Blogging Tips

The Basics Of Internet Marketing: What Are SEO And SEM?

2012-04-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

Despite the way that social has catapulted itself to the top of the internet, most people still find out about new brands and sites from the search engines, not their social networks. As a marketer, your eyes have to be on the search results, wondering what you can do to capitalize on all that traffic. The answer lies in search engine marketing (SEM), and search engine optimization (SEO).

Explaining the Acronym Storm

What do these terms really mean? Well, to make things a bit more confusing, SEM is sometimes used to describe any form of promotion that takes advantage of the search engines. Other times, it is used to refer exclusively to paid search, the ads that display above and next to the search results. SEO, on the other hand, is based on an understanding of the search engine algorithms. The goal of SEO is to improve a site's visibility in the normal search results, also called the "organic" search results.

For this reason, SEO is sometimes categorized as a portion of SEM, and sometimes they are considered to separate things. For the rest of this article, we will use SEO to describe tackling the organic search results, and use paid search to refer to advertising on the search results and using other paid methods for search visibility.

The Essentials of SEO

We only have enough time to scratch the surface, but here are the most important takeaways.

- Keyword Research - This is all about identifying which keywords to target. SEO requires an investment of time and energy, and sometimes money, so it shouldn't be wasted on going after the wrong keywords. The popularity, potential profitability, and competition revolving around a keyword must all be taken into account.

- Page Optimization - The keyword should be included in the title and placed appropriately throughout the article. On-page optimization is also being expanded to adapt to changes in the algorithms that target low quality content, excessive advertising, and poor user experience.

- Site Optimization - Bad coding can hurt a site's chances of showing up in the search results. Other factors include internal linking structures, sitemaps, domain names, and possibly loading speed, among other things.

- Link Building - One of the strongest signals of authority is whether or not other sites are linking to pages on your site. The location of these links, the kinds of sites that link to you, the relevance of the links, the text in the links, and many other factors effect how this impacts search results. Outreach is an important part of this. Outreach is also being expanded into the social realm, as social signals are starting to become another off-site indicator of trust, relevance, and authority.

The Basics of Paid Search

Here are some of the things that paid search marketers are thinking about as part of there process.

- Keyword Research - Once again, identifying the right keywords is an important part of the process. In this case, you're entering an auction and paying to display an ad when users search for a particular keyword, so this becomes an incredibly important part of the process.

- Ad Copy - The ads themselves need to be tested and adjusted on a continual basis in order to improve the click through rate, and sometimes even the conversion rate (the percentage of visitors who end up taking an action such as buying or subscribing). Some knowledge of statistics combined with marketing experience is important to make this work.

- Landing Page Optimization - When you are paying for traffic, you want to get as much out of each visitor as possible. Testing changes on the landing page to see if they improve results is an important part of the process.

- Buying Funnel Analysis - It's not always the keyword, the ad, or the landing page that is the problem. In some cases, the way that these are lined up with one another is the real issue. Testing how well keywords, ads, and landing pages match with one another is another important element.

- Split Testing - If the previous points haven't driven this one home yet, split testing is a crucial part of almost every element of paid search. Every change must be tested against the most successful version, and the most successful version must always be tested against potentially better versions.

Conclusion

This should give you an idea of what SEO and SEM are all about. If you have any questions we'd love to point you in the right direction.

Author Bio Stacy Dewald is a blogger for the Moby Tickets official site.

Urgent Blogging News Update: If You Are Republishing Full Newspaper Articles On Your Website You Need To Stop NOW!

2010-07-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

After years of allowing blogs to repost full copies of their articles, mainstream newspapers are now cracking down in a big way. Lawsuits are sprouting up all over the place, and many website owners are having to pay out thousands and thousands of dollars in damages. If you are republishing full newspaper articles on your website you need to stop NOW. That is not an exaggeration. There are now bots scanning the web as you read this looking for people to sue. This is very real.

Just check out the ordeal that Godlike Productions has been going through....

GLP IS UNDER ATTACK!! PLEASE HELP!! Send a Simple Email To Help Us Stay Online!!: http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1139887/pg1

It's All Out War On Alternative Media Sites!!!! - WE MUST FORM A COALITION!!: http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1141462/pg1

Reuters President Responds To GLP Emails...: http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1141475/pg1

Needless to say, this new trend is going to ROCK the blogging world.

As soon as you are done reading this article, you need to go to your sites and make sure you are removing all full copies of mainstream newspaper articles.

This is a very serious crackdown that you do NOT want to get caught in the middle of.

Blogging News Update: New Law Would Allow Barack Obama To Shut Down The Internet For Four Months

2010-06-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

How would you feel if you could not get on the Internet for four months? Especially for those of us who battle with Internet addiction, it would be a complete and total disaster. Well, a new law being pushed through the U.S. Senate would give Barack Obama the power to shut down the Internet for at least four months without Congressional approval whenever he wants to.

