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ProBlogger: Don’t Kill Your SEO Chances Before Your Blog Has Even Begun

ProBlogger: Don’t Kill Your SEO Chances Before Your Blog Has Even Begun

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Don’t Kill Your SEO Chances Before Your Blog Has Even Begun

Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:00 AM PDT

Don't Kill Your SEO Chances Before Your Blog Has Even Begun

This is a guest contribution from Matt Clough.

There's nothing like the rush of a new idea forming in your mind, the adrenalin that comes from suddenly have a clear focus and direction. This is as true with blogging as it is anything else.

If you've got an exciting new blogging project, it's very tempting to get the not particularly exciting stuff – hosting, blog platform selection – over and done with as quickly as possible in order to move on to truly bringing your idea to life.

But wait! As hard as it can be to put the brakes on an idea and take a slightly more measured approach, it is absolutely critical to do so if you want your new idea to survive the initial burning passion phase. By not looking to the future and failing to plan for the route your new website may take, you can seriously impede its ability to thrive – particularly in terms of SEO.

SEO – short term actions for long term goals

It's a tried and tested truism that to be truly successful when it comes to attracting organic traffic from search engines like Google, you have to be willing to stick at it. Some people see results in weeks; many have to wait several months to really begin to see any significant traction.

However it's a common mistake to assume that because SEO is a long-term traffic strategy, the actions you take to get the ball rolling can be spread out over a long period of time, too. In fact, some websites can be left rueing decisions taken in their first days and weeks of existence years later when their SEO potential is restricted.

So what are some of the key choices that are imperative to get right if your blog is to become an organic traffic success story?

Hosting

Hosting is important from both a site speed and a reliability point of view. Whilst it can be tempting to find the cheapest hosting solution, paying a little more can lead to a site with much faster server response speeds that can relied upon to keep running consistently.

Site speed is an important piece of the on-site optimisation puzzle if you're to encourage Google to reward your site with strong rankings, and no amount of tweaking aspects of your site can ultimately overcome a slow server.

Site reliability and SEO have an obvious connection. If your site struggles to deliver on what it promises visitors from search engines, they'll inevitably return to their search, informing the engine at the same time that they've bounced back. Search engine crawlers will also take a dim view if they repeatedly find they can't access a page.

Domain URL

Choosing a URL is one of the more fun set-up tasks, but it also has a significant impact on your SEO.

The main part of your URL should follow your branding, rather than chasing rankings with an exact match domain. Domains centered around your target keywords have had a decreasing effectiveness within Google's algorithm for some time, meaning they're no longer the potent SEO tactic they once were. Additionally, going after one specific niche or keyword can act as a limitation when you want to expand your blog's horizons in the future.

The TLD (top level domain) part of your blog's URL – where you decide if you want a .com website or a variation such as .net – is also important. If you're blogging from somewhere with a country-specific TLD, such as the United Kingdom, you should think long and hard about your audience. If your content will only ever be relevant to that country, consider using the country TLD for added trust from users. If, however, you think your blog will be applicable to readers the world-over, don't commit to just one country's code, which makes it much harder to make an impact upon foreign rankings.

CMS

Unless this is your first time at ProBlogger, the chances are you will have read the comprehensive guide on how to start a blog. Here the importance of selecting a blogging platform that suits your needs is stressed, and the guide will serve as a fantastic resource to help you make the right choice.

Your CMS, or content management system, is essentially the engine that powers your blog. Not only is it where you create your posts and pages, it's also what allows you to connect with new plug ins and add functionality to your website. Of the hundreds of options out there, WordPress is by far the most popular choice for blogs.

The key thing for preserving your SEO potential when choosing a CMS is to leave your options open for the future. If there's a possibility of branching out into selling products from your blog, for example, choosing an out-of-the-box option that offers no eCommerce support will have serious ramifications.

Most CMS nowadays offer a strong degree of SEO-friendliness, but where problems arise is when a site has to change their CMS in order to continue to grow. Replatforming a site is a project brimming with pitfalls and can be a major undertaking for someone without development and SEO experience.

Permalinks

Of the four areas we've covered so far, permalinks tend to be the easiest to change (if you're using a CMS such as WordPress), however that's not to say that they don't still pose plenty of future headaches if you don't set them up in an optimal fashion. Google likes permalink to follow a consistent and easy-to-understand pattern. If faced with two identical pages, one of which has the URL www.example.com/example-product-name and the other which uses www.example.com/1223334444, the search engine will have an easy decision to make.

As Richard Richsh talks about here, there are a dazzling array of different permalink structures you can use. While there are some golden rules to follow to make your links SEO-friendly, there are plenty of options to decide which structure fits your site best.

