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Having your own blog is a wonderful way to generate traffic. A simple wordpress installation gives you a platform on which to build a content site. Google loves blogs.

Just writing content will over time give you traffic. You can also help this process, by pinging blog directories so they know about this content. You can also write specifically with a view to getting even more traffic - such as writing for popular search-terms, courting controversy, and writing about topical news. You will also find yourself getting traffic for terms you are not even targeting.

However, other factors determine where your content will rank. The major one is “Pagerank” - which is at the heart of Google. This is a way in which it ranks websites. Every link to your site counts as a vote, and links from sites that have a high pagerank themselves will weigh more heavily in your favor.

Note that targeting popular search terms is not always the best solution. You are unlikely to rank high for the term “Credit Card” for example, because of the competition. It is far better to target a large number of less-popular search terms rather than focus on one or two of the most heavily used. So - in this example - a terms such as “Credit Card Interest Rates” or “HSBC Visa Card” would be better options. These are sometimes called “Long Tail” searches, in reference to the shape of the graph plotting these results.

To show up high in the results for “Credit Card Interest Rates” you should write posts with that term in the title, description, and content. Wordpress or your blog software will handle the rest - with the actual page address also including that term. You need to enable “Pretty Links” in Wordpress to do this, otherwise the page address will have a much less useful name such as www.yourblog.com/?p=100

So you have the content, targeting terms used by your niche - it’s time to get back to Pagerank.

As we discussed Pagerank is counted by links to your site. Therefore it makes sense to get as many links to your site as humanly possible.

Don’t overdo it. If you grow your links too quickly, Google will penalise you. This is because if it happened naturally your links would grow slowly, over time. Here’s some tips on getting linked to:

1. Interesting content will get linked by other blogs. Unfortunately, the other blogs have to be aware of this content in the first place. It’s a circle: the more popular you are, the more you will get linked. One way to kickstart the process is to actively promote your content yourself - at least when starting out. The social networks are ideal for the process.

2. Proactively get these links yourself. You can post comments on other blogs, post in forums, write in guestbooks, create content at other sites such as Squidoo and Hubpages and even build secondary blogs that are remotely hosted - at wordpress.com, blogger.com and typepad.com for example. Some blogs use a special attribute in their links called “nofollow” which means you get no pagerank credit at those sites.

3. Use “Trackbacks”. This is where you link to other blogs, and once those blogs notice you have done so your link gets shown at the original post.

4. Use Linkbait. This is a method where you deliberately write about controversial subjects in the hope that it sparks an interest at other blogs, who then link to you. Gossip and rumours work well, as does news if you are the first in your niche to post that news.

5. Use press releases. Many places monitor press releases for relevant content in their niche and then post and link to that news from their own sites. A new product release, a human-interest story, or simply “news” in the real sense of the word can become a press release. You need to write in a specific style for this.

6. Write articles. This can benefit your pagerank in a number of ways, but you should ensure your link is clickable in the article. Submit that article to the major article directories and you will get a pagerank boost from the directory itself, as well as from any other sites that go on to syndicate that article. Google will penalise duplicate content, so if you use the article at your own site consider rewording it for distribution.

7. Use Anchor Text in your links. This can greatly influence your pagerank: instead of simply linking to netpreneurnow.com for example, have the text “Internet Marketing” linking to netpreneurnow.com - so it would be Internet Marketing and not NetpreneurNow.com even though both lead to the same destination.

8. The age of a site also has weight in regards to pagerank. The older your site, the higher it is valued by Google. This also transfers to links from other sites, so links from older sites to yours are valued more. Age isn’t really something you can influence - but it is possible to buy expired domains that in effect are already aged. Whether or not they retain their pagerank after you reuse or recycle them is another matter.

9. Favour one-way incoming links - this basically means if Site A links to yours, but you don’t link back, it is worth more. The thinking behind this is that for a site to link to you the content must be useful, but if it links to you and you to them it may be a simple link trade, and therefore not as valuable.

