Where to Find Content For Your Blog
December 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Click here to learn how make profitable blogs with Blogging to the Bank. Today, we’re going to discuss the type of content that is suitable for your blog in order to make it profitable. First off, I want you to understand that there is no fixed scope that your blog should have, which means you can write about whatever you’re interested in.
However, the difference between a profitable blog and a non-profitable blog is the way the blog is written. Just imagine, would you prefer to read your university professor’s lecture notes or the latest novel by your favourite author?
You may prefer to read the novel because it appeals more to your interest, or because it is not as mind-numbing as the lecture notes by your professor. However, the most important point is people like to read “light” stuff most of the time. You see, when people log on to your blog, they are not only looking for information – they are also looking for information they can obtain easily, and better still in a relaxed manner.
So, to attract more visitors as well as to keep your current visitors coming back for more, it is very important to add a human touch to your blog posts. You can even talk about universal life insurance quotes. This can be done by simply imagining you’re talking about a certain topic with your personal friend. An extra bonus for your readers would be a great sense of humour, so try to add funny comments in your articles where they are suitable.
Another important key point is to avoid addressing your reader as a plural unit. What I really mean is you should not write as if you’re preparing a speech. Instead, you should write as if you’re having a conversation to a single person because this will make your visitor think of you more as a personal friend rather than a person of higher authority.
Besides that, it is also very useful to establish your own personality through your words. Human beings are very curious creatures, so naturally your visitors would want to know as much about you as the information you’re offering them.
Having a distinctive personality in your blog would create a world’s difference between your blog about gadgets and all the other blogs about gadgets out there. This is a lot like creating your own brand name, where people immediately remember your blog’s name when they need to find out information about gadgets, just like how people immediately think of McDonald’s for fastfood or Nike for sportswear.
So, the lesson for today is to simply write as an equal friend to your visitors, write to them as if you’re talking to a single person and establish your own personality on your blog.
Click here to learn how to make money blogging with Blogging to the Bank.
Your Blog’s On Page Search Engine Optimization
November 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Click here to learn how make profitable blogs with Blogging to the Bank. Now, you should have a blog full with content you have passionately written. It should be a very interesting grapevine for the community of your chosen niche, as opposed to a lifeless factsheet.
However, no matter how delicious your content is, if there is nobody to read it you can’t generate profit from it. Even if you talk about compare life coverage quotes. Traffic is the lifeblood of your blog. In order to attract people, you must offer attractive information. Simple enough.
However, to get traffic onto your site, you have to think backwards. Where do people look when they need information? Yes, they search using search engines like www.google.com, www.yahoo.com and www.msn.com, to name a few more popular ones. So, to get these people on your blog, your blog needs to rank high on search result pages of these search engines. When these people search for information through the search engines and see your site among the top results, they will naturally click through to your blog!
The art of getting your blog or website onto high rankings on search result pages is called SEO. It is a very complex and hard subject to master, but that doesn’t stop us from learning simple yet effective techniques to conquer the search results for certain keywords. The more complex techniques are usually needed to fight for very competitive and general keywords such as “fat loss”, but I’ll teach you how to overcome that later.
For now, let’s determine the keywords that you want to optimize your site for. For example, your blog talks about tech gadgets. Now, you’d want to check in Google whether it is a very competetive keyword. At this time of writing, there are 29, 000 ,000 search results. Think you can beat 29, 000, 000 sites at your first attempt? I don’t think so.
Now, let’s try to narrow down our scope. Let’s look for “technological gadgets” instead. At this time of writing, Google lists 792, 000 results. That’s more manageable, but you’d like to search for more focused keywords. However, let’s optimize your blog for “technological gadget” just for the sake of learning.
First, you have to pay attention to the title of your blog. Since you’re optimizing for technological gadgets, you need to have that exact phrase in your blog title. For example, a line like “Your Best Technological Gadget Blog!” would work great. You can change the title of your blog in the Blogger control panel or the Wordpress blog when you’re creating it. If you’re proficient with HTML, you can even do that on other blog engines like Moveable Type. Bottom line? Learn a little HTML!
Other than that, your page heading should also contain the term you’re optimizing for. The page heading is the bit of text in your code that is enclosed within the tags. This is important as it tells the search engines what your page is about (in this case, “technological gadgets”). Since we’re posting a blog, the tags are usually the post titles, so remember to include the term there whenever relevant.
One last bit, you should also sprinkle the words “technological gadgets” in your posts whenever possible. The frequent occurrence of that phrase in your blog will hint the search engines that your blog is really relevant to that topic.
However, this is the most important bit of all. Always keep in mind that you’re writing for real life people who read your blog to obtain information, so it is very stupid to spam your blog with keywords! In fact, if you do that, the search engines will end up thinking you’re spamming and drop your ranking further down into oblivion… So keep in mind! Write for humans, not search engines!
