Writing by Brick Marketing on Saturday, 8 of March , 2008 at 1:54 am Leave a comment
It should be. Blog SEO should be a part of your everyday blogging. It’s strange as just about everyone knows what is involved with good blog SEO practices, or at least some of the minimum requirements. So why don’t they do it? I am not going to go through what is good blog SEO practices, we have many articles on the topic already. I want to look at your blogging habits - or rather, I want you to look at your blogging habits.
Laziness? I think not. I think the problem is more a joint case of lack of motivation and poor habits. For many people, when they first start blogging, blog SEO is the last thing on their mind. So they blog away. Often ad-hoc, often off topic - if they have a specific genre that is, and generally with very poor blog SEO practices.
It becomes a habit - a poor blog SEO habit
Habits can be broken. They say it takes a week to form a habit and four weeks to break it. If you have fallen into the habit of not looking at the requirements for good blog SEO, then spend the next four weeks religiously following them. At the end of the four weeks you will find that you have now formed a new blogging habit - hopefully one that is good for your blog’s SEO.
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Category: Blog SEO
Writing by Brick Marketing on Saturday, 23 of February , 2008 at 8:12 am Leave a comment
There are many blog and website services provider in the market place now. What features do you look for before buying their services.
The first and most important feature to look for is the level of expertise in the services they offer. Some services providers claim a high level expertise but unless they can back these claims up with evidence, generally in the form of a portfolio of successful clients, then tread warily.
The second feature, whilst not truly a feature, is price. Cheap is not always best, in fact it rarely is. The lower the price the lower the level of service - it is a simple matter of economics. If your are offering a service that requires a high level of expertise from a team then low fees indicate either a small team or a lack of dedicated resources.
The major features to consider are of course the services themselves. Do they offer web hosting? Price again is important here - cheap hosting invariably leads to cheap service - frequent down times and little support. When it comes to web hosting, you get what you pay for.
Other features include web design, content writing, directory and search engine submission, SEO, blog and/or website marketing and an ongoing help program.
Providers such as Brick Marketing not only offer a comprehensive range of blog and website services, they have the expertise to see your project through from start to finish. Brick Marketing also have a wide range of blog and website services to assist you in the ongoing development of your blog or website.
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Category: Blog Content, Blog Design, Blog Marketing, Blog SEO, Blog and Website Services
Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 20 of February , 2008 at 7:07 am Comments (1)
How much time and effort do you put into your blog SEO? Have you hired a professional to do the job for you? Either way, the following checklist will help to determine if the right areas are being targeted. If you haven’t commenced blog SEO activities then this checklist will help you get started.
- Blog SEO Strategy: Have your blog carefully evaluated to identify the areas that require optimization; then put together a strategy to achieve that optimization.
- Keyword Research: The evaluation of your blog should help to identify ideal keywords. Further research will identify what steps are needed to fully optimize those keywords to complete the blog SEO.
- Optimizing Meta Tags: Blog SEO should also include writing effective Meta Tags and Meta Descriptions based on your keyword and blog evaluation.
- Content: Create content that is not only rich in keywords but also relevant to your blog, engages the reader and provides enough attraction to bring the reader back for more. This is an ongoing component to a successful blog SEO strategy.
- Link Building Strategy: Develop a link building strategy that targets your keywords and focuses on linking to content rather than just the main page.
Blog SEO is not as easy as it sounds. It takes time and careful analysis, something that perhaps should be left to the professionals in the field. If you do decide to do it yourself, take care that your blog SEO activities do not focus too much on one area to the detriment of the others. A balanced well thought out strategy is the only way to successfully complete a blog SEO campaign.
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Category: Blog SEO
Writing by Brick Marketing on Friday, 8 of February , 2008 at 7:07 am Comments (1)
Many will argue that graphics and images do little to help blog SEO and blog marketing. This is debatable and will depend on how much emphasis you place on pure keyword usage and content optimization. If you believe as I do that traffic and external linking play a greater role in your blog SEO strategies then you may agree with the use of graphics and images after reading this article.
How will graphics or images help my blog SEO?
Graphics or images on their own will not help. It is how you use them and where you get them from that counts. To get the most from using graphics or images you need to visit sites such as flickr.com where there are millions of images, photos and videos on display. A site such as flickr.com has Page Rank which can be passed on to your site, in particular your post’s page. You just need to find the right photo or image and place it by direct link to the source.
Is it that simple - where is the blog SEO value?
