Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 18 of June , 2008 at 9:16 am Comments (2)
Blog marketing starts right from day one when you decide on your blogs name. There are many blogs that have a ‘name’ that is different to their domain name. It is an interesting concept, but one that can lead to many problems.
If your blogs domain name is xyz.com and you name your blog ABC, there is the danger that first, someone will come along and register ABC or a derivation, or that ABC is already taken and you are blogging under someone else’s domain name. The other problem is that of confusion with your readers. If they remember you as ABC, they may forget your URL and never return. These issues are counter productive when it comes blog marketing.
Of more importance, is how you select your domain name. Most of the good dot com names are gone. You may find some variations still available, however many bloggers are now deciding on either long domain names, or using variations with hyphens. For example, rather than just xyz.com, they may try x-yz.com or x-y-z.com. A good or clever domain name can be a blog marketing blessing as the name itself becomes a marketing tool.
In selecting a name for your blog, you need to find a name that serves three purposes. The first is relevance to the content. The name of your blog needs to one that can, over time, be easily associated with the niche that you intend to operate in.
The second area to look at when selecting a blog name is the ease of use. Having a blog name that is a mile long with umpteen hyphens makes the URL difficult to remember, is even harder to type, and is a blog marketing nightmare. It can be more prone to typing errors as well.
The third aspect in a domain name is whether or not it can be used as a keyword. A long hyphenated domain name can be difficult to optimize in itself. You need to rely heavily on associated keywords instead of the domain name.
Blog marketing can be a difficult task. Add a poorly thought through blog name and the task becomes impossible.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Wednesday, 18 of June , 2008 at 8:39 am Leave a comment
Launching a blog these days goes hand in hand with an ecommerce strategy. A blog is a very effective choice when adding new content to your growing site. If you are planning to monetize your blog by selling some of your products than it is very important to have a consistent credit card processing system in place for both your website and your blog.
Electronic Transfer offers a great solution to your credit card processing needs. This e-commerce merchant service offers recurring billing, address verification and secure order pages to name just a few of its feature services. Sometimes it could be difficult to pinpoint and choose a cost effective and recommended credit card processing company. We have analyzed this company and find it to be one of the best in the industry. With packages ranging for all shapes and sizes you will be able to find this one stop merchant service the right solution to your ecommerce puzzle. Come and read through the customer testimonials and you will be impressed by the positive responses this organization has generated through it users experiences. Having the right credit card processing company is very important. You do not want to be stuck and not able to get someone on the phone if your shopping cart should fail one day. You’re Website and your blog could depend on it.
For more information please visit Electronic Transfer and start processing your credit card transactions safely and easily.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Tuesday, 17 of June , 2008 at 8:26 am Comments (1)
Blog content has several issues that need looking at over time. The first is the problem of duplicate content and the second is the issue of new content.
Blogs are popping up everywhere and one of the common practices is to subscribe to RSS feeds and then just reprint any articles of interest from them as their blog content. They are even getting smart now and only taking the first paragraph and using the read more to link back to the source.
This can result in websites with duplicate blog content - in some cases 100% copies. Google now claims to be able to locate the original content and drop any spammed copied from their indexes. You can never be sure.
The second issue of fresh blog content is a little different. Fresh content normally means publishing something new on a regular basis, preferably daily. Sometimes this is just not possible. There are options available can be of help.
Have you ever seen those “Quote of the Day” widgets on blogs? They adds a random quote of the day to each page that the widget appear on. Some work on a time basis, updating every set time period; others update for each visitor that arrives on that page effectively changing the blog content for each visit.
The effect is that every time you arrive on that page, the page will be a little different. The search engine spiders see the same thing. Every time they come to read your pages, the blog content has been changed.
If you can incorporate several different widgets on a page, you can make significant changes to the page which will result in frequent visits from the spiders and frequent reidexing of your pages. This is a great counter to the lack of fresh content on your pages.
It also makes your pages look different to the scrapped pages on another site. If you have incorporated any links back to site in that content (which you can do quite easily within the RSS feed) then Google and the other search engines will see your site as being the original publisher of the content.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Monday, 16 of June , 2008 at 10:26 pm Comments (1)
Images can often make a difference to a blogs overall look and certainly add reader value to an individual post - if that is the image is suitable to the content and the image itself optimized. These blogging tips are directed more towards the look of a post than to any SEO affects.
Many bloggers fail to look at the most basic blogging tips when it comes to images. I often come across pages where an image has been placed and the effect actually destroys the flow of post itself. It can be very disconcerting to a reader to the point that the post’s message is lost.
Simple blogging tips like left or right aligning the image with text wrap. Placing white space around the image for clarity - there are so many blogs where the text is hard up against the image. Borders can be a useful affect as well if you know how to use them. Blogging Tips has an excellent post on How To Add Borders and is well worth a read.
