MicroWebmaster Blogging Community

I know HOW to do this. But I hate to do it. I figure it is enough work just to get the article written and posted, why do I have to worry about tagging, and backlinking, and optimizing the title or the on-page links?

So, first of all, I’m going to let you off the hook. If you write well, your articles will already have the 90% of the most effective SEO that you can do. That is, good content that uses keywords naturally. Good for you.. you can go now if you want.

If you’d like to take them to the next level though, the simplest things are these:

1. Use a keyword in the title. In the blogging world, titles are one of the more powerful methods of self-expression, and people love an intriguing blog title. So don’t compromise human appeal to do it, just do it if it fits logically.
2. Add an alt tag to any images you use in your post. Keep them logical, fairly short, and don’t stuff them.
3. Tag the article. Put in the relevant keyword tags that apply to the article, into the tags box below the post.
4. Anchor text for on-post links. Especially if they are leading back to something of yours… BUT… do NOT stuff a bunch of keywords in. Anchor text can really only use 1 keyword or keyphrase.

It is ok to be casual about it. These strategies will help nudge you up, but they aren’t going to throw you onto the top of the heap immediately. Just do what you have time for, and what you feel you CAN do. And start and end with good writing.

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What do you do when you have nothing to write? You may feel that a topic has so much scope that you’ll never run out. Trust me. You will.

SEO… How shall I define thee? Let me count the ways! SEO is a changing field, with constant examples both good and bad to comment upon. Yet sometimes I run out of ideas. Or the only ideas I have are not good ones for what I am trying to accomplish.

My main business blog is the easiest – the topical scope is so wide that almost anything fits, and it incorporates a bit of family too, so when I run dry on one, I can supplement with the other.

My hardest two blogs are this one, and my Web Class Blog. The Web Class Blog is more focused topically, because it has to do with whatever I am teaching next. That means, I have to keep coming up with stuff until the class is over, then switch and come up with stuff for another class. Sometimes it is hard to fill the weeks. And this blog is hard because it is all about blogging. Hard not to beat my head sometimes and wonder what the heck I’m gonna babble about next!

The great thing about blogging though, is that you can explore trivialities. Things need not be of momentous import to write about them. They just have to have SOME meaning and be enjoyable. I can’t say I always meet either one of those goals though!

When the well runs dry, it is usually because we have either stopped noticing, or stopped writing down what we noticed. The best trick I have learned is to write down ideas when they happen. And a lot of times, one will spark another. Small brainstorm sessions often result in a swarm of topics. I write them all down and come back to them later.

Store up your ideas, and you’ll run out less often. You’ll also see when your list gets short, and start paying attention again. It keeps the well of inspiration overflowing onto the page.

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“Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”

I am working with two writers. Each one sends me their work at the completion of each article or essay. One is practicing perfection, the other is just practicing.

They hand me the finished work. I go over it, and make corrections as needed, then send them back.

One writer needs fewer and fewer edits each time – this writer is taking the articles and looking at the kind of changes I made, and filing that for further reference.

The other changes very little from item to item. The amount of correction and editing stays pretty much the same, and each time the same kinds of errors are corrected. Each time, the changes that need to be made are in the same skillset.

What does this have to do with blogging? You will need to produce a lot of content to keep a blog going. And producing it takes practice. You have to know what you are practicing, and you have to get feedback that helps you know where to improve.

Generally, your typing speed, and your ability to channel thought from head to fingers will improve with practice. But the real improvements happen as others help you learn to write more effectively in how you use words, not just how fast you can create them.

Practiced WELL, writing gets not only easier with time, but better. Learn your lessons, and practice them well. It will show in a few months.

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If you have claimed your blog with Technorati, and registered it with other places which your blog can ping when a new post is made, you can increase your traffic just by making sure you post regularly.

Posting once a week, we could see direct spikes on the day we posted, and the following day.

Posting twice a week, the spikes got closer together.

Posting every other day, the traffic stays fairly steady. Daily brings a little more. Every other day seems to be the point where you can start a trend of increasing traffic over time, instead of just the bursts with the posts.

Each post that is listed somewhere else gives you a bit of traffic. And by listing your blog with other sites that auto-post a link back to your articles, you get more traffic.

This is one of the easiest ways to passively promote your blog. From then on, you write, and you get promoted.

If you want to benefit from this and actually build traffic, post at least every other day. Less than that will get you small traffic bursts, but won’t really gain traffic well over time.

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My children always complain when I put tomatoes into the soup. They studiously pick them out after they are ladled into their bowl. But I know that whether you relish them or not, soup just does not taste the same without tomatoes - and they complain that it is not as good if we leave them out! Soup is more than just the bits you like - it is the careful melding of flavors into something that is more than the sum of the whole. Some people don’t like it when you stir it up so that they get things in their bowl that they’d rather not know were in the soup though!

