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How to Optimize your Blog Posts for SEO

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SEO for Blogging

When you have a website or blog that represents your brand and business, optimizing it for SEO, also known as search engine optimization is highly recommended to find success online. Search engine optimization helps to improve your website’s overall visibility within search engines such as Yahoo!, Bing and even Google to increase the number of visitors and page views your sit receives on a regular basis. Optimizing your blog for SEO purposes allows you to appear more professional while expanding your current viewing audience and potential followers or customers.

Using a CMS (Content Management System)

Launching a blog may seem overwhelming, especially when you are not familiar with programming or even coding in basic HTML and CSS. Using a free CMS (content management system) such as WordPress, Joomla or even Drupal is a way for you to create a professional website that can easily be optimized for SEO purposes. Systems such as WordPress are ideal for both individual bloggers as well as those who are looking to launch a website to represent a corporate business or entity. WordPress is highly-developed to incorporate SEO already, allowing you to launch any type of blog that can rise in the search engine rankings much quicker than a hand-coded website.

Selecting the Right Keywords

Conducting market research to find the most important and trending keywords in your industry is highly recommended before you begin to format your blog, add new posts or edit any titles and meta tags you choose to include. Understanding the most popular keywords in your niche and industry will help you with the format of your blog and the type of content you produce to attract a specific market of potential virtual followers and online consumers.

Proper Sub-Headings

Using sub-headings and bold headlines when you publish content including relevant keywords and phrases for your industry will help search engines to discover your website while adding your pages into the search engines themselves automatically. The more relevant your content is to the entire purpose of your website and its name, the easier it will become for others to locate your site when searching for the information you have published and posted.

Avoid Spamming Keywords

When you are attempting to optimize your blog for SEO purposes, avoid using the same keywords repeatedly within the content you publish. Adding keywords too frequently within a post can ultimately lead to getting “blacklisted”, or removed entirely from well-known search engines, ridding all potential traffic that could have been generated from the search engines’ results. Be sure to add keywords into your articles sparingly and only when they fit.

Meta Descriptions, Tags and Titles

It is also important to properly title your blog along with each piece of content you plan to publish online. Adding in meta descriptions, tags and titles can be done within the header file of your blog to ensure that your website is properly named and can be searched for using keywords you deem the most fitting. Implementing tags, keywords and titles can be done within minutes and will change how search engines pick up on your site.

 

Guest Posting 101: A Beginner’s Guide

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Guest Post Help

Whether you are starting a new blog or looking to boost traffic for your existing blog, guest blogging is a valuable tool. Guest blogging is when a writer is allowed to post an article or story on a host’s website. It’s a mutually beneficial opportunity that allows the guest blogger to gain exposure and possibly take advantage of the host blog’s traffic to create links back to their own blog. It also allows the host blog to take a break from posting content, gain a unique perspective and possibly even benefit from the future growth of the guest blogger’s own blog.

Here are some essential tips for those looking to get started with guest blogging.

Identify Blogs Accepting Guest Blogging

If you are writing for a niche or specific topic, you might want to identify some of the well-known or high-traffic blogs in that area. This could be as simple as entering appropriate keywords in a search engine and seeing what blogs are returned high in the results. High SEO ranking is likely reserved to the high-traffic blogs. These would be your targets for guest blogging as they would provide you with the greatest exposure and back linking traffic.

You could also refer to directories that provide lists of sites accepting guest blogs. One such directory is BloggersPassion. There are others out there. It’s better to first confirm that a host blog is seeking submittals before wasting too much of your time and theirs contacting them.

Pitch Your Blog via Direct Emails

It’s important when emailing the blogger that you demonstrate an understanding of their content or niche. You should also make the request personable. If it seems like a canned or spam-like request, it will likely not be accepted and could wind up in their spam folder. Do a little homework in advance and come up with several possible topics that the blogger can choose from that would fit well. Make sure you are not duplicating content that’s already on the blog. Remember they want a unique perspective. When soliciting a guest blogging opportunity, you should also provide samples or links to some of your past work for the host blogger to reference so they can see your writing style.

