Are you frightened by the term SEO?
It seems too technical for you righ? After all you are just interested in running a successful business.
But you have been told that you can’t have a successful one if you fail at SEO, so you make up your mind to learn it. ;)
But it still seems to complex to understand and become a PRO.
…
Do You Know These SEO Rules To Build a Popular Blog In Record Time?Read More »
Today, I decided to share with you some of the effective methods and strategies I am using in my blog. The strategies that I’m sharing with you require patience and hard work for implementation. Of course, they are easy. It’s not what the common bloggers commonly suggests to do. Let me put some effective sure-fire strategies to get real-time success in blogging.
Length of the blog post matters a lot in blog posts, Google is ranking long, insightful posts higher than those blog posts with a shorter length. As with the introduction of Google knowledge graph, the importance of the length of the content has become important.
Other advantages of lengthy content are:
1. It is easy to target, multiple keywords throughout the post and thus rank for multiple keywords.
2. We can include more internal links throughout the content.
3. Possibility of being indexed in Google in-depth articles, and thus getting loyal readers, who love more content.
4. Rank higher, and double your chances of ranking in the first page of SERPs.
There is no doubt that blog posts with great insightful content increases your blog’s search visibility in SERPs. The results may not be observed if yours is a new blog, it may take some time. However, once the blog post ranks for the keyword, there is no chance of a drop in rankings.
We can say that long form content is beneficial for long time. Content length is the sure-fire formula for getting high exposure and rankings.
I think I need not stress the importance of quality content. I know all of you ABT readers are already tired of blog posts that stress the importance of quality. However, no blog post is complete without stressing the importance of quality content.
A site with optimized quality content is given more credit than other sites, it is better if you made your site content interesting for human traffic. Google algorithm will find out if a site is beneficial to the human user. Google algorithm will determine how much time a user spends while visiting a site based on different search queries. If a site is visited often and user likes to visit it again, its ranking stays better due to decrease in bounce rate and increase in click through rate.
Victim of keyword stuffing? No worries, it happens to the best of us. So use LSI keywords. So, what are LSI keywords? Keywords related to the main keyword is called LSI keywords. Let me make myself clear to you now.
Take an example, you are writing a post on “Google Plus and its benefits”. For this topic, LSI keywords may be hashtags, G+, communities, just all terms related to it.
Instead of including the main keyword throughout the post and be a victim of keyword stuffing, include LSI keywords throughout the post, which may look natural.
Chaitanya wrote a nice guide on using LSI keywords you can read here.
Anchor texts are the texts that come in links. For example, in subscription button “Subscribe now” may be an anchor text, which leads you to the subscription page.
Like this while obtaining backlinks, do not include the large number of exact anchor texts, it may look unnatural. Some of the examples of diversified anchor texts are “Post title (exact match)”, “this post”, “click here”.
Keeping the same anchor texts for a single post gives an impression to Google that you are indulging in the bulk backlinks scheme or black hat practices. Writing blog posts focusing on SEO, link, rankings, rather than focusing on quality content leads to these problems. Be natural.
I know that with the ineffectiveness of the Google keyword planner and extinction of Google Adwords keywords tool, it has been never easy to find and implement effective keyword.
So it’s now the time to make use Google suggest. I don’t tell you to head over to Google search, type in and look for suggestions.
There is an awesome tool called UberSuggest that gives you never ending list of Google suggestions for a keyword. You can make use of this tool, make a list of surefire long tail keywords and put them in the Keyword planner for search volumes and competitions. This is one of the effective free ways. I am also using this to find worthy long-tail keywords.
If you want premium, WordTracker is the best of all.
Loyal readers of your blog expect quality content from you very often. So in order to keep them from visiting and alerting Google about your blog, it is necessary to publish QUALITY posts more often. If you got a blog, keep it updated and post regularly, write quality content and do not forget to get customers or users’ feedback.
Keep the posting frequency between 3-4 times a week. Frequency is less important than quality. If you have extraordinary quality, unique content, then posting 2 times a week is enough. But you know…
Typography matters a lot. Readers tend to love great content with great typography. The majority of readers are speed-readers, to stop them from doing so, use speed breakers, like bold and italic texts. Italize sentences like conversations and bold important points.
This also helps attract the readers and improve your blog’s typography.
