1. Get a vision. First things first. Who are you? What are YOU all about? What is YOUR message? When others come to you, what do they ask you? Take some time to really think this one out.  Your blog will only be a success when you find YOUR voice. Pull apart and get a vision. Keep your blog simple, clear, uncluttered, and focused. Stick to who you are. Don’t change up every day. Don’t add in content that does not go along with your message. Get a vision for what you are to be all about and be ONLY that.

2. Set it up right. Don’t take short-cuts. If you want to build a successful business, invest in your “home on the web.” This is not an area to skimp by or put off. Grab your own domain and host your site yourself. The reasons are more than I can cover in an entire article, but the biggest reason is that you are building a business. Build your business with a solid foundation. If you are a writer, invest in your own name TODAY as a domain. If you are setting up a site for a particular business venture, grab your domain for it. My favorite hosting service is Mom Webs: http://www.writers-nook.com/MomWebs.html You can grab your domain and set up your hosting account in just a few minutes. Also, ask them to install Wordpress for you. They will even install an adorable theme for you for around $10. If you have a blog that is hosted by a free service, they can even help you to pull your RSS Feed (all of your past posts) into your new site–PRICELESS! They are super! Wordpress is another big MUST that will help you get started on the right track. I love that you can set up your site and add a good theme in just a few steps. Again, set it up right. A good design will take you along the path to success. It will make a huge difference in YOU and your audience. Don’t skimp on this step. Set up your site for success. Invest in a good, solid home on the web.

3. Keep growing and learning. A great site takes time to build. Keep it growing. Commit to add fresh new content to your site every day–articles, audios, videos, tip sheets, downloadables, printables, etc. Keep it growing and expanding. Stay on the cutting edge! The best way to do that is to keep on learning. Right now, I am studying through a new set on blogging. I can’t believe all of the new ideas for plug-ins, social networking options, etc that are new THIS YEAR. I set aside time each day to learn new things either through reading or listening to shows/seminars. Talk about a great way to make my site all it can be. You won’t be there immediately, but you will get there. Commit today to grow and learn. Never stop. Stay creative. Stay on the cutting edge.

4. Make sure that your site reflects YOU. Make sure that your site helps others get to know you and your heartbeat. Include your pictures, your audios, your videos, your writing, and what you love. Let them get to know YOU–your heart, your interests, your knowledge, your life, your expertise. Let your site help to build your brand. Instill in peoploe who you are and what you have to offer. Be the Google-the place people go to search–for your market. Be the place they go when they need help.

5. Don’t be shy about what you have to offer. Now, first, be mindful that some things are annoying–banners/blocks all over the page, apps all over the page, flashing letters, crazy fonts, etc. BUT, some things really work to make your site profitable–

–>  Offer Q/A–have a spot/category just for answering questions. As you answer questions, don’t shy away from linking to resources that you recommend. Hyperlink words or resources to pages with more information. Watch the responses.

–>  Post articles–not only can you link to any recommended resources/products within the article, but you can also have a nice pitch for products in your resource box at the bottom of the article. ALWAYS pitch something–one of your products, your mailing list, your radio show, etc. Give them access to other things that will help them with that topic.

–>  Link to your store–make it easy for people to find what you have to offer. Keep it neat. Keep it simple. Keep it prominent.

6. Bring others in to help you. Feel overwhelmed? Let others help you. There are so many ways that you can get help as you build your site. You can bring in guest bloggers–those who love the same topics and can share their articles, audios, and videos on your site. I have many friends who are always ready to share fun freebies–they help my site to be a great spot on the web, but they also promote what they have going on. It is win-win-win! You can even get the visitors to the site to join in and share great content. I began offering what I call “Mommy Homework” years ago. “Mommy Homework” is a weekly topic of discussion on my blog. Those who participate earn credit toward our products. Of all of the things I read each week, “Mommy Homework” is my most favorite. Imagine how awesome it is for those who visit my site. Before I go on, you can also use affiliate tools/resources on your site. Many affiliate programs offer great articles, audios, and downloads to help you promote their products. If they are complimentary to your site, use them! A good example of resources that are ready-to-go is found in my affiliate program. Join me at: http://www.CindysAffiliates.com.  You don’t have to be a lone-ranger. There are lots of options for content to use on your site.

7. Build a great site. Remember that your site will grow for years to come. Keep building! Keep your content fresh and alive. The best way is to take time in solitude to brainstorm, develop your message, and pour your heart out into your writing, audios, and videos. Take that time! Pour your heart out! Make your site a place of ministry. You won’t be there immediately, but I promise that in 6 months you will look back and be so proud of your hard work.

Happy blogging!

Need more help?

Check out these great shows (and others!!) on blogging that have been featured on my Writer’s Radio Show:

Blogging and Podcasting

Mailbag: Websites, Blogs, and MORE!

Let’s Talk about Blogging

What is a Blog?

A blog is actually an online journal of sorts. With a blog you can upload daily posts about anything that you want. Some people create personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with family members. Pictures, videos and other information are uploaded so your loved ones are current with what is going on with you.

Here we are going to talk about business blogs. This is a blog that you begin to attract traffic in order to sell products or services. To be interesting to others, your blog will need to:

•    Have updated content for visitors
•    Be marketed to draw traffic
•    Register with search engines so it can be found in the rankings

How to Start

If you are new to blogging or web design, there is a great option for you! Mom Webs is offering blog installation and set up services for only $10 when you host your site with them. You will be up and ready-to-go. Best of all, you will be ready for success. You don’t want to host your sites with “free” blogging options out there. You want to get started on the right track.

Before you start posting, decide what will be the theme, or niche of your blog. A jack-of-all-trades type of blog doesn’t do as well as one that is geared towards a certain niche. If you like crafts, that can be your niche. Create posts that talk about how to craft, what to craft, how to make crafting profitable and so on. Once you have decided on a path, it is time to create that great content.