No it is not that simple. You need several other factors to work for you. You can use a site such as flickr.com to store all your own photos or images. If you want to use someone else’s photos or images then you need to request their permission. This is where you get the PR value. Leave a comment on the photo owner’s photo requesting permission to use that photo. You can do this even if you host your own images. Search engines do not know who owns the images. A request like this obviously requires a link so that the photo owner can view the site prior to giving permission. That link in the comments is one link with Page Rank back to your blog.
Once permission has been granted, publish your post with the photo or graphic. Go back and leave a comment thanking them and pointing to the post itself so that the photo owner can see the photo in situ.Very few photo owners remove these comments as you have been very polite in requesting permission and included proper referencing in the post - it is free advertising for them. You now have two links, one to the home page from the request and one to the post itself - both carrying PR value.
All that is left is to ensure that the image and alt tags have been correctly formatted using keywords and you have a graphic or image that is going to provide some extra value to your blog SEO. Not only that, you have improved the overall appeal of your posts.
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Category: Blog SEO
Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 6 of February , 2008 at 2:50 am Leave a comment
A bouncing blog - sounds interesting. When it comes it blog SEO, you do not want a bouncing blog. What is bouncing. The bounce rate is a measurement of how many visitors land on your home page and then leave without visiting any other pages. Together with the time measurement, you can get a fairly good overall picture of your blog.
If you have a bounce rate of 70% with an average stay of 1.20 minutes; you know you are getting visitors, but they are not staying and certainly not staying long enough to read the landing page. There can be many reasons for this. Perhaps you have engaged in a pay per click campaign. People are clicking to visit but not staying. Perhaps your blog marketing is wrong with visitors arriving only to find you don’t have what they are looking for. This is a problem. It means your blog marketing campaign is not delivering.
If you do have a high bounce rate, you need to adjust your landing page to see what works; to see which modifications keep the visitors on your page and then deliver them to other pages.
Good solid blog SEO strategies along with constant analysis of your traffic should keep your blog from bouncing.
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Category: Blog Design, Blog Marketing, Blog SEO
Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 3 of February , 2008 at 7:03 am Leave a comment
Blog SEO, is it really that important? After all, its just a blog. With that mindset perhaps blog SEO is not that important. Blog marketing and blog design are probably not that important either. On the other hand, if you are serious about your blog; serious about getting visitors; delivering a message or making money; then blog SEO is extremely important.
Around 85% of online consumers use a search engine of some type. If you don’t use good search engine optimization practices then your competitors are receiving the traffic and your left behind. Given the billions of searches that are made each day it is important to get onto that first page for your given keyword. The majority of consumers only go as far as that first page. Some look at the second page. Very few get to page three.
Employing a professional blog SEO consultant is often money well spent. If they can get you onto the first page then the flow of visitors will more than adequately cover that initial expense. If they incorporate blog design and blog marketing in the package then your visitor numbers will rise dramatically. If you have a good product to sell, affiliate program or other income generating program that is attractive to your visitor then you may well be able to employ the consultant on an ongoing basis. Blog SEO - here at Blog Marketing Journal, we consider it very important.
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Category: Blog Design, Blog Marketing, Blog SEO
Writing by Brick Marketing on Saturday, 2 of February , 2008 at 8:10 am Leave a comment
Where does your blog SEO focus sit - concentrated heavily on Google, or spread to cover all major search engines. The announcement that Microsoft have made a huge offer for Yahoo may leave some looking at their current strategies. The question that must be asked first is what changes can Microsoft bring to Yahoo?
The announcement stated that the focus would be on consumers, advertisers and publishers and not so much on technologies. The immediate question in my mind is the Google-Firefox relationship and whether or not Microsoft will align Yahoo more with Internet Explorer.
It seems that Microsoft and Yahoo have been in discussion for almost 18 months with the Yahoo board obviously interested in the proposal. With that in mind it will be interesting to see if Yahoo starts to implement any Microsoft ideas prior to the takeover. Of course Yahoo have to agree to the proposal first and I am sure there are many government agencies that will run their magnifying glasses over the proposal. For now, watch for any changes to Yahoo’s requirements.
Irrespective of the outcome, your blog SEO strategies should target all search engines. Not only should you target all search engines, you should be constantly watching what the search engines are doing. Determine what blog SEO strategies you need to tweak to keep pace with search engine changes and what directions they are taking into the future.
