Now that you’ve decided to to start a blog for your business or even for your own personal reasons, you need to learn that blogging about a topic is just one part. There is still the dreaded yet highly effective linkbuilding. While there is really no guarantee that YOUR link building efforts will be rewarded the way you want it, it is good to be noticed. I have compiled a list of how to get links to your blog written by successful SEO’s and bloggers like Seth Godin, Aaron Wall, Andy Hagans, and more.

WAYS TO GET LINKS TO YOUR BLOG

1. Provide content in English.
2. Link or comment to niche blogs:
3. Out link a lot
4. Identify your “link-niche”
5. Always verify you pinged or tracked-back.
6. Use StumbleUpon.
7. Submit to blog directories
8. Build a “101 list”
9. Create 10 easy tips to help you
10. Create extensive resource lists for a specific topic
11. Create a list of the top 10 myths for a specific category
12. Create a list of gurus/experts.
13. Make your content easy to understand so many people can understand and spread your message.
14. Put some effort in to minimize grammatical or spelling errors.
15. Have an easily accessible privacy policy and about section so your site seems more trustworthy
16. Buy relevant traffic with a pay per click campaign
17. Syndicate an article at EzineArticles, GoArticles, iSnare, etc.
18. Submit an article to industry news site.
19. Syndicate a press release.
20. Track who picks up your articles or press releases. 21. Trade articles with other webmasters.
22. Email a few friends when you have important relevant news asking them for their feedback and/or if they would mind referencing it if they find your information useful.
23. Write about, and link to, companies with “in the news” pages.
24. Perform surveys and studies that make people feel important.
25. Submit your site to DMOZ and other directories that allow free submissions. (Read more…)

Gone are the days when blogs are regarded as personal online diaries. Its power and magic has turned millions of bloggers to instant celebrities and some, millionaires. Almost anyone can make a blog in a few minutes. Sign up at some blogging platform, log in, and then type your way to blogosphere.

Gaining more popularity and achieving success are corporate blogs. Why a certain company should blog…the list is endless. Why, it’s what this blog has been campaigning for since day one.

I’d like to make a recap of why companies should blog:
> blogs are more popular within the business world
> blogs are easily customizable and editable
> blogs are cheaper alternative to traditional offline marketing
> blogs are designed to rank well in search engines
> blogs make your clients and customers feel like your company is open
> blogs can make bring you unwanted attention that may someday bring more business opportunities

…and the list goes on and on. Not all companies are doing this smart marketing tactic because they simply don’t have time to write, However, there are companies offering business blog services that further increase the online popularity of a brand or company.

Corporate blogs for me are important because they help shape the reputation of a company. It’s giving prospective clients or customers a sense of familiarity with the company right away. While it requires effort, the results can be mind-blowing.

But remember, not all companies can and should blog. There are right ways to achieving a successful blogging career.

If monetizing with WordPress isn’t enough to convince novice bloggers that you can make money online, then this list by Darren Rowse of Problogger.net could perhaps make you think about singing up for Google AdSense.

10 Reasons Why You Should Consider Using AdSense on you blog by Darren Rowse:

1. International Traffic - Adsense have a large client and advertise base who wants traffic from other parts of the world
2. Easy Implementation - any web idiot can set up ads on his blog
3. Massive Advertiser Base – AdSense’s large advertiser base enables them to serve relevant ads to any blog
4. Obscure Topics – not many ad sponsors have ads on targeted niche but AdSense does
5. Make it Easy For Advertisers to Target Your Blog - there is a big potential of advertisers to make contact with you for further advertisement deals once they see they are getting more than what they’ve paid for from your blog
6. Set it and Forget it – you can leave the code as it is and earn if you’re too lazy to experiment
7. No Minimum Traffic Levels – small traffic can get you approved and can be a good start to a happy online earning
8. Able to be Used with Other Ad Types – you can run other type ads and PPC programs with AdSense
9. Multiple Ad Formats – you can choose to serve different type of Adsense ads : text Ads, Image Ads, Video Ads, Adlink units, referral ads (CPA), and even the Google search tool
10. Reliable Payment – very prompt and reliable once you get your first Google AdSense cheque

AdSense may not be the best choice because there are quite a few number of other Pay Per Click programs available but the fact remains that it has many financial benefits. You decide.

