{"product_id":"2940014048880","title":"Blogging 101","description":"Ways to Optimize Your Blog for Maximum Traffic\u003cbr\u003eOnce you have decided to create a blog and publish it on the World Wide web you still\u003cbr\u003ehave to do a few more things before you can expect to earn any profit from your blog.\u003cbr\u003eThis is especially true for those blogs that are not affiliated with any existing sites and\u003cbr\u003eblog owners who have never run a website before. You are going to have to work to\u003cbr\u003ebuild some traffic and readership to your new blog. It is going to be hard to earn any\u003cbr\u003eincome, let alone make a profit, on your blog site if no one is reading it.\u003cbr\u003eBefore starting any aggressive advertising campaigns it is important to make sure your\u003cbr\u003eblog is search engine optimized. There are plenty of companies that will charge you a\u003cbr\u003epretty penny to make these changes for you, but it is easier (and naturally cheaper) to\u003cbr\u003edo things yourself. Meta tags must be included in your blog in order to catch any\u003cbr\u003erandom search engine traffic that might stumble your way, and to make sure your site is\u003cbr\u003eindexed to appear in a search engine in the first place.\u003cbr\u003eTwo free tools that will generate quality meta tags for your site are the Submit Express\u003cbr\u003eMeta Tag Generator (http:\/\/www.submitexpress.com\/metatag.html) and the Submit\u003cbr\u003eCorner Meta Tag Generator (http:\/\/www.submitcorner.com\/Tools\/Meta). I have used\u003cbr\u003eboth of these tools to generate meta tags for all of my existing blogs. This helps ensure\u003cbr\u003ethat my blogs get indexed and that I can receive traffic from search engine results that\u003cbr\u003edisplay my blog. Both of these tools are completely free and only require the user to\u003cbr\u003eanswer a few questions and fill in a few blanks (site description, keywords, etc.). When\u003cbr\u003eyou are done both tools can be used to analyze your newly created meta tags and give\u003cbr\u003esuggestions on how to optimize them (make them shorter or longer).\u003cbr\u003eDepending on your blogging platform your newly created meta tags might have to go in\u003cbr\u003edifferent parts of your blog. Using Wordpress I usually place my meta tags in the\u003cbr\u003eheader and main index page of my blog layout. If you are not sure where to place the\u003cbr\u003emeta tags consult your blog platforms Frequently Asked Questions or search for a help\u003cbr\u003eforum dedicated to your specific blogging platform.\u003cbr\u003eOnce your meta tags are created and in place you can now start submitting your blog to\u003cbr\u003emajor search engines. There are plenty of companies that offer to submit your domain\u003cbr\u003eto search engines, for a fee, and I recommend against using them. If you have some\u003cbr\u003etime at the beginning of each month to submit your domains manually it will be just as\u003cbr\u003eeffective and save you money. I usually use Submit Express\u003cbr\u003e(http:\/\/www.submitexpress.com) to submit my blog to the search engines. Also,\u003cbr\u003ebecause of the constant updating, blogs get indexed faster (and stay indexed longer)\u003cbr\u003ethan traditional websites. This fact alone makes me a blog supporter and promoter.\u003cbr\u003eWhen you have gotten comfortable with blogging, and your chosen platform, it is time to\u003cbr\u003ebeautify your blog. You want to make sure that your blog stands out in the crowd, and\u003cbr\u003ethe only way to do that is to have a unique blog theme\/template. The worst thing that\u003cbr\u003ecan happen to you in the world of blogging is for readers and clients to confuse your\u003cbr\u003eblog with that of your competitors.\u003cbr\u003e9\u003cbr\u003eThere are many websites that sell pre-made blog templates for reasonable prices. One\u003cbr\u003ethat I have personally worked with is Template Monster\u003cbr\u003e(http:\/\/www.templatemonster.com). They sell Wordpress, Joomla, and Mambo\u003cbr\u003etemplates for anywhere between $30.00 and $70.00. For an additional fee they offer\u003cbr\u003eanother service, Template Tuning, which will customize your heading and other parts of\u003cbr\u003ethe blog design for you. However, if you know anything about Adobe Photoshop then\u003cbr\u003eyou should be able to make any necessary changes to the template yourself. Template\u003cbr\u003eMonster includes the editable PSD files with each order.\u003cbr\u003eIt is also possible to hire a designer to create a completely unique theme\/template for\u003cbr\u003eyour blog for a fee. These services can cost anywhere from $30.00 to $300.00\u003cbr\u003edepending on the designer and the complexity of the design. In most cases you will\u003cbr\u003eneed to provide images for the designer to work with. These images can be purchased\u003cbr\u003efrom stock photography sites such as Dreamstime (http:\/\/www.dreamstime.com).\u003cbr\u003eDreamstime will also, occasionally, have free images available for use as long as the\u003cbr\u003ephotographer is credited somewhere in the design.\u003cbr\u003eSome of the best places to find designers who will work for reasonable fees are on\u003cbr\u003eCraigslist (http:\/\/www.craigslist.org) and deviantART (http:\/\/www.deviantart.com). If you\u003cbr\u003eare looking on Craigslist for a designer go to the Creative and Computer services\u003cbr\u003esection, and perform a search for blog design, blogging, or your platform by name. Be\u003cbr\u003esure you search all major cities to try and find..","brand":"Laiftllc.com","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145860432112,"sku":"2940014048880","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014048880_p0.jpg?v=1763599710","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014048880","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}