How to Avoid Black Hat SEO
Mood:  chillin'
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
Black Hat SEO refers to practices and/or techniques that are immoral, unethical, and potentially illegal to receive more hits to your blog or higher search rankings. An Internet Marketing Tutorial for the rest of us wants you to get traffic in legit ways, because these will lead to your continued online success.

These should be avoided at all costs, as they will not only reflect badly on your business, but also banned from certain search engines.

1) Don't stuff your keywords. Some sites are simply long lists of keywords. As discussed earlier, integrate your keywords into the content of your site. Your marketing efforts will go much further.

2) Don't use invisible text. Don't put your keywords lists in white against a white background.

3) Don't use doorway pages. These are "fake" pages that users never see. It's a trick to try to get search engine spiders to give higher rankings but should never be used.

4) Don't spam the search engines. There are several services available (such as Addme.com) that allow you to submit your website to multiple search engines.
If you feel you must use a service like this (the Blog and Ping method described in earlier posts does the same within 3 days that takes the search engines 3 months or more), mark your calendar with a certain day each month that you will submit to the search engines and don't deviate. Else you may find yourself banned from these as well.

5) Don't believe the hype about "guaranteed top ten placement in Google." These companies just want to take your money, use several of the Black Hat SEO techniques, and leave you and your site banned from the top search engines. Getting top placement takes time, ingenuity, creativity, and a lot of patience. Nothing worthwhile ever comes overnight. Even babies need 9 months to develop and sometimes a day of labor.

Keep reading this blog for even more tips. Add us to your My Yahoo or My MSN by clicking their buttons above. The RSS feed that you can use in your favorite news aggregator is on the right.

If you like auctions, sign up for StormPay or click here to register for Ubid.

CIAO for now,
Randy

How to Design a Search-Engine Friendly Site
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
Welcome to An Internet Marketing Tutorial for the rest of us!

Mary Anne Donovan recently posted the following tips on

How to Design

A Search-

Engine

Friendly Site

1) Don't use Flash

No matter how much you like how it looks, search engines get lost in the maze of code needed for Flash, so just don't use it!

2) Make sure all your links work

Also, make them text links that contain your keywords.

3) If you use image maps, make sure you can navigate via text links as well.

4) Pay special attention to your Title tag, Description tag, Header tags, and body text. Use keywords in a relevant way. Don't try to manipulate search engines with your keywords.

Obviously, we all can improve in all these areas.

While you are improving your blog/site, please click on the following, fill out the small form and get a free night at the movies!

Thanks!

CIAO for now,
Randy

How to Use RSS on your Site
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs

How to Use

RSS on Your

Site

RSS (Really Simple Synidication) allows you to deliver your content to any interested parties.

RSS comes automatically with most free blogs. Let's see what we can do with this technology.

1) Place headlines on your site

Feedburner displays headlines from RSS feeds with links on your site.

2) Place other content from a feed

RSSDigest creates source code you can put on your pages in a viriety of formats. Keep in mind, though, that search engines don't read javascript.

These are two great ways to put relevant, insightful information on your site that is updated on a (usually) regular basis. If you find really old posts (few weeks or months), find another feed.

If you are uncertain what sort of RSS feeds to put on your site, go to Yahoo search, and in the search box type

+"rss feed" +free +{keyword}

Of course, replace {keyword} with the key word for your site. The quotations make Yahoo search for the phrase "rss feed" and the plus signs tell Yahoo those words must be included. I always put +free in there because there are a few unscupulous individuals who actually want to charge for their RSS feeds.

While you are putting up your RSS feeds, why not help yourself to some info on how to "pay off debts in 1/2 the time?"

CIAO for now,
Randy

How to Optimize Your own Website
Mood:  on fire
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs

How to

Optimize

Your Own

Website

Website optimization is all the rage these days, with some folks charging 100s for what we'll teach for free. Following these steps will ensure better rankings in the search engines for your blog/website.

1) Title - Make sure that the title of your page includes your major keyword. Place between the and tags of the HTML code. Most blog building programs have an edit source option.

2) Meta Tags - Despite what others may say, I support the use of Meta Tags. Also located between the and tags, use to describe the content of your site. Use your keyword(s) when doinf so. The other important Meta Tag looks like this: with a list of your keywords, separated by commas.

3) Header Tags - Use header tags < h1 > and < /h1 >, < h2 > and < /h2 > to set off importatant parts of your page. This will attract your page viewer's attention, and search engines like them too.


These tips come courtesy of Brad Callen, professional SEO. While you are reading and implementing them, take advantage of this offer: Get the best selection of FREE eMagazines and FREE Stuff on the net! Bonus: $125 Shopping Spree! Click now!
http://join.myfree.com/index.asp?src=cj.

CIAO for now,
Randy

Yahoo Publisher Network Beta
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Make Money with Your Blog

Yahoo Publisher

Network Beta

Yahoo Publisher Network Beta is now live! This is Yahoo's alternative to Google Adsense, which I got kicked out of because I accidentally clicked ads on my site.

To sign up, go to http://publisher.yahoo.com and click on the please apply here. You'll get an e-mail verification that you must respond to. Make sure you fill out the form completely that pops up. Also, use a different password for your Yahoo Business account than you do for Yahoo mail (for security purposes).

Ads from Yahoo will be live in a day or two after you put up the code. You'll get PSA's in the meantime (see above).

You'll receive payment every month once your account balance reaches $100, just like Adsense. They'll send a check within 45 days of the close of the month to allow for review of the clicks and processing. DON'T CLICK YOUR OWN ADS!!

If you've noticed the ads above change from time to time, it's because I'm experimenting around with a couple of different alternatives to Adsense. (The Adbright ads are at the bottom now.) Yahoo Publisher Network looks very promising.

