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Should you Sell Links on your Blog?

Anil Gupta — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:22:27 +0000

If you have a blog and it has become quite successful over time, you might find that people offer you money in exchange for including links to their websites in your posts. Opinion is somewhat split over whether it is a good idea to sell links on your blog or not, so this article looks at both sides of the issue to determine whether it’s worth it. But first, why do people want to pay you to put links on your blog?

Probably the main reason people like to get blogs to include links to their sites is that it can help with their SEO and web traffic. After all, if you have a popular blog and you write a post that links to another website, it’s likely that people will click on the link – especially if you write with some authority on a subject and the link is relevant to that subject. This effectively means that the website whose link it is gets to benefit from increased traffic without the normal hard work of online relationship building – and you get to benefit from the money they pay you.

This all sounds good and, sometimes, it can be really tempting to sell links on your blog. This can particularly be the case if you’re a fan of the website that wants to put a link on your blog as it can lend you some authority as well as them. Plus, if they’re offering you good money then it will naturally be even more tempting.

However, it often isn’t a good idea to sell links on your blog, largely because search engines such as Google frown upon it. If they find out that you’ve been selling links on your blog, you might find that your page ranking moves down as a result. This can then make it harder for web users to find your blog when they are searching online, which could mean that you get less traffic, which means you’ll get fewer clicks on your already-existing ads and therefore less revenue.

This means it’s not always worth selling links on your blog as the downside could outweigh the benefits. There are also other things you need to consider before selling blog links. For instance, is the website in question really relevant to your blog? If it’s not relevant to the topic of your blog then it’s probably best to steer clear just in case as it’s always better to be on the safe side.

Plus, you might find that reputable websites are able to get others to link to their sites without needing to pay them in the first place. If someone offers you money to host a link on your blog, why are they doing it? Why do they need to do it when there are so many other good ways to build SEO? If you’re still interested in having other people’s links on your blog then an alternative option to consider would be to get them to write a guest post with a link back to their site. Then ask if you can write a guest post for their blog with a link back to yours – that way you both still benefit but the resultant SEO will be organic rather than questionable.

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How to Run a Popular Profitable Blog

Anil Gupta — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:14:48 +0000

Many people run an online blog, but relatively few of them are either popular or profitable. Often, people simply write blogs for friends and family or even just for their own amusement. However, if you want your blog to be something more than an online journal or diary, what can you do? This article looks at key components to consider if you want to run a popular, profitable blog.

Have a specific subject

Firstly, it really helps if there is a specific subject or area about which you can write with authority. This will help your blog to gain credibility and also build up a dedicated readership that is interested in what you have to say. You don’t need to be an expert in anything complicated in order to run a blog (although if you are, this could definitely be useful!).

As long as there is something you are interested in and can talk about, you could make a success of your blog. For instance, perhaps you’re setting up your own business and want to share the journey, or maybe you work for a good cause that deserves attention, or perhaps you’re going through life changes that could make for an excellent story. All of these could make very popular blogs.

Market it properly

The next thing to consider is your marketing. If you want your blog to be popular and profitable, you need to make sure people actually know about it. This means it’s important to update your blog regularly to keep the content relevant. You might also want to consider setting up accounts on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook to promote your blog to different audiences.

Appreciate your readers

Something else that’s vital to running a popular blog is to appreciate your readers. They are much more likely to invest their time in your blog if they feel that you are interested in them and are grateful for their readership. Make sure you reply to comments so people can see you’re paying attention and, when your blog gets more popular, you could even run competitions to keep people’s interest. Whether or not you want your blog to be profitable, keeping up with your readers is essential.

Run ad campaigns

When it comes to making money from your blog, one of the most important things to do is to set up advertising campaigns. You can generally do this through programs such as Google AdSense, which you can sign up for and then display ads on your blog. When people click those ads, you then earn money from them. Obviously, the more people that click them, the more you will earn – so it is definitely in your interests to make your blog as popular as possible.

Link up with other blogs

Something else you could do to help your blog be both more popular and profitable is to link up with other blogs. You might, for instance, be able to earn money by writing guest posts for other people’s blogs, or for including links to their blogs on your site. This will also help to attract a wider readership, growing your blog and its success even further.

