Top Blog Directories where to Submit Your Blog:
If you have a blog, then you can count yourself among the thousands of other people on earth who have a blog, who can sell their products and services online, and who find ways to network through friends, former classmates, relatives, even acquaintances, in order to make more money. There are thousands upon thousands of blogs on the Internet right now, and you will need to shine through the muddle of language, or, at the very least, be known to a few well enough in whatever niche you choose to place yourself.
One way for you to establish your audience is to actually have a niche that you proclaim yourself to be in, and one way for you to do this is to place your blog address in a blog directory. You also have the pick of the litter: you are not limited to placing your blog in a single directory, which is advantageous if you consider how these blog directories have their own audiences whom you might lose if you aren't meticulous enough.
If you are interested in submitting your blog to a blog directory, make sure that your blog is ready for the viewing. Do not simply place your blog address and then expect people to read half-baked essays, poor stories, or no entries at all. Have a lot of good content to welcome your new and current readers. Moreover, be aware of exactly what keywords your blog will have.
This means that you will have to go through your content, and then evaluate what keywords to use, so that you can properly categorize your blog and then provide the right keywords if the blog directory service asks for it.
Here are some blog directories that you may want to consider when you are finally ready to sign your blog up.
1. Blog Catalog (http://www.blogcatalog.com) allows you to not only place your blog into a category. It also shows which categories are the most popular, so that you can be better guided as to what market has the biggest readers. Through blog catalog, you can join discussions and form or join groups.
2. At Blog Hub (http://www.bloghub.com), you can add your blog and chat at a forum, chat with your fellow bloggers, and get news on affordable web hosting services, as well as other articles that might be of interest to you. Blog hub also offers information on how to use services to monetize your blog.
3. You can also add your blog to the directory at Blog Hint (http://www.bloghints.com), where you can view the latest blogs added, the most popular, and the highest rated. Blog Hints will even suggest a category for your blog, and you can access some Wordpress themes if you are using that service. There are many different blogs in this directory that you can search through. The blogs are also arranged in folders that are readily visible on the front page of the site.
4. At Blogging Fusion (http://www.bloggingfusion.com) you can also readily view the available categories, and you can even get your blog featured. There are also available blog ratings systems and popular blogs lists for you to browse.
5. Another directory is Blog Flux (http://dir.blogflux.com) where you can look through an alphabetical directory, see featured blogs, and see the latest updates to blogs listed in the directory.
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Showing posts with label Network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Network. Show all posts
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
The Google Blog Network Massacre - Blog Networks Deindexed
The Google Blog Network Massacre - Blog Networks Deindexed
By Samuel Frost on March 29 2012 Mar 29 2012 140Comments 
If you're anything like me then you love to keep your finger on the pulse of the affiliate marketing and SEO world. Just like you probably watch the 6pm news broadcast on TV, you should keep up to date with SEO current events. The biggest headline story this week has to be the deindexing of blog networks by Google.Thousands have been affected by Google either partially or completely removing entire blog networks. When Google removes a website from its index, any outgoing links automatically become null and void. Also, it doesn't look very good if a big portion of your links come from services that Google dislikes.
What is a blog network?
In case you aren't aware what a blog network is, allow me to quickly explain. Basically, blog networks allow you to publish blog posts (read "articles") on different websites that are linked into some form of automatic content distribution system. For example, if I wrote an article called "5 Killer Guitar Solo Secrets", I could then submit to a blog networks and in theory this article will then be published to sites in the network related to "guitars", "music", "hobbies", and things like that.
Blog networks come in many different flavors and varieties, with the only real underlying similarities being they are a system for generating backlinks by submitting content, and there is usually a price for membership (I'll come back to why this is important soon) "Public" blog networks consist of blog owners putting their sites in the network to receive free content. "Private" blog networks are slightly different, because the administrators of the network actually own the sites to which writers publish their content.
The biggest casualty so far of Google's push against blog networks is the Build My Rank service. This was a private blog network, and the sites which made up the network have all been deindexed by Google. Any links generated through Build My Rank are now worthless, and the service has been closed down to new members. You can read BMR's statement about the closure of their network here - kudos to them for coming clean straight away about what happened too.
