When it comes to developing a blog strategy, it’s best to take a step back and think of the 5Ws. Yes, the ones you were taught way back in grammar school.  Whenever I’m creating a new overall blog strategy for a client, or crafting a new blog post to reach a specific demo, I try to – at least in my head – think about:

Who is this blog going to target?

What am I going to share that will attract my target?

When does this need to be executed in terms of a timeline?

Where do you think they will be accessing this medium? On their computer, out on their phone?

Why do they even want my information?

How can I best get them to act?

When users hit the search engines, they’re typically in-route to find an answer to their questions.  By addressing the 5Ws hopefully have an understanding of your reader and better equipped to answer their questions. Even if you don’t know what that question might be.

Questions are often derived from time sensitive data

An understanding the 5W’s is key when it comes to search engine strategy.  As SEO consultants, we try our best to think like search engines think our reader thinks. (Complicated, I know.)

For example, let’s say we’re trying to reach a targeted demographic of Chicago music fans.  We need to ask ourselves, what would a music fan want to use the internet to find.  Maybe they’re seeking:

• Concert Listings
• Features on artists
• New music releases

Two of the above examples have a “deadlines”, concerts and albums.  Locally, both happen on one given day of the year and your blog readers are looking for when that day might be. For fear they might miss it.  By providing them with the information they’re seeking, we’re essentially able to reach them through our blog strategy with calendars and posts containing the time data.

Now, once you attract them into your domain, it’s a whole other strategy to keep them.