Monday, May 14, 2012

4 Content Tips We Should Follow To Improve SEO & Sales

On the back of Panda, Penguin and any other updates Google has stored in the Zoo, writing SEO content has become more and more about delivering a better user experience.
Gone are the days of keyword laden text that reads poorly and lacks substance. It has been laid to rest and will never return. We’re not mourning.

With ‘quality content’ the buzzwords on everyone’s lips, identifying areas in which you can deliver a better user experience whilst adhering to key SEO techniques is the overall goal.

Below are four aspects of on-page content that enable you to naturally combine interesting, marketable content with SEO copywriting techniques, resulting in a page that is not only likely to rank higher, but turn more visitors into customers.


Before We Begin – The Nitty Gritty

Users aren’t going to read all of your content.
They won’t.
As an SEO writer it’s something you’re just going to have to deal with. OK? Have you recovered? Good.
The less content there is, the more users will read. Pretty simple but not advantageous if you’re trying to get across a number of key selling points to new customers. Striking a balance between word count and design/usability should be the focus.
When writing, remember that readers are only going to consume a short amount of information, so make the most of the advantages you have!

1). Do Your Best Work Above the Fold

The stuff you see when you first land on the page is what’s most important. Searchers are fickle beasts – they’ll click onto another page quicker than you can say “G’day”, making it vital to get your key messages across quickly and efficiently.
Headings, bullet points and call to actions (aka the 3 other points we’re going to touch on!) should all feature above the fold to ensure greater conversions.
The reality is that once you factor in header images, menu options, navigation links and alike, there may only be a small section for you to ply your content writing skills – use it wisely!

2). Keywords + USP = Conversion Heading

Forget E=MC2. The above equation is gold when you are looking to increase sales through enticing content. Every company has Unique Selling Points and benefits that differentiate them from the competition. If you don’t then odds are you’ll be out of business soon.
Balancing points of difference and benefits with focus keywords is the key to capturing your reader’s attention via headings. As a general rule, include your major selling point in your h1, second major selling point in your first h2 and so on.
Conversion headings capture the attention of readers – if you can get them to browse a couple more sentences or look at a bullet point as a result of reading your heading, it is doing its job.
Ensuring main keywords feature in your headings also creates a parallel between the search results and your website. If someone searches for ‘SEO Company’ and that same term appears in your h1, you’ve created a link that will register in the searchers mind and keep them on site.

3). Bullet Points – Your Friend for Advantages and Internal Links

Like headings, bullet points offer dual incentives for your SEO and conversion metrics. They break up the page and stand out from the rest of the text, which means they’ve got a better chance of being read.
After all, pretty dot points are easier to read than chunky text.
Conversely, filling your page with bullet point lists will dilute their impact on readers – so be careful!
Listing services and benefits within your bullet points ensures that they are easily consumed by the reader. Better yet, the information in your lists can be prominently linked to relevant internal pages, gaining you big ticks for usability from both users and search engines.

4). Call the Reader to Action and Complete the Sale/Enquiry/Download….

Remind the reader why they are there! Call-to-actions should feature more than once on a page, but shouldn’t deliver mixed messages. Keep all of them uniform with the overall goal of the page – whether it’s to buy, enquire, download or sign up.
Call-to-actions also enable you to give your main keywords another natural mention, reinforcing the buzz words that have appeared throughout your content to well and truly close the deal!
As a rule, have at least one call-to-action in your content above the fold.

Balance SEO and Sales Copy to Turn More Visitors into Customers!

It’s all well and good to get great rankings and traffic, but without proper conversion practices in place, it’s a fruitless process. Strike a balance in your content between SEO and conversions using headings, bullet points, call to actions and the area above the fold, and you’ll be closer to online domination (in an ideal world!).

Are you achieving a balance between SEO and sales copy?

  1. Do you have headings, bullet points and call to actions above the fold?
  2. Do your headings contain a good balance of unique selling points and keywords?
  3. Do you feature bullet points containing key services and benefits, and do they link to relevant internal pages?
  4. Do you have numerous, keyword savvy call-to-actions that direct visitors to the same end goal?
    Written By: Dylan Thomas Source: SearchEngineJournal.com

Saturday, May 5, 2012

2 Important Post on Google's Penguin Update by SEOmoz

5 Penguin-Friendly Link Building Tips


Since Google launched their Penguin update on April 24th, millions of websites have been falling down the rankings like losing soldiers in the battlefield! Google has been cracking down on "spammy" websites like never before.

Penguin
This update has indeed been very effective at knocking down spam sites, but many believe that some legit sites have also wrongfully been hit and have voiced their opinions on Google's forums and social media outlets. Google's Search Quality team listened and has set up a form that webmasters can use to notify Google that the Penguin has been unfair to them.
If you have used any unnatural SEO techniques in the past and your website is still proudly standing on the first page, it doesn't mean you're safe. In fact, Google said that the updates will be gradually deployed throughout the next few weeks. Expect a lot of movement in the SERPs!

If you are feeling bad while reading this because you do remember using some slightly shady link building techniques in the past, don't worry, it's never too late to repent.

Now is the time to "whiten your hat" and re-think your SEO strategy. Here are some valuable link building tips that will help you not only survive the Penguin update, but safely improve your rankings for the long term...

Tip #1 - Get More Social, Leverage Your Fanbase

In 2012, social signals are more important than ever. When you post fresh content on your site or blog, make sure you share it on ALL your social pages. In fact, this should be almost like a reflex. For the lazies out there, there are tons of plugins and tools that can help you automate this process. Twitterfeed is one of them.

I have seen too many companies posting new blog posts weekly, but not sharing them on their Google+, Facebook fan page, or on Twitter. What's the point of having all these fans, friends and followers if you're NOT showing them your content? When you share useful content, you will get likes, retweets, and +1's. This not only gives you bonus points in terms of SEO, but it also helps virally spread your content far beyond the confines of your fanbase. A win-win!

Tip #2 - Link Your Inner-Pages

When link building, a lot of SEO's are still making the rookie mistake of always linking to their homepage. I understand that your homepage is the most important page of your site, but you can be guaranteed that Google will raise a red flag if a large majority of your backlinks point to your homepage and very few of them are linking to your blog posts and inner pages. It simply doesn't make logical sense for Googlebot. After all, inner pages are where the real content is at! When you look at a website that acquires tons of links naturally like SEOMOZ, you'll notice that most of the natural links they get are to their inner content pages (blog posts, videos, SEO guides, etc...)

