Without being “full of it”? Can’t really get you there. Do you mean acting haughty? Please can you offer some explanations?

Hi, thanks for the comment. But note however, that I decided to approve this comment at least for once. Please note that kewywordluv is installed and you can use your name plus your keywords in the name field. Any comment without a personal name will no longer go through approval. Take note!

Hi Jeffrey,

I’ve looked at your auction and compared it with the first one you linked to, the $3.53 a day for 107 Blogs! 🙂

I must say if you’ve read carefully my responses in the post you will agree that I’ve touched everything that has to do with the issues raised. You may not agree with that “product” but what I’ve said in the post is that, to sell a product you should be able to create a market, or a demand for that product. And that is done in your sales copy.

Do you noticed that his auction sold in 2 days while yours, though it remains just a few hours to expire, is yet to reach the reserved price listing?

Ok, it’s clear that, as you earlier said, this is not your market. But I’m one who believes that marketing is everything about succeeding in business. Though you may not agree right now because you have a lot of orders waiting to be fulfilled, you’ll definitely need to market sometime later.

So read this post again. I think you will get some ideas from it. But not minding that, you can decide that later, when you’re making the money big time and wants to increase your market reach, you may have to “dish” out some $2500 for some copy writer to write your sales copy! 🙂

Btw. your last comment has given me an idea for another post. I may just be doing that very soon!

@cane furniture,

Don’t quite get you there. Do you mean these ideas make you think “online money making is a mere fake and it is only for persons who are scamming the web?”

Will love to hear from you so we can get this straight.

@bj @ consumer lists,

It’s really a pleasure that this post resonate with you. Thanks for the comment.

@glue removal,

You are welcome!

@Boca Raton,

It’s a pleasure that the post resonate with you. Thanks for stopping by.

Truth is that the entrepreneur is a dogged personality. Whatever comes, he/she will be ready to push through.

@James Frost,

I’ve never questioned the power of quality content. The point I tried to make clear in the post however is that, writing quality content is not REALLY the key to success. You need to know how to position that content to achieve your purpose. That is why I pointed out that you needed to first define your blogging purpose in the first place and then work to achieve that purpose.

Unfortunately many bloggers really do not have clear-cut purpose for their blogs. When this is the case no matter how much quality content you create you might just end up broke!

Or, what do you think?

Hi Nathalie,

Thanks for your comment.

It’s really not about tactics. Before you talk of tactics you should know what you want and then develop a strategy. Tactics grow out of your strategy.

Hi Lalti,

You’re correct about that. And that is the purpose of this post. If you use the tips in this post you can overcome this problem. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Hi Reji,
I cannot agree with you more. Unfortunately, many business persons today are still locked in the competition mindset. They only see others are “competitors” instead of “collaborators”. Thanks for the comment.

Hi Meenakshi,
There are actually many great places where you can purchase your domain. Do a simple Google search or visit the website I referenced in the post:

http://www.register.com/register-domain-names.rcmx

It’s a pleasure to know that this was helpful. Thanks for the comment Dhaval.

Glad to hear that. Wishing the best.

Hi Yulia,

Really don’t understand what you mean when you say, “how to make some money tomorrow!” I’ve always advised that we treat everything as a business. Making money online is not get quick rich adventure. If you treat this as a business you will want to take some time to make a list of businesses to approach, draw up a plan of how to approach these businesses, what to say when you contact them, etc.

Commit yourself to approach 10 – 15 on your list and you will definitely have one or two respond positively to you. Frankly, even if you’re able to sign up only one client in a month it will more lucrative than creating content on your blog everyday waiting for advertisers to come to you. From what I have seen on the blogosphere many bloggers hardly make any thing for years. But simply doing this can bring in result beyond expectation.

Any way thanks for the comment.

Indeed Google readily rewards you for frequent updates. This is one of the algorithm changes they implemented a couple of years ago called the freshness update. If you see a spike in ranking because of frequent update of your site you shouldn’t surprised.

It’s a pleasure to hear that. Thanks for stopping by.

Hi Mairaj,

It’s a pleasure to have add your voice to the conversation. Thanks for stopping by.

You’re welcome Recomandat(?)

Thanks Arpit for the comment.

There’s actually nothing like enough traffic 🙂 All I will say is keep at it. Test and track what you are doing and when something work for you improve on it!

Thanks for joining in the conversation.

You’re definitely right Liam. Customers now demand more transparency and quick response to their questions. A live chat on your site is a good way to meeting this demand.

Hi Adarsh,

I totally agree with you that improving user’s experience is the way to go. And this is really the focus of the article. Every point raised actually helps you to improve the user’s experience. When you optimize your sites to increase pagespeed score you’re actually improving the user’s experience. No one user loves a website that loads very slow.

The same goes for clean coding. All of these one way or the other helps the user to enjoy your site the more.

Thanks for putting your voice to the discussion.

Hi Faizan,

I totally agree with you. Opimizing images is one other thing I also implement all the time. Thanks for adding your voice!

@vella di, Pinterest is indeed a great traffic driver for brands that knows how to do social media marketing. From what we saw in the first part of this series, Pinterest traffic is more valuable than most of the other social media sites. You can read that post here:

http://www.webincomejournal.com/13013/leveraging-pinterest-for-business.html

@Pankaj, Indeed, promotion tactics is actually the target of my next post which will publish in very soon. On businesses that have problems with Pinterest success, it usually the problem with social media marketing.

Most businesses are actually approach these things the wrong way and then when they don’t see good results they complain. I passionately believe that any business that will implement what we have laid out in this series on Pinterest will definitely see results if they implement them.

@Kristina,

Thanks for the comment. it is a pleasure to have stop by and share your thoughts with us. Hope you make good use of your online writing adventure 😉 Look forward to seeing more or you.

@Harleena Singh,

What a joy to see around! Yes, it’s really been a long time and the changes are just part of the deal to change with the changing times 🙂

I agree with you completely that spending money on Facebook ads when you don’t have a product will amount to wastage of money. Of course, if you have plans to put a product in the market in the new future, you can use this strategy to build a list now and start building the relationship that will pay you later. In that case you can consider your spend on ads now as an investment for the future.

On people moving to G+, I’ve always preferred G+ to facebook but the when you are marketing online you need to consider your target audience. If your target audience are more on facebook moving to G+ because of the new changes is really not a good business decision. This is why finding some ways around these “harsh” changes comes to play. And of course, who knows what Google may be introducing in the new future!

Thanks for the comment and it’s really a pleasure to see you once again!

@Huntington Beach Chiropractor,

You’re definitely correct on that. If you are not ready to put in the sweat you mustn’t expect any good out of email marketing.

Thanks for joining the conversation.

@joue si,

That’s great to hear. Frankly, I’m only trying to practice what I’m preaching! 🙂

Indeed, valuable content is what drives the internet. Make your content valuable and you can be sure of reaping the gains!

Thanks for the comment.

@joue si,

Thanks. It’s a pleasure to see that the post resonate with you.

@Emmanuel,

Frankly, it’s something that has gotten many bloggers thinking. Just earlier today while writing this post I simply did a Google search to see what others are saying about this and you will be surprised. Many bloggers are really concerned. It is truly an evolution and only those who make the proper changes on time will survive it.

Thanks for coming around to put in your voice to the conversation.

@Max,

It’s really a glad thing that this was helpful. This is really a problem that many of us deal with every day of our lives, especially marketing online. I hope you have the discipline to work your checklist.

@Shiv Saroya,

Yeah, Google Authorship is the sure way that Google associate every content on the internet with its author and so claiming your every one of your content through authorship will help you when your content is scrapped. Thanks for the comment.

@Jane Stevens,

Yea, Jane it is this popularity that is helping these social media sites to make huge money with their advertising programs. But where the businesses that are paying for advertising are not making any returns from their investment what do you think these businesses should do?

@Susan Velez,

Yeah! I think Jetpack is one plugin that is really misunderstood by many bloggers. Using it has helped me dish many other plugins and frankly I found it to be “light” considering the many different plugins incorporated into it.

@daksh,

Frankly, profiting from your your social media marketing efforts start with targeting the right persona. Unfortunately, this is the area where many businesses have challenges. From your comment it appears you are really having challenges in this area. I’ll suggest that you look again at what your business is about and use that to figure out the type of people you want to target. There are few questions that you use to do this. Questions like, what is my product or service designed to achieve? Who will benefit with it? What pains are these people really having and how can I present my message to get across to them? Etc.

You can do a Google search for information on how to design a customer persona. Once you have designed one, you can then use the information to create your social media content to appeal to the right people. Once you are able to connect right with the right target group, your social media updates will begin to drive leads and loyal customers for you.

Hope this helped!

Thanks for the comment.

@Kevin Carlton,

LOL! That is what I call real keyword research! You have just given a clear reason why you need some understanding of how to do SEO as webmaster. Leaving that aspect of your online in marketing in the hands of a third party could most times turn out very unpleasant. I have realized that most of the keyword results we are working with are not what the customer is really using to locate us. The best way to get what others are using to locate you is by looking at your website stats.

@ebimablog,

The pleasure is mine. I’ve to do this because I know many bloggers find it really difficult to move their blogs. I’ll appreciate it if you will help promote this post to your friends when they need to move their blogs. Thanks for the comment.

@Amrish,

The keyword planner is designed to work differently but you can still search for “exact match”. Simply enter your keyword and perform the search then from the results page you will see a pencil icon at the right hand corner. Click on it and you can then modify your search either broad, exact match or phrase match.

You can check and let me know!

@Saanvi,

The Easy Privacy Policy plugin is just that, EASY! It helps you add the privacy policy without you struggling to know what to put in the page. Besides, it gives you a page url which you can either add to header or footer of your blog. If your theme has a custom menu that automatically adds the pages, it will also be added automatically.

For Google Analyticator, if you have already added Google Analytics, you don’t need it again. The purpose of the plugin is to help you add Google Analytics and since you have that every added there is no need to for it.

Thanks for stopping by.

@Tom Nardone,

Hmm, must say I’m really amused by this! Since the towers came down never watched, listened or read a news story? That is a tall standard you set yourself. Why I do not agree with you that we’re all on a collision course to hell, I do agree that yes, there are lot of things that are wrong with our society. Besides, if you only stopped listening or watching or reading the news stories since the towers came down, I want to believe that you’re only responding to what must have happened then. And if that’s the case, don’t you think that there is more blessedness in letting go and helping to heal the world?

