Happy Blogging!!

5 Reasons You’ll Love the WordPress Editorial Calendar

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:50:00 +0000

5 Reasons You’ll Love the WordPress Editorial Calendarby Guest Author

This is a guest post by Annabel Candy. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Do you struggle to organize your blog posts in advance? I did too for my first two years of blogging.

I’ve got a background in journalism so when I started blogging I knew the importance of having an editorial calendar and planning my blog posts in advance.

I’ve also created clear topics on my blogs because it helps my readers see what information they can find on my blog and get there fast.

But despite my best intentions I didn’t have a good way of planning and scheduling my blog posts.

In fact it was a real rigmarole.

First I created my editorial calendar in a text document then I constantly had to switch between that and WordPress to work out what I was posting and when. It caused a lot of time-wasting and many grey hairs.

Until finally I discovered there is a better way. Namely the WordPress Editorial Calendar plug-in which was created by Zack Grossbart.

Here’s what I love about the WordPress Editorial Calendar plug-in:

1. It makes planning blog posts easy

Now I can view my editorial calendar with up to five weeks of blog posts at a time and even schedule further ahead than that by clicking ahead to the next month. I can see at a glance which blog posts are already scheduled to be published and when as well as which posts are still drafts and need to be finalized.

2. You can see your whole editorial calendar on one screen

Instead of having to browse through all my draft posts now I can see them all on one page. This is a huge benefit for me because I have a lot of draft posts. Some of them are just headlines, others fully fleshed blog posts waiting to be edited and everything in between.

3. It’s easy to reschedule blog posts.

The editorial calendar is drag and drop so if I’ve got a blog post scheduled for Tues 24th I can just drag it over to Tues 31st and that’s when it will be posted.

4. It helps you structure your blog content

I can see all scheduled posts at a glance so it’s easy to see if a specific topic is missing or if I’m writing too much about one topic at the expense of others. There’s also an option to quick edit and change blog post titles, content, and publishing times if I need to.

5. It allows you to be more creative

I don’t waste so much time wondering what I’m going to post and when so that frees up more time for doing what I love best – writing top content and coming up with compelling headlines.

The Drawbacks of the WordPress Editorial Calendar plug-in

The editoral calendar has limitations but not many. The most annoying thing is that draft posts you created before installing the plug-in don’t automatically appear in the calendar. Once the plug-in is installed the best option is to use the editorial calendar to create your draft posts.

But heck what do you expect?

It’s free! It’s simple to use and it works.

Is the WP Editorial Calendar Right For You?

Check out the five minute slideshow to find out more and you can even log into the handy sandbox where you can play around with the plug-in and make sure it’s right for you before you install it.

I recommend you check it out, liberate yourself from struggling to plan your blog posts and free up your time for more creative blogging.

What do you think?

About the author: Annabel Candy is a web designer, web copy writer and travel fiend with three children, two blogs and one husband. She has British and New Zealand passports and lives in Australia. Her blogging adventures started with the popular travel blog Get In the Hot Spot. Annabel now shares her blogging tips for writers and small business owners at Successful Blogging.

original article

5 Pop Culture Quotes for a Memorable Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:43:00 +0000

Geeks and nerds. When they’re not fixing our computers, they’re reeling off reams of quotable material. Whether it’s something they saw last night, or a movie they saw as a child, they’re quoting it to the letter.

Imagine if your blog could be that memorable. If, ten years down the line, people still remembered that post you’ve written yesterday.

If you heed the advice contained in those pop culture quotes, you won’t need to imagine. Because there’s some great nuggets of insight that can be the difference between a memorable blog and a total flop.

Hang on, lads; I’ve got a great idea – Charlie Croker, The Italian Job

It doesn’t matter whether you’re starting a new blog, or hanging over a cliff in a coach full of stolen gold. You’re going to need an idea. And if you want to succeed, it’d better be great.

Don’t just dive in blindly. Take the time to sit down and ask yourself the difficult questions: Who is my blog aimed at?

Who is my competition?

What makes me stand out?

What’s my long-term objective?

How can I achieve that?

If you can’t answer those questions convincingly, it’s a safe bet that your plan isn’t a great one. And as you’ll see in our next quote

Stay on target! Stay on target! – Gold Five, Star Wars

The un-named Y Wing pilot “Gold Five” might not have known how to use the force, but he sure knew how to succeed in blogging. Exactly the same way as you succeed in destroying a planet-killing battle station.

Remember those questions you asked yourself about your long term objective? If you want to produce a truly memorable blog, you’ll need to keep those answers in mind. Because the whole point of a good plan is that you stick to it, and it helps you through good times and bad.

Change, and not a moment too soon – The Sixth Doctor, Doctor Who

That’s not to say that you need to cover every single eventuality with your plan. How could anyone blogging about the internet in the early 2000’s have forseen Facebook or Twitter?

There will always be something that you haven’t planned for, and that’s where advice from our eponymous Time Lord comes in. The reason that the BBC show has thrilled audience since the ‘60s is that it embraces change.

And if you want your blog to be memorable, then you’ll need to be prepared to regenerate once or twice.

Don’t think you are, know you are. Stop trying to hit me and hit me! – Morpheus, The Matrix

If you’ve got a plan, you’re sticking to it where appropriate and being flexible where needed, there’s just the small matter of being great at what you do.

“Faking it until you make it” doesn’t work with Blogging, especially when you’re trying to be noticed. Any falsehoods and posturing is going to make you look like a fool. Plus, who remembers the fakers?

So stop pretending to be great. Just go out there, create great content and become a leader in your niche. You’ve got the potential to do it, and without a homicidal race of machines to contend with, the only thing holding you back is you.

Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room! – President Merkin Muffley, Dr Strangelove

Well it’s probably a safe bet to suggest that your blog won’t have a War Room, it’s almost certain that it will have some form of discussion area. And if you don’t want to come across as borderline insane, you will need to allow discussion in the discussion forum.

The discussion areas of your blog, be it a comments section or dedicated forum, are key to making your offering memorable. You’ll want to encourage robust debate from interesting characters. And that means that sometimes you’ll have to take criticism.

And yes, you will have to tolerate the odd fight in the war room.

So there you have it. Five memorable quotes for a memorable blog. I can’t promise that geeks will be attending YourBlogCon 2020 or quoting your work verbatim, but if you follow this advice, you’ll be sure to stick in the memory.

Andrew Nattan is the lead blogger for The FirstFound Blog and a contributor to FirstFound’s Optimise Magazine. He also looks after his own blog, Unmemorable Title.

original article

Shortcomings of Duplicate Content

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:30:00 +0000

As internet users, we all more or less go through the same problem of duplication of content. But before going any further let us first get acquainted with the word “duplicate content“.

When content is available word by word on more than one different URL then the content is considered to be duplicate content. The duplicate content is also termed when the same site have several copies of the same content on its different URLs.

Besides the word ‘duplication’ is also sometimes used when the search engines get confused between pages with same description when displaying search results.

Different popular search engines always discouraged the duplicate content because they want to give internet users unique results which will become food for their thoughts while eliminating same content available on different websites from their result pages.

Types of Duplicate Content

The issue of duplicate content is circulating among many internet users from quite some time which has created disturbance among many online peers. So it is a real dire need to settle down the dust of disturbance.

Basically there are many shortcomings of a duplicate content but here we will first dissect the types of duplicate content and then discuss the shortcomings of it.

