WordPress SEO – How To Make Money With A Blog By Driving Traffic
Online Writing Coach - Google Search Results
You can write the best blog the Internet has ever seen, and if no one ever visits, your blog won’t be very fulfilling. While marketing you site can bring in some traffic, Google will bring far more traffic that you will generate using any other method. If you want to attract lots of attraction through search, you need to get onto the front of search engine results.
What Is SEO?
If you type ‘freelance writing advice’ into the Google search bar, you will see there is 589,000 results. If your blog falls in spot #588,999, no one will ever find it. Your blog needs to fall on the first few pages. The farther back in the results, the less hits it will receive on any given day.
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, means using various techniques to get your site to the front of the search results. I did mention some basic SEO for writing in ‘Get The Most Out Of Keywords And Write Faster – Friday’s Q&A’ and in ‘Freelance Writing — 5 Things I Learned With The First $5000.’ These tips work will help get your blog noticed, but it isn’t enough.
True SEO involves the optimization of posts, pages, and the inner workings of the blog in order to reach your goals. They need to represent your keywords, and everything needs to work together seamlessly. If you do this incorrectly, your blog will leak Google juice (power) like a sieve holding your site back from its true potential. This means lost visitors, and lost income.
What Kind Of A Difference Can SEO Have On A Blog?
Freedom Freelance is my fourth attempt at blogging. If the first two months of its existence are any indication, it will also be my most successful. I don’t just mean financially, but visits and links. What I post means something to someone other than me.
I spent a year or more on some of my other blogs. One in particular, has more than 100 posts after a year, and it sits just lower than where Freedom Freelance sits now. This is huge.
If you look at the picture at the start of this post, you’ll see my site occupies four out of ten spots on Google’s first page for my main keyword. Other keywords are not as great, but it will (insert evil laughter and Internet domination here).
The Problem With SEO For Blogs
The biggest reason my first three blogs waded in the Google abyss, and millions more do, is because getting started is difficult. WordPress SEO, a self-hosted blog, and blogging is nothing short of a nightmare since no one has any good guides for beginners. This translates into lots of us (me included) trying, failing, and tweaking. If you’re like me, you don’t have a clue where to start.
The hints and tips available for WordPress blogs are poor at best. Some focus on experts, and require nothing short of a tech degree to understand. Others spread out the good information in a million posts, and force you to uncover the jewels. Even worse are those who regurgitate the same information over, and over, and over, and over. Until now.
The WordPress Miracle
When I purchased Online Business School to learn how to diversify my income, I received a free sample product from Michael Martine. It was only a short piece of audio, but what I learned from that was enough to propel Freedom Freelance towards the front of the search results.
It wasn’t an official training program, but it was so easy! I followed through the steps, and my blog did all the work for me. I was so excited when I discovered Michael was using it as part of an actual course for beginners! In fact, he will unleash his study course on January 7th.
In the meantime, I will give you more information on SEO for the next few days. Subscribe to the blog via RSS or Email to make sure you don’t miss a single tidbit!
January 5, 2009 at 8:30 am | For the Writer | 5 comments
Great Job Angie!
I can’t tell you how excited I am that your blog is scoring this kind of ranking and visibility for you! I know you have put a lot of work into it and it is awesome to see it paying off so quickly. We are starting to market our free press release submission site, Online PR News (http://www.onlineprnews.com) and I can only hope that we will have the same stellar results.
YOU ROCK!
Tara Geissinger’s last blog post..Choosing Article Marketing Topics For Increased SEO Benefit
Thanks so much Tara! The new PR site is absolutely fantastic. I’m sure it will be leading the pack in no time! I wouldn’t be doing any of this if it wasn’t for the two of you. I can only hope to live up to the hype
Reading: “WordPress SEO Secrets – How To Drive Traffic To Your Blog | Online Writing Help.html” ( http://tinyurl.com/7ujvwp )
Hi Angie;
Congratulations on your ratings with Google. You bet, this is BIG! Obviously, you have put a lot of hard work into this assignment, and it must feel so good that now it is paying for itself.
I enjoy reading everything you post. Your introductions are captivating, information is dynamic.
Keep up the awesome work!
Jo-Anne Vandermeulen
“Conquer All Obstacles”
Prolific Writer of Romantic Fiction/Professional Support Network for Writers
Jo-Anne Vandermeulen’s last blog post..LEARN HOW TO DESIGN A PRODUCTIVE BLOG/WEBSITE
Hi Jo-Anne!
Thank you so much! You’re right. I spent months researching successful blogs before I every purchased the domain. I don’t think the full extent of everything has sunk in yet. You know how you want something to do well, and you do what you can to make sure it does, but it’s still a surprise when it happens. I am just glad you find value in your time here!
Angie