Cool SEO Tool for Bloggers

October 25, 2011 Filed under: Blogging,SEO — Tags: blogging, SEO tools —

I just found a great tool I really like and thought I’d share it out.

If you’re a blogger, like me, you probably focus most of your blogging time on writing your posts, not worrying about how to optimize them for search. If you don’t already have a quick and easy process for optimizing your posts, consider a subscription to Scribe, a great tool that makes SEO easy and fun. It’s developed by Copyblogger, longtime blogging and copywriting experts. This is not going to achieve super SEO results for your entire website, but it will give you an easy SEO-as-you-go approach to blogging. Check it out:

How it Works. SEO typically has 3 major steps, and Scribe provides coaching and helpful suggestions for each, integrated with your blogging platform. Welcome to your online SEO coach!

Keyword research – find search terms that your target audience uses. Scribe has a click for that. Just type the word that summarizes your blog post topic and Scribe will do some quick, on-the-fly keyword research, then suggest the best terms (most popular in searches) to pepper throughout your post.

Content optimization – weave keywords into your post. Scribe will check the places where search engines look – Title tag, Meta Description tag, and page content – and give you a score for how well you’ve optimized these with your keywords. Then it’ll perform a contextual analysis of your page, showing the top keyword combinations found on your page – in other words, what will the search engines think your page is about? If that’s not your intent, Scribe will suggest how you can change things to more effectively optimize for your desired keywords.

Link Building – create links to your post. Since incoming links give your post (and your blog/website) more credibility, they count a lot in the search ranking algorithm. Scribe helps here by suggesting blog posts with related topics that you can approach to ask for a link – either by leaving a comment, contributing a guest post or establishing a direct relationship. It also gives you a list of influential people who talk about your topic on social media so you can hook up with them.

How to Get it. You can download Scribe easily by signing up for a subscription here (prices start at $17/month), and they’ll take your through the smooth 3 step process of downloading a zip file which you can then just one-click upload to WordPress or Joomla. One of the easiest online tools purchases I’ve made.

So, if you’re looking for some SEO help with your blog, it doesn’t get any easier than this.

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Why Bloggers Rock – A Look at the Bing Business Portal Launch

May 17, 2011 Filed under: Blogging,Local Search — Tags: Bing Business Portal, blogging, Local Search —

On April 12, Microsoft announced its new Bing Business Portal, competitor to Google Place Pages for small businesses. The news got lots of coverage from traditional tech media who follow Microsoft. But the handful of small business bloggers who wrote “Complete Guides” are the real heros, in my opinion.

First, the news

The Bing Business Portal provides the tools to allow local businesses to claim their listing in Bing. Like Google, Bing will display these listings in its local search results, alongside a map showing the business location. Here are some things you can do for your business listing in the Bing Business Portal:

Identify categories where your listing will appear
Spruce up your listing with photos and videos
Offer special coupons and promote them for free on Bing and Facebook
Create a mobile version of your listing for customers to access from their mobile devices
Create a mobile menu, if you serve food or drinks
Authorize a 3^rd party to manage your listings

(more…)

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Blogging: Eight Lessons I Learned My First Year As A Blogger

November 4, 2010 Filed under: Blogging,Fun Stuff — Tags: blogging —

image from cakecentral.com

It’s my blog’s birthday. One year ago I started down the scary-but-exciting path of becoming a blogger, and I’ve survived to tell the tale (don’t laugh; many bloggers quit in less than a year!). Here are 8 lessons I’ve learned – 4 that come quickly to mind, and 4 that are the result of deeper reflection. I’d love to hear what YOU’ve found in your first months or years of blogging.

First 4 Things I’ve Learned

Blogging takes a lot of time. There’s no getting away from this one. It does get easier as you develop your voice, learn some workable approaches, and get into the “zen” of writing. But there’s no denying the need to carve out time in your schedule to write. More time than I expected, in fact.

It’s tough finding new things to say. At least initially. There’s already so much good content published by others, how can you possibly have anything new to say? And yet, I find there’s always new things happening in my niche, new problems or concerns I hear from my clients, new ideas I find it worthwhile to share and invite discussion about – in short, life happens and is worth talking about. That’s what the world of social media – and blogs – is about, after all. (more…)

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7 Things To Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

October 12, 2010 Filed under: Blogging,Content Marketing — Tags: blogging, content marketing —

The greatest challenge we find among SEO clients is content creation. Content is the key to a search spider’s heart. All YOU have to do is write it. We call it content marketing. But wait, don’t you also have a business to run? A job to do? And what if writing is just not your greatest talent? How are you going to keep the search engines happy and feed their insatiable appetite for new content? Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Repurpose Existing Content

Source: IQmatrix

Yes, content marketing means you’ll need to create new content. But this doesn’t have to mean the paralyzing process of staring at a blank screen and coming up with new ideas from scratch. At least not every time. There are plenty of places you can go for what I call “starter-content,” which can then be enhanced or recycled. Whether you’re authoring a blog, creating articles for distribution, or adding new content pages to your site, here are some ideas to help you get beyond writer’s block.

