Part of the mystery is created by software developers that have product on the line and want to push software that will create a Wheel in minutes. So, they are like the late night infomercial hawks who yell Blam! and then collect your cash.

I have no Link Wheel software to push, the fact is, I won't pony up to anything that auto generates content in the form of spun articles. I strongly believe in the practice of generating unique and honest content that is developed by thorough research.

Research breeds passion in my little Pollyanna world.

Keeping to my own preaching, I decided to research so I could continue a conversation about Link Wheels that took place a couple of weeks back at AJ's Blog post, Blogging For Profit Part 6 ~ The Link Wheel Is Complete.

Part of the discussion cited two articles, Matt Cutts' Page Rank Sculpting and the article The Page Rank Sculpting Techniques and the Nofollow Issue at WebSeo Analytics.

I have read these articles over and over as well as watched the Matt Cutts video from last year's Wordcamp, and have come to some conclusions about Link Wheels and the nofollow tagging tactic.

I have also discovered misconceptions that need to be brought to light.

Page Rank Sharing

Before we can re-open our discussion about Link Wheels, we need to make sure we are all on the same page about Google Page Rank (PR).

In a nutshell, PR is a measure of the authority a site has in Google's eyes. PR helps Google determine how often and how deep they will index your site.

Generally, the measurement runs from 0 to 10, with ten being the highest amount of Page Rank.

Google uses PR as a reward system through site to site acknowledgment. If site "A" has a link to a relevant site "B" and Google crawls the link, then site "B" will be rewarded a certain amount of site "A" PageRank.

backlink

A backlink is a one way link that is known as an outbound link at the link from site and an inbound link at the link to site.

nofollow

The HTML tag nofollow in a link tells web crawlers that a site can't or won't give credit to a site at the other end of a backlink.

Google used to share PR by dividing the number of dofollow outbound links into the PR and then sharing the results along the dofollow links (see the top illustration in the image below).

Now, because Google was seeing abuse of the nofollow/dofollow rule, the search engine divides the PR by the number of all out bound links and only shares the results with dofollow links.

Page Rank Decay

One other thing that goes on before any Page Rank is shared is a decay of 10-15% of the Page Rank before it gets divied up among the outbound links.  This hold true for all web pages, not just those with nofollow links.

Although Google would like for us to dofollow link to all of our content, there is no penalty for using nofollow. In fact, quite the opposite can be said.

If the crawlers find spammy content at the end of a link that your have given credit to, you might end up in review and have to resubmit your site.

Matt pretty much alludes to this near the end of the above referenced video.

Best Case/Worst Case

The following video uses some almost laughably optimistic numbers, but I wanted to show exactly what could be done with the proper discipline.

On the other hand, I also used the worst case scenario with some variables as well.

Most of all, I wanted to give an understandable look at how a Link Wheel is built, and how it works:

If you have started a campaign, use that model and plug in all of your links, do the math, and I guarantee you'll see a positive when you are done.

I brought up the Webseo site above because it was cited in the discussion at AJ's Blog. The Author did a great job of detailing the PR distribution, but again there was panic thrown in the discussion.

Why?

Because his company has a solution to combat Page Rank decay. Software designed to give your pages their 10-15% back.

I'm sorry, but if Link Wheels built with hard won content are Black Hat, then software that manipulates search engine algorithm mechanics must be Death Row.

So, are we any clearer on Link Wheels?

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© 2010, Alex. All rights reserved.

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Then, as if mom had reached up from her grave and grabbed my collar, "Would you jump off a bridge if your friends told you to?"

In truth, what happened was I was getting tired of all the confusing expert opinion and decided to study the king itself, Google. More to the point, the Webmaster Blog and Matt Cutts (head of Google's anti-spam team). What I found, and continue to find, is that the best SEO practice is the one targeting the visitor first.

This is not saying that SEO is dead. Not by any means.

What this is saying is that the search engines are getting increasingly closer to reading content just like us folks do.

Back when Al Gore invented the Internet, some common search engine optimization practices for web pages included keyword stuffing in various forms. One of those forms were to have a splash page that listed one keyword about a gazillion times.