How to Make Money While You Blog…

In order to make money with your blog, you need to have people visiting it. That is where marketing comes in. To draw traffic to your site, you have to get the word out about your blog. Tell all of your friends and family members that you are online with your blog for a start.

Also, begin today to include the link to your blog on each and every article that you write. Take the time to write up a bio to include at the end of each article. In that bio, tell a bit about yourself, tell what they can find at your blog, and share the link to the blog so they can find more information on that topic.

What Next???

Any money-making venture will take place once you have built your readership with interesting posts. Then you can put into play a number of profitable additions:

•    Google AdSense
•    Selling Advertising
•    Affiliate Marketing
•    EBook and Special Report Marketing

The simplest one to pursue is Google AdSense. You are using targeted advertisements to create revenue for your blog. You are paid per clicks on the ads.

There are other options where you can get paid when someone makes a sale on that website. That is more likely to happen when you join an affiliate program. Join affiliate program that work well with your website niche.

EBooks are downloadable electronic books that you can create yourself and sell on your website. They can be on a variety of subjects but in order for them to sell, you must be able to offer new information to your customers. Don’t have enough information yet for a whole book? Why not create a mini-ebook or a special report. Set it up the same way as an ebook. Do be sure to clarify exactly what the customer gets–if it is an ebook (number of pages) or a special report.

Blogs can be used to build revenue. Start with your chosen niche and market your blog to find the traffic you need. Then, utilize these ideas to turn a profit.

How you add a button to your sidebar depends in large part on the type of site you have.  For example if you have a WordPress blog then it’s going to be a different process than if you have a HTML site.

Here it is in a nutshell –

First you’ll want to click on the button image and save it on your desktop.  If you’re using Blogger then you’ll have to upload the image into an image host like Photobucket or Flickr.

WordPress Blog
1. From the admin panel choose “write new post.”
2. Upload the picture/button image you’re using
3. Go to “Manage” and then “Uploads” and click on the picture you want.
4. Copy the URL by highlighting the URL and hitting the control button on your keyboard and the letter C.
5. In the same ‘manage’ screen now go to ‘Presentation,’ and then ‘Sidebar Widgets.’
6. Add a text widget and enter your code.  It will look something like this.
7. <a href=”www.insertbuttonlinkURLhere.com”>
<img src=”past your URL here”></a>
8.   Close the text widget and save it.  You’re good to go.

Typepad Blog
1. Login and access your files through your control panel.
2. Choose to upload a new file, find your saved image, and copy the URL.
3. Click the “Typelists” tab.  Note if you do not already have a typelist follow the instructions on Typepad to create one.
4. Click “Add a new item” to your typlist and past the URL you copied in step two.  It should look something like this.
5. <img src=”http://example.typepad.com/image.jpg”>
6. Enter the URL to the website you’d like the image linked to in the “link URL” box
7. Save and you’re good to go.
Blogger Blog
1. Login and click on “Layout”
2. Choose “Template” tab, then “Page Elements”
3. Click on “Add a Page Element”
4. Choose the “HTML/JavaScript” option and click the “Add to Blog” option.
5. Type the link code (found where your image is being hosted) into the “Content” field. Your code will look like this:
<a href=”http://websiteyourimageislinkingto.com”><img src=”http://www.yourimage.jpg”></a>
6. Save and your button should be in the sidebar and linkable to the relevant website.

HTML website code
1. If you’re adding a sidebar button to the HTML code on your website the code will look something like this:
2. <div align=”center”>
<a href=”http://yoursiteURL.com” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://yoursitename/images/banner125×125.jpg” alt=”Imagelocation?”></a>
</div>

Adding a button to your sidebar is typically a pretty straightforward process.  If you have any questions or difficulties, check with your website hosting documentation or blog developer documentation for clarification and FAQs.

Sorry to be SO QUIET. I have been swamped with getting ready for the holidays, then I have taken family time the past two weeks—my soldier is HOME! We look like a family of geeks. We came to Elisabeth’s coffee shop to visit and the WIFI is soooo good that we have to succumb to the temptation to get online for a bit. LOL

I wanted to answer Lisa’s question:

Judy and anyone else that cares to chime in,

Have you found what you need – to learn to make the changes in your WP
template? I may be jumping into this sooner than thought and would
appreciate any help that may be given.

I am doing a bit of remodeling of my website and wanting my blogs to
look like the departments of my site that they are patterned after. I
don’t know yet if I will be hiring someone to design the blog
templates for me, or if I will tackle it myself. (I should hire, I
don’t have time. But I am the only one that sees the picture in my
head. And finding just the right graphics is probably what I need
to do first.

I have skimmed through many pages at WP.org for info on changing and
designing themes, and also came across a software that works with
Dreamweaver to design WP Themes. Since I use Dreamweaver for designing
my site, this may be a good possibility. It is called ThemeDreamer.

Let me know what you’ve found.

For Me and My House,
Lisa @ Me and My House ministries
http://frommeandmyhouse.com
Discipleship for Life!

Articles, blogs and resources for Christian Growth, Biblical Home
Discipleship/Education, Family Living, and Biblical Nutrition.

Lisa, I have two suggestions. First, I want to tell you my experience. I CAN DO web design with Wordpress and CSS, but about 6 months ago I decided to take the counsel of some of my dear friends who were gurus in internet marketing and just outsource somethings. Obviously, I cannot outsource writing—THAT is what I am all about. I feel the same about blogging and many of the other thousand tasks that we do every day in business. Finally, it hit me that I COULD outsource some “jobs” that were just nagging at me. One was my web design templates. I am SO glad that I did.

