Direct Methods
1. PPC Advertising Networks
Google AdSense is the most popular option under this category, but there are also others. Basically you need to sign up with the network and paste some code snippets on your website. The network will then serve contextual ads (either text or images) relevant to your website, and you will earn a certain amount of money for every click.
The profitability of PPC advertising depends on the general traffic levels of the website and, most importantly, on the click-through rate (CTR) and cost per click (CPC). The CTR depends on the design of the website. Ads placed abode the fold or blended with content, for instance, tend to get higher CTRs. The CPC, on the other hand, depends on the nice of the website. Mortgages, financial products and college education are examples of profitable niches (clicks worth a couple of dollars are not rare), while tech-related topics tend to receive a smaller CPC (sometimes as low as a couple of cents per click).
The source of the traffic can also affect the overall CTR rate. Organic traffic (the one that comes from search engines) tends to perform well because these visitors were already looking for something, and they tend to click on ads more often. Social media traffic, on the other hand, presents terribly low CTRs because these visitors are tech-savvy and they just ignore ads.
List of popular CPC advertising networks:
Google Adsense
Yahoo! Publisher Network (YPN)
BidVertiser
Chitika
Clicksor
2. CPM Advertising Networks
CPM advertising networks behave pretty much as PPC networks, except that you get paid according to the number of impressions (i.e., page views) that the ads displayed on your site will generate. CPM stands for Cost per Mille, and it refers to the cost for 1,000 impressions.
A blog that generates 100,000 page views monthly displaying an advertising banner with a $1 CPM, therefore, will earn $100 monthly.
CPM rates vary with the network, the position of the ad and the format. The better the network, the higher the CPM rate (because they have access to more advertisers). The closer you put the ad to the top of the page, the higher the CPM. The bigger the format (in terms of pixels), the higher the CPM.
You can get as low as $0,10 and as high as $10 per 1,000 impressions (more in some special cases). CPM advertising tends to work well on websites with a high page views per visitor ratio (e.g., online forums, magazines and so on).
List of popular CPM advertising networks:
Casale Media
Burst Media
Value Click
Advertising.com
Tribal Fusion
Right Media
3. Direct Banner Advertising
Selling your own advertising space is one of the most lucrative monetization methods. First and foremost because it enables you to cut out the middleman commissions and to determine your own rates. The most popular banner formats on the web are the 728×90 leaderboard, the 120×600 skyscraper, the 300×250 rectangle and the 125×125 button.
The downside of direct banner advertising is that you need to have a big audience to get qualified advertisers, and you will need to spend time managing the sales process, the banners and the payments.
Related links:
How to Find Advertisers for Your Website
Finding Advertisers for Your Blog
Direct Advertising Sales for Beginners
Openads Ad Server
OIO Publisher Ad Platform
4. Text Link Ads
After Google declared that sites selling text links without the nofollow tag would be penalized, this monetization method became less popular.
Many website owners are still using text links to monetize their sites, though, some using the nofollow tag and some not.
The advantage of this method is that it is not intrusive. One can sell text links directly through his website or use specialized networks like Text-Link-Ads and Text-Link-Brokers to automate the process.
Text link marketplaces and networks:
DigitalPoint Link Sales Forum
Text-Link-Ads
Text-Link-Brokers
TNX
LinkWorth
5. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a very popular practice on the Internet. Under this system you have a merchant that is willing to let other people (the affiliates) sell directly or indirectly its products and services, in exchange for a commission. Sometimes this type of advertising is also called CPA (cost per action) or CPL (cost per lead) based.
Affiliates can send potential customers to the merchant using several tools, from banners to text links and product reviews.
In order to find suitable affiliate programs you can turn to individual companies and publishers like Dreamhost and SEOBook, or join affiliate marketplaces and networks.
List of popular affiliate marketplaces and networks:
Commission Junction
ClickBank
Azoogle Ads
Link Share
6. Monetization Widgets
The latest trend on the web are widgets that let you monetize your website. Examples include Widgetbucks and SmartLinks. Some of these services operate under a PPC scheme, others behave like text link ads, others yet leverage affiliate links.
Their main differentiator, however, is the fact that they work as web widgets, making it easier for the user to plug and play the service on its website.
List of companies that provide monetization widgets:
WidgetBucks
ScratchBack
SmartLinks
7. Sponsored Reviews
PayPerPost pioneered this model, with much controversy on the beginning (related to the fact that they did not require disclosure on paid posts). Soon other companies followed, most notably Sponsored Reviews and ReviewMe, refining the process and expanding the paid blogging model.
Joining one of these sponsored reviews marketplaces will give you the opportunity to write sponsored posts on a wide range of topics. Not all bloggers are willing to get paid to write about a specific product or website (because it might compromise the editorial credibility), but the ones who do are making good money out of it.
If your blog has a big audience you could also offer sponsored reviews directly, cutting off the commissions of the middleman.
List of sponsored reviews and paid blogging networks:
PayPerPost
Sponsored Reviews
ReviewMe
BlogVertise
Smorty
8. RSS Feed Ads
With the quick adoption of the RSS technology by millions of Internet users, website owners are starting to find ways to monetize this new content distribution channel.
Feedburber already has its own publisher network, and you can sign-up to start displaying CPM based advertising on your feed footer. Bidvertiser recently introduced a RSS feed ad option as well, with a PPC scheme.
Finally, some blogs are also opting to sell banners or sponsored messages on their feed directly. John Chow and Marketing Pilgrim are two examples.
Related links:
Feedburner
BidVertiser
Pheedo
9. Sponsors for Single Columns or Events
If you website has specific columns or events (e.g., a weekly podcast, an interview series, a monthly survey, a special project) you could find companies to sponsor them individually.
