Q: Should I Buy Pay Per Post Reviews?

At the current time I don't think you should.

Why? Because Google doesn't like paid links, and these are what you are in effect trying to buy.

If you are only looking for traffic then you might be okay. However, speaking anecdotally, I've seen sites get penalized for using Pay Per Post. Perhaps only when the PPP blog loses PR, but potentially Google will discount valid natural links as well as those that were paid for.

Be careful here.

However, if you can find a way to get a blogger to write about you, without appearing to be a paid post, then you should be okay. This will take a lot more time and effort than using the PPP service.

Putting Spam Blogs To Work

How many times have you been frustrated to find yourself viewing a spammy automated blog?

Wait, don't run, this kind of trouble is lots of fun!

Simply look for automated crappy blogs that are on a topic related to a site that you want to promote. Find those that allow immediate comments. Leave an on-topic comment using the anchor text of your choice.

As you find these blogs, bookmark them. You'll want to come back!

Why? Because links that contain keywords can help you rank for those keywords. Besides, if someone is carelessly running a spam blog, how likely is it that they are going to come back and moderate their comments -- especially if they manage to get one that is on topic for a change.

Oh, did I mention, Google's blogsearch is a great way to find them. Type in a query on a topic of interest and then choose the sort by date option...

NOTE: Be careful, as there is a concern that having links from unsavory locations could be bad for your own site. Some people feel this is a concern while others feel it should not be the case as someone else could post links to you from a bad location and get you penalized. Just make sure you go in with your eyes open.

Q: How Do I Get PR For My Site?

While the answer to this question may seem incredibly simple, it can be very difficult to do.

The answer is to get links to your blog or web site.

However, in the process you don't want to be caught buying or selling links. You also don't want to be caught using artificial link building strategies. You know what I mean. Many sites operate a low quality links page or a free-for-all page that you can get a link from. Don't do it.

The reason it is very difficult to get links is that you have to provide enough quality on your site that people spontaneously decide to link to you. If you are writing a blog this can be done by participating in the community of blogs that share a topic similar to yours. If you aren't blogging, it gets harder!

Don't despair. You can also start down the path towards accumulating PR by submitting your site to various directories or by submitting content to article directories. These link building strategies, and others - such as forum post signatures, and social bookmarking are a safe way to get started.

Oh, in case you didn't know it, the higher the PR of the page that links to you the more help it will be in transferring PR to you. As well, the fewer outbound links there are on a page the more your site will benefit from being linked to from that page. This doesn't mean you should be all that choosy, but keep these factors in mind when considering the value you are receiving from a link.

Ads-Click Preview

You may not have heard of them yet, but there is a company out there called Ads-Click. I've signed up for their program -- mainly because I was interested in what appears to be a tag cloud advertisement.

I've been approved as a publisher and one of my sites is now sporting this ad unit. I have no idea what revenues will be like, but I do have the ability to see keyword click through ratios and associated price per click information.

Once I have more information I'll let you know how it works out. However, if you are impatient, you may want to Google these people up and put their tag cloud on your web site. Oh, by the way, they only want US/Canadian traffic at the current time.

UPDATE: This tag cloud item is malfunctioning in IE. So, for the time being I have commented out the code! I'll contact the support staff and see if they are able to figure out what is going on...

Q: How Many CJ Links On A Page?

People who have started out with Adsense are often looking for similar rules with other methods of advertising.

You won't find any limit to the number of CJ (Commission Junction) links you can put on a single page. However, your site will look very spammy if you simply slap a ton of affiliate links and banners on it.

For those of you that don't know, CJ is an affiliate network. You can sign up with advertiser programs and promote those that you are accepted into. CJ aggregates your income across all of your advertisers and will issue payment when you accumulate enough to satisfy some minimum amount.

Q: Should I Post To Article Directories?

Yes, of course you should. When an article directory accepts your submission you will get a link back to your site from the author bio details. If you are lucky the article will be picked up and used by many other sites as well.

However, before you rush out and start using these directories, there are some additional things to consider:

• Don't submit content you already have on your site our blog. Write something unique instead.
• Sure, go ahead and submit the new article to several article directories - you want it to be picked up and published in multiple places anyway.
• Some article directories may provide a submission or distribution service. Scout the web to find out whether any particular distribution service is worthwhile.
• Yes, it is possible that you will get PR from the links acquired from article directories or any subsequent republishing that occurs.
• Be aware that unscrupulous people could decide to publish your article without giving you the required link. It is not likely to be worth your time trying to deal with this situation if it happens.

I've used various article directories from time to time myself. Ones I'd recommend include:

• http://www.amazines.com
• http://www.articlealley.com
• http://www.ezinearticles.com
• http://www.gather.com
• http://www.goarticles.com

If you know of other good article directories please write a comment to let everyone know.

Q: How Can I Build Blog Readership?

It can be very difficult and demoralizing to start a new blog, pour your heart into some great posts, and then have absolutely nobody read it or leave comments. You will quickly wonder why you are continuing to devote time to your blog and if things don't change, you'll quit.

