By Bernadette Doyle
Michael Dunlop is the successful young entrepreneur behind such blog sites as RetireAt21 and IncomeDiary. His sites have upwards of 200,000 visitors each month.
How does he do it?
In his words, "It's all about creative content."
When you post a blog with unique content or present standard content in a creative and engaging way, you attract more people. The people who are attracted to your content will then link to it or tweet about it. This is what's called link bait or tweet bait.
For example, Michael posted "the top earning websites in the world." He listed what each site earned in the last year, and then broke that down to how much they made in a second. When people see that Google made $691 a second, it catches their attention and they link to his site or tweet the information.
This strategy can work in any niche. Whatever your area of expertise, you can post lists of top earners or "10 best..." Those readers who already follow you will share the information with their network, attracting even more people to your blog.
To save you the time of researching these types of lists, you can use a service such as http://www.TaskUs.com, which will do the work for you. They will provide you with all the information you need, which you can then copy and paste to your blog. For a reasonable fee, you can see a return that is worth thousands.
You can also post lists that reflect your own personal opinion. For instance, you might post a list of people who have influenced you in your career, or the top ten reasons why it's great to work in your field.
Since a list of the best of anything is really subjective, some readers might disagree with your choices. Don't be upset if that happens. It means that they are paying attention to you. The more comments that people post, the more conversation you'll generate.
The point is to be creative. People are drawn to lists because they present interesting tidbits of information that are easily shared. David Letterman discovered that years ago - his nightly top ten lists have long been shared around the world.
When you offer creative content in the form of link bait or tweet bait, you will begin to attract more readers to your blog. As the number of people linking to your site increases, so does your internet ranking. And it happens instantly. So start thinking creatively about some lists that will give your readers information that they simply can't wait to share.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bernadette_Doyle
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
How to Promote a Blog - Blog Promotion For the New Blogger
By Colleen I Slater
One key thing you must learn as a blogger is how to promote your blog. Without proper promotion, you just will not see any traffic. There was a time when you could put up posts and hope people would link to you based on the quality of them. But anymore, people are not finding the quality post unless you put it where they can find it. So here are some tips to get your blog found.
First of all, you still need to write the quality posts. Without these, you have nothing to build your back links on. Sure, you can build them yourself, but why not make something that people were going to link to once they find it. This way, the little back linking you to will tend to go viral.
Next, you need to start building some links. The easiest way is through social bookmarking. However, these tend to get used a lot. So your bookmark could easily get buried. If you have friends who are interested in the same subject, you can ask them to reach your blog and Digg or Stumble it if they like it. This may help get your post in front of more readers.
Another thing you can do is look for similar blogs in your niche. Find ones that are to getting traffic, and leave intelligent comments on their posts. Include a link through your name to your own blog. If you leave good comments, people are likely to follow your link to see what you are writing about. Just don't make the mistake of spamming the blog with something like "Great post!". It just won't get you any traffic, and might even get your site banned.
Once you build some relationships with other bloggers, you can ask to do guest posts. This is a sure way to get extra traffic to your own site. With these four methods, you're sure to increase your traffic and your loyal readers.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colleen_I_Slater
One key thing you must learn as a blogger is how to promote your blog. Without proper promotion, you just will not see any traffic. There was a time when you could put up posts and hope people would link to you based on the quality of them. But anymore, people are not finding the quality post unless you put it where they can find it. So here are some tips to get your blog found.
First of all, you still need to write the quality posts. Without these, you have nothing to build your back links on. Sure, you can build them yourself, but why not make something that people were going to link to once they find it. This way, the little back linking you to will tend to go viral.
Next, you need to start building some links. The easiest way is through social bookmarking. However, these tend to get used a lot. So your bookmark could easily get buried. If you have friends who are interested in the same subject, you can ask them to reach your blog and Digg or Stumble it if they like it. This may help get your post in front of more readers.
Another thing you can do is look for similar blogs in your niche. Find ones that are to getting traffic, and leave intelligent comments on their posts. Include a link through your name to your own blog. If you leave good comments, people are likely to follow your link to see what you are writing about. Just don't make the mistake of spamming the blog with something like "Great post!". It just won't get you any traffic, and might even get your site banned.
Once you build some relationships with other bloggers, you can ask to do guest posts. This is a sure way to get extra traffic to your own site. With these four methods, you're sure to increase your traffic and your loyal readers.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colleen_I_Slater
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Web Blogs - 5 Ways to Monetize Your Blog
By Neil John Frances
Blogging is a fairly common phenomenon with most who use the net. A large number of blog users do blogging for money. However, not all of them are quite as lucky when it comes to hitting the jackpot with earning money via blogging.
