This post is the fourth in the Benefits of Blogging series, where I will cover the many benefits of blogging, for bloggers and readers.
One of the advantages some bloggers may not think about when they are promoting their blogs is the amount of SEO and internet marketing skills they are developing in the process.
What SEO & Internet Marketing Skills Do You Know?
Chances are, you have done one or more of the following for your blog:
- Considered important keywords for the title of your posts
- Installed SEO related plugins (Platinum SEO, All in One SEO Pack)
- Found people online who are interested in topics related to your blog
- Created a large audience on social networks
- Shared your posts on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Delicious, etc.
- Encouraged others to bookmark posts on social bookmarking networks with socialble plugins and icons (such as the ones at the end of this post)
- Commented on DoFollow blogs
- Submitted to directories
- Created a sitemap to submit to major search engines
- Installed and monitored traffic statistics, including referral sites, then used that data to re-tune your keywords or re-direct your social network focus
- Monitored the Page Rank, Alexa Rank, Yahoo backlinks, and other statistics for your blog
- Monitored the search engine rankings of your blog for various keywords
- Kept up to date with the latest in SEO, social media and internet marketing news
All of these things are important to SEO agencies and internet marketing. The above covers such skills as keyword analysis, website optimization, social media marketing, internet marketing, link building and more.
Frank at Techjaws even points out in an article entitled SEO Experts Don’t Know Jack that…
There are many bloggers who pay close attention to the basics of SEO. These same people are passionate about what they do and they need a way to measure their effectiveness.
And he even gave specific reference to this site, saying that…
Kikolani.com – A blog that has an Alexa rank of 57K and a Google Pagerank 4. This blog is only 13 months old and look how well it’s performing. Kristi, the owner and author of Kikolani.com will tell you she is not an SEO expert, but she is probably more capable than many of the so-called SEO experts.
What Can You Do With These Skills?
So now that you realize you do have some of these skills under your belt thanks to blogging, what can you do with them outside of marketing your blog?
If you have a business, know someone who has a business, or work for a business that could use some website promotion, use your blog as your portfolio and show how you could apply some of the above mentioned techniques to another website. Show them the value of being closer to the top of search engine results, or the amount of traffic they may gain from a bit of social networking.
With the economy in the state that it is in, small businesses especially do not have the kind of cash flow to pay some major SEO company to overhaul their website. So they would be more open to having a freelance person that they know do some optimization work with keywords, link building, traffic analysis, etc. You could even create a simple SEO report to sell.
If you’re not concerned about getting cash, consider working on a trade basis. Maybe you have always wanted to take yoga classes and know the owner of a yoga studio or a yoga instructor that could benefit from your help. If you are a good samaritan and know of a friend that is just starting out a business, you can offer to help them get a jump on their internet exposure. And if you are not really interested in helping businesses, you could simply help another blogger in gaining an greater audience for their writing.
Your SEO & Internet Marketing Experience?
Now it’s your turn. What expertise have you developed thanks to blogging, and have you been able to apply them elsewhere?
Related Posts- Benefits of Blogging – Gaining a Worldwide Audience
- Benefits of Blogging – Becoming an Authority
- Benefits of Blogging – Building a Community
- Benefits of Blogging – Enhance Learning & Strengthen Interests
- 560 Resources for Blogging, Online Marketing, and Starting a Business
This post brought to you by Kristi Hines
Kristi is a blogger, freelance writer, online marketing consultant, and social media enthusiast. Connect with me on Twitter and Google+.
Kristi has written 454 awesome article(s) for Kikolani.
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{ 42 comments }
Thought you were @ work Blogging during work hours is a violation
LOL
I better hurry up
John Sullivans last blog post..Link building
Great article Kristi! I’ve been working at the SEO aspect and these points are very helpful. Love this series on blogging.
Great article, I like the idea of using my blog as a portfolio. Of course I will have to bring my blog traffic levels and rankings up just a bit more before I start talking to business owners. I stumbled and tweet this article. Thanks for sharing.
Deneil Merritts last blog post..Are You Sick Of Seeing Me Everywhere?
In the last weeks i think about starting my own Business-Blog. Your article convinced me even more to start. With a blog and Portals like Twitter everbody can reach more visitors.
You are right that companies are opting for freelance SEOs over companies to save money. Currently I am doing work for a national company here in the UK and saving them nearly 400% over what they were paying for an agency for the same work.
Had not thought of how running a blog could teach someone so much about SEO. I know a certain SEO company who don’t know some of the things on your list.
David Hopkinss last blog post..mod_rewrite Quick Reference and Cheat Sheet
Blogging has really taught me a lot not only about SEO but about websites in general – i.e. how to set up hosting, tweak the different options, setting up and managing the email on your domain, and so on. As you said, there is definitely a move from hiring agencies to hiring individuals/freelancers for web related services and this is putting a lot of strain on web marketing companies to keep their clients in the face of such competition.
