8 Expert-Level Blog Design Tips for Beginners

When it comes to building a dynamic blog online, it is essential to keep several key factors in mind. Many beginners feel overwhelmed by the assortment of information available, finding it difficult to understand what makes a blog stand out as professional and effective. Fortunately, understanding the essentials of dynamic blog design doesn’t have to feel like an impossible mission. The following 8 tips will start any beginning blogger off on the right foot, equipping a newbie webmaster to build an online destination that will rival the competition.

1. Keep it Simple.

In an effort to build a site that looks interesting and inviting, many first-time bloggers will mistakenly overcomplicate matters. This can cause an assortment of different complications. Firstly, site visitors who feel overwhelmed by content selections may not be able to interact with a blog. Overstimulation can also give off a bad vibe, damaging the site’s credibility. Stick to one or two colors when designing the blog’s theme, and try to avoid using too many different fonts.

2. Aim for a Subtle Impact

Developing a expertly-designed blog requires a keen eye for the small details. Subtle changes and shifts can impact the overall feel of a blog, and are much more effective than utilizing garish colors and bizarre emoticons to attempt to grab a visitor’s attention. Make full use of effects like gradients and textures when designing for a new blog. Without screaming “look at me!”, designs that incorporate these techniques come off more professional than others.

3. Make it Clean

Avoiding clutter is a reoccuring theme when it comes to web design. Clutter is distracting, and can end up pointing site visitors in the wrong direction. One way to keep clean lines and edges is to utilize borders to separate media and text content from one another. Borders do not need to be exceptionally large, but can instead be as small as 1-pixel wide. While it may be difficult to pinpoint what is allowing the content to appear so clean, this technique is a blogger’s friend in helping to ensure the site looks professional.

4. Unlock the Power of CSS

For bloggers who are not yet familiar with CSS, learning this style sheet language could unlock countless opportunities in terms of allowing the site to take on an entirely new look. Many webmasters mistakenly believe that good design sense is enough to make a site truly stand out. In fact, it takes a keen eye for design, combined with the ability to make that design display properly on the web. Learning CSS is an involved process and requires a significant time investment, but it can be well worth the results. Even learning a few simple CSS steps can help bloggers keep their site looking great.

5. Keep the Topic at the Forefront

It is important for bloggers to keep the topic or subject they are discussing at the forefront of a site visitor’s mind. The design of a blog doesn’t need to simply look appealing, but it should also reflect the content in question. This can be done in a number of different ways, and doesn’t necessarily need to include overt references to the subject matter. Colors, images, and backgrounds can all be used in subtle way to complement the overall theme of the site in question.

6. Follow Established Protocols

In an effort to create a site that will really stand out, some bloggers take things too far. Don’t fall into this trap, but instead try to stick to accepted blog formats and layouts. Take advantage of sidebars and provide visitors with the option to subscribe to your content or connect on social media networks. Content should make a site stick out from all the rest, not the bizarre layout of the blog.

7. Utilize Advertisement Sparingly

Ads are a bit of a paradox for bloggers. Advertisement revenue is often one of the most powerful sources of income for those blogging online. On the same page, ads turn readers off and cause them to look for information elsewhere. For this reason, it is essential to pay close attention to how ads are utilized on a blog. Pop-ups should be avoided at all costs, as they annoy users. Try to use ads in places that will not distract from the content displayed on the site, and avoid over utilizing ads.

KID - 06:15

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Leverage on LinkedIn to Socialize Your Blog

There’s no need to sugar coat. When someone mentions LinkedIn, it does not elicit the same giddiness or excitement versus the more famous social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+. In fact, for a novice social media company, LinkedIn may not hold any marketing value and may be perceived nothing less than a digital resume.

This is the uninformed way of looking at it. However, an experienced social media company may see LinkedIn from a different point of view. In fact, LinkedIn may serve a special role in a well-rounded online marketing strategy.

First, let’s look into some of the LinkedIn numbers:

• Currently, LinkedIn has a 150-million strong membership comprised of professionals from all over the world
• Approximately a million new members are generated every week
• A survey showed that in terms of trust, LinkedIn members find the information uploaded on the site more reliable compared to other social networking spaces

Digging deeper, one can see that LinkedIn has a niche role in a social media marketing mix capturing a specific set of audience and fulfilling specific business objectives.

LinkedIn is Advantageous for B2B Marketing

LinkedIn caters to a primarily professional, business and entrepreneurial audience. This means they are very discriminating and discerning when it comes to consuming information. For a social media marketing agency with a huge base of clients involved in business-to-business communication, having an expertise in LinkedIn is extremely beneficial.

Establishing Thought Leadership

What is thought leadership? In a nutshell, this is a marketing tactic wherein a brand positions itself as an authority when it comes to industry news, development and issues. It is an indirect marketing technique meant to develop trust and credibility among peers, hoping that it will have a halo effect on consumers. Having a good network in LinkedIn reading a brand’s company updates, blog, newsletters and other B2B marketing materials will definitely push the brand’s credibility. Also, keep in mind that Google assigns significant authority to LinkedIn so getting your marketing messages propagated in the said social networking site can also help in boosting organic traffic to your site.

Tips on Maintaining a LinkedIn Account for Your Blog

It would be best to tap into the expertise and services of a reputable social media marketing agency to set-up a LinkedIn profile for your business blog, but here are a few tips on how you can push your brand in this virtual gathering place for professionals:

• The quantity and quality of the connections. Marketing messages in LinkedIn spread like viruses, a process of contagion. However, you should also look into the profiles of the professionals you are connecting with.
• Keep a professional, yet accommodating tone.
• Update your profile regularly.
• Build your own community by starting a group.
• Solicit recommendations to boost your credibility further.

So, review your online marketing strategy and check where LinkedIn can come into the picture. It can be proved as a boon for an online business which needs to enhance its online presence in a pocket friendly and secure way.