The trick is to monetize and strategize your blog in such a manner that parts of the blog turn into a profitable venture for you. The five ways in which you can tweak your web blogs in order to make it profitable include:
1) Amazon Associates Program- When it comes to planning strategically, Amazon Associates Program has a lot to offer. Being a very well established affiliate program, it was launched in 1996 and has millions of users today. All that you need to do is sign up with Amazon's affiliate program, become a member and you can choose what advertisements you would like to display on your page, earning referral fees in return.
2) Promote your Products - There are a lot of entrepreneurs who promote their own products via their blogs. Most of them popularize their new work which could be an e-book, a novel or a new product by creating a buzz about it on their blog. This is an ideal method to arouse the interest of potential customers and increase the chances of the following success of the e-book once it is released.
3) Google AdSense - One of the simplest methods to generate revenue for your blog is by adding text ads via the Google AdSense program. Thus every time, somebody visits your blog; you would be paid if they click on any of the text ads.
4) Directly Selling Advertisements - The sidebar in any blog is one place from where maximum benefits can be reaped using this tactic. This is the ideal place to add text ads, button ads and links for affiliate programs. If the blog focuses on a particular niche, it would make sense to advertise about related products on your page as well. Ads for the sidebar can be sold on either a CPM (per page impression basis) or CPC (per click basis).
5) Promote For others - If your blog is immensely popular, you can use it by promoting someone else's product on your page in lieu of a fixed amount. There are several entrepreneurs who would be interested in online promotions and your blog could be the right tool for this purpose.
Blogging is a fairly common phenomenon with most who use the net. A large number of blog users do blogging for money. However, not all of them are quite as lucky when it comes to hitting the jackpot with earning money via blogging.
The trick is to monetize and strategize your blog in such a manner that parts of the blog turn into a profitable venture for you. The five ways in which you can tweak your web blogs in order to make it profitable include:
1) Amazon Associates Program- When it comes to planning strategically, Amazon Associates Program has a lot to offer. Being a very well established affiliate program, it was launched in 1996 and has millions of users today. All that you need to do is sign up with Amazon's affiliate program, become a member and you can choose what advertisements you would like to display on your page, earning referral fees in return.
2) Promote your Products - There are a lot of entrepreneurs who promote their own products via their blogs. Most of them popularize their new work which could be an e-book, a novel or a new product by creating a buzz about it on their blog. This is an ideal method to arouse the interest of potential customers and increase the chances of the following success of the e-book once it is released.
3) Google AdSense - One of the simplest methods to generate revenue for your blog is by adding text ads via the Google AdSense program. Thus every time, somebody visits your blog; you would be paid if they click on any of the text ads.
4) Directly Selling Advertisements - The sidebar in any blog is one place from where maximum benefits can be reaped using this tactic. This is the ideal place to add text ads, button ads and links for affiliate programs. If the blog focuses on a particular niche, it would make sense to advertise about related products on your page as well. Ads for the sidebar can be sold on either a CPM (per page impression basis) or CPC (per click basis).
5) Promote For others - If your blog is immensely popular, you can use it by promoting someone else's product on your page in lieu of a fixed amount. There are several entrepreneurs who would be interested in online promotions and your blog could be the right tool for this purpose.
Get More Visitors on Your Blog Quick and Easy
By Ben Frank Jr.
Recently I ran across a unique marketing strategy that is specific for blogs. It is really terrific as it enables blogs to get more attention, more traffic, and more links. Here are some of the ways in which any blogger can get people coming to their site more and more.
Remember that each blog is a web-site, although not each web-site is a blog. My top techniques of getting traffic to a web-site are still my top techniques of getting traffic to a blog. But blogs are a special sort of web-site. There are extra techniques of getting new visitors to your blog that are extremely impressive. The 1st one I played with was linking to others. Those among us old-timers on the 'net remember when the whole 'net was a tiny, close community when it was OK to send an e-mail telling others in your subject area that you simply set up a site and would like a link on their site. That isn't what I am recommending with the blog community. The times of sending even a private e-mail to somebody you have not met are virtually over.
Nonetheless it still is OK and still rather anticipated that you introduce yourself when you come into a community. It's also a great idea to let your new community know you are a genial guy and are prepared to help out in the neighborhood. First, you must find your neighbours.
Start by looking for ______ blog on Google, Yahoo or your favourite search site. Fill in the blank with the subject of your blog. Have a quick look at the blogs you see. Do you like them? Good, these are front-runners in your new community. Link to them in your blog roll.
