When it comes to creating viral content, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel.  If you aren’t seeing the kind of interest you’d like in your blog posts and articles, read on to learn more about the processes that we use to build traffic to a website through the use of proven viral content techniques.

At Single Grain, when we create content for a client’s website, we often draw from ideas, structures, and strategies that have already demonstrated success on the web and in the blogosphere.  Essentially, we take a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” policy – instead of attempting to generate interest for an unproven topic or article structure, we learn from past experience to develop content that’s likely to generate viral activity.

The advantages of this type of content are two-fold.  Not only does the viral content we create help to build traffic to a website by capitalizing on trending topics, it also leads to an influx of new backlinks which help our clients rank even higher in the search engine results pages.

Sounds pretty cool, right?!  Read on to learn more about the two methods we use to reverse engineer potential viral content…

1 – Develop viral content by searching trending topics

The concept of reverse engineering viral content from trending topics is actually pretty simple.  To start, we find one or more topics that are trending rapidly across the search engine results pages and social media networks, and then we write content that relates everything back to the website we’re working on.

For example, sometime ago, Charlie Sheen’s break down on TV was a major trending topic in the news, on social networking sites, and in the search engines.  We might also look for events related to our business vertical or events with nationwide importance (for example, the Sugar Bowl) that are trending as well.  Next, we’ll combine a few of these events with topics from within the industry we’re targeting in order to produce a blog post that’s likely to get picked up and shared via social media.

As an example, since Single Grain is in the SEO industry, we might leverage the trend listed above to produce blog posts like “Charlie Sheen’s Approach to Link Building,” or “Which Teams Belong in The Super Bowl According to their SEO: A Competitive Link Analysis”

These aren’t great examples, but they should illustrate the concept for you.  Basically, we combine several elements that are trending upwards, produce fresh content for them, and then point links at the new viral article.  Doing so earns us more visitors, increased CTR on the search results page, and buzz in the social media world.

To use this technique on your own websites, you’ll need to start by identifying the trending topics that will generate the most interest for your content.  Play around with the tools listed below and make a note of any trending topic that catches your eye – whether or not it’s related to your business.

From that larger list, make a smaller list of ideas that relate closely to your industry and those for which you’ll be able to produce content for.  Keep in mind – not all trending topics lend themselves to viral posts, though with practice, you’ll find that most trending topics can be connected in some way to key topics within your industry.  Finally, use this list to come up with potential blog post titles and draft your viral content.

Tools:

• http://trendistic.indextank.com/
• http://www.kurrently.com (Use this to search Twitter and Facebook updates)
• www.socialmention.com
• http://trendsbuzz.com/
• http://topsy.com/s?q=Volcano+Vaporizer
• http://trendsmap.com/ (Use this tool to identify trending topics on a regional basis)
• http://www.google.com/insights/search/
• http://www.google.com/trends
• http://www.monitter.com/

2 – Reverse engineer viral content from articles that are already performing well

Another really effective method for generating content that’s likely to get shares and links on social networking sites (as well as to build traffic and backlinks back to our target site) is to find examples of articles that are already performing well on sites like StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg, HackerNews and Delicious, and then model our content after them.

StumbleUpon

To make this process work on StumbleUpon, start by creating an account (or a dummy account, if you’re investigating topics for a client’s site) and set your interests to include topics related to our business niche.  Then start “stumbling” with the Stumble button and watch for articles to come up that catch your eye and generally look awesome.

Copy the direct website URL out of your browser, according to the following image, and then paste it into the search field at www.socialmention.com.

At the bottom left of the search screen, you should be able to see how many StumbleUpon stumbles, Facebook shares, and other social metrics that the linked article has achieved.  If there’s not enough data in this screen, you can plug the same URL into the Open Site Explorer to get the exact number of tweets and likes (if you have a pro account).

When you see an article that’s achieved a high number of social shares through various networks, make a note of it – keeping in mind that what constitutes a “high number” will vary by industry.  After evaluating several articles, you should have a good idea of which articles are performing best amongst your industry’s audience.  Try to identify any similarities between these successful articles and use the conclusions you’re able to draw when creating your own viral content.

For example, if all of the successful articles you come across follow a list post format (as in, “7 Steps to Reverse Engineering Viral Content”), that could be a signal that this type of content performs well with your target audience.  Similarly, f you notice a similar tone or point of view being used across multiple articles, try to mimic these effects in your own content to improve your chances of success.

Digg, Reddit and HackerNews

StumbleUpon is unique in the way the service is used to identify new content, so consider the following process if you plan to identify viral content on Digg, Reddit, HackerNews or any other site that uses community voting to rank articles.

First, go to your chosen website and find the articles that have been voted up the most in the categories that are related to you or your client’s business.  Glance through them quickly and look for content structures that you could modify for use on your own site.  For example, if you come across popular tutorials in your niche, consider that this type of information could be just as valuable written in your own words on your own website.

Similarly, when you find content on these sites that have a lot of social media shares or a lot of Diggs, Stumbles, and so on, you can write your own articles modeling the same format and style in order to increase your chances of having your articles shared virally.

Of course, be aware that we’re in no way, shape or form recommending that you go out and plagiarize existing viral content.  Instead, use these articles as guides from which you can draw the necessary conclusions that will help you to see the same success with your own unique articles.

