Blogging a Trail of Breadcrumbs

"Hansel and Gretel may have been the first Internet readers...They were both so ADD that they couldn't even remember how to get home on their jaunt in the woods.  Readers on your blog are the same...but they can't leave their own breadcrumbs to find their way back -- so you have to help them find out." (Daniel Vassiliou, Endurance SEO)

How do you make it easier for your blog readers to navigate your site?  How do you draw visitors to your site for longer periods of time?  How do you lower your bounce rate (visitors who make a brief visit and leave)?  How do your raise your Google rankings?

The Internet has "web spiders" or "web crawlers" which "trawl around the web following links and indexing all content of web pages" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_crawler).  You want as much of your blog content as possible indexed by the web spiders.  Providing interlinks increases your chances of getting noticed. 

For small blogs, it is easy to set up manual links in your blog to other relevant posts within your blog. However, with larger blogs, it becomes more complicated.  Daniel Vassiliou recommends a tiered linking system using the top down approach starting with your homepage (http://www.problogger.net/archives/2013/05/15/interlinking-your-blogs-for-seo/).  

You can use plugins to incorporate breadcrumbs into your siet (see Yoast's breadcrumb plugins for Wordpress) which enables you to link pages and posts.  You can also use SEO Smart Links to match keywords to tags and titles in your blog (https://wordpress.org/plugins/seo-automatic-links/).

When I studied French at McMaster, in grammar class we were given ten or fifteen French vocabulary words and we had to build an essay around those words.  The challenge was to incorporate all of the words into the body of the essay in a natural, rather than an artificial way.  

Similarly, as a blogger, you are given a list of keywords, applicable to your topic.  Your task is to mix in your keywords to fit naturally into your blog post.  For example, the other day, I did a blog post about Keywords.  Now would be a good time to share that post (see http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2015/02/keyword-search-is-key-to-blogging.html). 

Blogger Yaro Starak gives the example of a post written about "shared trading" in which he gives a definition of PE ratio (see "price to earnings ratio" at http://www.investopedia.com/university/peratio/peratio1.asp), a popular keyword or phrase.  In his subsequent posts, he attempts to refer back as often as possible, when appropriate, to the PE ratio in his anchored text (the underlined links). 

Incorporating keywords and interlinks into your blog posts will raise your page views.  However, don't overdo it.  Again, make it a natural fit.  As Daniel Vassiliou warns, nothing can replace good blog content, regardless of keywords and links.  Now would be a good time to share my post "Developping Good Blogging Content" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2015/02/developping-good-blog-content.html.  However, it can "boost strong content to the next level".  And it can help your readers navigate your blog, the way the breadcrumbs led Hansel and Gretel through the woods.  

http://www.smallkidshomework.com/wp-content/uploads/Hansel%20and%20Gretel_2(1).jpeg

Blogging: Jump Start Your Creativity

"You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have." 
(Maya Angelou)

It is far too easy to run out of ideas once you start a blog.  Before you know it, you have abandonned your project.  You are the author of a "ghost blog".  Susan J. Getgood, in her book Professional Blogging for Dummies (http://www.amazon.ca/Professional-Blogging-Dummies-Susan-Getgood/dp/0470601795) recommends ten strategies to jump start your creativity.  

1.  Keep a Notebook

Carry around a 3 x 5 inch notebook (small enough to fit in your purse or a jacket pocket).  Every time you get inspiration, jot down the idea to look at later.  Don't forget to keep a notebook at your bedside for late night inspiration.  When you are surfing the Internet, if you come across a useful article, bookmark it at delicious.com.

2.  Read the Newspaper

As you pour over the newspaper, an interesting headline might catch your eye.  Take advantage of it to build a post.  If you don't subscribe to the newspaper, go online and read snippets from the day's news.  Or search the archives of various newspapers.  Old headlines can also serve as inspiration.  I remember when my husband helped his dad put new siding on his cottage, when they took off the old siding, underneath they found newspapers from the Second World War.  What food for thought!  

3.  Reread Your Favourite Posts

Write a roundup, a top ten of your favourite posts.  Pick a theme ex. My Top Ten Posts About Cooking Light.  Maybe you've written about a controversial issue and your opinion has changed. 

That is also fuel for a good post.  

4.  Read Other Blogs

Use another blog post as inspiration for your blog.  Provide a link to the original post.  This is where your blogroll comes in handy.  Then you have your favourite blogs right at your fingertips.    

5.  Search the Internet Aimlessly

Type in a keyword and let the searching begin.  Use aggregators like alltop.com or Yahoo! which lets you choose a trending topic and surf.  If you sign up for stumbleupon.com, the search engine will find results for you based on your likes and dislikes.  

6.  Spend an Hour on Your Hobby

Doing an activity that you like reminds you why you love it so much.  Grab your binoculars and go bird watching.  Grab your camera and photograph nature.  Grab your tools and putter in the garden. Raid your kitchen cupboards and bake up a storm.  Spending time at your hobby produces something called "flow" where, you are so immersed in the activity, that an hour seems to pass by in minutes.  It relaxes the mind, but at the same time focusses it.  

7.  Play a Game

Play games like Scrabble or Boggle.  It serves as a fun way to strengthen your verbal skills.

8.  Look Up Old Friends on Facebook

Pick someone you went to high school with who had an unusual last name.  Look him up on Facebook and see how he turned out.  If it's a girl, type in her maiden name.  If she is married, often she will include her maiden name with her married name.

9.  Take a Walk

Bring your notebook and/or camera along.  Jot down your observations.  See where your thoughts lead you.  Go to the driving range.  If the weather is inclement, stay inside and ride the elliptical machine.  Physical activity clears the cobwebs out of your head.

10.  Move to a Different Window

Move to a different chair or a different room.  Walk to the local coffee shop or library.  It's amazing what inspiration you will get in a public place.  There's a story wherever you go.  I found that out when I was taking an online writing college course.  At the specialist's office, I had an hour to kill in the waiting room.  My homework was to pretend I was a newspaper reporter, go to a cafe or park or other public place and "get a scoop".  I got out my notebook and started to record my observations. Lo and behold, there was a big story right under my nose.  The elderly man beside me asked the teenage girl beside him why her arm was in a sling.  She said she was the victim of a drive by shooting, right in Brantford!  Who would have thought?

11.  Listen to Music

Listen to your favourite songs and let your mind wander.  A catchy lyric might serve as inspiration for a blog title.  Visit http://writersrelief.com/blog/2014/12/writers-playlist-part-1-music-jump-start-creativity/.

12.  Read a book

I read the book Goals:  How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Every Thought Possible by Brian Tracy which gave me a whole month's worth of material for blogging. See http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2015/01/conceive-believe-achieve.html.

For more information, read Write Starts:  Prompts, Quotes and Exercises to Jump Start Your Creativity by Hal Zina Bennett (2010).

"Think outside the box" at astrologyunboxed.com.