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3 Reasons You Need To Focus On SEO!

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Focus On SEO

One of the most popular topics when it comes to blogging is personal relationships and networking, so I hope I don’t tread of too many toes with this post but I think a lot of bloggers are letting their ego’s get the better of them – and it is costing them!

Now, I am not saying that networking isn’t worthwhile – because it is! And when it comes to personal relationships, they can be absolute gold!

What worries me is that bloggers are more worried about their thousands of Twitter followers (who probably never read their tweets) and comment counts, than they are with quality traffic that will drive profit.

SEO Has A Stigma With Bloggers

Blogging is about passion and communication, and SEO is seen as impersonal and detracting from the message they are trying to convey. It doesn’t have to be that way and I want to look at 3 reasons you need to give some focus to the search engines.

3 Reasons To Focus On SEO

  1. SEO Traffic Is Passive Traffic

    The thing I love about the traffic that I receive from search engines is that I don’t have to do anything to keep it coming. I have a niche blog that I haven’t posted to or promoted for months – yet it consistently receives 70-100 visits a day. This means that it leaves me time to duplicate my efforts instead of focusing on keeping the traffic to my site flowing.

    How much would your blogging experience improve if you didn’t need to work so hard to get visitors to your blog? I think you would enjoy it a lot more!

  2. SEO Traffic Brings Targeted Traffic

    Another great thing is your ability to target viewers based on what they are looking for at that very moment. The problem I have with relying on social traffic is that your subscribers and Twitter followers are reading your posts because they like you and your writing. I would bet that 90+% of your readers are not looking for the content that you are publishing -when you publish it. But with search engine optimization you can be right their for them when you content is ready to answer their questions.

    Are you looking to entertain your readers or to solve their problems and answer their questions?

  3. SEO Traffic Is Ready To Spend Money

    And since the majority of people visit the search engines to find answers to their questions – if you target the right keywords they will most likely arrive at your blog with the wallets out ready to pay for the answer to their problems!

    I have found from personal experience that when I make an affiliate commission, it is NOT from the initial flood of social traffic. It will usually come from well place keywords and systematic optimization that has allowed me to get targeted search traffic.

Now I am not trying to tell you that we all have to become automated, emotionless bloggers that solely care about gaining traffic from search engines at the sake of our readers!

Instead I want to encourage you to find a happy medium.

Where you are:

  • Finding great keywords for your articles and working them in so that they fit fluently into your content.
  • Taking advantage of cheap link building strategies and internal linking to increase your ranking.
  • Make sure your articles are always providing quality to your readers.

I think that as bloggers we can find that balance where our content is pure to our readers and still put emphasis on SEO.

What Do You Think?

Filed Under: SEO

About

Tom is an Australian blogger that is currently researching and trialing the opportunity created by outsourcing jobs overseas. If you are interested in learning more about what he has learnt, you can download his latest free ebook GEO Arbitrage, which explains it all in an easy to read format.

