How To Post Blog Posts Automatically To Facebook Using Hootsuite

This is a guest post compiled by Akpene Jacob  for OgbongeBlog

My fellow bloggers always send me mails and messages on how I use hootsuite to drive traffic to my blog, I always explain it to them but some will still be confused on how to use it effectively so i decided to write a tutorial on it so that they can fully understand it and those that have not heard of it too can use it.



So lets get started. You can use Hootsuite to drive traffic to your website or blog by connecting it with your   Facebook, Twitter or GooglePlus accounts so that you can schedule posts which will be posted automatically on this social media platforms.

Now you are ready use to Hootsuite, go to : www.hootsuite.com on your browser and sign up if you are a new user or log in if you already have an hootsuite account. After you finish setting up your Hootsuite account and you logged in you will see the screen below.

Click on ''Add Social Networks'', a new window will pop up as seen below :

You can connect only one social network if you're still using the free account but if you upgrade to Hootsuite Pro, you can connect as many as you want. See the screen below after I connected my Facebook account.

In the screen above you can see the Facebook groups I belong to but you I can only add 2 groups because I am still using free account, you should now add the two groups you want to be posting in.



Now we are done with the connecting ish, lets now link our Feeds to Hootsuite to so that it can do the work for us automatically.



 Go to Publisher and click on ''RSS Feeds''\

 A new window will pop up click on ''RSS/Atom'' so that you can connect your Feed to Hootsuite so that anytime you post it will automatically posted in your groups.

Now click on that Plus icon below ''RSS/Atom''

That's the screen you will see above.



Fill the form as explained below:  



Feed Url: Type in your blog address



Network to send feed items to: Select your Facebook profile or one of your groups.



Check this feed for new posts every: You can select every one hour, two hours and so on.



When new posts are found, send up to: You choose 1, 2 3 and so on.



Save your feed when you are done.



After you save the above, anytime you publish on your website/blog, Hootsuite will always be updating your Facebook for you with your latest blog posts.



In next tutorial, I will share with you, how to schedule your blog posts to be published on Facebook, Twitter etc using Hootsuite.



Are you also using hootsuite? Kindly share your experience.

This post was written by Akpene Jacob. He is a young Nigerian blogger and an internet Entrepreneur. He blogs at www.jaybossng.com. You can follow him on twitter @iamjayboss .

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5 Places Where Newbie Bloggers Tend to Go Wrong (If Not Always)

This is a guest post compiled by Alan Wilson  for OgbongeBlog

Becoming a blogger seems like something every other person is either doing, has tried (and given up), or is planning on. To be honest, it’s not as easy as it seems. Or let’s say becoming a successful blogger is not as easy as it may seem.





Simply putting together a website doesn’t suffice. Okay, I’m not saying that, that is easy either! However, in order to be a successful blogger, you need to pay attention to a lot of things that really matter.



So, all of you bloggers, out there,who are planning on (or have already tried and failed at) becoming a successful blogger, you need to know these critical mistakes that newbie bloggers make and go downhill with their blog.  Understanding these mistakes will allow you to avoid them in future, or at least know exactly where you went wrong.

Throw in the water before it goes up in smoke!


1)    The Domain-Less Blog:



Have a professional domain that serves as an identity for your blog. Owning your domain means it is a serious business and it’s not any random blog that you (the blogger) decided to create just because it’s free. You can also do this by buying a premium domain name for your free WordPress or Blogger blog.



2)     The Overly-Complex:



Try not use sentences like, “the protector about this time gave a commendable earnest of his resolution to assertrigorous justice against offenders” (or other similar sentences you’ll find on www.yourdictionary.com. Blah!).



The blog audience is usually a sizeable one and using such complex vocabulary will only reduce the audience. The best bloggers try to make complex concepts sound as easy as possible. Sounding complex is not parallel to “intelligent” or “sophisticated” unlike what many people mistakenly assume.



3)    The Daily Diary:



Your blog should be all about you. It can be, but only if the “you” in your posts somehow benefit your audience. It may be tempting to create a new, free blog and pour in all about your thoughts, feelings, stories, and personal experiences.



However, your blog won’t be a hit if it doesn’t assist your audience in some way. In short: your blog is not your personal diary.  Bloggers should learn to ask themselves: What’s in it for my readers?



Talking about yourself and your personal experiences is acceptable if it adds some spice and personality to your posts. Keep in mind though, that it must be useful and helpful to your audience as well.



4)    Overly-Optimized SEO:



Nobody likes reading a paragraph similar to this one,



“We will sell the best kitchen appliances you can find inNew Hampshire. For all you who live in New Hampshire and need kitchen appliances, contact the NH Kitchen Appliances, LLC. You are sure to find a great variety in kitchen appliances here”.



Great, but try not to sound like a tape stuck in one place. Over optimization never works, but always end up in a penalty. So, basically you stuff the same keyword again and again and again (okay, I’ll stop).



If the purpose of your blog is to focus on SEO and not “helping your readers” you might make it to the top of Google results; however it won’t be very popular among the audience and it won’t stuck on the first page of the SERP for very long. Eventually, it is likely to get penalized and get thrown into the bin.



5)    The Generous All-Embracer:



This one shouldn’t come to you as a surprise. Your blog should have a specific purpose to it. You might be feeling a little “big-hearted” and trying to come up with something that is for anybody and everybody. However, that tactic won’t work for long. Your blog will end up becoming meaningless, and infact, shrink the audience. 



First try to understand your audience once you have decided on a purpose (a niche). What are the problems they will be facing? What are their needs and wants? What kind of information will they be looking for? Direct your information and language to them. A blog that ends up being generic will certainly be a wasted effort.



All in all, it is best to make your blog as helpful and useful as possible. Don’t forget the tidbits (length, quality, search ability, structure, etc). If you win your audience, you’ll also win it with Google. You win both, you’ll have traffic rolling in and making your blog a big hit.



What's your take on this?

This post was written by Alan Wilson. He is an experienced and passionate writer currently working for Essay Avenue that provides Online Essay Writing Help to students for better academic grades. 

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Blogging Myths You Need To Do Away With In 2015

This is a guest post compiled by Adegboye Adeniyi  for OgbongeBlog

If you grew as an African child, you would have heard your own part of some of the myths we were told as children and which some of us believed in.

One of such myth was the fact that if you hit your left leg against a stone as you were going out, you either won’t meet the person at home or you won’t get a positive result in case you were going to ask for a favour.

Either way, it was considered a bad sign to hit your left leg against a stone when on an outing.

It was only as we grew up that we got to know better.

Whether you are a die-hard blogger or just beginning your career as a blogger, there are lots of myths that you need to do away with to succeed in 2015.

