As blogs continue to mature as marketing tools, there are an increasing number of “blog optimization” articles and posts appearing. However, many of these resources underestimate the importance of inbound links.
To think that researching and placing keywords in the “right places” alone with improve a blog’s traffic is only part of the story. Blogs are simply web sites/content management systems with some special features. Getting web sites to rank well and to engage more traffic involves a large number of variables and the same goes for blogs. The difference is that there are unique linking opportunities with blogs that are not common with web sites. These include:
- Trackbacks
- Comments
- Social book marks
- Tagging
- Blogrolls
- Guest writing on other blogs
- Blog, RSS directories
Methods to gain links commonly associated with web sites include:
- Backlink analysis on competing web sites or blogs
- Search engine directory submissions
- Profiles and bios
- Testimonials
- Job listings
- Interviews
- Contributions to non-profits
- Article marketing
- Social book marks (listed above too)
- Press releases
- Contributed articles to MSM web sites
- Media coverage
- Buying web sites
- Viral marketing – linkbait
- Buying links (if you’re into that – I’m not)
The mistake I see a lot of bloggers making is to ignore the linking efforts normally associated with web sites. Not all of them are applicable, like job listings, but many are.
Just so you don’t think I’m another rambling blogger touting the benefits of something that is yet unproven or achieved, check out these rankings on Google for Online Marketing Blog:
- “marketing blog” #1
- “blog marketing” #1
And on Yahoo:
- “marketing blog” #1
- “blog marketing” #2
These rankings involve no SEO smoke and mirrors, just good content AND inbound links. While these rankings are for my old blog address, the newer url is gaining fast #4 and #8. Either way, I get the traffic.
As you work on getting keyword phrases in all the right places of your blog, understand that on-page optimization is only part of the job and blog marketing gurus out there should pay more attention to it. A steady stream of inbound links from a variety of relevant and authoritative sources can make a night and day difference for your blog’s search engine positioning and quantity/quality of referring visitors.
