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- From Ebay Link Building to Ebay Traffic Generation: Let the Auction Begin 10
- Blog Audit Friday: Hail to Video Marketing Queen 45
- Blog vs Website Faceoff: 8 Simple Reasons for Why Blogs Kick Ass 58
- Make Money Blogging: a Dollar Saved Is a Dollar Made 40
- Why Google PageRank Could Be a Thing of the Past 47
- Why Plugins Can’t Help You to Rank Better and What You Can Do About It 50
- Blog Audit Friday: Are You Profitable? 39
- Bloggers: If You’re Not Struggling, You’re Failing 74
- Personal Internet Marketing: From Zero to Hero in 4 Short Months 46
- Outsourcing: THE Biggest Little Secret Nobody Talks About 53
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I am a wife to a great husband of 13 years (here ya go, now I have to make changes to this sentence once a year), a mother to a beautiful and, no doubt, genius little girl, and a successful internet entrepreneur. I also devoted my life to Jesus Christ many years ago, and He remains my true priority, focus, and hope.
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Hi Ana,
thanks for going into further detail about eBay traffic generation and money making. Awesome tips in fact. I would never have thought of eBay as a source of traffic, if not for you.
Take care
Oliver
You shouldn’t worry this time around, Ana!
Your post is a killer and I am pretty sure it will reach the top and stay there.
I must say that you keep finding new way of traffic generation and link building, you are doing a great Job!
Ana, I already left a comment on your contest entry post over at Blog Engage, but I was so anxious to share your awesome tips about using Ebay for link building that I forgot to say - best wishes in the contest. So far you might be leading the pack
My daughter has an online clothing store and she is also selling some of her party dresses on Ebay, so this post comes at a perfect time for her.
Ana:
I have been looking into this avenue as well. I have noticed it is pretty much UNTAPPED and could potentially hold golden nuggets for us. Well done pointing us in the right direction.
Untapped is the word, Lisa!
Thanks for finding your way to the contest entry; I really appreciate your support!
Ana
Anytime Ana! I included your post in a link for my new post as well..on this topic! I think you are one of the greatest assests to this community and I learn so much from you!
Thank You!
Will you be posting traffic generation tips about this?? I know you have been crazy researching!
Hey Ana,
Thanks for another really informative post. I had no idea that the age of a domain name also affected ranks. Every little bit counts, doesn’t it?
Definitely got some nuggets on how to get relevant links. I’m still going through those for my own blog audit.
I’ll give you an update on how I’m going soon. I’ve already changed the header to be a lot cleaner.
Take care,
Wayne
Hey Ana,
Another awesome blog audit! I’m really impressed by the work that you put into these audits and the amazing tips that you are sharing.
I learn some thing new every time I read your blog audits and implement right away
Interesting to know that the domain name expiry date has an effect on how Google sees your blog.
You’re amazing! Keep up the good work!
Mavis Nong
When I was 19 I used to sell a lot of stuff on eBay, I was even featured on a late night infomercial, lol. Back then they let you put links in your auctions and I used it to build a downline in a affiliate marketing program that paid people while they surfed. Funny looking back =)
I will hit your blog on the other page and lets get you to win that contest!!
Thanks, Ray - much appreciated.
I used to be an Ebay fanatic, but never thought of it for traffic generation.
Looks like you were way ahead of me on that one!
Ana
Well, I had never thought about it in the context you wrote about, keep it coming, I’m a sponge =)
Holy crap Ingrid - You hit this one out of the park!
so thanks for saving me the trouble of having to explain it.
First off - as far as guest post contributions go, I think Ana should be very happy to have this incredible resource sitting on her pages.
Thanks you so much for putting this together Ingrid. The detail, the way the message is delivered, and the congruency of the entire post make this one that I will be referring people to for as long as they ask me the question
I ….I got nothing else to say, Brilliant.
Hey Alex,
. I really appreciate it - especially coming from someone such as yourself.
