Posts Tagged ‘site promotion’

Conquering Writers’ Block (part one)

Monday, May 7th, 2012

If you are composing articles in order to advertise web sites, either your own or those of someone else for a fee, the first thing to do is choose topics that you are at least mildly interested in. Let’s take for granted from here on that you are composing to support your own web sites.

Well, presumably you would not have commenced a web site on a topic that you know nothing of and have no interest in. I have tried writing on topics I know little about and, although it can be done (500 words is not much), I do not think that I have ever been truly content with the results.

So, let’s begin by picking a site that is interesting to us, but is not so mainstream that you have no opportunity of ranking on Google for a few niche words.

The most popular subjects are: love, health, sport, cars, insurance, travel, fashion and dieting but you would be hard pressed to earn any money from sites in those areas because they are snowed under by people with far more resources than you or I.

Therefore, you have to step back a little. Pick one of the above and drill down until there is much less competition, but remain within your interest group.

For instance:

Love: I am married to a Thai girl, so I could have a website on mixed marriages, mixed race marriages, Buddhist-Christian relationships in marriage (or dating), living in Thailand with your Buddhist wife, etc, etc.

Health: diabetes is a big killer in our village. The topic is too big, but what about cooking for an aging diabetic, Asian diabetic recipes, diabetes mellitus etc, etc?

Sport: I have no real interest in sport, but I could compose a site on where to go in London during the 2012 Olympic Games.

Cars: no interest again, but I am interested in the technology of hybrid vehicles This could be further refined to hybrid cars or motorcycles from one country of continent.

I won’t go through the remainder of the list, but I think that I have illustrated the tactic. Then you need keywords that people use to look for websites on these subjects. Enter ‘Google keyword tools’ into Google and you will see a assortment of free keyword tools to help you find the best ones.

Then, you purchase a URL that matches one of those keywords – hopefully the one that is most sought for every month. You will require at least five interesting pages of about 500 words each for your new web site to have a lot of chance.

Then you will require at least two or three pieces to advertise each page. These articles will get you backlinks which will help your website rise to page one on Google for your keywords. Therefore, you need 10-15 keyword (phrases) for every fledgling web site.

I make two-three websites at a time, because variety makes writing easier. It is difficult to come up with 10 original articles and five web pages in five days, but not so problematic to write 20 pieces and 10 web pages in 10 days. The readers will not be so bored either.

Although the web site has to be interesting to you for you to be able to write so a lot about it, it also has to be interesting to others or you are working for your own pleasure and no money. However, judging what will become a successful website is impossible.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, and is now concerned with Blogging. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at PLR pieces.

Defeating Writers’ Block (part two)

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

No matter what the statistics tell you, some sites will soar and others will flop and you are a better man than I am if you can work that out 12 months in advance. My rule is, that if a web site does not triple my financial expenditure in a year, I drop it.

I do not count the pieces of writing because they can get recycled to aid other pages and the web pages can be recycled as new web pages on new or old web sites or, at the last resort, into pieces.

For that reason, I have classes of loosely related sites based on the main subjects I have identified, to wit, love, sport, cars, health, travel etc.

The main thing is to start with what people would like – not what you would like. Then, strive to find a niche within that market that interests you. The more removed your personality is from the norm, the more vital this is.

Never start with yourself, but you can twist the topic back to something that you know something about or are willing to research because you are keen on it. I do a heck of a lot of research and really like doing it.

I am not interested in collecting gold and gems, but my wife is and she asks my opinion often, so I am learning. Her son is getting married on 28-12 and he has to give his wife an ounce of gold as a present – that is what her mum wants for her, which is a further incentive to learn about gold, investing and market trends and swings, because I have to stump up for that gold.

There are so many items to write about.

I would like to create a site on orchids – I know nothing about them, but they grow like weeds here and they are my wife’s favourite flower. If that is too narrow, maybe ‘Thai Gardens’.

I was in Nan yesterday renewing my visa. I have already written a website on how to get a visa, but there is a stone-age tribe living in Nan Province of northern Thailand! 285 km from my house. They live in bivouacs and are nomadic. They are 10,000 years behind the remainder of Thailand.

My wife is getting skin growing across one of her eyes. It can easily be taken off and will require doing after the wedding, but I can see a website on cataracts coming up.

There are hundreds of millions of us Boomers so topics for us are sure to be well-liked. We are aging, entering a new stage of life, are computer literate and are not destitute. That’s a fantastic combination.

A further thought is: a man on the radio said the other day that there are more middle-class people in India than the total population of Europe. Imagine that!

And it is increasing by hundreds of thousands a year. And China is double the size of India. So they have (or soon will have) a middle-class equalling the populace of Europe and America combined. That is excluding the upper-class.

