SEO Expert. SEO Tips. SEO Consultant. No SEO BS..

Web Site Usability Influences Search Engine Rankings

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:14:38 -0500

Your website can usability influence your search engine rankings

Do search engines care about the usability of your web pages? Does it make a difference whether your web pages are easy to navigate or not?

A recent patent application from Yahoo indicates that search engines might take a look at your web page design. The document includes a long list of factors that search engines can consider to determine the usability of a web page.

Why can usability be important to search engines?

The patent application contains a short paragraph that explains why search engines might consider the usability of web pages:

"It can be important to make web pages easy and pleasing to use, which can be particularly important for web pages it is desired to monetize. [...].

If such web pages are not easy and pleasing to use, the money-making potential of those web pages can be jeopardized. One conventional indication of whether a web page is easy and pleasing to use is called 'clutter.'"

Web pages with good usability usually have a higher conversion rate than cluttered web pages. Web pages with good usability often have a higher quality than other web pages and search engines try to return high quality web pages in their search results.

Which factors can search engines analyze to determine the clutter of your pages?

Yahoo's patent applications provides a list of 51 web page elements that can be analyzed to determine the clutter of a web page:

Total number of links
Total number of words
Total number of images (non-ad images)
Image area above the fold (non-ad images)
Dimensions of page
Page area (total)
Page length
Total number of tables
Maximum table columns (per table)
Maximum table rows (per table)
Total rows
Total columns
Total cells
Average cell padding (per table)
Average cell spacing (per table)
Dimensions of fold
Fold area
Location of center of fold relative to center of page
Total number of font sizes used for links
Total number of font sizes used for headings
Total number of font sizes used for body text
Total number of font sizes
Presence of “tiny” text
Total number of colors (excluding ads)
Alignment of page elements
Average page luminosity
Fixed vs. relative page width
Page weight (proxy for load time)
Total number of ads
Total ad area
Area of individual ads
Area of largest ad above the fold
Largest ad area
Total area of ads above the fold
Page space allocated to ads
Total number of external ads above the fold
Total number of external ads below the fold
Total number of external ads
Total number of internal ads above the fold
Total number of internal ads below the fold
Total number of internal ads
Number of sponsored link ads above the fold
Number of sponsored link ads below the fold
Total number of sponsored link ads
Number of image ads above the fold
Number of image ads below the fold
Total number of image ads
Number of text ads above the fold
Number of text ads below the fold
Total number of text ads
Position of ads on page
According to the patent application, Yahoo might also consider the presence of animated and flashing ads and the average ad luminosity.

What does this mean to your web pages?

Good website usability can greatly improve the conversion rate of your website. If your website gets many visitors but only a few sales then it might be that your web pages are too cluttered and that you have to improve your website design.

Google has a similar patent application with the name "Detecting and rejecting annoying documents" so it seems that good website design becomes more and more important if you want to get high search engine rankings.

The HTML code of your web pages must make a good impression to search engines. If search engines find that your web pages don't have the right content then these pages cannot get high search engine rankings.

You can get a free web site analysis from OnTheAvenues which provides a comprehensive analysis of your site and SEO changes you will need to make.

Domain Names May Prevent High Rankings

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:15:00 -0500

Does your domain name prevent your website from getting high rankings?

The top level domain of your website can have an influence on your website rankings. Last month, many websites with a special top level domain were delisted from Google's search results.

No more visitors from Google. What has happened?

Many webmasters observed that all of their websites with an .info domain name disappeared from Google's search results.

Some websites removed traffic drops from several hundreds of visitors per day to zero visitors per day. It seemed that all websites that used the .info top level domain had been removed from Google's index.

A few days later, the websites with the .info domains reappeared in Google's search results.

Why did this happen?

It looks as if Google updated its filters for special domain names and went a little too far. Earlier this year, the head of Google's anti-spam team made the following statement:

"A top-level domain (TLD registry) will offer domains for under $4. The result will be another TLD blighted by spammy domain registrations."

