Tag: Wordpress

How Website Optimization Can Save You From The Google Penguin Update?
Are you doing any website optimization? If you have not, you better do as the next Google Penguin Update is on it’s way.

Don’t freak out as this article will explain in detail how you can prepare for the next Google Update (and probably rank better with the correct search engine optimization techniques).

As we all know, the latest Google Penguin update was rolled out recently (22nd May 2013 to be exact). Many websites were affected from the update including some of mine.

I was lucky that I managed to run several test websites prior to the Google update and let me share with you how website optimization can save your website from all the negative things Google Penguin can throw at you.

Before that, here are my Google Analytics results with two different websites:

Website A
- Tons of backlinks (without considering quality)
- Lots of external links in posts
- Lack of SEO focus and website optimization
Without quality content, websites are very prone to receive penalties from Google

Website B
- Backlinks are done carefully (no backlinks from penalized websites)
- External links in posts are regularly check to ensure no broken links
- SEO is highly focused with very specific website optimization techniques
Quality content, search engine optimization and keywords all play a huge factor in terms of increasing website traffic

Google Penguin Update happened on 22nd May 2013 and I marked it right on both the charts. Website A was hit badly with an average of 25% traffic reduction right after the Google update. On the other hand, website B (with good SEO and content optimization techniques) was not only able to escape the traffic reduction but slowly but surely, increasing in traffic on a daily basis.

Now, what did I learn from the latest Google Penguin Update?
1. Google doesn’t care on cheap or low quality backlinks anymore.
2. Google algorithm is ‘adapting’ to human behavior; readers love to read quality articles and thus, good posts will benefit from this update.
3. Search engine optimization (especially website optimization) techniques are very important to increase website traffic.
4. It doesn’t matter on the number of posts the website has or the domain age. It is all about quality.
5. Content is still king and SEO had just became more important.
p/s: Website A is having a domain age of 3 years while website B is just 6 months old

How to perform website optimization for your websites?

I am pretty sure I got your attention with the result images above (well, please lie to me if they didn’t attract you that much). Now, take a 5 minute break and jot down what you have in your mind when it comes to website optimization. Yes, I will wait for you right here.

Now, let’s say you have five ideas which you believe are the best for website optimization. Let’s compare with mine, shall we?

What are the tooltips when it comes to optimizing websites?

Website optimization technique #1 – Reduce your website loading time

Serious mate. If you want Google to love your website, then start boosting your website loading speed. We all hate slow loading websites right? For me, if the website takes more than 5 seconds to load, I am going to close it. Sorry!

Still not convinced? See what major search engines say about website loading speed below:
- 500 milliseconds of extra load time caused 20% fewer searches – Google
- 400 milliseconds of extra load time caused a 5-9% increase in the number of people who clicked ‘back’ before the page even loaded – Yahoo
- 100 milliseconds of extra load time resulted in a 1% drop in sales – Amazon
Website optimization technique #2 – Keywords are as important as content

Search engines such as Google loves to index blogs and websites which are loaded with good quality articles. And yes, you got it right! One of the basics of writing good quality articles is by using the right keywords.

There are many SEO tools bloggers and webmasters can use when it comes to choosing the right keywords. All it would probably take is a few hours of your precious time and Google (and other search engines) will really appreciate your hard work by giving you more ‘ranking points’ for your websites.

For starters, Google Keyword Tool is one of the best free SEO tools available for bloggers. If you are running a SEO agency or would want to perform SEO for a small scale business, I would highly recommend you to try this premium SEO tool for free!

Website optimization technique #3 – Forget about short posts

I remember writing a SEO guide on HubPages, stating that each article we published should be at least 300 words long in order to get ranked well on search engines. It was true at that time though but for now, the tide had changed.

This is one of the ‘error-free’ website optimization techniques I always use. When you are writing an article, try to keep it above 700 words. I know! It used to be like 300 to 500 words but with the latest Google update, I believe it is time we need to increase the mark.

Depending on topics you are writing, sometime it is very challenging to write quality articles with the said word count but at least, try your best to achieve it. Always remember that a little hard work goes a long way.

Website optimization technique #4 – Update your (old) posts regularly

Google loves updated stuffs and so do I. Do you have any articles that had been collecting dusts and have not been updated, say 6 months or more? You can (and should) easily optimize your website and your articles simply by updating the content.

Now, you don’t need to do a full rewrite. Instead, try to perform small updates such as adding a few lines of new information or even a new image.

