Way back when people began showing up online the internet was still in its early stages. Getting your site listed well, at first, was a piece of cake, but as more and more sites came around it become more and more difficult to be in the #1 position. Back then there was a lot of experimenting to do in order to get any site listed at all. Optimization was an unknown and no one knew what made the engines tick, or how their algorithms worked. I remember trying things without really having any idea if it would work or not, or if it would really make any difference at all. Over the years there was a lot of experimentation done and the rewards of all this is that today we know what works and what doesn’t and we know exactly what type of changes need to happen to a website in order for it to rise in the listings.

Way back when I started to SEO the term hadn’t even been coined yet. I found that if I added the keyword I wanted to get listed for one more time than the current #1 site I would take over that position. Google wasn’t even around, I imagine the Google gurus were in high school still. Times were exciting and the internet was the new frontier … just waiting to be conquered. Search engines were using the meta tag information to rank sites. So if you had your keyword in your meta keywords tag you would rank for it. Well, actually if your competition used it twice they would rank, so you would want to use it three times. It was really that simple at first. Nothing was impossible, so it seemed, and making money online because a simple task of setting up a site and doing this optimization thing to it.

We learned back then that the title tag was also important and things like this began to be some of the work we always had to do. The meta tags fell to the wayside eventually because it was such an abused system. Search engine algorithms had to become more sophisticated and find some other method to figure out what your site was about, and which out of all the sites was the most important one. To further complicate things the ‘net was growing in leaps and bounds and sites were popping up like kernels of Orville Redenbacher popcorn. There has been no more exciting, captivating and eye opening time of life for me since the sixties, which is when I grew up. Woodstock and everything!

Back when SEO really became a necessity for an online business to succeed at all, the entire process was really just developing. We hadn’t any idea exactly what was going on with the algorithms, except that there were certain things that definitely needed to get done in order to rank well. There was also that far left side, the dark side, where things had to be not done and avoided like the plague. This was a time when SEO people, who were worth their salaries, were in demand and simply had to be used by any serious online business.

Over the past years all of that work that used to be kept secret, or was very complicated and experimental, is now all common knowledge. Along with this new status of SEO as being common knowledge comes the ability to learn how to SEO yourself. You can take a SEO training course, or you can go online and learn it from the many sites that have blogs and forums. Today all of that trial and error, and experimentation of yesteryear, is all set standards and regular procedures.

There are quite a few ways for you to learn SEO today through online tutorials and courses. Be sure to choose a SEO tutorial that will show you the coding changes to make as well as provide information about inbound linking and how to begin generating these valuable backlinks to your site. Today, it’s all a matter of learning what SEO is and then getting the job done … it’s no longer a specialty field that you need to hire a technical guru for. SEO has settled down and become a standard part of web development.

Robert (BK) Kelsey runs Ethical SEO Service and offers Ethical SEO Training as an affordable introduction to SEO (enough to optimize any website), as well as an Advanced SEO Training Course.

There is nothing more central to any human being than the desire to be entertained. People want to get excited, be tantalized. People want information and to learn and discover and be captivated. The bottom line is that you need to provide something of interest to your readers or they will find that interest elsewhere. This applies to online business as well and in particular any type of content writing including article marketing and on-site content.

When what we want is to have someone read our web page, article or other content, we need to approach people in a way that will indeed captivate them. The title is where you want to get this job done. Use your keywords but do not forget to use words that will make people want to continue reading. Asking a question that begs to be answered is one example. This makes people want to continue reading.

The title tag of a web page is the first spot you need to make this effort. The title tag is often what the search engines use in their results pages, all or at least in part, right from the title tag itself. This is your first line of attack where you want to grab the attention of the reader.

Any title needs to be thought of in this way, not only the title tag on a web page. No matter what you are writing you need to get your readers attention. You want them to continue to read, or even to start to read, whatever it is you have put down into the written word. In article marketing this will be the title of your article. In content on a page it will be the headings and sub-headings of the content. Use the heading tags here, H1 and H2.

There can be a bit of a twist for a web page title. We need to have our keywords in it. We need to engage our readers so that we have their attention too, and that is generally not going to happen by keywords alone. Action words can help and get that person to click. Here are some very important words to use within titles you, results, health, guarantee, discover, love, proven, safety, save and new. Experts say the most important power words are you, free, new and how.