Apart from borders, you can very quickly and easily add white space and change the alignment of your images with a couple of short commands.
White Space:
To add white space around an image - add the following command inside the <img src=”???? hspace=”5″ vspace=”5″> line in your html editor. The number 5 represent the number of white space pixels.
Image Alignment:
Add the following command <img src=”???” align=”left> - you can use ‘left’ ‘right’ or ‘center’ in the command line. The left and right options also allow the text to wrap around the image.
These are very simple blogging tips, however the overall affect to your post can be quite startling.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 15 of June , 2008 at 10:49 am Leave a comment
For some bloggers, getting traffic can be difficult particulalry when they first start up. For some, blog networks offer a flow of traffic that helps to kick-start their blogging life.
Blog networks have several advantages and disadvantages. The main idea of a blog network is that, once you sign up, for every blog you visit you will receive credits which are used to bring visitors to you. The general pattern is one return visitor for every two blogs that you visit. Visit 50 blogs and receive 25 visitors to your blog.
That can be time consuming. Visiting 50 blogs takes quite a while. Some blog networks have paid options where your visiting ratio become 1-1. You may even be able to buy credits so you don’t have to visit other blogs at all.
One of the benefits to new bloggers is visiting other blogs. You get a feel for blogging and what is involved, how other bloggers set up and perhaps monetize their sites. This can be a quick learning experience for the new blogger.
Most experienced bloggers find it hard to justify the time and cost of joining a blog network. However, for new bloggers, it pay provide a steady stream of traffic and help to introduce them to a great many blogs they would otherwise not have seen.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Saturday, 14 of June , 2008 at 8:05 am Comments (2)
Most blogs include an RSS feed for their readers, however there is more to your RSS than relaying your latest post. Your RSS feed or email has some valuable blank real estate around your posts that could be put to work to enhance your blog.
Blogging Income: With prime real estate going to waste it makes sense to increase your blogging income where ever possible. You can either sell advertising space or sign up for Feedburner’s Adsense ads. The good thing about Adsense is the targeting of ads to your content.
Link Building: You can incorporate links to related content on your site. For WordPress users there are several plugins that can help with this process. Placing internal links also adds a little value if your posts are scrapped onto a spam site.
Promotion: You can use the space to promote yourself, your blog or another blog or web site that you control. You can also use the space to promote and funnel readers to dedicated landing pages.
Copyright: The footer of your RSS feed is the perfect place to include copyright information. You can include other statements such as disclaimers in this areas as well.
Special Offers: You can reward your readers by placing special offers into your feeds footer. Everyone appreciates special offers, particularly if they are free.
With these suggestions there is no reason your RSS feeds should be limited to just a relay of your latests posts. Use the space wisely and your readers will appreciate it and you will benefit from it.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Friday, 13 of June , 2008 at 5:24 pm Comments (1)
One of the problems that some blogs face, particularly if they are popular or in a very competitive niche, is that of security. This blogging tip looks at what you can do to tighten up your security.
Most security issues revolve around two areas. The first is the software itself, for most bloggers that is WordPress. Over the years WordPress has had numerous security issues which have resulted in regular updates to the software.
The second area of concern is at the server level and these blogging tips will address several of those. I know from experience that one of the regular areas to be attacked is are your data files.
Hacker’s exploit your database as the WordPress default table prefix is wp_ .You can change this to a more secure prefix in a number of ways. The most secure is probably by doing it manually. This is time consuming, but then losing your database is probaby more time consuming.
There is very good six step guide to changing your table prefix at t-dot blog - simply follow the instructions carefully and you will safeguard your database tables. There is also a plugin available, however from what I can tell, it seems to have issues for some users.
The WordPress plugin site has a plugin that may be worth looking at. It provides a broader range of security issues including removal of version numbers and file permissions. WP Security Scan does a good job of securing your blog, however, I cannot stress enough the need to read the instructions carefully before installing and using.
Blog security is a big issue and needs careful actions. The last thing you need is to compromise your blog while trying to protect it. However, if you don’t put in place some security issues, the loss of your blog’s data can cause even bigger headaches. My biggest tip: backup regularly - daily if possible. If your security is compromised, you can at least restore from your back up.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Thursday, 12 of June , 2008 at 9:43 am Comments (1)
How many categories do you have in your blog design? Too many I bet! Sometime we give our readers too many choices and our selves to much in the way of hard work - at the same time we could be damaging our blogs SEO.
Categories can be a great way to file information. However there are times when people simply overdo it. I have come across sites that 30 plus categories with every post being tagged into three, four or more of those categories. It is not a sensible blog design strategy.
Take blog SEO for an example. For every category you tag a post into, it is potentially another copy of the post - duplicate content. Although duplicate content is not as harshly dealt with as once thought of, you want your link juice going to the post’s page, not spread throughout the categories. You can use a plugin which can help noindex the categories, but you still have the ‘follow’ issue for links.
