HomeBasedChristians.com » Marketing Monday

Guaranteed Ways To Get Your Blog Comments Removed

Maureen Kellis — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:57:56 +0000

Today’s topic is near and dear to my heart , as I just spent a chunk of precious time deleting and marking as spam 223 comments from over the weekend. First I’ll discuss general blog etiquette, and then I’ll tell you what you’ll need to do to get your comment posted along with a link back to your site.

Since this blog is about developing a home business, and given that most of the spam I received was linking to other business sites, I’ll direct my comments as such, but keep in mind that what I am saying here also applies to personal blogs as well. Although “blogs” started as personal journals, they are absolutely essential for your business. Please keep in mind that they are a social expression and people react emotionally, regardless of the topic. Good business bloggers are trying to develop a rapport with their visitors. We are looking for feedback. And community. And of course, in the long term, sales.

When you take time to responsibly comment on other people’s blog, good things happen. You’ll find people visit your blog and leave comments in return.

The keywords being “responsibly comment.” Blogging can be very rewarding as you become involved in an exchange of ideas and build relationships with customers and prospective customers. An informative and intersting blog can bring you word of mouth traffic. It is unfortunate that many bloggers become wary due to the massive amount of comment spam going on.

Here are some pointers for staying on the good side of the blogmasters. I am happy to give you some link love and use do follow tags, however you must provide interesting feedback and follow the guidelines below or your comment will get deleted.

Please, don’t slap your affiliate links and/or site links in the comments. Even if your product/site is relevant, my blog is not your sales venue. There is a handy dandy place for you to leave your site link right on the comment form.

Please be relevant and stick to the topic. Don’t try to slip in some spam. If you have something to raise that’s relevant but not exactly on the same topic, a better way may be for you to blog about it and posting a trackback instead.

As my momma always said, if you don’t have anything nice to say, figure out a nice way to say it! I do welcome a difference of opinion, but you’ll have to do it respectfully. Also, my blog is not the place to debate different religious points of view. It’s about running a business from a Christian perspective. If you are looking to debate religion there are many appropriate blogs where you can do so.

To keep your comment from sounding “spammy,” say something intelligent that contributes to the conversation. If you agree or disagree, tell me why. If you’ve had experience with the topic, share it. We love to hear it. Ranting and complaining is not cool.

If I sound negative, I don’t mean to. As I said before, I’d like to give link love. These using these guidelines when leaving your comments is the fastest way to get you there.

Looking forward to connecting with you online,

Maureen :-)

P.S. One of my mastermind mentors, is blogging expert and entrepreneur Lynette Chandler. She has some free info to help new bloggers start their blog right from the beginning. Grab yours at BlogEnergizer.com

Guaranteed Ways To Get Your Blog Comments Removed originally appeared on HomeBasedChristians.com on May 18, 2009.

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Peel Away Ads

Maureen Kellis — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:22:01 +0000

Is there anything more annoying online than pop up ads? I’m sure there is, and I know there are many opinions. I will admit that I, like many, were intrigued at first. Pop up ads were a novel idea and very effective years ago. But with overuse, overexposure, and pop-up blockers, pop up ads have gone the way of banner ads. So is there another alternative for the website owner who wants to advertise? Let’s consider the peel away ad.

Peel away ads are relatively new but they are catching on like wildfire. These ads resolve the problem of pop ups in an interesting and intriguing way. People actually want to discover what these ads are hiding.

With traditional pop up ads, you have to click on them to make them go away. They can appear in the middle of reading an article or looking at a web page. Some pop up ads scroll across the page from one side to the other. The bottom line here is that the ads have become annoying and bothersome. And I’m assuming you do not want to irritate your readers;-).

Peel away ads were designed to deal with the frustration of pop up ads. Websites use ads to bring in money. Advertising is a necessary evil if the website wants to create a bit of passive income, but using a peel away ad is less intrusive to your website visitors. They are good for affiliate programs; events, products and services you want to promote; and can even be used to get people to sign up for your mailing list.