So, above are the strategies I am using in my blog, and my blog is responding very well to these strategies. Implementing these strategies in your blog will surely lead to your blogging success, but it may take some time to get results. If you are a newbie and followed all these strategies, I can assure that you will stand out of the crowd within a year or 6 months. As with anything hard work and patience is important.
I’m sure you have liked this article. Please make those static share buttons, dynamic.
Which methods are you using to increase your blog traffic? I’d love to hear from you in comments!
Blogging gives you a chance to have your voice heard online. I’ve found blogs to be the right platform for conveying what you want to say. They also serve to establish your business, product or brand effectively. There are endless possibilities with a blog that you can make use of. There are millions of blogs at present, but not all of them are successful.
This has made me think of the key purpose of blogging and what makes it a success. While some think that being passionate is a vital necessity, there are others who suggest the money that you get out of blogging is what keeps more and more people drawn towards it. I’ve come up with some important points that touch upon the reason people take to blogging. And I hope this will help those of you who are starting out blogging afresh.
While most of the bloggers I meet accept that making money out of their blog is their goal, this is not however what they ultimately want out of the blog. The satisfaction and content feeling that you get when you have truly accomplished what you feel is right, is the ultimate result that many want.
But most of us are sidetracked easily by the process of making money. Though getting quick money is indeed gratifying, it can’t satisfy you in the long term and the gain will also not be substantial if you just think of the money alone.
In blogging whatever concepts you write about have been dealt with already in some form or other. The main difference according to me is how different your approach is. Unique and exclusive ideas are welcomed by all.
This fresh perspective can be brought about only when you are truly passionate or interested in what you write about. I’ve seen many a content and quality suffer because of not being connected to the topics your blog features.
Source:- FreeDigitalPhotos
Though I may sound hypocritical, blogging about topics that you are not connected with can take their toll on your blog, however profitable they are. Going along with the trend on taking shortcut methods may give you temporary satisfaction, but in the long term this will be counterproductive and cause your downfall. If you start your blog thinking that you can become successful overnight, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this is not going to happen.
When you look at how the famous bloggers like Darren Rowse, Michael Dunlop, John Chow, Steve Pavlina, and others have become popular, you’ll find that they took many years to accomplish the feat.
If you want to make your blog a success, you need passion for the topic you’re blogging about, and also do it the right way. This will create the exposure you need and down the line you will start making money out of it too. Here are some tips I’ve put together that will kick start your blog and get it functional in a short period.
The Google algorithms and other stiff competition you face online can hamper your ranking in the search engine and also affect your exposure. By focusing on the content quality instead of relying on the quantity to attract traffic you can succeed better.
What you write should not be a modified version of what can be found in other blogs. This can make viewers lose interest soon. The content should be unique, magnetic, and dynamic in nature, if you want it to be shared and make it a success.
Source:- FreeDigitalPhotos
Instead of looking at how established your blog is, you need to value and cherish each and every visitor, even if they are only a few. I’ve found that long term and lasting relationships are a better way to reach your goal. A happy visitor or customer will definitely bring in success and profits. And what do you prefer- hundreds of random visitors who are not interested in your content, or a handful of paying clients? Make wise choices when it comes to engaging connections.
When you look at the successful bloggers, a majority will confirm that the passion for the work is the key factor that had made them persevere and they make a success and profit out of it. If you are taking first steps towards setting up your blog, the aspects I’ve touched upon will help you make a clear and better choice and propel you towards a total success.
Wouldn’t it be more awesome if your blog readership triples within a short period of time?
These fans can’t seem to get enough of you and you love it.
If this is your goal as a blogger then I have to tell you this: you have to intentionally ignore and snub some people too.
Don’t get me wrong, we all want a large and huge readership but the honest truth is you can’t please everybody.
You have to make the choice now. …
3 Sets of Silly People Every Blogger Should Ignore For Engaged ReadershipRead More »
Think back to the last really great meal you had, dining out. Remember the name of the restaurant? Great! Now, go online and type in the restaurant name into Google (or your favorite search engine). Chances are, 9 times out of 10, you will get a Yelp, Yahoo Local, Google Places or Urbanspoon listing.
Now put yourself in the shoes of the owner of that great restaurant. Wouldn’t you want your customer to know a little more about your business than just its name, address and telephone number? To make matters worse, most of these sites include reviews by past customers, over which you have no control. While you’d certainly appreciate great reviews that reflect the efforts you put into customer services, would you want a terrible review given by that rare dissatisfied customer to prevent new customers from coming to your restaurant?
