Harnessing The Power Of Collective Intelligence To Increase The Value

One of the most important keys to having a Web 2.0 blog on the internet today is the two-way conversation that takes place between the blogger who is communicating a certain message, and the reader who is encouraged to contribute their input and opinions. This is a much different approach than that of traditional websites prior to the increased emphasis on social media online, since the conversation that took place between readers and writers was very much one-sided.

With today's websites and blogs there is a greater emphasis on community collaboration and collective intelligence of groups of readers and commenters, instead of the traditional path which has been to simply convey a certain message without any reader interaction. A good example of collective intelligence being used on a website is the concept of a wiki site, where readers may log in and create new pages on the site or they may edit existing pages.

Collective intelligence in this kind of a Web 2.0 fashion can also be used to create more value with your blog. The primary way that this can happen is that you simply have the website open for comments from readers, and this is a normal function that should be expected in most of the regular blogging platforms or content management systems. But the way that you can take this a step further is to encourage you readers to sign up as members so that they will return multiple times and leave multiple comments.

Certain types of widgets or add-ons for blogging software can put an increased emphasis on the community and commenting aspects of a blog, doing things such as creating a poll where you must be logged in to vote or showing a list of who the most active commenters are. When you decide to use your blog not only to convey information to your readers but to put an active emphasis on those who sign up as registered members, many of your members will begin to interact with each other.

This is a great example of how collective intelligence can increase the value of your blog, since you will now have a group of dedicated return readers who will actively participate in the discussion that you create using your blog posts. Not only will you have a group of people who regularly check back for new content, but they will also be adding content to your blog themselves and continuing to increase the value in that way as well.

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Lead Generation : Build Your Own List to Generate Quality Leads

If you are really serious about generating high quality leads, you should think about creating your own marketing list instead of buying from online companies. Here's how you can do that:

1. Traffic.

The first thing that you need to do is to drive enormous traffic to your website. Doing this may take some time and energy but you can be assured that it will worth it. Start by optimizing your web content and building inbound links so your site will come up prominently on relevant searches. Then, promote your site through blogging, forum posting, article marketing, video marketing, and social media marketing.

2. Opt-in Forms.

Make sure that you put enticing opt-in forms on all pages of your website. You can also use those floating opt-in forms that will usually come up before your visitors leave your site. Do not ask for too much information. Names and contact information are enough.

3. Communicate Benefits.

Create a page within your website where you can discuss the benefits that your potential clients can get once they sign up with you. For easy reading, I recommend that you list them in bullet points. It would help if you can put testimonials of your other subscribers.

4. Freebies.

Online users will most likely to share their name and email address with you if they are getting something in return. Offer them with free eBooks, Newsletters, or reports. You can also invite them to attend your Teleseminars for free. Make sure that your freebies speak volumes about your expertise to easily earn the trust and confidence of these people.

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Making Original Image as Important as Original Content Which Relevant Necessary

Yes. The answer to the title's question is an affirmative. When search engines crawl through a new blog post, it too sees the image for its description, not necessarily its appearance. What an image is named, in particular, what it is coded with alt text oralt tag is quite important.

Alt Tags Explained

Many people believe blogging is all about content. And, they are correct. But it's not only about the content an Internet user sees in their browser, but the content search engine spiders seeing when crawling over a new post. Bloggers should know this about blog tags: they do help search engines to pinpoint relevant material when asked. But the images associated with that content should be complementary-adding to or completing the text. That's where alt tags in the HTML code are useful.

For example, an image of a search engine spider should appear with a like description in the alternative attribute like "search engine spider". This allows a search engine to pick-up the image by description as it cannot see the rendition.

Original Images

When creating a post for a personal blog, for a guest submission to another blog or for freelance sale, use original images when possible. And name/rename images appropriate to the material in the post. Using the above image of a search engine looking through a magnifying glass at a spider. The image and content would have nothing to do with one another. It would confuse both readers and search engines.

Original content is lacking without proper images. But the image itself must be named to fit the content. The name of the image in a post must be relevant to the text. So a post about gluing fabric to scrapbook pages should have an image of fabric and a scrapbook or a post about the price of gasoline and downward sticky pricing should contain an image of a gas station price board/sign.

Size Matters

Blog image sizing is also important to making the post attractive. While search engines only know the raw dimensions of the image, readers will see how it impacts the text. Too large and the post's text becomes de-emphasised. Too small and the reader must squint to take in the details. An image shouldn't be a distraction. Some take advantage of eye candy to get attention. Readers will quickly abandon a blog that promises information on one subject but uses deceptive images to rack-up clicks.

