Does my blog help my SEO?

[Tech4Homes]

I have an ecommerce website. I also have a wordpress hosted blog on a seperate domain. The blog links to the website in posts and on pages but that is all.

If I create a sub domain of blog . mydomain.co.ik will that then mean that the blog is indexed and helps with mydomain .co.uk or does it make no difference at all?

Hope that makes sense :|

 

[Mick.H]

Do both. The more the better.

 

[pete.mcal]

Are you hosting both the blog and your e-commerce store on the same server? Do you also have them registered under the same public whois details?

If the answer is yes to either of these questions then it's possible that the strength of the links will be devalued (although not completely abolished).

Overall it isn't a bad thing to have as wide a web presence as possible. As long as you are posting quality content and following good seo/webmaster practices.

As for subdomains (on your blog) they will carry as much weight as any other link coming from the main blog (with all other factors being equal).

 

[Ali-v-8]

I am sorry but ignore that - If you blog off your own website then you are increasing the content value of "YOUR" website. If you blog off site then you are referring to your eCommerce website.
you would have to then link to your blog as well as your website.
Unless you mean something else you have just told him to duplicate his content.

Do both. The more the better.

 

[Tech4Homes]

The blog is hosted by wordpress so for all intents and purposes its a seperate website with no relation to my ecommerce website other than following the same look and has links back to my website for products etc. It doesn't appear on google at all at the minute but I've only got one post up at the minute to be fair.

Ideally the blog should be part of the main ecommerce site, however the ecommerce site is an EKM powershop and they currently do not have a blog function, best I can custom code is an iframe displaying my blog

So I'm just trying to work out how to make my content benefit the actual ecommerce site rather than trying to build up two seperate sites.

 

[pete.mcal]

If you could create links to your external blog as part of your site's layout this would be ideal.

In cases like yours you want to integrate the external blog at least somewhere into the natural layout of your ecommerce site (via a button/link). If it's purpose is supporting your product listings, informing customers, building awareness etc then you'll want people to be able to find it from your site.

Some people warn against reciprocal links, but in this case it is the natural thing to do. So there should be no reason not to do it.

 

[Ali-v-8]

I think the issue is that EKM is a hosted solution and any development would have to be done by them.
Only a suggestion but with what you said you should keep the WordPress website and possibly add the new WordPress shopping solution to it.
Or alternatively look for a different shopping solution now while you are still developing your business. The restrictions that you are feeling now will repeat it self as you will need more and more changes in the future.

 

[nish]

You could benefit more if you move blog to a sub-domain and link relevant keywords to your products and categories. Your hosted WordPress installation should be optimized for better results, there is automatic link plugins that will create 1 link from each blog post to your defined URL which is perfect for this purpose.

 

[Jet Virtual]

I have an ecommerce website. I also have a wordpress hosted blog on a seperate domain. The blog links to the website in posts and on pages but that is all.

If I create a sub domain of blog . mydomain.co.ik will that then mean that the blog is indexed and helps with mydomain .co.uk or does it make no difference at all?

Hope that makes sense :|

Best is to create a blog on your website so that it counts as pages according to Google which gives your website more prominence.

Bets of Luck,

Daniel

 

[Ali-v-8]

If you read the post about it being a hosted solution adding an existing blog to site is not an option - especially an established one.

 

[cheaper accountant]

I would opt to have a blog on your main website too. As previously pointed out this really does help your presence in search engines and can really bring traffic to your website for specific topics or search terms.

 

[eventdomain]

If you blog off your own website then you are increasing the content value

Correct! but unless your blog contains 1000's of pages, you won't make a dent in the SERPS. You may however gain the odd few clients out of it though. Even so, a big difference in just 'creating content' than getting paying clients from it - its just not that easy and most will get it wrong, just a fact of life.

Although content can attract visitors, its just there must be enough of it (plus of the right stuff) to keep visitors returning, or else a website is pointless. People search for information, so give them a ton of it...... the aim is to build a following of users/customers that spread the word of your site - and can't be done off some £200 blog with 100 pages - you are going to have to build something superior for big things to happen.

 

[Jet Virtual]

If you read the post about it being a hosted solution adding an existing blog to site is not an option - especially an established one.

Not sure I understand what you mean? What's the problem with starting a new blog on the existing website??

 

[Ali-v-8]

A hosted solution meant you only rent the shop - you cant modify it. The system is rigid and you cannot do what the OP should do (add blog to site).
On another note the website he runs his blog on has history and although in an ideal world it should be onsite.

 

[dsmpublishing]

Google LOVES unique original content and by having a blog you can solve this problem and get your name out there. I find that sites I have a blog on get 90% better seo positions and you can use it to target more keywords.

