I find my self spending more time analyzing keywords to SEO my blog or one of our friends and clients websites, way more than I ever thought. Is this what my life in 2007 has come to? I do this by visiting adwords.google.com on a weekly or daily basis, way too much. How much time will you spend on analyzing keywords to SEO your favorite blog or website? Well, that depends on your intentions and professional goals of being an Internet Marketing person. The world of SEO has changed a lot, Overture for keywords is dead, it died in 2007, their system showed errors for weeks, it had in accurate data going back to Jan. 07 for months at a time.

No worries, Google is the key and top search rankings, every one knows that. And if you use any keyword SEO tool, please, please, make sure it uses the Google Adwords keyword API’s (tech speak for Google technology and data). It’s free, but it’s not perfect either, you have to use acronyms, thesauruses, and a dictionary for a comprehensive research. If you want to be a smart SEO, you have to look for differences in key word search volumes, and do your home work. The best way to figure out keyword search volume is to compare those bars. What you don’t know about these Google traffic Bars, have you been to adwords.Google.com yet, and done a keyword search yet? Do this first, but to get better results you have to actually buy Google ads for top 10-20 keywords. Why do I limit it to top 10 keywords? As a blogging guru and SEO expert, you have to manage things, and after 20 of any thing, it gets very hard. To start out any project, I actually recommend to go with 5 to 10 keywords tops. Focus is the key to achieving success in top rankings and promoting your business, not just in life.

No blog written on Dec. 31st is complete without mention of a New Year coming upon us. Yes, what a year it has been. We started 2007 with SEO‘ing for keywords “Real Estate IDX”, guess who is #1 on those keywords? Yes it’s us, and our success started with a top 10 result for Seattle real estate website UrbanTango.com back in 2004. That forced me to learn about SEO way back in 2003, because I paid some schmuck $300/month to get my site ranked on search engines, and I couldn’t even find UrbanTango.com, any where in Google. Forget about finding it under any keywords for “Seattle Real Estate“. This actually started my passion for SEO and back in to technology. My passion for marketing and for high rankings on Google drove me to many late nights reading and applying. Finally the day arrived when UrbanTango.com was ranked in the top 10 on Google for “Seattle Real Estate” and “Seattle Real Estate agents“. This feat, was already achieved with MSN and Yahoo months ago, but Google was the goal, and since those days in 2003, I have been following and learning everything I can about SEO and top rankings. This has led me to start promoting our vacation rental software and online booking software site Blog.RentExpert.com and ITEX the Trade Exchange Network and Barter network for small business success.

We actually got out of real estate websites business back in May/June 2007, we were more passionate about blogging and blogcasting (which we called SEO and promoting your brand with Blogs). We are so thank ful, as we had no idea that the Housing bubble was going to pop this big. Thank God we are no longer selling software and services in the Seattle Real Estate or any real estate websites business. We have kept our websites around just for history’s sake, and we never thought we would get in to SEO as a service providers. But now days, we actually have SEO Clients, they are mostly friends who have businesses, we never wanted SEO clients. We have just been trying to promote our own properties, MyTypes.com for blogging, Free Blogs, GreenIsBetter.org for Infrared heaters, and MyTypes.com/Jewelry for our Cross Jewelry. Now I am an SEO for hire I guess, anything to continue our passion for blogging and to create community blogs.

That is why as a serious SEO, I check and recheck keywords, because I have a lot riding on this. Our clients are not just clients, they are our friends and our own small business blogs. I think any internet marketing 2.0 person today, checks and constantly analyzes his/her keywords quite often. Will you do it enough? You should, especially as you get ranked in the top 10 of your choice keywords to grow your business.

As always we thank our friends at ITEX Barter and Trade Exchange Network, LoveRelic.com for Cross Jewelry, and ComfortZone Infrared heaters which are better than any Edenpure Heater. We also have to thank our friends from Blog.RentExpert.com, they provide Vacation rental software that has the most comprehensive features of any online booking software. But this is not just our humble opinion, check them out, thanks for supporting this blog and our financial supporters.

Do you ever wonder why some sites get ranked #1 and they don’t seem have any content on them? And, than there certain sites that have tons of great content, even good SEO type blog content, and they are not even shown up on the search engines for their keywords?

How can this be? Are Search Engines fair? What is the most important factor in SEO rankings?

We won’t go on and on about how we can help you get ranked #1 on Google with our SEO blogs, or our SEO templates. We can’t, but we can provide the simple answers and some basic SEO Strategies and maybe some SEO Blog templates for your success. Before we start, we do want to mention that Content may not be King for SEO, but great content is important for your readers and long term success. And, great blog content is the #1 ingredient for your SEO rankings, because it controls the key to your #1 SEO ranking strategy.

