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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Blog Marketing and Traffic Generation


No matter how attractive and interesting your blog is, if you don't market it and attract readers to it, you won't make any money. Basically, blog marketing is any activity that publicizes or advertises products, services, a website or business through the use of blogs. However, before you can market on a blog, you have to successfully market the blog itself. If you can't generate a healthy amount of traffic to your blog, you won't be able to directly or indirectly market to them.
The key to marketing your blog successfully is consistency and effectiveness. This means that you have to consistently post new, interesting articles to your blog that are relevant to your targeted audience as well as consistently engaging in activities designed to drive traffic to your blog. However, there is a caveat on this last suggestion. Your traffic generation activities have to be effective. To ensure the effectiveness of your blog marketing strategies you need to become well informed about the types of strategies that typically get the best results, consistently apply them and consistently monitor them. You must be willing to drop strategies that do not work and replace them with hopefully more effective ones. It is important that you are not attached to your strategies but to your outcomes. If it doesn't work, change it. Flexibility is an essential element to blogging success.
Once you have created your blog and have submitted some interesting and unique posts that are designed to pique interest and engage your reader in conversation through the comments facility, you need to get your blog pages indexed in the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. This process is not automatic and if you don't take the necessary steps you will have little chance of benefiting from search engine traffic. Generally speaking search engines require you to submit a sitemap, however if your blog is hosted by a service like Blogger you won't be able to access the root directory to obtain the information. Instead you will need to submit code in a meta-tag. Your blog provider will direct you on how to do this.
Once you have submitted your blog for indexing with the search engines, the next most important step you can take to generate traffic to your blog is to submit it to as many relevant blog directories as possible. This can be a time consuming process so if you can afford it you may find it beneficial to pay a service to manually submit the blog for you. Automatic submission services should be avoided as they do not make allowances for the visual confirmation that is usually needed when submitting a blog to a directory. Blog directories can really pay of in terms of attracting visitors to your blog as long as you list your blog in the correct category and you take care to write a description that accurately describes your blog and appeals to your targeted niche.
These steps may generate one time visitors but it is up to you to keep them. If your blog is not updated regularly with new material it will stagnate. Regular posting is not only important in terms of attracting a loyal readership, it is essential if you want to improve your search engine page rank. The best search engine results tend to go to blogs that are tightly focused on a single niche and give their readers unique information and excellent value.
Once you have followed these basic steps to getting your blog up and running successfully, you can encourage readers and promote loyalty by subscribing to a feed service such as Feedburner. Submitting individual posts to social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Del.icio.us can also bring your blog a decent amount of additional traffic.
Article marketing is another very effective way to drive traffic to your blog. It is a free strategy and produces naturally increasing traffic to your blog over time. However, it is a time consuming strategy which requires regular submission to article directories of articles closely related to the theme of your site and designed to encourage readers to click on your link beneath the article. It is also important that you do not put the same articles on your blog as you do not want your blog to be penalized under Google's duplicate content rules.
Finally, take a bit of time and post comments on other related blogs that already have solid monthly traffic figures. Make your comments relevant and interesting and include a link to one of your own posts. You can also interact with others on high traffic forums and use your blog address as your signature link. Over time, these links can generate a decent amount of traffic.
Pay per click programs can also be very effective ways to drive traffic to your blog. However, these programs can be costly so you will need to conduct a cost benefit analysis to determine whether the potential profits to be made from the goods or services you are marketing are worth this expense.
If you follow these steps you will be best placed to generate traffic to your blog from which you will gain a growing base of loyal readers. Effective blog marketing will result in visitors to your blog who are interested in what you have to say and therefore who will be more open to the related products and services you are offering. A loyal readership provides you with a source of potential customers for your products, services and affiliate offers. When it comes right down to it, if you have monetized your blog well and you market it effectively, it can make you a lot of money.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Backlinks Are an Important Factor



Backlinks and SEO are joined at the hip. Without superior inbound hyperlinks pointing to your website, your pages can't grab and keep high rankings in the search engines' listing.

For the marketing of products or product sites, they need quality inbound links which is a most irritating and time consuming components. Not only must they attract backlinks on the commence of their battle, but they must continue to keep up a rising link profile. That is the only way to secure ready for action positions and maintain competitors at bark.

The importance of link-building has grown stronger as today most of the consumers rely on online shopping. The difference is the manner in which current search engine algorithms sense about back links. SEO should be under attack on developing a link profile that is both outgoing and trustworthy.

When link identification was the one factor thought of by search engines. By purchasing a site-wide advertising spot on large online properties, they may build tons of thousands of backlinks. Sites with hyperlink profiles that symbolize backlinks from reliable properties enjoy an extra ranking advantage.

Building high-quality backlinks is not easy. This is one of the core reasons businesses partner with skilled and professional SEO consultants. There are several methods in which you can slowly develop your site's link profile. The key's to uphold, or steadily pick up the pace, the tempo with which you request to links.

Article syndication to a variety of thematically related websites is the good at your job SEO approach. explore the places from which they have concerned links and attempt to charm inbound hyperlinks from the identical sites.

Don't take too lightly the density of constructing high-quality backlinks for SEO purposes.
This area continues to represent one of the vital important parameters utilized by today's search engine algorithms. If you lack the time to start on and keep an ongoing link-building crusade, consider partnering with a top SEO consultant who can do it for you.

Link Popularity - How Important Is This?


