Savvy Affiliate

Day 15 of The 100 Days To Webpage Excellence Guide

There is quite a lot that a successful blogger has to do.  He has to write content, network with other bloggers, build up backlinks, monetize his site, moderate his comments etc.  And if you are just starting a site, chances are that you have a full time job as well.  How can you possibly to all that in the time you have available?

The trick is to focus on constantly improving your productivity.  You need to always be looking for ways to get more done in the time that you have available.  To do this, you need to track what you spend your time on, and how effective it is.

It is especially important to track what kind of link building is effective.  It can be very difficult to track how effective content you write it.  Likewise, how can you tell if you are monetizing your site with the best use of your time?  That is extremely hard.   But building up backlinks and getting traffic lends itself well to increased efficiency.  What might a new blogger do in order to attract attention to his site?  He might have a link signature in forums and comments, he might e-mail some bigger name bloggers with some of his top content hoping for a link, he might guest blog at a popular site, he might use Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon, and other social networking sites to drive traffic.  But what works best?

 What will work best at driving traffic to a new site is different for every page and every blogger.  Jane May recommended using Myspace as a marketing tool, and every day adding 50 friends that you choose out of groups related to your site.   That may work for her, but I don’t think it would be a good use of time for my page.  I know that because it will take upwards of 30 minutes every day to manage myspace.  She thinks it will yield a several hundred hits a day in the long term.  I know from my tracking that there are other things I can do that are a better use of my time!

In order to track, you need to do 2 things. 

• You need to keep a list of how you market your blog, and how much time you spend doing it.   - Without this list, everything else is going to be a guess
• You need to use a tool such as analytics to keep track of how people are finding your page.

When you have those two pieces of information, experiment.  Try posting on different blogs or different forums, which drives traffic to your site?  Try spending less time Digging your posts, and more time stumbling them.  What it effective?   This is all information that you need to know.

As you get more experienced you will learn what works well and what doesn’t just from repetition.  But if you want to improve your site as fast as possible, you need numbers.  Taking the time to track how you use your time can be very beneficial.  Give it a try and I think that you’ll find yourself becoming much more productive.

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Looking to get a backlink to your site?  You Can get a free link to Savvy Affiliate.  And it couldn’t be easier.

I have installed the “Do Follow Trackback Plugin” - if you ping me you’ll get a Google enabled link

That’s right, every single person who links to me will get a backlink from this site, automatically.   So looking for an easy way to get a couple of backlinks?   Find an article you like on Savvy Affiliate, and put it in a blog post.

In fact, you can even do it for this blog post.  What could be simpler?

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Some bloggers complain that they never have time to blog.  They can’t put enough content up, they simply don’t have time.

Blogging doesn’t need to take a lot of time!  Just sit down and write.  If you want to, you can probably write a post worth reading in less than 5 minutes.  

This post is a test of what you can do in 5 minutes time.  In another 3.5 minutes I’ll be leaving for a birthday party, what can I get done?

Tips on things you can do in 5 minutes

1. Moderate your comments - Comments can always be overflowing, take the next 5 minutes to delete spam and respond to the good ones
2. Read your feeds - If you are behind in your feeds, you can catch up and pick out some juicy articles to read in more depth later
3. Make a list - Want to write an article?  The best thing to focus on is a list.  You can keep going, and then stop whenever you run out of time
4. Comment on blogs - Get some traffic and join the blogging community.  Start commenting on other blogs.  Hopefully they will respond in kind
5. Digg your Posts - Digging doesn’t take long, and can drive a lot of traffic.  In 5 minutes time you can Digg, stumble, or both 3 or 4 posts.  Give it a try

 Well I’m running out of time.  I know that wasn’t the best post I’ve ever written, but I didn’t have much time.  And if you don’t either, give a quick 5 minute post a try, you may be surprised at the results.

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Day 14 of The 100 Days To Webpage Excellence Guide

If any webmaster wants to keep his site fresh and original, it is very important that they post diverse content.  That is not to say that a person should post about a wide variety of topics.  After all, finding your niche, and marketing to it is one of the tenants of successful blogging.  But you shouldn’t post the same thing day after day!   If you can’t come up with new and original content day in and day out, your site will begin to become dull. 

For instance, how would you like to read a site whose last several posts where

• 10 Tips on how to optimize Adsense
• How to maximize your adsense income
• Getting the most clickthroughs on Adsense
• How to make $100 a day with Adsense
• 7 Steps to making money with Adense

Now don’t get me wrong, I like Adsense, and I like making money as much as the next blogger.  But without a fresh influx of content, a site can become very repetitive.