When it comes to images in a blog post remember these cardinal rules: name the image for what it is, not "image1.jpg". Make good use of the alt tag/alt text and size the image so it fits in a neat proportion with the text.

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Does Your Website Grab People's Attention?

Ever visit a blog or website that draws you in? The next thing you know you're exploring the site, enjoying the photos or information you find. A great site grabs your attention and does not let you go. That's exactly how man or women entrepreneurs want people react when visiting our sites.

Embrace your message with a passion that can be read and seen the moment someone clicks onto your site.  

How can you grab people's attention?

1. Shake things up

Be fearless. Convey your message using words and images that shock people, stop them in their tracks or make them laugh. No one wants to read dull, humdrum articles or see washed out photos. You're not just attracting readers, your goal is to attract buyers. The more dramatic your site is, the more attention you will command.

2. Do the unexpected

What are people expecting to hear from someone like you? Come at your message and web design from a different direction than what is normally expected. Come up with engaging article and section titles. Play with words and their opposites. Try to find paradoxical or ironic ways of packaging your message. This is the perfect time to pull out your thesaurus!

3. Rock the boat

In nearly all topic areas there are disagreements and arguments about how best to solve a problem. Stand out by jumping into the controversy. Take a stand. Or maybe better yet, create a third way and pit your message against the traditional ways of seeing things. Identify the conflict perspectives and package your book in a way that draws all sides in. Root your hook in controversy. People might not agree with you, but it won't hurt to have your name appearing on posts all over the Internet.

4. Hurry up!

A fundamental principle in selling a product is cultivating a sense of urgency. Buy today! Don't miss out! You'll get a bonus if you act right now! Those of us in the information marketing field are at an advantage here. When people are grappling with a problem, the resulting pain and discomfort adds extra motivation to solve the problem sooner than later. You can add to their sense of urgency by how quickly they can expect results from your program or solution. Don't over sell your message, but make sure the reader knows that relief is achievable and in the very near future if they act today.

5. Know how your readers feel

You know what hooks people the most? Finding someone who seems to know exactly how they feel, and especially how they hurt. If your message convinces prospective buyers that you understand them, they'll trust you to help them and be open to hearing what you have to offer. Women tend to be very empathetic, which can be a great advantage when you're competing for customers and clients who want to find the right mentor for them. Express, not only your thoughts, but feelings and emotional insights as well. Capture your essence in words and in images on your site, so that everything comes together in communicating your message clearly, distinctly and passionately.

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How Do You Ensure The Purpose When Writing A Blog Communicate

Every person engages in hundreds of different conversations. Whether it's talking to the person sitting next to you, making a phone call, writing a blog sending an email, a Tweet, or commenting on a photo on Facebook, every single act of communication is sent because we are hoping for some sort of reaction or response.

In the business world, the bottom line of every piece of communication is money. Let me clarify. All the tweets, blog posts, emails, sales calls, adverts, and any other form of communication is designed to catch the customer's attention in some form, so that brand awareness is raised and ultimately at some point the customer will spend money.

It's not always a direct process, and in fact, the vast majority of blogs that you read on this site or any other will not contain a direct sales pitch. The point is that all business communication serves a purpose, and the purpose of any business is to make money.

So, how do you ensure that when you are writing a blog, the content you are putting out is going to be eye-catching enough, or interesting enough to stand out from the crowd and draw in customers? There's no hard and fast rule, however there are steps that you can take to try and put yourself and your business in the best light.

Engage Your Audience

As I said earlier, when we start a conversation, in whatever format that might be, what we want is a response. So next time you are writing a blog post, instead of worrying about how you're going to earn your next dollar, think about how you can engage people so that they respond.

It's NOT All About You

The best way to get someone to respond is to get them talking about their favourite topic - a good starting point would be get them talking about themselves! When telling someone about your business, instead of wording it as what you do, explain it in terms of how they can benefit.

If you want someone to focus their attention on your words, then you must genuinely demonstrate your intention to meet their needs.

Use Open Questions

If you have ever worked in Sales, you'll know that the best way to get into a conversation with someone is to engage them in open questions. Open questions are those that are worded in such a way that the person has to respond with more than Yes or No. For example,

"How do you get such good traffic to your blog?" which would need an explanation as an answer, instead of "Do you get good traffic to your blog?" to which someone could just reply "yes" or "no".

When writing a blog post, articles, adverts, or Tweets you need to try and apply the same "Open Question" concept to ensure that you engage the reader.

