If you are new here then you will want to CLICK HERE to enter to WIN an LCD TV, Ipod Touch, Flip Mino and More!

Okay, so we know we need backlinks and we need to be commenting on other blogs. We know it is not all about the search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN anymore… by the way who the heck searches with MSN anyway… seriously?

Whoaaa… Hold on Cow, what do you mean it is not about the search engines anymore?

Good, we had hoped you would ask that question.

Take a look at the social communities from Alexa’s top 500 sites (yes, we know that Alexa stats are debatable but they still give you an idea). There are sites such as: Facebook, YouTube, Friendster, Flicker, hi5, Myspace and more… just to name a few. These sites are all getting traffic that is very comparable to Google and the wonderful thing is these sites are begging you to give them content. The other thing is there are hundreds of these type sites being added daily and many of them get stampedes of traffic very quickly.

You see, we can spend hours of our days, banging our horns against our keyboards, or in some cases throwing them across the room to do everything we can to keep that traffic coming into our sites but the fact (or at least we think it is a fact) is that we are at times our own worse enemy when it comes to this. We read something or hear that something works and so we do it, but the problem is…

That Is ALL We Do!

We get excited and see that it works and so we stick to that only and do the the same thing over and over again… and at first it works but then it plateau’s and eventually starts to droop like a saggy utter.

Think about any new traffic tool that comes out. People will often slam them right out of the gate, saying…

“we are NOT using that, we are sticking to what we know works”

…but the problem is they are not seeing the big picture. These tools are never intended to be the end all be all of traffic and neither should any one source be the end all be all of your traffic. If it is, then you run a huge risk that if they change something, it could destroy your existence on the web. We should all be constantly looking for different ways to increase our grazing areas. When these new tools come out, test them out, see how they fit into your business. If they work, then use them, if not then drop them.

This is true for relying on any one source of traffic such as Google, Stumbleupon or any other one site. The trick is that you need to be as diversified as possible and always look for new opportunities. Yes of course you want to provide excellent content and reasons for your readers to return but what about grabbing new readers? Are you constantly looking out for new opportunities of places to get more readers… more traffic… more mooney?

Do You Like Sloppy Seconds?

Over here we are not totally keen on the idea of getting sloppy seconds. And waiting until everyone is using or recommending something is just like that. You get in after the spammers have ruined it for you. The fantastic thing is there are 1000’s of these type sites popping up all the time. Some of them are new and some have been around a while but the spammers have not exploited them yet.

A great example of a site we started using not too long ago is feedbite.com (hence the title of this post). Now we are not telling you this site sends a flood of traffic, but it does send some, and the effort to set it up was literally minutes, so the return on time investment is worth it. Now by sharing this site, it will probably start to get abused… but who cares, we will find others to use.

What we really like about this site is that it uses your rss feed and so once you set it up, you are done. It is not like Stumbleupon and Digg, were you have to have the content submitted each time manually, of course it does not get the traffic those send either.

The links do not have a nofollow tag.. which is a bonus and people can vote up or down you content so it gets on the front page. Google Also seems to respond good to it.

So breaking it down, feedbite.com may not roll in the traffic like crazy, but it does bring in traffic and any extra traffic is great… especially when it is so easy so easy to set up.

Now back up for a second. Our point here is not to promote feedbite, this is not a paid review or anything like that. Instead it is simply a process for you to consider implementing, a process that expands your pastures and also grows your backlinks to your blog. Lets call it the…

Cow Traffic Diversification Process

…and it goes like this…

• Once a week go to http://www.go2web20.net/ and look at the tags “Bookmarking”, “Blogging”, and “RSS” (need to do that separately)
• Check out some of the new “Web 2.0″ sites and look for ones that you can post public accessible content on.
• Submit your rss feed (if allowed), content, pictures, videos or whatever else they allow BUT (and a big one at that) make sure that if you are adding content such as a post, that you add a link back to your blog with a call to action (read the post “Using Content to get Traffic” for more on that).
• Check your stats in a week…. Look to see if that site sent traffic to your site. If it sends traffic, keep it and expand your use of it… if it doesn’t then drop it and move on.

This is powerful because it helps expand your reach and the side benefit is Google loves the variety in backlinks to your blog. You also do not have to update the content here regularly like your own blog…. Unless of course you see loads of traffic from it then you will want to take advantage of that (we would anyway).

Go try it out and let us know how it goes.

13 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post

Using content to get subscribers, prospects, build reputations and get traffic to your blogs can be very powerful… but ONLY if done right!

We are not talking about content on your own blogs here, but rather posts and content that you use on other sites to promote yours.

In school, we are all taught to always finish a story with a closing paragraph and so when we start writing to promote ourselves online, we do just that, complete with a close. Let us ask you this (actually quoted from a good Australian friend of ours named Dean)…

“If you close your content, wouldn’t that satisfy the reader’s appetite in such a way that that there was no need for them to go any further.”

