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	<title>ShirleyAGrant.com &#187; Blogging</title>
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		<title>How To Build Up A Loyal Blog Clientele?</title>
		<link>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/how-to-build-up-a-loyal-blog-clientele</link>
		<comments>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/how-to-build-up-a-loyal-blog-clientele#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:16:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley Grant</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[return visitors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traffic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/how-to-build-up-a-loyal-blog-clientele</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you are a new creator of a blog page, there exist a number of things that you should do if you want to increase how many people actually visit your blog site. Several Internet users go to blog sites quite frequently and they ultimately decide how profitable a blog will actually become. When they [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you are a new creator of a blog page, there exist a number of things that you should do if you want to increase how many people actually visit your blog site. Several Internet users go to blog sites quite frequently and they ultimately decide how profitable a blog will actually become. When they have finally discovered a site that they really enjoy, Internet visitors will then subscribe to the blog and usually remain a loyal patron if they maintain a curiosity in the site.</p>
<p>In some instances, however, blogs do not maintain a very high rate of popularity and they often begin to decline in visitor numbers. Readers begin to unsubscribe from your blog and look for other sites that spark their curiosity and peak their interests. This can be a big problem for your Internet site because the amount of traffic flow to the blog will definitely determine how profitable you will be. There are a few ways that you can prevent readers from quitting your blog site, but you need to first realize the reasons why people do unsubscribe. There are many reasons why people might leave a web site, but there are a few that are much more common and frequent than others. The following reasons, if understood, will help you to stop readers from unsubscribing from your blog. Probably the most frequent concern that a blog site owner encounters is that there exists a never ending number of posts published on the site and it becomes confusing for people who visit it. A blog site should be well structured, simple, and easy to read, which will allow people to navigate easily and find out information that they are searching for.</p>
<p>If there are too many posts to sort through, then readers will become frustrated and leave your blog with hopes of finding a blog that is much easier to understand. If you want to surmount this specific dilemma, you need to also get rid of any writing that is negative or irrelevant to current events. As a blog designer, you have to keep feeding your target audience with information that is both exciting to read and very educational for everyone who visits your site. One of the most important aspect that blog creators need to remember is the importance of the blog&#8217;s texts and what is published on it. The quality and effectiveness of a web sites content will determine if the online business is recognized by large search engines and therefore increase its amount of traffic flow. There are a few techniques that web site designers can use to increase their popularity to both search engines and Internet users. Blog owners need to realize that the quality of texts on a blog site is crucial to its success.</p>
<p>If you want your blog to be promoted by search engines, web page writers should use certain key words that visitors use to search the Internet. The titles and subtitles of the blog posts should also be carefully written so that it will have a higher probability of being promoted by search engines.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:90%; font-style:italic;"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.greatblogbox.com" target="_blank"></a><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.greatblogbox.com" target="_blank">www.greatblogbox.com</a><br />
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.blogging.reprintarticlesite.com" target="_blank"></a><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.blogging.reprintarticlesite.com" target="_blank">www.blogging.reprintarticlesite.com</a></p>
<p>Article Source:<a title="How To Build Up A Loyal Blog Clientele? " href="http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/how-to-build-up-a-loyal-blog-clientele--794017.html" target="_blank">http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/how-to-build-up-a-loyal-blog-clientele&#8211;794017.html</a></p>
<p></span></p>
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		<title>Keyword Density Expressed As A Percentage Of The Total Word Content</title>
		<link>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/keyword-density-expressed-as-a-percentage-of-the-total-word-content</link>
		<comments>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/keyword-density-expressed-as-a-percentage-of-the-total-word-content#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:42:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley Grant</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/keyword-density-expressed-as-a-percentage-of-the-total-word-content</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Keyword density is an indicator of the number of times the selected keyword appears in the web page. But mind you, keywords should not be over used, but should be just sufficient enough to appear at important places.
