Net Strife - providing smashing tips on Internet Marketing

This is a guest post by Rob from Iron Blogger.

I have talked numerous times on using keywords on blogs to get better search engine traffic; however, I have not talked about using forum signatures as a tool for getting better keyword results. This method is very quick and easy to implement and best of all, it is free. All it will take is a few moments of your time and a little bit of patience on your part.

The Value of Forums

The reason why this method is so effective is because forums are usually sites that have a high PR value, get lots of traffic, and rank very well in search engines. By using keywords in your signatures, you are getting free high valued links back to your blog with the keywords of your choice.

Many online marketers fail to see the value of using forums to promote their blogs. If you use your blog to promote your product, then why not use forums to promote you blog? Makes sense, doesn’t it?

If you happen to find a few popular forums in your niche, or that are just blogging related, you could begin to rank your blog higher in Google just by putting links in your signature. Use this method with many of the other link building methods and you are on your way to getting some pretty decent SEO results.

One thing that you should take note of: The forums must not have the nofollow tag attached to signature links. Otherwise your efforts would be rendered useless.

Here is an example:

Let’s say you have a blog that is about making money online. Ideally, you may want to target a keyword that is along the lines of “Make Money Blogging” or something similar to that. Once you get your keyword that you want to target, search for popular forums that are ether blogging related or that are about making money online. If you need a few examples, I use Bloggeries, Blog Premiere, and Digital Point.

Once you find a few forums that you wish to use, you can then use them to promote your keywords of your choice. You may want to put the anchor text to something like “Make Money by Blogging” in your signature and put the link pointing back towards your blog.

The Long Term Effect

Although this may not affect your SEO ranking right away, over time you will notice that these high valued links will start to add up, especially if you sign up to many forums and contribute a lot. You just need to make sure you use similar keywords. So, if your blog is about dog food, don’t try to use keywords that are about tennis. I’m pretty sure that is just common sense, but I’ll include it in there anyway.

If you follow this technique pattern, you would definitely rank higher in the search engines for the keywords of your choice. If you manage to get a higher SEO ranking then that would mean more traffic for you. If you manage to get more traffic then that would give you more opportunities to grow your blog. If you are trying to make any kind of money off of blogging, then you would be needing a lot of traffic!

This is a neat little method that I recently discovered. I hope that this was something new to you, and you learned something today.

As you may have noticed, I rarely publish blogging-related posts. I wanted to focus more on internet marketing, but there is this thing that’s just getting into my nerves — bloggers writing about the same old thing over and over again. I know, other people have blogged about this very same thing, but I would like to add a zest of internet marketing to the topic.

Rants and Revelations

These days, I have been constantly visiting different blogs, specifically in the internet marketing/make money online niche. I was looking for fresh, new ideas from different people — I wanted to know the concoction of thoughts in their minds, and different tactics on how to grow an online business. Sadly (as I expected), I only ran through a few blogs which had what I was looking for! Most of them either had rehashed content, or ridiculously impossible ideas… but more of the former, actually. Well, it was like having a deja vu everytime I jumped from a blog to another.

There was this one time that I got so annoyed that I had to close my browser and stop myself from reading blogs for at least an hour. I was blogroll hopping (i.e., clicking a link on a blogroll of a certain blog and doing the same thing again until I get bored) a few days ago, and I kept on seeing reviews of a certain [new] web host. I won’t be naming names as I do not want to embarrass anyone. Anyway, I was pissed because the reviews were all so positive — I wasn’t able to see ANY single flaw about this new web host! When I was suspecting something fishy already, that is, these people just want to take advantage of the affiliate program, I decided to do something smart. I checked each blog’s whois and found out that NONE of them are hosted by the “oh so perfect web host”. How in the world would these people review the support, speed, and whatsoever of a host when they have NEVER experienced the service itself? Some of you may be thinking that they might have hosted another site, but I am pretty sure that they did not do that!