KID - 03:15

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The Problem With Following Bloggers, Gurus And Magic Fairies

There is no blueprint to making money online. If you've spent any time researching how to build an online business than you already know this.

However, what you do have access to are all the make money online blogs, ran by guys who've already made their thousands or millions of dollars online. They figured it all out, and now share it so that you can repeat their success. So while it may not be a step-for-step blueprint, it's really the next best thing.

That said, there are so many bloggers, gurus and magic money fairies posting their tips online that reading and following all of these blogs and their advice can actually be counterproductive, even prevent you from succeeding. If you're not careful, that is. Here are 5 examples to show you what I mean.

1. Shiny Box Syndrome

Are you guilty of this? I am, and I'll tell you what; shiny box syndrome is a very bad and expensive sickness to have.

Shiny box syndrome is chasing all the latest tools, trends and techniques. For example, you would buy guru blogger A's product on how to make Amazon sites this week, and then as soon as guru blogger B's product comes out next week on how to make money with Facebook fan pages you'll buy that.

Do you see the problem here?

The most obvious problem is that the two products are on 2 completely different techniques. There is no way that you'll have enough time to read, implement and master the techniques in the first product, before you start working on the 2nd. So there are two outcomes to this situation:

1. While you focus on mastering the lessons shown in the first product, the 2nd product collects dust on your hard drive. Chances are you don't get to the 2nd product at all.
2. You bounce around from product to product, not giving yourself a chance to master anything. If you are having any success with your online business, it's probably mediocre at best.

Some people do nothing but buy products. It's almost as if they're searching for that magic push button technique that we all know doesn't exist.

You do know that, don't you?

2. You Don't Get to See (All) Their Struggles

Another problem with following all of these gurus is that you get to see all of their success, but very few, if any, of their failures. Sure, you might read a condensed version of it on their about page, but think about this for a second. Many of these guys struggled for years before finding success. Do you think that's really going to come across in 500 or 1,000 words of text?

No way.

And despite what they might say on their blog, not taking the time to highlight the mistakes they've made or their failures can send the wrong message to newbies. Even with the words - I failed for two years before making a dime - that all gets lost in the 4 and 5-figure income reports and posts about their #1 results for their niche site in Google.

3. You Don't Form Your Own Opinions

Something else that I'm guilty of is having no real opinion of my own. In other words, I'm easily swayed by what I read online. If you are too, the first step in the right direction is forming your own opinion so that you have something to fall back on when you face something like shiny object syndrome, or you're not sure where to take your blog, niche site or ecommerce website.

Hopefully that makes sense, but if not, here is an example.

One blog that I read suggests getting into PPC (pay-per-click) advertising and doing CPA marketing. In other words, you buys ads on Facebook or Google and send people to perform a task, such as filling out their name and email. When they do, you are paid for that lead.

However, I read another blog where the blogger does PPC too, but actually suggests building niche sites or blogs and becoming an authority on a topic or two (instead). The reason being is that CPA marketing isn't a long term strategy (you get paid and that's it -- no repeat customers), and that becoming an authority is.

Do you see how this can be dangerous if you don't have your own opinions on what is long term and what isn't? Moreover, if you don't know what your business goals are, or what you'd be happy doing for the next several months/years?

Just like shiny box syndrome, if you don't have any opinions or feelings of your own, you'll be swayed back and forth each time you read a blog post. This will be the case in your business too -- one week you'll be sending traffic to CPA offers via Facebook, and the next you'll be working on your sea monkey authority blog. And you'll be lucky if you create any traction in either.

4. You Spend More Time Reading Than Acting

Another problem with following (so many) bloggers is that there is always something new to read and learn about. Most blogs in the make money online space that I come across post daily. If you follow 10-20 bloggers, that's a lot of reading to do. Factor in commenting, taking notes and watching the occasional video post, and you can easily burn up 3-4 hours of your time. And if you're not working for yourself full time yet, 3-4 hours might be all the time you have in a day, possibly the week.

While there's nothing wrong with reading blog or forum posts and learning new things, acting and failing is going to get you much farther, much faster. I'm not saying you shouldn't read blogs, especially a helpful blog such as Spice Up Your Blog. But what I would suggest doing instead is dedicating so much time per day, or maybe one day per week to reading your posts. The rest of your time should be spent working, otherwise you'll never get anywhere.

5. Information Overload

This is a catch 22.

I love learning about new marketing techniques, traffic sources and monetization ideas. You can use Facebook for content ideas? I can create a membership site? You can become a millionaire from a blog about sea monkeys -- all I need to do is spam other blogs for traffic?

Great!

The problem with information overload is that you have all of these ideas, but you don't know where to start. What do you do first? Is it really the best option? Do you want to create Squidoo lenses, or does it make more sense to focus all of your time on YouTube?

It's hard to decide. Less is more, as the saying goes, and it applies to the amount of information you take in about creating an online business too. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I wish I only learned one new thing when I first got started. It'd be much harder to get overwhelmed only knowing one way to make money online, as opposed to knowing 20.

So there you have it -- the 5 problems I have and think people face with following (so many) different gurus, bloggers and the occasional make money online fairy online. I want to be clear that this isn't a post to bash anyone, or to encourage you to never read or follow anyone's blog. There is a lot of good advice out there, and reading blogs can certainly shorten your learning curve.

That said, there is a lot that can be said about limiting the number of blogs that you do read, as well as shutting out all the noise every once in a while so that you can actually work and make some progress with your own online business.

So, what about you? Do you, or have you had any of these problems above? What did you do to fix it? Is there anything that you'd like to add? Let me know about them in the comments.

KID - 03:14

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15 Top Tips Bloggers Can Use For A More Engaging Blog

Guest Post - Our host is Danielle Rodabaugh, In this post Danielle has listed fifteen blog tips to make your blog more engaging.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

If you've been managing your blog for some time, chances are you're looking for some ways to improve it. Whether it comes to content development, credibility or reader engagement, the opportunities for improvement are endless. To help you along your way, here are 15 great ways any blog owner can improve his or her publication.

