10 Superb SEO Tips
Having your website be the first result on Google’s search page is an honor so great it’s been called the Holy Grail of SEO. (If you’re wondering who called it that, it was me, just now.) Many new bloggers sit in wonder about how to even approach that coveted spot, and most never do.
As mysterious and elusive as a higher SEO ranking is, however, it is definitely possible. In just 10 easy steps, you (yes, you!) can watch your site’s ranking rocket through the charts.
Don’t be afraid to bold a few keywords here and there. Granted you don’t want to abuse the tags, but a couple times on each page will help boost your ranking.Never have all your links go to your homepage. When a search engine sees this, it thinks that your site is vapid, fraudulent, using links that are automatically generated, and basically a cheater. The more pages you can link to, the more convinced a search engine will be that every page is full of amazing content, and not just fluff.Consider acquiring a business address in a foreign country. If you can get your site in a foreign directory, you’ll get more hits from the search engines.Like, Follow, and +1 your way to the top. Social networking widgets and bookmarks are a powerful tool that you should take advantage of. Search engines consider social network links valuable; the more bookmarks you can get, the higher ranking you’ll get.Get with the ‘zines. Writing articles for ezines is a great way to generate very reliable, and almost permanent links to your page, which will boost your SEO ranking a lot.Picture links are not worth a thousand text links. An SEO algorithm follows the first link it finds, and will not follow more than one link per page—and guess which kind of link it will find first. If you guessed picture link, go to jail, and do not collect $200.Compartmentalize your life. (Or maybe just your websites.) If you find that your website, be it a blog, business page, or otherwise, covers a wide variety of topics, think about building a second, or maybe even a third, website to generate more links, traffic, and ultimately, SEO cred. Also, search engines only list one result for every page. If your page is broad in thematic scope, you might not be getting the hits you deserve because your website is too broad to be highly searchable.Do Unto Others… Post an article on someone else’s page (preferably on a website that is thematically linked to yours) and have them include a link back to your site, and then let them post an article on your page, and you include a link back to their site. Mutually beneficial, and it will make you feel like a winner.Give a title to everything, even links. There isn’t much more to say about this one, other than that some SEO algorithms use link titles as variables.Give the guys who are looking for you a map. A site map that is. Especially if your site is expansive, a site map will enable the SEO algorithms to find any page on your site in just two clicks.So now, with these 10 tips, you can begin your quest for the Holy Grail again—only this time, you’ll be better armed than King Arthur himself.
Author Bio:
Stella Walker is a freelance writer of credit score where she writes about topics including credit, debt, investment, bankruptcy.
Can You Make a Living Online? 10 Steps
Many people ask “Can I make a living online?” The answer is… it depends. I know, not what you want to hear, but read on. Making a living online requires a few keys:
1. Making a living online is some combination of running your own business and freelancing. You need to understand some basic business concepts or you will never succeed (or if you find success through dumb luck, you will not be able to sustain it).
2. There is no boss online so you must be self motivated. If you need a time clock or someone to tell you what to do forget it – stick to a work for hire job.
3. Find something you love to do, a topic you care about. If you don’t believe in and love what you do life is drudgery. If you don’t love it, you will not stick with it. Also, lack of passion will show in your work and the monetary results.
Sure there are topics you could tackle that are not glamorous (marketing financial services anyone?) but every topic can be spun to be interesting somehow.
4. Be helpful. People don’t want to be sold, they want to be helped in the journey to buy. Provide great information and link to useful info, rather than pushing what you are selling. The benefits are many:
-others might link to or “like” your content helping out. There are SEO benefits to links and likes.
-visitors will feel more at ease.
-you deliver value to people and they than feel more comfortable buying from you. Blogger Pat Flynn exemplifies this principal as he delivers top quality informative content and only works in affiliate links to useful products he recommends, never hard selling them. Readers feel like rewarding Pat and he makes a very good living online.
-More quality informative content brings search engine traffic.
5. Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to jump into online business out of necessity. This blogger in Malaysia found that blogging pays more than engineering when he had trouble getting a job in a recession so he started a freebee site and than grow other web properties.
6. Learn about the tools to succeed online. Here are some places to start:
-There are many websites that share revenue and are great for building backlinks from.
-Autoresponders and mail programs are great for managing mailing lists
-Unique online content marketplaces like Constant Content are great for sourcing high quality content for your projects. Odesk is another great source for inexpensive help on your projects – no need to learn to build a website when you can have a nice website whipped up in India for $50 overnight.
