Series 6: Getting Noticed on Google

Series 6: Getting Noticed on Google
(The following is part of a series of reviews on web 2.0, web design, and social media books. It will be a 9 part series. Each review is structured to provide a brief summary of the books along with some application to current course assignments for a Web 2.0 Production course taught by Dr. Sorin Matei, Purdue University.) [Cross-posted on ConsumerMixx]

Summary
Ok, so you have managed to start a blog and have actually written a few posts. Now what? This is exactly what I was thinking right after I finalized my blog design and topic. How on earth will I get people to visit my site? Well, besides doing my own word-of mouth tactics, I would really like for people to be able to search for my blog. It’s not that I want to have thousands of readers, but I do want more than just my mom, boyfriend, and few colleagues reading and contributing. Ben Norman’s book, Getting Noticed on Google, helped me do just that. The book provides very “easy to follow” guidelines on how to optimize your site to be used with a search engine, track the traffic on your site, and even how to make a little bit of money using advertisements. I learned six things that I was able to implement fairly easily on my site and that have already helped me gain traffic.

1. Google Analytics
Ok first, this is really cool. Analytics allows you to track the visitors to your site. You can see unique visitors, the browser they used, how many pages they viewed and more. Plus it’s free!

2. The Sitemap
In order for Google’s robots to search your site, you need to provide a sitemap. This basically provides an index of your site in text format that helps the Google robots do their thing. Norman explains the significance of having one with just a few words. He even outlines some of the benefits. Having a sitemap can help you:

• Monitoring performance of your site
• Learning how to bring traffic to your site
• Diagnosing potential problems with your site

Sitemaps are extremely easy for you. There’s actually no work. If you are using WordPress for your blog like me, then you can just download a simple plugin to do it all for you.

3. Keywords, keywords, keywords
I found this to be one of the most challenging aspects of ‘getting noticed on Google.’ If you don’t pick the right keywords, then you will never show up in the top search results? So how do you pick the right ones? Norman provides advice on choosing keywords and even walks the reader through a very detailed example using a tool called Web CEO. I personally found that it was easier to do the exercises on my own, but I did download the tool and play around with it. Check out Chapter 3 for more tips and tricks to choosing the right keywords. You don’t want to mess this up.

4. It’s all about design
You have taken the time and energy to make your site design user-friendly, but you still are lacking users. You don’t want all of this work to be in vain. Norman tells readers that they should take the time to design your site for ease of navigation, but also for Google. Be unique, but also be consistent and simple enough for the Google robots to be able to scan your site and present it to potential visitors. Some key things to remember:

• Good clean, clear content will increase the chance of Google finding your site relevant and that other sites will link to you.
• Always structure your pages in an organized manner.
• Use the keywords that you spent so much time developing on your site consistently.

Check out Chapter 6 for more tips.

5. Optimization is key!
Website optimization sounds scarier than it really is. The tools and services from Google work best when your site is tip-top shape. Remember to review your site on a regular basis to make sure there are no broken links, misspelled or misleading copy, all images are displaying (in various browsers) , and that your have tacked spam if it has reared it’s ugly head. In the book, Norman provides readers with a pretty good do’s and don’ts list of optimization. If I were you and you are serious about this whole blogging thing then I would take this list, print it out, and keep it someplace close and easily accessible. (See Chapter 7)

Now go out, buy the book and get started making your site work for you. Go on, use Google’s tools and services to make your blogging dreams come true!

Reference
Norman, B. (2008). Getting noticed on Google. Warwickshire, United Kingdom: In Easy Steps Limited.