1. Company presentations or white papers. If you’re in a B2B business, chances are you or your colleagues have given presentations or white papers to explain your product or educate customers. These are great pieces to use as a starting point for an article, blog post, or FAQ page on your website. You can either recycle still-relevant content in its original form, write an update, or use an old position as a starting point to argue a new perspective. (more…)

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Ode to Blogging – A Welcome Return to Deep Thinking

September 8, 2010 Filed under: Blogging — Tags: blogging, Social Media Marketing —

It sure feels like we’ve become an easily-distracted, always-too-busy, information-overloaded, chronically multi-tasking culture. You would think, and I often do, that this would reduce us all to superficial thinkers, attention-deficit sufferers, and sound-byte-limited writers. Well, yes; there is certainly lots of evidence that these conditions are on the rise.

But then, there’s blogging. Blogging is like a long breath of fresh air. Since I started blogging, I’ve found that I’m making time again for deep, well-considered thinking. It’s given me an excuse and justification for taking some quiet time out of my day to think, to sort through the racing thoughts and fire hose of information and try to make sense of it. To pull together some coherent thoughts, careful conclusions, and occasionally, some original insights. Gosh, it feels great. The mad rush of daily life and unanswered emails used to feel like there was just no time for such luxury. But a blog demands it. I’m so thankful.

I haven’t really talked about this with others, but I suspect other bloggers know what I’m talking about. They must, because I read lots of blogs, and I’m really impressed with the quality of thinking and writing I find in the blogosphere. Traditional wisdom used to suggest that only journalists and columnists could express themselves in ways and on topics that deserved a reading public. But the blogging community dispelled that notion years ago. There are, in fact, many writers and commentators who have valuable contributions to make to public discourse – in every conceivable niche – and I’m convinced that we are all becoming wiser and more knowledgeable as a result of all this blogged wisdom.

Yes, there’s plenty of drivel out there, and many a blog that’s a waste of your time. There’s also a worsening of the information-overload phenomenon with every blog you add to your read list. But the best way to get the overload monkey off your back is to join the blogging ranks. You don’t need to write long treatises — shorter is better — but that doesn’t mean you can’t think long and hard about what to write. Think in the shower, during your commute, lying in bed at night — whenever your mind is loose and fertile (and be sure to jot quick notes when an idea strikes you). I bet you’ll find it helps you to take deeper breaths, have deeper thoughts, and – best of all – look forward to getting your ideas down on “paper” (so to speak).

Note on my blog post title: I was an English major in college and always liked the word “ode” in old English poems. Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know what it means: “An ode is typically a lyrical verse written in praise of, or dedicated to someone or something which captures the poet’s interest or serves as an inspiration for the ode.”

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Want to Promote Your New Blog and Increase Blog Traffic? First, Think Small.

August 23, 2010 Filed under: Blogging,SEO — Tags: blogging, Social Media Marketing —

When you start your own blog, don’t expect to make it big. At least not initially. While some book authors make a killing on their first novel, it’s far less common in the blogging world. Most experts will tell you it takes 6 months to a year to build momentum and traffic to your blog. For many, it takes even longer, especially if you can’t sustain a schedule of 2-3 posts per week.

But, while it’s tough to achieve widespread fame and popularity in the blogging world, it’s very possible to build a following, establish your reputation, improve your search rankings, and draw qualified traffic and leads to your site. The trick is to focus. Narrow your goals. Start small and build from there.

Focus Your Topics

Choose a handful of highly relevant keywords that crystallize the topics you want to promote and be found for. Do some keyword research to make sure those terms are not too competitive, and to find wording that searchers are actually looking for. Build your content around those terms.

Be Unique

Don’t state the obvious or repeat what’s already been said elsewhere. Find your own voice, draw your own conclusions, look for unique insights. They don’t need to be grand or profound – just a different twist on something of interest in your market (here’s a fun blog post on how to document your epiphanies, from Marnie Pehrson).

Identify A Narrow Audience

Blogging strategy: Big fish, small pond

When you first launch your blog, tell everyone you know and make as big a splash as possible – you never know who might come. But once you’ve gone public, define the target audience where you want to make your biggest impact, and tailor your promotional efforts to them. Aim first to be a big fish in a small pond; make good impressions and let the word spread.

Establish Yourself

Search Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to find out who is talking about your topics. Talk with them, share relevant links (including, but not exclusively, your own blog posts), host discussions, answer questions, offer helpful hints. Give before you get. Find a Bookmarking site or an online forum that services your target audience, and make yourself known there by offering valuable comments. (My favorite is a wonderful small business site called BizSugar). Read and comment on other blogs in your field. This helps you get known by other bloggers, who, if your posts are good, will link back to you. Contribute guest blog posts on related blogs and link back to yours. Or, publish interviews with other bloggers and they may return the favor. Add some video into your blogging mix, as it will appeal to people who are tired of reading.

