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samedi 12 novembre 2016

Blogger Tutorial (2/6): Setup Your First Blogspot Blog

alt="Blogger Tutorial (2/6): Setup Your First Blogspot Blog" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/default-image-500x308_c.jpg" />

id="floatleft">href="https://www.blogger.com/signup.g">src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0824-1.jpg" alt="Blogger Signup" border="0" />

So you’ve decided to pursue further, GREAT! In the href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/blog-hosting/blogger-tutorial-16-introduction-getting-started/">last article, we touched a little on Blogger introduction and also its history. Some pros and cons on using Blogger were also deliberately discussed. Today, we’re gonna register for a Blogger account! I hope you’re as excited as I am.

Just click this button to start registering for an account

The whole registration process is really simple and can be divided into three sections namely:

Create Account
Name Blog
Choose Template

Step 1: Create A Google Account

In [Create Account], instead of creating an account solely for Blogger, you will be registering for a Google Account. This grand account enables you to access many Google services like Google Calender, Googler Reader, and many more. Please understand that this is not an option. You can’t just use your own e-mail account (hotmail, yahoo, etc) as the main user identification for your blog. So, if you already have a Google Account, e.g. Gmail, then great! You could log in to your account first before returning again to the Blogger registration page.

Step 2: Naming Your Blog

[Name Blog] is a very important step of the registration process so pay a little more attention here:

id="right">src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0921-1.jpg" alt="Blog registration at Blogspot" border="0" />

Blog Title

“Blog title”, like the name implies, is the title of your blog. This title will appear at the top of your reader’s web browser whenever he/she visits your blog. You may put anything relevant here and it is not constrained to limited characters so it is okay to put “My Little Diary”, “Daily Rants”, etc here.

Blog Address

id="right">src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0921-2.jpg" alt="Example of a blog title at Blogspot" border="0" />

“Blog address (URL)” is your actual address in cyberspace so you better get this right, haha! My suggestion is to be creative on this one. Something simple and easy for your readers to remember so that they could frequent your blog again. Besides having the constraint that your blog will be hosted at subdomains of blogspot.com, your URL must also only contain alphanumerical characters and the only allowable special character is hyphen (also known as dash, -). The “Check Availability” is a function for you to check whether your desired URL has already been taken up or not.

Step 3: Choose Your Blog Template

In [Choose Template], you will be given a few choices of dull standard blog templates to choose from. These are actually very basic layouts but should be adequate to cover your needs. Please choose one that you feel best represents how you want your blog to be presented. Blogger reminds us that, “you can easily change the template later, or even create your own custom template design once your blog is set up.” For me, I’ll choose “Minima” because the design looks nice and clean.

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0921-3.jpg" alt="Blog Created!" />

Congratulations! Once you click the “Start Blogging” arrow, you will be brought to a new page where you could write your first post.

But instead of starting to write straight away, let’s explore some of the Settings and Layout that are available to us to be customized.

Blog Configuration: Settings, Archive, & Page Elements

We’ll go to the Settings first. “Settings” is a place where you could customize how your blog shall “behave”. Let me show you some of the more important settings in “Settings”, haha.

id="floatright">src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0921-4.jpg" alt="Blog Configuration" border="0" />

Settings – Publising

Here, you could totally change your blog’s URL if you think the current one is not suitable anymore. Again, it’s subject to availability of course.

Settings – Formatting

This is a setting to determine how many blog posts will be displayed on the main page of your blog. If your blog posts are usually long and full of pictures, it may be a wise choice to put a smaller number for this one so that your reader wouldn’t take forever to load your blog.

Settings – Comments

Comments are the feedbacks your readers leave you at the end of your blog post. Here, you could choose who are able to leave comments at your blog, where the comment form should be placed, and so on. I want to touch a little on “Comment moderation”:

Sometimes, you don’t really want comments to be shown on your blog without you first authorizing it. This is called “comment moderation”.

