Blog To Great

Adding Photos to Your Blog Posts

Blog Tips-  You've written another great blog post in your blog's niche.  What can you do now to make the post more interesting and better for SEO purposes?  Why not add a photo, artwork or video to the post?  Using other media in your post will not only improve your the blog's presentation, it helps keep the reader interested and can help you get more traffic.

In addtion to using your own photos (always have your camera handy), one of the best places to get some image help is Google.  Enter your keyword, and click search image. Go to the site pointed by google, right click, and save as...  Make sure to name the image with something appropriate to your blog and blog's keywords. You can name it with Music_news.jpg or Blog_tips.jpg for example.  Don't save as Photo1.jpg and similar generic names.  But before actually using the image and posting on your blog, check with the source site to make sure the photo is not copyrighted, and if it is, obtain permission before you use it, and give credit to the photographer and/or artist.

Naming the photo with a keyword is important in order to make it  SEO friendly.  When others search for images, an appropriate name will make it more likely that they will find yours image and visit you post / blog.  It's a great way to get additional visibility to your blog.

Here’s a simple guideline to add an image to your post:

1. Use jpg, png or gif format.
2. Don’t use too many images in one post. One or two images will suffice
3. Don’t use images that are too large. 400 pixels wide is big enough

And, make sure you've created a special folder for BLOG IMAGES to easily find them later for possible re-use.

It's so easy, but not used by many blogs.

SEO Won't Work By Itself, Some Tips to Help

     BLOG TIPS - In the quest for increased blog readership, you'll likely use SEO techniques at some point in your blog career, either on your own or by hiring someone.  Fine, but without great blog content SEO will not help your efforts.  Most SEO techniques will get your blog additional clicks, but what happens when the reader arrives at your blog but they are disappointed by the content.  You could actually do more damage with SEO, by attracking readers that may leave negative comments or tells others they didn't like your work!

Instead, remember the basic rules of blogging in order that your SEO efforts truly enhanced your blog and you get the results you desire.  Some tips-

Effective Blog Post TITLES - You're writing for real people, make sure your titles peak the readers interest and make them WANT to read on.  Also keep in mind the keywords that folks may use to find the content you're writing about

Post NEW & INTERESTING Content- Seems obvious, huh.  Post what others will want to link to and talk about. If all you do is repeat the same topics/issues covered by other blogs, people will notice and not regard you very highly.  Post content that's new and unique with your own style.    If your blog covers news, make sure you've added your own "spin" to make it personal (see next tip) and interesting.

Add a Personal Angle - Most readers like to know who the author is.  Add personal stories, anecdotes from your own past.  The core information in a post can be the same, but it's much more interesting to the reader if the author has added some "heart" to the story.  What's your feeling on the topic?  Why do you feel that way?

Again, human beings read our blogs, so personal stories hit home with readers and enable them to relate to you, and the post.  Plus, they're more likely to return to your blog as you develope a relationship with the reader.

Engage the Reader - Ask for their response, reaction, reply, comments.  They'll have one, but you need to let them know you're interested in what they feel....

So, let me know what you think...  and offer your advice.  Please comment below.

Don't Ignore the "Long Tail" for Your SEO Needs

     Blog Tips -  Don't make the common blogger mistake of ignoring the demand curve of search queries and the long-tail search phrases used by searchers.  SEO expert,  Rand Fishkin describes these as the unique searches people do when looking for content or your specific products. While individually, these terms might only have around one and 10 searches per month,  they could collectively bring you nearly 75% of your search traffic.

Fishkin says most foks focus only on one or two keywords without considering the huge amount of traffic in the "long tail" and how easily you can capture more.  Fishkin feels the long tail market is still untapped with current efforts "so comparatively little and reward, 75%, so potentially massive, that's it's dangerous to approach the equation" and not spend SEO efforts in the tail.

See his full post, at SEOMOZ.org

Google's WONDER WHEEL, A Cool Tool for Bloggers ?

     BLOG TIPS- Google has a new search features that looks promising.  Check it out, it you haven't seen yet.  Google “Make Money Blogging” without the quotes then click on the Show Options link at the top. At the bottom of the sidebar you’ll see a link that's labeled “Wonder Wheel.” Click on it on the wheel appears.

It's a Flash-based interactive visualization that places the main keyword in the center, with related terms around it in a circle. Clicking on a related term creates a new, connected circle with more related terms to graphinally allow you to be more specific about your search without having to enter another search query.  You can find terms through the wonder wheel that you might not have thought of on your own. Note that you'll get different results each time you click on one of those wonder wheel links based on whether you are logged into personalized search or not. It's interesting that Google analyzes your search query to determine what links should appear at the spoke of each wheel.  This tool should help you discover, as it can take you off on tangents from what you were interested in finding.

