Tag: SEO

Writers Chat Recap for February Part 2

Post author By Norma Poore - Managing Editor
Post date March 2, 2023
No Comments on Writers Chat Recap for February Part 2

Writers Chat, hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, and Brandy Brow, is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!

“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”

Writing Through Tough Times with Tina Yeager

Tina joins us to talk about writing through and about the hard times. She discusses how we often compare ourselves to others but we should remember that we are God’s treasured possession. Tina offers tips on making the shift from therapeutic writing meant just for you and writing meant for a public audience, Tina also gives tips on managing our schedules and on maintaining our spiritual, emotional, and physical health, especially when we’re experiencing tough times.

Watch the February 14 Replay

Tina Yeager, award-winning author, speaker, life coach, host of the Flourish-Meant podcast and Flourish Today on Christian Mix 106, and publishes Inkspirations Online, a weekly writers’ devotional. She has been licensed as a counselor since 2005. Her book, Beautiful Warrior: Finding Victory Over the Lies Formed Against You, helps women fulfill their Christ-centered purpose. Check out her newest release, Upcycled: Crafted for a Purpose (Bold Vision Books). For life coaching tips or to book her as an event speaker, check out tinayeager.com.

SEO Basics for Web & Print Writers with Connor Salter

Connor, an accomplished writer and SEO editor, joins us today to share basic SEO (search engine optimization) tips for web and print writers. He gives a quick overview of SEO and then focuses on six important questions writers should ask to help them improve their use of keywords. SEO is important for search engine rankings and marketing. Check out this week’s replay for more information.

Watch the February 28th replay.

G. Connor Salter is an SEO Editor with Salem Web Network, as well as a writer with over 1,000 publications on his CV. His work has included book reviews, peer-reviewed academic essays, and award-winning journalism. His work has appeared in many publications, including An Unexpected Journal, Christianity.com, and Mythlore.

Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET
on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133

Tags SEO, SEO and Why it Matters, SEO basics, writers, writers chat

Guest Posts Magazine and Freelance

A helpful tool for bloggers – SEO, Marketing, Content Creation Tools

Post author By Lisa E. Betz
Post date September 14, 2021
No Comments on A helpful tool for bloggers – SEO, Marketing, Content Creation Tools

Online tools are providing tons of help to bloggers in every aspect. Starting from research, creativity, content creation, proofreading and SEO marketing, you have plenty of tools indexed on the web to help you become a successful blogger. Starting a new blog has become religiously important, thanks to the advancement in technology and the launch of online tools. This post will tell you about some of the most important and helpful tools for bloggers!

Helpful Tools for bloggers to try in 2021

Out of hundreds of online blogging tools listed on the web, we have handpicked the most effective ones:

HubSpot – Blog Topic Generator

The most important thing in blogging is you have to provide your visitors with informative and interesting content. This can only happen if you have fresh and authentic ideas. This blog topic generator is a famous tool that can help you find multiple topics related to your niche. You have to provide the noun or the keyword against which you are targeting your blog. Getting unique and interesting ideas is very easy with this helpful tool.

Google Docs – Blog writing tool

When it comes to writing content, you must subscribe with the best tool which can provide you options and features for beautifying the text. You must know that if the blog structure is not clear and optimized, it will be rejected no matter how informative it is. Using online tools like Google docs or MS word, you can create blog content with proper formatting. You can add headings, subheadings and bullet points in the blog content with these tools.

Grammarly

In blogging, you have to make sure that the quality of your content is up to the highest mark. You cannot afford to make any silly mistakes in your blog content if you don’t want to lose the interest of the organic traffic. We would like you to know that using online proofreading tools like Grammarly can help you find mistakes and remove them from your work in less than minutes. For enhancing the quality of the blogs, you would surely need Grammarly.

PlagiarismChecker.co

Plagiarism is an intolerable offence in blog writing. If your content has plagiarism, you will lose the interest and trust of the search engine and the organic traffic interested in your site. To check plagiarism, you need a reliable plagiarism checker tool. The plagiarismchecker.co is a designated resource that can help you check for plagiarism in your blog posts. The plagiarism detector tool cannot only scan your newly created content for duplication errors, but it can also scan your complete blog website and find out if someone is stealing from you. A plagiarism check is very important for a blogger, so you should never avoid or take it easy.

ReverseImageSearch.org

Images are also considered to be an important part of a blog post. Without an image, a blog post would look boring and unappealing for the common visitor. Images are important because images are more understandable than text. The human mind understands and accepts visual information sixty thousand times quicker than it perceives text. The reverseimagesearch.org is a search platform that is powered by the RIS technique. This image search utility can help you find relevant and royalty-free images for your blogs, and that too without any formalities and added expense.

