Tom Durkin

Pulling Traffic From Facebook To Your Blog

2010-02-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

If you've been on the internet in the past two years or so then you are probably very aware of Facebook. Its the largest social networking site in the world, and its a goldmine for blog traffic.

The question is though, how do you pull all these people to your blog?

I will explain from my personal experience, the best ways I have found to create traffic from Facebook. I've used both moral and slightly immoral ways in the past, all of which I will cover here.

1. Make a Fan Page

The first thing you want to do is create a Fan Page for your website. If you are blogging about a particular product then name your page after it. This way people searching for the product will find your page, and your page will contain links to your blog on it!

I made a page for my Holga blog and called it 'Holga.' I now have over 21000 'Holga fans' on it, and its my biggest source of blog traffic.

Once you have a page, make sure you place a fanbox on your blog so that people are aware that you have a Facebook page. Sometimes they will land at your site before they found your Facebook page. This first couple of months will be slow, but be patient and your publicity will increase. Remember if one person joins they automatically tell around 500 other people.

Once your fanpage has a few followers, head over to a site such as Twitter Feed and get your blog automatically publishing your blog posts to Facebook. It will save you a lot of time, and effort, and a link to your blog posts will automatically get placed on your pages feed when you publish it.

Keep the feed as the first thing that people see when they land on the page. If they see posts related to the product on the page, they will be interested and will probably click the link.

Look after your page, answer peoples questions and be freindly. Soon you will notice as substantial increase in your blog traffic.

I have also managed to sell used cameras through my page, so think about ways of monetising it too.

2. Make a Profile

You may as well make a profile for your blog as well. Its not going to be as effective as a Fanpage but it will generate a place to post links, and to meet people interested in your blog. Remember though, profiles are limited to 5000 friends, so make sure you promote your page and NOT your profile.

3. Post Links to Your Friends

If your blog is centred around something that your friends will be interested in the post a link in your status. Its another easy way to gain traffic. The good thing about posting links to your friends is that they trust you as a source. Don't overdo it though or people will get sick of you posting links and will probably hide you in their personal feeds.

4. Post Links on Groups/Related Pages

This can be dangerous because you don't want to come across as a spammer, but posting links to your site on relevant related pages and groups will definitely help you to gain interest. If you are going to do this make sure that you go about it the right way. Leave a comment explaining that its related and that people may like it. If you can get away with it, don't make out you are related to the link, just pretend you found it yourself.

That's all for now. If you have any more tips please post them below.

Thanks!

Choosing the Right Domain For Your Blog

2010-01-27T04:01:00.000-08:00

Most people set up a blog on a hosted platform for a few months, watch their blog grow and then proceed to buy a custom domain.

Its a great idea because it sets your blog out from all the rest of the .blogspot.com blogs, and it can also help you to rank higher in Google.

From my experience there are basically two approaches to buying a domain.

1. Key Word Domain

Most people will choose key words related to their content and squeeze them into their domain. This will definitely help with your visibility in Google. Lets look at a quick example.

Tom is setting up a Golfing blog and wants to use key words in his domain. He might use something along the lines of http://golfnews.com. This will eventually make him much more visable when people search 'Golf News' in Google because it matches the words in his domain, and without getting too technical, Google reward domains that match the searched words quite heavily.

So there is the main reason for getting a 'key word domain.' Lets take a look at our other type of domain.

2. Branded Domain

The second option that you have when you are choosing a domain is to choose a brand name and completely brand your site around it, hoping that eventually people will begin to know you for that name. Lets take a look at an example for this too.

Facebook is pretty much perfect. They didn't get http://talk-to-all-your-friends-online.com, they chose a brand name (Facebook) and built on it. Ok its an extreme case, but this really shows how branding can work for a website when implemented well. Ever caught yourself saying 'ok I'll Facebook you later'?

This is the sort of effect you will be going for with your blog. You can choose something like bloggingturtle.com and base your theme around it, even when your site is about making money through blogs.

People will eventually link blogging turtle with the type of content you are writing and huzar! You have successfully branded your site.

Conclusion

In my experience, the best thing to do is to try and combine both of these approaches when you choose a good domain name. Lets go back to the example of the Golfing domain.

