Creating an Identity

Creating a LinkedIn profile and a blog allows you to develop an identity of your own online. Having a professional identity is a way for you to set yourself apart from potential competitors who are looking for the same job as you or who are interested in becoming successful in the same niche as you. When you have your own professional identity online, it is much easier to become recognized as a reliable source or individual in the market you represent.

Sharing Your Voice

When you have a blog of your own, updating it consistently and sharing your voice will allow you to connect with an audience while growing a network of online followers and potential clients or customers. The more you blog and update your LinkedIn profile, the more relevant you will appear to potential employers and those in business looking to work together.

You can also share your updates within the LinkedIn platform itself, helping to spread the awareness of your blog and all of the content you have to offer.

Search Engines

Using a blog is a great way to get your name within search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing. When you use your blog to promote specific keywords and to boost your name within search engines, you will gain credibility and become more marketable professionally whether you are seeking new business ventures or employment opportunities. Because most employees will conduct an online search of your name before you are hired, it is important to consider your image within your blog and on your LinkedIn profile.

Increase Your Net Worth and Value

If you operate a successful blog, you will have the ability to generate an income and a new revenue stream from potential advertisers, even by selling your own products or services. The more you blog and promote your work within LinkedIn, the more potential investors or sponsorship deals you will be offered.

Author Bio: This article was submitted by Victoria Wu, a blogger for InternetServiceProvider.net. She is an expert writer in economy, job searching and marketability.

References: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/23454/The-Ultimate-Cheat-Sheet-for-Mastering-LinkedIn.aspx

Good web design and an effective SEO strategy are tied together and cannot exist without each other. No matter how effective your SEO strategy is, it is more likely to fail if it’s not backed by good web design. We need to understand that the net users today have become more demanding and they don’t like to index pages on your site to find something. They prefer convenience and thus a user-friendly and attractive web design will surely impress the visitor and force them to visit your site again and again. Among the most important SEO aspects that one should consider while designing the website is how easily the search engine crawler will navigate through the web pages. You can easily determine this by running a check on how many web pages of your site are indexed by the search engine when people visit your site. A quick way through which you can do this is by entering “site:” followed by the URL of your website in Google. This will show all the web pages that Google has indexed from your website. However, you might see the results fluctuating widely, something even by thousands of pages. You can also use Google Analytics to get more accuracy.

Even blogging engines like Wordpress have developed tools to beautify blogs and design them well; this is why you will see some of the best WP plugins online. The SEO buzz that is floating around due to high potential and usability of these tools has prompted web masters to devise even more effective strategies. In crux, you must know how many web pages you want to be indexed from your site. The number that you obtain from text will not match this exactly, but if it differs widely then you might have a problem. This clearly suggest that the search engines are struggling to navigate your website for reasons that can range from poor navigation of the site to presence of dead links, etc. Thus, the use of Google Analytics is preferred, as it will help you to pinpoint your problems and allow you to fix them.

An aspect that the search engine spiders tend to look at when they generate their rankings is how “popular” the website is. Links can be considered as an important benchmark in this regard; however, all links come with various degrees of power and effectiveness. The best links are the ones that come from trusted sources and the quality of the sites that are producing content on a regular basis. Influencing or encouraging links from these sorts of sources is the key for any SEO campaign. A badly designed website is going to put off most of the quality link sources from giving them the crucial recommendation that the search engine spiders are looking for. It is better you encourage people to visit your site and take feedback from them regarding navigation and usability of your website. If you are able to make an eye-catching or easy-to-navigate website, it will surely boost your search engine rankings.

Again, SEO is a complex process and it’s not as easy as it sounds. You need to have the correct combination of SEO tools in the form of link-building and content-writing. Quality content in any website is a must. If you want more information on web design and SEO, you must read articles from some of the top SEO directories.

About the Author: Anzer Khan is a professional writer and has written more than 4,000 articles on various niches. An avid writer and keen learner, he is also a tech lover. You should also look out for his tech reviews online.

Needless to say, the ingredients to success include affable products that can click to the target buyers.

The same holds true even in online marketing. Internet-based merchants actually have two things to sell: the goods and their website. It is useless to have the best merchandises in the world if they fail to create a virtual store that can effectively ensnare buyers as superfluously as possible.

