How do you know if your blog posts and web pages are optimized for search engines?

Good question… and no  easy answer… well, except for one which I’m going to share with you here!  Here are a few options for optimizing your content for search marketing:

1. Study Google and search engine optimization (time-consuming)
2. Hire an SEO person to do some optimization for your web content (expensive)
3. Become a subscriber to a service called Scribe Content Optimizer (easy, instant & affordable)

Here’s how it works. You go here, you sign up, you install it to your WordPress blog. You start using a free plug in called All-in-One SEO Pack.

You write a blog post, you fill in the information on the SEO plug in, you click the Scribe analyze button, wait a few seconds and get a review of how well your content will do with search engines. You then get a list of things you can do to raise your search engine optimization score.

Okay, seeing is better than me telling you. Here’s a snapshot of a blog post that didn’t score well, and here’s one that got a perfect score. You can see for yourself that the Scribe report tells me what I can do to raise my score, to improve my search engine optimization.

And here is a screen capture of a post that got a perfect score:

What can you learn from reviewing each post before you publish and fixing it for the search engines?

For one thing, I’ve learned that sometimes I am not clearly identifying keywords in the title or beginning paragraph, and sometimes I don’t use enough hyperlinks. Also, sometimes I will  use a keyword too often in a post. This makes search engines think that I’m keyword-stuffing.

The truth is, I simply don’t use enough alternative words and synonyms. By verifying with Scribe, I can tweak my post to make it more search engine friendly without destroying the quality of the content for readers.

Details? It costs me $27/month for the pro version and I can use it on my own blogs as well as my client blogs, the ones for whom I do ghost blogging. I can use it up to 300 times in one month, which is more than enough for my purposes.

Interested? Please use my affiliate link, here, for Scribe SEO Optimizer. You won’t regret it, it’s so easy to use and it’s a teaching genius. Soon, after a few weeks, you’ll be getting 100% perfect scores on your first try…

If you’ve ever struggled to publish a page on the Web, for example, a sales or landing page, here’s how you can use your easy WordPress blogging platform to avoid the hassles. I’ve interviewed Suzanne Bird-Harris.

Here’s how you can find out more about how to Create Great Sales Pages Using WordPress. Free audio, PDF transcript and slides available.

I hosted a teleseminar this past month and the recording is now available:

The Ultimate Traffic Formula with Michael Martine of Remarkablogger

Access to handouts, worksheets, action steps and MP3 audio file.

Information and registration here: Get More Blog Traffic $49.00

If you’re not getting good results from your online marketing, don’t miss this workshop.

There are three bonus ebooks included. You get access, for free, to Time-Saving Tips for Smart Blogging, a $39 value audio program + 23 pages of worksheets on best blogging practices.

Plus, How to Start a Business Blog and Get Them in the Door: Using Blogs, Email and Social Media for Retailers. All in all, this is a comprehensive program for any professional who wants to use the Internet to get found, get known, and get clients.

There’s nothing worse than spending time and energy writing on your blog and not reaching the very people who need your help, the ones who have the problems you solve.

I take that back, there is one thing worse, and that’s NOT to write your message at all. At least when you publish on a blog, you put it out there on the world-wide bulletin board. Eventually someone will see it, and if you do a few things right, many will see it.

In my ongoing traffic survey, www.surveymonkey.com/s/getmoreblogtraffic, more than 80% respond that they don’t have enough readers to their blog, and more than half report they’re not sure how to attract their ideal clients.

If you haven’t taken the survey yet, please do so now. I’d like to find out what your challenges are with driving traffic to your blog.

If you’re going to use a business blog to drive sales and grow business, you’ve got to tackle the traffic problem. But don’t worry, you don’t have to hire an SEO expert and spend a lot of money. You don’t have to be a techie-geek type either.

A business blog is the best darn marketing tool on the planet, but only if you use it right. I found out the long, slow hard way. I fell into blogging backwards. I randomly wrote about my favorite topics without any training about keywords, search engines, tags, etc.

I was lucky because almost immediately people began to find me, even though I’d been working online for five years already. Within a year, my list had tripled and revenues had doubled, and it has continued to grow steadily ever since. I attribute all my business growth to blogging.

When I started blogging in 2004, Facebook had barely started, Twitter didn’t exist and nobody was using LinkedIn. All that’s changed and now social media has a major impact on the way visitors find you on the Web.

Writing optimized, compelling, keyword-rich content on a blog is the quickest, least expensive, easiest way to grow sales and build your business.