@Sally Brown,

Thanks for the comment. Niche Site Duel 2.0 is a niche site building challenge being hosted by Pat Flynn of http://www.smartpassiveincome.com. Presently, over a thousand bloggers are participating in that challenge. The purpose is to start a niche site from scratch and then build it up until you start making money with it! All of us will be giving our progress report as we go on.

This is a challenge that most of us are really taking seriously and we hope to see good results not long from now! 🙂

@Ojekunle,

Truly love that piece about, “ease in ease out!” This is one big problem for many. Starting a blog is very easy and abandoning your blogging passion is even much easier! If only most people will realize that it takes time to make money with a blog many more will be successful bloggers.

Thanks for the comment.

@Amrish,

Yea, choosing the right keyword is very important. But i don’t think that choosing a keyword with high volume of search is bad. Actually you should go for such keywords because that is where the traffic is! it’s only the high competition that may be a problem. However, in building niche sites you can beat this by simply picking long tail keywords.

thanks for joining your voice to the conversation.

@Ryan,

I agree with you Ryan. But as you know not everyone is on the social media sites with the same purpose. Of course, with more companies turning to social media for customers these things will continue to happen. But we do hope that they do it the right way.

Thanks for the visit and comment. Appreciate!

@Rajendra,

it’s a pleasure that you found the post useful. Thanks for the visit.

@Vernon Roth,

I agree with you Vermon, investing money in your is a way of showing that you take it real serious. Besides, that investment will give you a reason to make it work for you!

Thanks for the comment.

@Viola Tam,

It’s really a pleasure that you understand perfectly the import of this post. It’s unfortunate that many bloggers start out without really having any plan for their blog. I believe that in a situation where the purpose and plan for the blog is settled ahead of time and the blog is treated that way, success is better assured.

I know that many start their blogs because they just want a place to express their views. They really do not want to make money with their blogs. But these are not the type of bloggers I addressed in this post. If you are here to make money with your blog then treat it as a business. Provide value with your blog but then ensure you are working to achieve that.

Thanks for the comment.

@Iain,

Yeah! Domain name already registered and blog installed. However, I’m still structuring the site, customizing the theme and a few other things. Hope to reveal it at the appropriate time.

Thanks for asking.

@Iain,

Glad to know you are into the niche site duel. Yes, I really have a lot of things in my hands right now but thinking of what one stands to gain both in knowledge, experience and of course the money 🙂 I had to push myself to be part of it. It’s glad to know you have included me in your round up. Thanks so much.

@Babanature,

Great insight. Definitely it takes patience and hard work to make money with a blog. But the problem I’m dealing with are those who still hold a mindset that making money with a blog is a wrong thing or those who are torn between this two opinion. As long as the mind is not working with you on this, there can never be any good returns.

It is good that your moving gradually towards achieving your dreams which is a good thing. Because you are headed the right direction you will definitely get there.

Thanks for joining the conversation.

@Daniel Adetunji,

Yeah Dan, these are not new ideas. They are what most niche site experts use every time. Sharing them is so that those who are new to them can gain something useful and run with them! 🙂 And I’m glad that you have also gained something you can practicalize in your own way.

Thanks for the comment.

@Aasma,

Thanks for the good words. I’m only trying my best to help the community and the best way to do that is share from my experience and not just what others are saying.

@Lisa Niver Rajna,

It’s my pleasure Lisa. It’s really good to know that the post resonate with you. Hope the knowledge benefit you and your business!

@Lara,

I don’t think it is too late already. The contest is just beginning and from what I know so far, Pat has made easy for everyone to be part of it. Of course, if you want to join those who will be working personally with Pat during the challenge, that part has been closed but you can still be part of the challenge by setting up your blog and working on the sidebar! Most of us will be doing just that so you still have the chance if you want to.

Thanks for the comment.

@Fabrizio,

Frankly, whenever I hear of bloggers getting hit by these updates, questions always go through my mind. Where is the problem really coming from? Is it that Google is messing up some where or the problem is from the blogger? This is because bloggers are actually those who create original and fresh content all the time.

But then, we must make the distinction between Google’s war against content farms (Panda) and the war against webspam (Penguin). Though webspam cover a whole lot of things the most prominent is linkspam. And so, in this latest release (Penguin 2.0) while Google is admitting some flaws in the earlier Panda updates (that is the reason for relaxing the panda smack!), which affected some genuine content publishers, the Penguin update is targeting link building tactics that are not “natural.”

it is expected that links should be natural since they are regarded as “votes” of confidence from other webmasters. But where such links, from all indications shows they are not so, then Google’s Penguin hammer will definitely fall.

So, my reasoning (I may be wrong on this) is that bloggers who are hit by the updates may be having this problem of “un-natural” links. This is why in my response to Adrienne above I mentioned her checking the links to her blog and also links from her blog. If you are also having the problem of being hit by the updates, looking into this area is necessary.

About looking into other areas for traffic apart from Google, of course that is a good thing. There are a 101 other traffic sources we must explore. But one thing that is still sure is that search engines are still the most valuable traffic sources any day any time. Getting traffic from Google is not really about Google but search engine traffic. So, overlooking Google entirely is not a good decision. I’ve found this to be true especially as a blogger. We could have traffic from other bloggers who visit our blogs, post comments, connect with us and do other things, but the fact is that most times, this type of traffic is not really “valuable!” You can read a post I did on this sometime ago:

http://webincomejournal.com/7086/traffic-generation-get-it-right.html

Thanks for the valuable comment.

@Theodore Nwangene,

Go to hell indeed!

Personally, I’ve learned to make my own rules. I believe we all have our different reasons for blogging. I’m an entrepreneur those who make those rules knows who they are but ultimately, the end justifies the means!

Thanks for the comment, mate.

@shafeeq,

You’re very correct. Blogging can be really tasking and it demands patience. But as a blogger you can always use your experience in building niche sites that can become passive income streams along the way.

Thanks for the comment.

@Theodore Nwangene,

This really a good analysis of the situation. I personally also believe in the idea of building relationships with other bloggers. But like I mentioned in the post, business relationships goes beyond social connections, You must understand that business networking is not a new thing. It has been an age long concept. But one thing that is sure is that such relationships is aimed at more business.

I advise such relationships but you need the skills to turn those relationships into your own good. In fact, from the beginning you need a plan to make the best use of those relationships.

BTW. Yea, I noticed that for sometime now. It was a result of a plugin. I have taken care of it.

@sapna,

I can’t say how happy I am to hear this from you. Frankly, this is something that has been a pain in heart for some time now. I know there are many who are blogging for fun but most of those people are using free blogging platforms like WordPress.com or blogger. But as some one who entered the blogosphere with the mind of building a business, my interactions have been with bloggers of similar interest. Unfortunately, what I’m seeing around leaves a lot think about.

How can you be paying for webhosting, domain name, one or two premium plugins here and there, autoresponder etc. and then you tell me you are only blogging for fun? No, no, no! Most of those people are only using that as an excuse to cover up their low ends! It makes me mad and I had to talk about it.

Right now, this post has caused a whole lot of debate on one of the groups I posted it on LinkedIn. While those who are entrepreneurial in mind are defending the post others are short of calling me rude for daring to tell them what to do!

Of course, I expected such reactions but I know for many its only a cover up. Deep in their hearts they know some day this post will come back to them as a turning point.

I’m glad for you that you are already working on something. I’m a believer in the fact that when you sow you should reap and enjoy the fruit of your labor. I’m wishing you well.

Thanks for the comment.

@Aman,

That’s great to hear. But I must say I’ve been using some facebook groups for sometime now but have not really had any much success with them. Thanks for the comment.

@Rajkumar Jonnala,

It’s a pleasure to see that you love this post. Thanks for stopping by.

@Matt Wilkie,

I agree with you that these social networking sites are becoming more conscious of their income potentials. But we have to also agree that social media sites have gone beyond just networking with our peers and and colleagues. Since businesses have realized that these sites are big avenue for connecting with possible clients and customers, it is not out of place for the site owners to find ways of making money with their efforts.

While Facebook is always of changing its settings now and then is because they are still trying to find the right setting that will pay them the more. Its a matter of testing and implementing what they test.

Thanks for the comment.

@Denny Mickelson,

Try it and you would be able to attest to its usefulness. Thanks for the comment.

@King,

I agree with you 100%! If you don’t know what the readers want you cannot give it to them and there is no better way to know that than listening to what they saying either in their comments or through their contact with you.

Thanks for the comment.

@Ansh,

That’s surprising to hear. Did you use any of the ideas presented in this post when you tried classified ads? Did you concentrate only on free ads or you did a few paid ones also?

I know that with the volume of ads that those sites get in a day you need to be more targeted and creative with your ads. Any way, hope when you try it again you will have more success this time.

@Sarah Lamb,

The picture is now much clearer! And, I look forward to that Google analytics post because this is one tool I’ve really been trying to understand for my marketing promotions! Apart from the basic things like knowing how many people visited and what the bounce rate is, I really do not know much about reading those results! 🙂

@Rudd,

I agree with you Rudd. When I started hosting sites, I used FTP but since I began blogging I simply use file manager and most times upload files from wordpress dashboard! I don’t really see the need for FTP right now.

@Ansh,

well, Ansh, I think that is a hard way to put it. Ok, they may not be able to get it right for now but there is room for improvement. If they can understand what they are doing wrong and then work to improve nothing is impossible, or don’t you think so?

@Theodore Nwangene,

You are not alone there. It took me about 4 months or so to learn about promotion tactics. Of course, even till this day, I’m discovering new tactics for promoting a blog post. Can you believe that a few posts which I wrote when I started and had not even a single comment then, I recently republished them and they pulled in nothing less than 20 comments? That is just the power of promotion!

Thanks for joining the conversation.

@sapna,

Glad to hear that Sapna.Frankly, if you are not able to settle on what your purpose is from the beginning,getting the best from your efforts will be a problem. In everything I do I always want to get my bearings right so that I do not flounder in my efforts.

Thanks for the comment.

@sapna,

This is really a new concept that we have to watch out for. Only hope Sarah will be kind enough to throw more light on this topic for us!

@Sarah,

Does this have anything to do with the dynamic websites and salespages that are becoming very common these days?