Robert (BK) Kelsey runs Ethical SEO Service where SEO Training is offered both through an Ethical SEO Training Course and an Advanced SEO Training Course. Robert can also SEO your site for you with a typical monthly SEO Campaign.

Most people new to Internet marketing totally under estimate how important it is to have a compelling headline on their article or website page. Because of this I thought it would be a very good idea to share several tips that can help you put together a great headline that grabs your readers attention the moment they read it. Here they are:

1) Before coming up with ideas for your headline you first have to determine what it is you are attempting to accomplish on the page or article where you will be placing it. Are you looking to make a sale, build your credibility up, or just share some solid information you think your readers would find useful? Knowing the purpose of your page will make it loads easier to come up with an effective headline that gets the job done.

2) Next figure out what problems you are going to help your readers solve. Your visitors care more about the problem they are attempting to solve than they are with what you are trying to get them to purchase.

3) After you have figured out the two steps I just listed you need to write four or five good headlines that takes them into consideration. Then single out the one you think your prospects would be more apt to have an interest in reading. For example, instead of “Introducing New Spam Software…”, write a headline like “Free Up Over Two Hours Of Your Time Every Week With Our New Spam Software” instead.

4) Make sure you include the word “you” on the headline as it will immediately connect your reader with your web page or article.

5) Use words that gives emotion to your sentences. Get a grip of what your readers will feel and try to sympathize with them. For example you can use a topic like “Are you tired of all me too weight loss programs?”. This topic will instantly appeal to a reader who has gone through many weight loss programs and isn’t able to find a good one. If you are finding that the headline isn’t grabbing attention, try to reword it or use a new headline and keep changing until you hit the right one.

Matt LaClear is an Internet marketing enthusiast who absolutely loves sharing his knowledge with others. He also works full time as a copywriter for a Michigan SEO company where he specializes in teaching business owners the advantage of Internet advertising.

There are few specific things that should be clarified about what is pay-per=click advertising benefits. This form of advertising is a tactical technique which a vast majority of advertisers pay into so that their ads are chosen based upon the users search. There are many benefits with this form of advertising; in addition to being remunerative for the advertiser, it has the potential of becoming more than an auxiliary income.

This system incorporates many distinct stages; however, knowing that there are a multitude of benefits, one should also be advised of the possible gamble. To a person unaware, this has the potential of becoming very costly sooner than expected. Being mentally and financially prepared is significant with this form of business.

Knowing where the paid listings are located is pretty simple. They are always posted to the right of the searched page with two (sometimes three) ads located at the very top of the search. A more simplistic way of defining how this system functions, is by the purchasing of keywords. There are many levels that keywords are assigned to and that is based upon the amount that was bid.

Think about a stand with eight planks on it; at the bottom of the stand; a person just purchased a keyword at fifty cents per click while on the very top of the stand, another person just purchased the same keyword for fifty dollars per click. The person with the highest amount purchased has priority of their ads being ranked higher in addition to being listed at the beginning of the search.

The most important factor with PPC advertising is relevancy. When the keywords that are being probed are relevant, the chances are better of the ad appearing. This system can be somewhat difficult as it is not for everyone. The whole purpose is to secure as many economical clicks as one possibly can and to accomplish the goal; new comers will often start in the wrong direction with their bids being set at too low of a cost. This is counterproductive because the end result will take longer to generate.

It is also important to understand that the concept of a successful knowledge of what is pay-per=click advertising begins with knowing the terminology. The click through rate (which is known as CTR) is the essential factor in the effectiveness of PPC. Basically, the CTR is the number of clicks the ad secures in contrast with the number of times shown. In effective and successful advertising, one must place their opening bid higher and as the CTR begins to increase, progressively lower the bid. Following this method can assure the path for success; no matter the size of the increment.

Terry Riordan is a twenty year business professional who writes extensively on online business topics including website optimization and eccomerce websites

You check your traffic every day but all you find are tumbleweeds blowing across the landscape of your blog. Well, there’s a reason you’re not building readership. Your blog sucks. Most do, and all for the same reasons. The same 7 reasons.

