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As I said in part one I’m making this a six part series of how to effectively make your website grow. This part is going to concentrate on the "Search Engine Optimization", better known as "SEO". Some of you are probably already familiar with the term, and some of you may even be familiar with what is involved with making a website more search engine friendly. In this article we’re going to break the concept down starting by dividing it into two separate parts, the internal and external parts of SEO.

• The Internal Parts Of SEO
  • Domain Name
  • Meta Tags
  • Web Page Content
  • Anchor Links and Descriptions
  • Inner Site Linking
  • Site Map
• The External Parts of SEO
  • Backlinks
  • Visitor Preference
  • Fellow Webmasters

SEO actually starts before you even purchase a domain name. It’s a good idea to sit down and do a little brain storming on what it is you are wanting to do with your website. I’d recommend getting pencil and paper and writing down some of the keywords you think would apply to your idea. Then go to Google, or Yahoo and do some searches to see what comes up. Use the information you find to narrow down some good choices for possible domain names that relate directly with your target keywords or topic category.

Once you’ve gotten a good domain name selected concentrate on making a quality website. The first thing to concentrate on is making sure you have quality Meta Tags in the header of your html. It’s best to have different Meta descriptions and keywords for each separate page of your website. It does little good to have 20 pages all described exactly the same. This will make the search engines and your prospective visitors think there is little or no difference to the inner workings of your site.

When you are making your web pages make sure you have quality content. Search engines put a heavy importance on a site’s workability and quality. If your site is full of broken links or is little more than adsense ads and a couple of static paragraphs the chances of getting a good notice is almost none.

And here’s an important one, pointed textual anchor links. What do I mean by this? When you create a link instead of using the words "Click Here" or "Next" use actual names of where the links lead to. It’s best to use keywords you have in your Meta Tags in your anchor links. This gives them more relevance in the eyes of search engines.

Inner site linking is the linking of other pages within your site. An example is the menu on the homepage that leads to all the other areas of your website. Without inner links search engine crawlers will have a difficult time of crawling your site successfully and you may end up not having all of your site indexed to the search engine.

It’s best to have a site map for the engine crawlers to use. Many of the scripts out today have site map extension in them and will make the site map for you. All you have to do then is go to Google and Yahoo and tell them you have a site map and where it is.

The external parts of SEO are those parts that are outside your website, some are completely outside your control and others you have the ability to affect. One of the most important when it comes to SEO is backlinks. Backlinks are links that are on another website that link back to your website. The best back links are the ones that are on websites that are related to the same subject that your site covers. In other words having a link on a website that covers "Movie History" would offer better search engine meaning for a website that reviews and sells movies than a link on a site that sells "Sewing Patterns". Having the link use descriptive or keywords also is a plus when looked at by search engines. You will see the term backlinks used a lot in the upcoming parts to this article when the different methods of obtaining quality backlinks is covered.

Keep your visitor preferences in mind. I can’t stress this enough, often times site owners put up their site and figure they have addressed the needs and wants of their users as best they can. Then they leave it and for get it. Truth of the matter is, visitor opinions and tendencies continuously change. It’s very important to keep up on what keywords your targeted users are using, what search engines and different methods of finding what they need are they using? A great example is Social Bookmarking. They exploded onto the Internet in a very short time, and it took a while for website owners to realize the traffic potential they offered and how to best utilize them.

Keep in touch with what other webmasters are thinking and doing. The best way to do this is to visit popular forums and read what is being talked about. Many of these forums have a "Review My Site Please" thread. A great place to see new sites hitting the scene, or old sites that are being revamp for the current times. Most forums also allow you to include a signature link to your posts after you’ve been an active member long enough. This is a great way to get backlinks for your website.

So you’ve decided to start a website. Maybe you bought a script and decided to start an online arcade, I’d recommend using ArcademPro if that’s your choice by the way, or you have decided to start a link directory or web forum. At any rate, you’re sitting there looking at everything you’ve done so far, bought a domain, gotten web hosting, and either installed the script or made web pages. Now you’re asking yourself, so now what? Getting traffic to your website and making it grow is the most important part of having a website, and there are several things you can do without having to spend an arm and a leg to get the traffic started and keep it coming.