So what are some tips on getting new content ideas, and mixing up your blog?

Fresh content is out there, you just have to find it

1) Subscribe to other blogs - What are the other blogs buzzing about.  Can you put an interesting new spin on it.  Do you have something to add?  Can you even forcefully disagree with a popular blogger?  Those are all things that will make your site more interesting, and create great content for you.

2) Get Offline - Unless your blog is about being online (… like blogging… ) one of the best ways to come up with new ideas for your website is to go do it!   If you are writing a blog about poker, go play a poker tournament.  You will be sure to see an interesting new hand, catch a new tell, or learn some betting strategy that you can speak about.  If you like to blog about Golf, go to a sporting goods store and try out some new putters.  Which are the best?  Which are the worst?  I bet your readers would be interested.

3) Try a library - Although this is definitely the age of computers, there is great information available in a library.   The best part is, since its not online, you can be one of the first people to talk about it.  Try to go read an actual book (not an ebook) about your topic.   I am sure that within the several hundred pages there will be some great material that will inspire your own posts.

But content is only half the battle, you need to present it well to keep interest.

4) Vary the length of your posts - If you normally write several thousand word posts, try throwing in a quick speedlinking every now and then.   If you usually write a list with only 10 items in it, try taking the time to create a massive 100+ item list.   Not only will it keep your readers interested, varying your post will let you experiment with what gets you the most links, and keeps the most readers.

5) Use Images - If you usually just post text, try throwing some pictures up on your blog.  They don’t have to be great, or worked over in photoshop, just put up some above the fold images to try and attract users attention.  They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, but a great picture can be worth 1000 visitors.

6) Post Some Polls - Putting up polls is a great way to get 2 posts for the price of one.  You have the post where you ask the poll question, and then you can go over the results.  How incredibly simple!  Experience has shown that weekly polls tend to work best.  It gives your readers a chance to responds, and it won’t overwhelm your site by having too many of them.

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Organic Backlinks are free, and work best, but how to get them?

If you have done any work at all in order to optimize your site for search engines, then you know that the biggest thing you can do is to get lots of organic backlinks.  All three of the major search engines use links as a way of counting “Votes” to your site, with some votes countint more than others.

Organic backlinks are simply links which are embedded in content of an article.    They aren’t links that you buy, they aren’t links that you submit your site to, and they usually aren’t links that you trade.   So how do you get organic backlinks?

Create Value

The simplest thing that a blogger can do in order to get a lot of links to his post is to write something which creates value.  Other blogs won’t link to a post which is junk.  There needs to be something unique about your post if you want it to draw any links to your site.   Write a great review of a product.   Write a great summary of how to solve a problem that your readers have.

However the value doesn’t have to be in the content itself.  Many bloggers compile lists of other articles.  When done correctly these link posts can generate a lot of backlinks.   Many of the people who you link to will follow the link back to your site.   If your site impresses them, they are likely to keep coming back, and to give you links from their site.

Let People Know Of Your Post

Of course no one can link to your post if they don’t know about it.   If you are an established site with established visitors then you don’t have to go out of your way to get people to read your posts.  They are likely to come to your site or read your feed on their own.   However if you are a new page, you need to get the word out.   Some of the best ways to get the word out about your post are to go to other sites with similar content and leave comments in their pages.    Make sure that the comments are meaningful and not just spam, but don’t feel too shy about including your link if it is similar.   An additional way for new sites to get initial visitors is to post on forums.   Write posts on highly visited forums and include your links in your signature.  If this is done right it isn’t spam, it is just letting people know of additional valuable content.

Ask for Links

If you want people to link to your post try asking for links at the bottom of your post.  Include button which displays the HTML to put a link to the page.    Write a sentence like “If you liked this post drop me a comment or a link”   Although this may seem a little cheesy, asking for links is one of the best ways to get them.

More Resources

Self made minds has a great post on a similar topic about generating organic backlinks

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Are You Too Emotionally Invested In Your Blog?

One of the most common problems that bloggers have is they aren’t attached to their sites.  When they started the blog it was new and exciting, however as time progressed it became old and dull.  This can cause a blogging hump around 3-4 months that most people have to work through.  However it is possible to go the other direction with your blog as well.  Although it is less common, there are times when a person can get too attached to their blog.

One of the ways to tell if you are too attached to your blog is how you treat criticism.  Some people will always criticise your work.  Even if you grow your blog and become an “A List” blogger, if you take a week off people will start writing about “Has … lost his edge?”  The question is how do you take the criticism.  Is an attack on your website the same as a personal attack on you?  Would even a personal attack on you because of your website, i.e. John Chow is such an ass for doing this or that, hurt you personally in any way?   If yes then there is a chance that you have grown too attached to your site.

