Easy Ways to Promote Your Blog and Get More Traffic

Posted: Monday May 16th

If your blog’s template is boring and lacks organization, it will repel your visitors. So, to get more traffic, your blog must be professionally designed. This way its appearance will be appealing to the public.

Avoid the excessive use of ad banners and text ads because they have a negative effect on many users. Instead, use anchor text inside your articles for displaying ads only when internet users click on the highlighted keywords.

You can use free images from Flickr.com, Photoshop, and many other websites to make your pages appealing. Images are very important for capturing the public’s attention. Use impressive and intriguing pictures in all blog posts and use as many human images as you can. Research reveals that the human image in web pages has a magnetic effect that reduces bounce rates.

Only write unique content for your blog, or purchase original articles written by ghostwriters. Quality content will guarantee an excellent ranking for your blog, especially if you post a new article everyday. The more articles you post per day, the better.

Place a list with your best blog posts on the blog’s side bar to enable all new visitors to read your most interesting posts as soon as they land on your blog page. This way you will immediately capture their attention.

You should also place a Facebook ‘Like’ button under all blog posts so that your readers can click on them. This simple practice will generate viral traffic to your blog. You can easily get the Facebook ʽLikeʼ button by installing the Facebook Like Plugin onto your WordPress blog.

Another effective and simple way to promote your blog is by submitting its RSS feed to various RSS directories, like Blogcatalog, Icerocket, and many others. You’ll find a complete list of these directories if you type the keywords ‘RSS directories’ into a search engine.

You should also add a big RSS button to your blog, helping your readers easily find out how to become your subscribers. The more subscribers your blog gets, the better will be its ranking. This is another reason why you should post a new article every day. Most internet users subscribe only to blogs where they can find daily blog posts.

Another easy way to promote your blog is by pinging it at Pingomatic.com. You can also submit its URL to various search engines by using the services of SiteSubmitURL, Imautomator, and many others.

Finally, look for do-follow blogs related to your topic at BlogSearch.Google.com and leave lots of interesting comments under various articles, so that you will attract target traffic to your blog. Always read each article before leaving a comment, and never write evasive terms used by spammers, like ‘Great post’ or similar. Focus on adding interesting observations. Your comments will only attract the attention of readers if they are intelligently crafted.

How Twitter Can Help Your Business

Posted: Monday May 16th

Many larger companies are using Twitter today as another effective tool in their marketing strategy. But it’s not just big businesses that can benefit from this social networking giant. Even small to medium businesses are beginning to see the value of having a Twitter account. According to a recent, official Twitter blog, just under 14 million new users are creating new Twitter accounts every month. That’s around 460,000 new users every day. Twitter has quickly become more than just a platform for individuals to broadcast their daily thoughts; it’s now a legitimate networking and marketing tool for the shrewd entrepreneur.

There are numerous ways in which Twitter can help your business. One of the most important aspects of this social networking site is its ability to instantly humanize your business. Company websites can lack the capacity to immediately relate to customers on a personal level. Twitter, on the other hand, enables customers and employees to have direct contact with you and each other in a more informal setting. Offering employees a way of communicating in a more relaxed environment can also lead to a more creative and cohesive team.

With a platform like Twitter, you can also quickly and easily post news updates about your company, broadcast your latest promotions, and keep customers and business associates fully informed about any aspect of your company. Essentially, it’s an excellent space for press releases. By spreading information and ideas to new places, you can use Twitter as a tool to build your brand in the public consciousness. This can ultimately drive more traffic to your website and generate sales without aggressive sales tactics.

As well as broadcasting information, Twitter allows you to get invaluable feedback from the online community. It’s akin to an instant focus group, where you can ask questions or ask for opinions on practically anything. Both customers and employees can let you know what they think of a certain product, idea, or strategy. You can even gain valuable information about what people think about your competitors. At any time of the day or night, all over the world, people can respond to your questions. Where else could you find such illuminating, truthful insights into your products or services? With this sort of information at your fingertips, you have a great opportunity to brainstorm and improve upon aspects of your business such as product lines and customer support. It’s promotional and productive at the same time.

