Getting Traffic To A Niche Blog

How do I get traffic to my blog is a frequently asked question in the forums
And whenever I see this question I think, even a blog post is not sufficient to cover the various methods of getting traffic to a niche blog or website. It's just too big a topic

But this picture may help towards answering the question

Outbound Links And Search Engine Optimization

Somewhere along the line someone came up with the idea that outbound links i.e. links pointing out of your blog or website to another website, can significantly boost your search engine optimization. And like all SEO tips it caught on like wild fire. And a lot of webmasters and bloggers wrote articles on the types of sites you should be linking to in order to maximize this SEO boost.

And there was the suggestion that if your site links out to an authority site like Wikipedia, it will help your SEO.

Hmmm. Does not sound very credible to me.

Having outbound links can be beneficial, don't get me wrong. It's just that there is no evidence that doing this in itself has an inherent search engine optimization effect.

A couple of benefits of linking out include

Natural linking. We have said time and time again that Google looks for natural linking patterns in websites. And most websites will have links pointing in, and links pointing out. So yes for this purpose it makes sense to have some outbound links. And if you have to, then linking to authority sites like Wikipedia which has good content for your readers makes sense

Visitor trust. Your visitors are likely to keep coming back o you if the websites you recommend to them have quality content that helps them. It's the whole physiology behind the Google search engine. No reason not to apply it on your web pages.

Reciprocal link. Reciprocal linking is something that I really do not seek out simply because one way links have more SEO boost than a reciprocal link from the same page. But reciprocal links are better than none. There is the possibility of the webmaster of a page you link to lining back to you in their blog roll or another article. Does not happen often but from time to time blog owners will link back to a reference made to them on another site

So yes outbound links have there purpose on any niche marketing website or blog.

But the suggestion that outbound links give an SEO boost or advantage, to my mind needs a little more evidence

Content, Best On Page SEO

In a post on search engine optimization which I think I put up two days ago, I talked a lot about backlinks for SEO. In fact I think the post yesterday was also on some aspect of getting backlinks to help your search engine optimization efforts.

But On page optimization matters and it matters a great deal. So do not neglect your on page SEO

When you talk about on page search engine optimization, people start talking about title tags and headers and keyword density, which is all well and good

But the most important aspect of your on page search engine optimization efforts, in my opinion, should be content.

In another post we have talked about volume of content and all that but here I want to talk about the quality of your content.

• Does you post or website deliver what the title suggests
• Does it speak to your readers
  
• Are your readers likely to come back based on their satisfaction with this one post.

You have to start writing content for people not for the search engines.

Someone said the search engine is an algorithm, a robot, and no robot is going to make a purchase from your site or opt in to your email list.
People however do make purchases, and click on adsense ads and occasionally some even give you their email address so you can contact them again and again.

It is the content on your pages that will compel them to reach into their pockets.

You are probably thinking that what we have discussed so far has more to do with conversions than with search engine optimization

But hang on a minute
Google aims to deliver accurate, relevant and useful content to their search engine users
You aim to deliver useful, relevant, accurate and current information to your website users.

Looks like you and Google are trying to achieve the same thing

It stands to reason then that if you are writing with quality in mind, you'll be delivering the kind of content that Google wants to deliver to it's audience

Think about it

Get Backlinks From Statistics Websites

So for those who are really desperate for backlinks, there is a relatively simple method of getting backlinks from statistics websites.

Statistics websites are sites that show some statistical information about other websites e.g. alexa, websiteoutlook, jinxsun, etc

They show information like traffic, backlinks, value of website. The information is not always accurate and two of these sites can have absolutely different figures for the same site. For example the value of this blog is $9767.4 on websiteoutlook and $48581 in strategicfirst [heavens knows where the point four came from]. So for statistical analysis the information is to be taken with a shovel full of salt. However each of these sites has a backlink to the site being analyzed. Hmmm.

Unfortunately for the majority, the backlinks are no follow but a few have do follow

So how would you use these links?

