Contents that are current are always preferred by readers.  Being current is not only about being the latest or the newest but also in being relevant at all times.  Time-sensitive content gets old and outdated, bearing no relevance to the current situation.  It is only good for a couple of weeks or months and will need to be replaced every so often.

When building up a site, it is important to build on existing content as well by adding newer developments on the topic instead of completely having to redo articles over and over again.  Every article has to be looked at as a permanent investment which requires careful thought and not as mere fillers of site space.  Every succeeding article can be a direct add-on or related to the main article.  Sub-categories usually evolve as a website progresses.

Contents that stand the test of time is good for search engine optimization efforts.  They provide consistency and continuity that will allow sites to obtain formidable online presence as it continues to build on its strength.  Articles will have to serve its purpose ten or twenty years from now as they do today, whether as a point of current or historical reference.

So as not to put efforts to waste, website owners are advised to minimize if not stay clear of time-sensitive contents.  Websites are expected to live on unless closed by force or by choice so contents are expected to be of the same nature.  If you must make use of such kind of content, make sure that it can be put to good use in relation to the general objective of the site.

There are so many things you can do to improve your blog significantly and you don’t even need to spend a lot of time to do it. Optimizing your blog is very important. You wouldn’t want all that hard work to go to waste by not being visited by your target audience. There are things you can do with your blog that will take you just a few minutes, half an hour tops. Here are some of them:

Use your social media to generate traffic

Some blog owners still don’t like using social media sites to promote their blog, which is a shame. Links provided to social media sites can generate quick feedback and visits because it’s easier for your friends and acquaintances to click on the link and then read the article. Don’t be shy, self-promotion is not a bad thing. More →

Most of the time, when you think of optimizing your blog for search engines, you think of inbound links, writing linkbait material, commenting on other blogs, and submitting your blog to directories such as EatonWeb. But oftentimes, we forget the number one way you can get your blog to rank well in search queries. Simply write relevant headlines. Copyblogger has a few great tips here.

Many times, I find myself tempted to write headlines with a twist, or funny ones that are meant to be an insider joke (meaning only a few people would understand it). If you run a blog intended for such a purpose, then by all means, go for it. For instance, you might run a literary blog, and you are fond of writing poetry. In many cases, the titles of your posts can be simply one word. It can be as far out as just a single exclamation point.

However, when you run your blog with the intent of providing useful information, or as a source for news, reviews and editorials, it makes sense to use relevant headlines. In this case, you need to include relevant keywords in the title itself. Including relevant keywords in the title can both help your blog become more visible in search engines, and it will also make your post more attractive to human readers, such as those coming from feed readers. After all, at first glance, it’s the title of their post that they encounter, and so people will often judge the content based on the headline.

Let me ask you this: when you do a Google search for a certain topic, do you necessarily click on the first result in the list? Or do you click the title that seems most appropriate to your query?

I must admit that in doing reviews for submissions here on EatonWeb, I often scan through post titles, both current and archived, before reading through posts. This lets me get a feel of what a blog is all about, even before I read through entries. It helps me gauge the relevance of a blog at first glance.

Write a better blog. Start with great headlines.

Social media marketing guru Ryan Caldwell recently wrote about the pyschology of linkbait on SEJ. The article itself screams of linkbait. It’s got those classic linkbait cues, indeed. I, myself, have tried to steer clear of these types of posts, but who could resist, especially if one might gain to benefit from a few good ideas.

I would agree that the best types of links are the natural ones–called “editorial” links. These don’t seem forced, because the writers themselves wholeheartedly link to your content because they like it. But it’s sometimes difficult to determine what kind of content people would actually like and link to on their own.

Ryan has defined these under two categories. First, you can evoke reactive emotions–write something that you know people will feel strongly about, whether positively or negatively. Secondly, you can appeal to reason–make yourself appear as the expert so people would listen.

Folks might think that linkbait articles are essentially those list-type articles that are fun or make for good reference. But remember, next time you try to come up with content that you feel should be link-worthy, make sure that it does appeal to the senses and to emotions. This way, people have a reason of linking to your site.

According to a recent Blog Herald post, frequent publishing is one of the most recognizable traits of a popular blog. And it’s a sensible tip–publish frequently so that your site stays fresh enough for both human readers and search engines to keep coming back to.

Is there such a thing as too-frequent posting, though? I would say that for blogs, there is only such a thing if you consider the front-page life-span of a post. While many users are already comfortable with reading content on their RSS feed readers, most are still accessing your site via the front page. This means they type in the URL on their browsers, hit enter, and land on your site’s main page.

So in that regard, it does pay to keep the important stuff at the front page, at least long enough for people to read it. If your front page displays five posts at a time, and you publish twenty posts in a span of one hour, then chances are those 15 other posts pushed to 2nd, 3rd and 4th page status don’t get as much exposure as the last five ones.

Some bloggers like to delineate between regular and important posts. So how do you keep important posts on the front page? One trick here is to re-design your site such that posts tagged as “features” become “sticky” ones, meaning they stay on the front page even when they’re already overridden by newer posts in terms of freshness.

Still, experienced bloggers would recommend a posting frequency of one to three times a day. That’s frequent enough to be considered fresh, but not too frequent that people are not overwhelmed by the postings. At least this goes for one-blogger blogs.