Transition Expert Blog

Creating free traffic to your blogs is one a new bloggers biggest tools when starting out- and it is the key to success to ANY Internet Marketer, regardless of experience or knowledge.

Personally, me learning how to send traffic to my blogs was the break-through that took me from making almost nothing, to really bringing in the sales on a regular basis. And one of the absolute best ways to bring free traffic, is to create articles. just like the one you are reading now.

More than just writing an article or articles, knowing HOW to write your articles -and how to do things like, creating relevant and eye catching titles, where to place keywords and proper tagging methods, will improve your articles greatly and increase your chances of success.

Proper Article Titles

Once you have decided on a keyword for your blog – your first job is to create articles that are about the main keyword or title of your blog. What you need to do is to create article titles that include the main keyword- AND attract reader’s to your article and make them WANT to read it.

One good method would be to take a keyword, like ‘Outdoor Camping Equipment’ and name the article, ‘How To Choose The best outdoor camping Equipment’- or use the ‘Top 10 List’ method, like ‘The Top 10 Outdoor Camping Supplies Needed for Successful And Exciting Camping Trips’

These titles will keep your articles relevant to the search engines, and keep the reader interested as well.

Keyword Placement

It should be known to you, that article’s are great for 2 things-

Sending Links To Your Website -this is HOW blogs get ranked, by having good, quality links to your blog. Sending FREE Traffic To Your Blog – Articles have the amazing ability to get ranked in the search engines, all by themselves -and without ANY help from linking strategies.

And the best way to get your articles ranked is to set them up in a way that MAKES the search engines notice them. And keyword placement is ‘key’ for making your article seem relevant. First thing you should do, is place your keyword within the first paragraph of the article.

Then its important to space out 3-5 more keywords throughout your article- basically this is for articles that are around 350-500 words.

And always make sure to place a keyword at the end of your article as well. AND -make sure you put 2 of these keywords in BOLD – that will make the search engine spider’s consider this as a sign that your article is relevant to this keyword.

Place Your Links Strategically

This is VERY IMPORTANT. Although some article directories only allow links to be placed below the fold- that is below where the article isnt shown on the actual webpage. BUT – on the article directories that allow it- make sure you place a link to your main blog post as high up as possible – like in the first paragraph.

And use 2-3 different links and anchor text. I have found that this really help’s your blog get better rankings- faster. Like if you keyword is, ‘Outdoor Camping Equipment’ -create your first link as ‘Outdoor Camping equiopment’ and link it to your main blog post. Then create ANOTHER link with an anchor text like this ‘Outdoor Camping Supplies and Equipment Reviews’.

I always consider multiple links as a great way to diversify and get the most out of your articles.

 

Blogging. It sounds like something that only geeks could love.  Yet, blogging is now being done by geeks and non-techies alike.  This could and should concern you as an employer because blogs have the grave potential to threaten your business as well as your business image and reputation.

 

     Blogs, which is a common term for Internet Web Logs, are being used commonly and frequently by individuals to post information ranging from news and opinions, gossip and photos about businesses.  Often, blogs have the air and appearance of professional online journals.

 

     Blogs have become more and more popular because of their simple ease of creation and use.  Internet Web Logs have been around for some time.  But as is often the case in the world of computers “ease of use “is everything.  Anyone at no or little cost can set up and post on Blogs of their choice.

 

That is why we are witnessing journalists,

political parties, individuals, organizations and   even businesses increasingly embrace blogs to communicate their messages to online audiences.

 

     The number of blogs on the Internet ranges widely.

 

      Ligules, a blog authority “, indexed the startling count of 30 Million blogs, as of the end of June 2006 while StrokonBlog  Research  , another blog authority claimed 60 Million blogs counted May 2005.

 

       Interestingly, and perhaps not surprisingly, blogs are appealing to a younger audience.  It has been estimated that 60 % of most bloggers are under 19 years of age.  It is very safe to say that blogs will become more relevant to businesses as all these younger bloggers come of age and join the work force in the coming years.

 

       Most blogs can be considered quite harmless.  In fact the sign of a progressive business is one that embraces blogs and blogging as an effective means to communicate in an interactive innovative manner.  As well blogs can be a most useful tool to conduct market research on trends as well as conduct customer research.  Remember the rule that 85 % of your business comes from  15 % of your customers.  Blogs can be an inexpensive way to target and interrract for that vital 15 % of your customer base.

