Unless you’re one of the very few bloggers who blog for non-monetary reasons, every other blogger needs to know how to optimize a blog (In this case their blog) so as to enjoy both prominent search engine ranking and the money that comes with it in form of Google AdSense, Infolinks or any other form of Pay Per Click advertising.

If you don’t mind spending a couple of dollars then using paid resources like SEO Pressor (It’s a wordpress plugin that helps you to optimize your content) to optimize a blog would be a great way to ensure your blog’s ranking gradually improves in the various search engines but if you’re just starting out and probably don’t have the money to spend on paid add-ons, then the below tips on how to optimize a blog will come in handy to ensure your blog(s) get a good chance to appear on the first page of Google or any other search engine for the targeted search terms/keywords.

How To Optimize A Blog

In order to get the info out clearly, we’ll split it into two categories i.e. how to optimize a blog for a search engine and how to optimize a blog for human beings.

How To Optimize A Blog For A Search Engine

1. Make use of SEO-It would be beneficial to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques which would significantly increase your blogs ranking in the various search engines. A great way on how to optimize a blog for SEO is by including the keyword in the H1, H2 and H3 tags, including the keyword several times in the post, having an internal link to your blog in the blog post and using the keyword in the Alt tag of images just to mention a few.
2. Be unique and write quality content-The one thing that separates the boys from the men in blogging is how unique their blogs and blog posts are. I know that at times we may “borrow” content from other blogs or sources but let’s remember to do it in a sensible manner and not to copy word for word because there’s nothing that search engines hate like copied content and in most cases it results in you being penalized. An example of how not to copy word for word is this article that I wrote about the Top 5 Highest Earning Hip Hop Artists In 2012 that was copied word for word by these guys.
3. Use the Keyword in the URL-It would be a huge boost for your blog to use your keyword in the URL of that specific post (Permalink) since search engines will be able to know which keyword you were targeting therefore increasing the chances of your blog appearing on the first page for that particular search term.

How To Optimize A Blog For Human Beings

1. Write quality and interesting content- This is one of the best ways on how to optimize a blog for human beings. When people visit your blog only to find copied content, they’ll most probably write you off as an “un-imaginative” person and instead of increasing your blog readership you’ll instead be chasing even the ones you have. Writing unique and quality content is a great way to optimize a blog since your blog readers will share your content in their various social networks or online communities they’re members in and this in time will result in getting more followers which is a good thing.
2. Use simple language-Try as much as possible to use simple words in your blog posts which people can easily read and understand other than using very complex words which will end up frustrating them and which might lead to them avoiding your blog.
3. Offer them freebies- Offering your blog readers freebies like a free e-book on how to make money with Google AdSense can be a great way to encourage them to visit your blog often since human beings by nature love free things.
4. Use your keyword in the title and description tag- This also happens to be one of the best ways on how to optimize a blog since when people are looking for something on the internet, they’ll in most of the cases click on search results which have the search terms they were looking for in the title tag and description tags rather than those which don’t point to what they are looking for. Below is a diagram that shows what a Title tag is and what a Description tag is for a search term which has Highest Earning Blogs as the main Keyword.