Yes it is a pain in the you know what to moderate your comments but if you are not you are part of the problem.

Yes it is a rant day and I am pissed. Was out most of the morning and came back to get on line and sort through comments that had come in. There were quite a few but all but two of them were spam.

Not the type of spam that the plugins can catch though. Someone took the time to come comment that was not on topic but was obviously a copy and paste job.

Same basic comment showed up on 4 different posts on 2 different blogs. This person spent probably at least an hour adding comments on blogs doing this copy and paste crap.

I could tell by the timing of the comments. Now all of the ones left on my blog got marked as spam. From the topics of the posts the person was using software to find specific topics and decent pr blogs to post to.

Now I don’t have a problem with people using software to find places to comment on if they actually take the time to add to the conversation on the post. I’ll even give them a do follow link through comment luv to their last post if they add value.

Copy and pasting their blurb aint adding value. So they wasted their time at my blogs. Because I see this all the time though some must be allowing their comments or they would have quit doing it a long time ago.

So the question becomes are you being lazy and letting that crap through onto your blog?

Someone must be or this would not be a continuing problem. I do end up adding the ips and banning them when I find people like this but really don’t like to have to do that.

So if we all start moderating comments and not letting these idiots get back links then it will stop.

Back to the original point are you contributing to the problem by allowing this crap or are you helping to make it worthless so that it will stop.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: blog, blog comment spam, blog comments, blogs, copy and paste, using software

You wake up in the morning ready to get started. Look at your idea board and find that Mr Murphy has been there overnight. All those great ideas that you have been collecting are now nothing more than blank pages.

If you are like me you go get some coffee and pray that once you have added a bit of caffeine to your blood stream your eyes will be working again and you will be able to read the pages.

Ooops….

Coffee did not work. So I grab my reading glasses and see if they will help. Nope this is not the way I planned to start my day. Damn that Mr Murphy. He has struck again.

Now you are in full panic mode….

No put the computer down. Throwing it out the window is not an option. At least not yet

Do your breathing exercises then get ready to replace your blank pieces of paper with ideas. It does not have to be hard and even an old bald guy can do it.

Now that you have the computer back on your desk lets use it instead of destroying it. (Yes even though it would feel so good to break it into little itsy bitsy pieces and do your dance over the pieces saying…. STOP!)

Hard to get your blog post up without the computer so please use it properly. (Yeah, I know you can use a smart phone but the keyboard is too small for these fat fingers.)

There are 5 easy ways that you can generate more ideas and get to work constructively rather than raining down death and destruction on your computer. Here they are.

1. Google trends
2. Google news
3. Twitter search
4. Feed reader
5. Past comments

Google Trends – Go see what is hot and what people are searching for right now. This should get your brain moving and thinking.

After that take your topic and lets go look for news.

Google News – Type in the topic that you blog about and see what is happening right now. Check out the top results.

Still no ideas?

Twitter search – Yep, just type in your topic and see what all the tweeps on Twitter are talking about. Click some links and see what is going on.

Still no ideas?

Maybe you need another cup of coffee at this point. Slowly get up from the desk and head out and fill your coffee cup. Do not destroy the computer, do not pass go, head straight to the coffee maker.

Finish your coffee and then you can return.

Feed reader – If you have been reading my blog for a while you have built up a list in your feed reader of blogs that you like. Open it and go do some reading.

Still no ideas?

Read your past comments – Yes, open your dashboard and go through the comments you have received on previous posts. Are there topics you can expand on, ideas for topics that others have raised?

If you still don’t have an idea at this point you have three choices.

1. Go back to bed and hide for the day.
2. Break the computer into little itsy bitsy pieces and dance around it as you are not cut out to be a blogger and don’t need it. (At your own risk of course I am not responsible for what you do to it.)
3. Just decide today is not the day and go do something fun.

Usually using just one or two of these items will generate lots of topics and you can beat Mr Murphy at his own game. If not, there is always tomorrow.

After all it is much better to beat Mr Murphy than to destroy your computer.

That’s what I think what do you think? Leave your comments below.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: blog comments, coffee, Google News, google trends, keyboard, smart phone, twitter search

There are a variety of ways to promote your blog. Are you promoting yours?

All too often the answer is no.

You can have the greatest content but if you are not promoting and getting the word out you will not get the traffic and readership you are looking for.

Most of us bloggers love to write on the topic we love and all to often that is where it ends.

