Building a blog is something that takes time, skill, and patience like I’ve probably mentioned many times on here. The the key factors in building a blog is keeping your readers interested, so in other words keep them coming back. Sometimes that can be a hard thing to do, but then again its not that hard.

Read a few of the tips I have brought up below. Keep in mind though the idea to building a blog is patience, and practice. You have to cycle through the process over, over, and over again until you hit that point then from there on out your blog will act more virally on you because you have a good subscription list built up.

1. Capturing the Mind: Try to capture the readers mind, think creatively. Always try to think of stuff that will spread virally rather its news, contrary, and etc. Honestly I think the best way to capture peoples minds is to write something that is unique, different, and one of a kind. Which granted News is great and everything, but sometimes the user can get wore out from news unless its something that blows there mind away like something out of the ordinary.
2. Writers Perception and Imaging: Use images to set your writing off. For example say your writing something up about viral marketing why not use images around that post that is relevant to what your saying. Little things like this can make the brain react a bit different, therefore making the blog look more “creative” and the reader will fill more attached to it.
3. Create Conversations: Creating conversations through out your blog can be a trick sometimes, but practice makes perfect. You can easily use related forums in your industry to create conversations through your blog. Just a way to drive traffic from other sites like forums, blogs, and general sites. Which yes sometimes you will have to communicate and participate in other social related websites, but if you leverage it properly your site will grow and possibly outgrow the sites around you.
4. Tips and Education: Every one loves educational information. Specially if you know what your talking about ;). Anyways think of creative ideas that you can leverage around an educational topic then write about it.

Being creative and unique is what marketing is all about. When you can put a great image into the mind of your blog reader it will keep them coming back for more. Plus when your keeping your readers on the hook your probably obtaining a lot of links therefore this will result in higher search rankings, and of course there on out you can leverage your readers around your products :).

For some odd reason here lately I have been getting a lot of clients asking us if .edu and .gov links are as powerful as what people say they are and to be honest no there not. Which granted don’t take me wrong there not bad links to have at all. The main reason .GOV and .EDU links are so highly looked upon for is because they generally come from old sites that are very established and of course higher page rank.

A lot of people try to sell people on them saying hey its a .gov link yea which is cool its probably not a bad link, but is it worth the price (most of the time you’ll be renting them)? No not really why would you want to rent links out when you can focus on a more organic approach that will make your links last for a lifetime.

Basically when you purchase a .gov or .edu link your renting it its not permanent unless you earned it naturally through content because most of the time thats how links like this are priced.

Your probably asking your self now how could I earn these type of links through content well the process is simple. Create viral content that is relevant to your industry on your site then conduct a search for edu sites then start e-mailing all the webmasters or who ever is in charge of that site. Ask them politely if they will link to your content you never know they might find it interesting and give you some link love.

Believe me it happens we’ve obtained links like that for client sites in the pass which this is a very time consuming process, but it can work if you work it. There is a lot of people that love to link to great content which granted you might not think the same way, but believe it or not people will link to it, it’s a natural process to some people.

Also don’t expect the 1st person to link to you right off the bat, so in other words after setting there for 2 hours e-mailing and communicating with people don’t just give up and walk away because you’ll never get anywhere. If your someone that don’t like to do this type of work or you are not famaliar with it hire an SEO consultant to do it for you.

Conclusion
So in other words try to get links that have a high editorial status, I mean think of it why would you want to pay for it when you can earn it naturally, but there again depends on what your after. Anyways tomorrow I’ll explain to you how to create a list of sites to e-mail and how to leverage your self into getting a link from them for free!

Building link equity takes time, skill, patience, and practice. There is a lot of things you should look for when trying to capture / build links such as quality, editorial status, and many other similar aspects. I’m going to get into details today about the things you should really pay attention to when building links.

Relevancy: You want to try to keep your links coming from relevant sites as possible. Specially from content areas, for example have you ever obtained blog links, article links or directory links?

If so then make sure there in relevant categories or the content written around them is relevant. I mean think about it would want your link embedded into a paragraph that is about real estate services when your in the car insurance business now would you? Nope I don’t think so. Instead you want your link placed inside of a relevant car insurance article therefore it keeps the equity up.

Page Rank: Don’t base links on page rank if your basing them on page rank then I would say your heading the wrong direction with your link building techniques. Which granted don’t take me the wrong way generally links from higher PR sites can be better at times. Just focus on obtaining editorial links from relevant sites.

Content Creation: Build link worthy content that will obtain links. Nothing can out beat high quality content that will spread all around the web and capture 1000’s of high quality editorial links.

