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Does Blogging Help With SEO?

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Does Blogging Help SEO? Still Skeptical? Here are 6 reasons why your business needs to be blogging to help your SEO rankings right now.

When we first started trying to SEO our website, we began by picking some keywords with decent search volume and began building links to that page. That worked OK for a while, but there was really something missing in this strategy.

We know this is true for many of our web development clients, and you might even be familiar with constantly checking your keyword rankings and feeling the frustration of not being able to control their movement.

When we speak to these clients about the importance of blogging for SEO purposes the most common response is:

“Does blogging help SEO? Let’s focus on link building – we don’t really think blog posts are going to achieve what we’re after.”

This thought process is the biggest flaw in SEO strategy for your website.

You’re focusing on ranking for a few terms instead of focusing on providing what your customers want. Sometimes customers come in and know exactly what they want. But most of the time, they are going to have a bunch of questions. They know they want to buy something… but they aren’t ready, yet. We know in our business, we hear the same questions over and over.

What about YOU? Do you ever wind up answering the same customer questions again and again? We’re sure you do, and this is where blogging for SEO can really help both you and your customers.

Some examples of questions we get asked are:

  • How will I migrate my site to BigCommerce?
  • Do you offer product photography services?
  • How do I remove negative seller feedback on Amazon?
  • What type of Adwords campaign is right for me?

This got us thinking… Maybe, just maybe there’s a better way to go after clients and rank for keywords that matter to them. So, we started answering the questions our clients had in the form of blog posts. Do you know what happened? We started ranking on the first page of Google within 12-48 hours for these posts and our website traffic grew leaps and bounds! Turns out, the same questions and problems people were asking us on the phone, they were also Googling!

So, does blogging help SEO? Yes, and it can help your SEO too!

If you’re not using blog posts to help your SEO strategy – you are missing out! If you’re a small business owner who’s still wondering “does blogging help SEO?” – here are six undeniable reasons start blogging now.

1. Create Blog Posts If You Want to Attract a Following

When you initially launch a blog, it probably won’t receive much traffic – and that’s okay. As your blog grows and becomes more popular, it will generate a strong following of loyal visitors. These visitors may follow your blog and/or its RSS feed on a daily basis, checking to see when new content is published.

2. If You Want To Announce New Products or Services

A blog is the perfect platform on which to announce new products or services. If your business recently added a new product to its lineup, let the world know by writing about it in a blog post. Assuming your blog has a strong following, this can bring invaluable attention to your business’s new product.

3. Blog Posts = Lead Generation

Of course, blogging is also an effective method for generating leads. You can install a newsletter signup form, for instance, allowing users to enter their email address in exchange for email delivered by your business. Alternatively, you can set up an inquery form where visitors enter their personal information to learn more about your business or its products/services.

4. Blog Post Can Target Local Search Optimization Too

Blogging can also prove useful in local search optimization (LSO). If you are trying to rank for geo-specific keywords (e.g. your city + business niche), you can write high-quality blog posts containing those keywords. Search engines will notice these keywords when crawling your site, encouraging higher search rankings in the process.

5. Be The Authority

You’ll present your business as an authority figure in its respective industry or niche by maintaining a blog. If a prospect is forced to choose between a business with a blog and a business without a blog, they’ll probably choose the one with a blog. Why? We already talked about this a little… but by answering your potential customers’ questions, you are establishing yourself as an authority in your industry. This instills trust and confidence in your knowledge and services. The key thing to remember, however, is that you need to publish high-quality content on a regular basis.

6. It’s Easy to Create Blog Posts

Blogging is actually easier than most business owners realize. Thanks to user-friendly blogging platforms like WordPress, you can have a blog up and running in minutes. Creating new content for your blog is also easy, as WordPress and similar content management systems (CMS) use a web-based interface.

Don’t want to do it yourself?

There are plenty of blog writing services out there just like the professional blog writing services offered by TurkReno Incorporated who will:

  • Research and validate ideas for blog posts that are PROVEN to be a hit with your audience
  • Pitch ideas to you and you can approve or reject.
  • Vet, hire and train writers specifically to produce HIGH QUALITY content,
  • Format it in a way that’s easily readable on the web (What Google’s Looking for).
  • FULLY optimize your post for SEO including title tags, h1s, internal links and external links.
  • Post directly to your blog for a completely hands-off experience.

These are just a few reasons why your business needs a blog.

Try it! See first hand the positive impact blogging for SEO can have on acquiring new leads for your business.

