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!

@cane furniture,

Except one or two software I use for daily planing I don’t really use goal setting software. I’m sure if you do a search on Google you will be able to found some useful ones. When you find one simply do another search for reviews. I hope that will help.

@cane furniture,

And that is why we must determine to be different. Let’s learn these lessons from Rev. King and be a blessing to the world!

@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.

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.

@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.

@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! 🙂

@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.

@Fabrizio,

From the report on Pat Flynn’s blog, thousands really took this challenge up. To me, it’s really an opportunity to up my game! I know many, like you are doing this niche of a thing for the first time, but from my experience people like you are more open to implement the lessons that will be learned! For someone who has done this before, I have my own style of setting my up but I’m looking forward to learn a few new ideas. I only hope that my knowledge will not debar me from seeing most of the good points that will come of this! 🙂

I look to seeing how you are progressing also. I’m doing a series that will also help me stay focused. You can also them you will learn a few things from them.

Have you been able to pick a keyword for your niche?

@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.

@Theodore Nwangene,

It’s really great that you love this post. I do this every time I want to build a new niche site. It’s a simple strategy that when used properly can become a gem. About paid and free tools, I totally agree that they make things faster especially if you want to do a whole lot of niche sites in a matter of time. I only mentioned these tools in the post because I’ve heard many talk about them as if it is these tools that does the work for you. If you have these tools but have no idea of the basics as I laid it out here, there will be problem using the tools.

The Spyful.com tool I mentioned in the post also has a paid version but with the free version I think any one can get real good information for building niche sites.

Thanks for the comment my man. Hope you are set to put up your niche site for the Niche Site Duel 2.0?

@Aasma,

You’re right on point, Aasma! Providing the right content is what brings success. The problem is that most people think becoming an expert is a big deal but the truth is that with a little research and knowing how to create your own content from what you have seen online, you can become another expert in the subject. Like Squidoo would say, every one is an expert! 🙂

Thanks for the comment.

@Theodore Nwangene,

Yeah, I truly look forward to seeing some good results. I’m pushing myself to see that I stay up with the challenge! 🙂

@Karina,

Well, Penguin 2.0 is already here and we don’t have to prepared for it now! If you have not done what is right before now, you definitely will be hit. That is ugly truth! We all don’t have to be on the same page on this, but one time that is sure is that Google is doing a good thing for the web. Cleaning up the webspace is helping us to get more useful content right now. A few years ago, a whole lot of programs were released into the market which does nothing but scrap the internet for content and then post those content online for all of us. Most times when you use the search engines the type of content you are presented with makes one really angry. But all that is changing now.

I believe what we need is co-operate with Google on this or don’t you think so?

@Adrienne,

I can understand your position here. Even Matt acknowledged this in the video. This is one of the reasons why in the new update it’s more about link building (webspam) rather than content (panda). They realized that the panda update affected a whole lot of innocent people while most content farms were minimally affected.

Indeed, it is clear that Google is using programs that could also make “mistakes” but for me I think Google is really trying in its bid to rid the internet of webspam. There is so much of it out there that, if not for Google’s efforts, we don’t know where we would have been right now.

It’s really said that you were hit in the last update. But since you’re very sure that the problem is not from your end, it will be a good thing to look into the sites that are linking to you. One big thing that Google is taking into consideration right now is “relevancy.” If there is too much links from un-related sites, Google could interpret that to be a “manipulative” attempt on the side of a webmaster.

I’ve always noticed that any time Google releases a new update, my blog gets a little push up the SERPs! Well, I’m still waiting to see what will come out of this latest update.

Thanks for the comment.

@Oluwaseun Babajide,

I agree with you, no one is perfect! We’re all learning in one way or the other. What we must not forget in our learning is that there is so much advice online. It is our responsibility to choose what to work with. Thanks for the comment.

@sapna,

Thanks so much for the mention. I tried making a comment on the post but then the site returned a 500 server error. I will try and do that again.

@Ryan Biddulph,

You have made this real clear enough. I’ve always wondered what is going on when a spike of traffic and yet nothing is happening in terms of ROI. Of course, money is not the only thing but like I said, if we are in business then every relationship should be handled in that light.

I quite agree that social media traffic is one that any business should aim for especially in these days. I also did a post sometime ago on how to combine SEO and social media sites for traffic generation.

Thanks for the comment.

@sapna,

That is a great idea. I’ll definitely look around if I can get one and when I do, I’ll make that another post. Thanks for the comment.

@Susan Harjehausen,

Its really glad to hear from people like you. Yes, this post was really intended for entrepreneurs who are blogging and not anyone who is playing around in the name of blogging. Every entrepreneur has an eye for ROI if it is not there then something has to be done. And that is why this post.

I’m glad that the post is really a wake up call for you. Thanks for the comment.

@John Barton,

You will be surprised the kind of dust this post has created on LinkedIn! Many are short of eating me raw for having the audacity to want to dictate what blogging should be.

