I’ve read a lot of blogs in my day and I’ve learned that I only return to those that have provided me something of value. I reckon that’s why I don’t bother returning to those blogs, and there are quite a few of them out there, whose sole intention is to try to separate me from my hard earned money. What I find extremely amusing is that the way they are trying to do it is by selling me their secret to making a fortune and it usually turns out that I have to do the same to someone else in order to secure my own fortune.

Nope, as far as I am concerned there is nothing there of value to me and so I don’t pander to their over inflated egos by commenting on them. So, what constitutes value? I suppose it means different things for different people and there is no way you can please everybody so there is no use in trying.

Providing A Solution To A Problem

Many people search the Internet in the hope of finding a solution to their problems and if you can provide that solution they will be more than grateful, they may not part with any of their cash but you still get a nice feeling from the knowledge that you helped someone out.

One particular post that highlights this is the one I did explaining how I finally got Safari to work on my iPod Touch.  That particular post received more comments than any other post on that blog and it’s interesting to note that the majority of the commentators did not own a blog or website.

Providing Useful Information

There are many blogs that would fall under this umbrella and I reckon I should give a bit of link luv to demonstrate this.

Worthy tips did a nice post describing 9 hacks you could try on your WordPress blog one of which I may consider adding to one of my blogs, just for fun’s sake. Another good example would be Ching Ya who always provides post of great value to a lot of people, her most recent one discussing 5 ways to promote your FaceBook Page on a personal account.

Providing Answers To Questions

Another reason many people resort to Google is to find out whether things that they’ve heard is true or not. That’s probably the main reason why most of the hits I get on my Load Of Bullshit blog are from search engines. I like the fact that some of the posts on that blog have saved people from making what could be potentially costly mistakes, like to post I did on the Acai Berry scam. There was even one post that got someone so upset they threatened to sue me if I didn’t remove the post. The post is still there.

Pure Entertainment Value

Then there are those blogs whose sole reason for being there is to entertain the masses, and lets face it people love to be entertained and if this wasn’t true there wouldn’t be so many people sitting in front of the box.

Me, I try to incorporate a bit of all of these into my blogs. Truth be told though, this is only a small example of what people may consider to be of value, and it’s not for me to list them all here. That’s what I have you guys for, so that you can work those brain cells a little by leaving a comment as to what sort of things you find of value, perhaps even going so far as to tell us what value your blog provides to it’s readers.

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I want to be different from those people who join an affiliate and then promote the heck out of it, even if they haven’t tried it, just so that they can make a few extra bucks. I definitely wouldn’t promote a product that I didn’t believe in.  I specially would not want to promote a product as being a real money spinner if I didn’t find it to be so.

Seeing as how it’s been a month now since my post called How The People Search Craze Could Put Money In Your Pocket,  I thought it fitting to do an update on how things are progressing. First things first though, I reckon I should tell people my findings of some of the promises that were made.

• FREE Advertising of Your Search Engine for 24 Hours After You Complete Three Easy Steps

I will take Tissa’s word for this, but what I can say is that 24 hours of advertising netted me one hit, and no sale, which is not surprising as most people would tell you that only a small percentage of people clicking a link actually purchase a product. I wouldn’t join AcmePeopleSearch just because of that promise, there has to be more substance to a program than simple promising 24 hours of free advertising.

• A Guaranteed Bonus of $125.00 AFTER You Earn $75 (Your Incentive to LEARN how to Earn)

That promise is 100% true, as can be seen from the image posted in my Quick Update On People Search Money Opportunity post. You will notice the $125 sitting there waiting for me to earn the other $75 so that I can collect the lot. Nothing wrong with dangling a bit of a carrot as far as I can see.

• Personal Support from Tissa Godavitarne and a Community of Successful and Helpful Users

Also true as I’ve always got quick and helpful replies when posting in the forum, although I haven’t tried contacting Tissa directly.

• Free 30 day when completing step 3!

That one is true too as completing that step simply subscribes via PayPal but doesn’t actually become active until 30 days after joining, thereby ensuring you thirty days of free access. I opted out of the subscription just before it was due as I thought I would wait until the system makes enough money to pay it’s own way. Read the post Quick Update On People Search Money Opportunity to see the benefits of completing step 3.

So, now for the crunch, how much did I make in the first month? Not a bloody dime, but then I didn’t expect it to come rolling in after only a month. I can see it’s going to take some time and so I will continue to explore ways of marketing it. Things like my Squidoo Lens, my Squeeze or Landing page, Traffic Exchanges and any other avenues for promoting it that I come across.

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While search engines are very important to those who use them, they are just as important to those webmasters and bloggers who rely on them to bring visitors to their site. Knowing how they work can be very important when structuring websites or blogs.

Me, I can’t be bothered as it’s all too technical and would take all the enjoyment out of blogging. Still, having said that I found the following video extremely interesting. The video reviews the two most popular search engines, Google and Yahoo as well as the two newest search engines, Bing and Wolfram Alpha.

For those of you who actually watched the video, I know many in their excitement to leave a comment sometimes don’t actually watch the movie; shit some people don’t even read the post, but don’t worry, unlike Extreme John I’ll just delete your comment.

Anyway, those of you who did watch the video you will know that very interesting comparisons are made between the search engines. It also explains why the same search term gives different results depending on the search engine used.

