There’s a lot of buzz right now about a new info product that reveals a secret “backdoor” into Google advertising. The secret allows you to specifically target your ads to appear in Gmail. The idea is that while the search volume is lower for Gmail, it is highly targeted traffic and will convert at a higher rate.

The $97 info product is by Ryan Deiss and is available at GmailMindTricks.com (not an affiliate link) if you’re interested.

If you’d like to know how to make your ads appear in Gmail without spending $97, check out this YouTube video posted by Austin Lau, an Agency Media Planner at Google.

I watched the GmailMindTricks intro video but have not purchased the product. Ryan is a reputable internet marketer. Presumably the $97 product includes more than what is on the above YouTube video.

In either case, I thought the info contained in the YouTube video was worth sharing.

Have you had your ads appear in Gmail before? What has been your experience compare to “regular” AdWords?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

How to Target Gmail with Google AdWords

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I received word this week that the CoachK.com website I designed has been added to the WordPress Showcase. I am a huge fan of WordPress. For one of my designs to be featured in their official Showcase is very exciting.

CoachK.com is the Official Website of Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski. If you haven’t seen the site, check it out at CoachK.com and vote it up over at the WordPress Showcase.

I’ve been working with Duke Basketball since 2004 and I’m very proud of  my association with Coach K and the program. The current design of the site, powered by WordPress, was launched in August 2009. Read my post about the site launch to learn more about my use of WordPress.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

CoachK.com Added to the WordPress Showcase

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People’s desire to stay connected is one reason why sites such as Twitter and Facebook are so popular.  One common characteristic people share is they want that connectivity to be as simple as possible.  This is where Brizzly comes in.  Brizzly is a Twitter and Facebook client that provides “a simple way to experience the social web”.

A web-based social reader, Brizzly is laid out in a way that just makes sense; it has a very simple interface and the site itself runs smoothly and seamlessly.  Once you create an account, it’s easy to find your way around the site.  There’s even a “Getting Started” video and help section to answer most of your questions. Brizzly’s usability is not an accident. Brizzly was created by some of the same people who built Google Reader.

Here are some of Brizzly’s great features:

• Twitter: Send and receive direct messages. Your direct messages are presented in a threaded conversation like format right on your main page. You can even have multiple message threads going at once. When you receive a message, you can view it or choose the “shh” option to ignore it and pull it up later.
• Twitter: View images in tweets as opposed to links.
• Twitter: Monitor up to five Twitter accounts.
• Twitter: Create groups from your Twitter followers.  Right now, you can only have 5, but Brizzly promises more in the future.
• Twitter: Support for newly introduced Twitter “Lists”.
• Twitter: The Mute feature allows you to hide a user’s updates until you decide you want to see them again.
• Twitter: The “Trends and News” feature provides an explanation as to why terms are trending on Twitter.
• Twitter: Follow and unfollow Tweeters, reply to a Tweet, repost a Tweet and save drafts.
• Twitter: Search Twitter or find people to follow. You can also save your searches.
• Facebook: Update your status, wall posts and comments.
• Short URLs are shown in their full form on Brizzly.

Currently in closed beta, Brizzly is open to users by invitation only.  You can request an invite on the Brizzly homepage or ask a friend who already has an account. Another way to “get in” is to do a Twitter search for “Brizzly invitation”.

The addition of Facebook support is a huge step forward in Brizzly’s development. No longer simply just a Twitter Reader, Brizzly is now a Social Media Reader providing a simple, more streamlined way to monitor these two leading sites. I highly suggest you check it out. Brizzly’s fantastic features will greatly enhance your social media experience.

What are some of your favorite social media applications?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Brizzly Review: A Better Social Media Reader

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This is a guest post by search engine marketing expert Jerry West. I’ve known Jerry since 2004 and have followed his teachings ever since. When it comes to SEO, Jerry is one of the best in the business. I am proud to call Jerry a mentor and friend.

While you may argue that if you don’t optimize your Title Tag for your targeted keyword phrase you won’t be able to rank at the top of Google, I’d reply, “You’re wrong.” When is the last time you have actually studied the search results in Google? Often, many of the top ten results do not have the keyword you searched for in the Title Tag. It’s true.

It isn’t a big secret that you can use incoming anchor text to get top rankings in Google, but making the Title Tag compelling means that you can get more clickthroughs than your competitors even if they outrank you. And that is the key: clickthroughs.

Due to “Off Page Factors” Google doesn’t require the keyword phrase to be in the Title Tag to rank well. If you’ve been in SEO for the last few years, you’re already aware of this. Let me share two examples: “job search” and “search engine”.

Notice that Career Builder has the search term in the Title Tag while Monster does not. However, which is more compelling? Read both out loud. Hands-down, Monster.com is more compelling. “Find Jobs. Build a Better Career. Find Your Calling.” That’s powerful, especially in this economy where jobs are a premium.

The next example shows the top two results for “search engine” and neither have the keyword in the Title Tag. Yahoo! is listed twice in the top ten, and in both occurrences it does NOT use the keyword in the Title Tag. But the main problem is neither of these results are compelling. And Dogpile has created the “ultimate SEO sin” in using “Home Page” as part of their Title Tag.

There are, of course, exceptions, such as the term “used cars” which has the keyword phrase present in all top ten results, but for the most part, about half of the top results do not have the keyword phrase in the Title.

So, does that mean you should no longer use the keyword phrase in the Title? No, of course not. This is to get you to think more “outside the box,” as too many SEOs have the false belief that you throw a keyword phrase in the Title Tag and buy a couple of links with the phrase in the anchor text and they’re done with SEO. Hardly.

Recommendation - Keep your Title Tag to eight (8) words or less (65-character limit) and make it compelling.

Hint: Write your Title Tags on your web pages the same way you write your Headlines for AdWords. Be direct, to the point, and SELL the click!

Clickthroughs only happen when the searcher is compelled by what they have read, and that begins with the Title Tag. A top position is worthless if it isn’t clicked. Master this art and you will always have an advantage over your competition. Always.

Proof: When you search, do you just click the number one listing? Of course not. You scan the page and click on the result with a Title Tag that matches your needs. That is your key: “Give the user what they want and they will click.”

Remember the three-step process to successful SEO: ranking, click-through and conversion. Ranking is worthless without a click-through, and the click-through is wasted without a conversion. Start your conversation with the Title Tag.

