With the constant changes taking place in the search engine marketing world, it’s no wonder that many people are confused as to what is acceptable, what works, and what they should be doing.

Over the past years social media has played a pivotal role in the evolution of the search engine marketing game, and it’s important to learn how to marry social media with the more established marketing tool of article marketing.

Here are some questions you may be wondering:

1 – Do I need to choose between doing social media and article marketing, or is it best when they are used together?

Social media and article marketing play very well together, and any well-rounded online marketing campaign will be aided by the combination of the two.

In addition to article marketing, you should also be doing things like forum commenting, blog commenting, Twitter, Facebook and other social media activity, social bookmarking, and maintaining your own blog on your site.

In the past, your website’s ‘authority’ in Google’s eyes was largely determined by backlinks, but that’s changed now. If you’re getting traffic to your Twitter page or your Facebook, if your website is being bookmarked for instance (all of which is a lot easier if you’re producing a steady stream of content for article marketing), then it points to your website’s ‘authority’. The indicators for measuring the importance of a webpage have become more diverse.

Interacting with colleagues and people interested in your niche online also lead to forming relationships with others that help your SEO and your business in an indirect way.

2 – If the blog or forum has links that are ‘nofollow’ (the link does not influence your search engine ranking), is there still SEO value to commenting?

Most definitely–in fact, if your links are all ‘dofollow’, then it can look suspicious. When I comment on blogs and forums, I don’t concern myself at all as to whether the links are ‘dofollow’ or ‘nofollow’ and I encourage you to do the same. It helps to keep things as natural as possible, so don’t be so calculating in getting the search engines’ attention that you forget about the importance of having genuine interactions with people online.

Just as you wouldn’t just write articles for search engines (of course, you write articles to help your target readers), you also shouldn’t plan your online community involvement just for search engines either, but rather see it as a way of helping others online. When you comment on blogs and leave helpful tips on forums, it helps establish your reputation and credibility online and can lead to developing relationships with other website owners. You should see the SEO benefit from the backlinks as icing on the cake.

The internet marketing world has changed considerably over the past few years, but I think for the best. It’s always a good idea to be genuine in your interactions online and in the content that you provide via your articles, not doing it just for a higher ranking, but doing it to connect with people in your field.

Steve Shaw is an article marketing expert, and founder of the popular article submitter, SubmitYOURArticle.com, used by thousands of business owners. Discover how to use the power of article marketing to reach tens of thousands of potential prospects for your website – download a powerful free report on successful article marketing from http://www.submityourarticle.com/report

I am over 10 years now FULL TIME working from home on the internet making money online and I have put together the following website to share all of my secrets with you at http://www.DecideYourIncome.eu

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.CoachOfSuccess.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

(UK) 07875 647 867 (Call Me Anytime), Skype – mark.mcculloch1

Online branding or internet branding is essential in today’s ever-changing marketplace. Most business owners fail to realize the potential behind establishing a powerful brand name.

If anyone has the ability to explain his or her brand right from the moment a user logs onto your web page, the brand will have much more of an effect on the visitor because they instantly know what you are about, what your purpose is and what you are trying to convey. On the average, you have about 8 seconds to capture the visitor’s attention before they choose to stay or move on from your website. If you make most of these 8 seconds useful, users will not forget your brand and be more likely to come back to the site at a later date.

At the time when you are about to define your brand, make it special by giving the advantages right on the home page. It is also a better method to upload a video of your business on the home page to make a strong first impression. Consumers love to know that they are dealing with an actual person, not a bot.

The leading process for “online branding” or “internet branding” as some may call it, is to target the accurate demographic category. For example: if you want to deal in cosmetics for women, focus on.conveying the brand only to women and women that are within your target range for age.

The result of “online branding” can be both negative and positive. If you detect a possible negative effect along with a positive one, your first goal should be to improve the negative matters so that a positive view will come to mind, when your brand is spoken of.

Always remember that if you wish for branding strategy to be successful, you should submit high quality content that is advantageous and helpful to your target customers, if not they will not be impressed to share it with others. Also, ensure that all of the content you make, has your website URL posted or an alternative way where customers can get back to you for further information. You can do this by using social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

“Online branding” also requires website design and logos but your first priority has to be content. It’s very important to brand yourself with a website that is simple to navigate, professionally laid out, and full of relevant content. Also, you do not have to go overboard with graphics, but it is a great way to support your brand with a professionally designed logo.

