Still think link exchanges don't work?
August 30, 2006
I love it when I'm right. I had a reader write in and tell me about his successful link exchange campaign. He's given me permission to share his results. Here's the email:
I'm getting CRAZY of happiness today, look what happened minutes ago:
See Emanuele's #1 ranking at Yahoo.
NUMBER ONE for my main keyword! and i used Seo Elite (although extensively) just for a week! This is in addition of what happened yesterday, where I started to see #2 positions in many international MSN search sites:
See Emanuele's #2 ranking in MSN
I'll come there and kiss you 
No kisses please! But I'm always happy to hear from readers who write in their success stories.
Notice that his success came from using SEO Elite, a software tool that I strongly recommend for getting links to your site.
In addition to using the software, Emanuele took my advice about how to word the link exchange requests. Look at this results from that (again, in an email he sent me):
I want to let you know what just happened. I just started to apply what I learned from you (my fault, I should have started immediatly). I'm totally shocked. I'm inundated with answers. But what shocked me is how people are reacting versus how they were nervous using classic "link exchange" request. Also people are blogging on how "cool" I am. I can't believe it.
See an incredible example
I couldn't believe it
Of course, thanks.
Emanuele.
So there you have it! Evidence that link exchange campaigns do work, and that the way you word your link exchange requests makes all the difference in the world.
P.S. What are you waiting for? Get a copy of SEO Elite now and start seeing results for youself!
Web Design: Think like the military!
August 28, 2006
When designing a web site, it's very important that you think like the military, and I don't mean destroy the competition (not literally anyway).
The Internet was originally a military project called ARPANET. It was a computer network design that would allow data to be rerouted in case one or more of the pieces of the network were destroyed or damaged beyond the ability function. It was smart and worked well, and thus was adapted into what we know now as the Internet.
When you create a web site, you need to have that kind of disaster planning in mind. You should have multiple streams of traffic coming into your site, not just one. Do not rely souly on search engine traffic! As all too many people can tell you, one major change in a search engine algorithm and your traffic can evaporate like a glass of water on a Texas highway in summer time!
You want search engine traffic, but you also want links from related sites. I'm talking about real links here, not links placed on some unseen back page for the sake of search engine optimization. I'm talking about real links that people can see and follow. Find link trading partners who are willing to give your link a prominent position, and do the same in return.
Also make sure you're writing articles and getting them distributed through the major article sites such as articlecity.com, ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com. Make sure your 'About the Author' box has a link back to your site and is written in a way that really pulls people in for more.
What's ironic about not making search engines your only focus is that by finding good link partners and writing and distributing articles you will actually improve your search engine rankings! All of the extra links from authority sites you got by creating good relationships with other webmasters, and all of those links earned by writing quality content for distribution will get picked up by the search engines.
So think like the military: design your traffic network in such a way that if part of it was lost you would still be going strong from the other traffic sources.
P.S. To get real, quality links into your site, I strongly recommend Jack Humphrey's Power Linking methods.
Why WordPress blogs are better than normal web sites.
August 26, 2006
A WordPress blog is far superior to the average web site in many ways, especially if you're not an HTML or graphics guru. Here are the top 3 reasons why you should be building blogs instead of more traditional web sites:
1. WordPress blogs require no HTML skill, yet look great.
I personally use the Semiologic WordPress theme, which I love (I did an extensive review of Semiologic here, in case you're interested). It comes with some great skins and options to make a very clean, smooth looking blog with no HTML or web design knowledge.
This is more important than you might realize. People initially judge the quality of your content by the look of your site, even before they ever read a word. If the site doesn't have a professional look, they will assume you are not giving professional advice.
Plus one for WordPress blogs!
2. WordPress blogs include RSS feeds that automatically get included in dozens of RSS feed directories.
WordPress has built-in RSS feed functions so that each time you post to the blog dozens of RSS feed sites get notified (pinged) about your new content. These feed sites are frequented by tens of thousands of webmasters looking for good content for their sites. If they decide to use your RSS feed, you get free traffic from their sites.
Semiologic is even better, since it only pings when a new post is created, whereas WordPress will ping even when you are just editing a post (which can be seen as ping spam).
Plus two for WordPress blogs!
3. You can keep posting to your blog even when you're not in front of the computer!
No, I'm not losing my mind in my old age. You do not have to be in front of your keyboard to have your posts automatically sent to the blog. In fact, the post you're reading right now was posted when I wasn't in front of the keyboard.
I knew I would be going out of town this weekend and probably wouldn't be able to get online to post, so I post-dated a blog entry that I wrote a few days ahead of time. I just changed the Post Timestamp to two days later.
Once the post date actually came (two days later), only then did the post become visible on the home page. Voila, regular content even when I'm not around.
This is great, because creativity usually comes in bursts. So when you're really feeling creative and you're cranking out the articles, they don't all have to be posted that day. You can post date each subsequent entry a day or two later and have it automatically get posted then.
Plus three for WordPress blogs!
Summing it all Up
There are a lot of other reasons I prefer WordPress blogs over traditional web sites, but these are the three big ones: they are much easier to create, they have built in sources of getting traffic with RSS feeds, and you can post-date articles so they appear when you're not around.
All of those things can be accomplished with a normal web site, but to make them behave that way you would have to have a lot of extra software created and installed. And you know what you would have after installing all of that extra software? That's right: a WordPress blog.
P.S. I recommend that you read my full review of the Semiologic Pro WordPress Theme and see if it's not a fantastic tool for building your next web site.
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. 
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