SEO Page Level Optimization

January 20th, 2010

Many people are confused by what SEO is. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In most cases, optimizing for Google is the way to go. So how do you optimize. Well there are 3 different types of optimization that you can use. The first which I will discuss below is Page optimization. The second is site optimization, and finally, off site optimization.

Search engines use things called bots that search your html for links, pictures, and text. It indexes the text and stores other pieces of information. It uses various algorithms to determine what value a site has. There are many determining factors that come into play here. Today I will talk about page optimization.

Bots like ordered structure. They like it when pages provide them information about the topics and structure of the page. Here are the elements that Google looks for and some examples from a previous post.

1. Title Tags
This is an area in a web page where the text is placed that shows the title of the website on the very top of the web browser window. Search engines use title tags to make a link in search results. The form I use is having the title of the post with a separation bar and then the name of the blog or url.

<title>Psychology of Personal Branding | ChrisKilber.com</title>

2. Meta tag description
A Meta Tag Description is a section of web page markup that provides the basic description about the website. Pay close attention to what meta data get put into this tag. It play an important role in determining page ranking and indexing. The contents of your description tag is what you will usually see on the search engine results on Google.

<meta name="description" content="There are a lot of psychological factors
in play that cause people to be “Attracted” to you. Come read what they are
to better understand how to use them." />

I’ve even heard that overriding the contents of meta description and changing it to a call of action will result in more people clicking it. I plan on doing an experiment to test this theory out. Look for something soon about this.

3. Meta Tag Keywords
Meta Tag Keywords play a similar role as the description tags to emphasize the terms that describe what the page is about.

<meta name="keywords" content="Personal Branding, Action,  Content,  How To, 
Leadership,  Marketing, Psychology" />

4. Keyword Density
A specific percentage of keywords that are used on a web page are referred to as keyword density. A keyword’s density must be between 2% to 8 % for page ranking that is considered good. This technique is the heart and soul of Search Engine Optimization.

5. URL Structure
If you want your website to rank high then the URL structure that you use needs to be related to the context of the website. You should be able to read a url and figure out what the page is about. For example:

http://www.chriskilber.com/psychology-of-personal-branding/

See below: I will reveal exactly how I accomplish the above items.

_______________________

In my next posts will be how I get the best page optimization through the use of several plugins that actually overlap into site optimization. You may be surprised as to how I do it. Hint (I don’t use All-In-One SEO Pack).

If you are using the default WordPress setup then it’s probable that your blog has been banned from many ping services because of ping spamming. I have a plug-in that stops this.

The slugs used by your permalinks may be flawed, even using %postname%. I’ll show you how to solve it.

Are you ALWAYS filling out <alt> tags with your images? If not your missing out on a lot. I have a plugin that will automatically do that for you if you forget.

And finally, how you can use your followers comments to generate more traffic. This plugin is a gold mine.

Till later this week…

Have a remarkable day!

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Related Blogs on SEO Page Level Optimization

Psychology of Personal Branding

January 18th, 2010

Personal Branding
We’ve all heard about Personal Branding. It is your unique selling proposition that will differentiate you from all others. The great thing about Personal Branding is that you don’t have to pretend to be someone your not. In fact, it doesn’t have to perfect either. You will attract people as long as you are genuine in your message.

Psychology
There are a lot of psychological factors in play that cause people to be “Attracted” to you. I don’t mean strictly physical appearance here, though that can have a factor. If you can figure out what these psychological factors are and feature or accent your strong points and identify where you can improve in the others, you will be able to separate yourself from all the others. This may take a bit of introspection on your part. The number one reason people are attracted to someone else is that they feel that they are just like them for a host of reasons. They are looking to try to identify themselves with others.

Characteristics
What makes people identify themselves with others is different for everyone. It can be a combination of many things. It can be, and not limited to, age, gender, physical characteristics, experience, vocabulary, exuberance, and presence. It can differ from day to day as well. It depends on each person’s frame of mind. So no matter what your brand or what your strengths or weakness are, there will be someone who will connect with you, start following you, and start studying what you are doing. In a nutshell, you can’t be everything to everybody, nor should you try. You just need to be YOU. However, there are things that you should try to do though that will attract more than just a narrow band of people.

Your Voice
In your writing, your video, and communications you need to sound confident and sure of yourself. People are attracted to confidence, plain and simple. You need to be honest. If you need to write about a concept that you are not totally unsure of, let your readers know. By being honest and admitting some of your shortcomings people will feel an attraction because they know they are not perfect as well. You can divulge these with a pact to learn more about them and a promise then to write about what you learned. This will provide your readers with a sense of belonging while you discover together.

Where To Go From Here
Personal branding isn’t something that occurs right from the get go. It is something that evolves. You will need to take the time to learn to write better. We all do. What’s the best way? By writing of course. You also will need to read the writing of others, especially successful writers and bloggers. Try and see how they frame their ideas and concepts. Try and isolate how they involve their readers and try to start incorporating those concepts into your own writing. I know I tend to write more in an expository manner and it can become a little dry at times. So these little tips, which actually aren’t so little, will provide you with the means to create a Personal Brand that will shine above the rest.