Life can be like that. We like our own view of things - the cozy familiarity that shuts out the bits we don’t like to acknowledge. We don’t like pot stirrers. They bring things to our attention that we’d really rather not have to deal with.

Bloggers can be great pot stirrers. Bringing things to light, holding them up to examination in new ways, exploring facets that the masses do not want to look at too closely.

The best pot stirrers are not sensationalists. There is a quality of dishonesty and self-deception about sensationalism. No, a good pot stirrer does not load a ladle with things that do not belong in soup - they just bring up a balance of things that are really there, and should be there.

So, as a blogger, never be ashamed to tell the truth, or to bring out a new perspective. But make sure the perspective is well thought out, truthful, and based in the reality of the world we live in - otherwise you become not a pot stirrer, but a fanatical wacko - people might listen to those temporarily, but they do not respect them, or remember them for long.

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There are basically three ways to make a blog pay for itself:

1. AdSense - probably the most visible and simplest way. Doesn’t usually earn a ton, but does bring in a trickle for some, a stream for others.
2. Peripheral Sales - Using it to bring traffic to your primary business, either through direct or abstract promotion. This is our preferred method for some of our blogs.
3. Prostitute Your Pen - Write paid posts. This is a growing arena - and not one to enter into lightly. Be careful of what you are asked to promote, and of how you are asked to do it.

Research any one of them carefully before you dive in, and then plan it well so that it has a chance of working to achieve your aims.

People make money from blogs - if that is your goal, there is a way to do it.

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Marketing with a blog can be passive, or aggressive. Either way works, but they suit different personalities, and they work on different timelines.

Aggressive Blog Marketing consists of comments, trackbacks, promoting each post by hand, and posting your blog link on forums and other social environments online. It aims to capitalize on the social arena around which blogging thrives, and it is something you work on because you like the process of doing so. If it suits your personality, it seems easy to do. If it does not, it is a drudge chore.

Passive Blog Marketing consists of registering it with blog directories, frequent posting, and occasional commenting or backlink building. This is for people who like to write, but who are not so fond of the online social whirl. Many people like blogging, but do not really follow a lot of other people’s blogs - or they may not have the time to devote to commenting and placing trackbacks. It takes a bit more time, and more persistence, but you can promote a blog more passively. Frequency of posts cannot be underestimated - if you have registered with any blog communities that post links to your new posts, then frequency of posts is a major key to getting a growing traffic base.

The point here isn’t that one is better than the other - each can achieve something amazing. The major point is that you do what suits you. That doing what you feel comfortable with will still work as long as you actually DO something, and keep doing it!

There’s more than one way to skin that critter.

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He sat across the desk from me and said they had tried blogging because an SEO “expert” had told them that it was a more powerful way to get traffic than a regular website. I told him no, that wasn’t true, that a website actually had more power. He tuned out, certain that I did not know what I was talking about.

In his case, I was dead right. But I wouldn’t be right in all cases.

Really, they just work differently - standard sites are static - they are not date dependent, and they tend to gain power over time as they become more solid.

Blogs are time sensitive - new posts are considered more valuable. Blogging is also a social networking cousin, in that its power revolves largely around community participation.

So over time, an active and avid blogger can develop a high level of traffic. For the lazy marketer though, a static website is generally more solid and will grow with less effort than a blog.

Really you just have to pick what suits you. If blogging is what works for you, then it is better. If a regular website is what gets results for you, then that is what you should emphasize. A few people can make both work in tandem, but most people will find their personality is most suitable to one or the other.

So pick your poison - and don’t let anyone else tell you that you have to do what they are doing if it doesn’t suit you!

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In real life, you are multi-dimensional, a complex creature with many facets.

On a blog, only a small part of yourself is visible. This is true no matter how much you try to “be yourself”.

Even in person, no one really knows another person completely. They see only the parts that are visible - in a marriage that can mean 75 or even 90% of a person.

When you know someone only through what they LET you see, and when you are blindfolded to start with, you are left with just a fraction of the original.

I had a phone conversation with a friend recently. She and I have conversed, done business, interacted in forums and chat rooms, but have never met. We spoke on the phone for the first time, a few days ago, and her comment was, “You have a sparkling personality! It does not come across online!”

I was rather surprised. My photo is pretty casual, I’m grinning like I’m having fun. I joke online, and let bits of my family show through. I did not realize that to some people I came across as just instructional - always serious.

I’ve always tried to be approachable, down to earth, and helpful. I know the helpful part comes across, but I’m not sure the friendly and approachable part does. Most of what I write ends up being fairly complex and instructional in nature. So I guess I revert to formal mode automatically when writing.

I don’t know if it is a problem, so much as an issue of being AWARE that it happens. To not judge too quickly, either in favor of, or against, another person. And to talk to them on the phone, or meet them in person before you assume you know them.

It was a bit of an eye opener - and a very nice compliment. I wish there was a way to be to my online associates what I am to my students - more than just a single facet.

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