#bloggingtips – Jean's Writing

What is the best length for a blog post?

Published on February 5, 2018February 3, 2018 by Jean M. Cogdell28 Comments

Is there an ideal length for a blog post?

Well, like all opinions, everyone has one on this subject. Some “experts” suggest 2500 words. Listen, I’m no “expert” but I think that is way too long. Just my opinion. I try to keep my posts between 250-500 words. However, I do add links for those who want to dig deeper and read more in-depth on whatever the subject.

If you love to write long meandering posts, have at it. But I’m busy, and like many of you, I receive dozens of emails every day.

Not wanting to miss anything, I try to read them all. Well, maybe not each and every word. I’ll confess, the longer ones I scan for nuggets of information.

This past week I received a wonderful compliment from another writer. She likes that my posts are brief and to the point. Thank you, Marian.

“I like too that your posts are not long and laborious, attractive to busy writers like me. Thank you!” – MarianBeaman

Readers may prefer shorter content but search engines will hit more often on longer content. SEO or not, I believe brevity is important.

Readers need to know what to expect from your blog. Long or short, get to the point.

Here are my tips for writing good, consistent blog posts.

First, decide your blogging goal.
More readers? A shorter blog post may be the way to go. 250-600 words.
Selling a product? Very short blog content. Average under 250 words.
Desire more comments and conversations on your blog? The ideal blog post length should hit in the middle. 500-600 words.
Want more shares on Social Media? Again, hit for the middle. Write an informative article somewhere between 500-600 words.
More Google searches? The best blog post length for SEO should be longer. 1000-2500.

Know your audience and keep your blog goals in sight.

Have time to read more details about ideal blog posts? Then click the links below and read these bloggers/writers have to say.

How Long Should Your Blog Post Be? A Writer’s Guide by Joe Bunting

How Long Should My Blog Post Be? By John Rampton

For Blog Posts in 2017, What’s the Best Length for SEO?

Okay, question time.

How long are your average posts?

Have you thought about blog post length?

Do you think articles should be longer or shorter?

Do you prefer to read shorter or longer posts?

I HOPE YOU TAKE A MINUTE AND FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA, JUST CLICK ON THE BUTTONS BELOW. I’LL LEAVE A LIGHT ON.

How to Write Blog Post Introductions That Make the Rest of Your Post Irresistible

Do you know how to help Google find you?

Published on January 19, 2018January 18, 2018 by Jean M. Cogdell7 Comments

Want to rank higher in Google?

Then make sure your images are optimized for those all those pesky little search spiders and bots.

No, not gonna scare you with SEO talk. But, if you want to help Google and other search engines find your book or blog, add information to your images.

SEO

After reading how a post by Mae Clair over at Story Empire Blog, I realized image information is one more tool used by search engines. Laptop tools image

Bitmoji Jean Cogdell working late — Me burning the midnight oil.

Heading over to fix a lot of my images now. Sigh… may take me awhile.

Find out the importance of adding information to your images. Read…

The Importance of Alt Text, Image Titles, and Image Descriptions By MAE CLAIR

So, what do you think?

Bitmoji Jean Cogdell wants to know — Talk to me

Are all your images pointing to your book or blog?

Can Google, Yahoo or Bing find you easily?

Have you already added this information to your book cover and blog images?

NOW PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA, JUST CLICK ON THE BUTTONS BELOW. I’LL LEAVE A LIGHT ON.

How to understand keyword and blog ranking

Published on December 27, 2017December 29, 2017 by Jean M. Cogdell9 Comments

Well, it’s the end of another year.

And as your reading to ring in 2018 you may want to see how your blog did during 2017.

First, do what I did, Check those WordPress Stats.

In 2016, I published 222 posts, with 16,046 views. In 2017, I published 172 posts with 14,636 views. Not too bad, considering, in 2017 I cut back my blogging to 3 times a week.

Understanding blog ranking, blog stats, and keywords can help improve your blog views.

There are lots of ways to check your blog stats and ranking. Websites that show which keywords work best for your posts.

Some of these tools I understand and some I are a bit over my head. But most of them are a big time suck. So bloggers, beware. Look, if your curious but don’t get mired in the muck. Or like me, you’ll end up with a big headache.

There are a few free services and free trials to help you figure out all this stuff.

For instance…

GOOGLE TRENDS – Find out which keywords or subject are trending.

SERPSTATS – Website analysis and Domain ranking. Plus which top page/posts on your blog had the highest visibility.

KEYWORD RANK CHECKER on SERPS website- Discover the average monthly searches for a keyword and the cost-per-click (CPC).

KEYWORD RESEARCH – Helps discover which keywords are working on your blog.

WORD TRACKER – Find out which words are searched the most.

Bloggers, tell me…

Did you check your stats for 2017?

Did you fare better or worse?

Do you understand Keywords and Stats? (I’ll be honest, I don’t.)

I HOPE YOU’LL TAKE A MINUTE TO FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA, JUST CLICK ON THE BUTTONS BELOW. I’LL LEAVE A LIGHT ON.

Which social media sends you the most readers?

Published on December 11, 2017December 10, 2017 by Jean M. Cogdell8 Comments

Is WordPress Reader, Google, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, or Twitter the best choice?

Or how about Reddit, StumbleUpon, Medium, or a market I’ve yet to discover? Seems a new one pops up every day. So how do we discover which is best for our blog?

Do you have a favorite you search engine?

Okay, Bloggers hold on to your hat! Deep diving for answers today.

All of these questions were rolling around in my head this past weekend and got me to thinking…

Am I wasting my time on the wrong platforms? Should I concentrate on just one or two and not spread myself like mayonnaise on bread.

Time for research. Which translates into dropping down the ole rabbit hole.

The first place I started, of course, was the Stats page in WordPress. But that was just a starting point. You can see from my image, according to WordPress, most of my referrers come from WordPress Readers.

But, does that tell me how readers actually discovered Jean’s Writing? I’m not sure. The term “referrer” is referencing online sources – specifically sites or services that the referring page or link clicked on to get to my site. Clear as mud, right?

Look at this section on your STATS page to get a better idea of how many people are seeing your blog. Below is how many views, visitors, likes and comments made to my blog.

However, that still doesn’t let me know which social media gets me the most bang for my time.

So, I did a little more digging.

Another great source is Google Analytics. Takes a little while to set it up but once you do you can see which social site is sending the most people to your website. I set up my account last year but hadn’t checked on it since. So, I headed over to see what was what.

Holy Cow! Google Analytics had zero stats for my website. Please don’t judge me too harshly. Because I’m embarrassed to tell you, I’d forgotten one very important step. The freaking Accept button. You know that button that says you agree to terms, yadda, yadda yadda…