Earlier, I presented tips on how to choose a Wordpress theme and mentioned that your choice of a theme can be influenced by your decision to monetize your blog. There were two opposing reactions : WP doesn’t allow and YES you can! IMHO, it is possible in a way that Wordpress.com or the [.] org version for that matter doesn’t officially offer referrals or affiliates schemes. It’s the themes and the plugins that do the talking…or rather, monetizing through Google Adsense and other Pay Per Click programs.

Perhaps one of the most preferred programs is the Adsense that has allowed few good men out there to earn as much as $300,000 a month. The likes of Markus Frind of plentyoffish.com - a dating service website, and Kevin Rose of digg.com, and Jeremy Shoemaker of Shoemoney.com are lucky enough to earn really big bucks. Of course, these people have worked hard to make their websites popular as they are now. No, they don’t use Wordpress on their websites I’m sure of that. But the figures they are earning are enough to motivate us bloggers.

The closest thing bloggers and web marketers like us have to earning online is obviously blogs. Whether you use WP, Blogger, MySpace, or whatever obscure blogging platform, you can put AdSense. Work harder to be more popular and get noticed via some linkbuilding here and there or writing some controversial posts, you can laugh your way to the bank after you get your AdSense check.

The thing with Wordpress is that there are hundreds to thousands of themes and plugins being made by designers and developers all over the world. Some people are smart enough to design themes that allot spaces for PPC ads.

But just because you can monetize through Wordpress, it doesn’t automatically mean you WILL. Most people forget about “hardwork”. Remember that Frind, Rose, of Shoemaker didn’t get rich quick—they worked hard for it. They may not use our beloved WP on their sites but their bank accounts more than motivate.

Over at Copyblogger, Jon Morrow posts about how writing can make one feel drunk. I haven’t been that drunk but I know that alcohol can be well, a bit addictive. It led me to think why and how blogging can actually control the deepest recesses of humans.

Much like alcohol, blogging can sometimes make you just want to forget you’ve actually posted something foolish. You blog and you post. And when you get to reread them the next day, there’s a small voice inside you that says ‘Delete Post’. And much like alcohol, you blog like you can’t live without it.

I like how Morrow presented the analogy. Quite a dirty analogy but it’s so true — blogging and alcohol. So here are my own explanations of Copybloggers’ list why blogging can sometimes be synonymous to alcohol :

You Think the Post is Brilliant. More often than not, bloggers are proud thinking their every post is just that brilliant. For alcoholics, any type of alcohol can perhaps be the most beautiful thing that ever happened in their lives. Some prolific bloggers even expect that their readers would always dig their blog posts. It isn’t the case always and oftentimes, you forget about search marketing standards because you can’t wait to just blog.

You Think the Post is Hilarious. Since when is alcohol hilarious? I know blog posts can be hilarious at times but remember that humor can be really dangerous. What is comedy to you may be drama for others. Alcohol on the other hand, can be hilarious because it makes you do things you wouldn’t normally do, ergo, dangerous. Enough said.

You’re Actually Drunk or High. Blogging can make you high literally. You post something and you get too excited with the response of the people. You wait for the comments and check your dashboard every 10 minutes. Obviously, alchohol makes you want to drink as if there is no tomorrow. Remember that not all blog posts will benefit your readers much like not all alcohol types can make you forget you just broke up with your girlfriend.

Your Heart is Pounding. The site of a beer bottle can give you a heart attack. Blogging can also give you a heart attack until you blog about what you just read, thought, or seen. You heart beats until you actually tap your keyboard the same way your heart pounds the first time you drink beer after a season of alcohol drought.

You Can’t Wait to See How People React. You look at your dashboard for new comments like a protective mother bear. You think about how people will react. As for your alcohol, you also can’t wait to see how people would react to you once you decide to binge drink or pass drinking for the night.

