Squeaky's Madmouse Blog

Link Bait Definition and How to Methods

squeaky — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:05:54 +0000

Link Bait is defined as a piece of content which can be an article, video or podcast which is placed on the web with an intent to make others link to that content. Actually the content is supposed to act as bait. Link baiting encourages links from other websites which includes online tools, downloads and a wide array of other things that a site owner finds compelling enough apart from the usual content.

Using “link bait” techniques can produce very effective results, which can lead to higher search engine rankings and increase web traffic for the website. Unpaid incoming links are greatly valued by the search engines. However, deliberate creation of content to act as link bait is not considered a good practice by the search engines.

Therefore, as a website owner, one needs to present itself distinctively with its quality content and devise plans and methods to gain link popularity. It is basically a search engine optimization technique. Link baits should be made interesting so that it appeals to the fancy or attracts the attention of the potential clients.

- - - Link Baiting luring methods can be - - -

A seriously informative or news hook – It offers news tidbits and fresh information in your site. If you are the first to make a scoop on a hot current event, you may succeed in generating the coveted traffic. You will have readers visiting your website every now and then to check out for new happenings.

Provide variegated informational hook – The internet being the most preferred means to access information, if you provide precise and relevant information, readers will automatically be encouraged to make a link.

The humorous hook – Life has become increasingly monotonous. So, when they happen to find funny stories, videos or jokes they will feel enticed to visit again and also click on the referenced links provided.

An evil or a fear inducing hook – A shrewd and a mean statement in the link bait about a person/product prompts a reader to verify the validity. Also, if the sensation of fear is stimulated, you might find a huge influx of web traffic.

Squeaky….

Link Bait Definition and How to Methods

Using Affiliate Marketing to grow an effective online business

squeaky — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:30:32 +0000

Affiliate Marketing is a marketing practice that operates using the World Wide Web where the business rewards the affiliate(s) for each visitor or customer through the affiliate’s wise marketing efforts. Companies and individuals of a diverse range belong to this industry of affiliate marketing and perform through affiliate networks, affiliate management companies or affiliate managers specialized third party vendors or publishers who are promoters of the products and services of their customers.

The methods employed are search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, e-mail marketing or display advertising, it can also be publishing reviews of products/services that are offered by any of their affiliates.

The merchants and advertisers are known as affiliate merchants while the publishers and the sales people are known as affiliates. The benefits of affiliate marketing constitutes the potential automation of the advertising process like accepting and approving applications, generation of unique sales links through the tracking and reporting of results and pay just for the desired results through either sales, registration and clicks.

Affiliate marketing enables your online business to grow and evolve at an outstanding rate. The affiliate marketing articles shall provide you with the methods to locate specific affiliate programs for a target website. They can be through the affiliate program directories or the affiliate networks, which are a platform for several advertisers or even the target website itself where they have a link titled ‘affiliate program’ or ‘referral program’.

The affiliate marketing articles actually equips you with the hottest strategies, techniques and methods that will assist you earn big through affiliate marketing.

Benefits of affiliate marketing are assured with the selection of right products, right merchants and right market coupled with patience and focus. Moreover, the investment requirements are less, and you enjoy unlimited sales. Proper knowledge of the marketing trends and the potential risks involved are made available in the affiliate marketing articles.

Squeaky….

Using Affiliate Marketing to grow an effective online business

Avoiding (Or Even Preventing) Blogger Burnout

squeaky — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:05:49 +0000

Becoming burned out on blog writing is something that happens to all bloggers. Losing your interest or becoming blocked is especially frustrating after investing so much time in building an audience. You’ve got a lot of original content already - how can you keep producing more when you’re tired of writing?

Remember Why You Blog:
Social bloggers blog to vent or keep in touch with friends. Paid bloggers get paid to write. You’re probably not writing for either of those reasons. It’s hard to see a correlation between blogging about your field of expertise and anything tangible when you’re burned out. Go back to your first several entries and see if you’ve simply lost focus of your goal.

Work With Your Blogging Style, Not Against It:
There seem to be two types of blogging styles: Inspired and Focused.
Inspired bloggers have a cascade of ideas and need to make notes of all of them and pick one to write first. Flesh out the rest and use them later. This prevents the frustration of having many good ideas and losing them because you didn’t brainstorm them in writing.
Focused blog writers often have post topics planned in advance and are at a loss when they come to the end of their list, or just grow bored with the subject. Revisit your entries, see if any need updating, and makes notes on related topics to write abut.