I worked with Kelly from Freshnets. Here is my link to learn more about her services (please do use it if you use this advice. J):

http://www.Writers-Nook.com/FreshNets.html

Kelly did a super job at taking time to really get to know me and my businesses. We had known each other through several business seminars and through online business fellowship before she took on my sites, but she “knocked it out of the ball park” by really getting to KNOW me, my style, my brand, my heartbeats. The first banners she sent my way SO CAPTURED me and the spirit of my “home” on the web. They took everything to another whole level that would never have been possible for me to do without a HUGE learning curve and much time away from the things that ONLY I can do. Take a peek at some of her designs for me:

http://www.CindysDesktop.com
http://www.Talk-a-Latte.com
http://www.MomtoMomRadioShow.com
http://www.CindyRushton.com
http://www.Writers-Nook.com

Also, go to her site and peek at the other sites she has designed:

http://www.Writers-Nook.com/FreshNets.html

I think that you will find that she is well worth hiring. First, the time and energy saved. Secondly, the way she can capture and pull your brand together.

I wanted for all of them to be cohesive, yet individual. She helped me to continue “the look” through all of them without getting redundant. She also helped each site to show its heartbeat and purpose. I loved it!

Lisa, I cannot articulate how much it helped me to turn Kelly loose to do what she does best. Kelly can help you simplify, get on target with your real vision, and step out there into the things that you have been putting off. I think you will find that she will do more for your sites than 20 other businesses. J

Now, saying that…I did say that I have two suggestions.

If you want to try it yourself, I do have one other suggestion. Kelly is teaming up with Lynette Chandler to offer a fabulous FTM that teaches you the ins and outs of blog design. It is intended to help those who want to have a web-design business to get started and learn the secrets behind setting up a professional website. I LOVE IT! Here is my link for it:

http://Writers-Nook.com/BlogEvangelist.html

Not only do you receive lessons on how to build and market your business, but you also get amazing help with Wordpress. I love it! It is not as fast paced as you may need if you are in a hurry setting up your sites with a new fresh template, but the lessons are super! Now, if you are in a hurry, that brings me to another recommendation-oops! That is THREE!

I recommend Lynette’s Blogging Starter Pack. It is absolutely the best resource out there to help you learn how to use Wordpress fast. Here is my link to that:

http://www.Writers-Nook.com/bloggingstarterpack.html

I had NO idea how to do anything in Wordpress before I got her set. In one weekend, I GOT IT! It will really help you understand Wordpress better very fast. Do note: the videos show the older admin panel, but Lynette does a super job of keeping you updated with changes on her members-only blog that you can access for free with your purchase. I think you will be pleased.

So, what do you do if you have no idea where to begin and you are in a hurry????

I would first suggest going ahead and hiring Kelly to help you get going. You will love her. She is just fabulous to work with. If you are in a bind for money or you think you can handle most of it yourself, then go for Blog Evangelist and the Blogging Starter Pack. I think you will love them! They are ALWAYS on my laptop! J

Hope this helps!

Love ya!
Cindy

Get ready for a BIG NEW YEAR with the Writer’s Nook!
http://www.Writers-Nook.com

One of the best and most popular ways to increase incoming links is to exchange links with other relevant and trustworthy businesses.  Relevancy and trustworthiness are both important not only to maintain and increase your own website credibility but also with search engine rankings.  Links which come from websites which are relevant and trustworthy have more weight than non-relevant links. 

So what is a relevant link?  It’s a link which compliments or supplements your own business.  It doesn’t compete with it. For example if you sell mattresses then a link from a bedding company or a pillow company would be relevant.  A link from a company that makes ice cream isn’t.

So now the big question…how do you exchange links with a relevant site?

The first possibility is to contact the webmaster directly and ask if they will exchange links with you. Make sure to follow through if they do link to you and check occasionally to make sure they’ve followed through with their end of the deal.  It’s unprofessional to remove links after agreeing to however it does happen.

Another way to exchange links is to offer a link to us button on your website. Visitors can click on this button and receive html code for a variety of link types including text and banner.  Make sure webmasters have a way to contact you to let you know they’ve linked to you so you can reciprocate.

If you’re approaching a webmaster to request a link exchange make sure you’ve done your homework and understand not only their website business but also the benefit of linking to you. There needs to be a strong benefit for someone to link to you. Present it so they understand what’s in it for them.   This is accomplished by understanding your target audience and theirs.  Be sure to also provide relevant data including daily website visitors and any visitor demographic information which may be applicable.

When exchanging links it is also important to agree about where a link will be placed. If you link to another website on your home page and they link to you on a page buried deep within their website then the exchange isn’t equal.  That may be an equitable exchange if their deep pages receive as much traffic as your home page.  It’s definitely an issue to address up front.

When handled correctly, link exchanges are a good way to increase your website traffic.  Do your research, approach webmasters with a professional and thorough presentation, and follow through on your end of the agreement.

“Search engine optimization copywriting” or SEO, is a method of writing viewable or easily scanned text on your web page which is very acceptable and readable for the internet user as well as targets certain or exact search terms, having the purpose of ranking high in search engines.

“SEO Copywriting” generally optimizes and enhances other on-page components for search terms being targeted, namely the title, the description and likewise keywords tags, alt text and headings.

Search engines require and look for authentic content pages, rather than additional pages which are designed solely for attaining high rankings; this then, is the concept of “SEO copywriting”.  And for this reason, search engines may not likely consider SEO pages with undesirable copywriting content.

Simply put, your site’s content must follow good marketing standards, having great interaction with your visitors because excellent “SEO copywriting” acknowledges the fact that humans make the purchasing decisions and not “spiders”.

It is recommended that your content comprises of about 250 words that are viewable per page, having a maximum of two targeted keywords or search terms located strategically inside the text as well as in other on-page components.

