Raising rank through blogs - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Susan Betz · 03-25-2007, 05:14 AM

I started a blog a couple of days ago, strictly to put relevant text and links out there for the search engines. I've been resisting this SEO path because I don't enjoy writing without feedback, but I've heard the results are worthwhile. Is anybody else doing this, and have you seen any results?

dougchips · 03-25-2007, 09:00 AM

Susan, can you do the same thing on your web-site on pages that the public can not see?

PressurePros · 03-25-2007, 10:42 AM

Doug, you can but they are called "orphans" and the search engines sometimes penalize you for it.

dougchips · 03-25-2007, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PressurePros

Doug, you can but they are called "orphans" and the search engines sometimes penalize you for it.

I have two "orphans " then, I want to put a really odd word "sfkljasflhosaihg[oashg[ohs" to see if the engines can find it. I listed all of the towns with keywords there to see if it helps with the organic searches.

I know nothing about SEO-BTW.

Brian · 03-25-2007, 01:19 PM

Susan,

I started a blog last month for 2 of the web sites I own. It is too soon to tell what the results will be.

While I enjoy writing, it is a hassle to "have" to write several articles a week. I try to spend a few hours on Sundays writing. I then post a couple of the articles each week. I've built up a little bit of a backlog, so if I don't want to write, I still have something to post.

Brian Phillips

dougchips · 03-25-2007, 01:24 PM

Brian, do these show up just when people search "blogs", or for all web-searches?

Susan Betz · 03-25-2007, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian

Susan,

I started a blog last month for 2 of the web sites I own. It is too soon to tell what the results will be.

While I enjoy writing, it is a hassle to "have" to write several articles a week. I try to spend a few hours on Sundays writing. I then post a couple of the articles each week. I've built up a little bit of a backlog, so if I don't want to write, I still have something to post.

Brian Phillips

That's a great idea. It's odd writing something that I don't believe will be read, but *may* be read, and so must be written fairly well. Maybe if I do it in spurts it will be easier.

One thing I have noticed as I study blog entries that pop up near the top of a search - it's keyword driven by keywords in the title of the post. Now that sounds obvious, but it's going to get redundant pretty quick if I keep using similar titles. I can see this will be a challenge in itself.

Brian · 03-26-2007, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Susan Betz

One thing I have noticed as I study blog entries that pop up near the top of a search - it's keyword driven by keywords in the title of the post. Now that sounds obvious, but it's going to get redundant pretty quick if I keep using similar titles. I can see this will be a challenge in itself.

I have read that the title keywords are important, and I agree it can get redundant. I'm still learning about the process, and am currently working a little more on content than attracting visitors.

Brian Phillips

Susan Betz · 03-26-2007, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian

I have read that the title keywords are important, and I agree it can get redundant. I'm still learning about the process, and am currently working a little more on content than attracting visitors.

Brian Phillips

I hope I don't have any visitors. It's kind of embarrassing right now. I just titled a post "Horse Fence, Horse Fence, and More Horse Fence". How much more blatant can you get?

SuperiorBuilt · 03-26-2007, 08:16 PM

I raised my website exposure by posting on free websites. I have myself listed 12 times in the first 30 entries off a google search for my area for handyman services. You just have to put the time into finding the sites. It takes some time to get yourself up in the rating. Free is always good.

lurksteraz · 03-27-2007, 03:49 PM

Being my first post, maybe I can shed a little light on this as this is my profession for the past 7 years.

Susan, If you're regional, you should stick with - (City) Keyword. You'll receive targeted traffic to your site. Doesn't make sense to use 'Horse Fences' as a term since visitors are looking for a specific area like (ex. 'Ocala Horse Fences' or 'Florida Horse Fences'.

Brian, <title> is by far the most important section of the site along with links to your site from authorative websites using relevant anchor text.

Just my 2 cents, notsure if it makes sense. If you have any questions, ask away.

George Z · 03-27-2007, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurksteraz

Being my first post, maybe I can shed a little light on this as this is my profession for the past 7 years.

Susan, If you're regional, you should stick with - (City) Keyword. You'll receive targeted traffic to your site. Doesn't make sense to use 'Horse Fences' as a term since visitors are looking for a specific area like (ex. 'Ocala Horse Fences' or 'Florida Horse Fences'.

Brian, <title> is by far the most important section of the site along with links to your site from authorative websites using relevant anchor text.

Just my 2 cents, notsure if it makes sense. If you have any questions, ask away.

Quote:

Susan, If you're regional, you should stick with - (City) Keyword. You'll receive targeted traffic to your site. Doesn't make sense to use 'Horse Fences' as a term since visitors are looking for a specific area like (ex. 'Ocala Horse Fences' or 'Florida Horse Fences'.

Maybe not.
For example:
There are three times as many Toronto searchers typing "painters"
as there are Toronto searchers typing "Toronto Painters"

lurksteraz · 03-28-2007, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George Z

Maybe not.
For example:
There are three times as many Toronto searchers typing "painters"
as there are Toronto searchers typing "Toronto Painters"

Source?

Shear number traffic and Qualified traffic are 2 different beasts.

George Z · 03-28-2007, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurksteraz

Source?

Shear number traffic and Qualified traffic are 2 different beasts.

My web statistics for almost two years now.
Believe me I track visitors, requests for estimates and traffic in general

Publisher1 · 04-17-2007, 06:38 PM

I've started a blog to focus on construction marketing issues and am researching what works, and what doesn't. This thread is relevant (and I'll post a link to my blog) -- although I didn't start my blog with SEO in mind, clearly for many businesses seeking an enhanced web presence, it may be one of the better reasons for blogging.