Why are you REALLY Blogging?

May 9, 2010 Glyna Humm Online Marketing 120

This may seem like a very simple question, but it can actually have many different answers, depending on your circumstances.

Are you blogging just for fun with no expectations or do you want to attract visitors to your blog for some reason or another?   If it is the latter reason, what is your plan for people to be able to find you?  Are you optimizing your blog for the search engines by using keywords in your titles and blog posts?

You are probably wondering why I am asking all of these obscure and annoying questions.  You see, if you are not using any type of search engine optimization (SEO), it might be impossible to achieve the anticipated goals you have for your blog.

Or – maybe you do understand all of these concepts, but the thought of trying to use SEO while writing your blog posts makes you want to cringe and run out of the building screaming!  Am I getting closer?  Sound familiar?

Well, whatever the case, I am hoping I can ease your mind about all of this in my latest video.  Go ahead and take a look.

So what do you think?  Are you already using keywords to help people find you on the search engines?  I am interested in hearing your answers along with other tips and strategies you may have to get us all started with incorporating SEO into our online marketing efforts.

Please feel free to leave me a comment or pass this along to your friends on Facebook, Twitter and beyond!

Yours in Success,


118 Comments

  2. Hi Glyna!

    I hope your Monday is off to a good start.

    I am most definitely one of the SEO newbies and I did think the writing for the purpose off getting those keywords out there seemed a little false (for want of a better word).

    Oh My Goodness, now you put it that way (a human way!) it has given me the nudge I needed to look into keywords and SEO in more depth. I’m certain a few could be slipped in without detracting from my message and all these little tweeks make a big difference in the end!

    Thank you Dear!

    Emma 🙂

  4. Emma – If you just start with the “little things” and then work your way up from there it isn’t as overwhelming:) Glad I could help and thanks for your nice comment.

  5. Your so cool with this. I wish I could grasp this concept. I’ll continue to try and not get caught up in the writing like I do. I never could pat my head while rubbing my tummy. But I’ll make a good faith effort to get those key words in my post.
    .-= Nelson Schroeder´s last blog ..The Power of One =-.

  10. Great post and video Glyna! Keywords are really important! You can use keyword tools such as wordtracker or Google’s keyword tool. When you search a keywords, I would suggest you look for word(s) that have a minimum of 80-100 searches daily.

    I love the natural flow of your blog posts!

    Thanks for sharing!
    Michelle
    .-= Michelle Shutter´s last blog ..How To Create a Subdomain =-.

  11. Hi Glyna,
    How neat to see you on a video! This is my first “view” of you and now I feel like I know you better. 🙂
    This topic is very important. I think many of us in the Tribe are using keywords, but I agree….a lot of bloggers aren’t…yet. I didn’t when I first started blogging in 2008. Now I wouldn’t blog without them!
    I personally use Google Adwords Keyword Tool when I am looking at keywords for my blog. It helps me see which keywords are “bloated” and which ones are less so.
    Being found and getting traffic is not important to everyone who has a blog, but for anyone who is building a business from home, it is so important to be out there for people to discover.
    Terrific video. Very clear and honest. Your personality really comes through!
    Mary Lou
    .-= Mary Lou Kayser´s last blog ..How to Be an Online Hall-of-Famer (It’s Easier than You Think…) =-.

  13. Hi Glyna,

    Your blog seems fine now, I’m not sure what was causing the issue. It might have been my computer.

    Anyway, great post. We all need to have a purpose for everything we do. Why are we doing it, why are we blogging? What is the ultimate goal for blogging?

    To brand ourselves, create relationships, capture leads, provide good content? Once we know our niche, brand and why we are doing things, it becomes much easier as it flows from one place to the next.

    Keep up the great work!

    Thanks
    Gavin Mountford
    .-= Gavin Mountford´s last blog ..(Module 1) How to Join The Networking Superstars & TSA Tribe – Tutorial =-.

  14. Glyna, fabulous post, I agree wholeheartedly with the lovely Krista, 90% of cases, people are working there butts off with very little results, simply because they do not understand SEO. Cheers for your blog post!
    .-= Anna Johnston´s last blog ..“Ode to the Dishy” =-.

  16. Hey Glyna! I’m intrigued by all the cool tricks and tips that can be used to drive more traffic to my site… I know one shouldn’t rely on tribe syndication alone…. you can get the edge by going the extra mile.
    .-= Paul Klaszus´s last blog ..Memory Loss from Stress? =-.