7. If cash is needed faster, consider working for others freelancing as you develop your own passive income (from online properties) sources. Some places to start:
-(Constant Content is also a good place to earn money writing)
-Odesk is a fantastic freelance marketplace
-Demand Studios – I don’t recommend them, but many writers have some success here.
8. Find a good horse and ride it. This is what one of my early online inspirations WriterGig did, building up a very nice residual ehow income. When you find a good plan that works for you, wash, rinse and repeat – in her case hundreds of short ehow articles.
9. Never stop exploring new opportunities as you continue on a quest to earn a living online,. The online work is constantly changing and what works today might not work tomorrow. It might also work better tomorrow – you just never know. eHow died as an residual income opportunity, but WriterGig had already developed skills in niche sites and other areas she could make even more money from.
10. Have fun and always keep learning! Earning online is like a big puzzle, the scope of which keeps changing. Keep exploring and learning and you too will become an expert on earning online.
Tagged as: blog income, blogging, Smart Passive IncomeTips To Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt As Quickly As Possible
We welcome a guest post on personal finance today from Jeff Weber.
If you are like millions of Americans, more than likely you have a stack of credit card bills reaching into the thousands of dollars. No matter what your reason for the unpaid bills, these debts can play havoc on your life causing you to lose sleep, deal with stress and even fight with your partner. If you are ready to be rid of your debt once and for all and reach financial freedom, you will need to make tough decisions and numerous sacrifices. If you do, you just may be surprised at how quickly you can see results. Here are some tips to follow if you are looking to tackle your credit card debt and get it paid down quickly:
Stop Spending Money And Stop Using Your Credit Cards
The first step to paying debt down quickly is to stop spending money except for absolute necessities, and to stop using your credit cards to pay for additional purchases. This may not be easy but it is totally necessary if you are serious about tackling your debt at a fast pace. This means no more meals out, no more stopping for coffee on the way to work, and instead brown bag your lunch and invest in a refillable mug for the coffee you make at home. Making small sacrifices like these now will pay off big over the long term – once you are debt free, you will have more disposable income and can resume allowing yourself these little luxuries.
If you can, you might consider moving high interest credit card balances to a 0% APR balance transfer credit card. Look for cards that offer 0% interest for six months or more, and with low balance transfer fees to save the most money.
Cut Everything Out Of Your Budget Except For Essentials
This is a tough one, but one that can also free up a lot of money to pay down your debt. This means canceling your cable, getting rid of your cell phone or home phone and keeping just one line open, canceling magazine subscriptions, gym memberships and basically removing absolutely everything from your life that is not required. These are not essentials and the amount you save by taking them out of your budget can easily add up to hundreds of dollars each month. These funds can give you a great start at paying down your credit card debt. When making these sacrifices, keep in mind they are only temporary! Once you have your debt paid off, you can slowly decide which of these non-essentials you want to add back into your life. Just make sure that as you add the cable television or other expenses back in, that you can easily afford to pay for them with cash rather than charging them to credit cards – or you’ll just start the cycle all over again.
Get A Second Job
While it may mean long hours and even more sacrifices like time away from your family or friends, the sooner you get your debt paid off the sooner you can achieve financial freedom and remove all the negatives in your life that are related to your credit card debt. A second income can make a huge difference in how fast it takes you to pay off your debt. Get a night or weekend job waiting tables, delivering pizzas or freelance something you are talented at doing. Make sure the money you earn from this second job is applied directly to your debt to help pay it off quickly – it can be tempting to reward yourself with a big night out on the town when you get your check from a second job, but this is just defeating the purpose.
Sell Big Ticket Items That You Could Do Without
Many of us have big ticket items sitting around that we really do not use often. If you have big ticket items in your possession, maybe it is time to consider selling them. Boats, jet skis, snowmobiles – these items can all bring in some fast money to help pay down your debt. Additionally, just cleaning out your house and having a yard sale or listing items on eBay or Craigslist can bring in additional money that can also be helpful in your financial goals.
Jeff Weber writes about saving money and reducing credit card debt with 0% APR balance transfer offers at SmartBalanceTransfers.com, a website designed to educate consumers about balance transfers and credit cards.
What I’m Reading Right Now – Stand and Deliver
As many of you know, I have a couple of speaking gigs coming up in the near future:
A presentation at the Financial Blogger’s Conference in Chicago in early October, andA presentation at Blog World Expo in Los Angeles in early November.I’m very honored to be speaking at both of these wonderful events, and although I’ve spoken in front of large crowds before, never have I made a live presentation about what I do online.
Over the past 3 years, my experience online has taught me the best way to deliver a message to my audience via a blog, in a podcast and on video. I know there is always room for improvement but I think I have a good grasp on how to effectively teach and communicate to groups of people on these platforms.
A live presentation is a whole new ball game and I’ve always been extremely admirable of those who present themselves well in a live setting. Actors, politicians (some of them), stand up comedians, teachers, and several of my peers in this industry who have been doing the live speaking thing for a while.
They are all incredibly inspirational, and I want to master the craft just like they have.
Truly, this can only come with experience, but as with anything we want to learn how to do, we can give ourselves a head start by properly educating ourselves about what we want to achieve.
DJ Duty, a friend on the SPI Facebook Page, sent me this message the other day (thanks DJ!):
Stand and Deliver looked like a good read, so I purchased it on Amazon and within 16 hours the book was delivered to my front door.
I’m about half way through, and I must agree – it’s a fantastic read!
Dale Carnegie is one of the greatest public speakers and lecturers of all time, and after reading what I’ve read so far, not only do I understand what makes a presentation great, but I’ll be able to use a lot of the same principles to communicate better online and in life too.
I won’t go into much detail here, but what I really love about Stand and Deliver is that it sort of breaks down a good presentation into a science. As they say, becoming a good communicator isn’t a gift – it’s a skill that anyone can learn, and this book reveals the methods, strategies, tips and tricks to learn that skill.
I’ve had a lot of “oh yeah!” moments while reading this book – things that I’ve noticed in presentations before that have really made an impact on me.
I can’t wait to see what I pick up from the book and how it translates into my presentations.
One of the exercises in the book involves learning, emulating and getting inspiration from great speakers that seem to just connect with us, for whatever reasons that may be.
In an attempt to learn as much as possible and continue my research, I would love to hear who your favorite speakers are, and why. If you have links to any YouTube videos or TED videos or whatever – I would very much welcome them in the comment section below.
Please note that comments with 2 more more links must be approved manually, so please insert a link to just one of your favorites.
Thanks for your support, and look out for my August monthly income report going live on Monday!
Cheers, and don’t ever stop learning.
Tagged as: communication, public speakingWhat We Don’t Know Can Drive Us: My Experience with Uncertainty
“Uncertainty must be present in the quest to create anything deeply meaningful to you as the creator and, should you choose to seek value from others in exchange for your creation, to the world.” – Jonathan Fields
A lot of people ask me the following question:
“Pat, when you were laid off and decided to do business for yourself online, how did you know it was going to work?”
The answer is, I didn’t.
But that’s why I think it worked.
The fear of not being able to provide for my family and the fear of not knowing what was going to happen next gave me the drive to take action and go above and beyond my normal self to make something special happen.
Without the catalyst of fear and pressure, I would not be where I’m at today.
Think about that.
Fear – something that we as humans typically try to avoid – was an important ingredient in my success, and it’s an ingredient that we see in a lot of other people’s success stories too.
One story that truly spoke to me was a story from Jonathan Fields, a brilliant author and entrepreneur who I met briefly last year at Blog World Expo 2010 in Las Vegas. I really got to know him when I watched his 20 minute TED presentation, Turning Fear into Fuel, which I’ve embedded for you below.
After watching this I became very inspired, but it’s also when I realized just how important a role fear played in my own success story too.
Jonathan recently contacted me to see if I’d like to take a look at his upcoming book, appropriately titled: Uncertainty – Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance.
To be honest, I get asked to read other people’s new books all of the time and review them here on the blog. 99% of the time I say no and often I just don’t have the time, but since I already knew and respected Jonathan and his work and this particular topic of taking leaps of faith and going into the unknown is very personal to me, I was happy to accept and read a free copy to review.
I have seldom recommended books here are on the blog and there are only a select few that I would actually count as required reading – The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk and Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath – and I would absolutely add Uncertainty to that list.
We all know that the unknown can paralyze us and just stop us from doing the work that we need to be doing in order to reach our goals. In this book, Jonathan shows us how to harness that fear and actually welcome it and use it to our advantage.
A lot of it has to do with our mindset, obviously, but the book also reveals exercises and actions that we can take that will bring us to a level of certainty and confidence to move forward create.
There’s a chapter that I especially like called “See the Forest” that really struck a chord with me because it talks about balance, and what happens when things get in our way and the questions that enter our brains like whether to keep going, change course or just give up and start something new take up most of our energy.
Jonathan, if you’re reading this thank you for sharing your knowledge with us and allowing me to get an early read of your book. It’s very different from the other books I’ve talked about on the blog before, which is why I speak highly of it.
The book comes out on Thursday, the 29th of September – but you can pre-order it at the discounted price off of Amazon if you wish.
That’s not an affiliate link and I don’t receive any kind of compensation if you purchase this book. The only thing I did receive was a free copy to review and I would not write this post if I didn’t feel it was a book worth reading.
It’s always good to read a good book, and I’m always happy to pass along the good ones that I’ve read to you.
Have a great weekend everyone!
One more week until the Financial Blogger’s Conference, and if you’ll be in attendance I can’t wait to meet you there!
Cheers!
Tagged as: books, uncertaintyReader Challenge Roundup: Mini-Product Creation and The Next Challenge
“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” – Bernice Johnson Reagon
Every few months, I challenge you, the readers of SPI, to do something specific that will take your blog, business or brand to the next level.
In November of 2010, I asked you to write a Pillar Article, which yielded 51 posts, over 200 hours of writing, tens of thousands of additional visitors to your blogs and one person even landing a book deal.
In January of 2011, I then asked you to write a List Post, which resulted in 1,003 “things” in a total of 63 posts that were shared (and are still being shared) all around the web.
In March of 2011, I then asked you to step out of your comfort zone and publish a YouTube Video. There were 44 participants, most who have never before recorded or published a video in their life. The most viewed video now has over 15,000 views since then and is ranking #1 in YouTube for its particular keyword. I love it!
In May, I asked you to do something a little different that would take a lot more time to produce, which is why I waited so long to publish this roundup post.
I asked you to create a report, document, white paper, manifesto or mini-eBook about anything related to your industry, niche, website or business, and it should be given away for free.
My goal was to get you to do a few things:
Show you that you can (and should) do a lot more than just write blog posts.Help you get into a product creation mindset.Help you gain more authority in the niche you’re in.Help you get more subscribers if you are building a list.Give you the push you need to do it.To those who participated, I’m very proud of you and your accomplishments.
It takes a lot more than just content to produce something like this. There’s also all of the graphical elements, the delivery mechanisms, and of course, putting it all together.
We had about 20 submissions that I’m happy to feature below:
Healthy Ways for Stronger Days: 5 Quick and Nutritious Recipes by Nathan from Non-Stop Awesomeness
The Affiliate Research Formula by Steve from Noble Affiliate Lifestyle
What’s Stopping You? from Cara of 17,000 Days
The Daily Focus Pad from Ken at Destroy Distraction
Business That Can Change the World – The What and Why of Social Entrepreneurship by Justin from Impact Your Business
How to Be Happy by Mike of How To Be Amazing
Time Blocking 101 by Kevin at You’re Making Me
For Oily Skin by Ramy of For Oily Skin
Website Creation for Absolute Beginners by Robert of Website Tool Tester
Understanding the Risks of Spread Betting UK Shares by David of Trading Simply
Wedding Slideshow Planner by Harlan of Wedding Slideshow Ideas
Niche Sites for Beginners by Mike of Penny On the Floor
5 Easy Money Experiments by Jimmy & Pete of Niche Experiments
The Newlywed’s Guide to Budgeting by Tim of Faith and Finance
Get a Life That Doesn’t Suck by Benny from the Get Busy Living Blog
Don’t Envy the Successful Entrepreneur – Become One! by Sam at Grad Money Matters
101 Tips for Becoming a Productivity Superstar by Timo at Timokiander.com
How to Network and Sell More Effectively by Sandra at Into3d.co.uk
Get Out the Vote to Win by Ben at Get Out the Vote to Win
Earn Your First 1000 Dollars With Affiliate Marketing by Momekh at LifeETC
I didn’t have time to read through all of them – there’s a TON of content here – but I did read the descriptions of each and was very pleased with what I saw. I encourage you to download anything that might be of interest to you.
Investing time to write eBooks the Smart Way has definitely paid off for me, and I know it will do the same for the action-takers and go-getters that were featured here today.
As promised, I’m awarding two prizes to the pool of participants – one $50 Amazon.com gift card to a random entry, and then one $100 Amazon.com gift card to someone that I choose.