Your Stomach Tightens Up. Ever had those times when you just wan to puke upon reading your older blog entries? How about your stomach tightening because of too much alcohol? It’s time for you to rethink what you just did so it’s either you edit or delete the post entry or sober up fast.

You Hesitate Before Clicking ‘Post’. Perhaps this may not be a challenge for more experienced and professional bloggers but others may still not be that confident. You’ve tried drinking alcohol, but sometimes the effect on you is different each time.

Blogging is indeed addictive as alcohol. For me, it’s amoral like most Web 2.0 programs. It’s up to the blogger how he uses the blog for his own purposes and worldly desires much like it’s up to those who drink alcohol why they do such.

Some bloggers often take for granted the design of their websites. Since WordPress is perhaps one of the best web blogging platforms in the blogosphere, it is important that one takes some time in choosing the right theme or design. SEO-wise, WordPress still rules the blogging world because of its permalinks and it allows bloggers to easily add tags or link titles that all play an important factor in optimization.

Blogging on WordPress is favored by more people because themes are easily customizable and are free. There are hundreds to thousands of free themes available but there are also premium themes you can choose from.

Here are some tips on how to choose your WordPress theme for a more successful blogging career:

1. Identify the look and feel of your website. Simply put, decide on how you want your blog to appeal to your readers. If it’s a personal blog, choose a theme that you know you can customize or tweak. But if you’re gunning for a more corporate blog, it is best you hire professional blog designers.

2. Decide yourself if you wish to monetize through your blog. If you do, you may look for themes that allot spaces for more banners, buttons, and ads.

3. Identify how many people also use the same theme. While customizing the website if easy, not all bloggers are able to personalize their blog designs. If you choose a more popular theme, you may have a hard time standing out. However, a popular theme often is supported very well.

4. Choose a more search engine-friendly website theme. Such WordPress theme is best to use should you wish an optimized blog. Your well-optimized website could rank well on the likes of Google because SEO is the current name of the game.

5. Check if your theme is widget friendly. Widgets allow bloggers to easily change the code with just a click or a drag. But remember, changing the code directly is still better.

6. Determine if your blog entries are easily readable. Try posting 2 or more sample blogs so you can see how the entries and comments can be viewed.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after more than 3 years of blogging from blogging — it’s the importance of changing the blog design. If you don’t change often, people can get bored with it. You should learn how to attract readers and give them a reason to always check your website. After all, isn’t that one of the many reasons why you blog? To let people know what’s on your mind.

WebPosition 4 is a popular SEO Ranking software that I’d recommend, even if the only website you have is a blog. If you are trying to monetize your blog then you’ll need a way to track your conversions, right?

WebPosition 4 can do that and so much more.

Not only does WebPosition 4 track conversions, but it also reports your search engine rankings, helps you target your keywords better, uses a built-in expert to optimize your web pages more effectively, and submits your URLs to the search engines for you. It’s an automated process that is well worth the time.

There are two products that you might have an interest in: The standard edition and the professional. The standard edition is good if all you want to do is use a metrics system for your website or blog. But if you do any pay per click advertising at all then you’ll need the professional edition. The way it tracks and reports pay per click conversions is well worth the extra that you’ll spend on the professional edition.

The standard edition supports up to 5 domains, but the professional edition has unlimited domain support, so if you have multiple domains then you should think about shelling out the extra bucks for the professional edition. You can also have your reports e-mailed to you with the professional edition, which is a huge time saver. And two other new services that come with the professional edition are meta tag manager and link validation. I really like the link validation tool!

At any rate, before I go on too long, check out WebPosition 4. You’ll be glad you did.

Marketing Pilgrim blogged about an organization calling itself Blog Council. The Pilgrim is dead on regarding its interpretation of the Council. They don’t seem to be too qualified to what they say they’re going to do. Here’s a sample of their own blogging philosophy:

“Major corporations use blogs differently while abiding by the same rules and etiquette,” said Blog Council CEO Andy Sernovitz. “Individual and small-business bloggers don’t face the same issues. For example, we still need to deliver a responsible and effective corporate message, but we need to do it in the complicated environment of the blogosphere. We have to speak for a corporation, but never sound ‘corporate.’ And we have to learn to do it live, and in real-time.”