I’m sure you wouldn’t. ;)
Most offline businesses that are not online in some form or the other yet, face this problem. Their brand image is crafted by 3rd party information that may or may not be to the best interests of the brand.
The reasons many offline businesses haven’t embraced the internet even today are usually the same: No money (for a website or online marketing). No time. No technical skills.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
What if I tell you that all these are but lame excuses? What if I tell you that the only way you can hope to grow your business in the future is by going online? The digital internet (comprising of the web and mobile) does not have to be this big scary place that costs a lot of money to be on. If you really care about your brand and its reputation in the online and offline worlds, you will go online.
And what is the easiest route to market if you want to achieve an online presence? A blog of course!
Allow me to walk you through the most important reasons why your offline business needs a blog pronto!
Even though you may be an offline business, your audience’s favorite hangout happens to be the internet. To ensure that your business stays relevant in today’s age, you’ve gotta be where your audience is. Take a look at the numbers from this infographic by Ignitespot:
Do you still want to miss out on the power of a blog?
The major roadblocks to going online, that we discussed at the beginning of this article, are addressed with a simple blog.
With free blogging platforms like Blogger, WordPress or even Tumblr, you don’t need to spend a fortune to take your brand online. You can even have a blog with a custom domain name at a really nominal cost (starting from about $10 per year).
Source: Wikimedia Commons
You don’t have to be a tech-geek to set up your blog. Most blogging platforms are extremely user friendly and intuitive to help users exactly like you to create blogs that look and feel like they’ve been created by an expert. You can choose from hundreds of professionally designed themes and templates as well as a range of free tools and plug-ins that add that extra zing to your online real estate.
Most marketing activities are time bound. A blog is not. Anything that you put up on your blog is there for life (or till you decide to take it down) and keeps continually contributing to promoting your brand on the internet.
Give your potential customers a reason to believe that you really know what you’re talking about. Most big box retailers are plagued with disinterested employees who barely know the basics of the products they’re selling. An expert touch does not just translate to lots of people reading your blog, it can actually compel customers to ditch large retailers and favor your business instead.
Source: Hendrick Terbeck, Flickr
Write about topics that would interest your audience and are related to your business. If you own a restaurant, talk about the various world cuisines that inspire your dishes. Post a couple of simple recipes that will be popular among your customers. If you own a pet store, you could talk about the latest in pet fashion – designer collars, doggie grooming products, the works. Why, with a free shopping cart plugin like Ecwid on your blog, you could even sell items that you stock in your physical store to an online audience! And to keep your finances and inventory updated in such a case, there are advanced but easy-to-use electronic POS systems such as Shopify’s that automatically sync your online and offline stores.
Sell online and offline in one stroke!
Now you might argue that you have a Facebook page or a Twitter account for your brand, and you think they are good enough to engage with your customers online.
You wouldn’t be more wrong.
An average post that you put up on Facebook is seen by barely 6% of your fans, thanks to Facebook’s new algorithms and the overcrowded timelines that most Facebook users suffer from.
On the other hand, a post that you put up on your blog is visible to 100% of your followers and subscribers. What’s more, any random visitor to your blog can consume your content even if they do not follow your blog. How’s that for awesome reach?
Another key aspect that a blog excels in is making a conversation personal. Social media platforms have evolved into broadcast mediums. A blog by those standards still maintains a personal touch. You can personally interact with people who comment on your blog, follow their blogs to know what makes them tick.
Marketing – whether offline or online – comes with a price tag. Television, newspapers, radio or billboards have astronomical costs attached to them, with very ROI very hard to measure. Social media, which started out as a free way to reach out to customers, now relies heavily on paid ads to gain new followers or even make posts visible to existing followers.
Your blog is your home on the internet that does not cost you a dime. There’s a world of ways that you can promote and grow your offline business absolutely free of cost, by simply using a branded blog.
Source: Pixabay
You could put up posts about upcoming events at your store or restaurant, blog about limited time promotions that you might be running, give out coupons that can be redeemed in your physical stores or even carry out contests on your brand blog. All of this without spending a penny!
You don’t need to be the next Mark Twain to create a readable blog. ;)
Just keep it simple and offer your customers value that your competitors cannot, and success will follow.