Book Blogging 101: Your Blog + SEO = Success!
In the world of SEO there is a lot of terminology that makes most website newbies feel really dumb, especially when you have no idea where to even start when implementing SEO for your blog posts. I do believe so-called experts do this on purpose, so they can remain leaders in the field. If it was easy – everyone could do it by themselves. They use terms like Domain Authority, Author Rank, MozRank, algorithm, ranking system and all of them lead to one thing: If I type a search into Google at what point does my page show up?
Book Bloggers generally use networking as their main traffic generators, word-of-mouth and comment ping-backs to promote their bogs. But, as time goes on you might want to try and increase your Search Engine status.
In order to do this you have to tailor your blog to what the Major Search Engines deem “good.” This breaks down to websites that Google and other major sites consider Popular & Influential.
SEO is just another Popularity Contest
How do the search engines judge your popularity and influence?
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Linkage
Your link on other people sites. If that link is on another very popular site, boom, you are more popular. This is why a lot of us offer up our blog button. This isn’t just for networking, this is also for link exchange. If your button appears on a popular site, you can increase your SEO considerably.
My suggestions:
Comment on sites and leave your link. Don’t spam, just link back your name with your site. Some of my highest ranked links are from comments I made on random big blogs, sites like People of Walmart and New websites. I always use my blogger name — everyone else uses handles right?Guest Posts – write articles for popular blogs whenever you can. I know a few blogs are always looking for quality content, what better way to get your name out there and get a quality link?
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Add Your URL to everything
All your social media accounts should have your URL in the bio section. Twitter, Facebook, Linked IN. Use those social media accounts to post about your latest topics and announce changes in your site.
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Install ToolBars
To increase Page Rank they recommend installing Google Toolbar. To increase MozRank they recommend installing MozBar. To increase your Alexa ranking install the Alexa toolbar. It’s just three! These toolbars crawl the sites you visit and send back information. They also show you your rank and help you spot deficiencies in your site, like if you do not have a Meta description.
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Always use Header Tags
Make sure to utilize at least H1 and H2 tags in all your posts. Not only does this give your site hierarchy for people that are visually impaired, it also increases your SEO.
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Keyword Linkage
Want to get your keywords up and running? It is generally accepted that a good way to do this is to link that keyword. For example if you are reviewing a book by J.R. Ward and want people to associate your site with that author, every time you would mention her name in a post, you would link back to her website or goodreads. But…you would have to link it with a quality link:
<a title="”J.R." href="”http://www.jrward.com/”">J.R. Ward</a>See how I added that title in there? This is saturating your keyword even more.
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Optimize Your Posts
This is an intense section and I’m going to break it down into a few steps, but these are the things that you should remember to do EVERY time you post. A lot of you on WordPress rely on plugins — check those settings, sometimes they don’t work. The best practice is to just get in the habit of doing it.
- Keep your download size low. Do this by not loading HUGE image files into your post. When you insert a 1024×700 image and then click – small on the image optimizer, you still have a 1024 image, just resized. Best practice is to size down that image before uploading.
- Narrow down a keyword for that post and use it a few times throughout your post. Even use the keyword in your image alt tags. You should put great effort into researching your keyword that you want to use. Try searching the term and see what you get, is it a high traffic keyword. Maybe you should try something else. Use this keyword in title tags, in the copy and link the keyword using the method above. This is one of the biggest steps of optimizing your page.
- Always use ALT tags on your images. Include your keyword in your alt tag. For example if you are posting the book cover for the latest Young Adult Dystopian make sure you title the book and then add behind the title, Young Adult Dysotpian if that is your keyword.
Question of the Week:
Hey, Anya, they seem to have removed “your” post. But, still the site seems to be on a slippery slope, right? Obviously the author of this website is focusing on giveaways and they are just posting about those giveaways using other people’s copy for the giveaways and even posting headers that that sort of thing. They can’t do that. They can grab buttons you create for the giveaways — IF you offer them up for share or to post and advertise, but they can’t grab your header or pieces of your header. Technically they are advertising for you…so…you can see where coming off as grumpy about this can be seen as pushing it, a bit. I do think that having it authored by you though is bizarre and should be brought up as just wrong, because that is a false representation. So, to basically answer your question, the site does seem skeevy and if they are copying text from the giveaway posts, even if it is to “advertise” your giveaway – it is stealing copy. They should probably find another way, especially since just a link back would suffice.
Book Blogger News:
- Bloggiesta starts March 22 – time to get those blogs in shape! {Source}
- Word For Teens has created a fantastic feature entitled Reader’s Report. It is YA centric, but she does post a lot on book bloggers. Check it out. {Source}
- Nominations for the #BBTC Book Blogger Twitter Convention, ends tomorrow, so get those nominations in. {Source}
Happy Thursday. Talk Less. Read More. Blog with Integrity.
Have a question? Fill out the form by clicking here. This will go into a spreadsheet to be looked over at a later date and hopefully answered on this blog. This is completely anonymous, you do not have to leave your real name. Urls will not be included in your question unless it pertains to the question.
Latest posts by Parajunkee (see all)
- Feature & Follow #149 – May 16, 2013
- Ten Tips for New Bloggers – May 16, 2013
- The Adventures of Evil Book Blogger Ep. 1 – May 15, 2013
- PJV News: Hot Books Releasing Today – May 14, 2013
- Breath by Jackie Morse Kessler – May 13, 2013
- Feature & Follow #148 – May 9, 2013
- Twitter Etiquette – May 9, 2013
- My Favorite Book is become a movie…an obsession story. – May 8, 2013
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Thanks so much for this post, Rachel! I’m always curious about how to increase my SEO usage in the RIGHT way! I’ve learned some great tips from you!
I hope they work. SEO is such a sticky subject. You never know what is gonna happen.
Great post! Some things I was already doing, some other I will implant
Thank you!
I know, I have to work on a few myself.
Thank you so much for this! I knew about some of these things, but now I’m realizing that even *those* I could be doing better. I’ve been subscribed to your blog for a while now, and though I don’t always comment, I really appreciate the helpful, informative posts and discussions on parajunkee!
Thank you Kelley!
You’re great! I’m a newbie at this and I’m falling in love with your posts about blogging. Thanks for sharing
Hi PJ,
Thank you for this great post. I have been trying to research SEO and related topics lately. A little confusing though.
A quick question: How do I access the H1/H2 Tags? Where are they at? I am on blogger.
Thank you
Thanks for this, PJ.
Thanks for the information! I have learned a lot and looks like I need to do a little research to understand how some of these work.
Thanks again! Alice
Another awesome, helpful blog post
Can you expound more on this, on its relevance on SEO? Sorry, I couldn’t quite get that but I’m willing to try it out!
“Always use ALT tags on your images. Include your keyword in your alt tag. For example if you are posting the book cover for the latest Young Adult Dystopian make sure you title the book and then add behind the title, Young Adult Dysotpian if that is your keyword.”
Thank you for these wonderful SEO posts I have been reading. I am at a crossroads and I was exploring SEO information and found myself scratching my head asking what these people were smoking. I used to work in web development five years ago. Stepping away from it was nice, but when I came back it seemed a lot had changed. Your articles are helping me decide where I want to go with my blog and when is the right time for doing certain things. Thank you for all your help and hard work!
Great post.. I realize I have been getting lazy lately on posting my URL in comments!! Like I almost didn’t just post it in this one!! AGHHH!!
Angela’s Anxious Life
This is a very helpful post! I’m definitely following your tips
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I really like this great job folks.
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There’s certainly a great deal to know about this subject. I really like all of the points you made.
Thank you for the helpful info!