Let's Promote!

After you have developed and test marketed your blog, it is time to promote it. This is the point when you feel like your blog is presentable to the masses. The header image works, the layout works and the navigation is pleasing. Now to get some traffic.

There are a lot of tips out there to help you. Most of these tips have worked well for the tipsters. Whether or not they will work your you may be a different story. But, it's worth a try.

When you start out, take it slowly and do not overwhelm yourself or your blog. You do not want to burn yourself out. Also, you need to take it slowly to make a proper evaluation of what works for you.

Here are some tips.

• Comment on other blogs. The blogsite holder reads them as well as their visitors. Start by leaving a comment on my blog. You can also use a site such as blogs of note where there are bound to be plenty of good blogs with plenty of visitors

• Check out sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, and Reddit . They can actually send you quite a few visitors. Don't do all at once though as your blog will become tired fast.
  

• Invite a fellow blogger to guest blog on your site. A reciprocal guest blog is like sharing the wealth. I enjoy the invitation myself.
  

• Have something that everyone wants and give it to them. Free downloads are a good way to get visits.
  
  
• Purchase advertising through Google, Yahoo or even other blogs.
  

If you are interested in more personal help, feel free to contact me. Ryan

Traffic Ideas

If the intent of your blog is to make money, promote something, prove to the world that you have some great knowledge, or to be noticed, traffic matters.

If your blog is simply there to show pictures of the kids to grandma or to fulfill a class requirement, you may not want traffic. Seriously consider going to your settings tag and make sure that you have indicated for Google to NOT share your blog on their listings and to NOT promote it in search engines.

Want to know how to get more traffic? Read on.....

First of all, make sure that you have indicated in your basic setting tab that you do want your blog added to the Google listing and you do want it used in search engines. This is an easy given.

You can pay for promotion using Google AdWords or Yahoo or another internet option. There is a price to pay for the Google option and with good reason. How many times today have you Googled? Yahoo is a good alternative and is much less expensive. However, keep in mind that using Google allows you the chance to become one of those AdWord advertisements on someone else's blog.

Obviously, you want to write often. This comes down to the pinging thing and every time you write you get pinged. The more the better. Just make sure that your posts make sense, aren't redundant, and are well written. Make the reader want to come back or tell everyone else about you.

Take advantage of those free search engine submissions. Read this post for ideas.

Make friends. After you post, cruise through blogger and leave comments on other's blogs. Join communities. Start or join a blog roll.Get social and join a social network.

Offer an RSS feed (make it easy too by adding extra buttons).

Links, tags, labels and trackbacks are great to use because search engines pick these up.

Cyber Bullying

NCPC, the group best known for McGruff the Crime Dog, says it hopes this high profile case will shed the necessary light on how devastating cyberbullying can be to our young people. NCPC says adults are not immune to cyberbullying either and shows how easily cyberbullying can lure in both perpetrator and victim. NCPC’s cyberbullying prevention brochure is available at www.ncpc.org to help parents and their teens get a grip on cyberbullying.


The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) commented today on the pending sentencing of Lori Drew, the mother whose cyberbullying emails led to a young girl committing suicide.



NCPC, the group best known for McGruff the Crime Dog, says it hopes this case will shed the necessary light on how devastating cyberbullying can be to our young people. NCPC says adults are not immune to cyberbullying either and shows how easily cyberbullying can lure in both perpetrator and victim.



In fact, NCPC says it is easier to bully online because the perpetrator can hide behind the anonymity of the Internet and do things he or she is not likely to do in person. NCPC applauds the states pursuing legislation on the cyberbullying issue. The agency believes bullying is not a rite of passage but a pathway leading to long-lasting and potentially devastating consequences.



NCPC positioned itself in the forefront of this serious issue when it released its cyberbullying prevention campaign in 2007. NCPC’s research showed more than 43 percent of teens reported being victims. Even more troubling is that only one out of 10 kids told their parents.



NCPC’s cyberbullying prevention brochure is available at www.ncpc.org to help parents and their teens get a grip on cyberbullying.



