12 Most Common SEO Mistakes
June 28, 2008
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If you are using your web site or blog to promote your small business and you work either by yourself or with a team you must read this article!
This is some really good common, and not so common, sense advice on search engine optimization. Over the years I've seen my clients make all of these mistakes and it costs them dearly.
This article was written by Rachelle Money over at WordTracker. These people know a few things about keyword research and search engine optimization.
Enjoy, Barry O.
How to Configure WordPress 2.5 Options
June 26, 2008
After you have successfully installed WordPress, installed and activated your theme and understand how to organize your content using Pages and Posts, Categories and Tags, you’re ready to configure your WordPress options.
How to Organize Your WordPress Blog Content
June 22, 2008
Pages and Posts
A good understanding of the difference between Pages and Posts is necessary when setting up any new WordPress blog.
Most WordPress sites will use a combination of Pages and Posts with a much higher emphasis on POSTS.
What are Pages? – Pages are mainly used for the “static” content on your blog, or content that does not change frequently. Pages are NOT included in your RSS feed.
Examples: Contact, About Us, Privacy Policy, Products, etc…
Should you use Pages? Yes, you should use at least 2-3 Pages on your blog. Static pages help to establish credibility in both the eyes of your readers and the search engines.
What are Posts? – Posts are where you will write the majority of your day-to-day content. They are the core reason for creating a blog. Posts are included in your RSS feed and are the main attraction for your readers and search engine spiders.
Categories, Tags and Basic Blog SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
When setting up a new WordPress blog it’s important to have a basic understanding of Categories and Tags and how to use them.
What are Categories? – Categories are the main keywords you use to structure/categorize your blog Posts. Having a well thought out category structure makes it easier for your readers to navigate your blog and find the content they are looking for.
What are Tags? – Tags are used when you actually write your blog Posts and most often appear at the end of your posts. Tags are to bookmarking sites, like Technorati and Delicious, what keywords are to search engines. In other words tags are a way to flag specific keywords in your post telling bookmarking sites, and your readers, what your blog is about.
Here’s where it can get a bit confusing. Tags can link out to bookmarking or tag directories, such as Technorati and Delicious, or they can link internally to your own blog posts grouping or “categorizing” posts that contain the same tagged keywords. (The later is actually the WordPress default) Therefore, Tags, as far as search engines are concerned, can be “seen” as categories.
Let me explain further…
There are three ways of organizing your Posts. They are Categories, Tags or a combination of the two. The best practice is to use a well thought out combination of categories and tags based on your target keywords. It is important though, to never use the exact same keyword as a Category and a Tag. This could be viewed by the search engines as duplicate content and cost you high search engine rankings.
Here’s an example of what a good category and tag structure would look like on a blog about Dogs:
Category = Dog Breeds
Tags used in posts under the “Dog Breed” category = Dachshund, Min-Pin, Poodle, etc…
NOTE: Don’t get too bogged down in all of this Category and Tag business. If you use the structure outlined above and the posting methods I’m going to show you later, you’ll be just fine. However, the better you understand and apply this the better your blog will do in the search engines.
TIP: Use no more than 3-4 tags per post.
Here’s a must read article on the differences between tags and categories and ways to use them: http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2005/09/09/categories-versus-tags-whats-the-difference-and-which-one/
Good Blog SEO also includes the proper placement of keywords in your post copy, post titles and descriptions, which we’ll talk about in future posts.
Twitter Could Make You Stupid(er) - IMHBAO
June 20, 2008
My good, long-time friend Rick Butts put up the following Lisa Nova video on his blog earlier this week. I've been a Lisa Nova fan for about a year now and I actually turned Rick on to Lisa while living in Denver last summer.
This video shows just how addictive, and stupid, Twitter really is. Honestly I think some of this Web 2.0 stuff is actually making people, myself included, ADD. It's getting to the point where I can barely put together more than 3 sentences at a time, on the same subject, without having to really concentrate.
In May Mark Butler had this to say about Twitter and I must say I agree with him.
Folks, twitter is stupid. I’ve spent the last two hours trying to find a single redeeming quality to the service, and I have nothing to report. The rest of the story… http://courtneytuttle.com/2008/05/08/twitter-is-stupid/
Now, I must confess I do Twitter and I do get some traffic from Twitter. In fact Twitter was my 4th largest traffic source last month. But, it still doesn't make it any less stupid. IMHBAO (in my humble but accurate opinion)
It's summer time. Unplug for a few hours and take the kids to the pool. Free your mind from the clutter for a while.
Oh… But of course, make sure you keep reading my blog and don't forget to follow me on Twitter. 
Barry O.
How to Choose the Right WordPress Theme
June 19, 2008
Choosing the right theme is extremely important. Not only is it the image that you will putting out for the world to see, it is also the vehicle that you will use to make money online. So, it needs to look good and work well.
One of the most frustrating and time consuming tasks in building a new WordPress blog can be modifying a theme especially, if you’re not an HTML “whiz”. Therefore, when I am choosing a theme for a new blog I try to find one that already contains the key components placed where I want them.
Easy Link Manager Makes Jack Humphrey's New Affiliate Program an Easy Switch
June 12, 2008
Today Jack Humphrey announced his new affiliate program. I have to say I am very impressed. It seems like they're really doing it the right way. They are taking care of their customers by providing them with really good products and support. And they are taking care of their affiliates by paying them for ALL sales they refer. Including the up sells that happen on the back end that so many other affiliate programs do not pay you for.
That's the good news. The bad news, and it's not really that bad, is that for those of us who have been affiliates for a while, our links have changed.
Fortunately for me I use Easy Link Manager to manage all of my affiliate links. So, instead of having to dig through all of my blog posts, web pages and banner ads and change every link (which could have taken hours) all I had to do was login to my Easy Link Manager control panel and change one link.
Which Comes First - Traffic or Monetization?
June 11, 2008
I recently had a conversation with a very good friend of mine who has made a fortune in the natural gas industry as a consultant. I was asking him for some advice on certain parts of my business. He asked me what we do at 1Cat.biz. So, of course I gave him the 30 second elevator speech.
"We help our clients increase traffic to their websites and blogs, capture more leads and make more sales…"