Write Quality Posts

This may go without saying but the guest blogging strategy will not work unless you are producing unique, valuable, quality content that both readers and the host bloggers will appreciate. As mentioned earlier, much of the value in guest blogging will come from your unique perspective. Additionally, providing top-notch posts will result in having to exert much less effort in marketing your guest blogs in the future. Blog owners will welcome and possibly even solicit your articles if they prove to be of high-quality and demonstrate an ability to generate a lot of traffic for the host sites.

Be Sure to Provide Links Back to Your Own Site or Blog

Guest blogging will provide valuable back linking opportunities that will boost your traffic and also your SEO. Search engines look for the kind of organic traffic that will come from any readers who click on your link from the guest blog to your site. It will boost your ranking and possibly provide new subscribers to your blog or website.

Guest blogging is a mutually beneficial opportunity when executed properly. The readers win by getting your valuable content, the host blog gets free valuable content and you get exposure and hopefully increased traffic.

 

Most Common Blog Formatting Mistakes You Should Avoid

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Blogging can be a great way to continually engage customers and keep them up to date with product changes or promotional sales. But in order to make your blog easy to read and a good experience for your followers and for any potential readers, you need to avoid several formatting blunders that can make you lose the reader. These errors include:

Tiny Font Size

Nothing will keep readers away like an excessively small font. If your blog is written with a font that is too small, it can cause readers to squint and focus hard to read it. This is uncomfortable and can cause them headaches and eye strain. No one’s going to become a regular reader if they have to continually lean in to figure out what you’re writing. In order to keep your readers, make sure your font is large enough to comfortably read. Make sure you test it on several different browsers to troubleshoot. Stick with a basic font as well – some computers and browsers can’t process different font types.

Lack of Paragraphs

Another common blog formatting blunder is lack of paragraphs. This is where the entire blog or a very large portion of it is just a chunk of text with no spaces. This is tedious and difficult to read, and many readers will lose interest in reading something formatted like this. Paragraphs with spaces between them are needed to help keep the interest of readers and to make the overall look of the website better. Studies have shown that most people skim what they find online and don’t actually read the entire article – so breaking your piece up with subheadings, bulleted or numbered lists and paragraphs will help them find exactly what they need quickly.

Way Too Many Formatting Types

When your blog is full of underlined text, italics, and bold text in almost every sentence, it can give your blog a choppy, ugly look. Doing this can really muddle the tone and mood of your article, and it’s hard for readers to smoothly read. To keep your readers and attract more, make sure to use italics, bold, and underlined text sparingly.

Overuse of Caps Lock

When blogging, it’s common for people to express their emotions or opinions on a matter in a strong way. A lot of bloggers may be tempted to overuse caps lock when trying to express themselves. This is not a good idea. Paragraphs full of uppercase letters take a lot longer to read, and reading a blog full of uppercase letters can even exasperate people as some of the anger or energy of the blog are unfortunately transferred to the reader. You can easily express yourself in any way without having to overuse caps lock.

Poor Choice of Text Color

Blogging is an enjoyable experience, and you should make sure reading the blog is just as enjoyable. Your readers don’t need to be attacked by a bright, neon color as bright as the sun. Don’t make your blog’s background any excessively bright colors, and don’t have text a bright or neon color, either. Moreover, text and background color need to work well together instead of fighting each other. For instance, avoid having white text on a bright yellow background; that will be almost impossible to read, and it’ll look unattractive as well.

Your blog should be a place where you can express yourself and connect with readers. In order to make their experience enjoyable and to keep more readers, avoid these common formatting blunders.

