These days, when you think about it, who doesn’t have a website? It’s definitely a great way to market yourself, your brand and to keep people updated on the things that you have going on in your life.

However, if there’s one thing that doesn’t come up, perhaps nearly as much as it should when it comes to them, is what is the ROI (Return On Investment) when it comes to having one?

Not just the investment of money (paying for the name of the site, the web designer, etc.), but the investment of your time and efforts when it comes to posting content on it, too. This is one of the main reasons why exploring the various options for monetizing your blog or website is so important.

If you’re looking for some ways to earn an income from your website or blog, here are 5 ways that you can make money via your own “page” in cyberspace in no time.

1. Start a Newsletter

When it comes to creating ways to make money for your site or blog, one of the easiest things to do is to create a database so that you can send out newsletters. This is because it’s both an efficient and effective method for staying in communication with your visitors by transitioning them into subscribers. If you use a company like Constant Contact, they even have options for putting up a PayPal link (for soliciting donations) or discount coupons within your newsletters. Other options include GetResponse and Aweber.

2. Offer Specials

Okay, this isn’t really talking about a “Deal of the Day” necessarily. This is more about expanding the content that you have on your site into more tangible opportunities. You could host a conference centered around your site or blog’s theme. You could offer consulting services. You could even develop a mentoring program where, for a small fee, people could receive instructions/information on how to do things that you have learned within your own field. The possibilities in this category are endless.

3. Sell Products

Nothing says “branding” like merchandise, and even in this economy, it’s something that people enjoy purchasing. It could be a cool T-shirt or mug. It could be a self-published book or (even better) an e-book. If you’re a musician, you could post a link connecting people to your Amazon or iTunes page. Anything you can think of that people can use and will help them to remember where they got it from is worth exploring for the purpose of eCommerce.

4. Sell Website Templates

Believe it or not, this continues to be a pretty popular way to monetize a site. In an ElegantThemes Review from last year, it was revealed that the owner makes almost $40 to get access to all of the templates (over 60) under that theme. Selling websites on a website might seem a bit odd, but think of it as being like the groceries of the Internet; websites are something that someone, somewhere, is always going to need. So, why not be the person that can help them out?

5. Get Sponsorships

Just like you’re trying to find ways to draw more traffic to your website, so are other individuals. If you’re a start-up, blog rolls or a list of your favorite websites on your home page is a good way to get your name out to other people and companies. However, as you become more well-known, it’s then time to start looking into getting some sponsorship. Based on the amount of hits that you get, there are companies and websites that will be willing to pay you a certain amount to have their logo or a link to their site on your own. It’s just a matter of reaching out to them and sharing your reasons why advertising with you would be worth their time and money. If you have enough traffic coming your way, it won’t be a hard sell.

Every blogger knows that blogging is a networking game.  You have to write killer content, yes, but that content won’t go anywhere if you don’t know anyone.  And by “you” I mean “your blog.”

While you may be the creative force behind your blog, as it gains mass and momentum, it begins to take on a kind of persona of its own — gurus call this your brand.  Your brand is a representation of your attitude, expertise, and values, and at the end of the day is what interacts with other blogs and bloggers.

Your posts, guest posts, tweets, mentions, e-mails and so on are all expressions of your brand. The key is to get other people promoting and expressing your brand, too.

So we’ve established that brand is important (or that it definitely should be moving forward).  But how do you get your brand noticed?

For all the bloggers who have their brand solidified, here are 3 strategies to getting it noticed in the blogosphere.

1. Staying Active in Social Media

It’s obvious, but sometimes we miss the easiest ways to promote ourselves because they are so obvious.  Social media has also changed a lot just in the past year, so let’s review the major platforms you should be on to express your brand:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google+
• And maybe Tumblr or Pinterest if your brand is particularly visual

Set up a profile in each of these platforms and start engaging with other people in your community.  Within each platform there is an on-going conversation — you need to be a part of that conversation to get people to notice your brand, so become a voice in it.

Social media platforms highlight the fact that blogging is a networking game.  The more people that you know and interact with on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, the better chance you will have of people noticing your brand and sharing it with others.

As you probably know, though, social media isn’t just about amassing as many followers as you can.  You actually have to promote others and join in the conversation genuinely to be a respected brand presence.

2. Monitoring the Competition

Just as any big business always keeps an eye on its competitors to see how they are performing, and also to see what they’re doing that is working, you can use your engagement with the community (and a little bit of research) to help boost your own brand.

