When it comes to creating a successfully blog, a blog that will rise above the crowds of competition on today’s web, there’s no getting around the value of organic search. Rising above, in this case, involves getting ranked for your chosen keywords. While this may seem like a daunting proposition to the novice, that’s because it is a daunting – though not impossible – task.
The possibility of ranking a blog in its early days was the topic of a recent article by content guru Neil Patel on his blog Quicksprout titled, Blogging and SEO: 5 Easy Steps to Rank Your Blog. Here are a few of his suggestions.
Above all, a ranked blog is one that is user-friendly in both design and content. If you think those Google guidelines for site design are mere suggestions, you’d better guess again. Simple factors such as limiting advertising to the top half (or fold) of the page and limiting advertising altogether, are significant factors for Google’s ubiquitous search bots.
This also means your site must be built for speedy loading on both desktop and mobile devices (remember, that doesn’t happen “automatically”).
Of course a beautiful page needs beautiful, relevant, content to support its efforts. The operating word in this suggestion is relevant. One of the biggest mistakes beginning content marketers make with their blogs is steering off topic and writing well outside their targeted keywords. There’s no shortage of WordPress plug-ins that can help beginners tackle basic SEO implementation, and there’s no reason not to be using them.
Ranking a blog, especially in competitive keywords, is never easy but it’s always possible when you stick to the basics and don’t stray away from the guidelines Google has already laid out.