My New Blog

[Bethers]

Re: My New Blog

I agree with Karen - and think you need to remember the average person and what THEY will be searching for - and I don't think it'll be cash blog - I'd be searching for that to learn how to make a cash blog, etc - and it wouldn't lead to me clicking anything that will make you money. What are the things on your site you'll be wanting them to click on? Those are the terms they'll be entering - to find those things - that will lead to clicks.

[Sunchaser]

Re: My New Blog

Hey Jerry

I've read quite a few 'niche blog' systems. I tried a few different things when I started out (for two reasons. I had a family member very ill and my thought was that I was going to have to leave work to care for them, so I wanted some other income stream. Reason number two was to expand my knowledge of seo (although I work for a large media corporation and use seo everyday in my work, I wanted to see for myself what it's like starting out with a brand new website or blog. No head start.)

I'm still learning, and have learned quite a few things from the ladies here in this thread.

I ended up dumping everything except my business sites and the hobby site in my sig. The hobby site came about because I had a hard time at first trying to set up my first website, and tried a number of different hosts and site builders - and I wanted to make a basic resource for others, including kids.

I dumped the others because I didn't have as much passion for them, and it was a task to maintain them. But if you have a passion (and time!!) for a few different blogs - then yep why not try it. If nothing else - you'll learn a lot and also you can test which blog/s become most popular and concentrate more on them.

I totally understand you have a passion for the subject of your blog - it comes across in your writing. I don't think it's a problem at all going into a saturated area - I was just trying to say you have to stand out.

I rank in the top 10 in google for the key phrase I first built my 'make website' site upon, - it doesn't have a huge search volume and is a long-tail. And I have lots top 10 in yahoo and msn. I think you're on the right track going for long-tail phrases.
Something I've also found is that there are dozens of variations on a single phrase - and that alone can bring in hundreds of people a month. And - this can bring in people who do look at pages you want in the google top 10 (but can't because the competition is too stiff lol) - so it's indirect way of getting people to those pages.

In the case of your blog - even if you can't rank for any 'money-making' terms - you might have something related that is very popular - and people might be attracted to the posts on your money making adventures when they arrive on your site.

(I just looked up 'cash blog' on wordtracker - It isn't listed? The nearest search term was 'blog to earn cash' at an estimated 5 google searches per day. I see a lot of people trying to rank for it though - I'm mystified!
Aas said above, I don't think there'd be that many using that term.
I see you on page 4 there on google - there's a lot above you that isn't wonderful - I think you have an excellent chance of ranking well for it.)

Lots of luck!

[Sunchaser]

Re: My New Blog

I just went to read the site you asked me to look at. I like it - though why is he on blogspot and not his own domain?
He's got a definite personality and is very readable.

There's a strategy not talked about there. You can have a great CTR of 10-20% with one good site - which is the same as having a CTR of 1-5% on a few lesser sites. (with a lot less work!!!) :) :)

[jerryl]

Re: My New Blog

Thank you for all your input everyone, all valid points. I came real close to changing the name to money-blogging.com, even bought the name, but as you can see by this thread http://www.vodahost.com/vodatalk/dom...main-name.html I'm technically challenged! I also was scared off by the competition for those keywords.
I've read it's been proven if you are #1 for a term 40% of the searchers will go to your website.

Anyway I thought if I could get to number 1 for a search term even a sad one like cash blog I would learn alot and enjoy a victory in my seo efforts even though it's a small one.
It's not set in stone of course and I may change things.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts,
Jerry

[Sunchaser]

Re: My New Blog

Just one more post before I meander off on my way...

Am I understanding from your post above that you're not using the domain 'money-blogging.com' because you don't think you can rank for the term 'money blogging' ??

Sorry if I'm not understanding you correctly.

I don't believe there's an advantage in regards to google to having your key search term in your domain name (except that it may have an advantage if people use this term as anchor text when they link to your blog. And also, the terms will be in bold in the search results which might induce people to click on you)

You could call your blog anything and still be successful for your chosen key terms.

[jerryl]

Re: My New Blog

I've read that it does help to have your keywords in your url here's another post from Griz here where he talks about how he chooses his keywords. I can see my thinking was perhaps a bit flawed, but that's one reason I come on this forum-to learn, and of course to interact with some really nice people!
I do realize a single post can show up #1 for your targeted keyword, but I just wanted to see if I could hit #1 for the whole blog.

[Karen Mac]

Re: My New Blog

Well you can.. and you can hit easily for terms that no one looks for.. but.. you want well rounded terms that people actually USE... Your NAME can play a role but its only ONE role in the scheme of things.. And I wasnt trying to DAMAGE you .. just point out that you CAN do much better...and you dont want to try at this point for just a single keyword.. but keyword phrases...

I learn new stuff and get new ideas every single day...none of us outgrow the need to learn and keep up with whats on the internet

Karen

[jerryl]

Re: My New Blog

Don't worry Karen I don't feel "DAMAGED" by anything you've said. I agree it's a learning experience, and of course trying to cater to google is always a guessing game. But we'll keep at it and enjoy any successes along the way.
Jerry

[Bethers]

Re: My New Blog

One more comment here - it's not about trying to cater to Google or any of the se's. Yes, you want to consider them - but if you CATER to the people you want to have come to your site - then you'll be doing what's necessary for the se's, too. At least if you do it in the right ways.

As to name - as Karen said, that's only one criteria out of hundreds. Any one criteria can be removed and you can still be successful - so pick ONE name and stick with it - and then build the site to be what it needs to be for the audience you have in mind.

[jerryl]

Re: My New Blog

Thanks Bethers, you, Karen and Sunchaser are right on, of course. I will need to target "more searched for" keywords and too write for my visitors and not just the se's, (I've really always done that anyway).

Trying to rank for cash blog has been an interesting experiment if nothing else (this morning I'm on page one on my computer by the way).

Thanks for all your insights and sharing your knowlege with me-I've learned alot!
Jerry

[Sunchaser]

Re: My New Blog

Yep, the name being 'one criteria out of hundreds' is a better way of putting it.

If I was looking for children's clipart and there was a website named childrensclipart then it would seem very relevant. And Google and the other search engines do of course take note of domain names. (even though you don't need to have keywords in your domain name to rank well)

Once when looking for clipart I came across a site that was called something like kidsfunclipart (can't quite recall the name) and it was a porn site!! You would really hope that site didn't come up if a kid searched for the keywords in the domain name. You'd really hope all the other criteria came into play (which it does.)
(and yes, I did report this site)