The Importance of Backlinks

First of all I´m going to introduce you a very important formula for your blog: Backlinks = Free Traffic. The first time I heard the word “backlink” I didn’t knew what it was, so I made research to learn something about it, because a friend told me that they were very important for any website or blog, because without them it was for sure that my blog would never appear in search engines. Ok, now I´m going to explain what a “backlink” is.

Backlinks are links that are directed towards your website or blog. The number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or importance of a blog. They are important for SEO because some search engines, especially Google, will give more credit to those that have a good number of quality backlinks, and consider those blogs more relevant than others in their results pages for a search query. Google gives a lot of priority to those blogs with lots of backlins, why? Because Google knows that backlinks are often created by humans, therefore this means that the blog has to have some value.

Most successful blogs have more than 1,000 backlinks. There are many ways to get backlinks for free, my best advice would be : always write high quality content. If you have good content then more people will backlink to your blog or to an specific post. Here is an example: You wrote a very good post about the “latest design trends”, then let´s suppose that 10 blog owners who read your post really liked it and they write a small post in their own blogs about your article and add your URL to their blogs, well you´ll get 10 new backlinks and more traffic. You see? That´s a very good technique to get them. But there are more techniques you might want to try.

1. Write an article related to what your blog is about, then submit it to free article directories and add your blog´s URL at the end of the article. This will give you backlinks and traffic.

2. Submit your blog to free directories like Dmoz.com (This will also increase your SE ranking). Just type in your favorite search engine “free directory”.

3. Ask other websites or blogs to share backlinks, you will have to include their URL in your blog and they will have to add yours. There is nothing wrong with requesting a link from another blog.

4. Join forums related to the topic of your blog and post comments , use your URL as your signature.

5. Set up a mini site; Create a small website about a very specific topic, you can always use free hosting services but I recommend purchasing a cheap hosting package, then add your blog´s url in your mini site.

Remember that older links are better than new ones and that links from related sites are better.

How to Become a Five Figure Blogger!

Previously I wrote about four figure bloggers and how to become one. Well, now in this post I want to write about the next step the money making adventure of blogging; How to become a five figure blogger. First of all let me tell you that becoming a five figure blogger is not an easy task, it gets harder because it requires a lot of work, but don´t worry! You can always count on Blogger Lounge. A 5FB is the one who earns between $10,000 to $99,999 per year this mean from $1,000 to $9,000 per month and an average per day from $50 to $300. The number of bloggers earning that amounts from affiliate programs like AdSense is also big, but most of them prefer not to make public their earnings.

What it takes to become a five figure blogger

The following points are just examples, as I said there are no strict rules about this, it is just an average. See if your blog has fulfills this requirements.

1.Your blog has to have its own domain name, forget about http://myblog.blogservice.com. There are some cases in which a great blog is hosted using blogging platforms like Blogger or WordPress.com.

2. Create high quality content and posts, don´t write about your hobbies and about yourself, give readers what they want remember that you are now running your own business.

3. Your blog has to have more than 1000 subscribers, much more.

4.Your blog has to have more than 200 high quality posts.

5. Your blog has to be fast loading, easy to read and easy to navigate.

6. You have to perfectly blend your ads.

7. Be one of the top 10,000 blogs in Technorati.

As you can see there are some points not very easy to achieve but I know you can do it if you really try, If you are a five figure blogger or if you know one please contact us or let us know in your comments, we´ll be happy to post the story here in blogger Lounge.

Design Inspiration

• 84 Great Looking WordPress Themes
• Top 15 Web Design Galleries
• Favicon Inspiration
• Logo Inspiration

Best Blog Resources

• Free Image Hosting
• The Best Google Tools for Bloggers
• A Word About Blogging Platforms
• Premium Blog Editors
• Blog Stats
• Email Subscription Services
• Polls for Blogs
• Blog Directories
• Affiliate Programs

The Best AdSense Tips

• How to Get Relevant AdSense Ads
• AdSense Heat Map
• AdSense Preview Tool
• How to Earn $100 Per Day With AdSense
• Top AdSense Earners

Top Paying Keywords for 2007

Good keywords are essential to improve your AdSense earnings, in order to get more money out from AdSense you have to make a good keyword research to see which words are the best ones for your blog or website, You have to find the most profitable keywords that make your online business grow, All the best AdSense earners are also good researchers, if you want to make more than just $100 a month (and maybe that´s too much) , make keyword research. There are many keyword services out there but some of them are not very reliable, and for this task you will need only reliable and professional sources. One more time, if you want to make a constant income from your website with AdSense pay more attention to keywords because good keywords are going to pay you more. After doing some research on the Internet last night, searching and studying all the best keyword resources for AdSense we came out with a list for the most profitable AdSense Keywords for 2007, so study the list and select your keywords and start earning those bucks.

