Don’t Overlook These 5 SEO On-Page Factors

Panda is not all about content.

Since Panda came about and kung fu kicked everyone’s poor quality websites down the search results, all people are shouting is that ‘content is king’. No, not true. You, the person handling the overall SEO campaign, is king. The content is just part of the overall picture and really, producing quality content from the point you took over the project should have been your objective, regardless of what Google are doing. It’s basic common sense. With the focus on recent months having shifted across to blogger outreach and spending time writing high quality articles, it’s easy to start overlooking those essential on-page factors.  Don’t do it. You can have the best quality content in the world but you’ll be letting your site down if you don’t pay attention to the very basic on page factors which should be working in harmony with your off site link building.

The significance of some of the factors listed below is up for debate. I’m not saying they will dramatically improve your search rankings. But they will certainly not have an adverse affect. The true extent of these on-page search engine optimisation techniques can only be found when you’re testing, but if they are just minor tweaks that can be made to enhance the SEO of your site, then start doing them today! [Read more]

5 Great Security Plugins Every WordPress Blog Should Be Using

Online security is always a topic of hot debate. Not a day goes by where someone isn’t hacked, whether they own a small site or a hugely popular one. The problem is that the more popular your site becomes, the more of a target it can be to those with unsavory intentions.

WordPress websites are often targeted by hackers due to a lack of security. The problem, however, is that there are dozens of great security plugins you could be using to ensure the safety of your layout and contents. Here are 7 to keep in mind. [Read more]

Tapping industry players for relevant, timely content

Improving blog traffic means hooking visitors to your blog and giving them something that will make them go back again and again. One way to do this is to providing relevant, up to date information on topics related to the general theme of your blog.

Blogs are about information; it is one of its key elements. Providing good, relevant information takes work and dedication on your part. For example, providing relevant and up to date information means knowing where to go online to get the latest news and information. To do this, a good idea will be to identify the major players in the field you are writing about and follow their own feeds. [Read more]

Why You Should Backup Your Blog

It would be nice if all bloggers had to worry about was coming up with the next great post.  But in a world of constant security threats, even WordPress blogs need to up backed up once in a while.  And it’s better if you can backup your blog on a daily basis if you are updating the content that much.  There are several very good reasons you should be backing up your blog, but not all of them have to do with hackers or spammers.

Server problems

You may think that it will never happen to you, but servers do crash.  And your webhost may not have all those files backup for you.  I have heard many stories of those who have had dedicated servers that have crashed and they lost everything that was on their site.  Don’t think this can’t happen to you.  All of the hard work you put into your blog can be lost in a moment and it usually happens without any warning to prepare you for it.  But by having a simple backup of your blog you can make sure that even if your server completely melts down, you will be able to get your site up and running again in a matter of minutes instead of days and weeks. [Read more]

Google+ Raises the Bar for Bloggers

Not to imply that every blog you write isn’t chocked full of relevant, well-written content, tailored for just the right audience, I’m sure it is, but understanding the real implications of Google+ should have you thinking twice before you hit any publish buttons. More than ever, especially with the advent of the search engine giant’s most recent, most misunderstood social networking offering, content quality and relevance to a target audience count. Here’s why.

Jumping to conclusions has been the common response to Google’s latest entry into the world of social media. Comparisons to you-know-what are legion as are dire predictions of failure linked to previous false starts by Google, Wave and Buzz to name the last two. More cynically, others have assumed that the companion +1 button is nothing more than a rip off of the Facebook “like” button, again comparing Google+ to the dominant social media site, with the sole, rudimentary utility of upping rankings. These exercises in overlooking the subtleties that make Google+ very unique and innovative are not the stuff of sound analysis. [Read more]

9 Tips for Finding A Reliable Budget Web Host

Can a budget web hosting service give you value for your money? How do you know which features are needed? There are no steadfast rules that can determine a webhosting company’s ability to provide an exceptional experience to the user merely based on price, but then again, you never want to just take the cheapest plan offered either. Understand what a good webhosting service provides – which is to place your website or blog on a server that connects to the Internet quickly and efficiently. You don’t want to have to deal with technical issues when you’re trying to concentrate on building your business.

Finding a web hosting company when you are first starting out and on a very tight budget can be a daunting task. There are literally thousands to choose from, and almost every company will advertise and initially promise you high quality at an affordable price. Services normally run between $3.95 and $7.95 monthly. Be careful however, and look for an honest and professional web hosting company by being a smart and informed consumer. Here are a few necessary criteria that will help you in your search. [Read more]

Boost Your Blog Awareness With These 6 Tips for Successful Blog Contests

Running a popular blog contest is a powerful weapon to kick your tired old blog into overdrive. Not only will you attract a ton of new visitors – who hopefully become subscribers – but you will likely have a lot of fun. Blog contests have graced the blogosphere for years, ever since blogs became the buzzword of the 21st century.

Savvy bloggers run several contests throughout a calendar year because it always revs up their readership, hence paying them a healthy ROI on their time and in some instances on their money.

The following success tips will make your next blog contest a raving success – one that the blogosphere will remember for months to come.

1. Prize It Right

When picking a prize for the winner(s) of your contest you should look at your industry first. What is it that really gets people’s hearts all warm and fuzzy? If you are a web designer holding a contest for fellow designers and wanna be professionals you could organize things like free content from freelance writers for the next five projects (saving them money they would otherwise have to pay), free software to simplify their lives, free tutoring to help fellow professionals reach the next milestones, etc.

