Get More Traffic to Your Blog With Keyword Phrases
Question: If a blog post fell in the forest would it still attract compliments and moral indignation? This is a question that bloggers have been asking since the days of Shakespeare. However in this modern era the answer to this question is finally within the realm of science. Which is to say NO. Well, a few squirrels out there gathering winter nuts may react, but that's about it.
While there are still many bloggers who just blog because they like to write and express their ideas online, most people want other folks to read what they've written. While the universality of this statement may be hard to imagine especially given the way some bloggers write, it is at least generally true. So if you want someone to read your blog, you need traffic. And most bloggers want more than a little traffic, they want as many people as possible pour over every written word.
One of the best ways to reach any new audience is through the search engines. And the best way to show up in the search engine results is to optimize each of your blog posts for a specific keyword phrase. Social media is yet another potential avenue for wide exposure for your blog writing, a subject we will touch upon at the end of this post. (See Step 6 below.)
Step 1: Find a keyword phrase
As tempting as it may be, don’t just sit down and write about any subject that enters your noggin. If you really want to appeal to actual human beings, you need to write about things that they want answers to. Start by finding a good keyword phrase to use in your post; a phrase that a good number of people are searching for, but which has yet to be overused by others writing about similar topics. The best keyword phrases have the potential for standing out as unique in terms of usage on other websites. Keywords tools such as Market Samurai and Wordtrackerwill help you identify these phrases.
Step 2: Create your post outline
Once you know what you want to write about, you can start to outline your post. Make sure your title contains your keyword and that your post itself will deliver on the promise of that title. Some people like to also include their keyword in at least one of their header tags (H1,H2), but you need to make sure that you won’t have so many instances of your phrase that Google "sees you" as a anything but the legitimate blogger that you have come to believe you are.
Step 3: Write high quality content
With a good outline in place, you should be able to sit down and write your post quickly. At this point, don’t even think about your keyword phrase, except to make sure that you’re sticking to your topic. You’re writing for people first and search engines second. Once you’re done writing, go back and make sure that you do have the keyword phrase 2 to 3 times in your post, depending on the post length. Be careful not to “stuff” your article with a specific keyword. If you find you’ve done that by accident, just go back and vary the phrase a bit or substitute other words.
TIP: Put your personality into your blogging, and be consistent about it. Ultimately your subscribers will be subscribing because of YOU. Because they like the way you express yourself. And for gosh sake, LOOSEN UP will you?!?! Your blog posts are not technical manuals. Write like you'd talk with someone you met on the street, or in a dark alley, or in a church or a sex club or something. Again, it's your authoring style that will win the day. The real plus here is if you can combine your winning style with great content. Then it's, "Katy Bolt the Door!" Humm, I personally have no idea what this means.
Okay, here it is ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Douglas Which is not quite what I meant to say, so how about, "Look Out Louise!" I still don't know what that means, but at least I can't find it in Wikipedia as a known idiom, so I guess we're good.
Step 4: Add images
Always add at least one image to your blog post. It should be something relevant to the content, naturally, but it should also have your keyword in the alt image tag and image description. You’ll be able to see the places to input these when you click on the button to edit the image in Wordpress, Joomla, our Linksky Visual or Linksky Sq builders, etc. Another reason to add a description and tag is that Google can read text, but it cannot read images. By adding a description and alt image tag, you’re given the search engine something more to read.
Step 5: Add links
By creating links within your post to other posts in your site, you create a natural structure that the search engines love. At the same time you add value for you readers by pointing them to other information that they’ll benefit from. However, you shouldn’t limit your links to internal ones. That looks suspicious to Google and could even get you pushed down in search results. Link to one or two other sites that add value for your reader and they just might link back to you, bringing in even more traffic.
Step 6: Push your blog posts up to Facebook
Nearly all blog posting scripts have a feature that will produce an RSS feed page. If you use one of the following apps, you can schedule your blog posts to be automatically uploaded to your Facebook page at regular intervals. This will save time so that you can do what you love to do -- blogging... and well, everything else!
Also see the following link for a general RSS feed widget that will feed your blog posts to Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Digg, Linkedin and others:
In conclusion:
If you really want people to read your blog content, you should always try to start with a keyword phrase that your target readers are looking for. Longtail keywords are the best and they will help you be more specific about what you write. In addition, by using a keyword in the title of the post and strategically throughout, you’ll be far more likely to rank highly in the search engine results.
Furthermore, if you also strive to balance your content delivery with style, then your blog posts will likely be attractive to more than nut gathering squirrels.
-- Joseph Maas, support management, LinkskyHosting.com