Also, remember that it's not just about external links. Internal links are also highly important. Take some time to improve your internal site's structure by making sure the right keywords are linking to the right pages internally. This will make it easy and intuitive for both Google and your visitors to crawl your site. If you're lazy and you happen to be using WordPress, consider using a plugin like SEO Smart Links that can automate the whole process.

Tip #3 - Diversify Your Anchor Texts

Another element that Google has been cracking down on this year is over-optimization (both on-site and off-site). There's nothing Google hates more than feeling like you're trying to force it to rank you for a specific keyword. For instance, if you are targeting the keyword "New York Condos For Sale" and you're asking all your link partners to link to you using that exact keyword, Google will think it's highly suspicious.
It simply doesn't make sense for Google that all these websites would naturally want to link to you using that exact keyphrase, which also happens to be in your website's title bar and all over your homepage. *ahem ahem*

Think about it, if people were to link to you naturally, wouldn't they all be using different keywords? You bet they would, so try to vary your anchor links in a natural way. This will show Google that you're not trying to force it to rank you for any specific keywords, rather you're just trying to point visitors in the right direction. :)

Remember that Google is now smart enough to figure out which keyword relates best to your content. I also highly recommend using editorial keywords as anchor texts, such as: "click here," "read more," "learn more," etc... as these look way more natural. Again, diversity is key here.

Tip #4 - Focus on Quality, not Quantity

This has been said over and over, but it is more important this year than ever before. The game has drastically changed, folks! Google will penalize your website if you have a large amount of backlinks from untrustworthy sites. (Authority Link Network anyone?)

If you are doing guest posting, I can guarantee you that one high quality blog post from a reputable site is better than 100 posts from low quality ones. I have seen clients in competitive niches enter the first page with less than 30 quality links, while most of their competitors had hundreds/thousands of them.

Also, do yourself a favor and forget about shady link building techniques like mass directory submissions or any automated type of link. If you know someone that has reached the first page using these "spammy" techniques, you should feel bad for them. Google will eventually hit them and hit them hard. If not today, maybe tomorrow, or next month. These guys are definitely on Penguin's hit list. You don't want to be in their shoes. Going to bed every night wondering if your website will still be in the SERPs tomorrow is not a good feeling.

Tip #5 - Make Your Content Link-Worthy

Last but not least, make sure you are producing link-worthy content. Outsourcing your article writing for $5 a piece won't get you very far. If your visitors don't like your content, they will leave your site. High bounce rates = bad user experience. Bad user experience = lower Google rankings. It's really that simple. If you provide content that has value, people will stay longer on your site and possibly hit the like or tweet buttons on one of your articles. This enhanced user experience will pay off SEO-wise.
Always remember that content is (and will always be) king. That is the rule of thumb in white hat SEO. Do you think websites like SEOMOZ or Search Engine Journal need to do any link building in order to rank high in search engines? Probably not, they simply focus on delivering high quality content that people constantly link to from their websites and their social profiles.
This is the safest, most natural, and most efficient form of SEO.
Written By: AnimeR Source: SEOmoz.org

Penguins, Pandas, and Panic at the Zoo

Google’s war on lovable critters escalated on April 24th with the release of the “Penguin” update (originally dubbed the “webspam update” by Google). While every major algorithm update causes some protest, post-Penguin panic seems to be at near record levels, worsened by weeks of speculation about an “over-optimization” penalty. Webmasters and SEOs are understandably worried, and many have legitimately lost traffic and revenue. Before you go out and burn your website to the ground for fear of a penguin in the pantry, I want to offer some advice on how to handle life after an algorithm update.

1. What We Know
First, let’s review what we know. I’m going to break the rules of blogging and recommend that you stop and read this level-headed Penguin post by Danny Sullivan. It covers some of the basics and is the most speculation-free post I’ve read on the subject so far. Glenn Gabe also had a good post on potential Penguin factors.  There’s still a lot of speculation, but likely culprits include:
  • Aggressive exact-match anchor text
  • Overuse of exact-match domains
  • Low-quality article marketing & blog spam
  • Keyword stuffing in internal/outbound links
Many people have suggested low-quality link profiles in general, but analysis of Panda has been complicated by Google’s recent attack on link networks, which seems to have been manual and has probably been going on for weeks. The overlap has made analysis difficult, so let’s take a quick look at the timeline.

What’s the Timeline?

The official roll-out date for Penguin was April 24th, and it seems to have rolled out, for the most part, in a single day. Unfortunately, it came on the heels of other events. On April 19th, Panda 3.5 rolled out (most likely a data update). On April 16th, a data glitch caused a number of sites to be mistakenly tagged as parked domains. Throughout April (and weeks before Penguin), Google started sending out a large number of unnatural link notices via Google Webmaster Tools. Sadly, it seems that April really was the cruelest month.


How Bad Was It?

Google officially claimed that Penguin impacted about 3.1% of English queries, compared to Panda 1.0’s 12%. Since rankings change daily – even hourly – even with no updates, these numbers are nearly impossible to confirm, but it does appear that the impact of Penguin was immediate and substantial. This is an internal SEOmoz graph of Top 10 ranking changes around April 24th (please note that the Y-axis is scaled to accentuate changes):

Graph of Top 10 changes (Penguin vs. Panda 3.5)

Pardon the slightly cryptic nature of this graph – it’s for an upcoming project – but the core point is that the impact of Penguin dwarfed either Panda 3.5 or Google’s 4/16 glitch.

Is It Going Away?

In a word: no. Penguin wasn’t accidental, and Google is clearly serious about combatting spam tactics that have been lingering for too long. As you can see from the graph, it doesn’t appear that there were any major reversals in the few days since Penguin rolled out. Does that mean Google won’t make ANY adjustments? Of course not – it’s entirely likely that they’ll continue to tweak Penguin.
For comparison’s sake, remember that Panda 3.5 came 14 months after the initial launch of Panda 1.0. We’ve come a long way since the monthly “Google Dances” of 2003. Keep in mind, though, that Panda was somewhat unique – we believe that it feeds multiple variables into a single ranking factor that gets updated outside of the real-time index. There’s currently no compelling evidence to suggest that Penguin works in the same way. The Penguin update appears to be integrated directly into the main algorithm, like a more traditional Google update.

2. What to Do

Given the overlapping timelines, this advice applies to any Google update, and not just Penguin. The algorithm is changing constantly (Google reported 516 changes in 2010, and that rate seems to be accelerating), and I want to give you the tools to survive not just Penguin, but Zebra, Skunk, Orca, and any other black-and-white animals Google can ruin…

DO Take a Deep Breath

I’m not trying to be condescending or to minimize any losses you may have suffered. Over 17 years of working with clients, I’ve learned that panic almost never makes things better. No matter how hard Penguin hit you, you need to stop, take a breath, and assess the damage. Dig into your analytics and find out exactly where you sustained losses. Segment your data (by channel, engine, keyword, and page) as much as possible. It’s not enough to know that you lost traffic – you need to be an expert on exactly which traffic you lost.

