Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Are You in SEO Denial?
I’m frequently surprised how often I hear bloggers and even seasoned Web writers say they don’t know much about SEO. Or say they do know about SEO, and it turns out they simply know what a meta tag is. Even more often, I hear writers say they don’t even want to know about SEO. They think it isn’t necessary.
If you’re one of these people, guess what? You can go through your blogging life with your head in the SEO sand, but ignoring it won’t make it go away. Unless you think people will suddenly stop using Google and Yahoo. Yeah, I didn’t think so.
I understand your apprehension. The creative impulse to write is a completely different desire than the analytical, scientific act of optimizing content for search engines. This is exactly why artists need managers.
If you’re in SEO denial, here are some reasons you should make your peace with SEO (and why it doesn’t have to be painful… really!):
You write because you want to be read. You want to be read, right? Well, you need to make sure people find you. Oh, and those people should be interested in what you have to say. You write because you want to make money (well, at least some of you do). The more people read you, the more potential you have to make money. The fewer people find you (and it wil be fewer minus the SEO), the less money you will make. You can write for SEO without being a total sell-out. Consider it writing for the medium, just as you would write in a certain style for a book that is a completely different style than you would use when writing for a magazine. Writing for SEO is just part of the style of writing for the Web.You can be a creative writer and an engaging blogger, while still working a little SEO in there. See, that didn’t hurt.
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