META Tags

META Tags, or simply referred to as “tags,” are small hidden pieces of
code which tell the search engines what your blog is about. Basically
tags are just a listing of keywords which your visitors don’t see but the
search engine’s indexers do. Tags are used to help the search engines
index a website better without being visible and distracting to your
readers.

If for instance you have a blog on photography, then you might want
to add a group of tags such as: photography, photo, photography
studio, pictures, prints, portrait, camera, film, etc… You want your
tags to stick to your specific topic of your blog, but you also want to
include all the possible words someone could search on and find your
blog. These tags help get your blog indexed for all of the words
included in the tags.


Unlike other blogging software, Blogger does not contain an easy way
to add tags to your blog. Some blog formats do, Blogger happens to
be one which doesn’t. However, it is possible to generate tags for
your Blogger blog by using another website and then cutting and
pasting a bit of code into your template. (Similar to what we did for
AdSense.) It is very simple and free to do. And it is advisable that
you do put tags on your blog posts. Anything which will help with your
search engine optimization you should spend the time and make sure
you do it.


Some popular tag sites include de.licio.us and www.technorati.com.
Signing-up for either site is very simple and free. Once you have
registered then you can generate the tag code for your Blogger blog
and simply paste it into your blog template.


Once you have the code you will want to paste it into your template by
going to your blog’s template. First back up your blog’s template just
in case you do not like the changes, and then paste the tag code after
the place in your template which says:



<$BlogMetaData$>


By pasting your tag code here, each time you post a message to your
blog the search engines also get a copy of all of your tagged keywords
added on to the bottom of it. Even if for some reason your blog post
doesn’t mention your keywords the tags will! This means that if you
have a blog on Christmas but you choose to talk about your family
pets in your post, the indexers will still get Christmas as one of your
keywords, because they get it from the tags.

Search Engine Optimization

Once you have your blog established and are working to get the most
traffic to visit it as possible, you will invariably hear about search
engine optimization, or as it is commonly referred to - SEO. While
search engine optimization sounds pretty daunting, it really is a pretty
simple process to understand. Being mindful of SEO can bring your
blog more visitors, and thus generate more income for you by those
visitors clicking on your AdSense ads.


This eBook will cover the basics on SEO, but know that just like the
actual workings of a search engine; entire books can be written on the
topic! And, as an added frustration, the search engines do not release
exactly how they process their information and index. This means that
everyone trying to optimize their sites for the search engines is doing
a fair amount of guessing and trial and error to see what works for
them.


When looking for something specific online you invariably go to your
favorite search engine and put in the keywords to search for whatever
it is you are looking for. For example, if you want to buy a new golf
club you would likely go to www.google.com and type in “golf club” in
the search box.


Google, the search engine, would then return you a listing of probably
a million or more pages of possibilities. The first website you see on
the search results page is the page ranked #1 with Google; the second
result has the #2 ranking, and so on down the list. With search
engine optimization your main goal is to get to as near the top as
possible of the results pages when someone searches on the keywords
for your blog topic. You want to be on that first page of search engine
results.


When a visitor does a search through a search engine and then clicks
through to your site from there they are referred to as “natural” or
“organic” visitors. They got to your website by a “natural” search
engine search and not through another form of advertising you have
done. Search engine optimization is all about getting you the most
natural visitors to your site as possible. Why? Because these natural
visitors come to you without you doing any work and then click on
your AdSense ads. This gives you the best form of passive income
possible!


The key to good search engine optimization is getting the highest
ranking possible with the least amount of extra work on your part.
When someone searches Google for the keyword which is the topic of
your blog, you want your blog to show up on that first page of results,
nearest to the top as possible. While the search engines use very
complicated and secret algorithms to create their rankings, there are
some simple things you can do to help get your blog up nearer to the
top. You should be posting on your topic and often, building links,
using good keywords and keyword density, tagging your posts and
pinging regularly. Let’s take a moment and look at each of these
suggestions in more detail.

Back-links Bring Traffic to Your Blog

One of the best ways to bring up your search engine rankings, and
bring traffic to your blog, is by having a lot of back-links. A back-link
is a link on someone else’s website to your blog. There are many
ways to get back-links to your blog, you can write and submit articles
to directories and other websites, you can write and submit a press
release online, or you can simply post comments on other blogs which
will then link back to your blog. Other ways to get back-links is to link
all of your blog to one another and to link up with other blogger’s sites
for the mutual benefit of all of you.
blog,