Nobody likes to take the time to promote especially as your blog grows.

You do need to make it part of your regular schedule and it does not need to take a lot of time.

If you are active in your niche it should be easy. Commenting on blogs in your niche, being active in forums (with a link to your blog if allowed) are easy to do while you are being part of the community.

Repurposing your content to create articles for submission, creating podcasts and video from your posts and setting up link networks with that content will take you a bit of time but can make a huge difference in your traffic.

The key is to just do things regularly and make them a habit. Do that and your time commitment will be minimal but the results can amaze you.

If you need more information on some of these topics Sunday Night Cash Plan can help you to repurpose your content and Backlink Flood will show you how to create powerful link wheels.

Finally my free report on Benefit Of Content Syndication.will show you how to automate things so you do one time effort and promote on autopilot.

The key is to always be promoting your blog and make it a daily habit.

Your questions and comments are always welcomed.Leave them below.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: backlinks, blog comments, blog promotion, podcast, videos

A good question today and a note on that as I have caught up on your questions. I can use some more questions so that we can address them here. Leave them in the comments below.

I have a question for you. When commenting on blogs, do you leave your main website address or do you link to individual blog posts?

The answer here is yes and no. I know not what you want to hear

Lets get into it.

Getting back links to your individual posts is a very good idea. The best way to do this is by commenting on blogs that have Comment Luv enabled. This is the best of both worlds because you can use your primary url in the site box and still get a link to the interior page.

It has good anchor text because it is linking through your post title.

The problem comes when you are commenting on blogs that do not have Comment Luv. Here it becomes a problem if you use the actual blog post link.

It is going to link through with your name as the anchor text.

Now if you use proper anchor text as your name to get a more powerful link you have definitely increased the possibility that your link will be marked as spam by the blog owner.

I know that if you do not use a real name on this or any of my other blogs that will definitely be marked as spam by me and quite a few others.

You are left with a choice of building anchor links to specific posts using your name or building links to your site using your name or not getting any links because your comment never gets approved.

That is my take on it and would love to see more people use Comment Luv so I can do both at the same time. It does help to get more comments because you are taking care of the people that add quality comments. Making it a win win is always good for getting more comments.

Remember that I love to answer your questions and have caught up with doing that so leave your questions and comments below.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: anchor-text, blog comments, comments

5 Ways To Maximize Your Blog Traffic

Copyright 2010 – Mike Paetzold – All rights reserved

I have yet to meet the blogger that gets too much traffic. We all are always looking to generate more visitors to our blogs. Here are 5 ways you can maximize your traffic while doing the things you should be doing anyhow.

Blog Comments

Commenting on related blogs and taking part in the conversation is an easy way to generate more traffic to your blog. If you are providing quality content through your comments people will click your link to see your blog. You will be generating back links at the same time and increasing your reputation within your niche.

Articles

Using the article directories does not have to be hard. As an active blogger you are already creating quality content. Repurposing your current content into quality articles only takes a few minutes. Submitting them to the directories with a quality signature link with a good call to action can add visitors. The power of duplication comes into play here as people pick up your content for their newsletters and posts sending even more visitors to your blog.

Forums

Forums are a great place to do research for topics for your blog. Taking part in the conversations there and having a link to your blog in your signature (where allowed) will let you generate traffic while doing the research to create more quality content.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking using some of the bigger sites like Digg, Stumble Upon and others can be an excellent traffic draw. The key is to bookmark others good content. This will build trust in your recommendations and increase the chance of people clicking through to read your post. Once you have these set up it takes very little extra time to do this during the course of your day.

Twitter

Using automation makes it easy to let your Twitter followers know when you have added new content. The key here as with forums and social bookmarking is to be sharing other quality content and not just yours. The more value you provide the more likely people will follow your recommendations.

All five of these are easy to add into your normal day. Make it a habit and you will soon be maximizing the traffic you get with minimal extra effort.

Mike Paetzold has been blogging since 2003 and is an expert on using WordPress to market in various niches. You can find out more about generating traffic to your blog at 15 Minute Blog Traffic.

Note – You may use this article as long as it is used in it’s entirety and all links are maintained. If you are an affiliate of 15 Minute Blog Traffic you may substitute your affiliate link for the link in the signature.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: article marketing, blog comments, blog traffic, bookmarking, increase your blog traffic, twitter

5 Ways To Increase Your Blog Traffic [ 3:10 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

5 Ways To Increase Your Blog Traffic

by Mike Paetzold – Copyright 2010 all rights reserved

Why Increase Your Blog Traffic?