Domain names with a .info ending have been available for 99 Cent for some time. It's likely that very many .info domain names have been purchased for spamming purposes.

Google might have intended to block .info domains that spam and a bug in the algorithm wiped all .info domains from Google's results. Fortunately, Google's engineers fixed the bug within days.

What does this mean for your website?

Filtering all .info domains just because many of them are used for spamming is a very drastic measure. Although Google doesn't do this, it's clear that there is some kind of filter for these domains.

If you want to succeed with your online business, it might be better to use a .com domain or the local top level domain of your country instead of a .info domain.

In addition to your domain name, many more factors influence the position of your website in Google's search results. Analyze your website now to find out which elements of your website can cause problems with Google. You can get a free web site analysis from OnTheAvenues which provides a comprehensive analysis of your site and SEO changes you will need to make.

Dropped Google Rankings. Why Your Site Google Rankings Dropped.

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:15:42 -0500

Top reasons why your Google rankings dropped

Most webmasters face this problem sooner or later. The rankings of your website on Google have dropped and you don't know why this happened.

Here are the top 4 reasons why rankings on Google can drop:

Reason 1: Your website has been penalized or banned from Google

Search for "site:yoursite.com" on Google (replace yoursite.com with your actual domain name). If Google returns one or more pages from your website then your website has not been fully banned.

What you can do to solve that problem:

Find out what you have done wrong on your website. Google doesn't like spamming, cloaking, link building and similar shady tactics. Clean up your website and ask for reconsideration.

Reason 2: Your server rejects Google's spider

Have you installed a new robots.txt file lately? Does your robots.txt file allow Google to index your website? Have you changed your htaccess file? Have you recently installed a spam bot blocker?

Are you 100% sure that the spam bot blocker lets Google through to your website? Google uses different IP addresses for its different spiders and some spam blockers might accidentally block one of the spiders. This might also look like cloaking to Google.

What you can do to solve that problem:

Double check the settings in your robots.txt file, your htaccess file and your spam bot blockers. If possible, avoid bot blockers because they might send the wrong bots away.

Reason 3: Google has changed its algorithm

Google is continually tweaking its algorithm. It might be that one of the latest changes affected your website. Last year, Google released more than 450 changes of the ranking algorithm. That's more than 37 per month.

What you can do to solve that problem:

Perform a web site analysis on the site to see if it has optimization issues that may be affecting the sites rankings. You can get a free web site analysis from OnTheAvenues which provides a comprehensive analysis of your site and SEO changes you will need to make.

Reason 4: Your competitors increased their efforts

You're not the only one who wants to get high rankings for your keywords. Search engine optimization is a constant competition. Your competitors might have done something better than you.

What you can do to solve that problem:

Analyze your competitors sites to find out what they've done to get the top rankings. Get better inbound links than your competitors and optimize your web pages.

Things that brought your website to the top of Google's search result in the past might not work anymore today.

If you want to get on Google's first result page and stay there, you have to continually check if your website complies to Google's latest changes. You can get a free web site analysis from OnTheAvenues which provides a comprehensive analysis of your site and SEO changes you will need to make.

How To Get High Quality Links. Link Building Tips

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:46:29 -0500

How to get high quality links

Link building is one of the most important search engine optimization steps. Without good inbound links, your website cannot get high rankings. Although it is very important that your website has optimized content, without the links to your website, search engines won't consider that content much.

It's important to get the right links to your website. Link spamming doesn't work. You must make sure that you get high quality links that Google and other search engines like.

Step 1: Make your website linkworthy

You must make your website linkworthy. You cannot expect that other websites link to your website if your site is basically a collection of affiliate links or an online shop that looks like a thousand other online shops.

Your website must be different. Try the following:

Add articles about your products or services to your website.
Add tutorials and how-to articles about the topic of your website.
If you have a lot to say, add a blog to your website.
Add a directory with links to valuable resources on your website.