Further Proof: Titles that are either keyword stuffed or boring have poor click-through rates because people scan the results looking for what they want. David Bullock, a conversion expert, says prospects think about what the solution should be and approximately what it should cost before they search.

Therefore, when the prospect starts their search, they scan the search results looking for what matches the internal pre-search conversation in their heads. Titles longer than eight words make scanning more difficult and are often bypassed by searchers, as they are not perceived to continue their conversation. Testing has proved Generic Titles are not what they’re looking for.

Here is an example of a “keyword stuffed” Title. Even though this page ranks well for a highly competitive phrase, the click-thru will be low due to the “stuffing” of keywords. The Webmaster was just trying to get as many as they could in there. Read it out loud to gain the full effect.

Hot Tip: While you know that your solution and price are perfect for the prospect, if your Title Tag does not match their conversation you won’t earn the click. It doesn’t matter how effective your landing page is; if few prospects see it, your sales will also be few.

What can you do to make your Title Tag stand out? You’ve heard advice to ensure the Title Tag is “READABLE and COMPELLING”, but how? This task is not unique to SEO. A compelling Title tag is fundamental in any marketing campaign. You always need to break down your market into segments.

What I do is open my Business Journal and map out what I think the typical prospect needs. I then look at the Titles for the competing sites and look for possible inspiration.

Here are examples and results for a few tests which I have personally run:

Plastic Surgery – Don’t Trust Your Body to Just Anyone - This achieved a 4-1 clickthrough ratio over a listing above it in the SERPS, mainly due to the word “trust” being added.

Looking for the Best Mortgage? – This achieved a 3-1 clickthrough ratio over a listing above it and the conversion ratios were very good as the landing page contained a graphic, “See Us for the Best Mortgage Offer for your Home.” This is a strong call to action.

Get Help Finding a New Job - The director reported since changing the Title their overall traffic has decreased, but the number of closes for their resume help service has gone up sevenfold. Visitors are not just more qualified, but they come in with an obviously better outlook and attitude. This can be referred to as “pre-selling” the visitor without them seeing a “pre-sales page”.

Health Insurance: Avoid the Traps, Get Expert Advice - This Title has boosted leads to the highest point in this firm’s web history. They have their top keyword phrase “health insurance” but they also tell them why they should click: to avoid traps and also get expert advice. Notice they did not place their company name in the Title, which is often just a waste, because the prospect doesn’t care.

Other examples from the SERPs:

Good Example:

Notice how the Title is concise and uses the power word “tips.” While the Description is too long, it is also well focused.

Example of What Not to do:

Beyond “Traditional …” what? This is why you want to limit the characters of your Title Tag. eHarmony should be smarter than this.

Exceptional Examples:

Notice the Venetian uses just four words (“the” isn’t counted as it is a “stop word”) and it does not mention the phrase “Las Vegas hotel” in the Title, yet it ranks #2 in the SERPs. Note the highly compelling description.

In the above example, Thrifty uses the keyword twice (car rental) in the Title and holds the #6 position.  The fact is, since other car rental places in that industry rank WITHOUT that keyword in the title tag, Thrifty should take a different tack.

Right now, they are doing little to set themselves apart from their competition.  They could probably safely take “car rental” out of the title tag and should instead use that valuable real estate to help convert the searcher by selling the click (just like you would in a PPC ad headline).

Other Examples:

“Online computer store” gets 110k searches and only one page in the Top Ten contains the target phrase.

“Find a job” and “work from home” have three or fewer results with the keyword found in the Title Tag.

Bonus Examples – Nothing but Pure Comedy

All of these are actual Titles taken from the web. This is stuff you just can’t make up … even if you wanted to:

Untitled document: this is a great example of the “Lazy Webmaster” who hasn’t taken the time to change the default text. I love the Meta Description … “logo.”

“The web pages uses frames, but your browser doesn’t support them.” Okay, if this is your Title, I am sorry, you are just an idiot Webmaster and you really need to outsource the work to someone else who “gets it.”

Insert Keywords Here: Another example of being lazy, but also telling the world that you are, well, an idiot. At least the “Untitled Document” is descriptive … “Insert Keywords Here” does not help your online image. It is the online version of a “Kick Me” sign on your back.

Home Page – That’s your Title. “Home Page.” Go ahead and cancel your hosting and see if you can get your old job back.
This article should have convinced you that the Title tag is no longer for SEO purposes but to start the conversion process by convincing the prospect to click on your listing. Take the time and rewrite the Title Tags of your top five pages which do not have #1 rankings and see your traffic increase without moving up in the search results!

Learn more about Jerry on his SEO Testing and Conversion website (webmarketingnow.com) or his internet marketing blog (blog.seorevolution.com).

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

The Title Tag: The Unused Marketing Weapon

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At first glance, shared web hosting and reseller web hosting look a lot alike. In both cases, a number of websites are hosted on a shared server. The difference is, if you rent out a “chunk” of a server that you don’t use, you can sometimes resell those resources to others and have your own shared web hosting business on the side.

In reseller web hosting, the host controls and maintains the server(s) and is responsible for updating software and performing backups and other server maintenance. If you purchase shared server space with the intention of reselling it, you need to know that you have access to your host, in case one of your customers experiences problems.

Reseller web hosting is not for everyone. Most small businesses that have shared web hosting have no need or desire for a reseller account. However, reseller accounts can also be used by those who have a number of websites and need a cheaper solution than multiple shared sites. In effect, these users will buy a reseller account, and “resell” space to themselves at less than what it would cost to set up a number of individual accounts.

Some web developers use reseller hosting as a side business. Sometimes a company with a relatively small, simple website may want to sell some of the leftover disk space and bandwidth to recoup some of their business costs. And with your host being in the data center with the servers, you won’t be the one having to restart servers or put out fires at the data center.

Reseller hosting accounts with generous bandwidth and disk space can be found for only around $25 to $50 per month. This can save you a lot of money if you need room for multiple sites. It can also be useful if you only use a little bit of the disk space and bandwidth and want to sell the rest to another part to generate some side income.

