, a thorough research will help you understand your place among those controlling the top 20 search positions. How does your website stand up to the competition? How much would it actually cost you to overtake them?

A few other investment related pointers you should take notice are: what are the expenses of doing business through your website? These costs should include the cost of the team who will do the majority of the work. They would assist you in providing key insights into your return on the investment.

Next, you should look into how much these returns are converting into increased profits. Given the points above, how much of sales does your business need to accumulate over a year to be profitable? Considering the competition and the duration it will take to rank a target keyword along with the salary of the SEO professional to get the job done - the final question is, will it all be worth it?

SEO has proven to be of high value to those who have been patient and strategic which has resulted into them receiving high-converting keywords. Make sure you have got a functional, good-looking website that your customers would prefer to spend time on once they have landed on the homepage (here’s a list of some essential plugins for WordPress sites to help you with).  

As the facts stand today, mobile search have surpassed desktop search which has led to major search engines such as Google to develop mobile search as the future in all of its products. In response, many brands are beginning to take a different approach to their internet strategies. Hence, make sure you know your market before you invest your energies into the evolving world of SEOs.

Which WordPress Themes are Good for SEO?

No matter what type of WordPress website you're creating, it's important to think about SEO from the get-go. First order of business: choose the right theme. 

Just a decade ago, most website owners wouldn't ever have tried to do SEO on their own. It was just all so new, so risky, and so complicated. Plus, webmasters back then didn't have access to all the great tools that you have today.

Luckily for you those days are over, and you have a world of resources at your fingertips: beginning with your choice of WordPress theme. There are dozens of small choices you can make to improve the odds you'll eventually get traffic for your new website (or increase traffic for an existing one), so don't fall for the common misconception that all you have to do in the way of SEO is post tons of content. If that's all you plan on doing, you will most likely never see any meaningful increase in traffic whatsoever.

These days, the way to do SEO right is to make use of all the SEO resources available to you, starting with the right WordPress theme. There's an amazing plethora of SEO-optimized WordPress themes out there, for the taking, and all you have to do is figure out how to identify which ones they are.

With that in mind, here's how to tell which WordPress themes are good for SEO.

What Makes a Good WordPress Theme for SEO?

First things first: any theme designer can claim that his theme is "SEO-friendly" but there's no governing body of regulators out there policing their claims or setting standards or anything like that. Nope, it's up to you to know whether a theme is truly SEO-friendly.

To help you with that, here's a short list of criteria that any good WP theme should have in order to help your website first appear, then rank in the search engines.

1. Content SEO

A good theme will offer on-page SEO capabilities that help the search engines find and learn about your website through the text that you enter. This text includes not only what you write on your pages, but also the text that appears in the following places on your website:

• Meta Information
• Page Text that's not Content
• Navigation

Any WordPress theme that allows you easy control of all these elements is good for SEO.

Meta information is snippets of identifying text that describes each individual page on your website, as well as your website in general. Think of your meta information as road signs for search engines. Things like title tags, meta descriptions, meta keywords, meta tags etc. count heavily in whether or not search engines find and favor your site.

Page text that's not content: your sitemap is important,  and a sitemap shows all your important pages and website sections. It's also a good idea top to put Image ALT tags on all your images, and to include link title tags as well. Basically, the more "labels" on all your website elements, the better.

Navigation elements: having "breadcrumbs" on your site is also considered to be SEO-friendly because they help users understand the layout of your site. Your menus are also important: they should work fast, they should be easy to understand, and you should have full control over them, including colors and visual effects.

2. Technical SEO & User Experience

Besides the text-based SEO indicators on your website, there are also other characteristics that make it liked or disliked by the search engines. These traits have more to do with how your website behaves.

You see, search engines increasingly favor websites that give users a good experience - and that's not limited to whether they find good content that's relevant to their searches. It also has to do with how long they have to wait before a page loads, for example. Or whether they can view your website on all their devices ("responsive"), including phones ("mobile-friendly").

1. Fast-loading
2. Responsive
3. Mobile-Friendly
4. Clean code
5. Advanced formatting options
6. AdSense integration
7. Natively optimized for the search engines

Now for a Few Good Examples...

Check these out, since they meet a majority of the criteria for an SEO-friendly theme (plus they're absolutely gorgeous).

1. Divi Theme. https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/
2. Schema Theme. https://mythemeshop.com/themes/schema/
3. SociallyViral Theme: https://mythemeshop.com/themes/sociallyviral/
4. Coni-pro Theme: https://www.quemalabs.com/theme/coni-pro/
5. SEO WP Theme: https://themeforest.net/item/seo-wp-online-marketing-seo-social-media-agency/8012838?s_rank=1

Finally, Don't Forget About SEO Plugins

WordPress plugins are a huge part of what makes WordPress the best SEO-friendly CMS platform in the world. There are hundreds, and many of them are designed to help WP users with the SEO on their sites.

