Novice search engine marketers might think that targeting the keyword with a higher search volume will get more traffic and sales. However, seasoned professionals know that long-tail keywords get more and better traffic, leading to increased conversion rates.

“‘How to get rid of bed bugs’ is less competitive than ‘bugs.’”



Read on to learn why you should optimize your site for long-tail keywords:

Long-tail Keywords Drive Traffic that Converts

There are 2 major problems with targeting short-tail, broad keywords:

1. Heavy Competition.
   It’s difficult to crack the first page of search engine rankings for broad keywords. Because a single word is part of thousands of long-tail keyword phrases and hundreds of concepts, there is already a lot of quality content vying for top billing. Often this content is coming from big sites like Yahoo and CNN that have high PageRanks and lots of inbound links, which boost rankings.
2. Low Conversion.
   Someone searching for “bugs” could be seeking information on any one of dozens of topics, ranging from bug collecting to computer bugs. Most likely, this person is also in the information gathering mode, conducting research and not planning on making a purchase. Therefore, few clicks you get from this keyword will convert. We can categorize most of these users as “noes” – they will never take the desired action. If your search campaign focuses on these keywords, your conversion ceiling will be very low – that is, most of your traffic won’t purchase your product or service. One-word keywords have the lowest conversion rate, a measly 7 percent.

On the other hand, there are distinct advantages to targeting long-tail keywords.

1. Less Competition.

“Is buying flowers online for a new girlfriend a good idea?”



2. More Search Possibilities.

   Potential customers can find your website through different combinations of keywords. For example, “is buying flowers online for a new girlfriend a good idea” could potentially rank for:

   • “buying flowers online”
   • “buying flowers for a new girlfriend”
   • “buying flowers for a girlfriend a good idea”

   …and a whole host of other possibilities.

3. Higher Conversion.

   Because they reached your site through a highly specific keyword, your content is more likely exactly what they were seeking. 4-word keywords have the highest average conversion rate (around 37 percent) because these search users can often be categorized as “maybes” or even “yeses.” Long-tail keywords target potential customers who are late in the buying cycle.

They’re past the information-gathering stage and ready to take action. If your website is at its best, they will take that action by buying your product.

“How to get rid of bed bugs” is one example of a long-tail keyword that will draw users more likely to fall into the categories of “yes” or “maybe.” These users have a specific problem and are intent on fixing it. This is where your landing page, your copy, and your website as a whole come into play. These users are already intent on fixing their problem; you must convince them that your product or service will do this.

Long-tail keyword click-through-rates are increasing between 2 percent per year (for 4 words) to 22 percent per year (for 8+ words). Conversely, one-word keywords are experiencing around a 3 percent drop in search results per year.

When comparing 1 broad keyword and 1 long-tail keyword, the search volume of the broad keyword is much larger. However, comparing 1 broad keyword with all of the long-tail keywords combined in a given category shows a different perspective. The majority of traffic volume comes from long-tail keywords.

Check out this graph:

“Target long-tail keywords for better conversion.”

The bottom line: target long-tail keywords and provide persuasive, quality content to raise conversion rates.

Cassie Wallace Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.

While Google and Apple have partnered in the past on such projects as mobile applications and music purchasing. More recent projects, however, have pitted the two giants in a growing war within the mobile search market and others. The turf battle is escalating as Apple begins to squeeze its way into search and advertising and as Google gets into producing and marketing smart phones.

Read on to learn about 2 major areas of conflict in the Google-Apple mobile search market showdown:

• Mobile phone production
• Mobile search market

Google’s Nexus One vs. Apple’s iphone

Mobile phones

Apple was first to enter this market, debuting its iPhone on January 9, 2007. The iPhone came a whole 3 years before Google’s Nexus One. Apple continues to dominate the super-smart phone market. With more apps, more dedicated followers, and more storage space, the iPhone has a distinct competitive advantage.