Link popularity is one of the most important ways to increase your website's ranking with search engines. This is very important for your website because you're more likely to appear on the front page of the search results if your website has strong link presence.
Why is link popularity so important?
Most webmasters and SEO professionals will tell you that the more popular the site your website is linked to, the more important search engines will think your website information is. This is a particular assumption because websites with high page ranking are already important because they display important information in its pages. So, if one of those high page ranking sites displays a link going to your website, search engines will believe that your site is also displaying important information.
Does link popularity affect your website's traffic?
It helps your website to receive more traffic, sometimes gradually and sometimes really fast. If your website is linked to several high page ranking websites, you're probably going to receive a lot of traffic. However, if you are linked to websites with low page ranking, your links to high page ranking sites are going to quickly lose their importance leaving your website in a poor condition when it comes to page rank.
How is link popularity measured by search engines?
This is a very complex process. Search engine weight the importance of incoming links, but they're often checking that webmasters are not trying to link their sites to important sites only. They constantly check for the relevance of the link. Let's say that you have a link on YouTube, and this link sends traffic to your website, but your link was built on a prank video, and your site is about furniture sale. Search engines will understand that you have a link on an important site, but they will also know the link to your furniture website has nothing in common with the video of a prank; then, your link will be useless, and will add no rank to your site.

Search Engine Marketing Solutions - Keyword Research


An important factor for Search Engine Marketing Solutions is Keyword Research. In fact keyword research is sometimes overlooked and often thought to be one of the most important factors. If you do not gain skills in keyword researching effectively then all of your efforts online may be for nothing.
There is no point spending weeks or months building a fantastic website all about a topic no-one wants to know about and no-one ever looks for online. Your precious time is wasted and these types of failures can cause you to become disheartened.
Effective keyword research tools can tell you what niches and keywords are making tons of money online, what the competition level is for those niches and keywords and gives you all the information and data you need to make good and profitable decisions.
There are a number of keyword research tools available online, some are free to use and others are paid.
Free Keyword Research Tools.
Of the free resources available I would recommend using the Google Keyword Tool. To find and access this tool just type in Google Keyword Tool External into your search engine and the first result should be the Google Keyword Tool External. From there you just enter the capcha text and then type in your keyword into the box as directed.
This will give the similar results for your keyword and give you information relating to the competition, amount of global and local monthly searches and trends. You can also add additional columns to give further information like the estimated average cost per click, the current ad share and the current search share.
If you don't understand any of these terms that's easy to fix. Google is renowned for their easy to learn informational pages and Google also have great support for their customers.
Paid Keyword Research Tools.
There are many options for paid keyword research also. There are some sites that allow access by a monthly fee and some are a once of fee. That is that you pay a one time fee that allows you access indefinitely and you will also get free lifetime updates. The best of these is Market Samurai. They do have a one of fee, which is very competitive and also offers free lifetime update and upgrades.
There are many options for research with Market Samurai and when you first download the software it can be a little confusing. Thank goodness for the Market Samurai support, help desk and videos that walk you through step by step so that you can not only see what you competition is doing but you can also take effective measures to be better placed in your Search Engine Marketing Solutions.
Market Samurai offers daily search information data on generic or organic traffic in the following ways:
  • Local Total Searches.
  • Local SEO Traffic.
  • Phrase to Broad Match.
  • Trends.
They then give you options for AdWords traffic and information.
  • AdWords Traffic.
  • AdWords Click Through Rate.
  • AdWords Average Cost Per Click
Yes it gets better, Market Samurai also give you detailed data on your competition.
  • SEO Competition.
  • Local SEO Competition.
  • SEO Title Competition.
  • Local SEO Title Competition.
  • Title Vs Competition % (low score indicates weak competition)
  • AdWords Competition (for a particular keyword or phrase)
There is still one more factor that you need to know if you are thinking of developing a website for profit, you need to know if your keyword is commercial? Is the keyword you are focusing on commercially viable, does it make money? Market Samurai have you covered here too with data provided in the following categories.
  • OCI % (percentage of people who are looking to buy on this keyword).
  • AdWords Value (the amount spend daily on this keyword in AdWords advertising - High AdWords spend indicates a highly commercial keyword).
  • SEO Value (what is the average spent on this keyword every day)
The example offered above is just the keyword research module of Market Samurai. They also have many other highly useful and effective modules included in the software such as:-
  • Rank Tracker - you can track your keyword with in your site to see it as it climbs the Google Rankings. This allows you to also make necessary changes if your keyword is not ranking optimally.
  • SEO Competition - Analytical page that allows you to see the top 10 websites ranking on page 1 of Google so you can see what you need to do to compete with the top 10 sites.
  • Domains Section - check the viability and availability of domain names using your specific keywords.
  • Monetization - Thousands of products related specifically to your keyword that you can sell on your website as an affiliate.
  • Two Content sections - Actually see what your competitors are doing and how their content is ranking.
  • Promotion - All about Backlinking. How to promote your website by adding relevant and useful comments to other peoples websites, blogs and 2.0 webpages to ensure relevant and high quality backlinks to your site.
There is still another module that is due to be added soon to Market Samurai which is going to focus more closely on AdWords.
In summary we have looked at keyword research and the research tools you can use to help you get great results. You do not need to rush out and buy a paid keyword tool when you are first starting out. However, there is benefit to investing in a good quality keyword research tool when you are stepping it up an notch and want to make internet marketing your full time income.
A good keyword research tool, such as Market Samurai, will help give the data that you need to successfully compete with the top 10 sites and give you all the information you need to be competitive online. So above is some helpful information about Search Engine Marketing Solutions - Keyword Research.