Click here for more on how to make money blogging
Essential blogging skills required
November 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Blogging is an easy job, agreed. But that’s also it’s disadvantage. Wondering how ? Well, just imagine this. If you are finding blogging easy and interesting, so is 10000 people out there, and that adds to your competition. Moral of the story - Be original and top notch.
I guess every blogger would agree on it. Unless you are different and exclusive, readers will find you very dis-interesting and boring. So the whole point is about making yourself stand out from the crowd. So how can you accomplish it ? How can you actually stand out from the rest and make an impression on the visitor ?
Here are a few pointers.
- Be up to date
For this there are many methods. Go to alltop.com and select your favorite category and it will list you all the top sites breaking news in that category. - Read as many blogs as possible
Reading others stuff can give you lot of ideas on what is hot and not. So if you are the kind who reads more blogs, then you have a chance of staying up to date.
Ex: - Technology updates blog, SEO blogs, Digital photo tips blogs - Follow digg
Digg is a nice to place to hang out, have fun and at the same time get to know the top news. It is a social media site and gets a lot of inputs from geeks all around the world. Use it. - Follow news sites
News sites like cnn.com and cnbc.com ar egood resources to stay uptodate with news. Subscribe to them and get to know the latest stories first. - Social media interaction
These days, everybody is on a social media site like orkut, facebook, hi5 and myspace. Use this community to know what people are talking about and indulge in them.
Overall, stying up to date is about joining the top communities and subscribing to top authority blogs and regularly following them. I’m sure, if you love blogging, then you will love this too.
Online money making opportunities with domain names
November 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Domain business is indeed big money. To give you a taste of it, there was this guy who bought pizza.com for 2 million USD. Whooa..that’s quite a lot of money isn’t it?
So how can you make money buying and selling domain?
Domain business is like real estate business. While a real estate broker buys prime land and keeps it with him for years together, he’s actually growing his money. A growth is guaranteed, and there are no short falls. Similarly in domain business, the clever guys is the one who picks up “value domains”. Let’s discuss this further.
More info on blogging and search engine optimization here - Making money with digital photography.
Investment Required
- Time and effort
You have to be really clever and find out what’s a premium domain. Domains like pizza.com and three-four letter domains are almost unavailable now or are on high bids. So it takes lot of time and effort to find out the best domain, that you think is “sell able”. This is as complex as finding the prime property in real estate. Finding out a good domain requires you to hang around with the domain seller community and find out what’s the hottest domains there. Like for instance poker related domain names are much in demand and is big money. So it makes sense to book one today relevant to the poker keywords. Though you can guarantee that a domain name is completely sellable, it requires much calculation to find out if it’s acceptable.
- Patience
The guy who owned pizza.com registered it in 1994, and kept it with him until 2007/8 when he sold it for USD 2 million. So had he lost hope all those years, he wouldn’t have made so much money. So patience s a good virtue. Once you are sure that you have a great domain, keep it with you and watch the demand rise. Some people also make it a point to let people know of the domain and create demand. Though it can happen sometimes, it’s not necessary if it’s a great domain. But yes, keeping it with you for some time is sure good way to increase the price.
- Ensuring visibility
Once you have a great domain, ensure that you make it visible to the potential buyers. For example if you have a poker domain you can hang around at poker related websites and forums and make it known to buyers. This can create some hype over the domain too. Hanging around forums and discussion boards along with commenting on blogs and using the social media is a great way to increase the prize and demand for the domain.
Tools required
For great domain sell outs, you have to use the tools that are popular. Some are forums like Digitalpoint.com, and Sitepoint.com where lot of buyers and sellers hangout. Also there are marketplaces at DNSscoop.com where people hangout who are potential buyers. More info here.
Returns
Big money. If you have great domains that are much in demand or brandable, then there’s quite a lot that you can earn.
Risks
Well, if you pick up wrong domain names, then it’s a waste of money. Don’t pick up reseller domains that have been banned on google or have been doing something shady. It’s a risk buying them and keeping them with you.
Blogging tips on ideas to blog
November 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
When there are too many blogs out there, it’s difficult to make an impression on the visitors. It’s a truth. You have to be different and exclusive to impress the visitor who may be only spending 5 seconds or less on your blog. In some cases like technical blogs, the user spents onle less than 2 mins. The important thing is to keep them engaged for the five seconds. So how do you write those intersting topics coming in and how do you stay updated of the technology to deliver those exclusive up-to-date content ? Here are a few ways.
- Subscribe to feeds.
Almost every blog out there has feeds or RSS subscription set up. Feel free to subscribe to them on a reader like Google reader. Because when you read other blogs, you will understand what everyone is talking about and stay updated. - Yahoo answers.
