7 Steps To Easy SEO My Way

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Jeffery

11th Commandment: Thou shalt not write a blog post that hast not been optimized for SEO.

I hear so many different things about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that sometimes I want to pull my hair out. Don’t do this, do that, don’t do that, do this instead. Half of what they talk about is perpetuated by what they heard someone else said. Where do you find expert advice?

If you’re thinking here, you are wrong my friend, so very wrong. I really don’t concern myself with SEO much, as my more astute readers have probably noticed.

There’s a few reasons for that, one is that I am no expert. Nope, not at all. Sure I know a few things, but that’s about it. The other reason is that I just don’t really bother doing it in my blog posts. This is one of the few that could be considered “SEO Optimized”…at least in part.

I should, I know how, I just don’t. This is definitely one of those “Do as I say, not as I do” type posts.

I’m going to tell you the few things I know, these are done by most people, even by those who disagree with most SEO practices.

1) WRITE FOR YOUR READERS, NOT FOR THE SEARCH ENGINES

That’s pretty self-explanatory. Who are you trying to reach? Readers. Who are the search engines trying to help? Readers. If your content is written for search engines, all the traffic in the world won’t help your blog become popular, you must have good content.

Not having an optimized blog isn’t good either, but it’s far far better than having a blog that’s easily found and even easier to forget.

2) USE LONG TAIL KEYWORDS

This is not the place for me to teach you how to research keywords. If you are getting ready to write posts, you should already know how. Long tail keywords are simply 3 or 4 word (or more) keyword phases. For example the keywords “easy seo” is short, the long tail keyword phrase I chose is “7 steps to easy seo”. This ranks better in the search engines…if people are looking that specifically.

And in case you’re curious, no I didn’t research those keywords when I went to write this post. I should have, but I didn’t.

3) USE THE KEYWORD(S) IN THE TITLE OF YOUR BLOG POST

Not every title has to do that, some titles can be written to be interesting, fun, enticing, controversial, etc. Overall though, those type of titles should be sprinkled throughout your other seo optimized titles.

Most people agree that the sooner you use your keywords, the better.

4) USE THE KEYWORD(S) WITHIN THE FIRST COUPLE OF SENTENCES

In keeping with using your keywords sooner, most people agree that you should use your long tail keyword phrase in your first couple of sentences. Part of the reason for this is that your first few sentences may used as part of the description in the search engine results.

If you have the ability, the keywords should also be used in your meta tags (title and description). I’ve heard that Google completely ignores the meta keyword tag, but it’s not going to hurt to have it.

5) USE THE KEYWORD(S) WITHIN THE POST ONLY WHERE IT FITS IN

This is where one of my biggest failings is. Not that I overuse keywords, but I under-use them. Basically it means that as you proof-read your post, there’s places where you can put your keyword where it doesn’t affect the way your blog reads or flows. If it makes it awkward, take it out, if it doesn’t (or helps) put it in.

Where my problem is, as I stated, is there’s places where I could use the keyword and don’t. I just don’t think about it as I write and if I was doing it proper, I’d go back through looking for where I could put it in.

For example, under point 3 I had this sentence: “Overall though, those type of titles should be sprinkled throughout your other seo optimized titles.”

Normally I would have just put “Overall though, those type of titles should be sprinkled throughout your other titles.” or “other optimized titles.”

See the difference? The first sentence doesn’t affect the flow (and maybe increases the readability a bit) but increases the keyword density (the number of times your keyword phrase is used) and though the other sentence would have worked, it doesn’t help with seo.

6) USE THE KEYWORD(S) IN YOUR ANCHOR TEXT

Ah yes, the mysterious “anchor text”. So if I was linking to some site (or back to this site from an article or comment on another blog/forum) the anchor text is the words you actually click on.

For example the link <a href=”http://sweatyshop.com/136/7-steps-to-easy-seo-my-way”> 7 Steps To Easy SEO My Way</a>

Shows a clickable link that says 7 Steps To Easy SEO My Way

This is what you want, your keywords in that text. And if you vary the text a bit in different places, that helps a bit…or so I’m told.

This is much better than having your clickable link say “click here for more information”

7) USE THE KEYWORD(S) IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH

I don’t know about this one. Not everyone has claimed you need to have your keywords in the last paragraph, but it does fit in with the other steps, especially if your last paragraph has a link.

Of course I haven’t talked about creating backlinks (links on other sites pointing to yours), that’s important for Google rankings, but isn’t actually SEO (with the exception of using your keywords as anchor text).

Are there other things that could be done? Sure. Do they help? Perhaps. They don’t hurt as far as I know, whether they help or not I honestly can’t say.

