I have now fully recovered and have been catching up first with my article writing. I have let a lot of customers down and am having to make it up to them by making them my priority over my blogs and websites.   It is a bit easier now because I have employed two more people to help with the writing.  

While I was unable to do much intellectual work I had time to look around at what is available right now, and came across a great product if you use Blogger and want to make money from your blogs.  

I am going to add it to the products page that I have just thought of creating (so there is nothing in it yet!) but even if you don’t want to use your blog for profit, this product offers you loads of great ideas on blog design and how to use it for anything you want. Check it out here before it disappears to the ‘Products’ page that nobody will lilely ever visit!

It is called Blogger Generator and speaks for itself.  It can generate an unlimited number of blogs packed full of your affiliate links and products, and is so easy to use that anybody can make money using it.  If you use blogs for fun, but could do with a few hundred dollars extra every week, then try this out. 

The guarantee means that you can’t possibly lose:  buy it, try it and if you don’t make loads-a-money then get your money back without a single quibble simple by asking for it.  No reasons needed.  I find it a dream to use, and I never used to use Blogger.  Check it out here:  Blogger Generator This seems a post where I am promoting products, but I recently came across another worth looking at called Atomic Blogging. 

I’ve been in hospital for a while with a serious knee problem, but am out now and will get back to where I want to be with this blog.  I intend to make at least two posts weekly,  but my health has never allowed me to do so.  Now, hopefully, I should be all set once I have got up to date with my articles and my newsletters.  I also have my other stuff to run and  . . .

Please - let me back In!!!

Just a quick note to let you know that I have updated my Squidoo lens.  Visit it here:
http://www.squidoo.com/SEOcious

I have added some information on the use of article marketing in SEO.  Although I am a professional article ghostwriter, I also write a lot for my own websites and blogs:  sometimes I do too much and my customers give me a gentle nudge.  They are quite right, but I also have to look after my websites since without my Article Services site, I wouldn’t get the customers! However, they are pretty faithful to me.

Anyway, visit the lens because it is worth reading.Cooment on it if you wish: I always respond personally to any comments I get on my blogs, though they are very few and far between.

Either I get very few visitors or they are very knowledgable! It is actually the former I think. I don’t advertise my lenses or blogs much.

Here is a great site that you should be aware of. Whether you use it or not is up to you, but at least be aware of uts existence.

It’s name is My Blog Log, and it is a social networking site for bloggers that has been owned by Yahoo since 2007. MyBlogLog works through a JavaScript tracking code that you insert on each of your pages, and that enables MyBlogLog to identify any member that visits your blog or website: yes, you can use it on your website, not only your blog. However, as far as I can ascertain you are only allowed to register one blog or website per account. if you want more you will have to open multiple accounts.

Make sure, however, that you don’t delete your cookies, because that is how you are identified. Once you have registered you will provided with a tracking code that you should install, and then you can look for a community to join. You also have to provide a screenshot of your site, and then have the option of installing the widgets that you want.

Basically, it is a great way of getting backlinks to your blog or website, and of keeping in touch with people in the community you have chosen. The best way of finding out about this service is by joining it, and playing about with the options. I am not 100% au fait with it since I have just joined, but I thought I should share it with you.

Find out more by visiting http://www.mybloglog.com

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

The text above re. verification is what you get when you verify your site: you can remove it once your blog has been verified. You simply place the html code provided on a blog posting, or add it as a meta tag in the page html. Click the link or return to the MyBlogLog site to verify and claim the blog as yours.

You would then remove the link, but I have left it here to show you what it should look like. Add the code to your HTML or ‘Code’, not using the ‘Visual’ editor.

It’s worth a visit, especially if you want more exposure for your blog, and is completely free of charge.

I have just acquired an ebook on blogging and Niche Marketing, and will review it here once I have had a chance to evaluate it:  there is only one way to evaluate ebooks that claim to make you money and that is to try to make money using the information provided.

Another tip for those with access to their Wordpress HTML. You can alter your sidebar(s) by going to ‘Presentation’ and then clicking on ‘Theme Editor’. You can click on any of the components of the theme on the right hand side and modify the HTML to suit yourself. 

I use it to add my websites and other blogs to the sidebar, and also to modify the appearance of the page using the Stylesheet HTML.  I also add Adsense blocks that way.

Contact me if you need help: 

pete@create-a-blog.net 

More information on blogging on:

http://www.create-a-blog.net

First, thanks Carin for the help on the Sidebars.

