What makes a good post headline? The best headline is one that attracts most readers. In order to grab attention you first have to know what your readers respond to. What makes them tick. What they like or dislike.
One way to do that is of course to see what other successful blogs in your niche do, what headlines get most readers and comments. Then use those ideas on your blog as well.
There are plenty of experts that will tell you why you should do keyword research for every blog post you make. You get better SEO, they say, more potential search engine traffic, and what not.
But let me ask you something. Is it fun to research keywords when you just want to make a post? If it’s fun to you then disregard this post. But if you’re anything like me, you hate doing keyword research when you just want to have fun blogging. But how big is the sin of ignoring SEO when making blog posts?
The other day I talked about SEO friendly URLs, but there’s also the other side of the coin – the efficiency of WordPress permalinks.
The default permalink structure, /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/, is often replaced by bloggers with /%category%/%postname%/ or just /%postname%/ due to various assumptions, such as that it’s more SEO or user friendly. But the way WordPress works, affects the performance and under certain circumstances (a large number of posts) it can become a problem. That is because of the way WP finds the post in the database.
The top buzz word for the past couple of months is “Panda”. Google did it again. And the web world reacts passionately, as usual. Many an “expert” is using it to get attention, what with their doomsday proclaiming and solutions to the problem.
No doubt, those who have been hit by the update feel bad and take it very seriously. Others rejoice in their newly found traffic, and yet others are indifferent.
What does Panda mean to blogging, though. How does it affect your blog and what should you do to prevent any possible penalties?
There are always debates on various forums and blogs about what URL is an SEO friendly URL. In other words, what permalink format should your blog have to get the best SEO results.
In turn, there are a lot of misconceptions and myths around the subject. Some “experts” say your blog should have /%category%/%postname%/ format as the best optimized URL format. Others say it’s /%postname%/. And yet others say you should never have dates or IDs in the URL.
Whatever goal you have it’s always worth breaking it down into simple actionable steps. It just adds that necessary clarity to it. It’s always easier to tick off tasks in a to-do list than contemplate big goals and trying to figure out what you need to do today to move closer to achieving it.
So how can we break down blogging into steps? What does it take to make your blog succeed?
This is a guest post by Sachin
SEO isn’t just about search engines. It’s about the ability of search engines to access your content. It really is that important. Search engine optimization is really about making yourself and your website materials findable. Despite the almost infinite amounts of information available about SEO online, there’s nothing “mystic” about this process.
Search engines, basics
Search engines are basically live databases. To operate a database, you need structure and organize data you also need structure. These structures are used by search engines to produce search results. Obviously, the more search engine friendly your website is, and the better organized your data and keywords, the more accessible to a search engine your website will be.
This is a guest post by Cathy Pierce
What makes a blog successful? The type of design scheme you choose, the layout of your site, and even the font you choose all influence whether or not readers will bookmark your site and return in the future. These things matter almost as much as the content of your blog. The most interesting blog in the universe will not have return readers if it is full of spam and unappealing graphics. Here are some tips for putting together a winning blog.
Why You Shouldn't Use Facebook Comments on Your Blog
Everyone talks about how cool the Facebook comments plug-in is and what viral opportunities it opens for bloggers. Add the plug-in and when people comment on your blog their status is updated and their friends see that they’ve commented on your blog. Those friends would then follow through to your blog, comment on it as well, and then the friends of friends would see it, and so on and so forth.
Sounds great but what do have you to lose? Well, how about all of your blog’s comments?
Did you know that…
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