While blogger is a great option for creating a blog and monetizing it
with AdSense, especially for beginners, it is not the only blog host
online. Some other popular options include WordPress, Moveable
Type, and TypePad. Each blog host offers their own set of options and
variety. Some blog services require payment while others are free of
charge like Blogger.
While starting with Blogger can be a great way to get into blogging,
you may find at some point you would like to move your blog to
another provider. This is fairly common practice and simple to do.
You will however have to develop some HTML skills to be able to move
your blog to another format because the Blogger templates generally
only work well for Blogger.
Showing posts with label blogging tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging tips. Show all posts
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Create an RSS Feed
By creating an RSS feed to your blog you can essentially syndicate
your blog, much like comics and television shows syndicate their
content.
What is an RSS feed? RSS stands for “Rich Site Summary” or “Really
Simple Syndication” or “RDF Site Summary” depending on the version
that is being used. RSS is essentially a way to stream up to the
minute news and updates on your blog around the world via the
internet.
Readers of RSS streams use a content reader program called a feed
reader or aggregator. These can be downloaded free of charge online
with the most popular ones being News Gator or Bloglines.
The feed reader, or aggregator, checks websites where the user has
subscribed to see if there is any new and updated information and if
the site has been updated then the feed reader will copy that new
information so that the reader can read it. The purpose of the
aggregators is so that the reader does not have to keep checking a
site to see if it has been updated, the reader, via the RSS feed, does it
for them.
Adding RSS feeds to a Blogger blog is a very simple thing to do.
Simply go to the Blogger Dashboard, then to Settings -> Site Feed and
enter in whether you want full post syndication or only a short bit of
your post to syndicate. You can then add a syndication button to the
front page of your blog and that is all you have to do. By doing these
simple steps your visitors can subscribe to your RSS feed and will
know when your page has been updated!
For a monetized blog it is best to leave the syndication to the short
syndication option. This shows your readers that your site is updated,
but they will still have to visit your site to read your entire messages.
This insures that they will be seeing your Google AdSense ads and
possibly clicking on them. You want to tease them with the RSS feed
information to ensure they come to your blog and read the rest of the
message.
your blog, much like comics and television shows syndicate their
content.
What is an RSS feed? RSS stands for “Rich Site Summary” or “Really
Simple Syndication” or “RDF Site Summary” depending on the version
that is being used. RSS is essentially a way to stream up to the
minute news and updates on your blog around the world via the
internet.
Readers of RSS streams use a content reader program called a feed
reader or aggregator. These can be downloaded free of charge online
with the most popular ones being News Gator or Bloglines.
The feed reader, or aggregator, checks websites where the user has
subscribed to see if there is any new and updated information and if
the site has been updated then the feed reader will copy that new
information so that the reader can read it. The purpose of the
aggregators is so that the reader does not have to keep checking a
site to see if it has been updated, the reader, via the RSS feed, does it
for them.
Adding RSS feeds to a Blogger blog is a very simple thing to do.
Simply go to the Blogger Dashboard, then to Settings -> Site Feed and
enter in whether you want full post syndication or only a short bit of
your post to syndicate. You can then add a syndication button to the
front page of your blog and that is all you have to do. By doing these
simple steps your visitors can subscribe to your RSS feed and will
know when your page has been updated!
For a monetized blog it is best to leave the syndication to the short
syndication option. This shows your readers that your site is updated,
but they will still have to visit your site to read your entire messages.
This insures that they will be seeing your Google AdSense ads and
possibly clicking on them. You want to tease them with the RSS feed
information to ensure they come to your blog and read the rest of the
message.
Vlog and Moblog – The Future of Blogging
With ever emerging cell phone and video technology capabilities, we
are now seeing vlogs and moblogs come onto the blogging scene.
Vlog stands for “video blog” and is a blog which incorporates moving
video images into it. Moblog stands for “mobile blog” and refers to a
blog which allows the blogger to upload video and photos taken with a
camera phone or to even call in a post to their blog from their cellular
phones.
The goal of these new blog forms is still the same – get visitors to
come see what they are all about and then keep them loyal and
returning day after day, week after week. This can be an easier task
when your blog contains video and updates “from the field” via your
cellular phone. Just think for a moment about all of the interesting
things you could put on your blog. You could post about your
vacation, while you are still on vacation, and have pictures on your
vlog for all to see before you return home.
Vloggers and mobloggers are now using their vlog and moblogs to
create their own news and radio stations. Imagine being out for a
night on the town and a witness to something newsworthy. You can
shoot the footage with your cell phone and upload it almost instantly
to your vlog or moblog for the world to see. You could have your
images up before a traditional news crew could even arrive on the
scene, if they even made it there to witness the news in action.
Other vloggers and mobloggers are creating their own short films with
the same technology. Some use a webcam and record their own video
shows with them, edit them, and post them to their moblog or vlog.
This can allow them to create their own instant programs or short
movies. Think of the possibilities to being able to do this and the
amazingly large audience the internet can bring you to watch what you
have created!
The software industry is starting to see the value in the ability of
people to create these special enhanced blogs and is creating software
to make the process cheaper and easier. There are now affordable
options available for video creation and editing which are simple
enough for most people to learn and use.
are now seeing vlogs and moblogs come onto the blogging scene.
Vlog stands for “video blog” and is a blog which incorporates moving
video images into it. Moblog stands for “mobile blog” and refers to a
blog which allows the blogger to upload video and photos taken with a
camera phone or to even call in a post to their blog from their cellular
phones.
The goal of these new blog forms is still the same – get visitors to
come see what they are all about and then keep them loyal and
returning day after day, week after week. This can be an easier task
when your blog contains video and updates “from the field” via your
cellular phone. Just think for a moment about all of the interesting
things you could put on your blog. You could post about your
vacation, while you are still on vacation, and have pictures on your
vlog for all to see before you return home.
Vloggers and mobloggers are now using their vlog and moblogs to
create their own news and radio stations. Imagine being out for a
night on the town and a witness to something newsworthy. You can
shoot the footage with your cell phone and upload it almost instantly
to your vlog or moblog for the world to see. You could have your
images up before a traditional news crew could even arrive on the
scene, if they even made it there to witness the news in action.
