The Back Catalogue Brings May Visitors

Yet another month has ticked by and I've been looking at different aspects of my blogs for May.

I have written before about what I call the back catalogue of posts and their value. I think that last month illustrated this when I looked at the most viewed posts on various blogs.

If we take this blog, for example, out of the five top most viewed posts only one was from May and three of the others were from 2007.

It's also interesting how two of the posts started with the words How To. These are two powerful words when someone is looking for information on search engines. Here are the Top Five:

How To Make Money With Chain Letters March 2007
Lots Of Ways On How To Make Money May 2007
Money Making With Free Blogs - Part 1 March 2007
How To get 90% Discounts On Amazon Products May 2008
List Of 40 Blog Directories Offering Free Listings Feb 2008

With my celebrity blog again three of the top five most viewed posts are from last year. Because I get more traffic to the blog the value of older posts can be seen even more.

Just these three 2007 posts brought in 4460 readers, about 148 per day, during May. This is why I have said in the past that, in my opinion, a new blog should write as many (quality) posts as possible and on varied subjects relevant to their niche.

Top Five for Celebrity Insider - Photos & News were:

Paulette Dean Daly: Relationship With Roger Clemens May 2008
The Noelia Sex Video June 2007
Exclusive - Was Sarah Larson A Go Go Dancer? Sept 2007
Marcia Cross Nude And Desperate Dec 2007
Ani Lorak Ukraine's Favourite To Win Eurovision May 2008

It can be seen from the celeb blog that sex is a big influence in attacting traffic but I guess we all know this! Some of the posts aren't very long but it's really a case of giving people what they want. Sorry, I know I keep repeating this.

Most visitors, on the two mentioned blogs, went to the home page but without the back catalogue there would have been considerably fewer hits.

I'll just mention one more thing about May - my thanks to the other blogs which sent traffic to Mikes Money Making Mission. As usual it's appreciated. The Top Five for May were:

WebDosh
Money Money Money
Blog About Your Blog
Make Money Fa$t
AdSense4Dummies
Thanks to all!

Good luck for June everyone.
Mike.

P.S. John of WebDosh has just told me his Proven Earners Carnival has just been published.

Anchor Text For Improved Search Engine Positions

We all keep reading, and no doubt saying as well, about the value of links into our blogs. Very few will argue about this. It brings in traffic and helps with PageRank and search engine rankings.

What we sometimes overlook though, is the value of the anchor text. By this I mean the words that we choose for our inward bound links. Often we simply use the name of our blog as the link.

We should, however, probably be giving this anchor text as much thought as we do our keywords. Using the right words can help with our SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

This was brought home to me again by something that Michael Small of seo partner said.

He gave the example of searching for the words click here on Google. If you do the Adobe Acrobat Reader website will be at the top of the page. Now the strange thing is Abode doesn't have the words click here on it's website!

We are usually told that we need chosen keywords on our blogs to get a decent Google ranking, but this isn't 100% necessarily so. Another way is to have lots of inward links where the anchor text is your keyword(s).

Going back to Adobe, they are the top match for click here because of the thousands of other websites that use click here when linking to Adobe's free download of Acrobat Reader.

This anchor test is something to consider when getting inward links or exchanging links. I know that I sometimes forget and, when I refer to other blogs that I publish, I tell readers to click here to visit them. I should instead be using chosen keywords.

It's something that's simple to do and could help our blogs in several ways - so think: anchor text!

Good luck,
Mike.

The Long Tail Way To Make Money

Okay, how's your long tail?

I mean if you have, say a money making blog, do you concentrate on the word money as a keyword? If you do you'll have a heck of a lot of competition and might have a job getting a good position on the Google search engine.

Also, if you use a word like money, it can mean different things to different people. In other words someone who puts money into a search might not be thinking about money making. If he or she isn't then they'll probably leave your blog as quickly as they arrived. It might be a referral for the stats but it won't make you any money.

A Long Tail, in a keyword sense, is more than one word. It could be several words, or a phrase, that really defines what your post (or blog) is all about. Therefore, if a searcher uses your Long Tail words, when they arrive via Google it's more likely they will remain longer on your blog - as you should have something they are really looking for. So this time they are a referral that is more likely to make you money.

So how do you decide what Long Tail words to use?

One way is to use a tool (yes, it's free!) such as the Keyword Suggestion Tool.