Image: bilisimhukuk

 
Blogging can be a great way to build your professional reputation and reach additional prospects for your products or services. But despite what you might expect from all of the “Overnight Blogging Success” products being sold online, blogging isn’t a quick and easy path to riches. Instead, it requires a significant of time and energy in order to build the following that will make your blog successful.

If you’re struggling to attract a regular audience on your blog, consider the following tips:

Tip #1 – Develop a theme for your blog (and stick with it!)

The most successful blogs out there are built around a single topic that audiences relate to and find compelling enough to return again and again. The chosen topic can encompass several sub-topics (as long as they’re substantially related to the overall purpose of the site), but in general, the content posted to the blog doesn’t deviate from this main theme.

For example, consider the Single Grain blog. The articles published here all relate specifically to internet business models and internet business growth. One on day, that might include publishing information on the latest Google Panda update, while the next day, it’s talking about how to increase your presence on social networking sites.

However, you can rest assured that you’ll never wind up here and come across a post on thoughts about dog training. By focusing all of the content published here on a single topic, visitors never have to worry that they’ll waste time coming to the site only to find information that isn’t valuable to them.
If your blog doesn’t have a defined, over-arching theme, now’s the time to start thinking of one!

Tip #2 – Be present

As a blogger, you’re no longer an anonymous business owner – you’re now a public presence (even if you choose not to reveal your legal name) and that comes with expectations.

First is the expectation that you’ll publish content regularly. If you’re serious about building an audience, you’ll want to publish no less than once a week (preferably at least 2-3 times each week) so that you stay fresh in the minds of your readers. Once you stop publishing regularly, people lose their reason to check back on your site.

In addition to publishing content, it’s also important to respond to your readers whenever they comment on the content published on your blog, or share your blog posts on social networking sites. Follow up with helpful information and thank them for visiting your site, and you’ll convert casual readers into true brand evangelists in no time.

Tip #3 – Define your voice

Unless you’re the world’s foremost expert on underwater basket weaving, chances are there’s already at least one other blog out there writing about the same topic you’re covering. And if you’re writing in an already-crowded industry (like personal finance, internet business or personal development), there are probably lots of other blogs in your industry that are older, better established and more profitable.

So what do you bring to the table that’s interesting enough to get visitors to leave these sites and spend time on yours? Part of this distinction is something you’ll cover when you choose the specific topic for your site. But another key factor in setting your site apart from others is your blogging voice, or the way you speak to your audience.

Having a unique and memorable blogging voice is a good way to connect with your audience, but it can take time to develop. To start, try writing a few posts the way you would speak to a friend. Don’t worry if it isn’t grammatically perfect – the idea here is to put forth an authentic version of yourself through the words you choose. Publish these posts and wait to see how people respond to your voice in the comments. With a little practice, you’ll start to pick up on the kind of language that your audience responds best to.

Tip #4 – Connect with other bloggers

Building a great blog with regular content written in your special voice is a big part of succeeding with blogging, but it’s only one part of the process. To really build a following on your site, you need to get out and start connecting with other bloggers!

The fastest way to do this is to start commenting on authority blogs in your niche. When you find another site that you like, add it to your RSS reader so that you can be one of the first people to comment whenever these sites post new content. Leave thoughtful feedback on these posts that show you read the content and thought critically about what the post had to say.

If you start to do this on enough other blogs, you’ll find that people get curious about who you are, resulting in both traffic back to your site and possible guest posting opportunities if the owners of your commenting sites like what you have to say in your comments.

Tip #5 – Social media is your new best friend

When it comes to building an audience for your blog, social networking sites represent an incredible opportunity to share your content and drive visitors back to your site. Of course, it’s not enough to simply set up your profiles and wait for the visitors to start flowing in. Instead, consider the following techniques to help jumpstart your success with these sites:

• Search Twitter for questions in your industry – Say you run a website that’s dedicated to helping visitors find the lowest mortgage rates online. Using a tool like Hootsuite or TweetDeck, you could set up an alert that notifies you every time someone tweets a questions with the words “mortgage rate” or “refinance”. As soon as these questions are posted, you can reply with an answer, increasing your brand’s authority and driving visitors back to your sites.
• Follow and interact with industry leaders – Identify who the thought leaders are in your niche and follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. But don’t just follow them – respond to their posts with the same kind of helpful information you’d share when commenting on their blogs. Others who follow these authority figures will see your interactions and become curious about your site.
• Encourage participation on your profiles – While it’s great to share links to your content on your social networking profiles, these shouldn’t be the only type of updates you post. Instead, use these venues to post questions to your followers, point them towards other helpful resources or ask them to share your content in a specific way. By getting them involved with your profiles, you’ll increase the level of engagement they feel with your blog and your brand.

Just remember – it can take time for these strategies to come together and result in a self-sustaining following for your site. In fact, many blogging experts suggest that you’ll need at least 6-12 months of solid work and self-promotion before you’ll see enough traffic to make blogging worth your while. However, if you’re willing to stick it out and implement the advice above, you’ll start to see substantial growth and rewards from your blogging efforts.

 
Running a successful website is about more than just good design and well-written content. While these elements are important, they only represent one side of the equation in the relationship between you and your readers.

In addition to doing your best to provide good content and a pleasant site experience, it’s important to ensure that your audiences’ needs are being taken care of. People visit websites for specific purposes, and if your readers don’t feel that you’re meeting their expectations, they’ll leave – no matter how good your writing technically is or how pretty your site looks.