As with picking your CMS, the key thing from an SEO perspective is to choose an optimised taxonomy for your URLs that doesn't restrict your options in future. For example, if you plan on introducing keyword-optimised landing pages in the future, then it's best to avoid using very short URLs on early blog posts – you may need these for later.

Changing a permalink structure, like your CMS, isn't impossible. However, it can throw up a lot of problems, and it's always a nerve-wracking moment when you press the button to change the URLs for all your ranking pages!

Keyword targets

While it can seem a bit early to think about keyword targets when, in all likelihood, you're not sure exactly what direction you'll end up taking your blog in, conducting some research here can be invaluable.

Even if only implemented upon your homepage, getting into the habit of identifying keywords that you want to target is never a bad idea. The keywords utilised on your homepage also play a role in helping search engine crawlers to understand the main theme of your blog.

If, for example, you ran a makeup review blog but didn't mention keywords such as "makeup review" on the homepage, then search engines would potentially have a tough time deciphering whether your aim was to review and inform audiences or if you were selling or promoting the products you were covering.

Post structure

Similarly to permalinks, post structure isn't something that you're tied to forever once you've chosen it. That said, it can be a huge pain to go back through hundreds of old posts and laboriously change them, one by one, to a new style.

Generally speaking, it's great to keep all your posts consistent from a structural point of view. It helps readers move from post to post with greater ease, makes your older posts look less dated and gives your blog an overall more professional feel.

If that's not enough to convince you, it also has an SEO benefit. Structuring your posts with the correct headings will make them much easier to understand for Google and other search engines.

Perhaps the most common error on post structure is multiple uses of the H1 tag, called 'Heading 1' in WordPress. Ideally, you only want one H1 tag per page. Many blog themes will automatically turn your post title into an H1, meaning you shouldn't use the main heading option anywhere in the body of the post. There are no limits on how many H2 tags, H3 tags or any other denomination that you use, but aim to use them in a logical manner, with headings as H2s, sub-headings as H3s, and so on.

Conclusion

When it comes to blogging, it's never too late to make some major changes, whether it's to your hosting, your platform or your post structure. However, it can be a major upheaval. The downside is that for many, without making certain changes, your blog's potential to rank for big keywords may be permanently hindered.

By making sure that certain boxes are ticked with the information above, you can save yourself countless headaches in the future and spend your time focusing on the important stuff!

Matt Clough is the Head of Search at Kubix Media and has written on marketing for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, The Next Web, and others.

The post Don’t Kill Your SEO Chances Before Your Blog Has Even Begun appeared first on ProBlogger.

      

ProBlogger: 5 Facebook Advertising Features You Probably Didn’t Know Existed

ProBlogger: 5 Facebook Advertising Features You Probably Didn’t Know Existed

Link to ProBlogger

5 Facebook Advertising Features You Probably Didn’t Know Existed

Posted: 31 Oct 2016 06:00 AM PDT

untitledBy ProBlogger Expert Angela Ponsford.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably aware that Facebook ads are one of the best marketing tools available to bloggers and business owners.

But whether you're a complete newbie to Facebook ads or if you've been using them for a while, there's probably still a heap of features that you didn't even know existed. From cropping images to free stock photos there’s a lot that you can do within the Facebook Ads Manager that will save you time. And if you’re using video (which you should be) then the Ads Manager offers a lot of dynamic options to really make the most of the effort you’ve put into your videos.

So here's 5 'Secret' features that you should look for in Ads Manager when you're running your next campaign.

Secret Feature No.1 – Breakdown

If you're like most other people that have dabbled in FB ads, you've probably uttered the words "my ads didn't work" at some point in your life. And that might be true. But did you know that there's a heap of information attached to all your ads, which will give you an idea of WHY they didn't work? And you can then use that information to make improvements for your next ads.

Go to Ads Manager then on the top right of your ad results you'll see a button saying 'Breakdown'. Click on that and you'll see a dropdown with lots of different options to choose from.

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Some of the ones that I pay attention to are:

  • Age – You can see which age groups performed the best and if it matches your idea of who your ideal client was. If a certain age group outperformed the others then you might want to only target that age group with your next ads. Conversely, if you really want to target a certain age group and they weren't clicking on your ad then you might decide to try a different image or different ad copy to try and get them to engage.
  • Placement – A placement is where someone sees your ad e.g. mobile, desktop, Instagram. You can see what it cost you to get a click or a conversion from each placement and which one performed best.
  • Country – If you've grouped lots of countries into the same Ad Set then you can see where your money was spent and which country performed best. You can use that information next time you advertise and might decide to separate out the countries into different Ad Sets or even to leave out some countries altogether if they didn't perform well
  • Day of the week – Go to 'By Time > Day'. Use this to see if there's any days that perform much better than other days. With one of my clients we realised that they never get any meaningful engagement over the weekend, so we chose to switch ads off on a Saturday & Sunday. But once Monday morning comes along we switch the ads back on because things kick back in again.

