Which came first the website or the blog?
While it’s important to have some sort of presence on the Web, the times they are a changin, for what drives search engine mojo.
Did you know you can have a blog self-hosted on your domain that can give you the very added bonus of driving natural search engine traffic each time you post new content.
Yes, I’ve definitely partaken of the blog Kool-aid!
Here is a new way to look at what your site is creating for you.
Search engines love updated CONTENT and lots of it. Content is what colors the stick figure of your website and keeps the search engines coming back for more.
Think of it in terms of what search engines see. A stick figure website with no blog, no keywords, no tags, no new content, no feeds. (See Option 1 below)
Option #1 your website without a blog:
Option #2 – your website with a blog:
I think I would pick Option #2.
While you don’t have to have your entire website built on a WordPress platform – you can at least add a blog to the website so that each time you’re posting your brilliance the web crawlers are coming back to the site!
Using tags and categories for your blog posts also help you grow your search engine visibility as does linking to outside blogs! (Authentically!)
Even if you decide to stay stick figure and not have a blog, you should still help your site along by:
1. Submit to the ADD URL form through Google – http://www.google.com/addurl.html .
2. Submit your site to (MSN) LIVE -
http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx .
3. Submit your site to Yahoo – https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit
Now go out there and attract those web crawlers!!
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Fantastic insider’s look at how The New York Times uses the WordPress blogging platform to generate hundreds of posts daily.
If you truly want to understand why blogging is powerful, how it is not going away and why you should be blogging then read this article.
The article was penned by fantastic journalist Paul Boutin and features insight from Damon Darin, The New York Times Technology Editor.
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![Silueta de hormiga [Ant's silhouette]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/2444709410_f6d136e0cd_m.jpg "Silueta de hormiga [Ant's silhouette]")
- Image by ETicas via Flickr
Too often corporations, non-profits, musicians, and authors are throwing up a blog and thinking of them as a tiny insignificant ant amongst the more firm terra cotta of an entire website.
In reality, that tiny ant is the key to your long-term visibility on the Web.
If your whole site is not built on a blog platform (like mine is), at the very least your blog link needs to be front and Web-page center on your website.
Web 2.0 is changing everything we thought we knew about websites and how they drive search and build community. All these methods and ideas are slowly being uprooted by this new, persistent, unyielding blog ant. (Think rubber tree plant and what the ant did to it.)
The Web is the rubber tree plant and the blog is the ant.
“Anyone knows an ant, can’t move a rubber tree plant.” Or can it?
IT CAN.
All the major news sites including NPR, CNN, Washington Post and countless others are incorporating blogs. Not only do blogs provide an immense amount of value in terms of driving search engine traffic, but they also provide an immediate conduit for conversation with your colony.
The conversation that starts with one blog post is then taken to hundreds of others via the Sharethis widget under each blog post. (This makes it easy for everyone to share messaging out on the Web.)
If you don’t have a way for folks to pass your content on easily after each post, please go to Sharethis and get the widget.
When your content is shared, it in turn grows and feeds your colony, boosts your “link love” and your Google Page Rank and empowers your message.
Having a blog can be incredibly valuable if you’re willing to work to link to other bloggers, blog 3 times weekly and post your blogs out to Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. (Work hard, little ant.)
Your blog also opens up a beautiful way for you to interact with your readers. Through comment forms and your own comments, you constantly underscore the value of your colony and the more important value of their part in the “joint conversation.”
(Side note: On the power of Ants and the colony - (Excerpted from Wikipedia) - “The colonies are sometimes described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.
Ant societies have division of labor, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study.”
Your blog builds your colony for you. Think inspiring, uplifting and engaging and your colony will grow.
The days of websites just serving as adpages or long marketing messaging are gone. The best sites and blogs incorporate real, authentic, story-driven content. We all want to feel a part of a bigger colony.
You see, it’s good to be an ant.
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LinkedIn.com is a very powerful way for you to reach out to peers, partners and potential buyers. I highly recommend that everyone in business has a substantial LinkedIn.com profile. I also recommend it for authors and speakers because oftentimes event managers will search LinkedIn to find the best folks for events.
Here are some tips for empowering your Linkedin Profile:
1. Make certain you join your college alumni groups
2. Join at least a couple of groups in your industry vertical
3. Ensure that your summary description on your profile features some keywords for your industry or practice and a very robust description of your role with your company.
4. Get your profile as complete as possible.
5. Use LinkedIn’s tool for inviting friends through your other email profiles.
6. Use the LinkedIn Answers and Questions section to raise your visibility as an expert in your arena. Don’t post questions that start out with, “What makes you hire someone who is in sales?” , espescially if you’re looking for a job in sales! Post questions that can build conversation and empower the LinkedIn community.
7. Answer questions that other folks in your network post.
8. Tie your WordPress updates to your LinkedIn profile by using the free widget available at LinkedIn.
9. Make sure you update your LinkedIn.com status at least once daily.
10. Use the search tool to find new people and make new connections.
11. Search your competitors and be aware of how they are using the tool as well.
12. Check out this post from LinkedIn.com on how to search out company profiles and how to use that information.
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