This is where A/B testing comes into play.

A/B Testing, also dubbed as split testing, is a method integrated in the marketing strategy where consumers inadvertently participate in a “survey.” Two versions of a webpage will be crafted to contain varying buttons, layout, content, design, colors, etc. These variants will be showcased to website audiences in a monitored environment – meaning, web masters will be able to trace the navigation behaviour of the visitors.

At the end of the experiment, businessmen would need to make an analysis on which variant worked best in terms of traffic and conversion rates. Several criteria for performance measurement will be laid out, such as click out rates, purchases, number of views, etc. These will all be the basis for the evaluation.

Truth is, split testing is not something unknown. In conventional procedures, this can be done in the guise of questionnaires or surveys among customers. The only difference of this scheme is that website variants are being voted for, and the contribution of the respondents is covertly solicited.

A/B Testing is needed to acquire influx of customers and profits. Given that entrepreneur will have a clearer idea on what their niche demands, they can present the products that can effectively motivate visitors into making a purchase.

The test conducted by Sim Only was a living epitome of how split testing works.

Sim Only: Before the A/B Test

Sim Only operates through its website, Sim Only. Prior to the split test, the site is endowed with a modest 18,000 unique hits per month. The page views reach at least 54,000 monthly.

Conversion rate, on the other hand was at 13.35% with a plus/minus 1.67 margin of error. This was taken from a 1,596 default generation with a 213 count.

Sim Only was then curious on how these numbers can possibly be raised. As a result, the company partnered with Maxymiser, a resounding name in split testing.

Note that the company makes profits by selling both SIM cards and phone units such as Blackberry and iPhone. The goal of Sim Only was centered on increasing their click out rate towards the website of the external partner domains within six weeks. With the help of Maximser, the company opted to test its homepage.

The test was launched after the developers whipped out engaging designs for the variants.

The Test

Sim Only was aimed at studying how changes on the designs of the homepage can influence their click out rate. Each of the variants’ performance will be measured will be the number of click outs made towards the site of every external partner. The secondary metric is set at the number of homepage clicks through rates.

Gadgets banner is tweaked for this particular test. One version contains a vertical layout of the products on the right hand side of the page according to popularity from top to bottom. The other is designed to have a horizontal presentation of the products across the page according to popularity from right to left.

Both variants come with checkboxes that allowed users to select two or more products at the same time. The images of phone were used as icons.

Sim Only: After the A/B Testing

The findings from the test were summarized in this table:

It is clear from this table that the customers have a sharp inkling towards the vertical layout over the horizontal design. This means that when the company implements the variant design that garnered the highest conversion rates and confidence index, it can attain greater conversion rates. Vertical phone can potentially give Sim Only its most sought after results.

If the data is to be analyzed according to the number of generation, counts, conversion rates, lowest rate error and confidence index (along with uplift percentage), it can be inferred that vertical phone design increased the company’ click out rates by 20%.

This shows how A/B Testing can give businesses a competitive edge that may not be obtained elsewhere.

Author bio: Ruben Corbo is a freelance writer and writes for a number of online marketing websites including those that help online businesses improve A/B testing techniques to increase sales conversions (which you can learn a deal about in Maxymiser). When Ruben is not writing, he’s producing or composing music for short films or other visual arts.

So, what can the benefits of using Adsense for your site be?

Increasing Revenue: Google Adsense helps to generate revenue for your website. It is basically beneficial for DFP (Double Click for Publishers) small business.

Gain Attention from Users: The ads that are displayed in the Google are not merely keyword-stuffed ones. The advertisements are interesting with quality content and relevant images that draw attention from the users.

Multiple Format Ads: Through Google Adsense, the publishers can choose different format of advertisements like image, video, text, and other rich media formats. All the formats participate in Adsense ad auction for generating high revenue for your site.

Wide Network: With the help of Google Adsense, a wide network of online advertisers can be reached easily. With a large number of advertisers bidding for spaces in the Google Certified Ad networks, you will have an opportunity to be connected with the highest paying ads which could be relevant for your business.

Now, how can you create your ad unit?

Step 1: Sign into your account: First sign into your Google Adsense Account. Then go to ‘Adsense’ and after that just click on ‘My ads’ in the top left.

