SEO for Bloggers
Image: istockphoto.com/jpa1999
One of the biggest challenges bloggers face is getting their posts found in search engines. Royal Pingdom states that as of 2009 there were 126 million blogs (according to BlogPulse). With so many blogs on millions of topics, it’s important that every blog is effectively optimized to ensure they get found by interested readers. I have done some research and compiled a few ways to increase your blog’s ranking in search engines and keep your readers engaged in what you write about.
First, let’s discuss SEO. For those of you who don’t know, SEO stands for search engine optimization. SEO is a way for websites to increase traffic when users search for terms that are related to a particular blog or website. For example, if a user searches Google for “help with SEO”, approximately 200,000,000 (yes, million!) results appear. Effective optimization will help you be as close to the top of the search engine results pages as possible. It’s important for your site to be optimized because most users find websites through search engines. People will not discover your site if you are not optimizing correctly; especially if your site covers a very popular topic.
As a blogger, there are a few things you should do to optimize the overall structure of your blog. One of the most important things you can do is show off some of the best posts you’ve written. If you have posts that received several comments or if you’ve noticed some of your posts have been read a lot, try highlighting those posts in a “Featured” or “Popular” section. This will not only allow you to show off your work to new visitors, but it will also add another link to those posts as well.
Along with highlighting the great posts you’ve written, you should always think of your industry when labeling your categories. For example, if you have a blog about cooking, you could use categories like Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Dinner, and Desserts. These relevant category titles tell the search engines that your blog is about cooking. Another tip to consider is keeping your categories and tags different. If you use a blog hosting platform like WordPress.com, for example, you are given the option of specifying specific keywords, or tags, to associate with your blog post. If you have Dinner as a category, don’t use that same word in your tags. Use something more specific to the post.
Something else to consider when developing your blog’s structure are your page titles. Always make sure the most important information pertaining to the page is before the less relevant information. If the name of your blog is in your title, that’s fine, just make sure it shows up after the main content of the page. So, it might look something like “Delicious Dinner Recipes, Sally’s Cooking Blog.”
Another important element to creating a blog that is friendly for search engines and for your readers is the obvious: developing great content. While you may be thinking “duh!”, there are so many blogs out there that don’t follow this rule. When writing your content, think about your reader. Write to them, not at them. When readers browse through blogs, they aren’t looking for corporate gobbledygook. Instead, they are looking for a human that can answer their questions, entertain them, provide insight, etc. Develop a tone for your blog that makes you sound authentic and that you truly are an expert on your topic.
Additionally, there are a few other content-related tips you should consider that will help you rank in search engines. Make sure that you use keywords throughout your post. While you don’t want to make every other word a keyword or phrase, you do want to spread them out enough for search engines to match them to your site. Just be sure to use keywords in your natural tone.
Once you’ve developed the tone for your blog and thought about ways to use keywords that are not overpowering to your readers, make sure to update your content often. Search engines (and readers) like blogs that are frequently updated with fresh content. If you don’t know what to write about, there are many services that provide you with great ideas. For example, you can receive Google News alerts that email you every time a specific word or phrase is mentioned in the news. Once you get your alert, you can begin writing about the topic immediately while it’s still current. Going back to the baking example, you can be emailed every time a new article about “baking” or “cooking” is mentioned in the news. Then you can filter out what is interesting and what is not. Other sites like Technorati.com and BlogPulse.com provide trends of topics that are being talked about most.
While text is the foundation to most blogs, it’s also important to incorporate other elements, like images and video, into your posts as well. Media can definitely attract the attention of those readers that don’t read your entire post. Even using charts and graphs can help provide a great visual to the reader.
When using media elements, always keep your reader’s Internet speeds in mind. Optimize your images and videos to download quickly, while still making them viewable. When you upload your media to WordPress.com or other blog platforms, you will be given different size options – it’s usually best to choose the smallest one to ensure it loads quickly on all computers.
Finally, a blog will not be fully optimized if it doesn’t take advantage of social media. Encourage your readers to share your posts on social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Digg. Make sure that you have some sort of sharing mechanism that makes it simple for users to pass on the information to their followers.
Allow users to comment and join your conversation. Nothing is more advantageous to your blog than comments. It shows that your readers are intrigued by what you wrote, and search engines favor user-generated content. If you have readers that are commenting, they might want to get automatic updates when you have new posts as well. Consider adding a subscription feature where users can provide their email address and automatically be updated every time you have a new post. You can use a free service like FeedBurner, which is very simple to setup.