Article Marketing SEO - 5 Simple Strategies


I've heard it said that article marketing SEO is effectively dead and that it has outlived its useful life! Well, think again, because even in this age of video marketing, article marketing can be extremely powerful and bring high quality leads to your site. Article Marketing SEO can seem overwhelming at first, so in this article I am going to share a basic blueprint that will allow you to systemise and automate the process.
Benefits of Article Marketing
  1. You create an article once, and it will work for you for the rest of time
  2. The power of articles compounds over time
  3. Articles create highly targeted traffic
  4. Your leads are trained to read your messages and will consequently take action at the next level
  5. Articles act as a filter - they pre-qualify and pre-sell people on you, your product or your service. The result is often highly qualified leads for your business
Write Your Article Start by writing your keyword optimised article. 400-500 words should allow you to give solid content without making the article so long no one will read it. Remember Ezines allows a maximum keyword density of 2%. Select 4 -6 keywords and include some long tail keywords.
Here is a little tip: Google your keyword and select a top ranking website. Go to "view", "page source". Scroll through the text until you find the keywords used for that site and use the same ones for your article.
You are now ready to start promoting your article.
Strategy #1
1. Directory Submission: Submit your article to as many relevant sites as possible to increase page views and search engine rankings. It is also a great way to get high quality incoming links to your site. There are over 450 sites to choose from. Try and submit your articles to directories that have a page rank (prchecker.info) of at least 4 and are relevant to your niche. Article Submit Auto can automate the process for you. This site comes highly recommended and will submit your articles to the top 30 directories, including Ezines for a fee of $27 per month. If you prefer a manual approach, start with the top sites such as Ezines, HubPages, Squidoo, Blogger.com and ArticlesBase.
2. Search Engine Submission: To submit your articles to various search engines automatically, you can try Submit Express. This free tool will submit articles to 70+ Search Engines, including Google.
Strategy #2
Social Bookmarking: With the rise in use of Social Media sites, these sites have become authority sites, often with page rankings of 4 and above. Submitting articles to sites, such as Stumbleupon, Digg, Twitter, Facebook and so on, will again increase page views and engine visibility and create valuable one-way back-links to high ranking sites. Use Onlywire to submit articles to 43 of the top social bookmarking sites with just one click.
Strategy #3
Create Authority Backlinks: Backlinks are incoming links that point back to your website. The more authority backlinks your site has, the more importance the search engines will attach to your site. Google loves backlinks. Getting authority backlinks can be hard work though and there are programs that will help with automation. I have not personally used these sites, but one that comes highly recommended is BackLinksAutomation.com. If you prefer to work on the backlinks yourself, go to Backlink Watch. Enter the URL of a high ranking site and you will receive a list of that site's backlinks and you can get to work.
Strategy #4
Free Press Releases: For a list of the 20 best press release sites, go to MasterGoogle. Some of these are paid options, but there are plenty of free sites to submit press releases to. Just make sure you include a link back to your website, otherwise it renders the whole exercise worthless. Again, this will create quality backlinks to your site.
Strategy #5
Video: Take advantage of the power of video marketing and take your Article Marketing SEO to the next level. Make a short video about your article and use a video distribution site such as TubeMogul to distribute it to multiple sites. TubeMogul distributes your videos to 30 sites including YouTube and Viddler. Make sure you point to your Ezine article or blog post in the description box and mention the link in the video itself.
In Summary
  1. Write your Article
  2. Post it to your blog
  3. Send the link to your blog post via Onlywire
  4. Submit your article to top Directories. Automate using Article Submit Auto if you wish
  5. Submit your article to the Search Engines via Submit Express
  6. Submit your article to press release sites
  7. Make a short video about your article and submit via TubeMogul
  8. Repeat the process at least once per day
Step eight above says repeat the process at least once per day. But clearly writing more than one, say three to five articles per day will have a far more significant impact and would lead to a marked increase in traffic to your website.

Creating Backlinks - 3 Steps to High Google Ranking Through Off Page Optimization


So, you've got your bolded keywords in the actual name of the website. Then you've written some good content containing your keywords - the problem you're trying to solve and its cure. Is this the end of optimization, or is there more?
Of course, there's more. The next step is off page optimization -- getting backlinks back to your website which is just as effective your actual on-page optimization.
First a warning: There are services out there that will create thousands of links back to your website from various other sites. But stay away from them. Google, and probably other search engines as well, has started penalizing people for buying links in bulk.
As with search engine optimization, the key to off page optimization is content. Let's use curing hiccups as an example. If you've written an ebook on the subject, take the content from it and break it into 600-800 word articles, include a backlink to your website, and post the article to the top 10 article directories. (Search Google to find these.) More than ten is probably overkill. If you do a Google search, you can also find article directories that specialize in issues within your niche. That's a fantastic way to get backlinks.
Make sure your keyword is the first word or words your article title. So if you have three easy steps to cure your hiccups, create a title something like "Cure My Hiccups - Three Easy Steps." It's human friendly. And it's also very Google friendly.
Many of the articles featured by article directories end up in the top results of search engines. So if you can create an article that uses primary, highly searched for keywords, you may very well rank high in those same search engines for some of the most competitive keywords in your niche.
And there's an added benefit: Most if not all article directories allow other internet marketers and webmasters to reprint your articles, together with your resource box and the links it contains, so you can generate additional backlinks from every website that reprints your content.
Next, post the article on your blog. You might even choose to post a teaser on your blog with a link to the rest of your article or articles you've posted on the directories mentioned above.
Here's an idea to get your website ranked quickly - go to a website called http://www.digg.com and sign up for free. Note: You can even put an icon on your website or blog so the reader only has to click on that icon to "digg" your article.
The idea here is that if readers like your article or blog post, they "digg" it. So if one person sees your article they "digg" it. Then if another person likes your article, they click the "digg" icon again; the more diggs you have, the higher your ranking. If you get lucky and your article is really popular, you can actually end up on the front page of digg. And then you can get a crazy amount of traffic, because thousands of people visit digg's front page everyday.
Follow up by pinging your article or your blog using something like Pingoat.com or Pingomatic.com so the search engines know your article is out there -- you could be listed in Google within 24 hours or less.
Finally, here's another way to use blogging to get backlinks to your site. Search Google for blogs in your niche that provide a "do follow" - these are the only kind of blogs where a link back to your site will do you any good. Read the blog and make a relevant, useful comment on the post together with a backlink to your website. Presto! Another way to get noticed and ranked with the search engines.

