How Bloggers Make Money On The Net

Have you been reading about bloggers making money online and thinking about jumping on the blog bandwagon?

Before you do, consider this:

Less than 1% of blogs make any significant money.

Okay, now that you know this, you might want to know what the successful bloggers do to break free from the pack of other bloggers and make more money.

How bloggers make money from web blogs:

1. Successful bloggers use a clean and simple design.

With a design that is easy to navigate and makes it easy to (a) subscribe, (b) follow, (c) read, and (d) drill down into articles, a blog is highly more likely to keep the visitors they attract longer and also draw more repeat visitors.

2. Successful bloggers provide high quality, original, and unique content.

If you're providing information on video cameras, you might provide a series of articles reviewing cameras. Other times, you can provide information comparing one type of camera to another. In other blog posts, you might highlight how people capture images using new techniques. You may engage bloggers by holding contests. You could request a guest post. Or, you might ask other people for feedback about an idea. The more interactive you make your blog, the higher the traffic you'll receive.

3. Successful bloggers publish consistently and often.

I've noticed that the most successful bloggers publish between 5 and 20 articles per week. That's a lot of writing. They are also consistent. I think there are ways to boost production twofold that won't take that much more time, by writing more reviews of books, technology, and techniques. We'll see how this technique pays off in the upcoming months.

4. Successful bloggers optimize by spreading the word.

You can spread the word for your blog by burning your feed to various feedburning engines. Another technique is to post into forums and other blogs, and link back to your blog. Last, you can also use technology, like blog rolls, or directories, like Stumble Upon, Digg, Blog Carnivals, Facebook and other means, to promote the traffic to your blog.

These are the tenements of the blogs I've seen that make money. Most bloggers don't get immediately success. The most successful blogs I've seen took months to build. Some of the best blogs took years before they took off. And, the rules of the game have changed. Many new blogs are taking longer to reach the tipping point because so many more people are blogging. Commit to a long-term strategy and follow your plan regularly, and your blog is much more likely to enable you to make money from your blog.
________________________________________

Copyright © 1999-2008 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. SUBSCRIBE.

Why Titles Matter

Whether creating a new product or writing an article or book, you'll find that your titles matter.

Why do titles matter? There's several reasons why, ranging from the obvious First Impression to Searchability. We'll cover the basics here.

Why Titles Matter

1. First Impressions Matter.

It is critical that you explain what your product is from the name. Or, in a book, if people don't know what it is about, they won't read it. It also helps to categorize your product or information if it is named appropriately. So, the title you give your product, book, or article is as important as naming a baby. Take time to get it right.

2. Titles Set The Tone.

The title we give to a product, book, or article helps set the tone for what people might expect to follow. For example, "Fling or Ring: Which Finger To Give Him" makes clear it is about how to know if a man a woman is dating is "the one" for him. But, it could simply say "Is He The One, Or Not?" and it would have a different tone, right? Clearly, there's a sense of humor involved in the Fling or Ring title that suggests there's some sassy content to follow.

3. Titles Create Mood.

Spanx is hosiery by Sara Blakely. What I love about that name is it suggests a little sexiness, a playful way of covering your bottom, hosiery for women. Even their slogan "We've Got Your Butt Covered" continues to set the mood Sara's going for. Product titles also set the mood. Coca-cola became big during the era when manufacturers actually included cocaine as an ingredient in their products. Coca-cola still makes you feel like you're "getting away with a little" when you drink their caramel-colored sodas. Tide: wash away the dirt from your laundry. Double the pleasure with doublemint gum. The title, especially when combined with a slogan, can create a fun mood, a clinical feeling, or a sense of urgency.

4. Title Determines Searchability.

It may not seem like a big idea, but you could write a title that sounds really clever:

"We fooled them this time." and in the title of an article or book called "We fooled them this time" might get someone curious enough to open the cover if they were standing in front of it. However, we must keep in mind that for anything marketed over the internet that a search engine is a ROBOT.

Therefore, the search engine won't know what category or how to assign the fooling product! That's a serious problem. If you can't be organized you might not get found - and that will impact sells.

It is wiser to be more clear about the title so that a search engine can find it. For example: "Orange Tabby Cats Make The Most Loving Pets" might be an article about Orange Tabby cats and it would be OBVIOUS to the search engine what you're selling.

Deem: Green Dishsoap might be a name for a green dishwashing soap product. The search engine would know what it is by "Deem Dishsoap: Get Green and Clean" through a title and slogan.

Another approach is to use the reverse of what you want: "Want Poor Visibility, Don't Advertise" might be a teaser that provokes interest but it also gets keyword visibility for poor visibility and don't advertise. With email marketing, using the reverse is often more powerful than the stated desire approach. By stated-desire titles, I mean saying "The Cleanest, Most Safe, Comfortable Dentist In Los Angeles" is stating what the user most desires. In the instance of a service like a dentist-office, it might be wise.