These are all-powerful ideas for “online branding” which can help make your online venture a successful one.

Online branding and internet branding are essential in today’s market. Visit alamead.com for more information.

I am over 10 years now FULL TIME working from home on the internet making money online and I have put together the following website to share all of my secrets with you at http://www.DecideYourIncome.eu

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.CoachOfSuccess.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

(UK) 07875 647 867 (Call Me Anytime), Skype – mark.mcculloch1

If you are not making use of Facebook marketing strategies as part of your internet marketing plan there is a chance you could get left behind. Marketing on Facebook is a way of putting your product or service in front of potentially millions of people, but social marketing has to be done correctly.

Hard Sell: The hard sell method does not work on Facebook for one crucial reason. People visit the site because they are socialising with friends and family. To market on Facebook you have to start to socialize, and the best way to do that is to set up a Fan page, or as some call them, a like page.

Like page: You can set up as many like pages as you wish on one Facebook account. The idea is, to set up a page that is to do with the niche you are in, or to do with the product you are trying to sell. You start by uploading an image on to your page. You will want to make it an image that stands out or catches the eye.

You then need to populate your page with pictures, videos and news snippets regarding the niche you are in. You will also need to set up the page so that when people click the link to your page they go direct to your page wall. Once you have between 6 – 8 items on your wall you need to get people interested in your page. The quickest way to do this is to use a Facebook ad.

Creating an ad is very simple as you only need to upload an image to go on the ad, and add a few lines of text. The image you choose has to be really eye catching as you want to attract users on Facebook to click on your ad. The cool thing about Facebook marketing is that you can really target your customer group.

Targeting: Targeting who you want your ad to appear to, is crucial when using these Facebook marketing strategies. You need to find out your target market by age, and gender. The trick to doing this is, to find other sites that advertise or promote the same service or products you are promoting. You then take their url and go to a site called quantcast.com.

At Quantcast you can enter a url and it will give you the amount of traffic that site gets, and it breaks the traffic down in to age, sex, and other demographics. Once you have that information you can then select the right sex and age range of the person on Facebook you are trying to target.

Once you have set up the demographic of your target audience you will be given a price range to bid for your clicks. The best method is to bid 2 cents more than the lower figure. Normally you will get your clicks for much less than you bid.

If you have set your target audience correctly and your ad starts to run, you will be surprised at how fast you will start to get people liking your page. Once someone has clicked on the like tab of your page, every time you make a post on your page wall, it will be seen by everyone that clicked you’re like tab. I am sure you can see how powerful Facebook marketing strategies can be from this.

There is a lot more to using Facebook Marketing Strategies than could be touched upon in this article and it is crucial that you learn how to market on Facebook properly.

To take advantage of a free video that shows you how to learn Facebook marketing techniques then you need to visit http://homeeasyearn.com/mrfbx.html

I am over 10 years now FULL TIME working from home on the internet making money online and I have put together the following website to share all of my secrets with you at http://www.DecideYourIncome.eu

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.CoachOfSuccess.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

(UK) 07875 647 867 (Call Me Anytime), Skype – mark.mcculloch1

I have been arguing for a long time that SEO and Social Media Marketing are becoming the same thing. At least, they work together extremely well, or should.

Some of our new members wonder why the first thing we want to do for them is open up a bunch of social accounts. They picture hour on hour of wasted time wading through these sites looking for customers. But, luckily, that’s not the purpose at all!

I can see this in action when I Google my name, something you can, and should do. Anyway, while there are 387,000 pages currently online for my name, nine of the top ten results are me, not those thousands of other wannabe Dave Sherwin’s! (Sucks to be them.) But that’s not the real point. The real point is the analysis of the 9 results for my name:

1. my name dot com. Well, that makes sense, that’s just good SEO to own the URL of the keyword people are searching for.

2. EzineArticles results. Is EzineArticles a social site? I think so, and many would agree with me, but whether you think so or not, having an account open and posting articles about any keyword (including your name!) just makes sense in your SEO efforts.

3. My blog. A blog is also a social site. People can post, respond, and interact with the blogger, and blogs also get great SEO love from the search engines. So blogging is a great example of the fusion between SEO and Social Media Marketing.

