7 Tips to Help you Build Quality Backlinks for Better SEO

What is the best way to market your online business with little to no budget? How do you best spend your advertising dollars if your main aim is to get quality traffic for your client/company?

If you own a website and have little or no advertising budget, or if you are a marketing expert looking to get better results for your clients, how do you go about it?

The answer I have might surprise you, but you will be amazed at how effective it can be. Various experts emphasize the importance of social media every year, but a lot of them discredit SEO in the process. Some “experts” are even starting to go as far as saying that SEO is dying, but you need to realize that what they are saying isn’t entirely the truth.

According to data by Hitwise, an authority when it comes to online analytics, search engine traffic keeps on increasing every day, and some fields are even getting as far as a 20% increase in searches in a year, amidst the buzz about social media these days. SEO traffic has also been proven to be more effective than other sources of traffic over the years, and around 80% of visitors that land on your blog through a long tail search keyword are first time visitors.

The above paragraphs are focused on proving one point; SEO Traffic is just as effective as it has always been, and the value that can be gotten from it keeps increasing every day.

The question now is how do you effectively optimize your blog for the search engines? Well, you need links; not just any link, but quality links. I’ll be sharing with you a few tips to help you build quality backlinks below.
1. Submit Short Reports to Document Sharing Sites

You can build quality backlinks to your website by taking an approach focused on submitting short, expert reports to document sharing sites online like Scribd. Writing a quality 3 – 4 pages report only takes around 2-3 hours, and you can use that opportunity to position yourself as an expert in your field. Put your best into the report, format it properly, include quality links back to pages on your website within the report and then submit it to the top document sharing websites online.
For a list of top document sharing sites to submit to, make sure you read this article listing 29 resources.
2. Distribute Your Content as Packaged eBooks Across the Web

Have you written any article on your blog, or for article sites online before? This opportunity might be very effective for you. Look for the best articles you’ve written on your blog, rewrite some of the sections to include deep links to other articles and pages on your blog and then turn those articles into PDF files for distribution across the web.
There are several ways to turn your content into PDF and most Microsoft Office software come with limited PDF converting software these days. If you want something better, you can check out the PDF converter provided by Dopdf.com

Once you have your content packaged as a handy PDF file, the next step is to start distributing it across the web. Share it on forums across the web, share it on ebook distribution sites, get other bloggers to share it with their audience, and do as much as you can to get it on as many websites as possible. That way, Google and other search engines will index your ebook, notice your links and then credit your website for it.
3. Interlink Your Blog Posts by Guest Blogging on Authority Blogs

A lot of us are familiar with guest blogging, and most of us even use it already, but very few of us know how beneficial it can be to our SEO. If you’re hearing about SEO for the first time, make sure you read this article, and this one, to learn more about it.

This process involves looking for the top blogs in your field, contributing quality unique guest posts to them, and interlinking articles on your blog in your bio. Most people only link to their homepage in their guest posts, but linking to internal pages can also be effective.
4. Use Images to Build Backlinks like a Smart Marketer

You might not have heard about this before, but images can also help you gain quality backlinks, from quality sources. Images can be found everywhere around us, and you can easily take pictures of nature around you and use them anyhow you want without being held legally liable. If you have good talent for photography, this will be a good approach for you. All you need to do is take several quality images every day, upload those images to image sharing sites and give people license to use it anyhow they want as long as they credit you by linking back to your website. You can upload your images to Flickr, stock photo sites, and any other creative common sites. If you upload a lot of images every day, you will be able to get some quality backlinks over the months that will end up having impact on your SEO. The best part of this, though, is that those links will keep on increasing even after you’ve stopped uploading images to the internet actively.
5. Smart Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is mostly known as a way to make a lot of money, and probably also as a way to build a giant email list, but one other thing it can be used for is building backlinks, especially to a sales page.

This approach will also be useful for people with a product for sale. Look for ways to get a lot of people to promote your product as an affiliate, and create HTML texts for them to use to link to their affiliate links. The HTML texts can include keywords you plan to rank for, so that when people promote your product as an affiliate and use your default HTML code, not only will it result in income for you, but you will also get quality backlinks that might eventually impact your rankings.
6. Interview Experts to Contribute on a Controversial Subject

A smart tactic you might also want to consider is getting experts in your field to contribute on controversial topics. Your aim will be to make sure the topics are so controversial that they will want to make sure their readers learn more about it, and as a result link back to you in the process.

What you need to do is get a few experts (anything from two to ten experts) to contribute an answer to a controversial question on your blog. You should then publish the answers from the 10 different experts into the same post and send them a link to let them know it has been published. Also make sure you remind them to share it with their audience.