I’m going to show you several different ways that can help make your website grow and keep it growing. Keep in mind, there is no sure fire quick and easy way of generating thousands of visitors to your website over night. In other words, I’m not saying do these things and you’ll be flooded with traffic, and be rich by morning. But I am going to show you 5 great ways to generate traffic that if followed through with and applied consistently will help almost any type of website generate traffic, and grow into a well noticed place on the Internet.

So, there are 5 steps I’m going to talk about briefly here…

Step 1: “Search Engine Optimization” or as it is more affectionately referred to, “SEO”. This first step holds a very important role. It’s going to ensure that your efforts in the other 4 steps won’t go to waste. SEO actually starts when you select your domain name. It should be something that is related to your website’s subject. An example would be freegamefactor.com for a free online arcade website. Next make sure to give your site a good title that follows your website’s theme. By using the proper Meta tags you will list the title, description and keywords that you want the search engines to use. To get the broadest keyword exposure it’s also a good practice to make a unique set of Meta tags for each page. Many of the better scripts already have this ability built in. Good SEO covers many different things, Backlinks, Meta Tags, Quality Content, and Functionality and Relevance. There is more but I will go into that in the next article “Make A Website Grow - Part 2″.

Step 2: “Article Writing” this is the one thing there is never enough of. The Internet is starving for quality articles covering a plethora of topics. People pay others to write articles to help promote their website. Others write articles to fill the need for articles to fill article directories, news sites, review sites, fill space in news letters and more. With every article you not only secure yourself as a professional on the subject you’re writing about but causing back links to your anchor link, which should be in most cases your website. There are hundreds of article directories, so pick out 100 of your favortites and submit about 10-20 articles a day.

Step 3: “Blogs” We’ve all heard about them, we’ve probably all read one or two of them. So what good are they? Visiting blogs that are within your website’s subject range and leaving comments wil not only spread the word about your website, but also create more all important backlinks. Having your own blog that talks about your website’s subject is also an excellent way to start a following and get more recognition from the search engines. If you are blogging about something you know about and have an interest in then it’s really not that difficult to get used to. There are hundreds of free blog servers out there, I use freebloggerworld.com myself.

Step 4: “Social Bookmarks” Many people miss out when it comes to these. Sites such as digg.com, reddit.com, stumbleupon.com, and technorati just to name a few, offer a way to get a great amount of daily or immediate traffic for your site. By being an active participant to these sites you can see excellent short term traffic.

Step 5: “Forums” There are web forums all over the Internet, covering a countless number of topics. Many will allow you to add a signature link to your posts. So by joining conversations in several different forums, especially forums that cover your website’s subject, and making regular posts you will pick up not just the immediate traffic from those that like your posts. But you will create a multitude of backlinks to your website.

This is part 1 of a 6 part series. I hope this gets your appetite wet and gets some ideas going. The other articles will be covering each of these steps more individually.

That was a question I was asking myself a while back. Why in the world do I need to start a blog and what is this whole blogging thing all about? After doing some research I’ve found out there are just as many reasons why people start a blog as why they watch different television shows.

Some people start a blog simply to let family and friends keep up to date with what’s going on in their lives. Others like Rock Bands, are using blogs to keep their fans informed of where they’re playing and what’s going on with their music. You will find many of these types of blogs in places like MySpace or FaceBook.

Other people start blogs in order to voice their opinions, an example would be the political blogs that are floating all over the Internet, especially this year. Some of these blogs are blogs voicing opinion or information with no interest in income. Other blogs put a lot of though in how to make money out of their blog. They figure if people are going to read what they are providing they might as well make a little income for it. There’s nothing wrong with that.

The reasons of your desire to have a blog and where it will lead you definitely is at the heart of where it is you should decide to start your blog. If your desire is to keep family, friends, or fans informed of what’s going on with you then MySpace and FaceBook are most likely the perfect atmosphere for your blogs to reside. If your blog’s only purpose is to inform consumers on the latest kitchenware to hit the market or what the latest activities of the political are, and you have little interest in making money from your blog or it’s traffic then a free blog account at someplace like wordpress.com or blogger.com will more than provide for your needs. If you are planning on starting a blog and hoping that it grows into something that you both enjoy and get paid for doing then you may want to consider other alternatives for a blog server.