1) Stop promoting yourself. If your posts do nothing more than market your business, products or services, then you shouldn't even have a blog. Readers aren't interested in writers who do nothing more than selfishly promote themselves. Time is precious, and they don't want to waste it reading about your latest accomplishments.

2)Explain why you do what you do. Readers need to know why they should respect your opinion and value the information you provide. For example, when I write guest articles for my colleagues, I always explain my credentials in the byline. Whether an article is about what surety bonds are, professional writing or online marketing, I always make sure readers respect my authority.

3)Write more interesting headlines. You can't get people to engage with your blog if your headlines don't entice them to read your content. As time goes on, writing headlines probably takes up less and less of your time. You're the editor of your blog, so you must spend a legitimate amount of time developing attention-grabbing headlines.

4) Feature a relevant photo with every post. Even if you already use photos, chances are some of them have little to do with the content that accompanies it. Be sure that every photo or graphic provides a visual context that improves the post.

5) End your posts by asking readers about their opinions. Although straightforward, asking your readers their thoughts is an effective way to increase engagement on your blog.

6) Share every new post on your social media profiles. Your readers probably interact more on social media platforms than on your blog itself, so take your information to them. Get feedback on your blog by asking follow-up questions on Facebook, Twitter and other similar sites.

7) Cite industry sources. Instead of simply spouting off your opinions on a subject, add credibility to your blog by citing information that backs up your claims. Provide readers with information on relevant resources. Readers will value your content more when you've made the effort to give them factual information rather than wishy-washy opinions.

8) Hone your voice. How do you present information to your readers in ways that differ from other bloggers? Tightening your writing voice means your readers will be able to recognize the unique way that you communicate with them.

9) Read everything you can about creative journalistic writing. Plenty of bloggers out there manage their sites as a hobby or personal outlet, which means they might not have a background in writing. If you're such a blogger, you'll benefit from reading about different writing formulas that could improve the content you write.

10) Reach out to industry experts. Invite your colleagues to write guest posts that you'll feature. If you can build strong relationships, interviewing stakeholders is another great way to improve your blog's credibility. Doing so provides your readers with variety and also shows that you value the viewpoints of others.

11) Provide a unique perspective on a hot topic. Don't just regurgitate the same information and opinions everybody else is already sharing online. Read what your competitors are writing and consider how you might add to the conversation. Be sure your readers benefit from reading your take on a subject.

12)Edit everything you write at least twice. Even if you're a naturally gifted writer, you should know by now that everybody makes mistakes, be they typos or word usage. Buy the Associated Press Stylebook and other grammatical texts to verify that you're communicating your messages in the most effective and succinct ways.

13) Review your archives. If you've managed your blog for a few years, chances are your older posts could use some cleaning up. Categorize them logically and reread them for clarity and grammatical errors. When writing new posts, make the old ones more accessible by linking to them whenever relevant.

14) Update consistently. If you don't operate your blog on a regular schedule, how will your readers know when to check your blog for new information? Professional level online publications update their sites consistently so their readers know when to expect information.

15) Think outside of your comfort zone. If you feel writers' block coming on, step away from your blog and go read some blogs that you, personally, find interesting and informative. Make note of what keeps you coming back to the publications you like, and consider how your might implement those strategies for your blog.

When it comes to writing, we're all constantly evolving. Nobody's perfect, so we must strive to improve ourselves and improve the ways through which we communicate with one another. By providing more credible, engaging content on our individual blog, we can ensure our readers invest their time wisely when choosing to spend time with our articles.

KID - 03:12

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The 7 Deadly Sins Of Guest Posting

Guest Post - Our host is Simon Rattray, In this post Simon has some great blog tips for guest posting.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

If you are looking to promote your blog one of the most prominent methods currently being employed by many blog owners is to write guest articles on other sites. There are several benefits of guest writing including…

- Reaching out to the blog owner’s audience

- Driving relevant traffic to your site

- Increasing awareness of your brand

- Building links from related sites

However to be successful at this you need to deploy the correct methods both in terms of how and who you approach, as well as deciding which type of content you want to produce. Do this process incorrectly and you will fail to enjoy the maximum benefit from your guest posting activities. Below we have compiled the top 7 things you need to avoid when guest posting…

1. Approaching the wrong sites

You will find that there is an increasing number of sites that are open to guest bloggers. The reason for this is that a high quality guest blog will benefit not only the guest blogger but also the blog owner through increased traffic to their site, a greater number of social media citations and an increase in the volume of backlinks. With so many blogs to choose from it can be tempting to take a ‘scattergun’ approach and fire out hundreds of guest post requests to see how many you can get accepted. This is without question entirely the wrong approach to take. Instead, you should be looking to approach quality sites within your industry or niche. This may be slower and you may get fewer acceptances; however the ones you do get will count much more than having lots of low quality guest posts pointing at your site.

2. Sending a template email

Anyone who runs a popular blog that accepts guest posts will no doubt have been a recipient of this kind of outreach email at some point..

---

Dear Webmaster,

I noticed you accept guest blogs and I would like to ask if you would allow me to write one for you. I can provide a quality and informative article of at least 500 words that I am sure will be of interest to your readers. All I request is that you allow me to place one backlink to my site from within the article itself.

Looking forward to your response on the matter,

Yours faithfully,

A Site Owner,

www.awebsite.com

---

Notice how it says “Dear Webmaster” because the person who sent the email cannot be bothered to find out the name of the person who owns the site. Not only is this impersonal, it also demonstrates they have not had a proper look through the website itself to see if it would be a good match. Remember that popular blog owners receive dozens of requests to guest post so you need to catch their attention and make your email standout from the crowd. Sending out hundreds of bulk, templated outreach emails will result in a much lower response rate, so make sure you invest time and effort into each one you send.

