Comment posted on Why Plugins Can’t Help You to Rank Better and What You Can Do About It by John
Julius - Great advice. Building multiple new sites and testing out different SEO strategies on them is certainly an effective way to gain some valuable experience and to get better at optimizing a site for SEO purposes.
Using plug-ins are great, but once you learn how to really understand how to implement things on your own you will understand how to use certain plug-ins for your site more effectively. I have many domains where I just use them to try out different strategies.
Recent comments by John
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I am a wife to a great husband of 13 years (here ya go, now I have to make changes to this sentence once a year), a mother to a beautiful and, no doubt, genius little girl, and a successful internet entrepreneur. I also devoted my life to Jesus Christ many years ago, and He remains my true priority, focus, and hope.
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Really this information is very helpful me in my private business website and this through get the traffic… so thanks for the sharing this information… and every one use this information for buy targeted web site traffic….
Hello William,
I’m glad you find it informative. I’m sure it will help you with your own website.
Thanks for coming,
Ana
Hi Julius,
SEO has been talked over and over again around the blogosphere. Although I do get a feeling that it has been talked to death already, somehow there are always new things coming out thx to Google (mainly) and the other search engines playing around with their algorithms.
I do agree that plugins don’t necessarily help you rank better. Even if a wordpress site does not run with All-In-One SEO plugin, if you know the basics of SEO, you will know what to do already. I think the beauty of plugins is that it makes things easier for you. You don’t have to manually key in descriptions, meta tags, slugs etc for your content. Despite the big talk on SEO, I do notice quite a number of bloggers not even doing the basic stuff. But I do know that, even if they don’t they could still rank quite high. I think this is mainly because of the “social status” of the website or content. Google does seem to rank websites higher with more social buzz even when their keyword optimization is crap.
Thx for sharing this article Julius
Bryan´s last blog ..9 Reasons Why You Might Have A Business and A Day Job
Long time no see, Julius! Another great article that I see! I agree with you that although with some powerful tools in hand, people may not know how to best utilize them because they may lack of experience in SEO. One more reason is they don’t read the manual or the manual doesn’t do a very good job in instructing people on how to do it. What do you think?
Mike @ eBlogCamp´s last blog ..How I Found Myself More Time In Blogging and Doing Online Business
Hey Mike,
yeah it’s been some time
I personally have stopped blogging (at least for now), maybe that’s why we haven’t seen each other in such a long time. I just did Ana the favor since I promised her that I would indeed write a guest post for her.
The problem with manuals you are mentioning is definitely interesting. I always see this when I do things myself. The issue I see most often is that people (me included) don’t take the time to read the manual carefully. Thus they also don’t know how to use it best.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Julius,
I am understanding the concepts of building a keyword list and SEO as I continue to blog.
As you said, the only way to improve is apply what I learn & learn from my mistakes.
I realize the plugins don’t actually do the magic, its the content that does it. The All-in-One SEO plugin does it for me and that is it.
Thanks for the information
Tommy D.
Tommy DiPietro | MLM Sales´s last blog ..MLM Sales Amazing Wordpress Plugin That Makes Linking Easy
Hi Tommy,
good to hear. As long as what you are doing is helping you to rank better in search engines there is nothing wrong with doing it the way you are doing it. The trouble I always had is that I had this knowledge gathered from articles but I couldn’t really use it that well. I knew that interlinking of sites was important but I didn’t know how.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
I know it sounds horrible but it took me quite a while to really figure out what was important in blogging, especially SEO. Then, it is easy to find info on how to do SEO, how to pick key words, etc, but when you sit down to do it yourself, it’s a whole different story. I tried to do SEO on my own for 1 year when I finally realized I needed help. I hired an SEO guy to help me pick keywords, and come up with my description and how to set up my site. That’s when I moved to page 2 on google for my keyword and then gradually to page 1. I fluctuate between spot 3-5 right now on page 1 thanks to good SEO.
Susan@Home Workout´s last blog ..Fitness Challenge of the Week – Week 3
Hey Susan,
it’s good to hear. Yeah SEO consultants can of course be a huge help. They will basically coach you along the way. So once you have done this for a certain amount of time you will naturally do it yourself.