But how can you study your audience in order to uncover their hidden needs and motivations in order to better tailor your site to them? Don’t worry – you don’t need to be a mind reader to figure out what your audience is looking for and how you can help them find it. Instead, just follow the steps outlined in this article to ensure your site’s content is a good fit.

Write Based on Keywords

Not only is keyword research a great way to be sure your site receives the maximum possible SEO benefit, it’s also good for uncovering the topics your audience is eager to hear about. Let’s look at two ways to do this…

Standard Keyword Research

Conducting traditional keyword research (in which you use a tool to brainstorm related keyword ideas and evaluate their potential in terms of search volume and competition) can be a great way to learn more about the mindset of your audience and understand what topics they’re most interested in.

In this example of keyword research generated by Market Samurai for the keyword phrase “dog training”, we can see that the terms “dog problems”, “obedience training” and “crate training” all receive a good volume of monthly search traffic. If you have a website on dog training that doesn’t cover one of these areas, this type of keyword research can help you uncover new topics that your audience might want to learn about.

Keyword Questions Tool

Another fun way to figure out what your audience wants to learn about is with Wordtracker’s free “Keyword Questions Tool”. To access this tool, navigate to https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/keyword-questions and enter your target keyword into the search box.

In the above example, we can see several questions that are related to the target keyword phrase “dog training”, as well as the number of times these questions are asked on the top search engines each day.

Imagine, in the case above, that you had a site focused on dog training tips. Although you might have assumed that your audience was primarily pet owners, people could be coming to your site for information to use in their own dog training businesses! Not only does this search uncover a whole new set of long tail keyword phrases, it could potentially identify aspects of your niche that your audience is anxious to hear about!

Survey Your Existing Content

Another way to determine what type of content your audience responds best to is to simply look at how they’ve behaved in the past. To do this, log in to your Google Analytics account (or whatever other web data program you’re using) and identify your top content pages. In Google Analytics, this information can be found by logging in, clicking on “Content” in the left-hand navigation pane and then clicking on “Top Content” from the expanded list:

Once you’ve pulled the information on your top content pages, you’ll want to start doing some detective work…

Take the example above. In this case, one article on the site is receiving substantially more views than any other page. This could indicate that readers are looking for a particular type of information, making it worthwhile to invest time in writing similar articles in order to appeal to the audiences’ interests.

However, as we can see from the extended stats in this example, the average time on page for this article is very low and the bounce rate is very high – meaning that it might not be a good fit for all audience members. Indeed, looking down to the content pages in positions 5-10, we see much better on-page stats. Looking at the topics covered in these articles might provide more useful data about what our audience members are interested in.

Ask Your Readers

Of course, analyzing existing web page statistics is only half the battle. By studying this information, we can make assumptions about what our audience members will be interested in based on their past preferences, but it’s important to understand that these preferences are inherently limited.

Here’s why… Suppose you’ve covered topic X and topic Y on your site and your web analytics show that your audience was more engaged when you discussed topic Y. You could conclude that you should add more content on topic Y, but what if they’d really prefer to hear about topic Z? Since you’ve never covered it on your website, you have no idea that they’ll respond well to this type of information.

So how do you figure out what topics your audience would really like to hear about that you haven’t covered yet? The easiest way to do it is to simply ask them!

To do this, set up an account on SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang or one of the many other free survey providers out there. Limit your survey to as few questions as possible (as this will increase the number of readers who finish your poll), while still getting the information you need. Consider the following sample questions that you could include in your survey:

• What is your favorite topic to read about on my site?
• Are there any topics you feel I haven’t covered well enough?
• Of the following options, which topic would you like me to cover next? (Generate potential article topics based on the content on related sites in your niche and your keyword research.)
• How would you describe your level of expertise in this niche?
• What similar sites do you visit frequently?
• How can I improve the reader experience on my site?

To encourage as many people to respond as possible, it’s a good idea to offer a bonus to every reader who finishes your survey. The premium versions of some of the survey programs listed above can do this automatically, but if you don’t want to pay for it, require participants to include their email addresses and send out your bonuses – whether you decide to offer a coupon code, free product or other incentive – manually.

When you invest time in getting to know your audience and their particular interests and desires – instead of just assuming that you know what it is they’re looking for – you increase the likelihood that they’ll form a connection with your site, leading to repeat visits and (potentially) repeat sales. Yes, it takes a little extra time compared to simply writing about whatever’s on your mind, but in the end, you’ll find that it’s well worth the effort to build a thriving, engaged audience.

Image: breathwick

Unfortunately, the out-of-the-box WordPress installation isn’t that great when it comes to search engine optimization. And although there are some tweaks you can make to improve this situation slightly from within the WordPress Dashboard (such as updating your permalinks and ensuring that search engine visibility is turned on), you’re going to want to install some SEO plugins to help with these issues as well.

The following are some of plugins that are highly-regarded within the SEO community. Although we can’t guarantee they’ll skyrocket your website to the first page of the Google SERPs, they’ll definitely help your search engine optimization efforts.

All in One SEO Plugin

According to Pam Moore of Social Media Today:

“If you want SEO to rock with little effort, this is your plugin. I have seen great results with this plugin on both my sites as well as many client sites.”

The All in One SEO Plugin has been the default leader in WordPress SEO for many years. It’s quick to install and easy to understand – and best of all, it enables you to adjust SEO parameters on both a site-wide and per-post level. It’s a simple way to ensure that all of your content meets current SEO standards.

