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Why SEO is Important for Every Blog Post

August 3, 2009 By 2 Comments

This guest post was written by Jerry Rodriguez from Rank High Solutions.

It used to be that if you mentioned the term search engine optimization, you’d just get a bunch of blank stares. Nobody knew what it meant or how to use it. However, SEO has grown increasingly prominent since when it first came on the scene, and now pretty much anyone who has posted content on the web has an idea of what SEO is. Ironically, despite it becoming the latest craze in Internet marketing, many people still underestimate the power of SEO.

Take blogging, for instance. Many individuals and companies have taken to using blogging to help promote their sites, products and services. Blogging is a natural fit with search engine optimization, and a lot of blogging elements are naturally SEO friendly. However, most people make a mistake and don’t go the extra mile to really make their blogs search engine friendly. They figure it’s just not necessary and that the gains don’t just justify the extra work. This is a huge mistake.

It’s important to optimize each and every blog post that you make to be search engine friendly. If you are really dedicated to making your blog successful, then every post you make will be loaded with quality content. If you’re going that far, why not take it one step further and make sure that the world can find it? Even if you make a post that you don’t deem to be especially important, keep in mind that traffic is traffic. It doesnít matter how people are getting to your site, so long as they are getting there.

Spend some time getting to know the Google keyword tool. Using this tool, you can input your blog posts URL and quickly have a list informing you of potentially untapped keywords that are related to your blog’s content. This tool can help you find keywords that you didn’t even realize were popular that could greatly improve incoming traffic to your blog. The tool works right alongside the standard Google AdWords tools to help improve your site’s visibility.

Now the problem that some people run into is that they just don’t have enough time to fully optimize every blog post for search engines. Or, they simply lack the know-how and don’t understand the nuances of search engine optimization, such as putting keywords in the meta title and description of the site. Fortunately, there’s an easy-to-use tool that practically automates this entire process, making optimizing a blog easier than ever.

It’s called the All in One SEO Plug-in, and works with any WordPress blog. This comprehensive plug-in does all kinds of things to make optimizing a blog easier. It provides easy ways of templating and editing your meta title and description, which are very important to SEO. It can also help you find new keywords and provide easy workarounds for duplicate content problems.

All in all, this great plug-in reduces the work it takes to optimize individual blog posts for search engines by a huge margin. With this tool, there’s really no reason not to optimize every post you make.

This guest post was written by Jerry Rodriguez from Rank High Solutions.

Filed Under: Blogging, The Web Tagged With: , ,

Unique Blog Designs – Theme Wars – Premium WordPress Theme Battle

July 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I woke up this morning to find an email from Unique Blog Designs crew outlining their new site Theme Wars. Pretty cool concept really. Theme Wars is going to host premium themes that you can pick up through their store, but…even cooler…they are going to pit these themes against each other for your votes. Just think of it as a premium theme cage fight! Anyway…two themes are already up and running for your votes, so go check them out at Theme Wars.

Here is  a snipit of the email from the UBD crew…

Hey there,

We know you’re busy, so we’ll keep this short and sweet.

Today, UBD is announcing the launch of a new WordPress theme
store!

Theme Wars is our new theme store with a twist. Top designers
battle and the community votes for the top WordPress themes.

Every week there will be a “Weekly War” between two themes,
and you decide who wins! Luckily for you, we still build both of
them!

We have filled the Theme Wars store with a bunch of awesome
WordPress themes to choose from, all including easy to use control
panels!

We also have a support forum and resource center packed with
tutorials so that  you can take your blog(s) to a whole new level!

Theme Wars is also going to be completely GPL compliant, which means
all of the themes can be used on unlimited websites!

Oh yeah, don’t forget to vote on this week’s war – click “Vote Now”
on the home page.

To your success,
UBD Team
(Josh, Matt & Nate)

Knowing the quality that comes out of Unique Blog Designs, I would expect to see some pretty kick ass themes in Theme Wars over the next couple of months.

Click here to check out Theme Wars and vote for your favorite

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing, The Web Tagged With: , , , ,

9 Must Have WordPress Plugins Your Blog Can't Live Without

July 14, 2009 By 9 Comments

Over the course of your WordPress blogging, you are going to have plugins that come and go in your search for that perfect add-on that compliments your amazing content. The following list is my must have WordPress plugin resource that is not part of the “I just want to try it out” crowd. This list of plugins for WordPress stay activated on my blogs 24/7 and have become incredibly useful over time.

Plugins provide functionality outside of the core WordPress code that increases interaction and functionality within your blog that may or may not be relevant to all blogs. This list will be relevant to 99% of the blogs on the web as they are generic functions that exist on all WordPress blogs as your blog readers engage with your content. As you go through the list, you can click on the provided links to find out more about the coder and find the most recent copy of the WordPress plugin.

