Blog To Great Feed

Blog Opportunity- MakingMoneyOnLine.com For Sale !!

2010-01-23T17:58:46-05:00

Blog News- Wow!, one of the best and catchiest domains (and blog); MakingMoneyOnLine.com is for sale! Doug Dillard and partner Mark Smith recently made the decision to unload MakingMoneyOnline.com and the entire package of .net .org that they own. It's rare that such a powerful domain/blog becomes available, so check into if you want an established blog that's ready to go. Doug recently said about the decision: “Instead of just letting this beautiful website and domain name just sit here and get stale, we have decided to sell it and let someone else build it to its potential”. Read Famous Bloggers interview with Doug at NewMediaBloggers.com.

If You're Considering Buying MakingMoneyOnLine, this is what you'll get-

A premium, established (12 year old) domain name and the dotnet and dotorg extensions
Great content
Wide range of readers
Newsletter subscribers (# tbd)
Well designed and professional theme
A profitable blog already earning money!

More @ MakingMoneyOnLine.com and FamousBloggers.com

Article Marketing Tips to Increase Your Blog's Traffic

2010-01-17T12:43:01-05:00

BLOG TIPS - One very effective way to increase your blog's web traffic is through the use of article marketing. Hundreds (maybe more) article database websites are available to you. They're filled with articles on any topic that you can think of, so finding content approprite to your blog or website is easy, and conversely, you can place your article for distribution. You should consider leveraging article marketing to help your blog or website build your web traffic and increase your status as an "authority" in your niche.

The top article websites have solid pageranks, so if your article is written properly it can get a good listing and distribution. This way, it will get a higher listing in search engine results because of the site's rank. But if your keyword or niche is too competitive or if many high ranking blogs are out there, and you won't likely rank high enough, so using article websites can help you get an improved listing in search engine results.

Bear in mind that when you write blog content for article marketing don't copy your original article or blog post (or any other author's). Search engines and many of the article websites care able to catch this and you will be penalized. Re-writing articles is a common practice, we don't recommned this, but at the very least add something new and extra while re-edited the original content. Readers knowledgable on you niche will give you greater respect and notice (thru social media, or by re-post your content) if your article adds something to the topic's subject. Submit each article written on your blog or website to article directories in order to build more traffic. Keep this in mind as you write, you want your best work circulated and outh there representing your blog.

One of the most popular, and best, article directories is Ezine Articles. Very user friendly and simple to use; write your articles, pick out several accurate keywords or tags, list your source of information or website link, then submit. Your article will be reviewed and you'll be notified whether it is accepted or rejected. The decision is based on several factors.

With nearly all solid article directory websites they have a high pagerank and considerable influence at search engines. This way, you may be able to have one of your articles receive a prime search engine result spot that your post or article would not have gotten on its own. This way your article is building awareness for you and web traffic for your blog, as readers coming from the search engine reading your article will be informed who the source is (you) and see a link to your site or blog at the end of your article. Since they will likely be interested in the topic (they read the article, right?) they may want to read more from you and see your other work and posts. With every new click from the article marketing site to your blog, you get a new reader on your blog that would have probably never been exposed to your blog. It's now your job to maintain a productive, informative blog or website to turn this new reader into a regular reader!

You can also make use of article marketing with the article directory websites to create / expand you and your blog's brand. By exposing yourself, your blog and your content to a new audience, you have the chance to strengthen your standing in the niche. Once readers see more content from you on a particular topic, and that you have several articles listed at a top article directory, they will began to accept you as a an authority in that niche. This gives you a better reputation and blogger credibility so that readers know who you are and what you know. So stay on topic and write about what you know!

Article directory submissions is certainly one of the best ways to promote yourself and your blog or website. It can helps increase web traffic to your website and improve your status as an expert on a particular topic. By continuing to write more content on your topic, and share with readers outside of your blog or website, you will see an increase in readership and improvement in your work. Give article marketing a try, and let BtG readers know how it worked for you.

If you're doing it already, let us know your tips.

Here's a list of some top Article Marketing sites.

Bloggers - Help With the Haitian Relief

2010-01-16T09:06:24-05:00

As you know, the citizens of Haiti are currently dealing with devastation and suffering that few of us can imagine. The major earthquake this past Tuesday has reduced large parts of the the country's capitol, Port Au Prince, to rubble and has devastated an already poor infrastructure making the task of delivering aid extremely difficult. The port has been ruined and the airport is overwhelmed, but aid is starting to arrive with the USA and other nations giving support and relief.

Official estimates from are that nearly 3 million people have been affected by this disaster and that between 15,000 to 50,000 people possible are dead, with many more at risk of dying. Now's the time for you to donate and ask your blog's readers to donate to organizations providing aid to Haiti. Use your blog or website to motivate others to give. It will take you only a few minutes to add a donation widget to your blog to remind people.

One of the organizations we regularly support is Doctors Without Borders. A worldwide group that is in the regional and in a good position to provide immeditae, critical medical care to people affected by the disaster. You can easily add one of their donation widgets as we have.

Doctors Without Borders widgets can be found at http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/haiti-share.cfm

10 Great Tips for Marketing to Women on Facebook

2010-01-13T16:07:45-05:00

Blog Tips - With over 56M women using Facebook in the USA, and growing, bloggers and marketers must pay attention to and use of Facebook effectively to get proper traction and to be noticed by this audience. But, if you're new and women aren't already aware of you and your blog/brand, simply being on Facebook doesn't accomplish much.

And even though Facebook has done a wonderful job of helping you through their Pages product, it doesn't run itself and guarantee increased awareness for you. To help you in this effort, Brette Barow (President and Founder of Girls Guide to) has created a list of the 10 tips for marketing to women on Facebook.

See her full post, here

New Life For Your Blog From Old Posts !

2010-01-11T09:25:46-05:00

BLOG TIPS - As your blog ages and you add more & more qualtiy posts / content you might find yourself losing track of past posts and the trail your blog has left behind . Check our your Blog Archive, not just to remember the work you've done, but for opportunities to update past posts (with new posts) or to create new ideas. Use you past posts for new content to continue to inject life in your blog.

I recently visited a blog that I came accross thru a Google search. It turned out to be an old post from 2008. As I read it I wasn't very impressed and could tell the info was dated, but I stayed on the blog and when I clicked to read more current posts on the topic, the difference was quite shocking. The newer posts looked considerably more professional, contained better and current info and you tell that the blogger / writer had grown, yet she hadn't gone to the additional effort to update the blog's archive. I wondered why, since there was a good chance that after reading the old post I might have just clicked off the blog thinking it was of low value, and not known of the improvements.

Here are a few tips and ideas to help you update your archive-

1. Simply put, keep your archive updated ! Very easliy said, but most bloggers don't do it. By update, I mean, once you have been blogging for some time you learn new tactics and pick up valuable blog tips. Go back and use the new info you can on you past posts! Use that SEO info and make your old post, and your blog, more impactful and more professional looking. Don't try to do it all at once, make an update schedule and stick to it! Try adding some keywords relevant to your blog if they were't used originally or, change the title to something more interesting.

2. Use a full site map, and not the default. By adding a sitemap to Google that contains all of your posts, not just the default sitemap (which most bloggers use) which only contains your last 26 posts.E ven if you don't have 26 posts yet set it up now.

3. Promote your related posts. Also an obvious tip that many bloggers miss is a 'Related Posts' list. This should be placed under your blog posts and lists posts from your archive that are on related. This should send blog readers back to your archive (just make sure the older posts are updated and cleaned up !). Check out Link Within for more.

4. Re-promote your older posts by re-sharing and re-tweeting. Your certainly tweeting your new posts on Twitter and sharing them on Facebook, Digg, etc, so why not give your archive a boost going back and send the posts around again. Give it a try, but be selective, and watch the results.

5. Link your older, archived posts to your new posts! After your your blog has 20-30 posts you should begin linking back. Your hopefully attracting new readers each day who haven't been on board when you posted the old stuff! Don't let them miss out, help them find your earlier info

6. Analyze the numbers and your stats. Knowing your stats is very important, not hard to do and you don't have to be an analytical expert. Something as simple as a 'Hit Counter' on your blog that shows you which of your posts in your archive get the most hits. Use the info to learn more about what is working on your blog. When you know your most read posts, you can adapt your writing and posting to cover the hot topics. Feedjit a good place to help.

There surely more things you can do for your blog to keep it current and up to date. Just bear in mind that your archive represents your blog, as old posts stay on forever. So if they're are not what you want read by folks, then YOU need to go back and "clean" them up. It's well worth the extra time spent on your blog!

Let BtG readers know what you do for archive updating, comment below-

Total SEO Efforts Matter

2009-12-07T20:43:55-05:00

BLOG TIPS - Too often webmasters and bloggers depend too heavily on their content and neglect the importance of promoting it, believing that "Content is King". Well, we do believe that, but know that all Kings have workers to help run the kingdom. By now you likely realize that even with a wonderfully written and regularly updated blog, you won't gather many links to your posts if websurfers don't know your blog exists. Competition is fierce and good blog content is plentiful.

One of the keys to getting good page ranks on search engine listings is with correct BALANCE. Good blogs need to strike a balance between links and keyword optimization to gain a better likelihood at improving your blog’s search engine rankings. Why? Well, an appropriate balance is effective as it makes it easier for search engines to track, index and classify your content in search results.

Since you're likely looking for more readers and want your blog at the top of search engine results, it will be worth the effort to follow these tips to build good links more effectively:

1. Make sure that your blog / site has content that contains relevant information and that it is worth linking to. The core of making a blog popular is content that is well-designed, well-written and most importantly, informative and useful to readers.

2. Review your backlink analysis, looking at your competition, other blogs or sites. and see which are already linking to competitor sites but not to yours. You should then request links to your blog from those websites.

3. Comment appropriately to other blogs in your niche, but don't worry if their dofollow or nofollow blogs. Remember, traffic from a nofollow blog may get you more links than a dofollow blog link is ever worth.

4. Work to be added to the blogrolls of like minded, niched related bloggers. If their content is related to yours, be polite and ask them. And, recipricate!

5. Guest writer- offer to write on other blogs and include a link in the bio to your blog. Just make sure you have something of value to the blogger and his/her blog before you ask.

6. Use RSS and Blog Directories, they exist to help out, so submit to as many as much as you can.

7. If you aren't yet, get adept at social networking. Display your blog URL in your bios and profiles. Conduct a search for your blog on google, it's likely that your blog has the first several listings as part of a social networking profile; linkedin, facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. Make sure that a competitor hasn't listed your site name as keyword.

8. Utilize press releases to get the word out on news of your blog and developements on topics your blog covers. Become an expert by being first in your field. Many bloggers overlook their local media, contact your neighborhood paper, radio , tv station -- you'll have a better shot to get coverage with them.

9. Develop a tool or develope information that's extremely useful to others in your niche, or the general public. In this way, other bloggers, aggregators, or the press will want to link your material.

These tips are found in nearly all link building tutorial, but what is not usually discussed is the need for a specific plan, and system, to put these tips into effect. Without a plan, your tips will not be used properly and regularly and be wasted. Keep an eye on the numbers, the stats will tell you what has worked, and what hasn't so that you can refine your promo tools. Google Analytics, for example, is a free and valuable tool that you can use to track the effectiveness of your efforts and campaigns.

Put these tips into action and you will continually build the value, and importance of your blog.

TWITTER's New "Twitter Lists" Tips and Ideas

2009-11-01T10:03:47-05:00

BLOG TIPS - As they continue to improve their product and offerigns, Twitter recently released a beta version of their new, Twitter Lists. As they say, “a great way to organize the people you follow and discover new and interesting accounts.” Great we're not sure yet, but we agree with the list concept. It's still in Beta, so you might not find it yet on your Twitter account, so let BtG tell you...

Facebook has lists that let you organize your friends, Twitter Lists is primed to let you do more than that. It's already a neat tool for business and marketers, Twitter Lists gaves us some new targeting opportunities, and might also evolve with new online social marketing potential as it expands.

Like Facebook, you can categorize people on your Twitter Lists and add them to one or more of your private lists, as determined by you, on lists that you name (and can edit later). Though with Twitter Lists you can create public lists if you decide to. I suggest you start off with private lists, get comfortable then go public later. You can also find out what lists you are on (and in this way find other cool, like minded Twitterers !!! Unlike Facebook, you can add anyone to your lists (provided that person hasn’t protected his / her updates), making for a great way to find and follow people.

So with some basic understanding of what Twitter Lists can do, noew take it further to grow you Blog; Check others' lists and see how they're using Twitter Lists and on what which lists they’ve been added. From other lists you’ll learn a lot about what it can do for you. Try different things, and feel free to make changes to your lists and list members to create the best, most effective lists for you (Blog Experts, Affiliate Advertising, Monetization Blogs, SEO Blogs, Friends, etc). You decide and have the power.

Also add yourself to your own lists. This is helpful when others check out your lists and follow them. Just don't just follow everyone on other's lists. The tempation may be to go to some "blog experts" and automatically follow their entire list and all the members, instead, select people from that list and put them on your own clearly defined list. Keep control of your lists and make them appropriate for your needs and what you're trying to accomplish. If one of your lists is SEO, don't clog it up by copying from others and finding your list is no longer SEO focused, but filled up with misc people because you copied randomly !

If you have Twitter Lists on your Twitter account, get started. If you not part of the Beta test, don't worry, you'll get it soon. Use Twitter as one part of your blog's social networking and marketing efforts, don't spend too much time on it, there are many other ways to grow your blog, keep experimenting with new ways and of course, Blog to Great (ness) !

Adding Photos to Your Blog Posts

2009-10-30T08:47:54-04:00

Blog Tips- You've written another great blog post in your blog's niche. What can you do now to make the post more interesting and better for SEO purposes? Why not add a photo, artwork or video to the post? Using other media in your post will not only improve your the blog's presentation, it helps keep the reader interested and can help you get more traffic.

In addtion to using your own photos (always have your camera handy), one of the best places to get some image help is Google. Enter your keyword, and click search image. Go to the site pointed by google, right click, and save as... Make sure to name the image with something appropriate to your blog and blog's keywords. You can name it with Music_news.jpg or Blog_tips.jpg for example. Don't save as Photo1.jpg and similar generic names. But before actually using the image and posting on your blog, check with the source site to make sure the photo is not copyrighted, and if it is, obtain permission before you use it, and give credit to the photographer and/or artist.

Naming the photo with a keyword is important in order to make it SEO friendly. When others search for images, an appropriate name will make it more likely that they will find yours image and visit you post / blog. It's a great way to get additional visibility to your blog.

Here’s a simple guideline to add an image to your post:

Use jpg, png or gif format.
Don’t use too many images in one post. One or two images will suffice
Don’t use images that are too large. 400 pixels wide is big enough

And, make sure you've created a special folder for BLOG IMAGES to easily find them later for possible re-use.

It's so easy, but not used by many blogs.

Live Nation's New Affiliate Program

2009-10-24T09:00:14-04:00

BLOG NEWS - Concert promotion company, Live Nation has launched their own affiliate program through Commission Junction, good to consider for your blog, but if you're a ticket broker or reseller, don't bother trying to sign on. The huge firm says in its “Advertiser Details” page at Commission Junction: “Ticket brokers and other companies involved in the resale of tickets are not permitted. Companies, websites or newsletters that promote ticket presale passwords or access codes are not permitted.” The company's only quietly launching their site, by advertising and taking applications on their CJ page only, while leaving their own official affiliates site empty, with a “ Live Nation Affiliates Program coming soon!” header.

But before you rush to sign on, note that LN is offering only 1.5 percent commisstion on sales, considerably lower number than the industry average of around 7%. So, bloggers should consider that for a ticket purchase of $350, you'd make just $5.25.

If you're interested in signing up, bloggers must first register with Commission Junction to participate in Live Nation’s affiliate program. Commission Junction tracks orders through referral cookies, but these cookies expire after 45 days, allowing for receipt of commissions on customers who purchase tickets up to 45 days after their initial visit to the site.

No word yet on which Live Nation events will be part of the affiliate program.

GOOGLE AdWords Expands its Mobile Reach

2009-10-06T08:27:18-04:00

BLOG NEWS- This week, Google unveiled a new feature for AdSense mobile that enables you to tap into the smartphone mobile browsing experience by allowing them to run larger AdSense ads that are readable on more expensive mobile phones. When consumers use a Palm Pre, iPhones and "Android" running phones (no Blackberries yet), or those will full HTML browers the feature will display.

So take note when you activate you AdWords campaigns to check the box in Step # 3. This will activate the feature to run the ads will on the higher-end mobile phones. It says-: "iPhones and other mobile devices with full Internet browsers."

Before this, AdSense mobile for publishers only allowed you to get smaller text and image ads on their Web site content.

Google hopes that the new feature will help advertisers reach with consumers on the 177+ million mobile units that are estimated to ship out this year, says Google Software Engineer Danielle VanDyke. VanDyke posted on the official Google blog, citing Gartner's global smartphone sales estimates as rising 27% in 2009. And what blogger wouldn't want their blog ads to reach a percent of that market?

Do You Write Good or GREAT Blog Posts ?

2009-09-28T09:00:22-04:00

BLOG TIPS- How to write a good vs a great blog post is one of the primary issues in blogging. In order to rise above the average blog posts that are out there, I've learned that you need to determine what you want to say before you even start the post. If you don't have a guide, a roadmap before you begin there's a good chance your post (and your blog) will wander aimlessly and your readers will quickly lose interest. Once you’ve decide on the post topic, set your goal. Will your post inform your readers, make them think, ask a question or start a debate? In this way, you're able to stay on target during the post and reach your goal.

Truly great posts are clear in their topic and goal. Good posts only accomplish one of the tasks, but not both. So know what you what to say before you say it!

When, and only when, you’ve decided on the topic and the goal, you can start writing. Don’t be overly concerned about sentence structure, grammar, etc just now; put all of your coherent thoughts down- you'll edit and fine tune later.

After you expressed your thoughts, and made your point clearly, go back and clean up the post; edit your post and make sure your writing is clear and conversational. Remove the typos, grammatical errors, repetitive statements, etc. Quality is important in blog writing, even more important than quantity. Remember, just because you've writing alot doesn't make it a good post! Does it express your thought, cover the topic well and reach the goal?

Then, when you're done -- go back and re-read the post from start to finish and verify that it reads how you intended it to. If you need to step away for a few hours or a day, go ahead. When you're sure you've been clear and concise, you can post it. How the readers react will let you know if you did a good job, so make sure to ask for comments !!!

Social Networking Usage Climbs, Is Your Blog Ready?

2009-09-27T07:48:00-04:00

Blog Tips - Blogging continues to get a boost as Americans nearly tripled the amount of time they spend using social networking sites and blogs like Facebook and Twitter says a new Neilsen study. Another study shows that these users tend to be more affluent, and urban based.

In August 2009, 17% of all Internet usage was spent at a social networking sites. That's a big increase from the 6% in August of 2008, says the first report. “This growth suggests a wholesale change in the way the Internet is used,” Jon Gibs, vice president, media and agency insights at Nielsen’s online division, said. “While video and text content remain central to the Web experience – the desire of online consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium’s growth.”

In a seperate Neilsen Claritas study, it revealed that users of social networking sites sku more urban, and more affluent. According to the report, Facebook users are wealthier than MySpace users (no surprise, since teens/young adults use MySpace more than older adults). An interesting point is that, overall, the blogging and tweeting community isn’t necessarily more affluent, just more urban and are more likely to be in major cities like NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.

