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Of WordPress and Widgets

By on May 9, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

Of WordPress and Widgets

One of the world’s largest blog hosting sites, WordPress, achieved its status by offering users with loads of features, apparently more than its competitors do. However, one feature that truly sets them apart from the rest is WordPress Widgets which is quite simply, the use of widgets on WordPress blogs.

Widgets are basically plugins or tiny applications which can be placed on your blog’s sidebar. In WordPress, the most convenient aspect of putting up widgets is it is easily done without the need of html or web page editing expertise. With the ability to add and arrange widgets at your fingertips, it’s you can get your blog to look the way you want it to be making it a personalized one indeed in no time at all.

There are also huge amounts of widgets available online apart from those available in WordPress and can be obtained from websites such as www.widgetbox.com. Other than providing you with widgets of all sorts, they provide you guides on creating your own widgets to truly add a touch of personality and originality. These guides are even handy for the really tech-savvy individuals like developers and theme and plugin authors. Widget creating is important for them who work for WordPress as they have to keep tabs on the thousands of people from over 130000 blogs many of whom are constantly downloading WordPress programs each day.

With the use of Javascripts as well as Ajax, widgets are quite simply little boxes which represent content elements located within the sidebar of your theme. One downside to this is that once the widget is what it is, its look and the way it works can’t be modified. Among the elements which come as standard are;

Archives – A collection of links for older posts sorted by month.

Blogstats – A display of statcounter as well as a record of the amount of traffic coming into your blog.

Calendar – A calendar which dates can be used as links if there were any entries posted on that date.

Categories – A list of categories for post sorting and searching purposes.

Links – Quite simply, a blogroll arranged according to their respective categories.

Pages – A list of links to every page.

Most Recent Posts & Comments – A list of the most recent posts as well as comments that have been approved.

Meta/admin – A collection of links directing you to meta functions such as logging in and logging out, entries and comments RSS, Site Admin and WordPress’ homepage.

Search – A search tool to search within your blog.

Text – A feature allowing the insertion of HTML, Javascript or simply any form of plain text and can open up possibilities for miscellaneous text widgets.

Another interesting thing is the ability to add RSS feeds sourced from elsewhere using the new widgets available. With functions like these, the uses of widgets encompass almost every thinkable thing where only your imagination is the limit. However, too many widgets may not only cause your blog to slow down, but may end up spoiling the look of your blog as it is never advisable to have too much of a thing and this includes widgets.

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What You Need to Successfully Run a Blog Network

By on May 5, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

What You Need to Successfully Run a Blog Network

A lot of bloggers who run either one or a few blogs have been looking into expanding their reach and creating what’s known as a blog network. There are lots of companies who own blog networks nowadays and more are created each day, but only a select few of them are well known and profitable. You can’t expect too be able too run a blog network on your own and that’s the main mistake a lot of bloggers are doing. They think that they can do everything, but the fact is there is only so much time in a day and you won’t be able to do everything needed by yourself if you want too become successful. The one thing all the profitable and well known blog networks have in common is that they outsource a lot of the tedious work and capitalize on cheap outsourcing rates around the web.

Outsourcing too international countries has become a popular way for webmasters too get work done for the lowest possible rates and it’s vital to a blog network. If you want to run a blog network you’ll need an entire team of people working for you, and you’ll basically need to spend your time managing the workers and also working on the small details.

To have any success with a blog network it will take a lot of time as you need to establish each one of the blogs in their market. This isn’t an easy task for one blog let alone multiple blogs so make sure you’re ready to put in the time and work. The first thing you’ll need to purchase is a server in which you can purchase C-Class IP’s with because you’ll need quite a few of these. You should put each blog on there own C-Class IP as it will only cost you roughly $1 per month per IP which is definitely worth it. You don’t want the blogs on the same IP because then Google might see them as a link farm and could punish them severely without any notice. You’ll also need to purchase all of the domains you want to use and set them up on WordPress each on there own IP. Once this is done you’ll need to begin outsourcing too get the blogs going.

At first you’ll only need to be concerned about content and should you hire a couple freelance writers to complete some article packs for you on the niches you’ve chosen for your blog network. Add the articles to post on the blogs once daily and timestamp each article accordingly so that you don’t need to go to each blog each day to make the post. In these early stages you’ll want to make sure you install all your stat counters so that everything is ready to be tracked. Once the content begins too compile on the blogs and they start getting indexed in Google then you’ll need to start finding link builders to build some links. You won’t need too many links in the beginning and should only get a few of them so that you gain some SE recognition. A lot of links can be built down the road for free once you become popular so don’t spend too much money on link building. The most important part to spend money on is the content and you should make sure you have lots of it.

