Traffic is the soul to any online business, including the recent trend, the blogs. If you imagine it this way:

You have a business in a mall. Customers find information about your business through coupons. Customers come to the mall and go into your business. They look around and decide if they should purchase or not.

The concept is the same with any online business.

You have a website. Visitors (traffic) find information about your website through advertisements. Visitors search on search engines, find your website and click to your website. They look around and decide if they should purchase or not.

If you compare two together:

Online Business vs. Offline Business

Traffic = Customers

Online Ads = Coupons

Search Engines = Mall

Website = Storefront

No traffic to a website is the same as no customers coming into the mall.

No traffic / No Customers = No Sales in both cases.

Blog-driven websites are becoming more and more popular. If you have a blog, pay attention to the tips below: (not in particular order)

1. Choosing the right platform, domain, and internal tagging (categories)

CMS (short for Content Management System) is a computer application used to create, edit, manage, and publish content in a consistently organized fasion. A Blog is a CMS application. The right blog software can make a huge difference. If you use blogger or wordpress templates, make sure they are designed with search engine optimized in mind.

Domain should be carefully thought through before going for it. A domain is not just an URL. A domain represents your brand! It should be unique and easy for people to mention to each other. Don’t make it too hard to pronounce. Ideally a domain should have the most important keyword about your business in it, and it should be no longer than 20 characters. You should also always aim for dotcom domains first, simply because “dotcom” is more well known compared to dotnet, dotorg…etc.

Proper internal tagging is very important for both search engines and users. Internal tagging enables search engines to better crawl the various content within your website. Internal tagging also allows users to navigate your website a lot easier, as they can just choose and display certain categories of their interest.

2. Write Title Tags and Content with both Search Engine and Visitors in mind

Search Engine is all about relevancy. The more targeted keywords you have in your content the higher you will rank in search engine results for these targeted keywords. Title tags and content should have your targeted keywords in them. The more the better, but avoid spamming. This is why you should also write with visitors in mind. If you mention too much of the same words, it’s actually quite annoying. Write with honesty and provide quality content to the best of your ability.

3. Proper bolding and underlying

Your writing has to please your readers. Don’t make your font too small to read. Use proper bolding and underlying to help readers read more efficiently.

4. Use more than just Text

This is self-explanatory. You will see popular blogs or websites make good use of graphics, audios, and videos, just to remove the boredom of plain text.

5. Pay attention to your site stats and focus on topics that’s popular and needs attention

If you pay attention to the traffic logs of your site, you will be able to tell which posts and topics that your audiences like the best. If you find posts and topics that draw the most traffic, they are probably what people are looking for. If you focus on these topics you will be fulfilling people’s needs, thus, increasing your readership and building your authority in these topics. Of course if would be even better if these topics lie around your targeted keywords.

6. Invite Guest Bloggers / Posts

It’s a good practice to invite guest bloggers to post on your blogs. This will improve the variety of the content on your site. Of course, these guest posts should be relevant to your site.

7. Implement Search Feature

I can’t tell you how important the search box feature is to a website, especially for blogs with hundreds of archived posts. These archived posts may still be valuable to your visitors. By implementing a search feature on your website you are connecting related content with respect to your visitors’ demands / needs.

8. Participate in Social Media, Forums, Blogs and Article Directories

Most social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, can allow you to automatically update content to your profile with your blog’s RSS / Atom feeds. These Social Media, if used properly, can bring you tremendous amount of traffic.

Participating in forums and blogs related to your niche will help building up your authority and your voice in your niche. Not only that, you will also get backlinks to your website if you have your website URL in your signature. Also, a lot of people on these forums and blogs will click on your signature URL out of curiosity. Same effects can be achieved with submitting articles to article directories.

9. Include Keywords in your Links

A lot of people only include their direct website URLs in their links. This is a simple mistake that most people make which dramatically reduces the quality of their backlinks. As previously mentioned, search engines are all about relevancy. The quality of a backlink depends on the relevancy between the linking text of the backlink, the title and the content of the website. If your website is about travel (targeted keyword), make sure the keyword “travel” is mentioned in the linking text.