Don't forget to check out StormPay, with its latest feature, Stormclix (I've made over $12 since its inception) and the links on the side.

CIAO for now,
Randy

How to Write an Optimized Article
Mood:  happy
Topic: Make Money with Your Blog

How to Write an Optimized Article

Search engines give high rankings to "authority" sites. What I mean by that is that your site has lots of interesting, unique, and relevant information. The article should be optimized to achieve even higher ranking in the search engines.

You should write about a topic that is intimately related to your business and website. Don't copy content from your website or anyone else's as search engines dislike duplicated content.

Here's a step-by-step guide to writing your optimized article:

1) Put keywords in title
The title tells the search engine the content of your page. Enclose the title in h1 HTML tags since some search engines look for those.

2) Locate keywords throughout content
The theme of the article should revolve around the keywords. Use a touch of common sense and don't forget that you are writing for the reader, not the search engine. About 600 words is good.

3) Put the keyword in first and last paragraphs

4) Put the keyword in subheadings
By subheadings, I mean headings braketed by h2 or h3 HTML tags. Some search engines look for these, and they make for easier reading for people who scan.

5) Put your personality into everything you write
Informal, friendly, conversational language works best, and will make your reader feel like he or she is at home.

CIAO for now,
Randy



PS. The comments contained herein are an abridgement of comments by James Peggie, director of marketing for Elixer Systems.

How to Create Your Own Auction Business
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Make Money with Your Blog
Today we'll discuss how to create your own auction business. There is an initial cost to this business, but that is limited to the price of your first auction listing.

7 Steps to Create

Your Online

Auction

Business

1) Create a free website from one of the many providers out there. Even Yahoo has one.

2) Sign up for the following free services:
Commission Junction (don't sign up as an incentive site)
Share A Sale
StormPay

3) Apply to be an affiliate of as many advertisers as possible on Commission Junction and Share A Sale.

4) Pick out some interesting product(s) from advertisers you are affiliated with and put links to their product(s) on your free website. Share A Sale has a "Make a Page" function to further facilitate this. Note: unless you like dealing with hackers, stay away from selling electronics or computers.

5) In StormPay Auctions, list your favorite product(s) for free. Use the Buy Now option and make sure to set the price high enough to cover StormPay fees and shipping. Usually a $5 mark-up will do.

6) When you get a buyer, go to your free page and click on the product. Buy it and ship it to your buyer.

7) You will receive a commission check from Share A Sale or Commission Junction once you reach their minimum payouts. Commission Junction is $20, and Share A Sale is $50. You'll probably have to have several successful auctions to reach payout, but you won't have to worry about listing fees!

If you need some additional items to sell on auction, there are liquidation prices if you register at Liquidation.com .

CIAO for now,
Randy

Google Blog Search
Mood:  surprised
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
Google Blog Search has arrived! Here are some important pointers on Google's latest offering:

1) You can access Google Blog Search here or here. You can also get to it from the Navigation Bar on any Blogspot blog or the Blogger dashboard. However, you can't access Google Blog Search from Google's main page. Oops!

2) Google will index all sites using an RSS or ATOM feed, but will not as yet include any posts older than June 2005.

3) You can also subscribe to search results using the News Aggregator of your choice and filter out any unwanted results.

4) Get more info on Google Blog Search here.

And don't forget, you can make some extra money with StormClix from Stormpay. Get your free Stormpay account here. Also, don't forget about Stormpay Auctions, the FREE auction alternative to Ebay!

Save 10% off car insurance at screentrade.co.uk

CIAO for now,
Randy

BlogExplosion Rules!
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
BlogExplosion is an incredible service I (re)discovered last night. Sign up for it atBlog Explosion.

Basically, you sign up for free, surf other member's blogs, and receive traffic to your blog in return. You receive 1 view for each four you surf. Plus, every so often there's a page that gives you bonus traffic.

BlogExplosion is continually striving to improve itself. A recent addition, listed under their Games section, is Blog Rocket. Put your blog on Blog Rocket and it is placed at the bottom of a list of 25 blogs. You work your way to position 1, at which point you will need to resubmit (you'll be notified via e-mail when this happens). PLus you can randomly win mystery credits for visiting the blogs in the rocket.

There is also a place for you to submit your podcast for even greater exposure.

Remember my earlier discussion about pinging your blog? You can also do that at BlogExplosion. They teamed up with Pingoat to provide a whole range of blog search engines. As with the other pinging services I have mentioned, there are a few that you will have to do manually, but in all, this is the easiest, quickest way I have found to ping your blog.

So go ahead and sign up for Blog Explosion today at Blog Explosion. While you're at it, go ahead and sign up for Stormpay to make some extra money off StormClix or sign up for Stormpay Auctions, the free alternative to Ebay!

Ciao for now,
Randy

Review of StormCLIX/StormPay
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: Create + Promote Blogs
StormCLIX is an awesome new program started by StormPay, the online payment alternative to Paypal that offers free auction listings.

If you enjoy clicking for money as I do, this is the program for you! There are numerous ads constantly updated, and worth anywhere from 1 penney to $5 (although I haven't seen any above 5 cents). In 2 weeks I've made over $5! To participate, you need to be a member of StormPay. If you are not, you can sign up for free here.

I've been a member of StormPay for a while now, ever since a hacker broke into my PayPal/EBay account and siphoned some money from my bank account. Their auction service is great. There are no fees for listing - you simply pay a percent of the selling price when you get a buyer. If your item doesn't sell, you're not out any money either. I've sold a few items that way. A word to the wise - keep the fees in mind when setting your selling price, and make sure you state which countries you ship to (I accidentally got a buyer in Finland!). You can sign up for this incredible auction service here. It's more secure than Paypal/EBay and more fun!

Ciao for now!
Randy