One of the most attractive reasons for using Twitter is its networking capability. Without too much effort, you can reach out to other professionals, locally and throughout the world. After being on Twitter for a short time, your name and business can be seen by other suppliers, retailers, marketing firms, industry experts, and other valuable people in the business community. This can ultimately lead to new contacts and relationships which will ultimately help the growth of your business.

As long as you use Twitter sensibly, it’s an acceptable place to promote your business. However, there are certain unwritten rules that you should follow to remain a reputable company. Posting links to your business website or blog gives people the opportunity to find out more, but don’t overdo it. It’s important to remember that Twitter is fundamentally a community website – it’s not a space to post ads. Inevitably, some people do take an aggressive approach to promotion, but a more subtle approach is required if you really want to build trust with your followers. Few people will respect your business if you are constantly trying to sell them something. You’re more likely to achieve positive results by using Twitter as a long-term marketing strategy, not just a quick promotional tool.

Twitter can be an effective marketing and SEO tool, but only as part of your overall campaign. With many businesses joining its community every day, why not be a part of this stimulating and constructive online community? Just remember to post interesting and relevant information, interact with others, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. With millions of potential customers, Twitter has given businesses a golden opportunity for rejuvenation and growth.

Choosing a Top Level Domain

Posted: Monday May 9th

Choosing the domain name for your website should be done with care. It should be easy to remember and SEO-friendly. The top level domain (TLD for short) is the final part of a web address such as .com, .org or .net etc. Taking care to choose the right TLD for your website is important and while, in many cases, a .com address is ideal, it is not always suitable. The following provides some tips on choosing the best TLD for your website.

When to Use a .com TLD

The .com TLD is by far the most popular in use today. This is for good reason too. By default, most browsers allow you to automatically complete a web address by pressing control and enter when you type the name of the website. Doing this will automatically add the www. and the .com parts of the address and then open up the website. This can be customized though few people ever bother to do it.

Many people are more likely to remember a .com address as well. For this reason, a .com address is ideal for any site targeted towards an international audience. If in doubt, a .com address is still the best option.

When to Use a Country Code TLD

Country code TLDs also have their place, though they are often not as useful as a .com address. If your website is targeted towards a more local audience, a country code TLD immediately tells visitors that they are looking at a local website. If you run an online shop selling products in the UK to UK citizens, a .co.uk address would be much more suitable. For advertising purposes, it lets visitors know that the site is specifically relevant to them. This may be exactly what you want to achieve.

Other TLDs

Other fairly popular TLDs include .info, .net and .org. These are best suited to informational resources, portal websites and non-profit organizations respectively. Registering one of these TLDs is generally not advisable unless it is registered in addition to a .com or other domain. An exception to this is the .net TLD. This can be more suitable for Internet-related services. A .com version of the address should still be registered as well.

There are other TLDs which are suitable for specific types of content. This includes some Country Code TLDs which are open for registration to almost anyone. Some examples of these include .me for Montenegro, .fm for Micronesia, .tv for Tuvalu and .cd for Congo. While it might seem catchier for an online radio website to use the .fm extension, it is still usually a good idea to have a .com version as well.

There are many other TLDs which are restricted and can only be used be specific types of organizations such as .mobi for mobile websites, .aero for airlines and .gov for government organizations etc.

Internationalized Country Code TLDs

An internationalized country code TLD is a TLD for a specific country which uses a script other than the standard Latin-based ASCII text. Although internationalized domains are still in their infancy, some of them are now available in certain locations. As it becomes harder to find the perfect address with so many other websites to contend with, internationalized TLDs may become very popular in the coming years. It is still a long way off before international TLDs become standard. For this reason, it is currently not advisable to rely on them. Internationalized TLDs are currently available for the Cyrillic, Arabic and Chinese scripts.