Other vloggers and mobloggers are creating their own short films with
the same technology. Some use a webcam and record their own video
shows with them, edit them, and post them to their moblog or vlog.
This can allow them to create their own instant programs or short
movies. Think of the possibilities to being able to do this and the
amazingly large audience the internet can bring you to watch what you
have created!
The software industry is starting to see the value in the ability of
people to create these special enhanced blogs and is creating software
to make the process cheaper and easier. There are now affordable
options available for video creation and editing which are simple
enough for most people to learn and use.
Your Blog Design
Once your blog is up and running for a while you will invariably find
that you want to make some changes to it. Maybe you want to make
a simple change like turning the blue type to green type or maybe you
want an entirely different template and look to your blog. Most all
changes you can think of to make to your blog can easily be done with
a little Blogger experience under your belt.
As you learn and grow your blogging and HTML skills, you will
undoubtedly discover new and innovative things you can add to your
blog to make it more appealing to your reader, and ultimately make
you more money as well. Always be on the lookout for new and
innovative things you can do with your blog and ways that you can use
it to generate income for you.
To simply update the look of your blog you can use different
templates. There are a million and one options out there for free or
cheap templates you can use with Blogger. Because Google’s Blogger
is an industry leader for blogging many people develop skins (cool
background images) and templates for use with it. Playing with new
templates and skins can be fun and you can end up with a really great
unique looking blog as well. Your blog is simply an extension of you
and your business so you will want to take some time and change it
around from time to time.
If you want to play around with other templates for your blog you
might consider playing around with a temporary blog. This way any
changes you might make will not have any effect on your main blog.
This allows you to decide if you like the changes or not, before you
implement them. This can save you a lot of time and frustration when
you are just starting out and learning to work with Blogger templates
and settings.
You will also want to always back-up your current template before you
make any changes. This is very important. You need to always be
able to easily go back to your old template if you do not like the new
one. You do not want the hassle of trying to figure out what went
wrong in the change. It is much easier to just revert back to your old
template and then try again with the changes.
If you change templates you will also need to copy and paste some of
your code from the old template into the new one. Things like
AdSense and your personal links will need to be manually put on your
new template from the old one.
Backing-up your template is not just an option; you really must
do it each and every time before you make changes to your
blog. This will save you a lot of valuable time and frustration.
It is also very important to decide if you want your blog to look
“professional” or have a more homemade feel to it. You want your
blog visitors to feel they get value from reading your blog. Will the
value of your blog be in providing your readers with an education or
more in providing your readers with entertainment? Are you writing
as an “expert” in a field? Do you want to be known for your
professionalism and experience? Or, do you simply want to share your
human experience and provide a bit of entertainment to your readers?
Assume for a moment that I have a blog with the topic of business
ethics. As my primary business I am a consultant on business ethics.
I want to be known as an authority on business ethics. I use my
business ethics blog to promote my primary business, while also
enjoying some revenue from AdSense. On my blog I post professional
articles and opinions. With this blog I would likely want a very
professional appearance. I want to appear to my readers very
professional and as if I am doing well in my chosen profession. I
would use a very corporate and professional looking template for my
blog to convey this to my readers. I would also choose not to post
pictures of my children and pets on this particular blog.
Now, assume for a moment that I have another blog on the topic of
self-reliance and living off the land. I live in this way in my personal
life and I want to help others to be able to as well. I want to be a
friendly resource for people who are interested in living as I do. I
want other people to be able to relate to me and share their
experiences with living off the land. On this particular blog I post
stories about my home life and thoughts on how to get the most from
simplified living. While this blog can also be a monetized blog with
AdSense on it, I would probably want it to have a more “homemade”
feel to it. My visitors aren’t thrilled with “corporate and stuffy” so I
don’t want my blog to appear that way to them. I would use a
colorful earthy template and probably post photos of my children and
homestead on this blog.
As you can see in the two examples above, the way your blog looks
should have a lot to do with its function and purpose. Getting the
right feel and look to a blog is very important in having your readers
feel at home and visiting it often. You want your readers to see your
blog and understand its purpose and direction easily.
that you want to make some changes to it. Maybe you want to make
a simple change like turning the blue type to green type or maybe you
want an entirely different template and look to your blog. Most all
changes you can think of to make to your blog can easily be done with
a little Blogger experience under your belt.
As you learn and grow your blogging and HTML skills, you will
undoubtedly discover new and innovative things you can add to your
blog to make it more appealing to your reader, and ultimately make
you more money as well. Always be on the lookout for new and
innovative things you can do with your blog and ways that you can use
it to generate income for you.
To simply update the look of your blog you can use different
templates. There are a million and one options out there for free or
cheap templates you can use with Blogger. Because Google’s Blogger
is an industry leader for blogging many people develop skins (cool
background images) and templates for use with it. Playing with new
templates and skins can be fun and you can end up with a really great
unique looking blog as well. Your blog is simply an extension of you
and your business so you will want to take some time and change it
around from time to time.
If you want to play around with other templates for your blog you
might consider playing around with a temporary blog. This way any
changes you might make will not have any effect on your main blog.
This allows you to decide if you like the changes or not, before you
implement them. This can save you a lot of time and frustration when
you are just starting out and learning to work with Blogger templates
and settings.
You will also want to always back-up your current template before you
make any changes. This is very important. You need to always be
able to easily go back to your old template if you do not like the new
one. You do not want the hassle of trying to figure out what went
wrong in the change. It is much easier to just revert back to your old
template and then try again with the changes.
If you change templates you will also need to copy and paste some of
your code from the old template into the new one. Things like
AdSense and your personal links will need to be manually put on your
new template from the old one.
Backing-up your template is not just an option; you really must
do it each and every time before you make changes to your
blog. This will save you a lot of valuable time and frustration.
It is also very important to decide if you want your blog to look
“professional” or have a more homemade feel to it. You want your
blog visitors to feel they get value from reading your blog. Will the
value of your blog be in providing your readers with an education or
more in providing your readers with entertainment? Are you writing
as an “expert” in a field? Do you want to be known for your
professionalism and experience? Or, do you simply want to share your
human experience and provide a bit of entertainment to your readers?