If someday you hope to own your own web hosting business, then reseller hosting can be a good first step in entering the business. It is inexpensive, and allows you to control your clients, creating (and terminating) accounts while someone else takes care of the technical details of server maintenance. This gives you the luxury of concentrating on learning the business and generating some steady income.

Perhaps the biggest mistake people make when it comes to starting a reseller business is trying to do too much in a short period of time. If you end up promising a bunch of features you don’t deliver, your credibility will suffer greatly. After all, there are many, many web hosting providers out there ready to pounce on those customers who were dissatisfied elsewhere.

Some potential customers may require some convincing since you are basically positioning yourself as a middle man. They will need to know if they experience problems with their website they can contact you day or night and be confident you will be in touch with the data center as soon as possible to explain the problem and get a solution.

When done properly, reseller web hosting can be a good side business for those running small business websites. If you’re willing to be on-call for your customers and if you’re willing to go to the mat with the data center if necessary on behalf of your customers, then reseller web hosting can be a good way to generate a little extra income while your primary web business grows.

I’m proud to announce the launch of the redesigned CoachK.com website. CoachK.com is the Official Website of Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski. The site has been redesigned and updated to provide easier site navigation and incorporate database technology to automate content management, site navigation and more.

The new design, shown below, replaces the original look launched in April, 2004. Advances in web technology over the past five years along with the site’s growth (over 300 pages) made the redesign necessary. In addition, I wanted to give the site a cleaner,  more modern look. Having worked closely with Duke’s athletic department on the site’s development, I am thrilled with the result.

Some of the new website features include:

• rotating flash banner ad for featured stories
• redesigned “Share Your Story” feature allowing fans to share their Coach K stories
• site search
• added social bookmarking icons to promote sharing of information
• dynamic menus and site navigation
• a number of other back-end enhancements

The new site is powered by WordPress . I’ve done a lot of work with WordPress lately and love the ease of use and flexibility it offers.

Check out the new CoachK.com website and let me know what you think.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

CoachK.com Redesign Launched

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Microsoft recently launched a new search engine called Bing in an attempt to directly challenge search engine giant Google. According to Microsoft, Bing is more than a simple search engine. They claim their tool can help users move beyond the searching experience to make better and more informed decisions.

Early feedback about Microsoft’s new “decision engine” has been positive. Users report accurate search results and helpful features but is it enough to make them change their search habits?

Some of Bing’s useful features include the following:

Website Summaries

Mouse over the right edge of the search results and a brief summary of the page is displayed. This allows you to learn more about the page without leaving your search results.

Live Video Previews

Do a video search and the results will be displayed as thumbnails. Mouseover the thumbnails, and the videos play directly on the search results page. There’s no need to click through to view the video. This is an innovative yet controversial feature that may see legal challenge.

Company Contact Info

Bing returns company contact information when searching for a company name. Search for Amazon.com and Bing returns the company’s customer service phone number (800-201-7575) along with links to the website. This can be a huge convenience if the company you’re trying to contact doesn’t make this information readily accessible.

Clean Design

Borrowing from Google’s minimalistic design, Bing’s search engine results pages (SERPs) have plain and simple backgrounds. This helps keep load times to a minimum. Similar to Google, sponsored ads are displayed both at the top, and along the right side of the page.

Multiple Search Options

You can choose to search websites, images, videos, news, maps and more, right from the homepage. “Related searches” is a helpful feature for delving deeper into a topic by displaying related search queries. Bing also keeps track of your past searches, displaying them as handy links on the left side of the page. Similar to “Google Suggest,” Bing’s autosuggestion feature gives you suggestions for searching in real time. As you type in the search box, related search terms are displayed to help you narrow or refine your query.

Is It Enough?

Most people seem surprised Bing works as well as it does. This may be due to the challenges internet search presents as well as Microsoft’s past search engine efforts. Some studies even show Bing provides “better” search results than Google.

“Good” or “Better” may not be enough for Bing however. People are creatures of habit, especially online. To change consumer behavior, in this case their search habits, a new product must be significantly better than an existing offering. Google has become so integral to many people’s online lives that it will take a lot for them to change to a new search provider. It’s not enough for Bing to be as good or marginally better than Google.

Because of this, it’s highly unlikely Bing will replace Google as #1 in search anytime soon. A more realistic goal might be to surpass Yahoo and take over the #2 spot in search market share. Some research shows Bing has already passed Yahoo but it remains to be seen if Bing can maintain that position over time and build on its momentum.

Have you used Bing? What do you think of it? Will you make Bing your new default search provider?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Microsoft Bing – Is Good, Good Enough?

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Facebook recently announced they will soon allow users to choose a username for their account. More significant is the fact that Facebook will begin using your username in your profile page URL. This essentially allows you to create a custom URL for your Facebook profile page.

A message posted on Facebook explains, “Starting at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday, June 13, you’ll be able to choose a username on a first-come, first-serve basis for your profile and the Facebook Pages that you administer by visiting www.facebook.com/username/.”

The reason for the change is to “make it easier for people to find and connect with you.”

Currently Facebook uses a randomly assigned id number for profile page URLs. In my case, my profile page URL is:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=692946276

Now, my Facebook profile URL can look like this
http://www.facebook.com/jeffklein or http://www.facebook.com/jeff.klein

Custom URLs are already supported by sites such as Twitter, delicious, and MySpace so this move by Facebook is not unexpected. That said, Facebook is the largest social networking site and this move represents a significant opportunity from a personal branding standpoint. I strongly recommend you claim your username on June 13th when the new prorgam opens up.

You can learn more on the Facebook blog.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Facebook to Offer Custom URLs

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An obvious goal of all bloggers is to drive as many visitors to their blog as possible. In order to make your blog a success you need to generate a steady stream of targeted traffic. While there are many sources of traffic, search engines are often one of the first that come to mind. The way that you build, structure, and maintain your blog can greatly impact your search engine rankings.

Here are some blogging basics to maximize your search engine traffic.

Use of Keywords

Keywords are the foundation of your internet marketing efforts. When selecting target keywords for high search engine rankings it is important to be specific, focused and realistic. More than anything however, you have to know what keywords your target market is using to search for your product, service, or blog. There are many tools available to help identify these keywords. Here are links to some of the top keyword research tools:

• Google Keyword Tool
• WordTracker
• Wordze
• Keyword Discovery
• SpyFu

Once you generate a list of keywords, you can target each one by creating a blog post. Use your most important keyword(s) in the title tag. You should also include your target keyword(s) in your post’s META description and wherever else you can in the content of the post. Be careful not to overdo it however. Keyword stuffing can hurt your rankings and the readability of your blog. Do not sacrifice the user experience in an attempt to appease the search engines.

