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- 25 Reasons Why Google Hates Your Blog
This guest post is by Belinda of The Copy Detective.
Your blog is a good read. Everyone says so.
Although "everyone" is really just people you already know. Like your Mum.
So why isn't your blog being found by other people? The millions and millions of people hungrily consuming blog content out there in the global online space we call the Internet?
The cold, hard truth is that Google hates your blog. And it's nothing personal. You just don't have anything that Google wants.
Creating high-quality, relevant content is a must if you want your blog to be noticed by search engines but it's only part of the picture. If you're not sure if Google really hates your blog, or whether it's just ambivalent, then step through these warning signs.
1. You don't know which keywords your readers are using
The very heart of search engine optimization is understanding what people are searching for online and aligning your own content to those searches. When you use the same words and phrases that your audience members use, your blog posts can be matched to online searches. If you don't? Well, you may as well be blogging in another language.
2. You don't know how to find the right keywords
Google has a free keyword tool that will show you different phrases being searched on, the amount of traffic they get, and how many other sites are also trying to rank for those phrases. Spend a few moments before writing each blog post to find the most popular phrases for your blog topic, or use keyword analysis to think of new topics!
3. You don't use your keywords frequently enough
Using your keywords as frequently as is natural will help Google understand what your blog post is about. Use an online tool such as wordle.net to produce a word cloud from your blog post. Your most frequently used words will be the largest ones you see and you can quickly see if you're using the right phrases often enough. But beware of over-using your keywords and being labelled a spammer.
4. You are trying to rank for too many keywords in every post
Keeping it simple is definitely the best approach when you are optimizing your blog posts. Focus on a single theme and choose one main keyword to avoid diluting your SEO efforts.
5. Your blog headlines don't even mention your main keyword
Strategic marketing aims your message like a laser rather than spraying it into the wind, and the same applies to SEO. Your headlines (h1 text) and subheadings (h2 text) are given more weight than regular text, so they’re prime candidates for your keywords and phrases.
6. You don't bother putting descriptions on your images
You might include images to catch your readers' eyes, or to help balance your text, but Google can't see your images and unless you attach a description of some sort, your image will be ignored. Attach an image description using the ALT tag or caption, and don't forget to use those keywords.
7. You never link to your old blog posts
Creating links between your blog posts makes it easy for your readers to discover other content, which naturally keeps them hanging around for longer. From an SEO point of view, Google pays particular attention to links, making them the ideal location for your keywords.
8. You never link to other bloggers
Although it sounds contrary, you will also get some SEO benefit from sending your readers away from your blog by linking to other blogs. You might do this with a “best-of” list post or with a blogroll—however you do it, but Google sees you sharing high-quality content with your audience, and rewards you for it.
9. You don't fill out your page title and description fields
Meta data is the code name for the information you can use to advertise your blog post to Google. When you search on Google, the results are displayed as a post headline in bold and a brief description underneath. Search engines can work this information out but you are better off writing these yourself and popping those keywords in.
10. You don't make your URLs search engine friendly
Using recognizable words, especially your keywords, in your blog post URL will help Google to make sense of your blog posts. The bonus, of course, is that your blog posts will be easier to remember for everyone else. So take a minute to edit your blog URL before you publish.
11. Your blog has broken links all over the place
Broken links occur when a URL points to a page that no longer exists. It might be that you changed the URL slightly or you deleted the blog post, but broken links give the impression that you aren't maintaining your blog. Broken links also stop Google from crawling your blog posts and when you put the two together you get a big SEO cross against your name.
12. Your blog doesn't have a sitemap
A sitemap is a website page that has all the links and pages of your blog mapped out. Sitemaps make it easy for Google to index every page on your blog, which can affect how quickly you appear in search engine results. Most content management systems will have a plugin that will create and submit your sitemap to Google, taking all the hard work out of the process.
