How To Achieve Search Engine Optimization For Blogs
admin Even though there are many reasons why one might blog, there are two principal uses to which blogging is lending widespread help – one is to game Google Adsense and the other is to game the search engines to get better rankings.
As blogs are recognized by search engines as small bits of information which are updated on a regular basis, blogs get quite a lot of preference in the search results.
Thus, after you understand this, your next question must be how you could optimize your own blog to help it get better search engine rankings.
Based on the service which you use, there are some basics that you could make use of. WordPress is the top blogging platform. If you desire to have an advantage with search engine optimization (SEO), then you should go ahead with WordPress, since RSS is fully integrated into Wordpress. For that reason, your blog will be indexed faster into the search engines.
If you’re new to blogs, you should know that blogs are not very different from other websites. Blogs are considered powerful in the search engine ranking world because of the frequency with which posts are made on blogs. Search engines will actively spider the site which it sees to have about one post every day or at least three posts every week. And if your blog is associated with some topic which is a hot subject of discussion on the Internet, then it’ll be boosted quite easily on the ranking charts.
If your blog is such that it makes business leads and helps build customer relationships, it is imperative that you optimize your blog. This article will outline some easy ways you can do that.
Firstly, you have to understand that once you learn how search engine optimization works, you will have no problems optimizing your own blog. If you know how to optimize a website, it’ll be easier, as some of the guidelines are the same. For instance, when optimizing blogs, you have to use the keywords and keyword phrases very often, but always aptly. These keywords should also be included into the titles and the URL. And moreover, it is recommended that you have links to about twenty of your archived posts on the main page of your blog. Ensure that the titles do incorporate your keywords.
The most important constituent of the blog is not just the keywords but also the pertinence and relevance of the content. It is relevant content which is going to draw readers and the search engines. This naturally means that the content of your blog must be interesting, innovative and well-informed. When your readers like your blog and add comments and also links to your blog, this actually helps to improve the search ability of your blog’s content. Your blog’s content should be concentrated on some key issues important to you, and it must be fresh and interesting.
One more thing which is essential for blogs is that its content should be up to date. Just like you don’t want to read backdated news in a newspaper, you don’t want to read old stuff on blogs either. Marketing and advertising experts call this ‘hot content’. It will be pointless if you copy and paste content from popular blogs or websites because the search engines will completely ignore whatever you come up with. And even if your blog does get indexed in the search engines, you will simply get a complaint as your content is actually someone else’s. The means to hot content is originality.
On the blogging page, your content will be arranged in the reverse chronological order, and thus, you just have to have new and original content. The most current post will be placed on top of the page and will be followed by other posts which were made right before this one.
Blogs are wonderful due to their viral nature which allows them to be distributed for free through an Atom, RSS or XML feed which enables readers to subscribe to a blogger’s entries just like they would do for a newsletter or magazine. This channels repeat business to your blog and thus, also raises chances of affiliate marketers picking up and spreading affiliate links inside your blog.
When designing your blog, select two to four colors and one or two fonts and stick to them. The nicest sites are minimalist. If you use too many colors and fonts, your blog will look amateurish and unprofessional. Try and choose colors which match the topic of your blog, such as, grays and blues for blogs of a political, technical or authoritative nature, and pinks and whites for a blog about baby showers and weddings, etc. Your blog will convey a feel of respect and professionalism if your fonts are classic and small. It would be wise for you to choose Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana or Bookman. Short, squat and large fonts will make your blog look less impressive. Plus, you should use fonts which are present on other people’s computers which will enable them to read your page. If their computers can’t read your page, then your site will be put on a default font which might make your blog’s layout go awry and make it look unattractive. The common fonts which computers can read are Arial, Verdana, Times Roman, Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino and Tahoma. Make your blog’s layout simple to prevent any misalignment on others’ computers.
You should definitely not use the black hat SEO method of making your keywords the same color as a web page. Search engine spiders are aware of this technique and you’ll be penalized for it.
You should try and ask owners of others blogs which complement your blog to link exchange with you. Search engines will promote popular sites and improve their rankings. Thus, when more blogs link to yours, you have higher chances of finding favor with the search engines.
You could use paid advertising to increase traffic to your blog. Some commercial blog service sites could generate traffic for you. You have to turn that into repeat readers who will create extra word-of-mouth traffic for your site.
The most widespread method of popularizing your regular content is through social marketing. Actually, for blogs (and even for websites), social marketing is becoming the de-facto method of link building and a fool proof method to generate enormous amounts of targeted traffic. Above all, social marketing is totally free and you don’t need to spend even a penny.
The most popular social marketing and news sites are Digg, Propeller, Stumble Upon, Newsvine. If your blog is specific to Internet Marketing, then, PlugIM is also an excellent choice.
You may download and read the highly acclaimed free ebook Authority Black Book to learn how to market, monetize and exponentially increase free targeted traffic to blogs.
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Tags: authority black book, blog traffic, link building, search engine optimization for blogs, seo for blogs
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3 Responses to “How To Achieve Search Engine Optimization For Blogs”
By
Richard Day (Who am I?) on Jan 8, 2008 | Reply
This is a very informative artice. Straight and to the point. For someone who is just getting started, this was very helpful. thanks
By
Nick (Who am I?) on Jan 10, 2008 | Reply
I agree with Richard wholeheartedly.
The only suggestion that I have is that it might have been broken down into 2 or 3 parts rather than this one lengthy piece.
“Heavy!”
By
Raj (Who am I?) on Jan 10, 2008 | Reply
Hi Richard / Nick,
Thanks for your positive comments.
And, Nick, thanks for your suggestion too.
Raj