Blog From Cebu To The World » Page Rank

Why Should I Link To You?

ceblogger — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:18:33 +0000

I don’t know how you value links. But for some, getting a link from another site is of much value. Much more if that link comes from sites with high page ranks. You know the page rank, monetization, SERP and all those blah blah blahs about it.

But there are others who don’t link for the page rank. They give and take links but just for the sake of having links, and nothing more. Yeah, more of the socializing thing. However, we also have to take note that Google penalizes blogs giving out too much links and those who sell links that passes page ranks. As to how much is too much really depends on Google.

Why should I link to you? I know that a lot of bloggers are not very generous with their links, but I will just answer that question with my very own experience. And theses are really very simple reasons.

Because We Are Friends

I linked my friends’ blogs. Do you? I also linked to the blogs of the bloggers I met in a gathering. Friends deserve a link and I don’t require them to work for it.

Because I Appreciate You

Like the top ten entrecard droppers. EC love and easy link, or whatever contests that I may have in the future.

Because I Like Your Site

Others don’t link to the blogs they like. They bookmark them or simply subscribe to them. And lately, I’m doing just that without necessarily linking. But I will include a link in a post at some future time.

Because You Ask For A Link and You Linked to Me

Ex-link? It depends, really. Some are pissed off by people who hop into a site for the first time then ask to exchange links. I don’t also like those kind of people (sometimes I don’t really mind). And I certainly don’t hop and ask for ex-links. I believe that one has to establish relationship first before requesting for ex-links. And the other party is not really obliged to return the favor.

Because of Tags

So far, there are no tags in here. I’ll just keep it that way. But I have tags in my other blogs and I have a few undone assignments.

Because You Pay Me

Alright, I’m not yet selling links in this blog with PR3 and an Alexa of a little over 200k . But if someone offers a proposal I couldn’t refuse, then why not. May Google take it easy on us.

Now, what are your criteria for linking to a site?

Did You Miss The Latest Page Rank (PR) Train?

ceblogger — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:54:42 +0000

If your PR is still N/A or 0, then you must have missed the latest PR train. The reason could be is that your site is fresh and do not have enough indexed pages and backlinks. If your site is at least 90 days old, the reason could either be a) you don’t have enough content and/or backlinks, or b) you were penalized. If you have a PR a couple of weeks ago then you just found out that you now have none, then the train must have ran over your site and the big G took your PR away. In other words, you were penalized for selling links, giving away too much of it, or linking to bad sites.

So, what are you going to do to get ranked?

For those with new blogs, these are the basic things to do:

1. Improve your Content

This is a repeat of what the rest of the blogging world is saying: Content is King! Not just any content, but those that users really want and willing to talk about. And don’t forget to post regularly and consistently. Posting once a month, despite how excellent the content is, will not get you there.

2. Get links from highly-ranked sites

This is not an easy thing to do for newbies. You would probably get raised brows and snubs if you beg for links. Frequent those highly-ranked sites. Comment sensibly and regularly. Join their contests. Let them know you are a big fan. One day you will be rewarded.

3. Get links from related sites

If you can’t get links from highly-ranked sites, get links from others. Some ways to get links are a) commenting on sites with commentluv plug-in b)placing your website link in forums c)gaining enough comments to be a top commentator for those with top commentator plug-in d) tags and memes, and e) exchanging links with friends in their blogroll.

4. Submit your site to directories

Give your blog a wider audience. Submit them in directories. Readers who will love your posts will most likely link you up, and may even recommend your site to others. It’s a great source for one way links.

5. Don’t sell links that violates Google’s terms

This is the mistake most bloggers do. In their haste and excitement to get more money, they fall into this trap. There are other ways to monetize your blog aside from those sponsored posts thing. But then, if you chose money over PR, then go ahead and do paid links and reviews.

The five mentioned above are not the only ways. And you also don’t have to do the above five to get ranked. In my own experience, I only did the first three in my list. Twice, I got PR3 for my new sites in less than 75 days.

What about those who got penalized?

You can ask for reconsideration. But be sure you have a strong argument for your case. Taking away those scripts and deleting those sponsored posts is disservice to your advertisers who already paid you. You can still do sponsored posts without the PR, albeit with fewer opportunities and lesser amount. Two of my sites fall into this but I will just let them stay that way. In the next update, maybe the big G will forget about the whole penalization and restore the PR.

On the other hand, maybe you want to set up a new blog. You know the best time to create another one is right after an update. You have enough time to do all the right things before the next PR train passes by.