In other words, why would they need to take action on anything and search for further information about the topic if you already gave it to them?

We thought about this a lot and the more we did, the more it made sense. Your content needs to be crafted in such a way that if a reader wants a closing paragraph, then why shouldn’t we link to it so the reader has to take the action we want (such as visit our site).

Some of our favorite movies are those which don’t finish with a happy ending. No, we are not masochists but they finish in such a way that leaves us wondering whether there’s going to be a next installment. It’s like you’ve built to a crescendo and the hero appears to have won but the last scene reveals something sinister brewing beneath the surface. Then the end credits roll and we all think…

“What the…????”

We want to know what happens; we want to know more but we’re going to have to wait until version 2 hits the big screen. With your content, the reader doesn’t need to wait because there are a couple of live links in our content with specific call to action instructions they can click on to find out more. And that’s exactly what we want them to do… isn’t it?

We are not saying you should finish your content in such a way that it doesn’t make sense but instead do it in a way to entice the reader to take a look out of curiosity at what we have got to offer.

There is a fine line between readers just reading content as opposed to reading and clicking through and that fine line in our opinion is the closing paragraph. Yes, the entire content itself needs to be interesting enough for them to continue reading but if they get to the end then you can be rest assured they were interested. What a shame if you gave them that dreaded closing paragraph such as…

“And that folks is what you need to do when grooming a Norwegian Humpback. We hope you’ve enjoyed this post and thank you very much for reading it.”

Would we want to click on the link in the content with a finish like that. We know we wouldn’t. Maybe an ending like this would have been more appropriate…

“Want to know how to finish grooming the healthiest Norwegian Humpback in your neighborhood? Subscribe to our RSS Feed at “Insert Link Here” and we guarantee your Humpback will be the envy of everyone in your street! “

The end of your content needs to catch their attention…. or they are just not going to do what you want them to!

Technorati Profile

17 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post

So here’s an interesting concept: Is Twitter more effective than RSS subscribers for your branding? We believe the answer is yes. Twitter is a quick and easy ‘hack’ to get your name out there. While you still get your opinion through to people, it doesn’t require the reader to go through a ton of posts on your blog, it’ll only take them 2 seconds to read your 140 characters on a twitter notification. Twitter is instant delivery and very dynamic. All you need to do is make sure that your short twitter blurb is catchy enough for someone to go and read your post, same as it is with the headlines of your blog posts. Ever messed up a headline, published your post, only to have to go into feedburner and resync your feed, hoping nobody has pulled the feed yet so they won’t notice your crappy headline? With Twitter you can instantly retweet yourself with a better line without any hassle.

Following someone on twitter is very simple, you click follow and you’re done, while with RSS you often have to go through 2 or 3 more steps, like picking your reader of choice, confirming your subscription, verification etc. Like we said, its way more dynamic. Our twitter client of choice would be Twhirl, it works on everything, running on Adobe’s AIR platform, and it is constantly getting improved with new features.

The following doesn’t really have an relevance to the comparison of Twitter Vs RSS, but it show that Twitter is definitely something you should be using as a tool to market yourself in the blogosphere.
Using Twitter the right way will generate some great traffic to your site. Here’s an example: Jason Calacanis has a huge following on twitter (no idea why, he seems to have a 99:1 Mahalo spam:interesting stuff ratio) and whenever he links somewhere, there are 20,000 potential new visitors involved. BeBizzy posted about Calacanis and the power of Twitter, Jason then picked up on it (probably has Google Alerts on his name, hi Jason!) and sent out one twitter message, linking back to the article. We went right in and left a first comment. We instantly received 40 visitors from BeBizzy, so we’re pretty sure BeBizzy must have received at least 400 visitors in a matter of minutes.

Twitter has gone mainstream, and not having a twitter account these days is like not having an email address! You can follow us at http://www.twitter.com/johncow, and for the latest updates, check our sidebar widget. We use twitter to announce stuff like when we’re going on live video stream again and such, so you can schedule your lunch breaks around our broadcasting time

12 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post

Here are some of the techniques that I am or am planning to use to build steady loyal readers to my blog.

Opt in email list. If you do not have one (work on getting one) advertise on someone else’s list or newsletter. I write a short newsletter with links to my blog.You can also use your list in the future to remind readers who may have strayed or just have not visited in a while.

Craigslist, Backpage, …. Your key word targeted ad will get picked up quickly and rank high on search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

Offline Ads. Free ads, t-shirts, car magnets, signs especially if your blog has a local presence are all great ways to promote your blog.

Google local search. List your blog as a business with your key words as the name of the business. You can get a number one listing on Google local search with a map and everything. You could do this in many major markets where you had friends or family (so you could use their addresses). This could add up to many #1 spots on Google, and other local searches you submit to.

