Learning How to Blog to Dominate Your Niche
April 26, 2009 by 1Cat.biz · Leave a Comment
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In learning how to blog effectively you will need to pay particular attention to the 4 pillars upon which your blog is built. These pillars will determine the direction, identity and the popularity of your blog.
Let’s look at the 4 pillars upon which you’ll need to focus in order to establish a popular blog, boost your blog traffic and become the talk of your niche.
1) Give Your Blog an Identity
Inspect What You Expect – Tracking Your Online Business Results
December 3, 2008 by 1Cat.biz · Leave a Comment
A wise man used to tell me over and over again. “Barry, you inspect what you expect.” While I must admit I did get tired of hearing it at times it has served me well in many areas of my life and marketing businesses online is no exception.
So what exactly does that pithy and sometimes annoying little saying mean? It means that when working on a project, that you have goals and expectations for, you need to constantly monitor its progress. Otherwise, you’ll never really know if and why what you’re doing is working or not working. Tracking results also makes it easier to ascertain what needs to be adjusted, corrected or changed entirely so that your expectations can be met.
Twitter Could Make You Stupid(er) – IMHBAO
My good, long-time friend Rick Butts put up the following Lisa Nova video on his blog earlier this week. I’ve been a Lisa Nova fan for about a year now and I actually turned Rick on to Lisa while living in Denver last summer.
This video shows just how addictive, and stupid, Twitter really is. Honestly I think some of this Web 2.0 stuff is actually making people, myself included, ADD. It’s getting to the point where I can barely put together more than 3 sentences at a time, on the same subject, without having to really concentrate.
In May Mark Butler had this to say about Twitter and I must say I agree with him.
Folks, twitter is stupid. I’ve spent the last two hours trying to find a single redeeming quality to the service, and I have nothing to report. The rest of the story… http://courtneytuttle.com/2008/05/08/twitter-is-stupid/
Now, I must confess I do Twitter and I do get some traffic from Twitter. In fact Twitter was my 4th largest traffic source last month. But, it still doesn’t make it any less stupid. IMHBAO (in my humble but accurate opinion)
It’s summer time. Unplug for a few hours and take the kids to the pool. Free your mind from the clutter for a while.
Oh… But of course, make sure you keep reading my blog and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter. 
Barry O.
A Tale of Two Blogs – Mistake Number 5 Strikes Again!
May 19, 2008 by 1Cat.biz · 5 Comments
I recently told you about two blogs that I built for two different companies. One is a local roofing company, Phoenix Roofing, Inc., and the other is a custom motorcycle shop, Texas Custom Choppers.
Both of these sites were built using WordPress as a content management system and blog. They were both setup the same way and both have been search engine optimized.
However, one of these blogs, even though it’s only 3 weeks old, is seeing a certain degree of success while the other one seems to be floundering.
Blog and Web Site Traffic Sources and Strategies
Search Engines
When people think of getting traffic to their blog or web site they usually think of search engines. Higher search engine rankings equals more traffic to your blog. When selecting target keywords for high search engine rankings it is important to be specific, focused and realistic.
Specific:
Choosing specific or “long-tail” keywords, as they are often referred to, is important for two reasons.
- More often than not it is easier to achieve high search engine rankings for specific keywords than it is for general keywords. Because, specific keywords usually have less competition. (i.e. custom rhinestone jewelry vs. jewelry)
- Users searching for more specific keywords/phrases are more likely to make purchases than those searching for general keywords/phrases. Specific searchers are in “buy mode” while general searches are in “research mode”.
Focused:
Every aspect of your blog design and posting should be focused on the top keywords/phrases you are targeting. This will help you get higher search engine rankings, as well as, the desired reaction from your visitors.
- When a human visitor lands on your blog you have less than 10 seconds to capture their attention. Therefore, they need to see words and images that are directly related to the keywords/phrases they searched for to find you.
- Search engine spiders need to “see” keywords in the proper place and in the proper density in order to give you a high ranking.
Realistic:
It takes time and effort to achieve long term, organic search engine rankings. Of course the more competitive the phrases you are trying to rank for the more time and effort it will take.
