Rent My Blog: A Case Study

Blog Explosion has a feature called "Rent My Blog" in which a blog can rent a link. As you can see, to the right I have a renter, Futures Trading Handbook - The Blog. I would like to highlight some of the good aspects of that blog as an example of the proper things to do with a blog in order to monetize it. First: Pick a topic The topic of the blog is very clear. All the posting are of interest to both a reader and to a search bot. Second: Easy to read There color scheme is simple and straightforward. This makes the blog easier to read. Also, it makes the information contained in the blog seem more professional. Lastly: A clear title Many blogs have obscure titles. You don't know what you will find until you get there. This blog has a clear title that lets the reader know the intent and content of the blog. Check them out and seem if there is anything you can apply to your own blogging.

Provide a Value-Added Service to Appease the Google Gods

Every once in a while I stumble across some very interesting information. This happened to me this week and I thought that I would share with you what I have found. If you are interested in improving your google search engine rankings and your page rank you must make sure that you are doing exactly what Google wants you to do. As you probably know already, Google is the largest search engine on the Internet. To receive a high ranking from Google means that you will generate huge amounts of traffic to your website. People are always searching for ways to improve their search engine rankings and ways to appease the Google Gods. One of the primary things that Google and its algorithms look at is whether or not you are providing a "value-added service". Now that we know this we need to figure out exactly what Google means by the term "value-added service". A value-added service is one that can stand on its own merits. By this I mean that the website is not simply a redirecting website. The website contains information that offers value to the reader. Many people use websites that are what Google refers to as a "sneaky redirect". That means that when a user goes to that site, he or she is simply sent elsewhere. A sneaky redirect is not a value-added service by Google standards. In fact, if you operated websites that are simply redirecting people to other sites, Google will actually deem your site as being "offensive". Another way to determine if you are offering a value-added service according to Google is to ask yourself "Would this site remain a coherent whole if the pages leading to the affiliate were taken away?" This of course applies to those of you who are trying to generate revenue from sources such as Adsense, Overture, or similar affiliate linking programs. If Google decides that your website would not remain as a coherent whole, your site will again be deemed as "offensive". Google does not like for a website to be set up solely for the purpose of generating affiliate links. It is however ok to have affiliate links as long as the site offers something to the reader other than affiliates links. This is where unique content comes into play. Having unique content on your site that offers the reader some type of information, entertainment, etc. will help your website to remain a coherent whole after the affiliate links are removed. Google wants to differentiate between whether or not the affiliate linking is "central or incidental" to the sites existence. If it is central, then you are in trouble, if it is incidental then you should be fine according to Google. This is where the concept of a value-added service comes in again. Your website needs to be able to stand on its own two feet so to speak. Your website needs to offer something that other websites do not. Whether it is unique content, a specialized product, or a specialized service, your site needs to be able to stand alone without links. There are many other things that Google will penalize websites for. One of these is irrelevant repetitive text. This used to work in the past, but Google and the other major search engines have come up with algorithms to deal with this. If you remember, a few years ago webmasters would simply put in keywords at the bottom of their web page over and over again. They would put in all the variations of the keywords in an attempt to get more hits. There would literally be hundreds of thousands of these keywords listed at the bottom of the web page, so that no matter what a person was searching for on the Internet they could get directed to these pages. This no longer works. Nowadays people are writing keyword-optimized articles and adhering to certain keyword densities in the articles, so that they do not get in trouble with the search engines. Another issue that Google looks at when determining whether or not you are providing a value-added service is that your website has been designed for the users, not the search engines. This means that your website does not employ what Google calls "cloaking" techniques. Google defines cloaking as deceiving users by presenting different content to search engines than what you present to users. This will automatically result in an "offensive" designation from Google. These are just some of the basic guidelines set forth by the Google Gods. You can read more about these guidelines at http://www.google.com/webmasters/ Always remember that creating unique content for your website is one of the best ways to be deemed as providing a value-added service by Google. I encourage you to read the information at the above link and to educate yourself so that you get the search engine results that you are looking to receive. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Trey Pennewell is a writer for http://www.LinksAndTraffic.com "Links and Traffic" is a value-added service designed to help generate, of course, "links and traffic" for their clients. Using high quality content as the foundation, LATC will create high quality links to your website, AND they will Guarantee Their Results. --- END ARTICLE --- ..........................

A novel way to get your blog to pay

New Addition To The Family Originally uploaded by slothdog.