5 Blogging Myths to Avoid in 2015

Myth #1: Build it, traffic will come:

On the average over 2.9million post are published every second. This means for every niche you can think of, there are already blog competiting for the same space as yours. This means it is not just okay to have a blog. You need to do the extra work to promote your blog and drive traffic to it.

Heard of the 20-80% principle? The success of a blog is 20% content creation (writing posts) and 80% content promotion (marketing, building relationships with others in the niche and building links etc). This means you need to let your target audience know that your blog exist.

If you do not tell them you exist, they won’t know how to find you. When they can’t find your website, they will settle for the available website they see.

There are numerous channels you can use to show the pathway to your blog. Channels like social media, email marketing and even paid advertisement are worth exploring.



Myth #2: You need to publish more content:

Another blogging myth that you need to throw away is the fact that you have to write more content and publish often. Experience bloggers have already learnt these the hard way but for newbie, it can be tempting to think that the more you write, the higher your traffic or ranking.

Publishing as often as you can might help you but if you are in an industry where things and news do not change that often, then publishing when you don’t have something interesting to tell your audience might not be a bonus.

Depending on your niche, you might have to take a step backward and consider some of the following factors to help you determine how often you should publish.

·         How often can you write?

·         What other component do you need eg graphics, etc?

·         How often do things change in your niche?

·         Who are your audience and what do they want?

 

Myth #3:  There is a particular type of content that does so well:

Do you think a particular type of content will do so well than others? Do you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and all you can publish there are videos.

There is no right or wrong content to publish. It is all about understanding your audience, knowing your style and finding a meeting point.

If you find out that videos does well among your audience, put more time into producing more of it. If images does well and receives a lot of sharing, likes and re-tweet then put more effort into it.

Find the sweet spot and exploit it to your advantage.



Myth #4: You do not need SEO

Search Engine Optimization is a method of making web content discoverable by search engines. Search engine optimization involves much more than keyword research and link building. With search engines getting more intelligent, it has become a whole new way of promoting a website online. From audience persona, keyword research, copywriting and link building, a whole new method of promoting a blog was opened. But ignore the search engines and you lose out on a chance to sometimes increase your website traffic by as much as 75%.



Myth #5: Blogging can make you a millionaire over night:

Want to earn a passive income, you need a blog. Right?

Wrong. Actually being a blogger might not make you rich overnight. This is because blogging is such a hard job that most people will give up on it even before they see the reward of their effort. And depending on your niche, the competitions can become so crazy you feel like quitting blogging altogether.

While blogging may not make you an instant millionaire, it holds such a great potential for anyone ready to put in the work required.

Conclusion:

As bloggers, we live in a time where trends changes so fast and technology has come to stay. Go with the trends or be swallowed up by it. Blogging myths will continue to exist but what you can do is to learn from others you have succeeded as a blogger.

Have your own myth? Share with us.

This post was written by Adegboye Adeniyi. He is the Head of Search at VTNS Solutions, a Search Engine Marketing Firm dedicated to helping businesses build a better online presence. You can follow him on twitter @legendcrest

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7 Secret Ingredients To Make You A Successful Blogger

This is a guest post compiled by Adegboye Adeniyi  for OgbongeBlog

Do you want to become a successful blogger?



If the answer is yes, then read on. If your answer is no,  you may wish to still read on if only to convince yourself that becoming a great blogger is much harder than we say and that you are justified in your wanting to quit blogging.



If you count the number of blogs that exists currently, they exceed over 300million according to Wikipedia and almost 61.8 million new posts are published every single day.



This means the amount of competition in any niche is high.



Yet blogging has been known to help brand people and businesses.  When you blog consistently, it can quickly position you as a go-to-expert in your niche.



But the million dollar question remains



How do you become a successful blogger?





While passion is an important ingredient, there are some other spices that you need to help you become a great blogger.

These secret ingredients are:



1. You have to keep working at it



You just can't give up. Not now and not ever. When you give up, you are giving someone else one less spot to compete for. Successful bloggers have learnt to keep pushing until they achieve their goal. Life would happen. Anything that can go wrong will possibly go wrong but it is only when you are persistent that you can truly be successful.



2. Learn to promote others but promote yourself more



As a buddy blogger, you may think the secret to success is to talk about other people but you are wrong. When starting out, you need to get word out about your blog. This means focusing greatly on promoting your blog because you need to establish yourself as someone to reckon with. Granted you need once in a while to promote others in order to build relationships with them but do not make it an obsession or focus more on it. You are building your own reputation so talk about your stuff more.



3. Do not ignore all other marketing channels 



One grave mistake most bloggers make is not leveraging other marketing channels to grow their blog. Once they push the publish button, they run off to start writing the next post but you cannot grow your blog that way. You need to drive traffic to and through your blog using various other means. Paid advert eg Facebook ads, can quickly give your blog post traction. Social media presence is a necessary evil and SEO is a must.  For SEO, we do not mean all the advanced stuffs like link building etc but the most basic stuffs like including your keyword in your title and naming your images with the alt tag.You can download the Google SEO ebook to master the basics.



4.  Be yourself



You must understand who you are and learn how to turn it into an advantage. What do you know best? Are you better at creating graphics? When and how do you write best? What kind of articles comes easily to you to write about? For examples, blog topics hit me at any time so immediately this happens, the first thing I do is to write down my first draft using my smart phone. When I think I have the skeleton of the post written only then do I transfer it to my desktop to complete. This has worked so well for me that I rarely ever sit down at my desktop to try to write a new post.



5.  Identify your niche



Another grave mistake bloggers make is trying to be everything to everyone. Just because entertainment news is hot cake does not mean you should join the bandwagon. When you do that you can get lost in the crowd. To truly make a name for yourself, you need to identify which niche makes the most sense for you. It could be because of your passion. It could be that you are knowledgeable about the niche but you must pick a particular niche and stay with it.  If you are writing about technology, write technology. If you want to focus on food, focus on it. Don't be a jack of all trade and master of none.



6.  Start Collecting emails as soon as you can



Okay, these may sound a little advanced but from the very first day you start your blog, start thinking of how you intend to collect emails from your readers. Eventually these emails are going to remain the only medium by which you can build a lasting relationship with your readers. Not everyone will visit your blog every day and yet they would not mind hearing from you. So get into the lead generation game early. For starters, you can add Feedburner email subscription form to your blog.



7. Find a mentor or steal one



 If you are lucky you may find someone to mentor you but that may not be the case especially if you are a newbie. What can you do? Steal one. Identify two bloggers in your niche that are successful then make it a point of duty to study them. Visit their blog every day. Follow them on social media. Understand how to write, what they write about and who their audience is. Then go replicate them only do it better.



To wrap it up the only difference between a successful blogger and the average blogger is the persistence, dedication, amount of time you put into your blog and the ability to keep going when everyone else gives up.