Another was typing the keyword over and over again in a font size that was to small for the human eye, but would still be crawled by the spiders.

These tricks no longer work as the bots are way smarter than that these days.

In fact, two practices I see (and have used myself) recently employed are on the brink of extinction. Misuse of heading tags (H1,H2,H3,H4...) and putting keywords in bold and or italic.

Heading Tags

These tags should be reserved for just what they are named for. Headings create an ease of navigation for most readers who scan content looking for something of interest.

Of course we want to place keywords in these tags, because our content is based on what we perceive is useful and what searcher are looking for.

Google realizes that readers scan and look for keywords in heading tags, but they also realize that these tags have there place as introductions to chunks of relevant content, not in the middle of a sentence.

The use of Heading tags can be a wonderful way to point  your visitors and the spiders to the relevant content, but if used for any other purpose, they will not only look out of place to the human eye, but considered as spamming by the search engines.

Bold and Italic

We certainly want to grab the reader's attention to certain points or pieces of information in our content and there is no better way to make those points jump off the page than either using the bold and/or italic attribute. And since we are targeting search terms for our niches, then it only makes sense to put those attributes on keywords.

But hey, think about what it looks like to see content that is littered with the same words in bold and italic. Unpleasant and a turn-off, no?

Well, guess what. If a web page is over done with highlighted keywords, the bots pick up on this and will give a discerning look at the content and may even consider the content as spam.

Usually, a good practice is to highlight a keyword or phrase in the intro of the content to reassure the reader they have landed where they wanted to, and to end up the content with highlighted keywords to catch the quick scanning visitors.

Basic Search engine optimization principals such as heading tags, bold, and italic, are great for pointing out the good stuff to both the readers and the search engines, but if over done, both will see cans of spam in your future.

Then again, you wouldn't jump off of a bridge if I told you to, would you?

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© 2010, Alex. All rights reserved.

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There was a small machine shop, where I was a foreman,  that was owned by a man who knew nothing about metal removal techniques and processes. He was a Bean Counter for Chist's sake.

That man's favorite past time was to stick his nose into the machining and say, "Turn those feeds and speeds dials up until the tool breaks. Then back it down until it doesn't break the tool."

What the hell did he know about machining?

I used to bitch about that habit of his all the time. Then one day, I realized he was right. No matter what knowledge is put into play, there is always more to learn.

What the shop owner knew that I didn't was everything I didn't. Where I was used to programming in feeds and speeds based on criteria and specific formulas, his mind was free from all that. He was unobstructed by what is known to work and was lucid with what might work.

He failed until he succeeded.

Failure is a word that is cringed at and ostracized in our society. We fear failure. But, without failure, we gain no real knowledge of how processes work. There is no getting out hands dirty looking into the bowels of the mechanics.

If we don't burn our tongues, then chances are we will never enjoy sipping hot chocolate.

If I don't fail in the process of succeeding in blogging, then I may never know the real success I could gain. And I have a plan for failure. My plan is classical in the sense that I lay out a strategy and rely on tactics to keep my efforts closely in line with my strategy.

My plan to fail involves:

• Learning and teaching
• Experimentation
• Validation of my failures
• Repeating my successes
• Action

Learning and Teaching

I constantly read and watch media about blogging and SEO. What I learn, I pass on as quickly as I can. If what I pass on is questionable in some one's view, I'll explore those questions.

Believe me, I know that I am not always right in my teaching about blogging, that I fail from time to time to get my message across, or that my message may be a failure in itself. But, if I don't talk and listen, then I'll believe I'm right.

That is a big set up for mediocrity.

By teaching and watching those I teach exceed me in my efforts, I can see where I fail. I can learn from my students.

Experimentation

It's New! It's Improved!

I don't want effin' new and improved. I want different, and I won't know if different works until I experiment with it. Until I push the envelope and it pushes back.

I won't know if different works until I break the envelope and scrape my knees on the way out. That's the reason for the funky banner to build my list instead of the usual sign-up form.

