So, you’ve finally made it there. You have already started on your blogging journey, and you are looking for more information. Or you are entirely new to blogging. Doesn’t it feel great? But wait, are you still a little confused about some of the blogging terms you’ve heard? What about the blogging terms that you haven’t heard of before?
As you start to do more and more research on “how to start a successful blog,” you realize there is a lot more to this whole “blogging thing” than meets the eye. You may have once thought that blogging was just as simple as sitting down at your computer or laptop, stretching out those nimble fingers, and starting to write whatever comes to mind.
I’m here to tell you that that isn’t quite right, but I’m here to help. To help jumpstart your blogging career, I’m going to share ten blogging terms that you absolutely must know when creating content for your blog or your online business.
10 Blogging Terms For a Successful Blogging Business
1. Keyword Research
Keyword research is the bread and butter of blogging. Keyword research provides you with specific data that can help you answer questions that people are looking for. With keyword research, you will find the answer to many questions that will give you an advantage over your competition. This research type will provide you with significant insight into what people want and what it is that people need.
Keyword Research will provide you with the answers to questions like these and more:
- What are people searching for online?
- How many people are searching for it on a daily, monthly, yearly basis?
- In what way do they like to have that information delivered to them?
In addition to this, keyword research will help you to discover keywords that would be ideal to rank for in search results. This will help you determine what keywords and what variations of keywords are most popular in online searches.
Once you can hone in on specific keywords using your keyword research tool, you will also discover other related keywords. This includes common questions that are asked and topics for related content that you may not have thought of on your own.
Besides discovering new keywords or discovering new topics related to these keywords; Keyword research will also help you find out the search volume related to these keywords.
The higher the search volume for any given keyword, typically, the more challenging it is to rank in search results. This is known as keyword difficulty.
If you target a keyword that has a very high search volume, chances are there will be a lot of competition from other websites. This means that other websites will also be trying to rank or that same keyword. Another way to look at this is that the more popular the keyword or, the more popular the topic, the higher the chances that that keyword will be difficult to rank for.
Just because a keyword has a high search volume and high competition, it does not mean that you will not be able to rank for that keyword. It means that it will require much more effort and a bit more skill 2-ranked organically in the search results.
As a new blogger, it is often exhilarating to simply go after keywords or topics that we feel strongly about. Chances are the same topics are very popular, which means that there is a lot of competition for those exact keywords. Understanding this dynamic is essential when starting a new blog.
It is not advantageous to go after high volume, high difficulty keywords for your new blog. If you do, it will take you a very long time to rank for those keywords. There is also a strong chance that you may never rank for those keywords.
It is ideal to go after specific keywords that have good search volume but lower competition—more on this in another blog post.
2. Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are another cornerstone of blogging. In the previous paragraphs, we just discussed keyword research. Long-tail keywords play a significant role in keyword research because it can help new and older websites and blogs pull in more organic traffic.
Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific keywords. These keywords are used most commonly by users of search engines that have a high purchase intent. Meaning, they are thinking about buying, deciding on buying, or ready to buy.
Example of a long-tail keyword:
- Single Word Keyword: bottled water
- Short Keyword Phrase: Chilled bottled water
- Longtail Keywords: Individually packaged chilled bottled water
The reason why long-tail keywords are essential for your blog is because of the following reasons.
Long-tail keywords are generally low competition.
This means that it is easier to rank better than single-word keywords.
Long-tail keywords convert better.
Long-tail keywords convert better than a single word or even short keyword phrases because they are more specific.
So, the take away here is that if you want to start to rank faster overall and if you want to rank better, then you need to begin using long-tail keywords like there’s no tomorrow.
3. SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Simply put, SEO is the process of increasing the visibility of a website within search engine results. This is one of the best ways to increase traffic organically to a website.
4. Meta Description
Meta Descriptions are essential when it comes to on-page SEO. Meta descriptions are brief descriptions that help to summarize what a web page is all about. It helps search engines understand what the content is about.
5. Blogging Silos/Categories
Blogging silos or categories are part of how a website is structured. It is the primary way that blog posts and content are grouped together by topic.
6. Anchor Text
Anchor Text should be another vital part of your blogging term arsenal. Anchor text is the clickable text found in a hyperlink on a webpage. In most browsers, it is typically blue and underlined. It provides search engines with more insight and contextual information about the content of the link’s destination.
7. Posting Schedule
Coming up with a reliable posting schedule is really important for your blog. Creating a good schedule can do wonders for your blogging productivity, help you stay organized, let your readers know when you expect new content, and even help your content to rank faster once Google and other search engines notice your posting patterns.
8. Permalink
It’s good to know what a permalink is when you’re a blogger. A permalink is a URL that permanent and doesn’t change. It is the permanent destination for a particular webpage. If you are a WordPress user, there are several options available. I recommend using the “Post Name.” As an example, the permalink for this page is www.simplysmarterincome.com/top-10-blogging-terms.
9. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is definitely one of the most critical blogging terms on this list. Affiliate marketing is earning commissions by promoting other company’s (or people’s) products or services. You make these commissions at no additional cost to the customer. I like to look at it as a sort of “finders fee.”
The company is comfortable paying you a small commission for referring a new customer. A new customer that, if not for you, they may never have.
10. Call To Action
A call to action is when you instruct the user of your blog or website to take a specific action. An example of this is when you see “Click Here” or “Buy Now.” Call to action or CTAs often takes the form of hyperlinks or buttons.
Conclusion
So there you have it, the top 10 blogging terms that are absolutely imperative that you know. With that being said, you need to know that you will need to continue to learn. So ensure that you read more, watch videos, and always strive to continue learning.
