Social Networking to Improve Your Blogs Traffic

There is no doubt that blogging is qucikly becoming popular and theres no stopping its popularity. The fight for supremacy heats on. The battle for the highest ranked blog or the most frequently visited blog is now at its peak. It is also no surprise that blogs now are becoming popular because of its use as a vehicle for earning extra bucks.
What do you need to increase your blogs traffic? It requires no extra complication as a matter of fact, all you need to do is to maximize your networking skills. Thats right! No need for additional special skills just plain old networking skills. So how do you start?

First you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. Its more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides. Aside from forums, you can also chat with other bloggers online.

Advertise your blog online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. Its more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides. Aside from forums, you can also chat with other bloggers online. Advertise your blog online. It requires no extra complication as a matter of fact, all you need to do is to maximize your networking skills.

Thats right! No need for additional special skills just plain old networking skills. So how do you start? It requires no extra complication as a matter of fact, all you need to do is to maximize your networking skills. Thats right! No need for additional special skill, just plain old networking skills. So how do you start? First you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well.

Its more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides. First you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. Its more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides.

All you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. Its more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog contains.

You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. Its more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides.

In short, social networking is the key to improve your blogs traffic.

Social Bookmarking for Blog Advertising

Social bookmarking sites are a growing trend and are
becoming more popular each and every day. They are a
great place to share your bookmarks with everyone and
to be able to access them from any computer. They are
also a great place that you can post a link to your
blog.

There are over fifty social bookmarking sites that you
use to submit your link to your blog. Digg, Digo, Blue
Dot, and del.ico.us are just a few of them that are
the most popular. Each site has its own guidelines and
rules for posting links, so its important that you
want to read the rules that they have before you post
any links.

Because social bookmarking isnt as targeted as other
forms of advertising for your blog, you may find hta
tit will take longer for it to be effective. But its
also a good way for you to get your blog noticed and
it may bring in people who may not have found your
blog another way.

Since social bookmarking doesnt always give you the
opportunity to know who it is that has seen your site,
or get to know other people, its always a good idea
to keep track of the visitors who say they were linked
to your site through a bookmarking site. If the site
allows you to put a comment, ask people to let you
know on your blog that they found it through a social
bookmarking site and which one. That will help you
know how effective it is.

Setting Your Own Blog Advertising Rates

Sooner or later, you will be faced with the decision
of whether to use advertising on your blog or not.
Advertising isnt mandatory for keeping your blog
interesting; in fact, its merely an optional tool you
can use in case you want to take advantage of your
blogs popularity. But once youve decided on placing
ads on your site, theres one more issue you need to
consider: setting your blogs advertising rates. So
how much can you expect to charge or be charged?

With blog advertising, there are no set rates. It is
up to the blogger to design the correct ad payment
scheme that attracts advertisers and allow him to
generate a reasonable income at the same time.

To help you determine the right advertising rates for
your blog, its important to consider doing some
research first, particularly about similar blogs and
to consider your traffic and perform some simple
experimentation using your site.

Playing with figures If you think that setting your ad
rates at low prices will attract more advertisers, you
couldnt be more mistaken. Your $300 a month rate may
not stand against another bloggers $600 a month rate
if you only have 50,000 page views monthly and he
enjoys 600,000 page views.

An advertiser will look at the ratio between the cost
of advertising on your blog against the amount of
traffic that your site generates, the same traffic
that will potentially click on the ads.

A good constant to consider when determining ad
rates is the CPM or Cost-Per-Mille – mille being
equivalent to 1,000. Lets say a blog receives 150,000
page views monthly. For a 125125 sidebar ad (usually
the most common), the blog charges $250 monthly.
Divide $250 by 150 (thats 150,000 divided by 1,000 to
come up with the CPM) and youll get $1.66 CPM.

The same arithmetic is used by some of the most
popular blogs, including JohnChow and Copyblogger. For
your blog, you might want to consider how much traffic
you generate and the number of genuine page views you
get. These figures will help you evaluate your blog
and come up with the appropriate ad rate.

Since these blogs are well established, you could
start at far lower rates if youre still building
traffic. Consider a starting figure of about $0.5 CPM,
which is friendly enough to your advertisers and good
enough for you. Raise this rate gradually as your blog
becomes more popular and as more advertisers and
sponsors buy ad space from you.

Size and location Advertising rates also vary
depending on the size of the ad and where it will
appear. Larger ads and those that will be placed in
prime locations or hotspots will cost more. Ads will
also be more expensive if they will appear along with
content or on your blogs header. Cheaper locations
will be those found on the pages footer and the area
located after the fold.

