Today’s post comes from a conversation I had with a fellow blogger. In this conversation Suzanna asked me to name the top 5 things she could do for her site. I assumed she wanted more traffic, so I named 5 things off the top of my head. Then I realized that she had just given me a chance to post this information for the readers.
Normally I don’t do “This is how to improve your site” style posts, but the question she asked seemed like such a basic one, I thought I ‘d share my better answer with my readers. These Top 5 things are no particular order, but they are so fundamental that if you do these things your traffic might improve.
- Link to an Earlier post
- Use a SEO plugin or a theme with it built-in
- Use a Related Post Plug-in
- Use the Full WordPress.org on your own domain hosted other than Blogger, or WordPress.com
- Always try to have some kind of Graphic in your post.
Let’s explain the items in this list.
Linking to an earlier post increases the internal links of your site. It makes your site a little easier to navigate while still keeping your older posts in the mix. If you wrote something at an earlier time, you might want to link to it when you write a post that might be more specific. This has an affect with the Search Engines, but I rather like having a link in the content of this post that points to an earlier post.
An SEO Plug-in or a theme with SEO built-in does nothing nasty or illegal, rather it makes it easier for you to add meta data information that Search Engines use. You are helping the Search Engines better categorize your site. If you have this in your site, you better make sure that your posts provide the metadata information.
The Related post plug-in is a plug-in that adds related posts at the end of your post. This is provided to the users to allow them to explore your site. I use YARPP for WordPress. The name stands for Yet Another Related Post Plugin. I like this plugin because it seems to do a better job at finding related posts. I have mine set to show at max 5 posts and I’ve set the threshold a little higher to make sure that I have a better set of related posts.
I have nothing against Blogger.com and WordPress.com, but they are a blog-lite. If you are going to be doing this for any time, then you want to use the full WordPress software from WordPress.org. You also want this to be hosted with your own domain name on a professionally managed hosting site. Using the full software allows you to set up adsense, and use the whole range of plug-ins. It also looks a little more professional to have www.daytripping.com rather than daytripping,.blogger.com. Plus your limits is what your host provides which is usually more than what WordPress.com or Blogger will let you use.
Nobody likes seeing a wall of text, unless you are looking at a site that is publishing books and short stories. So, the last thing is something that I always try to do, and that is to have a graphic if the post merits it. Another thing you want with your post is to keep them short and easy to read. While your intended audience might be the upper 5% of the Intelligentsia, the money is with the other 95%. Write for the 7th grade reading level. If you need help with this read USAToday.
If you have anything to add, please make a comment, or use your favorite recommendation service.
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