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What is Cloud Computing and Can it Help Me?

Anil Gupta — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 09:07:41 +0000

Cloud computing is a buzz word that has been around for a few years now, but it is still little understood outside of professional tech circles. Many people, however, are interested in finding out more about it as the potential for cloud computing to be beneficial to wide audiences is well known. This article looks at exactly what cloud computing is and whether it might be able to help you.

Essentially, cloud computing is the name for a large network of computer servers and connections. Many people make the mistake of assuming it is the internet, but it isn’t – you can certainly access cloud computing through the internet or internet-enabled devices (such as smartphones), but it is actually a system of computing. It allows ordinary users to access supercomputer levels of computing technology, which naturally opens up the number of things that you can achieve through computing.

For instance, it allows you to store and analyse much more data than previously, which can be useful when you need to compute information in order to make use of it. Say, for example, you have a large amount of data relating to your business but, as it stands, it’s just a load of numbers and coding and you can’t really make much sense of it. Processing it with a regular computer may well take a long time, but if you were to use cloud computing technology, such as the Amazon EC2 cloud, it would speed it up and enable you to use your data much faster.

These results can then be utilised in businesses to identify things such as how many customers they have had, trends in customer purchases and any other relevant information. This is obviously hugely useful when it comes to working out areas businesses are doing well in and other areas where they might need to improve.

Cloud computing can definitely help everyone, from businesses who want to make direct use of cloud computing technology to web users who might not even be aware that they are using it. For example, when you do a search through an online search engine such as Google, you type in your search phrase and then it comes back with a load of results for you to choose from. For the web user, this is a quick and simple process, but it’s actually made possible by Google’s vast network of computers and connections right across the world: this means that the information you get back in your search results is essentially data from the cloud.

Cloud computing also allows web users to access more technology more easily. An example of this is the Google Font Directory. For ages, web designers have been fairly limited in the fonts that they can use on websites because many people’s browsers are limited in what they can support. However, transferring the font directory to the cloud computing system means that there is a great quantity to choose from, which is revolutionising not only the way people work with computers but how we view the web.

Overall, the answer is yes, cloud computing definitely can help you. Even if you don’t use it directly, it will certainly have an impact on your web experience so it’s definitely something worth being aware of even if you’re not an expert in it.

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Top 5 Hosted Blog Services

Anil Gupta — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:12:05 +0000

Are you thinking about starting a blog to share your thoughts, promote a career or maybe even make some money? Or maybe you are a blogger looking to see if there are any better services out there. Either way, it’s important to know which the best hosted blog services are at the moment. This article takes you through five of the best.

WordPress

One blog site that always does well in terms of user experience and feedback is WordPress. This offers a simple content management system that is really easy to use, even if you are an internet novice. It also offers lots of customisable features, so if you know what you’re doing, you can add your own touch to it, making it perfect for everyone. There are lots of blog themes for you to choose from and it’s completely free to set up an account. It also monitors your stats and doesn’t overwhelm your page with adverts, unlike other blogging services – something that makes it very popular with users.

Blogger

Another good hosted blog service is Blogger from Google. This is also free and, as it is owned by Google, you get some good benefits as a result. For instance, it is really easy to sign up for Google Adsense (great if you are hoping to generate a bit of revenue) and your blog will go into the Google Blog Directory, which is great for getting your words out there and seen by lots of people. It’s also really easy to use but is still flexible, so it’s possible to customise your page and build your own templates if you want.

MySpace

MySpace might have fallen out of favour somewhat in recent years, but it still offers a good and comprehensive blogging service and so is worth investigating. It typically appeals to musicians and other arty types as it offers opportunities for showcasing your skills. It’s also good if you are looking to network with other people and you can make lots of contacts as well as sharing video and audio features, but if you are looking to write lots of extensive blog posts, it might not be the best host for you.

TypePad

Another good hosted blog service is TypePad. This one requires you to pay for basic membership, but the service is comprehensive and you get lots of benefits so it’s definitely worth the fees. It’s really easy to monitor your statistics and many people use this service if they are hoping to make money out of their blog. It doesn’t put ads on your site unless you request them, which appeals to a lot of bloggers and it’s also great in terms of blog promotion.

