As any veteran internet marketer knows, backlinks are essential to establishing your authority with the search engines.  The more backlinks you have, the higher your page rank.  The higher your page rank, the more respect your website gets, right?

Actually, this is only partially true.  In order to gain true authority, you don’t just need links back to your site, you need QUALITY links.  You need links that will get indexed, and stay indexed for the long haul.  This takes a bit more work than mass submitting the same articles all over the place, or getting comment links.  The process is known as “link boosting”, and this is how it works:

Submit Articles

Whenever I write a new post on one of my blogs, I do a 400 or so word summery of that article.  I will rewrite that article several times, send it to my favorite article directories, and use them to guest post to other blogs.  These are not “spun” articles, but articles that I completely rewrote by hand, so they are 100% unique.  Each directory/blog gets a different article, and each article will point back to my blog post and my home page.

Submit More Articles

Once I have completed the above submissions, and they have been accepted by the publishers, I will write another article on a topic related to the first ones.  I will rewrite this article a few times and submit these to places like squidoo and hubpages, as well as other directories.  This time, instead of pointing the links to my site, I will point them to the first articles I submitted.  Then I will bookmark these posts across about 30 bookmark sites to give them a little juice.

Why This Works

Basically what we are doing here is using leverage.  It takes a long time to get a website to a PR4 or higher.  It also takes a lot of work.  Quite a few of the article directories already did the work to get themselves to PR5 or 6.  You get to use their hard work to your advantage.  How much negotiating to you need to do to get someone to give you a PR3 backlink?  I have an article that I published with ezinearticles.com that got a PR3 after I pointed only 1 link to it!  That gives me a PR3 link to my home page and one of my articles.

This is how you gain authority – by getting strong backlinks that stay.  It takes a bit more work than some of the other link building strategies, but it is well worth the extra work.

You can learn more strategies for making money online at the Internet Business Guide.

Are you struggling with finding a topic to start blogging about?

Over the years, I’ve had several friends faced with the same dilemma. Working with them, I was able to help them identify a topic and now they are all running profitable blogs.

One of my friends is a dental student, and was trying to find a topic he could blog about. He really likes baseball and cars. He was leaning towards blogging about cars until I sat down with him in a brainstorming session.

By brainstorming we found the perfect niche for him focused around his interest and specialized knowledge. It was writing about the topic of dentistry. Being a student the topic is fresh in his head and he can add a unique twist to his blog based on his current experiences in dental school.

You can do the same, but it is important you find a topic you can stick with. The number one reason bloggers fail is topic selection.

When you create a blog you’ll want to have a topic you love. Not just some everyday topic but a topic you are really passionate about. It’s that simple, and that’s the key to all successful blogs.

Remember your not just blogging about your topic. Your building friends on social networks, joining groups and engaging yourself in the topic all over the web. If it’s a topic you don’t like then everything from writing to building relationships will seem hard.

To provide a huge boost to ensure success, try to select a topic around your hobbies, interests, and particular experiences. Everyone has some passion or hobbies that can be used to build a blog to earn money online.

Here are some questions to ask in helping you find a topic:

• What sports do you like?
• What non-work related area do people ask you about at work?
• When just surfing the internet for pleasure, what sites do you visit?
• What job related skills do you have? Any specialized skills?
• Do you have kids? What experiences do you have?
• At a party if you have to speak with a person what topic would you prefer?
• What type of books do you like to read?
• Do you have firsthand experience with health or medical conditions ?
• If you asked your best friend, what would he or she say you are most knowledgeable about?
• What is your favorite hobby?
• If you retired today what would you do all day?
• What volunteer activity would you do if you had all the time in the world?
• Are you knowledgeable or experienced with finance, home improvement, travel, relationships, photography, cars, or anything in your daily life?

It’s that simple. Just sit down and brainstorm and find that one area you are super passionate about. That will be the first step for you starting a successful blog that can make online income.

In the past, I’ve often written about why blogging is one of the best business models online. I covered many reason in my free make money online guide, and I also covered some in my recent post Making Blog Income.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons blogging rules, is viral traffic. The simple fact is that it is much easier to drive viral traffic to a blog then other types of sites.

Blogs integrate extremely well with social media since blogs are conversational and the core of social media is all about conversation.

Also, there is no shortage of viral traffic methods for your blog to use.

Some of the common viral traffic sources include:

1. Twitter
2. Social media sites (Facebook, Stumbleupon, Diggs, etc…)
3. Writing link bait
4. Swapping blog posts
5. Competitions with other blogs (i.e. A competition between two blogs to see who can get the most twitter followers in 2 weeks).
6. Giving away a free report
7. Video posts
8. Article marketing

While all of the above are great viral traffic strategies, in this post I want to highlight Blog Contests a viral traffic strategy commonly overlooked.

A blog contest is simply a way to engage your readers by letting them participate in a contest.

Blog contests are great for building loyal relationships with your readers and helping your blog generate a buzz.

When you are ready to start a blog contest you have a couple considerations. First off you need to select a nice prize for the winner(s). I recommend a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prize.

Next you need to plan the contest qualifying requirements and how the winner is determined. This is where things get interesting.

If you plan your requirements correctly it can have a huge viral traffic impact for your blog.

I recommend you consider some of the following requirements for your contest. Each requirement must be met before a reader can be selected as a winner.