In the event of naming a consumer-packaged good, it is wiser to use words that mean something versus hype. The Wine Merchant, Ltd uses the phrase "The Best Store To Buy Wine" http://www.winemerchantltd.com/) which came from a newspaper article poll. That's a bit of hype, although it may work for them. I prefer "Buy in multiples of 12 bottles for free shipping. Select Wines Only!" which is the current tag-line for http://www.thewinebuyer.com/. This is likely to produce more wine sales, because they're using smart copy that produces higher results. The best store is bragging. Buy in multiples of 12 bottles for free shipping is a fact and a cost savings. There's a big difference and both search engines AND the customer will notice the difference.

5. Begin With The End In Mind.

Begin with end-user (customer, site visitor, reader, buyer, etc.), that is. If we don't think about how the person shopping visits a store thinks, we'll probably pick the wrong title. For example, a company selling shoes might say "the latest brands for less money." Well, that didn't tell us much, did it? What if they were focused on the niche of comfort and style? They could say, instead, "The most stylish comfortable shoes you've ever worn." Now, that's a shoe store I'd enter. The same thing with titles.

For example, this article's title of "Why Titles Matter" was written with YOU in mind. My intention was to draw attention to the fact that if you don't set the write name you're already off on the wrong foot. So, get a good start, pick a title that matters not just to you but to the buyer or potential buyer of your wares.

You'll have more success when you do. ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps company leaders determine best names for products and services. If you need help, contact us at 805-459-6939.

Learn more about why titles matter through related posts at ARRiiVE's Blog:

http://arriive.blogspot.com/2007/11/get-traffic-through-hit-articles-at.html

http://arriive.blogspot.com/2008/01/secrets-of-pagerank-revealed.html

http://arriive.blogspot.com/2007/11/best-way-to-increase-email-open-rates.html
________________________________________

Copyright © 1999-2008 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. SUBSCRIBE.

Listen to the ARRiiVE: Innovations In Business talk radio: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/37798.

Syndicate Your News with RSS Feeds

The Secret Power Behind Blogs: THE RSS FEED

Ever wonder why a blog is better than a website? Well, if you ask me, it's mostly because it's (1) easy to publish articles and (2) people can find you.

"Come again?" you might ask. Yep, people find you. Not like a normal website, but through the POWER OF THE RSS FEED.

RSS - The best definition of RSS FEEDS means Really Simple Syndication. That's right, you're now in the business of syndicating.

Here's a video that explains it further.

Now you know more about how RSS works. Remember, it's like going to your favorite sites to get the news, but better yet, the news comes to you!

What's really cool about this is that through the power of the comment trail, the RSS, and easy posting, a blog can grow traffic exponentially.

Let me know how your own blog grows.
__________________________________

Copyright © 2008 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All rights reserved. Video Copyright © 2008 by Lee LeFevre (the CommonCraft Show). Thanks, Lee (no infringement intended).ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939.

SUBSCRIBE to boost your blogging success. See also Profitable Business Blogging.

Net Audio Ads Pay-Per-Play

NetAudioAds Pay-Per-Play is an exciting new way to offer advertising on your website.

Always looking for innovative ad streams on websites, I came across this Pay-Per-Play system of advertising and signed-up: http://www.sellingppp.com/a.cgi?ppp=1205662828

If you click on the long-copy sales letter link (http://www.sellingppp.com/details.cgi?ppp=1205662828), you'll see that NetAudioAds Pay-Per-Play offers 5 second audio ads on your website that pays publishers 25% - often better than Google pays for Adsense. And, NetAudioAds pay-Per-Play pays on IMPRESSIONS - not on CLICKS! That's cool, because it's easier to predict.

It doesn't stop there... REFER YOUR FELLOW WEBMASTERS!

Also, if you REFER OTHERS into their ad system, you can go three levels deep and make money on it, too. I'll share my numbers once I can substantiate. Please report back in and let me know how this system works for you...

http://www.sellingppp.com/details.cgi?ppp=1205662828 __________________________________

Copyright © 2008 by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

Get more customers, more cash, more quickly: SUBSCRIBE to our feed.

Secrets of PageRank Revealed

In the last few months numerous people have asked me the secrets to understanding Google PageRank (PR) Tool. While I don't work for Google, I've been on enough websites to get a feel for how Google looks at sites, and what determines Google's PageRank for pages. I've also done a considerable amount of research over the past year to learn more about increasing PageRank and a website's SEO, and if you were to search the headlines of most of my blog posts and website articles, you'd find my listings in the top ten often more than once for each search. Last I checked, I held #1 rank on Google for numerous search terms and this list continues to grow with every post I make into the blogosphere. The following is my guideline to help you determine PageRank for your site and also figure out ways to protect and grow your Google PageRank status.

