A few quick changes later and the bounce rate dropped significantly.

On this blog all the posts with the highest number of comments are ones where I ask people to tell me what they think. See a trend here?

A few years ago the joke about twitter was that it was full of people posting things like  ”Having a Shower” “Eating Toast and peanut butter”  why do you think that was?   Could it have been that the question they asked in the posting box was..  What are you doing? They later changed it to Whats Happening? and now it says Post a New Tweet.

The whole point of this is that before you write a post or before you even set up a blog you need to know what you want to achieve and then design the post or blog around that.

If for example I had a post that I wrote a year ago that got me a load of facebook likes then I would probably write a follow up to that post and point you to the original post.  The chances are I would get more likes.  If I wanted people to sign up to a list I would give information then maybe include a video and a link for further information that was available after a signup.

If I wanted to get some traffic from Pinterest well then I’d probably just do this;

With planning and design you can help your readers do what you want them to do. But first you need to know what direction you want them to go in

The secret of effective guest blogging is to provide posts that are of High quality and relevant to the blog you want to post on. The posts shouldn’t be self serving or thinly disguised adverts for your site. Done correctly a guest blog will get you a link back to your site plus traffic.

Below you’ll find a Video that shows you how I find sites to Guest post to and also how I get others to write a lot of my blog content by encouraging guest posts.

The Guest Blogging process is simple,

Site Owners Who accept Guest Post:

Create a page called “Write For Us”  and tell the world that you accept guest posts, also list the topics that you would like content on.  List any rules you have such as;  Maximum 2 links,  No Pharma links, links only in the bio section or links below the fold etc.

Thats it then sit back and you should soon start to get posts or requests for posts sent through.

Guest Bloggers

Search google for “Write For Us” Keyword and find suitable sites to write blog posts for.  Next you need to contact them and propose a post at this point I will usually just include a proposed title and summary. I also tell then that I will include a link in my bio or in the body below the fold.

Some people send the article through with the proposal, I don’t particularly like this as a blog owner, these posts often seem to be of a lower quality and it does seem presumptuous on the part of the guest blogger.

Once you have a reply from the blog owner then tell them when they can expect the article. I usually tell them that I will write it and send it through within 72 hours. Sometimes I have articles in stock and other times I write fresh articles.

If i have a particular rush on and need a bunch of articles I get Allison to write a lot of them  for me you can contact her through Article and Content Solutions

After Your Article Has Been Posted

As soon as your article has been posting give it a bit of Social media love. Tweet it, add it to linked in mention it on Facebook or G+. It takes 5 minutes and will separate you from 95% of other guest bloggers.

I never understand why more people don’t do this, it benefits the blog owner who will be grateful plus it can generate a bit of extra traffic to your site via your links. If I see that one of my guest posters has put a bit of effort into promoting their article I always offer them the opportunity of writing more posts.

Have a great weekend!!  Oh and Well done to Rach one of our WordPress Goldmine members who not only had her highest earning day yesterday but has a #1 Kindle book  on Amazon

Finally….  Samsung 1080P HD site owner you are a spammer and i’ll never publish one of your comments so SOD Off!!

What did you do for your business last friday?

Every single day I do at least 1 thing that will (or should) help my business develop. Today I sent an email to a JV broker and hooked up with her via linked in. I now have a skype chat scheduled for later this week.

Nothing might come of it but something might.  I did something similar a few weeks back the result was about $12,000 in sales of one of my old products, plus a Joint Venture that should be profitable to both of us.

Normally the things I do for my business are practical things, I will write a blog post or do a video or offer to write a guest post. However 1 day a week  I try to build relationships with people,  those relationship sometimes prove to be beneficial to both of us and sometimes nothing comes from it.  But once in a while they can change everything.

One of these relationships in particular over the last few years has changed my perception of Internet marketing and made me a far better marketer. it’s probably made me a better person as well. That would never have happened if i didn’t deliberately set out to build 1 new relationship a week.

At first it wasn’t easy for me as I am naturally shy and like all of us I hate the thought of someone ignoring me or rejecting me. However  once you’ve done it a few times it becomes easier.

