Archive for February, 2007


Why Some Start to Blog

Filed Under: Just for Fun
Feb.24, 2007

It’s interesting to hear from other bloggers as to why they started to blog. There are many reasons why someone may start to blog. Would you like to learn some reasons as to why some people start to blog?

First I’ll share why I started to blog, and then give you a chance to read why someone else started to blog! Just as we are all unique individuals, the reasons someone starts to blog really vary, and then there are also the more common reasons.

I learned about blogging sometime in 2004 and became more interested in it as I learned more. Then the unthinkable happened. In the fall of 2005 I did just that! Down our stairway I went, but without using the steps! To make a long story short my fall resulted in a bad landing, which in turn resulted in a broken writing wrist, which equaled surgery! In that my career required the ability to write hand written documents, I was literally out of commission! Although I began to train myself to write with my other hand, that is a long process to go through as well. So, I started to blog.

Keyboarding as you heal from a broken wrist is far easier than writing by hand, and I didn’t have any other income options so the possibility to earn some extra cash from blogging was also appealing. So now you know my story as to why I began to blog!

Now here’s a story from one of our blogging community members Jimi, so you can read why Jimi started to blog!

Happy blogging! :D

This post was inspired by a group Link and Blog Challenge!

Did this help you? Then please link to this post or my blog!
Tags:
read more

Looking For Blog Link Love?

Filed Under: Blog Master Tools, Link Exchange, Link Popularity, SEO
Feb.22, 2007

Many bloggers view developing links as a painfully slow process. Yes, it does take time and although it may go slow, you can speed up the process by applying a little bit of wisdom. The wisdom you apply really isn’t any different than if you were looking for a date!

Let’s think about that for a moment. If you were looking for a date you would do a bit of research and take a look at what the potential date may have to offer, and what you would have in common. That’s the first lesson here and an easy one to deal with.

Look for blogs that are relevant to your blogs in some way. The relevancy may either be due to the entire theme of your blogs being a good match for link love, or due to relevancy among certain posts. For good search engine rewards and results, you are always better to link within content rather than just exchanging links in the sidebar.

Sidebar linking is not very well rewarded, and in fact may do your blog more harm than good if you are not careful. So look for what you and the other blogger have in common. Don’t believe that sidebar linking isn’t as good as it use to be? Then do your homework by doing a Google search to study the topic of sidebar link exchange versus exchanging links within content.

If you study the opinion of various Internet experts, you will find that exchanging links within relevant content wins hands down every time. Even simply studying the information that Google provides webmasters on their site gives many clues to the importance of linking within relevant content, and the power of doing so in comparison to sidebar linking.

Although it takes more time to develop link exchange within content, the rewards are far greater than sidebar linking. Your blog will climb the charts higher and quicker, and be rewarded much longer.

What’s another thing to keep in mind if you were looking for link love? Be willing to give, and not just receive! If you put the other blogger first then you will be able to develop a better relationship with them, and not just beg for links. There may be times when it’s best for you to just provide a link to another persons blog, while they return the favor later with a link to one of yours.

Developing blog link love is the entire premise and reason as to why we offer our community site to bloggers! We provide an environment for bloggers to have stimulating opportunities for developing creative content, and link exchange within the content. We do not provide “traffic exchange” which provides inferior results, which are not long lasting and also violate the terms of service for many advertisers bloggers publish for. I believe exchanging links and developing traffic needs to be done in a manner that provides rewards long term, not short term.

I hope to see you over in our blogging community! Head over and register for free to learn how to participate in a Link and Blog Challenge today! It may just turn out that you could find some blog link love today! Happy blogging!

Did this help you? Then please link to this post or my blog!
Tags: ,
read more

Google Blog Search Engine

Filed Under: Blog Master Tools, SEO
Feb.21, 2007

Have you overlooked an important priority on your “things to do” list for blogging? It’s certainly easy to do as you probably already know. Today I discovered something that I thought I had done for my blog months ago, only to discover I had not! It must have been one of those days when I instead took a rabbit trail and got sidetracked!

In that I forgot to do this, I’m sure there are some of you who may have forgotten to do this important step! Did you remember to add your blog to Google’s Blog Search Engine? As I mentioned, months ago I intended to do this, yet I discovered today I had not! I did it for my other blogs, but of all blogs to miss I missed submitting this one! :(

To make it convenient for you I’ve added the link to Google’s Blog Search Engine in our SEO BlogMaster Tools list, which I’ve been updating from time to time. Just follow the link to the post and you will see the link for the Google Blog Search Engine.

Did this help you? Then please link to this post or my blog!
Tags:
read more

Blogging to Build Wealth and Health!

