A Blog By Any Other Name Wouldn’t Smell As Sweet

Shakespeare’s question "What’s in a name?” has a well-known answer: “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
Despite that famous sentiment, what we name things and people has mattered throughout history, and, as we’ll see, modern-day business blogs are no exception.

I found out that “name days” are still celebrated in place of, or in addition to, birthdays, across most of Europe, and that the name day for me, Rhoda, is August 30.

The Social Security Administration publishes a list of the most popular baby names for each year and then for each decade.  Top male name for 2007: Jacob. Top female name: Emily. For both the 1980’s and 1990’s, “Michael” and “Jessica” were tops, while back in the 50’s, the names James and Mary enjoyed top billing. 

Would Oprah have become a famous talk show host if her name had been Mable? Would Elvis be the King of Rock and Roll if his name had been Bob? asks SearchYourLove.com, adding that “their name is the first inkling most people have of their personality”. One thing I know for sure (as Oprah herself is fond of saying) – names matter in business and in blogging.

One objective in business blogging is “winning search”, so following some simple rules for search engine optimization can make a big difference in your blog’s rankings. Blog-Maniac advises using your primary key phrase in the title of your blog posts. For example, if your primary key phrase is “house painting”, make sure one or both of those words appear in each blog title. You can use key words in the body of your blog, too, of course, but don’t overdo, or you’ll end up sounding unnatural and “spammy”, says Blog-Maniac.  When you use links in your blog, (see Ties That Tell The Truth In Blogging), create the link by using those key words in your own blog to link to other websites (just as I did in the first part of this paragraph!).

What’s in a name?  A blog by any other name (other than one using your key search terms) would not smell as sweet to the search engines.  Remember, though, sweetest of all to web spiders is fresh food, meaning recently posted content!