This post was written by Adegboye Adeniyi. He is the Head of Search at VTNS Solutions, a Search Engine Marketing Firm dedicated to helping businesses build a better online presence. You can follow him on twitter @legendcrest

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5 Ways to Earn Income From Blogging

This is a guest post compiled by David Udenna  for OgbongeBlog

Over the years, blogging have been the main source of income for some people. Some do it on part-time basis while some actually don’t do any other job other than just wake up in the morning write some few topics, publish on their blog. Believe me, most of these people earn good income from blogging.





If you are not yet earning good income from your blog(s), just sit back, relax and follow the tips I'm sharing with you in this post. What I will be sharing is not a quick way to make money. Hence, if you are an individual that is looking for Get Rich Overnight schemes then I advise you to look elsewhere because this post is not for you.



1. Sell eBooks, Videos etc



This is a sure way of making money from your blog even when you don't have enough traffic to be making money from adverts.



You can sell ebooks you create by yourself or sell ebook for other authors in return for commission. There are even some authors that will give you right to resell their ebooks.



I've seen a gossip blogger selling ebook on how to create an entertainment blog and how to date celebrities. All you just need to do is to sell ebooks you think will be OK for your audience and you are good to go.



You can as well package information you want to sell in form of videos, audio recordings etc. The choice is yours.



If you are not selling anything on your blog, you are really missing alot. Information Sells!!



2. PPC Monetizing



PPC means Pay Per Click.



If you join PPC Networks e.g Google Adsense, Adynamo etc, you can be earning income from your blog monthly when visitors to your blog click on the ads you generated from those networks. All you need is to generate the ad codes from the networks and place the codes on your blog.



This is very effective for Sites with high traffic. So before Monetizing your blog with Pay Per Click Networks make sure you have some traffic so it can be very effective.



3. Affiliate Marketing



This is also a very effective way of earning income from your blog provided you are good at driving sales. All you need to do is to join affiliate networks and help them market their products using your unique affiliate links.



When people buy through your link, the network will pay you some commission. When the commision piles up to a certain amount, you get paid via check or to your bank account.



NOTE: It's recommended to promote products related to your niche e.g if you blog on "cooking" then you should promote products like Kitchen utensils, not football jerseys.



You can ceck out blog posts on Affiliate marketing here.



4. Sponsorship



If your blog attracts reasonable traffic, then you can propose to companies, business owners etc to sponsor your blog in return for referals, extra online exposure etc.



If its what they want they will be part of it and advertise on your blog. They can advertise using ad banners, text links or with sponsored post. And the good thing is that you have control over how much you charge for adverts on your blog.



5. Online Services



As a blogger, there is probability that you will have accounts on sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. Even if you don't have personal accounts on those sites, I guess you would have created profiles for your blog on such sites.



Guess what, you can be making money by using those social media accounts to promote companies and busineses. There are bloggers that make money tweeting for companies, promoting companies & their products on Facebook etc. You too can!



Besides, if you know how to create a blog, how to set up Facebook,Google ads etc, you can be making money doing all that for those in need of such services. If you have services you offer, list them on your blog so that visitors to your blog will be aware of them.



Before you can actually start making good money from blogging, you need to write quality content, connect on social media and never stop learning.



I advise you try all the ways highlighted above because you won't really know which one will really be working for you.  Don't just sit down waiting for advertisers...



Do you know other ways to earn income from blogging?



Kindly let me know your take on this too.

This post was written by David Udenna. He is a Business/Self employment blogger at : www.profityan.com. He can be reached on Twitter @davidudenna or on Facebook via www.facebook.com/ProfitYan

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5 Reasons Quitting Blogging May Be The Best Decision You’ll Ever Make

This is a guest post compiled by +Ikenna Odinaka   for OgbongeBlog

The best blogging decision I made few years back was to quit blogging. And it may be the best thing you’ll ever do. I know you are confused right now. Let me explain.



Have you ever felt confused, saturated and directionless with blogging? Be honest.



You’ve been doing your best, applying all the blogging tips and advice you have learned. Done what successful bloggers do. Written all the guest posts. Optimized your post for search engine. But your blog remains a virgin island, empty and lifeless.





The other day, you woke up with what seemed like the idea that will transform your blog sooner than later. The next day, what once seemed like a brilliant idea was just an over-exaggerated illusion.



You feel drained and exhausted. It’s not working.



You hung in there hoping that one day, the powers of blogging will favor you.



That, I have felt.



I started blogging in 2008. Early 2009, I made the best decision and quit blogging.



In between the days of absence, I devoured blog posts on Problogger.net, StevePavlina.com, DailyBlogTips.com and several others.



Reading and observing these blogs, gave me a new understanding about blogging. I was empowered to blog again.



In what seemed like 9 months or so later, I returned with a fresh perspective about blogging. And have been blogging since then.



Reading the story of several success bloggers reassured me that I’m not alone with quitting blogging once upon a time.

Here is why I think quitting to blog could be the best decision you’ll make any time soon.



1. A chance to clear your mind



One of the worst things that’ll happen to you as an entrepreneur is a clustered mind. You’ll never achieve anything with it. You may look busy to everyone else, but deep within, you know you’re anything but productive.



Stepping away from blogging for a while will help you clear your mind of information overload. We are at our best creative self when our mind is free of distractions and anxieties.



2. Discover the blogger in you



I believe the best way to discover your talent in anything you want to do is to start doing it. Like if you want to know if you’ll make a good musician, you have to start singing, right?  Then with an open mind and flexible spirit, you’ll discover unique opportunities in music.



But if blogging has been an uphill hustle for you. If it feels like a blood-sucking vampire in your life. Step back for a while. Blogging is not an easy venture quite alright, but it shouldn’t be a parasite either.



When you start blogging for the right reasons, you’ll catch the sensation. You’ll be more confident to identify yourself with blogging.



3. Get to see blogging differently



If you have been seeing blogging as the money minting venture, you need a fresh orientation. This is one of the most important reasons to quit blogging.



Spend more time observing and reading successful blogs. Not the hype laden ‘make money quick’ kind of blogs. But the genuine entrepreneurial minded blogs, and your understanding about blogging will never remain the same.



4. After all, it may not be for you



In the theory of evolution, as we were taught in school, species survive by the jungle rule; survival of the fittest.



“Let the strong survive while the weak perish”.



If blogging is not strong enough a business for your personality, let it perish.



Now, that sounds a bit pessimist.



But truth be told, not everyone will build a successful blog. It’s the reality. If it’ll take staying away from blogging for a while to discover that it isn’t for you, then it’ll be worth it.



There are several other businesses you can do and make money online.