Google Updates Page Ranks

ceblogger — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:22:18 +0000

I hopped into a site with an announcement that the blog got a Page Rank upgrade from 0 to 3. I checked the date of his post and it is current. Sensing that the upgrade is already in every blogs doors, I checked all my sites:

This site – N/A to PR3
Site 2 – PR2 to 0
Site 3 – remained at PR0
Site 4 – PR2 to 1

I checked some of my friends’ sites.

Friend 1 – N/A to PR2.
Friend 2 – N/A to PR3
Friend 3 – PR0 to 2
Friend 4 – PR0 to 2
Friend 5 – PR3 to 4

The Google Page Rank update is indeed here! My wish for it to take place at the end of May did not happen. But I am quite happy for this blog considering that this is only 71 days old less 22 days of outage. Nevertheless, I could not say so with my other blog which has around 10,000 backlinks and used to have a PR4. A PR prediction web tool says that it’s next PR would be 5. Oh well, I can’t have them all.

This update will not happen or completed in a single day but may even last for a week. So, you just have to wait till those G spiders crawl on your site. And what I have seen now is not yet final, as there might still be changes.

Let us just continue to enjoy blogging, with or without PR.

p.s. to those without the page rank toolbar, you can download it for free at Google’s site. You may also check PR checkers from PRchecker, Blogflux and Iwebtools.

The Next Google Page Rank Update Of 2008

ceblogger — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:40:02 +0000

If you have installed the Page Rank (PR) toolbar in your browser, it is most likely that you are one of those PR-conscious people in the worldwide web. And if you have a new blog or a site that got penalized, you are most likely waiting for the next Google Page Rank update of 2008 .

So, when is the next Google page rank update to happen? They’ve updated in October 2007, in January, February and even in early March 2008. Why aren’t they updating now?

I got two blogs penalized. But little did I notice that my almost forsaken and forgotten literary blog got an upgrade. I do not exactly know when it happened. Probably it was in the March round. But hey, the PR is of no use for it anyway. I need the PR for my blogs that sells reviews (also known as links, but depends on whose perspective). It’s against the rules they say, but WHY?

Ok, I don’t have to shout or get mad. The ranking is Google’s creation and, just like us who want to control our own blogs, Google wants the same. Unfortunately, there are wise people who try to play the search engine results game to their advantage by buying links. Perhaps it would not be a problem had they bought them direct from Google, but it’s not nice if you purchase from a competitor. Hence, many blogs (and websites) were penalized.

To those of us who are doing or have done paid reviews, it’s not necessarily the content of our posts that matters. It’s the link on that anchor text. It’s an SEO technique, same as those found in free templates, banners, deep-linking, etc… Of course, there are exceptions. What’s the use of good reviews without the links?

Some say that the penalization only affects the toolbar but not really Google’s internal algorithms. They theorized that this was done to frustrate people who use the toolbar for reasons other than Google’s original intention. There could be truth to it.

If Google updates now, will this blog be ready? I don’t know. As of today, my PR is N/A. Not zero but N/A. I am not doing any paid posts here and I think I have enough numbers to merit at least a green dot on the toolbar. I hope the update will be done late this May 2008 as I still need more quality and power in those backlinks.

Now, tell me what you think.

(p.s. The big G started to update in the 29th of April. Check out my post: Google Updates Page Ranks

Blogging For Money

ceblogger — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:06:32 +0000

Is money your ultimate goal in blogging? Others openly declare that if it’s not for money-making, blogging is just a waste of time. So their every effort, (posting, blog design, commenting, blog hopping, blog title, post title, etc…) is aimed at making money online. How many creatively deceive the readers just to gain traffic? How many pretend to be experts in money-making when their post is just copied in from somewhere?

Others say that money as the goal in blogging is destroying the blogosphere, and that the “pure bloggers” are the personal bloggers.

I am not going to argue. This post is directed at those who want to start blogging for money. If you’re already earning a lot with your blog, you don’t have to read this amateurish post. For newbies, you can learn from the following in your attempt to monetize your blog:

GoogleAdsense

Do you see the ads on top of this post? These are from Google Adsense. If you write in blogger, the invitations are somewhat built in. All you have to do is click away the link then start the registration. You have to insert some codes into your template. After approval, which normally takes a week, you start earning on per click or per thousand impressions. If you write in wordpress without paying a fee, somewhere in their terms prohibits you from monetizing. If you blog on your own domain and using wordpress, there are wonderful plug-ins available.

The cashing in may be very slow to some but fast to the others. Mine is still under $20 after many months. I’m not really good at it, but I’ll get there soon. The internet is rich with articles (and even videos) on how to maximize Adsense. Just googlesearch it. Take note that traffic is very important in getting more clicks. That is why other bloggers are dying for the search engine traffic because of this.