In any case, I hope this has been helpful for those of you who know less about SEO optimization than I do, and if not, well, it was good practice for me anyway.

- Jeffery

Tagged with: 11th Commandment, 7 Steps To Easy SEO My Way, Astute Readers, Blog, Expert Advice, Keywords, Many Different Things, Phrase, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines, Search Optimization, Search People, Seo Optimization, Traffic, Type Posts
Posted in Internet Marketing

Finding My Motivation

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Jeffery

Owning your own business is not for the unmotivated.

If you ever struggle with forcing yourself to do things when you don’t have a task master bearing down your back, then being self employed may not be for you.

I have owned a business for several years now, in addition to having a regular job. I’ve been motivated off and on but to be honest, usually off.

Oh sure, my brain is like any other, I can think of all the reasons I should do something, and sometimes I can get frustrated enough with things to start (again) on things, but really in the end, much like the fizz in a soda pop, it goes flat after a while.

Recently I became very motivated, and so far it seems to be lasting. I tried to reason my way out of it (yes I really did) but the more I tried to convince myself that it wouldn’t work (and for very very good reasons) the more that inner…something stoked the fires until I couldn’t ignore it.

You see, there’s this lady… oh yes, it’s the classic downfall (or driving force) behind many a man… and it wouldn’t really work unless I was more successful (in my mind anyway).

And the more I didn’t want to put effort in, the more effort I felt compelled to put in. No it probably wouldn’t work out, but I keep going now, picking up speed.

Why?

Because I should have been in a place where we could have given it a shot (again, in my own mind), and even though it’s far too late for her, I’ll be ready for the next one.

Superficial? Yes. Poor reasons? Yep. Did it do the trick? Sigh, yes, yes it did. But I’ll take the motivation and the momentum and roll with it, because I AM worth it, and I need to be able to prove that I am capable of it. It just would have been nice if it had been for any one of a number of other reasons I’ve had.

Ah who can fathom the human heart? Not me, that’s for sure.

What is it that motivates you?

- Jeffery

Tagged with: Brain, business, business owner, Downfall, Driving Force, Fires, Human Heart, Job, Momentum, motivated to succeed, Motivation, Owning Your Own Business, Reason, Soda Pop
Posted in General, Internet Marketing

Comma Abusing And Pen Names

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Jeffery

Confessions of a comma abuser

I am a proud, serial, comma abuser. Really, I am. If you didn’t notice then that’s because you’re worse than I am. Or you don’t know any better. Either way.

I don’t always know when I’m breaking the comma rules, but often I do. For example, I use the comma whenever there’s supposed to be a pause in my statements. I suppose that instead I could use an ellipsis like … and the way I learned it is if you are using it to end a sentence, then you use four …. and sometimes I do, but I often use the comma.

Examples of comma use

You also use commas around optional phrases, meaning that if you omit the comma-bracketed phrase, the meaning of the sentence really doesn’t change. So for example, in the sentence “I could always use this, or maybe not, to get my desired results” is essentially the same as “I could always use this to get my desired results”. Now this example is really, really poor because in this case the phrase “or maybe not” could be a part of the person’s sense of humor. Hey, gimme a break, it’s really hard to think of bullet-proof examples “on the fly”, so to speak.

How grammar applies to marketing

I’ll bet you didn’t think you’d be getting a grammar lesson for marketing, did you?

The bottom line is, nothing smells like “rip-off” more effectively than bad grammar and horrible spelling. “You barely can read or write the English language and you want to sell me a series on article marketing???” I don’t think so.

On to using pen names

Do you use a pen name? Stephen King and Anne Rice use pen names for some of their books. There’s reasons to use a pen name in book writing, maybe you want to keep your “author” life and your “personal” life separate. Some celebrities have a “stage name” instead of their real name for that reason.

Sometimes it’s because they (authors, not actors) want one name to be well known for one genre, like horror, and a different name for a different genre so people don’t get confused. BTW, did you notice how “like horror” is a disposable phrase? Why can’t I think of those things when I actually need them?

Why some use pen names in marketing

In marketing there’s similar reasons as well. like a new name for each niche perhaps, but one of the most ominous reasons is competition. You don’t want your competitors to see every niche you’re in. Some will try to get them banned by turning in false accusations, or if you do black hat, genuine accusations. Sometimes they’ll jump into every arena you’re in just to give you a headache.

Sometimes it’s perception, like how can a person be an expert in “X” if they also are in “Y” and “Z”? Never mind the fact that people usually have more than one thing they know about. A person can know about auto mechanics, the internet, and gardening. There’s nothing that says they have to only talk about one of them, but perception says they can’t do it all.