What Is Google PageRank?

Google PageRank is the formula created by Google that ranks a web site's pages. The PageRank scale gives your site a factored score between "0" and "10". The PageRank (which I'll also refer to as "PR") is often used by other webmasters and sites to determine the quality and advertising value of your site. The Google PageRank Tool may be downloaded from several different places through Google. I found it easiest to do this if you have signed up for any of the special Google accounts, like Gmail, AdSense, or Calendar.

A direct place to download the Google PageRank Tool is to download Google Tool Bar Here:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/start/ or try http://toolbar.google.com/T4/index_pack_xp.html to download the toolbar. Once toolbar is downloaded, you then search for the PageRank BUTTON tool. Then add Page Rank Tool to the Toolbar.

You can also check your PageRank using this handle tool:
http://www.top25web.com/pagerank.php

How Is Your Site's Google PageRank Determined?

Without going into the math, Google PR basically is an algorithm that takes into account:

(Q) outbound links compared to (Q) inbound links, where Q = QUALITY.

To put is simply, higher quality links are from pages with higher PR and fewer links on a page.

Simple facts of Google PageRank:

1. The more pages in your site, the higher your PageRank value.

2. Inbound links improve your site page's PR value. Outbound links may degrade your site's PR value, depending upon who you link to. I've personally found that it is wisest to link to sites with at least PR4. I will make exception only for targeted, well-designed sites that appear to be heading some place and who also offer me exceptional page placement.

3. The more your pages link to each other, the higher your site's internal page rank value. Many webmasters forget that their website is more than the home page. I've spent a decent chunk of time this past year making sure "theme" pages get inbound links coming to them, as well as the well-known home page link tactic.

When is a site in PENALTY?

When the site has Google PR "0" even though the site has high traffic volume in Alexa. Google will penalize a site's PR when they've violated Google's terms.

Another type of problem site is the "link farm" which is going after groups of links. I've been deleting link farm sites off of my website and my PR went from 4 to 5. I also added some pages, so it is unclear which PR strategy worked. Clearly, though, the link farms weren't helping my PR value. My general rule of linking to a site is (1) The site must be related to my site, (2) I need to at least remotely like the website design or at least appreciate their flow of traffic, (3) The links page must be published from the home page, and buried no more than 3 links deep. I choose to follow the same rules for my websites.

A surefire way to draw Google's ire is to create a mirror page over and over again within your site. Google doesn't favor "cookie cutter" pages; indeed, Google values unique content considerably higher than content copied from other sites. Also, do NOT violate other website author's copyrights, trademarks, or images! A violation of this nature can get you into direct legal conflict. I'm on the verge of reporting a site for trademark infringement against one of my sites, as I write this article. It is a problem on the web. Please don't contribute towards illegal activities. If a site reports you to Google as violating their copyright, trademark, or image copyrights, your site is more than likely going to be flagged as a problem and you might lose your PR value.

So, what does this mean to the average webmaster or blogger?

If you want to increase your web site's PR value, follow this strategy:

1. Increase the number of high quality content pages within your site. The easiest way to do this is with blog publishing software, such as Blogger or Word Press. I've got more information on blogging at http://www.howbloggersmakemoney.com/.

2. Increase the number of high quality content links to your site's important pages. One way to do this is to find other blogs with comment fields. Find something relevant in the blog to discuss and post, with a link back to your site. Most bloggers will appreciate the comment IF it is sincere. Yes, we can tell the difference between comment-SPAM and sincere comments, so just be a decent person and be sincere.

3. Create media buzz, which will generate more links back to you. This can be done through one of the following methods:

a. Issue a Press Release.
b. Start a Contest. Publicize it on sites that feature contests.
c. Invite Other Bloggers to Guest Post.
d. Post articles to Blog Carnivals. I am working on a complete write-up on blog carnivals, both how they operate and how to maximize traffic through blog carnivals. Look for it at http://www.howbloggersmakemoney.com/.
e. Visit forums and comment in forums, with links back to your sites.

This is a start, but there are many ways to generate buzz. Find some methods and try a few for your website.

4. If you are trying to gain PR against a competing site, avoid linking with them directly or mentioning them by name in any way that might be interpreted by Google as a link (including in your meta tags). Directly linking to an article positioned above your article may position that page above yours in Google's PageRank calculation.

TIP: There is a way around (4) above, which will enable you to link to a site without impacting your Google PR. It is called the "no follow" rule.

