Blog - Links

Today, we're wrapping up our series on rookie mistakes in social networking, blogging, and now search engine optimization (SEO).  Shortly after becoming active online, either in social networking or blogging, most people realize they need to attract traffic from the search engines.  Unfortunately, most of the advice available online about this is either hype, spam, or out-dated.

Unless you're trying to make a living from people clicking ads on your blog (good luck with that), your SEO needs are pretty simple. If you're a small local business, when people search for your brand on the search engines, you want positive or neutral information on the first two search engine results pages (SERPs), and ideally, you want to attract more and more traffic over time when people search for the key words associate with your site (e.g. "good fried chicken in Poteau, OK" or "rental properties in Mount Pleasant, TX").  You don't want to attract a lot of people who are Googling odd stuff that has nothing to do with your business, and you want them clicking around to the links within your blog - not out to the advertisers' sites.

So, here are some rookie SEO mistakes to avoid.

Spend too much time worrying about the search engines.  If your online presence is more about establishing and protecting your online reputation, and developing a relationship with your local customers, your primary focus does not need to be on attracting search engine traffic.

Underestimate the importantce of SEO. While it's important not to obsess about search engine traffic, it is important to make sure that people looking for you online can find you, and they'll usually do this by Googling your name or the name of your business, so you want to make sure to have a profile on sites that rank high in the search engines, like Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-IN, as well as any networks within your market niche.

Assume that entering your "keywords" in your website header is enough.  Actually, this is a very outdated technique that really makes no difference in the search engines in their newer algorithms, so if you haven't done it yet, I wouldn't worry about it.  A good sitemap is important, as is using categories and tags appropriately.

Fail to understand the importance of inbound and outbound links.  We've written extensively here at WebRev about how to maximize your page rank and links, and within those archives, you'll find some great info about strategically using linkage.  In a nutshell, you need to link to reputable sites wihin your industry, and you need to get them to link to you.

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

Several months ago, we discussed the importance of inbound links, or "backlinks," to your search engine page rank.  We also discussed how to make your internal links work for you (like I'm doing in this paragraph).  Finally, we talked about how NOT to use outbound links (also using "nofollow").

Outbound links that appear to be "gaming" the search engines, such as blog rolls, or anchor text to related sites can actually hurt you more than help you, however, because the search engine algorithms are becoming more and more sophisticated and can detect this sort of thing with increasing accuracy.  Outbound links, however, are part of a good page rank score, and they help to so what are some good ways to incorporate them into your daily blogging?  Remember, most of the time you want to link to sites that have the same or better page rank than your blog has.

Citations and quotes:  Linking to expert bloggers or researchers to validate your points is a good way to (most importantly) give credit where it is due, but also to earn page rank points (e.g. paragraph #2 above, where I have linked to two experts in the field of SEO).

 

Photo and illustration credits:  If you're using photos or illustrations from other sites, be sure to link back to those sites, in the form of a photo credit.  Note: be sure not to simply "hotlink," because using other people's bandwidth is basically "stealing" in the blogosphere, and because if that blogger ever deletes or changes the photo you've hotlinked, your post will not display properly.

 

Hat-tips or nods:  If you get a story idea from or were inspired by another website or blogger, but didn't actually use any content from that site, you can still link to the site, by giving including a "hat-tip," or "thank you" type of link at the end of your post. 

What are some creative ways you have found to link to other bloggers?

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

(Updated)

This week, we're reviewing some of the different types of blog posts.  Hopefully, this will give us all some fresh inspiration, and additional writing ideas. 

Yesterday, we discussed the essay, which targets academics and is good for submission for op-ed syndication (cross-posting).  Today, let's talk about four types of posts that are specifically designed to attract traffic from the search engines: review, list, link posts, and polls

Reviews

 

New products, services, sites, books, movies, etc., are often used as search words on the search engines.  People are searching for information about these  products or publications, and timely review written with SEO in mind can attract readers from the search engines and social news sites.  This is an area in which if you're a new blogger, you might want to focus on the "long tail," (more niche specific, less popular) topics, as with these, you'll have a better chance of making it to the top of the search results (SERPs), because there is less competition.

 

Lists

 

Lists are especially good for attracting readers on social networks.  We don't know why.  Maybe it's because of David Letterman.  Maybe it's because you're telling your readers up front exactly how many points you're committed to making.  We just know they often work.

 

LInks

 

Link posts are designed to attract traffic (and hopefully reciprocal links) from other bloggers.  Some bloggers do a periodic roundup of some of their favorite posts on other blogs.  This is a quick and easy way to do a blog post on a day when time is short, and a productive way to network with other bloggers.

