Blog To Great

Links Are Great for Traffic, But Avoid These Mistakes

BLOG TIPS- We agree that linking with other bloggers is an effective way to gain blog traffic and readership but gain your links properly.  Read our list of tips below (and comment to add your advice) to avoid link problems-

1. Avoid unnatural links for your blog.  Years ago it was acceptable to link to, get links from any source.  This is now longer the case as Google and others weigh the appropriateness of your blog's links. Nowadays,  bad or inappropriate link can do more harm and in fact, lower your page ranks.  Stick with reliable blogs and sites that are in or related to your blog's niche.

2. Basic reciprocal links aren't effective.  Usually, obvious reciprocal from links.php pages or similar reciprocal scripts don't work, so save your time and efforts and don't try.  You could end up with some link partners, but the ones you'd get you should avoid anyway!

Would You Like More TWITTER Followers? Here's One Way...

BLOG TIP - With Twitter dumping its Suggested User List, now anyone has a shot at picking up followers more equally.  And, Tweetmeme has offered you some help in gaining more Twitter followers with its new Follow Me button.  Place it on your blog or Website similar to Tweetmeme’s very popular ReTweet button.  The Follow Me button says, guess what?,  “Follow” instead of “Retweet.” By clicking the Follow button, your readers will get a new window that pops up and lets them sign into their Twitter account to now follow you!  Easy, huh?

It, of course comes in different shapes and sizes and shows how many followers you have.  It's also tied into analytics services like TwitterCounter, Twitalyzer, and TwitterGrader.

Thanks, TechCrunch for alerting us! 

My Blog Guest, New Community to Find Guest Bloggers

Blog Tips - As we've mention, blogging communities and forums are plentiful, but as a great way to gain more blog traffic, you need to participate. Some are generic ones where people discuss all things blogging, while others are more focused and targeted such as, Blogher (which unites blogging women) and 20 something bloggers which pulls together bloggers between 20 and 30 years of age.

Blogger Ann Smarty recently created another community and it's specifically for folks looking for guest bloggers and / or guest blogging opportunities. She's named it My Blog Guest and if you're interested in guest blogging and plan to do it often, you should check it out.  Gest blogging is a good tool to help gain more traffic to your blog and to monetize a blog by gaining you more readers and establishing yourself as an expert in your blog niche.

Check it out and read more by Ann at her SEOsmarty.com blog.

Help Your Blog Gain More Traffic and New Readers

 Blog Tips- As blogging continues to remain popular, despite the growth of Twitter and Facebook, and new blogs are created by the thousands each day, you need to use all at your disposal to continue to reach new readers and gain more traffic. 

To help you,  here are 10 easy and quick tips to assist you in gaining more traffic for your blog-

Tip 1- Blog Comments :  You realize that your comments left at other blogs have the ability to generate targeted traffic to your blog and is an effective, legitmate linking plan.   Just locate find a blog that's related to your niche and leave worthy, positive comments. You should include a link back to your blog, so that readers who are interested can visit your blog to read more from you. Just don't spam other blogs.

Tip 2- Reciprocal Linking:  One of the most effective ways to gain appropriatem targeted traffic is by exchanging links with other bloggers or websites.  It doesn't take much effort, a simple email request for a link exchange, then follow up with the blog owner, and the results are worth it. Or, you can buy software and services tod the job, just do a search and you'll find sources.

Tip 3- Blog Directories:  Blog directories are like search engines but are viewed by readers searching for blogs.  Make sure you submit your blog to the major directories. There are also many blog services where you turn to to "ping" your blog. Pinging informs the service that you've updated your blog with new content. The service then publish your new posts and you'll get some traffic from readers interested in the topic and from search engines.

Tip 4- Writing Articles :  One of the best ways of gaining targeted, reliable and long-term traffic for blogs. When you write your own articles and placing them with article directories, you can gain a significant number of visitors at your blog. To get traffic, you have add your resource box at the end of each article you've written.  

Affiliate Marketing, Great Revenue Techniques for Your Blog

BLOG TIPS - Certainly a popular method for bloggers to make money, affiliate marketer is one of the most effective ways to advertise online and is one of the easiest ways for you to make a profit online. Affiliate
Marketing is a simple agreement between a merchant and a blogger, the affiliate, to allow the use of the blog for the promotion of the merchant’s products.  It's accomplished by a simple link to the merchant’s website.

For that, the merchant will pay you a commission on all of the sales generated by your blog / site. Every time a reader clicks on the link on your blog and makes a purchase you'll earn your  commission.

Affiliate marketing programs are said to be win-win situations for both the merchant and the affiliate (blogger) because of the pay-for-performance arrangement. Both the merchant and the affiliate get some benefits in the affiliate marketing deal. For the merchant, they get a wider market and more prospective customers for their product or service.  The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic their product / service gets which may become actual sales.

Blogging Isn't All Good, Sometimes It Sucks

Blog Tips -  We've all read the numerous but great Top Ten lists with tips on how to blog better and most important, more profitably.  The lists keep coming and the top bloggers keep blogging and advising others.  Rarely do people address the other side of blogging - how boring, difficult and tiring it can be. In fact, blogging often sucks!

If you've been blogging long enough in order to earn some money from it, you've noticed that it can easily be a drain on your life.  But like any new business, long hours and little money are the best you can expect at the beginning of your venture.  As a good blogger you feel the pull of your blog and the need to consistantly post new content.  This is good for your blog and for your future as a pro blogger, but can negatively impact the other areas of your life (you still have a life, right?). 

You may also find your spending way too much time coming up with ways to promote your blog.  Great, get the word out and promote your blog but use your time wisely and target where you can have the most impact.

Keep your goal to have your blog stay natural.  By this I mean not to force your blog too hard.  Readers can tell thru your writing and blog design and friends will fall away from you if you're only "about the blog".  If you're not careful any success you gain won't be worth the price. 

Ben Barden' recently posted on the Top Ten Reasons why Blogging Sucks, check it out @ TopTenBlogTips.com.