Factors that influence ad rates Not every blog can
enjoy strong advertising support. Thats mainly
because not every blog has the right amount of site
traffic, the right visitors, market demographics or
niche. These are just some of the factors that affect
your eligibility for ad placement and the rate you can
charge on your blog.

Blogs, by the way, do not pass through the same
channels as traditional print media. The cost of
providing information in blogs is low enough that
bloggers can offer low advertising rates and still
earn a profit.

SEO Importance In Blog Advertising

Having a blog on the Internet that gives people some
good informaton doenst do a lot of good if people
dont know that its there.

If you want people to be able to find your blog,
something that is important is that you have good
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

Whenever you put one or more words into a search bar
to look for something, the SEO of a website is what
helps bring up those websites.

For example, if your blog is about Harry Potter, you
are going to want to be sure that your blog includes
popular terms such as Harry Pottter, JK Rowling, and
other things that are related to Harry Potter.

Think about the things that people look for when they
are interested in Harry Potter, and the kinds of
things that come up when you search.

Its always a good idea to use your own experience
when you are optimizing your blog for searching.

Think about what has worked, what hasnt worked, and
use them for your own blog SEO. This way, when someone
puts one of the terms that you put in your blog into a
search engine it will be one of the sites that comes
up.

Of course, there are other factors that come into play
that determine where your blog will come up in the
list, but everyone starts somewhere.

The more keywords that your blog uses, the more people
will come to your blog. It just takes time and
patience.

Selling Your Blog: How to Find Blog Advertisers

There are several ways to monetize a blog. One of the
most commonly used is by selling advertising space,
either through text-based advertising or banner ads.
But to do either of these, you will have to look for
advertisers who will pay to have their ads placed on
your web pages. If youre unsure on what to do and how
to do it, here are tips to help you find blog
advertisers to help you generate revenue with your
website:

Promote. Instead of just leaving possible banner ad
locations blank, let advertisers know that they are up
for grabs. Use Advertise Here or Your Ad Here
texts to indicate their availability.

When advertisers click on these areas, they will
arrive on a page where information about buying ad
space will be provided. Make sure that there is a
webpage that will be used for this purpose
specifically. This page may either contain information
about your terms or it could be a link that will allow
your advertiser to send you an e-mail.

Seek out advertisers actively. Other than openly
promoting your blog for ads, you could also find blog
advertisers by targeting them. That way, you get to
choose who will place their ads on your blog. A
standard letter of approach to advertisers should
contain:

- a brief introduction about yourself

- a short explanation of the purpose of your e-mail

- a short explanation why youre soliciting their
sponsorship or ads

- a concise explanation of the benefits of placing ads
on your blog

- details regarding your advertising terms (type of ad
placements, industry to which your advertisers belong,
maximum number of ads in one webpage, cost, method of
payment, etc.)

- important details about your site, such as your
subject matter, audience, number of traffic, etc.

Offer sponsorship. Blog sponsorships are fast becoming
a trend online, as the number of businesses utilizing
blogs as an extension of their marketing efforts
increases. Through sponsorship, you will be working
closely with a company (your advertiser) and promote
their products and services through your blogs. Your
web pages will also carry that companys name, brands
and logo.

You could also come up with a sponsorship deal wherein
specific parts of your blogs content will be
sponsored by the advertiser. This type of blog
advertising works well if your site is quite popular
already and has a considerable number of visitors.

Do a keyword search. There are many companies and
individuals using Google Adwords who might be
interested in an arrangement with you. Do a simple
keyword or key phrase search regarding major topics on
your blog. Then seek out sponsored links and find out
about the companies that pay for them. Get in touch
with these people and offer your blog for their ads.

Take advantage of links. Blogs and other sites that
link with your blog are potential advertisers. If they
find your blog interesting enough to link with, they
might be open for negotiations regarding advertising.
You might want to send them an e-mail to let them know
your blog is available for advertising.

Tap people who use your forums or leave messages.
Another way to find blog advertisers is to offer your
ad spots to people who leave comments or messages on
your blogs. Seek out people affiliated with a company,
group or association. They might be interested to buy
ads on your blog.

RSS Advertising for Your Blog? Why Its Still Good for

RSS Advertising for Your Blog? Why Its Still Good for You

The problem with the Internet is that there is just so
much information floating around that it can be a
full-time job just to sift through the good ones and
ignore the so-so ones. Its like TiVo on the Web – you
only get to access the stuff you really like and avoid
the ones that make you cringe, all without the
interruption of unwanted material. But whats this?
RSS advertising for blogs and websites? Is this the
end of an era or just simply part of the Internets
evolution?