Other notable networks that have been punished include SEO Link Monster, Authority Link Network, and Linkvana.
If you want more evidence of this latest algorithm update in action, just search "blog networks deindexed" and see how many discussion results there are. Some of them are truly frightening - SEO companies relying entirely on blog networks like BMR to build links for their clients' websites, entire websites disappearing from Google's index; it's like Nightmare on SEO Street (I'm keeping the horror related quips going here!)
Why are blog networks being targeted by Google?
I see three principal reasons why Google has started to crackdown on blog networks, so let me run you through them:
- Blog networks are a form of paid link building. Google's policy on paid link building is crystal clear, especially the fact that "buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results." The purpose blog networks is to facilitate link building, and these links are most definitely paid for in a slightly less obvious manner. Google penalized the website of their own Chrome software when it was revealed that a marketing company they used had employed paid backlinks; Google were hardly going to think twice about penalizing other paid link users were they?
- Blog networks are a form of "link scheme". Just like paid linking, Google's opinion on link schemes leaves no room for confusion. They are not a natural form of link building, especially once blog networks developed the technology to allow you submit a spin-ready article to hundreds of different blogs in a short space of time. Nobody submitted to blog networks just for the sake of getting content published - it is and always was about generating links. Blog networks sold themselves on this basis of being a way to get unnaturally large amounts of links quickly, and it was only a matter of time until Google caught on.
- Articles posted to blog networks tend to be low quality. The vast majority of articles posted to blog networks were low quality "filler" content that was only written to get backlinks. That might sound harsh, but the unfortunately the truth hurts. If the Panda update of 2011 wasn't a big enough wake up call, then hopefully the newest of Google's changes is. Google wants quality, unique content to populate its search index. Google wants you to create and distribute content for the purpose of providing value to readers, not just to build links. If you want high search engine rankings then you need to focus on providing value first, and link building/SEO second. I simply cannot stress this point enough!
Are any blog networks still safe?
It's still early days with Google's latest rollout. Some blog networks, such as Article Marketing Automation appear not to have been hit yet. In fact, blog networks that publish content on member submitted blogs (as opposed to admin-owned blogs) appear to have fared better than other networks. However, that's not to say that more blog networks wont be penalized going forward, so proceed with caution.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket and rely on a single blog network as your main source of links. In fact, you shouldn't even rely on multiple blog networks for the bulk of your links. If you are going to use any of the remaining networks, it should be as the cherry on your SEO cake. The ball is in Google's court here, so you should be playing by their rules of natural link building and quality content.
What now?
However, there is one new blog network that looks quite promising - it's called The Content Facilitator. In fact, it isn't really a blog network at all because the articles you submit aren't automatically passed to sites in the network. There isn't really a network to speak of at all. Instead, I like to think of The Content Facilitator as a guest blogging marketplace. Bloggers looking for quality, unique (and non-spun) articles for their blogs can come and browse for content written for those who want to reach a larger audience and get some backlinks in the process.
The Content Facilitator also runs on a credit system, which means membership is free for both writers and those looking for content. Every time one of your articles is picked up by a blog owner, credits are deducted from your balance (this means you don't wind up with hundreds of articles being published at once, and an unnatural link profile) You can earn credits by referring new members to The Content Facilitator, and by publishing others' content.
My favorite feature of The Content Facilitator is the ability to set your article as "unique", meaning it can only be published by one member in the marketplace. Writing "unique" articles for The Content Facilitator therefore provides a strong incentive to other members to pick up your content and publish it before it's gone.
Mark has managed to organize a pretty sweet deal with the owners of The Content Facilitator, where you can get 100 free publishing credits by signing up here (you will need to use the coupon code TrafficTravis inside the members' area to get these credits) The Content Facilitator is in its infancy at the moment, and I predict it will get much bigger and more popular in the coming months; just remember that the early bird catches the worm!
Closing thoughts
One issue a lot of people are raising with the deindexing of blog networks is the theory that a competitor could simply submit hundreds of spun articles to networks, featuring links back to YOUR website. Think of it as a kind of "SEO sabotage". However, there is no need to worry about this - if a blog network is deindexed, the outgoing links in the network count for nothing, and therefore won't be able to affect your website. This is just disinformation at best, and scaremongering at worst.