Assume for a moment that I have a blog with the topic of business
ethics. As my primary business I am a consultant on business ethics.
I want to be known as an authority on business ethics. I use my
business ethics blog to promote my primary business, while also
enjoying some revenue from AdSense. On my blog I post professional
articles and opinions. With this blog I would likely want a very
professional appearance. I want to appear to my readers very
professional and as if I am doing well in my chosen profession. I
would use a very corporate and professional looking template for my
blog to convey this to my readers. I would also choose not to post
pictures of my children and pets on this particular blog.
Now, assume for a moment that I have another blog on the topic of
self-reliance and living off the land. I live in this way in my personal
life and I want to help others to be able to as well. I want to be a
friendly resource for people who are interested in living as I do. I
want other people to be able to relate to me and share their
experiences with living off the land. On this particular blog I post
stories about my home life and thoughts on how to get the most from
simplified living. While this blog can also be a monetized blog with
AdSense on it, I would probably want it to have a more “homemade”
feel to it. My visitors aren’t thrilled with “corporate and stuffy” so I
don’t want my blog to appear that way to them. I would use a
colorful earthy template and probably post photos of my children and
homestead on this blog.
As you can see in the two examples above, the way your blog looks
should have a lot to do with its function and purpose. Getting the
right feel and look to a blog is very important in having your readers
feel at home and visiting it often. You want your readers to see your
blog and understand its purpose and direction easily.
SEO and Marketing Your Blog
Search engine optimization is a very important part of making your
blog successful. It’s important to understand how the search engines
see your information and what they do with it. By understanding how
they work you are better able to create your blog as a “search engine
friendly” site. The easier the search engine can work with your site,
then the better rankings you will receive from them.
While search engine optimization is important, you cannot rely solely
on natural visitors to your website from the search engines. It is great
to have some of your readers come from there, but you will generally
want your blog’s name to get out there in other ways as well. You will
want to do all of the other things suggested to help drive traffic to
your website. The search engines, even if you get a great ranking, will
not do it all for you! You need to market your site and market it to
your target audience.
blog successful. It’s important to understand how the search engines
see your information and what they do with it. By understanding how
they work you are better able to create your blog as a “search engine
friendly” site. The easier the search engine can work with your site,
then the better rankings you will receive from them.
While search engine optimization is important, you cannot rely solely
on natural visitors to your website from the search engines. It is great
to have some of your readers come from there, but you will generally
want your blog’s name to get out there in other ways as well. You will
want to do all of the other things suggested to help drive traffic to
your website. The search engines, even if you get a great ranking, will
not do it all for you! You need to market your site and market it to
your target audience.
Ping
The search engines send their spider, or bot, to your site on a regular
basis. They schedule their visits based on the size of your website and
how often it appears to be updated. However, if you want to send a
message to them letting them know you have updated your site, then
you can do something called “pinging.” Pinging, in this context, is
simply sending a code string to the search engines which says “hey
come look at my site again, it’s updated, and I want it indexed again.”
All you have to do to ping the search engines is to go to a ping
website, enter the URL of your blog, check the boxes of where you
want to ping (generally do all of them) and then click “Ping.” It really
is that simple and quick. The two most popular ping websites are
www.ping-o-matic.com and www.pingoat.com.
It is generally advisable that you ping each time you update your blog,
or each week at least. This makes sure your site is getting seen by
the search engines and that it is being indexed as fast as possible.
basis. They schedule their visits based on the size of your website and
how often it appears to be updated. However, if you want to send a
message to them letting them know you have updated your site, then
you can do something called “pinging.” Pinging, in this context, is
simply sending a code string to the search engines which says “hey
come look at my site again, it’s updated, and I want it indexed again.”
All you have to do to ping the search engines is to go to a ping
website, enter the URL of your blog, check the boxes of where you
want to ping (generally do all of them) and then click “Ping.” It really
is that simple and quick. The two most popular ping websites are
www.ping-o-matic.com and www.pingoat.com.
It is generally advisable that you ping each time you update your blog,
or each week at least. This makes sure your site is getting seen by
the search engines and that it is being indexed as fast as possible.
Search Engine Optimization
How Does a Search Engine Work?
Before we can talk about search engine optimization you need to know
and understand the very basics of how a search engine works. While
the process is very mathematical and way more complex than most
people care to know about, I will try and give you a very simple
explanation.
A search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc… sends a “spider”
to a new website. This spider is simply a bit of code, or a program if
you will, which “crawls” the website. Crawling the website is simply a
matter of copying the pages and then downloading a copy of them to
the search engine’s web server.
Once the site has been crawled by the spider, the search engine then
indexes the information from the pages it now has copies of. The
indexing is all about keywords, tags, and what the site itself is all
about.
When you go to www.google.com and put in a keyword to search for,
your “search results” page is based in the indexed pages from this
process.
So, a search engine basically sends a spider to your pages, crawls
them, copies them down to their own server, indexes the information
on them, and then uses their index when someone does a search. It’s
not really that simplistic of a process, but as far as what most of us
need to know that is basically what happens.
Before we can talk about search engine optimization you need to know
and understand the very basics of how a search engine works. While
the process is very mathematical and way more complex than most
people care to know about, I will try and give you a very simple
explanation.
A search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc… sends a “spider”
to a new website. This spider is simply a bit of code, or a program if
you will, which “crawls” the website. Crawling the website is simply a
matter of copying the pages and then downloading a copy of them to
the search engine’s web server.
Once the site has been crawled by the spider, the search engine then
indexes the information from the pages it now has copies of. The
indexing is all about keywords, tags, and what the site itself is all
about.
When you go to www.google.com and put in a keyword to search for,
your “search results” page is based in the indexed pages from this
process.
So, a search engine basically sends a spider to your pages, crawls
them, copies them down to their own server, indexes the information
on them, and then uses their index when someone does a search. It’s
not really that simplistic of a process, but as far as what most of us
need to know that is basically what happens.
