Writing Tips at GarySpeer.com

Here’s a little tip for bloggers, mostly for those who post comments on blogs; SPECIFICALLY for those of you who try to sp*m this and other blogs with idiotic comments just to get a link back to your money-making scheme or cr*p-filled website. Don’t waste your time: Most blogs run on WordPress software, which automatically makes all links in post comments into “nofollow” links.

There’s a tremendous lot of misunderstanding about Internet links and their “nofollow” or “dofollow” status. I’ll tell you right up front that I’m confused about a lot of it myself. But simply put, here’s the deal. “Dofollow” links from a website/blog back to your website supposedly benefit you by making your site seem to be more authoritative, or more important. But “nofollow” links supposedly bring no benefit to your website.

So here’s my suggestion. If someone has taken your money for a piece of junk script that lets you sp*m a million comments on a million blogs — you probably are wasting your time and money in so many ways I wouldn’t be able to tell you. If someone has taken your money for an idiotic waste-of-time “training course” on making money online, etc., by sp*mming tons of blogs with your worthless sp*mmy comments — you’ve wasted your time on money on that, too.

Here’s another suggestion: If you REALLY want to make money online by writing and you are willing to learn what to do and then work hard to do it, go to that Keyword Academy link I’ve put at the right-hand top of each page on this website. If you’re going to spend your time and money on something, you really ought to try something that’ll work.

But then, if you’re one of the people who crawls around the Internet just looking to rip off others with your idiotic sp*mmy comments, I’m guessing 1) you aren’t bothering to read this, 2) you’ll not accept or try what I’m saying here anyway, and, 3) you’re too lazy to actually try to earn some money on the Internet, but want to find a way to cheat or steal it from others.

It occurs to me that I may never have mentioned The Keyword Academy to my faithful followers here as a terrific site to learn about making money by writing website and blog content. (You’ll find the same link in that last sentence that you’ll find at the top of the right-hand column [sidebar] of each page on my site here.)

The Keyword Academy is run by a couple of guys named Courtney and Mark — members simply call them “Court and Mark,” so I really don’t know their full names or much about them. Okay, I seem to recall Court’s full name is Courtney Tuttle. Mark, I’m not sure. (Sorry, Mark.) The emphasis on the site actually isn’t on the mechanics or “how-tos” of writing.

The site is all about learning how to use your writing to build quality, content-rich websites that will draw lots of free “traffic” (i.e., Internet surfers/buyers). You, in turn, are taught some ways to “monetize” that traffic, i.e., get those surfers/buyers to take action at your website that will earn you money.

I highly recommend The Keyword Academy — which, by the way, is a monthly paid membership site. It’ll cost you $1.00 U.S. to give the place a complete 30-day trial, and after that you’ll be billed $33.00 a month. If you’ve ever joined an online membership site, I’ll bet you paid twice that much in most cases — and I’ll guarantee you never got your money’s worth.

But the good stuff at Keyword Academy includes this:

1. Something around a dozen step-by-step how-to videos you can watch and re-watch that walk you through specific “formulas” to find keywords to write about that will draw people to your website. These “Core” videos will help you step-by-step set up a website, configure it to run with WordPress (the software I use here), and how to get it “found” by Google and other major Internet search engines.

2. Monthly “webinars” which you can attend for free as part of your membership. These webinars deal with questions the members have about implementing the whole Keyword Academy process. The webinars range from general “Q&A” sessions once a month to a specific topic webinar once a month. And the webinars are made available as downloads you can keep on your computer afterward to play and replay as either audio or video files.

3. A terrifically helpful member’s forum. This is one of only three online forums I visit regularly. There are people who are just starting out at online writing, there are people who are making $100-$5,000+ per month who post regularly, sharing ideas and answering questions.

4. Terrific, innovative online tools for members’ use. This month they launched a service called “The Niche Refinary” to quickly and easily help members implement many of their methods for finding keywords that work for building websites. If you don’t understand their methods, it would make little sense to elaborate. But trust me on this one, it is an incredible tool for people wanting to write content and build websites/blogs that make money online.

Go give The Keyword Academy a try for yourself. It’ll only cost you a buck for the first 30 days. After you sign up, go directly to the “Member’s Area” tab, click on the button for “Core Videos” and get started. Then take time to look around the Forum. There’s a ton of resources on this site and you won’t regret spending the buck to look at it all. You can easily go through all the videos in your 30-day, $1.00 trial period. But I’m guessing, if you’re serious about writing online, that you’ll stay on for the long run.

I’m discovering daily at how the Internet continues to “blur” the line between plain written words and video, in everything from off line publications to online design and content of websites.

Many years ago I had a position as news editor for a large (circulation approximately 250,000) weekly religious magazine. The magazine was an official denominational magazine for a large Protestant Christian religious denomination.

This was back in the early days of computerized publishing and, in fact, no one had ever heard of the Internet or Worldwide Web — outside of a few handfuls of university and government officials, I guess.

At the time, private PCs and Apple computers were just starting to roll out to consumers, along with some basic do-it-yourself graphics and layout software for writers and publishers. The professional graphics artist I worked with was just starting to mumble and grumble such stuff as, “Yeah, everybody who owns a computer and some software thinks he’s a designer or graphics artist now.”

While I appreciate the radical changes that have happened to computers and software, I still join my artist friend in his skepticism about graphics, and layout and design these days, both regarding publications off line and website publication online.

Maybe because of all that ancient personal history and job background, I tend to do more with words, i.e., text, than with graphics or video. I certainly can/could use more graphics and video on my websites, but I’m most comfortable with words-only blogging.

But I’m working on it. Following the lead of my grown children (now in their 30s and very computer/Internet savvy), I’ve been spending more time at sites like YouTube and Hulu. I’m seeing the value of such information and working on ways to incorporate video into my websites.

Still most comfortable with words, but I’m getting there with the video.