Building relationships can really work as a springboard for your Internet marketing career, we have a couple of members of WPG who teamed up as their skill sets were a really good fit and they’ve just launched their 2nd very successful product.

You should take every opportunity you can to network and to meet fellow marketers, look around at what seminars are happening near you, I know people who go to Affiliate Summit West in Vegas and never go and look at any of the stands and never go to the keynote speeches or lectures.They travel half way around the world to just meet fellow marketers and share ideas and tips.

So who fancies having a beer and a chat with me and a few friends in London next month?  Myself and Andre Chaperon planned to do one of these informal get togethers a year or so ago and unfortunately snow closed the airports in London so we couldn’t fly in. So we are going to try it again.

I am Speaking at the Warrior Gathering in London on May 12th and 13th so the night before I am going to arrange to meet as many people as I can in a bar in central London. There will be no cost and I don’t expect you to buy me a beer . Andre is going to invite some of his subscribers to join him and we’ll try to rope in a few special guests to come and join us. It should be a great night out.

So if you’d like to join us for a beer & a chat add your email address to the list below (it will only be used for this get together then deleted) and i’ll let you know the time and location once we know how many of you are going to turn up.

 

Email:

 

If you want to make a weekend of it check out the Warrior Gathering, even if i wasn’t scheduled to speak I’d still want to attend it, this opportunity to network shouldn’t be passed up.

I did a short video about using Rapportive a few weeks ago, believe it or not that’s how I find people to reach out to. Their linkedin, facebook or google +  details appear next to their emails ,the rest takes just a few clicks. You can watch the video on the following post http://mjthompson.net/1458/how-to-generate-traffic-to-your-blog-video-series/

Reach out today!

Newsflash****  I just finished writing this and I discovered that another of the members at WordPress Goldmine have broke the $100 a day barrier. It’s posts like Mikes that make everything worthwhile…well done Mike .

You can read about his journey and hopefully be motivated by it at http://mikefrommaine.com/first-100-adsense-day/

Back to the post..

1. Create a List

People love lists so whenever you are stuck for something to write about then come up with a list of 3 , 5 or 7 things.  3 Ways to Unblock Your Toilet, 5 simple ways to Clear Acne in 48 Hours, 7 Spells That Will Have Your Ex Back.

Lists are generally quick and easy to write.

2. Schedule Posts 

I usually schedule posts for about 2 weeks ahead, I sit down and come up with a list of 6 topics , write them on my white board and let them sit there until it’s time to write them. Because I know whats coming I spend time thinking about what I can add to the post to bring value.  The reason I have 6 topics is that I try to write on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and often I’ll try to theme the posts.  Monday I’ll give Tips , Wednesday a commentary about an aspect of the niche I am in and friday something to get people thinking over the weekend.

3. Recycle Old Posts

Look at posts you wrote a year or more ago and see how you can improve them, Most of your visitors won’t have read the content before, I’d be lucky if more than 20 of the people reading this post had read my 5 Truths About Internet Marketing Post from July 2010. Your audience constantly changes so feel free to update your old content and put a new spin on it.

4. Curate Content

Good old curation it can get help you smash through that writer block or should that be blogger block?

10. Comprehensive Pillar Posts

This one never gets old. If you’re looking to establish your presence online, one of the best things you can do to stand out is to start creating some epic blog posts.

A ‘pillar’ article is generally longer than the traditional blog post (1,000+ words). This sort of ‘flagship content’ is a comprehensive article dripping in value.
Source

I am sure Pat Flynn won’t mind me posting part of his great article on Blog post templates. Curation doesn’t mean that you copy the other persons complete post but take bit of it and add your views.  I am sure you know what the signal to noise ratio is when referring to radio signals.

Although not as prevalent today there used to be a time when you got a lot of hiss and crackle when listening to the radio and it was difficult to hear the radio signal.  Well what good curation does is remove the noise and just leave the signal. Just stick to the 3 golden rules .. Don’t copy all the content, Add value and add a link back to the source.

