SEO is a vital marketing strategy that every website needs to take into consideration. It refers to using certain factors that will help a site be found organically on a search engine. By this, it means your website is found naturally by search engines without you having to pay them for a placement in their results.

Not many people, however, are very knowledgeable about what genuine SEO involves. There are a lot of myths about this which should not even be practiced as they do not necessarily achieve the results you want. It’s about time you get to know and understand the real SEO to ensure your website is easily found online regardless of the search engine people use.

SEO professional Justin Franciscotty said SEO is not some enigma that can not be seen, heard, or touched. There are indeed very simple things you can do to immediately impact your SEO, and there are also high level things you can do to dramatically help your SEO. read on

Many professional bloggers, web marketers, webmasters, developers etc make the mistake of not keeping their taxes and accounts in order for their business, this infographic looks at some of the mistakes made and how to avoid an audit:

Via: Xero

Why on earth would you want to start your own blog directory? It isn’t as if the market is not already saturated with the many existing blog directories today. But if you insist on doing it, at least do it properly.

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Choose a Clearly Defined Niche

Not finding a suitable niche for your blog may be one reason why you would want to create one. If you are hoping to attract other similar blogs to your directory to form a network, you must have a clearly defined niche to offer. Give them good reason to want to submit to your blog directory listing.

Opening a blog directory for your niche that would appear largely “unserved” will most probably open up exposure opportunities for your niche and the blogs that fall under it including yours. It is important for a blog directory to be able to carve a specific niche in the online world. This translates to authority which will be beneficial to the blogs connected with the directory.

Go for Quality

There are already blog directories existing like production mills of all kinds of blogs, regardless of quality. Stir away from this and go for quality blogs instead. It is much better to be known as the blog directory of 100 quality blogs rather a blog directory of 10,000 run-of-the-mill blogs. Be especially wary of blogs that exist to spam other blogs.

The key here lies in the moderation policy. Standards for acceptance must be set. Make your blog directory a magnet to serious authors who are intent at delivering quality content. Their content will determine the quality of your listing.

Monetize to Maintain Operation

Running a blog directory will most likely incur costs. You must be able to find a way to support your blog directory’s continued operation. It is best that that this way will come from operating the blog directory itself like through ads, sponsorship, or partnerships.

In trying to find the most suitable monetizing strategy, you should not forget about the quality of your blog directory. Don’t make it suffer by accepting ads that clearly go against the general goals of the directory. Be careful not to run against the individual goals of member-blogs as well.

Would You Still Want to Start Your Own Blog Directory?

If after reading this, you still find yourself interested in starting your own blog directory, then do so. Remember though that even if it doesn’t take much to start one, it does take a lot of effort to respectably maintain one.

Getting the services of the best web hosting company has its advantages. Its reliability can be put to good use by the website it is servicing. It also has a role to play in ensuring that blog networks accomplish what they set out to do.

What a Blog Network Hopes to Achieve

Blog networks can actually refer to two things. One is a network of blogs owned by only one person. Another is a network of blogs owned by different people.

The main purpose of blog networks is to help the blogs included in a network to attain good traffic and hopefully good ranking. Because of the manner  in which blog networking is abused by some, blog networking is not always seen in the best light. In fact, it can be seen by search engines as a deliberate way of misleading perception of authority. There are however good ways of using blog networks to build real value and integrity.

Creating Blog Networks

Blog owners have the option of joining an existing blog network or starting one. By joining a network, blogs will end up promoting each other. Whether or not this is the right thing to do would depend on being able to bring blog members in the attention of a much wider audience compared to that which can be usually obtained when a blog is not part of a network.

Creation of a blog network starts in creating blogs having their domains. A network is created between and among blogs of the same niche. This is easily the most natural since there can be no readily appreciable value or reason for blogs of different niches to be promoting each other. There will be a need to optimize the hosting environment to make the effort successful and this can be done with the help of services provided by the best web hosting company.

The Role of Web Hosting in Successful Blog Networking

Web hosting providers have essentially the same function for blog networks as what is expected from them  in providing service to a lone blog. They would need to make the blogs visible online and make the same blogs load at the fastest possible time. Opting for the services of the best web hosting company in relation to actual needs is highly beneficial.