Do you not like them? No problem. Don't link to them then. It is not needed that you like everyone in your new community, but you really would like to be part of the community you now live in Now as you read those blogs daily, notice their blog rolls ( links they should other blogs in your community ). Go visit them. Here's where the Alexa toolbar comes in. You'll find some new leaders ( those with blogs showing less than 100,000 on your Alexa toolbar ). Check out their blog and if you're keen on it add it to your own blog roll. It is a new community. I'd never lived in an agricultural area before, so it was vital for me to go thru this precise same exercise as I became part of my new community up here in the mountains. Sure, it did not involve Alexa or linking to others but the tenet is the same. When you enter a community and wish to be part of that community, get out there and start to know folks.
This is a technique to do that in the blogging community. I currently have 100 or so links from those in the blogging community after just a few months. From those links, I have over six hundred daily visits and over one hundred unswerving readers who come to read my blog every. Did I ask for any of those links? Nope. Have I got a hundred outward bound links? Nope. A large amount of those links came in without me linking to them. As I am getting the likelihood, I'm going and check out their blog and if I like it I give them a link. If I hate that blog for who knows what reason, I do not include it in my blog roll.
It is not always a tit for tat link exchange. A small number of you might be confused at that point about how my outwards bound links became inward bound links without any other action. You could be baffled about why I called this work Getting Blog Visitors when I have only talked about the best way to send my visitors to others by linking to them. OK, let me go into why this uniquely works great on blogs, though not on other web-sites. First, of all I use WordPress. It's the fastest-growing blogging software out there. When I sign on to my control panel to scribble a blog post, I'm given a page that shows numerous blog statistics. One of the most outstanding parts of those statistics is the amount of incoming links AND a catalogue of people who lately linked to me.
When you see a blog called Mattress Cleaners just linked to you are you able to ignore that? I can not. I am straight away distracted and what does one do? I click it. I am going and check out that Mattress Cleaner blog. If they used to be a quality blog that was really important to the blog community of my very own blog ( and they are not ) they might get a link in my blog roll so I could check them out occasionally. When you link to a site and send them traffic, that turns up in their referrer logs. Nevertheless lots of web masters do not look at their logs or figures. People who do may use stat software that doesn't even show referrers.
They may only focus on traffic and not where it comes from. Nevertheless most blog owners DO see when anyone links to them. It is right in their face when they login to make a new post. All you have to do to let somebody know that you have moved into their blog community is to link to them. BTW, it not only introduces you it allows them to know you are friendly and you like their part of the blog community you simply entered. Do not be surprised when they link back or maybe write a post about your blog. It is that straightforward.
Building up a large blog with tons of fresh traffic and a loyal return visitor base takes time, effort, and often times a few setbacks. But coming from someone who has seen the awesome results that can come from it, I highly recommend that you give your online business a serious push forward and keep it going until you get the results you want.
Recently I ran across a unique marketing strategy that is specific for blogs. It is really terrific as it enables blogs to get more attention, more traffic, and more links. Here are some of the ways in which any blogger can get people coming to their site more and more.
Remember that each blog is a web-site, although not each web-site is a blog. My top techniques of getting traffic to a web-site are still my top techniques of getting traffic to a blog. But blogs are a special sort of web-site. There are extra techniques of getting new visitors to your blog that are extremely impressive. The 1st one I played with was linking to others. Those among us old-timers on the 'net remember when the whole 'net was a tiny, close community when it was OK to send an e-mail telling others in your subject area that you simply set up a site and would like a link on their site. That isn't what I am recommending with the blog community. The times of sending even a private e-mail to somebody you have not met are virtually over.
Nonetheless it still is OK and still rather anticipated that you introduce yourself when you come into a community. It's also a great idea to let your new community know you are a genial guy and are prepared to help out in the neighborhood. First, you must find your neighbours.
Start by looking for ______ blog on Google, Yahoo or your favourite search site. Fill in the blank with the subject of your blog. Have a quick look at the blogs you see. Do you like them? Good, these are front-runners in your new community. Link to them in your blog roll.
Do you not like them? No problem. Don't link to them then. It is not needed that you like everyone in your new community, but you really would like to be part of the community you now live in Now as you read those blogs daily, notice their blog rolls ( links they should other blogs in your community ). Go visit them. Here's where the Alexa toolbar comes in. You'll find some new leaders ( those with blogs showing less than 100,000 on your Alexa toolbar ). Check out their blog and if you're keen on it add it to your own blog roll. It is a new community. I'd never lived in an agricultural area before, so it was vital for me to go thru this precise same exercise as I became part of my new community up here in the mountains. Sure, it did not involve Alexa or linking to others but the tenet is the same. When you enter a community and wish to be part of that community, get out there and start to know folks.