Here’s what you can do to prevent cyberbullying



* Set an example. Parents have to show their teens how to resolve conflict peacefully. Lead by example and treat others with respect.
* Discuss the issue. Set expectations for online behavior and discourage your teen from posting others’ personal information or contributing to slam sites. Parents should adhere to those rules too.
* Set guidelines. Set rules for Internet use and monitor your teen’s use of technology (Internet, cell phones, and other devices). As teens get older, they believe their parents should be more concerned with what they see and hear online.
* Select a central location. Place your home computer in a central place in your home, such as your kitchen or living room. It is easier to monitor your teen’s Internet use this way.
* Encourage positive behavior. Make sure your teen is not sending or posting text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person.
* Save the evidence. If your teen has been cyberbullied, make sure that you copy all messages and websites—you may need them for reporting purposes.
* Block cyberbullying messages. Learn how you and your teen can block cyberbullying messages through your Internet service provider, social network site, or chat room moderator. Seventy-one percent of teens believe this is the most effective way to prevent cyberbullying.



To schedule an interview, please contact Michelle Boykins at 202-261-4184 or Amy Vimislicky at 202-261-4156. For more information on the public education campaign, visit www.ncpc.org.





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How to Get Your Blog to Appear at the Top of Searches

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

How do you get your blog to appear at the top of search results on Google, Yahoo, Ask.com etc? It appears to be a simple question; the answer, however, isn't as easy as you'd like (if it was, everyone would be at the top of search results, and we know that's impossible). This is a list of 5 free tips for getting your blog to appear at the top of search results.

Steps

1. Update your blog – daily. So to begin - you must be serious about your blog. Update it at least 3-4 times a week, preferably once a day.
   
2. Write clean, precise, and accurately. This includes grammar, spelling, and punctuation. The next step is very important: write clean, precise, and accurate blogs. How do you do that? You learned this in junior high - use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation etc, but go beyond that - create your own voice, one that commands respect and one people will turn to for whatever it is that you provide.
   
3. Provide a consistent ‘product’ for your audience that they want to come back to. That leads me to the next step: provide something for your audience. It can be entertainment, advice, riddles, jokes, laughs, just about anything - but be consistent. If you're predominantly positive, then one day you spew negativity and rant about something, be aware that you might be turning off regular readers of your blog.
   
4. Promotion! How do you promote your blog? Link your blog to as many sites and blogs as you can. Search engines, like Google, track this networking through an always changing, mathematical algorithm. So it's simple, post comments on other sites and blogs and sign off with your blogs 'address'. Contact site administrators and ask to post a link to your blog on their site (this will happen more frequently if your blog is relevant, and useful!). Part of promotion is registering your site with search engines. It may take some time once you register for the search engine ‘people’ to review your site or blog, but once they have, you will start appearing on search results. They look for keywords, relevance, etc. The two biggest search engines are Google and Yahoo.
   
5. Keywords: use popular keywords that are relevant and can be used in the context of your article. Use them often in your article, and in the title of your blog! This is somewhat complicated because people use keywords to search for what they need differently. Some keywords are searched for more often than others. Only use keywords in the context of your article, and make sure they are relevant, or else you can be ‘black-listed’ by search engines for spamming. With that in mind, use the keywords frequently in your article. Let’s say my keyword is "How‿", use it about 10 times throughout the article you write, but again, use it only in context and not just to use it. How do keywords help? Search engines scan your article for these keywords. The more often you have used them, and the more relevant they are, the more they appear on searches. Remember, you appear at the top of search results because advertisers are willing to pay the search engine for advertising on your site. If it’s not relevant, or it’s a worthless laundry list of keywords, you’ll be spotted right away. And finally, use these keywords in the title of your blog entry!
   
6. Use photos! If someone is searching for a photo, and your blog has keywords from their search, your photo will come up in the search. If they are interested in the photo, they may click on it to enlarge it or get more information. If they do this, and if they are searching using Google or Yahoo, then they will get taken directly to your blog. Free promotion!
   

Warnings

• Remember this isn’t easy work – you must be serious about it, and your blog. Promoting will take the most time and effort, but that’s what helps the most. Theirs is only one wrong way to promoting and marketing – Not promoting or marketing. There is no right way, just do it the best you know how, and you’ll see a difference.
  
• Also, try not to post your URL on other people's blogs too much. Not only is it annoying, it also seems kind of desperate.
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Get Your Blog to Appear at the Top of Searches. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.