How to Create A Content Publishing Schedule

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Creating a content publishing schedule is fast, easy and a flat-out smart move. When most new bloggers, vloggers and other content distributors start producing, they aren’t familiar with the ebb and flow of Internet traffic. They don’t realize that even though the Internet is active at every hour of every day, traffic is likely to come at specific times. What’s more is that a publishing schedule allows a clear window for planning and preparation while simultaneously persuading viewers to check for new content. The power of habit is far more likely to create regular viewers than erratic, sporadic and wishy washy uploads. Creating a schedule takes much of the uncertainty out of updates for the end-user, and the process of doing so couldn’t be more simple.

Decide When and How Often to Upload

The first step in creating a successful content strategy is to develop a baseline schedule for uploads. This schedule does not have to be tailored to viewers preferences or traffic spikes, but it does need to be strict. Some writers, bloggers and vloggers will pick two or three days out of the week, while others will simply upload content on a daily basis. It’s good to have a specific time in mind as well, as this helps with setting goals, staying on task and creating an eager fan base. This also helps you avoid writers block.

Carefully Manage and Watch the Success of Content

Once a basic schedule has been created, it’s time to start tinkering with it in order to better suit the viewers. If analytic data shows that peak traffic happens between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., be sure to have the content ready before then.

Always consider how much time it will take to keep up with the new content publishing schedule. If each article, video or other form of content takes between four and six hours to produce, a three-per-week schedule demands 12 to 18 hours of time. This is the hidden side of content production; most people do not realize that it is as demanding as any part time job. It must be properly managed if it is going to produce any worthwhile results.

It’s also important to consider what viewers prefer to see. If most viewers are watching vlogs and few are reading written material, it’s probably a wise decision to invest more time in video production and less in writing.

Make Small Adjustments to Distribution Schedule

Once a new schedule is squared away, the process of creating the content publishing system is about as done as it can be for the time being. What’s crucial at this point is to pay careful attention to notable trends, sharp drops or spikes in regular traffic and common requests made by viewers. At this stage, the majority of work towards the schedule itself should merely be focused on fine-tuning all content to better fit the needs of regular traffic. This will create an optimum experience for the user, and that means more viewers will be likely to stick around for the long haul and become free word-of-mouth advertising. Long-term subscribers are one of the cornerstones of many online success stories.

How to Create a Blog Management Strategy

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Blog

Come Up With a System That Works For You

Blogs serve a multitude of purposes, and each one has a specific audience that needs to be engaged and hooked into visiting over the course of time. Managing blogs requires a lot of hands-on attention as well as a serious time commitment. Many blogs fail because they are not consistently updated, content becomes stale or advertising and marketing strategies become annoyances to the reader.

There is no single approach to managing blogs that will work for everyone, and it is important to develop a strategy that is based on your preferences and expectations. However, considering some basic principles can be very helpful as you develop a strategy that will work best for you and your overall goals.

Purpose, Focus and Consistency

Examining the purpose of any blog is the first step towards creating a personalized system that will promote success. Readers tend to visit blogs because they contain information about a particular niche. Readers tend to become followers when content is relevant, engaging, informative and interesting.

Develop a posting schedule that readers can follow. Consistent updates can add to the credibility and authority of a blog while also building a loyal following. You can write, obtain or prepare content in advance and schedule them to be posted at a particular time in the future. This will help you to manage your time effectively while also ensuring that your blog is always fresh and predictable.

Pay Attention to Stats

Statistics contain a wealth of information that can help tailor a blog to match the interests of the audience. Note the days and times when more people are visiting, and look at what posts generate more views or comments. This will help you to tailor your blog around the habits and interests of the readers.

Monitoring the performance of your blog will help you to focus your time and effort in more productive and efficient ways. Giving readers more of what they want can only serve to improve the quality and effectiveness of the blog while reducing the amount of time that you spend on preparing content.

Quality Control Is Important

Quality control is an essential component to effective blog management. Reviewing feedback, testing widgets and other extras to ensure they are not causing problems or annoying readers is essential. Blogs that are slow to load, frequently crash or overwhelm visitors with advertisements and banners can be counterproductive.