Squarespace

Finally, you should also check out Squarespace. This is another service that requires you to pay to use it, but it’s great whether you are looking to build a blog or a full website. Plus, it’s really easy to customise and adapt to your own style even if you know nothing about coding, which is great if you are looking for a bespoke design to really make your blog stand out from the crowd.

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How to Buy and Sell Websites Online

Anil Gupta — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 07:35:03 +0000

One way of making money online is to buy and sell websites. This can potentially be quite a profitable avenue, but it also requires commitment as there can sometimes be quite a bit of work involved. This article looks at how to buy and sell websites online so you can work out if it is the right option for you.

Firstly, you need to know what sort of websites you might like to buy. Ideally, they should be the sort of websites you already know a bit about so you can develop them, improve their search engine rankings and increase your chances of selling them on for a profit. Visit sites such as flippa.com, where you can see the types of websites for sale. Typically, they will include blogs, niche sites, paid membership sites and forums.

Once you have identified the type of website you would like to buy, you need to work out if what’s on offer constitutes a good deal. If you are interested in buying a website that’s up for sale, get in touch with the owners of the site. Find out what their monthly expenses are, how much time they put into running the website, why they are selling the website and any other relevant details. This will help you work out whether or not it has potential and if it’s something you would be interested in taking on.

Then, once you have decided that you want to buy the site, you actually need to buy it. This can usually be done through PayPal. Bear in mind that if you purchase a website through an intermediary site, the intermediary might add on an extra charge. One option when buying a site is to split the money you pay in half, so you pay half when you buy the site and then half a couple of months later but only as long as the site is still performing as the previous owners assured you it would.

Your next task is to set about improving the website to boost its value. You should budget for any expenses here as well so you know how much you will be spending (having a budget is a really good idea). This could include implementing a good SEO strategy to boost traffic and business, or re-writing the content of the site prior to re-launching it in a bid to get more business. This process might take you a couple of months, or it could take you years depending on the site, so you need to stay dedicated to it.

When it comes to selling the website, you need to be able to prove that the site is profitable so people will be interested in it. You should also make it clear why you are selling it, as potential buyers can be put off if you are cagey or don’t give them a satisfactory answer. Don’t put the asking price too high, either, or you’ll be pricing yourself out of the market – do some research to see what similar websites are going for so you’ll have a guide price in mind when it comes to selling on your site.

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How to choose a proper article title

Anil Gupta — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:27:18 +0000

An Article Title acts like an introduction for your article. The ultimate purpose of an Article Title is to draw people towards your article, generate interest and get them look deep inside what you have to offer and say to one and all on a particular topic. Upon choosing a title, one needs to ensure the best possible optimum results. Here are important steps to be followed for framing effective article titles :

THINK SMART – Always, when framing a title, try to think out of the box and think smart as well – so that it captures everyone’s attention and invokes some expressions such as “wow! Awesome!” etc.

WRITE ARTICLE FIRST – Remember, write your article first and then form your title – so that you will have a much better idea about the entire content and then can form a suitable title in a lucid manner

FINALISE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE – If you have not decided upon your target audience during the writing of your article, you get a second chance while framing your title – a chance to think twice

KISS TECHNIQUE – Keep It Short and Simple – well, keep it to the point and avoid lengthy titles –so that the reader understands the title in the shortest possible time and there is no ambiguity at all

KEYWORD ORIENTED – Incorporate keywords into your tile for best SEO results – so that your article title comes on the top of the page ranks when search engines churn out results on a daily basis

CREATE A BUZZ – Your title should be able to create a buzz among the readers and in the internet marketing circles at a rapid pace – something similar to a chain effect like viral marketing technique

CONVEY VALID MESSAGE – Ensure that your title goes on to convey a valid meaning and message and helps the customer in forming an instant opinion about the product or service quite effectively

FINALIZE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE – Finalizing your target audience will give clarity to your title – this will help you in framing clear and concise article titles that carve a niche market among competition

MAKE IT CATCHY – See to it that your title remains catchy and captures the imagination of readers

GET INTO THE AUDIENCE SHOES – Read your article from the target audience point of view

RE-READ YOUR ARTICLE – Read your article once again by which a suitable title may strike you

MAKE IT TRENDY – See to it that your article title is quite trendy too, keeping up with today’s times

UNIQUENESS AND FLOW – Ensure a proper flow and make sure your title is unique in the web

DO NOT OFFEND – Your article title should be framed in such a way that it should not offend anybody

PARAMETERS AND RULES – All article sites and press release sites have stringent parameters and rule sets to be followed for titles – for example, your title should not have a dollar symbol, should avoid adult content, should not have direct promotion and likewise, should not contain numerical value, should avoid punctuations, commas etc.–therefore, make sure to follow the parameters and rules.