In other words, it’s business as usual for the world’s mega corporations. Corporate speak is more important than honesty or authenticity. And since Blog Council has published an entire two blog posts since December 5, they can be trusted to discuss the ins and outs of blogging. And those two blog posts amount to nothing more than an FAQ and a “Hey, we launched a blog.” Their first mistake? Publishing an FAQ on a blog for an organization that no one has thought enough about yet to ask any questions. Which tells me that they just made them up.

From the FAQ:

We will also serve as a voice for corporate blogging. Companies will be blogging, but we will do it differently than personal or small business blogs. There is no one “right way” to blog.

They’re right about that. There’s no one “right way” to blog. But there are a lot of wrong ways to blog and if you want to avoid them you’ll do yourself a favor by choosing a guide who has some experience in blogging.

(Source) The next topic the panel discussed was the SEO-friendliness of blogging platforms such as Wordpress. The general consensus was that these services are relatively good for SEO, but they could still be better. For example, nofollowing tags links could make these blogs so much more SEO-friendly, as the majority of bloggers won’t know to do this themselves.

This is absolutely true. The nofollow tag is a determent to good comments on your WordPress blog. Until WordPress makers take the nofollow tag out of WordPress, I recommend you making that change yourself. The reason is because the nofollow tag is telling search engines not to follow the links. The commentators on your blog lose any SEO value that they would normally get with blog comments. But if you install a dofollow plugin or disable the nofollow feature then you are telling your commentators that you don’t value their comments much. This is one WordPress change I would duly welcome.

If you write content for your blog and syndicate to other blogs as well I would suggest that you do all that you can do to ensure that your articles don’t run on two separate blogs on the same day. I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds and you’ll likely have your content read by many people on each blog. If they appear on the same day then you’ll lose effectiveness.

A recent example from a writer that I admire can serve as the example. Janet Meiners writes for Marketing Pilgrim, one of my favorite blogs. Today, she wrote a dynamite article about PRLeap ending its free press release policy. The same article ran on WebProNews. I read the first one I came to, but I didn’t read the other. Why bother?

I am not alone. The same article on two blogs in the same industry on the same day will result in one of them not getting noticed. But I’m assuming that since you write a blog that you want people to read it. Do everything you can to entice them to do so.

I found this list useful for social bookmarking your blog posts:

1. Look for lots of different angles
2. Spoofs are popular
3. Top 10 lists are favorites
4. No long articles or face the dreaded “TLDR”
5. Tamar suggests “eye candy with intriguing titles”
6. Videos are good; short videos are better
7. Be funny. Now!
8. Free products or coupons are big in the virtual world, too
9. Have a contest
10. Go “far out”

Essentially, if you want to be successful at social media marketing then you need to join the community first and “mill around.” Get to know the ins and outs first. Talk to people, do a little networking, find out what the biases are, the likes, and the dislikes of the members. Only after you’ve built a few relationships should you then start “marketing.” But if you do the networking part right then the marketing will take care of itself.

Based on my own experience, the blog posts that do best at the popular social bookmarking sites are the ones that meet the conditions of this list. The ones I think are the best suggestions are:

• Be funny
• Use short videos
• Top 10 lists

But not necessarily in that order.

When it comes to blog marketing, there is more than one way to make it happen. The tools in your blog marketing arsenal should all work together and to be successful at blog marketing is essentially to be successful in marketing your business. Your blog really needs a business plan of its own, separate from your overall business plan, but the two do need to fit together.

Blog marketing consists partly of the content and how you package it, but it’s more than just content. You’ve got to actively drive targeted customers to your blog so that you can sell them on your services. Here’s a list of blog marketing tools that you can use to be more successful in driving traffic to your blog:

• SEO
• Social bookmarking
• Social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace)
• Forum posting
• Blog trackbacks
• Commenting on other blogs
• Blog directories
• Articles
• Search engine marketing
• Banner advertising
• E-mail marketing

As you can see, there are a lot of options when it comes to blog marketing. You can use any of these tools to drive traffic to your blog, but using multiple tools in tandem will produce the best results. Once you get people to your blog, however, it’s up to you to close the sale and/or get them to your website.

