The client had taken a look at their articles, and noticed some were not cached. After some additional research, I found that, depending on the network, some articles were cached but not indexed, some came up in search results but were not cached, and some articles were neither cached nor indexed. I wondered, if the articles were not picked up by Google, what kind of value, if any, were their backlinks.

Top Reasons for Article Writing

In the case of this client, the reason they are writing articles is to build backlinks to their website. But there are many more reasons people write on article sites alone or in addition to their own personal blogs, including:

• Link building for better search engine result positioning for websites based on anchor text keywords.
• Increasing traffic to websites linked in articles.
• Earning money through the articles themselves via the Adsense, affiliate products, or number of views per article.

Why You Need to Build Links to Your Articles

No matter what reason you write articles on article directories or community sites, you should consider building backlinks to those articles. Why? Let’s look at how building backlinks can help you succeed at the above top reasons for article publishing.

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Link Building for Your Website

If you are using article marketing to build links to your website or blog, building backlinks to those articles will help ensure that they are cached and indexed. If you build enough links to an article, it may also gain some Google PageRank which will make it a more valuable backlink to your website.

Increasing Search Engine Traffic

If the goal of each article is to get traffic to your website or blog, then the goal for each article should be increased traffic for keywords that relate to your website or blog. Building backlinks to your articles will boost them in search results for particular terms, and you will eventually get more traffic from search engines to your articles which will hopefully convert to visitors to your website.

Earning Income

If you use sites such as HubPages as a way to earn income, then building backlinks to your articles will get more traffic to them. The more visitors to your article, the more chances they will click on ads which will help you earn more money off of them.

Direct Traffic from CommentLuv Links

For any goal that must be achieved from having more traffic directed to your content marketing articles, aside from just boosting the articles ranking in search engines results bringing in search engine traffic, you can also gain a significant amount of traffic simply from the CommentLuv links. Leaving great comments on blog posts enabled with CommentLuv that are related to the same topic of the article you leave behind as your CommentLuv link will likely result in people clicking on your article from the blog comment itself, as well as possibly sharing it on social networks and their blogs as well for even more traffic and links.

Setting Up Specific Article Profiles on ComLuv

As you know, to get the best benefits from CommentLuv blog commenting, you should setup your site on ComLuv. This goes for everything from blogs to article directories.

Here is some information about a few of the most popular article directories and communities, plus specific guides on how to setup your article site profile on ComLuv, including everything from registering for a new account, adding additional URL’s to existing accounts, and the advantages of using default links.

The statistics links gives information about the number of submissions to Digg, Twitter, Yahoo Answers, and other social sharing information about each article site, provided by Quarkbase.

NEW Associated Content

Associated Content, like Bukisa, allows you to add links in the body of your article, but they are nofollow links. Income generation is based on the number of views on your articles, plus you can earn money upfront by completing articles that are most wanted. Featured contributors have the chance to make anywhere from $10 – $1,000 up front for Assignment Desk articles.

Learn how to promote Associated Content articles with CommentLuv.

Bukisa

Bukisa allows you to add links in the body of your article, although they are nofollow links. Income generation is based on the number of views on your articles as well as members you refer to Bukisa (you get a share of their income).

Learn how to promote Bukisa articles with CommentLuv.

EzineArticles

EzineArticles allows you to add two dofollow links with anchor text in the author bio field of each article. They have some of the strictest guidelines in terms of the number of times keywords can be mentioned, and they do not allow overly promotional articles mentioning specific sites / company names too often.

Learn how to promote EzineArticles with CommentLuv.

GoArticles

GoArticles allows you to add dofollow links with anchor text within the article and in the author bio field of each article.

Learn how to promote GoArticles with CommenLuv.

HubPages

HubPages allows you earn income from your articles, or hubs, by linking to various affiliate and CPC sites such as Adsense, Kontera, Ebay, and Amazon, as well as earn a percentage of the income that your referrals make on their hubs.