If you set this to “Always” and you include an e-mail address, every time a reader leaves a comment, it will not be automatically shown on your blog but will arrive at your e-mail first. You then decide to approve or reject the comment.

id="right">src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0921-5.jpg" alt="Blog Archive" border="0" />

Blog Archive

Archiving is a systematically procedure for storing your blog posts. You can archive daily, weekly, or monthly.

Figure on the right is the example of an archive.

We will now proceed to “Layout”. Layout, as the name implies, is a place where you could adjust the look and feel of your blog.

Furthermore, with Blogger’s superb features, you could even customize it by just clicking and dragging. (Now that’s user-friendly!)

Page Elements and Gadgets

The most important thing I want to show you here is adding a Gadget. A gadget is a small tool that is programmed to do a specific task. With the default layout chosen, Blogger has already thrown in “Followers”, “Blog Archive”, and “About Me”.

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0921-6.jpg" alt="Blog Elements" />

How to add/remove gadgets

Try clicking and dragging them to re-arrange the positions of these gadgets. Now, click “Add a Gadget” to see what goodies we could pack into your nice little blog.

id="floatright">src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0921-7.jpg" alt="Blog Elements" />

A Blog List is a list of your favourite blogs together with the links to them. Let’s add this one. Let’s see, my favourite blogs include: Xiaxue, Kennysia, and many more. Add add add!

And as you can see on the right, that’s my completed blog list.

Example: Facebook Badge

There are so many possibilities here and so many cool things to play with. You can now even add, what is referred to as “Facebook Badge” here so that your Facebook status update could also be shown on your blog!

Anytime if you would like to change your blog’s template, just go to Layout – Pick New Template to do so, simple as that.

Please feel free to play around and click “Preview” to see how the changes will really look like to you and your readers. “Clear Edits” is your Undo button and “Save” to save your changes. Good luck!

P/S: In the next session, we’ll be writing our first ever Blogger post! Please stay tuned as tips on writing a clean post, attaching a photo, embedding a video, tagging/categorizing posts and more will be shared.

About the author
id="floatright">class="alignright" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0824-5.jpg" alt="Blogger Signup" width="100" height="97" />

E-quan graduated from Technological University of Malaysia as an Electrical and Electronics Engineer.

He is now attached with an MNC specializing in power and automation technologies. In his blog (confirmcekap.blogspot.com), he describes himself as a full-time procrastinator although in reality, he is “not”. He likes 80’s music especially Cantonese pop songs. He plays the Electone and wishes to own a grand piano (amongst the many things he would like to own) soon.

Page 30 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

Blogger Tutorial (3/6): Writing Your First Post

alt="Blogger Tutorial (3/6): Writing Your First Post" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/default-image-500x308_c.jpg" />

Hi again, how have you guys been? Remember in our href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/blog-hosting/blogger-tutorial-26-setup-your-first-blogspot-blog/">last tutorial (Setup Your First Blogspot Blog) we created our Blogger account and also configured it to our liking? Today, we’re writting our first post! I hope you’re as excited as I am. I still remember writing my href="http://confirmcekap.blogspot.com/2005/11/meaning.html">first post on my birthday year 2005 describing what my blog is all about. It’s really great fun having your own place in cyberspace and writing down part of your memory and sharing your joy/sorrow with others. And now, we are going to do just that!

The writing interface on Blogger.com

This is your writing window and you might want to get a bit familiar with the interface:

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/1002-1.jpg" alt="Writing window at Blogger.com" />

Some key functions on the writing panel:

The Undo/Redo button
Strikethrough, YEAH! So you could write something like this: “Although I’m a ~~rocket scientist~~ smart, I tend to be humble.”
The highlight button, example “That freaking T-shirt costs style="background-color: yellow;">0?!? NO WAY!”
Hyperlinking. This is really useful to lead you readers to another site by clicking some text. For e.g., please click href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/">here. (Ooppss, I mean the word “here” is demonstrating a hyperlink, not an example on how to hyperlink is available there, haha!
Insert Image button. We’ll talk more about this.)
Preview gives you a snapshot on how your post will look like when published. It is always advisable to preview your post before really hitting the “Publish” button.
Labels functionality. For your posts, you are able to tag them into categories of your wish, e.g. Food&Travel, Work, Rants, etc. If your reader clicks on Food&Travel, all posts with the associated label will be sorted out and presented to him/her. How convenient!