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PlayStation Users Advised to Not Use Their PS3

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A recent update from Sony PlayStation Blog stated that PlayStation users are advised to NOT use their PS3’s due to the wide-spread issue with the PlayStation Network. Here’s the direct post that they made:

As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:

  • The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
  • When the user tries to sign in to the PlayStation Network, the following
    message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been
    signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
  • When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears
    on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install
    trophies. Please exit your game.”
  • When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the
    Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date
    and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
  • Users are not able to play back certain rental video downloaded from the
    PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

As mentioned above, please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologize for any inconvenience caused.

As we thought, this is the PS3 Y2K bug indeed. Let’s hope this is resolved before FFXIII comes out.

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PlayStation Network Down

PlayStation Network Down from 8001050F Error Code Recap

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As we had reported last night, the Sony PlayStation Network was (and still is) down because of an unexplained technical issue.  The issue causes an error code of 8001050F to appear upon launching any PS3 Blu-Ray Game, setting the clock back to 12/31/1999 (sounds a lot like a Y2K bug), trophy sync problems and downloaded content (DLC) to show that there are invalid copyright permissions.  This has caused a lot of headache among hundreds of thousands of gamers globally and still no update from Sony on their blog or their Twitter feed.

So, what is this? A PS3 Y2K bug? Possibly.  The error code “8001050F” is referenced to mean “Hardware failure. Cannot update firmware or connect to internet.” However, upon launching most games, players are getting a message stating “Registration of the trophy information could not be completed. The game will quit. (8001050F)”. Why would this be? Shouldn’t the PS3 work offline too? That’s what we thought. All of our offline DLC, such as Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII (PS1/PSP Playable) does not work at all. We can’t play single player games that shouldn’t rely on the Internet or not such as Heavy Rain. All we have to say is we hope that this is fixed today, and for sure before the 9th of this month, when Final Fantasy XIII releases.

Usually by this point, Sony would/should have replied…but what’s to be expected from a free network?  Our advice: If you haven’t turned on your PS3 yet, don’t. It’s tragic enough to read about and even worse to see for yourself. Last night, the topic of “playstation network crash” hit the #5 hottest trend on Google and now currently sits at #40. Wait until Sony updates their Blog or Twitter with “we’ve fixed the error”. We will keep you posted as well, so stay tuned.

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Does Running a Web Consulting Business Mean No Bank Holidays

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Here I am sat in front of the computer waiting for one of my business partners to arrive and I start to think, ‘Does Running a Web Consulting Business Mean No Bank Holidays?’

Well, the truth is out there, as the saying goes, and take a look at any successful network marketer and they will tell you one thing. You never stop.

It might seem as though you’re listening when your partner walks into the room, throws a cup of coffee your way and tells you the kids have just climbed up onto the roof and are throwing rocks at the neighbor’s cat for the fifth time this week but the truth is you haven’t heard a word of it and so you smile curiously and say something like, ‘Oh, okay, I’ll be with you in a minute. Thanks for the coffee’.

You haven’t heard a word because you’re too busy looking for that next million. The Internet is taking over your home and there’s nothing you can do about it. So why not make a web site?

And listen, if this is you:

It’s okay.

Really, we understand and we know what it’s like to rush down stairs at 3:47AM because there’s just that something you need to do online because the guy you were talking to an hour ago in Hong Kong promised to get back to you and you’re sure he’s probably online right now waiting for your reply and besides you’re not really that tired.

We understand.

So go do your thing this bank holiday and forget that others around you have different lives. We’re still here giving quotes.

Yours is exactly that so make the most of it.

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Launch An Internet Marketing Campaign With No Money

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There are plenty of free services on the Internet when trying to advertise your services. Following these few simple steps, you can guarantee that you’ll be listed in the major search engines with little to no money.