Link Popularity

While it is not simply a matter of numbers, generally speaking, you need to get as many links to your blog as possible. To do this, start submitting your blog’s RSS feed to blog and feed directories. Here’s a resource that lists RSS / blog directories you can submit to: http://www.toprankblog.com/rss-blog-directories/

You can also do a Google search to find such directories.

Another method of gaining links is to visit other blogs or forums in your niche, and post comments. In most cases, when your comment is published, it will include a backlink to your site. This way you gain exposure as well as links to your blog. Make sure your comments are respectful and provide value.

Update Frequently

This is one of the most important blogging basics. If your blog readers find your content valuable, they will want more of it. If you post to your blog consistently and frequently (at least once a week if not more) people will return or follow your feed on a regular basis. I need to do a better job on this one and post more frequently.

Keep a Tight Focus

Many people have a personal blog where they post anything and everything related to their life. While this may be OK for a personal blog, it’s not recommended for a professional blog.

If you are serious about your blog and hope to make some money from it, stick to a single topic. If you want to cover a different topic, start another blog. The cost to create a new blog is minimal and with everything you’ve learned from your first blog, creating your new one will be that much easier.

Make Use of Plugins

Plugins are components designed to extend the functionality of your blog. Written by the development community, plugins offer custom functions and features allowing site owners to tailor their site to their specific needs.

There are many helpful plugins that make blogging a lot easier and more fun. Plugins like “Most Popular Posts”, “Related Posts”, “Recent Comments” etc. can help keep readers interested and coming back for more.

Encourage User Interaction

Foster conversation on your blog. Encourage comments and dialogue. Posts with a lot of comments indicate to users that you are providing valuable content. This encourages people to subscribe or return to your blog. One way to encourage comments is to ask a question at the end of your post.

When someone leaves a comment, be sure to reply. Another way to encourage commenting is to not require registration or moderation of comments. Just be sure you have a good spam filter in place.

What are some blogging tips you use to make your blog a success?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Blogging Basics for Maximum Traffic

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With approximately 6 million users and 55 million monthly visits (according to Compete.com), Twitter has become one the most dominant social media websites. Because of their rapid growth, businesses have embraced social media sites such as Twitter. Developing an online presence where their users are, is a smart online marketing strategy.

Because Twitter is still evolving, businesses are still figuring out how to leverage it effectively. Each new feature brings a new opportunity for businesses to introduce their products or services. Businesses must be careful however. Just like in the offline world, there are rules and standards of behavior for social media marketing. Social media etiquette should be observed by businesses (and consumers too) so they don’t alienate their target market.

Business’ using Twitter should follow these etiquette tips:

Identify Who Is Tweeting

Is this your business’ official Twitter account? Foster trust with the community by being transparent and honest. If you specify who is doing the tweeting you will build a stronger relationship with those following you. Everyone likes to know who they are talking to.

Listen First

Twitter can be a powerful tool for identifying customer concerns or fostering dialogue. You can use the Twitter Search function to see what people are talking about in relation to your company. A better solution is to use an application like TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop. You can create and save a search query for your company (or any topic). This allows you to continually monitor the buzz about your organization. If you find questions and comments about your business, join the conversation.

Provide Value Not Just Promotion

Why should someone follow you or your business? Give them something of value. Help others without an expectation of something in return. Share your knowledge, both from your own company but also from other sources. If all you do is link back to your own site, this will be viewed as spam and your business will be cast in a negative light.

Pay It Forward

Retweeting (RT) means taking a twitter post from someone else and forwarding (rebroadcasting) it to your followers. If you find a good tip or information, retweet it to your followers. This shows you are in touch with your market and willing to give credit to others. When tweeting yourself, it is not considered good practice to ask for retweets. This will happen naturally if others feel your information is valuable.

How does your business utilize Twitter to grow your bottom line?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Twitter Etiquette for Businesses

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With thousands of new websites launched every day, what separates successful sites from the rest is the value they offer. Successful websites solve a problem and enhance the lives of users. I’m always excited to find sites like these and wanted to share one with you.

Legacy Locker (https://www.legacylocker.com/) allows you to securely store your usernames, passwords and other important information for all your digital assets. In the event of your death, your information is sent to the beneficiaries you designate. The goal of estate planning is to maintain and enhance financial security for you and your family. A traditional estate plan can help you avoid probate, maintain privacy, and facilitate the transferring of assets. But what happens to your online estate when you pass away?

From photos to finances, you’re online activities are valuable to you and your family. Consider how much time you spend online and the sites and services you use. In the unfortunate event of your death, most of the companies that run these sites and services have no policy for passing your account onto your loved ones. Unless you’ve documented your usernames and passwords, and the information is up to date and accessible, your family is basically locked out of your digital life. As stated on their site, “Legacy Locker is the best way to guarantee access to your online accounts for all of the people you think should receive them, be it a spouse, child, friend or colleague.”

Can you see the value a service like Legacy Locker offers? Now consider the value of this service to those who run an online business. What is it worth to affiliate marketers, web designers, and domainers to guarantee access to their online accounts?

What happens to a domainer’s portfolio if their domain registrations expire? Or to a Web Designer’s business when their client’s sites go down or need to be updated. If you’re an affiliate marketer, you’ve got multiple areas of your business to consider including domain names, affiliate network accounts, bank accounts, pay per click accounts, and more.

If you’re business is generating a residual income, you’ll want to ensure it continues beyond your death. One of the ways you can do this is through utilizing Legacy Locker. They offer a free trial account which is limited to storing info about three assets and one beneficiary. An unlimited account is $29.99 per year or $299.99 for a lifetime plan.

I saw the value Legacy Locker offers immediately. In fact, I’ve been searching for just such a service for a while now. After my first daughter was born, I contacted an attourney regarding estate planning to protect my family’s assets. As my online business has grown, I’ve wondered how I would handle estate planning for my affiliate marketing business. Now I have a valuable tool to help ensure my business outlives me.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Legacy Locker – Estate Planning 2.0

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Despite the troubled global economy, the domain industry continues to experience tremendous growth. Domain name values continue to rise as more businesses and entrepreneurs realize the value of owning premium domain names.