One type is deceptive or malicious duplicate content and the other kind is non-deceptive or non-malicious duplicate content.

Shortcomings of Deceptive Duplicate Content

Deceptive duplicate content is categorized when the content is intentionally duplicated on various websites to manipulate the ranking categorized by search engines or to improve the page ranking of a particular site.

The shortcomings of this type of duplicate content and deceptive technique will ultimately cause the page ranking of the site to suffer or in severe cases the site might be entirely removed from the index of search engine.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc absolutely discourage and hate the duplicated content. These search engines, mainly Google is totally aware of this technique and have implemented back end crawling tactics to dig out the sites involved in duplication of content.

Shortcomings of Non-Deceptive Duplicate Content

Non-deceptive duplicate content is considered by search engines when the same content is placed more then once in same site under various URLs.

For instance if any one of you have clothing business and the product red trouser is your newly added product or it’s the main item on your website then for sure you will place the same content about red trouser on your different pages. Google will instantly consider it as a duplicate content.

Even if you write copyright policy of 300 words at the end of every page then again it will be considered as a duplicate content because Google will see it as keywords stuffing on every single page. There are also some shortcomings of this type of duplicate content. When Google finds same content on same site it only choose one page of that site and discard the rest.

How to avoid Duplicate Content and its Shortcomings

Now as a matter of fact now there are many ways to avoid non-deceptive duplication of content to outrun from its shortcomings. You can block content of some pages of your website with ‘noindex’ meta tag or adding ‘robots.txt’ meta tag in the head section to stop the spiders of search engine to index that page.

But the best way to become Google friendly website is to use canonicalization. Canonicalization is used when there is more then one identical content on your website and you want to stop Google to consider it duplicate content then you pick a canonical URL (preferred URL) to consider for indexing.

On and off you should also check the content of your website for any replication. If you found yourself a victim and your content is theft and duplicated then you can report the matter to Google under their DMCA guidelines.

Besides this, there are also some disadvantages of Google’s policy of removing duplicated content which is hampering the page rank of many sites. But this topic is a subject of totally another topic which will be discussed afterwards.

Stephen Royce is a Wholesale expert and has a good understanding of supply chain management. He writes frequently for Wholesalers on topics related to blogging, internet marketing, Finance, ecommerce and dropshipping.

original article

How Blogging and Dropshipping Go Hand in Hand

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:16:00 +0000

How do blogging and dropshipping go together?

Or do they?

My experience with drophipping and blogging actually started way back in April 2005. My first blog was more an “after thought” that I only set up because my Arizona SEO friend recommended it.

Since then, I’ve come to firmly believe that without a consistent blog presence, an eCommerce business can’t survive amongst younger, more “socially savvy” online marketers.

Blogging is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to promote your dropshipping products. Blogs do so many things for your eCommerce business.

What a Blog Can do for an Ecommerce WebsiteAttract customersEstablish trustCreate product value

Darren Rowse has this to say about selling products on a blog:

As bloggers trying to make a few dollars from our online activity many of us get stuck thinking about making money by slapping ads on our blogs – but in doing so perhaps we’re doing the equivalent of busking for tips (not the perfect illustration I know). I know I’ve fallen into that trap myself over the years but in working to develop products to sell I’ve seen a variety of benefits including:
Revenue
Credibility/Authority
Opportunities
Deepen Relationships with Readers
Lengthens Relationships with Readers
Accelerated Learning
Traffic

To illustrate even more, let’s analyze Meaghan Mountford’s blog:

The Decorated Cookie blog is classy and effective. The lady who runs it regularly posts recipes and simple directions for making fancy decorated cookies. She includes plenty of pictures, and her blog is clean and well-designed.

On the side she includes clear links to purchase her book or visit her shop. At the shop she sells cookie-decorating kits to make the projects on her blog.

Why is her blog so effective at selling products?1. Provides value for free

People visit her site for the free recipes and directions. They subscribe to her blog, visiting time and time again to see the new posts, and they send the links to friends.

Maybe they don’t buy her cookbook or her decorating kits the first time they visit, but they keep coming back to see the new recipes and eventually she hooks them with a super cute mustache cookie-cutter or a fondant set and they make a purchase.

2. Establishes trust and professionalism

Meaghan obviously knows what she’s talking about. Her cookies are attractive and professional and her impressive credentials are posted in her bio, so you believe her when she says you should use this particular cookie scraper or that particular food coloring.

Oh, they happen to be for sale on her website? Well then I guess I’ll buy them.

3. Creates a bond with the customer

Meaghan’s blog is well-written, warm, and inviting. By reading her articles you come to know a little bit about her and to like her. She includes a few personal details, like the fact that she has a two-year old son, and soon you want her to succeed, you want to give her your business and recommend her to friends.

But remember, she always maintains her professionalism. Mentions of kids and cats = good, details about your husband’s vasectomy = too much information.

4. Tasteful use of keywords + Attracts inbound links

If you type the words “cookie decorating blog” into your Google search bar, The Decorated Cookie site is the first one that pops up. Getting your website to the top of the search engine response pages is one of the most important things you can do to bring in business.

Why is Meaghan’s website at the top of the list? First, because she has plenty of relevant keywords in her blog posts, and second because her blog attracts inbound links. Inbound links are when a website posts a link to yours; they’re very important for search engine optimization (SEO).

How can you get inbound links? By having valuable content on your website that people want to share. Most people probably link to her site so they can pass along her recipes and tips. I linked to her because she’s such a great example of e-business marketing.

How can you create a successful blog for your dropshipping product?

Obviously products that are craft or project-oriented are easy to create a blog for. Cake-decorating, rug-hooking, pottery-painting, wood-working, jewelry-making, and sewing all fall in this category. However, you can create a blog like Meaghan’s around almost any product. All you need is a subject you can write educational articles on, and that could be anything from fishing to chess to fitness to parenting.

The important thing is to write quality articles and to post regularly so people keep checking back. You provide something of value – information on how to deal with a tantrumy toddler or how to find the perfect diaper bag – and in return people are motivated to purchase your baby carriers or maternity clothes or toddler toys.

Nate Moller has helped thousands of new online entrepreneurs start an online business. He does SEO consulting for a variety of clients, including a wholesale dropshippers directory. He also works with clients to build their online reputation via social media marketing strategy. Follow him on Twitter @mollermarketing.

original article

Why Great Content Matters So Much

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:08:00 +0000

Why Great Content Matters So Muchby Ali Luke

As bloggers, we’ve got an awful lot to think about: SEO (search engine optimization), widgets, plugins, stats, design, monetization … oh, and creating content.

It’s easy for content to slip to the end of the list. After all, checking your stats or installing a shiny new plugin often seems more fun than sitting down to write yet another blog post.

But content is crucial. However great your design is, however optimized your pages are, your content is what really pulls readers in – and keeps them coming back.

Here’s why it’s so important:

#1: Many readers won’t come to the blog itself. Anyone who’s a regular will probably subscribe by RSS or email. That means they won’t see the careful work you did on your sidebar or your header. They won’t even read the fantastic discussion that’s taking place in the comments. All they’ll have is the content – and that content has to be good enough to keep them subscribed.

#2: Great content gets linked to. Let’s face it, unless you’re in the design industry, no-one’s going to link to your blog to say “check out this great header!” They’re going to link to specific pieces of content – maybe pillar posts (also called “cornerstone content”) or a series.