There was this other instance, well it was a few months ago, but I’m still writing about it. I want to share this horrid experience of mine. I was reading blogs and noticed that a lot of them were talking about methods to make money from 404 pages. I mean, is it because some popular guy blogged about it? Then they just wanted to get the same attention as that guy? Ugh. Believe it or not, most of the posts were very similar. They had the “What is a 404 page?” thing, then how you can benefit from it, then how to create a custom 404 page. Wow, great. Just great. If I were those people, I would have just linked to the original post instead of wasting my time, disk space, energy, and all other things that you can think of.

You see, this just irritates me because it goes to show that a lot of bloggers in this competitive niche are just going with the flow, or have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. It could also be possible that they’re just being selfish that they avoid telling their top-secret ideas, and stick to giving generic, “proven since 1999″, and/or useless information. Regardless of the reasons, they’re still posting the same thing over and over again — and readers are affected! In all honesty, I feel sick and get a mild headache when I experience this blog post deja vu… and I just hate that feeling.

I’m sorry if this post is like a total rant, but I am not yet done. Just wait, something about internet marketing’s coming up. Well, a few things to ponder upon… heh. Am I that hot-tempered? Easily offended? Easily annoyed? I don’t think so. I have just had enough of this bandwidth and space wastage, and the whole “recycled, useless, and/or ridiculous ideas being published” crap!

Do You Consider Yourself as an Internet Marketer…?

…Then please, save yourself from total humiliation by NOT publishing rehashed posts. I know a lot of people who think of themselves as internet marketing gurus, blah blah blah. They say they’ve got great marketing skills, but then they can’t even come up with a unique and fresh approach on marketing products online.

You should are expected to be creative enough to deliver innovative ideas to your readers. You’re also expected to be able to captivate your readers through your content! If you can’t do that, then I would suggest that you stop being in this niche because you would just be wasting your time, and other people’s time… plus, a bit of your money for the hosting and stuff.

Before I end this post, let me share this inspirational quote with you.

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something.”

- Plato

It’s straight to the point already, no need for me to add nonsense fluff and all that. You have read my points and rants, now it’s time for you to tell us what you really are. Are you a wise man, or a fool?

Did you enter my raffle contest already? If not, do so now!

First, let me define “recycling blog posts”. It’s when you republish or change the publish date of one of your older posts in order to increase traffic to it or to simply give your readers “new” content for a day. Since your older blog posts are buried way down in your archives, there’s a high possibility that your new readers have not read them yet.

Another thing that makes this method great is that search engines will see your website as “newly updated”, and we all know that search engines love sites that are constantly updated.

So those reasons make recycling blog posts a good idea, right?

Not so. If you repost your old articles, chances are you’ve got outdated information already. Now, people wouldn’t want that, unless you literally rewrite half of your post! I strongly believe that having no content at all for one day is way better than having outdated content. Plus, republishing old posts would only mean one thing, and that is you have no creative or innovative idea in mind on that day!

Another disadvantage is that if you have readers who were with you since day 1 (or week 1), then chances are they already read the article and would not want the same old article on their RSS readers. If they see that you’ve posted your previous article, then they might unsubscribe because thoughts like “Ah, this blogger can’t provide useful content anymore.” would occur in their minds. It’s better to have no increase in subscribers, than to lose 10 or 20 of them in just a single day.

Your Opinions?

What do you think? Short post, I know — it was intended to be short because I just wanted to know your thoughts. I’ll be back tomorrow (probably, if time will permit) to give you some advice on internet marketing, so stay subscribed! Is it a great idea to republish/recycle your blog posts, or do you think your readers would be pissed off if you do that? All thoughts are welcome!

Announcements

I have released two new WordPress themes called “Blue Tint” and “Red Adventure”. They’re both widget-ready and compatible with the latest version of WordPress. They’re sleek and awesome! Check them out on my free WordPress themes page.

For those lazy people, here’s the demo link and download link for Blue Tint. Here’s Red Adventure’s demo link - if you like it, click here to download it!

Enjoy.

I am actually publishing this for two reasons. First, to inform you about the things that you should look for in WordPress themes, and second, to immediately whip up a post today since I have an exam tomorrowfor me to know what style of WordPress themes you guys prefer. I am planning to ask a designer to create some quality themes for me and I’ll be giving them out for free. See how kind I am?