10. Building your Brand

Your brand is like the purpose of your blog. Your readers share the same purpose as you and their loyalty are built based on their level of comfort with your brand. Sticking to your brand is very important as you will be consistently building up your authority and voice within your brand, your community. Your readers follow your brand, and you want loyal, quality, and focused readers.

You can, of course, diversify your website but it takes a lot more work and dedication to build up authority in multiple areas. It also takes a lot of work from the search engine optimization point of view since the relevancy of all the content on your website dramatically changes.

If you already have a solid readers to your existing brand, introducing a completely new subject can be off putting for them. 

When you have spent hours, weeks and perhaps months to develop your website, it is very frustrating that the page does not appear in search engines like Google. Lets go through Search Engine Optimization and how it can help you get a good position in Google and other search engines.

SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is a name for all the activities you are doing to get visibility in search engines like Google and Yahoo. SEO can be anything from small changes to the Web site to complete the rebuilding of websites and advanced link strategies. The goal is the same, rank better in Google or any other search engine. This techniques is something that you should be doing when you create the website.

SEO Tips
When Google and other search engines are looking to index your web pages, they prefer that the website has been built up semantic. Creating semantic HTML is about using W3C predefined tags for items such as headings, paragraphs, lists and structured text. Doing so will Google and other search engines better understand what’s in your content.

Robots Exclusion Standard, or “robots.txt” is a term you often hear in the SEO context. Robots.txt is a file that is located on the root of the site. It is not used by visitors but website owners who want to tell search engines how to index a page. Or rather what not to index. website owners can use a Robots Exclusion Standard file to specify how the content will be indexed by robots like Google and Yahoo. With a robots.txt file, you can limit what the search engine indexes, and make the indexing of your site more effective. Do not let the search engine index your RSS feed, your blog or the management section of your CMS – this will help not on the visibility of your website. Even if you do not want to limit your search engine, it is recommended to have a robots.txt file on your website. This is because the engine will always look for this file, if it not find the file it will be sent to your 404-page (Page not found). This will not affect your ranking, but can save you some 404 error messages in your stats.

Previous the search engines use meta tags to gather information on a website. And it was essentially the meta tags “description” and “keywords” that was used. Meta Keyword tag is not as important as the Meta Description tag, as they don’t affect if the website will be found when searching for that keyword or not. Google for example do not emphasis on the “Keyword”. A few search engines do, however, growing emphasis on those keywords so you can still add them, but they will not affect your position in the major search engines. Meta Tags were quickly abused and search engines have, therefore, in recent years not emphasized these meta tags to index. It is still important that the meta tags actually provided, and more than often it is actually your own meta-description that end up as the description on the Google website.

Google, Yahoo and other search engines search through your pages from several times a day to a couple of times a week. It would be practical to tell the search engines of all the pages your site consists of and when they were last updated. With a so-called sitemap or area map, you can do just that. A Site map provides an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for review. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is in relation to other URLs on the site) so that search engines can go through the site in a more intelligent manner. A site map is a complete “map” of your website that Google, Yahoo and other search engines can use to index your site. With an area map you’ll probably get a faster and more accurate indexing than without. Most modern publishing tools has built support or modules that provide support for site maps. Do you have a smaller site, you can also create such a map by hand, following the protocol to the site maps. The easiest is still to let your CMS do the job of developing the site maps.

Finally, the content of the pages will always be the most important. With good and relevant content, the “customers” always come back, and maybe also linked to your page from your other pages.

WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are three of the most popular free content management systems on the Internet, but they also generate numerous debates about which one is better.

Let’s take a brief look at each one and offer positives and negatives from the experience of a webmaster who has built sites on all three systems.

WordPress

Positives:WordPress was created with blogging in mind and is ideally suited for small Web sites that require limited features and capabilities. It is easy to install and set up, there are many free templates available for people who don’t have strong design skills, and plugins are readily available at the core site of WordPress.org.