This tool will give you up to 100 suggestions and these are based on what people have been searching for.

Let's give an example.

So you've written a post all about, let's say, Harry Potter. So what Long Tail keywords should you use? Here's what this particular Keyword Suggestion Tool came up with:


The full list includes 100 suggestions but I thought that would take up a bit too much space! Anyway, the above list shows what people are presently searching for.

Yes, the two words Harry Potter are at the top but are you realistically going to get a top ten search engine position with these? Doubtful. But you might just fare a lot better with some of the other suggestions on the list.

Whatever Long Tail set of words you choose, of course, has to be incorporated within your post and even in the title if possible.

I used Long Tail keywords long before I'd ever heard of the expression. It simply made sense to me and I've proved to my own satisfaction that they work.

You could even get ideas for posts based on a selection of Long Tail keywords. Enter the theme (i.e. dogs, football, soccer, baby, art or whatever) of your blog into the Keyword Suggestion Tool and see what it comes up with.

If we take the theme or niche 'dogs' the tool suggests: dog breeds, westminster dog show, dog names, dog parvo symptoms, dog food coupons, dog rescue shelters and so on. So amongst the top 100 there should be an idea of something on which to base a post.

The idea is to try and match the searcher with what he or she is looking for. Do this and you have a proper targeted referral - that has a better chance of making money.

I know I've often said that Lots of Traffic = Lots of Money but ...
... Lots of Targeted Traffic = Lots More Money!

Give the Keyword Suggestion Tool a try, there are also others about and they could help:

(1) Bring more targeted referrals
(2) Get a better position on the search engines
(3) Give ideas on which to base a post relative to your niche.
(4) Make you more money! Providing you have the right ads, programs etc. to tie in with the keywords.

Good luck,
Mike.

Do You Do It Every Day?

It's back to basics today and a trip into the past.

I was asked how I managed to get traffic when I first started blogging - starting from nothing and without any blogging contacts.

Funnily enough I couldn't quite remember, other than I had the principle that every day I would do something different to try and get visitors. It was really my constant try, try and try philosphy that eventually got things moving.

I left this blog's URL/address wherever I could.

Often, it has to be said, this wasn't always productive but like water drip, dripping away it does have an overall effect. Plus, by searching for ways to get traffic, you come across all sorts of ideas - again some that work and some that don't. The point is: seek and you will find - that almost sounds religious!

So every day I plugged away doing something.

I hit the blog directories. There is a list of directories, together with their PageRank, on my February post A List Of 40 Free Blog Directories.

Looking back through old records the following two directories sent me the most referrals, though don't expect a deluge!
Blog Show Off
Blog Hub

I also got a good response from Klik Us - mainly because I got onto the front page. When I checked just now I'm still there and I haven't been on the site for ages.

I also joined various forums. These can bring traffic if used properly. One tip is to always comment on your own threads after anyone else makes a comment - this usually will bounce you up to the top of the list threads again.

Then there are things such as MyBlogLog - see widget in right hand column and myLot. Again, when I was starting out they brought me referrals plus with myLot I also earned about $40.

Like a lot of new bloggers I also dabbled with the Traffic Exchange programs. Now these definitely do work if you have the time. I'm not convinced, however, as to the value of the referrals but they can make your stats look good! Three I joined were:
Blog Explosion
Blog Soldiers
Blog Mad

One warning about Traffic Exchanges: Google AdSense do not like them so don't run AdSense ads while using any form of traffic exchange.

I won't go through everything that I tried when I started blogging - I see I haven't mentioned the likes of exchanging links, commenting on other blogs, social networking for example - but the message is:

Do something new every day to try and generate traffic. Readers won't otherwise magically appear - remember there are 50 million other blogs out there!

Good luck,
Mike.

YouGov: Complete surveys and polls for payment - genuine company.

Make Money With Your Blog's Comments

When trying to make money from blogs it's as well to use all sorts of things that are available. Such as having an ad or ads on your comments form or page.

On Blogger this is very simple. Go to Settings and then Comments and on this page you'll find a box to complete headed Comment Form Message.


In the box just enter your ad and this will then be seen when visitors look at your Comments Page/Form (together with the relevant link, of course). Basic HTML is accepted.

Since I have started doing this myself I have stopped using the pop up window for comments as any clicks on links only go to a small sized page i.e. same size as the pop up window. I figure that this may put off readers. So I'm back to using the standard full page.