Free iPod Nano: http://ipodnanos.freepay.com/?r=24327071 Free $300.00 Gift Certificate: http://giftcards.freepay.com/?r=26025899 A popular and successful way to have your bog play is by using affiliate programs like Commission Junction, Link Share and the like. There are also ad programs like the following:

AdSense

Chitika

However, there are things other than money. There are iPod Nanos. There are also $300.00 gift cards, both of which can be had for free. Yes, I did say free. It works on the referral principle, just like the other affiliate links. Both the Free iPod Nano and the Free $300.00 Gift Card work like a combination of an affiliate program combined with a referral service. The way it works is simple:

• You sign up for the program under someone else's referral link and complete an offer
• You then receive a referral link of your own.
• You then get 5 other people to sign up and complete an offer.
• Select the iPod or Gift Card you want.
• Enjoy the benefits of your blog.

Of course the trick is to get 5 other people to sign up under your link. That is where you blog comes in. Post your referral link in your blog so that people who read and enjoy your blog can also benefit as well. Of course, you should also encourage friends and family to sign up under your referral link. I have found that buying people lunch helps them to feel more confident in the program. Remember: there is more to like than just more. Your blog can also be converted for goods and services. And cool stuff like Free iPods and Free $300.00 Gift Cards BTW: The $300.00 Gift Cards are not just for places you would never visit. There are lots of places to choose from. The list includes to following, but is lots longer: Barnes & Noble Borders Books and Music® CDUniverse.com iTunes A Pea in the Pod American Eagle Outfitters Anchor Blue ArmaniExchange Banana Republic Buckle DOTS Eddie Bauer® Express Gap J.Crew L.L.Bean Lands' End® The Limited Men's Wearhouse Millers Outpost Mimi Maternity Motherhood Maternity New York & Company Old Navy Silhouettes Talbots The Adolphus American Airlines® Avis BedandBreakfast.com Best Western International Budget Rent A Car Carnival Cruise Lines Courtyard® by Marriott The Edgewater Fairfield Inn® by Marriott The Grove Isle Hotel & Spa Hotel Viking Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Inn and Spa at Loretto LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort Little Palm Island Resort and Spa Marriott Vacation Club Marriott® Hotels & Resorts Noble House Hotels & Resorts Ocean Key Resort & Spa Paradise Point Resort & Spa The Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club Renaissance® Hotels & Resorts Residence Inn® by Marriott The Ritz-Carlton® SpringHill Suites® by Marriott TownePlace Suites® by Marriott

Develop an Active Customer Base With Opt-In Email

In order to make a success of your website or online business, it is obvious that you will need customers. Although everyone who visits your page will not become a customer, they must have some interest in your product or service that brought them there in the first place and therefore they are a potential customer. Potential customers are much more likely to become actual customers if you make an effort to keep in touch with them. This essential marketing tool is called and opt-in list.

An opt-in list will allow you to keep track of your potential customers by obtaining their email address in order to keep them informed about the latest updates for your product or service. You can create your own opt-in list or you can use an opt-in list creator that is available online from several sources. The benefits of creating your own opt-in list is that you will be able to send personal messages to the potential customers and they will not need to do anything, whereas with commercial opt-in lists, the customer will receive a generated message and will be required to verify their acceptance of the message.

An important part of creating a successful opt-in list is to keep in mind that potential customer will visit your site from many places and may not see your homepage. Therefore it is imperative to have the ability to subscribe to the mailing list from all pages of your site. You should not, however, make the subscription information a focus point of every page. It is a good idea to put it at the bottom or top of the page where it is visible but not distracting. It is also a good idea to promote your mailing list by using a give-away. You could offer a service, a discount, or an ebook. You can also drive potential subscriber to join your mailing list by writing articles that will benefit the reader and at the same time, build your credibly as an expert. You can include the subscription information in the byline of the articles. You could also write an ebook with your subscription information on each page, which will allow the customer to easily access the information and join the list with ease.

Once you have created the mailing list and now have your potential customers within your grasp it is your responsibility to keep them updated and interested. Provide them with quality information that is up-to-date and of interest to them. Offer discounts or a newsletter, something that the reader can use. This will keep them interested and will drive them to your site over and over, eventually they may make a purchase and if not, they will be informed enough to use word of mouth advertising for your site.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Gail McLaurin is the owner of Home Biz Kid. "Dotcomology" is The Science of Making Money Online DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY FOR FREE! click here: http://www.HomeBizKid.com/dotcomology.html

Internet Marketing Provides Novel Revenue Streams for Small Business/Non-Profit Organizations