Step 2: Check your competitors

The best way to start link building is to duplicate the links that your competitors have. Find all websites that link to your competitors and then try to convince them to link to your website.

Step 3: Get links from blogs

There are millions of blogs on the Internet and they all need something to write about. Getting links from blogs is a good way to get links from related websites.

Bloggers give out millions of free links each month.

Step 4: Get links from Internet directories

Submitting your website to Internet directories can be a good way to show Google that you have a reputable website. Low quality websites usually don't invest the time and money that is needed to be listed in Internet directories.

Inbound links are very important if you want to get high rankings on search engines. You should optimize your web page content first to make sure that search engines find your website relevant to your targeted keywords.

If more than one website has been optimized for the same keywords (and that's usually the case) then the website with the best links will get the best rankings.

Here's some advice to improve your blogging

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:11:12 -0500

"Take A Behind-The-Scenes Guided Tour Of The New And Improved Blog Mastermind Coaching Program"Learn The Exact Strategies I Use To Make A Minimum Of $10,000 To As Much As $35,000 Per Month BloggingPart Time - And How You Can Do The Same

I expect you have seen what Yaro Starak released during the previous week. The videos and interview with a million dollar blogger he published to help us all become better bloggers really impressed a lot of people - including me.

Today is your chance to become the next blogging success story and Yaro is willing to help you get there.

His private coaching program has just opened to take on new students. You can join here -

The program, called Blog Mastermind, is comprehensive and includes -

- A step-by-step coaching course delivered in weekly lessons in text and audio format

- Private members-only forum community and access to regular live training calls with Yaro (you can ask him anything you want about your blog)

- Video case studies of blogs and a ten-part series of audios from Yaro covering the core aspects about what it takes to earn big dollars from a blog

- Access to the social traffic club, a special community of members who help each other drive traffic to their blogs from social media sites

- 5 unique interviews with professional bloggers like Darren Rowse, Brian Clark and Andy Wibbels

- Plus loads more.

You can take a behind the scenes tour and hear Yaro talk about his coaching program if you watch the short video at the start of the sign-up page here -

This is definitely the only course I know of that teaches you how to make a full time living blogging only part time, and how to build a real business from a blog, taught by someone who has actually done it.

Yaro's teaching style is unique, he's easy to learn from and has an ability to make complex subjects simple to understand.

He's also one of the only bloggers I know of who really understands Internet marketing and how to build a business that doesn't suck all your time.

Plus he makes over six-figures a year from his blog, so that's enough proof for me!

No matter what level of blogger you are, whether you are brand new and still don't even have a blog, or you are an experienced blogger who wants to take their income to the next level and stop working so hard, Blog Mastermind is for you.

Yaro is offering 3 fast-action bonuses for the first 100 new members who join his program today. They include three interviews and videos on important subjects to any blogger -

- How to effectively implement Yaro's "Conversion Blogging" system on your blog

- How to use video to market online, just like Yaro did with his recent videos, with advice from video expert Gideon Shalwick

- Advanced tactics to improve your conversion rates to sell more from your blog posts and email newsletters, coming from Will Swayne, the conversion specialist Yaro hires to improve his blogging business

These bonuses are only for the first 100 new members today, so you better hurry if you want these extra goodies. Here is the link to join the coaching program -

Even if you don't join Yaro's program today, make sure you study his videos and the Blog Profits Blueprint report he gives away.

Yaro offers so much great advice that won't cost you a cent and I'm sure if you follow his instructions you will begin earning rewards from your blog.

I'll speak to you soon,

Bonnie

PS. Remember, if you want the fast-action bonuses you have to join Blog Mastermind within the first 100 people. As I write this, 60 people have already joined up. Here is the link to join the coaching program

Blog Success Video. Blogging Web Site Success Online Video

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:11:32 -0500

Whoever said blogging can't make BIG money had not heard this story.

Yaro Starak interviewed his previous student, Alborz Fallah, who is the owner of caradvice.com.au - a car blog for Australians, which was valued at $5 million dollars and generates close to $50,000 a month.