1. Your articles are boring – Remember that thick book we all have to go through during high school? Hint: Textbooks. Aren’t they the most boring thing we ever come across. Why? There’s no life in the writing. It’s robotic. Write like you talk or you’re going to make your readers fall asleep. Yep, just the same way we did back then.

2. Your blog revolves around you – Unless you are a celebrity, no one cares about what’s been going on with your life. Instead of personal ramblings, you’re way more likely to gain loyal readers by sharing tips that can help solve their problems.

3. You’re repeating what others are saying – So what’s the whole point of reading your blog? I’m not saying you shouldn’t gain insight on what to write by reading other blogs, but always make sure to put your OWN two cent on the matter. Not a blatant copy paste of other peoples work.

4. Oh no, not your favorite music on auto-play! – So as soon as I access your blog, the ukulele string quartet starts playing? I’d rather hear an accordion band. Don’t add music to your site. Half the people won’t like it and the other half will find it’s a distraction.

5. Nothing but a wall of text – I’ve written many articles on what makes a good articles. Not once is this point missed out. It’s that important. And remember to put some relevant pictures to go along with your articles. It may take some time to find one, but it’s well worth the effort.

6. You post once a month – A week, that’s the most it will take for your readers to remember your blog no matter how good and funny your articles may be. This is not true for seasoned blogs, but definitely true for new blogs. I recommend three posts for every new bloggers out there, to keep the momentum going.

7. Your blog design is lame – I’m sure you heard of the importance of having a good first impression. That applies to blog, unfortunately. If your design is unprofessional and clumsy, chances are, they are not going to read what you have to say. It’s sad, I know.

What’s your opinion? Have any to share?

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog. If you have no clue as to what constitute a blog, you can check his article where he answers the most basic question in elaborate fashion. What is a blog?

One popular post can bring your more traffic and links than a month’s worth of your usual content. In this post, I want to set you a challenge with the potential to launch your blog into the stratosphere. So make sure to use these tips and make the next post you write your most popular post ever.

1. Time is more important than talent – In the end of the day, it’s really matter of how much effort and time you put into your article. If you work on something for six hours, you can bet it will be good. With more time, you can refine, format and fill your post with plenty of value.

2. Use your best idea – A post will never become wildly popular unless it fulfills a need, and does so emphatically. To generate ideas, there are lots of questions you can ask yourselves. For example, what is something your niche wants but hasn’t got yet?

3. Use formatting to your advantage – These days, a post can never become popular without the help of social media. However, social media users are notoriously spoiled for choice. Use formatting to emphasize the best aspects of your post. Hone in on your funniest lines, your most profound bits of advice, your best resources. Make them stand out.

4. Brainstorm headlines – The importance of headline is often understated. Whenever I choose to read an article, how I would decide which to read is by browsing the headlines. I’m sure that is the same for everyone else. That’s right; headlines serve the purpose of drawing attention of readers to read your articles. So make sure to take some time to brainstorm your headlines.

5. Send messages with links – The best way to get a blogger to investigate your blog is by linking to them. We’ve got a natural desire to know what’s being said about us. If your post becomes really popular, each link inside it should send enough traffic outwards to be worth investigating. Be generous with your outbound links when writing your most popular post. It gives other bloggers an incentive to link to you, because it’s ultimately more promotion for them.

6. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – If your post looks good, it will draw readers in. Take the time to add images, thumbnails and formatting to what you create. Make your post a visual feast. With so much web content presented in a bland way, your post is guaranteed to stand out.

7. Edit your post – Good writing is in the editing. Before you hit the submit button, re-read your post and cut out the stuff that you don’t need.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on blog setup. You can check out his guide on how to install wordpress.

Blogging success is dependent on the amount of subscribers your blog has. In short, a blog without a good number of subscribers is bad for business. So be sure to use these simple tips to gain more subscribers today.

1. Have clear focus – Unless your blog has a clear focus, it’s going to be hard to convince people to subscribe. Think of it this way – They won’t know what to expect from your post. If you write about ten different topics, the chances are likely that they are going to pass on subscribing to your blog.

2. Write valuable content – Content is king. No matter how your blog design rocks, if your blog’s articles do not offer value to your readers, they are most likely not going to visit your blog again. In order to grow your blog, offer as many value to your readers.