Once the web hosting issue and manner of joining a network have been settled, blog owners can concentrate on maximizing blog potentials. Blogs that seemed to have hit a plateau in their progress may find other potentials in joining forces with others. However, a blog that enters a network must be ready to engage other bloggers and readers actively. An inactive  blog network easily loses it advantage and will do more harm than good for the member blogs since it will not provide positive feedback to search engines.

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Writers of blogs or bloggers are they are now more popularly known must try to create and build a strong writer’s profile if they intend to be included in a network that will provide them more opportunities. Sure, a network of online friends and associates can be formed among bloggers and related participants in the online world but they may not be necessarily geared towards opening more opportunities for paid writing. Professional writers and those who intend to be so must seriously look into creating a writer’s profile that will not only get attention but will also create networks that can also get them good-paying work.

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Components of a Writer’s Profile

1. Written Work

The first thing anyone looking for a writer would be interested in to see are samples of written work. It can be quite impossible to claim being a writer with nothing to show for it. Like it or not, a writer is defined by his or her writing. It would be the measure used by employers to determine if a writer being considered fits the bill. The main issue here is writing capability.

2. Social Media Profile

It can no longer be helped. Social media presence and participation has become part and parcel of a writer’s profile specifically those who cater to work intended for online consumption. Companies tend to see active and positive social media presence of writers as a plus in their marketing efforts. They couldn’t be more right in this. The issue here is degree of influence.

3. Experience and Performance Record

Hiring a writer can be very difficult especially when done online. Companies and hiring individuals will have no choice but to look into recommendations and lists of companies a writer has worked for. This can give a clearer idea of the ability of the writer. The issue here is reliability.

What Can Be Done to Strengthen Writer’s Profile

1. Write Regularly and Often

Writers eventually get it right when they do their writings regularly and as often as possible.

2. Participate in Relevant Social Media Platforms

Companies are looking for writers who possess positive online presence. It makes their marketing job a lot easier if they have writing partners that can lend their authority and credibility.

3. Gain Experience by Accepting Varied Writing Jobs

Writers learn more and gain more confidence when able to accomplish writing jobs in varying forms. They become flexible and in the process become more marketable.

A lot of companies and individuals are looking into providing mutually beneficial networks in online writing, writers just need to be ready for it when it comes.

Keeping up a blog is hard work, and you should be able to get the most out of it. Maybe you have some ad space on your blog, and a steady stream of page views; if that’s the case, then it could be time for you to start looking at ways to upgrade your site and make more money from it.

There are many ways you can use promotions and social media to bring in more readers, but if your site isn’t ready to handle that kind of traffic, any work you do won’t be of much benefit.

Here are three primary ways you can upgrade your blog and get it ready for bigger and better things. read on

Consider this scenario:  A blogger presents his idea through a blog post and allows for commenting. He has the option to moderate the comments and publishes the favorable and neutral ones while deleting comments containing opposing views. What is wrong with this picture? A lot!

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Distinction Between Offensive and Critical Comments

Before we go into the nitty-gritty of deleting comments, let us first make the distinction between plainly abusive comments and comments that present an opposing view. Offensive comments are usually malicious and generally go against the common standard of courtesy and respect. These comments can be very personal as to be directed to the author himself or to a group in a general sense. However, offensive comments are usually presented in abusive language and tone that is intended to malign or hurt the object of the comment.

Although most offensive comments contain a view opposed to that of the author, it does not follow that all critical comments are offensive. A critical comment simply presents a different appreciation of the subject matter at hand. Simply disagreeing with the view of the author is not an automatic offense. It is merely answering an opinion expressed by the author.

The Purpose of Commenting Option

Any writer worth his salt would know that the commenting option is not a venue for adulation and praise. Commenting presents an opportunity for the readers to be heard with regards to the discussed topic. Authors on the other hand, are given the valuable opportunity to learn from these comments. Different perspectives can enable learning that is not possible when a person only sees his own view.

Commenting is a rich source of real interaction between a blog as represented by its author/owner and the audience. Receiving favorable comments is a big ego booster. It can be a source of inspiration to maintain quality. This will not always be the case. Critical comments will come sooner or later unless the commenting option is closed.

