Link Building: Tested and Proven SEO Technique

This is an SEO technique that has been proven to work for a blog which is now ranked number 2 for the keyword blog marketing.

Link building is the most effective SEO technique to promote your web page visibility.

Link Building the Right Way

However, there is the right way to link building and there is the wrong way. The right way consists of methods “approved” by the search engines e.g. Google and Bing.

Here’s the 13 methods which have proven to work for Blogopreneur.

1. Comment on someone’s blog
2. Write an article – submit it to Hubpages.
3. Write another article – submit it to eZineArticles.com
4. Submit a press release.
5. Answer someone’s question in Yahoo! answers.
6. Email webmasters. Ask for a link.
7. Write something interesting on your site. Tweet the URL out to your friends.
8. Participate in forums – change your forum signature to include your link.
9. Submit your site to directories.
10. Guest blog for someone.
11. Get your site listed in one of your local club’s website
12. Submit a WordPress theme/plugin
13. Submit a YouTube video

Source: Link Building: The Key to Exploding Visibility

Upcoming Event:

IT Show 2012
8-11 March 2012
Suntec Singapore
Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6
Opening hours: 12noon to 9pm
Admission Free

What were the Search Terms used to look for PC Show and IT Fair?

You will see that most people were using the 3-word keyphrases to look for the “it show” and “pc show” related search terms.

Here’s a list of keyword phrases which people use at search engines and ended up at my blog:

1. sitex price list
2. pc show singapore
3. singapore pc fair
4. computer fair singapore
5. next pc show
6. singapore it show
7. it show in singapore
8. pc fair singapore
9. it fair singapore 2010
10. singapore pc fair 2010
11. it show singapore 2010
12. singapore it show 2010
13. singapore computer show
14. next pc show in singapore
15. singapore expo computer fair 2010

The above keywords list is a segment of my keyword inventory – there are thousands of search terms that drive traffic to my blog everyday.

So why not start to blog about the next PC show in Singapore?

And if you need ideas to ignite your creative juice, why not check out what I’d written on the coming IT Show Singapore.

Or you can read about previous events…

• IT Show 2009 Buzz Already Started
• PC Show 2009 Shopping List
• Comex 2010
• Sitex 2008

More Consumer Electronic, IT and PC Shows

As for the upcoming events, here’s a list of IT and PC shows lined up for the rest of the year:

• IT Show – usually in March to coincide with the 1-week school holiday
• PC Show – usually in June, the 4-week school holiday
• COMEX – usually in August, over the weekend just before the 1-week school and
• SITEX – in late November, also during school holiday, just weeks before the Christmas so you can shop for a digital camera or a notebook computer for your loved ones.

I have been using WordPress for about 2 years now. All this time, I left it to WordPress default settings to get my latest blog post updated with the major blog directories and blog search engines.

However, I didn’t realize that every time I save a published blog post, a ping is sent to http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ and this may cause ping spam or sping. So I installed the Ultimate Plugins Smart Update Pinger to ensure that it will only ping once when I published my post and will not ping again when I edit and save the post.

So far, I found http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ very effective. In additional, I added http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2 to make sure that Google pinger server is updated with my latest post.

Here’s the step-by-step guide to verify that you have http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ in place and also add http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

WordPress 2.5 and above

1. At the Dashboard, click settings then select Writing
2. Scroll down to find the section Update Services, you should see http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ in the box
3. Add http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2 to the line below http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
4. Click Save Changes

Caution: Don’t use blogflux ping server, it is not working.

If you have been twittering, you’ll know what microblogging is all about. Basically, it’s a blog with very short entries – usually just one liner as in the case of a Twitter micro blog.

Why Micro Blog

Micro blog is for people who want to tell their friends (and the whole world) what they are doing at that moment. You can give a “real-time” account of what you are doing via your computer or your mobile phone. You don’t have to think much about what you are writing, like how to start the first sentence and how to end the final paragraph. You simply write a one-line about what you are doing at the moment.

It can be quite addictive to the writer of a micro blog and to the readers who monitor and want to know what is happening to and around you.

Imagine reading a second by second account of what happened on flight 175 minutes before it crashed into WTC.

No, I have not come across such a terrify account yet. However, there are some good examples how effective micro blog can be used to tell a story.

Think Reality Blogging.

Here’s an account of what happened during recent layoff exercise at yahoo. You could have followed the unfolding of events at

http://twitter.com/ryankuder/statuses/704015762

Using WordPress/Prologue as a Mircroblogging Platform

However, Twitter micro blog is rather restrictive and may not be suitable for people who want to have more control over their micro blog.