Using Social Media to Promote Your Blog


So, you want to get more noticed to be seen as a thought leader in your niche or perhaps you are just new to blogging and need more traffic to your site? Either way, social networking is an excellent, cost effective tool to accomplish this by.
Here are just a few examples of things if done regularly will make a difference in not only how many people read your posts, but also how you are perceived.
1. Tweet it out!You are going to post your new blog or article on Monday at 8:30 AM? Tweet it out at 8:45! And then retweet it as well later in the day. Statistics have shown that your best chance of getting read is 8-10 Eastern. So, you left coasters, keep that in mind J Never hurts to ask others to retweet it out for you as well!
2. Attend a tweetup!Tweetup's are not just for Twitter Heads. Think of it as the new age networking. A great opportunity to meet others who you have only known online, make new alliances and oh yeah...let them know about what you are doing J
3. Submit your post to an article directory! Part of getting your site known in social media circles is being seen. Show people you are an authority in your niche or industry, submit that article to an article directory (like ezine articles) and you will benefit traffic wise. Don't think you can put out a sales piece. But you can demonstrate you are a subject matter expert!
4. Auto-feed your new posts using social media tools like FeedBurner. You will have competition, so make your headlines stand out enough to want to get read because many of these feeds only show the article / post titles.
5. Make comments on other blogs/forums within your niche! Don't limit yourself to your tiny world. Get out there and get in the mix! Leave not just good or average comments. Leave great comments! What is an average comment? "Hey, nice article!" Don't be that guy (or girl). Don't be afraid to disagree or for that matter to agree. Just back it up and tell why. People will see them and come visit your site as a result!
6. Have your blog posts connect to Facebook using the Networked Blogs application.This does 2 things in my mind. Gets you a few more visitors to your site and it also automates your blog post onto your Fan Page. Anything you can do to automate makes your life easier!
7. Social bookmarking.Sites such as Digg, Delicious, Stumble Upon, Reddit can all provide additional exposure and thus more traffic.
8. Do guest posts! Find someone that is in your niche (but probably not a competitor) and ask them if they want to trade out guest posts. Let's say you are a Pet Sitter. You might go to a vet and ask them if you can write a blog post on the 10 Things You Should Ask A Potential Pet Sitter! The Vet could do something similar. You will get traffic from them and you will be perceived differently when you are "published" other than your blog!
9. BlogTalkRadio /LiveStream - One of the things that I tell clients all the time is that if they want to be seen as an authority, they need to be seen "with an authority". You will be surprised how many big name folks that I have been able to interview just by asking them.
10. Share buttons - One of the easiest and simplest ways to get visitors to your site is to let others promote it through the social networking site of their choosing.Do this by using a "Share" button that goes just below your post. Users can then spread your content and word about you to whomever and wherever they want. I strongly encourage you to use a plug in that accommodates more than the "Big Three" of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. You would be surprised by the number of sites out there and who uses them, so don't limit yourself.

Blogging Tips - 7 Things a Successful Blog Needs


Becoming a blogger is a great undertaking, and it can be worthwhile. These 7 blogging tips will help you make your blog stand out from the others. Your Interest Bloggers who choose a blog topic they aren't interested in often end up abandoning their blog, dooming it to spend a life of boredom gathering dust in the blogosphere, waiting for "someday." If you aren't passionate about your blog's topic, it will show in your writing, and your readers will quickly become disinterested, too. Blogging with your interest in mind makes the time spent stringing words together much more enjoyable. Your Expertise The old "write what you know" adage applies to bloggers as well as other writers. The more knowledgeable you are about your blog's topic, the easier it will be to write. When you're familiar with a topic, you'll know which experts to interview, what resources are available, and what questions newcomers to your niche frequently ask. Your Audience A third thing your blog will need to be successful is not only your personal interest, but the interest of others -- your audience. Pick a topic broad enough to interest an audience that is identifiable, accessible, and large. This will help generate more activity than a topic that that relates to just a handful of readers. Conducting thorough market research will help you find who your readers are, what they want, and how to let them know you've got it. Your Topic A well-focused topic presented from a unique slant is another essential of successful blogs. Most bloggers take a common subject and write about it from an uncommon approach. To catch and retain a reader's attention, you must take a seemingly worn-out topic and give it some pizzazz by presenting it in a way the world hasn't yet seen. The Julie/Julia Project is a good example of a unique blogging approach. The blog was about cooking -- a fairly common topic. But Julie developed a unique angle, or "slant," for her cooking blog. She blogged her way through an entire recipe book written by the popular late chef, Julia Child. And that unique blog became a major movie. Your Marketing Developing an effective marketing and promotion plan is another key to the success of your blog. Once you've chosen a topic you're passionate about, given it a unique slant, and have identified and located your target audience, it's time to let that audience know about your blog. Successful bloggers use both online and offline promotion strategies. In addition to developing a specific marketing plan, watch for impromptu opportunities to share with others about your blog. Your Time Blogging can be one of the most gratifying activities you can engage in, yet it is time-consuming and can be a lonely endeavor. There are ways to involve your family and friends, but when it comes down to it, you'll need to spend a lot of hours sitting in front of your computer monitor. Alone. Developing a system for your blog will help streamline time spent blogging. Also, staying focused on your initial purpose for blogging will keep you motivated to stick with it. Make a list of "whys" you've chosen to blog. Write those reasons on a note card and post it in a prominent place on your desk. When life gets in the way and you're struggling to squeeze in time to blog, think of the audience you hope to help, the extra income streams you plan to develop, and the potential business growth a blog can produce. Your Control Finally, for your blog to become a success, it will need your control. If you're using your blog for any type of professional or business purpose, make sure you are the one who maintains control of it. This includes ensuring your name and email address are listed as your domain name's administrative contact. If you have another person or company register your domain for you, request that you be named the administrative contact. Control is one of the top reasons most professional bloggers recommend choosing a self-hosted blog over a free blogging platform. Most free blogging platforms don't have the flexibility that content management platforms, such as WordPress, offer. And if you closely examine the terms of service for free blogging platforms, you'll note that in most cases, the company providing the service retains the right to stop the service or suspend accounts without notice.