This is also why I spent hours breaking my permalinks on two blogs. I wanted to push the knowledge that I was formally comfortable with. I wanted to acheive that sick feeling of having to recover from a failure, and then succeed in recovering.

Validation Of My Failures

If I validate my failures, or own them, I can manipulate the process that landed me on my ass. If they are my failures, I can work past them.

If I assign those failures to someone else, then I just put up another roadblock and admit defeat before I re-start. Not immersing myself in my failures leads to Status Quo.

Repeating My Successes

By repeating my successes I know they truly are successes. I also can find items along the way that can be tweaked for greater success.

If the second time I try something that worked results in failure, I now know I have some rethinking and reworking to do.

If I succeed three times in a row, I can pass it on to someone else to break.

Action

All the planning in the world can't replace the emotion and passion that is derived by getting in there and duking it out. In fact, it is possible to plan the desire completely out of a project.

I do this when I use outlines to write posts. Sometimes I'll have the whole post resolved before I actually write it and feel like there is no need to write it.

I need to be like those explorers in the old movies. Strike out into the jungle and circumvent any hurdles. This beats the heck out of sitting on my hands because in my planning I saw too my obstacles.

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

~ Michael Jordan

For me, half the fun is failing, half the fun is learning, and half the fun is teaching. I will never feel like I've succeeded at the effort to make money blogging unless I succeed at bloodying my nose and scraping my knees.

How about you? Do you fear failure?

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© 2010, Alex. All rights reserved.

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We now know that permalinks are URLs assigned to content so that users and search engines can find said content. We also understand that WordPress gives us the ability to edit the title "slugs" in our permalinks so that we can better optimize our URLs for SEO purposes.

Today, we will learn about:

• Permalink structure
• Good  SEO practice for setting up permalink  structure
• How to tell Google where the old content has been moved to

WARNING! The following tutorial was tested extensively at two blogs and proven to work. If you should attempt this method of changing your permalink structure, please test all elements thoroughly as sometimes plug-ins will conflict with other plug-ins or themes.

Permalink Structure

URLs show a hierarchy of where our content is located:

As you can see, the URL for that post is structured showing the main site/blog post.

When I first got into this whole blogging mess, I was always told that permalink structure was a matter of personal preference, but I'm finding out how powerful the permalink structure can be.

To take advantage of this power I am going to change the structure of my permalinks.

Permalink Structure For SEO

I am going to change my posting URL structure at this blog to include categories. Why? Because I have paid close attention to my categories and actually set them up based on broad keyword terms. They are also self explanatory so that visitors will have no problem navigating my site.

There is a wonderful discussion about the topic of categories at Your Blog Categories Are Directories.

So, when my new post URLs show up in the SERPs, they  will resemble this one:

See all the relative search terms that Google highlighted? Even the category of the URL structure is in bold!

WordPress gives us the option to structure that hierarchy to suit our needs. To do this we go to our Dashboard and find Permalinks in the Settings section:

When starting a brand spanking new blog, the permalink structure should be one of the first items you set-up. But, if you decided to restructure your permalinks after you've been set up and posting a while, guess what happens?

All your old posts cannot be found by Browsers, users, and search engines. It is not that they don't exist, because they still do, it is because they all have new links. So, any attempt to reach the old post through the original URL will result in a dreaded 404 Not Found error!

Arrrrrrrggggggggggg........

Never fear, Grasshopper. There is a workaround.

Helping Google Find Your New Links

Okay, so now I've modified my permalink structure and  have a bunch of broken links that need redirected to the new ones. You know what is coming, don't you.

Plug-ins!

We'll need to activate two of the to make all this work. Advanced Permalinks works as an extension to the permalinks in the Settings section in our Dashboard.

So, I'll head over there after I've activated that plug-in and tweak two controls:

I changed the permalinks to reflect category/post title, then I clicked on Migration at the extended controls activated by the plug-in.

While at the Migration screen, I typed /%postname%/ in the Old Structure block and clicked add to update the list.

Now, all my old posts are being redirected with a  Google approved 301 redirect and all my posts now  have an even stronger SEO link.

But, I've also created another problem. Because of the WordPress Codex rules governing category bases, htaccess, and permissions, my categories now return a 404 Not Found.