One of the big problems for new bloggers is to get people to visit their new blog. Unlike the movie “Field Of Dreams” if you build it they will not come unless you let them know it exists. So if you have started your blog and you feel that you are talking to yourself here are 5 ways to increase your traffic.

Blog Comments

Commenting on related blogs is probably one of the best ways to get targeted traffic. When you comment and take part in the conversation you are getting known in your niche. If you are actually participating and adding value the visitors there will be more likely to follow your link to see what else you have to say.

Articles

Writing articles and submitting them to the various article directories is another great way to get traffic to your blog. If you are providing good content and use a signature to get more information on that topic visit my blog. Others can use your content this way and when they do they will need to keep your signature so you can get additional traffic from any number of sources.

Forums

Taking part in various forums that are related to your topic and adding in a link to your blog in your signature (where allowed) can be another way to get traffic to your blog. The more quality information you add to the forum the more likely people will click through to read your blog.

Social Bookmarking

Taking the time to bookmark your posts to some of the bookmarking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, et al. Now here it is important that you are regularly using these sites to bookmark quality content and not just your own. That way you will generate a following that will trust your recommendations and increase the chances of people clicking through to your post.

Twitter

Letting your Twitter followers know when you have added new content is another great way to get extra visitors. Telling your Twitter followers about content other than yours within your niche will increase the chances that they will click through to read your posts.

In summary all of these ways will help you add visitors to your blog easily. Your blog and all of these ways are based on being part of a community and the more ways that you take part in the community the better resource you become. As you build your credibility within the community your traffic will increase.

Mike Paetzold is a long time blogger and you can find more ways to generate traffic to your blog regularly at 15 Minute Blog Traffic.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: article marketing, blog comments, blog traffic, bookmarking, increase your blog traffic, traffic, twitter

I have been focusing on blog commenting for the last few posts. It started with 3 ways to get more comments and I wanted to add to that list from my own experiences and from some of the comments that were left.

Doug Champigny wrote

The only one I can think of you didn’t include here Mike is posting the link to Twitter and asking for comments…

For the most part, as mentors we have to make sure that our audience knows the benefits of blog commenting and distinguishes between do-follow blogs, especially those with CommentLuv, and the traditional no-follow blog setups.

It saddens me to see 50 or 100 comments on a no-follow blog and 5-10 on a do-follow; it just shows that 90% of marketers are wasting what could be valuable SEO time.
.-= Doug Champigny´s last blog ..Shut Up, Buck Up, Buckle Down and Get On With It! =-.

Earl Netwal wrote

I think Asking is the biggest and most obvious way, perhaps only exceeded by actually responding to people who do post on the blog, something that I personally don’t take seriously enough.
.-= Earl Netwal´s last blog ..What Are The Advantages in Niche Marketing? =-.

As to ways to get comments, I’ve been told that doing contests can be a good way, as well as asking people to rank their opinions on a specific set of 3 or more options.
.-= Earl Netwal´s last blog ..What Are The Advantages in Niche Marketing? =-.

So lets discuss the three as they are good ways to get more comments.

Like Doug said asking your followers on Twitter to come comment is an excellent way. On another note you should be using Twitter with your blog as it is the perfect way to add even more interaction. If you are not sure how to use Twitter properly for your marketing check out Doug’s Advanced Twitter Marketing. I highly recommend it.

Far and away the one thing that will probably do more for getting comments is actually responding to people that do comment. I am often lax but it is definitely a great way to get people commenting and discussions started.

I have not run contests per se for commenting myself but have seen them used as part of contests on other blogs. A contest can be a great way to improve traffic to your blog and get the word spread. Takes a bit to track it and most of the contests I have seen usually give you points not just for commenting but for tweets, trackbacks, signing up for updates, subscribing to the rss feed, etc.

Another good way, and I have used this on occasion, is to provide the first part of good content and not release the next part until there have been x number of comments.

Robert Plank used this to make his blog very active as he would not post anything else until he had 10 comments and trained his readers that if they expected him to continue to give away good quality information for free they would need to comment for it to continue.

Got any other tips YOU would like to add? Leave your comments below and let me know what are your favorite ways to get more comments on your blog?

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: blog, blog comments, comment luv, twitter, wordpress

I have been discussing comments for the last few posts and today lets talk about finding blogs to comment on.