New Haven, CT (PRWEB) December 14, 2005 -- With the widespread use of Internet marketing campaigns and the increasing prevalence of Blogs, personal pages and resource webpages, which take advantage of Internet marketing to raise revenue via advertisements run on these web pages, such revenue streams have also become attractive to support non-profit organizations. What small business marketing campaign is effective for increasing revenue streams for a non-profit organization? Clearly, in today's environment of increasingly prevalent website advertisements such as Google's Adsense on everything from CNN.com to private blogs, Internet marketing and referral marketing are becoming viable sources of revenue for non-profit organizations. In a recent survey of websites of such organizations such as the Red Cross and United Way, traditional pathways of donation such as direct donation of goods, services, and financial vehicles are prominent links. However, given the large amounts of traffic handled by these sites, contextual ads such as those generated by Google can both increase awareness of ongoing disaster relief efforts and help to sustain the public interest of ongoing humanitarian issues while generating revenue for the site. Examples of Public Service Sites Promoted by Google -Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts -Pulmonary Hypertension and Fen Phen Link -Crohns Disease Foundation Benefits of Internet Marketing for Non-Profit Small Business Marketing Campaigns Include: -Increases Visibility of Socially Relevant and Timely Issues -Sustains Public Interest in Important Social Issues -Interconnection of Websites Sharing Interest In Socially Important Issues -Alternative Revenue Stream to Sustain Operating Expenses of the Organizations Such a strategy has been employed by wiredMD.com, an organization dedicated to the promotion of medical self-sufficiency in the developing world via Internet based mentoring. The combination of presenting public service ads as well as ads for other organizations and private services has increased the visibility of the website and has provided a source of revenue for the organization with little overhead expense to manage the campaign. Leo Otake, Founder of wiredMD.com, comments that, "We have noticed a minimum of a 400% increase in our monthly website traffic while our Internet marketing campaign has been beneficial for our operating expense bottom line." Based on this experience, non-profit small business marketing campaigns should take a serious look at Internet marketing as a viable additional source of operating revenue for their organizations. Contact Leo R. Otake for more insights into this topic. Email: Leo.Otake [@] wiredMD.com Other helpful information can be found at: http://www.wiredMD.com

Recipes For Online Failure And Success - Defining The Niche

Every week, there are another several webmasters jumping on the bandwagon and opening their own article directory. These article directories are each developed on different software platforms. There are several article directory platforms available now, and others are in the pipeline.

THE ECONOMIC ENGINE OF ARTICLE DIRECTORIES

These days, most article directories exist to offer advertising space to others. Some utilize Google Adsense at: http://adsense.google.com/ . Some are utilizing the newest competitor in this field, Yahoo's Publisher Network (YPN) at: http://publisher.yahoo.com/ . Others are using any of a number of competing ad networks including the 7Search program which is actually hosted at: http://www.pay-per-search.com/ . Another contextual ad network is Chitika at: http://www.chitika.com/ .

A few article directories are using their sites to deliver advertising for their own products and services.

For each of these sites, the content is hoped to bring traffic to the website via the search engines. And, the website owners hope that the web surfers will arrive to read the articles, and then click their links or purchase their wares.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ARTICLE DIRECTORIES

For years, posting reprint articles on your website has been a good, solid method of getting targeted traffic to your website.

There are directories that serve the publishing community by only listing articles that have been pre-approved by their authors to be available for reprint by ezine publishers and other webmasters.

A few examples of the bigger reprint article directories include:

http://www.EzineArticles.com/ http://www.GoArticles.com/ http://www.ArticleCity.com/ http://www.Articles4Reprint.com/ http://www.Articles411.com/ http://www.IdeaMarketers.com/

These are only a few examples of the article directories, where you as the writer can go to place your articles, and the ezine publisher and the webmaster can go to find content they can use in their ezines or websites.

There are other free reprint article directories who present articles for reprint to publishers and webmasters, but these directories are a by-product of a paid article distribution services. Those reprint article directories can be found at:

http://www.Isnare.com/ http://www.SubmitYourArticle.com/ http://www.EzineTrendz.com/articles.htm http://Content.thePhantomWriters.com/

The third type of article directories are niche content websites. Most of these directories do not have the permission to re-offer articles for reprint. Even if they do, this is not their focus.

Their focus is on helping their visitors answer questions pertinent to their specific needs. They provide content to their visitors on their pre-defined and specific niche topic.

A few examples of this type of website include:

http://www.Publish101.com/ - Business, Health & Self-Improvement http://www.HillsOrient.com/ - Online Marketing http://www.CapeHostPro.com/ - Business and Computing http://www.InvisibleMBA.com/ - Education http://www.HardwareHell.com/ - Computer Support http://www.AllThingsFrugal.com/ - Saving Money

WHERE MOST NEW ARTICLE DIRECTORIES GO WRONG

Where most new article directories go wrong is the same place most new webmasters go wrong.

