How to link to yourself

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important factor to focus on if you want a higher search engine ranking for your blog or website. For this, you should realize that the words that other sites use inside the text of their links to you (known as the anchor text) influence how your site ranks for those words.

For example, if you want to rank well in Google for certain words, it would help if another site links to you with those words. This principle extends to internal links on your blog as well. So, when you link to yourself (for example, linking to one of your previous posts), do it using descriptive key words of the post instead of using generic words.

For example, if I want to link to one of my previous posts titled ‘Viral Marketing can help you make money’ in a post, then instead of linking like this:

‘You can read my post on Viral Marketing here.'

it would be much more effective in terms of the search engine ranking of the post to link to it as:

‘You can read one of my previous posts on the topic, Viral Marketing.'

Although it's a very small change, but it’s these small things which go a long way and add up to having a big impact upon the ranking of that blog in search engines. Also, using descriptive words to label your links applies not just for the links from within your posts -- it also applies for internal links from your navigation bars and menus too. Read more...

Viral marketing can help you make money

Viral marketing is has gained increasing popularity for making money online. It's a marketing technique which increases brand awareness by utilizing preexisting social networks. The technique is a self-replicating viral process that is similar to the spread of pathological and computer viruses (that's how it's name came about).

A plethora of businesses are adopting this marketing strategy to gain their fair share in the market. One of the earliest users of this technique was Hotmail, to increase its number of subscribers. Hotmail was one of the first web-based email providers that gave away email addresses for free. Each of the messages sent with a Hotmail address has an advertisement at the bottom that goes: “Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com/.” Then, of course, Hotmail subscribers will use the service to send messages to their friends and colleagues. These friends and colleagues will get the message, sign up and be a subscriber like what the sender did. Then these new subscribers will also email their own set of friends. The cycle goes on and on.This is why viral marketing has the power of reaching thousands, even millions, of people in such a short time and with little effort from the one who initiates it.

The following is a list of ideas that can be adopted for a viral marketing campaign. Most of these techniques are proven to be extremely successful. "Word of mouth" marketing techniques of this kind can boost one's customer base exponentially in less time:

• Offer free web space
• Offer free software for limited time
• Free e-mail account
• Own affiliate program
• Free links directory
• Creating top 100 sites
• Free e-cards
• Free articles/ news letter
• Giving free online consultation
• Having automated responder
• Provide forums
• Offer free gifts, templates, graphics, etc.

Read more...