Friday, April 12, 2013

A to Z Challenge - Keywords

For the A to Z Challenge, I’m posting promo and other tips for writers, along with a daily photo. (All photos taken by me.)


Search engines look for keywords and description. Keywords are found within site names, the web copy, and the metadata. We need to use the proper keywords (without over-using them) to ensure people find us.

Remember the Long Tail Theory - narrowly targeted products and services. Many people will find your site through multi-word and specific phrase searches.

Is there enough evidence on your website and/or blog to convict you of being the author or writer of ____? When people do a search, will they find YOU?

Think about it!

Visit other participants in the A to Z Challenge HERE

And your daily photo - "Kaleidoscope"



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40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once again Diane excellent tips for writers,
Enjoy your week-end.
Yvonne.

Nick Wilford said...

I have to honestly say I have not thought about this much either! So many great tips in this series. I suppose having tags on your posts would help - something I should really think about doing!

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Great tip, Diane! I frequently visit blogs where the author's name isn't even visible on the page! Or they'll just put their first name....not good if they're trying to promote.

Unknown said...

I just did a complete overhaul of both my blog and website because I asked that question and the answer was a big, fat no.

Unknown said...

Keywords are so important. I'm just rubbish at making them.

I just love your photo.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Elizabeth, I see that, too.

Melanie, that's good.

Thank you, Clarissa.

shelly said...

Yes. Excellent tip!

Tweeted and shared.

Hugs and chocolate,
Shelly

Francene Stanley said...

I need to get to grips with how to present my site better, but not now. Too busy writing two daily blogs.
Francene.
A - Z Challenge
http://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.co.uk/

Jo said...

Lovely photo again Diane. I use labels all the time and hope people will find me.

JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

Ella said...

Great tip Diane! I am going to over haul my blog, after the challenge~
Thank you :D

cleemckenzie said...

I'm always surprised at what the Google Alert picks up. It's never what I expect. Those keywords are still a bit of a mystery to me, even after reading all this stuff about them.

Thanks for the link. Greatly appreciated.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Great tip! Thank Diane!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I probably need to use the words science fiction more often.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

A question that makes me reflect upon my own blog? Very clever of you!

Anonymous said...

I'm usually found by typing in the word "porn."

Sherry Ellis said...

Key words really do help people find you.

LD Masterson said...

This is something I absolutely have to get better at.

Mark Means said...

Another great tip and thanks for sharing it :)

klahanie said...

Greetings human,

You are of course, correct. Keywords lead folks and animals to our site. Especially when the word "Penny" is somewhere in the posting or in the primary link at the top of the posting.

Interesting photo.

Happy alphabeting, Diane.

Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Francene and Ella, after the A to Z there will be time.

Gary, people would find Penny no matter what.

Jai Joshi said...

Such a great theme for the a-z challenge. A good tip today too. Our blog needs to showcase our platform and purpose. And it needs to be easy to find.

Jai

Golden Eagle said...

I did a lot of wrangling with metadata when I set up my other website. There are a lot of potential keywords when it comes to some subjects!

Rhonda Albom said...

Every once in a while I look down at the bottom of the list of one off words people used to find my blog and am shocked at how irrelevant some of them seem.

Rhonda @Laugh-Quotes.com
Visiting from AtoZ #41

J.L. Campbell said...

Diane,

Half the time, I don't remember I should be doing things like this - writing with purpose. Will definitely be back to read what you've posted to date.

Barbara White Daille said...

Great photo and advice.

I don't know much about keywords for my website but will look into it.

Thanks!

Barbara
Kitchen and Kinfolk
The Daille-y News

Carol Kilgore said...

Your photo would be awesome blown up to canvas size and hung on the wall.

I suck at keywords. Especially at Amazon.

Unknown said...

There's evidence on my blog that's gonna convict me of something?! Run for the hills! (Too bad I only have desert.)
I love artichokes. Yum! :-)

Sheena-kay Graham said...

Keywordw are very important.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

This is on my list and I need to do so many updates and add more keywords I hope will lead to my site.

Jemi Fraser said...

Great tip Diane! I have to work on those keywords.

Love the pic too!

DL Hammons said...

I've never bothered to use Keywords with my blog posts.

Anonymous said...

I use keywords on Amazon, but had never thought about it with blogger.

Michael Di Gesu said...

Thanks for the info, l. Diane....

Visibility is ver important for marketing ... Key words are totally necessary.

Laura Eno said...

I do try with the key words but google still sends the oddest combos my way!
I know that's a cactus but I must be hungry. My mind went to artichoke...

Heather M. Gardner said...

Huh.
Probably not.
:)
Heather

Stephen Tremp said...

I need to work on keywords for my new blog. I'll have to start from scratch in a lot of areas such as a Media Page and such as I didn't back them up. I know I know, bad me.

Unknown said...

Great tip. I recently mentioned this to a a fellow author while deciding on a name for his new novel.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Diane .. I'm sure there's more info in your book on this - so I'm pleased I've got it to use as reference ...

Cheers - they are essential .. Hilary

Anonymous said...

Great tips. Love the photos.



Cynthia (The Sock Zone)

Kristen said...

I love using keyword tools, and thinking up new keywords. I also love kaleidoscopes! Is that an artichoke? If so, artichokes are one of my favorite foods! :)

#atozchallenge, Kristen's blog: kristenhead.blogspot.com