Ans. #1: Content is not King because, you could have great content and no one could link to your content, and it could be totally devalued by Search Engines. How can this be? Well simple, the search engines such as Google need to have your content be validated by News and blog sites. And if they link to your blog with the proper contextual links, than and only then will your site or blog get ranked in the top search results.

Ans. #2: Search Engines are fair, they need help validating your content, and it’s in this content validation system that makes them fair, the more people link to your content the more fairness is spread through the SEO system.

Ans. #3: The #1 ranking factor in top search engine optimization and ranking factors is contextual links. Especially from great content and the more you get the higher you are ranked. So the #1 SEO ranking factor is the most contextual and highly respected Contextual Links.

For example, if we link “Cross Jewelry” to our site http://mytypes.com/jewelry

Than that has the best SEO valued contextual link, notice how both links go to the same exact spot? But the second Link does not describe the content as well as Cross Jewelry does, does it?

Cross Jewelry, is the proper keyword phrase that will rank high as a result of the above link type. Even experienced SEO consultants make the above mistake. Even plural and singular text keywords make a difference. For Example, Free Blog versus Free Blogs, if your target keyword has both, as most of us do, than you are better off doing plural text keywords, but we will cover the plural keywords link in another blogs post as well as great Link Baiting strategies.

**as always our Free blogs are sponsored by ComfortZone Infrared heaters which are better than Edenpure Heater, and LoveRelic.com by Jill Brahms Cross Jewelry.

Are you worried about differentiating yourself from the millions of other blogs out there? After all, one could view the blogosphere as a massive haystack with a few valuable, glittering needles hidden inside it – the blogs with valuable content. The search engines help people discover the needles, but it’s up to the individual bloggers to get them to use the needles to sew and make something great (okay, I definitely stretched the limits of that metaphor).

One of the best ways to be sticky is to create a site that is a feast for the senses – an elegant design and bold images for the eyes, interesting videos and podcasts for the ears, and luscious language that paints a picture in your readers’ minds. Be creative with your word selection and try to choose the most precise, accurate terms to express your ideas.

First of all, a thesaurus is your friend, whether you rely on an printed and bound book or you use websites like Thesaurus.com. Thesauri are especially valuable when you notice that you’ve been using the same words too many times and as a result, your writing is flat, boring, and/or redundant. A quick trip to the thesaurus to find alternative options can liven things up in no time, and you might discover new terms that work even better than your go-to phrases.

You don’t have to neglect SEO and your keywords to writing appealing posts, either. First of all, it’s important to integrate a significant variety of keywords into your posts – using only two or three constantly is a dead giveaway that it’s SEO copy and many people will click away (and it doesn’t matter how much traffic SEO sends your way if they leave within a second or two). After all, don’t you want people to stick around, so you get multiple pageviews, interesting comments, and incoming links?

Another way to inspire your writing is to keep a folder or set of bookmarks filled with quality writing by people you admire. You can pull it out when you’re feeling unmotivated to get your creative juices flowing. Personally, I use del.icio.us for this – I have tags for “inspiration” and “writing” and “creativity” and more in my account. Social media is for more than just connecting people – you can use it to organize your ideas, sources, and inspirations.

Last but not least, it’s important to remember that the number one way to become a skilled writer is to practice, practice, practive, and then practice some more. If you’re serious about improving your work, it’s important to write something everyday, even if it’s just a short paragraph or two, and to read the work of other writers – you never know where you’ll pick up a new technique or interesting insight.  Remember no matter how much you SEO, search marketing is still about writing great content.

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.

Here’s some of the best recent posts from around the blogosphere:

Steve Rubel of Micro Persuasion writes about the Golden Age of Individualism and how the web has made it possible – and important – for everyone to have a personal brand, but that it is really about more than that. “Individualism today means so much more than just having a micro-brand,” he says. “For most, it’s about using the web to flatten the playing field so they have the freedom to chase their passions and live their lives, their way.”

Speaking of personal brands, Vikram Rajan of Personal Brand Marketing writes about how to get a Wikipedia entry (ethically), because Wikipedia results always place high in search results.

Suffering from blogger’s block?  The Problogger himself, Darren Rowse, is publishing a series entitled “7 Days to Rediscovering Your Blogging Groove“.

Brevity is definitely considered a virtue in the blogosphere, and serious bloggers understand the importance of concise writing.  Therefore, The Dictionary of Concise Writing – reviewed by Daily Writing Tips – is an excellent resource for any blogger, from beginners to pros.

“People want to be inspired” says Aaron Wall of SEO Book. “People want to have something they can talk about and share, something they can relate to, and something that inspires them and brings them hope.  Emotional appeal is typically far more important than logical appeal.” Ask yourself this – does your blog inspire your readers?

Have an excellent weekend!

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!