HubPages allows links in the body of their article. To get dofollow links, you must increase your HubPages profile score to above 75 by doing a variety of things including publishing hubs, commenting on other hubs, posting in the HubPages forum, and building your HubPages karma.

Learn how to promote HubPages with CommentLuv. This article is probably the most detailed because I was able to add screenshots throughout the various steps.

Squidoo

Squidoo allows you earn income from your articles, or lenses, by getting a percentage of the clicks on your lenses’ Adsense, Amazon, and eBay items.

Squidoo allows links in the body of their lenses. To get dofollow links, you must give your lens a fair amount of content by adding additional modules to it. So instead of just having one chunk of text, it would be a good idea to add an Amazon module with some books related to your topic, a guestbook, and maybe an image or two.

Learn how to promote Squidoo Lenses with CommentLuv. This article also includes screenshots and how to create a RSS feed for your Squidoo lenses (not as easy to find as other article sites).

Using CommentLuv for Other Article Directories

These are certainly not the only article networks out there, just some of the ones I have seen most often used. Using similar directions as the ones for the above listed sites, you should be able to add other article sites and directories to your ComLuv profile as well, providing that the article site gives you a member profile URL and a RSS or XML feed URL for your articles.

Your Article Marketing Promotion Strategies

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Do you build backlinks for your articles on article directories or networks? Let us know your experiences and the benefits, especially if you use CommentLuv to promote your articles! Also, if there is an article network you use that you would like to see the guide for, let me know in the comments and I will create it for you! And if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me directly through my website – I’ll be happy to help!

This post is part of our amazing Blogging Contest, plz add a comment and tweet it to support the author.

The internet is so crowded with sites that have no name or brand, why you should be one of them? It’s essential to stand out from the crowd with your unique logo design, especially when you realize the importance of branding and uniqueness in today’s market!

Whether you are a wedding photographer or business speaker, you need to stand out from your competitors! When you’re ready to have a custom logo design, there are many options to go with including:

• Finding graphic designers on freelance job boards
• Newer companies offering free logo design in exchange for links or reviews (they’re the ones that contact you via email or through your website contact form).
• Reading logo design tutorials and going the DIY approach (good for those who already have a strong design knowledge).
• Crowdsourcing logo designs through forums.
• Googling logo design and hoping for the best!
• Getting referrals from sites whose logos you like by simply asking!

To help in your decision making process, here is some information for one logo design company that you will come across in your searches: LogoBee.

Logo Samples

Probably the most important part of a review of a design company is to see what they do. Here are some of the top, award winning logo designs by LogoBee.

Company Information

About LogoBee
LogoBee is an award winning design company based in Montreal, Canada that has been in the logo designing business for 10 years and has created logos for an unbelievable 10,000+ customers. Their designers work in-house (no outsourcing!) to provide quality service and customer support (which includes live chat). They believe in getting customers great results in a timely fashion – initial samples can be received in two to five business days, depending on the logo design package chosen.

Pricing
LogoBee has a very detailed pricing page and list of services so you will be able to choose the package that is right for you.

The basic logo design package is currently being offered at a spring sale price of $199 USD (regularly $298), and this includes 6 custom designed logo samples within 5 business days of receiving payment plus 6 revisions (no refunds). The Silver Package (spring sale pricing $279, regularly $389) includes 8 logo samples within 5 business days, unlimited revisions, and a money back guarantee if you’re not fully satisified. If you need a full service job, the best deal is the BundleBee package at $1,199 which includes logo, stationery, business cards, and Word Template design, logo samples within 2 business days, and custom web design (5 pages, 5 royalty free photos, and 5 changes free of charge).

Additional “a la cart” services include web design, flyer & brochure design, stationery, printing, and Word Template letterheads. Payment can be made via credit card or Paypal. Information about their guarantees, refunds, privacy, and legal information can be found in detail on their policies page.

