Simple SEO Tips to Optimize Your Website or Blog

Okay, so you have this wonderful website you have just built and launched. So what’s next? Have you thought about how to optimize it for optimal search engine results?

“Yikes! SEO is foreign to me and I wouldn’t know where to even begin!”

Does the above statement describe you? It sure sounded like me too until I put some research and time into how I can take the following tips and implement them for the optimization of my website and blog:

If you use WordPress like I do for my websites, install and configure the All In One SEO plugin. Set it and forget it!

When searching for competitive key words, use the Google Key Word Search tool here.

Provide key words in the title of your pages and posts. Titles are usually tagged with <H1> or <H2> heading sizes, which sets off the search engine spider crawlers.

Use the BOLD, or <b> </b> tags, around some of your keywords on each post or page. A couple of times will suffice.

Make it easy for visitors to bookmark your sites to a number of social bookmarking platforms and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Publish your newsletter or ezine articles to syndicated article sites. This will allow your article URLs to be visible for many years to come.

It does not hurt to own multiple domain names specific to your industry. Each website or blog can be unique and lead back to your main website if you are cross-linking between each site.

There are a large number of ways you can optimize your site or blog, but the above list is a great way to get started. But what’s important is that you are consistent with performing updates to your key words and other SEO efforts. It’s just like your business marketing…don’t expect it to run on auto-pilot once you have set up your plan.

The Three C’s for Successful Blogging

I was just recently asked to share my tips on how to blog successfully. After some careful thought and topic planning, I am sharing below what I believe are the three C’s for successful blogging. Whether you are just starting a blog or you need a new facelift on your existing blog, check out these tips…

CONTENT

5 Easy Ways to Write Content For Your Blog:

Create a topic or tip series, interview other experts in your industry to gather some great content.
Create and send out an industry survey as to what topics your audience would like to hear more about.
Repurpose old newsletter or ezine articles.
Round up your best tweets from Twitter and formulate those into blog articles.
Create a blog posting editorial calendar in a spreadsheet format or post them directly to your Outlook or Google calendar. Be sure to set reminders so you will know when your next article is due. Here is a download link to a blog editorial calendar in Excel format.

COMMUNICATION

Manage and monitor your blog comments as they come in. Also, avoid spam comments by applying a spam plugin to block out unwanted spam. And be sure to use the trackback and pingback feature in your blog posts.

CROWD

Here’s how you can drive traffic to your blog:

Provide a free offer sign up on your blog and market the free offer online and offline
Add your blog to Facebook and Twitter (NetworkedBlogs and Twitter Tools).
Submit your blog to blog directories
Use a share plugin on your blog so that your articles can be shared on social media and social bookmarking sites (Digg, Delicious, etc.)
Article marketing efforts – when submitting an article to an article distribution site, provide a link to your blog in the article author box
Post an article to your newsletter or ezine and have the reader read the rest of the article on your blog

So the next time you get stuck trying to write your next blog article, consider the three C’s…Content, Communication, and Crowd and see if this doesn’t turn your blog around!

WordPress Website Creation Online Workshop Preview Call Scheduled

Join me, Aletha McManama, your WordPress Expert, Designer and Trainer, where I will be hosting via a FREE 60-minute live webinar…

“The WordPress Website Creation Online

Workshop Preview Call”

This info-packed webinar will take place on Thursday, May 13 at 12 PM EST (11 AM CST, 10 AM MTN, 9 AM PT)

You will come away from this webinar call with an understanding of:

How to plan and map out your website layout

What to look for when choosing a theme for your website

What are the best enhancements (or plugins) to make your website more appealing

What effective marketing techniques to use for your website

There will be time at the end of the call for questions, so please come prepared to have your most challenging questions asked and answered by me.

Hey, and if for some reason you miss the live webinar call, I’ll be sure and send you the recorded video/audio in your inbox shortly after the call ends. But I would certainly love to have you there “live” so you can ask questions and gain the most out of this webinar session. And did I mention that the call is FREE?!

I wouldn’t pass up this opportunity as I reveal tools and tips to maximize the effectiveness of your website creation and marketing efforts.

More information and registration HERE.

Blog Editorial Calendar – It’s Not Too Late to Create One

Granted we are nearing the end of the first quarter for 2010, you are not too late to create a blog post editorial calendar to keep you on track to meet your blogging goals this year. It’s no surprise in the online marketing arena that blogging is one of the most popular marketing tools on the net. Remember, fresh and viral content places you strategically in most of the major search engines for your industry.

So to be consistent with your daily or weekly blogging tasks, create a blog editorial calendar that you can plan out your article topics ahead of time, write your articles and post them on the day you want them to be broadcast. It’s much easier than saying you are going to blog daily or at least three times a week and you have no plan of action on what you are going to write or when you are going to write.

So I have included in this post a basic editorial calendar that I have put together using a simple Excel spreadsheet that you can download and use it anyway you like. Click HERE to download your copy to your computer.

How to Use the Blog Editorial Calendar

The editorial calendar spreadsheet is laid out so all you have to do is input your daily or weekly topics and a slot to input the different categories that correspond with your current blog categories. It may be easier for you to list the different categories that you want to write about and build your blog articles from the categories you choose.

Here is an example of what my editorial calendar would look like:

Set aside some time to complete your editorial calendar because it will take you an hour or two to put all your categories and topics in it, but once it is completely filled out, then you have a clear focus on what you will be writing for the whole year, not just tomorrow when you haven’t even thought what you were going to write about!

Another thought is that your blog editorial calendar may not be totally set in stone what you are going to write about. You can always tweak your schedule to meet the changing needs and trends of your business. But just think…you have a schedule that you can stick too!

The Ultimate WordPress Q&A Session with The Blog Strategist Webinar – March 18

Calling all Veteran and Newbie BLOGGERS…!

Join me, Aletha McManama, THE BLOG STRATEGIST, where I will be your Question and Answer host via a FREE 60-minute live webinar …

“THE ULTIMATE WORDPRESS Q & A SESSION WITH
THE BLOG STRATEGIST”!

This info-packed webinar will take place on Thursday, March 18 at 12 PM EST (11 AM CST, 10 AM MTN, 9 AM PT)

I want to take this time with you to not only critique sample WordPress blog or blogsites, but to also open up the webinar session to allow you to bring your most challenging WordPress questions to the call so that I can answer them for you. And if you would like for me to critique your WordPress site for you, email me at aletha@theblogstrategist.com and I will be happy to review your site on the webinar call.

You will come away from this webinar call with an understanding of:

How to critique your own WordPress blogsite…what to look for and what not to have on your blog!
Tips on how to create your own blog posting editorial schedule
Listen and learn from others that come to the call with challenging WordPress questions

There will be time throughout the call and at the end of the call for questions, so please come prepared to have your most challenging questions asked and answered by me. Better yet, email me your questions beforehand and I will have answers prepared for you when you attend the call! I will take your questions by email at aletha@theblogstrategist.com.

Hey, and if for some reason you miss the live webinar call, I’ll be sure and send you the recorded video/audio in your inbox shortly after the call ends. But I would certainly love to have you there “live” so you can ask questions and gain the most out of this Q&A session. And did I mention that the call is FREE?!

I wouldn’t pass up this opportunity as I reveal tools and tips to maximize the effectiveness of your blog marketing efforts.

Click and register here: http://wordpresstowebsite.com/qawebinar-mar18/