Press Release Submissions
If you were to start a small home business, one way to receive free
advertising for it would be to send a press release to your local
newspapers. Online there are a few press release websites where you
can submit a free press release about your new blog or website. (The
two most popular are prweb.com and prfree.com.)
To make a press release, simply write up a short statement about how
awesome your newly launched site is and post it on the free press
release websites. Make sure to have a link to your site in your press
release and you have just created one additional back-link for each
site you submitted your press release to. Press releases are a great
way to get links without a lot of work. They can be short and to the
point.
advertising for it would be to send a press release to your local
newspapers. Online there are a few press release websites where you
can submit a free press release about your new blog or website. (The
two most popular are prweb.com and prfree.com.)
To make a press release, simply write up a short statement about how
awesome your newly launched site is and post it on the free press
release websites. Make sure to have a link to your site in your press
release and you have just created one additional back-link for each
site you submitted your press release to. Press releases are a great
way to get links without a lot of work. They can be short and to the
point.
Article Submissions
There are many places online where you can submit a short (400-600
word) non-fiction article about something you know. This article could
be your first blog posting, it could be something you come up with just
to post on an article directory website, or it could be an article you
have someone else ghostwrite and then publish under your own name.
This is one time where having other people write for you probably isn’t
a bad thing. As long as the article is good and sound it really doesn’t
matter if it was written by you or a ghostwriter you hired to write it.
Submitting an article to an online article directory is free, simple, and
easy. Simply turn one of your blog posts into an article which can
stand alone, and then submit it to the article directory of your choice.
(Some popular ones are articlealley.com, contentdesk.com,
ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com.) There are also automated
submission programs you can use to submit your articles to many
article sites all at one time.
Attached to your article will be a “byline.” Your byline will contain
information about you and a link to your blogs and other websites.
You could have your byline read something like “Jane Smith is a
programmer by day and blogs on horses at night. See her amazing
programming website at www.iprogram.com and read her blog at
www.besthorseblog.com.” This example byline just created two back-
links for every time you publish the article; one to the programming
site and another to the horse blog. If you post this article five times
on the web you have ten back-links to your sites.
Also, many article sites allow you to publish non-exclusive rights
articles on their sites. This means that you are free to post the same
article on other article sites as well. Each time you submit the article
you build links to your site. In addition, other bloggers and
webmasters will link to these articles on their own relevant sites and
that creates even more links for your site as well. By submitting
articles to article directory websites you can build links easily to your
site to increase your search engine rankings.
word) non-fiction article about something you know. This article could
be your first blog posting, it could be something you come up with just
to post on an article directory website, or it could be an article you
have someone else ghostwrite and then publish under your own name.
This is one time where having other people write for you probably isn’t
a bad thing. As long as the article is good and sound it really doesn’t
matter if it was written by you or a ghostwriter you hired to write it.
Submitting an article to an online article directory is free, simple, and
easy. Simply turn one of your blog posts into an article which can
stand alone, and then submit it to the article directory of your choice.
(Some popular ones are articlealley.com, contentdesk.com,
ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com.) There are also automated
submission programs you can use to submit your articles to many
article sites all at one time.
Attached to your article will be a “byline.” Your byline will contain
information about you and a link to your blogs and other websites.
You could have your byline read something like “Jane Smith is a
programmer by day and blogs on horses at night. See her amazing
programming website at www.iprogram.com and read her blog at
www.besthorseblog.com.” This example byline just created two back-
links for every time you publish the article; one to the programming
site and another to the horse blog. If you post this article five times
on the web you have ten back-links to your sites.
Also, many article sites allow you to publish non-exclusive rights
articles on their sites. This means that you are free to post the same
article on other article sites as well. Each time you submit the article
you build links to your site. In addition, other bloggers and
webmasters will link to these articles on their own relevant sites and
that creates even more links for your site as well. By submitting
articles to article directory websites you can build links easily to your
site to increase your search engine rankings.
E-Mail Signature Files
Most every e-mail client these days offers you the ability to create a
signature file. Even free e-mail accounts, such as Yahoo or Hotmail,
allow you to create a signature file. Exactly the same as on an online
message board or forum, this signature file is attached to each and
every message you send out from your e-mail account. Think of all
the people you send e-mail to each day and all of the possible new
blog readers you can gain from this one simple signature file.
If you attach a link to your blog in every e-mail message you send out
people will invariably click on it whether it has to do with what you e-
mailed them about or not. People are very curious creatures and they
want to know what’s up with other people and what they are thinking.
Your blog allows them into your brain a bit, so they will click on the
link to your blog and look it over.
These e-mail contacts may be potential blog readers who you would
not have reached with online advertising in any other way. Using
signature files allows you to easily reach a large variety of people yet
not spend more than the couple minutes it takes to initially set up the
signature file itself. And, if you have a good quality blog then it is
entirely possible these new readers will pass along your link to all the
people they know as well.
If you have multiple blogs and multiple e-mail accounts you can put
links to all of your blogs in the signature files of each e-mail account or
your can put one link per account. Try to think what will generate you
the most traffic to the specific blogs you choose. You should always
take the time to promote your own blogs and your own sites through
your other blogs and sites; even if they are not directly related to each
other. Your goal for any blog or website should always be to have the
most visitors possible and you can do this through promoting your
sites wherever you can both online and off.
signature file. Even free e-mail accounts, such as Yahoo or Hotmail,
allow you to create a signature file. Exactly the same as on an online
message board or forum, this signature file is attached to each and
every message you send out from your e-mail account. Think of all
the people you send e-mail to each day and all of the possible new
blog readers you can gain from this one simple signature file.
If you attach a link to your blog in every e-mail message you send out
people will invariably click on it whether it has to do with what you e-
mailed them about or not. People are very curious creatures and they
want to know what’s up with other people and what they are thinking.
Your blog allows them into your brain a bit, so they will click on the
link to your blog and look it over.
These e-mail contacts may be potential blog readers who you would
not have reached with online advertising in any other way. Using
signature files allows you to easily reach a large variety of people yet
not spend more than the couple minutes it takes to initially set up the
signature file itself. And, if you have a good quality blog then it is
entirely possible these new readers will pass along your link to all the
people they know as well.