So there you have a few tips on how to optimize your blog effectively. Do I practice everything I just wrote about? Probably not. I am going to keep these newfound tips and techniques in mind though and begin optimizing my own blog as well.
Do you have any other suggestions? Share them below!
Special thanks to those sites that provided me with great insights into SEO for bloggers:
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo
http://www.seomoz.org/article/the-professionals-guide-to-blogging#section%20V
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/21-tactics-to-increase-blog-traffic
Mobile Advertising Trends: Are they working?
In my Introduction to Mobile Advertising class at Full Sail University, we are exploring whether American marketing and advertising companies are testing the mobile advertising trends, and the positive and negative changes we foresee in the future.
According to ABI, a milestone was reached recently when mobile subscriptions hit 5 billion. This number is staggering; but what’s more incredible is that Africa is leading the way with a 4% growth increase between quarter one and quarter two this year.
Mobile advertising is eventually going to be the number one way to reach customers. Think about it: a handheld device with GPS, messaging, Internet, music, and yes, even a telephone. In his article, Going Direct with Mobile Marketing, Barry McCarthy describes a near future when companies can send customers alerts based on the climate of where they’re located. I can see it now – an alert to all Seattle based Starbucks rewards customers in January, “Fill the chill? Warm up with a nice and warm hot chocolate or delicious latte. Click here to find your nearest Starbucks location.” Meanwhile, they’re sending messages to Florida customers in July advertising their newest fruit smoothie. This point McCarthy brings up is incredible for all marketers.
Another interesting perspective brought forward in the Apptera blog was regarding voice. They state an incredible finding, “100 % of the 5 billion phones in the world allow [voice] — 3.5 billion cell phones plus 1.5 billion landlines…” I joke about the “incredible finding” but what caught my attention is that I haven’t really experienced this type of advertising very often. In fact, the only time I really have is what a politician is trying to obtain my vote to win an election. I see pros and cons to voice advertising – I think it would have to be an incredible message that no customer would want to miss. For example, a 4-hour sale that begins the moment the voice message is sent. If they’re not meaningful enough, eventually customers will unsubscribe, and probably be more irritated than any other marketing channels. After all, who wants to be interrupted in an important meeting to be told to stop by a a fast-food chain on the way home from work? I’d much rather be text messaged or emailed.
Perhaps one of the most useful features to mobile devices has been the ability to manage finances from anywhere, anytime. In his article, Mobile commerce evolving from early innovation to mainstream adoption: Javelin, Dan Butcher tell us that in the US, 51% of iPhone users perform their banking tasks directly from the smartphone. This is a startling statistic as banking information is so important to users; if they’re managing their accounts directly from their phone, it shows their trust in the Internet has definitely gone up throughout the years. The same article also quotes Jim Van Dyke, founder/president of Javelin Strategy and Research, as saying, “There are as many people doing mobile money transfers as there are people doing traditional money transfers by going to a bricks-and-mortar location such as Western Union, and those types of companies going over to mobile.”
While all of this is great news in the world of mobile advertising, one major issue I foresee is privacy violations. Do customers really want companies tracking their every move? Sure, we can ask them through posting an opt-in alert, but even if they agree, do they really know what exactly they’re agreeing too? What if they decide to opt-out later? Is it easy enough? The iPhone now allows users to turn off tracking completely. This can be great for a user, but terrible for marketers. If enough users turn off tracking, mobile advertising could wind up facing issues in the future. The job of marketers now is to reassure customers of the benefits of having their location tracked and provide them a simple out-out process. Read more about Smartphone tracking here (The Sunday Times, UK)
To say that mobile advertising will work would be an understatement. Through extensive customer research and product development, I think marketers across the globe will eventually find the “perfect” solution.
Gift Baskets for All Landing Page
As mentioned in my previous post, I am working on a viral ad campaign for a fictitious company called Gift Baskets for All. In this assignment I have created a landing page mock-up for users to view once they have watched the potentially viral video.
Below is a screen shot of the landing page:
Project for my Viral Marketing course: Gift Baskets for All Landing Page Mock-up
Since the company allows users to create their own gift baskets or browse their catalogue of pre-made gift baskets, I wanted to include two call to actions that would reach out to both customer types.
The background of the page includes a wallpaper showing the different occasions a gift basket can be given for (Anniversaries, Birthdays, Graduation, etc.).
What do you think? Would you be driven to click one the buttons?