Of course, I do agree with them that many blog for different reasons which I made clear in the post but these people wouldn’t accept it that if you spend so much time on your blog then it is also a wise thing to get something out of it. It’s really unfortunate but my joy is that there are people like you who understand these things. We are entreperneurs and no matter what, we want some returns for our inputs.

Thanks for the comment.

@William Jones,

Thanks for the comment. It’s nice to know the post resonate with you.

@Theodore Nwangene,

You are right on spot my man. Chinua Achebe has impacted most of us in a very special well. I’ve read not less than 5 of his works and he really never cease to fascinate me with his insight. Thanks for coming around to put in your piece.

Happy Easter and looking forward to hearing from you again.

@Adrienne,

I quite agree that the free classifieds can really be frustrating sometimes considering the number of ads that get posted each day. But not minding that I can testify that I’ve had some success even with free classified. May be the sites you are using also matters. If the site allows graphics, your choice of graphic will tell how much you get from it.

Thanks for letting us into your experience.

@Aasma,

It’s glad to know that this post resonate with you. Frankly, I testing this out and so far the results have been encouraging. I think why many people have overlooked classifieds is the fact that there are thousands of ads most times in a free classified site. But if you know how to target your ads and how to craft catchy headlines, you can make great impact with your ads.

Thanks for the comment.

@sarah,

Ok, that makes things a little clearer. But is there a particular software for building agile websites? That is, one to make things easier? And if you are using wordpress how easy can this be?

Btw. I’ve made your link “dofollow!”

@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

@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.

@sapna,

I agree with you there. i also advise business persons who wants to get into blogging because of the gains to get some career bloggers to help out if the money is there. Running a business and managing a blog is not really easy.

Thanks for the comment.

Btw. keep on giving us those funny and insightful infographic posts of yours! 🙂

@David Tucker,

You get the idea very clear indeed! It’s simply about you taking your blog readers as “customer” and as they say, the customer is king. Your part therefore is to package your content is such a way that the “customer’ is the king is satisfied with what you are offering.

Thanks for the comment.

@Tim Bonner,

I really like your angle there: building relationships with your blog. I am sure that many bloggers will say this is one of the things they do on their blogs. But come to think of it, did you start the blog simply because you want to build a community? I mean, is the community the be all of the blog? Is the community you are building a means to an end?

Now, whether the community is the main focus or it is just a means to an end, I will say you are definitely treating your posts as products even when you do not mean to. I’m sure in every post, you definitely want to give something that your readers will read and come out saying,WOW, you’ve just made my day!

Even when they did not pay to have access to that post, but you have just given them what they truly wanted. Approaching your posts as products don’t really mean you will want give them something that answers the all time question: what’s in it for me! Fact is, it is when you take your post as a product (which if the need arises they will be willing to give their money for it) that your post can go beyond the average in the community.

@Katerina,

Well, I cannot really say if that is true but from experience it does appear that clients that are targeted in b2b settings are more in the know about email marketing and therefore better equipped to handle issues with maturity. That not withstanding, with more people getting involved in buying stuff online, b2c customers will readily be open to email marketing.

Thanks for the comment.

@Joe Hart,

You made a valid point there. In these days when we are bombarded with so much information of every side, knowing when to send your email messages is important. Post too often and you risk too many unsubcriptions. Post too less and you risk your subscribers forgetting about you.

@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.

@Mohammad ismail,

Thanks Mohammad. It’s really a pleasure to know that this blog has given you something worthwhile. Just knowing that your visit was not a waste of time gives me great pleasure. Looking forward to seeing more of you!

@George Nieves,

It’s really great to hear those good words 🙂 Yea, they are music to my ears but most importantly it is good to know that the little effort is making good impact. Thanks for connecting.

I must say also that you have a good way of expression and what you aim to do on your blog is something worth emulating. To be a guide for those who are lost in this internet jungle is worth a hug! Looking forward to seeing more of your.

@bjohn,

I truly see more and more useful content on the net. I think the time when you could just put up some lifeless site and post some piece of content hoping for the traffic to flow in is gone. Thanks for the comment.

@Sai Kumar,

I also agree that Matthew has given us a whole of lot of tools to work with. Since he posted this article I added these tools to my arsenal and must say they just superb.

@Raaj,

Does that mean Facebook and twitter are the one working for you? You we want your opinion on which is really driving traffic to your sites.

@bjohn,

And more than that, this is why you must put your business online and use the right tools and strategies so you can take a piece of the cake, or don’t you think so?

@Diane Clark,

Oh yes, nothing on the net is really easy. You’ll need to master the art if you want to make any head way. And come to think of it, you must understand that the more difficult it takes the better the results. You may want to go for those easy ways like clicking on ads every and I wonder how many ads you will need to click on every day to earn a living wage!

But that does not mean affiliate marketing is really hard. You simply need to have your own strategy and not concentrate on doing just what others are doing.

Thanks for the comment.

