Blunder #14: Not investing in BB

The reason behind this is because these autoblogs die almost as fast as you can build them. It’s like using a bucket to remove water from a sinking row boat. For
every bucket of water you remove, another bucket of water gets added two minutes later. You never really get ahead.

The goods news is... you can create good quality autoblogs that add value to both visitors (people reading your blog) and the search engines.

Earlier in this report, I mentioned that today autoblogging is a game of Anglers not
Hunters.

Hunters go for the big kill. They don’t care about the mess they create. They carry
one gun and hope to hit their target with their first shot. That mindset is sooo
2007.

Autoblogging is a numbers game. It’s all about volume.

20 autoblogs x $50 each = $1000 per month
versus...

1 autoblog = $1000 per month
Get the picture?

Anglers on the other hand, think in volume. They don’t catch one fish, they want a
pail full of them. Plus, they often put multiple lines in the water (or a big net) --
which only increases their odds of catching more.

Think like the Angler. Get plenty of autoblogs out there -- put several lines in the
water and use good bait (content).

If you enjoyed this report and would like to get access to the entire Blog Blueprint
that my business partner, Jason Katzenback, and I have put together then, sit tight. I will send you more details real soon.

Blog Blueprint goes live on October 28th, 2010.

In this new autoblogging course we are including all our custom built power-tools,
automated-software, proprietary unique auto-content sources.. plus, a provenblueprint
for autoblogging success -- complete with video tutorials and PDF workbooks to get you on the fast-track to “auto” profits.

In other words, we are giving you everything you need to jump in the saddle and get started building your own profitable autoblog business.

As I mentioned earlier in this report, once you follow a proven step-by-step process and use the right amount of smart automation, you can build a $57,600 per year business based 100% on autoblogging.

And that’s exactly what we show you how to do once you invest in Blog Blueprint.

Blunder #13: Ignoring O.P.O.

Most experts tell you that off-page optimization trumps all. While off-page
optimization (such as getting backlinks) plays a huge factor in your search engine
rankings, do not ignore on-page optimization (O.P.O.).

Do a health check on your blog posts. Does each post contain a unique Title and
Description?

Are you using tags that relate to the blog post itself? How about keyword density?
Are your posts keyword optimized?

Also, there are other on-page factors that you should consider such as... checking
for broken links, poorly formatted text that contains HTML code such as

or

.

Take Away: Just like internal linking and getting backlinks (off-page optimization), on-page optimization is a crucial element for getting you top search engine rankings and more traffic. Do not be like most people and ignore it.

Blunder #12: Robot promotion

I’m assuming you already know that your autoblogs need lots of backlinks to really
thrive in the search engines, right? However, autolinking is not the solution. Be
careful about using some $47 “Robot” script that auto-bookmarks your blogs to
dozens of social sites... or promises you a hands-free way to get lots of backlinks to your autoblog.

Just like aggressive pinging (as we mentioned earlier in Blunder #2), more is not always better. Automation is great, but be smart about how you use it.

You are much better off using a variety of methods to promote your autoblog and get backlinks -- submit articles to directories or syndicate to article networks like SyndicateKahuna.com, syndicate videos, submit your RSS feed (without going too crazy).... get some backlinks from comments you’ve posted on other blogs. There are
many different options here that work great.

Don’t be lazy. Lazy people don’t do very well online.

Take Away: Autoblogging does not mean auto-promotion or autobacklink-getting. Use automation, but be smart about it. Getting backlinks from a variety of sources is better than relying on one -- or only using an automated link-getting script and nothing else. Don’t be a lazy link builder!

Blunder #11: Set it and forget it

Isn’t that what autoblogging is all about? Well, yes and no. Every autoblog is powered by content that is automatically posted. The problem is, you are getting the use of free content because someone wants a backlink from you. That’s the currency. You post content, they get a backlink in return.

It’s a simple concept, but highly open to abuse. Bottom line, be sure to use trusted, reliable, moderated sources of content. You wouldn’t believe some of the garbage I have seen posted on some autoblogs -- Off topic content that links to porn or gambling sites, or poorly written content often riddled with
typos. Or my personal favorite... using ALL CAPS WHICH IS VERY ANNOYING TO THE READER.

