If you had been out on the web with a website or blog for quite some time you would have either asked someone else to link to you, or someone would have asked you to link to them. In my earlier days I have asked many to link to me hoping to see the peaks in traffic or a Google Pagerank.

Asking someone is not a bad idea, only a crying baby gets milk. Even God, who knows all our needs doesn’t deliver any of them until we ask. “Ask and thou shall receive”. But the bitter side is that a link in the form of a link exchange won’t bring you any traffic. Oh, if you can call the one click you get in a month as traffic, well then I am wrong

On the flip side, a link from a top performing blog could bring you traffic, but they wouldn’t give you links if you ask them. Bloggers usually monetize such links as sponsored links and earn money by sharing a bit of their traffic. But if you can’t afford to buy a link there, don’t waste your time nagging for a backlink. I will tell you why…
This is why I hate Link Exchanges a LOT…

• Google hates link exchanges meant for improving Page Rank. It’s clearly explained here.
• Usually sites that agree to give you a backlink are those sites with zero or close to zero traffic and similar page ranks. A link from them will not bring you any traffic and Google might consider it as a link from a bad neighborhood which could end up in a zero Page Rank for your blog.
• Your link will be added to a list of many other links. People don’t usually follow such lists which could be 20 or 30 links or even more. So the chance of getting traffic from them is further reduced.
• Even normal web surfers these days know about SEO and SERP. They can immediately say the quality of the links on a link farm. You don’t want to show yourself in a nasty place, do you? Who knows you might be the next A-list topper, you will regret for the backlinks then.
• A quality backlink is much better than a useless backlink.

That doesn’t mean I hate linking out, instead, I love linking out and spreading the word. There is even a category and tag entitled Link Love. Here are some ways to get a quality backlink from me and other bloggers.
Getting that Quality Backlink

Write a Guest post
This is the best way to get a high quality Dofollow backlink. Most blogs entertain guest posts which are relevant to their niche. They would even allow you to link to specific posts too. If you like to write one here, you are most welcome. Read the Guest Blogging guidelines before you send me one. The biggest advantage of a guest post is that the backlink stays for ever.

Be a Top Commentator
Many blogs have the top commentator list which honors the top commentators with Dofollow links. I have one too. Get active on those sites and take away the backlink. Some blogs even have Dofollow comments links too; leaving a comment there can get you a backlink.

Participate
Bloggers are constantly in search of new and latest information. If you have some information that he can use, send it right away. If the information makes into an article, you will get a Thank you link. Again the link is a lifetime backlink!

Write awesome articles
If you have unique, mind-blowing content, others will definitely link to you. Many bloggers including A-list toppers often link to articles even from newbie bloggers, that too via dedicated posts. A link to a specific post is gonna get more traffic that a link to your homepage.

Show Link Love
You love it when someone links to you. Right? Everyone loves that. Link to fellow bloggers when you stumble over cool articles and you might end up in a link to one of your best posts too. No guarantees though.

A backlink is not a big thing, if you have good content, people will definitely link to your posts. Once again, the Golden rule “Content is the King” holds well. Go ahead and start writing awesome content, the rest will follow!

The homepage of your blog may not be the best page to show a new visitor for the following reasons.

• The homepage may not have the posts that he is interested in.
• The homepage may not have your best posts that can impress a first time visitor.
• Mostly the homepage has too many articles, so the visitor confused to make a choice, so he probably quits.

What do you think? A visitor will turn into a Subscribed reader after reading some of your best posts or after just scanning your homepage? It’s only after a visitor like at least one of your posts and finds that you have something valuable to offer, he will decide to keep reading you.

In many cases, people land on your homepage via Social Media Links, Links you leave on Guest Posts, Comments, Forums, and Email Footers and via Google.
We cannot control the visitors from Google, but see we can control the rest of the sources!

Ever wondered why the giant companies rush to acquire other ventures? The reasons could be many, among them; one would be that the top level management knows the cost of opportunity.

Being the First is a Step to SuccessFor instance, twitter might sell itself for 25 million dollars today, but after 2 years it wouldn’t even be available for sale, not to mention the extra millions that would be then needed.

Just have a look at the most successful Bloggers out there. John Chow started off in 1999 with his TechZone. Darren Rowse started in 2002 with LivingRoom. Amit Agarwal launched Labnol in 2004.

