Getting Traffic 203 - Link Exchange: Good vs Evil

Ah the link exchange.  It's the old game of good vs evil.  Backlinks = good.... link exchange = evil.  What's that you say?  It can't be that simple?  Well, really it is, and let me explain why.

In order to obtain a higher page ranking in the search engines, you need backlinks (links on the web pointing back towards your website).  The more backlinks, the better your page ranking, because in theory people who like your site for it's awesome content will link back to it.  There are however different qualities of backlinks.  Let's look at an example:

Good backlink example: You have a blog about fishing.  Another fishing website links back to an article you wrote about bait and lures because it was a great article and they want their readers to know about it.  This is a good, useful backlink.  But then there's the other kind of backlink... the conniving, black hat SEO, link exchange kind.  You know what I'm talking about, the backlink that has no value whatsoever to anyone.

Bad backlink example: You have a fishing blog.  A car website contacts you and asks for a link exchange.  You give them your fishing link, which they post on their car site, and they give you their car link, which you post on your fishing blog.  Good for both people, right?  It might look good from the outside of the deal, but it's really more like fraud since you are trying to trick Google and the other search engines into moving your site up in the rankings.   

Firstly, people on that car website don't want to hear about fishing, and the readers on your fishing website could probably care less about the link you just posted to the car website.  Congratulations, you've just taken the first step down a slippery slope of alienating your readers and losing your traffic.  Why?  Link exchanges clutter up your blog for one thing.  For another, your readers want to know about the specific topics you're writing on.  You will lose the reader's trust if you begin posting non-relevant material on your site.

Link exchanges can also actually harm your page ranking.  Google and other search engines don't look kindly on back links from link exchanges or 'link farms' (websites that just post links).

So here's the deal.  There are a lot of legitimate ways to build backlinks to your site without risking losing your established traffic and pissing off the search engines.  There are also appropriate times to engage in a link exchange, such as when two sites of a similar topic exchange links because it will be mutually beneficial to readers on both sites.  There may come a time when you are approached by other sites wanting a link exchange, but I would recommend ignoring the requests and spending your time building legitimate backlinks instead.

What are some interesting, and legitimate ways that you build backlinks for your blog?  Have you ever engaged in link exchanges or link farms before?  Let us know in a comment below, and don't forget to subscribe to Hot Shot Blogger for more great articles and tips!

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Getting Traffic 103 - Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is one of those great ways to get yourself noticed and bring new readership to your blog.  You might be asking how that's possible, and I'm here to tell you how.

1) First, writing a guest post on a really popular or successful blog or website can expose you to high volumes of readers that didn't know you existed.  While each website that accepts guest posts has it's own guidelines, the general rules of thumb are: Save some of your best and most amazing posts for guest blogging, and once your guest post is published on another site, you can't publish it on your own site or anywhere else.  It becomes exclusive content for the site you published it on.  You can always link to it from your own site however.

Blogging in this way can build your reputation online, and as people discover who you are and get to know your writing, and perhaps love your posts, they will venture to your own blog to see what else you have to say.

2) Secondly, when you write a guest article for other blogs there are usually up to three backlinks that will go back to your site.  This will help your search engine rankings (higher rankings = higher traffic), and will also hopefully send some traffic your way from the site where you guest posted itself.

At this point guest blogging may be sounding pretty good to you, but you're asking yourself, how do I get myself a gig guest blogging for another site?  Relax, we'll walk you through it.

For the most part you should concentrate on guest posting in your own niche, as these have the targeted audience you'd like to come back to your blog.  You should already be searching out and reading other people's blogs and websites related to your topic in any case in order to get ideas for your blog (although never plagiarizing), so you may already have some favorites.

Some blogs will have a tab or link that says: 'Write for us' and will give you guidelines for guest posts, and others you may have to contact directly to ask about guest posting, or have a post already written and ready to submit to them to see if they'll post it for you.  You shouldn't necessarily just target the top blogs or sites in your niche, but rather ones you like and trust and would like your content to be seen on.  Sometimes smaller blogs will have smaller readership, but very loyal visitors that would be great for your blog as well.