It’s worth remembering that Pagerank is just one way to influence your search engine rankings, but it is probably the most important. And all those tips will also generate direct traffic as well from people who click your link, so you get two traffic sources for the price of one

A search engines overall goal is to provide a searcher with the content they are seeking. There’s no point trying to cheat the results, but with a little knowledge of how a search engine works you can certainly influence them. All of Googles ranking algorithms are simply an attempt to automate the process of deciding which are quality sites, and which are not. The process isn’t perfect - but it works.

Technorati Tags: google, pagerank, seo, traffic tip

Tags: google, pagerank, seo, traffic tip

Traffic can come from many places. Apart from your regular visitors - perhaps fans of your site, visitors from your e-mail promotions, or contributors to your forum - those folk who find you from a search query are among the best.

These are qualified, pre-screened, visitors. They have come to your site expecting to find whatever it is they are looking for. And it’s the search engines job to match these searches with quality content.

The big search engines DO want you in their listings. Honestly - they’re not trying to exclude you, heck… they need you!

To that end they all provide various tools and guidelines to (a) ensure you meet the strict quality control and (b) ensure you are found for the right terms.

Google

Currently, the #1 search engine by almost every ranking method known to man. Google’s help and advice can be found at their Webmaster Central.

This section of their site includes their webmaster tools, their comprehensive Analytics software, their Optimizer to help you rank better, and information on submitting content: such as products, books, rss feeds, local listings and more.

The aforementioned tools are also worth a thorough look. Here you’ll find the all important Sitemap area where you can specify what pages on your site are indexed, and view statistics on the search terms you are found for and more.

Yahoo

Yahoo don’t offer an all in one webmaster area like Google, but you may find these links helpful:

Add Your URL To Yahoo - unless you want a paid submission, it’s usually quicker to get crawled from a link on a already listed URL. There are, however, special areas for submitting media and mobile sites.

Site Explorer - See what pages you have listed.

Other Yahoo Links - Webmaster Guidelines, Marketing Services etc.

MSN

Despite Microsofts efforts MSN Search isn’t as popular as the other two. They do however have a useful section at their latest incarnation, Live.com

Live.Com Webmaster Tools includes validation and authentication tools, guidelines, technical support, and a webmaster forum. Typical of Microsoft this looks rather corporate and the links can be confusing, but dig around and there’s quality information there

Technorati Tags: google, google listing, google seo, google tools, internet marketing, live.com listing, live.com seo, live.com tools, msn seo, msn tools, search engine optimisation, seo, Traffic, webmaster tools, yahoo, yahoo listing, yahoo seo, yahoo tools

Tags: google, google listing, google seo, google tools, internet marketing, live.com listing, live.com seo, live.com tools, msn seo, msn tools, search engine optimisation, seo, Traffic, webmaster tools, yahoo, yahoo listing, yahoo seo, yahoo tools

If you keep up with technology news you can’t fail to have noticed that a new Search Engine, set up by former Google employees, has launched.

Called “Cuil” (pronounced “cool”) this aims to use context and relevance, rather than simply counting links and reading page content. Of course, this has been attempted before, so how does Cuil shape up?

This is from a users point of view. It’s probably too early to be talking about a marketing viewpoint. And after all, if this is focused on delivering results better than Google you’ll probably find it more difficult to optimise pages to try and force a high ranking - if Cuil takes off. The basic premise of providing quality content should help, however.

The first thing you notice is the way results are displayed. Although it takes some getting used to for those of us who treat Google’s list view as second nature, the grid view provided by Cuil is rather pleasing to the eye. At a glance you can usually see what each site in the listings are about.

So how do the results rank? I tried a few searches, including “Fly Fishing”, “Motorcycle Mechanics” and “How To Sell Your House” to see how relevant Google and Cuil results are.

The short answer? Google and Cuil provided mostly different results, which is kind of pleasing as it at least shows Cuil is doing things differently. I also liked the way Cuil provides further search examples as you type, and the tabbed results window.

Ultimately, however, though less flashy Google was quicker to load (unsurprising considering the mighty networks running the behemoth) and I was able to find a relevant site quickly.

Mostly, I think this is due to habit: I’m more used to Google’s results page, and I tend to scan a search engine results listing very quickly and usually can see what is an information site, and what is trying to sell me something.