Being the fist gave them the opportunity to learn stuffs and master them before the rest even noticed them. By the time people started thinking of making money online, and Blogging, they were the Guru’s and the masses had only one option to follow them.

Why do Bloggers rush to pull out updates of the latest from the web? They know that the first always gets the traffic.

There is no use brooding over the missed opportunities and we don’t have a Time Machine to go back and do it all again. Good thing is that, something new always happen. Then it was Google, now it might be Bing. Don’t wait till it takes over. Grab the opportunity when its fresh, Jump IN – Be the First.

When a new opportunity comes your way, (a partnership deal, a chance to have your post re-published and the like), don’t deny it, and grab it before someone else does.

When a new Social Networking site comes out, don’t think that you are already engaged with Twitter and you don’t need it. We never used Twitter 3 years back and we were still engaged. It might be the next in social media, so jump in.

When someone writes to you to have a look at his product, do it asap. Missed chance is a missed chance.

If you have an idea that seems to work, make it happen NOW. Else it might never happen at all.

Get The Basics Right‘Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.
Let me ask you a question, “How many articles have you read about being a better blogger?”

While same techniques work for those bloggers, they do not produce even 10% result for 90% readers! Ever thought why?

The answer lies in one word: Basics. Because those 90% who do not get results do not basics right!

To be successful blogger, you here are 5 Basic Blogging Lessons You Must Remember:

1. Making Money From Blogging is Not Easy: I can hear you screaming, “But Hey, Darren, Daniel, John Chow and many others make lot of money! And they make it easily!” Yes, they make money easily but they have worked on and mastered basics! They did not started out with a high traffic blog. They started out like you, as a small blogger. But they invested time and now, they are there, Making Money without Much Effort!
2. Content is Not the Only King: Write a top class article and put it on your blog without any picture and formatting. Only a few will read it. Why? Because now, along with content, presentation is also important. Most visitors will not read your article if it is accompanied by poor design! So, take time to find relevant and good pictures, format the text well, use headings, lists and anything.
3. Traffic is the Key: Unless and untill you have good traffic, nothing will work. You will not get money, comments, subscribers, customers from a blog having very little traffic. Learn promotional techniques and work on increasing traffic!
4. You Need Goals: Ever walked on road without knowing destination? Blogging is just like that! You need to know what you want to achieve and most importantly, how you want to achieve! Without knowing destination, you will reach nowhere! So, set your goals!
5. Loners Are Not Famous: To be successful, you need connections. You have to connect with readers, other bloggers and advertisers. You have to interact with readers to get comments. You have to contact other bloggers for help and advice. You have to talk to advertisers to earn! Nothing will happen without interaction. So, learn how to communicate well and you will go a long way.

These were the 5 Basic Blogging Lessons You Must Remember. Have something else to say? Feel free to air your basic lessons in comments.

The motivation (or perhaps the idea) to write this post sprung out of (1) An online discussion I had with one of the fellow bloggers; and (2) A lunch time discussion I had with my colleague at work place. Based on these discussions and reading quite a few blogs, ironically, and to some extend intriguing is the fact that many folks want to start a blog with some objectives in mind. Many want to start their own blog to learn, to share, to interact, etc. Majority open the blog with the hidden desire to have a side income but they are little hesitant to accept it openly.

For the sake of statistics, only one to two percent of the bloggers succeed in generating truly passive income. The rest 98% to 99% bloggers who attempt to generate any serious side income from their blog fail. The barrier to enter a blog-o-sphere is very low. Theoretically, one can start a blog in less than 15 minutes with zero investments. Furthermore, there is a school of thought (or misunderstanding?) that reading few how-to articles and to-do list, the so called passive income or side income will trickle in.

Blog to Add Value for your Readers

Add Value
Pick a niche subject for your blog where you can share your expertise. The subject matter for your blog should be such that you are passionate about it. Many folks have no clue what is their niche. I suggest you do a simple experiment. To test your expertise or passion for any given subject, check to see whether you can write or think on same topic in two or three different ways. I do not mean re-wording in two or three different ways. It means two or three different perspectives that lead to different conclusions.
One of the foremost aspects of blogging is to have utmost respect for our readers. Blog readers are smart, intelligent, and always eager to learn more. The topics or discussions that you write about should be valuable to the reader (i.e. reader should feel that it was worthwhile to come to this blog). They come to your blog for adding value to their thought process and not to teach you.
Let us take two examples:

1. Everybody knows about BCCI battering down ICL. Many in blog-o-sphere and media has covered it but failed to analyze the lost opportunity.
2. Recently, removal of mutual fund entry fee received wide coverage. Again, in this me too world, majority of blogger repeated the beaten track that it is beneficial. Did you read any pros and cons whether there are any real benefits?

