Any smart blogger starting out on the road to success knows that good traffic comes through search engine optimization. Since the dawn of the internet, marketers have sought to exploit strong Google search engine ranking positions (SERPs) in order to draw consistent traffic off of random search results. If you are starting a blog, or trying to expand on one, you will hear one consistent theme: keywords, keywords, keywords.

I have seen webmasters devote hours upon hours to finding those special keyword terms… the “make money online”s and the “how to earn”s… just to come up short when Google fails to reward their efforts. If you  somehow manage to get a top ranking by spamming your targeted phrase across the net, congratulations… you are in for some steady traffic… that is until someone else takes your place and you lose out on all your work.

In my year-or-so of blogging on the internet, I can tell you one thing… and that is forget keyword researching. Sure, make your website easier for Google to find with search engine optimization (SEO); doing that is a great move. However, if you are spending more than an hour total finding key-phrases to get search engine traffic by asking your fellow bloggers to link to your website using “make money instantly” or whatever your term may be,  you are throwing away your work time.

Keyword Research and SERPs are a waste of your time and money!

Worthless Research Spending – A Case Study from Jimvesting
Here’s my unintentional and unplanned case study reflecting my personal experience with trying to target keywords to my blog. First things first, traffic from search engines is not the best kind of traffic for growth. The people that come in from search engines are not going to be comprising your RSS subscriber base, which is what matters to you. People that are searching for this and that through Google or another search engine are looking for the goods, and getting out. It’s this kind of hit-and-run traffic that is generally unhealthy for your overall performance. If you want to run a popular blog, you need to start pulling readers from other community-oriented websites such as forums, other blogs and media resources.

I originally intended to target the keyword “ways to make money online” with theNetFool.com. I was told that I needed to have a keyword, something I learned later to be a complete waste of my time. Unless you are sitting on a load of cash, you are going to have a heck of a time finding people willing to spam a link to your website using your keyword text. Without hundreds, nay thousands, of networked websites all using your special phrases… you are never going to oust the big boys on a search engine term worth topping the charts on.

The amount of traffic that I have received from words I have targeted is staggering. So you know what I have done? Pretty much put this all on standby. It is much better to let links come slowly and surely than to try and pound away at Google’s unknown algorithm with what some “professional” is telling you will work. Collecting keywords that look favorable with lots of searches compared to a small amount of results is a complete waste of your time and money unless you are an already experienced marketer working in Pay-Per-Click internet marketing campaigns.

What DOES work?!
If researching keywords to try and force traffic to come to your blog isn’t worth your time, then are you supposed to ignore Google traffic entirely? Absolutely not! The key is to build traffic to your website by putting out original content that has a lot of things web surfers are looking for. The bigger your blog grows, the more you will start to see these terms popping up and making you rich.

What do I mean by this? Build content-rich content? This essentially means write useful material on uncharted waters that people are interested in but might not have been fully explored before. I get LOTS of Google traffic, but it is not from these corny generalized phrases… it’s from the titles of the articles I publish every day. Once Google starts to see your website as legitimate, you start to get better rankings on your daily posts than you ever would have gotten out of specific terms.

Let’s check out some examples:
As I have mentioned before, I think that unless you are god of Internet Marketing, you shouldn’t be trying to use keywords to get traffic to your blog. Make your content unique and the search engine traffic will develop by itself. Here are a few terms that I have never promoted in any way, but are bringing me some great traffic on their own.

• things to blog about
• best online stock broker
• best energy stocks
• best gold stocks
• swatcash
• paypal money market

Most usually, these terms appear simply in the title of my blog posts. I have “All-In-One SEO Pack” installed in order to get this a bit different from the actual name of each post for just this purpose. I’ve had days where these terms rank #1, and days when they are just floating around the front page. At any rate, having quality posts like the ones I have shown you will get you the keyword-targeted traffic organically, without you having to go out and do the dirty work that doesn’t pay off. Don’t believe me? Try searching “free flip mino.”

