Saturday, August 25, 2007

10 Search Engine Optimisation Tips For WordPress Blogs

Search engine optimisation for WordPress is essential if you are to gain maximum traction from your efforts. Many corporate or business blogs are started with the intention of using them to; - broaden the companies information distribution - provide an easy way to grow the site - provide an easy way to create fresh content - increase the "stickiness" of the site - generate additional qualified traffic - increase incoming link count

However, what many people fail to understand is that the default installation of WordPress simply does not include even the most basic SEO functionality. The default WordPress installation generates unintelligible URLs, generic Page Titles and neither Description nor Keyword meta-tags. Thus, the chances of achieving the desired goals is severely compromised! That search engines hate duplicate content is a given - and 3 of the key indicators are page URL, Title and Description!

Fortunately, SEO for WordPress is facilitated by the concept of "plugins" or easily installed mini-applications which provide specific functionality. They do so dynamically - in other words, once installed the applications automate the process of generating accurate outputs, with no manual efforts required by you. Here are ten essential enhancements to WordPress that will make a huge difference in the qualified traffic your blog delivers to you!

1. Page Names or URLs This is controlled by the Permalinks setting - the default produces garbage URL's which give no indication of the actual page or post content. However, its not particularly difficult to have every page URL show as a keyword-rich plain-English file name with an HTML extension! This can be based on the post title or Slug, so you have precise control over the page name / URL. Achieving this simply requires the use of the Custom Permalink option.

2. Titles The Optimal Title plugin provides a quick solution - once installed it dynamically inserts the post title into the pages Title tag, in front of the Weblog title you have set. This facilitates keyword-rich titles specific/unique to the page / post. Accurate titles are the single most important on-site SEO element.

3. Description Meta-tag There are several plugins that dynamically provides good Description meta-tags. The one I like is Head-Meta-Desc as its a no-brainer to install, and by default uses either the optional excerpt if present, or the first 20 words from the first paragraph of the posting. The only thing I change is to edit the number of words it takes - from 20 to 30, which usually produces a Description tag containing 180 - 200 characters.

4. Keyword Meta-Tag To produce an accurate page-specific keyword meta-tag, I use Ultimate Tag Warrior - a keyword meta-tag is an on/off option within this plugin, and it dynamically produces keywords based on post category + tags used in the post. That's not all it does!

5. Tag Management When you see the word "tag" in the blog context, simply think "keyword." Tags are the blogger's version of keywords, which are "pinned" to blog post to help categorise them, and find them, or similar / related posts again. The Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin previously mentioned will manage your tags for you... the ultimate convenience being the drop-down list of tags available on new posts! This speeds up the tagging process, and assists in tag name consistency. UTW provides various options for displaying tags on each post - as a list, as a tag cloud...

6. Google Sitemap Generator for WordPress A sitemap is a key SEO tool to ensure pages have the best possible chance of being found and indexed by search engine spiders. This plugin creates a Google-compliant XML-Sitemap of your WordPress blog, including homepage, posts, static pages, categories and archives. This plugin also notifies Google whenever the sitemap gets regenerated - which happens automatically every time a new post is made!

7. Categories Use them wisely! take care to use keyword-rich, accurate Category names, these will be used in URLs, and in keyword meta-tags.

8. Post Titles Use them wisely also! Keyword-rich, accurate post titles can make the world of difference to your SE rankings. Coupled with Optimal Title, the post title is going to be the first section of the Page Title. Each post title should include a relevant keyword / keyword phrase...

9. Maximise Blog & Ping Potential There are services that scan blogs regularly for updates, and publish the recent updates. To derive the benefit of that, you need to add an expanded ping list to the Options / Writing / Update List. By default, WordPress only pings the Pingomatic service with new posts. There are a growing number of other distribution services that you need to be notifying, to get the best results.

10 Blog Search Engines & Directories You must manually submit your blog to 100+ top blog search engines and directories to gain maximum traction. Registration on those offering ping services ensures that your blog's update pings will be accepted and processed by them.

If you implement these 10 simple WordPress search engine optimisation modifications to your blog, I can guarantee you will achieve a huge boost in traffic flows!



About the Author
Ben Kemp is a free-lance search engine optimisation consultant and web designer. He offers free SEO articles & web design tips, see The SEO Guys Blog

Web: http://www.comauth.co.nz

404 Secrets

Have you ever visited a website, but typed in the wrong url after the domain name? What did you see?

Chances are you saw a generic page that said something like, "The page cannot be displayed," or "Not Found," or "The requested URL was not found on this server."

This is what is more commonly known as the 404 Error Page. It's the page that shows up by default when someone 'accidentally' types in the address of the page they are looking for on your site incorrectly.

Now, in many cases, it truly happens by mistake. However, in many other instances, people end up on this page because they are snooping around trying to look for your download page or thank you page without having to pay or opt-in. Kind of shady, but people do it.

Why, not capitalize on it whether they are doing it purposely or they are truly ending up there by accident. If you have your own website and it gets traffic, some of your visitors are ending up on that page. Now, if they are seeing the generic message that their browser shows them when it happens, then you are not making good use of your web real estate.

Every page of your website can put money in your pocket. Even your 404 error page. You can customize that page just like any other page on your website.

Some ideas to utilize on that page include:

-Making an special offer at a discounted price. -Having it be a squeeze page. -Making it an Adsense page. -Redirecting it to a related affiliate product.

Those are just a few of the many different, yet profitable types of ways you can make good use of your 404 error page.

It won't make you rich, but it definitely will put some extra money in your account. Maybe it will help you pay one of your bills, or you can just reinvest it into your business.

Either way, if you don't customize this page, you can be leaving money on the table. Having something for your visitors to see that end up on that page is extremely more beneficial to you then not having anything on that page.

Here's to making good use of every page on your website.

All the best, John

Resource Box: If you want to learn even more effective methods to make the most of your 404 Error Pages, then make sure you visit http://www.404secrets.com/404/?thankyou-page=20091



About the Author
John Kail age 60 Internet Marketing 12 years

How to Blog for Cash

How to Blog for Cash

Let's get the jargon out of the way first. Blog is short for weblog - a web log is your own online diary that you can update daily or at any frequency you choose. The growth of blogging has been staggering and it continues as more and more people find ways to express themselves online. You can have a personal or business blog. You can have as many as you like on topics you choose, and they are fun.

Your blog can be about any topic. It can be personal for keeping friends or family upto date on your activities. You can contribute to other peoples' blogs as a reader making comments so that you are part of the blogging community.

As with so much on the web there are some very clever people who see the opportunities and master the details before the rest of us. As a result the jargon develops and those of us that come to it a little later think it's complicated. Some of the early birds also see money making opportunities and promise riches galore if we buy their latest ebook. I am always very wary about these types as over the years I have spent a lot of money in this way. I now will only buy from people I know something about and whom I trust to deliver.

Recently I was emailed by Michael Green of the How to Corporation to alert me to his latest publication 'How to Blog For Cash'. Michael is the author and publisher of number of great 'How to' manuals and he knows his stuff.

The reason Michael emailed was to advise that a limited number of pre-launch copies of How to Blog for Cash were available to past customers. In the past I have bought a number of Michael's excellent How to Manuals so I was on the pre-launch mailing list.

Because of their outstanding quality and Michael's staggering knowledge of the workings of the web I bought How to Blog for Cash. I was not disappointed. As usual Michael has put together THE definitive work for anyone who wants to start blogging and if they desire go on to Blog for Cash.

How to Blog for Cash is a totally complete work with online tutorials, a comprehensive 174 page manual and step by step action plan. Armed with this you will easily and quickly start your first or next blog and who knows you could go on to Blog for Cash.

For more free information on Michael Green's, 'How to Blog for Cash' just use the link in the resource box.

Resource Box:

Article by Michael Harrison, Author, Publisher and Business Consultant. If you have found these tips helpful you can find more at http://www.be-your-own-business-expert.com/How_To_Blog_For_Cash.html

While there why not subscribe for your Free weekly newsletter. Information for career and business minded people. Subscribe today http://www.be-your-own-business-expert.com/Bulletin.html Access our archives when you subscribe.

**Attn: Ezine Editors / Site Owners / Webmasters / everyone** Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or on your site as long as you leave all links in place, do not modify the content and include our resource box as listed above. You can use other articles similarly from http://www.be-your-own-business-expert.com/Article.html OR subscribe to our FREE weekly newsletter. Each issue is packed with motivational, business and personal development material.





About the Author
Michael Harrison is an author, publisher and business consultant specialising in helping business owners and individuals to realise and release their full potential. He has helped many people to improve their businesses and advised and supported individuals to embark on new directions in their careers.

Blogging for Fun

Although blogging can be used for a variety of other purposes such as generating income, promoting a cause and providing information there are many bloggers who enjoy blogging simply because it is fun. These bloggers enjoy blogging for reasons such as staying in touch with friends, expressing themselves or keeping a record of important events. This article will explain how blogs can be used for these purposes.

Blogging to Stay in Touch with Friends

Staying in touch with friends and family members is just one of the many reasons a person may wish to start a blog. This is especially useful for those who move far away from their friends and family members. Staying in touch by phone, regular visits and even email is not always easy. This is because it can be difficult to keep up long distance interactions with several different people at once. However, by maintaining a blog, a person can greatly simplify the process of staying in touch with friends and family members because they do not have to repeat information in individual phone calls or emails or make time to visit several different people.

When maintaining a blog, the individual can choose to post a variety of information and photos. Through this information and photos the blog owner can keep others informed about current events in his life. Friends and family members can view the blog at their convenience to catch up on important events in the blog owner's life and in most cases can post comments to the blog owner. They can also read comments from others. This is beneficial if those viewing the blog know each other because they can not only stay in touch with the blog owner but also have a chance to communicate with other friends and family members through the comments section of the blog.

Blogging as a Form of Expression

Some bloggers begin blogging as a form of expression. They may right poetry, songs, short stories or even use the blog to vent about personal events or politics. These bloggers may wish to keep their blog private or can make the blog available to the public. Keeping the blog private is sort of like keeping a diary or a journal. It gives the blogger a multi-media form of expressing himself without the risk of others discovering his true feelings, innermost dreams or frustrations. Other bloggers opt to make these blogs public. This may be for a number of different reasons. Sharing these feelings with others allows the blogger to reach others who may have the same interest as the blogger.

Bloggers who use their blog as a form of personal expression may want to be cautious and consider the decision to make a blog public. This is important because the blog owner may initially not see problems with allowing others to view his personal thoughts. However, over time he may realize his blog could either be offensive to others or could result in problems if friends or family members view the blog.

Blogging to Keep a Record of Events

Another common reason for blogging is to keep a record of important events. Examples of some types of events which a blogger may wish to document include a pregnancy, weddings, vacations, sporting events or completion of school events. Using blogs to keep a record of these events gives the blogger an opportunity to record daily events in one simple location where they can easily look back on the blog or share the postings with others who might be interested in the events. In these cases the blog can serve as a form of scrapbook documenting the events as they occur. The blog owner can post as often as he desires and may choose to include elements such as photos, music, audio files and video files into the blog. The blog can also be designed to suit the events being documented. For example a journal depicting a vacation may have backgrounds, fonts and colors representing the vacation location while a pregnancy blog may feature elements which represent pregnancy, babies and being parents.

Turn your little dumb blog into profits with Make Money Online Blogging.



About the Author
Li Ming Wong is an internet marketing entrepreneur. Visit Making Money Online Blog for tips and guides to starting your own online business. How To MakeMoney Online - Free Ebooks Download, register for free.

Affiliate Marketing and Blogging

Affiliate marketing is one way in which bloggers utilize their blog to generate revenue. The amount of revenue generated by a blog featuring affiliate marketing links may vary significantly depending on the amount of traffic the blog receives as well as the compensation offered for the affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing essentially entails creating a link on the blog to another company's website. The other company then compensates the blog owner according to a previously agreed upon contract. This compensation may be awarded in a number of different ways. The blog owner may be compensated each time the advertisement is served, each time a unique website visitor clicks through the advertisement or each time a blog visitor performs a desired action such as making a purchase or registering with the website. This article will discuss some aspects of affiliate marketing which bloggers should understand including selecting opportunities carefully, maximizing the income potential for these opportunities and understanding the requirements associated with these affiliate marketing opportunities.

Selecting Affiliate Marketing Opportunities

There is a wide variety of affiliate marketing opportunities available. Many different companies and websites offer affiliate marketing opportunities. In most cases the blog owner simply needs to submit the website address of his blog along with some other basic information for approval. In most cases the company is not likely to reject the application unless the content of the website is deemed to be objectionable or otherwise in conflict of interest with the company's goals. However, although getting approved to display affiliate links on your website is a rather simple process, this does not mean blog owners should select these affiliate marketing opportunities without discretion. It is a far better idea to carefully select affiliate marketing opportunities with companies who are of interest to the target audience of the blog.

A well focused blog that is reaching a specific target audience should seek to display marketing links directing website traffic to companies which complement the blog without acting as direct competition to the blog. This helps to ensure the blog visitors will not only be interested in the affiliate marketing links and therefore more likely to click on the links but will also help to ensure the blog visitors do not find the affiliate marketing links to be bothersome.

Maximizing Affiliate Marketing Opportunities

Once blog owners have selected affiliate marketing opportunities it is time to consider how they can maximize the profit generated by these links. There are a couple of critical factors which blog owners should carefully consider to help maximize their profit from affiliate marketing. This includes regularly evaluating the effectiveness of the affiliate links and promoting the blog to maximize traffic.

Blog owners who incorporate affiliate marketing into their blog should regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the affiliate links. This can be done by comparing the percentage of blog visitors who click on the affiliate links to the overall blog traffic. A blog which has high traffic but a relatively small percentage of visitors who click on the affiliate links should consider making changes to attempt to entice more blog visitors to click on the links. These changes can involve the aesthetics, size or location of the advertisements. Making only one change at a time is recommended because it makes it easier for the blog owner to evaluate which changes are most beneficial.

Blog owners can also help to maximize the profit from their affiliate marketing opportunities by doing self promotion to drive additional website to the blog. This will likely be beneficial because higher website traffic will generally translate to greater profit from affiliate marketing. Additionally, the blog owner may want to occasionally mention companies for which they are an affiliate to generate interest in the advertisements on the website.

Understanding Affiliate Marketing Requirements

Finally, blog owners should pay careful attention to the affiliate marketing agreements they enter. This is important because some companies may place restrictions on the usage of a link to their website. This may include restrictions such as avoiding objectionable content, not including links or advertisements for direct competitors or restrictions on the appearance of the affiliate links. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in the blog losing affiliate privileges and the blog owner being denied compensation.

Turn your little dumb blog into profits with Make Money Online Blogging.



About the Author
Li Ming Wong is an internet marketing entrepreneur. Visit Making Money Online Blog for tips and guides to starting your own online business. How To MakeMoney Online - Free Ebooks Download, register for free.

Blogging on a Social Network

Blogging is becoming increasingly popular and social networks are also becoming more and more popular as well. Social networks include popular websites such as MySpace.com where users can create personal websites and interact with other users. These websites may include a wide range of components including text, images, audio, video and blogs. Here system users can voice their opinions, provided updates on their life, offer insight into current events or accomplish a number of other goals. However, bloggers who utilize a social network to maintain their blog should consider a few different factors. This article will discuss some of these factors including whether to make the blogs available to the public or keep the private, considering the audience of the blog and dealing with harassment through the blog.

Making Blogs Private or Public

Most social networks enable users to make their website either private or public. Private websites are only available to the user and other users he specifically approves to view his website while public websites are available to all users of the system. These same capabilities also apply to the blogs which are maintained on a social network. For this reason bloggers must determine whether or not they wish to make their blog posts available to the entire social network or to only a fraction of this network.

This decision will be largely based on a matter of personal preference. Social networks can be quite extensive and some bloggers may be apprehensive about their blog being available to such a large audience while other bloggers may have no apprehensions about the size of the potential audience. Bloggers should carefully consider this option before staring a blog but always have the option to change these settings after the blog has been established if they change their mind about the choice they originally made.