We Can’t Find You! (Why SEO Is Important for Your Website)

Posted: Friday April 8th

By: nlnunez

You’ve heard all the hype about blogs and websites earning tons of cash, you’ve researched a bit and found out it could catapult you from obscurity to fame, and you’re not afraid of hard work. Finally, you try your luck and launch your own blog. So far, so good. It looks a bit empty, so you type-out your first post, critique it thoroughly, and put it up for the world to see. It will only be a matter of days before someone finds their way into your site. Weeks pass by, but all you get are a couple of visitors who don’t even bother to leave comments. You post a few more articles but with less enthusiasm this time. In the end, your commitment to continue falters because of the lack of traffic. It seems rather pointless to persist. Ultimately, you just give up.

If this sounds like you, don’t fret. Most beginners have good intentions when they start a blog or website. They seriously want to deliver quality information that can help a lot of people. The only problem is that they lack a basic understanding of search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the backbone of internet success. It is the process of designing and developing your website in order to make it more appealing to search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN and ensures that the website will be indexed and cataloged in the rankings. You want to shoot for the top ten in search engine rankings. If you rank anywhere outside the top ten, your chances of getting traffic greatly diminishes. Ranking outside the top thirty basically makes your website nonexistent. The next time you use a search engine, pay attention to the top ten websites that appear based on your search query. These are websites that have mastered SEO and, hopefully, have the best content available. Notice that you rarely need to go beyond the top ten to look for additional information. This is what SEO does for your website. It’s a cutthroat competition for the top ranking, and those who disregard SEO will certainly fail in online business and blogging.

Modern search engines’ ancestor is a program called Archie. In its infancy, the internet contained very limited hosted files and a manual search was still possible. Archie created a database out of all public directory listings and enabled users to look through the list until they found the file they were searching for. This basic formula is far removed from today’s search engines. Popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN employ sophisticated algorithms that allow them to crawl, index, and search websites accurately. The technology has developed to a point where fly-by-night websites that attempt to profit from traffic but provide little value are quickly identified and weeded out, leaving the best sites available. With the millions of websites in existence today, search engines save us the trouble of having to look through all of them in order to find what we want. They are an indispensable tool. Going against the rules of search engines or thinking they are unnecessary to online success will certainly lead to failure.

Unfortunately, there is no way to accurately pinpoint the specific criteria that search engines look for in a website. These algorithms are the closely guarded secrets of their respective companies. The programs used are also dynamic, changing with the times and never remaining locked in a specific position. What was true in the past may no longer apply today. However, despite the fluid nature of search engines, there are basic aspects of a website that must be properly configured in order to have a fighting chance for the top ten. These include, but are not limited to, the site’s popularity, age, inbound and outbound links, content quality, and targeted keywords. A large number of books teach website owners how to properly organize these elements in order to maximize SEO. They are usually written by people who have studied search engine trends, experimented with numerous websites, and have largely figured out what works and what doesn’t in SEO.

There are also those who use their knowledge of SEO in shady ways. Commonly called “black hats” – a reference to early Western movies where outlaws wore dark-colored hats – these individuals have mastered SEO but lack the patience to improve website value and quality. They employ tactics that skyrocket them to the top ten even if their website is relatively new. Common methods used to manipulate search engines include keyword stuffing, hidden text, doorway pages, multiple unrelated links, and redirects. These methods are now the bane of search engines and are part of the reason why the algorithms used are constantly being upgraded.

All those involved in website building and online business exist on a spectrum. On one end are the newcomers who refuse to learn SEO and only focus on creating content, while on the other end are black hats who are keen on attracting traffic but disregard website quality. Neither group is effective. The naïve beginners will eventually lose steam and quit. They are like entertainers who hone their craft but never make it to the limelight. The black hats will occasionally profit in the short run, but once their underhanded tactics are discovered, their website will eventually be banned from the rankings. Those who comfortably find middle ground, working on SEO while still producing quality content, will be the ones to reap the rewards in the end.

Proper SEO management and strategies are your royal flush in the struggle for traffic. Too much, and it could destroy your reputation. Too little, and it won’t be effective. Just right, and it will lead to your victory.