Premium domain names are a viable investment due to their potential for sale (flipping), or development into profitable long-term businesses. While it may take years for the traditional real estate market to rebound, domains continue to grow in value.

Below is a list of the top domain name sales from the first quarter of 2009 according to dnjournal.com.

1. Toys.com $5,100,000
2. Fly.com $1,760,000
3. Auction.com $1,700,000
4. Top.com $464,750
5. Body.com $400,000
6. Forums.com $399,990
7. Dollars.com $381,150
8. Voodoo.com $300,000
9. FreeQuotes.com $210,000
10. FlatRate.de $200,000
11. NudeTube.com $167,500
12. Motor.es $113,050
13. Wife.com $100,000
13. LAInsurance.com $100,000
15. Basket.com $88,888
16. BabyShop.com $85,000
17. Claim.com $80,000
18. 92.com $72,900
19. Anwalt.com $67,600
20. Gartenmoebel.de $67,500
20. Gartenmöbel.de $67,500
22. Gonghui.com $63,000
23. BachelorsDegree.com $62,500
23. RT.TV $62,500
25. PZ.com $61,000

Source: http://www.dnjournal.com/ytd-sales-charts.htm

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Top Domain Name Sales – First Quarter 2009

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Ad network Affiliate Fuel is suspending their relationships with publishers as of April 1, 2009.

An email sent to all affiliates yesterday explained that “Experian Interactive Media, who owns Affiliate Fuel, has decided to take a different direction with our affiliate network.  We are changing our focus from an affiliate network to an internal marketing channel….As of 4/1/09, your Affiliate Fuel login will no longer work and your account will not be credited for any activity as of this date.”

Affiliate Fuel publishers who generated leads in the month of March will receive their final checks on or around April 15.

I’ve been working with Affiliate Fuel since December of 2004. I’ve enjoyed a great working relationship with them due to their professionalism, competitive payouts, and reliable payments. While I am disappointed to see Affiliate Fuel go, I am also not completely surprised. About three months ago, I began noticing some changes. First I saw a significant decline in the conversion of their offers. Also telling was the number of offers available in my market (education) decreased by approximately 40% during this time.

One lesson from traditional business that can be applied here is the idea of not putting all your eggs in one basket.

Early in my affiliate marketing career I worked with only one affiliate network. As my business matured, and I learned more about the industry, I realized there were other networks with similar types of offers. Better yet, these other networks were offering payouts significantly higher than what I was making at the time.

The same can be said of the traffic coming to your site. If you are relying solely on natural traffic from Google, what will happen to your business revenue when (not if) Google changes its algorithm and your ranking / traffic decreases.

What is your approach to your affiliate marketing business? Do you work exclusively with one network or traffic provider?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Affiliate Fuel “Changing Focus”

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If you are a Twitter user, you really should check out Twimailer, a simple yet powerful new Twitter application. In short, Twimailer provides full details of your new followers, delivered directly to your inbox.

Typically when someone new follows you on Twitter, you receive a basic email notification with the user’s name and a link to their profile. No other information is provided as to the legitimacy of that individual or the value of the information they share. To learn more about your new follower, you have to click the email link, visit the user’s profile and decide if you want to become a follower of theirs too.

Due to Twitter’s rapid growth and viral nature, you can easily receive multiple new follower notifications every day. Clicking through to user’s profiles can quickly become a chore, especially with the recent increase in the amount of twiiter spam. If your visit to a new follower’s profile turns our to be a waste of time because they’re not who they say they are or they’re trying to get you to visit some strange site, your opinion of Twitter can quickly sour.

This is where Twimailer really shines. Instead of having to click through to the follower’s profile to decide if you want to follow them back, Twimailer gathers all their relevant information and delivers it right to your inbox. You see essentially everything on the user’s Twitter page but without having to click through to visit the Twitter site. The information in Twimailer email includes:

• a list of the user’s recent tweets
• the user’s name, location, website, and bio information
• the number of people the user is following
• the number of followers the user has

There is also a “Follow Back” link contained right in the Twimailer email. Clicking the link adds the user to your “following” list and takes you to the user’s profile page on the Twitter site.

Getting started with Twimailer is simple. First, visit the Twimailer site, twimailer.com, and enter your email address. You will receive a confirmation email with a link to verify your email account. Twimailer then provides you with a unique Twimailer email address. Replace your current Twitter email address (in your Twitter account profile) with your new Twimailer email address and you’re all set.

The third largest social networking site in the US, behind Facebook and MySpace, Twitter has approximately 6 million users and 55 million monthly visits (according to Compete.com).

Twitter is a social networking website that allows users to send and receive updates called tweets. Because these updates are text only and limited to 140 characters, Twitter is also referred to as a micro-blogging service.

I highly recommend utilizing Twimailer if you’re a Twitter user. It will save you time and aggravation in building your list of followers.

What are some Twitter tools and application you are using?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Twimailer – Follow Me to Your Inbox

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Facebook, the wildly popular social networking website, now has more than 175 million members. Already the most popular social networking site in several parts of the world, Compete recently reported that Facebook overtook MySpace in Unique Visitor traffic last month.

If you don’t yet have an account or page of your own, Facebook offers a number of different options. Whether you’re an individual, group, fan, or public figure, it’s easy for you to put your face on Facebook.

Profile Pages

Individuals over the age of 13 can create a profile page for themselves. Your Facebook profile is the page other members see when they search for you. It is designed to reflect you and your interests. All you need to sign up is a valid email address. During the registration process you will be asked some basic questions about where you work, where you went to school and where you live. Once answered, Facebook will generate a profile for you.

Fan Pages

Fan pages are more official in nature. According to Facebook, “only the official representative of a figure, brand, or organization is permitted to create a Facebook Page”.

As part of the fan page creation process, Facebook requires an email from an address associated with either the artist’s label or management group. They “need to make sure the person creating a fan page is an authorized representative of the artist.”

To create a Fan page, you first select your category (Local Business, a Brand or Product, or a  Public Figure / Celebrity) and then enter more detailed information based on the category selected.

Fan pages are publicly accessible and as such can be indexed by external search engines.

