Tag-Archive for » search engine traffic «

23
Feb
Bloggers Are Going Naked

A lot of bloggers admit they blog in their pajamas, however, today’s post is not about the state of dress we’re in when we write.

Today’s Lesson

Maybe it’s just the blogs I visit, but what I see is many of these sites are naked.

Devoid of advertisements.

Although many bloggers admit to wanting to make money blogging (me, included), for some reason we don’t discuss it and certainly don’t want our sites labeled as “spammy”.

Truth be told, most fellow bloggers expect to see ads on our sites.

Like you, they also hope to make money and understand why the ads are there.

Take a look at these popular websites. They all have ads, too.

Granted, the popular sites are where advertisers want their ads displayed and willingly pay these large corporations big bucks for their website “real estate”, but the ads are there, providing a passive income for these businesses.

If you look at these websites, you’ll notice the ads blend in with the copy and/or photographs.

As bloggers we can learn from that.

That said, the one thing these large websites have which most bloggers don’t, are high traffic numbers.

Without traffic, all the ads in the world will not make us rich.

So does that mean we should stay naked for now?

Or include some ads and hope for the best?

Today’s Assignment

Are you a naked blogger (no ads on your blog), or does you blog have some bling?

If you land on a blog which has advertisements, are they a distraction or have you become blind to them?

If you do show ads, are they profitable?

Care to share?

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Category: Advertising, Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons  Tags: , , , , , ,  99 Comments
22
Nov
I Shoulda…

Do you remember when you first started blogging? Wordpress publish button image

Although I don’t think about it often, I still do.

I was scared to hit “publish” the first few times, and I worried because I kept switching my theme.

I didn’t know any of the blogging terms either.

Being self taught, I spent most of my non-writing time searching for help, but even when I found help, I usually didn’t understand what to do with it.

I was pretty naive.

Today’s Lesson

When I think back to when I first started blogging, I didn’t have too many expectations except for thinking I could make lots of some money by having a blog.

  • I wasted a lot of time signing up for affiliate networks and tweaking my Google AdSense ads.


  • I didn’t know that without thousands of visitors a day, making a decent income from a blog was out of the question. When I figured it out (that I needed traffic to make money), I wasted time trying to get more traffic, too. Instead, I should have been learning more about SEO (search engine optimization) and spending less time looking for an “easy way”.


  • I wanted comments. Little did I know I should have kicked the “If I build it, they will come” attitude and should have spent time visiting and commenting on other blogs.


  • Although I worried about changing my theme so often, I should have realized without a steady stream of visitors, it really didn’t matter.


  • I love numbers, so for me checking my statistics became a daily obsession. Instead of wasting time watching the numbers rise and fall, I should have spent time either writing and publishing or learning techniques which would take me closer to my goals.


  • Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook can be fun, but they can also be addicting. Before signing up, I should have asked myself if the benefits of participating in social networking will outweigh the investment of my time.


Truth be told, I wasted a lot of time on blogging activities I should have postponed until later or maybe not even got involved in, but that’s in the past.

What about you?

Today’s Assignment

Looking back, if you had to do it all over again, where would you have spent more time?

Where would you have spent less time?

Care to share?

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Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, Comments, Hints, Increase Traffic, Making Money, SEO, Social Networking  Tags: , , , , , , ,  59 Comments
12
Sep
Don’t Blog For Me (If I’m Not Your Target Audience)

As a small business owner, we know we get the most bang for the buck if we use our advertising dollars to target specific clientele.

Being in the construction industry, we know those who prefer to rent won’t need our services. And because we don’t have the man-power and equipment, we know those who need huge jobs done, won’t be our customers either.

Hence, when we advertise, we choose resources we believe are being viewed by the clients we are targeting.

It’s not always easy, but through trial and error, we hit the mark .

Today’s Lesson

Building a blog is very similar to building a business. First and foremost, we need to know who our target audience is.

Secondly, in order to reach that audience, we need pick our blog post topics accordingly.

Similar to advertising, by using SEO (search engine optimization) we can tighten the gap, just as we can by sharing information we feel would be beneficial to our target audience.

However, problems can emerge when we throw comments into the mix.

Truth be told, it’s often other bloggers who are commenting on our blog posts, and not the readers we’re writing for.

I believe it’s easy to start blogging with a target audience in mind, only to forget whom we’re blogging for when other bloggers begin to show up.

Bloggers will always support other bloggers. That’s a given.

However, if we inadvertently start writing for bloggers and NOT for our target audience, not only can our readership suffer, but so can the growth of our blog, as well as potential earnings (if applicable).

Today’s Assignment

In an effort to receive more comments, have you changed your writing style or blogging activities in order to attract fellow bloggers to your blog, instead of your target audience?

If you’re not attracting your target audience, what is your biggest challenge?

Care to share?

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Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, Comments, SEO  Tags: , , , , , ,  87 Comments
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