Thou shalt avoid flagrant self-promotion – No one likes to admit that they are a flagrant self-promoter – so let me give you this short quiz: do you primarily post comments, articles and answers that are designed solely to draw visitors to your site and/or sell them something? If yes, I’m sorry to say that you are a flagrant self-promoter and you may not realize it, but your links are annoying to the vast majority of people who see them. Moreover, you are increasingly likely to get banned from groups, forums and blogs. Stop blowing your own horn and start contributing to the community!

If you want some guidance and support, sign up for PeiProfit’s Free 7-Day Link-Building Challenge. It’s the easiest, fastest and most fun way to build 100′s of backlinks from a diverse range of sites, including: forums, directories, social bookmarks, blogs, articles, Q&A and more. Take the challenge by filling out the following form.

Personally I am not a big fan of the amateur “Talking Heads” web videos that seem to dominate YouTube. Have you ever tried looking some of those Internet Marketing promo people in the eyes? Is it the poor lighting or are they scary in real life too?

I happen to think that unless you are standing in a studio fresh from an appointment with a professional stylist, do the world a favor and keep your bad-hair-day to yourself! Still, plenty of people do the camcorder thing, so it must work… right? Personally I favor the screencasting types of videos, i.e. capturing the action on your screen or a PowerPoint-type presentation. These are really fun to do and the average web user likes watching them.

More importantly, it is a thousand times cheaper and easier to make them look professional than if you film a real live person. If I am doing a really sleek promo, I also avoid adding a DIY voice-over and instead use background music and the written word and images to convey my message.

This video shows you what I think is the easiest, fastest way to make a web video for free.

After watching, follow through and make a web video right away (whether it’s your first or your 100th). Upload it to your blog today.

Anyways…

Google is constantly innovating new ways to improve the relevance of their search results. The newest kid on the block is real time results in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Real time results are comprised of “the latest thing” out there – be it a tweet, news report, or blog post. I am still not one hundred percent certain as to how it works, but as far as I can tell any search query that suddenly increases in volume will produce real time results.

As excited as Google is about this shift, as an SEO, I am honestly not sure how I feel about this move. It will certainly affect short-term SEO by moving certain results down on the page, so fewer long-term results will be above the fold, which is problematic, because that is prime real estate.

And here’s a question, Google: after having worked for weeks – nay, months! – on a website ensuring that it is relevant for specific keywords, and knowing that it offers valuable information to Google users who are entering search queries for said specific keywords, how is it that some random jerk on Twitter is ranking higher than me? For two to three seconds, maybe, but nevertheless. So much for an honest day’s work.

Anyway, having finished that rant, back to SEO…So clearly, these real time results will have some repercussions on SEO. The short term consequences are obvious – relevant search results will be pushed down temporarily, and perhaps there will be a slight dip in search engine traffic. A very slight dip. We are not all that interested in short term, however; we are interested in what ultimately will affect the bottom line – namely, revenue. The long term affects of real time results are a concern.

However, having said that, I do not believe that the SEO of a quality website will be affected negatively by real time search results in the long term. Maybe I’m just being optimistic, but an increase in the number of searches for a keyword means that the percentage of the increase will be clicking on the real time results, because clearly buzz was created around that keyword. The remaining searches – the “normal” percentage of daily searches – will still be searching for steadier, less viral results.

So at the end of the day, not only will real time search not negatively affect the SEO of the more static search results, it may even have a (very minor and short term) positive effect.

• PPC campaigns
• Actual advertising

(Please bear in mind that you actually have to have a hosted and somewhat decent site in order to achieve either one of these – NOT a WordPress.com blog, which is entirely different from WordPress.org blogs.)

PPC campaigns are excellent in that they produce tangible results. You can easily track any conversions made via a PPC campaign; you can track PPC traffic; all of the data is there.  That having been said, I know very few people who actually click on PPC ads.  They look, for lack of a better word, remarkably spammy, and overtly paid-for.  They’re great for huge companies that have many methods of advertising; if that’s the case, PPC should definitely be integrated into the advertising strategy.  But for smaller companies…not so great.  Smaller companies would see very few clicks and/or conversions from a PPC campaign.  Since publishers get paid on a per-click basis, that didn’t make a lot of financial sense to me.  I mean, sure, do it, it doesn’t cost you anything, but just bear in mind unless you’re a recognized brand advertising another recognized brand, you won’t see much money.

Now for advertising…  Advertising makes a lot more sense to me as a publisher.  I can set my own rates, for starters.  And I get paid regardless of how many people click on the ads on my site.  The drawback is that for people to advertise on my site, I have to have proven my value to them first – it’s not like joining a PPC network and automatically getting ads placed.

