During this workshop, we'll explore how to "monetize" – to indulge in some vile jargon – blogs. AdSense plays a role in that, so we've decided to demo it: practicing what we preach... Earnings will go into source materials and the instructors' IPA (India Pale Ale) fund. Teaching, after all, is thirsty work.
A post's headline and generally its first 25 words appear in search indexes, as well as on subscription feeds, aggregator sites and social-media links. Seed this canvas with the strongest material possible: news angles, dynamic prose, original reporting, etc. It's the bait on your hook.
Subscribers and regular readers aside, winning attention can be even more challenging online than in print. Someone perusing, say, a hard copy of Nutcracker Collector Monthly or Wise Widgeter Digest already has enough interest in a topic to seek out a publication on it (or pick one off the doctor's waiting room table). The audience self-selects to a great degree and often pays money for the privilege, upping its stake in consumption of that media. So magazine and newspaper writers often preach to the choir.
Fishers on the ocean of free Internet content need to be more crafty.
As we discussed last week, search engines send spider bots to crawl the web, analyzing domain names, keywords, inbound and outbound links, and 190-something other mysterious factors to determine a page's point ... and also its authority, called PageRank in the Googleverse. Various techniques exist to boost SEO (search engine optimization).
The higher your PageRank, the higher your site appears when people search. And if your first impression is compelling, they click through and read. The same goes for folks perusing feeds, Facebook links or fecklessly skimming spamtastic linkfarms.
Wow 'em. Hard and fast.
For the bots, touch upon keywords – the terms that really sum up the gist of a post. Don't stuff them in, but if you're reviewing the Big Book of Biscuits, don't lead with 250 words on your grandfather's favorite cookie-making apron. That's called "burying the lede" in media jargon.
People-wise, be precise and colorful, emphasizing the original (language and material). Avoid word repetition between the headline and first paragraph. Those 35-ish words together are the post's ambassador and advert alike. Make every one count.
Before we plunge into the nebulous craft of search engine optimization, let's review how the Innertubes work. People dial in seeking two things: entertainment and information. Typically, they start hunting with a search engine, like Google, Yahoo or Microsoft Live. These deploy robotic "spiders" to look for content. They examine a given page and then move on to process pages linked to it, thus crawling the Internet.
How Amanda childishly likes to envision the spiders...
The bots have a hit-list of URLs, called "the seeds". That's why submitting your site to search engines is Very Good Thing: it lands you on the crawl frontier (which is possibly the most awesome jargon of this week's lecture). On Google's About Page, look under the yellow header "For Site Owners," top right. Click "submit your content to Google". Other engines, like Yahoo, have similar submission links.
Once spiders target your site, they romp all over the sucker. Their goal is to determine authenticity (that it's not a link farm) and suss the level of authority. These factors drive where your blog appears when people come sleuthing. In other words, they influence your ranking.
The science of this remains very hush hush, because search engines don't want spammers and scammers to stack the decks. Google's algorithm allegedly weighs 200 factors. Hackers waste a lot of brain cells trying to divine these trade secrets (but hey, like Mike, they have IQ to burn). Some general rules are universal, however.
Spiders give more weight to terms in:
The URL
Titles
Headers
The top of the page's content
They also measure frequency. So good web writers stress the terms important to readers – and ones they're likely to search upon. A search engine analyzes how often these keywords appear in relation to other words in a web page. This principle – pushed too far – is why a lot of web text is cringeworthy. Marketers, in particular, grow obsessed with repetition and other strategies for search engine optimization (SEO). They're writing for robots, not people – and it shows.
Don't be that author. No one likes a keyword stuffer. In fact, some engines kick the worst offenders – spamdexers – right off their indices.
The big G accounts for nearly 75% of Internet search traffic. So how to best charm its bots? Especially when the company keeps its 200-point weighting system top secret?
While keywords are crucial, many pages share the same terms in their titles, headers and content. So Google casts its net wider, examining inbound links – and their source's authority, measured by PageRank. You can download a toolbar widget that reports on this status. I dislike clutter and thus prefer a free checker, despite the irritating sales pitches (ignore those).