Negatives: The software is designed mainly for blogging, which leads to limited functionality. A site that grows beyond something small in nature will soon find that the limitations may make using it easy and simple, but those same limitations inhibit the ability to add extensive functionality.

WordPress is recommended for anyone with light technical skills who is launching a site on their first CMS.

Joomla

Positives: Joomla is justifiably popular because of its simple and visual interface — one of the same favorite traits of WordPress. The core site at Joomla.org has an extensive list of plugins, and the forums are populated with users who seem quite willing to help out newcomers. One template can be used to display every page on the site, which makes templating a simple task.

Negatives:The plugins don’t always install correctly, and security concerns seem common. Like the limited functionality of WordPress, the limited templating system of Joomla is a challenge as well.

Joomla is recommended for anyone with moderate technical skills and some experience in managing Web sites.

Drupal

Positives:Of the three major systems, Drupal is the most technically advanced and well-regarded for its efficient design. Plugins integrate efficiently with a high success rate. The core site has an extensive list of available plugins.

Negatives: The Drupal interface is not intuitive and requires extensive usage to understand the complete set of site features and functions. Although free templates are available, any changes require a more advanced knowledge of PHP than Wordpress or Joomla. In addition, the user forums at Drupal.org are not as responsive as the forums for WordPress or Joomla.  

Drupal is recommended for anyone with advanced technical skills.

For more information about building effective Web sites, click:

- Web site development for tips about Web site promotion, advertising, content management systems and search engine optimization.

The world of the Internet is constantly evolving, from its terminology to its software. The Internet is changing the way we communicate, and opening a whole new world of social media. Blogging is one such constantly evolving method of communication, and WordPress is one of the leading platforms people are using to blog.

Evolving Software

WordPress is a free, web-based software that is open source, which means its basic code is available for developers to build upon and alter at will. WordPress is the successor to b2cafelog, the original blogging platform, but this blogging child has evolved beyond its blog roots. Its open source flexibility means that programmers across the globe have altered its functionality until WordPress has become a content management system (CMS), or a program that creates, edits, and manages website content, as well as blog content. The best part about WordPress is that it doesn’t require knowledge of PHP or HTML code to use it. WordPress is a basic templating system, where the blog or website creator chooses the look and rearranges the content.

Feature Highlights

WordPress has a theme system that allows for easy and versatile blog or web design, where the creator can change the look of the site as often as they like instantly. WordPress also has wonderful features such as integrated link management, complex indexing of articles or blog posts, auto filters for formatting text, and the capacity for multiple authors for blog or site content. WordPress works with other blogging services, as well, with support for Trackbacks and Pingbacks. WordPress also has security features such as blacklist and spam checkers for visitor comments, user registration, and password protection for selected posts. Along with the versatile range of basic WordPress functions, there are also hundreds of compatible plugins available that can greatly extend and enhance the software’s functionality.

Professional Use

WordPress may have started as a communication tool for the individual, but it also has many benefits to offer to the world of business. Since WordPress is so simple to use and the content so easy to maintain, this means less overhead and less time spent for creation and maintenance of company websites. The blogging aspect of WordPress also means that companies have a popular, in-demand method for keeping their audiences updated on company business and advertising their products and services. Plus, blogging offers a wonderful method for companies to get feedback from the consumers. WordPress makes it easy to keep the content fresh, which increases search engine ranking so that the company’s content will have a better chance of audience exposure.

Everyone’s Dream Site

For people who haven’t got the technical knowledge or don’t have the patience or time to spend creating their own website from scratch, WordPress is an ideal option. With its flexible program, ease of installation, and the added functionality of plugins, WordPress provides a way for everyone to have the website of their dreams.

Over the past year, WordPress has become the top blogging platform in the world, and many major internet companies (such as CNN, Yahoo, Sony, The New York Times, People Magazine, and eBay) have taken notice.   A quick browse around many of these companies websites show WordPress installations being used to manage portions of their websites.   At the same time, many bloggers are using a number of techniques to make significant income with their WordPress blogs.   Are you getting the most out of your WordPress installation?

