Blogging has always been around, but why the sudden push to “get it going”?

Just like journaling or passing notes in class, blogs are personal sentiments that have many benefits. Share your thoughts, post some questions, and get your audience involved in what’s going on in your world. That’s what blogging is all about. Social communities, networking and blogs are what’s in. Perfectionism in blogs is what’s out. Scary thought for all you A-typers out there!

Cut the drafts…just write. Blogging allows you to create a conversational feel between you and the other interested eyes. If a comfortable setting is created, more people will ‘befriend’ you, ‘link’ to you or just plain read (and quite possibly agree with) what you are putting out there for the world to see.

Afraid of meeting in person? No problem! Blogging makes it easy to state an opinion or debate a hot topic without that, my stomach is in knots because I don’t know what is going to be asked next feeling. Be All That You Can Be…behind your computer screen.

For those who are market savvy: Blogs are perfect for search engine optimization. Check out this post on SEOmoz.org – straightforward tactics and tips for blog writing. Like minded bloggers know the importance of links and want to link to you if you are credible in your industry. By posting frequent blog entries, you create a sense of authority and relevance. For the latest products, news or events – people will remember you and also refer to you for the most up to date information. Adding keywords and anchor text in your blog will enhance keyword relevancy, thus enhancing your site credibility. Blogs provide a plethora of fresh content – search engines relish this.

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but blogging also has it’s challenges. To make it work to your advantage, you must be committed. That daunting ‘c’ word. If creating a blog for SEO purposes, refrain from the Used Car Salesman approach. Instead, create a sense of fun and lightness on your blog. Keep it factual, updated and personal. No sweat, right?

I sign up for a lot of newsletters. They keep me abreast of the latest search topics and trends, and are often great for quick reminders of things I already knew but forgot. The one thing about newsletters though – is they are written by a wide variety of people with various skill levels. In other words, take everything you read with a grain of salt.

Recently, a newsletter contained several tools for DIY SEO. The author listed as one of her favorite, favorite all-time tools Search Guild’s Keyword Difficulty Checker.

I decided to check it out. I put in a variety of keywords for clients I am working on. Every single keyword – even a one-word keyword that is competing among 30 million sites in a highly competitive shopping field, came back as “easy”, though that one actually had a difficult rating and a number. I also entered a one-word keyword in a gambling industry, also came back as “easy” with a difficulty rating of zero. Really… in gambling? I’m not even sure there IS an easy keyword in the gambling industry!

Honestly, I would never rely on this tool. A lot of factors go in to deciding how competitive a keyword is… most especially your market that you are competing in! One of the keywords I entered is in the real estate industry. Every site in the top 50 and probably the top 400 in Google is utilizing SEO. Some of the sites use aggressive anchor text and backlink methods… the majority of them use on-page ‘natural’ optimization – and one of them uses some pretty sophisticated cloaking methods. It’s a very competitive field. Taking this 4 word keyword and comparing it to – for example – search engine… and then saying that the keyword is not competitive based on this… well, I just don’t see the value.

Once you decide on your keyword selection, research it the hard way. In Google, Yahoo and MSN by looking at your competitors and the results that are being returned. That is truly the indicator of whether or not a keyword will be ‘easy’.

Just got a chance to read the article that prompted the one-year Google ban of CNET News.com. I thought the article was interesting, it certainly was thought provoking and isn’t that what journalists are supposed to do? Provoke thought and discussion? It bothers me that Google would react so strongly to a journalistic article.

I downloaded Google desktop a while ago and it lasted about one day on my computer. Perhaps I’m paranoid, but every time I entered a search in Google and saw – you have 35 documents on your computer, it freaked me out. I just could not get comfortable with it. I work on client sites for a variety of keywords, and of course, those keywords are in documents on my computer. I am tempted to try it again simply because the one built in to Windows stinks… but – combining it with search results… I just found it a little too freaky.

As Wired News states in this article – “Google is all for googling, as long as you don’t google a Google executive.”

Yahoo and Google squabble over size.

Excellent article by Danny Sullivan on this topic – Screw Size! I Dare Google & Yahoo To Report On Relevancy — Quote from the article…

I cannot believe we’re going through this again. This is Search Engine Size Wars VI, by my count. It’s absurd. It’s annoying. It’s a friggin’ waste of time. Instead of advancing to a commonly accepted relevancy figure, the search engines want to keep us mired in the mud of who’s biggest.

From an article by P.J. Fusco – A Business Case for SEM

“Very little has changed since 1996 for people who know how to do this. We get accused of not giving any search secrets away,” Hunt said. “Most algorithmic changes made by the search engines are engineered to counter over-optimization. Executing the basics will produce slow and steady growth.”

1996? Avoid over-optimization? Slow and Steady growth? Has he been reading the Mannix Marketing website? Now everybody knows our secret to success!