There is a lot more to running a blog network, but this guide should give you a brief outline of what you’re thinking about getting into. Unless you have a fairly nice budget then don’t even consider doing it because you won’t stand a chance. You’ll just burn yourself out quickly and then become bored with blogging in general. You can’t do something that isn’t possible so realize early that if you want to run a blog network you’ll need to outsource most of the work. This means you’ll be running in the negatives for the first few months and then you may start moving into the green. There is a chance you won’t even move into the profits though and this is the risk you take when starting a blog network.

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Monetize Your Blog

By on May 1, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

Monetize Your Blog

A blog is certainly the best possible platform for your creative outlet.
But, if it can earn you a regular income, then it undoubtedly is the
cream of the cake. Contrary to the popular belief, blogging does not
have to be limited to your pastime. With a bit of effort and dedication,
it is indeed possible to turn your blog into a money making machine.
In this chapter, we are going to discuss some easy yet smart ways of
monetizing your blog.

Make money through Google Adsense or other pay per click
programs

Joining Google Adsense or any other pay per click (PPC) program is
undoubtedly the easiest way to monetize your blog. One must
understand that these pay per click programs allow you display ads on
your website and you get paid for every click on those ads. Though it
is the easiest and smartest way of getting money, it might be difficult
to earn a considerable amount in the initial stage of the blog as
majority of the pay per click programs including Google Adsense only
pay a few cents per click.

Sell Affiliate Products

Using your blog to sell products can prove to be very profitable way of
making money. Selling affiliate products do not require you to supply
them yourself; you don’t even have to deal with any issues regarding
the deal. Selling affiliate products can result in very good profits,
provided you are smart enough to sell products or services which are
closely related to your blog’s niche.

Sell Ad areas or spaces on your blog

If you have worked hard enough to make your blog popular and if you
have already earned one of the top three page ranks on search
engines, then it is more than a probability that many advertisers will
be more than willing to advertise on your blog. You can sell ad spaces
on your blog at a very good price.

Advertising link publications
In this case, you strike a deal with the owners of websites or blogs
who are trying to increase traffic for their blogs or websites. You offer
to publish the link to their website in your blog statement, at an
agreed rate. If your blog has a good traffic rate then it is more than a
probability that you might be contacted by numerous potential
advertisers.

Monetize with your own products

After getting assured of regular traffic, you can concentrate on
creating your own products. These products can be anything like an e-
book or a membership site which can be promoted through your blog.
Since you already are aware of the pulse of your readers, it would not
be a difficult task to encourage them to purchase something which
could be of use to them. You can even go one step ahead to offer an
e-course to your readers.

It is highly recommended that you concentrate on one way of
monetizing your blog in the initial stages. Once you see that the
strategy is giving you guaranteed returns then you can spread your
wings over other methods as well. It also pays to take ideas from
popular blogs on the same niche.

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Commercial Blogging

By on April 27, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

Commercial Blogging

Experts are of the opinion that commercial blogging is the future of
blogging. Commercial blogging has been accepted as an effective way
of boosting the business of a company and that is one reason why
more and more companies are plunging in blogging to make some
serious money. However, it would not be wrong to say that making
money through commercial blogging is not a direct way of making
money. Commercial blogging can definitely help your business, but by
indirectly influencing the thoughts of the readers and potential clients.

Read on to find out how commercial blogging can help improve the
profits of your company:

Corporate blogs are the best way to interact with customers
and prospects

A corporate blog, if used efficiently can provide the best platform for
interaction with customers and prospects, which in turn will lead to
opportunities to create a positive impression and encourage them to
purchase your products or services.

Engaging employees with good corporate knowledge is ideal
for promoting services and products through blog

It is very important to engage loyal and knowledgeable employees to
blog on behalf of the company. It is very crucial for the success of the
commercial blog, as only such employees would go the extra mile to
impress upon the good qualities of the company on the readers. It is
also important that those employees have a passion for writing and
community building. The blogs written by such employees would make
the potential clients feel the sincerity hidden in the articles. In other
words, such positive impression would definitely lead to improved
business for your corporate.

Commercial blogs can be used as a powerful medium to
increase company’s credibility

While adding the blogs, it is very crucial to keep the primary goal of
the blog in mind, which almost inevitably is to up hold the reputation
of the company by increasing the credibility through the blogs. This
can be done effectively by replying sincerely to the feedback of the
clients on the blog. This will inevitably result in an impression of
enhanced customer service which in turn will encourage the customers
to continue their business with your company, which is nothing but
increased profits.

Update the blog regularly

By updating the blog regularly, you can be assured of continued
loyalty of the customers to your blog and hence to your products and
services. Regular visits by your readers imply that you will have ample
of opportunities to impress your customers with additional news and
information about your products and services.