For example, if you start following the biggest names in your niche, you can start to analyze their content, site, and marketing techniques to find out how they attract and keep their audience.  Then you can start applying your discoveries to your own blog.

Similarly, with tools like BrandsEye, you can track mentions of your competitors’ brands to collect data.  This works best to figure out what kind of content is most successful in your field.

3. Launching a Guest Post Campaign

Guest-posting initially had a bad reputation, mostly because low-ranked and low-quality blogs would submit sub-par posts to webmasters, very clearly trying to piggyback on the better blog’s success.

But the truth is that if you submit excellent posts and genuinely engage with the webmasters, guest-posting is actually a great way to get your brand noticed.  Plus, because it is mutually beneficial — you get noticed on another blog, and the webmaster gets some of your followers as well — it can really help your network, which leads to more exposure for your brand.

About the Author:

This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at online college about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, and movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 @ gmail.com.

Although there may be any number of reasons why a blog is unable to build readership, gain advertisers, and ultimately become a success, you will have to evaluate your own site in order to determine the particular problems besetting you.

And, there are a few common themes that could be to blame for your inability to move forward with your online endeavor. Some of them are within your power to fix, and others may require outside help.

But, if you’re stuck scratching your head over how to get your blog on track, here are…

5 Main Reasons Success May Have Thus Far Eluded You

1. Broad Topics

Although you may be keen to cover a fairly wide subject matter, and you certainly don’t want to get so specific that you can’t hope to generate enough content to keep your blog interesting and informative, the truth is that you need to have a niche in order to set yourself apart from competitors.

If you do a search for “style blogs” on Google, there are over a billion results. A search for “German style blogs” produces less than half that number, but 400 million is still quite a bit to compete with. “German lederhosen style blogs” brings the count to under a million, a far more manageable number, but you’ll have to blog about lederhosen. You get the idea? Sometimes it’s as simple as putting a fresh twist on an overdone topic, but you need to find a way to set yourself apart from the white noise of similar blogs.

2. Unreliable Web Hosting

You can have the best blog in the world, but if no one can reach it because it is always out of service or pages time out when loading, you’re sunk. The internet crowd is neither patient nor particularly tolerant when it comes to such snafus. And, if they receive a loading error once, they’re not likely to return for a second test. By the way, this type of service can also be detrimental to your standing with search engines if web crawlers can’t access your site.

3. Boring Content

Short-attention-span-theater is the name of the game here, so if you can’t grab a visitor’s attention within a few seconds, they’re likely on to the next thing. Killer content is a must, as is rapid turnover of topics to keep readers coming back for more. A heavy dose of personality is also advisable as a way to engage readers on an intimate and emotional level.

4. Lack of Knowledge

The only thing worse than boring your audience is lying to them, and if you fail to check facts before you write your blog entries, a savvy audience will figure it out eventually. So, if you write about subjects you know nothing about, or worse, spin articles taken from other sites (a thinly veiled form of plagiarism), you don’t deserve even the hapless readers that stumble across your site.

5. No Exposure

With all the competition you’re facing, you really have no choice when it comes to self-promotion. It’s only a question of degree. If you’re not at least joining ad shares and listing yourself on directories you might as well be invisible. But on top of that, you should comment on other blogs, consider finding a guest posting service (which works both ways), join forums, and begin engaging in SEO as a way to make sure that you’re constantly increasing your web presence and gaining exposure. The more people finding your blog, the more opportunity you have to succeed.

Evan Fischer is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

The commercialization of blogs has made it easier for people to make money through blogging. Though, there is no direct option through which you can acquire money if you have a blog of your own, there are some other options. If you already have a blog, and if you have been wondering what the actual strategies are that others incorporate to make money though blogging, then I encourage you to keep reading.

Though there are no direct blogging options that can help you earn money, if you think a bit wisely, it would be possible for you to find the right strategies that you can put to work so as to make money.

Money Making Strategies for Your Blog

There are some basic ways through which you can make money through a blog. Once you can grip the basics, the options are going to seem greater.

Here are some strategies that you will want to incorporate within your blog

1. Provide Good Content within Your Blog

It is important for you to add good content within your blog. This will help you to get more visitors to your website. The better the content, the more readers it will attract, and the quality of visitors will be higher. This can lead to more clicks on your affiliate links or banners and result in more sales for your blog.

