Blog Optimization 101

There’s a lot being said about how to optimize your blog for the search engines. You can ping, tag and archive correctly and see great results. But there are several more organic ways to make your blog popular. Here’s “Blog Optimization 101” to get you started.

1.    Categorize Your Posts: Blog hosts provide a categorizing tool to help make your posts easier to find. This is important because, as we’re going to discuss in a minute, frequent posting makes a better blog. Choose categories that are obvious, so readers can search for what they need. Also, make it easier to be loved by search engines by including your primary keywords as categories. Optimization 101 Takeaway: Use categories, and include your primary keywords.
2.    Use Keywords Carefully: Speaking of keywords, learn to use them carefully in your content. Good, useful, keyword-rich content is the key to blog success. Keyword stuffing, on the other hand, will get you booted from search engines. Use keywords as category headings, and then use those keywords naturally in your posts. Optimization 101 Takeaway: Keywords, used naturally, build traffic.
3.    Create Great Titles: Blog post titles are your chance to captivate readers’ interest. You could, for example, say “How to Shine Shoes” or you could grab attention by saying “Six Ways to Keep Shoes Looking Brand New.” Which would you rather read? Optimization 101 Takeaway: Lead posts with great titles to capture interest.
4.    Keep Content Fresh: What’s sadder than a great blog with no posts for six months? It’s interest-killing to stop posting frequently, especially if you’ve gained an RSS following. Start strong and stay strong so you don’t lose reader interest. Plan your blog posting schedule and topics a month in advance and you won’t have to think about what to write. Optimization 101 Takeaway: Feed followers fresh content often so they don’t disappear.
5.    Keep Content Relevant: You may have lots of thoughts about politics, but your business is selling kites. Start a separate blog to talk about politics, and keep your kite company’s blog on topic. Offer useful tips, link to sites of interest and embed images in your blog posts. Anything you can offer that keeps prospects coming back increases the chance they’ll go in search of your website. (By the way, breaking up your text with images, bullet points or block quotes makes posts even more interesting.) Optimization 101 Takeaway: Stick to topics that relate to your business to keep readers coming back.

Keeping your blogs fresh and interesting can build a following and drive traffic to your websites. Use what you’ve learned in Blog Optimization 101 to create a blog that’s a valuable marketing channel.

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