WOW…didn’t realize it was so long since I last posted on this blog! Anyway…..
I am not sure about everyone else but when I write on my blog, I hope a lot of people read what I wrote. For me it is merely to satisfy my need for attention. Being the middle child and having 3.7 kids causes me to feel neglected. Keeping this in mind, I try to gain attention through my blog’s Page Rank (PR). What is Page Rank you may ask?
Page Rank is basically a ranking system Google uses to determine the “value” or importance of your website, blog and its pages. Achieving a good Page Rank is a part of any SEO (Search Engine Optimization) effort.
How does Google calculate Page Rank? That is a huge secret but linking is very important in determining Page Rank. Links from other websites and/or pages count as a “vote” for your website or page. The more votes your site or pages have, the higher the value but not all “votes” (links) are equal. If the linking page has a high PR it will pass some of that value to yours. If the page has a lower PR than yours, Google will not value the link as much a link (vote) with a higher PR. Linking from one page to another within your own site also helps build Page Rank.
How is Page Rank Expressed? Page Rank is expressed on a scale from 0-10. Most new sites have a PR of 0-2. Fairly established sites with decent links will rank from 3-5. Anything with a PR6 or higher are very popular sites with many valuable incoming links. Very few sites have a Page Rank of 7 or higher so don’t get upset if you do not rank that high.
For most sites, the home page has the highest Page Rank. This is normal but does not mean that some of that Page Rank cannot be distributed to individual pages. Inter-linking pages from the home page can help redistribute that PR of the home page and getting links from other sites to individual pages will help.
OK, so you ask: WHY DO I CARE? Maybe you don’t but if you do, Page Rank will matter in regards to how your site shows up in Google searches. For example: If you have a site selling digital cameras, you will want your site to place high in the results for internet searches for “digital cameras”. You ideally want to be in the #1 spot but the first page of results might be adequate as the results may contain millions of sites. The chances of people clinking on your site are greater if you rank higher in the results. Many people and companies pay to have their sites SEO done for them so they receive a high Page Rank but it something you can do on your own in time.
If you want to know your Page Rank you can visit PRChecker and enter your site. If you are like me and use FireFox, you can download the SearchStatus extension. This extension will show you the Page Rank of every page you visit.
Related posts: Commenting=Links and Publicity, What is SEO and How Will it Help You? and SEO and the Proper Use of Keyword
I hope this information was useful. Please let me know what you think. I appreciate all feedback.
My last few posts have hopefully provided some valuable information but I felt I overlooked the main element of all successful blogs….CONTENT! If bloggers are not providing valuable content, we will never have popular blogs. Your posts should provide something your readers find entertaining, thought provoking, educational and/or humorous. You can engage in proper SEO until you are blue in the face but if your content is garbage nobody will read it.
What should your posts contain? Here are my suggestions:
- Proper grammar – this will help your readers to feel that you are intelligent and credible
- Simple grammar – do not use technical terms and/or jargon that most people may not understand
- Humor – people like to laugh or smile no matter what the topic
- Useful information – teach your readers how to do something or make something by providing simple steps
- Relate with personal experience – this helps your readers to know that you are a REAL person
- To the point – enough words to get your point across but not to many that bore your readers
- Ask readers to interact – ask your readers for their feedback (a great way to get comments)
In all of my research I have found most “experts” agree that 2-3 posts per week are ideal but 1 per week is the minimum. Build yourself a nice cache of quality content. You want to give your readers a lot of content to browse and read as this will keep them engaged and returning. You may have visitors because they know you personally or
If you build it...THEY WILL COME!
they are your Twitter or Facebook buddies but if you are not providing quality content, they will not come back. The more quality content you provide, the more indexing the search engines will perform! If you follow some simple SEO tips while generating your posts, you will slowly begin to see some organic search engine traffic. More search engine traffic means more readers and subscribers!
I hope you find this information useful and if you do, PLEASE ReTweet (button in top right corner) or ShareThis (button below). Thanks and feel free to provide feedback (see…a call to action).