Wow - what an awesome message you left for me there! Thank you so much for putting a huge smile on my face today
I would easily and confidently say that you and Ana (the Tzarina of SEO) are the best 2 resources that anyone could hope for when it comes to SEO, link building and other traffic generating methods. You both rock and I have tons to learn from each of you.
I’m glad I saved you the trouble of having to write one up yourself lol but am even more thrilled that you find it worthy enough to refer to - YaY.
I know it was rather long but hopefully the entertaining bits kept you wanting to follow through with it. I actually wish I would have come across a post such as this before I started blogging - oh well - now I had my chance to write one - in hopes that others will find it helpful.
Thanks again for taking the time to stop by and comment. Very cool of you Mr. Whalley
.
Please excuse my late reply. I am actually travelling at the moment and checking the internet as often as I can.
All the best
Cheers
Ana - This series is one of the most useful I’ve ever seen, because your feedback is both terrific and specific.
As someone who teaches SEO, the only thing I’d have said differently is about the meta description. Most SEOs believe that search engines don’t really use that in determining rankings, but it IS very important in terms of getting people to your site, as the meta description may be used on the search results page - and is thus what searchers use to decide whether to click or not!
You’ve done an amazing service for Mavis, and best of luck with your blog-auditing service. You’ll be improving the blogosphere one blog at a time!
Thanks, Rob - I appreciate your positive feedback.
You are right about meta description; it’s not going to get you rankings on its own. However, using your keywords in it just might give you an edge over your competitors who ignored it.
Welcome to my blog and hope to see you around more.
Ana
Good review Ana.
Personally, I think the RSS subscription link at the top could also be made more obvious (button looking and orange). I also think that with such a short domain, I would use the domain as my own URL shortener instead of using bit.ly ot t.co
It’s also good to see that the www. and non-www are redirecting properly (301).
Finally, you mentioned domain registration length (in your last paragraph) and although I have heard that it may be taken into consideration, I have failed to find out real life tests/examples proving that fact. Would you have any links that you could share about this?
Hey Ana..
Another awesome audit. Susanna has a lot of work to do after this one. Thanks for providing that validator resource - it’ll come in handy :0)
Keep em coming
Hector
enjoyed reading your about me & the pictures of your family. Thanks for sharing.
Stan & I have 7 kids so we keep busy. thanks again
Naomi
Hi Ana
Thanks for sharing all that good content, its very helpful. Appreciate all you do to help others
Hello Naomi,
Thanks for dropping by as well as for the comment.
Good day,
Ana
Hi Ana,
Good review, for my part it’s seem a very simple and effective blog. I think in the overall she’s doing a great job and the content is good!
So keep on the good work Susanna!
Dave B
Hi Dave,
You are right about Susanna’s blog.
Thanks for stopping by,
Ana
Excellent article! Great tips!
Prayer is most important. Even though you cannot see Him, God is near, and always on hand to give us wisdom, ideas, creativity and inspiration.
Thanks Simon. Yes I agree with you, prayer is indeed the most important thing. I just put it in the last part because it has nothing to do with increasing traffic, still I wanted to include it as a reminder to everyone.
Glad you came by,
Ana
Hey Ana,
As always there’s something useful to learn from your blog audits. The first thing I discovered was Susanna and her blog LOL. I got through her place and there is some great information and resources. So thanks for sharing! Unfortunately I have to agree with you on the header. When it comes to design, pretty much everything is fine except for that very same header. It just doesn’t look right.
By the way the ‘Images’ paragraph was a useful one. Not that I don’t know the importance of including an alt description, but I always forget adding it. Will have to go through my blog and add some changes on the images.
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for the comment. You’re right about Susanna’s blog. She can definitely help you especially with videos. I’m glad you agree with my audit.
Have a great day,
Ana
Dear Ana, this is brilliant - what a kind idea. I would love to do the same on my blog, but if I ever do, I will dedicate the idea and thank you with a linkback, for sure.