Comments Equal Prizes

If you spend any time reading other blogs, or on social bookmarking sites such as Digg or StumbleUpon, you're probably drawn to the articles that have the most comments. These articles may not be the most useful; however they have caught people's attention in the best way. It may be that they talk about a contentious issue, or that they ask some good questions that readers want to respond to.

Once some people have responded, it automatically looks more interesting to others, so more people read it. The end result? More traffic to that blog, greater awareness for that site meaning people may go back in the future, creating better awareness of what that business does, and hopefully, more sales and money.

Communicating with a purpose is all important, and with anyone now being able to publish anything they like on the internet, standing out from the crowd has been more important. Think carefully the next time you are writing a blog about how you want to be perceived and remember it's not all about you. It's all about engaging your customers, so talk to them and find out about what they want to hear about.

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About Commenting Platforms Before Choosing One

Every serious blogger knows that a major aspect of their blog's life is the comment box. Without this box, blogs lose their sense of engagement and personality -- they become just another website. Additionally, some SEO experts even suggest that comments help establish a blog as an authority, thus improving its PR (PageRank) with search engines like Google and Yahoo.

What are commenting platforms

For various reasons, some bloggers decide to replace the default comment box with another custom box. They are called commenting platforms, and they are developed by third-party developers for blog and website owners. Some bloggers need more versatility with their comment box; therefore, they replace the native field with a third-party commenting platform. Of course, there may be other reasons why a blogger would change this field.

The benefits of a commenting platform

Unlike native commenting fields, these platforms offer a wide range of features. Here are just a few of the benefits you receive from installing a commenting platform:

. Social media integration

. Comment threads

. Reply by email

. Real-time commenting

. Export comments

. Import comments

. Commenter profiles

One very notable feature that many third-party platforms have is the ability to like a user's notes and input. Some applications, such as Livefyre, use a reputation point system that is placed next to every one.

The drawbacks of a commenting platform

Now that you understand some of the benefits, you should be aware that there are negative aspects associated with these types of platforms. You memorize or bookmark these negative aspects to help you look for the right platform for your blog:

. Third-party platforms take much longer to load than native WordPress or Blogger platforms, thus possibly hurting your Google PR.

. All platforms operate from an off-site server. Therefore, there is a risk that the servers could go down, potentially damaging your comment data.

. Many bloggers report that their platform is very buggy.

. Almost every commenting platform requires readers to login before they can comment.

What you should look for when choosing a platform

If you decide to use a platform for your blog, you need one that is reliable and well-known. There may be new commenting platforms in the near future that address all of these issues, but it is up to you to try out the platform on your own blog to make your own judgment.

You should also determine what features you must have for your blog -- social media integration, email replies, commenter profiles and other features. The features you choose should reflect the type of content you produce.

Hopefully this information will help you make an informed decision. Do your research before committing to a commenting platform.

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Tools and Publishing Platform Options

If you want to make a name for yourself on the web, one of the most effective ways to do so is through the use of a blog. The name blog is short for weblog. Essentially, it is a collection of articles or posts that are presented in a format where the newest information is the most accessible. Older posts are eventually categorized into the archives. The articles can be further categorized using tags so that posts can be browsed through by topic.

Why are blogs so helpful? They allow you to stay current and build an audience. A website that doesn't regularly update with additional information will not attract a regular audience. It is possible to have success with this type of website, but the most loyal audiences form around blogs. Additionally, blogs allow you to continually pump out information, which means that there is more material which can potentially be discovered in the search engines. This leads to more traffic, which leads to greater success.

Another thing that is so useful about blogs is the fact that there are a great deal of blogging platforms available. These platforms make it easy to set up a blog without requiring a great deal of knowledge of computers. In addition to that, the most popular of these platforms are available for free. This makes blogging one of the most cost effective ways to set up a website.

One of the most popular blogging platforms is WordPress. While it isn't quite as simple to set up as some of the other options, it is highly customizable. A wide range of themes are available to choose from in order to give your site a unique feel. Additionally, plugins can be added to the basic platform in order to give your website all kinds of unique functionality. Since WordPress is open source, you also have the option of altering the code yourself in order to give your site a completely unique feel.

WordPress.org is where you can find the software and install it on your own server. WordPress.com, on the other hand, will handle the hosting for you at no cost. The downside is that you can't advertise a website that is posted on WordPress.com.