#3: The content of your blog is what readers value (and what they’ll pay for). Sure, great design and useful plugins help to make your blog engaging and authoritative – but the reason readers stick around is because they’re enjoying the content itself. And that content can lead to an ebook, ecourse or even a membership site.

This week, try to create one great piece of content for your site. It’s better to blog once a week and produce something awesome than to churn out a mediocre post every day.

Do you agree that great content matters? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Ali Luke is a freelance writer and coach, offering a wide range of courses and services on Aliventures.com. She writers a weekly column about online content creation for DailyBlogTips.

original article

How to Recycle Your Existing Content?

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:05:00 +0000

Every Internet marketer knows about the importance of creating content. Whether it’s creating content for their blog, or creating content in the form of articles to submit to article directories, or creating content by writing guest posts on other people’s blogs in the same marketplace – it’s all about creating content.

You’ve most likely even heard of the phrase “Content Is King”.

It’s common to see or hear people in forums talking about writing 5 articles daily and submitting them article directories to gain backlinks and exposure.

While that is easy to say (in terms of theory), the reality is that NOT everyone has the time to write 5 articles per day, and NOT everyone likes to write articles. Some people just plain do not like writing.

I’m one of them. However, even though I don’t like writing, I still do it on a CONSISTENT basis because I know every time I write and create new content, my exposure and backlinks are going to increase.

It takes time and effort to create content. Especially if you’re talking about GREAT content (NOT like those low quality content you find on article directories), it takes even longer to create because of the extra research and thoughts involved in creating it.

Instead of creating NEW content all the time, there is another SMARTER way – which is to recycle or repurpose EXISTING content so that you can SKIP the research and thoughts/ideas process that are involved in creating new content.

This will save you time and effort, which eventually are going to cost you money.

So what is this smarter way to recycle your content?

You see, when we think of content, we often think of it in terms of TEXT content. However, in today’s more interactive and demanding world, audios and videos are also a form of content that should not be underestimated.

You can turn your EXISTING written articles into an AUDIO recording using a free software like Audacity. You just need to read your article out loud using a microphone and then record your voice. Once you’ve converted it into an mp3 file, you can distribute it to your audience as a podcast.

You can also turn your EXISTING written content into a VIDEO training using Powerpoint AND a free video recording software like CamStudio.

Here’s what you can do to recycle your content

You take your article and extract the main points. Then create a Powerpoint presentation to cover these. Finally create a video where you go over the presentation and you have just created a video training.

(hint: use the phrase “video training” instead of just “video” – it’s just MORE enticing and powerful…)

In addition, when you convert your written articles into an audio or video format, the PERCEIVED value for your content increases as people tend to regard video as having a higher price tag than audio, and audio having a higher price tag than text.

Apart from that, you can also connect with your audience on a more personal and deeper level since they can now hear your voice. If you use a camera to shoot yourself in video, they’ll be able to see your face talking to the camera. This is something that written text alone can’t achieve.

Up to this point, we’ve been talking about converting written content to audio and video. What about the other way around? What about converting audio and video to written content?

Well, that can be done too.

You can have your audio transcribed and you have yourself a small report or a series of articles. You can also get your video transcribed, then you add in some images, and you have a report ready as well.

So the next time you want to create NEW content, remember that you can also REPURPOSE or RECYCLE existing content to create NEW content. If you can work SMARTER, you should.

By the Author:
Welly Mulia’s FREE Cheat Sheet “This Is How You REPLACE YOUR JOB On The Internet…” Is Finally Available For The Average Beginner. Click Here Now To INSTANTLY Claim Your FREE Cheat Sheet And Learn How To Make Money On The Internet.

original article

Dominate Google: 7 Steps to Keyword Research Success

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:53:00 +0000

Dominate Google: 7 Steps to Keyword Research Successby Guest Author

This is a guest post by Tom Ewer. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

If you have a website, you should be doing keyword research. It’s that simple. Whilst you can produce a popular and successful website without considering keyword research or SEO, you will vastly improve your chances of success if you invite Google to the party.

If you haven’t previously done much keyword research (or even if you have), you may feel overwhelmed by its apparent complexity. But when first starting out, you can avoid that feeling by ignoring a lot of the so-called important datasets and focusing on just a few key variables.

Let’s push all of the complexities to one side and get started with some effective keyword research.

Step 1 – Stop Focusing on #1

I had a major mental block when I first started out with keyword research that took me a few months to overcome. I felt that if you couldn’t get to #1 in Google, there was no point in trying to rank at all. I was just plain wrong to think that.

If you rank anywhere from #1 to #10 for any worthwhile keyword, you will get traffic. The amount of traffic will be a percentage of the total number of searches, and that percentage will be affected in part by where you rank.

In reality, there are many factors that affect the click through rate – your ranking position is just one piece of the puzzle. More often than not, if you can get onto the first page of Google for a keyword, it is worth targeting.

Instead of focusing on reaching #1, consider your ranking efforts as an attempt to exceed the average. Treat the first page as a whole, rather than 10 different pages. I’ll explain the logic behind this shortly.

Step 2 – Collect Measureable Data

Whilst keyword research is often more of an art than a science, there are parts of it that you break down mathematically. So let’s do just that.

Say I was looking to rank for the keyword “freelance writing” (I have an interest in this keyword, as I am a freelance writer). There are some key pieces of information that I want:

PageRankDomain AgeNumber of links pointing to the pageNumber of domains linking to the pageNumber of links pointing to any page on the domainNumber of domains linking to any page on the domain

There are a number of ways in which you can get hold of this information. I personally use and recommend Market Samurai, but if that’s not your cup of tea, you can source the same link data with a free account at Majestic SEO. Alternatively, SEO Quake gives you a whole swathe of data that you can use for keyword research.

Step 3 – Exclude Huge/Brand Domains

Once you have collected your data, plug it all into a spreadsheet. If you are following my example, you should have something that looks like this:

Something should stick out like a sore thumb here – that’s right, the Wikipedia page. If we are going to take an average view of the competitiveness of a keyword, that one page is going to skew our numbers wildly. I want you to remove that from your dataset, so that your spreadsheet now looks like this:

You always should look to exclude any huge domains (such as Wikipedia) from your calculations. Additionally, be on the lookout for brand domains, which are given special treatment by Google. They should also be excluded – the inclusion of data from such sites will affect the usefulness of your results.

Of course, if your results are littered with huge and/or brand domains, you may wish to think twice about targeting the keyword!

Step 4 – Average Out Your Data

You now want to find the average for each of the datasets you have collected. In Excel you would use the formula ‘=AVERAGE(firstcell:lastcell)’.

For the purposes of ascertaining whether or not you should target the keyword, these are your numerical points of reference. You should now have a set of numbers that look something like this:

Step 5 – Analyze Your Data

Whilst PageRank and Domain Age feature as data sets, they are the least important factors. However, when you are presented with high numbers (as we are in this example), you should certainly take note. If you are a brand new site, attempting to rank amongst aged domains with high PageRanks is likely to be tough.

The rest of the data is what really interest us. What we will be mainly focusing on is the number of linking domains, rather than the number of backlinks. Google doesn’t get too excited by multiple links from the same domain – it much prefers to see multiple links from different domains.

