You’ve probably heard the phrase “long tail” before, especially in regard to business and marketing. Essentially, the long tail is the tail end of a demand curve – there may be lots of people who buy the latest #1 single, but there are many more people buying all sorts of different, obscure albums – the total number of the people buying the varied music is much greater than the people buying the #1 hit. The long tail is part of the reason why companies like Amazon are so successful – they offer tons of different niche items. The inter-connectedness and global scope of the web has made the long tail and catering to niche markets a viable business strategy.

However, the long tail is also relevant to SEO. Very significant percentage of searches are “long tail searches”, that consist longer, more specific queries that naturally tend to yield fewer results. For instance, if you’re looking for a newly built condo in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood, wouldn’t you type “Chicago condominiums South Loop real estate new construction” or something similar into the search box? After, you’re much likely to find what you’re looking for that way than by just using “Chicago real estate”. Long tail searchers are looking for something very specific. This post on Search Engine Watch’s blog has excellent visuals illustrating long tail searches.

So how does this apply to your blog? Think about your niche and your own unique skills and characteristics. Narrow down your keywords – instead of only using “Chicago real estate agent”, make sure to write about the particular neighborhoods and types of properties you specialize in, for example. Or if you’re any kind of retailer (chances are if you’re an online retailer, you’re already very familiar with niche markets and the long tail), write constant posts about your products. Try to create the most detailed descriptions possible, and aim to be your readers’ source for the latest information about new products in your niche.

Targeting the long tail may end up benefiting you more in the long run – after all, long tail searchers tend to be looking for very specific information, and if you fit into their desired niche, they are that much more likely to bookmark your blog and/or become clients or customers someday.

Okay, you know the importance of placing your keywords and phrases throughout your posts, especially in the titles, bold headings, and tags.  Now I’m going to go into more detail about techniques for seeding them throughout your blog in a natural manner (no one sticks around to read a blog that’s stuffed full of keywords and not much else.)

First of all, place your keywords in titles, headings, categories, and tags. Anytime you’ve got a chance to label something with a keyword (or two or three), do so.   This one’s a no brainer – the search engines consider these things more important than your other content, so be sure to treat them accordingly by labeling them with your keywords.

Next you have to write your content, and of course you want to be keyword rich.  You can either keep your keywords in mind as you write your posts and add them in as you go, or you can write the whole post freely and go back through it to see where your keywords will fit.  There’s no right or wrong way to do it, so you’ll want to try out both methods and see which one leads to your best results.

If you want some extra help with keeping your keywords in mind while you write, you can also keep a list of them on another open document on your computer, or even on a piece of paper on your desk.  You may find that glancing at the list helps you come up with ideas for new angles and ideas to write about as well.

Concerned about your posts sounding unnatural or overly formal?   Try reading them out loud to yourself or a friend- this is one of the better ways to work on developing your writing voice.   Remember that blogging is a casual medium – I always encourage people to write like they’re having coffee with a client or friend, so you don’t need to give a lecture or write highly academic articles.

Another good way to generate high quality, keyword rich posts is to read what other people are writing about your keywords.  Of course, it’s important to be aware of what other bloggers in your niche are writing about, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to set up Google Alerts for a few of your key phrases.  Check out this awesome post on Techie-Buzz for more information and a how-to (you don’t even need to have a google account, although it does make things easier).

As you can see, using keywords doesn’t have to result in boring, uncreative content – once you get into the blogging groove, you’ll be creating compelling, keyword rich posts in no time.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a really hot topic in the blogosphere lately.  There has been tons of discussion on how to best optimize your blog, what keyword tools to use, and whether or not SEO should even matter for bloggers?  I even wrote a series on it myself.

