Get Money Blogging with SMARTY

How do you make money blogging? This is clearly only possible with traffic, so how do you get traffic for your blog?

The following steps are quick and easy but very affective. It's a simple guide to optimising your blog for the search engines and building a steady stream of interested visitors.

You will also find useful links ot other blogs recommending techniques and their experiences.

Optimizing your Blog

Blog optimization relates to the changes to wording and layout on your blog. Key changes include keyword choice, keyword density, formats, link structure and Meta tags

Find the Right Keywords
The basis of ALL search engine rankings is keywords. Users enter keyphrases in Search Engines to get information they need, It is VERY important that you optimize for such keyphrases.

When selecting your keywords, look for more specific phrases to start with rather than mainstream simple words. e.g. if a site is about mobile phones then it may be a better solution to optimise for "nokia N72 mobile phone" rather than "mobile phone". This means you will have less competition and more targeted visitors.

Now that you have a list of your main keyword phrases, you need to find all the related keywords which people are also searching for.
Use this tool to find related keywords to your main keyword. This will also show you how popular each keyword is.

You may find that the lesser searched keywords will have less competition so it will be easier to get higher search engine rankings and more visitors.

The following tool will analyze your current website to determine what keyword phrases you are optimized for, then it will list all related keywords so that you may also include these on your site. A perfect tool for broadening your websites exposure on the search engines.

Check the Density of Your Blogs Keywords
Keyword density refers to what percentage each keyword appears on a page or your entire website relevant to all other words. e.g. The Keyphrase "mobile phone" may have a density of 5% on a page relevant to the total page content.
If you are optimizing for a keyphase then it's best to have a density of between 3%-5%. Any more may be considered search engine spamming and any less may give it too lower importance for your page. The keyword density includes Alt tags on your images and text. (text appearing when you hold your cursor over an image).

Use the following tool to check the density of keywords throughout your website.

If the results show that your main keyphrase has the highest percentage but is lower than 5% then it is well optimized.

Check the Quality of Your Blogs Content

Search Engines are known to act upon websites that contain Duplicate / Similar content.

Your content may be similar to other websites on the Internet, or pages from within your own blog may be similar to each other. The following tool allows you to determine the percentage of similarity between two pages.

The exact percentage of similarity after which a search engine may penalize you is not known, it varies from search engine to search engine, Your aim should be to keep your page similarity as LOW as possible.

Check the Placement of your Blogs Keywords
It is vital that your keywords and phrases are prominent. This refers to the placement and format of the keywords.

You should place your main keywords as the titles of a post, this shows search engines that they are the main point of the post and the a degree, the page.

Within reason you should bold, underline, italic and hyperlink your keywords when used in a sentence to build importance. As you develop importance on a keyword throughout your blog, you will build a site-wide theme showing these as the main keywords the search engines understand your site to be about, therefore ranking you higher than other sites which are less optimized.

Write your keywords at the beginning of a sentence and at the end to show it as natural as possible. DO NOT enter your keywords separated only by a comma, it is search engine spamming and you WILL be penalized! The more natural your keywords appear the better the quality of your content.

Check your page links: How many links on a page, linking to bad neighborhoods
Search engines pay attention to the first 100 links on a page, these are the ones they follow first and give the most importance to if placed on a keyword.

Try to keep your links to less than 100 and only link out to quality websites which are also listed in search engines. If you link to websites not listed and that also link to other bad websites, you can be de-listed from search engines. These may include directories which asked you to link back to them as a requirement to be included.

Broken Link Checker
Use the following tool to check your site for broken links. These are links in your website which no longer go to the correct page (possibly if a page was removed)

META Tags
The META descriptions and keywords are one of the most important aspects of building a keyword theme within your website.

Most blogs and independent websites allow you to change all Meta tags. Start with the site Title, this is often the name of your site. It is the first line of text generally in blue which appear in the search engine listings. It's the single most important line of wording to describe your site. Be short (about 6-8 words), include your main keywords and try not to use stop words (and, by, the). A good example may be "Discount Mobile phones online store".

The Meta description, sometimes known as the site description, is the second most important text within your website. Try to use all your keywords in a clear sentence with the most important keywords at the beginning of the description or at the start of a sentence. A good example may be "Buy discount mobile phones including brands like Nokia and Motorola. Best sellers include the Nokia N72 and Motorola Razor mobile phone". Keep the description to less than 200 words. .

Try to include keywords for every category or page you create. There is generally a section on all the blog softwares to place keywords for a post or page. Use the most important keywords at the start of the list and don't use any which are not written in the content of your website.

