How do I improve my search engine rank? How do people find me on the web? How to do I get new customers? How do I get people to visit my site? 

These are amongst the most popular questions I get from customers, especially those who have just started a blog.

In reviewing a video from Rich Brooks of FlyteBlog.com, here is what I have summarized from his presentation on how to improve your search engine visibility. Specifically, how to use your blog to increase your search engine rank.

In addition to using paid services (which Brooks is not saying to do) Google AdWords, buying ads on related or popular sites, spending money on other SEO services like www.EnterURL.com (which I have personally used as well as Google AdWords, banner ads and Facebook Ads), the bottom line is….POSTING!  Meaning, you don't have to throw money into advertising, you need to take time, be patient, and consistently post to your blog.

CONSISTENTLY POST TO YOUR BLOG

Yes, you need to post at least 2-3 times a week and consistently for at least SIX months before really seeing a jump in revenue from search engine traffic.  Yes, it does NOT happen overnight. Not in a day or a week or a month. SIX months at least Rich Brooks states.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS AND KEYWORDS

What he does often is use Google Analytics. In Google Analytics it reports the most common keywords used when people are searching for and find your site.

Google Analytics…what were some of the keywords that were driving traffic to that their site. You can continue to use these keywords in your blog and posts to continue to drive traffic to your site using those keywords. We'll revisit this topic again shortly in this "series", as he recommends other tools as well.

SEO THOUGHTS WHEN POSTING

Search engines are best source to refer business to you. Every blog post you write, creates a new web page. Each web page is a unique opportunity to rank well in search engines.  The more blog posts, the more possibilities and opportunities to drive more traffic your way.

MONETIZATION

Brooks feels every business blog is about monetization! Some are immediate monetization with Ads and Sponsor blogs, or those with a bunch of Affiliate links. Commonly featured in the sidebar or banner space.

Others are lead generating, considered "delayed monetization".  This is where you have a call to action and drive them to a landing page to purchase a product or get their free product for signing up (for you newsletter for example). 

USE SEO TO GET NEW VISITORS

Two considerations:

• How to you improve your blog visibility.
• How to pass along that improved rank to your website, FB, Twitter (other online presences).

HOW TO IMPROVE  YOUR BLOG VISIBILITY

First, you need the right platform.  He strongly suggests using WordPress. WordPress has a large user group, big development group, and tons of plugins available.

NO, he is NOT saying to transfer to a WordPress blog if you already have a blog.  You can still use these tips for your blog!  He is simply saying that if you are starting out…then go with WordPress.

Secondly, own your own domain! This way if you do ever decide to move your domain (blog) to another platform, you keep the trust and traffic you have built.  if you don't use a domain and instead use <mycompany>.typepad.com or even <mycompany>.wordpress.com, then if you move, you lose your rank and all that you have built in regards to SEO. Not to mention from personal experience in helping people move, it is not always easy (especially if moving from TypePad to another platform is "hell").  You can purchase your domains through me, www.BlogsByHeatherDomains.com and I'd be happy to help you map it to your blog!  Or you can follow this tutorial!

There are always exceptions though. You may have a very successful TypePad blog without a domain name and such. Seth Godin is one prime example - http://sethgodin.typepad.com. And he rarely uses images (but that's besides the point).

Lastly, COMMITMENT is required. You need to post 2 to 3 times a week for at least 6 months to gain traffic and increase visibilty.

• Does NOT happen overnight.
• You can't just throw money at it and expect it over night.
• Once you get it going, it will stay hot.

WHAT AFFECTS YOUR BLOG'S RANKING?

Two things affect your blog's ranking.

• On Page Optimization - How the words on your blog match up with those a user is using to search.
• Off Page Optimization - is the quanity and quality of inbound links from other sites into your blog.

In the next post, we'll continue this conversation with ON PAGE OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES.

• One of the tips being to break up your posts! 300-500 words and instead create a SERIES of post so you don't lose your readers attention and also create more "web pages" with every blog post increasing you chances to be found.

Be sure to come back this weekend for more GREAT information in continuing this topic "SEO: How to I get people to find me on the web?" and focusing on On Page Opimization. You don't want to miss this!

To read more on SEO while waiting, click here for past articles.

Heather Wright-Porto
www.BlogsByHeather.com