If this all appears too difficult or too complicated then look at some of the blog and website services that specialize in blog SEO strategies and blog marketing - the dollars invested could turn out to be dollars saved.
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Category: Blog SEO, Blog and Website Services
Writing by Brick Marketing on Monday, 28 of January , 2008 at 5:59 am Leave a comment
Your old posts are a blog SEO goldmine if you know how to use them. These five tips will certainly make the most use of those old posts.
Tip 1: Whenever it is appropriate link a keyword back to an old post. This post relates to Blog SEO so I can effectively link to any of the older posts that relate to that topic. I am able to create three internal links just through this post.
Tip 2: I mentioned in a previous post that a lot of blogs waste their 404 Page Not Found error. Use the page to list your top posts.
Tip 3: Write a series of posts on related topics. This not only provides the opportunity to link each page, it has the added bonus of bringing your readers back.
Tip 4: Create static info pages that you can link to on a regular basis. Don’t forget to link to your About page when appropriate.
Tip 5: Make sure your sitemap is always up to date for search engines. Create a static site map for your visitors as well. While time consuming you can list every page which becomes another internal link.
Never underestimate the value of internal links. Whilst not as powerful as inbound links, internal links increase the value of the pages linked - a quick and easy blog SEO tactic.
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Category: Blog SEO, Blog Software, Blogging Tips
Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 20 of January , 2008 at 1:04 am Comments (2)
Blog content is everything! At least that is what they tell me. Make sure you get a good quality post onto your site at least once a day. Some bloggers go into withdrawal if they cannot get at least one article posted everyday - sometimes two or three articles on the one day.
Content is “king”. If you do not provide the quality - you will not get the traffic. The question is - how often and how long? There are no hard and fast ‘rules’. You do not have to post ‘everyday’. You certainly do not have to post several time per day.
Obviously if you build a group of loyal readers then you do need to provide articles on a regular basis. We have started a new year and typical to the season many people have written about their ambitions for the year and what worked and what did not work during 2007.
There has been one common thread through out what did work. It seems that less and more are having positive effects. Confused. Let me clarify. Less posts per week. Longer more in-depth posts on a regular basis. It is making more sense now to post in moderation but ensure those posts are top quality. There are so many blogs in the blogosphere it it becoming impossible to visit each one every day. RSS and email subscriptions are growing. A good quality post four or five times per week is just as likely to maintain or grow your traffic and as a daily post.
Blog content IS king. Provide quality articles on a regular basis and your readership is assured.
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Category: Blog Content, Blog SEO
Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 16 of January , 2008 at 7:03 am Leave a comment
A lot is written on the topic of Blog SEO but I see very little written about the use of graphics. Your graphics are just as important as the text, in fact more so if they do not render well on the screen.
Each browsers uses a different set of rules to render the graphics to the screen. If you use FireFox, particularly some of the older versions, you may find that when hovering your mouse over an image nothing happens. Internet Explorer on the other hand will display the ALT tag text. Some users prefer to have the graphics function of the browser switched off - in other words, they do not want graphics displayed. This can make a page look rather strange unless you code the graphics correctly.
The Insert/Edit image function in WordPress has a very limited capability. When inserting an image into your content you can use the Insert/edit image function but you will need to enter the code window to clean up the graphics tags.
Optimized Graphics Tags:
<img src=”http://yourimage-url.here” alt=”name of image” title=”name of image” border=”0=none 1,2,3 etc for thickness” width=”xx%” height=”xx%” align=”left, right, center” vspace=”10″ hspace=”10″>
That is a long tag. A quick look at each component.
The IMG SRC (image source) tag tells the browser where to find the image.
The ALT tag is the text that is placed on the screen if the browsers image function is switched off or if the path to the image has been broken (the image may have been deleted for example) - use keywords in this text.
The TITLE tag is the text that is displayed when the mouse hovers over the image (you can get clever and use promotional text here - for example - “click here to see more on blog SEO“) - again, use keywords in the text.
The BORDER tag sets the thickness of the border - zero for no border or you can leave the tag out altogether.
The WIDTH and HEIGHT tag allow you to render the graphic in a size other than the original. You can use sizes greater than 100% but always check how well the graphic appears. You can use just the width tag as most browsers will automatically resize the height according to the width. I find it best to use both tags.
The ALIGN tag places the graphic to the left or right of the text or centers the graphic with text top and bottom. If you are looking for a magazine affect with the text wrapping around the graphic - use the left or right attribute. (note again, not all browsers render this correctly).
