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Friday, March 13, 2009

10 Tips to Build Blogger Blogspot Site Traffic

This article discusses 10 easy ways Blogger (Blogspot) Bloggers can build site traffic and in many cases improve SEO - search engine optimization. By implementing these steps you will improve the likelihood of your site ranking more highly in search engine results of major search engine players Google, Yahoo and MSN and as a result increase the number of visitors accessing your site.

10 Easy SEO Tips for Blogspot Bloggers to Improve Search Engine Rankings

1. Make Your Title Tags Search Engine Friendly
One of the most important tweaks necessary for Blogspot Blogs is the adjustment of the title tags of your website because Blogger.com by default has not optimized these for search engines. To prove this point navigate to an individual post on your blog and you will see that the blogname appears first in the title bar at the top of your browser followed by the post name. As search engines place greater value on the first words of an entry this puts your site at a disadvantage in search engine results. Fortunately it is easy to reverse the blog name and the post name with a simple tweak. For instructions on how to change the order of these title tags please refer to my article entitled Adjust Blogger Title Tags to Improve SEO

Reversed order of Blogname and Post Name Improves Search Engine Results

2. Create Search Engine Friendly Permalinks
Blogger automatically generates a permalink based on the title of your post each time you make a post. For this reason it is important to craft your title carefully. Permalinks are sometimes less than ideal especially if you have a long title. Take for example the following permalink for one of my posts:

http://blogknowhow.blogspot.com/2009/02/improved-permalinks-for-blogger-posts.html

You will see that it is search engine friendly in that in contains 2 keywords blogger and permalinks. However you may be surprised to know that How to Create Search Engine Friendly Permalinks for Blogger Posts is actually the title of this post not Improved Permalinks for Blogger Posts. I have initially used a title that is keyword rich and then after publishing gone back and entered a more descriptive title. No matter how many times I change the title the original permalink remains. If I had entered the second title straight away I may have ended up with the following permalink:

http://blogknowhow.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-create-search-engine-friendly.html


Not very pretty is it? And as you can see the whole point of the post is lost.

For more information on crafting permalinks please refer to my article How to Create Search Engine Friendly Permalinks for Blogger Posts


3. Add a Social Networking Button to Your Blog
By adding a Social Bookmarking button to your website you will enable visitors to your blog to create links to popular social bookmarking sites such as Google, Technorati, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Stumble Upon, Reddit, Delicious, Furl, Yahoo etc. This means that visitors to your site will be able share these links with others thereby helping you attract more traffic to your site and encourage return visits.

Another benefit of a social bookmarking button is that you will be able to identify visitor trends and social bookmarking behaviour on your site. For more information on how to add a free Add This Social Bookmarking button to your Blogger blog please refer to my article Add a Social Bookmarking Button to Your Blog.

Add a Free Add This Social Bookmarking Button to Your Blogspot Blog

4. Submit a Sitemap of Your Blog to Popular Search Engines
If attracting traffic to your site is important to you then it is imperative that you ensure that your Blogger (Blogspot) blog is properly indexed by popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. One way to expedite this is to submit a sitemap to each of three major search engines. Please refer to my tutorials on website submission, authenticating your site and adding your site feed to Yahoo Site Explorer, Google Webmaster Tools and MSN Tools.

Google - Submit Your Blogspot Blog Sitemap to Google

Yahoo - Submit Your Blogspot Blog to Yahoo

MSN - Submit Blogger Sitemap to MSN Live Search

Also take a look at my tutorial on submitting your blog to major search engines

5. Build Quality Links
If you want to rank highly in Google and other search engines then you need to generate quality in-bound links. That doesn't mean exchanging links with everything and everyone as I see some new webmasters do. A few quality links from authoritative sites will boost your page rankings quickly and are far superior to a bunch of links from low ranking sites.

There are several good ways to generate links to your blog. One easy way is to to submit your site to blog directories. For more information on recommended blog directories please see my article Submit Your Blogger Blog to Blog Directories. Another way to cultivate in-bound links is to submit your best articles to article directories. A third possibility is to actively participate in forums and on other related blogs where commenting affords you the option of adding a link to your site.

I would recommend linking to DMOZ (Open Directory Project). Care needs to be taken to submit your site to the correct subject area. Becoming listed can take awhile so patience is needed.


6. Write Quality Content and Post Frequently
If you have read any articles on the subject of Blogging and SEO you will no doubt have observed writers emphasising the importance of quality content. I can't stress enough how much return visits depend on providing inducements to visitors to come back. If your site content is well written and informative half the battle is won. Make sure you post frequently so that visitors can see the value of subscribing in a reader. Take some care with the presentation of your content and images as this will present a professional image. Avoid common pitfalls like bad grammar and spelling mistakes which stand out like a sore toe and detract from a visitor's overall positive experience of your site.

