I have found that the All in One SEO Pack plugin and the report I got from Website Grader can complement each other nicely to help me improve the search engine ranking of my blog.
To set up the plugin, the three main fields, Title, Description and Keywords, also known as metadata, can be appropriately filled in based on the suggestions in the report. In the case of my description, I had to make it shorter, since it was way longer than the recommended 150 characters. But most important, I came up with a completely different title for my blog. I changed to “Notes on blogging and list building”, which includes two keywords with which the search engines can have a better idea of what my blog is about. This title can still be improved but I think it is better than the old “The blog of Jose Perez” , considering that my name is a very common Hispanic name…
After these few changes I requested a new report for my blog. Website Grader gave me a 73/100 grade this time, a modest 4 points better than my initial rating.
According to the report, my grade could benefit from listing my blog in DMOZ and the Yahoo! Directory, as well as bookmarking it with del.icio.us and submitting articles to Digg.com. But also according to the report, the main course of action for me is to work on increasing the number of inbound links to my blog, that is, getting more sites to link to it. The Superb business blogs & sites list I already have can help me a lot, I just have to post more often in those places and identify additional ones to list. I should also continue to post on forums, since Google Analytics tells me I’ve been getting links from the two places where I’ve been participating.
And one more step I’ve just taken that can bring me more links (by bringing in more visitors) is setting up the KeywordLuv plugin. Again with the help of my friend Vance Sova from Learn List Building, I will learn how to make the most of this tool that rewards commentators by separating their name from their keywords in the link to their website, giving them improved anchor text.
Well, I’ll keep scratching the surface of SEO. It’s worth the effort!
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Hi Jose,
Everything is confusing SEO etc., I love your WEBBLOG idea. Think I’ll investigate. I certainly need the help.
Jane
.-= Jane Pope´s last blog ..Red Light =-.
Hi Jane, it’s great you stopped by!
Yes, in order to bring traffic to our blogs we need all the help we can get.
It is true that we have to do our part –being proactive– by visiting other blogs and forums to post sensibly, but we certainly shouldn’t overlook making our blogs and sites friendly to search engines, spiders and bots, despite their reactive nature. Besides, it’s a job you do once and then it’s just a matter of minor adjustments over time.
Hope to see you come back soon,
Jose
Hi Jose,
The All in One SEO Pack is one plugin I think every WordPress blog owner must have installed, I recommend it to everyone who doesn’t already have it installed.
I’ve also been thinking about installing the KeywordLuv plugin too, I’ll look into it!
I’ll have to come back to this post when I have more time, so that I take action on some of the advice.
Glad to see you got your reply button color sorted now too!
Take care mate!
Paul.
.-= Paul Lear@traffic tips free traffic listbuilding´s last blog ..Traffic Guide For Newbies is LIVE! =-.
Hi Paul,
I myself gave too much of a thought to All in One… But I wonder that you have to get to the point when you finally understand what you’re reading to be able to appreciate the benefits…
I had thought you had KeywordLuv already going, by the way your name shows up (Paul from traffic tips…). Are you using something similar?
And, yes, thanks to your suggestions, I was able to come up with a solution to the invisible ‘Reply’ button. It’s not the ideal solution though, since what I did was to change the background color of the comments section so the white font used for the ‘Reply’ tag can show.
Always a pleasure to talk to you!
Jose
Hi Jose,
The reason my name came up as Paul Lear from Traffic tips..etc is because you have keywordluv installed.
I’m now using different keywords with this post, now that I understand it better. But it seems to be messing with the top commentators list and showing more than once. Maybe you can edit the ‘name field’ of my previous comments and add the words after my name as @increase alexa rank
That would solve it.
I think the best way to solve your comment button is to use the ‘Theme Color Changer’ in flexibilty theme options. You would still be able to have it a similar color to what it is now.
I just changed my whole color theme on my blog, from red to navy blue. It changed everything including the reply buttons for me.
Also I have a question for you if I may?
How do you get your top commentators links to open in a new window? Because on my blog it opens the links in the same window and takes the visitor away from my blog.
Can you help with that please?
Paul
PS- Sorry for such a long comment.
.-= Paul Lear@increase alexa rank´s last blog ..Traffic Guide For Newbies is LIVE! =-.