Ask Your Followers to Spread the Word

If your content is good and interesting and unique, people will follow it. If you want to build your followers, ask people to subscribe, to share your posts, to retweet — and make it easy for them to do it.

Be Patient

Finally, don’t set unrealistic expectations for yourself. Learn as you go, redirect as needed, and be patient as your following takes its natural path. It may take you a while, so don’t get on the blogging train unless you intend to hang in there for the long haul.

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5 Big Worries of a First Time Blogger – And How to Overcome Them

May 10, 2010 Filed under: Blogging — Tags: blogging, Blogs, content marketing —

What if I blog and no one cares what I have to say?
What if I run out of interesting things to say on my blog?
What if customers post negative comments on my blog posts, in front of all my other customers?
How can I possibly find time in my busy schedule to author a blog?
Aren’t most blogs just insiders talking to insiders? My customers won’t care.

Sound familiar? Have these fears kept you up at night as you weigh the decision of whether to join the ranks of bloggers? These are the very real and understandable concerns of clients we’ve worked with as they face the decision of whether to blog. To blog or not to blog – that is the question.

It’s a good question, and one that any potential blogger should think through carefully. The above list of worries, while they are often just a case of the jitters, deserve serious consideration before taking on the considerable commitment of becoming a blogger. Rather than brushing away these fears, I typically encourage clients to dig in and think them through, as the answers will give them important insights into whether they should blog and what kind of blogger they should be. So, here’s a paraphrased conversation I had recently with a small business owner who is currently wrestling with this very decision. (more…)

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Content or Die?

March 30, 2010 Filed under: Content Marketing,Internet Marketing — Tags: blogging, Internet Marketing, Marketing —

It’s a gloomy, rainy Tuesday in Seattle, and the weather is making me rather philosophical. So, rather than sharing my own tips and experience, I’m going to share my reactions to a recent blog post entitled “A Challenge: Content or Die“. Sounds pretty dire, doesn’t it? The author’s point isn’t quite as extreme as the title suggests. I invite you to read it, but let me summarize it quickly: if you don’t keep creating new content, your web presence will stagnate, your search ranking will suffer, your revenues will drop. It may not mean death, but clearly it’s not good.

The author’s point is valid. I’ve been in marketing for a long time. Before the days of social media, marketing consisted largely of advertising, public relations, events and sponsorships. They were all ways of communicating your brand to your public. And they were all big, costly undertakings. Because they were big and costly, each campaign had to last a long time, so marketers got used to communications with a long lifespan. In advertising, you would pay big money to develop an ad campaign, and it would run for months. In PR, you’d need “big news” to compete for limited print stories, and big stories don’t happen very often. And sponsorships or events, well, they only happen a few times a year.

Now, we’re talking about search engines that come looking for new information multiple times a day. They’re hungry and they need to be fed. If you don’t feed them fresh, new food (content), they won’t regard you as highly as sites that do. And they may not come to visit that often, if they don’t expect to get fed. Online marketing, therefore, requires a major change in mindset.

If you want to keep the search engine spiders happy and well-fed, you need to change the way you think about the lifespan of your information. You need to deliver good content on a regular basis and you need to keep it coming. I don’t mean to suggest that content becomes obsolete as soon as it’s published; in fact, if it’s good, it may get shared, bookmarked, retweeted, and linked-to — and in the process get noticed by a far larger audience than you anticipated. But the more frequently you add fresh content to your website or new posts to your blog, the better your chances of ranking well, being found, and building your brand.

The Bottom Line: if you want to market your brand on the web, you need to adopt a new marketing rhythm. Think short and compelling content, frequent publishing schedules, and active online engagement if you want to do effective branding in the virtual world. And measure your results so you can continually revise and improve as you move along.

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How to Guest Blog

March 19, 2010 Filed under: Blogging — Tags: blogging, Blogs —

I’ve recently been working with several clients who are thinking about starting their own business blog but are either not ready to make the time commitment required, or are looking to share the responsibility with other “contributing writers.” Guest blogging is a good way to make a partial commitment or to share the load . If your plan is to ultimately author your own blog, but you need some practice to find your voice or to build your comfort level, guest blogging on someone else’s blog can be a terrific first-step opportunity. Even if you have your own blog and post regularly, guest blogging can give you an opportunity to expand your audience and send more traffic and links back to your blog. Or, if you’ve decided to take the full plunge and author your own blog, inviting other guest bloggers to contribute will give your readers some variety of perspective and give you some breathing space and some new content to build from.

The trade-off, of course, is control. The beauty of authoring your own content on your own site is that you have full control of the brand you put forth. If you’re guest blogging on someone else’s blog, you’ll need to select the site carefully so that it’s consistent with your own brand and its readers are an audience you want to reach. If you’re inviting someone to guest blog on your site, again, select carefully.

I found a post that I think does a terrific job of covering the what, why, and how of guest blogging — so I’m pointing you there rather than trying to say it all myself. Check it out — Guest Blogging, the Ultimate Guide – and consider guest blogging yourself!

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