DO Check the Timeline

Even though the overlapping timelines make analyzing the core Penguin factors difficult, the actual timeline when Penguin rolled out is clear. If you saw major traffic losses between Tuesday, April 24th and Wednesday, April 25th, odds are good that Penguin is at least part of the problem.

DO Double-check IT Issues

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been involved in a Q&A or consulting situation where a website owner was 100% sure they had been hit by an algorithm update, only to have their 17th message to me go something like this:
Oh, by the way, our site was down for 3 days a couple of weeks ago, right before our rankings dropped. I’m sure this wasn’t the problem, but I just thought I’d let you know.
Um, erp, what?! I’ve died a little inside so many times from messages like this that I’m not sure that I’m technically still human. Especially if your losses weren’t sudden or don’t match the algorithm timeline precisely, make absolutely sure that nothing happened to your site or changed that could impact Google’s crawlers. One of the worst things you can do in SEO is to spend a small fortune solving the wrong problem.

DO Quickly Audit Your SEO

Likewise, make sure that you know exactly what SEO efforts are underway, not just within your own team but across any 3rd-party contractors. I’ve had clients swear up and down that everything they did was completely white-hat only to find out weeks later that they hired an outside link-building firm and let them loose with no accountability. Make absolutely sure you know what every agent under your control did in the weeks leading up to the algorithm update.

3. What Not to Do

Panic leads to drastic action, and while I don’t think you should sit on your hands, bad choices made under uninformed hysteria can make a bad situation much, much worse. I’m not speaking hypothetically – I’ve seen businesses destroyed by overreacting to an algorithm change. Here are a few words of advice, once you’ve taken that deep breath (don’t forget to start breathing again)…

DON’T Take a Hatchet to Your Links

It’s unclear how Penguin may have penalized links, or if recent reports of link-related issues are tied to other April changes, but regardless of the cause, the worst thing you can do is to start simply hacking at your back-links. Even low-quality back-links can, in theory, help you, and if you start cutting links that aren’t causing you problems, you could see your rankings drop even farther.
I highly recommend this recent interview with Jim Boykin, because Jim has freely admitted to dabbling in the gray arts and he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to risky link-building. Tackling your problem links is incredibly tough, but start with the worst culprits:
  • Known, obvious paid links
  • Links in networks Google has recently delisted
  • Footer links with exact-match anchor text
  • Other site-wide links with exact-match anchors
Whenever possible, deal with low-authority links first. If a link is passing very little authority AND it’s suspicious, it’s a no-brainer. Cutting links is tough (see my tips on removing bad links) – if you don’t have control over a link, you may have to let it go and focus on positive link-building going forward.

DON’T “De-optimize” Without a Plan

One complaint I hear a lot in Q&A is that the “wrong” page is ranking for a term. So, to get the “right” page to rank, the well-meaning SEO starts de-optimizing the page that’s currently ranking. This usually means turning a decent TITLE tag into a mess and cutting out keywords to leave behind Swiss-cheese copy. Sometimes, the “right” page starts ranking again. Other times, they lose both pages and their traffic.
“Over-optimize” is a terrible phrase, and that alone has people in a panic. There’s nothing “optimal” about jamming a keyword 87 times into 500 words of copy and linking it to the same affiliate site. “Over-gaming” would be a better word. You think you figured out the rules of the game, so you pounded on them until there was nothing but a pile of dust on the board.
If you think you’ve played the game too aggressively, step back and look at the big picture. Does your content serve a purpose? Does your anchor text match the intent of the target? Do your pages exist because they need to or only to target one more long-tail variations of a term? Don’t de-optimize your on-page SEO – re-optimize it into something better.

DON’T Submit a Reconsideration Request

While I don’t think reconsideration will doom you, Penguin is an algorithmic change, not a manual penalty, and reconsideration is not an appropriate avenue. If you think you were impacted by the recent crackdown on link networks, IF you have removed those links, and IF you aren’t engaged in other suspicious link-building, you might consider requesting reconsideration. Just make sure your house is in order first.
Google has created a form for sites unfairly hit by Penguin, but it’s unclear at this point whether that form will result in manual action, or if Google is just collecting broad quality data. If you sincerely believe that you’re an accidental victim, then feel free to fill the form out, but don’t base your entire recovery strategy on clicking [Submit].
Fix What You Can Fix
Recently, I had a long debate with a client about whether or not they had been hit by a specific algorithm update. In the end, it was a pointless debate (for both of us), because we had two clear facts: (1) organic traffic had fallen precipitously, and (2) there were clear, solvable problems with the site. From a diagnostic standpoint, it definitely helps to know whether you were hit by Penguin or another update, but after that, you have to fix what's in your power to fix. Don't spend weeks trying to prove to management that this was all Google's fault. Isolate the damage, find the problems you can fix, and get to work fixing them.
Written By: Dr. Pete Source: SEOmoz.org

Imrpoving Your SEO Strategies after Panda & Penguin updates by Google

For the past few months, I have been practically living in an analytics dashboard, constantly monitoring my clients’ organic search data for even the smallest hint of a Google slap. If you haven’t noticed, Google has been busy updating their search products (see: NovDecJan, Feb, Mar).

On top of those changes that they have publicly documented, we are also seeing additional SEO-specific updates by Google. We’ve had a “page layout algorithm” update, Panda updates and even a bug in Google’s system that caused sites to accidentally be delisted.

Now, there’s a Penguin in the mix. Pandas, Penguins and bugs – Oh my! It’s like I’m at the zoo. And a zoo is pretty much what the SEO world feels like right now.

Also in the mix was the Matt Cutts announcement about a penalty for overly-optimized sites. And then a few weeks later, we started hearing more and more about ‘negative SEO’, which is essentially the process of sabotaging someone’s organic search rankings by generating tens of thousands of “bad” links to their website.

That is really sad, but apparently, there is evidence that it can work (although some people predict it will only work in specific situations, such as sites that already have suspicious link profiles). Yeah. Let that sink in. SEOs targeting SEOs. It makes me sick.

If you remember the good old days, you remember when Google would make one big change every once in a while. Rarely was it several major changes at once, and algorithm updates that had massive SEO implications were even more rare. The infrequency of major algorithm updates made it much easier to identify and measure the impact to rankings and all other metrics.
The best SEOs would figure out which factors changed and/or which factors had received more or less weight and then adjust their sites accordingly. This is not the case today. Lately, SEO is more like an gun fight where the dust never settles.


