Here are my tips for e-books bloggers need to read.

Do-It-Yourself Blog Critique

Author: Melissa Culbertson
Price: Regularly $14, but on sale for Cyber Monday for $10.50!

Melissa has made a name for herself by doing blog critiques at MomComm.com. She was receiving so many requests for help that she decided to create an e-book. Learn how to engage your audience via strong navigation, design, and content — Melissa will show you how. She’s having a terrific deal on her book for Cyber Monday, so now is the perfect time to buy. The book is usually $14, but for Cyber Monday you can pick it up for you or a blogging friend for $10.50! Just use code CYBERAWESOME on November 28, 2011 before midnight and you’ll get the deal.

Mom Blog SEO

Author: Kelby Carr
Price: $19.99

Search engine traffic is vital to the success of your blog. Learn how to set up your blog so it’s as SEO friendly as possible and find and use tools that will help you optimize your content and site so the search engine bots can find you. Kelby explains the ins and outs of basic SEO and how it affects the success of your blog. This e-book isn’t just for mom bloggers! Regardless of your niche, you’ll be able to use the information in this e-book to improve your SEO rankings and traffic.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog

Author: Darren Rowse
Price: $22.49

This book is one of the best-selling e-books online, helping over 19,000 bloggers build a better blog. Darren recently revamped this e-book and every day in the challenge has been updated for 2012, most days have new further reading and case studies, the workbook now has Twitter integration, and the e-book has seven bonus days (effectively giving you 38 days of content)! So even if your blogger already has the book, they’ll appreciate receiving the updated version.

30 Days to Make & Sell a Fabulous Ebook

Author: Ang England
Price: $11.99

One of the best and easiest ways to earn money from your blog is to create your own product to sell. When you’re a blogger, that usually means creating an e-book. Ang England is a successful e-book publisher and she’s sharing her experience and secrets with you so you can start creating your own e-books and establish a new income stream from your blog. The best thing about e-books is that, after they’re written, they are largely a passive source of income.

Please note that each of these links is an affiliate link. 

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• One Year Ago Today — Learning to Embrace the Tech Community via Girl with a Computer. I really needed to read this yesterday. I’ve had a hard week of learning and frustration. I’ve been blogging a long time and I understand the mechanics of it, but when I try to reach beyond it, sometimes the learning is tough. I know I can do it because 15 years I ago it was my job to do it. And if you’re just starting, you can do it too. Go read this article and let Ashley remind you that you can do this.

• User’s Guide for All in One SEO Pack via WP Beginner. The All in One SEO Pack is one of the must-have plug-ins for your WordPress.org blog and now you’ll know how to use it to its full potential!

• What it Looks Like When Brands Don’t Get Social Media via Incslingers. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. And when you don’t, you usually are working with a traditional marketing or journalism team that is resisting the changes social media is demanding. Don’t make that mistake. Bring in people who understand what people expect online.

• SEO Copywriting Checklist for WordPress Blogs via Web Success Diva. The method suggested here requires some preparation and work on your part (hello, editorial calendar!), but I think you may be happy with the results. If you try it out, let us know how it worked. I’m betting you’ll have more results than just great SEO — an editorial calendar really helps with the overall organization of your blog.

• TypePad for Dummies Interview & Questions Answered via Build a Better Blog. Shannon and I spent the other day fielding blogging questions (some about TypePad, some not) and the discussion was really interesting. Check it out and let me know what you think.

• How to Blog (Better) via BlogHer. BlogHer has a new forum up where you can ask questions and get answers. I’ve been in there a few times and there’s some good info to be had. Stop by, join the group, and jump in!

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The Quick & Dirty List of SEO Tips

Blog Posts

• Use a good, clear title that tells reader what the post is about.
• Use bold subheads for clarity (header tags have more authority than bold).
• Focus your post(s) instead of writing about several topics at once.
• Make sure your link text includes keywords, and not just “click here”.
• Update your blog frequently — Google comes if you’re updating regularly.
• Instead of using a weekly generic post title (e.g., Works for Me Wednesday), use a descriptive title w/a dash (e.g., SEO Training in Two Minutes – Works for Me Wednesday).
• Make sure your popular posts have a call to action (ask your readers to answer a question, link to another related article, etc.)

