The Problem With WordPress SEO (and how to fix it)

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, WordPress
Problem with WordPress SEO Africa Boy

Let’s face it. In today’s world, Search Engine Optimizers are a dime a dozen. It only takes a Google search and a few clicks to find an Optimizer that will help you or, at the very least, give you tips on helping increase your website’s traffic. So why write on this at all? Word

The answer is astounding- around two out of every three new bloggers has no clue what SEO is. They start a WordPress blog, convinced the world is going to come calling at their doorstep, only to realize (after a week of writing) that they’ve only had five visitors and one comment from a dude with a weird username. They give up, convinced that blogging isn’t for them.

Your blog is a road, not an airport. You can’t expect the world to come knocking on its own volition. Sure, producing great content is vital, but what’s the point if nobody is reading that content?

“Your blog is a road, not an airport.” —Elisha McFarland

Instead of hoping for traffic, you need to go out and get it. There’s no easy route to getting blog traffic. I, personally, am not one to talk either. I’ve done some work and now receive around 2,300 views a month, but that’s not nearly as good as some other bloggers in the field. These guys have put in hundreds of hours of work into advertising, commenting, link building, and guest posting, and it has paid off. Derek Halpern, for example, built a blog from scratch to over 25,000 email subscribers in just 13 months. Now, his website Social Triggers receives hundreds of thousands of views per month.

However, the difference between Derek and I is money. I have absolutely no money, hence my usage of the WordPress free plan. Derek, on the other hand, has invested thousands into marketing and website customization. And while the SEO market is oversaturated, the amount of content on free website customization is underwhelming. Without resources, there’s only so much a guy can do.

If you’re using WordPress’ free plan, want to see your blog grow, and are dedicated to putting in work, then you’ve come to the right place. Over the next few weeks, I am going to be posting guides on how to use WordPress’ free plan. To kick it off, here are two free tips on link building with the WordPress free plan. These are both massive tips, so I’ll break them into bite sized pieces.

  1. Comment on other blogs.

While this is a time-consuming, difficult practice, it has been proven to pay off. Provided that the websites you comment on allow your blog link to be enclosed in your name (this isn’t a problem if you are using WordPress), you will see the small benefits of commenting begin to add up. Of course, you don’t want to leave stupid, spam comments like, “nice post”. These are practically invitations for the site owner to mark you as a spammer. Instead, follow these guidelines as you comment on different posts.

  • Make sure your comment is relevant to the post topic.
  • Ask a valid, relevant question about the post.
  • Compliment the author.
  • Leave a suggestion or comment on the post’s topic.

Not only will these comments create the possibility of traffic referrals from the site, they will ensure that your comment remains on the site, with your link embedded. Discovering and commenting on new websites is a great way to bring followers to your site. If you comment on a new blog and the author has never heard of you before, chances are they’ll click the link to your site.

  1. Guest post when possible

Guest posting is another difficult, time-consuming activity. I, personally, don’t guest post for the SEO benefits. I simply enjoy adding my work to other websites or, in the case of a new writer, adding some good content to a developing website. However, there’s no denying the benefits of guest posting. Not only can it raise awareness to your site or cause, but it can be a great way of bringing traffic to your site. If you want to guest post on a website, be sure that the site is similar to yours in both reader size and opinion. If the site is too large, the owner will charge you money (which, by the way, is stupid) to guest post there. If the site is too small, you won’t receive much traffic from it. You shouldn’t, however, ask to guest post on any website until you can answer “yes” to each of these questions.

  • Have you followed this website for more than a month?
  • Have you actively participated in reading the site’s posts, leaving comments where needed?
  • Is the site close to yours in size?
  • If bringing an opinion, will the owner of this site agree with you?
  • Will your post be relevant to the blog’s readers?

If your answer is yes, then contact the site owner and ask if he’d be interested in you guest posting on his site. If he is, get his personal contact information and ask for more details.

These two tips are not instant solutions to a traffic problem. To date, there is no “instant traffic” tip, aside from creating a viral post. However, these are tricks that will add up over time. Employ them, and you should see noticable changes in your website’s traffic over the next few months.

If you have any questions about WordPress’ free plan or the posts to come, be sure to ask in the comment section below. I look forward to hearing from you!

Alright,that’s all for today. Thanks so much for reading that post! I hope you learned something. If you haven’t already, be sure to click that Follow button below, so as to not miss out on any more traffic. Thanks again, and I hope you have a fantastic day.

Picture credit to Shutterstock

The series, so far:

WordPress Free Plan Tutorial 1: On-Page SEO

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45 thoughts on “The Problem With WordPress SEO (and how to fix it)”

  2. These are gold! (Although I laughed out loud at “Compliment the author” because… that is definitely something I do all the time 😂😂) Commenting around is SO important. I used to think it wasn’t, and I even asked a guy who created a blog product I sponsored about it and he was like nah, but in my own experience, commenting around has *definitely* bumped my follower count when I wasn’t doing anything else.

    Have you heard of Expanded Guest Posting? Check out Brian Harris’s article about it for more. It’s genius (if you have an email list). I haven’t had a whole lot of success with it, but it’s something you could consider as you continue guest posting.

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  4. I just started my blog, and this post was on point for where I am. In your section on guest posting, you say “Is the site close to yours in size?” How would I know if their blog is close to mine in size? And great point on having to pay for guest posts. I was so surprised to read that!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. Thanks for this. I’m definitely not confident in my writing skills, so it will probably be a while before this comes up for me. But it’s good to have an idea if and when the time comes.

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  14. Hi, That is really awesome to find your blog. I was really looking for SEO Articles. I am currently on Premium package at WordPress.com. I want to improve its SEO but I can’t install Plugins. any Good Suggestions for my blog. It is on inspiration and motivation.

    Regards
    Rising Star

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  15. I’m truly impressed with your writing and you’re not even 18! I have five sons, we homeschool, and none of them has wanted to write, which makes me sad since I love words. Any tips for getting them a little more interested? I only have a 14 and 16 yr old left to homeschool. The others are grown. Thanks and keep up the great work!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hmm, tips to get them into writing. I honestly discovered writing as both an outlet and a way of expressing myself. At the time, I was 10, and I wrote historical fiction. Quite honestly, I’m not sure how to get them interested, save for telling them that it can be a lot of fun and a good outlet. My mom has some stuff to say on this, so I’ll ask her and write you what she says 🙂

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  17. Thanks for the info on wp seo!

    It’s probably my biggest issue ~ I see that most of the sites ranking at the top of relevant searches aren’t WP and a lot of the “SEO plugins” don’t improve ranking or clicks. Are you currently paying for any SEO plugins?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
      1. Debby

        Yoast is a great plugin for SEO but in my experience it is buggy with new wordpress updates. This can cost a lot of money if you don’t know that your site is broken. Great article btw, are you open to guest posts?

        Liked by 1 person

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