If you’re SEO link building using organic methods, chances are that the words ‘guest post’ have come across your radar. Search engine optimization experts recommend guest posting on blogs as an easy way to get a high-quality link. Compared to other methods, it’s surprisingly easy.

Don’t be tempted to mistake ‘easy’ for ‘effortless’, however. If you’re thinking about making a guest post on a popular blog as part of your SEO marketing campaign, it’s important to put your best foot forward.

*Choose your topic carefully. It’s no use covering something that’s been done to death, or has already been well-covered by the blogger who has invited you to guest. To impress your audience and increase the likelihood of drawing traffic back to your site, your post has to be something special. Talk to us at searchengineoptimization.co.uk about choosing topics for guest blogging.

*Don’t give it your second-best. It’s tempting to send off mediocre content for a guest post. After all, if you’re going to spend time crafting content, it’s only natural to want to see it benefit your SEO campaign directly. Putting mediocre content out on the net is never a good idea. Boost your reputation with top-notch content.

*Remember that you have two audiences. It’s always important to think of your reader when composing content. If you’re guest blogging, you have two groups of readers. While the audience of the blog should be your main concern, don’t forget that you’re out to impress the blog’s owner as well.

What constitutes effective search engine optimization is often a matter of some debate. Diverse authoritative figures can make strong points on either side of an argument. When the points of both sides have been considered, the answer is sometimes akin to ‘well it depends.’ This is mainly because what works well on one site is frequently poor SEO for another. A case which illustrates this phenomenon relates to blog content. The question which divides opinion is whether or not a blog should use personal experiences to get a connection with users.

At Searchengineoptimization.co.uk we deliver focused, flexible and tailored campaigns on behalf of the sites of our clients. In practice, this means that we work quite closely with clients to ensure that the campaigns are suited to the specificities of their sites and firms, including social media and online reputation management.

Some bloggers feel that by revealing something of their personal lives in their content they can draw the user into a friendly relationship. By using personal experiences and an amicable tone, such writers try to get the user ‘hooked.’ If the user is engaged with, the reasoning goes that they are more persuadable than they would otherwise be. The logic implies that these users are more likely to return to the site for another ‘helping’ of content and are more likely to make a purchase than if a less personal approach had been adopted.

However, it can be problematic to use a personal approach for several reasons. A writer may not be comfortable sharing information with strangers. The personal experiences can be manufactured but then they may be perceived as such. There can be a tendency to become too chatty when striving for a personal connection. The user may be familiar with this tactic; far from being ‘hooked,’ they may become bored or alienated. It should be recalled that for almost every joke there is someone out there who does not find it funny. Similarly, for the majority of personal anecdotes there are sceptical users who may simply become bored.

There are, then, dangers associated with the use or over-use of the personal approach. Nevertheless, it can be effective if used with care in specific circumstances. For example, sharing a personal epiphany will work well on some sites but not others. On an online dating site, a blog which illustrates how large a part confidence plays in attracting a suitable partner could be given colour with a personal touch. However, an ecommerce site which is involved in the retail of shelving would not benefit from such an approach.

Therefore, it would appear that it is really a matter of remembering that ‘one size does not fit all’ in SEO. This principle does not merely apply to content. However, after a closer analysis has been performed it is clear that the personal approach always seems to have a greater element of risk than more reserved and objective content. Nonetheless, in specific circumstances it is well worth taking the riskier approach because the rewards may be more significant.

In all honesty, most people enjoy reading news pages and online newspapers on a daily basis. As a nation, we are hungry to know what is going on in the world, whether a news story is happy or sad. It is a positive factor that people are interested in what is going on around them, and it works wonders for companies whose websites are tailored around current affairs. Consider online tabloids and BBC news pages, for example. These are extremely popular websites for users to visit, and have added benefit in that they attract a loyal customer base.

