I was delighted this morning to come across a traffic generation video on YouTube that was different to all the rest i.e. some ‘guru’ banging on about SEO techniques that everyone already knows about. Admittedly it was an advert for a product, but it was something totally new to me and with the impressive figures included in the sales video, I couldn’t help but to give it a go.

So, courtesy of SitePal I’ve added a host to my blog - you’ve probably already heard him talking in a classic ‘English accent’. He’s fully customisable and I tried to get him looking like me - see my avatar at the top right of the blog. I’m hoping he will help to bring in some traffic or some comments, but I’m really keen also to hear from anyone else who has tried SitePal before. Is there any value in it for bloggers, or even bigger businesses?

This literally took a couple of minutes to setup, once I’d registered of course.

I only have a 15 day free trial after which time my character host will stop working - that is unless I sign up for the monthly subscription, which I may if he proves useful. I can’t help loving this product and I’ve had some fun setting it up. Do you think if I ask nicely SitePal will let me keep him for free…?

On the rare occasion someone asks me for some advice on blogging one of my favourite pieces of advice is to contribute to the blogosphere, or “join the conversation”.

This will get you much love and notice in the world of blogging which over time should lead to that all important traffic and, in my opinion, that even more important dialogue. A point well illustrated by Hugh Macleod at Gaping Void with his ‘newbie bitchslap.’

It makes me sad to see any blog where the comments are switched off! Without comments surely it’s just a webpage..?

As an internet and small business marketer I’m constantly reminded that my success is in part due to keeping up to date with the latest marketing tactics and strategies. With internet marketing there are new ideas cropping up in the blogosphere almost everyday and it can often be tough to keep up with the pace, although with offline small business marketing revolutions tend to take a little longer. The best way to keep your “finger on the pulse” is to keep reading, whether that’s traditional literature or with your head stuck in the blogosphere. I was lucky recently to lay my hands on a copy of Caroline Melberg and Tim Allen’s (of Small Business Marketing Mavericks) ebook on ‘How to use your Blog as a Marketing Tool’.

I was a little sceptical at first that it would teach my anything new; after all I’ve been writing this blog for almost a year and a co-author another so I know my way around the blogosphere. But after a quick skim through I realised this book deserved a lot more attention. I promptly flipped back to the start and read it through cover to cover.

So is this book for you?

Well if you are a small business owner, want to look at your online marketing and have in mind that you should jump on the blog bandwagon, then absolutely. It covers everything from the basics of setting up a blog, the advantages of the various options available to you, to optimizing for the search engines. In addition the book looks at numerous tactics for how to promote your blog and getting traffic - that holy grail of online marketing. I can’t recommend this book highly enough really.

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of ebooks available teaching you how to make “autopilot riches” or to “make your blog an Adsense cash machine”, but this is not one of those. This is a serious step by step look at why and how to use a blog as a marketing tool and it’s perfect for absolute beginners, or even those looking for some fresh ideas.

Well done guys. A snip at $20 (I think that’s the list price anyway).

Disclosure: I am in no way related to Caroline or Tim, not even in an affiliate marketing sense. Just showing my appreciation for a nice bit of writing. See my post on Attitudinal Marketing.

I’m starting to pick up a real sense of anticipation in the blogosphere on the forthcoming Google PageRank update. For those new to the blogosphere you might wonder why this is causing such a buzz, or for some what PageRank actually is. So I’ll try to explain:

What is PageRank aka PR?

The definition on Wikipedia states that:

PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set.

In other words, PR rates a websites importance based on the number of links it shares with other sites, both inbound and outbound. It considers each inbound link to be a vote cast on the importance of that site, where one way links score more heavily than two way links. Not only that but it also rates the importance of the inbound link based on the originating page’s value. Therefore a link from the BBC impacts more highly than a link from a recently started blog.

The result of this analysis is the PR score which ranges from 0-10 (0 = lowest, 10 = highest). As far as I can tell very few sites have achieved the pinnacle of a 10/10 PR score. I’d be keen to hear of any examples, even the mighty BBC only scores 9/10.

The easiest way to view the PR scores of the pages you view is to download and install the Google tool bar or for Firefox there are various add-ons you can install that will display the PR score, such as the Live PageRank widget. It’s worth noting that these scores are only updated about every 3-4 months whereas Google’s ‘real’ internal PR score is constantly updated.

Why is it important?

Wikipedia suggests PR is a pretty fundamental element of how websites rank in Google’s search results. The higher your PR, the higher up the organic search results you will appear. If that’s true then surely every internet marketer, webmaster, blogger or online marketer should take note and do what they can to improve the score for their sites. In addition a site with a higher PR will be visited more frequently by Google, therefore new content will be indexed more quickly.

Aside from the search results there are other benefits to a higher PR score. When you start out in blogging or Internet marketing it can be difficult to setup joint ventures, build your presence online, establish credibility etc. A higher PR score will certainly help you in all of these areas. Not only that, if you plan to sell add space on your blog, participate in ReviewMe, Payperpost and other monetizing tactics you will need a higher PR score.

Of course there is also the added sense of achievement from having your site / blog recognised by Google - the undisputed king of the internet.

What can you do to improve your PageRank?

There are lots of link building strategies you can employ to increase your PR score. Here are 10 ideas for your to get started with:

1. exchange blog rolls with carefully selected blogs,

2. participate in the Do Follow Movement,

3. join in one of the many blog carnivals,

4. post articles on ezinearticles and ensure you include a link to your site with appropriate anchor text,

5. score a guest blogging spot with a high ranking blog and include links to your site in each post,

6. link to other pages, articles or posts within your own site,

7. ensure you have good keyword rich anchor text on inbound links as far as possible,

8. write controversial content in your blog that will attract lots of comments and trackbacks i.e. link bait. Google is a good subject I understand..,

9. add content to high scoring sites, such as comments reviews on Amazon with a link to your site,

10. take part in link trains such as Carl Ocab’s

How can you check your Google PR Score?

There are various places you can check your PageRank alongside of course the toolbar mentioned earlier.

You can visit livepageranks which will review your PR score but also your Alexa rank at the same time. Here’s a screenshot of the charts for the Marketing Blagger which shows whilst my PR is still at a lowly 0, my Alexa rankings have improved considerably since I last checked.

If you want to get a prediction for what your PageRank will be at the next update you could also try the tool at iWebtools which I understand has been fairly accurate in the past. I certainly hope so, it’s putting this blog at PR4 which would be nice.

All that’s left to say is I hope you get all you want and deserve in the next Google PR update. The buzz seems to indicate it’s coming some time in mid August.