Ahref

Ahref is a very powerful platform that you can use for free for two weeks. The main purpose of Ahref is to help you audit your blog site for different aspects. If you want to see your blog site rank in Google’s highest positions, you need Ahref. It would help you get information about the keywords you should use in your content and help you make a thorough competitive analysis of the sites working on the same niche as yours. If you want to get the right keywords or find out details about the directory links on your blogs, you should try out Ahref. Backlinks are very important when it comes to affiliate and SEO based marketing.

Live Chat

This is another important tool for a blogger. Having a live chat on your blog would help you communicate with your audience in a better way. If you want to understand your readers, then you should connect with them on live chat. You can get feedback about your blog posts and find out what they would like to read about. Create blog content according to the target audience’s requirements!

Paraphrasing Tool – SmallSEOTools

Paraphrasing tools are online software programs that can help you rewrite the content into unique and human-friendly content. You must know that you have to constantly create and update your old content in blogging so that readers can stay engaged with you. The online paraphrasing tools can help you rewrite and revise your old content in a new style. Instead of creating new content, you can use the spinner tools to revive your old and appreciated posts. The paraphrasing tool is also used to remove plagiarism from the content!

These are some of the best and most helpful tools that bloggers can use from all across the globe!

Amelia John is a digital marketer and a writer who has introduced various modern strategies in her published articles. She is also co-author of various famous digital marketing books. Amelia was born and raised in New York. She was a bookseller before moving to children’s publishing and worked for Knowledge Creators Company as a creative writer. She wrote a number of articles and blogs for teens and children on the adequate use of technology while working in that company. Amelia is famous for her great knowledge about the modern innovations that can be depicted in her writing.

Tags blogging advice, blogging tips, marketing strategies, SEO

Blogging Basics

My Favorite Plug-ins

Akismet Anti-spam

When I first started WordPress, I received lots of comments. Scrolling through the messages, I tried to decipher if the comments were from genuine readers of my blog. Many spam comments were easy to spot since they were selling a product. Or the comments were vague like:

“I bet.”

“This is moving.”

“I agree.”

It can be difficult to determine if these comments are from a real person. And once you post a spammer comment, they will send you more… much more.

I also checked if the comment came from a Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail account. Though not fail-safe, I found the comments coming from these accounts to be genuine.

I spent hours reading and deleting questionable comments. When I mentioned this to my web developer, he recommended Akismet. After installing this plug-in on my WordPress.org account, all the spam stopped. Now, I only receive genuine comments from people who have read my blog — what a difference.

Since adding this plug-in in May 2017, Akismet blocked 18,743 spam requests. I saved countless hours and no more problems.

Better Click To Tweet

Another favorite plug-in is Better Click To Tweet which allows readers to share a captivating quote from your blog to Twitter.

The Click To Tweet box looks like this:

I combined the Click to Tweet box with a picture to grab the readers attention. See the blog here:

This helps to get your blog seen on the Twitter platform by readers who share your quote with their Twitter followers. Consider adding this plug-in to your blog to reach across platforms.

Yoest SEO

Optimizing your blog to be found by search engines helps to broaden your audience. Yoest SEO prompts you to attain a good SEO rating using a stop light system of red, yellow, green. When the stop light is green, your blog is ready to publish. Two criteria are reviewed: Readability and SEO.

This popular plug-in has over 1 million downloads.

Readability

I have discovered my readability score turns green by adding sub headings throughout the blog. The software program recommends placing a sub heading every 300 words. This breaks up the blog visually which allows the reader to view your content and select which sections they want to read.

Readability also checks for paragraph/sentence length and overuse of passive voice. You can find suggestions for changes in the Analysis section which we will touch on in a moment.

SEO

The SEO criteria is determined by various factors from your selected keywords to your meta-description to name a few. A breakdown of what determines good SEO can be found here.

The SEO criteria checks for word length, focus keyword, meta-description and external and internal links among other things.

You can craft your own meta description in Yoast SEO.

Analysis Section

Example 1: Analysis Section

Recommended suggestions are given in the Analysis section in three categories: Good Results, Improvements, and Problems. One recent blog post for miraclemann.com showed the following suggestions:

Example 2: Analysis Section

Good Results:

The text contains 618 words. This is more than or equal to the recommended minimum of 300 words.
The focus keyword appears in 1 (out of 3) subheadings in your copy.
The meta description contains the focus keyword.
You’ve never used this focus keyword before, very good.

Improvements

The meta description is over 156 characters. Reducing the length will ensure the entire description will be visible.
The focus keyword does not appear in the URL for this page.

Problems

The focus keyword doesn’t appear in the first paragraph of the copy. Make sure the topic is clear immediately.

These prompts help you to make the recommended changes to improve your SEO.

