Pat's report:
The H1 conundrum [mentioned in Lesson 35] was certainly a conundrum for me. I had no problem changing the post tag to to H1, but I also placed an angle bracket “>” where it shouldn't have been, resulting in code showing up next to my titles. I could not find what I had done wrong and needed Laura's assistance to locate and repair the code. Thank you Laura.
Installing the Webmaster Tools proved to be easy thanks to the screenshots and step-by-step instructions. Setting my preferred domain was also easy.
I had already done the privacy page earlier so I was ready to jump into the Off-site SEO. Now here is where the going gets tough.
Off-site search engine optimization
Lesson 39 presented 9 steps to take to optimize my site.
- Building a quality site—definitely a work in progress.
- Requesting one-way links [or exchanges]—not done—work in progress. I have set up Google alerts, and found my sites I wish to request links from—but as Laura requested have not done anything with them yet.
- Article marketing—I joined Ezine and have 10 articles published and 5 pending. I have also submitted one article to GoArticles and have also posted an Intel on Qondio.
- Commenting on blogs and forums—I have done about a dozen and will continue to do more. This is very time consuming, and I feel it will look better if I do a few at a time. I installed the link-building software at www.commentkahuna.com, but it is not working on my Windows OS 7; customer service is helping me out with this. I have joined two forums, Warrior and one other.
- Guest post on other blogs—I am not ready yet, but am working to build up my credibility.
- Link baiting—I am in the process of working on this post. I do have 16 posts written and published on my site so this will be my post 17.
- Squidoo is set up and I created one lens and have done 1 Hub page, but both of these sites require ongoing work to make them effective tools. It is not like installing a plugin, install it and you are finished.
- I have started submitting my site to directories, but I feel slow and steady is better than doing a bunch at one time.
- I have not bought any links at this point.
Off-site optimization is not a one-time shot, the way I understand it; it is an ongoing process, just as continuing to put posts and/or pages on my site. I feel like I am making progress but need to spend more time on these skills before I can proceed much further. I have been on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for a while now.
Making a complete, quality site
Although I am excited and anxious to move on to Lesson 46 [Affiliate Networks], I do not feel that my site is fully optimized or has enough content to start applying for affiliate networks.
I do not want to jump in before I, or rather my site, is ready, because I want to have a quality site that will stand on its own and not get a black mark for being a low value site. I know that is not the right terminology but I think you understand what I mean.
One of the main points that Laura keeps reiterating is to do a good, quality job, and to do it right using “white hat" methods and not shortcuts. I agree with this philosophy so I will be honing my skills for the next week or two or three before I move on to Lesson 46.
I will keep you updated as I progress. Some of the early lessons were really easy to do in a short amount of time so I was able to progress at a fast pace, but now I need to work hard and be patient.
Pat
Laura's comments:
Pat mentions the "H1 conundrum." This is the fact that most WordPress themes, especially the free ones, do not treat the H1 tag properly and therefore you don't get the full SEO benefit of having the right parts of your page be designated as H1, or the most important. This is one reason why I highly recommend themes like Thesis, because it is already set up in such a way that you get the optimum SEO benefit and you don't have to mess around in the code changing things. However, I realize not everyone is able to spend money on a premium theme at the beginning.
Pat has exactly the right idea about off-site SEO (backlinking): it is definitely something that continues for the lifetime of your site. You may not always give it as much attention as it needs at the beginning, but you definitely have to get out there and get those backlinks so all the hard work you put into your site will be seen and appreciated.
I know she's going full steam ahead on #3, article marketing; she has joined HAHD, which stands for Hundred Articles in a Hundred Days, at Ezine Articles. These hundred articles will be a huge help in getting traffic to her site. She has taken on a lot, but I think we can all tell she is a hard worker and very dedicated to this pursuit! (By the way, if you're interested in joining HAHD, you can do so right up to the last day of the contest, as long as you have submitted all the articles!)
As for #9, buying links, this is something I mention in the course for informational purposes but do not recommend, so at least she doesn't have to worry about that one.
It is a rare affiliate marketing newbie who recognizes the importance of bringing their site to a reasonable level of completion before putting advertising on it. Too many beginners are all about the ads and pay very little attention to quality content, and those are the ones who don't make it.
Way to go, Pat!