OVBlogger: Blogging and SEO

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Isn’t that just like Web 2.0? Constantly changing and morphing into something we want it to be? Well, my theme wasn’t behaving like I wanted it to and…

The pink theme was “pretty” someone told me. Well… It was too girly. I guess I’m a girl. Well, last time I checked, eh? So, now, it’s down to bidnez.

I’d worry that I’ll confuse readers, but I know a) that my readers are really smart and b) oh well. The other theme just wasn’t working with WordPress 2.3.1 and there’s another update that my web host doesn’t have yet. When I change that, things may go all kaflooey again. Who knows?

But thanks for putting up with me. I figure that if Jack Humphrey can change things a lot, well, so can Pat Marcello. Of course, Jack has way more blog traction than I do and he’s way more famous than little me, but heck. Follow the masters, right? Isn’t that so, Jack?

What’s on the agenda today?

Long-tail keywords. I just wrote something about that for Tellman’s blog (http://listbuildingblog.com) and I mentioned that they work, and they do. I’ve used them for Tellman’s sites and for outside clients and they will pull in some traffic. You just have to be aggressive in using them.

But never use any keywords, unless they make sense. Don’t ever try to stuff in keywords and make your writing sound silly. People hate that, and so do search engines.

So, I digress…

Nancy Andrews has a video that says long-tail is B. S. that you can rank without using long-tail phrases and says she does it all the time. I agree with that, too. If you have great backlinks out the wazoo like she does, then you’re bound to do better than a site that uses long-tail keyword phrases without great backlinks.

I say it’s a combination of both. If you go to SEO Digger at http://seodigger.com and plug in “InstantADDSuccess.com” you can see how many keyword phrases we rank for, and many of them on the first page. Do those keywords get any traffic? Some of them do, yes, and it’s the combination of hits from various keyword phrases that get us on page 1.

We don’t have a lot of backlinks, but we do have some that are good. I worked on that for a long time, too. So, what works?

Whatever works for you. I say a combination of things. Long-tail and not long-tail keywords; getting one-way backlinks, especially from quality directories; articles using your keyword phrases; and blog postings using the keywords, too. You just have to keep the system going.

Even when you get on page 1, guess what?

There’s another SEO trying to knock you off.

So, keep on keeping on. That’s about all you can do.

Popularity: 56% [?]

Ok, so…  I’ve been studying wikis. Did you know that there must be a hundred different types, and that doesn’t even cover the customizations? Wow. I had no idea there was so much to learn. I’m thinking, Wiki… Hmm… Like a blog. Install it through cPanel’s Fantastico and voila! Wiki.

Nope.

Some have WYSIWYG entry capabilities.

Some can be commercial, some not.

Some are in PHP, others in Java, Perl, or other languages that I have no clue about.

They can be page protected or not.

They can be housed on shared hosting or require dedicated servers.

So very MUCH to consider.

I’ve come to about 7 that are “maybes.” Does anyone out there have wiki experience? I mean, have you run one? Used one? Hated it? Liked it?

I’m looking for actual users and wiki masters to comment. Let me hear ya! Your input will be invaluable.

Popularity: 40% [?]

I know this is an SEO blog and all, but well… Give me a minute here, will you, please? I have a story to tell you and it’s Christmastime. Time to think about why we’re blessed and how we can help our fellow people, right? I mean it’s not about the presents (though you wouldn’t know it, if you’ve been to the stores). It’s about the joy we feel because love came into the world at this time of year. Right? Anyway…

Last week, I was out shopping for a Christmas present for my daughter. Now, she needs nothing. She wants nothing, and she’s now gainfully employed, so she has money. What to buy???

Well, she’s also an artist, so I went over to Michael’s and got her a gift card so she can choose any art supplies she wants, on me & her dad. Cool.

I’m getting back into my car when a woman with a shopping cart comes up to the window. “I’m homeless,” she says to me. “Here’s my registration card. I’m number 497.”

I had no idea that homeless people have numbers and cards. Hmm…

So, we live here in Florida. If you’re going to be homeless, this is probably a pretty good place for it, but this particular night was supposed to get frosty. It was going down to 36 degrees.