Considering the Blog Audience

Bloggers who utilize a social network to maintain a blog should also carefully consider the potential audience for the blog. Most social networks include a broad cross section of the general public. Therefore bloggers should be aware of this audience when posting a blog and should consider how the blog entries will be interpreted by blog audience members. While it will never be possible to avoid offending all potential audience members some bloggers may wish to consider at least attempting to ensure the blog entries they post are appropriate for all members of the social network. If this is not possible the blogger may consider making the blog private.

Dealing with Harassment through the Blog

Another aspect bloggers who use a social network to publish their blog should be aware of includes the potential for harassment from other members through the blog. This can be in the form of offensive comments posted in response to blog entries. Depending on the degree of the harassment the blogger may choose to ignore these comments or take stronger actions. Bloggers should review the policies of the social network and solicit their assistance in dealing with harassment from other users. In most cases dealing with the problem may be as simple as blocking the user from making comments on the blog but in some cases it may be necessary to contact the social network administrators in an attempt to get the user banned from the system. In this situation the administrators will review the situation and make a judgment regarding whether or not the user has violated the terms of service.

Turn your little dumb blog into profits with Make Money Online Blogging.



About the Author
Li Ming Wong is an internet marketing entrepreneur. Visit Making Money Online Blog for tips and guides to starting your own online business. How To MakeMoney Online - Free Ebooks Download, register for free.

Blogging Software

With blogging becoming increasingly popular, there is also an increasing need for software to simplify the process of blogging. However, there are many different software packages available which can make selecting a package seem overwhelming. Selecting a software package does not have to be difficult though. Bloggers can find websites which provide comparison charts for different software packages to simply the decision making process. These charts can save the blogger a great deal of time and effort because they compile a wealth of information into one convenient location. The blogger may still need some additional information before using these comparison charts to make a decision. The article will provide insight into some of this additional information which may be useful such as how to understand the comparison charts, methods for comparing the software packages and tips on selecting a blogging software package.

Blogging Software Criteria

Those interested in starting or maintaining a blog should fully understand the blogging software criteria before attempting to compare software packages. Some of the criteria it is important to understand include the minimum server requirements, data storage and the post editor. Understanding these criteria is critical to the process of comparing and selecting blogging software packages.

The minimum server requirements refers to the minimum requirements for the server on which the software is to be installed. In most cases the power and speed of the server is not relevant but instead it depends on the power and speed of the software necessary for the proper operation of the blog software. There may be additional costs associated with this software as well as additional license requirements.

Data storage is also an important part of evaluating blogging software packages. This may include options such as a flat file, a data file or a database. A flat file refers to storage options in which the full page is pulled each time the blog is requested by a browser. A data file refers to situations in which the data for the blog is inserted into a template when the blog is requested by a browser. A database refers to storage options in which the necessary information is pulled from a flat file and inserted into a template when the blog is requested by a browser.

The post editor is another criterion a blogger may want to investigate carefully before selecting blogging software. The post editor refers to the type of editor which will be used to fill in the posts listed on the blog. These data entry methods may include options such as HTML or JAVA.

Comparing Blogging Software Packages

Bloggers who are seeking a blogging software package should carefully compare the different software packages available. This is important because obviously some software packages are superior to others. It is also important because some software packages may be better suited for the needs of a particular blog than other packages. When comparing blogging software packages it is important for the blogger to first carefully consider the needs of the blog. This is important because it will help the blogger to realize which criterion is most relevant to his particular blog.

Selecting Blogging Software Packages

After carefully evaluating blogging software packages, it is time for the blogger to make a decision and select one of the available packages. Ideally the blogger will have already compared important data such as storage space, server requirements and post editors. However, the blogger must also consider other factors such as cost and versatility. Many blogging software packages are available free of charge while there are some which are available for purchase. The blogger will have to decide whether or not it is worthwhile to purchase a software package or whether free software packages will meet his blogging needs.

After considering software criteria and cost, the blogger should consider viewing sample blogs created using a particular software package. This is a good idea because these samples can provide a good indication of the capabilities of the software. This is because in general the higher the quality of the samples, the greater the capabilities of the software.

Turn your little dumb blog into profits with Make Money Online Blogging.



About the Author
Li Ming Wong is an internet marketing entrepreneur. Visit Making Money Online Blog for tips and guides to starting your own online business. How To MakeMoney Online - Free Ebooks Download, register for free.