13. You copy your content from other bloggers
Smart people don't try to reinvent the wheel. They draw inspiration from the world around them. Google rewards original content but “original” refers to the wording rather than the concept. If you lift large amounts of content from external sources, and Google will mark it down as duplicate content and give you no SEO points. Adapt or attribute. Always.
14. You don't publish blog posts often enough
Google loves fresh content and new posts on your blog are a great incentive for Google to come back and visit. Some bloggers publish when they are inspired. Some bloggers write every day. The question you need to answer is how often can you publish valuable and relevant posts to your readers.
15. You never use bullet lists in your blog posts
Google loves bullet lists. Not quite as much as headlines, subheadings and links, but a lot more than regular text. That, of course, means you should use lists to break up long passages of text and pop your keywords in, especially in the first couple of words of each list item.
16. You don't have a presence on any social media platforms
Google is always looking for ways to return search results that are valuable and relevant. Social recommendations are becoming a huge influence on how search engines view your content and that's exactly what active social media pages are. So go and get social, and build a community around your blog.
17. You don't share your blog posts on your social media pages
Social media pages are fantastic for building a community—see above. They are also the perfect vehicles to share and promote your blog posts! Don't be afraid to share your new blog posts across social media and ask your community to share the love. You are building social currency that Google loves to see.
18. You don't invite blog readers to leave comments
Comments give your blog the kind of freshness that search engines just love. Comments also show that your blog posts are still relevant to readers. Invite readers to leave their thoughts and continue the conversation or blog about something a bit controversial to get the discussion started!
19.You don't know where your biggest referrers live
Google Analytics will show you where you have the greatest numbers of people sending traffic to your blog. It's worth knowing who they are so you can give them the attention they deserve. Your analytics will also show you the keywords that led people to your blog, how many times they visited, and which other pages they clicked on.
20. Your blog content will age like a b-grade actress: badly
Blogging about topical subjects is a great way to start a conversation but it might also date your blog posts into irrelevancy. Creating helpful, educational content, instead of editorial content, is just one way you can create a library of blog posts that will be relevant again at a later date. Mixing different types of blog posts will also keep your readers interested.
21. You don't write about topics people are interested in
If you ever ask yourself if your blog posts are interesting enough, you're asking the wrong person. If your blog isn't getting much attention from readers then Google isn't going to give it a second look. You can discover a wealth of potential topics from comments on other people's blog, surveys, keyword analysis, trending Twitter topics, and simply asking your current readers. Don't be shy!
22. You have advertising that is irrelevant to your blog topic
Paid advertising is more than ok but if you have a lot of advertising that is irrelevant to your blog topic then it kind of makes you look bad. Google is getting really good at picking out poor poor-quality websites and lots of irrelevant advertising can give off all the wrong signals.
23. You don't have share buttons so people can't spread the word
Social share buttons let your readers promote your words of wisdom without ever having to leave your blog. Apart from the extended reach, the more often your blog posts are tweeted, liked and commented on, the more value they have … and the more Google will notice you.
24.Your guest posts are replicated on other sites, word for word
Opening your blog up to guest bloggers is a fantastic way to add depth and variety to your own blog topics—not to mention giving yourself a break from writing! But if your guest bloggers publish the same content, word for word, on their own blog, then you don't get the kudos from Google for original information. Ask your guest bloggers to give you exclusivity or at least a few weeks' head start.
25. You write about too many topics and Google is just plain confused
If you have a lot of different passions, that's wonderful, but blogging about them all on the same blog will get you nowhere. In fact, from an SEO point of view, your blog will look like a big pile of books on the floor: too hard to categorize. Keep it simple and Google won't get so baffled.
Remember that Google's ultimate mission is to match online searches with the most relevant and reputable content. You will be rewarded when you create content that focuses on your readers' needs and you build a strong network around your blog. It won't happen overnight nor is it a one-off process but if you keep at it, people will find you (and it will be Google that shows them).