You can listen or read the interview by clicking here

Alborz started his blog like most people, sitting at home, writing content each day outside of the time he spent at his full time job. His blog grew, he started making money and he just kept working.

Eventually he was approached by people who wanted to buy his blog. He said no, until someone came along who only wanted to buy a share in the site and help it continue to grow. Alborz agreed and his blog immediately went from part time hobby, to full time business.

Today Alborz's blog has full time employees, he travels to Europe to test some of the most prestigious cars in the world and it's fair to say he is living a dream - making big money writing about a topic he loves.

In this interview you can hear Alborz talk about how he grew his traffic, how he brought on investors to help grow his site and what's it like being in charge of a multi-million dollar blog.

It's worth listening to this interview because you can learn some key things to help with your own quest to make a profitable blog, for example -

- How Alborz chose the topic for his blog is a great lesson for anyone else out there struggling to come up with a blog topic

- The search engine advice Alborz offers is powerful yet simple and will immediately help your own blog get more traffic, if you follow it

- The story of how investors came on board to take Car Advice to the next level is unique, but definitely worth hearing because it shows how you can grow a blog from just making a few hundred dollars, to making six or seven figures a year.

The interview is available for instant download in MP3 or text transcript. Here's the link again -

You can listen or read the blog success interview by clicking here

Yaro released this video to inspire people to believe what is possible with a blog.

If you want to follow in Alborz's footsteps, consider taking on Yaro as your blog coach and join his Blog Mastermind coaching program and you might just become the next Alborz.

I'll speak to you soon,

Bonnie

Blog Mastermind Free Video. How To Make Money Blogging

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:11:48 -0500

I just posted the final two videos for the opening campaign of Blog Mastermind. These last two videos are a look over my shoulder at how my blog makes money and how much money it makes. These videos are designed to teach people about how to make money blogging

Don't Make This Blogging Mistake

This is information by Yaro Starak : http://www.blogtrafficschool.com/ He believes wordpress is best for blogging and gives information below on why and how to set it up correctly. I believe that no matter which software you use for a blog, your a head of the game just by using one in conjunction with your web site.

It's one the first questions new bloggers ask - which blog system should I use?

TypePad [http://www.typepad.com/],
Blogger [http://www.blogger.com/]
WordPress [http://www.blogger.com/]

are the most popular and while I think they all have their advantages.

Download WordPress (it's no-cost), install it on your server, buy a proper domain name and then get blogging.

MSN Spaces is another blogging system you may have heard of that a lot of teenagers use because it is linked with the MSN Messenger chat service. If you are serious about blogging I would definitely stay clear of it. If you just want to blog about your cat/girlfriend/how much you hate your job then it's fine, but if you are blogging for any professional purposes get something professional.

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU

I'll tell you a story about Steve. Steve is a niche blogger. He set up lots of little blogs on all kinds of topics (niches) aiming to make a few dollars from each blog by placing Google AdSense advertisements on them. Google pays you when someone clicks on the ads.
I just posted the final two videos for the opening campaign of Blog Mastermind. These last two videos are a look over my shoulder at how my blog makes money and how much money it makes. These videos are designed to teach people about how to make money blogging

After a few months he did really well and built up his income. None of his blogs had a lot of traffic, but they got enough from search engines that each blog earned between $1 and $10 per day. In total he earned over $2000 per month from his blogs - not a bad effort.

One day he turned on his computer and all his blogs had gone. Disappeared. Vanished without a trace...

What happened you ask?

He was using one Blogger.com account to manage his blogs and Blogger.com determined that what he was doing was violating their terms of service.

They thought all his blogs were what are called "splogs" - SPAM blogs.

Splogs are blogs set up to get traffic to other sites. They are usually automatically generated and the owners have no intention of producing a useful website - they just want to get traffic.
Essentially they are the SPAM of the blogging world.

Steve contacted the support staff at Blogger.com to explain that his sites were not SPAM sites but it was difficult to convince them and he never got his blogs reactivated. Overnight he lost his regular $2000 per month income in one hit.

