The information helps with basic SEO tactics.

I remember -- not too long ago -- worrying about my Google search traffic. Then, at some point in the 9-10 month zone, traffic magically started picking up thanks to Google. All I can say is what Matt Cutts advises: Write frequently and with strong content. Pick out a few keywords, but keep things simple. Share everything across social networks. And eventually, it will click.

Best of luck,

Sam

I'm encouraged to hear you say that it wasn't until the 9-10 month mark that you started getting more search traffic. I'm a little over 7 months in and starting to see more traffic, but not as much as I would like!

I remember -- not too long ago -- worrying about my Google search traffic. Then, at some point in the 9-10 month zone, traffic magically started picking up thanks to Google. All I can say is what Matt Cutts advises: Write frequently and with strong content. Pick out a few keywords, but keep things simple. Share everything across social networks. And eventually, it will click.

Best of luck,

Sam

6 months is hardly enough time to think you are not doing well in search yet. It takes a lot of time and very high quality content to start seeing search engines make a big difference. If you keep at writing good, unique, quality stuff that gets attention from other bloggers, you will do great in the long-run.

Thanks for the response, Eric!  I actually realized that my blog is just about 5 months old at this point, so you're right. It's probably too soon to be seeing significant results.  I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing, and not worry about it too much.

I agree with Michael on this one. I don't know much about SEO but I know that my topics that don't seem to have as much writing on seemed to be searched the most (how to sell an old wedding ring, how to deal with an audit, workplace bullying)

 

I don't know if I've really ever had searches for budgeting lead to my site, I assume it's because there's a million other sites out there writing on it and I'm not big enough to compete for that traffic. I'm not saying it can't be done, since like I said, I'm no SEO expert, but it will most likely be a lot harder.

Thanks for responding, Zee.  I have found that the search terms I am seeing lead people to my site aren't necessarily the ones that I would expect.  I definitely don't try to rank for popular pf terms, because I know there are far more sites out there that have been around longer and are loaded with content.

I appreciate your insight.  I'll just stick to writing about what I want and finding those keywords and phrases that could lead people to it.  I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel when it comes to budgeting and such  

When you say keyword research and optimization, what do you mean?

I think a lot of people target words that are searched often, but in my opinion this is a mistake for new blogs.  In a crowded field, you are not likely to rank very highly.

My best piece of advice would be to target topics that nobody else is writing about.  It may not bring you hundreds of hits a day, but if you are in a hurry to get google traffic, I think it is the quickest route.

Hi Michael,

With keyword research, I use Google's keyword planner to find the words or phrases that will fit my articles.  I do try to go after keywords that aren't heavily saturated in the pf niche.  Then I'll try to optimize my article without writing it for search engines.  I just don't spend too much time on this, and there are articles where I won't research at all.

Thanks for the advice!  

I don't know if I've really ever had searches for budgeting lead to my site, I assume it's because there's a million other sites out there writing on it and I'm not big enough to compete for that traffic. I'm not saying it can't be done, since like I said, I'm no SEO expert, but it will most likely be a lot harder.

I think a lot of people target words that are searched often, but in my opinion this is a mistake for new blogs.  In a crowded field, you are not likely to rank very highly.

My best piece of advice would be to target topics that nobody else is writing about.  It may not bring you hundreds of hits a day, but if you are in a hurry to get google traffic, I think it is the quickest route.

Hi everyone, I'm hoping maybe you can give me some insight into this.  I've been blogging for almost 6 months now on The Write Budget, and I still have low search traffic referrals.  I will admit that I don't spend a lot of time focusing on SEO, but I do use the WordPress SEO plugin and choose focus keywords.  However, I don't really write with search traffic in mind- I write how I naturally would without loading in keywords and awkward phrases.

So what do you think, is my site doomed to be stagnant if I don't start focusing more on keyword research and optimization?  Any other tips for boosting search traffic?  Any insight is appreciated!

Lauren I have been working on my SEO for about a week now using the same plug in and I have already seen a pretty substantial jump in the number of search engine viewers visiting my site. From about 1 or two a week maybe to at least 2 a day. I had to change my permalinks anyways so it gave me a chance to go back and revamp all of my urls to better SEO worthy urls and ensure my content was still relevant and keeping par with my current writing. I'm still working through all my old posts a few at a time but I think it is worth the time if it is going to expand my viewership and allow me to meet more people in the blogosphere! 

So what do you think, is my site doomed to be stagnant if I don't start focusing more on keyword research and optimization?  Any other tips for boosting search traffic?  Any insight is appreciated!