By having such a wide variety of categories, you can often be left wondering which category to place your post in. The trap in the finish is to tick as many relevant and near relevant as possible. This can frustrate your readers when trying to find specific information. Your blog design should be there to help your readers, not frustrate them.
I recently came across an oldish (Feb 08) post on Pearsonified titled What Every Blogger Needs to Know About Categories which had a novel but sensible twist on categories. Rather than divide categories into the normal type, he has divided them into ‘Must Read’, ‘Worth A Look’ type categories.
It is an interesting concept although as a reader, if I am looking for specific information, that type of filing system would frustrate me even more. Without being too critical, his blog didn’t have a search option either.
The concept itself is interesting and I am sure it could be modified to cover both in contextual categories and the more inviting ‘Must Read’ style of category. Blog design needs to concentrate on the user as well as the search engines. Make the experience easier on your readers and they will happily return. Categories are one area that can be tightened up to improve both the search engine needs and your readers ability to find what they want.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 11 of June , 2008 at 8:04 pm Comments (1)
Affiliate promotion has been a popular form of blogging income for many years. For some the income from affiliates seem to run into thousands each month, for others, they are lucky to make cents. What then is the key to making a blogging income through affiliates?
Affiliate income can come in two different streams. The first and most common is through the promotion of products on behalf of another organization. A visitor sees your promotion and clicks through and makes purchase. You get a set commission - end of transaction.
Some sites will pay on further transaction either for life or for a set period ranging from seven day to 12 months. This means that once that customer has made a purchase, they are ‘your’ customer and you will continue to earn commission from any sales to them.
The second form of affiliate marketing is similar to the above with a slight modification - multi level or tiered commission. For these programs, you are not only trying to make sales, you are also trying to get individuals to sign up as affiliate marketers themselves. Commissions differ with a tiered structure. You may earn 5% on your sales plus 5% on the sales that any of your ‘affiliates’ make - sometimes as deep as three, four or five. The percentage of commission may drop after the level.
Benefits of multi level affiliates is that once you have established an affiliate structure, you can sit back and concentrate on building an affiliate network on another product. The blogging income from the first network, called passive income, will continue for as long as your affiliates keep working for you.
The best products to promote are those closely related to your niche. Visitors are coming to your site already to read your content. They obviously have an interest in your subject matter so it makes sense to sell products in that area.
The second key to succeeding with affiliate marketing is to do some promotion, writing about the products through your blogs and perhaps by undertaking PPC campaigns with the product as your choice of keywords.
Affiliate marketing is not for everyone. It can cost you more than you make initially, however once you build up an affiliate base, your income can grow quite well with little follow work required. These days it is difficult to make tens of thousands through affiliate programs, you can however gain reasonable returns.
Writing by Maciej Fita on Wednesday, 11 of June , 2008 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment
Think of your hosting company as your circulatory system to power your blog. If it fails your blog will be in trouble. Same rule applies to hosting providers. If your blog goes down than it really doesn’t matter if you saved money at that point by going with a cheaper less efficient hosting provider. Website visitors do not like to come to a site and see it down. This tends to scare customers and make them run for the hills. In today’s day in age red flags are everywhere and web traffic will weave in out of those red flags. ImHosted is a hosting company that can give you the peace of mind that your website will be up and running at all times. Their team will monitor your site 24/7 to ensure its up time is nothing less than their guaranteed 99.998%.
ImHosted is a one stop shop for all blog hosting needs. Everything from ecommerce website hosting to spam protection features. Their dedicated team of customer service representatives will help you with any of your hosting questions and concerns. Currently ImHosted holds clients in 78 countries and a crew of happy customers. Come over to the site and take a look at the testimonials page and you will see that many others have tried and have been extremely satisfied.
For more information please visit ImHosted and see how this staple in the hosting industry can help you.
Writing by Maciej Fita on Tuesday, 10 of June , 2008 at 8:24 am Leave a comment
When launching a blog it is just as important to know that your blog sits on a solid foundation than the content of the blog itself. Improper hosting could be the make or break factor for the survival of your blog. Jump Launch is a hosting company dedicated towards the survival and up time of your blog. All it takes is for your site to go offline for a few days and you could quickly loose visitor confidence which could quickly result in a downward spiral for your blog.
Jump Launch is so confident in their product and service that they guarantee their product 100%. With the popularity of blogs these days and hundreds springing up every day it is important to stay visible and not have any possibility of downtime for your blog. As aggressive as online marketing is your blog cannot show any signs of weakness because in a visitors eyes that tends to raise red flags. Hosting is a vital component of your overall marketing strategy. Hosting is the circulatory system of your blog or website so make it 100% visible to your audience or they might just end up on one of your competitors.