Filed Under: Make Money Blogging
Feb.19, 2007

In the beginning, there was a wanna-be-blogger. Many who have the desire to create a blog or to build a business through blogging become overwhelmed on how or where to even begin. There are many steps to take while on the road to blogging, and some have made their path easier by taking a step-by-step approach.

One such blogger is one of our new members over at our blogging community, Link and Blog Challenge, but she had an additional challenge, which many other bloggers are not faced with – her health. If you are a person with health challenges you may discover that blogging is a great way to provide you with some extra income while you are at home working your way down the road to recovery.

There’s much to be said about the health benefits of blogging! Health benefits? Yes! The more active a person is mentally the greater benefit to their health overall. I don’t think I would have to provide anyone with any medical proof to justify that statement! Blogging is a very healthy mental undertaking and although it can be challenging, it is by all means mentally stimulating, and fun as well!

Blogging in other words, just may be the perfect tool to help you to not only build potential wealth, but perhaps even build your health! As I mentioned, one of our new members is just the person to share how blogging can be done even by the chronically ill. She shares some great steps to make the blogging journey for beginners less stressful with some step by step suggestions. Take a look at what she shared on her blog on how to get set up to start blogging as you read her post, “Build Your Own Empire.”

Would you like an opportunity to meet this new member of our community? Head on over to Link & Blog Challenge, and look up our member “sa5ra” (Sara).

This post was inspired by a Link and Blog Challenge

Did this help you? Then please link to this post or my blog!
Tags:
read more

Would You Like Free Blog Advertising?

Filed Under: Blog Master Tools, Free Blog Advertising, Link Exchange, Link Popularity
Feb.14, 2007

Most would jump at the opportunity to get free blog advertising. If you are a blogger who wants to take advantage of getting something for zero dollars, then you came to the right place! The opportunity for free blog advertising is right underneath your nose! “Where?” you may be asking as you are salivating over the idea of getting free blog advertising!

Do you think I should share this goldmine of free blog advertising with you? I have nothing to lose, but before I do, let’s talk about some expensive blog advertising so you will have a greater amount of appreciation for how valuable the free blog advertising really is!

Many of you write posts as a publisher for services such as PayPerPost, and Blogitive as well as others. Like me I’m sure you’ve noticed there are bloggers who use those services to purchase advertising, and most of them are paying a fair chunk of change to get it!

Without knowing the exact figure they’re spending it certainly isn’t hard to guess. Let’s make up a quick hypothetical. Let’s say the blogger is spending $5.00 per post for publishers to provide them with a link. Now lets say they decide they want 50 new incoming links to their blog. Easy enough to figure that would cost the advertiser $250.00 to gain those incoming back-links from bloggers linking to their blog.

In that many bloggers blog to earn extra cash how can most bloggers afford to pay out as much as $5.00 per link for advertising? The answer as you know is that most cannot spend that amount in advertising unless they have at least that much in revenues.

Let’s also address the fact that the advertising they are purchasing is not going to gain the blogger targeted traffic from relevant blogs – unless the advertiser required it. With this method of free blog advertising that I’m about to share, you will get targeted traffic.

When a member of our service works together with a challenge exchange partner, and if you both concentrate on creating relevancy with your posts, you will get targeted readers looking to read blogs sharing certain keywords.

If you are reading this blog, the answer to free blog advertising is right under your nose, and it’s what is called a Link & Blog Challenge! Let’s review the benefits of doing a Link & Blog Challenge, and how it equates to free blog advertising:

  • Each challenge = one or more free links = free blog advertising!
  • Working with a challenge exchange partner = inspiration for new posts
  • Existing posts can be linked with your exchange partners’ relevant existing posts
  • Readers click-through links from other relevant blogs = targeted traffic to yours
  • A completed challenge targets an audience when linked posts have relevancy
  • It’s quality traffic from targeted advertising when you shared the same relevant topic
  • Our community is NOT a dreadful traffic exchange, which provides poor quality traffic. Traffic exchanges force a click-through which is not motivated by the readers interest, so they most likely will not read your post or blog! It’s a waste of time.
  • Gaining page rank is easier with Link & Blog as your resource to build links

That is not an all inclusive list as to the benefits you gain by being a member of Link & Blog, and our newly launched interactive blogging community, Link & Blog Challenge. We offer many benefits to you as a blogger, which not only provide you with free blog advertising, but also with fresh inspiration for new posts, and a fun and interactive way to exchange links.

So I ask you, “If you had the opportunity to take advantage of free blog advertising, would you jump at the chance?” If your answer is a joyful, “Yes!” then you need to register, and plug into Link & Blog Challenge today!

If you are already a member you will need to register at our new site to access the new features. Once that’s done you are ready to begin a Link and Blog Challenge today! :-D

Did this help you? Then please link to this post or my blog!
Tags:
read more

Should You Blog for Money?