5. So you can get a live



Many bloggers seems to have sold their soul to blogging and the internet. Take this away from them and they have no life left. If this is you, you need a break.



There is more to life than a piece of screen and blogging.



I love and recommend blogging



 Contrary to what you may be thinking right now, I love blogging and love to encourage other bloggers to keep pushing on.



I believe blogging can change the lives of people who build them and those who read them.



But I’m also a realist.



With all the blogging tips and advice about ‘how to make money blogging’, you need to hear the other side of the story once in a while.



If you know what you are doing, keep doing it. But if you are more of a haphazard, confused blogger, my advice for you is to step back. Spend the next few months reading and studying other blogs.



You’ll have a new perspective about blogging. And I bet by the time you return, you’ll do it a lot better.



Have you ever quit or considered quitting blogging before?



Has quitting blogging in the past helped you become a better blogger?



Drop your comments below.

This post was written by +Ikenna Odinaka . He is the Chief Editor of AfterSchoolAfrica.com. You can read his Story of 10 Lessons in Blogging here.

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What Happened to Linda Ikeji's Blogspot and Lessons For Bloggers

If you're still googling "what happened to Linda Ikeji Blog", don't stress yourself. It was deleted on 8th of October, 2014 by Google; owner of www.blogger.com / www.blogspot.com; the free blogging platform she was using for the blog before it disappeared from the web.



There were rumors everywhere that LIB was deleted by Google because of copyright infringements. I read at different sites that one @MrAyeDee and some other brands filed DCMA complaints against her which might have triggered the Blogger's Spam-prevention robot to delete the blog.





Good news is that, the blog has been restored after a manual review, just 24hours after it was deleted. Although it's back online but there are lessons I hope Bloggers will learn from this.



1. Don't Use Other People Content Without Permission



Be it an article, image, music etc, do not post it on your blog without seeking permission from the owner. If you've been doing that, please STOP.



Google can delete your Blogger blog, disable your Adsense account, delist your blog from Google search if found guilty. If your blog is on WordPress, your host can suspend or delete your account too. You can even be sued. +Sisi Yemmie recently shared on her blog, how she almost got sued for not crediting the source of a photo she used on her blog. So, say NO to plagiarism (intellectual theft).



As you can see from the screenshot below, Linda has learnt her lesson  and promised not to use images without giving credit.

2. Always Back Up Your Blog



Whether your blog is hosted on Blogger or WordPress, always back up your blog. Anything can happen to your blog anytime.



Nairaland lost alot of content when attacked recently because the owner didn't have an up to date back up. When my blog was deleted by Blogger last year October, I couldn't instantly move to WordPress because I didn't have an up to date back up too but have learnt my lesson since then.



If you are on Blogger and you have an up to date back up, you can easily restore your content on a new blog if Blogger deletes your blog. If on WordPress and hackers strike or host suspends you, you can restore your blog easily too on another host if you have a back up.



3. Get A Custom Domain For Your Blogspot Blog



If you're serious with your blogspot blog and hope to make it big, ensure you get a custom domain for the blog as soon as possible. If you wait till it gets popular, the sharp guys out there might have purchased the good names you can use before you know whatz up.



Cyber-squatters are everywhere these days. You might have to break the bank to get the domain names of your choice from them if they register them before you do, something you might have done with less than $15.



LIB is a victim of cyber-squatting. Even though I registered Ogbongeblog.com for Ogbongeblog.blogspot.com, I ensured I also registered www.jideogunsanya.com before the sharp guys get it done for me.



If you check TechCabal's list of squatters who own Linda ikeji domain names, you might be wondering why she hasn't acquire at least one of those names before those squatters acquired them.



If you have set up a custom domain for your blogspot blog and blogger deletes your blog, you can use the domain name for a new blog and your readers will still be able to find you. This won't be possible if you are using a .blogspot address by the time the blog gets deleted because you don't have any control over the .blogspot address.





If you have a custom domain in place, you can make visitors to the blog see an "under construction" page. Even if you don't do that, readers will see a 404 page like the screenshot below:

instead of this:

So, wise up.



You can change from .blogspot to .com here.



4. Don't Ignore Warnings



If you receive complaints via email, On Facebook, Twitter etc about some copied content on your blog, please, do not ignore. You don't know who is who.



In as much as you know that you got the content somewhere, even if not from the site of the person that contacted you, delete the content or link back if that's what the person wants. Never wait till Google or your host do the needful. You might not be lucky as Linda Ikeji.



5. Never Stop Learning



Just because your blog is growing fast or you are making alot of money from it doesn't mean you should stop learning. No one knows it all. Relate with fellow Bloggers, join groups like Bloggerslab and don't ignore blogging tips been shared across the web.



I was surprised when I discovered that Linda didn't back up her blog even at a time she was under threat of DCMA complaints. Bloggers like me would have advised her to do so if she seek for advice at Bloggerslab or other online communities for bloggers.



Another top Nigerian gossip blog was hacked last year because the owner fell for a phishing scam. Many still fall for it and there is no way such bloggers will fall for those cheap tricks if they are have been following online discussions about phishing tricks.



So, instead of using all the time you've got to be combing the web for gossips, spend part of it to learn. Just my two cents.



6. Don't Ignore TOS



Every online service has terms to abide with. Pls, always stick to the rules. Just because Blogger A is posting nasty things without his/her blog been deleted doesn't mean yours cannot be deleted. You might not be lucky. Be guided.



Well, these are the lessons I can come up with for now. If you have contributions to make, kindly share via comments.



Please, share this with friends.



Happy Blogging!

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How To Claim Your Site for Free on Alexa

Claiming your site on Alexa.com will let you take control of your site listing; a process that involves you proving ownership of the site. For you to prove that you are the owner, you will be required to upload some content or add a meta tag to your site html.



Once Alexa verifies your site, the site will appear on your Alexa Dashboard, and you'll be able to edit the site listing information. As at the time of publishing this post, you can still claim your site for FREE at Alexa.com without subscribing to any of the Alexa plans.



How?



Follow me through the steps below:



==> Sign up for free Alexa account or sign in with your Facebook account



==> Click on "add site"



==> Click on "check pricing"



==> Scroll down the page and click on the "claim a site" link. This should take you to http://www.alexa.com/siteowners/claim



==> Select Method 2



==> Copy the meta tag and add it to the <head> section of your homepage HTML i.e above <head>

•  If Blogger blog, you will see <head> by going to "Template" > "Edit HTML"


•  If Wordpress Blog, go to "Appearance" > "Editor" > Header.php

==> Once you have added the meta tag to your site html, Click "Verify my ID"



If verified, you will see "your site is successfully claimed" and "claimed" will also appear next to your blog name in your Alexa dashboard.

That's all.



NB: You don't have to enter any credit card info to claim your site for free.