Another very popular blogging platform is Blogger, which was once known as Blogspot. The primary advantage of this platform, provided by Google, is that it is very easy to set up. The downside of Blogger is that it is less customizable. Tumblr is a similar platform.

Joomla is a more advanced type of platform referred to as a content management system. It allows you to design web sites and online applications with a wide range of capabilities not available with a standard blog platform. This is a great option if you want more functionality, but if you aren't looking to do much more than share text and pictures, this isn't the right choice.

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5 Ways to Create Compelling Content

You've created a blog with a title and you know who your audience is. You're going to 'wow' them with great content (of course) and you know you're supposed to post every week, or even better, every day. But what are you going to say? Creating meaningful, relevant content so we can gain more readers and build our platform is one of the largest challenges all bloggers face. Bloggers who can't come up with content will soon see their blogs fail. So how do you prevent this scenario?

First, since you're a writer, you're used to coming up with ideas and with being resourceful. But as a writer, you may also be too careful with posting. What I mean is that you may feel what you have to offer isn't good enough or you're afraid of what others might think of your post. You need to get over this fear right now, or you'll never see your blog or your writing career grow. Yes, some of your posts may not work, but that's OK-you can always follow up with fresher and better content.

I've listed five ways to create content. I've used all of them and it's a good reminder to even experienced bloggers that by having a content methodology we should seldom have a dry spell.

1. Use third-party content, which means you use other bloggers' posts in your blog with their name and website tagged at the beginning or end of the post. This means that you'll need to follow others' blogs and implement Google alerts so that their information comes easily to you. I recommend you write a lead-in before you add the other writer's post so you achieve some context and you make the post fit your theme and personality.

2. After you've been blogging a while, pick up ideas from your comments. Be reader-centered, and above all, ask yourself why should someone else care? Perhaps you can survey your email list or issue a poll to see what is on your readers'/clients' minds. You can even say, "Hey, I need content! Be the first to respond and you'll be in my next post. Plus I have a special bonus for folks who respond to me in the next 24 hours."

3. As you go about your day, read the paper and not just the sports or the entertainment section.  Read the paper both for content ideas and to know what's going on in your local and global community.

4. Take a few notes every time you and a colleague have lunch or chat on the phone. I bet there are five ideas-in-waiting. You can even say in your post, "So-and-so and I were having lunch and we discussed this topic..."

5. While you're coming up with these ideas and they're flowing like crazy, try to write as many posts as possible in that time (not just one post) because you're in the "zone" and you need to maximize your time and energy at this moment.

And finally, make every post count. Don't phone in your copy and bore your reader. If you don't feel up to posting and your writing feels sluggish, take a break and attack it the next day. Be open to new ideas and always right from the heart. You're reader will know what you stand for and will engage with you. That's what blogging is all about providing great content to build engagement, community and knowledge. Now get out there and create compelling content.

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How to - Loading Web Pages At A Faster Rate

Sometimes those microseconds seem like hours when we are waiting for a web page to completely load. There could be a thousand reasons why a page won't load. It would be nice to know how to load webpages at a faster rate, and since it can be done.

The system is taking forever and the level of frustration begins to rise. The problem could be that the hosting server is experiencing issues, or perhaps the page isn't successfully optimized. You do have control over the pages on your website.

Knowing how to load webpages does not take a lot of time to learn. Don't worry, the time spent will be worth your while. Hopefully we will learn a few tricks here that we can use the next time we are experiencing loading issues.

IMAGES

The first thing you can do is to save your images in a different format so that they take less space on the disk. Use Photoshop or a similar program to convert your images to.GIF or.JPEG. It may be another investment, but in the end it will be beneficial to your website.

CODING

Validate your XHTML code by using a w3c validation service. Due to its uniqueness, it can be a little frustrating at first; however, it will typically help your pages fit better in different browsers. Another benefit is that is helps out the search engine spiders to find your site.

CDN

Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) you are able to disperse large files, such as images, to several locations. When the information is requested by a user, they will receive the requested information from the closest source. By "pawning off" the larger images, the main server can work faster by providing the smaller files while the off-site server will work on providing just one file. Are you learning how to load webpages any faster yet?

CACHING

Software that allows caching is very helpful to increase the loading of various web pages. If one PHP/ASP/JSP page is processed more than another, the server will cache a copy of it for later reference. Think of it as it being kept on the side lines; it's more readily available when a quick call occurs.

COMPRESSION

If you don't already know how to load webpages with a zip file, then this is an option you may want to start using. It is possible to decompress zip files before they reach your browser. If the Gzip or Deflate is decompressed, the data requested can possibly be unzipped by the time it reaches your monitor.

