I've recently been asked a few times how to make a Blogger blog rank higher in search engines as Typepad and WordPress are known to have better "tools" to do so. So I want to take a moment to answer this where some info pertains to Blogger and other information (the majority of it) pertains to bloggers regardless of which platform you are using.
First, I do not think you should "jump ship" and abandon Blogger if you have a Blogger blog. Blogger is free, very easy to use and very powerful offering much functionality and options that you would have to pay for in Typepad (at least $14.95/month). And I wrote a book about it all (Beginning Google Blogger).
Next, Blogger is owned by Google! Plus, there is lots you can do, modifications you can make, to get your Blogger blog in the best shape it can be in regards to search engine optimization. Read the specific articles I mention for Blogger users under Additional Information and Articles below.
Tips for All
In short, there is no waving of a magic wand (LOL), unfortunately. However, here are a bunch of tips and direction that may help:
- Be patient and realistic
- This does not happen overnight and takes time.
- It is important to keep working on it, day after day.
- Don’t give up but also try and enjoy blogging. Don't make it a "chore" such as doing your laundry!! (LOL, who likes to do that!). Instead, make it a "task" and one that you can achieve.
- Be realistic in your blogging goals. Not everyone can post every day. Pick a routine that is good for you and your life style.
- Your Posts
- Post consistently and regularly.
- Post about relevant content being sure to include keywords in your post.
- Write about what interests your readers, something they'd want to read and be interested in and want to share with others.
- Label each post with keywords (Labels in Blogger, Categories in Typepad/WordPress).
- Place keyword(s) in Post Title. Try not to use “fluff” words like “The, Great, Good”.
- Keep the Title short, less than 40 characters.
- Be sure to have Share Buttons on your blog, under your posts.
- Images
- When inserting images, you can go to HTML and insert a Title for image and Alt properties. Such as <img src="http://heatherporto.typepad.com/blogsbyheathersignature.gif" title="Blogs By Heather" alt="Blogs By Heather Signature">
- On Other Sites
- Join online groups, such as Yahoo groups in your specialty.
- Comment regularly on those sites and in doing so, have your blog's URL in your signature.
- Be a guest author or featured blogger on another's site.
- Socialize
- Use Facebook and Twitter to help build your presence and reach even more people who would not have found you otherwise – you Facebook's "Find Friends" capabilities to assist you in reaching out to new, potentional followers.
- Have your blog posts automatically post to your Facebook "page" or Twitter account. I offer this service! And this will be something I will teach in my upcoming webinars (coming 2011)!
- Here's a past article of mine, Using Twitter for Business.
- Search and Tracking Tools
- Google AdWords
- Google WebMaster Tools (free)
- Google Site Submission (free)
- Google Analytics (free)
- Use a tool like this one to submit your site monthly to search engines! www.EnterURL.com.
- Ads
- Facebook Ads
- Purchase online ads on other related sites or popular sites.
- Purchase print ads in related magazines
- Michelle Laycock can design them for you!
- Emails
- Use your blog's URL in your signatures in your personal emails.
- Newsletters
- Having a newsletter is also great to use and drive traffic to your site. You may offer newsletter subscribers special deals, only features certain products or articles for newsletter subscribers, but most of all you can use start an article and then use <read more> and have it directed to a post or page on your site! NOTE: If using this method/strategy to build traffic to your blog, then Typepad or WordPress is best as you can create unlimitted pages (Blogger is limited to 10).
- I offer Newsletter Design services and would be happy to help!
- Here is an article I wrote on comparing popular newsletter services.
Additional Information and Articles
- In Blogger, it’s a good idea to modify your Page Title, add Meta Tags (keywords/description), modify HTML to use H1 and H2 headings.
- Optimization tips for Blogger.
- My book (Beginning Google Blogger)! I wrote a chapter all about Search Engine Optimization for Blogger. The whole book is on using Blogger.
- I am writing another book to be published in March 2011 (yes, it's right around the corner)! It again has an even larger chapter on Search Engine Optimization and includes services and tools I've mentioned above. it is not just for Blogger. The book is all about blogging for all bloggers (Blogger, Typepad, and WordPress featured) on many blogging concepts!
- Previous article on SEO.
- I found this site on Daily SEO Tips and Tools while I was a guest on Blogs.com (my list of Top Ten Blogs on Blogging).
Keep blogging!
Happy Holidays!!!
Heather Wright-Porto
www.BlogsByHeather.com
Blogging should be fun…let me help you!
Site maps are important part of SEO. In simple words it basically allows you to inform the search engines about various pages on your website. As a result, it helps search engines to rank your page in the best and most effective way.Other than these, website directory submissions are also very useful for link building. As there are countless website directories, making your presence ensure your online presence in the best possible way. All you have to do is to pay a small amount while there are many free sites as well.
Seems this is a great method if you have a few posts that you want to priortize, not if you are posting many a day, or even daily as it would be a lot of work to do it for every post. So I wonder now, even if you have a blog where you post once a day, can you still put the title/description metatags for the few that you want prioritized? The ones you think will bring the most traffic say?
How to select Best SEO company or SEO firm?
Great! This is a big help for me as a blogger and for my SEO job. Thank you for sharing this. I will visit this blog very often. Thank you again.
The above tips are very much helpful. But I still have one suggestion that is put essential meta data on your blog. Like meta – keywords,descriptions, index -follow etc. This is little about on site optimization.You can also submit your blog to blog directories and you can submit your rss feed to rss submition and don’t forget to ping.I’m sure that will surely help your blog to arrive on search engine.
Bookmarking your blog posts to around two or three social bookmarking sites is also quite helpful. I think blog commenting on related sites (which you mentioned) is probably one of the best way to drive suitable traffic to your site.
Top Hotel
Great tips! I think blog commenting on related sites is probably one of the best way to drive suitable traffic to your site. The information is very insightful and helpful. Thanks for sharing all of these.
If you are a blogger the best SEO strategy that you can use is Link building which is really good in generating traffic and getting quality backlinks.
Great read. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. This is very helpful.
Generous tips. A free blog will always be helpful and a plus for your paid blogs. Free blog sites usually link to other blog owners making your information more evenly spread out.
Yes,i am totally agreed with the post and give some tips and suggestion for increasing the local business.
these are good tips for bloggers… I would be visiting this site for more good information..
great post… and these are the facts…very true…