Share
Another aspect that I have seen on the blogs is many folks start the blog introduction with the description that says, they are here to learn, they are here to share what they know, etc. That is a mistake. My question to all those bloggers is this; when you are learning, why would one come to read your blog? If I want to learn how to play cricket, I would go to the professional coach. I would not go to play with a learner! One should realize the fact that shared learning is a two way street. You provide any thought provoking argument, and comments will follow, which will help you get a different perspective.

It is perfectly acceptable to start a blog to learn and interact with fellow blogger. There is nothing wrong in it. However, demonstrate your learning process by showing and discussing your thought process. Let us take an example. If you are learning to analyze a stock, you should write post that shows what is the basis for analysis, what method you are using, what are your resources, and what are your conclusions. My observations have been that majority of the folks do a blog survey, and publish with re-wording or summarize. That’s not learning.

Be Yourself
Another mistake new bloggers do is, they say they are here to help others in their endeavor, and not for making money.

• If that’s the case, why does your blog have three Google ad sense advertisements? Bloggers include all three allowable ads, and still say they are not blogging for money.
• On many investment sites, bloggers have subscription based stock tips and advices and still proclaim that they want to help individuals to succeed in investing or personal finance.

Ironical, intriguing, or hypocritical? You be the judge.
It is perfectly acceptable to say you are blogging to earn side income. Again, there is nothing wrong in it. However, being honest to your readers and letting them know upfront will only help you make your case.

Remember, growing your blog is like growing a Mango tree. It requires proper seeding and nurturing for a period of time. If done right, fruits are bound to grow for you to enjoy them. It requires patience and persistence to grow a Mango Tree, while a grass grows with much effort. Before you click away what is your thoughts on following two questions:

1. What do you prefer, growing mango tree for fruits or grass for nothing but aesthetic beauty?
2. What is difficult, to get a web traffic or to sustain the web traffic?

I would like to hear from you so leave your thoughts and comments below.

We all have opinions about something whether its products we use or the movies we watch. Now here’s a thought for you: why not get paid for it? This is where legitimate free survey sites come in. These sites will let you have access to paid surveys.

With a little research, you can find one survey site that would work for you best. Survey Spot is one of the free survey sites that can help you start in the paid survey industry. It’s easy to join plus earning money is fast and easy.

Survey Spot is one effective tool for market research. Companies can greatly benefit from its methodology. Its consumer feedback research can yield significant data for the companies and help them improve their products and services.

Survey Spot is offers its members various ways rewards, from cash incentives to prizes, by participating in different surveys that deal with a wide selection of topics. By simply providing your opinion on various topics such as environment, social, and political issues; to advertising, fashion, product packaging, and entertainment, you can earn the extra bucks. It’s fast and easy. No need to research and compose articles or other time-consuming tasks.

It’s easy to become a member. Once you have filled up the application form and get approved, you can now start answering surveys. You stand to earn freebies, gift cards, cash and other prizes. You don’t have to pay anything to become a member and your access will be provided as soon as you become registered.

This is the most convenient online job. It doesn’t even feel like a job. It’s just like asnwering a friend’s question about certain things. You don’t have to search hard for the answers because you just have to provide your opinion, and they don’t even have to be positive. You can be completely honest. The best thing about this job is that you are at home so whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a student, or just prefer working at home, this is perfect for you.

It will take about 4 to 6 weeks for the money to be credited to your account. It will be processed as soon as you completed and submitted a survey. You can also enter their sweepstakes draws in exchange for a few minutes of work.

With Survey Spot, even residents outside the United States can register and enjoy the benefits of online surveys. One way of ensuring you get as many survey questionnaires is to make your profile as detailed as possible. Be specific with your preferences because these will be the basis for the type of questions to be sent to you. The more survey requests you get, the more money and rewards you will earn.