OWN YOUR BLOG

If Steve had hosted his blogs on WordPress on his own servers with his own domains this simply would not have happened. It may cost a bit more upfront to buy the domain names and rent the server space (WordPress itself is free) but the security and control you get makes it worthwhile.
Besides the ownership benefit WordPress has many other pluses. My particular favorite features include:

- It's free, very powerful and runs of a mySQL database so it's quick.
- It has a very easy installation procedure.
- There are hundreds of free themes you can download and install allowing you to change the look of your blog.
- There are hundreds of plug-ins that provide extra functionality.

All of the above benefits are available because the WordPress system is Open Source Software, which means anyone can look at the code and modify the program. Consequently there are hundreds of programmers working to make WordPress the best blogging system and they do it for free - just for the good of the software.

GET STARTED

Hopefully I've convinced you that WordPress is the way to go. Now if you haven't done so already, here are the three steps you can do right now to get your new WordPress blog installed.

1. Go to http://wordpress.org/download/ and download WordPress.
2. Buy a domain name and hosting package. At the moment I use and recommend Dreamhost -
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/yaro-recommends/dreamhost/

There are literally thousands of web hosting providers around, just do a Google search if you want more options.

3. Install your blog. Done!

If installing a blog is beyond you then just use the one click installation option in Dreamhost.
You can skip step one above if you do this.

This lets you have a WordPress blog installed with one click so you don't have to do the WordPress uploading process.

BACK-UP YOUR BLOG

I'll leave you with this one last very important note...

If you are going to stay with Blogger.com or TypePad or even if you use WordPress there is one thing you should add to your weekly to-do list - back-ups!

Make sure you have an offline archive of all your content so if for whatever reason you lose your blog you can restore all the content. If you own your domains you won't lose your traffic either because you can restore things to exactly how they
were.

Source: Yaro Starak : http://www.blogtrafficschool.com

I just posted the final two videos for the opening campaign of Blog Mastermind. These last two videos are a look over my shoulder at how my blog makes money and how much money it makes. These videos are designed to teach people about how to make money blogging

OnTheAvenues has been providing Search Engine Optimization services since 1998. http://ontheavenues-diy-seo.blogspot.com/ Bonnie Burns SEO Consultant

How A Blog Can Make You $10,000 A Month

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:12:04 -0500

How A Blog Can Make You $10,000 A Month

Yaro Starak, a well-respected blogger and blog trainer, released a free video that takes you inside his Internet business, which is based on just one blog. Set aside 32 minutes now and watch this video - Click here for free blog video

Using his blog, Yaro generates a steady $10,000 to $20,000 each and every month.

His system is not your usual story of using a blog and sticking AdSense on it - he's taken a much more BUSINESS focused approach.

He calls his system "Conversion Blogging" because it combines a blog with an email list to create consistent income.

Inside the video you will learn -

- Why blogs are the only Web 2.0 marketing tool you will ever need

- Exactly how Yaro uses his blog to build a MASSIVE email list

- How just a blog can turn you into the No. 1 authority in your market

- What methods Yaro uses to translate his blog into a steady cash-flow stream

- How you can replicate Yaro's methods using just one blog and get started in minutes

I loved this video because it's not full of marketing hype, just a very down to earth and
practical presentation.

I guarantee you will enjoy this and learn something too.

Set aside 32 minutes now, grab a drink, sit down and watch this video - Click here for free blog video

Note: I practice what Yaro teaches. With his examples and my knowledge of SEO, I have earned over $6000 dollars this month from one of my affiliates. YOU CAN DO THIS TOO. Below is another blog and web marketing useful link as well as, if you are ready to do some work, the affilite site that pays me the big bucks for sales.