4. My website.

5. Another article directory.

6. A twitter account. There you go, a purely social site coming up on the front page for a search term.

7. My LinkedIn profile. Again, a social site. I don’t do much in LinkedIn, but because I have an account there it ranks for my name when people Google me.

8. A fake guy with my name. How annoying.

9. My slideshare dot com account. Another social site…

10. Facebook.

So, depending on what you term to be a “social” site versus web 1.0, I’d say that about 50% of my personal web presence is from social sites. And in case you’re thinking that a person’s name isn’t that important of an SEO item, think again! People DO Google you! But whether they’re Googling you, your brand, or your product, the concept is the same. Good social media marketing fuzes perfectly with good SEO, they support and help each other, and if you want to be successful online, you need to use both.

Dave Sherwin is the founder of the Social Marketing Blackbox, #1 ranked blogger, and writer.

Get a PLETHORA (it’s a great word, look it up) of great Social Marketing training and downloads **FREE** at:

http://socialmarketingblackbox.com

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.OneMillionIncome.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

(UK) 07875 647 867 (Call Me Anytime), Skype – mark.mcculloch1

Even though Facebook seems to take over the mass media outlets nowadays as it pertains to social media marketing, this is not the only one around. In actual fact, blogging needs to be one of your key essentials for marketing, which should be designed to be an engaging and interactive platform. Creating your weblog as a social networking platform might take 3 to 6 months of constant work, but it is going to be well worth the hard work in the end. You might decide to employ marketing services to assist with this extremely important process.

In addition, social networking services will be knowledgeable about utilizing sweepstakes and contests to market your site, so you definitely should think about such promotions while developing your strategies for web marketing. In case you need to restrict participation to a certain market, then contests will probably be your best option. For instance, if you are an independent book shop, then a contest for short story writing will target individuals who love to read and write. On the other hand, you can have sweepstakes with drawings to give away an array of bestselling books to be able to attract individuals who have not purchased an item from your website.

The main objective for using social media marketing would be to promote a sweepstakes or contest in order to create publicity. However, the secondary goals must be to accumulate contacts, find out about your website’s visitors and inform the participants about what your website offers. The entry forms can include names, phone numbers and email addresses. It is best to ask authorization to make future connection with entrants instead of making it a prerequisite. Several contest holders need participants to fill out a survey prior to entering and this would be a good way to research the preferences for visitors on your website.

Keep in mind that you aren’t permitted to get people to purchase something prior to entering any of these promotions and you are unable to design it to ensure that purchases increase their chance of winning.

For information on Facebook Contest Ideas visit http://www.theadhound.com/facebook-contest-ideas.html.

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.OneMillionIncome.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

(UK) 07875 647 867 (Call Me Anytime), Skype – mark.mcculloch1

There are numerous success stories you will hear about businesses making it good on the internet . The troubling thing is, there are maybe a tenfold or even a hundredfold of stories inconsistent to theirs. Many have unsuccessfully launched a business venture that is internet based but only a handful shall succeed.

Is this because of luck? That is even more remote. It takes good business sense and a lot of help and team effort. Most importantly, it is the eagerness to succeed and the persistence to learn and the willingness to put in a lot of hard work and some money.

However, before shelling out your hard-earned money on advertising, here are three (3) smart reasons why you should consider paying for your traffic including common-sense methods of showing you how to prepare your website.

1. The quickest method for getting customers to your website is to pay for your traffic.

Like Neo, traffic is ‘The One’ . Without traffic, all your efforts would just go to waste. Every business needs customers, without them you wouldn’t have anyone to sell your products to. In the Internet world traffic is the walk in customer. The more traffic you possess the more people you’d be able to sell your products to.

But similar to any business that’s in every corner building or in the mall, not everyone that goes in will buy. But for those who do come in to browse your merchandise, most of them will buy your products. It is a clear and known fact.

But, how do you get traffic, traffic great enough that could make a small portion of resulting buyers enough to make a fair profit. Many big companies generate traffic of tens of thousands a day and a measly ten to fifteen percent actually buys, but that small percentage is enough to supply them with adequate business.

Many of these success stories get their traffic from paying others. Yes that’s right; you have to spend money to make money. Advertising is the key. The more people who know that your site exists the more people would of course go to your site, that’s common sense.