Step 2: Naming your unit: After completing step 1, you will have to name the ad unit which you have created. Any name can be given for your ad unit but a relevant name helps when maintaining a large amount of data. For example, you can select the format of the name like this: [your target site address] _ [ad date] _ [ad size] thus your unit may look like this: perfectsite.com_470×350_11122012. Ensure that all your ad units’ names maintain the standard of the format you have created.

Step 3: Select a size and ad type: After creating the name format, select a size for your ad unit. Refer to ‘How to do it’ for a detailed application for selecting the appropriate size. Then, select an appropriate ad type for your advertisements. Determining the ad type will depend on the media you are using, whether it is in image or text or video format.

Step 4: Custom Channel: Creating a custom channel will help to differentiate ad units by different size or by different location. Through this channel you can track the performance of the ad units.

Step 5: Create an ad style: This feature of Adsense will help you to get an ad style for your advertisements. It is always recommended to choose colors and styles that are relevant to your website. Whether you customize your style or you use a preset style, a preview of the ad will be shown.

Step 6: Obtain a code: After setting up the ad unit, finally you must click the button ‘save and get code’ to get the html code for your site. Take reference from Google’s implementation guide to know the proper steps.

Will it really be helpful for your advertisements?

The Google adsense program delivers Google Adwords pay per click function to all the websites where the relevant ads are to be published. This program can be a great source of earning good money through advertisements. This is also useful for attracting more and more traffic to your site. Some of the site administrators have started designing their website specially for serving text ads of Google Adsense.

So now start adding sense to your advertisements through Google Adsense!

Author Bio: Arpita Bhowmik is a PPC strategist and a passionate blogger who likes writing content on digital marketing, PPC tips, blogging tips, etc. This is one of her numerous articles which describe the right steps to adding a Google Adsense account.

Many bloggers often ask how to increase blog traffic, which is essential to online success. But just as you may be wondering, how can this be done? It’s simple. There are only three key steps you must work on: content production, networking, and promotion. Once you learn the main three, you can remember to integrate them into your daily blogging routine. So let’s delve in a little further and discover how you can reach your true online potential.

1. Content Production:

a) Write how-to’s, lists, guides, tutorials, and resource compilations
b) Set out to publish one linkbait/pillar article per week
c) Quality over quantity: don’t post every single day
d) Guest post for other bloggers

2. Networking:

a) Respond to all your emails and questions received
b) Comment on other blogs
c) Link to other bloggers in your niche
d) Use social networking: Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, etc.

3. Promotion:

a) Submit your content to social media sites
b) Tell others in your network about articles you’ve published
c) Post in online forums and groups and reference your content
d) Link to your guest posts and get your name out there

Increasing blog traffic certainly isn’t difficult, and generally tends to just require a push in the right direction. After you’ve begun promoting your blog and gotten it off the ground or overcome your recent traffic plateau, much of the work begins to happen for you. Good luck!

Choosing a domain name can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be if you know the right secrets. The first thing to realize before beginning your search for Mr. Right Domain Name, however, is the importance of this decision. Your domain name is like the address and name tag of your website all in one. It is how your visitors will locate you, get to know you, remember you, and tell others about you. Therefore, your domain name must be one that will allow all of those things to be done easily, so don’t rush into a decision. The choice for your domain name can easily make or break your potential success.

1. Register the “.com” extension.
2. Think up a list of vital keywords that describe your site.
3. Brainstorm, use trial and error, and mix and match these keywords.
4. Don’t use hyphens in your domain name.
5. Don’t use numbers either.
6. Make your business name and your domain name the same thing.
7. Keep the URL as short as possible.
8. Make sure that your domain name is easy to type and spell.
9. Consider if your keywords could have multiple or differing meanings.
10. Say your domain name aloud and see how it looks written down.
11. Use a thesaurus to come up with creative keywords.
12. Avoid overly-generic and too-complicated descriptive terms.
13. Make sure your future domain name stands apart from the crowd.
14. Come up with something memorable, catchy, and unique.
15. Tie your domain name choice into helping you build your brand.
16. Make sure there aren’t other businesses using the same/similar name.
17. Do plenty of research.
18. Choose a registrar that offers renewal warnings and protections.
19. Don’t be afraid to register other extensions and misspellings of your URL.
20. Play around with keywords until you have the perfect domain name, then snatch it!