Top Paying Keywords for 2007

answering service——–$9.73
air charter—————$8.00
auto insurance———–$7.84
automobile insurance—-$7.84
accept credit card——–$7.50
asset management——-$7.00
attorney Michigan——–$7.00
air filters—————–$6.74
auto insurance quote—–$6.48
affordable web hosting—-$5.96
business intelligence——$12.50
budgeting software——-$12.10
bpm———————-$10.01
business web hosting——$8.00
bad credit mortgage——-$7.53
bad credit home loan——$6.43
bill consolidation———–$6.24
bankruptcy—————-$5.99
business phone system—–$5.95
California mortgage——–$19.39
car donation—————$17.03
conference call————-$15.65
california home loan——–$14.11
crm————————$13.00
crm software—————$12.77
customer relationship management——$12.60
call center——————$12.52
currency trading————$11.71
cerebral palsy————–$11.00
conference calling———–$10.15
content management——–$10.05
drug rehab——————$20.04
donate car——————-$17.03
debt consolidation———–$10.00
debt consolidation service—-$10.00
equity loan——————-$9.68
equipment leasing————-$8.60
employee surveys————-$8.01
edi—————————-$7.00
Florida lawyer—————-$12.55
Florida mortgage————–$12.55
forex————————-$10.23
help desk software————$15.01
home mortgage refinancing—-$13.79
home equity loans————-$12.57
home equity loan—————$12.57
health insurance California——$10.20
help desk———————–$10.08
investment fraud—————-$14.10
lead—————————–$13.42
laser hair removal—————$9.00
llc——————————-$8.75
life insurance———————$7.72
life insurance quote—————$7.16
life insurance company———–$7.03
life insurance rate—————-$6.04
mesothelioma——————–$75.01
mesothelioma attorney———–$39.00
mailing lists———————–$8.82
medical billing software———–$8.08
nevada corporation————–$12.00
network security—————–$10.10
New York lawyer—————–$10.00
physician job———————-$9.01
payday loans———————-$8.97
point of sale software————–$8.51
payroll service——————–$8.50
payday advance——————-$8.03
recruiting software—————-$19.00
refinance home——————–$14.87
refinance home loan—————$14.87
refinance home mortgage———$14.87
refinancing home——————$13.70
refinancing home loan————-$13.70
refinancing mortgage————–$10.65
sales lead————————–$15.63
second mortgage——————–$11.25

How to Become a Four Figure Blogger

Here is a very interesting post, I know that this in not what we all want but hey! We have to start somewhere. We all want to make money from our blogs and become six figure bloggers, don´t we? in order to become a successful six figure blogger you´ll have to work a lot, the first step is to become four figure bloggers. What exactly is a four figure blogger? Simple all bloggers earning from $1000 to $9999 per year with their blogs this means between $100 to $999 per month. Ok you may think that it is not an impressive amount but I can assure you that many successful bloggers were earning that amount when they began blogging.

Two weeks ago I received an email from a friend who has a blog about concept cars, he was telling me that he earns $250 each month from AdSense and that he was not very happy with that result. Then I asked him how old was his blog, and he answered: “Just a couple of months…” , I told him that it was a great amount for a two month old blog and that if he continues with the great work he´ll become a four figure blogger by the end of the year, well I don´t know if he knew what I was talking about , the point is that it is ok to earn $100, $150 or $250 per month you´re in your way to become a six figure blogger!.

What it takes to become a four figure blogger

The following points are just examples about what it takes to become a four figure blogger, remember that there are no strict rules about this, it is an average for most four figure bloggers.

1. Your blog has to be a nice looking blog, forget about the common templates, use a creative and unique design.

2. Your blog has to have more than 100 posts this means an average of more than 10 posts/month.

3. Your Blog has to have a RSS Feed subscription service, believe it or not I´ve seen blogs with no RSS options available.

4.If you are using FeedBurner in your blog, then you´ll have to have at least 500 subscribers.

5.Most 4F blogs have a Technorati rank under 20,000 , this means that your blog has to have more than 600 backlinks from other blogs.

6.Obviously have ads from an affiliate program like AdSense or YPN.

As I said this is not a rule, it is just an example to explain you what your blog needs to generate more than $100 per month, most blogger are in this category. Let me tell you that it not very difficult to become a four figure blogger if you follow some tips and technique about optimization and promotion. Are you a four figure blogger? If you are, then let us know in your comments.

The Best Google Tools for Bloggers!

This time I want to write about Google, for most users it is just a popular search engine where they can find almost everything they want. Google receives more than 1,000,000 searches per day, and thousands of millions of websites in their database. But Google is not just a simple search engine, it is an impressive money making machine that is pulling more than $10 billion per year (2006) in revenue and is worth about $125 billion.

But what else can Google do for your blog?