Invite A Guest Blogger:
A possible guest blogger could be someone who is an expert in a field covered by your blog. You can guide the content of a guest blog by asking for an article about a specific topic, pose questions informally as an interview, or let them have free rein. Experts are often willing to write a short piece for free because they’ll get a byline and a link back to their site. Even better, they’ll probably put a link on their site back to the entry they wrote for you.

Involve Your Readers:
Read comments and take notes of what your readers think about what you’re writing. A well thought out opposing opinion or viewpoint you’d not thought of can inspire you to write. Your readers would also like to know that you read the comments; interaction between a blogger and their audience builds loyalty.
Sometimes bloggers make the mistake of typing out a lengthy, well thought out retort in the comments rather than using it as an entry. If your answer to a comment can be measured in paragraphs rather than words, quote the original comment and post your response on your blog. It’s more likely to be read there and encourages interesting comments, which keeps readers coming back even after they’ve read the post.

Feed Your Desire To Blog:
Subscribe to news feeds that cover your blog topics. Add Google searches of topics that you’re researching for the blog as RSS feeds to your feed reader. Take advantage of Google’s blog search, too. People may be covering your topic somewhere on their social blogs; the opinion and point of view of someone not working in your field are invaluable resources. See what the casual bloggers are saying about your topic early, and you’ll get the excitement of writing about a hot new topic before your competitors.

Focused Surfing:
Visit sites about your field and related fields.

Consider Slowing Down. News and current event blogs should publish daily or several times a week, but theme or informational blogs can more safely slow down to weekly without losing credibility. Corporate and single product blogs can be published monthly or even only when there’s an actual event, real news, or product upgrade. Posting less frequently, but with more consistency and enthusiasm, can keep your blog alive and serving its purpose.

Consistent quality, purpose, and frequency are the keys to building a blogging audience and allowing yourself to become burned out will undermine the work you’ve put in to developing a valuable web presence.

Squeaky….

Avoiding (Or Even Preventing) Blogger Burnout

Yaro Starak - Journey to Success

squeaky — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:57:20 +0000

Would you like to make a full-time income on two hours of work a day? Would you like to get paid to talk to people about the topics you find interesting? It sounds too good to be true, but if you ask 29-year old Yaro Starak, it’s not only desirable, but attainable, as well. Through his “Blog Mastermind” a mentoring program, Starak teaches fledgling bloggers how to generate interest, improve content and reel in advertisers. His unique combination of drive and approachability has created many successful online ventures, and his website, http://www.Entrepreneurs-Journey.com, is worth an estimated 1.14 million dollars (according to http://ww-success.com); so it may come as a surprise to find that his first major success came through a rather unorthodox channel: a hobby fan site for the “Magic: The Gathering”card game.

After several incarnations (the first was http://www.MagicinBrisbane.com, then http://www.MagicinAustralia.com, and finally, http://www.MTGParadise.com), Starak began adding features such as original content, link exchanges with other sites, and search engine submissions. This was all helpful in attracting readers, but the real turning point came when he added a discussion forum to the site. From there, it became an actual community, not just a fan site, and the interest grew exponentially.

He eventually expanded his site to include retail sales, and made modest gains through much hard work, but fell victim to credit card fraud that all but crippled him financially. At this time, he lost access to wholesale Magic cards, and so decided to end the physical sales aspect of his business, and instead focus on the forums and their subsequent advertising income.

Around his third year of college, Starak came up with the idea for his next successful venture while working on a school assignment. Inspired by the success of various dot.com ventures of a similar type, he began an on line editing service, http://www.BetterEdit.com; targeted specifically to students from other countries who were attending English-speaking schools. It floundered for a while, due to lack of interest on Starak’s part, but was later revived by his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie. Starak began actively promoting the site again, and it became successful enough to qualify for the New Enterprise Incentives Scheme (NEIS), a program that is offered by the Australian government to help individuals startup a business. His enterprise grew, and soon translated into English tutoring in a physical facility. As more time with his new business became necessary, he sold http://www.MTGParadise.com to a fellow ‘Magic’ enthusiast.