This method increases the monetization options for website owner, while giving advertisers the possibility to target a more specific audience and with a reduced commitment.
Mashable illustrates the case well. They have several advertising options on the site, including the possibility to sponsor specific columns and articles, including the “Daily Poll” and the “Web 2.0 Invites.”
Problogger also runs group writing projects occasionally, and before proceeding he publicly announce the project asking for sponsors.
10.Premium Content
Some websites and blogs give away part of their content for free, and charge for access to the premium content and exclusive tools.
SEOMoz is a good example. They have a very popular blog that gives advice and information on wide range of SEO related topics. On top of that visitors can decide to become premium members. It costs $48 monthly and it grants them access to guides, tools and other exclusive material.
11. Private Forums
While the Internet is populated with free forums, there is also the possibility to create a private one where members need to pay a single or recurring fee to join.
SEO Blackhat charges $100 monthly from its members, and they have thousands of them. Obviously in order to charge such a price for a forum membership you need to provide real value for the members (e.g., secret techniques, tools, and so on).
Performancing also launched a private forum recently, focused on the networking aspect. It is called The Hive, and the monthly cost is $10.
These are just two examples. There are many possibilities to create a private and profitable forum, you just need to find an appealing angle that will make it worth for the members.
List of popular forum software:
vBulletin
Simple Machines Forum
phpBB
Vanilla
12. Job Boards
All the popular blogs are trying to leverage job boards to make some extra income. Guy Kawasaki, ReadWriteWeb, Problogger… you name it.
Needless to say that in order to create an active and profitable job board you need first to have a blog focused on a specific niche, and a decent amount traffic.
The advantage of this method is that it is passive. Once you have the structure in place, the job listings will come naturally, and you can charge anywhere from $10 up to $100 for each.
List of popular job board software:
JobThread
Web Scribe Job Board
SimplyHired Job-o-matic
Jobbex
13. Marketplaces
Sitepoint is the online marketplace by excellence. Some websites and blogs, however, are trying to replicate that model on a smaller scale.
Depending on your niche, a market place that allows your visitors to buy, sell and trade products could work well. Over the time you could start charging a small fee for new product listings.
The problem with this method is that there are no standard software on the web, so you would need to hire a coder to get a marketplace integrated into your website.
You can see an example of a marketplaces being used on EasyWordpress and on Mashable.
14. Paid Surveys and Polls
There are services that will pay you money to run a small survey or poll on your website. The most popular one is called Vizu Answers.
Basically you need to sign up with them, and select the kind of polls that you want to run your site. Most of these services operate under a CPM model.
15. Selling or Renting Internal Pages
Million Dollar Wiki made this concept popular, but it was being used on the web for a long time around (check Pagerank10.co.uk for instance).
These websites sell for a single fee or rent for a recurring fee internal pages on their domain. Usually they have either high Pagerak or high traffic, so that people purchasing a page will be able to benefit in some way.
Implementing this method on a small blog would be difficult, but the concept is interesting and could be explored further.
16. Highlighted Posts from Sponsors
Techmeme probably pioneered this idea, but somehow it has not spread to other websites. The tech news aggregator displays editorial posts on the left column, and on the sidebar they have a section titled “Techmeme Sponsor Posts.”
On that section posts from the blog of the advertisers get highlighted, sending qualified traffic their way. Considering that the monthly cost for one spot is $5000 and that they have around 6 sponsors at any given time, it must be working well.
17. Donations
Placing a “Donate” link or button on a website can be an efficient way to earn money, especially if your blog is on a niche where readers learn and gain value from your content.
Personal development and productivity blogs, for instance, tend to perform well with donation based systems (one good example being Steve Pavlina).
A small variation of this method appeared sometime ago with the Buy Me a Beer plugin. This WordPress plugin enables you to insert a customized message at the bottom of each article, asking the readers to chip in for a beer or coffee.
18. In-text Adverting
In-text adverting networks like Kontera and Vibrant Media will place sponsored links inside your text. These links come with a double underline to differentiate them from normal links, and once the user rolls the mouse over the link the advertising will pop. Should the user click on it the site owner will make some money.
Some people make good money with this method, but others refrain from using it due to its intrusiveness. It is also interesting to note that very few mainstream websites have experimented with in-text advertising.
19. Pop-ups and Pop-unders
Pop-ups are a common yet annoying form of advertising on the Internet. If you are just trying to make a much money as possible from your website, you could experiment with them.
If you are trying to grow the traffic and generate loyal visitors, however, you probably should stay away from them. Just consider the hundreds of pop-up blockers out there: there is a reason why they are so popular.
Ad networks that use pop-ups:
Tribal Fusion
PayPopup
PopupAd
Adversal
20. Audio Ads
Also called PPP (Pay Per Play), this advertising method was introduce by Net Audio Ads. the concept is pretty simple: play a small audio advertising (usually 5 seconds) every time a visitor enters into your website. The user should not be able to stop it, creating a 100% conversion rate based on unique visitors.
The company is still rolling tests, but some users are reporting to get from a $4 to a $6 CPM. Regardless of the pay rate, though, this is a very intrusive form of advertising, so think twice before using it.
21. Selling the Website
Selling your website could be your last resource, but it has the potential to generate a big sum of money in a short period of time.
Market places on online forums like DigitalPoint and Sitepoint are always active with website buyers and sellers. Keep in mind that they most used parameter to determine the value of a website is the monthly revenue that it generates, multiplied by a certain number (the multiplier can be anything from 5 to 30, depending on the expectations of the seller, on the quality of the site, on the niche and other factors).
Some people also make money trading and flipping websites. They either create them from scratch or buy existing ones, and after some revamping they sell them for a profit.
