In the last couple of years, blogging has really
taken off. It seems everyone who hops on the Internet now has their
own blog.
A lot of people are also seeing the benefit of
using blogs to make money from the Internet, especially with
affiliate programs and Google's Adsense.
Here are some of
the best blogging tips I can give you to help you along the
way.
Tip #1 - Web Hosting
If using a service like
Wordpress or
Movable Type, make sure you have a good
web host. Your web hosting company should allow you multiple domain
name hosting and MYSQL database for you to
use.
Why? Because you may want to start more then one blog
and it's a real pain having to setup account after account just so
you can start a new blog. MySQL is the program that allows you to
run Wordpress and Movable Type on your web host.
Tip #2 - Publish Your Blog
Frequently
It's a common question people starting blogs ask.
How often should you add new content to your site and what methods
work best for search engine ranking purposes.
I've found that
adding one blog post a day is the perfect amount of posting needed.
Do it no more then once a day and no less then once every 3 or 4
days.
It's best to keep a pattern to your posting so the
search engines can pick up on it. It's very hard for search engines
to know when to spider your site if you change constantly when you
post on your blog. Search engines love patterns and it gives them a
reason to drop by more regularly.
If you post too often,
search engines pick this up and start thinking to them selves that
no human could post so much in such a short period of time and will
get a bit suspicious of your blog thinking it might be automatically
generated and not written by hand.
Tip #3 - Think
SEO
Search Engine Optimization is just as important for blogs
as it is for any website dealing in content and looking for a good
search engine ranking. The days of search engines weighting blogs
more heavily over normal content sites is over, so you need to think
like a content site to survive.
- Try not to have too many
posts on the home page. Keep it clutter free. Index your posts.
- Make your links to your content on your site descriptive.
For example, let's say you are designing your home page and you have
an article on outdoor wedding cakes. A lot of people would use a
link description of something like this
http://www.yourbloghere.com/weddingarticle2.html
Don't
do that! Use a descriptive link name.
http://www.yourbloghere.com/outdoor-wedding-cakes.html
-
Want to know what search engines are looking for? Ask them with
Nichebot.com! When creating your blog and you are looking for topics
to write on, why guess what people want. Nichebot.com allows you to
check how many searches per month a certain keyword
receives.
- Your title should have <h1> or <h2>
html tags for more effect. This lets search engines know what to
focus on.
- <b> and <i> can also be uses this
way, just don't emphasize everything, just what you really want the
search engines to focus on.
Tip #4 - Say No To Comments
Turn off the comments section in your blog. People use this
to spam your blog to promote their websites.
Tip #5 - Stick
To A Word Limit Per Post
This is actually quite important.
Not only for search engine ranking but for pleasing the human eye
and mind. There is nothing worse then scrolling down the screen
continuously to keep reading an article, and I hate staring at a
computer screen that long trying to concentrate.
Blogs were
meant to be short and straight to the point. Keep your blog posts
between 350 and 700 words each.
Tip #6 - Place Adsense Ad's
And Affiliate Products Correctly!
Making the best use of your
free space is critical to your blogging success if you're in it to
make money. Having your ad's in just the right place can make the
difference between a few dollars a day and a few hundred dollars a
day.
I find putting all ad's on the right hand side of the
screen the best.
Tip
#7 - Design A Site That's Appealing To The Eye
While search
engine ranking is important, getting people to your website and
having them leave straight away is a waste of your time, so
designing a website that is also appealing to the viewer and is easy
to read is essential.
Don't use bright colors, lot's of
graphics, tons of links or anything like that. Keep it simple. Make
it easy to navigate and easy to find all your articles on your blog.
Also check to make sure all your links are working in your
site.
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