Yahoo answers is a good place to start looking for questions people are asking. People asks all sorts of questions there. And the reason why they are asking the question is because they haven’t found the answer on the internet. So if you are able to provide them with an answer then you are probably delivering quality with some exclusive content. - Participate in forums.
Forums are another place to check for questions and discussions. Unless like in Yahoo answers, you can get to know the discussion and find what people like and what not. Reply to them with a post on your blog. - Comment on blogs.
Commenting on blogs is easy and an effective way to start communicating with others. Also, it gives you the opportunity to stay updated and see how people are reponding to a topic or opinion. You can make use of these opinions in your blogs while you arite it. - See what’s hot in Google trends.
Google trends is another tool that will help you find out what people are searching for on Google and what the trend is like. If a search term is hot it means more people are searching for it, so you may want to write an article on it.
So essentially, it’s all about getting connected with the crowd and knowing what’s hot and what’s not. If you follow these tools, you have a good chance of staying updated with topics on the internet. It might also be a good idea to keep you updated by following the SEO blogs around. They give regular updates on the tools available for blogging. If you’re looking to find the best web application developers, try these guys - Django web application development US Ware Tech.
How to Pick the Optimal Platform for your Weblog
November 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I can’t think of a more common question or concern among both new and experienced bloggers alike: what blog platform should I use? Aside from learning how to blog, it’s an almost universal concern.
And there is no one-size-fits-all answer. All bloggers NEED to own their domain names, but platform choice is largely dependent on the specific blogger’s needs. That said, I’ve compiled a list of advantages and disadvantages of the two main platform choices below.
Hosted Platforms
Hosted platforms refer to services whereby a service provider gives you access to their software, hardware, and network connection, and you create a blogging account for use on that service. With a hosted blog, you have access to an admin panel for your blog, and that’s it.
Common hosted platforms include packages like Typepad, LiveJournal, and Blogger.
Advantages of Hosted Platforms
- Inexpensive: most are free; others (like TypePad) are offered with multiple price points
- Simple to setup: just signup for an account and then quickly learn how to create blog posts
- Automatic updates: you don’t need to concern yourself with keeping hosted software updated and patched.
Disadvantages of Hosted Platforms
- Rigid: there are fewer configuration options with hosted platforms.
- Not as many design choices: you typically only get to select from a limited number of average designs, and you often can’t make updates to them
- Generic URL: some hosted platforms don’t have the choice to use your own URL
- Less control: you are at the mercy of the platform
- Migration issues: moving from some free hosted platforms results in a lot of effort and often the temporary loss of search engine rankings
Self-hosted Platforms
Self-hosted platforms consist of your own web hosting account with a data center, and the blogging software you install on the data center’s server. With a self-hosted blog, you have access to a management panel for your blog, but you also have access to a server account and the blog software where you can do almost anything.
Common self-hosted software includes Movable Type, Joomla, and WordPress.
Advantages of Self-hosted Platforms
- Design flexibility: you have full control over layout and design
- Great software: the best software exists on self-hosted platforms
- Custom URL: custom URL’s are common on self-hosted platforms
- Adaptability: your blog can change as your needs change
- Easy migration: should you ever want to migrate to a different platform or another server, migrating is a snap
Disadvantages of Self-hosted Platforms
- Difficult setup: setup can sometimes be difficult, but this can be overcome with a good blogs how to
- Cost: while the blogging software is free, the hosting platform will cost you money
- Hosting issues: unless you choose a good host, you might have to suffer from down-time or poor support
- Upgrades: you will need to keep your software patched
Most of of my blogs are self-hosted, and it’s what I usually recommend to anyone looking to create a professional blog. There are too many benefits to pass up, and you usually have the option to host many blogs and domains on one account, driving the cost per blog down to a negligible amount.
How to Blog for Profit
November 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Blogging is not just a form of self-communication, it’s also an excellent way to make money online. If you’re new to blogging and yet want to start quickly, there are several business models you can try for maximum results in a short time. This article discussed the three most popular methods.
The first method is get paid to blog or paid blogging. Using this method, you create your blog and add a few good articles to it. Then you signup with paid blogging networks like Pay Per Post or Review Me and see what “opportunities” are available. These networks are filled with advertisers looking for blogger who can help them spread the word, and they are willing to pay. Accept the opportunity, write about it on your blog, and you get paid.
The second method is WordPress and AdSense and it requires a little more technical know-how. You need to build a WordPress blog on a specific niche topic, and start writing some good content on it. Once you’re done, leave comments on other blogs to get some important one-way links. The objective is to get more traffic who will click on your AdSense ads and make you money.
The third and most sophisticated method is affiliate marketing with WordPress blogs. Again, you set-up a good WordPress blog but with this model the amount of content you publish is not as important as the “selling quality” of the content. Each post you write must pre-sell the web visitor and convince him to click on your affiliate links. When the visitor makes a purchase online after that, you get credited for the sale and earn commissions.