However, according to an insider, “Apple and Google know the other is their primary enemy.” For this reason, Apple is attempting to keep Google from pressing into this market even further by removing Google as the default search provider on its iPhone.

But why does that even matter?

Default search

That same insider stated that “Microsoft is now a pawn” in the showdown between the two companies. Microsoft’s Bing search engine has seen far less success than Google search, but still stands to be made the default search engine on the iPhone.

To use Microsoft’s Bing, iPhone users currently must download a Bing app or go directly to Bing.com through their browser.

Adding Bing as the default search app would increase the visibility and usage of the less-than-popular search engine (which only holds 11% of the current mobile search market, compared to Google’s 86%). It’s also important to note that Google’s 86% stake in the mobile search market is partly due to the iPhone.

And the Microsoft-Apple collaboration may not even last long. Rumors are circulating that Apple is looking into developing its own search engine for both mobile and browser use, and that replacing Google with Bing is merely buying time. According to a source, given the growing importance of the mobile search market, “Apple isn’t going to outsource the future.”

If the switch to Bing takes place, Google search will take Bing’s place on the backburner in the mobile search market. In the short term, Bing’s gain is Google’s loss.

ipod’s default search app: Google or Bing?

However, long-term effects will probably be less drastic, as Bing seems to be just a temporary bargaining tool in the Apple vs. Google war. As for now, there is no clear winner in the showdown between the technology behemoths.

With Google’s brand equity, intense user loyalty and expansion into new arenas, it should be able to hold on to much of its market share and ultimately, be just fine without the iPhone.

Cassie Wallace Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.

This is not to say that Google blindly offers up synonyms for all of your searches, clouding search results with irrelevant sites. Instead, Google says that this use of synonyms will only happen when the search engine algorithm determines that results with the synonym will improve results with useful and important information, such as in the case of “song words”.

According to Google, “for every 50 queries where synonyms significantly improved the search results, we had only one truly bad synonym.” Not bad.

One out of 50 isn’t bad!

Read on to learn how you can write your Web copy to effectively take advantage of Google’s change.

In this article:

• Use a Wide Array of Words
• Don’t Forget the Keyword
• Put the User First when Writing Web Copy

Use a Wide Array of Words

With Google’s new changes, it is now important to consider using an array of words and phrases instead of focusing on only your keyword phrase.

For example, an article targeting “health care communications professional” might also utilize some of the following phrases:

• Health communication specialist
• Medical communications professional
• Professional health care communicator

An article targeting “health care communications professional” might use a variety of phrases.



Google’s tweaks to their algorithm are actually enabling you to write stronger, more interesting Web copy.

Don’t Forget the Keyword

While it’s great to use a diverse selection of keywords, it’s important to still focus on your target keyword.

Include it in key places…

• URL (e.g. /heath-care-communications-professional.html)
• Title
• Heading (e.g. Jane Young, A Health Care Communications Professional that Listens)
• Sub-headings

…and throughout the text. Just don’t forget the number 1 rule of writing…

Don’t forget to focus on your target keyword!

Put the User First when Writing Web Copy

When taking into account Google’s updated algorithm, don’t forget the number 1 rule of writing for the Web or anywhere else. That is, the user comes first. Always.

Write naturally, only including keywords where it makes sense and sounds natural. Web copy is for human readers first, search engines second. Push your experience, credibility and personality, not a barrage of keywords.

Besides, Google’s algorithm likes quality content more than keyword density. Write Web copy that informs, persuades and entertains, focus on your keyword and its variations and the rankings will follow.

Cassie Wallace Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.

Before you start to overheat your brain, I should tell you this is a trick question. Who can count that high?

Whatever the number, the largest percentage of these terms make up what SEO enthusiasts call the long tail of search demand.

This article will guide you to understand what the long tail is, tell you why you should use it, and give you some best practice examples.

Read on to find out:

• What is the long tail of search?
• How to get the long tail wagging
• Who is wagging it right?