Here’s How Peel Away Ads Work:

Peel away ads look just like a page of a book. The corner of the ad is bent down as if you were marking a page in a book. A portion of the can be seen so that the person gets an idea of what the ad is talking about. If you are not sure what I’m talking about, you can check out the ad at the top right of my website. See how it peels back?

When someone rolls their icon over the peeled page, it will peel a bit more. The person can continue reading the ad or choose to ignore it. In the second case, moving the icon away from the peeled page causes the page to return to its original state. No extra screen has to be clicked on and closed. The ad rolls back up and doesn’t get in the way.

Is It Easy To Use?

In a word…yes. In fact I was surprised at how easy it was. There are a few software programs you can check out.

Purchase the peel away ad software. To find out more, go to the website at peelawayads.com. The software is easy to install. Peel away ads can be used in any corner of the web page. It is advised that ads stay above the halfway point of the page for best results. Choose the right or left upper corner for the peel away ads. You can test out which corner is best.

With the software, animate all of your websites. Because people want to see what is on the next page, so to speak, the click rate for your ads will increase. Purchase the software once and no further payments are required. Add the script to your page and get started.

If you run an affiliate program, you may want to include peel away ads in the marketing materials you provide to your affiliates. If you are an affiliate marketer, you can always contact the site owner and suggest this service.

Maureen :-)

Peel Away Ads originally appeared on HomeBasedChristians.com on May 11, 2009.

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5 Ways To Blog Without A Lot Of Work

Maureen Kellis — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:22:44 +0000

On today’s Marketing Monday, let’s welcome one of my mentors from MomMasterminds. Lynette Chandler is the owner of TechBasedMarketing.com and consider to be a blogging expert. Here she shares with us some great tips for easier blogging. Enjoy!

5 Ways To Blog Without A Lot Of Work

1.Assemble a team.

Gather a few people with complimentary businesses to come together and contribute to the blog. Have everyone involved promote the blog as a condition of participation. This helps everyone involved because now, you get to reach each other’s customer group in a non invasive manner. Everyone gets a chance to be seen and read. Use your RSS feeds! Take it one step further by displaying the group’s RSS feed on each others’ websites to capture a wider audience.

2.Hire a team of bloggers.

Newspapers have contributors, blogs can too. If you already hire writers for your articles, this works the same way. Many of the most successful blogs are already doing this. The combination of group promotion effort, regular updates and pinging can help bring in traffic quickly. One thing to note here is blogs are a somewhat social tool. Some very popular niche blogs are not all that visible in the search engines, yet they get a lot of traffic because people recommend them and they become a sort of buzz hub. Search engines do not always pick up on this but they do eventually. This is why group blogging can be very powerful because you’re leveraging the power of not one (your) influence group but several people’s influence group. If you do pay your bloggers, you can always offset this cost by displaying Adsense ads. Many popular blogs earn a good amount in Adsense, that they make a nice profit even after paying their bloggers team. After a while it becomes a passive income stream.

3.Recycle your content.

Have you got articles you’ve written a long time ago? What about material that you’ve never put online? A newspaper interview, printed article, maybe an audio segment. You can blog these. Break up the articles into small manageable blog entries. One of the reasons people like blogs so much is they are bite-sized pieces of information that give people what they want to know quickly. If the article is long, create a series of entries for example, a long article about finding the right home insurance can be broken up into home insurance week on your blog. You’ll also have one whole week’s worth of blog entries covered.

4.Include audio.

For some of us, it’s much easier to speak than to write. So, mix up your blog. Carry a small portable MP3 recorder or blog by phone. This is awfully convenient especially as moms, we’re running in and out of the house all day, ferrying our kids where they need to go. Maybe you’re stuck in traffic, or waiting for the kids to get out piano class or school. An idea or thought strikes and you think “Oh I need to share that on my blog” so, pick up your phone (assuming you have a cell phone – and many of us do), dial a number, say what’s on your mind, save it and you’re done. Your blog is published. If you’re using Blogger, you can do this for free through AudioBlog. It involves calling a long distance number, but most cell phone plans don’t charge extra for long distance anyway so you’re not incurring any extra cost.

