Going up the rankings can be exciting and rewarding and there are plenty of guides on how to do that, but what do you do when you start to fall, and fall, and fall, and fall, and fall…?

Nothing

The first thing you do is absolutely nothing. Sit back, chillax and wait. The search engines are constantly fiddling with their algorithms and the weighting of ranking factors which affect how websites are ranked in the results. Sometimes a change can occur that doesn’t have the desired effect they wanted and penalises sites that were previously well ranked. When this occurs (and they notice it) the changes may be rolled back or amended and you can find your site jumps back to its previous positions over night. Give it a couple of weeks or so before you start making any changes.

SEO audit: Is your site fully optimized?

Do an audit of your on-site SEO to make sure you have covered all the areas you can optimize. Your website doesn’t exist within a vacuum and there are thousands of websites working to grab your position and who are squeezing every bit of juice out of their website to do it. Make sure you are using your target keyword(s) across these areas: title tag, H tags, image alt tag, image file name, internal link anchor text, internal link alt tag, site map, first paragraph of copy and page URLs.

Roll back any ‘black hat’ tactics you have undertaken

You can click here to read Google’s guidelines for webmasters which spell out what Google expects from a website as well as what not to do. If you have recently undertaken any of the following practices you may have been slapped by Google!

- Bought links

- Used hidden text or hidden links

- Introduced cloaking or underhand redirects

- Created pages with irrelevant keywords

- Added multiple pages, sub-domains, or domains with substantially duplicate content

- Set up a “doorway” page created just for search engines

Not necessarily ‘black hat’ but if a larger proportion of your website is now allocated to advertising space rather than original copy Google is going to take a dislike to you…”If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.”

Update content more regularly

Google likes fresh content and sites that are updated regularly. If you haven’t made any changes for a long time go back and review your web copy or investigate ways you can introduce regular content to your site e.g. articles, news, a blog etc.

Build up alternative sources of traffic

Because of Google’s dominance in search and putting your eggs all in one basket can almost become unavoidable, but direct traffic is still a source! Once they arrive to you from a search engine do everything you can to turn them in to a repeat visitor. As well as increasing repeat visitors percentages build a following on social media sites e.g. Twitter, Facebook et al as well as within your websites community e.g. forums, blogs et al.

The above article was written by ‘Matthew’ of internet hosting company Heart Internet.

OK, so you’ve thought about a fantastic name for your company and it’s time to purchase your website domain. Before you hit the purchase button, it’s always a good idea to run your decisions past someone else.

Why? Because, by shortening two words or more by simply removing the spaces in your business name, your domain name could attract an unwanted audience.

All of the businesses below didn’t spend quite enough time considering how their URLs might appear – or be misread…

So you want to find out the name of the agent or agency that represents any celebrity in the world, so you can book them for your upcoming event? Who better than ‘Who Represents’ [www.whorepresents.com]?

You’re a programmer and you need advice or want to provide advice to other programmers. Where better than ‘Expert Exchange’ [www.expertsexchange.com]?

Looking for a pen? Look no further than ‘Pen Island’ [www.penisland.net]?

Need a therapist? Try ‘Therapist Finder’ [www.therapistfinder.com]?

In Italy and need to contact a power company? ‘Italian Power Generators’ can be found at www.powergenitalia.com

And don’t forget the ‘Mole Station Native Nursery’ in New South Wales 
[www.molestationnursery.com].

If you’re looking for ‘IP computer software’, there’s always www.ipanywhere.com.

Decided you have found God and want to attend church? Then you might want to head over to the ‘First Cumming Methodist Church Web’. Their website is www.cummingfirst.com.

And finally the designers at ‘Speed of Art’ await you at their wacky Web site – 
www.speedofart.com.

The serious point is, always check your domain spelling and the way it reads. It saves on embarrassing marketing issues or red faces in front of clients later on.

The above article was written by Alan Anderson of Blue Tube Design.

Today, January 6th 2010, the UK has been gripped by ’snow fever’. The main TV news, tabloids, social media networks, everything and everybody has had just the one subject to talk about – snow!

The image accompanying this article is of my koi pond and garden, taken with my Nokia N95 mobile phone at 8.00am. Looks pretty doesn’t it?