Online content for any website, whether news related or not, is crucial in determining the success of your website as a whole. For this reason, more and more companies are incorporating current news stories or topics of current interest into their article or blog pages. What a user is looking for in terms of online content is informative, relevant and interesting text, images or videos, so the combination of current affairs and blogging cover off all these factors perfectly.

Blog pages alone are a method of search engine optimisation, which is arguably one of the most effective. People like to be spoken to like people, not robots, so even if they are communicating via the internet, they still want to be treated like a human being, This is the main reason why an SEO company will drill in natural content to you, as the end user is the human searcher. Your content needs to talk directly to them.

An interesting blog can go a long way, but if the information is a bit stale or repetitive, then people may lose interest. By incorporating present day information, you instantly have people’s attention. However, news related stories should not take away from your standard blog pages, so if you are considering making current affairs a regular feature, then it could be an idea to list this as a separate category within your blog archives.

Current affairs are time sensitive in most instances, so only include these types of articles if you are either posting them yourself or are 100% confident as to when and where they are being posted. Being on top of present day events is great for your website and company reputation, but posting old news in a way which portrays it as current is not a good move. Of course, you can write about old news, just ensure you highlight the fact that you know it is not new information.

One of the biggest benefits of posting news stories is the number of backlinks you can get from other websites. If you can be ahead of the curve and be one of the first to post information, then you are more likely to get links to your blog pages from other websites. If you can get this strategy right, you will also become a stronger and more trusted website, meaning that search engines will favour your links and rank you higher.

When it comes to looking at improving our link building strategies, a lot of companies look at guest blogging to get their links into more places, and increase both awareness of the website, and the number of click throughs to their web pages. The benefits of guest blogging on other sites are fairly obvious. However, how would you feel if the shoe was on the other foot, and other companies wanted to guest blog within your news pages?

The topic of guest blogging is a little controversial in the world of SEO. Many companies highlight the benefits of it, but at the same time contradict themselves by advising against letting others guest blog on your site. Granted, there are substantial arguments for guest blogging not being the most effective move, but where this is an argument against, there is always an argument for, so looking at both sides is a good place to start.

One of the initial criticisms is that allowing people to guest blog on your site is just a little lazy. It is basically a way of getting content on your site without having to do the work yourself. From a SEO point of view, perhaps this could be frowned upon, as you should be managing and monitoring your own content. However, from a business point of view, this is a fantastic idea. Getting work for free means you are getting more out than you are putting in, which gives you top marks in the business sense.

Standard and successful blog pages usually have a set number of regular bloggers, who know the business inside out. They know what is relevant to the company, and they know what keywords and links to include to get the best from their blog content. However, a guest blogger will not be as clued up on your business, and will use the opportunity to promote their own website and knowledge, as opposed to those of the site they are blogging on. Whilst there is a strong element of truth behind this, it should also be noted that no guest blogger is going to post on a completely irrelevant site, so there will be some link between the two sites, even if it is not a direct one.

There is also a concern that guest bloggers will not always write fresh content, and will just post one of their favourite or most relevant blogs from their own pages. From a SEO point of view, this could be seen as plagiarism or duplicate copy. Duplicate copy is bad when it is frequent and done in a deceitful way. However, if it is a rare occurrence for a guest blog, and is not claimed to be the work of a blogger on your site, then there is unlikely to be any harm done.

All in all, allowing guest bloggers on your site now and again can open up new audiences for you. It also shows solidarity and trust amongst sites, which will reflect on your company.

Once a company has a long standing and established blog, and then keeping up to speed with it is all that is really needed to maintain its success. If your company has a well read and solid blog then there are many links and opportunities for users to drive themselves or stumble into your blog pages. Once they are there, they may find themselves browsing through all your blogs and discovering a lot of useful information. A good SEO blog is also enjoyable to read, so once you have a strong reputation for your blogs, you are likely to get repeat visitors and backlinks from other websites.