Indexing. remember we said that to get indexed, it does not matter whether the links to your site are do follow or no follow The Google bot can crawl these links, it's just they only give SEO weight to do follow links. [See Do follow, what exactly is do follow]

So if you have a website that is new and you want the Google bots to discover, then these links from statistics websites could be useful.

Problem is the process could be time consuming if this is done manually.

Solution - an free online script that does it all for you. The site is http://www.freesitescripts.com

Check it out
Till next time

Changes In Google Webmaster tools

I recently logged into my Google webmaster tools account and found things have changed a little and for the better.

By the way I think every niche marketer should have a webmaster tools account. it's free and gives you a lot of information about how Google sees your website

Recently though Google has added a great feature to the analytics aspect of webmasters tools

Previously it showed us the keyword that our sites appear in the top 100 for. and in a separate column showed us the keywords sending traffic to our websites. This alone is very useful information

But Google has amalgamated this and improved it
Now you have a table showing the keywords your website has impressions for and the click through rate. This is excellent research information for improving your search engine optimization efforts.

If you do not have a Google webmaster tools account, drop everything and sign up for one NOW. it will help you manage your websites better

Till next time

Search Engine Optimization Everyday

Getting a number one ranking and staying there for a relevant and lucrative keyword in Google is not going to be easy but it is possible.

It is why you need a strategy that works when doing SEO for your website.
It's about creating a system that you work at everyday and only vary from when you find a better method

Emphasis on everyday

You could decide to focus on article marketing and directory submissions for example. I am not saying you must do this, the methods you choose are totally up to you, as long as they help create long term, anchor text, do follow backlinks to your site.

For the example above, you could opt to do directory submissions for 30 minutes to an hour every day and create and submit articles for at least two hours every day.

Lets talk a little more about directory submissions. Initially you will find that in half an hour you may only be able to post to 15 directories. But you'll find that as you get more experience with this, you'll get faster at it. or you may find a free software that semi-automates the process for you.
So initially you were looking at 15 directories a day and by the end of a few weeks you could be submitting to 60 directories a day.

You'll find that not all the directories will approve you links and some of them will turn out to be no follow or close down after a period of time. It's why you are going for a lot of volume with this method of generating backlinks

Regarding articles, this needs a little more time.

The articles will be

• articles for your website
  
• articles for your blog and
  
• articles to syndicate via article directories.
  

Obviously the quality of the content has to be great so it takes a little more time. Again the more you do this, the more articles you will be able to write in the time allotted. Initially it took me two hours to write a decent article. Now I put them out in 15 minutes.

Once you have a system in place, the periods of sitting in front of the PC not knowing what to do next are gone. You have a plan, a solid plan that should last you the rest of your niche marketing career. Because if the system works you can apply it to your next website or blog or both and the one after that, etc

I said if the system works. For any system to be invested in, you need to test the system and make sure it is giving you the desired results if not better.


The problem with SEO is the results are not immediate when it comes to changes in your website's search engine results page position.
You can however

• Do some backlink analysis to see if these links you have created are being indexed.
  
• Do some traffic analysis to see if they are bringing you direct traffic.

Analyze the system and see what is working and what isn't. You may find that you need to change the directory you are submitting to, or alter the call to action message in your biobox.

Whatever it is that you are doing in the system you develop, do it everyday and analyze and tweak

Till next time

Make Money With Adsense. One Website or Many

Adsense is a favorite topic of mine and when I visit the forums I tend to gravitate towards the adsense subforums.

A recurring question in adsense forums is 'Which is better, make one big site and monetize with adsense or make several niche sites?'

And it's a valid question.
The answer however depends on who is asking the question

So if you are a newbie to making money with adsense and you asked the question 'One website or many?' the answer would be start with one website. And I have a few reasons for this

Learning curve. Have you noticed in the forums there are a lot of people making next to nothing with adsense? These people are not particularly dull or lazy. They are just evidence that it takes some work and know how to start making a significant income with adsense. Yes, there is a learning curve with adsense. Problem is as newbies we throw all these sites up, slap some adsense code on the website and then hope for the money to roll in. But if you are making anything more than a couple of dollars a day with adsense, you will know it takes more than this.

So to the newbie I say build one niche website, put content on it, get traffic to it, learn the skills it takes to make money from adsense with the website before making more sites.

Content generation. The newbie is often not in a position to pay a large amount of money for unique content to put on your website. So that means you have to generate your content yourself.

And believe me, content generation is hard work and time consuming. This naturally limits how much content you can generate a day. So I advice focusing all that creativity on one website and get that to profitability instead of spreading yourself too thin across lots of websites

Getting traffic. Not the easiest task in the world. Getting traffic, significant amounts of traffic to a website that will result in a respectable income from adsense, is no mean task. Gone are the days when you just had to build the website and they came. Now you have to build backlinks, do some social networking, perhaps joint ventures, and then there are press releases. Loads of activities involved in getting traffic to this one site. So as the newbie, again focusing your efforts on your one adsense site makes more sense than building a ton of sites

I read a forum post by someone aiming to make 300 adsense monetized blogs.

Hmmm.

The premise is that each site can make about a dollar a day and ... lets just stop there a second. A dollar a day with a blog that you have put minimal effort into getting traffic to... not likely

For the seasoned internet marketer who has a the money to invest, the answer to the question 'one website or many websites to make money with adsense' is many websites. But by many I mean a dozen not a hundred.

Why the different response?

Because of the power of outsourcing. The wonderful thing about making money with adsense on your website is virtually every aspect of the process can be outsourced.

And if you have been marketing online for a while, you will have figured out what works and what doesn't with regards to adsense.

And because you now know what works, you can spend money outsourcing some of the tasks. Outsourcing allows you to effectively run multiple sites simultaneously but the key still remains knowing what to outsource and to whom

Update Multiple Social Network Profiles with One Click

Social networking is an essential part of marketing on the internet. But for social networking to work for your business, you really have got to be seen to be participating in these communities.

If you are anything like me, you probably belong to a handful of social networking sites and do not have the time to go to each one to post an update.

A stagnant social networking profile does nothing for your reputation. Problem is with so many other things to do, one soon loses track

There is a tool I have been using for a while now to help make things easier.
It allows you to post to all your social networking profiles with one click.

Admittedly all the sites will display the same message but it does keep your profile active.

And if your update contains a link then you could get up to 42 different sites that the link is posted to. Not a bad thing

The tool is http://ping.fm

Anyone following me on twitter will notice that some of my updates are via ping.fm

It's a free service and really user friendly.
There are 42 social networking sites that you can update from your ping dashboard. You do have to be registered with each of these social networking sites and ping.fm will ask for your log in details, stands to reason really.

And you'll find that you may already be a member of the social networking sites updated via ping.fm

the current list includes facebook, twitter, linkedIn, friendfeed, diigo, Hootsuite, Flickr, Posterous, Vox and more

So if you want the ability to update all your social networking profiles with one click, check out ping.fm

Enable Blog Comments Or Disable Blog Comments

Blog comments and if you should enable or disable comments on your blog is one of those questions that triggers a lot of answers for both sides in the forums

Looking at blogs on the internet, it's interesting to see that the blogs that seem to have the most success all have comments enabled. They encourage you the reader to post comments on their blog

Yes we all know the major problem with enabling blog comments. Spam

Just too many people trying to get quick and easy backlinks to their sites by posting comments on every blog they come across. It would not be so bad if the comments had any relevance to what the post is discussing or if the user names were not so...spammy

And as bloggers we could implement comment moderation to keep the spam out

But if you are like me, you probably have a bunch of blogs in different niches and moderating them all could fast become a full time job.