I like Michael Martine. He offers useful insights from time to time, but I also reserve the right to disagree. This is from today:

Write your posts like they’re news stories: pay attention to your headlines and leads like a reporter would.

I somewhat agree. Yes, headlines make a difference. I believe news-style headlines are best. Action verbs, sentence-like structure, eye-catching and appealing. However, unlike news headlines, blog post headlines are more effective if they focus on the benefit of the content rather than sensationalized.

I can go two ways on blog posts. They can be like news stories. There’s nothing wrong with that style. But they can also be like op-ed pieces. People do care what you think. You are the expert and they are reading your blog for your expert opinion. Don’t be afraid to give it.

Always credit your source or inspiration for a story. The internet may be built out of html and links, but it’s “made” of people, and people deserve credit for what they’ve done, just as you would want to receive credit.

I fully agree with this. By giving credit to your sources you are not only covering yourself legally, but you are also drawing others into your blog, into your content, and into your conversation. More people will read you if they see that you are trying to do the right thing and giving credit where credit is due.

Maintain good relationships with others who are the sources of the information that’s in your blog posts.

Again, I agree. Business - online or off line - is all about relationships. That doesn’t mean you can’t disagree. You can. But when you disagree, do it in an agreeable manner. People will respect you more and your blog will be read.

Boing Boing doesn’t have a niche. Which I find really interesting, because nearly all of the blogging advice you ever read says thou must haveth thy niche as though it were a commandment, or something. But Boing Boing isn’t in a niche. Boing Boing appeals to a certain type of person: tech savvy, pop-culture aware, liberal, biased towards open source, sexually active, pro human rights, and anti-DRM (digital rights management). That’s not a niche… it’s a demographic, which is a much broader marketing category.

This is where Michael and I have hopped aboard different trains. I’m not sure why there is a distinction between niche and demographic. In my mind, they are the same thing. Boing Boing does have a niche. Their niche is providing interesting news and commentary on tech-related issues for a hip, culturally aware audience.

I tried to find Boing Boing’s mission statement, but it wasn’t there. Maybe they’ve decided that their niche target market will find them. It obviously has. But a difference between a demographic and a niche is like the difference between a squad of cheerleaders and the clothes they wear. One is about the people and the other is about the content. They go hand in hand. Your demographic is defined by the people you serve. The niche is defined by the content you offer. I’d like to know more about why Michael Martine makes the distinction the way he does.

This is where a lot of bloggers fall short: other than writing on a blog, they’re not doing anything interesting or worth blogging about. This is especially true of “make money” blogs.

This is useful advice, but I’m really not sure what it has to do with blogging unless the blogger includes details of his personal life on his blog. There’s nothing wrong with doing that. John Chow does it and he has an interesting “personal blog” about making money. Other make-make-at-home bloggers don’t get so personal and they appeal to a different audience. I think you have to determine who your audience is and what they want. Do they want to hear about your participation in the march for equal rights for penguins? If not, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that you provide the kind of content that your target demographic is looking for.

So many blogs are the same! I can’t stand it. One way to stand out is to champion your peculiar tastes. Each of the boingers has some interesting and different likes and dislikes, and their personalities come through on the blog.

Yes, I absolutely agree. You have to stand out. Be controversial, have a sense of humor, show a little bit of your vulnerable side. Get angry, be sad, get happy, be glad. You know, write interestingly about interesting things. The No. 1 rule of blogging is Don’t Be Boring!

One thing you don’t want on a team blog is too much similarity between the team bloggers. You want each one to offer something strong and unique, so that collectively as a team, the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts.

Yes, I’d have to agree with Michael on this one, but since I don’t write or participate in a team blog, I suppose I don’t have much to say about this one.

One of the reasons for Boing Boing’s success is simply its longevity.

Blogging is a commitment. If you’re not in it for the long haul then you’re not in it for the right reasons. Don’t do it just because it’s popular or because the competition is doing it. If you start a blog, be sure to follow through and post to it often - 20 times a day is fine if you have the time. You should blog every day. If you can’t, do it once a week. That’s better than nothing. If you have to, hire a ghostwriter.