Keeping an eye on quality will help you to give the reader what they want while also serving your purposes as well. Choose extras that are easy to work with and manage, but make sure that you are incorporating features into the blog that users will appreciate and value.

Your blog must be continually nurtured and tweaked in order to give readers what they want while accomplishing your goals as well. Consistency, quality and viewer engagement are all essential components to effective blog management. Make a schedule, be organized and remember that some trial and error is necessary in order to crate the ideal system that will work for you.

Creative Ways to Improve Your Content

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If you were to ask yourself whether or not your favorite blog frequently has boring or dull content, the answer would probably be a resounding “no.” Instead, your favorite blogs are your favorites because they consistently put forth interesting and memorable content.

It may seem frustrating to be told to put forth more interesting content but not have a clear concept of how to do this. To help you improve your blog’s content – and thereby improve its readership – here are some creative ways to improve your content.

Content

Look at What’s Trending

We aren’t saying that you should steal titles and write an article that fits. In fact, this usually looks like a cheap ploy to get views, and that’s typically exactly what it is. Instead, look at trending topics on Yahoo! or Google. Without looking at what any other bloggers have chosen to write about within these topics, instead take the trending topic and create a completely and original article about it. This ensures that you are not only hitting a popular keyword and topic, but adding something completely unique and original to the overall conversation.

Relationships with Other Bloggers Matter

You might already understand that relationships with other bloggers are essential for trading links and the like, but you might not understand how relationships with other bloggers can be useful for creating creative content. One of the best ways to create unique content is to request that your blogger friends do a guest post for your blog. This is a brilliant way to add something unique – something that will be out of the ordinary for your regular readers. Naturally, it is customary to write a guest post for your friend’s blog in exchange for theirs.

Create Something Worth Sharing

Next time you’re on Facebook or Twitter, really look at the articles that your friends are sharing. The most popular articles – as in, the ones that get shared the most – are the lists and the posts that contain image macros. Don’t think that putting up a few blogs like this will turn you into a cliché. Find a unique way to make the concept of creating these lists unique. For example, if you run a website about gourmet cooking, toss up a post on the top ten non-gourmet foods that even the most snobby foodies love, accompanied by some funny pictures of kittens in a kitchen. You’ll find that people are eager to share these types of posts on Facebook and Twitter.

Take a cue from professional writers and comedians and always have a notepad with you to scribble down ideas for posts when you’re on the go. Your most inspired ideas will rarely come to you when you’re sitting down to write a new article or blog post. The most important thing to remember, besides being original, is to be consistent. Every single post you put on your blog won’t be legendary, but if you keep at it, more and more will start to be.

What is My Ideal Blog Posting Frequency?

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It may seem like finding an ideal publishing schedule for your blog posts is a problem that only new bloggers have. In fact, many seasoned bloggers still struggle with balancing their posting schedules. Often bloggers will attempt to hold themselves to an impossible goal, then find themselves feeling burned out and guilty when they can’t keep up with their own high standards.

So how do you find that posting sweet spot? How often you post will depend on your niche, your audience, your schedule, and your abilities.

Think About Yourself

Bloggers who first start out have tons of ideas for topics to write about. That’s great! But eventually, your ideas will come less smoothly. You might find yourself fighting writer’s block. Even if you’re churning out tons of great posts, pace yourself!

Many bloggers think that they should post every day. In fact, unless you are a news source, there is no reason why you should have to post daily. Think about it – do your readers even have time to read your blog every single day? Probably not. Even if you have the time to write and publish posts daily now, will you have the time in the future? Experienced bloggers generally say that they feel burned out if they try to post daily.

So if you are able to write posts every day right now, save some of those posts for later. Concentrate instead on promoting old posts rather than creating new content.

Think About Your Audience

We’ve already said that it’s unlikely that your readers will be able to visit your blog daily. Try to predict how often they might return. Ask the people you know personally when they are able to read your posts – do they read them as soon as you notify your fans on social media that you published something new? Do they save the post for their morning commute, lunch break, or the quiet time before bed? Do they randomly check in with your blog when they realize that they haven’t heard from you in a while?

