Thanks for the reminders.  I dont plan out my weekly blogs the way I should. If I did, I'd be following more of these rules!

Lisa,

Thanks for the coment.  Just recently someone, and I wish I knew who to give the credit to, but someone here on Active Rain made a point of telling us that her blog was part of her business plan and treated as such -so she does not have problems working on it during the 'work day'. This was one of the blogs theat I had read to motivate this article.

I am convinced that the effort we put into our blogs will come back many times in the very near future.  I believe that Blogs will be instrumental in helping all of us reach the top of the search engines, so we might as well do it right and enjoy the ride.

Now Have a Blessed Day,

John Occhi, REALTOR®
Your Resource for Hemet CA Real Estate
http://www.johnocchi.com/

John, excellent points.  The one thing that I need to focus more on is the key words, I don't do that enough.

George,

I too have been guilty about not using my keywords.  Especially the ones we are not yet known for, but we desire.  I just finished a post, read it liked it and was almost ready to post.  I then went ahead and sprinkeled in about 6 key words - it only toom me an additional 2 minutes tops - but I now know this article (not my best work) will do me justice on Google and the search engines.

Now Have a Blessed Day,

John Occhi, REALTOR®
Your Resource for Hemet CA Real Estate
http://www.johnocchi.com/

good points. thanks.

Tom,

 It's like anything else - practive makes perfect.

Enjoy the experience

have a Blessed Day,

john Occhi, Hemet REALTOR
Hemet CA Real Estate
www.JohnOcchi.Com

Great article - especially about keywords. I'm guilty of not doing that enough, too. Thanks.

Michael Trust

www.MichaelTrustRealty.com

We are so eager and excited to get started!!

Most blogging or content management systems have plugins or modules called "Similar Entries" or something to that effect. These plugins will place 3 or 4 links to relevant posts at the bottom of each post. I've been using this technique quite a bit and it seems to be working great. It especially helps if the posts are relevant. It also helps if you place links referencing other articles, directly in your articles. Lead your readers to the content you want them to read.

Keywords are huge. I try and think about what people will be typing in to find my article. Then use the heck out of it. So for instance if I was writing about Missouri Farmland, I would put those keywords in the title of my post, in the first sentence, in the last sentence and anywhere else I can, in the links, images, alt tags, meta tags, etc. I want to be as helpful to the search engines as I can. But don't go crazy, otherwise your "actual human readers" will get tired of seeing the words Missouri Farmland. I would also suggest writing a series of articles, using Missouri Farmland as my keywords.

I also think about smaller niches as well. Just because you want to get people with Missouri Farmland as their search phrase. Don't rule out using other keywords. This is a technique called the "Side Door." You'd be surprised how you can attract readers with different keywords. Be creative and learn what people are searching for in your niche. Do your homework. Each set of keywords you use, is a different way for people to find you on the search engines.

People who start blogs, don't realize how much work they are. A blog is only as good as you make it. So I agree that you need to work it into your daily schedule. Otherwise, your blog will become stale. Plus you should get into a blogging rhythm, that way if you do have regular readers they will know when to expect new articles. Plus the search engines will love you if you have fresh, original, constantly updated content.

Also, blogging is not about just writing articles. It requires, research, networking, link exchanging, article submission, site submission, social networking, buying traffic, sitemaps, analytics, advertising, etc. There are tons of things you should be doing other than just writing. 

Randy
http://new-communities.com