Before I shut down for the weekend I have to share this. I’m sitting here going through some of my older posts (the ones with 0-5 likes) and my tagging is just sad. Like, it doesn’t even make any sense. I love looking back on my work and seeing where I can improve. So, here’s 7 tips on tagging I acquired from some friends in the blogging world as well as somewhere in this brain of mine. I caution I am not an expert and these tips are just based on my prior knowledge and experience (so far) with blogging:
1. Try to mix your original tags with some general tags. General tags are tags that are often used such as: Blog, Blogger, Blogging, WordPress, Google, General, Poetry, and Writing (for book promo also use Amazon, eBook, and Self-Publishing). Original Tags are any tags you want to use or tags that are unique to your blog such as your blog name (I often use pbs for Pearls Before Swine).
2. Don’t be afraid to step outside the box. Make sure your tags have something to do with the post BUT this doesn’t mean you can’t get creative and add tags you think may drive more traffic since its mentioned in your post. For instance, one of the tags I chose for this post is: “Spelling”. This post is not going to teach you how to spell, but it does say something about spelling. I could have also used “Grammar” or “Grammatically Correct”, or “Punctuation”. I also tagged this post “Follows” and “Support” because they are similar in theme to “Likes”
3. Make sure your spelling is correct in the tags! LOL
4. If you’re going to use less than 15 tags, make them count. It will be best to use commonly used tags, such as Blog, General, and WordPress. Otherwise, it’s best to stick to at least 15 -17 tags. I think any more than that is overkill because…well, just because.
5. Remember that categories count as tags.
6. Keep your tags short and simple! Remember that old saying that if you sell books the way you buy them you’re more likely to increase profit? If you go to Amazon to buy a book, then your book should probably be on Amazon as well. Or, if you are more than likely to purchase an ebook, your book should probably have an ebook version as well. The logic is that you’re a reader first and if you have certain buying habits as a reader then chances are other readers have the same habits and so you use your reader habits in your marketing strategies. Well, if you tag the way you browse the net it may help in the same way. People google the way that they think and have a tendency to use the same keywords over and over again. This means some tags are just taking up space because no one is going to use them. What’s the chances of someone finding “Ilovemymothersomuch”? That’s a tag that doesn’t make any sense. I would tag it “Mothers” instead because if I needed to google articles about a mother’s love that is what I would type in.
7. As a bonus, here’s a Tag Support Chart I acquired some time ago from a fellow blogger. It displays some commonly used tags separated by days. I don’t always follow the suggested actions that go along with the tags but I do use them. I’m still learning how to tag properly but this chart has been VERY helpful in that process (Tags I often use are: Blog, Blogging, Blogger, General, Writing, Google, WordPress, and I add one of the tags in the chart along with some that have to do with the post itself):
The Bloggers Bash Committee said this year would be bigger and better – and trust me, it will be. We, the committee, have plans afoot to make it a cracking day.
The PBS Blog 