@Ehsan Ullah,

Hi Ehsan, glad to see you around. It’s a pleasure to hear from you and thanks for the congratulatios!

I must say you got the flow wrong somewhere. I never said looking for new strategies is wrong. The point here is not to be always on the look out for new tactics when you have not done anything with the ones you know. For clarity here again is what I said:

“Now, if you are asking that question because you are already experiencing good success in your present blogging business and wants to expand, it is a good thing.

However, if you are asking that question only because you are seeking for the next tactic or strategy you want to try out in your present business, then my advice is, please DON’T!

Instead of looking for the next thing, take a second look at what you are already doing and do more of what worked for you in 2012.”

I hope that clear things up.

Once again, thanks for joining your voice to the conversation.

@Raplus,

Oh, shouldn’t wait any longer. Frankly, I’m just starting mine after much analyzing and trying to come up with the perfect offer! 🙂 But you know, there is really no perfect offer. You just have to “do it” and if need be readjust things as you go on.

Thanks for the comment.

@Aasma,

You are right there Aasma. Affiliate marketing is really about the affiliate positioning his/herself as someone ready to help others get what they want. The affiliate works by recommending the product and not coming outright to sell. The affiliate merchant does the selling. And so, the affiliate must work to gain the trust of the target market if they are to accept his recommendations as something worthwhile.

Thanks for the comment. Wishing you a great weekend.

@Jack Milgram,

it’s really glad to know that many like you agree with this line of thought. Personally, I really think the idea of laying out a business plan before ever starting is nothing but a textbook one. Many of the successful entrepreneurs agree with this also. You see running a successful business is not something you can study in school for 3 – 5 years and then you say you now know it. In fact, when you are just starting out there are areas of the business you may not know anything about. Saying you have to write a business plan before starting will only keep you perpetually stranded!

We can leave that for the textbook entrepreneurs. Yes, when you have a business idea, look around, do some form of research of those already in the business. Get your own strategy in place and then hit the road. After you have some knowledge and experience about the business, you can now sit down and make those lengthy business plans.

Ok, sorry I’m not planning to go to anyone for loan, so may be that is why I just think this is the right thing to do. Of course, except you know what you are doing I don’t advise taking a loan to start a business. Start with what you have and build from there without anyone breathing down your neck.

Thanks for the comment.

@Chimezirim Odimba,

I agree with you Chimezirim. I’ve always looked at content as a vehicle to convey your value or solutions. But what I see online every day are content publishers and marketers who thinks content is the all in all. You could write a good content devoid of any grammatical error but if that content is not doing anything for the reader, it is nothing. So, all in all, it is the reader or your audience that truly determines if you are providing that value. It doesn’t matter what you think.

Thanks for joining the conversation and Happy New Year! Wishing you every success you deserve.

@STEVEN J.,

You’re correct there Steven. This is just the biggest problem that many people are facing with social media promotions. My suggestion however, is this: have a strategy and plan before you ever start! Without a plan and strategy you will be lost. Decide on what you want achieve with your social media presence. Decide on how many hours a day you want to commit your social media activities and divide those hours among the different networks you want to work with. Again, you don’t have to take up all the social media networks out there. As you interact on these networks you will see the ones that are giving your good returns. You can decide to focus on them and devote less time to others. But all should start with a strategy.

Thanks for the comment.

@Aasma,

Good question there Aasma. I hope Michael will come around to give some insight.

@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!

@Ravi @ Technology Blog,

Hi Ravi, thanks for coming around. We are just back from the holidays. We hope to announce the results right away. Thanks and welcome. Wishing you a prosperous 2013!

@Ruben Corbo,

It’s a pleasure to see that around. Looking forward to seeing you feature here again. Thanks for such inspiring post.

@Sapna,

You are definitely right there. With split testing only one element is taken into consideration at a time but with multivariate testing, just as the name indicates (multi-) you can take two or more elements at once. What this means is that you can arrive at a conclusion much quicker than when using split testing.

Thanks for the comment.

@Brady Partridge,

I want to agree with you there. Lately, I have been looking at most of the freelancing sites and must confess that what many freelancers are asking for their works really makes one to raise an eyebrow. Besides, a lot of employers now want to give peanuts for their jobs but the terms they give are really laughable.

Like you suggested, creating affiliate sites and putting up your content there could really be more profitable if you know what you are doing. I really do not visit freelancing sites for jobs anymore. Positioning yourself as the go to resource can make the difference. You can see my content writing site here as an example – http://www.seowebcontentscribe.com

@Theodore Nwangene,

I resonate with you on that, I’m one who has tried many times to do this but have not really brought it to a conclusive end! However, what Ruben is talking about here is not split testing. Like he said in the post, A/B testing (split testing) takes care of one element at a time but in multivariate testing you can handle different elements in your test at time.

Btw. the post is by Ruben Corbo and not Martin 🙂

@Sapna,

Oh thanks. It’s really a pleasure that most of you appreciate this little gesture. It’s so encouraging.