This approach can be overused, and as a result ineffective. What you want is something so controversial and thought-provoking that any expert will want to share, so make sure you invest a lot more time into your questions and how the entire post is phrased. Here’s an example from Think Traffic that you should read to get a better idea.
7. Link Out to Other Blogs on a Regular Basis

This particular approach has double benefits.

A lot of bloggers are so deep into the thought of building backlinks that they have forgotten that linking to other websites can also be as effective. Search engines are very smart, and they know that another trait of an authority website is that it keeps on linking to other websites online. Your links could be to blogs, it could be to research data or surveys and it could be to videos that educate on a subject. Linking out to content from other bloggers will increase your perceived authority in the eyes of the search engines and that of your readers, and you will also end up getting quality links from other blogs in the process.

There are several approaches to building quality links. It could be by linking to other articles that explain some of your points in an article you’ve written, or it could be an article that serves as an ultimate guide on a subject and links to several expert articles written on the subject. A blog that does this well is Copyblogger; an example is this post of theirs on Facebook marketing.

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Top 5 Strategies on Building a Successful Blog

Putting up a blog is something that can now be easily done in minutes, but building asuccessful blog is another thing. It requires more time and pondering, more careful planning, and of course, more strategic blogging.

Here are five practical tips to get you started. The first tip tells you how to prepare; the second gives pointers on how to create content; the third teaches how to blog; the fourth offers tips on how to expand your outreach though social media; and the last is about “joining the community”.
Tip # 1: Preparation
Before putting up a blog, make a plan

One of the most important keys to making anything successful is having a good plan. Think of all the blog essentials and carefully craft a blog site that makes up a full package.
Site Design and Structure

    Tell people what your blog is all about through your site design. If, for example, your blog is about food, it would help to have images of mouth-watering dishes or fresh fruits and ingredients on your home page. If your blog is about finance, give it a business-like feel or use images and icons of money, graphs, etc.

    Choose your colors and themes wisely. Avoid offensive colors that might cause people to avert their eyes from the screen. If your blog is heavy on text and would have people reading, it is not advisable to use negative color themes or using white or other light colors on text against black or other dark backgrounds.If, for example, your blog is about art or photography, keep your background plain or simple to emphasize your images. Also, choose colors that will also complement and represent the focus of your blog.

    Make your blog organized. Keep a good tab of your categories and tags, and make sure all pages and topics are arranged accordingly. Organize categories based on blog topics, content, and other criteria. Make your site easy to use. Don’t make your widgets too long and group them according to priority, frequency of use, or similarities (ex. group tag and category clouds together).

    Use images, videos and other media. An all-text blog is essentially boring. Since you are starting out, it is important to catch people’s attention and make them stick. Using other media will also generate more traffic to your site.

    Stuff your homepage with the essentials. Here are the things that your blog’s home page should have:

        Tab linking  to the About page
        Search box
        List of posts (It can be a tab that links posts straight to their pages, or a link to page that lists or archives your posts.)
        Widget for top posts
        Widget for recent posts
        Widget for related posts
        Tag & category clouds
        Blogroll and links
        Email and RSS feed subscription boxes
        Social media buttons (ex. follow me Twitter, like me on Facebook, etc.)
        Feedback and share buttons (“like”, share on Twitter or Facebook, Digg It, Stumble Upon, etc.)
        Public email address

Choosing a Domain Name and a Hosting Company

Choosing a domain name is like choosing a business or company name. The domain name refers to the first part of your URL or uniform resource locator. It is usually preceded by “http://www.” and suffixed with a TLD or top-level domain (ex. “.com”, “.net”, “.edu”). Like the site design, it has to say something about your blog.

Here are a few tips in choosing a domain name:

    Avoid using a domain name that is far from or is unrelated to what your blog is about. For example, do not use “chocolatesandmallows.com” for a website on cars.
    Using keywords in your domain name will help optimize your blog for web searches. For instance, a blog about surfing can use “surfingtides.com”.
    Refrain from using abbreviations. Using full words or full names (such as full company name for corporate blogs) is more effective and is easier to remember.
    For better and easier recall, use “.com”, as it is the most popular and most common.
    To avoid confusion, don’t use “.com” anywhere in your domain name if you intend to use other TLDs such as “.net” or “.org”.

