Blog Basics for Beginners: How to Make Money Online With Blogs – Step 4

I know this stuff can be a bit overwhelming at first, its hard work getting to the top of Google, MSN and Yahoo but if you do a few things every day in your favor, you will see your readership grow exponentially. Some people may say that they don’t care about things like page rank, but think about it; if you want more people to pay attention to your blog, you’re going to have to find a way to let them know you’re out here.

Making money online is just an added bonus… So that being said, let’s talk about factors that Google and other search engines find useful in determining what order your blog/site should be placed...

The following variables are extremely important in determining your page rank:

1.) Article Content

Focus on creating high quality content for your blog or website; this content should be unique and helpful to your target audience. Content that is not unique i.e. copied from another source verbatim will get you nowhere as Google is adept at recognizing duplicate articles etc... In fact if you were to copy someone else’s work word-for-word chances are you would be in a lot of trouble for copyright infringement, Google would penalize your page ranking and the author that originally wrote the article would get an added bonus by jumping up in their Google ranking..

2.) Article Length

Google and other search engines place more value on longer articles. It is important to elaborate on a subject if you want authority. Generally if your article is longer then your competitors in the same arena, you will become the authority figure for that particular subject. Remember there are algorithms at work here behind the scenes that are unknown to the general population, if we knew the exact formula we would most likely be millionaires right? Regardless you will want to make your posts/articles around 400-500 words each if you are counting on them to increase your page rank.

3.) Keywords

This is extremely important when it comes to SEO and increasing your Page Rank. If you remember me discussing this previously, it is our goal to rank as high as possible using keywords that apply to your particular niche, generally it’s a good idea to use your target keywords several times in an article but don’t go overboard or else Google may decide to mark the particular article as spam. Generally if you use your keyword three to four times in any given article you will be on the right track to gaining momentum in this arena.

4.) Volume

Keep in mind that after your page gets indexed, Google and other search engines have bots that crawl through your content regularly looking for updates and new posts…. The more content you can provide your readers with, the better your chance of getting listed as a site of importance; also, it is inevitable that your keywords will be used in higher volume which is a consideration in page rank as well. If you only have a few articles/posts, chances are you will not be considered as noteworthy as a blog with a huge quantity of valuable articles similar to your own.

5.) Backlinks

If you’ve made it this far, its obvious that you are dedicated to this subject for one reason or another, what is unclear to me is how you arrived here in the first place but its very possible that you reached this page through a backlink that I have placed on a different website.

What is a Backlink?

A backlink is a link that connects a forum, directory, website or blog back to your page. Generally in regard to page rank this is the bread and butter. Without a high quantity of quality backlinks you’re essentially dead in the water. They are very time consuming to create but it should be your goal to spend half your time writing and the other half reading and commenting on other blogs/sites if you want people to take time out of their day to review your content.

Don’t forget that the links you create should be relevant to what you write about. If your subject is the Amazonian Rainforest, it won’t do you any good to post a ton of backlinks on blogs and forums about skydiving. Get my drift?

6.) Age of Content

This is one of the least important factors in regard to page rank but none the less it does have merit. Think about it, if your blog or site is brand new, how much credibility should it get at first glance? Should it be considered as a credible source right out of the gates? How much credibility would you give a baby when it came to important matters? Just focus on the first five topics primarily because this is a variable you don’t have much control over… The older your blog or site gets the more credibility it will receive as long as your content stays fresh!

Well, that’s a lot of information to take in all at once… Take some time to reflect on the following six topics and try your best to apply them to your blog.

Also, you may want to try getting backlinks with the content you’ve already created. There are several sites in which you can post your articles in addition to your blog, you will receive credit and obtain one-way backlinks for your effort! One way backlinks are the most valuable and coveted in regard to page rank. I will discuss how to do this in the following post:

Blog Basics for Beginners: How to Make Money Online With Blogs – Step 5

If you’ve enjoyed this series up until now, please go ahead and leave me a comment with your feedback, recommendations etc.. Also, if there is anything that I discussed in this series you would like me to clarify or elaborate on, please go ahead and let me know!