I could dive in and sift through the code to fix this problem, but I am basically a lazy man and go searching for a plug-in.

Michey wrote a wonderful post, Open Source WordPress, where she states that there are nearly 8500 plug-ins developed for WordPress blogs. Somebody, somewhere had to have run into the same problem with categories that I did, and sure enough, there was a plug-in called WP No Category Base that was developed to handle this situation.

The app works out of the box with no settings needed, so I just activated it and every thing at this blog is almost like Wal-Green's.

I've made my permalinks better for my SEO campaign, but had to break my blog to do it. Got it all fixed and am off to the races!

I wonder what death defying stunt I'll attempt next?

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© 2010, Alex. All rights reserved.

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Search engines rely on links to find content and to gage just how good content is. Links are how Google Page Rank (PR) is passed from content to content.

WordPress permalinks are easy as sin to set-up and manipulate for each Blogger's own needs. The editable link is found underneath the title in the Post Editor:

There is a good reason you may want to edit the "slug" of the link. Because search engines crawl the link and index it, we can construct a more SEO friendly title without violating the post title itself.

By doing this, we can further prove the relevancy of our blogs and the posts within. We can even structure the "slug" titles in such a way that makes post interlinking an even stronger show of authority.

Let's take a look at this post's title and how we can change the permalink into something more SEO friendly.

But first, a word or two of caution. Always make sure the titles and permalinks aren't too far apart from each other in construction, and always make sure the links are relevant. I say this because I have a post titled The Link Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round that is getting traffic from the query wheels on the bus go round.

If you rewrite your permalink, avoid using the same "slug" twice, so that you won't attempt duplicate URLs.

You should see the horrific bounce rate for that post.

So, let's remember that we want to keep everything as relevant as possible when we modify our permalink to this post. This posts title is Discovering Permalink,  and the permalink, which is auto-constructed, reflects the title.

My quick keyword research tool tells me that there were 39 searches for permalink and 2 searches for wordpress permalinks in the last 24 hours. Both keywords are relevant to this post.

I will change the permalink "slug" to wordpress permalinks:

I clicked edit and the "slug" or content title came to the permalink edit window. After I entered the title I want as part of the URL, I clicked OK

here we can see the new permalink for this post

Why is this important? Because Google looks at the URL of your content to look for relevancy. If  the URL makes sense to the content, then Google will give a closer look at the content. Also, the relevant keywords will be in bold format in the displayed URL on the SERPs:

the URLs displayed in the SERPs show relevant search terms as bold

WordPress permalinks is just another powerful tool in the blogger's arsenal to have our quality content noticed by not only the search engines, but the searchers as well.

On the next post here, I will walk the tightrope without a net as I change my permalink structure to a configuration that is SEO sound.

Tune in next time when danger will be lurking at every turn as I correct my Permalink Structure in mid air!

How do you deal with your permalinks?

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© 2010, Alex. All rights reserved.

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"Is It Really Possible To Create The Change You Want In Your Life?"

Who doesn’t want a life change for the better? How?
I read good gems from Yaro in the past and I jumped and started reading his 4 parts articles he created on the above subject.  Today he published the last part of the set and I really want to share with you his philosophy about blogging.
He made a name for himself in a short period of time and he really knows about how to do it right.  I like his philosophy, his energy, his methods, and his jovial style of explaining his experiences.

He again surprises me, answering some questions which have haunted me in the process of becoming a blogger:

• How to become an “authority”, the value of it
• It really is possibly to change yourself, it is fate or destiny or hard work to get what you want
• Do we really must change ourselves? Sorry, yes: we change our mindset, increase our own self awareness and achieve what we want.  It is not that simple but it is the essence of the needed changes
• The value of confidence through training, controlling perception, work ethics, he really adds deep value coming out of his experience
• That was awesome “Talk to an athlete he knows that consistence and persistence is the keys of his success”, guess what he is right again
• What is better to be the happy fool (the optimist) vs. the sad realist (the pessimist), I want you to read this; he blows my mind with it…
• Where does change really originate from…?  You will be surprised…
• Beware your own ignorance, accept change. Don't throw stones on messenger...