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about link building through comments and in this post I referred to “nofollow” tags. “Nofollow” tags are used by many blogs in an attempt to prevent spammers. Comment spammers randomly go around and place comments on blogs in attempts to receive “link juice” (link juice is a term used to identify the quality of a site’s link power in terms of pagerank). In order to prevent this, the “nofollow” tag was developed which tells search engines not to grant any “link juice” to that link.
Think about this: You have an extremely popular blog with a PageRank of 7 or 8 and a new blogger with no PageRank keeps peppering your site with comments and you know they are only commenting for links. Would you be upset?….probably. In this case the “nofollow” tag might be beneficial because many people are afraid that as lower ranked pages link to them, their PageRank maybe dragged down. I am not sure if this is true as I read blogs that say it does and blogs that say it doesn’t but either way some people get nervous.
The other side of the argument: In the beginning bloggers represented a very small online community and they often
DoFollow or NoFollow?
helped each other out. They would comment on each others blogs to help drive traffic and build popularity through the links created when commenting. Now the argument is posed with this question: How are new bloggers to develop those creditable links? The answer is not simple but social bookmarking, social media and article publication are a few options and so is removing or limiting the “nofollow” tag.
I use the Wordpress platform and there are many plugins that either remove the “nofollow” tag and/or allow you to pick and choose which links are “follow and/or dofollow” and “nofollow”. I use the plugin “Nofollow Case by Case“, and I love it. It allows me to choose the links I want to give “link juice” to and the links I don’t. Hey my blog is not a high pagerank blog but it is ranked somewhat so why not give my fellow Daddy Bloggers and Mommy Bloggers some LINK LOVE?!
If you use Firefox, as I do, you can install the plugin called “NoDoFollow”. This plugin allows you to easily see which links on a site are “Follow” and/or “NoFollow” by shading them blue or red.It is a great tool to evaluate sites.
I hope you find this information useful. If you do, please use the “Retweet” button in then upper right or the “ShareThis” button below..THANKS!
TVV54HVAZUKY (Technorati code again)
Tags: blogs, Daddy Blogs, DoFollow, firefox, links, Mommy Blogs, NoFollow, plugin, plugins, SEO, Simple SEO, social bookmarking, wordpress
Simple SEO | Mike November 26, 2009 | 
Comments (1)
Keywords or I should say, the PROPER use of keywords is crucial for any SEO effort. Picking the right keywords for your blog and/or post is something that may take some research but once you have decided on your keywords, you have to know where and how to place them. The proper use of keywords is crucial so here are some areas to consider:
- above the logo
- site title
- post title
- post content
- meta title
- within links as anchor text
- meta keywords
For example you may have a “Daddy Blog” and you mainly provide tips and/or stories for the expecting “father”. “Father” maybe your keyword therefore for optimum results, this keyword should be used in all of the areas mentioned above. Now don’t go and saturate your site and/or page with “father” as this is not viewed well by search engines. Since the example uses “Expecting Father” maybe this can be used as a keyword phrase. Instead of a single word (father) or sets of single words (father, dad, fathers, dads, etc.) phrases offer another way for search engines to recognize you. They may not be as popular as the individual word but can offer another alternative.
Search engines crawl your site and look for words and/or phrases that repeat but not words and/or phrases that are over-repeated. The proper use of keywords AND keyword phrases is crucial but how do you know which ones to use?
Consider your keywords carefully
Google Adwords: Keyword Tool is a great site to find the amount of search results for keywords and/or keyword phrases. You can type in a keyword and this site will provide you with a list of alternative words and/or phrases as well as inform you of how often they were searched during the previous month. Once you have some words and/or phrases how do you know which one(s) to choose? Ask yourself this, do you want to complete with sites using keywords that have been searched for 6 million times per month or alternate keywords/keyword phrases that have been searched for 1 million times per month?
The way I see it, I don’t want to compete with other sites for extremely popular keywords; I would rather compete with sites that are using keywords that are well searched but not the top words. I have a better chance at a higher ranking for the lesser searched keyword. Play around and experiment with different keywords and/keyword phrases and give it time. SEO does not happen overnight and the proper use of keywords is one piece of the puzzle.
