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SEO For Targeted Traffic | In And Out Of Your Blog

by Jane Sheeba| Join Jane on Google+

Aim with Bow and Arrow to the highest precision

Content is King – Well known and well established! What makes great content? Content which your readers and search engines appreciate.

If search engines appreciate your content, it is easily findable and can become easily popular. Now if your readers have to appreciate it, your content must offer quality. Period.

In this post I am assuming that you are offering quality content. If not you can stop reading this post; it will be of no use to you! But if you are sure that your content is usable and is of good quality, then please continue reading.

I will give you 4 SEO tips which you can implement on your blog and outside your blog (not offline, still online but but not on your blog) to help you please the bots.

Optimize Headings

It goes without saying that heading is the first thing that gets into the eyes and head of your readers before the body of your post. Heading is also the one which reaches the masses; the number is usually substantially larger compared to the number of people who really read your post. And it is normally good (or even great) if there is no big difference between these two numbers.

That is, if all those people who read your headings are convinced enough to click through your link and check what you have got, then you win. But how to attract your target audience? Read more in your niche and write hot off the press headlines in your niche. Make sure you use less competitive keywords in your niche in your post headline.

Now, this is not an easy task. You cannot simply find less competitive targeted keywords in your niche unless you spend hours in researching. But don’t worry. You can do it from your WP dashboard. I use Keyword Winner – a premium WordPress plugin which makes you easily find less competitive targeted keywords in your niche, right from your WP dashboard. It integrates with your permalink too!

You should have it if you are serious about ranking top on search engines for less competitive keywords – It’s worth every penny. Check it out!

Internal Linking

Two things- You need to do it, but shouldn’t over do it. I’ll explain.

In order to make it easy for the search engine bots to crawl your webpages, you should do inter-linking of your blog posts. For those who have not heard about interlinking, here it is:

Interlinking your blog posts is nothing but connecting each post to one or more posts from your blog. You can use anchor (keyword) texts to do this.

Two plugins which help you with this process and indeed make interlinking super easy are: Insights and SEO Smart Links. I use Insights.

As you type a blog post, you can reference your old posts with similar keywords or ideas.

But why you shouldn’t do it too much?

(i) You may raise an alarm to Search Engines, which may think that you are trying to manipulate something.

(ii) If you provide a lot of links on one post page, that is flow of link juice. Even if the links point to another post on your own blog, it is still link leaking. So you can add up to 2 or 4 links per post, unless on exceptional conditions.

Guest Posting

Ya, it won’t be fair if I don’t mention guest posting in this list. You must be familiar of the standard benefits of guest posting, right from getting do-follow backlinks from high PR blogs to becoming a better writer.

How does guest posting help you with SEO for targeted traffic?

One of the top perks in doing guest posting is getting authoritative backlinks, among other things. Now, I say authoritative assuming that you choose well established blogs that offer quality content in your niche. If your blog has such authoritative backlinks from many blogs, depending upon the number, search engines give you priority when they display results in SERPs.

So when you aim at less competitive keywords AND happen to posses a good number of authoritative backlinks, you will sure be ranked top in SERPs for that keyword (and many related keywords). The combination will give an extra push to boost your search engine rankings.

Social Engagement

Okay, here goes the bitter truth for the ‘not-so-caring about others’ kind of people. You have to do this for SEO. I know we are all busy. We publish posts in our blogs, moderate the comments, deal with spammers and so on. So where do we find the time to engage with other people?

Moreover, are social media sites the greatest distractions in the online world? Yes they are indeed! But you know who you are.

If you have a blog and not having a group of people know about it, your blog will not be found by search engines. Well, I may be exaggerating a bit; the search engines will find your content, eventually. But how about ranking higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Your links have a 90% chance of NOT being clicked if you don’t happen to be on the first page.

How does social engagement help?

1. You make loyal friends who will be willing to promote your content.

2. Your content is everywhere.

3. You content gets backlinks from all popular social networks. Remember, links from Twitter and other social sites matter a lot, whether do follow or not.

But in order to achieve these results, “engagement” is the key. You cannot just create social media accounts and start posting your links everywhere. It is about relationships and making people share your stuff out of trust, feeling being helped and welcomed and sometimes simply out of love.

So make it happen!

How to engage in social media sites for effective off blog SEO? That’s story for another post; coming soon!

So what do you think. I think I have given you something to think of and implement. Let me know your thoughts in comments.