SEO Smart Links

The SEO Smart Links plugin is an interesting one to consider as well. The search engines love to see interlinking between posts and pages, but not all webmasters take full advantage of this practice. SEO Smart Links attempts to take the hassle out of this process by creating these internal links automatically.

A few of the settings are pictured before, but essentially, the SEO Smart Links plugin enables webmasters to set the type of content they’d like to interlink, the keyword phrases that should be used as interlink anchor text, whether or not headline tags should be linked and more. If you’re particularly concerned about the specific internal links that are created or if you already interlink pages on principle, skip this plugin. But if you don’t currently use interlinks, it’s worth considering.

SEO Friendly Images

This plugin is another great option for minimizing the amount of work needed to actively manage your on-page search engine optimization. We all know that using keyword-rich alt text for the images on our sites is good standard practice, but taking the time to develop this text and code it into your image files can be frustrating. The SEO Friendly Images plugin eliminates this extra effort by setting your alt text and image title tags automatically based on criteria specified in the plugin.

For example, using the following settings, you can set the plugin to automatically create alt text for your images using the file name and the name of the post the image is attached to. You can also set the title tag to pull information from a number of different parameters, including the post title (as pictured below), the image file name, the post category or the post name.

Digg Digg

Although there are hundreds of different plugins out there that are designed to encourage the sharing of your web content on social networking sites, Digg Digg really takes the cake in terms of functionality and effectiveness. And lest you wonder why a plugin devoted to social sharing is turning up in an article on SEO plugins, keep in mind that Google has recently acknowledged that links from these sites are one of its newest ranking factors.

Need evidence? Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land got Google to admit the following in response to the question, “If an article is retweeted or referenced much in Twitter, do you count that as a signal outside of finding any non-nofollowed links that may naturally result from it?”

“Yes, we do use it as a signal. It is used as a signal in our organic and news rankings. We also use it to enhance our news universal by marking how many people shared an article.”

The easiest way to get your readers to share your content on social networking sites is to use a plugin that actively encourages social sharing – and the best plugin for that job is Digg Digg.

Digg Digg is responsible for the floating social sharing buttons you see on many blogs these days, although its options can be modified to nest these buttons at the end of each article, as well as displaying them in both normal or compact versions. The floating orientation of the buttons is especially effective, as many readers prefer to share good content as they encounter it, instead of at the end of the article, when they’re already thinking about where they’re going next.

W3 Total Cache

Page speed is another ranking factor that’s expected to play a big role in search engine algorithms in the next few years, as Google has made no secret about the fact that it prefers faster pages that improve the user experience. According to Matt Cutts, in a post on the Google Webmaster Central blog:

“Speeding up websites is important – not just to site owners, but to all Internet users. Faster sites create happy users and we’ve seen in our internal studies that when a site responds slowly, visitors spend less time there.”

Unfortunately, WordPress blogs can be notoriously slow to run, considering all of the extra plugins and theme files needed to make it run effectively. This is why installing a caching plugin – which serves up stored versions of a site’s pages instead of dynamically generating them each time a repeat visitor returns – a is so important.

And though there are plenty of different caching plugin options out here, W3 Total Cache is the industry leader in terms of the different features and functionalities offered.

Since the number of settings available may actually be overwhelming to beginning webmasters, the W3 Total Cache support page recommends setting the plugin to the following options (although more advanced site owners should certainly feel free to experiment with the additional options the plugin provides):

“In most cases, “disk enhanced” mode for page cache, “disk” mode for minify and “disk” mode for database caching are “good” settings.”

When it comes to optimizing WordPress for search engine optimization, there are hundreds upon hundreds of plugins that can be integrated in order to provide a better experience for users and search engine spiders alike.

However, if your time is limited and you’d rather not sift through page after page of the WordPress Extend plugin directory, consider adding these five recommended plugins right away. They may not skyrocket your site to a #1 ranking right away, but they will go a long ways towards correcting some of the SEO deficiencies that are native to the WordPress platform.

What has become clearer than ever is that Google is looking to promote sites that are (or at least resemble) authorities in their fields. So if your site doesn’t pass the “Would you recommend this site to a friend?” test or the “Would you feel comfortable pulling out your credit card and buying something from it?” test, be aware – Google’s coming after you.

So to understand how to structure website content in a post-Panda world, we need to first consider what a good, organic authority site looks like naturally. From there, we can apply these findings to our on sites in order protect ourselves from future updates to the Panda algorithm change, as well as completely new updates that may be coming in the future.

The following are some of the features of these sites that Google has given increased preference to recently. Even if you weren’t affected by the most recent algorithm change, you’d be wise to start implementing these tips on your sites ASAP!

Article Length – How Long is Long Enough?

Say you truly are an expert in your field. Can you really impart any kind of wisdom to your followers in a mere 300-500 word article? Probably not! True authority sites share loads of free content, much of it at least 1,000 words in length. In the wake of recent algorithm changes, it’s a good idea to be sure your posts are at least this long – possibly even longer (2,000-3,000 words even) if the topic you’re writing on can support it.

But not only should you focus on writing longer posts than ever – don’t forget to spice up your articles with relevant images as well. Adding images that depict data trends or clarify a process are great for usability and give you another opportunity to improve your site’s SEO with keyword-rich alt tags.