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Five Ways to Make Money from Blogging

Anil Gupta — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:23:25 +0000

Blogging is an increasingly popular online activity, with bloggers writing about everything from niche specialisms to what they had for breakfast. In order to become a blogging success and ultimately make money from it takes a lot of work, but if you are willing to persevere and explore a range of different options, it is possible to make money from your blogging. This article takes you through 5 ways you can make money through blogging.

Advertising

One of the main ways many successful bloggers make money on their sites is by hosting advertising. They are then paid per click, which means that whenever a reader clicks through onto the advert, the blogger is paid a set price for it. One of the main advertising mediums is Google AdWords, which allows companies to place and target ads according to particular keywords that they are looking to promote. There are also other, smaller services that can help find you relevant ads to place on your site. The more relevant the ads are to your site, the more likely your readers are to click on them.

Click Through Links

Another way to make money from your blog is to have links that click through onto other sites. For example, a lot of book bloggers make money by having links to Amazon products, so that when they write a review about a particular book, it would include a link to the Amazon page where that book is sold. This has led to some book bloggers making more money from what they do than the author who originally wrote the book, showing that if you can find and exploit your market, there is potential to make money here.

Sponsored Posts

You can also choose to write sponsored posts on your blog, which you will often be paid for. For instance, a lot of companies like to promote their products and services on third party websites that then link back to their own website. This is good for them as it helps to get their message out to a wider audience and it is good for you as they are often willing to pay for you to write a blog post targeting particular keywords for them. So, if you are blogging about a specific industry and have a large following, it could be a good idea to research likely companies and offer your services to them.

Write Guest Posts for Others

If you manage to become an established, well-respected blogger, other opportunities are likely to open up for you. For example, if you have expertise on a particular subject and have written well-thought out pieces on the topic, there might be chances for you to write for other blogs – or even newspapers and other mediums – and get paid as a result. This sort of thing can take a while to achieve as you need to establish yourself first, but if you’ve been blogging for a while and have some expertise, then it could well be an option.

Link to Main Site

Finally, your blog can also be a way of increasing the success of your business. If you run a business, then having a blog in addition to a regular website is a good idea as it is a great way of promoting what you are doing and engaging with your audience in a more direct, less formal manner. This can help to build up trust between you and your readership, which can then translate into greater success for your business as a result.

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3 Ways of Making Money from Mobile Marketing

Anil Gupta — Wed, 18 May 2011 07:08:49 +0000

When it comes to making money online, there is a growing need to be more innovative and diverse than ever. This is because people are catching on to the opportunities available, so if you are serious about making cash online, you need to find underdeveloped or new markets that you can get into before everyone else does. One market that is currently on the cusp is mobile marketing, so it’s a great time to get involved in it. The industry is established enough that it’s going to be sticking around for a while, but not so saturated that there are no good opportunities. We take you through 3 of the main ways you can make money from mobile marketing.

But what is mobile marketing? It essentially refers to marketing – on mobile (or cell) phones. While 1.6 billion people currently have internet access on their computers, there are more than 5 billion cell phone contracts in existence. Mobile internet is improving in its capabilities all the time and smartphones are starting to sell faster than desktop computers, making this an exciting industry to get involved in.

Mobile websites

One of the main ways of making money through mobile marketing is through websites. You will no doubt be familiar with the websites of various businesses and organisations, but even though more people than ever are using the internet on their mobile phones, there are still relatively few companies that have dedicated mobile sites. It’s in their interests to do so as there is potentially a huge, previously untapped mobile market for them to make use of. If you have the skills to design, sell, market or otherwise get involved with mobile websites, now could be a good time to do it. There is a growing demand for specialised mobile sites, so it’s definitely worth making the most of that.

