Best Practices for Guest Blog Writing

NDEO proudly features a broad range of guest blog posts written by our membership. These posts are diverse in subject matter, perspective, and writing style. However, blog writing tends to differ from other kinds of writing. Generally, blog posts are designed to be easily consumable for readers using computers or mobile devices. Paragraphs and sentences are generally short and easy to read. Sections are broken up using headings and subheadings, and bullet points or lists are commonly employed tools. In addition, blog writers use specific techniques to ensure that their posts are easily found via search engines like Google - a process called search engine optimization. To help get your blog post to rank higher in online search results, you are encouraged to utilize some of the following tips!

Consider Your Keywords

One of the best ways to get optimal placement in search engine results is to use keywords. Keywords are words or short phrases used frequently throughout your post that help search engines understand what your post is about. Keywords should match words and phrases that users are entering into search engines. Consider the essence of what your blog post is about and try to distill it down to a keyword or phrase, like “tips for jazz dance teachers,” or “student-centered choreography.” Try to include this word or phrase, and closely related variations on it, many times throughout your blog post. This will help your post register with search engines and help more readers find the valuable content that you are sharing!

Headings are helpful

Readers tend to have shorter attention spans when using online platforms like blogs compared to when reading other mediums. Headings keep readers engaged by allowing them to quickly see how your post is organized. They also help improve accessibility and search engine optimization. 

Break your post up into different subtopics, and label each section with a heading or subheading to help readers follow the flow of your writing. You can use the organization of this article as a model!

Avoid jargon when possible

Our readers come from across the dance education field, and include dance students, dance enthusiasts, and non-dancers as well. Not everyone will be familiar with terms that are specific to your area of expertise. In order to make your post accessible to a wide variety of audiences, it is helpful to use language that can be easily understood by a wide audience. 

Consider avoiding overly-specific or highly technical jargon if more accessible word choices will also communicate the same idea. Clearly define any genre-, sector-, or industry-specific terms that you use in the post. When in doubt, assume that readers will not be familiar with technical terminology related to your sector of the industry. 

If using acronyms, spell out the full name first, then list in acronym in parenthesis the first time it appears in the post. For example, spell out“National Dance Education Organization (NDEO)” in your first paragraph. On future recurrences, you can use just the acronym.