Recommended: How To Change Your Site Country at Alexa.com

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BET4 Program by Diamond Bank To Give 15 Million Naira To Entrepreneurs

Diamond Bank Nigeria has announced the fourth season of the Building Entrepreneurs Today (BET4) programme, a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of the bank aimed at enhancing the growth potentials of Nigerian entrepreneurs through capacity building. This season will focus on ICT, Agro-Allied and Renewable Energy sub-sectors and N15 million is up for grabs.



The Corporate Social Responsibility initiative involves supporting MSMEs by giving them the knowledge they need to build viable ventures and manage success. Small business owners are equipped with the right knowledge and skills to properly manage their businesses. At the end of the training, successful participants would have imbibed the culture of entrepreneurship that Diamond Bank Plc stands for.

To qualify for selection, a candidate must have an existing business that has been in operation for at least three months prior to the application date. Applications are reviewed by a panel of judges based on a predetermined set of criteria after which successful candidates are invited for an interview session.

Fifty shortlisted candidates will thereafter undergo a six months training with the EDC, following which the top fifteen are selected for a second phase of top-flight advisory services where they are required to present their business models.

At the end of the process, the five participants who are adjudged to have the best plans are each given a three million naira grant by Diamond Bank Plc to support their businesses.

To participate, log on to www.diamondbet4.com to fill and submit application form.

Wish you luck!

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Google Scrapper Report Form For Reporting Copycats

If you see a scrapper URL outranking the original source of content in Google search, you can now report such URL to Google using the new Scrapper report form. This is Google's latest effort in reducing the activities of Internet copycats known as "scrapers".





According to Google, the form does not perform a spam report or notice of copyright infringement. For now, Google just want to use the data you submit to test and improve algorithms as Google is currently testing algorithmic changes for scraper sites (especially blog scrapers).



The link to the Google scrapper form was posted on Twitter by Matt Cuts; head of the webspam team at Google.

If you see a scraper URL outranking the original source of content in Google, please tell us about it: http://t.co/WohXQmI45X

— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) February 27, 2014

The form asks you the source URL, i.e. the original source of the content, the URL of the page stealing the content, the search results page where it is being outranked, and just a confirmation.

You can fill the Google Scrapper form here.

Such scrapper sites sometimes score higher than the original content in Google search results, thereby frustrating thousands of bloggers. So, if Google can do something about this, don't you think it will be cool??



NOTE: Use https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?hl=en&pli=1 to report spam or http://www.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=ts.cs&ts=1114905 to report copyright complaints. 

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6 Simple Tips To Write Quality Content For Your Blog

This is a guest post compiled by +uche Nwokolo  for OgbongeBlog

Content is king; everyone knows about that but how can we produce content that would keep your readers interested and at the same time attract new readers to your blogs? Apart from being unique, a good content should useful, easy to read, interesting and at the same time beneficial to the reader.





Below are just six tips to write quality content for you blog:





#1 BALANCE YOUR HEADLINES BETWEEN SEO AND YOUR READERS



Firstly, to write quality content for your blog you should ensure there is a balance between SEO and your reader’s attention when crafting your headline. You wouldn’t want to lose visitors by writing headlines (titles) for only SEO benefits while neglecting your customers. Neither would you want to write for only your customers while neglecting SEO.





Take a good look at the two examples below to better understand this issue.

•  Spending habits: how to get rid of them


• 5 ways to get rid of bad spending habits once and for all.  

Which do you think it better?





SEO requires that the keyword be at the beginning but sometimes doing that makes the headline not attractive to get the attention of readers. You have to learn how to balance this issue if you want to write quality content for your blog.





#2 WRITE WHEN YOU ARE IN THE MOOD





Secondly, write when you are in the mood: I have discovered that I write quality content when am I much lively or in high spirits than when am tired or a have other things on my mind. When you are not in the state or mood to blog why not just leave it and attend to other things.





You can’t cheat nature. When it is time to rest, just rest. After all blogging is not something you do once in a month it is continuous. Passion makes the work easier not burdensome so don’t stress yourself all in the name of passion.





#3 PEN DOWN YOUR IDEAS IMMEDIATELY





Thirdly, Pen down your content when you get the idea immediately: Ideas come fast but they also leave fast. When you get an idea about a topic, pen it down. You can easily save the idea as a blog draft or in a Note application on your mobile device. Forget about the mistakes you can edit them later.



One way to get an idea to write a better content is to read your posts yourself, yes very simple. Open your blog in your browser then go through it as a visitor. You would be shock at the amount of ideas you would receive to improve your content, I do that every day and I also receive ideas to write quality content, try it out, remember pen down the ideas immediately.

#4 DECIDE WHEN IT SHOULD BE A POST OR A PAGE





The fourth tip to write quality content is to differentiate when it should be a post or a guide/ebook: A post doesn’t contain many words compared to a guide.



I wrote a post on financial statements, on income statement and also on balance sheet but at a second thought I decided to combine them into one and make it a guide instead of being post why?





Apart from struggling to get a good headline people won’t comment on it talk more of sharing it, so I wrote the beginners guide to understanding financial statements which is useful to my readers?





Write a post if you are going to be brief and if the reader would benefit from it but if not think about writing it as a guide/ebook if you need to elaborate more on the idea.





#5 HAVE FUN WHEN YOU BLOG





The fifth tip to write quality content for you blog is to have fun while you blog. This is very important if you want to write quality content for your blog. You should write when you have a story to tell not to be pouring out content all the time because of SEO.





When I started blogging, I kept on thinking of how to produce content everyday all in the name of content is king. It got to a stage that I was now thinking of producing content just for Seo while forgetting about the benefits it would have for my readers and I never had fun doing it.





Blog when you have something interesting or a story to tell your readers. It is more exciting when you have a story to tell than just churning content for machines.



#6 WRITE A COMPELLING INTRODUCTION





Last but not the least, your introduction should more else be written like a copywriter i.e apart from a good headline the first paragraph should be written in such a way that the reader cannot leave without clicking the read more button.





Avoid unnecessary words. Make it clear in the first paragraph, what you want to achieve in that post and what benefit it has to the reader.





That's all.





What's your take on this? Do you have other tips you would like to contribute to this? Pls, let me hear from you via comments.

This post was written by +uche Nwokolo . He is a blogger and the founder of wisdom for wealth blog where he blogs on how to create wealth that won’t cost you your soul.

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4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start A Blog

This is a guest post compiled by +Shamsudeen Adeshokan  for OgbongeBlog

Most bloggers fail in their first attempt in creating a blog due to lack of clear concise plan on how to start and run a successful blog. This is one of the reasons why most of such bloggers abandon their first blogs to start new ones.



