There is a message I want to get across to all bloggers and it focuses on the importance of keywords to help you make money blogging.
Blogging is all about writing a message and if you are writing a message you want to make sure your message gets out to the right people. The only way to do that is to write a message not based on what you want to write but based on what people are searching for – you need to write keyword optimized blog posts….. at least most of the time!
I use the 80 / 20 rule. At least 80% of my post titles will contain a keyword and the rest of the time it won’t because it doesn’t fit the situation or because I want to write something funny as a title but funny doesn’t get you found – especially for new bloggers. Keyword rich posts do. When you have a massive audience and an established blog you can write whatever you like but on your way up the ladder as you learn how to make money blogging sticking to the search engine rules is advisable.
As an example here are 7 of the latest posts from a different blog that I run
- Because it’s never too late to start
- Self confidence and feeling absolutely fabulous
- Self confidence and role models
- Self confidence in middle age
- How to overcome shyness and build self confidence
- The a-z or building self confidence
- Building self confidence: Why is it worth developing?
Can you guess what the blog focuses on? The first title is not keyword rich but the others are.
The only way to connect you to the people searching for what you blog about is through the search engines. The search engines are the matchmakers who are about to bring two compatible people together.
- Person 1 is doing the searching
- Personal 2 has the blog that contains information person one is searching about
The search engines help make the connection between the two of you so you can come together. If you are not using keywords on your blog – if you are not using the words that Person 1 is typing into the search engines you will never get to connect. If I spent my time writing titles like
“This tip worked for me today”
“10 ways to make this work for you”
“How I lost the battle but won the war”
They are nice titles but they don’t mean anything to anyone – especially not the poor matchmaker trying to bring you two together. However if I say….
“This dog training tip showed me how to stop my dog chewing my shoes”
and there is a poor frustrated person using the search engines to find out how to stop his dog chewing his shoes then ding, ding, ding… we have a match! When they visit your site and find loads of dog training tips that they can read and enjoy they are more likely to take the next step – which is usually to join your mailing list if you have one.
What are your keywords?
If you are not clear on what you are writing about your blog will find it difficult to get found and you will spend many frustrated months wondering why you are not being found. It took me 3 years to recognize that fact – 3 years of blogging before the penny dropped. At the time people weren’t writing about how to make money blogging so I didn’t even know that was something that existed. I just enjoyed writing in my blog. But once it turned into part of my business process then I had to focus on ensuring my blog was getting found.
A keyword rich blog post example
What does a keyword rich blog post look like? Well it will have the keyword in the title, in the first sentence or at least the first paragraph, a few times in the main body of the post and then at the end of the post. Whenever possible use the actual headline of your new post inside the main body of the blog post.
Here is an example of wht a keyword rich (keyword is highlighted) blog post looks like:
Title: It really is easy to lose weight and burn fat in only 5 minutes a day
Beginning of blog post: You may have read my title in total disbelief – lose weight and burn fat in only 5 minutes a day – maybe you thought it is just not possible, well I am here to tell you that I did it myself and you can too, here’s how…..
PROVIDE PROOF, WRITE BLOG POST, ADD KEYWORD lose weight and burn fat inside post as often as you can but don’t go over board!
End of blog post: Trust me, it is easy to lose weight and burn fat in only 5 minutes a day and as long as you stay focused with the information I shared….. etc etc
Taking a look at your blog
If keyword research isn’t something you took the time to do I recommend you sit back for a few days and give yourself a chance to consider who you are writing for, why and how you are going to help/entertain/educate or solve a problem for them. Then go out and discover what those people are typing in to the search engines when they are looking for information so that the matchmaker can bring back your perfect match rather than one you really didn’t want and who doesn’t want you!
Not all our matches that the search engines find have to be well off and important but it certainly does help if some of them are 
Has this helped you get clear on the importance of keywords to help you make money blogging? Please share your comments, insights, suggestions and/or opinions below