If you have multiple blogs and multiple e-mail accounts you can put
links to all of your blogs in the signature files of each e-mail account or
your can put one link per account. Try to think what will generate you
the most traffic to the specific blogs you choose. You should always
take the time to promote your own blogs and your own sites through
your other blogs and sites; even if they are not directly related to each
other. Your goal for any blog or website should always be to have the
most visitors possible and you can do this through promoting your
sites wherever you can both online and off.
Finding Forums of Interest
Finding forums which are relevant to the topic of your blog is a very
easy thing to do. Suppose for a moment that you have a blog with a
topic of “trout fishing.” You can simply go to www.google.com, or any
other search engine you prefer to use, and type in “trout fishing
+forum” and you get back 258,000 possible locations to visit for
forums relating to trout fishing. The list which Google returns to you
will include some duplicates and some other junk, but you will also find
that there are more trout fishing forums than you ever imagined!
Because of the way search engines work, you will find that the most
popular forums will show towards the top of the search result pages.
Those are probably the best to join and get to know people in.
Because they have a high search engine ranking tells you that they
have a large membership and a good grasp of the topic of your
interest. They are the most likely places where people who enjoy
trout fishing are hanging out online.
As well as searching for “trout fishing,” you might also consider
searching for other topics which would be of interest to other people
who trout fish. Some of these topics might include subjects like
backpacking, camping, fishing, fly fishing, hiking, outdoor life, outdoor
recreation, living off the land, etc… Think about all of the other things
you are interested in and think about whether or not others who trout
fish would also be interested in those things. From there you can
come up with relevant words to search and a whole new batch of
forums to introduce yourself on and participate in.
If you think outside the box a bit you can come up with unlimited
options of where to share links to your blog. The more ideas you can
come up with then the more readers you can bring to your blog. The
more readers to your blog then the more potential AdSense clicks and
the more money in your bank account.
easy thing to do. Suppose for a moment that you have a blog with a
topic of “trout fishing.” You can simply go to www.google.com, or any
other search engine you prefer to use, and type in “trout fishing
+forum” and you get back 258,000 possible locations to visit for
forums relating to trout fishing. The list which Google returns to you
will include some duplicates and some other junk, but you will also find
that there are more trout fishing forums than you ever imagined!
Because of the way search engines work, you will find that the most
popular forums will show towards the top of the search result pages.
Those are probably the best to join and get to know people in.
Because they have a high search engine ranking tells you that they
have a large membership and a good grasp of the topic of your
interest. They are the most likely places where people who enjoy
trout fishing are hanging out online.
As well as searching for “trout fishing,” you might also consider
searching for other topics which would be of interest to other people
who trout fish. Some of these topics might include subjects like
backpacking, camping, fishing, fly fishing, hiking, outdoor life, outdoor
recreation, living off the land, etc… Think about all of the other things
you are interested in and think about whether or not others who trout
fish would also be interested in those things. From there you can
come up with relevant words to search and a whole new batch of
forums to introduce yourself on and participate in.
If you think outside the box a bit you can come up with unlimited
options of where to share links to your blog. The more ideas you can
come up with then the more readers you can bring to your blog. The
more readers to your blog then the more potential AdSense clicks and
the more money in your bank account.
Formatting Your Posted Messages
Start your posted messages off right by using a title which matches
both the content of your post and the overall topic of your blog.
Suppose for a moment you have a blog about your pet cat named
Felix. Your cat did something funny this weekend so you want to write
about it on your blog to share with your readers. Your main goal on
your monetized blog is to have your AdSense ads show up to be about
cats so they blend in with your blogs topic. Rather than use an
ambiguous title like “My Weekend Adventure” use something more
specific like “My Weekend Adventure with Felix My Pet Cat.”
By using just “My Weekend Adventure” as your title, AdSense is liable
to return you ads for things like weekend vacations and other topics
which are not of interest to your cat blog readers. By including the
word “cat” in your title, and even using the word “pet” too, you are
much more likely to get ads about cat products which are much more
relevant to your blog. You are also much more likely to come up in
search results when people are searching for “cat” or “pet” related
websites in search engines.
You also want to have a link to each of your blog messages. This is
the field directly below your title in Blogger. A good rule of thumb
online is that any type of link is always a good thing. The more links a
website has the higher the search engine ranking of the site. Good
search engine ranking equals more of those natural visitors to your
site and thus more clicks on your AdSense ads. (We will talk about
links in detail in Chapter 9 of this eBook.)
To start off the text sections of your post always take the time to re-
type your title in bold type. Below this second title, which of course
has good key words for AdSense and search engine optimization,
follow up with the actual text of your post message.
Within your message text itself you will also want to try and use as
many of your keywords as possible. Mention “cat” and “pet” multiple
times where it makes sense to do so if your blog is about pet cats.
However, do not add things into your posts simply for search engine
optimization and AdSense because it will irritate your readers. You
want to use your keywords but use them when it makes sense to do
so.
Another simple tip to help you write exciting looking posts, and ones in
which the search engines like, is to use a variety of formatting. If you
say something which has importance – use bold. Use larger text for
things like titles, subtitles and keywords. However, don’t irritate your
readers just to improve your rankings. Make your posts read well and
not look like you created them just for the rankings. If your posts are
distracting to read because of weird formatting or stuffing of keywords
in them then it will make your readers feel like you blog is just about
the income and search engine rankings rather than about their own
learning and entertainment. This will cause your readers to move on
to other blogs which are more about their learning and entertainment
and less about income for the blogger. Always remember that your
blog is not the only one on its chosen topic, but you can always strive
to be the best blog on that topic!
Think for a moment about your local television news broadcast. You
turn on the television to watch after a hard day at work and then you
found it to be 95% commercials. You would likely be very
disappointed and you would likely change the channel. You would feel
like there isn’t anything there for you and that the broadcast was all
about advertising revenue for the news station. Same thing for your
readers, they do not come to your blog to be targets for advertising.