Plug-in Problems You Can Avoid

Using a plug-in can pose a problem for your blog. I once added a plug-in designed to add a watermark to all the photos posted on my blog. The next time I checked my site, all the photographs had vanished. My son’s story was due to be featured on local television the next day. Imagine my panic. I called my web guy who fixed the problem which took hours to correct. Lesson learned: be careful which plug-in you add.

Help Reduce Plug-in Problems

Select plug-ins with a user base of over 10K. Generally, popular plug-ins will be updated quickly if an issue arises.
Keep plug-in use to a minimum — the fewer plug-ins you use leads to fewer problems. (I have 22 plug-ins.)
Update plug-ins individually. If you update all plug-ins at once and an issue arises, you won’t know which plug-in caused the problem.

What is your favorite plug-in and why? Have you ever had a problem with a plug-in? Post your comments below.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Tags blogging, SEO, technology

Blogging Basics

7 Ways To Make Your Blog Shine

Post author By Lisa E. Betz
Post date December 24, 2018
1 Comment on 7 Ways To Make Your Blog Shine

The saying, “You only have one chance to make a good first impression” holds true in the blogging world. When someone visits your blog, you have between 0-30 seconds to grab your reader’s attention and keep them there.

What are some ways to make your blog shine and hold your audience’s interest?

These are the top seven elements I look for in a blog.

Title

A good title, like a good book, needs to give the reader a reason to read. Your hook or the why of your blog should be reflected in the title. List titles are especially good at getting your reader’s interest. Example, 3 Ways To ______, Top Ten _______, or How To _______, are catchy titles. Remember to use emotional words to encourage your audience to read on. Examples: Better, Fascinating, Free, Hurry, Special. You can view a list of 500+ emotional words here.

Try: coschedule.com headline analyzer to check your title before posting. A score of 70 or above is ideal.

Get To The Point

In the lightning fast pace of social media, your audience needs to be captivated by your blog within the first few lines. You may be tempted to diverge and slowly get into your topic, but I encourage you to resist the urge.

Tips:

Yoest SEO (SEO: Search Engine Optimization) suggests your keyword be written in your first paragraph. This also helps your SEO. (Your keyword should also be found in your title.) Find other SEO tips here.
The first paragraph should be the start of delivering what you promised in your title.
Telling a story related to your topic in the first paragraph also helps captivate attention.

Readability

Have you ever published the first draft of your blog? Chances are you read, re-read and edited several times before posting. Could a sentence be read easier by changing a few words? Would a paragraph be better placed near the end of the blog instead of the middle? Are there too many topics discussed with in one blog? Asking these questions and making changes helps with the readability of your blog.

Tip: If there are too many topics in one blog, cut and paste the extra topics into a Word Document. I call this document my Cut Page. The next time I’m searching for content to post, I read my Cut Page to find content.

Likability

Does the cadence and tone of the author come across as likable and friendly? Would I want to enjoy a cup of tea with the author? Likability, to some extent, is needed for most blogs, especially personal blogs. Technical or medical blogs can be more straightforward.

I remember finishing a memoir, and I couldn’t wait to find out if the author had a blog. I wanted to know more of the story and get to know her better. A blog is a perfect way for an author to give their audience a glimpse of themselves through authentic, likable content. One author who offers this likability factor is Debora Coty. She uses humor in an engaging and likable way to share her content.

Read Debora Coty’s blog here:

Flow

Have you ever watched a video on YouTube and lost interest quickly? Chances are the video didn’t flow seamlessly enough to hold your attention. One topic didn’t fit with the next topic. Or, worse yet, they went off on a tangent while you were still waiting for the content of the video. While you want a friendly and likable blog, staying on track by avoiding extra topics or tangents will help your blog not only flow but be shareable.

Note: Flow is subjective and not always definable. After editing my blog, I let it marinate for a day. The next time I review it, I find it easier to catch flow issues.

Grammar/Spelling

Have you ever read a blog and found grammar and spelling errors? Even the most seasoned blogger will occasionally miss an error. Hopefully, a kind reader will send a personal message to fix it pronto. It’s like having lettuce in your teeth; you hope someone mentions it.

To avoid these annoying mistakes, you can hire an editor. Or ask a friend to read your blog before posting. Or choose from the many grammar apps available.

Grammar Apps:

Grammarly offers a free and paid version. Monthly $29.95, Quarterly $19.98, Annual $139.95.

ProWritingAid – Prices start at $50/year.

Photos

How many photos should you add to your blog? Some bloggers only post a featured image. Others post a photo every 300 words. While this may be a question of preference, remember photos added in your blog using a keyword helps with your SEO.

It also helps with flow and readability. Since my blog is a parenting blog for special needs families, adding 2 – 3 pictures per blog is a natural fit.

Tip: I use my own photo’s for blogging. If you want to use stock photos, check out Pixabay offering royalty free stock photos.

Find other photo websites on this post.