Be openhanded with links

Like with any other form of blogging, the success of commercial
blogging greatly depends on the success of links. It always pays to be
liberal with links and back links to your corporate blog. This will result
in increased traffic which would lead to additional business.

Many big companies have recognized commercial blogging as a cheap
yet effective marketing tool. However, one of the biggest problems
with commercial blogging is that, the companies have to shell a lot of
money in avoiding articles or blogs which could hamper the reputation
of the company.

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Knowing the difference between Do-Follow and No-Follow Links

By on April 23, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

Knowing the difference between Do-Follow and No-Follow Links

Not everyone knows the difference between a do-follow link and a no-follow link, but they are two links that differ by a lot and you should make sure you know how they differ. If you have no-follow links then the links won’t be counted towards any search engine rankings, but if the link is do-follow then you will get a boost in your search engine rankings for the given keyword phrase that the link is under. Do-follow links is the only type of links that will help you when trying to help you search engine rankings or when trying to raise your page rank. Not a lot of the links that you build will be no-follow and if you’re wasting your time on building no-follow links then you need to reconsider how you’re spending your time.

When you comment on a blog you should make sure that you spend time only commenting on the blogs that have do-follow links enabled. Usually a blogger will show you that their blog is do-follow by showing some image near the comment box that says something like U-Comment – I-Follow. This means that the blog should be do-follow and that the links will count towards helping you in the search engines. Not too many bloggers allow this though on their blogs, and when you do find them it’s hard to find any pages on the blog with page rank that you can comment on. Finding these links is over half the battle that you will face when searching for these links, but once you have them then you can re-use them on all of your blogs which can help you out in the long run.

Certain links on many of the social bookmarking sites are also no-follow, but these should still be pursued by you as a blogger because they offer an initial traffic surge. It only takes a couple minutes to do and will help your blog in the long run with building an established traffic base. Even if a link isn’t do-follow it can still be profitable pending it brings you in a lot of clicks, so sometimes it’s wise to get some links in high traffic areas even if they are no-follow links.

Most of your links that you’ve built in the past will most likely be no-follow links since there always abundant and easy to get. Once you find a couple high rankings pages that have do-follow enabled though then you should be able to increase your page rank and search engine rankings with just a couple links. It’s not always the amount of links that matters for search engine rankings as you’ll learn. For instance one of my blogs has thousands of no-follow links and is PR0 and another one of my blogs has roughly 100 backlinks and is a PR4 because it has strong do-follow backlinks.

You should also make sure that you remember the use of the different links when you blog on your own blog as well, because there is no point giving someone a do-follow link when they shouldn’t get one. If all of the links on your blog are do-follow then it could also hurt your search engine rankings simply because of all the outgoing links that you will have on your blogs. If you make the link no-follow then it won’t be credited a backlink from your blog which means that it won’t hurt your page rank or rankings in the search engines at all. Often people need to use a link in their blog posts which if you post daily can add up to a lot of outgoing links fairly quickly, so to avoid this make sure you use the no-follow attribute when adding your links to your posts.

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Tips for Freelance Writers

By on April 19, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

Tips for Freelance Writers

If you want to become a freelance writer on the internet nowadays you better make sure that you’re ready to be committed to your work. There are lots of places too find freelance writing gigs and you shouldn’t have a problem finding jobs although once you mess up once you could ruin your entire business. Word of mouth is huge between webmasters and if you have a bad experience with a client then you can be assured that they will most likely talk about it online. You don’t want to get a bad name for yourself in the freelance business so do everything you can to make sure all of your clients are satisfied with the work that they buy off of you. There are plenty of tips you can follow to help you become a freelance writer and we’re going to take a look at some of those tips now.

Utilize webmaster forums

The number one place to find clients is on webmaster forums such as Digital Point and Sitepoint. There is a wide range of writing gigs available on these websites and if you possess good command of your writing then you won’t have a problem finding repeat clients. I’ve been using Digital Point for all of my jobs and have been going steady for almost the past year now. If you don’t want to use forums then you shouldn’t be in this business as you need to spend a lot of time on forums. I’ve spent countless hours building relationships on the forum and from that now I have lots of repeat business.

Have a portfolio website

You don’t necessarily need to own a website in the beginning, but once you decide you’re going to do this full-time then you’ll want your own website. Your website should be used as a portfolio so that people can view samples of your writing before they make any orders. It’s only fair to show potential clients samples of your writing, and in fact most people on forums will request samples before making a purchase. If you have a website set-up then you can point people to the URL instead of having to send samples to every person who asks for them. You may also get some extra business from your website as it ages and gets ranked in the search engines.

