There are millions of sites out there and it is impossible to remember all of them. But who says you have to remember them. But who says you have to remember them? You can bookmark it using Del.icio.us and come back later.
Social bookmark is an excellent way to share any blog post or videos that you find interesting. Internet marketers and search engine specialists know this very well and they have spent a considerable amount of time to leverage the system for their business.
There are hundreds of social bookmarking sites available out there and it would probably take more than a few hours just to submit them to 100 of social bookmarking sites. You might not have the time to do it yourself so how do you still get the backlinks for your sites? Simple, just outsource it to specialist who is providing social bookmarketing service. They might have the network of friends who will like your story and help to increase your rating.
A backlink from social bookmark is considered as a do-follow link and this increase your ranking score on search engines. If done correctly, you target audiences will bookmark your website too and your backlinks will increase exponentially.
You can take advantage of social bookmarks by using your targeted keyword for the bookmarks title. This is an excellent way for you to increase your link popularity.
You need to be creative with your title and tag your website with your targeted keywords. So this will lead other to your website when they type in your keywords. This can be the difference of having a number of backlinks from your own bookmarks o massive and instant traffic to your sites. This can help you to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars from paying for PPC campaigns just to get targeted traffic to your sites.
But you will have to make sure your submission is relevant. Don't even think of spamming your own links because that might be counter-productive. You are given about 100 words in the description section but that doesn't mean your should include your keywords more that once on it.
Other members might not be happy with what you're doing and flag your submission. You don't want that to happen because it could be getting your account suspended.
Internet marketers understand the power of social bookmarks and they will not hesitate to outsource the dirty job of building backlinks from these sites. After all, it is impossible to do it by yourself when you have 20 blogs that you update on daily basis.
Social bookmarks can also be a great source for you to find relevant information that you can use to grow your business. Who knows you might stumble upon a site that provides WordPress olugin that you don't even know for your search engine optimization campaign.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic
Comment on Blogs
Look for large traffic Blogs in your niche, visit them and leave your comments on their blogs posts. You may use blog search engine.
Submit Articles
Write articles that are related to your blog and submit them to popular article directories such as
www.ezinearticles.com
www.Isnare.com
www.Articledashboard.com
www.Articlealley.com
www.goarticle.com
Quality articles may drive you a lot of free targeted traffic.
Participate in Community Forums
Use google to search for forums that are related to your blog. Look for forums that has over 10,000 members and read the rules of the forums to see whether you can promote your blogs and websites in your signature. Join forums that allow you to add a link to your blog in the signature and start participating in discussion. You can ask questions, answer other members questions and post your articles, ideas and thought in the forums.
Submit Your Blog to Directories
This isn't working to me but some bloggers claim that they gain a good amount of traffic from their listings in directories.
Post Often
You can lose traffic if you seldom update you blog, try to make it at least 5 posts per week. This not only will maintain your traffic but possibly attract more readers.
Write about Blogging
Write helpful and quality articles related to blogging can attract other bloggers link to your articles and gain may be truckload of free traffic.
Post Breaking News
If your found a breaking news of your niche very earlier, post it to your blog. It may give your blog's traffic a boost.
Social Bookmarking
Bookmark you blog posts in the large social bookmarking sites like Netscape.com, Digg.com, Simply and Reddit.com.
Run a Contest
Start a contest on your blog. Think about the prizes that people really want. It will create a viral effect and bring in new visitors.
Page Optimization
Make sure your blog's title tag and description tag contain your targeted keywords. When you have posted plenty of quality blog post and done a lot of blog promotion, don't be surprise to see your blog ranks top 10 in Google and get free search engine traffic daily.
Look for large traffic Blogs in your niche, visit them and leave your comments on their blogs posts. You may use blog search engine.
Submit Articles
Write articles that are related to your blog and submit them to popular article directories such as
www.ezinearticles.com
www.Isnare.com
www.Articledashboard.com
www.Articlealley.com
www.goarticle.com
Quality articles may drive you a lot of free targeted traffic.
Participate in Community Forums
Use google to search for forums that are related to your blog. Look for forums that has over 10,000 members and read the rules of the forums to see whether you can promote your blogs and websites in your signature. Join forums that allow you to add a link to your blog in the signature and start participating in discussion. You can ask questions, answer other members questions and post your articles, ideas and thought in the forums.