Should You Delete?

An author who is not open to unfavorable comments must simply eliminate the commenting option.  Those who choose to allow commenting must adopt an open-minded stance when addressing opposing comments. Outright deletion of unfavorable but valid comments deprive the public and the author himself of the value of being exposed to views other than their own.

Word can get around if a blog is in the habit of censoring comments that simply opposes the author’s view. This gives rise to the perception of high handedness which is seldom favored by the public. A critical comment is best addressed point by point rather than deleted. This manifests the ability of the writer to defend what he has proposed in the first place.

About the Author:

Teresa is a researcher-writer who covers a wide range of topics in search of useful information to offer to her readers. She currently maintains four personal blogs.

These days, many businesses find it important to create a website as a way to establish an online presence. This is in addition to their physical shop or office and their existing marketing strategies that can include the traditional media.

The trend today, in fact, is that companies have gone beyond just building a website where they can provide comprehensive information of what they do and their offerings. A great number of them have started creating blogs as a way of sharing valuable content and regular updates to their customers and engaging with them.

The Benefits of a Blog

The experts agree that having a company blog is more than just being able to gain visitors moving forward. For the business, it means being able to research and gain knowledge about the latest trends or technology that they can share with their readers and that, in fact, they can utilize in what they do as well. read on

Every blog needs to engage its audience if it is to be believable when boasting about its high number of visits.  When a reader visits one page and then leaves without checking other pages, that is not engaging the audience. That is what is termed as a bounce which is not considered positive by search engines.

Bounce Rate

Blogs are and should be concerned about bounce rate.  It is a reflection of how engaging a blog is.  Since a bounce happens when a visitor enters and exits through the same page, there is a conclusion that its contents are not that relevant so as to encourage further reading in other pages. Relevance is usually associated with quality and this is where the problem in categorizing a visit comes in.

It is necessary to have appropriate analytics in place to measure bounce rate.  A low bounce rate can be an indication that targeted users are finding just what they are looking for in a site and that they are finding it in more than one page. Providing related content is a simple way of leading visitors to spend more time in the site and therefore lower the bounce rate.  A high bounce rate on the other hand, indicates that users are not finding anything relevant and are therefore going back to search engine result pages to find other options.

A high bounce rate is not always bad since it is possible that the information required by users has been obtained on the first page visited.  The opportunity to further engage the visitors should not be wasted.  Relevant content has been provided so it makes sense to provide more reasons for return visits.

Engaging the Audience

So we go back to the basic question of how to engage an audience.  Aside from providing relevant and related content, there are a lot of things that site or blog owners can do to engage their audience.  Engaging an audience basically pertained to effective relating to readers and visitors.

Asking questions and running contests are two of the most common strategies of simple audience engagement.  They only require the performance of easy tasks and promise results in terms of the chance to air their views and being responded to as well the chance to win prizes which is always something positive.  Engaging the audience through various social network platforms is another way of going about it. Engaging an audience requires talking and listening.

Teresa is a researcher-writer who covers a wide range of topics in search of useful information.

Image: bloggingexperiment.com

Opening a site is easy, right?  Well, not exactly.  It really depends on what kind of site you wish to open.

Before anything else, potential site owners must know what exactly he or she wants to achieve in opening one.  Although many approach it in a trial and error method and somehow found their way in the system, it is still best to have a pretty good idea of the path one intends to take .  This way there will be less error in anticipated areas and more effort can be exerted on areas where attention should be given.

A site can be opened with the barest knowledge in programming and technological tinkering largely due to the “ready-made” packages of many free platforms.  Almost everything is covered by step-by-step direction in a manner that is quite friendly to newbies and still helpful to the more experienced ones.  The information one needs to have is found all over the Internet that there is actually no excuse for not being able to open a simple site.

It is a good idea though to learn more about scripting languages so that site owners can tweak their sites to achieve a certain degree of personalizing that will still stand apart from the generic format.  Opting to use a free platform will more or less cover the bases for the owner in almost all aspects.  In time, site owners can choose to explore other options which will give them more control over their sites.

About the Author:

Teresa is a researcher-writer who covers a wide range of topics in search of useful information.

Image: berryreporter.com