This is a tag Google implemented around 2005 that essentially tells Google's web search spiders to "ignore" the link. It is marked with "rel" in HTML CODE. Use it as follows:

Insert the code for no follow into the HTML script. You may see a more detailed description on this at Phil Craven's site http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html.

When the Google spiders see this "rel" code, along with the ="nofollow", the spiders will completely ignore the link. This is the cleanest and simplest method to protect against outbound linkage causing PR drainage from your site.

The PageRank value displayed in the toolbar is NOT the actual PR value for your site. Actually, it is just a number within the range of 3 of what your PageRank might be, nevertheless, it is a good approximate tool for traffic.

The table everyone keeps asking me for:


What type of traffic does each PR symbolize?


To the best of my ability, I have determined that PR usually represents traffic. The range for each PR varies, but usually flows within this scale:

Pages___PR #__ Monthly Uniques ___ Approx. Ad Value/mo.

1-10____ 1-2____ 300 or less. _________ $5
11-51___ PR3___ 300 - 3K ___________ $20
51-200__ PR4___ 3K - 15K ___________ $200
201-1K__ PR5___ 15K - 150K__________ $5K
1K-5K___PR6___ 150K - 3M__________ $30K
5K-10K__PR7___ 3M - 9.9M__________ $300K
11K-15K_ PR8___ 10M - 15M__________ $3M
16K-25K_PR9___ 16M - 70M _________ $10 Million +
26K-?___ PR10__ 70M+ ____________ $100 Million +

The total site pages may vary depending upon content. The Ad Value is approximate and it must be noted that sites with far less traffic make far more ad money through their structure, and sites with far more traffic make less than these numbers. This is provided as a general rule of thumb from my best estimates.

As for the money, I've known people with PR6 sites who claim to make millions off their website. I've known one peer site whose PR6 claims to make over $1,000 per day in total ads. Another blogger with PR5 rank claims to earn $5,000 per month. My own PR5 website is not making anywhere close to that yet. So, again, this is a guideline, not a rule.

I know others who ought to have much higher PR, but their business isn't really web-related, which causes a drop. It helps to have web-rich content that circulates and pulls other web traffic in order to maximize your page's value.

Note: just because a site has PR4 does not mean that it has 10,000 users visiting per month. If the site has high proportion of INbound links and hardly any OUTbound links, and the INbound links have Google PR values of "4" or higher, the page ranked 3 may move up to a 4 based upon perceived value of the site through the quality of linkage.

Table last adjusted on January 3, 2008.

Side note: When compiling this list, I was dismayed and disgusted by the sheer number of "porn" sites proliferating around PR5 - PR6 status. Don't people have more to do than look at naked images of other people? Seriously!

My last tip in wrapping up this article is this:

TIP: Deep directory structures mess with PR negatively. It is more wise to have a shallow directory structure if you wish to maximize each page's PR value.

I wish you well with increasing your site's PR value. If you want to discuss PageRank in more detail, either comment to this post or use the Hire ARRiiVE button in the sidebar at http://arriive.blogspot.com/.
__________________________________

Copyright © 2008 by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. Special nod to Phil Craven at WebWorkshop.net, where I recommend you head if you want to get into statistical analysis. Phil's article on Page Rank was especially helpful to remind me of the "no follow" rule.

ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939. SUBSCRIBE to our feed to grow your business.

Widgets, Widgets, Widgets!

You may have seen the cool way of sorting tags called a "cloud" -- basically a clustered group of titles or label titles grouped in varying degrees of bold & size based upon the frequency of posts into that label title. See the right side-bar cloud in the http://arriive.blogspot.com/ blog? This widget came out of some trial (and error), and not without growing pain and loss of traffic.

The reason for this is I first tried the "easy" way to implement a cloud on my blog, by using a widget provided by Technorati. I originally experimented with the label cloud widget by Technorati to create my label cloud structure in my blog sidebar. After about a week, I started noticing my traffic was actually going DOWN for the blog -- something that hasn't happened yet upon the launch. In addition, I lost Google Ad revenue, too. Both of these results are not good, obviously. The problem? Technorati's Label Cloud Widget redirects users to the Technorati.com website. And, from there, the users will stay at Technorati and search THEIR post feed, rather than YOUR post feed. This, for me, was a bad thing, because I'm still not ranked as a top 100 power site at Technorati. Upon discovering that Technorati's cloud redirected traffic onto their site, I realized the problem, removed their cloud, and created a cloud structure of my own.

As a result of this experience, I've created FOUR RULES to better widget management:

1. Widgets must add value
2. Widgets must improve traffic if they do not provide high value to the end-user.
3. Widgets must provide value equal or superior to the real-estate cost of placing the widget.
4. Widgets must visually appeal within the design of the website.