Related links:
How To Buy A Website And Flip It For Profit
How To Sell A Website – How Much Is Your Website Worth?
Where to sell a website? How to go about selling it?
Indirect Methods
22. Selling an Ebook
Perhaps one of the oldest money making strategies on the web, using a website to promote a related ebook is a very efficient way to generate revenue.
You could either structure the website around the book itself, like SEOBook.com, or launch the ebook based on the success of the website, like FreelanceSwitch did we the book How to be a Rockstar Freelancer.
Related links:
Writing an ebook for your blog
How to sell ebooks
Processing payments for your ebook
How to sell digital products online
List of ebook selling software
23. Selling a Hardcover Book
Many authors and journalists leverage their blogs or websites to sell copies of hardcover books. Examples include Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell.
While most of these people were already renowned authors before they created their website, one could also follow the other way around. Lorelle VanFossen did exactly that with her Blogging Tips book. First she built her authority on the subject via her blog, and afterwards she published the book.
List of self publishing and publishing services:
Lulu
Self Publishing
iUniverse
WordClay
24. Selling Templates or WordPress Themes
As more and more people decide to get an online presence, website templates and WordPress themes become hotter and hotter.
On this segment you have mainstream websites like TemplateMonster, as well as individual designers who decide to promote and sell their work independently.
Brian Gardner and Unique Blog Designs are two examples of websites that make money with the sales of premium and custom WordPress themes.
25. Offering Consulting and Related Services
Depending on your niche, you could make money by offering consulting and related services. If you are also the author of your blog, the articles and information that you will share will build your profile and possibly certify your expertise on that niche, making it easier to gain customers.
Chris Garrett used a similar strategy. First he created a highly influential blog on the blogging and new media niche, and afterwards he started offering consulting services to clients with related problems and needs.
26. Creating an Email List or Newsletter
Email lists and newsletters represent one of the most powerful marketing and money making tools on the Internet. They offer incredible conversion rates, and the possibility to call people to action in a very efficient way.
Creating a big list is a difficult task though, so if you have a popular website you could leverage it to increase the number of subscribers on your list.
Yaro Starak is a famous Internet marketer, and if you visit his blog you will notice that right on top he has a section encouraging visitors to subscribe to his email newsletter. Yaro generates five figures in revenues each month from his email newsletters, proving that this method works.
List of software to manage email newsletters:
AWeber
SendStudio NX
PHP Autoresponder
Constant Contact
27. Mentoring programs
People are willing to pay for someone or something that will teach them and give them knowledge (as opposed to mere information). Education is one of the biggest industries in the world, and the online landscape behaves in a similar way.
Creating a mentoring program related to the niche of your website could be very profitable if you manage to structure and promote it adequately. There is a wide range of media and tools that you can use to deliver the information, from text articles to audio and video lessons.
Brian Clark leveraged the success of Copyblogger to launch a mentoring program teaching people how to build membership and how to sell content online. The program is titled Teaching Sells, and it costs $97 monthly. Sounds expensive, but they have over 1,000 members.
28. Creating a conference around the website
If your website takes off and becomes an authority on its niche, you could create a conference around it. Depending on the size of your audience, the event could attract thousands of people, and you could make money directly from conference passes and sponsors.
Search Engine Land, for instance, created a series of conferences that visit several cities on the United States and on other countries as well. The conferences are called Search Marketing Expo, and the tickets and passes cost thousands of dollars.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
10 Fun Widgets For Your Blog
1. Cyber-pet
Description: What better way to spice up your blog than to have your very own virtual pet hanging out in the sidebar? The Cyber-pet blog widget lets you choose the type of pet you want, name it, and customize it. You can even have a pair of flying scissors as a pet
2. Funny Quotes
Description: 9.3 times out of 11.78, simpler is better. Funny Quotes is a simple blog widget that displays humorous quotes to your visitors. It can also be quite addicting flipping through the quotes, so if you install this widget, you might want to use caution when visiting your blog at work.
3. Etch A Sketch
Description: Here's a real blast from the past. Get your own Etch A Sketch for your blog and let your visitors draw to their hearts content.
4. Magic 8-ball
Description: Who says you can't help your readers out with a little bit of creative problem solving? This 8-ball is not only attractive, but it's also magical, and is able to answer any question posed to it. This is a great blog widget for those that want to put a little nostalgia into their blog.
Get the Widget
5. The Official Dilbert Widget
Description: Turn your sidebar into a comic strip with the Official Dilbert Widget. Everyone's favorite office cartoon will provide a nice distraction for your readers. The only downside: Trying to compete with Dilbert by writing something interesting enough for your visitors to read your stuff instead of just laughing about Dilbert.
Get the Widget
6. Secret Message Scratch Card
Description: What would happen if you pulled a widget out of a box of cereal? You might get something like the secret message scratch card widget where you can write a secret message and your readers can reveal it by scratching around with a penny.
Get the Widget
7. Cool Site of the Day
Description: A neat little blog widget that pulls up a posting of the cool site of the day. This is a great way to introduce your readers to interesting spots around the web.
Get the Widget
8. Roaches
Description: Bring your blog to life with this widget. Unfortunately, the lifeform happens to be a pack of roaches that readers can scare away with their mouse pointer.
Get the Widget
9. YouTube Recently Featured Videos
Description: Nothing says you've made it like your own television station. And, while that might take a while to come true, you can at least have popular YouTube videos on display on your site with this blog widget.
Get the Widget
10. Text Scroller
Description: Caution! You have entered the dangerous land of text-scrolling. One half fun, one half annoying, the text scroller should only be used in emergencies. A great way to celebrate an event on your blog, but avoid keeping it there forever.