High paying affiliate
http://best-forex-guide.com/forex-affiliate/

Web 2.0 marketing
www.trafficsecrets.com/webiness

Bye for now,
Bonnie

Make Money Blogging. Conversion Blogging Free Video

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:56:37 -0500

Make Money Blogging. Conversion Blogging Free Video

Free online Video that show you how to convert your blogs into money makers. Click here to watch this 30 minute video on making money with your blogs tips, training and more

Do you want to make blogging your ticket to freedom? Join the only mentoring program that teachesanyone how to make REAL money from a blog. Click here NOW

In every bloggers life comes a special day - the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else's blog chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader - you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog but that's about as far you went when it comes to finding readers.

Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.

It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called "traction", which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.

Top 10 Tips

10. Write at least five major "pillar" articles. A pillar article is a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good "how-to" lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.

You don't have to produce one post per day all the time but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical so the more content you can produce at this time the better.

8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging be serious about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog you need a easily rememberable domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that's the offline world, you remember that place right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can and focus on small easy to remember domains rather than worry about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and easy to remember then you’ve done a good job!).

7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people’s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.

Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.

6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger's article you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry - it's sort of like your blog telling someone else’s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.

This is a good technique because like leaving comments a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important - it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will likely come and read your post eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours or at least monitor you and if you are lucky some time down the road they may do a post linking to your blog bringing in more new readers.

5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.

4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival often enjoy a spike in new readers.

To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at blogcarnival.com.

3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers but it's so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it's worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on to your blog so you can rank and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!

2. Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com. This is another tip that doesn’t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it's worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have - your pillar articles. Once a week or so take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.

How you benefit is through what is called your "Resource Box". You create your own resource box which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article you can get a lot of new readers at once.

1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers however all of the techniques I’ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them if you do everything above you may bring in readers but they won’t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.

I hope you enjoyed my list of traffic tips. Everything listed above are techniques I’ve put into place myself for my blogs and have worked for me, however it's certainly not a comprehensive list. There are many more things you can do. Finding readers is all about testing to see what works best for you and your audience and I have no doubt if you put your mind to it you will find a balance that works for you.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

Free online Video that show you how to convert your blogs into money makers. Click here to watch this 30 minute video on making money with your blogs tips, training and more

Google's Big Crackdown On Sub-Domains

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:31:11 -0500

Google's Big Crackdown On Sub-Domains

Over the years, sub-domains have proven to be a solid search engine marketing strategy. But in January, Google changed the rules. Now the search giant is cracking down on the visibility of sub-domains. But not all the time - there's a catch.

The basics

Simply a division of a larger domain - and sometimes referred to as a third level domain - sub-domains are frequently used by marketers. In fact, some of the largest websites leverage sub-domains, including Google: news.google.com, maps.google.com, etc. And with good reason.

Why bother?

Sub-domains have offered numerous benefits to marketers. From a usability standpoint, sub-domains have provided marketers with a means to organize content in a logical manner. On top of that, they have helped marketers gain additional Yahoo! directory listings, which in turn can enhance a domain's link popularity. Further still, since sub-domains allow marketers to incorporate a valuable keyword phrase into their URL, they have proven helpful in improving the visibility on that keyword phrase. Lastly, since sub-domains have been considered exempt from the rule of two listings per domain for a keyword phrase (because search engines consider sub-domains to be separate entities), they have helped marketers dominate a page of search results on a particular keyword phrase.

Change happens

Fortunately, sub-domains still offer marketers all of the same benefits today - with one exception.

At the start of the new year, Google made a change to their host-crowding algorithm, and announced that they would treat sub-domains like sub directories. Translation: Now only two URLs from a domain can rank on a keyword phrase.

An empty threat?

But despite the announcement, Google continues to allow multiple sub-domains to rank on the same keyword phrase. So what's the catch?

The new rules

It's simple. Google allows multiple sub-domains to rank on a keyword phrase for some domains, but the sub-domain has to have enough content to justify its existence.
Given that, if you're thinking about implementing sub-domains, you'd be wise to keep the below tips in mind:

Take inventory of how much content you have, and determine if each of your sections has enough to stand on its own.