4. Interview Someone

People love to be interviewed, write out 5 simple questions and send it to people in the same niche as you.  So for example if you were in the fitness niche write 5 questions about fitness and send it to 5 separate personal trainers not only will you have great content and a regular article you can write you’ll also have content you can add to a book  give away to build a list.

Ask questions like:    Tell us about yourself? Why did you become a personal trainer?  Have you always been fit?  Whats the best success story you’ve been involved with,  do you have 1 Golden tip for our readers?  How can our readers find out more about you?

Do you think anyone in business could resist answering those questions especially if you always include the last question on that list.

5. Get a Guest Blogger In

Contact someone you know in the same niche and ask them if they’d like to write a guest post for you, If they are serious about blogging they will jump at the chance!

6.  Do a Review of a Product

Find a product related to your niche and review it, If you blog is established write to the manufacturer or publisher and ask them if you can have one to review. After you do a few you’ll wake up to find emails like this one in your inbox

Hello
We have a golf training aid which we would like you to evaluate. We would also like the contact details for the appropriate person so that we can submit press releases and news items to.
If you could also include a contact email, physical address and telephone number I’d be grateful.

7. Find an Infographic and Write About it!

Infographics are a great way of finding ideas for blog content.  Just like with content curation you can pick one or two items from the infographic and give your ideas or your views on it.

If you have the resources then you can also create your own,  the upside of that is that you could  get lots of links back to your site as a result of the infographic.

Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

Creating a niche site isn’t difficult, Seo isn’t difficult , Keyword research isn’t difficult so why do we all (myself included) make things so difficult that we sometimes struggle to get it right?

What’s difficult about creating a site? Install WordPress with a few clicks of a button, add a simple theme , add some plugins that do things we need then add content.  Voila that’s it… why the hell did I then spend 2 hours yesterday getting a header in the right place on a blog and reorganizing the sidebar?

Have a look at the quote below, can you guess when I wrote that?  last month? last year when panda hit?  Wrong I wrote that back in  2007

Taking things back to basics also means you can react to situations quicker, if Google tweaks their algorithm again. Also by keeping things simple you are doing what the search engines want you to do. Which do you think Google finds more appropriate a wordpress blog updated 3 or 4 times a week with unique content or a generated site with multiple pages of PLR content and random rss feeds added?
Read more: http://mjthompson.net/57/want-to-make-money-online-the-keep-it-simple

Lets all make an effort to build a blog this week and keep it simple I mean really simple. Then see how it performs.

Keyword Research

Find 3 keywords that you think you can write about without much effort.

Forget finding a specific number of searches, thats irrelevant, what counts is how much you’ll make when someone clicks on an Adsense ad so take the number of searches and multiply it by the adsense CPC.   If it comes to $3000 or more consider it.  Look at the top 10 results in google, have they been updated recently?  Do they look very professional?  Do they have loads of social media interaction.

If the answer is no to all 3 then Use the keyword.

Create Your Site

Set up Wordpress and Use the 2011 theme, put a recent posts widget in the sidebar and add no more than 6 plugins.  Choose wisely!

Create Content

Write 3 articles based around your 3 keywords.  Post them to your blog.  Now set aside 30 minutes every day for the next month (5 days a week) to write one article per keyword.  Don’t worry about article length just make sure you create good content.

Simplify SEO

We are going to keep this simple, no more than 15 minutes a day.

First off get your onsite seo as good as you can so one of those plugins should be an SEO plugin

When you write a post, link to it in Facebook, Google + Linkedin. Tweet about it, and do some blog commenting. Take one of the articles you posted on your blog the previous week and post it to an article directory BUT link it to a new article (not the same article).

Do the things you have forgotten about, Article Marketing , Yahoo answers, press releases, use forum signatures etc.

