Content Writing & Copywriting Blog

SEO your individual blog posts

Feb 19, 2008 1 Comment »

Optimizing individual blog posts for your human readers as well as the search engines is as important as optimizing your entire blog. In fact it is much more beneficial, and easier to search engine optimize individual blog posts rather than focusing on the entire blog, and this reasserts the importance of sticking to the quintessential theme of your blog.

Many blogs become famous not for their overall content but for the amount of attention some of their posts get from all over the Internet. That’s why more emphasis is given to the quality of individual posts because any post can turn you into a blogging superstar. I am not an SEO expert but my experience tells me that if you stick to the following guidelines you can search engine optimize your individual blog posts. Please keep in mind that you rankings depend on lots of other factors.

Make your title straightforward, compelling, and use your primary keywords in the title

Some SEO and blogging experts insist that your blog post title is the most important component of your blog post but I slightly disagree because I think the most important component of your blog post is the content of your blog post. Have a great title and mediocre content and in just a few moments your title is declared bogus.

The title does two things: it gives your blog post a unique identity and it conveys to the readers and the search engines what your blog post contains. In that sense it is very important; whenever somebody links to your blog post or whenever your blog post appears in the search engines result pages it is your title that grabs the attention of the reader. This is why the search engines take your blog post title so seriously. The keywords in your blog post title tell the search engines what your blog post deals in and then they rank your blog post accordingly.

The blog post title attains greater significance in the case of social bookmarking websites like Digg and del.icio.us where it’s mostly your title that decides how many clicks you’re going to get from there. Websites like popurls.com display just your blog post title and you can only get clicks if your blog post title is enticing enough. Please don’t mix enticing with misleading.

Organize your blog post content under headings, subheadings and lists

Since there is so much stuff to be read, heard, and watched on the Internet, everybody is in a perpetual rush. So it helps your readers and the search engine crawlers if you organize your content under well-defined headings and subheadings. Using your headings and subheadings they can quickly browse through your content without having to read the individual paragraphs although your effort should involve making them read more and more.

Since it is easier to read headings and subheadings the search engines crawlers go through them to understand what you’re trying to convey. Use your main keywords and key expressions in your headings and subheadings because they are used while calculating your rankings.

Lists too are a great way of highlighting your keywords. Whenever you can, express your main ideas in the bulleted lists.

Use interlinking wherever possible

Interlinking means linking to other blog posts from within your latest blog posts. This can drive traffic — both human and search engines — to less popular blog posts. This also creates a network of links, facilitating easier crawling in the process. Make sure to use the relevant keywords as anchor text when you are interlinking because this way the search engines can make out what sort of information the page is being linked to contains. It then helps boost their ranking too.

Keep the most important part at the top

This is because the most important part contains your keywords. Since the search engine crawlers are anyway not going to read your entire blog post it is better to present to them your main point as soon as they enter the blog post. Make it as interesting as possible because your initial paragraph more often than not decides whether people are going to read further or not.

Highlight your keywords without overdoing

I don’t know how much it really works but many say it does. Highlighting means making your words and primary expressions appear in bold. Don’t highlight every occurrence.

Create great content

Although this point appears in the end it is one of the most important ways of search engine optimizing your blog posts. When the content of your blog post is superb your blog post gets linked by other bloggers and webmasters and this helps you boost your search engine rankings significantly. This is how linkbaiting has evolved; people specifically write blog posts or get them written by expert bloggers so that they are linked by the others.

Another Reason You Shouldn’t Get Too Crazy About Your Page Rank

Oct 25, 2007 3 Comments »

According to this link at TechCrunch Google is drastically reducing the page rank of blogs and websites that deal with selling and buying links just to manipulate their page rank. This is the reason you shouldn’t indulge in manipulating your rankings and SEO factors. You should let things work naturally and just focus on generating quality content. People indulge in artificial methods only when they don’t have something real to offer. Just think it this way: what is the use of raising traffic to your blog or website if there is not much there to read or view? If you have quality content then people will come to your blog or website on their own provided you create a positive buzz around your Internet property.

This should also act as a reminder, that don’t make your online business hinge on just a few factors. For example don’t just depend on Google for your traffic; derive traffic from other websites and search engines too. Agreed, that Google can really affect your traffic and the best way of countering it is never to build your blog or website primarily for Google. Consider Google just as an added advantage. Work on ranking higher on other search engines too and list your link in as many relevant online directories as possible. Generate lots of quality content so that other websites and blogs link to you naturally, at their own discretion.

Having said that, Google needs good content to remain in the business. So the search engine company is not doing any favor by sending traffic your way and neither does it want to bully you to follow its guidelines. It just tries to improve its search policy to provide the best results to its users so that its users keep coming back to conduct more searches. Focus on your content, focus on usability, focus on quality, and focus on networking, and let the other things happen naturally.

Incidentally, some blogs like Copyblogger (from PR6 to PR4) and Problogger (from PR6 to PR4) don’t even sell links from their websites and still their PR rankings have been dropped. Search Engine Land has comprehensive information on the topic.

Technorati Tags: page rank, google

8 Tips For Newbie Bloggers

Sep 16, 2007 10 Comments »

Are you starting a new blog or you have a blog you think is quite new (you can define a new blog as having very few posts and near to no traffic — just like this blog)? You may find the following 8 blogging tips useful:

1] Be clear about the blog topic

Don’t start a blog just because all of a sudden you’ve come across this great idea. Be sure of what you want to publish and if that thing interests you because since blogging is a regular affair, unless you have lots of interest (and a lot to say) you are going to run out of steam very soon. In theory this is no big deal, but if you continue this string of behavior you’ll grow a disenchantment towards blogging and conclude it is not your cup of tea. Take your time, do your research, and gather your material. Have ideas stored for say, at least a couple of months.