(Source) Blogger in Draft now lets you enable OpenID-based commenting, in your blogs’ Settings | Comments tab:

This is one more reason I don’t like Blogger. Instead of fixing the problem with comments, the Google-owned Blogger team is just creating one more hoop for commenters to jump through in order for you to manage your blog. If you have a Blogger blog for your business, here’s why I think you should ditch it and take up using WordPress (not WordPress.com).

OpenID is somone’s uncanny way of talking people into one universal ID for the sake of convenience. Instead of having to use a thousand different logins (one for every website you register at), just use the OpenID and you can login anywhere you want. But it won’t work that way in practice and the reason is two-fold:

• First, OpenID will make it easier for some nefarious character online to steal your identity. No matter how secure it is, there is always somebody smarter than you who will be able to crack the code and take your ID and do some damage
• If you use the same nickname and password for all of your accounts anyway then OpenID is a non-issue. It’s only an issue for people who try to use their usual ID and password only to find that someone else has already taken it at the new social site that won’t be here next week. Find one original nickname that no one else is likely to use and make that your ID. Then you can use it anywhere and you’ll never forget it.

The problem with Blogger is that WordPress.org users can’t trackback and leave comments without jumping through hoops. It’s a fact that the more difficult you make it for your readers to leave comments on your blog, the less likely they will do so. Blogger makes it too difficult for me. Since I don’t have a Blogger account, I have “prove” myself every time I want to comment on a blog post. As a result, I don’t leave comments on Blogger blogs.

That’s bad for you.

The reason you want comments on your blog is because they help you with your SEO. Every comment left on your blog is more comment on that blog post page. If I’m addressing the topic then I’m likely using your keywords too. That’s more keyword-rich content, which helps you rank better in the search engines for that blog post. Why discourage me from helping you out that way?

If you’re concerned about spam, there are other ways of controlling it. WordPress has a great way of controlling spam by allowing WordPress users (I’m talking about WordPress.org, not dot com) the ability to require user IDs and passwords, but I wouldn’t suggest doing that too much. Don’t make your readers sign in every time they want to post a comment to your blog. Instead, set your WordPress settings to require every comment to be approved by a moderator. Additionally, get the Akismet plugin and install it. It will catch about 90% of your spam and discard it so that you don’t have to look at it. Now why can’t Blogger do that?

If you write a blog you might be tempted at certain times to ask people to contact you by e-mail for a certain service or to take advantage of a particular promotion. In doing so, you’ll give your e-mail address and hyperlink it so that it becomes easier for those wanting to take advantage of your offer to do so. I’d like to encourage you, before you do so, don’t!

I admire your willingness to provide useful and efficient service, and if you like getting spammed then go right ahead with your plan. If not, then I have some alternative suggestions for you.

Spammers and email marketers have been known to send their robots out to crawl hyperlinks in cyberspace. When they find a mail link, it’s food for their spambots. You’ll get lots of unwanted mail. I assure you. But you don’t have to do it that way.

Instead, list your email without hyperlinking it. That’s one alternative, though not the best choice. Spambots won’t be able to crawl it since it isn’t a link, but they can still read the content and make note of it. Then some human somewhere in a remote part of the world will manually enter it into their robot for future spam reference.

Another method that some people use is to list their email with a little bit of obscurity such as this:

brick at marketing dot com

Bots can read this text but don’t recognize it as an email address, so it takes care of the problem listed above where a human manually enters your address into a spambot’s files. But humans can still make this out to be an email address. If a person is a spammer they can still add your email to their list and you’ll still get a little bit of spam (though not as much).

The best way to combat spam on your blog is to add a page with a contact form on it. You can get the code for creating content forms just about anywhere on line. There are even some services that will create a form for you. But by including a contact form that people have to fill out, with a CAPTCHA included, you’ll go a long way to cut down spam. Humans can still get past the CAPTCHA but you’ll get a lot less spam with a contact form. Alternatively, you can put your contact form on your website and link to it from the blog. Either way is fine as long as you aren’t giving away your email address to the spammers.