How To Blog Tip #048: Create Multipe SERP Listings
November 29th, 2008 Posted by How To BlogAs you may know I’ve been experiencing an increase in visitor traffic at my book review site due to my recent posts about an HBO TV show. That show’s season’s finale aired last week with a cliffhanger that has fans of the series buzzing.
After writing a review of the last episode, which helped send over 5,000 unique visitors to the site in less than 24 hours and put me on page 1 in the serps about said cliffhanger, I suddenly remembered something that Griz (a Make Money Online master) said in one of his posts. He said:
” . . . . you shouldn’t just settle for 1 of the top 10 positions on the page 1 listings. This is really the key to how I make money with affiliate products and generating leads - I usually occupy several spots on the page 1 serp listings. This dramatically increases your traffic and an increase in traffic means an increase in sales.”
I then reread his November 10th post titled “How to Make Money” in which he talks about post titles and their effect on search traffic.
Here’s how someone like me (a part time blogger) put both of those teachings into practice.
Four days ago I occupied the #3 spot in the serps for inquiries about the HBO cliffhanger. Based on Griz’s aforementioned posts I took the following action before leaving town for the Thanksgiving holiday:
- I checked my site’s stats and identified the keyword phrase (about the cliffhanger) that sent the most people to my site.
- Using that exact keyword phrase as the title, I wrote a second article about the cliffhanger. I ended the article by posing a question which asked fans what they thought about the cliffhanger.
- I went back to the first post about the season finale and added a link to my second post, using the post’s title as the anchor text.
- I then searched Yahoo! Answers and looked for unanswered questions about the cliffhanger. I found 2 questions which fit the bill. I posted an answer to each question and included a link back to my second article. Folks, you gotta check out Yahoo! Answers. No, it won’t let you include anchored text and Yes, the links are nofollow, but Yahoo has so much authority that questions posted at the site (and by extension, answers) sometimes rank fairly high in the serps.
- Lastly, I added an affiliate link to the 2nd article.
I just got back into town and good Googly Oogly! Here’s what appears on page 1 of the serps when you type in that keyword phrase:
#1: My site. In particular, a link to the second article I wrote which uses the popular keyword phrase as the title.
#2: My site, linking to the first article I wrote about the cliffhanger.
#3: The first question I answered about the cliffhanger at Yahoo! Answers. Remember, it includes a link back to my site. See what I mean about Yahoo authority?
#4: The second question I answered at Yahoo! Answers. My answer was selected “Best Answer” and therefore shows up directly beneath the question . . . with a link back to my site.
#5: A page at HBO.com.
#6: A PR6 site that includes an excerpt from my second article. And a link back to my site.
#7: YouTube
#8: A Sun-Times article about the season finale (PR6 site)
#9: An Entertainment Weekly article about the season finale (PR8 site)
#10: A Salon.com article about the season finale (PR8 site)
As you can see, 5 of the 10 listings on page 1 either directly link to my site or take you to a page with a link to my site.
So what does this mean?
It means that I’m seeing a steady flow of traffic to the site from people looking for information on the cliffhanger. More traffic translates into more people at the site reading my 2nd article about the cliffhanger. The one with the affiliate link. And yes, to close the loop and tie this back to Griz’s quote, since I wrote the 2nd article I’ve sold a little over $1,500 in affiliate products. Although I only get a small percentage of those sales (avg. 6%) it’s the most I’ve ever made since I began blogging a little over a year ago. My point in writing this article is to tell you that if you’re interested in building a blog that makes money, Griz’s site provides the blueprints. He’s a combination general contractor, architect, and engineer in the MMO niche and he uses a design-build approach that everyone can follow.
This year both presidential candidates ran on platforms based on “change.” If you want more than the empty rhetoric the so-called A-list bloggers stump about and really want to know how to make money online you need to check out Griz’s site. His teachings will put you on a true road to recovery. If he was running for office his platform would be “It’s The Links Dummy.”
My name is Chanya and I approve this message.
Free Web Icons for Setting up a Blog
November 8th, 2008 Posted by Chanya
Finding free sources on the web is important for people setting up new blogs and websites. Once you’ve decided on a title for your blog and a layout you probably spend a bit of time working on the site’s header. You can spend hours looking for just the right header graphic. For some of my niche sites I don’t care what the site looks like - the website header graphic consists of a solid background color and the title of the site (yup Griz, I do pay attention!). But for a couple of sites I have put in the time looking for nice header graphics and icons.
This morning I put the finishing touches on a new site - it looked pretty good but needed a few icons that fit the site’s theme. A Google search led me to a really cool web resource called DryIcons.com. This site provides free, top quality web icons that are organized into themed packs. Their Distortion Icon Set (see below) was just what I needed for my new site since I was looking for something red and grungy.
Here’s a sample of some of the icon sets they offer:
These icons aren’t just great for setting up a blog, they can also be used to add emphasis to a blog post. And they’re all FREE. To view all of the icons in a particular set simply click on the Download button for that set.
Each set is offered in the following file formats:
- 32-bit transparent .PNG
- .ico
- .icns
And check this out: each set is provided in 6 different sizes!
- 16×16
- 24×24
- 32×32
- 48×48
- 64×64
- 128×128
You can purchase a commercial license for 14 or 15 bucks which is is a good deal if you consider the quality of the icons included in the sets. Also, some of the sets contain over 60 icons.
I’m glad I found this site and encourage you to browse through their web icon offerings. And nope, I’m not getting paid for this plug.
Amateur Blog Tip 032: Get Rid of MS Word Curly Quotes
October 18th, 2008 Posted by Amateur BlogsI like using MS Word sometimes for composing quick Wordpress posts but get frustrated when I paste the text into the Wordpress HTML editor and end up with weird characters, in particular, those darn curly quotes.
Here’s how to configure MS Word so you never have to deal with this problem:
- From the pull-down menu select Tools, AutoCorrect Options.
- Click on the AutoFormat tab.
- De-select the option titled “Replace straight quotes with Smart quotes”.
- Click the OK button.
Problem solved.
By the way, I have no idea whether this is blogging tip #32. I simply chose a number. Deal with it.
