Writing Tips at GarySpeer.com

What can you do to benefit from keywords if you already have a website and want to add a blog? You already have a name for your website, you already have a domain name, so how can you use keywords in the new blog in ways that will draw traffic?

You can set up a subdomain or simply a subdirectory on your website to put the blog in — and make the name of that subdomain or subdirectory some relevant keywords, instead of just “blog.”

You’ve seen websites with blogs I’m sure, and almost always the website navigation simply had a sidebar link or navigation menu link that says “blog.” Why not say something like, “Product News and Reviews” instead of “blog”? Chances are, if you are adding a blog to a website, you are going to use it for information or news related to the main blog. As a personal example, I have two or three affiliate marketing websites that display various merchants’ products and try to “entice” or encourage people to click product links on my website, go to the merchant’s website, and buy that product.

Since blogs are a good way to draw search engine “bots” to your website, I have set up blogs on some of my affiliate marketing sites. In one case, I named the blog “Newest Merchandise,” and I use it to post product reviews and links on individual merchandise I add regularly to the site. In another case, I named the blog “News & Reviews” and I do something similar there.

Of course, the full name of the blog isn’t just “News & Reviews” it’s “News & Reviews About xxxx,” but the link to the subdirectory I have the blog in shows on the main site as “News & Reviews.”

No, this stuff isn’t rocket science. (My son is a bona fide “rocket scientist” with an aerospace engineering degree, and he assures me it isn’t rocket science.) There are no rules that you must follow to set up a blog or a website. There are no guarantees that anyone will ever come to your blog or your website.

But if your writing life involves blogging and/or website content, you might want to consider some of these ideas and modify them to fit your particular interests and skills set. You’ll probably find ways to do far more and do it better than I if you just work at it.

Technorati Tags: Internet writing, blogging, keyword blog titles, writing tips at garyspeer.com

How often to you get to write what you want to write? Are you often forced to write what your job requires instead of writing what you want to write? Most of us find most of our writing time devoted to a job or a project that we must do for our “day job,” and have to fit the writing we really want to do into the day when and if we can.

I spent most of today working on an affiliate marketing website devoted to rustic furniture and decor. I had the opportunity to write about moose rugs, bear cub dishes, baby cradles, crib bedding, various high-ticket leather sofas and even some antler chandeliers. Not really exciting stuff. But I at least have the opportunity to get the site up on the Internet and possibly earn some money. I have had many, many “day jobs” worse than building my own websites, and I’m sure many of you have, too.

I spent too many years of my life wallowing in a sort of “I can never write a novel because I just never will have the combination of energy and time to get one done.” Then I read of people who fire off best-selling novels while commuting to work, or after putting the tots down for a nap, or after doing dishes, three loads of laundry, cooking meals, and spending quality time with a spouse.

So “not enough time and energy,” is really nothing more than a bad excuse in my case, and probably in most cases. I simply have to want to write something badly enough to, as the cliche ad slogan goes, “Just Do It.”

How are the “wanna writes” working out for you in relation to your “gotta writes”? Let’s make ourselves a promise to do better.

Technorati Tags: types of writing, time for writing, writing as a business, Internet writing, writing tips at garyspeer.com

If you know people with red hair, chances are you or someone have referred to them as “redheads.” But if you know people who have dark or black hair, I’ll be no one has ever referred to them as “blackheads.”

A redhead is a person with red hair; a blackhead is a particular form of unhealthy skin condition. The difference in usage is a matter of definition and no one would mix up the two words in conversation or writing.

Likewise, when I was a kid, if you said someone was “really gay,” you meant they were very cheerful and happy. If you say someone today is “really gay,” you PROBABLY would be referring to someone who was very publicly, openly homosexual. Which is a different issue than “redhead” and “blackhead.” The definition of “gay” still includes the concept of cheerful and happy — but the connotation of “gay” has been almost entirely preempted to mean homosexual.

Hence the importance of knowing a word’s connotation as well as its definition. If you get the definition right but the connotation wrong, your risking misunderstanding at the least, and you could even create ill will or lose readers because you miss the mark on a word’s connotation.

Language is such a wonderful tool. Be careful to use it wisely.

