You might be surprised to know that a number of individuals who search for BlogaPro enter the keyword ‘Gavin Smith blog’ instead of the term ‘BlogaPro’.

In fact, the searches against my name are so high on some days that they outnumber the number of searches for the name of the blog. It’s no coincidence.

People Associate by Name

It goes without saying that people associate by name. While some obviously associate the blog by its name, others associate the brand by its author.

The importance of creating word associations hasn’t dawned upon me until recently after conducting an in-depth analysis into visitor’s search behavior.

Most recently, I’ve been taking steps to enhance the probability that visitors form memorable word associations in order to increase the ratio of return visitors to new visitors

But I have one particular problem. Unfortunately, I am not the most popular Gavin Smith at least according to Google. There are a few who are slightly more famous than I. In particular, there is a Canadian professional poker-player who shares the same name. Needless to say, he is so famous that he warrants his own dedicated page in Wikipedia.

As I have suggested in a previous article, Wikis are deemed valuable by search engines. As a result, his Wikipedia entry ranks in at the number one spot for the phrase ‘Gavin Smith’, but he is in for a fight at least if I can help it.

Importance of Word Association

Consider the ratio of people who know the author Darren Rowse by name versus the number of people who know about his blog.  I think you would find that they are quite comparable.  Now consider the number of visitors that ProBlogger acquires after individuals have entered the search term of ‘Darren Rowse’ or ‘ProBlogger’ into their favorite search engine?

As a blogger, it is important to market, design and publish posts on your blog with word association in mind.

Four tips to encourage word associations:

1. If you have ever had doubts about publishing an ‘About’ section on your blog, hopefully I have changed your mind.  Include a bit of biographical information about yourself and your blog.  It doesn’t have to be too in-depth just something that your readers can relate to.  Clearly state your name in the autobiography.
2. Consider publishing your own article to MyWikiBiz, a Wikipedia alternative.  In order to compete with the likes of the aforementioned poker player, I committed my own article about Gavin Smith (myself) in an attempt to compete for that number one spot
3. Focus on attempting to improve the ranking of your personal name and the name of your blog within the likes of Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Live.  Doing this is easier said than done and falls down to old-fashioned SEO techniques.
4. Ensure that the name of your blog is clearly visible on each page.  Does your site’s domain name correspond to the name of your blog?  If not, consider a change…

Google has recently finished one if its much anticipated, quarterly PageRank updates.  You might recall that on the previous update which occurred back in July, BlogaPro was promoted to a PR value of 2 out of 10.

The latest results are in, and BlogaPro has received a 3 which is lower than my expected value of 4.  All in all, I’m not complaining.  It does show that the site is moving in the correct direction. On the plus side, I’m halfway to bringing the site’s PR in line with Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger.

PageRank starting to carry Value

Previous to this most recent update, I always felt that Google’s trademarked PageRank was merely a number, but my opinion is quickly changing.  Google employees have been hard at work bringing sites’ semantic values in line with their PageRank.

One example of this alignment is ProBlogger, statistically one of the most visited blogs in the world according to Alexa.  ProBlogger was recently demoted from 7 to a 6 out of 10.  While the layout or design of the site is aesthetically pleasing, there is more to a page than looks. Why do I believe Google’s latest valuation is fair?

1. ProBlogger’s ratio of HTML tags to content is atrocious.  The source code consists of ambiguous HTML code to unnecessary CSS and Javascript (which should be defined in another file).
2. Consider how many links are listed on the front page? Other than a brief synopsis of around 11 posts, the rest of the page consists of links - hardly semantically valuable.
3. There are numerous ads spread across the page.  Don’t get me wrong, my goal is to make money blogging, but they do detract from the value of a page.

Now please note that this assessment was conducted with only the front page in mind.

Frustrations with Google

I am of the firm opinion that Google is reshaping the web, and not for the better.  The Internet was initially designed as a fair playing field and this ethos is evident from every aspect from its network infrastructure to the registration of domain names to web site accessibility.  Now, Google is one of the few companies trying to change this.

Here are just three of many examples of Google’s attempt of to create an elitist web:

1. Google has recently deemed directories worthless that is unless you are the Open Directory Project (ODP).  This is Google’s attempt of preventing individuals from promoting their site by paying for inclusion into various web directories.  Prior to Google’s damning of directories, directories were my number one source for SEO (and I’m not talking about paid inclusion), but that has all changed.  Unfortunately, Google’s latest policy on directories really hurts the small fish in the pond.  After all, those individuals/organizations that pay for inclusion will likely focus their attention elsewhere, spending their money in a more effective manner.