“… the largest percentage of these terms make up the long tail.”

What is the long tail of search?

As you continue reading, I will impress you with colorful charts and stats about the long tail to persuade you of its awesome-ness. But first I will step back and explain this potentially foreign SEO concept.

The concept of a long tail of search really generated buzz in WIRED magazine. In it, Chris Anderson wrote about this concept and even titled his blog, The Long Tail.

Anderson explains, “The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of ‘hits’ (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.”

What does this mean for SEO? Replace “niches” with “unique keywords,” and the concept is working for you.

Next test question: What percentage of all search traffic do the top 10,000 search terms make up?

If you’ve guessed anything more than 18.5 percent, guess again.

3 quick long tail facts:

1. The top 10,000 search terms make up only 18.5 percent of all search traffic.
2. According to Hitwise, if search were illustrated as a lizard with a one-inch head, its tail would stretch 221 miles.
3. The head and body of search equal only 3.25 percent of Hitwise’s total data.

Let’s put this into pictures:

The above chart is an excellent illustration of the long tail of search concept. It breaks up the top keywords by how often they are searched each month. The gray portion represents the long tail of lonely keywords waiting for a nice person to adopt them.

But I’ve always been more of a bar graph person myself.

Here is that same information with each bar representing a chuck of keywords:

These charts show that using the “top” keywords isn’t the best strategy. Sure, you can make sure to include some of the top 500 keywords. But there are over 70 percent of all searches you are ignoring; don’t forget about them.

How to get the long tail wagging

Now that you’ve seen the pictures and numbers, how are you going to start using the long tail?

Matt Bailey, founder of SiteLogic, a web marketing consulting company, encourages clients to focus their attention outside of their top 10 to 20 most popular search terms: “Add up the terms that refer 1-3 visits during the month, and chances are, they will add up to more total visitors than the top terms. On closer examination, most sites will have the majority of their business (sales and leads) generated from these terms that are rarely tracked.”

Next test question: Write down your top 10 search terms.

Now throw that paper out and start a new, more creative list and start following your tail like a 3-month-old puppy.

Who is wagging it right?

Before you go into this last test question, you should do some Google-ing of your own and find some companies already using the long tail of search successfully. Think of this as the equivalent to cheating off of the brainiest kid in the class, only more ethical.

Here’s a list of sites that are waggin’ it right:

• Amazon.com: 57 percent of their sales are from keywords not considered “popular.”
• UK blogger and PR/Media guru, Mark Pack: his top 10 blog posts each month are responsible for only 1/4 to 1/3 of his blog’s total traffic.
• QueroMedia (international marketing agency): this highly successful, European-based agency uses numerous search terms for clients’ campaigns.

You now know what the long tail of search is, the steps to start using long tail searchs, and who you can “cheat” off to use the long tail of search effectively.

Armed with a full understanding of the long tail, you can now answer the last test question: Why haven’t you started using the long tail sooner?

By Megan Ahern Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.

But then something goes wrong. Your business’s website and your blog get in a little tiff because the website thinks that the blog is getting all the attention. While this may be true, resulting in a 10 percent sales increase for your business, you decide that your business’s website and your blog need a little space to cool off. With some extra cash, you purchase a separate domain for your blog, and everyone’s happy (except for your website, but she’ll never be fully satisfied).

A separate blog-specific domain may work for some businesses but not all of them.

Here are some questions to consider when asking yourself the important blogging question, separate or same domain?

• What’s the purpose of my blog?
• Who’s my audience?
• How will this affect my SEO potential?

What’s the purpose of my blog?

Consider your intentions for creating a business blog. To reinforce your main brand? To focus on a specific product? Complement or supplement your website? Communicate directly with customers?