@Ansh,

Yes, inbound marketing is truly a good thing for bloggers especially if you know how to do it and monetize your content. Today bloggers produce a whole lot of content but most of these is not really put to the right use. I hope you will be able to use this information in your blog marketing.

Thanks for stopping by

@Aasma,

You’re right there. Doing all of these will be much easier if you have a plan in place. You can decide this is what I’m going to do but if you don’t have a plan to put that dream into reality, it will amount to nothing.

thanks for the comment.

@TradeXL,

Indeed, the various Google updates are aimed at giving the human searchers content that is not only relevant but fresh. This is where blogs beat other forms of websites. Updating your site constantly will help in this area.

Thanks for the comment.

@bjohn,

Building relationships is really important considering the fact that businesses are today becoming more social than every before. Concentrating only on the money will never help.

Thanks for the comment.

@Theodore Nwangene,

That’s really the truth. Most blogs on the blogosphere today are actually business blogs being used by savvy entrepreneurs to power their online businesses. Setting up only a static site these days is nothing. Only thing you have to be careful if not the blog will take your whole time!

Thanks for the comment.

@Lexi,

That is really the truth. One sure force on the blogosphere is the friendliness and comraderie amongst bloggers. But I must say this is one of the things that is also making it more difficult for many bloggers to make anything.

I must say, I got into blogging as a business and not just about friendship. I know this is hard to say but the truth just need to be said. Now, you will understand that when you begin to treat a business like some social gathering or when friendship now takes over the main aspect of business, making anything from that business becomes a problem.

Most bloggers who I interact have now come to take the friendship aspect of blogging as a bigger part than the business part. But I don’t really know how long they will be able to carry on with that.

For me friendship is not about making some profit so when I build only friends around my business it is going be difficult to sell anything to them. I don’t know if you understand my point here. But the fact, is that when you take blogging to be only about building friendships then you are not really in business. Or don’t you think so?

@Joe Hart,

For sure when you have your own product you can always earn more than selling ads on your blog. But the fact is that not every one who is blogging has a product or will be able to put together a product. If you can find some ways of getting more advertisers to buy ad spots on your blog, I think it is not much of a problem.

Well, I was wondering how affiliate marketing can give one a bad reputation, but then I think your reason is clear. This is why is important that before you promote a product try as much as possible to know what the product is all about. If possible try it out.

Thanks for the comment.

@Theodore Nwangene,

Exactly so. The fact is, when you part with money something in you is touched creating an attachment that will become a motivation. I discover that many bloggers who are quick to quit have not really invested anything into their blogs. Most of them were using nothing but free blogging platforms and free resources. Some do this with the mind of testing the waters before plunging in but if not done well that can really become a problem.

@Matt Smith,

Indeed making a success of a freelancing career demands some creativity. Like they say, practice is what makes perfect. So if you are really interested in freelancing don’t shy away from the idea of coming up with the right topic. Go out there and read more and then practice what you learned. Constantly doing this will definitely improve your skills.

Thanks for the comment

@Theodore Nwangene,

Yea, I completely agree with that reason of being seen as an authority in your field when you create a product. But don’t forget that that authority actually start with your blog content. If on your blog you have not being offering valuable content and you go on to create an info product, no one will take a look because you have not been able to establish that authority in your blog. This is why I advocate that you must start with your blog posts.

No to worry my man, I’ll get across to you. My end has also been hectic.

@Felix Lee,

Well, I think it’s now more easier for many to really believe that email is not dead because content marketers are now pushing it to be one of the tactics you must use if you want to succeed as a content marketer.

Thanks for the comment.

@David Croft,

Do you mean that we shouldn’t sell with our content? I will appreciate your answer.

@Khushal Rao,

That is just so and we must make our content useful to the readers. Thanks for commenting.

@Sue Neal,

It’s really great that you were able to find something you could work with. I have of Flexsqueeze but have not really used it.

I think the beauty of any wordpress theme is the simplicity of customizing it. Many of these theme coders take it that when you have the theme it is ok to use that way but they do not understand that you need to separate yourself from the million other blogs out there.

Thanks for the comment and wishing you a great weekend.

@Matt Hayden,

Hi Matt, you have made a valid point there. I have also observed this. If you notice, apart from Facebook, most of the other social media sites are mainly populated by marketers promoting their wares. You may have thousands of these people as followers but the truth is, they are not there because of you or your product, they are in it for their own gains.

Your target niche really have a lot to do with the traffic from social media sites. Thanks for point this out and for the visit.

@Chimezirim Odimba,

You’ve just hit that loud and clear! In fact, this is one of the things many of us a struggling with – simply copying what someone is doing. Like this issue of networking you raised, I’ve discovered that not even every blogging model needs it.

For example, if you are promoting some network marketing product it is really a good thing to build a large following of fellow bloggers who might turn around to join you seeing the success you are building.

However, if your focus is a product that is a B2C target, you may network with fellow bloggers and see a large following on your blog but no real returns because most of those bloggers are not looking to purchase such a service or product.

So, I really think as a blogger you must understand what your focus is and find the model that suits that market. Like I said, many have come into blogging with the mind of using it to promote a business but along the way they have abandoned their business to concentrate on blogging because of what is involved.

Thanks for joining your voice to this.

@Alex K,

It’s really great to hear that. Would you be kind enough to let me know when the blog goes live?

@sapna,

Then the pleasure is mine! 🙂

@Theodore Nwangene,

Thanks my man. I’ve really thinking about that recent posts of a thing. I think I’ll have to take care of that soon.

@sapna,

Love to hear that Sapna. Like I mentioned in the post I referred, it really depends on what you are after. If your blogging business is making more for you than what you set out to do in the first place, then focusing more on blogging is just the best bet. However, if you are still very much interested in taking blogging as a tool to build your business, you simply need to find a way to do that without your blogging activities becoming a hindrance.

About building relationships and getting to know new friends in the blogosphere, this is really one big area where blogging can help you with your business. This community of friends and followers you create around your blog is what will turn out tomorrow to be a big business for you.

But come to think of it, don’t you think you are more of a graphics artist than a programmer?

@sapna,

I can understand your position there. In fact, a few days ago I wrote about this situation where many who got into blogging as a business marketing tool turned out to focus more on running their blogs than the business.

But anyway, do you now consider yourself a blogger than a programmer? Are you getting more from blogging than your programming business?

@Cudjoe,

You can say that again. It’s really pathetic to see that many online business persons carry in their minds the picture of competition in every thing they do online. I really believe that collaborating with other businesses is the quickest way to getting what you want.

Thanks for the comment.

@candice michelle,

That is simply the truth. Without the traffic you cannot expect to make any useful impact. Thanks for commenting.

@Diane Clark,

Oh it’s good to know that I’m being able to do this very well.

It’s hard as hell to give readers what they want? Yes, it’s really difficult but I think it’s simply about knowing your target audience first of all. When you know what they want and give it to them from your own experience it becomes much easier to achieve your aim.

For example, in your niche you simply need a knowledge of what those who wants to write essay truly want to achieve. Begin with some basic questions and then take it gradually to a higher level. As you focus on writing content that provides answers to those questions, you will be able to provide value to your readers and connecting with you will be a pleasure for them.

Thanks for the comment.

@Dan Sumner,

It’s truly about your target audience. If your blog readers or clients/customers find your content useful then you have truly won with that content. But in a situation where you simply post what you want and not care about what the audience wants, you’ll simply be putting yourself up for failure.

I love that idea of putting yourself in the firing line. I think that makes it much easier for your audience to connect with you as they are able to relate with what you write.

Thanks for commenting.

@sapna,

It’s really great to know that the post resonate with you. I look forward to seeing you put these tips to work. Thanks for the comment.

@Kevin Carlton,

You truly got the vision of this post! 🙂 The internet is nothing but connectivity and collaboration. It’s about give and take. But many people look at it only on what they can take from others. I really think that why blogging is becoming so popular and successful on the net is because it has the spirit of the internet at its heart. It’s really about collaboration and sharing.

Thanks for joining your voice to the conversation.

@Theodore Nwangene,

You can say that again! Frankly, it’s been years of fun and satisfaction. I must say blogging is one great thing where you decide to hold up your head no matter the situation or get sucked in by the current and be drowned. The lessons of life I’ve learned as a blogger are truly more beneficial to me than the financial gains so far. I count them more beneficial because I know they will definitely be of great help to me in life.

I agree with you so much about that wise saying. You are true African teaching great lessons with a few words! May 2013 be great for you!

@Theodore Nwangene,

Oh yes my dear friend. I just wonder what those who advocate posting everyday have to say in their posts if not some of those ramblings you see on most blogs. When I did the 23 days of Christmas inspiration series, I know how much it took me to write those inspiring posts every day. Coming up with something worthwhile in every post is not easy and if you must be a helper then pushing out just your ramblings in the name of blog post is nothing. All the same it all bears down to your readers if they love those ramblings and feel good about them, while not. But if you must add value to the blogosphere, set a good time for your blog and give us something we can work with!

Wishing you all the best in 2013!

@Robert Koenig,

Oh you can say that again. Fact is, many are falling by the wayside even when they clearly see this note there! What do we do man? For me such comments simply get trashed!

But frankly, value is really the king. It has always been no matter what people have thought. People don’t just want content but value and so if anyone says content is king it is simply misunderstanding of the way things work.

Thanks for the comment and pardon me for this late reply!

@Sue Neal,

I must say you have learned so much even when you have not been in the game for long. Must be honest with you many struggle for years without learning anything. Those two, taking it step by step and consistently taking action is just the sure recipe for success online. If you can steadily hit on a particular strategy, tactic or method until you make good success of it and never give up no matter the situation of things, the god of success have no option than hand you the success you desire!

It’s a pleasure reading your comment.

@Sue Neal,

Hi Sue, first apologies for this late reply. Have my hands full of to do list that I’m finding it hard to keep up with things 🙂

I must say you got it right there. Hearing from a readers how your content have been helpful is something that surely gives you the satisfaction that you have not wasted your time. Lately, have been seeing a lot of bloggers simply pushing out content without caring to know what their readers truly want.

I must say may be I’m too fastidious but the truth is that having visited and read different blogs and sites the first paragraph of many articles gives me the idea of what anyone is writing about and if it is something I have read before, that is enough for me to know.