If you've been affected by the closure and deindexing of blog networks, I'd love to hear from you. Just leave a comment below!
Friday, July 18, 2014
Global Internet Marketing
Global Internet Marketing - Is It Different Than Internet Marketing:
It might be natural to think that internet marketing is actually the same thing as global internet marketing since you can access web content from all over the world. But if you've decided to market your products or services internationally, you will have to do it in a way that offers the best site and most appropriate message to your various audiences.
Among other things, this involves choosing the right language and interface for your users' locations while taking into account the multitude of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) factors for a global marketing campaign. As many of you are aware, the internet enables less expensive and efficient online international distribution options for media products and informational types of products. Software companies are the most obvious examples of those that can save by distributing their products online all over the world.
When it comes to SEO, one of the most important technical decisions you need to make before getting started with your global Internet marketing campaign is how to manage the many international domains. What you decide doesn't just potentially affect your rankings, but also how well you will be able to manage each of your sites and even how much you end up investing in this marketing endeavor.
There are two options when it comes to launching websites in different countries. First, you can host all of the different language variations on one site and separate the languages by subdomains or subdirectories. The second option is to create a separate site for each language you are targeting.
If you choose the first option, you will probably have greater centralized control when it comes to the site's management and better SEO because all of the links will be coming in to one singular domain. This method can also be more effective when it comes to suppressing the possibility of duplicate content in the search engines.
If you go with the second option, you will probably spend less. You can start with one site and then add others one by one if you feel it is feasible. Contrary to the first option, by having multiple sites, you will rank better in the country-specific search engines. Because using this method allows you to set up country specific hosting, you can target your SEO efforts to specific countries. It often makes sense to host your site in the country being targeted.
Another important concept to understand at the onset of your global internet marketing campaign is that you can't do your keyword research in English and just translate to your target markets' languages in order to be successful. You need to do extensive keyword research in the language of the market you are targeting.
The best case scenario would be to have a native speaker supervise or do the keyword research. The very least you should do is to use a foreign language/English dictionary that includes idiomatic expressions and is as local to the target market as possible.
It might be natural to think that internet marketing is actually the same thing as global internet marketing since you can access web content from all over the world. But if you've decided to market your products or services internationally, you will have to do it in a way that offers the best site and most appropriate message to your various audiences.
Among other things, this involves choosing the right language and interface for your users' locations while taking into account the multitude of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) factors for a global marketing campaign. As many of you are aware, the internet enables less expensive and efficient online international distribution options for media products and informational types of products. Software companies are the most obvious examples of those that can save by distributing their products online all over the world.
When it comes to SEO, one of the most important technical decisions you need to make before getting started with your global Internet marketing campaign is how to manage the many international domains. What you decide doesn't just potentially affect your rankings, but also how well you will be able to manage each of your sites and even how much you end up investing in this marketing endeavor.
There are two options when it comes to launching websites in different countries. First, you can host all of the different language variations on one site and separate the languages by subdomains or subdirectories. The second option is to create a separate site for each language you are targeting.
If you choose the first option, you will probably have greater centralized control when it comes to the site's management and better SEO because all of the links will be coming in to one singular domain. This method can also be more effective when it comes to suppressing the possibility of duplicate content in the search engines.
If you go with the second option, you will probably spend less. You can start with one site and then add others one by one if you feel it is feasible. Contrary to the first option, by having multiple sites, you will rank better in the country-specific search engines. Because using this method allows you to set up country specific hosting, you can target your SEO efforts to specific countries. It often makes sense to host your site in the country being targeted.
Another important concept to understand at the onset of your global internet marketing campaign is that you can't do your keyword research in English and just translate to your target markets' languages in order to be successful. You need to do extensive keyword research in the language of the market you are targeting.
The best case scenario would be to have a native speaker supervise or do the keyword research. The very least you should do is to use a foreign language/English dictionary that includes idiomatic expressions and is as local to the target market as possible.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
How To Get White Listed
Get White Listed:
Handling spam is not something that is a mystery to anyone who uses email regularly. It is almost out of the question for anyone to operate a computer on the internet and not have some form of spam protection software working to catch bad emails and delete them or trap them to a quarantine folder. But if you have worked with any of the popular spam protection software packages, you know those services have to be "trained" to know what is spam and what is not.