You read that correctly. The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, which was approved by a key Senate committee yesterday, would give Barack Obama unprecedented power over the Internet.

The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, which is being pushed hard by Senator Joe Lieberman, would hand absolute power over the Internet to Barack Obama whenever this is a declared national emergency.

And these days presidents have been declaring "national emergencies" for just about anything.

In essence, what this bill is going to do is give Barack Obama a "kill switch" for the Internet.

Talk about a killer for freedom of speech!

The truth is that the great freedom that we have enjoyed on the Internet is not going to last forever. Governments around the world are increasingly taking control over it. A time is rapidly approaching when you are not going to be able to say whatever you want online.

And in times of "national emergency" you might not be able to get online at all.

So enjoy the Internet while you can.

Because the world is changing - and not for the better.

Large Numbers Of WordPress Blogs Being Hacked?

2010-05-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

The latest blogging news and tips from around the blogosphere....

According to various reports, in the past few days a large number of websites created using WordPress have been hacked. While the attack initially appeared to be limited to websites hosted by American ISP DreamHost, it has since become apparent that blogs hosted at GoDaddy, Bluehost and Media Temple have also been affected.

Over on SEOMoz, there is a huge debate brewing about the importance of great content.

Will political blogs soon face regulation by the Federal Election Commission?

If you are confused about SEO, you might want to check out this article: "Google Experts Answer your SEO Questions".

It is being reported that Blogger is in the process of deleting a large number of blogs that violate the Blogger terms of service. Is your blog in danger of being deleted?

Copyblogger has posted an article that has some very interesting ideas about how to draw in lots of new readers.

For those looking for new ways to build backlinks, SmartBloggerz has a new article with over 20 suggestions.

Owen Paepke is explaining why the Facebook "Like" button is not going to change the world.

If you have a new blog and you are not sure how to promote it, you might want to check out this article.

Darren Rowse has some great tips on ways to find great pictures for your blog.

If you enjoy reading this blog, please be sure to visit our brand new instructional websites as well: How To Get Out Of Debt and How To Make Money On The Internet.

There are two books on Amazon that we are recommending to all of our readers....

#1) Apollyon Rising 2012: The Lost Symbol Found and the Final Mystery of the Great Seal Revealed - What Tom Horn has to say about what occultists believe about the year 2012 will absolutely astound you!

#2) The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus - Nehemia Gordon does a good job of revealing the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith in this excellent book.

If you haven't gotten an iPad yet, a great place to get a massive discount is on Ebay.

If you are looking to make some extra money online, we very much encourage you to check out The ShoeMoney System.

We also encourage you to check out our brand new shop: The Economic Collapse Bookstore

Lastly, we want to ask you a very important question.

If you died tonight, where would you go?

Would you go to heaven?

Are you sure?

If you are not 100 percent certain of the answer to that question, then we urge you to read the following article: What Does The Bible Say About Salvation?

$1053 In One Week? Here's How To Make Money Online The Right Way....

2010-04-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

If you're not making at least $1000 a week and want a "fool proof" step by step system for getting there... then listen up!

We here at Blogging News are always looking for the best new ways to make money online, and Jeremy Schoemaker (you know him as Shoemoney) has released a system that you rae just going to love. In fact, he is already raving about one of his Shoemoney System students that made over $1053 in his first week.

Check out the email this student sent to Jeremy...

"Hi Jeremy, I just wanted to update you on my progress with your system. I went through your Facebook Advertising lessons on Sunday, and got started that night making my first campaign.

After 3 days of testing and breaking even, I went back through the videos and something in my head just finally clicked on!

I made some changes to the ad copy and my landing page, and over the past week or so I've made $1,053 in profit all from advertising on Facebook.

I cant thank you enough - I'm absolutely blown away. I've struggled for the past 3 years to try and make money online and nothing has worked. I have 2 blogs that make about $20 bucks a month, and I lost my ass on a Google PPC campaign a few months ago...

But I think I'm really onto something here with the Facebook Ads and I cant thank you enough.

I even took my girlfriend out to this new steak house we've been dying to try out for the past 2 months. I think this is the first time she's ever believed that I could actually make money online haha!

Thanks again Shoe!"

- "Jeff" from Florida

Pretty cool huh?

BTW if you want to try out the system that "Jeff " used
to get these results, check out the link below...

The ShoeMoney System

This is really an extraordinary system!

Some of the stuff he goes over I have literally never
seen before online...

Things like arbitraging on eBay - which you basically buy stuff
for $100 and sell it for $150. If you do 4 of these a day you're
on your way to $1000 a week pretty easily.

And not only is it really easy, but Jeremy even has a really
simple trick for doing this without spending even a penny.

