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Yup, I’m back from vacation! I left on the 13th and I just got back today, the 19th. I’m sorry I didn’t put up a notice that I was going to be gone. I really meant to but things got busy and I didn’t have the time. Luckily, thanks to Wordpress timestamp, I had a post for everyday I was gone except for yesterday. Now I’ve just got to work on updating all outdated things, responding to comments and emails, etc. So if you’ve asked me a question or requested something from me - please be patient, I am working on it!

Something very exciting I noticed while I was gone: My Technorati rank is about 20,000! This is a huge shock to me, and now I’m aiming to get under 5,000. How exciting. Thanks to everyone who has linked to me so far!

Anyway, the vacation was very fun. I sang karaoke with my friend in front of over 100 people, and I’m the worst singer in the world (and so is she) - are we stupid or what? But it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done and I definitely don’t regret it. Anyway, stick around - I’ve got a lot to do and to make up for since I’ve been gone but I’ll get it all done.

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I’m so happy I switched to Wordpress, and I love all the plugins that are offered. Because my domain with Wordpress is still new, I’m installing new plugins and tweaking things all the time. The 10 plugins I am about to introduce to you are ones I use and love - and ones I know other bloggers use and love! Not all of these are installed on my blog, but some here you might be very interested in.

1. NoWWW - I have this installed on my blog and I found out about it on CourtneyTuttle.Com. This makes it so your URL never has the WWW included, and even if people type in WWW, they are redirected. This is so Google doesn’t double index your site and its pages; and have both the WWW and the non-WWW version. I really recommend this one!
2. Adsense - Another plugin currently installed on this blog. This is not one of those fancy Adsense plugins, this one is very simple. Whenever you want to place an Adsense ad in a post, all you do is click the Adsense button on the Write Post page.
3. Brian’s Threaded Comments - A lot of bloggers have this and it helps keep things a lot more organized, so I put this plugin on Super Blogging as well. Basically you can reply directly to a comment, and the reply appears right underneath, no matter how many other comments there are already. This is great for answering questions, so you don’t have to search for the answer through all the other comments. However, I’ve noticed it does mess up a couple of times and when someone leaves a reply to a reply, it just leaves an empty space (if someone knows why let me know please).
4. Related Posts - This probably would be one of my favorite. It’s not installed on this blog (yet!) because I’m having some trouble getting its installation script to work. But a lot of other blogs have this one and it’s very handy. Basically this plugin has a list at the bottom of each of your posts and links to other related posts, so the visitor keeps reading your blog!
5. Google Sitemap Generator - This plugin helps all your pages get indexed by Google, faster and more efficiently. Each time you add new content, the plugin creates a new sitemap for search engines Google, Yahoo, and MSN to index your site. Also see this sitemap generator that makes a sitemap visible to people who visit your blog.
6. Akismet - If you hate to deal with spam, the Akismet plugin is for you! It comes as one of the default Wordpress plugins and all you need to activate it is your API key. I don’t have this one installed on my new Wordpress, but only because I haven’t had any spammy comments yet.
7. Wordpress Database Backup - Imagine if ALL of your content and ALL of your files are lost, and you can’t recover them? To avoid this horrible situation, I’d advise you to keep a backup regularly. This plugin helps you do just that.
8. Show Top Commentators - This sure is a plugin that really encourages people to comment on your blog. It’s a great reward to your readers when they comment enough so their name and their link appears on your list of top commentators. I don’t have this yet, but I’ll be getting it up real soon, so keep commenting!
9. Dofollow - This plugin encourages people to comment almost as much as ‘Show Top Commentators’. Basically it removes the ‘nofollow’ attribute from the links which makes them real to Google.
10. Contact Form - A blog without a contact form is sure to be doomed. If you paste your email and let readers contact you from there, that’s bad because a) you will get spammed and b) your readers are too lazy to take the time to go to their email and do that. Or at least I am. Right, this blog currently doesn’t have a contact form, but I’m getting this one up real soon!

Like I said, I don’t have all of these plugins installed on my blog, but they are all quality plugins that I am excited over and I WILL be getting. I thought I’d share them with you because surely some of these would be a great addition to your blog. If you know of any other interesting plugins you think I should check out for this blog, please leave me a comment and let me know! Or share your experiences with the plugins listed above

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All bloggers want their blog to be ranked with some great keywords on the first page of Google search. If you don’t want this and don’t have an extremely good reason, I don’t feel bad when I say that you’re crazy. If you ARE that insane blogger and don’t care about your search rankings at all (which bring you a lot more visitors, thus, more money), then you should check out some fun addictive games instead. But if you are curious about what is the best way to get ranked highly for your keywords, then you’re at the right place.

So how do you get on the first page of results for ‘make money online’? There are a lot of different factors that make up your ranking. Some people think it’s keyword density. While keyword density can be helpful to your search engine positions, it’s nothing to obsess over and a lot of the time makes no difference. If you’re stuffing your posts with keywords then your readers will realize it, and a lot of the time the search engines will too. If you can get what think is the right percentage for your keywords, good for you. But once again, it’s nothing to obsess over because it doesn’t matter as much. Honestly, I put no thought into keyword density AT ALL!

What DOES get you ranked highly? I firmly believe search results are determined on the number of people linking to you using your keywords. Take John Chow for instance. He’s running a program where if you write a review on him and link to him with the anchor text ‘make money online’, he’ll link to your site. Well guess what? After MANY people have linked to him using ‘make money online’, John is in the top results!

That’s what makes ViralTags better than ViraLinks. With ViralTags, you get to choose the words in the link that points to your site. For example, my anchor text for ViralTags was ‘make money blogging’. Someday I hope to be higher in the search engines for that term.