Submit Your Blog to Directories
This isn't working to me but some bloggers claim that they gain a good amount of traffic from their listings in directories.
Post Often
You can lose traffic if you seldom update you blog, try to make it at least 5 posts per week. This not only will maintain your traffic but possibly attract more readers.
Write about Blogging
Write helpful and quality articles related to blogging can attract other bloggers link to your articles and gain may be truckload of free traffic.
Post Breaking News
If your found a breaking news of your niche very earlier, post it to your blog. It may give your blog's traffic a boost.
Social Bookmarking
Bookmark you blog posts in the large social bookmarking sites like Netscape.com, Digg.com, Simply and Reddit.com.
Run a Contest
Start a contest on your blog. Think about the prizes that people really want. It will create a viral effect and bring in new visitors.
Page Optimization
Make sure your blog's title tag and description tag contain your targeted keywords. When you have posted plenty of quality blog post and done a lot of blog promotion, don't be surprise to see your blog ranks top 10 in Google and get free search engine traffic daily.
Friday, December 12, 2008
5 Reasons Why Internet Marketers Fail
Creating a website does not mean that you will get millions out of it. In fact, everyday many people try and fails to earn money online and this is due to a variety of reasons. Commonly people do not have any sort of plan or have a plan but do no work it out. Working only when one feels like it, giving up easily
Here are 5 reasons why Internet marketers give up:
They Don’t Have a Plan:
Many of the same actions that are required to be a success offline apply to the online business world as well. Just as it is important to have a marketing and business plan for a brick and mortar business, the same is true for an internet marketing business. You need to have a plan. It will keep you focused and provide direction for your efforts. If you do not have a plan and have no idea what you are going to be doing from day to day, then you will likely be in trouble.
They Don’t Work That Plan:
It is one thing to have a plan. It is another thing to take action. If you are a planner and not a doer, then you will fail. It is very easy and even quite fun to come up with plans. However, if you never give them any feet, then you are wasting your time and brain power. Instead, commit to putting your plan into action everyday. Don’t let fear or laziness curtail your dreams. You will regret it later on.
They Work Only When They Feel Like It:
There is some dirty myth that if you work online, you can work whenever you want to and can skip out on working whenever you don’t feel like it. While this is true, it doesn’t mean that you will make money if you run your business this way. The same holds true offline. Sure, you can go to work when you want and play hookie if you feel like it but the result will likely be the loss of your job and income. This true even if you work online. You don’t have to work, but in most cases you won’t make any money.
They Give Up Easily:
The business world is not for quitters. I believe many people give up on their internet businesses so easily because they underestimate the amount of work that will be required. They fall for the “make $100,000 in 6 months, working only 30 minutes a day” advertisements. These are obviously a bunch of bunk but people don’t find that out until after they have tried and failed with these systems. If people had realistic expectations, they might be willing to hang in there a little longer.
They Don’t Track Their Advertising:
Not tracking your advertising is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make. If you have no idea where your sales are coming from, you will be unable to ramp up advertising at those places that are making you money and will continue to waste money on unprofitable campaigns. To avoid this, be sure to track all of your web pages and ads. You will be so thankful that you did.
Here are 5 reasons why Internet marketers give up:
They Don’t Have a Plan:
Many of the same actions that are required to be a success offline apply to the online business world as well. Just as it is important to have a marketing and business plan for a brick and mortar business, the same is true for an internet marketing business. You need to have a plan. It will keep you focused and provide direction for your efforts. If you do not have a plan and have no idea what you are going to be doing from day to day, then you will likely be in trouble.
They Don’t Work That Plan:
It is one thing to have a plan. It is another thing to take action. If you are a planner and not a doer, then you will fail. It is very easy and even quite fun to come up with plans. However, if you never give them any feet, then you are wasting your time and brain power. Instead, commit to putting your plan into action everyday. Don’t let fear or laziness curtail your dreams. You will regret it later on.