If you’re using another blog publishing tool like WordPress, Movable Type or TypePad, then you’ll need a service like AudioBlogger.com. This one is a paid service but it’s only $4.95 a month and it gives you more options like a nice flash player, statistics and even video that make it worth while.

5.Automate your blog.

One of the best things about using a more sophisticated blog publishing tool like WordPress is forward blog entry. This allows you to blog ahead of time. For example if you have several things you’d like to share or speak out about, you can set the blog not to post that entry until a date and time of your choosing. It works much like an autoresponder or scheduled mailing feature you find in mailing list managers.

Let’s face it. There will be times we have a ton to say and times we have little or nothing to share. Instead of having multiple entries one day and nothing over the next few days, by using forward entry you can blog everyday of the week. Or rather you blog once and the blog publishing tool does the job automatically the rest of the week. You can even forward blog for weeks and months ahead of time.

Note: Blogger users unfortunately cannot do this because Blogger publishes all entries regardless what you date it immediately.

Affectionately nicknamed Tech Diva by her peers, Lynette Chandler regularly dispenses blogging and RSS help to countless business owners. Visit Lynette’s BlogEnergizer to learn more about blogging and get a copy of her video free.

5 Ways To Blog Without A Lot Of Work originally appeared on HomeBasedChristians.com on February 9, 2009.

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Article Marketing 7 Simple Steps

Maureen Kellis — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:45:41 +0000

Now that you have written those helpful articles to bring more business to your business, they’ll need to find a home. Good articles can find plenty of homes at article submissions websites. Here are the basics for getting that article ready and submitting it to an article site.

1. Write about what you know. This goes for anyone who wants to write articles and have them accepted by a submission site. For the business owner looking to increase traffic and revenue, the topics will pertain to your business in general, business products that you sell, and/or business services that you provide.

2. Aim for an article length of at least 400 words. Some sites will accept articles with as few as 250 words, but it will take at least 400 words to flesh out an idea and gain the interest of the reader. Check with the sites you will submit to for word count requirements.

3. Proofread the article. There is nothing worse than an article with typos and grammatical errors. Good articles have been rejected because of simple errors that could have been avoided. Use spell checker or a second pair of eyes to be sure the article is ready to go to a submission site. Even if you use a ghostwriter for the articles, give the work a once over to be sure it says exactly what you are trying to convey to the reader. Don’t forget to use keywords for a more SEO-friendly piece.

4. Check out the sites where your article will get the most coverage. Popular article submissions sites with high marks will work the best. If you don’t want to put all of your eggs into one basket or even a few baskets, use an article submission service. They submit good quality articles to hundreds of sites for you depending on the subject matter of your articles. You submit once on their site and that’s that. Be aware that there are sites that don’t accept submissions from article services. For those you will have to submit one by one.

5. Some sites require registration. Even for the free ones, the registration comes with a profile page. This is where you will post links to your business and talk about it.

6. Keep a running list of article submission for your records. This way, you can track when the articles are published, the upfront payment, and how business traffic and sales change as a result of the articles.

7. Wait for news that the articles have been published and are being viewed. Submit more articles as you have time. It is a good idea to keep making regular submissions. If you gain a following you don’t want to lose them.

Article Marketing 7 Simple Steps originally appeared on HomeBasedChristians.com on January 26, 2009.

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Grow Your Business With Article Marketing

Maureen Kellis — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:19:43 +0000

If you are looking for your business to grow, article submissions should be a part of your marketing mix. Article marketing provides content to readers, more exposure across the internet for your business, and SEO benefits of one way links to your website.

