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Free Website Content
Blog Tips for SEO
Blog Tips
By Sharon Housley
Blogs are the current rage, and many webmasters
have blogs but fail to use their blog to it's full potential.
Blogs provide a steady stream of fresh content, and
if this content is written and managed properly, blogs
have the ability to increase a website's ranking in
the search engines.
1. Host Your Own Blog
In order to prosper from a blog, be sure to host
it on your own domain. Hosting the blog on your own
server will maximize the links to your website. Link
popularity is one of the factors search engines use
to rank websites. Resist the urge to use free hosting
services, do not give away your link popularity!
2. RSS Feeds
All blogs should have an RSS feed. An RSS feed will
allow for your blog posts to be easily syndicated. The
syndication will result in links back to your blog from
RSS directories or others who display the feed. Blog
entries should be available via an RSS feed. Website
visitors who subscribe to the feed will receive notification
when new blog posts are added. If the title is of interest,
they will click through to your website. This gives
subscribers an easy way to know when a blog has been
updated.
3. Use White Space
Be sure to make your content scannable. Few website
visitors actually read blog posts; most web visitors
simply scan a blog entry to determine its relevance
or point. With that in mind, the blog posts should be
displayed in short paragraphs. Overly long posts should
be segmented into concise paragraphs or broken into
bulleted lists to make scanning easier. Avoid the urge
to clutter the post.
4. Titles Matter
You only have seconds to grab the attention of scanners
browsing your blog. Use keywords and catchy titles to
draw readers in. Blog post titles can be bolded for
emphasis and white space should be used to buffer the
content.
5. Grammar Matters
You will be judged by your knowledge and use of
the English language. Search engines will make note
of blog entries that lack proper punctuation or capitalization.
If a blog post does not respect the rules of grammar
and punctuation, it is possible search engines will
make the assumption that a bot cobbled together the
posts leading to a potential ban.
6. Legibility
As with any web design select fonts carefully, do
not use micro or macro-fonts. Colors should be web safe,
making it easy to discern and read. The background and
background color should not obscure the text.
7. Navigate
Give readers somewhere to go, include links to additional
information resources or extended information in the
blog post. Including links in the actual blog post will
ensure back links should the RSS feed be syndicated.
8. Communicate
If you create a post about someone, let them know,
they might surprise you and link back or they might
blog about your blog post, essentially creating a virtual
dialogue. This is an easy way to build link popularity.
Be warned however, simply mentioning a popular blogger
on a blog will rarely result in a link back, the content
of the blog post must grab their interest.
9. Incorporate SEO
Blog posts should be written as you would write
a web copy. Posts should be natural and make sense while
still incorporating keywords and keyword phrases that
relate to the content.
10. Speed Matters
Web pages that are slow to load will frustrate users,
be sure to use reliable web hosting. Compress graphics
to maximize load time.
Use your blog to help your website attract
traffic. Attention to search engine optimization details
could mean the difference between popular and unpopular.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds
and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for
RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com
audio recording and editing software.
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This article may be used freely in opt-in
publications and websites, provided that the resource
box is included and the links are active. A courtesy
copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.
Additional articles available for publication available
at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
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