One leading professional blogger Yaro Starak recommends the use of pillar articles. These are articles that don't change over time and continue to attract visitors. The best pillar articles explain some concept, provide definitions, give advice or present some argument. Your site needs to have at least 5 pillar articles and more if you can manage it. Pillar articles need to be more than 500 words long, crafted to generate interest and provide a welcome resource to your visitors.

7. Ensure Your Content is Keyword Rich
Apart from the quality of your content there is the question of keyword density. The more keyword rich your posts are the greater the likelihood they will appear higher in search engine results. This means it is worth the effort of crafting your content in such a way that you make use of important keywords and keyword phrases frequently used. Don't go overboard however as Google is smart enough to recognise if your pages are littered with keywords and nothing much else. A useful free SEO tool to help you optimise your site using keywords and labels is Google Adwords. Another good tool to help you quickly craft keyword rich material is Live Keyword Analysis which assesses the keyword density of keywords and keyword phrases of any post you paste into the analysis box.

When writing posts make sure your opening sentence describes what the article is about and contains your keywords and keyword phrases. It is important that your first sentence is keyword rich as search engines like Google give more emphasis to content at the beginning of the post. Also it is worth including a short ending statement about the content of the post as there is some evidence that Google also places value on the content at the end of the post.

8. Manage Your Feeds Carefully
Feeds help your visitors find your site so they need to be managed carefully in order to make the most of them. Your site feeds are an important way to create backlinks too. Backlinks from authoritative sites are highly valuable and can boost your page ranking. For information about showing backlinks please refer to the Blogger Help Article About Backlinks

Ensure you have your RSS feed icons clearly visible for visitors to see. The most superior positioning of the feed icons on your site is in the header. Watch out for coming tutorials on how to improve positioning of RSS feed links.

You can redirect your feed to a feedburning service like Feedburner and then add a chicklet to your site (orange RSS feed button) so that the feed is instantly available on click. Please refer to my tutorials about Blogger feeds:Burn a Blogger RSS Feed at Feedburner and Blogger RSS Feeds and Feedburner. To add a FeedFlare to your burned feed check out my tutorial.

If you haven't burnt your feed you can try adding a Subscription Links widget to a sidebar too to encourage visitors to subscribe to your site in popular on-line readers such as Google Reader. You will find the Subscription Links widget available under the list of gadgets.

Blogger Subscription Links Widget installed on Blog Know How
Display your most recent posts by configuring a feed widget. Under Layout > Page Elements add a feed gadget to a sidebar. Enter the URL of the default feed of your site which will be:

http://yoursitename.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Enter Recent Posts in the title and then Save. For more information about adding a posts feed widget to a sidebar please refer to my article Add a Recent Posts Feed to a Blogger Blog

You can do the same for comments if you wish to have a list of recent comments displayed in your sidebar. In this case you would enter:

http://yoursitename.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default


For more in depth coverage about adding a comments feed to your sidebar please see my article Add a Recent Comments Feed to a Blogger Sidebar

Ensure you set up your site feeds to show the full text. To check this navigate to Settings > Site Feeds and select yes from the dropdown box for all three feeds.

Consider having a feed specifically for a popular label if it contains 20 or more posts.


9. Optimize Your Use of Images
Chances are you don't give a thought to images when you insert them into your posts but images can be optimized by careful use of filenames and the alt attribute. When naming images avoid long names. Instead give your images distinctive filenames rather than something generic like 00045.jpg which has no meaning.

The alt attribute allows you to specify what text is displayed when a visitor's mouse hovers over an image. The alt attribute also gets displayed if the image is not available for some reason. By optimizing your alt attributes you are increasing the likelihood of your images appearing in Google Image Searches.

Optimizing your alt attributes is easy. Every time you insert an image into a post look for the alt attribute which will be empty by default

style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 122px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/abcdeefgBxA/4560/sidebar-add-this-bookmark-button.JPG" border="0" />

Fill in the alt attribute with a useful description of your image

style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 122px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="Blog Know How Sidebar Showing Add This Bookmark Button" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/abcdeefgBxA/4560/sidebar-add-this-bookmark-button.JPG" border="0" />

Depending on the subject of your site you can gain a lot of traffic from the images you post on your site. The more unique the content of your site the greater the likelihood that your traffic will stem from images. Without going overboard ensure you have a good mix of images to support your articles.


