Welcome back. So far we have looked at several of the pieces of how to build your network marketing business online. We’ve talked about why to be online, setting up a hosting account, installing WordPress and search engine optimization. Last time was a reminder that even though we are working online and not face-to-face with people, our business is still about people. There are links at the bottom of this page to all of the previous articles if you would like to review any of them.
This time we will look into the process that I use to actually write a post and next time we will look into what to write about. Before we get into the process, I want to make sure that we have a couple plugins installed and some settings fixed.
Plugins and Settings
I think I mentioned the YQL Auto Tagger plugin in one of the previous videos. Tags are a way to index our posts so that our readers can easily find related posts that they may be interested in. They also provide a way of creating a lot of internal links, as we have already talked about.
To get the YQL Auto Tagger plugin, click on Add New under Plugins and search for YQL Auto Tagger. You should come up with one result by Roger Stringer. Click on Install then Activate and that is it. There aren’t any settings to configure.
Now is also a good time to install the SEO-Tool Keyword Density Checker by Alexander Muller. You install it the same way that you did the YQL Auto Tagger. There aren’t any settings for this plugin either.
Finally, we need to take a look at your permalink settings. Expand the Settings menu then click on Permalinks. I believe the best choice is to select Custom Structure and enter /%postname%/ in the textbox next to it. This will make the url to all of your posts look like http://your-domain-url/your-post-name/ which is great for keep shorter urls and for making sure that your keyword shows up in your url, assuming that your keyword is in your post title.
How to Write a Post
Now we’re going to write a post and I think the easiest way to do it is to break it down into steps.
Step 1 – Figure out what you are going to write about. We’ll cover this next time, so for now the best thing is to come up with something related to your product, your company, or network marketing in general. While you are thinking about that, in your WordPress Dashboard click on Add new under Posts in the left-hand sidebar.
Step 2 – Write the title. The title should reflect what your article is about and, if at all possible, include at least one of your keyword phrases.
Step 3 – Check your permalink. The permalink displays directly beneath the title and will be the url to your post once you publish it. If you title is on the long side then it will benefit you to shorten it if possible. Be sure to keep your keyword phrase in it though.
Step 4 – Write your article. Don’t worry about making it pretty or anything at this point. Just get the text written.
Step 5 – Add a picture if you can. They say that people like pictures and they do make the content look more appealing than just a page full of text. Pictures also give you more places to put your keywords so that your post will rank better with the search engine.
Step 6 – Another good idea to help your post rank better is to bold some of your keywords. It also helps your page to look better and attract attention to your key points, both for readers and for the search engine spiders. Be sure not to over-do it though.
Step 7 – Add links where appropriate. If you are writing about something to do with your network marketing company, then you want to link to the appropriate place on their website to either get someone to join your team or to sell a product. If you are writing about some kind of technology or study that claims something, then you want to link to some form of proof to back up what you are saying. Like pictures, links are a great place to put your keywords.
Step 8 – Save the post as a draft then scroll down to the Keyword Density Checker. Make sure that the keywords that you want to rank for appear in the lists of 1-word, 2-word, or 3-word phrases. If they don’t then go back to your content and see if there is somewhere that you can insert them that fits in with the flow of content. You are better off not doing it if there isn’t a good place to put it because it needs to read well to real people.
Step 9 – Find the YQL Auto Tagger box and click the Get Tag Suggestions button. Click the green plus-sign button to add the tags that make sense. In the box under Add your own tags write in the 2-word and 3-word phrases from the Keyword Density Checker that make sense for your post. Finally, add any other keyword phrases that you think are important. I usually want between 5 and 10 tags on each of my posts.
Step 10 – Find the All in One SEO Pack box. First, write something in the description field. This is your ad to get people to read your post. When someone does a search on Google for your keywords and your post comes up in the results, this description is the text is displayed with your listing in the results. It needs to be something that makes me want to read your post over the other nine results that came up with it. When entering tags in the text box, be sure to separate them with commas.
Step 11 – Still within the All in One SEO Pack box, we need to fill in the keywords. What I do is choose the best three tags and enter them here, separated by commas. This is how you tell the search engine spiders what your post is about.
Step 12 – Scroll your way back to the top so that you can choose a category for your post. Categories are the broad topic areas that you want to use to categorize your posts. For example, you could go as simple as having one category for Products and another for Network Marketing if all of your posts will be about one or the other. If the category already exists, just click the checkbox for the category that you want. If it doesn’t, then you can add one by clicking the Add New Category link below the existing categories.
Step 13 – Take one more look over everything to make sure it is all done, then click Publish.
That’s it. This is everything that I do for each post that I write.
Next time I will share my thoughts on how I come up with my blog posts. That might help you find plenty of ideas to write your posts too.
For More Information
For more up-to-date and complete information, check out my ebook and membership site. I walk your through setting up your website / blog and how to create your content.
Previous Articles
Online vs Offline Network Marketing
Where Are You Going to Share Your Message?
How to Easily Create Your Website
Promoting You and Your Website Online – Part 1
Promoting You and Your Website Online – Part 2
Online Network Marketing is Still About People
2 Responses to How to Write a Blog Post