SEO Resolutions for 2013 that can Make You a Better Blogger

It is that time of the year when most  of us  get engaged
in   brainstorming  to  choose  something/things  as  our 
New Year  resolutions. Whether or not we keep up with
the  resolutions  each  year, we  still  start  off with high
hopes  the  next  year. We  make  resolutions   related to 
our  persona, our  habits,  our  work, our    relationships 
and our hobby. Most probably blogging is either  your
hobby or your work. As a blogger myself, I have made
certain resolutions related  to   my blog’s  SEO,  that fit 
well for  blogging in the  year  2013,  which happens to 
be  right  after  the year of  learning  and  surprises  for 
bloggers (2012). I’m going to share the list with you as
I   believe  that       these  resolutions  if  followed  with 
dedication will ensure better search engine ranking of 
your blog.



Before we proceed, it’s better to know what SEO is and how it matters in blogging (especially if you
are a newbie. If you are not, skip the next paragraph).

SEO is the process that helps you improve your website’s ranking in the search engine. In other
words SEO gets you to the first pages of a search result, thus improving your blog’s visibility. SEO
has grown through the years and is now one of the most important facets of blogging and requires
expertise. You need to either learn it through trial and error, or hire a SEO expert to handle it.

Now that you got a brief idea of SEO, let’s get into action. Jot down these SEO resolutions for 2013
for better blogging –

1.  Will Produce Better Content: Content is king. This is a famous saying in the field of
     blogging; the value of this saying has increased multifold after the Google Panda update last
     year. So it is undoubtedly the paramount resolution in any smart blogger’s mind for 2013.
     Your content can always be made better. There can be no end for that. So embark upon
     making better content every time as compared to your last time.

     Use bullets, header tags, paragraphs and fine tune your titles, grammar, writing style. Making
     people connect emotionally with your content is the key. All this forms a part of content SEO
     for long lasting ranking results.

     Also ensure that you provide wider range content; not just words, but go beyond words with
     images, videos and infographics.

2.  Will Be Really Social: Newbie bloggers often mistake being social to having accounts,
     groups and pages in various social networking sites and blogging directories; and then
     publicizing each post in those sites not caring to know if people really bother to see the posted
     content, only with the goal of doing well in SEO. Being social in the real sense is interacting
     with your fans and followers. Some ways to interact could be conducting captivating polls,
     offering giveaways, triggering interesting contests and sometimes simply asking them how
     they are doing.

     What is the point if your presence in social networks is no different from a newsletter leaving
     a chunk of posts? You need to differentiate between the two, Right?

     After all social networks are meant to be entertaining.

3.  Will Diverge My Links: The earlier a blogger learns this, the better he gets. This is a vital
     learning from the last year’s Google Penguin algorithmic update. Otherwise also, this strategy
     is a good choice, as it gets your blog link juice from various blogs (better be it from the same
     niche), through various links (posts/pages) and various keywords (I meant anchor text). If
     you feel that link building is not your cup of tea, better resort to SEO experts who can do the
     hard work for you, so that you can concentrate more on other aspects of blogging that you are
     good at.

4.  Will be Informed: It is always better to be informed about the latest news and happenings
     in (and to some extent out of) your niche. This helps you take informed decisions.

     Would you dare to buy unnatural links after being educated about the Penguin update? You
     may otherwise. So save yourself by keeping yourself updated about all that you and your blog
     are involved in. Taking uninformed decisions may land you in trouble. Some stuff you must
     follow as a blogger are- Google’s official blogs, PRO bloggers in your niche and newsletters
     of services you use for your blog (like plugins). It’s always better to follow updates from SEO
     experts because the valuable information shared by them can help you rank well in Google.

 These are some SEO resolutions I feel are immensely relevant to 2013 (due to major changes in
 the way search works). Do share your SEO or blogging resolutions in the comment box.

 If you are not much into SEO, your best SEO resolution could be hiring an SEO expert.

 Happy Blogging. Happy Ranking.

About author: Sandy Trevino is a SEO, PPC expert specialize in writing various topics about SEO
and ultimate tips for positive SEO results for small business to big organizational websites.
If you would like to write for bloggertrix, check our guest posting guidelines. 

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10 Steps to Jump Start Traffic to a New Blog

There are plenty of  ways to get  traffic  to your blog,
but the tips on this article are concerned with getting
traffic for your  blog  posts now,  as  oppose  to  later. 
That is why there is little  advice on  how to improve
your blogs SEO, etc, because climbing up the search
engines  results    pages   takes  time. These  tips  are 
things  you  can  try  today  in  order  to  get     traffic 
tomorrow.

1 - Participate in forums and online chats

This is the first piece of advice that Google gives when you set up your first website and sign up
to their Google webmaster tools. That is why it is point number one, because as a new blog you
should be participating in online chatter. You may not gain a lot of direct traffic but it is a good
way of ingratiating yourself and your blog into the online community.

2 - Set up a Facebook Fan Page

This is a good way to get a little extra attention to your blog. People are going to stumble across
your Facebook fan page, and if you are good enough at promoting your blog on it then you will
gain extra traffic. The good thing is that unlike building up your blog’s search engine ranking,
your traffic from the Facebook Fan page can start pouring in immediately.

