Initial On Page Optimization with a Dash of FeedBurner and Aweber - Day 11 of COWpetition
We have our content ready, the internal linking set up and our robots.txt file set up. There are just a few more things to take care of and then we can start up the initial promotion engine. These are…
- 1. SEO Your Index and Link Bait
- 2. Set up the optin form with FeedBurner and Aweber
Note –> During this time we have actually initiated some of the work in the promotional side of things, but for the sake of keeping things organized in these posts we are laying it out in this order. In the next post we start getting into the promotional side of things.
Part 1 –> SEO Your Index and Link Bait
We are almost ready to go live with our blog but first we need to make sure that it is properly optimized for the search engines. To do this we will use the WordPress plugin called “All In One SEO”.
Step 1: Activate the plugin if not already activated.
Step 2: Go to “Settings” and then “All in One SEO”
Step 3: Enter in a…
- Home Title
- Home Description
- Home Keywords.
These may change after you look at the Affiliate Elite results but you still want something in there for now.
IMPORTANT –> The title of the page is like the headline of a classified ad, this is what Google uses in the main title of the listing and if your title is not formatted properly and compelling then your click through rate is going to be terrible. We have seen many people with great rankings and not great traffic due to this reason. Make a more compelling “ad” then everyone else… you want to get the attention of the person looking at the results in Google.
Google often uses the meta description as the description in the listing as well so explain the title, so if you say you are the best at something then explain why in the description.
For the keywords just put four keyword phrases about your blog, do NOT worry about this too much as Google basically ignores them and they do very little in the other search engines as well.
For the title do not use more the 10 words, for the description keep it under 20 and the keywords just put four or five phrases.
Step 4: Do NOT check the “Use categories for META Keywords” but DO check…
- Use noindex for Categories:
- Use noindex for Archives:
- Use noindex for Tag Archives:
Checking these for exclusion is very useful for avoiding duplicate content.
Also check the “Autogenerate Descriptions” this will autogenerate the description if there’s no excerpt for the post.
Step 5: Go to your Link Bait post and scroll down to the “All in One SEO Pack” form area.
You want to now create a custom…
- Title
- Description
- Keywords
…for this page.
Step 6: Now you want to go to your post text and click on the HTML tab
Step 7: Where ever you have an image in the content look for the alt=”" and you will want to enter text into the alt tag. I recommend you put the main keyword phrase in one of them (ONLY ONE) and then in any other images, simply put what the image is a picture of. This is important from a professional standpoint and is just one of the “MANY” things Google looks at.
Step 8: Last of all go through the post and bold the main keyword phrase once and then Click “SAVE”
Part 2 –> Use FeedBurner and Aweber
We are going to be brutally honest here and tell you exactly how it is. We do not organize contests, spend hours writing content and work our tails off on this blog because we are such nice people. The fact is this is part of a business and our strategy is that by providing excellent value to you and working with you to help you succeed, we will gain your trust so you will opt in to our mailing list which in turn increases our readership and advertising value and hopefully you will also eventually purchase something with us or through us. You NEED to keep this in mind for you business, you have mouths to feed, bills to pay and you need to generate revenue to pay for those things.
Why do we tell you this?
Because we see so many bloggers out there that have no clue and they are going in circles, barely making a penny and they can not figure out why. Not only do they have no idea why they are doing this (we talked about this a while ago) but they also have done absolutely nothing to actually build a business and assets.
Let me ask you this…. What would happen to your current business if Google decided to de-index your blog?
If you have not taken the time to build an asset for your business then the answer you probably have is a pretty colorful one that we will not bother repeating.
So what is an asset? An asset is basically something that you own and has a value and one of the best assets an online business can have (in our opinion) is a subscriber base. With a solid base of subscribers, even if Google totally de-indexed your blog, you would not be lost at sea, you would still have a revenue stream and your business could still grow.
Of course there is more to having a list of subscribers then that but hopefully you are getting the picture here.
With a blog one of the easiest ways to gain subscribers is through the blogs RSS feed. This is very effective for staying in touch with your readers however it has its limitations but using a service like FeedBurner.com is an excellent way to overcome those limitations. They allow you to optimize and advertise and even offer a mail option where subscribers can subscribe via email. The problem with the FeedBurner option by itself however is you do not really own the asset, instead you are left at the mercy of FeedBurner.
The Solution –> The solution to this issue is using the mailing list service Aweber with FeedBurner.
We do not want to NOT offer a RSS subscription option for those that prefer to use a RSS reader and we of course want to be able to publicize our RSS readership size for monetization purposes but at the same time we want to grow an asset that we own and can have total control over. This is where Aweber is very powerful because it works beautifully with FeedBurner to get the best of both worlds! You can also mail your list personalized messages, gifts to increase trust and the occasional offer (which is what this is all about). A word of caution however, if you are mailing a promotion… make darn sure you truly believe it is something your readers would be interested in and is something you believe is worth while for them. Do NOT send them crap or you will lose their trust!