The sky is your limit and creativity is always welcome!

Do this before you leave…

I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I do. Have you sign up for the free SEO newsletter? Moving forward, do you want to add any additional information on website optimization techniques? Feel free to comment below 🙂

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December 21, 2023
3 Killer SEO Tips When Using Google Keyword Tool
Take a moment and think what your favorite SEO tool when it comes to keyword research? Could be some paid SEO tools, so called ‘best SEO tools’ or the famous Google Keyword Tool? For me, I use Google Keyword Tool nearly every day of my blogging life and I am pretty sure you can’t find a free SEO tool better than the Google Keyword Tool.

Now, if you are a beginner or have not heard about Google Keyword Tool, you probably should visit the site once you finish reading this. Alternatively, you can bookmark this page, head over to Google Keyword Tool website (which is called Google Adwords by the way), scout around and come back here to continue reading.

So, what is Google Keyword Tool?

It is a God send, heavenly free and probably one of the best SEO tools which offers many (and I really mean many) functions for bloggers. Want to perform some keyword research, search engine optimization techniques or simply find a profitable niche and don’t want to fork out a single cent? Google Keyword Tool is your best friend!

Google Keyword Tool is one of the best SEO tools for beginners and webmasters

Not convinced that Google Keyword Tool plays a huge role on search engine optimization? See the image below:

Google Keyword Tool is the best SEO tool for bloggers

Google captures roughly 246,000 exact search queries monthly and 90,500 searches originated from the United States alone. This easily means that the term Google Keyword Tool is receiving at least 8,200 searches in a day! I wish my blog can get such traffic. Okay, I’s dreaming here.

*p/s Kindly ignore the term ‘exact search’ as I will be explaining below.

Now, do you believe that Google Keyword Tool is probably the best SEO tool (and on top of all, free) for bloggers like you and me?

What is Match Types?

When you are performing keyword research on Google Keyword Tool, it offers three very distinct reports which extremely useful; broad, phrase and exact. Don’t worry, Google isn’t going to leave you in the dark. Here’s what they meant:
- Broad: The sum of the search volumes for the keyword, related grammatical forms, synonyms, and related words
- Phrase: The sum of search volumes that include the whole phrase or near variants of the whole phrase
- Exact: The search volume for that specific keyword and close variants
Makes any sense to you?

I didn’t get it at first either. Like it or not, these three different keyword research reports are the ones that make or break your website SEO.

Let me give you some examples to further increase your understanding (taking ‘dog collar’ as an example)

Broad keywords

Broad keyword will always have the highest search queries

Broad keywords are selected by default and this research will tell you how many people are searching for words related or closely related to the keyword ‘dog collar’. Broad keywords usually have a highest number of searches as it is very general and not a focus keyword. Example of broad keyword for ‘dog collar’ are ‘pet collars’, ‘dog harness’ and ‘dog tag’.

Phrase keywords

Phrase keywords plays a huge role especially when it comes to choosing tags and keywords

Phrase keywords on the other hand, will always be the second in the ladder. Phrase keywords means that searches are done with regards to the keyword ‘dog collar’. In phrase keywords, it is not that general compared to broad setting and each keywords are closely related to the word ‘dog collar’. Example of phrase keyword for ‘dog collar’ are ‘yellow dog collars’, ‘designer pet accessories’ and ‘dog leather collars’.

Exact keywords

Exact keyword research will help to pinpoint keywords which could worth a lot when it comes to finding the right keyword

Exact keywords are the keywords that bloggers and content writers should focused on. Usually, the search results for exact keywords are the lowest among all. The number of searches represents the number of people searching for that specific keyword, ‘dog collar’ or words that have ‘dog collar’ in them. Example of exact keyword for ‘dog collar’ are ‘toy dog collars’, ‘best dog collars’ and ‘fashion dog collars’.

Let’s take a quick, 5 minutes break. A little quiz for you to keep you occupied:
1. From the above article, what have you learned about Google Keyword Tool?
2. Do you know how to differentiate broad keywords with phrase and exact keywords?
3. Are you using Google Keyword Tool for your keyword research?
Now that you are ready, let’s head over to the next section, shall we?

How to use Google Keyword Tool correctly?

Ever wonder what makes Google Keyword Tool the one of the best SEO tools?

I beat you are using Google Keyword Tool as well but the question here is, are you using Google Keyword Tool correctly? I’m not sure about you but for me, I try to avoid any mistakes as much as I can when it comes to doing search engine optimization.