Once you’ve selected that perfect domain name, you will be able to step into the online world with ease and poise. After you decide upon your domain name and register it, the next step will be building your brand and getting visitors to take notice. For more blogging tips, please keep tabs on BloggingBoom.com and the future guest posts that will be seen here at SuperBloggingTips.com. Good luck in your online ventures!

If you’re looking for traffic for your site or blog, one great way to increase site traffic is to build a link wheel. Link wheels are designed to create new backlinks to your site’s main page, which give your site a higher search engine ranking and more visitors. This in turn will increase blog traffic.

Link wheels are yet another SEO method, but instead of being underhanded or risky for penalization from Google, it is fair and it actually works. Implementing the link wheel involves writing articles and using other social networking and web 2.0 sites to link to each other as well as back to your main page (the page whose rankings you are looking to improve). Using the link wheel actually provides valuable content based on your topic, and helps to generate and build site traffic.

This is an example of how the link wheel works:

As you can see, you create several different accounts on various social blogging sites and write an article on each. Link one to the other, and on each one, link back to your own actual site. This is PROVEN to work to increase your rankings in the search engines and to build site traffic.

You can build multiple link wheels to link to your blog’s homepage and different pages of your blog, each wheel working on improving your rankings for various keywords. And after creating your link wheels you can drive traffic to those as well, which will create a snowball effect back to your main site.

Good luck, and check out some other great posts on how to increase your traffic:

1. 10 Simple Steps to Increase Your Blog’s Traffic
2. 10 Ways to Create Exposure For Your Blog
3. 75 Ways to Increase Your Site’s Traffic
4. #1 Key Secret to Boosting Site Traffic: Word of Mouth

Good luck increasing blog traffic!

I previously published a popular article titled 33 Must-Have Firefox Extensions. Since that generated such a positive response and helped many people discover useful tools, I figured that a continuation of said article would be a good idea and prove to be very helpful for you… Not to mention that plenty of new Firefox add-ons and extensions have been released since the last article.

Firefox is fast and secure, and the browser of choice of 52% of Super Blogging’s readers, as well as myself. Since so many of you are Firefox users, I feel that it’s important to share useful tips and must-have extensions with you. If you’re not using Firefox, you can download it here.

So here are 10 more wonderful Firefox add-ons:

1. DownThemAll!: If you’re a download junkie, then this is the add-on for you. DownThemAll! is a highly customizable download manager. It lets you pause, resume, and accelerate all of your web downloads by command. It also offers an incredibly helpful feature that allows you to download all of the images or links on a page, which can save you from a potentially very tedious job.

2. Adblock Plus: Getting rid of all those pesty ads — is this really possible?! Of course it is. Say hello to Adblock Plus, the Firefox add-on that recodes pages you visit, omitting all of the annoying advertisements. Browse faster and much more happily after the installation of this wonderful extension.

3. Session Manager: What’s the difference between bookmarking a page and saving it with Session Manager? With the latter, any tab can be loaded exactly as it was when you saved it, with all of your preferences remembered and any forms still filled out. Save yourself plenty of valuable time and a lot of trouble with this add-on.

4. FastestFox: This is one of those plugins that can almost do it all. FastestFox allows you to save videos to your hard drive, even if there isn’t a download link. It also allows you to highlight any text on a page and FastestFox will offer a Wikipedia definition and links to various search engines with a query of your selection. All Wikipedia articles are preloaded into a left-column list, and if you choose the search engine, you’ll never have to continually click “next page” — FastestFox autoloads the results so you can scroll forever. It’s seamless and terribly handy. Whether you’re doing research or merely browsing, this add-on makes your life simple.

5. Copy Plain Text: It’s happened to all of us… We’ve tried to copy and paste text from the internet, and the font/size/bold/italics/underline comes with it. If you’re interested in just the text itself and not copying the formatting, this plugin is a huge help. Whether you’re quoting source materials or sharing something with friends, Copy Plain Text keeps it clean, plain and simple.

6. IE Tab: Some websites are stubborn and remain coded only for Internet Explorer, especially when it concerns sites such as Microsoft and its products. Switching browers would be such a hassle, but that’s where this add-on helps. IE Tab creates a new tab in Firefox that simulates the Internet Explorer browser.