Of course, I know there is nothing we write about that has not been written on but if you must write on that topic, make it unique to your situations and how it will be useful to the reader. Simply changing a few lines and phrases and thinking that you are creating content for people to read is simply a put away!

@candice michelle,

Promoting affiliate products is one of the biggest ways that many bloggers are using to earn some extra income from their blogs. In fact, many do nothing but affiliate marketing and so if you are not yet utilizing it i think it is time to look into it.

Thanks for joining the conversation.

@Adrienne,

I think a whole lot of content publishers truly know this. They must have heard it one way or the other. But the problem is that with the all the information flying around the net many simply lose track of what they should be doing. There is a competition to keep pumping out content without really caring to gauge what impact that content is having on the target audience.

Just as you said, even before I started blogging I knew valuable content is the route to making an impact with your target audience because that was the training I had. When I was doing article marketing, all my articles were “loaded” with benefits and I have always enjoyed big success with that. Most of my articles published in article directories then were picked up by ezine publishers.

I think bloggers as content publishers should really be the ones who should champion this call for valuable content. But if one does not know what it is all about, then championing that cause is out of the game. But like I mentioned in this post, the content publishing and content marketing game is changing and only those who will be prepared to go with the change will see good returns. I don’t know what Google will come with this year, but from all indication, the users experience will continue to be on the top rack!

@candice michelle,

Glad to hear that Candice. Hope Brett would find time to follow up on this! Thanks for the comment.

@Michael Chibuzor,

I agree with you 100%. Affiliate marketing is not really about selling. As an affiliate marketer, you position is that of a friend helping another friend. I simply recommend products or services you know will be of great help to your contact lists. And for them to trust that your recommendations are worth it, there should be that trust element. It is therefore important to build that trust before you recommend any product or service.

However, I will like to say building relationships with your email list is only a subset of content marketing. Content marketing is a whole lot wider than just email marketing.Content marketing comprises of piece of content you will ever create. The value you create in your blog posts, site content, free reports etc. will determine the success you will produce with your email marketing campaigns.

Besides, one other thing that will ensure your email marketing efforts produce the right results, is that any product or service you recommend should be targeted. This means you don’t just recommend any product because you know you will be able to make some good commission from it. It should be something that is related to what the list is about in the first place. So, if you want to use your email list to promote an affiliate product, you should build a list that is related to that product.

@Kumar,

You are right there. Ecommerce is here to stay and there is no way we can ignore the internet any more. Any business that is still staying away from the internet is only sabotaging itself.

Btw. the post is not from me. It’s a guest post by Brett Gold!

@Raplus,

That’s good to know because I can say LinkedIn is really working for me. Thanks for the comment an Happy New Year to you!

@Srinivas,

It’s really my pleasure!

@Krishna Parmar,

Oh that’s great. Must say you were fortunate to have entered for the contest just before it ended! Alright, we are just back from the holidays and hoping to announce the winner very soon. Hope you are one of them! Thanks and wishing you a prosperous 2013.

@Diane Clark,

Rightly said, Diana. In a crowded market place like the internet simply comforming to someone else rules is the worst way to find your voice. It is better to observe very well what others are doing and then find a way of making yourself heard.

Thanks for the comment.

@Theodore Nwangene,

Hmm, that must have been a heat-breaking experience you went through there! The good thing is that you did not allow that experience to put you off your dreams. Today you can really look back and nod your head knowing that you have learned so much from that. It’s also good to note that you made the good decision of moving away from that host. It’s is unfortunate that many of these host do not have good resources to guide against these things happening.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us showing also that this post is really relevant.

@Martin Casper,

Thanks for the comment. It’s really a pleasure to know that you agree with the points raised. Wishing the best of the season.

@Neamat Tawadrous,

Oh thanks Neamat, it’s really a pleasure to have come around. I know the challenges of being new in a field where there are already so many big fishes. But the truth is that all of us are still learning in one way of the other. I sincerely wish you the best of success as you seek to implement what you learn from the blogosphere.

Once again, thanks for visiting.

@Martin Casper,

Hi Martin, I must agree with you there. When I first saw this article that was just my reaction: “this is something everyone must read!” I really do hope that more and more marketers will see this and read it. This is really different from what we have heard about tracking and testing. Kudos to Ruben.

Thanks for the comment.

@Pauline,

Oh thanks Pauline, it’s really great to see you around. Yes, giving back to those who have helped one way or the other is really something worth doing. This may not be much but I do hope those who have entered will benefit with the prizes.

@Sandeep Chaudhary,

Thanks for stopping by and finding time to comment and also enter for the giveaway. Yes, it’s just my little way of saying thank you to all our esteemed readers. Looking forward to seeing you among the winners.

@Theodore Nwangene,

Thanks for the good words. I have always considered the readers as the reason for the success of the blog and saying thank you in my own way is not really too much! All the same I’m glad you in. Really hope you win a slot.

@Kend,

Well said Kend, and that is really what the post has tried to lay out. I’m one who believes that if we will only listen to Google making good points with SEO is nothing really serious. Thanks for the comment.

@Chimezirim Odimba,

Wondering why many are selling those tools when you can get better versions for free? Then you will still have to learn a few things about the internet! Truth is, internet marketing is nothing but finding someone who is too lazy to do something for himself and doing that thing for him while he pays you for it. QED!

Frankly, with a little careful look you can get nearly everything free online. And like you said, over the years I’ve personally concentrated all my keyword research on Google tools. Why go for some monthly packages when Google (the biggest of the search engines and the big daddy of them all) is ready to provide you with data from their own databases? Of course, this may take you a little more time than other tools since those tools have a way of gathering and doing research on different keywords at the same time but if you are not doing SEO as a company or you are running too many searches at the same time, Google tools are just ok.

About SEO for Firefox, I have used it many times, in fact, I’ve it installed, and I can say it is ok. It has a way of giving some deep insights which can be useful.

@herb411,

You are definitely right about setting yourself apart from other affiliates. This is really the biggest secret to affiliate marketing success. I’ve seen many affiliate simply copying the marketing materials provided by the vendor and promoting with those same materials. I think affiliate marketing truly needs some creativity if one wants to succeed with it. Thanks for the comment.

@Raplus,

That is good to know. I can attest to that also that most India bloggers are really addicted to facebook. And for one, they really know how to connect. But have you devoted some time to LinkedIn or Google plus? Or, you have just concentrated on the one that is working for you?

@Salman,

Yes, I agree with there. That is what I really refer to in the post when I said the your target niche matters in this issue. I really think if your business is a b2b business, LinkedIn is really a good choice. LinkedIn membership are truly business minded individuals unlike that of facebook that are more focused on friendship.

Thanks for stopping by and adding your voice to the conversation.

@Theodore Nwangene,

Hmm, that’s really interesting. I’ve heard many people talk about how they are receiving droves of traffic from these social networks but it does appear that these results does not come easy!

I definitely know the importance of targeting your social audiences and updating at just the right time. For that, I’ve tried scheduled updates on twitter but the result was just the same. I must say that because of other things that needed attending to, I really don’t want a system that I will need to spend so much time.

The results I’m receiving from LinkedIn so far has not taken much of my time. I simply submit every new post to the site and most time I really visit the site since the submissions are done using the social buttons of the site!

So, you can see why I truly love LinkedIn. With a little work on my part I’m receiving more traffic than any other social network, can you imagine what will happen when I devote my time to it?

Frankly, I think there is something about LinkedIn membership that many of us have not been able to put our fingers to. This post was really an attempt to unravel that. I do hope someone will be able to let me know, or I’ll definitely look for it!

Thanks for the comment.

@Yeremi Akpan,

Twitter? That beats my imagination. Can you give some more details on what you are doing? Frankly, I’ve tried different strategies but I have seen any worthwhile results. If a comment will not be enough to give details, why don’t you make a post on it! Hey, that’s just an idea for you, yo know 🙂

@Tim Bonner,

The truth is as long as the internet remains a source of information and we rely on search engines to get that information, we will continue to hear of SEO. It’s unfortunate that many content writers are still living in the past by trying to over use keyword phrases in the content.

I agree with you that focusing on quality content should be our first priority. We should write first for the human readers before the search engines. This way, the search engines will reward us for our good works!

Thanks for the comment and I too wish you a wonderful weekend.

@Jack Milgram,

That’s great to hear. I’m really glad that this post resonate with you. Frankly, I will appreciate your mentioning us when you talk about SEO any time and why not, you can do that even now if you will only take a minute or so to share this post with your online friends!

Thanks for visiting and for adding your voice to the conversation. Look forward to seeing more of you!

@Suzanne Day,

I totally agree with you that quality and useful content is the only way to survive any of Google algorithm changes. And frankly, this is what Google is actually looking for. If we all will commit to create only valuable content, Google will not have any reason to bring any more algorithm changes, except those that will improve our experiences!

What do you mean by, new content based on old content? Do you mean re-written content or spun content from old content? If that is what you mean, then of course, you don’t expect such content, no matter how “new” you may term it, to rank compared to the old!

Though I don’t really understand what you term as old original content, but I can say any content that is original, never been published any where before, will do very well any day any time if the right SEO tactics are applied. This is actually the time for originality!

@Veer Modi,

Wow, thanks for that comment! Frankly, I never knew Matt did something about Google’s view on guest blogging. I only did this post after observing what is happening in the market right now. Thanks for pointing this out. I’ve just updated the post with that video with the compliments going to you!

@Christopher Roberts,

You have totally expressed my view on this subject!. No matter what others want to believe, I still maintain that SEO is not going any where, not in the near future. Writing good content is great, but what Google is doing right now is a total endorsement of SEO best practices. Remember Google’s business is nothing but search engine. They are only strengthening this area because they know that’s only way their business can make more impact.

Ignoring SEO because of what is happening is ignoring a good source of free traffic. Like you said, SEO is common sense.

Thanks for joining the conversation and it’s really a pleasure to see you around again.

@erda,

I agree with you erda. Site design also plays a significant role in search rankings as it is one of the factors that determine the experience your site/blog visitors have when they visit. If your site/blog is different to navigate or not easy on the eyes, visitors will quickly click away and your bounce rate will increase giving Google a red flag about your site/blog.

Thanks for the comment.

@Smith Warnes,

That’s great to hear! Guest blogging is truly a great way to build backlinks and drive traffic and it’s good that you were able to achieve all these with your guest posts. Is it too much if ask if you would love to write a guest post for us here? 🙂

Any way, I must say as much as guest blogging has these good points, we must be careful because I’m seeing a scenario that may not be too pleasant in the near future. I’ll soon publish a post on what is wrong with guest blogging in the face of these Google updates.