3. Dictating the format of the article

One thing blog owners do not appreciate is when the person sending the outreach email specifies in advance the proposed format of their guest article, specifically with regard to the linking policy. Therefore you must avoid making any such demands, particularly, with regard to which links appear in the article. This again can be a source of frustration as the majority of blog owners publish guidelines that cover their own sites linking policy and trying to openly flout these rules only proves once again that you did not take the time to research their site properly.

4. Not giving a good reason why should be allowed to post

A good guest blog post should add value to a website, and importantly provide something that has not already been covered by the blog owner. Thus when approaching a site owner you need to give them a good reason why they should let you be their next guest blogger. Why does your guest blog title suit their site, why will the article be of interest to their readers? Remember the owner of a quality blog will not be short of people offering to write for them which means webmasters will only ever want to publish content that enhances their site. A good tip is to always check through existing posts to ensure what you are proposing has not been covered already. If it has, ensure your proposed title has enough differentiation that it will add value to the site. For example you could take one topic that has already covered and then provide a counter argument or critique.

5. Not proving your worth and writing ability

In your guest post email you may want to state that you are a competent writer that can produce high quality content. However the site owner has no means of verifying this, unless they happen to have read one of your existing posts (unlikely). In which case you should, where you feel it is appropriate, offer previous examples of guest posts that you have written. If you have written for another notable blog within a particular niche this may help reassure the blog owner that you can provide them with a worthwhile piece of content. Remember guest blog posting benefits both parties and sites that accept guest posts will want more content if it is of a high standard.

6. Stating the obvious

The vast majority of blog owners are fully aware of the benefits that high quality, unique content can bring to their site. For this reason it is not necessary and in fact wholly inappropriate to start lecturing them about the benefits your guest blog will bring to them. Do not on any occasion mention the fact that your guest article will help them to ‘improve their search engine rankings’, ‘deliver more traffic’ or ‘gain them more backlinks’. If you are to mention any benefits, explain how your guest blog idea will benefit their readers specifically.

7. Being overly formal in your approach

Most blogs are operated by an individual or a group of individuals, rather than by a business or corporation. Therefore it is not necessary to approach them in a formal manner such as “Dear Owner of abc.com”. Most blogs have an ‘about’ section where you can find out information about the site owner, including of course their name. As you are attempting to strike up a relationship with that blogger you should create an outreach email that is polite and courteous rather than one that is formal in tone. Avoid being overly verbose in your approach or writing reams and reams about why they should let you blog on your site. The correct approach is to be concise, informal and friendly without of course being too casual, for example using slang or bad language.

KID - 03:11

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Three Common Attributes Of Successful Blogs

Guest Post - Our host is Doug Glaston, In this post Doug looks at some successful blogs and how they got there.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

If you're on Spice Up Your Blog, then your interested enough to learn more about what you can do to make your blog better. The Internet is loaded with perhaps tens of thousands of blogs that deliver articles and content for a specific audience. Many are great, some of them are not really that intriguing. Maybe yours has gotten a lot of talk and shares within a small community, which is great.

But then you have to look at the blogs that really get a lot of attention; the blogs that speak to a large audience and are able to sustain themselves on the basis of its popularity. What kind of blogs am I talking about? I'm aiming pretty high, but think about the work of Mashable, Engadget, Perez Hilton; the big guns of the blogosphere.

The wrong thing to think is: “I'll never get to where they are. They've been in the game for a much longer time and their resources are way beyond mine.” Sure, they have a lot to back them up, but it wasn't always like that. The reason why these blogs are as widespread as they are is because they speak in a way the few can.

Whether you're starting up or are still trying to break into the scene, there are plenty of considerations to be made that might turn some more heads. Every popular blog does things differently, but there are some universal characteristics as well.

1.Popular Blogs Have Relatable, Provoking Content

Look at any blog, and try to figure out why their content gets so much traffic and shares. The content is often provocative, provoking, and can strike up a conversation. The reason why Perez Hilton got as big as he did was that he (in his own ways) was able to get the juice on the celebrity world, and people couldn't rush enough to it. That is not to say that your blog should be a hub of rumor and gossip, but it is helpful to see how Hilton wasn't afraid to go after what he knew would bring eyes to his site.

Even more so, the content is accessible and relatable to the general public. Even Mashable, which is generally seen as a tech blog, has since branched out into various categories. The content in each of them is always first rate and to the point.

2.Popular Blogs Are Media Rich

This we all know. Big time blogs tend rely more on media than they do articles, since that's really all people want anymore. Every year, the Internet audience wants a quicker channel to gratification, and whether you like it or not, reading is losing momentum.

This would explain the explosion of infographics throughout the past year or two, and even that has gotten the attention of Matt Cutts at Google. Cutts said a few months ago that he would start taking away some of the “juice” that Google gives to infographics, especially if the information is inaccurate.

Regardless of that, big blogs are loaded with media, and the audience eats it all up in a flash. That's not to say that there is no written content at all, but it instead acts as an anchor rather that the primary medium.

3.Popular Blogs Aren't Too Specific

This point is a bit difficult to access since some blog owners don't really care so much about gaining thousands of followers, but really just want to share about their specific expertise. Please, don't make any compromises with that. There are some blogs that make it clear they are trying to surpass that barrier to entry for popularity, but just can't seem to get enough behind them.

It's tough, I know. But when you look at the big picture of blogging, there are few blogs that gain a big following when it's an extreme niche. Many successful niche blogs don't go too deep. For instance, if you look at blogs from New York City covering a music scene, many of them cover all around genres of burroughs of the city. A blog that covers various scene of Brooklyn will more than likely get more attention than a blog covering the experimental/avant-garde scene in the area. Still, that content can be covered in the all around blog, and nothing is left behind.