2. Offer Advertising Space on Your Blog

You can earn through your blog if you offer space for advertisements. Different merchants need to advertise about their products and services online. They need other websites that are related to what they’re offering, so they’re willing to pay other website owners for that space to get in front of new, potential customers.. You can charge them a certain amount for the space you are going to provide them for their advertisement. This could be a monthly or yearly fee. It’s really up to you and what the advertiser is willing to pay.

3. Join Affiliate Marketing Programs

You can earn money if you join affiliate marketing programs. With affiliate marketing, you are required to include the link of the merchant’s website with whom you are going to join as an affiliate. When the visitors coming to your website click on the links or banners on your blog, you have the potential to earn commissions, if they actually buy the product or service you’re promoting. There are different types of affiliate marketing programs, like Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Pay-Per-Sale, Pay-Per-Lead, and so on.

4. Participate in Social Networking Websites

One great way to get more visitors to your website is participating in social networking websites. Millions of people daily log onto different social networking websites. So, this is one of the best ways for you to get more visitors to your website. Participate in these websites, and include links to your blog on each of your profiles. Don’t forget to interact with others and treat each site like a party, where you socialize with friends. You don’t want to hassle and irritate everyone by pushing them to visit your blog all the time. Just be casual and help other when you can.The traffic will come.

5. Work on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Optimize your blog in such a way so that your blog ranks higher in the search engines. This will again help you in getting more quality visitors to your blog. It is not only content but also the keywords, the topics you use, the way in which you write, and the links you are going to include which are going to better help your blog.

6. Participate in Blog Carnivals

Participate in the different types of blog carnivals. You will be required to submit your best blog post for the appropriate carnival. This won’t only give you the option to get the prize money but also to get more visitors to your blog.

7. Use Traditional Internet Marketing Methods to Promote Your Blog

The more you promote, the more traffic you will get coming to your website, and the more money that you can potentially make. While the above six methods are great for promoting your blog and making money with it, don’t forget about traditional marketing methods as well, such as email marketing, blog directories, blog commenting, forum posting, content marketing, etc.

These are just a few of the things that you can do in order to make money through blogging. In addition, if you are into any kind of business, you can use your blog to promote your own products or services. Your blog is not only going to help you in marketing your products and services, but also to strengthen customer relations. However, in order to promote your products, you should be able to include similar content within the blog based on the products or the services that you provide. Remember to keep it relevant and on point.

About the Author:

Stewart Bradley is a contributory writer associated with the Debt Consolidation Care Community and has written several articles for various financial websites. Though he holds his expertise in the Debt industry and has made significant contribution through his various articles, he has interest in budgeting, mortgage, insurance, short term loans, bankruptcy, credit advice and more.

This post will serve as an official notice to all who are subscribed to my blog, either through an RSS Reader or by Email.

It is with great regret and sadness that I have changed the RSS feed to only show a summary, or excerpt, of posts rather than the entire post content. This means that rather than being able to view and read a new blog post from your favorite RSS Reader or by email, you will now have to actually come here to the blog to read new posts in their entirety.

Why Have I Done This?

Honestly, this decision was not made lightly. If you’ve been subscribed for more than a few weeks, you will know that all posts were shown in their entirety on the feed. I originally started this blog that way, and I truly wanted to keep it that way.

Sadly, it had gotten to a point where I could no longer jeopardize my blog and its content by keeping the feed as it was, so I was left with no choice but to change it.

You see, out there in the great distance of the internet, there lies a few dishonest, unethical people who like to outright steal legitimate blogger’s RSS feeds and use the content as their own on their blogs. Through plug-ins or other methods, the content from the feed can be published to a WordPress blog just as a normal blog post.

Their blogs, if you even want to call them that, are basically the result of multiple RSS feeds being scraped for content. These scraper/farming blogs are completely worthless and usually never rank in search engines.

The problem, however, is that my blog posts are showing up on sites like this, sometimes instantly after I publish a new post. This bugs me, alot.

I have links pointing to my site and blog that I DO NOT want on those kinds of sites. If a search engine like Google were to find my scraped content and index it, I can only imagine the consequences. Perhaps nothing bad will happen and Google would deem those sites useless like everybody else does, but really, why chance it? I can’t take the risk.

I realize this is a huge if, but I do not want to jeopardize my blog and everything I’ve worked so hard on to be penalized based on the actions of an unscrupulous few.

