If you’re a TpT Seller, having a blog should be part of your marketing strategy. There are so many advantages to having one. Like the fact that a blog gives you a great opportunity ability to rank on Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing (which can bring you free traffic).
However, ranking on Search Engines is not an easy task. It’s not enough to just have a stellar blog post (though that is a big component) there are other things that you can do to help you rank well on Search Engines.
What is SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. And it entails doing things to your website or blog post to help optimize it for higher rankings on search engines like Google.
Don’t TpT Listings already have SEO?
Yes. Posting a product on Teachers Pay Teachers will have it automatically indexed by Search Engines. In other words, if I post a Matching Worksheet for Scientific Notation on my TpT store, and you do a Google search for “Matching Worksheet for Scientific Notation.” You will likely find my resource (yay!) In fact, if you search for Scientific Notation worksheet, mine will show up – though I’m sure, not at the top.
However, this is only one way of getting something to rank on Google, and it is limited. And though TpT products do rank well on search engines, a blog allows you to capture more “long tail phrases”.
Blogs Allow Long Tail Rankings
A long tail phrase is something someone would type into a search engine that is long. So “Scientific Notation” would be short, while “How to Teach Scientific Notation” would be a long tail. Even longer would be, “How to teach scientific notation to students using learning stations.”
So if you were to Google Search “Scientific Notation Worksheets.” My matching worksheet does not show up on the first page. I don’t know where it ranks on Google, but I’m guessing there are at least 100 links listed before mine.
But, if you were to search “How to teach students scientific notation” or “How to help students master scientific notation.” My blog shows up first!
And when readers click on the link to read my blog, guess what they’ll find?
If you guessed images and links to my matching worksheet, you are correct!
Hopefully you are beginning to understand how a blog can help you get more traffic to your TpT Store.
How do I get High SEO for my Blog?
Google uses over 200 metrics to rank a website. Obviously, we can’t focus on all of them. But here are 5 metrics you should know and master so that your posts will rank well on Google and other Search Engines.
1 – Site Age
Yes, how long you’ve been blogging matters. The longer, the better. So if you haven’t started your blog, do so now! And register it with Google so that it can start indexing your website. I have a course that will walk you through the steps of starting your Blog.
Why does site age matter?
As you know, the internet can be a pretty scummy place. With scams galore. And Google is trying to do its job in preventing scams. One thing that most scam websites have in common is they don’t last long. They appear, they rip people off, and then they quickly disappear. So to help steer people clear of a potential scam, Google wants your site to exist for a while.
Generally, it takes about 6 months for your website to start ranking on Google. That doesn’t mean if you register your domain with Google and then do a search on it, it won’t appear – it will. But it won’t do well for a while; because site age is a factor in ranking well on Search Engines.
The big take away is this. If you haven’t started a blog, start one today!
2 – Key Words
As you likely know, key words will help your website rank well.
Obviously.
How else will Google know that my blog post is about scientific notation, unless I have those words on the page?
But it’s not enough to just have the words scientific notation on the page. Here are some other things to do with your key words to help your page rank well on Google.
- Use the key word or keywords in the beginning of the blog post
- Use as many long tail phrases as you can
- Use different variations of the keyword (for example, instead of saying “graphing points” a bunch of times, I can use “plotting points” as a variation)
- Use the keyword in H1, H2, and H3 headings
- Use the keyword in the name of the file of the image
- Click on each image and add an alt text to it, and use the key word or a variation
One last tip. Avoid keyword stuffing.
Keyword stuffing is when you stuff that keyword into your post as many times as you can. Doing so makes your post sound unnatural, which deters readers, and actually hurts your SEO.
One Last Tip… again!
The rules to the game sometimes change. Keyword stuffing used to be great for helping you rank, now it doesn’t work. So if you hear of other gimmicks that will help, they likely won’t. Google, like other platforms, wants its readers to have good experiences so they keep coming back. So if your blog posts are helpful, enjoyable, and readable, Google will reward it.
Action Step to Help with Keywords
Install a plugin on your website called Yoast SEO. I’m not an affiliate and I benefit in no way from this recommendation (in fact, I didn’t even add a link). But it’s a great plugin that will help you get better SEO rankings.
3 – Links
This is actually two tips in one! Lucky you.
Google and other Search Engines like links to and from your blog post.
If other pages are linking to you, it must mean that you have some credibility or have immense value. So when Google sees that you have links from other sites, it increases your SEO.
Google also likes it when you link to other sites, though I’m not sure why. (If you know why, please leave the answer in the comments below). (PS – Google likes comments, see what I did there?)
Not all Links are Created Equal
If having 5 links increased your SEO significantly, no problem, I can go make 5 free website, or even paid ones, and link to my page and bam-oh! Instant SEO.
But it doesn’t work that way.