Note –> We know of no other mailing list service that works with FeedBurner like Aweber does for being able to get the full benefits of FeedBurner tracking.
Step 1: Go to http://www.feedburner.com/ and create a free account
Step 2: Submit your RSS feed and then click the “Activate Feed” button.
Step 3: Click the “Next” button and then on the next page check the…
“I want more! Have FeedBurner Stats PRO also track:” (This is now free)
NOTE –> There is an option here to optimize the links fro tracking purposes versus search engine optimizing… personally we like to leave it at default to get the most accurate tracking but the choice is up to you.
Step 4: Click the “Optimize” tab and then click on “SmartFeed” in the side bar and activate this.
Step 5: Click the “Ping Shot” in the side bar and click all the available service and then add 5 more from the drop down box and then click “Activate”. We do this instead of pinging from our blog.
Step 6: This step is only for those who do NOT have an Aweber account. Click on the “Email Subscriptions” in the side bar and click “Activate”. You will then take the supplied html code and enter it into a “Text” widget for your sidebar of your blog. Make sure to have it as close to the top of the sidebar as possible.
Step 7: If you have an Aweber account, you will not want to complete step 6 but instead log into your Aweber account and click on “Create and Manage Lists”
Step 8: Click the green “Create List” button and fill in the following but make sure to click the save button in each section that you fill:
- List Name
- Uncheck “Multiple Unsubscribe”
- Company Name (use name of blog)
- Website URL
- Email Address (this is what your subscribers will see)
- Name
- Check the From/Reply
Step 11: Click the “Messages” tab and “Blog Broadcast” sub menu and then the green “Create Blog Broadcast” button.
Step 12: Enter the following information…
- RSS Feed URL: Put your FeedBurner RSS feed URL in here
- Send Preferences: Send immediately and check Send Automatically
- Click the green “Load Templates” (Just use the basic template)
- In the “Plain Text Message” delete the lines…{!rss_channel_title}
{!rss_channel_description}
{!rss_channel_link}…and replace them with something like…
Hey {!firstname_fix},
Here is the latest update from Website Name Here…(Obviously use something in your own voice)
It should look like this…
Repeat the same step for the HTML message and so it looks like…
Click the green save button.
Step 13: Go to “List Settings”, then the sub menu “Web Form” and click the green “Create Web form” button.
Step 14: Fill in the following information…
- Form Name
- Check “In line”
- Create a “Thank You” page on your blog and put the URL to the Thank You page in the field (DO not use the Aweber default).
- Put that same URL in the “Already Subscribed Page” field. (This is what we do initially but later on we change this but we will talk about that later)
- Click Next and add the “Name” option to the form and then mouse over the Name field in the preview box and click on the blue box with a pencil in it. In the drop down now select “Yes” for required.
- Click Save.
Step 15: Click on the Get HTML link and copy the HTML not the JavaScript.
Step 16: Log into your blog admin area and go to the “Design” and then “Widgets”. Click the “Add” beside the “Text” option to add a text widget and then click “edit” on the new added widget. Enter the HTML for the optin and click “change” and then “Save Changes”
Step 17: Drag the widget to the top of the widgets and again click “Save Changes”
Step 18: Go to your blog index page and view the optin box to make sure it is properly formatted to work with your blog. We will talk about formatting the optin message and thank you page in the next post.
Step 19: Go the Plugins page and activate the plugin “FeedBurner Feedsmith” and then go to “Settings” and then “FeedBurner”
Step 20: In the #2 box, enter your FeedBurner RSS feed URL, leave the #3 empty and then click save. Your RSS feed will now auto redirect to the FeedBurner one.
In the next post we are going to talk about…
- Optimizing your optin message and “Thank You” page
- Creating and submitting your Google site map (why you want to submit and not just ping)
- Checking for errors
Hope you found this a helpful post! Do not forget to register for our HUGE contest if you have not done so already (Click Here to do that now) and as always give us some feedback, questions and comments about this post 
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
I never tried step 5 - Ping shot,thanks for that!
Rockstar Sids last blog post..Theplanet Hostgator Server downtime
Wow, this post is a relly piece of art, it took me 11 days to post a comment, but today i could not help it.
REviewers last blog post..Doctor diabetes supplies
Okay–I will add this. I understand the need for a list that I control. The software integration…It’s straightfoward, I realize, but I am starting to feel overwhelmed. I think I will call a programming buddy–when the going gets tough, the tough outsource! LOL!