Why RSS matters Advertising on RSS is ruffling a few
feathers mainly because its a concept that seems to
go against the very nature of RSS. For the
uninitiated, RSS consists of different Web-feed
formats that are utilized for publishing or posting
content online. RSS works mainly for content that
frequently undergo updates, such as news, podcasts and
of course, blogs.

The purpose of the RSS is to allow regular visitors of
a site to access relevant updates by simply
subscribing to its RSS feed. Its convenient,
particularly because it eliminates the necessity to
access a site and sort through the contents.

Will RSS advertising work on your blog? The fact that
people continue to subscribe to RSS feed is proof that
it does work nicely. In fact, youll probably notice
that more people subscribe to a site or blog that
offers RSS feeds than those who dont. As proof, try
to compare CNN.com with the New York Times website.

But when it comes to the subject of advertising, all
isnt exactly well. Some people believe that having
adverts on RSS sort of defeats its original purpose -
that of allowing subscribers access to pure content.
There is talk about using an RSS advertising block,
one that effectively allows users to get rid of ads
that are contained in an RSS feed. So whats next? A
full-fledged war between advertisers and ad blockers?

To use RSS advertising with your blog effectively, the
trick is to write compelling summaries of content
found in your site and use that for the feed. A feed
containing full text, for example, might fail to
generate interest in the ads since the usual purpose
of the subscriber is mainly to read the content.

Using a feed as a full ad can backfire, since people
generally dislike being bombarded by ads. Some
bloggers who use RSS advertising, for example, use a
full feed as an ad every 10th to 12th post. Their
readers still get the meaty feeds that they like but
also get exposed to ads the blogger is promoting.

If this is the way you think RSS advertising can work
for your blog, try experimenting with different
strategies, such as combining good content with
related ads. That way your readers dont have to think
that the post is nothing but a way to make them
perform an action or spend for something.

Blocking the hand that feeds Before anyone does
anything drastic, let us consider how important
advertising is to blogs, websites and yes, even RSS
feeds. Thanks to revenue generated from advertising,
sites (and everything else that supports them from
software makers to hosting services) continue to
exist. Advertising provides support for sites that
offer us content, including those found in RSS feeds.
Without advertising, many sites and providers might
find it difficult to defray cost related to producing
content.

So where will RSS advertisings place be in your blog?
Continue to use it. You owe it not only to your
advertisers and sponsors who have been helping you
meet the cost of maintaining your site but also to
your readers who, without your ads, might not be able
to access your content.

Do’s and Don’ts for Reciprocating Traffic to Promote Your Blog

Do’s and Don’ts for Reciprocating Traffic to Promote Your Blog

Some mockingly call it as the mutual admiration society and wherein people praise and link to each other in order to generate traffic. No matter how way you look at it, reciprocating traffic works not just for promoting websites but blogs as well. Here are several dos and donts to take note of if youre in the mood for sharing some love with your fellow bloggers.

How to Reciprocate Traffic for Blog Promotion

Reciprocating is easier than you think. You just have to take note of what other bloggers are doing for you and return the favor. Of course, you can also consider initiating things by being the first to post a comment, include a link in your directory, respond with a blog entry, or review another blog.

As long as what youre doing places focus on you and the other blogger, youre doing the right thing!

Make your reciprocation valuable

If you are going to reciprocate a favor, be sure to make it valuable and meaningful for the other blogger. It would simply be a waste of web space if all youre going to say is hi and goodbye. If thats what youre going to do, its best not to reciprocate at all.

To make reciprocation valuable, consider which areas you can make the greatest contributions pages which, even better, the other blogger would appreciate to gain more traffic for. Look for questions that coincide with your fields of expertise.

Make it mutually beneficial

Reciprocity is not merely an exchange of links. It also includes mutual acknowledgment and maybe even recommendation of each others expertise. When you post a comment or display a link in your website, make sure that the information you provide not only reflects positively on the other blogger but on yourself as well.

Pay attention to house rules

Reciprocation means visiting another persons blog and as they say, when in Rome, its important to do as the Romans do. Every blog has its own set of house rules and you must pay attention to them. One example of house rules is the inclusion of links in your comments. Some bloggers prefer not to have any links displayed without their express permission.

Acts of rudeness commonly result from simple misunderstanding and ignorance of rules. If youre unsure about your statement, you can always email the other blogger and ask for confirmation as to whether your reply is adequate or not.

Dont be condescending

Its easy to be so without even being aware of it. When you are visiting a blog thats less popular than yours, dont act or speak in such a way that youve made it very clear to everyone the other blogger should be grateful for you little act of reciprocation. Thats a big no-no to do, and youre sure to receive unpleasant feedback even if its true. Such things are better left unsaid.