Making the most of the tools available on the Internet is a must for anyone who accesses the Internet on a regular basis. For those who don't browse the World Wide Web on a regular basis, they may just deal with the long upload times. Taking the time to learn how to load webpages at a faster rate will certainly give you more time to work on more important tasks.

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What Will Do With SEO ?

Without knowing how to do SEO, we have little chance of getting any visitors to our blog or website. We need to know how do SEO, in order to rank highly in the search engines.

Here is a guide on Info Blogging | what will do with SEO:

So we have built a new website and now we want customers. There are millions of people out there on the search engines trying to find information like yours, but they are not able to find you, unless you know how to do SEO.

• Before you post anything on your website, you need to do keyword research. I prefer the Google Adwords - Keyword Tool. This is free and provides all the information you need to make a decision, although there are other keyword research tools you can use.
• Type in your chosen niche in to the Keyword Tool and you will get between 50 - 100 keyword suggestions. They can be sorted by competition. It is far easier to rank for a low competition keyword. It is also best to aim for keywords that are specific and targeted. Try to rank for narrow topics, rather than broad categories. Experiment a little with the keyword suggestions to pick the most specific, high search volume, lowest competition keywords and phrases.
• Now it is time to look at your competition. Type in your keywords into Google and have a look at what pages are ranking in the top 5. Take note of what title they are using and what tags they are using.
• When typing your website content you need to make sure it is relevant to the keywords you are targeting.
• You will need to use the keywords in your title. The less words you have in your title the better.
• You need to repeat the keywords you want to rank for repeatedly, in the body of your post. It should be done in a natural way.
• Make sure you use bold, underline or italics on your keywords.
• If using pictures, name these your keywords. Eg. Keyword.png
• Use Meta tags or post tags that contain the keywords.
• Create internal page links. Use text links on your keywords that point to another page that is relevant to that keyword on another page within your site.
• Create backlinks on Forums, Directories and other relevant websites related to your niche. You can also create backlinks by bookmarking your post on social bookmarking sites.
• Keep your website simple. High ranking websites are usually simple in design and easy to navigate. This allows the search engine crawlers to easily get the content they are looking for.
• Keep your website fresh. Add new content regularly. Search engines love new content.

Now that we know how to do SEO, we can apply these techniques to our blog or website. When we are done, don't forget to submit blog or website, post or article to the search engines.

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Optimize Keywords In Corporate Blogs

Numerous firms have started their blog to better engage and connect with their customers. But they do this often in narcissistic lens. In most cases, public relations offices manage social media and content for companies which are good for promoting brand and distributing information.

This is the perhaps a benefit of PR but the disadvantage is often overlooked. Many corporate blogs aren't just boring but also very had to find in search engines. Voice, key messages and timing are considered but the keywords that will drive traffic to the website are often neglected.

Blog, videos and podcast are cost effective ways to enhance traffic to your site. Any internet marketing solution firm can offer these marketing strategies for you.

The Importance of Keywords.

When a person search through a search engine, he usually types in words related to what he is looking for. The results will then show up on the results page with the most relevant site on top of the list. Search engines use keywords to know which sites will most likely show the information that a user is searching for.

As a company, it would be crucial that you know your keywords. For examples, if you have a site about web design, then you may have web design xxx or web design zzz on your keyword list. There are available tools to help you find the right words such as Google Keyword Tool.

Optimize Keywords in Corporate Blogs.

Take some time to research a keyword glossary. Whoever your target audience is, it can be customers, partners, journalists, investors and etc., they all use search for content online. Use a keyword search tool to help you determine which industry related keyword phrases are being used these days. Share this glossary with your content creators as a reference when developing and publishing online content.

Create a plan for blog content.

Starting your very own blog is easy but sustaining it for years isn't. Get into the habit of creating structured and flexible content for your corporate blog.

Decide which days follow a certain format and when to post wildcard entries. Assign keywords and topics to the planned articles, surveys, interviews, company news, live blogging and other types of content. Don't forget to tap into feedback mechanisms such as keyword search traffic, comments, social sharing options, off post citations and links to make sure you are right on track.

Include keywords in your content.

There have been hundreds of how to's on how to optimize web pages but to sum up the guidelines in article writing, it would be helpful to follow a very simple, generalized guideline- find a balance in optimizing content for readers and search engine crawlers. Omit one aspect and expect to lose the other.

Do both efficiently and you will boost your site's traffic and engage your customers. Include optimized keywords in the title tag of your post. The initial words in the title will matter most. Draft a title that is more focused on the reader.