What This Means for You

I fully realize the inconvenience this puts on all of you, and I sincerely apologize. Believe me, I would prefer to keep the full content shown in the RSS feed. As a reader of many other blogs in the industry, I prefer to read entire posts through email.

I guess what I’m saying is, I understand the hassle. Really, I do.

From now on, if you want to read the entire post with all content included, you’ll be required to visit the actual post page. A link is included to make this step convenient for you, however.

There’s a slight chance I could change it back to showing full posts. More on this later.

Previous Steps I’ve Taken to Avoid This

Implementing an RSS Footer

If you notice on the feed, I have a footer in place that links to the home page, the blog’s home page, and the page where the specific post is located. I implemented this RSS Footer a long while back to serve a few purposes.

• Provide links to you for quicker access to my site and blog.
• “Thank” you for being a reader. I really do appreciate the support.
• If someone did steal my feed and use my content as their own, the footer would be included, making it obvious that my content was stolen.

Blocking Specific IP Addresses

A neat little tool I get with my web hosting is an IP Blocker. It comes handy when I need to block certain people for spamming or other mischief, based on their IP address. This can also be done through your .htaccess file if you don’t have an IP Blocker available.

Since the beginning, I have blocked the IP addresses of those I’ve known to rip my RSS feed and blatantly steal my content and use it as their own. This is usually done when I see that it becomes a habitual act. Comments in the form of Trackbacks from the offending sites show up in the comments waiting to be moderated, so if I see multiple Trackbacks originating from the same site, I block them so they can no longer pull my feed and steal my content.

What Now?

What will happen now is that whenever a scraper/farming blog does steal my content using the RSS feed, they will only get a short summary of the post, along with the RSS Footer attached.

My goal in doing this is that it will deter offenders (I’m not holding my breath), and that it will also keep my content in its entirety along with any links off of these types of sites (This I know is true).

Now that this is said and done, I want you to chime in and let me know what you think. I would appreciate any feedback or experience you can provide in how to deal with this issue, and if you can answer any or all of the questions below, I would greatly appreciate the help and support.

1. Will this have an impact on whether or not you read my blog? Be honest, please!

2. Do you agree with my decision based on the circumstances I presented, or do you feel I’m being too irrational?

3. Could you provide any cold-hard evidence to suggest that this isn’t necessary and that it is ‘OK’ to keep full posts in the feed?

I’m really curious to see who has an answer to that last question. Seriously, if you can provide evidence to show that this move isn’t necessary and that I’m just being silly about this whole thing, I’m all for changing the feed back to showing full posts.

Okay, let me know below in the comments, and thanks again for being a reader!

I follow quite a few blogs, and I like to comment on posts I find interesting. What irritates me, though, is that some blog owners don’t utilize any sort of “threading” within comments. No “@” replies utilized, either. This can be very annoying.

Not sure what I mean? Here’s an example:

Notice my reply is indented in and is contained within the original comment. This is considered a threaded comment, and any new replies act the same way, getting indented even further in. In this way, the replies are obvious and aren’t mistaken with new comments that aren’t a reply to a particular comment.

Also notice that my reply begins with “@author” and then my reply follows. This lets the commenter know that there is a new comment specifically in response to them. They also receive an email letting them know (more on this later).

What I see a lot on other blogs are new comments that are meant as replies to other people, but the reply is separate from the original comment, and no “@” is utilized. This can make it really, really difficult to determine if the comment is in reply to you, another commenter, or if it’s even a reply at all or a brand new comment from another reader.

Since I make sure I receive emails with any new comments on the posts I comment on, bloggers who don’t take advantage of any type of threaded system make it frustrating for me, and most likely others, as we don’t know if our comment is getting any replies. What this leads to is me having to go to the actual post and check my comment and any new comments to be sure I’m not missing any replies. It wastes time.

There is a much better way to manage comments and replies, both as a blog owner and as a blog commenter.

WP Thread Comment Plug-In

What I recommend doing is installing a very handy plug-in called WP Thread Comment. This WordPress plug-in will save you and your readers a ton of time by eliminating any confusion when it comes to replies and new comments left on your blog posts.

No coding required. No changes need made to your current theme. Just download, install, activate and adjust the settings as you see fit. That’s it. Your blog is then equipped with threaded comments.