A good quality and informative copywriting content indeed is the very foundation for a website to be successful. A good content and excellent website setup will direct your visitors to what exactly they desire while collecting or inquiring for information in your website. A well developed and constructed content page really is important for powerful website content and can take a huge bound in your keyword ranking approach.

Always remember that internet surfers do not “read” all the time your content, but rather, their tendency is just to scan through the page, searching for prominent and attractive sentences and words. Meaning that for you to magnetize your visitors, you need to write not only convincing and captivating content, but also scannable.

When a prospect visits your site searching for a service or product, it can be due to fact that they find your information educational and helpful; thus it actually depends on the quality of your content and what type of information that you supply your visitors that determines whether they stay or leave your website. A content rich in keywords will leave an enduring impression for your SEO campaign.

Here are a few guidelines on writing good quality SEO content:

1.  Understand and determine your “key phrases” before you begin writing. Returning and then editing an already existing copy so to reach higher keyword concentration can be a difficult task which often results in fragmented sentences, complicated statements and a copy that is stiff sounding. If you already know the “key phrases”, then you are able to construct a complete and flowing stream of ideas.

2.  Know who your target audiences are. You need to determine your target clients before writing your content, so that you can address them properly. You can not write a good quality, informative and persuading content without knowing your visitors requirements, problems and needs.

Your content should offer a solution to their problems and you need to first identify that problem before you can determine a solution.

3.  Incorporate your “key phrases” in the headlines. Almost all search engines believe that a headline is a significant part of your copy which means that the text that comprises the headlines bears additional effect.

When you make headlines, be certain to construct them so that they also carry the keyword that you have used in your content. Also take note of the “HTML encryption for your title. When you make bold headlines and incorporating them in “<H1>” or “<H2>” tags, they will catch the search engine’s attention.

4.  Scatter or distribute properly your “key phrases” all throughout the body of your article. To do this effectively, focus on just a maximum of three primary keywords and let them naturally flow in your article.

There is what is called a “3 percent guideline” which states that 3 percent of the words in your article must be “keywords”. You should take note however, that this is only a guideline; do not ruin a good article just so to achieve the three percent guideline by insisting on the keywords in sentences where it does not fit just so to achieve the “3 percent guideline.”

Just remember that a literature form of writing is not what is required in SEO copywriting; it just makes a poor web content. SEO copywriting demands that you specifically need to write for the internet, something that is very much different from a literature or storybook style of writing.

There is more to web copywriting than merely writing well. Keep this in mind:  Effective web copywriting and keywords “search engine optimization” mean the same thing.

There are lots of ways to get them there, but the question is – how do you keep them returning? If a reader isn’t impressed by your blog at all, then they’ll leave your blog, never to return again.

With them goes their blog’s traffic that you could’ve benefited from if they’d linked to you. Here are some tips to make your blog appealing enough to keep the traffic there to earn you some money.

Evaluate Your Design!

The most common mistake some bloggers make is in their blog’s design. Blog readers not only look for interesting and informative content – they also want to come to an inviting space to read it.

The blog’s design needs to be inviting to them and comforting. It’s crucial not to have anything that would annoy them to the point of leaving because they can’t stand it. Make sure you’re not annoying them with colored font that’s hard to read or a bunch of graphics that are too distracting.

A few animated graphics are fine, but don’t have flashing ads and glittering graphics detracting from your blog’s message – or your strategically-placed advertisements. It’s fine to use colored font for your posts, but make sure it’s easy to read.

A pale yellow font color against a pure white background may be too difficult for the visitors to read. They shouldn’t clash with the background color either. Clashing colors can give visitors headaches, so they’ll leave your site without bookmarking it for a later visit.
Content! Content! Content!

The other common mistake bloggers tend to make is with their content. Some bloggers don’t update very often. If you only post once a month, your readers will forget you’re there and won’t return to your site. Post to your blog at least three times a week to keep human visitors and search engine spiders coming back.

Some bloggers also make the mistake of only providing text content to their blogs. Text posts are great, but mix it up a little every once in awhile with multi-media formats. Provide some interesting pictures, audio files and videos. Offer a little variety and your visitors will come back to check and see what else you’ve been up to.

Stay Focused!

It’s also important to stick to your blog’s niche topic. If you’re blogging about homeschooling, then stick to that topic. Providing information about a celebrity’s latest excursion will turn off your readers unless it somehow relates to homeschooling.

To make your blog successful in bringing you money, make sure you make the blog appealing to your readers. If your readers keep coming back, your chances of making money from your ads and offers will increase.

Designing a company web site is cheap and effective, not to mention essential because the world wide web is the only medium that offers instantaneous information access to millions of users around the globe.

Any web developer worth his salt should know about search engine optimization or SEO.

This is the key towards building an effective web site that would get a lot of hits and visitors. A web site that nobody visits is useless so the challenge lies in leading Internet users to visit your web site.

Thus, your web site need to be “found” when users type in keywords in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, AOL and others.

Once a keyword relating to the products or services that you offer is keyed into a search engine, a direct link to your web site should emerge on top of the list.

You should employ search engine optimization techniques to lead traffic your way, and get more hits that would later on lead to more profit for your company, which is your goal in the first place.

Here are some tips on how you can make it to the top of the list of search engines, and use your SEO techniques to benefit your web site and your company:

1. If you have an existing web site and domain, just optimize the one that you currently have instead of purchasing a new domain.

It will take some time before your web site will show up in a particular search engine, like Google, so it better to use the one that you currently have instead of switching to a new one. Don’t “re-do” all of your pages. Tune up those that you have.

2. Know who your target audience is and aim for them.

If you are in the manufacturing industry and a user types in your product in a search engine, then you would immediately have your target right in front of you.

As soon as the user hits the “Enter” button or clicks on “Search,” then the person will be lead to your web site.