The End Result on Keywords
One thing that I have come to realize with Google is that search engine traffic comes with time. As Jimvesting dot com has slowly become more and more of a force online, people are finding my blog at an alarmingly faster rate day after day. It really amazes me when I hear “I saw your site on X,” and serves as a huge motivation to keep going. You should never be trying to force yourself into the limelight by coming up with what you think is a winning phrase that nobody else knows about. It’s all been done, and Google simply will not give you any attention unless you have a reputable website save a few flukes in the system.

Bottom Line: Don’t bank on a Google fluke. Trying to market a blog with keywords is a waste of your time and money. You can see tremendous amounts of search engine referred traffic if you put out powerful, well-written and original content on your own. Build your empire by networking, not with hopeless dreams of keyword success.

-Jimvesting

We’re back with part seven of Jimvesting’s “Creating A Blog” tutorial series. We’ve come a long way since week one, and it’s time to learn the finer points of writing articles and marketing your way to the top. Remember my motto, work smart and get rich. Blogging is all about keeping that balance between writing and marketing to maximize your traffic flow. Let’s work on getting your blog on the map from the get-go!

Finding Your Blogging Equilibrium
I am a firm believer that there are essentially two parts to blogging success, content and marketing. To think about it one way, nobody is going to like your blog if the content is poor, yet nobody is going to see your blog in the first place if you don’t market it. I have seen thousands fall toward one side of the spectrum and as me “why is my blog not more popular?”… and I tell them! Either you are too focused on marketing and getting networked that you fail to spend enough time making your blog worthwhile for readers, or you are too concerned with writing all the time so you never give your website any exposure.

I’m going to talk now, brief as it may be, about both sides of the coin. It is important to write awesome content that will separate you from the pack, but you cannot forget to secure links and traffic from other sources so that you have someone to visit your blog. Let’s learn how to do each part correctly, and you will need to judge for yourself where your blog’s content-marketing equilibrium really lies.

Style/Organize Your Content
There are so many tips for writing good blog posts out there, so I am going to try my best to summarize the finer points of blogging. First things first, you need to find your blogging style. What the heck is your blogging style anyway? In short, it is the way you write. There is a difference between “writing your content  utilizing this methodology” and “laying out some thoughts man.” You do NOT want posts that vary in writing, because you can never maintain the attention of your readers if you are all over the map from one day to the next. Decide right now how you are going to write, and stick to it… your future readers will love the consistency.

One you know your effective writing style, its time to learn how to organize your thoughts. The purpose of a blog is to keep people informed without all of the mindless rambling, so don’t give that to your readers. People generally zip in and out of blogs in just a few minutes, so cut out the ‘fluff” from your posts in the editing process. People want useful information, not senseless jibber-jabber.

The Pre-Post Strategy
Before I sit down to write a post, I like to do about 30 minutes minimum research. This has no exception, I like to open up a Notepad file and jot down things I come across. If this is a stock market post, I open up a file and jot down company names before I do research and whittle the list down. This process is the same for an article about SEO, where I would collect different methods I know about and cut it down into something more manageable. Know what you are writing before you start, and things will always look much nicer. Oh, and if you don’t know what to blog about, check out my “Ten Things To Blog About” guide.

One of the more obvious ways to improve your blog posts is to edit them down for organization. It’s really as simple as taking time to go back through your article, even if you are just browsing, to correct for spelling errors and make sure that the post title fits neatly in the content area. I’m all about things looking professional, so if I see that I have a line where one word is hanging over, I will re-write that sentence to make it fit.

Going Back for a Second Look
Appearance is everything in a blog. If you are not using images, or if you are double-spacing the heck out of your content, you are not blogging effectively. I wrote an entire post about using images effectively in your blog posts, and I recommend at LEAST one image in every post you ever write. Why? People are lazy, and if you don’t have something fun to entire readers to continue on… they will simple ignore you. It’s a sad fact of life. I like to “justify” all my text to make it and the images flow nicer. In addition, I like a 10-pixel spacing between text and image at all times. These are just a few tricks you can use to make things appear sharp.

Getting The Word Out
Marketing your blog is very important, and when I say “marketing” don’t think that you need to start throwing money into the mix to get your traffic. I had over 100 RSS subscribers before I invested my money in sidebar advertisements on other blogs in my niche. You can get links coming back to your website in many ways, let’s discuss my top six methods of marketing your blog from the start.