@Jess Brown,

Thanks, it’s really a pleasure to see you again. I truly gives me joy to be of help. It may not be much but knowing that the little you do can ultimately impart somebody’s life is enough for me. Wishing you the best of the season.

@Rusty,

It’s really a pleasure to see you around and I’m glad that you resonate with what you have seen here. I look forward to seeing you as one of the winners.

@Kend,

Hmm, that is really a hard way to put it! Btw. if many of us feel this bad about twitter why is it that many others have praises for the site?

@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.

@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.

@Aasma,

I agree with you on the group thing. Most of the traffic to my blog are actually from LinkedIn groups. However, I’ve so far joined a few groups on facebook and I rarely use them. Maybe I’ll have to try that also and see which, between facebook and LinkedIn are more powerful in this area. Thanks for the comment.

@Smith Warnes,

Introducing links and a ranking factor is actually Google’s biggest problem. Since adding links as a factor for ranking sites, the SEO environment has become infested with all forms of blackhat SEO. But like you said, Google is actually trying to make all see that as much as they regard links as important, we should not over do it. Links should come naturally but any act that tries to force the system is only working against Google’s terms.

Yes, I agree that guest blogging and blog commenting are good ways of building backlinks, but as I tried to point out in the post, considered critically all of these are still not natural. We just to have be careful that we do not fall foul of Google’s hammer as use this strategies.

Thanks for commenting.

@Aasma,

Concise! Complete!! Compelling!!!

Thanks for the super summary 🙂

@Veer Modi,

That’s my little way of saying thanks for the information you provided. You’ve added value to the post and there is no better way to recognize that than giving full credit to you. It’s really my pleasure!

@Yeremi Akpan,

I frankly love your angle, make people love you and Google will have no choice but to love you too! Yea, that’s really good. I agree that creating content for people and not the search engines is paramount. For one, it is people who spend the money and not search engines.

However, we must understand that Google is not really changing the posts in the middle of the game. Search engine optimization has always remain the same with Google from the beginning. The problem is blackhat SEOs who have abused the system. The same ranking factors Google has used 3 or 4 yrs ago are still what it is still using. What is happening right now is flushing out of the chaff from the wheat!

My problem with just building relationships as touted by many bloggers is the fact that those you are building relationships with are actually the same bloggers whose purpose is also to build relationship with for the reason of trying to sell to you just as you are. There is a big flaw here which many bloggers do not see. Please understand me, but I really don’t fancy the idea of someone trying to build a relationship with me just because he/she is thinking of the financial gain out of that relationship. Relationships should be for mutual understanding.

This is one reason why many bloggers are struggling to make ends meet. You spend hours blog hopping and posting comments. Those same bloggers come around to reciprocate and the circle continues everyday. What is your ROI? Well, many will point to the joy of connecting. Good!

But, depending on your niche, if you, in conjecture with building those relationships, do a little SEO and begin to drive some more traffic from the search engines, you will be pulling another stream of ‘connection’ who possibly may be searching for a solution to a pain they have. Now if you content in any way have the solution they are looking for, you have gotten possible financial client!

This is really my logic in encouraging every blogger to never abandon SEO. I hope I have been able make my point. Or, what do you think?

P.S. You may just want to read my latest post referenced on the commentluv link below!

@Tim Bonner,

I’m with there on Google wanting quality content all along. What they are doing today is not just what they discovered now and want to implement right away. It has always been their business plan but the number of those who wanted to game the system were just too much and now they are coming out strong. I personally so a more humane environment after all this. Google is definitely going to invest in more of technology to fight this menace.

But may I ask why you do not focus more on SEO these days? Don’t you think this is really the time to do more of SEO seeing that the negative guys are being pushed out of the market opening more opportunities to those of us who are doing our best to stay within the rules?

@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.

@Alison Wood,

I agree with you totally that Google is helping us with a better web experience. If SEOs will only listen and restrict themselves to whitehat SEO tactics, the internet will be a better place for all of us. Thanks for the comment.

@Bhushan,

Thanks for the observation Bhushan. I actually changed the theme over the weekend. I’m still working on a few things but once that is ok I’m going make a full post on it. I’m glad that you find it attractive.

@punta cana,

Too bad really. Well, I don’t really think he has forgotten his past. Like you said, maybe the court case and other things may have taken up his time. Besides, if you truly want to connect with him again, I think you can always use the social media sites like Facebook and Google+ to look for him.

You see, if you were really close nothing stops you from going out there and looking for. And like you mentioned, he could just be a help in your new project.

@Bhavesh,

You are welcome. And thanks for stopping by.

@Scott Dudley,

I agree with you on both points. However, I want to make this clear also:

1. Google updates did not in any way kill SEO rather the updates have improved SEO. The search engines are still using the same metrics to rank sites and not just having good content. Where good content in is the area of social media sharing. The more your content is share on social media, the higher the reputation the content is ascribed.