Fan page messaging options are more limited than with Groups. Messages sent to your Fan page members appear not in their inbox but rather as notifications. There’s a separate notifications bar in the bottom right corner of your profile page.

Fan page content options are more flexible than with Groups. In addition to the familiar wall, discussion board, video and photo upload options, Fan pages also support RSS, allowing you to subscribe to a blog feed for updated content. Fan pages also offer better support of application allowing you to further customize your page’s content.

Groups

Another option for creating a Facebook presence is a Facebook Group. According to Facebook, “If a user isn’t an authorized representative of an artist and they would like to create a space for fans of a certain figure to share their thoughts and opinions, we suggest they create a Facebook Group.”

Facebook Groups are generally easier to set up than Fan Pages. You choose a Group name, a Category and Sub-Category types. Then add a brief description of your Group and you’re basically done.

Advantages of Groups include better messaging options and privacy controls. Groups allow you to send messages directly to your members’ Facebook inboxes as well as send out bulk invitations to prospective Group members.

While not offering as much support for applications as Pages, Groups offer better privacy controls. Groups can only be seen by registered users and can even be set to private for members only viewing.

The main disadvantage to Facebook Groups is in content creation. Posting photos, stories, or videos, all must be done manually. Groups also do not support RSS feeds if you wanted to syndicate content from your blog or other external source.

What types of pages have you created on Facebook?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

The Many Faces of Facebook

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This Post Is From Jeff Klein's Internet Marketing Blog.

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Welcome! It’s been a long time in coming but I’ve finally launched my very own blog, JeffKlein.com.

I’ve been designing websites for clients since 1997 and working with Wordpress for the past two years. During that time I began thinking about starting my own blog. After securing the domain name, designing the site, and writing some initial content, I am finally ready to launch the site.

I am very excited about this new project. I appreciate your time and will do my best to provide you with valuable insights into my online endeavors. My areas of knowledge include web design and usability, affiliate marketing, and search engine optimization.

The power of blogs is the interactivity they provide. Please join the conversation and let me know your thoughts and ideas. Thank you in advance for your readership.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

JeffKlein.com is Born

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Most Webmasters understand the importance of backlinks for a website’s search engine rankings. Unlike on-page search engine optimization (SEO) where you have direct control to implement changes, building backlinks to your site requires the involvement of others outside your organization.

Why Backlinks are Important to Search Engines

The principle behind building backlinks to your site, also known as link popularity, and why they are of such importance to search engines is pretty straight forward. If a web page provides value or is of interest to others, people will naturally link to it. Because of this, search engines have incorporated link popularity into their algorithms, or decision making, when evaluating a web site’s relevancy. Think of links to your site as votes by others. While link popularity is just one of many factors search engines evaluate, generally speaking, the more votes/links your site has, the higher its search engine ranking.

How to Build Backlinks Naturally

The easiest way to get backlinks without spending much time or money is to create sites with high quality content. This can be easer said than done.  If your site is not profitable, it can be difficult to sustain the survivability of the site, let alone to keep on adding new content to the website itself.

There are plenty of creative ways to build backlinks to your site.

Directories

Quality directories can be a powerful and effective source of links. DMOZ and the Yahoo directory are two important “authority sites” that carry a lot of weight in the eyes of the search engines. Getting listed in these directories can go a long way in your efforts to improve your search engine rankings. There are numerous other ways to get backlinks to your site with a little effort.

Forums

Forums are great for getting backlinks to your site as they are free to use and allow you to customize your signature with links to your website(s). You can even choose the link text you want to use. This is something you don’t always have control over with a directory listing. Research forums in your niche and become an active member. With each post / comment you make, you will be naturally building backlinks to your site.

Blogs

Similar to forums, posting comments on relevant blogs is another great way to get backlinks to your site. The problem with blog comment posting is, many blogs tend to implement the “no-follow” tag that prevents passing any link value to your site. In your research, you want to look for blogs that have disabled this built-in “no-follow” tag.  A simple glance at the source code will let you know if the tags are disabled.

Article Directories

Submitting article to online article directories is another fantastic way to get backlinks to your site.  This method however does require more effort in that you either have to write or outsource the creation of the articles. While there is more effort involved in article marketing, the rewards are potentially greater as well. When other Webmasters find your articles and post them on their site, you not only build your link popularity, but also can improve your perceived credibility within your market. You can become an “expert” in the eyes of potential visitors.

What are some effective methods you have used to build backlinks to your sites?

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Naturally Build Backlinks to Your Site

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A domain name is a memorable web address for a particular site that can help people find you online (example: www.amazon.com or www.microsoft.com). Similar to your home’s address, a domain name is your website’s address.

You do not have to be a company or organization to register a domain name. Any individual can do so.

A domain name consists of two parts. In the case of google.com:

• The first part, google, is a unique name reflecting the web site.
• The second part, .com, is the extension, which often describes the website category. “.com” for example stands for “commercial.”
• .com, .net, .org are the most popular extensions in the United States. Many others are available however including .biz, .info, .name, and .pro.
• “http://” and “www” are not part of the domain name.

You might choose a domain name based on your own name, the name of your company, keywords that describe your business, even a short phrase— anything that will make your web address easy to remember.

How Do I Get a Domain Name?

Domain names are acquired by registering them with a domain name registrar, an organization accredited to register top-level domains (TLDs). TLDs are domain names ending in standard extensions such as .com, .net, or .org. Your domain name registrar is responsible for maintaining your domain registration records, managing your domain renewals, and other administrative details.

Upon registration, your registrar submits information about your domain name to a central database. This central database, or registry, allows other computers on the Internet to find your domain. This makes it possible to view your web site or send your email.

How Do I Register a Domain Name?

You register a domain name by working with either an approved domain name registrar, or a third party who registers the name on your behalf. Two low priced registrars that I recommend are GoDaddy.com and 1and1.com. Here is list of accredited domain name registrars.

How Much Does It Cost to Register a Domain Name?

Domains are registered on an annual basis for a period of anywhere from one to ten years. Prices range from $10-$30 per year depending on the registrar.

Do I Own The Domain Name I Register?

While many people say they “own” a domain name, what they’re really saying is that they own the exclusive right to use the domain name for a certain period of time. It’s kind of like leasing a car. You have the right to use the car but you don’t really own it.

