Net Writing

Daily Blog Tips RSS Competition

2008-11-10T18:57:52Z

I’ve entered Daily Blog Tips blogging idol 2. This time the competition is to try and get more subscribers, with voting for most effective strategies.

RSS numbers have been increasing well for Economics Help, I’ve had 40 new subscribers since start of competition (for some reason blog is at bottom of scoreboard, but, I’m sure that will be fixed.

By the way, out of 485 subscribers 300 are via email.

Today I am going to try experiment with a direct email box on the top of the sidebar (rather than just link to an email form). If this increases conversion rate I will let you know.

Most Irritating Phrases / Words in the English Language

2008-11-07T13:52:56Z

According to recent research, these are some of the most irritating words/ phrases in English language, at moment. All seem to have an element of condescension. However, with all due respect, I wouldn’t give it too much importance to this research, as I mean, at the end of the day, some people really enjoy using them.

At the end of the day
Fairly Unique
I personally
At this moment in time
With all due respect
Absolutely
It’s a nightmare
Shouldn’t of
24/7
It’s not rocket science

Other pet irritants

Actually,
I mean

Example of How To Be Irritating

At the end of the day, I personally feel that at this moment in time, and with all due to the MPC, that we shouldn’t of cut interest rates. I mean, its’ not rocket science that cutting interesting rates absolutely won’t solve the economic recession. Actually, I think the financial crisis is a complete nightmare, which is fairly unique in the annals of economic history. But, at the end of the day, it’s time we had an integrated response.

A simple Tip for Getting More Traffic

2008-10-16T19:17:50Z

When you have written a blog post on a topic. Google that topic.

Go through the top 10, top 20 positions and see whether you can:
Leave a relevant comment to your new post
Contact the blogger / website to let them know about your post.

This is an excellent way to get traffic and links. It works quite often, especially if: Your post is actually good and offers something new.

For example, I wrote a post on a cycling event - Brompton World Championships and then googled the phrase
I wrote to one blogger, to say you might be interested in my pictures. He linked to my blog. (note I didn’t ask him to link to it. I just said he might be interested because there is a close correlation)
On another, I left a comment, first one. This brought quite a bit of traffic.

How To Get Better Google Rankings

2008-10-16T18:20:02Z

If you want to get high search engine positions for a certain keyword, there are various strategies that you can take. The ultimate test will be to create a site that compels others to link to it. Therefore, although SEO practices are important, you must give importance to making the site attractive for visitors and readers.

These are the most Important Factors for Keyword ranking

1. Choose Good domain name.

If you want to dominate the rankings for a keyword such as “cycling”. It is helpful to have cycling in the domain name. e.g. cyclinginfo.com, cyclingtips.com
However, it is not essential; people can still have high rankings for “computers” without having computers in the title. (Googling cycling in the UK gives only 3 results out of top 10 with cycling in domain name)
The advantage of choosing a domain name “cycling info” is that when you get someone linking to your site, the anchor text will invariably have “cycling info” in it.
If you wanted to have multiple domains to try and dominate a key search phrase like “mortgage quotes”. I would suggest choosing 50% of domains with mortgages in and 50% of domains without mortgages.

2. In Bound Links

Links from Other Websites to your Site is, in my opinion, the single most important factor. However, it is not the number, but, the quality and variety of links that is important
The importance of Links increases if

They are from sites on related themes
If the site is trusted by Google. i.e well established, high PR, lots of links to that site, has been around for a long time.
The link contains a high % the anchor text of the keyword.
They are naturally generated over time. - Google will try to spot link manipulation schemes.
The links are from a variety of sources and different IP addresses.

Don’t bother with:

Buying links
Links from Link farms
Reciprocal links from unrelated sites.
Links from a page with 100s of links, unless the site is very good.

See more Tips on getting inbound links

It depends on the keyword niche. If the keyword is not particularly competitive, you may need only a small number of links, so don’t be put off by worrying how to get loads of links.

3. Unique Content

Generating unique content should be viewed as the highest priority for any new site. It is the backbone of the site; without the content there is not much you can do. A high % of your site should be unique to your site; if necessary employ some writers. If the content is really good it will attract people to link to it later. However, don’t be put off if you don’t consider yourself a sophisticated writer, the best writing is often simple.

