This clients question to me, which was a good one, was “Why shouldn’t I give it a try?”

What could it hurt, right?

Unfortunately, an "I don't get paid until this website comes up on the first page" attitude means that they will do anything, and I do mean anything, to that end.

This client already has many first page listings on Google and other search engines, based on the work we have done for him. We have just begun the real marketing of the site, and have a plan in place to continue to get, and keep, more page 1 search engine positions.

After all, the goal is not just hitting Page 1, but staying there.

Getting to the first page involves a few different methods, but that is a discussion for another time. Just know that the biggest pieces of the puzzle are keyword focused content and building high-quality (relevant) in-bound links. And these can often go hand in hand.

One strategy would be submitting articles to article directories and Web 2.0 sites. The benefit of this strategy is three-fold. One is the direct traffic from these sites as interested members read the articles. Another is, by using keyword rich content in the articles, you increase the number of listings you'll have in the search engines where people can find you. The last, which you only start to see over time, is the quality, keyword relevant in-bound links you start to get from the 100's of sites that syndicate these articles.

The trick, though, is not to build these links too fast. If you do, then Google and the other search engines, get suspicious because it looks unnatural. And when the search engines are suspicious, their response is to either "Sandbox" or de-index your site (i.e. remove it from their search results.)

This is a great method for achieving higher search engine rankings. Google knows it, and they're all for it. They don't penalize you for using article directories, or Web 2.0 sites. But they will penalize you if they don't like your intent, the way you're using these sites. They judge your intentions by how often you add content, and how fast you build links. If they feel your intentions are "bad", you're a spammer. And if you're a spammer, well, into the Sandbox with you!

This is why, in my opinion, you have to be cautious of any guy that walks in the door and says "I can get you on the first page of Google in a month or it's free." Sure, he probably can, but at what cost to your online reputation, longevity and bottom line?

Of course, traffic is just one side of the coin. The other side is conversion. You can get lots of traffic, but ultimately it means nothing if you don't generate leads, customers and die-hard fans. Will this person stick around to help you make the most of all the traffic that has been generated? Will he help you with analyzing the most visited areas of your site, and offer suggestions on improvements that will increase conversions?

Unfortunately, once he proves to you that your site landed on the first page, he wants his paycheck and is gone! And do you have lots of sales, or long-term customers to show for it? Usually not. So think long and hard before handing over your online reputation to a fly-by-night stranger. A better option? A company that really does watch out for your reputation online, and has a long-term strategy to keep you at the top.

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What is this delightful little tidbit of info you ask. Well, if you've ever used the Google AdWords Keyword Tool for doing keyword research you know that in the past Google did not display numbers in the monthly and annual Approximate Search Volume columns. Before they just displayed graphs. So, while you could tell whether or not a keyword had search volume you never really knew what the actual number was.

As Google Puts it…

"Search volume statistics in the Keyword Tool
You can now see statistics on the approximate number of search queries matching your keywords. This data allows you to better plan your budget and pick keywords most likely to return quality leads, which in turn can help improve your ROI."

In addition to adding real numbers they also included the option to view more columns simultaneously that include information like search volume trends and when the highest volume occurred over the last 12 months.

This is really great information from arguably the best source for information on the web.

The best part is that it's available to you for free. Even if you don't run pay-per-click campaigns you can still set up an AdWords account and use this awesome, free keyword research tool. Use what you learn from it to help you choose better keywords for all aspects of your on-page, search engine and Web 2.0 keyword targeting.

Good job Google!

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This is some really good common, and not so common, sense advice on search engine optimization. Over the years I've seen my clients make all of these mistakes and it costs them dearly.

This article was written by Rachelle Money over at WordTracker. These people know a few things about keyword research and search engine optimization.

Read the Article here…

Enjoy, Barry O.

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After you have successfully installed WordPress, installed and activated your theme and understand how to organize your content using Pages and Posts, Categories and Tags, you’re ready to configure your WordPress options.

NOTE: The following screenshots are from WordPress 2.5.1, the latest version of WordPress at the time this post was written.

Login to your WordPress admin area (www.yourdomainname/wp-admin) and we'll go through the options tabs one-by-one from left to right. Keep in mind you will have to revisit some of these after installing certain plug-ins.

Manage | Posts

Delete the default post title "Hello World"

Manage | Pages

Even if you don't have all of your content yet go ahead and create all of the "static" pages for your blog. (i.e. About Us, Contact, Privacy Policy, etc…)

Manage | Categories

Now, let's create all of the main categories for your blog using your primary keywords as much as possible in each. In addition to creating new categories you will also want to change the default category. This list doesn't have to be comprehensive. You can always come back later and add more.

