Starting a blog can be a very fun process. It’s creatively freeing since you can choose to write about just about any topic you desire. But getting readers can be a different story! If you want people to find your blog and see what you have to say, you have to take SEO into consideration. Here are three mistakes to avoid when blogging.
#1 Vague Titles
While it might be fun to come up with a catchy and maybe even humorous title for your next blog post, if you want readers to be able to find it in their favorite search engine and then actually be encouraged to click on it, you need a good, descriptive title. Save your catchy humor for the subtitle instead!
A good title tells them what it’s about or piques their interest in some way. It should include keywords to help it get ranked in relevant search result pages.
#2 No Keywords
While trying to stuff too many keywords into your content can quickly lead to something that is unreadable and enjoyable to write, keywords are a big part of ranking your blog post and they need to be taken into consideration.
Some keywords are going to naturally appear in your writing as you talk about a topic, but it’s ideal to do some basic keyword research when editing your blog posts and seeing where you can sneak in or perhaps swap out some phrases for some high performing keywords instead.
Doing so can make a huge difference when it comes to the post’s ranking in search engines and even your blog’s overall ranking, so don’t underestimate the power of preliminary research.
聽#3 No Author Bio
If you want to build a reputation, get credit when people quote you, and entice people to stick around so they can get to know you better, you absolutely have to include an author bio alongside each post. Your author bio should be linked to your social media profiles to help you build a link network to boost SEO. Your social media profiles should then link back to your blog, creating a backlink web that Google will follow!
Backlinks play a big part in getting you ranked, which is why you should include this author bio and above-mentioned links everywhere you can be found on the internet, whether guest posting or simply forum posting on another website.
I still have so much to learn. Thank you for such valued information.
Stick with it, Trish – you will keep learning!
Guilty as charged! I often try to devise a cutesy title- which, at least according to my staff- leaves them baffled as to subject matter (until they read it). Yet, they admit, the title d-r-a-g-s them to read it anyway.
So, as far as I am concerned, when it comes to titles- SEO be damned…
But, keywords? NEVER would I omit that choice.
Thanks for the great advice.
A blog post title is like a headline – it is designed to get people to read more. And while a cutesy title may not be best for SEO, if it captures the attention of the reader, that is just as good!
Working on that keyword thing, best places to find keywords in your niche?
Check out this article, Pamela, for some helpful info – How to Choose Keywords for Your Website.
Good article. Point 3 author bio was new to me. I’ll have to implement that then. Thank you for sharing!
Sure thing – you are welcome, Solveig.
One of the most useful tools I’ve found for creating titles and headlines is Co-Schedule’s headline analyzer. I must admit, though, that it’s very easy to get lazy and just plug in a title and call it good… 馃槈
Yes it is! Thanks for the reminder, Lori.
I have one big problem with SEO, it ruins my love for writing. Instead of finding joyful creativity with the process and go with the flow I get dulled down by having to think about if Google will like it… :-/
Writing good content is still paramount! Your content should be great first and do what the search engines want, second.
I hate SEO! It takes me forever to figure out a word (one not used before) and write the short descriptive phrase people see when it’s posted. I would love to take a course on it. It’s probably much easier than I am making it. I try to correct all the problems it tells me there is. As for titles, I tend to have those vague esoteric titles (Yesterday’s initial title was … get this .., “Let’s Goggle Takes the Spotlight!” which is ridiculous. I did change it. People will get it if they read my post (I think) but how many wouldn’t have if they had only read that? Yikes!! I definitely have to sharpen up my titles!
Thanks so much!
Amy
Quick tip #1, Amy… Your “Short Descriptive Phrase” should longer! LOL – THis is known as a Long Keyword Phrase. You will have a much better chance of ranking (and getting traffic) when your phrase is longer. Here is some info you might find helpful – How to Choose Keywords for Your Website.
As usual, you shared some great tips!
Thanks, Martha.
Good advice, Paul. Lots of groundwork !
Thanks, Kendall.
Great tips, its always the basic stuff that you can fall over on. Another SEO mistake I see all the time is not having meta titles and descriptions for all pages, another pain is when clients discover link building and spam their own site thinking they’re “helping”
All I can say is Amen! 馃檪