Read Store Coaches Insanely simple seo plan for ideas and adapt it to your situation

Without further ado (whatever that means), here’s my insanely simple SEO plan:

• Post at least once a week in 2 different authority forums in your market
• Post as a “researching shopper” in 2 forums per month
• Answer at least 1 ‘Yahoo Answers’ question a week
• Post 1 article a month on an authority article directory
• Post 1 press release a month
• Post once a week on your on-site blog
• Post once a week on your off-site blog
• Get at least 5 social network links per month
• Get at least 2 “personal or hobby site” links per month
• Get at least 1 guest article posted per month

Using this plan & this plan alone you should be able to get to the top of Google for your targeted keyword phrase

Once your keywords are researched and your site is built then you only need to focus on 2 things content creation and then SEO. Get up 30 minutes earlier and go to bed 30 minutes later and you have all the time you need.  Take time when you are sat on a bus or train or drinking a coffee to jot down ideas for articles or indeed write the articles.

Keep it simple and i think you’ll be surprised at the results.

Since google changed the algo last week (zzzz Booooring) there have been numerous posts about the death of SEO (Yes I know I wrote one myself!) and people stating half truths and complete rubbish as fact. Look, Google make changes all the time, I’ve lived through many minor changes and 4 or 5 major changes and my sites are still online and still making money.

They may take a hit for a while (or maybe they don’t get affected at all) but a few tweaks and they are back to where they were to start with. I learned long ago that you can game Google for a short while but they always catch up eventually so it’s better to stay as close to the rules as possible.

In a thread in the warrior forum this week I was called a Google fan boy because I made a similar point and said that I was actually pleased that google was trying to level the playing field. I had to laugh at that one, especially after I wrote 6 months ago that google hates us: http://mjthompson.net/1008/google-hates-you/  that post is worth another read especially in light of what has happened recently.

What I am trying to say is that wheter you like it or not when it comes to ranking in google it is nothing more that a  game , you can either try to play by the rules or you can try to bend them the choice is totally yours.  If you do bend them then expect to have to take some time in the sin bin, we’ve all been there!  If you  play by the rules you may still get sent there and penalized ,  as my father used to say ,”No one ever said life was fair!”  But by playing by the rules you stand a much better chance of staying on the playing field for longer.

My Final word on the recent google changes (until the next ones!) isn’t by me but by Ed Dale,  It is the most sensible thing I’ve read for a while (probbaly the most sensible thing Ed has said as well!! )

HOW MANY TIMES DO WE NEED TO SAY IT!

How many times does Google have to say it. Put great, relevant, content on your site and people will love it and spread it around, if they do, Google will reward the page with a decent ranking for phrases it deems relevant.

In the old days they would’ve said “link to the content” and this is Googles fundamental problem. No one “links” to anything any more, certainly not Joe and Jane Smith.

Joe and Jane Smith “like” stuff, they “tweet” stuff, they “Pin” stuff…

They don’t link stuff.”

Ok thats it, you can have the last word, let me know what you think and … all together now.. If you Like it Share it!!!

Watch out for the Magazine coming out over the weekend, it’s a cracker  (if you are subscribed I’ll send you a link to it if not check back here and you’ll see the post)

Following last weeks actions by Google against blog networks I have decided to focus more on  attracting visitors by engaging with them and by using more of  Pat Flynn’s Be Everywhere strategy.

Building links naturally is what google wants and this is what I intend to do, by simply ensuring that as many people as possible see the blog and the content. I will encourage you the reader to share the content and I’ll share it myself via Linkedin, Facebook Twitter and Google +. On the flipside I’l also share good posts by other bloggers and I encourage you to do the same.

If we all got into the habit of sharing quality content then we wouldn’t need to worry about google deindexing our sites and where we ranked, visitors would find our sites naturally.

To do this it is important that I come up with a plan and system that is easy to implement and doesn’t take me more than 10-15 minutes for every blog post. It should also be something that can be used on any type of blog so you ,dear reader, can implement parts of this strategy yourself.

The strategy I’ve come up with is liable to change so what I’ve done is create a series of videos of what I am doing now, as things change or improve I can then replace or add to the videos rather than recording a whole new video.

Each video is going to be between 2 and  5 minutes long so you can pick and choose the ones you need to suit you rather than having to sit through lots of content thats not relevant.