But note that when the search engines is ranking the content they look for certain criteria which in most cases it is the keywords. It is the keywords that the searcher enters that will determine what content the search engines returns and not because your content was very good!

2. Yes, Google is personifying its search results returning different results for different people depending on whether they are logged in or not. But despite this, the result I’m referring to here clearly shows that the page was ranking at #354 when that person located it and clicked on it. The result is not on my end. The stat recorded the ranking of the page.

This is where I became curious. How many minutes do you think this person may have spent trying clicking from one page to the other? Did you see my point?

@Eve,

Oh yes, this shows you can still drive some traffic even when you are not ranking on the first page. But, all the same the higher the better. So it is not bad if you can find a way to rank higher but it shouldn’t really be a do or die affair!

Thanks for adding your comment.

@Bonnie Smith,

Good I got you there. Hope you take the necessary steps and put this to use 🙂

@US Immigration Attorney FL,

You are correct. It is the internet that has given all of us this opportunity to take our stand in our little ways! Thanks for the comment.

@Kristine,

Yeah, there are definitely two sides to a coin and it’s definite that nothing is indispensable. As much as business plans are necessary they are not indispensable.

Thanks for the comment.

@Adrienne,

Must say I’ve personally gone up to page 10 also but this one really got me thinking. I just couldn’t figure out what made this person to go that deep and I was thinking someone will help me here. But so far no one has been able to give an explanation that I can agree with! 🙂

Of course, traffic is coming from the social sites and other blogs but these particular ones are basically search engine traffic.

@Mohammed Abdullah Khan,

Thanks for that. Never knew there was a problem there. Any way, it
taken care of!

@Mohammed Abdullah Khan,

You’re right there. And that was just what happened! You know before the Google updates many of these SEOs were really doing all kind of things in the name of link building. Unfortunately, those who had to pay for their wrong doings are the business persons who hired them.

Like you just said, Google with the penguin update made it clear that ‘exact’ match keyword phrases is only trying to push the system to favor you.

@Ehsan Ullah,

It is really definite that not every one who rank at number one is getting the clicks! What I really want to know from this is what will make a searcher to go down to a page in #354 leaving all the rest?

Can you really offer some explanations here?

@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.

@Agi,

Thanks for drawing my attention to that. I have re-sized the graphic and it is better placed. Why don’t you take a look again?

@bj,

Thanks for that. Please do share!

@Bhushan,

You are welcome! Can look forward and give us some idea of where the internet will be heading in the next 10yrs? Can you give a try? 🙂

@Susan Cooper,

Yea, I too found it rather long but the message was really clear. You know things could really change in just a space of 10yrs. Now, wouldn’t that be some incentive to begin to straighten your operations looking forward to something greater in the future?

Btw. I have reduced the size to fit into the blog space. Thanks for the comment.

@Jenni,

Yes, good luck to entrepreneurs! I indeed agree that planning is necessary but not a written business plan where you are expected to follow some specific format. Those are text book requirements!

Thanks for the comment.

@Tim Bonner,

Hi Tim, I can also say I don’t have a plan right now though I actually know what I want. And about blogging ever changing, I’ve over the last 3 years have course to alter both the look of my blog and also the marketing plan but in all of these I have remained on what has been in my heart. This is what I’m really pointing out here. Fact is, not every person who has a business idea really knows about business plans. I think in this our type of business where most of our operations are online and you don’t really need some financing from some corporation to run your business, trying to draw up some business plan before you begin is really a waste of time.

Thanks for the comment. I apologize for this late reply. I’ve been engaged in other things all this while.

@Richa,

Well said Richa. Frankly, this is really the experience of many. Most of us never had an idea of what online business was about. We had an idea of what we wanted but not how we are going to make, which is one of things you need to lay out in your business plan. Following your heart as outlined in the post will get you on your feet and when the picture gets clearer you can map out your business plan.

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,

Sorry about the long comment? Never! I truly love it that way!

Yea, leadership is indeed important when it comes to building a successful business. You need people to succeed as made clear from the post, “The team is more important than any idea or plan. The top three priorities should be people, followed by people, and then people.”

Thanks for the reply.

@Paul,

Good to hear that this post resonate with you. Only thing is, did you committed to writing your business plan before you started or you started and working with what was in your heart, you then detail out your business plan? Will love to hear from you.

@Rick Salas,

Hmm, another lengthy one from you there. Though you have raised a whole lot of issues that has to do with the work place, I will try and restrict myself to running a business and that I want to pick up your point that, “Just because people [have] the best business plan doesn’t make them the best candidate for the job!”

And I agree with you 100% here. In fact this is the cruse of this discussion. It is not the business plan that will make you succeed it is your ability to handle the every day affairs and challenges of the business that will. And this is why focusing on trying to draw up a business before you start off will most times become a hindrance.

In fact starting off with what you know and then drawing up a plan along the way will better help you draw a business plan that is all inclusive and better designed to help you succeed.

Thanks for your input.