All Is Fair In The Land Of SEO?

Do you see that? Is Matt Cutts launching another algo update?
Do you see that? Is Matt Cutts launching another algo update?

As I mentioned earlier, SEOs are now living in a zoo, where every day feels like an adventure in controlled chaos. And with ‘negative SEO’, we’ve got a situation where SEOs are basically trying to eat each other. So instead of a zoo, maybe it’s more like Jurassic Park.

With Google’s Panda and Penguin updates affecting so many sites, I’m paranoid that my sites might be next.
One moment, I’m seeing a minor fluctuation in my traffic, and it’s like I’m hearing the footsteps while staring at the water rippling in the cup on the dashboard. Then, I feel like I’m riding in the jeep with Jeff Goldblum as we try to outrun the tyrannosaurus rex. And I’m a white hat! I’m the good guy!
I’m building fresh, quality content. I’m spending hours and hours researching market trends and creating value for my site’s visitors. I’m *not* buying thousands of links on private blog networks. Rather, I’m spending time contacting webmasters of websites related to my niche to advertise and build contextual links that make sense for my site.

I’m active on the social media front. I’ve invested in usability, information architecture and landing page optimization. But none of that matters because lately it seems like Google is targeting blackhat SEOs, but in the process they are affecting whitehats and blackhats alike.

I can’t help but think that there have been quite a few false positives related to Panda and Penguin. In fact, it must be a high number, as Google created a form to complain that your site was unfairly targeted.
Google may be targeting spammers and blackhats, but they are also inadvertently chasing people who actually care about their websites’ value, content, and overall marketing campaign. Google shows no sign of slowing down.

In that classic scene from Jurassic Park, the T-rex chases the jeep for awhile and then gives up. I can only hope that Google does the same. At least give us a chance to catch our breath.

Don't move! He can't see us if we don't move.
Don't move! He can't see us if we don't move.

So we’re living with Panda, Penguin, and all the other updates going live every week. Sometimes I think I’d feel safer if I just didn’t move. Maybe Google won’t see me if I don’t do anything at all. But I can’t do that. I’m not going to live like that. But I will be smarter about everything that I do and recommend.
So where do we go from here? Below are some tips for moving forward and getting settled on your piece of land in the SEO zoo.


Link Building

If you are managing SEO and link building for a big brand, I recommend ceasing all paid link building campaigns. I’m sure I’ll take some heat for that recommendation, but I just can’t recommend paid link building to big brands right now. It’s just too risky at this point in time.
If you have a knowledgeable, experienced link builder working for you and you haven’t been slapped by Google in any of the recent updates, then you are probably okay.
However, it’s still a big risk, especially when you consider what you are risking. But if you’ve got money burning a hole in your pocket and if you must insist on maintaining some form of paid link building, here is my advice:
  • Stop building exact match anchor links.
According to pretty much everyone, this is the biggest red flag in the land of links. If all of your links say ‘blue widget’ because you want to rank for ‘blue widget’, then Google will eventually punish you. It’s just not natural to have all of your links be exact match anchor text. You should be diversifying the anchor text, focusing more on links that mention your brand and less on links that mention non-branded keywords.
Don’t balk at links that say Read More, Here, or www.yourdomain.com. Having these types of links will make your link graph look more organic (pun intended).
  • Make your link building consistently inconsistent.
For example, if you have a budget of $2,000/month, then you are probably building a set amount of links each week or each month. And when Google looks at your link growth, what they’ll notice is that your link count is growing by the same number each month.
This type of is link velocity is unnatural, especially if you’re buying all the links from one network. It’s easy for Google to notice this type of paid link growth because Google is smart. So be more like a MLB pitcher: throw some fast balls and some change-ups. Don’t make it easy for Google to find a pattern in your link growth.
  • Diversify the quality (read: PageRank) of the sites you are buying links from.
If you are only buying links on sites with PR1 and higher, it is easy for Google to detect because that is unnatural. Obviously, you want to get links from sites with PR here and there, but don’t strictly focus on that factor.
Be very selective in your paid link placement. Diversify your paid link portfolio. Go for a range of sites that are big, small, popular, unpopular, no PR, higher PR, etc. Also, don’t be afraid to buy nofollow links. Don’t ignore potential links from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. However, as you get more selective, be ready to spend more on links.
  • Buy a site/blog instead of buying links on a site/blog.
Buying a blog can be a much more effective use of your money in the long run. You’ll get a lot more value than just the links, and you won’t run the risks of being penalized for buying paid links.
  • Find all the free links that you already have.
Get familiar with your 404 reports, log files, and broken internal links. Check Webmaster Tools. Look for any indication of internal and/or inbound links pointing to inactive URLs. Look for links that are being 302 redirected to a final URL. Also look for URLs that are going through multiple redirects. Make sure all links are finding their ways to your active pages without passing through 302 redirects or some sort of redirect chain.
When I’m beginning a new SEO campaign, it never ceases to amaze me how many broken links I find in Webmaster Tools accounts. Sometimes the numbers is in the thousands. These are free links! These are free links that you earned! Make sure they are 301 redirected to active URLs!


Creating Content

Because paid links are a little too risky for me right now, I’d recommend moving the majority of any paid link budgets over to the budget for content creation. And when it comes to content creation, here are some of the ways you can spend money to add unique content and value to your site:
  • Write how-to guides
  • Develop infographics
  • Dust off the old corporate blog and start publishing new content on a daily basis
  • Build microsites
  • Build new landing pages
  • Create a buying guide for your most popular product categories
  • Write weekly press releases
  • Create video reviews of your products
The thing about great content is that it will generate links. But more importantly, great content will add more value to your site’s visitors. Just be sure to promote your new content. Encourage your visitors and customers to share your content and products.

In the end, you may be surprised that you get more bang for your buck with rankings via content creation than paid link campaigns. Also, the lessons you learn with content are priceless. It can really help to educate entire businesses about what their website visitors are looking for, enjoy, dislike, prefer, etc. You can use that information to make your site better overall.

Obviously, I could also include an entire section in here about the importance of being active on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. But I’ll leave that to the social media folks.

I could also write a how-to guide outlining the importance of AgentRank and setting up the rel=author and rel=me tags for all your authors and contributers, as a recent study reported that 17% of SERPs are showing author integrations. But this post is already getting too long. So maybe I can write about that next time.