  • Comment Relish - Justin Shattuck threw together Comment Relish to help increase your RSS count by sending off a simple email when a reader first comments on your blog. With its own admin panel, it is highly configurable and it only sends a email on that readers first comment. If you are looking to increase your subscription rate by inviting readers who have already taken action on your blog, Comment Relish is a great plugin to try out. Your personal email can contain anything you specify from an invite to subscribe to your newsletter, rss feed, to take a look at the latest eBook you published or just to say thank you for taking the time to comment on your blog article.
  • Feed Footer – There are times that I want to promote an eBook, encourage newsletter subscription or place an ad at the bottom of the posts in my feed, but I want that process to be easy. That is where Feed Footer steps in. With this easy to configure plugin, you are able to add a footer containing anything you want at the bottom of the posts in your feed. Better yet…it allows you to configure each of your 10 most recent articles separately if you want different content on each article.
  • FlickrRSS – The web is getting centered around multimedia more and more each day. I use th FlickrRSS plugin to share pictures with my readers and increase traffic. On robbsutton.com, the images you see in the sidebar are my own, but on Mountain Biking by 198, the images are user submitted riding and bike pictures pulled from a Flickr group. By increasing reader participation, you keep subscribers longer and provide your readers with a source to get their images on Flickr more targeted traffic. It is a win/win for both of you. FlickrRSS is easy to install and configure for you needs.
  • Google XML Sitemaps – It is always good practice to have your sitemaps updated in all of the major search engines. I do not want to take the time to manually update them all, so I have Google XML Sitemaps do it for me. Even-though Google is in the title, this plugin updates all (including Bing) search engines to make this maintenance task on your blog go on auto pilot.
  • MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate – This is one plugin I can not live without. If you are serious about making even 5 dollars off your blog through affiliate promotions, you have to have the MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate plugin. It takes all of your affiliate linking and does the work for you. Better yet, when a link changes, all you have to do is change one setting in Ninja instead of going through every blog post on your blog. This is an incredible time savor in the quest to making money off your blog and I do not have a single blog that runs without it. It increased my affiliate income by at least 25% just by making things more efficient and less time consuming.
  • Platinum SEO Pack – The Platinum SEO Pack is almost identical to the popular All in One SEO Pack, but with one major feature that was extremely important to my blogging…automatic 301 redirects for changes in permalinks. If you want to change your permalink structure on your WordPress blog, the Platinum SEO Pack will automatically make sure that your search engine visitors land on the right page and you don’t lose any of your links or Google Pagerank. The rest of the plugin handles all of your WordPress blog’s SEO tasks and makes sure that you are getting the best results as you can out of your blog.
  • Redirection – Redirection is a simple plugin that allows you to configure 301 redirects in you WordPress blog.
  • Sociable – Yoast’s Sociable plugin automatically inserts (or manually if you prefer to insert the code yourself) social media buttons at the bottom of your blog posts. This highly configurable plugin allows you to pick which sites you want to display, the text that appears above the icons and how the icons are displayed. As an added bonus, you can insert your own social media icons if you prefer not to use the ones provided with the plugin. If you know a little bit about CSS styling, you can really make this plugin jump off the page.
  • Subscribe to Comments – As readers comment on your blog, you can increase return visits and conversation by installing the Subscribe to Comments plugin. This WordPress plugin sends an email to your commenter every time a new comment is left on that particular article when they check the subscriber button during the comment process. This will encourage readers to revisit that article and participate in the conversation further.

Ideally, we would like to have every feature we need in our blogs hard coded for efficiency, but…luckily…Wordpress handles their add-on feature efficiently and easily. The list you just read are WordPress plugins that I use on every one of my WordPress blogs. There are other plugins I use that perform different needed tasks, but this list rarely changes across the board. As you look at your blog, ask yourself which features are most important to your readers and design your blog around that idea. Try to stay away from wasting time trying out every plugin in the WordPress directory. Install the necessities and get to writing content that your readers can soak up like sun on the beach.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , ,

Micro-blogging – Are Facebook and Twitter replacing personal blogs?

July 10, 2009 By 4 Comments

With Facebook and the 140 character or under explosion Twitter, are we starting to see a decrease in smaller, personal blogs as these two monsters continue to grow in epic proportions? Are Twitter and Facebook going to take over the micro-blogging world as they continue to compliment each other rather than compete for your eyes on the screen?

