Be unique.

Don't be like everyone else.

If you've been reading up on blogging tips for a while, you've probably heard at least one of the above sayings.

No matter how you say it being unique can help you succeed. More people are jumping on the internet and trying to make money online. The internet is get more and more crowded. Niches that used to have low competition are now saturated with many sites vying for the same eyeballs and dollars.

Also, getting people's attention is will only get more difficult as webmasters get more savvy with marketing and monetization strategies. By being unique, you can avoid being unnoticed.

Yet many blogs are simply clones of the most popular blogs in their niche. Think of the many TMZ clones out there. How many bloggers are trying to copy John Chow or Darren Rowse? I'm not too familiar with the tech blogosphere, but I bet there are many Engadget clones.

Here is the huge problem with clones. Why would someone go to a clone blog over the popular blog? If I'm a tech fan, why would I go to an Engadget clone blog if I can go to Engadget. There's no point in me going to clone blog if I can get the same information on Engadget.

Now that we've established the importance of being unique, here is a simple method to help you avoid being a copycat blogger.

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Link buying is a touchy issue. Google doesn't like it. In fact, they have spent more effort in the last couple of months cracking down on sites that sell and/or buy links.

But link buying works. Not only does it work, but for many webmasters, it works really well. A friend and I bought some links for a site and within a couple of weeks, it was in the top 15 of Google for a very popular two word keyword phrase.

Aaron Wall, a high profile SEO blogger, writes in his post, An Unjust Fear of Link Buying, that if he didn't buy links 5 years ago, he wouldn't be where he is right now. Patrick Altoft, a popular internet marketing blogger, says that to compete in some markets, you need to buy links. He helped a client in a very competitive market get number one rankings in one year by only buying links.

So there can be a lot to gain from buying links.

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Michael Gray has an excellent post about optimizing your Wordpress page titles, post titles, and page slugs.

He gives his reasons for taking these titles and this slug

Page Title: Jamie Lynn Spears is Pregnant
Post Title: Jamie Lynn Spears is Pregnant
Page Slug: jamie-lynn-spears-is-pregnant

and changing them to these titles and this slug

Page Title: Jamie Lynn Spears is Pregnant and Having a Baby
Post Title: Britney Spears 16 Year Old Sister Jamie Lynn Has a Baby Bump
Page Slug: jamie-lynn-spears-baby-pregnant

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Keyword research is very important in the SEO game. Two of the most important search ranking factors are title tags and anchor text. However, these factors are useless unless you have relevant keywords. Relevant keywords should be in your title tags and anchor text so that you can rank highly and get more search traffic.

One benefit that I've noticed recently about keyword research is how it can make your blog more comprehensive. Oftentimes I find bloggers including myself getting into rut with about blog topics. We write about the same stuff without delving into other areas in our niche.

If I don't do market research (which is what keyword research is), I find myself writing about what I like instead of what my market is searching for. It's okay to write about our favorite topics. However, we should balance our blogs by also writing about the things our niche audience is thinking about. By doing this, we become a valuable resource and our monetization opportunities increase.

The key to good marketing is giving your audience what they want. Through keyword research, we can find out topics of interest within our niche that we've neglected.

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Here is one of the simplest ways I know to increase the Google ranking of your home page.

Basically, you change the anchor text of your site wide home page link. This link is usually on the header or the sidebar. Most people usually have "Home" as their anchor text. Instead, use a more descriptive keyword. This is to help you get a better Google ranking for that keyword.

I tried this on my Heroes TV show blog. I had built some backlinks but it was still stuck on the 2nd page for the keyword heroes news. I changed the anchor text of my home page link from "Home" to "Heroes News". Below is a screenshot of my new header links.

Within a couple of days, my home page had moved to the front page of Google.

Here is another example from my sister's dating blog. Below is the screenshot of her sidebar.

This tip works because anchor text is one of the most important search engine ranking factors. So, change your anchor text to a more relevant keyword and see your ranking improve.

SEO works so well because most sites on the web do not actively practice effective SEO.
(SEO Book, pg. 43)

It seems like most bloggers don't do SEO on a consistent basis. They might build a link or two once in awhile but for the most part, bloggers want to blog instead of implementing an SEO strategy.

