1. Install an SEO plugin to your blog - such as the powerful All-in-One Seo or the newer more robust Platinum SEO. These two take care of alot of the basic onsite search engine optimization you need on your blog posts and pages. (this mostly applies to Wordpress bloggers)

2. Get Backlinks - it doesn’t matter if your blog is a day old or 3 months old, you can never start too early to hunt down for link opportunities. Start with relevant directories.

3. Link To Yourself - Well not exactly. What i mean is make sure you regularly link to other articles, pages and blog posts you’ve written. This creates a spider web effect that search engines know and rely on.

4. Install a Sitemap - Sitemaps are literally maps to the content on your blog, and Google loves them. My favorite way to add a sitemap to my blogs is with the Dagon Design sitemap plugin. Fast, easy and free.

5. Use a Related Posts Plugin - this action produces similar results as installing a sitemap. It lets Google know of the content on your site and how it relates to the overall topic of your blog.

These are basic but powerful ideas, don’t underestimate any of these tips. If you havent’ yet added or practiced these SEO tips, now is a great time.

You’ll rise to the top in no time.

NEW! We now have a forum

Agree? Disagree? Discuss this topic on the forums. Yes, we now have a forum. It’s brand spanking shiny and new. Join the great SEO debate.

Next Article

Our next article will touch on the topic of: traffic generation.

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If so. Have a look at the fantastic new video from Hungry Dog Media and Wordpress.TV, in which a step-by-step is provided on how to set up shop on your blog in under 5 minutes. Yes five minutes!

It’s quite simple really with the aid of the wp e-commerce plugin, a brilliant add-on that extends the functionality of a basic blog. With this plugin you can run a dedicated shop which resides on several pages on the blog and all is handled, including payment, download, etc.

Have an ebook you want to sell directly from your blog? Give this video a quick look and try out the wp e-commerce plugin.

Need help?

No problem, shoot me an email and let me know what you’re trying to do and how i can help you.

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Essentially the idea is that you can now nominate tweets (your own or that of others) and have them made into a t-shirt. On Threadless, each shirt featured is always voted on by members, because the only way to get a shirt on the site is through votes, Ala American Idol.

It’s real easy to nominate a tweet on Threadless. Simply follow the steps below:

• Go to the Threadless Twitter section
• Register a free account
• Submit a tweet - yours, your friends, or your favorites, through the included stream built-into the Threadless site (see screenshots below)

Then wait approval, as nominees need to approve your nomination. (for tweets that are not your own)

That’s it. If you’re approved your tweet nomination will appear on the score page, which others will then VOTE on. The most popular makes it to the front page and gets made into a…twitter tee. (Oh! and you earn $500 big ones)

P.S. Also check out the cool twitter t-shirt blog.

1. Name - Every website needs a domain name that’s descriptive and relevant, but what type of name should you pick? There are two rules of thought here. One is to go the brand route and use a name that over time will become relevant. Second is to go the route of a keyword-rich name which will rank well and instantly let your readers, visitors, and the search engines know what you’re about. Which domain name route you opt for is entirely up to you, but deciding upfront which you’ll be taking is what you want to focus on.

2. Structure - You want a site that is search engine friendly and one of the best ways to optimize a site from the get go is to use a blog format, such as Wordpress. With Wordpress you get search engine friendly URL’s, as you get to choose the URL structure within the back-end area of WP.

The URL (or permalink) of your site should have keywords in it, so when search engines spider it - they know what its about.

3. Purpose - Every website should figure out what is it’s PRIMARY focus - is it to capture leads, direct sales, testimonials, or provide information? Determine this early on as it will help when it comes time to develop a content strategy.

The purpose of your site will also determine its layout and design.

4. Design - The look and feel of your website says alot about you. Do you want a standard generic template or a custom design which highlights your logo and unique brand?

With Wordpress you have several choices -

A. Free Theme: A generic template found on the web.
B. Premium Theme (with customizations): A paid for theme you can customize.
C. Custom Theme: A theme created from scratch specific to you.

I recommend B or C. Either will serve the purpose of having a professionally designed blog website that stands out.

Some good premium Wordpress themes include: Fresh News Theme, Thesis Theme, and Revolution Church Theme.

5. Layout - Depending on the purpose of your site (see above) you will want to lay out your site accordingly. If the purpose of your site is to gather leads then be sure to highlight your sign up form. If the purpose of your site is to sell directly, be sure to make it easy to place an order. If the purpose of your site is to be an information portal, set it up so that it highlights information right from the onset.

6. Content - Every website should have the following pages:

About Us Page - What are you about? What is your business about? How are you different? Etc.

Contact Us Page - Make it super duper easy for anyone to reach you. Add a contact form and let people know how and when to BEST reach you.

Services Page - What services do you offer? What are your skills? Any credentials? Highlight your unique offerings here.

Wordpress makes it easy to add as many pages as you need. Think about your sites purpose and fill accordingly.

As for articles - keeping your blog website fresh with new content will keep the search engines coming back again and again. This is a good thing. Think about what your customers (and prospective customers) are interested in. What do they want to learn? What tips would they find useful? What keeps them entertained? Fill your blog with these useful, informative or entertaining articles. You can add as many articles as you like and style your site in blog format or style it in a more traditional format - but whichever style you choose - you want to make it known you have relevant articles available for your audience. Make sure this is apparent from the first glance.

7. Plan - Every website should have a marketing plan. How will you spread the word - online, offline, social media, advertising, family and friends?

Have a plan and work the plan. Incorporate your website URL in all your communications, from your business cards to customer newsletters, mentioning it in seminars, attaching to email signatures, etc.

Decide early on how you will promote your blog website. Have a plan in place.

These tips are meant for new blog websites, but can be applied to any site. If you run a small business and don’t yet have a website, but have been mulling over the idea - it’s never too late to create an online presence.

Follow the tips above and don’t just create a website, create an online presence that will explode your sales, leads, and income.

RSS Readers: What Tip Can You Add?

What tip do you have for small business owners looking to create their first website?

I had been meaning to create one on the JoBros and finally got around to it, see blog details below.

Name: Jonas Weblog

Wordpress Theme: Fresh News

Monetization Model: Adsesne, Ebay, CJ, Ticketmaster and Amazon

This blog is an Adsense and affiliate blog, which means you will want to drive traffic to the blog, via one of the three methods below:

1. Article Marketing - create an account on eZines and direct (about 10 articles) to the blog via the author resource box.

2. Links - build links with press releases, dofollow blog comments, guest posts, or directories.

3. Additional Fresh Content - hire someone on Digital Point Forums to write two or three articles a week on the blog.

This blog is perfect for the (marketing savvy webmaster) who wishes to have a side income from Adsense and affiliate marketing. Drive targeted traffic to the blog, then wait for the commission checks to roll in.

If you have any questions on this blog project, do not hesitate to contact me.

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But what i want to know is - which twitter directory do you go to when you want to add followers? Is it Twellow, We Follow, a location based directory such as Local Tweeps, an interest (or category) based directory such as Twubble, a business directory such as Twibs, or do you simply use the trusty and up to the minute Twitter Search.

Please take a minute to let me know in the poll below. If you’re fave is not listed, vote other - and just mention it in the comments area.

Not on Twitter, yet? Grab a copy of my Twitter Guide, it includes a Q&A section and a list of super cool Twitter tools, apps, and resources.

Well this can be annoying but no need to fret, as below i give you over 15 creative domain name suffixes and prefixes which you can use to snatch up the “next best thing”.

1. Guide (as in yoga exercise guide.com)
2. Hut (as in  coupon hut.com)
3. Point (jonas brothers point.com)
4. Just (prefix)
5. Blog (vegas golf blog.com)
6. Weblog (taylor swift weblog.com)
7. News (twilight movie news.com)
8. Big (prefix)
9. Solo (seo solo.com)
10. Simply (prefix)
11. Hub (blogging tips hub.com)
12. Tips (social networking tips.com)
13. Get (prefix)
14. Zone (miley cyrus zone.com)
15. Pros (freelance writing pros.com)
16. Surplus (this one is good for product-based blogs such as plumbers surplus.com)

These are just some of the domain name extenders i have used when registering a name for a blog flip, when the one i prefer is already in use by someone else.

So next time you have that killer niche idea and a name in mind, but it’s taken, get creative and adopt one of the multi-purpose extenders above.

I’ve seen quite a number of great domain names lately on Sitepoint and would ask that next time you visit, do focus on the extenders some sellers are using. Then see if you can come up with a few on your own.

Oh! and one last thing, if at any time you have doubted the importance of using keywords in your domain name, see what Matt Cutts has to say about it.

Reader Question?

Have you used a funky domain name suffix or prefix that didn’t make my list above? Share below.

If you’re one of the 11% and a blogger, let your blog visitors know by grabbing one of my custom-made twitter icons below - which come in different sizes and colors - and add some pizazz to your site.

To use: right click on the image and save to your PC

Where To Place Within Your Blog

If you’re wondering where to place these, it’s best to add near the top of your blog or site and don’t forget to link your Twitter profile URL to the banner. This way when peeps come over and click it, they’ll be directed to your profile and can follow you right away.

Before you leave a comment …

Cut and paste the following and share it on Twitter:
5 Cute Twitter Icons For Your Blog - http://twurl.nl/g72fcr

Hope you like my collection of twitter icons and let me know below in the comment area, if you have any questions or need help.

P.S. Diana from U Stand Out also has a nice collection of Twitter Badges you might be interested in.

He went a step further by blogging and twittering the whole event live, so others could witness the wordpress tattoo get inked on his arm. Somehow i missed this whole thing, i just found out about it today. (thru twitter of course from @milesless)

Who is Ed Morita? He is a blogger based in Hawaii and interestingly enough appears to be a celebrated pastry chef. Neat? Yes.

I really dig how Ed gave this tattoo some thought and the end result is quite unique. The artist who inked it did a pretty sweet job. The Wordpress logo is surrounded by a PC motherboard. Super geeky, but cute.

What about you? Do you feel that Ed Morita will live to regret this (in say) 10 years. Or do you think that art is art and this will live forever in geek history.

This new service reminds me of the My Blog Log and Blog Catalog widgets that capture and display recent visitors.

Essentially this widget works the same way. Grab the HTML code from the Twitter Remote website and add to your blog, then as visitors come from Twitter they are captured and displayed on your blog.

I really like the idea, but they need to do some serious tweaking to the look and feel of the widget. There are only a few customization options including text color, number of rows, and width. That’s it. If they spruce it up, i will add it to my blogs. Until then, it’s a no go for me.

What do you think? Will you be using Twitter Remote.

P.S. Not on Twitter, yet? Grab a copy of my Awesome Twitter Guide…a beginners guide to Twitter. The guide covers everything you need to get started today - including how to use Twitter, how to find followers, and what to tweet about.