Blogging. Period.
It amazes me how many blogs (and bloggers) out there that spout all this “wisdom” in terms of how to make your blog the best SEO-machine ever when the most obvious and effective Search Engine Optimization strategy that exists is simply doing that which a blog was meant to do and provide: blogging.
What’s also “interesting” is that those that typically complain about not doing so well in SEO are the ones who aren’t really doing much publishing… they spend more time complaining about their results than producing results.
A lot of them will tell you to “install this plugin” or “use this platform” or “pay this agency” or “pay me for nonsense” when all you essentially need to do is just sit your butt down (on something comfortable), boot up that laptop, and commit a few minutes a day (or more, up to you) to writing a blog post.
Call it what you want, but blog people. Write. Publish. Do something.
Generally speaking, the more you write, the more SEO “results” you get.
But, I won’t leave you with just that.
Here are 3 things that I have found to increase the quality of my SEO every time I hit that “Publish” button:
- Consistency really works. Blog consistently, but that doesn’t mean you have to blog a lot. Just blog consistently, and whatever that “means” to you then do it. For some, that means daily, for others it means every other day.
- Think strategically about your blog titles. Make them catchy, appropriate, and relevant to the content. Literally, if you just spend 15 more seconds after you’re ready to publish, you’ll have better blog titles.
- Do a little marketing. And what I mean by this is use other various sources to “get the word out.” I use Twitter primarily, but you may use Facebook, or some other Social Network. Get the word out a bit and it’ll help.
And that’s all folks. Any other “basic and obvious” tips that you’ve got?
Michael Benidt says
Hi John,
Boy, do I ever wish there were more folks writing like you. Simple, direct, understandable suggestions – along with the reminder to watch out for the ones who say "pay me." In fact, it's getting so bad that just about all the Twitterers, Facebookers, Bloggers and LinkedIn'ers are simply doing that – hawking their ability to sell you something you could do yourself if you just did it. In fact, there's no end to those teaching you to blog, or how to optimize your blog, or how to AdSense to your blog.
And, John, whatever you are doing – it's working. You've gotten a great increase in readership in the last few months, so keep it up.
Wally Bock says
Absolutely right! Quality, consistency and frequency mix for the best strategy. Leave the magic SEO tricks to those trying to sell them.
human3rror says
Wally, right on. “Heads down” time…!
Tyler_Braun says
totally agree. i've seen more seo posts in the past few weeks then i can ever remember. they're all a bunch of gibberish.
human3rror says
yeah. how much can you actually do on a blog before you ask yourself “have i posted anything yet”?
😉
Chris Arsenault says
Ran a value estimate of several sites, including a couple I manage. Quantity, quality, consistency and frequency of posts all figured into the mix, but the valuation engine indicated link references from solid, well valued sites produced a huge difference. Makes sense – from a commercial standpoint, you want popular others freely and adamantly pointing at you often.
Knowing your audience-meeting their needs is critical. Then sharpen the saw – find exact needs, and how they need it delivered, using nice manageable incremental adjustments.
Feedback needs to be more than just "what" – it has to include a "how" and when too.
I hear Sam Walton had great success doing this.
human3rror says
Chris,
Great point here: the more you post the higher the chance of getting linked.
booya.
Phillip Gibb says
being fairly new and inexperienced with blogging I have to say that those points have been working for me.
but it was not until I started being intentional about marketing did I start gaining a consistent readership; can't be timid about that and expect too much change, eh?
Jim says
John,
I totally agree. I've looked into the grab-bag of SEO magic tricks and some of it is just Snake-Oil.
human3rror says
snake oil…… slippery?
Rodlie says
Yeah, good post. Concerning marketing, though, for some reason i sometimes feel a little squeemish about it. Not sure why. Especially when posting my blog post on facebook. I don't know. I kind of feel like it's an awkward kind of self promotion that my friends might not appreciate. Maybe it's just me, though, that feels like that. What I'm kind of hoping is that once the readership gets to a certain number perhaps I can stop doing the facebook thing. I don't know. What do you think?
human3rror says
i'd say just do it. they can “skip” it… but it may draw other readers in that you didn't know were there.
Daniel_Berman says
For my personal blog, I have been posting links to individual posts on twitter, and then tying my twitter updates into facebook. Ironically I have recently been getting more hits from facebook, very interesting….
human3rror says
that's awesome! some people have more success with FB than others…
David says
I do a lot of posting at forum with my signature and also some public bookmarking site.
I believe leaving some useful comment on other blog also another way of marketing…
human3rror says
https://churchm.ag/2009/02/18/commenting-is-…
https://churchm.ag/2008/12/21/commenting-is-…
Yes. I agree…!
tim says
Chatting in forums and commenting on blogs (as well as replying to comments on your own) is accomplishing what blogging is all about: establishing a community! If you can establish a community around your brand, then SEO takes care of itself. Sounds easy, right? Takes work.
Posting frequent, great content is imperative to establishing community also. Otherwise, what is there for the community to… umm… communicate about? Like you said, it also gives more content for the search engines to index.
human3rror says
😉 thanks for that!