©2011 THE S.M.A.R.T. GROUP LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED©2011 THE S.M.A.R.T. GROUP LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Sherif S. Morgan

Friday, March 30, 2012

What are your goals? i.e. why are you blogging?

Who is your audience?

Establish credibility

Increase traffic to your business website

Humanize your company

Generate Leads or Pre-Sell Prospects

Brand Building/Awareness

Who (age, location, gender, education, job title)

Environment (when and where are they using your site? What device are they using?)

Tasks (what are they trying to complete on your site?)

Motivation (what is their broader desired outcome?) Goals, Problems, Pain Points?

Name or nickname & Representative photo

Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/user-personas-for-seo/

Oldest person in the world living with spinal muscular atrophy.

But that’s not his claim to fame

Jon Morrowhttp://www.copyblogger.com/fight-for-your-ideas/

BoostBlogTraffic.comThe 7 Dumbest Mistakes You Can Make When Launching A Bloghttp://boostblogtraffic.com/launch-mistakes/

Before you blog, Before you blog, Listen!Listen!

Before you blog, Before you blog, Listen!Listen!

Social Media Channels

MonitorConversations

Surveys and

Questions

Your Client’sFAQs

Emails

Common Problems

what are your audience’s problems, challenges, struggles?

Matches

Broad: volumes for the keyword idea, synonyms and related words

“Phrase” = search volumes for all terms that include that whole phrase

[Exact] = search volume for that exact keyword idea

More than 17 million pages are optimizing for that same exact keyword.

Yikes!

Wait. Should we believe this?

Let’s find out…

Keyword ResearchKeyword ResearchKeyword ResearchKeyword Research

1. Google Keyword Tool

2. Enter KW, Select “Exact”

3. Look through the “Keyword Ideas”- We want to be laser-focus- one keyword per post- volume less than 10,000- Repeat steps 2 and 3

4. What is the competition?quoted search results > last page of SERPoverview of topics/angles covered

13 Common Keyword Research Mistakeshttp://www.leavingworkbehind.com/do-you-make-these-13-common-keyword-research-mistakes

““it is what it is” it is what it is” ““it is what it is” it is what it is”

Please remember, it’s just a tool. Not always accurate Not always representative of the whole picture

http://thatimthing.com/google-keyword-tool

Combine: KW Research + Your Experience

Insert Keyword in Meta Tags

Title (Headlines)- 60 characters- more about titles later…

Description- 160 characters.- appeal to both people and search engines- make it emotional- Tip: “cliff hanger”…

Anchor text

Click here to read tips to remove a computer virus

versusversus

Read tips to remove a computer virus

SEO tip – SEO tip – ““anchor textanchor text””

SEO tip – SEO tip – ““anchor textanchor text””

Permalinksyes!

keyword densitywrite naturally. focus on KW and related terms

sitemapyes!

link-buildingnatural!what does Google say?

Many Other Many Other ““TipsTips””Many Other Many Other ““TipsTips””

BuildMyRank BuildMyRank NetworkNetwork

BuildMyRank BuildMyRank NetworkNetwork

Source: http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/long-tail-keyword-research

Long Tail KeywordsLong Tail KeywordsLong Tail KeywordsLong Tail Keywords

SEO techniques are important, but…write for people not for search engines

write great post titles (include your keyword)

provide quality content with related keywords

include relevant and helpful links

when you do that… peoplepeople will link back, share on social media, etc.

The No B.S. Guide to The No B.S. Guide to SEOSEO

The No B.S. Guide to The No B.S. Guide to SEOSEO

Headlines

PresentationPhotosParagraphs

Short and concise Use headlines and sub-headlines to break up

content

Tone

Why are Headlines Why are Headlines Important?Important?

Why are Headlines Why are Headlines Important?Important?

“The anatomy of post”

People judge a [post] by it’s [headline]

Catchy? Grab their attention!

High SEO value Include your keyword

PerfectTimeless

Shareable

PerfectTimeless

Shareable

3 Must-Have Guides 3 Must-Have Guides to Write Amazing to Write Amazing

HeadlinesHeadlines

3 Must-Have Guides 3 Must-Have Guides to Write Amazing to Write Amazing

HeadlinesHeadlines Write Headlines that SHINESpecificity / Helpfulness / Immediacy / Newsworthiness / Entertainment Value

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/how-to-write-headlines

A Scientific Approach to Writing Page Titlehttp://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/03/06/a-scientific-approach-to-writing-page-titles

52 Headline Hacks!http://headlinehacks.com (by Jon Morrow)

52 Headline Hacks by Jon Morrowhttp://headlinehacks.com

Headline

PresentationPhotosParagraphs

Short and concise Use headlines and sub-headlines to break up

content

Tone

http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/

image alt tags provide info about what the image

In WordPress, this is the “image description” when you are uploading an image

include your keyword or variation in alt tag

SEO tip – Image SEO tip – Image altalt tagtag

SEO tip – Image SEO tip – Image altalt tagtag

Headline

PresentationPhotosParagraphs

Short and concise Use headlines and sub-headlines to break up

content

Tone

Headline

PresentationPhotosParagraphs

Short and concise Use headlines and sub-headlines to break up

content

Tone

Authentic, Unique, Original

great content, but…

personal experience adds fresh perspective

Knowledge + Personal Experience = Story

It’s OK to be different

Authoritative Headlines The content must deliver

Concise! Simple yet profound (e.g. Seth Godin’s blog)

Comprehensive Dig Deep. Use details and examples Go Wide. info can be applicable/universal

Relevance: Solve problems / Ease pain points

Present original research

Call to action Ask them to comment, share, connect

Conclude with an engaging question

Make it easy for them to participate http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/11/17/make-it-easy-for-your-readers-to-participate

Why it matters?Why it matters?Why it matters?Why it matters?

Helpful Content + Catchy Headline

= Shared More Often!

How to blog almost every dayhttp://www.chrisbrogan.com/how-to-blog-almost-every-day/

Make Business Blogging Funhttp://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/09/02/make-business-blogging-fun-again-write-about-holidays-anniversaries-and-other-milestones

50 Ideas for your Business Bloghttp://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223023

Elements of a shareable blog posthttp://www.chrisbrogan.com/23-essential-elements-of-sharable-blog-posts/

65 ways to drive traffic to your bloghttp://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/10/16/65-ways-to-drive-traffic-to-your-blog

5 Element of a Perfect Blog Posthttp://www.businessesgrow.com/2010/11/30/the-five-elements-of-a-perfect-blog-post/

How to Write Timeless Blog Posts Every Timehttp://www.blogtyrant.com/timeless-blog-posts/

The Anatomy of a Better Blog Posthttp://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/02/17/the-anatomy-of-a-better-blog-post/

©2011 THE S.M.A.R.T. GROUP LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED©2011 THE S.M.A.R.T. GROUP LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 The SMART Team

Dale Dillon Lips | Chris Porter | Aaron Eden | Michael Gray | Danielle Lips

@DrSherifMorgan /ssmorgan & /Connexins

(520) 344-4250ssmorgan@connexins.com