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What Are Some Ways to Lower Your Bounce Rate?

Once you’ve built your website or your blog, the first thing you will want to do is bring in a lot of traffic by optimizing it for search, acquiring traffic generating links, and sharing it on social bookmarking and networking sites. The more traffic you can get, the better.

But after awhile, you start to dig into your Analytics, only to find that while you are getting a lot of traffic, that traffic isn’t staying on your site for long. This is the bounce rate – the goal is to have a low percentage bounce rate, as a high percent means that people are getting to your site and then leaving shortly thereafter.

So what are some ways to lower your bounce rate?

1. Look Into Your Google Analytics.

There are a few things you can look at in your Analytics that will help you determine why people come to your website.

Content and Keywords

First, take a look at the content with the highest bounce rate, and the keywords that bring visitors to those pages. If you go into your Google Analytics, and navigate to Top Content under the Content menu, you will see the top ten pages on your site that receive the highest volume of traffic (one of which is usually your homepage).

Click on one of the pages with the highest bounce rate, and then on the next screen, view the Entrance Keywords. Now take a look at the queries that brought people to your site, and the bounce rate associated with those search terms. A high bounce rate means that your page did not help the searcher find what it was they were looking for on that page related to that keyword.

Once you know what people are looking for on a particular page, if possible, try to add that information to that page. Most importantly, make sure that the information related to the search query is near the top of the page, that way people see instantly that the page has what they are looking for. If they need to go to another page for more details, be sure to make the navigational path to that content clear and near the top as well.

Site Searches

Setting up Site Search within your Google Analytics allows you to see what people are typing into your site’s search box when they arrive. This is another great way to see if your site is providing the content that your visitors are searching for because, if not, that is a good indicator of why they are leaving.

Once you have Site Search setup, you can easily see what pages visitors are on when they enter search queries, as well as the phrases they are looking for. If you notice that a particular search is being entered on a page, chances are that for every person who actually searched for it, there are a lot of people who simply left. Therefore, if you make that content available on that page, there will be less bounce rate from there and more satisfied visitors.

Traffic Sources

If you look at the Referring Sites under the Traffic Sources menu, you will see the main sites that bring traffic to your website or blog. If particular networks you have been sharing your content on have brought higher bounce rates, it might be a good idea to focus on other ones that bring visitors that stick.

2. Lowering the Bounce Rate

The following are some items you can add to high bounce rate pages to hopefully lower the likelihood that people would leave.

Great Content

This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Each webpage on your site and each blog post on your blog must have great content in order to retain new visitors. If you have a page with a high bounce rate and little content, this should be the first thing you focus on fixing.

Optimize Pages for the Right Keywords

This is probably the best place to start – if you have a page that is losing visitors searching for a particular keyword phrase, then chances are you either need to add content that would fit the visitors needs for that keyword, or start optimizing your pages for a different phrase.

Videos

Videos are a great way to keep people on your page for longer – if you can find a related video that fits well with your page, then that is definitely one way to go.

Teaser / Summary

If you can include a short summary of your page at the very top (especially if it is a long article or blog post) including the commonly searched for keyword phrases, this will help convince people who have landed on your page that they will be able to find what they are looking for. Blogussion offers a great summary at the top of each blog post like this one that lets readers know what they are about to learn.

Related Links

For any blog or webpage, related links area sure fire way to keep visitors on your site. Simply help them find more information on your site that they would be interested based on the page that they are on. Internal links within the text and related links at the end of the page are the best way to encourage people to stick around.

Encourage Discussion

If your site is a blog, encouraging discussion is another good way to get people to stay on your site for awhile. Leaving a well thought out comment or response to your post (or other commenter) will increase their time on a post.

Move the Ads

When someone comes to your site, what is the first thing they see? I have seen several sites where the content comes well after the Google Adsense and other advertising, and if someone doesn’t see the main content right away, they may assume your site is solely built for the ads and simply leave. Be sure to put your content first, and let the ads come later.

How Do We Keep Visitors on Our Site?

Does our blog or website have a high bounce rate? What tips or techniques do we use to help lower our bounce rate and keep visitors engaged longer on our site?

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Turn Your Site Into a Profitable Asset

We each have our different reasons for blogging, and they are probably as wide and varied as the niches that we’ve chosen to write about. One thing that I do find is that my blog attracts other bloggers who are interested in not only earning money online, but more specifically from their blogs.