Sites that have sections of content with different themes are good candidates for sub-domains.

Take a look at the keyword set on which you want to gain visibility and determine if there are opportunities for more than one of your sub-domains to rank on any of your keywords.

Lastly, assess whether you can logically incorporate a valuable keyword phrase in your sub-domain name that will both let your user know what the section is about, as well as help your site gain visibility on that keyword phrase.

While sub-domains are still a viable search engine marketing strategy, marketers need to be aware that the rules of the game have changed. Smart marketers will use the above tips as a guide to help them avoid Google's big crackdown and successfully leverage sub-domains today.

Source: By Allison Lemke Search Marketing Specialist iProspect

Traffic Secrets Web 2.0 Released. Improve Web Traffic

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:12:29 -0500

Traffic Secrets Web 2.0 Now Available

At exactly Noon EST today (Tuesday, July 15th) John Reese will *finally* release his long-awaited "Traffic Secrets 2.0" training course.

Unless you've been living in a small cave with no Internet access for the past few months then you know there has been tremendous 'buzz' building around this course -- and it's
for a very good reason.

Many people have already made the wise decision to get their copy of this course, even though all the details hadn't been released yet!

This speaks directly to the quality products that John Reese has released in the past...

They just plain WORK and help people succeed.

Well, now you can get ALL THE DETAILS about Traffic Secrets 2.0 by going here:
http://www.trafficsecrets.com/webiness

Here's Just Some Of What You'll Discover...

It doesn't matter if you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced marketer. Plus, it doesn't matter what business 'model' you may be using (i.e. ecommerce store, affiliate marketing, infoproducts, blogging, etc.).

It also doesn't matter what niche market your business is in. The course can take you by the hand and help you EASILY increase your traffic. Period!

Traffic Secrets 2.0 is all about...

- Social Media Marketing & Strategy
- Advanced Content Syndication
- Cutting-Edge Video Marketing & SEO
- Leveraging Software & Widgets
- Setting Up Automatic 'Content Factories'
- Building An Affiliate Army
- And so much more.

And Here's A Real 'Shocker'...

If you move fast and get 'grandfathered' in, you will also receive the following...

- LIFETIME UPDATES To The Course
- Private Coaching & Mastermind Community
- Web-based 'Action Tracker' Learning System
- And more!

Once you buy your license to Traffic Secrets 2.0 you don't have to buy it ever again! Even by the time that "Traffic Secrets 11.0" comes out you'll have gotten all of the other versions FOR FREE. (What an amazing offer!)

You *know* that traffic generation techniques will continue to change over time so it's great to know that you'll be getting all of the updated information and strategies for free. (This is truly an INVESTMENT in your business.)

You'll also get access to John, his staff, and all of the other TS2 owners in an exclusive, private community. You'll get unlimited, lifetime access for ZERO monthly fees...

It's all included with your single purchase of the course. (This makes it a total no-brainer offer that every serious marketer should take advanage of)

But you'll need to ACT FAST and get your copy of the course right away so you can be guaranteed to be 'grandfathered' in and never have to pay any additional fees to access the course updates or the private community site...

Get Your Copy Of Traffic Secrets 2.0 Today

#1 Overlooked Traffic Method. Increase Web Site Traffic

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:00:31 -0500

#1 Overlooked Traffic Method. Increase Web Site Traffic

John Reese just released a NEW video that reveals a 'big traffic' secret that many of the world's top sites don't want others to know about -- and he shows how YOU can quickly and easily start using this 'secret' for your own sites.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

If you had any trouble viewing the other videos that John Reese recently released you'll now find alternate versions that should solve any viewing problems.

* You will now see a link on his other video pages where you can find a smaller version of each video.

This NEW video will show you how to generate a lot of targeted traffic even with a tiny marketing budget.

And this method is so incredibly VIRAL that once you put it into a motion it can pull-in a large flow of visitors to any of your web sites without you doing any additional work.

(You just need to make sure you do it properly for maximum traffic results.)