So maybe after all I should have recommended to pay for an SEO consultant
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
HAHA well, I wouldn’t say that people need one all the time, I just mean that I am a self educator and I learned everything there was to learn about online marketing by myself. And while “knowing” how to do something is one thing, actually doing it is another. I benefitted from an expert’s help. If others are struggling like I was it may be best to hire a consultant, but I definitely recommend giving it a shot on your own first.
Thanks, Julius
Susan@Home Workout´s last blog ..Fitness Challenge of the Week – Week 3
Julius,
I agree good SEO is not that difficult……I have learned that from experience. Just like you suggest. I have tried it out on different sites to see what works. The interesting this is, it has stayed pretty consistent with using the basics built into the plugins.
What I have found is that most bloggers are not even using the basics, like permalink structure or good blog descriptions etc.
Sheila Atwood@newbielifeline.com´s last blog ..Outsourcing Simplicity
Hi Sheila,
you are right. There are some bloggers who don’t even follow the basic tips but I would say they are quite rare these days. There are a lot more people out there that know at least a little bit about SEO. Thus they apply it to their blog.
But generally this is not enough. You need to build other sites and find what works best through trial and error.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Hey Julius,
Great post. The best way to understand what you’re doing is to break it down and examine piece by piece as you suggest, testing it along the way. I’d love too. In the meantime plugins help patch things up and make a few elements run better.
To be honest, if I had 40 hour days I’d LOVE to do this research myself but in the short term may just piggy back off the efforts of those with more of a knack for such a scientific approach such as yourself and Dwayne. That said I really appreciate the value and ideas you’re putting forward here!
Thanks Julius, and thanks Ana for hosting.
All the best,
Jym
Jym´s last blog ..How To Generate Internet Marketing Leads For Any MLM Home Business
Hey Jym,
thanks for the comment. But I have to say that I am by no means an SEO expert. I just learned the few basics that I know myself. It’s nothing big but it certainly does help to rank better.
And I understand the problem you are having. It’s hard to invest so much time in these things when you really don’t know whether it will be as helpful in the end. But for me it’s always about challenging yourself, changing who you are. Because if you really want to make something happen or if you really want to learn something then you can. There is no one stopping you but yourself.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Hey Julius,
Many people think that having a lot of tools is just what they need to make it work on the web. But, like anything else in life if you don’t know how to use it, if you don’t have the experience (that you accumulate by trying and sometimes failing) to handle those tools you bought them for nothing.
As an example: I am pretty much sure that a plumber can achieve much more with a wrench and some plumber’s tape then some newbie with all the tools a plumber can have.
When I first started on the internet, I went in bare bones, no software, all the programming I was doing was in notepad, all the SEO was straight forward(tweaking html, content etc). And now even though I may use some tools I know how to do it effectively, because I know the underlying process involved in that piece of software.
Great article , Julius! Have a nice week!
Alex@Jocuri´s last blog ..Ferma Ta
Hey Alex,
it’s a good example you are mentioning there. It’s important to start blogging without all the extra tools. You don’t need them at the beginning anyway. Just learn it the way you are supposed to learn it and then utilize the tools that are available to you to make it easier.
Thanks for the comment.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Julius
You beat me to it.
I am going to do a case study on this exact experiment.
I will record all the stages and strategies that I go through and document the results.
Great idea. I hope that a lot of people really grasp how much they will be learning by doing this.
Thank Julius and thanks Ana for sharing
Chat soon
Dwayne
Dwayne Huggins´s last blog ..How To Make Money Like Jim Yaghi
Hey Dwayne,
seems like you are indeed going to do a great case study. I am sure it will be useful to your readers and to yourself as well.
All I can say is that for me the most important factors to ranking well are keyword-domains (domains containing the keyword you are trying to rank for) and also interlinking pages with their relevant keywords.
I am sure the experiment will turn out to be a success
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Unfortunately, the plugins can’t do all the work for us. It’s still up to us to do the keyword search and actually write the blogs and make them interesting.
Thanks for sharing!
MarthaGiffen@YourKeywords´s last blog ..Being An Expert Blogger Leads WHERE
Hey Martha,
yeah plugins are generally great but they are only useful as long as you know how to do it yourself.
Thanks for the comment
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Hi Julius,
You’re right. People often try and install things or buy this and that so they don’t have to “think” and unfortunately there’s nothing out there can do that yet.