Here's more detail on these four rules regarding boosting value in using widgets on your website or blog:

1. WIDGETS MUST ADD VALUE. A widget must provide additional functionality VALUABLE to users at your site. For example, I'm seeking ways to make my blogs more interactive. To that end, I'd prefer having a box talk to you when you drop by the site. However, this may not be the way my blogging audience wants to be interacted with. So, as a test, I'm trying out Meebo's live chat widget in the meantime.

Many widgets can add functionality to your site. From a calendar to weather station, there are many types of widgets you COULD add to a blog. The question is: does this functionality benefit your visitors in the way they want to interact with your site? If the answer is yes, then try the widget out and see how it plays out for you.

2. WIDGETS MUST IMPROVE TRAFFIC. You MUST be careful with widgets. When I installed the Technorati cloud, I lost a significant stream of visitors to my blogs. When I corrected the problem, my visit/page views continued to grow as they had been before loading the widget. Not a bad lesson to learn for a week's worth of traffic, but you can bet on it I won't need to learn this lesson twice: a widget shouldn't direct people off of your site, unless you're getting a return value equal or superior to the lost traffic. In the case of Technorati's Cloud Label widget, I couldn't see the value, and replaced the cloud with my own Blogger cloud (by the way, I used this code: http://phydeaux3.blogspot.com/2006/09/code-for-beta-blogger-label-cloud.html). If you use the code approach, make sure you back up your template, first! I had a problem installing on one of my blogs that cost me an hour to fix because I didn't back up first.

Other widgets that I've recently tried out that did not provide an equal return on the lost traffic (or lost real estate cost on the blog) included: Amazon widgets, A-Store Widgets, and a blogroll that I disconnected.

Getting traffic directed away from your site is not usually a good thing, if there is no reciprocal value. However, gaining traffic through a widget can be a great thing:

A widget I really like is one that draws traffic TO my site, such as this cool widget by SpringBox, which you can click on the "get this widget" on the lower right of my side bar in this blog to pick it up for your own website. What's great about the SpringBox widget is that people who load this on their blog are redirecting their site visitors to my blog and my blog-posts. It is a nice way to share blogs without redistributing the RSS FEED (which, to me, is piracy). The best way to avoid piracy is give people a way to syndicate your content, with the exchange being that traffic can come back to you. This is essentially what I'm doing with Springbox's widget. I'm still experimenting with these types of widgets; however, the general rule I've come to adopt is: when in doubt, remove it.

3. WIDGETS MUST RETURN (EARN) VALUE WORTHY OF THE REAL ESTATE COST. Putting a widget on my sidebar is essentially giving up landscape that could be used for other purposes. I have plenty of information to share with readers, but I will put a "language" translation widget up because this will result in more eyeballs staying on my page - especially those who cannot read English. In addition, I'll put a Google search box widget in my sidebar, because then people can search the blog more easily and find related articles fast. I'll include Google Adsense, because it's making me money.

Note: The best location for Google Adsense is under the header bar, not the sidebar. I found that my earnings through Google went up 50% when I added my link across the top of the blog, versus only listing it in the side bar and at the bottom of posts. That seems to be the #1 most important place to advertise for ads: under your header bar, text link 4 across the top. These links are the ads that get clicked the most. Many readers IGNORE the sidebar, so remember this, too.

4. WIDGETS MUST NOT DISTRACT OR NEGATIVELY IMPACT YOUR DESIGN. As with any website function, also make sure that a widget does not distract from the visual appeal of your website. All items ought to flow naturally and look as if you could have designed them and put them there yourself. Sure, a widget name in the corner makes it obvious that it's a widget, not custom-designed tool, so you've got to decide if installing something that ugly is acceptable for your blog.

I'll discuss monetizing widgets in a future post. I believe widgets are going to be increasingly important to websites, as people seek unique ways to interact, provide value, and relate to each other through the web. Consider this: Rockyou's volume is over 100M a day with their widget offerings, so there is volume in widgets. Just make sure the value your readers get back is worth the volume you're giving up.
__________________________________


Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions. ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939. Copyright © 2007 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved.

Widgets gone wild: SUBSCRIBE to our feed to maximize your website marketing.

Get ARRiiVE Feeds On Your Cell Phone

I've just added a new subscription service so that you now can receive ARRiiVE's RSS Feed through Feedburner, subscribe via e-mail, and also you can subscribe to the feed through the buzmob widget in the upper right subscription box. What's cool about the BuzMob widget is the clean, simple way to receive this feed, direct to your cell. I've tried it and it works fine!

Let me know how you like it...
__________________________________

Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939.

Copyright © 2007 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved.

Top Blogger Template Sites

How To Make Your Blogger Blog Look Unique.