Keep in mind that either one of these options requries that you build a somewhat decent site, with content, that fits a niche that is popular amongst the online community – fashion or technology, for example.  And that contrary to popular belief, it does take work on your part.  It may not require manual labor, but it does require investment, both financially and in terms of time.

So, let’s get started.

First of all, this isn’t one of those methods that promise you that you will rank on the first page of Google within days. It will take some time, but it will be all worth it when you’re raking in the big bucks.
As we all know, building quality backlinks back to your site is one of the most important things you can do to rank higher in the search engines. And that’s what we will do.

We will focus on Social Bookmarking and Article & Directory submissions.

Social Bookmarking

The great thing about social bookmarking sites is that they attract search engine spiders. By having a link on the top social bookmarking sites, you can get a much higher ranking in the search engines within days as opposed to months with other methods. 

Once you sign up, you need to be a little creative. Join related groups in the network and post your posts with a link back to your site. Link back to your articles and ther useful content and NOT to your affiliate pages. There are hundreds of different bookmarking sites, some better and more popular than others, but they can all build good high quality links that will bring you tons of extra traffic. Below are the top 10 bookmarking sites to get you started.

• Digg.com 
• Propeller.com 
• StumbleUpon.com 
• Reddit.com 
• Del.icio.us.com 
• Newsvine.com 
• Fark.com 
• Blinklist.com 
• Clipmarks.com 
• Shoutwire.com

You can easily submit your whole site to over to 160 social and bookmark sites at once at socialposter.com

Article  & Directory Submission

One of the best ways of promoting a website is by writing articles and submitting them to ezines. Not only are you creating more backlinks for your site, but the readers of your articles will also view you as an expert in your field. This will give you very powerful leverage  because they are far more likely to trust you, which means they are more likely to buy your affiliate products and subcribe to your RSS feed. 

One of the most popular ezines is ezinearticles.com. There, you can submit 15 -20 of your best quality and original articles that link back directly to your site . The aticles should have your primary keywords as well as secondary all linked on your domain. You can then find hundreds of other article directories where you can submit your already written articles and that will help you create even more backlinks, traffic and credibility.

You can find lists of many directories, including article, here at your one and only Pei Profit SEO Resources.

Get to work!!

Here are six steps to climb the rankings chart.

Focus
Ensure that your content is relevant to the keywords you want to target and vice-versa. Which keywords do you want to get high rankings for? Focus first on those that will bring quality traffic.

Say, a market research company wants high rankings for “market research”, “quantitative research” and “qualitative research” so that it can capture the audience that is looking to hire its expertise. The strategy would be to focus on narrower keywords such as “market research firms” or “market research companies”. Hunt for more generic keywords later.

Optimize Your Content
Focus first on keywords that will bring in quality traffic. This step is critical to the success of your blog. Go through your content and include the keywords naturally into the text. Make page titles, headings and sub-headings keyword-rich; search engines give more weight to these when determining relevance. However, do not stuff your pages with the keywords hoping to trick search engines. Google’s team will sniff these out and pin you down on their black list.

Tweak Your Tags
Search engines give more weight to text enclosed in certain HTML tags such as the tag and the heading tags. So, after optimizing content, have keyword-rich page titles, headings and sub-headings. Try to keep the text under 64 characters. Anything longer might get chopped off by the search engines.

Increase Your Credibility
Google places emphasis on the number of sites which link to yours and the credibility of these sites. Ask your readers, business partners or even friends to link to your blog. Get as many credible incoming links as you can. A good incoming link should contain both your company name and keywords.

Be Patient
You can use search engine ranking tools (both free and commercial ones) to track your blog’s rankings for the keywords you have chosen to focus on. However, it may take up to 8 to 12 weeks to appear on page 1.

Rinse and Repeat
Measure your results using search engine ranking tools and update your website at least once a week as search engines give priority to updated sites. If you do not get listed in the top 10, do not fret. It is a hotly contested page with scores of companies vying for the spot.
Look instead at your blog’s ranking for the keywords. If you have moved up, then you’re right on track. Refine your keywords, include new keywords, optimize your content and get more credible incoming links!

Spammers are no different from stalkers. They follow you daily and throw you things you don’t wish to see and they don’t just give up. Well, sometimes I would see it as “the more popular you are, the more spams you will get”, how many of you agree with this? Right now if I am getting 100 spams a day, John Chow might be getting 3 times more.

You would have realised that there are some very well written “comments” that might have escaped your eyes if you weren’t careful. Here are some examples you can see:

The Smiley Style. Don’t be fooled by the smile! If he doesn’t usually post, he probably meant it.

The Question Style. It makes you think they are trying interact with you, but no, they just want to spam.

The Praise Style. They praise you to make you happy thinking you have done really well and hopefully you would just go ahead and approve it.