Make sure that your target market will get ‘hooked’ on your web site. Once the search engines show the link to your web site, their job is done.

What you should do next is to make sure that your visitor will not leave your web site without them trying out your products or services, or at least leaving some pertinent information so that you can contact them in the future for marketing and advertising purposes.

When hitting a particular target market, learn about their interests, location and age to have an idea of what you can offer them in return.

Also, you can somehow link their interests to your products and services.

3. Search for the right keyword.

You should be creative, persistent and flexible when looking for the keyword or keyword phrases to use in optimizing your web site.

Google and Yahoo offer some tools and tips on how you can come up with keywords  that will yield results.

Do not settle for just one keyword. You can also vary the words and phrases that you use for each page on your web site so that you can have more hits.

4. Consider your target market when designing your web site.

The design itself would include the general theme of the web site. You should also pay attention to smaller details such as color and font style and size.

Make sure that the web site is user-friendly and do not forget to insert helpful articles, tips, hints and related links that can be shared to other users.

It is a good thing to have an option to send a link or an article to a friend, which will add more users and increase your client base.

There should also be various ways to browse through your web site, to fit each user.

A person might find it to difficult use the scroll down option so you should also provide hyperlinks which are accessible to them.

5. Concentrate on the web site content.

Regularly update the content of your web site so that old and new users can find something new when browsing through your site.

Make the content brief and precise. Writing a content which has more than 600 words typically will make the users lose interest, since most of them do not actually read but just skim through the text.

Strive to be the best and most comprehensive web site and you will make your mark when it comes to information about the products and services that you offer.

It helps a lot to pay attention to detail, too.

Finally, keeping your web site’s content updated is a must.

Spread the word about your web site and use the basic search engine optimization techniques and you will surely gain positive results once users visit your web site.

We already know when blogs are optimized correctly they are great for bringing in traffic and generating sales. That is why you need to hook up with Twitter. While Twitter is not a full fledge blog, it is a micro-blogging tool that allows you to instantly let people know what it is that you are doing.

You can set up your blog with a simple feed that will help you optimize and create the results you want to get from both your blog and Twitter. Considering the many ways that you can feed your blog to Twitter, you can talk to people all over the world in a way that you never could before.

There is a simple little tool called Twitter Feed that you can set up on your blog. This tool will integrate Twitter and your blog allowing you to create an automation tool that will give your blog even more legs and bring in traffic. All without any extra steps needed by you once the initial installation is complete.

Setting up your Twitter Feed is not a long or hard process. You can literally do it in 5 minutes or less. Here are the simple steps to getting started.

• If you do not have a Twitter account, you need to set one up. This will allow you to broadcast your blog RSS feed.
• Once have set up your twitter account, go to the Twitter Feed site and login using an OpenID.
• Once your account is all set up you can then integrate your blog with your twitter profile by adding your blog’s RSS feed. You can do this for as many blogs as you like.
• Be sure to set up the time intervals in a way that doesn’t post too many at once and get you banned from Twitter for spamming.
• Once you are done whenever you post to the blogs you have in your Twitter Feed, the URL and post announcement will go out to all your Twitter buds.

Twitter Feed is a great tool, but try not to abuse it or your followers. Your readers and followers want to read your content and using Twitter Feed will help you get it out. Just be sure to feed it in the right way.

An interesting thing about keeping and maintaining a blog (also known as blogging) is that anyone can blog. What will make a blog more successful than most is simply a keen sense of its target readership. Of course, it will not harm the blogger (a person maintaining a blog) to possess a few basic skills navigating the Internet and creating links to other websites and blogs.

Bloggers today are finding that they can not only write and publish their thoughts for free, but also can find themselves getting compensated for writing. This is because one of the techniques in SEO is to create content that is rich in keywords, which is basically what search engines look for in ranking web pages in its SERPs. 

That said, here are some tips to make your next blog an effective SEO tool.

1. Choose a Theme (and Stick to It)

Most blogs never gain a real readership because it simply is a mishmash of a writer’s thoughts, with very little coherent theme to bind the entire blog together. If the blogger does it for the sheer purpose of a journal, there’s really nothing wrong with that.

However, as an SEO, a blog has to have a theme that will tie all the posts (individual articles) together. This is because instead of just looking for keywords, a search engine will also assess whether the page just happens to have a lot of keywords mentioned in the post or whether the entire blog is about the topic it is searching for. The former will rank less than the former in the SERPs. Given this point, it will do you well to pick a theme that you are interest and won’t tire of writing about. 

2. A Place You Can Call Home

Working alongside the idea of a theme, When creating your blog (whether with your own domain name or an a free blog site), give it a URL that has words related to the theme. For example, if you are going to blog about bonsai making, try to use words that are related to that in your blog’s URL (such as www.bonsaienthusiast.com). Name your blog using words that are relevant to your theme as well. Search engines look at these things as well to determine how high your blog could possibly rank. 

If you are blogging on a hosting site, it is possible to have your blog delegated into a proper category. This will help make a search engine easier to find your blog given that the category is strongly related to themes and search keywords.

On a related note, your individual posts should also be titled with words that are closely related to your theme. Again, working on a blog with a bonsai theme, one post could be titled “Miniature Trees: How to Get Started” while another one could be “Selecting the Right Pot for a Bonsai”. This will give your posts a URL that is rich in keywords, which helps in a page’s ranking on SERPS (but you already know that, right?).

3. Link And it Shall Be Linked Unto You

Another thing about blogs that SEO experts are finding to become a great advantage is the fact that blogs make it easy to link to other blogs, which in turn makes it easy for other blogs to link to you. 

This is yet another criterion a search engine uses to rank a particular page in the results pages. The more incoming links it possess about the keyword in search will increase ranking status because the page shows that a lot of people think what you’ve written is a good source of information.

