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Blogging Tips

The sad truth is your website might be hacked and you don’t know it! That’s right, hackers will hide the links that are only visible in the source code. What this means to most people is thousands of spammy links are generated from a hacker’s script that is hidden in your code. This is not just annoying, but Google will penalize a site with these hidden links! Your ranking for keywords will drop and all the while you may have never see any signs as to what was causing it.

To find out if your blog or website has hidden links, or parasites, here is a link to a free blogging tool that will scan your code and let you know if you have been hacked. Just go to: Unmask Parasites

If your WordPress blog has been hacked, here is a article on how to find and remove the script: remove hackers script. It is also has some good tips on prevention, so I suggest taking a look even if your site is clean.

Next, make sure to back up your database regularly. I use a WordPress plugin that I set to automatically email me a backup of my WordPress database once a week. I also set my email client to filter the email into a folder I created, this way it is out of my way; but there if I need it. There are quiet a few WordPress Backup plugins, but here is the one I use – WordPress Backup

Finally, here is a site that has some good posts on Blog security. It also touches on other social media websites that might have a security hole. Take a look at – Blog Security

Checking to make sure your blog is clean of hidden parasites that a hacker puts on your blog or website, is easy. The challenging part comes if your site has been hacked. However removing the parasites are crucial to improving your site’s performance and organic ranking. So, if your site has been hacked, take a deep breath and follow the links I provided, they will help you find the hacker’s script. Once all is clean, back up your WordPress database on a regular bases and from then on it is just a matter of keeping up on the latest hacking schemes and security holes.

Hope this helps –happy blogging

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The world of blogging is all about consistency. Everyone know this, but in the long run it is easier said than done. What usually starts with a bang usually ends with a pop …going something like this, “I’m going to write one post a day”.  As time marches on there is usually an amendment to that declaration, “I’m going to write two posts a week”. Later, thisis also modified, “What’s the rush …one post, one month. Slow and steady”. Sadly that is not usually the end of it. Most bloggers find life just keeps getting in the way and soon the, “one a month” turns into one a year …and that does not cut it.

So how can you keep writing when life gets in the way? Accountability and competition are two strong motivators to blogging:

1. After deciding what is a realistic goal, write it down and put it where you can see it everyday.
2. Pre-schedule your times and days you plan to write. Put them on your calendar.
3. Say it out loud telling someone you see on a daily bases.
4. Turn it into a friendly competition. Find a blogging buddy with similar goals. Make sure to subscribe to their blogs RSS feed. This way you can keep tabs on each other. This will compel you to keep up the writing, knowing someone is reading and watching your feed as you try to match each other posts for post.

Blogging takes time and perseverance requiring consistency over a long period. Accountability and competition are two strong motivators, so use them to compel you to write when life gets in the way.

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There are a number of ways to promote your website online. From writing articles to having a website add a link back to your site. Outside of paid links and link farms, the more links back to your site the better. But, MAKE SURE TO VERY YOUR ANCHORED TEXT!

If you don’t vary your text links in the long run you could be doing more harm than good. When submitting multiple links over time make sure to vary your anchored text links. This will not only improve your ranking across multiple keywords, but it will also keep your site from looking “spammy” to Google. Or what I call “blitzing” a keyword.

Matt Cutts (Head of Google’s Spam Division) said about anchored text,

“…a sudden surge of external backlinks (often with the same anchor text) has the signature of unnatural linking … “

The does not mean you can not reuse a keyword phrase. Personally, I enforce certain keyword phrase, but I make sure they are not forced and relevant to the topic. If you keep them natural I don’t think you would have any problem. So if you have hundreds of links just don’t have 100% using the same anchored text. Mix it up a little.

One more point using Matt’s remark for drawing another conclusion. With Google’s hard line against paid links, if the robots start to see any unnatural pattern, it is bond to perceive your site as buying links. After all, I feel it stands to reason that a large amount of unnatural links could be acquired through a paid service. At best you will see the robots start to lower the value of your links, at worst you will not get any credit for those links you worked so hard at generating.

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When you install WordPress you should install it on a subdomain. The reason for installing on a subdomain is the search engines will consider your blog a separate site. As such, your links back to your website will be considered external links giving them more weight as links are considered.

When naming the subdomain make sure to be short and specific to your blog topic. This will give you the biggest bang for the buck.

If creating a subdomain is unfamiliar to you, visit my graphic design and website design forum and we will be happy to help with the set up.

Garyикони