Here’s what this powerful little plug-in can do:

• Edit Reply Text & Cancel Reply Text – This is for both you and your readers (Shouldn’t need to be changed)
• Edit Comment HTML – Only change if looks funny.
• Edit Comment CSS – Same as above.
• Edit maximum nest level – This is the amount of replies aloud for one comment thread. I have mine set to 15, although I doubt I’ll ever see it go that high for one comment thread.
• Email notify the parent commenter when there is a reply – This feature is HUGE. I would highly recommend choosing the “default checked” option, so this way, commenters will receive an email when there comment has a new reply, even if they would forget to check the box, as it’s checked by default.
• Edit the subject of notification email – I wouldn’t change this unless you want to.
• Edit Notification Message – Only change if you want to.
• Reply in WordPress Admin Panel – This feature saves me a ton of time. You can reply to comments directly from your Admin panel and automatically have them “nested.”
• Add author in reply comment – I highly recommend enabling this option, so that your replies begin with “@author”.

By now you should see just how vital this plug-in can be for your WordPress blog. If you’re not yet utilizing threaded comments, you should really start. A better way to manage comments will only benefit your blog and your readers.

Imagine for a moment…

You’ve spent hours and hours, possibly even days on end building backlinks to your website. And, not just any backlinks. These backlinks are on high Page Rank and authority sites. Maybe even on blogs and forums you visit regularly.

But…

Days go by. Your website’s position in Google hasn’t increased a bit, or has gone up very little. All of that time and energy spent building those links seems worthless.

Does this sound familiar?

I, as many others, deal with this issue all the time. It’s not entirely our fault, but it’s not all Google’s fault, either.

I’ve been getting asked lately how I get Google to index my new backlinks, as well as any old links that still may not be indexed and counted. I thought it would be helpful if I wrote a detailed, step-by-step guide on exactly how I go about it.

How I Get My New (and Old) Backlinks Indexed by Google

Google is limited in the fact that it’s spider can only index links that it comes across. If your newly created link(s) isn’t on a page that is being linked to from an already indexed page, then how is Google supposed to know that your link(s) exists?

For example, if I create a brand new profile page on a forum, my profile page may be set to public, meaning anyone can view it, but right now no one is linking to it. I may have a link or two on my profile page that I want Google to find and count towards my total backlink count.

So what can we do so that Google finds those links?

Here is my personal step-by-step approach to ensure that any new link I create is found and indexed by Google.

Step 1: Create a Blogger Blog

Go to blogger.com and create a new Google account. Even if you already have one, still create a new one. Trust me on this.

Give your new blog a generic name. Don’t make it anything specific… you’re not going to be promoting your blog or trying to rank it well in search engines, so just keep it basic.

Step 2: Add Your Links to Your Blog’s Sidebar

Any backlink you have that you want to get indexed by Google should be added to the blog’s sidebar.

Blogger makes this super easy to do. Simply click the little edit icon next to the links section, and a new window will pop-up to add your links.

When adding your links, you want to include the entire URL of the link you want indexed. The Title of the link should include just the main domain of the site. DO NOT use keywords in the Title of the link. See picture below to understand what I mean…

Step 3: Get PLR Content

You’re going to want to post to your blog every day, and multiple times per day. This is more important towards the beginning since your blog is brand new.

The easiest and quickest way to do this is to get your hands on PLR content. It doesn’t matter where it comes from or what kind of quality the content is. As long as the quality is half-decent and makes sense, go with it. I would recommend doing a Google search for “PLR content,” “free PLR content” or something similar.

Start posting articles on your blog, 30 minutes apart between each post. If you can’t post that often, don’t worry about it. Just post as often as you can.

Don’t worry about re-writing the articles. It doesn’t matter if it’s duplicate content. As I said before, you shouldn’t be worried about the quality of the content. You really don’t want your blog ranking in search engines, but if it happens, let it happen naturally.

Step 4: Ping Your Blog Posts

Every time you publish a new post to your blog, you’re going to want to ping the actual post. I’m not going to go into detail about what pinging is, but basically, it lets other sites know that you added new content to your blog. Those sites then send out their own spiders to collect information about your post, including the URL.

The easiest way that I know to ping a blog post is to grab the Ping-o-matic bookmarklet and save it to your bookmarks toolbar.

Once you’ve done that, every time you publish a new article to your blog, view the new post, and click the Ping-o-matic button on your toolbar. It will instantly ping your post, which should take all but 2 seconds.

After that, just head back to your blog and wait a little bit before you publish another new article from your PLR collection.

