What is more important, SEO OR Content?

This is a guest post from a fellow Philadelphia based blogger : LinkManDX  - LinkManDX’s blog covers a wide range of topics from politics to philosophy to the Internet and blogosphere.

 

It is often said that “Content is King.” What this means is that no matter what, the best content in today’s Internet will reach the top, regardless of marketing efforts. While we all know this is a bit ofan exaggeration, it is still important to realize that without good content, SEO is worthless – you’ll drive initial hits, but you’ll never convert anybody to readers. How SEO and content go hand in hand is a process that is deceptively difficult, but they must go hand in hand. Without content, your site is useless. Without SEO, your site is unread. The relationship must be made – but how?

Consider how Google and other search engines are designed to find you. Not how it actually finds you, but how it’s designed to. Google crawls through the web looking for links to content from other content, ranking it as “important” along the way. The algorithm has developed whereby that’s not the only way it finds content, but that’s still an important way. You can spend ages building backlinks, but it’s much simpler, but less likely, that you’ll write a killer post another blogger links to in his content, and I believe Google can recognize that link as better and rank you higher. Built backlinks are great, but are no match for these.

As I alluded to in the first paragraph, SEO without content drives initial hits but doesn’t convert them to returning visitors or readers. Readers are the currency of bloggers – they come back to your blog for each post, and read your content almost religiously. These are guaranteed future hits, and not just the initial hits your drive from SEO. This is what I mean by hand in hand – you get them to come with SEO, and you keep them coming back with good content. Good content is more valuable, because you could abandon SEO after a good long while and still have a ton of visits coming from readers, whereas readers abandon you if your content lacks.

Finally, SEO only concentrates on one portion of incoming visits – the Almighty Google. I’m not saying that Google hits are bad, and shouldn’t be pursued, but this is a classic case of putting one’s eggs into only one basket. If your content is good, people will link to it. These links get followed, and are more likely to be converted to readers. If bloggers embrace good content, Google could disappear and they would still get hits from these content links.

Keep at your SEO strategies, but keep in mind that good content is indeed king – it leads to better links, more readers, and allows you to diversify your marketing strategies. It seems too simplistic, but it indeed can accomplish these things, when placed along a good SEO strategy.

A Basic Guide For The Beginner Blogger - Blogging for Success

To understand and make use of blogging as an internet business tool, beginner bloggers first should understand what a blog is and why it can be so popular, convenient, and effective as an internet business tool. Blogging can be compared to a public forum or journal, where any topic of interest can be discussed at length by various users. This is a perfect tool for sharing thoughts and ideas, and this concept is easily applied as an internet business tool for beginners as well as old hats. Text blogging is the simple form, meaning that entries are typed out for others to read. Audio blogging takes the same blogging concept however the entries are created through an audio feed, allowing users to listen to their message rather than read it. A blog site is detailed by a few various elements that are generally easy to recognize when you venture into the land of using blogging as an internet business tool. First, you will come up with a title for your post. You cab as plain as offering a single word main idea or you can create silly or creative statements within your title. Once you have entered the title, you type out the body, which is everything you are interested in using in that particular post. If you are using your blog as an internet business tool your body is going to contain your business message and excite people who read your message. Providing links on other websites that can allow users to access your blog is known as using a trackback, and it is a very common and useful method of bringing additional traffic to your site. You permanent link is the URL associated with your blog entry, and the comment section allows other users to ask questions, post comments, or speak freely regarding your blog. Most blogging sites offer a simple and easy to use template that instructs new users how to implement their thoughts into an actual blog entry. This way, new users can start using blogging as an internet business tool immediately without long tutorials or hefty advertising costs. Blogging has been simplified as an internet business tool by the use of simple template that create new pages, rather than the use of numerous templates necessary for the use of other websites. This makes creating additional blog sites and entries simple, effective, and easy to understand. Blogging is used for much more than an internet business tool. If you are brand new to blogging and want to get your feet wet experiencing blogging before using it as an internet business tool, you might want to select a blog that appeals to your personal or educational use. This way, you can understand how blogging works and then apply what you learn directly to using blogging as an internet business tool. Blogging leads to communities of like minded individuals. One of the advantages of blogging is that it brings people together in search of the same thing, in this case, that would be successful operation of an internet business. Using blogging as an internet business tool allows you to reach new levels of communication. Learning to blog is likely to open up new relationships with people from all over the world. In the meantime, good luck on your journey to success. OR if you would like to succeed immediately to create financial freedom working only 4 hours a week, check out www.secrets2internetfortunes.com AND for a Limited Time, you will also receive a FREE copy of a limited number of the amazing 113 page eBook "Online Fortunes A Beginners Guide!" which is jam packed with so many ideas you can use to instantly create an automated income for life! That’s my GIFT to you as a way of saying thank you for reading my articles.

Surviving in the Blogging World

Every half second, a new blog is born. Thats right. According to CNet and Technorati, someone around the world makes a new blog every half second. How do you survive and stand out from the rest?

1) Submit posts to "article directories". They are websites which post your articles and link to your blog, sending you visitors. A good one is http://www.ezinearticles.com/

2) Contact other bloggers that share your interest / topic area and ask about guest writing on each others blogs.

3) Create some sort of contest for your blog. Have a Blog Carnival (more later on about that). They draw visitors to your blog. Some questions to ask about the contest though, from blogclout.com

• How easy is it to enter the contest
• How fun is it to participate in the contest
• What rewards and incentives can be won
• How to generate the first few participants for the contest
• How easy is it to spread the word about the contest

Thats the end of my quick post... Good luck!

Why Should You Keep On Blogging?

If you are frustrated by a lack of comments, a lack of people clicking on ads, or by a lack of plain old traffic, why should you keep blogging? 