"That's right, Sam Neill. I would make an awesome SEO." - Jeff Goldblum
"That's right, Sam Neill. I would make an awesome SEO." - Jeff Goldblum

In the meantime, hang in there. Be smart. Be cautious. If you can, wait for some of the dust to settle before you make any moves that could in any way risk your search rankings.

As Jeff Goldblum puts it in the movie: “I’m simply saying that life, uh, finds a way.
As an SEO living in the days of Pandas and Penguins, I, too, will find a way.
Remember that in the end, Jeff Goldblum makes it out of Jurassic Park alive.
So if you’re stuck and needing help making a decision about your SEO campaign, just ask yourself: What would Jeff Goldblum do?
Written By: Kerry Dean Sources: SearchEngineLand.com

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

30 Web Trends for 2012: How SEO, Search, Social Media, Blogging, Web Design & Analytics Will Change by Tad Chef

It’s this time of year again! In the previous years my web trends lists were very successful, both as predictions and by traffic or number of shares.


People working in the web industries want to know what’s ahead.
So for 2012 I want to tell you again what’s coming up. Basically I’m not predicting anything here; instead I just list trends you can already see and measure, but which will be obvious next year.

SEO
Good bye PageRank and links – links and PageRank matter less and less. In 2012 more ranking factors will probably be about other signals than conventional a href links. Google will use all kinds of other data including feedback human quality raters to overcome the big decade long link buying spree.
Freshnessthe latest Google update is perhaps more important than the high quality update dubbed Panda. Nobody cries about it because it wasn’t about penalties for sites but about improvements for searchers this time. This is good news for big news sites and bad news for brands with questionable business practices. The bad news will show up on top.
Quality – the Panda update wasn’t really about pandas, as I hope you know:  it was about ”high quality” sites. Thus focusing on quality metrics that entail usability, readability and overall usefulness is key in 2012. Underpaid quality raters are out there to get you, sometimes even without a look on your actual site.
SEO is just a part – SEO isn’t dead in 2012, but it’s more and more part of bigger ideas and concepts. This year it seems it’s not SEO 2.0 or findability anymore. The new en vogue terms are content marketing, inbound marketing, digital marketing or Internet/online marketing (again). SEO practitioners do just stuff meta tags, but their tasks now encompass much more.
SEO marries CRO – The two disciplines, SEO and CRO or conversion optimisation are just two sides of one coin. While SEO focused on getting traffic, CRO concentrates on making this traffic work for you. I’ve watched these two disciplines converge more and more. In 2012 you will rarely have one without the other. I know I predicted this for 2011, but many people still tried to divide the two sides of the same coin.

Search
Google does it again – Google has quickly reacted to competition from small contenders like Blekko, Ixquick and DuckDuckGo. It has appropriated all improvements and features by these faster competitors – be it the removal of content farms by Blekko or the introduction of SSL search by Ixquick or referral blocking by DuckDuckGo, Google offers it all now as well.
Even more confusion – last year I predicted more clutter in Google results and was nevertheless unprepared for the wide range of changes leading to portal-like search results. In particular, many changes on local searches lead to even more information stuffed in the SERPs. Furthermore, the manifold social enhancements such as who +1′ed, shared or authored a post make the SERPs look like a collection of gif clip art. I’m afraid this won’t be the end of this trend of more confusion.
Search without clicking – in 2011 several small moves by Google showed a tendency to show search results as content directly on Google, thus making a click to the actual page not necessary anymore. We will see more of it until people start suing Google for stealing their content.
Google does it already on Google News, Google Places and Google Images. It also owns YouTube, where most video searches end up. They want the same thing for text search as well. They don’t want people to leave Google properties at all. Google+ brand pages just add to it.
Google reads your mind – we already got used to the sometimes annoying instant search results that appear even before you type something meaningful. Google works on more ways to find out what you need and give it to you even before you ask. Just consider the multiple data sources Google now has about you:  Google toolbar, Chrome, Profiles, Plus, search history…
Speech recognition – Siri, the speech recognition ”assistant” on the latest iPhone, makes people talk with their phones and it’s extremely popular already. In 2012 we will see Apple’s competitors come up with similar tools so that we don’t need to talk to people or type in search queries anymore. Is this the end of SEO as some journalists assume (just like some suggest after every other major change in the search industry)?
No, it just means different kinds of queries, maybe more colloquial or clumsy ones. Maybe more dialogue with your search engine, for example ”I want something to eat”. I can’t imagine people just saying one, two or three word queries in public without looking silly. So they will talk as they do with other people.
Mobile grows – no surprise here. Mobile search will grow in 2012 again. How big it will become? Some pundits suggest that more than 1/5 of all searches will be conducted via mobile devices.

Social media
Google+ stays tiny – Google+ is being heralded and pushed by Google in search results because it’s still tiny – it hasn’t even reached a social networking market share of 0.5%, while Facebook owns approximately 65% of it.
Facebook losing ground – despite its almost monopolistic position, Facebook is already losing ground. In 2011 Facebook lost 6 million users in the US. The various privacy scandals and annoyances, along with alternatives like Diaspora, Google+ or Tumblr, will accelerate this process in 2012.
Oversaturation – it has been evident for a while already, but in 2011 most people noticed it: people can’t join more social media sites and spend even more time there without spending 24h on social networking and creating user generated content. We witnessed this when Quora appeared and demanded constant attention and production of high quality content.
Also, the emergence of Google+ has shown that most average people already have enough to do with Facebook and the likes. In 2012 it will finally become obvious that the social networking and UGC market is saturated and that creating another site that demands time and effort is not a valid business model anymore.
Social bookmarking vs social saving – last time I predicted the death of social bookmarking. In a way I was right, though luckily Delicious, the original social bookmarking site, has survived. Nonetheless it moved on to a different model of sharing links. Other social bookmarking sites or their competitors have created something that has no name but that I’d like to call social saving.
People are saving snippets or whole webpages using tools like Diigo, Evernote or bo.lt to collect, edit and share them. The future is bright for these type of tools in 2012 as webpages, articles or blog posts you want to bookmark vanish faster than you can look.
Curation – Curation is the collection of resources by an editor or a user who acts as an ad-hoc editor. Search engines like Blekko or Rollyo use curation but also third party services that create “Twitter newspapers”. With the relaunch of Delicious as a curation site for compiling small lists (aka stacks of links), the idea has been given another push. Adding +1 votes to search results is another kind of curation.
Social CRM goes prime time – customer relationship management (CRM) and social media converged for a few years now but there was no perfect solution to merge those two. In 2011 Nimble CRM appeared. This tool is so simple to use and flawlessly combines CRM, email and social media sites Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in one place, so that you can save lots of time and effort when trying to generate leads right on there on social media sites.