For more information please visit Jump Launch and take a look at how their products and services can and will help the longevity of your blog.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Tuesday, 10 of June , 2008 at 2:10 am Leave a comment
One of the fundamentals of blog SEO is gaining quality inbound links. Inbound links may not be all that hard to get particularly if you use article marketing and social networking. The hard part is getting the ‘quality’ inbound links.
There are many arguments as to the worth of link swapping, or link exchanging. The consensus of most in the industry is that, whilst they may deliver extra traffic, when it comes to blog SEO and rankings they have little value - if the search engines determine they have been exchanged.
The problem with link exchanges is that your link often get placed either in a sidebar or buried on a page away from the front page. For blog SEO purposes, this is pretty useless. Quality links are those that appear in content, in context, with appropriate anchor text. That is a lot to ask from someone.
If you frequent any of the social bookmarking or social networking sites then it pays to really socialize. If you can build some ‘close’ relationships on these communities you can do as many others do, create mutually beneficial link exchanges - inside content with appropriate anchor text pointing to individual posts - the cream of links.
When you around the blog world you will start to notice that certain blogs seem to link to other blogs on a regular basis. These loose partnerships are developed over time but as part of your blog SEO strategy, they are very effective. A slight word of caution. Networking should be for the overall purpose of networking, not just personal gain - give as much as you receive - if not more.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Monday, 9 of June , 2008 at 12:48 am Leave a comment
Blog plugins help to extend the functionality of your blog and for users of WordPress, the range of plugins is endless - or at least it seems that way.
The home for WordPress blog plugins is WordPress.org where you can find over 2000 plugins covering an extremely wide range of functions. If you are looking for a blog plugin to do a particular job then enter the function into the search window - you will often be surprised at the results.
The top five plugins at present are - in order of popularity:
- All in One SEO Pack
- Google XML Sitemaps
- Akismet
- WordPress.com Stats
- NextGEN Gallery
All in One SEO Pack and Google XML Sitemaps have each been downloaded in excess of 300,000 times and are extremely popular.
As a plugin site it is obviously popular with over 4 million downloads. The site holds the official WordPress blog plugin database and is used by almost all WordPress users to update their current plugins. If you need a blog plugin - check out the official site first.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 8 of June , 2008 at 7:35 am Leave a comment
It hasn’t quite hit the streets yet however Feedburner is starting to roll out Adsense for feeds for those publishers who use the Feedburner service to distribute their RSS feeds.
As theses ads are rolled out you can expect to see the ‘ads by Google’ alongside contextually targeted ads. To quote from the Feedburner blog:
For publishers who are not yet placing ads in their feeds, any publisher who meets the requirements to join the AdSense program will also be able to use AdSense for feeds. You will be able to manage your feed ad units directly from AdSense Setup tab, and track performance right on the AdSense Report tab. You can slice, dice, mix, or mash your tracking across feed units and content units, or keep them totally separate. You’re in control. You can still control the frequency and rules around when ads appear in your feeds, without having to mess with templates on your content management system.
If you use Feedburner and want to monetize your feeds then that options is just around the corner. Keep your eyes on the Feedburner blog site where I am sure they will shouting the news once it’s ready to roll.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Saturday, 7 of June , 2008 at 7:47 am Comments (1)
The use of social bookmarking sites has quickly become a popular way of increasing traffic to one’s site. Sometimes the traffic is not all what it seems. StumbleUpon is a good example. Someone ’stumbles’ your post and before you know it you have a huge spike in your traffic. When you check your stats, there is also a huge spike in your bounce rate.
There are many people that sneer at social bookmarking and claim the time spent ’socializing’ could be better spent elsewhere. For these individuals I fear the magic of social bookmarking has escaped them.
When undertaking a social bookmarking campaign, the last thing that should be on your mind is traffic. I agree that in many cases the traffic delivered is fleeting, stopping for seconds before deciding to move on. With the StumbleUpon system I compare it to a magazine. You flick through a magazine stopping at articles that interest you; flicking past those that don’t. Likewise, you flick through blogs, stopping at posts that interesting you; moving on if they don’t.
That is not the magic. The magic that social bookmarking delivers is the link from the bookmarking site to your post. That link can be multiplied by the name of bookmarks or votes that your site receives. Every time your post is bookmarked, that bookmark is saved in the bookmarker’s list of favorite sites.
That is the first piece of magic. The second still concerns links, this time from your visitors. Traffic from social bookmarking sites is free. If 1 our 100 stop and read - that is one extra reader you have received. More importantly, if any of these visitors link to your post, that is a another one way inbound link received.
The time invested in social bookmarking is almost impossible to measure in outcomes. You will never know if the next link comes from a visitor through a social bookmarking site, or from search engine listing. The fact you have another inbound link is what is important. There is definitely more to social bookmarking than just traffic.
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