Don’t do like I did. Don’t rely on random luck. If you’re going to spend time and energy blogging, do it right, do it smart. It’s not rocket science, and you’re probably not simplifying your traffic-driving tasks the way you could.

Here’s a suggestion: Take the survey and let me know what your questions and challenges are. If you don’t want to do that, leave me a comment here on this blog.

The other thing you could do (just saying) is sign up for the Get More Blog Traffic workshop I’m doing with Michael Martine May 12, 2010. There’s a fee, but what you learn could make the difference between blog success and blog oblivion. Find out more here: Get More Blog Traffic.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Webinar: How to Do Surveys to Attract, Sell, & Profit

One of the challenges with coach and consultant websites and blogs is capturing the attention, engagement and email addresses of visitors. Offering a survey or a quiz is a great way to do so, but it’s not easy to write one that is effective.

A good survey can do several things for you:

1. Gather information about your visitors
2. Find out more about what they need and want
3. Get their opinions, ideas, feedback
4. Get social proof & testimonials
5. Gauge how much they know, where the gaps are
6. Hold their attention long enough for them to remember you
7. Make them think (i.e. get them involved and engaged with you)

Here’s another crucial piece of information you’ll need to be aware of: new FTC rulings making many of us afraid that we can’t get the proof we need to bring new clients in and keep the clients we have.

If you’re not sure what the FTC rulings mean for you and your marketing, and want to learn more about surveys and quizzes, don’t miss the Webinar I’m leading with Jeanne Hurlbert, Ph.D., MySurveyExpert.com.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

3 p.m. ET

Register here (will be recorded):

How to Do Surveys to Attract, Sell, & Profit

You will receive a free report when you register:  “How to Avoid the Top 10 Survey Mistakes That Cost Marketers Millions, and Double Your Profits in 90 Days or Less.”

We had some people who  missed the webinar on JournalEngine, and many people had questions. We’ve decided to host a teleseminar this coming Tuesday March 2 at 4 p.m. ET. If you’re curious about adding new profit streams to your coaching business, don’t miss this. Attend (for free) a teleseminar with Marc Manieri and find out about JournalEngine. Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 4 p.m. ET. Registration page here: JournalEngine Teleseminar (will be recorded).

Why You Should Attend: Read this post: Multiple Pathways to Online Profits

Are you adding video clips to your blog and website? Here’s what you need to know. Right now, video has a great chance of getting you first page listings when a prospect does a search on the Internet.

Let me repeat: Video helps your search engine rankings.

It’s true. I won’t go into the techy details, but at least for now, the field is wide open. A short video clip, even if it’s not spectacular, has a great chance of coming up in search results.

Check out this page: iFlashVideo (there’s no cost to join list to find out more).

The eye is attracted to images, and really attracted to moving images. Which means you need to capture your business and your personality on video. And it’s easier than you might think, no expensive equipment necessary.

But the window of opportunity won’t stay open for long. Those coaches and consultants who put a professional-quality video onto their sites will have a clear advantage in getting found by the people they can help.

“They”… I mean “YOU!” But what’s a busy professional to do?

I suggest you sign up to find out more about a special video membership service with the folks at iFlashVideo.com.

Right now, would be a good time to sign up for a video membership service called iFlashVideo.com, before it closes on Monday, February 15, 2010.

There’s no fee to get on the list, and no obligation to join. But you do have to get on the list to get the information that explains what’s involved.

They aren’t being secretive about the costs: $149 to join, and $49/month for a new video clip. If you decide to join, that’s fine. But you won’t get the chance unless you’re on their list when the doors open sometime on Monday, February 15, 2010. They have a limited number of memberships that will be available.

Sign up using my affiliate link, please. They are running some kind of crazy leads contest and I could win a TV or a computer, or maybe an Amazon gift card. You know how I love books!

It won’t cost you anything to find out more about this, and then you can easily take yourself off the list if you’re not interested. I’ve used iFlashVideo and know they are honest and won’t use your email for anything other than this membership launch next week.

They did the video showing on my home page here, and now I’ll be changing it out each month thanks to their service. All I have to do is supply a script and they do the rest. This saves me a ton of time.

Don’t worry about all the many new online marketing tools that can overwhelm you. Just do the big important things for your online presence. Video is not only hot, it’s smart. Next to blogging, it’s the smartest thing you can do to get found, get known, and get clients with the Internet.