There are so many other factors behind successful blogs, many of which can't even really be described in accurate ways. You could say that many were just started at the right time, and everything just took care of itself. Stay proactive, pay attention to the trends of others, and keep plugging away!

KID - 03:09

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5 Tips To Avoid SEO Penalties

Guest Post - Our host is Travis Banks, In this post Travis is looking at some tips to avoid SEO penalties.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

SEO penalties can cause a lot of trouble for website owners, and can prove to be a big hindrance to marketing a website effectively.

Google has a very stringent method of checking websites, and if you wish to avoid penalties – the biggest penalty would be being blocked from Google’s search rankings entirely – there are a number of steps that you need to take. Getting a higher ranking on Google is not easy, and the rules change frequently, but there are a number of tips and tricks that will certainly be to your benefit.

Please note: If you are trying to take a shortcut or the ‘easy way out,’ your website is bound to suffer, which can have a direct and powerful negative impact on your business. Google will easily detect your actions. In the following paragraphs, you will learn about a few tips to help you avoid penalties. Read on to find out how to avoid SEO penalties today!

Optimize properly and prudently

One of the first things you need to do is optimize your page properly. Maintaining a balance is extremely important because Google keeps a stern check and will likely detect any website which is optimized by the help of computer software, as that is not considered proper optimization. Avoid any excessive usage of keywords on your page. Stuffing your page with keywords in an attempt to get more visitors and a higher ranking is a waste of time – because it will be obvious that the keyword disrupts the flow of text, making it unappealing to the readers. The result? Blacklisted.

Obey copyright

Making improper use of copyrighted images on your page can also cause Google to levy penalties on your website. Going to another website, downloading an image, and then using it on your website is considered illegal in the online world (and in the offline world too!), and search engines are perfectly liable to levy penalties on your page. Images that have been legally purchased or taken by you can be used, as well as those for which you have the express permission of the author.

Beware OOP

One of the most common SEO penalties is the OOP, also known as the over optimization penalty. As the name suggests, this type of SEO penalty hits pages that attempt to use positive on-page SEO tactics, but overdo it. Making use of excessive SEO factors on your page in order to improve the ranking can result in a negative penalty. For instance, if you use several H1 tags that contain the same keyword on the same page, it is bound to get noticed and a penalty might be on its way.

Other SEO don’ts

There are various other ways by which you can prevent your website from getting penalized by search engines. Adding a significant number of links to your website, from other websites containing the same anchor text can prove to be point against you. Linking your website with blacklisted or unethical websites can lower your overall score and result in a matter of mistrust between you and the search engines.

Another of the most popular causes of SEO penalties is that of duplicating content. If you copy the written words from another website and post them on yours, powerful plagiarism checkers from Google and other search engines will quickly detect the anomaly, and can go so far as to blacklist your page for it. Make sure everything posted on your website is your own creation, or if you have used the work of someone else, make sure that you have proper permission and that you provide due credit.

Find the best host

When choosing the hosting, make sure you do not choose hosts that have a questionable reputation or low standards, as that can also affect your overall score and cause a negative issue with the search engines.

That’s just a start! SEO is a skill that you’ll have to keep on top of to make the most of your online presence. Keep an eye on the research, and keep all of your content above-board, well written, and relevant. You’ll find you rank higher and attract the right visitors.

KID - 03:07

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How To Get Traffic To Your Blog From StumbleUpon

Guest Post - Our host is John Geroutis, in this post John has some StumbleUpon tips for bloggers.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog. How does Stumble Upon really works?

Stumble Upon is one of the most famous social bookmarking websites on the web, along with Digg, Delicious, Reddit and Buzzfeed. It's very easy and fun to use. You just select the categories you usually enjoy viewing ( marketing, photography, humor, psychology,sports, games, etc.) and then automatically StumbleUpon generates a page you might like each time you click Stumble. Whenever you click the like button on a page you stumble, then that page will gain more chances to be viewed by other StumbleUpon users. Consequently, getting your page stumbled and liked by several users will dramatically increase your pageviews. That's how StumbleUpon works, in general.

StumbleUpon as a traffic generator.

If you intend to use StumbleUpon as a traffic generator for your blog/website, then it's vital to place a widget near your posts which enables your readers to stumble it and share it with others. I can tell you that just 20 stumbles can generate hundreds or even thousands of page views to your website if its content is appreciated by the other users. Also, this traffic can last for days and that's a great way to boost a specific post or product you might want to promote. A big advantage that StumbleUpon offers is that you are happy to receive organic traffic which really is concerned about your content. The users are only directed to pages they like, so the chances that your page will be appreciated is really high. Moreover, StumbleUpon is considered even better from Digg, since it's really easier to get traffic. Digg can prove useful only if you get many votes and move up a lot on the list of the website. (and that's impossible, especially for beginners.)

10 tips to maximize the traffic you can get from StumbleUpon.

• When you submit a page of your website, make sure to include many tags so that the chances you will be picked will be higher.
• Your tags will need to be completely relevant to your niche and your post's keywords.
• The better your content, the higher the chances your post will be liked by a stumbler.
• It's really likely that a user might leave your page fast if you are not able to draw his attention. So, make sure to have an appealing design and not a page with just plain text.
• When you get stumbled, you want the user to stay to your page and visit you again in the future, so always include subscription options.
• Ask some of your friends to like your page. Even from several likes the word will spread and the pageviews will go up.
• Communicate with other StumbleUpon users. Follow their profile, build a solid connection and they will sooner or later prove useful.
• Below your posts include a share-it widget and ask your readers politely to stumble your page if the enjoyed it. Urge is needed sometimes.
• Use the paying system of StumbleUpon. You get to advertise your pages for a starting price of just 0.05$ for each visitor. There are also the options of 0.1$/ visitor and 0.25$/visitor which include bonus features.
• Organize your StumbleUpon profile and make it appealing and friendly. You will ultimately end up with more followers and traffic.