What are the three best SEO tips when using Google Keyword Tool?

SEO tips #1 – Always use the Exact Match keyword search

This is the most common mistake done by bloggers when it comes to search engine optimization. Just because Google Keyword Tool default the search criteria to Broad Match, it doesn’t mean that you have to follow it by the books!

Let’s assume that you read the above (if you have not, then scroll up half a page and read what I wrote about the match criteria). When it comes to searching for the right keywords, always…always use the Exact Match keywords.

Why?

Simply because you want your keyword search to be as close as possible to the real deal. In the world of search engine optimization, having an exact match keyword (or at least Phrase Match keyword) could easily differentiate you between the top 10 ranking and top 100 ranking on the search engine result pages (SERPs).

It is a known fact that search engines such as Google gives ranking priority to exact match keywords first before others.

Do you think you think that you need to change your keywords now? You probably should!

SEO tips #2 – Healthy match of keywords for the best search engine optimization

This is one part I got wrong in the past. There is absolutely no point stuffing your article, blog or websites with just quality keywords or in this case, exact keywords. Instead, you want to have a healthy dose of keywords!

Firstly, you got to understand that you are going to rank well when you use exact keyword ONLY when people search using that exact term. Out of the millions and billions of people out there, how many would actually key in the exact keywords?

Don’t ever put all your eggs in one basket – English proverb

It doesn’t matter if you are a blogger, content writer or a SEO writer. The bottom line is you want to grab as many opportunities possible to have some ‘limelight’ on your website.

If you are doing the right content optimization technique, then you would probably be ranking especially well when people are searching for the exact keyword. Now, you need to mix and match your keywords (phrase and broad keywords) to further enrich your website.

Personally, I would go for 25% exact keyword match, 50% phrase match and 25% broad keyword match. And so, my question to you now is what’s your mix and match keyword ratio that you use for your website?

SEO tips #3 – Use Google Keyword Tool to ‘spoon feed’ you with quality keywords choices

Believe it or not, Google Keyword Tool is able to tell you what keywords your competitors are using to rank on search engines. Pretty impressive right?

See the image below. Do you see the red box?

Know what your competitors are ranking for using Google Keyword Tool

What you need to do is key in your competitor’s website in that box and with a click of the button, you got yourself a list of keywords which your competitors are trying to rank. Not only that, the results also includes the keywords which your competitors are buying on Google Adwords.

The below are one of my search engine optimization techniques to farm quality keywords for my blogs:
1. Find my closest 20 to 50 competitors
2. Use Google Keyword Tool and collect a list of 20 keywords each competitors are using
3. Compile the list of keywords and search again on Google Keyword Tool and my list of personal paid SEO tools
4. Shortlist the set of keywords to 10 to 30 keywords to rank for (the bigger the website, the more keywords to rank for)
Yes, this is a very lazy way of farming keywords but trust me that this is very useful. The results you collected are raw data which you would need to enrich them further using more SEO tools (optional).

If you are wondering why it is stated optional, it’s because you could still rank well on search engines if you are doing the right SEO strategy but why don’t adding in a little bit of hard work to get the top rank on SERPs right?

Over to you

Go get yourself a cold beer or a simple pat on the back. I am pretty sure you learned something here today. If yes, good for you!

Do you use Google Keyword Tools for other purposes and do you have any tricks you want to share with us? I am very eager to hear your reply!

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December 21, 2023
Complete Search Engine Optimization (SEO) For Dummies
What do you know about search engine optimization or SEO in short? Do you really know what SEO really are and how it can affect you?

I talk about SEO, think about SEO, eat with SEO and bathe with SEO but I am no SEO expert. And if you are looking for a SEO guru, I am not your man. Why?!

Because I am not going to lie to you what I know about search engine optimization techniques and how you can use SEO for your own good. And, this is not a sales thread…not now, not in the future in my books.

If you’re reading this, then good as we are on the same page now. So let’s go with our first lesson (and my first SEO post here) on search engine optimization, shall we?

What is search engine optimization all about?

I am no SEO guru but at times, it is cool to call myself a Search Engine Optimization Ninja

The term search engine optimization or SEO is already a household name for many bloggers and webmasters today. Now let’s go with some simple language course on what SEO really means.

Search engines literally refers to Google, Yahoo and Bing to name a few.

Optimization means the process of improving or increasing the optimal result from a certain action.

With the above, I can simply conclude that search engine optimization is a process to improve your article, blog or website ranking in the search engine result pages (SERPs).