Well, for one thing, building traffic takes time. You have to post on different blogs, websites, forums, etc. to get your blog out there. No matter what type of blog you have or the subject of your blog, there are always going to be places where you can find a good amount of traffic. 

If you like and have a genuine interest in what you are writing about, why care if someone reads it or not? You are putting it out there for the whole world to view, and if they view it or not, thats their business. As long as you enjoy doing it, you shouldn't stop.

Good luck blogging!

Blog for friendship

Blogging can be a great way to make friends and connections, it can also be addictive.

Is one blog enough for you? Many people seem to have at least two.

As a blogger I found that not only do I love working on my own blogs but I love the community atmosphere of blogging, reading other bloggers new posts, following and subscribing. I do however find it hard to meet other people with a similar interest in blogging. It can be time consuming searching for interesting blogs that are updated regularly.

I blog for many reasons, obviously I would like to eventually earn a living from working online, but also as a mother of three young children, I don't get out much! and I know there are many others like me, but finding them can be hard.

So I decided to make another blog, (see the addiction?) this one is a little different though, its a combination of a blogging directory and mini community for women who blog.

Blogging is not a competitive sport

Being a blog author means becoming part of a wide circle of bloggers, a community of writers who, with the right attitude can help one another, learn from one another and make friendships and business partnerships

It should not be a competition

Think of it this way, most of a blogs readership is made up of other bloggers, which is why there are widgets like the followers widget that you will find on Blogger blogs

SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Simply put, other bloggers are for the most part, your targeted audience. If you insist on being a blogger who feels that all other blogs are your competition, then you really have your work cut out for you! If on the other hand you are like many people, an internet enthusiast and user as well as a blogger, then you are more than likely also someone who uses the internet to purchase goods

SO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT FROM YOUR VISITORS

Do you want people who will actually read your content? other bloggers will

Do you want people who will comment and leave feedback? again bloggers will

Do you want regular readers who trust you and are more likely to purchase from you? your subscribers are much more likely to do this than a one time visitor

SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO

Build an online presence for yourself, visit others blogs, comment on others blogs that you like (don't spam, no one likes it and its not the impression you want to give out)

Make friends with other bloggers, give advice, participate in the blogging community and make a reputation for yourself as someone who cares about others and their work

Follow blogs you like, visit when you get a chance, subscribe to your favourites

Share links, if you see a great post that is relevant to your topic, link to it from your own blog, your readers will appreciate the extra information you have found for them and the author of the blog is more likely to at least visit your blog, and you never know maybe if they like your blog they may return the favour

If you follow these guidelines you may be surprised by the positive reaction your blog recieves

5 Most Common Mistakes by Bloggers

This article is written by Gloson an 11-year-old blogger from Malaysia who is passionate about blogging, writing poems for kids and taking photograph of his cats. He is the author of Gloson Blog.

I’ve been surfing through the blogosphere and found out that there are some common blogging mistakes many bloggers make, especially beginners. I would like to point them out in this post so that they can avoid these mistakes, and become a better blogger.

1. Writing in large blocks of text

Which do you prefer to read? A large block of text or text with occasional spacing like how I am writing now? Most people would prefer spacing, instead of a large block of text. When I read large blocks of text, I find myself reading the same line over and over again. I also strain my eye. When I read text with spacing, I find it easier, comfortable, and more relaxing to read.

2. Not offering your readers email subscription

More than half of my subscribers subscribe to my blog via email. If you want more subscribers, set up an email subscription service so that your readers can subscribe via email. Most people do not use readers, or they simply prefer email. To set up an email subscription service, use Feedburner. To get started with Feedburner, read a tutorial onhow to burn your RSS feed with Feeburner.

3. Having a complicated blog design

Having a complicated blog design makes readers look at them and distracts them from reading your content. It also slows down loading and will drive impatient visitors away. Your readers don’t really care much about your design. All they really care about is your content.

A complicated blog design has too many pictures, loads very slowly, and takes up a lot of memory. You can use a beautiful and simple design, but not a complicated one.

4. Not creating an archives page

An archives page a page where you can view every post in the blog. This isn’t exactly a mistake, but you should create an archives page so that your readers can find something to read, easily.

To solve this, get a archives plugin. For people who want fun and unique archives, you should use Snazzy Archives. Here is an example of Snazzy Archives in action.

For those who want clean archives and whose blog updates frequently, use SPR Clean Archives (It is the archives plugin I am using for my blog).

5. Sticking with number (post ID) permalinks

A permalink is the link that links to a post. The permalink of this post ishttp://www.thoushallblog.com/5-most-common-mistakes-by-bloggers

But for some blogs, their permalink is – http://www.(blog).com/p?123

It is highly recommended that you change it to the blog’s title or ‘slug’ because it will help in your blog’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and therefore, will bring more visitors to your blog.

And also, if you look at the permalink, you will know what the post is about.

To change the structure of the permalinks in your blog (if you use wordpress), go to this URL and replace ‘[yourblog]’ with the domain name of your blog.

http://www.[yourblog].com/wp-admin/options-permalink.php

In the ‘Custom’ text box, type only /%postname%/.

Your permalink would be changed to:
http://www.[yourblog].com/[the-permalink]/

Don’t worry. The links to your posts won’t be disturbed. That’s because amazingwordpress would recognize the number (post ID) and will redirect your readers to the post to which you mean to link.

For example, before you changed the structure of your permalinks, your post permalink is
http://www.[yourblog].com/p?123

After you change it, it becomes
http://www.[yourblog].com/the-blog-post/

Anyone who visits http://www.[yourblog].com/p?123
will be redirected to http://www.[yourblog].com/the-blog-post/

To have a better blog, you should avoid all these 5 mistakes. It’s for you and your readers’ benefits.