I can continue… but I don’t want to cut and paste, I don’t want to alter his ideas, I don’t want to break his fluidity, and a native talent of speaking.

I really want you to read the original posts:

Is It Really Possible To Create The Change You Want In Your Life?

What I Can Teach You About Getting What You Want

Why Creating The Change You Want Is All About You

Don’t Let Your Ignorance Stop You

What I like the most:
“From the seeds of your worst moments, come your greatest strengths”

And the beautiful Gandhi quote: “Be the change you wish to see in the world”

As a good bloging tactic, he already announces his next title for he next post, this is great because will entice curiosity of the reader to come back and check on you or to subscribe for the next his post:
“Understanding Your Power As A Change Catalyst”

I think this is tactic we can start applying in out blogs as well.

Have a good reading, and let me know, your opinion count
Michey

© 2010, michey. All rights reserved.

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I love writing flash fiction. In fact, my favorite pieces to write are called 55 Worders. The rules are simple, fifty-five words exactly in the text body, and up to seven words in the title.

The seven words in the title are not counted as part of the fifty-five words of body text, which on the surface makes it appear as the two are separate entities.

After struggling my first attempt at writing one those stories, a notion struck me. I actually have 62 words, because the title can be worded in such a way as to not only serve as the hook, but it can solve some missing pieces in the text as well.

This is pretty much how I try to look at title tags for blog post SEO. I try to target both the search engines and searchers.

Anyone who has been trying to work the SEO angle for any length of time knows that Google looks at the title tag to determine how relevant the content is. Your title tag is the reference or starting point.

Your title should reflect accurately what your content is about, because your title is what appears in the SERPs as well as the Browser Bar.

Your content title is also a hook that attempts to draw readers in. This is the attention getter.

Good, catchy titles that are relevant are winners every time. But titles that are designed only to get page click will cost a blogger future traffic and a good chunk of trust.

So now I imagine that some of you are still scratching your head wondering how you can target both the search engines and searchers.

Your keywords are the real hooks that give the blogger the power to combine both efforts.

Let's assume a review post was written about a popular toy and the safety of that toy. Your keywords are Astro Blaster and Safety. Now it's time to construct a Title. Which looks better to you:

1. Astro Blaster Safety Review
2. Astro Blaster Safety Facts You Should Know

I don't know about you, but I'd jump all over that second one and here's why:  When I'm cruising the 'net looking for info, I want to find what I need quickly so I can get back to the all important euchre game at Pogo.

That second title satisfies me by speaking directly to me about Astro Blaster safety. I'm going to get important facts, not some review that will have a lot of fluffy text (like this post).

If the content is bulleted and outlined, the second title tag blends right into the text.  The title is a perfect set-up for such a review.

On the other hand, the first title seems focused, but it also leaves room for just about any kind of content. It also is most likely constructed strictly for the search engines.

In essence, include a keyword or two in your title tag, but write the title to accurately describe your content.

Again, how do you handle your title tags?

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© 2010, Alex. All rights reserved.

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Some of us are even trying to do it honestly.

Honestly means hard work, patience, ethically, and with focus. Oh yeah, you better throw in some ways to get a cash stream flowing into your wallet as well.

Typically, there are three  methods bloggers use to generate an income with their blogs:

• Google's Adsense
• Affiliate Marketing
• Creation of Digital Product

Adsense

For those of you who have lived under a rock for years, a brief summary.

Adsense is a program offered by Google that pays a web site/blog for clicks on ads that are auto generated to match page content.

Some bloggers swear at Adsense, some swear by the marketing program. The payout appears generally low, but over time the money in pocket can be impressive. Especially as a blog grows in readership.

Getting satisfaction from Adsense usually means experimenting with the ad sizes, color, and placements. For a look at an optimum ad placement chart that has been developed over tons of research, see The Best Blog Monetization Can't Be Predicted.

Affiliate Marketing

Advertising and promoting the products and/or services of someone else in exchange for compensation is Affiliate Marketing.

