First off, what is “SEO”?  SEO is and acronymn for “Search Engine Optimization”.  This is the practice of optimizing a website/blog to attract the search engine “bots”.  If your website/blog is optimized correctly, the search engines see it as “being of value” to their search customers and bumps you up in the rankings.

One critical component of SEO is “backlinking”.  This is the process of having high quality incoming links connected to your website/blog. 

What is considered a “high quality” link and how do I get them?  A “high quality” link is a link that has quality content similar to the content that is on your website/blog.  For instance, this blog is about internet marketing and success on the internet.  A high quality backlink would be another site that is about internet marketing and success on the interent (such as Alex Jeffreys or Garry Parkes blogs).  Websites/blogs that have your website/blog keywords in the anchor text are golden backlink candidates!

An example of a “low quality” backlink would contain information about (for instance) pet products.  A pet product site has nothing to do with internet marketing, so the search engines would not place much value on this backlink.  The search engines may even penalize you for having such a link as it may appear to them that you are link spamming, a very bad thing!

A quick way to get several high quality backlinks is by submiting to directorys.  The search engines crawl these sites several 100 times per day.  Each time they crawl they see your website/blog as being linked to the directory and assume it is a quality link and gives your site “clout” in the rankings.

There are several SW products that sell for $100.00 or more that will get this done for you automatically…BUT, you can get a FREE one right here!  How cool is that?  Either click the “Free Back Links Generator” button on the right, or click “HERE”.  A fellow Alex Jeffreys student created this little program and was generous enough to share!  Thanks Keith!!

OK, get busy getting your FREE high quality backlinks!  Oh yeah, also post comments on other blogs that have similar content to yours.  When the moderator of the blog you just commented-on posts a reply to your post, presto you have another high quality backlink!!

It has been said may times that “the money is in the list”.  So, just what is this “list” that appears to have the all-mighty dollar held hostage?

Your list is simply people who have signed-up to receive information from you from time to time regarding a certian subject (such as the topic of your blog). 

But, where do you get people to build your list?  The obvious answer is to increase your exposure on the internet to reach as many people as possible, to increase the chance of getting people to join your list.

One quick and simple way to do this is to increase the number of sites that get “pinged” every time you post to your blog.  This is easily done when you have a WordPress blog.
Below is how to do it, plus, a list of sites to add to your “ping” list.

1. login to your blog
2. Next select “Settings”, then “Writing” and then “Update Services”.
3. Copy and paste the list of URL’s into the text box of “Update Services” and click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://1470.net/api/ping
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
http://bitacoras.net/ping
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
http://www.blogoole.com/ping/
http://www.blogoon.net/ping/
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/
http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt
http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php
http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
http://ping.amagle.com/
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.myblog.jp
http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/
http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2
http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de/
http://www.ensight.org/archives/2004/11/21/services-to-ping/

It is as easy as that!!  Now each of these sites will be “pinged” to let them know that you have entered a new post on your blog and that there is fresh content for them to share with their visitors. 

Enjoy and happy posting!!

Hey Gang,
     After taking a week-off from my ebook creation, I am back on the “horse”!!
    
     Today I focused on the chapter about adding RSS feed to your blog.  While actually adding an RSS feed to your blog is relitively easy, the process of creating screenshots and text for my ebook was not!!  Always takes longer than anticipated! 
    
     Anyway below is a general outline of what you need to do.
    
     Get your feedburner code.  You can do this by signing into your Google account.  If you do not have a Google account you can sign-up for one in about 90 seconds!  Once you are signed-in, just follow the prompts and soon you will have your feedburner URL.  Copy this into notepad for use later.
    
     Next you will need to select an RSS icon to put onto your website.  Google “RSS icons” and you will find a gazillion sites where you can download one for free.  Find one that you think will fit your website theme and download it to your desktop.
    
     Now login to your WordPress blog dashboard.  Click “media”, then “add new”.  Next, click “select files” and navigate to the RSS icon downloaded file you just put on your desktop.  It will automatically upload and then you need to save it.
    
     Under “media” you will find the URL for the RSS icon you just uploaded.  Copy this into notepad too.
    
     Click “appearances” on your dashboard, then “widgets”.  Under “available widgets” you will find a widget called “text”.  Click and drag the “text” widget to the “sidebar” column on the right.  It will automatically open and you can enter any text you want.  We will be adding the URL for the RSS icon and the URL for the RSS feed that you were assigned by feedburner.  Below is an example of how your URL’s should look.
    
     <center>
     <a href=”http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheRoadToUltimateInternetSuccess”>
     <img src=”http://www.lberlemann.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Billboard_Feed _48x48.png”>
     </a>
     </center>

     The first URL is the feedburner URL, and the second is the RSS icon URL.  Now, click “save” and you are finished!!
    
     How easy was that?!?!?!  Be sure to check your blog to ensure that the RSS icon looks as nice as you thought it would and that the RSS feed path is working properly (click your RSS icon to verify this).
    
     Have fun and happy blogging!!