I'm that about ways the Google wonder wheel can be used to better optimize your blog. Your thoughts and suggestions?

How To Choose a SEO Consultant for Your Blog

     BLOG TIPS - At some point in the blogging career you have been, or will be approached by SEO Consultants offering you their services.  Or, you may have considered hiring someone for SEO (Search Engine Optimization efforts).  First step for you should be to fully understand what a SEO consultant can do for you and your blog.  A truly qualified SEO consultant should be able to help bloggers in all facets of their search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Finding good SEO and blog marketing consultants is not necessarily hard, it's just there are some many to choose from.

A talented and honest SEO consultant should be a big boost to your blogging efforts. A qualified consultant will make you aware of all the details of the work, their costs and every feature of their program.   S/he will also help with keywords that are commonly searched for in the Internet business, modify your currently blogs for search engines, update title, meta and alt tags.  Your consultant should also help you review and clearly understand blog visitor behavior and web analytics. This knowledge helps you get the most out of your current blog traffic, while taking the right steps to increase traffic. Your consultant should also be adept at forming and managing pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. H/she should also assist you in structuring your blog to improve your search engine rankings.

Many SEO consultants will happily take your money, but be unable to deliver the results you're looking for.  So you need to take care in choosing and be clear in your expectations.  It's best to research SEO  practices to learn what is appropriate, ethical and possible.  This way, you can tell if a potential consultant is being accurate in their claims and promises.   Know what questions to ask a your potential SEO consultant in order to find the best individual or firm.  Ask, and verify, their qualifications and references.  Find out what trade associations they're members of, and determine if what they tell you is accurate. This information will tell you as much as their proposal, the word of mouth is extremely powerful and past clients will be a big help in your selection process.  But don't really only on the clients the consultant tells you about, network with other bloggers, visit blog forums and see who your fellow bloggers recommend.

A good SEO firm knows that it's impossible to guarantee a ranking.  Instead, they should be talking about the process to help improve your ranking and what work they've done successfully for others.  Be leary if someone makes guarantees too big to believe!  And, don't rush your decision to go with a firm.  Take your time, talk to several, narrow the selection process and talk again.  If you're not comfortable with a particular consultant, look elsewhere.  Make sure your personalities work well together, you need to work closely with your consultant, you'll want it to be an enjoyable experience! The choice is yours, and you're the customer. Remember that a SEO consultant works for you!!

For more help, visit SEMPRO.org, a non-profit SEO organization. 

Search Engine (SEO) Basics

     Blog Tips - Once you're signed up to a hosting service, like TypePad and your blog is up & running, you of course want as much traffic as possible.  In most cases, search engines will bring your blog to the attention of potential readers. It's important that you understand how search engines work and the way they offer info to web searchers. There are two types of search engines; one type are robots called crawlers (or spiders).

Search Engines use spiders to check websites & blogs on the web. When you submit your blog pages to a search engine thru a submission page, or by  the search engine finding your link at another site, the search engine spider then indexes your site by following the links from one page to another. A ‘spider’ is an automated program that's run by the search engine system and follows rules that the computer has been instructed for the spider.

Best Web Directories for Your Blog to Check Out

     Blog Tips - I came accros this great list of web directories and have started checking on each one of them for results.  This “Top 25 Most Powerful Web Directories” is certainly not a comprehensive list, and may already have some casualities, so feel free to comment. It does though, list a good number of the top paid directories you should initially focus on to submit your blog/s to.  There is a lot of debate still going on over the best SEO techniques and whether blog directories should be a part of your blog's plan.  Now, there are a lot of great directories that aren’t included on this list because they are either too expensive (BOTW, Yahoo! Directory) or it just takes much too long to get approved (DMOZ, Illumirate) when you’retrying for a quick boost for your blog/s.   Bear in mind that many of them will require a recip link.  This, of course is not as good as a one way link.  Also, the page your link goes on will most likely have no PR so you won't get a PR benefit.  So keep this in mind before signing up to every directory you come accross.  See the full list compiled by Paul at Search Engine People -

Basic Blog SEO Help to Increase Blog Readership

   Blog Tips - If you have your blog on-line already, that's great !  But that won't do you much good if people don't know that your blog is up & running  (unless you're writing only for your personal venting!).  We'll assume that you're blogging for an audience with the plan to make money doing it.  If you want people to be able to find your blog, it's very important to use Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, properly and to its fullest.  You've experience SEO already;  when you put one word or a phrase into a search bar to look for something, the SEO of the website is what helped you find those sites and blogs.  For example, as a blogger, if your blog is about dogs, you are going to want to be sure that your blog includes popular terms such as dog supplies, dog training, and other things that are related to dogs.  Think about what people look for when they are interested in dogs (or your blog topic), and the results that come up when you search.  It's always a smart idea to use your own past experiences when you optimize your blog for successful searching.  Think about what has worked for you as a searcher, and what didn't, and use for your own blog SEO.  Using this technique, when a reader enters one of the terms that you put in your blog into his search engine, your blog can be one of the sites that comes up. 

There are, of course, many other factors that help determine where your blog will come up in the list, but every blogger has to start somewhere!  By regularly using appropriate keywords, the more likely it will be that people can find, and will visit your blog. It takes time, patience, dedication and regular posting of original, quality content to move up.  Focus on your niche, learn as much as you can, share the info with your readers and be an expert.  Keep on blogging, and Blog To Great !

Blog Deep Linking to Build Blog Readership

     BLOG TIPS-  Some of the best links come through natural or, "organic" means.  Buying links is to be avoided and links sharing may prove to be disastrous too.  Try these methods to increase blog traffic with SEO tactic called, “Deep Linking”  If you're not familiar with Deep Linking, read on; it's a strategy where you build links for other posts within your blog instead of the main page .  You might think this unnecessary like many bloggers do.  Many believe:

"There's no point in building links to pages that you don’t want to rank for keywords”

Don't believer that it's a waste of your time and energy. There are at least three benefits of using “Deep Linking Strategy”:

1. Your blog will rank much faster for the keyword that you want. If a lot of blog posts have a higher page rank (PR), the backlinks from each of your posts to the main page became much stronger. You’ll rank higher because Google rank blogs/websites by including the backlinks of the entire blog.

2. Your great blog will receive unexpected (and welcomed) search engine traffic from each of yourblog posts. When your individual blog posts have backlinks, they have some authority to them. When readers search for those terms included in your post, Google puts you blog post on the first page; you’ll then get more visitors as readers spot your blog sooner. That’s how the top blogs get search engine traffic from the thousands of keywords they rank with little extra effort.

3. Your blog will rank faster and will be less likely to get "buried".  By building backlinks too aggressively, Google may hold traffic from your page.   I don't recommend building more than 10 links on a page for a new blog. If you want to move up faster, you'll need tocreate ten other quality pages and build four/five links to each page. That way, you'll end up with 50-60 backlinks to your blog.

Well known ‘Deep Link Strategies’ to consider :

1. Submit To Blog Carnivals - Submit your post to BlogCarnival.com. For every post you submit to blog carnival, you'll create an additional link to your blog’s main page and one link to your post you submitted !

2. Article Submission - Most article directories allow you to have three links on your resource box or author bio. Use one of the links for your main page and the remaining two to other pages.

3. Interlinking - Link your posts to each other. When you finish writing a new post, you should link back to some related,  previous post on your blog.  Avoid using ‘click here’ or ‘read here’ to link to those posts.  Very boring and un-original.   Use the post title or keywords that you want the post to rank for. Try using the term ‘Similar Posts’ too.

4. Blog Commenting - You visit other great blogs everyday anyway for enjoyment, research, networking.  While there, make sure you comment, especially if you can be first! List your url blog post on the ‘URL’ line when you makecomments.  But avoid listing the url in the comment body, not good blog etiquette !

5. Web 2.0 Sites - Use other web 2.0 sites such as Squidoo, Newsvine, Hubpages, to do so. But, don't use them too aggressively or often. You will be tagged as spam and thrown off.

Good SEO-ing.  Feel free to comment below or ask any questions, thanks !

Basic SEO Tips to Expand Your Blog

     Before you start your major SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts, you must make sure your blog is "search engine friendly".  I mean verifying that each page is compliant with search engine standards and ready to be indexed the right way. Your blog could have a very professional looking design but unless it's ranking well in search engines, it likely to be hard for your new readers to discover you.  By most accounts, you want to be “Google friendly.  Google's reach is the best and will give you the biggest results.  Study them well.  Most experienced bloggers would agree that Google drives the most search traffic to their blog. There are two ways to drive visitors from Google to your blog.  First, you buy ads that show up on Google results pages for certain keywords (using AdWords) or second, work hard to get good rankings in search results (organic traffic). The first costs money, organic traffic is free but you need to devote the effort and know how search engines work in order to do it successfully.  Here are several tips to help you in your SEO quest;