What do you look for when you read a blog? What do you find holds your attention and makes you want to share with your family, friends and work colleagues? Share those elements below.

Tags blog elements, blog tips, blogging advice, elements of a good blog, headlines, photos, SEO

Copywrite/Advertising

SEO? SEM? PPC? I need an LOA.-Holland Webb

Post author By Cherrilynn Bisbano - Managing Editor A3
Post date April 25, 2017
4 Comments on SEO? SEM? PPC? I need an LOA.-Holland Webb

Nothing freezes your brain faster than a series of meetings on the minutiae of government grant management. Trust me. In 2009, I had to attend a lengthy conference in Uganda where they taught us exactly what snacks and beverages could be funded with federal dollars and how to apply U.S. government accounting standards for hotel stays in parts of the world that don’t have hotels.

The unkindest cut of all, though, was the acronyms.

Hundreds of acronyms were tossed at us by serious, gray-suited government bureaucrats with the power to take away the funds they had just generously awarded us.

Finally, one woman, far braver than I, raised her hand. “All these acronyms are hard to keep track of.”

“Oh, we know they are,” the speaker replied. “That’s why we created an LOA.”

“An LOA?”

The speaker laughed. “It’s an acronym that stands for List of Acronyms.”

Trust the government to create an acronym for an acronym. I’ll admit, though, that the LOA was a big HELP.

Starting out in copywriting, especially writing for the web, you may feel the same way. Job descriptions toss around a bunch of acronyms like SEO, SEM, PPC and more. They’re hard to keep track of, so here’s a brief LOA for new copywriters.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization
SEO draws the right traffic to your site. Search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing have bots that crawl through a site, reading it in order to index it properly. Once the bot knows what your site is about, the search engine can pull up your site when a web user types in a related string of keywords.Let’s say your site gives advice to aspiring writers. Someone at home types, “advice for new writers” into a search engine. SEO makes it easy for the search engine bots to know that your site is about that very same thing and to rank it highly in its returns.What does SEO mean for you as the writer? Before you write for a website, do some keyword research. Find what keywords people are using to search for your topic. Be specific. Long keywords rank better than short ones, and they are more likely to get you in front of people who are interested in what you have to say, sell, or do.

You can try searching some different keywords yourself to see what ranks best, and you can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Moz to identify high-ranking keywords.

Once you have pinpointed some helpful keywords, use them strategically throughout your text. Try to fit them in the title, your metadescription, your images’ alt tags, and the body of your text. Old SEO models required keywords to appear a minimum number of times in exactly the same order. Today’s search engine bots are sophisticated, thank goodness, so we don’t have to stuff our text with keywords to get it to rank. Write naturally, focusing on the message.

Voice search is increasingly popular. At least 20% of Google’s mobile searches are voice searches. That means people are asking questions of search engines instead of typing strings of words. Why don’t you ask those same questions in your text? The bots will recognize the match and put your page near the top of the search results.

So how does a copywriter use SEO to write great content? Simple. Imagine you’re a robot charged with reading and indexing web sites. Ask yourself what searchable terms and phrases would get your site indexed accurately. Use those terms in prominent places in your text while still sounding like a human being.
SEM – Search Engine Marketing
SEM is the whole bunch of bananas – SEO, paid search, social media marketing, you name it.
- Paid search is when a company pays a search engine to rank their site.
  Have you done a Google search and noticed the top ranked sites have a box with the word Ad in it next to them? These sites have paid Google to rank them near the top.
- PPC (Pay Per Click) is how those sites pay Google for ranking them at the top or bottom of page one.
- SMM stands for Social Media Marketing. SMM uses Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites to market products and services.

Why do copywriters care about SEM? Because it affects how you write.

Companies test their keywords and calls to action using PPC. You may have to write several of these for a company to test before they discover what works best. Social media marketing may have you writing Tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram messages that match your web site, blog post, eblast content, and the video script you wrote for the new YouTube video.

CRO – Conversion Rate Optimization
Now that SEO and SEM have helped prospective buyers or donors find your site, CRO is what encourages them make a purchase or donation while they’re there. Copywriting, as we discussed in my article last month, is all about conversion. We don’t just want readers; we want buyers. CRO increases the percentage of web site viewers who take action.Why does CRO matter to copywriters? Because if our CRO numbers are not good, we’ll get fired. The company that hired you to write for them exists to sell a product or service. Keep CRO in mind as you craft your prose, and you’ll be in business for a long time.

So there you have it, folks, a brief LOA for newbie copywriters. Let me know your adventures in copywriting acronyms in the comment section below.

Holland Webb: I love telling the stories that people put down so they go take action. I’m an advertising copywriter by day, an aspiring novelist by night, a parent, a dog-lover, a prison volunteer and a follower of Jesus.

Tags copywrite, Holland Webb, LOA, SEO