Of all of the posts I'm writing for this A to Z Challenge, this one is the most relevant for bloggers.
When I went to a one-day conference on Paths to Publication put on by Antioch Writer's Workshop, one of the presenters, Cathy Day, recommended that when we write blog posts, the title should never be oblique. It should be whatever someone would enter for a Google search if they were interested in the topic we are writing about.
And then we should add a plethora of keywords or labels to the post so the content will be more easily searchable.
Cathy Day demonstrated it in the session - and it worked.
So, if I want to attract people interested in coal towns or Appalachia or the 1930s to one of my posts about the research I'm doing for my novels, I need to put that in the title of my post and add lots of labels including Appalachian writing to every post like that. Otherwise, my readers - the people interested in my writing - will never ever find me.
Who knew it was that simple?
Good reminder!
ReplyDeleteI try to do that. I try to add good tags as well.
ReplyDeleteI also try to add the best tags I can think of. Nice advice!
ReplyDeleteI learned about titles and keywords at one of my jobs. Titles are very important as the first hook. It can turn off interest or generate it. Great advice.
ReplyDelete" It should be whatever someone would enter for a Google search if they were interested in the topic we are writing about. " I like this, very sound, very practical advice, thank you!
ReplyDeleteAndrea, #atozchallenge Mighty Minion Asset
Well put! I would like to add, simply stuffing a post full of the same group of keywords won't work anymore, in case anyone is thinking about doing that! A search-worthy title and good quality content is now the most important. Of course, the more clicks you get, the better, too, and if others like your post and link to it, it really helps. My "day job" is blogging and article-writing for marketing firms, so I've seen it change from the "put this phrase in the article 15 times" business it was just a couple of years ago!
ReplyDeleteI do make good use of labels - but probably my blog titles could improve. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat points about utilizing the right title and labels. I hope that I'm getting better at this, but it's still a work in progress.
ReplyDeleteJulie
Love it Keywords Labels... great information as you say WHO KNEW? #AtoZchallenge ☮Peace ☮ ღ ONE ℒℴνℯ ღ ☼ Light ☼ visiting from http://4covert2overt.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeletePlease visit my blog, http://www.thatgirlybookworm.blogspot.ca
I'm participating in the A-Z Challenge and my theme focuses and books and their titles, which will begin with the letter of the day.