 

Polls

 

People LOVE to give their opinions, and polls are a great way to solicit the opinions of your readers.  Some bloggers use polls as a way to build their e-mail list (by requiring readers to provide an e-mail address to answer the poll).  Others use polls to find out more aobu their readership.  Note that if a poll is on a highly controversial topic, such as a political issue, it is likely that readers will e-mail their friends, or post the poll link to their social networks and discussion forums, and you may actually get more traffic than you wanted.  A successful poll will pique interest, but not be so controversial as to invite "spamming" the poll.

Also see:  Problogger - 20 Types of Blog Posts - Battling Bloggers Block

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is a trainer and tech writer in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. Her weakness is the mocha frappuccino.

Perhaps you've heard the name "Goldman Sachs," on the news lately, and that they are in trouble with the "SEC."  If you wanted more information about what was going on with this company, you may have searched online for news by searching Google for "Goldman Sachs SEC."  Yesterday, when people did this, many saw the following SERP (Search Engine Results Page):

Photo from HotAir

Someone at BarackObama.com anticipated a lot of people would be searching Google using the key words: "Goldman Sachs SEC," and took advantage of a good fundrasing opportunity by bidding on a sponsored link on Google, so that many searches would be directed to President Obama's "Organizing for America," fundraising site.

We don't know how much Organizing for America spent on the sponsored link, but the bids start at either 1 penny per click, or 25 cents per 1,000 impressions (views), through Google Adwords. This can be a fairly expensive alternative to regular SEO (which involves strategic link-building), but is much faster, and can be a good alternative for a short-term advertising campaign.

Hat-Tip Arlen Williams, on FHK

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is a trainer and tech writer in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. Her weakness is the mocha frappuccino.

Earlier this week, we talked about how important internal links are for SEO, and how internal linking can increase reader retention.  Now, let's get specific, and discuss how to best use keywords in "anchor text."

The "anchor text," is the text used in your hyperlink.  For example, in the paragraph above, the "anchor text," is "internal links are for SEO" and "internal linking can increase reader retention."  The "keywords" I chose to include in the "anchor text" are: internal links, SEO, internal linking, reader retention.  These are keywords (search terms) that I'm hoping people will be searching for in the search engines. 

I could have written the first sentence of this post like this:

Earlier this week, we talked about how important internal links are for SEO (HERE), and how internal linking can increase reader retention (HERE)... 

It is unlikely, however, that potential readers for the WebRev blog would be using "HERE" as a search term on the search engines.  They are more likely to use, "internal links," "SEO," "internal linking," or "reader retention."

The same principle applies in online profile management, and applies to both internal and external linking. Links within, to and from your blog, site, or online profile will be more beneficial for you if the anchor text used in the link is actually the name of your blog, site, or online profile.  For example, if I wanted to direct you to the WebRev profile on Facebook, it would be more beneficial to do this:

Visit WebRevelation on Facebook!

Instead of doing this:

Visit WebRevelation on Facebook!

Simply put, when linking, always look for opportunities to attract the attention of the search engines to the most important text and keywords within your post, or in your sidebar.  Practice strategically using your keywords in your anchor text to highlight your best features.

Also see:  FHK: Don’t be Link-Lovin’ in Vain (Judiciously using ‘Anchor Text’)

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is a trainer and tech writer in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. Her weakness is the mocha frappuccino.

Yesterday, we discussed what internal links are, and why they are important.  We mentioned that, internal links help you with reader retention and loyalty.  So, today, let's talk about how your internal links can encourage your readers to stick around.

Make sure your links open in a new window.  Actually, this advice applies to both internal and external links.  You may have noticed that nearly all of the links here on the WebRev blog open in a new window.  This allows your readers to follow the links you have referenced, while leaving the original post or article open, so they can find their way back, and continue reading.  If the links do not open in a new window, it is likely the reader will follow the link, and then just keep going, forgetting about the original link.

 

Most blogging and website editing software includes an option to have hyperlinks "open in a new window."  If you are in HTML mode, you will want to add target="_blank" within your hyperlink like this:

 

 

 

Use internal links to direct readers to related posts, tags, or categories.  For example, in the first paragraph of this post, I included an internal link, which directed readers to yesterday's, post.  I might have also used a similar opportuntiy to link to our SEO tag, or our Blogging category, here at WebRev, as appropriate.   Note that these internal links might be contained within the posts, or in the sidebar.

 

Provide a link to your RSS feed(s) on every post and page of your site.  The easiest way to do this is to put these links in the sidebar or header.  Subscribing to your RSS feed is usually how your readers will make sure they can find you again.  Again, make sure the link to your RSS feed opens in a new window, so that if your reader can come back to his or her starting point on your site and continue reading.

 Next, I'll show you how to strategically use keywords and anchor text in your internal linking.

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is a trainer and tech writer in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. Her weakness is the mocha frappuccino.