Now for a topic that some people have asked me on my SEO blog site. I didn’t know th answer but an article in the December 2007 issue of Reader’s Digest probably answered it for me. If blogs are to be listed on search engines such as Google, they must be properly optimized so that they are relevant to the keywords that they relate to. The better your blog is optimized, the higher it will be listed and the more traffic you will get to it. Or at least so it would seem. There is the other argument that search engine listings are irrelevant with blogs, and that their content is much more important. Links to blogs are found all over the internet: on social bookmarking sites, on MySpace, Caigslist, Facebook, and any other so-called web2 site. If you know how to use these various sites then you hardly need search engine listings. 

However, that is not quite true. Having your blog link on Twitter will not provide you with same traffic as having that link on Page 1 of Google and Yahoo. So what should you do? Teach yourself how to optimize your blog or learn how to write good content? People read content, and that is all they are interested in with a blog. In fact sometimes it is not a good idea to use your blog to advertise on because many people don’t like it.

It is better to place a link to your advert or sales page on a sidebar so that a visitor can click on it if they want, but not in the body of your post. Perhaps even create a permanent page that promotes your product if you have one, but it might not be wise to include it in any individual post. A lot depends on what type of blog you have. Let me tell you about a story I recently read that showed me that content is more important than SEO.

I was reading about this young woman in the Reader’s Digest who had got into all sorts of problems, and eventually handed in the keys to her flat and took her car looking for something else. She ended up living in her car with nothing. She showered in hotels, kidding she was a guest, and in similar places. She did this for a long time, and even spent Christmas in her car.

Then she went into a library for warmth and discovered blogging when playing with the library computer.She started a blog on her own life, how she got there and what she did day to day. She had a massive readership, without any knowledge of SEO. The upshot, after many adventures, is that she was persuaded to write a book about her life, and it reached No 4 in The Times top non-fiction list.

Needless to say she no longer lives in her car, but the point is she got all that traffic just by writing about herself. She knew nothing about blogs or how to promote them. 

Me? I am delighted for her, but wonder where I am wrong! I know a lot about search engine optimization, but can’t even scratch the surface of what there is to know. I thought that I knew how to blog (but not as much as her obviously). 

So how important is SEO now?

Run Wordpress from Your Own Website

I’ve been having a rest and also trying to get my Sidebar formatting right, but no matter how I adjust the html the two columns never align side by side.  Any ideas anybody?

Here’s a tip if want to give the search  engines a helping hand to keep listings fresh.  Many people do all the hard SEO stuff on their blogs to get them listed on the search engines, and then just leave it.  However, search engines like change, and a static blog will not remain listed for long.

It’s OK writing posts, but unless you let the search ngnine know that you have made a change it could be some time till they visit your blog again.  Using the site-map-generator plugin, this is doen automatically for you.

Available as a free plugin, it creates a Google Sitemaps compliant XML sitemap of any Wordpress blog, wheteher a Wordpress-generated page or a custom one. Each search negine that supports the sitemap protocol will be informed evey tiime you edit or make a post.  These include Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN - the Big Four that you want to be listed on.  

Download it here:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/installation/

Install it in your content/plugins folder.  If you have problems let me know and I will give help.  You will be given two options on the creation of writable pages (666 permissions).  Do not take the first, to make your whole blog directory writable since that is poor security.  Take the second, creating the two files recommended, and make them writable.

You can do this using your favorite ftp software.  If you  have none, then download one here:

http://www.coreftp.com

An ftp (file transfer protocol) program enables you to quickly and easily transfer files and directories from yoru hard disk to your wenbspace, to create new files anywhere on your webspace, and to cghange file permissions.  If you need help on how to use that then email me on pete@seoscopy.com

The rest is plain sailing.  Activate the program by clicking on ‘create sitemap’, and then sit back.  Now, every time you  edit or post a blog the sitemap will be updated and search engines will be notified that your blog has been updated.

Here’s a joke I heard recently concerning this guy who met this girl and they eventually got married.  After a wonderful ceremony and reception they went off to bed, but before she undressed she said:

“Darling, I have have something I must tell you. Before we met I used to be a hooker - I hope you don’t mind.  I was really good but have finished with it now and it was a long time ago”

The guy was a bit shocked at this and his first thought was just to end it there and then.  However, he then thought about the benefits.  With her experience she would know every way possible to please a man and would be fantastic in bed.  Not only that, but if the worst came to the worst and they were really stuck for cash she could go back to work again.  So he replied:

“That’s all right darling, just as long as you promise you have finished with it and won’t do it again.”

“No”, she replied, “I won’t.  My name was Gareth and I played for Wales”. 

There are dozens of blogging tips that I could give you, but the objective of this page is not to overwhelm you with what you should be doing, but more to provide one or two hints on how to make your blog seem more professional, and how to make best use from it.

DEFAULT WORDPRESS PAGES The first thing that most people using Wordpress blogs have to do, but that most don’t do, is to change the default pages provided with your blog. These are the ‘Hello World’ and ‘About’ pages. My advice is: the rest of this article can be viewed on:Create A Blog