If you are not already using StumbleUpon, then you are definitely losing a lot of traffic. I can tell you that it has helped me a lot to promote my blog and specific posts I have selected, and it will work for you as well.

KID - 03:06

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Blogspot On-page SEO

Search engines plays an important role in bringing traffic to blogs including those hosted in Blogger . So the normal web pages should be fixed for errors and tweaked in such a way to drive more search engine traffic . These seo tactics can be divided into both on page and off page optimizations . Today I will be discussing about on page optimization techniques for users of Blogger platform .
1. Submit sitemap :Submit your sitemap to major major search engines like Google , Yahoo and MSN . Submission of sitemap enables the search engine to discover the internal pages of your blog . For Blogger blogs , the sitemap is their corresponding RSS feeds .For reference , I have written an article regarding the submission of Blogger sitemap in Google . You can submit your sitemaps to Yahoo here to MSN live here .

2. Provide Meta tags :Meta tags are simple HTML codes inserted into a template for giving an idea about different parameters of a website, mainly for search engines .  Many people says the meta tags are out of SEO focus from the last 2-3 years . But the case is different with Blogger blogs. Have a look at my blog description in Google , it is what I have given in my meta tags . Here there is no plugins and the meta elements should be manually filled for the whole website or if you plan for a single post .
3 Optimize the post page tittle: Blogger post page titles are not formatted in way it should be . They are come along with original home page title and cause a potential flaw in the search engine positions . Check out this blog post to fix this problem ,
4. Maintain the keyword density : Keep in mind that what you are posting about . Include the the necessary keywords along the article by maintaining the quality . For instance , here I have a title Blogger seo which is repeated two three times in the article without affecting the reader interest .But keep measures to avoid keyword stuffing  for fooling search engines .
5. Order your pages : Arrange you achieve a pages and posts .Give a access to all your posts from a single clickable text link , as per Google webmaster guidelines . Providing related posts and linking to older posts in new ones will also help to boost your serps.
4.Remove label and place text links : The label pages in Blogger are automatically set nofollow by Google . So there is no seo value in keeping the labels in home page . Alternately , you can categorize your posts and include them in single post that can be fixed in homepage . For eg ; Instead of placing the label Blogger tricks and tips , I have written a main post contains all the similarly tagged posts and placed as a text link in my homepage .
6. Use nofollow in suitable locations : Nofollow is an HTML attribute that instruct the search engine to follow a link or not . If it is applied , the targeting link won’t get value for that link in search results . You can use nofollow in download pages an when linking to your competitors or spam sites .
7 Optimize images for search engine . Another source of search engine traffic is the image traffic . It is too important for an entertainment or celebrity site . Check out what you can do for image seo in Blogger .
8 .Optimize the code : Optimize your Blogger template by removing unnecessary JavaScripts and CSS codes . This will improve your search engine ranking along with faster page load time .Also remove unnecessary external links.
9 Hide Blogger navbar:
Do you have any other Blogger seo tips ?? Share them here ..

KID - 20:50

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List Of Useful Sites To Drive More Blog, Or Website Traffic ( Updated For 2012 )

 I am not going to rattle on about how important traffic is to any online business. I am just going to make you a very useful list for you to share with your friends on Facebook or keep it all to yourself lol. Or Website Traffic ( Updated For 2012 )

Traffic equals money online list Of Useful Sites To Drive More Blog. The more targeted traffic you send to your website, or blog the more money you are going to make for your online business period!

List High Traffic Internet Marketing Forums

1. Warriorforum -  If you are an internet marketer and you are not a registered member what are you hiding under a rock like the guy on the Geico commercials?
2. Honestworkfromhomesuccess.com - This is another one of my favorite online forums and the owner Paul Lynch runs a great forum where you can even promote your affiliate products for free, or add a freebie you may be giving away to build up your email list. Highly recommended internet marketing forum.
3. Websitebabble.com - Lisa Irby runs a very well respected forum which specializes in pretty much everything from creating a website, to internet marketing tips, traffic strategies, and affiliate marketing. She is very helpful to beginners also.
4. Wickedfire – I do not personally frequent this internet marketing forum much but it does get a lot of traffic and a lot of people like it. My point: Sign up it is free!
5. Digitalpointforums – This forum has a lot of traffic so sign up.

List Of High Traffic Social Networking Sites

1. Facebook- Duh! Start a Facebook fanpage and build up your followers who are interested in what your website, or blog has to offer. This is a great traffic strategy!
2. Twitter – Another Duh lol have you tweeted lately? You should! Build up your twitter followers that are interested in your niche, and tweet about your updated blog posts, or website.
3. Google Plus - Obviously Google owns Googleplus but it is a great website to get some nice traffic if used correctly. Add people in your circle who would be interested in what your business has to offer. Send them a thank you if they add you to there circles remember some of them may be potential customers.
4. Pinterest – Have you received your Pinterest invite yet? If you have not sign up for your free internet marketing training course here and I will send you a Pinterest invite. Just send me an email with the title Pinterest invite and I will send it over to you a.s.a.p. Pinterest is the 3rd largest social networking site in the World now and most people have not even heard of it. Basically you share interesting things that you find on the internet. Your business, your blog posts, video’s, etc… You can then categorize your pins in relevant categories so people can find them and check out what your pinning.  ( Can you see the potential traffic Pinterest can bring you and your online business? )
5. Myspace – many people think myspace died years ago but it is slowly making a comeback. You can still get a lot of traffic to your website, or blog by sharing your blog posts to your Myspace friends etc…. Believe it or not when I check my website analytics I always see Myspace sending me a good amount of clicks from the blog posts that I share.
6. Tumblr - I always share my blog posts on Tumblr everytime I update my blog. Tumblr is one of the  most popular social sites on the internet so be sure to add it to your arsenal.
7. Orkut – This is another popular social networking site that is very popular in south america that gets a lot of traffic make sure you share your blog posts on Orkut for an increase in traffic.
8. Linkedin – This website is a traffic powerhouse and business professionals from around the World congregate in one place for networking. Tip: Most people on this website have money to spend so I would recommend you spend a little more time than usual marketing on this website.
9. Stumbleupon – I always stumble all my blog posts for a nice backlink and some extra traffic to my blog, or website.
10. Reddit – Reditt is another popular social bookmarking site definitely worth submitting too.