“Your business’s website and your blog get in a little tiff…”

Let’s say you have a business like EcoSMART. EcoSMART uses a same domain blog full of articles about bug identification, green living, and, of course, their organic insecticide spray. The point of the blog is to make sales, but they do so while showing the unique personalities and interests behind their business. Their blog articles encourage employee-customer discussion, and, overall, promote a sense of person to person contact rather than just person to computer or person to product.

However, consider creating an independent blog with a separate domain if you want a blog that is:

• Product-specific
• Not directly related to the purpose/interests of your business
• Focused on a subset of your business

You can check out Orient Watch USA’s blog for an example of a separate domain blog.

Keep in mind that if you choose to have a separate domain blog, you will need sufficient resources to fully market and promote it apart from your website. Whatever blog type you choose, you should incorporate blog specific marketing elements, which include being aware of your audience.

“Discover your audience—it’s definitely worth it….”

Who’s my audience?

Discovering your audience (if you haven’t already) will require some research, but it’s definitely worth it.

If your website and your blog aim to attract the same audience, then they should share the same domain. This will make your website more interesting and appealing to your viewers. However, if you have a website that sells cat and kitten products, don’t include a blog about your favorite dog products. That needs to appear in a separate domain (but you can link it to your main website if you want to).

“Your blog’s SEO status will start from the bottom and work its way up the numerical scale.”

How will this affect my SEO potential?

A blog adds content and value to your website. The more frequently updated content you post, the more search engine spiders will visit. Also, as more websites/blogs link to your website/blog, your SEO status will increase.

Again, this doesn’t mean your blog must be included on your website. If your blog domain is separate from your website domain, your blog’s SEO status will start from the bottom and work its way up the numerical scale as your website did. And remember, when your blog links to your main website, it can gain more value and credibility (and so can your website!).

So to wrap up…

Choosing a blog domain is sort of like life. Whatever path you choose, remember to keep your (blog’s) overall purpose in mind and everything else will fall into place.

By Marlee Gallagher Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.

Think about it. Would you completely ignore your pet fish if you got a new puppy? Sure you can’t cuddle or go on walks with your blog posts, but they still deserve occasional attention, right?

Read on to discover:

• Why Updating Old Posts is a Smart Move
• How to Easily Update Old Posts

“Would you completely ignore your pet fish if you got a new puppy?”

Why Updating Old Posts is a Smart Move

With the excitement of frequently publishing new blog posts, many bloggers often forget to occasionally check in and update past posts. Turns out, updating old posts keeps your blog content fresh and high on search engine rankings.

Outdated posts will show up in search results just as often as new posts, if not more, as they’ve likely acquired a higher page rank. They therefore will continue to draw in Web traffic.

Old content may be the first examples of your blog that many searchers view. This is reason enough to keep posts updated and fresh. After all, first impressions are lasting impressions. You’re more likely to attract a strong readership if each of your posts is kept somewhat current.

Updating old posts will also increase your blog’s presence on search engine lists. Updated content is viewed as more relevant by search engines than content that has not been updated recently. Therefore, the more you update your old posts, the more center-stage your blog will appear in the land of Web searches and the more your blog traffic will increase.

“Keep your content fresh for better rankings.”

How to Easily Update Old Posts

Updating old posts can be accomplished quite simply. Little tweaks such as the addition of new insights is any easy way to achieve updated material.

Make Corrections
Use this opportunity to correct past opinions or faux pas. For instance, if you have a post dedicated to the eternal relationship of newlyweds Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, it’s time for an update.

Add Media
Another simple way to update old posts is to add pictures or graphics. Display your technical savvy by embedding a new video into an outdated post.

Interact
Comments also count as updates. Visitors to your blog can help you update your old posts by commenting. Or, you can go back through your old posts and answer any questions and give feedback on your comment section.

Link Internally
Links are another way to update old posts. Attach links to your old content to give readers a way to get to your newer posts. This not only updates your post, it also encourages readers to continue browsing your blog.

Making little changes to the content of old posts not only keeps these posts current but also allows you to demonstrate the knowledge and skill you have acquired since first publishing the post.