If you repeat your keywords with every other word on every line, then your site will probably be [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Keyword density</span> is an indicator of the number of times the selected keyword appears in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">web page</span>. But mind you, keywords should not be over used, but should be just sufficient enough to appear at important places.</p>
<p>If you repeat your keywords with every other word on every line, then your site will probably be rejected as an artificial site or spam site.</p>
<p>Keyword density is always expressed as a percentage of the total word content on a given web page.</p>
<p>Suppose you have 100 words on your webpage (not including HMTL code used for writing the web page), and you use a certain keyword for five times in the content. The keyword density on that page is got by simply dividing the total number of keywords, by the total number of words that appear on your web page. So here it is 5 divided by 100 = .05. Because keyword density is a percentage of the total word count on the page, multiply the above by 100, that is 0.05 x 100 = 5%</p>
<p>The accepted standard for a keyword density is between 3% and 5%, to get recognized by the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">search engines</span> and you should never exceed it.</p>
<p>Remember, that this rule applies to every page on your site. It also applies to not just to one keyword but also a set of keywords that relates to a different product or service. The keyword density should always be between 3% and 5%.</p>
<p>Simple steps to check the density:</p>
<p>1. Copy and paste the content from an individual web page into a word-processing <span style="text-decoration: underline;">software program</span> like Word or <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Word Perfect</span>.</p>
<p>2. Go to the ?Edit? menu and click ?Select All?. Now go to the ?Tools? menu and select ?Word Count?. Write down the total number of words in the page.</p>
<p>3. Now select the ?Find? function on the ?Edit? menu. Go to the ?Replace? tab and type in the keyword you want to find. ?Replace? that word with the same word, so you don?t change the text.</p>
<p>4.0 When you complete the replace function, the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">system</span> will provide a count of the words you replaced. That gives the number of times you have used the keyword in that page.</p>
<p>5. Using the total word count for the page and the total number of keywords you can now calculate the keyword density.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:90%; font-style:italic;"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.building-blog-empire.com" target="_blank"></a><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.building-blog-empire.com" target="_blank">www.building-blog-empire.com</a><br />
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.blogging.reprintarticlesite.com" target="_blank"></a><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.blogging.reprintarticlesite.com" target="_blank">www.blogging.reprintarticlesite.com</a></p>
<p>Article Source:<a title="Keyword Density Expressed As A Percentage Of The Total Word Content " href="http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/keyword-density-expressed-as-a-percentage-of-the-total-word-content--794034.html" target="_blank">http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/keyword-density-expressed-as-a-percentage-of-the-total-word-content&#8211;794034.html</a></p>
<p></span></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Increase Your Business with a Blog</title>
		<link>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/increase-your-business-with-a-blog</link>
		<comments>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/increase-your-business-with-a-blog#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:31:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley Grant</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Liz-Tomey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LizTomey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://shirleyagrant.com/?p=99</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Liz Tomey
When running your own business, a blog can really help to make your website successful.
It can give readers information about your product and can also actually be the thing that
brings new visitors to your site.  It is a business tool that can help you update your site
with informative content to keep readers [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span class="copyright">By <a id="link_48" title="Liz Tomey" onmouseover="javascript:toggle_visibility('extendbio')" onmouseout="javascript:toggle_visibility('extendbio')" href="http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Liz_Tomey" target="_blank">Liz Tomey</a></span></p>
<p id="body">When running your own business, a blog can really help to make your website successful.<br />
It can give readers information about your product and can also actually be the thing that<br />
brings new visitors to your site.  It is a business tool that can help you update your site<br />
with informative content to keep readers coming back for more.</p>
<p>There are two main reasons that you should include content on your website.  Content<br />
can help visitors develop trust in your product and your knowledge.  Also, it will help to<br />
increase your site&#8217;s appearance in internet search engine ranks.</p>