Another great way to get a gig guest blogging is with sites like 'My Blog Guest' which allow you to sign up for a free account, write a variety of guest posts in different topics, and then sit back and wait for other bloggers to ask you to use your guest post on their sites.  While My Blog Guest doesn't have a high user base right now, it's a great idea, especially for beginner guest bloggers.  The following video shows how these services work.


The key things to remember when guest blogging are:

- Save your best articles for guest blogs (you can always link to them from your site).
- Don't re-publish your guest blogs on other sites or on your own.
- Guest post on blogs you enjoy reading in your niche.
- Try to follow the guest posting rules for each blog you intend to post on.
- You can expect some traffic from guest blogs, but it may not be immediate, and it may not always be large numbers.  Sometimes these things take patience.
- You will probably have a greater chance of getting guest post gigs on sites that you 'cold call' if you are already active in their commenting sections, and forums, and if the blog owner is already familiar with you and your site.

If you want to know more about guest blogging and how exactly it can help you, then you should really check out the video HERE on guestblogging.com... seriously, check it out!

Want more great tips and articles about blogging?  Check out our other great articles by clicking on the category tags at the top of the page!

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Getting Traffic 105 - Forums And Backlinks

As you've seen, you can get traffic to your blog in a number of different ways: Search engines like Google, ping-o-matic, stumble upon, social networks, word of mouth in the form of other sites sending traffic your way via backlinks...  Today we're going to talk about you doing some footwork (or typing work as the case may be) by using forums to send traffic to your site.

We know that the more backlinks you have out there to your site, the higher up your site goes in the search engine rankings.  Forums can help you push your site up in the rankings as well as send you some direct traffic, and here's how:

1) Find a forum that matches whatever topic you blog about.  For example, let's say you blog about cats.  Go out into the internet world and find a lively forum about cats.

2) Sign up on the forum, and customize your profile.  Many forums allow you to have a link and maybe even a banner or a few words in your forum 'signature'.  The signature shows up below every single post or reply you make in a forum.  Let's imagine the potential of this here for just a moment:

You sign up on the cat forum, and in your signature put:  
Visit my cat health site at www.cathealth.blogger.com.  (Yes, you want it in bold, and in a different color than black if you can.  Sometimes you can even make the signature a larger size).

Now you go onto that cat forum once a day and make one valuable, insightful post or reply to someone else's forum post, every day for a year.  (Don't reply with, 'wow that's cool...' or something else meaningless.  Try to be an active part of their forum community).

After a year you have made 365 posts on this cat forum, and below each post is the link to your site.  Odds are you're going to get at least a little direct traffic from people clicking on your link in your signature.  But even better than that is that the Google bots are out there crawling the web, and finding all of those backlinks you've made in your forum signature.  You slowly climb the search engine page ranks.

Let's imagine now that you've actually signed up to two different cat forums, and you make one post in each, every day for a year.  That's 730 of your links out there on the web
after only a year.

This is the first way you should use forums to get traffic to your site.

The second way you have to be careful with, as you don't want to be considered a 'spammer'.

1) Sign up for a few forums in your niche (topic), again we'll say they're cat forums because you're writing the best cat blog around.

2) Post insightful, meaningful content on the forums in posts and replies to other people's posts.

3) Every once in a while you'll get the opportunity to post a link to one of your posts in a reply.  Let's say you've written a post about what to do when your cat is sick, and you've just come across a person on the forum asking about what to do when your cat gets sick.  Simple, you give a little information and then give a link to your post and say, "I've already written a great post about this on my blog if you want to check it out!"  And there you have it, yet another link to your site on the web, and more chances for people to click on the link and give you some traffic from the forums.

I say to be careful because if you do this too often, they will call you a spammer and you might get removed from the forums.  But if you're giving them a link with valid information to a specific problem every once in a while, odds are they'll appreciate the help.

If you're using the forums in this way, then you should really be signed up to three or more forums in your niche area so that you get more chances to do this.  You can also do this with Yahoo Answers, where they love for you to give links to valuable information that relates to the question.

Check out our other great tutorials and articles by clicking on the category tabs at the top of the page!

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