When you register a domain name, you pay an annual fee for the exclusive right to use that domain. When your registration period is over, you have to renew your domain name registration. If you don’t renew your domain, it will eventually be dropped or re-released back into the general pool of available domain names where anyone can register it. If that happens and someone else registers your domain, your website would be lost.

It’s also worth noting that under certain circumstances, a court or governing organization like ICANN, can take your domain name away from you.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Domain Name Basics

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In today’s world, the web plays an extremely vital role in the way business and life is run. In the last 10 years, the web has revolutionized the way people shop, go to school, find directions and even find relationships. This is because the web is the world’s largest single network of information. As a result of the web’s popularity, many businesses have found it almost a necessity to have their own website. When embarking on having a website for your self or your business, there are certain best practices that dictate whether your web presence will be a success of a failure. We will examine what makes good websites as far as their design and usability is concerned.

Avoid Splash Pages

A splash page is usually an animated intro of what the site is about and many designers normally include fancy graphics, music, or Flash animation. At first glance this is a great way to introduce your site to the world especially if your site is geared towards the younger audience. While these types of pages may seem “cool”, the reality is that people come to your site to find information or sovle a problem they are having. Anything you do to prevent them from find the information they are looking for decreases the usability of your site and increases the likelihood that the user will leave. Even with splash pages that are well done (which is rare), once you’ve seen them, they quickly become annoyances that must be “skipped” to get to the main site and information you want.

Use a Simple and Logical Navigation System

Usability analyst Steve Krug’s best selling book titled, “Don’t make me think,” tells us to keep things simple. What this means in terms of your site’s navigation is that it’s structure should be easy for anyone to follow. People should know where they are and how to get back to where they stared. The “home” button should be present on all the pages. A website is considered amateurish and illogical when a surfer has to use the “back” or “forward” button of their browser in order to navigate your site.

Avoid Excessively Long Pages

While it is understood that surfers coming to your website are looking for information, reading on the web is decidely different than off-line. You must take care to present your information in an easily digestable way for the reader. Users lose patience when forced to scroll through an excessively long page. One option is to break up your text into different pages and utilize contextual links to allow users to find the information they want.

Use Audio Sparingly

While audio can enhance the interactivity of a site, care should be given when adding sound to your website. Only incorporate sound if it compliments or enhances the message being communicated. In some cases users may already have other music playing when surfing the web.

This post is from Jeff Klein. Read more at his web design and internet marketing blog.

Web Design Best Practices

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It is the aim of every Webmaster and website publisher that the costs of creating a website be recouped from the website itself. In other words, the website should be able to pay for itself and ultimately generate a profit. While many websites are created simply to provide information to users, many more are conceived with an economic goal in mind. But how do you design a website that converts into sales and turns a profit at the end of the day?

Website monetization, defined as converting your website traffic into revenue, can take many forms:

Contextual Ad Programs

Contextual ad programs, such as Google AdSense, show contextually relevant ads on your website and then split the revenue with you derived from those ads. You simply place some code on your site and the ad program (Google AdSense) does the rest. Google analyzes your page and places relevant text or image ads on your page. So if you web page is about baking, then the ads shown would be about baking. When a visitor to your site clicks on one of these ads, you make money.

Affiliate Programs

Another way to monetize your website is through affiliate programs. Affiliate programs allow you to earn a commission for referring someone to another site who makes a purchase. Affiliate programs are a win win proposition for businesses and affiliates. Business get promotion and sales at no cost to them and affiliates get the opportunity to earn money without the expense of selling products themselves.

Amazon.com was one of the earliest sites to offer an affiliate program and their program remains very popular today. Becoming an affiliate can be extremely lucrative if you know what you are doing.

Direct Ad Sales

For almost as long as there have been websites, there have been ads displayed on those sites. If you’ve got your own website, you can sell your own advertisements and keep 100% of the profit. There are many forms of advertising you can sell on your site. These include, banner ads in various sizes, text links, and paid reviews. Include information on your site about the benefits and costs of advertising on your site as well as your contact information. You can also choose to outsource your advertising to sites such as textlinkads.com. These sites will assess your site’s value and help you set a reasonable price for your ads. They handle all of the hassle of communicating with the advertiser and collecting the money but they also take a cut of your earnings.

Sell Your Site

Another way to monetize your site is by selling it. Once your site is earning money, it becomes an asset and has real value. A typical valuation method for setting a website’s price is twelve times a site’s monthly profit. So for example, if your site was generating $100 a month in profit, you might expect to sell the site for $1,200. You could of course get more than this amount if you found the right buyer.

When optimizing your website for search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, it is important to know what they are looking for. If you spend a lot of time developing a web page without considering what search engines are looking for, you are potentially wasting your time.

While search engines evaluate many criteria, the two main factors used when determining a website’s importance are content and links.

Content is King

One of the most important things you can do to improve your website in the eyes of the search engines is have fresh, unique content. In order to keep their customers happy, search engines need to provide the most relevant and up to date information. If the search engine results pages (SERPs) are filled with spam or low quality sites, users will not continue to use that search engine.

As a result, search engines want to make sure you have fresh unique content on your site before presenting it to their users.

When a search engine spider crawls your page, it is looking at the frequency and amount of keywords on your web page. It is looking at the amount of repeated content as well as duplicate content. It also looks for any new content that has been added since the last time your page was spidered.

To keep the search engines happy, you should avoid duplicate content on your website.

Make sure the content on your website is not found anywhere else on the Internet. You can check this by using a site such as Copyscape. If you are using content that is on someone else’s webpage, you can be penalized in the search engine rankings.

The frequency with which your site is updated is also an important factor to search engines. If your site has not been updated in several months or even years, there is a high likelihood that the information presented is out of date or no longer relevant. If you consistently update your website with new, unique content, you will gain an advantage over other sites that update less frequently.

Links, Links, and More Links

It’s no secret that search engines look for links to your website when evaluating it’s importance.

Simply put, the more links you have coming into your website the better. There are other factors even more important than quantity however. The quality of the sites that link to you as well as the type of links that are found (one-way links, two-way links) and also important to search engines.

If you want your website to rank highly in search engine results, make sure you are consistently updating your website with new, unique content and are continually getting other quality websites to link to you. Slow and steady wins the race.