You could easily replace “Sell House Fast of Florida” with “Make Money Online With Your Site of Any Place You Have An Address In”

If you place enough of these for your key words as the business name. It will produce a steady of quality traffic.

Put something on Ebay .Use a free outside listing template service like Auctiva with links to your site. Maybe you could auction an ad space on your site or a review.

Viral video. Make a stupid, exciting, or funny video with a link to your blog and get it on as many social video sharing sites as possible.

Local media outlets. Contact local the media with a story idea related to your niche. Get you and your blog mentioned as an expert. Start with smaller papers or TV stations first.

If you are just getting started on a budget you are forced to think outside the box and come up with creative free and low cost ideas.

What are some of your ideas and tips for marketing yourself and your blog?

Sonny Collova is an expert real estate investor, consultant, and mortgage broker who would like to earn a full time living online blogging, consulting, marketing and writing about real estate, finance, and Costa Rica. Please check out his blog www.investor-market.com .

15 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post

Blogging can be hard work and having a lot of visitors to your blog is one of the best ways to feel rewarded for your hard work. Sometimes, though, getting a good number of loyal readers can feel like an up hill battle. Sometimes, just writing good articles is not enough. Here are a few things you can do to increase your readership quickly and without breaking your budget.

Have a contest
If you’re a blogger on a budget, you may think that you can’t pull off a great contest to promote your blog, but it’s easier than you may think. To offer a great contest that will get people participating you need to follow some rules of thumb:

- Work out all the details before announcing your contest.
- Only offer what you are ready to provide to your winner.
- Make entering as easy as possible.
- Offer various ways to enter.

The most important things to focus on are the prizes and the ways to enter. Prizes can be tricky if you don’t have a big budget, but if you get creative, you’ll find that you have a lot to offer. Try offering ad space on your blog, a 200 word review, or a spot in your blog roll. Offer all three to make it interesting. If you have a valuable skill other than writing, offer it up. Graphic designers can offer logo or theme creation services. Web developers can offer development services. You get the idea. What else can you offer? Better still, think about what an company might offer that you can give away for them? I suggested this very recently to a fellow blogger who managed to land some product promotions for his upcoming contest. The more creative you are, the less you will have to empty your own pockets for your contest.

Don’t make your contest impossible to enter. As amazing as your prizes may be, people are busy and don’t want to spend a long time entering your contest. Let your reader earn entries for actions as simple as posting a comment or writing a post on their own blog about your contest. The number of entries you give your reader for an action should be relative to both the time and effort involved and the value that action hold for you. One thing that will help convince people to write about your contest is to do most of the work for them. In one of my current contests, I created a text file that included the contest image code, the rules, and additional links needed. This made it very easy for people to post about the contest and a lot of people have.

Fill a need and get some links
Keep your ear to the web and look for any way you can fill a need. There’s almost always something that the growing population of bloggers will feel a need for. Develop something new or improve something that already exists to fill a need and take advantage when people notice. Recently, IZEA announced the launch of their new site ranking system called IZEA Real Rank. When it launched, it did so with a basic API and no existing widget to display the live rank of a site. As a developer, that screamed opportunity to me and I quickly created the first live IZEA Real Rank badge. I put that badge on my own blogs, announced it to my network of bloggers on MyBlogLog.com and then emailed IZEA about it. Within a day, a bunch of people were using the badge and IZEA mentioned it in their blog (while answering with their own badge). This benefits me because the badge code includes a link back to my site and a comment asking the blog owner to please include my link with the badge. The result was some very nice compliments combined with a lot of links back to my own blog, and all for only an hour of my time. If you’re not a developer, figure out what service you can offer and then figure out how to use it as a promotional tool. Alternatively, you can hire a developer to build something for you.

Develop a marketing tool that markets you
Would you waste time playing slots? What if I said it was free? What if I said prizes included text links to wherever you want? After Jason Boom handed me the great idea for Entrecard Slots, in which you visit a virtual slot machine for a chance to win credits to use in Entrecard, I decided to expand on it to create what I’m calling Free Ad Slots. The variation simply allows visitors to win text advertising links. For both versions, I created a simple widget and then found that I needed some kind of incentive for bloggers to add this widget to their own blogs. The incentive I decided upon was to match any jackpot a visitor hit to the site that sent them. This addition to my blog took about three hours to create both versions and after only a couple days, both have been used significantly, and many people have included the widget in their own blogs. Think of something you can offer your readers that is fun or entertaining, gives back to them, and offers some form of incentive for them to help you promote it.

Thinking outside the box has doubled my traffic and readership, gained me about 60 inbound links, and increased my brand recognition all in the space of a month. Creative promotions have far outweighed paid campaigns that I have tried in the past and have kept my wallet just a little fatter at the same time. Get creative and get more readers.

32 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post