Search engine optimization (SEO) for blogs is as important, if not more so, than optimizing a website. Blogs, or web logs, first started out on the internet as a means of personal communication and appeared as online journals (logs). Search engines didn't index them, nor were they meant to.
Then someone in the online business world saw their potential as an advertising platform, and the numbers of blogs increased exponentially. Google and all the other search engines began to wake up to that fact and they changed their algorithms accordingly, to include blogs.
Yummy! The spiders love these bite-sized chunks of information and now index them faster than normal websites. The short, regular posts contain lots of tasty keywords and easily-to-digest content.
Anyone in the world can blog, but for a business there are rules you should follow:
Make sure the colors and logo you use are part of your brand family, so your blogs are easily recognizable.
Make Sure Your Post Contains Relevant Content
If your business is laying driveways, don't start talking about different types of cars, UNLESS you lead into something about how your company's driveways resist oil stains. It's easy to get sidetracked, but with a limit of 300 words, stay focused.
Keep It Short
Yep, about half a page is best. People these days have the attention span of fleas and will be off somewhere else in a heartbeat if you start boring them with a long post about nothing.
Blog Regularly
If you can get into the habit of blogging two or three times a week, that's good. Set aside about half an hour to write your blog and you can think about the next subject between writing. Be regular, people will easily forget who you are and move on. Blog too often and it will be seen as a kind of spamming. Get people to look forward to your next blog article. Split a long article into a number of blogs and keep them hanging at the end, looking forward to the next one.
Use your Brand Name in Every Blog
If you blog three times a week to ten thousand people that's 30,000 times your brand has been seen. Your subscribers will recognize it after only a few blogs.
Optimize Your Keywords
A keyword in the header and each larger paragraph, plus some long-tail keywords is sufficient food for a spider. Use a keyword too often and they'll get really sick (of your site).
Your Title is Very Important
Your title is the first thing your subscriber sees - so make it snappy. People love titles that start with "How To" or "Ten Ways to". Grab their attention immediately, or you will lose them. The first paragraph is the second most important thing so make sure you draw your reader along to the conclusion of your post.
Blogs Are a Way to Pre-Sell
Anyone who starts a blog post with a title like "Buy My Company's Widgets" is going to leave their readership stone cold and clicking away like their lives depend on it. You wouldn't do it in an email, so don't do it on a blog.
Blogs have a personal feel to them, and they are a great place to "warm" people to your products and services. A blatant sales pitch will send people searching for the Unsubscribe button.
Link building is an important part of search engine optimization and blogs are easy to link to each other. The more relevant links you have, the higher you will be ranked. It will take time and a lot of effort to get to the top of the rankings, and there are other tricks you might find along the way. Slow and steady, the tortoise wins the race.
Then someone in the online business world saw their potential as an advertising platform, and the numbers of blogs increased exponentially. Google and all the other search engines began to wake up to that fact and they changed their algorithms accordingly, to include blogs.
Yummy! The spiders love these bite-sized chunks of information and now index them faster than normal websites. The short, regular posts contain lots of tasty keywords and easily-to-digest content.
Anyone in the world can blog, but for a business there are rules you should follow:
- Brand your blog from the get-go
- Make sure it contains relevant content
- Keep it short - 350 - 500 words or less
- Blog regularly
- Use your brand name in every blog
- Optimize your use of keywords and long-tail keywords
- Your Title is Very Important
- Blogs Are a Way to Pre-Sell
Make sure the colors and logo you use are part of your brand family, so your blogs are easily recognizable.
Make Sure Your Post Contains Relevant Content
If your business is laying driveways, don't start talking about different types of cars, UNLESS you lead into something about how your company's driveways resist oil stains. It's easy to get sidetracked, but with a limit of 300 words, stay focused.
Keep It Short
Yep, about half a page is best. People these days have the attention span of fleas and will be off somewhere else in a heartbeat if you start boring them with a long post about nothing.
Blog Regularly
If you can get into the habit of blogging two or three times a week, that's good. Set aside about half an hour to write your blog and you can think about the next subject between writing. Be regular, people will easily forget who you are and move on. Blog too often and it will be seen as a kind of spamming. Get people to look forward to your next blog article. Split a long article into a number of blogs and keep them hanging at the end, looking forward to the next one.
Use your Brand Name in Every Blog
If you blog three times a week to ten thousand people that's 30,000 times your brand has been seen. Your subscribers will recognize it after only a few blogs.
Optimize Your Keywords
A keyword in the header and each larger paragraph, plus some long-tail keywords is sufficient food for a spider. Use a keyword too often and they'll get really sick (of your site).
Your Title is Very Important
Your title is the first thing your subscriber sees - so make it snappy. People love titles that start with "How To" or "Ten Ways to". Grab their attention immediately, or you will lose them. The first paragraph is the second most important thing so make sure you draw your reader along to the conclusion of your post.
Blogs Are a Way to Pre-Sell
Anyone who starts a blog post with a title like "Buy My Company's Widgets" is going to leave their readership stone cold and clicking away like their lives depend on it. You wouldn't do it in an email, so don't do it on a blog.
Blogs have a personal feel to them, and they are a great place to "warm" people to your products and services. A blatant sales pitch will send people searching for the Unsubscribe button.
Link building is an important part of search engine optimization and blogs are easy to link to each other. The more relevant links you have, the higher you will be ranked. It will take time and a lot of effort to get to the top of the rankings, and there are other tricks you might find along the way. Slow and steady, the tortoise wins the race.
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