1. Write a blog post promoting the contest.
2. Promote the contest by adding it to at least 5 social media sites (stumbleupon, facebook, digg, etc…).
3. Subscribe to your blog feed.
4. Add five quality comments at least 5 times on any of your posts.
5. Tell at least 5 friends about the contest (Note you’ll need a tell-a-friend form on your blog.)

The above are commonly used requirements. You can add as many as you like, but I recommend using 3 or 4 that will drive viral traffic to your blog. If you use more then 4, it may be difficult to get readers to participate unless the winner’s prize is of very high value.

After you have your requirements firmed up, you’ll want to set how the winner is determined. It could be at random, but it is much better if it drives an action that helps your blog. One example may be to select the winner based on the reader that completes all of the 5 requirements above and has posted the most quality comments on your blog. It can be anything just be creative and try to drive an action that makes sense for your blog.

One last recommendation. Blog contests always work better when your blog already has a base of readers. So if you are a new blogger you’ll probably want to focus on other viral strategies before a blog contest.

Here is a super short, but highly influential post for you today about a bloggers success story.

Is blogging in you? Do you need some inspiration on blogging? Take a look at this New York Times story about a blogger’s success: Click Here

Quote for Today: “Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.”
-David Frost

Have you not started blogging because you don’t like to write. If this describes you, I can definitely understand your concern. But the fact of the matter is that on the web if you want to drive fresh traffic to your site producing unique updating content is one of the best methods.

The search engines love frequently updating content and will rank your blog higher because of it. The content management features of blogging systems make it very simple to update content frequently.

So what do you do if you hate to write? Well here are five options to update your blog with minimal writing.

1. Dragon Naturally Speaking: It’s been said that the brain is closer to the mouth then the fingers so for some people it can be more efficient to speak then type out your blog posts. Dragon Naturally Speaking is one of the top voice recognition software’s that will take your voice and transfer it into your text editor. It can even be trained to recognize your voice to prevent errors. A great solution if you hate writing.

2. Screen Toaster: Screen capture is a great way to update your blog with training. Screen toaster is a free software that allows you to easily create videos of your computer screen. You can do live training or simply speak about a PowerPoint you created.

3. Video: If screen capture doesn’t fit then do a short video of yourself speaking about a subject. This will create a personal relationship with your readers and help you save time writing. With today’s technology it is very easy to create a short video of yourself. In addition to your blog you can also post this on YouTube and other video sites to drive additional traffic.

4. Free Conference Call: Allows you to hold a teleconference and record it for free. The recording can easily be placed on your blog as content or transcribed to make a written post.

5. Guest Posts: Build relationships with other bloggers and allow them to guest post on your blog. This will provide you benefit and them as well.

If you are not blogging because you think you have to be a writer, it is best to stop fighting it. Just get to work and start your path to success. No matter which opportunity you select to make money online, you will likely have to produce new and interesting content or your site will be dead.

I have gotten several questions regarding my guide to making money online. One of the most frequently asked questions is why I recommend blogging in the guide versus just throwing up affiliate landing pages and using PPC to drive traffic.

I have five core reasons:

1. Conversion: Building a relationship by adding value is one of the highest converting ways to make money online. Most people fail online because they do not spend the time building a relationship, they just go directly to convincing people to buy a product.

Blogging is conversational which makes it perfect for building relationships with readers. This will drive high conversions and help you build a long term business/brand.

Certainly you can build a relationship via e-mail by throwing up a landing page and capturing email addresses. But why would you want to publish all the content via email when you could have that content rank in the search engines and drive traffic to you?

2. Traffic: With a little work, building relationships with other bloggers will reap you traffic benefits for years and grow your subscribers. You want to associate yourself with other blogging experts in your field, which intern helps your brand evolve.

Getting out from behind your computer and picking up the phone can really help you build relationships with other bloggers. Also attending events is a great way too.

3. SEO: The SEO benefit is huge with blogging. By far the biggest factor that influences your blog’s search engine raking is links from other authority sites in your niche. By other bloggers linking to your blog it will make it much easier for your blog to consistently rank in the search engines.

Authority sites are not going to link to your 1 page affiliate site. Plus if you are marketing via PPC you can still build a landing page off your blog. Google will reward you with a much better quality score since your blog has lots of authority.

Updating content is another huge factor in your search engine placement. Blogging makes it easy to keep your content fresh which will have the search engines loving your blog.

And don’t forget about the SEO for WordPress plug-in that makes on page SEO for your blog a cinch.

4. Feeling Proud: Statistics show when you feel proud about your work you will be more successful. Blogging provide you the perfect opportunity to build a long term business and brand you can feel proud of.

You have a choice online, build a long term brand or jump from one short term affiliate opportunity to another. Either way you will spend lots of time. The difference is with building a blog you can create a long term business versus just a short term money making opportunity that will get copied by affiliates.

5. Technical Hurtle: I have noticed many people online fail because they get caught up with html and technical issues when creating a business website online. With blogging systems like WordPress, the technical hurtles to succeed are significantly reduced. This is a great reason to start blogging especially if you are not a techie.

I hope this helps you see why blogging is a great method for building your online business. Sure you have to write a bit, but in the long run building a long term business is much easier then jumping from niche to niche trying to make short term money!