Probably the most common method for determining spam is by email address. So when you installed your spam protection software, the first thing it will do is import your address book and build a list of email addresses that you will allow into your inbox without question. This favored contacts list is one you will manage and update regularly as you add new contacts both personal and professional.
From a merchant perspective, one of the most prized lists that online retailer can hope to get on is the customers favored user list. This is because once a customer flags an online merchant that they are allowed to send the customer emails without question, that customer becomes an A-list candidate for specials, discounts, special sales and other marketing methods that the online merchant may use to encourage sales.
From a retailer point of view then, one of the top methods for avoiding email delivery problems is to "get white listed" by your customers so you can exchange emails with them freely and often. The theory behind how to get white listed is not complicated but the methods can get pretty creative. The theory is very simple. You have to make the customer want to see your emails. How to do that opens up all kinds of marketing ploys to appeal to the customer to invite you into your email inbox as often as you wish to show up.
The first opportunity you have to entice the customer to add you to their favored contacts list is when you do an email verification of membership when they first sign on to be a regular part of your web site "community". But event then, one rule applies universally for how to get customers to want to see your emails. You have to convince them that there is something in it for them.
To create value that you will deliver to the customer's email box from time to time, you just have to know what the customer wants. Discounts and coupons are very popular items that customers will often seek out. When the customer opts in to become a part of your web site community, you can take that opportunity to solicit the customer about special offers, discounts and coupons. Few of us can resist a good deal so when the customer signs on to get those offers, that is the time to remind them that all they have to do is add you to their favored contacts list in their spam software to make sure those "once in a lifestyle" deals don't go into the spam graveyard on their computer.
Other "goodies" you can use to entice customers to add you to their favored contacts list are newsletters, autoresponder courses, ezines and give aways. If you notice a customer is a regular contributor to one of the blogs on your web site, offer to email to him or her each new blog entry. To see the latest ramblings on that blog, that customer will eagerly add the email address to their favored contacts list and you have accomplished your goal.
Now every one of these marketing tools we have mentioned have additional sales potential in them as well. Newsletters that deliver regular entertainment and education to your customers also can carry advertising for your products or advertising that other merchants pay to include in your newsletter. Many online merchants have developed a large secondary income source when their newsletter became suddenly very popular with a large circulation. So put some work into these marketing tools because they could take your business in an entirely new direction.
Handling spam is not something that is a mystery to anyone who uses email regularly. It is almost out of the question for anyone to operate a computer on the internet and not have some form of spam protection software working to catch bad emails and delete them or trap them to a quarantine folder. But if you have worked with any of the popular spam protection software packages, you know those services have to be "trained" to know what is spam and what is not.
Probably the most common method for determining spam is by email address. So when you installed your spam protection software, the first thing it will do is import your address book and build a list of email addresses that you will allow into your inbox without question. This favored contacts list is one you will manage and update regularly as you add new contacts both personal and professional.
From a merchant perspective, one of the most prized lists that online retailer can hope to get on is the customers favored user list. This is because once a customer flags an online merchant that they are allowed to send the customer emails without question, that customer becomes an A-list candidate for specials, discounts, special sales and other marketing methods that the online merchant may use to encourage sales.
From a retailer point of view then, one of the top methods for avoiding email delivery problems is to "get white listed" by your customers so you can exchange emails with them freely and often. The theory behind how to get white listed is not complicated but the methods can get pretty creative. The theory is very simple. You have to make the customer want to see your emails. How to do that opens up all kinds of marketing ploys to appeal to the customer to invite you into your email inbox as often as you wish to show up.
The first opportunity you have to entice the customer to add you to their favored contacts list is when you do an email verification of membership when they first sign on to be a regular part of your web site "community". But event then, one rule applies universally for how to get customers to want to see your emails. You have to convince them that there is something in it for them.
To create value that you will deliver to the customer's email box from time to time, you just have to know what the customer wants. Discounts and coupons are very popular items that customers will often seek out. When the customer opts in to become a part of your web site community, you can take that opportunity to solicit the customer about special offers, discounts and coupons. Few of us can resist a good deal so when the customer signs on to get those offers, that is the time to remind them that all they have to do is add you to their favored contacts list in their spam software to make sure those "once in a lifestyle" deals don't go into the spam graveyard on their computer.