I did it with one of my new sites and tested it and found the site that had daily blog posts hit the search engines for keywords 80% faster.

I would aim for 5 posts a week to get started with and you will be amazed by the results.

 

[ITsoldUK]

The blog is hosted by wordpress so for all intents and purposes its a seperate website with no relation to my ecommerce website other than following the same look and has links back to my website for products etc. It doesn't appear on google at all at the minute but I've only got one post up at the minute to be fair.

Ideally the blog should be part of the main ecommerce site, however the ecommerce site is an EKM powershop and they currently do not have a blog function, best I can custom code is an iframe displaying my blog

So I'm just trying to work out how to make my content benefit the actual ecommerce site rather than trying to build up two seperate sites.

There is a point to my questions but I shall reveal the reason once I have some facts to see if it is relevant...so here goes.

1 How old is your store on EKM
2 How many products do you currently offer on this store
3 How old is your domain name
4 How old is your wp blog
5 How do you currently fare in the SERPS
6 What is the skill set like in your business pertaining to working with websites

Hosted solutions fit great for certain BMs but this topic is highlighting the lack of scalability and flexibility with these types of options.

Regards
Daren

 

[contract hub]

from my experience (and what our SEO company have rammed down our throat) its much better to have the blog on your site that you want to increase traffic too...

 

[Tech4Homes]

There is a point to my questions but I shall reveal the reason once I have some facts to see if it is relevant...so here goes.

1 How old is your store on EKM
2 How many products do you currently offer on this store
3 How old is your domain name
4 How old is your wp blog
5 How do you currently fare in the SERPS
6 What is the skill set like in your business pertaining to working with websites

Hosted solutions fit great for certain BMs but this topic is highlighting the lack of scalability and flexibility with these types of options.

Regards
Daren

1,2 - The store is only a few months old, I have quite a few products listed, too many to "quickly" make a new site.

3,4 - The domain is equally a few months old, as is the blog.

5 - according to sitemapdoc.com not very well at all... I have checked one of my long running sites and that doesn't fair well either to be honest.

6 - quite good, I'm relatively familiar with wordpress, installiing and altering themes etc and i used to make sites from scratch in HTML. I'm by no means a web dev. but I get by well enough, however I have only just started looking into SEO practices and am gradually applying them to my sites.

I chose EKM because it seemed a good solution, it does work very well and takes a lot of the effort out, I seem to search well in google shopping results for most items. EKM does have a few downsides with the blog being one of them, I know they are working on it but doubt it'll be any time soon.

I'm thinking maybe it's best to keep the blog going but add some pages to the website with guides etc to help add some content. I haven't tried it yet but I believe I can add as many pages as I want to the EKM powershop. (i think!)

I did look at wordpress e commerce solutions but they looked a lot harder work than the hosted solution.

 

[nish]

engaging content actually, Google take in to account bounce rate as well, if your content not worth reading and as a results your bounce rate will go up which means Google take this in to account when ranking.

It should be engaging quality content and also text / script ratio should exceed 15% to make it worth while for SEO.

 

[ITsoldUK]

1,2 - The store is only a few months old, I have quite a few products listed, too many to "quickly" make a new site.

3,4 - The domain is equally a few months old, as is the blog.

5 - according to sitemapdoc.com not very well at all... I have checked one of my long running sites and that doesn't fair well either to be honest.

6 - quite good, I'm relatively familiar with wordpress, installiing and altering themes etc and i used to make sites from scratch in HTML. I'm by no means a web dev. but I get by well enough, however I have only just started looking into SEO practices and am gradually applying them to my sites.

I chose EKM because it seemed a good solution, it does work very well and takes a lot of the effort out, I seem to search well in google shopping results for most items. EKM does have a few downsides with the blog being one of them, I know they are working on it but doubt it'll be any time soon.

I'm thinking maybe it's best to keep the blog going but add some pages to the website with guides etc to help add some content. I haven't tried it yet but I believe I can add as many pages as I want to the EKM powershop. (i think!)

I did look at wordpress e commerce solutions but they looked a lot harder work than the hosted solution.

You can extra pages yup, guide is here.

If you wish to stay in your current set up then I would split the two sites focus points.

1 Your EKM pages can be promotional regarding your products. Features, what they do etc

2 Your 'blog' can be conversational around your products, how to use, tips and tricks etc with a nice little bio box at the end going right to your product page.

That is how I would play it if staying put.

HTH

Daren

 

[nish]

Well there is a way around it, use a sub-domain like http://blog.yourdomain.co.uk and hosted elsewhere, you can simply change DNS records to point your blog to your own hosting easily.