4. Keywords in Titles

If you want to rank highly for “cycling” it is important to have “cycling” in your titles. The more pages you have related to your keyword the better. Choosing the right keywords in titles can also be a good way to get related traffic. The more traffic you get the higher chance you have of getting links.

See: Changing titles to get more traffic

Good Subtitles Also Help

For example, if you wanted to get related keywords, use good subtitles. This enables you to rank for more than just the titles.

5. Keyword Density

I don’t think this is specifically significant. The optimum keyword density is maybe between 2-5%. But, I think it is better to concentrate on writing naturally, rather than trying to work out optimum keyword density. I never give keyword density a second thought.

6. External Links

The ranking of your page can be increased if you link to authoritative sites related to the page. External links are like references, if you provide these external links, you increase the usefulness of your page, and google will give the page a higher value. It may seem strange, but linking to your other sites can be helpful, even if they don’t link back. E.g. on a page about cycling, try to link out to a variety of the key authorities on cycling. But, this is not essential.

8. Patience

A certain amount of patience is needed. Don’t expect results overnight. It takes time to improve get links and improve rankings. Also some keywords are very difficult to break into. It is said it is virtually impossible to break into the top 30 for “gambling”

9. Multiple Sites

This is an option if you are really keen to do well for a keyword. This strategy is obviously more time consuming but it can definitely be helpful for very competitive keywords. This strategy will be more successful if:

The sites are on different IP addresses and hosted on different servers.
Each site needs to be a genuine site. I.e. don’t fill it up with duplicated content.
Don’t link every site to each other like a link factory. For example, you could have all 5 linking at a target site. But, the target site doesn’t have to link back to the others.
Keep a variety in content, links, e.t.c. between the site.
It is difficult to fool google, but if you can create several genuine websites on related themes, then it can help you do well for your target keyword.

10. Blogs

A blog can be a powerful way to boost your keyword search.

For example, suppose you have a domain “exercisetoday.com” and you wanted to rank highly for the term “cycling clothes”
What I would suggest is adding a blog to your domain exercisetoday.com/blog
Call this blog something like “cycling tips”. Then write lots of articles about cycling, cycling clothes and cycling related products. Promote your articles and blog to get links to your blog with the anchor text “cycling tips”. This will definitely help improve your rankings for “cycling clothes”

11. Meta Tags

There was a time when inserting meta tags into a page was all the rage. I don’t think Google even look at keywords. I never bother.

Conclusion

If you can create good content related to your keyword themes, you will have a good chance of developing improved search engine rankings.

Work on creating good content and inbound links. Bother require hard work, but overtime it becomes easier to optimise the site.

Also: Getting more Traffic to Your Site

Changing Titles To Get More Traffic

2008-10-02T18:24:28Z

A few months ago, I set up a gardening blog, with my father - Gardeners Tips. We have done all the right things for a new blog

Got some good links.
Created 300 posts.
Reasonable design and good logo.

Although, it is still a fairly new blog I was a little disappointed with traffic levels, given the number of posts and inbound links. I had a look at the posts, and decided the problem was in the titles chosen. My father had chosen good titles, the kind of titles you would get in a gardening magazine or newspaper, but, they are not optimised for search engines. This is how I changed the titles, to hopefully get more traffic.

Note: The first thing I did was to look in the statistics to see which kind of keywords were bring traffic.

The top 3 were:

21.15% growing sunflowers
growing lupins
growing sweet peas

Straight away, we are given a simple idea. ‘Growing’ and ‘plant name’ make a good combination.

Examples of Old Titles and New titles

Big Cuttings for Big Shrubs - “How To Take Cuttings of Shrubs” I didn’t feel anyone would search the first title, but, people do search questions, how to do something.
Asparagus Cultivation UK Style - “Growing Asparagus in UK” - Generally, it is best to use the most common words. Growing will be more common than cultivation.
A Pair of Decorative Herbs - “Decorative Herbs for The Garden” - The second will be searched more frequently
Apple Rootstock - “Types of Apple Rootstock” - Two words is very difficult to rank for; competition is too intense. Here my choice of the extra word Types was because this is what the post is about. Important to remember, the title should reflect the post!
Weedy Ponds - “Dealing With Weeds in Ponds”
Easy Rhubarb in Yorkshire - “Simple Tips for Growing Rhubarb in Yorkshire”

By now, you probably get the idea of how you can make more search engine friendly titles. You may feel it becomes repeitive. But, also don’t forget, it is good to be descriptive and say exactly what it is about. It will make it more likely people will actually click on the link when they see it in search engine results.