Checking your blog’s analytics and when you receive comments could also give you some insight on when your readers visit your blog, how long they stay, and how many posts they read at once. For instance, if you know readers visit multiple pages in one sitting, you probably don’t need to post more frequently than you are currently. If readers come from social media and only read one post, it is unlikely you will overwhelm them with content, though you should also concentrate on making each post as engaging as possible.

This may also depend on the kinds of posts you’re publishing. Recipes, for example, can be posted more frequently than a how-to tutorial on creating something more complicated. A long, serious post that makes your reader think on a deeper level should be posted more sparingly than short, light-hearted posts. You can definitely burn out yourself trying to write too many posts, but you can also exhaust your reader.

What posting methods have brought you the best response from your readers?

Increase Your Traffic with a Blog Series

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During your blogging adventures, you may have wondered if you should create a blog series. A “blog series” is essentially a group of posts that cover one topic over a space of time. For example, you might see a blog series entitled “10 Ways to Make a Little Extra Cash this Holiday Season” or something similar.

There can be a lot of benefits to a blog series.

  • You don’t have to think of brand new content for a while.
  • Readers are more likely to stay on your page as they browse through every post in the series.
  • They’re generally pretty popular.
  • They help establish your expertise in an area.
  • It really helps with SEO as you begin to dominate a few keywords.
  • It gives readers a reason to keep coming back to your blog as you continue to publish new posts in the series.

Overall, it can be a really great method to improve traffic and SEO. But it can also take a lot of planning and work. Be aware that are you committing to somewhat of a long-term project when taking on a blog series.

So how do you get started?

  1. Pick a topic that you have a lot of expertise in. Make sure it’s something that you have a lot to say about. If it could easily fit all into one post, then maybe you shouldn’t spread it out over multiple posts.
  2. Plan it all out! Try to come up with titles or areas of focus for each post in the series. This can help you organize the time period and frequency in which you will be posting as well. Creating a timeline or scheduling a calendar can help you to stay on track.
  3. Start publicizing your future series. You can do this by asking your fans on social mediaquestions pertaining to the topic you’re discussing in the series. You can also announce the series to build up excitement. Some bloggers also suggest creating contests or hashtags for your series, but this will depend on you.
  4. Write and publish! Remember that you’ll want each post in the series to be consistent and cohesive. Titles should relate to each other and formats should be the same. You may even want the pictures to follow a similar formula.
  5. Give your readers a way to find other posts in the series surrounding each one. A “previous” and “next” button or link at the bottom and top of each post is a good idea. You could also create a button for your sidebar that will link to a table of contents for the entire series.
  6. Continue to publicize!

Running a blog series will be different for each blogger depending on your audience, the size of your blog, your chosen topic, and even more factors.

What type of blog series have you created? What have you learned on the way?

Sources:

Saddington, John. “How To: Create a Blog Post Series and Why You Need Them!”http://john.do/blog-series/. (30 Oct. 2013).

Thompson, Kirsten. “How to Create a Successful Blog Series.” http://www.sverve.com/blog/how-to-create-a-successful-blog-series/. (30 Oct. 2013).

9 Ideas for Promoting Your Blog IRL (In Real Life)

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Oftentimes, bloggers get lost in the cyber world and forget that they can promote their blog offline. It’s easy to get caught up in social media, commenting on other blogs, and other promoting activities that can be done from your comfy couch. However, there’s a lot you can do in real life to help your blog gain traffic.