Pictures

• Use captions for photos w/your keywords.
• Rename your pictures to reflect your keywords or what the pictures show (Google image search can drive a lot of traffic!).
• Use dashes, not underlines, when you name your pictures.
• image captions can be the same as your Alt info.

Meta information

• Use tags as a navigational tool and to help w/SEO for posts that have SEO-unfriendly titles.
• You don’t need to use META keywords in your <head> or <body> tags because search engines ignore them completely.
• Google dislikes text link ads so make sure they are NoFollow.

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I attended Blissdom ’10 in early February and loved that the event offered Wisdom Workshops a day before the real conference began. These workshops were offered in four tracks: Business, Writing, Creative, and Geek. As you can imagine, I stayed in the Geek room. One of the best sessions I attended was the SEO panel. I’m a technical writer by trade and things like usability and findability were drilled into my consciousness for four years so by now SEO comes naturally to me. But I just knew you all would appreciate my notes from this panel. If you’re going to learn SEO, Kelby Carr and Angela England are two women who can teach it to you. What follows are my notes and thoughts on the panel. I’ve integrated my own thoughts throughout this recap.

Are Your Keywords the Right Ones?

My advice to anyone who wants to make sure they’re doing SEO right is to use the same terms within your article that you’d search for if you wanted to find that information. Think about which search terms you would type into Google to find your topic. Can you incorporate those terms into your post’s title or as some of the links within your article? Kelby and Angela agree and they suggest you even go to Google and type in your search terms to see what’s popping up. Try a few different combinations of terms to see what yields the most relevant results — those are probably the words you want to try to use in your post. Beware though: You don’t want to overuse the terms in a single article. If you do, your post will read like an SEO vehicle rather than a blog post. Try to find that happy medium where you’re still writing in your voice, but incorporating some important key words as well.

Kelby and Angela also suggest using the Google Keyword Tool to see how particular keywords rank with other, similar keywords. For example, they suggest typing in “mom blog” and “mommy blogger”. Then look at the Global Monthly Search Volume to see which words or phrases are being used the most.

Take Away Tips:

• It’s important to point out that, while you want to be sure people are searching for the terms you’re using, you don’t always have to use the top-ranked keywords.
• Type in variations of a theme. For example, search for picture, photo, image, etc. to see how each keyword ranks.

Fix Your Blog’s Title Bar

The screenshot below shows you where the title bar is, your blog’s title banner, and the post’s title.

The default for most blogs is to have the name of the blog (e.g., Blogging Basics 101) in the title bar of the browser. To encourage search engine bots to “see” your articles individually, rather than as a single blog site, change this to reflect the post title – blog name (e.g., Blissdom Recap: SEO & Counting What Count — Blogging Basics 101).

Take Away Tip:

• If you want search engine bots to register each of your pages separately (and you do), ensure that your blog’s page title shows the name of the article, then the name of your blog.

Google Analytics

If you aren’t running Google Analytics, you should be. It offers so many ways to track how readers are using your blog and gives you an overview of your blog’s trends.

Kelby and Angela suggest looking at

• what keywords are working for your blog (and continue to use them)
• which posts are most popular (then make sure they’re linked to other articles within your blog to encourage people to stay longer)
• the top referring sites and see what campaigns are working (e.g., did that ad you bought really bring in some extra traffic?)

Take Away Tips:

• If you’re not using Google Analytics, start. If you are using GA, pay attention to how your readers are using your site.
• Make sure you have plenty of internal links to more of your writing goodness to encourage people to stick around longer.

Tomorrow I’ll have a few more SEO tips from this useful panel for you. In the mean time, make sure you’re following Kelby Carr and Angela England on Twitter.

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What do NoFollow and DoFollow mean?