The Beat About The Bush Style. They never touch on the topic you wrote about and they don’t want to sound wrong, so they beat about the bush.

The Try To Hit The Topic Style. This is similar to the question style and these spammers are just trying their luck to hit the nail on the topic. Too bad, sometimes it just gets so obvious.

To go an extra mile to give them the benefit of adult, I have blurred their email, url and IP to prevent any further misunderstandings. Do take time to consider if these comments deserved to be approved in the future.

Remember, they may be able to fool askimet, but they can’t fool you!

So guys, have you seen any more creative answers than this? Let me know by leaving them in the comment space below. Would love to hear from you!

Before we go into the beef of the interview, here’s a personal video introduction from Garry himself.

Ben: I have read on your blog that you make quite a bit of money from adsense. Is it still a good money making platform these days?

garryconn: Sure it is. Google AdSense is one of the most easiest ways to make money online. It is a perfect program for new beginners who want to get their feet wet with starting a career with making money online.

Ben: I noticed you make money from ClickBank too. What will be your recommendations for my readers to start making money from Clickbank?

garryconn: ClickBank is an excellent company to do business with. They have thousands of amazing digital products available for people to promote and sell. Like any program that involves selling products or services, it is very important for the marketer to know the product being sold. Not only that, but to believe in the product being sold. On my personal blog, I often explain to my readers that it is important to act as if you own the product being sold. In order to find success with selling ClickBank products, you need to be familiar with the products you want to sell. Secondly, you need to target the right audience. Thirdly, when it comes to promoting products on a blog with a subscriber base, it is very important that you run a very balanced and healthy blog; meaning, your blog shouldn’t be always be perceived as a place that constantly sells. The author of the blog should provide amazing and quality information to the subscribers and then sell products that enhance the advice, tips and tricks being offered.

Ben: I have been a regular follower of GarryConn.com and I notice that you update your blog daily, sometimes 2-3 times even. Where do you get your inspirations from?

garryconn: I see a blog story in everything. Writing comes very natural to me. My inspirations come from just having a good perception of understanding what people want to read. Also…

One of the more important inspirations is understanding how much people need help. There are many reasons why people want to make money online. For some people, learning how to earn money on the Internet can improve their quality of life. That inspires and fuels me with energy to write on my blog. I have passion for helping people because when I help people in return it helps me.

Ben: Do you believe in blog commenting and forum participation as forms of marketing technique for your blog?

garryconn: For sure. I also believe in participating in instant messenger interviews such as the one you are conducting. Spreading the word about what I do and where I do it is vital towards the success of my blog. While I myself don’t participate in a lot of forums, I do comment on a few blogs from time to time. Social networking has been a large focus of mine lately as well as online videos and even streaming a live video feed on my blog. Another focus of mine is continuing to build my mailing list. I have a private mailing list and it is used to provide subscribers with exclusive content that never gets published on the blog.

Ben: Oh you mentioned Video Blogging! The last time I made a post about Vlogging, my readers got excited about it. Would you like to share with them what benefit has vlogging brought you Garry?

garryconn: Many people, including myself, absorb information better when it is communicated vocally or visually rather than written. When I provide my readers with videos it enables me to connect with people who typically don’t have time or the desire to read long articles. Often my video tutorials provide live examples, meaning when people watch the videos it’s as if they were standing over me watching what I do on the computer. Video blogging provides a mutual benefit for both myself as well as my readers because ultimately it allows us to make an enhanced connection together.

Ben: Twitter was the first place where I got in touch with you and I appreciate your follow back. What makes you follow or unfollow someone on Twitter?

garryconn: I am torn with what I should do with Twitter. I have almost 1400 people following me yet I only follow less than 200. For me, Twitter is a lot like FaceBook and I really only want to follow the people that I truly know, or at a minimum, want to get to know better. There are people who follow everyone that follows them, but I tried that and it made my timeline way too busy, which caused me to lose touch with the people that are truly important or interesting to me. So to answer your question as asked, I follow people who I either know or who interest me.

Ben: I see that you have a section on ‘Blogs I Like To Read’. What does it take to get listed there?

garryconn: I think that is pretty self explanatory… In order for your blog to be included in that section of my blogroll, it has to be a blog that I like to read.

Ben: Haha Silly Me! Now here’s my final question for my readers, if you were to give your best advice to make money blogging in one sentence, what would it be?

garryconn: I can’t answer that in one, so I will give you two:

Here is #1: Ask yourself, “What am I good at and what do I enjoy?” And then ask yourself, “How can I take these two elements and shape them into something profitable online?”

And #2 I want to invite you and your readers to read the full story behind that quote here: Sometimes The Way To Make Money Online Isn’t What You Expect

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