Apps

Another popular form of mobile marketing involves smartphone apps. These are most associated with the iPhone, but BlackBerry, Android and other devices also make use of them, meaning there are lots of opportunities to get involved. For example, you could design apps for smartphones, creating features that allow users to buy products from a particular company or that offer a particular service that users would find helpful. Apps provide a growing market as more and more people use them, so if you have innovative ideas and the skills to create them, this could be a great opportunity for you.

Advertising

As with the mainstream internet, there is a demand for advertising services in mobile marketing. Mobile sites may be slightly more limited than normal websites as they have a smaller amount of pixels to play with and less space, but as long as they are optimised then there is still scope for advertising to be included in them. For instance, you might be able to get involved with selling advertising space on mobile websites or creating adverts that companies can use on mobile sites to advertise their services.

If current trends are to be believed, mobile marketing could be one of the next big things, so if you have relevant skills and experience, there is definitely potential to make money through this industry.

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Understanding the best time to launch a blog post

Anil Gupta — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:13:02 +0000

Leo Reynolds from Flickr

Understanding the best time to launch a blog post is a tricky thing to do, as the internet is a global phenomenon which transcends all time zones. However, we have a few top tips to help you get the most out of your blog posts and ensure that they are seen and linked to by as many people as possible at any given time.

In terms of popularity, studies show that the most popular times for blog posts (GMT) are midnight-2am and 4pm-10pm. In terms of the most popular days, it’s pretty even but Tuesday and Thursday come out just above the other days in terms of posting popularity. Are they the best times and days to post, though?

If you plan to tweet with your blog post, a recent study showed that 4.01pm is the best time to tweet if you want to be noticed. After that, 11am-12pm should be considered. The same survey showed that half of people read every tweet, with 20% only reading the last 20 or so tweets.

During the 11am-12pm and 4pm-5pm windows, there are between 17% and 20% more users reading tweets than sending them. Between 7pm and 8pm, however, this margin reduces to just 2%, meaning people are more interested in tweeting than reading your tweets.

Friday afternoons are always a good time to post, as people tend to get towards the end of their working weeks and browse on the internet. For this reason, the lunchtime hours also work well. However, your blog may be focussed on a particular niche which means a specific time is best for you.

Try different times and different days and see what works best for you. There are no hard and fast rules, but studies tend to show pretty conclusively that the 4pm-5pm window and Mondays and Fridays tend to work well for a large number of bloggers around the world.

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The New Blog Promotion Plan

Anil Gupta — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:43:51 +0000

Let us get practical. A very less percentage of bloggers use paid advertising to promote their blog. Paid advertising option is mostly chosen by those who are really desperate to promote their blog in quick time or by those who have something to offer to their visitors who could later become potential customers.

Coming back to the new bloggers, most of them use free promotion methods to promote their blog. These include commenting, guest posting, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and social networks. And the fact is, these methods DO work. Many blogs have made their authority from day one by using these methods religiously and their efforts are now reaping benefits.

Today, I am going to share with you the blog promotion plan which I hope will be very useful to all. I sincerely believe that if you follow this plan for the first 3 months, the traffic will reach above your expectations.

Commenting

Follow the given steps to promote your blog effectively through commenting.

Make a diary and write at least 20 blogs that you read often.
Keep adding the new blogs in this list as soon as you find any.
Each day, make a habit of commenting on at least half of those blogs that are in your list. If you can comment more, it is good for your blog but half the number is the minimum prescribed.

Guest Posting

This has emerged as one of the best option to promote blog.

Single out 4 blogs that has good traffic, is relevant to your niche and accepts guest posting. I suggest 4 as more number of blogs will not balance the equation.
Write at least 7 posts per week. You have to make this much of effort. Out of 7, publish 3 in you own blog and four on the blogs you have selected for guest posting.

Social Networks (other than Facebook and Twitter)

Social networks do have the capability of sending you good traffic if used consistently.

Choose 2 social networks. There are many out there but for the blogs in this niche, MMOSocialNetwork and Blokube are my recommendations. You can select more than two networks but too many will clutter your mind and increase your efforts uselessly.

As soon as you publish a post on your own blog or if your guest post is published, submit the post in the above networks.

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