External Linking Strategies – Sharing the Love

Even if you are an expert on your chosen topic, chances are you recognize that other authors and website owners have valuable insight to share as well. And, as a true authority site, instead of worrying about how much link juice is flowing away from your site through external links, you connect with these other sites anyways, because you know your readers will benefit from what they’ll learn there.

So when writing content for your website, don’t be afraid to link out to other sources. In fact, it’s a good idea to link out to relevant sites 2-3 times in each piece of content you publish on your website. Just be sure that you’re linking to true authority sites to get the most benefit from this strategy!

Internal Link Structures – Promote a User-Friendly Environment

Recommending well-crafted internal link structures that reduce the depth of your website and contain keyword-rich anchor links isn’t exactly news. In fact, correctly structuring the framework upon which your site is built has been a de-facto part of search engine optimization advice for years.

However, this recommendation becomes even more important following this most recent algorithm update, as Google has made no secret about the fact that they value sites that enable users to quickly move from one level to another. If you aren’t sure that you’re getting the most benefit from your internal linking structures, it’s a good idea to focus some time on this area to prevent your site from suffering in future slaps.

Demonstrated Authority – Why Should Your Readers Care?

In the past, the standard search engine optimization advice has been that anyone can put up a website and get it ranked, provided he or she follow a set of guidelines – including posting a certain number of words of content, obtaining a certain number of backlinks and so on.

But there’s some evidence that this gravy train might be ending, as Google has filed patents that may indicate the search giant is going after a way to measure perceived authority. According to Richard Zwicky of Search Engine Watch:

“The patent’s title and obvious focus is around combining a blog post with the information referenced by the blog, and using the resulting information to determine the relevance of the original entry to a search query. A lot of signals or factors behind links can affect the quality, relevance, and value of these citations. Perhaps there’s another signal to consider: Author.”

As you might expect, this idea is frustrating to a lot of website owners – especially those who have significant experience in a field, but no educational credentials to back up their claims. But instead of getting frustrated with Google, why not try to work within the framework they’ve established?

For example, you might not be able to go back and get a degree in the field you’ve chosen to write about, but are there any industry organizations you could join that demonstrate your commitment to the niche? Could you submit a guest post to an authority site in your field so that you can claim you’re a published author on one of your niche’s biggest resources?

Even if you decide not to pursue any of these additional qualifications, simply expanding your “About” page (or adding a good one if you haven’t done so yet) to talk about why you’re passionate about the field you’re in could be enough to pass the Google authority test.

Active Social Networking Profiles – Measuring Engagement Among Readers

We’ve already talked extensively about how Google is placing more of an emphasis on active, engaged social networking profiles. But what key factors determine whether or not a social networking profile is “active” enough? And how can you set up your own profiles to earn the biggest possible benefit?

In most cases, you’ll find that Google values the same things on social networking profiles that it rewards on traditional blogs and websites. There, Google rewards freshly updated content and user engagement by indexing new posts and comments. On social networking sites, as discussed by Leah Beatty on Search Engine Journal, that same reader engagement is measured in tweets and likes:

“Attention generates commentary, articles, and conversation. Every mention, Facebook like, and retweet helps rank organically while simultaneously adding to authority. That authority is key for SEO.”

To see a few examples of how traditional websites can best harness the power of social networking, be sure to check out our post on “9 Companies Doing Facebook Right“. What similarities do you see between these profile pages? Do you see regularly updated content? Advanced user tools (like the Chik-fil-a picture brander)? Pictures and other resources for fans? Yes, yes and yes! When it comes to building your own social networking profiles, you can’t go wrong using these campaigns as a model for your own efforts.

Adding these new strategies to your promotional efforts isn’t meant to be easy. However, think of the added effort you’re putting in as your insurance against the next Google slap. You reap what you sow, and if you sow good quality content, strong link profiles and engaged social networking efforts, you’ll be rewarded in the long term with continued traffic and rankings.

It’s not exactly a secret that page load times have long played a role in search engine rankings. Actually, it’s not a secret at all, considering that Google employees Amit Singhal and Matt Cutts announced that fact on the Google Webmaster blog back in April 2010:

“You may have heard that here at Google we’re obsessed with speed, in our products and on the web. As part of that effort, today we’re including a new signal in our search ranking algorithms: site speed. Site speed reflects how quickly a website responds to web requests.”

Of course, a quick search on how to improve page load times turns up some pretty heavy technical jargon. Minify CSS? Enable keep-alive? Is it even possible to improve your page load times without a degree in computer science?

The answer is, of course, yes – it’s possible to implement changes that dramatically improve your page load times, even if you aren’t a total technical guru. In this article, we’ll look at a combination of beginner and more advanced techniques you can use to improve your site’s performance when it comes to this key metric.

But the first to fixing a problem, as they say, is to admit that you have one in the first place. This means that we need to understand if our sites are actually slow before we jump into a bunch of potential fixes. The following are two good ways to test your page’s speed, and I recommend doing both, as the results you get from each service may be slightly different.

Option #1 – Google Webmaster Tools Site Performance

The first way to test your current page speed is to log into http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools and navigate to the profile of the site you’d like to analyze (if you haven’t used Webmaster Tools before, you’ll need to create a new profile for your site before going forward). Once you’re inside the site’s profile, click on “Labs” on the left side navigation bar, then click on “Site Performance.”