  25. Hey Glyna,

    Thanks for these great tips. There are some specific things that we should all consider when we are blogging with the purpose of SEO. I appreciate you taking the time to share this with us.

    Make it a great day!
    God Bless,
    -ed

  26. Great tips! Once I learned how to do the small things the big SEO began to kick in and now my site is whizzing along on it’s own. It does take a bit of effort at first but like anything else once you get accustomed to it you can really do it with little effort. Thank you for the reminder my friend! You are always rich with helpful tidbits!

    Abundant Blessings,
    Kellie Frazier
    dot com

  33. Thanks Glyna. I’m fairly new to blogging myself and you really assisted me to really start thinking before I start writing and just about the message I want to convey. Thanks again you video was very, very helpful and I’ll pass it on through my network.
    Michael
    .-= Michael Berry´s last blog ..Personal Development =-.

  37. Great thoughts here Glyna.I am slack about using SEO and I know I need to pay attention.I have been seeing so much lately on this and I am beginning to think I better get busy.Thanks.I am missing alot of traffic by not using better SEO.
    .-= Beverly Monical´s last blog ..Video Tips For Beginners =-.

  45. Hey Glyna…it does always help to keep in mind that you are not just posting to be lost somewhere in the great blogosphere abyss. We do want to be found…we might as well take an extra moment or two to design our posts for that purpose.

    Thanks a bunch!
    .-= Bruce Backman´s last blog ..Training Video 1 =-.

  50. Glyna,
    Thanks so much for your encouragement. I blog because I want to help couples and singles be more passionate and create a source of income that is more geographically independent. That’s why I’m on the Internet! I appreciate your tips on SEO and keywords and will definitely apply it to my next blog!
    Thanks again,
    Adam
    .-= Dr. Adam Sheck´s last blog ..Ever Wonder, “Why Are They Together?” =-.

  53. Hey Glyna, You have my attention. Not only have you sky rocketed on my top commenter wall, but you are providing some great content.

    I want to be your top commenter, so please send me any new links. I want to be the first to see your posts. Great Stuff!!

    I agree with you when it comes to SEO. YUCK. But it doesn’t have to interfere with your natural flow.

    I use Word Tracker Seo Blogger. You need to use firefox browser to use this tool…It is easy to search for it on google… Download and install…

    You type in the subject you want to talk about that day and it gives you other words you can use. It also tells you how many searches per day there are for those terms and tells you how many times you use it in your post. Great quick and easy tool…I highly recommend…

  54. Glyna I’m actually in the process of focusing on building traffic and needed a little insight on key words. Thank you for this post and I will get on it asap!

  55. Hi Glyna
    I’ve been studying SEO the last year or so.
    I’ve been able to get a few of my post on the
    front page of Google!
    I love your blog…
    I’m a fan of yours!
    Debby

  60. Hi Glyna, I remember too how my first blog, though filled with nice posts, was like a ghost town! I had no clue about keywords. I am getting better with it as time goes by. Thank you for some essential information.
    Carolyn

  63. Hi Carolyn – I know that “ghost town” feeling too! – Using keywords and joining a tribe has made all the difference for me and the traffic to my blog. Thanks

  64. Hi Glynna, you are in my TSA group this week. I saw your post and remembered that I totally forgot to add the keywords to the post I made on Saturday. Why are you blogging is a good question and one we should all ask before we even start blogging. Thanks for sharing.

  66. Hi Glyna,

    When I am blogging I try to keep SEO and Keywords in the back of my mind and for sure include them in post titles and within my content, but I do not make it the primary consideration when making blog posts and writing articles etc. I try to provide value to anyone that may happen to read versus just post to boost up my SEO and keyword rankings.

    Your blog is great, keep up the fantastic work.

    Scott Manesis

  67. Both are very important Scott:) If you don’t have SEO to move you up on the search engines so people can find you, then you will not have any followers to give value to:) Thanks for your comment.

  68. Glyna,

    Thanks for writing this post , i find the information that you have shared of great value to the people that i connect with and going to pass this on to my tribe. I look forward to reading more from you.

    Chris

  69. Hey Glyna,

    I love your blog, you always offer great content. I agree that it is important to know why your are blogging an that we should always try to use SEO methods to make our posts get more exposure.