Along with the eBay arbitrage lessons Jeremy has 7 indepth
lessons on making BIG money with Facebook advertising.

Now Im not sure if you know this or not, but Jeremy is one of the
top 3 biggest advertisers in the world on Facebook. Literally...

Last time we talked, he was banking $5,000+ each and every day
solely from Facebook Ads! That's damn impressive!

These are only a few of the BIG things he covered already in the course.

Like I said this is one of the best step-by-step systems
for making real money online in a matter of a few days.

And the best part is, there's a 60 day money back guarantee...

If you don't like the program for any reason, or see the results
you want you'll get 100% of your money back. So there's
really no reason not to give it a shot.

I highly recommend you checking out Jeremy's video now
explaining the system...

The ShoeMoney System

Enjoy!

P.S. - In the Shoemoney System you'll be learning from a guy who's
been in the "trenches" and has made over $10 million in the past few years online.

He's one of the few guys in this industry who actually walks the walk...

Here's the link again for his video on the Shoemoney System...

The ShoeMoney System

Is The Death Of YouTube On The Horizon?

2010-03-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

The latest blogging news and tips from around the blogosphere....

Viacom's lawsuit against YouTube is going pretty well, and many analysts are now speculating that a victory by Viacom in this lawsuit could mean the death of YouTube as we know it.

Blogger is getting rave reviews for the great new template designer that they have rolled out.

On the other hand, bloggers who have suddenly had their blogs deleted are not that thrilled with Blogger at this point.

Why are so many bloggers jumping on the bandwagon of multi-author blogs?

More than 10 billion tweets have been sent through Twitter since the microblogging service launched in 2006.

Did you know that Facebook now has more than 400 million active users?

If you are new to blogging, then you should most definitely check out the latest post on Viperchill: "The Most Important Blog Post You’ll Probably Never Read".

Is Google becoming a social media company?

Susan Gunelius is sharing 10 ways to use Facebook to bring more traffic to your blog.

Many people turn to blogging as a way to make some extra money and to get out of financial trouble. But making more money is only part of the equation. You also need to get out of debt. For those struggling with this, we encourage you to check out our new blog: How To Get Out Of Debt.

Copyblogger is sharing "the secret ingredient" to building an irresistible blog.

Lastly, we have put together a very long and detailed (and free) guide on how to make money on the Internet. Please go check it out and let us know what you think.

Domain Name Registrars Will Be Raising Their Prices?

2010-02-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

The latest blogging news and tips from around the blogosphere....

*Effective July 1st, most domain name registrars will be raising their prices on .com and .net domain name registrations due to VeriSign raising prices on them.

*Are you looking for new ways to build links to your blog? If so, you should check out this new article on Viperchill: How To Really Build Backlinks And Dominate Google.

*If you are looking for some great blogs that will accept guest posts, then you should check out this list.

*Is your blog not getting any comments? If so, here are 8 reasons why that might be.

*Do you need a new design for your Blogger blog? Is so, Blogger Buster has about 80 great ideas for you.

*Still trying to figure out the world of social media? If so, you might want to check out this article by Copyblogger: The 7 Harsh Realities of Social Media Marketing.

*There are a lot of people talking about how to make money on the Internet, but are there some Internet marketing secrets that nobody wants you to know?

*Lastly, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says that blogging is old news. Could it be possible that blogging is not as "hot" as it used to be?

350 Million Users On Facebook - How Many Of Them Are Coming To Your Blog?

2010-01-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

The latest blogging news and tips from around the blogosphere....

Did you know that there are over 350 million users that are active on Facebook? How many of them are you reaching?

Many Internet marketers are now turning to Facebook pages to get more traffic. In fact, John Haydon has some really interesting ideas for exactly how to do that.

It turns out that Digg is finally getting a much-needed overhaul. Will this impact how blogs are marketed on Digg?

Deb Ng has posted a guest article on ProBlogger entitled "8 Tips for Rocking a Crowded Blog Niche".

With the new changes to Google, is 2010 going to be the beginning of the end for quality content on the Internet?

The Keyword Academy has a very interesting article up about the difference between running a blog and running a "supersite".

Do you know how to research your competition on Google? If not, then you might want to check out this article by Soggy.

10 Things You Should Always Do in a Blog Post – An interesting list of really useful blogging tips.

Are you getting frustrated with Twitter? If so, you might want to read this article: "How to Get Your Blog Post Retweeted".

Copyblogger wants to teach all of us "how to blog like Shakespeare".

Is there really a way to make big money as a blogger without being a total slimeball?

10 Online Advertising Trends in 2010 - are you ready for the major changes coming to the world of Internet advertising?

There has been a huge rise in Facebook and Twitter accounts that have been getting hacked. Do you know how to prevent this?

Selling blogs continues to be a growing trend in the blogging community in 2010.