Blogging
Quantity vs quality – in 2011 people blogged less often, but when they blogged they wrote long articles. With the new freshness algorithm Google just introduced, the process might get reversed, as now the latest articles are more likely to show up on top in the top 10.
Tumblr – miniblogging is still growing, at least the market leader Tumblr. Why is Tumblr such a success? It’s a bit like Facebook, a bit like blogging and a bit like Twitter, but it combines the best of all of them. You can like or “heart” postings, you can reblog them and you can use a pseudonym like on Twitter. In 2011 many high level bloggers even moved their blogs from WordPress to Tumblr for the sake of simplicity and ease of use. Also, never underestimate the huge Tumblr audience.
Corporate blogging failsbusinesses dump blogging in order to invest in Facebook marketing some statistics suggest. This is like giving up your office and doing business from Starbucks. Despite logic, this seems to be an appealing business model both in real life and online. Why host your own website and practice SEO, networking and advertising to get people to visit it when you can rent a “table” at Facebook. This is quite a short-sighted and risky move but business people tend to follow this trend.
Line breaks – for the sake of readability bloggers use more text-decoration, lists and breaks. Some overdo it though it seems. Not every line needs a break after it, not every post has to be a list and every second word has to be bold.

Web development
No more Flashthere will be no Flash on Android and RIM tablets and smartphones anymore. Thus the original Flash will die finally. Adobe is already working on a HTML5 implementation instead. So Flash will be probably resurrected based on Web Standards.
UX surpasses usability – if you believe Google Insights for search is a reliable statistic, you can see that in 2011 the interest in UX or user experience design has outgrown the dwindling popularity of the keyword usability. Fewer and fewer people are satisfied with usability because it’s too limited. The overall user experience, which includes emotional states of the user in its ideas, is the more important discipline of both.
@​font-face usage - I remember it as if it was yesterday, when I first heard about the @font-face CSS method to embedding web-safe fonts to websites around 2004; I couldn’t wait until web browsers started supporting them. It took almost a decade and half a dozen font replacement techniques to make this CSS3 method work in most modern browsers. Now most browsers support it and we already see an abundance of websites using beautiful and readable typography. In 2012 we will probably see this going mainstream.
HTML5 innovation – when HTML5 came up, the hype was huge but I rarely ever noticed some HTML5 that wowed me. Most websites still seemed to look boring. Yes they were readable, usable, maybe even findable but what about the 21st century design I’d expect in 2011? Well, now the sites that really use HTML5 to create a design beyond a few boxes start appearing in larger numbers.

Analytics
Referral keywords - Google proprietary SSL search kills the Google keyword referrer. You can’t even see it on an SSL site, as Google removes the keyword using a script. Thus people will finally look at conversions not keywords.
Klout – no other metric has been so obsessed about both in a positive and a negative way recently. People love and hate Klout as if it was a nation or a religion. Whether you like Klout or not, it’s the elephant in the room. The social media influence measurement may be flawed at the moment, but it’s still the best there is. Also, Google has similar metrics for authors or might acquire Klout in the near future, maybe even in 2012. What’s safe to say is that in 2012 you won’t just measure websites but also people.
Rankings, traffic – simple SEO metrics such as rankings and traffic die a slow death. The search referrer blocking by Google may be only the last nail in the coffin of simplistic SEO metrics. When you can’t even see what keywords people use and thus can’t segment your search traffic properly, this metrics becomes useless.​
Real time analytics – Google finally caught up with the competition this year, adding real time features to Google Analytics. At least a dozen of other vendors have been offering real time data for a while, and even better than Google Analytics if you ask me.
ROIbusiness people finally seem to overcome the ROI frenzy. ROI is important for both SEO and social media campaigns, but you can’t quantify everything by chasing after Return On Investment. It seems that in 2011 this simple truth has dawned on marketers and analysts all over the place so that we can sit back and watch other metrics in the coming year.

Feel free to add more trends you want to get noticed in the comment section or on social media.
Written By: Tad Chef Source: SEOptimise.com

Monday, April 30, 2012

Top 100 List of Blogs That Allows Guest Post

In the recent times, Google has slapped lots of blog networks and websites that were selling paid kind of links or were over optimized. Lots of link building techniques, which were working in the past, may not work any more in present or future. But guest blogging is here to stay for long. Google will never penalize your website for writing a high quality guest post on a blog in your niche.


Reasons for Guest Blogging

We could have lots of reason for choosing guest blogging and some of them are:
  • For getting high quality, targeted and niche specific backlinks
  • For driving more targeted traffic to our website
  • For increasing our website page rank and search engine rankings for targeted pages and targeted search terms
  • For Branding purpose
  • For building relationship with other bloggers and to connect with their blog readers
  • To show your expertise about a specific topic or for improving your overall writing skills
In case you are unaware about SEO benefits of guest blogging, read this guest post by Jonathan. There can be many more solid and logical reasons due to which website owners and bloggers decide to go for guest blogging. Why you have decided to use guest blogging, please share in the comments section.

100 Plus Blogs List That Accept Guest Posts

Here is the ultimate list of popular blogs across different niche’s that accept guest posts. Against each blog, I have mentioned its guest blogging guidelines, contact details, its Alexa Rank and Page Rank. The following list contains blogs in Blogging, SEO, Social Media, Affiliate Marketing, Web Designing, Web Development, Finance, Technology and Health industry that are accepting guest posts.