Oh, you maybe asking yourself how do I get a search engine to crawl my site, if it hasn’t already? Don’t worry I will write a post on that soon! For now, post good content with the proper use of keywords.
If you find this post useful, please use the Retweet button in the top right corner or use the “ShareThis” button at the bottom. Thanks!
Do you comment on other blogs or do you just read the post and move on? When I first started blogging, I would do just that. I didn’t take the time to provide a comment on another blog whether I enjoyed the post or not and yet I wondered why people weren’t commenting on my blog. Well the answer was simple, you usually do not receive comments unless you give comments.
Aren’t you more likely to visit the blog of someone that commented on your blog? I sure am. As all bloggers know, when you leave a comment you are generally given the opportunity to leave your blog’s URL. This will allow any
Leave a comment, let everyone know that you stopped by!
reader of your comment to click on your link and visit your blog. This link is a valuable aspect of SEO because you are placing YOUR link on another blog. Remember, linking is probably the most important aspect of SEO. If your comments are genuine, not cookie cutter and unrelated to the post, readers will typically click your link just to see what you are about. Now most blogs today utilize “nofollow tags” which basically tell Google not to count your link towards your ranking (this is aimed at preventing spam) but a link is a link, I say! Some bloggers remove the “nofollow tag” which is GREAT because all links are viewed favorably by Google in these cases.
Commenting on blogs will not only help you build relationships within the blogosphere but will also allow you to get your link out there. The more visitors you draw to your site, the greater the chance of receiving “good” links from other blogs. Entering your home URL is great but a simple tip to employ for “deep” linking is to use the URL for your latest post or a previous post that may relate to the content of the post you are commenting on. The deeper the links (meaning links are spread throughout your blog and not just the home page) the better the you will be viewed by Google and other search engines. Besides, nothing makes me happier as a blogger then to receive some good comments. It lets me know that people are reading what I am posting.
So go out and comment! Build relationships, make another blogger happy and in turn, get yourself some links! Please DO NOT spam but make your comments related to the post and provide some value to that blog’s visitors.
If you find this information useful or think that other may, please use my Retweet button in the upper right of this post. I appreciate it!
There are many sites that allow you to submit your articles and I have experimented with many of them. I write articles on many different topics, depending on which blog I am trying to promote. Not only do I have fun trying to promote my blog(s) but writing and submitting articles is a great way to get my stuff out there and it also provides me with links (an extremely valuable tool for SEO). I have finally settled on five sites in which I submit my articles. Here they are:
- ArticleBase – simple and easy also the first site I used
- Link General – Provides many links to traffic resources, including affiliate sites (monetization)
- Next Articles – I am new to this site but it seems to be a growing site
If you have never written an article you should try it. When you submit your article to article submission sites, you usually give up the rights to it and allow other people to re-print and/or distribute your article on their site or Ezine. Each site is different with their terms and conditions and/or guidelines, so read carefully. I have made the mistake of not reading the guidelines and have had several articles taken offline.
Try it and let me know what you think. If you think this information is useful, please hit the Retweet and/or ShareThis button. Thanks!
One of the simple SEO tips I routinely follow is the use of various social bookmarking sites. For those of you that do not know what these site are: Social bookmarking sites are sites that allow you to register for free to create your own page. As you surf the web, you can submit pages/stories that you feel others might find interesting. You are allowed to build a long list of content that others can click on and read. You can assign the story/page to a category, give a review and
Social bookmarking can drive traffic to your blog!
generate keywords. It is basically the same as bookmarking your favorites site in your browser except these bookmarks are public.
What this will do for you is it will expose your content to people that may not find it naturally through internet searches. Most of these sites have “nofollow” tags which means the link back to your story will not count towards Pagerank but it will drive some traffic to your blog.
The BIG mistake I have been making is that I do not bookmark many stories that are not my own. I routinely mark my stories as soon as I post them but neglect to mark the stories of my fellow “Daddy” and “Mommy” bloggers. THIS WILL CHANGE! If I hope for people to submit my posts, I better start submitting theirs and I highly recommend you do the same. Wouldn’t it be nice if you or someone else submitted one of your posts and it goes viral, generating hundreds if not thousands of hits to your blog?
