Optimize your blog post titles in two easy steps (Part 2)

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I previously discussed the important first step in naming your blog post titles – addressing your readers.

When the posts are now in the archives, you will now have to consider how other readers will discover your posts. And this is through the help of search engines. This is where the second step comes in, which is to address search engine users. The titles you compose should be sensitive to the requirements of search engine bots so that you get the coveted first SERP.

So how do you compose your blog post title to take advantage of search engines?

* Put important keywords in the title. From the first step you have already added a few relevant keywords that will appeal to readers who are on the lookout for words that will appeal to them. Now you have to beef it up some more by adding a few more keywords. Don’t overdo it though, your title should still be interesting and not losing its target.

* Mix up the word order. Changing the word order in your title could actually help you gain a few extra places in SERPS. The trick to rearranging the title is by making sure the beneficial keywords are closer to the start of the title.

* Fix the TITLE. One other thing that you should consider fixing up is the TITLE or the title tag. Usually the blog post title will be similar or will match the title tag. But when you’re already on the second step, you can tweak your title tag some more so that it is more optimized to be noticed by search engine bots. One easy way to do this if you’re using WordPress is by installing and using the SEO Title Tag plugin.

* Leave slugs alone. Even though you are tweaking the title tag and the blog post title, you should not do anything with the actual page slug. Avoid doing things to it at all costs.

Originally posted on May 22, 2009 @ 12:39 pm

Secondary Benefits to Blogging

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For many people, it is not the blog that brings about a change in the person’s life, but instead the secondary benefits of blogging.

Secondary benefits include book deals, invitations to speak at conferences, free products to review, and even employment opportunities.

I haven’t yet experienced most of the above list, but I have watched as the bloggers that I enjoy have continued to climb the social ladder and gain access to some of those great benefits.

I have, however, been given products, and access to services due to my standing in the blogging community, which was really exciting. I was able to give my opinion to my readers allowing them to make an informed decision. It also allowed me to “geek out”, which is something I don’t get to do often enough.

Why does blogging bring about such things? Blogs can allow a person interested in you, what you do, or what you have to say in a very quick, and focused way. Most blogs will give an overview of the writer’s work ethic, writing ability, and most importantly, your personality.

So, don’t think that just because you don’t know how to monetize a blog, that nothing will come from your efforts. From what I have read, more people are able to gain access to the secondary benefits of blogging than living off the money they make directly from their blog. Either way, it sounds like a good deal to me.

Originally posted on June 18, 2010 @ 12:30 pm

Direct Advertising

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One of the things I have tried to do here that is counter to the advice that I give out to others is in regards to advertising. My placement of Google’s AdSense is pretty bad, and I am not using an alternate means to rake in the bucks, as I work towards selling advertising space directly rather than through the numerous systems that are out there.

Why Direct Advertising

When I started this blog, I really wanted to make sure that I was helping others, and making sure I focused on the content more than the advertising was key. You would think that doing direct advertising would take more time, but just like going through a program, it can become quite passive.

I am not actively looking for advertisers, contacting people, and whatnot. This means I will probably get less advertisers on this blog, but the ones that do contact me, are serious about being shown here.

Direct advertising gives me control over which ads I run, so you’ll never see something I don’t approve of, unless its an AdSense advertising block (which I’d love to replace as well).

Direct advertising allows me to set my own rate. I can make my advertising space cost as much or as little as I want and also allows me to make special deals. I have traded advertising space for graphic design services and for coding, and to me, that was worth more than a few dollars in my pocket.

Direct advertising means not having to have a percentage taken off by another company. When you outsource your advertisements to pretty much any company, they will want some of the money they are bringing in for you. The upswing of this is that their cut amounts to more money when they bring you more money for your advertising space, but had you done it on your own, you wouldn’t be giving upwards of half your advertising dollars away.

Conclusion

There are so many advantages and disadvantages to direct advertising, but in the end it is up to you to decide what is best for you.