After closing the doors on the tutoring facility to concentrate on the on line version of BetterEdit, Starak went on to start up http://www.student-marketing,com.au, which has since closed, and http:/www.yaz!.com.au, which was later appropriated as a Facebook site for Australia. In the future, he hopes to double his BetterEdit traffic, to continue blogging, and to launch a web development service in conjunction with the companies of his close friends. Thousands continue to flock to his http://Entrepreneurs-Journey.com site, where he hopes to inspire the next generation of bloggers and Internet marketing professionals.

So, the lesson to be learned from all this? No matter how humble its beginning, what you do as a hobby – if you do it exceptionally well – may very well become your business; so keep on blogging!

Squeaky….

Yaro Starak - Journey to Success

How Now John Chow

squeaky — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:56:12 +0000

I first heard about John Chow, I thought, “Who in the world is John Chow?” My uninformed self thought he might be someone famous, but there was the slightest notion that John Chow could just very well be some up-and-coming fastfood chain serving dimsum and dumplings. Of course, when I Googled the name, I found out that I was half right on both accounts.

John Chow is famous – not moviestar-famous, but blogger-famous. And instead of dimsum and dumplings, he serves a daily dose of what he personally calls “miscellaneous ramblings of a dot com mogul”. These are blog posts on a wide variety of topics ranging from personal experiences and videos to cars and techno gadgets. However, what John Chow is now most famous for is making money online.

Before discovering his niche in the World Wide Web, John Chow started as a partner for a printing company in Canada. After more than a decade of running a print shop business, he decided to take a different but ultimately rewarding path – the Internet.

In December of 2005, John Chow started his blog (www.johnchow.com) with no idea that one day, it was going to be the biggest, most moneymaking “something worth reading” that he dreamed it to be.

In September of 2006, he began monetizing on his blog with ad revenues amounting to 0. About two years, 3,500 blog posts, and 28,000 readers later, JohnChow.com is now making about 30,000 to 40,000 per month (June 2008).

At this point, you may probably have two burning questions in your mind. First, how does he do it? Second, and more importantly, how can you do it?

John Chow began with a dream. In his year-ender post in 2005, he sets his last goal for 2006 – “Make This Blog Into Something Worth Reading” - and says:

“JohnChow.com is just my miscellaneous ramblings about whatever is on my mind. However, I would hope that my ramblings are worth reading. My stats show that over 100 people read this blog everyday. If reading my blog does something good for you, no matter how small, then updating this blog is worth my time.”

Today, John Chow is one of the world’s most sought-after bloggers, and he summarizes his business philosophy right on his homepage header – “I Make Money Online by Telling People How Much Money, I Make Online”.

Quite a mouthful but certainly appropriate, John Chow has indeed conquered his corner of the online trade with his moneymaking blog. He explains of his blogging success, “The key to making money online is to drive a lot of traffic and then maximize the income from that traffic.” Capitalizing primarily on online advertising and affiliate marketing, JohnChow.com has now made it possible to generate a six-figure full-time annual income from part-time blogging.

If you would like to know how to make money online, you would do well to check out JohnChow.com and take a leaf out of his (E)book. Who knows? With a simple dream, some well-chosen words, and some space on the web, you could very well be the next John Chow.

Squeaky….

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How Now John Chow

Plankton’s new “Nail” - USB Flash Drive!

squeaky — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:10:51 +0000

Just when you think you have seen it all, along comes the Plankton - “Nail” USB flash drive, and it actually looks like a very huge nine inch nail. Plankton, calls their new USB flash drive, “Nailed” and this guy is a little pricey, about 45.00 USD for a 1GB unit.

There have been many times in my life, that I wish I had taken a hammer to my PC. I could see purchasing one of these flash drives, just to see the expressions on Peoples face. Most on lookers, will probably think that I have lost it, that is for sure.

Please note: Hammer not included!

For more information, please visit J.P.Meulendijks at Plankton!

Squeaky….

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Plankton’s new “Nail” - USB Flash Drive!

You Have Got to Be Kidding, it’s a GenPet?

squeaky — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 08:15:55 +0000

Squeaky Said. Some things are just way, too weird, and you have to blog about! This is really off, the mouse wall!

