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Does Blogging Get You Google Placement

On the record, I can say that we absolutely can not prove that at this point. Off the record, there are many things that a blog does to speak directly to improving search engine organic placement, but we have no statistical proof that blogging improves your organic search engine placement.

This is what we do know about blogging and have been able to back up with statistical proof:

  1. Blogging increases site traffic between 25 to 35% over the same exact website that does not blog. (We found this out from a case study on three identical websites.)
  2. Blogging increases website stickiness
  3. Search engines spider and index your blog posts as unique web pages
  4. Custom FTP blog set up will allow blog pages returned on search queries to be shown with your website links in the organic search results. Versus posts for BlogSpot will not show affiliated with your domain in the search results even if you are using a custom domain BlogSpot setting.
  5. Typically posts done on BlogSpot even using custom domains will show at a lower PageRank level than if you had posted the same information with a custom FTP blog publishing setting. This is in part due to the fact that a blog set up with custom FTP will be able to piggyback on your domains popularity versus a BlogSpot blog having to stand alone.
  6. Sites that blog have more frequent search engine spider traffic.
  7. Even after a blog is abandoned website visitors will still read the posts
  8. Blog posts are read from between 20 to 45% of website visitors

I am working on a detailed new case study on blogging and will have some very interesting additional findings ready for posting on the Web in September.

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Yahoo Advertising and New Demographics

It’s called Smart Ads and they are new from Yahoo. But don’t get too excited yet, they are not for the Yahoo Search Marketing pay per click program. Smart Ads are for the content network and are image ads. So sorry but if you want to show ads with demographics, you will have to move to MSN adCenter or wait and see if Yahoo will move this new technology into its pay per click program in the future.

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Looking For Blog Content? Where to Look

Have you run out of ideas for what to write on your blog? Here are a few tips where to look to get your creative juices rolling.

  1. I like to use Google News to find targeted content on my topics that I am blogging about. I even subscribe to Google News Feeds in my specific areas. When I don’t have a topic, I look in current events in my topic or in the tech section.
  2. Subscribe to other blogs and e-newsletters on your topic. Sometimes seeing an article on a specific topic gels with me and allows me to either create a review of the article or to spin off totally new content in a similar vein.
  3. Watch websites in your market. Look for authoritative websites on your topic and keep an eye on them. Sometimes you will see a trend happening over time over several of there authoritative websites that will keep your content on the mark.
  4. Watch professional forums on your topic. Keep you finger on the pulse to see what others in your selected market area are complaining about, commenting on, and in general watching as a group.
  5. Wikipedia is a great resource for information and tips on where to go, but don’t use it too heavily, many others are as well and you want your blog to have a unique point of view not simply more redux on the same topic.

These are just a few of my tips, you can click my post title and read another blog writers list of where they find content for even more ideas.

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Pay Per Click Landing Pages

Yahoo has said it, but I couldn’t have said it better myself. Why should you have an ad landing page and how to make a good one.

Once you read the article you will understand that to drop your pay per click reader on your home page or a peripheral page in your website is just not a good plan. Landing pages should have a tight match between your pay per click ad message and your keyword ad trigger list for the best conversion results. Not only will conversions increase, but all three pay per click giants have a quality score with some even spidering the landing page to determine your score. The higher your score, the potentially lower your click cost, and hopefully the better your conversions.

If you are not getting the conversions that you think you should be from your pay per click program, make sure to read Yahoo’s list and update your own landing page strategy.