Congratulations to Kevin from YoureMakingMe.com who was randomly selected to win the $50 gift card, and congrats to Tim from FaithandFinance.org for being selected to win the $100 gift card.
I want you to write a post that incorporates a story – any type of true story that teaches something to your audience.
Stories are one of the most powerful marketing tools because when we read or listen to one we can actually relate to the situation and feel exactly what the storyteller is feeling. Even my favorite teachers were the ones who told the most stories.
Stories are powerful, engaging and memorable, and when combined with online business the results can be out of this world.
Check out the story I share on How to REALLY Profit From Your Blog and you’ll see exactly how a story can enhance the information you want to share with your audience.
So that’s it – write a new blog post (on or after September 16th) that incorporates a true story that teaches something valuable to your readers. Send me an email through my Contact Page and make sure you write READER CHALLENGE at the top so I can catch it.
You have until the end of October to send me a link to your published post, and since I expect a lot more entries this time around I’ll be giving away three (3) $50 Amazon.com gift cards to 3 random participants.
Write a story, write an even better headline, teach a lesson to your audience and send me the link by the end of October. I’ll feature it here on SPI in the next reader challenge roundup post.
Cheers, and have a great weekend!
Tagged as: mini-product, reader challenge, storiesBlackout, Unplugged, Passive Income
Yesterday around 3:45pm, the power went out in our house. I thought it was just us, but after checking Facebook on my iPhone I saw that all of my local friends had lost their power too. I soon learned that the blackout spanned from Baja California all the way up to southern Orange County.
Then, apparently, the cell phone towers went out and I couldn’t get online at all anymore.
I was totally unplugged from the online world, and to be honest – it was really nice!
As a result, I wasn’t able to get to my regularly scheduled blog post (that’ll go live on Monday), but I wanted to write this short post to tell you about what did happen.
First, I realized just how much we all take things for granted. The ability to just turn a light on, open the garage with a push of a button, check an app that tells us the score of the football game – we don’t realize how awesome things are until they aren’t there anymore. It made me appreciate the time we do live in and all that we have the ability to do (when the power is on, lol).
Side Note: If you haven’t seen Everything’s Awesome and Nobody’s Happy, I recommend that you watch it. It’s 4-minutes long and it’s hilarious. Louis C.K. is awesome.
Secondly, when the hours kept passing by and the power still hadn’t turned back on, it made me wonder what would happen if the power was out for days, or even weeks. What if there was an emergency and we had no water (we still had water during the blackout, fortunately) and what if food ran out. Based on what we have in the house we could probably survive for a few days, but that’s definitely not enough to feel safe about. It’s always better to be safe than sorry and with a family to take care of I have to really make sure we have the ability to survive in case of an emergency.
I should catch up on my Man vs. Wild survival skill training.
Side Note #2: During the blackout we were listening to the radio and heard somebody talk about a store that was up-charging for bags of ice, obviously taking advantage of the situation to earn a quick buck. I couldn’t believe it, and whoever made that decision should totally be ashamed of themselves.
What if they gave away the bags of ice for free instead? Do you think that would leave a better impression on the people who received the bags of ice (and everyone else who heard about it)? I’m sure people would be extremely thankful and find ways to pay them back many times over later on – but some people don’t see that and always want the quick buck, unfortunately.
Anyways, after our son went to sleep my wife and I had the rest of the evening to ourselves. We popped open a bottle of wine (Ecco Domani, Chianti) and just sat on the couch with some candles nearby and chatted. No television and no internet to distract us – it was the best. The nice thing is that you don’t need to be in a blackout in order to do that, and we enjoyed it so much that we’ll probably do the same thing again in the near future.
Lastly, when I woke up this morning the power was finally back on. I wasn’t as anxious as I thought I would be to turn on the computer and check my email, so I just had some breakfast with my son and then we played for a bit until I finally checked my email on my phone.
It was nice to see that while the power was out I had earned over $600 in passive income from several of the various income streams I have working for me. It’s a great reminder that once things are set in place, one doesn’t have to be totally active (traditionally directly trading time for money) in order to earn an income.
And if you haven’t done so already, I recommend listening to SPI Session #25, which is currently the #1 podcast episode in the entire Marketing and Management section of iTunes!
Thanks again, and I hope all of my fellow San Diegans survived the blackout.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Cheers!
Tagged as: passive income, unplugged