While there are numerous ways to get free advertising for your business, free advertising doesn’t generate the same high volume of traffic as paid traffic does. Paid advertisements include such advertising schemes as those offered by Google and Yahoo.

2. In order to take full advantage of the search engines, make sure that your site is properly optimized to rank high before paying for your traffic.

Search engines are the fastest and easiest way for finding what you need on the internet . Search engines are extremely popular because they provide an indispensable service to many people. They are free and easy to use. Because of their popularity, search engines receive many visitors as well as click throughs . With these benefits in mind, it is easy to see why so many companies would pay to advertise with search engines.

Search engines provide information to the millions of users they receive each day. They provide relevant links to many sites that a user may be looking for. If your site’s link pops up as one of the top ranked sites on the search results page, you stand a great chance that the user will click your link and go to your site. While search engine optimization is a cheaper and low cost way to get your site a high rank, paying for advertisements will ensure that you will be on the top ranks.

When you pay for your advertisements, it is like paying for guaranteed traffic to your site. This may not seem like a good idea at first, but the benefits of doing so far outweigh the cost in the long run. When you pay for your traffic, you are guaranteed a consistent flow of traffic to your site. You will at no time go without making a sale on any given day.

3. Find and use tools that will aid you in researching relevant keywords for your chosen niche so that you don’t waste money on advertising.

Normally, you will be charged with the number of hits a link gets when your ad is clicked, this is known as pay per click. For some search engines, you will be charged with the number of times your ad shows up when a certain keyword or keyword phrase is searched. It is imperative that you have good keyword content in your ad. There are many tools on the Internet which can aid you in using the right keywords at the right moment in time.

All the money you spend in paying for your traffic will not be for nothing. You will get an impressive boost in traffic which will also result in a great boost in your sales figures.

I am over 10 years now FULL TIME working from home on the internet making money online and I have put together the following website to share all of my secrets with you at http://www.DecideYourIncome.eu

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.CoachOfSuccess.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

You’ve finished building your web site. Now there’s all that invaluable traffic, just waiting to beat a path to your site. You’ve dotted all your i’s, crossed all your t’s and followed the standard to get the word out. You wear a path out in your carpet pacing back and forth, In between your pacing you check your server logs, hoping for a sudden increase in visitors. The reality is, unless your corporate America with a huge advertising budget, the days of staggering increases in traffic are way down the road. Isn’t there something I can be doing while I wait for the search engine traffic to come?

As a matter of fact there is. Yet this particular form of Free website promotion doesn’t make the headlines and requires no software to install, no backdoor tricks into the search engines, and it’s totally free. What is it?

Now, Before I reveal this technique, I want you to promise you won’t go near the delete button and you’ll give me a chance to lay this thing out to you. Promise? O.K. The Technique is “Posting to Forums.” In the first couple days of “Going Live,” you can hope to attract a couple of hundred visitors, at the least. This will be small in comparison to the knowledge you’ll attain, by allowing the members of these forums to critique your site. You’ll then be able to make whatever changes necessary before the search engines crawl your site. Having your site critiqued by experienced marketers, For Free, Well, Let’s just say, “You Can’t Beat The Price.”

If you’ve never visited or posted in a forum. Don’t be intimidated. These are people no different than you and I. Merely a group of like minded individuals seeking to get answers to their questions or providing answers to questions asked. Usually on a specific topic or topics.

Side Note: Before you Post make sure you read the rules for posting. Read some of the posts being made. Stay on Topic, You’ll get the hang of it in no time.

Once you get the hang of it you’ll want to make sure you don’t go announcing your new site to every other forum you come across. This is viewed as Board Spamming and is definitely a No No. There are boards that will accept this sort of post but on a whole you’ll have to remain on topic and wait for the opportunity to legitimately slide your announcement in. Sometimes outright and others in your signature.

Finding forums to fit your needs is easy. Just type “forums” into your favorite search box, you can then refine your search from there. Check to see if the list of sites meets your needs and go from there.