What to write in your first blog post?

Now, you may wonder, “How should I write my first post?” The answer, unfortunately, varies. For me, my first post was about what my blog title meant. As a general guidance, you might want to consider these three points when writing your first post:

Who are you?
An introduction of you as the owner of the blog, maybe some particulars on your occupation, location, and interests.

Why are you blogging?
This is quite important to your readers but it is more important to yourself, really. Knowing why you want to blog is a great motivation to keep on doing so and you may find yourself writing more quality posts.

What will you be blogging about?
By having a general idea on what you will be writing in the next posts/future and relating them in your first post, it will get your readers coming back for more as you write.

I must admit that the above is a more conventional way of starting your blogging journey. It should work for most bloggers but there are also available tips on the net on writing your first post, creatively/differently. Have a look!

href="http://www.copyblogger.com/5-simple-ways-to-open-your-blog-post-with-a-bang/">5 Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post with a Bang
href="http://www.mintblogger.com/2008/02/how-to-write-good-blog-post.html">How to Write Good Blog Post
href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com/writing-effective-blog-posts/">Writing Effective Blog Posts

Getting into action

Haha, I think I’m dragging too much on the introduction. We will really write our first post now.

To set an example, I have already created a new blog “E-quan Travels”. The idea of this blog is to share with my readers the places I’ve been to and the memories along the journey. Let’s see if you could get some idea on how to write your first post by seeing how I write mine.

First, a snapshot on my Page Elements:

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/1002-2.jpg" alt="Page Elements" />

Writing the text

On the bottom you could see the words “Draft saved at..”. Blogger automatically saves your work periodically so that you wouldn’t lose it just in case unfortunate event happens, say href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Screen_of_Death">BSOD?

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/1002-3.jpg" alt="Writing a post at Blogger.com" />

Attaching a picture

First, you’ll have to click the “Insert Image” button. You will then see the images below:

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/1002-4.jpg" alt="How to insert image" />

Click “Choose File” and choose the picture you would like to attach

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/1002-5.jpg" alt="How to insert image to your blog?" />

After successful uploading, you will see a thumbnail of the picture. You may click “Choose File” to add more pictures or “OK” once you’re done

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/1002-6.jpg" alt="Image option" />

You will also be given options on the size of the picture and where to position it. Cool!

id="floatright">src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/1002-7.jpg" alt="Inserting video into your blogpost" />

Embedding a video

Don’t we just love YouTube? Now, you can share the videos you like without needing to ask your readers to go to a particular youtube page. You can straight embed the video in your post! When you view a youtube video, you might have noticed the “Embed” column.

The “embed” part is all you need. Let’s copy that code down with Ctrl+C.

Remember that when we are writing our post, we are in the “Compose” mode. But when we need to embed a video in our post, we will have to go to the “Edit HTML” mode. From the “Compose” mode, put your cursor at the location where you would want your video to appear, then switch to “Edit HTML” mode.

class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/1002-8.jpg" alt="YouTube code in your blogpost" />

Paste the code you copied just now there with Ctrl+V. TADA! Not hard, eh?

Finishing touch: Hit the publish button!

I think that’ll be all for my first post. Customarily, I will go to the “Preview” mode to proofread my work. It’s also easier to spot any mistakes or errors in your post by having this “bird-eye” view on your post. Yeap, I think I’m quite satisfied with this post. Just before hitting the “Publish” button, I’ll label my post. Erm, perhaps I’ll categorize this as “myblog”. Next, when I blog about travels to other countries, I might have labels like “Europe”, “Asia”, “Middle-East”, and so on.

Have a look at my work here href="http://equantravels.blogspot.com/">Equan Travels!

It’s simply remarkable how Blogger has made blogging so easy and hassle-free. Just some minor tweaking and you’ll have a clean and organized blog. In the next tutorial, we’ll be exploring some must-have tools for a blogger like storage space for your photos/videos, chat-box, and many more. So stay tuned!