Together, we are stronger.
Vicki Flaugher, the original SmartWoman
Vicki Flaughers last blog post..To Know Your Audience, Know Yourself
I haven’t used feedburner in some time, they have added quite an array of new features. I thought the Pingshot feature looked rather useful and saves me time from having to ping manually (I’m not on wordpress).
Great Post!
Thanks
InterWeb TVs last blog post..PluggedIn - Tried and Denied
I’ve been using feedburner since I started my first blog. I think it’s very useful and does add more free traffic without much effort on your part. I love that it has an e-mail suscription form and tracks all your stats too!
Free Work At Home Infos last blog post..Make $75 - $250 To Do Easy Surveys
But i am Using Blogger Then how can i use All In One Seo ???
Latest Cricket Newss last blog post..Mumbai bowlers shock Rajasthan
My first recommendation… if you want to get serious with blogging,
get off blogger. You are putting lots of effort into somethign google could shut down for what ever reason.
[...] YouTube - Kimbo Slice vs James Thompson (if you didn’t see it yet…it’s great!) John Cow - Initial On Page Optimization… GoMedia - Dave Portfolio Update Bloggin-Ads - Entrecard is [...]
Hey Mr. Cow…you forgot to add the link ot the Click Here text in the last paragraph…Also it still says $3000 in prizes in the last paragraph and in the beginning paragraph (the Seth Godin plugin)
About Aweber, I thought about using it…but I like that you can link to Feedburner’s email subscription form from within posts…I didn’t see that option with Aweber. Also, with Aweber, in order to have full posts sent by email you have to duplicate your post in the excerpt…which is annoying…
Don’t you think people want the full post in the email?
p.s. I knew you’d have to change your name on Facecook (Gamerz Reviewz)…that’s what I was talking about in the Cowcast…
Keith James Locks last blog post..Keyword Niche Markets, Subsets Of The Subset
Hey Kieth, thanks, I was travellng to Toronot for meetings today and it was a full day.. i missed the links
As for the aweber question, by using aweber you own the list, you can export the names and it is an asset you own. Also you can mail the list individually and do not have to do a blog post to post to the list.
as for linking to the opt in.. you just create an opt in page on your blog and link to it.
Yeah true…the positives definitely outweigh the negatives…I was worried most about forcing people to come to your site to read the full post…
And creating an extra form makes sense. I was just hoping Aweber would provide a link to a standard form…but now that I think about it, when you are deciding on the form fields to include yourself, that wouldn’t be make any sense.
Also, this way, with the form tracking that Aweber provides you can count sign ups on each form.
OK, I’m convinced, I’m switching over tomorrow…
Keiths last blog post..Keyword Niche Markets, Subsets Of The Subset
[...] Initial On Page Optimization with a Dash of FeedBurner and Aweber [...]
Hey Cow, I’m curious on the AIO SEO Plugin. You mention that we need to fill out the fields with custom text, but does that also include the Title?
I’ve been using the same Title for the blank field, but different description and keywords. Would this cause any problems?
-Mike
Mike Huangs last blog post..Entrecard Is Down, Now What?
The title is very much a part of what google uses to understand what your site is about. In our opinion the title is one of the most important elements of the page.
Cow,
Your step by step explanation is extremely helpful. Those of us that are wannabees keep reading how to do this or that, but when it is shown in detail like that we can get “it.”
Very helpful
Thanks.
Rich
Rich Hills last blog post..Webhosting Made Easy
Thanks Rich, we appreaciate that
My Wordpress feed won’t validate. Anyone have any idea which wp file could be the culprit?
line 1, column 1: Blank line before XML declaration
I thought I read this already, lol…I guess not. How about this, I have been using the two integrated, but not in this manner. I have a normal mailing list, to which I send a blog broadcast weekly, that contains links to all my posts from the previous week.
As such, I don’t currently have a way for people to subscribe to my feed via email, do you think I should create a separate list just for that purpose? I can see the pros of doing so, but that would then put two different optin forms on my blog. And I don’t really want to send blog posts to my lists everyday. Hmmmm, any thoughts?
You do not have to send blogposts to your lists everyday, you can send a Friday weekly summary and it will take the pasts weeks posts.
Aweber also allows you to subscribe your readers automatically to another list when they subscribe to the initial list.
[...] Set Up Feedburner and All-in-One SEO - follow the guide at http://www.johncow.com/initial-on-page-optimization-with-a-dash-of-feedburner-and-aweber-day-11-of-c…NOTES: [...]
Very interesting Post, Thak’s.
But I have a question.
Anybody know how solve the problem between Aweber and feedburner for that Aweber don’t duplicate the publish of the post?
Thank’s
Valentin