  1. Create a sitemap using a sitemap creator and submit it to Bing and Google.  Your best bet is to follow the open-format Sitemaps protocol.  Verify your sites and verify that your sitemaps do not have any warnings (Google is the currently the best way to check this).
  2. Assuming that you’ve already picked a topic or product that you plan on sticking to for a while, begin to write two or three short essays that score at least a 500 word count.  These will be your primary advertising content, so make sure that these essays are not only on your site, but refer to your product or service in the best light.
  3. Start with Google Groups, which is a syndicate for the UseNet.  All that it requires is a simple Google Account.  Find as many related topics to your product or services and distribute the essay that you wrote.  There are thousands of niches on the UseNet, so it’s easy to find a few dozen to inform.
  4. Create a WordPress Blog on either your web site or at WordPress.org and use plugin such as Gregarious or Sociable to distribute your content to Digg, Propeller, StumbleUpon, Mixx, and Del.icio.us as well as your favorite social websites.  These sites can be an excellent way of gauging the quality of your content, product, or service.
  5. If you are confident enough in your company, you should next go and make a press release with the essay that you wrote.  It may take some minor revisions to make your essay look like a press release and follow the correct format, but not long.
  6. Follow this list with 20 free press release points and submit your release to them.  Ideally you want to target sites that will submit your release to places like Google and Yahoo News.
  7. Go search Google, Yahoo, and MSN for your topic and add the term “forum” or “blog” and become a member of that site.  Do not spam these sites as you do not want to associate negativity with your product.

This should be enough to fulfill a day or so and see at least 50+ referring links to your site that can generate plenty of traffic.  Enjoy!

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Liberated from Spam: 20 Ideas for Writing a Blog Post

Blog Post Suggestions for When You Can’t Think of What to Write About

Originally Posted By Susan Gunelius, About.com – I REALLY REALLY REALLY Wanted to liberate this material from the spam that was on About.com.  That was frustrating.  All credit goes to the original poster.

The more you blog, the harder it can be to come up with fresh ideas to write about. Two of the most important parts of a blog are compelling content and frequent updates. Take a look at the following blog post ideas to spark your creative juices when you can’t think of what to write about. Just remember to try to apply each of these ideas appropriately to your blog topic.

1. Lists

People love lists, and just about any kind of list is bound to attract traffic. Top 10 lists, 5 things not to do, 3 reasons I love something, etc. Start with a number then take it from there.

2. How-to

People love to find easy-to-follow instructions to help them accomplish a task. Whether you want to teach your readers how to throw the perfect curve ball or how to avoid getting bitten by a mosquito, the choice is yours.

3. Reviews

You can write a review of just about anything on your blog. Take a look at the following suggestions:

  • Products
  • Websites
  • Books
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Restaurants
  • Hotels

The possibilities are nearly endless. Just think of something you’ve tried and write about your experience and thoughts.

4. Photos

Post a photo (or photos) related to your blog topic.

5. Link Roundup

Write a post that includes a list of links to other blog posts that published great posts or to websites you like.

6. Current Events

What’s going on in the world? Write a post about an interesting bit of news.

7. Tips

Write a post to share tips to help your readers accomplish something in an easier, faster or cheaper way.

8. Recommendations

Share recommendations for your favorite books, websites, movies or other “favorites” related to your blog topic.

9. Interviews

Interview a prominent figure or expert in your blog topic then publish a blog post about it.

10. Polls

Register for an account with a site like PollDaddy.com then publish a poll related to your blog topic in one of your blog posts.

The more you blog, the harder it can be to come up with fresh ideas to write about. Two of the most important parts of a blog are compelling content and frequent updates. Take a look at the following blog post ideas to spark your creative juices when you can’t think of what to write about. Just remember to try to apply each of these ideas appropriately to your blog topic.

11. Contests

People love to win prizes, and blog contests are a great way to drive traffic to your blog as well as encourage visitors to leave comments. Blog contests can be used to write several posts such as an announcement post, a reminder post and a winner post.

12. Blog Carnivals

Join a blog carnival (or host one yourself) then write a post about the carnival topic.

13. Podcasts

Sometimes it’s easier to talk about something than it is to write about it. If that’s the case, try audio blogging and post a podcast.

14. Videos

Share a video from YouTube or one of your own, or host a video blog.

15. Quotes

Share a quote from a celebrity or prominent person in a field related to your blog topic. Be sure to cite your source!

16. Links to Interesting Content from Digg or StumbleUpon

Sometimes you can find some really interesting submissions on Digg, StumbleUpon and other social bookmarking sites. It’s fun to share links to some of the best submissions related to your blog topic or of interest to your readers in one of your own blog posts.

17. Your Turn

Turn the tables and post a question or comment then ask your readers what they think about that question or comment. Your turn posts are a great way to spark a conversation.

18. Guest Posts

Ask other bloggers or experts in a field related to your blog topic to write a guest post for your blog.

19. Point/Counterpoint

A point/counterpoint post is where you present two opposing sides to an argument or issue. This type of post can even be separated into two different posts where the first presents one side of the argument and the second presents the other side.

20. Answer Reader Questions or Comments

Look back through the comments left by your readers and find any questions or statements that can be used to spark a new post.

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