If you want to start blogging but are overwhelmed by the reams of information out there, don’t worry, this post will outline how to start optimizing your blog in easy to follow steps. I have divided them into two sections – on page and off page optimization.
A. On page optimization – all the changes you can make on the webpage.
1. Domain name
Before you register your domain name, make sure it has the keywords you want to optimize for. For example if you want to make a blog about traveling for students, make sure the URL is “travellingstudents.com” or “students-traveling.com” instead of “Destinations”.
2. Decide on a theme
There are a lot of blogs out there and you have to make your blog attractive to visitors. Do some research and see what other blogs are talking about and if there is a niche area that bloggers are not writing about.
Write about a topic you are interested in and that you can add value to. For example, there are a lot of blogs about seo but there is not as much about mobile seo. I have a keen interest in emerging platforms and therefore have written posts about new mobile phones hitting the market place and mobile seo.
3. Decide on your key words
If you are writing a post about seo or mobile soe, you must concentrate on a few keywords which you will base your post around. Use Google keyword tool to find out the volume and competition for particular terms. There may be a lot of competition for term “mobile phones” but may not be as much for “mobile seo”.
4. Blog often
Now that you have set up your blog, update it frequently. If you regularly add new posts your readers will notice that you have a lot of content and come back for more. If you just add a couple of posts and leave it for a few months, visitors will realize you are not adding any interesting content and your followers will leave. You should try and write and new post at least 3 times a week, which is
5. Optimise your images
A picture paints a thousand words. It is important to put keywords in the alt tags. With wordpress, you can add a title and a caption to the image. The captions will appear below the image and will make the page look more attractive. While the title will be scanned by bots crawling through the site.
2. Off page optimization – attracting visitors to your blog.
Now that you have optimised the copy on the blog, you need to attract traffic to your site. Here are a few tips.
6. Submit your blog to directories and search engines
Submit your site to all the major search engines, such as google, yahoo, bing, even AOL and ASK. I would also recommend submitting the site to blog directories.
I have taken this step and submitted my blog with a description and keywords to the following:
Blogarama – #1 Blog directory
http://www.britblog.com/
www.blogcatalog.com
Blogging Fusion – Blog Directory – Article Directory – RSS Directory – Web Directory
UK Blog Directory
http://blogville.us
You will often be asked to write keywords or push terms for your blog and also a description as the one below.
seojoblogs is a one stop site for all your seo needs covering mobile seo, link building, article writing and keyword research. Seojoblogs prides itself on making seo easy to learn and helping all those new to this field to start implementing seo as business as usual.
7. Guest blog
This involves writing posts on other people’s websites with a link back to yours. Obviously this will only work if you have a written a good post with attractive content and relevant content.
8. Networking
Go back to basics and start networking. Go to the blogging events, the marketing and seo shows and remember to bring your business cards. Talk to people in your field and let them know what you are doing.
9. Start using social media.
If you have a blog that you update regularly, then start using a twitter account with links back to your site. Make sure your blog has an RSS feed so people will be informed when you next update your blog.
10. Take part in forums
If you want people to find your blog, start connecting with other bloggers on line. Take part in forums. UK Yahoo answers has a lot of visits and a lot of people who come and ask questions, so you could be the answer they are looking for.