Let's examine a few:
Blogging Frontier 0/10
Mikekeran.com 1/10
Roadremedies.blogspot.com 4/10
Writers.com 5/10
Roughguides.com 7/10
Boingboing.net 8/10
Gawker.com 8/10
Mac.com 8/10
MSNBC.com 8/10
BBC.co.uk 9/10
Facebook 9/10
Guardian.co.uk 9/10
Nytimes.com 9/10
Twitter.com
Wikipedia.com 9/10
Does this mean we're muppets, incapable of teaching a new media workshop? Nope. The class site's still wet behind the ears – just over a month old. It also has few inbound links, loads of outbound ones and hasn't been submitted to search engines: a perfect storm, really, of PageRank (PR) misery. So do as we say, not as we do...
Personal sites tend to score lower, especially homepages such as Mike's, as he monkeys around with his code too much... Also "no one pays me to update my personal page, so it languishes in the gutter most of the time."
Notice that traditional media outlets still rank very high. For all the "death of journalism" ballyhoo, our society relies on news sources just as much as ever ... maybe even more than ever. We still look to the pros to filter the data stream and convey the important bits accessibly. Does it really matter if they're called "reporters" or "content curators"?
Anyway, enough on that whole upheaval, which could be a class unto itself. Think of PR kinda like high school. Attention (inbound links) boosts your status. Attention from a popular kid, like The New York Times, has even more juju. And attention from the bad kids – link farms – doesn't help on the scramble for cool.
So, to review: inbound links drive traffic to your blog, increasing readership. This is Very Good. We like. And inbound links from authoritative sites also can improve your PageRank (or, as Mike says, "they give you Googlejuice!"). The better your PR, the higher your blog appears when people search, which brings – you got it – more readers!
Time to inspire links and pump up your PR and inbound linkage.
DO: Generate original content, which encourages links.
DO: Add your blog's address to your email's signature file.
DO: Post links on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (more on these below).
DO: Participate in bulletin boards and list serves on your topic. Again, include your blog's URL in your signature.
DO: Comment thoughtfully on blogs relevant to your topics. Curious readers will click though – track this via Analytics or Sitemeter referrals – and stick around if they like your stuff. Eventually you may even befriend fellow bloggers, who might then promote your work via posts and BlogRolls.
DON'T: Expect sites to reciprocate links. Showcase work you find relevant to your readers. Any competent blogger will notice a traffic spike, if you introduce a significant amount of readers. He or she may return play... but it could take time or never happen at all. Be generous with your juju. Offer it without strings. The karma almost always flows back in...
DON'T: Get sucked into link-trading schemes. Google sees right through that game.
DON'T: Get frustrated if you're not adding hundreds of new readers a week immediately. So much of successful blogging is about building a community. That takes time. Keep adding original content and good outbound links. Participate on other sites and publicize your own.
As a recent New York Times article noted, "Richard Jalichandra, chief executive of Technorati, said that at any given time there are 7 million to 10 million active blogs on the Internet, but 'it’s probably between 50,000 and 100,000 blogs that are generating most of the page views'."
On the one hand, that can seem a little discouraging. On the other, you have a chance – with little start-up cost – to compete with media giants. Take FiveThirtyEight: A site run by a baseball-stats nerd, a poker player, and a documentary filmmaker has a readership akin to the Houston Chronicle's, according to Joshua Benton at Harvard's Neiman Journalism Lab.
According to the Wall Street Journal, 1.7 million Americans make money blogging and 452,000 of them derive a majority of their income from it (read more about e-jobs here).
Blog's aren't a Golden Ticket. But they're darn close.
Basics of nabbing higher rankings
URL's, headers and page titles are important in Google's eyes. Make 'em descriptive and precise as possible, as we discussed earlier in class. If your blog requires major search engine marketing, consider registering a domain name that features important keywords. Just be aware this can create some extra hackwork for custom headers and other Blogger standards.
Don't hide your content behind images and Flash. Generally this is not a problem with Blogger, unless you video-post often. If so, entice Googlebots (and readers) with introductory text, which summarizes what's behind that play button. Again, specific details help. "A funny clip" is weaker than "Mystery: Sharks Missing at the Seattle Aquarium".
