After taking some time off over the holiday season on my blog, I’ve been thinking about things I normally don’t have time to – and I think those things have been reflected in today’s roundup! Things like going back and optimising older posts for SEO, thinking about my blogging origins and how they’re influencing my blogging future, and getting back to my first love: writing.
So take a minute to think beyond the surface of create content/promote that content, and think a bit bigger picture. Where are you at?
2017’s Four Most Important Ranking Factors, According to SEO Industry Studies | Search Engine Journal
It feels like SEO rules change so constantly it’s hard to keep up, but this post was very reassuring.
Optimizing Meta Descriptions, H1s and Title Tags: Lessons from Multivariate SEO Testing at Etsy | Etsy
Get ready to reduce the length of your title tags!
My Writing Process, Revealed | James Altucher
I find it fascinating to see inside the minds of writers, the people who spend their lives creating content. The one thing that’s always the same? It’s never linear.
5 Ways to Boost Facebook Engagement for Your Business | Cheerful Lime
Swap “blog” for “business” and the tips still apply. Know your audience. Give them what they want. I also can’t say enough about experimentation!
Without Emotional Advertising, Your Landing Page Won’t Work. Here’s How to Get It Right | Quicksprout
If there’s no feeling, there’s no finance ;-) How much does your landing page appeal to emotion?
9 Powerful Time-Saving Tips to Help Grow Your Brand on Instagram | Buffer
I hear quite often how much people would love to be able to create their Instagram posts on desktop, and this post explains how. I also love a bit of advance scheduling! Quite a few schedulers have announced long-awaited Instagram scheduling options.
LinkedIn Just Rolled Out A Redesign—Here’s How To Clean Up Your Profile | Fast Company
It’s getting to be so that if you’re ignoring LinkedIn, you’re ignoring greater brand awareness, networking, and even traffic. When was the last time you pimped your profile?
Working for free (but working for yourself) | Seth’s Blog
You might find, as a blogger, that you get asked to promote a product or write an article for no monetary compensation whatsoever – they offer the “exposure” drawcard instead. When is that worth it for you? Is it ever?
“The clients you get in the future will be the direct result of the clients you take today. The legacy of your work down the road will be related to the quality of the work you do today,” Seth says. What is your legacy?
Where Fashion Blogging Began | New York Times
While it feels like blogging has been around forever, it’s interesting to go back and see how it evolved and where you could possibly pinpoint a difference between “web log” and “blog”. It’s also interesting to think about the difference between having a hub where you went to hang out with like-minded people in 2010 or 2011, and the disparity of users now that everyone has their own blog or social media account they’re trying to raise the profile of. It’s harder to rally a community, and blog engagement is harder to come by, it would seem.
I often find that by looking back at the beginning of blogging, and the beginning of my blog in particular, that I get a true sense of where I want to take it. This is my ninth year of blogging, and while the landscape has changed so, so much, I’m reminded that I don’t have to.
How Exercising Daily Has Made Me a Better Entrepreneur | Entrepreneur
All right, off your seat and go take on the world!
What caught your eye this week?
Thanks for the roundup Stacey. I really liked reading about James Altucher’s writing process. It’s interesting to see various styles and how people approach the age old hobby.
Isn’t it! I really like getting inside people’s heads. There really isn’t only one way to do it, is there.
Thanks for sharing Stacey, I’ll be sure to check them out now!
You’re welcome, Nick!
Hey Stacey,
I always love the reading roundups.
LinkedIn has brought up something new and it’s quite effective.The design is elegant but a little bit slow.
The four factors need to know for the blogging journey of this year.
For better SEO, you should always focus on the tags and meta description.
Thanks for this informative list.
~Ravi
That’s a very interesting opinion, Ravi. I think I would focus on other areas of SEO, but definitely the meta description is important.
Very useful tips for seo. Thanks for sharing. On page seo seems to be very important along with backlinks right now.
Yep, true!
SEO is one of the biggest and scariest monsters I have had to deal with as a blogger. Before I delved into this field, I thought that all that mattered was having a writing passion and creativity and voila, you have a blogger. Well, things are proving otherwise.
It sure is important, but as an adjunct to writing excellent, unique content you’re passionate about!
Another wonderful roundup. Thanks Stacey, I had read about Seth’s article, but others are new. Glad I visited.
Great roundup Stacey, thank you…..
You’re welcome Heather, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Stacey,
Again an amazing article. Thanks for sharing. Keep posting.
Thank you for this roundup, Stacey.
I took a special interest in Seth’s article about writing for exposure. It really is an important aspect of link building for SEO purposes. It also increases one’s authority since your name can be referenced from an authority website.