I’ve always been of the opinion that although SEO is an undeniably helpful tool, search engine optimization alone will not result in success (no matter what some search engine marketers will tell you).   It’s not a magic potion.  Yes, SEO will help get readers to your website, but if you don’t provide compelling content, they probably won’t stay there, bookmark it, or subscribe to your feed.  Think of SEO as a major component of your marketing campaign for your blog, the star product.  The quality of the product has to come first, and like a good product, a good post can get some word of mouth promotion in the form of incoming links and social media mentions.

You’ve got to provide value for your readers in some way, shape, or form.  Blogging is a conversation, it’s a two way street, it’s a way to engage directly with your target market. Yes, a high ranking on google for your keywords will drive traffic your way, but it’s up to you to make that traffic stick by writing posts that benefit your readers.

After all, you don’t want to them to click away immediately (an exception here are the keyword stuffed sites loaded with advertising where the only goal is to serve as a tollbooth on the information superhighway that is the web – the readers come in, hopefully throw some change the blogger’s way in the form of clicking on an ad, and end up leaving pretty quickly).  After all, a good website is both search engine friendly and reader friendly.

Of course, if you’re using your blog as a portal to your business and personal brand, you want readers to stick around and keep coming back.  This is especially important if you’re an authority blogger, because then quality content and useful articles that inspire people to link to them are absolutely essential.  In addition, it’s likely that well-written articles from a knowledgeable blogger will naturally contain lots of keywords and search terms (hey, when you’re writing about a particular thing you tend to mention it a lot).

Of course, using targeted keywords in your titles (especially your titles – I’ll say it again – use keywords in your titles!), tags, and anchor text is important, as well as just generally seeding them throughout your posts.  Some bloggers like to keep them in mind and place them in their content with the terms as they go along, and some prefer to write the copy first and then figure out ways to add keywords in later.  Both ways work equally well, so you’ll have to discover what method works best for you through trial and error.  This post from Matt McGee over at Small Business SEM is an excellent primer on the “perfect storm” of keyword usage inside a website.

It’s also important to deep link to older posts that cover related topics.  Not only does that direct your readers to more of your relevant content, it keeps them on your site for longer.  Linking out is also key – besides the fact that citing other articles lends you credibility, it generates goodwill and gets you on other blogger’s radar (they’ll notice your links through their trackbacks or stats).   Speaking of linking out, the Copyblogger has written a stellar series on SEO called SEO Copywriting 2.0.

Finally, one more thing about SEO – your biggest results probably won’t occur immediately.  Besides the fact it takes time to build up a collection of good posts, gaining popularity and getting linked on other blogs typically isn’t an overnight thing.  Yes, you may know your blog is awesome and that you have valuable content, because unless you’re already pretty well known in your field, it might take some time for others to realize that too.  Just remember that each post is another step towards blogging greatness.

Blogging is uniquely suited for search engine optimization, because the search engines definitely favor websites that have lots of relevant, easily updated content.  However, there are ways you can maximize your blog’s promotional abilities – SEO techniques you can use to “blogcast your brand”.

Here’s a rundown of my SEO for Bloggers series:

Part 1: Getting Started with SEO.  Start here to learn exactly what SEO is and the basics of how to use it to promote your message, including choosing your keywords properly.  If you only read one of these posts, read this one (but you really should bookmark them all!).

Part 2: Link Building and Link Popularity.  This post covers a key component of any blogger’s SEO strategy: getting tons of incoming links.  Search engines love websites that lots of people are linking too – after all, popular blogs are popular for a reason, and that reason is simple: people like ‘em.

Part 3: Link Baiting for Fun and Profit.   Link baiting is the art of getting other bloggers and webmasters to link to your site by creating interesting posts that benefit your readers in some way, shape, or form.  After all, people link to content they find compelling.

Part 4: Building Your Cornerstone.  Strong flagship posts are the pillars of blog – they are your most compelling content, they bring in the links, and they naturally have an ultra high keyword density.

Part 5: Off-Site SEO and the Social Media.   This post describes how to use the social media networks and the user-driven aspects of Web 2.0 to enhance and promote your blog.   There are a whole lot of amazing tools and communities out there, so use them to your advantage.