The first thing you need to do is develop a traffic strategy for your blog, because without traffic it’s going to be tough developing any type of income streams from it. If you aren’t already receiving at least 100 to 200 visitors a day according to Google Analytics,  then you should be investing all your time and energy into first growing those traffic stats.

Once you’ve developed a steady stream of traffic, and started to build a solid community around your blog you can start testing which revenue models are likely to work best for you. The worst thing you can do financially at this point is to simply add something like AdSense, or banner ads into your site, and then sit back waiting for the money to roll in. Chances are that while you’re waiting for that flow of money, you’ll be missing out on just that.

Each blog is going to respond differently to the different revenue models that are available to it. This can be due to your market, your audience, or perhaps even your own predication towards certain methods or aversions to others. Whatever the case happens to be, it’s in your best interest to find the ones that work best for you and your blog and work to develop them.

Google AdSense

Now while this is probably the most common method used by bloggers it isn’t always the best one for everyone. With that said, it’s one of the easiest to implement and you can start to see clicks and revenue coming in right away. The problem for many though is that, that click that carried away your visitor to someone else’s website could have been someone you yourself could have serviced or sold to if you’d only known what they were interested in and offered a similar product that was competitively priced on your own site, this is where testing, tracking, and tweaking come into play.

Banner Advertising

I love banners advertising because you can set them up to actually be of benefit to your readers. If you have a web design blog, and your ads are tools, and services that other designers will need or find use for then it doesn’t feel so much like advertising, more of an added service for them.

There are a few routes you can go with banners, and probably the easiest and most affordable is the OIO Publisher plugin that lets you manage your ad space like a pro. This little plugin has made me more money than any other plugin I’ve ever used, and I’ll forever be a fan of it. You can set up ad spots around your blog and then set the prices you’d like to get for them.

One of the features I love most about it is that you can add in your own banners, or affiliate banners when they aren’t fully sold out. This provided you with a full looking ad center while allowing you to earn from product sales, or affiliate sales.

Ad Management Services

If there is a downside to using OIO Publisher it is that you have to not only manage your ad center, but you are constantly looking for advertisers to fill those spots on your site. Using a 3rd party to manage your ad space will mean that it’s more a hands off process, and also they typically have a much larger audience of potential advertisers to pull from. You can likely expect to lose anywhere from twenty-five to fifty percent of the price for management fees.

Sponsored Tweets

Most bloggers have a Twitter account that they use exclusively for their site, and invest time and energy toward building it up, often into the tens of thousands of followers. Having a targeted audience also has advertising value, and the more tightly focused, or specific your niche is, generally the higher the price your account can command. It isn’t uncommon for an account to charge $30.00 for a single 140 character message.

Sponsored Reviews

Quite a few bloggers have found a lucrative area to be writing reviews on products or services that their readers are likely to already be using in their day to day lives. These reviews when done correctly can end up being of service to your visitors who may have landed on your page solely to read your review before purchasing (or deciding not to purchase) the item in question. The company being reviewed comes away with a greater insight into their product and how it is viewed my people in the marketplace.

A Review shouldn’t be good or bad, merely informative, and encompassing the points that a typical user might find of interest. Writing that a product is lacking the ability to do some core function that might be important shouldn’t be considered a bad thing, but merely an opportunity for the developer to take that feedback into consideration and perhaps integrate it into the product at the time of its next update. Not all reviews are about how amazing and wonderful a product, or service is.

E-Mail Marketing

Using your blog to capture subscribers and potential clients, or customers is nothing new, but quite often it ends up being an afterthought that gets implemented after several months, or even years. Building your list should be something that gets started as quickly as possible so that you can enjoy the compound effects toward your list’s growth. Your list is a great place for you to work on building a relationship with your readers, which will in turn build a level of trust with them. People buy from people they not only know, but also people they trust.

E-Books

Writing an e-book on a subject that your readers are interested in is not only a great way to show how knowledgeable you are on your chosen topic, but can also be a great way to add an extra revenue stream into your blog. I’m going to assume that since you blog, you’re comfortable writing and can probably finish a solid 100 page book in about a month’s time.

Your readers will be much more inclined to purchase an e-book that you’ve personally written since they are already familiar with your writing style, and enjoy it enough to return time and time again. You can then easily integrate it into your sales funnel offering them a special discount for being one of your valued subscribers.

Training Courses

Developing a course designed to provide a solution to a problem your readers are likely to face is also a great way to showcase your expertise, and add another layer of income to your blog. While there is a lot more involved in a product launch than an e-book, the rewards are also generally much higher. It’s important to put together a quality product, and not try to rush the process. There will likely come a time when you are ready to put out a second course, and having a list of previous happy customers can be a great boost to your second launch.