Technorati Tags: definition, connotation, word usage, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Today is one of those days that makes me think of things like treadmills: I’m putting forth a lot of effort but seeing little or no forward progress.

It actually started for me yesterday, when I put the finishing touches on an affiliate marketing website I had been revamping for the last week and a half. I really like the way it turned out, and the timing is almost right — it’s a site dealing with sports team clothing and collectibles — so I’m hoping for good things.

Then I ran some software I have to create a sitemap of the website which I can submit to Google. That’s supposed to help get the links/new links for the website indexed quickly into Google so all those eager sports fan shoppers out there can find it and make me incredibly wealthy. (Okay, maybe at least send me a couple of bucks in commissions.)

Either because the site is so big, or because the sports gods were frowning upon me, the sitemap software suddenly began draining memory resources on my webhost’s servers — and I got an “abuse” warning. That means I had to delete the sitemap software, and I’m holding my breath for a response from my webhost as to whether they’ll shut down my account.

If you’re reading this, it means my webhosting account is okay so far. But so far I’ve heard nothing from them.

While I await a “yea or nay” from my webhost, I’m trying hard to think of forward progress instead of those treadmills.

Technorati Tags: webhosting, websites, Internet writing, affiliate marketing, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I NEVER plug “easy way to make money” offers on my websites, because, frankly, there are no “easy” ways to make money online, really, there’s only hard work and perhaps some “smarter” ways to work at it. The “Conduit Method” of building websites came my way recently via an online acquaintance, and I think there’s something worth looking at here, especially for writers.

When people shop online, they want to 1) find the product they need or want, 2) get legitimate information about it, 3) get the best price they can, and, 4) feel confident they’ll get the product and price if they buy. There’s much more to it than that, but I think that’s a pretty good summary.

The “Conduit Method,” as I’m using it in reference to a wonderful little CHEAP “report” written by longtime Internet marketer Chris Rempel, channels those steps and that shopping process into giving people what they want to make a buying decision.

Should you try it, as a writer you task is to simply create web page content that is summary “fact sheet” material about a product you’re marketing — NOT a sales pitch or sales page — and then put links on that “fact sheet” to allow people to buy from the merchant for whom you are marketing.

I’m not clear on why Chris chose the name “Conduit Method,” but I believe he wanted to focus on the way using this method to build websites “channels” or “funnels” the merchant’s sales efforts toward getting people to buy — not on your sales pitches or sales efforts.

In a nutshell, the Conduit Method calls for building content-rich websites with legitimate product and price comparison reviews, as well as user/buyer testimonials, on real products being sold online. And Chris offers some really simple ways for you to find and incorporate such content into your website.

So, if you’re looking for a way to use your writing skills, blogging efforts, and marketing ideas to make some money online as a writer, I recommend you take a look at Chris Rempel’s Conduit Method. I purchased a couple of domain names for some products I’m an affiliate marketer with and expect to start building sites with them this week.

Technorati Tags: Chris Rempel, Conduit Method of website building, Conduit Method marketing, affiliate marketingInternet writing, writing as a business, writing tips at garyspeer.com

If your efforts at online writing include affiliate marketing — you know from many previous posts here that mine do — you may be a member of the Ebay Partners Network, i.e., you do affiliate marketing for eBay.

If that’s you, I’ve discovered one of the absolutely most useful software tools you can own. It’s called phpBay Pro, and it was written by a guy named Wade Wells. Wade is a bona fide first-class guy, and he gives the sort of customer support for his product that Microsoft, Apple, HP, and all the others could only dream about.

The software itself comes in two forms, one works as a plugin for WordPress the other as a stand-alone option on non-blog web pages. What phpBay Pro does is allow you to create targeted displays of live, up-to-the-minute eBay auction links on your website, so you (assuming you are an eBay affiliate) can send buyers and sellers to eBay and make an incredible fortune online.

Okay, the “incredible fortune online” is my fervent wish for us all, but you get the idea with the software. If you’d like to see it in action, take a look at the Fun for Collectors website I’m linking to here (and that I’ve linked to in the sidebar of this site under “Useful Links.”

Technorati Tags: phpBay Pro, eBay affiliates, Ebay Partners Network, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I cannot tell you how useful and worthwhile this software will be for you if you are an eBay affiliate. Go look for yourself and decide.