As a newcomer you’ll want to keep your initial posts simple. Remember to mind your manners. Be polite and friendly and always maintain the prescence of the Business Professional that you are. When the time is right, simply ask them to look at your site. You’ll recieve a pretty good cross section of positive and critical comments. Don’t go getting your shorts all in a knot because someone has posted, what appears to you to be, a negative comment. Keep in mind that you’ve enlisted them to critique your site. Be prepared for all the comments. On a whole, the folks in these forums want to help. However, from time to time you may run into those that seem to have nothing good to say about anything or anybody. Take all comments “Buffet Style.” Take what you want and leave the rest.

Initially you may want to go look at one or two other members sites and supply some feedback before asking to have yours looked at. This will give you valuable insight. What you may find wrong with someone elses site, you can apply it to your own and make the necessary changes. When looking for a site to be looked at, look for the post who has little or no responses to it. By responding to their post they’re likely to express their gratitude by visiting your site when you ask in your post. This technique may seem a bit sly but nonetheless effective. Just don’t get in the habit of operating in this manner.

You’ll not get a ton of traffic from forums but you will have engaaged in an effective form of site promotion and all forms of site promotion need to be entered into the mix. As has been said by someone other than myself, “You don’t need to get it right, You just need to get it going.” By applying the above you will have “Indeed Got It Going!”

Forums are a great place to make new friends and interact with those that are trying to accomplish pretty much the same things we are. So keep things rolling right along by “Posting to Forums!”

I am almost 10 years now FULL TIME working from home on the internet making money online and I have put together the following website to share all of my secrets with you at http://www.DecideYourIncome.eu

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.CoachOfSuccess.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

(UK) 07875 647 867 (Call Me Anytime), Skype – mark.mcculloch1

To all writers and non-writers out there, now is the time to start digging up those creative writing skills back.
With modern communication technology comes the popularity of information-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques in getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers. This is why article writing, submissions and publications are also getting popular.

There are already many tools that people can use to make the process of distributing their articles more easily. Though this is invaluable in getting the contents more exposure, which is only half of the story.
Let us take a look first at the common mistakes that some people make before submitting their contents to article directories:

1. Publishing content that does not help your readers.
Maybe in the process of writing articles, you are thinking that all that is you wanted is links back to your site. And any visitors it can generate are fine.
Guess what? Not all article banks and directories are going to accept your content automatically. Oftentimes, they have some guidelines and specifications on the articles that they are accepting.
You can double the number of sites you can submit to by writing articles that the directories want to share with other people. All it takes is one publisher with a hundred thousand readers to increase your potential audience overnight.
Write the articles that publishers want in their publications if you want your article marketing to work the most effective way for you. This also means you have to obey the standard guidelines, spell checks, researching on a good topic and even hiring a writer to produce a good content on your behalf.
In the end, it is all really a matter of choice on your part. You can start getting a little exposure from increased links back but on a very basic level. Or enjoy massive exposure from a little extra time making quality contents.
It will be your choice. You may not be aware of the fact that an article submitted on directories is not meant to have the same level of exposure as highly-targeted content ones geared on a narrow group of people.
Learn the difference between these two and it will surely help you know what kinds of articles to write and to submit.

2. Confusing the reason to promote the articles with the reason to write them.
In article writing, there are three key benefits why you are promoting them; branding, lead generation and promotion, which are all part of your optimization efforts.
But there is only one reason why you write an article, and that is to inform your audience. If the article is not focused on this primary and most important purpose, it will fail to achieve the three promotion benefits because no one will be interested in reading them.
You need to figure out first how to get people to read what is in your article, then make them click on your resource box. You can achieve this by producing better contents.

3. Failing to maximize the promotional opportunities of article marketing.
You may know already that your articles can help you generate additional links back to your site. But do you know that you can get more visitors and better search engine results from that same articles?
Mention keywords at strategic places. Just be sure not to overdo them. Some are even using anchor texts which is also an effective method. But it is important to know that majority of the directories are not able to support this.
Remember that is not only about the links back to your site. Part of doing well in your article marketing is getting picked up by publishers with a large number of audiences and gaining the ability of leveraging other brands because of the quality of your work. Better search engine results also are great benefits.
But these things do not put much money in your pocket. There are other factors that can turn your article marketing efforts into an opportunity that can boost your earnings. Not just increase the number of visitors to your site.
Start out with a plan and see to it that your article will serve the function that you intended it to have.