I also failed in my first attempt to start a blog. Everything was done zig-zag. Too many task to  complete, I didn't even know where to get started. Fast forward to date, I looked back at my beginning, and wish I had known most of what I knew today before I ever start a blog.



If you are interested in starting a new blog and won't want it to be abandoned in the long run, there are some questions you will have to ask yourself. Questioning yourself will help you determine which direction to go.



To save you a lot of time and hard work I went through trying to figure out blogging, I want you to ask yourself these questions below, and take time to consider your answers before you get started with your new blog.

#1. Why am I starting this blog?  



This should be the starting point to why you're creating a blog. Without defining your purpose from the get-go, you’ll have no clear direction. You need to ask yourself the reason why you wanting to start a blog. Is it for money, fame, to build your writing skills or just for fun?



Your definite answer will determine your approach and aggressiveness toward your blog task and marketing. With this question, you will easily keep your blog on track.





#2. Who Are My Targeted Audience? 



Right before anything else, I mean even before registering a domain name and hosting, you need to decide very quickly who your intended audience is.



You need to determine who will be reading your articles. The clearer you can define them, the easier it will be for you to plan content for them.



Knowing your targeted audience will help you decide how you'll set up your blog from scratch. Type of content to create, how to drive traffic to it and many more.



#3. Where and how to get traffic?



Few weeks or months after you might have started your blog, you’re going to have to turn your attention to promoting your blog so as to get new readers apart from your family and friends.



There are free ways you can market your blog eg social media and there are some other ways that will cost you some money eg Google or Facebook ads.



The earlier you decide how you're going to be driving traffic to your blog, the better for you. If you're starting a content marketing blog, is much easier to learn with it but if you're running a business blog, you better buckle up in time. Every cents you spent either makes you happy or frustrated.



#4. How Often Will I Post?



Creating and maintaining a blog involves a lot of work and you need to put effort into it. If you want to attract readers to your blog and keep them coming back, you have to be updating your blog frequently.



You can post everyday, weekly or on weekends. It's better to decide in advance how often you will be posting to your blog. Whatever rate of posting you decide, you have to stick with it, if you don't want to lose readers.





Conclusion.......



Starting and maintaining a blog can be difficult, but if you ask yourself these questions and consider the answers before you start your blog, you will have a much easier task ahead of you.



Don't forget to help spread this article for your loved ones to enjoy by playing around a little with those sharing buttons below this post.



Kindly let me hear from you via comments if you have one or two things to say as regards this post.

This post was written by +Shamsudeen Adeshokan  . He is a passionate blogger who writes about blogging tips and tutorials at CyberNaira.com. If
he is not working on his computer, then he is in the field playing
football.

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How SSCE Holder Started Making Money Online With A Phone

This story is from a fellow Blogger.



He resigned from his CocaCola job to concentrate on his blog which he started using a phone. Right now, he is making reasonable money online legally in Nigeria and not regretting quitting his job. There may be one or two lessons to learn from the story. So read carefully.

First of all, I think it would be nice to introduce myself. I am +Adeniyi Samuel by name and I hail from Osun State, Nigeria. I am a one
time forklift operator in one of the leading companies in the
Country (Coca-cola) who later turned a full time blogger and for over 6
months now, I have no curse to regret quitting my offline job.



You
might wonder why but truth be told, the coca-cola branch here where I
worked, only bears the name and not the pay. Working there seemed more
like working as an elephant and eating like an ant but after quitting
the job to turn full time blogging, the reverse has been the case, all
thanks to God. I now work as an ant and eat as an elephant.



How It All Started (The Insight)



It
all started around 2010 when I was doing nothing outside running mini
sites on the internet. Well, first I stumbled on some muf.mobi sites and
I love the engagement that was going through these sites and always
wanted to have something like that. I never thought of the money at that
time, all I wanted to do was create a site with loads of members and
have the name as the owner. That was all I cared about without the money
in mind after all I was using free internet as lots of free browsing
cheats were in vogue at that time.



From muf.mobi, I
knew about wapka but I couldn't use them because I wasn't able to code
and understand how the designing was done(it was kinda little complex
for me) but I was pretty good at muf.mobi sites and other few I knew
then and that lead to the formation of funhome.muf.mobi.



I
was so committed to my wapsite at that time that 24/7 whenever there's
power on my phone, I'd be with my phone posting and promoting the site.
At some point fun.muf.mobi would emerge as the top 10 sites on muf.mobi
but despite all these, I wasn't getting any pay, it was just for the fun
of it and it really felt good for people say 'thank you Samuel for
this', 'big ups bro', 'you are the best' etc and that was enough to keep
me going.



Around same late 2010, I decided to research
exclusively on how to make money online and I stumbled on loads on
information regarding that and read through many websites but they all
were basically stating stuffs I had read on previous sites, 'Taking
Surveys, Paid to read mails, Affiliates' etc.



I
eventually tried a couple of them all from my mobile phone, though I was able to make some money but they never got to my hand. I eventually never got to reach their payout
threshold, maybe because am a Nigerian but doing those where a total
waste of my time and even though I felt bad about it, I didn't stop
there, I still kept on researching.

                                                                  

How Blogging All Started For Me



Around
January 2011, I decided to take social network seriously in terms of
meeting friends, chatting and all so I wouldn't get so bored. Along the
line I read through one of my Facebook friend's status where he shared a
link on how he makes money online. His Name his +Jide Ogunsanya



I
clicked on the link and read through every bit of the post. I was
impressed by what I read and also read through other posts on the blog
(www.ogbongeblog.com) At that time, he stated he was making around
70K online monthly. I was like wow! If only I could even be making just
little online.



I decided to get closer to him by
sending him a message and requesting for his number. We started chatting
and talking via Facebook and phone (of course I was doing the calling).
He told me what he actually does was 'blogging'. I introduced myself to
him properly and give him an insight regarding what I have been doing
(Perhaps, that's what made him believe I could do it). He then told me
to go create a blog on blogger and start posting there.



Without
wasting time, I created a free blog on blogger that January 2011 and
that lead to the formation of www.trueinternetworld.blogspot.com. I
stopped giving time to my wapsite and eventually got on with
trueinternetworld blog. For me, getting along wasn't so much a big deal
because I am always quick to understanding stuffs about the internet. I
began posting and promoting on social networks, I gave the blog same
zeal I gave when I was on wapsite.

Somehow, I knew what
Nigerians wanted and what my friends on social networks wanted and I
worked more in posting those stuffs that were beneficial to them.

After
a while, Jide then told me to apply for Google Adsense. I never knew
what it was but he was able to give me an insight. I wasn't really
satisfied but then I still got my friend "Google". So, I googled about
Adsense and also went through the Adsense tips at OgbongeBlog.



