Business Blogging for Search Engine Traffic
by John Jantsch
As more and more blogs go commercial, more and
more folks want to know how and why they should blog for business.
While there are any number of reasons, one of the most compelling
is this: search engines seem to love blogs.
So what is it about blogs that those little spiders
love so much?
Here's a little secret: search engines crave content.
Okay, so maybe that's not such a secret. But to
look at many websites you would think it is.
The fact is too many websites do nothing to attract
search engines. Providing content, not to mention fresh content,
is one of the toughest chores of anyone who maintains a website.
But when it comes to generating traffic it is the most important
job.
Blogs, by their very nature, are all about content.
In a commercial environment every blog entry is fresh content.
Get in the habit of making two, three, even four entries a week
and you've got a content building bonanza on your hands.
Everyone knows you need new content to give visitors
a reason to come back; blogs just make the task so much easier.
Lack of competition
Another advantage that blogs currently possess
over traditional web pages and sites is lack of competition. While
the number of bloggers grows daily, there are still relatively
few commercial blog sites.
When I created my blog I found that it showed
up in the number one spot in Google for the term "Marketing
Weblog" within about three weeks of launch. Not bad considering
I did nothing to make it happen.
There are a couple of other things you should
do to make your weblog a traffic magnet. They aren't really that
different than traditional search engine optimization (SEO) tactics
but the names and faces are unique to the blogging world.
Use targeted keywords in your entry titles
No rocket science here but this tip can't be stated
enough. Forget cute. Go for titles that fit your targeted keywords
and phrases even if they seem a bit awkward. (You do have targeted
keywords and phrases, don't you?)
Register with blog search engines
Search engines that specialize in blogs include:
http://www.daypop.com
http://www.blogsearchengine.com
Register with tracking services
These services note when a blog has been updated
and publish an ongoing list. They even keep track of the most
updated and most visited weblogs. Plus you get to learn what pinging
is.
Two tracking services are:
http://blo.gs
http://www.pingomatic.com
Trade some links
You don't need to get out of control on this one
but a few "relevant" swapped links to related blogs
can boost your traffic.
Syndicate your content
This tactic is too technical to cover here but
I promise to come back to this in another issue of Duct
Tape News. For now, do some research on the term RSS and you
may discover ways to have your content and entries fed to sites
that are hungry for the type of stuff you write.
Many of the popular weblog software packages
have this capability built right in. People are flocking to software
and browser based programs that allow them to look at all of the
blogs they want to view in one place.
Make your content available in that place and
it will be seen. Here are some of the bigger RSS aggregator programs.
RSS Search Engine
http://www.feedster.com
RSS Aggregator Programs
http://www.newsgator.com
http://www.pluck.com
http://www.feedburner.com
John Jantsch is a small
business marketing coach based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes
frequently on real world small business marketing tactics
and is the creator of "Duct Tape Marketing" a turn-key
small business marketing system. Check out his blog at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php
