Are you paying to push traffic to your website? Whether you are running a pay-per-click campaign for your monetized blog, your ecommerce site or something else, you need to know what negative keywords are. More than that, you need to be using them regularly so that your ads get in front of truly targeted traffic. What Are Negative Keywords? When you run a pay-per-click ad, such as through Google Ads, you will choose a select group of keywords to target. Many keywords, however, can be associated with different things. Not all of those associations may be relevant to your needs. You understandab ..read more

With so much effort spent managing your blog and creating meaningful content, you want to share your thoughts with the world. Some blogs are insanely popular and easily receive thousands of visitors daily. If your blog is not in this group, you need to know what you can do to increase traffic. You can always pay to generate traffic to your website, such as by promoting a blog post via a paid Facebook or Twitter campaign. However, organic traffic is free, and it understandably trumps traffic that you need to pay for. Organic traffic is most heavily influenced by a range of search engine optimiz ..read more

My blog is heavily focused on the technical and practical sides of blogging, but I want to take a break from that this week. With Thanksgiving on the horizon and with the end of the year approaching quickly behind it, this is a time for reflection and hope. Given the year that we have all had, reflection seems particularly appropriate. Earlier this week, we were all given bold hope with news that a vaccine may soon be available. Today, my governor (in Texas) held a news conference about the distribution of an experimental Covid-19 treatment to 300 hospitals statewide. Then, with the drop of th ..read more

Regardless of how popular your blog gets, you may eagerly check your site’s stats regularly to see how many readers you have connected with. Driving traffic to your blog and maintaining a high click-through rate are easier said than done. In fact, you may spend so much time and energy writing, publishing and promoting your content that setting up an email newsletter is the last thing on your mind. This line of thinking can wind up biting you in the rear. Here are the top reasons why you need to add an email subscription form to your blog today. 1. Increase Readership Do you get frustrated when ..read more

Developing a strategic link-building campaign is undeniably essential for optimized placement on search engine results, but what about outbound links? Should you incorporate outbound links into your blog posts? Depending who you ask, you will get a wide range of recommendations and warnings about outbound links. Some people believe that outbound links are detrimental. After all, they take visitors off of your website, and those visitors may not return to continue perusing your website’s pages. In addition, there is general confusion about how outbound links impact SEO rankings and if they help ..read more

If you have read even a single article on search engine optimization, you have seen the term “backlinks” at least a time or two. However, identifying exactly what backlinks and finding a way to build a solid backlink campaign may seem like more effort than it’s worth. After all, can’t you simply focus on keywords and meta tags? As important as keywords and meta tags are in search engine optimization, your blog will likely rank relatively poorly in search results pages if you do not focus heavily on backlinks as well. What do you need to know about backlinks for your blog? What Is a Backlink? T ..read more

You pour your heart and soul into your blog, so of course you want your work to be read and enjoyed. Unfortunately, the internet is a crowded place, and it is only growing more congested by the day. Self-promotion is essential, but you may not be using all promotional outlets as effectively as you could be. We all know the basics of hashtags. When you choose the right hashtags, you can drive crazy amounts of traffic to your blog. This begs the question – are you choosing the right hashtags? More than that, are you using them effectively? Take a look at these five essential tips for using hasht ..read more

Whether you run a blog or an ecommerce website, using the right lead generation software is crucial. The reality is that driving targeted traffic to your website on a steady basis is easier said than done. You need to optimize the power of each visitor, and this is where lead generation software comes in. Are you wondering if you should make this investment in time and resources now? Whether you are just starting your website or you are slowly making gains on traffic generation with your sluggish lead generation software, there is no better time to optimize the power of your traffic with a mor ..read more

Be a pineapple. Regardless of the type of blog that you write, one universal truth applies. Your blog needs to have fresh, unique content. If you have been blogging for more than a few days, you understandably know that unique content is essential for search engine optimization purposes. Google will penalize your website for duplicate content, and this holds true even if you wrote the content yourself. However, there are several other reasons why you need to write fresh content on your blog. I write about 7,000 to 10,000 words a day between my “day job” as a content writer, my blog and my work ..read more

While most content writers have a passion for writing, making money is the name of the game. Unless you are a salaried content writer, your ability to bring in more money from your daily efforts is considerable. Given that the average content writer’s income in the U.S. is approximately $35,000 and the top income is around $72,000, there is plenty of room for most writers to improve. Add this to the fact that many content writers pull double-duty through blogging, affiliate marketing and more. With time in short supply, what can you do to maximize your income? 1. Know When to Let Go There is c ..read more