    Sometimes I blog for fun, some time for business and sometimes to teach and mentor others. But always being authentic. If people don’t necessarily know what there niche is yet, I would try to just get going and see what happens, you can always prune and delete the content at a later stage.

    Beth 🙂

  70. Glyna,
    I love this post! I’m like you! When I first started, I wasn’t worried about SEO I wan’t even sure what I wanted to do – now I am worried to keywords! I really enjoy your movie~ you’re a natural behind the camera!
    Take care!
    ~Linda

  73. Glyna, great stuff I’m about to enter into the blogging world and every little bit of advice helps. thanks you so much..

  75. Glyna – I think you’ve really touched on something here. As I become increasingly involved in TSA and the blogging community at large, I’m amazed at how little effort so many bloggers seem to put into their writing. Keywords aside, just the poor grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and so on. Yes, there are some wonderful writers out there among us, so I’m certainly not targeting the majority here.

    That being said, the concentration on keywords within one’s blog simply becomes one more piece of the puzzle in making sure your blog is one that is written with care and concentrated effort. You are absolutely right about the inclusion of your major keywords gradually becoming part of a natural process. I totally agree, just as is the case with good grammar, spelling, structure, and so on. Writing is an art form that should be taken seriously, no matter what goals you hope to achieve with it.

  76. You know what Steve? I totally agree! You should take pride and put in the effort necessary to create a good post. It does take a lot of work but is well worth it in the end. Thanks

  77. Glyna, keywords are a huge factor in getting your blog noticed and ranked in the search engines – I try to incorporate them into my post headings – also getting back-links with keyword anchor text back to your blog is yet another factor in ranking. Great Video!

  79. In joining the TSA, my challenge I put out to myself was to be consistent with my blogging…keep it interesting by delivering value and playing with keywords to see if I can actually get on the first page of Google.
    It is exciting. I actually really focused a lot of effort into the keyword aspect of the blog with my last 2 posts and have had great results for Google. Have to learn more about the others like yahoo. but I am certainly having fun.
    in fact last week I purchased a tool and am having a blast playing with it.

  80. I felt the same way about finding keywords when I first started blogging. I knew they were important but I thought it was so tough. I think I felt like I had to find “the best” keyword but really people are searching for all kinds of information so the keywords are simply what you are writing about.

    That being said, it still seems to me like unless you have “the best” keyword to rank on the 1st page of google, what’s to point? I’d be interested in hearing your opinion. JacquelineMcGinnis.com

  81. I understand what you are saying Jacqueline! Mike Dillard points out that you want to focus on more obscure keywords as well as what you term “the best”. If you want more info on this I can get ti for you. Thanks

  82. Glynna,
    You are a natural on video. Your message is clear and concise. I struggle with keywords and probably don’t use them as often as I should. Thanks for the strong reminder of how powerful they can be. At this point in the blogging process I should know better.

  84. Glyna:

    This is such an important kick in the tail for me. I know I should be using more SEO in my blogging, but I get into writing mode and I just want to go with the flow. Then I hate going back and changing things just for SEO. I guess I just need to be a bit more of a business owner and less of a writer. 🙁

    At least I really understand the principles and methods, and use these for my clients. But if I used them more consistently I’d probably have more clients to use the for. 🙂

    Live with passion and purpose,
    Vanessa

  85. Ah we love the fun parts of marketing – there ARE so many fun moments. So many aha! moments. So many gratitude moments. So many “look at this creative thing I’ve done moments.” So many friendships. And THEN- there are the really challenging things, one of which you bring up. Keywords. I paused your video to run down and get a drink and bring it back to my office. As I went downstairs to the kitchen, I kept hearing “babysteps.” I think I must have paused it right after you encouraged us by saying – take babysteps.
    All of a sudden, a tune jumped into my head. I just searched and found the lyrics to this kids song:
    Put one foot in front of the other
    And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
    Put one foot in front of the other
    And soon you’ll be walking out the door

    You never will get where you’re going
    If you never get up on your feet
    Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing
    A fast walking man is hard to beat

  86. I love blogging!

    I learned a long time ago that tags and keywords are very important!

    I know I could get better at keywords.

    I appreciate your post and heads up.
    Maggie

  87. Hey Glyna,

    What a great topic! We are going to have to chat, because I do very little with keywords. You are absolutely right! I need to do this now! You make it sound so easy, so I’ll bet that it is. I promise that I will start doing this with my very next post.