Twitter emerged as a micro-blogging and messaging service, but it already stands for much more than that. One of the most popular uses for the Twitter platform, in fact, is content syndication. That is, web publishers are using it to deliver content (in the form of short descriptions and a link) to subscribers, much like they do with RSS.

I don’t think that RSS is going away or that Twitter will replace it (as some people are arguing around the web), but I do believe that in someways Twitter will complement RSS. There are Internet visitors, for example, who prefer to consume all their news and links via Twitter. What should we bloggers do, ignore those folks and focus exclusively on RSS lovers? I don’t think so, especially because it is very easy to accommodate everyone.

If you want to make your blog Twitter ready, therefore, just make sure that your content will be syndicated on Twitter, too. The easiest way to do this is to create a Twitter account for the blog (or use your personal one) and manually tweet about your new posts. You can also automate the process with a WordPress plugin like Tweetly Updater.

“The Wrestler” is the ultimate back stage pass to the world of professional wrestling. A world of big characters and more mayhem than we can ever hope to encounter in our lives. But the world of professional wrestling also holds the greatest marketing lessons, all of which can be applied to your blog.

1. Don’t live in the past.
   Randy “The Ram” Robinson’s entire existence is stuck in the 80’s. Past success is not, on its own, an indicator of future success. Do not get lazy relying on past success to benefit your blog in the future.
2. Use what you have.
   “The Wrestler” was produced for under six million dollars and shot, in part, on a hand-held camera by director Darren Aronofsky. Sometimes, you don’t have resources beyond what is in front of you. Make the most out of everything you have and find free alternatives when possible.
   Example: Why buy Adobe Photoshop for $700 when you can download GIMP and learn how to use it for free? Remember: There are no longer any excuses for mediocrity. If you can’t do something well, learn to use what you have and use these tools better than anyone else.
3. Don’t spend money on your blog until you make money.
   Randy does not make a lot of money, but he spends what he has on drugs and strippers. His finances are so bad, when we’re first introduced to him we find Randy locked out of his trailer due to late rent. Save your money and don’t spend any of it until you start to make some. Starting a blog should only cost you $20 for a domain registration for two years and nothing more until you prove you are generating a profit and have a sizable audience. Only then should you make the upgrade. Use Google Adsense until you have enough traffic and data to charge for advertising. It’s free. Use Amazon Affiliate links gently, and only for products you would recommend to generate additional income. It is also free.
   If you are not making money on your blog using these tools in a year, see #6
4. If people believe in you, they will work with you.
   Bruce Springsteen, Axel Rose, and Mickey Rourke reportedly did not receive any compensation for the film. They loved the script, they understood the limitations the production had and they still contributed. If you have a great product or blog people believe in, they will work with you. So don’t be afraid to ask everyone, in a careful fashion, to participate in your project. The worst anyone can tell you is no (or ignore you)
5. Don’t wait for a break. Make one. The Ram works his butt off every weekend at lightly packed gymnasiums in the hope of a return to glory. By punishing himself and not playing the politics, Randy barely creates an opportunity for there to be a break. Your break won’t just happen. You must create opportunity to generate and seize the break when you see it. Reminder: Play the politics, but play it your way. If you don’t like a product, person, or news outlet, be constructive in your criticism and not present it as an attack. Online, you can’t afford to be the one burning bridges.
6. Know your limits.
   The Ram knows he is physically breaking down and continues to wrestle. If your project begins to degenerate with little measurable return over time, cut it, and start a new one. The average success cycle for a blog is one year to generate revenue, not necessarily profit, and two years to become reputable and profitable.
7. Some products don’t go stale …
   Although “The Wrestler” never touches on this trend, the past several years in professional wrestling have seen older wrestlers appear prominently on current wrestling shows. While you cannot live in the past, value can still be found in older products. The WWE itself is a a great example of an old product that continues to operate successfully and improve with time. The trick is to follow Mel Brook’s advice and always tweak your project. As Malcom Gladwell mentions in “The Tipping Point”, sometimes the smallest change leads to the biggest results.
8. Other products do.
   You can only go to the well so often without tweaking. An aging wrestler past his prime, who has not changed his “gimmick” (product marketing), will grow boring. “The Ram” puts on the same show that he has for twenty years. No changes. Sometimes a product or project needs to go away for to be missed enough to demand it again (see: Hulk Hogan), other times the product / project simply belonged in the previous era and does not fit in the new one. Just ask one of my favorite wrestlers, Bob Backlund.
9. Know your material. Rourke is believable in his portrayal as a wrestler and the movie provides an accurate look at the behind the scenes activity of pro wrestling. If you are going to create a project in a field with established norms, literature, or other source material, learn and master the material before jumping in. Remember: As Seth Godin pointed out after a meeting at Wal-Mart headquarters: You Can’t Out-Amazon Amazon”
10. You don’t need the best to tell the best story. No more excuses.
    There’s always an excuse.Don’t make one. In The Wrestler’s case, Nicholas Cage was the studio’s pick for the role. Cage is one of Hollywood’s most bankable actors. Darren Afronsky wanted Mickey Rourke, who has not had a hit for many years, and the studio was so wary of his casting that they reduced the budget of the film. Although who (or what product) is better can be subjective, the point is you don’t need what others consider better to get the job done and done well.
    With unlimited (and mostly) free resources available to you, there are no more excuses for a bad blog.
    Brandon Mendelson is one of the most followed people on Twitter, @BJMendelson, and is the project manager for A Million High Fives. This Summer, he will set out to high five one million Twitter users and volunteer with them at their local homeless shelters.