On that note, time out for a predator smackdown:
Now don't you feel better about the economy? At least you're not being drowned by an animal with the density of a wet Kleenex...
For posts primarily about images or video, teaser text brings context and gives the search bots more traction. Tech enthusiasts also use correct <title> elements and alt attributes. However, this is complicated in Blogger without editing an entry's HTML.
Make sure permalinks are enabled (Dashboard -> Settings -> Archiving -> Post Pages -> Yes). This gives search engines a permanent location to find a given entry (other bloggers too, so they can link to your entries). When a page moves, it generally loses its existing PR juju. (Ways exist to avoid this if, for example, you are migrating from one blog platform to another, but they're complicated).
Mike's sage advice
Don't optimize for search engines, optimize for your readers. Entries easily read by humans are easily read by Google.
If you can think of a way to game the system, I guarantee that Google has already counterpunched it. The company hires a lot of very smart people: the geek elite.
Keep Google returning to index your site with fresh content. If the bots decide you only blog once a month, then they will only crawl your site twelve times a year. Post regularly.
Wooing the Googlebots
Seomoz.org consulted 37 experts about playing nicely with the world's top search engine (full report here). Following are the ten most positive factors they cited. Note how most revolve around links and keywords.
A lot of businesses promise improved search engine ranking. Not all of them are crooks, but precious few aren't. In general, avoid:
Slick-talkers that promise"#1 ranking in Google" or "priority submissions" or claim a "special relationship" with the search engines; those are complete fabrications.
Pyramid-style link farm or link-popularity schemes. These are so diluted, they rarely boost your page rank. Worse, some schemes are already on Google's blacklist and joining them can get you penalized.
Anyone that claims Google requires payment to get a higher ranking: Lies. All lies! The ONLY cash Google accepts in this realm is for the AdWords program, which clearly marks "Sponsored Links."
Keyword spammers. Repeating terms ad nauseum doesn't help – Google can spot a faker, even if he or she changes the text color to match the background, making it invisible to the reader's eye.
Learning a little about SEO is the best route, even for those developing a monetized, professional platform. A few weeks of DIY will teach you the right questions to ask, when hiring an expert.
Roll up your sleeves and start experimenting. That's what the Internet's all about (aside from porn and pictures of cats, of course).
Give some thought to the rhythm of your blog: both the frequency of posts and their lengths. The people making money and landing book deals work at their sites. Marie Javins, for example, spends at least an hour each day, wedged around her travels, essay-writing and day job editing comics. Those earning five-figures and up usually blog full-time. But few have that luxury in the beginning, so aim for a regular posting pace, whether that's thrice daily or once a week.
Web Marketer Stephan Spencer weighs in: "frequency is not nearly as important as recency. A couple weeks of inactivity makes the reader feel like nobody's home. Conversely, having the latest post be only a day old makes the blog appear 'fresh'."
Business and marketing writer Seth Godin points out that some genres – including a writer's blog – don't require the same freshness as a newsy blog. So consider your topic, goals and meatspace schedule, when setting your editorial calendar.
For years, conventional wisdom has pushed for daily updates. Here Eric Kintz, Hewlett-Packard's VP for Global Marketing Strategy & Excellence, denounces that habit for 10 quite solid reasons. He concludes:
If you want to be a top 50 Technorati blogger, you will most probably still need to post several times a day. But for the rest of us, we should think seriously about the added value of frequent blogging. Actually, according to Technorati, only 11% of all blogs update weekly or more. What will matter more and more is what you write and how you engage, not how often you write.
Here BlogClout's Ankesh Kothari gives four tips for determining your blog frequency. His rule of thumb about product-endorsement stands out: "only publish a blatantly promotional post after 4 good quality posts." Also notable was this advice: "60-80% of your time should go on your blog promotion. Not writing. So if you can only put in 5 hours a week, and it takes 1 hour to write a decent post, than follow a weekly publishing schedule".