The data here will give you a brief overview of your site’s current speed and how it compares to other sites, but if you want more detail, you’ll need to download the “Page Speed” add-on for Firefox (if you don’t already have Firebug installed, you’ll need that program as well). Once the add-ons are installed, navigate to the page you want to analyze, open Firebug and then click on “Analyze Performance” under the “Page Speed” tab.

Once the Page Speed add-on has analyzed the current site, it will display a list of recommendations below:

The red circles represent items that should be fixed immediately (clicking on the arrow next to the text description will produce more detail about the performance issue). Items with a yellow triangle are things that could be improved, but likely won’t provide as much benefit as improving the first set of items. Green check marks mean you’re good to go!

Option #2 – Google Page Speed Service Testing

As a part of the roll-out of its new “Page Speed Service”, Google introduced the following way to test current page speed. To get a feel for how fast your current site is, as well as how much faster it could be using the Page Speed Service (more on that later), navigate to http://www.webpagetest.org/compare, enter your site’s URL and click “Start Test”. The test may take a few minutes to complete, but once it’s done, you should see something like this:

Clicking on “View Test” under the “Original” column will give you access to much more detailed information about your site’s performance:

(Just a quick note – the fixes for some of the issues that will turn up in your website analysis are highly technical. If you don’t understand what needs to be done, you can always outsource your on-page load times optimization. Or, for a few quick fixes that even non-technical people can handle on their own, read to the end of this article for some suggestions.)

Now, while analyzing your results, you probably noticed that your site is being compared to an alternative – what would be served via Google’s new Page Speed Service. Although the service was only launched at the end of July 2011, plenty of SEO blogs are still up in arms about what this new service is and what it means for users.

To summarize, sites that sign up to participate in the Page Speed Service would set their CNAME DNS records to point to Google, where web pages would be automatically re-written to the fastest load standards and launched from the Google servers – not the site’s web hosting account. Google estimates that this could result in as much as a 45-60% reduction in page load times. As you might imagine, reactions to this service are mixed.

As an example, Thom Craver of Search Engine Watch whether if what Google is introducing is closer to a web hosting service than its general perception as a content delivery network similar to CloudFlare:

“What Google is now offering is tricked out hosting, not a page optimizer. You have to set your DNS to point to Google instead of your current Web host. This means when someone types in your website, Google’s servers will answer, not yours.”

Others are deeply concerned about the privacy and the level of access site owners would be giving directly to Google, while still others – like Jeff Ferguson of Fang Digital – simply look at it as a way of getting out of time-intensive SEO tasks:

“This is majorly cool in my book. Anytime I can outsource something like this to another pro that will just handle it for me, I’m on board.”

Of course, whatever the end result is doesn’t matter much, as the service is currently only in limited release and won’t be free once it’s opened up. So instead of worrying about how this service will turn out in the future, let’s get back to the topic of what you can do to improve your page load times now if your initial testing revealed that your site is performing poorly compared to others.

Step #1 – Install a caching plugin to WordPress sites.

If you run a WordPress site, a good web site caching plugin is a must. Caching plugins enable your site to store copies of web pages, rather than generating them dynamically each time a new visitor lands on your website. This reduces load times and speeds up the performance of your site. W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache are two good free options that you can install and configure today.

Step #2 – Reduce file sizes.

Storing large image files on your site can dramatically slow page load times, as can large files of any type (including PDFs, Word Documents and others). If possible, reduce your image sizes and resolutions using a program like Photoshop and consider storing large documents in zip files. If you’re storing sensitive documents, this has an additional SEO benefit, as zip files aren’t indexed by the search engines and, therefore, won’t be listed in the search engine results pages.

Step #3 – Use plugins wisely.

With the WordPress framework, plugins are available to handle just about any task you can think of, from sending your posts to Twitter to managing galleries of pictures and videos. However, the size of these plugin files adds up, so to improve page load times, it’s smart to only use plugins you need, use plugins that handle two or more tasks at once and delete any plugins you aren’t using. Following these guidelines will help improve your page load times and, consequently, your search engine rankings.

But how do you think up those perfect pieces of content before someone else comes up with the idea? Here are some techniques to get you started creating the next great blog post, infographic, or youTube video.

Be useful or entertaining

People like finding and passing on information that is either useful, enlightening, or entertaining. Start thinking about what kind of content your audience would find useful: a free report or tool? How could you enlighten them about something they might have assumed or misunderstood without realizing it? What kinds of things would they see as being entertaining? Once you know who your audience is and what kind of response you are trying to elicit, you can start coming up with ideas for the content.

Write it down

The first step in brainstorming is always the storm. Start writing down anything you can think of that people are interested and that you could analyze further. Don’t worry about how random your list might look, and don’t take anything out. No criticism – just writing!

Don’t forget to let this process happen naturally, too. Carry a notebook with you, or create a text message draft when you have a great idea. Let yourself be inspired by anything you notice, or questions you want answered. After all, if you’re wondering, chances are that someone else is, too.

Sort it out

Start noticing patterns in what you have written down. What might resonate with your audience? What would bring in the types of people you want to attract to your site? Keep in mind a specific type of reader to create an audience that will persist and grow, instead of a blog that is aimless and wandering.

Pay attention to which of your ideas are trendy today but might disappear tomorrow. Keep the evergreen ideas somewhere to spark more ideas when you are running out, and use the trendy ideas before they go out of style. And if it’s already too late, don’t worry about letting some of your ideas go to waste – it’s better than wasting even more time trying to create something that will not go viral anyway.