Having an ad on the comments page isn't going to make a bundle of money but every few extra clicks helps - especially if you have several blogs on the go.

Good luck,
Mike

P.S. I believe there was a problem with my last post How To Get 90% Discounts On Amazon Products when viewing on Firefox. Hopefully the adjustments I have made have now corrected this. Fingers crossed! Thanks Tom and Zania for telling me about this.

How To Get 90% Discount On Amazon Products

I suppose this post isn't exactly about making money with blogs, though it could be. It's about getting big discounts from Amazon - even as much as 90%!

I say it could be a money maker for bloggers because what you buy cheap you can often resell for profit, which is a basic requirement for many businesses.

There are a few pictures on this post of 'bargains' (taken at random) that could perhaps be resold, from both Amazon USA and Amazon UK.

The Krug Baumen watch, for example, is down from £374.26 to £29.95, quite a saving! Offers shown are current at time of posting.

Okay, so how do you find out these heavily discounted Amazon items? There's nothing too difficult in it, it's simply a matter of using the right search format.

The following URL is all that is required, though it has to be adapted by altering the red, green and orange sections.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/?
node=328228011&pct-off=90-99

First the red section.
This obviously needs to be altered dependent on what country Amazon you want to search. USA would be altered to .com and so on. That's straightforward.

Now the green section.
This node code number has to be altered for the sort of items you are looking for. I've listed a lot of the codes below both for both UK and USA.

USA Codes:
283155 =Books
5174 =Music
502394 =Camera & Photo
1065836 =Audio & Television
541966 =Computers & PC Hardware
229534 =Software
172282 =All Electronics
361395011 =Home Appliances
1057794 =Furniture & Decor
16310101 =Grocery
165793011 =Toys & Games
3367581 =Jewelry
377110011 =Watches
3760911 =Beauty
3403201 =Cycling
3375251 =Sports & Outside

UK Codes
266239 =Books
229816 =Music
283926 =DVD
300703 =PC & Video Games
560834 =Camera & Photo
560858 =Audio & Television
560884 =iPod & MP3
561904 =Computing & Office
300435 =Software
11052591 =Home & garden
468292 =Toys and Games
328228011 =Jewellery & Watches
355005011 =Shoes
362353011 =Bags and Accesories
318949011 =Sports and Leisure
65801031 =Health & Beauty

Simply substitute the code required for whatever type of products you are looking for discounts on.

Thirdly the orange section.
The 90-99 shown, in the example, refers to us looking for discounts of between 90% and 99%.

I must point out that there are not always discounts of between 90% and 99%, on all categories. With some products it might be less.

Discounts are continually altering, dependent on lots of factors, so several searches may be needed. If there is nothing in the 90-99 range try altering the discount to, say 75-99, or whatever you think might be acceptable.

Some products are more likely to have bigger discounts than others.

It's really a matter of playing around with products and discounts until you spot what you consider to be a bargain price, either for your own use or to sell on for profit.

Here are a few examples to test and see what's currently available.

USA
Watches & Jewelry
Electronics

UK
Cameras & Photos
Watches

And that is how to get big discounts on Amazon products. It's worth messing around with as you never know what you might turn up on any particular day.

Good luck,
Mike.


Link to this post

<a href="http://mikesmoneymakingmission.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-get-90-discount-on-amazon.html">How To Get 90% Discounts On Amazon Products</a>

Blogging To The Bank: Create highly profitable blogs that suck in thousands of target visitors every day.

Amazon Widget Brings Music To Your Blog

Amazon have introduced yet another widget for affiliates. This allows you to play song samples from Amazon's catalogue of over five million entries.

You can choose the songs you want or alternatively display the latest bestsellers - as I have done in the sample below.

It's only a small money maker as a download is normally only about 99c - and the commission is at 10%. Of course, once on the Amazon site, the reader may be tempted to order something else of a higher value.

I must admit though that I've never really managed to get a good return from Amazon. I was just looking at some stats and my last 250 clicks only produced one order. So we are talking of only a 0.4% take up. Not exactly amounts to set you on fire - but a few small income streams help to make something bigger.

Okay now click the widget and see what you want to download! Let's see 10% off 99c is ... good job there are a few far superior affiliate programs about.


Good luck,
Mike.

P.S. John has emailed me to say that he had done his regular Proven Earners Carnival. You can see this here.