Creating a blog and optimizing blog post

I have been writing blog posts for over three years now. Most of my posts are non-technical as I am an online marketing professional. So, I thought, how about writing a few lines that would help techies who do not have much of idea about creating a blog and optimizing their blog post. And, here I am with few questions and answers that might help some people. I might have missed a few points, so requesting readers to add on to the list as comments below.

Below you will find basic questions that novice bloggers would ask themselves and its solution.

Q: I have chosen a blogging site, now what do I do before getting ahead with my first post.

Ans: Please follow these steps below to set up your blog account first before drafting your first post.

STEPS

1. Select a good theme – Choosing a proper theme would help you keep your visitors stuck to your blog.
2. Create RSS feed – Create a RSS feed for your blog so that, interested visitors may subscribe to your blog. Go to feedburner.com and burn your feed.
3. Create “About Me” page – This is the most important page on your blog as it will be one of the most visited pages. The “About Me” page should have a proper bio about you and what you intend to write in your blog. The “About Me” page is like a sales letter. It should motivate visitors to follow you and your blog.
4. Follow Me Links – Provide links to your personal profiles on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn etc.
5. Have a Search box – Search box for a blog is very important. This can be implemented at a later stage when you have numerous posts. But, it is wise to have it from day 1.
6. Decide your side bar wisely – Side bar in blog isn’t less important. You can keep whatever you want in your side bar. But, do remember to include your archives, category section and tags.

Q: I have written a blog post. How do I optimize it?

Ans: Please follow the below mentioned steps. Always think in the perspective of the user. What would they type in, in the search box?

Example: Let’s say a user might search for “5 tips to create an efficient Android app”. This topic would be used in the below mentioned steps as a common example.

STEPS

1. Topic Title – Blog topic title is important. URL is the first thing that is searched. Taking the above example into consideration, I might create a title like “guide to develop android apps”, “necessary steps for developing a productive android app”
2. Keywords in body – Subtle use of keywords is important in the body. Do remember not to over use keywords. For the above example we can use keywords such as “developing efficient android apps”, “developing mobile apps for android”
3. Tags for the post – Using proper tags for the keywords is the most important criteria for your blog post. Tags will make your post searchable as well. For the above example tags like “android apps”, “mobile apps” etc will not work as they would be highly competitive and your chances of coming up in search results would reduce. Use tags that best describes your post and also relate to what user might search. You can surely use them but, also use some tags that people might search like the ones in Step 2. Tagging your images is also important as Google indexes image. So, providing a proper Alternative Text for your image is important. Always remember to best describe your image.
4. Using Categories – Though it is not so important for optimizing, I would still recommend creating different categories for your blog. If, I use the above example, I would use “Android App Development” or “Android Apps” as a category. Similarly you can create your own categories depending on the topic you write.
5. Sharing – This is one of the important areas to consider. After you publish the blog post, do share with your friends and followers on various social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn (Wall/Groups), Facebook (Wall/Groups), Pinterest etc so as to gain visitor to your blog. You can also share your blog URL in various forums or similar blog posts as comments so that you get visibility.

Do not limit the importance of your blog. It is your blog, and it will flourish only when you handle it properly.