#2. Blog Post First Sentence - Try to keep the blog title “matchy matchy” with the first sentence of the blog post.

#3. Anchor Link Text – When including hyperlinks try to keep the anchor link text to 3 or less key phrases.

#4. Hyperlink to Internal Pages –  I encourage you to link to perviously written blog posts that relate to your topic. Also link to other insightful sites to provide value to the your reader.

#5. Link to External Sites – When linking to external sites, I prefer to make the links “blank links” and have them open into a new window.

#6. Images and Videos – Try to include images and videos in your blog posts because not everyone learns the same way, some prefer audio or visuals to learn.  (Also include titles and alt-text for your images and videos.)

#7. Blog Categories and Tags – Always categorize and tag your blog posts.

#8. Blog Closer - And finally, include a blog closer or teaser to remind your blog reader to come back for more blog goodness.

Other benefits:

* Preview metrics and page titles for bitly and bitly Pro links before you click them.
* Receive instant notifications about your trending bitly links.
* Shorten links on Twitter.com with a single click.

In this increasingly online world, your website is often your first interaction with a potential client. And, yours is probably not the only site that this potential client is going to check out. If your website looks neglected, is confusing, hurts the eyes, or just doesn’t exist, it’s very, VERY likely that you just lost a new client to one of your competitors.

Remember: We let our fingers do the shopping online, and it’s incredibly easy to click a back button and move on down the list without ever even calling or stepping foot in your store/office/restaurant. So even if you’re just a small, local company, or have been in business for thirty years, a strong website is always a valuable thing!

On our other blog (appropriately titled Wild Web Women), we recently talked about some basic Do’s and Don’ts for your website. These basics are great for a brand spanking new website and a website that’s already been created. Some of the basic Do’s include having a great “About Us” page that focuses on who you are and keeping your site simple and easy to navigate. Some of the Don’ts include abandoning your site once it’s created and annoying your website viewers with something like an auto-play movie or music.

Enjoy a spoonful of web marketing therapy and check out the Do’s and Don’ts of Websites and get your site on the right track!