@Joe Clark,

You are just a few who agreed with me on this issue. I really think that Google is doing a good thing and must therefore be supported. For too long SEOs have bastardized the search engine optimization game but Google is really out now to ensure that its business does not die and in doing that, they are helping all of us.

Thanks for the comment.

@Shalu Sharma,

Yes, for now this tool is a hope for those hit the previous updates. But on the area of too many updates in a short period of time, one can only say that it appears Google is really in a hurry to correct the problem in hand. Too many ‘bad’ SEO is in the market and to correct the situation, these different updates are really necessary. In the past when Google was releasing these updates with years in between, SEOs were quick to uncover loopholes in each of the updates and then push in their own blackhat tactics giving Google a lot of headache. But with these updates pushed into the market in droves, many of them are now confused which I think is much better for all of us.

Thanks for the comment.

@Yeremi Akpan,

I quite understand your point here. But like I mentioned in the post, this issue of negative SEO can really be handled with this tool with ease. Remember, Google made it clear that you can ‘disavow’ a single link or a whole site. When such an issue arise therefore the simple way to go about it is to ‘disavow’ the whole offending site!

Now, consider what the situation would have been if Google has not come up with this tool. Since you are concerned about negative SEO, so if this tool is not there and you got hit, what will you do? How long will it take you to take care of the situation?

So, can you see why this tool, though it is not a solve-it solution, has its own good?

Let’s us encourage Google for the good work it is doing and I’m sure we will see more good in the days to come.

Thanks for the comment and it’s really a pleasure to see you around.

@Smith Warnes,

It’s a pleasure to know that this post resonate with you. Indeed, Google is doing a great job despite the fact that many want to frustrate that good intentions. I’m sure that very soon, webmasters will know the power of this tool and then the web will be the better for it!

Thanks for adding your voice to the conversation.

@Tim Bonner,

I agree with totally. When I first learned of the tool and what others were writing about it, I just thought what is really in the minds of these people? I think Google actually did a great thing by creating this tool especially for those who were hit by the Penguin update. At least, with this not only these people but any other person who may be the target of negative SEO can use the tool to ignore those links.

Thanks for the comment and it’s really a pleasure to see you around again!

@AddieRonald from How to start your own Blog,

Of course, everyone wants that coveted position. But not every one can be there at the same time. Or don’t you think so?

@Link Building Services,

This is what Google is really trying to make us understand with the many updates. SEO is not really a thing that is to be gamed. Do the right thing and the search engines will reward you with high rankings. Thanks for the comment.

@Mohammed Abdullah Khan,

Thanks for congratulating me for ranking at #354 🙂

Frankly, I agree with you that keyword research is necessary to rank high on the SERPs. As you can see on the other two graphics, many of my pages are ranking on the first page with some at #1, #2, #3, #4 and least at #7!

My point in this post was to really know why someone will take the time to browse the results until he gets to #354! That is really what beats me in this post. I was thinking may be you will have some ideas you want to share with us. Or don’t you seeing that you are really good in this SEO of a thing!

Pardon for the late reply.

@Bhushan,

You are right there. I think a freelancer who takes his/her business seriously should be able to respond with ease. Customer service is a big part of business success. Unfortunately, not many freelancers sees themselves as being in business.

On demanding more money along the line, I think in every contract there are terms. Once these terms are agreed upon, both sides are expected to respect them. However, where there is the need to review these terms both sides will of course do well to look into them again.

No freelancer will want to just demand for more pay without any cause. Anyone doing that will only end up failing because clients will understand what he is doing and then stay away from him.

@Recruiting Solutions,

Hey, do you mean, you need not spend or waste your time in installation?

@Bhushan,

I agree with you about self-hosted videos. As much as Bill shows there is so much to gain from that I must say not everyone of us have the capacity to host of own videos. I think turning to sites like Youtube.com can do all of us a greater good.

Thanks for the comment.

@Bhushan,

Thanks Bhushan for the comment. I truly believe that Google is helping all of us to benefit more from the internet. As a content publisher, working within the rules of Google will help you gain more and info seekers, they get just what they are looking for instead of browsing through tons of content without any any hope.

@Adrienne,

Yes, Adrienne. I really think the internet has opened up the space that with a little thinking, you can turn just any idea into a business. And frankly, I see more people taking up ideas like these and turning them into big business.

In fact, I’m even considering a few of them in the new future! 🙂

Thanks for the comment.

@Richard,

I agree with you. During my research I discovered that the problem is not really lack of business idea out there but how much we are ready to put everything into making it work. The internet has truly opened up the space for all of us.

Thanks for the comment.

@Bonnie Smith, It’s mine pleasure!

@Scott Dudley,

I agree with there when you said most of these may be classified as jobs. But what really is a business? You could offer a service as your business model. As long as you are in control of your working hours, you are in business. Truth is you can decide who you want to work with.

@business card

Thanks for the comment but I would have loved it if you let us know why this person spent time clicking to the 354th position!

@neha,

I’m glad to know that the post resonate with you. Thanks for stopping by and adding your voice to the conversation.

@Jess Brown,

Hey, you made some very good points there. Yes, it could right that the person is very inexperienced about using the search engines. But I must say he/she must have really have much patience prowling through that content! 🙂 And about maybe the person was looking for my content I think that sounds really flattering. But if that is true then I must give an award to this person. LOL!

But I really think there was something the person was looking for that he/she did not see in those first pages. What is really baffling me is the patience of clicking from one page to the other when we all agree that people will only spend seconds on a page and if they do not find what they are looking for, they would click the back button!

Ok, this is a rare case, I agree. Thanks for the reply and pardon me for replying this late.

@Bonnie Smith,

Hi Bonnie, well sometimes you need to build up things before you start seeing the results. So if it is not working for now don’t lose heart. Learn more, act more and very soon you will be seeing the results.

Thanks for visiting.

@punta cana,

Yea, it’s true how time flies. You were just a young smart kid, right? Now that his is on top of the world, where are you? Weren’t you able to strike some deals with him?

@Jess Brown,

Thanks for the comment. Well as a newbie to SEO with results like these would you say there is some flaws on the advice from these SEOs?

@Mohammed Abdullah Khan,

The pleasure is mine!

@Mohammed Abdullah Khan,

Good observation there Mohammed. Actually I touched this in detail when I replied to Harleena’s comment which you can read above.

Not to repeat myself, I’m quoting a part of that comment here:

“Now, here is another thing which I did not mention in the post. As a blogger you are commenting using your name in the name section which links back to your site. Now, your name in the comment link has nothing in common with your domain name, keyword-wise, neither are you trying to optimize your blog for the keyword, “Harleena Singh.” While in the commentluv link every of your comment links back to a different post and with different keyword phrases.

You see that you are not in any way going against any of Google terms. But these e-commerce sites do not know this. If you have looked at this blog there are many of them doing this. They put their keyword phrases in the name section and because they do not have commentluv all they are having from this blog as backlinks is that link in the name section. Now, they may be posting valuable comments warranting me to approve their comments, but from these recent happenings from Google’s end I think many of them will come to understand the mistake they are making.”

I hope this answered you question?

@Ehsan Ullah,

Sorry, missed this out. I’m using StatCounter for this particular report.

@Steven Papas,

I agree with you there Steve. I really think bloggers should not be too bothered about what others are trying to set as the rules but concentrate on their blog readers and what goals they want to achieve. Provide usable and quality content and do not focus on too much ads and once your blog readers are ok with that, no problem.

Besides, any reader who thinks your trying to monetize your good works is wrong; that you should give away everything without any reward to you, does not have your good in mind. Such readers are free to go somewhere else where they will get everything for free. At least they say, there is no free lunch, baby! 🙂

Thanks for the comment.

@Make It Mine,

You mean Google updates affected your blog? Frankly, that is something strange to me because understanding the nature of blogs, I believe the different updates Google launched really helped bloggers. I think you will need to rethink what you are doing as a blogger.

If you need any help let me know.

@Suzanne,

Well, I must congratulate you for joining the commentluv family! 🙂 Frankly, I think it’s a great idea. You will only learn how to use it the right way. Btw I don’t see it referenced in your comment. Are you sure it is working ok on your side?

Besides, from what we are discussing on this post, I think installing a blog in your e-commerce site is also a good idea. However, I do hope the blog is not in sub-domain because in that case Google will be seeing the two as separate sites! But linking your name to your blog instead of the main site is also a plus. You can later use the blog to link to your site in the posts this way, link juice you garner from blog comments will also be channeled to the site in your posts.

Thanks for commenting.

@Bhushan,

Indeed, we all do blog commenting with the mind of getting some backlinks with some link juice! Frankly, this problem is not about blog commenting. It is problem that sites that mostly focused on link building without considering the implications are facing.

I’m not removing comments from this blog, those links were only removed because the site owner requested it. Of course, I only approve comments I judge to be ok. On average, I delete about 10 comments every day because I think they are not worth it. You are only seeing those I think have some relations with the post. Even when any comment was mistakenly approved but later I discover it is spammy, I simply delete that comment.

I will continue indeed to encourage more comments on this blog because that is what blogs are for. Without the community in the comment section of a blog that blog is simply dead!

Thanks for the comment.

@Harleena Singh,

Hey, must say the pleasure is mine because frankly, your comment pushed me to do some more thinking and research which resulted in the post. I too have learned from the whole experience!

About your blog losing ranking, I don’t think that will have to do with any penalty. Frankly, if it is Google will simply pull your site from the SERPs and you will notice a drop of organic traffic that is unprecedented. If is only a drop in ranking then you should look into your SEO tactics. You may need to optimize your post more.

Talking about providing valuable information in comments, that is really good on the side of the blog and the readers. But that is not really what Google is looking at. The focus is on the links and the anchor texts. Even when you are providing valuable comments but your links and anchor text are wrong Google will flag your site as being spammy.

Now, here is another thing which I did not mention in the post. As a blogger you are commenting using your name in the name section which links back to your site. Now, your name in the comment link has nothing in common with your domain name, keyword-wise, neither are you trying to optimize your blog for the keyword, “Harleena Singh.” While in the commentluv link every of your comment links back to a different post and with different keyword phrases.

