The Think eBiz Blog

Blog Maps; cool

I don't know why I find this so cool, but I do; mapping other bloggers in your Geo area:

Get your Blog on the Map here...

Blogs and SEO Strategy; Your Advantage

Back in October we wrote about the power of Blogs as an search engine optimization (SEO) strategy (Think-eBiz 10/2004). Well it seems AdTech and a recent series of online newsletters are all abuzz about blogs and SEO. Maybe for once we were slightly ahead of the curve?

On Topic Content, frequently updated with plenty of links; these are the reason why a blog works so well in a search engine optimization strategy. These three reasons make up the main tenants of an effective SEO strategy!To their credit, these articles have gone further than my discussion; to clearly express the advantages and risks of a blog for your business. Make it an online commercial, and no one will pay attention. Update your content occasionally, and you will lose your audience to more frequently written sites. Even the search engine spiders will ignore you! Strike the right balance of news and information, and your website (naturally well linked from the blog) will garner the rewards.

How does your website reap the benefits of your blogs page rank? When the spider reads your well ranked blog and discovers a link to your related website, some of this page rank is shared with your site. This makes sense; if the blog speaks to a specific topic, and there is a link to your website, with the same or similar content; the spider will consider your website to be important.

One tip on the links to your website (from another website or blog), the hyperlink text should speak to your keyword phrase (your topic). If the link (the text written within the <a> tag) says "click here", then the spider will think your website is about clicks. Instead, structure your link in this manner:  Click here to learn about <a>Online Marketing and SEO</a>.

In a future article we will discuss how taking this single blog to the power of ten will give your website an intense SEO advantage, legally and ethically. We call this strategy; Blogsets.

Think-ebiz in the News

Patricia Kitchen, reporter for Newsday (NYC, Long Island), interviewed your humble blogger about the value of blogs for your career. Think Ebiz was conceived to help "motivate" continued knowledge in the eBsuiness space (I didn't care for Patricia's choice of the word "forced"). A blog is perfect for maintaining your edge in your specific expertise. And if you are in business, it can allow you to be noticed and identified as a product or service provider subject matter expert (SME).

Click here to read Patricia's article.

Blogs for Business

There is much debate whether blogs are good for business. I believe they are, if you consider that their value will be an indirect return on investment. Rightfully so, we base marketing decisions on their monetary or brand returns. Blogs may not return dollars, however, done right they will enhance brand and will support your main web assets in terms of search engine rankings. Google loves blogs; content and link rich. Use your blog to draw attention to your Internet asset for overall online marketing returns.

A recent article in DM News supports the SEO value of blogs while denouncing Blogging as a general waste of time. I disagree that blogging is not worth corporate focus. You decide.

Click here for: "Can Blogging Help Market Your Product", by Robert Bly

Blogs and SEO, a winning partnership

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Blogs are hot! In the world of SEO, "content" is King and "linking strategy" is the Queen. Google is known to reward sites with highly relevant content with equally relevant linking. Well written and focused Blogs are well suited for both.

Here is why:

Assuming that the Blog is highly focused on a specific subject (i.e. Personal Financials), it will attract the attention of like-minded Bloggers. Like minded Bloggers add links to your site on their own site. Google rewards websites (a Blog is a website) that have links to other similar websites, by giving them a higher ranking. In SEO terms, this tells Google that your page is highly relevant for its assumed keyword. That's a good thing!

Website SEO isn't easy, so why not leverage a corporate Blog to enhance your own websites visibility. As an example, let's stay with the "personal finance" example. You’re a financial institution - so create an informational Blog with a strong call to action right on the Blog! Don't hide who you are, but give your readers worthwhile un-biased personal finance tips & suggestion. Establish a level of trust and present your readers with a "Contact an Acme Financial Consultant today for a free assessment". A call to action right on the Blog. Plus include a link to your company website as well. Thus, some SEO benefits for your website as well!