Think back for a moment to the day you decided to start a blog. Remember how exciting the concept was. Finally, an avenue to share your views on everything from raising children to cooking gourmet meals that would put Betty Crocker to shame.Whether your blog is a hobby, an extension of your business, an outlet for venting (always good), a showcase of your writing expertise or a compilation of your favorite photographs the reason we blog boils down to one thing. We want people to READ IT. Doesn't matter how much you claim you love blogging because of this or that. The harsh reality is if you don't have readers then who are you writing for?
There is no rocket science required to know what makes a blog stand out from the crowd. It's the content. Good quality content is one of the best things you can provide your readers. So, I don't dispute the saying that we've read a million times - Content Is King. But without a kingdom what does it matter. And that my friends is where knowing just a bit of SEO (search engine optimization) comes in. Consider it the heir to the throne!
It's Easier Than You Think
I've never been a technical or extremely analytical person. Statistics, percentages, analysis, charts, graphs...all make me quite ill to be honest. But if learning a few tricks will help improve my blogs visibility....why not.
Learning SEO is MOST definitely worth the effort. It doesn't matter why you blog, where you blog, or what you blog about. The bottom line is you (the author) want to share with others. The best way to do that is making sure your information is available to those interested in reading it. Good SEO techniques are vital to the life of your blog.
SEO is only difficult if you think of it in that way.
What is SEO
By definition search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion.
Here are just a few simple techniques to start improving your site's SEO:
1. Pay close attention to the title's of your posts. Take for example a post about the difficulties of raising teenagers. Check out the difference in these two titles
Title #1 - My Teenager is Driving Me Crazy
Title #2 - How to Deal With Difficult Teenagers
Keeping in mind the fact that the content is exactly the same which one, based on the title will most likely reach potential visitors more easily. The thing is when most people use Google to search they are looking for something specific. The more specific your title is the better your chances are of being indexed and found.
2. Use keywords in your post that add strength to the title and topic you're talking about. It would be insane of me not mention ways to improve search engine optimization in this post that's all about search engine optimization. Therefore, when someone is looking for ways to improve their site's visibility through search engine optimization this article might very well reach the top of the list. I'm being cheeky but you get what I'm saying.
3. Title of Post before Title of Blog -
This one is critical. Search engines categorize your posts according to the way your html template is set up. I'll use Blogger as an example since this is my platform of choice. By default Blogger is designed to show the title of the blog then the title of the post. Which do you really think will get noticed quicker
If Content is King Then SEO is Heir to the Throne | Inconsequential Logic
OR
Inconsequential Logic: If Content is King Then SEO is Heir to the Throne
If you said A, you are absolutely right. There's a neat little code to change your template to allow your post title to be displayed first in search engine results as opposed to your blog's title. Click here or here to see how.
3. Although technically not SEO, Social Media is such a growing factor in getting your web site noticed, that it’s an important element to include. Twittering, Stumbling, Digging, being Delicious and Facebooking are just good common sense ways of adding additional exposure to your blog.
4. Link Building is a Must. With genuine content — especially if you have a blog — you’ll be able to generate links with other web sites and blogs, as well. It’s somewhat of a give and take, in that if you link out to other sites, you’ll find sites linking back to you — and hopefully see your page rank going up, as well!
5. Submitting your site to Google and other search engines. I started not to mention this one but some bloggers may not be aware that you can submit your URL to search engines for indexing. This is a great place to start.
6. Be patient. SEO isn’t about instant gratification. Results often take months to see, and this is especially true the smaller you are, and the newer.
7. If at all possible, make sure your blog's domain name is as relevant to your content as possible. Inconsequential Logic was a catchy little play on words but in hindsight I wish I had made this blog's title and domain name something more relevant to it's content. Hey...nobody's perfect :)
Everyone knows we all can't be super probloggers or whatever the latest terminology is. Success for me in blogging is providing entertainment, a bit of how to knowledge, or just being a cool place to hangout. I want to reach as many people as I can. By doing so, I'm learning and growing from them as well.
What other techniques do you utilize regarding SEO with your blog?
