Why PageRank Doesn’t Matter

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

Google Page Rank ReductionVisit any internet marketing forum and you are guaranteed to stumble upon a thread about Google PageRank.  Members will boast they have seen an increase and others will complain theirs have dropped.  Others will wear their PageRank as a badge of honour because it is higher than others commenting on the topic at hand.

What is the coveted PageRank value these people are talking about?

These people are talking about the value visible in the Google Toolbar, the little green bar that signifies the relative popularity and importance of a page.  It can have a value from 0 to 10, with 10 assigned to the most popular sites and arguably the most important sites.Continue Reading

Posted in Miscellaneous, SEO / SEM, Tips for Beginners | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

What Every Webmaster Should Know About Google Search

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

Search engine optimization is easy right?  Ranking in Google can be accomplished relatively easy by using keywords and adding backlinks right?

Reading many of the “make money online” blogs would like you to believe it’s that simple.  After all, this is their premise these sites use to create foolproof products and services they offer.

Understanding Google search and what goes into ranking well within this search index isn’t entirely about keywords and backlinks.  It isn’t entirely about building relationships and writing great content.  It is a much more complicated system that incorporates both science and real user input.Continue Reading

Posted in SEO / SEM, Technology | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Alexa Ranking Update #2

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

It’s now been two months since I’ve implemented a trick that I knew would ultimately increase the Alexa ranking of my site.  My position hasn’t changed about Alexa, I still think it is a useless metric and provides little insight into how successful a site actually is.

For those who are unfamiliar with Alexa, it is a web metric company owned by Amazon.  It tracks which websites users visit, how long they stay on these sites and what they supposedly do while there.  It uses the Alexa Toolbar as its primary source of data coollection but this ranking can be easily manipulated.

I care nothing about my Alexa ranking but many have emailed and wondered how implementing a known trick to increase the Alexa ranking was working for me.Continue Reading

Posted in Blogging, Miscellaneous | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Google’s Getting Social With +1

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

Google has upped the ante in its bid to compete directly against the world’s largest social landscape, Facebook.

With the launch of Google Plus, the search engine giant sent a clear message to the world how it felt about the ever evolving social landscape.  It was evident for some time Google was using social indicators and social metrics in its search algorithm to determine ranking.

With the inclusion of its initial +1 metric in its analytics and its focus on improving content as well as user experience with its algorithmic update Panda, Google clearly set its sights on social.Continue Reading

Posted in Blogging, Social Media | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

The Secret of Successful Blog Commenting

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

Last month I wrote an article outlining the value of a blog comment where I indicated relationships built through this practice was the real value.

Since then I’ve had several lengthy debates with other bloggers and internet marketers on several forums I’m a member.  It surprised me many still saw value in the links obtained through comments but complained they had a low success rate in having comments approved.

Successful blog commenting isn’t about dropping a link with your anchor text and moving on to the next blog.  This is the practice that will get your comment deleted or labelled as spam.Continue Reading

Posted in Blogging, Tips for Beginners | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Get Rid of Headlines that Suck Once and For All

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

Do you think your headlines suck?

Laugh as you will but this is a question you as a blogger must answer.

Thinks move rapidly in today’s online social networks.  You don’t have to be a genius to recognize how fast things change and how quickly what’s hot one minute disappears off the social radar.

Most bloggers concentrate on writing great content because it has been beat into our heads that content is king.  Unless you can get people to your website, your content is useless.Continue Reading

Posted in Blogging, Tips for Beginners | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Why Would You Use PLR Content?

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

Making money online is easy right?  You can create a blog, publish some PLR content, do some link building and through passive revenue streams like Google Adsense you become rich.

PLR content typically refers to “private label rights” content that can be taken, modified and reused.  It is available for a small price or for free on some content service sites.

Many novice bloggers that discover PLR content think they have struck gold.  The hard part of blogging has been done right?  These articles are free and there’s no need to spend hours of writing.  You can quickly get hundreds of articles online and sit back and collect the cash as it rolls in from your site.Continue Reading

Posted in Blogging, Tips for Beginners | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Make Your Blog Load Faster

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

Do you want to improve things for your users when then visit your blog?  It’s not that difficult to do.

All you have to do is make your blog load faster.

Over the last several months I’ve been redesigning my entire blog network, focusing on user experience and appearance.  Part of this has been looking for ways to improve the performance of each blog, including load times.

Do you like to wait?  I know I don’t.

When I find a site is loading slow, I simply move to the next site or Google for something new.  The faster your blog loads, the more happy your readers will be and it is one of the metrics used by the search engines to gauge user experience.Continue Reading

Posted in Blogging, Tips for Beginners | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

Develop Your Linking Strategy Before Link Building

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

Do you use a linking strategy as part of your search engine optimization (SEO)?  Do you understand how link building impacts your website?

Almost everyone with a website knows link building is one of the basic building blocks of SEO.  To put it in very simple terms, every time someone links to your site they are casting a vote, adding to the popularity of your site in the search engine results.  The more links pointing to your site, the more your site is trusted by others and the higher it will appear in the rankings.

That should make it simple right … to rank higher you just need to get more links than your competition?Continue Reading

Posted in Link Building, SEO / SEM | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Online Reputation and its Real World Implications

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Barry Wheeler

Being a blogger often means you put yourself out there, sometimes taking controversial positions on issues.  You accept the criticisms levied and deal with things as professionally as you can in the online world.

You have to realize what you say online becomes part of your online reputation.  While some hide behind a pseudonym there is no anonymity when you want to become a professional blogger.  We build our authority by what we say online.  We gain trust and credibility by how we interact in the social arena.

These things become our online legacy or online reputation, some of which have real world implications.Continue Reading

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