1. Obtain a URL with very important keywords in your niche

I can’t say enough about this. The #1 reason I have so many domains is because when you build a niche site if the domain has your top 2 or 3 keywords in it – you immediately start getting traffic from post #1. This is very important.

2. Use permalinks, pretty URL’s, etc

This is second most important whether you are using Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, or whatever. As soon as you setup your software turn on permalinks, pretty URL’s, or whatever it’s called so you posts have "site.com/this-is-my-post". Having great keywords in the URL past the top level domain name is only second to keywords in the domain name itself.

3. Find the Best Keywords and Phrases

DO YOUR RESEARCH! Find out how to do keyword research. If you don’t know what the best keywords for your niche are – there really isn’t much point reading any farther than this…

4. Create a Great Title

When you write a post the title controls much more than you think. Everyday I read great articles with crappy titles. With every title you need to be thinking of using keywords that will be searched for while linkbaiting a title enticing people to click. This can be harder than it sounds, because the best titles are 6-8 words or less. I’ve gotten better at this over time, but it’s just practice, practice, practice to become a master at it!

5. Have an H1 Title first

Wordpress natively takes your html post title tag and puts it into an H1 tag as the textual title on the post’s web page. If you use another CMS like Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, or something else make sure your Content Management System does the same. Keywords in header tags (especially the first header of the page) carry much more weight than later in the content areas.

6. Start with a Synopsis Paragraph

Unless you are writing custom meta description tags for every single page the most important area of any post or page after the title is that first paragraph. This paragraph ultimately becomes your description under you title link in search engine results pages. You want to stick to 2 or 3 sentences when possible, or at least place your important keywords there. Remember – what you type will not only determine how well this page comes up in search results, but also how your page is described and why people click!

7. Bold important keywords as you write

As you write your post or article bold keywords and phrases when you are making points. These keywords, combined with your title and synopsis help target ads (and traffic!).

8. Link relevant sources

This is a given, but should be mentioned. Be sure to link only relevant items in your post – it helps target everything.

9. Organize sections using h3 and h4 headings

Using h3 and h4 headers in longer pages and posts is a great way to "sub-title" the page with even more targeted keywords. It’s also easier to organize information (and for more people to follow and read).

10. Use keyword laden categories and tags

Just before you publish that page or post, be sure to use great keywords to both categorize and tag it.

The beauty of creating a blog is that you can add it to your current web site or use it as a standalone website. If you don’t constantly market your blog you won’t attract many visitors or make many sales.

Here are the top 10 ways to attract web traffic to your blog:

If you consistently add new content you will not only attract regular readers but also the search engines. Try to add new content to your blog at least 3 times a week.

2. Optimize your content

Make sure you optimize the titles, paragraphs and links within your content. This means you must first do keyword research to incorporate keywords related to your content.

3. Include keywords in your tags

WordPress allows you to include tags below each post. Place your most popular keywords in these tags separated by commas.

4. Add meta tags

Use the headspace or seopack plugin to add title and description meta tags to each post. Search engines place great emphasis on title tags that contain your keyword at the beginning.

The description meta tag is what visitors read about your site when they find it in the search engines. Make sure the description of your page will get the reader to click to your content.

An individual post won’t get much traction in the search engines unless you get links pointing to it. If you have related content from other areas of your blog create a text link (anchor text) within that post that links to your current content.

Your blog post ranking will increase in proportion to the number of links pointing to it.

6. Encourage commenting

Include questions within your content and encourage readers to leave a comment. This increases blog interactivity. Readers will see it’s an active blog and will want to read the comments and provide their own feedback.

Find blogs that have content related to your own and write a comment that compliments their post or is in response to others’ comments. With each comment include a link back to your own blog.

8. Use trackbacks

A trackback is a procedure for notifying the original blog poster that you have linked to their blog post from your blog. Create lots of trackbacks to popular blog posts from your own blog. This will encourage those you trackback to do the same for you and will increase traffic to your site.

9. Submit to blog directories

Google "top directories to submit your blog" to get a free list of the top 100+ blog directories you can submit your blog to.

10. Submit RSS Feed to RSS Directories

To submit your blog or RSS feed to a list of RSS and blog directories, Google "top rank RSS blog directories."

Blog marketing is a process that must be done consistently to reap great benefits. By employing the strategies mentioned above you’ll see a steady flow of web traffic that will increase over time.

Need help driving traffic to your blog or web site? Please visit Search Engine Optimization Services

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com Affordable Web Site Design, Web Hosting and SEO.

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