Blog Optimization

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The Importance of Blogging

In the past couple of years, as hundreds of millions of new blogs have come into existence and as blogging has shifted from the realm of the personal (web diary) to the realm of the professional business blog, blogging has attained a whole new level of importance. Where once a blog was simply an online diary, today blogs are in the forefront of allowing businesses to communicate directly with their customers. Given this new reality it is evident that blogging today is vital for businesses if they wish to succeed in the web 2.0 world that we find ourselves in. If you do not own a business but wish to build your online reputation (to improve your career prospects or to gain new skills, or simply to create your own online community) than having a successful blog can help you attain your goals!

Top SEO Blog

Web 2.0 optimization, web design, expert search engine optimization

SeO is integral to the success of any website, and it is important for businesses to under search marketing to succeed on the web. This blog teaches both businesses and individuals how to succeed in the world of SEO. Tops discussed here range in complexity from the beginners level to advanved SEO topics. If you want to learn about SEO this is the blog for you!
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Poll 1

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Blogging and SEO

Optimizing your blog, search engine optimization strategy, promoting your blog

Blogging There are many millions of blogs that currently exist on the web, and new blogs are being created daily, I would go as far as to say that in the few minutes that you've been looking at this page a dozen or more new blogs have come into existence. (Most of these blogs will never be seen by more than a few people)

Given the state of the Blogosphere it is important for serious bloggers to do everything they can so that their blog stands out from the crowds. These days most of the popular blogging platforms include basic SEO as part of every blog template, so there is not much to do as far as on page SEO. Although you should make sure that you choose a proper title for your blog and that this title be something that you can rank for, a good title should be direct and catch the readers' attention, and can also contain an adjective, try "Health Information Blog" or "Offshore Business Formation Help". (In many of the popular platforms you will be required to go into settings and to edit the default title).

After choosing a good title, another important thing that you can do is to optimize your blogs' sidebar (most platforms allow you to add widgets to your sidebar). The sidebar should contain a tag cloud, as well as a list of your top categories (by doing this you will ease the navigation of your blog and will automatically generate internal links for each post that you write), you should also add a blog roll to the sidebar, a blog roll will enable you to trade links with other bloggers quickly and easily and will increase the popularity of your blog.

The most important thing when it comes to optimizing a blog is to make sure that you post new content often and that this content is original and interesting to read! As long as you write well, and blog often you will develop a devoted following for your blog quickly!

With each post that you write you should make sure to include both tags and categories (categories are like tags, but are more general). This will create an internal linking structure, thus getting you backlinks for each new post, and it will also improve the navigation of your blog, and will help your readers locate similar posts, if I read your post on "hardwood flooring" and want to see more posts on that topic I can simply click on that tag and see all of the posts you've written on that issue.

Poll 2

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Choosing A Blogging Platform

Best blog platforms, free blogging platforms, popular blogging platforms

Blog PlatformsThese days there are many blogging platforms for you to choose from, there are even blogging platforms that specialize in blogs for a specific industry, for example, you can host your real estate blog on Active Rain; many social networking sites are starting to offer blogging as an option for members. The platform you choose depends on what you are trying to achieve, if you are looking to ease communication with your existing network of friends you can take advantage of the blogging feature on your favorite social network, if you are looking to blog for your business you should look into a blogging platform that has the capabilities that you require. It is up to you to choose the best platform for your needs.

The two most popular and widely used blogging platforms are Blogspot (or blogger) and Wordpress. These platforms offer similar capabilities, but have a few key differences, blogger is easier to use and is the blog platform of choice for those new to blogging, this is a great platform if you want a personal blog and are not looking for tons of traffic%u2026 One of the main limitations of blogger is that there is not much you can do with on page SEO and it is difficult to make your blog self hosted.

Wordpress is currently the gold standard of blogging platforms and is preferred both in terms of SEO capabilities and the fact that making your Wordpress blog self hosted is fairly simple. Although Wordpress has a higher learning curve as far as figuring out all of the features and may be more difficult to use for novice bloggers. Wordpress blogs are also more customizable, if you choose to have your blog self hosted you can easily mold the blog template to look like your site. To see an example of a customized WordPress blog please visit the All Things Legal blog. If you are setting up a blog for your business it is recommended that you use WordPress as your blogging platform.