Cuil is definately something to look out for. They have a mammoth task ahead of them to even gain a small percentage of the search engine market. But I can say that it does work, it does deliver relevant results, and if we can all break our habits and try something new, perhaps it will in some way succeed.

Technorati Tags: cuil, google, search engines, seo

Tags: cuil, google, search engines, seo

Joel Comm, Bestselling Author, has released version 4 of his famous Adsense Secrets book. And, unlike earlier versions of this comprehensive guide, this newly updated 2008 release is now just $9.97 !

This book has been on the market since 2005 (costing from $77 to $97) and continuously updated since then.

In Adsense Secrets 4.0 you’ll discover all the insider tips to making the most from Google’s extremely popular and lucrative Adsense advertising program.

Learn how to build content-rich websites that people will love, yet still make you money from Adsense. Find out how to optimise your site for the highest paying clicks, how to drive traffic to your site, how to format your ads, how to use articles and scripts, read your server logs, and much more.

This 222 page guide is all about using content on your pages and placing and using the right ads for the most possible money. It even includes real, working website example and case studies!

For under $10 this is a no-brainer. Grab Adsense Secrets 4.0 today.

Adsense Secrets 4.0

Technorati Tags: adsense ads, adsense book, adsense guide, adsense secrets, adsense strategies, adsense tips, advertising, google, google adsense, internet marketing, joel comm, make money, marketing, promotion, seo, Traffic

Tags: adsense ads, adsense book, adsense guide, adsense secrets, adsense strategies, adsense tips, advertising, google, google adsense, internet marketing, joel comm, make money, marketing, promotion, seo, Traffic

Want a great way to create “authority” pages on any subject/niche you like?

Try Hubpages !

This is a site originally started by ex-Microsoft employees that aims to provide quality, authoriative webpages. And Google thinks so as well - if you look at the rankings these get.

I know about this site because a great report just came out detailing how to use these Hubpages yourself to drive traffic to any site. The page below is full of traffic and search examples, so you can see how effective this can be:

Hubpages Report

This kind of reminds me of Squidoo and other such methods, but by now you’ve probably realised that Squidoo isn’t as easy to rank on as it used to be - so perhaps Hubpages are ripe for the reaping.

Anyway, this great report detailing all you need to know is currently around $3.65 (but rising) and you can earn some great commissions, too. Give it a whirl.

Click Here For The Report

Technorati Tags: dimesale, ebook, free traffic, google, hub pages, hubpages, ranking, Resell Rights, seo, Traffic

Tags: dimesale, ebook, free traffic, google, hub pages, hubpages, ranking, Resell Rights, seo, Traffic

SEO is essential for your business if you want to ensure that people who use the search engines, in effect everyone online, can find your site. A top ranking virtually guarantee your site is a success. 

Here’s Seven Top Tips on achieving that.

1. First you need to know your Keywords. That means you must brainstorm, and work out what words people will use to find your site. You can also ”cheat” and monitor your competitors sites to find out what keywords they use!

2. Keywords should be sprinkled liberally throughout your text, in your TITLE tag, in your DESCRIPTION, and if possible even in your DOMAIN NAME and PATH. You can also put them in the ALT images of any graphics on the page and in the filenames of other elements such as pictures and downloads. Don’t overdo it though as you can get penalised for using too many. And make sure your page is human-readable. All to often people can get over zealous and the resulting prose is a little mind bending

3. A good linking strategy means you have a number of other sites linking to yours. If possible, use anchor text so that the link itself uses your keywords: E.G. “Fly Fishing” linking to FlyFishingTips.com - but again don’t overdo it , vary the links.

There are a number of ways to get links. You can swap links with other relevant sites (a two-way link) even though a one-way is considered a higher value by the search engine. You can include your link wherever you can post comments (such as relevant Blogs). You can write Articles that include your link (which will appear in directories and on other sites). You can submit your link to special indexes, and you can even pay for links which is technically frowned upon by the search engines. A link from an authority site carries immense weight to yours.

If you can, also try to get links direct to sub-pages within your site. This is known as Deep Linking and can help your efforts.

4. Don’t forget to include a Site Map. This can be as simple as a HTML page listing all the links at your site, to a full XML map that is submitted directly to Google. There are many free solutions to automatically create these XML Sitemaps.