They come to your blog because they feel a connection to you and an
interest in what you have to say. Provide them with the necessary ads
but give them the good content so they can tolerate the ads as well.
both the content of your post and the overall topic of your blog.
Suppose for a moment you have a blog about your pet cat named
Felix. Your cat did something funny this weekend so you want to write
about it on your blog to share with your readers. Your main goal on
your monetized blog is to have your AdSense ads show up to be about
cats so they blend in with your blogs topic. Rather than use an
ambiguous title like “My Weekend Adventure” use something more
specific like “My Weekend Adventure with Felix My Pet Cat.”
By using just “My Weekend Adventure” as your title, AdSense is liable
to return you ads for things like weekend vacations and other topics
which are not of interest to your cat blog readers. By including the
word “cat” in your title, and even using the word “pet” too, you are
much more likely to get ads about cat products which are much more
relevant to your blog. You are also much more likely to come up in
search results when people are searching for “cat” or “pet” related
websites in search engines.
You also want to have a link to each of your blog messages. This is
the field directly below your title in Blogger. A good rule of thumb
online is that any type of link is always a good thing. The more links a
website has the higher the search engine ranking of the site. Good
search engine ranking equals more of those natural visitors to your
site and thus more clicks on your AdSense ads. (We will talk about
links in detail in Chapter 9 of this eBook.)
To start off the text sections of your post always take the time to re-
type your title in bold type. Below this second title, which of course
has good key words for AdSense and search engine optimization,
follow up with the actual text of your post message.
Within your message text itself you will also want to try and use as
many of your keywords as possible. Mention “cat” and “pet” multiple
times where it makes sense to do so if your blog is about pet cats.
However, do not add things into your posts simply for search engine
optimization and AdSense because it will irritate your readers. You
want to use your keywords but use them when it makes sense to do
so.
Another simple tip to help you write exciting looking posts, and ones in
which the search engines like, is to use a variety of formatting. If you
say something which has importance – use bold. Use larger text for
things like titles, subtitles and keywords. However, don’t irritate your
readers just to improve your rankings. Make your posts read well and
not look like you created them just for the rankings. If your posts are
distracting to read because of weird formatting or stuffing of keywords
in them then it will make your readers feel like you blog is just about
the income and search engine rankings rather than about their own
learning and entertainment. This will cause your readers to move on
to other blogs which are more about their learning and entertainment
and less about income for the blogger. Always remember that your
blog is not the only one on its chosen topic, but you can always strive
to be the best blog on that topic!
Think for a moment about your local television news broadcast. You
turn on the television to watch after a hard day at work and then you
found it to be 95% commercials. You would likely be very
disappointed and you would likely change the channel. You would feel
like there isn’t anything there for you and that the broadcast was all
about advertising revenue for the news station. Same thing for your
readers, they do not come to your blog to be targets for advertising.
They come to your blog because they feel a connection to you and an
interest in what you have to say. Provide them with the necessary ads
but give them the good content so they can tolerate the ads as well.
Posting Messages on Your Blog
I prefer to post messages on my blogs four or five days each week.
Posting more often than that isn’t necessary, but you also do not want
to post too infrequently either. Nothing will loose you readers faster
than if you only post now and again when you feel like it. If your
readers come back to your blog even once or twice and find the same
content with nothing new then they will likely think you have
abandoned the blog and they will not come back. Your readers will
have a very short attention span and will always be looking for new
and exciting information on your blog. If you can’t be bothered to
write some new content for them to read then why should your
readers keep checking back in to try and read it?
Likewise, it is totally unnecessary to post multiple messages each day
on your blog. Some people say you should post three messages each
day on your blog. This just isn’t necessary and sort of defeats the
entire purpose of generating yourself some passive income. You want
to keep your readers coming back but you do not want to bury them in
content either. They should be coming to your blog, reading a new
posting or two, clicking on some ads, and then leaving to return again
in the next day or two.
The style in which you write your blog posts can greatly affect the
readership of your blog. You should always write as if you are talking
to your best friend. Write as if you personally know each person who
is reading your blog. Work to develop a relationship with your readers
so they feel they “know” you. By taking this time to get to know you
and by you taking the time to get to know your readers you will
develop a loyal reader base for your blog.
Ask your readers questions in your blog posts and encourage them to
post their answers as comments on your blog. When your readers
take the time to post you a comment, make sure you always post an
answer to them. If you cannot personally answer all of your
comments then at least refer to your reader’s comments in your next
post. By this simple interaction with your readers they begin to feel
like you care about them. Because you care, and are interested in
your readers, they will become loyal to reading your blog and will help
you out by sharing your blog with people they know. This brings you
more readers and ultimately more AdSense clicks. They will also see
your blog as the authority on your topic and will be interested in the
ads which correspond to your topic and content.
Try to be somewhat entertaining in your blog posts. You don’t have to
write great tales of amazing feats, or be overly humorous or anything,
but you don’t want to put your readers to sleep either. Keep your
posts light, use some humor when you can and when it is appropriate,
tell about yourself and your life occasionally, and try to look at your
messages from the perspective of your readers. Would you return to
your blog each day to read it? Why? Why not? Use the answers to
these questions to improve your blog over time. Keep your blog
changing and interesting for your readers. This will make your readers
enjoy it more and you will enjoy posting on it more as well. It will also
show your readers that you are serious about your blog and in it for
the long haul as well. This will help them want to come back often and
keep coming back over time.
Posting more often than that isn’t necessary, but you also do not want
to post too infrequently either. Nothing will loose you readers faster
than if you only post now and again when you feel like it. If your
readers come back to your blog even once or twice and find the same
content with nothing new then they will likely think you have
abandoned the blog and they will not come back. Your readers will
have a very short attention span and will always be looking for new
and exciting information on your blog. If you can’t be bothered to
write some new content for them to read then why should your
readers keep checking back in to try and read it?
Likewise, it is totally unnecessary to post multiple messages each day
on your blog. Some people say you should post three messages each
day on your blog. This just isn’t necessary and sort of defeats the
entire purpose of generating yourself some passive income. You want
to keep your readers coming back but you do not want to bury them in
content either. They should be coming to your blog, reading a new
posting or two, clicking on some ads, and then leaving to return again
in the next day or two.