About the author
id="floatright">class="alignright" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0824-5.jpg" alt="Blogger Signup" width="100" height="97" />

E-quan graduated from Technological University of Malaysia as an Electrical and Electronics Engineer.

He is now attached with an MNC specializing in power and automation technologies. In his blog (href="http://confirmcekap.blogspot.com">Confirm Cekap), he describes himself as a full-time procrastinator although in reality, he is “not”. He likes 80’s music especially Cantonese pop songs. He plays the Electone and wishes to own a grand piano (amongst the many things he would like to own) soon.

Page 30 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

9 Strategies to Get Your First 1000 Page Views

alt="9 Strategies to Get Your First 1000 Page Views" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/format-500x166_c.jpg" />

title="Starting a blog" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/how-to-start-a-blog/">Starting a blog over 10 years ago had its advantages: there wasn’t much competition, and if you could find the right niche, you could land a sweet spot that would last. The way to build readership was easy – simply comment on other blogs. Since there weren’t as many, it was an easy way to gather followers.

Nowadays, the sailing isn’t as smooth. There are over 4 million mom blogs in the U.S. alone. Today’s bloggers have to be savvy and competent. The good news is that if you make your first 1,000 monthly page views, you’re way ahead of the pack. Here are list of resources that will help you take your blog from Day 1 to 1000 page views.

1. Share, share, share!

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-8571" alt="social media share" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/social-media-share.jpg" width="750" height="250" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/social-media-share.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/social-media-share-300x100.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

“Shared and done” is no longer the name of the game.

You must continually share your posts, over and over. If you are invited to join a group Pinterest board that matches your niche, sign up and share and comment frequently. If you join a list of like-minded bloggers, odds are they will share each other’s content on a regular basis – weekly or daily. This will really help grow your readership and engagement. That said, pay attention to your social media stats. Don’t waste time where your efforts are not paying off. Instead, invest them where you see engagement.

For an excellent checklist on how to share daily, download “href="http://www.thesitsgirls.com/blogging/how-to-grow-your-blog-business/">Growing Your Blog as a Business” on the SITS Girls website.

2. Research!

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-8574" alt="research" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/research.jpg" width="750" height="250" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/research.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/research-300x100.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

You need to know the latest trends and tips for social media engagement, SEO, domain authority and page ranking. For example, it’s been getting more difficult to get proper engagement on Facebook fan pages but this social media outlet is not dead – yet. And if you want to participate in campaigns, you need to be active in this area. “href="http://www.spajonas.com/2014/01/16/increasing-facebook-page-engagements-the-one-two-punch/">Increasing Facebook Page Engagements – The One-Two Punch” by writer and web developer S.J. Pajonas, explains how you can make Facebook work for you while safeguarding your page against future algorithm changes. In addition, every social media outlet has tools to track engagement, and you should be using Google Analytics to gage how your blog is reaching growing. It’s not only important to understand these, but check out the latest trends.

For example, while Google’s Page Rank is not dead, Domain Authority, by MOZ.com, is becoming a fast-growing replacement. href="http://moz.com/learn/seo/domain-authority">Learn more about Domain Authority at Moz.com.

3. Set up content in a way that’s easy to read.

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-8575" alt="format" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/format.jpg" width="750" height="250" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/format.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/format-300x100.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

I get really frustrated when I find a blog with a title I’m completely excited about only to find 1000 words, with few paragraphs, no headings or bullets and tiny fonts. This will drives readers away. In addition, don’t burden people with turns of click-throughs, link directly to your article. While popular for magazine articles, but can waste a reader’s time. Know your readers’ time constraints and what drives them stay on your site.

Set up your content in a way that addresses that: chunks of digestible info separated by images, bullets and headings.

4. Don’t forget about design.

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-8573" alt="format and web design" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/forma.jpg" width="750" height="250" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/forma.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/forma-300x100.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

This goes hand in hand with the last bullet. Design is not the most important element but it’s important to tailor it so that the audience can read your content easily, find great stuff or income links quickly and share your content easily. You also want your site to be mobile-friendly so I recommend looking for responsive themes. Keep your site clean, legible and accessible. That means making sure your load times are fast too. href="http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/">Google’s Page Speed tool can help you fix errors. href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/choose-the-right-web-hosting/">If your host is slowing you down, it’s time for a change.