Blog Themes: Is There Really a “Right Theme” for My Blog?

WordPress themes — there are literally tens of thousands of them available today. Nevertheless, not all of them can suit your blog perfectly. Some may be too “busy” for your blog’s topic, while others may not have all the features that you need.

Even though there are lots of themes out there, you can’t just pick a random one and use that on your blog. You have to choose carefully. How? You should look for certain things in the theme, and of course weigh the pros and cons of the theme. Does it have this? Does it have that? Are the footer links a hindrance to my success? Questions along those lines.

Today, I’m going to focus on what things you should look for in WordPress themes. These are the things that I usually look for, so if you think I missed something, feel free to add more to this list by commenting. I’m always open to suggestions and all that.

What to Look for in WordPress Themes

1. Fast loading time - While the loading speed of blogs is most likely affected by the widgets and “accessories” being placed by the owner, themes also play a role in increasing the loading speed of a blog. If the theme uses too much images (or images which are big in file size), then don’t consider using that theme. Your visitors would be bored to death waiting for your blog to load and that’s not a great thing.
2. Widget-ready feature - Almost all the WordPress themes today are widget-ready already. However, there are still some which are left behind in time and don’t have the capability to have widgets placed. If I were you, I’d choose a widget-ready theme to save myself loads of time in configuring/styling my blog.
3. Search engine optimized code - Well, let’s face it, not all of us can read and understand the coding structure. To give you a hint, view the source code and see if the content appears somewhere on top of the code (not necessarily the first, ’cause the header appears before the content itself). Make sure that the sidebar stuff don’t appear first than the content itself, otherwise your blog might have problems getting into good positions in the SERPs.
4. Valid markup - It’s not really necessary, but some people consider valid XHTML/CSS markup when judging a site. I don’t know why, maybe they’re just obsessive-compulsive or what. Some people also believe that Google (as well as other search engines) prefers blogs which have a semantically valid code. I myself don’t believe that but just to be safe, it’s better to have a well-coded theme.
5. Prominent advertisement spots - Some blogs may not need ad spots, but since most of you are internet entrepreneurs and would like to make money, then choose a theme which allows you to place ads on visible and prominent spots. Don’t get a theme which has a little 88×31 ad space near the footer! Try getting a theme which has a place for a full banner (468×60) or maybe a 125×125 square ad.
6. Clean design and layout - I am not a fan of “busy” themes, so clean and simple designs work well for me. It’s better to have neat layouts since most people are going to your blog to read your content; they most likely won’t care if you’ve got a very extravagant background image. Besides, the neater your blog, the easier it is for everyone to read your posts.
7. Colors which suit your blog’s topic well - If you’re writing about business, then avoid using rainbow-colored themes. That would make you look like a total idiot. Make sure that you’re going to be using a theme which matches your blog’s topic very well. For example, if you run an environment-related blog, then green is your best bet.

These are the things that I usually look for in free/premium WordPress themes. Hopefully you’ll be able to choose more wisely now, eh?

Please take note, I highly suggest that you get a custom theme done instead of downloading free themes from a theme site. If you’re still having second thoughts, I suggest you read this post from ThouShallBlog.com.

Summary

Clean layouts, feature-rich (but not overdone), and optimized themes are the best choices. Make sure that you choose a theme that suits your topic well — like, don’t use a cartoony theme for a real estate blog! Choosing the right theme will make your blog more reader-friendly and people will really feel what you’re writing about.

P.S. As I said, I’m going to hire a designer to create themes for me and I’ll be distributing them for free (of course with my link. ). Let me know what style of themes you prefer. Grunge? MMO-like (with ad spaces and all that)? Abstract? Kiddish? Colorful? Just leave comments on this post.

P.P.S. I promise to publish a post which is more internet marketing or probably entrepreneurship inclined during the weekend. This week’s just very hectic for me so I ended up writing something about blogging. Nonetheless, this one’s still a useful post for you since most of you are bloggers anyway.

Picture, Picture, Your Mind’s Been Captured.

Photo credit

Gotcha. Did the picture grab your attention? I bet it did. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? You wouldn’t be bored even if you look at the image for quite a long period of time because it is detailed enough for you to analyze the patterns and other aspects of the flower. Surely, a skilled photographer took the picture.