Make any sense? As I said below (on my profile), I am not a techie person. So, I will be explaining what SEO is all about in simple terms so that it is easily understandable to both beginners and professional bloggers.

Why search engine optimization is important? What’s so important about SEO?

I get this all the time and I even asked myself before in the past. Good search engine optimization techniques will actually improve the chances of you ranking well on result pages.

This means that the better your SEO methods are, the better chance search engines will see your website. Of course, the more your articles are featured on result pages, the better and more traffic you will get.

Here, we can conclude that good SEO techniques will increase your website ranking on search engines, boost traffic to your website and ultimately, increasing the chances of affiliate sales or making money through your website a reality.

How to SEO correctly? What are SEO best practices?

Using right SEO techniques will increase and improve website page rank

Regardless which website I visit, I keep seeing bloggers asking the same questions over and over again. Before you continue reading, take 1 minute off and think what you really know about SEO…don’t worry, I will wait.

‘¦

‘¦

‘¦

Welcome back and I really hope you didn’t take more than one minute though.

The biggest perception I ever seen in my life about SEO is many bloggers believe that SEO can be learned and mastered. Hint: Just Google and see how many SEO gurus you can find out there.

Perceptions on search engine optimizations:
- You can master SEO
- SEO is straightforward and easy to follow
- Learning SEO will help me for tomorrow, next week and the future
The real deal about search engine optimization are:
- SEO is a practise and guideline for bloggers
- Learn what SEO is and modify each search engine optimization techniques to gain the maximum advantage over others
- Understanding how search engine optimization works is more than just important
What are SEO best practices?

I am not going very detail in this as I will be creating separate topics on this. Yes, I want to go into detail and make sure you understand everything about SEO. And I do it for free.

1. Content is king but focus keyword is God

You hear me right. Good content will not bring you to the top spots of the search engines but focus keywords will.

Don’t get me wrong as I know how important content it. What I am trying to say is good search engine optimization or good SEO strategies are to use as very specific and focused keywords.

The biggest mistake here is bloggers tend to stuff hundreds keywords into one article. Don’t ever stuffed all those keywords you can think of into one article as you are going to give a hard time for search engine bots to figure out what your content is all about.

2. Understand how you want to rank your website

One of the best SEO practices is knowing how you want search engines to rank your blog. Pardon me for being so general. There are two ways search engine will rank your blog.

SEO strategy 1: Rank your blog with very specific keywords (between one to five keywords)

SEO strategy 2: Rank your blog with a bigger range of keywords (more than five keywords)

As for the record, both are equally good when it comes to finding the best SEO strategy. However, the paths of both these SEO best practices are very different.

SEO strategy 1 will lead to a better page rank or SERPs ranking within a shorter time frame. Here, your blog or website can even rank better even when you do not have an upper hand in domain age.

One the other hand. SEO strategy 2 will take a longer time to build a good SERPs ranking compared to the above. The SEO process here is long but what makes it worthwhile is it will also produce good domain authority for your website.

Never underestimate both of these SEO practices as they are be very lethal in the hands of a good blogger.

3. Choosing the right SEO tools in your SEO projects

Choosing the right SEO tools will either improve or break your website ranking

I bet you heard about others saying that they ranked their website faster and better without any SEO tools. This is particularly true and I am not denying the fact.

However, we are in the technology era for Christ sake! Do you think that you can compete fairly with other bloggers or websites without using any SEO tools?

I am also not denying that there are many premium SEO tools that worth your every buck. And for beginners, I do not recommend them (unless it has a trial period) as there are also many free SEO tools which can help you in your search engine optimization project 101.

One of the best SEO tools is Google Keyword Tool and you can find useful tips and tricks on how to use it, Killer SEO Tips Using Google Keyword Tool.

Of course, I will be writing more on this topic as well so stay tune.

*p/s One of the best way to stay tune is to subscribe to my newsletter (yes free for life as well) at the end of this post or on the box on the right sidebar.

What I’m trying to say here is if you want to compete in this SEO world, then you have to compete in the smart way. I am sure you will be amazed on how many free SEO tools there is which many bloggers do not use at all. Such a waste right?

Okay folks, give yourself a pat on the back (or a beer treat) as you have completed the first part of my SEO best practices.

Wait! Don’t click on the Close button yet!

Test your understanding on search engine optimization knowledge (after my post above):
- Do you understand what Search Engine Optimization really is right now?
- Are you practising the right SEO methods?
- Are you using the right SEO tools for your blogs and website?
Talk to me and share with me using the reply form.