If you plan to create a blog, or just created one, Success with Wordpress is a must have: You’ll save a lot of time while installing Wordpress, your blog blog will be SEO-optimized since its first days (which means a quicker indexation in Google and other search engines), and you’ll have the best advice to start making money blogging.

If you already got an etablished blog, or consider yourself as a Wordpress advanced user, I’m pretty sure you’ll also find tips that will make your blogger life easier.  Success with Wordpress also covers Wordpress SEO and blog monetization: Kyle, who earn 2000$ + with his blogs every month, provide great tips and techniques to increase your Adsense earnings, manage your affiliate links and a lot more. Since I read that tips and applied it on my blogs, my adsense earning increased up to 30%!

A list of the topics covered in this eBook include:

1. A Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
   • Installing WordPress via Fantastico
   • Finding a WordPress Friendly Webhost
   • WordPress Post-Install Checklist
   • Creating a WordPress Sitemap
   • Creating a Robots.txt File
   • Using Google Webmaster Tools
2. Building a Multi-Author WordPress Blog
   • Setting Up Author Permissions
   • Adding Author Information To Your WordPress Blog
   • Building an Author Page
3. Using WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS)
   • How do I build my CMS?
   • Should I use a Content Management System?
   • Building a WordPress Forum
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tips designed specifically for WordPress
   • WordPress Permalink Structure
   • WordPress Post Slug
   • Using the Post Meta Title
   • Using Images + Alt Tags
   • Emphasize Keywords
   • Using Anchor Text
   • Making Your Post Dates Stand Out
   • Standardizing your Backlinks
   • Using Breadcrumbs On Your Blog
   • Controlling Link Juice
5. Building a Niche Blog with WordPress
   • What is a Niche Blog?
   • Niche Blogging Strategy
   • How to Locate a Niche?
   • How to find a niche domain?
   • Finding a WordPress Niche Theme?
   • Completing Your WordPress Niche Blog

The other topics covered in great detail in the Success with WordPress eBook include how to maximize CPC Income with Google AdSense and also a number of advanced Affiliate Marketing techniques designed specifically for WordPress users.

As the popularity of weblogs increase so does the demand for efficient content management systems. Blogs as a web site platform have become popular due to their easy to manage interfaces and personalized looks. This system is better defined as a personal publishing platform.

Today, blogs are used for may purposes and not only as a personal publishing tool. Weblogs are being used to promote businesses, services and products. Depending on your blog’s theme, you will need a certain set of tool from your hosting company.

Wordpress has two main areas which are referred to as the user or public area and the admin area. The public area is where the final product and information can be accessed and the admin area provides special tools for administration purposes. Just like other CMS blogs can generate pages and posts dynamically to be shown to the visitor upon request (the click action).

The requirements to run this blogging system is not that extensive. The platform is designed to be compatible with most hosting services who offer PHP and MySQL databases. Of course some hosting providers offer improved solutions and alternatives to make webmaster’s use of time more efficient.

Following Wordpress installation procedure, the entire platform should be installed and ready to be customized within just 5 minutes after providing the right information available through the hosting administration area but as many will agree, a 10 second installation sure beats a 5 min. one, and that ’s exactly what hosting companies are offering to those webmasters and social people who wish to publish their thoughts throughout the world.

When choosing the right hosting provider, bloggers need to take in consideration all the ’specialized features’ offered to publishers on this niche platform, blogging. The main factors to consider are: technical support, one click Wordpress installation, Wordpress themes availability through the hosting admin interface, blog optimized servers, blog tutorials, disk space as well as bandwidth.

Since blogs tend to be “viral” in nature, it is always important to constantly check traffic statistics which may change after every post or publication. Wordpress has an automatic ping system which informs social sites that your blog has been updated, thus increasing your readers and subscriptions.

Whether you want to publish your thoughts or promote a product/service, blogs are one of the best CMS tools available to webmasters which will improve the time spent on text formatting and aesthetics through a properly hosted and managed environment.

