Links: Functioning Blog/Websites

Recently, I followed through with a friend’s request. She wanted me to check her website and blog. Frustrated, she’d asked me if there was anything she could do. Apparently, she’d posted great content but was puzzled when there’d been no traffic. Her fabulous articles sat empty of recorded visitors. She’d wanted an interactive blog. A place to discuss her book with the audience. She was ready to give up, and stop…writing.

Glancing through her sites, there was a very important component missing. She had nothing down the sides. No added widgets; thus, no links.

Adding links to your blog will optimize search engines and increase traffic. In the past, I’ve discussed:

* The reasons to activate webcrawlers. – “Turning Nightmares Into Pleasant Dreams” Like your book that sits on the shelves unnoticed, unless you draw attention to your blog, it also will just sit there unless you take action. It is imperative for the search engines to discover your blog.

* How to activate webcrawlers so they’ll snag onto your blog and boost it higher in the search engine rankings. “Targeting Mountains Instead Of Mole Hills” Great content will draw attention, but there are other tactics that will ensure the recognition your blog deserves. “Key Word and Key Phrase Fuels the Search Engine” Wisely selecting the key words and phrases, and repeating them often will get you more attention. But there’s more…

External Links:

It is up to you to link your blog to high traffic links and maintain the links functionality.

Under the ‘widget’ that’s located on your sidebar, is a section called ‘links’. Links are added under categories such as Blogroll, Featured Authors, Resources, etc. You can determine the title of each category and the amount of high traffic blogs or sources you wish to include.

Note:

- Proper ethics – Request permission from another blogger prior to linking them with yours.

- Add comments – By adding comments to high traffic sites will establish short duration links back to your site.

Tips:

- Alexa – Visit the Alexa site. There’s a nifty toolbar you can upload onto your computer. It displays a graph that monitors the actual traffic to the site your investigating and considering for a link to your blog. There’s no use linking to a low traffic site. Just watch the bar.

- Mashable.com – Mashable is a social media guide with very high traffic. By registering, adding content (a blog post), I can now link this site back to my blog by listing it under my widget category ‘Resources’. I’ve now targeted a different audience that will branch further out into the www and generate further buzz for me and my new book.

Note:

1.) Never leave your sidebar widgets empty of links.

2.) Changing the term ‘category’ to ‘title’ will increase hits.

3.) Periodically, check the links to make sure they’re still linked to the site you originally connected. Due to change in addresses, links can be broken. There’s no use listing a link that no longer is accessible for the webcrawlers or your viewers. This just makes clutter to your blog, and we want to make sure our blog remains attractive.

Internal Links:

* *Link your own sites together* – If you have more than one blog/website, link or add the sites to each other’s side widget.

I have 3 blogs:

1.) Premium Promotional Services – Complete Marketing Services for Authors.

2.) Conquer All Obstacles – Marketing Tips for Writers

3.) Jo-Anne Vandermeulen – Journey to Publication

I make sure I have listed each one on each side bar. This is linking them all together. The traffic will flow from one to another and I don’t have to do anything else.

* * Link your sites to your social media networks (MySpace, Facebook, Goodreads, etc.) and back to your blog.* – Fancy buttons can replace the title and link itself; but again…check out the appearance of your blog after adding such buttons. Too many, too big, too flashy can distract your viewer and take away their main focus which should be the article you’ve posted.

Once brought to her attention, my friend added her other sites and networks as links down the sides of both her website and blog. This served two purposes:

1.) The audience can now follow what interests her.

2.) Traffic flowed properly. The webcrawlers could now do their job.

My friend is back writing great content articles to her blog. She’s receiving the traffic she’d hoped, and is now thrilled with the interaction she’s having with her audience. She’s even noticed an unbelievable hike in her book sales. Now she’s a ‘happy camper’ and has learned how to conquer all obstacles.

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