We all have opinions about something whether its products we use or the movies we watch. Now here’s a thought for you: why not get paid for it? This is where legitimate free survey sites come in. These sites will let you have access to paid surveys.

With a little research, you can find one survey site that would work for you best. Survey Spot is one of the free survey sites that can help you start in the paid survey industry. It’s easy to join plus earning money is fast and easy.

Survey Spot is one effective tool for market research. Companies can greatly benefit from its methodology. Its consumer feedback research can yield significant data for the companies and help them improve their products and services.

Survey Spot is offers its members various ways rewards, from cash incentives to prizes, by participating in different surveys that deal with a wide selection of topics. By simply providing your opinion on various topics such as environment, social, and political issues; to advertising, fashion, product packaging, and entertainment, you can earn the extra bucks. It’s fast and easy. No need to research and compose articles or other time-consuming tasks.

It’s easy to become a member. Once you have filled up the application form and get approved, you can now start answering surveys. You stand to earn freebies, gift cards, cash and other prizes. You don’t have to pay anything to become a member and your access will be provided as soon as you become registered.

This is the most convenient online job. It doesn’t even feel like a job. It’s just like asnwering a friend’s question about certain things. You don’t have to search hard for the answers because you just have to provide your opinion, and they don’t even have to be positive. You can be completely honest. The best thing about this job is that you are at home so whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a student, or just prefer working at home, this is perfect for you.

It will take about 4 to 6 weeks for the money to be credited to your account. It will be processed as soon as you completed and submitted a survey. You can also enter their sweepstakes draws in exchange for a few minutes of work.

With Survey Spot, even residents outside the United States can register and enjoy the benefits of online surveys. One way of ensuring you get as many survey questionnaires is to make your profile as detailed as possible. Be specific with your preferences because these will be the basis for the type of questions to be sent to you. The more survey requests you get, the more money and rewards you will earn.

Many people are looking for the best way how to get indexed fast in Google, either for new fresh domain or even new sub domain coming from existing domain name. To be honest, there are many tips on how to get indexed fast in Google available free on the net, sadly, not all of them are fully working nowadays. For that reason, here I would like to share my tips on that. Of course it has been tested by me and the results I got is very fast, I can get indexed in Google in less than 3 hours, both for new domain name and new subdomain. If you don’t believe it, you can try it on your own. And here’s my tips on how to get indexed fast in Google search engine.

1. Fill your new blog or your websites with any original content. It’s better if you make an article that contain more than 200 words.
2. Ping your new blog or your new websites using another blog of yours that has Google PageRank. It will be good if you can ping from three different blogs at once. And don’t forget, when you are pinging through the article, make some link for your new domain name and your new article.
3. Wait until 3 hours then check it out in Google whether it’s already been indexed or not. In my experience, I never spend more than 3 hours to get indexed.
4. That’s all and you’re done.

I think that’s all my SEO tips on how to get indexed fast in Google. If you have another blogging tips how to get indexed fast in Google, please let me know it. Otherwise, just try the simple steps above and I wish you’ll be able to get indexed fast in Google without add url or even submitting to thousands directories. Anyway, good luck!