You’ll find the first video below and the other videos I recorded are posted on a page inside the blog. To get access please click on the facebook like button below the video, the link to the remaining videos will then be revealed to you… sneaky!

There are currently 3 more Videos In this series If you would like to see them click on like and you’ll find the video list revealed.

Let me know what you think and what you’ll be doing to get your sites ranking, This strategy won’t be a quick fix it is a long term strategy that will build momentum over time, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were top ranking sites. Persevere and stick with it. It will work.

When I first started all that you needed to get a site ranked well was a bit of link building and a few keywords in the header of your site. Those times are long gone as As we found out when we did the SEO Debunked case studies there is a lot more involved in getting your sites ranking high in google.

There are 3 main aspects that you need to focus on.

On Page SEO – Thats basically creating good quality content and making sure that you have good basic SEO, keywords H1 tags and a sensible keyword density (I look for 0.75% to 1% anything more can look like keyword stuffing and read badly)

Off Page SEO – Basically your backlinks . You don’t need hundeds of poor quality links. Try for good a handful of good quality links a week you’ll be surprised at how well they can help you rank.

Social Signals – Under estimate this at you peril.

As I said in the first line of this post times change, more and more weight is being put on social signales by google.  Put yourself in Googles shoes for a moment, they know that people have the ability to build links on an industrial basis. I can go and have 20,000 verified links by tomorrow to this post for $75 or 500,000 unverified for $39.95.  So why should google pay any attention to links?

What would you do in Googles position?  Look for some other indicators that you are connecting with your readers?   thats what i’d do.

They have several metrics they can use  Bounce rate & time on site to name just two BUT they can also track social signals.

How many tweets does a post have, how many times is it liked in Facebook, how many plus 1′s does it have , how many comments etc etc.

What I am trying to say here is you need to manage your social signals, just as much as you manage on page and off page seo.

Once you start to manage them you can start to ensure you get exactly  the social signals you need  For example  If you want to find out how I would get 500,000 links in a day (if I was stupid enough to try it click on the like button below and all will be revealed… literally!

To manage them you need to track them.  Watch the video below to see how I track them and how I’ll be ensuring that I manage all the social signals properly to help me rank higher.

If you like to know more about Social Metrics Pro  then just click here

If you like it and buy through my link 2 things will happen ..

1.  I might earn some commission from the sale.. thank you

2. If you send me your receipt via the helpdesk I’ll send you a free report I am creating about social signals and why they are important and how you can get them.

Finally don’t forget to send out some social signals by sharing this post and commenting… you know you want to!

If the answer is no then why not?

I understand that you might think that you have nothing to say but by starting a blog you do start to track your online journey and leave a record there for the future. The more you blog the better you writing skills become and the easier you’ll find it.

It doesn’t matter if you only talk about how you only made $10 and spent $40, lay out your successes and your failures. Talk about the tools you use and what works and what doesn’t . Believe me people are interested and 2 or 3 years down the line when you have a few hundred posts and are making $500 a day before you get out of bed people will be reading your blog for insights and inspiration.

I regularly look back at my posts from the past and marvel at how much i’ve learned, when I made that first blog post on August 4th 2006 did I think i’d still be blogging 5 and a half years later .. NO!  But a blog is more than just a collection of posts It’s actually like having your own Psychiatrist, putting things on a public blog focus’s your mind and helps you realize what you want to do and what you want to achieve.

Internet Marketing is all about dropping seeds everywhere, some never sprout but others grow into fruit bearing trees, and a blog and your blog posts are just a few more seeds that you drop. I could bore you with long lists on people who make money online who wouldn’t be where they are today without their blogs.

A blog can also be a stepping stone to a much better place.  It can open doors for you that wouldn’t normally be opened.  Do you think that Pat Flynn thought to himself  ”If I start blogging I’ll be asked to speak at Blog World”  when he wrote his first blog post in 2008  http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/why-i-will-quit-my-job-for-a-passive-income/ ?  When he was writing that first blog post do you think he thought that he’d be earning $60,000 a month in January 2012.