So let’s assess the available data. According to the averages we have calculated, we will need to have approximately 8,000 domains linking to our site as whole, and some 3,000 domains linking to the specific page that we wish to rank for, in order to get onto the first page of Google.

At this point, you might say “wait a minute – the domain in 9th spot only has 983 domains linking to it – shouldn’t that be our start point?” There is an argument for that, but quite frankly, I don’t like it. If you see sites ranking well despite a relatively low number of backlinks, there is likely a special reason for it (for instance, Google loves sites with domain names that match the keyword). Don’t be fooled by potentially erroneous data – averaging out the figures is a far safer play.

Step 6 – Consider Onsite Optimization

There are a few different onsite factors you want to consider. Check to see if the keyword is featured in:

The URLThe titleThe header tagsThe meta descriptionThe content

You can do this manually, or use a tool such as Market Samurai, which will return you something looking like this:

How well optimized the pages are can have an impact on your analysis in Step 5. For instance, if the sites are not well-optimized for the keyword in question, you should be able to rank on the first page with less linking domains than the average.

Onsite optimization is a strong ranking factor. The better optimized your content, the higher your chances of ranking are. But please don’t take that as an excuse to use your keyword at every possible opportunity. Your content should still present “naturally” – do not resort to keyword stuffing.

Step 7 – Trial, Error & Experience

This is probably the most important step. Whilst you can read about how to carry out keyword research all day long, you will only ever truly advance your skills by practically executing the advice you have read.

This short guide serves as a good introduction to keyword research, but I’m only just scratching the surface (after all, I recently wrote a 9,000 word eBook on the topic!). In time and with experience, you will learn what works for you and what doesn’t.

Footnote – Search Engine Optimization

I have deliberately excluded any references to SEO up to this point. This is, after all, an article on keyword research, not SEO. But since the two topics are intrinsically linked, it would be remiss of me not to point you in the right direction.

Fortunately, Daniel has already done the hard work for me by listing the Top 25 SEO Blogs. My pick of the bunch, without hesitation, would be SEOmoz.

About the author: Tom Ewer builds both authority and niche websites, and recently released a free keyword research guide . Check it out!

original article

Guide to Finding the Best PHP Hosting Deal

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:40:00 +0000

Finding the most cost effective PHP hosting deals on the internet can be a challenge if you are new to the search for dedicated web hosting.

However, if you know where to look and how to search, there are a number of services available for cheap dedicated server hosting, and it is possible to get the plan you want without sacrificing speed or quality.

This article will provide some tips that are both general and practical to help you locate PHP hosting deals on a budget.

Before diving into the tips, it is worth reflecting a bit on the state of the existing hosting industry.

Dedicating hosting services, which are also known as managed hosting services or dedicated servers, are types of internet hosting where clients who lease internet space can lease complete servers that are not shared with other individuals.

This is different from shared hosting, where individual servers are shared across multiple clients; dedicated hosting is more flexible since an individual client can have complete control over the server or servers he or she uses; this includes the ability to choose hardware and operating systems.

However, the tradeoff of using dedicated hosting services rather than shared ones is that dedicated servers are usually going to be more expensive.

PHP refers to a dynamic scripting language that more than 20 million websites all over the world use, from the biggest social networks, including Facebook, to the smallest blog sites.

There are a few common factors you will come to discover when searching for PHP hosting deals; these are found throughout the existing hosting industry. For example, you will generally spend more money the more bandwidth you are looking to use on a monthly basis through your server.

Similarly, the more server space you are asking for, the more money you will pay for the privilege. You will also find a mixture of Linux and Windows hosting systems, and ardent supporters of both. Security will be another area that different hosts advertise, as will the levels of support they offer and the amount of uptime they promise per month.

When searching for the most cost effective PHP hosting deals, a good place to start is with Linux based hosts. Because Linux operating systems tend to be free, web hosts tend to charge less for servers based on Linux (e.g., RedHat, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Slackware) than they do for servers based on Windows (e.g., 7, Vista, XP, NT, 2000). You are also likely to find more secure servers when using systems based on Linux or Unix operating systems due to the designs of the operating systems, but generally, regardless of which operating system you choose, measures for security will be in place.

Another way to potentially reduce costs is to sign a longer contract at a time with a web host. The longer the amount of time you promise to send a company money, the lower the monthly rate they are likely to charge you. However, be careful not to sign a contract containing too many months, as you might want to switch to a different host later, and you won’t want to be trapped into one for years to come.

A final tip is to sign up for only as much bandwidth as you anticipate needing by the end of your lease. Bandwidth means money, and the less you use, the less you’ll spend.

original article

How I Build Links Automatically With Posterous!

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:28:00 +0000

Posterous isn’t just a dead simple way to post everything online using email but beyond it’s simplicity, it’s a great SEO tool to automate the boring, manual work of link building.

While blogging via email isn’t new, Posterous took the idea and made it dead simple to blog. All you need to do is to attach anything – photos, video, MP3 or any form of content and send it via email to your account.

Yes, it’s just so dead simple.

Touted as a direct competitor to tumblr, it’s been one of my favorite blogging (bookmarking, link building) tools of late, not because of its simplicity and ease of use but simply because it does allow me to build link automatically.

Why I love Posterous

Posterous isn’t just a micro blogging tool. It’s nothing micro about it. In fact, it’s packed with awesome features.

One of them that should deserve enough attention is its ability to instantly auto post content to your network of blogs AND many of the social networking platforms you are a part of such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Identi.ca.

As you can see from the diagram above, whenever you post to posterous, your content will be instantly autoposted everywhere else across the networks you have pre-assigned, thus automating the task of link building which otherwise requires a fair amount of manual work.

Well, not all of these social networks are dofollow in nature. At the time of this writing, the following web properties do follow

1. WordPress.com
2. Blogger.com
3. Identi.ca
4. Live Journal
5. Tumblr
6. Friendfeed
7. Typepad
8. Drupal

Here’s how you can build links automatically with Posterous!Create an account if you’ve done soAssign the dofollow social networks for selective auto postingInstall the posterous bookmarkletChoose the site you want to build links toFor brevity’s sake, copy the first paragraph of your main article,Click the bookmarkletAt the end of the excerpt, (yes, this is important!) change the anchor text of your inbound link.Click post and voila, you’re done!

Just about the only thing to need to do next is to ping your social networks using this tool where you copy all the urls and ping them all at once.

Pretty neat, huh? Of course, you can selectively autopost to Facebook, Twitter for extra visibility if social traffic fits into your marketing campaign.

Sure, Posterous isn’t just a dead simple way to post everything online using email but beyond it’s simplicity, it’s a great SEO tool to automate the boring, manual work of link building and it’s free to use. Then again, a tool is just a tool unless you make good use of it.

On the other hand, don’t forget to build links manually as Google always loves quality link building.

So take advantage of it! And I’ll see you next time. Oh by the way, if you like it, please posterous it.

original article

Google Adsense Account Disabled? What’re Your Alternatives?

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:25:00 +0000

“While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers. Since keeping your account in our publisher network may financially damage our advertisers in the future, we’ve decided to disable your account.”

Ouch!! That hurts.

In fact, the no. of people receiving this dreaded letter is on the rise in the recent months. In most forums, there is a never ending discussion on why ‘my Google Adsense account is disabled‘, how to get it reinstated, and whatnot.

Are you experiencing the wrath of Google? Got your account disabled recently because, according to the email, it “has posed a significant risk to our Adwords advertisers?”

