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SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) are something you can’t do without, if you want to have a high traffic site. While there are many SEO companies that will optimize your blog, very often DIY (Do It Yourself) SEO is the better idea.
You don’t have to be a pro in order to optimize your blog on your own. DIY SEO isn’t difficult but it does take a lot of time. Also, similarly to cheap web hosting, the purpose of DIY SEO is not to save you money but to get the job done in a better way. Here are some very easy things everybody can do in order to boost the SEO rankings of a blog:
Target your keywords. Keywords are the most important SEO component. If you haven’t targeted the right keywords, then your SEO efforts are in vain. Use online keyword research tools to find good keywords in your niche and then optimize your website for them.
Build backlinks. In addition to keywords, backlinks are vital. You don’t need just backlinks – you need quality backlinks from reputable sites, preferably in your blog niche. The anchor text of a backlink matters most, so when you build backlinks, don’t forget to use your keywords in your anchor text. And remember, when a backlink has the ‘nofollow’ attribute, in terms of SEO, this is not a backlink.
Include keywords in the title, headings, the URL and the first paragraph. Keywords in the body of your blog are fine but the title, the headings, the URL, and the first paragraph are the places where a keyword weighs more. This is why you need to make sure that you do have the keywords in these places.
Constantly monitor your progress. SEO is not a one-time effort. Yes, in the beginning it might take a substantial effort in order to push your blog to the top rankings in Google and the other search engines but if you stop at this point, your site will soon drop. You need to constantly deal with SEO – this is the only way to get good rankings and keep them over time.
DIY SEO isn’t hard to master but if you don’t have the time to do it, this might be more of a problem. You can hire a SEO company but if they aren’t pros, the results won’t be better. It is very similar to choosing web hosting – you can get cheap web hosting that is reliable, or you can get expensive web hosting that is frequently down. Is there even a need to explain which option that is the best?
Rebecca Wright is a 34-year-old native of Florida. She has a knack for details on web hosting and anything about it. She works full time as a Senior Web Copywriter for one of the country's leading web hosting provider.
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Outsourcing the SEO seems feasible if we do not have a time and knowledge.
.-= Dana @ Blogging Tips Blog´s last blog ..GoDaddy May 2010 Discount =-.
Thanks that’s good tips! Silly question but what exactly is anchor text? Don’t think I’m using it…
.-= Jorgen Sundberg´s last blog ..How to Get More LinkedIn Recommendations =-.
Anchor text is something you use to link on another content. Something like ‘Click Here’, however, ‘click here’ probably the worst example of anchor text. It is good practice to use relative keyword as anchor text.
.-= Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..Mobiwatchman – A call filtering and SMS blocking software for mobile =-.
@Arafat – yes, that is not the best way to create links, but some bloggers still use ‘Click Here’. It has no value and does not help much either in the long run.
KW research is my arch nemesis; I’ve all but given up on it. I’d love to outsource if I could find anyone ethical.
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..A TRUE Make Money Online blog – Part 2 – Choose My Domain Name =-.
I do everything except the evaluate progress part. I don’t have the patience for this kind of thing. But I guess if you are doing everything else then this should follow.
Outsourcing SEO would be abetter choice only if you have the right man for the job. don’t hire some SEO copanies since they are only going to overcharge.
.-= paul | entertainment tonight´s last blog ..Marian Rivera is Super Inday =-.
outsourcing SEO is a good idea, but make sure you find the right man. there are plenty SEO’s out there that ask a reasonable price. but have a checklist questionnaire ready to ask the potential candidate some questions and more important, references.
.-= wannabe´s last blog ..How To Get Much More Sex In Your Marriage =-.
Nice article…Many blogger ignore to track the progress of their blog , which is very necessary to analysis where you are going right and what you should avoid while blogging.
.-= Whiztechy´s last blog ..Make an Attractive Landing Page to Lower your Bounce Rate =-.
Outsourcing SEO would be abetter choice only if you have the right man for the job. don’t hire some SEO copanies since they are only going to overcharge.
.-= paul | entertainment tonight´s last blog ..
http://www.chinacellphones.net
.-= china cell phones´s last blog ..A Mixed ON Product with Attributes =-.
I still learning how to master SEO =)
.-= blinkky´s last blog ..Iron Man 2 Movie Wallpapers =-.
Great post Rebecca,
I completely agree with you that you cannot survive in the market unless you know to market yourself on Social Networks and are good at SEO.
.-= Rohit Sane´s last blog ..An SEO and Webmaster’s Forum with a Difference! =-.
Great article Rebecca. I would try and do SEO for my website myself but since I’m a newbie, it wouldn’t be such a great idea. Oh and thanks to these comments, I just found out that “click here” as an anchor text has absolutely no value at all.
I completely agree with you Rebecca that we must have good SEO to play with the big boys.. but (after Google randomly de-indexed massive pages) I’ve decided not to be dependent on SEO and SEM. I’ll implement it because it just makes good business sense.. while building up my social marketing sources.
My goal this year is to build community, that Google and Yahoo can’t touch, along with backlinks, SEOing, etc.
.-= Dee – Austin Music Diva´s last blog ..Paramount Theatre Austin =-.
Keyword research and monitoring you SEO is very important. You have covered many important points in this topic. Thanks for sharing it.Hope to see more guest posts from you soon.
.-= Ricky´s last blog ..10 Ways To Watch French Open Tennis 2010 Live Online =-.
Useful tips and I think target your keywords would help our blog stand out of the crowd and get more targeted traffic that convert better
.-= Tinh´s last blog ..Summer Special Coupon Codes That Expire Soon! =-.
hey amazing post i have got some interesting idea’s from your post
I am agreed with Tinh and Richy that key word research is too important
I think its a key factor of SEO. It must be tackled with keen importance and care.
Great informative article…the most important the last point which mostly ignored by the SEO experts but it is very important to track your progress and change the activities according to the results from those.
.-= web design firm´s last blog ..Top 5 Web CMS You Should Consider! =-.
It really does require a LOT of work, not just setting up your blog to be as optimized as possible but the constant searching for quality backlinks, making posts, and getting your blog on as many backlinking sites as possible. I don’t know how the really huge websites do it – I suppose at some point they make enough money to source it out?! All I know is its a LOT of work!
Absolutely right. From the very start, you really need to let the search engines know your site for them to put it on the first page of the result. Chances are, users will click on your site first before they go down with the list.
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