Description: What better way to spice up your blog than to have your very own virtual pet hanging out in the sidebar? The Cyber-pet blog widget lets you choose the type of pet you want, name it, and customize it. You can even have a pair of flying scissors as a pet
2. Funny Quotes
Description: 9.3 times out of 11.78, simpler is better. Funny Quotes is a simple blog widget that displays humorous quotes to your visitors. It can also be quite addicting flipping through the quotes, so if you install this widget, you might want to use caution when visiting your blog at work.
3. Etch A Sketch
Description: Here's a real blast from the past. Get your own Etch A Sketch for your blog and let your visitors draw to their hearts content.
4. Magic 8-ball
Description: Who says you can't help your readers out with a little bit of creative problem solving? This 8-ball is not only attractive, but it's also magical, and is able to answer any question posed to it. This is a great blog widget for those that want to put a little nostalgia into their blog.
Get the Widget
5. The Official Dilbert Widget
Description: Turn your sidebar into a comic strip with the Official Dilbert Widget. Everyone's favorite office cartoon will provide a nice distraction for your readers. The only downside: Trying to compete with Dilbert by writing something interesting enough for your visitors to read your stuff instead of just laughing about Dilbert.
Get the Widget
6. Secret Message Scratch Card
Description: What would happen if you pulled a widget out of a box of cereal? You might get something like the secret message scratch card widget where you can write a secret message and your readers can reveal it by scratching around with a penny.
Get the Widget
7. Cool Site of the Day
Description: A neat little blog widget that pulls up a posting of the cool site of the day. This is a great way to introduce your readers to interesting spots around the web.
Get the Widget
8. Roaches
Description: Bring your blog to life with this widget. Unfortunately, the lifeform happens to be a pack of roaches that readers can scare away with their mouse pointer.
Get the Widget
9. YouTube Recently Featured Videos
Description: Nothing says you've made it like your own television station. And, while that might take a while to come true, you can at least have popular YouTube videos on display on your site with this blog widget.
Get the Widget
10. Text Scroller
Description: Caution! You have entered the dangerous land of text-scrolling. One half fun, one half annoying, the text scroller should only be used in emergencies. A great way to celebrate an event on your blog, but avoid keeping it there forever.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