Obviously, 16 templates, divided between 16 gazillion blogs, is going to create a problem for you if you're serious about blogging for business. Primarily, your blog won't look very unique. I've been putting together modules like this one to help provide the maximum value with my Profitable Business Blogging course.

What's the solution? A unique template! As with any format change, BACK UP your data completely prior to making any change. Trust me, you'll be glad if something goes wrong. Okay, that said, I'm not responsible for what you do with your blog. To get your own unique blog template, where can you look? I've put together a list of resources to get you started.

First, before you even change templates, consider changing the HEADER IMAGE, which gets inserted as a write-over of the existing blog header.

There are layout options in the blogger menu that enable you to change your image. I did this first, then tweaked it more and more until I had a graphic that looked almost like my regular site. I wanted the Blog to look a little unique, although I may tweak it more in the future.

The Top Ten Places To Find Blog Templates:

1. Finalsense.com. - Quite a few choices here, including coffee, restaurant, luxury car, strawberry, and more. These are slightly less popular than the Blogger layouts. You'll get a lot of three column choices here and they're pretty easy to load.


2. blogger-templates - There's not as many designs here, but what they've got is good. I like Grey Press and Deep Blue and have only seen each of those a couple of other places.


3. mashable.com - I personally like the Neosapian red, white, and black design. Very hip.


4. GeckoandFly - 23+ templates, easy to install: just download and upload to Blogger.


5. blogcrowds.com - You'll find both new designs and retreads at this site with quality design and layout that makes you want to browse more.


6. SuckMyLolly.com - Here's some nice, clean templates for blogger (don't let their name stop you!) They've got designs by color, retro designs, and more. I especially liked their retro designs for people with those types of businesses.


7. BloggerTemplates.org - These templates are clean, with some interesting variations. Since this site is highly ranked, these have also been downloaded 16,000 - 32,000 times as of the time of this writing. I personally like the simple one on page 2 the best.


8. kaushalsheth.com - These aren't free, but they're good. You'll find a huge assortment of both Blogger and WordPress templates.

Just In Case You DON'T Use Blogger

1. TheStyleContest - This offers some interesting themes for other blog software besides Blogger, specifically: Moveable Type, Typepad, and Live Journal.


2. Ehsany.com - For PersianBlogger, Blogger, Moveable Type, and others, especially those who speak Farsi, there are some options here.

Feel Guilty Getting It For Free?

For those who like to pay for their software, there's Elegant Themes. Nice themes, you will find these are definitely unique and not used as often as free themes.

BYOB (Build Your Own Blog) Create Your Own Template:

Want to get truly creative? The coolest tool I've found for blog templates is this one, where you can literally customize and create your own blog template for Blogger (or other Blog hosts):

1. http://psyc.horm.org/ - what's great about psyc.horm.org is that the format is W3C (ranks higher in search engines) and requires little or NO HTML experience. Here's a groovy example of a blog originally in Blogger, but where the blogger got sick of blogger's look and wanted three columns: http://www.crazykinux.com/.


2. Ahh. Thank you. - Pam Blackstone doesn't really offer TEMPLATES, per se. What she does offer is easy way to change the fonts and spacing in your existing template. Which, frankly, is all I wanted to do, anyway (I have my own graphic for the header).

Template Sites That Require A Second Look:

1. Stop Design - These are the blog templates contracted by Google for the Blogger Platform. I'm going to recommend against them if you're serious about BUSINESS Blogging or making money from your blog.Let's start with where to find your blogger templates. Don't get me wrong (or flame mail me Stop Design!) because I'm not saying don't use Stop Design to design your custom blog, I'm just saying if you're serious about blogging for $$ that you might want a UNIQUE design. Stop Designs are VERY common, with thousands and thousands using them. If you commission them to create a unique template, you'll be in good hands.


2. http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/ - These are more templates by the Blogger team. Again, free, but they'll be used by many... if you want unique, you'll like the others better. There is a cool i-phone theme, for anyone geeked up on the new Apple i-phone. The reason I'm listing this is because they post widgets and "how-to's" for blogger here. Also, I noticed they're coming out with seasonal themes here, as well as movie themes, like Pirates of the Caribbean.

And, last, but not least, for those of you who want to remove the pesky navbar, there's a whole page dedicated to this, with some simple code inserts. Before you freak out and say HTML Code - uh oh - don't worry. This is not that complicated. It's as easy and copy, paste, for the most part: http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/2005/01/remove-navbar.html.

A secondary way to test after backing up:

What I recommend to you is to set up a "trial" blog first, using a random, useless name (don't use anyone else's real name or a name someone else might want, just make up something so it is a polite test). Then once you have that blog, insert the same theme as you have now. You might want to also copy a couple of your widgets over, just to see how it would go through the transfer. THEN make your switch to the new design, see how it works. If everything goes well, you'll know how your new design looks without risking your current blog design or data.