Hey, even I was guilty of this when I first came to the internet. I did not know what exactly I wanted to do online. I just knew that I wanted to make money online.

So, what did I do?

I did the same thing most new webmasters do. I tried to be "everything to everyone"!

Then one day, I decided to start an ezine. That actually worked out well for me. I ran the WindstormComputing.com ezine for a couple of years, until I just ran out of time to keep it going. I let the ezine fall into disuse, while I focused my time and efforts on making money. ;-)

The ezine itself was not the platform for making an income, but it did help to launch me into a real money making venture. The ezine gave me the confidence to begin writing articles, which helped me to create my own specific niche on the internet.

CAN ANY WEBMASTER HOPE TO BE EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE?

There is no one website on the internet that can be "everything to everyone".

Some have tried to be "everything to everyone" (Yahoo.com, MSN.com), but no internet user spends all of their time on one site, not even on Yahoo or MSN. They still occasionally use the Yahoo or MSN search to find another website to visit. They still occasionally use Yahoo and MSN's competitors to find other websites to visit.

If Yahoo and MSN cannot be everything to everyone, why would you think that you can? They have millions to spend on advertising to help them to become the "destination" website of the internet, and still they cannot pull it off.

THE NICHE RULES THE INTERNET

Large or small in stature, the most successful websites on the internet focus on a niche.

Think about the following niche websites and their focus:

http://www.Cnet.com - Computers and Technology http://www.Travelocity.com/ - Travel http://www.Ebay.com/ - Online Auctions http://www.Overstock.com/ - Product Closeouts

Websites and article directories that take the decision to focus their presence on a "niche" will always outperform the website and article directory that tries to be "everything to everyone".

DECIDING ON THE NICHE

It is hard sometimes to pick your niche.

Honestly, you should try to pick a niche that is consistent with what you enjoy.

There is no point in creating a website that you will not enjoy managing. If you pick a topic that bores you, your website will soon bore you, and you will slowly begin to let it fall to neglect.

I know a lady who has built a successful internet business around her love for kitty cat knick-knacks. She buys and sells more kitty cat knick-knacks than you might imagine. She runs her business almost exclusively through Ebay.

For her, there is a thrill every day when she begins her day. She is able to buy the kitty cat goodies she wants, but she buys them in bulk and then sells off all but the one she keeps for her own collection. The most exciting part of her day is when the UPS man knocks on her front door.

Some niches will generate a better income than others.

It is not enough to pick a topic that you will enjoy. You will also need to make a determination as to whether your chosen niche has the capacity to generate a nice income for you.

If you are trying to determine the financial incentives for contextual advertising, this 7search tool will give you some idea as to what pays well on their network: http://7search.com/scripts/searchterms/top_paying.asp?n=500

If your chosen niche looks promising in the financial arena, what is the level of competition in your niche?

THE NICHE INSIDE OF THE NICHE

Every day, new sites pop up addressing the internet marketing niche. To put this in perspective, check out Google with the search terms "internet marketing": http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=%22internet+marketing%22

With more than 21 million sites containing the words "internet marketing", one can assume, rightly so, that this is a market with tons of competition.

That is why the most successful internet marketing companies focus their niche to an even tighter definition, such as: "search engine optimization" or "natural links seo".

SUCCESS IN YOUR CHOSEN NICHE

When you find a niche that is being served by fewer competitors, it is much easier to become the best in your niche.

Check out the competition in your chosen niche, before taking the leap. In most of the smaller niches, it is far too easy to become the very best resource in your category.

Number one search results become easier to accomplish because you have fewer competitors.

Top search rankings are also easier to accomplish, because the search engines like Google prefer to point their users to tightly niched websites that carries the information their users are requesting. The tighter your focus, the more Google will like your website for your keyword phrases.

CHOOSE YOUR NICHE TO OPTIMIZE YOUR SUCCESS

If you are ready to take the leap into your first website or article directory, don't make the mistake of failing to properly define yourself.

I know that you want to grow quickly. But, if you choose to take in all content on all topics, you will only hurt your long-term prospects.

Accepting content on all topics may help your website might grow faster, but it will also minimize your ability to attract targeted traffic. Always remember that true success will be found in the niche.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Platt is the owner of http://www.LinksAndTraffic.com When you are tired of "gambling for links", and tired of the tedious process of link building, then it makes good sense to hire a professional to develop links on your behalf. We do not rent links to our clients. Instead, we create permanent links for our clients. And best of all, We Guarantee Our Results!