Without a doubt, the top SEO plugin is Yoast. Yoast efficiently handles many of the criteria on the lists you've just read, including such features as helping you manage meta descriptions and post titles.

As for content, Yoast also provides a content analysis tool which lets you gauge the readability of your writing (short sentences rate high, as do sentences with "connecting words" like therefore).

There's much, much more that Yoast does, but we'll leave it at that since I know you don't have all day and I wanted to get in one more great SEO plugin before we clock out: WP Super Cache. This helps your site load faster. This, combined with a fast-loading WordPress theme, should get you all set up with a lightening-fast website that loads in a flash.

This brings us to one last criteria: the theme you choose should be updated and compatible with the plugins you need for good SEO.

Conclusion

There are so many WordPress themes in the world- handing you an "exhaustive" list is nearly impossible, especially since there are new themes every day (and old ones stop getting supported). The best thing you can do for yourself is to arm yourself with knowledge of what makes an SEO-friendly WordPress theme, then go out into the world and find one that suits you and which also meets all the criteria I've set out for you in this article. With that, I send you forth into the wild (I think you're ready!)... good luck with your website!

It doesn’t really take much for you to get your website up and running. However, every business owner will agree that marketing to get your voice heard in an already noisy and bustling online marketplace is perhaps the greatest challenge. If you are not careful, poor marketing tactics and techniques can cause your expenses to skyrocket, sending your hopes of earning big down the cliff through insufficient sales and early losses.

So, assuming you are reading this attentively enough to avoid this, here are 4 marketing techniques you need to master to achieve success.

1)   Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is easily considered the foundation of digital marketing and will form a crucial element in diverting traffic to your website for achieving high conversion rates. The crux of SEO is optimizing your content and website for search engines to influence high ranking results.

For this, you will need to stay updated with the latest SEO rules and criterion of Google and other search engines by paying attention to things such as the choice of keywords (short-tail and long-tail keywords), Meta-tags, Meta-descriptions, and link building. Also, you will need to evaluate how adaptive your website is on other platforms such as mobile and tablets to enable better search result responses.

2)   Pay-Per Click Advertising

Seeing that keywords are crucial for demanding attention from customers, you will also need to learn the ways of Pay-Per click advertising (PPC). In this advertising model, you bid for keywords that you consider being relevant for your target market or segment of customers and having it placed on different websites to direct customers to your website.

The higher the traffic to your website, the more customers get to know about your brand and the greater the likelihood that they will buy from your website. A good way to get started is to use Google AdWords. Simply create an account and get started with placing ads.

3)   Content Marketing

This is perhaps the fastest growing digital marketing tool used by businesses to expand their global outreach and maximize their customer base. Content in the form of text, images, and video, are increasingly utilized to create brand awareness and gauge customer responses about their preferences and dislikes.

Content marketing is focused on building credibility of your brand through blogs, videos, and other engaging content. For it to work, the content does not only need to be relevant, but also specific to the particular market segment or group of customers.

More importantly, content needs to be SEO friendly; otherwise, you will not be able to maximize your reach. A perfect content marketing tool for your website could be a WordPress blog hosted of course, by us.

4)   Email Marketing

Email marketing is more commonly used by B2B businesses to influence repeat buying and customer engagement, but is equally applicable for B2C companies. With email marketing, you can send weekly newsletters and keep customers updated with recent promotions and new products and services. Also, if you cater to multiple customer profiles and groups, you can create segmented lists and build effective networking and customer relationships specific to their individual needs and preferences.

Good news for all new and existing FastWebHost customers! We now offer SEO enriched Web Hosting addition tools with all cPanel based accounts.

This new SEO service is being offered as a partnership with industry leader, Attracta.  FastWebHost will now offer all of Attracta’s SEO tools and benefits to its customers as a cPanel Plugin. The basic version comes Free of cost and our customers can choose to upgrade for paid versions.

Why use Attracta ?

-  A proven SEO tool - Gives better placement on Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines.

- A Free do it yourself SEO solution that requires no Search Engine Optimization knowledge or techincal qualifications to use

- Easy to manage tool which can be accessed by logging into cPanel control panel account.

- Automate tedious SEO tasks and procedures with few clicks

- Ability to upgrade for paid options

As a cheap cPanel web hosting provider, FastWebHost firmly believes this new partnership with Attracta will enable will enable our clients to get better placement in Google and other major engines with low marketing costs.