Lastly, Google has announced that they will no longer support FTP publishing on Blogger after March 26, 2010.

Wow! Squidoo Is Now One Of The Top 100 Sites In The United States!

2009-12-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

The latest blogging news and tips from around the blogosphere....

*Squidoo is now one of the top 100 sites in the U.S. in traffic. If you gave up on Squidoo perhaps it is time to give them another look.

*ProBlogger is stressing the importance of having your own product to sell.

*Is your blog getting stale? Here are ten new WordPress plugins you may want to try out.

*Speaking of plugins, the latest version of the "Sexy Bookmarks" WordPress plugin has been released.

*Need even more plugins? You can find over 100 WordPress plugins reviewed here.

*Soggy has posted a video that has some really interesting tips for getting links from .edu domains.

*Google is telling webmasters that it is very, very important to be careful with blog comment spam.

*Court has posted an article entitled "5 Internet Marketing Strategies That Don’t Work".

*Is it really possible to boost traffic to your blog using trackbacks? At least one blogger thinks so.
*Is it that time already? - "Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies for 2010"

*Copyblogger has posted an article entitled "How To Do Less And Get More".

*Do you need more links for your blog? If so, you might want to check these tips out.

*David Risley has posted an intriguing article that he is calling "7 Ways To Blog Your Way To A Thousand Visitors".

*Lastly, thousands of people are making excellent money on Twitter every week by allowing big brand advertisers to send out one tweet per day on their accounts. How? They have signed up with Ad.ly.

Make Significant Money On Twitter By Partnering With Brand Name Advertisers? - Ad.ly Is Taking The Internet Marketing Community By Storm

2009-11-19T14:28:00.000-08:00

The latest blogging news and tips from around the blogosphere.....

*Have you heard about Ad.ly yet? - Ad.ly is making huge waves in the Internet marketing community right now. If you have a Twitter account, Ad.ly enables you to make significant money by sending one Tweet every day from advertisers that you approve. All you have to do is sign up with Ad.ly, approve the big name advertisers that you want to partner with and then forget about it and the money will come in week after week automatically. They only send out one tweet over your network every day, so it is not "spammy" at all. I have signed up and I am encouraging everyone else to do the same. There are some big Twitter users that have already made thousands of dollars with them. I think that you will be very surprised how much money you can make when you check them out. You can sign up for the Ad.ly network right here.

*Google’s Matt Cutts strongly hinted this past week that Google is considering using a site’s speed as part of the algorithm that ranks the order of pages in its search results.

*Wordpress 2.8.6 has been released which primarily addresses a couple of important security issues.

*Darren Rowse over on ProBlogger has a very interesting article up on how stories can be used as an effective communication tool for your blog.

*Soggy has posted a very insightful article that explains why "the berries often taste better than the coconuts". If you don't know what that means maybe you should check out the article.

*On John Chow, a guest poster named JC is explaining what he learned during his first year of blogging.

*On CopyBlogger, Josh Hanagarne is telling what he learned from writing 42 guest posts in 7 weeks.

*Are you using Google Wave yet? If you are considering using it, you might want to check out these 5 real life case studies.

*Have you noticed a huge increase in spam comments on your blogs lately? We sure have. Well, EduBlogger has an article up that has some great tips on dealing with those spam comments.

*Britney Spears has had her Twitter account hacked again. Is your Twitter account secure?

*Are ad swaps a smart and easy way to get some free traffic?

*Are you having trouble getting people to link to your blog? If so, maybe you should read this article: "6 ways to create link magnets with every blog post".

*Lastly, do you need to learn more about Search Engine Optimization? Well, Keller Hawthorne has written an article about the "greatest SEO myths of our century".

Blogging News: WordPress 2.8.5 Has Been Released!

2009-10-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

The latest blogging news from around the blogosphere.....

*WordPress 2.8.5 has been released. This version fixes a number of security issues and improves several areas of the code.

*Google and Twitter have come to an agreement under which Google will now be able to include Twitter updates in search results. It will be very interesting to see how that plays out.

*Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2009 is out and they have discovered some very interesting things.

*Grizzly is explaining why the SEO and social media industry will hurt you.

*Darren Rowse of ProBlogger is sharing "The #1 Reason My Blogging Grew Into a Business".

*Soggy says that "Made For Adsense" blogs are back in vogue.

*On Copyblogger, Sonia Simone is sharing "The #1 Secret of Confident Bloggers".

*BloggerDesign has some interesting ideas on how to keep your blog running smoothly when traffic spikes.

*Lastly, Gyutae Park has an excellent article up entitled "How to Develop an SEO Link Building Strategy That Delivers the Goods".

