Search Engine Crawlers

Is your site designed to make money? Or to gain traffic? Or maybe both? What if I told you there is one thing that you MUST do in the design phase of your blog/website to ensure that you have a decent shot at both?!?! Do you know what Search Engine Crawlers are? Let me explain!

In order to increase income earned, you must increase traffic, right? Well, in order to do that, you either must know a lot of people or you need to get into the search engines. Preferably on the first page. I am no expert but this was pointed out by someone whom I consider an expert at this

First: Google’s crawlers crawl your blog searching for updated material that can be submitted to their search engine, just like Yahoo and MSN and others. There is a way to format your site in order for the crawlers to crawl the content first. That is, by the way, what you want and the key to this whole trick. It makes no sense to have the menu, or anything else read by the crawlers first. As for your readers, well fortunately, they are given the ability to make decisions, we hope. Therefore, your menu can be listed in your sidebar just as easily. Actually on a lot of blogs I have been to, the menu is both on the side and top, which makes no sense.

So then you ask, well, “your blog has the menu at the top?” Yes it does, and currently I am working to change themes for both, TheYoungGuy.com and HardwareBlogPortal.com to improve my blog traffic.

Second: How do you test this. Well, being in this wonderful world we live in, there is a way do just about everything and this is no exception. Google recommends you use a program called LYNX TEXT BROWSER to visually see your blog in text only format. It is a wonderful tool to use. Lynx will display your blog in the exact order the crawlers will read it.
(more…)

Official Forum Launched

Are forums a dying breed? I don’t know, if so, I clearly have not received that memo. I have run many forums in the last few years and for one reason or another, I have either shut the site down or decided to give it away to others. But once again, I am lured back into the forum game. Why? Well I run multiple blogs, spanning multiple topics. Most of which all come back to PC related activities. So I decided, why not run a forum that bases its content around my blog topics. From actual blogging, to PC hardware and software based topics to PC and console gaming. These topics are all covered at my new forum, TheYoungGuyForum.com.

Be the first to register today and take part in a growing community.

How To Niche Blog

I have read a lot, on and off line, about niche blogging and also, shamefully, spent money on an E-Book or two on how to do so. So far none have panned out the way I thought they would. How many of you can say the same thing? For sometime now I have used the guidance of, the now infamous, Cybercoder (David Cooley). One thing he has always done and told me to do was K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid). However, like many others I got caught up in the “Make Money Online” crowd and decided I must do more flashy things to draw some attention to my blog and generate traffic. Well for some that works. For me, it didn’t. I need a more logical approach.

I should have paid more attention to David. Well now you all have that chance. Have you spent unnecessary cash on E-Books that tell you all these extravagant ways to make money online or drive more traffic to your site? What if I told you its really not that hard. And the cost is really low. How does $24.99 sound? Yea, compared to other E-Books out there that take days to read and are somewhat hard to understand and cost anywhere from $59.99 to hundreds of dollars, this is a great deal.

Im not trying to sell you an E-Book, but I can truly say this is worth the money. Not only do you get an E-Book that really isn’t that long (13 pages), but you get a copy of Davids Cybercoder Tag Theme for Wordpress, and a video of david actually walking you through how he chooses his domain names all the way through actually posting to the new blog. You couldn’t get a better deal. The package with the video is supposedly going to cost a little more but like I said, WELL WORTH IT!!!

Entitled Wordpress Niche Guide eBook, David Keeps it simple for all of us beginners. So even if you are new to blogging, this E-Book can be used as a guide to setup your blog and get started in the right direction to making money and building your readership.

David has been working closely with another infamous blogger, Garry Conn, for approximately a year now and they have combined their talents into the release of this E-Book. And from the little I know about Garry, he doesn’t put his name on something that fails. Also, Garry uses the theme that David created on some of his blogs and claims to have more than doubled his income for one of his blogs by using this theme. You can read more about Garry’s use of the theme here.

Until I get the “official” okay from David to post a “Buy Now” button on my site, I’ll point you to his site, Cybercoded.net, to purchase the E-Book. He also discusses why he chose to write it. Be sure to leave him a comment and thank him, like I am about to.

-TheYoungGuy

Google XML Sitemap Generator

Another great plugin I use is the Google (XML) Sitemap Generator. Mainly because I’m usually lazy or simply forget to create and upload my own sitemaps. First let me explain what a site map is.

According to wikipedia, a sitemap “can be either a document in any form used as a planning tool for web design, or a web page that lists the pages on a web site, typically organized in hierarchical fashion. This helps visitors and search engine bots find pages on the site.”

So in the past I used a program called GSiteCrawler to crawl my site and generate XML files that I would then upload to my host to provide the search engines with an updated list/map for the spiders to crawl. Now with this cool plugin, I no longer need to spend that time. I also want to stress that there was nothing wrong with GSiteCrawler. It is a great program that I would recommend to anyone. I just prefer this method.

With Google XML Sitemap Generator I simply install the plugin, activate it, setup it up on my wordpress settings page and let it go. Now it automatically updates my sitemap.xml file and I can focus on the more important things. Gotta love automation.

You can download Google XML Sitemap Generator HERE!!!

Thank You Cybercoder

I just wanted to reach out and say thanks to Cybercoder (David Cooley) of Cybercoded.net and DavidPCooley.com for helping me fix a few things around the site(s). David helped me setup the google search page, because apparently this theme and google don’t get along. Between this one and my other blog, HardwareBlogPortal.com, thats a lot of work. Well for me at least. Its good to have a coder in your corner.  Thanks again David.