Day 20: Blogging

It’s likely you’ve at least heard of the blogging phenomenon by now. I know it’s likely you even have a blog as we speak. Technorati claims a new blog is created every second.Blogging is like writing an informational diary on the net.

Usually a blogger uses the open source (free) content management system WordPress to write his blog. You can monetize your blog with several revenue generating programs like Google AdSense and/or use it to build your e-mail lists.

Search engines love blogs because blogs have regularly updated content.

It’s amazing how much search engine traffic you generate from long-tail keywords that aren’t even included on the same pages.

For example, say blog post post number one has the words “low-fat diet” and blog post number two has “get cut abs.” A Google user searches for “a low-fat diet that will get you cut abs” and she ends up at the index page of your blog.

You can also expect results from unexpected keyword searches. For instance, ProBlogger Darren Rowse claims one of his highest searched pages comes from the search about me .

For the keywords poodle manicures NicksTrafficTricks.com is at the #1 spot!

Therefore, I think it’s safe to say blogs are naturally search engine optimized.

Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is a great way to get surges of traffic, buzz, build your profile, and score one-way incoming links. The idea is to write a highly valuable post that you would normally put on your blog, but instead e-mail it to a blogger who runs a popular blog in your niche. If the blogger likes it, he’ll post it, give you credit for it, and provide a link back to your blog.

Similar to guest blogging, you can contact someone who runs a big newsletter and offer an article in exchange give a link to your blog.

Submitting to Blog Carnivals
Blog carnivals are like online magazines. They’re monthly issues featuring blog posts from all over the web. Write a great post. Go to blogcarnival.com. Find an active carnival in your niche and submit the URL to your entry. If approved, whenever the next issue of that blog carnival is released, you’ll see traffic. Of course, using blog carnivals for traffic is exceptionally easy because you’ve already written and published your post anyway. Just submit the URL to it.

Creating a Blog Roll
When bloggers discover you’ve linked to them, they often link back. If your site is of quality, bloggers are usually generous enough to throw your link in their blog roll piles. This incoming link helps with a little direct traffic. It’s great for raising your Google PageRank, which increases your search engine traffic.

Easily Generate Incoming Links with Odiogo
Here’s a hot new idea on easily getting incoming links I can almost guarantee you’ve never heard of (depending on what part of 2008 you’re reading this).

Odiogo.com is a free service that takes your blog content and instantly turns it into an audio podcast. When the process is through, you get an RSS feed with audio from all of your written content. You’re now a podcaster. You can submit this RSS feed to podcast directories to get massive amounts of incoming links and direct traffic.

Viral Linking Campaigns
A more aggressive tactic than speedlinking became more common in 2007: viral linking campaigns.

Not many want to freely link to “the little guy”/you. So how are you going to get more one way incoming links that both bring in click-through traffic and raise your PR for search engine traffic?

You may have heard of the term “link love.” When you’re giving link love, you’re generously providing an outgoing link from your blog or content page. I want to tell you about link love that also loves in return.

Gather 30 (or so) links to your favorite related blogs. However, make sure these blogs are fairly new or else the bloggers won’t see the benefits of viral linking. Now create a link to your site then pile the rest of the links together separated by commas or bars “|”

You’re going to create a content page that explains viral linking. Something like:

“It’s time for a little link lovin’! Add your link to this batch of quality links to a blog post and pass it on! Get incoming links from all over the net, raise your PR, and get more traffic! Be sure to explain to your readers how they can pass on your links and at the same time benefit by effortlessly gaining incoming links!”

Tips:

*Compile links to blogs or sites that are related to your site’s niche.
*Contact those you linked to and tell them about your viral linking campaign.
*If you have the expertise, display an HTML code with all of the links in your pile that your readers can easily copy and paste to their viral linking content pages.
Case study:

Bryan Clark of onemansgoal.com generated 3,000 plus incoming links in three months in 2007 with one of his methods being viral linking campaigns. His blog had already broken 30k in Alexa at the tender age of 4 months old. Clark sold onemansgoal.com for $8,500 in the winter of 2007. His current blog is at bryansjourney.com.

Pinging
Blogs are one of the easiest ways to get a website up and running. Many people, however, don’t fully understand everything about the blog they are creating. One of the parts of the blog that should never be overlooked is the ping. This is a very simple process which seems, for some reason, to be shrouded in mystery. A ping simply tells some very influential websites that you have new content on your blog.

Because these influential websites have a lot of clout in the eyes of Google, getting traffic from pinging your blog is fairly easy to understand. As new content is added on your website, and your blog is pinged, these other websites will list you in your appropriate category. Google visits their websites on a frequent basis and will follow the link to your blog. Not only will it help you to get listed in Google, it will give you additional weight in their eyes. A simple ping is all that is necessary sometimes to get you rolling toward some free Google traffic.

Pinging your blog does not have to be something that is time-consuming, either. Many people use free services, such as pingoat.com or they set their blog up to automatically ping their favorite services. In this way, you will be able to enjoy all of the benefits of pinging without spending more than a few seconds of your time taking care of the process. If you are consistent with your efforts, you will find that your traffic will continue to grow for a long time to come.

For a huge list of sites to ping:
http://www.nickstraffictricks.com/list-of-ping-sites-for-your-blog/

RSS Traffic
If you’re not already using your RSS feed, it’s time to start. Use the free service from Feedburner.com so those who come across your site can subscribe to your regularly updated content. They’ll read it through a feed reader.

Not only will using your RSS feed bring you traffic from loyal readers, web surfers who use feed readers are often tech savvy website owners themselves. You can expect for them to link to some of your content pages, which will help you in the major search engines and with direct traffic from their sites. You’ll also be saving your site’s monthly bandwidth.

Probably the best place to learn about all aspects of blogging:
http://www.problogger.net

Resources
Start a blog with blogger in just minutes:
https://www.blogger.com

Start a blog with WordPress in just minutes:
http://www.wordpress.com/

Download WordPress blogging software:
http://wordpress.org/

Learn How to Develop Money Making Niche Sites with WordPress:
http://www.nickstraffictricks.com/nicks-traffic-tricks-2008/nicks_freebies.php

Grow Your Traffic: Turn New Visitors Into Loyal Readers:
http://www.skelliewag.org/grow-your-traffic-turn-new-visitors-into-loyal-readers-108.htm

The First Month: Building Something From Nothing:
http://www.skelliewag.org/the-first-month-building-something-from-nothing-116.htm

The Second Month: Building a Springboard:
http://www.skelliewag.org/the-second-month-building-a-springboard-117.htm

The Third Month: Building Your Snowball Effect:
http://www.skelliewag.org/the-third-month-building-your-snowball-effect-118.htm

50 Tips to Unclutter Your Blog:
http://www.skelliewag.org/50-tips-to-unclutter-your-blog-44.htm