They Work Only When They Feel Like It:
There is some dirty myth that if you work online, you can work whenever you want to and can skip out on working whenever you don’t feel like it. While this is true, it doesn’t mean that you will make money if you run your business this way. The same holds true offline. Sure, you can go to work when you want and play hookie if you feel like it but the result will likely be the loss of your job and income. This true even if you work online. You don’t have to work, but in most cases you won’t make any money.
They Give Up Easily:
The business world is not for quitters. I believe many people give up on their internet businesses so easily because they underestimate the amount of work that will be required. They fall for the “make $100,000 in 6 months, working only 30 minutes a day” advertisements. These are obviously a bunch of bunk but people don’t find that out until after they have tried and failed with these systems. If people had realistic expectations, they might be willing to hang in there a little longer.
They Don’t Track Their Advertising:
Not tracking your advertising is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make. If you have no idea where your sales are coming from, you will be unable to ramp up advertising at those places that are making you money and will continue to waste money on unprofitable campaigns. To avoid this, be sure to track all of your web pages and ads. You will be so thankful that you did.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
When to add Adsense to Your blog
Tips for Optimizing your Adsense Earnings
A common mistake beginners make is adding Adsense to a brand new blog. I have talked about this before but a refresher is in order as well as an update on how I monetize with Adsense.
Most new blogs have no traffic at first so there is little point in having Adsense on it. Doing so can send out flags that the site is a made for Adsense blog and this is a no no with Google. You are not allowed to create a site for the sole purpose of making money with Adsense. By not adding Adsense in the beginning you appear to be a legit site and will find that you will rank faster and avoid the sandbox. (Getting a few authority links from others appears to be the best way to avoid the sandbox coupled with not monetizing a new site.)
You will also avoid smart pricing your whole account. A new site needs to build up targeted search traffic first. If the traffic to your site is mostly social visitors and you run Adsense and some of the un-targeted traffic clicks your ads you will likely see poor conversions for the advertiser and G will discount your clicks and pay you pennies. At the same time all your other blogs will see their earnings discounted as well.
Remember - Adsense should only be used on sites that get the majority of their traffic from the search engines. This is targeted traffic that will convert for the advertisers.
So...
How do you know when to start using Adsense?
This is my method.
Most of you know I created a new blog on Wordpress called "Make Money Online with Griz" back in July. I created the blog for a number of reasons but primarily to demonstrate my system for making money online.
At present the site is ranked pages 2 and 3 for most of the "Make Money Online" terms I've targeted. An exact search in quotes for my main keyword shows the blog ranked 10th on page 1 of the serp's. This is a highly competitive niche and this shows that you can rank well even in a competitive niche in 3 to 4 months if you accumulate quality backlinks.
It also demonstrates that you don't need a lot of posts either. I only have a half dozen posts on the site but they will give you a good idea of how "On Page SEO" works. Titles, headers and content are focused and target my keywords.
As for "Off Page SEO" (read - backlinks) the site has a few thousand links but many are from site-wide links on other blogs and this tends to confuse the issue. A site-wide link can give you hundreds of links from a single blog. This is ok but pay attention to getting unique links. The new blog really only has about 100 unique links. By this I mean there are only about 100 sites linking to me in spite of the number of total links (pages linking).
The more unique links you get the better. This should also indicate to you that you really don't need 1000's of links to do well in a niche - you just need quality links.
In this case most of my links are keyword anchored which is rare and the reason the blog ranks so well so quickly in a tough niche. Because my friends have sent me links and they understand the concept of "anchored keyword links" most of the links use my keywords - hence my quick ranking for those keywords.
I admit that this is not something most of you can obtain until you build up a network of like minded friends. I point it out simply to show you the power of getting targeted links to your site and urge you to ask your friends to provide you with the same kind of links rather than the "click here" variety or those using your name in the anchor. I'm basically trying to show you what works best whether you are able to get the links at this point in your progress or not. These are the type of links you should be aiming for eventually if you want to see better serp rankings.
To this end I have set up a few resource pages on the new blog filled with like minded people who understand the value of anchored backlinks and I urge you to visit the people and sites listed in order to help each other. Start with "Finding links for your Niche Blogs" and email people with similar niches or send anchored links in posts to the people on my "Friendz of Griz" page and you may just get a nod in return. (assuming your site is relevant to theirs. Don't spam them)
Now back to Adsense.