How To Make Money Off Blogging


You certainly must have heard that you can generate sustainable income or extra cash from writing blogs. So you decide to have a blog. Now what next?Well it can be more than just putting up a blog and sit waiting for cash to roll in like manna from heaven. I am sorry to break you heart but that just how it is. As you read this, there are bloggers out there who have quit their jobs because of a simple blog that cracked them codes of wealth. Well there absolutely no reason or doubt you shouldn't be able to do that with your own blog. But before this starts to happen, there will be a little work needed from your part. So how do you make money off blogging?
1. Join an affiliate program.
Almost every experienced blogger who has had results will tell you about affiliate programs. This is just promoting other people products and you get paid a certain commission when someone else buys the product. There are different kinds of affiliate programs, some are free and some require a minimum fee to join. After joining the program you pick some products and then place them on your blog. Based on the fact that depending on online traffic can be crucial, You should be ready to learn and never give up. Online marketing can take a couple of weeks to learn but once you establish a routine that you can reap a little from, consider that a life changer as you are in for big things in the near future.
2. Capture customer's contacts e. g email(build an email list)
Having a subscribers' list can be a major impact on your blog earning, therefore you should start thinking of a way to capture your customer email addresses. Getting more readers means making more sales hence more profit to you, So having a subscriber's listing is the best way to keep in touch with frequent followers of your blog. So to get this list up and working you need to set up a catchy package that your readers wont resist to put their name and email address to receive the free stuff.
3. Put AdSense content into your blog
To make money from blogs, you should also consider Google AdSense. Just sign up for an AdSense account from Google and you will get some ads to place on your site, then get visitor to your site and when they click on any of the ads, you get paid a certain amount. its simple as that. Though some people don't really declare AdSense as being a great source of income, there are some who are making up to $15000 a month.
Also take advantage of time, be the first if not the fifth to learn about the latest marketing methods and latest product, since when you have a hot new product that is readily on demand, you can make thousands even on your first week of blogging.
Being ahead of your competitors is the best way you can implement and learn how to make money off blogging. There are several ways to learn about new blogging methods, traffic methods, and new products. Some ways are; joining marketing forums, social networks, subscribing to product's newsletters.
I think it high time to understand how to make money off blogging. Since some suggestions are going to be more effective than others, be sure to wisely select the best.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Start an Affiliate Marketing Business - Start Earning Today!


If you want to earn a profit online by building a business from a website, the guaranteed easiest and fastest way to do so is by creating and monetizing a blog. Blogs are not only extremely easy to start up, but they're the safest way to start your own affiliate marketing business online as they're almost no-risk and require almost no investment. Here are the steps you need to take in order to get your blog business off the ground and earning you a profit fast.
The first thing you need to do when starting any new business is to get yourself into the right niche. You need to center your website around a topic that will bring in hungry visitors that you can market affiliate products to. Once you choose your niche, you need to come up with a title for your website (and your business) that not only tells your visitors what your site is about, but also drives some organic search engine traffic to keep your advertising costs down.
To do this, imagine what your future visitors will be typing into Google to find what it is you have to offer. Try to incorporate a couple of those words into the domain name of your blog. Eventually, you will get natural search engine traffic this way and once you monetize that traffic by selling affiliate products, your profits will steadily grow.
Finally, you need to actually get your website set up properly so that your visitors have a place to land and you have a place to show off your products. Don't worry, this is not as scary as you'd think!

