How do you go about doing your keyword research for posts? I absolutely agree with you about not writing around keywords, but rather using keywords to your advantage in a topic for a post that you've already decided on.
How did you get involved with carnivals? 

I use the AdWords Keyword Tool at: https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool
Select exact match and enter your keyword and it will suggest other, similar keywords. There's more to it than that, but that's the fundamentals of it, and about as far as I really get with it.

Blogging carnivals are basically roundups where bloggers submit their posts. Yakezie has one that is advertised weekly in the forums. Another big one is Carnival of Personal Finance. Others can be found at bloggerscarnivals.com and blogcarnivalhq.com

I use Yoast as well. I tried All-in-one SEO once but it just seemed a bit light compared to what I was used to with Yoast. It probably is just as functional, but I got my brain used to how Yoast works, so it just makes more sense to me now.

 

As far as other SEO efforts, I've been trying to incorporate more keyword research into my posts. I don't believe in writing just because a keyword gets high-paying ads, but I'm certainly going to use popular keywords related to the topic I've already decided on!

 

Off-page, I do participate in a couple carnivals. I try to write a post for each blog swap, and, when I have the time, I try to comment on other blogs, especially if they have CommentLuv. That doesn't help directly with SEO, but it can certainly help get more eyeballs to my posts and more likely to be included in roundups.

 

I need to do more guest posting.

How do you go about doing your keyword research for posts? I absolutely agree with you about not writing around keywords, but rather using keywords to your advantage in a topic for a post that you've already decided on.

How did you get involved with carnivals? 

I use the All in One SEO pack. I think it does a great job. When Blue Collar Workman stuff comes up on google searches, the search result looks nice and is accurate. And after I installed that plugin I did start to slowly see google search traffic, which I hadn't before.

What were you using before using All in One SEO?

As far as other SEO efforts, I've been trying to incorporate more keyword research into my posts. I don't believe in writing just because a keyword gets high-paying ads, but I'm certainly going to use popular keywords related to the topic I've already decided on!

Off-page, I do participate in a couple carnivals. I try to write a post for each blog swap, and, when I have the time, I try to comment on other blogs, especially if they have CommentLuv. That doesn't help directly with SEO, but it can certainly help get more eyeballs to my posts and more likely to be included in roundups.

I need to do more guest posting.

I personally don't spend a lot of time trying to shoehorn my stuff into SEO, but I know many do and have had success. 

I see you're using Yoast, which is really good.  I like to keep it in my theme (which Genesis allows, and Thesis does too), but on my sites that don't run those, I use All in One SEO.

 

For off-site, I focus mainly on carnival submissions and social bookmarking.  Check out The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Backlinks.

 

Remember, the best SEO is the content you create.  Awesome content naturally gets more links, and I can attest to that.

I'll have to check out All in One SEO. I just started using Yoast because someone said they liked it. I hadn't really explored my options. 

Hadn't read that article - so I definitely appreciate that link!  

For off-site, I focus mainly on carnival submissions and social bookmarking.  Check out The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Backlinks.

Remember, the best SEO is the content you create.  Awesome content naturally gets more links, and I can attest to that.

Does anyone out there focus much on SEO outside of plugins?

In terms of SEO plugins, what do you guys use? I'm assuming most of you are using WordPress, so I'm curious to see.

I'd also love to hear about what you've done for your SEO outside of plugin use, and how you feel like that has worked for you.