Top 10 Super Easy Ways to Get Your Blog Into Google
Ok, there is a lot of writing out there on how to get your website into Google’s index. If you’ve got a blog, it is actually really, really, easy, and really, really, free. So, before you pony up some dough, or bother reading too much detail, here are the Top 10 Super Easy Ways to Get Your Blog Into Google.
- Submit your blog to a link directory. Seriously. Any link directory will do. Google’s bot follows links from sites it already knows about. Chances are, any link directory not built by a thirteen year old is already in Google. Google will follow the link form there back to your blog. Submit your blog to several so you don’t have to wait as long.
- Submit your blog articles to Technorati, Buzznet and 43 Rockets. Don’t know anything about Technorati? Buzznet? 43 Rockets? Who cares? You aren’t trying to get on the front page, you are trying to get in Google. Google crawls these sites all the time. If you are using Wordpress, the default ping will send out to these guys and you will show up at least for a little while IF you tag your articles. Get Windows Live Writer and click “Insert Tags”. Put your keywords in for all three. You’ll be indexed in no time.
- Write comments on other blogs. When Google indexes there it will follow your comment back home. There is a catch here. Many blogs will “nofollow” their links. That means Google’s bot won’t follow the link back to your site. You need a blog that doesn’t do this. How to tell? The hard way is to do a “View Source” and find a comment that has already been written if you see: “rel=nofollow” in the HTML code that links to the commenter’s site, then no dice. The easier way? Download the SEOQuake plug-in. Set it to show nofollows with a line through them. Then, you can tell at a glance if the blog is worth a comment. Also, there is no point in being the 432nd commenter. Google isn’t that persistent. Be in the top 10 or wait for a new post. Hey! Comment here!
- No luck with the comment thing? Then try a pingback to a big blog. Check the comment section of a big blog and look for pingbacks. Then, write an article that includes a link to a recent post on that blog. Your pingback will show up to. Again, check the nofollow thing first.
- Write an article and submit it with Article Marketer. Article Marketer takes your articles and then sends them out to thousands of sites that buy articles to stick on their sites instead of writing them on their own. The key here is to write something pretty universal and basic. That increases the chance of it being picked up in one or two places. You get an “about” section in the article which will include a link to your blog and Google will follow it home.
- Ask a question. Go to any big forum. Try the Wordpress forum if you can’t come up with any ideas. Ask a question. Put a link in your question back to your website. Something like, “How do I format this page so it looks like…” Try not to make it too dumb so you don’t get flamed. Google will follow that link too.
- Say thank you. Find a big forum with lots of posts that let’s you create a profile for yourself. Create a profile with your website listed in the profile (make sure to use the right kind of tags if it isn’t straight HTML). Then post, “Thanks” after every useful post you read. Maybe 5 or 6 a day (don’t do more or you might set off some flags). Sooner or later Google’s going to find that profile off of the “active” or “recent” list and guess who’s coming for dinner?
- Submit a site map. Submitting your site to Google won’t get you anywhere. I bet the queue is over a million long. Instead, use a plug-in to generate a sitemap and submit it to Google with each post.
- Claim your blog. Go to Google’s Webmaster tools and register your blog. You’ll have to verify it. Either verification method requires Google to come out to your site. It technically isn’t the indexing bot that does this, but I’ve known plenty of sites to magically show up soon after being claimed in this way. I can’t prove it, but I also think it makes the Google bot more likely to check out a few pages.
- HAVE SOMETHING TO INDEX!!!!! I can’t tell you how many people have asked me how to get their 3 page (one home page, one contact page, and one map page) indexed. There has to be something on your site for the Googlebot to sink its teeth into. Post, post, post. No junk posts. Google is getting better by the day at sniffing out worthless stuff, so don’t write it. But, you have plenty to write about. Can’t think of anything? Write about who you are, then write about why you are writing a blog, then write complaining about not getting indexed, then write about finding this Top 10 List about getting indexed, and so on.
The good news, is that once you are in the index, you are pretty much in to stay. How often Google comes by, and how high you rank, are different stories. But, you can’t worry about that until you are indexed, so use these Top 10 Tips.
Here is your bonus 11 Tip. If you already have an indexed blog, use it to get your new blog indexed. Write a quick post on your main page about how you are writing a new site. Wait for your site to be re-indexed, and chances are that the Googlebot will find it’s way out to your new site. Once it is in, you can delete the post if you want to.