Blog Marketing - Choose Passion Over Popularity


When electing to enter the field of blog marketing many choose to be guided by the popularity of a niche as the basis upon which to build their theme. Now short term this may seem like the right thing to do since it may be easier to generate traffic, but that is over the short term. Remember, the more popular the market the more competitive it will also be. You will be competing with some of the most popular blogs around who are more established and authoritative while also likely more informed about the niche. However if you were to instead pursue something you were more interested in and passionate about wouldn't that make your blog posting easier? Remember you will not be making money overnight so plan for the long haul!
Let's look at 3 compelling advantages you would have choosing a passion over popularity when selecting your blog theme.
Enthusiasm is Already There
As already mentioned it takes time to develop a loyal following on a blog so therefore you are going to need to be patient and persistent with your blog posting. If you choose a subject or theme you have an interest in your enthusiasm level will be high giving you the motivation you need.
People Want Useful Information
Since it is assumed that you are more informed about a 'personal' interest or passion is it not safe to assume your blog posting would be of higher quality as well? When people have a true passion or interest about something they tend to 'give it their all' in terms of effort. In this case, effort can be considered willingness and eagerness to research and learn. This of course is passed on with each posting.
Serving a 'Greater' Purpose
Instead of being 'money' motivated your efforts are driven more by a deeper purpose which will be reflected in the content you serve up to your readers. You are truly interested in what your are blogging about therefore what you offer readers will likely be more insightful and thought provoking. This in turn will serve a greater purpose for them! You are not just reporting 'rehashed' news but also supplying perspectives readers may have not thought of otherwise! This is much more engaging!
Blog marketing is a field where a strong following and loyalty must first be established before you can expect to make any money. As tempting as it may seem to select a popular market upon which to base your blog theme, you will be competing with some of the most popular blogs online. Early on it may be relatively easy to generate traffic due to the market popularity, but this will be only short term. Eventually you can expect the more popular blogs to 'crush' you due to the authority they have and the knowledge they possess. On the other hand, since making money takes time anyway, does it not make more sense to follow your passions for the 3 reason we discussed above? Your blog posting will be easier, and in time your site and popularity will grow making it easy to generate traffic as well. All this by sticking with something you are already passionate about makes me believe there is no other direction to even consider when selecting your theme!

Optimize Your Blog Post in a Search Engine


When you think about writing a blog, which do you think is more important?
• Focusing on the content that you're sharing with readers, expecting that people will read your blogs because of the quality and value your blogs provide.
• Concentrating on how your blog will rank in the search engines and cramming every relatable keyword possible into your post.
Writing for the person is much more important than writing for the search engines. Your blog should demonstrate your expertise to your target niche and convey your passion for what you're doing. It should come from your heart. That is how you will connect with your readers and why they will share your blog with their network.
That doesn't mean that SEO isn't important, however. Offering quality and value in your content won't do any good if people can't readily find it.
Optimize your blog for SEO purposes with links. Be sure to include proper links to legitimate, respected sites; don't just buy links or list them in directories.
Another way to help your blog rank higher on search engines is to add tags. This is something overlooked by many people, but there is real value in tags.
Adding tags is a relatively simple process. If you are using WordPress, look for the tags link, then click "create" under tags. Type your tag, which is basically your description of your post, into that little area.
If, for example, I were to write a post about the top 30 Internet coaches, I would list each person's name in that area. That will show Google - or other search engines - that information about that particular person is going to appear in my blog post. The search engine will actually create a category of sorts about the person. People looking up that person will see all the posts online about them,  including mine.
Yanik Silver, one of my mentors who has hundreds of thousands of followers, was tagged by blogging entrepreneur Michael Dunlop in a post about the top 30 things to do before you die. Yanik runs Maverick Business Adventures, a wonderful company that offers unique trips around the world to people with plenty of money to take them.
In his adventure program, Yanik offers one of the top 30 things Michael writes about in his blog. That is why Michael tagged him. Michael's blog ranked seventh in search engines when people looked up Yanik, which drew an incredible amount of traffic to his site.
All he did was add the tag. This is something you can do with every post. If you tag the name of a prominent person because they are relevant to the blog you've written and the niche you're writing for, more people searching for that person will have the opportunity to come across your post.
So, post a list on your next blog, and tag the names on it. It will give your post a higher ranking, maybe on the first page on Google. It's an easy way to draw traffic. And, in many instances, because that traffic will be people in your target niche, they will probably be interested in what you have to offer.

10 Best Google Chrome Extensions for Webmasters


I am going to share 10 useful Google Chrome extensions here that will help you if you are a webmaster. Google Chrome has decent market share in browser market where Firefox and Internet Explorer are the main share holders. Google is making Chrome better with adding more functionality and fixing bugs and developers are coming up with some great extensions for Chrome.  
1. Chrome SEO
Chrome SEO is the most popular SEO extension for Chrome that provides webmasters with all the statistics and tools they need for optimizing their content for search engines. It comes with a keyword research tool, back links and page rank checker and tools to highlight current traffic and ranking, no follow links, total page indexed, domain details including whois and server location and on-page keyword analysis.
The extension also has the capability of Google Analytics integration and PPC integration (Adwords, Adsense etc). Get Chrome SEO

2. Speed Tracer

Google has recently announced that site speed is considered a parameter in website ranking which means webmasters need to care about their website speed and see what is causing their website to slow down. Speed Tracer is a Chrome extension by Google that measures the performance of your web application and website. It identifies and fixes the performance problems which are caused by site layout, css, javascript code and execution and network resource loading etc.
Give Speed Tracer a try if you feel your blog or web application is slow and do not know the reasons for that. Get Speed Tracer

3. Chrome Editor

If you make changes in the html code of your website quite often, this extension will be a great help for you. Chrome Editor lets you make changes in your website’s html code inside browser so that you do not have to flip between a code editor and a browser. You can save the code locally in your computer for reference or email the code to a friend.
The extension comes with W3C validation service and auto saves the code as you type. There is a list of shortcuts to save your time while coding. Get Chrome Editor

4. Webpage Screenshot

This is the first Chrome extension that takes the screen shot of full webpage (not only the visible page on screen) no matter how long the page is and saves it in a JPG file format. This is a useful extension if you want to display available ad slots on your website or want to show all the sections of your website that are on one page.
This is a local extension which means it does not send any data to any server and is completely private. It has options to upload and share the screenshot image and resizing it to specific size. Get Webpage Screenshot