Ultimately, which model you choose depends on how much time and resources you can dedicate to creating and managing your blogs. If you’re new, you should choose a low-investment model and compensate by spendingmore time on it. When you get the hang of it, you can venture into other blogging models as well.
Building Your First Website
October 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Nearly all new businesses have their own web site as it is now considered crucial to success. In fact there are many businesses which exist solely on the Internet. Many people are tempted to start an online business but are put off by the expense of having a web site built by a professional web site designer. This may have caused you to reconsider starting up your own business but read on as this article examines various aspects of web design focusing on creating your very first site for free or minimal cost using free tools and templates.
Although the cost of professional web design seems ridiculously high there are a number of reasons why this is so. Not only do you have to cover the wages of the highly trained designer but the company has other costs such as office expenses. Even if the web designer works from home he will be using software and hardware, such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, graphics tablets and the likes, that is really rather expensive. However there are many cheaper, and some free, alternatives which can be used to create even the most complex websites and some companies even give away complete web designs for free (usually advertised as free web templates).
Finding the cheap or free alternatives is as simple as a search on your favorite search engine. Simply search for “web design freeware” or “web design shareware”, the difference between the two types is that one is free whereas the other requests a small payment for use (especially if the software is being used commercially). You will find a massive selection of web building tools are available and many are so good that some professionals use them!
One of the really great things about the free web design software is that much of it offers a WYSIWYG interface which makes web site building as easy as drawing. However you will need to learn a little about the programming languages used in web design, HTML & CSS. Even basic knowledge of HTML and CSS will help greatly.
If building a web site from scratch using HTML and CSS is a little daunting then you can search the Internet for free web site templates or free css templates. You will be amazed at the quality of some of these designs which can be easily tweaked to perfectly match your web design requirements.
If even this method is a little too complicated for you there is another alternative which is one of the most popular ways in which to build a web site - blogs. Whatever topic you want your web site to be about you can be sure that a blog is highly suitable as the Internet has blogs about virtually everything possible.
The really great thing about blogs is that they are free, yes, get that, this amazing web building tool is offered for free! Well not all the time but the most popular, Wordpress and Blogger, are free to use. You are given a small amount of web space to store your posts (pages) and images and the whole process of building a blog is so easy that children do it. The interface is rather like a word processor, you simply type in the text for the page and hit publish and the page is immediately created.
Of course the free blogs are rather basic with some limitations but as your knowledge increases you can upgrade some to include extra facilities and more web space. However it is really not that complicated to change the design of your blog and, if you have downloaded the blog software (Wordpress is best) to install on your own free web space (very easy to install) then you can take advantage of the many free Wordpress themes and templates available.
Remember building your first web site can be as easy as searching for freeware, shareware, free web templates etc. So why don't you head on over to your favorite search engine and get started on your very first web site just now? Take a Look at www.freewebsitetemplates4u.com
What You Need to Create a Blog
October 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
What You Need to Create a Blog
Many people ask what you need to get started in order to make a profitable blog. Well, this answer may surprise you; ’nothing’ or at least if you don’t want to spend any money and don’t care how much profit you make from them. However, if you want higher returns then you will need to invest some money to help you get started, and depending on what you want to do, you can spend up to several hundred dollars, but in the long run it is worth it.
One of the most important things you will need to get started is some form of keyword research tool or database. On the market today you can find a large selection of these types of products, ranging in price from zero dollars up to $500. The most popular tool on the market is probably ’WordTracker’, which offers a limited trial version for free, or a fully-functional version for $7.50 a day or $45 a month. Using a blog keyword research tool will allow you to find out which words are the most commonly used and have a cumulative profit rating associated with them.
In addition to a good keyword research tool, there can be several other things you will need to get started, depending on your project.
For example, if the blog you are hosting is one you want to use as a source of profit, then you will want to add a thumbnail generator on your, “what you need to get started” list of things to do.
A thumbnail generator will work to create codes that will help increase the click-thru rate in your blog by using related, scraped-thumbnails pictures and searches on Google images and place them next to your contextual ads.
However, if you will be marketing your own product, then you will need to add an auto responder to your, “what you need to get started” list.
An auto responder will allow you to greatly improve your conversion rate by allowing you to put all follow-up emails on autopilot, rather than you having to do them personally or by strictly using your sales page.
My recommendation would be to always do some research on the internet for what products you can download, before you go out and spend a lot of money on something you may not really need. Then later you will be able to determine if you want to purchase any software products to further your blog business and increase your profits. Basically you have the choice to create a good blog without putting down any money at all, or you can use some of the great resources and tools available, to better help improve your chances to make even more profit.
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