Frequent updates don't merely reward a loyal audience. They boost a site's street-credit among search engines like Google and Yahoo. This, in turns, means your blog appears higher on the results page when people search, potentially garnering more clicks. Google, in particular, has a deeply secret, ever-changing 200-point algorithm that governs PageRank (more on search engine optimization later in the course).
Much like Plato's cave, bloggers watch the shadows on the wall and patch together theories about the workings of this world. Most experts agree that "recency" – a horrible jargony word – plays a key role. But so do inbound links from other sites ... encouraged by being part of a community and original content, strongly crafted.
Without a doubt, quality will take you further that empty, babbling quantity. But blogging requires a delicate balance of time and technique: geek skills, writing chops and marketing savvy. As the course progresses, we'll explore ways to attract audiences, build and participate in communities and use social media networks to spread the word. For now, we recommend students post 2-3 times each week to workshop their skills.
Post frequency is a huge factor in your site's ranking, which determines how high it appears on search engine indexes. Naturally, prominence there builds readership. In week six, we'll explore nuances of this voodoo, called search engine optimization (SEO). But for now, let's focus on a few simple steps to juice up your blogs:
Write early. Write often. Unlike your instructors' personal blogs. (Do as we say...)
Shorter linked entries – published daily – are preferable to a long essay weekly.
Kick off with enticing language, rich with specifics – especially the keywords folks might search upon. Soup up those headlines!
Ditto the first 25 words, which also appear on the search engine's index pages. Make 'em count.
“On a value-per-word basis, headline writing is the most important writing you do, explains Jakob Nielsen of Weblog Usability. “Descriptive headlines are especially important for representing your weblog in search engines, newsfeeds (RSS), and other external environments. In those contexts, users often see only the headline and use it to determine whether to click into the full posting.”
One-deck headlines are preferable. Employ precise language – or poetic, if that's more your thing. But think about baiting readers away from their tax returns, tennis matches and the latest Tina Fey vehicle.
Some of the best headlines spring fully-formed from the ether. But certain formulas exist for less inspired moments. As the travel-writing teacher Louise Purwin Zobel points out: "Everybody likes a title that talks about saving money or time; a title that promises improvement in health, creativity, or prestige; a title that hints of the newest, the latest, the most up to date; a title that tells you the article will tell you how to do something. You – either spelled out or implied – is a very important word. The title should be intriguing, startling, or thought-provoking and usually no longer than six words."
Engaging headlines ask a question, use clever punctuation, alliteration, a pun, or onomatopoeia, advises Poynter's Sara Quinn.
Search for action, rather than verbs of being (is, has, was).
Avoid word repetition: The worse headline I've ever personally witnessed: Town Plan Planning Gets Go Ahead.
Be descriptive. A header hooks the reader. Don't "bait and switch" with a misleading statement in 48-point type.
Omit unnecessary words like prepositions, helping verbs (is, are) or articles (a, an, the).
Strive for words that are short, common, colorful, powerful, specific.
As David Michelmore, a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor, notes: "Heads are a little like poetry. (Not a lot, but a little.) There's no room for extraneous words. The formats are uncompromising. How they sound counts. How they look counts. And getting just the right word is what makes them fun."
Good uns
Pictures from Die Hunns and Black Halos show
Office Depot Pays United States $4.75 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations (too long, but even if you only read the first few words,
you have an idea of what it's about)
Ice cream trucks as church marketing
Cruddy headlines Vague and bland, poor captions don't express the story or its urgency. They're unlikely to rank high on search-engines or to inspire clicks when they do. Cases in point:
What Is It That You Want?
Hey, kids! Comics!
Victims Abandoned
Gotcha!
Fake-out headlines promise one thing (usually sex, drugs and rock and roll), then deliver another (death, taxes). While this can result in a bunch of click-throughs, temporarily spiking traffic, it doesn't build a solid readership. Still, sometimes writers just can't help themselves...