She says, “It’s going to get cold, and I just don’t know what else to do. I’m sorry I have to ask you for money, but look… I have some really great Christmas ornaments here, and I’ll give you one of those.”

The woman didn’t look like an alcoholic. She looked sane and normal. Of course, what would I know from any of that? I just felt her humanity and her helplessness. Maybe I’m gullible, but I don’t think so.

So, she continued, “I had a tent to live in, but the city came and took it from me. Now, I just have a crate to live in. After we cleaned up that lot, too. They didn’t throw us out when we were working to clean the place out. Now, that it’s done, they took everything I had.”

“Do you have any blankets? ” I asked her.

“Yeah,” she said, “a lady bought me one. I had one, but I have to use it over my crate to keep out the wind, you know?”

So, I took out what money I had in my wallet and gave it to her. She insisted that I take an ornament, as a way to allow her to maintain her pride, I think, so I did.

What’s wrong with this picture? Why do people have to live this way in this United States of America? It’s not only ludicrous, it’s sinful. We give money to foreign countries and we don’t take care of our own. Something is terribly wrong with that picture.

And I’m mad.

I cried all the way home. I wanted to do so much more for her. I wanted to get all the blankets in my closet that we’re not using right now and take them to her. I wanted to invite her to my home to stay the night, just so she wouldn’t be cold.

And I didn’t. Shame on me. I let her down, too.

We’re so worried that people are going to be killers or whackos that will hurt us or our family, and we ignore what’s going on.

Here’s a Christmas wish:

• I wish that each and every one of you who has the wherewithal to donate money to the homeless do it.
• I wish that everyone would write to their Congresspeople (They’re tired of hearing from me.), and ask them to do something about this!

We sit in our cozy homes, and we just pretend that stuff like this doesn’t exist.

Shame on us.

It’s time we helped our own.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Well, I took some time and went through the course this morning, thinking I might pick up something I didn’t already know. However, it is Simpleology and it’s geared to new bloggers, and it’s an awesome step-by-step guide for starting and maintaining a blog, getting traffic, and more.

Yet, there is something in the course I disagree with.

Mark says to write an article and put it on your blog and to also put it into article directories. NO! That’s dupe content, and you won’t gather any search engine goodness from it. Rewrite that article first, and then, post it to directories. That way, you’re getting search engine advantage, and you’re getting article directory advantage, as well.

Then, there’s the idea that you should submit your blog to search engines. Waste of time. Search engine spiders find your stuff before the search engine ever gets to your submission. I mean, it doesn’t hurt to do this, but there are things that are much more time efficient.

Mark also says to get paid links for your blog. If you’ve been reading here for a while or know anything about SEO, you’ll know that Google cracked down on paid linking a couple of months ago. They don’t like paid linking because the company views it as artificial manipulation of the search engine results. Yes, I have a paid link, but feel a loyalty to an advertiser who has been with me for a long time. I won’t drop it just for Google, but…

If you’re interested in search engine ranking, don’t use paid links. I lost a whole page rank because I have a puny little link, and some of the major bloggers lost more than one page rank because of it. It’s up to you, but paid linking isn’t smart when it comes to SEO. To give this course the benefit of the doubt, it could have been in production while the whole mess with Google was happening.

Yet these flaws are minor. The course is solid and in the spirit of Simpleology, totally awesome for people who know nothing about blogging. I recommend it highly.

Popularity: 51% [?]

Now, what could be better than something from Mark Joyner? I mean, seriously. If you’re a marketer, you have to check this out.

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

After all, I am the blog queen of the Overcome Everything universe.

I’ll let ya know what I think, Mark. God, I can’t believe it. I could actually be a bigger expert than you at this. (Could being the operative word here. I have mentioned before that I think Mark knows everything in this very blog, which he denied.   BUT… I still think it.)

LOL

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I’ve been online since January 1996, coming up on 12 years now, and I’ve had my own PC since 1986, so I’ve been into computers a long time, actually since 1974 when I first used them at work. They were huge old hulking things then, and if you didn’t code things properly nothing worked. Ahh… Pre-windows. Yes. I knew DOS, too.