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{ 52 Responses }

  1. Rae says:
    This reasons are really awesome. you never miss on pointing up this informative post. Focusing in seo is indeed very helpful.
  2. jhon says:
    If a website is optimized under a particular keyword, it really gives business to the owner of the site and this traffic is relevant traffic. Relevant traffic always generate revenue
  3. Karan Labra says:
    Well According to me a synonym for SEO2.0 would be Google Optimization lolz. The importance of Search engine optimization is unquestionable.
  4. Jason says:
    "The thing I love about the traffic that I receive from search engines is that I don’t have to do anything to keep it coming." - you're right about that. Organic search engine traffic is where it's at (provided you can get any).
  5. TJ McDowell says:
    Yea, I'm thinking definitely both SEO and also community. The people in your community will likely be the ones you're getting quality links from. You may also be guest posting on their blogs for SEO. They'll be the ones most likely to comment on your blog posts so it doesn't seem like you've got no audience at all. I think most people are for SEO, I know I'm a huge fan. I just think we need a balance. SEO doesn't happen in a vacuum. You need your links from somewhere, and what better place than on sites that are relevant and develop community. Agree or disagree?
  6. Tinh says:
    Targeted traffic is what we need and most of successful marketer has mastered Adwords to bring targeted traffic :-) SEO can help us get more than 95% of total traffic
  7. bryan says:
    Hey Tom, I like the first point when you write about getting passive traffic from search engines from SEO and you don't have to do anything. Hmm, somehow this point is like a kick in the butt to make this happen for my blog. Thanks for writing this post!
  8. Thina Doukas says:
    Great post Tom! We have built our backlinks steadily which has helped our keywords get ranked. SEO is vital for blogging so you can create the passive searches via Google and other major players. I consider your backlinks as an asset you cant afford not to have! Continued effort without spamming will surely move you up!
  9. Robyn from Sam's Web Guide says:
    I agree with what you're saying Tom. Visitors from search engines are specifically seeking a solution and if your site is optimized correctly and provides the right information / products then you will satisfy the need of the searcher. Through SEO we can target specific groups and profiles of readers.
  10. Alex Whalley says:
    What can I say man!? Brilliant Thomas! Awesome to see the standout bloggers and the famous bloggers unite LOL! Really great take on SEO - seriously brought a new perspective to the table. Tricky to do with SEO so kudos my friend :)
  11. tushar says:
    i have not learnt SEO till date and seriously need to learn these issues fast.... can anyone here post any good tutorial on basic SEO
    • Pankaj Gupta says:
      You can read Search Engine Optimization section in my blog and I am sure it will help you.
  12. Pankaj Gupta says:
    SEO really works great if you have posted original contents. You will get so many visitors on your posts based on different keywords from Google and more important things is that all those keywords will be already present in the posts. Every months I am getting thousands on different keywords that is boosting my traffic :)
  13. Pritam says:
    Great Tips. We should really care for the SE traffic but we should not twist the contents or place the keywords unnecessary to irritate the readers. What I do is I write all my articles in a natural way and then try to insert the keyword with the natural flow.
  14. Robin says:
    Absolutely the best 3 highlights of SEO. i started focus on SEO and can see the growth in my monthly revenue. Its like 300+ USD first month and it peaks to 1000 USD in second month :) i am so happy and reading lot of books related to SEO now. :) I believe in it actually. Thanks for the great share.
  15. Mark says:
    Hey Tom, As you know I've recently become SEO OCD!!! I know that ranking for keywords is important, and having a readable content is important too. What I've tried to adapt is my writing style so that I can obviously include the keywords in the prominent H tags, as well as throughout the body of my post. Most importantly, without reducing readability, but maintaining SEO requirements. I agree with your points made about SE traffic being targeted and buyer traffic. Sounds perfect for any internet marketer! I know my own blog needs an SEO overhaul - the core of my readers are fellow bloggers, rather than SE visitors.
  16. Brian says:
    Great article Tom, I am an avid supporter of SEO. It's the majority of what I blog about and I probably focus on it a little more than I need to. There is one thing that I have noticed through the traffic received through SEO: It's great for a steady stream, but it doesn't build a community or help take articles viral. People using search engines are normally looking for an answer. When the find it, they leave. It's your community and fellow bloggers that help support through linking and promoting. It is definitely site dependent, but normally the best strategy will hold a quality balance between the two. (Though I'll probably always find myself slightly leaning SEO)
  17. Dina says:
    Woaaaaaah! I am a honest person when it comes to commenting :) This is a great post, and i absolutely agree. SEO traffics is wanted by most of bloggers, but it needs some efforts. Thanks for the great tips.
  18. Chadrack says:
    Frankly you hit this on the head! I discovered this long time and what I do is write my content based on keywords after doing some researched but make sure it also appeal to my regular blog readers. In a word, I try to kill 2 birds with a stone! :)
  19. Latief says:
    Agree with you bro, especially number 3. That's why people need to hire an seo expert ;) Thanks for sharing
  20. Dennis Edell says:
    Good read Tom, and excellent to see you out and about some. ;) This is exactly why I've firmly decided to outsource my SEO. Personally, I've never given 2-hoots about it; yes I've always been in favor of reader usability over anything else. However, I do now it is important. I've always been the *comment commando*, lol, but as I grow the idea of diversifying my promotional efforts is very appealing. To this end, a considerable amount of "autopilot search traffic" would work wonders. Regardless though, humans are still #1, which is why whoever gets the SEO position will have fairly strict instructions on not screwing with my "voice" as best as possible. ;)
  21. Slava says:
    Tom, it really depends on what you mean by focus... "Pay attention to titles" - good, "put all your efforts into SEO" - bad. Take a look at big guys - they don't care for SEO - it's already there for them, because they have great content that will spread out and grow links immediately. They didn't focus all their thought on correct headlines and keyword usage - they did what they think would be most useful for their readers, SEO ensued. IMHO.
  22. Andreas says:
    A big reason to focus on SEO is the cost-benefit factor. You already start to get free highly targeted traffic from spending some time on on-page SEO. By applying basic on-page SEO, You'll automatically pass all competitors who neglect this area.
  23. John says:
    I agree with you Steve but There are some people who have an incredible knack for writing seo copy. If you have that knack you can make miracles happen.
  24. Andy says:
    Passive, targeted traffic that wants to give me money? Sounds brilliant to me.
  25. Lennart Heleander says:
    Hi Tom, Reply to your answer: Sorry Tom, I don’t agree with you. Focus on SEO means: First do you plan a series of 5-10 articles that you going to write about in the same niche so they can connect with each other in text and links between each other. Second, you find 15-20 most popularly keywords and build Titles for the articles. That’s the start ground when you focus on SEO.
  26. Doc Sheldon says:
    Great piece, Tom! I agree with the general tone of your post, but disagree somewhat with your notion that SEO has a stigma attached to it in the eyes of bloggers. Let's be realistic... it's in the eyes of MOST folks out there. As an SEO, even I'm not real impressed with the majority of SEO practitioners. Seems like the majority have only learned how to SPELL it, not practice it. Their clients suffer for their ignorance, and instead of blaming one particular crap-hatter, they tell all their friends that SEOs are a ripoff. For the bloggers that don't monetize their sites, SEO won't do much. It might bring them a little traffic, and a few of those visitors might even stick, if the content is good. The folks that can definitely benefit are those that are making money on their blogs... or trying to. And since the majority of the blogs in the world are running WordPress, they have access to plug-ins like All-in-One-SEO, which while far from perfect, does a decent job at the basic stuff. Another option is Platinum SEO, which takes things a step further. Either will help a lot, while the blogger goes about learning SEO, until they can implement it manually. If a person is going to try to make money with a site, where a blog or not, it pays to get more targeted traffic. I've seen sites that actually had the unique visitor count DROP after an SEO campaign was begun, but conversion went up dramatically. THAT'S what SEO can do!
  27. The Bad Blogger says:
    first of all, I believe no one here knows what is going on in Google, believe it or not, every SINGLE day, Google is changing their rules bit by bit, you can say you received traffic from search engine by about 100 to 200.. when you say that, you did better be true because no one knows if you are telling the true because Alexa is able to check which keyword you are been targeted... If Alexa is not right I do not know which site is right...
  28. Patricia says:
    Really helpful post for this newbie blogger Tom. Great to bump into a fellow Aussie too :-) I have read so much on SEO and try to follow what I am being taught by more experienced bloggers. It seems to be working as the traffic is increasing each week. I am in a small niche so maybe that helps too. Hopefully once I monetize my blog in a few weeks it will continue. Patricia Perth Australia
  29. Mark Walker says:
    I really like your post. I think SEO is an effective way to generate visits and leads. The problem is why is it so hard. There are so many mixed strategies that it's hard to follow just one.
  30. Murlu says:
    SEO is one of those tools that are essential for any blogging arsenal but never forget to build that community as well. A side blog of mine pulls in about 20k visitors a month now because nearly every piece of content is very SEO friendly but at the same time it lacks community - I know a lot of it is on my end but it was just a year or two of focusing mainly on SEO so it didn't really give people a reason to interact beyond reading the article, ya know? You can get the traffic there with SEO but never forget to go the extra mile to make it stick :P
  31. Rick LaPoint says:
    There is often, if not always, a trade-off between writing for people and writing for machines. I have written pieces, and then gone back to edit specifically for the algorithm. Other times I wrote and edited for no other reason than to have an interesting, informative, and entertaining article. The compromise I have come up with is that some articles are specifically written for the purpose of Selling and/or generating Traffic. With those I make sure all my on-page SEO is there, and will tweak until my various software tools give me the Thumbs Up. With the other articles, I want them to flow in a more "natural" way. If the keywords are there in the right places at the correct density, that's great. If not, I don't worry about it. I'm not a Borg, and I don't want people to see me as such. There are times it's important for prospects and clients to see a more subtle, creative, intuitive side to you. To simplify what I'm saying, Write for your audience, whether machine or flesh & blood. Rick
  32. AJ says:
    I love how you refer to search engine traffic as "passive". It is a very good way of describing it. I have gotten my main website wpexplorer.com up to 2,500 visits/day from search engines alone, this means that now I can focus my efforts on creating a new site for the next couple weeks and not have to worry too much about marketing for my older site. Sure social marketing provides a really great way to get traffic, but search engine traffic is definitely the best traffic to have. If your site is well optimized and you have quality backlinks this search engine traffic will also be highly-targeted and generate better profits/click-through rates. However, I would change "cheap link building" to Free link building (not counting your time of course). Because you should never buy or sell links.
  33. Ryan Biddulph says:
    Hi Tom, This is super vital advice which networkers tend to ignore. SEO = targeted traffic. As you note generating targeted traffic is a fine way to generate passive income and nobody wants to be tweeting or FBing 24-7, 365. Thanks for sharing your insight and have a fun day! Ryan
  34. Thomas Sinfield says:
    You are right Steve! SEO should never be done in a way that it harms the readers experience. I follow a strategy that is similar to yours - content first, then optimise!
  35. Lennart Heleander says:
    Hi Tom, When I have found out what I’m going write about, do I always starting to found the right and most popularly key words witch I use in the title. This is the hardest work, to get the right keywords and the title. In the text with a minimum of 200-250 words do I repeat the Title keywords 3 times each. That’s SEO.
    • Thomas Sinfield says:
      That sounds about Right Lennart. I don't really have a hard and fast rule for keyword density. I just use the keyword as it fit's into my content.
  36. Moon Hussain says:
    Thomas, great post! This is something that I'm not that good at but you're right: SEO will pay off for the long run. I will keep these tips in mind and hopefully will find some time to optimize some of my worth posts.
    • Thomas Sinfield says:
      That's it Moon! It may require a little extra work at the start, but the long term effects are well worth it.
  37. Ileane says:
    Hi Tom. Great points in favor of practicing SEO for people that are making money on their websites, and I think this advice can benefit other bloggers as well. I like the idea of passive traffic but one must be very pro-active in order to get it.
    • Thomas Sinfield says:
      Exactly Ileane! And that just takes a little pre-planning at the start of your post writing.
  38. Trevor B. Reed says:
    Great post Tom. I completely agree that there seems to be a stigma associated with SEO and as far as I am concerned it is completely unfounded. There are two ways to look at it. 1) SEO is used to trick search engines into sending more traffic your way, barely works and will eventually get you in hot water with those search engines anyway. 2) Use SEO in conjunction with search engines to get the best information in front of the people who are searching for it. Too many people get hung up on the idea of gaming search engines. It won't work and it will probably get your website banned from Google. If you are writing great content and making genuine connections, a little SEO and keyword research can go a log way to helping gain some quality traffic to your non-spam website.
    • Thomas Sinfield says:
      I couldn't agree more Trevor! All we can do is optimise our content - while gaming is possible to some degree, if you focus on smart SEO you will create content that both your readers and Google love.
  39. Ana says:
    Certainly 3 great reasons to respect, Tom. One thing I would disagree upon is the fact that SEO has a stigma with bloggers. I think the root of the problem is much shallower than that - most bloggers don't have a clue about implementing SEO on their blogs. It's much easier for them to think that SEO is way too difficult and time-consuming to learn and so they easily give that advantages away to their competition. I hope these 3 right on the point reasons will make them think twice. Ana Hoffman
    • Thomas Sinfield says:
      Great point Ana, I never really saw it as an excuse - but I think you are right!
  40. Steve says:
    I agree with you. About 95%. SEO should always be looked and and attempted. I am sure you would agree though that it should not be done to a point that hurts the content, though. Personally I find it best to write the article with only a little bit of SEO in mind. Then go back and see if I can edit in a few keywords while keeping the article, "flow". Hopefully this method creates the best of both worlds. An articles that is SEO compliant and has a shot to rank decently. And an article that seems really natural and powerful.