You see that you are not in any way going against any of Google terms. But these e-commerce sites do not know this. If you have looked at this blog there are many of them doing this. They put their keyword phrases in the name section and because they do not have commentluv all they are having from this blog as backlinks is that link in the name section. Now, they may be posting valuable comments warranting me to approve their comments, but from these recent happenings from Google’s end I think many of them will come to understand the mistake they are making. On this blog I have tried to encourage commenters to use both their names@keywords instead of just using their keywords but many don’t want to take this. Well, for me they are the losers at the end. As usual, I love Google for all these I think they are trying to clean up the internet. if these people understand what is happening and take correction now, we will see more valuable and useful content on the net.

Thanks for that note. The problem was actually from my end. I have taken care of it.

@Adrian,

Adrian, I don’t really understand what you mean by introducing a link in a comment has a harming effect? Do you mean posting a link to your site in your comment apart from the link in the name section?

Of course, that will have bad effect if the link is only there as a covert way of getting an unwarranted backlink. If however, the link is to some useful information that builds on the conversation, then it is not really a problem. And, I’m sure Scott Dudley was not referring to such links in comments but links in the name section.

Thanks for your comment.

@Nicholle Olores,

Of course, he was very sure from the beginning what the problem was. From his email he had also approached other blogs that are linking to him and but their responses were not what he expected. I’m sure he only took that approach at the first instant thinking that will get my attention. However, when I approach on a more germane manner, he had to apologize for his own approach.

It’s indeed an experience we have to learn from. Thanks for the comment.

@Harleena Singh,

Thanks for the comment. I had to reply a bit late because your comment has moved me to more critically look into the problem. After taking a look at the site concerned again and also checked some other sources, I have come up with another post that answered the questions you raised. I must say this is a learning experience for us all.

I’ve dealt in detail with your questions in the post and so cannot repeat that here. Why don’t you take a look and see if I have been to answer them satisfactory!

@Patricia Weber,

This is really a peculiar situation as I have never encountered it before now. Yes, sometime ago when running a static website, I did reciprocal links but since starting this blog I’ve always turned down all request for that since I don’t see any good reason for them. Building natural links is more ok with me.

I really hope I can make it to the Networking SuperStars this week. I’ve been working on a new project and most of time is taken up with that. You can attest to that on my appearance on this blog. I think I’ll be one learning more there!

Thanks for the comment.

@Elena Anne,

Thanks Elena. For me it’s really the animation. This taking infographics to another level! I’m sure that very soon we will be seeing more animated infographics on the net. Ok, maybe that is just my prediction, Lol!

Thanks for the comment.

@Simmeon,

Hmm, good try there Simmeon. I can go with you on the 3D connection. And about doing business online that is sure however, more people will be accessing the internet on their mobile devices that if your online business is not mobilized, you will be losing out!

Thanks for the comment.

@Martin Casper,

Oh Martin! More of content in an infographic post? In fact, my comments at the start of the post were rather too long. You were supposed to get the details from the infographic. Any way it does appear that you are for more content than this new craze about speaking in graphics! 🙂

Thanks for stopping by.

@Patricia Weber,

It’s really a long infographic but an interesting one if only you will take the time to digest the message. Thanks for stopping by.

@Vera,

You have a point there Vera. Integrating social media into your blog will drive some quick burst of traffic to your blog but it is SEO optimization that will ensure that the traffic continue over the years.

Thanks for the comment.

@Bhushan,

Ok, Bhushan, I got your point there. I really love that idea of building a house and having a plan for that house. I’ve always referred to building a business as also building a house and for this I quite agree with you! Thanks for the comment and please pardon me for the late reply.

@Website Optimize,

Of course, as they say nothing great comes easy. You definitely need to put in some effort if you want to see good results. Thanks for the comment.

@Patricia Weber,

Great to have you join the conversation. I quite understand your point there. Business plans are important but the question is are they imperative in creating success in your business? Do you really need to write a business plan before you start your business?

@Rick Salas,

You’re welcome!

@Simmeon,

Glad to hear that. Indeed, it is not the business plan that make for great businesses. Great businesses are made of ideas; a product of the heart! How much you are able to transform that idea into something useful will determine how much success you will achieve.

Thanks for the comment.

@Mandy Allen,

Oh what a joy to hear from someone who has tried both ends! Frankly, your experience tells it all and your conclusion? Right on spot 🙂

It’s really about you and not any business plan. Like you pointed out, you may lay out every detail in a plan yet end up with a flop but when it’s in your heart and you follow that, just as pointed out in the post, you will bulldoze your way through every form of obstacle!

Thanks for this insightful comment.

@Kate Brown Wilson,

Ok, Kate I agree with your point there. Yes it is crucial because the benefits are many. And yes, you will encounter a lot of problems before getting it right! Now, that is the point of the whole thing here.

So, the question is, do you need to go through all those problems and get them right before you start your business? Is the business plan your business or it is simply a document to help you with the business?

Can you now understand the point? The text book entrepreneur will tell you, you need it before you start but those who did it counter that. Who do you now follow? Want to answer me?

@Theodore.N,

Glad to hear from you Theodore. Frankly, we simply need to get our priorities right. That’s the point of this post! We are not saying a business plan is not necessary but you don’t need it before you can start your business. Those are classroom theories! The doing is more important than some document!

Thanks for the comment.

@Adrienne,

That exactly is my testimony! I tried to read and study a whole lot of stuff on how to lay out a perfect business plan but try as much as I could, it was all in vain. In my heart I knew what I wanted and how I was going to go about it. I knew the business model that I was going to run but I never draw up a plan.

Yes, a plan is necessary as you go on but that shouldn’t hold you back from starting!

Thanks for joining the conversation.

@Gareth Morgan,

Hmm, I truly understand your point. Some extra cash could be of help but you are concerned with distracting visitors with ads. So what do you intend to do? Stay off making some extra cash to please your blog visitors or find a way of doing it and not causing any distraction?

Now, this is really the point of this posts. I really want our readers to brainstorm some creative ways to overcome this dilemma. You see my point? So, let’s know what you can do to overcome this. For me I’m working on something which I believe all of us can benefit. If you have an answer let’s know it, will you?

@Kate Brown Wilson,

It’s a pleasure!

@business broker,

That’s great to hear! Congratulations to the people of India!

@Mohammed Abdullah Khan,

Hmm, that’s great to hear. But come on, we are talking about making good returns as entrepreneurs and just about seo and traffic generation. In fact, we never inferred that in the post. don’t you think it will be good for you to let us know what you are a blogger or entrepreneur? Will want to hear from you!

@Simmeon,

Hmm, what an insight! Entrepreneurs focuses on Money; Bloggers focuses on People! 🙂

That’s really a good way to put it. But the fact is that entrepreneurs do focus on people because ultimately they know it’s people who matters if you must make a profit. The main difference is what you first mentioned, the mindset. The bloggers mindset is greatly different from that of the entrepreneur.

The blogger, because he is not focusing on making a gain finds it most times difficult to make a sales pitch instead he will want to share and share! Thanks for the comment.

@Holzprofi,

Indeed well said! Really expected some valuable and original comment from you 🙂

@praveen,

Yea, that has always been the mind with which many took to blogging. But now that we are the wiser, it is definite that we put in more seriousness and of course do it as every entrepreneur would!

@Android App Developers,

The pleasure is mine. Thanks for stopping by.

@list of social bookmarking sites,

That is really the trick, getting good images to share with your network and more and more people are getting addicted to the site, or don’t you think so? You sound as if you are already addicted 🙂

@seo birmingham,

What’s confusing about the pinterest? Is it getting the right graphics to post or you just don’t know how to use the network?

@bj,

That’s great to hear! There is always a difference between entrepreneurs blogging and just any other blogger.

Btw. in your response to the post about monetizing blogs, you specifically stated you don’t go for it. Now, considering that fact that many bloggers are entrepreneurs don’t you think such a one will always want to monetize his blog?

@Rick Salas,

Indeed, many quit too early. But it’s just because they have a wrong perception about the whole thing from the beginning. It great to know that this is really helpful!

Thanks for the comment.

@Elena Anne,

I agree with you, the focus shouldn’t really be all about the money you can make. Of course every wise business person knows the importance of providing value first before the financial gains. That really is an extreme.

What we are really concerned with here is those who have the belief that showing casing ads in any form on a blog is wrong! Hey, don’t the blogger deserve some returns? Why do you want the blogger to give to you but you don’t want to give back something?

From your comment I’ll understand that what you want is some moderation, right?

@Asma Khan,

Speaking for myself I must say, I was not really scared of the change. I only stayed away until I’m sure it can help my business. Don’t you think that is why some people are not using Pinterest for now? Or, I think some other possible reason may be the fact that you need to create some good graphic to make any impact on pinterest unlike other social networks that depend on basically text!

Or don’t you think so?

@Amanda,

That’s great. Personally, I’m really finding the site an interesting place. Really good pictures and I’m sure that’s why the place is so addictive for many! 🙂

Thanks for the reply.

@Rick Salas,

Thanks for the reply. It’s really good to know when someone values what you’re doing and will gladly see that you profit from it!

And for those tips of yours, I truly find them useful and that was why I never deleted it. I truly hope someone will read the comment and benefit with it.

Thanks for sharing.

@Simmeon,

I truly believe that any blogger who wants to give value will make sure that he/she does not make his/her blog readers’ experience that of pain. Of course, there are intrusive ads but let’s be frank here, do you read news blogs? How do these sites monetize their sites? Is it not these same ads all over the place? Why don’t abandon them because of the ads?

We are only pushing the ‘small’ bloggers to labor without any gain why these big blogsites continue to rake in the money! 🙂

Let’s learn from them. If you’re in business, run it like a business! This is really my point in asking this question.

About the account, definitely I planning on submitting an article. Just want to get something useful together.

Thanks for the comment.

@Peter,

Hmm, that’s great to hear, really! But why do you feel that bad about ads on a blog? Don’t you think the blogger who spend the time researching and packaging the content for your enjoyment deserve some form of compensation?

Well, I took a look at your blog with the mind of knowing what type of blog you run and was not really surprised that you are using a free hosted blog with not very much content of course. Now think of it, even if you are running a free hosted blog if the information you are providing on the blog is really valuable, will it be wrong for you to make some money from it using ads?