I created Prolific Living in 2008 for fun and hobby and in late 2009, I became consumed with making the site and all its offers useful, helpful, valuable and inspirational for those interested in smart habits for rich living. I hope you visit sometime, and if not, I will be visiting you right here!
Hello Farnoosh,
Thanks for coming into my blog. It’s nice to see people like you enjoying their time reading my blog. You can definitely do something similar to this in your own blog.
All the best to you,
Ana
Excellent information. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome, Steven.
Dear Ana, thank you for sharing your real steps to generate traffic after publishing your post. It is very kind of you to be so transparent. I have learned a lot of new information here and glad to see I apply a lot of these steps too.
I came here, searching Problogger forums for “social bookmarking demon” - a friend of mine recommended it very strongly and I trust his judgment but feel very skeptical about an automated program, plus some of the reviews I read hinted at Google’s frowning upon it. Naturally, one has to use the tool very responsibly but I was hoping to pick your brain and ask your thoughts on the automated bookmarking software and if you happen to use them. Many many thanks in advance!
Hi, Farnoosh:
Glad you found your way to my blog.
I personally don’t use automated software.
I’ve tried it in the past - not social bookmarking demon, but they all work similarly - and there’s what I noticed: my ranking for the specific keyword I was targeting went down very soon after. I used the tool for a couple of months and stopped. As soon as I stopped my ranking went back up.
Surely, it could’ve been something different, but not likely.
I firmly believe in the quality of links, not their quality. I do very light automatic bookmarking as mentioned in this post simply to help my post get indexed quicker, but not for any kind of serious link building.
Hope this helps and welcome to my blog.
Ana
Always interesting to talk about Google PR.
Actually since my PR dropped from 2 to zero almost a year ago, i prefer not to have PR now, because now, my traffics is more than when i had PR.
Having Google PR is not my goal anymore, since it can be manipulated, and having PR does not mean you have traffics.
Traffics are much more important to me.
Kudos to Suzanna for taking the plunge. I think it’s always great to see our blog through another person’s eyes. We often times become “visually blinded” because we see our own sites so often. Way to go Suzanna for letting everyone take a peek.
Ana… I always appreciate your insight. This post made me realize how much goes on behind the scenes to make a blog successful. I love SEO and am thrilled to get additional tips and resources. I especially like the information about images. I’m definitely going to add that information to my “to do” list when I include an image on my blog.
Hi Kathryn,
You are so right about becoming visually blinded sometimes, love the term.
It really take lots of time and effort to make your blog successful, but after all the hard work, you’ll see that it’s all worth it.
Have a nice day,
Ana
Hi Ana,
Wow, once again, great job! I’ve learned so many things and seen a lot of similarities between Susanna’s blog and my own. I’ll enjoy working through her list after I’m done with mine to check it twice and make sure my blog is being nice, not naughty to my readers, search engines, and me!
Thanks a bunch!
Heather
Hi Heather,
Good to hear that. There’s always room for improvement. It’s good to accept changes especially if it is for the better.
Regards,
Ana
Hi Ana!
I was away for Thanksgiving when this post went live and I missed it! Wow…so much great information here and I am thrilled for Mavis that she was able to benefit from your brilliance, as we all are because of you sharing it here!!! I love Mavis’ blog and I am impressed with the in the press tab idea…very clever!
Oops…you did it again! Another hit!
Heather
Excellent audit. I’ll be subscribing to her blog soon as I plan to do lots with video soon.
Hi Dennis,
That’s good decision. Susanna would love that.
All the best,
Ana
@Ingrid @CJ @Jym - This whole conversation intrigues me. Direct sales has been my life, and my new coaching/consulting model is exactly this….every static site, specifically e-commerce, must have a blog companion these days, especially for promotion.
Sorry CJ, I must respectfully disagree wholeheartedly with your first comment and the 2nd, where you try to clean it up a bit, just confuses me.
However, if you are that knowledgeable at marketing static sites, we can almost assuredly work together; I’d love to chat some off this blog.