In addition, new visitors should instantly understand what your site’s theme and quickly find the most interesting content and how to subscribe. Make sure that you have both email and RSS feeds, as well as services like BlogLovin’. Put links to all your social media in a prominent position to make it a no brainer for readers to follow you.

5. Offer your readers something of value.

I’m starting up a new program to share with my readers regular coupons and other resources that speak to their lifestyle: discounts on gluten-free, organic and nontoxic foods and products. Since I already hunt for these deals for myself, this is a no-brainer for my community. I’m also working on an ebook to coordinate all my resources and get them together to share with my readers, just as a bonus for reading my site. And I do regular giveaways in my niche.

Go above and beyond to help your niche save money and time, or provide them data in a usable format.

6. Don’t just join a community; truly connect.

This may mean that you’ll need to be invited to private Facebook or other groups or invitation-only events. The key is not just to consistently seek out your tribe but to also reward other members in it and connect with them. Help out at Twitter parties. Share articles in your newsletters. Round up and reward blogs that you love by featuring one every week or month. Ask how you can help someone out with a guest post or by offering guest post spots. Sell their products, use their affiliates links, promote their links on your social media while tagging them. As opportunities to recruit bloggers come up, these bloggers will remember your help and invite you to participate.

style="line-height: 1.5em;">7. Don’t worry so much about comments.

I write a blog about parenting kids with special needs. While my numbers are good and I have a steady, sizable audience, I have very few comments, except from my comment groups. That’s because the parents who read my site just don’t have the time to engage. They need the bite-sized helpful content, and then they’re moving on. In fact, on my blog, those who want to reach out are more likely to email me personally and keep their information confident. In addition, less people are actually commenting on sites in general because they are more likely to share on social media. Are blog comments completely dead? I don’t think, but they are appearing less frequently (other than spam). You need to keep comments active, though, if you are applying for blog campaigns, because you’re more likely to get chosen if you have active comments. That is why joining a group that focuses on supporting each other’s comments is critical.

8. Don’t forget search engine optimization.

I recently heard that SEO might be dead – don’t believe it!

It has changed, though, and writing quality content with your keywords and integrating them your social media marketing is a must. In “href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230937">5 SEO Trends Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know for 2014,” Entrepreneur.com contributor Jayson DeMers answers the question, “Is SEO dead?” with some very concrete tips on making your site search engine successful in this day and age.

9. A little controversy goes a long way.

A blogger on one of my networks this morning more than tripled her regular page views in one night by writing about a very hot topic that’s in the press nowadays. Now, it’s ok if controversy is not your thing. Personally, I don’t care for this for my own blog, it’s just not my style. However, if you write something that embraces one side of a controversial issue that is in the news you will draw comments – and possibly flamers! It’s one of the quicker ways to go viral, so consider it.

Bottom line

style="text-align: center;">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6572 border" alt="You can do it!" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/doers.jpg" width="750" height="300" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/doers.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/doers-300x120.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

If you are new blogger, you have your work cut out for you! Social media engagement, live events attendance, comment/share groups membership, search engine optimization: there’s just no excuse to leave anything out anymore. Blogging is no longer a quick hobby, it’s an ongoing endeavor. If this sounds overwhelming to you, get in the game by blogging once a week or a few times a month. Work really hard on those posts, and then do the next thing: Tweet, pin, Facebook, instagram, G+. In 2014, you can’t afford to be stagnant.

Images credit: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/discount-freebies/free-icons/leaf-flat-social-media-icons-set/">WHSR Leaf Icon Set

Page 15 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

SEO 101 for First Time Bloggers

alt="SEO 101 for First Time Bloggers" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/competition-500x300_tr.jpg" />

Launching a blog is exciting – but more exciting is seeing people actually reading and responding to your content. To make that happen, however, people need to actually find your content – and, like it or not, SEO is a big part of that.