There’s one more point to remember about SEO, and that point is that the results generally don’t happen over night.  Yes, content can go viral, but building a popular blog with lots of readers takes time – you have to develop your keyword-dense cornerstone content, to build link popularity and generate incoming traffic, and to make a name for yourself in your niche.

So we’ve established the search engines love sites with tons of incoming links, and we’ve talked about a few different ways to earn them. However, I have yet to mention a major source of traffic – the social media sites. Granted, using the social media networks as a source of links isn’t typically considered part of SEO, but they can be very useful when used properly.

How to Play the Social Media Game:

Social media can be defined as the online technologies and practices people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives (thanks wikipedia!).  Although social media is generally used as an umbrella term that encompasses everything from YouTube to Second Life, bloggers can utilize content-sharing sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, and Stumble Upon and social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Linked In.*

First of all, syndicate your blog content on all the social media networks that you have profiles on, as well as any directories that index content related to your niche. You don’t have to reprint entire posts, rather, just copy the first few sentences – use it like a teaser or preview, and then be sure to link to it with “read more” or “continue”. After all, if someone is comes across your profile on any social media site, they’d probably be interested in your blog too. Be sure to get some of your keywords in the in the “teaser” part, however, so you’re playing to the search engines as well as the readers.

Second, become an active participant in social content sites like Digg, along with popular forums in your niche. You have to give some to get some, after all, and by reading and interacting on these, you’ll learn what kind of content is well received. Over all, however, it pays to be bold, to show off your passions, and to create content that has value for your users. This is where link baiting (in the altruistic “creating compelling content” sense) can really pay off.

Note: when you’re submitting posts to the social media networks, aim for “scannable” content – easily digestible article with bulleted or numbered lists, headings and subheadings, and charts and graphs. Reading on the web is not the same as reading a book – most people tend to just scan over things and pick up the main ideas.

Viral Ideas and Blogging

Viral marketing and viral content are major buzzwords these days, and for good reason. An idea, a post, a website, or an application can go viral and get thousands of links and millions of hits in a matter of hours. Of course, these can be shallow hits and non-targeted traffic, but the viral marketers do have a point – people spread ideas and share content that’s easily understandable, benefits the user in some way (even if it’s only to make them smile – look at how quickly things like lolcats get around), and neatly packaged (perhaps in the form of a concise, well-written blog post).

*This is by no means an exhaustive list, and it may take some research and trial and error to figure what communities are best suited to your purposes.

Cornerstone Content is Essential

A good blog rests on a solid foundation of cornerstone, or flagship content.  This is the content you build your blog around – it is indispensable, it is essential, it is what people absolutely must know in order to understand your brand and do business with you.  It should also be some of your most compelling content – it’s the ace up your sleeve, it’s what readers come to your blog for, and it’s your best stuff.

Flagship Content and SEO

Flagship content is naturally keyword rich.  As a central component of your blog, it should focus on your main message and therefore contain tons of your keywords. When writing your cornerstone content, you should focus on creating value for your readers – after all, compiling a useful resource is one of the ways to generate incoming links.  One of the things that your flagship posts should accomplish is to answer the most relevant questions that people searching for your content are asking.  Ask yourself “what kind of content would ensure that my readers get the most out of my blog?”

When you place flagship content with a high keyword density in a prominent position on your blog and reference it in future posts, it helps to promote the post in search engines and makes it more liked to be linked to by others.  Amazing flagship content has the potential to go viral, because a useful flagship post or series of posts gives people something to link to, recommend, and remember.

How to Create Cornerstone Content

Okay, so you know that you need to write some compelling flagship posts that benefit and hook readers.  Now what do you write about?  Here’s a few ideas:

1.  A glossary of terms related to your business.  This is a especially useful if your in an industry with lots of specialized jargon that can be intimidating to outsiders (note: coming soon on Create Compelling Content: a “Blogger’s Glossary”).  It’s also beneficial in the SEO sense, because you can use tons of keywords in this post.