1. Make A Link Bait Post
Some people go over the top in trying to pick a fight in order to get some exposure. I want to emphasize smart writing, you never need to take the offensive and start making yourself look less professional just to score a pity link from a more popular blogger. What I do suggest is making an interesting and controversial article here and there to spark some conversation. You can do this by twisting a popular thought, making a reply post to something a popular blogger writes or even by doing something outrageous. These posts can get you an immediate traffic bump, and have the potential to instantly lift a blog into the spotlight.

2. Start A Competition
Having a solid following of RSS subscribers is the number one way outsiders will judge your blog. Offering a bribe to your readers, most often through a contest, is a fantastic way to see a rise in your numbers. Whether or not they stick around after the competition is over isn’t your concern, you just need that RSS number as high as you can get it. I recommend going around to more popular bloggers and collecting sponsored prizes as an early move on your path to success. People are generally willing to contribute for a few backlinks to their blog, and if you can get people to blog about your contest, you’ll be large and in charge.

3. Participate In Link Exchanges
Many bloggers frown upon using link exchanges to gain popularity. Check out my sidebar… see “Net Fool’s Friends?” This link list is leftover from my earlier days when I branched out to fellow bloggers to exchange links and boost popularity. Don’t be too aggressive, as you should always try to please almighty Google by growing steadily and consistently. However, exchanging your links or offering “blurbs” in your blog posts is a fantastic way to gain friends and leech off each others traffic. Consider yourself like a disease, spreading your influence throughout your niche. It’s a bit messy, but it works.

4. Use Social Media Services to Drive Your Traffic
Social media networks are becoming increasingly popular. Go ahead and sign up to as many networks as you can. I used MyBlogLog, Digg, StumbleUpon and Technorati in my early days, and I wish I had used more. There is no better way to get on the map then to use networking websites to get visitors and returning readers on the fly. For example, if you get one good “stumble” on an article, you can see upwards of 500 interested internet surfers headed your way in a day.

5. Pay The Piper for Instant Traffic
If you don’t want to make friends, then be prepared to tackle blogging by putting down a few bucks for advertising. $100 is a good initial budget, but you will need to increase this week by week once you start to get more popular.  One of my favorite investments is 125×125 banner advertisements on blogs in my niche area. By getting a flashy banner out on a competitor’s website, you can literally leech off their traffic and get some awesome traffic. Paid reviews (at the right price) are another great way to get people interested in your content. If your website is any good, you’ll get a friendly review that will have people lining up to subscribe.

If you are adverse to paying, but still would like to advertise, try services like Project Wonderful and EntreCard to grab some cheap or free advertisements on similar blogs, on an exchange basis. Think of these like banner exchanges more than ads.

6. Actively Comment on Similar Blogs
If you have a blog, you should be networking with other bloggers in your area by subscribing to their websites and commenting regularly on their new posts. Why? Comments are one of the best ways to score a free link back in seconds. Go ahead and comment on every blog you are subscribed to daily if you are able. You’ll get interested people clicking on your comment seeing your website, and chances are they are already interested in the niche you are blogging. Easy traffic, easy linking and Google will thank you.

Utilizing these top six methods (I like even numbers, sue me) will definitely get your blog off the ground and will kick-start any marketing campaign. There are hundreds of other ways you can get your link around, such as submitting articles, registering in web directories, submitting posts to blog submission services and even posting in forums with your link in the signature. I’m not about to go over everything, because marketing shouldn’t consume any newer blog.

It can be very tempting to ditch content in favor of marketing because there are just so many things you can be doing to maximize your readership and daily traffic. Never fall into this trap. Good bloggers like Jim from Jimvesting dot com realize that content is, in the end, king (or queen). Find that equilibrium, and start stock piling well-written articles that your readers will enjoy. You may find yourself repeating information on other blogs, and I think that this is okay once in awhile. However, if you do not start making your own voice heard with unique material, people will drop out in the long run.

Write well and market well, but don’t go over the top. This is the golden rule of blogging. Stay tuned next week for the final part of the “Creating A Blog” series, where I will conclude everything we have learned and discuss planning for the future.