2. Link exchanges are less as effective as they once were.  Webmasters now find themselves having to resort to one-way linking.  Unfortunately, this means having to resort to paying for one-way links.  Any of you going to give away one-way links on your blogs? Of course not, one-way links are not mutually beneficial. Again, only the big fish are likely to benefit from such a principal.  You might be inclined to jump on me and suggest that paying for links is against Google’s TOS.  True you are, but Google’s crawlers cannot detect any transactions that have occurred behind the scenes.

3. The search engine giant is now more selective on which types of pages are valuable. For example, it is clearly evident that an article from a news organization is more effective in a linking scheme than that of a random site’s ‘resource page’.  But which news organization is about to list BlogaPro in its front headlines? Exactly!

Let us hope that Google changes its ways; otherwise, I just might conduct my searches elsewhere.

I recently received an email from a gentleman who was curious which keywords I targeted.  Nonetheless, I felt the question deserved a post in response.

Only up until recently, my key concern has been to acquire links instead of trying to climb the ranks of search engines.  There are two (2) points you should consider before attempting to tackle search engines:

1. Don’t expect to climb the ranks over night.  Search engine optimization (or SEO) takes vast amounts of time in terms of persistence, research, and patience.
2. Most importantly, think ‘links’.  Unless you manage to receive new links to your blog, you won’t be moving up that search-placement ladder any time soon.  Before you even consider the art of SEO, I suggest you build/create a couple of links to your blog.

Getting back to the question, BlogaPro has been pushing the term “make money blogging“.  Did I pluck the term out of the air?  No, there is some detailed thought/inspiration behind my selection.

In fact, the search term is:

1. Potentially lucrative
2. A popular search key phrase
3. Less competitive in comparison to similar search terms
4. Fits in with the blog’s niche
5. Shares the same words as BlogaPro’s slogan
6. Catchy and easy to remember
7. Succinct and describes the blog

In the past two weeks, my primary concern has shifted from ‘get links’ to ‘optimize search engine ranking’.  The former activity of my blogging efforts proved quite successful so much so that I saw my Alexa Rank climb from over 1,230,369 to 430,686 in a matter of 3 months, a figure that continues to improve as we speak.

In the past month, I have noticed that BlogaPro has moved from a position of page 13 to page 7 for the targeted keyword.  Have a look for yourself.  Hopefully, this is foreshadow of things to come!

Have you ever seen (or tried) Yahoo! Site Explorer?  Yahoo! describes it as a feature which “allows you to explore all the web pages indexed by Yahoo! Search.” But it’s more than that.  Site Explorer allows you to view a comprehensive list of all the pages that link to a particular site or any page.

Yeah, sure Google’s a great search engine, but it’s not a ‘one fits all’ solution.  You might be quick to retort that Google offers a similar feature inside its “Webmaster Tools” suite, but think again because Yahoo! Site Explorer blows it out the water.

How so?  Unfortunately, Webmaster Tools requires that individuals are verified/authenticated as the administrators or owners of a domain.  This means that only the registered owners have access to a site’s link map.  In my opinion, this is against the spirit of the web.

Using Yahoo Site Explorer to your advantage

Remember the underlying key to promoting your blog is to attain more and more links. Well, this is where Site Explorer comes into the mix. Ever wondered how the top blogs in your niche attract readers? Ever considered which sites link to these blogs? Have you considered how they manage to find their links? Study the ‘competition’.

Before we continue, I’m using the word “competition” very loosely. All-in-all, I don’t really see other blogs in the same niche as competition; instead, they provide a possible means of unforeseen success, but that’s another article…

Study Linking Techniques

Let the competition do all the hard work. You might feel as if this is taking the position of second best, but think again. Imagine how much you could learn if you studied the linking strategies of around 20 sites in your niche? You would be pleasantly surprised.

Furthermore, how many of you have the time to sit, searching aimlessly on the web for the next best link-building strategy? Not me, at least.

Points to consider when analyzing links:

1. Who submitted the link?
2. What was the overall result of the link being submitted? Positive or negative?
3. Is the link the result of a potentially broader scheme (ex: a site-wide link exchange)?
4. Who was the link’s target audience?
5. Does the link fit the type of content on the corresponding page?
6. What is the link-site’s Alexa rank?
7. What is the PageRank of the page containing the link?