I
applied for Adsense that January 2011 and upon first trial, I wasn't
accepted, reason been for navigation. I confronted Jide with this and he
gave some suggestions. I worked on those and re-applied and in some
couple of days, I was accepted. I felt like I won a jackpot but then,
there was a bigger task ahead.



Even through I never
actually read through the long policy Google Adsense had brought up for
me to read, I just read the few ones which was more like a summary on
other sites including Ogbongeblog.



Even through I had
making money in mind, I knew it wasn't gonna be over night because Jide
had initially told me that I needed loads of traffic and during my early
days, traffic came basically from social networks.



For
some couple of months, I couldn't boast of €3 in my adsense account. I
became worried and of course contacted the only mentor I had that
time(Jide Ogunsanya). He actually told me something which gave me more
zeal to keep on working.



He said and I quote, 'It took
me two years to make my first $100'. I was like 'What!!! Two(2) years
for $100? Then I still have a long way to go but then I knew, 2 years
was too much for me to make that amount.



At a time, I
began contacting friends on my facebook account with friends over 3K and
pleaded with them to please visit my blog and share just one on my blog
posts with their friends. Many ignored, some asked for a fee and yes,
some did it for me wholeheartedly without stress.



On
this fateful day, when I had contacted more friends and some shared my
posts, I checked my adsense account, lo and behold I saw I made €2+ that
day, I was like Wow! This is awesome. That fueled me and I kept and
pursuing and btw, all these were via the use of my mobile phone (samsung
e250).



Around Late February 2011, I traveled down to
Lagos to stay with my uncle and within a short period of time, my uncle
was already complaining that I pay too much attention to my phone. I
wasn't actually bothered with that because I was already used to it by
my parents(my parent always complained about me and my phone and it was
more like a song and daily routine to me) while in Benin so whenever
anybody tells me that, I would just smile.



Around March
same year, my dear uncle introduced me to coca-cola company as a casual
worker and my pay at that time was around N400 per day. I began working
and usually, am the kinda guy who pays much interest to my job and get
recommendations but then, that didn't take me away from my phone because
my phone was and is my best pal and I wasn't and isn't shy to tell
anyone.

Just few days at CocaCola, almost everyone close to me had
noticed me and my phone and when I realized this, I had to take
precautions because the money at hand is better than the one on the way.



For me, blogging and working, at the same time
wasn't really easy but my job then while at CocaCola as a casual worker wasn't that
stressful. Been a tracker, all I need do is track products living the
warehouse and to which sales truck its going to hence, it was more like
walking and writing kinda job.

                                       

Samuel, while working at CocaCola

Most times while in
coke, I would close from afternoon duty(9pm) and instead of going home
to rest, I would go the cyber cafe and do night browsing because I
wanted to do some designs on my blog which ordinarily, can not be done
via my mobile phone since I never owned a laptop at that time.



With
time, that same year 2011, I began seeing some pretty good earnings. I
crossed the $100 dollars payment threshold in that same year 2011 and
received my first Adsense cheque but then, I had a problem, 'A foreign
account'. The essence of the foreign account was to clear my Adsense
cheque since the checks are in USD hence it cannot be cleared with a Naira account.



Getting a Foreign account wasn't the
problem but the criteria in our local banks to owning a foreign account
was the problem. Nevertheless, I got it sorted within a short time.



Around September 2011, I acquired a custom domain for my blog which led to
www.trueinternetworld.net and by then, by the grace of God, I was already
earning over $100 in a month .



I used my first cleared
earnings in acquiring a blackberry phone and a laptop and that was
around February 2012 and the journey didn't end there.



Working
in coke around 2012 became tougher because within a month I was able to
learn how to drive and operate the forklift machine and with the help
of God through a pastor who I consider as a brother, I was employed as a
forklift operator there in coke and of course, with an increment in
salary.



Initially while I was a casual worker, I always
thought forklift job was an easy job, well yes, for the first few
months it was because I'd smile when am on d machine driving instead of
using my legs :-), it seemed more like an advancement but after some
couple of months, it seemed like hard labour! ..lol.



Seriously,
it is not easy driving for 10hours at night without sleeping and only
for you to go back home and continue blogging, sleep for like an hour
and resume back to CocaCola.



With time I realized that, I
could be on the machine in coke driving and be thinking about the next
post to update on my blog. Sounds crazy right? But its true, it began to
seem like, I was all about blogging.



I don't want to
bore you anymore with much tales about me and my blogging journey but
the fact now is, am a full time blogger now who blogs at will and earns
pretty good income in a month with no boss to toss me around or tell me
when to work and when not to work.



Some Key Points To Note



1.
Blogging isn't for everyone. Only the writers who are good at writing
and enjoys writing about one or some particulars areas or topics are
good to go. Just so you know, I used to be a writer, oh well am still a
writer. I had written some couple of plays and songs which are no where
to be found now, now I do all my writings on the internet via my
trueinternetworld.net blog, which I've rebranded to www.techyan.com.



2. Blogging is for the
passionate and determined. Everyone wants to create a blog but not
everyone is passionate about it. If you read through this post
thoroughly, then you would probably note that, at the beginning
stage, I just love sharing information and tutorials even when I wasn't
getting anything in return outside "thanks" and appreciation from
readers.



3. Know No Boundaries: One major
excuse for bloggers this days is non availability of a laptop but the
truth is, I started out with a phone, not a smart phone but a Java
phone (Samsung E250 and Noka 6233). More over, getting a laptop or a
desktop computer these days isn't as expensive as it used to be then, if
you are determined, you should know no boundaries.



Truth
be told, am only a school sat owner(SSCE), who used to know some stuffs
in academics but now, I doubt if I can still be good at that because
24/7, all I think now is blogging and business :-D but of course, I hope
to further my education soonest.



Conclusion: I didn't
bring up this story of I and my blogging journey to suppress anyone.
It's just to challenge those who want to be a successful blogger but
limiting themselves to some factors.



I see blogging
more as a farming business where you plant today and harvest tomorrow
hence how much you plant today determines how much you harvest tomorrow.



I
personally wouldn't say am a successful blogger. I see myself more like
a striving blogger who hopes to be among the top bloggers someday.
Although I see myself been lazy these days maybe because of how much I
earn in a month, but I am definitely working to change that and would
definitely welcome ideas from you my friend.

What's your take on this?





PS: If you've also got stories to share, kindly mail me.

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Things to Consider Before Starting a Blog on Blogger

So many people are getting into blogging. Most of these people are also using Blogger as their blogging platform. This happens almost everyday. If you’re new to blogging, here are a few things you should consider before starting a blog on Blogger.





Use appropriate design



If you must have a blog on Blogger, then consider using appropriate design. Don't make your blog look like a junkyard. I know it is difficult to have a good design for a blogger blog simply because the template is difficult to edit. If you don't have technical skills, consider searching for blogger templates with good looks.