Are pen names in marketing ethical?

Some marketers consider this unethical, others don’t. Personally I think that as long as WHAT you are doing is ethical, WHO you call yourself doesn’t really matter.

- Jeffery

Tagged with: Actors, Anne Rice, Bottom Line, Bullet Proof, Celebrities, comma abuse, Comma Rules, Confessions, Desired Results, Ellipsis, English Language, grammar, Grammar Lesson, Horrible Spelling, Pen Name, Pen Names, Personal Life, Phrases, Sense Of Humor, Serial Comma, Stage Name, Stephen King
Posted in Internet Marketing

How To Generate Traffic The Lazy Way

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Jeffery

While I was responding to a post on a forum about generating traffic I thought to myself, “Hey, this will make a great blog entry and maybe even an article”

My way to generate natural, organic traffic

When I first got started I was overwhelmed with the “do this” and “do that” for generating traffic. Over time I have settled down into what matches my style.

Traffic from signature files in forums

The biggest thing was including a link to my product’s website (instead of to my own website) in my signature file in every forum I joined. Also adding the link to my e-mail signatures was a big step.

It may not sound like a big step but I don’t use signature files simply because I like typing my name instead of using a signature file. A letter just doesn’t seem “finished” if I don’t type my name. Yeah I know, the shrink doesn’t get me either.

Also, I join forums that interest me, and not just ones in my niche. I have a life outside of internet marketing and I have more interests than internet marketing. Internet marketing is what I do, not who I am. It’s not to project that I’m more well rounded (instead of just fat), it’s a reflection of the fact that I am more well rounded.

A real life example of traffic from forums

So what if my blog training videos don’t match my interests in salt water aquariums? I’m not there to advertise my product, but to participate in the forum and there’s nothing wrong with having a link to my unrelated product in my signature file.

If I ever sell a related product, I’ll change my signature file to match but until I do, fish keepers do more than just keep fish and they may want to learn how to set up a blog. The point is that it (fish keeping) is an interest of mine and not a sneaky way to advertise.

Traffic from articles

For article marketing I tried just writing articles but now I write articles when I feel my blog entry is “worthy” of being put into directories. I find that’s easier for me than sitting down to write an article and turn it into a blog entry. Must be a reverse psychology thing.

Traffic from blog comments

I also post comments on other people’s blogs only when I have a worthy comment to add instead of just “good entry”. This helps others see I have added value as opposed to just commenting for a quick linkback.

- Jeffery

Tagged with: Advertise, Article Marketing, articles, blog comments, Blog Entry, E Mail, Fish Keepers, Fish Keeping, forums, Generate Traffic, Generating Traffic, Hey, How To Set Up A Blog, lazy traffic, lazy traffic tactics, Mail Signatures, Marketing Internet Marketing, Match, natural traffic, Niche, organic traffic, Own Website, Reflection, Salt Water Aquariums, Signature File, Signature Files
Posted in Internet Marketing, Traffic

How To Set Up A Blog And Forum – Install PHPBB Forum Software 2

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Jeffery

Welcome to part 13 of How To Set Up A WordPress Blog And Forum.
Editors Note: This post was originally posted in 2009. The post was lost but eventually recovered, changes have been made where deemed necessary.

If you want to read from the beginning just go to this list of the articles in this series: How To Set Up A Blog and Forum Article Index

Today we will finish installing one of the more popular forum software called PHPBB.

I know some of the screens are really hard to see, but I can’t help that on the blog, it should be more clear in the e-book however as I can use the full size photos (I think).

SO on to the ‘Posting’ tab. It’s really disappointing, there’s just a note on what BBCodes are (gives you more control over how things are displayed in posts when using html), so click the button:

posting1

So basically it allows you to replace certain user html codes with these code you’ve defined. Personally, my html needs are fairly simple meaning that I know enough to get me into trouble and back out again, so there’s not much I’m going to say about it.

posting2

Once you’re done playing…er…constructing your BBCodes, we go to the ‘Users and Groups’ tab:

users1

Get the user. You can either use the anonymous person, type in a user name, or search for someone. The next screen lets you do a couple of things:

users5

You can change their username, e-mail, password and founder status. Apart from a couple of statistics, there’s one other really neat-o thing you can do. You can test their permissions to make sure everything works and/or that they can’t do something they shouldn’t.

You do this by replacing your administration permissions with theirs (don’t worry, you can get your permissions back). Right under their user name is ‘Test out user’s permissions’ Click on that and you get:

users2

Very hard to read here but it says that their permissions were transferred but your administration ones were not. Now you can go around the board, do test posts and stuff and see what you can or cannot do just like that user.

