The following article is a guest post by my friend and fellow domain blogger Morgan Linton. Morgan is the publisher of Domainvestors.tv as well as author of Domain Flipping available at DNFlipping.com.

With blogs being used more and more for the creation of MiniSites it is important to understand some simple things you can do to improve the SEO of your blog. Many people think that SEO is a dark art that can only be done by “the experts.” While there are some advanced techniques that can help – there are some quick and easily ways you can improve your SEO literally overnight!

Follow the three steps below and your blog will be on the SEO fast-track before you know it:

1)  Change your Permalinks to include your post title – if you’re using WordPress you can do this by selecting “Custom Structure” in the Permalink Settings and changing it to: /%postname%/

2)  Put your best keywords in your title. Many people miss the importance of the “Blog Title”. Use a tool like the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to find the keywords with the best search volume related to your niche and put them in your title. Another great way to get good ideas for you title is do a Google search for the keywords you’d like to rank well for and see what the top results are using in their title tag!

3)  Make it easy for people to share your posts through social media. There are some great plugins out there that make it easy for anyone reading your blog to share your posts through Twitter, Digg, Stumbleupon, etc. The more people linking to your site, the more relevant search engines will find your content and the higher your blog will rank!

That’s it! These are three quick and easy ways to improve your Blog’s SEO – so easy in fact you can do it today. So if you haven’t done any of these steps, take twenty minutes out of your day and improve your SEO!

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I get this question often: Patrick, how do you sell ad space?

This information can be applied to blogs, mini-sites or fully developed websites.

With my site’s popularity and traffic, I get several email inquires every week about ad availability. It took a lot of work to get to this point. The most important thing is building traffic. I wrote an article about Free Traffic back in May I suggest reading.

Now, once upon a time my blog was new and I did not get these emails. I had to proactively seek out new advertisers. I’ve come up with a few questions that hopefully cover everything you need to know.

Where do I find potential advertisers?
Visit similar sites/blogs and see who is advertising there. This was the FIRST thing I did.

Follow the events in your specific industry. Those events have sponsors and they pay big bucks. Chances are if they are willing to spend $25,000 on a 2-3 day event, you will have a good chance of gaining their business. On the flip side, those events have advertisers paying them, so they too need to advertise their event.

If you are not familiar with all of the different companies in your industry use the search engines. Search your industry keywords. Not only reach out to the standard search results but more so the sponsored links which are above the regular results and on the right hand side.

How do I set my ad prices?
Find out what similar sites/blogs are charging and stay in that neighborhood. Make sure your traffic stats match up to those comparable sites.

Research the cost of your potential advertisers using AdWords. Find out what they would pay per click for their ads to show in the search engines. Take that cost per click and multiply it by the amount of click through traffic you can provide with one of your banners. If you do not have ads up I suggest putting a test banner up and see what your results are after 30 days. OpenX is a good tool to track and control your banners. This formula is not an exact science and may not work for all keywords.

My site is so new, why would someone want to advertise with me?
I answer that question with a question: what makes you different? Have a plan. Explain to your potential advertisers that you are going to do X Y Z to build traffic and why you are different. Don’t be afraid to tell them you are new and working towards greater goals. Use being new as an advantage. When I started, I explained to potential advertisers that readers will see my perspective coming into an industry as a newcomer. Everyone has their own views, that’s what makes you different.

My site/blog theme just isn’t that good and I don’t have money to change it.
Again, don’t be afraid to explain that you are new and working your way towards great things. Explain that you plan on taking your first few ad sales to upgrading the overall look and feel of the site. Make sure to follow up with the changes if you tell them you are doing this.

Some good tips…

• Pick up the phone and call potential advertisers. It is a lot easier for someone to say no through email.
• Talk to the boss. Try to cut out the marketing reps. In most cases they need to get approval from the boss.
• Once your ads sell out start a waiting list.
• Offer discounts for prepaid ads. Sell your ads in one year increments if possible. Doing this also protects you from my fun fact below.

Fun Fact: The first cut businesses make during down times is their advertising budget.

