There are several websites that will submit your blog to lots of search engines for free.I remember using these services when I started blogging but really they are a waste of effort as the search engines will find your site anyway - if you have inward bound links that is.
More importantly though we have to accept that three search engines dominate the market: Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft. comScore data for example shows that these three account for over 90% of searches. The August figures showed:
Yahoo! 19.6%
Microsoft 8.3%
Ask 4.8%
AOL 4.3%
I know from my own stats that most of my search engine referrals arrive from Google. I just looked at a couple of my celeb blogs and 77% of the search engine referrals were from Google.
It therefore makes sense to try and comply with what Google recommends. Read such things as their Webmaster Guidelines and Webmaster Central Blog for advice.
I received details of what Google's Maile Ohye has said about links and PageRank.
He said, "As many of you know, relevant, quality inbound links can affect your PageRank (one of many factors in our ranking algorithm). And quality links often come naturally to sites with compelling content or offering a unique service." My underlining.
It's not necessarily the number of links that matter but their quality. Their algorithm ignores spammy links or those from a spammy site.
It does seem that Google almost want links to happen naturally, no buying etc. So how do you do this? The following are suggestions from Maile Ohye to webmasters in general.
"Start a blog: make videos, do original research, and post interesting stuff on a regular basis. If you're passionate about your site's topic, there are lots of great avenues to engage more users.The advice is probably similar to what we have heard before.
Teach readers new things, uncover new news, be entertaining or insightful, show your expertise, interview different personalities in your industry and highlight their interesting side. Make your site worthwhile.
Participate thoughtfully in blogs and user reviews related to your topic of interest. Offer your knowledgeable perspective to the community.
Provide a useful product or service. If visitors to your site get value from what you provide, they're more likely to link to you."
I personally dislike being told what to do or how to do something by some big organisation or government but the reality is that, at the present time, Google is all powerful. Without their referrals several of my blogs wouldn't have worthwhile money making traffic.
As traffic to me is everything, in making money with blogs, I'll have to take heed of what they say and expect. At the moment that is ...
Good luck,
Mike.
Ad: Make Money With Your Articles. Get paid for the articles you write.