The VSPACE and HSPACE are measurements in pixels that tell the browser how much ‘white’ space to place around the graphic. If you leave this tag out the text will placed hard up against the graphic.
Once you have placed the graphic, if it is a third party graphic (taken from another site) then it is always a good idea to link to the graphics source in the accompanying text.
If you follow those tips, your graphic should render well in most browsers and search engines will know where the graphic came from and its importance to the content.
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Category: Blog SEO, Blogging Tips, WordPress tips
Writing by Brick Marketing on Friday, 11 of January , 2008 at 2:05 am Comments (2)
Blog SEO is not all it appears to be sometimes. I read a lot of blogs each day and subscribe to many newsletters and blog feeds. I normally scan each of them, delete what has not caught my attention and give the others a second read. One such newsletter arrived today and the following paragraph caught my attention:
“Don’t buy paid links! Paid links are bad! Don’t cloak either. Search engines don’t allow it. You’ve all heard this before right?”
It appears not. The newsletter was from WebProNews and related to an interview between the author and Jeremiah Andrick, product manager for MSN Live Webmaster Tools. It appears that each of the search engines use different methods to determine what is allowed in web and blog SEO and what is not allowed. Further in the article Andrick stated:
“Paid links are a gray area. Are they of value to the end user? Sometimes they are. Often they’re less valuable and less relevant than the organic links on a page. We reserve the right to treat them that way.”
So from this statement you can assume that MSN does not ‘can’ paid links just because they are paid links. They take each link on its merit.
Whilst the article is worth reading it also made me realize how important it is to subscribe to newsletters or blogs posts. While surfing the blog jungle learn to value the information provided on each site. If it is valuable and you can relate to it then subscribe to their daily posts. Subscribing saves time as the information is coming to you.
Blogging Tip: Subscribe to Newsletters or Blog Posts that are relevant.
The article also pointed out the need to really think hard when it comes to Blog SEO strategies. Each search engine has different methods of rating web and blog pages and so you need to optimize to suit each one.Optimizing can be a difficult task particularly when the search engines constantly change their methodology. If your web page or blog is a professional one then the dollars spent utilizing the services of an SEO consultant will not be wasted.
Blogging Tip: Use Blog SEO methods to suit the various search engines or get an expert to do it for you
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Category: Blog SEO, Blogging Tips
Writing by Brick Marketing Staff on Thursday, 3 of January , 2008 at 11:59 am Leave a comment
When you set up your new WordPress blog, should you go with a template or a new custom design. There are pros and cons to each.
Template - WordPress has many templates that you can choose from. The advantage to using a template is that it’s easy to pick one and install it at the click of a button. The downside is, not all templates are optimized for the best performance. This is easily remedied as you can always replace a template if it doesn’t work out for you. Another downside is that other people are using the same template. Do you want your blog to look like everyone else’s? If not, then you should go with a custom design.
Custom WordPress Theme Design - The problem with designers is that they are not created equal. If you find a good theme designer who knows SEO then keep him because that’s a rare bird. That said, custom WordPress themes are a good way to go if you want your blog to stand out. But it can be expensive. If it doesn’t fit your budget then you should just go with a WordPress template and work toward being able to purchase a custom theme down the road.
One way you can find a custom blog theme for your WordPress blog is to visit other blogs and evaluate the designers style. If you see a designer that you like - that is, you see several designs from a particular designer that catches your eye - then ask about his prices and be sure to ask about the optimization performance of the blog themes he designs. If he doesn’t know about the performance then chances are he doesn’t design optimized blog themes. It’s very important that you get a blog theme that is optimized and a good designer will know that his themes are optimized and be able to tell you how his designs fare at the search engines.
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Category: Blog Design, Blog SEO
Writing by Brick Marketing on Monday, 24 of December , 2007 at 10:36 pm Comments (5)
Choosing a domain name for your new blog is just one thing. There’s still the hosting, SEO, content, and design to think about. It’s important to tackle each and every issue if you are ready to start a new blog, whether corporate or personal. DailyBits’ Steven Ward wrote an interesting list of 8 Bad Decisions When Starting a Website. The items included in the list may seem basic but a lot of webmasters completely forget about them.
So here they are. I called them “8 No So Wise Decisions” because really, forgetting about them is just not so wise.