With millions of Tweets and updates hitting the web at one time, we now know exactly what everyone is doing and when. In my opinion, we are going to continue to see Twitter and Facebook set sign up records with a continual decline in the “just sharing with the family” blogs, and I believe this is a good thing. Now, let me explain why…

First…what is micro-blogging?

According to Wikipedia:

Micro blogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, digital audio or the web.

The content of a micro-blog differs from a traditional blog in that it is typically smaller in actual size and aggregate file size. A single entry could consist of a single sentence or fragment or an image or a brief, ten second video. But, still, its purpose is similar to that of a traditional blog. Users micro-blog about particular topics that can range from the simple, such as “what one is doing at a given moment,” to the thematic, such as “sports cars,” to business topics, such as particular products. Many micro-blogs provide short commentary on a person-to-person level, share news about a company’s products and services, or provide logs of the events of one’s life.

Simply put…every time you update your Facebook status, send out a Tweet on Twitter, update your MySpace account or even text message a friend, you are engaging in micro-blogging as you tell the world your thoughts, feelings and daily activities. Over the past couple of years, micro-blogging has expanded rapidly with the aid of new technologies and it is now widespread among all age groups…many of which…don’t even realize they are participating in the act.

Why is micro-blogging going to take over personal blogging?

Stating that micro-blogging is going to take over the small blogging world might be a stretch, but it is absolutely going to cut down on the amount of blogs started per year and it is going to contribute to the amount of blogs that eventually go un-updated. The average Joe blogger is not going to make a significant income from their blog as only about the top 5% even make a 5 figure income. Where does this leave the pleasure blogger that just wants to update friends and family? He basically has two options to choose from…

  1. Start a blog and update it regularly.
  2. Spend that energy toward Facebook and Twitter.

9 times out of 10, even Joe blogger is going to either start or convert to Twitter and Facebook for one simple reason…

Ease of Use

With micro-blogging platforms, you can update in seconds with pictures, video, text or anything else as you strive to update friends, family and followers with your thoughts and dreams. Setting up a quality blog that people will read takes a lot of time and energy that is basically wasted for someone that just wants to share a couple of pictures and what they are doing that day.

As we look at all of the Blogger accounts that are started with all the intention in the world of updating on a regular basis, we often see these blogs fall off the map as people realize that they can reach a larger audience with a more efficient platform to achieve the same goal. Micro-blogging can also be accomplished on the fly through the aid of a cellular device or mp3 player that makes providing instant information easier than fastening your seat belt.

Who is still going to start blogging?

However, there are going to be the select few that still start and update their blogs regularly.

  • Business Builders – Those bloggers with the dream of making it big by blogging. Business builders have a defined goal and the willingness to put in that extra work that creates a successful blog years down the road. These individuals will look to micro-blogging to compliment their blogs, but never replace them.
  • Writers – There are people in this world that just love to write. It is an outlet for their thoughts and they find pleasure in putting words on a page. Blogging has opened a whole new avenue for them as they continue to hone their skills as a writer and share their type with the world. For the writer, micro-blogging will never satisfy the itch to put down some serious content. Like the business builder, they might use micro-blogging to compliment their writing…but it will never replace it.
  • I need more than 140 characters! – Much like the writer, these bloggers need to efficiently distribute much more content than micro-blogging is designed to publish. As these bloggers set up their blogs, they will still only share with family and friends, but they will do so in the form of stories, pictures and video that will not fit on micro-blogging platforms. Due to the mass amount of content, they are willing to put in the sweat and tears of updating, managing and content production that a blog requires.

The great news for everyone else!

All of this is great news for web users that would have started a blog a couple of years ago. We are on the growing trend of a revolution on the web. It has never been so easy to share your life with everyone around you because of the evolving platform of micro-blogging. Who would have ever thought that grandma was going to sit down at a computer and engage in social media?! These are crazy times and individuals from all over the globe are getting involved in the movement. Instant information is on the rise as we can update from mobile devices and computers shouting to the rooftops that we just ate the best steak we ever have. Better yet…I just showed it to you by taking a picture on my phone and uploading it within seconds. Aren’t you jealous??

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media, The Web Tagged With: , , , ,

jQuery Lightbox Windows – WordPress Gallery Plugins

June 1, 2009 By 5 Comments

WordPress 2.8 update at bottom of article.

Over the weekend, I decided to make a change on Mountain Biking by 198 that would create a better overall user experience at the sacrifice of a little stat love.

Over the course of your blogging, you need to remember that the reader is your first priority. By creating an engaging user experience, you are increasing the likelihood of a return visit, subscription opt-in and word of mouth viral marketing increase. Sometimes, you need to forget your stats that you check far too often and really focus on how you can make your site better for your readers. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , , ,
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