Apparently, “March Madness” on Copyblogger is less about college basketball and more about finding things to say about SEO.
One could say we painted ourselves into a corner by saying, “Technical SEO isn’t nearly as important for most sites as actually producing content worth consuming” … and then deciding to write about search optimization all month.
One might even call us foolhardy.
One may have a point.
Nevertheless, we persisted … and it turns out, good things happen when you persist.
On Monday, Jerod talked a bit about some of the easy-to-forget steps that do help those darned search engines understand what your site is all about. Because he’s Jerod, he also had to talk about college basketball. Honestly, it’s March, we’re lucky to have him on the blog at all. And it was a good, useful post.
Yesterday, I wrote about how to cultivate relationships with other folks who publish content … without it getting all icky and weird. Relationships are one of the most fundamental elements of SEO, but they’re also interesting to write about because we’re human beings. Most of us, anyway.
On the podcast network, we mixed it up a little. Sean Jackson and Jessica Frick shared some thoughts on affiliate marketing for digital entrepreneurs. Brian Clark talked with Marcus Sheridan about Marcus’s no-baloney approach to content marketing and his new book, They Ask, You Answer. And Kelton Reid sat down with The New Yorker staff writer Ariel Levy to talk about memoir, reporting, and “analog writer hacks.”
Enjoy the madness, and I’ll see you next week!
Chief Content Officer, Rainmaker Digital
Catch up on this week’s content
![Remember these elements to help more of the right people find your content.]()
7 Easy-to-Forget SEO Steps You Need to Consider Every Time You Publish
by Jerod Morris
![There is only one reason you should initiate a relationship with a content publisher -- you genuinely enjoy their work.]()
How to Build Relationships with Online Influencers (Without the Awkward)
by Sonia Simone
What Online Entrepreneurs Need to Know about Affiliate Marketing
by Sean Jackson & Jessica Frick
Creative Strategies for Content Writers
by Sonia Simone
Content Marketing that Sells, with Marcus Sheridan
by Brian Clark
How New Yorker Writer and Author of ‘The Rules Do Not Apply’ Ariel Levy Writes
by Kelton Reid
How to Learn (and Teach) Better
by Jerod Morris & Jon Nastor
Reader Comments (12)
I have been struggling with blogging and SEO recently myself. As someone who enjoys writing, SEO seems completely unnatural. The trick is to do SEO within a blog post so that nobody can tell you are doing SEO. Interesting, but makes me want to puke.
Can’t I just write already?
Sure you can. Not everyone ranks in the search engines. (Given the number of web sites out there, obviously that wouldn’t really work.) If you want to get traffic some other way, there are options.
Even if you do hope to rank, SEO copywriting isn’t about writing for search engines. It’s about writing for readers. It definitely shouldn’t feel weird or uncomfortable.
SEO is one of the best methods to drive traffic to a blog.
The downside is it requires persistence and take a bit of time for new blogs.
I loved this sentence- One should do SEO in a way that nobody can tell you are doing SEO. Before writng a content one should not directly jump to writing. First of all, a deep research is needed regarding keywords and what people are searching. Then you can do SEO in a right way.
Thanks for this Weekly roundup.
The best content is that which magnetically attracts the consumer, and gives them exactly what they’re looking for!
Once someone has built the trust foundation with you, and really found the content they were looking for, especially if they can use it immediately, that’s priceless.
Great post as always!
Wow, five articles in a row on SEO, what gives? Do you plan on launching something new to us to help with SEO? There is so much more to blogging than SEO. How about adding some variety to your topics?
That’s what the weekly digest is for, Emily — to give you a quick pointer to the week at a glance, so you can find the topics of most interest.
My post yesterday (about connecting with influencers) touched on SEO, for example, but is applicable to many other aspects of business and web content.
SEO is still a mystery for many people but you see every damn product in the market which is related to Internet marketing is focused on one thing. RANK & BANK. There is nothing better than ranking on 1st page of Google and this is the only game everyone wants to win.
Patience, Persistent and right technique is all we need.
Write for your readers, first and foremost. If your readers don’t like it, your readership metrics such as bounce rate, session duration etc will prevent you from ranking anyway.
I like to write a post regardless of SEO and then run through it to check I’m getting the main keywords in and that it actually does read well. Search engines rank what your reader’s like, providing you get the basics right.
There’s a lot more to blogging than search engine optimization. What about adding some variety.
SEO was the theme for March. Next month we move on to something else. Isn’t that wonderful?
Hello,
SEO is still a mystery for many people but you see every damn product in the market which is related to Internet marketing is focused on one thing. RANK & BANK. There is nothing better than ranking on 1st page of Google and this is the only game everyone wants to win.
Patience, Persistent and right technique is all we need.
Best regards
Sahil suman
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