And you wondered why?

Here’s an on-going discussion of the top 30 reasons why your account is disabled. Are you guilty of any of those? Or you think the Big G with its “No evil” philosophy has done you an injustice?

“But it’s not my fault” I hear the usual denial.

Google doesn’t have to have a reason to ban you. And as much as you would like them to prove you did something wrong. They don’t have to do that either. While you’re given the option to appeal, it’s very unlikely that your account will ever be reinstated.

Go ahead and write your appeal. Your chances of reinstatement are slim to none.

Well, don’t cry over spoilt milk. It’s pointless. It’s pretty much final. But it isn’t the end of the world, given the fact that there are many other Google AdSense alternatives.

Sure, monetizing a blog with Adsense is by far the most popular choice for many – newbies or even seasoned bloggers. No doubt about it. As Google is controlling more than 75% of all search queries on the net, Adsense is still the best and most profitable CPC network if you know what you’re doing.

But when you lost it, it is really (I mean really real) tough to get back into the door as a Publisher but not impossible!*

So what are the alternatives to Google Adsense?

John from One Man’s Blog who made a decent income from Adsense shares the 8 best ways to earn money from Google Adsense alternatives that should give you a wide variety of alternatives to choose from.

If you want a simpler way to monetize your sites, try Query Ads. It claims to pay a minimum of .10 cent per click via paypal (with min. payout of $50). If you have a high quality site, with regular content updates, you can make money by displaying ads customized to match the content on your pages the way Adsense does.

Don’t be afraid of CPA too! If run properly, CPA campaigns can generate substantial income that could easily rival Google Adsense. Keep in mind that it’s not easy to accepted into CPA network as most networks are very selective of their publishers.

If you want to try CPA, two networks come to mind – Prosperent & CPALead. Both are great for either gray or white hat methods of monetizing search traffic. More importantly, approval is almost instant.

There you go. Possibly the best 10 Adsense alternatives for you to consider if your Adsense account were disabled by Google for all the wrong reasons or you want diversify for all the right reasons.

If you are a still Publisher, here’s the parting message. Don’t cross Google the wrong way. Don’t even try to outsmart it. It isn’t just worth it, especially if it’s your bread and butter. Best still, diversify. You can still make money without doing evil.

* Yes, there is a loophole on how to get back into the program which I hope I’m able to cover it in due course. So stay tuned and do subscribe if you have not already done so.

** Did you know that T3leads is one of the highest pay-per-lead program?

original article

Where There’s Traffic, There’s Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:12:00 +0000

Where There’s Traffic, There’s Hopeby Daniel Scocco

A couple of months ago I wrote a piece titled Do You Know The Most Important Metric Online?. My main argument was that, contrary to what many people believe, the main metric online should be profits, and not traffic.

For instance, would you rather have a website that receives 200,000 monthly visitors and makes $1,000 monthly in profits, or a website that receives only 20,000 monthly visitors but that makes $3,000 monthly? I am sure the second, and this gap in the traffic/earnings ration happens in real life, too.

That all being said, traffic remains a very important metric online. It’s not more important than profits, but it probably comes in a close second place.

The reason is quite simple: unless you have people visiting your website you won’t be able to engage them, to spread your message, to gather feedback, to sell your products/services and so on.

And you could go a step further: even if the money you are making with your website is pocket change right now, as long as you have traffic, you can always change your monetization strategy and perhaps improve your earnings.

In fact I both got burned and profited with this rule of thumb in the past.

When I got burned: I bought a website that was making around $1,000 monthly, despite having only 15,000 monthly visitors or so. I figured I would be able to increase the traffic and consequently the earnings, but within months of my purchase traffic dried and the earnings almost disappeared, probably because of fluctuations in search rankings.

When I profited: I bought a website that was making only $300 monthly, but it was receiving over 100,000 monthly visitors and it had some strong search rankings. I figured the low profit margin was probably related to a poor monetization strategy, and a couple of months after the purchase the monthly earnings jumped to $1,500 monthly.

So remember: where there’s traffic, there’s hope.

original article

5 Blogging Basics You Can’t Live Without

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:06:00 +0000

Why do you blog?

What do you hope to achieve by taking time out of your busy day to write a blog post?

Do you want to become a professional blogger and make money blogging?

Or do you blog to vent, rant, or talk about your boss? (be careful, he/she may subscribe to your blog secretly)

Whatever your reason for blogging, if you’re like me, you want people to READ what you have to say and comment.

To help you achieve whatever blogging goal you have in mind, I’ve compiled a list of 5 steps to help you better promote your blog post.

Step 1: The Power of the Title

Your content could be the BEST out there, but if your title sucks, the content probably won’t get touched.

Write a blog post with a catchy title!

Brian Clark calls this “The Law of Headlines and Hooks“:

Your post titles must stand out in a crowded, noisy blogosphere, and you must quickly communicate the value of reading further with your opening.

Some of the titles that have worked best for me:

5 Performance Goals All Bloggers Should SetHow To’s in List Format

Love them or hate them, informational posts presented in list format are easily digestible and allow for an efficient transfer of your value proposition to the reader…creating an excellent list gives you an extra boost in terms of presentation and connecting with your readers.

10 Social Media Books to Read in 2010A title in the form of a Frequently Ask Question(ie. Is Blogging Really Worth It?)Step 2: Blog Posts Must Be Reader Friendly

Make sure the blog post is “scannable” so readers don’t have to sift through all the “words” to get the gist of the content.

How to Make a Blog Post ScannableBullet PointsHeader TagsNumbered ListsPicturesQuotesShort ParagraphsBold TextGood spacing between lines (this is CSS technical stuff)Step 3: Pictures are Worth 1,000 Words

Include pictures in ALL blog posts.

Not only does a picture “liven the mood” of an article, but it’s more likely to get passed on in the social networks, especially if it’s funny, creative and applicable to the content you’ve shared.

(My client will LOVE this!)

Step 4: Use Video from Time to Time

I’ve seen video used really effectively.

And I’ve seen video OVER-DONE. Use it from time to time if you feel it’s adding value to what you’re sharing.

One small recommendation I give clients is to add at least a few paragraphs of text after a video. Not only does this show you’ve put in a bit of time to get the content ready, but it will help with SEO too.

I’ve even “transcribed” or “summarized” video content about social media marketing in the form of text to emphasize key points.

Step 5: Keep It Simple Stupid

If you’re blog posts are way too long and wordy, you’ll lose readers right away! I usually shoot for 500-750 words max.

I don’t care how good your writing is, most people won’t read more than a few sentences. Any more and they’ll start scanning. You probably aren’t reading this article exactly from top to bottom are you? In fact, you’re probably not even reading this sentence. Man, for a discussion about brevity this sure is dragging on. You can fight it by being more entertaining, but the best policy is to just write less.

How have these steps helped you promote your blog and achieve your life’s purpose?

Nate Moller has helped thousands of new online entrepreneurs start an online business. He does SEO consulting for a variety of clients, including one of the best dropship companies online. He also works with clients to build their online reputation via social media marketing strategy. Follow him on Twitter @mollermarketing.

original article

Some Tweeting “Secrets” to Maximize Your Online Profits

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Is there any secret strategy for productive use of twitter? Or it’s just different techniques and tricks that you can learn through experience?