2] Use a suitable blog publishing software

There are many blog publishing software available on the Internet and most of them are free. Take for instance WordPress. You’ll need to download the latest version and then upload it on your server, under your own domain name. Even if you are not comfortable with installing your own copy of WordPress (many hosting companies these days give you one-click installation facility) you can use WordPress-hosted blog at Wordpress.com, at Blogger, or numerous other websites. My recommendation is that you should publish your blog under your own domain name so that you have control over your content and you don’t have to comply with the editorial policies of the blog hosting websites.

3] Use a good blog editor

These days I’m using Windows Live Writer to create my blog posts and I’ve become a big fan of this so-far-free blog editing tool. Creating blog posts should be enjoyable and easy, so use a tool you feel most comfortable with, even if it is a text-editor like Dark Room.

4] Post regularly

By regular I don’t mean publishing 3-4 posts daily (you can do that if your posts are very small, Twitter-like). If your posts are not very long and not very research-oriented then try to post once daily. In case it takes lots of effort then you can even post on a weekly basis. But try to be regular: these gives people lots of stuff to link to, lots of stuff to read, and it gives the search engines lots of pages to index and rank.

5] Make your blog posts search engine friendly from the start

This will save you lots of time later on. Use proper headings, highlight your crucial phrases and use the appropriate anchor text whenever you link to internal and external links. Define blog post titles that contain your keywords or key phrases. Make sure your blog publishing software create search engine friendly URL when your post is published.

6] Comment on other blogs

Commenting on other blogs (related to your blog) generates targeted traffic and helps you increase your network. When people read your comments on other blogs they become aware of the existence of your blog. Regular interaction on other blogs also gives you new blog posting ideas. It also encourages the blog publishers to visit your blog and leave comments.

7] Reply to comments on your blog

When people leave comments on your blog they are seeking a conversation or a feedback. Give that to them and they’ll come for more. If you don’t respond they’ll think you are only interested in playing your own horn and you are rude. This reminds me…I need to reply to a few comments myself.

8] Link to other blogs

Link to other blogs or their blog posts from within your blog posts. This sends them trackbacks (and these trackbacks create links) and encourages them to link to your posts too.

These tips are a start. You don’t have to follow them at the outset but you’ll get a head start if you do.

Technorati Tags: blogging tips, tips for blogging, new blog, starting a blog

How To SEO Your Blog

Sep 11, 2007 No Comments »

Blog SEO is natural most of the time as by their nature itself blogs are easy to search engine optimize. Take for instance blogs created with WordPress; provided you are not using some really lousy theme that is full of images, JavaScript and skewed markup, WordPress generates blog posts that are mostly SEO-friendly. Still, there are some steps you can take to make sure your blog posts, for your chosen topics, rank higher than blog posts on similar topics from other blogs.

Steps to SEO your blog

• Put your keywords in your title: Abstract titles sound cool but they make a dent in your rankings. Take for instance this post; I could have titled it something like “Get higher rankings for your blog” but since I’m dealing with blog SEO, I have used the phrase in the title. I’m not sure how well this post is going to rank (lots of factors are responsible for that) but using keywords in the title is a step in the right direction. But make sure the title compliments the subject of your blog as it’s of no use getting traffic for a wrong title.
• Make the most important statement in the beginning: By taking the topic head on you get an opportunity to use your key expressions and keywords in the beginning without sounding spammy. If this post is about blog SEO, then I should better talk about blog SEO in the first paragraph and make my intentions clear why I’m writing this post.
• Use your keywords in the anchor text: When search engines are crawling your blog post, with the help of your anchor text (text between <a> and </a>) they know you are linking to other resources on the same topic. For instance, if I want you to go to my content writing website I’d rather use go to my content writing website and instead of click here to go to my content writing website.
• Use your keywords in the heading tags: Heading tags are very important as they highlight the main points of your blog post. Headings make your post scannable and search engines like them precisely for this reason. When you use your keywords in your headings it helps both the search engines and your human readers.
• Have lots of relevant content: Regularly updated, relevant content helps you build a loyal readership and it gives the search engines lots of pages to index and rank. Remember that it’s not the number, but the quality that matter. Still, if you have lots of quality posts then the chances of being linked to and getting a higher rankings is greater. Less posts of course means limited choice for those who want to link to you, and inbound links definitely improve your search engine rankings.

Technorati Tags: blog seo, seo, blogging

How SEO Copywriting can improve your website’s ranking

Jul 01, 2007 1 Comment »

Note from Amrit: Pinki (she likes to be called “Pinks”) is joining me as a content writer and these days she’s learning a lot about SEO. She proudly told me that she is a “senior googler” at the Google forum. I have asked her to share her thoughts and whatever new she is learning, on this blog. Her post follows…

Well, SEO copywriting plays a very significant part in improving your website’s ranking. Ask yourself these following questions: Do you want your website rank well in search engine result pages? Do you want to see your website on top of the world? Definitely the general answer should be ‘Yes’ but do you know how to get it? I guess, you are in a dilemma. Yes, No, Yes. Well let me tell you the easiest and the funkiest idea of getting both higher search engine rankings and a great conversion rate at the same time. Yes it’s definitely possible and it’s none other than SEO copyrighting my friend. Here’s how SEO copywriting improves your web page rankings as well as potential sales leads that initiates from online traffic.

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