@business broker,

Make some interesting quotes about that business? What has quotes got to do with starting a business? Yes, you need planning but do you know planning take different forms? Let’s learn from those who are in the trenches rather than some classroom theories. In fact, I know of many who have wonderful business plans but till this day, they have not done anything about them.

Your getting up and doing what is in your heart will drive you to your success more than flexing out some business plan!

@Ehsan Ullah,

I quite understand your point, but I don’t know where we get the impression that it is those who make out a plan at first that have the quickest success. That of course is nothing from the text books!

Go out there and get to know from those in the trenches the story is the same. Of course, a business plan will be necessary in the course of the business but if you want to sit down at the very beginning and lay out that plan before you start you will only be wasting precious time.

Ok, you may want to say that is sharpening the ax so you could chop down the tree in record time, but that is not really the fact. The ‘sharpening’ you need is the knowledge to run that business. Take a look at those 5 points again and you will see that if you truly have that in mind when starting you will be heading in the right direction.

@port st lucie physical therapy,

Then we are on the same portal! 🙂 Thanks for the comment.

@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.

@Susan Cooper,

I truly agree with you! That’s what I tried to put in as perseverance. Of course, it is patience that will help you to persevere. And like you said, this is really the biggest reason why many abandon their blogs. You never understand that Rome was not built in a day.

Thanks for your thoughts.

@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.

@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!

@Asma Khan,

Wow! That’s great to hear. I think you are the only one who has given a good report here so far. We’ll love to have more details from or wouldn’t help those who are still finding it difficult to find a foothold on pinterest?

@Tim Bonner,

Frankly, the copyright issue was one of the reasons for me staying away for this long. When I first heard of pinterest early this year, that was the first thing that came up in the article I read then.

However, from my research and what I can deduced so far, if you can use these graphics in your site and give due credit to the rightful owners, pinning the graphic on your pinboard is not really a problem. And if you’re pinning a photo from the web, the site showing the photo you want to pin definitely must have also given the credit to the rightful owner. So, you can see that somehow the issue of copyright has been taken care of. 🙂

On using pinterest for business, I mentioned this on the post. I want to say it is just like any other social media site. Selling directly on the site or any thing like that will not work. I wrote a post sometime ago about using social media for selling,I think it does apply to pinterest also. Read the post here:

http://webincomejournal.com/5510/3-scientific-steps-to-social-media-selling.html

Using pinterest for business will demand you finding a way to lead the traffic back to your site and then “selling” them on your site!

Of course, I don’t know how long you used the site before you decided to look to twitter. But all the reports I’ve received so far speak well for pinterest when it comes to e-commerce sites. Of course, I can’t say much for myself for now since I’m just starting with it. But I look forward to creating some good results also. 🙂

Thanks for joining the conversation.

@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.

@Amanda@BuySellWordPress,

Glad to hear that. Can you give some insight into her you are using pinterest right now? Will appreciate it.

@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.

@Car Accident Attorneys,

You are right about getting fresh and new opinion on your site with guest blogging. But for giving you a break from writing, I think that is not really it. If you stay of writing as a blogger because you are publishing guest posts, you will soon discover that your blog will lose readership. You know, guest post cannot really take the place of your own “voice” on your blog. Once your readers have come to identify with your writing style, staying off and publishing only guest posts will harm your blog. Or don’t you think so?

@FreeAgent,

It’s a thing of joy to hear that!

But the fact is, Facebook is big marketing platform because of the number of users on the social site. When your business can connect with a large number of potential customers in one place, that indeed is good prospect for your business. So when we talk about marketing on Facebook it’s actually getting your business before the large number of potential customers.

@buy seo services,

Oh glad to hear that! Well, magnetic marketing is just that, magnetic marketing! 🙂 Ok, you know what a magnet is, right? When you use magnetic marketing tactics the purpose is not only to attract customers but also to ensure that those customers stay clued to your business just as the magnet will never let go! I hope you will be using these tactics in your business?

@Robert Koenig,

You mean Google and the rest are just like the blind men in the story? Oh, that’s taking it to another level. But frankly, I think in that level we all are in the same boat.

You know, when you’re trying to achieve a result, until that result comes, you’re actually like a blind man except you have a guide, like someone who has achieved that results before and is ready to give the direction. I think this is the only area that Google and the rest can be compared to the blind men. Of course, Google has an idea of what the internet should be but because they are blazing a trial no other person has traveled before, they need, most times to move on using trial by error.

For the likes of Yahoo, I think they got it wrong when they thought everything should have a price tag! You can see that Google understands the internet better. Consider the different tools they provide for us free, all of these make them a darling of online marketers therefore expanding their potential clients base!

Yahoo expected us to get into their search engine only if we can pay them for it but Google opened their search for everyone and today Google has remained the search engine that everyone talks about.

I personally believe that there is so much we can learn from Google as internet marketers or what do you think?

@Amit Shaw,

Hi, Amit glad to see you again! How was your exams? Hope you had a good holiday. You’re highly welcome!