100 Blog Topics
1 How I Use Facebook
2 Ways I Embrace My Audience
3 Should My Town Use Social Media?
4 A Community I Love
5 Technology That Empowers Me
6 How Flickr Did it Right
7 How Best to Comment on a Corporate Blog
8 Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference
9 How I Find Blogging Ideas
10 Somebody Has to Say It
11 My Children Will Do it Differently
12 How Schools Could Use Social Media
13 The Best Parts of Marketing
14 Presentation Skills for a New Conversation
15 How I Find Time to Make Media
16 Empower Your Best Customers
17 After the Event- Carrying the Conversation Forward
18 Just Jump Into Podcasting- Heres How
19 My Community and How You Can Engage It
20 Twitter Jaiku Pownce Facebook- And Then What
21 Making a Miniseries
22 If I Were an Advertiser Today
23 My Mother is On Facebook
24 Does a Big Brand Need You
25 Books I Want to Write
26 Serving the Deep Niches- How I Do It
27 How Women Use Social Media
28 A Hard Look at My Media Habits
29 If I Were a Television Producer
30 Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing
31 Elements of a Marketing Campaign
32 Social Media Campaigns are NOT Traditional Campaigns
33 Idea Making and How I Make Something
34 What I Spend Money On
35 Do Rock Stars Need Social Media Strategies
36 How I Use My Website
37 Book Shopping- Buy These Books
38 MTV Changed the World in the 80s- Here is What Comes Next
39 How I Process Blogs and What I Do With All That Info
40 Ten Guilty Pleasures
41 The Internet Application I Havent Seen
42 If I Worked for a Venture Capital Firm
43 My Day Job Versus My Passion
44 The Difference Between Fark and Truemors
45 Fixing Conferences
46 Making Marketplaces for Media Makers
47 When I Feel Frustrated
48 Branding Strategies I Use
49 Your Ideas And My Ideas- How We Play Together
50 Friends I Cant Wait to Meet
51 The Art of Chaos
52 Telling My Boss About Social Media
53 Could I Quit My Day Job
54 When to Cut Back on Web Habits
55 Breaking Down My Favorite Blog
56 Explaining Social Media to Your Chamber of Commerce
57 Non-Internet Equivalents to Internet Tools I Use
58 Considering Media for the Rest of the Globe
59 Twitter is Too Simple- Twitter is Just Right
60 The Future of Podcasting
61 Video Made Simple
62 Facebook Applications I Love
63 You Are Here
64 Blogging Tactics- How to Keep it Fresh
65 I Want to Brag A Minute
66 Who Says What About Your Brand
67 Tools for Blogging
68 Wordpress Plugins I Use And Why
69 Media Topics That Need More Coverage
70 Comments versus Blog Posts
71 How I Drive Traffic to My Site
72 News- Is it Useful and How I Might Fix It
73 Which TV Network Gets Videoblogging and PodCasting
74 Franchising My Media
75 Handling Critics
76 My Audio Tricks
77 Ning Sites I Like and Why
78 Controlling My Brand
79 Sharing and Contributing
80 How Twitter Improved My Blog
81 Email After Twitter
82 Facebook Video Improved My Social Network
83 Letting Go
84 Downtime- What I Do Offline to Recharge
85 How I Went From Very Shy to Less Shy
86 The RIGHT Number to Track for Podcasting
87 PodCamp Has to Change
88 Shaking Things Up
89 Joining A Network- Things to Consider
90 Newspapers and How I Would Change Them
91 Interview With a Veteran
92 The Countries of My Social Media World
93 Giving it Away
94 Consulting Strategies for Social Media Experts
95 Turning Media into a Business Card
96 Podcasting on a Budget
97 For Every Excuse a New Strategy
98 Just When I Think I Am Done
99 Buying Gear- My Shopping Tips for Podcasters
100 When is Free Better- When Not
2 Ways I Embrace My Audience
3 Should My Town Use Social Media?
4 A Community I Love
5 Technology That Empowers Me
6 How Flickr Did it Right
7 How Best to Comment on a Corporate Blog
8 Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference
9 How I Find Blogging Ideas
10 Somebody Has to Say It
11 My Children Will Do it Differently
12 How Schools Could Use Social Media
13 The Best Parts of Marketing
14 Presentation Skills for a New Conversation
15 How I Find Time to Make Media
16 Empower Your Best Customers
17 After the Event- Carrying the Conversation Forward
18 Just Jump Into Podcasting- Heres How
19 My Community and How You Can Engage It
20 Twitter Jaiku Pownce Facebook- And Then What
21 Making a Miniseries
22 If I Were an Advertiser Today
23 My Mother is On Facebook
24 Does a Big Brand Need You
25 Books I Want to Write
26 Serving the Deep Niches- How I Do It
27 How Women Use Social Media
28 A Hard Look at My Media Habits
29 If I Were a Television Producer
30 Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing
31 Elements of a Marketing Campaign
32 Social Media Campaigns are NOT Traditional Campaigns
33 Idea Making and How I Make Something
34 What I Spend Money On
35 Do Rock Stars Need Social Media Strategies
36 How I Use My Website
37 Book Shopping- Buy These Books
38 MTV Changed the World in the 80s- Here is What Comes Next
39 How I Process Blogs and What I Do With All That Info
40 Ten Guilty Pleasures
41 The Internet Application I Havent Seen
42 If I Worked for a Venture Capital Firm
43 My Day Job Versus My Passion
44 The Difference Between Fark and Truemors
45 Fixing Conferences
46 Making Marketplaces for Media Makers
47 When I Feel Frustrated
48 Branding Strategies I Use
49 Your Ideas And My Ideas- How We Play Together
50 Friends I Cant Wait to Meet
51 The Art of Chaos
52 Telling My Boss About Social Media
53 Could I Quit My Day Job
54 When to Cut Back on Web Habits
55 Breaking Down My Favorite Blog
56 Explaining Social Media to Your Chamber of Commerce
57 Non-Internet Equivalents to Internet Tools I Use
58 Considering Media for the Rest of the Globe
59 Twitter is Too Simple- Twitter is Just Right
60 The Future of Podcasting
61 Video Made Simple
62 Facebook Applications I Love
63 You Are Here
64 Blogging Tactics- How to Keep it Fresh
65 I Want to Brag A Minute
66 Who Says What About Your Brand
67 Tools for Blogging
68 Wordpress Plugins I Use And Why
69 Media Topics That Need More Coverage
70 Comments versus Blog Posts
71 How I Drive Traffic to My Site
72 News- Is it Useful and How I Might Fix It
73 Which TV Network Gets Videoblogging and PodCasting
74 Franchising My Media
75 Handling Critics
76 My Audio Tricks
77 Ning Sites I Like and Why
78 Controlling My Brand
79 Sharing and Contributing
80 How Twitter Improved My Blog
81 Email After Twitter
82 Facebook Video Improved My Social Network
83 Letting Go
84 Downtime- What I Do Offline to Recharge
85 How I Went From Very Shy to Less Shy
86 The RIGHT Number to Track for Podcasting
87 PodCamp Has to Change
88 Shaking Things Up
89 Joining A Network- Things to Consider
90 Newspapers and How I Would Change Them
91 Interview With a Veteran
92 The Countries of My Social Media World
93 Giving it Away
94 Consulting Strategies for Social Media Experts
95 Turning Media into a Business Card
96 Podcasting on a Budget
97 For Every Excuse a New Strategy
98 Just When I Think I Am Done
99 Buying Gear- My Shopping Tips for Podcasters
100 When is Free Better- When Not
Using Social Blogging to Grow Your Business
B using social networking sites, gives much more advertise about your blog and share our post through social networking sites like orkut, facebook, twitter, etc.
Top Blog Tips of All Time
Choose a Professional, easy, Profitable & Valuable Niche
Choose a Short Domain name for your Blog
Use WordPress
Post Daily
If you are using a Free Blogging Platform – Buy a Domain and Start Self Hosting
Optimize your blog to Search Engines
Learn about your Competitor Blogs and Improve yourself
Take Blogging as a business and spend more time for it
Chose the Right theme for your Blog
Don’t allow people to Copy your Content – Warn, Punish them
Make Unique and Fresh Posts
Think Different , Do Different – Write what other bloggers missed to write
Avoid too many outbound External Links
Reply to all comments made in your blog
Use ‘All in One SEO Pack’ Plugin if you are using WordPress
Don’t blog with the only aim of Making Money
Spend time tweeting your Posts (you can use Twitterfeed)
Write Pillar Posts
Link to Others blog’s post
Reduce the number of Blogroll Links
Make your Text font attractive and readable
Take care about your WordPress theme design (color blending and all..)
Include a Top Searched Keyword in your Blog Title
Discover something new and post it
Join forums in your Niche and insert your blog in the signature
Make useful comments in others blog. Also try to make the first comment of a post (it can receive you more traffic)
Make Guest Posts in Good Blogs
Make friendship with other Blogs
Start a Post Series (which contain at least 5 posts)
Try to Increase Alexa Rank
Use Affiliate programs and promote it with your blog. It is n extra way to make money
Analyze your stats and understand your mistakes
Try to build maximum number of High quality backlinks
Use Social bookmarking sites to bookmark your posts. Especially Digg & Stumbleupon
Increase Internal linking of your blog using related posts plugin, tags, archives, links in article etc.