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December 21, 2023
4 Fail Proof Ways To Successfully Create A Website From Scratch
Planning to start blogging and create a website? Thank God you came to the right spot! In this article, I am going to share with you how you can create a website from nothing to something with the help of the popular blogging platform, WordPress.

What is WordPress?

According to Wikipedia, WordPress is an open source CMS, often used as a blog publishing application powered by PHP and MySQL. Sounds complicated already? Don’t worry and as for now, let’s forget about PHP (what?) and MySQL (double what??).

Basically WordPress is a blogging platform and is one hell of a famous one indeed. Many bloggers including Darren Rowse from ProBlogger (who also wrote How To Earn A Six Digit Figures), Ana Hoffman from TrafficGenerationCafe and Kristi Hines from Kikolani to name a few. And yup, even I am using WordPress.

Hold on!

What makes me different from them? They are really famous bloggers and me? Just an average Joe trying to become a better blogger.

What you should know about creating a website?

Planning is an important when it comes to creating a website

1. Planning, planning and more planning

Well, you can start a website without much effort nowadays thanks to technology. However, please don’t jump straight into creating a website. If you want to create a website, then start planning right now.

Take a piece of paper and a pen of course…I’ll wait.

Now, let’s say you have both of that already. Start jotting down what you have in mind on what your website is going to be all about. What you are doing here is brainstorming.

What? Brainstorming?

Yes! Many bloggers, including me jump right into creating a website. This means like finding a name, hosting package and bam! Install WordPress. I will explain more after this.

Trust me, that is a wrong move. If you want to create a website and make it grow, start having plans. Work out your plans and think not only carefully but critically on how you want to build your website.

2. Finding a good website name

There are many debate in this topic until date. Some says getting Exact Match Domains (EMD) while others say it doesn’t matters anymore. Now, which side of the fence are you in?

Personally, having an Exact Match Domain (EMD) name would be a better choice. It adds a little (yes, very…very little) SEO advantage over to unique domain names. Don’t bother much about it since websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo doesn’t really bring any face value but yet, they are doing very well when it comes to popularity.

A good website name should also be easy to remember, short and as descriptive as possible to leave a great impression on readers. For the length of the domain, try make it less than 15 characters long.

Again, I am just giving suggestions and you can clearly see websites such as TrafficGenerationCafe has a whopping 21 characters but yet, they are doing very well on search engines.

You can start finding and register your domain names with these registrars:
3. Finding a good hosting package

The biggest question I ever asked myself is, ‘Is it worth getting a cheap hosting package?’ and the answer is no! Most hosting companies practice overselling and this means that they are loading their servers with ‘˜more than what they can take’.

Choosing the right web hosting company to host your website is extremely important

This leads to bigger issue in the future where these servers might be overworking and thus, making your websites offline unintentionally. Well, what you can expect when you are paying like $5 per month right?

There are hosting companies such as Media Temple, Synthesis and WP Engine which charges more than $20 per month but they guarantees excellent uptime and a round the clock support.

If you are a novice blogger or webmaster, you can always seek a lower and cheaper hosting package first before moving over to a bigger and more secure hosting company. At least, this will be easier on your pocket and wallet.

When it comes to choosing a web hosting company, I would highly recommend using HostGator as they offer 24/7 support over the phone, email and even live chat. Something that I can’t live without.

4. Create a website – Final stages

By now, you should have all the information needed to create a website. Maybe, you are even more proactive and had even purchased a domain. Good for you!

Simply point your domain to the right name servers and within minutes (some hosting companies take up to 48 hours) the website will be up.

This is where you should login to your own cPanel (some call it hosting homepage) and start installing WordPress. Installation of WordPress usually takes less than 10 minutes but I know one hosting company that takes an hour just to install WordPress.

Efficient? Go figure!

What are you waiting for?

I am going to leave it to you first at this time being. Remember to bookmark this topic and come back for more (which I will be adding more articles in the next few days). Remember that even though to create a website is easy, maintaining a website is tougher than what you think!

Like this article? Comment below to get free backlink and at the same time, take the opportunity to share with me your ideas!
December 21, 2023
8 Explosive Blogging Tips Other Clever Bloggers Won’t Share
This blog post could probably the 10th, 100th or 1,000th that you had read about blogging tips and starting a blog. I am going to tell you that this blog (and this website) is different from any other and here’s why.

