Most bloggers are satisfied with the default structure of the blog but if you would like to improve yours a little the easiest way is to do it by optimizing the title tag.

The default title structure in most common blog platforms is “Blog Title - Post Title”. What this means is that your most relevant keywords that are in your post title appears towards the end of your page title, carrying less weightage. Also the Post title or a part of it might get chopped off in the SERP due to the character limit.

The ideal way to solve this problem would be to have the Title structure in “Post Title - Blog Title” format.

Wordpress and Blogger are probably the two most common blogging platforms and for both of these you can do this by simply tweaking the placement of PHP variables.

For WP, you can use it by manually tweaking the code or you can have even more control on your Page titles by using Plugins like Platinum SEO pack or All in One SEO plugin [note Daily SEO Tips uses All in One].

For Blogger item page title, you can use the following code,

Play round with your blogger code a little and you should be able to have customized title for each of your blog pages.

Sometimes when you’re on the prowl looking to acquire links  via link trades, buying links or contributing optimized content to a blog in return for a link or two, you can run into some sites which may seem like you’ve struck link gold .. but these opportunities may prove too good to be true.

Case in point, you may find some site owners who are more or less giving away good links on sites with high PageRank or lots of incoming links, but what may look like incredible places to get links from, but I highly suggest taking a deeper look before striking a deal. Here are some red flags to look for when judging the quality of a site.

Topic Irrelevance : Is the site’s content relevant to its theme or URL? Site relevance is one of the first things I look at when judging the quality of a site or linking partner. If it’s a blog, are all of the posts about the genre or theme of the site? Or are they just blatant reviews designed to make money. If the answer is the latter, then that site has no real value and will probably lose anything it currently has going for it right now. If so, the value of your link will be nothing, or some negative value could be associated with your link.

Dropped Domains : Look through the history of the site via Archive.org and its Whois information to see if the site has been dropped. Google looks at two aspects with dropped or transferred domains : has the site changed hands and has the site changed content.

If you find an obvious site like CatholicsforLieberman.org with lots of juicy association or church links pointing to it, and the site is a Wordpress blog running off a default template and blogging about office furniture, stay away from it; it’s been dropped, picked up and all of its old good content was replaced with crap.

Buy a Sponsored Post Buttons : I’m not going to name any companies, but there are a lot of paid blogging review companies out there. Some use good blogs, are responsible and a bit under the radar, others are pure garbage and will result in negative association with a bad linking neighborhood. If you see buttons to buy a post on a blog, WITH A PRICE, and the posts say “Sponsored Post”, and you see that the links in the posts don’t use a no-follow .. hit your back button NOW!

Penises, Viagra and Poker : OK, this should be a given but if the site or blog which you are thinking about obtaining a link from links out to or writes about online gambling sites, penis enlargement or sex pills like Viagra, there’s a 99% chance that you’re about to obtain a link from a spam blog (or splog). Don’t do it. Don’t even think about it … unless you sell penis pumps or have an online poker spam site (and if you do, I hope you’re thinking of better ways of getting links … like comment spamming Search Engine Journal or Daily SEO Tip!)

Generic Wordpress Defaults : Not all blogs with generic Wordpress templates are spam, but a lot of the spam blogs I run into do not venture too far away from the freebie Wordpress templates available from Fantastico or basic Wordpress template sites. You’ve probably seen these when you first develop a Wordpress blog.

If you plan to start guest blogging, do join My Blog Guest: the forum that connects bloggers to guest posters.

As the Internet has grown so much in the last decade, it has become vital for small and large businesses to gain an online presence. This can be achieved by search engine optimization, with the key part being to obtain relevant backlinks.

With social media (Twitter, Facebook etc…) being the latest trend, it has become a lot easier to publish and share your articles. However, I have found that one of best strategies to get your articles seen is not to go around and post thousands upon thousands of links, it’s actually a lot easier than that – guest blogging.

Guest blogging is where another website / blog will allow you to post your article on their website. This benefits both parties, as you would obtain a relevant backlink, and they would gain more visitors and some great content!

Guest blogging is one of the most powerful ways to build your brand and increase your website’s popularity. It allows you to expose your company to a much wider audience and is a great way to build contacts.

Not only will guest blogging increase your company’s awareness but will play an important role within search engine optimization. If your content is unique and worthy of sharing, then you could soon see hundreds if not thousands of deep links starting to point to you.

How to contribute

Now you know the basics about guest blogging, its now time to find suitable websites.

Finding relevant blogs / websites that may allow you to post your articles is easy once you know what you’re looking for. Using some simple search phrases in Google should bring up a long list for you to then go and contact.

Use the below search phrases, changing the keyword to something relevant.
[Keyword] “guest blogger” OR “guest post” OR “guest article”
[Keyword] “contribute to this site” “write for us” OR “write for me”
When contacting the webmasters, I find it best to include some sample writing and state some topics that you may write about.

What not to do

When guest blogging, I would keep in mind the following:

1) Guest posting is meant to be a win-win situation. You are the guest, making demands or a fuss to the host will not endear you and can cause more harm than good.

2) Do not ignore the audience. Your articles should take into account the style of the blog and the audience it attracts. You should also check back regularly to respond to any comments or feedback.

3) Don’t over advertise. Sure, one of the main reasons you have posted the article is to advertise yourself or your business, but filling your content with links or affiliate codes will more than likely backfire.

After you have gained permission, you’re ready to go! Write some great content, with a link back to your website at the bottom and hopefully watch your company grow.