All this is well and good, however everybody has to start somewhere and if you do not currently have any blog pages and want to start some, then it can be a little overwhelming. Going into such a saturated market is daunting for most of us, so ensuring that you get as good a start as possible is going to benefit you in the long run. First impressions count in the world of blogging, as if someone visits your blog pages and does not rate them much, then they are less likely to return.

The most important thing is to create good content. A lot of new blog pages consist of tens of articles based around various subjects, with the idea that a user will be more impressed with a site that has ten or twenty blogs as opposed to five. The truth is however, that one or two extremely relevant and interesting blogs are more enticing to users that ten not so interesting blogs. Content and relevance is everything, so put some time and effort into your blogs and ensure they are applicable to your target audience.

Tell everybody about your blog. The most obvious thing to do is create links from other web pages or social media and networking sites, or even ask other websites to link to you. Whilst this is essential, also try to look a little but further than basic link building strategies and use other communication channels to inform people of your blog. Use you email, company literature or anything else you possibly can to encourage people to read your latest post.

Another good launching tactic is to offer people an incentive to read your blog. You could perhaps encourage people to comment via your social media marketing channels, or you could even run promotions, giveaways or competitions where the link is placed within your blog. Even simpler than this, you could invite people to give their opinion in an online poll and then tell them to return to your blog pages next week or month for the results, thus creating not only interest, but repeat visits too.

Lastly, blog regularly and keep on top of it. It is fairly easy to gain people’s interest but this also means that they can lose interest just as quickly. Start as you mean to go on and set a standard and either maintain it or exceed it, but never disappoint.

Most websites now include some element of a blog section. Whether you label this section as news, articles or simply blog, they are all based on the same idea. Blogs are more than just a way of voicing an opinion or sharing information, they are a crucial part to your web content and often your social media optimisation. As blogs are designed to be easy on the reader and an almost entertaining way of digesting information, it is thought that they are often spontaneous. Whilst spontaneous posts can be effective within your social media marketing strategy, spontaneity is better placed within social networking sites than within your actual website.

For this reason, it is important to have some form of structure or schedule to your blogging. A lot of people may disagree with this as they think it takes the natural approach out of blogs and also makes it less fun, however it is crucial to remember that the purpose of blogs is to provide effective content for your site and increase online traffic, so in that sense, having a set pattern to when you blog means that the people reading them get into a routine and check back regularly.

Blog timing is one of the first things which you should consider. How heavily biased your website is towards news and blog pages will play a part in this. We have all looked at some websites and been in awe of the amount of updates that appear within their blog section that we cannot read them fast enough, whilst others we check back only to discover the same month old blog staring us in the face. Timing is dependent on the visitors to your site and their trends within blogs. If you get a very high level of traffic to your blog pages, it is highly likely some of these are return visitors. Checking out comments to see how many regular readers there are here is also a good way to gauge how frequent your audience require you to blog.

Once you have decided on the frequency of your blogs, set yourself a pattern on subjects. If you own a clothing website then alternate between items or specific trends so that you are providing people with a varied read. It is also a good idea to liaise with other team members who will play a part in the blog section. Whether it is the blog writers themselves or the web design team, ensure everyone is in agreement and is comfortable with what you are doing.

Check out other blog pages prior to completing your schedule and ensure you post any current news issues. If all your competitors are writing about a new industry revelation then make sure you get in on the action too. Have some well read and trusted places or sites to go for your resources so that you are not wasting time randomly searching for information. Once you have an organised system in place, the SEO blogs will flow and so will the readers.

It is a well-established fact that the regular addition of high quality content can be advantageous in the struggle to move up the search engine results pages. The content obviously has to be accurate and informative. It is important to adjust the tone in line with the anticipated expectations of a target audience. However, what many site owners desire are the possible rewards associated with the acquisition of authority status. If users perceive a site to be one of the leading sources of information in its field, the potential consequences in terms of traffic, conversions and profit could be highly significant.