4 Things ALL Articles Must Have – Don’t Forget!

The importance of articles in today’s websites and internet based companies are immeasurable. They dictate a lot in the success and the drive of traffic into one’s site. It has become a key element in making a site work and earns a profit. A website operator and owner must have the good sense to include articles in his or her site that will work for them and earn them the many benefits articles can give to their site.

Articles have been known to be the driving force in driving traffic to a website. Articles are a factor in giving site high rankings in search result pages. The higher a site ranks the bigger slice of the traffic flow pie he gets. With a huge number in traffic flow, there are more profits and more potential for other income generating schemes as well.

But, it is not just about stuffing your site with articles; they have certain requirements as well. These requirements must be met to obtain the maximum benefits an article will provide for your site. A well written article will catch the eyes and interest of your customers and keep them coming back for more. They would also be able to recommend your site to others.

Here are some tips to help you and assist you in making your articles. Below you will read about four things all articles must have to make it successful and helpful in making your site a profit earning and traffic overflowing site.

• Keywords and Keyword Phrases.

An article must always be centered on the keywords and keyword phrases. As each website visitor goes to a site, there are those who are just merely browsing but actually looking for a specific something. When this happens, a searcher usually goes to a search engine and types in the keywords they are looking for (e.g. Toyota Camry, Meningitis, Tax Lawyer and Etcetera). It could be anything they want.

The Important thing is that you have an article that has the keywords that are related to your site. For example, if you maintain an auto parts site, you must be able t have articles about cars and their parts. There are many tools in the internet that provides service in helping a webmaster out in determining what keywords and keyword phrases are mostly sought out. You can use this tool to determine what keywords to use and write about.

• Keyword Density

Know that you have your keywords and keyword phrases, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density for a search engine to “feel” its presence. Articles should at least have ten to fifteen percent of keyword density in their content for search engines to rank a site high in their search results. Getting a high rank is what articles do best for a site.

Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used on an article. The number varies depending on the number of words used in an article. An effective article must have a keyword density that is not too high or too low. With a very high density, the essence of the article is lost and may turn off a reader as well as the search engines. It comes off as overeager. A low number may be ignored by the search engines.

• Good Article Content

Like what is stated above, you cannot just riddle an article with keywords. They must also be regarded as good reading materials. Articles must be able to entertain people as well as provide good information and help for their needs. Articles should be written well with correct spelling and good grammar. If you want people to trust you, make your work good and well thought out.

People respond well to figures, facts and statistics. Try to get great information and as many facts as you can. A good and well written article will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field or topic. As more people believe in you. They will be able to trust you and your products.

• Linking Articles

And another important thing to remember. If you are going to submit articles to ezines and/or contribute your articles to newsletters and other sites, DON’T ever forget to include a link to your site. A little resource box with a brief description of your site and you should always be placed right after your articles that you have submitted. If people like your articles, they will most likely click on the link directing them to your site.

I am almost 10 years now FULL TIME working from home on the internet making money online and I have put together the following website to share all of my secrets with you at http://www.DecideYourIncome.eu

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.CoachOfSuccess.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

(UK) 07875 647 867 (Call Me Anytime), Skype – mark.mcculloch1

Perhaps “blogging” isn’t such a graceful word. For me, personally, it sounds like a worded drudgery the way cereals can be soggy, skies can be foggy, and the way minds can be groggy. But for now, it’s too late to rename this shortened word for web-logging. Widespread blogging is nevertheless one of the most engaging Internet developments of the past few years. As a medium it gives rise to many new and worthy voices and plays a new and vital force in shaping opinions, political realities, trends, and even our language.

I believe that a blog is simply a tool to use for someone who’s got something to say. Let me be clear in saying that a blog is a poor choice for someone who needs a megaphone to scream out to cyberspace in order to elicit a meaningful response from Internet users. If you want attention and want it now and expect blogging to bring it to you, then this will surely be a disappointment. However, if you like to write and engage others on subjects of which you have some command or experience, then it’s a wonderful application with which you can interact with people who share similar interests as you. The hype is well founded.