2.  A series of tips for newcomers to your industry or niche; for instance, “Ten Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started….”.  Fill in the blank with your expertise.

3.  How-tos.  A clearly-written how-to post or series is an excellent way to provide value for your readers, and it lets you show off your chops at the same time.  Bonus points if you can make it uplifting and inspirational, i.e. “anyone can attain this goal if they put their mind to it, here’s how”.  Inspire someone and they will not only remember you, they’ll recommend you and link to your blog.

4.  A powerful vision.  Do you have a particular vision or amazing, innovative idea for your niche?  Can you write about it in an eloquent way? Go for it.

5. Organized databases of product reviews or other resources for your niche.  You can even include outside links as long as they add value and support your overall brand somehow (just be sure that these outgoing links don’t directly contradict your message).

6. FAQs about your business and industry are simple but very useful, and they are very easy to create and fill with keywords.

7. All of the above – videos and podcasts of any of the previous options are another great flagship, and they allow for your readers to access your content in their preferred format (some people like to read information, others learn best by watching or listening).  Use the many different methods of web-publishing to your advantage and create a video or podcast of your cornerstone content.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a good jumping off point.  Feel free to share your own cornerstone content in the comments!

Link baiting is a term that comes up a lot in SEO discussions, and it can be a very powerful component of your SEO strategy.  Link bait is used to describe any sort of linkable content – a blog post, an image, a special feature – within a site that’s meant to catch attention and invite others to link to it.   At the most basic level, link bait is something bloggers and webmasters deem interesting enough to share with their own readers.  Successful link baiting can be an extremely potent form of viral marketing.

Despite the fact that link baiting is sometimes referred to in a negative manner (i.e. you’re “tricking” people into linking to you and coming to your site), it’s really about establishing yourself in your niche, creating useful and compelling content, and getting your ideas out there by reaching people who might be able to use them.

There are six basic types of link bait, or hooks

1. Breaking News – Be the first to break a major story or to share a unique piece of news, or just write up it in the clearest, most compelling manner.

2. Humour - People like to laugh, plain and simple.  If you can make them smile, they’ll reward you in the form of links and clicks.

3. Inspiration – Uplifting quotes, stories, and personal triumphs can all inspire people to link to your site.

4. Controversy and Attacks – Stand out from the crowd by being contrary or negative, by being the only one in your niche to dislike something, or by straight up slamming someone or something.  This is difficult to do well without reflecting poorly upon you and your brand, so it’s probably best left to the non-business or anonymous bloggers.

5. Flattery – Will get you everywhere. Write positive and genuine posts praising other bloggers, new products, and services, and anything else you really like.  Be sure to link to whatever it is you are writing about, and they’ll probably return the favor.  You can also create a comprehensive list of websites, blogs, and other online resources for your niche (this technique combines #5 and #6).

6. Resources and How-tos – Teach your readers how to do something, give them something valuable, make your blog benefit them in some way, shape, or form. This is probably the best form of link bait for a business blog to employ – you’ll get to show off your expertise to a whole bunch of potential new clients and customers.

Remember, the more incoming links you have, the higher your blog will rank in the search engine listings, so be sure to include a little link baiting in your overall SEO plan.

Search engine optimization is not all about keywords and optimized site design, although those are certainly essential. However, the number of incoming links your site has also matters. I’ve touched on the matter of incoming links before, but I didn’t mention how important they were to your blog’s rank.

Link Building and Link Popularity

Link Popularity is a score based on the number of incoming links pointed at your blog.  Clearly, the more incoming links you have the better, but link reputation and page importance play a role as well.

You’re nobody until somebody links to you – link building is the single most important part of achieving a high ranking website in modern search algorithms.  I repeat, link building is the single most important part of achieving a high ranking website in modern search algorithms.