Why should ads on a blog make you feel like the content is not valuable? Really want to hear from you because I will love to be educated on these. That’s why I’m asking these questions. Would you care to clear these things for me?

@ronny,

It’s good to know that you’re great with your blog monetization with ads. As someone who is making money with the system, definitely will not find any problem with others using them on their blogs right? Or, do you have any issues with how others are doing it?

@Adelaide trike tours,

Frankly, it will be very hard to find any internet marketing forum where you will not find any form of spam. The internet marketing niche is biggest when it comes to spam. But if you have not tried the warrior forum, I think you can try it. At least it has more reputation and because of the top level of moderation, it is really the right place where you can find usable information about internet marketing.

Thanks for your comment will be glad to have you around again!

@Bhushan,

It’s great to know ads don’t really irritate you. But can you be more clearer when you said, “Make money blogging with spaces and selling have gotten bad level at this time?”

Of course I want to believe you are referring to selling ad spaces on blogs. But what is bad in it?

@Rick Salas,

Thanks for the good words and also for such a lengthy comment! Though it’s off topic, I’ve decided to approve it hoping that someone will learn something from it.

In a bid to try and bring you to the topic at hand I’ll just want to ask do you have any qualms with monetizing a blog with banner ads? If for example I’ve adsense and banner ads on this site will you find offense with it?

@Patricia Weber,

It’s good to know that though you do not sell ads on your blog you do not have any qualms with those who do. Of course, presently I’m not selling ads on this blog though I look forward to doing that. Why I brought up this topic for discussion is that I’ve had course to interact with other blogging friends who consider it really offensive. They just believe blogs shouldn’t be monetized that way.

I agree with you about the pop-up kind of ads and of course some ads that can really be obstructive in the line of the content. I can understand from your comment that as long as the content is ok, there is really no problems.

Thanks for offering your views for all of us.

@tissue microarray,

Really complex? Of course, every thing need time to master. Just give yourself to it more and more and very soon you will be making waves; 🙂

@love guru,

Thanks for the “definition” love guru! Would you care to let us know if you’re using pinterest right now and how much success you have achieved so far? We will want to know.

@Bhushan,

You’re definitely correct. Successfully using Pinterest to drive traffic demands some creative use of graphic on your site/blog. But I don’t really think you will need to be a great graphic designer before you can use it. All you need is to search online for graphics you can use commercially or freely. As long as you give credit where neccessary, you can always pin these same pictures on pinterest and they will link back to your blog.

Thanks for the great comment!

@Kevin,

That’s just what I’ve found out. Thanks for stopping by and for the comment.

@Michael Chibuzor,

Oh thanks. Love doing this.

@bj,

Thanks BJ. I’m glad to know that this post was helpful in a way. I do hope you will not be disappointed with the use of pinterest!

@Myra Kirbi,

The issue of copyright is really a big problem on pinterest. But this is so because we have become used to just taking any graphic online and using it on our sites.

However, the fact is, if you have been using photo from flickr.com for example on your sites and attributing credits to the owners, doing the same on pinterest is not really a big deal. Or don’t you think so?

@LLB Coaching,

Hmm, I think by your own estimation. But can you give us details why you think so? You know, we all are learning and your opinion may just help some of us. Will you care to give details?

@Bryan,

It’s just the way it goes most times. You hear of a tactic or strategy that can help your business but you really never care not because you don’t want to but for the fact that you may not be really ready for it. Of course, as long as it is something that will be of benefit to you, there is definitely going to a way that providence brings it around to you again.

I believe this is one of those things. Your being reminded of it again shows that it is time for you to explore it further. Will be glad to know if you will run with it this time!

Thanks for the comment.

@Amit Shaw,

Oh what a joy to see you around again mate! Yea, I can understand that as the days goes by we just sort of get more busier because of more commitments.

I’ve read Michael’s posts on your blog and I can say his on this blog are still doing great also. Frankly, among the guest bloggers I have featured on this blog, his posts are only the few that I rarely edit because they simply agree with the standards on this blog!

Thanks for joining the conversation.

@Giovanni Baele,

It’s really great to hear from you and your thoughts really put me to some more thinking. I truly agree with you that you don’t have to quit now because as they say, winners never quit. You must start from somewhere. You may not be there right now but you can still get there if you are ready to learn.

Having said that, Giovanni, I think I’m getting you wrong somewhere. You began by saying, “I do believe that being Self-taught can be one of the biggest advantages to succeed with social media marketing,under one condition and that is, learn from people who do excel in their domain.” Do you mean here that we should learn from those who are already a success in the field or you want us to believe learning on our own is the best? Will appreciate you will expatiate on this.

Thanks for the comment while expecting to hear more from you.

@RC Helicopter for beginner,

Glad to hear that. I do hope you are implementing these strategies right now!

@Scott Dudley,

Thanks for the comment and I’m really glad that the post resonate with you.

Actually, this is my first time of doing an interview. Though I’ve attempted a couple of times before now, but they didn’t really work out. I’m looking forward to doing more in the new future.

I think a podcast that is focused on interviewing guest is really a great idea. But I don’t really have any experience in that! 🙂

@Adrienne,

Yea, I also went WOW! when I heard Michael has done 531 guest posts. Like you said, I have also been blogging for about yrs now and have never done that on my blog! 🙂

I actually think it is the business model kind of a thing. For Michael his model is really working for him and I can also say your commenting strategy is also working for you because right now you are making a great success of your business. So, one has to really consider what he/she wants to accomplish and then seek out a route that help with that.

Thanks for finding the time to comment even when I know it is your celebration time! 🙂

@Jeevan Jacob John,

I’m really glad that the post resonate with you. Even as the games are going on I’m still being impressed by these men and women. It is really a joy seeing them showcasing what they have. I know that as entrepreneurs if we put all of our mind, we also will bask in the euphoria of the same glory! Thanks for the comment.

@Raaj Trambadia,

You’re definitely right. It’s actually a give and take affair! Will check out what you have and who knows, I’m might just away with some free stuff! 🙂

@Loverboy,

You sure of that? Come tell us how many medals is your “a lot!” so that at the end we know if you were correct! 🙂

@Michael Chibuzor,

This is sure a killer and I don’t see any reason they will not enjoy it. Thanks so much for your appearance!

@Kelvin Wealth,

Kelvin, I must appreciate your sincerity. It’s a good thing to know that having passed through that road some time ago, you have decided to go the right way.

I truly wish that every blogger will have such a mind and change. After running this blog for 3 years now, I know that the blogosphere is fast changing.

About pro-bloggers who still indulge in some unwholesome practices, such cannot really be termed as a problogger. All the same, I would have loved if you mention some of those things that these probloggers do. If you can please mention some of the things. I’m really thinking of doing something about this.

Thanks for the comment.

@Liability Insurance,

Yea, indeed we look forward to that. But beyond the winning, it’s really about the togetherness that the games bring to the community of nations. I pray that those who are war will cease hostilities and use the this period to negotiate for peace.

@Bhushan,

Thanks friend. It’s really good to know the post strike a cord with you. Frankly, everyday my eyes and whole being is open to learn from every situation. I have found it to be a real good thing for me because with this I’ve been able to pick up a lot things from every day life situations. I really do hope that our esteemed readers will put these to use.

Once again thanks for the comment.

@Kate Brown Wilson,

I’m glad that this post resonate with you. I truly hope that you’re able to use it for your future endeavours. Thanks for the comment.

@Bhushan,

It’s that part of what’s in it for me that most business bloggers get wrong from the start. Many instead of looking at this from the target audiuence’s angle they only look at it from their own angle. The secret to real success is knowing how to take care of both sides effectively and of course when you are starting out, focusing on your target audience will pay you more.

@Yeremi,

As they say, a good turn deserve another! I agree with you that reciprocating every comment with a visit and a return comment helps build a flourishing community. That’s why on this blog I try as much as possible to return every visit and comment on the blogs of readers. Of course, there are those who have ecommerce sites and therefore a return comment is not possible but still I do visit their sites and see what they have to offer.

Btw. thanks so much for this very insightful post.

@Adrienne,

That’s really what got me thinking when I read that article. I know most of what I’ve learned online, I did mostly from my personal experiences. And like you said, a good number of those trying to teach others these things have no proof that they know better.

For example, I cannot in any way term myself a social media expert. Yes, I know a few things about social media marketing but that doesn’t make me an expert in that field. Whatever I share about social media is nothing but the little knowledge I have about that topic. Setting up a site and wanting to teach people that subject will be highest form of hypocrisy for me.

I also think that most of these academicians who are teaching social media marketing rarely knows the practical applications like the little guys out there who are using these platforms everyday.

For example, I came across a blog a couple of weeks ago and must say I’ve learned so much about facebook from that site that I just wondered how little I really know about Facebook.

All the same, I think Social Media Marketing University have a point about getting the proper education if you really want to achieve good success, but saying self-taught social media marketers should go home is really taking it too far!

@Yeremi Akpan,

That is really interesting. We are really getting somewhere! 🙂 Most bloggers have not realized the community building aspect of blogs. I’m really surprised most times when I see blogs with less than 5 comments and yet the blogger never cares to reply those comments. Indeed, this is something we definitely need to include in the list. Thanks for the insight.

@Simmeon,

Do you really think that our perception of what a bad practice is differ from person to person? Don’t you think that every bad practice being perpetuated by many bloggers today is spoken against by everyone? Is only that this bad guys really don’t care. They are more concerned with their results. To them the end justify the means. But should this really be the case?

@Yeremi Akpan,

Hmm, that is really touching. Many marketers don’t realize the fact that customers are becoming more and more critical with online promotions. Knowing fully that any one can claim to be a guru in any field, many people only use what you are putting out as a yard stick for assessing you.

Thanks for the comment.

@Derek,

I agree with you that a single misspelling may not affect sales in such a high manner. But that was the result of a research. However, a page with more than 3 misspellings will lead me to asking questions.

On misspelt keywords by SEOs, this really happens. In fact, it is a tactic that many of SEOs teach as very effective. I’ve even believed it over the years until I saw this report and it came to my mind that, that tactic is faulty!

Thanks for stopping by and for the comment.

@Bhushan,

Yes, there is no short cut to success, everything requires time, patience and dedication.

Truth is everyone don’t have to agree with me. However, it is clear that except you are ready to give value, your efforts will one day end in vain.