Here are some ideas to help you develop some initial readership:

• If you get into a creative streak, be sure to set some items aside as "drafts" so that you can keep the blog updating on a regular schedule. Search engines like this and readers like to see regular updates too.
• Hit up pingoat and when you submit your site bookmark the resulting page. Every time you post a new item visit your bookmark to issue another set of pings.
• Make sure you are submitting your items to places like Digg, del.icio.us and so on, when appropriate. Be sure that you don't spam them, but when you have something decent, put it out there and see if anyone is interested.
• In the beginning, consider joining some blogging forums or even some blog traffic exchanges. Blog explosion was good once, but it seems the new owners have been driving it into the ground. If you find one with happy and active users, instead of just zombie viewers, they can help you get comments.

Also, it's hard to be the first person to make a comment... especially if none of your posts have comments. It makes the reader feel they have driven down a dead-end street. If you have to, create a couple of different accounts, and then a day or two after you publish a post, add a comment. By the time a day or two goes by you might think of something to "suggest" that could have been included. Basically, leave a helpful comment which improves your resource for the reader, perhaps linking to some good external site.

When you aren't working on something else, find other bloggers in your topic area, and then go and leave constructive and helpful comments on their posts. Don't be rude and blast your link, but have good comments and come back from time to time. Instead of getting a link in their comments, you are trying to get the author to visit your blog, see that you provide value to your readers, and get a link in their blogroll. Of course, don't go for the hugely successful sites, they don't have any reason to mess with small fish like us.

Q: How Do I Advertise A Forum With Adwords?

Let's say you have a forum for entrepreneurs.

You could advertise for keywords such as business forum, startup forum, entrepreneur forum, and so forth.

However, what I'd suggest, is wait for some good topics to develop. These are obviously issues of interest to entrepreneurs. For example, perhaps you'll find threads on topics such as hiring good employees, specific sales and marketing strategies, accounting software reviews and so on.

Whatever the threads are about, pick your best ones and advertise them. If you do this well, you will get very specific and hopefully noncompetitive keywords, for which your page will be very relevant. So, over time, you get a ton of low priced keywords, each of which can bring people to your site who are likely to be interested in many of the threads in your forum.

Q: Why Does The Adwords Minimum Bid Change?

If you are new to Google's Adwords program then don't be surprised if you notice that their minimum bids change quite often.

It seems that Google does an initial analysis of your site when you create the ads. This quick scan is used to determine your starting minimum bid. Later, once you have been given some impressions, Google will take a look at your click through ratio and determine whether or not your ads are truly relevant based upon viewer interest.

If you do not get good click through rates, in general, or as compared to other advertisers, then your minimum bid will be raised.

However, from time to time, Google may then drop the minimum bid again and give you a chance to get impressions once again. I'm not sure why this happens, but perhaps it has to do with the click through rates of other advertisers. If their rates fall, or if a successful advertiser runs into a spending limit, Google will do what it can to maximize their revenues.

Q: Should I Sell Links?

Shhh!

Selling links is a dangerous game these days. They are certainly one of the best ways to monetize a site with PR, but you risk that PR if you sell links. You see, it seems that Google will impose penalties on sites that they deem to be selling links for the purpose of PR instead of traffic.

So, what is the poor webmaster to do?

Obviously, how and why we sell advertising is a business decision that should be up to us, but just as obviously we cannot ignore Google's viewpoint as they are the site the currently determines PR.

My advice, go ahead and sell links. However, don't do it publicly! There are all kinds of link brokerages on the net -- though it is beyond the scope of this post for me to review them all for you.

Just do a search on Google and I'm sure you'll find them...

Q: Should I Use Adsense or Adbrite?

This is a no brainer.

In general, because Adbrite lets you default to another advertiser, such as Adsense, if they can't beat the eCPM you specify, you should use them. During setup you specify how much you need to make to show their ads while defining your default advertising by copying your Adsense code.

As your blog or site grows in reputation, and traffic, you'll find that every now and then someone will choose to advertise on your site using Adbrite.

However, if you start to raise your income via other advertisers, be sure to remember to update your minimal acceptable CPM on Adbrite.

Q: Should I Buy Links?

This is a question that gets a different answer every time it is asked.

To make a long story short, yes, but read on to see the ins and outs of this situation.

Yes, Google can penalize a site for selling links. This means that the selling site might lose PR and that the links may not pass PR to you. Obviously, if you are purchasing links for the purpose of acquiring PR, then this is something that will concern you.

However, don't forget, links were originally sold for traffic. Buying a link, a banner, a button or whatever is simply advertising. It is a great way to get targeted traffic to your site for whatever purpose you want them there.

Importantly, no, Google does not generally penalize a site for actions that somebody else could do to your site. If you think about it, if buying links caused a penalty to the buyer, then people would buy links for their competitors in order to have them be penalized.

The competitive nature of the net ads a lot of things to think about when determine how and why penalties might be applied.

Q: What Keywords Should I Use?

This is a question often posed by an Adsense beginner hoping to reap large profits from their online efforts.

This is not the right way to think about making money online.

If you want to make money online you have to provide value to somebody. Popular sites, those with traffic, are the ones that have something unique or interesting to offer to the public. It is a matter of putting together a compelling experience so that people will want to see it, talk about it, or share it with other people.