Do you really think that most successful bloggers will share their secrets, tips and tricks with you? Take a moment to think about it and I will wait.

…

Moments of silent…

…

Welcome back! Guess you figured it out right? Oh wait! If not, don’t worry, let me tell you why instead. Sharing vital information, tips and tricks in blogging with the other bloggers would probably means:
1. More competitions
2. Lesser traffic
3. Less earnings
What are the top secret, high confidential and mind blowing blogging tips for bloggers?

Makes any sense? Glad it does! We are on the right track here.

So, what makes me (and this blog), tell you the REAL answers on blogging tips? I am tired of seeing bloggers and potential writers going into this industry with the hope of making money blogging but ended disappointed!

I can’t teach you all the blogging tips (and tricks) I know and learned but if you follow my writings here, you will probably figure out all my tricks in blogging and start making a decent living through your blogs or websites.

I am not saying that other bloggers are lying to you but the fact is that not many are telling you the whole truth about blogging and life of a blogger. So, hear me out at least (even though how much you disagree with but do tell me why using the comment form below).

And before that, I would like to share with you some slides which I recently created:

Here are 8 blogging tips all bloggers must know

Blogging takes time, devotion and persistent to be successful

1. Blogging is more than a job. It’s a lifestyle.

If you have decided to step into the blogging industry, then allow me to give you a warm welcome. Now, let’s get into business…serious business.

If you want to be successful in blogging, then you need to be mentally and physically prepared to spend time into this challenging industry. For those who read the blog articles I posted few days back, I said that Sunday is my time off from blogging. Reality is…yes but partially. I promised myself that I will wake up earlier than usual on Sundays and do some backlinks for at least 2 hours a day. Half day work? You can call that anytime, buddy.

What I am trying to say is that if you want to make money blogging, then prepare to devote your time and effort into it. Don’t devote everything you got but at least, give it a 60% of everything you have first for starters.

Blogging tips #1: Everyone want to be making money through blogging but not many want to contribute time into serious blogging. So, which side of the fence are you on?

2. The reality between free blog sites and self hosted domains

It is no secret that there are bloggers who make money through their blogs on Blogspot. Oh yes they do and even one of my blogs on Blogger that is making $10 a day just through Google Adsense.

Choose your blogging platform carefully when it comes to building a brand for your blog

You are here because you want to make money as a blogger right? How many bloggers out there who are extremely successful using their Blogspot account?

That’s what I am saying, yo!

Let’s see, Darren Rowse from ProBlogger, Jane from ProBloggingSuccess and Ana Hoffman from TrafficGenerationCafe doesn’t use these free blogging sites. Instead, they are using self hosted domains.

Basically, free blogging sites aren’t really free. Bloggers using these sites will be tied down not only to their terms and conditions but as well as the contents ownerships (for some sites).

On the other hand, self hosted domains allows bloggers to be the ‘˜King and Citizen’ of the site. This means that bloggers are free to do any changes they like and they wished for as long as they want to.

Blogging tips #2: Small time bloggers build blogs. Serious bloggers who want to make money blogging have their own identity, brand and of course, self hosted website.

3. Money is needed to start a blog…at least a little

Prepare to invest at least a little when it comes to blogging

C’mon guys! Do you really think that you can earn money without investing a single cent? You probably could and I ain’t joking. However, trust me when I say that without investing some money, you are going to close many doors of opportunities. Clear example is in point #2 (above).

I started blogging years back and I was stingy (even now). I didn’t want to spend a single cent on blogging! I realized that my earning capabilities are very well confined in a small, 4-walls bedroom.

What I mean was I knew I couldn’t compete with the big guns without the help of paid blogging tools. That’s the fact. Bloggers who says that they don’t use paid blogging tools are lying. Okay, maybe they are not lying but check on their page rank, traffic etc. You get the point.

There will be times where you think you need to get a better WordPress theme, SEO content optimization or maybe a premium comment plugin to name a few. That’s when you need to spend money into blogging.

Blogging tips #3: Serious bloggers invest into blogging to ensure they grow and beat the rest…even when their competitors are sleeping.

4. Successful bloggers don’t spend a lot of time on their blogs and websites

Want to build good traffic blogs? Brush up on your Public Relations skills!

Yup you hear me loud and clear (okay, you read what I wrote – my apologies). Most successful bloggers doesn’t spend their whole day on their blog. So, what are they doing? Being a couch potato or lazing in their jacuzzi pool?