Digital Products

For some of you, your talents might not lay so much in writing or producing video courses, but perhaps you are talented programmers or designers. Designing a professional Blogger theme to sell, or a premium plugin can be an excellent way to increase profits. Since this area is reserved for programmers or those willing to hire a freelance programmer the competition in this area is also much less, and your chances of standing out, much greater.

Services

Many blog owners have found a lucrative market selling the very services they use daily themselves for their own blogs, and have hung out their own shingle selling things like writing services, WordPress installations, or link building, just to name a few. If you have skills that others do not, or perhaps you have a secret for doing things quicker than everyone else, perhaps adding a “Services” page to your blog is one way you can generate an additional income stream.

Affiliate Marketing

As each day passes and we write an ever increasing number of articles on countless topics, we are bound to mention a brand or two. If that company has an affiliate program then including an affiliate link to check out the product could result in some great passive income that comes in for years to come. Integrating an affiliate strategy into your blog is definitely something to consider.

These are just a few of the methods you can look to implement into your own blog, but the most important thing to remember when attempting to develop a profitable blog is that if you want your blog to produce like a business, you have to treat it like a business. This means structured planning and growth, a commitment towards the work that’s involved in growing not only its traffic and income levels, but all other aspects as well. Building a business isn’t an easy task, nor is it something that happens overnight.

Having a blog for a business is rewarding in so many ways for so many people, and as someone who does it full time as a means to earning  living.

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Introduction of Blogger Data API - Client Applications

This article introduces the reader has a basic programming to study the Blogger Data API and use it as a Blogger Client Applications. Where then a programmer can design your own Blogger Tools Editor in Desktop Applications, Browser Plug-ins, even able to design your own Blog Aggregate application. For example you would never use one of the tools on desktop applications and online services, with tools that we can edit, delete, and update content blogs without having to log in directly to the actual engine. Here I am sure you already have an idea of ​​how the blog editor to work, here's what I mean tools later as one example Blogger Client Applications.

Studying the Blogger Data API means we (programmers) as the developer is authorized to use it. Before the study it needs to know Blogger Data API is part of one of the Google service data APIs (GData). GData uses two XML-based standard format of ATOM and RSS. GData is what is a simple standard protocol used to facilitate the process of reading and writing data on the web. To know more about the GData can be found at this address: http://code.google.com/apis/gdata/overview.html

The Introduction Blogger Data API

Blogger fire data to allow third parties (developers) to display and update the content of blogger content through the process of data retrieval through the Google Data API feeds. we can edit the content of postings, remove and renew it, not only that we can also send and delete the comments that have been published previously.

For a basic introduction about the blogger API data there are 3 steps to start to learn, first learn first Google data APIs, continue to the next step on the Blogger Data API Developer's Guide or you can read the guidelines hereinafter Reference Guide if necessary more can be read here Developer's Guide: Protocol has been fully described there programming language that you can use, until today there are five standard language support programs that you can learn, including:

.NET
Java
JavaScript
PHP
Python

If you ask which one is easier then I will answer all of them difficult, which makes it easy to be determined in accordance with basic programing each of you. If I had to choose course options will fall into. Net and JavaScript debase because I only understand this program alone. One of the most recommended choice, should you choose to Javascript, because there have included a tutorial with sample code and output the result directly of course you can try it. More you can see here.

Standard Authentication (proof of authenticity)

Authentication is a protocol standard that enables a user to perform authentication (authentication), Authorize (authority / entitlements) to the user or users who want to access a system or service from a central server computer network. Authentication is also needed when we want to do on the network access Blogger (Google) is by entering your username and password. On Authentication to Service Blogger  we can access in two ways: using the right of Private and Public Feeds. Public feeds do not usually require us to use Authentication, in contrast to Private Feeds that requires us to do the authentication first.

Using Visual Basic.Net

To facilitate you to understand how the Blogger Data API you should learn the tools of the review source code using VB.Net. Through this tool you will understand how to perform backups using the access GData Blogger Feeds Blogger Backup Utility via (VB.Net open source).

Using the JavaScript Client Library

Blog.Gear is actually one of the Google Gear project which plans to use this service to access the Blogger application in Offline mode. But you can try to learn the application use the Blogger Data API. You can also study the source code here, for the video you can see here.

This is only a basic introduction and of course still far from perfect. May be useful.

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