Of course, you can do whatever you want on your blog, but if you don't do SEO on a continual basis, you're missing out on a lot of benefits.

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I use Google analytics to track my blog stats. But since I've been more involved with Performancing and I like the community here, I decided to check out Performancing Metrics (PMetrics). I installed it on one of my blogs. I've been playing around with it for the last couple of days. It's a good stats program especially if you want to see the activities of your visitors more closely.

Candy Addict shared a post about using PMetrics to find out email information. Here are 10 other cool things you can do with this interesting application.

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Networking is a huge thing for the problogger especially with the web becoming more social. Internet business is now closely mirroring the offline business world. Whoever has the most quality contacts wins. Whoever has the most friends gets the traffic, links, subscribers, and money.

Networking helps in many ways. Whether you need quality links, marketing advice, or someone to keep you accountable, networking can help you reach your goals while also making blogging much more enjoyable. We're social creatures after all. And blogging for bucks can be a lonely endeavor.

If you're new blogger, networking is especially crucial because those early days can be discouraging. Maybe you've got some experience under your belt. However, your network is not working out as well as you had hoped for. You're not getting the links. Your current blogger friends are not responding to your emails. It's time to find better contacts.

Web apps and open source programs are not your biggest asset. Your biggest asset is your IM list, email addresses, and social media friends.

So where can you find quality bloggers to network with? Here are a couple places.

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I'm planning on starting a blog soon. I'm stuck with whether to have a static home page or have the blog as my home page.

Two of my favorite blogs, SEO Book and Search Engine Land (both are popular blogs), use different formats. This year SEO Book changed to a static home page. Search Engine Land has kept the blog home page.

Which is the better home page? Well, after some thought, I've come to these conclusions.

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In this article, I won't talk about how to network. There are great articles out there about that subject. Here are two that have helped me.

Ahmed just wrote a great article about 3 ways to immediately improve your networking skills. Also, check out Caroline Middlebrook's 7 Ways to Connect With People in Your Niche.

Networking is becoming more important in link building because the web is more socially oriented than before. Also, webmasters are much less likely to give links away for free. Many webmasters today know about SEO and link building. They're hesitant to freely link to a competing site. Unless you're a friend or have cash, it's hard to get links these days especially from quality sites. And cash is losing it's effectiveness, because Google's been cracking down on paid links. Many sites are cutting down on selling links.

But the biggest reason networking helps is because it forces you to focus on other people. Quality networking means taking time to know your contacts. Follow their blogs for awhile. Read their posts. Find out which subniches they're passionate about. Find out which topics they would like to learn more about.

Through networking, you can figure out what your contacts want.

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In my last post, I talked about how to use SEO Digger to find keywords where you rank on the 2nd page of Google. Today, we'll look at simple steps to move those 2nd page URLs to the 1st page of Google.

I find that people learn better with practical examples, so I decided to help one of my favorite business blogs, Strategic Profits Blog. Also, I hope to get a link from them :)

Using SEO Digger, I found a 2nd page URL. As you can see in the screenshot below, the keyword is "online business coaching" and the URL is www.strategicprofits.com.

(For more specific steps on how to find URLs on the 2nd page of popular keywords, check out my previous post, Find Great Keywords With SEO Digger.)

So, what can Strategic Profits to move their site to the first page? Here are some tips.

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Let me introduce you to one of my favorite SEO tools, SEO Digger.

With this tool, you simply enter in a URL and it will give you the popular keywords that the URL ranks for in the Google top 20. If you become a registered member (it's free), you can do a full search of a domain name.

SEO Digger has over 44 million keywords in their database. The keywords come from Wordtracker and Overture. If your keyword is not in the database, you can send SEO Digger your keywords and they'll add them.

It's not the most accurate tool. Some of the keyword rankings are inaccurate because the search engine results pages (SERPs) are constantly changing. Also, SEO Digger only updates the database every two weeks.

However, this tool gives you a quick overview of where you stand in the SERPs for popular keywords. I like using it to find keywords where I rank on the second page. These keywords are great because it often doesn't take much work to move your site to the first page.

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Sure, offpage SEO (aka link building) is more important than onpage SEO. However, don't neglect the onpage elements. They're easier to implement. Also, you have total control in onpage SEO whereas in link building, you're hoping that through your efforts other people will link to you.