Almost any consumer product under the sun can be sold through Affiliate Marketing, which means placing banner ads on your site or using text links to generate clickthroughs.

Each advertiser is given a unique link that when clicked can be tracked by a cookie. This way if a sale is made, the commission or compensation can be delivered to the proper source of the referral.

Once the sale is made, the payout is placed in an account and a check is issued once or twice a month for the total amount due the advertiser.

Creation of Digital Product

If a blogger is knowledgeable about a certain topic, then most likely they are blogging about it and have started a readership that trusts them. This could lead to what may be the best and most satisfying way to make money blogging.

Not only are tangible products sought after on the Internet, but so is information. Searchers are constantly looking for solutions to one problem or another in their daily lives and the Internet is a fast, easy way to find it.

So, why not create digital product that can be downloaded for a price and provide those solution seekers with what they need?

Let's say you are a great cook and blog about tasty desserts you make from scratch. How cool would it be to throw together some of your favorite recipes and sell them in a digital book?

Oh, it gets better. Not only can you sell your book, but inside your ebook, you can place affiliate links to products relevant to the content.

Double Whammy!

You can sell the ebook at your blog AND sell it through an affiliate program where you pay marketers to help you sell it. Both ways have great advantages since the book need only to be produced just once. Then all transactions and downloads become automatic.

The book is selling while you are in the kitchen whipping up my favorite Key Lime pie.

As thrilling as all this sounds (I can see the gears whirring in your heads ), I purchased one of the best valued digital products I have ever owned.

And I only paid $7 for it.

The $7 Secrets was not only very enlightening and educational in how to market self created digital products, and why  those products are beneficial to the consumer, but there are some incredible tools that come with the 30 plus page book by author Don Morris.

Through a link in the PDF ebook, the following can be downloaded at no additional cost:

• A Script that will set-up affiliate tracking and create sales pages
• Easy to follow PDF manual to guide you through the set-up of the script
• Templates that can modified to suit your needs.
• Admin "back-end" panel to monitor all affiliate activity

With this script, a hosting service, and a PayPal account, digital products can be set-up and ready to market in a matter of a couple of hours.

A host that offers cPanel is preferred because of the ease of using the cPanel server interface.

I have always used HostGator and cannot see myself changing hosting services in any kind of future. The expert service is prompt and pleasant, and I have never had one technical malfunction due to their servers.

HostGator has dozens of tutorial videos to learn from. Everything from navigating cPanel and setting up MySQL databases to loading WordPress and operating the account mail system.

For less than $10 a month and the ability to host unlimited domains, I can't go wrong.

100% Commission!

Inside the powerhouse little book is an explanation of why letting your affiliates have 100% commission is a thing of beauty. This unique marketing strategy works for the owner and affiliate marketer of the product by:

• Building a mailing  list for the product owner
• 100% commission to the Affiliate Marketer AND instant deposit of the commission into the marketer's PayPal account (No waiting a month)
• Affiliate sales for the product owner through links embedded in the product

Don Morris uses this strategy for $7 Secrets, so for every copy of the value packed ebook that an affiliate marketer sells, that marketer gets $7 instantly deposited into their PayPal account.

And it couldn't be any easier to be an Affiliate anywhere. No sign-up is required. There is a link in the book, and once the first copy is sold, the Affiliate has made their money back.

It can't be any easier than this to make money blogging.

I am very grateful that my dear friend Michey pointed me to this wonderful publication in her post 7 Dollar Secret Script.

What about you? Have you ever bought a digital product that you felt overwhelmed by the value of it?

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© 2010, Alex. All rights reserved.

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Content is king for a reason. That reason is that content is what speaks confidence and authority about whatever product, service, or idea a person is cooking.

Because of this, search engines, namely Google, rightfully give weight to such indicators as:

• Unique Visitors
• Bounce Rates
• Page Views
• Return Visitors
• Time Spent On Site

All of the aspects point directly to quality of content. The four indicators listed above speak about how your readers view your content and can determine just how relevant your site is to the search queries.

Unique Visitors

Generally first time readers of your content that are delivered to your site either by the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) or via some referral. They are drawn in by the Title and/or descriprion.

