Round ‘Em Up!
More and more bloggers are writing ’round-up’ posts, pulling together a series of posts from other bloggers into a single article on their own blog. Sometimes called ‘speedlinking’, it’s certainly popular, but is it something you should be doing? I think so.
However, I don’t think it’s worth just posting a list of links, or just linking to a bunch of articles from the ‘A-list’. Much more rewarding, both for your karma and your own blog, is to find some good articles from bloggers you read often, write a mini-review and give them some good anchor text.
While there’s no harm in linking to Problogger, most people will find his stuff quite easily on their own. I feel it’s far better to choose some choice articles from bloggers that are either less well-known, or are proactive in engaging with their readers. I love to find new blogs to read, and like to give my readers the same opportunities, so it’s great when you do a good round-up post which receives positive comments along the lines of ‘Thanks, you’ve given me some new reads’.
You can also help the blogs you’re linking to, by using good anchor text, contained within relevant writing to deep-link their content. This gives a good boost to their Google Page Rank etc. as well as giving them some new readers and subscribers.
Finally of course, you can benefit simply by getting noticed by the people you’re linking to – and if you write a nice review rather than a list of 20 standalone links, they’re more likely to appreciate it.
Examples
Here’s an example of how I write my round-up posts, notice I don’t link directly to their names or blog homepage, rather I try to either give good anchor text, or use their own post titles:
- If you want to read a blogger that will make you think, as well as one that can teach you a huge amount about optimizing your blog for SEO, marketing and social media performance, then your first stop needs to be Andy Beard. His writing is always detailed, insightful and easy to read, as his most recent post on how to choose the right social bookmarking sites shows. Some great tips on the differences between the major sites, how to implement them for maximum results and a great little insight into the psychology of Stumble users, which is certainly true for me.
- You may have little or no interest in Graphic Design, but I may be able to change your mind by getting you to check out the blog of Edinburgh graphic designer, David Airey. A talented blogger, his posts on the design process are interesting in themselves, but when he applies his knowledge to blogging, such as asking what does your website say about you? it has relevance for all of us.
- Scott has cast himself as the Savvy Affiliate, and if his young, but spectacular blogging career is anything to go by, he’s spot on. In only 3 months, he has written dozens of concise, yet informative articles, on most aspects of blogging, including how to make the most of adsense deluxe or how to increase the clicks on your affiliate ads. If you’re looking for sensible money making advice, and lots more, look no further.
- While rounding up, I’ll give myself a little plug, and just inform you of a little competition to win yourself an RSS ad spot on my feed worth $60 a month. It’s very simple, just link me up, and you’ll get a link back, plus a chance to go into the hat to get a permanent ad spot on my Feed using the link & anchor text of your choice. Full details on my blog.
Do you write round-up posts?
Let us know what you think of them.
Getting Ranked on Google
I have been experimenting with search engine optimization. Using such tools as Overture and 103Bees has been pretty beneficial. I have been after top rankings for the key terms“More Website Traffic” and “More Web Site Traffic” and I’m happy to see rankings of 2 and 4!
Overture reported 2,747 searches for the term “more web site traffic” on Yahoo!. Now I am going to target something a little bigger.
The next term I am going after is “Increase Web Site Traffic”. Overture reported that 9369 searches were done for that term.
Anyone who wants a few linkbacks to their site just mention us with the term “Increase Web Site Traffic” and I’ll make sure to get you some links.
I will also be writing about a few key phrases we have been getting hits from, I think those articles should be pretty interesting. To try to figure out which long tail key terms to go after I have been using 103bees. By installing a code they keep track of the google searches this blog gets. From there you can get an idea of what to blog about.
How Would You Spend 400$ Advertising Your Blog?
Comment Friday was a little different this week. I asked our readers “How would you spend 400$ advertising your blog?” I definitely received some interesting responses.
The most interesting definitely has to go to Rhyswynne. He said
“I would pay nude models to paint their urls over their breasts, and post the photos on the internet. You may think it is a stupid idea, but it WOULD work.”
It may work, however that’s not exactly the kind of attention I am trying to get for BAYB.
We also had quite a few responses where people would spend that money on offline advertising. Tobsy mentioned he would fix up an old car, put advertising on it, and give it away. Pretty generous, but I’m not sure how well that would work. Lee and Derek also mentioned offline advertising such as hats, shirts and mugs to give away.
Personally I think I will be spending money promoting BAYB by just by purchasing blog reviews and trying to build backlinks to our site. If you are offering a deal and would like to write about our site please use the contact form.
Thanks for everyones responses. For this weeks blog of the week I am putting Blog Me Famous as the blog. I will be reviewing the blog within the week and I definitely recommend taking a stop by their blog.
Host Arcadia
As websites seem to be made by the minute, web hosting has become a huge business. Host Arcadia is trying to take advantage of just that.
What’s Most Important
For many websites, they are just like a business. If they aren’t seen, they can’t earn money, grow, or really have any value. That is why reliable web hosting is important.
So You’re New?
Host Arcadia wants webmasters to know that their best quality is low starting rates for beginners. For only 3$ per month you can get 500 MegaBytes of Space with Cpanel and Fantastico. The only downside I can see is you can add on 10 domains, but I’d prefer unlimited. Blog about your Blog is hosted on a smaller (and cheaper) hosting plan, because we don’t need anything big and expensive. Soon I hope we will though.
Shared and Reseller Plans
I have to admit I don’t know much about these, however I do know that Host Arcadia is offering them pretty cheap. Shared Hosting starts as low as 3$ per month, and the reseller plans at 6$ per month. I paid two years worth just to get 6$ per month for our hosting!