This is not about showing you that mine is bigger. It’s just to say that some things I take completely for granted and sometimes talk in ways that everyone should understand. (I think.) But now and then, questions arise from the people on my list or from members in Blogging4Boomers and I slap myself. Doh! Of course, it’s not something everyone knows and I should never take such things for granted.

For example, I do a lot with The List Building Club and over there we’ve taught people how to buy a domain, secure hosting, install a blog and so on. Recently, they learned how to buy another domain and to add it onto their existing hosting account. Simple.

Or is it?

When you add on a domain, it automatically becomes a subdomain of the domain you originally opened your hosting account with. So, for example, this blog is a subdomain of easyseotricks.com, and when I added the domain for this blog on, it spit back the address as ovblogger.easyseotricks.com.

What happens when I type OVBlogger.com into the address bar?

This blog comes up. The subdomain created is nothing to even think about, unless you want to use that subdomain as your web address and who wants to do that? Short & sweet is the ticket.

I had a question about that this week from a very dear man and member of my site, and it occurred to me that when I started Internet marketing 4 years ago and started setting up my own websites and such, that stumped me, too.

Here’s the deal… It’s just a way for your hosting company to keep your account organized. Everything goes under your main domain, but you can still get to the new site by typing the add-on domain name into the address bar.

Seems simple and if you’re stumped about this now, just think… In 2011, you won’t be, either!

It’s all about experience, which brings me back to my opening paragraph. It’s not that I’m a genius, because I’m not. It’s because I’ve been working with this stuff so long that I just know how to do a lot. Don’t ever, ever, ever be discouraged. What may seem like rocket science to you now will be stuff that you don’t give a second thought to in the future. You just need some experience.  Keep at it.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Have you seen Andy Jenkins’ new video yet? It’s called “Going Natural 2.0,” and I have to tell you… It’s the best freakin’ video I ever saw online re: Internet business. I mean, I know that Andy was a film editor and all, but he didn’t pull any stops. It’s interesting and fun, but here’s the killer part…

It’s LOADED with important SEO information.

Have I learned this stuff before? Well, yeah. I’m a Stomper. But it never hurts to get a little refresher, eh? Besides, Andy’s a trip. You never know what he’s going to put into a video, and so, I watch ‘em all. Really, the guy’s not only a smart SEO, he’s an entertainer.

You can check it out here: http://stomperblog.com/2007/12/05/going-natural/

It’s on the Stomper blog and it’s free content, so it’s OK to let that one out of the bag. I got the email  because I signed up for information on StomperNet last year, but when I found out how much it cost, I knew I’d never afford it. Lucky for me that I work for someone who could and who thought it was pretty cool to put me into. I thank him a lot.

Seriously, even if you can’t afford StomperNet (or think you can’t), check out that video. It’s not a sales pitch from Brad (Fallon) & Andy. It’s just good, solid, valuable content. And that’s what StomperNet continues to provide. I’ve been in it since the first day and it still never ceases to amaze and delight me.

Is StomperNet worth going into debt for?

Hell, yes. Absolutely.

It’s the single most important experience of my online career, and I’m constantly amazed by the level, quality, and abundance of information there. I have trouble keeping up with all of it. Really.

Anyway, I have no reason to urge you into Stomper Net when they open it back up for members. I’m not an affiliate.

But I sure love it there, and believe me, it’s worth every single penny. It rocks the universe!

Popularity: 63% [?]

OK, I’ve been going on about this blogging site of mine for a while, and it’s taken a LOT more work than I thought it would. But I wanted something quality, something that people who know virtually NOTHING about being in business online can use to get their businesses going.

So, if you…

* Want an inexpensive way to have a web site up and running in a matter of a few minutes
* Need a way to make money quickly and easily
* Want not only step-by-step, but take-you-by-the-hand instruction

you should visit my site http://Blogging4BoomersinBusiness.com. You don’t have to be a Boomer to be a member, but the site name is pretty easy to remember, right?

