SEO For The Common Webmaster

I see webmasters complaining that their website or blog was a failure. Either it did not make the money they wanted or it did not attract the amount of traffic they thought it should. I am here to tell you from one webmaster to another, there is no such thing as a failure when it comes to blogging or creating websites.

My first every website looked like a 4th grader created it. It was so childish that I am almost embarrassed to think about it. I could not get anyone to visit it, I made no money, and it was lonely all by itself. Did I fail? Hell no! I learned from that website and I improved on my next site.

My next site was better and I learned a few webmaster tricks to get some good traffic. Still, I made very little and the site was still unattractive but I did have some traffic. Once again, I was not a failure because I learned even more from that site. I improved on the site and worked hard and sold it for a little profit.

There are very few webmasters who have stepped into the world of the Internet and was a instant success. The key is to do your best and learn from every success and every mistake. I am still, after many years, far from an expert. I still make mistakes and I still get frustrated over not making enough money. However, I have found that each mistake (no matter how big) is a learning experience that will increase my profits in the future.

Being a webmaster is not for everyone. There is so much competition on the Internet. However, with patience and hard work, you can cut your little piece of the pie and become a winner one mistake at a time. Reading everything you can from other bloggers and webmasters will help you get there quicker by learning from their mistakes.

It is not the fear of failure but the goal of success that drives you to be the best at what you do!

Building your first website is fun and exciting. You have tons of ideas of what you should do and how to go about it. You plan for the big launch by finding the right domain name, writing some good content, planning how to monetize it, and then you get to the point of where do you get web hosting.

There are thousands of web hosting companies that are willing to take your money. However, many fall short on performance. With the many choices out there, it is easy to find Cheap Web Hosting. To do so, you must do your research and read all the fine print. All prices should be clearly marked and there should be no hidden fees.

The first thing you want to look for is the company’s uptime. This should be at least 99.8%. This is the amount of time your site will be live and ready for your customers or visitors. Every hosting company out there has a time or two in their life that they go down for either maintenance or from no fault of their own. This should not be often because if it is, your site will not be viewable for those times and you will lose visitors.

The next step is to evaluate what features you need and if the plan you are looking at offers those features. Fir example, if you are hosting a lot of scripts like Word Press or a forum, you need My SQL databases for each. You need to know how many you need so you can make sure your package offers those.

The third step is to see if they allow additional domains hosted on the same account and also how many sub domains. This is very important if you plan to host many sites on one account. It would suck to buy a hosting account with the intention of hosting five blogs and find out you are limited to just one or two.

The fourth step is to look at the additional services offered. One important feature is Fantastico. It is system that allows you to easily add many of the most popular scripts and programs such as Word press, PHPBB and more. If you are like me, I hate to install scripts. That is the reason I always make sure my host offers this feature.

Also make sure the host is up to date on the latest PHP and others. If it is not listed, do not be afraid to ask questions. If they respond quickly, this is a good sign that they will have great support. The more research you do up front, the less hassle you will have later. If you do not know what to ask, check around and ask friends or fellow webmasters what you should ask. There are no stupid questions when it comes to buying web hosting. The only stupid thing is not asking first.

The final step and one of the most important I will mention is the price. Be sure to read carefully. Some host offer by the month but require a year worth of payments. Other hosting companies charge strictly by the month. If you are lucky to find a quality host that has a flat yearly rate, you can often find a great deal. Be extra careful to buy the package that is right for your needs. If you are starting a blog and have no intentions of doing more than that, you do not need the top package. However, if you plan to do several sites or buy or sell sites, it might be wise to look at the reseller packages; no these are not just if you are selling web hosting. I have a reseller package and never sell a single web hosting package.

There is much more that can be written on looking for web hosting. I have written many some post on this blog and will continue to in the future. It is not rocket science but you also have to be smart. Doing your homework and lots of research will prevent you from pulling out your hair later because something went wrong. Being a webmaster is rewarding and having a quality host along side you for the ride is even better.

If you find this article useful, please feel free to link to it and leave a comment or two. Webmasters helping other webmasters is what this blog is all about!

Many people who make a living through the Internet as a webmaster or a writer or whatever source find that summer is a slow time and earnings decrease. At these times, we struggle to find income to fill that void. One of the best ways to do that is to find a good temporary job to fill the need.

There are many companies that offer such jobs. These are easy to apply to and you can find many sources on the Internet to get started right away. There are K-Mart Job Applications online that will make it easy to find a quick and reliable part-time or full-time job in a fun to work retail setting. If you do not have a K-Mart near by, there are also Target Job Applications that are easy to fill out and can get you a job in no time flat.

If working in a retail store does not interest you, maybe you would like something in the food field. Taco Bell Job Applications are easy to fill out and can offer very flexible hours. These are just a few examples of jobs you can find to fill that money void during the times when everything is slow on the Internet. They all allow you some earnings while not giving up your dream of making a living off the Internet. For many, they also offer great benefits that are not provided when you work as a webmaster.

The whole point is, you can call your self a webmaster or an dot.com mogul but what it boils down to is that when times are slow, you have to feed yourself and your family. By finding a flexible job, you can have the best of both worlds.

As you all know by my former posts, I am a member of Digital Point Forums. I have watched many threads offering SEO services and some are legit. However, there are times that you as a webmaster need to use your common sense when something sounds too good to be true.

DP is not unlike any webmaster forum. There are always people willing to take money from unsuspecting victims. Scammers use every rouse to convince others to send them money to achieve miracles in SEO. There is no SEO company that can guarantee a certain place on Google. They can do all the right stuff to get you there but they can not promise that you will make the top position.

I have always warned people to know who they are dealing with. Check out the person and look for good reputable people. However, when dealing with strangers on the Internet, that is not even enough. Many members of DP have learned the hard way when longtime DP member Cheap SEO Services started a thread a while back for great promises of SEO miracles. Now a few months later, they are trying to get there money back and his partner has been banned and he is claiming it was the other guy and he was just a pawn.

This is a clear warning to members of DP and all members of webmaster forums, be careful of dealing with anyone and do not let longtime members have full trust. For some reason, this member still is a full active member of the forum even though he basically admitted that he helped defraud a lot of members.

If you are interested in the whole story, here is the DP thread to read for yourself. It is sad to see that something that involved large sums of money is ignored by the administrators of the forum.

This is a perfect example of why you should do most of your own SEO unless you know what you are paying for and you are sure that the methods are true and honest. It is ok to hire someone if you have no experience in SEO but beware of false promises and know that SEO takes hard work and nobody is that good that they can hit a home run every time they promote a site.

If you have something to add or wish to comment on the saga over at DP, please feel free to leave a comment.

One of the biggest mistakes many bloggers make is putting auto-loading audio on their blog. This can range from songs to short speeches. This is a huge turn off for many viewers and could cause the visitor to just leave. There is nothing more annoying than surfing the Internet and have a song start to blast through the speakers.

Other things to consider when adding audio is the time factor involved in the page loading. There are still many people using dial-up service. Some of these audios cause hug delays in the time it takes a page to load. When I was still using dial-up, I would close the wiwebmasterndow if it took too long for a blog or site to load. Now I am on DSL, I just click out of most sites that have auto-loading audio.

If you insist on using audio on your blog, install it so that the viewer can start it if they wish to listen to it. It you insist on it being automatic, make it as short as possible to allow for quick loading of your page.

When creating a blog, the purpose is to draw traffic to your site not to scare it away. Think twice before adding audio to your blog.