So how do you get other bloggers and webmasters to link to your blog? First of all, create compelling content that others will be interesting in linking to – content is still king.    Secondly, participate in the blogging community.  Be active in relevant discussions, leave substantive comments on other blogs, post on related forums (as always, be sure to place a link to your blog in your signature), and trade links with topical hubs and related sites.

Third, link to other blogs in your niche – you can trade links, or just reward other bloggers with links and it’s likely they’ll return the favor.  Fourth, write glowing testimonials and reviews of services and products related to your blogging topics – chances are they will link back to you when they post them on their own sites.

The Role of Keywords in Link Building

Think of each post and page on your blog as a building block – each is its own unit and has it’s own ranking potential and relevant keywords. Use some of your keywords in each post’s title (search engines index posts by title) and resist the urge to write cutesy or attention grabbing headlines that have little to do with the actual content.  You may be successful at gaining some traffic, but it might not be the valuable kind that’s targeted to your blog.

Writing keyword rich titles and headings that are also crisp and concise can do wonders for your blog’s rankings.  Not only will descriptive titles let search engine readers know they’re in the right place – they’ve found what they’ve been searching for – it will also help you out when others link to your site, even if they use the whole URL to cite your blog. Basically, you want people to know what they are clicking on, so you want your keywords to be part of the links that point at your blog.

The next post in my SEO For Bloggers series will cover link baiting and how to use your content as bait to lure in the linkers and readers.

You’ve probably heard the term search engine optimization , or SEO, being used before, but you might not have realized how simple it is to apply some of the techniques to your blog.  By choosing the right platform, much of the nitty-gritty design work will be done for you, but it’s up to you, the blogger, to create quality content that uses SEO to target new readers and promote your brand.

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site via search engines and search results.   The goal is to achieve a high ranking, or to show up early (ideally in the top five) in the listings for relevant search terms, or keywords.  Many SEO techniques can integrated in your blogging to ensure that your blog ranks highly in the search engine results for the keywords that are most important to you and your business.

Although SEO isn’t the only thing to consider when setting up your blog, it’s important to keep it in mind from the very beginning.  First of all, you need to make a comprehensive list of all the potential search terms, or keywords that people could use when searching for your business, product, or service.  Pay particular attention to synonyms, alternative phrases, and even misspellings (www.thesaurus.com is your friend here).

Next, you want to place your most important keywords in title and tagline.  For instance, if you’re a real estate agent based in Chicago, use those words in your title – a possible title and tagline would be “A Chicago Real Estate Blog: From Lakeshore Drive to Wicker Park”.  Not only is the title the first thing your visitors notice when they come to your blog, it’s what the search engines display in their results listings.  Be sure to place your text before your logo or any other images in order to maximize your site’s findability.

Once you’ve started actually blogging, be sure to use your chosen keywords liberally in your posts, categories, and tags.  A high keyword density is key to search engine optimization.  To continue with the Chicago real estate agent example, some obvious keywords for that blogger would be Chicago Real Estate, Chicago Condos, Wicker Park Real Estate, South Loop Condominiums, and other related terms.

If you’re blogging about your business, it’s fairly easy to place keywords within the content naturally, because you’d probably use the phrases while discussing those topics anyways.  Aim for organic, natural usage instead of just repeating keywords for the sake of placing keywords amongst other keywords in your content (see how annoying that is to read?).  You don’t want to counteract your SEO skills with unhelpful content.

Combining SEO techniques with compelling content will make your blog a powerful component of your brand.  The simplest way to do this is to put yourself in your readers’ place – you want to make your blog easy to find (the SEO aspect) and beneficial for your readers (the compelling content).  Quality content will also inspire other bloggers and site owners to link to you, and link building – getting others to links to your site – is absolutely vital for SEO success.

Organic keyword use in the context of interesting, informative posts is especially important in regard to link building, the next aspect of search engine optimization that I’ll be covering as part of my SEO for bloggers series, so be sure to check back soon!