You almost certainly want something golf related in your domain to help you in Google but you wouldn't mind a little bit of branding as well, so how about something that combines the two types of domains we have talked about above.

http://progolfer.com
http://19thholegolf.com
http://golfingpro.com

Here I have tried to give you some ideas for good domains that combine both branding and key words.

If you really can't think of a domain for your blog then I suggest you either just stick with your hosted URL and continue to build on it, or just go for something related to your theme and work hard branding your site.

Just remember that branding your site around your domain and getting people to associate your domain with your chosen topic is much more difficult than using a domain with key words, so bear that in mind when you are desperately in need of a domain name.

I Hope this helps, and if you have any other questions please ask.

The Importance of Finding a Niche

2010-01-26T05:32:00.000-08:00

You have probably noticed the boom of blogging over the last couple of years. New blogs are being created every day, and its becoming increasingly easy for anyone to set one up.

Blogger and Wordpress are offering awesome user friendly blogging platforms, that are extremely easy to use.

That means one important thing for new and existing bloggers: You need to find a niche. In fact, its probably becoming one of the single most important factors in creating a popular blog now.

The market for areas like blogging tips and such has been completely flooded, and competition is just too prevalent. The best thing that you can do for yourself, is create a blog that appeals to a smaller group of people and do it well.

Having an excellently written blog in a niche will reap more benefits that an excellently written blog in a huge competitive niche.

Just remember that standing out is the way to get recognised now, and that a lot of ideas have been done, probably ten fold.

Here are some top tips for finding a niche to write in.

1. Blog about your interests - Everyones are different so you will probably end up finding something that not a lot of others are doing.

2. Think about what you know a lot about - The more you know about a subject the more you have to offer to a niche.

3. Do some research - if you want to blog about something in particular, type it into Google and see what competition you have before you start blogging.

Don't be afraid to write something a little off topic, because remember that your blog will be going out for the world to read, and there will definitely be other people that have the same interest.

Choose something you can excel in, take your time and carefully construct posts. Before you know it you will be top of your niche and gaining some half decent traffic.

Tips On How To Rank Highly In Google

2010-01-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

The one thing that you need for your blog to be successful is for it to rank highly in the worlds leading search engine, Google.

Its a rough road getting on the front page, but I'll let you in to a little secret, its not as difficult as you might think.

Sure its going to take time. But passing time is easy for a blogger because you can be working on hundreds of other things like great content and commenting on other peoples blogs.

So what you need to do to rank highly in Google is the following.

1. You Need to Have Good Content Rich In Key Words.

Try and get key words in your posts but do not over do it. Remember you are writing for readers and not for search engines. If you can slip a key word in great, if you can't don't force it. Other opportunities will arise.

If you can get them seamlessly into post titles on a regular basis then you are doing well. Just make sure it doesn't effect the content of your site too much.

2. You Need To Get Links To Your Site.

The next think you need is links to your sites from relevant sites. Explore your niche and find sites that are working at a similar level to you, approach them and ask them to link to your site. Most blogs have link sections. You may want to add their site first to show that you are serious. It will make them much more inclined to add yours back.

If the administrator doesn't answer your e-mails, then plan B is to leave a few comments on the popular posts. Make sure your comments are good and raise interesting questions. This way you will attract attention and people will want to view your blog.

You can also use social networking sites to get links to your blogs, and help it appear higher in Google.

3. You Need Good Post Title URLs

If anyone is going to find your posts in a search engine then you need to have good post URLs. Post URLs that have key words in them will make Google think that they are related to the subject and therefore bring them up in your results.

Wordpress is excellent for popping key words in your URLs, and Blogger does it automatically.

4. You Need To Make Content Worth Reading

You will never ever get a blog to a high place in Google if its useless. People won't recommend it to friends and no-one will read it. Good content draws in interest and also means that people will make posts in forums and on websites, linking to your blog. Google will reward you by boosting your position. Remember! Content is king. Write good content and reap the rewards.

5. You Need To Be Patient.

The last tip that I have is be patient. If you spend the time implementing all the rules that I have written here then just wait and your pages will begin to rank highly. Inbound links and good content at the two things you really need to focus on, but as long as you keep writing at a high standard you will see your pages climb!

Thanks a lot for reading, and if you have any more tips then please leave a comment!