SEO

Search Engine Optimization. Sounds fast, right? Google can find the answer to most queries in the time it takes you to read this sentence. Finding the exact answer to an exact query make take more time however.

Here's what you need to know. SEO is good for your blog because it helps readers and seekers find you and it makes you feel more important, because you are. It all starts with the question; how does Google search?

Google searches by page rank. Every page on the internet has a rank. That rank can fluctuate based on three factors. First Google ranks your blog by how many pages link to it. Then Google looks at the page rank of the pages that link to your blog. The higher the rank the better. Finally, Google measures linking pages' rank by how many links each page contains. More links means a lower ranking.

So how do you improve your SEO? Here are five tips to get you started . . . in the right direction.
First, look at your post headlines. They act as pseudo search queries. I written a post for my blog about Athar Habib, a highly recognizable person in Howard County. In the headline, I write Athar Habib because Google not only searches for the words Athar Habib, Google searches for the precise ordering of the words as Athar Habib. Write precise and short headlines.

Next, link in to the conversation. Remember your blog roll? Use it as a diving board to jump into the pool of links. Link your blog to relevant pages and readers & get them to link to you as well. This is accomplished by hard work and dedication. Columbia Blog Project has a great SEO because I work hard to bring quality content to readers on a daily basis. This doesn't mean you have to post daily but every post should be well written and crafted for readers.

Now that you're publishing quality content to a readership, those readers will tell other readers about your blog. For the same reason you might tell your friends about a great band, readers of blogs will tell other readers about a great new blog, its human nature. If you think about getting the word out like posting fliers, you want to post fliers in places with high volume traffic. The internet equivalent of shopping malls, schools and other social institutions are social networking sites and aggregators.

Analyzing your analytics can also improve your SEO. I check my analytics daily with statcounter. Among the analysis tools at my disposal is recent page activity. Everytime an IP address (computer screen) projects my page, I can see the path the person using that IP address took to reach my page. According to my analytics, the majority of my readers use Google to find me. The analytics also tell me what keywords readers are searching for to find my posts. This information allows me to insert more precise keywords into my posts.

Finally I label each post with precise keywords. At the bottom of the post composition window is an empty bar. I like to insert multiple keywords into the bar before I click save or publish. I've made it a habit and I suggest you do the same.

Analytics

One of the most useful tools to a blogger is analytics. Search engine Google offers a free analytical tool on their site. Some users, myself included have had problems with Google's analytics. If you are having issues with Google analytics or you would simply like another analytical tool on your belt you should try Statcounter.

Why use analytics? Simply put, analytics keeps track of all the quantitative data associated with your blog and can help you tailor your blog to your readers, which is key! Analytics software keeps track of the amount of times per day, week, or month that your page is accessed. Analytics can also tell you things like where your page was accessed from, how long a user was on your site, how many individual pages the user visited and what search keywords were used to locate your site.

How do you install analytics? Easy. When you sign up for an analytics account using Google or Statcounter, the sites will give you a string of HTML code. Select the entire code (Control + A) and copy the code (Control + C). Okay, now go to your blogger.com account. Sign in and click on the tab Layout. Underneath the layout tab you will see five smaller tabs. Click on the tab labeled Edit HTML.

This will bring up a text book filled with HTML code. Scroll down to the bottom of the code until you see a small piece of code that has the text /body inserted between < > signs. Press the enter key a few times to give yourself a few extra lines, then paste (Control + V) the HTML code above the tag. Click the save tab and you're done!