What are ad units and link units
One of the most appealing reasons to start a blog is the prospect of making a little extra money on the side. While there are many different ways that you can monetize your blog, Google Adsense has got to be one of the most popular. Not only is Adsense easy to use, but you can customize their ads in order to seamlessly integrate them into your site.
There are two different types of Google Adsense units that you can take advantage of: ad units and link units. Understanding the difference between these units will help you improve your blog revenue.
According to Google’s policies, you are allowed to add 3 ad units and 3 link units to every page in your blog. Just because you can place this many ads in your blog, it does not mean you should. Add enough to increase your chances of getting a click, but do not add so many that your blog is cluttered with Google Adsense units. Your readers will appreciate this.
Ad units are designed to display an advertisement based on the criteria that has been integrated into your Adsense code. These are picture advertisements and come from a variety of different sources. Link units are similar to ad units, only they are a series text based links.
So do ad units or link units generate the most revenue? That really depends on your blog and how you have things configured. Keep in mind that link units are typically more likely to be clicked by your reader. This is because the text that is generated is based on your keywords. The problem with link units is that your reader will have to click on them twice in order for you to earn any blog revenue. Ad units only need to be clicked on once!
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Filed under Blogging, Make Money Blogging
Information about blog analytics
Every blogger will benefit from a useful analytics tool. These tools can help you monitor your blog so that you can find new ways to improve your search engine ranking and readership base. I use the plugin StatPress Reloaded by Manuel Grabowski.
StatPress Reloaded is a powerful tool that will give you information about the types of visitors you receive, the spiders that have crawled your blog, and the keywords that have led your readers to your blog.
There is a great overview section in StatPress Reloaded that provides you with the number of visitors, page views, spiders, and feeds that your blog has received. This information is broken down by month and day. You are also provided with a target goal for each current month so you can easily see if your blog is improving or declining. A convenient chart also reflects this data so you can visualize your blog’s performance.
I particularly enjoy the section that provides the latest search terms. This will tell you the exact search term that a person used to locate your blog. You are also given a link to the page the person viewed, the date, and the name of the browser they were using.
This plugin will also provide you with a list of browsers that people are viewing your blog with. If you see that the majority of people are using Internet Explorer 6 and your blog theme does not support this browser, you can switch your theme to a compatible option and improve your readership base.
Filed under Blogging, Traffic and Blogs
What is keyword stuffing
There are certain things you can do to improve your blog’s search engine ranking. One of the most popular things that people do requires adding a selection of keywords into the content of their blogs. While this is a tactic that is encouraged, it has to be done right or you could find yourself in a situation where you are keyword stuffing.
Simply put, keyword stuffing is a practice where the blogger literally stuffs their blog with keywords. In the past, this practice was utilized to quickly boost a blog’s search engine ranking. The problem with this tactic is that content that has been stuffed with keywords most likely provides little (if any) value to the reader.
It was eventually realized that this type of content was becoming a problem. The algorithms that control search engine rankings were updated to take keyword stuffing into consideration. Today when they crawl your site, search engines pay attention to keyword density. If these crawlers find that you have been stuffing keywords into your content, they penalize you with a lower search engine ranking.
The worst violators of keyword stuffing may even be banned from the search engine altogether. Have no fear. If you find yourself in this situation, you can simply clean up your blog and resubmit it to the search engine for reconsideration.
I should also point out that there are other ways, aside from the content, to stuff your blog with keywords. Many bloggers will camouflage keywords into the background of their site in order to make them invisible to the reader. It is also possible to stuff the meta tags of your blog with keywords. In many cases, search engines do not even acknowledge meta tags because of this problem.
The moral of the story: Include keywords in your content, just don’t over do it!
Filed under Blogging Tips, SEO Tips
Would you trust the info that comes from finance blogs
A quick search of the internet will probably produce the answer to just about any question that you have. With such a wealth of information so easily accessible, it can be a challenge to determine which information you should trust. When it comes to finance, understanding which blogs you can trust becomes even more important.
There is really no easy way to determine if the information you are reading on a blog can be trusted. To a certain degree, you almost need to trust your own judgment to sort the reliable information from the unreliable information that is available.
It is a good idea to follow a few guidelines if you plan to spend time reading finance blogs. This will help put you on the right track. If you ever have any doubt regarding the reliability of the information you are reading, it is probably a good idea to avoid that finance blog going forward.
Take a good look at who is writing the information posted on the finance blogs. Is the information coming from known sources within the financial community? See if there is any way to confirm who the writers are.
Read financial blogs that are sponsored by legitimate sources. Look around the blog and see if you can find any associations that the blog might be a part of. Pick a few people from the financial industry and do a search online to see if they have a financial blog to read.
Filed under Blogging
Why the best blogging is done when you love your topic
Many people start their own blogs in an effort to earn money. Some people will pick a topic for their blog that they believe will be popular although they may know nothing about the topic. Others will start a blog that is based on a topic that they love. In most cases, bloggers who write about what they love will be more successful.
Blogging isn’t necessarily as easy as it seems. Some of the best blogs around today are continually updated. Several new articles are posted each day to keep their readers coming back for more. As readers return, their profits from advertisements will steadily rise.
If you really want to create a blog that is ultimately successful, you will need to be prepared to dedicate some of your time. If you choose to write about gardening, but you don’t really like plants, it is going to be much harder to stay motivated to keep up with your blog.
On the other hand, if you love gadgets and you create a gadget blog, you will probably enjoy constantly updating your blog. It will be a fun experience to write posts for each new gadget you come across. It will also be much more rewarding for you when your readers post comments on your post that express a similar enthusiasm for these gadgets.
Whether you love the focus of your blog or not, it is important to stick with it in order to achieve the best results!
Filed under Blogging, Blogging Tips
Why quality blog content is the best way to build readership
Creating a blog to make some extra money is a great idea. Before you fill your blog with articles from a free database, take a moment to consider a few things. You will ultimately find it will be easier to build your readership if you post quality blogs of your own.
Adding quality content to your blog is essential if you are serious about building a strong readership base. If you want to make money on your blog, having unique quality content will pay off in the long run.
It is tempting to fill your blog with articles from one of the many free databases that are available today. It is an easy way to give your blog an established feeling, but will do little to attract readers.
Search engines rank web pages based on a variety of different things. One of the things that search engines look for is unique content. If the exact article you post on your blog can be found in several other places, your search engine ranking will plummet. This will make it extremely difficult to build your readership as nobody will be able to find your blog.
Plan on spending a few hours each week to create a handful of blog posts to get you started. Put some effort into each of the articles so that search engines will find them and reward you for the quality material you are publishing. With a higher search engine ranking, new people will be able to find your blog and your readership base will quickly grow.