So when writing on your blog, be sure to take the time to read other people’s blogs and other online articles related to your theme. Create links to them so that you point your readers to more information. This will increase the chances of other people creating links that will point to your blog.

4. Keep it Coming

Since blog content is so easy to create, search engines scour blog sites very regularly. That means if you keep on creating new content on a regular basis, search engines will have to keep up with what’s new on your blog.

By regularly creating fresh content on your blog, search engines will tend to look to your blog first before others that are not maintained and renewed as regularly as you do. It helps in the rankings as well, which is the whole point of this article, right?

These tips are just to get started on using a blog for SEO. As you go along, you’ll find more tricks of the trade that will help you push you up the ranks on SERPs. Of course realistically, don’t expect to rank on the top 3 pages on your first try. But give it a few weeks. And for as long as you keep to the tried and true principles, it may not be that far until you’ve captured a good ranking for your blog.

Here are just a few no-no’s that business owners all too commonly make when using Twitter. Are you committing any of them? Take the time to make sure by reading on.

One big mistake that people make when using Twitter for business reasons (or who think they are using it for business purposes) is getting caught up in the “commotion” there. It’s important to do some talking at Twitter because that is a form of networking in and of itself which is vital to business professionals. However, the talking you do should be succinct, to the point, friendly but professional.

As a marketer, your objective at Twitter is not to make new best friends or get dates; it should be to establish relationships that will lead to others desiring to do business with you. Now don’t misunderstand this. You don’t want to be manipulative. The objective is to keep the talk laid back and not beat people over the head with pleas or demands that they visit your websites.

Another big mistake that marketers make when using Twitter is posting tweets that are irrelevant or drive people away from them.  You can be funny, playful, personal, or serious, but what you type in for your message has got to have meaning and substance and be one that will attract others instead of turning them away.  It’s also ok to state your opinions on things, but be grown up about it and never type mean, obnoxious tweets or messages are prone to start too much controversy. For the most part, Twitter is a very friendly and open-minded community, but do realize that not everyone will agree with you on certain issues so if you find you are very opinionated on certain hot button subjects (Hummm….like politics? ), it might be best to avoid those particular matters.  As they say, you catch many more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Yet another error people make when using Twitter in business is that they include their website links in too many of their messages. Yes, in order to use social networking sites effectively for business you have to include links to your business, but don’t do it so much that it becomes annoying or seems manipulative. One or two link backs per day is plenty; any more than that will more than likely be considered overkill.

A related big mistake that people make with Twitter is posting way too many tweets per day. Not only does this take too much time away from their business, but once again they seem heavy handed or self-centered to the community. Five to ten new Twitters per day is plenty. Once again, make sure that you really have something to Twitter about, not just some words to throw up because you want to hear or in this case, see, yourself talk.

Finally, some marketers give up on Twitter too soon because they aren’t seeing the results they’d hoped for quick enough.  Remember, persistence is what pays off with networking, and networking on the Internet is no different. Twitter away for a while before you start expecting steady or big results.

1.    Expertise. Follow your strengths. Sites you set up must be on subject you consider yourself an expert on. Be specific. Be focused. Keep it simple and on that topic.

2.    Plan the site. A good layout for the site can improve usability. But, it does more. It helps your search engine rankings too. Why not take a couple afternoons this week to “spring clean” (yes, I know it is fall) your site. Simplify. Categorize. Prune. DELETE. This will help you more than you can imagine. At the same time, you will have a search engine friendly site.

3.    Research. Don’t see your site where you would like for it to be? Check out the sites that are there. What does the competition have set up? Note what seems to be working for them and and what does not. Why not check on blogs, forums or discussion list to see what your potential customers are buzzing about? If possible try to communicate with users in forums and get feedback on what should or can be improved further.

4.    Decide on important keywords. What DO you want to be known for? Where do you want to be found online? Decide on the most important keywords to use for your sight. Include these keywords in the metatags, copy page, page title, and file names.

5.    Remember that the Search Engines are your friend. Make friends with your search engines and don’t give it a hard time. Being nice and friendly to it will make its job easier to serve your site up to your target audience.

6.    Focus. Focus on the topic at hand and nothing else. The rule is one topic per page.

7.    Join the directories. Want an easy way to sky-rocket to the top of the search engines? Get busy writing. Write and submit your articles online. Article directories are repositories of knowledge done by human hands while search engine are huge databases collected by mostly machine methods. The relevancy of your page when joining the right directory may shoot through the roof. Of course, make sure you know what you are talking about.

8.    Start a linking campaign. A most effective SEO method. This is a must to do. Ask your allies, strategic partners, friends and acquaintances to place your site’s URL link on their sites. With a short description this can draw traffic from other sites and increase exposure. Google especially ranks the importance of its sites by the number of sites linked to it.  One of the best ways to get natural links and grab new readers is by writing articles and giving them to friends for their blog entries (we take them here! HINT!) Write those articles and include a nice, strong byline that links back to your website. Watch for two things–new friends from those websites and higher rankings on the search engines.

9.    Repetition is the key to victory. This is the big secret to success. You can’t get there all in one day. You have to decide now to keep on, keeping on. Get busy impleminting the ideas above. Keep repeating these tips, supporting and increasing what works and killing what does not as fast as possible until the desired result is achieved.

In the world of search engine optimization, content matters a lot. If a site has amateur or worse falsified information, fewer and fewer browsers will want to visit it. They will even spread bad news faster than good news so expect a garbage site to be ignored even in a week’s time.

Well, maybe not wonderful but then again it all depends on how you look at it. With the proper plug-ins you can create an awesome social networking tool since both Twitter and WordPress are both strong contenders in the social media arena. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular Twitter plug-ins that you can use on your WordPress blog to create a social power house match made in heaven.