Affiliate Program
As I’ve mentioned there are tons of websites being created as I type this post. I’ve read many bloggers are earning nice affiliate dollars by promoting and selling templates. However, before you buy templates you need somewhere to host your website or blog. I’m not a member, but Host Arcadia’s affiliate program may be one to look into. As a bonus, you get 5$ just for signing up!
Comment Friday for June 22nd
This week I want to do something a little different for Comment Friday.
I am going to ask a question and the best answers will be made into a blog post, and I will give out links from there.
If you don’t have an answer, please still leave us a comment, or just jump in the discussion, I hope I can involve everyone.
If you had 400$ to spend on advertising your blog, what would you do? LinkRain has already answered the question, and made a great post.
What would you do with the 400$?
Make Money Online with SurveySpot
Please note there are no affiliate links within this post*
In my article, Make Money Online with Surveys, I mentioned SurveySpot was a legit survey website to earn money on. My girlfriend, Emma, has been an active member on the website for several months now. As she has remained active, she gets money surveys almost daily, sometimes 5!
Minimum Payout is Only 5 Dollars
On many websites like surveyspot the payout can be anywhere from 50-100$ which you could possibly never earn. At surveyspot the minimum payout is 5 dollars, which is an amount you could earn in one survey. Once you cashout, your check should arrive to you within a month.
We’ve Been Paid
Several times actually. You can notice as time has gone by Emma is actually earning more money than she did. It took her about 2 months in between her first payments to reach 28$. She now gets about 30$ every 2-3 weeks.
Staying Active = More Money
The more surveys you take, it seems the more they give you. We have received special offer surveys which we never received at the beginning. The two most recent was a survey sent in the mail, and completed online with a payout of 15$. Also, we received a product review of “Wet Ones Wipes” where we received a free container of it, as well as a cash survey.
There are Prizes to be Won
Even if you don’t take a money survey, you can take free surveys. These surveys give you “entries” in drawings. They draw for prizes like gadgets and cash, as well as gift cards and big rewards!
No Purcase Necessary
You don’t have to buy anything. You don’t have to give them money to start or anything like that. As you can see from the screenshot above Emma has earned 177$ in about 6 months with 18$ more on the way. That brings the total to almost 200$ just for taking quick and easy surveys.
Are you going to start earning money with surveys?
The Marketplace for Bloggers
Do you sell advertising on your blog? Do design logos? Do offer blog hosting? Do you sell anything blog related? If you answered yes to any of these, then you might be interested in a marketplace that has been built just for bloggers!
DoshSale.com has just been launched and is the marketplace for bloggers. Buy and sell everything blog related including:
- Advertising – links, banners etc
- Design Services
- Templates, Themes
- Blog Hosting
- Domains
- Sponsored Reviews
- Content
- Stock Photos
- Lots Lots More!
Use the coupon code “free06” to list for free! Coupon expires in a weeks time. Usually it costs $0.50 to add listing so use the code while you still can! This a great way to expand your blogs reach and I highly recommend you check it out.
To see more content like this and download free ebooks, software and templates, visit my blog at BloggingDosh.com
Thunderbirds are go (and other puns too delicious to ignore)
That’s right, I decided last night to install the Mozilla email client Thunderbird for reasons that I can’t fully explain or understand myself. I asked the question over at QYDJ is it stupid to abandon Outlook when I have a fully licensed copy already bundled on my PC? Am I just making life more difficult purely because I’m drawn to the ethos of the Mozilla people. I completely moved over to Firefox ages ago (god has it been years already??) and it is my browser of choice. There are fewer and fewer pages that don’t work within it and when I’m developing I generally find I’m designing in it and fixing problems in IE.
Is my choice of browser and email client reflective of me as a person?
I’m not a rebel by any stretch of the term, at least I don’t see myself that way. Some time back when free time existed and dinosaurs roamed the earth my wife and I went to see an artist that she really liked. The problem was that because this artist is a little more refined I guess than the local pub (although don’t get me wrong she would’ve kicked ass in a less sophisticated setting!) it was held where they show the opera and theater etc. Because of this people who subscribed to the arts calender were included in the tickets etc.
The venue was ok, not great for this artist but comfortable enough and the artists were extraordinary. No the real problem were the suits. All of these people desperately trying to out dress each other and drown everyone in their expensive perfumes and aftershaves.
Ummm.
We were there to see a gig. I mean really? Evening gowns and black tie?
Now I, realizing that the venue would be a little more sophisticated thought I’d dress myself up a touch and wear a shirt with a collar and *gasp* buttons. After spending several hours being looked down upon I realized that I was not embarrassed about not dressing up enough but more that I wasn’t wearing my Punisher t-shirt under a suit jacket with some splash graphic across the arm. I was angry with myself for even in the slightest thinking about what I should wear to such a place when I knew that jeans and t-shirt were more appropriate even if everyone else didn’t think so.
What this says to me is that in the browser wars and spilling over into the software apps wars I don’t want to always go with the expensive name brand product just because it is expensive or that I in fact own it. I own plenty of formal wear but choose not to wear it the way society may dictate. I own outlook but it’s so vanilla, and I’m sure there are plenty of other ways to use it but I’m not interested, I am interested in this alternative that may be rougher around the edges or it may even just do everything that outlook does. It’s different. Maybe I’m just bored with outlook? I don’t hate Microsoft at all, I have my issues with them and how they do business but there’s no way I would swap my windows for linux (mind you I haven’t upgraded to vista yet so we’ll have to see).
So have any of you used Thunderbird because I would love to hear others thoughts on if it works well or is worth swapping over completely (my archives and a couple of my accounts are still in outlook pending the results of the experiment).
God now I’m thinking about open office…..