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Blogs with a Purpose (Part 1)
By Robin Nobles (c) 2005

Few people can dispute the power of blogs. We saw how they
affected the U.S. presidential election of 2004. When used
correctly, blogs can have an amazing effect on your Web site. In
fact, I would go so far as to say I believe every business site
needs a blog . . . if used properly and in the manner in which
they were designed to be used.

What are Blogs?

Blogs are online journals that can be used in a variety of
different ways. In a personal sense, families can keep track of
each other across the globe by posting to a family blog. One
family member posts, then another member adds their comment
underneath the post, and so forth.

Businesses can announce new products and services, discounts,
discontinued items, or holiday promotions in their blogs. I'll
cover additional ideas for the use of a business blog further in
this article.

The biggest challenge is to get your target audience to read your
blog. That's why you need a "blog with a purpose." You need a
reason for your audience to visit your blog on a regular basis.
What would make your blog special to your audience? Why would
they want to bookmark your blog? Why would they want to link to
it and tell others? That should be your ultimate goal.

Think about your own site, and let's start talking about "blogs
with a purpose."

Five Example Blogs with a Purpose

1.    Free Directory Listings http://webseodesign.com/blog/

For some time now, I've been steering people away from reciprocal
linking, due to the inherent problems associated with it.
Submitting to directories can certainly help your Web site from a
link popularity standpoint, which we all know is crucial, but how
do you know which directories to submit to? There are a lot of
scammy directories out there, so you need to know which ones to
stay away from. Plus, it can cost you a lot of money to submit to
directories. What if your pocket book is a little tight at the
moment?

Martin Preece at WebSEODesign came up with a novel idea. He
decided to submit his site to free directories, and then keep
track of when the site was accepted into each directory, the PR
of the directory, whether he has to link back, and other
statistics. He shares all of his experiences on his Web site for
readers to follow. All you have to do is follow in his foot
steps. Here's the link to the actual listing of free directories:
http://webseodesign.com/resources/free-directory-listings.htm

Then, he set up a free directory listings blog where he reports
on the progress of his free directory reviews. He also writes
"how to" articles in his blog, such as how to submit to
directories.
http://webseodesign.com/blog/2005/04/free-directory-listing-101.html

Martin has created a "blog with a purpose." People visit his
blog, because it benefits their Web sites and their link
popularity building efforts. Why should they spend the time
finding and researching directories when Martin will do it for
them?

How does it benefit Martin? He's getting traffic to his site,
building link popularity, gaining potential clients, and getting
visibility from the search engines. It's a win/win situation for
everyone.

Plus, his free-directory-listings.htm page isn't doing too badly
in the rankings. It's #1 in MSN for "free directory listings" out
of 6.5 million, and #14 in Yahoo! out of 130 million.

What has he done, in part, to achieve those rankings? He's linked
to his free-directory-listings.htm page from his blog using
absolute links and using "free directory listings" as the link
(anchor) text.

For example, this is an absolute link:

<A HREF="http://webseodesign.com/resources/free-directory-
listings.htm ">free directory listings</A>

Below is a relative link. This is the type of linking convention
most Web site owners use when linking to a page on his/her own
Web site.

<A HREF="free-directory-listings.htm">free directory listings</A>

Tip: Always use absolute links when linking to interior pages of
your site from your blog, and always use keyword phrases in your
link text when pointing to those interior pages.

2.    Wordtracker KEI Observation Deck
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/weblog/

Yes, this sounds like blatant self promotion, but when you hear
the story about this blog, you'll understand why it needs to be
included in the article.

A few years ago, we had a plain old blog. We posted information
about our site on the blog, articles, etc. The search engines
loved it, but the visitors didn't. Why? We didn't give the Web
audience a compelling reason to want to visit.

The blog was . . . boring.

My partner, John Alexander, and I teach Wordtracker strategies in
our courses, and we believe that the key to success with any Web
site begins with solid keyword research. We constantly hear
students tell us how they can't find high KEI numbers in
Wordtracker -­ that the competition is just too high.

So John came up with a fabulous idea. He set up the KEI
Observation Deck on our blog. He spends about 10 minutes a day
finding high KEI values and posting them on our blog. He's using
the blog as a teaching tool, because we're educators.

People love it. He's proving to them that Wordtracker is full of
high KEI values, if you only know how to find them. Affiliate
marketers flock to his page to see what John will come up with
next. SEOs have syndicated the blog through the RSS feed, so they
can keep up with John's latest research. Search engines spider
the page almost every day.

How is it benefiting Search Engine Workshops? John can use it to
promote our other products and services. Wordtracker has linked
to the blog, which is definitely a plus for the site.

The blog is no longer boring . . . it's effective -- a blog with
a purpose.

(Continued in Part 2)

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Robin Nobles conducts live SEO workshops
(http://www.searchengineworkshops.com) in locations across North
America. She also teaches online SEO training
(http://www.onlinewebtraining.com). Localized SEO training is now
being offered through the Search Engine Academy.
(http://www.searchengineacademy.com)

Copyright 2005 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.
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