Christmas Gift Ideas for Bloggers

2008-10-01T13:56:31Z

Today is 1st October, and I have noticed an increase in the number of people searching for ‘Christmas gift ideas for…’ and ‘10 Tips for Christmas’ e.t.c.

If you have a blog on fly fishing, why not produce a blog post, ‘Christmas gift ideas for fishing enthusiasts’ For the next 3 months, you have a good chance to get some good seasonal traffic. It is also an opportunity to gain some affiliate sales from Amazon or other dealer.

Actually, it’s pretty hard to think of Christmas ideas for bloggers. But, I guess the new Problogger book would make a good start.

Other Ideas of Presents for Bloggers

Ergo Mouse Mat which remembers your position
Spare battery for laptop - This is a real boon for the blogger who writes in a cafe, away from home
Small digital camera, a definite help for the blogger looking for pictures for their blog.

Blogging on The Financial Crisis

2008-09-30T10:01:47Z

I haven’t posted at Net writing for over 2 weeks. My rather feeble excuse is that I have been distracted by the ongoing financial panic which has gripped stock markets, banks, currencies and even the presidential race.

Because there is so much interest in economics and finance I have been blogging more intensely on my finance and economic blog. Traffic and subscribers have both increased and I have been trying to make the temporary boost in traffic a permanent one.

When your blog niche hits the news there are ways to make sure you can benefit from it.

Choose keywords titles that people are searching.
Don’t try to be a news service, you will get underwhelmed if you are a single blogger.
Don’t just be an echo of what you read in newspapers. Offer your own analysis and try to develop a simple style.
Don’t take things for granted people appreciate simple explanations of what is going on.
Do create timeless content amidst the fast changing news. You don’t want to just blog on events which will become outdated soon. Write articles that are timeless whilst using present events as examples.
Do blog. When there is interest capitalise on this. In particular try to encourage people to subscribe by writing a regular writing schedule of excellent content.
When blogging do the most important tasks. For example, at the moment the most important thing is to be writing articles. It is not time for a redesign or leaving comments on other blogs e.t.c.

Projects for the Experienced Blogger

2008-09-15T10:08:19Z

In our previous post, we looked at what a beginner blogger should spend his time on. In this post, we will look at some suggestions for the experienced blogger who has done the hard work of getting a blog established.

1. Look at Statistics.

Find pages which give most traffic and optimise them. They may be posts you wrote a long time ago and had forgotten about. 80% of your traffic could be coming from 10-20% of your posts. If one posts is getting a lot of traffic, improve it - impress all these visitors. Make sure there are links to other related posts and try to encourage the visitors to explore more aspects of the blog.

2. Exploit successful keywords

In your statistics you will see some keywords that are bringing you lots of traffic. Try variations on these keywords. If you do well for ‘Blogging tips’ You will probably do well for ‘Blogging tips for begginers’ ‘Top 10 Blogging tips’
If a keyword is very profitable, it is also worth trying to get higher rankings for this keyword. If you are number 5 for one profitable keyword. Try getting links with this keyword in anchor text; if you can go from number 5 to number 1 on google, you will see a 200-300% increase in traffic.

3. Create more bookmarkable content.

When I was a new blogger I spent a lot of time writing quantity. However, I know feel you make more progress from writing memorable content which might do well on social bookmarking sites and attract links.

It is better to have 1 post that gets 2-3 links than 5 posts that sink into mediocrity.

4. Increase RSS readership.

Work hard at building an RSS readership. Try to develop a consistent posting schedule of 2-7 posts a week. This is a good volume

5. Try different things.

Don’t keep churning out the same kind of articles. Try something different like:

A video post
Interview with someone outside the blogosphere.
Collection of interesting photos.
Inspiration from past archives.
Think like a journalist rather than blogger.

Related

Finding topics to write about

Why RSS really is Important

2008-09-04T16:00:22Z

I write this as something of a slow convert to the importance of RSS subscribers. The reason is that a while back I had gained good traffic levels and a reasonable income without having any RSS subscribers. However, whenever I read articles about blogging, I heard people talk about the importance of RSS subscribers. So slowly I tried focusing more attention on this aspect of blogging.

Why I focus most of my blogging attention on RSS subscribers.

