Do you have a blog?

No?  Then you may need help Picking a Blog Topic and Getting Content.   Please note there are Website Mistakes That Cost You Readers.   As a beginner you need to know  What Does Your Blog Need in Posts

Now for more experienced readers.

You should know what makes your blog voice unique.  If not you Finding Your USP should be your next focus.  Experienced or new, we all sometimes forget  Why is Content King?

If you are working a job, have kids or are going on vacation then Scheduling WordPress Posts will help.  You can write 2 or 3 or more posts a day and schedule the rest so you can have a post appearing if you are home or away.

How will I come up with so many posts?

You can have Easy Web Site Content.  The answer is amazingly simple, even better what if you could turn One Question Into Multiple Blog Posts and Content Creation.   Now do not be fooled not all your writing needs to be just about your topic, you will be surprised to learn What Should My Blog Posts be About?

Adding Outside Content

Perhaps writing tons of blog posts is not your thing  or you need some filler material on your vacations.  All you need to do is Find Articles on Ezine Articles once you find an article you like Adding an Ezine Article to Your Blog is an easy process.   Now before you obsess too much about Google Slaps and Duplicate Content my friend Sunbonnet Sue Busts the Duplicate Content Myth.

I certainly hope this odd little story will help all you bloggers in the newest blog challenge.

~ MJ Schrader

Time to Bust that Duplicate Content Myth. (Does this make me an honorary myth buster?) Using previously published articles (Ezine Articles) does not mean you are going to suffer the wrath of Google and suffer the dreaded “Duplicate Content Penalty”

According to Google Webmaster Central Blog

“Let’s put this to bed once and for all, folks: There’s no such thing as a ‘duplicate content penalty.’ At least, not in the way most people mean when they say that.”

If you respect your readers, your guest bloggers and article authors, then you should not worry. If you are trying to deceive readers or search engines then you will get in trouble.

URLs

The name of your website is important but so is the form. Decide if you are going to include www or not. Try to keep one page from having multiple names, such as example.com, example.com/?, www.example.com, example.com/index.   This is where the Duplicate Content lives, not a unique website.

Create Unique Website

The key is creating a unique website, which means including some original content. This could be re-writes of private label articles, guest bloggers with content limited to your website or your own writing. Add links to related sites you like. Encourage other related sites to link back to you.

Articles

Using articles from article sites does not mean you are going to get the Google slap either. The combination of articles you choose creates a site that is all your own. When you also are certain to provide unique content in addition to those articles. By adding the resource box and author box you are verifying that you did not scrape (steal) the articles and verifying where you got the article. Then search engines view your site as a whole.

Search Engine Results

Content is King. By providing content you are meeting visitors and search engine requirements. With your whole site and the content provided, search engines give results of the best overall site for a particular search.

A visual example

There are a dozen quilters all of them are going to use one Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Square. While that one square is exactly the same, the quilts will not be duplicates of each other. Maybe one does a lap quilt. Another a King. Perhaps one uses borders for each square. Another uses a honey comb design around the Sunbonnet Sue. The Square could be on the top left, the bottom right, dead center. This is not duplicate content just like your website is not duplicate content.

~ MJ Schrader

Recap

Enter your topic of choice in the search at the top of the page.  Add an author, quotes, or extra words as necessary.  Now what happens when you find an article you like?

Looking over an article

Click on an article title you like or click = Do it Right Now! Be Productive With a Prickly Pear. The byline (author’s name) is underneath the title. Below that the word count (419 words), should you need a particular size. Then you can view the summary by clicking that link or scroll down and read the full article. Near the bottom of the page are the various citations, MLA Style, APA style, and Chicago Style (not be confused with the pizza).

Choosing an article.

You decide this article is exactly what you need. If you are the bottom scroll back up to right below the article. Beneath the article is a gray box. Click an icon to share the article in that social media format. However since you are looking for content you are going to click “EzinePublisher.”

Now what?

You will see an article summary. A summary of TOS. Improbable phrases and improbable keywords (phrases and keywords unique to my article i.e. prickly pear.) Next is a text version of the article followed by an HTML version. Since you are adding this to your blog, you want HTML. It looks nicer. Below that is the Summary, Keywords and Article URL.

Adding to your Blog.

Click add posts. Where you enter your posts you will see a tab (on the right) that says Visual and another HTML. Click HTML. Click inside the HTML box on Ezine Articles. Press Ctrl+C, this will copy the article. Now back to your blog post. Inside the box click Ctrl+V, this will paste the article with the Author Resource Box and Article Source. Alternative you can use the mouse right click functions.

SEO

If you are using an SEO plugin or Thesis Theme (or other SEO theme), you have a few additional steps for SEO! (Search engine optimization). Copy the title into the title box. Then copy the summary which is below the HTML version, using above tips. You will paste this in the description or summary area of your post. Repeat with the keywords. And Badda Bing you have new content for the price of a few clicks of the mouse.

Hope this helps, and please comment with your ideas and suggestions!

~ MJ Schrader

While Ezine Articles can be a great source of information, if you don’t know how to use it, it can be frustrating. There are so many articles. Then you wonder what to do with the articles.

Rules: FINE PRINT

You could read the TOS (terms of service). Here’s a summary: Respect the author and Ezine Articles (legally, ethically etc…)

More info: Include the author’s full resource box including the Article Source: Ezine Articles. Keep all links linked and active. Do not change the article. Do not use any article in exploitative websites, unlawful websites or promotion there of… In other words RESPECT!

Finding articles

Simply visit Expert_bio=MJ_Schrader! Ok, it was worth a shot! At the top is Google Search. There is also a search in the left sidebar. Type in a term related to the article you need. Let’s say you need articles about “Cheap Gifts” or maybe you just need cheap gift ideas because May is when everyone in your family has a birthday.  Type “Cheap Gifts” without the quotes for an example.

To Use Quotations or Not to Use Quotations

Quotes will keep your choices to that particular phrase, but they will include articles that mention that phrase. If you had typed “English Cocker Spaniel” you would only see 3 articles related to that particular breed, and many more related to the American Cocker Spaniel.  These articles are listed because they mention the English. (Trivia The AKC recognized the 2 different breeds in 1946, most people are familiar with the American.)

Choices

If you typed cheap gifts you can see there are a wide variety of choices.  This is when you might choose quotation marks, or add a word.  Then you add quotes to “cheap gifts” or extra words like “cheap birthday gifts” or “earth friendly gifts.”  Or perhaps you want a particular author.

By Author

Yes, you can narrow your choices by the author. Ok, for those of you Internet instructors, do you need terms for your blog? Type “MJ Schrader Terms” in your search without quotations. You will notice the terms articles first and later articles where I may discuss terms in the article.

Now you know how to find articles, but how do you add them.  Since this post is already rather long, I am going to save that for tomorrow’s post.   Tomorrow will be how to add these articles to your blog!  More blog content is always good!

~ MJ Schrader