-Jimvesting

After posting the first-ever Jimvesting dot com question and answer session, I saw a tremendous response from you readers. It looks like you guys had a lot of lingering questions, so its awesome that we have the opportunity here to discuss some things you were wondering about.

Questions ranged from personal ones about how I got my start to more complex issues such as making money with a $0 initial investment. As promised, I am going to answer all of the questions to the best of my ability and give what I felt to be the best one a free one-month text link right here on theNetFool.com. But hey, I like suspense, so you’ll find the winner at the end.

Desmond from GradeMoney.com asked:

“I always wanted to optimize my blog for the search engine but I do not know where to start. Should I start by using a SEO WordPress theme or do SEO manually?”

I think that before all else, you should check out my post about optimizing your blog for serach engines. If you want to optimize your blog, I recommend a few things. 1. Download and use “All-In-One SEO” for WordPress. 2. Utilize “Permalinks” through your admin->settings page. I like to set the custom field to “/%postname%/” to eliminate those pesky numbers. 3. Install a plugin that can make your blog run faster, such as “WP-Cache”. Speed is always important. Other than that, I would always choose a theme that is clean and professional… although the theme itself won’t typically hurt.

RockStar Sid from Blogote.com asked:

“I want to start private advertising like you,so how can I find those advertisers? And what price should I set for my 125×125 advertisement banner? Also I can see that the ad spot is for 20USD and you have 6 filled spots which means you make 120$ (That’s less compared to the competition and prizes you give for the readers )!! Do u make money from this blog?”

I find that advertisers like my cheaper rates. It’s really a judgment call how much you are charging, and takes some time to experiment with higher/lower rates. Since you have around 50 RSS subscribers, I’d recommend setting your rates at just $5 to start to draw in some advertisers. You can post your rates around forums to draw in potential clients like Bloggeries and Digital Point. As for me, don’t you worry about me not making any money. A lot of my contests are sponsored prizes, so other than the coordination work… I’m not left in a money pit!

Flimjo from Flimjo.com asked:

“Which of the following ventures do you think has the best potential for lasting and consistent passive income: (1) a blog; (2) an affiliate niche site with a sales page and CPA offer or e-book; (3) an online business with a real product; (4) your own book or e-book; or (5) anything else you can think of.”

I know that Jason posted a blog as an answer, but I think that’s entirely incorrect because if you do not maintain a blog regularly you lose out on traffic. I would have to say that it is easiest to get passive income from an eBook, like my latest. I literally wrote it, made a site and forgot about it… I’m still getting sales every other day from people randomly finding it on Google. This pretty much builds on itself as I keep seeing better rankings… and it makes for a nice recurring passive income.

Agent001 from GreatestReviews asked:

“Is there any web hosting service which accepts PayPal payments?”

I use 1and1.com for my domain names, and they have web hosting plans that are affordable as well. They accept PayPal. I can tell you that GoDaddy.com and NameCheap.com do as well. Most of these websites are for domain names, but offer good hosting as well, which is typically overlooked. I feel that most of the hosting-focused websites do not have PayPal as an option just yet.

Germs from TheGerms.com asked:

“What made you begin blogging?”

As this was my first blogging venture, this site was started originally for a resume builder. I feel like blogs offer a great deal in the way of responsibility and reputation, so it is more often for the practicality of owning a blog rather than pure education or revenue… which would be the typical answers.

Ralph23 from ForTheLose.org asked:

“Where do you come up with your ideas to blog about? When you have these ideas, how long does it typically take you to (from start to finish) publish the blog post? How do you organize yourself?”

I have a great post that can help you out here, it’s called “Things To Blog About – When You Run Out of Ideas.” I like to keep a notepad of ideas to default on if I don’t have a remarkable post already in my mind. It typically takes me 2-3 hours to write each post. This is basically 30 minutes of idea-research, an hour of organizing my thoughts and writing, and an hour of editing and modifying/adding images. I like to make things look orderly and uniform, so this really extends the time I spend quite a lot!

Nick Throlson from NickThrolson.com asked:

“How Often do you use GPT Click Sites?”