 

    This makes good sense considering people are reading blogs more and more.  Last year the consumer research firm Ipsos-Reid reported that 42 % of the general population gas read a blog at least once.  And remember this is a count of the overall general population not those that have computers and general computer skills.

 

    You as an employer however should be concerned about the negative impacts that individuals can mete out on targeted individuals and businesses.  That is because some bloggers have used the online platform as effective powerful tools for attacks on businesses and their current or former employers.

 

     Employers should be highly concerned about the blogging activities of their employees. That is because employees, who use blogs can, among other things engage in copyright violations, defamation as well as divulge corporate strategy and trade secrets.

 

    The unbelievable thing about a blog is that once published it remains on the internet until the blog is edited, the whole blog is deleted or the server computer on the other side of the world which is hosting the blog is turned off so to speak.

 

      Being on the internet the blog is both public to anyone anywhere in the world with internet access.  Specific information can be easily searched across the internet through the standard search engine tools.

 

   Seemingly innocuous information can be the final link in a competitor’s puzzle or can be used for “social engineering “to trick staff into divulging vital corporate information to outsiders pretending to be staff members.  One need not have the keys anymore to the plant just information.

 

     Seemingly harmless information on the blog can even be used to guess passwords.  It is amazing the percentage of people who use their address, birthday as well as wife’s, kids or dog’s name for email and security passwords.

 

   Employees who write blogs in the course of their employment activities are easier to manage with company policies and procedures.  Employees that write their own personal blogs, outside of their work hours, can raise more challenges for employers.

 

     Here are several steps you as an employer can utilize to protect your business from damaging employee blogs and bloggers.

 

         1)  Create a work environment where ideas can be freely exchanged

 

         2)  Reference blogging in employee policy and handbooks

 

         3)  Insist that employees place disclaimers on their personal blogs

 

         4)  Require employees to sign a non-disclosure contract as a standard in employment.  And ensure that older employees as well as new hires are required to sign this form.

          As part of this policy make it clear that release of confidential corporate information is legal grounds for immediate dismissal from the firm.

 

         5) As part of the firm’s policy manuals and guidelines prohibit employees from publishing defamatory blogs about your business, co-workers or clients.

 

       Blogs are an emerging reality in the workplace.  Progressive businesses would be well advised to take note and take steps to protect their vital business, employees and customers as well as their vital image and reputation.

 

       Blogs are a powerful tool in today’s business climate which can be used for good or bad.  Remember it can only take one blog entry to destroy your business image or customer base that took 20 years to develop and nature.

 

Blog disclaimers have been around for a long time. Some are really good and others need a bit of help. What makes a good blog disclaimer? Do you really need one? or is the new FTC laws just something to scare people into doing what they want?

Blog Disclaimers come in all shapes and sizes. You can find some that are very simple to read and very long comprehensive disclaimers that cover anything and everything. You may see a huge ten page long disclaimer on one site and then on another site you may see a very short one page disclaimer. Which one is right for you and which one do you think is the better of the two? The website with the long disclaimer or website with the short disclaimer? Actually they might both be OK. It all depends on the kind of internet business you are conducting and that is what dictates the appropriate disclaimers.

You may find some blogs that are very personal. These blogs are more like diaries or contain family photos. These are similar to a Facebook or MySpace kind of communication and then there are blogs that actually sell something. Now in most cases the personal blog may not get anyone in trouble, yet you could potentially run into legal problems if you make a mistake.

A mistake that many bloggers make on a personal blog, is endorsing a product or advising someone to go purchase a product that does not hold up to its claims. A blogger may think it is an innocent thing to post a product on their site or advise viewers to buy a product. Making a few extra dollars on a blog is never a bad thing. Yet once you monetize your blog with a product or even speaking about a product, you now cross a very fine line. Speaking about a product is considered an endorsement. Once you have made an endorsement of a product, you have crossed over into a regulated market.

Most bloggers that don’t sell anything usually find a good disclaimer on someone’s site and grab it for their own. They are content with the wording and really have no need to monitor the changes in the law.

Now for those people that sell something online, marketers, affiliates, advertisers, etc. If you are conducting some kind of business, you need a disclaimer that matches your own business model. It is extremely reckless to go about your business without this kind of protection. The costs versus having to go through a lawsuit or fines from the FTC are worth the extra efforts to place a simple disclaimer on your blog or website.

Next to a privacy page, a disclaimers is one of the most important pages you can have on your blog. They are definitely needed and should also be part of your business plan. Update your disclaimers on a quarterly basis to ensure compliance. The laws change often and so should your disclaimers to match those important changes.