If you do not know what a backlink is you have certainly heard another blogger or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert mention it. Here are two good definitions:
In basic link terminology, a backlink is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node [1]. Backlinks are also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links. (Wikipedia)
The backlink is essentially the same thing as an inlink. It is a link on someone else’s site that leads to your own, and it’s extremely important to garner a large number of backlinks that are reputably obtained for several reasons. First, in SEO or search engine optimization, part of the algorithm for ranking your page on search engines is determined by the number and quality of backlinks to your site, providing they occur naturally and you have not purchased them. Second, backlinks are how you get known on the Internet. If lots of other sites provide a link to yours, a natural increase in traffic to your web pages occurs. (Wisegeek.com)
Here is a post I read on backlinks today. If you have other references you would like to add please post a comment.
I am currently in a 30 Day blog challenge sponsored by Jeannette Cates. There are over 100 people participating. Now the cool thing about this is not only do you meet more people but you pump out blog content. This makes the search engines happy and may fulfill other goal s you personally have for blogging.
Those goals could include:
product sales,
product development,
affiliate sales,
clicks on other ads on your blog
hopefully increased blog RSS subscriptions
Personal therapy
Twitter followers
Facebook Page “Likes”
Plus more
One of the things I am so very impressed with is the vast variety of all the blog posts. Many of them have Facebook Pages that I want to showcase. I won’t get to all of them. But I want to start showcase some of them randomly. So, if you want to visit I am going to do short reviews on one of my sites called Rosies Boomer Review.
I am looking forward to learning, getting empowered and motivated by some of the, sometimes unknown, Facebook pages. So often we are on Facebook giving updates on our dinners etc, but there are some REAL GEMS ON FACEBOOK PAGES. Lets, start tapping into them and also PLEASE PARTICIPATE ON THEM AFTER YOU SAY YOU LIKE IT.
PS If you are a baby boomer and want to be challenged with great content, teleseminars, etcFacebook Page PLEASE visit visit Boomer Diva Nation’s Facebook Page moderated by the infamous and empowering Beverly Mahone.
Password protected posts allow you to create content that is visible to the world if they know the password you gave the post.
So How Do You Password Protect Your Blog Post?
You can locate the option to change the VISIBILITY of your blog post within the PUBLISH box on your dashboard
Click on the EDIT option to change the post to Password Protect or Private
Choose Password Protect (Private means that only Administrators or Editors on your blog team can see posts)
Key in a password
Congratulations! You have now created a Password Protected Blog Post.
What Can You Do With a Password Protected Blog Post?
I often use password protected blog posts to host PowerPoint slide shows for trainings. Now I challenge you to allow your imagination to expand. Think about a contest, or something else that your readers can enjoy.
Facebook makes it real simple to add your Facebook Fan page to your blog. After all your Facebook Fan page gives you an opportunity to showcase your business, niche, causes and other areas of interest. There just might be others that share the same interest or need your service.
I have presented the steps in screen shots below.
1. Sign into your Facebook Page and click on the Wall Tab then click on the fourth link on the left under your logo.
2. Select the Facebook Page you want to promote by clicking on the drop down options. Also, complete the other options.
The term”swipe file” is often used related to copywriting and advertising. (At least that is my knowledge of it probably more uses I don’t know about) It is when you see an idea, for example a great design and copy for an ad, you cut it out and file it.
You then refer to that file when you are looking for ideas to create your own design or copy. The idea is nothing is really new these days. The ideas stimulate your own brain cells into action and you may borrow the colors or wording and add your own special touch.
When it comes to blogging you might see a post like, “7 Ways To Pump Up Your Blogging” . Now, clearly this is a motivational post so you might say “I’ve got it, I will do a post called, “7 Ways to Put the ” B” Back into Your Blogging.”
I can recall vividly the birth of my first blog. I decided to spend three months during the summer of 2007 in Greenville NY, where my wife, Annette, and I have a second home so we can be closer to our grandson. Annette, who works as an RN, would commute from Arizona, our primary residence, to New York during the same three month period.