What are some other signs that you might have grown too attached to your blog?

1) You blow off time with your family -  If you are spending all your free time working, and not spending any time with your family or friends then it could be time to take a break.  If it is causing strife in your family then it may be time for a gut check on where your actual priorities lie.   That isn’t to say that you should stop, but perhaps tone down the amount of time you spend working on it some.  Or even spend the same amount of time actually working, but just tone down the time you spend reading other blogs.

2) It’s interfering with work - If you are staying up late at night to work on your blog, and it is interfering with your full time job then you may be putting to much of yourself into it.  Growing a blog takes time, and there is only a certain amount you can do to rush that.  You need to make sure that your blog is actually generating significant income before you let it interfere with your day job.

   3) You’re checking your stats multiple time a day - This could be a case of over attachment, or just poor time management.  Either way, if you find yourself checking and rechecking your traffic levels and daily earnings to get real time statistics, take a break.  Try making a contract with yourself that you will only look at your statistics once a week.  Can you do it?

You need to treat your Blog as a business.  That is advice that is often given to bloggers who have begun to run out of steam or motivation to continue working on their site.  By treating their Blog as a business, they are able to get the motivation to continue working even if the reward are taking longer to materialize than they had hoped.  The same can be true if you are too emotionally invested in your blog.  Instead of it being an all consuming aspect of your life, treat it as a business.  It is something that you would like to see succeed, and you will work to make succeed, but it isn’t something which affects you as a person.

Sometimes taking a step back from blogging, and cutting down on the amount of time you spend on it, can help recharge your batteries.  If it has started to become a drain on you, or to interfere with other areas of your life, tone down the amount of time you spend.  You will probably be happier for it.

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Day 13 of The 100 Days To Webpage Excellence Guide

After you have created your website and written a couple of posts, it is time to start improving the site’s design.  One of the first things that you should focus on when you are improving your website is how long it takes to load.  A slow webpage can annoy your visitors, and it can also be a sign that your server won’t be able to handle a surge in hits.

The first thing that you can do to speed up your website is to make sure that you are running the wordpress plugin WP-Cache.  Wp-Cache is an extremely efficient system of storing your posts on wordpress so that they don’t have to be reloaded from the server each time someone visits.  In some cases, it can speed your site up by an order of magnitude or more.

So say that you’ve installed wp-cache, but your site is still loading slowly, how can you figure out what is holding it back?   Well this is actually extremely simple, if you are running Firefox.   Firefox has an extension called firebug which is extremely useful for a webpage designer, one of the functions, the one we care about today, shows you how long it takes to load each element of a webpage.

Looking at SavvyAffiliate.com using Firebug

I had 255 Kb which loaded in 1.89 seconds.  (I’m using a cable service for my ISP)   If I decided that my site was too slow, I could look and see what was holding it up.  Answer, several largish Image files from the post break out blogging.   I won’t be too worried about those since they will naturally be pushed off my blog front page with another couple of posts.  I don’t see anything too troubling on SavvyAffiliate, but I wouldn’t as I have already gone through and fixed some trouble spots.

 Now lets look at a site whihc I suspect hasn’t tried to optimize for speed.  StepenFung.net, who I choose at random from my list of reviewme peers.

This site is in trouble in terms of loading speed.  It takes an incredible 1 and 1/2 minutes to load!  It makes me feel like I’m back in 1998 dialing up AOL on my 28K modem.  Some of the slow loading could be due to a slow server, another large part of it is due to a huge page.  His site is at least 1.6 MB.  He should strive to cut that down, but what should he cut?

 Luckily firebug shows the file size of each object.  Although not all the objects are on the screen (after all there were 120 of them) one which sticks out is the Func_033.js, some javascript programming running intellitxt.  It is 29 KB and took a 1.2 seconds to load, almost as much time as my entire site took to load.  He also appears to be running a lot of images and services off of other pages.  This can slow down your site dramatically as you have to contact numerous servers to load the webpage.

But you don’t really fcare too much about stephen fung (Unless you are him, in which case, How bout a reciprocal link?), and neither do I.

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The Best Way To Get Traffic to Your Site Is To Go Where The People Are

One of the quickest ways to get a large traffic increase for you site is to become a guest blogger on a popular website.  If you are guest blogging, then you can either throw up a biography of yourself, or include links to your own pages, helping to drive the visitors to your blog.  However not all guest blogging opportunties are created equal. Some sites are much better to submit content to than others.  If you are going to take the time to write articles and give them away, you want access to as many readers as possible. 