Filed Under: Blog Master Tools
Feb.11, 2007

It seems that most people ask “how much” they can make from blogging rather than asking “if” they can make money from blogging. There are quite a few pie-in-the-sky pipe dream promoters promising a silver lined path to the golden goose from blogging. I think most people who begin to blog do so with dollar signs reflecting from their pupils, and their tongue salivating over how they’ll be the ultimate blogging cash cow in the near future.

The question, “Should You Blog for Money?” may have you thinking I’m crazy to even bring it up. Why would I ask such a question? Primarily because I think it’s unfair to lead bloggers to believe they can cash in quickly from blogging when for most it’s a slow road. This is true with most of the Internet for the majority who start surfing for waves of money from any venue.

For those new to blogging I think it’s important to understand that before you figure on blogging for money that you first need to simply get good at blogging 101! Unless your blog is going to be featuring primarily videos or images, blogging 101 simply begins with being able to express yourself well in writing, and doing so on a consistent basis. Writing content is really the foundation to blogging. Once you begin to build a foundation you can move on to identifying how you can improve, and how you can potentially turn it into spare cash or possibly even a greater source of income.

If one cannot succeed at writing good valuable content then they need to work on improving their blogging foundation. Does that mean that if you don’t write well you should throw in the towel? No, by all means not! Blogging in fact is a wonderful tool for anyone to practice, and become better at writing content. Can’t seem to get the swing of writing good content? That’s fine if you are going to publish a more visual blog rather than one with content. Content however, is a strong tool to bring traffic due to the nature in which robots crawl websites, so if you can’t write content you may need to turn to other resources such as news feeds or other ways to bring content into your blog. But, that certainly does not mean you are at liberty to copying the content from others. You need to be mindful of copyright laws.

I felt this topic would be a good one to bring up because the attitude toward blogging will remain much more positive if the blogger has not set themselves up for potentially a great disappointment from the beginning. A new blogger is better off taking on the attitude that they are not in it for the money, but rather for the sheer enjoyment of sharing their wealth of information and viewpoints with others. As time goes on, and their blog attracts greater traffic and readership, then the blogger can really begin to focus more on the ultimate question of how to monetize their blog.

There are also some who want you to believe that unless you can earn money from your blog that you are not a good blogger, yet nothing could be further from the truth! Blogging, and earning money from blogging are one of the same to some, yet two totally different strategies of focus to others.

The reality is, that each blog or website starts out on the Internet like a grain of sand at the seashore, and until it’s discovered and revisited often it will be passed by many times. Then suddenly the waves of traffic begin to come in and grow larger, and the opportunity for earning extra money from blogging becomes a greater reality. Until then – don’t beat yourself up if your blog has not become a money machine!

Did this help you? Then please link to this post or my blog!
Tags: ,
read more

The Mystery of Meta Keyword Tags

Filed Under: Blog Master Tools, SEO
Feb.10, 2007

I thought I would share this question a gal asked in a forum, and what my reply was. She asked;

My blog ranks in Google’s first page of results for two keywords, which aren’t included in my meta tags. They’re just merely words I’ve used in two separate posts before, and alone don’t reflect much of what my blog is all about.

This was my reply to her question. “First off, Google does not place any weight on meta tags as they did in the past. The reason? Too many webmasters manipulated their rank by spamming with keywords, used within their meta tags. The Google bot is instructed to pay more attention to your content. That’s why the content that you mentioned is placing your blog higher up in search results than your meta tags!

Does it mean you should not use meta tags at all? That’s up to you, but you should also possibly consider reducing the current number of meta tags you have on your site. You should really only have about a dozen tags, and without repeating words too often.

Your strongest tags to get results will be what you use within posts, bold text, and post titles. That’s one reason it’s also important for a blogger to try to pick a niche and stick to it as much as possible because everything posted will affect what may, or may not become keywords for your blog.”

You probably noticed I told her that she had too many meta tags. While viewing her site I counted over 20 tags, but her tags were not just one to three word tags – each one was nearly a sentence of around 3 – 5 words! I counted each set of tags as one tag when I just described her blog as having around 20 tags because I lost count, as there were way too many words!

So, what’s the mystery of meta tags? Be very cautious with how you utilize them, and use fewer than what you think you should. In fact you may consider not using any meta tags and instead just concentrate on the keywords you use within your content. In regards to meta tags the K.I.S.S. rule applies! Keep it simple silly, and remember that less is more!

For further reading here’s a great article on meta keyword tags:

Meta Tags SEO Article

Did this help you? Then please link to this post or my blog!
Tags: ,
read more
Powered by WordPress and Motion by 85ideas.