Opinions on Blog Optimization
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When I first started blogging I think it was just something neat I wanted to try out. The first blog I ever read in a sense was Matthew Good‘s, from there I found more Vancouver blogs and eventually podcasts. Sometimes John and I get asked how to get into blogging, and I’m sure there are people out there (myself included) who want to know how to make a little more out of our sites.
Over time I developed my own little rules and protocol (e.g. quote your sources, spread some link love and keep an open dialogue in your comments etc.) but I had never read a useful and practical list until first I saw Tony Pierce’s “How to Blog“, way back when.
12. link like crazy. link anyone who links you, link your favorites, link your friends. dont be a prude. linking is what seperates bloggers from apes. and especially link if you’re trying to prove a point and someone else said it first. it lends credibility even if youre full of shi*t.
26. dont be afraid to come across as an asswipe. own your asswipeness
11. say exactly what you want to say no matter what it looks like on the screen. then say something else. then keep going. and when youre done, re-read it, and edit it and hit publish and forget about it.
He should know what he’s talkin’ about, he literally wrote the book on the subject.
In recent months, with the Web 2.0 boom many more are taking on blogging or ramping up what they’re been doing sporadically for a while now. Here are a couple more suggestions and tips I’ve found in recent blog posts.
Optimizing your blog (from Douglas Karr)
6# Begin utilizing a good RSS reader and begin to subscribing to a number of other blogs. I subscribe to about 30 right now utilizing Google Labs Reader. It keeps track of what I’ve read and has a few other cool features. I comment often on other posts and always leave a link back to my site. If I want to write a full post rather than a comment, I always ensure that I designate a trackback to their article.
Mistakes to avoid (from John Chow)
#9 – Writing For Google Instead Of People
Some of you may recall that I am taking an Internet Marketing and SEO class. During this class, the teacher talks about stuff like key phases, keyword density, making sure your content is Google friendly, etc. The only thing I have to say about that is; write for people, not for Google.
There are a couple things these three sources have in common. The first is, it doesn’t matter what your site looks like. The second is being active in commenting, it’s pretty fun and it lets readers (and other sites) know you are a real person, not just someone creating content for the sake of… creating content. Third, supply feeds and use Technorati. The last I’ll mention is BLOG OFTEN. Keep writing, generating content and let visitors know that you have an active site.
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Thanks so much for the reference. Very well said.
SEO is a lot easier than people think. There’s something about it that intimidates people into thinking there has to be more to it than there really is. The quote from John Chow is what some of the top SEO professionals (and even Google) will tell you. Writing for people *is* writing for Google. The engines don’t thrive on code, they thrive on content. Your code should make it easy for the engines to find and evaluate the theme and value of your content.
Ugh, I need to get out more.
How about heading to a local blogger meetup?
Hey Chris, I should have blogged when I was in Boston, that would have been neat. Posted a pic of the scary snowman and that cold bench at Andrew station on which I had to wait… often 😛
That’s odd, Matthew Good’s blog was the first one I started reading too. Although that was when it was really just the news and manifestos posted on the ‘band’ page like … 7 or 8 years ago … wow that’s a lot longer than I thought.
At any rate, thanks for the tips!
I often wonder how much Technorati does for me. It’s banned in Chiner…but my blog goes through Typepad based in the US. I can’t look at Technorati at home, but I can at work, so not quite sure how much value it adds to me.
I did recently add Feedburner, which I think is giving me some value…although the jury is still out on what.
The best thing to do is find blogs you like and comment/email the writers. I’ve been Insta-lanched and Venomized a few times. But that doesn’t really matter to me…what matters is that I hook a few people in and they keep coming back. I don’t have many of those…and that is what I hope to continue to do.
The first blog I started reading was James Lilek’s Bleat…in 2001. Then I moved to Electric Venom and Instapundit…and the rest is history.