Almost all bloggers are hungry for content.  Every single blogger faces the prospect of needing new content every day to keep his visitors coming back.  Many bloggers are open to the idea of guest bloggers if you can deliver quality to them.   So next time you have a killer idea, try writing it up and sending it off to another popular site in order to drive your traffic, it could be well worth your time.

Who should I submit my work to?  Almost every niche has a list of the Top bloggers in that niche.  Find that niche and think about what site your article would work best on.  Have any of the bloggers asked for submissions?  Does the tone of the article fit the bloggers persona?   Daily blog tips has recently come out with a handy list of the Top 25 Blogging Blogs.  When I am looking to submit some work a I will go there.  Although I would like to post on Problogger, I have no past relationship with him and it is unlikely that he will post my articles.  (Not that it hurts to ask)    I have never seen John Chow post guest articles, so that might be out also.   However I know Lorelle has read this blog before, because she was kind enough to comment.  If I have a post that is up her alley I may shop it to her.  Additionally, Daily blog tips has asked for submissions, so they are a great candidate for guest blogging.

Is it better to go for paid posts?  Or post to get traffic?  I would much rather post on a site with strong traffic, for free, than be paid to post on some one else’s blog which wasn’t going to drive people to my own site.    The going price of blog posts is relatively low, only $10-$30.  I think that for that price, it is much better to work on my own blog.  To me, the lifetime value of a blog post can be in the triple digits, and my blog is just starting out.  The bottom line is, I would rather work for myself than someone else.  Being paid to post is too much like working a job, but guest posting to drive traffic is more like expanding my brand.

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Day 12 of The 100 Days To Webpage Excellence Guide

Eventually, one thing that every webmaster must focus on is increasing his rankings in the search engines.  A new site will likely get most of its traffic from direct referrals from other sites.  A mature site however will get the vast majority of its traffic, over 75%, directly from search engines.  As far as search engines go, the one that you really care about is Google.  Google has over 55% market share of worldwide searches.  Its two closest competitors, Yahoo and MSN, take 22% and 9% respectively.

So for a webmaster just starting out, what do they most need to know about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?  Well below are some SEO basics, later on we’ll go into more detail, but extra detail is mainly just tips and tricks on to how to do these better.

1) Search Engines Rank Sites by incoming links - Its no secret that the main way Google ranks web pages is by who is linking to a specific site, and what keywords they use to link to it.  A link to a site is considered a vote for that site in Google’s eyes.   Get more incoming links and you will get more votes.  Google takes the anchor text of the link and uses that and the surrounding text to determine what they site being linked to is about, and what keywords it should rank for.  This inspired the Google bomb, an attempt to rank highly for a specific keyword by getting tons of backlinks for that phrase.

2) Some votes count more than others - Although no one knows exactly how Google weights each links, it is well known that links from highly ranked sites count a lot more than links from other low ranked sites.  This is why links on high ranked sites are in demand, and can sell for 100’s of dollars a month, whereas links on low ranked sites are worth very little.

3) You can rank for a specific phrase by using a Keyword frequently, and getting people to link to you with that phrase - When you are doing search engine optimization, you want to pick specific keyword targets, and you want to be #1 for those targets.  You can rise in the rankings for a specific keyword by using it frequently in your post, in your post titles, and in your meta information.  More importantly is getting people to link to you with that keyword.  Perhaps no one is taking this to a greater extreme than John Chow, who is on a binge trying to get links with the Anchor text “Make money online”

4) Ranking is only half the battle, the next step is getting users to click on your site -  Even when you appear highly in the search engine rankings, you still have to convince the searchers to come to your site.  You can do this with targeted page titles and targeted site post descriptions.  Some people don’t take the time to write excerpts for their posts.  That is a mistake.  Writing a concise excerpt for your post is one of the easiest ways to get more search engine hits.  Posts I write excerpts for generally get 50% more Google hits than posts I skip doing this.  Additionally there are loads of wordpress plugins which are designed to help you optimize your search engine rankings.  The one I prefer is All in one seo pack.

5) Be prepared to get hits for things you never though of - Although targeted keywords are great, and will be your top referrals, by far the majority of your Google traffic will come from long tail keywords.  These long tail keywords are phrases you might never have thought of, or even tried to rank for.  In fact they could very well be unique phrases that no one has searched for before, or is likely to again.  The trick to having a strong long tail keyword ranking is to mix up your content.  If you use many different keywords, and write lots of different content, then there is a lot of combinations which will hit your site.  Some of those combinations will inevitably drive users to your page, where you can turn them to dollars.

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