While editing chapter 9 of the Blogger book, it struck me just how crucial good names are for a blog. Whenever I browse Blogger's blogs of note, it is the titles of the blogs that grab my attention first.
What is the key to a successful blog title? The title of your blog should explain the purpose of your blog clearly, but be short enough to type manually into a browser window and catchy enough to remember. One of my favorites is Cooking with Amy. She clearly describes the experience potential readers can expect when they visit her blog.
If you chose an awkward name for your blog, or if your blog URL no longer really fits, you can still edit the blog title and description. Changing those two items will also increase the chances of people finding you when they perform a search, and potentially improve your search engine rankings if the new title and description more closely match what your blog is about.
Friday, April 4, 2008
What's in a blog name?
Friday, February 8, 2008
Optimizing your blog for search engines
Bloggers have unique issues when it comes to search engines. We have a lot of content over time, which makes search engines happy. We also face more difficulties if we primarily post images, video, and other multimedia files. Search engines are scrambling to catch up and accommodate searches for rich media content.
Why do the search engines care?
Video, audio, and image content are extremely popular right now and search engine users are looking for better ways to find this content. The search engine that can successfully solve this problem for users will widen the opportunities for additional ad revenue. They will collect more revenue from site owners who mainly offer rich media content and want to be found, and from search engine users who are looking for the content.
What you can do in the meantime
If you create original video content, you can submit it to Yahoo!'s own video content stream and YouTube (Google). Photographers and original image creators will want to take advantage of meta-data for their work and alt image tags. Whenever you add a video or image to a blog post, try to add a descriptive message with it.
Use an RSS/alternative content service such as www.feedburner.com to package your content into different formats for visitors and other interested parties to enjoy. You will be creating additional information about your content at the same time. Useful!
These changes are happening at a rapid pace. Expect big changes over the coming months as the YouTube and Feedburner services acquired by Google mature.