Manage | Link Categories

Delete or change the default link category to one that matches your niche. Add other link categories that may apply.

Manage | Links

For now you can either delete all links in the blogroll or you can add a few links to other well respected blogs related to your topic. While this may sound counter intuitive it’s not. Remember, blogging is about community and it’s never a bad thing to be associated with leaders in your market even if it just means linking to them. Later, if you create some reciprocal linking agreements, you can add links to those sites here.

Settings | General

Blog Title: Make sure your blog Title contains your main keyword / phrase twice. We'll go into greater detail on how to tweak this when we talk about the All-in-One SEO plug-in below. This one tweak can result in much better search engine rankings. (Ex: Dog Breeding Tips From Dog Breeding Expert Bubba Jones) Tagline: The tagline may not be important depending on your theme setup but, go ahead and include it anyway. Again, be sure to include your primary keywords in the tagline. WordPress address (URL): DO NOT Change this. It will "break" your blog! Blog address (URL): DO NOT Change this. It will "break" your blog! E-mail address: Enter the email address for the admin of this blog. This is the address where all comment notifications and form info, by default, will be sent. Membership: Leave these unchecked unless you want people registering for your blog. Most likely you will not want them subscribing here. Instead you will want them subscribing to your RSS feed and email list which we'll cover in the plug-ins section. New User Default Role: Unless you have a specific plan for this and really know what you’re doing Select Subscriber. If you are NOT allowing people to register this really won't matter. Click Save Changes

Settings | Writing

Default post category: Select the category you want to be the default. Post via e-mail: Leave as is Update Services: Copy and paste the following list into the form field. http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2 http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc/ http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping

Settings | Reading

Front page displays: Whether or not you choose "Your latest post" or "Static page" will depend largely upon the theme you choose and whether or not you want your Home page to be static or a listing of your most recent blog posts. In most cases you will choose “Latest Post”. Blog Pages: Show at most: set to 7 Syndication Feeds: 10 Show the most recent: set to 10 For each article, show: set to Full text Save Changes

Settings | Discussion

Usual settings for an article: I usually check all 3 E-mail me whenever: I usually check both of these especially, on new blogs so, I will be notified of any new comments and respond quickly. Before a comment appears: I usually check the middle option only. If I start to get a lot of undesirable comments then I may tighten it up a little by requiring that all comments be approved. But remember the idea is to get interaction and build community so the easier the communication the better. Plus, we'll address comment spam in the plug-ins section below. Comment Moderation: This feature is mainly used to help control comment Spam. While it is helpful there are better ways to deal with comment Spam. I'll discuss those later in the plug-ins section. Comment Blacklist: This one's pretty self explanatory. Just think of all the bad words you don't want showing up on your blog and start typing them in. Save Changes

Settings | Privacy

Blog visibility: Check that you want your blog visible to everyone including search engines. Save Changes

Settings | Permalinks

Not only are the WordPress default permalinks ugly and non seneschal, they don't help you much with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Therefore, I like to change mine to the following: /%category%/%postname% or just /%postname% Here's How: Click on "Custom, specify below" Enter "/%category%/%postname%" (without the quotes) Click Update Permalink Structure Now your URL's will look like this: http://bestfriendscatering.com/blog/custom-cakes/wedding-cakes Instead of this: http://bestfriendscatering.com/blog/?p=123 Click here for a comprehensive list of other Permalink tags you can use.

NOTE: If your Permalink Structure will not update make sure your .htaccess file permissions are set to minimum of "644" (You do this using your FTP program or cPanel)

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A good understanding of the difference between Pages and Posts is necessary when setting up any new WordPress blog.

Most WordPress sites will use a combination of Pages and Posts with a much higher emphasis on POSTS.

What are Pages? – Pages are mainly used for the “static” content on your blog, or content that does not change frequently. Pages are NOT included in your RSS feed.

Examples: Contact, About Us, Privacy Policy, Products, etc…

Should you use Pages? Yes, you should use at least 2-3 Pages on your blog. Static pages help to establish credibility in both the eyes of your readers and the search engines.

What are Posts? – Posts are where you will write the majority of your day-to-day content. They are the core reason for creating a blog. Posts are included in your RSS feed and are the main attraction for your readers and search engine spiders.

Categories, Tags and Basic Blog SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

When setting up a new WordPress blog it’s important to have a basic understanding of Categories and Tags and how to use them.