__________________________________

Want to kick-start your blog? See how bloggers make money at Profitable Business Blogging.

Copyright © 2007 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. Blogger is a trademark name of Google. No infringement intended. You may republish this article only if you publish in WHOLE with the COPYRIGHT and ALL ACTIVE LINKS intact.

I blog, therefore I am: SUBSCRIBE to our feed to stay "in the know" with articles like this.

How To Launch A Website

Someone recently asked me How To Launch A Website?

I jotted down a top seven list for her and then quickly realized that I had the makings of a valuable article for the ARRiiVE Blog.

7 Ways to Launch A Website:

1. Start With VISION.

With most of my programs, I'll tell you that you can't do much of anything without first having a vision for what you want to do. Start a website without a clear vision, and your website will be clustered, poorly designed, and lack continuity or miss the target. Worse yet, you might have to shift, redesign, and rebuild the whole thing. And that can be costly. So, first, get clear on your vision:

What is the website for?

Who do you want to reach?

What are they looking for?

Until you can answer these questions in one sentence, don't start your website.

2. Get Your Domain.

I might even suggest getting "potential" domains even before getting clear on your vision. However, this might mean you buy more domains than you need to, and there are enough domain hawks on the web as it is.

One useful tool is to make sure you search for your domain names in a way that NOBODY else can see your search. There's only one tool I know of that lets you do this:

http://www.instantdomainsearch.com/. When you go for a domain, you want to get two different types of domains. Type A is the domain name for your company name. Reserve your company domain name and all the extensions for it (.net, .org, .biz, etc.). Type B is the domain name for the top key word or key words you wish to go after. When I first launched AspireNow, I had several names available that I ought to have registered (http://www.smoothsailing.com/ for example). I didn't register it, so a domain hawk who was seeking for a general ad-catchall site registered it and now won't release it to me. And, there isn't much I can do about it because he's international. So, get your keyword phrases also in domain form, as this is one of the top secrets of keywords.

What if the domain name I want is taken?

If the domain name you want is reserved or in use, you have two choices: (1) Bid on the name. There are several services on the web that provide this service, from http://www.fusebid.com/ to http://www.gimpsy.com/ or http://www.sedo.com/. If that doesn't appeal to you, then do what I did: (2) Choose a different name. In the case of ARRiiVE.com, I simply misspelled my name. Funny thing: by intentionally misspelling the name ARRiVE to ARRiiVE, I created an opportunity for the two lowercase ii's as part of my logo. People now ask me "What's with the two ii's?" I can tell them "before, you felt like you were in it alone, now it's i and i - we - together." I also created a name people remember MORE than the other name.

Some people will state "get a domain host" as a separate function from get "get a domain host" (a host is the company who will host your website on their server). The domain host CAN be separate, but I prefer to have them both tied together. I've been getting my domain names and hosted sites through 1and1.com lately.

3. Develop Your Identity.

This means Name, Logo, Brand, Slogan, Colors. I've read many articles on launching websites and have quite a bit of experience launching sites now. The mistake almost 98% of all websites make is failing to create any type of brand prior to launching their site. Before I launch any of my sites, I always have a logo developed. I have my slogan. I know what I'm doing with the site. If you can't say that, you're probably not ready to POST anything. So, before you create your content or post content, make sure you have a logo. If you need help, I can design a logo for you for under $1,000. In addition, if you want a full brand, name creation, vision strategy, and you're going BIG (you have millions in funding behind your idea, etc.), then you'll want to have a big-time branding firm help you with this.

I recently found some impressive branding elements at Viewpoint and Ovo. One of the best blogs I've discovered discusses Owning Your Own Brand. I've also got a good friend who is a pro at creating identity, who I reference when I need higher-end work. Most sites are going to be fine with a good logo and brand. So, before you go with an unknown, you might want to talk to someone you trust. :)

You can launch without your logo, but you'll be more impressive to visitors if you've got your identity act together. Don't forget to trademark your brand and logo, as well. Once your site gets popular, other domain hawks and site operators will see your popularity and want to copy you. As the saying goes, imitation is the best sign of flattery. Well, try not to get flattered in this way too much and protect your rights.

4. Develop Your Website Layout, Look, and Feel.

Are you a graphic designer? Do you have a good eye? Don't just answer yes if you don't really know. I've seen people with a great eye who could choose what they thought they wanted, but they may not have taken into account what their USERS wanted. Are you marketing to females? Use warm colors. Are you marketing to males? Use cool colors. Is your layout showing pictures? Then you might want to either show thumbnails or start with one classy picture, then invite people to see more.

