blogging 102

Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes

One of the major issues that an SEO consultant faces is attending to the client’s expectations. The client, for one reason or another, almost always expects more than can be done in the given timeframe and price.

The problem with SEO consultants is that they have a dilemma: They can either promise extremely optimistic results and then under-deliver or they can undersell and then overperform. If the SEO consultant under-delivers, he gets the project in the beginning but by the end of the project, loses the client’s trust. If he over-delivers by first underselling, chances are that he will have a diffcult time getting the project in the first place.

While there are many SEO companies out there, they mainly provide benchmarks in terms of ROI, traffic, rankings and sales. The issue with these benchmarks is that most of them are not under the control of the SEO consultant. It would be wise to look at the points below so you know what NOT to expect from an SEO consultant. It will also help you make more sense of your SEO campaigns.

Here are some tips of what not to expect from an SEO consultant:

1. Never expect a certain ranking: The majority of SEO package buyers “want a certain ranking for a certain keyword in a certain timeframe for a certain price”. It just cannot be done. Even though it is implied and might even be written in the contract in print that an SEO consultant does not have a direct influence on rankings, clients mostly gauge progress by rankings. Do not use rankings as a measure because it is subject to Google algorithms as well as a thousand other variables and it is outside the power of your SEO guy.

2. Never expect a one-time SEO: The majority of off-site SEO is recurring i.e. it needs to be undertaken from time to time. Even on-site SEO needs maintenance when you optimize for new keywords and change the layout of your website. Most clients expect a one-time SEO job to take care of all their rankings and their traffic etc. This simply is not possible.

3. Never expect the cost to be set in stone: The costs of SEO packages change because your rankings and competition changes (as well as the algorithms). A lot of buyers out there do not look kindly upon an increase in price to accommodate more competitive keywords etc. The price an SEO consultant charges is proportionate (in a reasonable manner) to the amount of work which needs to be done.

4. Never expect a quick ROI: Some clients check their website statistics every 4 hours after the SEO campaign is undertaken, hoping to see a drastic increase in rankings, a flood of traffic and an endless supply of cash in their bank accounts. Even the best SEO practices take weeks to take effect, so give it some time.

Author: Yasir Khan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Gadget reviews

Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes

One of the biggest “benchmark” figures that most people quote when trying to make a full time living from home is $4000 per month. Roughly one thousand dollars per month. Most people seem to think, especially those JUST getting started, that this sort of consistently earned income would give them the comfort to quit their day job and commit to creating an online blogging empire of their very own.

I’m going to give you the absolute EASIEST way to do it, and while it does take a little bit of work to get started, it’s pretty simple to support (and scale UP) once you have.

Filed Under: Sell More Stuff From Your Blog (and start right now)

The best way to begin? Unless you have a hardcore “passion” for something you really want to offer, service wise, yourself….affiliate marketing is the best place to begin. But listen up: You’ve got to be smart, and you’ve got to be savvy, and you have to go the OPPOSITE direction of most of the silly advice that you’ll see out there in wild.

When it comes to affiliate marketing, your earnings WILL be predicated on the programs you pick. Your OFFER is often completely related to your outcome.

The easiest way to sell more stuff, without working ONE lick harder is to pick better offers. For example, there are plenty of affiliate offers that convert really, really well that pay $75 and up per sale. Some on CPA style sign up’s as well. (which have better conversion rates as a general rule, often 8-10%) If you make one sale per day, on a $100 dollar payout, on ONE affiliate blog, you are already almost hitting your target of $4000 per month. You simply need another 30 bucks a day, and you’re there.

So just do this: Write articles like this one. Drive ALL of the readers to your blog, where you have content created around one HYPER specific product or offer. Pick the product properly, look for high converting, high EPC offers that are already selling well. (the biggest mistake people make is looking for “micro-niches” – don’t do it, find stuff converting already in BIG markets) Use lots of off site strategies like article marketing, press release submissions, social strategies and you will SHOCK yourself at how easy it really IS, to make a full time living from your blog (and FAST!).

Author: Alexa Ross
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Duty on LCD/Plasma TV

Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes

Who else is thinking about starting a corporate blog? If you are anything like many of my high falutin friends in big business or professional services like law or medicine, the thought of starting a blog to attract clients, patients or customers seems a little bit silly, doesn’t it? If you said YES to that, the chances are you are not too plugged in to the content creation (and distribution) revolution that’s taking place online right now…and the bad news is that it will most likely leave you far behind, and fast!

Why do I say this? I think you probably already know, but many of the younger, more aggressive professionals are coming straight to the market with a firmer grip on technology as a driver for their business building efforts, and many of the “old boys club” are simply suffering as a consequence.

With this in mind, let’s look at 2 simple ways that a corporate blog can build BACK your brand and even more importantly, allow you connect with your clients and customers in a dramatic fashion.

- The online marketplace is exceedingly transparent, and very vocal. What does this mean? People have opinions, and are NOT afraid to share them online. Many of the folks who may think twice about complaining to your front desk, or calling you directly, will have no trouble venting on a social networking site, a blog, web site or local search marketplace results. By starting and maintaining a blog, you are not only giving yourself a voice, you are also giving folks a chance to “connect” with you personally, and often, we’ve found our clients who do this, will get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to customer complaints.

Why? People will comment on YOUR blog first, or contact you before going public with their complaints. Of course a blog also allows you to share your ethos, your USP, your strengths and even your weaknesses if you’re so inclined to share them. (which can actually help people connect with you even more!)

- Search Engine rankings: Plain and simple, blogs are incredible search engine magnets. They’ll rank well for highly targeted, and highly coveted keywords that you NEED to own for your market, and if you keep them updated somewhat regularly, you’ll get so much FREE traffic, that you’ll probably find advertising is no longer necessary! (Don’t laugh…many professionals do SO well with blog marketing, that they simply stop paying for advertising altogether)

Author: I. R. Hollander
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable Pressure Cooker

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

“Thousands of people were producing new Web sites every day. We were just trying to take all that stuff and organize it to make it useful. ” – David Filo

This quote was made by David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo! with Jerry Yang. They created Yahoo! as a way to organize data on the Web that they were interested in. As Google created a search engine to organize information, Yahoo!’s goal was to setup their business model in a way that was much different. Instead of having to search for information, users would simply navigate from category to category to locate the information they were interested in; a theory that any person could accept, no matter their breadth of knowledge on the Internet.

Over the past several years, Yahoo! has created one of the most popular sites on the Internet. So what was it that’s made them so famous? Was it their Yahoo! brand? Was it the way their site is categorically structured? Both of these definitely helped contribute to their success but what is the main reason why Yahoo! has become so popular? In my opinion it all comes down to content and the amount of information that is on the Yahoo! website. There are literally millions of articles, stories, and other information behind that behemoth of a site. Yes, it took nearly 12 years to get where they are today but my point here is that content is a major key to success on the Internet.

The Birth of RSS

RSS, Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, is an XML-based format (using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) that provides an open method of syndicating and aggregating Web content. Using RSS files, you can create a data feed that supplies headlines, links, and article summaries from your website to others. Users can have constantly updated content from websites delivered to them via a news reader (aggregator), a piece of software specifically tailored to receive these types of feeds.

RSS makes it easy to take another site’s content and feed it to yours. As an example, let’s say I took Yahoo!’s Sports RSS feed and added it to my site. Every time they posted a new sports article or story it would be updated on my site as well, a concept that was a revolutionary breakthrough for the Internet. Now websites can grow their content without having to write all the data on their own. In my opinion, this idea will continue to drive the Internet and will thrive for many years to come.

To view Yahoo! News RSS, click here, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

The big consumer benefit to RSS is that consumers opt-in to obtain content of interest, totally controlling the flow of information they receive. The RSS reader acts as an aggregator, allowing users to view and scan multiple content streams in a timely fashion.

So let’s reverse this whole idea now. Let’s say you have a website or blog. Do you provide RSS feeds for the content on your site? Can your users simply take the content that is on your site and feed it to theirs? In a few years, most websites and blogs will have RSS integrated with their website. RSS will become a standard, just as email has become a standard in our lives today. It will be a regular service that is packaged with the development of every website.

The end doesn’t stop here. RSS will be used for all types of syndication and content distribution of the future. Email will eventually use RSS and corporations will use it for various communication channels to notify their clients of upcoming specials, discounts, product announcements and technical support issues.

I’m excited to see where RSS takes us. Look what email has done for us over the last several years. Email is such an important part of all of our lives – we could not live without it. In my opinion, RSS is just as unique. RSS is going to drive the distribution of content for many years to come, if not forever.

Author: Daryl H. Bryant
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Duty tariff

Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an increasingly popular method to syndicate website content and promote websites. Just as your web site can (and should) be submitted to search engines, your RSS feeds can also be submitted to RSS feed-specific directories and search tools.

Many RSS search engines and directories allow you to freely submit RSS feeds. Feed directories are generally categorized by subject. Web surfers looking for RSS feeds about a specific subject will often search the RSS directories to find feeds that match their criteria. Topic-specific and podcasting RSS directories are also gaining popularity.

As with many things in life, quality trumps quantity. It is always best to submit your RSS feeds to reputable RSS feed directories. A good criteria is to check the directory’s Google Page Rank. Good directory placement increase the number of sites linking to your website, increases your link popularity, and raises your feed’s profile.

When submitting to RSS feed directories, keep the following in mind:

Make sure your RSS feed is compliant! The best feed in the world won’t be read if the feed code is bad. Use a website like http://feedvalidator.org to make sure your code is valid.

Carefully follow the submission guidelines provided by each directory. Make sure you are not submitting an unrelated feed, a feed with bad code, or a feed with poor descriptions. Carefully choose your feed’s category and only submit to relevant categories.

Try to find niche directories suitable for your feed. For example, if your web site covers Real Estate, focus your efforts into finding Real Estate RSS directories, and submit your feed there.

To find RSS directories, do a search for ‘rss directories’ in your favorite search engine. Several web sites contain comprehensive directory lists that you can use as a starting point.

In order to reap the full benefits of an RSS feed, proper publicity is important. It takes some work to find and submit your feeds, but the benefits in web site traffic and link popularity will make it well worth the effort!

Author: S. Daley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Cool mobile gadgets