Secret Feature No.2 – Free Stock Images

Stuck on what image to use for your ad and don't want to have to pay for a stock photo? No drama, Shutterstock has got you covered. They've made thousands of images available for use for free. Just head into Ads Manager, click on the green 'Create Ad' button in the top right, and when you get to the Ad level where you need to add an image just click on 'Free Stock Images': 

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You then just type a keyword into the search bar that is related to whatever you're advertising. Choose up to 6 images that you like and they'll be added to your ad for split-testing.

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There's a couple of important things you need to know about this option:

  1. You still have to adhere to Facebook's guidelines on having text on the image. Which means if you choose an image with a lot of text on it then your ad will be penalised by Facebook. There's more info on the guidelines here.
  2. The image may not be the correct size for the type of ad you want to run. Which means your image may end up being cut off and looking a bit odd. (There's more info on the correct image size for each ad here.

So that brings us onto the next hidden feature that you may not know about…

Secret Feature No. 3 – Crop Image

There's specific image sizes that you need to use for different types of ads. The correct image sizes can be found HERE.

By using the correct image size it will ensure that your ad looks good on all the different placements that it might be seen (mobile, desktop, Instagram, right hand column). If you're creating the images yourself you can use Canva, PicMonkey or Photoshop to resize your images to the correct size. But sometimes you're in a rush or using the free stock images. So that's when you want to use the 'Crop Image' feature.

When creating the ad within Ads Manager you'll need to choose your image first and then you'll click the 'Crop Image' icon in the bottom of the image.

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Then you can move the grid around to make your image look good within the dimensions.

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Just remember that some images will just not fit in the ad dimensions, so you may have to try a few images to get it looking good.

Secret Feature No.4 – Create a Slideshow of Images

Now you might have a few images you want to use in your ad, or you might think that just using one image is not exciting enough. But creating a video might just seem a bit too much work, or not something you're good at. Well, Facebook makes it super easy to create a slideshow of your images, which plays just like a video in the ad. Just click on 'Slideshow' at the Ad level then 'Create Slideshow' down the bottom.

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You then click on 'Add Photos' to choose your images. You also have a few options about how you want the video to look:

  • Aspect ratio – Original, Square, Rectangle or Vertical
  • How long each image is on the screen
  • Whether you want any transition between the images 

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You can also add some music to your slideshow, using either the royalty-free music available in Facebook or uploading your own. Just remember, if you're uploading music you must have the right to use it. (You can find out more info on copyright here).

Then you're done! It's a really easy way to add a bit of movement into your ads and to capture the attention of anyone that sees it.

 

Secret Feature No.5 – Create an Audience of People That Have Viewed Your Videos

If you hadn't heard the newsflash, video is so hot right now. Facebook wants to be the place to be for viewing videos. So if you're willing to take the time to create some catchy vids or to put yourself out there on camera, you'll be rewarded with better organic reach and engagement.

However, there's another reason that you should be seriously considering using videos for your business. And that's the fact that you can create an audience of people that have viewed your video and then show them an ad for something else.

Think about it… if someone has taken the time to watch your video, they already know who you are. So if they then see an ad telling them about your shop/service/product then they're more likely to click on it.

You can create the 'Video Views' audience after you've posted some video content on your Facebook page or run a video ad. To create the audience go into your Ads Manager and then click on Audiences > Create Audience > Custom Audience > Engagement on Facebook > Video 

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You can then create audiences based on the amount of your video that people have watched.

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You need to know that Facebook classes a video view as anyone that has watched at least 3 seconds of your video. Which means that someone scrolling through their newsfeed may have seen your video for 3 seconds but wasn't actually paying any attention to it. So the total video views is not really indicative of people that have actually taken the time to stop on your video. So I often like to use 25% or above to create my audiences.

You then choose the videos that you want to use to create your audience, click on 'Confirm' in the bottom right, name it and then 'Create Audience'

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You can then select this audience from the 'Custom Audiences' dropdown in the Ad Set level when choosing your targeting.

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So there you have 5 awesome features in Facebook's Ads Manager that you probably didn't know existed.

Which of these features are you going to try next time you run an ad? Leave a comment and let me know.

Angela Ponsford is one half of Dotti Media and is a self-confessed Facebook Ads nerd. She loves geeking out over clients' Facebook Ad campaigns and figuring out how to get them the best results. Angela also works with clients doing one-on-one Facebook Ads coaching, runs Facebook & Instagram workshops and is the co-creator of 'Get InstaSavvy', an online Instagram course. When she's not on Facebook you can find her on the roller derby track as her alter ego, Slingshot Polkadot. She lives just outside Byron Bay with her husband and twin daughters.

The post 5 Facebook Advertising Features You Probably Didn’t Know Existed appeared first on ProBlogger.