<p>First of all, having content that is relevant can help to increase the credibility of your<br />
business.  It can do so by providing important information to your clients and potential<br />
clients.  If your blog is full of interesting and relevant information, people naturally<br />
assume that your company is interesting and relevant to them.  This improves your<br />
chance of adding these readers as future customers.  Once they realize that you are<br />
providing an informative service to them, they will gain trust in your and your product,<br />
thus producing sales in the future.</p>
<p>Secondly, the only way to increase your site&#8217;s chances of being ranked high with search<br />
engines is to include that good content.  With optimized content you are able to keep your<br />
site in the top picks.  Search engines will locate and rank your site based on the content<br />
provided there.  If they determine that the content is good, unique, and relevant to people,<br />
your ratings will improve.  Higher rankings mean potential customers can more easily<br />
search and find your company, and that, in turn, means higher profit for you!</p>
<p>So, you have decided that you are ready to try blogs.  You are confident that you can<br />
write good, relevant articles to promote your business and product.  However, you just<br />
are not sure how to get started?  You need to figure out how to publish your articles and<br />
make sure search engines are aware of the content available on your site.  To do this, you<br />
should employ the use of blogging software, blog directories, and article directories.<br />
Let&#8217;s consider your choice of blogging software.</p>
<p>Blogging software can help you to manage the articles that you write.  Most will provide<br />
features such as word processing, database storage, archiving, search options, and RSS<br />
newsfeed.  Each of these, along with others offered, can help make using a blog more<br />
effective and time efficient for you.</p>
<p>In many cases, you can order customizable blog software.  This means you can choose<br />
which features to use, adding or deleting various features at any time.  For example, some<br />
bloggers choose to turn off the comments feature to discourage spammers from leaving<br />
unrelated comments just to leave their own link.</p>
<p>You can choose between two main types of blogging software.  You can choose hosted or<br />
integrated, depending on your needs.  Both can help you manage articles, and there are<br />
even some free options available.</p>
<p>Hosted blog versions are those such as Wordpress and Blogger.  They are websites that<br />
host individuals&#8217; blogs for free.  Any articles published on a company&#8217;s blog are actually<br />
held or stored on the website that is provided by the software company.  You will not use<br />
your own website as the address of your blog but instead will use the company&#8217;s website<br />
with an extension that is personal to you.  This option is good for those with limited<br />
funds, but it also can be less beneficial to your website since your content is not available<br />
on your site itself.</p>
<p>An integrated version of blogging software means that articles and software used to<br />
manage them are all set up live on your own website.  Your site will increase due to the<br />
blog being hosted there and the new visitors that are attracted by that content.  It also<br />
helps to increase your site&#8217;s rankings with search engines and helps to make your<br />
business seem professional and credible.</p>
<p>When setting up a blog to use in your marketing plans, consider your options carefully.<br />
There are number of ways you can go with blogs, but be sure to use the one that is right<br />
for you.  Consider your needs and take some time to research your options before making<br />
a final selection.</p>
<p id="sig" class="sig">Liz Tomey runs <a id="link_79" title="BigWebBlogs.com" href="http://www.bigwebblogs.com/" target="_blank">http://www.BigWebBlogs.com</a> where you can submit your blog for incredible exposure at no cost! Check out our latest blogs on <a id="link_80" title="BigWebBlogs.com" href="http://www.bigwebblogs.com/" target="_blank">online blogging</a> today!</p>
<p>Article Source: <a id="link_81" title="Liz Tomey" href="http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Liz_Tomey" target="_blank">http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liz_Tomey</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Blog Promotion: 7 Strategies That Work By Jack Humphrey</title>
		<link>http://shirleyagrant.com/traffic-generation/blog-promotion-7-strategies-that-work-by-jack-humphrey</link>
		<comments>http://shirleyagrant.com/traffic-generation/blog-promotion-7-strategies-that-work-by-jack-humphrey#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:39:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley Grant</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Getting Links]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traffic Generation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog promotion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jack_Humphrey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://shirleyagrant.com/?p=95</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just finished looking at my stats and thought I would
show you where my traffic is coming from and what
marketing tactic I used to get it.
Below are only the things that produced visitors to my
site in the last 48 hours. Nothing theoretical
whatsoever.
