Blogging Basics: 5 Quick Steps to Optimization

Today at Crystal & Co., we have our first guest poster…. and I am so very excited!

Kelli writes tips and tricks to being a fit, stay at home blogger who parents (or parent who blogs? LOL!) at 3 Boys and a Dog. She also has a weekly \”Blogging Basics\” series that everyone should check out. 🙂

So, if you are new to blogging, recently deciding to get serious about it, wanting some to the point advice, here it is – blogging basics, from a very seasoned and polished blogger… and one you should follow!

Blogging Basics: 5 Quick Steps to Optimization

I started a weekly Blogging Basics Series on my blog, 3 Boys and a Dog with the intentions of only doing it for a few weeks. But, so many people seem to really love it, and at the moment I am loving writing the Blogging Basics posts. 🙂 They are a bit harder to do because most require research and I LOVE the challenge. I am not an expert and am learning right along with everyone else.

I know a little, but not a ton. People always want proof. LOL! I switched to Word Press in October. In December, my new site was not ranked and now it is a page rank of 3. Not fabulous, but certainly not bad. 🙂 My website grade is a 96 and I could get it higher, but I don’t want to have to go back to all of my pictures and add alt text. 🙂 My Alexa ranking has dropped (which is good, lower is better) almost 400,000 points since last month. It is working. With that said, here are some things that I have done that are making a big difference.

1. Guest Posting!

Take some time to go somewhere or find a babysitter for a few hours and churn out some posts. Make them your best posts\”¦ maybe you want to write a Top 10 post\”¦ write it THEN, take each of those items and make it into it’s own post. Expand on the idea. Boom, you have quickly churned out 11 posts to start sending to people to beg them to post.

What does Guest Posting do? It gets your name out and adds a new backlink to your site. Google likes high quality back links.

2. Link Smarter!

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT link to something with the words \”click here\”. That is not a good keyword phrase! Be sure you are using a keyword that you want to capitalize on. For example: at the very beginning I said that I started a \”Blogging Basics\” series on my site. That is my keyword phrase that I am wanting to get higher search engine rankings on. THAT is my link.

3. Check Your Stats

No, I don’t mean open Google Analytics! I mean, go to Alexa, Technorati, Digg, Compete, Page Rank Checker, and more and type in your website. I honestly don’t know \”why\” it works, but it does. I am guessing because it shows that people are looking for you. 🙂

4. Have META Tags & Descriptions!

I know what you are thinking, \”META what? META who?\” The description of your site, basically. Google How to Add META to my Blogger site (or word press, or any other site) choose one that looks user friendly and follow the directions. 🙂

5. Write Often and Write Well!

You don’t want to write so much that people start leaving you, but get a primary schedule set up and basically stick with it. I might sit down and write 6 posts one day. They don’t all go on at the same time. I schedule some, send some off in the hopes of getting them posted, and just hang on to others. For example,. my basic schedule is:

\ӢMonday РMenu Plan Monday
\ӢTuesday РGuest Poster
\ӢWednesday РBlogging Basics
\ӢThursday РGuest Poster
\ӢFriday РFreebie Fridays
\ӢSaturday РHomeschooling Notes
\ӢSunday РHousekeeping

I don’t always post these, but if I write something about one of the above I schedule it for my next open theme day.

So, there you go. Have fun and I hope it helps you out. 🙂