Who has a blog? Pros? Cons?

I have a blog on my Auctiva store.

When checking Google/MSN and Yahoo search engines I noticed those blogs aren't showing up...soooooooooooooo...I continue to blog at my other spots on the internet and yes, I do well with those blogs.

Suthrnjewl's Live Blog

quote:

Originally posted by Suthrnjewl:
I have a blog on my Auctiva store.

When checking Google/MSN and Yahoo search engines I noticed those blogs aren't showing up...

Yep, I just did a few searches for my own and this appears to be correct.

Perhaps someone at Auctiva would like to address this? There's certainly very little point in using the blog if the major search engines don't even pick it up (after going to the trouble of adding per-post keywords even).

Hmm Donna.. I just searched for "Suthrnjewl blog" on Google and both your Auctiva Store blog and corresponding RSS feed came up in the results. Maybe it just depends on the search terms being used, but your blog is definetely being indexed by Google at least

quote:

Originally posted by Auctiva David:
Hmm Donna.. I just searched for "Suthrnjewl blog" on Google and both your Auctiva Store blog and corresponding RSS feed came up in the results. Maybe it just depends on the search terms being used, but your blog is definetely being indexed by Google at least

Thanks David...I really appreciate that you took the time to do that.

When I search on Google here's what I get
"Suthrnjewl blog"

And also Google without the advanced quotation marks and here's what comes up:
Suthrnjewl blog

And then a plain search on Google for:
Suthrnjewl

Please email me with the link to what you're finding...because even when I narrow the search down with quotations/advanced search and the word Auctiva..I'm not seeing it. I don't doubt you..but I'm kinda stubborn <smile> and need to see how you're searching as vs my searches.

Once I know the searches are coming up high, then I'm good to go again with doing my store blog.

Thanks David for going the extra mile and working with me.
Donna

Hey, Donna, I found yours but I had to add "auctiva" in the search terms. It's near the bottom of the first page:
"suthrnjewl blog auctiva"

When I search "rickbradford blog auctiva" for mine, though, I get zilch:
"rickbradford blog auctiva"

I also get nothing with "rickbradford auctiva". Doesn't it seem like "auctiva" would be a given?

However: I did find my "About Us" store page but it was tricky.
"rick bradford" auctiva blog

And I finally found the actual blog page with one of my keywords + "auctiva". But the same keywords + "rickbradford" (my user ID) didn't find the blog. Likewise for the keywords + "poopsheet".

So, a little disappointing. My eCrater store, on the other hand, scores high all around!

Hehe on a side note, searching for "rick bradford" auctiva blogalso comes up with http://suthrnjewl.spaces.live.com/ in the results

Anyway the search I ran before for SuthrnJewl blog returned your blog RSS on the 3rd page and blog page on the 4th page which is why you probably didn't see it.. not very high rankings I guess.

Rick's comes up #3 on the first page though when I search for rickobradford blog (notice the "o")

Anyway, we're looking into ways that we can help to increase the rankings of auctiva stores in general on Google and other search engines. Obviously we can't totally control what Google does, but we can try to give it a nudge Some tips you can do yourself as well:

1) Make use of your META Title and META Keywords (http://www.auctiva.com/stores/editmetatags.aspx). The META Title especially heavily influences what keywords your store will come up for, particularly for Yahoo and MSN searches. For the META Keywords, try to use those same words scattered through your blog. About 3-4 uses of the word on the page is good.

2) Link to your auctiva store and/or blog from your other websites and blogs, and in your signatures for community boards like this one. The more links going to it, the higher Google will rank the page. Also you'll get more traffic to your store from people just clicking on the links.

3) Use a Custom Domain (http://www.auctiva.com/stores/managedomains.aspx). Google likes to see other websites instead of everything just coming from www.auctiva.com, so you should get a higher ranking using your own domain name. Plus it will look better for your customers. For example, in URL bar of their browser instead of http://www.auctiva.com/stores/viewstore.aspx?id=6466&tab=3 they would see http://www.yourdomain.com/blog.aspx.

4) Update your blog often. Google likes a frequently updated website and will crawl your pages more often. This helps so your keywords and items are always current for people searching Google. If you already blog on other sites, it only takes a minute to copy that blog into your auctiva account right?

Donna, I noticed you have a domain name redirecting to your Auctiva store (http://www.southernjewel.com/). Why don't you add that to your Auctiva account via the manage domains page and use a CNAME for storefilter.auctiva.com instead of straight URL redirect so your buyers will get to remain on southernjewel.com instead of being redirected to auctiva.com?

-- Auctiva David

quote:

Originally posted by Auctiva David:
Hehe on a side note, searching for "rick bradford" auctiva blogalso comes up with http://suthrnjewl.spaces.live.com/ in the results

Anyway the search I ran before for SuthrnJewl blog returned your blog RSS on the 3rd page and blog page on the 4th page which is why you probably didn't see it.. not very high rankings I guess.

Rick's comes up #3 on the first page though when I search for rickobradford blog (notice the "o")

Anyway, we're looking into ways that we can help to increase the rankings of auctiva stores in general on Google and other search engines. Obviously we can't totally control what Google does, but we can try to give it a nudge Some tips you can do yourself as well:

Donna, I noticed you have a domain name redirecting to your Auctiva store (http://www.southernjewel.com/). Why don't you add that to your Auctiva account via the manage domains page and use a CNAME for storefilter.auctiva.com instead of straight URL redirect so your buyers will get to remain on southernjewel.com instead of being redirected to auctiva.com?

-- Auctiva David

Yeah..Rick and I cross promote one another as trusted sellers. <smile> Once I know someone is a trusted seller then I'll swap links.

As for your suggestions.....THANKS!

I have my meta tags researched via Google adwords for higher SEO and use pretty much the same one for all of my domains and selling sites. So I have the Meta Tag "thang" down pat.

I haven't blogged bout Auctiva in about a month..so I'll do that tomorrow.

I understand completely and agree with the domains personal note you mentioned. And some of your members would be wise to do what you're saying. Use Google Adword find out the top search terms for what they're selling and buy the domain name/names.

I own quite a few domains and have them with Namecheap so I can direct/redirect/forward URLs myself. I.E., I used to have Southernjewl.com forwarded to my ecrater store clothing outside of eBay...I just redirected it not over a month ago to the current url.

Sometimes I want to redirect my sites and/or upload files via the cpanel. Flexibility is a key factor for me. My site is being redesigned right now by KWK Designs and waiting to move forward in another direction so having access available to upload html and files is imperative. Not just redirecting or forwarding.

I have two other blogs going right now and will work on the copy and paste. Like copying and pasting is such hard work. <smile> Time has not been my friend lately though. <smile>

Thanks again David,
Donna

Since I received lots of emails asking how I cross-promote with other sellers...

I decided I'm going to put two of the several links that I use.

http://suthrnjewl.spaces.live.com/
(right hand column)

http://www.myspace.com/suthrnjewl
(bottom right)

I have more.

Remember the more you can get out and about and get your links picked up by Search Engines the better.

Good Luck,
Donna

Thanks for all the info! I'm working on cross promotions now- takes a lot of time, but I think in the long run, it will definitely be worth it!
Tracey