Gift Baskets for All (A fictitious viral ad)
This month in my Viral Marketing course at Full Sail University, my job has been to create a potentially viral ad for a fictitious company I chose in one of my previous classes. The company I chose is called Gift Baskets for All. The company attracts mostly women to their site and although busy during the holidays and other peak seasons, they see a dramatic decrease in business throughout the rest of the year. To attract people to the site throughout the entire year, I thought it best to show “every day” situations that a gift basket can be given for; not just Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
The opening scene asks the question, “When was the last time you gave a gift of happiness?” Throughout the video, “customers” respond. My overall goal; however, was to create some sort of an emotional connection with the viewer. Any emotion.
Let’s see if I succeeded:
Let’s Create a World Wide Rave
Image source: http://www.worldwiderave.com/
My goal after reading: write an eBook. I have about six topics in my mind to write about…now I just need to limit it to one.
Official Vampires Suck Trailer
My immediate reaction: this is an SNL skit. Upon watching the entire trailer, I realized this was a real movie coming out just two months after Twilight: Eclipse arrived on the big screen.
Vampires Suck is a film making fun of the Twilight saga. From Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer (Date Movie, Scary Movie, Disaster Movie, and Meet the Spartans) comes a film that the anti-Edward and Jacob fans will appreciate.
As a huge Twilight fan, I was a little taken aback at first; however, when I realized how funny the movie looks, I thought the idea was brilliant. First, what great publicity for the Twilight saga (as if it needed anymore) and second, the hilarious spoofs will most likely make all the Twilight fans go to see it as well.
From what I can see in the trailer, they’ve taken some of the most memorable scenes from Twilight and made a hilarious spoof out of them – like when Bella first meets Edward’s family and gets a paper cut. In the Vampires Suck trailer, they show one of the guys in the family looking at Bella’s finger, then at her, and envisions her face turning into a Big Mac. One of my favorite parts was when Edward powders his face with a compact and mirror in hand. The trailer also brought pop-culture into the mix by featuring spoofs of Lady Gaga, Alice and Wonderland, and a Chihuahua.
I’m curious to know what your thoughts are. Will you be at the theatre on August 18th? Leave a comment below.
Free! Why $0.00 is the Future of Business by Chris Anderson
I recently completed my Internet Business Models course at Full Sail University and had the honor of creating a presentation based on Chris Anderson’s article, “Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business.” I think what Chris Anderson provides great insight into where this concept of “free” began and where it’s headed. The article was written in February of 2008 and I notice many of his concepts relevant today.
This presentation covers many of Anderson’s key points including a brief history of “free” when King Gillette introduced his disposable razor blade along with the six categories of “free” that many businesses use today.
Web Start-Ups Pitching Their Companies
Interesting business ideas…read my comments below.
After watching “Web Start-Ups Pitching Their Companies,” I realized how important it is to have a solid revenue model when creating an Internet business.
When the first presentation, www.phonefromhere.com, was finished, I never truly understood what their revenue model was. I did understand that the call receiver would pay for the call if it was a “1-800″ phone number, however I’m not quite sure how phonefromhere.com was going to generate revenue.
One of my favorite concepts was the “Raffle.it” idea. I thought what one of the panel members said about turning this platform into a lead generator was brilliant. You could definitely find out a lot about someone by what they try to win in a raffle. As the idea of cookies definitely brings privacy concerns forward, I think this could be a much safer, more accurate way for other companies to obtain leads from Raffle.it. This would also open up an entirely new, affiliate-based business model for the company.
Theiplatform.com has an interesting concept. What I thought was interesting was that they definitely had a plan in terms of how they would get revenue once the user signed up (set-up fee, ongoing license). For this type of service, I would make it more of a “Freemium” model. Since this concept is going to seem like others on the market, I would allow a user to use Theiplatform.com for free to push updates out to one service (i.e. Facebook), however, if the user wanted to push updates out to more, then they would have to pay a fee. Instead of the license fee, I would make it more of a subscription-based model. So many web services are based on a subscription and when I think of a license fee, I think of software – not web.
The diary.com site seems like a collaboration tool, rather than a diary. It almost reminds me of Ning.com where you can create your own private social network. I think the revenue models could work, granted there is a need for this type of “diary.” To me, diaries are usually private among oneself and not something typically shared with friends. This site has a great URL to attract customers, however, I think the target market should be changed from girls to anyone that has a need to share files, and collaborate with individuals they know. After going to the website, there is a calendar, task list, and other elements of that category. I believe they could be successful with this, but the market needs to be more widespread.