*****Sexy bookmarks***** – I use this plugin to easily share all of my blog posts after I am done publishing them easily. You can see it for yourself directly below this post. Tip: If you are reading this post outside of my blog http://www.jaysonlinereviews.com there is the link. Sexy bookmarks is very attrative on a WordPress blog I guess that is why it is called sexy bookmarks lol.

List Of Some Great Paid Courses I Have Bought Previously In 2012 ( Pretty Cheap And Pack A Lot Of Bang For Your Buck )

1. Traffic blackbook - This was just released recently and it has a whole lot of bang for your buck. It costs $47 dollars but he should be charging $500 for it seriously. It has 11 hours of traffic strategies a super affiliate is sharing that make him a lot of month every year. P.S. You do not need Google for this. You can watch the free video here if your interested.
2. Trafficdashboard – This course covers every free traffic strategy that the traffic queen herself uses. She shows you how she generates thousands of visitors to her blog, and affiliate offers daily in easy to understand step by step video’s. ( Very high quality hours in video’s one of my best buys ever ) You can check it out here

List Of My Favorite Internet Marketing Blogs

1. Zacjohnson.com - Great blog from super affiliate marketer zac Johnson. Zac get’s a lot of traffic and he also has some good information that covers a wide array of topics. Stop in and comment on a few of his posts.
2. Johnchow.com - This is a top make money online blog ( Only mines better lol just kidding John they both are awesome ) In all seriousness Johnchow gets a lot of traffic on a daily basis he also has some great make money online tips so stop in and comment on a few of his posts.
3. Shoemoney – This is another blog that gets a lot of traffic so stop in and check it out.
4. Chadnicely.com - Chad has a blog in a niche similar to mine the internet marketing @ make money online niche. He has a ton of good posts and his blog is very well put together. By th way Chad if you happen to read this I like your new blog header it looks great.
5. jaysonlinereviews.com - The top internet marketing, seo, and make money online blog on the internet. Why? Because it is mine lol. In all seriousness I have hundreds of posts on seo, traffic tips, how to make money blogging, email marketing, affiliate marketing, and product reviews. If you cannot find it on my blog it probably does not exist!
6. Jamesfrancis.com - James is a great internet marketer, and product creator. His blog is packed with tons of useful information on internet marketing, traffic strategies, and making money online. I bought a few of his point and click squeeze page templates a while back and they convert like crazy so thanks James for making the great products that you do. Stop in and learn a thing or two and say jay sent you.

Worthwhile Video Sharing Sites

1. Youtube – Sad but true so this list is going to be short really the only video sharing site worth submitting too for traffic in my opinion because they control the majority of the video traffic online. Fun Fact: Youtube gets more search engine traffic than Yahoo, and Bing combined and it is really not even a search engine. People are typing into the search bar looking for their favorite video’s ( massive traffic on Youtube )

Worthwhile Free Press Release Site

• PRlog.org - This is the only press release site I use and they rank real well in the search engines too.

Free Web 2.0 Websites For Free Targeted Traffic

1. Hubpages.com - I really like this site they suffered a lot in the last google Panda update but their traffic levels have been climbing ever since. It is a great site to use to grab some extra unique visitors to your website, or blog.
2. Squidoo – they still get a lot of traffic even though I never really got too into this site. But definitely worth submitting too.

Search Engine Optimization

1.  This is the best free way to get laser targeted buying customers to your website, or blog. The higher you rank in the search engines for lucrative keyword phrases the more money your internet business will make. Learn seo once and get good at it and reap the rewards for years to come. If you need help with your seo this course covers it all and then some ( Highly Recommended ). Click here for your seo training

List Of My Favorite Document Sharing Sites For A Real Boost In Your Traffic

1. Docstoc – Top document sharing site worth submitting too
2. Slideshare – I really get a lot of targeted traffic from slideshare. Tip: Turn your content into P.D.F. ‘s and submit them to the top document sharing sites for free ( You will get a ton of traffic for free ).
3. Scribd – This document sharing site is suppoused to be the biggest on the internet in terms of traffic. Use the same principle above and turn your old or new content into P.D.F.’s and submit them in a relevant category on Scribd. ( I use a free program called open office 3.3 to turn my content into P.D.F.’s also great for listbuilding )

List Of Classified Sites Worth Submitting Too

1. Craigslist – This is the king of all classifieds but it is hard to submit multiple classified ads without your ads being ghosted. I would play by the rules and only submit one ad weekly promoting your website, or blog for some extra traffic.
2. Backpage – This classified gets a lot of traffic I like to post paid sponsored ads in relevant categories, and in multiple cities to build an email list, or promote a hot selling affiliate program.
3. Kijiji -  Ebay owns this one worth submitting too.
4. U.SFREEADS - This is a pretty good website tp place classified ads. Still pretty effective but not as good as backpage, or Craigslist. To get the most traffic out of this website I would recommend you go with the $9.99 a month where you can post unlimited classified ads.
5. Gumtree – This is Great Britains largest classified ( Englands version of Craigslist ) so it has some great traffic from our English speaking brothers and sisters in England.
6. Webleegs – This is a cool classified site where you can post ads that last up to a year and basically never expire. They also offer some pretty cool featured ads that appear on their homepage for pretty cheap.

Last But Not Least Only Post 100% Unique Content To Your Blog That Is High Quality Like This Blog Post For Even More Traffic And Backlinks

What are the traffic strategies you are using for 2012? I would love to hear your comments below.
Do not forget to share this post with a friend on Facebook if you found it useful

KID - 23:01

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Thesis SEO Template for Blogspot

Thesis SEO Template for Blogspot is a template that designed with seo featured, so the blog who used this template will has more seo friendly. In addition seo on page, this template is also visitor friendly.

