How to Be Intentional in your Blogging for 2013
As we dive head first into 2013 and our online marketing presence expands we must remember that more is not always better. As real estate agents and stagers you know this for a fact that a well-placed furniture piece or knick-knack can do wonders over the clutter and rubbish of a jumbled house.
The same should go for your website and/or blog.
With all the changes we saw Google dish out this past year we need to be more careful than ever to follow the rules and provide our reader exactly what they want. Google is looking for that and you should as well. Having thousands of blogs with low quality content will not stack up to a couple hundred well-timed and optimized posts.
Related Post: Recovering Your Site from a Google Ban or Penalty
This may be why I have not posted much over the past month; Goodness- only 3 this last December over 2011 where it was at least 30 blogs a month! Maybe I have gotten everything out that I wanted to say and there's nothing new under the sun? But in the SEO world, things are always changing and I feel they are tightening like the ridges of a screw winding down to a more specific audience. When just 5 years ago anything worked including black-hat techniques, to now where very specific and intentional tactics are what it takes to get the results we desire.
So for 2013 let's be intentional in our blogs. Don't just post to get in your 3 a week (although that's a good, decent number for fresh content) But if you really have nothing to talk about, it's ok! Wait until you do and then make it spectacular! Give us something we really want; something someone would really search for and value once they found it; something someone would share, pass on and learn from. In addition, here are some other tips to keep in mind for your specifically honed and intentional blog posts:
Use heading tags appropriately and sparingly -
Don't use the H2 and H3 tag unless they really are a topic change or subject header. Always use the H1 tag for the main title and topic of your post then not again in the post .... ever. Use H2 if you are changing topics or subjects - think of it as a school outline of the topic itself.
What Are H1 and H2 Tags? Defining and Using Proper Headings
Don't just have an image or video -
Remember, Google can't read your image or your video. While it's OK to have one and you should have one, only having that on a page will reduce the authority of the whole blog or website. If you have too many of these pages (even on your blog on ActiveRain) the rest of your really good posts won't carry much weight either. Be sure to have text and explain the video or image or use the ALT tag (image Title for ActiveRain members) to identify and optimize the image.
Can I Use Google Images for Pictures for Blogs and Articles?
BOLD should only emphasize important page content, not entire paragraphs! -
And not keywords or phrases anymore. Google has seen past this by now so if you use bold, use it to emphasis a point or idea - not just keywords and paragraphs.
And remember - Give the people something they want, not just content for the sake of content. Be intentional! It WILL make a difference.
Comments(68)