@bj,

Yes, giving the people exactly what they are looking for may be difficult sometimes. But, like you said taking care of the people with your marketing message is neccesary. It means therefore that you just need to know what the people are looking for!

Can you now see the connection?

It’s the most important element when marketing with web content and so even if it is difficult you just can’t ignore it. Now, the good thing is that knowing what your customers wants can be easily determined by implementing a few strategic steps.

In content marketing, this has come to be known as “listening.” And with the increase of online social media “listening” to your customers is becoming really easy if you know what you are doing.

Thanks for the comment.

@Anton Koekemoer,

That’s really interesting but trying to pick up those digital footprints will prove tasking. However,if there is a consensus on what all of us regard as unwholesome and use these criteria, don’t you think that will help?

@Adrienne,

You’re definitely right that not everyone will agree on what is right or wrong when it comes to blogging. Of course, it’s this freedom that many are exploiting right now. However, as in every human relationship, there are etiquetes even when we may have our own ideas of what is right or wrong. I think the blogosphere is maturity to a point where certain standards will stand out as accepted norms.

As for getting this idea in front of everyone, I think that may not be neccesary. What could be done is may be, a group can decide to do this every year and then publish their findings of what bloggers considered as the most unwholesome practices amongst bloggers, just as I’m doing right here 🙂

I know if some popular blog or a group do this, the blogosphere will over flow with the news and other bloggers will talk about it in their posts and by so doing more and more people will come to know of it. Possibly, over time, more and more bloggers will come to know that, doing this or that is not really acceptable to majority of bloggers. And this will help to reduce most of these annoying things that most bloggers are doing today.

Again, I agree with you that spam comments top the list. I’m really surprised that even when GASP is installed which ensures that the blogger visits the site before posting a comment instead of using some software, these spammers will not care to post something reasonable. Just imagine someone coming to a blog with a “ready-made” and then copy and paste without even reading the post! It’s annoying.

But wait, did you say our list will grow over the years? Do you mean by that instead of reducing, these unwholesome practices will definitely increase? But I was thinking if we speak out against them they will somehow reduce. So, you don’t think so?

@futures trading,

It all shows that all of us have challenges but how we handle those challenges matters. Google will rather go back to their drawing boards and see how they can use their market insights rather than give up. And I believe that one tool that Google has given to us which we can actually use to the same is Google Analytics. We can use that tool to understand our market and give more value which in turn will return success for us!

Thanks for the comment.

@sandeep kumar,

Thanks. It’s a pleasure to hear that.

@Simmeon,

I agree with you totally. From what is happening it does appear that from the on-set Apple Inc. set out to create a monopoly that will restrict new entrants to the game. They were very much aware of the ease of copying technology and so they “smartly” registered these patents to keep other from bringing any similar product into the market. But it is clear now that that monopoly will not stand.

@sandeep kumar,

It’s a pleasure that the post resonate with you. Frankly, I try as much possible to give the little I can. I truly do hope that this post will achieve its aim, helping as many as will put the lessons into use.

Thanks for the comment.

@Ehsan,

The gathering of the ideas from various research is what actually took me most of the time. The actual writing took barely hours. But then after completing it I had to keep it away for some days when I occasionally come around to read it over and then put in one or two things here and there. But putting all together, I want to believe it was not more than those 5 days.

@merry,

Of course, as a human resource management student, your communication skills some thing that must taken very seriously. How can you interact or relate intelligently with others if you cannot communicate clearly. I think you are really in a good way to educate us in this area or don’t you think so?

@Emily Williams,

It’s a pleasure to know that the post resonate with you. Are you using social media for selling? Can you share your experience with us?

@Harshad,

It’s funny that you have experienced this yourself! And, I think you rightly figured out what is happening, too many SEOs getting into this game. But beyond that, I also think that those creating low quality guest posts are not really SEOs. They are simply career bloggers who doing those guest blogging services for other companies. For them any form of article is good enough. I spent too many hours trying to re-write some of the guest posts I received because I wanted to encourage some of them but since I did this guest blogging series any article that does not meet my requirements I simply ignore.

Thanks for the comment.

@Christopher Roberts,

Oh, so you have taken that as Google’s darker side? That’s really funny. I did remember that post and of course the comment I made on it. In fact, I’ve just gone over to read it again and must say you don’t have to hate Google for that!

You rightly mentioned that “the story of send” was really a promotional for Google. And like I mentioned in the comment, you don’t have to expose the defective side of your products when you’re marketing. And besides, those defects you tried to point out, are not a strange thing when you talk of technology. There could be failures here and there any time. The only thing is that when that happens, there is room for improvement.

Any way, I’m really fond of Google and I just love what they are doing with their online business. I think what we should do, when we see some good point in those who are successful in their field, to find a way to incorporate those good points in our own operations.

Christopher, I must say I’ve just been considering doing a post for Technology Bloggers, frankly. You know I created an account some time ago but since I’m not really into this technology issues, I’ve not been able to bring myself to doing something in that line. I really want to write an article that will more appeal to the audience there. But not to worry I’m sure I’ll come up with something very soon.

Thanks for the comment.

@Anton Koekemoer,

Me too Anton. That’s why I spend so much time on my blog posts and every other thing about my blog. I always try to go beyond what is others are doing. Sometimes it’s really tasking but I know that ultimately, it will pay off!

It’s a pleasure to see that the post resonate with you. Thanks for joining the conversation.

@Christopher Roberts,

What beats me dry is that most bloggers want to argue that spelling or grammar doesn’t really matter especially since most bloggers do not have English as their first language. This is understandable but as I’ve always let some know, if you have decided to write your blog in English, nothing stops you from learning to use the language well.

But those are really extreme cases because even with those who have English as their first language, many do not care to proof read their work. This is bad. As it’s commonly said, first impression matters. If I come across a site with 2 to 5 errors on a page, I simply conclude that the person behind that site is not serious. And I believe I’m not alone here.

Doing business with someone who cannot ensure that his/her language carries the correct meaning is really taking a risk, especially when it comes to online dealings where, in most cases, every thing is done digitally.

Ok, never knew you are running another competition. Will just check it out.

@Arbaz Khan,

It’s really a pleasure to hear that. Indeed after reading a few of the things being said online, both on blogs, news sites and on Google+, I just thought of putting it together in way that someone hearing it for the first time can really understand it. And the graphics? Truly great! Some of them made me laugh and that’s why I picked these ones to display here.

Thanks for the comment.

@Trixie,

Must agree that these are not good times for Apple Inc. They are really receiving hard knocks for their patent battles. With the ruling that most of those patents shouldn’t have been granted in the first place, it does appear that more and more companies will be aiming to produce products similar to Apple’s which is going to give a tight corner to fight from – I mean competitively!

@Elena Anne,

Well spoken Elena Anne. I know as humans we from time to time let slip one mistake here and there but spending time to re-read and proof-read your articles will remove most of the mistakes. Most times I spend 2 or 3 days on an article. I truly care about the impression I create. 🙂

@thiqar,

And thanks for the comment. Btw. Did you help promote the article? Simple tweet or a share with your linkedin network will be appreciated or don’t you think so?:)

@Jamella Biegel,

It’s a pleasure to see that the post resonate with you and thanks for the good words.

On building a list, I’ll suggest that, as new blogger, the first thing you should really determine is what you want to target. What type of product/service are your eying to promote to your list? Are you thinking of providing a service or product along the way or you’re simply thinking of promoting affiliate products?

It’s when you have decided on this that you can now think of what you will give away to build a list and what type of people to target with your list.

Now, I’m supposing that you must have thought about these things before you started your blog. And if that is so, then I’ll suggest that you go through your published posts, select a few that you can repackage to produce a special report. I’m suggesting this because it is the easiest way to get your free offer ready now!

Once your free offer is ready, signup with any of the email service providers like Aweber or MailChimp and then put up the subscription box on your blog. Of course, building a list and nurturing the list is a volume of its own but if you use these tips you could be up and running in under 3 days. Remember, you should rewrite the articles to reflect your purpose in the report.

Sorry that I can’t really go too deep into details. But if you need more explanations, feel free to contact me.

Thanks for the comment.

@Melanie,

Hmm, I love that line about max out at a certain stage! There is no better option than to have your main hub where you can do what you really want to do. Of course, you know also that these social media sites could decide to pull the carpet from under your feet any thing if they think you are going outside their boundary!

I do hope someone is really listening! 🙂

@Ehsan,

Oh thanks. Must say your entry is really a great post too and seeing I’m entering late I’ll just have to do some extra work! 🙂

Btw. thanks for bringing this to my notice!

@Chris,

Hmm, “but it’s not so easy!” Yes, I agree that it is not easy. But the truth is that nothing great comes easy. What we need is to keep at it and put in all our best. Seeking to know the basics and working to put them to work is really the key to succeed with all of these. Or don’t you think so?

@Romy,

Thanks for coming around to check out my entry. The promotion is already on! Let’s see how it comes out 🙂

@buy seo services,

That is true. A simple mistake could change the meaning of the sentence. Thanks for the comment.

@Ehsan,

I like that angle Ehsan. I know that many bloggers will not really care if there are mistakes on your blog or not. However, let’s say you are blogger who promotes yourself as a freelance content writer. When someone comes to your blog and on a single post, there nothing less than 4 noticeable misspellings. What impression do you think that person will have of you? Or do you think it really does not matter?

Oh, it was really a pleasure. Must say you have a great blog there and I’ll definitely be visiting more.

@m, you’re definitely right. We are setting this to ensure that the blog have a more structured direction in the days to come. Thanks for the comment.

@bj,

Exactly bj. The purpose is to make sure all of us have a better view of what is happening here and to keep up with things. Thanks for the comment.

@Benaiah Marshall,

I agree with you Benaiah. In fact whenever there is a new update I always wait, say two to three days before updating. I think it sometimes pay to take the necessary precautions.

@Raheel Mushtaq,

That really is what I have always said. The unfortunate thing is that not many people know what Google truly wants. That is why posts like this one are very helpful. Thanks for the comment.

@Restaurants in Delhi,

Your fears are also the fears of many. We know that this is not the first time Google is doing this but these big companies have always find a way around it. The difference this time is that Google is hitting them where they never expected. In fact, Google used human editors to manually removed some of the link building networks!

I think Google is sending the message loud and clear to all that they will go any length to sanitize the system.

Thanks for the comment.