You are awakened sharply by a strange noise. Your eyes are slits. You peer to try to see what made the strange noise. You over accentuate your blink. You think to yourself, “Did I see what I just thought I saw?” I must be dreaming. The room is dark. Only a shadow form is outlined by the nightlight you have plugged in the wall across from the foot of your bed. Is it an animal or a tiny person?

The outline figure starts to run all over the room making scratching noises on the floor. The “animal” is very high energy. You want to turn on the light to see the weird animal or whatever has broken into your room. You feel all creepy like bugs are crawling all over you. Your heart is pounding so loud you can hear it. Although you are a man, you scream with fright as you run and extend your arm to turn on the light.

The both of you stare into each other’s eyes. The strange little man-animal innocently looks up at you.

Your son comes sleepily into your room wondering what all of the noise is. He immediately sees the man-animal and reaches out for him. You protectively push him back.

“Daddy!” he cries, “Give me my baby!”

Puzzled, you look at him and ask, “You’ve seen this animal before?”

“Yes, daddy”, he smiles as the strange animal hops into his loving arms. “Mommy bought me, him today when we were shopping.”

Your jaw drops. You wish you could immediately ask your wife about the animal, but she is at work on third shift as a nurse.

“What is that thing, buddy?” you reply as calmly as possible.

“My baby” as he softly smiles and looks at the animal snuggled in his arms.

You immediately call your wife at work in the Emergency Department. You find out it is indeed your son’s new pet. You wonder what kind of thing it is. It looks fleshy human-like yet like an animal. Your wife explains it is a bioengineered pet, and it is called a Genpet.

“What the devil is that?” you practically yell.

Your wife explains Bio*Genica uses human DNA and injects it into live small animals to create these so-called pets. You can even choose the personality characteristics of your pet. For example, choose a high-energy pet, or helpful, or imaginative, etc. The pets are all the rage and your son wanted to be one of the first to get one.

You tell your wife you should have discussed this first together. What does this person or animal thing eat? Is it safe? Would you allow this Gen“pet” in your house? Have bioengineering scientists taken technology too far?

Squeaky….

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You Have Got to Be Kidding, it’s a GenPet?

Speed up Windows Vista, with ReadyBoost

squeaky — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:32:20 +0000

ReadyBoost for Vista, is a built in tool which allows you to boost your systems performance significantly by using external devices such as, external USB 2.0 flash drives and SD memory cards.

Your computer system has a set amount of (RAM) memory, when the PC runs out of that physical RAM, it will take a chunk from your hardrive, adding it as additional memory to cache your system. ReadyBoost, will add additional caching memory to the computer system, which can be accessed much faster than the virtual RAM of your computers hardrive. This improves your systems overall performance, because a ReadyBoost compatible USB 2.0 flash drive can be 8X to 10X faster than a SATA hardrive.

Because ReadyBoost uses a write-through cache on cache file writes, there is no need to worry about losing data that is meant to be written to your systems hardrive. As a security measure, the cache is encrypted using AES-128 bit encryption. So, this will prevent unwanted eyes from seeing and the possibility of stealing your data.

[Windows Vista ReadyBoost minimum standards]
Minimum device size requirement, must be at least 235MB.
* 2.5 MB/sec throughout for 4 KB random reads.
* 1.75 MB/sec throughout for 512 KB random writes.

[Setting up ReadyBoost in Windows Vista]
You simply, insert an empty USB compatible flash drive into one of your computers’s USB 2.0 slots. Now, Windows Vista will do a compatibility test to make sure the USB drive is ReadyBoost compatible.

At this point, the AutoPlay window should pop up.

Click the “Speed up my system” link, and you’ll be taken to the ReadyBoost panel for the flash drive:

Just select Use this device, and set the amount of space you want to use. Windows will create what is essentially a paging file on the disk, and will use it for faster access.

Additional Notes:
01. When you are ready to purchase a Windows ReadyBoost flash drive, make sure that it is capable of 10MB/sec (or higher) for random reads and writes across the disk.
02. Make sure your USB drive is empty, so you do not lose any important data that is on it.
03. Vista Ready, does not mean Vista Compatible.
04. Look for, “Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost” to assure compatibility.
05. If your USB drive doesn’t support ReadyBoost, under the ReadyBoost tab you will see the following message “This device does not have the required performance…”
06. Current limitations, are that a PC can only use one device at a time.