The answer is never. Click websites are entirely worthless and will drive you mad. The rate is something like $3 and hour and you need to be clicking constantly with a good system in place. Don’t mess with GPT click websites, use the standard GPT offer-completing offers! Why make $0.01 a click when you can make $0.50 per free ad? It’s a lot easier, and a lot more exciting.

Hussein from Niessuh.com asked:

“What makes you different from other blogger or other internet marketer?”

Lots of things. First of all, I am a student writer.. which puts me in a different class entirely. But I am also not writing to make money, I am writing to make you money. My goal is a finance job involving the stock market, not to sit on a computer all day trying to set up an ad campaign.

Melvin from MelvinBlog.com asked:

“Why do you keep on promoting an industry where most marketers and bloggers (like I) despise [GPT] ? Is there really a goldmine on gpts?”

I really don’t understand why so many people don’t like GPT websites, a trust issue perhaps? Look. There are a lot of cheap scam sites that will rip you off, but it’s pretty obvious which are good and which are bad. Stick with the industry leaders and you’ll make money. I got my roots on GPT because it put money into my PayPal which allowed me to buy domains and hosting so I could get off the ground. Lots of people like to hear about these services, and I’m here for the readers!

Mary_Freebies from InternationalFreebies.net asked:

“Have you ever seized an online money making opportunity that cost you $0 investment? What was it? Also, I want to sell my freebies blog, but have no idea how much it’s worth, nor where to start to get it sold. Any tips?”

My only true $0 investment win was with GPT services, which is exactly why I recommend them. Since I have money in my PayPal now, I really don’t hesitate to spend on a domain and other things to get started faster… time is money! For example, making my eBook required just $7 for the domain and I have made hundreds.

If you are planning on selling a blog, I recommend advertising it in one (or more) of four places: 1. SitePoint.com 2. DigitalPoint Forums 3. eBay 4. Craigslist . Good luck!

Ryan P. Lenz asked:

“Is it possible to turn affiliate programs and such into your full time job and actually make a good living?”

Well it’s definitely possible to do this. I feel like the field is expanding, and there are going to be more and more ways to make it rich online. However, it is a tough road that requires a lot of time stuck in the basement by yourself just working… which I wouldn’t recommend. There are people making 6-figure annual payments with relative ease, it’s really all about knowing what you are doing. The problem here is that a lot of people try and fail, and waste a lot of time and money in the process.

Failing is costly in internet marketing, even more than almost any other job. You need to be prepared to be in a hole before you start making serious money online.

G. Smith asked:

“After reading about all the money making blogs on the net, I would like to give it a go myself. Any tips for a blogging newbie?”

If I see you making an MMO blog of your own, I will be forced to hurt you! Too many bloggers are writing about things when they have no idea what they are doing just because other people are doing it successfully. Write about what you know is my advice for an amateur. There’s an audience for everything from dinosaurs to professional wrestling, so don’t sell yourself short and focus on what you love!

Catherine from Digiosity.com asked:

“Would a post about the item with a buy now widget to eBay or a complete website with shopping cart be the most profitable. What do you think is the hottest stocks today and will be way above today’s purchase price in five years?”

Two-parter, okay. I think that if you are trying to sell multiple items steadily, you would be better off posting about each item in eBay or CraigsList. I know people who have made tons of money from these systems, and its definitely the better way to go than wasting time on a whole website.

I think that 90% of NYSE stocks will be a lot higher than today’s purchase price. If you are feeling risky, I’d look into a home-builder like TOL. But for the good money with a good value, I have two great picks for you today: Deere and Co. (NYSE: DE) and L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL). I wouldn’t own Ford in this market.

Whew, that was an exhilarating round of questions… you guys tired me out! Let’s get right to the reader who I think asked the best question(s). I loved the two-parters and everyone who expressed an interest in my input, so thanks for all the good work!

Winner of 1 Month Text-Link: RockStar Sid from Blogote.com!

Keep it tuned to Jimvesting dot com for more ways to make money online, without all of that fluff that nobody needs to hear. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them in the comment form or over email at jim@Jimvesting.com. Stay bullish on the net!