  1. Spread the word to friends and family. Ask them to comment on your blog, share posts, and like your social media accounts. You can also ask friends to guest post or interview them for a post as an added incentive to get them to share.
  2. Tell others you know who might be interested. If you’re a part of clubs or hobby groups, share with them.
  3. If you aren’t a part of any hobby groups, create one for local bloggers. Host gatherings so you can all get to know each other. Help each other out with advice or ask questions. You don’t need to see other bloggers as competition!
  4. Use some “old-fashioned” marketing methods, such creating materials to go with your blog. T-shirts, bumper stickers, pens, calendars, business cards, stickers, etc. can be easy to create, produce, and hand out. Create a QR code (a type of barcode that can be scanned using various smart phone apps) to put on all of your products.
  5. Put up brochures or fliers on community bulletin boards, such as in coffee shops or on college campuses. Just make sure you get the right permission before slapping it on there!
  6. Attend conferences or events relevant to your blogging topic. Mingle with other enthusiasts to share via word of mouth.
  7. Inform any local businesses or attractions that might be the subject of your blog. You can shoot them a quick email with a link, or print it out so they can hang it on the wall of their establishment. Local businesses or events will welcome the free publicity.
  8. Write for a local newspaper or magazine. Offline publications are a great way to share your expertise, your voice, and your blog!
  9. Find local podcasts or radio shows. Ask to be a guest! You can get yourself interviewed or share your expertise.

What are some ways that you promote your blog offline?

Sources:

Cummings, Eric. “9 Ways to Promote Your Blog Offline.” http://www.dailyblogtips.com/9-more-way-to-promote-your-blog-offline/. (4 Nov. 2013).

Ovsyannykov, Igor. “Promote Your Blog Offline: 5 Ways to Use the Real World for Virtual Gain.”http://inspirationfeed.com/articles/blogging/promote-your-blog-offline-5-ways-to-use-the-real-world-for-virtual-gain/. (4 Nov. 2013).

“Easy Ways to promote your blog in the real world.” http://tycoonblogger.com/promoting-your-blog/easy-ways-to-promote-your-blog-in-the-real-world. (4 Nov. 2013).

How to Manage Multiple Contributors to Your Blog Without Losing Your Mind

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Adding on new authors to your blog can be very beneficial – you share the burden of creating fresh content with other people. New voices and perspectives can be appealing to your audience. But like with any group project, things can get complicated pretty quickly. Without some forethought and organization, this brilliant idea can turn into a terrible disaster.

Come up with a strategy

Before your new authors start posting, meet up with them; this can be in person or through Skype. Discuss your goals with the blog and why you wanted more contributors. Decide now the duties of each new person, including social media posting, responding to emails and comments, approaching potential sponsors, web design, etc. Don’t leave any stones unturned when it comes to the responsibilities of managing a blog.

When major companies begin creating their online presence, they first discuss and create a plan. They talk about the voice of the company, the tone of all posts, and other aspects that have to do with their branding. This is something you should imitate when talking to your blog contributors. You may decide to have different voices and tones for each author, but whatever you do, discuss it before you start posting.

Create a process

Does every post need to be proof-read and cleared by at least one other blogger? Do you all need to read it before publication? What’s the format required for each blog post? How do you decide on topics to write about?

Before you start publishing with new authors, it may seem like the process will run itself. However, if you don’t streamline now, problems will arise in the future. What if two bloggers accidentally write about the same topic? What if you disagree with something another author has already published? Decide now how things are going to run after all the authors begin posting.

Organize!

With so many people on one blog, organization is the key to holding it all together. Create editorial calendars and decide who is posting when. Use either Google Docs or Dropbox to save and share your rough drafts. WordPress has many different plugins that can help systemize the process. Remember that it is important to post regularly, both for Google’s SEO spiders and for your returning visitors. Also make sure that you have a way of contacting each of the contributors. With blogging, your relationship will exist mostly online – grab Skype accounts, email addresses, and phone numbers in case there is a blog emergency.

Sources:

“3 Ways to Manage Multiple Authors and Administrators on Your Blog.” http://publishers-blog.helloreverb.com/3-ways-to-manage-multiple-authors-and-administrators-on-your-blog/. (8 Nov. 2013).