Archive for August, 2008

Improve your page ranking

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

It is every blogger’s dream (and mine too) to get a high page ranking with Google. Getting a high page ranking with Google will increase your site’s visibility to search engines which will ultimately drive traffic to your site. If your page ranking is high enough, you might even feature in the first page of Google search results. Sounds good right? But how to increase your page ranking? Well, there is no easy or short way here. Its hard work and I’m not going to talk about link farms. But, there are some tips that I will provide that you can use which would invariably help to increase your page ranking steadily.

Links to your from any page ranking site is good, and more the links better are your chances to get a higher page ranking. Here are some simple ways you can follow:

1. Use yahoo answers. Yes, this is true. Instead of asking a question on yahoo answers, why don’t you search for a question that is relevant to your blog post? Find for a question which has been unresolved, answer the question with a link back to your blog post. But don’t spam. You will never get repeat visitors if you spam. If you solve someone’s question, they might just link back to your post and your page ranking will increase.

2. Use Digg. Choose some of your good posts and post it on digg. Interact with some digg users and befriend them. You can link back your blog on your profile page. This counts towards your page ranking as well.

3. Commenting on other people’s blog is also very helpful in increasing your page ranking. This does not need further explanation. But one word of caution again - avoid spamming.

4. Join webmaster forums. This could be a good way to increase links back to your site as well.

I hope that you will be able to use some of these methods to increase your backlinks and subsequently the page ranking of your site. Good Luck!

Posted in SEO | 2 Comments »

Is Adsense experimenting with new font types?

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008


It looks as though Adsense is experimenting with different fonts to attract more clicks. This is a good step forward both for publishers and advertisers. More and more people are getting bored with the typical ad fonts that adsense provides. Below is an indication of what new ads might look like:

Do you think this will work? Well I hope it does!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Is adsense experimenting with new font types?

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

It looks as though Adsense is experimenting with different fonts to attract more clicks. This is a good step forward both for publishers and advertisers. More and more people are getting bored with the typical ad fonts that adsense provides. Below is an indication of what new ads might look like:

Do you think this will work? Well I hope it does!

Posted in Adsense | No Comments »

How to add adsense within your blog posts in blogger?

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Adsense is a great way of monetizing your blog as I mentioned in Monetize your Blog using Adsense. But where do you get the best visibility for your ads? Most people hardly even notice the ads that you display on your blog. In my opinion, the best place to position your ads would be right in your post body. It should be tightly integrated but at the same time very visible to your reader. In case you are wondering how to do this in blogger, here are a few steps that will help you. I have tried it myself and you can see the results on my blog. So go and have fun!

You can get the detailed information here.

I hope this was helpful for you. Good luck. Feel free to drop me a comment.

Posted in Adsense | 1 Comment »

Dont ever venture into a linkfarm

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Many webmasters in their zeal to get a high number of inbound links tend to get carried away by the information available on other blogs. One such mistake is linking or getting into linkfarms. What is a linkfarm? Well a linkfarm is basically a website which has tons of inbound links which are totally unrelated to their website’s content. This is done assuming that they will be able to score higher with the search engines. Trust me, this doesn’t work! Google frowns upon linkfarms and you might just not be listed in search engines at all. So why go through this hassle? Linking to linkfarms might get you in trouble too. After all, you wouldn’t want to lose that hard earned pagerank right? Its even worse if you just started your blog and you might be banned by Google. So be wise, stay away from link farms. You can identify a linkfarm using the following 3 methods:

1. The website has very low or no page rank
2. The website has very little content (or no content!)
3. Poorly maintained website

So be on the lookout for linkfarms and stay clear.

Source: SEO for blogging

Posted in SEO | No Comments »

Interview with Jim Kukral from Scratchback.com

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Jim Kukral from ScratchBackToday I will introduce a new section in my blog for my readers - the interview section. From time to time I intend to interview interesting personalities and publish them here. As I was thinking who would be my very first interviewee, I came across Jim Kukral, the man behind ScratchBack.com. For those who are not familiar with this great concept, ScratchBack is an online tipping tool where readers can tip the publisher in exchange for a link in the blog or website. All the links are hardcoded with a nofollow tag which makes it Google friendly. I myself have incorporated this tool recently on this blog and have also decided to donate 20% of what I earn through ScratchBack to charity. So go ahead, get your link on my blog!

