Tribal Blogs

Ecosystem of a Start Up: Blogging

Filed under Infographics by Jennifer Brown on January 28, 2012 at 11:26 am {no comments}

This a cute representation of the ecosystem of a start up. You can see where bloggers are way down the on the food chain. But as noted, they can make or break the company with their snarky comments.

Blogging wasn’t even a real word 15 years ago and now there are millions of bloggers on the internet all doing their blogging because they enjoy the process, it’s their job, or they have an entrepreneurial spirit and understand that blogs can make or break a company these days.

The nice thing about being a blogger is that you don’t have to be part of this ecosystem. You can be your own little beta fish in your own little bowl and have just as big of an impact on the web. It just may take a little longer without the help of the bigger fish.

by Column Five Media via

7 Things You Need to Do to Optimize Your Blog for the Search Engines

Filed under Blog Strategy, Guest Posts, SEO by Guest Post on January 28, 2012 at 10:49 am {no comments}

Optimizing your blog for the search engines is crucial and very important! There are so many different blogs out there on the net that you’ll quickly sink to the bottom if you don’t optimize. Follow these seven tips below and you’ll be well on your way to high rankings.

#1 – Create the Right Permalink Structure

The permalinks WordPress uses by default are not search engine friendly. You can make this simple change by inserting %postname% instead of the default that is already there. This will successfully create URL’s that include your post name which should include your targeted keywords.

#2 – Install All in One SEO Plugin

This is a must-have plugin which allows you to specify a title, description, and the keywords for the search engines. It can really help you boost up and reach the top of the listings, whereas the standard WP installation can fall short.

#3 – Install Related Posts Plugin

Search engines love it when they get content pages that are interlinked. It also works very well for the search engines. It will automatically include links to other posts that are similar. Very convenient!

#4 – Research your Keywords

When people search, they search by keyword. It is vital that you know what these keywords are if you want to rank at the top of the search engines. Your posts should be centered around these keywords.

#5 – Include Your Keywords in the Title

In the title of your blog you need to include your main keyword. Also, include your main keyword and select others in the titles of your posts and sprinkle throughout your pages.

#6 – Make Your Blog Easy to Navigate

Easy navigation is essential for your guests and the search engines as it makes it easier for the guests. That means including your blog’s categories, recent posts (to make sure they get indexed) and pages. Easy navigation is also part of choosing a good design.

#7 – Expand the Ping List

When you make a new blog post WordPress will “ping” the blog search engines. This alerts them that content on your site has changed and ready for guests to view. This can help you get indexed fast so you can start making money even faster. Do a Google search to find an expanded ping list you can include in your wp-admin so you make sure you get as many of these sites to update you as possible.

Using these seven plugins will make your job of ranking highly in the search engines easier than ever. If you’re new to blogging with WordPress then these terms may seem incredibly strange to you right now. As you study them and go over them a couple times, put them into action and it will start to feel like second nature!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/7-things-you-need-to-do-to-optimize-your-blog-for-the-search-engines-814983.html

Author: Turn Blogs To Cash

Rankings Matter – How To Get Your Pages To The Top (ronmedlin.com)
Is It Time To Change Your SEO Strategy? (pro2sell.com)
Create An SEO-Friendly Website For The Promotion Of Your Clinic (leccoworkshop.com)

7 Things You Need to Do to Optimize Your Blog for the Search Engines

Why List Posts are 1. Fun 2. Easy and 3. Great SEO

Filed under Blog Strategy, Increasing Traffic, SEO, Writer's Block by Kelly Bristow on January 28, 2012 at 10:00 am {no comments}

You know you should write a post every day but there are days, many days sometimes, when pulling a post out of thin air can be not unlike pulling teeth. When you’re stumped for a post consider a list post. List posts are easy to put together and can be a lot of fun to write. Better yet, they have the ability to go viral because they are so simple.

List posts are fun

The great thing about list posts is that they can be as silly or as serious as you like. Generally, the more silly the list the more fun the post will be (and the more likely it will be shared). List post ideas often come from the writer’s every day problems, and specifically their solutions. Self deprecation is usually woven into most list posts. I wrote a post years ago about how not to leave a comment. I’d had some trouble leaving a comment on one of my blogger pals blog and made a fool of myself in her comment section trying to fix the mistake. The exchange was fun and turned into a helpful way to navigate comment sections. I had a blast writing the post and to this day it has nearly 200 comments and still gets steady traffic.

List posts are easy

Because list posts are so easy to put together they can be a lot of fun to write. You don’t need to go into great detail with any of the points you make, usually a sentence or two and all that’s left to the writing is the introduction and summary. Because you can toss out items in reference you don’t have to write detailed paragraphs about your topic. Of course you can but it’s understood that it isn’t necessary.

List posts are great for SEO

Because list posts are easy and fun to write the posts themselves tend to be witty, intelligent (because you don’t over think the task) and have the potential to go viral. Everyone loves short articles that have great information or packed with laughs. Consider that many people reading your blog are doing so at work. Though it may not seem like it by looking at Facebook, most people at work actually have work to do. So writing a shorter post ensures that most readers can finish it and if it’s entertaining, can pass it on to other who will do the same. This applies to Stumble, Reddit and Digg as well. People using those services are more likely to give your post a thumbs up if it’s short and to the point.

Writing a post for your blog doesn’t have to take a lot of time. This list post took about ten minutes to write and yet it hits on all the points I wanted to make for both my small business readers who really need to put out at least one post a day, and the search engines. It’s not Pulitzer prize winning writing but it isn’t mean to be. If you would like more information about writing list posts you can read this more in depth post on Problogger.

10 Amazing Blogs About Blogging to Start Reading NOW (hubspot.com)
It’s In the Numbers: 4 Strategies for Blog Success (roundpeg.biz)
Blogging Tips from Great Blogs (juliecatherinevigna.wordpress.com)

Why List Posts are 1. Fun 2. Easy and 3. Great SEO

Intuit Bank of America Phishing Scam

Filed under Scams by Jennifer Brown on January 27, 2012 at 4:11 pm {no comments}

The Intuit and Bank of America phishing scam is a little disturbing because at first glance it looks pretty authentic. I received this email scam from what looked like a real email address. Of course I don’t have an account with Bank of America but for a brief moment I wondered if my taxes were somehow routed that way as we did our taxes using Intuit software. It was enough to make me hesitate.

This email from Bank of America who use their free online tax services is a scam and if you click on it you might get your computer infected with malware or worse access you online accounts.

As with any questionable email please contact the company (if you do business with them) using contact information you already possess. Don’t call or click on the numbers in the email.