The fact is that they are spending at least 50% of their daily effort writing for other blogs and doing internet marketing. Hear any bells ringing when I say guest posting?

Good guest posting will generate enough traffic boost back to their own blogs simply because the sites they are writing for are having good traffic of their own. Don’t forget that this is not a good way but is a great way to increase blog traffic.

Starting a blog doesn’t sound to be that easy at this point right?

Even Darren Rowse (and wrote an eBook about it as well) agreed when he posted this:

One of Darren’s most popular articles published on ProBlogger

Blogging tips #4: A good blogger plans and strategize. Good blogging strategy will not only drive traffic but also creating good readership.

5. Successful bloggers uses content optimization tools in their blogs

Onsite content optimization is important to rank well on search engines

I am not sure about you but I certainly realized this. Do you notice that famous bloggers and websites usually have excellent content?

Okay try this when you have the time.
1. Pick an article you liked which was written by your favorite blogger
2. Try to figure out what are the keywords which he or she is using or focusing
3. Count the density of the keyword(s)
Obviously, this is clear. Out of 10 blog posts I counted, 7 of them have a very good density of keywords and they are very precise. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

I know once or twice could be okay but having like 7 to 8 articles out of 10 with the same ‘˜modus operandi’ aka M.O.? This is way too good to be called coincidence I would say.

I know there are a few bloggers who are really good and doing all this manually. However, a huge part of them doesn’t. Instead, they turn their heads into content optimization tools or blogging tools that helps them to enrich the article content.

Like it or not, many serious bloggers invested thousands if not hundreds on SEO tools to ensure their blogs and websites survive the cut.

Think maybe that your blog don’t need any SEO optimization? Here’s a free report that you can use to check on your blog’s SEO status.

If you are looking for content optimization techniques, I believe this article will keep you on the right track, The Best SEO Tool For Optimizing Your Website.

Blogging tips #5: Blogging industry is very competitive nowadays. Only those who are really serious in this business will actually grow and be successful.

6. The reality of monetizing a blog or website

I don’t mean to disappoint you but if you think Google Adsense can drive your earning like crazy, then you are wrong. Sorry.

Smaller blogs make money through Google Adsense. Bigger blogs make money through affiliate sales.

I believe I do not need to share with you which blogger is making money through affiliate sales and I certainly know quite a few bloggers who are making not three, not four but at least five digits of affiliate revenue monthly.

You see, I would consider this as the approach of making money blogging followed by different bloggers. Refer below to see on my earnings using one of the affiliate programs I joined:

An example of my affiliate earning using eBay Affiliate Program

From the image above, I could easily be earning more using affiliate sales compared to Google Adsense clicks. Makes sense? Go figure!

Blogging tips #6: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t focus making money with Google Adsense. Instead, focus making money blogging with Google Adsense and affiliate programs as well!

7. Traffic above earnings

Traffic is the source of any blog monetization methods. Boost traffic and blog earnings will follow

Why most bloggers fail and give up within the first 3 months of blogging? This is because most of them have the money sign on their forehead even before getting a stable traffic!

If you have plans on starting a blog to make money, then start thinking how to generate enough traffic first!

Traffic is the core factor which will affect your blog earning. The more traffic you are getting, the better chance of creating a money blog or at least, generating a nice and small income through blogging.

Blogging tip #7: Money blogs are generating money because of traffic and not the other way around.

8. Control the number of advertisement on your blog

Most bloggers does this same mistake over and over again. As a blogger, you want your blog to be content rich and not advertisement rich. If you have in starting a blog, then make sure you control the limits on advertisements on your blog.

The number of advertisements which Google Adsense allow is only 3 per page. This clearly shows that not only Google Adsense acknowledge the importance of the banners, they also value the importance of content quality.

Blogging tips #8: Too many advertisement and banners aren’t good for blogging business. Reduce them and see traffic grow within the next few weeks if not months!

Placing the right advertisement at the right location will increase click rates

Over to you

So, what do you think of these 8 blogging tips?

Like it or hate it?

Tell me all about it and if you have anything under your sleeves that you want to share. Who knows, you maybe be featured in my post as well!

Like this article? Please help me to share using the red button below.
December 21, 2023
Explode, Skyrocket And Increase Website Traffic With Minimum Effort
I bet the title attracts you huh? Pretty sure the title makes you wonder on how I can increase website traffic without much effort right? Nope, this is not a prank and I am not in a business of BS-ing. Carry on reading below to know how you can build website traffic the right way.

