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Articles from GBE Friends

You Can Double Your Online Business by Using a Blog

by Kale McClelland

Web traffic is not guaranteed, but one thing is.

If you post good, quality content with the right keywords on your blog, Google will notice. Then depending on how long people stay on your site, Google will decide if you're an 'authority' on your niche topic.

And if you pass that test, Google will index it, and allow thousands of people to find it. This can result in tons of quality prospects visiting your business website daily.

That said, Google can also be unforgiving. Depending on what you do, it can be "unpredictable."

If Google changes its algorithm or makes the standards for a so-called "authority blog" higher and yours no longer fits within these standards, you may be out of luck. Of course, Google also does not tell you what that standard is, exactly, so it's not as though you can adjust your own behavior accordingly.

What does that mean? Traffic can disappear just like that.

Fortunately, Web 2.0 is now on the scene, and it can be much more effective and much quicker than a search engine (even Google) in ensuring you get a lot of traffic. Blogs, therefore, mean that you as a business owner can take full advantage of Web 2.0.

David Ledoux explains how he gets over 10,000 visitors to his blog, with over 7000 of those coming from social bookmarking sites. Have a look at Vitale's Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 bonus interview for the full report.

What does that mean? If David had simply sat back and waited for Google or another search engine to recognize him, he'd be getting less than half the traffic he's getting at the present moment.

Sites such as Stumbleupon.com, OnlyWire.com and Digg.com let you share your blog posts and articles with millions of viewers with one simple push of a button.

In addition, these social bookmarking sites are free and can produce amazing results if you use them properly.

However, there are a few things you must keep in mind before you go haywire submitting your blog content to them. The effectiveness of your blog largely depends on the community members on these sites.

They act very much like a democracy. People can vote up your blog article, or they can vote it down. If enough people vote it up, it becomes highly visible, resulting in more traffic. It all depends on the quality of the content you provide.

If your blog post is more like an ad, or something that's very self-serving, then it won't fly. Marketing and advertising should be next to nil when sharing content on these sites. People don't like to be sold, so don't try it.

And yep, you have to make content interesting. Boring just won't do. Keep your content engaging, funny, interesting, or whatever particular pull is appropriate for your venue. You can play your blog articles back into your product or service in some way, but do it creatively and without "selling" to people.

A great technique is to create articles based on the calendar. Holidays, events, and seasons can be very interesting topics to write about. Writing about things going on currently in the news is also very effective.

Dr. Joe Vitale wrote a blog article titled 'Desperate Valentines', and wrote 15 things you can do if you're alone on Valentines Day. Once he launched it on February 14th and submitted it to Digg.com, he generated close to 20,000 unique hits to his blog.

The possibilities are literally endless, so make sure you blog to take advantage of this key component in Internet marketing, gone Web 2.0.

To learn how more about how Dr. Joe Vitale and David Ledoux use Blogs and Web 2.0 strategies to multiply their businesses quickly, check out their bonus interview over at Hypnotic Marketing.

Published July 21st, 2008

Filed in Home Business, Marketing