Consider a blog post an unfinished product – a work in progress. This way, you will be more inspired to continually add to and tweak your posts, keeping them up-to-date and high on search engine rankings.

As a blogger, do you ever revisit and update your old posts?

By Bryn Dehmcke Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.

Search engines are great, and sites like Google can traffic a lot of consumers to your website. However, there’s a problem. Unless you’re a household name like Wal-Mart or McDonald’s, people probably won’t type in your brand name when searching for a general product.

For example, if I am looking for Pittsburgh’s best burrito joint and I have never heard of “Mikey’s Best Burritos,” I won’t type it into a search engine when searching for my perfect burrito. So how does “Mikey’s Best Burritos” get me to know that they make the best burritos in not only Pittsburgh but in all the world?

Mikey, it’s simple: Get your name out there.

Yes, it’s that simple, and one of the best ways to do this today is through social media. There is an overwhelming connection between SEO and social media, and surrendering to this new trend and using it to your advantage can make all of the difference for your business.

Read on to uncover 4 serious social media advantages:

1. Consumers want to hear from their friends.
2. Consumers are switching from search engines to social media sites.
3. Social media extends beyond your desktop.
4. Social media exposure can extend to search engines.

“Mikey, it’s simple: Get your name out there.”

1. Consumers want to hear from their friends.

You don’t have a relationship with a search engine (at least I hope not). Consumers will take a friend’s advice about a product over taking advice from a search engine.

Friends in social media networks recommend products and services to one another, and good exposure about a product from a trusted friend is extremely powerful.

2. Consumers are switching from search engines to social media sites.

More and more, consumers are looking at social media sites to get advice about products and services and are turning away from search engines.

Why? Social media sites give relevant and up-to-date information that search engines often can’t provide.

And like stated above, this information often comes from trusted friends who have either tried the product or know someone who has.

“Social media is where it’s at…”

3. Social media extends beyond your desktop.

The iPhone and other smartphones are starting to dominate the mobile world. Social media sites in the form of applications are easily available to consumers on these phones, and offer ways to access their information almost anywhere.

Now consumers can surf Facebook and tweet (on Twitter) while waiting in line for a sandwich, before falling asleep in their three-hour meeting, and even on the toilet. Awesome?

4. Social media exposure can extend to search engines.

If your business gets a lot of exposure on your social media site, many times it will show up on search engines. When a consumer types your product, brand, or service name into the search engine, your social media site will rank highly in the search. Now, this is no reason alone to create a social media profile, but it is an added benefit that will help get your name out there.

Technology is making information more readily available and easy to access from almost anywhere. Search engine rankings aren’t everything, and search habits are changing with new technology.

Sure, many people will inevitably check out Google and Yahoo when looking for a product online, but that’s not what all people are doing.

So get your name out there, and embrace the link between search and social media.

By Jordan Frank Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.

Window-shopping is an important part of consumer culture in the process of assessing the value of a business. Smartphone users can now utilize an innovative form of window-shopping due to the launch of Google’s new initiative to send window decals with QR codes to over 100,000 local businesses in the United States. Google QR codes will allow users to connect the physical world with the Web.

Google QR codes have the potential for both mobile users and mobile marketing. They possess the ability to enhance the consumer experience as well as add a new dimension to marketing campaigns and consumer-brand interaction.

Learn more:

• Understanding Google QR Codes
• Value of Google QR Codes for Storefronts
• Enhancing Marketing Strategies Through QR Codes

“Smartphone users now have a new form of window-shopping.”

Understanding Google QR Codes

The 100,000 local businesses that have been sent window decals with QR codes are the most searched for and sought after businesses on Google.com and Google maps. These businesses are called “Favorite Places on Google,” and they can be found in over 9,000 towns and cities in all 50 states.

The Quick Response or QR code on each window decal is a unique two-dimensional bar code that contains alphanumeric text and often features URLs that direct users to a site. Created in 1994 by the Japanese corporation Denso-Wave, QR codes have had a great deal of success in Japanese and European marketing campaigns.

