Here are some tips to think about before you hit publish on your next blog post:
1. Write an SEO-friendly headline. Tell me the “who” and the “what” in the headline, so readers and search engines know exactly what you are writing about.
2. Include at least two links that help readers find more valuable information on the topic. If those links are to previous posts on your blog, then all the better.
3. Make the most important text bold. If your readers only spend a few seconds trying to decide whether to read your post, make sure they are drawn to the best part. Also consider bolding all names, if you’re a name-dropping kind of person.
4. Pick the appropriate blog category. Categories are a great way to organize your content into the main themes you write about. Kind of like the older brother of tags…
5. Give your post some tags. Think of the keywords or key phrases people might search to find your post, and use them as tags. Names of people and names of towns or neighborhoods make for great tags.
6. Add an image or a video. Don’t have an image, try searching millions of royalty-free images at Flickr Creative Commons. If you’re not sure where to put your image in the post, put it at the top (near your headline).
7. Is your post long? Use subheads to break up the text and make it easier to scan.
8. Preview your post. Make sure everything looks the way you intended. Then hit “publish.”
9. Tell the world. Do you have Twitter or Facebook friends who would want to know this news? Share it with them.
Interested in starting your own blog? ChrisSniderDesign.com is happily hosted on Fatcow.
Photo by parislemon on Flickr.
[ratings]
This is a good list. I think I do a good job, except for the SEO friendly words and the links in the post. They really annoy me, when I am reading blogs, so I shy away from them. But that being said, I am sure that I must be in the minority, or it wouldn’t be a ‘best practice’. I think I may give it a try with tomorrow’s blog.
Thanks
I especially like the tip about Creative Commons, as we always spend a lot of time trying to find photos we can use. I’ve bookmarked it now. Very well-organized list. Good bolds & links. Gee, wonder why?
Even better advice for photos for blog posts is to use stock.xchng (http://www.sxc.hu/) – royalty free, and for most photo no need to link back or notify the photographer!
Great tips. I am getting better about adding links to my post. The tags are always a challenge to me. Is it better to put one word or a phrase?
Julia M Lindsey
Our Little Books
I would like to add that putting your main keyword for the article is a great idea. Also , using the keyword throughout the text of the article improves its overall SEO rating.
Secondly, it is important to make certain your photos are also SEO friendly by using alternate title, size and description, otherwise the search engines do not make them available on their search listing, first or second page.
In addition to the use of bold words and phrases is the use of italics. This also delineates the text as more important than using standard characters.
Lastly, using H1 and H2 for titles and important subsections within the article is also good practice.
This is a good post, precise, concise and well written. Thanks for your willingness to share some important SEO advice.
Don
To correct the first sentence in my response –
Put your main keyword in the title of your article post. It should be one of the first three words for best results.
Don
Agree with you and always do so. Have noticed on Stumbleupon that some blogs actually have really long articles and dispite that have lot’s of comments i.e. are read. Wonder how that’s done?