Building Inbound links

The best kind of inbound links are from sites with related information to yours, high Google Page Rank and lots of unique content. The older the inbound link and the more natural it looks to search engines, the more importance it will be given.

Inbound link Checker

As inbound links account for half the optimization process, it is important that you build as many quality inbound links as possible. Search engines see inbound links as a vote for a blog, the more votes a blog receives and the more important the person voting, the better the receiving blog ranks.
If the inbound link is on a keyword, then you are also receiving a higher search engine rank for that keyword.

Use the following tools to analyze which websites are linking to you and on what keyword the link is from.

Click to use Anchor Text Analysis Tool

Click to use Backlink Summary Tool

Submit Your blog to Search Engines and Directories.

Use the following links to Get listed and build inbound links from search engines and directories. DO NOT link back to any of these directories and DO NOT pay for a listing. Only list your site with free ones which are easy to do.

Search Google for directories that you can use to build inbound links "blog directories)

Smorty blog advertising is the most useful tool for building quality inbound links.

www.dmoz.org This is the most important directory in the world to get listed in for a good inbound link.
http://www.submitexpress.com/submit.html Submits your URL to all major search engines

Blog URL
The domain name of a blog is also very important. e.g. www.politicalblog.com is very well optimised for the keyphrase political blog, which may be a term many people specifically search for. Your blog will be well rewarded in rankings for this keyphrase.

Subdomains e.g. http://www.politialblog.blogspot.com/ are free and also well optimised however it is showen that the root domain is far better rewarded so it's best to buy a domain name for your blog.

Useful links

http://www.problogger.com Professional blogger writing about his experiences and how to best get the results from blogging that you need.

10 things I wish I had known 6 months ago Lists 10 things she wish she knew about blogging and how to make money.

How to make money from your blog Article about a bloggers experience in making money from his blog.

RSS Feeds Feedburner is the worlds most popular RSS feed service. Place your URL in their system to send your blog to thousands of other websites looking for content.Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

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Advertlets - Bloggers Make Money doing what they love

Introduction

Need your message to go out and reach the right people? Current methods of advertising getting boring? Advertise on a network where you can target the right demographics - and reap the benefits.We’ve got more than a few good reasons tell you why advertising on blogs through Advertlets.com is better:

Some Points For Your Consideration

We Deliver your Audience
Online diaries, better known as blogs, are gaining popularity in the online community. These virtual spaces could very well be your new advertising portal. Unlike traditional media, you are advertising in a personal space—where bloggers and their readers share a connection based on mutual interests and experiences. With Advertlets, you make your advertising message count. Unlike large web portals which attract a large, varied audience - individual blogs usually have an audience that is more focused in terms of gender, age group, idealogy, and location.

Here’s how:

Knock, Knock, Who’s There?
You want to know who you are reaching. Through Advertlets, you get a demographic breakdown of each blog—know what kind of visitors each blog attracts. You view statistics such as gender breakdown, profession, age range, and whether or not visitors are bloggers themselves.

Position Yourself Where They Are
There’s nothing more frustrating than clicking on a seemingly relevant ad, only to realise that the product or service is only available in another state or country. Ads mean more when they are relevant to the geographical location of the consumer. Advertlets makes sure your ad budget is spent on the people and places that matter.

Know Your Visitors
Advertlets allows you to reach a wide audience without the distribution cost associated with printed and outdoor media. Find out which blog brings you the largest and relevant audience by looking at the traffic generated. See how many people have viewed your ad through our impression/ click tracking facilities.

The Advertlets Experience

• Through Advertlets, you get a demographics breakdown of each blog - this way you know what kind of visitors each blog attracts. You can view statistics such as gender breakdown, profession, age range, and also whether or not visitors are bloggers themselves.
• You can view which country your visitors are coming from (Coming Q3 2007: View by State - eg, Selangor, Pahang, Johor)
• You know which blog brings you the most traffic
• You know what your click to impression ratio is
• You can measure the effectiveness of your campaign through our impression/click tracking facilities
• We will give you the best recommendation on which blogs are suitable for your message to go on
• We can put together a custom campaign for your brand - giving you more exposure than just advertising. Have a sponsored post (sort of like advertorials for blogs - subject to consent from individual bloggers), or even run sponsored polls (customize your own questions!) where you can find out what blog visitors think. Run a contest. Reward visitors who click, or recommend their product to a friend
• You support a system which rewards local micro-content publishers, and benefit from the positive brand association

Sponsored Posts (Blogvertorials)

Are you a new business? Get great instant exposure by inviting bloggers to review your product, service or event! Sponsored blog posts are a great way to get honest feedback on your service, as well as get word of mouth publicity. Pay bloggers to write an in-depth review, give a free sampling, or better yet - both! Here are some scenarios that are likely to benefit from a buzz in the blogosphere through Advertlets Blogvertorials:

• You’re a new restaurant, and you’ll like more people to know about your restaurant and try out your food
• You’re organizing an event/party, and you’ll like to generate some pre-event buzz to encourage people to come
• You have a new product to sell - And you’ll like to promote it further
• You provide services, such as design or decoration, and you’ll like people to know

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How to suggest a site to the Open Directory

The Open Directory Project is a web directory of Internet resources. A web directory is something akin to a huge reference library. The directory is hierarchically arranged by subject - from broad to specific. The ODP is maintained by community editors who evaluate sites for inclusion in the directory. They are our experts, and all submissions are subject to editor evaluation.

We care a great deal about the quality of the ODP. We aren't a search engine and pride ourselves on being highly selective. We don't accept all sites, so please don't take it personally should your site not be accepted. Our goal is to make the directory as useful as possible for our users, not to have the directory include all (or even most) of the sites that could possibly be listed or serve as a promotional tool for the entities listed.

To keep the ODP running smoothly and to assist us in exercising our editorial discretion, we have set up policies for submitting sites for our consideration. We may reject, delete, or edit submissions that violate these policies or that we otherwise believe, in our sole discretion, should not be included in the directory. We may also reject, delete, or block other sites that we believe to be associated with a user who has violated these policies.

You should take a few moments to understand these policies and the steps to submit a site before you begin. Failure to understand and follow these instructions generally will result in the rejection of a submission.

Step One

Determine whether a site is appropriate for submission to the ODP:

• Do not submit mirror sites. Mirror sites are sites that contain identical content, but have altogether different URLs.
• Do not submit URLs that contain only the same or similar content as other sites you may have listed in the directory. Sites with overlapping and repetitive content are not helpful to users of the directory. Multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites.
• Do not disguise your submission and submit the same URL more than once.
  Example: http://www.dmoz.org and http://www.dmoz.org/index.html
• Do not submit any site with an address that redirects to another address.
• The Open Directory has a policy against the inclusion of sites with illegal content. Examples of illegal material include child pornography; libel; material that infringes any intellectual property right; and material that specifically advocates, solicits or abets illegal activity (such as fraud or violence).
• Do not submit sites "under construction." Wait until a site is complete before submitting it. Sites that are incomplete, contain "Under Construction" notices, or contain broken graphics or links aren't good candidates for the directory.
• Submit pornographic sites to the appropriate category under Adult.
• Submit non-English sites to the appropriate category under World.
• Don't submit sites consisting largely of affiliate links.

Step Two

Do a quick search in the directory at dmoz.org (the home of the Open Directory) to be sure your site isn't already listed. This saves everyone time.

Step Three

Identify the single best category for your site. The Open Directory has an enormous array of subjects to choose from. You should submit a site to the single most relevant category. Sites submitted to inappropriate or unrelated categories may be rejected or removed.

Note: Some categories do not have "suggest URL" or "update URL" links. These categories don't accept submissions, so you should find a more specific category for your site.

Step Four

Once you've selected the best category for your site, go directly to that category on dmoz.org and then click "suggest URL." Follow the instructions on the submission form carefully. Descriptions of sites should describe the content of the site concisely and accurately. They should not be promotional in nature. Submitting a promotional description rather than an objective, well written description may significantly delay your site from being listed or prevent your site from being listed at all. Auto-submission software is (and always has been) a violation of this procedure. Sites submitted automatically are flagged and deleted after the submission is accepted, without notification to you. Persistent automatic submission may force us to ban you from the dmoz site, so we can provide resources to real human beings.

Procedure After Your Site is Submitted

An ODP editor will review your submission to determine whether to include it in the directory. Depending on factors such as the volume of submissions to the particular category, it may take several weeks or more before your submission is reviewed. Please only submit a URL to the Open Directory once. Again, multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites. Disguising your submission and submitting the same URL more than once is not permitted.

Updating Your Site

If a site has been accepted for inclusion in the directory but you are dissatisfied with how the site is described or titled, you may go to the category where it is listed, and fill out the "update URL" form. If you are dissatisfied with the category in which your site is listed, you may send an e-mail to an editor for the category explaining your disagreement. Be polite and civil -- threatening or abusive behavior will not be tolerated.

If (but only if) you are dissatisfied with the editor's response, you may then use the "Feedback" link at the top of the page to "appeal" the editor's decision. Be specific concerning your disagreement (including why you believe the editor's response is inadequate). Comments made through the feedback link are reviewed by the ODP staff, who will make the final decision. Please do NOT send correspondence to Netscape, as that will only slow down and complicate the process. We take all feedback seriously and give it our thoughtful consideration. But please remember that we must exercise our discretion and make numerous judgment calls as to how to make the ODP as useful as possible -- no matter what decision we make, we may not always satisfy everyone.