Anyway, here’s a list of blogging tips…

1.) Be topical.
Cohesiveness in message is not optional. Readers may or may not be interested in your topic, but if your message is haphazard that few will bother remembering to return to your blog because it essentially would offer nothing to remember. This doesn’t mean blogs can’t jump from subject to subject. For instance, a blog with a humorous focus has all the leeway in the world for subject matter, but it would be foolish for such a blog to turn the humor on and off. In such an example, the aspect of humor would be content’s glue, the strength of the blog. The beauty of staying on point and on topic is that eventually, due to the nature of the Internet, you will find those interested solely in your topic. (as opposed to online diaries. There are millions of them on the internet, few have any readers. Email me with examples if I’m wrong and I’ll be able to show you why you’re showing me a blog and not a diary.)

2.) Refresh your content
Create a schedule and stick to it. Realizing that blogging requires time and effort, don’t create unrealistic expectations and be unable to deliver. An occasional lapse or holiday is generally understood but readers returning to find stale, out-dated content are going to find another blog with similar content. New blogs and RSS feeds are popping up on a daily basis. If you have worked hard to develop an audience and a community you don’t want to lose them due to lack of communication.

And remember, what’s old is not new and, for blogs, thusly not interesting. 2006 isn’t the time to rail against Enron or Vanilla Ice. Insight doesn’t matter much to yesterday’s news.

3.) Clear Language Counts.
Blessed is the blog with a clear line of logic. Write without inside jokes, clique-y catchphrases or ambiguous logic. First time readers need to be close to your message. They are more likely to return to blogs that strike them positively. If the first read is confusing there will not be a second read.

4.) Feed the Spiders.
Search engines take notice of active blogs and blog search engines are especially sensitive to activity. If nothing else, search engines are smarter today than they were yesterday and are only getting smarter. In constantly improving they are seeking to aggregate quality; quality blogs are updated several times a week, if not daily, as opposed to once or twice a month. I don’t mean to scare you but a big spider is watching, so dance for them.

5.) RSS.
Think of RSS like a magic to blogging world, because that’s the effect it’s had. RSS feeds are a way to exponentially sound your voice to the interested. These feeds are a great means to increase the distribution and readership of your original content.

6.) Spell check.
Hey man, use the spell-check. I do – if I didn’t you probably wouldn’t have made it to #6. It only takes a minute and can save you from looking like a hack.

Your weblog audiences will be small at first. And, frankly, that’s the way it should be. Who are you to think that half the internet will flock to you after three or four posts of your blog, anyway?

If you tough it out while maintaining quality, readership will materialize. You will link to good, relevant blogs and, in turn, they will to you. While your voice may be unique, your niche likely isn’t and if your content is emitted smartly to the Internet those relevant readers will respond through readership and interaction. That I guarantee.

I am almost 10 years now FULL TIME working from home on the internet making money online and I have put together the following website to share all of my secrets with you at http://www.DecideYourIncome.eu

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.CoachOfSuccess.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

(UK) 07875 647 867 (Call Me Anytime), Skype – mark.mcculloch1

Internet traffic is the life of any website or e-commerce business, and if you are an internet marketer, you already know that good traffic is not always easy to achieve. There are however, some simple and effective strategies for getting quality traffic to your site, and most of them are FREE or low cost.

1. Good old fashioned search engine optimization. This is perhaps, the most cost effective way to get many customers to your site, because it does not cost a thing. A web site with top ranking on even a mildly popular term, can get thousands of visitors per month. Visit any SEO forum or article database and you can find hundreds of effective search engine optimization tips and tweaks to apply to your website for free.

2. Pay-Per-Click Campaigns (PPC). Almost all of the major search engines offer some sort of Pay-Per-Click marketing. This is a great way to get targeted traffic to your site, and with some bids as low as $.01 per click, it can also be very economical. Although Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) are the main players in the PPC market, there are really good deals to be found with some of the smaller search engines, such as ExactSeek.com and GoClick.com.

3. Traffic Exchanges. Traffic exchanges offer a website owner an instant, free way to get traffic to his/her site. Traffic Exchanges come in all kinds of themes and forms, but the underlying principle remains the same: I view your site, you view my site. The ratio of sites you view to your site views can be diverse, depending on the individual exchange, however it is recommended you find one with a 2:1 ratio or better. Traffic exchanges also offer a multi tier referral program that gives you a percentage of traffic earned by affiliates you bring into the program. Traffic Swarm.com, NoMoreHits.com, and StudioTraffic.com all offer a website owner great ways to increase traffic, or you can simply search the term “traffic exchange” in any search engine to find an exchange that fits you.

