It doesn’t matter if they are a part of an established web site domain or a brand new site. One thing about blogs is that you can rank your blog on Google if you just do what Google wants you to do. Below are some handy tips to get your blog ranked by search engines like Google, Let’s focus on how just about anyone who knows how to formulate a sentence can get "Google ranked" — if they adhere to certain fairly simple steps.
Easy & fun & healthy
Blogging gives people the chance to reach an audience across the globe on virtually any topic. It is also healthy to do (improving memory, sleep patterns, immune system activity, and possibly even speed recovery from illness and surgery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/blog).
Not all writing is pleasant, just ask anyone who has had to sit down and write an essay on a topic they’re not interested in but can’t get the degree or job without it. But blogging is fun because it is a choice. Today, one of the perks of blogging is the opportunity to monetize (get paid) writing an opinion, expound upon one’s knowledge, or just plain wax poetically on the virtues of … It is, as they say, priceless.
Getting started
Fortunately, blogs are easy to construct and maintain. They can be constantly updated to create fresh content, and if it’s done right they can draw a huge readership and the attention of search engines and generate some income. Google, the search engine behemoth, can "rank" your blog if you’re willing to follow their protocol.
To be ranked by a huge SE like Google you first need to create a blog platform. many options exist, you can host your own with Joomla or WordPress or use a hosted service like Simplweb or WordPress.com.
1. SEO basics
Blog posts should be accurate, current, natural sounding, and above all relevant to your blogs’ central M.O. Therefore, it is important to following SEO (search engine optimization) guidelines. Create your blog categories by using alluring keywords rich titles and descriptions. Make sure you link only to sites that are of the highest quality. Do your homework and research topics that will be attention grabbers. But don’t over-reach by "stuffing" your blog with too many keywords. A good rule of thumb for keywords to non-keywords is a 10/90 ratio, with non-keywords being the higher number.
2. Quality vs. quantity
The quality of your content can make you or break you. If you are writing about a popular topic, look at it from a new stance to capture readers’ attention. As the old saying goes, bologna is bologna but if it’s wrapped up and packaged right, people will buy it. Vary your post topics by length, relevance and posting times. Do keep up on the cutting edge with regularly updated posts.
3. Consistency
Make sure you are consistent with your blog posts. If too much time goes by between posts readers lose interest. Don’t duplicate your content. If you said it once before only repeat yourself in "quotation marks" from previous blog posts. Linking to these posts with good keywords is also a great idea.
4. Avoid tricks
No matter how much you covet that high Google page ranking, don’t create pages for search engines. Make them mainly for users benefit. Deceiving your readers by cloaking or other trickery is bad form. The same goes for links to web spammers and "bad neighborhoods" and don’t link your page to web schemes just to increase your ranking. Google responds unfavorably to this manipulative bad manners and behavior. They suggests you ask yourself if you’d feel comfortable explaining yourself or if you’d be doing the same thing if there were no SEO’s? (www.google.com/support.webmasters/).
5. Blog directories
If you want to get noticed stand up. Once your site is up and running you’ll want to submit your URL to web directories, like Yahoo and other free directories. There are many that will to link to your site and visitors can learn of your site and blog. It’s easy, simply "google" them to find all of the directories that are out there.
6. Keywords
It is suggested that you start with about three keywords or phrases (about 5%) for your blog; too many more can make the writing unnecessarily muddied or nonsensical. Use them wisely and only when appropriate as this allows spiders (search engine web crawlers) to find you easily
7. Clarity and focus
Each blog needs to have a sense of clarity and focus. Some of the best blogsites cover a lot of territory. It’s best to choose various topics to discuss. A person looking for inexpensive sexy shoes shouldn’t have to wade through rants about the upcoming election.
8. Page ranking
Obviously a site owner wants to receive have a high Google-ranking. But stop fretting about page ranking. Concentrate instead on making your blog interesting. First, work on becoming well connected in an online community, and then add content syndication by getting permission from an author to use their article. Writers want to be acknowledged for the work (citing your source). Permission can often mean compensating the author by posting their name and website. Also you will want to feature guest bloggers from time to time as they add a new voice and add credibility to your site. If your blog is interesting your ranking will increase .
9. Blog tone
Always write in a conversational tone. Not many people want to read a blog that has a voiceless tone. Blogs should be written like people speak. Academic writing turns many folks off. Add humor to your advantage when appropriate, but use good judgment. Just about anything is appropriate if done tastefully — even Al Gore had to learn how to lighten up to grab the attention of the energy addicted huddled masses and the Nobel prize committee.
10. When & what
There are more people online during the week, so it makes more sense to post on a Monday than a Sunday because your post will still be considered new by Saturday. The topics of your post can be about celebrities as well as general news items; however, unless your site is dedicated to history or historical content, it’s best to stay current with contemporary issues. These get picked up by bots and spiders easier and can help get you a higher Google rating.
11. Socializing skills
Pay attention to socializing skills connections. Your readers are your friends, advertise your blog to your friends, or link to like-minded sites. Nine times out of ten if you love mermaids or NASCAR someone reading your blog will go to a link that focuses on the same thing — It’s a win-win situation. Add links to similar websites; you may find you’ll be expanding your own readership. Plus, the odds are that they will return the favor. Make friends with other bloggers. Call posters by name, send personal notes, offer a Q&A space, and actually take the time to answer questions, and last but not least, give away free stuff. The perks to allowing reader feedback are: you will often be amused and sometimes enlightened; you will be expanding your readership, but the bottom line is more customer hits will add to the likelihood of being placed high in the Google ranking system.
12. Reader feedback
Include your readers with comments, polls and surveys by having a feedback corner on your site for your readers. The perks behind the addition of these tools is that you will get some excellent marketing information. They make for interesting reading because they add an interactive response. This is especially good if you are in some sort of commerce. For instance, you could create a poll for readers to vote on various topics related to your websites.
13. Spelling
Proper grammar is necessary. Blogs need to be error free. Typos are a serious no-no if you want your blog to be taken seriously. No matter how easy it is to type abbreviations in an IM, nothing spells HACK more than a blog littered with typos and spelling errors.
14. Spying on the .com-petion
All is fair in love and online .com business. Close but not exactly. However, if you want to be successful you have to check on what your competition is doing. Do some harmless undercover work to find out what adwords and keywords they are using. Sites like Spyfu (www.spyfu.com) are helpful. You cannot cut and paste from their sites but ideas cannot be copy written. If this is handled fair and square, it leaves a plethora of opportunities open for you to take advantage of other bloggers initiatives without stealing anything.
15. Thinking outside the blog
There are many places you can go to find content on just about anything. For instance, www.hellium.com and www.EzineArticles.com both are packed with content to use for sale as well as free. Google loves this sort of content syndication because it adds to your sites credibility.
16. Importance of community
Many blogs links last only a few days, while others have more longevity. If you find something you can use for your site, interact with them by posting as soon as possible, you’ll create traffic between links, but you may also pick up a link to a more credible website.
17. Controversy as a plus
Don’t be afraid to be controversial. Take a stance that is unconventional, but give your reasons for doing this with links to others who may have similar POV (points of view). These tactics will generate a sense of credibility and intelligence. You can look into networking tools like www.linkedin.com, www.meetup.com, and www.mybloglog.com. You may also want to use conferencing to reach out to prospective readers. Real world contacts (offline sources) can back up what you’re pushing on your blog.
Ultimately, if you speak with confidence you will find that Google will take notice and your Google page ranking will go up.
Now get blogging!
Contributed by Hanh Brown of Investers Lounge Online