In the first three parts of this blog series we talked about what foundation articles are, how to build your blog around them, and use them to drive readers to your blog.
In this final installment we will discuss the use of portal pages as a means to drive readers to your blog. A portal is essentially an entrance or gateway that connects two locations. With respect to the Internet, a portal page is a Web page that links back to the desired page of your blog that you want potential readers to visit. It is no longer enough to spend all of your time on your blog, writing wonderful content and optimizing it for search engines.
With the increased popularity in social media, more and more Web surfers are spending time on sites like Facebook, Digg and Twitter. People are increasingly using these social media sites to find content and if you are not spending a good chunk of your time utilizing the power of these Internet ‘hot spots’ then you are missing out on a large chunk of your potential audience. I personally recommend that bloggers spend at least half of their time away from their blog. This time should be spent creating content on external sites and engaging people on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon and the like.
Places to create your Portal Pages
Ezine Articles. This was one of the earliest websites people used to create external content, and is still very popular. I have created several articles on Ezine and have seen very good results in terms of driving traffic to my blog. Ezine has great authority with search engines, thus the backlinks that come to your blog from Ezine have excellent value.
eHow. This is a great site for writing step-by-step tutorial articles that can cover anything from how to fix a leaky faucet to how to market a blog. eHow also allows people to upload videos which is becoming a more common theme among user-generated content sites. With more and more people looking to the Internet to find information and problem-solving solutions, eHow has become a great resource and I strongly encourage bloggers to take advantage of this trend. Oh, and you can even make some money by posting your articles and videos on eHow.
Squidoo. This Website was the brainchild of Seth Godin and takes a more unique approach with respect to content that people can create. People can build what are called lenses (Web pages), using text, pictures, videos, polls and more. Squidoo also offers users the ability to get paid from creating lenses through affiliate programs with eBay and Amazon as well as with Google Adsense advertising. I personally think Squidoo is a great site for bloggers to utilize because it fosters a more engaging environment and allows readers to actually get involved with lenses through ratings, commenting, voting and even uploading their own content to your lenses. I have created several lenses with Squidoo and will use one of them as an example in the next section.
Examiner.com. This is a fantastic local online news source that uses local writers, bloggers and journalists to generate its content. Most major cities have a local Examiner.com site and becoming a writer for them is an easy process. The topics you can write about are vast, so if you have an interest in health, the arts, local news, politics, sports and more, then I strongly encourage you to check this site out. In addition, they pay you for your writing services. Write for Examiner.com (aff)
For more opportunities on how bloggers can make money, check out my post 22 Ways to Get Paid Blogging.
The importance of using anchor text
Use targeted keywords in your anchor text. It is frustrating to see so many Web pages and blog posts with the ‘click me’ link, because they are missing out on the value that comes with putting specific keywords into their links. Search Engines put a higher value on the anchor text used in links than they do on regular page text (anchor text is the visible text in a link which you can click on; usually a blue, underlined string of text).
But you don’t have to take my word on it. SEOMoz.com is one of the leading authorities in SEO, and they listed the top 5 search engine ranking factors, and keyword anchor text from external links is number one. I have only briefly addressed half of this factor with the importance of using keyword-rich anchor text. The importance of external links will be addressed in the next two sections.
So, what kind of anchor text should you use in your links?
Well, this is where your keyword research we talked about in Gaining Blog Traffic with Foundation Articles comes into play. When you find anywhere from six to a dozen keyword phrases you want to focus on, then begin to strategically insert these phrases into the anchor text. By doing this, you are telling the search engines that these keyword phrases are important and they best convey what the content of your blog post is about.
Do Not – To learn more about how to make money by blogging, click here.
Do – Learn more about how to make money by blogging.
For further illustration, go to my Squidoo lens, Paul Revere, Squidoo and the Benefits of Blogging. As you read that lens you will come across the links, make money by blogging and learn how to start a blogging right now in 5 steps under the ‘benefits of blogging’ section of the lens. This is an example of specific keyword phrases I am targeting and obviously using as the anchor text.
Page Rank & authority of external sites
The page rank and authority of a website, as deemed by search engines, is extremely important in search engine results and getting it seen by as many people as possible. These are two factors which Google weights heavily when ranking websites. Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world, believe it or not. For example, in the eyes of the search engines Youtube has a great deal of authority, and links to your blog that come from Youtube are like gold. In addition to the above Website options, I highly recommend that bloggers open a Youtube account and put up some meaningful videos related to the topic of their blog. By creating videos that people enjoy watching and/or learn from, they will be more apt to click on the link to your blog, which you can set up on your own Youtube page. Over time, as the search engines see more and more Youtube backlinks to your blog, you will gain more authority and trust in the eyes of Google ‘n company.
From SEOMoz.com
Big pimpin’ summary
When you first start out blogging, your blog will have very little authority and trust in the eyes of search engines. This is, in part, why it is extremely important to take advantage of the authority of these external sites I have talked about. This is, in part, why it is vastly necessary to spend a great deal of time creating content on external sites if you want to increase the popularity of your blog and make some descent money with your blogging efforts. This is why you need to essentially ‘pimp’ these already established websites in order for your blog to take advantage of their value. Begin to get in the frame of mind that Googlin’ for content is not the only game in town. Although Google continues to dominate search activity, people do use sites like Youtube, Facebook, Ezine and Twitter to find relevant content. These sites should be at the top of your priority list when deciding where to spend your off-site time.
Thank you for reading. If you have any questions or ideas please feel free to leave a comment as I would be grateful to hear from you.
Part I – Know the Difference Between Pillar Articles and Foundation Articles
Part II -Structuring Your Blog Around Foundation Articles is Key
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