Writing articles is not as hard or scary as you might imagine. You can write them yourself, hire a ghost writer, or significantly alter PLR (private label rights) articles. Try to put your personality into your articles. People look for content that is informative and more than the same run-of-the-mill stuff that already exists.

Once you’ve got your articles perfected, it is then time to submit them to article directories. These are sites all over the Internet that are looking for good article submissions. You will need to register and place your articles within a certain category. Some article sites won’t let you include links within the article, but you can add links to your profile page and in your bio box if one is provided.

After reading these articles, people may search for your site. Most importantly, you’ve gotten a great one way link to your website. If your site is well optimized, over time all these incoming links will give your site a boost in the search engines.

Submitting articles is not hard. In fact the process has gotten easier, ranging from article submission software to article submission services that are willing to submit articles for you to a number of article directories accepting mass submissions. For a fee, they take all of the hard work out of the process.

Marketing your business through article submission is a popular strategy. People are always looking for new and useful information to better their situations. Your articles can give helpful hints and tips while driving more traffic to your online business.

Grow Your Business With Article Marketing originally appeared on HomeBasedChristians.com on January 19, 2009.

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Do You Need Long Tail Keywords?

Maureen Kellis — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:07:51 +0000

We all experience it. The frustration from looking for information on the Internet and not getting the results we want. Our potential customers experience the same thing. Worse, we are on the Internet trying to build our business, but no one is finding us. Long tail niche marketing is one way to solve this problem.

Long tail niche marketing involves using longer keyword phrases to drive traffic to your website. The best part about it is the traffic will be more targeted to your particular enterprise, offering greater potential for sales. Using longer phrases targets the visitors to your blog or website business better than single keywords.

Typically, it takes more than one or two words to find what you are looking for. Let’s say that you want to specifically know how to write articles for a Christian magazine. Entering keywords like “article writing” or “Christian writing” may not get the targeted results you want. A few more words will have to be added to the keyword search.

Try entering a phrase like, “writing articles for Christian magazines”. This phrase is longer but the results will be more exact if the person trying to attract your business is using long tail niche marketing strategies. They will optimize their content and web pages using the longer phrases that describe their business niche. In that way, when these phrases are entered in the search, they will rank highly on the page of results.

One or two word phrases are still the norm, but long tail niche marketing is increasingly important, especially for people who find it difficult to reach higher page ranks using one word keywords. It is critical if your business or product is in one of the more competitive markets on the internet- like weight loss or travel.

Do You Need Long Tail Keywords? originally appeared on HomeBasedChristians.com on January 12, 2009.

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Traffic Geyser $1 Trial

Maureen Kellis — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:38:01 +0000

The great thing about the Web 2.0 phenomenon is the proliferation of some awesome free marketing tools. One secret weapon of top marketers is Traffic Geyser. In a nutshell, Traffic Geyser will take your videos and audio podcasts and with one click of a button send them to more than 35 social media channels across the web.

Those that have used this have experienced Google indexing within hours and many have experience top 10 Google listings for their video and keywords.

I have found the service to be very good. The training is thorough and uncomplicated. Setting up your social media accounts can take up to 3 hours , but once you are set up, it literally takes minutes. Traffic Geyser has many extras included and now has video splash page templates that you can easily make. These splash pages can be hosted through Traffic Geyser or hosted on your server. Really cool.

Video marketing is the way to go. Different top level internet marketers like Andy Jenkins and Brad Fallon of Stompernet, Frank Kern, and Mike Dillard have all tested and found that their pages with video have converted better. If you’d like to see more traffic and better conversion you may want to take them up on their trial offer- $1 for the first 30 days through the link below.

Traffic Geyser Trial Offer

Let your light shine!

Maureen :-)

P.S. When you use the service, let me know. Maybe we’ll have a video show case right here.

P.P.S. This isn’t just for online business owners. Videos can be a great way to get your message out for ministry, churches, and other affinity groups.

Traffic Geyser $1 Trial originally appeared on HomeBasedChristians.com on November 24, 2008.

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