7. ChromaTabs Plus: If you’re interesting in adding a little more color and life to your everyday browsing, then this little plugin can make a big difference. Instead of the usual gray, it gives each browser tab its own color. The color is assigned automatically depending on the color of the site’s favicon, but tabs can also be customized by you and given site-specific colors.

8. Personas Plus: Here’s another add-on to spice up the look of your favorite browser. After installation, you can choose from over 100,000 browser themes. Selecting a new theme is quick and easy, and provides a refreshing new look and personalization to your online experience.

9. AutoCopy: For anyone who has to copy and paste any amount of text on a regular basis, this add-on will suit you well. It copys text as soon as you highlight it, without having to right click and select “copy” or doing a Ctrl+C keystroke. It also corrects long, wrap-broken URLs automatically. Three cheers for making a daily task easier!

10. Tab Mix Plus: This add-on is incredible for anyone who loves being organized or can be slightly OCD at times, such as myself. It controls which pages open in a new tab, new window, or same window. It also has cool features such as italicizing the text on tabs you have yet to view, and has a feature to undo closed tabs. There are a lot more helpful features and details, but those are the basics. End of story, it’s worth the download.

If you’re interesting in improving your Firefox add-on arsenal even more, check out our post about must-have Firefox extensions. It contains 33 more great ones. If you know of an add-on that has changed your life, please feel free to share it in the comments section or an email — I’d love to include it in the next continuation of this series and share it with my readers, as well as download it myself! Thank you and happy browsing!

I was asked a question by Andi S on an article I recently published about how to increase traffic. Andi said:

If I am a newbie my question is “Should I make controversy?”

Controversy is definitely a great way if you’re wondering how to increase traffic, and I believe this is true with the seasoned blogger, but especially true for a beginner. However, anyone looking to start some controversy has to take into consideration what their goal is, and then make sure their outcome will match that.

So, my response to Andi was simple:

It depends on how you view it. If you attack others and turn them against you, then no — that is something no one should do, newbies or otherwise. However, as a beginner, starting controversy is a great idea. Make people think or question something they might not have. It’ll always make them remember you and spread your name or brand.

The thing beginners really need to do to up their blog’s traffic and readership is to catch the public’s eye and make them remember your name. You can’t do this by writing about and rehashing the same old things everyone else writes about. You have to do something different. And what is a better way to do that than with controversy?

However, there are different forms of controversy. You might want to think twice before you write about something that could really anger your viewers and cause them to not want to visit your site ever again — after all, that’s not the goal. So don’t be TOO controversial if you’re looking for a massive audience. Don’t insult people or attack personal beliefs. Instead, question the norm. Make people think about something. Dig deep and find out some facts or information that could be underhanded and make it aware to the public.

Don’t push people away with your controversy, but make them want to return. Controversy can be a good thing, and can be one of the best ways to increase traffic. This applies to all bloggers, amateurs and veterans alike.

photo credit: Laenulfean

I have written about why you can’t make money blogging, but if that is still your goal, then increasing blog traffic is key and one of the main things you will have to focus on. There are hundreds of little, nearly insignificant things you can do to up your blog’s traffic one visitor at a time. However, this list covers 10 simple yet broad steps to increase blog traffic. Implement even just a couple of these points and you will surely see the results.

1. Get involved in social media.

No one can deny that one huge aspect of maintaining a blog is being social and building relationships with other bloggers. That’s how social media has helped to mold the internet. Create a Twitter and Facebook and invite your readers to add you so that you are able to easily network with them. Also participate in sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, and others. Not only will this aid in your traffic growth, but it will also help to build long-term results with repeat and loyal visitors. See: using Twitter, using StumbleUpon, using blogging forums.

2. Work on your blog’s SEO.

Visitors coming from search engines may not turn out to be repeat visitors, but they are the ones that are most easily monetized when it comes to implementing Adsense and other types of advertising. To do this, you’ll need to gain high spots in Google and other search engines. To make this possible, you should rework some of the coding in your blog to improve its SEO. Rework HTML title tags, and when you write a post, make sure to include the keyword you’re targeting at least a couple of times. Then use link clusters within your blog — this means to edit a dozen or so of your other posts and link to the page you want to promote with its keyword. Doing all this doesn’t take much effort and really pays off in the long run. See: successful blog posting.