Now-a-days twitter is considered to be one of the most popular social networks that can help you promote your website or Blog without spending anything (except of course, your time).

In this article, you will find some tips on how to effectively promote your business through Twitter?

Twitter

Twitter is a social networking website (AKA micro blogging platform) and people from all sorts of professions and fields use this platform to interact with each other. There are people who more taking full advantage of this platform but they’ll hardly share their “Secrets”.

But to be honest, there are no secret techniques. It is just common sense and smart use of the available options. On twitter, people are only looking for social interaction, so you cannot make any direct business offers, so those who log in to their twitter account and start promoting their businesses, it’s not going to work.

The secret is to not let your contacts know that you are there solely for the promotion of your business; just be natural and make friends and in the meanwhile let them know about your business gradually.

Customizing User Name & Real Name

Even before you make an account, think twice before choosing the user name. It should be short, memorable and relevant and should not be of more than 15 alphabets (your business name is not always the right choice). Instead, you can use names like: Stephen (marketing analyst), Stephen (tech blogger), and the likes.

Filling the Bio-Data

The space for bio data on the upper right corner of the twitter page is not to be filled with your childhood dreams but with the professional information. Almost 160 words characters are allowed and you should try your best to use all of your keywords and other business information in this description.

This information will let your profile appear in related searches and help those who are visiting your profile for the first time, to know about your business.

More than one Accounts?

At times, you can opt for maintaining more than one account for different markets, products, or services that you are dealing in. You can go for different categories that fit your business and create a separate account while targeting those categories. It is impossible for one person to maintain all of these accounts so hire some assistant to maintain all of these accounts (maintenance doesn’t mean tweeting some of your website link after every 15 minutes). You can also create a public twitter index page that can have links of all accounts and you can paste the index page link to your website, blog and other portals.

Customizing your Page

People on twitter are no longer attracted by simple default themes, you will need to customize your page and use customize theme to make it stand out. Your profile page needs to have its own personality, and you can achieve that by your display picture, background image and theme.

The balance between the Followers & Followings

Even though it is not some rule, but typically you need to have more followers than the number of people you are following. Because when the potential buyer sees that you are following thousands of people and only a couple of dozens are following your tweets, they will take it as a sign of little or no customer base, and it will prove to be detrimental for your credibility.

To get more followers, try to be interactive on twitter and use your Facebook page or Blog to entice people to follow you on twitter.

What to tweet?

Twitter is social networking website and you need to focus on nothing but interacting with people. Share your expertise, knowledge, industry news and express your thoughts on latest developments in your field.

Again, do not try to blatantly promote your business via every single tweet. Never do extensive marketing of your business, as it will be considered spam and you will lose all serious followers (if there are any).

original article

Google Changed Its Search Algorithm Again

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:50:00 +0000

Google Changed Its Search Algorithm Againby Daniel Scocco

First of all keep in mind that when we talk about “changes in Google’s algorithm” we are talking about big ones, like the latest Panda update. Small changes are implemented almost daily and you never notice them.

So over the past weeks Google rolled out a new algorithm change. According to Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land the main aspects affecting search rankings are:

Better “Official” Page Detection & Boosting: This means that official pages will now be detected more effectively and will also show up higher in search queries. For example, it will not be pretty much impossible to outrank an official brand with an affiliate website (in this past this could happen).

Image Search Loses A Ranking Signal: The ranking signal are references from different pages around the web. So even if multiple websites link to a certain image this won’t push its rankings up.

Fresher Results: Newer content will be pushed up no. Google said this change will affect around 35% of the search queries (which is quite a lot compared to previous algorithm changes).

Check the full article on Search Engine Land if you want to check all the changes. There were some design-related ones as well (e.g., related to snippets and page titles).

original article

Passive Income: Myth Vs. Reality (and How to Make it Happen)

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:41:00 +0000

Most of us got into blogging (and Internet marketing in general ) because we were sold the dream. Whether we read about in “The Four Hour Workweek” or a super slick sales page, or were lured into a high priced “business seminar”, it’s safe to say most of us literally “bought” into the dream.

And oh, what a dream it is. Jet setting around the world, staying in fabulous hotels, driving sports cars, and — during all this fun — a never-ending passive income flows effortlessly into our bank account.

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams.

But ask yourself: how many people do you actually know — in real life, not in a forum or on a sales page — who actually are living the dream?

My guess is: not many.

As an entrepreneur marketing online for five years now, I can attest passive income is possible, but requires more work than what you’ve been told. The truth is, most people fail to make money online because they lack one thing: dedication.

It’s almost impossible to stick with a business idea for six months or more without making a dime. But once you work your way through the learning curve, that small trickle of income continues to flow into your bank account, freeing up your time to work on new income streams. And over time, those income streams really add up.

Notice the key phrase is: “over time”.

Now, let’s separate the “myth” of making money online with the “reality”.

The myth: no work (except pushing buttons) >>> passive income

The reality: lots of hard work >>> a little passive income >>>> more hard work >>> some passive income >>> still more hard work >>> lots of passive income.

So why does this “myth” get blasted all over the internet?

In short, there are two groups responsible.

The first are those with a vested interest in “selling” you the dream. Common examples include get-rich-quick infomercials and $37 eBooks (sometimes called “secret software”) sold on Clickbank. These guys make millions – yes, millions – of dollars each year promoting marketing 101 courses disguised as a “magic bullet” designed to make them rich, not you.

The second group propagating the myth are successful online entrepreneurs.

These entrepreneurs talk about launching companies which go from zero to six-figures almost overnight. And for a seasoned marketer with years of experience it’s very possible. But “newbies” have a tremendous learning curve to climb before they can reach that point.

You see, it may take six months or more just to become familiar with necessary technologies like domains, hosting plans, FTP, autroresponders, payment processors, content management systems, advertising programs, pay-per-click, and building an SEO friendly site.

And that’s before you even think about your product or service.

“Many overnight success stories actually took a long time to succeed.” – Steve Jobs

So – as someone earning a full-time income online – I’d like to share my average work day:

7 AM: use the home gym and take a shower. I love the sleep Inn, scratch that I’ve always been a morning person, so this part is optional. I do find that exercise helps clear my head and prepare myself for productive workday. What? Work? Yep… I put in (at least) eight hours a day working on numerous marketing projects.

8 AM — 8:30 AM: check e-mails, and respond to any questions/concerns from customers and/or potential partners.

8:30 AM — 11:30 AM: write two high-quality pieces of content. Usually I’ll write one post for my own websites, and another for promotional purposes (like this one, for example). Each post I write is a minimum of 1000 words, includes original research and at least one interesting photo from Flickr.

11:30 AM — 12 PM: lunch. During this time I do not look at a computer. Sometimes I’ll eat, other times I’ll go for a short walk around the block. In either case, I’m already working out the details for the rest of my day.

12 PM — 2 PM: I usually spend this time building relationships with prominent bloggers and decision-makers within the industry. For example, I spend at least an hour a day building a list of prospects that I can partner with. These partnerships come in many forms: guest posts, interviews with industry professionals, link exchanges, and cross promotions are just a few examples. As you can see, I balance creating content on my own site with marketing them.

2 PM — 3:30 PM: write another 1000 word article for distribution. Often times, I’ll submit this to top article directories like EzineArticles or GoArticles, or post them on third-party sites such as blogger.com, hubpages.com and squidoo.com.