Paul,
Never a long comment when coming from a good friend!
I’ll try your suggestion about changing the color on my theme, thanks a lot.
To get your top commentators to open in a new window, in the Dashboard go to Widgets (under Appearance), open the Top commentators widget settings and go to the eighth field from the bottom (above the Save button). The field title is, well, ‘Open each link in a new window?’, so you say Yes.
To your growing list,
Jose
Hi Jose,
Thanks for that, I had a look through the settings in the past, but I must have missed that one.
I’ll be back to visit you again soon.
Paul
.-= Paul Lear@increase alexa rank´s last blog ..Traffic Guide For Newbies is LIVE! =-.
Hi – I don’t comment on many blogs but had to on yours. It’s really nice! I really like how you write – very to the point, unlike a lot of other sites. I don’t have time to read everything here right now, I found your site while looking for something else on ask.com. But I’ve bookmarked your homepage and will visit it regularly to read what’s new. Thanks for having this site. I love reading other sites about internet marketing. It’s such an exciting area. I’ll bookmark it and visit regularly. Thanks again for a very informative site! Visit my site if you’d like to read more.
Hi Jose,
I never heard of the keywordluv plugin before im going to look into it.
Thanks for the tip,
Nick
.-= Nick Brosnan´s last blog ..What Ive Been Doing =-.
Thank you for visiting, Nick!
When looking into KeywordLuv, consider that for it to work properly your blog has to be Do-follow.
Best regards,
Jose
Hi Jose,
You are well on your way to improving that 74/100 score! The SEO plugin is an excellent start, I would totally recommend reading the following site;
http://www.seomoz.org
I started reading it for SEO tips last year and it has helped me tremendously!
You have a great blog and I hope it brings you success, P.S. Many thanks for your comments on my green blog. We’re hoping to spread the “green” message to as many people as we can.
Thanks,
Martin
.-= Texas Green Blog´s last blog ..“The Painted Lady” =-.
Martin, thank you for stopping by!
I just signed up at SEOmoz.org and I hope to get a lot out of reading the tips there too.
Hey, I bookmarked your site, I think I can also learn a lot form the great information you’re putting there.
Cheers
Jose
Dear Jose-
I just wanted to say that I would not worry too much about your score on that tool. Just keep building content using target keywords, and keep building backlinks.
I now am ranking good for some of my target keywords by just doing this. Also, you can forget about getting listed in DMOZ.
That is almost impossible anymore.
Glad to see you using All-In-One SEO.
.-= Evan Beck´s last blog ..How to Build and Use a Feeder Blog =-.
Howdy Evan!
I’ve actually had a problem with the WG badge: I just can get it to show the updated grade for my blog. And about DMOZ, just finding a category that seemed appropriate for a blog on list building and plain blogging took me a good long while…
So yours is a good piece of sensible, practical advise, thank you!
Jose
The best traffic building strategy I know is connecting with other bloggers and submitting your blog to blog directories. Also, installing Alexa toolbar is beneficial.
.-= Walter´s last blog ..Deep understanding =-.
Thank you, Walter, for stopping by!
I agree, that proactive approach you suggest is the one to follow to drive more traffic in. An by the number of comments to the posts I saw in your blog, you certainly know what you’re talking about.
I have had the Alexa toolbar installation in my to-do list fro some days now, thank you for the shake up.
Jose
Hi Jose,
I think the All in one SEO plugin is a must for any blog, I have to say I have just come from Vance’s blog and I think the two of you are the only ones I have see with the KeywordLuv plugin.
I will have to look into it,I already have commentLuv but had not heard of KeywordLuv before paying a visit to Vances blog.
Great template by the way.
James
.-= James Howard@Alex Jeffreys Coaching Program´s last blog ..Alex Jeffreys Coaching Program =-.
Hey James, welcome to my blog!
I installed the plugin following Vance’s advise (which I have in great regard). At the moment I cannot boast an increase in traffic but I hope to see it further down…
If you decide to go for it, consider your blog has to be Do Follow, by the way.
You made the right move by getting Alex as your mentor. I visited your blog and saw that you already have a solid background to start with. May you make the most out of the program!
Cheers,
Jose