I can honestly say to you that I am practicing what I preach because I have done and continue to do everything you read in this post. These tips have allowed me to turn my blog into what it is today.

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Coming from a background in real estate and using the internet to showcase my properties, I knew that duplicating something similar to showcase my domain names was a must. Seriously, if I do not showcase my domain names how will buyers know they are there? Where do I direct my potential buyers and how do I keep their interest?

Creating only a domain portfolio site does not mean it will generate traffic or that people will buy from it. The whole “build it and they will come” does not apply for this. At first, I integrated a blog with my domain portfolio. This gave people a reason to visit my site on a regular basis to see what new adventures I was getting myself into. At the same time I created an identity for myself, while putting my domain names in front of customers and earning their trust. Speaking of trust, I hope you know by now that earning customer trust is very important when it comes to sales. Buyers are smart! I promise you they know when they are being taken advantage of. By integrating my portfolio with a blog I was able to mask the sole purpose of the site which was to sell domain names.

For those that have been with me since the beginning, you know I am talking about DomainSubway.com. I have since converted it to a domain portfolio only because my primary blog, this one, takes all of my time.

Here’s a tool I used to build my domain portfolio. It’s a  free script that you can download here. The owner has put a lot of hard work into the project, so of course feel free to leave a donation for them. If you are somewhat web savvy you can have a blog with an integrated domain portfolio up before the end of the day. If you are not, let me know and I can have someone on my team do the work for a fee.

Take the above information and apply it to any product. Blogs are a great resource to help build not only web traffic, but a brand and trust.

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Is it possible to blog too much?
Most certainly, YES.

There are some great writers out there that just love to, well, write. They enjoy it so much they post three plus articles a day. Maybe it’s not enjoyment, maybe they think they have to write that much. Either way, they don’t and shouldn’t.

How is it possible that writing so often can be a bad thing?
At some point you begin to annoy your readers. Not that they don’t appreciate the information you are sharing but because the frequency of updates are just too much. It is important to give your readers the time to read what you have posted.

The number one reason readers unsubscribe from an RSS feed is due to excessive post frequency.

Think of it like this, most blogs keep their last five articles on the main page. If your average visitor comes to your blog every two to three days then they will be able to catch up on any blog posts. The average site visitor will only read the main page.

How often should a professional blogger write?
One to two times per day is a good amount. Do not sacrifice article quality for frequency. If you honestly are not able to post this often then don’t. A low quality article is a sure way to lose a reader as well.

Obviously there are some sites that are the exception to this. For example, news and entertainment sites are constantly getting updated. It is important for them to update as things happen.

So remember, quality over quantity!

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Of course bloggers are allowed opinions. Really, isn’t that what a blog is all about. A blog can be about everything and anything written from the perspective of one’s self or as a newscaster.

For the official Wiki definition click here.

What price do we pay for having an opinion?
Well, you are a putting your thoughts and self in a public place to be dissected and ridiculed. Depending on your thoughts and views you may even alienate some potential advertisers.

For example, just the other day I posted my favorite 5 domaining blogs. First two comments were you shouldn’t post something like this, only bad can come from it. I understand what they were saying, that potentially other bloggers in the industry that I did not mention would think I don’t like them or their blogs. That’s not the case, but you can only have so many favorites. I am friends with many of the other bloggers and they know I like them and their blogs. There are going to be some that are mad at me for my post. I have to accept that. I didn’t post that list as a recommendation to what everyone should be reading per say, but just to voice what I read most frequently.

I have already accepted the fact that not everyone thinks like me or will agree with everything I say. That is what makes us all individuals. That is truly the essence of what keeps things interesting. We as bloggers, have to be willing to put ourselves out there, not because we want to get our own propaganda said, but to get the feed back and to have interactions with our readers. Expressing your opinions opens up a dialogue. These dialogues will make your blog more alluring and have people coming back unless they absolutely hated what was said because it was offensive some way.

Know that if you blog you too will be criticized for your opinions. The upside is you will also be praised and followed. Do not let the thoughts of a few stand in the way of your success. Take this into consideration when you decide to blog. I say it often, blogging ain’t easy!

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