Use a Custom Domain Name



Your blogger blog is already hosted by Google. It will be wise of you if you use a custom domain name for your blog instead. If won't cost you much to register and configure your blogspot URL to a custom domain name. It is very risky to keep using a .blogspot.com URL for your blog.







Start with Unique and Helpful Contents



After setting up a good seign for your blogger blog and configuring your custom domain name, you need to start by posting unique contents that people want. There is no point copying and pasting from other people's blog. It just shows that you are not ready for serious blogging. And if you must copy, make sure you edit it and make it look original.



Also, your content should be written with both your target audience and SEO in mind. Keep your message clear and to the point. Ensure your keywords are used wisely in the header and the body of your text.





Make Your Blogger blog compatible with Mobile Phones



No doubt about it, thousands of people will want to read your unique and helpful contents from their mobile device. You should be ready for this by making your blogger blog compatible with mobile devices. With this, your visitors won't have problems reading your blog.





Finally, don't forget to do your adequate research for starting and for posting new contents on your blog. Don't just start a blog on Blogger for starting sake. You need to keep doing research if you want your blog to be successful. Look up Google Analytics and use Google’s Keyword tool to find what your audience is looking for.





Also, you should read through other Blogger tips that will be useful for your starting a blog on blogger. And if you are also considering starting your blog on WordPress, you can read the post on Things to Consider Before Starting a WordPress Blog

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An Open Letter to Newly-Ushered Bloggers

This is a guest post compiled by +kingsley agu   for OgbongeBlog

Dear New Bloggers,



Blogging can really be a good source of income if you know what you’re actually doing in the starting point, but according to a survey, there were 215,675,903 functional blogs online in 2009 alone, and more blogs are constantly joining this crowd of websites, including your own new addition.



This goes to show that there is a fierce competition on the internet and when you as a new blogger don’t know the exact principles and strategies that currently exists in the blogosphere at the moment and which to follow; then you might find it hard ever making money online.





With that said, I came up with this post to show you what you should endeavour to do first before any other thing in the blogosphere. These things will help you get better traffic and possibly make you money if you endeavour to follow them religiously.

So these are the 4 things you must do first -

•  Add Profound Value to Your Blog First

 “The Internet makes money for you when you build something that is real and when it matters to people” - Darren Rowse



This is very vital, so don’t neglect to do this option tirelessly.



When you have started doing a lot of guest blogging and blog commenting, people will surely visit your blog, but what will keep them coming back is the value you add to your blog.



This value are in terms of the quality of posts you have on your blog; whether they solve readers problems or not, all these are the factors that determines whether people will stay or never come back to your blog.



Therefore as a newbie, focusing on solving your readers’ problem first will allow you tackle problems and find solutions to them. These solutions are usually what will bring you more knowledge and make you the go-to guy for that area of blogging that you cover.

•  Read Like Your Life Depends On It

 One of the mistakes I made during the period I newly started blogging was not taking reading as a serious approach in blogging. I hardly read top bloggers’ posts in my niche then, even though what they teach are basically what can improve my blog traffic and conversions if I applied them.



However, it was later I started reading everything I could lay my hands on in my niche, I subscribed to numerous top blog’s email lists, read every posts they posted, practicalize what I read in everyway possible et cetera., and later, I started to notice that I began to have more knowledge pertaining my niche than I used to have before when I was just posting on my blog only.



Likewise, in case you’re not reading everything about your niche now, then you should probably start today.



For example, you can check Problogger.net for beginners guide to blogging; Viperchill.com for SEO and affiliate marketing tips; Smartpassiveincome.com for tips on making money online.



Also join relevant groups and forums that covers topics pertaining to your niche so that you can increase your knowledge on the topic you’re supposed to blog on.

•  Start Building Links Consistently

 Links are the life of any blog. Google and lots of other search engines use links pointing to a blog or website to gauge how high they should rank it on their Search Rankings. 



The reason why problogger.net is topping nearly all the top keywords associated with the “blogging” topic is simply as a result of the high quality links pointing straight to Darren Roswe’s blog which might have run into hundred of thousands of links and that’s exactly what Google and other search engines loves.



This means, the more links you get pointing to your blog, the better search engines would rank your blog high for competitive keywords that will bring you more traffic and possibly make you money on the long run.



Apart from publishing quality content on your blog, there are basically 2 ways to increase the links pointing to your own blog in other to rank better on different search engines.



==> Blog Commenting



 This effective strategy is basically leaving thoughtful, well written comments on blogs in other to increase the links pointing to your website. Believe me, this method works very well if you don't abuse it.



Remember to leave good comments that resonates with the topic being discussed on the post you’re leaving the comment. If you ignore this advice, your comments might never see the light of day.



So don’t spam, instead add value to the conversation and the webmaster will surely approve your comments which will translate into backlinks to your blog.



==> Guest Blogging



For those of you who haven’t heard of guest blogging before, it’s the submission of blog content (a blog post) to another blog in other to get backlinks and traffic from that blog straight to your own blog.



This is the same strategy that Bamidele Onibalusi, a Nigerian, used to grow his blog to a PR 4 blog that has now turned into an authority website in the “writing tips” niche.



You also can leverage this strategy and get the same result which Bamidele is enjoying now if you’re willing to guest post furiously on many top blogs out there.



You can easily search Google for sites that accept guest posts in your niche.

• Start an Email List For Your Blog - NOW!

Like the old saying, “The money is in the list”. This can’t be overemphasized enough. The people who will end up buying your eBooks, share your contents, promote you freely and make you more money than you can ever imagine are those people in your email list.





So strive to begin one today if you haven’t already gotten one for your blog. These below are 3 top auto-responders in the internet which you can use to grow your email list -



Aweber -         Sign up with $1

MailChimp -      (free up to the 2,000th subscriber; I personally use them for all my websites)

Getresponse -     Free for 30 days



In case you’re a newbie and don’t really have any money to spend on blogging at the moment, you can go for Mailchimp.



In conclusion, doing all this will help you stay on track and make you money as quickly as possible.



But Remember:



“Laziness is just like a ‘rocking chair’. You’re obviously doing something (rocking back and forth on it). But you’re going nowhere.”



So if you’re a lazy blogger, then say goodbye to the dream of ever making money online.



Every blogger I know that has gone ahead in their respective niche are hardworking individuals.





On my part, I hardly sleep at night all in the name of blogging. So strive to work hard and sooner or later, blogging will definitely work for you - I assure you, it will.



Don’t Give up.

This post was written by +kingsley agu . He is is a ghostwriter and a blogger. He owns  "Writing Tips Blog" where he teaches people how to get better in writing.

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