Providing industry news in a balanced manner can be one way of ensuring that users return again and again. There are, however, certain considerations which must be taken into account. For instance, the news must be up-to-date. Moreover, there must be no duplicate content issues. Furthermore, the news has to be covered in a way which competing sites do not quite manage to do. In order to build the reputation of a site towards the acquisition of the much coveted authority status it is necessary to do everything that much better than the competition. This eventually provides unique selling points and compelling reasons for consumers to come to the specific site rather than opting for alternatives.

However, it must be said that not only is authority status hard to attain, but also that providing industry news (usually in the form of blogging) has features which can limit the progress that can be made in that direction. The following points are worthy of note:

• Lots of firms in a sector are likely to be covering the latest developments. Standing out from the crowd requires the capacity of exploring things from fresh angles
• The traditional media may be focusing on developments in the sector. They may have the advantage of possessing investigative journalists. The difficulties newspapers are having does not mean they have retired from the scene
• The industry news may be a bit dull to potential consumers. They may be more interested in the products than in what is happening to a large company in the sector
• There is an issue about providing information which is too technical for the average user to deal with. It is really important to retain concentration on the target audience when engaged in SEO content production
• Some economic sectors have excellent publications which detail the evolving processes. If they have an online capacity, it may be almost impossible to match their ‘insider knowledge’ or their expertise

Industry news provision can be a way of working towards a competitive edge, but it is not an appropriate avenue for all sites. Even for those sites which it does suit, it can be quite a tricky way forward, given the need to deliver a consistently superior product in what is usually a very competitive environment. It is also prudent to remember that the provision of regular articles on the relevant sector is only one method by which an authority-chasing strategy should be pursued. A modern search engine optimization campaign is necessarily multifaceted in scope.

There are some instances where bloggers can be competitive against each other and see other bloggers of a similar nature as a threat – especially with business SEO blogs. Granted, the odd form of attack and controversy can be good for rankings in some instances, but let us not forget that we are all in this together. We all know what it is like to be new to blogging, or to be going through a slow patch in terms of links, so it is much more useful to build community than to shoot each other down.

Social media optimization techniques are most effective from news articles and blogs. The majority of bloggers are looking to increase traffic to their website through link baiting in their articles, so sharing some of your SMM strategies amongst each other is a win-win situation. There are several ways in which you can help out fellow bloggers and drive more traffic to their sites, and none of them are particularly difficult.

You may be wondering why you would even focus any of your time or energy on helping out your competition, but think about it logically. The term ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ has never been so apt, and if you can display positive links and opinions on other blogs within your content then it is highly likely that people will do the same for you. Also, exposure is exposure, no matter what form it is in. If people begin to realise that not only can they read interesting blogs from your site, but also be provided with other useful links, then your blogs will be searched for even more.

One of the easiest ways to help a fellow blogger is to make some positive references to their content. This is particularly effective when you are dealing with bloggers who write on similar subjects to yourself. If there is something you believe has been written well, or a valid point has been made within another person’s blog, then let people know and even provide a link to their site.

Joining online blog forums or communities is also another effective social media marketing technique. A little like social networks but more tailored to your industry or topics of conversation. Every blogger within that forum will have links to hundreds or thousands of online visitors, so associating yourself with them also increases your online community. Online blog forums are also often used as a bit of a help and advice centre. A new blogger may post a question asking how they can create better link baits to their site. By offering any advice where you can, you will help build a better world of blogging. Plus no matter how experienced you are, you never know when you might just need their help too.

Helping fellow bloggers is a very effective social media optimization technique and does not have to interfere with your day to day blogging. A simple comment under a blog or a positive tweet doesn’t cost you anything, yet can work wonders for the blogging community.

Blogging can be an extremely effective way of increasing traffic to your website, not to mention creating a positive brand image and generally just getting your company or services out there. Some people may just blog occasionally or when there is a news story, whereas for others it is a full time commitment and part of a larger social media optimization strategy. If you are one of those companies who use blogs as a crucial part of their SEO then you have no doubt put a lot of time, effort and dedication into building up an online social network and creating effective blogs.