Banners and Widgets

There are others that pay you by just placing a widget or banner in a visible area in your site. The 125 x 125 ad is the most popular. You can either invite direct ads or join a network like Project wonderful. Take note that you got to have the numbers (traffic, ranking, subscribers, etc…) to justify your price.

Affiliate Marketing or Referrals

You refer someone to sign-up to their program, or buy their product online, and then you get paid. Google adsense also has referral products. There are other sites too offering affiliate marketing. This one works best for those niche bloggers. And many bloggers argue that affiliate marketing is the best for the long term.

Others

There are plenty of other money-making activities online like the text-link ads, payperclick, paid surveys, joining social networks, etc… Another way to make money is to sell a domain name or a digital product.

The internet world is just so full of surprises these days. Blogging for money is just one of those that changed the shape of the online world, and even change the blogger himself. If you want to earn money but don’t have a blog yet, better start now, develop your content, and join all the blogging networks available just to be seen and noticed. For those personal bloggers who want to jump ship, you can either start monetizing your blog, or create a new blog for the purpose of monetizing. If your personal blog is linked to bloggers who loathe blog monetization, you might lose them along the way.

And to add another thing, some advertisers prefer blogs with own domains than those free-hosted blogs. So, better shell out a few hundreds now as your initial investment.

But, whichever goal you set, that blog is yours and you can do everything with it. For those who consider themselves as “pure bloggers”, you know what’s best for you and your blog. Who am I to dictate your blogging goals? And who are you to dictate mine? Let us all learn to live and exist with each other, even with differing blogging goals.

Happy weekend and happy blogging, everyone!

IZEA’s PPP and Google’s PR

ceblogger — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:23:35 +0000

Ranking is something we can’t do away with in the internet world these days. There are so many ranking systems around and yet no one claims to have the perfect system. IZEA launched its real rank early this year, and changed its admission requirement to accommodate more publishers. As a blogger who used to have PR4 and a real rank of around 1800 (in one of my blogs), I welcomed it with mixed feelings. My PR would be deemed useless as far as their program is concerned. And so is my IZEARank, if newer blogs with more traffic enters the fold. I even wondered how and why the top sites in IZEARanks have warnings that these sites are with mature contents. Even the tech blogs were not able to beat them.

When my blog’s PR was reduced to zero, not one opportunity in PPP was available for me. It was so unlike weeks before when I had the luxury of grabbing only those I want to write about. My real rank also slid to around 2700. (Sigh)

In the survey done by IZEA, one of the top issues is the Google PR. A lot of posties got the slap in the two rounds of updates this year. Is Izea really serious in getting rid of PR from their system? How would the advertisers react? Looking at the current opps, it seems that majority of the advertisers require PR. But in their blog, they have this statement saying:

“We are now in the process of removing Google PR from PPP entirely, this has been fast tracked. PR is going to be replaced with backlink count. It is not a small change, it will take a few weeks given developer resource constraints.”

Would that backlink count be incorporated in the IZEARank? What is the power of that backlink count in pushing one advertised site to the top of Google Search rankings? Oh, well. Questions linger in my head. Even if my blog got half of its PR back, it still doesn’t have plenty of opportunities.

So, for those attempting to get into the sponsored post bandwagon, work on your PR and backlinks first. After the bonus post, you may not have any opportunity at all. And then, don’t rely too much on sponsored posts. It may be the easiest way of making money, but it is also the surest way of losing your PR at this point in time.

Page Rank Update

ceblogger — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:44:23 +0000

I dodged, crawled, sidestepped, camouflaged, and tiptoed just to be invisible to the eyes of Google. One online friend was even surprised and commented why I still have my PR despite the number of paid posts in my blog. I was surprised myself, though I theorized that it could be my strategy of paid post pacing and the lack of banner announcements. I actually don’t want to fill my blog with ads. Since most readers read the topmost article, I would make sure that it is not a paid entry.

But I somewhat expected the smack down to happen because no one escapes the scythe of Google. Much more if you are using blogspot, which is within their sphere of dominion. I don’t want to think of it as a penalty but a result of their algorithm which, some argued, is flawed. Indeed, Google instructed a “no follow” attribute, but what for? If the interlinking is necessary for the vote for a certain webpage, then why “no follow”?

My cubicle neighbor was ecstatic of his PR3 update a few days ago. He viewed it as the fruit of his blog socializing, content updating and blog hopping. Some opps with bigger payout came along with the PR. But it was short-lived. The unthinkable (or rather unreasonable) slash happened swiftly. They gave and took it back. So it was really a penalty.

My PR4 and PR3 were all gone now. I can not do anything about it but to work my way back, or kneel down before the big G and ask for mercy (i.e. reconsideration). It’s good to have savored my PR4 since October 2007 and earned a few hundred dollars with it.