Always return the favor

Last but not the least, remember to return every favor you receive! This is the golden rule of all golden rules and to violate once or several times is something that no Internet marketer forgets. Soon, tales of your infamy will spread and you shouldnt be surprised if the popularity of your blog starts declining.

Regardless of how much or how little youll benefit from reciprocating the favor, do it anyway. Its called good business!

Reasons Why Leaving Spam Comments is NOT the Way to

Reasons Why Leaving Spam Comments is NOT the Way to Promote Your Blog

There are basically three words that can describe spam accurately: desperate, manipulative, evil. While that may sound like the resume of some soap opera villain, it rings true for every one of us who have ever been burned by spam. Spam is an example of why sometimes, the means does not justify the end.

True, the aim is to build buzz for your blog but the technique used is just plain wrong. If you’re planning on leaving spam comments on other websites any time soon, know that it’s not the way to promote your blog. On the contrary, you might even do damage to your blog without knowing it.

Understanding spam comments

Spam comments started sprouting their evil seed when online guestbooks began appearing on websites. Unscrupulous site owners and marketers bombarded these guestbooks with links (many even used purely links) back to the spammers’ websites. If any comment is included at all, it may contain highly generic ones such as ‘cool post’ or ‘great website’ or ‘nice page’.

Spam appears in just about anything these days, including blogs, often in the form of a comment. How this is done is quite simple. Any blogger who wishes to promote his blog can simply write down keyword-heavy texts in the guise of a comment and then post it at random on another blog or website. Sites that allow hyperlinks to be displayed are usually the prime targets.

The problem here is that this type of commenting is not purposeful at all. It’s done at random, similar to throwing darts at a huge dartboard while wearing a blindfold in the hopes of hitting something, anything.

Why spam commenting will not work for you

Leaving spam comments to promote your blog may seem tempting enough but it’s best to avoid it. That is, if you want to be taken seriously and see your blog last long enough for your grandchildren to appreciate. Here are reasons why leaving spam comments to promote your blog are NOT the way to go:

You’re being watched

These days, you spam someone once and you’ll be branded for life. Or at least the blog or business you’re trying to promote will be. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 makes sure spam is controlled and no one can wave it around like a weapon.

Becoming associated with spam is bad news for your blog. People hate spam period. They will be more than happy to report you to your host provider or even your affiliate companies and avoid your blog altogether. And yes, Akismet and a host of other plug-ins designed to fight spam will be watching.

You will be penalized

By leaving spam comments on another website with the sole purpose of promoting your blog, you give that website’s owner the permission to become a witness against you. Your host provider will cut off ties with you and if you’re using your blog to promote an affiliate’s products, even your affiliate will drop you.

Should this happen, you will have to start all over again, from square one, with a tarnished reputation. If you leave more spam comments in the future, you’ll only be repeating the cycle all over again, all to your detriment.

You’ll be seen as unprofessional

Leaving spam comments to promote a blog is for the lazy, the uninformed and the desperate. Why else would you use a technique that is generally viewed as unsavory? If you’re unprofessional, your visitors will find it difficult to trust you ever again.

You’ll be violating certain unwritten codes

The reason why comments are allowed in websites is to provide people a platform with which to interact. Blogs, forums and discussion boards are large meeting places, open to people regardless of their age, sex, location or personal beliefs, with the implicit agreement that those who participate will be respected for their beliefs.

By leaving spam comments on these sites mainly to promote your blog, you break this code of trust.

Leaving spam comments can increase your blog’s ranking… artificially

Although an artificial increase in ranking can mean good news for your blog (it will allow your site to appear high in search engine rankings), this is only an initial effect, sort of like anesthesia. Soon, it will wear off.

This is particularly true if your blog has nothing else to offer. Visitors who have been driven to your blog through search engine links (which you were able to achieve artificially) will sniff around your site and if they find nothing there, they’ll leave soon enough, never to come back.

Worse, word might even get around that your website is filled with nothing but air. If you must promote your blog this way, make sure you have the content to make visitors stay.

7 Ways to Leave Comments and Drive Traffic Back to

7 Ways to Leave Comments and Drive Traffic Back to Your Blog

People say that to make an impression, you’ll have to open your mouth. While that is physically impossible in the virtual world of the Internet, saying your piece is not entirely difficult to do. Thanks to forums and discussion boards, you can leave a comment or start a discussion thread about virtually any topic from anywhere in the world. And yes, you can even leave comments to drive traffic to your blog and increase your readership.

