I want to start a blog in 2023, but I don’t even know where to start from.
If that’s the problem, then you are not alone.
If you jump into blogging without a good knowledge of what to do and what not to do, you are going to waste time, effort and money without getting any POSITIVE result.
In this article, I will give you a comprehensive (yet simple enough) insight into what Blogging and SEO is all about.
Quick Dictionary: SEO is an acronym that stands for Search Engine Optimization.
Very soon, you will understand what SEO is all about.
By the time you read the last statement in this article, your knowledge of Blogging and SEO will not remain the same as that at this moment.
Take a deep breath, relax and join me as I take you through a journey into the world of Blogging and SEO.
Contents
What Is A Blog?
Blog (short form of weblog) is an online journal or informational website.
According to Wikipedia, a blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries.
Posts are typically displayed in chronological order so that the most recent posts are displayed first.
A person who owns and manage a blog is called a Blogger.
The process of managing a blog is called Blogging.
You probably know all these already, I know.
I just want to make sure you are not missing anything.
Very soon, I will be introducing you to more blogging terms and you will be speaking the language of the BLOGOSPHERE. 🙂
Another simple yet commonly asked question is;
What Is The Difference Between Blog And Website
A blog is a kind of website that posts fresh content frequently and new posts are displayed first.
Blogs usually allow reader engagement as they are allowed to comment and share their opinions and concerns.
Blogs usually have author name, publish date, categories e.t.c
Websites on the other hand barely update their pages as they are made up of few pages.
Quickly open a new tab and check out this two URLs:
- Carmax.com
- Flashlearners.com
The first is a typical website for selling used cars while the second is a blog.
It is even more difficult to differentiate them these days as a lot of companies now integrate blog into their website.
Simply: All blogs are websites, but not all websites are blogs.
What Is SEO And Why Is SEO Important To A Blog/Website?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
It means act of writing contents for users and optimizing for search engines for the purpose of ranking and getting Organic (Free) traffic.
When I say ranking, I mean ranking on Google Search Engine Result Page (SERP).
You don’t start getting traffic from Google by mere writing posts, you need to optimize them to show on Search engines.
Let me quickly ask you a question.
What’s the most popular Search Engine?
…
That’s right, Google!
The goal is to rank very well on Google (=more income).
Sweet! 😛
There are also other Search Engines like Bing, Yahoo, Ask, DuckDuckGo.
But, Google is the most widely used and that’s the Bank of Bloggers.
According to Internet Live Stat, Google processes over 3.5 Billion searches daily.
It was also reported that the volume of searches increase by roughly 10% yearly.
But, it is not only about showing on Google SERP (Search Engine Result Page).
Now, you know where the bank is.
The question is, where’s the cashier?
That’s right. If you don’t know where the cashier is, you don’t get your money!
Quick answer: The cashier is Google first page.
The target is to show on the first page of search engines.
The best place to hide something you don’t want people to find is Google’s second page
At least 91% of Google search traffic is distributed among first page results.
Let me quickly ask you another question.
Am I asking too much? I don’t think so.
Here’s the question:
When was the last time you clicked on “Next” at the bottom of Google SERP.
Ask myself the same question. It’s been so loooonnnngggg. I can’t even remember.
Listen, most people don’t even click on the last 4 results on Google first page.
Most of the traffic goes to the page in Position 1, while result in Position 2 is found to receive about HALF of clicks that goes to the 1st position.
It keeps on decreasing that way geometrically.
Look at the graphs below to see what I’m talking about…
And…
And…
As you can see, less and less number of people click on the results lower in SERP (except some situations demand as I will be showing you in coming episodes).
Also, the Click-Through Rate (CTR) varies with the type of Industry you are into (e.g Entertainment, Sport, Finance, Technology) e.t.c.
However, the general trend still holds very much in every Industry.
So, What Does This Tell Us?
The point is you have to do your SEO and target the top positions in Google SERP.
The practices of making a content rank high on Google make up the word S.E.O.
For most Bloggers, the higher your traffic (=the number of people that visit your blog daily, weekly, monthly or yearly), the more you earn.
So, if more people visit Blog A compared to Blog B. In blogging, we say Blog A has higher traffic.
- 50+ Blogging And SEO Terms You Must Know (Explained In A Simple Way)
And the purpose of SEO is to help you drive that traffic to your blog.
The Higher You Rank On Google SERP, The More The Visits (Traffic) To Your Blog
A friend of mine who is interested in Blogging asked me something after explaining SEO to him.
My friend: Is SEO the only way to drive traffic to a blog?
NO!
There are other ways you can drive traffic to a blog such as Sharing to social media, Facebook ads, Google Ads e.t.c
But, they won’t do you well on the long run.
Sharing to social media will waste time, you will need to keep sharing to Facebook groups all year long for every post you publish.
That was one of the mistakes I made when I first started blogging.
Don’t get me wrong, you will need to share to some social media platforms to get some exposure and links.
But, depending on Social media as your main source of traffic? A BIG WASTE OF TIME!
Even big influencers on Social media now put effort in SEO.
What about Google Ads and Facebook Ads?
Well, you need to invest money every time to get traffic.
Unless you know how to target the right audience, you will end up getting less than you invest.
P:S – Google ads and Facebook ads can work well for you if you are an affiliate marketer.
So, what makes SEO so special?
- It is totally free!
- With time, you won’t even need to invest time/money but it will keep paying your biils
Bottom Line
In blogging, you need to understand SEO very well to get the results you need.
You want to rank your post very high on Google first page and get free organic traffic.
BUT, there’s one simple SECRET I am yet to reveal to you.
Think about it this way.
SEO is like an examination.
A lot of Bloggers are competing for the first position of Google SERP.
While preparing for an examination, studying the best (recommended) textbooks will help you perform better than others (all things being equal).
If you also have the syllabus, oh dear, you are a step ahead.
Finally, if you know what the examiner wants you to write in the answer sheet, then you are definitely in for the 1st position. 😛
Now, the examiner is Google.
Google ranks blogs, using some criteria.
Once you understand how Google ranks blogs based on these “criteria”, then you will be able to do THE RIGHT THING AND RANK.
If you don’t know and understand these criteria, you will keep doing the WRONG thing and Google will HATE ( 👎 ) your blog.
And with that I leave you with.
Oh, before you read that article, what do you think about this? Drop a comment below. I will love to hear from you.