Blogging Tips and Resources For Improved Google Rank

Below is a no-nonsense list of crucial tips and resources to help you drive traffic to your site. I also am including information on how to manipulate the content for improved rank at Google.

Blog Topic Resources

1. Google Trends – Use Top Charts and consider receiving emails with “Subscriptions”
2. Topsy.com – this is a blog / twitter topic finder.
3. Hashtagify.me
4. Buzzsumo.com
5. Quora.com
6. Reddit.com

Blogging Tips for SEO Rank

Apply the following to your content to gain better rank with Google:

1. No less than 300 words.
2. A photo of yourself should be posted within the article.  This reinforces the personal approach.
3. Do not exceed more than two posts a week.
4. Repeat your keywords a few times in content body. Use them naturally.
5. External links (off site) are also good. Linking to smaller sites at first is the best strategy
6. Limit your paragraphs to five to seven sentences.
7. Use your keyword within the first 100 words in your post.
8. Place your call to action, re: “Call us” or “Sign Up,” in the middle of your content area.  It’s a better placement.
9. Use at least one relevant image. Impactful images are best. Make sure they are compressed so they load fast.
10. Create an expectation with paragraph one.
11. Bold, italicize, and underline your keywords or phrases containing your keywords.
12. Use actionable phrases. Sell Google+ when possible.
13. Kill all post spam in your comment area.
14. Never post on the day you wrote it.  You will find errors on day two.
15. Read your posts aloud before going live.  This will help you find errors.
16. Respond to those who have commented on your post.
17. Main headers and sub headers:
    • Reduce header length. Say it with less.
    • Start with a number in your page title / page name. For example “10 Best…” or  “5 Fastest…”
    • Include keywords in the beginning of your page titles / headers.

Activities To Avoid

1. Copying content from any other website.
2. Creating an epic header and not meeting the expectation.
3. Over-stuffing your posts with keywords, placing them unnaturally.
4. Degrading value by posting at an unnatural frequency.
5. Uploading large photos (greater than 50K) to the post.  Load time must be fast.
6. Being negative.
7. Neglecting to give credit to those who have supplied content or photos. Link back to their site.
8. Poor spelling and bad grammar.

Optimize Your Content For The Google Spiders

1. Make sure page metas, XML site maps, and Headers all are sharpened for Google.
2. Image names and alt tag must reflect keywords.
3. Keywords may need to be adjusted because the words are too narrow.
4. Change all internal links to absolute. Let the copycats send you traffic.
5. Use the Yoast SEO plugin.  Its fantastic!  If you doubt my recommendation, take note of the total amount of downloads on this page.

The Post is Finished. Now What?

1. Post the new blog link to your business Facebook page.  FYI: The Yoast SEO plugin will allow you to change the image and message that Facebook uses to create the post.  Check the “Social” tab.
2. Blog summary to Google+.
3. Submit the blog to Stumbleupon.com.

Keep Your Expectations In Check

1. Success does not happen right away.  It will take a while (usually months) for traffic to build.
2. The valuable content always wins.
3. 5% of your content creates 90% of your traffic.  This is true for most posters.
4. Do not give up.  People are interested in your content.

I hope these blogging tips help you. Come back again.  I’m sure there will be more info soon.