Read a lots of e-Books
Use Forums and Blog Discussions sites to seek for blog help
Be Patient
Learn from successful bloggers
You must include 3 important pages in your blog: About, Advertise, Contact
Use Squidoo
Make a new blog after making the first blog a success. Also promote the second blog using 1st blog
Use at least 2 subscription options (twitter & feed)
Improve your Typing Speed for Fast Content Writing
Include Images in Posts
Make a list of Popular posts and Post it or publish it in the sidebar
Use Post excerpt in your homepage other than displaying whole post content
Join Blogging Networks and be active in it (eg: blogcatalog)
Make a Blog Contest
Think twice before taking a big action in your blog
Write posts in your own style – It will be attractive for your readers
Avoid too many widgets
Avoid too many advertisements
Make your WordPress theme look professional and easy to load
Make your theme W3C HTML Validated. Check it here
Check whether your blog is appearing well in every Web Browser
Make an Effective Post Title – Make it SEO Friendly
Add ‘Podcasts’ to your blog
Make a monthly roundup
Avoid Bad Link Neighborhoods
Organize and make a well structured Category list
Participate in Blogging Contests and Projects
Make use of Adsense ‘Section targeting’ for showing content related ads
Try to become the best blog in your Niche.
Avoid Big Niche topics
Allow email subscriptions
Comment on Top Dofollow Blogs
Enable ‘Subscription to comments’
Ask readers to contact you for Help
Ask for Donations
Do experiments with Advertisements till you success
Be active with your readers
Submit your articles to directories
Make small posts as well as Large posts
Write what readers expect from your blog
Don’t copy articles from other blogs
Post interviews and reviews in your blog (eg: Review of Darren Rowse of Problogger.net)
Use Sense of Humor
Insert Meta Tags effectively
Include Keywords in posts
Read as much as Articles regarding Blogging Tips
I recommend you to use Google Analytics
Encourage readers to subscribe to your blog
Submit your Blog to High Page Rank Blog Directories
End your post with a question so that you will receive a lots of comments
Use Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Make a good Permalink
Install latest Wordpres updates
Understand your Mistakes and correct it
Make a lots of ‘Top 10 …’ posts
If you can, start a Discussion Forum with your Blog
Use ‘Head’ Tags like H1, H2 etc.
Delete Spam comments. Learn how to avoid it
Read your post Twice before posting.
Try good methods of Online Money Making
Focus on your Google Page Index and try to increase it.
Avoid using Bad & Irritating advertisements like Pop-ups and Link ads (eg: Kontera)
Submit your blog to Google Webmaster Tools
Help & Guide other Bloggers like me (kidding)
Read this Article Again and Again
Choose a Short Domain name for your Blog
Use WordPress
Post Daily
If you are using a Free Blogging Platform – Buy a Domain and Start Self Hosting
Optimize your blog to Search Engines
Learn about your Competitor Blogs and Improve yourself
Take Blogging as a business and spend more time for it
Chose the Right theme for your Blog
Don’t allow people to Copy your Content – Warn, Punish them
Make Unique and Fresh Posts
Think Different , Do Different – Write what other bloggers missed to write
Avoid too many outbound External Links
Reply to all comments made in your blog
Use ‘All in One SEO Pack’ Plugin if you are using WordPress
Don’t blog with the only aim of Making Money
Spend time tweeting your Posts (you can use Twitterfeed)
Write Pillar Posts
Link to Others blog’s post
Reduce the number of Blogroll Links
Make your Text font attractive and readable
Take care about your WordPress theme design (color blending and all..)
Include a Top Searched Keyword in your Blog Title
Discover something new and post it
Join forums in your Niche and insert your blog in the signature
Make useful comments in others blog. Also try to make the first comment of a post (it can receive you more traffic)
Make Guest Posts in Good Blogs
Make friendship with other Blogs
Start a Post Series (which contain at least 5 posts)
Try to Increase Alexa Rank
Use Affiliate programs and promote it with your blog. It is n extra way to make money
Analyze your stats and understand your mistakes
Try to build maximum number of High quality backlinks
Use Social bookmarking sites to bookmark your posts. Especially Digg & Stumbleupon
Increase Internal linking of your blog using related posts plugin, tags, archives, links in article etc.
Read a lots of e-Books
Use Forums and Blog Discussions sites to seek for blog help
Be Patient
Learn from successful bloggers
You must include 3 important pages in your blog: About, Advertise, Contact
Use Squidoo
Make a new blog after making the first blog a success. Also promote the second blog using 1st blog
Use at least 2 subscription options (twitter & feed)
Improve your Typing Speed for Fast Content Writing
Include Images in Posts
Make a list of Popular posts and Post it or publish it in the sidebar
Use Post excerpt in your homepage other than displaying whole post content
Join Blogging Networks and be active in it (eg: blogcatalog)
Make a Blog Contest
Think twice before taking a big action in your blog
Write posts in your own style – It will be attractive for your readers
Avoid too many widgets
Avoid too many advertisements
Make your WordPress theme look professional and easy to load
Make your theme W3C HTML Validated. Check it here
Check whether your blog is appearing well in every Web Browser
Make an Effective Post Title – Make it SEO Friendly
Add ‘Podcasts’ to your blog
Make a monthly roundup
Avoid Bad Link Neighborhoods
Organize and make a well structured Category list
Participate in Blogging Contests and Projects
Make use of Adsense ‘Section targeting’ for showing content related ads
Try to become the best blog in your Niche.