I have always been a huge fan when it comes to increasing my website traffic. Personally, I am bored with those conventional methods to increase traffic. I wanted to be different and I wanted more web traffic.

It all happened recently where I decided to write on several reviews especially on blogging tools I used for my writings. You can find the article written here; Top 12 Killer (Must Have) Blogging Tools For Bloggers.

I realized that I could actually gained some exposure through that. Well, I am not talking about writing quality content or doing good backlinks to that article. In fact, I am talking about using social media to boost my website traffic.

Do you know what is the best way to increase web traffic?

Here’s a few facts about increasing website traffic:
- The more publicity you get on social media, the better chances search engines will rank the website
- The more people shares on that particular website or blog post, the better it will rank on search engine result pages
- It is always faster to spread the word with the help of others instead of going in as a lone ranger
Make sense with the above? Think hard if they don’t but I bet they do right?

Write good content even before thinking of increasing website traffic

This is basically the rule I practise, all the time. It doesn’t matter if you want to increase your web traffic or make your site popular, good content is a must.

This is the golden rule guys! Don’t break it.

Simple methods I always use in blogging is to ensure that I have the relevant information, expertise and experience before writing reviews on those blogging tools.

And here’s the juicy part…

How I increase website traffic with minimum (some) effort?

I used to work in a corporate company (in Sales and Operations team) in the past and one thing I learned was, ‘˜If you want something, then ask for it’. For me, this is absolutely relevant in this blogging industry. You may have composed a 1,500 words article that has great content, quality and very information. However, the article is going nowhere if it is not getting the right limelight to shine.

This blogging idea actually struck my mind when I was writing my last article. I realized that everytime I tweet and share an article, only (or at most) 50 of the 900 plus followers I have will actually click on that. In fact, I would consider myself lucky if I would even hit 50 clicks on that. That sucks right? Live with it and that’s what life really is.

Then I thought to myself that it would be absolutely great if I could get others to help me to spread the word. I am not talking of getting services at Fiverr to increase my count. Instead, I am talking about getting not only real people but important figures like the developers to help sharing them on social media.

As a small time blogger, I only have about 900 plus followers, However, look at those famous bloggers and developers. They have thousands of followers. Ask yourself something. Who will create a better ‘˜impact’ when it comes sharing information on social media? You or those developers?

The answer is very clear. They are important figures in the eyes of many compared to us. Things these important figures share will have a better chance of getting more exposure. I am talking about multiple times more exposure than what you can actually gain for Christ’s sake!

Josh from Thirsty Affiliates was more than happy to share my post on Twitter

*Josh, if you are reading this, thank you for that Tweet. Hope you have a good weekend mate!

Did I even mention that Josh is one of the leading guys from Thirsty Affiliates? You know, then guys who turns ugly URL to some beautiful ones? Check it out right here!

Preparation before submitting my articles and blog posts

I wrote several lengthy blog post and I rechecked for their contents. After publishing it for a day, I contacted a few developers and told them that I did a review on their product. Of course, I ended up asking them in a nice way to share it if they liked it. No string attached!

Out of 5 developers and companies I wrote about, 3 responded and they were more than pleased! Two of them told me that they will feature my article either on their websites or share them using social media. That was huge and I thanked them like crazy.

Another company replied by saying that it is not their company policy to do such. However, the management had agreed to offer me a lifetime long discounted rate for their products. In my blogging books, this is moderate huge but for my wallet, it is more than huge! Haha!

What I did when I received those emails from them? I head over to my stats IMMEDIATELY!

I looked at how many traffic I am going to get. Right after the first tweet, I got myself a nice boost of website traffic of 19 views. Not bad at all (I am not greedy yet)!

Stats results within 30 minutes of the first tweet

Traffic improves a little following the next hour

The rest is pretty self explanatory. I received pretty good traffic for that one specific post for the next couple of hours and am pretty sure in the next coming days.

Improve website traffic by thinking out of the box

You see, the above is just an example. This is not only specifically for reviews. Do you know that you can even quote a famous blogger or person and get them to share the post for you?

I am no god or guru when it comes to improving web traffic. However, through experience and many try-an-error methods, things seems to go on smoothly as what planned. At times, website traffic can explode without you expecting and that makes everything even more possible, if you know what I mean.

Now, over to you. Do you have anything in mind to share?

I bet you do and what are you waiting for? Use the form below and share with all of us what you think.

Like this article? Please help me to share using the red button below.
December 21, 2023