10. Take Advantage of Web Analytics Services
Having implemented some strategies to improve crawling and indexing of your site by search engine giants Google, Yahoo and MSN chances are you will want to see how these changes have impacted on the traffic reaching your site. Web Analytics programs are a valuable tool for gaining insight into visitor behaviour and trends. The kind of information that a program like Google Analytics will provide is:
how users reach and behave on your site

the most popular content on your site

the impact of optimizations you make to your site (e.g. by how much did changing the order of title tags improve traffic from search engines?)


To integrate Google Analytics into your Blogger (Blogspot) blog please refer to my articles Track Visitors to Your Blogger Blog and Add Google Analytics to Blogger Blog

This article has discussed 10 easy ways to build site traffic and improve SEO for Blogger (Blogspot) Bloggers by addressing the following areas: feeds, images, social bookmarking, title tags, permalinks, content, analytics, submitting your blog to search engines.

Related Articles
Blogger Guide to Google Adsense Placement
Avoid 6 Common Blogger Mistakes
Add Meta Tags to Blogger for Better SEO
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs

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58 comments:

The Whizz said...

Thanks. I really appreciate your feedback. Nice to know I'm reaching readers who find my blog interesting enough to come back. Don't forget you can read my blog in a reader if you would like. Also there is the option of signing up as a follower.

nicred said...

would just like to say thank you for all of your info , i am new to blogging so your blog is a real blessing for all the "noobs" out there . :)

The Whizz said...

Thanks Nicred for taking time to post this feedback. I set up Blog Know How to help all but especially Blogger "noobs" because there is a lot of information out there but in language that is too technical for most people to make sense of. Hope you will continue to read along.

Marky said...

I really love this 10 Tips to Build Blogger Blogspot Site Traffic post of yours.

Can I ask something? Do you know how to add meta Keyword tags on EACH of the BLOGGER post AUTOMATICALLY using its LABELS? I hope you'll get that. I am looking forward for your reply.

Your site is definitely helpful. Thank a lot.

The Whizz said...

Marky. I'm glad you have asked about meta tags because it has prompted me to write an article about it. In answer to your question I don't know a way to do what you are asking. I do know a way to add meta tags to individual posts manually though and have included it in my new article about adding meta tags to blogger for better SEO. Hope it is of help to you.Add Meta Tags to Blogger for Better SEO

Marky said...

Wow thank you so much for this response. I will be reading that article for sure. Keep posting.

Shinto Mathew said...

Wow Very Informative. Thank A Lot. I have added most of your suggestions on my blog. http://www.meadinfo.org

The Whizz said...

Thanks Marky. Hope it is helpful to you

The Whizz said...

Shinto nice to hear that you have incorporated many of my suggestions into your blog. You are likely to see a big difference in traffic especially if you have adjusted the title tags. Look forward to seeing you here again sometime soon!

GM22 said...

This is good - thank you. I'm using your tips at www.7books.com and www.flightstokabul.com

Thank you.
GM

The Whizz said...

Hi gm22. Hope you will read along. Nice to know that these tips are helping people with their blogs

Marty said...

Every post I read makes me find 2 or 3 more that I want to check. Looks like I will be stuck on your blog for a while.

The Whizz said...

Marty I like it when readers get stuck on my blog and keep coming back for more. Why not consider following me? on Twitter, or receive updates by email or in a reader.

Edge said...

Great ideas! Can't wait to try them out!

The Whizz said...

Thanks sueedge. If you liked this article you may also be interested in Blogger Blogspot SEO Tips and Tricks

MH's Journal said...

Nice blog. Giving great ideas for beginners. I have to catch up with your tips as there are plenty of them. Following through...

The Whizz said...

Mun Hong's Journal thanks for your comments and support

The Baron said...

Very nice blog, I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it and use your advice on my brand new blog, abizplan.blogspot.com

The Baron

The Whizz said...

The Baron. Glad this was helpful to you. Thanks for taking time out of your day to comment

Omry Davish said...

Im having a problem with this site, for some reason i can only see the home page and every other action just leads me to a blank page...
Is it me or is it a problem with the site ?

The Whizz said...

Oh! Not seeing my blog? That definitely is strange! No problem this end that I am aware of. Is it your browser by any chance? Thanks for the heads up Tech Priest. I will keep a regular check on it just in case

Usman said...

Good guiding post for beginners. Can you suggest me some way to get quality backlinks?

The Whizz said...

Hi Usman I see you write about SEO so I am not sure what else I can offer you. If you are interested in linking to my SEO articles take a look at SEO Tips and Tricks for Blogger, Adding Your Blog to Blog Directories and How to Increase Google Page Rank for a Blogger Blog

khabibkhan said...

thanks for your tips don't forget to visit my green blog at http://aznas.blogspot.com

The Whizz said...