1) Search Engines
Yesterday was my biggest day yet with this new site
platform and the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I just finished looking at my stats and thought I would<br />
show you where my traffic is coming from and what<br />
marketing tactic I used to get it.</p>
<p>Below are only the things that produced visitors to my<br />
site in the last 48 hours. Nothing theoretical<br />
whatsoever.</p>
<p><strong>1) Search Engines</strong></p>
<p>Yesterday was my biggest day yet with this new site<br />
platform and the performance is unlike anything I have<br />
ever experienced before.</p>
<p>I had more search engine traffic from more phrases in<br />
one 48 hour period than ever.</p>
<p>&gt;From very nice short tail keywords like “video<br />
syndication” to fat long tail phrases like “how to get<br />
more friends on myspace.”</p>
<p>And everything in between.</p>
<p>How do I do so well in the engines?</p>
<p>I use the very best publishing system on Planet Earth.<br />
Nuff said.</p>
<p><strong>2) Article Syndication</strong></p>
<p>LOL &#8211; right? Wrong. Article syndication is still a very<br />
powerful traffic driver if you do it properly.</p>
<p>Rather than try to be on every article directory on the<br />
web, I go for the most important article directories on<br />
the web.</p>
<p>I also write the best content I can on highly relevant,<br />
topical, hot issues in my niche.</p>
<p>I do not wirte and syndicate articles for links. I<br />
write for traffic. Huge difference most people<br />
completely ignore.</p>
<p>I syndicated this article over the weekend and am<br />
getting traffic from the following article sites:</p>
<p>* GoArticles.com * Ezinearticles.com</p>
<p>I will get traffic from many others, but I am only<br />
showing you today what happened to drive real targeted<br />
traffic in the last 24 hours. (People don’t do this<br />
anywhere else that I know of by the way!)</p>
<p>I syndicate my articles exclusively with<br />
SubmitYourArticle.com.</p>
<p><strong>3) News Readers</strong></p>
<p>Because I have several feeds to choose from, and a wide<br />
range of related topics I publish on, I have feed<br />
subscribers on all kinds of readers.</p>
<p>In the last 24 hours I have gotten traffic from people<br />
using feed readers from:</p>
<p>* Yahoo * Google * Bloglines * Delicious, and *<br />
different versions of desktop readers like<br />
MyWebTop.com.</p>
<p><strong>4) Links</strong></p>
<p>I’ve gotten significant traffic in the last 48 hours<br />
from sites such as:</p>
<p>* BradFallon.com * CreativeBits.org *<br />
WillieCrawford.com * MichelFortin.com</p>
<p>and many many others.</p>
<p>These are link partnerships or just people pointing to<br />
specific posts here and commenting on their blogs.</p>
<p>The better your content, the more people comment and<br />
trackback your site. So good content equals good link<br />
traffic.</p>
<p><strong>5) TrafficSwarm</strong></p>
<p>I get a good amount of traffic each day from<br />
TrafficSwarm, which is no new kid on the block.</p>
<p>I have tested the traffic from this service and opt-in<br />
rates are good, meaning the traffic isn’t junk traffic,<br />
if you were wondering.</p>
<p>They have a free and paid version. Don’t bother with it<br />
on the free level. It is extremely inexpensive traffic<br />
compared to Adwords and Co-registration, and there are<br />
other benefits of membership aside from direct traffic<br />
and subscribers.</p>
<p><strong>6) Video Syndication</strong></p>
<p>I have been doing screen capture blog marketing videos<br />
lately and syndicating them on all the free video<br />
sharing sites available.</p>
<p>Since I started (I have only done 4 so far) I can<br />
attribute top 10 rankings in Google for terms like<br />
“blog marketing videos” and many others to this<br />
marketing tactic alone.</p>
<p>Since video sharing sites are all popular (none of the<br />
sites I syndicate videos to are under PR5, most PR6 or<br />
higher) the links are worth a lot and the traffic is<br />
great each time I submit a video.</p>
<p>Video syndication will be one of the buzz phrases of<br />
2007. Glad I am in the top 10 for that phrase too!</p>
<p><strong>7) Tagging and Pinging</strong></p>
<p>Or simply posting properly and showing up automatically<br />
(and practically instantly) in places like Technorati<br />
which track blogs, is a big daily traffic driver.</p>
<p>Right after I post this I will see traffic from<br />
Technorati and other sites that I ping.</p>
<p>Kind of encourages me to post regularly knowing every<br />
post brings me more traffic and another chance to score<br />
in the engines for more keywords.</p>
<p>If you don’t know how this is all done, the best<br />
information available on the subject is from Sean Wu.</p>
<p>Again, the above tactics all resulted in real, live,<br />
free targeted traffic to the Friday Traffic Report in<br />
the last 48 hours.</p>
<p>Thought you’d like to see what is working based on my<br />
actual log files rather than more theoretical pieces<br />
from people who don’t necessarily use the tactics they<br />
push to drive traffic to their own sites.</p>
<p><strong>&#8212;About Jack Humphrey&#8212;</strong></p>
<p>Jack Humphrey is the editor of the Friday Traffic<br />
Report.  He teaches blog marketing, social marketing,<br />
and link building strategies.  Stop by and subscribe to<br />
his blog at <a title="http://www.jackhumphrey.com" href="http://www.jackhumphrey.com" target="_blank">http://www.jackhumphrey.com</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Blog Posts that Get Attention</title>
		<link>http://shirleyagrant.com/site-updates/blog-posts-that-get-attention</link>