So it’s critical for people to stop looking for a “solution” and start understanding the problem, applying critical thinking to solve it themselves, and then use the plugins for what they really are - just tools to make it easier.
Cheers,
Tia
Tia´s last blog ..10 Things I Learned About Writing a Food Blog in 2010
Hey Tia,
thanks for stopping by
How are you by the way?
I love the phrase “so it’s critical for people to stop looking for a ‘solution’ and start understanding the problem”. I believe that this is very much what we need these days.
Plugins don’t do anything useful other than automating a process. If people never understand that process then there is also no need to automate it.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Hi Julius,
I enjoyed your post. What’s that they say about a little bit of knowledge being more dangerous than none?
We often don’t want to experiment with our sites because we are attached to the success we have achieved so far, this is quite normal I think.
Your idea of starting a new site for the purposes of experimenting more is an excellent one.
~Marcus
Marcus Baker@network marketing Internet business´s last blog ..When is too Much Value too Much
Hey Marcus,
I am glad you like the idea. The problem with the blogosphere is that there is so much information available that it’s hard to determine what is good and what not.
If people wouldn’t focus so much on copying information and instead focus on applying this information then most blogs would be a hell of a lot more interesting.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Julius
Keyword research is the critical task to get right…if you want decent traffic from your SEO efforts.
I see so many bloggers who target the wrong keywords or don’t target any at all. So…no matter how much you know about tweaking your blog for SEO purposes…they still get no traffic.
Andrew
Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Blog Expert Series- What Sex Feels Like For A Blog
Hey Andrew,
it’s true keyword research is important. Yet I wouldn’t solely focus on it. As I’ve mentioned below there is no point in doing keyword research if you never start building the site anyway.
The important part is to really practice SEO and see what works and what not.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Julius
Perhaps I didn’t articulate very well.
What I tried to say is…get the keyword phrase you are targeting wrong and all your seo work will be wasted (other than learning, I suppose!).
Andrew
Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Blog Expert Series- What Sex Feels Like For A Blog
Hey Andrew,
yeah you are right. Keyword research is definitely an important part. I solely focused on learning SEO in this article. So if you already know SEO then keyword research isn’t hard either.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
JUlius,
You say…”So if you already know SEO then keyword research isn’t hard either.”
I believe they are 2 different things…related but different. Nothing is hard if you know what you are doing!
I don;t think you can say if you know SEO, you know how to perfect keyword research (and vice versa).
Andrew
Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Does Your Blog Cry
Good tips Julius. It’s a lot more about expertise or at least common sense and research when it comes to SEO and being effective. There are some plugins out there that try to rate your post and help you with research, but in the end if you provide the “magical plugins” garbage, you’ll rank well for garbage. Thanks for sharing.
Samuel´s last blog ..Auria EQ2488F 24-Inch 1080p LCD TV- Piano Black
Hey Samuel,
yeah it’s really about the experience you have. Not so much about how you achieve it.
You can get a website to rank extremely well without using any plugins. But using plugins will simply make it easier to rank well. But it won’t make you rank better.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Hey Julius,
Plugins are only to assist and help out with a task. For SEO, it still requires homework. There are way too many individuals that try to skip the work that goes along with SEO. If you want to rank for anything…Must do keyword research!
Chat with you later…
Josh
Josh Garcia@Generate Free Leads´s last blog ..Article Marketing Tips You Don’t Want To Ignore
Hey Josh,
true keyword research is an important part. But if you always do keyword research and never build a site then there really is not point in doing so.
Building sites and trying to get them to rank is what will tell you whether you have correctly identified a nice niche.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Hi Julius,
Super practical advice here.
If you want to learn SEO why not build sites from scratch? Experimenting with keywords, backlinks, etc helps you to understand the inner workings of SEO and plug-ins that perform specific search engine optimization functions. It’s kind of like taking a mechanic taking a car apart and putting it back together to learn how things work.
I’ve learned a ton about SEO in a relatively short period of time blogging. I didn’t know SEO from CEO before blogging. Now I have a working knowledge of keywords and link-building strategies by experimenting and visiting excellent blogs like Ana’s.
Thanks for sharing your insight Julian. Have a powerful day!
RB
Ryan Biddulph´s last blog ..3 Reasons Why You&8217re a Work at Home Sucker
Hey Ryan,
that’s exactly the way it works. It’s a nice analogy with the car. You take it apart and then you try to put it back together. And along the way you learn so much.