Factors that Determine Search Engine Rankings
- Competition – The number of search results for a specific keyword / phrase
- Proper inclusion of keywords in blog code. (i.e. Title, Description, Keyword Meta Tags and Image Alt. Tags)
- Proper keyword density in the body of blog posts. (3-6% is optimal) This means that if you are writing a web page on “custom jewelry” then the keyword “custom jewelry” should appear 3-6 times for every 100 words.
- Keyword(s) in Domain Name
- Links to your web site or blog from other web sites or blogs. Preferably related sites that have high rankings. The links “anchor text” should also include your keywords/phrases.
- Regularly updated content.
- Age of Domain Name
Pay Per Click
PPC or Pay Per Click campaigns are an excellent way to get traffic to your blog instantly and test keyword effectiveness, as well as, on-page variables. (i.e. Headlines, Images, Colors, etc…)
When setup and monitored correctly PPC campaigns can give you a very good ROI. Depending on your budget PPC campaigns also allow you to get traffic for the more competitive keywords / phrases in your market faster than waiting on organic search engine traffic alone.
Conversion Goals and Testing
When running PPC campaigns it is imperative to setup conversion goals and on-page testing in order to get the best ROI.
With these in place you will be able to immediately tell which keywords, ads and on-page factors result in the highest number of conversions and/or sales.
Google Analytics and Web Site Optimizer are good tools to help you with this.
Web 2.0 – Social Networking / Media Sites
This is one of the newest, and for some markets, most effective ways of getting high volumes of blog traffic. It utilizes the popularity of social networking sites to drive traffic to specific, related pages on your site.
In short Web 2.0 sites are any sites that allow users to add and/or make comments on content. Vote content good/bad or up/down thus affecting the amount of traffic that content generates.
Web 2.0 campaigns affect your blog traffic in two ways.
- They provide you with direct traffic to your blog or web site. In many cases this happens overnight.
- They help increase your organic search engine rankings by providing keyword relevant back links to your main blog. Thus, it’s important that all of your Web 2.0 marketing efforts focus on the primary keywords/phrases you want to rank high for.
Examples of Social Networking / Media Sites:
Strategies for Social Networking / Media Sites:
- Submit Demo / Training Videos
- Submit Photo Galleries
- Blogging
- Blog Commenting
- Article Submission
- Forum Participation
Get the Low Down on Everything Web 2.0 and Social Media….
Other Traffic Sources for eCommerce Sites
Auction Sites
Another excellent way for ecommerce sites to attract visitors and gain immediate exposure is to use popular auction sites like eBay.
Affiliate Program
Affiliate programs reward members for promoting your blog/products on their web sites and/or blogs. This is an excellent source of advertising that has the potential to rapidly increase sales exponentially.
Conclusion
A successful keyword targeted, Internet marketing campaign will include a combination Search Engine, Pay Per Click and Web 2.0 traffic strategies. While the principles are the same every market is a little different. Each of these methods will give you deeper insight into your market and you will quickly be able to recognize which methods are the most affective and prioritize accordingly.
Author: Barry Ochsner, 1Cat.biz Online Biz Consulting and Coaching
Technorati Tags: blog traffic,web 2.0 marketing,social media
Top Video Sharing Sites
January 3, 2008 by 1Cat.biz · 3 Comments
With the improvement of video compression technology, and the ever-increasing availability of inexpensive (or even free) video authoring software, video blogging and sharing is becoming more and more popular on the web.
Below is a list of some of the top free video sharing sites you can submit your videos to.
NOTE: All of these sites aren’t for everyone. Choose the sites that are right for your niche and please do not “Spam” them. Only submit relative, informative and/or entertaining content that will benefit the community you’re sharing with.
Here’s the List: Read more
Start the New Year Off Right – Your Blog Marketing Web 2.0 Plan!
January 1, 2008 by 1Cat.biz · 5 Comments
Has all of this blog marketing and Web 2.0 stuff got your head spinning? Do you find yourself reading 10 blog posts a day and going in 10 different directions only to wind up frustrated at the end of the day?
Maybe you’ve got a good understanding of it all but could use a day-to-day plan to help you implement and get better results from your blog marketing Web 2.0 efforts. (i.e. More Traffic, More Subscribers, More Profits!)