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Poll 3

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Great Blog Titles

Best blog titles, how to name a blog, names for blogs

Great TitlesChoosing the right blog title is perhaps the most important thing when it comes to writing a blog post, of course, second most important after the writing of the blog post itself.

The way that blogs are typically set up is that each new post creates a new page and the title that you choose becomes the H1 tag for that page, (what is an H1 tag?) this means that your title will appear in search engines whenever a search is done, and if you choose the right title, one that is not too competitive but is still something people search for you will maximize the traffic to your blog. (For example, the title "Tuscany Kitchen versus Spanish Revival Kitchen") is a good example of a title for your post because this is a question that many people may search for but that is not too competitive.

Website Design for Small Businesses

Small business web designers, business web page design, best website designers for small business

Website Design for Small BusinessNetLZ is a web design firm that can initiate traffic to a small business site by using the best local SEO techniques for small business. Web marketing can only be successful when customers can find the site; and optimizing the business site so that it appears on the first page of search engine results is key to accomplishing this goal.

A web site should be well designed and load quickly to attract customers to the business. It needs to have a good professional image and be filled with relevant content and applications. Today most successful websites integrate SEO and web design to ensure that the site is appealing to both human users and search engines. Customers should be able to navigate around the site easily and information regarding services should be accessible and easy to find without overloading the visitor's senses. This will ensure the customer will not get frustrated trying to find what they are looking for and will hopefully purchase services or goods.

SEO strategy is important to direct customers to the site, and a professionally designed website makes it functional. Designing the site to be easily navigated will save the customer time as well as help them find what they are looking for. For the small business it is important for customers to find the site and obtain the information or services they are looking for.

Your Online Reputation

Manage your reputation with a blog, protect your reputation, reputation management tips

Online ReputationYour online reputation is a powerful thing and can have a direct bearing on your career prospects, in helping you get your dream job as well as in determining whether you get promoted. Blogging is a great way to create and manage your online reputation and to ensure that you have control over what is said about you on the web.

When you have a blog (on any topic) you should set yourself up as the primary author, this way you will get credit for your work and when someone Google's your name your writing will show up in the results (depending on the platform you may have to go into blog settings to add yourself as the primary author). Please visit How to Fix Your Online Reputation for more information on using a blog to manage your online reputation.