Hey Dennis,
Thanks for taking the time to come back here to share your views. Hopefully CJ will come back to address your comment to him.
Although I’m no e-commerce expert, I would agree that a blog is a must.
Please forgive my late reply. I am actually traveling at the moment but trying to check all things internet whenever I get the chance.
I’ll be looking forward to learning from you and your Official HUB for all things related to e-commerce marketing and more.
Cheers
Thanks Ingrid, I do look forward to seeing you around. Perhaps we can work together as well.
You said the exact same things that I would have for design. I would change the banner all together, but that’s just me. Great content though..
Well, to be quite honest with you, I would too.
However, I do understand that a professional design is not in everyone’s budget, so I recommended the next best thing.
Ana
Yes, I’m going to get some professional pictures done first.
Wow what a great audit Ana, this is my first time check out an audit. You put some very valuable content and tips that we can use to improve our own blogs. I have to get brave enough soon and have an audit on my blog.
Thanks again
Pleasure to see you around, Quaneshia.
I think we all can all learn a few things for our blog through these audits, even I. Every once in a while, I discover something that I missed on my blog as well.
Have a blessed weekend.
Ana
WOW!
)
Now that is honestly one of the best all round how to guides on setting up and establishing a blog that I have seen!
Granted that was not the context, it was an audit after all - but through this you have shown not only how much you are in touch with what needs to be done blogging wise, you have also gained a lot of kudos (especially from me
Keep it up Ana, you will be a problogger very soon I think
Thanks so much, Alex; you have an ability to make you smile no matter what your comment is!
I do very much appreciate the compliment though.
Ana
Thanks Ana, I just found your blog via a guest post you wrote on Blog engage. I found that guest post because I was following Brian on twitter and he posted the link. So now you know how I got here:) Since I have been here I have been reading your content for about an hour.
Great Content, I think I will save this link and then try to implement as many of these ideas as I can.
So far I have 202 mastered which is the most important. Now on the rest…
So true, Casey - #202 is my favorite as well.
Glad you found your way onto my blog and, by the way, thanks for letting me know my post was published on BlogEngage - somehow I missed it!
Once again, welcome and hope to see you back soon.
Ana
Plugins won’t help you but it does help help with SEO (like taking care of trailing slashes, fixing permalinks etc.).
Essentially, I agree with your, Susan - there is nothing plugins can do for you that you can’t do yourself, IF you know what you are doing.
However, most of us still need a little help and I am all for using plugins that save me time or money.
Ana
Before they said that content is a king but now even if you have wonderful content but your site or blog sites have no traffic and not following the SEO rules then its nothing. Good quality content is one thing but you have to do something to drive traffic to your site and from that you will have a better possibility of earning.
Hi Kirsty,
!
That’s a very good point you bring up. Thank you
Yes, although quality content matters greatly, it has to be seen. It’s up to you to use the SEO and Social Media tools wisely in order to attract viewers to your site and in turn help it grow and maybe earn some profit along the way.
But the better or more interesting your posts are, the more frequently people will return to read what’s new and in turn share your blog with others.
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts.
Cheers
Hi Susanna,
hi Ana,
first of all congratulations to you Susanna that you had your blog audited by Ana, we can learn so much from her.
It was a pleasure to blaze the trail for you
As a regular reader of your blog (and viewer of your awesome videos) I can tell you that I like coming to your blog and staying there despite the weaknesses Ana pointed out.
With that said, with her suggestions you can even improve the appearance of your blog, so I am probably able to remove the “despite” in the former sentence in a few weeks or so.
Ana, thanks again for a great audit. And don’t say that you’re not tactful
I would say it’s a like a good massage. It feels good but there are some points of ache. Hope this analogy is appropriate.
Take care
Oliver
I LOVE your analogy, Oliver.
Thanks for your encouraging words to Susanna - she really does do a fabulous job and it can only get better.
Have a blessed weekend and thanks for coming by!
Ana
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