6 Recent Posts From Blogs About Blogging That We Actually Love To Read

2009-09-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of years, we have visited hundreds of blogs about blogging on the Internet. Most of them are garbage and a complete waste of time. However, there are a few real gems out there. Tonight we wanted to share with you some of the very best recent articles from 6 blogs about blogging that we have found to be absolutely excellent.

So, here they are in no particular order.....

#1) ProBlogger: Almost everyone who is serious about blogging knows about Darren Rowse. In fact, he is one of the most famous bloggers out there. His blog is great for people who want to become "big time" bloggers, but not so much for those who are in this for purely making money. A recent article posted on his site entitled, "9 Things to Do To Make Sure Your Next Blog Post is Read by More than Your Mom", is fairly typical of what you will find on his site.

#2) The Keyword Academy: If you do not know about Mark and Court, you need to learn. We have learned a lot from them. Their site is not so much about how to become a "good blogger", but rather how to make money from blogging. On their site you will find articles with titles such as this: "7 Brutally Straightforward Tips For Making Money On The Internet".

#3) Grizzly: If you already know about Mark and Court then you have probably encountered Grizzly as well. Grizzly has ugly blogs, but he doesn't care because they make boatloads of money. He is a gruff, "no nonsense" kind of blogger, but the reality is that he will teach you how to make money online. His most recent post is entitled: "Customizing Your Blog Theme To Make More Money Online".

#4) The Build A Niche Store Blog: One really great site that I try to visit almost every day is the "Build A Niche Store Blog". The title is not that inspiring, but the reality is that Soggy delivers excellent tips and material on a regular basis. He probably does so more consistently than anyone else. His recent post entitled "How I Plan My Day" is an example of how he gets down to the nuts and bolts of things for his readers.

#5) Lanie Grace: She hardly ever posts stuff, but when she does it is absolute gold. While other people talk a good game, this is a young woman that is actually making an obscene amount of money online. If you have not read her classic three part series called "Wordpress and eBay Equals Money" then you need to go read it. Right now.

#6) Copyblogger: The truth is that I should be visiting Copyblogger more often myself. A lot of great material gets posted there, and that is one of the big reasons why they keep winning awards. They regularly post articles with titles such as "How I Got 294 Comments With One Blog Post" that not only get your attention but that actually deliver the goods.

If you know of any other great blogs on blogging that you would like us to review please let us know. But the truth is that if you go read those 6 sites alone it will be the equivalent of a graduate degree in Internet marketing. So stop wasting your time on all of the garbage sites and go check them out. Or just keep on doing what you are doing right now and keep pounding your head in frustration. The choice is up to you.

Google AdSense Now To Include Certified Ads From Other Ad Networks

2009-08-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

There is great news for Google Adsense publishers! Google AdSense will now allow publishers to allow ads from other Google-certified ad networks to appear on their websites. This is very exciting, because more ads means more competition, and that ultimately should mean more money for publishers.

For those of you who may have concerns about the new ads, the truth is that you still have control over what ads you wish to appear on your site, and you still have control over what ads you want to block.

In addition, the Google AdSense team is making it clear that the new ads will most definitely comply with all Google standards for quality.

So what is the bottom line to all of this? This should mean that there should be less times when your ad blocks don't show an ad or show public service ads instead. It should also mean increased competition which will hopefully raise earnings for everyone who uses AdSense.

Posted below is a YouTube video that goes into detail about these new changes to AdSense. If you have questions about these changes we would definitely recommend that you watch this video because it is very helpful.....

Can You Make Money With Twitter?

2009-07-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

Twitter is very hot right now, but the key question on the minds of Internet marketers everywhere is this:

Can you make money with Twitter?

The truth is that yes you can, but only if you know what you are doing.

That is where Bill Crosby and his Twitter Traffic Machine come in.

You see, Bill Crosby got 16,000 Twitter followers in just 90 days, and now he is ready to teach you all of his secrets.

Not only that, but every time he sends out a link over Twitter, he gets 2% of his followers clicking on it immediately. That is 400 clicks within just minutes!

So if you want to use Twitter as a marketing tool, we definitely suggest that you check out this material.

Click Here For The Twitter Traffic Machine!

A Guide For Beginners On How To Make Money From Your Blog

2009-06-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

One of the bloggers that I learned the most from when I first started blogging was Darren Rowse. He is the publisher of ProBlogger, and if you have never checked out his website about blogging, then we definitely encourage you to do so.

One of the most common questions about blogging goes something like this: "Where can I find a guide that will help a beginner like me learn the basics about blogging"?

Well, Darren Rowse teamed up with Chris Garrett to put together a tremendous guide for new bloggers. It will take you through the ABC's of what you need to know in order to start down the road to a successful blogging career.

Their book is called "ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income", and if you are new to blogging it will save you countless hours of trying to figure out this stuff on your own.

The following is a description of the book from the Amazon.com website.....