Due to the weather (we’re talking snow here of course) I was forced to stay at home. This gave me the opportunity to do all kinds of online tasks – including writing for various blogs and websites and also updating the keywords on my ‘main’ website – www.davcomedia.co.uk -though to be honest, they were all labours of love.

I could just have easily done all of it from an internet cafe, the local library, McDonalds or a thousand other places with free wi-fi hotspots.

Publishing content to the internet is now so easy and I strongly recommend anyone who is thinking about blogging to stop thinking and start blogging.

All you need is a blogging platform (WordPress is my preference), a subject to write about and access to the internet. That’s it.

What are you waiting for – get blogging.

Ian Davies
Editor

There are literally thousands of guys (and gals) making a small fortune from their blogs, and in some cases a big fortune!

How do they do it?

There are many ways: Google adspace, affiliate schemes, advertising, product sales and more. They make it look easy to rake in a lot of cash, but if it was so easy everyone would be doing it!

Now I’m not a pro blogger. It takes time and hard work to make a full-time income from blogging and, frankly, I don’t have the time. However, I do make a small income from this blog (around £100 a month) and you can from yours too.

One easy way to generate money is by becoming an internet hosting reseller. It’s a method I use via a company called Heart Internet based in Nottingham.

Reseller hosting is a simple process and this is how I do it.

I pay Heart Internet £29.99 (plus VAT) per month and for that fee I get unlimited web space, unlimited bandwith and I can host unlimited websites. It’s a really impressive package with all the whistles and bells I need. I am then free to sell hosting to others at any price I like. I tend to resell hosting packages at around £20 PER YEAR per website, so I only need to sell two packages a month to make a profit and believe me it’s easy! I average around four packages each month without any effort at all! I’m sure I would make a very healthy profit if I promoted the service.

If becoming a reseller interests you I can highly recommend Heart Internet. The product they offer is excellent and their customer service is very impressive too.

Want to know more about Reseller Hosting with Heart Internet. You can find more information here.

Ian Davies
Editor

We have 18 tools and resources to help you give your site a Yuletide boost.

Have fun!

Christmas icons 

1. http://www.clevericons.com/icon/christmas06/

2. http://www.webdesignerwall.com/general/free-christmas-icons-for-you/

3. http://www.iconarchive.com/category/christmas/christmas-icons-by-zeusbox.html

4. http://www.standard-icons.com/stock-icons/standard-christmas-icons.htm

5. http://dryicons.com/free-icons/preview/christmas-surprise-four-in-one/

Christmas photographic images (free)

6. http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=christmas&l=4

7. http://freedigitalphotos.net/images/search.php?search=christmas&match_type=any

8. http://morguefile.com/archive/browse/#/?qury=christmas&terms_all=christmas

9. http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=search&txt=christmas&w=1&x=8&y=9

Christmas WordPress themes

10. http://www.devlounge.net/extras/iceburgg

11. http://wpthemes.amazing-christmas-ideas.com/cg/

12. http://www.simplywp.net/2008/11/19/hello-snowman-christmas-theme-for-wordpress/

13. http://www.blogger-template.info/blue-christmas-theme

14. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/12/24/christmas-wordpress-theme/

Christmas CSS templates

15. http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page76/happy-holidays.php#bookmarks

16. http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_045_christmas

17. http://www.entheosweb.com/photoshop_templates/christmas.asp

18. http://www.dreamweaverresources.com/holiday-templates/index.htm

Regular readers of Blogging Crew know we are evangelical about using WordPress. Frankly, we love it! However, although downloading the core files is pretty easy, setting up everything else can be a little daunting, and more than a little time consuming when all you really want to do is start writing!

Thankfully, Davco Media can take all of that hassle away from you. They are now offering a new service, which includes hosting, installation and setting up WordPress for you.

The cost of the package is only £24.50. That’s a special offer price until December 31st as it usually costs £39. It really is a brilliant offer!

You can find more information about the package here and let Davco Media set up your WordPress blog in no time.