Yes, there are bajillions (exaggerating just a bit…) of reasons your site is ranked how it is. Lots of things tie in, not just the words people use when they link to you (or keyword density, either). But the anchor text for links to your blog make the big difference.

How can I get people link to me with my keywords? Use ViralTags! I’ve gotten so many links from this already. However, I’m not ranked in Google yet for my keywords ‘make money blogging’, but the front page consists of Problogger, Steve Pavlina, PayPerPost, Microsoft, etc. Maybe I shouldn’t have chosen such a broad, widely used topic….

I would also recommend submitting your site to online directories and where they ask for your website’s name or title, put in the keywords you’d like to be ranked for. That way you’ll have links with your anchor text as well!

And if you’re ever doing a link exchange with someone or they offer to link to you, kindly request that they use your keywords when linking. It won’t bother them a bit and it’s only helping you. I promise that in no time at all, if you work hard, you’ll be rocking Google with your keywords. Good luck, and please let me know how it goes and if you think you know other ways to rank higher!

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Every blogger strives to have readers that think, “This blog is fantastic! I need to add it to my blogroll so I can come back everyday and encourage my visitors to do the same.” I have quite a few blogs that I am loyal to and I have to go visit each day. I’ve spent some time thinking about this and have composed FIVE REASONS why I go back to their blogs for more, so you can take this list and use it to better your own blog.

1. Offer something UNIQUE. All of the blogs I read daily have a unique feel to them! There are millions of blogs out there and you’ve got to make yours stand apart. You need to offer something different that no one else does. I think Kumiko has a very unique blog, to name an example. Not only has she branded her blog to her name but she’s also made it known as the “blog that is pink”. Other bloggers hold weekly or monthly events that set them apart. I’m still working on perfecting this one.

2. Post new content DAILY. Or at least, if you can’t post something new every single day, aim for every other day! I used to make the big mistake of going huge periods of days without making a single post, and I think this made me lose chances for potential readers. It’s just annoying when you go to a blog and they’ve not had new content for a long time. It makes it seem as if they don’t care about what they’re doing. If I go to a blog that hasn’t updated in quite a while, I feel like I’m wasting my time. That’s why I’m now trying to put out plenty of content for you to read!

3. Have a good DESIGN. This ties in with offering something unique, but it’s a little more specific. You need a design that thousands of other bloggers don’t use. You also need a design that’s not too fancy and might take too long to load for some people. Your design should look clean and simple, and you also shouldn’t cram it with ads.

4. INTERACT with your visitors. I love a blog that has good communication, and so do others! If I leave a comment on someone else’s blog, it would be nice of them to respond to it. It’s a huge bonus if they come and leave a comment on my blog as well! If you can’t take the time to interact with your blog’s readers and talk to them, most likely they won’t be coming back.

5. Have information FIRST. If your blog is one of the first that announces news, chances are people are going to see you as a good source and know you’re on top of things. If something happens and people want to know more, they’ll visit your blog first and maybe even link to it. They’ll know you’re trustworthy and your readers will definitely not just be one-timers!

There are so many little things you can do as well to increase your percentage of loyal visitors, but these five things are key. Other things are a little bit more obvious like typing with correct grammar and spelling, not spamming, etc. I think the most important tip is the first one. Like I said, there are millions of blogs, and it won’t do you any good to blend in. You need to be all aroud unique, with unique content, events, design, and more. Think on it a little while and figure out what you can do to make your blog different.

I also admit, I’m still correcting myself on some of these points. But I think everyday I improve just a little bit more, and that’s what matters. I’m not an expert blogger but I’m always learning. And I love figuring out new ways to keep my readers coming back for more! If you have anymore suggestions, please let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear them.

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1. That it’s not a get rich quick scheme. 99% of bloggers don’t ever get what I would call ‘rich’ by blogging! Some exceptions might be John Chow, Darren Rowse, Shoemoney (Jeremy Schoemaker), and Steve Pavlina. If your ONLY reason for starting a blog is to earn some money, you’d better rethink your plans or hope for some serious luck to be on your side.
2. That it’s not just all fun and games. Blogging is actually quite a bit more work than beginning bloggers realize! When I first started, I didn’t even understand all the work that blogging entails. You constantly have to work on writing great content, keeping up relationships with other bloggers and meeting NEW bloggers, trying to get your links and traffic to increase, tweaking your layout and design, and so much more. If you don’t have time to devote or patience for this, then blogging might not be for you.
3. That you need to pick a topic you enjoy. If you don’t choose the right blogging niche for yourself, it’s going to be a hard road. You need a topic you love to write about and that you can write about easily and have plenty of things to say about it. If you don’t do these things you will grow tired of what you’re blogging about and most likely drop out in a few months.
4. That you need to be able to establish and keep up relationships. You need to be able to form and keep relationships with other bloggers. You need to comment their blogs and be at least a little bit social. No one will ever notice you and your blog if you don’t! To read more on this, click here.
5. That blogging is a learning process. I learn numerous new things everyday in blogging! Sometimes I won’t understand something I learn, so I have to do some research or even get some advice from a fellow blogger. If you don’t want to take the time to learn, then blogging is definitely not something you should do, because like I said, it’s a learning process!

There. Five key things you should know if you want to blog. I probably could have listed 100 things you should know, but I just wanted to touch on the more important ones (maybe I’ll make a more detailed list in the future). So do you think blogging is for you? There are great times and rough times in blogging, but you’ve got to pull through them all. Not everyone can do it. But trust me, I’m no expert either, and I’m not trying to discourage you! Some people just think blogging is the easiest thing in the world and they’ll earn enough money to quit their jobs in the first week. To be quite honest, this is far from the truth. But if you have determination, you CAN be successful.

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