Once you’ve made your pick on what your blog would be called, you can already buy a domain name from a web hosting or a domain name service provider. Here are some tips:

    If you intend to use your own server for your blog, it is better to buy a domain through a separate domain name service and choose one that will assign you a static IP address.
    Purchasing a domain even though you haven’t put up a site is fine and is probably more advisable, as you would have the security of knowing that you already have the name that you want.
    When purchasing, you will be asked to enter your preferred domain name to check its availability. If your first choice is already taken, the service provider usually suggests a couple of alternatives. You can also buy domain names that have or are about to expire.
    After buying a domain, you will have to register it. Choose your service provider carefully. Entrust your blog only to those with good background and reputation. Serverpoint.com and Godaddy.com are good starters.

Keyword / Market Research

So you have already planned what your site would be about, how it would look like, what it would be called, and how you’d get a domain. The next thing to plot out is how to penetrate your target market or audience, what keywords to use, and how to use these keywords to get your desired traffic.

In the cyber world, market research is usually conducted through keyword research. As with traditional market studies, keyword research shows what people (in this case, the internet users) look for the most, what exact words they use when they think of these topics, and how much these things or words are “searched” through search engines.

In other words, keyword research lets you know your audience’s language. It reveals the keywords your audience uses when searching about a particular topic. And since search engines are keyword oriented, you will have an idea of which ones to use in your articles so as to get traffic off them.

Keyword research tips:

    Google, considered as one of the top search engines worldwide, has tools such as Analytics and Adwords to aid people doing keyword or market research.
    There are also tools such as Keyword Discovery, Wordze and Wordtracker, which provide estimates on the number of times that internet users make searches on certain keywords or phrases.
    Choose a niche, research it thoroughly, and target this niche by using their language or the keywords that they mostly use.
    Based on your keyword research, write on topics that would be most interesting for your niche, or choose those that they search about the most.
    Find related keywords to expand your market.
    Look for websites or other blogs related to yours and see if they would be interested in linking to your post. You can build relationships with them to increase link prospects and site authority.
    Search for money-making prospects for your blog by looking for related products and services to review or accepting ads on related products and services that will be interesting to your clients and that have high cost per click (CPC).

Now that you’re done with the planning, it’s time to focus on your blog’s content.
Tip # 2: Creating Content
Don’t just write blog entries. Write compelling articles

Blogging means using words, but successful blogging entails using the right words effectively. It requires enough and proper knowledge of your audience to know the entries and information that they need and want. Study them through keyword research; take note of posts that they read, comment on and share the most; and ask them what they want to know through forums, threads and posts.
How to write a compelling article

    Have a powerful headline. Use power words but not too much. Grab people’s attention with your title and make them click and read on. Just make sure that your title is consistent with your article.

    Capture the audience with your first paragraph. Draw them into reading the rest of your article by following through with your headline and further enticing them with promising content.

    Give them what they need. Give them the content and information you promised in a way that still keeps them reading. Provide them with useful information and avoid “filler sentences” that can bore your readers.

    Tell a story. Start by raising an issue, continue with answering it and providing backup or proof, then end with reaffirming the solution to the issue you raised. It pays to plan before writing by having an outline and visualizing how to start and end your article.

    Make your article easy to read and understand. Internet users have limited attention span when it comes to web content, so the key is giving them what they want and need within that limited time that you have their attention.Bold, italicize or highlight important words and phrases. Use lists and subheads to (1) break down boring bulks of text, (2) help readers easily absorb your content, and (3) facilitate better recall. Use simple words and short paragraphs of only 2-3 sentences each.

    Talk to your readers in their language. Aside from using the keywords that they use, write in a way that they can best relate to. Converse with your readers in a more personal rather than business-like manner, except if you really intend to have a professional-sounding or business-like blog.

    Enrich your entry with various media. Don’t settle with just words. Grace your article with images or videos to further its appeal and complement your textual content.

    Edit before you post. Check for spelling, grammar or factual errors. Fix your format and make sure that you don’t post entries that can negatively affect readers’ trust.

Tip # 3: Blogging
Engage with your readers

In the previous tip, you learned how to create entries that attract readers and lure them into reading your entire post. This time, we will discuss how to get your readers attached to your blog.

When browsing through various blogs, you’d see that there are some which are rarely visited, while others are brimming with life and activities. What sets them apart? Reader engagement. How do you acquire this? Here are a few tips:

    Make your readers feel that you care—that you’re writing not just for yourself or for your other agenda (such as making money), but for the readers. When writing, always keep your readers’ interests and needs in mind.

    Give your readers something informative, something useful, something entertaining, or better yet, something that combines these three.

    Stay within the area or topic of your blog. Don’t suddenly talk about flowers if your blog is about sports.

    Publish regularly. Keep your blog active, fresh and updated.

    Take care of your readers by making them feel that you notice and appreciate them. “Talk to them” in your posts, ask for their opinion, answer their questions and reply to their comments.

    Keep track of what your readers are most interested in by knowing how to use analytics. This tool shows which posts get the most traffic and which ones keep getting traffic even long after they have been published. This information will give you an idea of which topics would be most useful and interesting for your readers.

    Give them something they won’t forget. There are successful bloggers who host special activities in their blogs such as contests so as to attract new readers, revive inactive ones and increase active reader involvement.
    Successful blog contests involve:

        Clear set objectives – Know exactly what you want to attain through this contest: more readers? more social media followers? more email or RSS feed subscribers? product sales? more active reader engagement? Based on these objectives, carefully think up a contest idea along with the mechanics.

        Well-thought of game plan – There are various contests that you can try: photo contests, skills contests, challenge contests, raffles, etc. Whatever you choose, make sure to pick one based on what you think would be popular to your audience.

        Partnerships and use of other publicity tools – Use social media, team up with a fellow blogger in your niche or engage sponsors.

        Sustained engagement – Use (1) multiple entry steps that allow contestants to explore your site and (2) attainable goals that will make people think they can do or win it (your contest). Be careful not to alienate your readers with too long and complicated procedures or too difficult questions.

        Specialized apps – Depending on the type of contest you choose, look for a web application that can make the contest run smoother and easier.

Tip # 4: Expanding Outreach
Make use of social media

You’ve learned about the importance of keywords in getting traffic through search engines, but don’t limit yourself with just search engine optimization. Use social media.

As of mid-2011, social media networking has surpassed pornography viewing as top activity on the internet. Facebook alone has over 800 million users as of the end of 2011, and is still counting. With a population this big, social media networks (SMNs) are undoubtedly among the best and most effective venues to get traffic and have more mileage. To penetrate this market, you have to create an effective social media strategy:

    Plan. Set attainable goals in relation to your overall blogging objectives.

    Research. Find out the social media sites and forums that your target readers most frequently use. Facebook and Twitter are sure-fire list starters.

    Create and maintain relationships.

    Attract and acquire followers. More followers or fans means you have more people to share your posts with.

    Add Facebook “like” and “share” buttons, Twitter “tweet” or “share” buttons, and other social media “share” and feedback buttons to your every blog post. As mentioned in tip # 1, also add a “follow me on Twitter” and “like me on Facebook” button on your home page and if possible, on each of your pages.

    Always post good stuff that people will want to click, read and share.

    You can also buy Facebook fans from social media marketing service providers such as uSocial. Building your initial base of fans, followers and contacts isn’t easy; but if you already have followers, it adds up to your credibility and people will be more attuned to connecting with you.

    Befriend other influential people in your industry or line of blogging.

    Maintain good relationship with your followers.

    Post regularly. If you find yourself scrambling for time, blog hosts and platforms such as WordPress have tools and mechanisms for automated or “timed” posting.

    Follow people. You can also opt to “follow back” those who have followed you on Twitter.

    Respond to Twitter “mentions” or thank followers who have retweeted your posts or followed your account. Do the latter through Twitter’s direct message option so as to not flood or alienate your other followers.

    Reply to people’s comments and answer their questions. Basically, join conversations and really be a part of the community.

    Join events for bloggers and for those in your industry or blogging topic.

    Measure results.

Keep track of the following:

    your followers, fans, or contacts, depending on the social media network – Make sure the numbers are always increasing.

    the number of comments, shares and mentions of your blog or posts be it in social media sites, forums or other blogs – You can do this through Twitter’s @___ search and tracking system, Facebook’s sidebar stats on how many people are talking about your page, and through Google Alerts, which makes use of keywords and can send you email alerts whenever there’s a mention of your blog.

    positive and negative mentions of your blog or posts

    people or groups you’ve connected with

    your blog traffic

    Keep improving. Using the abovementioned data and tips from other users, keep improving your blog and your social media strategies. Keep experimenting. Adapt new methods. And listen to feedback from your online community.

    Believe in it. Don’t just do social media marketing to join the bandwagon or sell, sell and sell. Use social media to build a community and connect with your readers. Immerse in their world and find out what they’re interested in.

Tip # 5: Joining the Community
Reach out to other blogs

Successful blogging doesn’t just involve good relationship with your readers. Being part of the blogging community, especially in your niche, will also help make you the successful blogger that you want to be. Here are some tips on how to make your blog more “social”:

    Comment on posts in other people’s blogs or share links on related info or articles.

    Link to other blogs.

    Participate in blog events such as memes.

    Write guest posts for other bloggers.

    Write for the readers of the host blogger.

    Ensure mutual benefits such as links to your blog, references, etc.

    Introduce yourself to the readers. Tell them who you are, what you do, and why you are a “credible source” on the topic that you’re writing about.

    Be courteous. Be careful not to offend the host blog’s readers.

    If needed, have the host blogger read through your post before publishing it.

    Have enough backups for your post.

    Immediately contact the host blogger should anything go wrong.

Bonus Tip: Learn SEO

SEO or Search Engine Optimization refers to the practice of bringing or increasing site traffic to a website by improving its search engine rankings. It involves manipulation of various internal and external aspects of a site based on search engine’s criteria of evaluating a site’s relevance, credibility and authority in relation to searches that users do.

Simply put, SEO helps make your site search engine-friendly so that when an internet user makes a search, your website or blog would be among the top search results. You can learn optimization yourself or read blogs about SEO strategies.

With all that, putting up a successful blog might seem like a lot of work, but its rewards can also be limitless. We are in an age where there is so much (and still growing) internet usage that it would be no surprise if taking up space in the blogosphere turns out to be an excellent investment.

Just remember to take the right path and follow the right advices to avoid being among those who have blogged and failed. Most of all, enjoy what you’re doing and love your readers because without them, what’s the use of blogging?

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How to Get Google Adsense Approval Within 24 Hours

 thought he was joking when he said he got his google adsense account approved without even owning a blog! “How come? How did you do it?” I asked the guy in curiosity and he explained everything in details. I even demanded to see his email just to confirm what he was telling me. It was only then I saw how he got a google adsense account within 24 hours without even owning a blog.

To be honest, I’m not really down with the idea of getting google adsense approval through third party sites due to certain reasons mentioned in this article, but it’s getting harder for new bloggers to get their google adsense account approved even after doing everything they’re supposed to do to get approved. Some people spend lots of months applying and re-applying with no success. Google gives all sorts of excuses but hey, this might be a way out for you though I don’t recommend it.

Docstoc is all about uploading documents and sharing adesense revenue realized from your documents. As a matter of fact, this dude in question got his adsense account approved under 24 hours. I saw the emails and everything. He told me he uploaded about twenty documents and got approved. You can look for docs online. There are articles on Ezine you can turn to word documents and upload.

It’s always a better idea getting directly approved with your blog because I do believe the reason Google didn’t approve your blog for adsense might be the same reason it will be disabled when you finally get it through a third party site like Docstoc. It’s just my own opinion though and I’m not discouraging you from trying out your luck with them.

After getting approved, just go to your Adsense account, generate the ad codes and paste them on your blog, Happy blogging!

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3 Best Ways to Make Money Online

Everyone knows that there are many ways to make money, but they are often mislead by the hyped promotions of some companies. Yes it is true that if you work hard there is a lot of money to be earned online. But then the promises of becoming rich overnight are nothing more than a hype. You can not get rich instantly whatever work you do staying within the law. It is the same with online opportunities. You will definitely start with a small earning and as you get the experience and more connections online your income will increase. People are looking to take up the online job opportunities as it provides them with a scope to work from the comforts of their home. The work timings can be customized according to your needs, moreover such professionals are their own bosses. In these busy times spending time with your family is a luxury which you can seldom enjoy, but the work from home business opportunities not only give you scopes to make money online but also to spend a fair amount of time with your family. The online money transactions have become much easier then before. This provides the professionals scope to get money transferred to their account in quick time without any worries. Another reason behind the popularity of make money online is that you can work as per your liking. If you have knowledge about a specified niche then you may take up a business opportunity based on that niche. Such selection of work is not available for the other office jobs.

Though there are many ways to make money online but there are some that stand out from the rest. Setting up such businesses and earning high profits from them in quick time is possible. So let’s take a look at some of these leading online opportunities:

1.Online Surveys: This is a hassle free way of earning some money online. All you have to do is sign up with a reputed website offering online survey work and then fill up the detailed forms or questionnaires sent by them. You will get paid only after you have earned an aforementioned amount of points. This work can be done side by side with your other engagements. Many office going professionals take up this scope to earn something extra. 2.Online Store: People are becoming more and more crazy about online shopping. Internet surfers like to shop for their favourite items from the comforts of their home. Online shopping can be the only mode of shopping in the future, thus if you open an online store it will secure your income. The challenges of opening an online store are the huge initial investment required and the amount of technical skills that the business owner should possess. If you have the technical skills and can manage to find a product that is hot in demand then opening an online store can make you rich. 3.Selling Digital Products Online: This is the age of information and technology. Thus people are looking widely for digital products online. There are various advantages of dealing with these digital products. First of all you will not require stacking up your inventory with huge list of items. Secondly, there is no shipping procedure involved. The customers can simply come online and pay the required amount to download their likeable products.

With the help of the various opportunities to make money online you can be your own boss and earn a fair amount of money each month.

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Online Make Money in South Africa

How many times have you asked yourself this question? When you see all the hyped up advertisements telling you how easy it is to make money online, do you wonder, how it is done, how much does it cost, could I do it. Do you really believe that people are working from home and making fortunes? All the advertisements have one thing in common; they are trying to sell you a product to show you how to make money online. The products could be about anything, stock trading, gambling, health, almost any subject you can think of. There are so many different ways to earn money online. If you are out of work and have no income you may not want to consider some of these options. However, don’t be discouraged, you can still earn money online. It may not be millions but it could be substantial, that all depends on you.Have you ever fancied being your own boss and running your own business?You may think this impossible if you have no money to invest, but its not.A way to do this is to start your own online affiliate marketing business.This is a very popular and low cost method to earn money online by promoting other peoples products. You earn money by getting a commission on every sale credited to you through your affiliate link. Online affiliate marketing can be a cost free way of running a business. All you have to do is write all the promotional material yourself and get it published online for free. You do this is by writing articles about the products or services you are affiliated with, then submit them to the free online directories. If your articles are accepted, the directories will publish them on the internet for free. Because this method can be cost free, it’s got to be worth trying.There are a lot of courses available on the internet to teach you how to become an online affiliate marketer. Some courses are relatively cheap, others quite expensive.You can always spend time searching the internet and gather the information for free.If you decide to buy a course, don’t expect to learn how it’s done and then start earning money immediately. As with any business it takes time to get established. The advantages of online affiliate marketing are that you don’t have the start up and running costs associated with most other businesses. A computer with an internet connection is all you really need. If you have these, then why not spend some of your time trying to make money with them.If you are retired, out of work or housebound and could use some extra money, then making money online by online affiliate marketing could be the way of doing it.To answer the title question – Making Money Online – is it worth trying?The answer is a definite Yes.

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Make Money online in South Africa

What a great question and one that we all have asked ourselves at one time or another. To the inexperienced entrepreneur the answer would probably be obvious. I’ll just set up a website with my products and services and then sit back and I’ll make money online. Unfortunately, as most of us know, it’s just not that easy. No one will show up because no one knows your website exists (except you and maybe some close friends) and when no one shows up that equals no sales…no income.

It’s actually just as simple as that. If you want to make money online then you have to make yourself known to as many online users as you can, you need to give yourself a presence on the web. Remember also that not everyone that visits your website is there to buy, some are comparing prices, some are just curious and some might be your competitors checking you out to see what you have to offer.

That doesn’t mean that no one will buy it is just a fact that only a percentage (not large) of visitors actually buy.

Whether or not a visitor makes a purchase actually depends on several factors which we can’t go into here because there is simply too much to cover in depth enough to be useful in the limited space of an article.

So what makes money online.

First off let me say that making money online can be very hard. It can be very frustrating especially if you are new to this game called internet marketing because, whether you are selling a service or product, you must promote (market) it. This is a time when most people get totally frustrated, discouraged, get lost and finally give up. That would be your first big mistake … quitting. It will take a very long time to develop a steady stream of income if you don’t know what you are doing.

You might set up your site and wait quite some time before you see traffic coming to your site in significant numbers. It could take weeks or months to see results from your efforts. If it was easy everybody would be online making money. Why not .. all I need is a product and a website and “poof” instant bulging bank account … right … wrong.

If you want to know what makes money online you have to do two things (to get started anyway) and they are;

1. Educate yourself to maximize your potential and avoid pitfalls…learn…learn…learn.

2. Make a presence on the web, get your site or product known…promote…promote…promote.

To further your education in money making online there are some good training and resource products available which give fantastic results for a relatively small one time fee, I recommend  looking in depth at anything you are considering before laying out the cash though. Just be aware that scams are everywhere, do your homework.

Using the two key factors mentioned above coupled with some relatively simple experimenting, you really can make money online. There is much more to cover on this subject which will have to be left to another article.

With all of the information out there it’s easy to get lost in all the myths and hype. Probably the toughest part of sorting through all of the information on the net is finding the truth, especially when it comes to searching for a “home based” or “Internet” type business. I personally had arrived at a point where I was pretty much ready to give up, but fortunately (I guess) I am stubborn and didn’t quit.