New Guestbook

  • JaguarJulie Jun 1, 2012 @ 4:12 pm | delete
    I have been truly delighted with Google over the years for their blogspot. It's amazing how quickly they will index your blog posts. I wished, sincerely, that I had more hours in my working day to get to blogging more frequently.
  • bushaex May 28, 2012 @ 10:07 am | delete
    Like everything else, blogging requires common sense and ethics. Google recently provided a loud and clear warning shot across the bow to those who tried to do blogs on steroids (blog "networks").
  • RenaissanceWoman2010 May 27, 2012 @ 7:07 am | delete
    A very important topic well presented. Appreciated!
  • edisonmindset May 19, 2012 @ 5:53 pm | delete
    Lovely Jubbly!
  • RohanParekh May 13, 2012 @ 11:40 am | delete
    I really like the links! They are quite useful not just for now but also in the future!
  • minaliyengar May 11, 2012 @ 5:47 am | delete
    This is great! All the info given out is wonderful! And the links are helpful.
  • kns1988 May 9, 2012 @ 2:31 pm | delete
    Never knew blogging could have so much impact for a small business from the SEO Point of view, Thanks for all the valuable information. It will really help me promote my business on the internet!
  • RohanParekh May 9, 2012 @ 2:30 pm | delete
    Blogging is something i do usually! Love to read different and various blogs!!
  • MJsConsignments May 7, 2012 @ 6:59 am | delete
    I love WordPress. That said, when you use a free WordPress theme, other than one of the "annual" ones created specifically by the good folks at WordPress, you're at the mercy of the theme developer if something goes bonkers with the theme. I'm currently learning that lesson...
  • bloomingrose May 2, 2012 @ 3:02 pm | delete
    I like to use blogger for my free blogs and I have Wordpress on all my paid sites. Good SEO info, pinned to my board "Just for Squids and Internet Marketers."
  • wecomparebooks May 2, 2012 @ 3:16 pm | delete
    You are awesome!
    Thanks for the luv!
  • NickTheCarGuy Apr 19, 2012 @ 8:40 am | delete
    Nice insight
  • cffutah Jan 7, 2012 @ 8:52 am | delete
    I'm checking out your social bookmarking community to use other ways of bringing readers to me so thank you for the info.
  • sponias Dec 9, 2011 @ 1:10 am | delete
    I'm a blogger since 2008, but I lost my first blogs because they were in a free platform. Then, I created a Wordpress blog at my own domain name. It's really important to own your blog if you don't want to lose your work.
  • awakeningwellness Sep 11, 2011 @ 10:33 am | delete
    Thanks for all the info!
  • lykawinnett Jul 14, 2011 @ 1:27 am | delete
    Blogs are definitely a great tool for promoting online business. They give companies the ideal platform on which to promote offers and provide backlinks to the main site. They can also be a great way of having a good interaction between you and your readers / visitors / customers and let know their thoughts about your site or services.
  • Mickie_G Jan 19, 2011 @ 7:38 am | delete
    I agree with the other visitors to this page, good info! Stumbled it!
  • RocklawnArts Jan 7, 2011 @ 3:05 pm | delete
    Thanks for the info.
  • JackBandit Jan 6, 2011 @ 2:05 pm | delete
    SEO... a cruel, cruel mistress. But oh-so-much-fun! Thanks for the optimization tips, I'll need to take a few of these ideas over to my own blogs.
  • wecomparebooks Dec 22, 2010 @ 6:18 am | delete
    blogging has opened a new era of browsing & SEO. I love blogging. I think everyone should know about blogging. Okay..Nice post. thanks for sharing.
  • Dec 21, 2010 @ 7:23 pm | delete
    I love blogging - good info here that helps!
  • darciefrench Dec 15, 2010 @ 12:16 am | delete
    I don't have a blog. I've started a couple but never kept at them. I know I need to blog to bring things to the next level.. great tips here.
  • wecomparebooks Dec 15, 2010 @ 12:20 am | delete
    Yes, a blog is very he;pful and can do much for your reputation and your business (if youhave one)
  • livingfrontiers Dec 14, 2010 @ 6:15 pm | delete
    SEO is a great way to understand the internet, the more you learn, the more you know you do not know!
  • kitchen123 Nov 30, 2010 @ 6:17 pm | delete
    Thank you for sharing this awesome information. I will take your advice and optimize my blog
  • nyfurniture Nov 30, 2010 @ 6:29 pm | delete
    I agree with you. Thetips posted here are very useful!
  • Ty_Hyderally Nov 30, 2010 @ 6:06 pm | delete
    This is very useful info. I will use your suggestions on my employment law blog
  • kitchen123 Nov 28, 2010 @ 6:44 pm | delete
    good info.
    Thank you.
  • shorthillshomes Nov 28, 2010 @ 6:37 pm | delete
    This is great advice to promote my real estate blog
  • ofer Nov 28, 2010 @ 6:23 pm | delete
    Very useful info. Thank you for sharing
  • funplex Nov 28, 2010 @ 6:14 pm | delete
    Thank you for the advice!
    This lens is awesome!
  • Citibabes8 Nov 30, 2010 @ 6:40 pm | delete
    Totally!
    Great advice

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Wordpress Optimization videos

WP optimization

Here are a few videos that explain how to install, use and optimize your wordpress blog.
WordPress Lesson: Creating a WordPress Blog
by EducatorVids | video info

119 ratings | 65,755 views
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wecomparebooks

I'm a Squid Angel as of May 22, 2012! And I'm loving it!

My name is Eugene; I am an SEO specialist with NetLZ

My primary focus area is on web 2.0...
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