Blogging is extremely popular these days. And the most popular stand-alone blog engine is Wordpress. It is flexible, has many useful featires and there is a lot of eye-catching templates for it. But those who have a Wordpress blog must be aware of a serious problem that can cause your blog to be removed from Google’s search results. The problem is: Duplicate Content.

WordPress content management system which, when used with the default configuration, is not duplicate content proof. In fact this CMS is capable to render almost 100% of your content duplicate. As usual the fault of the system has roots in its advantages. WordPress has many features facilitating blogging and linking, such as RSS feeds to posts and comments, trackback URLs, monthly archives and so on. In the same time this variety of URLs returning similar or identical pages represents a clear case of duplicate content.

WordPress And Duplicate Content

The first evidences of duplicate content produced by your WordPress CMS can be found in your sidebar. They are category pages and monthly/daily archives. Category pages store your articles posted under the same topic-a category. Such pages have no unique content; they are just a collection of your previous posts. Monthly and daily archives also simply group your previous articles by the date of posting. Sometimes when you have only one post in a given day, the archive page for the date and your post are totally identical.

The next case of duplicate content is even more prominent. It can be your home page itself. If it contains not excerpts but the full text of your posts, then it duplicates your post pages. This also applies to the “next/previous entries” pages-those accessible via /page/2, /3, /4 etc.

Feeds. Search engine spiders crawl all the content they can reach and of course this includes RSS feeds too. The additional problem with them is that Google may choose to display your RSS URL in the search results over the link to the original post. In this case the user who clicks this result will see an XML formatted page which is not “human-friendly”.

Trackback URLs. Many WordPress templates add trackback links after posts. This links enable authors to track who links to their posts. Usually, if your post URL looks like “yoursite.com/2006-11-30/yourpost/” its trackback URL will be “yoursite.com/2006-11-30/yourpost/trackback/”.

Identical meta-description. By default WordPress doesn”t provide a tool to add unique meta description tags to your posts, and they either have none or share a single site-wide description. Having no meta description at all is a disadvantage, as a properly written one can make your snippet stand out in a SERP. Having an identical description for all your pages is a threat, as Google might get them filtered out as too similar.

Because of the duplicate content Google search can return less desired URLs (such as feeds or archives instead of original posts); your pages can be moved out of their index, or placed into the supplemental results, which are rarely displayed to users.

Google + WordPress = Love

It’s no secret that people who are using Wordpress as a blog have been producing some great results. It was only a short time ago that this was all Wordpress was used for.

Blog popularity is due in large part to blogs’ simplicity. Hosting companies have made setting up a personal site easy. Every one on the Internet no mater what level of technical proficiency is capable of setting up a blog.

Today Wordpress is not just for blogging but can be used as a Content Management System (CMS) which opens all sorts of new possibilities to businesses and marketers.

This means that it is more of a web site development program.

Since Wordpress enabled its CMS as a default option you can now create portals, membership sites, lead capture sites and even deliver product in this simple system.

The process is basically the same for all the above options.

1. Load your Wordpress Script

2. Customize your site with a theme

3. Add some plugins for greater flexibility

4. Lock down your registration and login scripts

5. Add your content and chose your system

What system you choose will depend on what you want to do.

Membership Program

You can easily run a simple membership program and add content on a regular basis and charge for it using any of the popular payment processors.

Lead Capture

Basically the same as the members system however you change the sales letter to drive them to the signup box instead of the payment one.

Product Delivery

Again you use the same system however instead of constantly adding product you can just use it to deliver your product in the member’s area.

The secret is to change the login and registration files or simply get a plugin. Once changed you direct the client to the changed registration page so they can access the locked content.

There are lots of plugins to organize all this for you however I have been using a simple manual system where the customer pays for a product or service; they are directed to the new wordpress registration page and enter a username and email and their password is sent to them.

All this is the normal Wordpress automated system. The only manual part is if you are accepting monthly payments and they don’t pay. You will get a notice from the processor and you go and delete the account. Very simple and easy to manage.