The <meta> title is tantamount to any SEO campaign because it not only establishes a benchmark for the content, it is also the hook to lure in readers. It is the hook because it is the title shown in the SERPs.

Bounce Rates

Whenever a visitor lands on a page and only stays on that page then leaves, this action is counted towards the Bounce Rate, which is the percentage of visitors who bounce.

Rich, informative, and relevant content will compel the reader to visit other pages or content on your site.

Page Views

This indicator is just what it says. The higher the page views per visitor, the better the content must be.

Return Visitors

Once again, if the content is sound and honest, readers will begin to follow it. They will come back for more, or to catch up on what they have missed. This is another stellar indicator of how well the Webmaster is doing their job at the site.

Time Spent On Site

If you don't scare them off, you are doing a great job. The higher average time on the site, the better your content is and you will be rewarded in the form of authority given by Google.

I'm sure that by now you are wondering where you can find out this information about your site. Right?

Personally, I use two sources. The first is a down and dirty glimpse, but effective. The Plug-in, WordPress Stats is a great little tool to get an idea about the direction your headed with your content.

The stats are displayed on the Dashboard of you WordPress blog which gives the ability to easily access the look at performance.

My favorite of all belongs to Google Analytics. I have not found a better free tool to measure how your site performs. Leave it to Google to provide us with all the free, and highly detailed, data we can use.

While keyword optimization is essential, sound content should never be overlooked as key to winning the SEO game.

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© 2010, Alex. All rights reserved.

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It's not that I didn't buy books, because I did, or didn't get some form of coaching, because I did (indirectly).

What I did learn and continue to learn is by nuggets... this is what I told the questioner, and I'm sticking to my answer, damnit.

Especially after what I stumbled across earlier today.

Before I turn you on to the cool reaffirmation video I stumbled across today as I was researching another post for another blog, I'll give you some background about those nuggets I picked up along the way.

Two years ago, I stepped out onto e-commerce street and opened a biker leathers online store. This meant I had to bone up on SEO and marketing practices to sell those jackets, chaps, and damn cute leather biker chick halters.

I had already made my mind up that I was going to learn on the cheap. So, I poured hours, days and weeks into finding content on the web that I could learn from. What I quickly learned was that everyone who was in the know threw a bone out. Not everyone threw the same bone, so I kept all the bones and began putting them together like an ancient dinosaur skeleton on display at the local museum.

Then the experts began to call.

Just like the content I found about SEO and marketing online, marketing service reps would call and drop nuggets, or hints. I would engage them in long conversations to get more bones.

Finally, one guru called and began to ask how the biz was doing and what I was doing to market it. I started to tell him and he ended the conversation by saying, "Well, I have to say, it was a real pleasure because 95% of the folks I talk to don't have a clue and I couldn't sell you any of our services without losing sleep over it."

Along the way to where I am today, I picked up a copy of Search Engine Optimization For Dummies and WordPress Gold Mine.

SEO For Dummies is a wonderful reference manual that any level of Webmaster can find invaluable. Full of informative How To's including the topics of measuring your results, choosing the right keywords, building visible pages and avoiding things search engines do not like.

WordPress Gold Mine I picked up less than a year ago and still find it to be amazing. This book is like my notebook full of all the nuggets and bones I picked up along the way.

I know of at least one successful Internet Marketer who used to shill WordPress Gold Mine and now has built their own marketing strategy that is closely based on the honest foundations laid down in this book.

Maybe the best source for all that is right when it comes to SEO is from the horse's mouth. I read Google's Webmaster Blog on a regular basis and take what they offer to heart.

After all, Google is in the business to make money and they have the philosophy of having those who work both sides of the search box.

So, what was it that I found earlier that validates all my efforts and beliefs, you ask?

A video from the 2009 WordCamp. WordCamp is the WordPress annual conference and the speaker is Matt Cutts, head of Google's Anti-Spam Team.

If you have 45 minutes to invest in some valuable learning, check out the Matt Cutts blog post.

Enjoy!
Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

© 2010, Alex. All rights reserved.

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