The new blog averages about 300 unique visitors a day. Normally I would have added Adsense a while ago as 300 visitors is enough to start making a little Adsense income. The problem in this case is that 7 out of 8 visitors are coming from social sources - bookmarks, referrals from other blogs, stumbleupon etc. Only 1 in 8 are coming from the search engines. In other words the majority of the traffic is not targeted for my keywords and won't be targeted for the Adsense ads. This means that my Adsense could be smart priced pretty quick if the social traffic decides to click the ads.
Testing the water to find out how your Adsense will perform.
Last week I added an Adsense block to the new blog. I did not let it go live though. By this I mean that while the ads are displayed on the blog I have not "Allowed" the blog to record clicks in my Adsense account. This is done by "not" adding the site URL to the list of "allowed sites" in your "Adsense Setup" Tab. The end result is that I can monitor clicks without fear of being penalized by G. The ads are being clicked but not recorded.
After two days I noticed that I was only getting 5 - 10 clicks per day which made me happy as it indicates that the social traffic is not clicking my ads or very little if they are. Based on this I added the site to my allowed list and monitored the results. Over the next few days I continued to see 5-10 clicks a day and noticed a CPC of 75 cents to $1 a click. So far so good. Then I started seeing the dreaded 5 cent clicks. At the same time I watched my CPC on my other sites and sure enough my earnings per click started dropping. Not good.
I took the new blog off of the allowed sites list and over the course of another two days my CPC is back to normal on my other sites.
This is how I find out if a new site is ready for Adsense. In this case the new blog is not yet ready and won't be until I start drawing more search traffic than social traffic. At that point I will let the ads go live again and see what happens.
In the mean time I will leave the ad block on the site and start playing around with position, number of blocks, size of blocks and finding just the right "ugly" balance (how the blog looks) needed to increase click thru rates (CTR). I can do all this while waiting for more search traffic.
On a side note: Several readers have already mentioned how much they hate the "puke" green background. lol. This is good - maybe - if it helps to drive people away. Some will just leave but some will "click" to leave - which is the goal behind the site. I didn't create the site for the benefit of readers - I created the site to make money. Readers are always welcome of course but like this blog they will have to put up with my Adsense tweaks.
Each niche is different but this should give you an idea of how I approach optimizing a site for Adsense and more importantly how I know when to use Adsense and when to let it be.
One second to last thing - I already know how this niche performs thanks to the blog you are currently reading. If you are making decent money from Adsense in your niche then create more blogs in the same niche. The guesswork has been removed. Just rinse and repeat and use the same resources you used to build the initial blog. You don't always have to keep searching for new niches.
A common mistake beginners make is adding Adsense to a brand new blog. I have talked about this before but a refresher is in order as well as an update on how I monetize with Adsense.
Most new blogs have no traffic at first so there is little point in having Adsense on it. Doing so can send out flags that the site is a made for Adsense blog and this is a no no with Google. You are not allowed to create a site for the sole purpose of making money with Adsense. By not adding Adsense in the beginning you appear to be a legit site and will find that you will rank faster and avoid the sandbox. (Getting a few authority links from others appears to be the best way to avoid the sandbox coupled with not monetizing a new site.)
You will also avoid smart pricing your whole account. A new site needs to build up targeted search traffic first. If the traffic to your site is mostly social visitors and you run Adsense and some of the un-targeted traffic clicks your ads you will likely see poor conversions for the advertiser and G will discount your clicks and pay you pennies. At the same time all your other blogs will see their earnings discounted as well.
Remember - Adsense should only be used on sites that get the majority of their traffic from the search engines. This is targeted traffic that will convert for the advertisers.
So...
How do you know when to start using Adsense?
This is my method.
Most of you know I created a new blog on Wordpress called "Make Money Online with Griz" back in July. I created the blog for a number of reasons but primarily to demonstrate my system for making money online.
At present the site is ranked pages 2 and 3 for most of the "Make Money Online" terms I've targeted. An exact search in quotes for my main keyword shows the blog ranked 10th on page 1 of the serp's. This is a highly competitive niche and this shows that you can rank well even in a competitive niche in 3 to 4 months if you accumulate quality backlinks.
