Practicing Optimization Habits as You Blog

For several years, an Internet marketing field called search engine optimization has been growing in influence. Abbreviated as SEO, search engine optimization involves writing and design skills that make a Web site (blog or nonblog) higher in search results listings than a nonoptimized site. Search engines (such as Google, Yahoo!, or MSN Search) look for certain qualities and site characteristics, and use these cues to determine how good a site is, how closely it matches a searcher's keywords, and how it should appear on a result page for those keywords. Savvy Webmasters improve their search-engine visibility by optimizing their pages according to principles that tend to improve search ranking. There is no reason why bloggers should not do the same thing.

Keep your pages short
Because blogs tend to feature short bursts of content, with each entry on its own page, they are optimized for optimization, so to speak. Blogs are perfect for SEO because one of the most important optimization principles is to keep your pages short and highly topical. So, if you write a blog about folk music, you might post an entry about the Celtic band Filska; as long as that entry doesn't veer off-topic, you end up with a naturally optimized Web page.

Keep your pages on-topic
It is important to stay on-topic with each entry. Posting a long entry about Filska that also discusses other Celtic bands broadens the page's focus and dulls its optimization. Naturally, you want to feel free to write naturally in your blog. Optimization principles shouldn't inhibit your style. But for the most part, good optimization is good for your visitors, not just good for your traffic. People don't have a lot of time, and they like to land on Web pages that are clearly about one thing. That goes for blog entry pages as much as for any other type of page.

Be mindful of keywords
Search engines match Web pages to keywords people search for. If you want better visibility in search engines, use the keywords you think your readers would be searching with. Don't use them arbitrarily or indiscriminately; doing so is called keyword stuffing or keyword spam and is easily detected by search engines. Sites are penalized in search listings for trying to game the system. The trick here is to write your entries to the point, so that they are clearly topical to your readers and to the search engines.

Make your entry titles count
It is amazing how many entry titles have nothing to do with the entry. This point is an optimization downfall for many bloggers. A scathing criticism of a public figure might be titled "It's an outrage!" and never mention the public figure's name. An entry about that Celtic band Filska might be titled "The most beautiful fiddle music I ever heard," without relating the band's name. Blogs are famously informal and personal, but you miss an important chance to optimize your entry pages by not putting key topical words in your titles. And your readers might thank you for being clearer in your headings, too.

Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
blog
A combination of the words Web and log. Bloggers (individuals, groups, or businesses) post a chronological log of information. Content is determined entirely by the author(s) of the blog; many are personal journals.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
blogger
The author of a blog.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
entry
An entry in a blog, possibly containing text, images, and other media. Also called a post or blog post.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
post
An entry in a blog, possibly containing text, images, and other media. Also called a blog post or entry.
Blogging & Social Networking Glossary
spam
Unsolicited electronic messages sent in bulk that may be commercial, nonsensical, or malicious. In addition to e-mail spam, blog comments and blog forums can be targeted by spammers. Source: Dummies on the Web
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Comment Here If You Want A In Depth Blog Review

I have decided it is time to not only talk about ‘Stand Out’ blogging from a hypothetical perspective, but to take real blogs, with real bloggers and do a full analysis of what they do right and what they can improve on. This will not only benefit the owner of the blog, but it will be a great opportunity for all our readers to learn how their blog can be improved also.

I Am Planning On Reviewing A New Blog Every Week!
Starting with a four week trial to test the results of the reviews. Especially your comments on whether you like it. I think this is a great way for me to give back to you, my readers, something that is valuable and will help improve your blogging.

What Areas Of The Blog Will Be Reviewed?
Great question. I will be looking at the blog as a whole, starting with an introduction of the blog explaining a little bit of background information. Then I will start looking at the pros and cons of the following key areas:

Target Market
We will take a look at exactly who this blog is targeted at. This needs to be identified if we are to correctly analyse the following four areas.
Design & Branding
Here we will spend some time looking at the blogs theme and logo as well as how brandable their blog currently is and what they can do to improve it.
Content
Content is king, as everyone says, so we will spend some time analyzing the content of the blog, posts and pages, and the based on the target market of the blog see what can be done to improve conversion of visitors to subscribers and subscribers to raving fans.
Marketing/Networking
How active is this blogger in their niche? This is what we will tackle in this section. We will look at the bloggers current marketing and networking efforts to see how they can increase awareness of their blog in an efficient manner.
Monetization
What is being done to make money from this blog? And how can the monthly income generated from this blog be improved? We will look at ways to optimize revenue and increase the blogs earnings.
Would You Love An In Depth Blog Review Like This?
If you want to be the first blogger to get their blog reviewed on StandOutBlogger.com then don’t expect it to be easy. No you don’t have to be a subscriber to enter. This is open to every blogger but I expect a level of effort from the winner.

Answer A Few Simple Questions About Your Blog
Before I visit your blog and start working on the review, I will want to ask you a few questions about your blog so that I can look at things like your target market and your current promotional efforts. This step is important and I will need the info emailed back to me within 48hours of receiving.
Be Prepared For Criticism
I am a big believer in constructive criticism, however I am a positive person and love to focus on the good things, as well as the ways that good things can come from current bad situations. However, my readers may not be so kind, so be prepared a chain of readers opinions
Simple… So How Do I Enter
This part is so easy all you have to do is:

Comment Below, Nominating Your Blog For A Review
Tell Me In 100 Words Or Less Why Your Blog Should Be Reviewed
Post Comment
How simple is that!

You Have 48 Hours To Enter…
So start getting creative with your 100 word answer as this will be how I chose the winner. Here are some ideas that I might like:

A Funny Answer
A Serious Answer
A Suck Up Answer
A Self Sacrificing Answer
In other words ‘be creative’. Make your answer Stand Out from the crowd and get noticed - then get reviewed!

I Will Only Be Reviewing One Blog A Week, so comment below to give your blog a chance to get an in depth blog review for free!
Posted by TOm : StandOutBlogger.com
I ran across this post and thought thoose of you who read it might be interested in getting your blogs reviewed , if you are stop by there and leave your comments, I did! Oh and Be Sure to Leave Your Comments here as well: thank you Lilyruth

Free Keyword Tools you need to make your site a success

If you plan to create more blogs or websites in order to earn monwey from Adsense you may need to find some niche sites to start with. Then, in case you need to use a keyword tool that can suggest you the volume of searches for that particular item. By comparing the number of searches for that items in various search engines and also the number of existing sites, you will then be able to select those worthwhile keywords and start to build a niche site. In light of that I have collected some useful keyword suggestion tool for my readers to use. These are some useful keyword tools for you to use, and I list some of them below:
Word Tracker Free Keyword Tool: http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
Keyword Discovery Tool: http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html
Google Trends: http://www.google.com/trends
Good Keywords (Free Software) http://www.googlekeywords.com/
Free Keywords Tool: http://www.freekeywords.com/