5. Google Share Button

This official Google Chrome extension lets you share your webpage on social networking and social book marking services. Clicking the extension button will give you options to share a page on sites like Facebook, Digg, Twitter, StumbleUpon, MySpace and many others or you can email the page to a friend.
The frequently used services appear at the top of the list and the extension allows you to add more services to the list. Get Google Share Button

6. CSS Scan

Very useful Chrome extensions that shows a quick overview of CSS properties of the element that the mouse cursor is hovering over. You do not need to view the whole code to see an element’s CSS properties now.
It makes a border around the object for which the css properties are being displayed. A good extension to have if you know how to do CSS and want to have an idea what properties are being used on different sites. Get CSS Scan

7. Site Information Tool

Another SEO extension for webmasters that shows important information about the current page in Chrome including Page rank, Alexa rank, IP information, Whois information and other SEO parameters. The extension provides all critical information about a page like ranking information, page information (meta tags, title etc), the page in social networks and list of top performing keywords in Google.
A very easy way to find all information that takes long time and research otherwise. Get Site Information Tool

8. Chrome Muse

This extension allows users to shorten and expand the URL of any web page with the user’s preferred shortening service. The shortened URL is automatically copied to the clipboard to use in any other service like twitter etc. You can get a short URL with one click having this extension without going to any website.
The extension supports login credentials for services like bit.ly and cli.gs. It scans webpages for shorten urls and automatically expands them to originals. Get Chrome Muse

9. Shareaholic

Another very useful extension that lets you share any webpage with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Google Buzz etc. The extension currently supports more than 100 services and lets you choose your favorites from options.
It provides one click access to URL shorteners and users can choose keyboard shortcuts for different sharing services. The extension is very light and does not slow down Chrome at all. Get Shareholic

10. Resolution Test

This simple extension is very important for web developers. It allows testing web pages in different resolutions. Resolution Test changes the size of Chrome to show you how a website will look on different screen resolutions.
You can choose one resolution or select multiple and press ‘view all selected’ option which will show the webpage on different selected resolutions. Resolution Test is an easy to use and simple extension for webmasters. Get Resolution Test

Top 10 Free Web Apps To Replace Your Software


Here are 10 useful Web Apps to replace computer software. The greatest part of using web applications is that your hard drive will not get bogged down with a large amount of downloads. Plus, most web applications are free, saving you or your business a great deal of money. So, whether you need image editing software, storage space, to convert files, or more, try out some of the most popular web applications available below.

Top Free Web Apps

  1. Photoshop.com - You can use Photoshop without having to pay for or download Adobe’s Photoshop. This web application has 2GB of memory for you to save your edited photos.
  2. Skydrive.com - You can save up to 25 GB of files, photos, and documents forever with this application. Skydrive is an online storage service from Microsoft and it doesn’t cost a thing.
  3. Screen Toaster - Share and save online activity with Screen Toaster with the click of a button. You never have to download a program. Simply hit the stop button and watch.
  4. Truveo - You can find and play videos from all of your favorite video sites like Youtube and Blip.tv with this search engine from AOL. Truveo will even index clips from entertainment and news websites.
  5. Iterasi - This web application will save a website just as it is for your future viewing. With just a click, you can check out your saved content that may not even exist on the web any longer.
  6. Ping.fm – Lets you update all of your social network sites, emails, blogging, and IM at the same time. You simply send your message to Ping.fm and the message will be delivered for you.
  7. Animoto – Turns your pictures into a movie so that they are even more interesting to watch. No downloading or fee required.
  8. RescueTime - This program will keep track of the time you spend on your computer and online. You don’t need to input anything. All of the time tracking is done automatically.
  9. Sumo Paint - With this web application, you can create images from scratch as well as edit photos. It even supports layers. When you are done, you can save your images online or on your computer.
  10. Zamzar – Allows you to convert your image and video files from one format to another. You don’t even need to download the program.
Of course some of these programs are just for fun, so if you  need to save time for your business, beware! you might get caught up watching too many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy instead of getting that poster printing design finished.

iPad Downloads - What You Need To Know


iPad has taken the world by storm. It is no wonder that the demand for iPad downloads is growing every day. If you are currently looking for different source for iPad downloads, you might want to try searching for My Pad Media because it can literally give you everything that you need for your own iPad. For example, the database will allow you to access thousands and thousands of newspapers, comic books and even novels that you want to read through your iPad. The best thing about this application is that it really allows you to download these media files directly to your console. This means that you do not need to have a computer and then transfer it to your iPad. Considering that you are already looking for different iPad downloads, it is just safe to say that you already own the said console. If this is already the case, you have to keep in mind that the first things that you need to find for your iPad are ebooks, newspapers and comic books available for download. Now that you are already aware of My Pad Media, you will already be able to choose from the countless choices that this application is offering you, and you will also be able to download as many media files as you wish without having to pay for anything. If you are worried about feeling lost because you have not done this in the past, you do not need to worry too much because My Pad Media will actually show you clearly how you will be able to download comics, manga, and even novels directly into your iPad provided that you are a member. Even though My Pad Media has been created to primarily give people with iPads a chance to have their own download haven, this application is also suitable for different Apple devices such as iPod touch and iPhone. Just having this application into your device will already allow you to enjoy reading different books no matter where you are and no matter where you decide to go. As a matter of fact, the My Pad Media is also compatible with your desktop computer no matter what operating system you have installed in it. After everything that has been said and done, it is quite safe to say that My Pad Media is actually the best place for all your downloads because you will surely not be disappointed.