Discover what interests those nouveaux-riches and you will strike it big. I think that they love old-world style. Old European ‘style’ – not antiques, but silver salvers, beautiful whiskey glasses, posh dog collars, fancy walking sticks, Panama hats, silk scarves, sensible shoes, home schooling, English language courses, etc, etc.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, and is now involved with Blogging. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at PLR Articles.

Effective Ways To Begin A Blog And Making Money

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

Everybody has something to say and most people are passionate about something that they would like to talk about. Individuals would like to take this desire to talk a couple of stages further – they would like to tell the world about it. That was impossible less that twenty years ago, unless you managed to be on TV or were syndicated in the world’s press. Now, of course, anyone can do it.

The Net makes it possible for everybody to have their say. The young and the old, the rich and the poor can discuss what they like on the Internet. You can use a website as your soap box or you could use a specialized web site known as a blog. If you cannot have your own web site for any reason, you could open a free blog at one of the numerous web sites that offer free blogs.

The word ‘blog’ is short for ‘web log’ and adding an article to your blog is called blogging. Blogs have become a very effective way of spreading one’s point of view. The latest kind of blogging is micro-blogging, which is the generic description for Twitter.

Blogging has been used effectively by inhabitants of countries where the provision of human rights is not a government priority. Just recently, dissidents in Iran, Iraq and Myanmar have kept the world up-to-date on repression in their countries through blogs. The blogs were frequently reprinted in the world press and reported on the International news.

If you would like to blog for free, search Google for ‘free blogs’ and take a look around. There are dozens of free blog sites about and they all offer different functions. Blogger by Google is one of the better ones, but there really are loads of different types of free blogs.

One thought is whether you want your blog to be open or closed. That is, do you want anyone to be able to read it or do you want just a closed user group (CUG), which could include your friends, your family or your colleagues.

It should not take longer that thirty minutes to set up your blog. Some providers want to approve new blogs, but others do not. You could be blogging within the hour, so write an article welcoming people to your blog and post it to the blog. Make it ‘sticky’ if you can, so that it is always the first post that visitors read when they arrive at your blog.

Make your posts educational and endeavor to keep them topical. They ought to neither be so short that it is not worth coming to read them nor so long that they become boring – 400 to 500 is believed to be about right.

You will need to advertise your blog or no-one will know that it is there. Do this by posting your pieces (with your blog address attached) to a few article directories. It is free and will give your blog a real boost in circulation. You can give up doing this when your blog is self-sustaining.

Allow all visitors to leave comments on the blog, because it encourages them to come back, but check frequently for spam comments and delete them because a blog full of spam looks neglected.

If you are interested in trying Effective Blogging, just visit our web site on Blogging For Beginners.

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Auction Sales

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012

Auction sales are helpful for all kinds of items, but there is a requirement for caution, because you will not have sight of the item itself. This does not have to become a problem if you are purchasing something like bedding or dog’s food, but it can be vital if you are purchasing collectibles where condition is of prime importance.

For instance, the condition of stamps and coins governs the object’s value within the constraints of the year’s or issue’s minimum and maximum catalogue values. However, you merely see a picture and it could be of another coin or stamp – what you get in the post may be a different kettle of fish.

In this piece we will look at the most serious pros and cons of auction sales. First, the advantages:

Auction sales can be traced from the opening auction bid to the end and you can choose how much you are prepared to pay over a fairly long period of time – days or weeks rather than minutes at an off line auction. You still have information at hand like minimum sale cost. This gives you plenty of time to weigh up alternative sales options.

There is a chance that you can buy items at well under market value. For example, many items do not have a reserve price, so if the item is not in demand among many people, you may buy it really cheaply. Also, if the minimum price is not met, it is worth getting in touch with the vendor and offering a little more for a private sale.

If you go through a trustworthy on line auction site, you will be covered against fraud. If the item you receive is below par for the description of it on the website, you have a very good opportunity of getting your money back either from the dealer, the auction site or your credit card firm – three layers of protection.

However, there are disadvantages as well. These are the ones that most people think are the most serious:

You are purchasing sight-unseen, so there is a greater risk of fraud, but as we said above, the auction site and your credit card firm do have a level of liability, so please check what that is before you go bidding (or even shopping) on line.

Check the postage and packing fees. This is a favourite way of bumping up the minimum charge for something. For instance, a set of batteries may not have a reserve and you may be glad to buy them for a dollar, but if the postage is ten dollars, you have been had.

Another favourite rip-off is selling copies. You might think that you are bidding for genuine Gucci sunglasses, but for sure the chances are that they will be cheap Chinese copies worth a tenth of what you paid. Would you really know the difference? Honestly?

You can find a bargain on an auction web site, but bear in mind that there are a great deal of hungry individuals out there who are prepared to lie to earn a few dollars and that does not even include the professional liars and thieves.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on quite a few subjects, but is at present concerned with website marketing plans. If you would like to know more or check out some great deals, please go to our website at The Best Sales And Marketing Strategy.