Monday, January 15, 2007

BYE BYE BLOGGER!

I've Moved!

Visit my NEW blog at:

Monday, January 08, 2007

SEO: One-Way and Reciprocal Links

A few blogs ago, I wrote about Search Engine Optimization and some of the strategies to help make your website more search engine friend. I also talked about the external ways of improving your SEO by getting other websites to link to you. Remember that there is essentially 2 main types of links:

1) One-Way Links
2) Reciprocal Links

(Yes, I know there are circular links, three-way links, etc, but these can technically be included in the "one-way" links catagories...we will talk about that in a second). First, a reciprocal link is one where you are trading links one-for-one with another person: "If you put my link on your website, I will place your link on my website." This is the foundation of what people refer to as a "link exchange." Mind you, a link exchange can be more than just apples for apples. This can include: "If you put my website link on your website, I will link back to your from another one of my websites." Further, some people trade in circular fashions. This is an extension of the last exchange I talked about. Let's take a step back for a second a review the first two:

Reciprocal Link: Website A <-> Website B
Three-Way Link: Website A -> Website B -> Website C

So the Circular link is as follows:
Circular Link: Website A -> Website B -> Website C -> Website A

Now the big question is: What does it matter? First of all, there is a lot of debate on whether reciprocal links are really worth anything? Do they cancel each other out? Secondly, what is the difference between the Three-Way link and the Circular link and does that matter?

Of course, there is really no answer to any of these questions. What I do know is this:

1) One-Way links are better are Reciprocal Links
2) Three-Way links are better than Circular Links. There is some belief that Google, for example, is smart enough to recognize the full circle of links.
3) Any link that points to your site (reciprocal or not) is a good link.

You will not be penalized for who links to YOU. With that in mind though, who you link TO needs to be given some consideration. Rememder, you are SHARING your page rank with whomever you are linking to. Further, if you are linking to unrelated, non-working, or banned websites, Google may punish you for it.

But at the end of the day, getting links pointing to your site is always a good thing. I will go over some great ways of getting one-way links in upcoming blogs. Until then...

- Matthew Bredel

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

The Making *MORE* Money Online Resolution

There is no time better to start making goals and setting plan than the New Year! Let me help you will developing a money making plan that can work!
After spending two weeks in my Christmas basement drinking Egg Nog and waiting for Santa, I find myself returning to the real world and a new year. And to bring in the near year, it is always a great time to make money...EVEN MORE MONEY! I have spoken in the past about creating a business plan and sticking to it for any online venture. We'll, there is no time better than a fresh, new year. Resolutions! That is nothing more than a fancy way of saying "plan". I've got a resolution...I am planning on making my online business make over THREE times what it does now by June. Am I crazy and reaching too high? HECK NO! That is what making money online is all about and believe it or not, I think this is totally achievable.
Of course for some of you, making three times of nothing is still nothing, so that is not a very challenging feat. But this is a great time to change nothing into SOMETHING. So what is a reasonable goal for someone starting out online? Making a one year plan is too long, first of all. Split up your resolution (PLAN) into Quarters. A reasonable goal for the first quarter is to make a sale! Yes, this seems petty and kind of stupid, but is reasonable (especially for those of you who still have 9-5 jobs). A more aggressive goal for the first quarter is $20/day (That is $600/month). This is also very achievable, but requires a fairly focused effort. After you start getting those sales, you will find a momentum start to build up! Going from $20/day to $100/day is really not too bad. At this point, some of your SEO strategies are starting to help get your site on search engines and your PPC budgets can now grow a bit. So make that your second quarter goal!
After this point, I would leave it open. This may be the point to start a new venture or website. Maybe you want to get more aggressive on getting traffic or maybe the momentum of your website just continues to grow. It is really up to you at that point.
So where to start? The first month should be education. While in my basement over Christmas, I felt inclined to write a quick eBook (Secret2Succeed) to help those figure exactly WHAT to do and how to avoid some of the pitfalls of starting to make money online. You can get a free copy of it at TheWebReviewer.com. During this month of education, you need to study, research and develop a more formal business plan:
  • What am I going to sell or promote?
  • Who am I going to sell it to?
  • What kind of landing page am I going to make? (Blog? Yahoo-Store? Website?)
  • How am I going to promote it?
  • Where I am going to get my products?
  • What tools can I use to be more efficient and make money faster?
All of these questions have simple answers. You need to figure out what works best for you. There is still a lot of great money making opportunities on the world wide web to make money. And there is no better time than the present to make it happen.
Again, Welcome to 2007! And next year, I hope your resolution is as lucrative as mine!

- Matthew Bredel