3. Get noticed by other bloggers in your niche.

If other bloggers in your niche notice and respect you, then they are sure to point you out to their own readers at one point or another. Draw their attention by linking to their posts within yours. This is a win-win situation: you provide your readers with valuable information, the other blogger gains a link and some traffic, and in return you are likely to grab their attention. Usually, the other blogger would be more than happy to link back to you in return and send some of their visitors your way. Another great way to keep your brand in sight is to leave valuable comments on the blogs of others. See: using link round-up posts.

4. Try your hand at guest posting.

One of the best things you can do for yourself and your blog is to write a really incredible, informative post that really packs a punch — and then don’t post it. Instead, offer it to a prominent blog in your niche. This will help build a relationship between yourself and this blogger, as well as instantly expose you to all of their readers. And this is another win-win: They get great content that will bring in traffic, and you get exposure and promotion for your name and brand. Often times, this could work out more in your favor than it would if you had kept the post for your own blog. See: guest posting is valuable.

5. Pay attention to and treat your visitors well.

Your visitors and loyal readers are what keep your blog alive, and you should be indebted to them. Take some time out of your day to answer their comments and emails. Show them that you truly care and that you’re not in this solely for your own benefit. This one doesn’t take much time to do, but it makes a world of difference. See: successful long-term blogging.

6. Improve your blog’s content.

This is one point that shouldn’t need to be said, but many bloggers don’t fully realize its importance. Your content needs to catch a visitor’s eye and draw them in. It needs to be clean, yet friendly. It needs to offer information or something of value — essentially, solve a problem or provide entertainment. But another big one is the way your post itself is written. Are your grammar and spelling proper and correct? Does the post flow smoothly and is it easy to follow? Does your post’s title pop? Working on all of these little aspects could have a huge impact. See: writing a high quality blog post, spectacular post titles, writing a pillar post.

7. Give your blog a makeover.

Even though content is king, as the ancient saying goes, people DO read a book by its cover. Your blog needs to always give a good first impression, and the best way you can do that is with its layout. Consider the color scheme, page arrangement, where advertisements are placed, and how your posts are viewed. Give it a little twist so that it’s different and draws a visitor’s attention. A blog that is pleasant to look at is that much more likely to have its chance in a reader’s personal spotlight. See: blog organization, minimalistic blog design.

8. Do something different that will make you stand out.

Whether it be offering a new product or service, going all out with your blog’s design, or even criticizing a prominent blogger, there are plenty of things you can do to grab people’s attention. You want readers telling their friends about you, and you want other bloggers linking to you. This isn’t that hard of a task if you can pull it off just right. Sit down and brainstorm, and come up with something that will make out stand out from the vast sea of internet bloggers. See: make money with your talents, start a little controversy, being a unique blogger.

9. Stop focusing on yourself and start solving problems.

People visit your blog for a few primary reasons: they want to be entertained, or they want to solve a problem. If you can do both at once, then you’re golden. But you must know that your blog will never last if you make it your main priority — put your readers first! It isn’t always easy, but they will appreciate it, and it will pay off for you in the long-run. Be informative, do something different, solve a problem. Give your visitors what they need. See: blog and be successful, traffic through word-of-mouth, creating blog exposure.

10. Take the next step and read further.

If you’re still interested in more ways to increase site traffic, then stick around at SuperBloggingTips.com and subscribe to the RSS feed. There will be plenty of in-depth articles added in the very near future to give you tips and advice on increasing your blog traffic, as well as expanding your income and how to make money blogging online. In the meantime, you can also explore some of the links included in the article for extra information, as well as check out the great sites featured below:

* 10 Ways to Improve Blog Traffic in 30 Minutes or Less
* 6 Steps to Building Diversity in Traffic
* 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic
* How to Increase Your Blog Traffic with Article Marketing
* How to Boost Blog and Website Traffic with Article Marketing
* HOW TO: Boost Your Blog Traffic
* Massive Traffic 101
* 7 Ways to Improve Your Old Social Media Posts

photo credit: Daniele Pesaresi