Sherif Morgan, Connexins.com, instructs The SMART Group on how to select the best keywords for writing a blog.

1. Sherif S. Morgan
Friday, March 30, 2012
©2011 THE S.M.A.R.T. GROUP LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

2.  What are your goals?
 i.e. why are you blogging?
 Who is your audience?

3.  Establish credibility
 Increase traffic to your business website
 Humanize your company
 Generate Leads or Pre-Sell Prospects
 Brand Building/Awareness

4.  Who (age, location, gender, education, job title)
 Environment (when and where are they using your
site? What device are they using?)
 Tasks (what are they trying to complete on your site?)
 Motivation (what is their broader desired outcome?)
 Goals, Problems, Pain Points?
 Name or nickname & Representative photo
Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/user-personas-for-seo/

5.  Oldest person in the
world living with spinal
muscular atrophy.
Jon Morrow
http://www.copyblogger.com/fight-for-you
 But that’s not his claim
to fame
 BoostBlogTraffic.com
The 7 Dumbest Mistakes You Can Make When Launching A Blog
http://boostblogtraffic.com/launch-mistakes/

6. Before you blog, Listen!
Your Client’s
Social Media FAQs
Channels
Emails
Monitor
Conversations Common
Problems
Surveys
and
Questions

7. what are your audience’s problems,
challenges, struggles?

9. Matches
Broad: volumes for the keyword idea, synonyms and related words
“Phrase” = search volumes for all terms that include that whole phrase
[Exact] = search volume for that exact keyword idea

10. More than 17 million pages are optimizing for that same exact keyword.
Yikes!
Wait. Should we believe this?
Let’s find out…

11. Keyword Research
 Google Keyword Tool
 Enter KW, Select “Exact”
 Look through the “Keyword Ideas”
- We want to be laser-focus
- one keyword per post
- volume less than 10,000
- Repeat steps 2 and 3
 What is the competition?
quoted search results > last page of SERP
overview of topics/angles covered

12. 13 Common Keyword Research Mistakes
http://www.leavingworkbehind.com/do-you-make-these-13-common-key

13. “it is what it is”
 Please remember, it’s just a tool.
 Not always accurate
 Not always representative of the whole picture
http://thatimthing.com/google-keyword-tool
Combine:
KW Research + Your Experience

14. Insert Keyword in Meta Tags
Title (Headlines)
- 60 characters
- more about titles later…
Description
- 160 characters.
- appeal to both people and search engines
- make it emotional
- Tip: “cliff hanger”…

17. SEO tip – “anchor text”
Anchor text
Click here to read tips to remove a computer virus
versus
Read tips to remove a computer virus

18. Many Other “Tips”
Permalinks
yes!
keyword density
write naturally. focus on KW and related terms
sitemap
yes!
link-building
natural!
what does Google say?

20. BuildMyRank Network

21. Long Tail Keywords
Source: http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/long-tail-keyword-research

22. The No B.S. Guide to SEO
SEO techniques are important, but…
write for people not for search engines
 write great post titles (include your keyword)
 provide quality content with related keywords
 include relevant and helpful links
when you do that… people will link back,
share on social media, etc.

23.  Headlines
 Presentation
Photos
Paragraphs
 Short and concise
 Use headlines and sub-headlines to break up content
 Tone

24. Why are Headlines Important?
Perfect
“The anatomy of Timeless post”
Shareable
People judge a [post] by it’s [headline]
Catchy?
 Grab their attention!
High SEO value
 Include your keyword

25. 3 Must-Have Guides to
Write Amazing Headlines
 Write Headlines that SHINE
Specificity / Helpfulness / Immediacy / Newsworthiness / Entertainment Value
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/how-to-write-headlines
 A Scientific Approach to Writing Page Title
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/03/06/a-scientific-appr
 52 Headline Hacks!
http://headlinehacks.com (by Jon Morrow)

26. 52 Headline Hacks by Jon Morrow
http://headlinehacks.com

27.  Headline
 Presentation
Photos
Paragraphs
 Short and concise
 Use headlines and sub-headlines to break up content
 Tone

29. http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/

30. SEO tip – Image alt tag
image alt tags provide info about what the image
In WordPress, this is the “image description”
when you are uploading an image
include your keyword or variation in alt tag

31.  Headline
 Presentation
Photos
Paragraphs
 Short and concise
 Use headlines and sub-headlines to break up content
 Tone

32.  Headline
 Presentation
Photos
Paragraphs
 Short and concise
 Use headlines and sub-headlines to break up content
 Tone

33.  Authentic, Unique,
Original
 great content, but…
 personal experience adds
fresh perspective
 Knowledge + Personal
Experience = Story
 It’s OK to be different

34.  Authoritative Headlines
 The content must deliver
 Concise!
 Simple yet profound (e.g. Seth Godin’s blog)
 Comprehensive
 Dig Deep. Use details and examples
 Go Wide. info can be applicable/universal
 Relevance: Solve problems / Ease pain points
 Present original research

35.  Call to action
 Ask them to comment, share, connect
 Conclude with an engaging question
 Make it easy for them to participate
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/11/17/make-it-easy-for-yo

37. Why it matters?
Helpful Content + Catchy Headline
= Shared More Often!

38.  How to blog almost every day
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/how-to-blog-almost-every-day/
 Make Business Blogging Fun
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/09/02/make-business-blogging-fun-again-w
 50 Ideas for your Business Blog
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223023

39. Elements of a shareable blog post
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/23-essential-elements-of-sharable-blog-posts/
65 ways to drive traffic to your blog
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/10/16/65-ways-to-drive-traffic-to-your-blog
5 Element of a Perfect Blog Post
http://www.businessesgrow.com/2010/11/30/the-five-elements-of-a-perfect-blog-post/
How to Write Timeless Blog Posts Every Time
http://www.blogtyrant.com/timeless-blog-posts/
The Anatomy of a Better Blog Post
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/02/17/the-anatomy-of-a-better-blog-post/

42. @DrSherifMorgan /ssmorgan & /Connexins
(520) 344-4250 ssmorgan@connexins.com
The SMART Team
Dale Dillon Lips | Chris Porter | Aaron Eden | Michael Gray | Danielle Lips
©2011 THE S.M.A.R.T. GROUP LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED