Since Yahoo! closed the Site Explorer service bloggers and webmasters (myself included) were left without any solid alternative. I have been looking for similar tools since then, and an interesting one I found recently is called ahrefs.com.

It’s a paid service, but there are many free tools you can use on their website as well. For instance, right on the homepage you can type your domain name and click on “Explore Links” to get an overview of how your website is doing.

As you can see from the screenshot above you get a lot of data back. For instance, you can see the total number fo backlinks, how it evolved over the past 30 days, how many are coming from .gov and .edu sites, how many are text and image links and so on.

Paid users can also check all the links, including the Alexa rank of the site that is linking to you and the anchor text used.

Another free tool you can is the domain comparisson one. You basically input two domain names and the tool will compare their backlink profile for you, including an estimation of search engine traffic over time. I tested with some of my domains and the accuracy of the information wasn’t bad.

Finally there’s a SERP analysis tool which will find all the keywords you rank for and organize them in a nice table, where you can see your position for each keyword, the average CPC spent for that keyword, the amount of traffic that keyword attracts and so on. Non registered users can see the first 10 keywords.

The basic plan starts at $49 monthly, which could be worth it if you are a professional SEO or webmaster. It looks like they are constantly adding more free tools, too, so check it out anyway.

Back in 2009 I created two clubs, one called “Retweet Club” and the other one called “Facebook Club”, where members would share each other’s content, with the goal of increasing social media traffic to their blogs and websites.

The clubs worked as mailing lists (using Google Groups), but eventually the activity died down. The main reason was the following: sharing wasn’t fair. A member could be selfish and only send requests to the club, without ever sharing the content from other members.

A couple of weeks ago I started thinking about what could be a better model, and I came up with this: a club where members would earn points by sharing the content from other members, and once they reached a certain amount, say 10 points, they would be able to spend those points to post their own request to the club.

This would make the system pretty fair, because members who didn’t share the content of other members wouldn’t earn points and wouldn’t be able to post their requests. In turn members who were very active would earn more points and be able to post more requests.

I spent the last week or so coding such a platform, and I launched it yesterday in beta. I still need to add more features and polish everything, but the point-based system is already working. We also have 50 members already. The club is completely free and works on a website (so don’t worry about getting tons of emails).

Here’s the URL: http://www.socialmedclub.com

So far only the Twitter section is working (i.e., you can only retweet stuff from other members and request retweets on your own), but I am working on the Facebook section already and it should go live within a couple of weeks.

Any feedback is also appreciated.

When I started blogging, four years ago, many experts advised posting daily – to increase traffic and keep readers hooked. And many popular blogs do post every day (at least on weekdays).

Should you post every day, though?

Probably not.

Why?

Because:

• If you write two posts each week instead of five (or seven), those posts will be much better written.
• If you only post once or twice a week, you’ll usually find that you get more comments on each post.
• If you don’t post too frequently, readers may actually read every post, instead of one in five.
• If you don’t use up all your ideas in the first few weeks of blogging, you’re more likely to be successful in the long-term.

I normally recommend that bloggers aim for somewhere between three posts a week and one post every two weeks. Any fewer, and it’s hard to build engagement; any more, and you may find it difficult to keep up the quality.

Reducing Your Posting

What can you do if you’re currently producing five posts a week, Monday to Friday, and you want to cut back?

I’d suggest you simply change your blogging schedule, without even announcing it. Post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, or on Mondays and Thursdays. If you’re really concerned about reader reaction, then let people know your reasons: you want to provide higher-quality content, and the best way for you to do that is by focusing on just 2-3 posts per week.

Chances are, your readers will accept the change without any objections at all.

Increasing Your Posting

If you currently post once a month or less, you need to increase the number of posts you write.

Don’t make a sudden resolution to write three times a week, or you’ll quickly burn out (and you may well overwhelm your readers). Instead, work up gradually. Plan to post once every two weeks, then once every week, and so on.

Over the long term, quality trumps quantity. Sure, publishing loads of blog posts in a hurry may get you some quick attention and traffic – but it’s not going to help you build up a solid business.

When you’re reading blogs, do you prefer ones that update every day or just once or twice a month? Share your thoughts in the comments…

Ali Luke is a writer and writing coach, and has a weekly DailyBlogTips column on content creation. If you’re struggling to get enough writing done, check out her free ebook How to Find Time for Your Writing.

For someone who is about to start up their own business, whether online or not, this is an essential question to ask.

When you sell a product or service you need someone to make a purchase so you can make money. The most important principle in business is that there are two different types of people involved in your business; customers and clients.

While both of these may appear at first to be the same they are critically different and concentrating on one over the other can be the difference between success and failure.

This concept, what I call the $1 Customer, I teach to clients in order for them to focus on building relationships that last.

The difference between a customer and a client is repeat business.

For every link you exchange, promotion you run and ad you place to attract customers to your business or website there is a cost involved. It can be something as simple as your time, but the cost reduces your profit immediately.

For every $1.00 someone spends an initial customer will cost you something; regardless of whether that cost is $0.15, $0.25 or $0.50. With a customer you never get your full $1.

A client, in comparison, is a returning customer to your business and can cost you nothing. They may purchase something because of a promotion, but clients are the most likely to return to your business because of their positive first experience or because you have a value proposition (like Daily Blog Tips) very few others do. In the online world clients are what attract advertisers and build your email list. Clients are highly targeted high value customers.

Very few businesses can survive on customers alone; a successful business needs to concentrate on turning any and all customers into a client.

High value clients are also the most likely to refer your business to a friend or acquaintance providing you with another $1 customer and prospective client.

Email lists are the best way to stay engaged with your clients as you can inform them of promotions, new products or services and announcements related to your business. A customer is a one-time transaction or visit with no loyalty; a client is someone whose repeat business can be forecasted, expected and maintained over a long period of time.

Are you paying enough attention to your customers and turning them into clients?

Brad Ferris is a marketing consultant and writer of Triage Investing Blog where he authors content on business fundamentals and successful investment practices.

So many bloggers put tons of time and effort into getting more traffic – but perhaps that sounds like trying way too hard. Your ideas are so awesome, your personality so strong, that readers will just come to you.

I’m going to give you ten straightforward ways to make sure the whole world knows you’re not going to pander to your readers. (Oh, and if you would like to have a few more readers – try doing the opposite of everything on this list.)

1. Give Your Post the First Title You Come Up With

You’re in a hurry, right? So your post will do just fine with the first title that pops into your head. Sure, that title might not be descriptive or engaging – but hey, you’re not worried about enticing people to click through and read your post.

2. Write Whatever Comes Into Your Head

Instead of sifting through some great ideas or coming up with a plan, just write whatever comes into your head. What you had for breakfast, that cute thing your cat did, your favorite rant about the goverment … put it all in.

3. Write Long, Dense Paragraphs

Subheadings, lists and bold text are for the weak. If someone really wants your content, they’ll manage to get through those long blocks of grey text that you’ve written.

4. Use Formal Language

You were probably taught about writing in school: why not simply apply all those rules to blogging? Write in a dry, academic way, with plenty of long words, and you’ll be certain that your posts are worth an A (even though no-one’s reading).

5. Make Your Blog All About You

It’s your blog, so make it about you. Every example you give should be drawn from your own experience. Don’t bother phrasing talking to the reader as “you” – instead, use “I” as often as you can. [link to my post on you & I]

6. Don’t Edit or Proof-Read

No-one cares about good writing online, do they? Don’t bother re-reading what you’ve written: those typos won’t matter. And if your general point is a bit vague and unclear, perhaps that’s for the best…

7. Never Link to Old Posts

All your (three) readers have been with you from day one, so don’t link back to old posts: they’ll already have read them. New readers can just use that handy “Archives” page that’s definitely on your blog somewhere.

8. Don’t Promote Your Post

If you build it, they will come. Don’t bother tweeting your post or mentioning it on Facebook: you need that space to moan about the long line at the grocery store and that weird guy on the bus.

9. Post Erratically

Sometimes you’re filled with the desire to create – and sometimes not. Post whever the muse descends, even if that means twenty posts in a week followed by nothing for two months. Your real fans will stick with you … won’t they?

10. Plaster Your Blog With Ads

You don’t actually care about the readers: you’re into blogging for the money. And you’re pretty sure that the best way to monetize is to shove as many ads onto your site as possible, so that the actual content almost vanishes.

Ali Luke is a writer and writing coach, and has a weekly DailyBlogTips column on content creation. If you’re struggling to get enough writing done, check out her free ebook How to Find Time for Your Writing.