DEMO - DOWNLOAD

Featured of Thesis SEO Blogger Template:

1. SEO Friendly
2. Visitor Friendly
3. With Dynamic Heading (H1 at header and post title)
4. With Dynamic Meta Tag Description and automatic Keyword
5. Quicklink coment box
6. With Auto Readmore
7. With another Meta Tag Robots
8. Also with social bookmarking script
9. Super Cache
10. Simple and clean

Those are some featured of Thesis SEO Template for Blogspot. This template is designed by  www.forblogger.net

KID - 03:21

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How to install Blogger Template

Blogger tutorial + article for this first post I deliberately started with a tutorial how to install a blogger template, because this blog will become a collection of free blogger templates.

I think this one is an important article in manage a blog because if we want to change the blogger template then we must know how to install the template.

I guess there have many bloggers who know closely about the guidance on how to install a blogger template, but for beginners I think the guidance that I write on this page will be useful

The Ways to install Blogger Template

To change the blog template for blogger, you guys have to download the free blogger template first. Once the download has finished, check the type of blogger template file such as the file is formed zip file /rar or xml form.

If the file already in blogger xml template please direct uploads to blogger / blogspot).

If the template is still shaped Zip / Rar, you have to Extract it first. The ways: Right-click, then select Extract Here.

If the Blogger Template has been extracted then you’ll find a file in xml form. Xml file is exactly what will be installed (Upload) to the blogger.

Steps to Change the Blogger Template

The following are the guidelines to upload blogger template after it has extracted

1. Login to your blogger dashboard

2. Go to the Template by clicking on the Template menu (see picture below)

3. Click on Backup / Restore (menu on the right top)

Before the template is uploaded you should backup the previous template you’ve used by downloading the template that is installed by clicking Download Full Template posts.When the template download has been completed, you may upload the new template.

Wait until the upload is completed, if it has been completed please see the blog changes.

Usually after the new template is installed there is an additional widget that we may not want, please delete the widget that we do not need to and realign its placement on the Layout tab, because the arrangement widget still in mess.

Well that's Complete Guide How to Change Blogspot Template.
Good luck and hopefully useful.

KID - 00:29

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4 Simple Image SEO Tips For Blogger

Images are a very important part of any website. Visitors get a nice impression after getting some glimpses of images on the website. As images play an important role for the visitors, it also plays some part when it comes to traffic.
Believe me, Images can drive a huge amount of traffic from organic searches if they are nicely optimized. SEO is a very crucial part for images as well. Most of us try to optimize the content on the site for better SEO, but forget to optimize images.

We know that Blogger has introduced some advanced SEO features recently. We forgot that, it has introduced SEO feature for images as well. Good news!!!!
Now, it is easy time optimizing the images on Blogger. Thanks to Blogger!!

4 Simple Image SEO Tips For Blogger:

1. Add Alt and Title Tags to images:

Before this was a difficult task, as you need to add it manually. Now, Blogger has made it easy.
Just upload the image > Click on the image after loading to the article composer > You get option called "Properties" to click > You get options for entering "Alt" and "Title" for images easily.

Title Tags - Just hover the mouse over my images, you get a description for the images. It is not only helpful for the human readers, but also to the search engines.
Alt Tags- They are not displayed by hovering the mouse, but it would be seen only if the source image is removed/broken/long request to server and there is nothing to display in the place of the image you have in your article. Only then Alt tags are visible to you.
Search engines can't read your images without an alt tag in them. Search engine will index and rank your images based on the keyword specified in your image alt tags.

2. Consider Image Size:

Image size is an important factor determining the page load time which in term contributes to SEO of the image.
For Blogger, keep the original size of the image and the size you use it on your blog articles same.
What I mean?
Say you use an image with size 200x200px, Blogger has an option of making the image to "small", "Medium", "Large" and "X-Large". Try not to use those options, but to keep its original size on your articles.
If your article requires 200x200px image size, create one or resize using photo-editing software to fit.

3. Be Descriptive While Naming The Images:

I see that people name their images something like image_200x200px.jpg.
Avoid these types of improper naming of the images.

For example: In this article the first image is named as "Blogger_IMAGE_SEO.jpg".

Also don't name the images like "Blogger SEO Image.jpg"
Instead use "+" , "-" or "_" to fill the space between the images.

Example: 
Blogger+IMAGE+SEO.jpg
Blogger-IMAGE-SEO.jpg
Blogger_IMAGE_SEO.jpg

4. Image Should Always Match Your Content:

Try always to match the images with the contents you deliver. Sometimes, the images are not descriptive. It not only causes negative effect to the readers, but also to the search engines.
How?
Google image search compares the article content and the image to get the result of your images when someone searches. If  both are not matching, then it may be lowered in the ranking of the images.

These were my 4 simple images SEO tips for Blogger blogs. Hope it would add some value to your Blogger website in terms of SEO. Thanks for reading. Please take some time to subscribe to my articles via Email from the sidebar.

KID - 06:36

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HD Wallpapers

HD Wallpapers: HD Wallpapers Arena Provides Wide Range Full HD Wallpapers. We select a list of the best 22 HD Wallpapers. Download HD Wallpapers in wide range of High resolutions HD Wallpapers. Ready to Download full and free hd wallpapers and high definition wallpapers for your desktop pc and Laptop. Check and download our high resolution wallpapers Backgrounds For Desktop now at 4allshare.com

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KID - 03:40

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Autumn Wallpapers HD

Below you can find Autumn Wallpapers HD to decorate your desktop, hope you like them. I'll be updating the blog with latest Autumn Wallpapers HD as often as possible.

Autumn Wallpapers HD

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KID - 03:19

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