Testimonials
LogoBee has a comprehensive section of testimonials on their site from over 100 satisfied customers with their logo designs included next to each review.

Non-Profit Work
LogoBee has collaborated with several non-profit organizations in order to help them develop their brand through logo design, including offering a yearly design project focused on logo makeovers. Here are some press releases about their non-profit work.

• Pro NFL Player to Unveil Non-Profit Foundation
• LogoBee creates design for Anthony’s Beehive, featured on CNN Money.
• LifeSharers Adopts a New Logo in its Efforts to Promote Organ Donation
• Hope Works Santa Rosa gets new logo design
• Fire Victims Non-Profit Organization Updates its Branding Strategy

Noteworthy Clients
Some of LogoBee’s satisfied clients include Apprentice winner Kendra Todd, an IndyCar Racing Team, L. G. Art Gallery, International Primate Protection League, and even GreenPeace!

Want to see how LogoBee connects to their current and potential customers? Connect with them on the following sites.

• LogoBee on Twitter @logobee
• LogoBee on Facebook
• LogoBee blogs – corporate and Blogspot

Affiliate Program
LogoBee offers an affiliate program where you can earn $20 per logo design client you send their way. Referrals are tracked with a coupon code (that gives your referrals $20 off their first purchase). Commissions are paid monthly via Paypal.

My Impressions

What are my overall impressions about this company from what I have read and seen?

Their Website
Their website design is in definite need of an update, as the design looks about 5 – 10 years old, and the content on the homepage alone is overwhelming. Plus I would prefer the simplicity of being able to see designs laid out on the screen as opposed to having to click through galleries with previous and next buttons or flash. I guess you can consider that they put all their focus in customer designs over their own, which can be a good thing. Plus their blog (which I assume is in WordPress) could definitely use some better permalinks, but that is the blogger in me coming out.

The Logos
I think that they have some great quality logo, as shown above in the samples.

The Pricing
To be honest, I haven’t had much experience in the realm of logo shopping, as, after serveral hit and miss offers by companies who offered free logos in trade for links, I had a friend design mine. But considering the amount of satisfied clients they have in comparison to those complaining about their pricing, it is my assumption that they must do good work for the cost.

What Others say about LogoBee?

Still need more info? Here are some additional sponsored review posts and logo design company review sites.

• Naldz Graphics Review of LogoBee
• John Chow Review of LogoBee
• Blogging Tips Review of LogoBee
• Tyler Cruz Review of LogoBee
• Logo Reviews
• LogoBee Company Reviews
• Company Logos LogoBee Review

Your Thoughts on LogoBee

Have you tried LogoBee? What are your initial impressions of their quality of service and what would make you give them a go for your design needs?

Currently, there are three legitimate bloggers that almost always end up in my Akismet spam filter on, and I’m sure that there are many more out there along with businesses who are using good commenting practices to build traffic and links to their websites. So this post is for all valuable commenters who have, for one reason or the other, been placed in the sandbox known as the spam filter.

What is Akismet?

Akismet is a system for WordPress blogs that checks incoming comments and trackbacks against a database to determine if the item is legitimate or spam. For self-hosted blogs built on the WordPress platform, it is a plugin that must be activated by the blog owner, and for blogs hosted on WordPress.com, it is automatically built in.

Awaiting Moderation or Akismet Spam Folder

How do you know if your comment has been shoved to the Akismet spam folder as opposed to simply sitting in the moderation area? There are a few telltale signs that I have come across, including the following.

• Receving a blank page after submitting the comment.
• Being redirected to the post page, but not seeing your comment with a message about your comment being in moderation.
• Knowing the blog auto approves comments, but yours does not appear.
• Returning to the blog post a week later and not seeing your comment.
• Receiving a notice that your comment has been flagged by Akismet as spam.

Possible Akismet Flags

So how does the Akismet database determine if your comment is legit or spam? Items in the Akismet database are submitted by blog owners through their comment moderation dashboard. If a blog owner considers a comment spam, they can mark that comment as spam which adds the commenters’ details to the Akismet database.