What are Categories? – Categories are the main keywords you use to structure/categorize your blog Posts. Having a well thought out category structure makes it easier for your readers to navigate your blog and find the content they are looking for.

What are Tags? – Tags are used when you actually write your blog Posts and most often appear at the end of your posts. Tags are to bookmarking sites, like Technorati and Delicious, what keywords are to search engines. In other words tags are a way to flag specific keywords in your post telling bookmarking sites, and your readers, what your blog is about.

Here’s where it can get a bit confusing. Tags can link out to bookmarking or tag directories, such as Technorati and Delicious, or they can link internally to your own blog posts grouping or “categorizing” posts that contain the same tagged keywords. (The later is actually the WordPress default) Therefore, Tags, as far as search engines are concerned, can be “seen” as categories.

Let me explain further…

There are three ways of organizing your Posts. They are Categories, Tags or a combination of the two. The best practice is to use a well thought out combination of categories and tags based on your target keywords. It is important though, to never use the exact same keyword as a Category and a Tag. This could be viewed by the search engines as duplicate content and cost you high search engine rankings.

Here’s an example of what a good category and tag structure would look like on a blog about Dogs:

Category = Dog Breeds

Tags used in posts under the “Dog Breed” category = Dachshund, Min-Pin, Poodle, etc…

NOTE: Don’t get too bogged down in all of this Category and Tag business. If you use the structure outlined above and the posting methods I’m going to show you later, you’ll be just fine. However, the better you understand and apply this the better your blog will do in the search engines.

TIP: Use no more than 3-4 tags per post.

Here’s a must read article on the differences between tags and categories and ways to use them: http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2005/09/09/categories-versus-tags-whats-the-difference-and-which-one/

Good Blog SEO also includes the proper placement of keywords in your post copy, post titles and descriptions, which we’ll talk about in future posts.

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This video shows just how addictive, and stupid, Twitter really is. Honestly I think some of this Web 2.0 stuff is actually making people, myself included, ADD. It's getting to the point where I can barely put together more than 3 sentences at a time, on the same subject, without having to really concentrate.

In May Mark Butler had this to say about Twitter and I must say I agree with him.

Folks, twitter is stupid. I’ve spent the last two hours trying to find a single redeeming quality to the service, and I have nothing to report. The rest of the story… http://courtneytuttle.com/2008/05/08/twitter-is-stupid/

Now, I must confess I do Twitter and I do get some traffic from Twitter. In fact Twitter was my 4th largest traffic source last month. But, it still doesn't make it any less stupid. IMHBAO (in my humble but accurate opinion)

It's summer time. Unplug for a few hours and take the kids to the pool. Free your mind from the clutter for a while.

Oh… But of course, make sure you keep reading my blog and don't forget to follow me on Twitter.

Barry O.

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Choosing the right theme is extremely important. Not only is it the image that you will putting out for the world to see, it is also the vehicle that you will use to make money online. So, it needs to look good and work well.

One of the most frustrating and time consuming tasks in building a new WordPress blog can be modifying a theme especially, if you’re not an HTML “whiz”. Therefore, when I am choosing a theme for a new blog I try to find one that already contains the key components placed where I want them.

For example if I pan on using a 468 x 60 pixel banner ad in the header of my blog and a 300 x 250 pixel video in the sidebar then I try to find a theme that already has places for those key components built into the design. That is always easier than trying to fit those components in after the fact. I also choose themes that use the color scheme, or very close to the color scheme, I want to use. This means I won’t have to spend as much time editing the CSS (Cascading Style Sheet)

Here’s a good method to use when looking for the right theme for your blog. Take out a piece of paper and draw what you want your blog to look like. Make sure you include key components like ad spaces, opt-in forms, page navigation, RSS links, logo, etc… Now, search out a theme that most closely matches your drawing.

One last thing to consider when choosing a theme is that you want to make sure you choose a widget-ready or “widgetized” theme.

What are widgets?

Widgets are drag-n-drop components that you can put into your blog's sidebar without having to know how to edit HTML. There are literally 1000’s of widgets for everything from Recent Posts, to Email Forms, to Ads and much, much more.

Premium Themes

I recommend using a Premium them for a more professional, customized look and to insure proper coding and no embedded "spam" links. I use and recommend the following premium themes. The support, coding and search engine optimization on all of the following are excellent.

Revolution Theme by Brian Gardner - This theme comes in several different styles and can be completely customized to get almost any look you want. I use it on my site and I really like it. The only down side is that it does require some coding knowledge to update even basic things like front page and sidebar content.

