4 Keepz

Well, today on Webmaster Radio I presented the finding from the first rel=”nofollow” test. A few minutes later in the chat room I was presented with a link to another blog. The post read as follows:
Blogspam works, but only in large quantities Dave Davies did some research on whether nofollow links still pass some linkjuice, and as it turns out (which we knew of course) it does, a bit… So,

Original post by Dave Davies, CEO

Zeke 1.0 + Widgets is a 3-column, widget-ready Wordpress theme. It’s built to work with Wordpress versions 2.1 and above.

Demo site and download link are here.

Install is easy. Unzip the file. That will give you a folder titled “Zeke10.” Within that folder is another fold called “Zeke10,” and that’s the folder you want to upload to your wp-content/themes directory.

If you find any bugs or have questions, email me.

Original post by Michael Pollock

Want to get your business blog in gear? Here are 10 (plus 1 bonus!) battle-tested tips that you can start implementing today:

• Host on your own domain: One of the biggest mistakes made by business bloggers is hosting on a third-party domain, such as “typepad.com” or “blogspot.com”. It can be a great way to get up and running with minimal technical fuss, but in the long run it will come back to bite you. Once you’ve built an audience, search engine value, etc., you’re tied to that domain. Get off on the right foot, and make sure you’re using your own domain name from the beginning.
• Get a real design: Marketing is ultimately about differentiation, and you’ll have a hard time standing out when your business blog looks just like a hundred others. Skip the free themes, and put some money toward hiring hiring a blog design company to do the job right. Never underestimate the effectiveness of powerful design.
• Integrate the blog with your business site: The classic business blogger story goes something like this — “Blogger gets website. Blogger writes and writes and writes. Blogger builds an audience. Blogger wonders why no new business is coming in. Blogger had forgotten to tie the blog back to his business website.” Don’t be that guy. Integrate the blog into your business site. Make sure readers know who’s doing the blogging, and what else you can do for them.
• Keep it simple: It’s exciting for your inner geek to play with widgets, plugins, add-ons, modifications, customizations, etc., but your readers really don’t care about that stuff. They came to read blog posts. The cleaner and more pure you can make your blog, the better. Cut as much clutter as you can.
• Define an “audience of one”: Narrow your audience down to a specific niche (ideally one that meshes with your company’s target market), and then create a persona profile that describes an individual from that niche. Give him or her a name. Find a headshot you can use. Figure out what he or she wants out of your website, and then write all your blog posts to that one imaginary person. This will keep you focused on your audience at all times, and will give your voice a more personal touch.
• Stay on topic: Related to the last point — once you’ve defined your audience, only post things that are relevant to your audience. (Don’t dilute your blog with posts about your family, a great new movie, or how sorry you are for not posting more. Save that stuff for your personal site.)
• Provide content, not commentary: Rather than just “reblogging” links to other sites or blog posts with a quick little comment of your own, focus instead on being the site that other people are talking about. Post original thoughts, views, tips, etc., not just your rehashing of what other people have already done.
• Promote the blog through your business: Business blogging is a two-way deal. Instead of just using it as a lead-generation tool, make sure that your current customers know about the blog as well. It will help to build awareness, increase loyalty, and increase your ability to communicate on important topics.
• Answer the big questions: Business blogs are most useful in a time of change, and yet this is when many businesses panic and neglect their blog. When something is happening, many people will be hitting your blog for answers. Don’t let them down. If your blog seems to be pretending nothing is going on, people will lose trust in it, even during calm times.
• Enable discussion: If you want to have a conversation, you’ve got to be willing to take a few thumps. Enable comments on your blog, and don’t go around deleting everything that’s unflattering. The only things that should really be moderated are blatantly offensive trolling and obvious spam.
• Don’t obsess about traffic: It’s fun to watch your traffic spike when you get on Digg, or get a link from a major blogger, but the reality is that these traffic spikes have little effect on the overall success of your business. Stay relevant to your core audience, work hard to get the word out, and then be happy with whatever you’ve got. Even one interested reader can totally change the course of your company.

Original post by James Archer

Hottie 1.0 + Widgets is a 2-column, widget-ready Wordpress theme. It’s built to work with Wordpress versions 2.1 and above.

Demo site and download link are here.

Install is easy. Unzip the file. That will give you a folder titled “Hottie10.” Within that folder is another fold called “Hottie10,” and that’s the folder you want to upload to your wp-content/themes directory.

If you find any bugs or have questions, email me.

Original post by Michael Pollock

Suhweet 1.0 + Widgets is a 3-column, widget-ready Wordpress theme. It’s built to work with Wordpress versions 2.1 and above.

Demo site and download link are here.

Install is easy. Unzip the file. That will give you a folder titled “Suhweet10.” Within that folder is another fold called “Suhweet10,” and that’s the folder you want to upload to your wp-content/themes directory.

If you find any bugs or have questions, email me.

Original post by Michael Pollock

Simplicity 1.0 + Widgets is a 3-column, widget-ready Wordpress theme. It’s built to work with Wordpress versions 2.1 and above.

Demo site and download link are here.

Install is easy. Unzip the file. That will give you a folder titled “Simplicyt10.” Within that folder is another fold called “Simplicity10,” and that’s the folder you want to upload to your wp-content/themes directory.

If you find any bugs or have questions, email me.

Original post by Michael Pollock

Like a lot of web entrepreneurs I only really use google adsense on my sites.
I like adsense but I think I am just too dependant on it. What I have promised myself I would do is to try to diversify my income. So I have started making money from directory submissions (www.bizbookmarks.com, themetree.com, bizsocial.com), parking my unused domains (I should have done this a long time ago) at auctionads which basically allows you to put ebay ads on your site, its quite similar to adsense in the way it works .

I have also got another advertiser from text link ads (see $100 in FREE Links) on this blog see, Technology public relations at the footer of this blog in the red box..

Update on the bank card fraud: I have submitted a disputes form to my bank.

Original post by L146705

Torn 2.0 + Widgets is a 3-column, widget-ready Wordpress theme. It’s built to work with Wordpress versions 2.1 and above.

Demo site and download link are here..

Install is pretty easy. Unzip the file. That will give you a folder title “torn20.” Within that folder is another fold called “torn20,” and that’s the folder you want to upload to your wp-content/themes directory.

If you find any bugs or have questions, email me.

Original post by Michael Pollock

Bosco 2.0 + Widgets is a 2-column, widget-ready Wordpress theme. It’s built to work with Wordpress versions 2.1 and above.

Demo site and download link are here..

Install is pretty easy. Unzip the file. That will give you a folder title “bosco20.” Within that folder is another fold called “bosco20,” and that’s the folder you want to upload to your wp-content/themes directory.

If you find any bugs or have questions, email me.

Original post by Michael Pollock

I didn’t really place much importance on having a robots.txt file hence some of my sites had one and some others didn’t.  Now the problem with not having one is that if Google cannot find your robots.txt file and doesn’t get a 404 page not found error, Google won’t spider (crawl/index) your site. 

This created the problem of my homepages not being indexed but the rest of the site was. I found this problem by logging into sitemaps and verifying my site.

Original post by L146705