The following are details of the comment analyzed by the Akismet system, as listed in the Akismet API, plus some observations on how they affect comments. Keep in mind when reading these that it is not always one particular comment detail that Akismet analyzes to determine if the comment is spam – it is a combination of details.

IP Address
The IP address of a commenter is always logged. If spam comments get past the Akismet check, blog owners can view the IP address of each comment, which can lead to comments from the same IP with multiple names and details being marked as spam.

If one comment from your IP address is flagged as spam, are all comments using the same IP going to be filtered? Not necessarily. The IP address in combination with the next comment details will determine if comments are sent to the spam or moderation folder.

Comment Type
Akismet monitors not only regular comments, but trackbacks and pingbacks as well. For some blogs, trackback spam is much worse than actual comment spam.

Comment Author
The name submitted with a comment can be a major trigger. For example, using a keyword phrase in the name field that has been often marked as spam, such as Viagra, can automatically send a comment to the spam filter. Sometimes, if you receive one of the signals that your comment has went to the spam bin, you can simply hit the back button, change your name (try something real like your actual name or Bob if you’re shy), and the same comment will go into moderation instead.

Comment Email Address
Email addresses seem to be a particularly sensitive trigger for Akismet, particularly freebie emails such as Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, Inbox, etc that spammers use frequently. Using an alternative address, perhaps from your own domain, may help bypass the Akismet. Of course, if you are spamming the comments section and getting reported under your domain’s email, then you may end up adding your own domain to the Akismet filters.

Comment Author URL
This is the URL you enter in the website field of the comment form. If a particular URL is marked often as spam, that URL field will trigger Akismet to bounce the comment into the spam folder. This determination is sometimes in conjunction with the email address, author name, and IP – changing these other variables could help the comment URL go through.

Comment Content
The actual body of your comment if analyzed. Common phrases such as “great post” or specific keywords may get a comment labeled as spam. Also, like the URL field itself, if the comment content contains links to a domain that has been reported as spam, the comment could get flagged as spam. So simply removing the URL from the website field and placing an HTML link in the comment content may not help a comment bypass Akismet.

What You Can Do

So what should you do if you feel like you are being unfairly marked as spam? As a commenter, you can try changing some of the above comment details such as commenting from a different computer, leaving out the keywords in your name, or using a custom domain email address.

To get the attention of a blog owner where you feel your comments are not being approved, simply try their contact form and let them know you have recently left a good comment on their post but think it may have been filtered into their spam folder. Also, make sure to have a Gravatar - a personal image definitely helps your comment stand out to blog owners who do review their spam filter often.

In the long run, remember that the more times blog owners mark your comment as not spam, the better your chances of getting out of the Akismet auto filter. Every valuable comment counts!

IMPORTANT UPDATE

Update 6-7-2010: Depending on your perspective, a huge flaw in the Akismet system has been recently discovered. Akismet is deleting certain comments without sending them to your spam filter, which means there are comments coming to your blog that you will never see. Read more about how Akismet is deleting comments.

Your Thoughts

Are you a good commenter who commonly who suspects you are being caught in the Akismet spam filter? What have you tried to get yourself out of it in terms of changing your details or contacting blog owners?

As you may know, one of the ways to get followers is to start following people in hopes that they will follow you in return. So how do you up the odds that people you follow who are interested in your topic will follow you back?

There are several ways to find followers that are likely to follow you back. The key is in looking at the ratio of the person’s followers vs. following. If they have 100,000 people following them, and they are only following 100, chances are you may not make the cut. But if they are following 98,999 people, then more than likely they are utilizing an automation tool that follows everyone who follows them.

3 Free Ways to Find Reciprocal Followers

So outside of clicking on users one by one to see what their following ratio is, how do you find relevant followers who are likely to follow you back?