Avoid Big Niche topics
Allow email subscriptions
Comment on Top Dofollow Blogs
Enable ‘Subscription to comments’
Ask readers to contact you for Help
Ask for Donations
Do experiments with Advertisements till you success
Be active with your readers
Submit your articles to directories
Make small posts as well as Large posts
Write what readers expect from your blog
Don’t copy articles from other blogs
Post interviews and reviews in your blog (eg: Review of Darren Rowse of Problogger.net)
Use Sense of Humor
Insert Meta Tags effectively
Include Keywords in posts
Read as much as Articles regarding Blogging Tips
I recommend you to use Google Analytics
Encourage readers to subscribe to your blog
Submit your Blog to High Page Rank Blog Directories
End your post with a question so that you will receive a lots of comments
Use Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Make a good Permalink
Install latest Wordpres updates
Understand your Mistakes and correct it
Make a lots of ‘Top 10 …’ posts
If you can, start a Discussion Forum with your Blog
Use ‘Head’ Tags like H1, H2 etc.
Delete Spam comments. Learn how to avoid it
Read your post Twice before posting.
Try good methods of Online Money Making
Focus on your Google Page Index and try to increase it.
Avoid using Bad & Irritating advertisements like Pop-ups and Link ads (eg: Kontera)
Submit your blog to Google Webmaster Tools
Help & Guide other Bloggers like me (kidding)
Read this Article Again and Again
The Best 15 SEO Tools for Beginners
PageRank Checker is a free tool to check Google Page Ranking of any site and its pages easily and instantly. Google PageRank or PR is a measure of any sites popularity based on Google kept-secret algorithm. The PR is an indication of certain authority to your site and how important it is in the eyes of Google. For the uninformed, here’s how Google calculates your PR.
PageRank Search allows you to search Google using any keyword you wish. It will then return, in order of Google relevance, the sites associated with those keywords. Each result displays a graphical bar with the PageRank of that particular site.
Internal Pages PR Checker will check the page rank of all of your site’s inner pages index by Google and it’s useful to use right after the PR update.
Link Popularity Checker is a tool that checks total number of pages in each search engines index that contains a link to your site, including your own website. It is used to measure your site’s online visibility. The popularity of your site is an important factor in your search engine ranking. The more popular your site is, the better it will be ranked on the search engines.
Backlink Anchor Text Analyzer help you determine the backlinks of your site and anchor text (link text) used to link to your site. Link building is all about getting the quality backlinks along with the quantity. The truth is getting a few of the right links, from the right places can be more valuable than getting 100 links from the wrong places.
It’s all about using the right keywords you are trying to optimize as your anchor text (link text) from the right neighborhood.
Reciprocal Link Checker helps you ensure that your link partners are linking back to your site and determines what anchor text is used. Gone are the days when reciprocal links are considered important, the big G is now putting more weight on one-way (the best option) or three-way links (site A ↔ site C, site C ↔ site B and site B ↔ site A)
Keyword Density refers to the measurement in percentage, the number of times a keyword or phrase appears compared to the total number of words in a page which needs to balance correctly. Too low and you will not get the optimum benefit, Too high and your page might get flagged for “keyword spamming”.
This tool parses the most frequently keyword of a website and calculates its percentage share.
Keyword Suggestion Tool will help you with choosing of the right keywords for your website and analyze which keyword combinations are more popular. Choosing the right keywords is critical for a success of your site. Target the wrong keywords and you have lost.
There is pure gold hidden in less competitive keyword combinations and variations.
Link Analysis of External and Internal Links – The link analysis display all internal and external links of a website with the corresponding anchor texts in a summary table. It’s one of the best I have ever used.
SERP Position Checker is the keyword position analysis used to check on which position your domain is ranked for a given keyword and compare the first 100 results by Google, MSN and Yahoo.
Robots.txt Syntax Checker is the simplest tool to check the contents of your site’s robots.txt against the search engines standard, along with providing warnings on the wrong use of syntax.
In case you aren’t in the know, robots.txt file is the key to stopping search engines robots from indexing certain pages of your site which are deemed unnecessary to be included in the search results, yet many people still fail to get the syntax correct.
Copyscape scours the net and finds sites that have copied your content without permission, as well as those that have quoted you. It is designed to protect you against online plagiarism and article theft.
Search Engine Placement Check is a verification tool that checks if your site is in the top three pages of a search engine result for a specific keyword. It’s important to be in the top 3 pages of a search result because most people using search engines don’t go past the 3rd page.
Bad Neighborhood Checker checks link pages and reports if there are links to bad neighborhoods. This tool will scan the links on your site, and on the pages that your site is linking to, and flag possible problem areas. This can greatly ease your SEO efforts.
Website Grader is a free SEO report that measures the marketing effectiveness of your site. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how your site can be improved from a marketing perspective. Check out the SEO report for thoushallblog.com.
PageRank Search allows you to search Google using any keyword you wish. It will then return, in order of Google relevance, the sites associated with those keywords. Each result displays a graphical bar with the PageRank of that particular site.
Internal Pages PR Checker will check the page rank of all of your site’s inner pages index by Google and it’s useful to use right after the PR update.
Link Popularity Checker is a tool that checks total number of pages in each search engines index that contains a link to your site, including your own website. It is used to measure your site’s online visibility. The popularity of your site is an important factor in your search engine ranking. The more popular your site is, the better it will be ranked on the search engines.
Backlink Anchor Text Analyzer help you determine the backlinks of your site and anchor text (link text) used to link to your site. Link building is all about getting the quality backlinks along with the quantity. The truth is getting a few of the right links, from the right places can be more valuable than getting 100 links from the wrong places.