Thanks for your interest in my blog khabibkhan.

Rajesh Kumar said...

You have very informative blog related to Best SEO Tips for new blogger like me. I appreciate your work. I am looking for new and interesting post from your side in future

Sweet-Partners said...

Hi
I have found this blog very helpful, I would like to thank you very much.

I have 2 questions.
1. How do I remove the nav bar at the top
2. How do I remove the tools symbols from my page, it still shows up on my blog, that is on my layout page where I do the editing. My blog is http://sweet-partners.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

thank for your help , now my blog got more keyboard on it . Shall ask google to add this into build in feature

The Whizz said...

Seo raju I have a whole bunch of articles planned for 2010 so please stay posted.

The Whizz said...

Hey Raymond yes some SEO in Blogger would be a nice addition

Admin said...

really good Info here. Thanks!


http://myfreetvtube.blogspot.com/

WordPress SEO said...

Great !! I have gone through your post and found it very useful for SEO related information.Keep going!!

Josef Pausch said...

Hi Wizz
I came across your blog via webmaster talk forum and I am so glad I did. I'm new to Blogging and have started a blog on Health & Wellness issues like weight loss ex. And I found your article on 10 tips to build blogger blogspot traffic extreamly helpful. I use wordpress for my blog but still learned a lot from your article.

Admin said...

thank you

http://rapidleech2day.blogspot.com/

web designer said...

Really interesting article. I like this blog and glad to found it. Keep up this great work. I'll be visiting.

Nizam Khan said...

Hello

Professional explained content. Please post regularly and make us learn more.

I will try these steps on my Blog

http://liveingreenworld.blogspot.com/

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Nice....

john said...

Thanks WIZZ you have teach me a lot.SEO of a blog was a big problem for me but it has been very much solved only because of your tips.I applied every method to my blog Telecom Jobs and found everything right.Please continue your work so we can learn a lot from your expertise.

ajak90 said...

wow,your posting fully-enriched with great knowledge......

Fatmagülün suçu ne izle said...

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Muhteşem Yüzyıl İzle said...

thank you admin

Tarun Sharma said...

Very informative tips,specially for the new bloggers like me.
Thanks.

rc helicopter said...

This was very helpful. Thanks.

SoulKitchen said...

Thank you for this! I have applied the steps in my blog. thank you again!

Techno Blog said...

Hi .. article in this blog really useful for me. I get a lot of knowledge here, because I am still very new in this world. Thanks..

Ellehcar November said...

All SEO Tips to get your blog will be rank on top is great. Every tips in this blog has a useful information that gives a big help for the novice and former blogger out there.

webmaster said...

Thanks for all the great tips you always share to us. i guess your blog looks amazing and has a high page rank. I'll try this nice tips on my blogs sometimes. I am looking forward for the next article that you'll publish in the future, thanks in advance.

jacksonwhite said...

Yeah! More keywords more traffic. Be sure that your keywords are friendly and its easy to read and to remember.

Wicked Innovation said...

If you are creating a Blog. Be sure that the title or anything in your blog are easy to remember and it's friendly words like words with rhyme. Thanks for sharing your article. It's working :D

Lisha Yost said...

This is by far one of the best blogs I have ever come across that helps people learn how to optimize their blogs and make money blogging. My blog is similar, but not quite as extensive... yet. You have quite a lot here and I will for sure be coming back.

~Lisha at Online Money Trip

Abhishek said...

Excellent content, helped me a lot in setting up my blog!! keep the good work thanks

Harish Bhatt said...

Really great post with nice, simple and effective tips ... Absolutely agree with the author.. these all tips seems to be simple but all these are very effective .. i have personally used these all in my blog. and these all really work.
Have a look of some more tips for the SEO:
http://www.harigeek.com/2011/03/check-list-for-seo-seo-for-websites-and.html

in car dvd said...

Hi, Thanks, You article help me lots for seo my bolg.

SEO Training in Kharghar said...

loads to read about SEO tips and .. lovely blog... so simple and cleanly explained...
your newest follower from bloggers:)

rewiewer said...

Wow man your blog is like my Seo bible :D tnx for existing

Mike Cleveland said...

You have really helpful info here, and I going to bookmark this site. I wish someone would come up with a tool to change all the meta tags. That would save lots of time.

extra said...

I keep coming back to this blog, great info, keep it coming.

noman dudda said...

I have been taking analysis on natural traffic leading. Thanks for exceptional writing.

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