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{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }

Liver Cleanse

Wow, thanks Jane for all the great SEO tips. I never even thought about a lot of those! :)

Reply

Christian Hollingsworth

What’s helped me most is social media engagement. There’s so much more value, in my mind, of a trusted reader and fan then any other form of traffic generation. When someone loves your content, they’re more willing to share, post backlinks, and get the word out into the public. When you’ve got many of these people sharing your stuff- then it’s quickly going to be plastered ALL OVER THE NET.
Christian Hollingsworth recently posted..5 Secret Steps To Make A Fortune OnlineMy Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi Christian,

Completely agree with you on benefits of social media. I am getting some good healthy addiction of it :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,
Jane.

Reply

Jon

Christian,
I’m with you on the value of social media. Part of my plan going forward is to spend more time driving value and building relationships there on FB and Twitter. Lately, it’s been about creating the content (and catching up) so now I’d like to focus on people more.

@Jane – great article and spot on advice. Proper SEO is highly important and necessary to learn. Thanks!

Jon
Jon recently posted..Smart Online Business Strategy- Interview with a World Record HolderMy Profile

Reply

Jeanine Byers Hoag

Jane, these are great tips! I’ll tell you the two that struck me most. One is to use less competitive headings.

I had never thought of that before and will have to keep that in mind. I was only matching headings to keywords in the post.

The other is about internal links. I didn’t know there could be too many and will watch it from now on so I don’t have more than four.

Thanks for these great tips!
Jeanine Byers Hoag recently posted..Love the One Youre With My Continued Quest to Find Signature Style w- Six Items or LessMy Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi Jeanine,

You have to find a balance in the competition of the keyword. For highly competitive keywords you have to be busy for your life to build backlinks and push its ranking up. The keywords with least competition may not be searched my anyone, so there is no use in ranking #1 for those. The key is to find the balance. And Keyword Winner gives us the keyword competition and the number of backlinks needed to get that post to #1 on Google, right from your dashboard. Handy!

Cheers,
Jane.

Reply

SEO services India

The post is excellent and makes a fantastic read. i am waiting for your next post on engaging social media sites for good off page optimization.
SEO services India recently posted..Official Google Blog- This week in search 4-15-11My Profile

Reply

Marcus Baker

Thanks Jane, excellent tips here!

I keep on hearing good things about Keyword Winner so must give it my attention. I usually just look for relevant long tail keywords which can take some time and we all want to save time!!

~Marcus
Marcus Baker recently posted..10 Ways to Leverage a Top Blogs ListMy Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi Marcus,

I chose Keyword Winner primarily for its handy feature. It is a great time saver and I am ranking #1 for many posts for whose titles I spent 1/2 to 1 minute. Isn’t that great?

Cheers,
Jane.

Reply

Devesh

Another interesting post you’re sharing Jane.

Internal linking is great and insights & seo smart links are great plugins. Now i don’t think isnights is much useful, as wordpress comes with a default internal linking system.

Guest Posting is another cool but very effective way to get targeted traffic. I’ve done 10+ guest posts so far and have great success them.

Thanks for sharing this great post.

Dev
Devesh recently posted..Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones But Words Will Make you Rich – Man!My Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Devesh,

10 guest posts is a good number. Guest posts cover many aspects including traffic, popularity, backlinks and gives a great social feel.

Cheers,
Jane.

Reply

Keith Davis

Hi Jane
I’m always interested in SEO posts.

I’m pretty good on what might be termed “old fashioned” SEO.
Domain name, title tags etc but I’m hopeless at the social media bit.
I really need to make a start on that side of things.

I use Market Samurai for my keyword research etc.
Pretty good and only a one off paymene, no extras for updates.

Any tips on making a start on the social media side?

BTW – my first time here.
Site looks good and content useful.
Keith Davis recently posted..Keep it short- keep it sharpMy Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi Keith,

Welcome to my blog and glad that you like it. I designed the site by the way :)

Regarding Market Samurai, I can only say that I completely agree with you. It does more stuff for the money we pay and yes no extras for upgrades. I use it for much more things in addition to keyword research (I am making a post on it tomorrow).

I can promise a post on starting with social media engagement… quite soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,
Jane.

Reply

Keith Davis

Hi Jane

“I can promise a post on starting with social media engagement… quite soon.”

Look forward to it.
I really have to make a start.
Keith Davis recently posted..Keep it short- keep it sharpMy Profile

Reply

Samyak

yet another great post for beginners like myself. your tip above reg. post headings in particular. umm.. i am going to revisit some of my posts and revise their title rightaway.

thanks a pile.
cheers
Samyak
ThoughtTavern

Reply

Janet

Jane, aloha. Terrific post. Absolutely love the picture you selected for this–right on target. And, knowing you as I do, even though you didn’t mention it, I am sure you optimized the picture tags for “SEO for Targeted Traffic.”