		<comments>http://shirleyagrant.com/site-updates/blog-posts-that-get-attention#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:16:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley Grant</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Site Updates]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://shirleyagrant.com/?p=76</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Sharon Housley
Blogs are now a dime a dozen, and bloggers need to make their blog posts stand out. Developing a blog following is not as easy as it once was. Learn how to write blog posts that attract readers and retain their attention. Follow these guidelines to cultivate readers&#8230;
1. Draw Attention
Use titles to attract [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>By Sharon Housley</strong></p>
<p>Blogs are now a dime a dozen, and bloggers need to make their blog posts stand out. Developing a blog following is not as easy as it once was. Learn how to write blog posts that attract readers and retain their attention. Follow these guidelines to cultivate readers&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>1. Draw Attention</strong></p>
<p>Use titles to attract the reader&#8217;s attention to the blog post. The title should mimic newspaper headlines and generate interest in the blog post. The title can be controversial, but not to the extent of being misleading. Use action words in the title. Bloggers will often come up with a handful of potential titles for blog posts, and then settle on the title that is best suited to a particular blog post.</p>
<p><strong>2. Deliver </strong></p>
<p>Having a catchy title, but following it with content that fails to deliver, will not endear you to your readers. The blog content must deliver what is promised in the blog title, or readers will unsubscribe and stop reading. When deciding on a blog title, do not stray too far from the content, as the two are intricately related &#8212; the title will attract the reader&#8217;s attention, but the content must then live up to expectations&#8230; or the blogger&#8217;s reputation will suffer.</p>
<p><strong>3. Accurate</strong></p>
<p>Nothing stains a blogger&#8217;s reputation like inaccurate information, so be sure that your blog posts contain accurate information. Intentionally posting inaccurate or false information will significantly damage a blogger&#8217;s reputation. But if an error unintentionally or inadvertently occurs in a blog post, be sure to quickly post a retraction or correction, along with an explanation and an apology in order to salvage your good reputation.</p>
<p><strong>4. Relevant &amp; Timely</strong></p>
<p>Blog posts should always be relevant and timely. Hearing about something long after it has occurred will not captivate readers. Blog about information that is occurring in the here and now. If you are going to write something that is no longer timely, be sure to add some sort of twist, or include new or updated information to make it relevant.</p>
<p><strong>5. On Topic</strong></p>
<p>All blogs should have a general theme that connects all the posts on the blog. Readers will expect posts that are related, so stay true to the blog&#8217;s theme and topic.</p>
<p><strong>6. Use Keywords</strong></p>
<p>Use keywords liberally in blog posts. Search engines will attempt to categorize the content of a blog post and discern its general topic. By including related keywords or keyword phrases, search engines will have an easier time classifying the blog&#8217;s contents. Additionally, a blog that uses keywords will have a better chance of ranking well for those keywords or keyword phrases in organic search listings.</p>
<p><strong>7. Evaluate Web Logs</strong></p>
<p>Review web logs to determine what blog posts have been popular with readers. Then figure out how to provide similar or related content that might also be of interest to those readers.</p>
<p><strong>8. Original </strong></p>
<p>Blog posts should always contain original and unique content. If you are simply re-posting information from others, include editorial content or a different spin to the information. Readers do not want to constantly rehash the same information &#8212; they are interested in reading new material.</p>
<p><strong>9. Chunky Content</strong></p>
<p>Break content into smaller, readable chunks. Most website visitors will just scan paragraphs for information, and very few will take the time to read all the words contained in a post. Use bulleted lists, or break web copy into paragraphs with bolded sub-topics that appear before the paragraphs.</p>
<p>Writing blog posts is not just about spewing forth content. The best blogs are well thought out, and contain provocative and interesting unique content. Follow the above steps to produce a relevant blog worth reading.<br />
<strong>About the Author: </strong><br />
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.</p>
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		<title>Instant Wordpress Themes</title>
		<link>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/instant-wordpress-themes</link>
		<comments>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/instant-wordpress-themes#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jul 2007 13:34:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley Grant</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://shirleyagrant.com/2007/07/10/instant-wordpress-themes/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just came across something interesting today! I found out that Gobala Krishnan just launched Volume 1 of his &#8220;Instant Wordpress Themes&#8221;, and you can get 7 beautifully designed Wordpress themes for just $1 each. 