This is a technique to do that in the blogging community. I currently have 100 or so links from those in the blogging community after just a few months. From those links, I have over six hundred daily visits and over one hundred unswerving readers who come to read my blog every. Did I ask for any of those links? Nope. Have I got a hundred outward bound links? Nope. A large amount of those links came in without me linking to them. As I am getting the likelihood, I'm going and check out their blog and if I like it I give them a link. If I hate that blog for who knows what reason, I do not include it in my blog roll.
It is not always a tit for tat link exchange. A small number of you might be confused at that point about how my outwards bound links became inward bound links without any other action. You could be baffled about why I called this work Getting Blog Visitors when I have only talked about the best way to send my visitors to others by linking to them. OK, let me go into why this uniquely works great on blogs, though not on other web-sites. First, of all I use WordPress. It's the fastest-growing blogging software out there. When I sign on to my control panel to scribble a blog post, I'm given a page that shows numerous blog statistics. One of the most outstanding parts of those statistics is the amount of incoming links AND a catalogue of people who lately linked to me.
When you see a blog called Mattress Cleaners just linked to you are you able to ignore that? I can not. I am straight away distracted and what does one do? I click it. I am going and check out that Mattress Cleaner blog. If they used to be a quality blog that was really important to the blog community of my very own blog ( and they are not ) they might get a link in my blog roll so I could check them out occasionally. When you link to a site and send them traffic, that turns up in their referrer logs. Nevertheless lots of web masters do not look at their logs or figures. People who do may use stat software that doesn't even show referrers.
They may only focus on traffic and not where it comes from. Nevertheless most blog owners DO see when anyone links to them. It is right in their face when they login to make a new post. All you have to do to let somebody know that you have moved into their blog community is to link to them. BTW, it not only introduces you it allows them to know you are friendly and you like their part of the blog community you simply entered. Do not be surprised when they link back or maybe write a post about your blog. It is that straightforward.
Building up a large blog with tons of fresh traffic and a loyal return visitor base takes time, effort, and often times a few setbacks. But coming from someone who has seen the awesome results that can come from it, I highly recommend that you give your online business a serious push forward and keep it going until you get the results you want.
3 Ways to Get Topic Ideas When You Don't Know What to Blog About
By John Newcomb
The biggest question people ask me when it comes to blogging is "What should I write about?" This single question dominates the thoughts of any blogger trying to create an audience. The range of subjects you can talk about is usually limited, particularly if you want to build a loyal audience. Talking about acne on Monday and space travel on Tuesday will just make your blog chaotic. To be successful as a blogger, you need to focus on one or two areas of expertise or niches. Once you decide the niche, getting ideas about possible topics will be a whole lot easier. Nonetheless, here are a few tips if you get stuck
1. Use a Keyword Tool
Google provides a free keyword tool as part of its AdWords program. Simply make a free AdWords account at Google and check out the Keywords tool. Enter your main keyword (ex: digital cameras) and click on search. Google will throw up thousands of keywords related to your original keyword. You can create posts on any of these topics, or pursue them independently as sub niches.
2. See What Keywords People Are Using to Visit Your Site
Install a free traffic analytics script like Google Analytics. Use it to check what keywords people are using to visit your blog. If your blog is about digital cameras, and the most popular keyword being used to get to your blog is "digital slr camera reviews", you can easily craft a post or dedicate an entire category to it.
3. Ask Your Readers
If you find yourself stumped for creativity, just ask your readers what they would like to read about through a simple post. If you have a loyal readership, your readers will be more than glad to help.
The biggest question people ask me when it comes to blogging is "What should I write about?" This single question dominates the thoughts of any blogger trying to create an audience. The range of subjects you can talk about is usually limited, particularly if you want to build a loyal audience. Talking about acne on Monday and space travel on Tuesday will just make your blog chaotic. To be successful as a blogger, you need to focus on one or two areas of expertise or niches. Once you decide the niche, getting ideas about possible topics will be a whole lot easier. Nonetheless, here are a few tips if you get stuck
1. Use a Keyword Tool
Google provides a free keyword tool as part of its AdWords program. Simply make a free AdWords account at Google and check out the Keywords tool. Enter your main keyword (ex: digital cameras) and click on search. Google will throw up thousands of keywords related to your original keyword. You can create posts on any of these topics, or pursue them independently as sub niches.
2. See What Keywords People Are Using to Visit Your Site
Install a free traffic analytics script like Google Analytics. Use it to check what keywords people are using to visit your blog. If your blog is about digital cameras, and the most popular keyword being used to get to your blog is "digital slr camera reviews", you can easily craft a post or dedicate an entire category to it.
3. Ask Your Readers
If you find yourself stumped for creativity, just ask your readers what they would like to read about through a simple post. If you have a loyal readership, your readers will be more than glad to help.