Content is everything when it comes to SEO. Video is most powerful. Pictures come next, yet blogging comes close behind. If you’re asking, “How do I do it all?” you’re not alone. We all have a “tight” budget. For some of us that tightness includes both time and money.
This is why it’s so important to get the most value from your existing assets. It’s quite likely they aren’t doing as much as they could be.
1) Leverage your potential readers’ desire to find answers.
Begin by considering every communication with your readers a potential blog topic. You probably field questions all the time.
Take those questions and the answers to them and post them on your website. Questions/answers can form the basis for very informative articles that position you as a major authority in your niche.
Get more mileage out of Q & A material by linking to other relevant pages on your website which provide even more details. An occasional blog article that provides a summary of previous articles and links back to them can be useful as well.
2) Turn book descriptions into SEO opportunities.
You’ll enhance the opportunity to get more traffic by posting your book descriptions on your website as page or post content. PDF excerpts of your book will also work, however PDF files are notorious for messing up keyword statistics.Unless the excerpts are selected carefully, they will contain too many unrelated terms. This dilutes the terms you want to optimize your site for. This is the major drawback when depending on PDF files for SEO.
I like the opportunity you get to tweak the content so it is optimized for your keyword targets when you convert your PDF files to page content. You can rewrite content so it’s not identical to your PDF files. Providing content in both formats is more user friendly.
Add pictures with SEO friendly alt text attached to them. It adds even more SEO value to your content.
3) Turn videos, webcasts and podcasts into SEO content.
It used to be said that video isn’t SEO friendly. That’s no longer true. However, you’ll get the most value if you include a same page transcript on the page on which you post any video, webcast or podcast. It’s best if the transcript is placed on the same page because it optimizes that page.
Because spoken language isn’t always easy to read, transcripts will need a little editing. Eliminate verbal pause words such as “uh” and “like” etc. If the speaker uses a lot of “ands” or “buts”, breaking sentences up so no sentence contains more than one conjunction will improve readability without changing the message.
Implement these additional optimization strategies while you’re adding the transcripts. Include a link to your contact page in the transcript if you are seeking speaking engagements. Invite readers to view other similar content and link to it. That way your video and audio content boosts Google’s cross-content ranking. It also enhances the chance that readers who come to one part of your site will go to another.
4) Share humor from the job.
This a great tactic for blog content. As long as what you have to share isn’t mean, humor goes a long way to making you feel human. Some people search for “funniest moments.” Why not share the funniest moments you’ve had as an author? Tie them to something you value as a writer or use them to make a point about your genre.
5) Talk about your industry.
Don’t just talk about your book. Talk about things that are happening in the book’s genre. Find something exciting and positive; it’s better than focusing on the negative. Yet, there may be times when you need to discuss challenges. Your author blog is the perfect place to do this.
6) Record your rants.
Sometimes we all need to vent. Throw your thoughts down whenever something ticks you off. Then let things simmer down before you publish. Until you can view a rant objectively, you shouldn’t publish. I encourage the following format.
Start the blog with why X infuriates you. Move on to why X is a problem. Then finish with your solution to X. If your blog can’t provide a solution, it isn’t worth posting. And if it is mean, personal or offensive, either rewrite or forget publishing it.
Posting a rant about how you hate group X because it does something you don’t like isn’t professional. Remove the group name. Depersonalize the content. Deal with the issue, not the “person.” It will enhance the perception that you are fair.
Of course these strategies still require time. There’s just no way around that. At the same time, they can help you develop some autonomy. You may still need an editor to clean up your grammar, yet it costs far less to hire a copy editor than a writer.