Problogger.net is where bloggers worldwide go for advice and information on enhancing their blog's presence. Whether you're just starting out or have been blogging for years, these two professional bloggers show you how to turn your passion for blogging into extra revenue. This practical guide to creating and marketing a blog with the potential for generating a six-figure income shows you how to choose subject matter that works for you, handle technical issues, and evaluate your blogs success so that you can use your blog to generate income indirectly.

So if you are new to blogging, or if you are a veteran who needs some inside tips on how to get to the next level, then we would definitely recommend this book for you. You can get this book at a deep discount right now on Amazon.com.....

ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

Is BANS (Build A Niche Store) Dead?

2009-05-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Many Internet marketers have been debating whether or not BANS (Build A Niche Store) is dead or not. For quite a long time, many savvy Internet marketers were using Wordpress and BANS to build a lot of niche Ebay stores and were making a lot of money off of it. However, now word is getting around that a lot of BANS sites are getting deindexed by Google.

So what are we to think about all of this?

Well, there are generally two opposing points of view.

The first point of view is that BANS is dead and should not be used anymore, and one of the best articles from this perspective was written by Melissa Eaton: I Can No Longer Recommend Build A Niche Store aka BANS.

Melissa's argument is that it is tough to risk putting together and promoting a site using BANS knowing that it could be deindexed by Google at any time. The following is an excerpt from her article.....

You cannot imagine how sad it makes me to say that. Until two days ago, all but one of my BANS sites were still listed in the Google index. All were nearly 3 years old, had good traffic and made excellent money. This is no longer the case as they have now all been de-indexed. They are still getting traffic from Yahoo and MSN as well as earning money, but nothing like they were before.

The second perspective on this floating around the blogosphere is that BANS is still a good tool if you produce a content-rich site. Soggy of the Build A Niche Store Blog recently wrote an article from this perspective entitled: No, BANS Is Not Dead.

He believes that BANS is still as good a tool as ever if you follow some common sense guidelines. The following is an excerpt from his article.....

I have received a few emails over the last week from readers who are saying that they heard that BANS is dead and that they should not use it anymore. This is the furthest thing from the truth. I will say though that if you just put up an out of the box BANS site with little to no content, default category settings and default meta tags, be prepared to fail and get deindexed etc. etc.

So what is the truth?

Is BANS still a good option for Internet marketers?

I do know that BANS has helped a lot of people make a LOT of money over the years, and they are to be commended for that.

But is the gravy train over?

Or do people just need to adapt?

What do you think?

Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.....

Get Number One Position on Google

2009-04-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today we have a guest post from Kai Lo. I think that you will really enjoy this information on how to improve your ranking on Google. If you enjoy the article below, you will also want to check out another article by this author: How To Be Number One On Google.

-----

Do people preach to you that you need high Google pagerank to rank high in the search engine? Should you listen to these people? No. You can get the number one position on Google with a pagerank of 0. You need to understand the proper use of anchor texts and specific keywords that you want to target to rank high.

Assuming that you have a really amazing article that you want everyone to read, you want this article to be found not just on first page of Google, but first place. Your title is very important. If you are teaching beginners on how to climb mountains, then your title should be something like “Beginner's Guide to Mountain Climbing”. If your title is just “Mountain Climbing”, then you will have a very hard time ranking even on the first page of Google.

Anchor texts are very important to get your post to #1 spot. You want your anchor text to say “Beginner’s Guide to Mountain Climbing”, and make sure it is linked to your post directly, and not to your homepage. For example, (a href=”http://www.url.com/beginners-guide-to-mountain-climbing.html”)Beginner’s Guide to Mountain Climbing(/a), you want to replace the ( ) with < > for HTML.

A lot of people will tell you that you need lots of backlinks to rank higher on Google, but they don’t tell you how to make the best use of the backlinks. The backlinks need to be used in proper anchor text format. If you type “click here” on Google search, the first result is Adobe Reader. Why? Because a lot of people link to Adobe Reader as “Click Here To Download…” If the backlink to your site says “Click Here”, then you are competing with Adobe, a pagerank 10 site. The Adobe Reader page has nothing that says “Click Here”.

What are some of the best places to leave a backlink to your site? Guest posting on peoples’ blog, Ezinearticles.com, forum signatures are some great examples. Generally, when you guest post, the author of the blog would be nice enough to link back to your site with the anchor text of your choice (remember, you want the direct URL to the post, and not the homepage). Ezinearticles will let you put anchor text links in the resource box. You must follow their writing guideline otherwise they will reject your articles. Many forums will also allow you to place links in the signatures.

High pagerank will only get you so far if you don’t understand proper SEO. Pagerank is a small factor to determine where you should be in the search engine. Remember, you want a lot of anchor text “Beginner’s Guide to Mountain Climbing” pointing to your post so you can get to the #1 spot on Google.