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How To Avoid Getting Your Adsense Account Block – Must Read

Every month hundreds and possibly thousands of people get their Google adsense accounts banned. It is also rumored across the internet that Google randomly bans adsense accounts without concrete reasons, the truth be told, Google rarely bans adsense accounts without tangible reasons, if you want to know how to avoid getting your adsense account banned you need to play by the rules of the game, reading the rest of this article is a start.

Why should you avoid getting your google adsense account banned? The reason is simple, it is becoming more difficult to get a google adsense account approval. In recent times a lot of google adsense publishers have tried to game the system, they have deployed various dubious means to increase their earnings, all of these scamming tactics have made Google to make the account approval process more strict.
Below is a list of things that can get your adsense account banned:

Don’t post ads on sites that contain prohibited content:
Don’t post ads on websites that have content related to weapons or ammunition (e.g. firearms, firearm components, fighting knives, stun guns), Gambling, Casino, Pornography, Adult or Mature, Alcohol, Tobacco, Racial, Hacking, any other content that is illegal, promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others etc.

Invalid Clicks and Impressions:
A quick way to get your adsense account banned is to generate invalid clicks and impressions. Never click your own ads, clicking on your ads to earn few cents or experiment whether ads are working or not or for any other reason is prohibited. The use of robots or deceptive software to generate automated click and impression generating tools are also prohibited. A lot of people get their adsense accounts banned because somebody somewhere promised to help them earn a certain amount of money monthly from google adsense without doing anything themselves, beware of such offers.

Encouraging others to clicks on your ads:
Don’t ask your visitors, friends and relatives to click on your ads. Don’t offer compensation to visitors for viewing ads or for performing searches on your site.

Ads placement:
Don’t place ads on websites that have pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads or on any non-content-based page, (this does not apply to adsense for search or mobile adsense for search), and never place misleading images alongside individual ads.

Copyrighted material:
Write your own content, do not display Google ads on web pages with content protected by copyright law unless you have the necessary legal rights or owner’s permission to use such content.

Don’t link to sites that contain prohibited content:
Don’t link from your website to other websites that have content related to weapons or ammunition (e.g. firearms, firearm components, fighting knives, stun guns), Gambling, Casino, Pornography, Adult or Mature, Alcohol, Tobacco, Racial, Hacking, any other content that is illegal, promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others etc.

Privacy policy page:
Ensure that you create a Privacy Policy Page for your website before adding google adsense on your website. Such privacy policy should disclose that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users’ browsers, or using web beacons to collect information as a result of ad serving on your website.

Reward programs:
Don’t place ads on sites that have content regarding programs which compensate your visitors for clicking ads or offers, performing searches, surfing websites or reading emails, such will get your google account banned.

Do not alter adsense code:
Do not alter the original adsense code to enhance it in anyway, like trying to get your clicked ads open up in a new browser. You are allowed only to change the font, color, size etc only through the your publisher panel, no other options are technically allowed, if you do anything else you are violating the TOS.

Remember, to avoid getting your adsense account banned you need to play by google’s rules of the game. What I have listed above does not cover the entire list of things that can get your account banned, Google has a Google Adsense Program Policy that guides you on how to safely participate in the google adsense program and how to avoid getting your adsense account banned, go through this yourself.

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Online Marketing News: Content Marketing for B2B, Engage Your Audience, Twitter Bot Seems Human, Facebook Knows What’s Best,

Content Marketing in B2B

exploreB2B[1] recently partnered with Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs to creat this infographic which covers elements of why, what, where, and how of B2B Content Marketing that are necessary to execute on a successful campaign.
Featured TopRank Team Story

Shawna Kenyon – How to Build – and Keep – an Engaged Audience
For those of us creating content on a regular basis it is important to understand how best to build and keep and audience.  Many companies find themselves asking: with so much content online how do we fit in, and how do we differentiate ourselves from the competition? Gripping headlines, to the point copy, and promotion are just a few of the tips included in this article.  Via Mashable[2].
Weekly Online Marketing News

Google+ Product Manager Spams Twitter With Bot Network
Chances are you’ve seen automated tweets before, and were not impressed.  In 2008 the handle @trackgirl was setup as a Twitter Bot and the creator found that people were engaging with the bot and sending direct messages in response to tweets that were being sent out.  Read this article to learn more.  Via Wired[3].

Google to Offer Free WiFi in NYC
New York City is known for it’s spotty wifi service, especially when entering the underground subway system.  Starting on Monday some New Yorkers will be given the opportunity to keep on streamin.  Via AdWeek[4].