Once you are done testing you will want to restore your administrator permissions so you can do…well…administrator stuff. At the top of the screen where it says ‘Board index’, right under that it talks about the User Control Panel, View your posts, and Restore Permissions.

If you think all you have to do is click on “Restore Permissions”, you’re right.

users3

TEXT

At the bottom of the ‘edit users’ screen is a section called ‘Basic Tools’ There are two drop down menus and a checkbox. The checkbox is for if you choose to delete the user. You can retain their posts or remove their posts when you do that (it’s under the second drop down menu).

The top drop down menu allows you to ban the user and a few other things.

users6

Now on to the very disappointing ‘Permissions’ tab:

permissions1

That’s it. Just a description of types of permissions. It’s rather anti-climatic if you ask me. On the left side of the screen you have options to change some of the things we already talked about. Go and play in there if you wish.

On to styles:

styles1

As you may have guessed, you can change the way the forum looks. This tells you what is installed and what’s available to be installed.

It’s not pictured here, but on the left you have three menu things for themes, templates, and imagesets.

I haven’t looked, but you should be able to go to the phpbb site and find styles to get or where to get them.

On to maintainence:

maintenance1

Here’s a list of things that have happened. Not shown but to the left of your screen you will see where you can click to get to various logs.

On to ‘System’:

system1

As you can see, my version of phpbb is out of date already and I only installed it a week ago.

This screen allows you to check for a newer version (mine defaults to this) and on the left of this screen you can see that there’s other options, such as installing different language packs.

mainscreen1

Here’s an older shot of the screen a visitor would see when they come to the forum.

If you’ve installed WordPress and phpbb instead of WordPress and the forum plugins you need to let people know how to get to the forum. You do this by providing a link on your default static page (if you used that option) and on each blog post and page.

Now you don’t have to do that for each post and page, but I recommend it. You would add a text widget to your sidebar and put the html link code into that.

Another option would be to create a new page and put the link there. The code in either case would be something like this:

<a href=”http://url_of_your_forum”> Whatever text to say this is a link to your forum</a>

So in my case it would be:

<a href=”http://saltwaterfishkeeping.com/phpbb_forum”>Click here to go to our forums</a>

CONCLUSION

That’s really all there is. If you think I went too skimpy on the forum details there’s two main reasons for that. One is that I know more about blogs than I do about forums. The other is that the forums are too customized to know what you want to do.

I could go on for many more posts going over every single option and what they mean, but if you are going to go with the defaults and just add some basic stuff, well, there’s not much more to tell you.

If you are going to customize every single detail then I doubt I could ever go into enough detail and you probably would quickly surpass my knowledge on forums, and that’s okay.

So decide whether you want just a blog, a forum, or both. If you want just a forum you don’t have to install WordPress for that, you can just install the forum software unless you want to use the WordPress Forum Plugins.

You can always change your mind later, but one thing you need to decide up front is if you are going to use the forum plugins or the forum software.

There isn’t an easy way that I know of to convert from one to the other. You would have to re-create it in the other one then do a whole lot of copy/paste to transfer all the old stuff.

To just start over means loosing a lot of information that someone may have needed. But again, that choice is yours.

My advice, and it may change with experience, is that if all you want is a fairly simple, straight forward forum, go with the plugin. If however, you want something you can expand and have more control over, go with the software.

I have a bigger dilemma. I wanted this to be both a tutorial and something that I would keep and use. So now I have two forums installed, I only want one, but I need to leave both for people who might want to see it if they are following the e-book.

I get to decide and then figure out how to keep people out of the non-active one. Yeah there’s probably an easy way to turn of posts and registrations through an admin panel, but I haven’t looked yet.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this and learned a lot, I know I have through trying to teach it. Please comment, please recommend, please download the e-book in a few days when it’s ready.

But most of all, don’t stop enjoying whatever you’ve set up.

- Jeffery

Tagged with: Anonymous Person, Article Index, Article Series, Bbcodes, Blog Software, Click The Button, Control, E Book, E Mail, Editors, forum, Forum Article, Forum Software, forums, Groups, How To Set Up A Blog, How To Set Up A Blog And Forum, Install Software, install widgets, install wordpress, installing plugins, installing wordpress, Mail Password, Person Type, phpbb, phpbb forum software, Screens, setting up wordpress, setup wordpress, Size Photos, Statistics, Wordpress Blog
Posted in Archive, How To Set Up A Wordpress Blog and Forum, Internet Marketing