So yes, it's understandable why some of you are reluctant to enable comments on your blogs

BUT

All my blogs have comments enabled. I'll give you a few reasons why I have comments on my blogs

• Good source of content. Some comments do truly ad to the conversation and give some valuable information to your readers. Even if the comment does not agree with what the stance I am taking in the post, it gives another view on the subject. And there is the search engine value of the added content
• Good source of ideas. I wrote a blog post recently and someone asked how does he achieve some other thing with his blog. Hmmm, hang on a minute, he just gave me an idea for my next blog post
• Reader participation. I like visiting blogs that are interested in my point of view. Call me egoistic or whatever but I like to voice my opinion. I also tend to go back to blogs where the author has responded to my comment. If it works on me, I am certain it will work on other blog readers. it's about being made to feel like you are a valued part of the blogs audience.

So to answer the question 'should you enable comments on your blog?' I would say definitely yes

Website Load Speed And Google Search Position

Search engine optimization can be a real pain. Mainly because of the ever changing algorithms of Google. I know a lot of people say there are other search engines but as long as Google has the lions share of search engine users, the smart niche marketer will try to get some of this traffic.

So we tend to be a little obsessed with SEO, especially SEO for Google. And although they never reveal their algorithm, we guess at the components based on experience.

And it looks like another change is coming soon according to this post.

The change is that the speed with which your website loads will be factored in to where it appears in the search engine result pages for your keywords

Makes sense really as Google's aim is to deliver relevant, accurate results for queries and at the convenience of the web user.
We all know how irritating it is when you click on a website and it takes...forever for the oage to load.

So how does this affect you the affiliate marketer.

You have got to do what it takes to reduce your websites load time.

A few things you can do to reduce page load time are

• Images. They look great and can help the user experience but do not go overboard with images. Also if you have a few images on one page, consider combining them into fewer images perhaps by using a photo editor to merge them.
• HTML. Try and keep your code as clean as possible. Avoid unnecessary code or broken code. These just slow things down
• I frames and redirects. If it's not necessary, avoid I frames and redirects. They just slow things down a little.
• Music. Some of you like to have a tune playing when someone loads your website. While it may appeal to some of your visitors, it is another drain on the speed with which your website loads

These are just a few tips but a search on the web will reveal a ton more

Till next time

Backlinks and IP Diversity

So a lot of you are busy building backlinks to improve your SEO, but how many of those links actually do count. There is the concept of IP diversity which I first came across a few years ago, but judging from the forums a lot of people are not paying attention to this.

The basics of backlinks and IP diversity is this.

Aim to get backlinks from websites with different IP addresses. Simple.
Getting several links from the same IP address is not SEO effective, they all count as one link

And you probably know this and are careful to only generate one link from a website to yours

It becomes a little tricky though when many websites in a wide variety of niches share the same IP address.

For example, Ning websites. There are, I am sure, thousands of Ning sites out their but there is no IP diversity with Ning sites. So getting backlinks from a hundred different Ning sites is ... Not SEO effective.

You are probably thinking 'What about article marketing?'

Any regular reader of this blog knows I am a huge fan of article marketing especially ezinearticles. 'But if I am submitting all my articles to ezinearticles does IP diversity not affect this?'

The thing about article marketing sites is you are hoping to syndicate those articles to other websites. The aim with ezinearticles is to have other webmasters take your articles including your biobox with your link and post these articles on their sites. That's where you get the IP diversity from with marketing through ezinearticles.

Obviously, if your articles suck so badly that no-one republishes them on their website, then yes, if you are using just one article directory then your hundred backlinks from a hundred articles has the power of exactly ..one

So take the time to check the IP addresses of the sites you are getting your backlinks from especially if you are using a footprint to build links.

To check the IP of a site, just do a Google search for 'check website IP' and a lot of options pop up

Also you can assess the backlinks that your website already has to ensure that there is link diversity in two clicks

Use SEO elite to analyze the backlinks to your website. SEO elite gives the IP addresses of all the sites it finds that are linking back to the webpage you specified. It's quite easy to see therefore if your backlinks are all valid and from different IPs or not