Search Engine Optimization and Advertising - Why SEO is Important
Why SEO is Critical to Your Ad Campaign
Search Engine Optimization is a critical linchpin in the success or failure of your advertising campaign. To understand why SEO is so important, let’s take a quick look at the advertising campaigns of two jewelers.
You’ve probably heard of both Kay Jewelers and Jared’s. You also probably know the slogan for each. That is because their multi-million dollar advertising campaigns are working. Between television commercials and radio commercials, both companies have spent lots of money to build brand awareness. That is why every Kay Jewelers commercial, whether T.V. or radio, includes the short melody along with the words, “Every kiss begins with K.” Similarly, Jared has every commercial contain the words “He went to Jared.” Why?
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is often difficult to explain to clients, but in this case, it should be fairly obvious. Let’s say there is a man. He is a normal everyday man who works at a regular job, has a regular girlfriend, and so on. Let’s call him Sam. Sam doesn’t buy much jewelry. But, today is different because he wants to propose to his girlfriend. Whether Sam buys jewelery or not, and whether or not he pays attention when jewelry commercials come on doesn’t matter. Because he has heard, “Every kiss begins with K,” and “He went to Jared,” so many times, when he tries to think of jewelry stores, those two pop into his head. Mission accomplished, advertising worked, let’s party, right?
Ready to Buy, Now What?
Actually, the next step is the most critical. Now, that Sam is ready to buy he needs to go to the actual building. Unless Sam lives near one and already knows where it is, how will he find either Kay or Jared? The answer is, the phone book or the Internet. Assuming both jewelers target markets are educated, upper-middle class or higher (i.e. people with money) which method is he more likely to use to find the jewelry store? Hint: If you said phone book, it might be time to take some continuing education courses.
So, Sam jumps onto his computer and…what? First, he probably guesses. If he types in www.jareds.com, then yippee! But what if he assumes the “s” is just part of the grammar and not part of the name? If he types in www.jared.com, he ends up at some unrelated advertising page that may send him to a competitor. Think this isn’t an issue? Well, www.kays.com does NOT go to the jeweler like jareds.com does. Instead, in that case the “s” is part of the grammar so, the real web site is www.kay.com.
Now, you are thinking that it is no big deal. Surely, our hero, Sam, will just type in the other web site, right? Well, maybe yes, and maybe no. Sam might decide that it will be more efficient to use a search engine so he can just find the right site and stop messing around. After all, he’s at work and the last thing he wants is to accidentally hit some porno site by getting the wrong site. He knows that it could be kay.com, kayjewlery.com, kayjewlers.com, kaysjewelry.com and so on.
If Sam searches for Kay Jewelers, then no problem. But, if Sam decides instead, “Hey, I’m here, I might as well just type in ‘jewelers’ or ‘engagement rings’ just to see,” there could be a problem. If you search Google for engagement rings, Kay doesn’t show up until page 4, well after Sam has been reminded of several competitors, if he perseveres until page four at all. Not only that, but along the way several benevolent sounding web sites offer what sounds like unbiased information. If he decides to check out those, he may decide to buy over the Internet, or direct from China, or whatever.
Small Business and SEO
Keep in mind, these are two big jewelry store chains that spend millions on advertising. How do you think this would play out for a smaller local business without a million dollar ad budget? Cracking the first page for a search on engagement rings would be great, but at a minimum a local business needs to be on the first page for results of engagement ring +cityname. For example, if you are a locally owned store in Denver, your business should really be on the first page when someone searches ‘engagement rings Denver’. Are you? If not, that’s where ArcticLlama and SEO comes in.
Too many other companies throw around the phrase Search Engine Optimization and SEO without really understanding the full process of moving up in the search engine rankings. Yes, keyword loaded articles are a start, but that is the easy part. The real skill comes from determining which keywords or key phrases can be best targeted for you. You could spend years writing key word filled articles and never end up on the first page for searches on popular phrases that have large multi-national companies servicing those niches. Just as important is getting links to those pages. Without links the search engines don’t care how many keywords are there. After all, no one wants to read meaningless articles just stuffed with keywords. The way search engines know articles are relevant is when people think they are important enough to link to.
A full service SEO (Search Engine Optimization) firm like ArcticLlama not only provides the keyword filled articles you need, it also provides the buzz necessary to generate those all important links while targeting the right keywords. Whether you are an advertising or public relations firm working for an important client, or if you are a business owner looking to maximize your Internet presence, we can help. In the mean time, don’t forget that finding your business is just as important as knowing about it.
Technorati Tags: Search Engine Optimization, advertising, SEO
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