To scan these QR codes, your phone must have a camera and an app that can read QR codes. With a mobile device such as an iPhone, Android, or Blackberry, you can scan the Google QR Codes featured on each window decal and be taken directly to that business’s “Place Page.

The iPhone offers a $1.99 Quick Mark app, but as of December 7th, Google is partnering with Quick Mark to offer the app for free for the first 40,000 downloads. Other QR code reader apps include Bee Tag and NeoReader.

In order for your businesses to qualify for the QR code window decals, you must claim your listing with Google’s local business center for free.

You cannot make a request that your business become a “Favorite Place.” The list was determined by the popularity of a business’ local business center listing; in other words, how many times Google users looked for more information about a business, such as directions and reviews.

If your business was not selected to receive a window decal, you can help to enhance your local business listing by adding photos and videos which will attract more users. Google plans to periodically send out new waves of decals to qualifying businesses.

“In order to qualify, you must claim your listing with Google’s local business center.”

The Value of Google QR Codes for Storefronts

The launch of Google QR code window decals is an effort to provide Google users with the best local business results and improve the consumer-business experience. However, this is not merely another storefront advertisement that urges passersby to enter a number for text message alerts. It is a far more direct marketing tool.

Google QR codes will allow users to go up to a storefront, and just by scanning the QR code, immediately:

• Find reviews
• Get a coupon if that business is offering one
• Star the business as a place they want to remember

Essentially, this will link people directly to relevant content and significantly shorten the navigation process.

The big push for the adoption of Google QR codes by local businesses will allow Google users to find the best local businesses, whether it’s a high-end boutique in LA, a hotel in New York City, a sports bar in Pittsburgh, or a coffee shop in Seattle.

“This will link people directly to relevant content and significantly shorten the navigation process.”

Enhancing Marketing Strategies Through QR Codes

Although your business may not qualify for a Google QR code window decal, businesses of any size or type can reap the benefits of QR code marketing.

You can easily generate QR codes for a variety of purposes and applications.

Some of the applications for QR codes include:

• Business cards
• Print advertisements
• Posters
• Websites
• TV advertisements
• Newspapers
• Magazines

Utilizing QR codes as a part of your business’ marketing strategy will allow consumers to connect with your business through the use of their mobile phone, which will in turn, drive traffic to your mobile site. Whenever a user scans a QR code, the user gains access to brand information, promotional contests and sales, contact information, and a multitude of other information.

QR codes are a valuable instrument for business branding by providing an easy way to reach vast audiences, boost sales, and create awareness.

Julia Cowher Julia isn’t a social networking narcissist but she is the fairest brander of them all. Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.

• The Importance of PPC for Advertisers
• Bing’s Fight Against Search Overload
• Bing’s Decline

“Microsoft hoped to create more innovation in search, but advertisers aren’t happy.”

The Importance of PPC for Advertisers

Bing is causing trouble for many advertisers who have always relied on the traffic generated by PPC (pay per click) ads on MSN. PPC is an internet advertising system used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.

It turns out, MSN made some drastic changes when launching Bing from the old Live.com that could have disastrous effects on advertisers and the PPC system.

Bing’s Fight Against Search Overload

The advertisements promoting Bing claim that the search engine does a better job counteracting “search overload,” offering higher quality results that are more relevent to the search–allowing you to find the information you’re seeking faster. The term “Search overload” aptly refers to the vast amounts of inconsequential information we receive when searching a particular topic through a search engine.

To the severe vexation of PPC advertisers, Bing has taken its fight against “search overload” to a new level. If the “organic listings”, the search engine listings that appear because of their significance to the searched terms, are more relevant to the search than the paid listings, then no advertisements will appear–hence, no clicking takes place. This greatly limits the marketing that advertisers enjoy from the PPC system.