When you create a link within your blog, whether it’s on your sidebar, within your article content, or in a comment, a regular link will be coded similar to this (obviously the URL and link text will be your own):

<a href=”http://www.bloggingbasics101.com”>Blogging Basics 101</a>

If a link is tagged as NoFollow, it will look similar to this (again with your own information):

<a href=”http://www.bloggingbasics101.com” rel=”nofollow”>Blogging Basics 101</a>

The part that defines the link as NoFollow is the rel=”nofollow”. If you take that out, your link becomes DoFollow. There is no actual DoFollow tag. The absence of the NoFollow tag makes the link DoFollow.

If a blog or web site doesn’t use the NoFollow tag, the search engines acknowledge the link; if a site does use the NoFollow tag, the search engines do not acknowledge the link. Why does this matter? In a previous article, I explained Google pagerank. Basically, if a site with a high pagerank links to you, Google increases your authority, and in turn, your pagerank. Those links can be links directly to something you wrote or links left in comments (since most commenting forms allow you to include your URL). But what if that site with the higher pagerank is using the NoFollow tag and not sharing the love? Well, Google ignores the fact that the site links to you and you don’t get the increased authority or pagerank. It is therefore desirable to interact with DoFollow blogs or web sites.

Is Your Blog DoFollow?

Most web sites have the NoFollow tag automatically enabled. Check out these article for tips on figuring out whether your blog is DoFollow or NoFollow:

• How to Tell If Your Blog Is Do Follow via Newru
• How to Tell if a Link is NoFollowed via Search Engine Guide
• How Do I Know if a Blog Is Do Follow? via DoFollow Blog Information

Should You Use the DoFollow Tag?

Your readers will appreciate it if you don’t use NoFollow tagging. After all, you’ll be building their authority. It’s a way to give back to your community. Like everything, though, there’s a downside to being a DoFollow site: spammers may inundate a DoFollow blog with comments and links. If you choose to become a DoFollow site, be aware that you may experience an increase in spam comments and it may take more time to filter out the spammy stuff.

If you decide ditching the NoFollow tags is worth it, here are some links to help you change your blog to DoFollow:

• Self-hosted WordPress
• TypePad (you’ll need to have Advanced Templates enabled)
• Blogger

When should you consider using the NoFollow tag?

Not every link is created equal. Every site has links that are less important or link to pages that don’t change (e.g., a site map or your About Me page). Use the NoFollow tag for those links. In addition to low priority links, Google suggests using the NoFollow tag for untrusted content and paid links. If you have text link ads on your site, make sure they’re tagged as NoFollow.

Further Reading

• Debate: DoFollow vs. NoFollow Links via Blogussion
• DoFollow FAQ via PageRush
• Nofollow Links – The Good Side and The Bad Side via All Blogging Tips
• NoFollow vs. DoFollow: Who Wins? via Free Blog Help
• Understanding What the “No Follow” Tag Can Do For You via eVisibility

A version of this article was also posted at BlogHer.com.

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What is Google Alerts?

In Get Started with Google Alerts, Rebecca Leaman explains what Google Alerts is: “You can think of Google Alerts as a customized Google Search — on-going — that delivers the search results to you automatically. You can set up any number of Alerts (up to 1000 per email address) to help you monitor online activity for the search terms of your choice.”

How can I use Google Alerts?

Using Google Alerts for Blogging Ideas suggests using Google Alerts as a sort of writing prompt: “By using Google Alerts for your keywords and key phrases, you can find a lot of ideas for future blog posts. You’ll be led to other websites and blogs with ideas you can continue on with. And you’ll receive news and press releases on brand new items coming out that you can alert your readers to.”

How do I set up Google Alerts?

Setting up Google Alerts is a simple process–you don’t even have to have a Gmail account to use Google Alerts.