If all else fails and you can’t think of something useful, consider offering a popular gadget; think iPhone, iPad, and Android tablets or a smartphone, or if the budget can stretch that far a trip always goes down well. However, this is likely too expensive an option for most
bloggers. [Read more]

Staging Your Blog to Attract Advertisers

Note: The post is meant for attracting advertisers or sponsors, and it’s not about selling links to SEO guys or link brokers.

Everybody knows that the well reputed blogs have their own following, and unique content is appreciated by both readers and (more importantly) the search engines, which means a blog happens to be one of the best online platforms to place ads as compared to any other kind of websites, and smart advertisers are fully aware of this little perk. Therefore, the first thing bloggers need to do (at least those who are doing it for money) after having established a blog and its readership, is to stage their blog for attracting advertisers. The better the blog is, the better the prospects of you getting one of those lucrative offers. However, not all quality blogs manage to catch the attention of the advertisers, on the other hand some pretty mediocre ones manage to exert a pull on advertisers. Have you ever wondered that how come these second tier blogs end up with more ads than your blog which is far more superior, both in terms of content and quality?

Almost certainly, the problem lies in your staging skills.

What exactly is Blog Staging?

For those who haven’t heard the term, I’ve borrowed this term from the real estate sector, where home staging happens to be a well known ploy. Home staging is the process in which someone makes small improvements to their properties to attract and get better offers from the buyers. Now, that is a little over simplified explanation but hopefully, you have got the idea? Going by the same logic, blog staging is all about setting up your blog to act as a magnet for advertisers. And remember, whilst home staging can be a little thorny for an amateur, blog staging is relatively easier and you don’t need to hire some professional to do the job.

1. Prop up your advertising space:

Ideally your theme should be supporting some advertising space and banners by default, and you can start your staging from placing some captivating graphics or text to catch the attention of advertisers. Do not just stop at placing the default image that says “Advertise Here”. Set up a separate page with the details and pricing plans, and clicking on that image should take the prospective advertisers to that page where you have explained the advertising options for businesses that will be interested in offering some products or services to your readers. Jot down a compelling marketing copy for this page that emphasizes on the number of visitors and the fact that the majority of these visitors are looking for the information or resources related to the their business (which is of course the main theme of your blog), and how advertising at your blog will provide maximum exposure to their business. You can also use some charts, comparisons, and statistics to prove that this targeted marketing will be far more rewarding as compared to other advertising options. [Read more]

Making the Most of Live Chat WordPress Plugins

WordPress is one of the most commonly used platforms of blogging, currently supporting a large number of blogs. It is known for its ease of use (you can install and use it even if you don’t have a technical bone in your body) adding quality and distinct features to the blogs, furthermore, the search engine friendly script goes a long way in improving your organic traffic. WordPress plugins are the user friendly web clients, which are used by almost all WordPress users. Live chat WordPress plugin is a great live interaction and customer support tool that facilitates live chat by adding a customizable plugin to your WordPress website. Live chat WordPress plugins are especially beneficial for all e-commerce businesses in a number of ways. Let’s discuss how using a live chat WordPress plugin can help you in making the most of your WordPress site. [Read more]

The Laws of Brand Focus and Contraction and Why Bloggers Should Care

I’m a marketer by profession, and one of the basic laws of building a brand tells us that a highly focused brand is stronger in the long-term than an unfocused brand.  In other words, the most powerful brands own a word in people’s minds.

On the other hand, there is another marketing law that tells us it’s better to be the leader in a category than it is to be better.  That’s because the category leader, meaning the brand that is first to enter that market, owns the broad word that defines the category simply by being first.  Later entrants into the category are challenged with the need to differentiate their own brands from the category leader in order to steal market share from that pioneer brand.  For example, Microsoft might own “operating system” in the world of personal computers, but Apple owns “design”.  Apple effectively positioned its brand against the category leader by differentiating its brand as a market challenger that was focused on a very specific part of the category which the leader couldn’t offer as well as Apple could.  The strategy worked for Apple just as it does for many other brands in many other categories.

And guess what?  It works for blogs, too.

If you take a step back from your blog and the social web, you’ll see that your blog is just one within the broader category of blogs and websites that publish content about your blog topic.  There is probably a leader in that category, and there are many, many smaller competitor blogs in that category.  The first step to finding focus for your blog is determining what that area of focus will be, so you can effectively position your blog against your competitors.  What is the category leader doing and how can you bring your own niche expertise to the category to challenge the leader?

Think of it this way — if you write a blog about parenting, then you have a lot of big competition from established blogs and companies with deep pockets and pre-existing brand awareness to work against.  However, if you find your focus and contract your content and brand to that niche, then your chances of finding long-term blogging success are far greater than if you keep a broad brand and try to compete head on with the bigger players in your category.

Looking at the concept of brand focus from another perspective, consider General Motors.  This is a company that focused on the wrong thing for many years.  Upon seeing the dollar signs that selling large, gas-guzzling vehicles like Hummers could bring to the company’s bottom-line, focus shifted to these money-making brands.  Short-term earnings trumped long-term sustainability for General Motors.  When the economy tanked, so did General Motors.  Today, the Hummer brand is nearly gone and General Motors has been vocally touting its new focus on fuel-efficient vehicles for the future.

Suffice it to say, you don’t want your blog to go the way of General Motors, because a bailout for your blog is unlikely.  Instead, make sure you choose an area of focus, your niche, that has long-term potential, so you can stay competitive and hold your position against the market leader and other blogs in your category.

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