TwitterCounter
TwitterCounter keeps a historical track of how many people are following Twitter members, including predictions based on those numbers as to what their following will be the next day and 30 days out.

If you visit the TwitterCounter search page and search for your topic such as digital marketing, you will get results based on the information in Twitter member profiles (as opposed to what they tweet, which isn’t always a good indicator of a particular member’s interest). The results show the number of people following each member, the number of people the member follows, and the number of tweets they have sent. If you authorize TwitterCounter to your Twitter account, you can follow people directly from the list by clicking the blue follow link.

TweepML
TweepML allows members to add lists of Twitter members based on specific criteria. There are several lists of Twitter members who follow back. Some example lists include:

• Fast Followers 1001-1500
• Fast Followers 1501-2000
• Fast Followers 2001-2500
• Top 500 Follow All Back

Each list gives the user’s name and their profile description. Simply use your browser’s search feature to highlight particular keywords and check those members to follow. Once you authorize TweepML through your Twitter account, you can follow selected members. Also, remember not to follow too many people every day as you can possibly get banned by Twitter for doing so.

Tweepi
Once you authorize Tweepi through your Twitter account, you can enter a Twitter member’s username and Tweepi will bring back the followers of this user and information such as their number of following, followers, tweets, retweets, etc. So find a Twitter member in the same field, preferably with a huge following, but not someone who auto follows back (ie. someone who doesn’t follow many others). This way, you can be (almost) sure that everyone following them is actually interested in their topic, not just in a return follow.

Best Services and Apps

• TweetAdder (review)
• SproutSocial
• MarketMeSuite
• HootSuite
• Socialoomph

Other Ways to Gain Followers

There are many, many ways to get followers. In addition to seeking out new followers, you can also gain new followers by:

1. 1- Adding your Twitter ID to your website, blog, email signature, business card, and to other social networks.
2. 2- Joining forums relevant to your topic and adding your Twitter ID to your signature as well as to any lists of forum members on Twitter.
3. 3- Using your Twitter URL as a website URL when commenting on blogs on your subject of interest.

They’re Following – Now What?

What is the point of having a large following if they are not actually paying attention to you? Sure they are following you, but with the invention of Twitter Lists, they may not actually be following your updates. So your next goal is to get their attention. This can be done in a variety of ways, including but not limited to the following.

Direct Messages
Although most of them are automated or spam, some people are still paying attention to their direct messages. So if someone sends you a Facebook link, go add them as a friend. Be sure to thank them for their message on Twitter @yourusername so they know who you are on Twitter and how you found them.

Blog Commenting
If your Twitter followers have blogs, go and leave a few valuable comments. If you don’t have a website, just include your Twitter profile URL as your website. The blog owner probably won’t miss that (unless they are one of the mega-blogs).

Retweets
Retweets generally get attention. So retweet users you hope to notice you, but also keep in mind that what you are retweeting is relevant to your followers. This way you are providing valuable information for your followers as well as (hopefully) garnering attention from other Twitter members. You can do this during the blog commenting proces as well by tweeting articles including their @theirusername.

Your Thoughts

What methods do you use to gain targeted Twitter followers, and how do you get them to engage and interact with you?

But there are a few disadvantages that are often overlooked. Depending on why you produce content for other sites, the cons may not outweigh the pros, but they are something to consider when you are submitting your article to be published on any site that you do have full control over.

Editorial Changes

Whenever you submit your content to another site, you are sometimes (unknowingly) giving the owner of the site permission to alter your content. This can be as simple as adding extra information or images to enhance your work, to having someone else fully modify anything they see fit. There are sites that will accept your article and publish it as is, sites that will not publish content if it does not meet certain standards, and sites that reserve the right to edit your article as they see fit.