According to Gobala, these themes are &#8220;plug-in-profit&#8221; themes, which means all you need to do is insert your Adsense ID [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://instant.easywordpress.com/images/SuperAdsenseBoxSmall.png" alt="Instant Wordpress Themes" align="left" height="149" hspace="5" width="118" /><font size="2">I just came across something interesting today! I found out that Gobala Krishnan just launched Volume 1 of his <strong><a href="http://instant.easywordpress.com/?e=admin@mmezine.com">&#8220;Instant Wordpress Themes&#8221;</a></strong>, and you can get 7 beautifully designed Wordpress themes for just $1 each. </font></p>
<p><font size="2">According to Gobala, these themes are &#8220;plug-in-profit&#8221; themes, which means all you need to do is insert your Adsense ID and Clickbank ID, and you&#8217;re in the money making zone. </font></p>
<p><font size="2">I just got my copy, and it looks great! <a href="http://instant.easywordpress.com/?e=admin@mmezine.com">Click here to check it out</a>.</font></p>
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		<title>10 Blog Traffic Tips</title>
		<link>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/10-blog-traffic-tips</link>
		<comments>http://shirleyagrant.com/blogging/10-blog-traffic-tips#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:46:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shirley Grant</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://shirleyagrant.com/2007/06/12/10-blog-traffic-tips/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In every bloggers life comes a special day &#8211; the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else&#8217;s blog chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader &#8211; you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In every bloggers life comes a special day &#8211; the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else&#8217;s blog chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader &#8211; you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog but that&#8217;s about as far you went when it comes to finding readers.</p>
<p>Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.</p>
<p>It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called &#8220;traction&#8221;, which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.</p>
<p>Top 10 Tips</p>
<p>10. Write at least five major &#8220;pillar&#8221; articles. A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good &#8220;how-to&#8221; lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn&#8217;t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.</p>
<p>9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.</p>
<p>You don&#8217;t have to produce one post per day all the time but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical so the more content you can produce at this time the better.</p>
<p>8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging be series about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog you need an easily rememberable domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that&#8217;s the offline world, you remember that place right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can and focus on small easy to remember domains rather than worry about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and easy to remember then you&#8217;ve done a good job!).</p>
<p>7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people&#8217;s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.</p>
<p>Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.</p>
<p>6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger&#8217;s article you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry &#8211; it&#8217;s sort of like your blog telling someone else&#8217;s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.</p>
<p>This is a good technique because like leaving comments a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important &#8211; it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will come and read your post eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours or at least monitor you and if you are lucky some time down the road they may do a post linking to your blog bringing in more new readers.</p>
<p>5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.</p>
<p>4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival enjoy a spike in new readers.</p>
<p>To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at http://blogcarnival.com/.</p>
<p>3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers but it&#8217;s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it&#8217;s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on to your blog so you can rank and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!</p>
<p>2. Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com. This is another tip that doesn&#8217;t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it&#8217;s worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have &#8211; your pillar articles. Once a week or so take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.</p>
<p>How you benefit is through what is called your &#8220;Resource Box&#8221;. You create your own resource box which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article you can get a lot of new readers at once.</p>
<p>1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers however all of the techniques I&#8217;ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them if you do everything above you may bring in readers but they won&#8217;t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.</p>
<p>This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.</p>
<p>To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.blogmastermind.com/?home=202" target="_blank">http://www.blogmastermind.com/?home=202</a></p>
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