by Ron Estrada

It’s day 2 of my WI takeover. I was hoping for hostages, but they all told me they had to use the restroom and I haven’t seen them since. However, in a half-hearted attempt to follow Super G’s instructions, I will post about tomatoes.

Why tomatoes?

I’m glad you asked. According to Super G’s “web guy,” tomato is the most searched word in Google. This doesn’t surprise me, as I’ve managed to kill about 20 innocent tomato plants this year. Like I knew Michigan would bypass global warming and experience frost in May this year.

None of this, of course, has anything to do with my topic.

A Tomato in Header 2

My real purpose is to introduce my fledgling writer friends to a little something we call “SEO.” For those of you who still record The Price is Right on VHS, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Or, for those of us who prefer straight forward language, it means “this is how to write your blog so that it shows up on the first few pages of a Google search.

Tomato Method of SEO

I want you to pay attention…no, not like you do when you’re talking to your agent. Really pay attention. Tomato is our “keyword.” When an unsuspecting tomato grower types “tomato” into Google, you want your blog or website to show up on page 1. You can also use phrases like “Growing tomatoes in Michigan.”  In fact, that’s what you’ll do. Narrow your target audience. Trust me, this post won’t do better than page 900 for a Google search on “tomato.”

Now if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll see that my keyword–tomato, for those of you with teenager memories–is in my post title, in header 1, and again in both header 2s. Headers are exactly what they sound like–big bold Header 1 for main titles, smaller header 2, 3, and so on for sub-categories. However, to Google they represent something important. Google will see “tomato” in your header and say, “Ah, this is about tomatoes, I’ll bump this up the list when someone searches for it.

My friends who blog for profit are adding my name to their “Idiots to be Shunned” list right about now. Yes, my pointy-headed trekkie friends, the Google search engine is a bit more complex than that. But we’re just little ol’ fiction writers ’round these parts. We don’t need details, just enough so that our millions of eager fans can find us (to my embarrassment, a search for “Ron Estrada” turns up a lounge lizard in California…but I hear he’s pretty good).

Tomato Images for Writers

For the rest of us, who watch Star Trek for character development research only, all we need to know are the basics. I gave you the title, headers, and of course, the body of your post. Here are a few other SEO tricks.

Photos are the most overlooked item for the average blogger. Note my tomato photo at the beginning of this blog. The title is “image.jpg.” That would be wrong. If I weren’t so lazy, I would have downloaded or taken the photo, then renamed it to tomato.jpg. Guess what? You got it–more Google food. If you were using a phrase as your keyword, be sure to use dashes between the words, such as tomato-growing-in-michigan.jpg. This takes effort, but it’s worth it. Same thing with videos. YouTube allows you to rename your videos. Make the name count!

So your assignment for the day is this: write a blog post with a keyword or phrase in mind. Use the keyword in the blog title, in the headers, in the body, and in your photo (yes, you will use a photo…don’t be boring). Now post the links to your homework assignment here and I’ll be happy to take a look and offer feedback.

We’ll have more discussion on SEO in the days ahead. Stay tuned!