5. Try to keep the code at your site clean. Software such as Word will create very convoluted HTML code for the webpage, other tools fare better. The cleanest code will always be created if you do things the hard way - by hand!

6. Age is a strong indication of a quality site. If you don’t have the patience to work on your own long-term project there is a shortcut: Buy an existing site or even just buy an expired domain name. 

7. Avoid duplicate content at your site. If you use third party articles, try to modify them to fit your site. And if you actually write the articles, keep a different one for your own site to the one you pass on to others. 

Special Offer: 

Heres a comprehensive guide to Search Engine Optimisation and it’s a great one-stop guide that covers everything from linking, tagging and domain names to tracking and more.

If you still need that first-page result on Google and other engines a good SEO Strategy is a must. And this book will help you achieve that.

All the techniques in this 156 page book are proven (and legal) and they’re the best way to get a high ranking and drive traffic to your site.

The Geeks Guide To SEO - ONLY $7 !

Technorati Tags: google, Hits Traffic, linking, promotion, ranking, search engine optimisation, search engine optimization, SEO Advice, SEO Guide, SEO Help, SEO Tips, Sitemaps, Top SEO Tips, Traffic

Tags: google, Hits Traffic, linking, promotion, ranking, search engine optimisation, search engine optimization, SEO Advice, SEO Guide, SEO Help, SEO Tips, Sitemaps, Top SEO Tips, Traffic

This literally JUST launched.

The $7 Mall…

The features are amazing, and you can get a fr-ee silver membership today that features some of the DIAMOND content for the first few hours.

This is a premium mall packed full of $7 offers.

Amazing products, scripts, ebooks, tools and more for Internet Mark.eters at the unbeatable low $7 price.

http://www.productpacks.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=114

This is NOT full of crap, no cheapie mass-produced ebay books in here

Grab your silver membership and you get your OWN mall you can promote and earn from.

Lots of extra freebies included too, such as a full copy of the $7 book and script itself among others.

This is new. Get your membership, enjoy the content, and promote like wildfire.

I grabbed the *diamond* package myself, but it’s your choice. With Diamond you can get 100% commissions on EVERY product, fr-ee advertising credit, links, popus, banners and other traffic builders, your own product included, and much more.

But it’s your choice - whatever you decide , join today.

http://www.productpacks.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=114

I’ll get back to you on more of the features soon but for now please grab your own membership and play around. I honestly believe you’ll be surprised at just what you can do with this site.

Technorati Tags: $7 Mall, $7 offers, $7 secret, adsense, advertising, affiliate program, commissions, dime sale, dimesale, ebook, ebooks, firesale, google, instant commissions, internet marketing, make money, marketing ebook, marketing script, marketing software, master resale rights, master resell rights, mrr, plr, private label rights, promotion, resale rights, Resell Rights, script, seo, seven dollar mall, seven dollar secret

Tags: $7 Mall, $7 offers, $7 secret, adsense, advertising, affiliate program, commissions, dime sale, dimesale, ebook, ebooks, firesale, google, instant commissions, internet marketing, make money, marketing ebook, marketing script, marketing software, master resale rights, master resell rights, mrr, plr, private label rights, promotion, resale rights, Resell Rights, script, seo, seven dollar mall, seven dollar secret

The next stop on our tour of the newest bargain sales is a very informative SEO book called Three Step SEO Secret.

http://www.3stepseosecret.com/a/essjayar_secret

This is a well written guide to some innovative SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Techniques. If you want your site to rank higher in the search engines - and then get you tons of traffic - look here.

Find out all about getting backlinks the easy way, how to use your “keyphrase”, keyword tips and tricks, a great piece of advice about domain names, and much more.

100% Commissions on referrals.

Technorati Tags: advertising, affiliate program, backlinks, commissions, dimesale, google, google ranking, google traffic, internet marketing, keywords, promotion, ranking, search engine optimisation, search engines, seo, Traffic, wes blaylock, yahoo

Tags: advertising, affiliate program, backlinks, commissions, dimesale, google, google ranking, google traffic, internet marketing, keywords, promotion, ranking, search engine optimisation, search engines, seo, Traffic, wes blaylock, yahoo