3. Publish new posts frequently and consistently – If you pay attention to the blogosphere, most big blogs post on a daily basis. This is not a coincidence. When you post daily, the chances of your articles landing the interest of readers will increase. Secondly, it will indicate that your blog is active. I’m not saying that you should post daily as it can be very time consuming for individual bloggers. Try to seek a minimum of 3 posting a week for the best visitors – subscribers conversion.

4. As few steps as possible – People are lazy in general. If your rss subscription requires more than 2 steps, the chances are likely that your readers will hesitate to subscribe. Make sure you make it as easy as possible for your readers to subscribe.

5. Encourage readers to subscribe at the bottom of every post – Apart from having an RSS icon and email subscription form above the fold, it is also important to place them below each single post. Why? Because right after people finish reading your articles, they will look for something to do next, and subscribing to your blog is a good option. Additionally, if the article they just read was really good, they will be on the right mindset to subscribe and receive more of your articles in the future.

6. Use an email subscription form – For most bloggers, an email subscription form will convert better than a simple “Subscribe via email” link. That is because Internet users are used to seeing those forms around, and typing their email address there is quite intuitive. The top of your sidebar is a good spot to place one.

7. Run a contest – Contests are very popular on the blogosphere. If you have a somewhat popular blog, in fact, it is not difficult to raise some prizes and create one. By making subscribing to your RSS feed a requirement to participate, you could quickly boost the number of subscribers that you have. If you want to control who is going to take this action, use the email subscription method.

8. Use icons to offer subscription on the most popular RSS readers – One practical thing that you can do to reduce the number of steps required to subscribe to your feed is to use RSS reader specific icons (e.g., “Add to Google Reader” or “Subscribe on Bloglines”). Just analyze the most common RSS readers among your subscribers and add those icons to the sidebar.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog. If you are interested in creating a blog, be sure to check out his guide on how to choose domain name.

I’ve seen many bloggers who gave up or seriously slow down their activity because they feel like they are not getting anywhere, when in my opinion they are on the right track. Hopefully if you are doing the right things and making progress you will recognize your growth and accomplishments, but not all do. Here are 10 signs that your blog is on the right track.

1. Growing subscriber count – I’ll admit I made this mistake with my first blog. I expect subscribers to grow huge within 2 months. When I said large, I’m talking about at least 10k subscribers. That’s not realistic. It does happen to bloggers, don’t get me wrong, but it’s rare. As long as you have a growing subscriber count, you’re making progress.

2. Increasing numbers of inbound links – Links determine your search engine rankings. It makes it easy for people to find your site. There’s only two ways you can increase your links. It’s either you write long useful articles or you do guest blogging. Personally, I recommend both.

3. Increasing Numbers of Valuable Comments – If your blog is receiving a decent amount of thought-provoking comments, that is a good sign that people are reading and paying attention to you. Comments are the lifeblood of blogs, and those that have a lot of valuable comments from readers become even more useful for readers.

4. Increasing visitors and pageviews – Many bloggers are stats junkies. While growth in traffic isn’t always representative of meeting or surpassing your blogging goals, it certainly isn’t a bad thing. There are many channels for you to market your blog and increase your visitors. Guest posting and making use of social media is some of the ways to reach out to new readers. If you make use of these channels, over time your blog stats will increase as more and more readers visit and subscribe to your blog.

5. Consistent posting – Consistent posting is perhaps one of the most important element to blogging success. For new bloggers, in order for your visitors to pay attention to your blog, it’s vital for you to provide new articles for them to read. If your blog looks dead, the chances are, they won’t subscribe. If you are posting consistently, you’re already one step ahead of the vast majority of bloggers.

6. Improving quality of articles – Though this may be a subjective issue, but I think most bloggers can make good comparison through going through their older posts. If the quality of your articles improves overtime, which it should, you’re on the right track.

7. An increasing network of bloggers – Making friends with other bloggers are crucial for blogging success. You can hardly find any successful bloggers that does not start off making connection with other bloggers. This is because; you are more likely to get links and blogging opportunities from this connection, not to mention comments.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to create a blog. If you are interested in building your own blog, check out his guide on how to install wordpress.

Indeed blogging is a great way to make money online. Ever since it took off in 2004, many have jumped on the bandwagon in hope to taste financial success that they have envisioned. However, there are a couple of things one should keep in mind before they start blogging. Below is the list of things you should keep in mind before starting your own blog.