Some of the social bookmarking sites I use are:
If you use Firefox, you can install a plugin that will easily allow you to submit stories right from your toolbar. I am also experimenting with other social bookmarking sites and will let you know what I think after I play around some more.
If you think others will find this post informative please use the ReTweet button in the upper right! You can also subscribe to this feed by clicking the large sun at the top of the page. Thanks!
SEO (search engine optimization) is the basic principle of optimizing your site for search engines. If you make your site/blog search engine friendly, you will receive more visitors through internet searches. There are many tactics and tips that are used for SEO but I will only review some very basic principles.
- Content – Good content is the key. If people find your content interesting, amusing or educational they will return and possibly recommend your site and/or blog.
- Keywords – The proper use of keywords is another important segment of SEO. For example: If you run a “Daddy Blog” like I do, the keywords to focus on are daddy, father, fatherhood, dad and so on. These words should be sprinkled throughout the post(s) and/or entire site. This will increase page rank (PR) for any searches on these particular words.
- Links – Enticing people to link their sites and/or blogs to yours is another vital element of SEO. If other sites
Building Links is Essential for SEO
and/or blogs link to yours, search engines will see that your site has something good that others want to be attached to.
Content is the most important part of any SEO effort. If your content is not worth reading, nobody will read it. It is a simple as that. You may have some great content but it can be littered with typos and/or grammatical errors and deter readers. Take your time to develop a good post. Most experts agree that one good post a week is better then three mediocre posts every week.
Keywords are the focal point of your site and/or blog. You can use variations of the keyword(s) and even include them in simple phrases (long tail keywords). For example: Dad is a keyword I focus on in my blog but I might focus some posts on “Dads that like Heavy Metal Music”. This is not as popular as “Dad” but may have a small niche audience. I use Google’s Keyword Tool to help me find words and terms that are being searched on the internet. I then use them throughout my post and site, without overdoing it.
Linking is one of the most difficult things to do for SEO. Ideally you want other sites and/or blogs to link their readers to your site and/or blog. How do you go about this? Well there are many ways and it takes time to build these links. Some links are not recognized by Google (nofollow tags) therefore they do not count towards SEO but they still drive traffic to your site. Commenting on other blogs is a great way to place links but most of these links are “nofollow” however it can drive traffic. This traffic may result in someone linking to your blog in one of their posts or in their blog roll (which Google and other search engines love). You can also ask for links by emailing the webmasters or even pay for links. The most common method is link exchanging. This is when you make an agreement to link to someone’s blog in return for a link to yours. Please keep in mind that a very popular blog will probably not link to a blog of lesser standing. Start by asking for reciporcating links from blogs of similar rank and topic.
There are many facets to SEO but hopefully this gives you enough to understand the basics. Please share your tips and questions through the comments section. This blog is Commentluv enabled which will display the latest post from your blog for others to click on (a link!). Also, if you think that others can benefit from this post, please use the “Retweet Button” in the upper right of this post! Thanks….
Welcome! I am glad to finally get this blog up and running. I hope this blog to be a place where Daddy and Mommy bloggers can stop by to pick-up and share tips and tactics for blog SEO and monetization. Whether or not you want to earn money from your blog, I am sure you want your blog to be popular. Here I will provide the very simple and basic tips I have learned along the way of running multiple blogs (some for business and others personal). I have spent hours upon hours of reading material from professional bloggers and participate in blog forums in which my questions are answered by experienced people.
Why not earn MONEY by doing something you love?
Blogging is a great release for me while providing a lot of enjoyment. I also like to experiment with various techniques that will earn me better search engine rankings. Better search engine rankings = more visitors. The more visitors I have the greater my potential for earning money! It is that simple. Stay tuned as I plan on updating this blog at least weekly and possibly more often. I will not allow this blog to overcome my “Daddy Blog” but I do see it as a great addition.
Subscribe to this feed by clicking the link (the big orange sun) in the upper right-hand corner; I plan on posting my first tip in the next day or two.
