Google PageRank is an ever-changing beast. This year alone there have been several updates, including an update on August 8th, 2011, and then another on November 8th, 2011. But there are many things you can do to maintain your PageRank, and if you’re lucky, even improve it.

Here are the DOs of search engine optimization / Google PageRank support:
1. Blog frequently
2. Get comments on your blog
3. Leave comments on other blogs
4. Submit your blog to directories
5. Get back links via internal links and external links

Things not to do:
1. Paid links
2. Poor content
3. Duplicate content
4. Neglecting your blog

Good luck! If you’re lucky, the Google gods will smile upon you.

Twitter is nothing new (it’s been around since early 2006, and has been quite mainstream since 2009), but the benefits it can bring to blogs have only truly begun to be appreciated and implemented. These days, many bloggers use Twitter not only to share micro-updates (140 characters, to be exact) of what they’re doing with the internet at large (or with friends and family only, if they choose to have their account protected and subsequently viewable to approved Twitter users only), but also to promote their blog and special events that are taking place on it.

If you want to broaden your blog’s reach, you’ll definitely want to hook up your blog with Twitter. If you use WordPress, you’ll find that there are plenty of plugins that can be used to make it easy — and even automated — for you to send notifications of new blog entries to Twitter. And the reverse is true: there are also plugins that’ll allow you to share updates that you make on Twitter, right on your blog — usually within your blog’s sidebar.

Can you tell I’m all about search engine optimization? Well, if not, then you should know that I LOVE SEO. What can I say? It’s my job, but it’s also my passion. Anyway, here are five random SEO tips that you can take away with you when you read this blog (but feel free to stick around for a while!):

1. Optimize your META tags. Your META tags determine your blog’s title, its description, and its keywords. Use primary keywords in all of these, and sprinkle some supportive keywords in both your description and keywords list.
2. Make use of heading tags. Heading tags are H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and sometimes, H6 and H7. Heading tags distinguish different sections of content from one another. Search engines will give more “weight” to keywords in heading tags than keywords that are in bolded or regular text.
3. Use keywords in ALT and TITLE elements. Add the ALT and TITLE attributes to all of your images and links, and make sure to place keywords in them.
4. Update your content frequently. Do your best to blog several times a week. Schedule posts if you know you’re going to be away, or consider accepting guest posts from interested contributors.
5. Keep up to date with what Google is up to. Subscribe to a blog like Search Engine Watch so you’ll know exactly what’s happening and when!

I’m so jealous of people who live in Philadelphia, PA (my hometown); Pittsburgh, PA (where my husband and I lived for two years); and the west coast. Why?! Simple: there are lots of awesome places to shop at! There’s the Lovesac store, which sells what I dub “lego couches”, because you can take them apart and rebuild them in a variety of ways, as well as giant beanbags (and by “giant” I mean that there are ones that weigh upwards of two hundred pounds and could fill a small bedroom!). There’s the MAC store, which sells — you guessed it — awesome MAC cosmetics. There’s the Ultra store, another cosmetics store that I’ve always wanted to check out. Then there’s the Hello Kitty store, which the lovely Catherine Seven has taunted me about. And then there’s the Orange County jewelry store, which I’ve seen pictures of and would love to go to — but only with one of those limitless credit cards.

What stores would you love to shop at, if given the opportunity?

Facebook is great not only as a social network, but also as a quick booster for your blog. Did you know that Google will take into account any links leading from your Facebook page to your blog for potential SEO “juice”? No? Honestly, until recently I didn’t know that either. And just as importantly, you can drive additional traffic to your blog via Facebook — and vice versa! Here are a few tips:

• Create a Facebook page for your blog. Make sure you not only set up the initial details, but fill in the About box and Info tab, and add additional info and perhaps photos or videos.
• Link your blog to your Facebook page.
• Send notifications of new blog entries to your Facebook page via the Networked Blogs application.
• Add the Facebook page widget to your blog and encourage your readers to become a fan.

Linking your Facebook page and your blog together won’t take much of your time, and the benefits are quite numerous!