BLOG SEO: CREATING SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZED (SEO) BLOGS
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There are approximately 70+ million blogs in existence today on the internet with over 30% of Americans reading and participating on them. Blogs are becoming so popular that a new blog is created every second of every day!
So What Exactly is a Blog?
A blog is nothing more than a special kind of website that allows users to easily create and publish information and ideas on the web with little or no technical expertise required. Most blogs also allow for user feedback and participation and are typically maintained by an individual/s both personally or professionally. The main difference between a blog (http://legalseo.blogspot.com) and a website (http://www.seoconsultantfirm.com) is that websites are typically built with content that is updated and maintained infrequently whereas a blog’s success is predicated on active and ongoing content creation and participation.
Why the Search Engines Love Blogs
With the growth of the internet and the use of search engines like Google to help us find everything we need online, it is critically important that the search engines index all content available on the web today - including blogs. Clearly Google understood the growing importance of Blogs when they acquired Blogger in 1999. In doing so, Google is now able to link its web content crawl and indexing activity directly to the activity on its own Blogger sites – making a much more efficient means of indexing new content. Since the search engines love new content, it is a win-win proposition for both the search engines and the bloggers. Unlike a website that might get crawled every month or so, Blogger sites typically get crawled around the time new articles are published on the blog.
Blogs Are Only Useful For People and Organizations Who Regularly Update Them
Think about the last time you visited a website only to notice that their news and press release sections have not been updated for months or even years. What type of message about the person or organization did that leave with you? The same is especially true for blogs. Since most blog articles are chronologically displayed with the newest entries at the top, most people are not going to want to regularly visit and participate in a blog when nobody is home. Depending on your goals for the blog and relative competition, it is a good rule of thumb that a new blog article should be created at least once a week to keep the content fresh and the blog active. If you can’t meet this requirement, then having a blog could do you more harm than good.
The Best Blogs Are Targeted and Involve People Who Are Passionate About Them
If you decide to create a blog, make sure that the subject matter of the blog is specific and something that will motivate you to consistently participate in the blog in the weeks, months, and years ahead. Most blogs fail for the simple reason that the individuals who maintain them simply lose interest over time. With 70+ million blogs in existence today, it is also important that your blog is narrow in focus so you have a better chance to improve your visibility and compete online for results.
Every Blog Should Be Search Engine Optimized (SEO)
Just like websites, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) also applies to blogs. You will want to start by incorporating keywords into the name of your blog and get it right the first time – once your blog is active, changing your URL name will no longer be an option. You will also want to title your blog with your primary SEO keywords and make sure to include your targeted geography if applicable. Make sure to use words that your prospective customers use, not your industry jargon. Finally, make sure to create links in the content of your blogs to pages on your website. Not only can this help support your blogs and convert customers, but it will also provide link value to your website thereby increasing its ranking in the search engines. Just make sure that your blog allows these links to be followed and counted in the search engines.Blogs Should Complement Your Website/s, Not Replace Them
Most blogs are not a substitute for website marketing but rather a complement to it. The reality is that most people can’t write in HTML and therefore making quick changes to a website can be both time consuming and difficult. Blogs allow you to help solve this problem by providing added content to the web and thereby creating a larger net to fish with. Since your net may involve direct traffic to your website, especially for conversion, you will want to make sure that both are actively linked together for better conversions yet both reside at separate website addresses (URL’s).
Make Sure Your Blogs and Websites Support Real Simple Syndication (RSS)
RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is nothing more than a standard delivery format of content from a blog/website to another destination. If you have a blog and/or website, make sure they support RSS so other people can “subscribe” to them and keep tabs on your blog without having to visit it on a regular basis. For example, a participant (or journalist) may want to monitor a number of blogs (including yours) and by having RSS feeds from each of them; he/she can now easily do this from one place. From the SEO perspective, RSS can also allow you to auto-syndicate your own content onto other web properties that can then link back to your own website and improve your visibility in the search engines. The good news is that most major blogging system providers now support RSS.Blogs Should Always Be Deployed on a Separate URL Than a Website
One of the main reasons why most SEO optimally deployed blogs should reside on separate URLs than a website is due to the inbound link values that can be provided to that website from the blog. Conversely, if a blog resides within your website URL, you lost also all inbound link value from that blog.
Blog Entries Should Always Include Inbound Links To Your Website/s
Most blog articles are indexed in much the same way that web pages are independently indexed on a website. Therefore, it is important that SEO inbound textual links be created either in the article text itself and/or at the footer of the article to continue to increase website SEO Link Building efforts.
Blogs Can Be a Huge Part of Any Press Release (PR) SEO strategy
If you publish press releases, blogs are another great place to publish them as well. Unlike online press releases that may expire in a year or two, the press releases on your blog can remain there forever. Blogs also tend to be personalized and can become a great place for you to not only gain credibility, but to have other experts and even reporters find you. Remember, with the advent of the web, public relations now allow you to go directly to your customers without media filters and large PR spends. Moreover, since 75% of reporters now use blogs to find experts and do research for their own work, your blog can now potentially provide media visibility that never existed before!Creating A New Blog Is Easy
There are literally hundreds of blogging systems in existence today to choose from. Some can be hosted on your website while others are hosting by the blogging system providers. The most popular blogging systems in use today include: Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, and LiveJournal. Other blogging tools may be available by other providers depending on your needs as well. The main point to remember is that many popular blogging tools are inexpensive (or even free), easy-to-use, and can be setup and ready to go by the average internet user in a matter of minutes.
Getting Started
The challenge for most companies who want to start blogging is that they lack a fundamental understanding of what is required to have a successful blog and what they need to do to best support them. A good SEO consultant can help guide you through the process from the creation, optimization and ongoing management of your blogs. Experienced SEO Blogging consultants tend to work with many other clients with their blogging strategies on a regular basis and can save you time and money by leveraging their expertise to create optimal results.