Link Equity is about keeping your mind in the direction of building editorial links. If your trying to get links your self always keep the editorial idea in your head. If you keep that in mind you’ll build a site that will last for a life time and Google will always love you.

I wanted to write this post up because a lot of people seem to think there just going to jump into Adwords and start profiting right off the bat. Which granted it does happen, but if you have a new account or starting a new campaign it won’t always turn out like that.

See the thing is when you create a new account your going to have to spend a lot to get it going then eventually you will break even sooner or later, but like I said you’ll have to spend maybe a good 2k if not more to break even most generally on new accounts (if not more).

Here is a list of things below you should pay attention to:

Keyword Matching Options: I can’t tell you how important this is knowing how to match your keywords is a must. Another mistake that a lot of AdWords users make is going broad at the beginning on all keywords and that is not what you want to do. What you want to do is define a well set keyword list of maybe 100-400 keywords depending on your niche and use exact match. Therefore you’ll find out what keywords are converting and what keywords need improved or just straight out deleted.

Highly Relevant Keywords with Ad Copies: You should try to create highly relevant keywords to match your Ad Copies. Some people will go in and create 75 keywords under each ad, and really there no reason for that. The idea is to have very highly targeted keywords that are relevant with your ads; therefore, you’ll have a higher CTR level which will result in lower CPC (Cost Per Click) eventually after time (keep in mind time).

A / B Testing Landing Pages and Ads: You should always A/B test your Ads, let me reiterate you should always A / B test your ADS and landing pages at least your Ads for crying out loud. A / B testing your ads periodically is a must for a successful and profiting campaign.

Bidding To Low: Don’t bid low in the beginning stages, bid high as you can or at least bid in the sweet spot. When I say the sweet spot I’m referring to positions 5-8 because they usually convert better, but then again depends on the vertical your promoting. Just keep in mind to bid high on new campaigns (so your not on page 10) and also you might lose some money if not a lot specially when your testing a new account out with a new campaign.

Separate Content Network from Search Network: Make sure you always separate your content network from your search network becuase of course the content network will convert at a lot lower level. Out of all honesty I never even use the content network (I do, but not that much).

Not Setting Geo-Targeting: You should always use Geo-Targeting specially if your only shipping to certain countries or if your promoting an affiliate offer and they only allow US conversions then you better make sure you have your ads to only run on the US Google Search Network.

Not using the Conversion Tracking tool: You should alway use the keyword conversion tool specially on your own site. Now there is a few affiliate merchants that won’t allow anyone entering there tracking codes on there site, but honestly once you become good enough you will be able to fly blind no problem, but I still wouldn’t recommended doing this unless your very experienced.

Conclusion:
AdWords is like a black box, and you must know how to work it. If you use good sense you will be successful with using AdWords. The idea is to test, test, and test and if you can do that and have the patience then your heading in the right direction with it.

Relevant Links Below:
10 Worst AdWords Mistakes
10 AdWords Mistakes from Ubber Affiliate
15 Tips for AdWords Beginners

Basing links on page rank is a big problem now days out of all honesty you should never base links on page rank. Which granted don’t take me me the wrong way links that do come from higher page rank websites are better to a degree. The only thing that is better about links coming from higher page ranked websites is that it will give you some juice of course, but once you hit a certain point with your page rank will be a bit harder to get up, so in other words new links from pr0 websites can work just as well (you can get more of them more easier).

Which I’m not saying don’t try to get links from high pr sites, but what I am saying is don’t put your mind totally in that direction because if your wanting to rank then you should try to obtain links from pr0,1,2,3 pages because you can get them a lot easier therefore getting handfuls of them with various anchor text.

Let me discuss a few type of links that you should try to get.

Old Websites: Generally you should try to get links from old websites which new websites will work, but most generally it is known that old website pass more trust rank then what new websites do, but when it comes down to it having an old domain can out beat anything when I refer to old domain I’m referring to your domain.

Authority Sites: I don’t really use this term to much when talking with clients I think people try to make it out to be more then what it is. Most generally what people are referring to when they say authority links are links from old trusted websites, but yes there good links :).

Organic Linking: Honestly if your able to get links on a daily bases then you got it going on because nothing can out beat organic linking. You can install a blog to get organic links, but keep in mind you won’t get your desired anchor text you want, but if you have a blog you can leverage your linking to your advantage for example tell someone to link to you to enter a contest you have going on (use blogs to do this with).

Article Links: Article links can be great links the reason being is becuase they come from a dedicated page and don’t have a bunch of other links going out on the page, but then again it depends on the article sites.

Editorial Blog Links: Blog links can be very powerful which granted they don’t contain a ton of page rank, but the thing is with blog links is that you get a dedicate page to you. Which some SEO’s might disagree with me (rookies) in this area, but tell you what I’ve seen people go from no where to the top for some of the most competitive keywords out there from obtain blog links. Now don’t go getting a bunch of spam blog links try to get links from higher editorial sites bloggers that actually do a review for your link (editorial sites).

Web Directories: Web directories do contain value still some people say they don’t, but the facts are there is still a ton of great web directories out there. Most generally the better directories are the ones that have been around for a long time such as dmoz, yahoo, and similar directories like that.

Conclusion
I didn’t really go into depth too much on this topic, but I just wanted you guys to keep in mind to not base links on page rank. If you can get a link from a dedicated page that has a pr0, but your the only link on there go for it. Another reason you don’t want to try to acquire links from high pr sites is because Google will smack down on you quick.

Every one out there has there own opinion(s) about what a real SEO is such as a “guru SEO”. Well I’m going to discuss what my believes are which some of you might disagree with me, but honestly if you ask me to be successful in search engine optimization you must know the real trades. I see a lot of people that “claim” to know SEO, but they have no idea of what direction to go in.

Matter fact we have a lot of companies that we deal with and they’ve have hired in house SEO’s (before contacting us), but out of all honesty when I talk to them they don’t seem to be too well coordinated with the proper sense (eg someone that has great deal of concepts and understanding of SEO / SEM). Have you ever talked with someone and you can just tell by talking with them that there not fully knowledgeable in that area?

I’m sure we all have one way or another, but then again there is people that are more knowledgeable in some areas that others aren’t. Well let share a few of my thoughts on what a real SEO is.

Major Link Resources: If they’re true SEO they will have resources to links and when I mean resources they will have unlimited supply of links just not 200,300,500, or 1000 they will have unlimited resources that means to be able to build them on on going bases if not they should be able to define a strategy to get more links (know what direction to take to get them).

Link Value: They should understand and know how to measure links if there basing links on page rank or I should say every link on page rank then they don’t fully understand how the linking works which granted links from higher page ranked website are better to a degree, but you only want to use them in the beginning stages or at least to get some juice flowing into your site.

Domain Age: A true SEO must understand how the domain age factors work. Any experienced SEO will know that older domains rank better or at least domains that have been indexed for awhile with links.

Team Assembling: If the SEO gets a large project or maybe a project that someone needs a lot of links for they must know how to assemble a team and build the strategy for there / the company.

For Example:

• The SEO must know how to put together or at least hire a content writer for link bait.
• The SEO must know how to hire link builders because honestly some projects can take more then one link builder, but then again the SEO could outsource or hire a broker to gain links (believe it or not I have met a lot of self proclaimed SEO’s that know nothing about hiring brokers they think they have to do it all there self).
• The SEO must know how to provide reports such as estimated ROI reports (which yes can be hard to predict, but experience builds the charm), Linking Reports, Content Creation Reports, and ETC.

Understanding Directories: This would fall back under the category of knowing how to evaluating link value because there is a lot of SEO’s that think directories don’t carry any value any more and there wrong. The fact is there is a ton of directories out there that still carry value I can think of 100 off the top of my head right now. Google still loves directories, but yes there is some directories that have got penalized due to over linking, buying links, and things to that nature.

Branding: Which this is not a big role, but honestly a SEO should have some understanding of branding because by someone having this trait can help them build a viral site through blogs. I mean honestly blogging is almost like branding to a degree the reason being is becuase your building a character, something that makes people feel connected to your blog and etc (creativeness).

Site Structure: An SEO must understand the traits of structuring a site so it will be visible to search engines or I should say crawlable. I have had many clients call me in the pass and generally when they tell me there website I’ll peep it out of course, but I have ran into sites that have a terrible site structure such as Dynamic Url’s and etc. Then when I ask them about the site structure they tell me there prior SEO never brought anything up about it :(.

Descriptions and Titles: A real SEO will know how to produce titles and descriptions that increase CTR (Click Through Rate) because believe it or not titles, urls, and descriptions can dramatically increase your CTR along with conversions specially on long tails that are driving traffic to a precise landing page that are based around services or products.

Conclusion
Which granted there is a lot to SEO more then I’ve listed above. I was just trying to list some of the things I have seen in the pass and by the way we have dealt with some pretty large brands that got marketing budgets of 1 million+ a year for online marketing. We have also put clients in top 5 for some of the most competitive keywords in there particular vertical, but honestly what it takes to be a talented SEO is to know how to get links.

SEO is about Link Building, which granted along with many other things ;). So what is your definition of a real SEO?

Building a blog is like creating an image out of all honesty. Most generally in the beginning stages of your blog you will find your self blogging about numerous things and sometimes you’ll probably ask your self should of I even blogged about that or would people find this interesting. The idea though honestly in building a blog is to just be your self which granted put full effort into what you think is going to work, but at the same time be your self. Blogs are about passion, honesty, and sharing ideas and things to that nature.

Once you find your image you should persuade your self into that direction because if your blogging about certain things or topics and it working for you then keep on doing it. Reiterating the process over, over, and over again is what will lead you into success which there again you’ll find your self changing over time, but just keep that image going (the image that is working).

What are some ways to create a great blog and what can help you build a good image?

Participate in the Blog-o-sphere: Participating in the blog-o-sphere will allow you to gain more knowledge and expertise in your area, so in other words you can learn a lot from other bloggers. If you see something working for them why don’t you take note of it and maybe try to use that particular thing your advantage who knows it might work for you or you might find something similar in that area that will work for you - you have to test it.

Learn to Link Bait: I can’t say how important this is - learning to link bait is a must if you ask me. I mean honestly if you don’t know how to create a viral blog then what the hell. You want something that people are going to subscribe to and link to therefore you can leverage your brand around your community which there again this would fall in the category of building a good blog image.

Keep a daily schedule: If you are one of them people that has a tight schedule or I should say someone that is very organized about what time you do everything like you eat at this time, you go to work at this time, and etc. If so try to find a time you can set down and relax your mind for blogging at least make sure you do 1-2 post a day specially in the beginning stages. Quite honestly blogging is about staying active and persistent I would have to say blogging takes more dedication to get going then anything else online, but then again depends on how good you are with your viral hooks.

Takes Notes: Taking notes through your day can help you create a better blog or even taking notes when your just setting down doing research. For example if you are researching on how to build links or evaluating link value take notes of it then blog about it later on. Sometimes I’ll think of interesting things to blog about and then I’ll take write down that topic, so therefore I won’t forget and it gives me something to focus on and blog about.

Hire Quality Content Writers: If your someone that has the money why not hire maybe 3-4 other people to blog with you to help getting the content up on your blog I mean think of it if you have 3-4 people posting along with you it could help tremendously. Just keep in mind to post - high quality content - only.

Build a Character: This would fall back under the category of building an image. You need to build a blog that people will fill connected to its pretty much similar to branding. If your famaliar with branding then just apply them skills into your blog. Building brands is about building something your consumers will be attached to.

Use a Unique Template: I can’t say how important this is don’t register a blogspot blog which granted you can, but the best thing is to do is create a custom template on your own unique domain (www.yourname.com) and then start building it up. Give the blog a unique name. It works out a lot better this way the reason being is because you have way more control over your blog and plus you just look more presentable, more dedicated to what you do (or trying to achieve).

Be Different: Yup thats right be the different kid, but at the same time be innovative. Generally the different people always create the best ideas, so think outside th box. If you want to build a profitable enterprise then be different, you have to stand you.

Create a Signature Link: Always put a signature in the bottom of your blog post that pursued people into subscribing to your blog.

Conclusion
The idea in being a successful blogger is to build a blog that is different, something that is unique. When you get your blog built up you can leverage it around your products or brand therefore increasing brand awareness.

Getting, Grabbing, Obtaining, Finding, Building, Or Fetching links is quite easy. When I first got involved with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) I use to think getting links was a challenge, but not no more. Today its like 2nd nature, but let me give you some ideas on how to get links, so make sure you focus in.

1. Web Directories
   You can still obtain links from web directories I don’t care what any one has to say about web directories don’t pass value any more. The truth is almost every Search Engine Optimization company out there including my company uses web directories today still as part of our strategy to building search rankings. Which don’t take me wrong there is a lot of directories out there that got penalized by Google for who knows what, but also keep in mind there is still a lot of good web directories out there you just have to use SEO judgment.
2. Contextual Links
   Blogs links are very effective, I have seen some of our clients go from having zero visibility in the search engines to ranking for some of the most competitive keywords in there particular vertical.
3. Content Creation with Blogs
   Creating viral content with blogs will get you links that’s for damn sure. If you set down or at least hire a content writer to craft you up some valuable content people will link to it you just have to take the time out to write it up.
4. Pre-sell Pages
   This is Jim Boykin favorite approach and yes they are very effective. Most generally presell pages coming from old established domains well good presell pages do you anyways, but you get one dedicated page to you about your business with your link inside a content area or wherever you want your link at anyways.
5. Create A Widget
   Create a widget and get people to use it on there website rather it being a certification that your company offers or a certification that you offer personally just be creative ; ).
6. Submit Press Releases
   You can obtain links from PR sites and most generally these are from older sites, but the good thing about getting links from PR sites is that it might viral out there speaking you write something up that journalist will find interesting if so they might just link to it, but at the same time linking to your site.
7. Article Submissions
   You can obtain links through article distribution, and these links can contain some pretty good value (submit to quality article directories).
8. Create Contests
   Creating contests or some type of free give away can capture you links just depends on what it is. For example why not hold a SEO contest and the winner will get 1k you would probably definitely drive some links by doing that.
9. Share Your Experiences
   Share your experiences on what you have been successful with or maybe you figured something out that will help other people out if so share it which of course as long as its something that your comfortable with sharing you don’t want to give out to many tips ;).