Keep your space uncluttered. Many sites over clutter their site. If you're not sure what you're adding provides value, leave it off. Or, test it for a week, then see how it impacts visitors.

5. Develop Content.

If you're concerned about how to write good content, I've found that it helps to pick a topic I want to write about. Then, I figure out the headline. It's kind of like writing lyrics for a song. A co-songwriter in my band, Body, says to me "If you have a good song title, the rest of the lyric is easy." I think he's right. It's the same for writing articles. Usually, I'll pick the title and then some sub points underneath that. Sometimes, just three sub points, sometimes five, sometimes the 7 best. Whatever makes the most sense for that topic. Guy Kawasaki likes to do "Top Ten" lists or ten bullets in his talks. This ensures in the instance an audience member might think you suck, at least they know how far you have to go in your presentation (there's an end to the suckiness?). I typically will let people know how many points I'm going to talk about, too.

Within content, it is useful to cross-promote other articles, links, and sites you wish to promote. I cross-link related articles in many of my posts. For example, I'll mention that if you want to launch a blog as a website, and make money with it, you'll probably want to check out Profitable Business Blogging. See, it's that easy? Okay, so that was a shameless plug. Sometimes, I'm more subtle. Either way, you get the idea.

6. Optimize For Search Engines.

If you're not sure on how to optimize for search engines, I'm working on an E-book that will be part of the Profitable Business Blogging program called: G-Juice, Secrets of High Search Engine position. I've developed a few over the last year, in particular. One I'll give you here is to pick a title that has some Google search. Different strategies work for different things. For example, if I'm going for a title with high volume, I'll probably need to write about the subject more than once, and link back to it from other blogs. If you don't know how to pick keywords, you'll need a tool to do this. I use several, or can do this as a service for you through ARRiiVE Business Solutions. The important thing is to build a strategy, then continue to hone your strategy. I don't recommend submitting your site multiple times to multiple search engines. In fact, I don't even recommend you submit until AFTER Google discovers your organically (they give you more power when you do this). It will mean you'll have to wait a few months, and if you can do that, then it is a good idea. Otherwise, get your keywords right, submit to the engines, then work on your other strategies.

7. Promote Your Site.

There are several ways you can promote your site. The most popular on the web, right now, include:

a. Writing many blog posts.
b. Posting genuine comments on other posts (please, no spam).
c. Google Ad-words campaigns. I like AdWords because you can control the cost. It starts at $.05 per click, and goes up from there. Other linkage programs, can also be helpful.
d. Other affiliates, such as Amazon, can boost your earnings, but they won't necessarily improve your traffic. Try to pick affiliates that drive traffic back to you, too.
e. Consider a link-share program. The best site I've seen with links is CoolBusinessIdeas.com. I'm considering adding a similar linking strategy for both of my blogs. It's very powerful to have high-ranking blogs on your roll. Plus, when you give them out traffic, they likely will send some back to you.
f. Free gifts: Ideas for easy (downloadable gifts) include an e-book, software, widgets, or an online training course, which can be automated for newsletter sign-ups. People love free things.
g. I'm NOT sold on free ad networks. I've found that the reciprocal SPAM isn't worth the traffic I've received. If you find otherwise, please do share.
h. Make sure your URL is in your email you send out.
i. Put your WEBSITE name and URL name on your stationary and business cards. Some people even put it on their car!
j. Use traditional press releases. I've found some limited success with publishing press releases. There's a strategy to this. I recommend you contact Jill Lublin at http://www.promisingpromotion.com/ to make sure you do it right, or you can contact me and I'll hook you up. OH - when you call Jill, PLEASE tell her that Scott Andrews, from ARRiiVE and AspireNow, referred you. She knows me and likes to know these things.

Frankly, when it comes to promotion, I'd much rather do PR than advertise. Why? Because PR establishes me as an EXPERT, while an advertisement positions me as a SALESPERSON. Which would you rather be?

Most important tip:

If you're stuck in any of these areas of creating your website, don't be afraid to ask for help. I've helped many entrepreneurs launch their website, create their logo, find their name, and more. You'd be surprised how much people want to help you, if you're doing something they believe in. Better yet, offer them help in your area of expertise. Most people will throw some love back your way just out of human decency. It's good for business.

Have any tips to helping people launch a website? Contact me and share.

You may also find this resource of value: Profitable Business Blogging. I like the acid test: if your time is worth more than $2.04 an hour, you'll more than likely find the tips in this program of very high value in launching your website.
__________________________________

Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939.

Copyright © 2007 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. You may republish this article only if you publish in WHOLE with the COPYRIGHT and ALL ACTIVE LINKS intact.

Don't miss out: SUBSCRIBE to our feed to stay "in the know" with articles like this.