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WordPress SEO — Do I need it?

January 5, 2009

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the hot button topics right now and there is a lot of discussion about it. For some, just the thought of worrying about SEO causes a sick feeling to overcome them. And it shouldn’t. Search engine optimization is not something you or I should be scared of. In fact, it is not impossible for us to do and because of that, we need to be looking at SEO every time we draft a blog post.

Why do I Need to Worry About WordPress SEO

Search Engine Optimization, commonly called SEO means just what it says. We need to optimize not only our entire site for maximum search engine placement. We need to make sure we optimize each blog post too.
Not being found in a search conducted by one of our possible visitors is really the same as our blog not existing at all. In other words, we need to make sure we are being found in the search engines when someone is looking for topics we are writing about.
Keep in mind there is a direct correlation between the link structure of a blog, its content, and whether or not site pages will rank well in a search. What? Exactly, keep reading.
The questions we have and the answers we need about WordPress SEO are really not being answered by the generic SEO courses available right now. In fact, there is almost nothing out there that thoroughly addresses the needs of a person who is both new to SEO and who is using a WordPress self-hosted blog, until now.
A new study course to teach WordPress SEO will be available on January 7th, 2009 and I am under lock down on how much information I can provide about it. What I can tell you. I have read it and listened to the audio and seen the videos. I have been blogging for 4 years and there was a ton of stuff on it I did not know. In fact, I have already started to do some of the suggestions on my own blog and my traffic has increased.
More free SEO information and information on the home study course will become available over the next few days. And as soon as it becomes available to me, I will release it here on Blog For Profit. Subscribe to our RSS or by email so you don’t miss this valuable SEO information. This is the kind of information you can use to reach the goals you set for your blog this year. Actions you can take.

Be watching for more details tomorrow.

Grant Griffiths SEO Comments (0)

I don’t have time to blog…

January 4, 2009

I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard someone say that. “I don’t have time to blog…” Quite frankly, if you think blogging is a fit for your business or professional service firm, you don’t have time not to blog.

Do you have time to do marketing? Do you have time to increase your business and your bottom line? If you are serious about your marketing program, you will find the time. Besides, if you are not spending that time blogging, chances are you are going to be spending the time you could be blogging on something else. You need to ask if the other activity you are engaging in is as productive and beneficial for your business or firm as blogging could be.

I am not going to sugar coat it or mislead you at all. Blogging takes a commitment and it takes time. If you are serious about having a blog and doing it right, it is going to take a solid commitment from you.

So, do you have the time to blog?

Also don’t forget to subscribe to the Blog For Profit Newsletter. We include information in the newsletter we don’t feature here on the blog. And when you subscribe, you get a free copy of our eBook , Blogging Tips to Help You Blog.

Grant Griffiths Blog for Profit Comments (4)

Blogging Tip

5 Actions You Can Take to Make 2009 a Great Blogging Year

January 2, 2009

With the new year, many of you spent a considerable amount of time setting goals and planning for 2009 what you want to accomplish with your blog. During this goal setting and planning process, did you think about how you are going to reach those goal? If we are going to reach the benchmarks we have set, we need a plan of action. Just setting the goals is not enough.

Taking the Actions You Need to Reach Your Blogging Goals

Posting Frequency: Perhaps one of the most overlooked and most important actions bloggers need to do is to remember to post regularly to their blogs. If I had my wish, our clients would post daily. However, I know this is not possible. You need to pick a weekly schedule which works for you. Whether that is daily or 2 to 3 times a week. The important thing to do is to pick a frequency of posting and stick to it. What you need to remember is your readers are going to come to expect some type of frequency. And once you establish this, you need to stick with it.

If there is one area that might just affect your blogs success more than another, it just might be consistent posting. Don’t overlook this in 2009 and you will be well on your way to reaching those blogging goals.
Blog Design and Brand: Have you considered if your blog’s design and layout will help or hurt you as you strive to reach those blogging benchmarks you have set for 2009? This might just be the year you need to get that new design done. Whether you decide to hire a firm to do this for you or you look at getting a new theme, take a step back and look at your blog. Even better yet, ask some of those individuals you trust to give you an opinion of your blog’s design and layout. Is it easy on the eye and easy to read? By getting a fresh set of eyes to look at your blog, you will get a clearer picture of whether you need to get that redesign ASAP.
Additionally, is this a good time to not only get a new design, do you need to get a whole new brand. If a new design is in order, now is the best time to get a new, fresh brand. Get something unique to you and what you are trying to project to your target audience. Does the blog’s appearance match up to what you are trying to project with your business? If not, get it done and get it done before the end of February so you can hit the road running.

If you are struggling with the whole process of hiring a designer, get Michael Martine’s great book, How to Start a Business Website and Hire a Web Designer.
F.L.E.E.: Ask yourself if you are doing those activities you need to be doing which will make your blog successful. Revisit our ongoing series on Building a Successful Blog. Re-evaluate whether you are following the F.L.E.E. process of blogging.
- Find the conversations
- Listen to the conversation
- Engage in the conversation
- Enpower or Eable your readers to get involved in the conversation too
Make sure you are doing all of those activities and providing the means for your readers to do the same. The F.L.E.E. actions will help you get your blog noticed too, which is also important to your blog’s success.
Start a Newsletter: If you are not using an opt-in on your blog to build a mailing list, do it. And in the process, start a newsletter to provide additional information to your target audience. You need to make sure you are providing value to your readers. Value that will keep them coming back for more. Additionally, setting up and starting to collect a mailing list is a great way to build a list of people who know and follow you. A list you can even market to and best of all, they actually expect you to.
One of the best tools I have found for setting up and sending out an email newsletter is Aweber. Aweber is very cost effective and it works great.
Use Social Media: I started to use twitter roughly 6 months ago. And I can honestly say my traffic to this blog has more than doubled. In fact, twitter is now the top referrer of traffic, even before Google. Don’t overlook the effectiveness of social media tools like twitter. Twitter is certainly one of the tools you can use to grow your blog and get just one more step closer to meeting those blogging goals you have set for 2009.
You should also be looking at the other social media tools like, FaceBook and LinkedIn. Neither of these take a huge amount of your time and you can even take advantage of the tools they offer to streamline your efforts. You can feed your blog post to both of them. Which will expand your sphere of influence even more. Not only that, you can set up a “group” or a specific page to promote your blog and your business. Social media is a powerful tool, use it.

These are just some of the actions you can take to make sure you blog reaches the goals you have set for 2009. If you have others you are using or know of others, please leave a comment with your suggestions. Lets keep the conversation going and lets all make sure we reach our blogging goals for 2009.