These days almost every internet savvy person has a blog. This blog could be for business or a personal blog but not everyone knows how to optimize their blog for both readers and search engines. Sadly, blog optimization is one of crucial steps that most of the blog owners skip over which effects both on the search engine ranking of the blog and also amount of returning valued visitors.
Optimizing a blog totally differs from standard search engine optimization (SEO) procedures (Learn SEO Course for more details), mainly for the reason that most blogs run on standard blogging platforms, even worse, some blogs are hosted on someone else’s subdomains. After hosting comes the blog design issue which is partially solved by default installed templates but default templates are not always approving so people hire coders for designing new blog templates to make your blog look the way you want it to. But unluckily, most of blog designers are not SEOs by profession which means that the blog design/template you pay for and then use on your blog can actually hurt your search engine rankings badly. Even if you have a grand blog design that looks brilliant to visitors, new readers will not find you easily if your blog is not ranking well in search engines.
Optimizing your blog for superior user experience means that you are making your blog easy for readers to engage without any hassles and convert them into loyal returning visitors. Returning visitors are the cream of any blog. So by all means optimizing a blog refers to making your blog rank well in search engines while not hindering the visitor’s experience.
Here are some advices you can follow to make your blog both visitor and search engine friendly,
1. Design a Unique Template or Make One
I frequently see people using WordPress or Movable Type default template. For God’s sake hire a designer to create exclusive look for your blog because looks count. You can also use some of the free templates offered on web and modify it a little bit with a logo or basic color variations.
2. Don’t Adopt Bad Color Schemes
Pink with light green color scheme might work for you but always think about what your visitors will be expecting. This type of color scheme works well on gossip sites, but it wouldn’t go well with corporate blogs. Try to experiment with colors keeping in mind the user experience and expectations until you find a fine combination for your blog.
3. Offer Blog Subscription Buttons
People often subscribe to quality blogs, for this purpose they search for orange RSS logo plus the logos of different standard aggregators. Try to add one-click subscriptions buttons to your feed and blog to make them easy to subscribe. Keep in mind that blog subscription promises returning visitors. Burn your feed via feedburner.com and add an Email subscription box to your sidebar for your visitors so that they can get your blog posts through email.
4. Write Gripping Snippets
For those who use snippets for RSS feed, make sure to write gripping snippets and encourage readers to click through and read the full entry on your blog. Use excerpts to create curiosity and maximize user clicks.
5. Consider Blog Post Presentation
If you write detailed lengthy posts with no paragraph breaks and writing with font size smaller than usual then people will not even try to read what you have written since it will become such a painful experience to find their way through your post. Make your font easy to read. People still feel easy with standard fonts like Times New Roman so adopt one.
6. Don’t Use Unnecessary Widgets
There are some awesome widgets available for your blog such as Flickr photo box joined to your photo gallery. But also keep in mind that too many JavaScript slow down your blog’s loading behavior which can have a negative impact on user experience. Learn how to speed up your blog.
7. Post More Than Often
Frequency of your posting effects a great deal in your search engine rankings. Posting often ensures that Googlebot and other indexing bots will visit your site on regular basis. Google loves updates sites with fresh content, so make sure to publish blog posts on regular basis.
8. Link to Other Related Blogs
During blogging, try to link to original news/story source. In this way you are sending friendly signals to fellow bloggers which helps you to gain authority in your market and gain link from other’s blog vice versa. REMEMBER! Gaining links is the most crucial part of Off Page Search Engine Optimization!
Search engine rankings come naturally to those who offer value to their readers. Original compelling content is the essence of blogging. By following above steps you can ensure that you have a well optimized blog than 70% of bloggers out there on web.
You can also go through our Digital Marketing Course for more details.
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