Don’t accept more than you can handle

Too many of the freelance writers I see on forums nowadays will accept more work then they can handle and this results in a lot of angry clients. The goal in freelance writing is too establish a big enough list of return clients so that you always have work available. To do this though you’ll need to have good relationships with your clients and you need to make sure you always meet deadlines. One bad customer can cause your entire business to fall apart so never take advantage of anyone. A business needs to be run honestly which means you sell what you say you’re selling and always honour your sales.

These are some of the more mandatory tips you need to follow in the early stages of your freelancing writing business and as time passes you should learn many other tips from fellow writers. There are lots of great resources on Digital Point forum for writers and a massive community to chit chat with. Don’t limit yourself to only forums as there are plenty of other opportunities out there. Also make sure that you work on some of your own websites so that you can earn some extra monthly income once they begin earning.

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Social Bookmarking is Vital for Bloggers

By on April 15, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

Social Bookmarking is Vital for Bloggers

If you blog nowadays then you already know how hard it can be for you too get the traffic you need at your blog, and I’m sure you’ve been scrambling for methods on how too get some traffic. Well since blogging has become so popular, so has social networking and one of the ways social networking has become so popular is through social bookmarking. There are thousands of people that are using social bookmarking sites right now too get their websites noticed, and millions of people are finding sites through these bookmarking sites. There are some sites that have most of the traffic, but you shouldn’t limit yourself too only those because there are many that offer do-follow backlinks which as we already know is very important.

The more do-follow backlinks that you build, the better your page rank and search engine rankings will get, which results in more organic traffic. Organic traffic is typically hat converts too money which is why you need to be doing social bookmarking. You will also get some good consistent traffic from your social bookmarking projects and although most of the traffic is junk some will convert to readers. This will of course depend on your blog and how much work you put into your design and content.

You have to remember that things take time when blogging, and if you ever want a successful blog then you need to begin working now. There are thousands of webmasters that are working everyday on their sites, so if you want too compete with them you need too make sure you put the work in. If you don’t have time to put the work in yourself then you will need to hire people to do the tasks or use software. You would be surprised at what software is available for social bookmarking, and there are a couple of programs out there that work wonders. The best one is called social bookmarking demon, and they are coming out with a new update soon. The software is a desktop application which makes it simple too use and you don’t need to have it on your server this way. If you use this software it will cut the time to bookmark your posts by 1000%.

It doesn’t matter how you do your social bookmarking as long as you make sure that you actually do it, and not procrastinate about getting it done. You should submit every post that you make, which means that you should be using these social bookmarking sites everyday. It should only take a half hour too get all of your bookmarking done with a software program, which means that it’s very quick to do. There are lists all over the internet that cover the many social bookmarking sites around, you should look for the ones that offer do-follow links and also niche sites. There are many niche social bookmarking sites which will give you more valuable links then the general sites.

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Choosing Your Niche

By on April 11, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

Choosing Your Niche

Too many people spend way too long debating on what niche they would like to create there next website on, and in a lot of cases people could have a website live in the times it takes them too choose a niche. There is no magical niche on the internet that is guaranteed to earn you money, the simple and plain fact is that you need too work hard to make money online. The niche you choose won’t reflect how much money you make at all.

You need to understand your niche, and by this I mean you should have an interest in the niche you choose. If you’re not interested in the niche you choose then you’ll quickly become bored of the work involved with making the site successful and in most cases you’ll just let the site sit there. If you have an interest in the topic you choose then most of the time it will seem less like work and more like a hobby. You’ll also be able to communicate with your audience, imagine how hard that would be if you have no interest in the topic you we’re writing about.

It’s very hard to sell something to someone on a website and you usually need to gain some sort of trust with the reader before they trust your website enough to buy anything. If you choose a niche where you can provide helpful, educational and unique content that nobody has seen before then there is a good chance you’ll have return visitors come to your website which can turn into potential buyers. If your content is just regurgitated information from another website then you can’t expect people to want to come back to your website because you’re not offering them anything out of the ordinary.

When you’re choosing your niche you need to make sure that you can picture yourself sticking with the niche and idea for months down the road. It takes months to even see the potential of a website so if you give up before this time then you’re not even giving your website a chance. This is what most webmasters do though and why they have dozens of blogs sitting on many hosting accounts all over the place.

Try too choose a niche and stick with it and you’ll see a lot more results then switching niches every week or every month. It takes determination in order too get your website up to the level it needs to be to make money and you need to ride the wave right until the end. You’ll be building links and adding content to your website on a daily basis in most cases and this means you’ll need a strong liking for the niche you choose.

Other niches may seem more profitable on paper, but if you don’t like the work you’re doing then there is no way you’ll be happy working on the site and you’ll give up. When you choose your niche you can do the normal keyword and niche research too see what’s profitable, but make sure that whatever you choose you can picture yourself writing about in the next year.

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