-Jimvesting

Welcome back to Part Six of theNetFool.com’s “Creating A Blog” series. Now that you have your blog all set up and customized, you are essentially ready to go. However, most find it very effective to optimize their blogs so that search engines and readers more easily find your website. Taking a few small steps to “SEO” (search engine optimize) your website can work wonders, and you will be forever losing to your competition unless you do this at some point. So before we get into marketing your blog, let’s take some completely free and time-tested methods to boosting your traffic with optimization techniques.

People typically hear the word “SEO” and immediately put up a wall, thinking that it is something only the professionals can master. Far from it! SEO simply refers to simple techniques that organize things like your keywords and page URLs in a more efficient way to make big search engines like Google find your content faster and easier than before.

One quick note before we start: NEVER pay anyone to do this for you! People that promise “#1 Google Rankings in a Day” and so on are there to rip you off. They are going to be doing one of two things: “blackhat” techniques that will work for a day or two before getting you completely banned from Google or targeting an unwanted search keyword that will never help you. You can and should do this yourself! It is really quite easy when you get that hang of things, and I’ll even walk you through it!

Here are my top five SEO steps to take before you start writing posts:

1. Structure Your Blog’s URLs Properly
When you look at a URL in my website, what do you see? Words! As a blogger, you do not want to have a structure that is “yoursite.com/02/2008/post-title” or anything with numbers at all. Then, take a look at my page titles. Notice that they are always “Post Title | Jimvesting” instead of the default? Again, this is very important for SEO purposes. These things are going to be the messy defaults you get with WordPress and almost any other system that you use, so we need to install and use the All-In-One SEO Pack WordPress plugin that I have recommended. You can find the link as well as installation instructions in Part 5 of my Creating A Blog series.

Let’s work a bit with All-In-One SEO! To get into the settings page after you have installed, navigate to “Settings” –> “All In One SEO” in your WordPress Admin section. From there, you should edit all of the setting to fit your structure.

• Your “Home Title” should be short and to the point, including your main keyword, and under 15 words in length (mine is “Making Money Online by Turning Time Into Cash – Jimvesting dot com”).
• Your “Home Description” is what shows up in Google most often when your website is short. Pack this with keywords and make it 160 words or less for the best results.
• Your “Home Keywords” are just that, your keyword phrases. I would just slam as many as you have in this box, though some recommend using just a few.
• Enable “Rewrite Titles” and have all the title options structured to show “%thing% | %blog_title%”

This may be a bit confusing to you so far, so what I have graciously done is taken a screenshot of all my settings. You can have a look at what I am doing for SEO by checking out this screenshot.

2. Creating A SiteMap for Your Site
A sitemap is essentially a listing of all of your pages, posts, etc. that are on your website. Because usually everything isn’t webbed together, it’s essential to have an updated sitemap so Google and other search engines can find your content easily and start getting you some reliable traffic.

I recommend installing the WordPress SiteMap Generator Plugin from Dagon Design. You can find this through their official website. Please note that there are probably tons of other that work in the same way, so use your favorite, but make sure that it is updating your sitemap on a regular basis.

3. Submitting Your Blog to Search Engines
Now that you have a sitemap and your page structures look clean, let’s let the search engines know about your website. You can use a service for free like SubmitExpress, FreeWebSubmission or AddPro to get you indexed in hundreds of engines. However, when it comes down to it, all that really matters is Google.

To start with Google, follow this link to submit your website to their search engines.

Once that is done, we are going to open up Google’s Webmaster Tools, and create a membership if you haven’t already. Once you are logged in, go ahead an “Add Your Site” so that you can login and start ordering Google around. You are most likely going to need to upload a small file to your server so Google knows you are the real owner (“google1248012.html” or similar), and you’ll be ready to go. You can have a look around, but all we need to do here is give them the sitemap we made, and get out!

To submit your sitemap, which should be “sitemap.xml” in your main root folder, navigate in your Webmaster Tools left-hand panel to “Sitemaps” –> “Add Sitemap.” We are going to be adding a “General Web Sitemap” and it should be in “yoursite.com/sitemap.xml” or another folder if you did things correctly. Once they’ve verified it exists, just make sure they are checking it often and that the status is “OK.”