DiggBar

2009-04-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

Those of you who use Digg already know that Digg has implemented what is now known as the "DiggBar".

For those who don't know about this yet, the DiggBar acts as a URL shortener and it frames all external pages underneath the DiggBar.

Why did Digg do this?

They did this so that Digg users will stay on Digg and therefore produce more revenue.

After all, Digg is losing money right now, so they need to do whatever they can to increase pageviews and advertising revenue.

However, this DiggBar is very bad news for bloggers and Internet marketers.

Basically the DiggBar kills "linkbait".

Many bloggers and Internet marketers would try to get stories on to the front page of Digg so lots of people would link to that story.

But now with the new Diggbar, Digg no longer links directly to stories.

Instead, Digg links to the shortened Diggbar URL instead.

Ouch!

That means that we lose all links from Digg.com, and most bloggers who see our stories on Digg will just link to the shortened Diggbar URL instead of the link to our story.

So now a front page story on Digg will create tons of links to Digg and very few to you.

So Digg has now gone way down in value for blog promotion.

Do any of you have any additional thoughts about the DiggBar? Please feel free to leave a comment.

Privacy Policy

2009-04-06T10:40:00.001-07:00

Privacy Policy

This website uses third-party advertising companies to serve ads when visiting this site. These third parties may collect and use information (but not your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, you can visit Google's Advertising and Privacy page.

If you wish to opt out of Advertising companies tracking and tailoring advertisements to your surfing patterns you may do so at Network Advertising Initiative.

Google uses the Doubleclick DART cookie to serve ads across it's Adsense network and you can get further information regarding the DART cookie at Doubleclick as well as opt out options at Google's Privacy Center.

Privacy

I respect your privacy and I am committed to safeguarding your privacy while online at this site. The following discloses how I gather and disseminate information for this Blog.

RSS Feeds and Email Updates

If a user wishes to subscribe to my RSS Feeds or Email Updates (powered by Feedburner), I ask for contact information such as name and email address. Users may opt-out of these communications at any time. Your personal information will never be sold or given to a third party. (You will never be spammed by me - ever)

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s computer tied to information about the user. This blog doesn't use cookies. However, some of my business partners use cookies on this site (for example - advertisers). I can't access or control these cookies once the advertisers have set them.

Links

This website contains links to other sites. Please be aware that I am not responsible for the privacy practices of these other sites. I suggest my users to be aware of this when they leave this blog and to read the privacy statements of each and every site that collects personally identifiable information.

This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this website.

Advertisers

I use outside ad companies to display ads on this blog. These ads may contain cookies and are collected by the advertising companies and I do not have access to this information. Please check the websites of the advertisers for their specific privacy policies.

Data Processing/Safe Harbor

The European Union (”EU”) maintains strict privacy laws. These rules differ significantly from US laws. To reconcile these differences, the US and the EU have created a Safe Harbor that defines mutually acceptable privacy operations. This website adheres to the Safe Harbor principals.

For more information see www.export.gov/safeharbor.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at guestpostsandsubmissions@hotmail.com.

This privacy policy was updated April 2009.

RSS Directories

2009-04-01T17:16:00.001-07:00

One way to build quality backlinks and to increase traffic is to submit your blog or website to RSS feed directories. Below we have collected a fairly comprehensive list of these RSS directories. If you know of additional RSS directories that we should include in this list, then please leave us a comment at the end of the article.

Here is the list of the RSS directories.....

2rss.com

4 Guys From Rolla

9rules

ASP Index

Best Directory

Blloggs

Blog Toplist

Blog Top Sites

Blogarama

BlogBunch

BlogCatalog

Blogdigger

Blogged

Bloggernity

BlogHop

Bloghub

Blogion

Bloglines

Blog Listing

Blogoriffic

Blogotion

BlogPulse

Blogrankings

BlogSearch

BlogZ

BlurtIt

BoingBoing

Chordata

Day Time News

DevASP

Experato

Feedage

Feedbase

FeedBees.com

FeedBite

FeedBomb

FeedBoy

Feedcat.net

Feedest

FeedFury

Feedmap.net

FeedooYoo

FeedPlex

FeedRaider

Feeds2Read

Feeds4All

FeedsFarm

FeedShark

FeedShot

FeedSubmitter

FindRSS.net

Feedsee

FyberSearch

Genwi

Getblogs.com

Globe of Blogs

Golden RSS Feed

IceRocket

Jordo Media

LeighRSS

LionFeeds

LSBlogs

MillionRSS

MyBlog2U

NewzAlert

News Feed Directories

Octora

Odeo

Outpost Earth

Photarium

Plazoo

Political Feeds

Rate It All

RDF-Ticker

Read A Blog

ReadBurner

Religious Feeds

RSSBuffet

RSSFeed.org

RSS Feeds.com

RSS Feeds Directory

RSSknip

RSSMad

RSS Micro

RSS Motron

RSSMountain

RSS Network

SolarWarp

Sourcforge

Swoogle

Syndic8.com

Technorati

Tweetwire

WeBlogAlot

Webloogle

Wikology

Yahoo Publisher Network

A Blogger Must Be Like A Chameleon

2009-03-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

A blogger must be like a chameleon?