And that’s also what you have to apply to SEO. Thanks Ryan.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Plugin is just a tool, not the solution. One of the great way to learn SEO is to work as a freelancer doing various SEO tasks. That way you’ll get opportunity to do SEO for different types of websites, in different niches and thus collect more SEO information and learn wide range of tactics.
Roko Nastic´s last blog ..What Defines the Best DotNetNuke Hosting Solution
Hey Roko,
I totally agree with you. You can of course also learn these things as you go along doing freelance work. The only problem of course is that you are actually expected to have that kind of experience before doing freelance work.
Thanks for the comment.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
You’re right, prior taking freelance work one has to have experience with link building. However, if you have the opportunity to work with the client in the niche in which you never worked before, and you see that most of the techniques from your arsenal won’t be usable, will you say no that client? Or you will take the work and try some new approaches? The best way to learn is by exploring unknown. If you don’t manage to produce the result, well.. that’s the problem.
Roko Nastic´s last blog ..The Hole in the Blog Doughnut- Humor
Sure Roko. If you are working in a niche in which you have never worked before then you should do your best to explore things and find out whether they work the same way as they do in other niches.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Julius you make a good point and to put it into perspective this isn’t only happening on our blogs. Look at the educations system. Everything is done for the kids now with computers and calculators. Similar to blogging and seo student don’t know how to do math or spell because technology is doing it for them.
I hate to say it but I think this is the world in which we live now.
bbrian017´s last blog ..Blog Engage 1200 USD Guest Blogging Contest
Hey Brian,
Yeah that’s an interesting thought. It is true less and less people are actually out there doing these things. It seems like we are becoming dumber and dumber only able to do the things which we specialize in.
It is indeed a sad picture. Still it doesn’t mean that everyone has to behave that way. We can shape our world the way we want it to be.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Thanks for the great info Julius, I am just getting into Seo and soaking up all the information I can.
Tristan Richards
Tristan Richards@quality mlm leads´s last blog ..Discover How To Generate Quality MLM Leads To Explode Your MLM Biz Online
Hey Tristan,
well it’s good to hear that you are eager to learn. But as I’ve mentioned in the post you need to learn that knowledge through actually applying it. Simply start different websites yourself and see which one works best.
The most important advice on SEO I can give you is:
- Domain name is extremely important (especially when trying to rank well for low competition keywords)
- Lots and lots of keyword-based interlinking (i.e. using relevant keywords to link back to articles of yours)
I hope this helps.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
A plug-in is only as good as the person using it. A plug-in will not replace knowledge but, helps knowledgeable practitioners streamline their work.
Rob´s last blog ..Why your local small business needs a Web site
Hey Rob,
you are exactly right. The huge problem these days is that there is so much information out there. And because of that overwhelming amount so little of that information is actually applied.
Thanks for the comment.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Julius - Great advice. Building multiple new sites and testing out different SEO strategies on them is certainly an effective way to gain some valuable experience and to get better at optimizing a site for SEO purposes.
Using plug-ins are great, but once you learn how to really understand how to implement things on your own you will understand how to use certain plug-ins for your site more effectively. I have many domains where I just use them to try out different strategies.
John´s last blog ..Access A Phone Database
Hey John,
I am glad you are doing that. I mean it’s so easy to learn SEO if you already have a blog. All you really need to do is to buy some additional domains and invest time in it. I have done it myself and I can say that it was worth it because you get a certain picture of SEO that you just can’t get through theoretical knowledge.
How are your domains doing? What do you think is the most important part about optimizing websites?
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
Hi Julius,
true words about plugins. There’s a plugin for everything and nothing - the question is always: How do we apply our technical tools and knowledge ? And do we understand the overall effect ?
Only applied knowledge is power.
Thanks for sharing your advice.
Take care
Oliver
Oliver Tausend´s last blog ..Your Blog Comments On Twitter With Twitterfeed
Hi Oliver,
I am glad you enjoyed the article. It seriously troubled me that so many people simply installed SEO plugins without really having an in-depth knowledge about SEO.
I was the same way for a long time. And it wasn’t until recently that I started to change things. Thanks for the comment.
Julius´s last blog ..How to Create a Better WordPress Search
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