Blog networks is a 2.0 name for something that already existed since long ago: satellite websites, or web rings if you like.
Creating a blog network to drive traffic to your ecommerce site can still be a viable strategy, even post Panda update, as long as the purpose of such a network is to genuinely provide great information to visitors. As a positive side effect, the network may also provide limited PR juice by back linking to your ecommerce site.
But let’s be clear from the beginning. If your goal is to actually increase the number of backlinks with a blog network, I don’t recommend this tactic. I call blog networks whose sole purpose is backlinking, blog farms. Just like any other types of “web farms” they are not in compliance with search engines’ guidelines.
Also, remember that the single most important SEO factor when considering a blog network (for ecommerce or other purposes) is, you guessed, quality content.
There are several things to consider even before going into technical setups.
* Your entire network should focus on your ecommerce niche solely. If you sell car accessories, do not start a blog about oil paintings
* For each blog in the network you need to write great, original content. Do not copy from other websites, PLR (private label rights) articles or automatically spin articles. Remember, compelling content is the key to avoid Panda-like penalties
* Each blog in your network should focus on a single topic, usually targeting subcategory or category keywords
* Start small, with 2-3 blogs to warm up and understand the challenges of maintaining such a network
* Choose WordPress as your CMS platform (you may even want to consider) * 20 blogs in your network will not raise any spam flags if you interlink them. More than 50 will surely do
* It is important to also have a blog on your ecommerce site too, where you write the masterpieces and link internally to home page, categories and product pages with the correct anchor texts
* Don’t stuff the blogs within your network with ads. Remember, the purpose of the network is to educate and impress with quality content
Important Note
There are lots of companies out there which created blog networks for the sole purpose of selling links to their clients and SEO agencies. We don’t use them nor for us or our clients.
The problem is that they are not able to sustain the network with quality content and most of the time their blogs will not focus on a single theme. You will find the same blog (or even worse, the same article) linking to adult or gambling sites and rogue pharmacies. This will hurt your backlinking efforts more than it will help.
And, did you know that once you stop paying them off, your links are disappearing? Considering only this, you’re better with AdWords than with paid links.
We recommend staying away from such blog farms and do your hard work (content writing) which will pay off down the bumpy SOE road.
Another piece of advice is to ask your SEO services provider if they are using blog networks to build links to your ecommerce site. If they do, RUN. That’s a time bomb which can blow you out of Google’s index for good.
Traian has almost a decade experience in SEO and he is the founder of Pitstop Media, a Vancouver SEO based company that provides Internet Marketing services to SMB clients around the world. For more information visit http://www.pitstopmedia.com