Since SEO is not yet a strong suit for me, what I have found to be most effective is social engagement. It has made a huge, huge difference for me. Through comment sections both on my blog and others, I have met bloggers who have become friends and supporters. Through their tweets & RTs, I have met their friends and followers. To me, Jane, the reciprocity that I see with bloggers is never ending and, actually, can be quite inspiring.

Best wishes for a terrific weekend. Aloha. Janet
Janet recently posted..What do “they” know about Triberr that you don’t By Janet Callaway The Natural NetworkerMy Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi Janet,

Yup social engagement comes as a salvation for those who don’t know much about SEO. That is how I started too. But social engagement itself helped me learn a lot about SEO since I was keen to learn it anyway.

Cheers,
Jane.

Reply

Samantha Bangayan

Loved these tips, Jane! Like Janet, I’ve mostly focused on connecting with other blogs, but that’s probably partly why my page doesn’t show up on Google. =) I’ve brought my Alexa ranking down quite a bit, but I think it’s definitely time to start focusing on SEO tactics. Thanks for recommending Keyword Winner! I’ll download it right now!

What’s your take on using the same tag for each post? For example, if my website is about “living in Peru,” would it hurt me if I used that tag for most of my posts? Would really appreciate your expert input! =)

Thanks again, Jane! =)
Samantha Bangayan recently posted..The Via Crucis of a Personal PilgrimageMy Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi Samantha,

Tags actually help in forming swarms or clusters inside your blog so that each cluster is identified by a common thing – the tag. It will be much useful to use tags just like categories. There is no use in using 100 tags in your posts while only 20 tags have posts in them while the remaining tags just have one post in them.

Correct usage of tags play a major role in your site structure which in turn plays some role in getting you sitelinks (this I am not *so* sure but I know that much). So less tags with more posts on them is always recommended and best practice rather than having numerous tags.

Cheers,
Jane.
Jane Sheeba recently posted..Effective Blog Commenting to build high quality backlinksMy Profile

Reply

Samantha Bangayan

Loved these clear tips, Jane. Thank you so much for taking the time to clarify that so thoroughly with me. =) Your blog is such a great resource for a newbie, such as myself! =)
Samantha Bangayan recently posted..Are You a BystanderMy Profile

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Suresh Khanal

Nice article and worthy suggestions Jane. I like the image at the top of image, how amply it speaks the message of your post.

I’m also using Insights but it needs a bit more posts when I can start interlinking them.
Suresh Khanal recently posted..Insights Does Smart InterlinkingMy Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi Suresh,

Yes you need quite some number of posts to get insights to work.

BTW you are using the URL in the Twitter field and it won’t work. You simply have to enter your Twitter ID without @.

Cheers,
Jane.
Jane Sheeba recently posted..Effective Blog Commenting to build high quality backlinksMy Profile

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Suresh Khanal

Damn! this autofill Addon for firefox. It kicks me when I don’t care. Going to uninstall it.
Suresh Khanal recently posted..The Secrets of How I Got Custom Facebook URL Just in 15 MinutesMy Profile

Reply

Jayne Kopp

Hi Jane, I always include my specific keyword in Headings of my posts. I had never considered that it would be of any use to use less competitive ones in my Headings. Hmmm

I do not do a great job at socializing on the networks lately. this is definitely an area where I need to improve.

I also did not realize that too many internal links could be negative.

You’ve given me lots tothink about!

Thanks

Jayne
Jayne Kopp recently posted..How to Take Control of Life Instead of Life Controlling YOU!My Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi Jayne,

I know how everyone feels when I say about ranking for less competitive keywords. You really have to find the balance. The competition should not be tough (in which case you need to build a big number of bacnklinks to make it to first page and at the same time, it should not be the minimum so that no one is searching for it.

You have to find the balance between the competition and the number of backlinks. Keyword winner helps you to decide that from your WP dashboard.

Cheers,
Jane.

Reply

Dr. Bob Clarke

Hi Jane,

These are great SEO tips! I really do pay alot of attention to my headline, but maybe not enough to my subheaders. As I was reading your post, it occurred to me that this was EXACTLY how I read a post…. first the headline attracts me enough that I open the post…. then I skim the headers and subheaders to get the gist of the post. Only then, if intrigued will I read the entire post.

Haven’t tried Keyword Winner yet, but I will definitely check it out. I am all about leveraging time, so this could be a huge time saver!

Thanks for the lead!