Squeaky….

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Speed up Windows Vista, with ReadyBoost

Squeaky’s - Madmouse Blog, Suggestion Contest - Win EC

squeaky — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:00:57 +0000

Squeaky said, you can win ec by making suggestions about how to improve Squeaky’s Madmouse Blog. That’s right, you can win some ec just by making suggestions of what you would like us to add to the Blog. Currently, we have a list of items which we feel are some areas to pursue, but we would like to hear from our blogs readers. It is of the highest importance to us, what you think should be added to improve Squeaky’s Madmouse Blog.
You were maybe asking yourself, why would we want your comments? I will tell you why.
It is easy for a blogger to get the blinders on or even develop tunnel vision. So, from time to time, it is important to hear from the readers and about what you feel is important. Without you, the reader, there isn’t much of a point to blog. You are a very valuable asset to Squeaky’s - Madmouse Blog, so your comments and suggestions are very welcomed here.

EC Prizes:
1st place, 4,000 ec
2nd place, 2,000 ec
3rd place, 1,000 ec.

All you have to do is make your suggestions in this post, and they should be made in a constructive manner. You may make more than one suggestion, actually make as many as you like. The contest winners will be selected on Aug 11th, 2008 - 12:00am United States Central Time, and posted on the 12th of Aug.

If you would like to blog about this contest, please do so, but it isn’t required.

Winners will be selected based upon their suggestions and participation. Those who make the best suggestions first, have a better chance to win, so remember that the early bird gets the ec.

“Prizes will be in ec only, you can not be redeemed for cash value.”
“Please note: People who have been paid for professional services, for working on any of the Madmouse Network Sites are excluded from this contest.”

Squeaky….

Winners Update: 09-12-2009
1st place: Mack
2nd place: Puneet
3rd pace: NA, only two entries for contest.

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Squeaky’s - Madmouse Blog, Suggestion Contest - Win EC

Increasing Pagerank by Building Backlinks, Good Fuel for SEO!

squeaky — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:18:52 +0000

If you are trying to increase your website’s pagerank on the Google search engine, many SEO experts will tell you that building backlinks to your website is one of the best ways to do so. Backlinks are links to your website from another website, and the more backlinks you have the better it will impact your website’s pagerank in the Google search engine.

Many website owners use blogs as a way to generate backlinks. They comment on blogs related to their website and leave their name and URL for other people to click on. While this method will generate traffic from direct clicks, there is a problem with relying on these types of backlinks to increase pagerank, especially if you are commenting on WordPress blogs.

WordPress by default sets the URLs in comments to a “no follow” status. This means that readers can see your name and comment, and click on your hyperlink, but search engines will not follow your URL or index it which will not affect your pagerank. There is no way a URL set to “no follow” status will hep to increase your website’s pagerank because search engines won’t index it.

WordPress automatically sets URLs in comments to the “no follow” status due to spam. Too many people searching for an easy way to build backlinks make generic comments or comments not related to the blog hoping to build quick backlinks. While WordPress automatically sets the “no follow” tag, there still are ways to get backlinks from commenting on blogs, even ones hosted on WordPress.

Some WordPress bloggers will manually assign the “follow” tag to their blogs so that URLs in the comments will be indexed and can be used as a backlink. There are also plug-ins that bloggers can use to manage which comments will be assigned the “follow” tag and which will be assigned the “no follow” tag. A blogger can choose to assign a follow tag to comments made by registered commentators, non-registered commentators, or even after a specified number of comments. This encourages a poster to participate in a blog in a relevant manner so that their URLs receive the “follow” tag and can build them backlinks.

Getting your URL out there will help to drive traffic, but you have to be careful to make sure that it has the “follow” tag associated with it if you want it to count as a backlink that will help increase page rank. The best way to use blogs to build backlinks is to be a regular participator, add value to the blog with your comments. Signup for the blog’s RSS feed, will help to show the blogger that you are a genuine participator, bloggers will be much more likely to give your comments the “follow” tag this way.

Squeaky….

Increasing Pagerank by Building Backlinks, Good Fuel for SEO!