Performance is What IBM Power Systems Provide


Many business companies of today are only looking for two things in general (when it comes to computers, printers, servers, networking solutions) power and speed. The IBM pSeries Servers should have the ability to process many servers, commands and data. Fast relays, feedbacks and processes between workstations. That is what the IBM Power Systems provide.
The system was made due to the increasing need of powerful tools that can be competitive in the global market. It was built with the idea of being the best and most sought after system, by business companies worldwide. IBM Power Systems offers the performance and quality for the right price.
IBM Systems and Networking solutions are always up to date in regards to the latest technology and important innovations that is needed to make complicated things a little bit easier. The need to find complex systems that can handle difficult tasks has never been a problem with IBM pSeries Servers.
Business companies need to process important data everyday. They make sure that the system they use is secured and reliable. The reliability of IBM products through the years had proved their worth and has been a favorite among many companies worldwide.
IBM Power Systems allows multiple operating systems to work under a single structure. This allows the system to be flexible and readily updated, for necessary changes or improvements that will yield better results. The system is integrated with powerful processors that surpasses its predecessors and is a match to the latest and most advanced systems of today.
The IBM pSeries Servers makes multi tasking and software integration possible and makes sure that it doesn't affect the over all speed and performance of the network. It is designed to be efficient and optimized to provide the best results. IBM Power Systems is also known to be compatible with different operating systems including Windows and Linux based servers.
Operational costs and energy consumption are kept to the minimum level, without the need to decrease the quality and speed of processes that the server undertakes. Process that involves complex computations and other automated processes are made possible due to the integration of the most powerful systems in the IBM Power Systems. The right price for the best equipment is something that only IBM Manufacturer offers.
You don't have to think that the best equipment and systems will put holes in your pocket. In fact, you will be able to save a lot due to the quality of these products. Problems like downtime errors, system failure are guaranteed to be kept at a minimal level so that the cost for repairs wouldn't be too much. This is better compared to other products that demands regular maintenance and is prone to system failures and errors.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Blog Marketing Tips


Blogs which are also known as web logs are the new thing on the internet. They are pretty much a platform that you can use that will allow you to post your thoughts on most any subject that you want to. They can be used for journal, promoting, writing, and publishing, anything that your heart desires. However, if you are a beginner and new blogging as well as marketing, there are some very important things that you will want to know.
Blog marketing is quite easy to get started in. If you all ready have been blogging, you will more than likely pick it up very easily and naturally just as if you have been doing it all along. Also, if you all ready blog, you might find out that you have been marketing the whole time anyways, and just not realizing it.
For anyone that has never blogged before, you will of course want to start a test blog just to get the feel of how it is. You want to become familiar with the blogging platforms that you will be using and know how to make a post. While most blogs are free, you are also going to see that many of them are quite different.
So if you have set up a blog then the next step will that you want to market your blog and make it a successful blog.
How do you do this ?

How do you go about getting your blog out there to be seen and known by others ?

How do you draw readers and keep them coming back for more ?
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There are many ways to get your blog out there and known by others. This can be known as challenging for some and just quite easy for others. If you have ever had a successful blog before then you know what it takes. You are not going to get anywhere by just setting up a blog and hoping that people will find it and read it. You are not going to gain any links, nor a higher search engine ranking by just having a blog. This is all part of blog marketing. Anyone can do it, even you.
To have a successful blog you need to work active with your blog, and use the right tools to make it a successful blog. Here are some useful Tips for making a successful blog:
Successful blog marketing tip number one. When you first create a blog, of course it is unheard of. No one knows anything about the blog unless you give them the link and show it to them. However, for a new blog that has never been seen, there are many ways to get it out there and known. You just need to know how.
The first thing that you can do is to allow RSS feeds be taken from your blog. Allow other websites and blogs to publish your same exact blog. When you do this, they are giving you a link back to your blog, and also telling their readers all about your blog. You will get more traffic than ever with this tool. RSS feeds are wonderful for promoting and getting your blog out there.
Blog marketing tip number two. Update your blog frequently. I can not put enough emphasis on this tip. If you tell your readers that you are going to update your blog daily, then do it. If you tell them that you will be writing in your blog weekly, don't let them down. Your readers are what makes your blog successful. You may not realize this in the beginning, and you will have few readers in the beginning as well, but you will eventually build a readership base and have people checking out your blog regularly.
Maybe you do not plan on telling your readers how often you will update your blog. That is ok too.
However, think about this, if you were reading a blog on a weekly basis, and you expected to see the blog that you like to read updated at least once a week, you would be very disappointed to find out that it was not. Sure, things happen that might prevent you from updating, and that is expected, and excused, but
week after week can hurt you and cause you to lose readers.
Tip number three. While you are working on your readership base, and trying to gain readers, you are going to find that commenting on blogs that are relevant to yours will surely help. Find a blog that is on the same topic to yours, or close to it and leave comments. You can also make a track back with your blog postings to comment on your own blog.
Doing so will probably more than likely give someone else the urge to track back to your blog. Which will be good for it as well. Commenting on blogs that get many comments will make yours be seen by those interested in that market. You will gain traffic and readers that way, and it is easy as well as free.
The fourth blog marketing tip. Learn and apply SEO to your blogs. SEO is search engine optimization. You are going to find that if you want your blog to go anywhere, you need SEO, and you need to know how to use it to the advantage of your blog. Just like a website, a blog will be better off if it is SEO optimized.
 

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