3 - Tweet about your Blog at least once per day

Tweets are great ways to grant a little bit of publicity to your blog. Most of your Tweets will be
ignored but some of them will get through and affect your traffic numbers if you post at least
once per day. Simply add an informative snippet of information about your blog post and try to
peak a few people’s curiosity.(Twitter Traffic Driver For Your Site)

4 - Upload at least five blog posts to start with

When you first create your blog you may start with the honorable idea of posting a new post
every week, however if you want to get your traffic score rising you will need to start off with
more than one post. Add five posts to begin with, and then start adding one post per week.

5 - Affiliate advertise your most shocking blog posts

It is going to cost you a lot of money if you wish to boost your blog attendance via affiliate
advertising; however, you could try advertising a few of your more shocking or high quality blog
posts. If you advertise the ones that you feel will turn viewers into loyal viewers, then it may act
as a good jump-start for your blog.

6 - Comment on other related blogs and link up

Other blogs that are related (in theme or genre) to your blog are going to be attended by
people interested in your blog topics. Add comments to other blogs, and if they allow links, you
should link to your website or blog. It is a good way to gain a little bit of direct traffic.

7 - Pay for links pointing towards your blog

There are legitimate directories that you can use to pay for a link to your blog. This will improve
your blogs SEO and help you gain a little bit of direct traffic too. You could also pay a private
blog owner to allow you to install a link on their blog.

8 - Participate in areas where your target audience gathers

There are forums and websites that your target audience are bound to congregate. If there are
any interactive elements at all then you must participate. Even if you cannot add a link into the
fray, you must at least try to stimulate a little bit of interest for your blog, and mention your
blogs name so that people search for it.

9 - Specifically target certain keywords in your blog

You are going to need to do a little bit of keyword research and pick between three and five
keywords. You then need to add each one at least three times to your blog post, as well as
trying to add a few synonyms too. You should also put these keywords in your tagged keyword
section. Targeting specific keywords may help to jump-start the traffic you gain from the search
engines (organic traffic).

10 - Use question and answer websites frequently

They allow you to answer questions whilst adding a link. If you pick the questions that relate to
the topic of your blog posts then there is a good chance that the people reading the questions
and answers will follow you link. The good thing is that you can answer questions that are
based around any of you blog topics. You can answer a question today about a topic you wrote
a blog post for years ago. You can point the new link to your old blog post and people may
follow it and read your blog posts that you posted years ago.

Author’s bio:
My name is Sonia Jackson. I represent the Australian web-site http://www.essay-bag.com. We’ll
help you to solve all problems with writing different essays and research papers according to the
rules of the universities and colleges in Australia.
If you would like to write for bloggertrix, check our guest posting guidelines. 

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5 SEO Tricks for Pinterest

Pinterest, without a doubt has been one of the fastest and every growing social media platform for brands with over 11 million users. I have always maintained that it is one medium every B2C brands should explore. Pinterest also has a great potential for brands to increase their reach unlike the conventional marketing channels, especially in the emerging economies.

With more people trying to make their purchase based on finding of products over Pinterest, there are few tricks that can optimize those simple looking pins get the desired attention.

1. Long tail keywords

As with any SEO strategies, it is very important to choose your keywords wisely. More important, try to have ‘long tail’ keyword – keywords with better and longer shelf life. How do you do that? Well, you can personalize the pin to cater to particular geographic location or gender. This apart from having the product description in place. In effect, you’re making the pin searchable for – product, place & person.

2. Using hash tags

Like Twitter, Google Plus or Instagram, Pinterest too latched on to the popularity of hash tags. These hash tags help you anchor the pin to a particular subject and makes it easily discoverable. Many of the brands track their marketing campaigns using hash tag like the recent Lakme campaign where it has asked users to pin with hash tag #BeautifulBrides. An excellent way to use hash tag!!

3. Backlinks

Backlinks form the core of any SEO campaign. It is very important that your site get a link back from the pin. While those links from Pinterest are ‘nofollow’ meaning you may not get the SEO juice, but you cannot discount the traffic that can be generated by backlinks. You should even consider adding the URL in the description, so each time the pin gets shared, you have stand a chance to add multiple visitors.

4. Track Click-through

Like in every marketing campaign, success is driven by the way you drive engagement, but even more important is how you quantify the campaign. With tools like Reachli, you can keep track of the campaign and track the CTRs. The information thus generated can help you to tweak campaigns to ensure better reach and generate the right amount of buzz.

5. Pin-it Button

And last, make it easy for visitors to easily Pin your products. Having a ‘Pin-it’ button from Pinterest on your website will ensure that the visitors to your site can also pin apart from you.

6. Bonus Tip – Alt Text/Image Description

Here’s the bonus tip – ensure that images on your site have great ‘Alt’ text and description, because that is the default information picked up by Pinterest when a visitor pins from your site. They may not change the description, so ensure that you have the right keywords to describe your product.

Hope the tips above will help you better the reach on Pinterest. But at the core of any social media campaign is engagement, so focus on that too!!

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