Hi Kristi,
I would have to say promoting other blogs, is one of my favorite things to do. I have passed business cards on to clients from friends and associates during my day job.
So I would compare featuring authors the same as giving someone a business card.
bunnygotblogs last blog post..Advertising Towards Dummies – Teenage Illusions
Blogging helps you learn to write. As what they say, when you start you don’t have to be good, but to be good you have to start. With good discipline, blogging helps you to progressively improve your writing… and that’s a way to go as far as the net is concerned – until the day Google starts to interpret images, audio and video.
Yeah that is really true. I’m learning a lot thanks to blogging. And you have to love what you are doing.
RED VIEWPOINT dot COM | Regies last blog post..My Ubuntu 9.04 CD has arrived
Thanks Kristi for sharing these helpful information. One of the most important thing is Quality and Fresh content for a successful blog.
Thanks
Yogesh
Yogesh Gautams last blog post..51 SEO points for OnPage Optimization
Really Informative. Blogging is one of the best ways to use as our portfolio.
yaa Kristi,
this is 100% true for blogging Fresh Content and should be informative the main key of blogging and one more important thing internet marketing skills is very well describe i want add one more point here need to ensure that all your pages have actually been optimized, being with seeing that all pages have unique titles!!! honestly nice post Kristi thanks for sharing!!!
SEO Companys last blog post..MYCHOICE24
Great post.
I have learnt lots of things. The important one is the SEO part. I am getting good results. But as you said, one can convert this into a small business by showing our blog as the base.
Nihars last blog post..New GMail Account requires Mobile number to activate it!
I think Blogging is definitely useful, not only from an seo stand point but also for bringing your massage across. I think if you planning to sell something on internet as a publisher for an affiliate product a Clickbank market place is a great place to start. A program called Clickbank Cash was just released that teaches how to make money from Clickbank. I think this course is good, take a look at this program.
Wonderful post to let other fellow bloggers realize, that even they can do wonders without being an SEO expert. What they need is knowing there topic, good content, right social networking strategy in place. I specifically liked the “If you’re not concerned about getting cash, consider working on a trade basis.” past, I actually never thought about it, Awesome !!
Veda Blog
Great article!
“Created a sitemap to submit to major search engines”- a lot of bloggers about it don’t think, but it’s very important!
Thank You for sharing!
Kristi,
Great read and I hope your fans will walk a way a bit more knowledge, I am sure they will.
Frank Js last blog post..Free SEO Analysis Tool
Nice Post!
The Internet provides great opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses, but doing business online presents unique challenges and requires new skills. Per my experience search engine optimization would be the best practice to improve your online business.
Nice post. Thank you so much for sharing. I blog about Dallas Real Estate and am learning a lot from others about SEO’s and rankings. I found your article very informative and am looking forward to reading more. Thanks again
Sarahs last blog post..FHA Extends Credit to Purchase
There are a lot more benefits of blogging which a successful blogger can enjoy. But this post is really informative and well-written. Thank you.
One thing I didn’t get. Can’t you use Akismet plugin to filter spam comments? I do use Akismet and spams do never get published on the blog. I’m here to leave a comment, not to do sum.
Okay, I got it. But I recommend you using Akismet plugin’s latest version. And one more information, Akismet won’t ask your readers to entry a captcha. It can automatically detect spams and nowadays it is a whole lot improved. The best intelligent spam detector in the world — is called Akismet.
Aminul Islam Sajibs last blog post..Are you using WordPress 2.8? Upgrade to 2.8.1 to stay safe
BTW consider Headspace for SEO, it does basically everything, even robots meta.
larry vallelys last blog post..Delinquent mortgage loans push homeowners to the brink of Foreclosure
My blog is a personal one so the what is important for me is “the content”, hence, focusing on the quality of what is provided there is the keystone. This is the main expertise that I share with the readers here, beside the normal techniques mentioned in the article.
Glad that your blog is developing, so keep it up, Kristi
Hichams last blog post..De-Stereotyping the Image?
Many blogger don’t think about this its very important. Thanks for sharing such nice and valuable article.
Good post, the seo is important if you have a great blog and do not have visits, the traffic will increase considerably, these tips to increase the rank is very important to the blog.
Estofadoss last blog post..Lançamentos de Estofados Planejados
Kristi, I pay no attention to SEO. I’m probably making a big mistake but I have no time! Your site is fantastic. Congratulations on all your success and thanks for sharing so much with all of us.