4. Setting Up a “301 Redirect” with .htaccess
One of the most overlooked things in optimizing websites is using .htaccess to control how your website’s URL appears. Most people will link to your website as either “http://yoursite.com” or “http://www.yoursite.com” which creates BIG problems for Google. Essentially, it’s seen as two different websites, so all of your recorded growth is literally cut in half! You want your rankings high, right? So let’s change things around to maximize the results from your efforts.

Open up “notepad” or any text editing program with the ability to save a file with any extension you want. In it, simply put the following:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_Host} ^YOURDOMAIN.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com/$1 [L,R=301]

Make sure that this is on four separate lines in the file, and that you replace “YOURDOMAIN” with your website. If you already have an .htaccess file on your server, which is very likely at this point, just download your existing one and add these lines to the top. Here’s a sample I have made if you want to download and use it, just don’t forget to rename it to “.htaccess” when you are done.

5. Link Your Blog Like a Pro!
Linking is the key to exposure, traffic and high rankings. While you should never link just for the sake of linking, feel free to spread the link love around as much as possible. This is why you see me posting “link love” every Sunday along with announcements… it can only help!

One big way you can get your website better trafficked is by installing a “related posts” plugin (as I have done) to show posts related to the current at the bottom of each article you publish. This make for solid deep links throughout your website, and will have your visitors staying longer by exploring similar content. I recommend and use the “Related Entries” plugin by WASABI.

Other than a related entries plugin, you should go around to blogs in your niche and comment on their posts (yes, this is an extra link). Also, try emailing whoever you can asking for link exchanges… which are mutually beneficial. You should never pay someone for a link, as you run the risk of almightly Google frowning upon your website (yes, they will catch you). But basically, don’t be a link nazi like many other bloggers, and you’ll soon find your efforts rewarded!

This concludes part six of theNetFool.com’s “Creating A Blog” series. I hope that you have found this guide to SEO interesting. By this point, you are all ready to go and your website is looking stellar. All we need to do at this point is to start making posts as soon as possible, and then market it a bit to get your traffic. We’ll discuss this in Part Seven, so stay tuned!

-Jimvesting

Welcome back to another installment of “Creating A Blog,” a start-to-finish blogging tutorial to educate and guide through the process of making your own successful blog on the internet. By this post, you should have everything set up. Your idea is formed, your niche is set, your domain name and web hosting are old news and now you have your blogging system installed on your server.

Once you have WordPress installed, you can start blogging immediately, but who’s going to visit a boring old default website? Let’s get started on customizing your blog with a professional theme and  plugins!

Selecting & Downloading Your WordPress Template
Most webmasters nowadays like the WordPress system because installing new themes is quick and easy, and modifying the files is a snap! I would highly recommend making an investment here to buy what is known as a “premium” website. If you are running a for-profit blog, you are probably going to want a template that both looks nice, and functions well. Before you do, there are a few  great places to grab free templates that I would consider checking out (try WP Theme Designer or WP Themes Press) before you pay up for a professional look.

If you are like me, then you are going to want what is referred to as a “premium” WordPress theme, or one that is more customized and costs money. I recommend themes that come “monetized“… or those that have spaces for 125×125 ad blocks in the sidebar by default. Just check out my theme for an example of a monetized layout. These themes can run you anywhere from $25 to $150, so be prepared to go into the red a bit when you first start out. In my experience, this  debt shouldn’t be much of a concern, because a good design will typically command a decent amount of traffic by its aesthetically-pleasing nature alone.

Ten Recommended Premium WP Themes from Jimvesting:
1. “Revolution” by Brian Gardner – Demo
2. “Blurbs” by Blog Perfume – Demo
3. “Milk It” by Weborithim – Demo
4. “Money Blogger” by Blog Oh Blog – Demo
5. “Rebel Magazine” by WP Theme Designer – Demo
6. “Blue Block” by WP Theme Designer – Demo
7. “WordPress Dream Theme” by Ben Cope – Demo
8. “Live Wire Edition” by Adii – Demo
9. “Premium News” by Adii – Demo
10. “NewsPress” by Adii – Demo

These themes aren’t in any particular order, and aren’t necessarily my “top-ten.” However, they are certainly a “good ten” as I did a good amount of looking around to pull out what I felt were winners for you readers.

