Are you getting at least 100 new visitors to your blog everyday?
If not, it may be that your blog is not optimized for the search engines, which is where people begin their search for products and services online.
Some “search engine experts” would have you believe that search engine optimization requires a lot of advanced techniques to rank well. But the truth is that even a little simple optimization can go a long way.
Here are five things you can do right now, on your own, to make sure your website is optimized for the search engines.
- Page Title – Make sure to use relevant keywords within the title tag of each page of your blog. The title tag is the first thing a search engine discovers about your site. The keywords you use in your title should be carefully chosen to describe what your page is about.
- Meta Tags – Be sure to inlcude a useful description in the description meta tag that’s located in the head of your document. The meta tag is still used by some search engines as the description that will show up as part of the search engine listing. Completing the description tag doesn’t take very long and it’s a good way to exercise control over what appears to searchers in the search engine listings.
- Use H1 Tags – Make sure the headline of your blog post is displayed within an H1 tag. The H1 tag is considered a notation to highlight important parts of your webpage. The search engines use this to determine which parts of your document are emphasized. The headline of your blog post is different than the title of your document, so don’t confuse the two things.
- Post Titles – Also, ensure that the headline of your blog post includes keywords relevant to your post topic. Be careful not to overuse keywords though or the search engines will think you are keyword stuffing, or trying to game the system. Just be sure to use keywords when it makes sense, and make sure your titles are friendly for your visitors.
- Write For Humans First – Most importantly, when writing articles for your website, be sure to write for the human reader first and the search engine second. For example, don’t just use the word “player” when you could be more descriptive by saying “music player” or “MP3 player”. Just make sure that your keywords don’t disrupt the flow and meaning of your sentences. Including the same keyword in back-to-back sentences can be very distracting for human reader and can be something a search engine can penalize you for doing. So be natural in your writing, but use relevant keywords where they make sense. This will make your articles work for both search engines and your blog readers.
Tip: If you use run a WordPress blog, a good SEO WordPress plugin is The All In One SEO Pack. It gives you the ability to tweak the page description, page title, and associated keywords.
A good free SEO analysis tool for analyzing your website can be found at WebsiteGrader.com. Website Grader measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective.
For more information on ways to optimize your website for the search engines, check out the Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.
Remember, even a few simple changes can make a world of difference for your blog. Just be sure you cover the basics first.
Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com