Jim is an online marketing expert, an award winning blogger, writer, online monetizing expert and the list goes on. You get the picture right? Jim has his own web firms and is also a web consultant and public speaker. All aspiring bloggers can learn from Jim’s experience in this industry.

Jim’s Interview:

1. How did you start off? As a marketer or as a blogger? Can you give us some history?

I started as a web designer actually, back in 1995 I learned html before tables existed. Then around 1999 I started project managing and found web marketing. I only started blogging in 2001, and later realized that all online marketing intersects together.

2. Tell us a little bit about scratchback.com. What prompted you to start this business?

I started Scratchback.com because I knew that millions of bloggers wanted this type of tipping solution. Paypal tip jars are so boring and completely ineffective. Scratchback is fun for the blogger who enables it and the reader who tips. It’s a win/win for everyone. Plus, it’s all nofollow and Google likes it.

3. How has the response been? Do you have any other plans lined up for it?

We’ll be rolling it out of beta hopefully in fall 2008. New features driven by our community of thousands of users.

4. What is the advice you would like to give people who are interested to sign up with scratchback.com?

Best advice is to set your tips higher than $5.00. People tip more often when the tips are set higher. I think it’s because of the psychology of it. If they’re just tipping you a dollar or two, they don’t feel it’s worth their time.

5. Do you have any other projects in the pipeline? If yes, could you give us a sneak preview?

My latest project is www.topgreen100.com where I’m building a directory of green blogs and websites. I have some other fun stuff always going but you’ll have to sign up for my blog updates at jimkukral.com to find out.

6. How competitive do you think online businesses have become? What is the formula for success?

It’s super competitive. But… if you pick a niche and stick with it,
and you differentiate yourself you can still shine and make money. Do video, do podcasts, get crazy. Do what no one else is doing. Brand yourself as the utmost expert in your niche.

7. Do you have any advice for new bloggers who are trying to find their footing?

Write a lot. Then keep writing. But write to solve people’s problems. Each post should solve a problem.

Thanks Jim!

ScratchBack webpage
Jim’s Homepage

Posted in interview | No Comments »

Monetize your blog using adsense

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Bravo! You’ve found your niche, and setup your blog. Now its time to monetize it. After all, you do deserve some money for your efforts right? The most easiest way to do this is using adsense. Adsense is an online advertising network by Google which is by far one of the biggest in the industry. Adsense basically looks for keywords in your posts and delivers relevant ads accordingly. You do not want ads about football on your technology blog right? So here are some easy steps you can follow to setup adsense.

1. Sign up for an adsense account at www.adsense.com
2. Once you setup your account at adsense, you will need to wait for authorization from Google. This typically takes a couple of days - sometimes just in a day.
3. Once you have got that email from Google Adsense, you are ready to monetize your blog.

If you are using blogger, using adsense is a piece of cake. You can easily add adsense using the widgets that are readily available. Try a few types of ads and see which works for you. Most important thing to note is - NEVER EVER click your own ads. You will be banned by Google. You don’t want that to happen right? Go ahead, have fun. Just remember - don’t let your ads be intrusive to your readers. After all, they visited your blog to find out information. Not to see ads.

Posted in Adsense, Blogger | 1 Comment »

How to start blogging using blogger?

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

First and foremost, I love blogger. I just love the usability and the fact that I can link to all my google accounts easily. Hence, I will start off the blogging posts on showing a video on how to start blogging using blogger. If you have a google account, sign up is automatic. Otherwise you will need to create a google account. Easy step by step instructions are provided in this video. Have Fun!

Posted in Blogger | No Comments »

Welcome to Bloggers ‘N Dollars

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Hi all, welcome to Bloggers ‘N Dollars. I decided to create this blog for all aspiring bloggers out there. As you might know, there are so many blogs out there with tons of inspiring articles on creating, maintaining and monetizing your blog. My intention of creating this blog is to provide a one stop shop of these information as well as for other bloggers to interact and provide their thoughts on how they have fared in their blogging journey. Many of us in the blogosphere aspire to become full time bloggers either because of our passion or because we would like to make a living doing something we love. Its a dream which will eventually become reality. So chase that dream, and join hands with me. Good Luck!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »