Google has found MyNorth.com and by extension, Google will now find you. If you post your news, etc. in the blog section of this Community it will be part of the regular and complete spidering Google is doing of MyNorth throughout the day. And if you follow a few simple tips, you will march even further up the search ladder of Google from MyNorth.

Below I’ve included three tips for how to maximize your chance of moving way up in Google’s search results.

But first, why do this if you already have a website and do Facebook? You can never have too many links to your website and MyNorth.com’s wealth of daily information on Northern Michigan makes it a credible, relevant resource and therefore a valuable link. And, secondly, you need fresh information you control getting into Google that contains links to your site so you can drive traffic to your site. Many blogs on MyNorth.com’s Community pages show up in Google within 24 hours.

Does it work? Yep. Dean’s wonderful blog about his experience with the filming of A Year in Mooring is number 9 in Google search results for the movie title alone on the day I searched. And it was number 3 when I added, “traverse city” to the movie title in the Google search! That was number 9 on a list of more than 1.7 million results for a search for A Year in Mooring.

Karen Mulvahill’s blog about the Leelanau Conservancy preserve Kehl Lake was number 7 for Kehl Lake in Google. One random blog about Kehl Lake would have trouble breaking through in Google. But it is riding the relationship we have in Google’s spider. As such, Karen’s blog is another way to drive traffic to the Conservancy site. It appeared like an article enthusing about hiking Kehl Lake. Google finds it, the reader feels is approachable and once someone reads the blog, they can click to go to the Conservancy’s site.

Please, ride our coattails to share your news, post event stories, ideas, etc. about Northern Michigan. If you post here and if you try to do even the three tips below, your chances of being found by Google will greatly increase.

No Time To Write? No Excuse!

You don’t have to write a great blog on MyNorth.com. Start by cutting and pasting from content you already have:

• Newsletters in print or email, look at your archived newsletters for evergreen articles
• Emails to update board members or the membership
• Annual reports
• Press releases
• Letters you receive (remember to get permission to use)
• Meeting minutes
• Committee reports

Tips for Blogging & Getting Found by Google on MyNorth.com.

1. Don’t worry about catchy headlines for your blogs. The more straight forward the better. Google is a computer looking for keywords.

Let’s take Hike at Kehl Lake. Karen did a great job. The only thing that would be better is Hike at Leelanau Conservancy’s Kehl Lake in Northport. Why? You always want the name of your non-profit in the headline so that every time someone searches for your non-profit your news will pop up. You also always want geography in the headline, if possible and relevant.

Sometimes we get creative and write something like Gorgeous Day Spent at Kehl Lake. “Gorgeous,” “Day” and “Spent” are all useless words. “Hike,” “Kehl Lake,” “Leelanau Conservancy,” “Northport.” Those are words Google understands and categorizes.

2. Get all those important keywords in the first sentence of your blog. Try to do so as creatively as possible, but do try to get them in.

3. Be sure you create Tags—and use those same words and more in your tags. Google uses Tags to categorize information (in addition to other keywords and other information).

Remember, if you are entering the following words as tags:

hike northport, kehl lake, leelanau conservancy

Then you need to enter them as:

"hike northport", "kehl lake", "leelanau conservancy"

If you leave off the quote marks phrases will appear as single words and do you much less good.

One last note: There is no paragraph tab in the blog entry screen. To create a paragraph, put in an extra return. This will make your blog much easier to read on screen and therefore, more likely a reader will stick with it.

I’m always available to offer help, ideas, direction on how to make this effective for you. Just e-mail me using our contact us page.