The Web Authority
Thursday, March 27
Production Blogging Is Social Media Blogging!
Social media blogging will not get you the results that on-topic authoritative blogging will. Click our post title to read why the content matters for your blog and read examples to choose which style you want for your own blog.
Getting great results is not about "having" a blog, it is about "great content" on your blog.
Getting great results is not about "having" a blog, it is about "great content" on your blog.
Labels: blogging for search engines
¶ 3/27/2008 08:17:00 AM 0 Comments
Tuesday, March 25
Effective Blog Posts
Just how long should an effectively written blog post be? In this post on Blog-World Watch, we'll tell you based on our professional blogging experience how long the best blog post should be and how long you should make your paragraphs.
Click our post title to read the blog post now!
Click our post title to read the blog post now!
Labels: blogging for search engines, effective blogging
¶ 3/25/2008 08:04:00 AM 0 Comments
Thursday, March 20
Crafting Great Blog Post Titles
How to write your blog post title for traffic and search engines is a craft. Find out our easy to use tips to write a better blog post title and help you become a more effective blogger and to garner search engine traffic for your blog.
Labels: blog traffic, blogging for search engines
¶ 3/20/2008 07:31:00 AM 0 Comments
Monday, February 25
Organic Vs Paid Listings on Google
Consistently I have run into confusion on clients' parts thinking that participating in sponsored search or paid advertising listings on Google, Yahoo or MSN will raise their organic ranking. This is not true.
Paid or Sponsored Search
These are the text ads that appear on the right side of the search query results screen and at the top of the page typically in a colored box. How one appears here is to use a paid advertising service unique for each search engine for Google, it is Google AdWords, for Yahoo, it is Yahoo Sponsored Search, and for MSN it is Microsoft adCenter. To get top ranking in the results you must have a higher than you competitor maximum cost per click setting and a"satisfactory" click through rate. You also must have a Good or Great quality score. Quality score is the factor of a tight match between your landing page content, ad text and keyword trigger list. To get in the colored boxes you need typically a click through rate of over 2.5%.
Organic Search Listings
This is also know as the SERPs (search engine results placement). Organic listings are determined by each search engine's algorithm. Google has over 150 different factors which it will consider to determine your site's placement on the page. Some of these factors include size of your website, how frequently you update your content, how many quality sites on your topic link into yours, the keyword density of your keywords on the page and their match to the search query, how long you have held your domain name, the length of your renewal, and many other secret factors known only to Google.
Organic and paid results do not affect each other. They are entirely separate and participation in one has absolutely no bearing on performance in the other.
Paid or Sponsored Search
These are the text ads that appear on the right side of the search query results screen and at the top of the page typically in a colored box. How one appears here is to use a paid advertising service unique for each search engine for Google, it is Google AdWords, for Yahoo, it is Yahoo Sponsored Search, and for MSN it is Microsoft adCenter. To get top ranking in the results you must have a higher than you competitor maximum cost per click setting and a"satisfactory" click through rate. You also must have a Good or Great quality score. Quality score is the factor of a tight match between your landing page content, ad text and keyword trigger list. To get in the colored boxes you need typically a click through rate of over 2.5%.
Organic Search Listings
This is also know as the SERPs (search engine results placement). Organic listings are determined by each search engine's algorithm. Google has over 150 different factors which it will consider to determine your site's placement on the page. Some of these factors include size of your website, how frequently you update your content, how many quality sites on your topic link into yours, the keyword density of your keywords on the page and their match to the search query, how long you have held your domain name, the length of your renewal, and many other secret factors known only to Google.
Organic and paid results do not affect each other. They are entirely separate and participation in one has absolutely no bearing on performance in the other.
Labels: blogging for search engines, Pay Per Click Advertising
¶ 2/25/2008 06:43:00 AM 0 Comments
Tuesday, November 27
The New World of Blogging Bemoaned
You know blogging has changed in the last several years. It has grown from personal diaries and rants, to business and valid news, and now spin vehicles. Pure truthful blogging is being tainted by the thirst for the "grab for attention" and marketeering's unabated focus to make money from blogging. The world of blogging is no longer pure and motive free.
Just like all things on the Internet, you have to take things now with a grain of salt. It used to be that blogging was a pure unadulterated point of view, an honest fresh approach. Now there is a thrust behind much of the blogging that is being done to spin a message, do media relations damage control, or to make money. Much of this is being done behind the scenes and the people who are being sucked into "this machine" are the ones who still think that blogging is honest.
Wow, a cynical tone, yeah you bet. Blogging has moved from truthful conversation and dissemination of information into a whole new world, unfortunately the real world. Well in other words, blogging has grown up. Is this a good thing. Hmm, may be and maybe not. One thing for sure is to read a blog carefully before you buy into it's point of view and two don't be naive to think that there isn't a very smart marketing engine behind the blog spinning a message or pushing an agenda. There is now in this new world on the Web where blogs are concerned.