3:30 PM — 4:30 PM, write one press release about my new post or article. Then I’ll submit the press release to top press release directories like PR Log and Pr Insider. Note: there are many pieces of software available that do this for you automatically. Two I’ve used with great success have been PRbot and SENuke.

4:30 PM — 5:30 PM: respond to all e-mails, and occasionally meet with outsourcers over Skype.

5:30 PM — 6:30 PM: Cook and eat dinner with my wife. Then go on a short walk, where we discuss our long-term strategy.

So that’s pretty much an “average” workday for me.

Of course, there are many, many things that come up each day. For example, if I’ve interviewed an industry leader that day, I’ll listen to the interview and create a PowerPoint presentation to go along with it. I’ll edit the audio so it sounds professional, and record a PowerPoint presentation which highlights the key points. Then, I’ll transcribe the entire interview into a PDF format and offer it on my site.

And that’s just one example. Other fires inevitably come up throughout the day which I try to handle as quickly as possible.

Now this may seem like a lot of work, and it is. But after doing this for over five years, the benefits are certainly worth it.

I get to travel around the world, live where I want and take time off whenever I feel like it. And the best part is: all the work I’ve done in the past continues to bring in a residual income.

So as you can see, the dream lifestyle of Internet marketing is possible, though you better be prepared to work hard at it. Think of it like a rocket ship: it takes tremendous effort to get your business off the ground, but eventually it reaches orbit, and requires no additional work.

What have been your biggest obstacles to making a full-time income online? What were the hardest things to learn, and what would you do different the second time around?

About the author: Adam Costa is a professional writer and traveler. He is the author of “Business in a Backpack” which explains how to build profitable businesses while traveling the world.

original article

How Blogging and Dropshipping Go Hand in Hand

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:26:00 +0000

How do blogging and dropshipping go together?

Or do they?

My experience with drophipping and blogging actually started way back in April 2005. My first blog was more an “after thought” that I only set up because my Arizona SEO friend recommended it.

Since then, I’ve come to firmly believe that without a consistent blog presence, an eCommerce business can’t survive amongst younger, more “socially savvy” online marketers.

Blogging is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to promote your dropshipping products. Blogs do so many things for your eCommerce business.

What a Blog Can do for an Ecommerce WebsiteAttract customersEstablish trustCreate product value

Darren Rowse has this to say about selling products on a blog:

As bloggers trying to make a few dollars from our online activity many of us get stuck thinking about making money by slapping ads on our blogs – but in doing so perhaps we’re doing the equivalent of busking for tips (not the perfect illustration I know). I know I’ve fallen into that trap myself over the years but in working to develop products to sell I’ve seen a variety of benefits including:
Revenue
Credibility/Authority
Opportunities
Deepen Relationships with Readers
Lengthens Relationships with Readers
Accelerated Learning
Traffic

To illustrate even more, let’s analyze Meaghan Mountford’s blog:

On the side she includes clear links to purchase her book or visit her shop. At the shop she sells cookie-decorating kits to make the projects on her blog.

Why is her blog so effective at selling products?1. Provides value for free

People visit her site for the free recipes and directions. They subscribe to her blog, visiting time and time again to see the new posts, and they send the links to friends.

2. Establishes trust and professionalism

Oh, they happen to be for sale on her website? Well then I guess I’ll buy them.

3. Creates a bond with the customer

But remember, she always maintains her professionalism. Mentions of kids and cats = good, details about your husband’s vasectomy = too much information.

4. Tasteful use of keywords + Attracts inbound links

How can you create a successful blog for your dropshipping product?

original article

Guide to Finding the Best PHP Hosting Deal

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:19:00 +0000

Finding the most cost effective PHP hosting deals on the internet can be a challenge if you are new to the search for dedicated web hosting.

This article will provide some tips that are both general and practical to help you locate PHP hosting deals on a budget.

Before diving into the tips, it is worth reflecting a bit on the state of the existing hosting industry.

However, the tradeoff of using dedicated hosting services rather than shared ones is that dedicated servers are usually going to be more expensive.

PHP refers to a dynamic scripting language that more than 20 million websites all over the world use, from the biggest social networks, including Facebook, to the smallest blog sites.

A final tip is to sign up for only as much bandwidth as you anticipate needing by the end of your lease. Bandwidth means money, and the less you use, the less you’ll spend.

original article

How to Recycle Your Existing Content?

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:06:00 +0000

You’ve most likely even heard of the phrase “Content Is King”.

It’s common to see or hear people in forums talking about writing 5 articles daily and submitting them article directories to gain backlinks and exposure.

This will save you time and effort, which eventually are going to cost you money.

So what is this smarter way to recycle your content?

You can also turn your EXISTING written content into a VIDEO training using Powerpoint AND a free video recording software like CamStudio.

Here’s what you can do to recycle your content

(hint: use the phrase “video training” instead of just “video” – it’s just MORE enticing and powerful…)

Up to this point, we’ve been talking about converting written content to audio and video. What about the other way around? What about converting audio and video to written content?

Well, that can be done too.

So the next time you want to create NEW content, remember that you can also REPURPOSE or RECYCLE existing content to create NEW content. If you can work SMARTER, you should.

original article

5 Blogging Basics You Can’t Live Without

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:52:00 +0000

Why do you blog?

What do you hope to achieve by taking time out of your busy day to write a blog post?

Do you want to become a professional blogger and make money blogging?

Or do you blog to vent, rant, or talk about your boss? (be careful, he/she may subscribe to your blog secretly)

Whatever your reason for blogging, if you’re like me, you want people to READ what you have to say and comment.

To help you achieve whatever blogging goal you have in mind, I’ve compiled a list of 5 steps to help you better promote your blog post.

Step 1: The Power of the Title

Your content could be the BEST out there, but if your title sucks, the content probably won’t get touched.

Write a blog post with a catchy title!

Brian Clark calls this “The Law of Headlines and Hooks“:

Your post titles must stand out in a crowded, noisy blogosphere, and you must quickly communicate the value of reading further with your opening.

Some of the titles that have worked best for me:

5 Performance Goals All Bloggers Should SetHow To’s in List Format

Love them or hate them, informational posts presented in list format are easily digestible and allow for an efficient transfer of your value proposition to the reader…creating an excellent list gives you an extra boost in terms of presentation and connecting with your readers.

10 Social Media Books to Read in 2010A title in the form of a Frequently Ask Question(ie. Is Blogging Really Worth It?)Step 2: Blog Posts Must Be Reader Friendly

Make sure the blog post is “scannable” so readers don’t have to sift through all the “words” to get the gist of the content.

Include pictures in ALL blog posts.

(My client will LOVE this!)

Step 4: Use Video from Time to Time

I’ve seen video used really effectively.

And I’ve seen video OVER-DONE. Use it from time to time if you feel it’s adding value to what you’re sharing.

I’ve even “transcribed” or “summarized” video content about social media marketing in the form of text to emphasize key points.

Step 5: Keep It Simple Stupid

If you’re blog posts are way too long and wordy, you’ll lose readers right away! I usually shoot for 500-750 words max.

I don’t care how good your writing is, most people won’t read more than a few sentences. Any more and they’ll start scanning. You probably aren’t reading this article exactly from top to bottom are you? In fact, you’re probably not even reading this sentence. Man, for a discussion about brevity this sure is dragging on. You can fight it by being more entertaining, but the best policy is to just write less.