TwitThis is a simple way for people to send Twitter messages about your blog post. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the webpage and creates a shorter URL using the TinyURL tool. Then visitors can send the shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their friends on Twitter. Talk about word-of-mouth! The TwitThis button is a cute little button that you can add to the end of your blog posts making it readily available to your readers once they’ve finished browsing your post.

TweetMyBlog is a plug-in that will automatically announce your blog posts to your Twitter followers and include a link directly to the post. This plug-in will also include a sidebar widget that will pull in your latest tweets and link them back to your Twitter profile page. Finally the creators of this plug-in have an affiliate program that is available to every “TweetMyBlog” user.

TwitterFeed is a plug-in that allows you to simply promote your blog to your twitter followers. Much like TweetMyBlog, but not as extensive. You can customize the message that will announce your blog post to all your twitter pals. Again, a direct URL is provided in the tweet.

TwitterTools is a plug-in that creates an integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account. With TwitterTools you can pull your tweets into your blog and create new tweets on blog posts and also from within WordPress.

TwitterBadge is not so much a plug-in as it is a way for you to let others know that you are a user, maybe even addict of Twitter – it’s ok we won’t tell. There are many badges from the cute little Twitter bird to the simple badge that basically says, “Hey, look at me. I Twitter too!” When people see your badge and click it, they’ll be taken to your twitter profile.

The bottom line – Twitter is the place to be online, but you may not always be able to be there as much as you would like. By using the above plug-ins you can automate your own WordPress blog and Twitter to create a beautiful traffic generator an a great way to connect with your tweeps.

The number one reason why Twitter can never replace a blog is because you can only post up to 140 characters at any one time. There is just no way to squeeze 1,000 words into such a small space. Not to mention, trying to send 7.14 tweets back to back, will not go over well with your followers. There is nothing like a person who tweets excessively. Doing so will cause you to lose followers and your goal with Twitter is to gain a friends not turn people away. You want Twitter to be tool that leads to your platform – your blog – the place where you share your story, product, or business.

Another reason why you can never replace your blog with simple tweets is because you just don’t have the same control to customize. Sure you can create a profile that says something about you but not the way you can with your blog. With a blog you can customize the whole kit and caboodle. You can add tools, plug-ins, and even more networking opportunities through your blog. You can’t do all that with Twitter.

Then we have the website name issue. You can’t attach a domain to twitter. On twitter you will always be www.twitter.com/whateveryournameis and that is it. Your username or extension is how people will recognize you on Twitter, but it’s not the same as a domain name for an entire website. In essence, Twitter owns your profile, not you. But your domain name – now that is all yours.

If you are an affiliate marketer, you want to talk about what you are promoting and, as was stated earlier, you only have 140 characters to say what you really want to say. That is not as effective as a blog post or blog series that can send the message more effectively. That’s juust one more reason Twitter can never replace a blog.

Don’t try to replace your own blog or website with twittering. Instead, learn to use Twitter as an effective tool that makes people want to learn more about you. Your blog is where you get down to the nitty-gritty and allow people to become more knowledgeable about your life, your product, service or whatever it is you are promoting.

We already know when blogs are optimized correctly they are great for bringing in traffic and generating sales. That is why you need to hook up with Twitter. While Twitter is not a full fledge blog, it is a micro-blogging tool that allows you to instantly let people know what it is that you are doing.

You can set up your blog with a simple feed that will help you optimize and create the results you want to get from both your blog and Twitter. Considering the many ways that you can feed your blog to Twitter, you can talk to people all over the world in a way that you never could before.

There is a simple little tool called Twitter Feed that you can set up on your blog. This tool will integrate Twitter and your blog allowing you to create an automation tool that will give your blog even more legs and bring in traffic. All without any extra steps needed by you once the initial installation is complete.

Setting up your Twitter Feed is not a long or hard process. You can literally do it in 5 minutes or less. Here are the simple steps to getting started.

•    If you do not have a Twitter account, you need to set one up. This will allow you to broadcast your blog RSS feed.

•    Once have set up your twitter account, go to the Twitter Feed site and login using an OpenID.

•    Once your account is all set up you can then integrate your blog with your twitter profile by adding your blog’s RSS feed. You can do this for as many blogs as you like.

•    Be sure to set up the time intervals in a way that doesn’t post too many at once and get you banned from Twitter for spamming.

•    Once you are done whenever you post to the blogs you have in your Twitter Feed, the URL and post announcement will go out to all your Twitter buds.

Twitter Feed is a great tool, but try not to abuse it or your followers. Your readers and followers want to read your content and using Twitter Feed will help you get it out. Just be sure to feed it in the right way.

Hi Cindy

You mention that Elisabeth likes web designing. Did she use Steve’s DVD’s to teach her web design? I would like to learn how to make a website, however I have no idea how. I wanted to find out how comprehensive is Steve’s DVD’s – will I know everything I need to know from just using them.

I would so appreciate your advise of this.

Regards
Susan

Cindy’s Answer:

Hi!

Thanks for your email. I am happy to help.

Yes, Elisabeth has used Steve’s DVD Set. She loved learning from it. We actually learned from them together. It was a fun course. Steve did a fabulous job on that course. It includes SO much! I am amazed at all he covered. It was very good for her.

Of course, Elisabeth was already designing sites before that course. She really has a great gifting with them. Most of what we build together uses Wordpress. It is very, very easy. We found a great course that walks you through each step. Many of the ladies in our classes have used it as well, with very little web experience. They have beautiful sites. We found a great program that they have all used. It is by my friend, Lynette Chandler. It is called the Blogging Starter Set, but don’t let the name fool you. You can use Wordpress to build a traditional looking website or a blog. Plus, the programming is so much better for getting your website to the top of search engines. Here is the link so you can check it out:

http://tinyurl.com/2sthhj

We recommend that you also look into GOT-Hosting. They have Fantastico installed that helps to make setting up and updating Wordpress much easier. You can use it alongside of Lynette’s set and have your site up over the weekend—probably in one evening. Here is a link to get to GOT-Hosting:

http://tinyurl.com/3295aj

I hope that this helps you. If not, just ask and we will help more!

