Want more blog traffic? Think "Keywords"

Keywords are the grabbers that search engines sort and rank. Your blog topics should fit popular keywords, depending on your foucs. whether science, dieting, philosophy, or celebrities, your keywords help your blog rise in the search engine rankings.

Google, long known for their algorithms, has just made a sweeping improvement. The result for you is better exposure. One of the sites I follow, FreelanceSwitch.com, reports:

"This freshness change will impact 35% of searches. What will happen is when a user types a phrase into the Google search engine the most recent content will be returned first. Google has always attempted to provide searchers with the latest results, but their old algorithm methods had an impact of approximately 17.5% in the past."

So, if you want more blog readers, post more and know the words and phrases people use when find information similar to yours.
You'll have higher search rankings now, so use it to your advantage.

Okay, here's a sample:  If you want to learn more about social media, especially social media for beginners, jump over to Amazon and purchase "Blog Power & Social Media Handbook" the social media how-to, available in softcover for $12.

Eye pattern movement in online reading

We formerly thought people scanned the computer screen, when reading web pages, with eye movements following the shape of the letter C or a backward Z.

Now, fast-forward to F patterns of screen viewing.

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

The above link will take you to more info on these interesting images, and the project's author suggestion of what it means for you. If you want pepole who glance at your web page to find the critical content, put it where they will see it.

• Users won't read your text thoroughly in a word-by-word manner. Exhaustive reading is rare, especially when prospective customers are conducting their initial research to compile a shortlist of vendors. Yes, some people will read more, but most won't.

• The first two paragraphs must state the most important information. There's some hope that users will actually read this material, though they'll probably read more of the first paragraph than the second.

• Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with information-carrying words that users will notice when scanning down the left side of your content in the final stem of their F-behavior. They'll read the third word on a line much less often than the first two words. 

Read full analysis here: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

from Poynter.org on LinkedIn

Get more value out of LinkedIn by following the suggestions here on the Poynter.org "Ask The Recuiter" blog. Details include use of Signal - a free LinkedIn feature:

"One of LinkedIn’s cool, free tools is Signal, which helps LinkedIn users extract more value from the growing amount of content on the careers site and Twitter accounts by helping users slice and dice a tsunamic newsfeed down to a stream they actually can use.

It works like this: There is a “Search Updates” window just under the “What should your network know?” window near the top of the screen. Type in the term you are interested in, and LinkedIn will extract all the relevant messages from its general newsfeed. With 70 million users in 150 industries, there is a lot in that general feed.

When you click after the search term, it will open up a three column-page with the  selected posts running down the main central column. Headlines on that subject, passed along by others, are in the right rail. The left rail lets you refine your search further."

BlogHer Conference in Chicago: July 23-25, 2009

Here are the details on the BlogHer Conference for Chicago this summer.

BlogHer '09 will be at the The Chicago Sheraton and Towers from July 23-25, 2009. We will kick off on Thursday July 23rd with out third annual BlogHer Business Conference, and will continue with the two-day 5th annual BlogHer Annual Conference on Friday and Saturday, July 24-25.

If you're a semi-pro1 blogger, and you are if you've paid attention to my workshops these last few years!) come and see what the online blogging life does to people once they show up in a group of thousands enjoying all Chicago has to offer. It's a chance to "celebrate blogging, whether personal, professional or political, has brought us real work, real friends, real satisfaction and is most definitely a significant part of our real life!" - Read more on their site.

Cross-posted at CClarity.blogspot.com