1. Free or Cheap Web Hosting. Low cost hosting will bring you to hell Frequent downtimes? Low bandwidth? Goodluck!
2. Not Buying a Domain Name. Read Why Domain Names Matter.
3. Not Getting the Right Domain Name. Review the 7 Highly Effective Domain-name Habits.
4. Designing Exclusively for Search Engines. SEO, SEO, and SEO. It’s all about optimization baby! Try to get noticed by Google.
5. Prioritizing the Look Over the Content. Content is still king. What’’s the point of having a really cool flash-based blog if your content is so-so?
6. Forgetting About the Target Market. On a niche? Stick to it.
7. Poor Navigation. Please, don’t confuse your readers with fancy navigations. It’s just pointless. Help them by pointing them to the right page easily.
8. Ineffective Keyword Targeting. As part of good optimization efforts, learn to target the right keywords.There are lots of keyword research tools out there that could help you find the more popular keywords.
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Category: Blog Content, Blog Design, Blog Marketing, Blog Metrics, Blog SEO, Blog and Website Services, Blogging Tips
Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 23 of December , 2007 at 10:21 pm Leave a comment
Still on the topic of domain names, have you ever wondered why domain names vary in price? Top level domains .com, .org. or .net’s are more expensive than .info, .biz, or country domains such as .us, .eu, or the newest .asia.
So why are some domain names more expensive than the others? One word : COMPETITION. People compete over the most common yet highly popular keywords like Sex, Business, or Diamond.
Truth to tell, there were domain names who were sold and bold as much as at $350 million!
Top 10 Most Expensive Domain Names :
10. Shop.com - sold for $3,500,000
9. Korea.com - $ 5,000,000 in January 2000
8. SEO.com - sold for $ 5,000,000 in June 2007
7. AsSeenOnTv.com - sold for $5,100,000 million in January 2000
6. Casino.com - sold for $5,500,000 million in 2003
5. Beer.com - sold for $7,000,000 million in 2004
4. Diamonds.com - sold for $7,500,000 million in 2006
3. Porn.com - sold for $9,500,000 million in 2007
2. Sex.com - sold for 14,000,000 million in January 2006
1. Business.com - sold for $350,000,000 million in 2007
(Source : Rhyan and Oylinki)
Domains tailing behind the list:AltaVista.com ($3,300,000) ; Vodka.com ($3,000,000) ; Loans.com ($3,000,000) ; Wine.com ($2,900,000), CreditCards.com ($2,750,000), Tom.com ($2,500,000), Autos.com ($2,200,000).
I’m not going to ask anymore why such and such were worth millions of dollars (enough to feed a small African country) because the reason is just obvious. Business is business—the more you spend, expect more in return.
Now, I wonder how much blogmarketingjournal.com is now worth?How much is your blog domain name worth? I guess it’s time for you to increase the market value of your blog. Or who knows, your domain is now worth a million dollars.
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Category: Blog Metrics, Blog SEO, Blog and Website Services
Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 19 of December , 2007 at 12:03 pm Leave a comment
Christmas is just around the corner and yetand you are wondering why your website traffic is dropping. It’s either people are leaving and going away for early holiday vacation or they’re simply losing interest in reading your blog. But for the life of you who’s addicted to blogging even if you’re blogging for a very corporate and serious blog (think: anti-virus or microbiology) , you can always create a buzz and have people visiting your website over and over again via blog contests and giveaways.
Ahh, blog contests. Better, giveaways. Since it’s that time of the year, you might as well think of coming up with a contest. You can keep your loyal readers and you can have more people linking to you since blog contents are always hyped and talked about. Oftentimes, they become too successful that your readers clamor for more.
So instead of talking about PPC Marketing or some obscure type of bacteria on your scientific blog, launch a Christmas contest instead. Or if you’re generous or simply feeling generous, you may offer a new gadget as a prize, offer free versions of your service or product, codes, or whatever.
Point is, giving stuff through your blog for free will always excite. Not only your readers will benefit from this blog breather. Other bloggers will definitely give you more “link love” this holiday season.
Check out some ongoing blog contests so you’ll have an idea:
Prince John Blog Contest
Christmas Giveaway with NeverBlueAds
Freezing Hot’s Win an amazing SEO package for your blog
Not Entirely British’s Compact DVD Player
Nintendo Wii from Contest Beat
Spoiled Pretty’s Clarisonic Skin Care System Giveaway
Million Dollar Journey’s First Birthday Giveaway
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Category: Blog Marketing, Blog SEO
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