Just like all things on the Internet, you have to take things now with a grain of salt. It used to be that blogging was a pure unadulterated point of view, an honest fresh approach. Now there is a thrust behind much of the blogging that is being done to spin a message, do media relations damage control, or to make money. Much of this is being done behind the scenes and the people who are being sucked into "this machine" are the ones who still think that blogging is honest.
Wow, a cynical tone, yeah you bet. Blogging has moved from truthful conversation and dissemination of information into a whole new world, unfortunately the real world. Well in other words, blogging has grown up. Is this a good thing. Hmm, may be and maybe not. One thing for sure is to read a blog carefully before you buy into it's point of view and two don't be naive to think that there isn't a very smart marketing engine behind the blog spinning a message or pushing an agenda. There is now in this new world on the Web where blogs are concerned.
Labels: blogging for search engines, effective blogging
¶ 11/27/2007 09:14:00 AM 0 Comments
Thursday, October 18
Got Blog? How to Blog Effectively
Man there are a lot of bad blogs on the Web and then there are some really great ones. I have several sites that I routinely watch in my industry sector, I also watch our self-blogging client blogs, and our ghost blogging contractred blogs. All in all, you've just got to pick and chose what you follow.
I know that many people have started to blog solely for search engine benefits and that is okay by me, but when you blog for your business, the content just has to be good. With that in mind, here are my top tips to blog more effectively for search engines and for your business.
I know that many people have started to blog solely for search engine benefits and that is okay by me, but when you blog for your business, the content just has to be good. With that in mind, here are my top tips to blog more effectively for search engines and for your business.
- Provide interesting content that your readers would consider helpful.
- Keep your posts regular and then stick with a schedule.
- Mention keywords in your blog title and blog labels or categories.
- Make your posts small no dissertations! Break larger posts into a series.
- Be careful on your spacing. Make sure you look at your post after you publish it to confirm that the spacing is correct.
- Don't paste in your posts from Word. Sorry you need to move them to Wordpad or Notepad first and then into the blog control panel to remove formatting.
- Keep the fonts, styles, and colors consistent on your blog from post to post.
- Don't use huge headlines and don't use all capitals.
- Watch the news in your business sector and blog early and hard on important news or tips.
- If you can do a Google Sitemap for your blog posts so the search engines know about your content.
I hope these tips help you to be a more effective blogger. I use these same exact tips to train new bloggers, client bloggers, and to instruct people at seminars on how to blog. Remember blogging is fun, spontaneous, and conversational in nature but does have a few rules of best practice and etiquette.
Labels: blogging for search engines, effective blogging
¶ 10/18/2007 05:19:00 PM 0 Comments
Monday, October 15
Typepad Using No Follow Link Code By Default
If you have been posting to blogs on Blogger or Typepad thinking that you were getting a great inbound link to your website. Know that in addition to Blogger (we posted about this previously) now Typepad inserts a rel="no follow" command in the code to all links in comments.
So don't waste your time trying to raise your link numbers or organic positions by posting to blogs now. You can still post to mine, I love to hear your comments, but mine is a Blogger blog so you won't get any flow through benefit to your site just as you now will not on Typepad blogs.
What about Wordpress? Is this the same situation? Just checked one of the blogs we work on and here's the source code on the link rel='external nofollow' so same situation in Wordpress.
That does not mean if when you blog your links are set up as no follows, jut the links that are left in comments!
So don't waste your time trying to raise your link numbers or organic positions by posting to blogs now. You can still post to mine, I love to hear your comments, but mine is a Blogger blog so you won't get any flow through benefit to your site just as you now will not on Typepad blogs.
What about Wordpress? Is this the same situation? Just checked one of the blogs we work on and here's the source code on the link rel='external nofollow' so same situation in Wordpress.
That does not mean if when you blog your links are set up as no follows, jut the links that are left in comments!
Labels: blogging for search engines, Linking
¶ 10/15/2007 06:06:00 PM 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 2
Do Blogs Improve Stickiness?
Yes they do! In our white paper (click our post title to get it free), we prove that having a blog will increase the stickiness of your website. Using two case studies one that was extended over a multiple month period, we track that the amount of time that a viewer stays on your site improves with blogging.
The increases are not as pronounced as those in traffic increase, but still important. So if you want to keep readers longer and keep them engaged, blogging will do it!
The increases are not as pronounced as those in traffic increase, but still important. So if you want to keep readers longer and keep them engaged, blogging will do it!