It’s all about using the right keywords you are trying to optimize as your anchor text (link text) from the right neighborhood.
Reciprocal Link Checker helps you ensure that your link partners are linking back to your site and determines what anchor text is used. Gone are the days when reciprocal links are considered important, the big G is now putting more weight on one-way (the best option) or three-way links (site A ↔ site C, site C ↔ site B and site B ↔ site A)
Keyword Density refers to the measurement in percentage, the number of times a keyword or phrase appears compared to the total number of words in a page which needs to balance correctly. Too low and you will not get the optimum benefit, Too high and your page might get flagged for “keyword spamming”.
This tool parses the most frequently keyword of a website and calculates its percentage share.
Keyword Suggestion Tool will help you with choosing of the right keywords for your website and analyze which keyword combinations are more popular. Choosing the right keywords is critical for a success of your site. Target the wrong keywords and you have lost.
There is pure gold hidden in less competitive keyword combinations and variations.
Link Analysis of External and Internal Links – The link analysis display all internal and external links of a website with the corresponding anchor texts in a summary table. It’s one of the best I have ever used.
SERP Position Checker is the keyword position analysis used to check on which position your domain is ranked for a given keyword and compare the first 100 results by Google, MSN and Yahoo.
Robots.txt Syntax Checker is the simplest tool to check the contents of your site’s robots.txt against the search engines standard, along with providing warnings on the wrong use of syntax.
In case you aren’t in the know, robots.txt file is the key to stopping search engines robots from indexing certain pages of your site which are deemed unnecessary to be included in the search results, yet many people still fail to get the syntax correct.
Copyscape scours the net and finds sites that have copied your content without permission, as well as those that have quoted you. It is designed to protect you against online plagiarism and article theft.
Search Engine Placement Check is a verification tool that checks if your site is in the top three pages of a search engine result for a specific keyword. It’s important to be in the top 3 pages of a search result because most people using search engines don’t go past the 3rd page.
Bad Neighborhood Checker checks link pages and reports if there are links to bad neighborhoods. This tool will scan the links on your site, and on the pages that your site is linking to, and flag possible problem areas. This can greatly ease your SEO efforts.
Website Grader is a free SEO report that measures the marketing effectiveness of your site. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how your site can be improved from a marketing perspective. Check out the SEO report for thoushallblog.com.
what is Posterous ?
Posterous isn’t just a dead simple way to post everything online using email but beyond it’s simplicity, it’s a great SEO tool to automate the boring, manual work of link building.
how you can build links automatically with Posterous!
-Create an account if you’ve done so
-Assign the dofollow social networks for selective auto posting
-Install the posterous bookmarklet
-Choose the site you want to build links to
-For brevity’s sake, copy the first paragraph of your main article,
-Click the bookmarklet
-At the end of the excerpt, (yes, this is important!) change the anchor text of your inbound link.
-Click post and voila, you’re done!
how you can build links automatically with Posterous!
-Create an account if you’ve done so
-Assign the dofollow social networks for selective auto posting
-Install the posterous bookmarklet
-Choose the site you want to build links to
-For brevity’s sake, copy the first paragraph of your main article,
-Click the bookmarklet
-At the end of the excerpt, (yes, this is important!) change the anchor text of your inbound link.
-Click post and voila, you’re done!
How to Make a Blog Post Scannable
Bullet Points
Header Tags
Numbered Lists
Pictures
Quotes
Short Paragraphs
Bold Text
Good spacing between lines
Header Tags
Numbered Lists
Pictures
Quotes
Short Paragraphs
Bold Text
Good spacing between lines
5 Blogging Basics steps
Step 1: The Power of the Title
Step 2: Blog Posts Must Be Reader Friendly
Step 3: Pictures are Worth 1,000 Words
Step 4: Use Video from Time to Time
Step 5: Keep It Simple Stupid
Step 2: Blog Posts Must Be Reader Friendly
Step 3: Pictures are Worth 1,000 Words
Step 4: Use Video from Time to Time
Step 5: Keep It Simple Stupid
Shortcomings of Duplicate Content
As internet users, we all more or less go through the same problem of duplication of content. But before going any further let us first get acquainted with the word “duplicate content“.
When content is available word by word on more than one different URL then the content is considered to be duplicate content. The duplicate content is also termed when the same site have several copies of the same content on its different URLs.
Besides the word ‘duplication’ is also sometimes used when the search engines get confused between pages with same description when displaying search results.
Different popular search engines always discouraged the duplicate content because they want to give internet users unique results which will become food for their thoughts while eliminating same content available on different websites from their result pages.
When content is available word by word on more than one different URL then the content is considered to be duplicate content. The duplicate content is also termed when the same site have several copies of the same content on its different URLs.
Besides the word ‘duplication’ is also sometimes used when the search engines get confused between pages with same description when displaying search results.
Different popular search engines always discouraged the duplicate content because they want to give internet users unique results which will become food for their thoughts while eliminating same content available on different websites from their result pages.
choose a simple name
well, it is a important subject in blogging, always try to choose a simple name to your blog. choose a simple name and always remember that your blog name indicate what your blog contain. in simple words, when the reader reads our blog name at the moment itself he is understand our blog content. so choose a short, simple topic.
steps to professional blogging:
Determine what you want to blog about
Register a blog with Blogger
Create a FeedBurner account
Write 1+ blog entries every day
Read other blogs like yours
Register for a del.icio.us account
Leave 1+ comments every day
Register for an AdSense account
Don't give up
Check your stats and refine
Register a blog with Blogger
Create a FeedBurner account
Write 1+ blog entries every day
Read other blogs like yours
Register for a del.icio.us account
Leave 1+ comments every day
Register for an AdSense account
Don't give up
Check your stats and refine
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