    You always bring tremendous value to our community!

    Mentor Mama

  88. Ok – you promised me Nancy – I will be checking up on you:) haha! You bring value to everything you do Mentor Mama! Glad to have you visit and thanks for the comment!

  92. Hi Glyna,

    Those are great questions that we should all consider thoroughly! We need to care about keywords to increase our visibility online. Even though I have a solid understanding of SEO, I do have a tendency to skip that part, which is really bad since I am a web developer! Ugh.

    Appreciate your writing about this and reminding me of the importance. While I want to share my knowledge with my readers, skipping this part is like the proverbial plumber with a constantly leaky faucet! LOL. I’ll fix that!

    Best Wishes!

  94. Glyna,
    I seem to lapse into just writing about my current topic. Perhaps the title and first sentence contains the keywords, but sometimes it is not carried throughout the blog. I guess it’s time to focus a bit more on SEO.
    Great information.
    Erica

  95. Hi Glyna,

    Once again, a good post. I really enjoy your enthusiasm and spirit. You are so right that tags and keywords are crucial to getting ranked/found. I love blogging and do find it a bit tedious to pay attention to the keywords but recognize their import. Thanks for helping to spread the word.

  96. Hi Glyna,

    Great post and video presentation. It has given me some ideas of things I can do on my blog.

    When you are writing a blog post, it helps to bold, italic and underline your keyword phrase you are using. It is also a good idea to use your keyword as an alt text on images.

    Thanks for sharing,
    Larry

  98. It can be tedious if you make yourself concentrate on them. I find if I am writing about something I truly care about – the keywords just come out naturally. Thanks for your very nice comment!

  99. You have a great start if you are focusing on the title and first sentence Dr. Erica – now just sprinkle a few along the way through the rest of your post:) Thanks

  100. Thanks for your really helpful advice on blog writing, Glyna. I forget to use key-words from time to time. I am slowly getting better as I write and syndicate more. Reading other people’s blogs really helps with how to present myself in my niche.
    Blessings
    Clare

  104. This is a great question. I just saw a blogger give up her popular blog. She had hundreds of reader, but realized that blogging isn’t what she wanted to do.

    Kudos for listening to your heart.

  106. Excellent video Glyna! You are SO natural in front of the camera!! Thank you again for reminding me how important SEO is! I do try, but often forget. I try to put my tag or key words in headings within my blog as well (when I remember 🙂 )

    I think I’m going to make myself as special little Glyna reminder to use SEO on every post!!

    Well done, it’s hard not to smile when watching you! You are so cheery and lovely!! 🙂

    All the best,
    Lorri

  110. Thanks for this information, Glyna. I haven’t been blogging long, so I haven’t even thought about keywords. It is a comfort, though, to think that if I am blogging about my passion, then I may naturally use the keywords.

  112. Hey, great post and video! I have to admit that I dislike trying to use keywords when I am writing my articles. I just always feel like its a pain to try and use them when writing. After reading your post and watching your video I realized that if I’m doing all the work and writing I might as well put in that little bit of extra effort so that I can actually get credit for it. Thank you,
    Bethany

  113. Glyna,
    Great advice. I realized some of my blogs do not have keywords in the title. Even though, I know keywords need to be in the title, I have neglected to do it all the time.

    Thanks for helping me get back in line.

    Jaden

  115. Glad I could help Bethany! It gets easier as you go along and if you are writing about what you are passionate about your keywaords will automatically be there. Thanks

  116. Hey Glyna,

    Thanks so much for this really helpful video & post. I’ve been a bit resistant to SEO and really thinking about my audience, but I know that’s so helpful in building audience. Your video really helped me shift about the importance of using keywords.

    Thanks again for sharing this great wisdom!

    Best,
    Monick

  118. Interesting question in your title, especially given David Cook’s just posted video on the TSA Facebook Page. He decried the lack of individuality/creativity in many of the blogs he was reading. To my mind, your question, i.e., Why are you really blogging? should be asked of many of those bloggers.

    Of course, there are many people who simply want to put their voices “Out There” without considering the needs of readers.

    As far as my own purpose for blogging, that has changed from when I first began 20 months ago. I started simply to record what I was learning about this new phenomenon of Social Media. But now that I’m hooked, my purpose is to help educate many small business owners who either have their heads buried in the sand regarding the future OR they are finally understanding that there is a New Normal, and it’s high time for them to get started learning.

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