Know the Policies

Is it important to you that your content stay exactly as is? If so, you may want to review the site you plan on submitting it to and see what their standards are. Read any terms and conditions that you agree to, as these may state whether your article will be modified or enhanced. If you are sending your writing to a blog, be sure to specify what can and cannot be edited before it is published. Also, make sure to check out your work after it is published, with careful attention to anything important that may have been changed to alter the meaning or message you meant to convey.

Income Generation

Some sites, such as HubPages, Squidoo, and eHow, are setup to share revenue with content providers. They will place Adsense, Kontera, Amazon, and other ads into your article, and if someone clicks on those ads, the revenue will be split between you and the site. But what about other sites that will place ads in your article without sharing the profit? This kind of thing has been known to happen all the way down to the comments you leave on blogs that are infused with text link ads. Are they ads that you will want associated with your article? Will the ads make it look like you are promoting something in your article that you do not intend to? Are you ok with someone making money off of your hard work?

Review the Ads

Again, if you have to agree to certain terms when you submit your article, be sure to go over them fully. If you are guest blogging, look at other ads on the site, and ask the blog owner whether they will be mixing your content with their ads or even affiliate links. If you are not comfortable with any income generation that will be linked to your article, you should keep it to your own site, or at least on a site that has a revenue sharing program so you will be rewarded for your work.

Reputation by Association

Take a look at the site you are writing for. Is it known for having quality content? Or is the content sub-par? Could your article be linked to others on the site? As an example, I was viewing a post that had a collection of great nature pics by a talented photographer. At the end of the article, there were thumbnails for more posts, and some of those images were quite offensive. Imagine that you were the photographer, and you sent that link to your friends and family. Would you be a bit embarrassed if they saw the offensive content attached to your post, even though it wasn’t yours?

Protect Your Image

Before writing for another website, take some time to view other content on that site. Will your articles be linked to others? Is it clear to someone who found your work that not everything on the site is yours? Does the site have good authority? Do you know the other writers in terms of their style and ideals? Just a few things to consider before sharing your thoughts and ideas.

Loss of Content

It’s simple. Any site that you do not run could change, or no longer exist, in the blink of an eye. If you write for another blog, article directory, etc., that site owner has the right, at anytime, to change their site and remove content. So if they decide to go in a different direction or that they no longer have the time to run the website that you have contributed to, you may find that your hard work has disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Backup Your Copy

Just like you (hopefully) backup your PC and your own website content, you should keep a copy of any articles you submit to other sites. If those sites change, vanish, or for whatever reason no longer use your work, you may want to publish your article elsewhere, assuming you did not give up your rights to that content.

Your Thoughts

Have you run into problems with writing or sharing articles on sites that you do not own? What other ways do you protect yourself and your content?

This post is part of our Guest Blogging contest, if you like it then why not sharing it with your friends by retweeting it? this will give credits to the author and a better chance to win one of our awesome prizes.  By the way.. you also can participate in our contest, it’s not late!

After receiving my first check from Google for reaching the $100 payout threshold for AdSense, I was psyched. Each month, although the earnings were small, they were steadily increasing, so when I got my first direct deposit from Google, I was certain that I would be reaching the next threshold soon.

Since the beginning of 2010, however, I feel like I have seen a steady decline in the earnings per click. Here are some theories, and why they may or may not be the contributing factor.

Possible Factors Affecting Earnings

Changes in Ad Management

Between December and January, the only thing I changed was moving my sidebar ad (which is gone as of this past weekend thanks to my new sponsor blocks) down a bit in relation to other sidebar items. Although I received only one less click this month on the sidebar ads than last month, the earnings on them were 50% less.

On the other hand, one of my sites with no changes in ad placement which had the same amount of ad clicks is 75% less.

Changes in Site Traffic

All of my sites traffic, even though the month hasn’t ended, are on average higher than December, a statistic that I find very pleasing on all other levels, except that it hasn’t seemed to help in AdSense conversion.