Some people don’t like handing payments, dealing with subscriptions, or even just dealing with potential advertisers. Personally, I love connecting with new people.

If you sell advertising directly from your site, have you done well, or horribly? Let me know in the comments below. And if you are interested in purchasing advertising on eXtra for Every Publisher, please check out the advertising page, and then contact me.

Originally posted on March 8, 2010 @ 8:07 pm

A film to watch: Julie & Julia

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A few days ago I was able to watch the film Julie and Julia. The movie tells the tale of Julia Child and Julie Powell . Powell a writer who seemed to be getting frustrated at her life started blogging. Her blog The Julie/Julia Project chronicled a challenge she set up for herself- to cook over 524 recipes from Julia Child’s book – Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1st Edition, 1961, written by Louisette Berthole, Simone Beck and Julia Child ).With Each effort and enterprise to be posted on Julie’s blog, In between the triumph and defeat of Julie the film also tells the story of how Julia Child became a writer and how the book came to be. It is the story of Julie and Julia.

The film’s script was adapted by Nora Ephron from two books: (i) My Life in France, Child’s autobiography, written with Alex Prud’homme, and (ii)Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell.

The film is light and entertaining, Julia and Julie’s adventures are poignant with little or even just a pinch of pathos, Just enough to ground one with the story without being overwhelmed. In short it is a film about real people.

And it is an eye-opener as well. Writing online and offline is something that requires consistent and hard work plus a little bit of luck, It is shown in the film. In the film the writing process took years and years of hard work, misadventures for Julia Child. And for Julie Powell it seemed to have been a roller coaster ride but an interesting experience as well. And it also shows how the Internet – blogs in particular – have changed the publishing world.

It is a movie that takes a look at a the writing life of America’s foodie Icon and her American foodie fan – a blogger. It is entertaining and illuminating. The movie will be a delight for foodies. Writers and bloggers without doubt.

Enjoy watching the film: Bon Appétit!

Originally posted on September 28, 2009 @ 5:52 pm

Netfirms Twitter Domain Purchasing Feature and Contest

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Recently, one of the few domain registrars that I trust with my money (especially for .ca domain names) has launched a new feature: registration via Twitter.

Here is an example of registration via SMS to Twitter:

You send a Direct Message to Netfirms via Twitter asking us to register a domain name for you. If the domain name is available we will register it for you and automatically add it to your existing Netfirms Control Panel and bill to your current billing profile. The only prerequisite is that you add your Twitter username to your Netfirms Control Panel. Please visit our tutorial with full details on setting yourself up for domain registration via Twitter. The instructions should be completed once only and you’re good to go after that.
1. Log in to your Twitter account (You can use any of the available Twitter apps)
2. Send a dm to @netfirms with the following: reg mynewdomain.com
3. We will confirm by replying to you via direct message at which point the domain will be added to your Netfirms Control Panel. The domain is now ready to be used.

To celebrate the new feature, Netfirms has launched a contest (see the Netfirms Contest here) that runs until October 7th. You can win a MacBook or one of four iPod Touches just by doing one of two simple things:

  • Tweeting about the contest
  • Registering a new domain name

If you are going to tweet about the contest, they ask that you use the following:
“Win a #free iPod Touch or Macbook from the @Netfirms #contest. Domain registration services via Twitter http://bit.ly/yJfJK”

To make it easy, just head on over to the contest page, and scroll down until you find “Click here to post this to your Twitter account”. Makes it easy, quick, and earns you an entry.

Don’t forget, you have to be following @Netfirms to have a shot at winning a prize, so don’t just push out the message, or you won’t qualify.

One retweet equals one entry per day. One domain registered equals one entry.

What does having more routes to register domains mean? Well, for me, it means that I’ll be spending even more money on my domain buying hobby. (I sometimes swear I should be banned from buying domains unless I have the content and design ready to go live.)

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Originally posted on September 14, 2009 @ 11:45 pm