One of the greatest things which makes a blog successful is comments about the topic. Comments are relied on heavily by bloggers and a good blogger knows how to spark a reaction, whether it be good or bad. All blogs are available to comment on or are linked to other social networking sites such as Twitter to enable more people to see what is being said about your blogs. Comments and tweets create conversation amongst people, thus creating more awareness of your blog and getting your work noticed as much as possible.

After all your hard work and success at creating effective blogs, the last thing a blogger needs is a spam link associated with their site. Unfortunately spam links are quite easy to get into blog comments, and if you are not reading your comments properly then you may not realise they are even there. The reason a website may use your blog to create a link to their website is because they have been black listed, or because their site is classed as spam so will not show up on any search engines.

Although a slightly contradictory point to make, spam comments are not obvious but at the same time are quite easy to identify. A spam comment on your blog will usually be complementary and appear to be useful for SEO purposes, but are also a little bland. The comment is designed not to spark too much of a reaction or rouse suspicion so that you keep it there without any further inspection. Comments such as ‘really like this blog’ are classic examples of how somebody may introduce spam into your blog comments. This sort of comment appears harmless and is pleasant, but does not encourage people to respond or engage in conversation. Spam comments will of course always include a link back to another site and are essentially nothing but destructive for search engine optimisation.

If left undetected, a spam link on your comments can have devastating effects on your website. Depending on the nature of the website the spam link feeds to, it could result in your web pages being removed from search engines if it is though your site is associated with black listed websites. Not a good result after years of hard work.

The best thing to do is monitor your blog comments on a daily basis and be sure what comments you are giving approval to. By checking each one regularly you can easily keep on top of them and remove any which turn out to be spam before they are posted.

There is doubt that anybody would deny that Wordpress is an exceptional application for when you are creating articles, web content, and of course blogs. Initially Wordpress was predominantly a blogging tool and has helped millions of people achieve their online potential. There is not a great deal of negative press to be said about Wordpress, but is it worth having over other SEO tools and can it really increase your search rankings?

Wordpress is generally used as a template for old and new bloggers as it enables them to write a blog that ticks all the boxes. Not only does it help bloggers to create sufficient links and tags, it is great for content management and can also edit HTML and PHP codes so that they are tailored towards your specific search engine optimization requirements. There are also many plug-ins that are compatible with Wordpress which is a clever technique on their part, as it enables the user to have an application with extensive features, without the actual application having them installed.

There is nothing wrong with Wordpress but there are people who are not fans of it. This is usually because it is very effective as a start up tool or for somebody who is not hugely experienced in the world of SEO. This means that experts in the field possibly do not believe you should need an online template or tool to create effective blogs. Having said that however, Wordpress is not just for people new to blogging or writing online content. Wordpress now has so many online possibilities  mean you can customize your page and your theme to come up in various search rankings and even social environments. Wordpress can help with social media and networking links and can easily adapt your HTML code to fit in with any specific sites.

What is baffling about people who are against Wordpress is that it is free. Yes, totally free. For the majority of online users it is an exceptionally useful tool and can help form the backbone of your web content. With increased resources for managing web content, Wordpress is like your right hand man in terms of online copy. There is no mistaking that if you are experienced in search engine optimisation then some, if not all, of the techniques which Wordpress uses could be done by yourself. However, using Wordpress as your aid saves you time and is easier to adapt and change as and when is needed.

The worry sometimes is that Wordpress is taking away some of a person’s technique, however let us not forget that Wordpress is just an application. The reason it is so successful is that it is very search engine friendly. It knows what search engines look for and it knows how to make them look. As the human, you are still the creativity and idea behind the web content and using Wordpress is simply a way of turning these thoughts and ideas into a reality in the most efficient and effective way possible.