Changes in Site Topic

All of my sites have stayed on the same topic. In fact, I optimized Kikolani mid-month to be more targeted for blogging and social media, but I haven’t seen any significant changes, AdSense wise, since that change. One of the sites I am analyzing is static, so the topic has not changed since October, so having the same amount of clicks and less revenue seems strange.

Addition of Mobile Ads

This one is quite new, so I don’t have a comparison of how it does from month to month yet. I just made Kikolani mobile blogging friendly using a plugin that allows you to add AdSense to the mobile theme. So far though, all of the ads have been public service announcements, so I’m not very confident that this will get me anywhere.

Ways to Increase AdSense Earnings

So what am I going to do to try to raise my AdSense earnings? I think I’m not going to focus on my main blog so much in the AdSense game, as I know the sidebar ad was producing more revenue than the link units in the single post ads (but getting advertising sponsors for that zone will generate more revenue than AdSense anyway). For my more static sites, however, I want to get those earnings on the move up again.

Blocking Low Paying Ads

I ran across an article on how someone doubled their AdSense earnings, which discussed ways to block low paying advertisers, deselect categories of ads you do not want displayed on your websites, and allowing / blocking certain Google Certified Ad Networks. While this sounds good, the flipside were other articles that were against doing the things I just mentioned. One article that was particularly convincing was on the fact that Google sends ads to your site that should generate the most clicks based on your site’s content. And why wouldn’t Google want you to have the highest paying advertisers, considering when the ads get clicked, Google gets paid too (duh).

Blocking Ad Categories

The one thing that sounded good was changing the categories of ads that can be shown on your site, which can be found under AdSense Setup > Ad Review Center. For me, these category selections are confusing though. The only options I have include cosmetic surgery, religion, politics, drugs & supplements, dating, get rich quick, video games, weight loss, and two categories for sexually related ads.

These are obviously not the only categories of ads I get on my sites, as my poetry site gets poetry ads, my blogging site gets blogging ads, and so on. So I must be missing something, that or they only allow you to de-select the main categories they know people will possibly dislike being on their sites.

Using Google Analytics

Another method I am going to try (and I’m not sure why I haven’t before this point) is looking into Google Analytics to see which pages converted the most in AdSense earnings. Knowing the top posts and AdSense referrers will help in determining what type of content converts the best, and where to promote it when trying to increase AdSense clicks and income.

Your Google Adsense Tips

I know there are more ways to make money online. But for some sites, monetizing with AdSense is just less complicated and time consuming than seeking out advertisers, affiliate products, writing eBooks, etc. So for those of you using AdSense for monetization on static websites or blogs, what methods / tools do you use to increase earnings?

This has happened to me many, many times, and I’m sad to say that I may have missed out on great content because of the way the blog or website is designed. Here are some design-based reasons I have left a page that promised relevant information.

Pop-up Adverts

Probably one of the most common reasons I have left a web page before I found the content I was seeking is because of those pop-up advertisements that will not go away. I can forgive the simple small ones that want you to join their mailing list, although I think if you are a first time visitor, you should be given time to find out what the site is about before being asked to receive updates for it.

The unforgivable ads are the ones that do not take into consideration visitors on a lower resolution display. Because of their large size and the fact that the ad is fixed in place, I cannot get to the close button, or worse, there is no close button for a certain length of time unless you do sign-up for the offer.

Almost Endless One Page Sales

Another popular design flaw is the almost never-ending one page sales site. Some of these items I’m sure are great deals, and I know the goal is to give me so much great information that by the time I find the price, I will already be sold. But these sales pages need to consider the fact that not everyone wants to scroll through ten lengthy testimonials, the “wait, act now and you’ll also get” additional offers, videos, and what not.

I think these sites would better served if they just stated what the main benefit of the product is, have one video, one testimonial with a link to others, if people are interested, a list of additional items with a short summary and link for additional details, then the price. Because I have left many of these sales pages simply because if the page is that long, the deal is probably not that great. Since these templates are so popular, if I don’t know a little about the product before I hit the page, I leave almost automatically when I see that it is that kind of page.

