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As I write this, another day of networking and education is taking place in the City of Brotherly Love. Our Philadelphia Bloggy Boot Camp stop happens today and brings together Tiffany, Mama Kat, and many other of my most favorite people in the blogosphere.
If you’re like me and will be watching the #BloggyBootCamp hash tag from the sidelines today, we can still reap the rewards from the information being shared. Tara from Feels Like Home is giving two talks today, both focused on SEO, and has generously passed along her presentations to us.
Unraveling the mysteries of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be daunting, but it really doesn’t need to be. By following Tara’s step-by-step approach, you can learn how using SEO can boost your traffic, readership, influence, and income in blogland.
Tara’s first talk focuses on 10 ways to improve your blog’s SEO, including:
- Get Your Own Domain
- Research Key Words
- Use Smarter URLs
- Name Your Posts Correctly
- Rename Your Photos
- Use Keywords in Your Posts – But Don’t Overuse Them
- Use Headings
- Use Your Blog’s Meta Tags and Descriptions
- Use Your Post’s Keywords and Descriptions
- Keep Track of Your Stats
Today, we’ll focus on Tara’s first recommendation:
Get Your Own Domain
Translation: Own your space in the blogosphere!
Rather than being under the umbrella of a “blogspot” address and giving your good SEO to another company (like Blogger), strike out in the world and register your own domain name. A short, memorable domain name can make the difference between creating a successful web presence and getting lost in cyberspace.
An example of a not-so-searchable domain name: www.thesitsgirls.blogspot.com
An example of a SEO friendly domain name: www.thesitsgirls.com
There are millions of sites where you can register your own domain, such as GoDaddy, Dreamhost, and Bluehost. Use their search function to find a website name that hasn’t been registered yet and that is personal to you.
If it happens that you cannot get the domain name of your choice, then you have two options:
1) Tweak your idea! Try manipulating the URL by adding words such as “the” or “my” to the beginning of the website address. That’s what we did for SITS. Our web address is www.thesitsgirls.com, rather than simply www.sitsgirls.com.
2) Buy the domain name from the current owner: Check the “whois” information for the domain, and contact the person listed to see if they’re willing to sell it. You should know that they are likely to charge a higher fee than you would normally pay when buying a brand new domain name.
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It’s Sharefest Saturday here on SITS! Link to your favorite post you wrote this week and then go and visit the SITStah’s link ahead of you in roll call. Let’s see some of that comment support in action!
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Interested in becoming an official SITS Girl and being featured on our website? We’d love to showcase your blog! Read how to get involved here.
And, as always, when you see this button:
Be sure to support your fellow SITStah & leave a comment!
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It’s wonderful that you are getting thoughts from this piece of writing as well as from our dialogue made at
this time.
Great article.
this site is extremely helpful!
This is a great starter list of techniques, there are hundreds though.
The problem I see with blogging is that Companies face tremendous pressure to become producers of content on the internet. They must blog to be discoverable (on search engines and in social media), but many of them don’t really want this additional responsibility (plus needing to learn all the rules so it actually works).
There are other problems blogging creates:
http://www.customsoftwarebypreston.com/seo-rankings-blogging
i totally agree with these post, SEO blogs is very important for the site to increase the popularity and Google is very helpful for it really like this post.Infusionsoft Help
So I guess I have a question with this….I’ve done all of this and my blog has kinda plateaued. I don’t want to pay to move from wordpress.com to wordpress.org if I’m going to level off where I’m at because hello economy, BUT if the move would help grow my blog would this be the smarter thing to do?
Changing your domain *may* help, but there really is not definitive answer to improving your traffic. I think it is something that every blogger struggles with…at least we certainly do. As much as I would love to say, YES, you should make this change and you will be able to realize more traffic than you ever dreamed, I can’t. The switch might help. Then again it might not. What’s most important is that you are consistent with your content, SEO techniques, and connecting with your readers.
Good luck!
Great advice! I can get overwhelmed easily with all the things I should do to “improve” my blog, but have found by finding short lists like this one and slowly chipping away at it, makes it much more manageable and my blog looks a little better as the weeks go on. Still a long way to go, though!
Thanks
Amanda
Awww…I wish I was coming to this just to meet a bunch of you in person! Hope you have a great day!
I really need to get a handle on this whole SEO thing.
Thanks for sharing this. I’m now thinking of getting my own domain. I have a question though…
I am currently using blogspot and designed my own site. If I purchase a domain, can I still retain the design?
Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention, generates online conversations, and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. The message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it is coming from a trusted source, as opposed to the brand or company itself.
Great tips on the SEO.
My fav post is:
http://cuttingabove.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-is-in-your-closet-styling-with-3.html
That was my first journey into getting into fashion again..
TFL
Maggie
Hi there! I am a new follower! I have been blogging for over a year now and just came across your blog. I love it! I will definitely be bookmarking it! I would love to have you follow back if you can!
http://singlemama-reviewcorner.blogspot.com/
Jacqui
Love the tips! Keep them coming!
Thanks for all the great tips!
Where can I find more on the other 9 tips?
Thanks for this post. I’ve been blogging for about a month now and have so much to learn. Super grateful to have found you gals early on.
Great info and I am looking forward to reading the rest!!
Thanks for this great information. Recently I took a course and learned how to research for the best keywords. I never realized how much I was missing by not doing some to the things you mentioned above. Great stuff!
Loved this tutorial at BBC Philly!
I have a question. How/why should we rename our photos? Rename them to what? Something more likely to come up in a search engine search. Explain please! Thanks.
Fun and helpful!!! My last post is
Rededining Sexy Words of the Week
at http://www.pinkdivacafe.com
Off to visit Greeting Autumn at the Front Door:)
Thanks for all the helpful information.
Thank you so much! I can use all the advice you can give!!
Good morning. I am so looking forward to all of these tips. I’m happy to say that I have owning my own domail checked off. I see some other areas on the list that I can improve on so can’t wait to hear more.
I’m a new follower. Wish I had found you earlier 😉 Thanks for the tips.
http://www.lilyslaundryboutique.blogspot.com
I’m so bad at the SEO stuff, so I can’t wait to read the rest of the entries. I do have a godaddy domain for my etsy store and my blog (separate). but this post made me realize I never share them! Anytime I’m linking to my stuff, I use the main urls given by the sites
bad girl! So i will strive to do my best and remember to only link to my custom urls.
Thanks!
Oh you MUST do custom URLS! And link to your shop in your sidebar if you don’t already!
Really great tips. Thanks for sharing!!
My favorite post this week is about celebrating grandparents (a day late for National Grandparent’s Day).
http://thesoulmom.blogspot.com/2010/09/grandparents-day-celebrate-grandparents.html
Regarding SEO, I have been trying to get better. I do have my blog at blogspot BUT do have a custom url thesoulmom.com (note, I used “the” as well as soulmom.com was taken). I am afraid that if I switch over a lot of links will be broken as well as all of the links I have sent out over time.
Any advice on that???
I’m so glad that I read this. I have tried to improve my site’s SEO but I have not really noticed much of a difference in the number of readers visiting my site. I know that I have a ways to go in improving my blog but I think the first step may be to get my own domain name.
Can’t wait for the follow up post with more tips.
I love these! I’m going to try to implement them more.
Wonderful information! Hope everyone is having a great Monday 🙂
how can I see this entire post?
Hmmm…I am not sure what you mean, Brooke. Is the content somehow cut off for you?
Nice post I can learn from this community easily about Blog’s SEO. Dis all points are very important and useful..
Thanks For Sharing..
SEO services
Awesome post. So excited to see the detailed instructions to follow!
WAY excited about the Back2Blogging Challenge starting tomorrow 🙂
Hi everyone!
I’ve been blogging for a whole month now – YAY ME! 🙂 A fellow blogger sent me to this site and I think it will be very helpful. I have one question to start…. I use WordPress and they don’t allow the use of code (that’s what I understood anyway). Is there a way for me to include your SITS button on my blog without entering any code?
Thanks!
Ann
Never mind! After putzing around, I figured it out. There is hope for me yet! Looking forward to everything I can learn from this community!
On WordPress, you should be able to upload images to your Media page. From there, you can grab the HTML that is automatically generated and insert it into a widget in your sidebar. Kinda technical/kinda not.
Let us know if you need more help!
Hi Francesca,
Still haven’t been able to figure this one out. If I go to Media, all I can do is upload a pic. It’s driving me nuts LOL! I was able to put the SITS button on my page by going to Widgets, and then dragging a text box over to my sidebar but this doesn’t seem to work for the community widget.
Ann
I use WordPress and it’s fairly simple (if I can do it anyone can). Go to widgets, drag a ‘text’ bar over to the widgets you have created, to create a new ‘text’ widget. Then copy and paste the code that SITS gives you into there and save. Gillian