Have a super day!

With much love,
Cindy

Try a Blog!

One option is to begin a blog. A blog is an informal website. You can post articles, tips, journal entries, or anything that you want. I have several reasons that I recommend this to you-

1. You can set it up for quickly and easily.
2. You can post your material yourself without a web designer.
3. You can become more familiar with web design.
4. You have a place to keep your work online!
5. You have a place to send people who are interested in your work.
6. You can write every day or as you can!
7. Oh! You CAN DO IT!

Get Your Own Website!

Another option is to get your own website. I cannot recommend highly enough that you invest in your own website. It is one of the most important things that a writer can do. It is like a home on the web for you! Invest in that cyber-real estate today! Here are some pointers that will make your website all it can be¦

==> Invest today at MINIMUM in your own web address ”buy YOUR NAME. If your own name is available, invest in it today even if you are not building the website immediately. For years, I wrestled with a vision for my website. In that time, I did NOTHING! For real! When I decided that I wanted to move forward, I was blessed with some of the best advice ever from a dear friend. I was advised to set up my website with MY NAME as the web address for real: www.CindyRushton.com. I felt SO awkward in doing so. It just seemed a bit self-promoting exactly! If you are a writer, you MUST promote yourself. You have to get beyond the fears and trepidations. Think for a minute. If you wanted to find me on the web, what would you look for? I have now written almost 80 books, would my website be titled under one of them? I produce 6 ezines? Would my website be best set up under one of those? What about my business name? We have three businesses at this time and we are considering expanding into a couple of others? Which one would you look for? Do you even know their names? Yes, the most reasonable name for all I do is MY OWN NAME  http://www.CindyRushton.com. It tells who I am today and tomorrow! And yours will too! Invest in YOUR name as your website!

==> Create a HOME on the Web. Don’t just make it a website with information about products I HATE THOSE! Don’t you? They give NOTHING for the reader to enjoy today or to come back for later. If they do not buy the product at that time, you lose them. Rather, make a website that is a HOME on the web! Make your website a reflection of YOU! Include your articles/poems/tip sheets. Include fresh material through an ezine or a blog. Set up your website with a sampling of who you are and what you love to write on. Then, you will create a successful website that makes your readers want to buy your work as it comes out in print.

==> Set up an Ezine or Blog. Have fresh new material on a regular basis. Reach your readers either through an ezine that is emailed to them each time you send it out, or through a blog that they can visit regularly.

==> Begin to Develop your Mailing List. One last thing! Don’t lose those that come by your website. Be sure to set up a form for capturing their addresses. Make it easy to use. Offer them something for free a subscription to your e-zine a free e-book a free bonus. Just adding a form on your website or blog will capture hundreds of people who are interested in following you through the years. Begin yours TODAY!

A website may seem very intimidating, but you can do it! Find a company with easy templates or find a neat web designer who can help you get started. Set it up to be a reflection of who YOU are. You will find it to be your favorite tool as a writer!

~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Want some MORE help?

Writing to See Writers Reach Their Dreams…
Check out my NEW site just for writers!
http://www.Writers-Nook.com

So! You Want to be a Writer???
Check out our NEW Audio Seminar and Membership Site!
Sign up and get STEP-BY-STEP Help through Setting Up Your Own Wordpress Website!
http://www.Writers-Nook.com/onlineseminars.html

Blogging Starter Pack
Includes an Awesome Video Tutorial for Using Wordpress!
http://tinyurl.com/2sthhj

GOT-HOSTING
Our Web Hosting Service (offers Wordpress Scripts at the click of a button!)
http://tinyurl.com/3295aj

I just sent this information to a friend and thought that you guys might want to know how to use Wordpress for POSTS or PAGES. Let me walk you through each step. This makes it easy and solves a few quirks.

Wordpress is a wonderful content management system. All you have to do is post your information into their easy-to-use Control Panel and your information is formatted and posted online. It is WONDERFUL!

Wonder how? All you have to do to post is go into your Wordpress Control Panel. It uses a link like this:

http://www.CindyRushton.com/wp-admin (You should have received a link when you installed Wordpress.)

Use your Log-In information to log in there—You will have a USER NAME and PASSWORD.

Once you log in, look for the WRITE tab. You can write POSTS or PAGES. The posts are regular blog type posts. The pages are similar to pages on a website–give information about what you have to offer there (your story, your ezine, your products, etc)

When you write a post or a page, be sure to copy/paste your content into NOTEPAD before copying/pasting it into your content of your site. That will remove any formatting from programs like Word. Also, be sure to add in any spaces between paragraphs, etc. You don’t want for everything to run together in your post—make it easy for the eyes of those reading it.

Then, once you paste the content into Wordpress, you only need to go back through highlighting any parts that need to be bold or italic…highlighting and entering links…etc.

I think you will enjoy Wordpress!

Love ya!
Cindy

Writing to See Writers Reach Their Dreams…
Check out my NEW site just for writers!
http://www.Writers-Nook.com

So…You Want to be a Writer???
Check out our NEW Audio Seminar and Membership Site!
Sign up and get STEP-BY-STEP Help through Setting Up Your Own Wordpress Website!
http://www.Writers-Nook.com/onlineseminars.html

Blogging Starter Pack
Includes an Awesome Video Tutorial for Using Wordpress!
http://tinyurl.com/2sthhj

GOT-HOSTING
Our Web Hosting Service (offers Wordpress Scripts at the click of a button!)
http://tinyurl.com/3295aj