SEO – short for Search Engine Optimization – done right is like today’s equivalent of a premium Yellow Pages listing… but without an actual assigned cost. There are tons of rules and best practices, all of which aim to enhance content that you generate which in turn boosts your search engine rankings – or in simple terms, helps your content and site to show higher in the search results. The higher your ranking, but better the likelihood of someone visiting your site – especially since approximately 75% of internet users never browse past page one of the search results.

How search engines work in a nutshell

Basically, a search engine is just another type of computer software (more or less) that works to index web pages into a database based on a quick scan of each page’s content. Think of it like speed reading for a specific topic – you quickly scan material after material, looking for specific words to jump out at you. This is like a search engine – only a search engine does digital speed reading… and, of course, is constantly evolving in its abilities.

However, search engines don’t just do it all on their own; they bring in their buddies to help, sending spiders out to crawl the web. Those spiders then consolidate their findings and present it to the search engine to rank and summarize your site, pages, and information – alongside all of the other applicable or relevant sites.

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-10261" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/how-seo-works.jpg" alt="how seo works" width="750" height="411" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/how-seo-works.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/how-seo-works-300x164.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

Search engines work off of href="http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change" target="_blank">complex algorithms that are constantly changing – this is why the rules of SEO also constantly change; to keep up. There isn’t necessarily a “how-to” manual that always fits the SEO bill, but there are some rules that have stayed consistent among the change, as well as new rules and tips that have emerged alongside the new algorithm.

SEO is about staying up to date and employing best practices to stay ahead of the competition.

What does this mean to bloggers?

For starters, let’s acknowledge that search engines such as Google (who currently own href="https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2014/4/comScore-Releases-March-2014-U.S.-Search-Engine-Rankings" target="_blank">67.5% of search market according to recent comScore analysis) are incredibly important in our business since it brings visitors to our blogs. Bolstering Google’s importance is tons of research, including a 2006 Forrester Research study that found that 93 percent of all Internet traffic results from search engines. But – of that 93 percent, only about 75 percent will ever scroll past page one – which means that landing your content and your blog on the first page of the search results is imperative to your success.

This is where SEO comes in.

SEO Explained

So we have the what and the why – let’s talk about the how.

Search engines handle unfathomable amounts of data – and while they’re good at digesting the data on their own, SEO ensures that they properly assess your content and index it accordingly. But beyond helping search engines to simply assess what it is that you do, SEO also helps the search engines to assess the quality of your content and your overall relevance to the topic. By using SEO techniques, you are able to essentially give the search engine the cliff notes to your site, highlighting the important pieces of information which in turns secures you a better spot in that search engine’s results listing.

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There are hundreds of pieces to search engine algorithm – and, of course, search engines such as Google don’t provide a manual; that would only help people to plug the internet with nonsense and misguided practices. That said, SEO specialists are constantly working to decode the system and find practices that do work to enhance contents’ search listing ranking. Some are more complex than others and some have been around for some time, while others are newer to the rule book. Regardless, all are evolving.

Basic Search Engine Optimizations

SEO is more than just a science subject. Mark Jackson, CEO of Vizion Interactive, href="http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2129924/SEO-is-Both-Science-and-Art">once wrote:

style="color: #444444;">Getting creative with SEO is thinking of how a marketing program can encompass social, graphic design, link building, content generation, and PR to drive toward a common goal. Getting creative with SEO is also about reworking a website’s design/code so that usability and accessibility improve, while maintaining brand guidelines and keeping with “look and feel” requirements, yet improving SEO.
style="color: #444444;">Every day, we must get creative in determining how to best target keywords by determining which method of content generation gives us the best chance at gaining a presence in the search engines and – most importantly – engaging our audience.

That said, however, we have few basic guidelines along the way.

Page Titles

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Every page has a title and the search engine spiders give weight to them in your “summary.” Use appropriate and relevant keywords in your page titles – doing so, provided that the title is relevant to the content on the actual page, is an SEO plus.