Step 5: Confirm Google is Visiting Your Blog and Posts

By now you should have 10 – 20 links in your blog’s sidebar that you want indexed (no more than that), and you should have been posting new articles to your blog for about a week now. At this stage you’re going to want to start checking to see if Google has indexed your blog yet. At this point, only your blog needs to be indexed.

To check if Google has indexed your blog, do a Google search by entering your Blogger blog’s full URL address in the search bar, with “site:” in front of it. See example…

If your blog shows up in the results, you’re good to go. The links currently in the sidebar have most likely been visited by Google. If you want to double-check, do a search as exampled above, using that link’s URL instead.

Step 6: Rinse and Repeat

Now that Google is visiting your blog and has indexed your first set of links, it’s time to update your link list with a new set of links you want indexed. Go ahead and change out all the links, keeping sure you follow the example as outlined in Step 2.

Once your links have been updated, follow Steps 3 through 5. Keep track of the title of the article that you post as well as the date in which you posted it. For Step 5, you’re now going to check to make sure Google has indexed your latest post. This is the post that should have been published immediately after you updated your list of links.

If that post has been indexed, you’re ready to change out the links again.

Keep repeating these steps over and over again for any new links you want to get indexed. After a while, it’s not uncommon for Google to index your new posts within a matter of hours. It happens to my blog all the time.

Let’s Recap

Now that you have my step-by-step guide on getting your links indexed by Google, let’s just quickly go through the entire process again.

First, you want to start a new Blogger blog. Then, add your non-indexed links to the sidebar of your blog. Publish articles to your blog as often as possible, but at least 30 minutes apart. Ping each new post you make using the Ping-o-matic bookmarklet. Check to make sure Google is indexing your blog and posts. Once your current list of links are indexed, change your list, adding new, non-indexed links. Repeat the entire process over and over again.

It really is this simple. This doesn’t take a whole lot of time at all. It takes me less than a minute to publish a new post (just copy and paste) and ping it. Adding new links takes the most time, but usually no more than 10 minutes or so at a time.

There you have it. Everything you need to get your links indexed by Google quickly. If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I’ll be sure to get back to you.

Are you using guest blogging to promote your business? If no, then you might be missing on something really big as far as your marketing effort is concerned. This article will provide 5 ways that you can benefit from guest blogging.

Here they are…

Reputation Building

The first advantage of guest blogging is that it can help you build your brand on the internet. Indeed, by publishing content on some authority sites you can help other people become acquainted to your brand and hence build a reputation online. But, for this to happen, you will need to make sure that your articles are really useful and that they really add value for your readers. After a short while people will begin to consider you as an expert in the field.

Massive Traffic

Another advantage of guest blogging is that it can help you get some really good traffic without relying solely on the search engines. Normally if your post is good enough, people will be interested to visit your site in order to learn more about you. And, if you published your post in some related sites you will be in a position to get some targeted traffic that may boost your sales. This benefit of guest blogging can be really useful for new blogs that have yet to get a ranking in the search engines.

New Market

Guest blogging can also help you target a market that you may have thought impossible before. By guest posting on some other blogs, you may be able to place your product in front of people that you would not have considered before. This can help you generate some new ideas that may be helpful when it comes to developing your business.

SEO

If you are a seasoned internet marketer you will know that the whole SEO game revolves around backlinks. Backlinks from real blogs that have real traffic can be really useful when it comes to boosting your site in the SERPs. This is why it might be useful that you look for blogs that have high PR and Alexa rank in order to get the most benefit.

Guest blogging can also be a useful alternative to article submissions. Following the Google Panda update, article directories have lost some of their effectiveness, and guest blogging can be a capable replacement when it comes to link building.

Social Media Benefits

Another advantage associated with guest blogging is that it allows you to take advantage of the host blog’s strength in social media. In the majority of cases, your article will be shared to the host blog’s Twitter followers or Facebook Fanpage, thus allowing you to take advantage of the site’s strength with social media sites. One idea will be to make it easy for visitors to share your content across social media sites. Place your Twitter and Facebook button in a visible position to encourage the sharing of your site on the different social media sites.

New Contacts

Guest blogging can also be instrumental when it comes to making new contacts. This can indeed create some opportunities for you to meet new people – not only fellow webmasters but also some readers of the host blogs. This can be a great opportunity for you to meet some other business professionals that might be interested in a possible joint-venture.