1. Be realistic – It’s all fine and dandy to dream big, but there is a problem when you have big expectations and don’t see yourself anywhere near it. I think when it comes to blogging, it’s better to set goals in stages so that your motivation will sustain over a longer period of time.

2. Don’t quit your regular job, yet – Many makes the mistake of assuming things will be smooth sailing. This is a bad business mentality to have. Plans always go wrong. Circumstances change in seconds. Before thinking of going fulltime blogging, I recommend keeping your regular job and setting aside some time everyday to work on your blog and popularize it first. Once you start making enough money for at least a few months, then only was it sensible to think of quitting your day job.

3. Enjoy what you do – Only if you truly enjoy blogging will you be able to stick to it and make it work. If you’re in it just to make money, you’re not going to be able to keep your enthusiasm going when you don’t see the dollars pouring in like you’d envisioned.

4. Having a niche – Blogs that fare well are usually those which focused on a specific topic. It’s important that before you start your own blog, you first choose a niche in which your blog will be focusing on, rather than prattling on random topics. This is in order for your readers to know what to expect from your blog. He or she could then make the decision of whether to subscribe to your blog, or not.

5. Be patient – I’m sure you heard of bloggers who makes a lot out of their blogging activities. The money is real, and spending a tiny bit of time each day to make a living does sound easy. But few questions how long exactly does it take for these bloggers to get to their position. It doesn’t happen overnight, not for many of them. Rather than focusing on instant monetary result, you should focus on providing quality contents to your audience on a consistent basis. It does pay to be patient.

6. Spend some money – Blogging is cheap. Unlike other businesses, you doesn’t require any startup capital. There are free hosting and free themes for anyone to choose from. However, I recommend to at least get your own hosting, as it is more beneficial to do so in the long run.

While blogging success is not hard to achieve, mistakes are easy to make. So, do make use of this list provided, so you don’t repeat the same mistakes other blogger does.

Nik Imran is the writer of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make a blog. If you are interested in building your first blog, you can check out his guide on how to choose domain name.

You have probably come across many blog tips before. Some are good, while others are just repetitions wrote in a confusing manner. Truth be told, you don’t need hundreds on blog tips to succeed when professional bloggers only stick to a few. Simply use these 7 tips and I’ll guarantee you a better blog today.

1. Reply to comments on your blog – Replying to questions or comments from readers is your way of letting people know that your blog is “alive.” It gives readers the opportunity to interact and engage in conversation.

2. Don’t think about making money first – If making money from your blog is your primary goal, I will not argue against that. The problem with focusing solely on money in the beginning is that you lose sight of the far more significant goal every new blog must reach first: quality content. What good will you provide your readers if you only post hundreds of affiliate links and self-promotional articles in the hope of winning people’s credit card numbers? Don’t be greedy. Money is great but don’t let it destroy your blog.

3. Show your personality in your writing – Your style of writing makes the difference between interesting read or uninteresting. Manolo the shoe blogger is the blogger was the first blogger I remember reading with a really unique voice (he writes in the third person). I’m not saying all style of writing is acceptable, but those that do will make your blog more memorable. Take Copyblogger for example.

4. Focus on your topic – Unless your blog has a clear focus, it’s going to be hard to convince people to subscribe to your blog. Think of it this way – They won’t know what to expect from your post. If you write about ten different topics, the chances are likely that they are going to pass on subscribing to your blog.

5. Publish new posts frequently and consistently – In order to gain more subscribers, you should post frequently and consistently. It’s not a coincidence that most big blogs post almost daily. Though I would not recommend doing daily posting, the best posting frequency for individual blog is around 3 posts a week.

6. Write killer headlines – Why? It’s the first thing your visitors see. If it does not attract your visitors, the chances are, they won’t be reading it.

7. Guest post – I can’t think of any other way to market a blog besides guest posting. Ok, maybe I can. But the point is, guest posting is useful in showcasing your writing talent and knowledge to new readers. For better results, I recommend guest posting in big blogs. Don’t wait, send them an email today.

Nik Imran is the author of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides guide on how to make blog. If you are interested in creating a blog, be sure to check his guide on how to choose domain names.