1. Go to http://www.google.com/alerts/ where you’ll see this page:
   
2. Sign in if you have a Gmail account. If you don’t have a Gmail account, you can just start filling out the Google Alert form.
3. Enter the search terms you want to track, separated by commas. You can edit this later if you find you have too many or too few terms. If you’re not sure what to track, start with your name and your blog’s name. You may also want to include keywords related to your brand and your niche.
4. Choose the Type of search you want Google Alerts to create. Rebecca Leaman’s article on setting up Google Alerts explains each type of search and what you can expect:
   • News (includes the latest news articles that mention your terms and “appear in the top ten results of your Google News search.”)
   • Blogs (includes blog articles that mention your terms and “appear in the top ten results of your Google Blog search.”)
   • Web (includes web pages that mention your terms and “appear in the top twenty results of your Google Web search.”)
   • Comprehensive (includes results from News, Blogs, and Web, etc. that mention your terms. It’s, um, comprehensive.)
   • Video (includes videos that mention your terms and “appear in the top ten results of your Google Video search.”)
   • Groups (includes posts that mention your search terms and “appear in the top fifty results of your Google Groups search.”)
5. Choose how often you’d like to receive your Google Alerts. I like to receive mine once a day simply because I’m trying to cut down on the time I spend checking e-mail. However, if you’re tracking a timely project or news story, you may want to choose as-it-happens. Likewise, if you’re just keeping tabs on something that mildly interests you, but isn’t critical, you can choose once a week.
6. Choose where you’d like the Google Alerts delivered. If you have a Gmail account, you can receive them via gmail. If you’d rather, you can receive them via RSS or another e-mail account.
7. Click the Create Alert button and finish.

That’s it. Easy and free. Honestly, does it get better than that?

This article is cross-posted at BlogHer.com.

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• 9 SEO Firefox Plugins I Can’t Live Without via Search Engine Journal

• Authority Rules: The 10 Rock Solid Elements of Effective Online Marketing via copyblogger

• June Walker: Tax & Financial Advisor to the Self-employed

• 7 Deadly Sins of Blogging via copyblogger

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What is Google PageRank?
From Google:

PageRank is the measure of the importance of a page based on the incoming links from other pages. In simple terms, each link to a page on your site from another site adds to your site’s PageRank. Not all links are equal: Google works hard to improve the user experience by identifying spam links and other practices that negatively impact search results. The best types of links are those that are given based on the quality of your content.

In other words, it’s about the incoming links. However, if Aunt Laurie is linking to you it’s nice but it doesn’t count as much as it would if ProBlogger were linking to you.

Are you curious about your own Google PageRank? You can find your own PageRank without installing the toolbar. The higher the number, the more popular the site.

What is Technorati?
From Technorati:

The leading blog search engine, Technorati.com indexes millions of blog posts in real time and surfaces them in seconds. . .Technorati.com tracks not only the authority and influence of blogs, but also the most comprehensive and current index of who and what is most popular in the Blogosphere.

Pajama Mommy explains how she improved her Technorati ranking in Want PR? Technorati? Visitors?

Michelle at Scribbit lets you in on The Biggest Technorati Tip in the World.

Allen Weiss questions the definition of ‘authority’ in The Meaning of Numbers: Does an ‘Authority Index Equal Authority?.

What is Digg?
From Digg:

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won’t find editors at Digg — we’re here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we’re changing the way people consume information online.

ProBlogger questions whether StumbleUpon Sends More Traffic Than Digg. (I can help you get started using StumbleUpon!)

What is Alexa?
From Wikipedia:

Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is best known for operating a website that provides information on web traffic to other websites. . .Alexa ranks sites based on tracking information of users of its Alexa Toolbar for Internet Explorer and from integrated sidebars in Mozilla and Netscape.

Mark8t.com offers some insight on how Alexa works in Alexa Ranking: Does It Matter?

(This article is cross-posted at BlogHer.com.)

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• Make Money Online with your Business Blog: Search Engine Optimized Blogging via Business Blogging Guide

• What I learned at Search Engine Bootcamp via Problogger

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• Get More Search Traffic with Keywords Optimization via Blogthority

• How to Become and SEO Ninja via copyblogger

• How to Create a Blog That Is Both Visitor and SEO Friendly via crazeegeekchick

• How to Pick Keywords for Your Website via Webgrrls

• Beginner’s Guide to SEO via SEOmoz

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