How so?

Well, a chameleon changes color to blend in and adapt to the environment around it.

Likewise, the online world is constantly changing, and therefore bloggers must adapt or fall behind.

There is a lesson to be learned in the video clip below.

The speed and accuracy with which these little buggers can change colors is astounding.

Watch the short two minute video below and see if you are not totally amazed by this extraordinary creature.....

Will Different Types Of Traffic Bring In The Same Amount Of Blog Money?

2009-03-13T06:05:00.000-07:00

If anyone has been blogging for a while they know the answer to this question.

The answer to this question clearly is no.

Some types of traffic are much more valuable than others.

Let's run down some of the various types of traffic.....

Social Media Traffic - This is the worst type of traffic in the history of Internet marketing. These people are NOT going to click the ads on your blog and they are not going to buy anything. In the past I got all excited to get on the front page of Digg, but when I did my click through rate went way, way down. Social media has a role to play in your blog promotion, but it should not be your number one promotional method.

Regular Readers - This is a decent form of traffic, but they tend to become blind to your ads after a while. If you get a lot of regular readers then you will want to switch up your ads often to keep it fresh.

Traffic From Links From Other Websites - If this traffic is from other websites in your niche it can be quite valuable, because they are often coming to your site looking for something specific. However, this type of traffic is not quite as valuable as the last category.

Search Engine Traffic - Study after study shows that this traffic has the highest click through rate of any type of traffic. These visitors are looking for something specific and they are often ready to buy. This is the number one type of traffic that you should be wanting for your blog.

So if you want to increase your blog money, then go out there and get some search engine visitors. It isn't easy, but it is the key to this game.

How To Add A Lot Of Twitter Followers Very Quickly

2009-03-05T05:55:00.000-08:00

Many bloggers are discovering that Twitter is a great way to get the word out about their blog and to keep their current readers updated.

But it can feel frustrating when you first start out on Twitter and you have less than 10 followers and you feel like nobody is even listening to you.

Well, the other day we found a way to add a ton of high profile Twitter followers very, very quickly.

We used this technique to add over 50 quality followers in less than 24 hours, and you can too.

It is actually very simple.

If you go over to Twitterholic, they have a list of the top 100 Twitter users based on number of followers. This list is full of celebrities and high profile Twitter users. Just go down the list and "follow" each one. Many of them autofollow those who follow them, so shortly you will have some celebrities following you!

In addition, if some of them do follow you, now you are on the list of people that they follow and other people will stumble across your profile and decide to follow you.

It is not the ultimate Twitter tip of all time, but what it will do is give you a big jump start on the number of Twitter followers that you have.

And more Twitter followers = more people that hear about your blog = more blog money.

Make Money Online By John Chow

2009-02-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the best things on the internet ARE free.

Many of you who will read this already know about John Chow.

He is one of the foremost experts on blogging on the internet, and he makes over $25,000 a month from blogging.

Yeah, that gets my attention too.

He has put out an Ebook called Make Money Online With John Chow.

And you know what the best part is?

It's free.

Can't beat that, right?

The reality is that it is one of the very best Ebooks on making money on the internet that you will ever find. It is far more valuable than most of the $97 or $147 Ebooks that some of the so-called "experts" out there are trying to sell you.

Anyway, I have read his Ebook all the way through, and if you are serious about making money online I would encourage you to read it all the way through yourself.....

Make Money Online With John Chow

As we find more free quality resources for making money online we will share them with you on this blog.

If you know of any great resources that we should post about, or if you would like to guest post yourself, please let us know.

Some Of The Very Best Powerful Money Makers For Your Blog Or Website

2009-02-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

The majority of people who begin blogging end up wanting to monetize their blog somehow.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

In fact, by this point, most people expect blogs to be monetized.

In these times who doesn't need a little bit of extra income?

Below you will find some affiliate networks that we personally use ourselves.

Ad.ly - If you have a Twitter account, Ad.ly enables you to make money by sending one Tweet every day from advertisers you approve. All you have to do is sign up, approve the big name advertisers and then forget about it and the money will come in week after week automatically. This is very, very cool. I have signed up and I am encouraging everyone else to do the same.

These are some other very powerful money makers that you can incorporate on to your own website or blog.....

Make Money With PerformancingAds

Chitika

DealDotCom

ShareASale

Join the Affiliate Revolution. PepperjamNetwork.com

Make money from your Website or Blog with BidVertiser