1. Keywords, keywords, keywords

Use Google's keyword tool and type in some search terms that relate to your blog.

For example, let's pretend you have a Hawaii travel blog. I typed in "hawaii travel". Here are some of the terms I got back:

• hawaii hotels
• hawaii travel guide
• hawaii travel packages
• maui hawaii travel
• adventure travel hawaii
• hawaii honeymoon travel
• hawaii resorts
• honolulu travel
• nonstop travel hawaii

Take those keywords and write posts about them. Keyword research is doing market research. You'll find out what people are searching for and you can write posts to match their search terms.

You'll be using keywords for the rest of tips so do some keyword research before moving on.

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Earlier this week, I wrote about bloggers being great salespeople. Today, I'll be talking about using reviews to sell more products.

Reviews are one of the best blogging methods to sell products. In my previous post, I wrote that established bloggers can sell well because they're trusted by their readership. With reviews, you leverage that trust by recommending a quality product that meets the needs of your readership. This product could be an affiliate product or a product you created.

Here a couple things to consider when writing reviews.

If you're reviewing an affiliate product, try the product out. This will help you write a quality, honest review. Honesty counts in the blogosphere.

Review products you actually like. It's easier to sell stuff you like.

Review products your readership will find useful.

Write more words. Write an in-depth review. Too many reviews don't say much. I think reviews should be at least 500 words. It doesn't make sense to write a 250 word review for a 100+ page ebook yet I see those short reviews all the time. Know your product well and then write as much as you need to inform your readers of the product. I think most readers would rather have more information than less. The more information, the more likely they will buy. Check out some of Yaro's reviews (1, 2, 3, 4). He makes a couple thousand a month on affiliate products. His reviews are longer than most blog posts.

Depending on your posting frequency, don't post too many reviews or your blog will be too commercial. One review every 4-5 posts should be fine.

Have banner ads that link to your review. Many bloggers already put banner ads that link to a product. Take it a step further. Write a quality review and then have the banner ad link to the review instead of the product. This is a great way to actively recommend the product instead of just passively leaving a banner ad on your site. "Pre-selling", or recommending, a product before sending the visitor to the sales page is a proven way to increase your sales conversion rate. Also, studies have shown that content-based text links (those in reviews) convert much better than banner ad links.

Don't forget pay per click (PPC). Well-written, insightful reviews are perfect landing pages for PPC marketing. Do some keyword research and send some PPC traffic to your review.

Take out AdSense. Your review should have one goal: get the visitor to click on the product link with a buying frame of mind. If you have AdSense on the review, your visitors will get confused and distracted. This will cause your conversion rate to go down.

If you are going to do PPC marketing, publish your review on pages rather than posts. You don't want to send PPC traffic to posts because posts get old. Pages, on the other hand, are timeless because they don't have timestamps. Also, you can link to your review page from a post so that you regular readership, or RSS subscribers, will still get to see your review.

Bloggers and selling. You probably don't put those two words together, but I think they fit well.

Now I'm talking about established bloggers - bloggers with a good amount of traffic and steady stream of RSS subscribers. If you're one of these bloggers, you can greatly increase your income by selling.

I'm not talking about selling advertising or text links. The problem with advertising is that you're not selling to most of your readership. In most niches, only a very small percentage of your readers will be interested in buying advertising. These are readers with websites that want traffic or better search engine rankings.

But what about the rest of your readers? How will you monetize them? Sure, you can use AdSense and similar cost per click programs, but don't neglect selling products to your readership. You can keep the AdSense while testing selling. Oftentimes you'll find that selling products is more profitable than AdSense.

A Quick Disclaimer

Obviously selling is easier in product driven niches like real estate and travel. Travel is a good example. There is always something to sell in the travel niche. You can sell plane tickets, luggage, books, hotels reservations, cruises, and even travel insurance. However, with some creativity, you can create products in niches that are not product driven. These niches include entertainment, politics, sports, and spirituality. These niches are content driven. If you're in these niches, don't be afraid to charge for some of your content. People will pay for excellent content. Here are some ideas: create a membership program, record a video or audio product, or write an ebook.

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