Keywords

Keywords are an original SEO tactic that remain important today, but not with quite the same priority as given in previous algorithms. That said, they’re still an important part of an overall SEO strategy. Keywords – or key phrases – are a single word or combination of words relevant to your content subject. For example, if you are writing about training puppies, “training puppies” might be an important keyword for your blog. As a best practice, incorporate that keyword at a minimum into the post title and content. Be careful not to oversaturate your piece, however – not only is it annoying to readers; it’s also a demerit with the search engines.

Links

Search engines are consistently placing added weight on referring links from credible websites (as it pertains to determining search ranking). The important word being credible.

Consider guest posting on another blog or site, including a referring link back to your own site. Posting relevant tips or information on community forums or social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, are also ways to direct traffic to your blog from legitimate, credible sites. Know that directional links as a tactic is about quality, not quantity – so getting 50 referring links from redirect pages or small sites with very little traffic or history is not going to do you any good. However, sporadic links from credible websites that are part of a post that provides relevant, valuable information, will positively affect your ranking.

Anchor Text

The search engine spiders also take into consideration the links on your actual pages to determine relevancy and applicability to the search term. Again consider keywords* and use them to your advantage. For example, linking the text “click here” is okay, but not going to help you in the SEO arena. Instead, consider linking contextual text, such as “Learn to train puppies” that provides not only a keyword, but context to the topic at hand.

* Note: In the same time, do not overuse the same keywords or keyphrases in your anchor text to avoid search engine penalties.

Content Freshness

Another important piece of the SEO puzzle is the freshness of your blog content. Posting (and updating your existing content) consistently helps your blog to be recognized as a more valuable, reputable resource. In contrast, sites with large gaps in activity and posts are often deemed less valuable – and likely have less traffic and repeat visitors to prove it.

Be consistent, be useful, and be engaging.

Analytics

There are plenty of free analytics programs out there, but Google Analytics is among the most popular. Install it on your site for valuable insight into your traffic and visitors – and also for information that can improve your search rankings. One of the tools within the analytics package shows what people who come to your site through search engines were searching for – and what led them to your site. Repeat terms can be excellent keyword ideas. You will also gain information about referring sites which may provide ideas on where to guest post or on forums and sites with which you could engage and capitalize on an already interested and relevant audience.

Moving on

id="attachment_10263" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">class="size-full wp-image-10263" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/what-now.jpg" alt="This is just a start." width="750" height="480" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/what-now.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/what-now-300x192.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />class="wp-caption-text">This is just a start – and I am merely scratching on the surface.

Reading the basics is just the beginning. You will need to learn and do a lot more – everything from link building to content development, on-site optimization, and more – in order to success with SEO. Moving on, here’s a list of recommended readings, forums, and blogs to delve in and follow. Have fun!

Readings for Beginners

href="http://moz.com/learn/seo" target="_blank">MOZ’s SEO Basics – A very comprehensive SEO guide for the newbies.
href="http://www.viperchill.com/wordpress-seo/" target="_blank">Viper Chill WordPress SEO guide – A must read for WordPress beginners.

Blogs and Sites to Follow

href="http://www.seobythesea.com/" target="_blank">SEO By The Sea – Studies on search engine patterns and other super-awesome tips.
href="http://searchenginewatch.com/seo" target="_blank">SEO Articles on Search Engine Watch – Industry news, updates, and latest studies.
href="http://searchengineland.com/" target="_blank">Search Engine Land – The oldest search engine blogs/news site.
href="http://www.portent.com/blog/" target="_blank">Portent Blog – SEO and Internet marketing in general.
href="http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/" target="_blank">Blind Five Year Old – Internet marketing blog by AJ Kohn.

Forums

href="http://www.webmasterworld.com/category30.htm" target="_blank">Webmaster World / Google Section – This is where I spent most of my time during my early days.
href="http://www.blackhatworld.com/" target="_blank">Black Hat World – Largest forums where hardcore/black hat SEOs hang out.

Share Your SEO Tips

Have a must-know tip for SEO? Please share it below – with the ever-changing rules of SEO, we’re all in this together.

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