Installing Your WordPress Theme
Getting your new theme to show up on your website is actually quite simple. These directions can guide you through the process step-by-step if you need the added support, but I feel that you know enough already to understand how to do this.

First things first, make sure that the downloaded template is fully unzipped somewhere on your computer.  We need to upload the files onto your web hosting account. Using your FTP client (FileZilla, CuteFTP, etc.), upload your new theme folder (structure should be “folder” -> “files”, not “folder” -> “folder” -> “files”) to the “themes” folder located inside of “wp-content.” This is really nothing more than dragging your unzipped template into your wp-content->themes folder.

Once the files are in their place, all you need to do is navigate over to your wordpress admin panel and get over to the “Design” tab which will lead you directly to your theme manager. Here, you will now see the template you just uploaded, and all you need to do is set it as the new default… and you are ready to go!

WordPress Plugins That You Need To Have
Plugins are little extensions that you can easily slap on to your existing WordPress installation to increase functionality and improve the features of your blog. I’m not going to go into too much depth about these plugins, as you can find most of what you need in this official documentation. Every successful blogger that I have ever heard of used and is using plugins to enhance their blogs, you’d be foolish not to!

Here are the top five plugins I feel you MUST have:
1. All-In-One SEO Pack
This is simply the best plugin available. It’s completely free and will make an otherwise search engine disaster look like a natural. If you want Google to see your site and share it with the world,  or if you just want to make your links look better (like mine), you need to install this plugin!
2. Akismet
Akismet is the most widely used spam filtering system in use today. When you install this plugin, you are essentailyl connected to the Akismet spam server… which catches, I’d say, 98% of spam correctly. This is a major time saver, and is free to use.
3. Google XML Sitemaps
This is one of the more under-used plugins, but I think it is one of the best. Why? Google indexes sites faster that have a sitemap built. This plugin does it automatically for you, so all of your content gets noticed much quicker.
4. CommentLuv
A must-have? I think so! CommentLuv publishes a link back to commentor’s latest blog posts every time they leave a message on your blog. This means more exposure for them, so they will continue to come back for more.
5. OIO Publisher
If you are running a for-pay blog, OIO Publisher is a must. This plugin is $37 and is the best money I have ever spent. This plugin completely streamlines your advertising service, and really entices advertisers to buy up slots on your blog like nothing else.

Please keep in mind that I am recommending most of these plugins on the assumption that you want to make money with your blog. If you are doing this strictly personal, you may want to look into more “fun” plugins like adding a calender or a video player. You can find most plugins by searching at WordPress.org.

Installing & Activating Your WordPress Plugins
Getting your WordPress plugins up and running is the exact same process as installing a theme. Simply download the plugin you would like to use on your website and upload the contents to “wp-content”->”plugins.” In most cases, you only need to upload one “.php” file directly into the “plugins” folder. In other cases (for more advanced plugins), you will need to upload a whole new folder into the “plugins” folder. Play around with it, and you’ll realize it really is easier than it sounds.

Once the files are in place, hop back onto your WordPress admin panel and get on over to the “plugins” section (on right hand side of control panel). Scroll down to find the plugins that are listed on your installation and activate them! Once they are active, you can do different things depending on the plugin. Some show up as “widgets” on your webpage. An example of a widget is my “Top Commentators” plugin. To manage these, navigate to Design -> Widgets and drag/drop your selected plugin onto the active toolbar so that it displays with the rest of your website. If your plugin is something automatically running in the background, like Akismet, you need to find the managing page. This manage page is typically a sub-link off of the “Manage” or “Settings” tab on your admin panel.

Once you have the theme you like and the plugins you desire installed and running on your blog, you just need to start posting and marketing to get a good crowd coming over. This is exactly what I am going to cover in the next installment of “Creating A Blog.” Hopefully you learned a thing or two about how to handle customization of your WordPress blog. If you run into any problems, have a look on Google, WordPress.org, or just ask me in a comment!

-Jimvesting