Now there are lists and various posts showing you exactly which blogs are do follow and some people swear by those. If all you are looking for is back links maybe that makes sense but not to me.

Worrying about the do follow or whether or not they use Comment Luv may make you better for SEO purposes but I prefer to find blogs that are on my topic.

Those blogs are much more likely to have people clicking through to my blogs and possibly becoming regular readers.

So even though I would prefer to only comment on blogs that do follow and use Comment Luv the topic is more important.

To do this I go to Google News. Put in my topic and add the rss feed to my Google Reader. This way I see all the newest information on my topic. I can use this to find very current posts on topics I am interested in.

As I find blogs that show up regularly and frequently I add their feed to my reader. Just checking my reader a few times a day and I can find all of their newest posts and go comment.

The closer you are to being the first comment the more people that will see your comment. The more that see it the more traffic you are likely to get.

This is also a good way to find information to share with your Twitter followers too and if you add in Friend Feed you can automate your Twitter posting to build an even better relationship with your Twitter followers.

Twitter Time Saver will show you exactly how to automate that into an easy to use system.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: blog, blog comments, Google News, Google Reader, rss feed, seo, twitter

Yesterday we discussed 3 ways to get more comments and today we need to talk about the flip side – Protecting your blog from comment spam.

The first step in this process for me is to use two plugins to help with this.

• Askimet – comes with the WordPress installation
• WP Spam Free

Now there are numerous others and I have not tested them all for sure but these two eliminate the vast majority of spam.

Set up both of these (you will need to register for a code for Askimet) and you will be well on your way. These will virtually eliminate the automated spam.

On my blogs I set them up that all comments are moderated. It takes a bit of effort but becomes a habit.

There was a time when I was allowing automatic approval from people who already had an approved comment but that went by the way side.

I was getting manual comments and the first time someone would leave a quality comment and from then on would just add the usual garbage like “I really enjoyed your blog.” or “Thanks for the great information”.

That is spam the same as the automated commenter that leaves me 20 links to a variety of Viagra and breast enhancement products. That caused me to go back to all comments being moderated.

On a side note I always wondered about the latter as I have never figured out why if I would be interested in Viagra I would also be interested in breast enhancements. Of course no one ever said all spammers were smart.

There is a way to eliminate those what I call “good job” commenters. If they do it once I just spam it. Do it a second time I will ban the ip.

Go to settings – discussion and scroll down towards the bottom and add their ip number (One per line), click save and you won’t hear from them again.

That is how I combat the slime that want to spam my blog while still making it easy for those that want to participate to do so.

Finally I was a bit surprised yesterday. A few people commented but nobody had another way to get more blog comments. There are many more than 3 ways. I have a few more but won’t release them unless others are willing to share their ideas too.

So tell me what other ways you can generate more blog comments by leaving your comment below. (yes I am tryinmg to not only get you to comment but add value to my blog. Imagine that

Have a great weekend.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: blog, blog comments, blog spam, comment spam, wordpress, wordpress plugins

After the light bulb from Alex Syseof’s blog post that we discussed yesterday I realized it had been a while since we looked at commenting. So this will be part of a series on blog comments.

Getting More Blog Comments

Make it easy

Sorry if I go to your blog with a few rare exceptions and you make me register or go through a captcha form to post a comment I probably won’t. If you make it harder you will get fewer comments.

There are ways to protect from comment spammers that do not make your reader jump through hoops. Most of us just won’t do it. (Yeah I am not only old and bald but lazy too..)

I will be covering what I use in a later post.

Reward your readers

Use a plugin like comment luv that will show your commenters last blog post as part of their signature and I like to use do follow. Having do follow links and letting people know that you do follow increases your comments.

If you do not have proper spam protection and do not moderate comments this can be a pain but quality comments and conversations adds value so put in a little effort and remember to look for the next post which will minimize that effort. (I know two teases for the next post already , think I want to make sure you come back and how many more will I sneak in?)

Ask

Surprisingly simple yet often overlooked. Ask people to answer questions when you are ending your posts. Seems simple but can be quite effective.

Just a simple please leave your comments below can increase the number of blog comments you get. Isn’t what’s below more effective though?

There are 3 ways you can increase your comments on your blog what other ways did I miss? Leave your comment below.

Yes I know you won’t comment now just because but cut a guy a break

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.

Technorati Tags: blog comments, get more blog comments, wordpress