Other "goodies" you can use to entice customers to add you to their favored contacts list are newsletters, autoresponder courses, ezines and give aways. If you notice a customer is a regular contributor to one of the blogs on your web site, offer to email to him or her each new blog entry. To see the latest ramblings on that blog, that customer will eagerly add the email address to their favored contacts list and you have accomplished your goal.
Now every one of these marketing tools we have mentioned have additional sales potential in them as well. Newsletters that deliver regular entertainment and education to your customers also can carry advertising for your products or advertising that other merchants pay to include in your newsletter. Many online merchants have developed a large secondary income source when their newsletter became suddenly very popular with a large circulation. So put some work into these marketing tools because they could take your business in an entirely new direction.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Work At Home Opportunities
Work At Home Opportunities
Thanks to internet, there are thousands of work at home opportunities available nowadays. These opportunities help stay at home parents, students etc. Anyone can do a home based job irrespective of their age, qualification and skills.
Those who do not have basic computer knowledge can try crafts or assembly work, toys making, catering, wall painting etc are ideal work at home opportunities which do not need computer knowledge. However 63% of home based workers use the internet to do their work.
There are more than 5000 legitimate work at home job opportunities available online. These jobs require you to have some basic computer knowledge and communication skills.
Work at home data entry job opportunity is suitable for those who want to earn some extra money at their own timings. You need to fill out forms provided by the company hiring you. You can get payment for your service monthly once or twice as per the policy of the company. These jobs generally do not require any experience or special educational qualification.
Virtual assistance is an excellent work at home job opportunity for those who have experience and skill in administrative and clerical services. You can earn smart income from these jobs. You can also provide technical or creative support to the client company.
Online survey and mystery shopping are some other home based job opportunities that require only few hours daily. These jobs are ideal for stay at home moms who need to take care of their children.
Home assembly is yet another excellent work at home opportunity where you need to assemble different items. You can enjoy the fun of assembling things and at the same time can increase your earning potential. You can earn some extra money in your convenient timings. You can select either part time or full time.
Since numerous work at home opportunities are available, there is always the chance of scams. Hence you need to be careful before starting any type of work at home. Before accepting a home based job ask the program sponsor what type of job you need to perform, how much you would get for the work, who would pay you, work hours etc.
You can also check whether the company hiring you as home based worker are reliable or not by typing the name of the company in google or Better Business Bureau's search box. If there is any complaints, you can then reject and move on.
Thanks to internet, there are thousands of work at home opportunities available nowadays. These opportunities help stay at home parents, students etc. Anyone can do a home based job irrespective of their age, qualification and skills.
Those who do not have basic computer knowledge can try crafts or assembly work, toys making, catering, wall painting etc are ideal work at home opportunities which do not need computer knowledge. However 63% of home based workers use the internet to do their work.
There are more than 5000 legitimate work at home job opportunities available online. These jobs require you to have some basic computer knowledge and communication skills.
Work at home data entry job opportunity is suitable for those who want to earn some extra money at their own timings. You need to fill out forms provided by the company hiring you. You can get payment for your service monthly once or twice as per the policy of the company. These jobs generally do not require any experience or special educational qualification.
Virtual assistance is an excellent work at home job opportunity for those who have experience and skill in administrative and clerical services. You can earn smart income from these jobs. You can also provide technical or creative support to the client company.
Online survey and mystery shopping are some other home based job opportunities that require only few hours daily. These jobs are ideal for stay at home moms who need to take care of their children.
Home assembly is yet another excellent work at home opportunity where you need to assemble different items. You can enjoy the fun of assembling things and at the same time can increase your earning potential. You can earn some extra money in your convenient timings. You can select either part time or full time.
Since numerous work at home opportunities are available, there is always the chance of scams. Hence you need to be careful before starting any type of work at home. Before accepting a home based job ask the program sponsor what type of job you need to perform, how much you would get for the work, who would pay you, work hours etc.
You can also check whether the company hiring you as home based worker are reliable or not by typing the name of the company in google or Better Business Bureau's search box. If there is any complaints, you can then reject and move on.
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