Building links takes time it won’t happen over night. Now you can build a profitable website with then 3-6 months, but you have to be pretty famaliar with your area. Its better to try to build them slowly over time therefore it looks more “natural” to Google.

Taking traffic to the next level is something that we do and have been successful at doing. We have driven direct leads (a lot) to our clients sites that have resulted in large deals with major brands. Building traffic to a website is quite simple which don’t take me wrong it does take some practice of course, but when you find that channel and you leverage your brand through there just right you’ll get astonishing results specially on the web.

Let me discuss a few ways that you can build your traffic.

Building Links: Building links can play a major factor in search engines of course. There are many ways to build rankings through strategic link building. A good place to start would be Contextual Style you can get highly relevant links that will dramatically increase your rankings.

Pay Per Click: PPC is one of the fastest ways to get traffic, but keep in mind if you go the PPC route you will have to keep investing money into it to sustain, or at least to keep getting traffic. Pay Per Click can send some of the most highest quality traffic to your website which of course is very relevant traffic. The thing is with pay per click is that you have complete control over all your ads for each keywords then outside of that you can A / B test your landing pages and ad groups, so you can some pretty powerful leverage there plus this will give you a better idea on what you need to work on in organic search.

Buzz Marketing: Buzz marketing can be very effective if done right most generally you want to do this through blogs. You will need to start building viral content that will capture the imagination of people’s minds there on out you will have to leverage it into other segments. Just takes a lot of practice sooner or later you will start to grasp it and get it.

Build an E-mail List: Building an e-mail list can be a highly effective way of generate new leads generally when marketing through this channel online what you want to do is create a landing page then drive pay per click traffic to the landing page then persuade them into signing up, therefore this will build you a highly targeted e-mail subscriber list that you can market around your business. Once you get the e-mail list built up put your self into a viral state of mind before you send your advertisement out to all these people maybe your wanting to create link bait, sale a product, capture more e-mails, and etc. Just leverage it to your advantage.

Conclusion
There is several ways of generating buzz, increasing traffic, and etc. You just have to find out what works for you, once you do find out what works for you leverage it to your advantage. Leveraging is what marketing is all about honestly I mean if you can leverage your brands into different market segments then good luck, but if you can then your traffic will continue to increase for a life time therefore more sales and leads.

I was just setting here a few minutes ago thinking about what to write and actually earlier I was doing the same thing. Then I got to thinking to my self am I being stubborn because I think sometimes my stubbornness rubs off into the wrong areas, but then I was like no that’s not the problem the problem was I wasn’t being open with my blog.

Writing requires you to be open and share your true thoughts. Which of course we all have different views on what being open minded actually means, but when your building a blog its something that requires a lot of attention, maintenance, self-dedication, motivation, and you name it, but most important of all it requires you to be open with what your doing.

So in other words blog about things that people will want to hear about. For example don’t you like talking with someone when there more honest with you I mean why wouldn’t you or. Another example would be - have ever known someone that you wanted to know more on a personal bases or wanted to learn more about there professional life?

You must be able to open and communicate with your readers, make them feel attached to what your saying and most generally that comes with you being open to every one by writing it down. I think a lot of people struggle with blogs such as getting them going because there not an easy task to get going of course, but then again there’s some people that can just jump right into them and build them up, but most generally these are people that are very passionate about what there blogging about and are completely honest about what there blogging about.

That right there is what will get you far in the web 2.0 sphere is being honest when you write or at least being more open if you get my drift. When you learn to develop this type of behavior you will find out it will be so much easier to write because your actually writing what your thinking and is happening. I’m not saying you have to blog about your personal life all the time which it wouldn’t hurt every once and awhile to let your readers know who you are of course, but on a professional level what I’m trying to say is that you should try to stay more open at the same time.