Bob
Dr. Bob Clarke recently posted..How To Find The Time To Build Your Network Marketing BusinessMy Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi Bob,

Many thanks for stopping by and telling about how you read this post in analogy with what I am speaking here. And yes Keyword Winner is a big time saver; that is one of the vital reasons I went for it. Takes me max 2 mins to get my heading optimized and my post goes to first page within minutes.

Cheers,
Jane.

Reply

DiTesco

4 simple steps and yet they account for near 100% of what is need to get ranked well. I use all the plugins you mention although WP 3.1 comes with its own internal linking system, I prefer Insights as I finf it to be more “accurate” when searching for linkable posts. SEO Smart Links is great too and I use it heavily in my blog. I do have the business edition though as it provides more control over your links and keywords. I do recommend a new plugin though that has been recently gaining popularity that is a great alternative for SEO Smartlinks and Related post. If you are interested, the plugin is SLRP (for short) and can be found here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/seo-alrp/
DiTesco recently posted..Best SEO PracticesMy Profile

Reply

Jane Sheeba

Hi DiTesco,

To me too, Insights is kinda more accurate than SEO smart links. I stopped with 4 steps because, I really did not want the readers to overwhelm, since most have already expressed that they are learners and newbies when it comes to SEO. Glad that it almost amounts to 100%.

Thanks for letting me know about SLRP. I am checking it out.

Cheers,
Jane.

Reply

Tisha

Hey Jane,

About a few months ago I made a project folder in my bookmarks, and I have been adding the plugins that you suggest into it. I like the keyword plugins that you suggested here on this post. I’m going to play around with them to see which one works best.

~Tisha
Tisha recently posted..Top 5 Plugin Review-Turn Your WP from Drab to FabMy Profile

Reply

Joyce Oladipo

I haven’t really being successful with search engine. The bulk of my traffic comes in through facebook and twitter.

Because have managed to build a really good relationship online, people are willing to share my content.

But still i need to improve my SEO skill to get more traffic.

Thanks for sharing.
Joyce Oladipo recently posted..3 Ways The Hedgehog Model Can Drive Your BusinessMy Profile

Reply

Tosin from Home-Based Business Coach

Hey Jane,

I used to find SEO posts scary when I first started but now I enjoy reading them.

I use a couple of the plugins you mentioned and will try out the others. Thanks!

I love social engagement and I use it alot especially facebook. And it is working very fine for me. Looking forward to your post on it.

Thanks for sharing this with us, Jane!

Tosin

Reply

White Magick

This posts helps a lot, but right now I am stuck at around 30 visitors per day. I think I did the basics pretty well, but do you have any follow up strategies for more traffic?

Reply

Dan from Golf Shop

I need to learn a lot about SEO. So that’s why I’m here. I will come back often to learn from your expertise. Thanks.

Reply

sibin

Thanks nice info.Is there any other Keyword software.I have only Blogger blog.I can’t install plugins.Help me.

All your posts are good.I read your Guest post on Rojish[dot]com

Both posts are excellent and Informative ……
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bbrian017

Hi Jane, I think I’ve got the social engagement down lol but where I lack is creating articles with targeted keywords. I think we talked about this in your last post. I’m going to start focusing on this in more detail as we move into the ladder part of 2011. I have full intention on improving the SEO of Blog Engage so our members can benefit more. One of these things will be internal linking and a more targeted fashion.
bbrian017 recently posted..Syndicate Your Content and Engage with BloggersMy Profile

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Kuldeep from Cool Tricks

SEO has always been determined as a backbone of a blog! I appreciate the information provided here! Nice Share!
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Laura-Lee Walker

Great tips Jane! This is SEO the way it should be done. Like anything else it’s all about establishing good habits and time management. Very inspirational.
Laura-Lee Walker recently posted..Pro Bono Social Media Consultants for Non-profitsMy Profile

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Kokz from Love poems

You’ve got some wonderful tips out here to boost up the traffic for a blog. SEO along with unique content, nothing could be better than this to reach out our word to the masses. Nice post, a must read :)
Kokz recently posted..Can’t love be…………………My Profile

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David

nice post ..this is the way it should be done to get successful results . thanks for sharing ..

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Ajnabii from Blogging Tips

Excellent information , lots of helpful tips, I have been raking my brain trying to find ways as to how does one invite traffic into my blog.

Thanks for sharing.
Ajnabii recently posted..Basic Tips: Optimize Your Blog For Search EnginesMy Profile

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abshk

really very informative tips . It will help a lot to new bloggers
abshk recently posted..Facebook starts work for its new search engine to take over GoogleMy Profile

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Peter Palme

Excellent post. Was not aware of some the practices you described such as the importance of interlinking. Thank you!
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