Something else I got out of it was a site called Blind Search, developed by a Microsoft employee for something to do in his spare time. What does the site do. In his words it is a ‘taste test’ and it works by entering a search term in the box. It will give you three different results, delivered in three columns, and all the branding has been stripped from the results. You then vote for the search engine that delivered, in your opinion, the best result, and it will then display the branding of the engines.

The goal of this site is simple, we want to see what happens when you remove the branding from search engines. How differently will you perceive the results?

Go ahead, give it a go. I’m sure you will find the results very interesting. Oh, don’t forget to Tweet this post if you found it of some interest.

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I read an interesting post the other day by crsenter called Using Keywords For Your Creativity which is basically how to use keywords and phrases creatively in your post. She’s also included a link to a free website that can help you find the answers to the right keywords. As usual, her posts get me to thinking, and I suddenly realised that although I know all the basics about SEO, including the necessity to use the right keywords, I do not actively take the time to source the appropriate words, phrases, linking stratagies etc to make my blogs stand out.

I left a comment on her post saying as much and to my surprise she admitted that;

I don’t research keywords near as much as I should either. I just go with the flow.

At least she does attempt it on occasions, which is more than what I do. The reason I don’t do all the ‘right’ things is because I reckon it just takes all the fun out of blogging and blogging is something that I want to enjoy. I suppose that in essence I must fit into the ‘Lazy Blogger’ category but at least I am a happy lazy blogger.

Although there is a poll on this post I would like you to go beyond just simply casting a vote. I want to hear your opinions and whether or not you adhere to all the SEO rigmarole.

Are You A Lazy Blogger?

• Yes
• No
• Sometimes

View Results

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I have always said that blogging was a great way to build up relationships, especially if you take the time to comment on blogs that you happen to visit, it’s sort of like saying ‘hello’ to someone you pass on the street. Something that very few of us do. I know I get a brief shocked expression when I give a cheery ‘good morning’ to a passer by but it usually changes to a bright smile and a reply from the recipient.

Anyway it was through my interaction with bloggers that I met Mitch, a very intelligent blogger from America. Mitch had asked me to do a guest post for him and I was more than happy to to whip one up for him. I then thought how great it would be to have a person of his capabilities do one for me and so I tentatively sent out the request and Mitch was gracious enough to come up with this great piece of content.

Before I present the actual guest post I would like to add a few of Mitch’s other sites that he forgot to mention, Services And Stuff, Reviews Of Everything and Medical Billing Answers.  As you can see, Mitch likes to keep busy, which is why I am particularly grateful that he took the time for this guest post:

I got into helping small companies market their primary businesses on the web quite by accident. Back in 2006, I was giving a presentation on a health care related topic to one group, got home, and saw that my consultant’s group had its speaker back out at the last minute, and we didn’t have a topic or speaker for our meeting in two days. I wrote to the group offering to do a presentation on website presence, and they jumped on it.

The thing is, I don’t know why I said it, or what I was thinking at the time. I hadn’t put anything together. It was just an idea that popped into my mind at that moment, and I really didn’t think they’d jump on it the way they did. So now I had to scramble and try to figure out what I was going to do. This was on a Wednesday, and I spent the entire rest of the day and night trying to think about what I was going to do. It finally hit me at 2:45 in the morning, and I went to bed secure in the knowledge that I at least finally had a direction to go in.

The next day saw me spending 7 hours putting together a PowerPoint presentation, using the construction of one of my websites and a couple other websites I had at the time as background material. Suddenly it was Friday morning, and I launched into a presentation that I thought would last about 35 minutes, but ended up lasting 90 minutes because of the questions and enthusiasm on the topic. When it was over, I had two people immediately ask me if I’d help them with their websites, and SEO Xcellence was born.

I believe that most small and large companies have no real idea of what to do with their websites. Many people I talk to say they have a website because they want to be part of the 21st century, but other than that they don’t have much up on their pages. I tell people all the time that having a website is so much better than a brochure as a business tool because it not only gives them the freedom to express themselves and show exactly what their business can do, but it can be changed at a moment’s notice for very little cost, no cost if they know how to do it themselves.

I now have two business websites, two blogs (one attached to one of the business sites), and three other sites. Where my businesses are concerned, I have my website on my business cards; my business email address reinforces my business name; every email I send out has my business email address on it (though it may be for the different business or website at the time). If people go to either of my business websites they’ll see many pages of information, all written by me, and there can be no confusion as to what I do. And I continue adding more content all the time, because there’s always more I want to say. People spend a lot of time on my main business site, TT Mitchell Consulting, Inc., and that’s what I want them to do, because I want to reinforce my business name in their minds. As I mentioned, I also have a business blog Mitch’s Blog, which helps drive traffic to my site because it’s always creating new content, which helps keep websites fresh; search engines love that.

There are many things to consider, but the landscape can be very confusing. That’s why I wrote a small ebook on it titled Using Your Website As A Marketing Tool, which is for small business owners who haven’t quite figured out what to do with their websites. There are many advertising and marketing opportunities businesses are missing, and this low cost alternative is the perfect way to help enhance all business goals

I want to thank Mitch for that post that will only enhance this blog. I would also like to mention to those reading this that you should not be afraid to ask others to do a guest post for your blog or to be afraid to do one for another blog as there are many advantages for both parties, ones that go way beyond that of mutual promotion.