I say this because there are many approaches to blogging as there are many ways to conduct SEO. Ultimately, it is what works for your blog that is most important and only you can determine that unless you want to hire an expensive SEO expert to do everything for you from the ground up.
1. Start with an idea in mind
Blogging is all about writing what interests you the most. But you have to take into consideration that you are not so unique that only you can interestingly talk about a particular topic. Most probably the idea that you have in mind is already covered by some other people and already making money out of it.
Be that as it may, let not this discourage you since you have to start somewhere if you want to have a blog. I am just saying here that if you already have competition, the more it will be difficult for your blog to be noticed and to gain authority in the eyes of search engines particularly page rank.
2. Getting Paid or free web hosting service
If you intend to monetize your website, then it is better to start with a paid website. Having a paid website is better in the eyes of advertisers. Also, not all free webhosting service allows you to insert advertisements. Even if they do, you have very limited options. But if you have no intention to monetize your website, then it is advisable to just use a free web hosting service.
3. Do not be serious about creating backlinks through comments
This is the mistake of many newbie bloggers. There is the mad race to build backlinks as early as possible because of the desire to get pagerank. Google make use of backlinks as the major barometer in determining the site’s authority. The more links that are pointing to your website, the higher will be your pagerank.
Make no mistake, most big and high PR websites have nofollow attributes so it is useless commenting for backlinking purposes.
But the problem with backlinks is that it is not so easy to get nowadays. Most of the big websites have “Nofollow” rule in their website so no matter how you comment and no matter how good your comments are, the search engines will not create a link between you and the site you made comments because they have nofollow rule. Make no mistake, most big and high PR websites have nofollow attributes so it is useless commenting for backlinking purposes. Make comments only when you feel like doing it and not for the sole purpose of getting backlinks because you will not get it.
When you give your comments on other websites, you are in effect giving them credit and making them more popular. You are helping them but they are not helping you. Your only consolation if any is the idea that there are people who might click on your name as a commenter and this action would transfer them to your site. But in my three years of blogging, I realized that very few people actually do this because I received very few traffic coming from comments I made from other people’s blogs and this is also true with other blog owners I know.
4. Getting backlinks through guest posting? May be not
This method of getting backlinks is basically the same with making comments only that it is treated and given a bit more credence. It is better than comments because you get to write an entire post or article about a given topic so you get to occupy one big space in someone else’s website. But there is also no real backlink because your only hope is that readers will go check your website if they think you have written an excellent post. Guest posting is one of the much hyped methods of getting backlinks but in most cases it is also useless. Thousands of guest postings are being made every day especially for competitive keywords so do not expect to get much out of it.
5. Focus on building your network
Use social media platforms to build your network. Create a Facebook account for your website, twitter, account, and linkedin among others. Follow people or companies that belong to your niche. Your social media strategy must be targeted and not random. If your niche is about cockfighting for instance, then concentrate on that niche by getting people who like cockfighting to like you on Facebook or to follow you on Twitter. Aside from online sources, you also have to build your network offline. Join associations or attend blog conferences and rub elbows with other bloggers and like-minded people.
6. Focus on creating content for your website
Some websites can make do with a single page website and leave it as it is. But this is not true with a blog website since you have to regularly upload fresh content to become an authority for a particular niche. Instead of guest posting to other people’s website, try to focus on enriching your website with contents on a regular basis. It is your website that needs help and not the site of someone else. They are already ahead of you in terms of page rank and guest posting for them gives them the opportunity to get more content without doing anything. Your creative juices must be focused on your website and not theirs and I cannot over-emphasize this important advice.
7. Do not buy backlinks
There are people or online companies that offer for sale backlinks. They promise improved page rank in an instant through thousands of backlinks. This is not a good idea because most of the time the backlinks are not related to your site’s niche. You website might just end up being penalized by search engines like Google if it contains irrelevant backlinks.
8. Write long posts
I know it is difficult to write long posts especially if you’re experiencing a mental block. There is also this problem that web visitors do not like long posts such as this one (lol). But you have to write long posts because search engine bots love it. Some people who are serious about getting the information they need also love it. If you have a short post, not much information can be gathered from it by search spiders and people looking for information. But how many words are good enough for a post? Nowadays, 500 words per post is already good. But if you can write longer to include as many information you can give, the better it is for people and search engines.
9. Create videos and upload to Youtube
One way to boost your ranking in the SERPs is to upload Youtube videos to your site. Videos that pertain to your niche, or “how to” videos that can help visitors is good for your blog. Lots of people prefer to just watch videos especially if they have good internet connection so you should not pass this opportunity out.
10. Use images in your posts
Having images is a big come on for a website. Do not make the mistake of publishing a blog that only has words in it. When people read blogs, they also love to see pictures especially if it is related to the topic. Images can help a lot to emphasize an idea, stress a point or plainly to make the post a not so boring experience.
Do not use images coming from the internet though. This is true even if the image is said to be royalty-free. Unless you are familiar with creative commons or you bought the rights to an image, better not do it. What you can do instead is upload your own produced images.
This post is already too long and I hope you got some valuable blogging tips in this post. Good luck on your blogging.
