I've done okay with getting referrals from search engines, especially with my celeb blog, and because of this I've had a few emails asking how I've managed this.There's a heap of experts out there all telling the supposed secrets of SEO (search engine optimisation) but really it's quite simple. It must be because I haven't done anything special to get my referrals. This is how I see it. No doubt some will say it's all blatantly obvious, but life doesn't have to be 'difficult, 'clever' or that awful word 'evil' to be successful.
I feel there are really two main sets of keywords for a blog.
Set 1: There's one lot for the blog itself, relative to the overall subject matter or niche of the blog and
Set 2: Another set of keywords for each individual post.
With Set 1 it's all about the main theme of your blog e.g. with this blog words like, 'money' and 'money making' probably come to mind. It's these words though that are the hardest to get onto the front page of searches. The simple reason is that there is a lot of competition from the big boys and professional websites for a lot of the top blog niches.
With Set 2 it's a whole lot easier. Simply because you can pick on a subject to write about that is a little more obscure and with a reduced number of people after the same top spot.
I have spoken before about trends. To me though, as I've previously written, you don't want the established trends, the big names, things that are always in the news. You want subjects on the way up, that will become established in the future. Get in first or at the beginning and anticipate what will become news. In other words you don't want Paris Hilton you want another slapper just starting out.
Still with Set 2 in my opinion the keyword(s) should be:
(a) in the title of the post.
(b) in the first or second sentence. I suggest you also make the text bold for the first use of the keyword(s)
(c) again in the sixth or seventh sentence.
(d) in the 'alt' code of a photo or image whenever possible.
If it's a long post it's usually possible to throw the keywords in a couple more times but don't overdo it. It mustn't appear spammy and remember that posts should ultimately be for the reader and not the search engine.
Long tail keywords are also good because they get better quality visitors - and that's what we all want, isn't it? These are phrases of 3 or 4 words that someone might use in their search. Say your keyword is 'money', then 'how to make money' or 'money from blogs' would be something that could well be searched.
Actually I wouldn't use something like 'money' as a keyword as there is too much competition -and it's not something new or on the way up!
If we now go back to Set 1 of the keywords these are used exactly in the same way. There will be times when posts hone in on the main essence of the blog. I would also suggest that these are included in the meta tags within the blogs HTML.
And really that's it.
I guess to help things along I'd also recommend:
(i) including a few links within posts so they are seen by the search engines as being more informative and
(ii) doing the best you can to get good links into your blog.
It's possible to go much deeper into keywords and SEO but sometimes, as I've already indicated, it's best to keep things simple - KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid.
And that's definitely it!
Good luck,
Mike.
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