Do your research

One of the things infographics are best at is putting things in perspective. Start comparing the number of virtual users to a physical quantity like the population of Iran. Show how much bigger $2 billion is than $20 million. Graphics help numbers retain their scale, even when the numbers are so huge our brains don’t intuitively understand.

When you stumble on surprising statistics, collect them and come up with related statistics that you are curious about. Putting intriguing, related statistics together is a great foundation for a piece of linkbait content.

Work together

Bring others in when you’re trying to generate ideas. You can do the original brainstorming session with a group, or you can ask for a second opinion when sorting through ideas. Let other people catch the enthusiasm, and add more ideas or recommendations to the original seed.

Know the formulas

Once you know what you are going to be giving information about, you need to decide what form it will take. Will you make:

• an infographic?
• a top ten post?
• a collection of photos?
• a youTube video?
• a podcast?
• a SlideShare slideshow?
• an ebook?
• a tool?
• a quiz?
• something else completely?

You shouldn’t just follow the crowd, but you should observe trends online, especially in your niche. Infographics are fascinating and quick to be shared in some spheres, and overused in others.

Use the Linkbait Generator

A piece of linkbait itself, this Linkbait Generator is nonetheless funny – and, who knows, it might even spark an idea!

Tell people it’s viral

Your work needs to speak for itself, and encourage anyone who is reading to pass it on. Do you include social buttons, embed code, and an encouragement to pass it on? You don’t need to be sleazy to let someone know that you are proud of your own work, and ask for their help if they enjoyed your work, too. And if people found it useful or entertaining, chances are they will be looking for a convenient way to share it anyway.

By the way, here are the Retweet and Facebook Like buttons! You know what to do.

There are as many ways to write as there are writers – but there are still some tips and tricks that work no matter what you’re writing! Here’s an outline of what I see great writers doing and recommending, as well as what works for me! See if you have anything to add to this list of tips for the wordsmiths of the web.

Read

You’ve heard it said over and over – a writer needs to be a reader first! But you can’t just let yourself get sucked into a story or article. Make sure you’re looking back and figuring out how the writing tugged at your heartstrings or kept you engaged. Short sentences? Clear organization? Just the right details? Start picking up on those clues.

Get inspired

Figure out a way – or multiple ways! – to keep track of ideas whenever they strike. Jot down notes, or write an email or text message to yourself. Keep track of articles that leave you thinking “I could have told you that,” as well as ones that you find inspiring and helpful.

If you start doing research directly related to what you are planning to write, keep track of what you read. You might be surprised what sticks in your head and what you want to cite or link back to later.

Think

When you sit down to write your own piece, it’s the time to weed through your notes and inspiration and decide what you’re doing. What are you going to write about? Who will want to read it? Where or how will they want to have access to it? A website or blog post might be a better location for a tutorial, while a book or ebook might be a better avenue to publish fiction.

And make sure you don’t trivialize your own knowledge. It’s easy to assume that everyone else knows the same tips and tricks as we do, but that is far from being true. If you’re completely stumped, think about how you might explain what you’re trying to convey to a child, or your parents.

Write

Your words can’t be stuck in your head forever. Sometimes you have to “just do it.” Start writing, even when the sentences sound choppy or you don’t feel like you can get in the groove. Many people even set timers for themselves, and race to see how much they can get written down in 10 or 15 minutes, or turn off all distractions for an hour or two.

Try beginning in the middle, so that you don’t have to worry about writing a great introduction when you’re just getting started. Remember, this is not the time for perfection, just raw material!

Edit

Now that all your ideas and information is on the page, start looking at it with a more critical eye. You might even want to step away and come back to what you’ve written later! Check and make sure all your industry jargon is defined, characters are introduced, and the tone is consistent throughout.

This is also the time to look a little closer at submission guidelines if you are hoping to get your work published by someone else. What is the length requirement (maximum and minimum)? How should you cite or link to your sources? Do you need to add a picture or a bio?

Proofread

At this point you have already made lots of stylistic changes, and everything should be wrapped together. Now you should make sure that you don’t have any egregious errors in your spelling and punctuation. Know your audience instead of clinging too closely to grammatical perfection – you can generally get away with sentence fragments and casual language more easily on the internet than in a trade magazine.

Publish

You’ve read through it a couple times – now is the time to let it go. Post it on your blog or email it to your editor. It’s way too easy to get stuck in the edit/proofread cycle, but good and published is better than perfect and unpublished any day of the week.

Publicize

Now that it’s up, you need to let the world know! Whether it’s a tweet, a share, or an email, find ways to share your work with others.

And as you’re out on the social media networks, be sure you’re responding to what others are promoting, too. Start to build a supportive network of writers or niche experts – this will be a great resource to get you started with some more reading material and inspiration.

And, believe it or not, you’re back to the beginning again! As you make your way through this cycle, you’ll start discovering how it works best for you.

Do you have other tips or tricks?

The world of blogging has come a long way since moderated newsgroups gave birth to the famed (but no longer operational) mod.ber forum that broke from the message-board mold by posting summaries of other discussions from around Usenet. The term blog (short for Weblog) was still over a decade from being coined, but the concept of regularly updated content in an online journal had been born.

Now that the world of blogging has exploded into the popular and ultra-specialized phases of development, the concept of blogs as we know it is almost becoming passé in the minds of some in the online community. So here is a look back at where the blog has been and where it could be going.