@Terra@Girls Bedding,

I agree with you. Focusing only on creating content for ones blog may be good but getting some on other blogs is a sure way of generating a continuous flow of traffic. Thanks for the comment.

@Hen Dos,

Do you mean the best Webhost or best blogging platform? Which ever of these you meant, the fact is that depending on your need, you may choose any host that best suit what you want to achieve. You can google “best webhost” or “best blogging platform” and then take the time to analyze the results you receive. I think instead of just saying this is the best, when I know that there are various options out there will amount to being dishonest.

@top movies,

That really is the truth. It’s unfortunate that many big corporations who depended on these SEO companies got a bashing of their life! 🙂

It all appears that Google really want everyone to focus on natural link building instead of some of the greyhat tactics employed by these SEO companies. The unfortunate thing is that these companies have big budgets and they know their way around any of these Google updates. We definite will see them coming up with other tactics to beat penguin. But till then, some of us are already reaping the good work of penguin! 🙂

@Zara,

Just what I mentioned why replying Aasma’s comment. I’ve heard many people try to make light of it that Google is really the one who is making the money with these tools. As much as that is true, the tools help Google to know more about us all so as to better target users with their ads, but we must not fail to appreciate the fact that we are all benefiting using those tools. I cannot really imagine how much I would be dishing out every for such a tool if Google had not magnanimously provided one! Or, don’t you think so too?

@Rob Koenig,

That story had always intrigued me. Whenever,I consider the way some things are handled by different people in trying to make believe that they know much about those things, my always to this story.

Sarah have really cleverly made a point with this story in this article. I think we will need some de-glazing as regarding many of the subjects we read online if we are not to be like the blind men! 🙂 Nothing is more rewarding when you approach it knowing what you are doing instead of just speculatively. Or don’t you think so, Rob?

@Yim,

Yeah, that’s just the truth. As long as you restrict yourself to whitehat SEO tactics, Google will reward you for your works!

@Pete Goumas,

Must say, that bit about adding some humor in the post is really insightful! One good way of connecting with your readers is to make them relaxed while reading your post and humor can do that quite easily. Only catch is that you just need to know how to make the humor relevant to the post. Thanks for the comment.

@Aasma,

It’s glad to hear that. If you have not seen any difference in your site rankings it means you were not hit by the update which is a good thing. Now, if you will only continue with that thing and of course implement some of these suggestions, you definitely be seeing some good results very soon because as bad sites are falling of the rankings, the good ones are moving up!

@Rob Koenig,

Call animal control? Of course not, the power to control those animals is in your hands! 🙂

But seriously, many people have always wondered how Google’s software will be able to understand anything about their site layout or design. Now, the fact is, the software does not try to understand your site layout “directly.” There are other signals that it aggregates and then gives its judgement.

Some of the things Google will look for here include, how long does your readers stay on your site? Is the interaction within the site vibrant? Is the bounce rate high? etc.

Like you said, beauty is really in the eyes of the beholder and the beholder here is the user of your site. Google reasons that if the beholder loves your site, he will spend more time there and also interact more in the discussions going on.

So, taking care of your site design is actually for the reader and not Google software. The software will only use other parameters and analyze the readers use of the site and come out with a conclusion concerning the site!

It will interest you to know that when Google Panda 1.0 was launched, most of the sites worst hit were sites that had too many ads above the fold! The software simply analyzed these sites and flagged them as low-value add to users. So to give the software the impression that your site is valuable to the user, build a beautiful site that the user will find interesting and as he spend more time on your site, Google will pick up those signals and give your site more points!

Thanks for joining the conversion. It’s really great to see you around always.

@Eli,

It’s a pleasure to share and I’m really glad that these tips resonate with you. Thanks for the comment.

@Website Design Dubai,

Ok, that is really true when you’re running a blog. But remember that we’re talking about guest blogging here. Must you only guest blog on topics you’re passionate about?

@Rizwan Sultan,

Yea, I do agree with you. Images actually make your post come alive especially today when Pinterest is a rave! Thanks for the comment.

@ellipsometer,

Well, I wouldn’t really know because I’ve never used the SEOmoz tool. May be you will want to try this one out. You can download a free trial copy without providing any credit card information. Use it and see if they are the same or not. thanks for the comment.

@ellipsometer,

Indeed, it is the practical outworking of the grace of God. The Christians in Athens were willing vessels in the hands of the Lord, and He was able to reach out the Greene. My prayer and hope is that as Christians we will be open to the Lord to be used in our ailing world today.

@hire seo expert,

Yea, as the seo expert, can you help us with some insight into the subject? Wouldn’t be great if you can give us some details in your comments?

@Kate Brown Wilson,

That’s great to hear! Maybe it’s just our nature. We always restrict change. Since I wrote this post, I’ve learned a few things that have made me more open the changes!

Thanks for the comment.

@Eric,

Glad to know that the post resonate with you. It’s a pleasure to be of help.

@Rob Koenig,

Oh thanks for that! Frankly, many of the old friends here have mentioned that this is really cool! 🙂 I’m really surprised that many are saying good things about this theme. I think I’ll just need to keep it!

@Kate Brown Wilson,

Glad to have you around again and thanks for the comment.

On whether one need to have reputation before being a guest blogger, I don’t think it’s really necessary. In fact, guest blogging is a good way of building your reputation online. By the time you publish guest posts all over the web more and more people will get to know you and if your posts are really great, you’d be able to build a good standing with a wide audience out there.

So, if you’re really aiming to build a reputation, do some more guest blogging!

@pavithra,

Hmm, you’re not really alone even many who know about the effectiveness of guest blogging are just doing the wrong way. I’ll advise that you read through the whole series (check out the older posts in the links at the beginning of this post). I’m very sure that you will gain some useful knowledge from it.

Thanks for the comment.

@Dianna,

You’re welcome Dianna, it’s a pleasure to know that the post resonate with you. Thanks for stopping by and the comment.

@top movies,

Thanks. I appreciate you all.

@Voorbeeld CV,

I can really understand your point. Yes, too much of everything is bad! If not for anything, too much of graphics can slow down your site’s load speed which is not good for seo.

Thanks for this insight.

@Rob Koenig,

This distinction is really necessary if you want to connect with your readers. This is one thing that many who have submitted guest posts for publishing on the WebIncomeJournal have always missed.

Only a few knows how to use the white space to their advantage. But this is a must if you want your readers to flow with your writing.

What you called the educated reader are rare. Personally, when I read an article I like reading it all through to get the details, except of course if that article has nothing new to offer me! But I know only a few blog readers will do this. So as content creator, understanding this two groups and structuring your article to cater for both groups is a sure way to win the game.

Thanks for the comment I appreciate your visit.

@Christopher Roberts,

Thanks pally. It was really tasking time for me but good lessons learnt!

Hi Genry,

Took a look and tried using it but must say it’s a little complicated. And frankly, I don’t think it’s really what I want to use. I’m better off with something more simple to understand. Maybe some other persons will try it out and let us know what they think.

Thanks for sharing the link.

@Reese,

You’re just right there Reese saying that it was blindness that led Greene to his former beliefs, spiritual blindness that is! Just like Paul, he blindly stood against the truth but I do hope that this dramatic turn around will not only make him more accepting, tolerant, understanding and respectful of others’ beliefs as you put it, but that he will have more understanding of the Lord just like Paul.

Remember when Ananias came to lay hands on Paul the Bible records that something like scales fell off Paul’s eyes! Those were not just some physical scales but the spiritual playing out in the life of Paul. That was really the secret to Paul’s deep understanding of the way of the Lord. And my prayer is that Greene will also have the deep revelation of the word of God that he will be an instrument in the hand of the Lord to bring more souls to the glory of Jesus Christ!

I don’t doubt that there is some link here because I understand that the problem Greene has presently has to do with his eyes. Coincidence? I doubt so! It’s definitely another way of sight opening for him!

I might just be un-necessary enthusiastic but my spirit is happy and I cannot but express it!

@Ryan Hanley,

Yea, like I said you don’t have to take my word for it. The free trial version is enough to really determine if it is good enough for you. I will be glad if you will be kind enough to share your experiences with us.

Thanks for the comment.

@Niko M,

Frankly, I believe also that quality is important, in fact, it’s to be the next in the series. However, from my experience quality alone will not do anything. Search engine optimization is still the strong base of driving long term traffic to your blog/site. Search engines do not rank sites simply on quality. They look for a few requirements and it’s your seo tactics that provide those requirements.

Hope you read the next entry when it is posted and you will know that I’m also for quality.

Thanks for the comment.

@Alison,

“when a person learns and knew where he should belong” I truly love that. That is really a good way to put it. This is really where He belongs but like the prodigal son, he had been with the wrong crowd! All the same we must thank God for the believers who were open to the Lord in using them to touch the life of this man.

I think all of us must also be open the working of the Holy Spirit so that He can work in us and through us to impact the world, or don’t you think so?

@Harleena Singh,

Please apologies for this late reply. I was really moved when I read the story. Here was a guy who so believed in his own understanding that there is no God and was ready to “stand up” for his beliefs. And then in a dramatic turn-around he now accepts what he was so much against! It is really touching.

What has happened to him and of course, the actions of the believers there clearly shows that if only we who call ourselves believers will truly live out the life of the faith, the world will be touched more than the noise we make in the name of preaching the gospel. The LORD definitely knows the power of turning the other cheek if not He wouldn’t have encouraged us to do so.

Besides, this shows that many who follow the way of opposition to the Church do it out of frustration with the system. All the arguments and senseless reasoning that many of them put up are only a front for their frustration. Only the truth revealed both in our actions and words can really penetrate those twisted beliefs.

Frankly, this is greatest message I heard this Easter season!

@Becca,

You’re welcome!