It may not boost your libido or take cellulite off your thighs, but… (about the latest issue of Serendipity) –Tamara’s Big Blog of Marvel
Dawn Porter in the Nude (about, well, Dawn Porter naked, but in a documentary-reviewing sort of way)– Louche, I’m Not Gay
Marie Javins, author of the blog No Hurry in JC, doesn’t write these, but they still happen: “I get loads of link-throughs from people searching for "lion porn" from the Simba Love entry. Go figure.
“Also tons of hits from people searching for JC Marie, who is apparently some sexy model.”
The search-engine hilarity doesn't stop there. Javins authored the travelogue book Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik, so she suffers "hits all the time from people searching for dik, hot dik, big dik, and other variations. Because the world is full of bad spellers.”
Many bloggers monitor search terms and post or riff on the most amusing ones. It creates something of a feedback loop, but seems like mostly harmless amusement...
Getting your site to show up in Google's search results can drive loads of traffic to your blog. But how can Google find your blog among the 50,000 new blogs created each day? Simple, you tell Google about it.
Google's Webmaster Tools give you a huge amount of information as to how Google sees your site, but first you have to register your site with Google. As with most Tips & Tricks articles in this class, you can click on any of the screenshots below to view a full-sized version.
Point your browser to Google's Webmaster Tools site and log into your Google account, if necessary.
Type your blog's Web address in the "Click here to add a site" text box. You want to submit your blog's home page, without any addition viewing options or query string bits and pieces. For example, http://bloggingfrontier.blogspot.com. Then hit "Add Site".
You should be told that your site has been added to your account. Click the "Verify your site" link.
Select "Add a meta tag" from the "Choose a verification method" drop down menu.
The page will expand to show you the meta tag you need to add to your blog. Select and copy the entire tag.
Go to your blog (it's best to do this in a second window or browser tab as you'll want to get back to the Google page later) and click "Customize" in the top bar (or Dashboard -> Layout will get you to the same page). Click "Edit HTML".
Now, first things first. Anytime you are going to mess around with your blog's template code, make a backup of your existing code first. That way, you've got something to revert to if things really go south... Click the "Download Full Template" link (screenshot) and save it on your computer. If things get really messed up, you use your Get Out Of Jail Free card by uploading this file (screenshot).
Find your template's <head> tag and add the meta tag you copied in step 5 right after the <head> tag.
Click Preview to make sure your change didn't mess anything up. If not, click "Save Template".
Return to the Google Webmaster Tools page and click the Verify button.
You should be told that your site has been successfully verified. (As always, post any errors in the comments below and we can troubleshoot them from there).
While we're here, let's tell Google about our RSS feeds so that it can quickly index new content as it's added to the site. Click on Sitemaps in the left-hand navigation menu. Enter "feeds/posts/default" in the text box and press "Submit Sitemap". If you get an error, double check that Dashboard -> Settings -> Basic -> "Let search engines find your blog" is set to Yes. If it's not, set it to Yes and wait an hour or so before resubmitting -- Blogger does not update this setting immediately.
Take pride: you are now a Webmaster!
Now you'll need to be patient. Google doesn't immediately go out and index your site -- it usually takes 24 hours or so for it to happen. At first Google will re-index your site every now and then. If it finds you're adding content regularly, it will visit more frequently. If it finds you only add content every week or so, it will visit less frequently.
There is a lot of information that Google will give you about your site. We'll go over that in a later in the course.
Enrolled students can access the calendar and bulletin boards here. Log-in required.
About this site
Taught by a professional writer and a retired Microsoft programmer, the Blogging Frontier is a Writers.com online workshop that focuses on the art and the craft of new media. Instructors Amanda Castleman and Mike Keran guide students through the basics of setting up a blog and explain terminology. The course then launches into more advanced topics such as earning money, search engine optimization, and working with images and multimedia.
Weekly feedback includes writing critiques and technical ones, setting this ten-week course apart from similar offerings. Dates for 2010: April 21, July 28, October 27. Late-enrollment open until day ten, space permitting.
For a more in-depth answer, search on "word + Wikipedia". The site contains extensive entries on tech subjects. Since the content's user-generated, journalists and academics consider it the "best place to start and the worst place to stop" research-wise. But to solve a quick jargon panic, Wikipedia is your friend...
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