The www.erepublik.com concept was awesome! We all know that online games have been extremely successful (just ask Zynga)! This site takes the “addiction” element out and allows users to play for 15 minutes per day. Plus the virtual goods model is proving to a huge hit for most online gaming companies. In fact, Zynga announced that “…in five days, more than 300,000 Zynga game players purchased $1.5 million in virtual social goods to support relief efforts in Haiti (http://blog.zynga.com/2010/01/zynga-players-raise-over-15-million-for-haiti-in-five-days.html). The erepublic.com folks are sure to make their virtual world into a profitable reality.
Staying Committed to An Online Degree
I have finished month 5 at Full Sail University. So far, I must say, this has been a great experience for me. I wasn’t sure how I’d like going to virtual school but it has proven to be a success. Here are a few tips on how I’ve been able to maintain a 4.0 while still succeeding in my full time (and highly stressful) job.
- Don’t procrastinate. Many of us procrastinators think that we’ll have it in us to wait until the last minute and deliver the perfect product. In fact, some people think they thrive under pressure and deliver better results when waiting ’til the last minute. That may have been true in the past, however, I’m here to tell you that procrastinating will not fly at Full Sail. There are several projects and pages to read before the Sunday night deadline and planning your week carefully will ensure you finish each assignment on time.
- Discover your favorite environments. This was a big one for me. I’ve never been much of a reader; meaning I’ve never opened up a book on a Sunday afternoon just for fun. Since my classes are filled with reading assignments, I realized that I better figure out a way to make it fun. Every Saturday I take my golden retriever to Starbuck’s. We sit outside with our coffee (well, my coffee) and while she enjoys the people-watching, I catch up on my reading. This has been an awesome way for me to actually begin to enjoy reading. Something about a triple grande latte with 2 Splendas and my dog actually makes me want to read.
- Get comfortable. My absolute favorite part about going to school online is that I can do it from the comfort of my own home. I can wear whatever I want, look however I’d like, and not have to worry about what anyone might think. Before I begin my work every night, I always make sure I’m comfortable and completely relaxed.
- Your teachers aren’t there – who cares if you surf the web. It helps having my iChat (or AIM) open, my Facebook and Twitter account up, and anything else I’m in the mood to look for on the Internet – all while I’m doing my homework. I remember getting in trouble once in high school because I was “surfing the web” while my teacher was talking. With online classes, I can answer a few questions for class, then browse Amazon.com, and then answer a few more questions for class. Having this freedom makes my classes feel less like school and more like a hobby. As I mentioned earlier, it’s all about the discipline.
- Communicate with your instructors and class mates. Emailing and chatting with my teachers and classmates has helped a great deal. Since I’m not in a classroom with 20 other students, I don’t have the option of raising my hand. Being proactive and asking for clarification and opinions on things you’re unsure of is a huge way of maintaining your success.
Well, there you have it. My first 5 ways of staying committed to an online degree. If you have any suggestions and/or techniques, I’d love to hear them! Please feel free to share with others in the Comments section below.
- Russell
Blogging: My, how I’m learning
When I decided to create my blog, I’ll be honest, I didn’t quite know what I was doing. Today, however, after watching Scott Rosenberg’s “10 Myths About Blogs” video, I have learned that blogging is really all about posting what you’re passionate about. Simple right? Well, I guess that would depend on whether you know what you’re passionate about. Therein lies the challenge with me. What am I truly passionate about?
Although I wrote that I was passionate about graphic design in a previous post, I think the biggest passion I have is helping people. This makes sense as my first blog post is titled Online Learning: My Journey Begins. I originally began my blog to help those interested in going to school online find valuable information. Before I began at Full Sail University I had a hard time finding quality research on the best online schools, what the workload was like, tips on how to succeed, etc. Then when I actually began at Full Sail, I was learning so much information that I wanted to share with the world, I thought I would shift my blog more towards Internet Marketing. So today I have decided that my blog is going to be about helping people in a variety of ways, but mostly geared toward maximizing the technology advancements in today’s rapidly growing world. By creating posts about the advancements in technology, I am truly able to talk about exactly what my blog was geared toward in the beginning, and a lot more! In addition I am able to help people make decisions based on my personal experience or research I’ve done.
Regardless of what I want to write about, as Rosenberg suggests, a blog following will be completely irrelevant if we don’t build trust. By providing information to the world and helping to make people’s lives easier (especially in regard to technology!), I am hoping to build trust and relationships with everyone who reads my blog.
Here’s to a new (blog) beginning!