Stephen – Rat Race Traps last blog post..Finding Your True Self
Needless to say, SEO is one of the most important aspects of blogging. It is also not something you need to pay thousands for. Heck, you don’t need to pay at all. Like you said in a way, you learn more about SEO as you continue to blog — which I can vouch for first hand.
The Gooroo @ Finance Advisory Stops last blog post..Using Yahoo Answers To Promote Your Blog Or Business
This is a great piece of information. I personally thank the author for sharing this excellent information with the SEO community. This would be a eye opener for the internet marketer’s, especially for the new commer’s.
Ron Knights last blog post..Can Interactive Advertising Help Your Business?
yaa nice Article skills is very important and use full i also use some of them i like blog commenting if they do follow it’s give more boost for getting good SERP and stumble upon also great site for increasing you traffic thanks for posting Kristi…
Everything in this post makes perfect sense. I believe that aside from the fact that blogging is one of the most effective SEO strategies, it would also help you learn more about SEO in the process. Before you can create a blog post, you will have to do some research and couple it with the knowledge that you have. So while you are harnessing the SEO theories that you know of, you are at the same time trying to learn some more and writing it down just like taking down some notes.
Tekkbuzzs last blog post..How to remove a Friend from Facebook
I have been doing MLM for over 4 years and the top few are making the big bucks & I am making pennys. Everyone I know run when they see me coming now. I have spent a small fortune in travel and training to no avail. Need a new approuch, to supplement Social Security. Is there anything for free and has value with out the “I Gotchas”? TIA, Bil
Using social media is definitely one of the first steps as sharing your content on those sites will be a great source of traffic and backlinks.
I heard that some bloggers don’t need to do any SEO technique since contents in their blogs are fresh and interesting enough. So, more and more visitors come visit the blogs. However, you made such a good point that blogging give us more than just a blog.
.-= Hamming´s last blog ..The Best Fish to Eat =-.
Great post…
SEO skills are really important. with that marketing skills make even more great…
.-= Nihar´s last blog ..July 2009 Blog Traffic & Income statistics =-.
I always have a bunch of low competition (low volume) keywords, I usually write an article about that subject, not a keyword stuffed article, but a good article focusing on the subject, bookmark it, and I’m usually seing visits the next day (sometimes the same day) from search engines. They are not volume keywords, might get me 15-20 visits per day, but I still get leads from these visits! Of course the page is SEO’d (title tag, description…). Nice blog mate! Keep up the good work!
.-= SEO consulting services´s last blog ..Holistic SEO: Why there’s more to SEO than just keywords and link building =-.
Great informative and encouraging article! I agree with you Kristi. Once you start blogging, then you certainly start developing seo and marketing skills even without your knowledge. It’s a learning process and I usually take it as a fun…
.-= RWH @ Reliable Web Hosting´s last blog ..Top 3 Reasons Why You Need a Reliable Web Host =-.
Wow, I wish I knew all that stuff in your list of “done one or more of the following.” I’ve learned a lot about the limits of social networking online: no amount of individuals helping is a replacement for being indexed correctly (and prominently) by search engines. I’ve read a lot of SEO stuff but only implemented them half-heartedly to this point.
Oh well. I’ll figure it out at some point. I’m still working on the blog after all.
.-= ashok´s last blog ..If you want to do me a favor… =-.
Twitter: michaelaulia
December 16, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I guess no matter how many times you try displaying those social bookmarking icons, it’s all up to how well you know your readers to make them click those icons to share
Wish I can just stumble my own content sometimes
.-= Michael Aulia´s last blog ..Go comfort, go wireless with Microsoft WCD5000 =-.
Great post on how blogging can help you develop your marketing and SEO skills. It has been the same experience for me since I started blogging. It has been a fabulous learning journey.
.-= New from TechChunks@Technology Tips & Tricks How to Enable the God Mode in Win 7 and Why it is Overrated =-.
Hello Kristi, I found this from a Google search. One great thing about blogging and SEo is that there are many good SEO plugins that allow you to build a real silo structure on your blog, with categories as silos, and tags as long tail keywords. I deciced to rework my categories and tags now in a systematic fashion, rather than shooting from the hip, as before. Thanks for the post.
Kai Druhl@Internet Marketing Coaching recently posted..The Internet Business Kit
@ Michael Aulia: One trick I’ve found for getting articles Stumbled is to write about other people or at least give them a prominent mention in your article. Then follow up with an email that explains exactly how to submit your article URL. Most people I contact do it.
Charleen Larson recently posted..How to make your first Fiverr gig sale
Nice Kristi,
I really like this post, benefits of blogging, A blogger must keep SEO and Internet marketing skills in there mind when he/she promote his post.
thanks Kristi
Brainpulse recently posted..Standard Role Components in Cloud Web Hosting Services
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