Never Ever Start Facebook or Twitter Campaigns on Friday – New Yesmail Study
This article provides further reasoning why marketers should not attempt to start a Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube campaign on a Friday.   Based on this study Friday’s are already stock full of messaging, however Tuesdays are a little les cluttered.  Read on to gain even more insight on social marketing and why sometimes less is more.  Via VentureBeat[5].

It’s Official: Microsoft Buys Yammer for $ 1.2 Billion
Yammers price tag and buy out from Microsoft has been rumored for the past few weeks.  Microsoft has now agreed on a hefty $ 1.2 Billion investment to purchase Yammer, and integrate the service as part of their office productivity tools.  If you are a Yammer fan have no fear, for the time being Yammer will remain as a stand alone  product and the company will continue to maintain control.  Via SocialTimes[6].

Apparently Facebook Knows What’s Best For Us
In order to create consistency across Facebook’s users (or so they claim) it was announced in April that the social network would update email addresses to one provided by their own email service.  This article provides what the writer considers to be a natural progression of the actions Facebook is currently taking without properly notifying users.  Everything from Facebook accessing users vehicle navigation systems, to implanting users with Facebook chips in their brains.  Via Media Post[7].
Top Online Marketing Tips of the Week

5 Time Saving Tools for Twitter
Choosing the right time saving applications that meet your social networking needs can be overwhelming.  The author of this article ran a survey of his Twitter followers that had at least a 5-digit following to see what tools they use to manage the amount of information that is shared and consumed on a daily basis.  If you’re looking for some ways to increase your impact while saving time this is an article you don’t want to miss.  Via Inc[8].

7 Things to Check Before Sending A Sarcastic Message
Industry research has shown that online messages are misinterpreted more than half of the time.  We’ve all been there, you think of something amusing or sarcastic that you want to share in an social message or email reply.  Problem is, you may have just confused or worse, offended your audience.   This article provides  7 sound tips for checking your message a final time before sharing, sending, and possibly turning off the recipients.  Via Ragan[9].

A Complete Guide to the Facebook WordPress Plugin
If you create and publish content on a WordPress blog social integration has just gotten easier.  Facebook recently released a new highly comprehensive plugin for WordPress which creates ease of use for auto-publishing to your timeline.  Via Social Media Examiner[10].

Time to Weigh In: What day of the week have you found to be most effective for starting your social media campaigns?  Do you think that Yammers integration with Microsoft will shift the way you are using their products?  Finally, does Facebook really know best, or are they taking it too far?

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The Right Way To Make Money With Blogging | Gardening

In this day in time, having a successful blog is synonymous with making money from it. You might possibly have plenty of blog readers. But, if you aren’t making money from it then you’re not making the most out of it. If you do your research, you will see that even the most read blogs do not leverage their themselves when it comes to monetization. They are not finding ways to maximize the monetization power that they have with their blogs. Unless you are only doing it as a hobby, then you do not have a reason to not concentrate on making money with your blog.

Given below are three effective tips that will help you understand how you too can go about monetizing your blog effectively. I have found quinny buzz reviews and furthermore bob ironman stroller in conjunction with baby jogger city select tandem are good examples of how these particular concepts may just be applied in real life.

Putting affiliate product reviews on your blog can help you make money. You don’t have to write biased reviews or be dishonest to your readers. Ensure that your reviews are honest. Work on helping your readers find and buy the right products. Not only will you make money, but you will build up your reputation. Your readers will see you as a credible authority. Another unique way of monetizing your blog, especially if it’s got a decent readership is to sell advertising in your RSS feed. When you have an Google AdSense account, this can be accomplished by placing ads in your RSS feed. Even though you will not make a ton of money with this particular strategy, it does provide a resourceful way of adding on to your total blog income. One of the benefits of having a blog and RSS feed that are not together is that you will see both your earnings and subscribers grow .

You might be able to charge a small fee for your services and put them on your blog for your readers. Besides, you can use your blog to obtain additional experience and get more credibility. Benefit from this to promote your services to your prospective customers for a fee. For instance, let us assume your blog is about ‘Internet marketing. Think how you can form a company that shows other companies how to use SEO to get high rankings in the search engines.

A successful blog is more than just having a lot of daily visitors. But, it also involves finding ways to make a legitimate income from it. If your goal is to create a blog that makes a lot of money like the top dogs, then you must get to work and figure out how to do. You have to move away from what you know and use various methods. But that’s exactly what will separate you from the not-so-successful bloggers. What is holding you back? Use this information to your advantage and maximize the value of your blog.

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