“Bing has taken its fight against “search overload” to a new level.”

Bing’s Decline

Advertisers on MSN are not the only ones suffering from this new search engine. Natural Search, a blog specializing in search engine optimization (SEO), the system of increasing the volume of traffic to a website from search engines, found that MSN’s search tool has suffered a dramatic drop in searches–up to 40%–since the launching of Bing.

This drop may be explained by certain characteristics of Bing. For instance, the search engine displays only the first five organic listings on the first page–more listings appear on consecutive pages that searchers rarely view.

This lack of Bing traffic further affects the advertisement’s success; as few people visit the search engine, advertisements will enjoy fewer clicks.

Contrary to Microsoft’s hopes, most people still use Google to meet their search engine needs. In October 2009, Bing’s “search share,” the market share for its browser, was 9.9%, and has been steadily dropping since. In contrast, Google’s market share reaches above 70%, making it the most widely used search engine in the United States.

By Bryn Dehmcke Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.

“The way you display/label categories can make or break your blog.”

So before you get started, learn:

• What not to do
• What to do

What NOT to Do

Bloggers often make common blunders when creating categories, compromising the blog’s success by confusing the reader and making navigation difficult. The key is to avoid forcing readers to think too hard; instead, bloggers should do the thinking for them by effectively planning before execution.

Do Not Categorize Series

A blog’s categories are very important, as readers visiting a blog for the first time will very likely use your categories to locate the posts relevant to them. If your a reader is a first-time visitor, then a category for a one week series you wrote won’t mean much. Thus, confusing category names (e.g. “Special”) and out-dated series (e.g. “Blogging in 2007 Instructional Guide”) impede upon the navigation of your blog.

Instead, posts in a series should be categorized under corresponding subject, just like your other posts. A link leading to an index post with links to the entire series should be included at the top or bottom of each post in the series. This allows for easy access to your entire series without having to dedicate a category to it alone.

“Don’t let categories impede on your blog’s nagivation.”

Do Not Create Incompatible Category Names

One of the most important things you can do when deciding on names for your categories is to make each category self-explanatory. It can be easy to get caught up in creating wacky names; however, when it comes to naming categories, the simpler and more straightforward the better. This saves confused readers from having to click on obscurely named categories to figure out what they might mean.

Also important is keeping category name length consistent. It looks messy to have mostly one-worded categories, i.e. “Schnauzer” and “Poodle” and one multi-worded category such as “How to Breed a Schnauzer and a Poodle to Get a Schmoodle”.

Keep your category names on the same level of formality. The way in which you word your categories sets the tone for your whole blog. With that in mind, don’t mix formally-worded categories, e.g. “Government Spending” and “Tax Collections,” with informal names like “Fun Facts” and “Quick Fixes.”

Do Not Underestimate Planning Ahead

Messy or inconsistent categories spawn from a failure to plan. This mistake leads to out-dated and irrelevant categories, as well as categories created with good intentions but that only have one or two posts in them.

Aside from taking the time to properly name and organize your categories, take the time also to decide how necessary each category is and whether or not you will use it in the future.

“Plan ahead when it comes to creating categories.”

What TO Do

Now that you know what to avoid while creating your blog, here are a few tips on what you should do.

Limit Your Categories

Avoid unsightly clutter and confusion by limiting the number of categories. Before creating your blog, think about how many categories are really needed and consolidate topics when possible.

Keep Categories Broad

Remember to keep your category titles broad. By having broad topics in which to sort your blog entries, you will keep your category number down and help keep your blog organized. This will also negate the problem of having rarely used categories that contain only one or two posts.

Plan Ahead

The most important thing you can do for your blog is to plan ahead. A blog’s success is not based only on its content, but also its organization and how easy it is to navigate.

By planning ahead in order to circumvent many of the issues that accompany hasty creation, you will produce a blog that is enjoyable to work with and enjoyable to read.

By Bryn Dehmcke Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.