Chasing Google search traffic is a limited business model. What happens if you get a google penalty or you lose rankings?
It is hard to fool Google with artificial links. In this article - quality of links, I mentioned how ‘easy to get links’ are generally not very valuable. The really valuable links are the natural ones from visitors. My feeling is that these natural links are most likely to come from your subscribers. I don’t try to get subscribers just so I can get links. But, if you have hundreds of subscribers, it is likely you will get a lot more natural links than if you have just one (yourself)
RSS subscribers will help vote for you on social bookmarking sites.
RSS subscribers is a sign that people like your blog. This is good for advertisers. It is a sign to Google you are not a spam blog. I wouldn’t be surprised if somehow Google used RSS subscribers in determining rankings. A high subscriber guarantees a certain level of quality. Anyone can try manipulate search rankings but manipulating rss subscribers is much harder.

RSS subscribers encourages higher quality posting. When I had no RSS subscribers, I would often shoot off short posts with the main motive to get keyword rich titles in the post hoping to get traffic from Google. However, if you have a number of RSS subscribers, you don’t want to post something of inferior quality. You want to maintain a good level of blog posting otherwise you will be doing a disservice to your readers. Ultimately this helps to improve the long term quality of your blog.

8 Effective ways to Increase RSS subscribers
My RSS subscriber numbers - slowly going up!

How To Get Links to Your Blog

2008-09-02T00:36:33Z

I have 2 friends who have recently started blogs. They both have created a certain amount of content. In a way this is the easy part because anyone can write articles. The art of blogging is getting links to what you have written, so you will get reasonable Google Rankings.

These are some of the suggestions to Get Links

Write Articles For Ezines

Write articles of 400 words include a link to your site at the bottom and submit to ezinearticles.com. There are many others, but, this is the best. These articles should not be on your blog, but written specifically for the ezine. You don’t want to spend along time writing these articles, but, they want to be good enough so other sites will copy and give you more links. Use article titles like 10 tips for getting links. More on ezine articles here. e.g. vary the link text. The benefits of ezines may have become devalued because everyone is doing it these days. Therefore, don’t rely on this strategy.

Get to Know Other Bloggers in Your Niche.

Look at other bloggers in your niche. In particular look at blogs at a similar stage of development. It is more difficult to get links from a top blog, but, easier to develop relationships with blogs of a similar stature.

Leaving comments,
Linking to them
Dropping an email

All these will get the blogger interested in your blog. If he likes your blog and you have good content, the above strategy’s may result in links. However, I would point out I never expect links from other bloggers. I never ask for them directly. Think about building relationships rather than just a mindset of ‘getting links’

Linkbait.

Linkbait is an article that is unique, highly interesting or something people will love. As a new blogger, you may not appreciate what link bait is. For example, this post is not linkbait. It is not exactly the first article on getting links on the internet… However, if you had an interview with a celebrity in your field on your blog, that is unique - it is a first. People will be interested in viewing it. Another strategy is to get collections of photos which are particularly interesting for your blog. After writing the linkbait, you need to let people know about it. Email specific bloggers (it is of course helpful if you already have some relationship). Also this is something not to overdo.
The second thing, is to mention it on a forum in your niche. This can work if you know the forum members will really like the content. If it is unrelated or selling a product, it is dangerous. It also helps if you have contributed to the forum in other ways than promoting your own content. If the content is really good, it can lead to appearing on several forums and blogs. Getting several links like this is definitely worth the effort of creating superior content and the effort of letting people know.

Blog Catalogues

Mostly a waste of time. Although for a new blogger, a few might be worthwhile. In particular look for niche specific catalogues.

Blog Carnivals.

A good way to get links. If you link back to the carnival and select a few other entries, it may encourage people to to the same to you. Blog carnivals

Where Do Competitors get links from?

You could look and see where other blogs get their links from them and see whether you can get one also.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia links are nofollow so don’t help google rankings. But, one or two might be useful for driving traffic. As long as you have good content related to the page an external link should survive. If it doesn’t no harm.

Look around

Many other opportunities for getting links will appear the more you get to know your niche.

Build Up RSS subscribers.

A long term strategy is to encourage a loyal readership and RSS subscribers. The more RSS subscribers you have the more chance of getting links unasked for. This is the best long term strategy. people will subscribe to a blog which offers compelling reasons to subscribe

Related

How To Determine Quality of Links