Installed Adsense Theme? What now?
Okay, so you’ve installed HeatmapTheme and now you’re wondering what plugins you should install to power up your blog with a few extra features…
Here’s the news. On my own blogs (which all use HeatMap Ads Theme naturally of course) I use very few plugins at all.
“Why is that?” I hear you ask.
The answer is that I built HeatMap Ads Theme to contain just about all the features I needed to get up and running with a monetised blog without adding any more plugins than is absolutely necessary so I can just install the theme and be up and running with ads on my content in very short measure.
True, there are a few specialised plugins which I do use, but these are at a minimum (and I’ll explain more about those in later posts).
SEO to the max times 10!
One of the first things that some bloggers do is go straight for an SEO plugin, and then go about optimising every single heading, link, page and post up so each is SEO’d within an inch of its Google life. The good news is that if you’ve got some great content and fire it up using Heatmap Theme that you’ve got much of the SEO covered already, and yes, there are extra tweaks you can do for even better SEO performance right within HeatMap Theme.
Of course much what is considered “good SEO jiggery pokery” is just a matter of opinion and observation, and that’s why in the user guide for HeatMap Theme I tell you straight up how I’ve implement its SEO strategy. It works for my blogs, maybe it will work for yours, and of course you are free to change it or add one of those Ultimate-SEO-to-the-Max plugins if you think there is a better way to skin the proverbial Google search cat (I have better things to do with my time though).
Meta Keywords are Dead. Long Live Meta Description!
Apart from creating top rate content, one of the most important things I have found is to make sure that I always fill out the Meta-Description tag, both through the HeatMap Options Page (which sets the meta description for the home page) or through the custom field ‘meta-description’ which defines the description for each individual page or post. Google often picks up on the meta description and returns it directly in results pages.
When it comes to meta keywords though, Matt Cutts from Google reports that these are ignored, but just in case you are ever so slightly over extra (like me) then you won’t be able to let this old habit die, so HeatMap Theme lets you specify those too.
Google Services to the Max too!
When I made this theme I was also wanted to make it super-easy to take advantage of free Google Services such as Feedburner, Analytics and of course Adsense, so I built in all the features required to get hooked up with these too. No plugin-installing and no WordPress theme hacking required. Its almost a one stop shop for all services Google. I built it as a time saver for me. Maybe it will be a time save for you too.
End of Ranting Time…
Okay I’ve run out of ranting time for extolling the virtues of HeatMap Theme. There is much more under the hood but I will have to publish another stream-of-conciousness about all that later.
See you on the HeatMap Insider Forum!
Really what i discover after few months of use is that i need very few plugin to add for SEO strategy, the theme is enough complete at all…I use only an Internal Link Building which i found useful to link a lot of keyword internally or externally too, it will be a nice addiction to future Heatmap releases. Long Live Work!
Thanks Italian Guy. I love your italian ‘turn of phrase’. I think I understand what you mean Your English is much better than my Italian If I ever tried to comment on an actual italian blog in italian I’m sure I would just create da-da-ist poetry, much to the amusement of the natives
Trans-Google and try…! I’ve found also your blog ads positions very smooth and not invasive so i’ve copied that scheme in my own blog to start…another beer to you!
I have never used meta description thanks for the tip