Have you thought you would perhaps make a place for yourself on the Internet and post a regular blog about gardening? Perhaps you are going to start a blog about sewing, raising kids, or online arcade game reviews? In order to do these things and be able to make money while doing it you may decide that having your own domain is better, or perhaps a subdomain will do the job for you for now with the option to add your own domain later. A vast selection of templates to choose from now and the option of having your own unique template designed later is perhaps something you have in mind. And most bloggers have the ultimate question in mind, how do I get the most traffic to my blog and make the best profit from it?

That is where a blog server like FreeBloggersWorld.com comes to your rescue. You can start a blog using a subdomain, what this means is yourname.freebloggersworld.com. This is the default way you get a blog with FreeBloggerWorld and a minimum requirement for the ability to successfully promote your blog. At any time you decide, you can simply send us an email and get your own domain set up for your blog. This moves you to that next level of credibility and respect as you grow in the blogosphere.

We have a large number of templates to get your blog started and can put in a specialized template specifically for your use at any time you would like. But best of all, we will do everything possible to help you get signed up for the best affiliate programs and get them installed on your blog so you can start making an income from your blog.

We already have plugins installed so you can immediately get started with programs from Google’s Adsense or Kontera.com. Simply activate the plugin, put in your id and you are ready to go. Other affiliate programs such as AdBrite and RocketProfit are also good ways to make money. And with a simple email we will get you setup to start displaying their ads right away.

So there you have it, why so many people are starting a blog these days and a few reasons why they are on the blog server they are. Not only is it fun but it has also become a nice source of income for many. Starting a blog that reviews console system games has been known to get free games for the blog owner to coax them into posting a positive review for the game. Product blogs often find themselves being sent free samples of products that wish to appear in their blog. Many bloggers have found companies and news sources seeking them out as an independent contractor or even being offered full time positions  as a technical writer or a member of a news companies journalism staff. All by starting a blog, the possibilities of positive effects to your life a good blog can provide are endless.

     I’m glad to let all the freebloggersworld members know that a new plugin for using Kontera Content Links is now available for your use. This will let you have links built into your blog posts automatically. When someone hovers over the words and clicks the ads you will make money. And like RocketProfit you can choose to be paid through PayPal. Another plus, especially if you have a PayPal debit card.

To use the plugin simply go to your blog admin and click on plugins. Then activate the Kontera plugin from the list. In order to use this plugin you have to first go to Kontera and set up an account.

While there is no plugin available, if you are interested in other programs such as AdBrite and ClickBank that may require code be added to your template please let us know at support@freebloggersworld.com, and we can get you set up so you can start making some money from your blog.

     I know many of you have heard the term “Contextual Linking”. This is the linking for context sensitive links inside your blogs. Most of the time with the purpose of making your site more popular to the search engines.

     With the help of affiliate companies such as RocketProfit, one of my personal choices, you have a whole host of of different types of companies to use to create your links. What this means to you is that you can go through and select from a pool of affiliates that you can casually place in almost any subject you are covering in your blog.

     I usually get up in the morning or the afternoon, depends on what was going on the day before, and have my Boca Java decide what it is I’m going to write about and then go through my affiliate lists to see which ones I can fit into the conversation. RocketProfit is a good one in my opinion because they let me choose to get paid through PayPal, which I have a debit card for so I have access to immediate cash when I get paid. This saves having to wait for a check to get to me in the mail or having to run up to the bank to make a deposit. Lazy huh? They also have a good selection of affiliates that are also tagged with the types of links are available; email, banner, and text. There are also other companies and I will be covering each of them individually with pro’s and cons for each as I get caught up here.

     As you see above though, fitting related affiliate links into your blog post isn’t that difficult. And you may, or may not get a lot of response but you will get none if you don’t try. I would recommend though that you don’t over do it and place them in every sentence. Just a few scattered throughout the entire story is good.

Welcome to FreeBloggersWorld. We are proud to be able to provide a free service that allows everyone to practice their ability of not only free speech but their individual talents. We are here to help in any way we can as long as it’s legal and follows our Terms Of Service. We will make repeated blog posts presenting all types of information to you. Things such as new additions to the plugins or theme templates that are available to suggestions of what type of blogs may be a good source of money. We will also post different methods of properly promoting your blog in order to attain more exposure.

You may find at times that we repeat ourselves, we will be doing this from time to time only to keep what we consider to be important information we provide fresh for new visitors.

If you have any questions, needs or concerns about anything involving FreeBloggersWorld please contact us at support@freebloggersworld.com