The style in which you write your blog posts can greatly affect the
readership of your blog. You should always write as if you are talking
to your best friend. Write as if you personally know each person who
is reading your blog. Work to develop a relationship with your readers
so they feel they “know” you. By taking this time to get to know you
and by you taking the time to get to know your readers you will
develop a loyal reader base for your blog.
Ask your readers questions in your blog posts and encourage them to
post their answers as comments on your blog. When your readers
take the time to post you a comment, make sure you always post an
answer to them. If you cannot personally answer all of your
comments then at least refer to your reader’s comments in your next
post. By this simple interaction with your readers they begin to feel
like you care about them. Because you care, and are interested in
your readers, they will become loyal to reading your blog and will help
you out by sharing your blog with people they know. This brings you
more readers and ultimately more AdSense clicks. They will also see
your blog as the authority on your topic and will be interested in the
ads which correspond to your topic and content.
Try to be somewhat entertaining in your blog posts. You don’t have to
write great tales of amazing feats, or be overly humorous or anything,
but you don’t want to put your readers to sleep either. Keep your
posts light, use some humor when you can and when it is appropriate,
tell about yourself and your life occasionally, and try to look at your
messages from the perspective of your readers. Would you return to
your blog each day to read it? Why? Why not? Use the answers to
these questions to improve your blog over time. Keep your blog
changing and interesting for your readers. This will make your readers
enjoy it more and you will enjoy posting on it more as well. It will also
show your readers that you are serious about your blog and in it for
the long haul as well. This will help them want to come back often and
keep coming back over time.
So, how do you really come up with a topic for your blog?
Think long and hard about your life. Think about your skills. What do
you do for work? What do you like to do in your spare time? What are
your hobbies? What are your unique skills? Do you have children?
Do you have pets? What are your dreams and aspirations? What is
unique about you? What is unique about what you know versus what
other people know? You can easily use the answers to these questions
in your quest to find a good blog topic.
If you have trouble answering the questions above then find someone
close to you and ask them to answer the questions about you. Find
out what others would suggest you might want to publish a blog
about. Often you cannot see what is right before you, but others who
are close to you can. You might be surprised at the great ideas they
might come up with for you. Listen to their suggestions. Answer the
questions for yourself, and decide on a good topic.
The most important thing you can do is to blog about something
interesting, both interesting to you and to other people. Something
you either know a lot about, or have the desire to learn a lot about.
For example, I may find that a topic like “lime green paint” would be
good blog topic for search engine optimization and AdSense, however
after about three posts then what would I write about that could
possibly be interesting to anyone? There probably isn’t much after
those first three posts to write about. This would make lime green
paint probably not the best topic for my blog.
You will need to strike a balance between search engine optimization,
AdSense ad block placement, your knowledge of your potential topic,
and your interests.
Finding a topic you like and are knowledgeable about helps you be
able to write interesting posts. Your posts do not have to be brilliant
works of literary art. They simply have to be engaging, interesting,
and most of all fairly frequent. You will find blogging to be the easiest
and most enjoyable if you pick a good topic for yourself.
Trust me when I say that you are setting your blog up for failure if you
choose a topic based solely on search engine optimization and
AdSense yet don’t have any real interest in the topic. You will likely
run out of interesting things to say before too long and your readers
will get bored and not stick around. You will also find that you do not
have the motivation needed over the long-haul if you choose
something you do not enjoy writing about. You are much better off
by taking the time to find the right topic for your blog(s) right from the
start. This will give your blog the best chance for success and
generate you the most passive income possible.
HOT RECOMMENDATION:
Finding it hard to write articles on topics you’re no an expert in?
Instant Article Wizard will help you research, gather, edit and
create your own professional and credible articles with the click
of a button. Click here to try Instant Article Wizard:
http://www.gobalarecommends.com/articlewizard
you do for work? What do you like to do in your spare time? What are
your hobbies? What are your unique skills? Do you have children?
Do you have pets? What are your dreams and aspirations? What is
unique about you? What is unique about what you know versus what
other people know? You can easily use the answers to these questions
in your quest to find a good blog topic.
If you have trouble answering the questions above then find someone
close to you and ask them to answer the questions about you. Find
out what others would suggest you might want to publish a blog
about. Often you cannot see what is right before you, but others who
are close to you can. You might be surprised at the great ideas they
might come up with for you. Listen to their suggestions. Answer the
questions for yourself, and decide on a good topic.
The most important thing you can do is to blog about something
interesting, both interesting to you and to other people. Something
you either know a lot about, or have the desire to learn a lot about.
For example, I may find that a topic like “lime green paint” would be
good blog topic for search engine optimization and AdSense, however
after about three posts then what would I write about that could
possibly be interesting to anyone? There probably isn’t much after
those first three posts to write about. This would make lime green
paint probably not the best topic for my blog.
You will need to strike a balance between search engine optimization,
AdSense ad block placement, your knowledge of your potential topic,
and your interests.
Finding a topic you like and are knowledgeable about helps you be
able to write interesting posts. Your posts do not have to be brilliant
works of literary art. They simply have to be engaging, interesting,
and most of all fairly frequent. You will find blogging to be the easiest
and most enjoyable if you pick a good topic for yourself.
Trust me when I say that you are setting your blog up for failure if you
choose a topic based solely on search engine optimization and
AdSense yet don’t have any real interest in the topic. You will likely
run out of interesting things to say before too long and your readers
will get bored and not stick around. You will also find that you do not
have the motivation needed over the long-haul if you choose
something you do not enjoy writing about. You are much better off
by taking the time to find the right topic for your blog(s) right from the
start. This will give your blog the best chance for success and
generate you the most passive income possible.
HOT RECOMMENDATION:
Finding it hard to write articles on topics you’re no an expert in?
Instant Article Wizard will help you research, gather, edit and
create your own professional and credible articles with the click
of a button. Click here to try Instant Article Wizard:
http://www.gobalarecommends.com/articlewizard
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Blogger Settings
The “Settings” tab in Blogger allows you to control the Basic Settings,
Publishing, Formatting, Comments, Archiving, Site Feed, E-mail and
Permissions on your blog. It is here where you can change the title of your blog, make a description of your blog and make most other changes which surround the way
your blog acts for both you and your visitors.