Aggregation

Even before the Internet evolved, forums such as mod.ber and rec.humor.funny made the mid to late 1980s the primordial ooze of online journalism. The main purpose was to summarize or to aggregate content strewn out chaotically across various groups into an organized, centralized location. There are plenty of blogs that maintain this same concept: vast content ordered for a widespread community.

Online Journals

The mid ‘90s marked the advent of the online diaries, which sprang from a more self-focused mindset than the discussion group communities. That isn’t to say that the sense of community was abandoned—far from it. But each online journal was meant to chronicle the daily activities, thoughts, creations, or other content of the individual. Message boards gave way to comment sections.

Webrings brought online journalists together into communities, and with time technology to support the processes of blogging, linking, and connecting evolved to support the steadily growing phenomenon that included everything from people’s personal lives to their political views.

From Journals to Journalism

After the turn of the century, blogs began to gain traction as serious forces in opinion formation and news reporting. Rather than relying on talk radio or 24-hour news television to influence opinions and interpret news, bloggers took to their own forums and networks to discuss developments as they happened and to react to scandals and divisive developments with immediate and intense response. In fact, in 2002 it was the rapid response of blogs to Trent Lott’s controversial praise of Strom Thurmond that led to Lott’s resignation from his post as Senate majority leader.

Specialization

By the mid to late 2000s, blogs grew to represent groups unified along common interests or states of life. Mommy bloggers, sports blogger, political bloggers, entertainment gossip, tech bloggers, comic books—you name the interest, a blog community (not a single blog, but entire circles of content creators and discussion leaders) would spring up. It became fairly common for many bloggers to monetize their blogs successfully (relatively). It went from special interest to serious business.

Social Media Steps In

With the advent of Twitter, Facebook, and other microblogging services such as Tumblr and Posterous, many blog networks have seen their communities drawn away from the message boards and comment sections—people who were in the audience now find themselves key contributors. It’s not just that everybody has a blog: everyone has three or four online presences that could be technically classified as blogs.

There is still a place for blogs that create or aggregate compelling, interesting, entertaining content. But they now have to compete in an ever-changing blogosphere in which everyone fancies themselves content creators.

Building a brand is a huge job, whether that brand represents a huge business or one individual. As an individual, you have both the advantage and disadvantage that everything you do becomes part of your brand. Being able to define and stay true to yourself might seem easier than constructing an identity for a corporation, but the hardest part is the number of different things you have to do!

Here’s a guide for all the different roles and responsibilities you need to take on to define your brand. But remember, you don’t need to do it alone – this list can also help you find your weak spots so you can hire a consultant, take a course, or just get some practice!

Expert

Everyone has a particular area of expertise. Figure out yours, and wear it loud and proud! You can know everything about a tiny niche, or have a particular slant on a larger one. Ask yourself what other people want to learn from you, and how you can teach it well.

Find ways to reach out with your skill – be a Wikipedia editor, write a blog, speak to local groups, or volunteer. Your career might even be related to your specialty. If it’s not, showing off your skills is a good first step moving in a new direction!

Fashion Designer

Even though we hear about creating personal brands online a lot, our personal brand matters even more when meeting someone in person. How you look, dress, and act influences what people think of you. But all is not lost – your hair and makeup really don’t matter as much as your attitude, confidence, and friendliness. Find ways to relax and just be yourself!

Graphic Designer

Just like recognizing your voice, you want people to be able to recognize you when you’re saying something online or in print. Create a consistent look that epitomizes who you are – yes, graphic designers have hard jobs!

Get some inspiration (and don’t get overwhelmed) by focusing on your profile picture or business card. After that, think about your Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter profiles, and your website design. It might not be worth your time to figure out how to make those all yourself, but you need to be the thread linking them all together.

Social Media Consultant

Start letting your voice be heard online. Whether you’re going to use youTube, your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, be intentional. Know who you are reaching out to on each platform, and let those people direct how you use it. But being accessible somewhere online can help continue existing relationships and foster new ones.

Writer

As more and more of our interactions with each other move online, writing is an important skill to improve. And break the habits that you made when you were a student trying to reach a page requirement – on the web, shorter is better!

And don’t be content to be sloppy. With spell-check and online dictionaries and thesauruses, not to mention freelance editors and proofreaders, let your words communicate your message without getting in the way.

Speaker

Let your best self shine in person, too. Your voice is an important part of who people see you as being. Over the phone, on video, giving speeches, or just making conversation – your voice and your presence will tell people who you are before they even get a chance to understand what you’re saying.

Practice does make perfect. Start meeting new people and striking up conversations. Look for opportunities to give speeches and presentations, and see them as opportunities instead of chores. Put your best foot forward.

Networker

Get out there and start meeting people, and then start introducing them to other people who might connect well to them. As your network grows, others will start doing the same for you. And if you are trying to meet someone in particular – a specific person, employee of a specific company, or someone in a specific career – ask others for help. You never know who knows who.

Problem-solver

By solving the problems of others, you become memorable. Be open-handed with your talents and time. Gifts often encourage reciprocation as well – but if you’re only being helpful to be selfish, don’t bother. People can tell.

Be Authentic

Last, but not least, be yourself. You can’t put on a charade forever, and the best personal brands will stick with you through thick and thin – because they are representing you. Don’t stress about getting each of these roles exactly right, because being yourself is cliche, but it’s still the most important.