Blogging & Social Media Marketing Blogs That Accept Guest Posts

1. Blogging TipsWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 16329
Google Page Rank: 5
2. Bloggers PassionSubmit Guest PostGet in Touch
Alexa Rank: 60990
Google Page Rank: 4
3. Freelance FolderWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 16884
Google Page Rank: 5
4. Blog GodownWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 55117
Google Page Rank: 4
5. GDI BlogWould You Write For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 274744
Google Page Rank: 1
6. Million CluesGuest BloggingContact
Alexa Rank: 95321
Google Page Rank: 3
7. BlogsoluteGuest PostContact Us
Alexa Rank: 43663
Google Page Rank: 4
8. Better Blogging for BloggersOpen for Guest BloggersContact
Alexa Rank: 354491
Google Page Rank: 3
9. TechnogatiBecome Our WriterContact
Alexa Rank: 209749
Google Page Rank: 3
10. Tricks DaddyJoin Tricks DaddyContact Us
Alexa Rank: 42306
Google Page Rank: 5
11. John ChowWrite Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 7708
Google Page Rank: 5
12. Quick Online TipsGuest Blogging GuidelinesContact
Alexa Rank: 7470
Google Page Rank: 5
13. SmartBloggerzWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 29406
Google Page Rank: 4
14. Daily Seo TipContribute an SEO Tip – Email seosmarty@gmail.com
Alexa Rank: 40364
Google Page Rank: 4
15. ProBloggerGuest Posts at ProBloggerContact
Alexa Rank: 2560
Google Page Rank: 6
16. MashableSubmit NewsContact Us
Alexa Rank: 214
Google Page Rank: 8
17. How To Make My BlogWrite for How To Make My BlogContact
Alexa Rank: 36751
Google Page Rank: 6
18. Serradinho BlogSubmit Guest PostContact Us
Alexa Rank: 118143
Google Page Rank: 3
19. Search Engine PeopleSubmit Your Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 14235
Google Page Rank: 5
20. ReveNewsWrite At ReveNewsContact ReveNews
Alexa Rank: 61783
Google Page Rank: 5
21. Earners BlogSubmit a Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 71219
Google Page Rank: 3
22. TechnshareWrite For UsContact Us
Alexa Rank: 48975
Google Page Rank: 4
23. Search Engine JournalWrite For Us – Email seosmarty@gmail.com
Alexa Rank: 3175
Google Page Rank: 5
24. Famous BloggersSubmit Your ArticleContact Us
Alexa Rank: 8905
Google Page Rank: 4
25. Tips BloggerSubmit Guest PostContact Us
Alexa Rank: 29175
Google Page Rank: 4
26. CopybloggerGuest Post GuidelinesContact Us
Alexa Rank: 2782
Google Page Rank: 6
27. YoungPreProSubmit Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 16044
Google Page Rank: 4
28. WebmasterFormatSubmit Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 105457
Google Page Rank: 4
29. MrdefiniteGuest BloggingContact Me
Alexa Rank: 176675
Google Page Rank: 2
30. TechMaishWrite For UsContact Us
Alexa Rank: 16508
Google Page Rank: 4
31. Daily Blog TipsGuest Post GuidelinesContact
Alexa Rank: 5349
Google Page Rank: 5
32. We Blog BetterContribute Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 25880
Google Page Rank: 4
33. HelloBloggerzSubmit Guest PostsContact
Alexa Rank: 251827
Google Page Rank: 3
34. Basic Blog TipsSubmit Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 16194
Google Page Rank: 4
35. Problogging SuccessSubmit Guest PostContact Jane
Alexa Rank: 18421
Google Page Rank: 3
36. Hot Blog TipsGuest PostingContact
Alexa Rank: 42220
Google Page Rank: 3
37. AzblogtipsWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 89513
Google Page Rank: 3
38. Dragon BloggerGuest BloggingContact
Alexa Rank: 34805
Google Page Rank: 0
39. iBlogzoneBe A Guest BloggerContact
Alexa Rank: 13200
Google Page Rank: 4
40. The Dot Com BlogSubmit Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 114879
Google Page Rank: 3
41. Blog SuccessApply to Guest BlogContact Us
Alexa Rank: 73468
Google Page Rank: 4
42. Successful BlogGuest Post Guidelines – Email: lizsun2@gmail.com
Alexa Rank: 75806
Google Page Rank: 5
43. Social Media ExaminerWant to writeContact
Alexa Rank: 2111
Google Page Rank: 7
44. Geek BusinessGuest Post GuidelinesContact
Alexa Rank: 534575
Google Page Rank: 5
45. Blog EngageGuest Blog HereContact
Alexa Rank: 7858
Google Page Rank: 4
46. One Woman MarketingGuest Post GuidelinesContact
Alexa Rank: 194821
Google Page Rank: 4
47. KikolaniGuest Post OpportunitiesContact
Alexa Rank: 15904
Google Page Rank: 4
48. SmallbiztrendsGuest Posting GuidelinesContact
Alexa Rank: 9415
Google Page Rank: 6
49. Pronet AdvertisingWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 123260
Google Page Rank: 5
50. ShoutMeLoudJoin ShoutmeloudContact Us
Alexa Rank: 6161
Google Page Rank: 4
51. Small Business BrandingWrite For UsContact Us
Alexa Rank: 180377
Google Page Rank: 5
52. Blogging JunctionWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 20326
Google Page Rank: 3
53. BloggingProGuest PostingContact
Alexa Rank: 20068
Google Page Rank: 4
54. Extreme JohnGuest PostContact Me
Alexa Rank: 55009
Google Page Rank: 3
55. The3dtechnologiesGuest PosterContact
Alexa Rank: 117371
Google Page Rank: 4
56. StayOnSearchWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 28051
Google Page Rank: 4
57. WebtrafficroiWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 34974
Google Page Rank: 4
58. BlogussionWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 45738
Google Page Rank: 5
59. ClickfireBecome a Guest AuthorContact
Alexa Rank: 88769
Google Page Rank: 4
60. TechZoomInWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 86403
Google Page Rank: 4
61. WphostingdiscountSubmit Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 362460
Google Page Rank: 2
62. AllbloggingtipsWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 41534
Google Page Rank: 3
63. GrowMapGuest PostingContact
Alexa Rank: 26002
Google Page Rank: 4
64. WPKubeWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 76325
Google Page Rank: 3
65. SocialhGuest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 70401
Google Page Rank: 6
66. Magnet4MarketingWrite a Guest PostContact Us
Alexa Rank: 43891
Google Page Rank: 3
67. I Need Di$ciplineGuest PostContact Us
Alexa Rank: 97775
Google Page Rank: 5