How have these steps helped you promote your blog and achieve your life’s purpose?

original article

How I Build Links Automatically With Posterous!

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:44:00 +0000

Posterous isn’t just a dead simple way to post everything online using email but beyond it’s simplicity, it’s a great SEO tool to automate the boring, manual work of link building.

Yes, it’s just so dead simple.

Why I love Posterous

Posterous isn’t just a micro blogging tool. It’s nothing micro about it. In fact, it’s packed with awesome features.

Well, not all of these social networks are dofollow in nature. At the time of this writing, the following web properties do follow

1. WordPress.com
2. Blogger.com
3. Identi.ca
4. Live Journal
5. Tumblr
6. Friendfeed
7. Typepad
8. Drupal

Just about the only thing to need to do next is to ping your social networks using this tool where you copy all the urls and ping them all at once.

Pretty neat, huh? Of course, you can selectively autopost to Facebook, Twitter for extra visibility if social traffic fits into your marketing campaign.

On the other hand, don’t forget to build links manually as Google always loves quality link building.

So take advantage of it! And I’ll see you next time. Oh by the way, if you like it, please posterous it.

original article

5 Pop Culture Quotes for a Memorable Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:41:00 +0000

Imagine if your blog could be that memorable. If, ten years down the line, people still remembered that post you’ve written yesterday.

Hang on, lads; I’ve got a great idea – Charlie Croker, The Italian Job

It doesn’t matter whether you’re starting a new blog, or hanging over a cliff in a coach full of stolen gold. You’re going to need an idea. And if you want to succeed, it’d better be great.

Don’t just dive in blindly. Take the time to sit down and ask yourself the difficult questions: Who is my blog aimed at?

Who is my competition?

What makes me stand out?

What’s my long-term objective?

How can I achieve that?

If you can’t answer those questions convincingly, it’s a safe bet that your plan isn’t a great one. And as you’ll see in our next quote

Stay on target! Stay on target! – Gold Five, Star Wars

Change, and not a moment too soon – The Sixth Doctor, Doctor Who

That’s not to say that you need to cover every single eventuality with your plan. How could anyone blogging about the internet in the early 2000’s have forseen Facebook or Twitter?

And if you want your blog to be memorable, then you’ll need to be prepared to regenerate once or twice.

Don’t think you are, know you are. Stop trying to hit me and hit me! – Morpheus, The Matrix

If you’ve got a plan, you’re sticking to it where appropriate and being flexible where needed, there’s just the small matter of being great at what you do.

Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room! – President Merkin Muffley, Dr Strangelove

And yes, you will have to tolerate the odd fight in the war room.

Andrew Nattan is the lead blogger for The FirstFound Blog and a contributor to FirstFound’s Optimise Magazine. He also looks after his own blog, Unmemorable Title.

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Some Tweeting “Secrets” to Maximize Your Online Profits

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:29:00 +0000

Is there any secret strategy for productive use of twitter? Or it’s just different techniques and tricks that you can learn through experience?

Now-a-days twitter is considered to be one of the most popular social networks that can help you promote your website or Blog without spending anything (except of course, your time).

In this article, you will find some tips on how to effectively promote your business through Twitter?

Twitter

Customizing User Name & Real Name

Filling the Bio-Data

This information will let your profile appear in related searches and help those who are visiting your profile for the first time, to know about your business.

More than one Accounts?

Customizing your Page

The balance between the Followers & Followings

To get more followers, try to be interactive on twitter and use your Facebook page or Blog to entice people to follow you on twitter.

What to tweet?

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Passive Income: Myth Vs. Reality (and How to Make it Happen)

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:16:00 +0000

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams.

But ask yourself: how many people do you actually know — in real life, not in a forum or on a sales page — who actually are living the dream?

My guess is: not many.

Notice the key phrase is: “over time”.

Now, let’s separate the “myth” of making money online with the “reality”.

The myth: no work (except pushing buttons) >>> passive income

The reality: lots of hard work >>> a little passive income >>>> more hard work >>> some passive income >>> still more hard work >>> lots of passive income.

So why does this “myth” get blasted all over the internet?

In short, there are two groups responsible.

The second group propagating the myth are successful online entrepreneurs.

And that’s before you even think about your product or service.

“Many overnight success stories actually took a long time to succeed.” – Steve Jobs

So – as someone earning a full-time income online – I’d like to share my average work day:

8 AM — 8:30 AM: check e-mails, and respond to any questions/concerns from customers and/or potential partners.

4:30 PM — 5:30 PM: respond to all e-mails, and occasionally meet with outsourcers over Skype.

5:30 PM — 6:30 PM: Cook and eat dinner with my wife. Then go on a short walk, where we discuss our long-term strategy.

So that’s pretty much an “average” workday for me.

And that’s just one example. Other fires inevitably come up throughout the day which I try to handle as quickly as possible.

Now this may seem like a lot of work, and it is. But after doing this for over five years, the benefits are certainly worth it.

I get to travel around the world, live where I want and take time off whenever I feel like it. And the best part is: all the work I’ve done in the past continues to bring in a residual income.

What have been your biggest obstacles to making a full-time income online? What were the hardest things to learn, and what would you do different the second time around?

About the author: Adam Costa is a professional writer and traveler. He is the author of “Business in a Backpack” which explains how to build profitable businesses while traveling the world.

original article

Shortcomings of Duplicate Content

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:04:00 +0000

As internet users, we all more or less go through the same problem of duplication of content. But before going any further let us first get acquainted with the word “duplicate content“.

Besides the word ‘duplication’ is also sometimes used when the search engines get confused between pages with same description when displaying search results.

Types of Duplicate Content

Basically there are many shortcomings of a duplicate content but here we will first dissect the types of duplicate content and then discuss the shortcomings of it.

One type is deceptive or malicious duplicate content and the other kind is non-deceptive or non-malicious duplicate content.

Shortcomings of Deceptive Duplicate Content

Shortcomings of Non-Deceptive Duplicate Content

Non-deceptive duplicate content is considered by search engines when the same content is placed more then once in same site under various URLs.

How to avoid Duplicate Content and its Shortcomings

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Google Adsense Account Disabled? What’re Your Alternatives?

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:01:00 +0000

Ouch!! That hurts.

Are you experiencing the wrath of Google? Got your account disabled recently because, according to the email, it “has posed a significant risk to our Adwords advertisers?”

And you wondered why?

Here’s an on-going discussion of the top 30 reasons why your account is disabled. Are you guilty of any of those? Or you think the Big G with its “No evil” philosophy has done you an injustice?

“But it’s not my fault” I hear the usual denial.

Go ahead and write your appeal. Your chances of reinstatement are slim to none.

Well, don’t cry over spoilt milk. It’s pointless. It’s pretty much final. But it isn’t the end of the world, given the fact that there are many other Google AdSense alternatives.

But when you lost it, it is really (I mean really real) tough to get back into the door as a Publisher but not impossible!*

So what are the alternatives to Google Adsense?

There you go. Possibly the best 10 Adsense alternatives for you to consider if your Adsense account were disabled by Google for all the wrong reasons or you want diversify for all the right reasons.

* Yes, there is a loophole on how to get back into the program which I hope I’m able to cover it in due course. So stay tuned and do subscribe if you have not already done so.

** Did you know that T3leads is one of the highest pay-per-lead program?

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