To help you get better search engine placement, encourage your readers to come back for more, and maximize your Affiliate earnings, here are some content and SEO tips.
1. Create quality content on a regular schedule
There's no magic number as to how many pieces of content or blog posts you should create every week. It's different for every site, but 1-2 pieces a week is a good guideline to follow until you figure out what works best for your audience.Once you've determined your publishing frequency, it's vital to publish on a regular schedule. Designating specific day(s) of the week will help you stick to that schedule and encourage your readers to come back.
Of course, the most important thing of all is to write high-quality content. Don't worry about word counts or the latest trends - write as much or as little as needs to be written about each topic and check over old content regularly to make sure that it's still useful. (This is also a good opportuntiy to add links to newer content.)
Further reading
- How often should you publish?
- The importance of publishing frequently & regularly
- What is quality content?
2. Optimize content for search engines
Search engine optimization (SEO) is more art than science. Entire websites are devoted to analyzing Google's infamously complex algorithms that can - and do - literally make or break web-dependent companies. You don't have to hire someone to handle your SEO work, but you do need to spend some time learning about basic SEO techniques and putting them into practice.
Here's a very brief summary of best practices - check out the links below for more detailed information.
a) Choose your titles carefully
Make sure the title of each page is accurate and descriptive.
Good
- French Subjunctive
- French Subjunctive Conjugations and Uses
- Learn How to Conjugate and Use the French Subjunctive
Bad
- Subjunctive
(Why bad? Other languages have the subjunctive as well) - There's a verb form that expresses doubt, do you know what it's called?
(Why bad? Not descriptive) - French Verb Conjugations
(Why bad? Far too general)
b) Focus on one topic per page
It's better to have separate pages for, say, the subjunctive, conditional, and imperative, than one monster page that addresses all three. That way, each individual page can be titled with the specific verb form, rather than a single page with a catch-all title likeFrench Verbs.
c) Hyperlink important words
Linking to related content within your site is great not just for your users, but also from an SEO perspective. Be sure to link to important, specific words, rather than vague directions.
Good
- Learn more about the French subjunctive
- French subjunctive lesson
Bad
- Click for more about the French subjunctive
- Learn more about the French subjunctive
Further reading
3. Send newsletters on a regular schedule
Now that you're creating content on a regular basis, you need to let your most faithful visitors - your newsletter subscribers - know about it. Send a weekly newsletter with links to your latest features, and supplement with things that aren't available on your site, such as
- Exclusive offers
- Bonus content
- Links to external sites that your readers are likely to appreciate
4. Post to social media on a regular schedule
Posting on social media is also important: it's free advertising for your content. It's best to post a mix of your own content and external pages, and to post at least twice a day.
Further reading
Social media tools
There are many tools that can help you schedule your posts so that they show up automatically rather than you having to be at your computer all the time.- Buffer- fill your queue with posts and set a publishing schedule.
- IFTTT- create applets to perform various tasks automatically: feed your RSS to your social media pages, publish your Facebook posts to Twitter, or your Twitter posts to Facebook, etc.