Nothing turns off a visitor more than weak, sloppy content or an article that in no
way relates to the theme of the blog itself. Click, read, gone -- in 4 seconds!

Take Away: Only use trusted sources of auto-content for your autoblogs. It’s also a good idea to spot check your autoblogs once in a while, just to make sure there are no surprises. Set it and check it.

Blunder #10: Not being specific

When a visitor hits your blog, what do you want them to do? Do you want them to join your mailing list... download your free report... click on an affiliate link... or visit your sales page? If so, you need to tell them exactly what to do!

One of the biggest mistakes is being soft or wishy-washy. If you want a visitor to take an action and DO something, tell them.

Here’s a great example of being direct and telling the visitor what to do:



Now, compare that example above to the image below...

Which graphic do you think is most likely to prompt the visitor to clickthrough
and potentially make a purchase?



The answer is obvious.

Take Away: Be direct. Tell your visitor exactly what you want them to do. Click here... Grab your free report now... you get the idea. Don’t be a softy.

Blunder #9: Bad plug-ins/themes

As I write this, there are over 11,500 plug-ins available for WordPress. Yikes!

Many people read a recommendation about a certain plug-in and they immediately
download it and install it on their blog. Have you been guilty of this too? As an
Internet Marketer or Search Engine Marketer, out of 11,500 plug-ins there are only about 14 “must have” plug-ins that you really need, such as:

Platinum SEO
Broken Link Checker
CB Ping Optimizer
Dagon Sitemap Generator
Google XML Sitemaps
No-follow Links
Simple Tags
....... etc

Note: You might wonder why I haven’t included All In One SEO on the above list of
plug-ins. Yes, it is extremely popular. But, it does not support auto-permalink redirects as well as Platinum SEO.

Also, Platinum SEO allows you to make specific posts no-follow and no index. That’s important to better optimize your blog.

Please bear in mind... some plug-ins don’t play well with each other. Also, certain plug-ins, if not configured correctly, can actually hurt your search engine rankings. For example, if you use the default settings for several plug-ins (such as
Simple Tags), they won’t work very well.

This same rule applies to themes. Yes, there are a ton of good free WP themes out
there. However, most themes are designed for looks (by Graphic Designers), not for search engine optimization (by SEO experts). Once again, using the wrong theme can sabotage your blog and not give you the results you want.

I’d rather have a decent looking blog that is well optimized to grab maximum traffic and top Google rankings, rather than a fantastic looking blog that gets 2 visitors a day.

Wouldn’t you?

Take Away: Don’t just blindly install WordPress plug-ins or use a theme because it looks good. Always ask yourself: Am I 100% sure that this will help better optimize my blog to get me more traffic and higher search engine rankings? If not, don’t install it, don’t use it -- period.

Blunder #8: Open affiliate links

Open affiliate links are just plain dumb. What do I mean by this? Simply put, if your blog is filled with blatant ClickBank, Commission Junction or ShareASale affiliate links, then your blog might get penalized by Google as a “thin affiliate” site.

That’s a bad thing.

To avoid this, there are a number of ways to mask or hide your affiliate links such
as using re-directs or modifying your web server’s .htaccess file. But, there are too
many ways to get into here.


Note: Many autoblog tools or scripts use direct affiliate links to Amazon, Commission Junction, etc. As you now understand, doing this is risky.

Take Away: Hide your affiliate links - period. Don’t use blatant affiliate
links like this: http://zzzzz.1234.hop.clickbank.net.

Instead, mask it like this:
www.yourblogname.com/resource2.htm

Blunder #7: Being a dictator

What does a dictator do? They tell people what to do. They rarely listen. When trying to get some love from Google, don’t be a dictator.

Don’t tell Google that you demand the #1 spot for best dog trainer. Sure, you can optimize... but then, sit back and listen to what Google tells you.

Look at your blog analytics. Over time, you’ll see the sweet spot -- what keyphrases visitors are using in Google to find your blog. If Google is sending you lots of traffic for the keyphrase top dog training tips... then roll with it. Listen.

Don’t dictate.

Take Away: Don’t force Google to give you top rankings for a particular keyphrase. Optimize your pages, sit back... and then let Google tell you what keyphrases are getting you the most traffic and top rankings. Then, add more related content and better optimize your blog for those keyphrases,. You’ll get way more traffic this way.