WP Remx - Probably the most comprehensive and customizable WordPress theme out there. It offers several different page templates for each part of the site.(i.e. Home, Content Pages, Shopping Cart, Blog, etc…) This theme can be used to build complete websites using WordPress as a content management system. Warning, this theme is not for beginners. Unless you’re comfortable with code I would not recommend this theme.

iThemes – Offers and wide selection of premium themes for all types of sites. Their WordPress install and setup videos are also excellent.

WordPress Dream Theme by Ben Cope - This is another very nice theme that can be completely customized to look more like a website than a blog. The advantage to using this theme is that it includes setup and customization.

NOTE: All of the above, with the exception of the Dream Theme and iThemes, require a good working knowledge of HTML and PHP to setup. They are also mainly used as "magazine" style themes. This is great if you want your WordPress home page to look more like a “traditional” website and less like a blog.

Free Themes

There are a lot of really nice looking free WordPress themes available online. And with some customization you may be able to find one that works for you. The problem is finding one that is coded properly. Below are three free theme sources that I trust.

• Courtney Tuttle SEO'd Themes - http://courtneytuttle.com/seo-wordpress-themes/
• Brian Gardner - The free themes are below his paid themes http://www.briangardner.com/themes
• Free WP Premium Theme

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Today Jack Humphrey announced his new affiliate program. I have to say I am very impressed. It seems like they're really doing it the right way. They are taking care of their customers by providing them with really good products and support. And they are taking care of their affiliates by paying them for ALL sales they refer. Including the up sells that happen on the back end that so many other affiliate programs do not pay you for.

That's the good news. The bad news, and it's not really that bad, is that for those of us who have been affiliates for a while, our links have changed.

Fortunately for me I use Easy Link Manager to manage all of my affiliate links. So, instead of having to dig through all of my blog posts, web pages and banner ads and change every link (which could have taken hours) all I had to do was login to my Easy Link Manager control panel and change one link.

This is the perfect opportunity for me to demonstrate yet another useful feature of Easy Link Manager, as well as, introduce you to two new features in Version 2.0

1. Stats Reset
2. Public Links Pages ( A great way to organize and publicize all of your affiliate links in one place.)

Please watch the following video to get all the details…

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"We help our clients increase traffic to their websites and blogs, capture more leads and make more sales…"

From there he started to break it down. He said, "so I assume the very first phase of the process is to get more traffic to a website. Then, tweak for better conversion of leads and sales."

It was then I realized that this is a very common mistake that most website owners make. They put the cart before the horse or in this case the traffic before the monetization. (Of course it didn't help that I just gave it to him in that order.)

I've heard and read this many times and perhaps you have too. "The 3 keys to a successful website are Traffic, Traffic, Traffic!"

Well, guess what? Driving more traffic to a website site that has no clear call to action and doesn't convert well won't make you more successful. It just means that you've wasted more time, money and effort on getting traffic and you have nothing to show for it.

I like to look at it this way. If you're going to throw a party do you invite all of the guests over and set everything up after they arrive? No, of course not! That would be ridiculous wouldn't it?

Well, this is exactly what many people do with their websites.

Don't make this mistake. Before spending time, effort and money on getting traffic to your blog make sure it's ready first. Do you have a very clear call to action? Is the purpose of your blog and the benefit it offers to your readers stated clearly?

Test your site on a few of your colleagues, family members and friends. Ask them to log on to your blog and within 10 seconds tell you what the blog is about and what it offers. Ask them for their honest first impressions. Does your blog interest them? What action are they compelled to take? Would they spend time reading your posts? How do the colors and images make them feel?, etc…

Of course you have to take into consideration how connected each person is to your topic and weigh their opinions accordingly. Just because grandma prefers pink doesn't mean you should change the background color of your gaming blog.

While this may not seem like a very scientific method it is a good start to evaluating your blogs usability and call-to-action.

The bottom line is this. There is no such thing as "free traffic". Traffic always costs something. Even organic search engine traffic costs you. So make sure you are getting the most for your time, money and effort by making sure that your blog is ready for your guests when they arrive.

Good luck, Barry O.

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Now, I've never had it happen to me personally but today I spoke to someone who did. Believe me this was not a fun experience for this person and I know you wouldn't want it to happen to you.

Below is a very useful post with some great tips on how you can make your WordPress blog more secure and avoid being hacked.

http://www.noupe.com/how-tos/wordpress-security-tips-and-hacks.html

Be safe out there…

Barry O.

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