Labels: blogging for search engines
¶ 10/02/2007 07:50:00 AM 0 Comments
Saturday, September 29
Our Newest White Paper - The Tangible Benefits of Blogging
We're letting you read it early on our blogs, we publishing our newest white paper "The Tangible Benefits of Blogging" on October 1 in our e-newsletter. Click our post title to enter your email address and first name and then go to our download location to get our free nine page PDF white paper.
This white paper has detailed case studies some of whom we have tracked for a two year period. This white paper took over four months to research and develop. Get it free and get started blogging today for better search engine benefits.
This white paper has detailed case studies some of whom we have tracked for a two year period. This white paper took over four months to research and develop. Get it free and get started blogging today for better search engine benefits.
Labels: blogging and organic placement, blogging for search engines
¶ 9/29/2007 08:09:00 PM 0 Comments
Tuesday, September 25
Blogging Can Improve Your Website's Organic Placement
Well, the research is in, our analysis complete, and our white paper on "The Tangible Benefits of Blogging" is nearly ready to publish. We have done a very unique case study on two sites with the identical content and everything, one blogs and one does not. The site that blogs beats the site that does not blog in the SERPs (organic results) hands down.
Now we're ready to do more research on this point to be able to definitively state that blogging helps your organic search engine placement, but for now, in one unique case study, it is clearly pointing in this direction. We have much more research on our other topics to prove traffic benefits, stickiness, and several other key points that website owners are interested in, but the topic of blogs and organic placement is a important one. Although it is important it is very difficult to prove. Which makes the case study that we do so important and interesting.
We will be publishing our white paper in our monthly e-newsletter, so you will want to click our blog post title and subscribe now so you'll get first notice of our release.
Now we're ready to do more research on this point to be able to definitively state that blogging helps your organic search engine placement, but for now, in one unique case study, it is clearly pointing in this direction. We have much more research on our other topics to prove traffic benefits, stickiness, and several other key points that website owners are interested in, but the topic of blogs and organic placement is a important one. Although it is important it is very difficult to prove. Which makes the case study that we do so important and interesting.
We will be publishing our white paper in our monthly e-newsletter, so you will want to click our blog post title and subscribe now so you'll get first notice of our release.
Labels: blogging and organic placement, blogging for search engines
¶ 9/25/2007 02:43:00 PM 0 Comments
Sunday, September 16
Presentation Highlights from the CPCU Speech
You may be interesting in reviewing our PowerPoint presentation (now made into a PDF) of our speach yesterday at the Capital PC Users Group in Washington DC.
This presentation is a preview of our white paper "The Tangible Benefits of Blogging" that will be published in our e-newsletter in early October.
I think that you will find the case studies and tips on how to be an effective blogger and how to blog for search engine placement interesting and helpful.
This presentation is a preview of our white paper "The Tangible Benefits of Blogging" that will be published in our e-newsletter in early October.
I think that you will find the case studies and tips on how to be an effective blogger and how to blog for search engine placement interesting and helpful.
Labels: blogging for search engines, Search Engine Optimization
¶ 9/16/2007 03:01:00 PM 0 Comments
Wednesday, September 12
Does Blogger Blog Set Up Matter to Search Engines
Nope, it does not. I have just completed four months of research and analysis in preparation for the launch of my newest white paper, "The Tangible Benefits of Blogging", and found that really the set up is not important.
What is important to search engines is your content and keywords. Whether you use Blogger's custom FTP blogging or Blogspot with a custom domain, the difference is nearly moot.
Now, there are real reasons why you would want to use custom FTP blogging and real reasons why you would want to use Blogspot, but now you do not have to choose one over the other for real benefits on search engines.
In fact we have found on a head to head comparison of our two blogs, Web-World Watch (custom FTP blog) and Blog-World Watch (Blogspot custom domain blog) that sometimes the post on the Blogspot blog actually appeared in a higher position in the SERPs than our custom FTP blog.
I'll let you know when I publish my white paper, if you are blogging for search engine and traffic benefits, you will find the paper and case studies very interesting.
What is important to search engines is your content and keywords. Whether you use Blogger's custom FTP blogging or Blogspot with a custom domain, the difference is nearly moot.
Now, there are real reasons why you would want to use custom FTP blogging and real reasons why you would want to use Blogspot, but now you do not have to choose one over the other for real benefits on search engines.
In fact we have found on a head to head comparison of our two blogs, Web-World Watch (custom FTP blog) and Blog-World Watch (Blogspot custom domain blog) that sometimes the post on the Blogspot blog actually appeared in a higher position in the SERPs than our custom FTP blog.
I'll let you know when I publish my white paper, if you are blogging for search engine and traffic benefits, you will find the paper and case studies very interesting.
Labels: blog set up, blogging for search engines
¶ 9/12/2007 11:47:00 AM 0 Comments