But the thing is, I know lots of people in my age group (yes, I’m a Boomer) that are getting to retirement age and looking at needing more to survive the expense of the modern world. It’s tough!

That is, unless you’ve had a corporate or union job where your retirement has been taken care of for you. Lots of Boomers are like that. But for other Boomers, life has never been that easy or secure. Let’s face it… We’ve been in competition for space and resources since the day we were born. There’s just too danged many of us.

So, I’d like to help people in my generation (and everyone else), who want to have something of their own that they can count on for extra money, anytime they see fit.

What do they have to do for it?

Blog.

I mean, think about it. There are probably thousands of bloggers out there making a very nice living just because their blogs have a following. And with some of them–take Boing Boing, for instance–the content is scraped from other sites on the Web. Well, why can’t you do the same sort of thing? You don’t have to be Hemingway. You only need to find cool stuff in your niche and blog about it.

But I’ll teach you how to do that and to blog without even writing a word. Plus, I’ll teach you how to get your blog to the top of the search engines. I’ll teach you about he coolest plugins and turn you onto themes that will make your heart swell with pride. And the best part is…

I’ll teach you how to make money with your blog.

Blogging is fun. It’s definitely affordable, and it’s a way to pump PR to your main website, if you have one of those already. I’ve been doing heavy into blogging for about a year and a half, though I’ve had a blog since Blogger opened its doors and hardly anyone knew what a blog was at all.

If you check “list building” you’ll see my efforts in action. The top listing is for Tellman’s List Building Blog, and the bottom listing is for Tellman’s My First List. That’s 2 sites on the first page of Google.

And blogging is definitely the easiest way to get started. I’ll take your hand and guide you through your first steps in month one, we’ll get a little more complicated in month 2, and so on. Each month will enhance the knowledge that you absorbed the month before.

But you have to read the page to see the coolest part.

http://blogging4boomersinbusiness.com

Go now and see if blogging isn’t the neatest thing since sliced bread and why.

Popularity: 55% [?]

Hey!

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for me. I’m opening a new website.

But…

Only to the people on my list. If you sign up for my list (see opt-in box in the sidebar), I’ll let you in on the big secret tomorrow. And…

You’ll save $20 off the membership fee–for as long as you remain a member.

Want to know what it is?

You’ll just have to sign up and find out, won’t cha?

But here are some things to consider:

• I only want serious marketers. If you’re playing around, then, save your money and your time and mine.
• If you want to have your questions answered every Monday night, it’s well worth the price of membership for that alone!
• If you like forums, we’re going to have one, but just for members.
• If you’re the kind of person who likes having their hand held, consider it held.

Curious?

Sign up for my list, get the secret, and save $20 a month!

This is so reasonable, I signed up for my own list.

If you’re reading this AFTER 12 noon on December 4, well… sorry. You missed it!

But sign up anyway, right? I might make this special offer again sometime.

Popularity: 29% [?]

So, you know, I really like Blog Rush. It adds to the blog, by giving people similar blogs to read over in my sidebar. In return, I get traffic. I have something like 13,000 views built up because I have a pretty good downline who are giving me traffic credits every day.

But…

It’s also kind of depressing.

You go over to Blog Rush to see your stats, and Whoa. If you have 4 people read your post from there, it’s HOT. So, like… Hmm… 4 people is hot?

Wow.

I’m hoping for maybe 24. Or, how about 224? If you’re going to dream, you may as well dream big. OK…

Screw it. 524! I want to see that 524 people came to my blog and read my post from Blog Rush.

So, listen… Get clicking! Tell your friends. Get your grandma to click. I don’t care who you have to pull in, but I want to see some serious, finger pounding, people!

Har. Other bloggers get my drift, I’m sure. Where’s the traffic?

I really just want you to get ready for something incredible. I can’t tell you just what it is yet, and I’m only releasing it to the people on my list on Tuesday. If you want to know what it is, that’s easy! Sign up for my list over at the sidebar.

But it’s going to be cool. Specially for bloggers and blogger-wannabes.

I’m pretty excited.

Tell your grandma.

Popularity: 48% [?]