Good info for use with your marketing efforts and social networking work to promote your blog. As people and consumers continue to use the internet more and more for social interaction, your blog needs to be part of the trend in order to reach the right reader/customer. Are you active on Facebook, do you Tweet regularly? Check out the full reports!

SEO Won't Work By Itself, Some Tips to Help

2009-09-26T09:00:00-04:00

BLOG TIPS - In the quest for increased blog readership, you'll likely use SEO techniques at some point in your blog career, either on your own or by hiring someone. Fine, but without great blog content SEO will not help your efforts. Most SEO techniques will get your blog additional clicks, but what happens when the reader arrives at your blog but they are disappointed by the content. You could actually do more damage with SEO, by attracking readers that may leave negative comments or tells others they didn't like your work!

Instead, remember the basic rules of blogging in order that your SEO efforts truly enhanced your blog and you get the results you desire. Some tips-

Effective Blog Post TITLES - You're writing for real people, make sure your titles peak the readers interest and make them WANT to read on. Also keep in mind the keywords that folks may use to find the content you're writing about

Post NEW & INTERESTING Content- Seems obvious, huh. Post what others will want to link to and talk about. If all you do is repeat the same topics/issues covered by other blogs, people will notice and not regard you very highly. Post content that's new and unique with your own style. If your blog covers news, make sure you've added your own "spin" to make it personal (see next tip) and interesting.

Add a Personal Angle - Most readers like to know who the author is. Add personal stories, anecdotes from your own past. The core information in a post can be the same, but it's much more interesting to the reader if the author has added some "heart" to the story. What's your feeling on the topic? Why do you feel that way?

Again, human beings read our blogs, so personal stories hit home with readers and enable them to relate to you, and the post. Plus, they're more likely to return to your blog as you develope a relationship with the reader.

Engage the Reader - Ask for their response, reaction, reply, comments. They'll have one, but you need to let them know you're interested in what they feel....

So, let me know what you think... and offer your advice. Please comment below.

TWITTER Tips to Help Your Blog

2009-09-25T09:03:15-04:00

BLOG TIPS- There's still a debate among some on the Blog vs Twitter issue. We posted on this previously and so I'm surprised that some haven't found how Twitter can be an asset to your blog efforts and that it won't replace blogging. It's great to see so much info out there on how Twitter is the Blogger's friend and can be used effectively (and creatively) to promote your blog and expand your readership. As you know, to gain readers, you can spend time or money to promote your blog - I'd rather invest the time and see the money benefits grow !!

As with blogging, the core principles of good social media practices, and in particular with Twitter, still apply - stick to your niche, don't be annoying with what you write (constant links to affiliate offers, for example), say something new (or at least RT appropriately) and build a following !

Interesting post on the topic @ Successful-Blog.com

Blog Action Day 2009 Announced !

2009-09-24T07:31:00-04:00

BLOG NEWS - The next Blog Action Day topic has been voted on, and the topic/issue is ----Climate Change! And, the new Blog Action Day website is now up & running, check it out and register at BlogActionDay.org .

In order to be part of this year's event, all you need to do is commit to writing one original blog
post, on October 15, on the issue of climate change. More than a dozen top blogs, including Mashable, The Official Google Blog, TMZ, Autoblog, Music News Net and Daily Blog Tips, have already registered.

As in the past, the event won't be successful with the big blogs alone. All bloggers,
everywhere, of all types, sizes and niches are needed since this topic impacts everyone on this planet.

At the BlogActionDay site you'll be able to learn more about the issue of climate change and take a look at sample topics you may consider writing about' for example -- the connections between climate and clean energy, how are food choices impact the climate, green products, health, government action/ination, and transportation.

Working together, we can make BAD 2009 the biggest social change event ever on the web. Register now @ BlogActionDay.org. Make sure you and your blog are taking part !