You recently created (or bought a blog), and now aim to get backlinks to start ranking in the search engines. But which are the best methods for a new blog? This was the question I posed to Lynn Terry who runs the hugely popular Clicknews site. Below is an outline of her response.

1. Niche directory – whatever niche you’re blog is on, most likely there’s a niche directory out there for it. Seek these out via a Google search, with the following formula: niche + blog directory. For example, if you’re blog is on the topic of surfing you would type into Google the following: surfing + niche directory. Niche directories are usually good sources of relevant, good PR, one way backlinks.

2. Blog Directory – similar as the above method, but these tend to only accept blogs and cater to a variety of niches. Some of the more established blog directories on the web include; Blog Catalog, My Blog Log, Blog Flux, and of course DMOZ. Submit your new blog to each one and make sure you also link to the “blog profile page” from your site.

3. Guest Blogging – we’re big fans of guest posting, and have written extensively on the subject. One of the absolute best methods for getting in front of a relevant audience and as a bonus, securing the almighty backlink. How does this method work? Quite simple really. Find blogs in your area of specialty, send them an email via their contact form and pitch them on a guest article. They will either say yes or no, but always worth a good try.

4. Article marketing – this is an excellent method to get backlinks to a new blog and involves writing a series of articles, about 5 or so and submitting them to an article directory, such as Ezine Articles. First create an account, write your article in their dashboard and wait for approval. Ezines is nicely moderated, so they tend to keep junk out, which is a good thing and article approval takes anywhere from 3 days 7 days.

5. Social media – Some social networking and social media sites send juice back to our blogs, the key as mentioned above is relevancy. For example, if you run an internet marketing or affiliate blog, a good social media site for you would be Sphinn. But on the other hand if you run a shoe blog, Sphinn is a waste of time for you. So look for social media sites that complement your topic, become a regular active member and periodically submit your articles for a boost in the search engines.

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You have an awesome Facebook Page, right? And now you want the world to know. Great! Let’s take a look at a few resources where you can score some free Facebook Buttons, Icons or Badges.

1. Social Media Buttons – this site is dedicated to nothing but buttons and badges for both Twitter and Facebook. They have several sweet buttons to choose from that you can add your Facebook profile ID to and then copy and paste wherever you like. Want a Facebook badge for your blog? Check. A Facebook button for your Myspace? Check. They have a cute collection in various colors and sizes, try this site first.

2. Facebook Widgets – You can also use the official Facebook widgets which allow you to get a badge for either your profile, photo or fan page. These are somewhat customizable, but not much. You have a choice of horizontal or vertical layout and other custom features.

3. My Social Buttons – At My Social Buttons.com you can snag buttons and badges for a variety of social media giants, including LinkedIn, Stumble Upon, Twitter, Technorati, Flickr, Myspace, Facebook and more. Available in numerous colors, sizes and styles.

4. Social Blog – This site has a pretty nice set of Facebook buttons, all with easy copy and paste functionality. Just enter in your ID and you’re good to go.

5. Justin Parks.com – This is the personal blog of social media enthusiast Justin Parks, who has a sweet set of Facebook icons, badges and buttons.

If you know of any more, let us know in the comment area. Feel free to leave a link.

Till next time, Missy

p.s. Need a Facebook Fan Page set up? We now offer this as a low cost service.

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1. Name – Every website needs a domain name that’s descriptive and relevant, but what type of name should you pick? There are two rules of thought here. One is to go the brand route and use a name that over time will become relevant. Second is to go the route of a keyword-rich name which will rank well and instantly let your readers, visitors, and the search engines know what you’re about. Which domain name route you opt for is entirely up to you, but deciding upfront which you’ll be taking is what you want to focus on.

2. Structure – You want a site that is search engine friendly and one of the best ways to optimize a site from the get go is to use a blog format, such as WordPress. With WordPress you get search engine friendly URL’s, as you get to choose the URL structure within the back-end area of WP.

The URL (or permalink) of your site should have keywords in it, so when search engines spider it – they know what its about.

3. Purpose – Every website should figure out what is it’s PRIMARY focus – is it to capture leads, direct sales, testimonials, or provide information? Determine this early on as it will help when it comes time to develop a content strategy.

The purpose of your site will also determine its layout and design.

4. Design – The look and feel of your website says alot about you. Do you want a standard generic template or a custom design which highlights your logo and unique brand?

With WordPress you have several choices -

A. Free Theme: A generic template found on the web.
B. Premium Theme (with customizations): A paid for theme you can customize.
C. Custom Theme: A theme created from scratch specific to you.

I recommend B or C. Either will serve the purpose of having a professionally designed blog website that stands out.

Some good premium WordPress themes include: Fresh News Theme, Thesis Theme, and Revolution Church Theme.

5. Layout – Depending on the purpose of your site (see above) you will want to lay out your site accordingly. If the purpose of your site is to gather leads then be sure to highlight your sign up form. If the purpose of your site is to sell directly, be sure to make it easy to place an order. If the purpose of your site is to be an information portal, set it up so that it highlights information right from the onset.

6. Content – Every website should have the following pages:

About Us Page – What are you about? What is your business about? How are you different? Etc.

Contact Us Page – Make it super duper easy for anyone to reach you. Add a contact form and let people know how and when to BEST reach you.

Services Page – What services do you offer? What are your skills? Any credentials? Highlight your unique offerings here.

WordPress makes it easy to add as many pages as you need. Think about your sites purpose and fill accordingly.

As for articles – keeping your blog website fresh with new content will keep the search engines coming back again and again. This is a good thing. Think about what your customers (and prospective customers) are interested in. What do they want to learn? What tips would they find useful? What keeps them entertained? Fill your blog with these useful, informative or entertaining articles. You can add as many articles as you like and style your site in blog format or style it in a more traditional format – but whichever style you choose – you want to make it known you have relevant articles available for your audience. Make sure this is apparent from the first glance.