You will want to make sure to enter a description here for your blog
that is very heavy in keywords. If your blog is about goats, then you
need to make sure your description talks about goats, hooves, milking,
farming, etc… Use anything and everything you can think of to load
your description with keywords. This will help your ranking with the
search engines and your AdSense ads to optimize their best. Take full
advantage of your blog’s description field.
Publishing, Formatting, Comments, Archiving, Site Feed, E-mail and
Permissions on your blog. It is here where you can change the title of your blog, make a description of your blog and make most other changes which surround the way
your blog acts for both you and your visitors.
You will want to make sure to enter a description here for your blog
that is very heavy in keywords. If your blog is about goats, then you
need to make sure your description talks about goats, hooves, milking,
farming, etc… Use anything and everything you can think of to load
your description with keywords. This will help your ranking with the
search engines and your AdSense ads to optimize their best. Take full
advantage of your blog’s description field.
Using the Dashboard in Blogger
Blogger refers to their administrative screen for blogs as the
Dashboard. Like a dashboard in a car, this is where all of the
important functions are controlled. It is from the Dashboard that you
will post messages to your blog and make any changes to your blog’s
look and settings.
While the Dashboard can look a bit intimidating, it is really a very
simple tool for you to use. It was designed by the programmers at
Google to be simple enough for anyone to use who wants to have their
own blog.
The Blogger Dashboard contains three tabs; Posting, Settings and
Template.
Dashboard. Like a dashboard in a car, this is where all of the
important functions are controlled. It is from the Dashboard that you
will post messages to your blog and make any changes to your blog’s
look and settings.
While the Dashboard can look a bit intimidating, it is really a very
simple tool for you to use. It was designed by the programmers at
Google to be simple enough for anyone to use who wants to have their
own blog.
The Blogger Dashboard contains three tabs; Posting, Settings and
Template.
Blogger Set-Up, Step 3 – Choose a Template
Blogger uses pre-designed standard templates to make your blog look
professional and exciting. By using Blogger’s standard templates you
can have an amazing looking blog, from the first post you make, even
if you do not know any HTML or have any website design experience at
all!
The final step in creating a blog on Blogger is to choose a template
from those listed. Choose a template that is both aesthetically
pleasing to you and which fits the theme of what you want to blog
about. It is important to note that you are able to change your
template, and most other aspects of Blogger, at any time in the future.
From the “Choose a Template” screen you will need to choose your
template by clicking on the radio button of the template of your
choice. Then click on the orange “Continue” button. This will take you
to the “Your Blog Has Been Created” screen.
professional and exciting. By using Blogger’s standard templates you
can have an amazing looking blog, from the first post you make, even
if you do not know any HTML or have any website design experience at
all!
The final step in creating a blog on Blogger is to choose a template
from those listed. Choose a template that is both aesthetically
pleasing to you and which fits the theme of what you want to blog
about. It is important to note that you are able to change your
template, and most other aspects of Blogger, at any time in the future.
From the “Choose a Template” screen you will need to choose your
template by clicking on the radio button of the template of your
choice. Then click on the orange “Continue” button. This will take you
to the “Your Blog Has Been Created” screen.
Blogger Set-Up, Step 2 – Name Your Blog
On the “Name Your Blog” screen you will enter a blog title, a unique
Blogger URL address for your blog, and once again enter the word
verification.
Naming your blog well can be an important part of having a successful
and income generating blog. It is a good idea to name your blog
something memorable and in tune with the content your blog will
contain. Rather than name your blog “Jane’s Blog,” try to name it
something people surfing the web will remember and look for again in
the future.
If you are name is “Jane,” and you will be blogging primarily about
knitting, then your blog might have the title “Jane the Master Knitter”
or something similar. Feel free to use your imagination and have fun
31
with your blog name, but try and keep it both short and easy to
remember.
Each blog on Blogger has a unique URL which looks like this:
http://www.___.blogspot.com
Blogger allows you to enter the word(s) to fill the blank space before
the word “blogspot” in the URL. Just as important as the name of your
blog, what you choose to enter here for the URL will help others to find
your blog online. It is always best to stick to only a few words and
make the URL similar to your blog title. For the example above
something like this would work well:
http://www.adsense.blogspot.com
while http://www.adsense.blogspot.com gets a bit long to
remember and type so it is probably not ideal to use.
The “Name Your Blog” screen of Blogger looks like this:
Once you are satisfied with your new blog’s title, unique Blogger URL,
and have entered the word verification, click on the orange “Continue”
button. This takes you to the third step in creating your blog; the
“Choose a Template” screen.
Blogger URL address for your blog, and once again enter the word
verification.
Naming your blog well can be an important part of having a successful
and income generating blog. It is a good idea to name your blog
something memorable and in tune with the content your blog will
contain. Rather than name your blog “Jane’s Blog,” try to name it
something people surfing the web will remember and look for again in
the future.
If you are name is “Jane,” and you will be blogging primarily about
knitting, then your blog might have the title “Jane the Master Knitter”
or something similar. Feel free to use your imagination and have fun
31
with your blog name, but try and keep it both short and easy to
remember.
Each blog on Blogger has a unique URL which looks like this:
http://www.___.blogspot.com
Blogger allows you to enter the word(s) to fill the blank space before
the word “blogspot” in the URL. Just as important as the name of your
blog, what you choose to enter here for the URL will help others to find
your blog online. It is always best to stick to only a few words and
make the URL similar to your blog title. For the example above
something like this would work well:
http://www.adsense.blogspot.com
while http://www.adsense.blogspot.com gets a bit long to
remember and type so it is probably not ideal to use.
The “Name Your Blog” screen of Blogger looks like this:
Once you are satisfied with your new blog’s title, unique Blogger URL,
and have entered the word verification, click on the orange “Continue”
button. This takes you to the third step in creating your blog; the
“Choose a Template” screen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