WordPress with Prologue theme is the answer. It is one of the best, in my opinion, the best microblogging platform currently available at no cost.

If you are already a fan of WordPress and want to use WordPress/Prologue combination as your microblogging platform, go check out Matt’s post on Prologue.

WordPress MU with Prologue

And if you are interested to use WordPress MU with Prologue, then check out my latest microblogging at Wassup.

Want to use my Prologue Modified theme for your WordPress blog? Leave me a comment below.

You have a higher change of getting higher PR when you blog. The reason is quite simple, more web pages will link to your pages because blog is designed with that feature from the start. In fact, trackback was invented because of blog. And RSS becomes popular because of blog.

If you used WordPress, you will realize that you can tell what other blogs link to yours.

I did not solicit backlinks from these blogs. So these are one-way links. I guess many of these blogs are scraping content from RSS feeds and link to my pages. Yes, these scaper pages are really useless in terms of SEO for Google. However, there are still a good number of legitimate web pages that link to this blogs. And I am really grateful.

So I am going to mention these blogs here:

Delicious Weekender – Food and eating place recommendation from all around Singapore.

Now that I returned the link – it no longer one-way link.

Anyway, it’ alright. Since this blog has achieved a good position in Google and Yahoo.

This is definitely a plugin you must have for blog marketing and e-commerce. It provides one more way to monetize the traffic to your blog.

Using Amazon Build Links

Previously, whenever I want to add an Amazon link, I’ll need to log in to Amazon Affiliate Central and use the Build Links t to search for the product and generate the JavaScript. Then copy and paste the link into the WordPress editor.

Now, WP-Amazon simplify the tedious process of Amazon Build Links and put what you need right at where you need it – within WordPress editor. Check out the demo video here.

Here’s what I want for my trip to photo trip to Hokkaido:

Buy Now at Amazon – Leica V-LUX 1

The above image and link were inserted using WP-Amazon in less than 30 seconds.

Here’s what you need to take note when installing the WP-Amazon plugin:

1. You’re need an Amazon Affiliate ID.
2. Copy the WP-Amazon files to the plugins folder and activate it.
3. Go to Options and click Amazon tab.
4. You will need to enter your default country and Affiliate ID.
5. You need to use the visual editor for the drag-and-drop feature to work.

Now you are ready to recommend Amazon items and make a commission when your readers purchased the product. Good luck to marketing using your blog and making your blog, e-commerce capable.

Maybe you can call it Hit Exchange 2.0! The Web 2.0 version of the exchanging page view.

You log in to MyBlogLog, check who have been visiting your blogs. In return, you may visit their blogs or even leave a message. So for every 10 other blogs you visited, you will bound to get some curious click at your blog. And if you have a provocative avatar, you may get even more curious click. Your Alexa ranking will sure increase by leaps and bounce!

However, is this traffic considered as quality traffic? Are you getting targeted traffic?

I used MyBlogLog for just about a month and cannot really tell how good is this traffic. So I can only tell what I can track, Alexa ranking and Alexa statistics should be reliable, right. My Alexa ranking seems like it is going to the moon!

I still think MyBlogLog is a great service.

The question is… How can we prevent MyBlogLog becoming a hit exchange?

Ans: Yahoo has paid for it and … better do something about it!

Getting ranked number in the Google Blog Search is a pleasant surprise since this blog has not been doing well with Google search ranking – in fact it has not been indexed yet; so are many other pages in this blog.

Google Blog Search is not the same as Blogger Search, even though they are powered by the same search engine technology. Blogger Search displays results of Blogger(Blogspot) blogs only whereas Google Blog Search includes results from WordPress.com and etc.

So how did Google Blog Search find this blog?

It is likely that Blog Search uses the same Googlebot as the main Google search engine.

So how does Google decide if the web page is a blog post or otherwise?

I really do not have the answer to this question. If it is purely based on the meta tag information e.g. <link rel=“alternate” type=“application/atom+xml” /> then it may not be accurate, because many non-blog website can also include RSS feeds. Also, I don’t think there is a blog search submission service by Google; unlike Technorati which rely on owners of blogs to submit to its directory manually or by pinging.

Whatever! I am just happy that all is not lost even Google main search is not ranking this blog highly, it’s comforting to know that it still manage to do well in Google Blog Search.

Now, he is not talking about personal blogs like those of Xiaxue, MissIzzy or even MrBrown.

We are talking about corporate blogging. Blog that communicate with your customers and your prospects. It is one of the most effective way to build relationship with your customers.

