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But, you can write an article that’s properly formatted, has a great title and amazing information and if you don’t use keywords, include tags, SHARE and Promote that article, you won’t get optimized traffic to your site. This can’t be stressed enough.
I did an analysis of two of my sites. Both are focused on writing and marketing. My individual site, Karen Cioffi Writing and Marketing (KCWM) usually has three posts per week. The Writers on the Move (WOTM) site usually has at least one article per day – a few days there are two articles per day.
Take note though that when getting website statistics, numbers will vary significantly depending on the source of the information. Blogger’s Stats tool was used for this analysis.
According to the Blogger Stats, which site do you think gets more traffic?
Since the marketing philosophy is’ content is king,’ you’d think the WOTM site would get tons more traffic, because it provides quality information on a daily basis.
Well, if that’s the site you chose, you’d be wrong.The KCWM site gets double the traffic WOTM does.
Another interesting tidbit is that the majority of traffic from both sites comes from:
Google searches
Yahoo searches and yahoo mail
StumbleUpon
Google is by far the leader of the traffic sources with Twitter holding up the rear.
So, the question to ask is WHY does the KCWM site get so much more traffic than the WOTM site?
The answer has to be keywords, anchor text,tags, and promotion.
Keywords
If you notice above, the leader of the traffic sources is Google searches, which is driven by keywords. And, according to recent statistics from PCMag.com, there are 694,445 Google searches every 60 seconds. (1)
Every post on my site is keyword focused. What this means is that I do a keyword search before posting the article. I start with a focused word, say “blog posts.” If the article focus words don’t pull their search weight, I change them to more effective keywords.
And, your keywords should be in your title, subtitle (if you have one), and within the content of your article. Be sure to add the keyword in the first paragraph and last paragraph, and here and there throughout. Just be careful not to overdo it.
Anchor Text
Another interesting fact in regard to the statistics’ referring sites is that the KCWM site itself is listed as a source. This is accomplished by creating anchor text within the post content and/or at the bottom of the post as “Additional Reading” or other worded lead-in.The anchor text (article titles) under this section leads the reader to another page/post within your site.
According to Wikipedia, “anchor text is weighted (ranked) highly in the search engine algorithms, because the linked text is usually relevant to the landing page.”
Is there a difference between an anchor text leading to another post and simply putting the url itself? YES.
Anchor text allows search engines to easily find and index your content and they value this strategy; the url address doesn’t have the same ‘word power.’ Wikipedia says, “The objective of search engines is to provide highly relevant search results; this is where anchor text helps.” It’s all part of SEO.
Tags
Next on my ‘to do’ list when posting an article on my site is to put relevant tags.
In the article “Using Categories and Tags Effectively on Your Blog” on
ProBlogger.net, it explains that tags should be thought of “as the colorful little page markers you might use to flick back to your favorite pages in a book. The tags don’t describe the book as a whole,instead they describe individual sections of the book.”
Two important factors to consider:
· Tags complement categories. If you use Wordpress you’ll be able to and should use categories. Blogger does not offer this feature, so it’s even more important to use tags.
· Tags should be focused and use the same ones for each specific topic. This means if you are writing about book marketing, use one specific tag: book marketing. Don’t switch it up with ‘book promotion’ or ‘marketing.’ Be consistent because it is this consistency that search engines will use to index your site and establish you as an authority on that keyword. This means a higher ranking in the search engines.
Going into this a bit further, using ‘writing’ as an example, when writing on the topic of writing, whether it’s on characterization, setting, or plot, you should always include the keyword ‘writing’ or ‘writing advice,’ or other relevant writing keyword you use consistently. You can also include the more specific keywords, like ‘setting’, ‘writing goals,’ or whatever the content warrants to give more indexing information, but it’s important to use your main ‘writing’ tag for all your posts on writing.
Promote your Blog Posts
If you want to enhance your visibility, you need to SHARE each article/post. Wordpress and Blogger both have plugins or gadgets to provide easy ‘sharing’ to Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Linkedin. Make use of the ‘sharing’ feature.
Then of course, there are your other social networks, your groups. Don’t forget to post a message in your groups letting them know you have a new post up.
Use these four blog posting elements for each of your posts and your traffic/views are sure to increase.
Learn about writing and marketing with Karen Cioffi at http://karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com. Sign up for her free newsletter, A Writer’s World, and get TWO free site-related e-books for subscribing. For informative ebooks on writing and marketing visit: http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com
Beginning to End Instructions - Lots of Book Marketing Resources
From planning, to implementation, to promoting, to thank you, this ebook has it all. To find out more visit http://karencioffifreelancewriter.co...ual-book-tour/
Sources:
1. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398097,00.asp
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_text
3. http://www.problogger.net/archives/2...-on-your-blog/
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