One sales page I like in particular is the one for the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. While it is a long page, it isn’t endless, and it gets to the main point – product price and purchase button – early on and often throughout the page, as opposed to having to scroll down to sometimes the bottom or close to the bottom and then searching for what you really want to know. It’s also not just the one page sales ad – it is built into the blog, so you can see that there is a lot more to offer than just that product.

AdSense Blog Themes

You know them. The blog themes that are designed specifically for AdSense. I have nothing against AdSense, because I do use it myself. But I think that you can have a well designed theme and just include the AdSense. Also, there is nothing worse than having to wade through the ads to find the real content. If I can’t spot a navigation system and the first post on the blog because of all of the ads, I typically move on.

Really Old or Standard Templates / Themes

Typical information seekers on the Internet are looking for the most current, relevant content. It is hard to believe on the first impression of a site using a web layout that looks over five years old that it is going to have up to date information. So if you are using a really old theme, or one of the generic ones supplied by your blogging platform, it might be time to update it to something newer.

If you are on WordPress, look up the latest themes by searching Google for WordPress themes and then narrowing your search results to articles that have been written this month. If you are on Blogger / Blogspot, go beyond the basic ones offered through their system and try sites like Blogger Templates. Even blogging sites like Tumblr have more themes than just the standard ones available through their main site.

More Design Faux Pas

When you are perusing content on the web, what design and layout elements deter you from actually getting to, or even caring about the content?

Commenting to Respond to a Great Post

This *should* be one of the main reasons everyone is commenting on a blog post – because the content is so good that it merits a response or leads to other thought-provoking questions. When you are commenting on a blog post that you find beneficial, why not share the post socially by digging or stumbling it in order to increase its exposure so that it can help other readers as well?

Commenting to Form a Blogging Community

Many bloggers comment on other blogs within their niche in order to expand their blogging community, as it is well known that most bloggers (with exception to some of the big names out there) are going to want to reciprocate support for fellow bloggers who have helped them. If your motivation for commenting is to receive comments from other bloggers, then why also get them to notice you on social networks by retweeting their post, making sure to use their @username. Then you may get social support from these bloggers as well, thus strengthening your blogging community.

Commenting to Build Backlinks

Of course, another well known reason for leaving blog comments is to build backlinks to your website. As most link builders know, links on pages that are more prominent on Google are better for your site. What better way to boost the post you just left a link on in Google’s eyes than to bookmark it, especially on dofollow social bookmarking networks! This will help the post gain higher SERPs and a higher PR, making it a more valuable page for your link to be placed upon.

Commenting to Get Traffic

It is well known that you can get a nice amount of traffic from other blogs by leaving valuable comments, especially if you are one of the first comments on the post. The only way you are going to get traffic from this blog post is if others see it as well. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to share it on as many social networks as possible to help others find it, leading them to your link too.

Easy Ways to Share Posts

Whenever you find a great blog post, what is the easiest way to share it? Many blogs have social bookmark links at the beginning or end of each post, most of the time in the form of icons or voting badges / widgets. There are also increasingly popular buttons for easily Retweeting posts via Tweetmeme or sharing on Facebook.

If you don’t want to rely on the post’s social bookmarking options, an alternative would be to collect browser bookmarklets, plugins, or Firefox extensions for the social networks you prefer to use. You can see what certain networks have to offer for easy submissions by checking out their help, support, or tools section (like Delicious). That way no matter what page you are on, you can simply submit it to your favorite social network with ease.

Sharing Exceptions

There are a few common-sense exceptions to socially promoting a post that you just commented on. For example, if you were driven to criticize the post because it was horrendously written, plagiarized, or full of bad information, you should probably spare others by not sharing it and putting into circulation.

Your Thoughts

Do you socially share good blog posts that you comment on? Why or why not? Have you seen any benefits or are you simply happy with spreading good blogging karma?