page-not-foundNo matter how diligent you are about setting up your blog brilliantly, and then posting up killer posts to encourage people to keep dropping in, you won’t succeed as a blogger until people know where you are.

With the millions of blogs out there today, we need to be savvy when it comes to letting people know about you, your writing, and your services.

It may seem like an impossible task to pop your head above the parapet of mass blogging and get noticed.

However, there are a few things we can do to improve our chances of getting spotted and revisited when it comes to writing your blog.

First off, it’s worth bearing in mind that you are actually writing for two audiences – the Search engines, and your readers.

The trick is to satisfy both.

Search engines are programs that cannot see the page graphics or layout, with the job of indexing the page and identifying what is important on the page in order to put in the right spot on a search engine.

Visitors quickly scan pages for content, and are usually looking for something specific. That’s why good web-friendly content can be tricky to write.

How to grab the attention of the potential readers

Your main objective when writing for searchers is to persuade site visitors to take action on a page by highlighting the best features and selling the experience.

Keep your posts focused.

This is a personal opinion and others will disagree (but we are all different, aren’t we?):

It is better to write shorter posts than have long posts that your visitors need to scroll down and down and down.

Blog posts should be between 300 to 800 words long, as a rule of thumb.  If longer is needed, separate it into several posts linked together.

Since readers scan most blog posts, you may still want to break them up with headings so visitors can easily find specifically what they are looking for.

Make your headings bold or larger than your normal page font. You can also use bullets and numbering to make your pages more readable.

Also, make sure you edit your grammar and check for typos.

Here are some things to bear in mind:

  • Keyword Strategy

When developing copy, concentrate on the primary keyword first, and then rotate usage of the other phrases throughout the page. Don’t try to optimize for more than three keyword phrases per page so that your results are focused. A great tool for this: Search Engine Optimization made easy

  • Copy Length

Optimal page length for the search engines is 300 to 800 words.  This length allows repeated mention of keywords while maintaining focus.

  • Meta tags and Titles

As a general rule, the title should be 60 characters long because that is the length of a Google search title. The meta description should be less than 165 characters long for the same reason.

  • Deep Link

Hyperlinks to other pages within the site – or ‘deep links’ – help boost search-engine rankings, especially when the links contain full or partial keyword phrases. Using the Insights plugin makes this easy.

  • Places for Key Word Phrases

Title, meta description, tags, headings, bold print, text links, first two paragraphs of text, last paragraph, and alt tags for images.

  • Keyword Density

Strive for between 2% to 5% keyword density. Here is a free keyword density tool for existing pages: http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density/

What do you do to get your blog posts noticed and read?

Please share your views in the comments below. Thanks.

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