Getting the Most Out of Your Blogging Experience
To ensure that your blog will generate the maximum search engine exposure while, at the same time, being of maximum value to your human readers, please follow the steps below (provided courtesy of Mike Samec):
1. Have your list of keywords that you have determined that you would like to rank for handy. Ideally, each individual blog entry should focus on a single keyword.
Example: if your site targets personal finance, you could write a blog post about how college students can deal with financial issues.
2. Try to work the keyword focus of the post (the subject you wish to write about) into the TITLE and into the Headline.
e.g. What college students can do to afford four years of school.
4. Blog entries should be approximately 200 words. However, occasionally, you can create a post as simple as, "I came across this article on how to afford room and board while away at college and thought it was worth a read." Try to make such posts more the exception than the rule. Keep in mind; it's better to generate even a short posting than none at all for a span of several weeks. If you aren't posting over long stretches of time, subscribers will assume that you are no longer blogging and will leave.
5. Use links with keyword rich anchor text within the body of the post.
bad link: for more about auto accidents, click here
good link: Here is more information about auto accidents
Note how the keyword is an active part of the link? That's important for SEO value. 'Click here' is redundant; most web users understand that blue, underlined text indicates an active link. Note also, the anchor/link text jumps off the page making it easy for readers to find at a glance. The additional words within the link appear natural and jump out of the middle of a long paragraph making life easier for the people who are just glancing through your pages to find exactly what they want.
You don't want every link of every page to be precisely the same (always "auto accidents" for example). Precise duplication becomes suspicious to search engines if overdone so, mix up words a little. For example,
auto accidents
information about auto accidents
auto accident law
auto accident injury
information about injuries caused in auto accident
…are all valid link text.
BONUS TIP: Adding a Link to your Blog:
The easiest way to add a link and to make sure that it is correct:
A. Open up 2 browser windows, one with your blog page and the second with the page that you want to link to.
B. Highlight the URL in the address bar of the page you want to link to and select CTR+C (for PC) on your keyboard.
C. Return to your blog page, click inside the posting entry space and type the text you want to be the link/anchor text.
D. Highlight the text and click the button LINK on the blog toolbar.
E. On your keyboard, select CTR+V, then click OK. If you look at the HTML code, You'll see a bunch of code that looks like <a href=www.site.com <http://www.site.com/>>text</a>. Switch from HTML mode back to VISUAL mode and you'll see the link as it will appear to your readers. Make sure that you don’t have http:// entered twice or the link will not work.
F. I suggest clicking on the link to see that it works properly.
6. Include the keyword(s) at the beginning, middle and end of your post assuming you have enough room. Don't force it.
bad example: financial planners are financial planners who focus on finances and who help people figure out their finances and financial problems (keyword: finances)
good example: Finances are an aspect of life that we all must learn to manage. But with so many choices and with so many ways one can lose all their hard earned wages, financial planning may be the way to go. Financial planners can help manage debt, plan for future expenditures such as home buying or college tuition and to plan for retirement. Create a financial plan and take control of your future.
7. Call to action. Your website has a purpose; be sure to tell people, once they have read your post, what next step they should take. Don't beat them over the head with it. It should be a suggestion. Blog readers don’t respond well to hard-sell tactics. Don't add a call to act EVERY time you post. Try to weave it into the text as a natural outcome of the post
-Above text courtesy of Michael Samec |