Guest blogging can be really effective when it comes to promoting your business online. It can help your site get instant traffic, break into new markets, improve your SERPs and also allow you to increase your social media reach. Whatever your business might be, you are definitely going to benefit from guest blogging.

About the Author

Robert Bellarmine is the writer behind Visitask.com where he covers topics related to project management and other management topics.

At the beginning of every month I do a recap of last month’s blog posts. I also include a few of my favorite blog posts from other bloggers I follow. This gives you a chance to catch up on any posts you may have missed here, and you also get to check out some awesome bloggers that provide valuable content that’s worth reading.

I always recommend leaving a comment on any posts you find helpful. Comments are also great if you have a question you’d like to ask. Either way, they let the blog owner know you appreciate their time and that there are people who actually read their content.

With that said, let’s take a look at last month’s post on this blog…

July 2011 Blog Posts on ReplaceYourSalary.com

Most of these are guest posts, so be sure to show the authors some love by leaving a comment.

Giving a Gold-Standard Web Service for Your Clients

7 Tips to Avoid Being Isolated when Working from Home

An “Outside” Perspective on Self Employment: 7 Outdoor Home Business Ideas

Getting a Foot In: Freelancing to Open a Career of Opportunity

10 Social Media Applications to Help with a Job Search

Earn $750 A Month With Your Blog?

Overcoming Your Fear of Isolation When Working from Home

Marketing Makeover: Taking Advantage of Technology to Supplement the Traditional Business Card

Blog Posts Around the Web

Here are some blog posts I’ve found from other bloggers I follow that I hope you will find helpful. Take some time to read these as well.

Daniel talks about a woman who makes over $8,000 a month. The idea isn’t new, but the way she goes about it is just plain sick (in my opinion). This is definitely a must-read, if for nothing else, to see what people are willing to spend money on. I would suggest maybe finding a different approach to what this lady is doing, however.

Garry brings up an interesting topic, asking what you would do without Google. Honestly, I rely way too much on Google. If Google didn’t exist, I’d be forced to tackle other marketing strategies and use a different search engine. I can’t imagine doing either, so I’m glad Google is available.

Alex talks about the advantages of publishing your blog to Kindle. This is definitely a cool method to earn a little extra passive income from your blog. Check out the post if you want to learn how to do this, all for free.

That’s all for now. This month I’ll be discussing some Google topics as well as providing some tips for WordPress bloggers, so stay tuned for that. You’ll also get to read content from more awesome guest authors as they just keep lining up!

See you soon!

I know, I know, it’s been live for a little while now. And, don’t worry, I’ll spare you the boring details about Google’s new social button that’s supposed to be the arch-rival to Facebook’s “Like” button. You can read all the intricate details about it here, straight from Google’s mouth.

+1 Blog Posts

This post is an announcement to let you all know, my readers, that I have decided to implement the Google +1 button on this blog. It is now LIVE on the blog. You can find it at the top of each post, on the home page as well as each individual post page.

Why?

Because it’s new. I like to try new things and see how they perform. Also, it’s Google we’re talking about. They’re the biggest search engine, period. If they implement a new change that could affect website rankings and overall website traffic, I think it’s best to pay attention and play their game.

Social Search and Impact on SEO

Will their new introduction to Social Search take hold? I really don’t know. Should we care? Yes! At this stage it’s only an experiment, but it’s possible it could be here to stay.

There’s a lot of hearsay floating around as to how this is going to affect SEO and the way personalized search engine results are served. I really don’t want to get into all of that here as plenty has been said about it elsewhere. But, if you want to learn more about the Google +1 button and the future implications it could have on search, I recommend you check out these links:

• Google competes with Facebook Like button
• Everything you need to know about Google +1
• How Google’s +1 button may change SEO

That should provide everything you need to know about the +1 button.

Now, if you’re interested in adding it to your own site or blog, it’s actually real simple.

How to Add the Button to Your Site or Blog

For those of you who run a static (non-Wordpress) site:

Log-in to your Google Webmaster’s Account and follow the simple instructions: http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/

For those of you who run a WordPress blog:

Garry Conn offers simple to understand instructions to add the button to your posts and pages: Google +1 Button.

Now you’re set. You’ll be able to invite your friends and website visitors to click and +1 your sites, blogs, and blog posts.

And, if you found this post helpful, I’d appreciate some +1 love from ya if you have some to spare. *hint, hint*