Leaving effective comments

You’re probably old enough to know that not every comment that gets thrown into an opportunity for interaction creates the desired effect, much less become appreciated by those who hear or read it. If you don’t use this technique carefully, you will either waste the opportunity or simply allow it to create the wrong impression. Here are 7 ways you ought to do it:

Choose the sites you leave comments on

Ever wondered why Tiger Woods is great? Because he chooses his battles well. You’ll never find Woods swinging his club at a lesser known tournament not because he’s a snob but because he focuses on the games that truly matter and on being on equal ground with other greats.

Keep this in mind before you leave comments on a website. Just because you have the burning need to drive traffic to your blog doesnt mean you can just drop by a site any site and write there.

Choose the sites and blogs whose forums you participate with. Find out if the site deals with a topic or subject related to your very own blog. Practice only purposeful commenting the kind where you leave only well-crafted comments on sites that will help build the buzz about your blog.

If the site is completely irrelevant but you have the urge to leave a comment, do so only during your spare time. Otherwise, focus your energies only on more productive activities.

Know what you’re saying

Before you leave a comment with the purpose of driving traffic to your blog, at least write one that is useful. Your goal is to be noticed AND respected for your opinions so leaving useless and dead end comments such as ‘Cool!’ and ‘Way to go!’ just won’t cut it.

If this is the best you can do, forget about leaving comments right now and focus on other strategies to drive traffic to your blog. Better avoid this technique than be embarrassed or be viewed as lame or mediocre.

But if you can write and have something meaningful to say, by all means, do so. With every comment you have, make sure you keep it short, concise, to the point and useful. Talk about relevant topics and avoid those that will do nothing for your purpose.

Avoid strong language

Of course, some sites will probably allow you to leave comments that are strongly worded or at least camouflaged as symbols such as !#$%&*, but there are ways to get your point across, regardless of how angry, upset or argumentative you are.

Furthermore, majority of sites and blogs impose certain regulations that restrict the use of certain words. Try to rephrase a sentence without losing its main thought. Use an online thesaurus, if necessary. Remember that once a comment is posted online, there’s no way to get it back especially if it’s not your site. You can leave that comment there to rot but you can never take it back.

Do not be rude

Have a sense of humor. The Internet is a vast expanse of space, currently limitless. In fact, it’s a whole universe unto itself. If people leave comments on your post that seem to insult you or argue with you, don’t fight back without thinking.

First of all, we are a democracy and people have every right to their own opinion. Second, firing back with the same kind of idiotic language will not be a good reflection on you. Third, you’re way better than that. If you must defend your stand, do so with class.

Calm down

Please, if you must drive traffic to your blog by leaving comments on other websites, keep it professional and tone it down. DON’T LEAVE MESSAGES LIKE THIS ONE!!!!!!

A good rule of thumb is to follow accepted structure of the English language or whatever language it is you’re using to post. If you must use exclamatory points, make sure they are truly needed. Otherwise, avoid them.

Leaving comments written in purely bold or capitalized letter smacks of desperation and unprofessionalism. It’s hardselling and makes people stay away in droves.

Check replies to your blogs

Maximize commenting on other sites and drive traffic by frequently checking back on the forum you participated in to see if there are any replies to the post you left. This is a good way to build buzz and network.

Check your facts

If you will be quoting someone or citing a certain study, make sure your facts can be corroborated. Don’t use make believe or newly invented figures and statements or even half-truths and try to pass them off as legit. You will be exposed. If you want to drive traffic to your blog by leaving comments, make sure you don’t tarnish your reputation with the effort.

Join A Community To Advertise Your Blog

Something that you will find, especially if you join
something like LiveJournal or GreatestJournal, is that
users just like you have created communities for
people with common interests.

There are communities for just about any subject, and
if you find that there isnt a community for the
subject you can create one. This is a great place to
advertise your blog.

The nice thing about communities is that there isnt
any limit as to how many communities that you can
join.

For example, say that you love blogging about books,
horseback riding, and skiing in Tahoe. All you have to
do is look through the communities for ones that have
those interests and join them.

As long as you post something related to the topic to
the chosen community, people will see you and perhaps
they will check out your personal blog.

Something to remember is that you dont want to write
a post tht is one sentence long in order to get people
to go to your blog. They will want to know that what
you write is interesting and is something worth
reading.

Joining communities can be a great way to advertise
your blog and drive traffic to it. If you are
referring to something that you posted about on your
blog, you can use a link back to your entry in your
post.

As with posting comments on someone elses blog, you d
ont want people to think that you joined a community
simply to get traffic to your blog. Otherwise, people
wont visit your blog and you may get banned from the
community as well.

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