Zen Zoomie’s Place: Chronicles of a (Wannabe) Pro Blogger

I admit it…I’ve become obsessed with starting this Blog out on the right foot so that it gets picked up by the search engines as efficiently as possible.  Registering your new blog with the Blog Directories is a good start for a completely unknown site.  But in the long-run, the game is all about 2 key things: 1) building relationships and inbound links, and 2) being loved by the search engines!  If the search engines can’t find your website, it’s a long uphill battle to increase this site’s revenue to the point that it can sustain you and your family! 

But how do exactly do you go about making a Blog search engine friendly?  Reading everything you can get your hands on about Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEM and SEO) is a good start.  For example, I’m currently reading Aaron Wall’s SEO Book, which has pretty much cornered the search engine market for the term SEO Book.  Aaron’s book has some very good information–there’s not a lot of unique content, but he has packaged all of the important information into one up-to-date reference, including some great tools.

However, one of the best resources I’ve found so far comes from…..GOOGLE!  Not that I should be surprised (although I was), but the Google Webmaster Help Center is packed with information that any aspiring webmaster or Blogger should be familiar with.  Google has been kind enough to tell us exactly what we need to do to be "loved" by the Googlebot.  Here’s a sneak preview of Google’s Eight Commandments for meeting Google’s quality guidelines:

• Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
• Don’t use cloaking or sneaky redirects.
• Don’t send automated queries to Google.
• Don’t load pages with irrelevant keywords.
• Don’t create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
• Don’t create pages that install viruses, trojans, or other badware.
• Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
• If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.

I’ll take a look at the relevant guidelines in more detail as I attempt to re-wicker www.zenzoomie.com to meet them all (we’re well on our way already).  I’ll start out next time by looking at how to avoid the deadly "SEO sin" of creating duplicate content on a WordPress Blog.