I’ve been learning how SEO works to grow my weight loss blog for some time now till the point that I’m starting to obsess over it; and I have good reasons for that too.
We all know that traffic is one major factor that determines the failure or success of any blog. Without the right amount of traffic you’re going nowhere and you’re in the same boat without the right kind of traffic too.
I have contemplated using various traffic generation tactics to grow my weight loss blog, and I have even tested some. My eventual discovery is that SEO is currently the best source of traffic online…and it will probably be for a long time to come.
The problem, however, is that most people find it difficult to generate SEO traffic and the majority of tips out there is either outdated or ineffective for the little blogger. Based on my experience with data mining I’ll be sharing a few tips with you below and how to use it to grow your blog too.
Quality or Quantity
As someone who has experience with getting SEO traffic I’d like you to know that there’s a huge difference between quality traffic and quantity. Most people believe any SEO traffic will work for them when in reality the only thing that matters is whether people are discovering your blog through the right keywords.
For example, if you want to get people to read and probably take action on one of your posts on affiliate marketing you will have no success if you start getting visitors who came through iPhone related keywords. Same goes for my blog too, I will not have any success with getting people interested in marketing to land on a weight loss article on my blog.
In other words, not just any keyword traffic from the search engines will do; only targeted traffic from people interested in what you do will make a difference.
The question now is how do you get this kind of targeted traffic without having to overstress yourself? How do you get as much targeted traffic as you want without the big marketing budgets most of the big companies dominating the search engines have?
The Answer is…”Long tail”
If you’re already familiar with SEO you’d have read a lot and know the difference between ordinary keywords and long tail keywords. An ordinary keyword is a generic keyword like “weight loss” or “weight loss blog” while a long tail keyword is something like “how to lose weight in 2 weeks”. Just take a look at the three examples given and you will notice that the first two examples are very generic while the other one is from someone who specifically wants to lose weight in two weeks. In other words, if you’re able to dominate the rankings for the long tail keyword you will have an increased chance of ranking.
Targeting long tail keywords is not that easy, though, so we have to be smart with our approach. The first step to take is look for a simple short tail keyword (3 phrases or less), try to rank for it and start observing other keyword traffic to it. Once you’ve done this we’re ready to go into the basics of data mining.
How to Use Data Mining to Grow Your Blog
Data mining is the process of determining new patterns from a large data set. In other words, as far as SEO is concerned it can be referred to as the process of determining new long tail keywords from short tail keywords.
For example, one keyword I’m trying to rank for is best weight loss programs; based on analytics from my blog I have noticed that I not only get traffic from that keyword, I also get traffic from other related keywords like.
- Best weight loss programs for women
- Best weight loss programs for men
- Free online weight loss programs
- Best weight loss programs for women over 40
If you were to compare the traffic these variation keywords generate it will be insignificant compared to my original keyword, but getting ranked for that keyword can make a whole lot of difference in my campaign for one major reason; it is really targeted traffic. Keywords like these are also easy to rank for because I’m already ranking for them so all I need to do is work on increasing my rankings. I might not be on page one for them, but the fact that I’m already getting traffic as a result of those keywords means I only need to make an effort to get ranked #1 for those keywords.
In a nutshell, data mining is the process of analyzing your analytics to see patterns among keywords. Monitor the short tail keywords sending traffic to a pillar page on your blog and try to observe other smaller keywords sending traffic. Instead of restricting yourself to the short tail keywords only, start optimizing your blog to rank for the long tail keywords also.
It’s that Simple!
The process looks like this: Target short tail keywords >> Observe traffic from other long tail keywords >> Work on getting yourself ranked for the long tail keywords.
The process looks very simple but I can tell you from experience that it is very effective. I’d also like you to know that the method outlined might not send you thousands of visitors. A single variation keyword will only send you a fraction of traffic you get from a major keyword, but when you combine around 20 – 40 of these keywords you are on your way to tripling the traffic you get to a particular page while at the same time ensuring you get more targeted traffic. If used well this tactic can add tens of thousands of visitors to your blog and thousands of dollars to your pocket, use it wisely!
John Smith is an expert blogger and writer. On WeightLossTriumph.com he helps people discover Medifast coupon codes. Endorsed by doctors and health practitioners, Medifast is a medically proven weight loss program that helps people drop unwanted pounds through nutritionally balanced meal replacements.