Submit your Blog to corresponding Sites

Finally after you have considered the seven (7) points above, submit your blog’s link.  Sit back and watch the results.

In the never-ending quest to drive more traffic to my blog, I’ve recently been studying the effects that wikis (such as Wikipedia) can have in promoting blogs.

In a previous article, we have that wikis offer a great source of search engine promotion.

Unfortunately, main-stream adoption of wikis is yet to catch on. Sure Wikipedia is popular, but how many blogs do you come across putting the power of wikis to use?

Even after considerable amounts of searching, there are only so many wikis that I can submit my site to.

In an attempt to promote the BlogaPro cause, I’ve decided to publish my own wiki through blogapro.com. The wiki will feature those sites that teach individuals how to make money blogging.

Unlike others, the wiki will feature heavy moderation and stringent requirements for site submission.

It is hoped that I will be able to leverage the power of the wiki to increase BlogaPro’s presence.  Check back over the next couple days when I will officially announce the wiki’s release.

[Edit:] The wiki has been released.  Check it out.

Recently, I’ve been trying to build a collection of respected links to my blog.  Unfortunately, it is easier said than done.

My few attempts to initiate a few link exchanges have proven futile at best.  Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to force-feed a baby - it’s just not happening.  I shouldn’t feel too disheartened.  After all, the main page on BlogaPro only carries a PR of 2 - the blog is only around 3 months old.

Regardless, incoming links are the key to my blog’s success.

Most bloggers seem to travel down the ‘path most taken’ utilizing the obvious resources ranging from submitting “diggs” to committing sites to directories.

I will not deny the aforementioned marketing strategy can pay dividends, but sometimes it will only take you so far.  Ever considered how many other bloggers are committing their site(s) to digg?  And let’s not forget that as of a recent update, Internet directories are now almost worthless.

Recently, I’ve been looking into the power of wikis.  Yes, the most obvious wiki-run site is Wikipedia of course, but there are thousands of other wiki-run sites on the ‘net.  Some of these wikis are generalized while others pertain to specific niches.

Googling around for “blog wiki directory” and “Internet marketing wiki directory”, I’ve found numerous wikis that allow individuals to add their blogs.  Not only are these links free, but authors can devise their own description of their blog.

Although Google’s PR tool is not the ‘begin and end all’ measurement of a page’s value, some of these wikis carry some serious value.   For example, on a user-generated page of one wiki, Google was reporting that the page contained a PageRank of 6 out of 10.  Consider how much you would otherwise pay for a PR 6 link.

In an attempt to separate myself from the pack, I’ve searched the web and found 17 wikis that I have committed my blog to.  As stated, some of these are rather specific while others are more general.

Here are just a few of the pages containing links to BlogaPro:

1. Wikia
2. AboutUs
3. Wiki Blog Directory

Do you have any “gems” to share?  How have wikis worked for you?

As most of you are aware, Google has begun its much anticipated PageRank (PR) update, an update that occurs quarterly.

Considering that I have only been promoting the site actively for around 3 weeks, I haven’t exactly been too anxious over the PR update commencing.

It appears that the press release that I published a couple of weeks ago has worked absolute wonders.  On the other hand, my monthly payment to that Google insider could be demonstrating some success.

In a relatively short time, BlogaPro’s PR has increased from 0 to a value of 2.  As stated, I attribute the majority of this success to the recent press releases, but I reckon that my recent push of the RSS feed also deserves some recognition.

I’m not the type of person who is highly fixated about increasing my PR.  Instead, I use it merely as a guage to judge if my progress is positive in the eyes of the search engine.  With that said, I’ll be pushing myself to achieve a PR of at least 4 come the next round of PR updates.

How did your blog feature with the latest round of updates?  Too check your PR, I suggest that you visit Google PageRank Checker.

Share your results…

In a previous article, I mentioned that the most effective way of quickly getting listed/cached by Google’s bot was to publish a press release through a third party.

Last night, I took the time to write an official press release.  The short article was published last night (at midnight pacific-time) through prweb.com.

I decided to release the article for two main reasons:

1. To use the press release as a vehicle to promote BlogaPro
2. As an experiment in determining the effect the press release would have not only on my traffic but on my search engine rankings.

In about two weeks from now, I’ll discuss the effects that the PR had on BlogaPro.

If you would like to get in on the experiment, I suggest joining BlueHost (if you don’t already have a hosting account).  A new hosting account with BlueHost will entitle you to a free press release on prweb.com (a $40+ value).