Following on from our “25 WordPress plug-ins” post here’s another 10 for you to take a look at:

PollDaddy:
Create and manage polls on your website to gauge your visitor’s opinion and develop interaction.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/polldaddy/

WPtouch:
With a single click, WPtouch transforms your WordPress blog into an iPhone application-style theme, complete with ajax loading articles and effects, when viewed from an iPhone, iPod touch, Android or BlackBerry touch mobile device.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/

Sociable:
Pick and choose from 99 social bookmarking site links to add to your posts and pages
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sociable/

WP eCommerce:
The WP e-Commerce shopping cart plugin for WordPress is an elegant easy to use fully featured shopping cart application suitable for selling your products, services, and or fees online.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-e-commerce/

TweetMeme:
The TweetMeme button easily allows your blog to be retweeted. The button also provides a current count of how many times your story has been retweeted throughout twitter.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tweetmeme/

LifeStream:
Stream your social networking activities on your blog
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/lifestream/

Featured Content Gallery:
Featured Content Gallery creates an automated, fully customizable rotating image gallery anywhere within your WordPress site.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/featured-content-gallery/

After The Deadline:
Add spell checking to your visual editor
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/after-the-deadline/

Page Link Manager:
Pick and choose which posts and pages are included in your site navigation
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/page-link-manager/

This course, costing £175, is perfect for those looking to master the basics of WordPress within the minimum amount of time and expense.

Delegates attending this course will have a WordPress website up and running by the end of the day.

You will find more information, including a full itinerary, here.

After a trawl through them, these plug-ins could provide your WordPress powered website with the added functionality to make it even better.

Take a look at these selections:

Google Analytics for WordPress:
One of the essential downloads, this plug-in will automatically add your Google Analytics tracking to all your blog’s pages.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/

Easy AdSense:
Use your blog to make money with Google AdSense. This plug-in allows you to customise how your adverts are displayed without having to manually add the code to every page.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/easy-adsenser/

AdRotate:
Show multiple and/or random banners on your website to maximise revenue.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/adrotate/

Contact Form 7:
Customisable contact form with the option to add CAPTCHA’s
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/

GD Star rating:
Allow your blog’s readers to rate your post (or anything else) out of 10 with this highly customisable star rating.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/gd-star-rating/

Twitter for WordPress:
Display your latest Tweets on your blog.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twitter-for-wordpress/

Subscribe2:
Automatically sends your blog’s subscribers an email when you add a new post to your site.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/subscribe2/

NextGEN Gallery:
Add some colour to your blog with a slick Flash-based image slideshow.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nextgen-gallery/

WP-Print: Creates a printable version of your blog pages.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-print/

Smart Youtube:
Insert YouTube videos without any messy formatting.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/smart-youtube/

Events:
List upcoming events in your sidebar or on a separate page.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-events/

Breadcrumb NavXT:
Automatically generate breadcrumb navigation on your blog to aid usability.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/breadcrumb-navxt/

WP Forum:
Add a simple forum to your blog fully integrated with WordPress.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wpforum/

Who is online:
Display how many guests and users are currently viewing your blog.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/who-is-online/

AmazonFeed:
Sign up as an Amazon affiliate and display their adverts quickly and easily using this plug-in.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/amazonfeed/

Article Templates:
Create post templates if your posts commonly follow the same format.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/article-templates/

MP4 Player Plugin:
Add MP3 files to your site for people to easily listen to and enjoy!
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mp3-player-plugin-for-wordpress/

Vote It Up:
Adds voting functionality to your posts for readers to vote for or against your posts.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/vote-it-up/

404 notifier:
Get informed by email or RSS if a visitor to your site is shown a 404 error.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/404-notifier/

WP to top:
Add a “Back to the top” link in to your posts.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-to-top/

Get Recent Comments:
Shows the most recent comments on your blog in a side widget to help encourage further comments.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/get-recent-comments/

PayPal donations:
Take payments using PayPal.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/paypal-donations/

GravatarGrid:
Displays the Gravatars of all your commenters as a mosaic in the sidebar of your blog.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/gravatargrid/

My Page Order:
Change the order of your pages with a drag and drop interface.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/my-page-order/

Google XML Sitemaps:
Create a Google XML-compliant Sitemap of your WordPress blog.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/

Have fun!

Intaglio is one of the first free premium wordpress themes from FlyThemes.

It features excellent graphics with plenty of tools and options to back it up, including integrated flickr, twitter, gravatars and feedburner.

All of these features are editable from the theme’s options page.

I really like the ‘classy’ 2-column layout and the widgetized sidebars. Itaglio definitely gets a thumbs up from me!

Intaglio Feature List:

WP Version: 1.5+

You can take a look at the demo page here. The theme can be downloaded there too.

Ian Davies
Blogging Crew Editor

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