Nov
07
2011
Remember those long rides as a kid where you were in hurry to get somewhere? Maybe it was a special trip to Grandma’s house, an amusement park, a vacation. As kids we always asked, ” are we there yet”? As a blogger and webmaster, I am always thinking about this question and I am sure many of you are too. We build, we design, we do SEO, and we promote. Why do we do it? Though almost of all of us wish to make money from our blogs, this is a more personal question that only you as a blog o0r website owner can answer.
I have known and worked with many webmasters who start one project after another and they put almost nothing in it with dreams of getting rich. Does this happen? More times than not, it does not. There are those few who have conquered the dream but it took hard work, endless hours, and a good investment to achieve. I have been part of many Online projects and made some money here and there. Did I get rich? Not yet. However, I have not invested my whole life to my Online projects.
As webmasters, we need to look at what motivates us and why we do what we do. Only have we do this, can we honestly answer the question “are we there yet?” I know the answer for me changes as my life changes.
When most of my money comes from offline work, I am where I want to be with my blogs. They have held through the test of time and they are always there waiting for me when I need them. They generate enough income to pay for their cost and they supply a value to the readers. These are the best of times!
However, when my offline income is low, I go back to the love of the blogs and realize that the journey is far from over. It is in those moments that I know that the real answer is to enjoy the adventure on the way and not be an hurry to get there. Building a blog or website takes work and time and if you always try to improve, you are never truly there. However, if your love is to share your knowledge, maybe you have already completed the journey.
So with that I ask you, Are you there yet?
Apr
21
2010
I often talk about promoting a website and doing proper SEO. However, there are other things to consider when creating an site. It must be appealing to the viewer or they will not stay on the site for long.
Designing an attractive website depends on who you are trying to reach. For example, I am mainly a blogger so my audience is readers of my related topic. However, many web entrepreneurs create full business sites or other product related sites designed to sell something. For these types of sites, one may need to hire a professional. It is often advisable to find one in your sate so for me I would look for a New York web design company.
There are many professional web designers so it is important to find everything you can about the company you decide to hire. Check out their portfolio and look at their designs to see how they rate compared to what you are looking for. Next, make sure you carefully look at their testimonials and see what their other customers are saying and if they are happy with the service.
Webmasters need to remember, SEO is very important but it is what people see when they come to your site that determines if they ever return. A well designed site with all the looks of a professional business will draw people in and keep them coming back.
Apr
11
2010
Times are changing are you keeping up with the changes? Remember the days when just adding a bunch of links to free directories was all it took to move up in Google rankings? Those days are gone and if you do your own SEO, you need to change with the times.
Search engine optimization is now a little more complicated than the old days and it takes much more specialized placing of links. Placing links in directories can still help generate some traffic and does not hurt your rankings but it takes a lot more to build your Google page rank and your move you up in the search engine results listings.
One way is to be more selective in where and how you place links. Finding blogs related to your topic and select article submissions are still good ways to get your links out there. However, avoid spammy blogs and article directories that are full of junk. Quality supersedes quantity when building back links.
Once you find places to place the links, you also need to determine the best keyword or anchor text that fits what your target is. For example, if you own a florist website, you do not want to just target just the keyword flower because there are millions of website with the same keyword. Because of this, it is harder to rank for that word. However, if you are a florist in Boston, you want to target the keywords Boston flowers or Boston florist. If you do this, you will lower your competition and have a better chance to rank for those keywords.
Of course external back links is not the only key to SEO. You must make sure that your website is optimized with proper keywords and all web designs are set up to be as friendly as possible to both the users and the search engines. Be sure not to make the mistakes that many webmasters do and just stuff random keywords all over the site and hope the search engine bots will pick them all up. This could cause your site to penalized in the search results and turn off many visitors. As with placing back links, quality is key so you should always strive for the best content to attract traffic and search engines.
SEO is always changing and it is important to keep up with those changes. As I have always stated, if you want to do your own website be prepared for the work and educate yourself. If you are incapable of putting in the time or lack the knowledge, hire someone to do it right. The money spent upfront will save you tons in the long run.
May
25
2009
Many bloggers and webmasters create websites and expect the whole world to just drop by and check them out. The reality is to be successful, a webmaster has to spend a lot of time and/or money to even get noticed. The secret to great success is not much different than selling a regular product or service; you need to advertise what you have to offer.
Websites are not quite the same as regular advertising. The major way to advertise a new website or blog is to get noticed by Google and other major search engines. This is achieved by doing Search Engine Optimisation. For those who do not know what that means, it means preparing your website to be search engine friendly and also building quality links pointing to your website. This is a must and true success can not be achieved if the webmaster does not do good SEO work.
Many beginners think they can place a simple ad on some other site and they will have instant success. This is not the case. Traffic from basic sources like this dries up quickly and you are left with no visitors. Quality long term traffic comes from ranking in the top positions in Google and other major search engines. This traffic is called organic traffic and this is what any knowledgeable webmaster craves and strives for. It is a great feeling to look at your stats and see tons of traffic coming from Google. There is no better feeling you could have as a webmaster.
If you are able to do your own SEO work, by all means, you should do it. However, like taking your car to a mechanic, there is no shame is hiring a company who specializes in Search Engine Optimisation to help you rank in on top of the search engine results for your keywords. Working with an expert helps avoid the problems and stress that come with a do it yourself approach.
No matter which way you choose, do it yourself or hire an expert, SEO is a must to be a real webmaster.
Apr
05
2009
I love when I discover new sources to find the best web hosting. I recently was asked to do a sponsor review for Web Hosting Bluebook. This is a web hosting review site that offers information help you choose the best hosting company to meet your needs.
The first thing I noticed when visiting their site was the nice clean design of the homepage. It clearly lists the top ten cheap web hosting companies. The reviews are well written and all the information is clearly posted when you click the review button. They state all the features of each host along with the prices.
I decided that this information is the same as most review sites so I decided to check out the rest of the features on their website. Their articles are very informative and great for new webmasters. They cover some topics that are not covered on other web hosting review sites. They discuss how to set up a website and also the possibility of running a website on your own computer instead of hosting (Not a great idea). The articles give basic information but I would have loved to see more in-depth articles. However, for newbie’s, they are worth a quick read.
I moved from the articles to the forum that is included with this site. It is a great idea to have a forum. However, this forum is quite new so it is very slow and has almost no members. I am hoping that that may improve over time. I next went to the blog with has been disabled. I was a bit disappointed with that. I was looking forward to some great posts regarding hosting and other related topics.
They do offer a newsletter to keep you up to date on news and products of interest to webmaster. There are a few free Word press themes that are featured on Web Hosting Bluebook. I checked them out and they have a couple of nice ones. The final feature was a glossary of terms related to hosting that will help a new webmaster understand what everything means.
This was an overall nice website. It serves the purpose it was intended to which is to provide reviews of cheap web hosting. I would have loved to see a more active forum and a great blog. However, the website is well worth a visit for those new to web hosting or those looking to find a new web host. Feel free to check them out and let me know what you think by leaving a comment here.