Belinda is a professional marketing copywriter confidently walking the line between writing effective copy and creating an engaging brand personality. You don't have to choose between them! Read her copywriting blog, The Copy Detective, and improve the way you write about your business.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
25 Reasons Why Google Hates Your Blog
Переслать - 2 Different Tales of Blog Growth
“What was ‘the tipping point’ for your blog?”
This question is one that I’m regularly asked in interviews, and it is one that is challenging to answer. The assumption behind the question is that there is often some kind of event that pushes a blog into the limelight. The reality is that it’s not always this way.
Let me illustrate this by telling the stories of my two main blogs—ProBlogger and Digital Photography School.
ProBlogger’s tipping point: dramatic growth
Here on ProBlogger, the only real tipping point-type event that I can identify is when I mentioned in an interview I did on another blog that I was earning six figures a year from my blogging. Back then (it was 2005), nobody was making money from blogs (or if they were, they weren’t talking about it) so it was news that quickly got passed around.
It was picked up by quite a few other bloggers but also went viral on Slashdot, which was the closest thing that there was to social bookmarking back then.
While I didn’t really consider that there would be much effect from saying I was a six figure blogger in that interview, the impact was pretty significant (in terms of traffic but, more importantly, in terms of profile/brand) for a few reasons:
- The statement was somewhat controversial (the idea of monetizing the “pure” medium of blogging was something that some were dead against) and that caused some buzz. But being the first to announce I was a full-time blogger also created a desire for others to do likewise.
- The idea of blogging for money was sown in the minds of many. As I was not only making a living from blogging, but also writing about that journey here on ProBlogger, I guess there was some credibility built from that statement.
- Coining of the term “ProBlogger”—again being first and having a site called ProBlogger meant that people started to talk about making money from blogs as being a pro blogger, which just grew the site even more.
While all this was fantastic for the growth of ProBlogger and for building my profile, it was all fairly lucky. I didn’t make the statement with any intentions of leveraging it, but once the groundswell of reactions started, I did act fast to make the most of it.
Digital Photography School tipping points: slow but steady growth
Digital Photography School (dPS) on the other hand was a different story. I can’t really think of a single tipping point moment that really stands out as being one that boosted the site to becoming popular (and today is is six or seven times the size of ProBlogger despite being a couple of years younger).
Instead, dPS had a much more steady growth, mainly through a variety of smaller events:
- I did have ProBlogger and a previous camera review site linked to dPS, but after the initial launch, traffic from these sources wasn’t significant.
- We were featured in some mainstream media publications in the early days (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc.) but none of these caused any significant jump in traffic.
- We had days of significant traffic from sites like Lifehacker and social bookmarking sites like Digg, but in general this type of traffic didn’t hang around.
These events certainly didn’t hurt us, but none of them stands out as a tipping point that we never looked back from. Rather, traffic and the brand slowly grew over those first few years from launch.
More significant for dPS than any of the above in mind mind is that I put real emphasis upon a few activities for the first couple of years (warning: none of these are rocket science or spectacular … but they worked):
- Regular useful content: Daily “how to” posts that solved problems, showed people how to achieve their goals and improve their photography was 90% of the content that I produced.
- Shareable content: Content that I knew was more likely to be shared (inspirational posts, breaking news, humor, controversy (I didn’t really focus on this), grand list posts, and so on. This type of content was around 5% of what I produced.
- Community: The other 5% of posts was more focused upon community activities like reader discussions, giving readers a chance to show off their photos, debates, polls, etc. We started a forum in time, too, to build this community further.
- Email newsletter: If there’s one thing that grew the site more than any other, it was that we started collecting people’s email addresses early and began sending them weekly updates/newsletters.
- Promotion: I defined who I wanted to read my blog and did the exercise of asking where they gathered. This lead me to sites like Flickr, other blogs, and some social networking sites where I developed presence, was useful and in time shared our content.
These tasks took almost 100% of my focus in the early days. I didn’t spend a heap of time on social media, did limited networking with other sites (although did develop friendships with a few in time), and focused little upon SEO. The promotion I did was focused to those sites where I knew potential readers were gathering, but the main effort was upon content creation and looking after the readers I already had.
Note: I share quite a bit of the story of how I grew dPS in the 2nd edition of the ProBlogger Book (and have updated and expanded it a little in the soon to be released 3rd edition).
The resulting growth on dPS was far from dramatic or explosive, but in the long term, it was on a far greater scale than here on ProBlogger.
Did your blog have a tipping point for growth?
There is no one way to grow a blog. They come in all shapes and sizes, and their growth cycles vary considerably. I’d love to hear your own story. Did your blog have a tipping point, or was it a slow and steady process? Or do you have another experience all together?
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
2 Different Tales of Blog Growth
Переслать - 6 Fatal Symptoms You're in the Wrong Niche
This guest post is by Martyn Chamberlin of Two Hour Blogger.
“What should I write about?” It seems such a silly question. Of course you know what to write about!
In fact, you could argue it’s even impossible to write about the wrong thing. That’s like ordering the wrong iPod! Whoever heard of such a thing? As you know, if you write long and hard enough, someone will listen.
An audience of five is great if you’re just blogging for fun. But what if you’re trying to build a profitable business? Can you get enough people listening to make a business?
The answer is yes, if you’re in the right niche. The problem with many failing entrepreneurs is that they’re in the wrong niche. Here’s a list of symptoms you’re one of them.
1. You’re building a big list but you can’t sell anything
In your zeal to rebel from your day job, it’s easy to pick a topic that’s utterly foreign to what you’re good at. But it’s hard to make real money in an area you know relatively little about.
Forget about monetization. Businesses don’t monetize. They sell things. What are you selling? If you don’t have a clue, you’re in the wrong niche.
2. You aren’t becoming an authority in your niche
If nobody’s commenting on your prose, sending email, buying your stuff, and becoming clients, you aren’t an authority. If you’ve spent a year of hard work without anyone acknowledging your expertise, you’re at a dead end. It’s time to move on.
This isn’t always your fault. You can be the greatest parody IT blogger, but if not enough people care about parody IT, you’re stuck. It’s safer to go with a demand that people have proven already exists.
3. The people in your niche don’t spend money
If your niche doesn’t spend money, you’re in trouble.
I know a fine art painter who returned to his day job because his titanic audience wouldn’t buy enough work. Don’t pick a field where people are looking for a quick laugh or a brief diversion. They won’t pay your bills.
4. You never enjoy writing about your topic
Have you gone six months without loving your subject? Does the very thought of hitting “New Post” make you cringe?
The best content comes from writers who are compelled to write. You can’t enjoy this excitement every single time (we all have our bad days), but you should feel it regularly.
5. You’re measuring everything in immediate dollars and cents
If money is all you care about, you’ll be too sane to stick when it’s tough. You won’t be passionate with tasks that have little immediate revenue.
To build a thriving blog, you have to be dedicated to your community. This means dispensing free advice to strangers for the greater community. If you want every single decision to be data-driven and money-making, you’re in the wrong niche.
6. You’re copying other people’s ideas outright
There’s no such thing as 100% original content. It’s okay to get inspiration from other people—in fact, it’s important. But if you don’t even try to edit other people’s ideas, if you mimic their entire ideology with tasteless apathy, you aren’t built for this niche.
Eugene Swartz once said he never knew a company that built its success from copying a competitor’s ad campaigns. Content marketing holds the exact same principle. You can’t expect success when you’ve got nothing original.
If your imagination doesn’t takes control at some point, you’re destined to burn out.
What should you do?
You don’t have to start out a genius. You don’t have to be a perfect writer. You don’t even have to completely understand your business model.
But you can’t be in the wrong niche.
Take a hard look at your blog.
Then pick yourself up and get good at something people pay for.
Martyn Chamberlin can take your WordPress site to places you never dreamed with the Genesis Framework. He blogs at Two Hour Blogger.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
6 Fatal Symptoms You’re in the Wrong Niche
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