Not all links are created equal. Google wants credible links. Links from niches relevant to yours. And even links from high ranking or authoritative websites. So if my friend, Billy, links to my website for math teachers from his blog about Lego’s… I mean, I guess that’s not bad. But if the CNN runs an article on my website and links to it, that would get me much better SEO than Bill’s Lego Blog. Another great link would be from a math curriculum website or maybe a leading influencer on math teaching linking to my website.
What is Domain Authority
Domain authority is the authority a website (domain) has in its niche.
While you may never have heard of my math teacher blog, it might actually be a very authoritative website in my industry. How would you find out?
There are websites that will give a score for domain authority. To investigate a website’s domain authority, you can use SEM Rush’s domain authority – but you must register with them and you only get 10 free searches.
Moz also has a domain authority checker that will allow you to investigate other wesbite’s authority (or your own… I know you just went their and checked yours!) Moz’s is free and you don’t need to register, but you are limited to 3 a day.
For more on how to understand domain authority scores, read this article by SEM Rush.
How to Get Links
Professional bloggers spend a lot of time trying to get backlinks from other websites to their own. They dedicate time each day to reaching out to high ranking website asking them for a link. They will email them information and tips that those sites can share on their upcoming blogs and reports, asking for a link.
They will also leave comments on these blogs linking to their posts, when relevant, in hopes to game the system.
While that might sound like a huge waste of time, if it can get you several hundred links (or even thousand links) plus help you rank better on Google, which will also get you truck loads of more links, it definitely has its advantages.
This is another reason I recommend posting to a TpT product in every post. TpT is a high ranking website, and this will help your SEO.
4 – Time on Page
Ever Google Searched a recipe, and then clicked on something that ranked high? It’s awful! You open up the page and have to scroll through nine thousand words to finally get to the recipe. Do you know why they do that? Because if they didn’t, you would never find their recipe, because it wouldn’t rank well on Google.
That’s because Google rewards time on page.
So write a long post (look how long this one is).
By the way, Google also knows if people are just opening the page and not scrolling down – ie., you got a bunch of your friends to open the page and walk away from their monitors for a day and a half! Google does measure how much of the page is viewed before bouncing. So have good copy. Write well, use images, have intriguing headings, etc.
What’s that? You haven’t enrolled in my copywriting course? Shame on you! Click here to enroll in my Copywriting for TpT Sellers Course.
Here’s Another Great Strategy to Increase Time on Page
Embed YouTube Videos
When people watch a two minute YouTube video that’s embedded on your page, guess what they just did? They stayed on your page for two extra minutes!
Here’s a great way to get a quickly made video on your blog content.
AMAZING TIP RIGHT HERE!
Visit Lumen5.com (again, I’m not an affiliate, I’m just dedicated to helping you).
When you do, you’ll have to signup. But then all you do is copy the URL of your blog and paste it into their software, and they will make a short video for you based on your blog’s content. For free!
And you can customize the video, super easy, add words, images, videos, and even music.
Then just post that video to YouTube and embed it on your website.
Oh, and then you can share it on your social media pages too!
5 – Load Speed Matters
If your webpage takes too long to load, people will bounce. We’re all impatient these days.
So keep your page load time down.
How to Reduce Load Speed
Here are a few things you can do to reduce your load speed
- Keep your image file sizes small
- Use TinyPNG to make your images file sizes even smaller
- Reduce the number of plugins
- Remove the JetPack plugin (it really clogs things up. If you are using it for analytics, use Google Analytics instead)
I was having trouble with my load speed. I tried all of the above to no avail. So I went on Fiverr.com and hired someone for a few hundred bucks. One of the things he did was installed some plugins to help. I don’t have the knowledge to give you advise on what plugins to use to reduce load speed, but I am sharing this story with you to give you another solution should you need it. If you know a plugin that helps, please leave a comment below.
Isn’t there More?
Yes, there are many more things you can do to increase your SEO. But these five will give you a lot of bang for your buck. Let’s recap them quickly:
1 Start your blog today, because site age matters.
2 Use Keywords everywhere! Install the SEO Yoast Plugin. Make sure your images also have the file names and alt texts that are keyword rich.
3 Get links to your website, and have links in your post.
4 Time on page matters. Write long form posts. And add a video. Lumen5 can help.
5 Load speed matters. Have small images and reduce the number of plugins on your page.
Want more great advise?
If you’ve read this far, that means you’re someone who’s trying to do well with their blog. I have a course for TPT Bloggers.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “This guy has a lot of courses!” That’s why I’ve bundled them all together into one dynamic membership. And what’s even better, is we meet weekly in this membership to talk about things.
The membership is called the TpT Sellers Traffic Lab. It includes courses on blogging, copywriting, email marketing, and social media marketing. Plus a ton of bonusses and a weekly meeting! I mean, what more could you ask for?
I’d love for you to come check out my membership. It’s a great rate and has a ton of value. Click here to register.
