The following are some of the SEO strategies that we use everyday and are highly recommended.
There are many SEO related articles on the internet that you should also research. We recommend that before you take advice from any web site, make sure they can back up their claims by checking their current PageRank, Alexa, and any other tools you currently use to measure your site analytics.
Link building is very important for blogs, it will help with gaining backlinks and increasing your PageRank with Google. Targeting keywords that you can rank for quickly is very important. To begin building links you should do the following;
Link Building:
- Link exchanges with target keyword anchor text
- Quality comments on blogs that have a PR2 and higher that are dofollow blogs
- Quality comments on .gov and .edu blogs that are dofollow, these domains are very trusted by Google
- Social Network Submissions (StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, Mixx, etc.)
- Dofollow forum signature links
What to write:
Read other media sites and see what the latest buzz is within your interest and write about it. You should avoid copying another blog post word for word. Be creative and add your opinion or commentary about the latest buzz. Use a catchy title that will create curiosity and interest.
Recommended SEO related WordPress plug-ins:
- All in One SEO
- XML-Sitemap (Also submit your sitemap to Google using Webmaster Tools)
- Sociable
It’s important to not blog for the sake of blogging, but to provide value and to write about topics you know well. Be original, and creative so that your audience will come back for more.
Our results using these strategies:
Blog launch May 2008
Alexa: 232,078
PageRank: 2
Total backlinks: 180
Average Unique Visits Daily: 320
Current Stats (9 Months later)
Alexa: 57K (Was as low as 54K)
PageRank: 3 (Was a PR4 before last update on January 1, 2009)
Total backlinks: 6226
Average Unique Visits Daily: 1124
Check your backlinks using this Free Backlink Checker.
I hope this will help you in obtaining your goals, increasing your traffic, and popularity.
That’s excellent work Frank (and Brad)! Congrats! It’s clear how hard you work at it and it’s nice that you have concrete data to acknowledge your efforts. I think it’s great that you love to share your ‘how to get there’ with others as well. It’s clear, concise, and easy to follow too. Shows character, sir, and I’m proud to know you. Yes, and we ALL know what a character you are…heehee (just kidding) ;-) Keep up the good work! Spark
Thank you! It’s possible to reach this goal, but you have to write everyday and we average a little over 2 blog posts daily. If you spend 1 hour per day writing and promoting your blog you can get the same results or better.
I have to admit that I’m very lazy in marketing my blog :( Nice stats and the hard work too, Frank!
Michael,
Your blog is doing fine, but just a couple hours a week will make a difference.
That’s an excellent write-up Frank. Clear and up to the point. Definitely, blog marketing is a major and time consuming task than to write for the blog. Is there a easy way to find out about those PR2 or more DO FOLLOW blogs?
Demo,
Thank you and I know these tips work as I showed our progress.
Great tips with compelling evidence.
Thanks much for sharing these tips and tool.
Cheers!
Darwin,
Glad we can help and wish you much success!
World famous publications like the Forbes, and the Wall Street journal are writing on Alexa which only goes on to prove its credibility and popularity.
Alexa updates have been few and far between as of late. The average update went from 4 to 5 days to almost a month.
Hello,
I have seen a lot of Bloggers using the top commentator as a strategy to get links. Most blogs displaying top commentators on the list I compiled have a sitewide link to their top commentators, which is even better. This is a good strategy but it takes a lot of time monitoring and making sure you stay as a top commentator.
That will drive interest in comments, but it sometimes loses value as that’s the only reason they are commenting.