Modern blogging platforms sure do make getting content live and published on the web a rapid, easy process.  The thing is, without a conscious SEO strategy and blog focus, it’s just as easy to blog yourself in circles while only attracting a sparse handful of visitors.  With that caveat out of the way, and by building a blog with SEO in mind, the blogging can and will work.  Here’s just how to do it:

1.      Start With The Right Blog Template
 
Blogging themes and templates are not created equal when it comes to SEO.  In fact, most of them completely ignore the aspect of SEO altogether, focusing instead on pure aesthetics and design creativity.  This is fine for the casual or personal blogger, but for those wishing to step it up a notch and get serious about blogging, having a template that is set up to support basic white-hat SEO is a must.

2.      Develop A Consistent Overall Presence
 
Instead of just blogging about anything and everything, professional bloggers know that there still must be a topic or niche – just like any optimized website.  Stick with the narrowest focus possible and develop sub categories from there.  By being super consistent about the blog’s overall presence and staying within the lines you’ve set, your blog will generally be better regarded as an authority site (and that’s good for SEO).

3.      Put Blog Categories To Work
 
Categories are a major component of blogging SEO.  With a blog, think of the categories the same as you would think of the main menu options on the traditional website.  As a rule, only select one category per blog post – this is the “menu option” that post will be listed under.  By following this navigational structure, category and archive pages automatically generated by the blog software will positively lead the way towards SEO, instead of fighting against it.

 4.      Keep Blog Posts Tight
 
Just as each page of a website should be focused towards a couple of specific keywords to create one unifying theme for the page, each blog post should be thought of in the same way.  Sure, the writing style of a blog post can be tailored to fit the voice and feel of your blog; however, do remember that for good SEO, the search engines need to be able to identify what the page’s content is all about.  In other words, the rambling and incoherent rant is certainly a form of personal expression, but it does nothing for SEO.

Blogging really does work as a great way to get the message out.  Blogs effectively streamline the content management process, making internet publishing a breeze.  However, to avoid blogging in circles, following these essential blog SEO guidelines is the way to go.