7. Plan – Every website should have a marketing plan. How will you spread the word – online, offline, social media, advertising, family and friends?

Have a plan and work the plan. Incorporate your website URL in all your communications, from your business cards to customer newsletters, mentioning it in seminars, attaching to email signatures, etc.

Decide early on how you will promote your blog website. Have a plan in place.

These tips are meant for new blog websites, but can be applied to any site. If you run a small business and don’t yet have a website, but have been mulling over the idea – it’s never too late to create an online presence.

Follow the tips above and don’t just create a website, create an online presence that will explode your sales, leads, and income.

RSS Readers: What Tip Can You Add?

What tip do you have for small business owners looking to create their first website?

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So you started a blog on a topic you like, you’ve added content, promoted the heck out of the blog and are NOW wanting to generate income.

Maybe you waited till you had a certain number of articles, or reached a certain number of subscribers before you decided to monetize. Regardless of the reason, you NOW want to know how to make money with your beloved blog.

Let’s take a look at the various ways to generate some cash NOW.

1.) Private Ads

These are direct ads you get from readers or subscribers to your blog. Usually these ads are in the form of 125 x 125 ad blocks found on the sidebar. But this needent be the case. You can rent out space on your blog anywhere. A 486x 60 on the homepage should fetch a pretty penny.

TIP: Try different formats and rates, to see which works best for your niche and your blog.

2.) Google Adsense

If you’re a new blogger try this money maker first. Why? Because it is dirt easy. It is easy to install, easy to manage, easy to make money with. My favorite thing about Google Adsense is that the ads served to your readers are RELEVANT. The ads are matched to the content on the page. This is wht it is called ad sense. Because the ads make sense.

TIP: Use the 336×380 ad format, and place (above and below) each post. It may not look ideal, but it makes money. If you are blogging for money (and who isn’t) you need to do this. Need help? Shoot me an email, i run an Adsense install and configuration service. Each ad block runs $3. Just let me know.

3.) Performancing Ads

This is a new ad network created by the guys from the performancing blog. This is similar to private ads, the big difference is that you benefit from the traffic built by the network. They also charge a small commission per each ad booked.

TIP: Try pricing your ad spots low, and place above the fold.

4.) ShareaSale

If you write about products, then take a look at ad network Shareasale. In a nutshell you sign up and browse the advertisers available, then choose a few that relate to your niche. For example, if you write a finance blog, look for credit report products, etc. Once you have found something relevant, place the Shareasale link on an article.

TIP: Write an awesome article, stumble it, digg it, email it to your friends, build backlinks to it, etc. Point is that after you write a groovy piece, don’t forget to promote it. Example: On my vegetarian blog, i recently wrote a top 10 list 10 Reasons You Should Subscribe To Ideal Bite, i slapped my affiliate link on the article, and so far i’ve raked in OVER $96. Need any more proof? Let me know.

5.) Amazon Store

Amazon makes it (easy breezy) to create and add a basic store to your blog. The super cool thing about Amazon is that because it is so massively huge, they carry everything. So it doesn’t matter what type of blog niche you’re in, Amazon (most likely) will have something for you. My fave type of store to create with Amazon is a bookstore. Run an automotive blog? Hello, create a book store full of the hottest and awesomest books out there. The only drawback about Amazon if you can call it that, is that their commission is pretty low. They pay 4% on whatever you sell. But like Adsense, those pennies do add up.

TIP: Make your Amazon bookstore stand out, maybe have someone design a sweet logo, or have a contest wherein people promote the bookstore for you. It’s all about promotion. (blogger style, you know social media)

In Conclusion

The 5 methods discussed above will net you blog cash right away. Remember the important thing is 1.) relevancy 2.) promotion 3.) and foundation (the foundation is your blogs content) Your blog CAN be a money maker if you like what you write about. People will pick up on that.

If you’re a geek, start a gadget blog. Your knowledge is money. Your personality is money. Your uniqueness is money. How much you make (of course) is up to you.

Stay tuned for Part II of 10 Ways To Generate Blog Income. I will discuss 5 more money makers which you can use NOW to make money with your blog. Subscribe to my RSS feed via email or your fave feed reader, so you don’t miss part deux.

READER QUESTION

Of the 5 money makers discussed above, which are YOU NOT using and WHY? Share below.

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Want a convenient and easy way to keep track of certain keywords, your blog, or other topics in Twitter? Enter TweetBeep, it is like Google Alerts but for Twitter. The alerts are sent to your email inbox, and you choose what to keep track of.

via – Web 2.0 Blog

For example, lets say you write a blog on vintage clothes, and you want to stay updated on what others on Twitter are saying and discussing on this particular topic. Just TweetBeep this keyword, and alerts are automatically generated and sent to you, on your schedule, as frequent as hourly, or less so, once daily.

The Twitter alerts service is quick and easy to set up, try it out.

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The folks at the new generation affiliate network, PepperJam, have a new series on their blog, “Meet The Affiliates”. The first interviewee is established affiliate marketer, Sam Harrelson.

I enjoy these types of interviews, as they provide good insight and sometimes a juicy marketing nugget is revealed:

affiliate marketers are going to have to engage with the new paradigms of marketing that are being created around more social sites (I’m not a big fan of the term “social media” because I think the web is inherently social). Social networks, niche community sites and highly customizable platforms like Twitter are going to demand more from marketers than just posting up a banner or bidding on a click. So, as affiliate marketers, we are going to have to engage increasingly niche and fragmented audiences in order to stay relevant and profitable.

To read more of the Sam Harrelson interview, head on over to the PJ blog.

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