It also demonstrates that you don't need a lot of posts either. I only have a half dozen posts on the site but they will give you a good idea of how "On Page SEO" works. Titles, headers and content are focused and target my keywords.
As for "Off Page SEO" (read - backlinks) the site has a few thousand links but many are from site-wide links on other blogs and this tends to confuse the issue. A site-wide link can give you hundreds of links from a single blog. This is ok but pay attention to getting unique links. The new blog really only has about 100 unique links. By this I mean there are only about 100 sites linking to me in spite of the number of total links (pages linking).
The more unique links you get the better. This should also indicate to you that you really don't need 1000's of links to do well in a niche - you just need quality links.
In this case most of my links are keyword anchored which is rare and the reason the blog ranks so well so quickly in a tough niche. Because my friends have sent me links and they understand the concept of "anchored keyword links" most of the links use my keywords - hence my quick ranking for those keywords.
I admit that this is not something most of you can obtain until you build up a network of like minded friends. I point it out simply to show you the power of getting targeted links to your site and urge you to ask your friends to provide you with the same kind of links rather than the "click here" variety or those using your name in the anchor. I'm basically trying to show you what works best whether you are able to get the links at this point in your progress or not. These are the type of links you should be aiming for eventually if you want to see better serp rankings.
To this end I have set up a few resource pages on the new blog filled with like minded people who understand the value of anchored backlinks and I urge you to visit the people and sites listed in order to help each other. Start with "Finding links for your Niche Blogs" and email people with similar niches or send anchored links in posts to the people on my "Friendz of Griz" page and you may just get a nod in return. (assuming your site is relevant to theirs. Don't spam them)
Now back to Adsense.
The new blog averages about 300 unique visitors a day. Normally I would have added Adsense a while ago as 300 visitors is enough to start making a little Adsense income. The problem in this case is that 7 out of 8 visitors are coming from social sources - bookmarks, referrals from other blogs, stumbleupon etc. Only 1 in 8 are coming from the search engines. In other words the majority of the traffic is not targeted for my keywords and won't be targeted for the Adsense ads. This means that my Adsense could be smart priced pretty quick if the social traffic decides to click the ads.
Testing the water to find out how your Adsense will perform.
Last week I added an Adsense block to the new blog. I did not let it go live though. By this I mean that while the ads are displayed on the blog I have not "Allowed" the blog to record clicks in my Adsense account. This is done by "not" adding the site URL to the list of "allowed sites" in your "Adsense Setup" Tab. The end result is that I can monitor clicks without fear of being penalized by G. The ads are being clicked but not recorded.
After two days I noticed that I was only getting 5 - 10 clicks per day which made me happy as it indicates that the social traffic is not clicking my ads or very little if they are. Based on this I added the site to my allowed list and monitored the results. Over the next few days I continued to see 5-10 clicks a day and noticed a CPC of 75 cents to $1 a click. So far so good. Then I started seeing the dreaded 5 cent clicks. At the same time I watched my CPC on my other sites and sure enough my earnings per click started dropping. Not good.
I took the new blog off of the allowed sites list and over the course of another two days my CPC is back to normal on my other sites.
This is how I find out if a new site is ready for Adsense. In this case the new blog is not yet ready and won't be until I start drawing more search traffic than social traffic. At that point I will let the ads go live again and see what happens.
In the mean time I will leave the ad block on the site and start playing around with position, number of blocks, size of blocks and finding just the right "ugly" balance (how the blog looks) needed to increase click thru rates (CTR). I can do all this while waiting for more search traffic.
On a side note: Several readers have already mentioned how much they hate the "puke" green background. lol. This is good - maybe - if it helps to drive people away. Some will just leave but some will "click" to leave - which is the goal behind the site. I didn't create the site for the benefit of readers - I created the site to make money. Readers are always welcome of course but like this blog they will have to put up with my Adsense tweaks.
Each niche is different but this should give you an idea of how I approach optimizing a site for Adsense and more importantly how I know when to use Adsense and when to let it be.
One second to last thing - I already know how this niche performs thanks to the blog you are currently reading. If you are making decent money from Adsense in your niche then create more blogs in the same niche. The guesswork has been removed. Just rinse and repeat and use the same resources you used to build the initial blog. You don't always have to keep searching for new niches.
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