4. Link Exchanges. Link Exchanges are a fantastic way to increase web traffic, and the benefits are two-fold. Not only do you get traffic from the linking website, you also get the added benefit of better search engine placement with every link that is pointing to your site. Reciprocal linking has always been a major component of effective search engine optimization, with more and more weight being placed daily on the quality and quantity of links pointing to your site. Be sure your anchor text is the keyword(s) you are targeting, but at the same time, periodically phrase your anchor text differently so that all of the links pointing to your site do not say the same thing. This makes your links appear more “natural”. Linkalizer.com and Linkmarket.net are some good, free services to help you with your link exchange campaigns, or you can also visit any SEO forum or article/ezine database for more tips.

5. Banner Exchanges. Banner Exchanges work on the same principle as Link Exchanges, and depending on the banner you decide to promote, can be very effective at drawing targeted web traffic to your site. As with link exchanges, look for ratios of 2:1 or better, with some banner exchanges providing a 1:1 ratio. The banner you decide to use is very important, as many internet users ignore most banners they see. Your banner needs to be catchy and needs to compel the user to take action and click it right away, but at the same time you do not want it to be too flashy as to turn off potential customers. Most banner exchange programs also have an option to purchase banner impressions at very low prices, usually a few dollars for thousands of impressions. This is a great way to put your business in front of many customers, and helps to increase your “brand awareness”. Click4click.com and ThebannerExchange.net are some free banner exchanges that can provide your site immediate advertising and traffic.

6. Write Articles. Writing articles is a great, free way to promote your online business, and can bring in a substantial number of targeted customers to your site, usually within a few days. The key is to submit your article to as many databases and directories as possible. Hundreds of thousands of webmasters and other internet users worldwide search these article databases and directories daily, usually looking for quality content for their own websites. Every webmaster who reprints your article has to include your resource box, which should include a link pointing to your site. Not only will this give your business tremendous exposure, it also improves your search engine ranking with a free one-way link that your article provides. ZapContent.comm and GoArticles.com are very popular article databases with free submission and fast approvals.

7. Paid-To-Read Campaigns (PTR). Paid-to-Read campaigns are an extremely low cost method of getting real, guaranteed visitors to your site quickly. With PTR campaigns, people are paid to view your site for a certain amount of time. Because most PTR campaigns are not targeted, this is not the most effective way to advertise. It is however, a great way to build an opt-in list or ezine subscriber base inexpensively. Usually for only a few dollars, you can send an ad out to all of the members of a program. It is always a good idea to find PTR programs that are well established, with many members in its database. Most programs have the number of subscribers and other stats prominently displayed on the main page of their web site. Donkeymails.com and Maxprofit.org are well established, have thousands of members, and low advertising prices.

8. Email Campaigns and Safelists. Email campaigns and Safelists provide yet another great option to increase web traffic. These campaigns can run the entire pricing spectrum; from free, to hundreds of dollars per email blast. Although spam concerns seem to have some advertisers reluctant to use email, if you use a proper third party or safelist, you can have targeted traffic to your site in hours. BusinessWorldList.com and Herculist.com are some safelists with huge number of opt-in subscribers.

9. Create your own Opt-In List. This is a terrific way to get your own group of ready-to-buy prospects to your site. Getting the content for your list is as easy as searching any ezine or article database, and an easy way to get people to join is to simply give something away. Another way to build a list is through viral marketing. Sites such as ListFire.com can help you build a large list quickly with proper advertising.

10. Purchase Web Traffic. There is not a more “hands-free” way to get traffic to your site, than to just buy it. Pricing for quality, targeted web traffic can vary greatly from site to site. It is recommended to look for web traffic campaigns that offer targeting to your specific audience, and real time stats. This way you can better manage and track your advertising dollars.

As you can see, With a little effort, and not much money, you can bring quality web site traffic to your site right away. Although not every technique is appropriate for every site, choose a few that fit you and watch your traffic surge.

I am almost 10 years now FULL TIME working from home on the internet making money online and I have put together the following website to share all of my secrets with you at http://www.DecideYourIncome.eu

Regards Always

Mark McCulloch

http://www.CoachOfSuccess.com – mark@markmcculloch.com

Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur, Committed to creating success

(UK) 07875 647 867 (Call Me Anytime), Skype – mark.mcculloch1