Now, you must be asking, “How is this related to making visitors read your content from the first word to the last?” Let’s just say it’s a rather simple analogy that I made. Before I discuss the analogy, please let me give a brief explanation on why you should focus on keeping your visitors’ eyes on your content.

All Eyes on Your Content: Why It Is Important

Notice that I didn’t use a question (Why is it important?). Instead, I used a firm statement (Why it is important). This is because having your visitors pay attention to your content IS important. It’s just not right to question the fact! Anyway…

Most probably, you already know why you should work on making your visitors or readers focus on your content. Well just let me give a short explanation for the sake of the others.

Your content - it’s what you want your audience to see. It’s where your sales pitch, your call to action, and/or the information you want to share are. You would want to keep your visitors’ attention on this one if you want to meet your site’s goal — to sell something or to give information.

If your visitors’ attention veers away from your content the first time, it’s most likely that it won’t be back. The reason for this is because they did NOT like your content, or they think it doesn’t contain what they need. You then lose the chance to get them do what you want… forever (or for a very long period of time). Of course you wouldn’t want that to happen!

Don’t Lose Any Opportunity. Keep Their Eyes Glued to Your Content!

Doing this might be a little tricky for some, but once you get the hang of it I’m pretty sure it would become easier and easier for you. Remember that once they turn their backs on your content, it won’t be very easy to get them coming back.

First, focus on quality and originality.

Yes I know this had been said many times already. I just can’t stop reiterating it because it’s that important. If your content’s quality suffers, then expect no one to waste even a minute to look at it. I know most of you are bloggers, so let’s have an example that is about blogging.

Let’s take a decent blog post from The University Kid. It’s about increasing RSS feed subscribers, and you can see that it’s got more than 15 comments within two days. That’s not bad for a blog like TUK. Now, because it had attracted a good number of comments, most likely other blogs would rewrite the article (actually, some must have rewritten Jason’s post already). Sure, their blogs now has the good content. Good thoughts, good ideas. BUT it’s merely recycled stuff. Nothing original. Nothing unique. People won’t stay on their blogs even if the post is substantial. Why? It’s just a rewritten post and most likely, the people have already read the original blog post. The goal of getting them read the blog is not met.

Second, create your content with style.

Nah, I’m not talking about fancy font styles or what. I’m talking about your writing style, or how you present your content. The picture above looks good because the photographer carefully thought how he would take the picture. “Will I blur everything? Just the background? Give it a dark background?”

When writing, you also have to consider the style of writing you want to use. Will you be very formal? Personal? Informal? Will you use cuss words? Will you write your opinions, or just factual stuff?

Most of the time the style of writing will make or break your content. If your audience do not like your style, they wouldn’t appreciate your content and *poof*, they’d be gone in seconds. No more chance for your call to action or whatever to reach them!

The style that you should use actually depends on what type of visitors you have. If they’re the really serious and formal ones, then I guess the “professional” style is the way to go. It’s your call — you know your visitors better than I do.

Third, don’t give your audience information overload; don’t give too much details.

Imagine if the image above was too detailed that it showed pixels already. It would be really ugly right? It would be like you couldn’t see anything but little squares. The same thing happens when you put in too much details in your content!

Let’s say that you wrote a 3,000-word article about the Apple iPhone. It’s full of details, from each feature of the iPhone to all known bugs since the first version. It also lists the raw ingredients of the iPhone. The melting point of each component is also there. Do you think that your readers would enjoy it? No. They would feel like they’re being “fed” too much information and they would probably not understand a thing — just like seeing pixelated pictures, you can’t really determine what the picture is!

If that happens, your visitors would stray away from your website. Yet another instance of “opportunity loss”.

Summary

To keep your visitors’ eyes glued to your content, always remember to have the quality and originality present. Also, create with STYLE to really captivate them. Never give too much information, or else they would feel like they’re being given too much unnecessary information and they won’t be able to see your real point.

I want to know what you think about this topic. Do you have any other tips on how to keep your visitors’ eyes stuck on the content?