I am equally sure that if you asked him he would say that updating his blog regularly has kept him on track and driven him forward, and it’s without a doubt the corner stone of his current business.

It’s the same for me, A personal blog helps to keep you focused and make you accountable to yourself and your readers, and future readers.

So get out there and start a blog,  at the end of the post you’ll see links to some of the members of WPG who have created blogs and who are documenting their progress…check them out you’ll be wiser for doing so!

Finally  huge congratulations to everyone who has completed month 1 of the 2012 challenge ($0 to $10,000 a month with a new business) The first target was $100 and a big lump of Kudos must go to Paul Nicholls who more than doubled this months target.  Next months target is $200 and I am sure we’ll have some great results to report as several income streams are starting to come online.

If you have a personal Blog then why not leave a comment below and make sure to click on the comment Luv button, that will then dispaly your last post for everyone to see…  Don’t bother if you are a spammer, I check each comment personally!

http://theseaworthymarketer.com

http://www.MikeFromMaine.com

http://PaulNichollsBlog.com

Broon Dog Internet Marketing

http://www.thenewbiehelper.com/

http://www.commissionclassroom.com

http://imDeanMartin.com

http://johnlenaghan.com

But with that comes it’s own set of frustrations.

You see the problem is that Internet marketing is basically very easy and anyone can do it. You need to set up a website, drive traffic to it and monetize it. It’s only 3 things what could possibly go wrong…. unfortunately lots.

Unfortunately people are amazingly weird and will find ways not to succeed, If I show my dog how to open a box of biscuits she’ll try it until she opens it, it might not be the exact way I showed her but it works for her, then every time I put a box in front of her she’ll open it (at which point the cat will come and steal some of the biscuits and then continue planning world domination)

So lets assume for this post that I am sat in a classroom and in front of me I have 100 desks and tables, 100 people have all paid me $20 to teach them a system that works. I know it works, I’ve proven it works, they know it works they just have to put it in place.

So lets get started with the roll call..

Ohh look 10 people haven’t even bothered to come into the class room despite paying $20… do you buy products and not even open them?

So lets get started, The first thing you need to do is do some basic keyword research… wait look 30 people are on the PC’s in the corner updating facebook and reading emails.. ahh well down to 60 students….   Do you get easily distracted?

Still we are almost finished the first session so after recess I’ll teach you how to create a wordpress blog….. wait you 10 don’t go it’s not that technical, anyone can do it if they try and you can ask questions people here will help you…bye … Do you shy away from having to do anything technical??

Right so we are now down to 50 students… my ego is taking a battering here!

Next I need you to write some original content for those great websites you built…..hey you 10 come back what do you mean you can’t write. Of course you can, you may not want to or think you can’t but I promise you you can… Does This sound familiar??

Hoo Hum 40 left.

Right the last bit and you’ll start to make money… I need you to work hard at promoting your site… hey where have half the class gone??? …
Do you skimp on the most important aspect…promotion?

Right the 20 of you that are left come up the front of the class…. You 20 have every thing you need to make a good income online all you need to do is go out there and put into practice all that you know we’ll meet up here in 6 months time and I guarantee you’ll be making money…

6 months later….. (insert shimmery Hollywood style special effect)

Hey hello my 15 star pupils good to see you are breaking that $100 a day barrier or selling loads of products where are the other 5?   ahhh they are still reading the handouts… JFDI… Take action

Ok so you might thing that this is a little light hearted fun, it’s not.!  I am deadly serious and the figures probably aren’t that far out.  Every month in WordPress Goldmine we have a group of people who post their stats for the past month.  It motivates them and it helps to motivate people reading it.  Every single member there can see what these successful members are doing . They all have one thing in common they work hard to succeed. Why? Because they know that taking action and hard work pays off and leads to increased income.

If they can do it so can anyone else…but still people put off taking action.

So If you are reading this and you aren’t taking as much action as you think you should let me know why, post a comment and tell me what’s holding you back.