It’s not easy to put so much work into a blog and various social media accounts, then wait patiently. But you have to. Even if you do everything right – optimize your blog for search engines, promote it via Facebook and Twitter and commenting on other blogs, even if the content you create is truly fabulous, you will still have to wait until you see results.
In terms of search engine traffic, it takes months to convince Google that your blog is legit. Google is looking for high-quality, consistently published content. Above all, it’s looking for links from reputable websites that point back at your blog. It takes a lot of time to get those links, months of work, and even when you do get them, you won’t necessarily see an immediate jump in your rankings.
I would say it can take about 2 years for a blog to truly reach the point where Google believes that it’s there to stay, that it’s reputable and deserves to be included in the search results for its keywords – and even then it will likely be for long-tail keywords, not for the major ones.
It used to be easier. But the Web is so full of content now, and many blogs were there long before you joined, and they are the ones getting the traffic for those keywords that you are after. Your blog may be just as good as theirs – but they have the huge benefit of time. They’re older blogs, and Google trusts them.
So what can you do? You must keep working, producing good content, avoiding linking to bad sites, commenting on good sites. Slowly you will build yourself an online presence. It will take months – likely years – so you must have faith, and passion, and – above all – you must be patient.
I'm Vered DeLeeuw, a blogger for hire and a social media consultant. My social media campaigns increase brand awareness and loyalty, improve search engine rankings, and drive targeted traffic to my clients' websites.