One of the most important factors search engines use when ranking your website is your site’s link popularity. While many know they need to increase their link popularity, not everyone knows how to do so efficiently or effectively.

More than a numbers game, the type of links to your website are also important. A one-way link is when someone places a link to your site on their website without asking you to link to their site in return. One-way links are viewed as more “natural” and therefore more valuable in the eyes of the search engines.

While the process of gaining links to your website is time consuming, the results are definitely worth the effort.

How to begin building one-way links

Research is an important first step when building links. You first have to decide what search terms or phrases you want to rank highly for. There are various tools available to help you with this step such as Wordtracker’s keyword suggestion tool and Google’s AdWords keyword tool.

Once you have compiled your keyword list, you then should identify the authority sites in your niche or market. Do a simple Google search and evaluate the sites that rank highly for the same keywords you are targeting.

Spend some time visiting these sites. While evaluating each site, make note of the type of content they have as well as their contact information.

Next you should then begin contacting the owners of these sites by email.

Keep your email short and to the point. Introduce yourself and your website. Tell the site owner why you are contacting them and why they should link to you. Don’t use a form email. Write it yourself and ideally include some information that shows you actually viewed this person’s website. The message should be unique to your website and your personality.

The next step is to follow up with the site owners if you don’t here back from them after a few days.

Again, keep your email short and to the point. Webmasters get a lot of email. Show them you value their time by not wasting it with a long email. Reiterate how both your website visitors and theirs would benefit from a relationship. Ask them to please reply to your email, even if they are not interested. This way, you will know if they are actually reading your emails.

Another method you can use to contact website owners is to us the phone. In this age of email, we ofter forget we can contact people using the telephone. Obviously you need to have the person’s phone number in order to call them. If it’s not listed on the website, you can try checking the site’s whois record.

Some people don’t like to use the phone but that is precisely why they method is effective. You have to do that which others are unable or unwilling to do if you want to be successful. Give some thought to what you want to say to the site owner before you call them.

Building links to your website is not difficult. Though time consuming, link building is a critical piece of the puzzle for achieving high search engine rankings.

Increase in Internet usage has been continuously increasing from Asia, Europe, and America to Africa. There are at least a billion Internet users as I was writing this article according to the Internet World Stats. Imagine that gigantic number of people all in one platform. This is why video marketing is becoming a popular and effective means to offer various products and services. Video marketing is simply promoting or selling a product, service, or any other cause using a video. It is like a TV ad but seen on the World Wide Web. Companies have realized its full potentials and have included it in their various marketing programs. Video marketing is very effective because of its vast potential reach at a minimal time and cost. A picture is said to worth a thousand words and what about a video, complete with sounds, eye-catching graphics and images, envision its potentials. Video marketing is very effective in catching a viewer’s attention and making him not to close your website or go to another site. People have a higher probability to remember a product or service that they saw on a video compare to the one they read on a newspaper or magazine. If you are ready for it and I mean really, really excited to make your own hold your horses. There are still some things you need to know. It may look all so simple but reading few points below can make it more successful and rewarding:

* Make it seen
Be sure that wherever you are going to put your video it will be seen. It is recommended to place it on your home page or in a conspicuous space so that it is easy to find. You can also put it in forums, blogs and other networking sites and be sure to put a link going to your website to increase traffic. A good video is worthless if only the Webmaster and his mom can see it!

* Be creative
Use slogans, images, special effects, graphics, spoofs, pet tricks, amazing feat, practical jokes and other captivating ideas and elements that are sure to draw attention. The first key point to remember is make them want to see your video and the rest will be easy.

* Make it short
It may be catchy; it may be interesting but a video more than 5 minutes will already bore your viewers. Make it concise but informative. Be sure to include important details on the video, anything your visitors need to know about your products. You can even put a clear label such as “Watch our 2-minute video”. This gives your visitors the idea that what they will be watching will not consume so much of their time.

* Use sound
Match your innovative presentations with appropriate sounds or music. This can add more spice and fun to your video. A viewer who does not appreciate the images he is seeing but may still finish the video if he enjoys the music he hears.

It has been 6 months since you started your blog and the statistics are not moving. Well actually they are but in a very uninspiring trend. To avoid this kind of disappointment and other headaches, get to know first the various things and tools that can help boost traffic on your blog. Prepare yourself to assume the role of a Webmaster since you will be doing a lot of work.

Below are ten easy-to-follow tips on how to improve your traffic, not necessarily in order. Its usefulness will still depend on your commitment and dedication.

* Be the best
If you have a specific niche then I suggest be an expert on it. Some bloggers look for common interests where they can acquire useful information and tips. You can offer books reviews, do’s and don’ts in blogging, online money making, vacation havens and any other topics you have good experiences and knowledge that you want to share.

* Be connected
Include RSS, Bookmark, and tag contents such as Technorati, del.icio.us, Flickr, Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.

* Be thoughtful
If somebody took the time and effort to write you and asks a question, spend time to answer them even if not instantly, especially if it was a suggestion or a good idea for your blog. This would mean a lot to your reader and builds a connection between you and your readers.

* Be imaginative
Make the most out of your space by incorporating comments, graphs, polls, meters and other interactive tools. This creates a lively environment and active participation from your members.

* Be interesting
Do not bore your readers. Be the kind of person that would exude excitement, information, and fun with his personality and posts. Know your visitors and what they enjoy getting to keep them coming back.

* Be alert
Proofread, proofread, and proofread. If you can have somebody to do it for you better. A perfect topic can wind up a disaster if simple typo errors and grammars are not checked.

* Be generous
It is sometimes appropriate and always fun to give out freebies such as eBooks, software, and other downloadable to your ever loyal readers.

* Be active
This is very effective during the early stage of your blog when you don’t have many regular readers yet. The photosphere is a huge network and can serve as a useful avenue to promote you site. Participate in other people’s blogs, forums, and other online networking.

* Be smart
Use simple and effective software in monitoring and maintaining your blog. Tools such as Blogger, WordPress.com, TypePad, and LiveJournal can automate some of your chores. It can also provide key indicators and stats on how well your site is doing and what you can do to turn the table.

* Be organized
Archive and categorize your posts. Some readers may not exactly remember the title of the article but the month or category type could be easier for them to note.