Although I would frequently be visiting with my daughter, Michelle, and our grandson, Alan, I still had lots of idle time on my hands, which I had originally planned to occupy by reading. One evening at dinner, upon mentioning the possibility of boredom setting in because Annette would be away most of the time, my daughter said, “Dad, why don’t you create a blog. That will keep you occupied and you like writing.”
While I was certainly aware of blogs, and subscribed to several, it never occurred to me to publish a blog of my own. I had no clue how to begin. Where to host a blog, the cost involved, the time commitment required. Can I make money blogging? Michelle had a personal blog she began in 2006, where she wrote about motherhood and posted pictures of Alan, so she pointed me in the general direction to start my online journey.
The next morning I sat out in the back yard and mapped out a strategy for what would eventually give birth to Dianosphere.com.
I began my blogging journey by reading just about every book on blogging I could find? over a dozen books in all? and subscribed to numerous A-list bloggers on the topic. At first, it was a daunting task. So much to learn! Gradually, though, I developed a sense of what I had to do and took the plunge.
Two years and 199 posts later, with a few fits and starts, Dianosphere has seen a steady climb in readership. And the experience has been intellectually fulfilling.
I do not consider myself in a position to offer advice about blogging, preferring to leave that to the likes of Rosie Horner, I can say that blogging can be a very satisfying experience. Clicking the ‘Publish’ button on your first blog post for the entire online world to read is an exhilarating and memorable moment.
But I do have advice to offer. I have listed below two issues that you may want to research yourself, or confirm with a blogging consultant. The two issues I learned that are the most perplexing are: 1] the length of a blog post and 2] the frequency of posting. Blogging can be a very time-consuming adventure and these two issues are critical to consider.
With regard to the number of words:
As part of my research, here’s what I discovered some of the experts on blogging have to say about the length of a blog post: over 100 and under 500 words; 200-600 words; one pro blogger recommends 250-1000 words because that’s what SEO experts believe. “…anything longer than 300 words is not a post,” asserts a professional blogging consultant. And, finally, “Shoot for 500 words or less,” touts another expert. The question of the length of a blog post, as you can see, has no right answer.
It is my view that the length of a blog post takes second place to the quality of the content. If content still reigns as King and you have something particularly compelling to say, why should it be limited to an arbitrary number of words to convey your message? As long as there’s a take-a-way for the reader, something that he/she can put to practical use in their business or personal life and you need 595 words, or 870 words or 1275 words or 2,000 words to make your point, then just do it.
As to the frequency of your blog postings:
“If your blog isn’t updated regularly, why should people come back to it,” I read in one book. ”They don’t,” says the author, who suggests updating your blog at least two or three times a week. If you accept at face value the author’s advice, you would have to post to your blog even if you have nothing especially important or valuable to say because, according to the author, if you do not post two or three times a week your readers will not return.
What about the quality of the content, I asked myself? Why would readers return if I am publishing content, just for the sake of frequency, solely to ensure reader retention? If a blogger has nothing compelling to say for a week or two why then post unusable content that may very well have the opposite effect – drive readers away! There is a growing consensus that indicates whether you post once a week or not, the quality of what you have to say will always trump blog post frequency.
There are some terrific books on blogging, too many to suggest in this posting. Go to Amazon.com enter a search query and you’ll see all the bestsellers. Read two or three of these books. Subscribe to several A-list bloggers, like Rosie’s Blogging for Boomers or Chris Brogan’s blog. Many of the A-list bloggers also offer free eBooks and great tips.
Blogging is still in its infancy. Some advice and recommendations for new bloggers should indeed be followed. If you’re reading this blog, then you are well on your way to becoming a better blogger and enjoying the experience that much more.
About Martin Diano
Martin is a retired public relations professional living in Arizona and New York. His blogging experience with Dianosphere led him to create, in 2008, the Baby Boomer [Knowledge Center], a web destination for and about the baby boomer generation.