Getting Your Site Into Portals and Search Engines Using ODP Data

If your site has been accepted into the Open Directory, it may take anywhere from 2 weeks to several months for your site to be listed on partner sites which use the Open Directory data, such as AOL Search, Google, Netscape Search, Yahoo Search, and hundreds of other sites. We make updates of the data available weekly, but each partner has their own update schedule.

Editorial Discretion

Please recognize that making the ODP a useful resource requires us to exercise broad editorial discretion in determining the content and structure of the directory. That discretion extends (but is not limited) to what sites to include, where in the directory sites are placed, whether and when to include more than one link to a site, when deep linking is appropriate, and the content of the title and description of the site. In addition, a site's placement in the directory is subject to change or deletion at any time at our sole discretion. You should not rely on any aspect of a site's inclusion in the directory. Please understand that an editor's exercise of discretion may not always treat all submissions equally. You may not always agree with our choices, but we hope you recognize that we do our best to make fair and reasonable decisions.

The Open Directory team welcomes comments and feedback about the directory generally. Please let us know what you think, and how we can improve the service. Thanks!

Proceed to the Open Directory home at dmoz.org - Start here to find a category to submit to.

http://www.dmoz.org/add.html

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LOOKSMART - Publisher Solutions

How the LookSmart AdCenter Works for YOU

Your LookSmart AdCenter brings control and visibility to your advertising revenue like no other product in the marketplace. See why this breakthrough collaborative platform makes “competition” a thing of the past.

Multidimensional Ad Network – Capitalize on several, diverse sources of advertisers with LookSmart’s innovative and groundbreaking white label ad platform.

Industry Standard Yield-Ranked Optimizing Auction – Optimize Revenue Per Thousand Page Views (RPM) with an auction that always presents the most relevant, highest-yielding advertisements.

Distribution Marketplace – Increase your revenue and meet more demand through your 2nd party distribution partners. Your collaborative partnerships with other publishers and distribution networks allow you to offer more distribution to your advertisers and fulfill your own page inventory through backfill relationships.

Feed Optimization – Maintain ad revenue from your 3rd party feed providers. Grow that revenue by adding 1st party direct relationships and interconnecting your AdCenter with other quality publishers through 2nd party distribution relationships.

Direct Advertiser Partnerships – Ramp up revenue share by dealing directly with your advertisers. Decrease your dependency on your mainstream feed providers over time without risking your established monetization level.

Greater Margin of CPC Revenue – Know your Cost-Per-Clicks (CPCs) - which feeds will give you the best yield - and maximize the ROI of your inventory through direct relationships with advertisers and indirect relationships through other publishers.

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SEO DIRECT NEWS

How to Keep Your Best Employees

by Michael Masterson

I have often talked about how important "superstar" employees are to the success of any business. And I have encouraged you to find as many of these rare individuals as you can and groom them to take over critical aspects of your operation.

But once you've found them . . . what do you have to do to keep them?

Glad you asked.

In past messages, I've made the following points:

* Money is not the biggest motivator for most people, but it can't be ignored either. Pay your superstars at least 10% more than market, but don't overpay them in the false belief that doing so will keep them loyal.

* Without being foolhardy, give them authority. Achievement-oriented people enjoy freedom, power, prestige, and a good challenge. Give them enough rope to hang themselves but not so much that they can hang you too.

* Mix the positive and the negative. Praise your good people, yes. And praise them publicly when it's appropriate. But don't do so programmatically. And don't be afraid to criticize them either.

Most of the best leaders I know violate all of the prescribed rules about treating people. They are demanding, insensitive, critical, and sometimes overbearing. They get away with it because they are also spirited, engaging, charismatic, and determined. Superstars don't need to be coddled, manipulated, or managed. They need a challenge -- and they are willing to accept criticism for their handling of it so long as the criticism is fair.

* Most importantly, give your best people good work to do and a lot of it. The ultimate reward for a superstar is the pleasure he gets from doing a good job. Make his work interesting, complex, and difficult -- and he will stick with it.

I don't think it's necessary to make partners out of your superstars, but it sometimes helps. You have to be cautious here. My tendency in the past was to offer equity too soon, and I've often regretted doing so. The last thing you need is a partner who is no more than another pretty-good employee.

Start by giving phantom shares or profit deals. Then, as the relationship matures and your superstar brings more to the table (including loyalty and potential), add equity -- but a little at a time.

http://www.seodirect.net/tipsNov.html

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