If you are trying to be a successful blogger and if you are always looking for the best tools and resources on the web stop searching. Google has a great portfolio of brands and acquisitions that can help you to improve your blog and profit from it. The best part is that they are all for free, you just have to sign in using your Google account and that´s it. In the time that I have been blogging I have noticed that it is not enough just to have tools like Blogger or WordPress, you need something more to analyze your traffic and to manage your content. Ok bloggers, let´s go to the main purpose of this post, here they are the best tools from Google for bloggers.

Google Reader – This is a very useful tool if you want to track your favorite blogs. It is like a news and RSS Feed agregator powered by Google. Each time you subscribe to a feed, you are notified when the blogs that you are tracking are updated. With Google Reader you can easily read all those updates as if they were checking your email. Another feature is that it is constantly looking for updates and new content in your favorite blogs. All new entries are displayed in a very clean way at the right side of the screen, in the left side you have all your sources (blogs that you are tracking).

Google Trends – Not many people know what “Google Trends” is. Well basically it is a web application that analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time; you can compare results using tables and graphics . I use it constantly and I think it is amazing , give it a try.

Google Books – Are you the kind of person that hasn’t visit a library yet? Well, don´t worry, some people say that this amazing application is going to replace libraries, I really don’t think so but I think it is very useful for those who want to find books and read them from home. Google Books is an enormous compilation of books that can be read and consulted from home, it allows you to search through full-text versions of books which are either out of copyright or have been released to Google for scanning. You can find all kind of books, from business to blogging you just have to search, take a look to our list of the Best Books for blogger.

Google Analitycs – This is one of my favorite applications, because I can use it to analyze my traffic in my websites and blogs. This free service generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website or blog. You can use it to see where your readers are coming from and how many times they visit your blog, it also shows you maps and graphics so you can easily analyze and track your traffic.

Google Blog Search – You know that you can use Blogger and Technorati to search for blogs and updates but Google has also another application where you can easile search for your favorite blogs. With this tool you don´t have to sign in or to register, it is as simple as using Google Search, just type what you are looking for and you´ll get a list of results containing the term you entered.

Now that you know what this applications and tools are start using them and provide your blog more resources to generate money. If you use another tool from Google for your blog please share it with us in your comments.

What Not to Do when You Blog

We all know that Blogging = Business, and as in other businesses there are certain rules and laws that you must follow. The other day I was surfing the Internet looking for some design trends, (I´m going to write about that later) and I arrived to a site where I found a very interesting article called “What not to do when you Blog” it is a list of principles and simple rules to follow when you are blogging, I´m going to list you the 8 rules but if you want more information about this take the time to read the full article.

1. Don’t use the word blog without realizing what it means.

2.Don’t write about yourself.

3.Do not blog unless you plan to take it seriously.

4.Do not write to other bloggers and ask for links.

5.Do not steal.

6. Do not consider your blog a free ride to slander, promote gross inaccuracies, or pass along “facts” that are rumors.

7. Do not overreact when you get dissed by your readers.

8. Do not forget to be polite.

I would add “Do not forget to promote your blog” since it is a very important step to follow if you want readers to come. What other rules would you suggest?. On the other hand CyberJournalis has a great article called “A Blogger´s Code of ethics”. These are more useful rules for bloggers.

Email to Attract Advertisers

Do you remember the post I wrote about “How to Attract Advertisers for your Blog“? Well you can contact advertisers by phone or by email. If you want to use the the second option , below is a sample email that might give you some guidance on what to send you can use the same format for all the advertisers.

Sample email

My name is James Larsen , I am the owner and founder of the blog www.yourblog.com which offers weekly tutorials and guides on “How to make money online for small business”.

I am actively looking for advertisers and sponsors for my blog. I have a special section for advertisers at the top of the page, it is a 120×50 space and it is exclusive and non-rotating and sold on a month by month basis.

To give you a brief overview of my blog´s stats, the site currently receives around 2,500 unique visitors per day – nearly 18,000 per week. This provides a great opportunity for you to reach a targeted audience and gives excellent brand recognition and visibility. You can view the stats at (Provide the URL where they can take a look to your stats)

My blog also provides assistance for those who want to start their own small business and provides a directory of service providers in all the U.S. We are planning to start a new project in 2007 called “Small Business Millionaires” which is going to increase our traffic in almost 30%.

My blog´s rank is 5 in major search engines for targeted keywords like: “Small business online” and “Make money online”.

I felt that your products (be specific about products or services) would appeal to the audience that “Your Blog´s Name” attracts. If you are interested in advertising any of your excellent products on the site then it would be great to hear back from you.

Thanks for your time, James Larsen (www.yourblog.com) (Add other contact details like your phone, address or email here).

Remember that you have to choose advertisers and products related to what your blog is about.

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