Discover How To Create Irresistible and Tempting Titles

September 25th, 2009

I had a few questions about titles this weekend. I’ll bring this old post out front and center once again in case you missed it.

What’s in a title?
How you title things make a tremendous impact on whether people will read or consider reading content. In this context, content is in the form of emails, blog posts, tweets, Ezine articles, and other forms of communication that you want others to read. In all cases the main goal is to get people to open, click, or otherwise save or bookmark for reading later. Let’s examine some of the forms of communication.

Email Subjects
The title is contained as what in email parlance as the subject. Subjects are treated a little bit differently based on who the email is coming from. The difference is based on one thing. That is trust. If the email is coming from someone they trust, friends and family for sure, they will open. But there is also information that was requested and comes in the form of newsletters, RSS feeds, and other aggregations of information. If someone doesn’t recognize the senders name they are typically going to look at the subject and make a determination as to what they are going to do. What the subject contains will determine the reader’s next actions. If it’s from you, you want to have as an inviting subject as possible.

Blog Post Titles
A blog post title works in the same way as a subject line in an email. Your objective is to get people to read your post. Hopefully, when your blog post is syndicated throughout the Internet via Twitter tweets, Facebook notes, blog backlinks, email bodies, and other forms of electronic communication it will compel people to open and read it. Another factor that has to be considered in blog post titles is the SEO factor. Your title should both contain a keyword or two and also be relevant to the content that is contained in it. If you have a title about cars, your content better not be about plants. I’ll talk about some of the psychological factors below.

Ezine Articles
Titles should work the same way as blog post titles but should probably have more of an emphasis on keywords than actions or questions contained in the title. Most people simply do not search Ezines. They use Google and Google recommends the Ezine articles to them. The more SEO friendly the title, the better the ranking and higher it’s possibility to be towards the top of the search. I also recommend your resource box contain a link to your blog.

Twitter Tweets
Now tweets per se don’t have the concept of a title but it should be contained some where in the 140 characters. Having important attention grabbing phrases that are contained in the actual article with the title in your tweets will help people feel compelled to click them and follow the link over to the source. Using certain psychological keywords will raise the probability of the tweet being opened. They will grab the attention of the readers.

In all these examples, if you understand underlying psychological impulses and urges you can use them to your advantage. So if we ask the question, what do people want?, what do people respond to?, what do people have an interest in?, and are people interested in?, this should provide us with some clues to help formulate a title. Here are some different types of titles that you should strive for?

Types of Titles

Tell them something true about them and then tell them to take action.
Create compelling curiosity.
Make claims that are almost unbelievable. (Be able to back them up)
Create something of high interest to target direct interests.
Use humor. If you can make them laugh they will click.
Inspire and motivate them. If they feel good about themselves and they will act.
Make them mysterious. People like mysteries.
Appeal to their logic. Restate something they believe strongly.

So these are the categories or types of possible titles or subjects that can be used. Now that we know what it is we need to formulate what words can we use that will compel people to act. We need to use words that influence, persuade, and motivate people to act, (click, read, signup, etc…). This can be accomplished by using words that can help people image something. They are words that describe things in ways that make them bigger than life. They are words that evoke emotion. Here are some words that will practically compel people to their natural predispositions to investigate things that are curious, humorous, mysterious, logical, interesting, and bold. This of course is not an exhaustible list. They contain:

Words to Use

irresistible	untold	boggle	double
triple	quadruple	unstoppable	potent
banned	phenomenal	willing	calculated
psychological	seduce	spell binding	unable
magnet	effortless	insatiable	secret
record-breaking	amazing	cutting edge	incalculable
absolute	thrilled	legendary	boost
enhance	improve	benefits	enjoy
reduce	release	loosen	combat
discover	achieve	counter	increase
how-to	discover	master	create
generate	optimize	enliven	improve
advanced	cultivate	progress	revamp
refine	upgrade	align	balance
cheerful	enthusiastic	inclined	zealous
attract	allure	induce	invite
tempting	follow	substitute	uncomplicated
simple	agile	knowing	powerful
able	clever	straightforward	intricate

Conclusion

The list could go on and on. Using these words in your titles and subjects along with a keyword will work wonders for your traffic. Take the time to craft titles that will draw people into your world, get them to click it, and then read it. Spend more time on this aspect of your writing and you will be guaranteed to see results.

What other words do you like to use?
What are some titles that you’ve used that have worked for you?

If you enjoyed this article I would appreciate if you click the link below to tweet this post. I’ll use these concepts as examples to craft the tweets for this post.

CLICK HERE PLEASE TO TWEET WITH A CUSTOM MESSAGE

Thank you.