Technology Blogs That Accept Guest Posts

1. Technically Personal!Guest BloggingContact
Alexa Rank: 9629
Google Page Rank: 4
2. Techie BuzzWrite For Us Guest PostContact Us
Alexa Rank: 7574
Google Page Rank: 6
3. Techie BloggerWrite For Techie BloggerContact
Alexa Rank: 83204
Google Page Rank: 4
4. Digital InspirationWrite for Digital Inspiration – Email: amit@labnol.org
Alexa Rank: 2129
Google Page Rank: 6
5. Teck.inGuest Blogging at TECK.IN – Email: sree@teck.in
Alexa Rank: 20687
Google Page Rank: 3
6. TroubleFixersSubmit Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 26704
Google Page Rank: 4
7. FriedbeefWould You Write For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 116425
Google Page Rank: 5
8. Right Now In TechGuest Post – Email: antriksh@rightnowintech.com
Alexa Rank: 583185
Google Page Rank: 4
9. Devils’ WorkshopWriting PostContact
Alexa Rank: 22543
Google Page Rank: 4
10. ReadWriteWebGuest BloggingContact
Alexa Rank: 2708
Google Page Rank: 7
11. CallingAllGeeksWrite for UsContact
Alexa Rank: 66413
Google Page Rank: 3
12. The Web SqueezeWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 118687
Google Page Rank: 4
13. InspirationfeedWrite For UsContact Us
Alexa Rank: 7771
Google Page Rank: 5
14. The Pragmatic BookshelfWrite for UsContact Us
Alexa Rank: 24456
Google Page Rank: 6
15. SitePointWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 1058
Google Page Rank: 7
16. THE KERNELWrite For UsContact Us
Alexa Rank: 71663
Google Page Rank: 5
17. TechWallsWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 61770
Google Page Rank: 3
18. TechTricksWorldWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 29425
Google Page Rank: 3
19. iTechCodeWrite For UsContact Us
Alexa Rank: 25843
Google Page Rank: 3
20. TechAtLastGuest Posting GuidelinesContact
Alexa Rank: 18394
Google Page Rank: 3
21. Computer How To GuideGuest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 86441
Google Page Rank: 2
22. ComptalksGuest BloggersContact
Alexa Rank: 47216
Google Page Rank: 4


Web Design & Web Development Blogs That Allows Guest Posts

1. Smashing ShareContribute Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 79672
Google Page Rank: 6
2. Smashing MagazineBecome An Author – Email: review@smashingmagazine.com
Alexa Rank: 629
Google Page Rank: 7
3. Cats Who CodeGuest BloggingContact
Alexa Rank: 8987
Google Page Rank: 5
4. Logo Design BlogGuest Bloggers InvitedContact
Alexa Rank: 215780
Google Page Rank: 4
5. Men With PensGuest Post GuidelinesContact
Alexa Rank: 68221
Google Page Rank: 5
6. RegularGeekGuest Post Guidelines – Email: info@regulargeek.com
Alexa Rank: 265358
Google Page Rank: 4
7. Tripwire MagazineWrite for us!Contact
Alexa Rank: 2377
Google Page Rank: 5
8. Web And DesignersWrite for usContact
Alexa Rank: 46964
Google Page Rank: 5
9. SkyjeWrite For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 25804
Google Page Rank: 6
10. Web Design NewsSubmit An ArticleContact
Alexa Rank: 68309
Google Page Rank: 4


Health Blogs That Allow Guest Blogging

1. Weight Loss PointsSubmit Guest POstContact
Alexa Rank: 908352
Google Page Rank: 3
2. Hive Health MediaGuest blog postingContact Us
Alexa Rank: 43159
Google Page Rank: 4
3. For Your Cats HealthSubmit Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 606783
Google Page Rank: 2
4. Health on a BudgetSubmit Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 391483
Google Page Rank: 3
5. HealthyoneGuest PostingContact
Alexa Rank: 163019
Google Page Rank: 3
6. MayanzSubmit Health Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 269150
Google Page Rank: 2


Finance Blogs that Accept Guest Post

1. Get Rich SlowlySubmit a Guest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 10573
Google Page Rank: 6
2. Bigger PocketsWould You Write For UsContact
Alexa Rank: 15612
Google Page Rank: 4
3. Top Finance BlogGuest Posting – Email: finance@topfinanceblog.com
Alexa Rank: 152123
Google Page Rank: 3
4. One Money DesignGuest PostContact
Alexa Rank: 139622
Google Page Rank: 3
5. Modest MoneyGuest Post PolicyContact
Alexa Rank: 95671
Google Page Rank: 0
6. Nil2millionWrite For UsContact Me
Alexa Rank: 121701
Google Page Rank: 3
7. InvestopediaWrite For UsContact Us
Alexa Rank: 1615
Google Page Rank: 7

How Guest Blogging Should be Done?

Guest blogging is used in all niches, but it seems to be utilized to its full potential in Blogging, SEO, Making Money Online and Social Media Niche’s only. It’s not the case that people from other industries are not using guest blogging at all. Guest blogging has started showing its potential in other big industries like Health, Finance, Travel and Entertainment etc.

Need List of Blogs That Accept Guest Post

To start doing guest posts, you need to have the list of top blogs in your niche that accept guest posts. With this post, I’m aiming at solving this problem of yours by sharing the list of 100 plus blogs with their contact details and popularity (Page Rank and Alexa Rankings) in different niches that accept guest posts.

Approach Guest Blogging Websites

What you have to do is approach owners or concern persons of these blogs with a polite email. You should highlight your intention to write guest posts for them. And in case you have already written guest posts for some popular blogs in your niche, please mention them as well in your email. Once you are finished with sending guest blogging request emails to 8-10 bloggers in your niche, wait for their responses. You should receive positive response from most of blog representative, as they are always hungry for fresh, unique and targeted contents for their blogs. Click here to know how to Build Your Reputation as a Guest Blogger.

Write Excellent Guest Posts

Once you have received 1-2 positive responses against your guest post request, it’s time to show your blogging skills to the rest of world. In case you don’t know how to write excellent guest posts, this is the step-by-step manual you should follow for the same. Once you are finished with writing a targeted guest post as the guest post guidelines, send it over to the concerned person. Now write one more guest post and send it to the next blog owner expecting a guest post from you.

Share and Reply

If blog owners find your guest posts good enough to be published on their blogs, they will share the guest post link or inform you about the time when your guest post will get live on their blog. Once any of your guest post gets live, next thing you should do is share it in your social networks and most importantly reply positively to all comments coming on your guest post. You should subscribe to your guest post comments section to keep track of new comments coming on it.

General Guest Blogging Guidelines

There are some general principles or guidelines you should follow while doing guest blogging. Here is that list:
  • You should use your best work as guest post
  • Don’t submit the same guest post to multiple blog owners
  • Don’t send duplicate or guest post with bad English. You should proofread your guest post before sending
  • Follow the guidelines of each blogger to increase the chances of your guest post being accepted on their blog
  • Don’t send too many emails to a blog owner for any reason and if you must, you need to be very polite in your approach
  • You should include self-promotional links in a guest post as per its blog owner guidelines. Each blog owner has its own style of giving credit to guest bloggers for their work.
Now I’m seeking help from my blog readers. With this special post, I have compiled the list of 100 plus blogs that accept guest post. Do you know any popular blog in any niche that accept guest post, please let me know in the comments section? I will love to see those great blogs in the list mentioned above. I’m aiming at making it as the one stop shop for guest bloggers seeking websites for guest blogging.
Written By: Anil Agarwal Source: BloggersPassion.com