Don’t you think it is much easier to sell your customers again than to new ones?

There are many ways to start your own weblog but one of the easiest is with a free service called “Blogger.” Owned by Google, it’s a feature-rich service that makes it simple to start a blog of your own.

If you think blogging is just about typing text, think again. There are many fun things you can do once you’re up and running with your very own blog.

1) Photo Blogging: Post photos to your weblog with this free software called “Hello.” Get it at http://hello.com. It makes it easy to upload photos to your blog.

2) Audio Blogging: Post to your blog by phone. Once registered, you’ll receive a special number. Call it, leave a message and it’s immediately posted to your website as an MP3 audio file. To sign up, go to http://www.AudioBlogger.com

3) Email Posting: Post to your blog by sending an email from any email application. To set it up, you’ll need to log into your blogger account and go to “settings” then “email.” You must specify if you want your posts to publish automatically or be saved as drafts for later publishing. The subject of your email will be the title of your blog post, with the email body making up the rest of it.

4) Team Blogs: This allows groups of people to contribute to one blog. One person must create the blog, then invite others to join in.

5) Templates: Blogger has over 30 templates to choose from. Make sure you back up your blog before attempting any changes. There are also third party template providers you can choose designs from. See:

http://BlogSkins.com

http://BlogDesigns.com

6) Blogger Toolbars: Google has one built into its toolbar that makes it a snap to post to your site while visiting any webpage you might want to comment on. Firefox also has a toolbar of its own with blogging components. See it at http://FireFoxToolbar.com/blogger or Google’s at http://toolbar.google.com/

7) Feeds: Blogger users can syndicate their content via an Atom Feed. Former Blogger Pro suscribers can choose between Atom and RSS formats. You can find this feature in your Blogging account under “settings,” then “site feed.” If you’d rather syndicate in RSS, your only choice is to use an outside service like http://FeedBurner.com

Comments: If you’d like your readers to participate on your Blog, you’ll want to turn on “comments.” Found under “settings,” you can choose from preferences like allowing anyone to post a comment, allowing only regular users to post comments, or allowing only members of the blog to post (if it’s a team blog).

9) TagBoards: Different from comments, TagBoards also allow your blog readers to post comments. These act more like a discussion board or chat room for your blog. However, they’re not aimed at individual posts but attached to your entire site. You’ll find free providers of this service at:

http://Tag-Board.com

http://ChatterBox.com

This is a great way to add a feeling of community.

10) PhotoBlogs: If you’d like to share a lot of photos with your readers on a regular basis you may want to add a “photo album.” You’ll find many sites that offer this free service such as:

http://Shutterfly.com

http://Ofoto.com

http://DotPhoto.com

11) Polls: Do you know what your readers think? Running polls on your site is a great way to get inside your readers minds and get them involved with your blog. A few free poll service providers are:

http://FreePolls.com

http://PollHost.com

http://BraveNet.com

http://WebPollCentral.com

12) Advertising: If you’d like to run ads on your blog and get paid per click, you’ll want to look at Google Adsense. Since Google owns Blogger too, they make it simple to add their advertising to your site. See, https://www.google.com/adsense/

13) Camera Phones: If you have a SprintPCS cellphone with a built-in camera you can send your pictures directly to Blogger. You’ll need to set up an “email address” to post to. For instructions, see Blogger’s Help section on “posting via email.” On your phone it works like this: you snap a picture, select “share,” pick your specific blogging email address, then ok. Your picture is uploaded.

14) Keyboard Shortcuts: Blogger has many different keyboard shortcuts you can use while making a post.

cntrl + B= Bold
cntrl + I= Italics
cntrl + shift + A= Link
cntrl + d= Save as draft
cntrl + s= Publish Post
cntrl + shift + P = Preview

15) FTP: You can host your blog on Blogger’s server, or host it on your own via FTP access. You’ll find this option under “settings”, then “publishing.”

16) Email Posts to a Friend: If you’d like to allow your visitors to email your interesting posts to their friends you can enable this feature under “settings,” basic tab, then where it says “show email post links?” say yes.

If you’d like to watch some free tutorials on “Learning Blogger,” see these by Molly Holzschlng at http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=113

So what are you waiting for? Now that you know all of the really cool things you can do with Blogger, why not experiment. Who knows, maybe there’s been a “born Blogger” hiding inside of you all along. Blog away my friend; the world is waiting.

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Merle of WebSiteTrafficPlan.com offers a F-r-e-e ebook and ane-course that will teach you how to promote and market yourwebsite. Grab your copy now at http://WebSiteTrafficPlan.com
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