* This is something that 99.9% of marketers are simply overlooking.

Go watch the new video right now and discover this tactic for yourself. You'll be pleasantly surprised how you can easily cash-in on something that most people have no clue about.

Watch The Video Now:
http://www.trafficsecrets.com/webiness/v3.html

AND...

At the end of this new video John Reese reveals some 'shocking' price details about his soon to be released, ground-breaking Traffic Secrets 2.0 course.

He also reveals (for the first time) details about why this 'course' isn't simply a course like most have seen before.

You'll have to watch the video to see how John is 'raising the bar' when it comes to Internet Marketing education products. (It's truly impressive.)

Check It Out Right Now:
http://www.trafficsecrets.com/webiness/v3.html

Web 2.0 Traffic, SEO, Marketing Secrets Free Online Video

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:12:52 -0500

Web 2.0 Traffic, SEO, Marketing Secrets Free Online Video

Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.

Are You Ready To Open The Floodgates Of Traffic To Your Website?
Then click here now to learn more about Traffic Secrets and watch this free online video with 10 really great techniques you may not have considered!

Increase Your Web Site Traffic

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:05:20 -0500

Imagine More Traffic at Your Command

John Reese has over 10 years of online marketing experience and has performed thousands of tests. Testing is crucial. When he was 23 years old he was $100,000.00 in debt trying and testing many different online ventures. Today he's a self made multi millionaire. The man knows what he's talking about.

The course consists of the following:

* 7 DVD's
* 6 CD's
* Manuals with over 500 Pages of Tactics

If you're serious about increasing your website traffic and you want to do it the right way, you owe it to yourself to check out this course. I own it and I can honestly tell you, "IT'S AWESOME". Imagine having more traffic on a daily basis that in turn leads to more sales for you. Are you beginning to see the potential for both you and your site?

For those who buy the course John has created a "Traffic Secrets Member's Club" where he offers support and guidance in the form of teleseminars, discussion boards and more. Imagine being part of this elite group and being able to get all of your tough online marketing questions answered by an expert. It's like having John as your personal Internet Consultant.

"Do Yourself a favor and check it out now by Clicking Here!

Traffic Secrets Online Video. Getting Your Web Site Traffic

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:01:40 -0500

Traffic Secrets Online Video. Getting Your Web Site Traffic and Converting Them To Buyers

Traffic Secrets Features:

This extensive course on website traffic is an impressive collection of 6 DVDs, 6 CD-Roms, DVD transcripts and useful workbook. Before we continue, I have to say that I honestly don't know why John Reese called this course "Traffic Secrets" because it's not just about getting traffic. It's about converting your mass amounts of highly targeted traffic into sales.

DVDs included:

> Pay-per-Click Mastery
> Web and Email Advertising Success
> Search Engine Domination
> Outsourcing Secrets
> Linking Strategies and Viral Marketing
> Free Traffic Methods
> Testing and Tracking

CDs included:

> Keyword Discovery
> Google AdWords Mastery
> Overture & PPCSE Tactics
> Search Engine Empire
> Partner Profit Machine
> Exit Traffic Strategies

You've just gotta see this.

Internet Marketing pioneer, John Reese has just released a new video.

Are you interested in...Generating floods of targeted traffic to any of your Web sites?

OR

Finding simple ways to start a new online business or expand an existing one?

If so, then you've got to RUN, not walk,over to this page and check out this amazing new video:

http://www.trafficsecrets.com/webiness

You'll also some discover some great news about John Reese's upcoming
"Traffic Secrets 2.0" course -- it's th long awaited sequel to the 'famous' best-selling Traffic Secrets course.

*CORRECTION*

You can actually go right now and watch TWO new videos from John.
Go to this page to watch them: http://www.trafficsecrets.com/webiness

Top 10 Tips To A Successful Blog

bsburns@cox.net (Bonnie Burns) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:10:25 -0500

Top 10 Tips To A Successful Blog

Top 10 Tips

To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at blogcarnival.com.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click here