Monthly Archives: July 2008

Blogs Internet Online Marketing Search Engines

Google Trends: Anticipation is Key to Blogging Success

July 17, 2008 – 3:07 am

Google Trends is a simple tool. It tells you the highest search engine keywords and shows the stories related to them.A couple days ago, I did a test. On another blog, I wrote about a topic with a keyword that ranked high on Google Trends.As it turned out, the results were nothing spectacular. They also weren’t bad, but it’s clear to see, if you want to get good results it is much better to anticipate than to react.How to Anticipate Google Trends:

  1. Blog about upcoming events. Immediately following a big event or big show, people go looking for information based on conversations had at the water cooler.
  2. A slight extension of the last point, but weighing in on a reality television show is a sure fire way to attract an audience.
  3. Don’t shy away from people who are controversial. People and celebrities who are train wrecks (Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears) will continue to hit the news, although following A-listers is extremely competitive and not recommended. Surprisingly politicians are an easy target because of their loyal following both for and against. Just be careful you say though.
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Blogs Business Internet Online Marketing Search Engines

Ten Ways to Build Website Traffic Fast

July 10, 2008 – 4:17 am

Search engine optimization firms and freelance professionals are usually hired with the expectation that they can wave a magic wand and build website traffic fast. And while many of us have proven methods to help increase traffic as fast as possible, unfortunately it is not quite that easy. Listening to Joseph Jaffe speak earlier this year, his advice was to be in it for the long haul, but let’s face it, that answer doesn’t always fly with clients who like to see numbers.Based on my own experience, I couldn’t agree more Jaffe. With each month of blogging, a quality blogger can expect to gain a quality link here and there and after a while it seems as though each post attracts just a little more traffic than the last.Not to skirt around the subject, but if you need to build website traffic fast – Start a blog. And with that I have put together a few tips that should be able to build traffic fast.

  1. Choose a quality blog host. I recommend using blogger or wordpress. It is amazing how many links you’ll recieve internally from blogger or wordpress. In addition, each of these hosts will submit your sitemap for free.
  2. Pick a topic or series of topics and keep it at least semi-focused on your core subject area. This is especially true, if you are hosting a company blog. It will be easier to attract new links if you are offering up bits of information that is new and timely.
  3. Customize your look & feel. This will help your credibility with other bloggers and help you attract links.
  4. Keep at it. If at first you don’t succeed in building your blog traffic, keep at it. It is unlikely that other bloggers will link to your blog, if it is brand new because of the high likelihood that your blog could be abandoned.
  5. Mention your blog in as many other social networks that you are a part of. Some good ones to participate in are Facebook, MySpace, mybloglog.com, blogcatalog.com and Technorati.
  6. Submit your content to social bookmarking sites like Digg.
  7. Within those social networks, interact with other bloggers by leaving comments and adding to their discussion. This will help them find your blog and build your credibility.
  8. Make it easy to subscribe to your blog feed. This will help build repeat readers.
  9. Write quality content. Quality is a key for gaining traffic and aquiring new links.
  10. Around big events throw some content up covering it and to your suprise, I think you’ll get some new visitors.

Good luck building website traffic fast. I hope that these ten tips can help you out. If you any additional tips for building traffic fast, please leave a comment.

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Internet Online Marketing Search Engines

Organic Traffic and Signs it’s Time for a Redesign

July 9, 2008 – 11:16 am

Let’s say you are 45-year-old business manager and you put a lot of time, money and effort is put into building a new web site.Three weeks later you hire a young college graduate and they suggest you redesign your web site. How dare they, right? What the heck do they know?It’s true they might not haver brought up the subject in the best of manners, nor could they explain exactly how you should improve things, but don’t be afraid to trust their instincts.Gen-Y is programmed to say what they think and they are also trained to judge a business by how good your web site looks and how easy it is to use.If you don’t believe them, consider the following list of tell tale signs that it is time to redesign your web site.Signs that it is Time to Upgrade your Web Site:

  1. Your web site looks like to could have been built with geocities in 1998. What do I mean? You have 12 different font types, sizes and color. Images are from clip art. Things are slightly misaligned. Navigation is not universal and you have an image as a background.
  2. You are not receiving any organic traffic. This is a no brainer. Let your targeted audience think that they are the one initiating the conversation and good things will happen.
  3. People complain that things are tough to find on your website. If this is true, they might not trust you as a business manager. It might turn them off to the point that they don’t want to buy anything from your web site.
  4. Your website doesn’t reflect your business objectives. Within four seconds of visiting your site, it should be clear to a first time visitor what you do and why you do it better.
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