Rinse... repeat...rinse...repeat... easy!

Blunder #6: No int/ext linking

Did you know that you can easily springboard your blog from page 5 on Google to page 1 by doing a little interlinking? What is interlinking?

It works like this... You link related posts within your blog using anchor text keywords. So, suppose you have one post about Blue Widgets that mentions Red Widgets in the content. By simply anchor text linking the phrase “Red Widgets” to the Red Widgets blog post, you are giving your blog some good internal link mojo. But, don’t overdo it.

Same rule applies to external linking. Many bloggers today are afraid to link to
other websites and blogs. Why? Because they feel that they will “bleed” Page Rank
or lose visitors by doing this. Or, they use “no-follow” links when linking to

external sites. That’s old school thinking. Google wants you to be a trusted resource and point to other great sites and blogs that relate to the theme or topic of your blog.

Take Away: Don’t forget, internal links count as backlinks too. It’s an easy
way to boost your search engine rankings. Don’t be afraid to externally link
to other popular sites and blogs too. Become a trusted resource.

Blunder #5: No deep linking

What do spam bloggers (sploggers) do? They do everything -- and anything -- they can to quickly get a bunch of backlinks to their homepage.

That’s a big no-no.

Think about it... do mega popular blogs like PerezHilton.com and TechCrunch.com only get other sites linking to their homepage? Of course not.

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of stories, events, news and gossip on those blogs. Each of those individual content pages gets linked to -- A LOT! Do the same with your blogs.

Take Away: As a general guideline, 40% of the incoming links to your blog should go to secondary pages (that’s called deep linking). The remaining 60% of links can go to your home page/index page.

Blunder #4: Blog article directory

Do you know what an article directory does? It attempts to be all things to all
people -- 80 different categories, 1000s of articles on every topic under the sun.
Very few article directories succeed using this model.

When you use this same “one-stop-shop” model with blogs, it never works. Believe me. We’ve tested many of these and while they experienced some initial success, it was always short lived. Google kills them pretty fast.

Take Away: When building a blog, zero in on a tightly focused niche and/ or key phrases (for example: Australian rules football is better than just football. Grind and brew coffee maker is better than just coffee maker). Get the idea?

Oh and one more thing... this rule also applies to using WordPress Multi-User. Sure,
it sounds great in theory to easily create 50 blogs using one domain. But, this is
like putting all your eggs in one basket.

If that domain gets the cold shoulder from Google (which can happen), say adios to 50 blogs. If you have 50 blogs on 50 separate domains, that will never happen.

That’s just smart autoblogging. :-)

Blunder #3: Stinky content

These days, Internet Marketers are worried about duplicate content. I’m not going to go into a big discussion here. Our experience shows that Google does filter out sites that have the same content.

Think about it... when was the last time you saw the top 5 sites on Google with the exact same content? Never happens. What is at the heart of every autoblog? What keeps things humming along? That’s right... good content.

In 2009, getting content was easy. Grab an RSS feed or two, grab some content from an article directory, cut-and-paste some Yahoo Answers... or use a script that does it automatically.

Today, Google has dropped the hammer on these type of autoblogs. It’s easy to spot these autoblogs 3 seconds after you visit the page. Don’t you think Google has the technology to do so too? You bet they do.

Take Away: Use unique content sources. Don’t use the exact same crappy content as everyone else. Don’t make your blogs look spammy (like splogs) by auto posting useless press releases and Yahoo Answers to your blog.

Blunder #2: Aggressive pinging

In WordPress, you can define a ping list. What’s a ping list? Basically, it works like this... Every time you make a new blog post, your blog will alert (or ping) dozens of other “hub” sites and let them know that your blog was just updated with fresh content.

You’ll get some backlinks too. Back in 2009, aggressive pinging was the norm. More pings = more easy backlinks = more search engine activity on your blog... and so on.

Today, aggressive pinging doesn’t work like it used to. Just like taking your daily
vitamins. One a day is good, two a day is better.... 30 a day might kill you!

Take Away: Our tests indicate that Google gives more credit to a site/ blog that gets found naturally through a few third-party links and not through mass pinging. Getting a link or two from an established website is a perfect way for Google to ‘accidentally’ discover your site. Don’t force feed your site into Google, over-ping or get 200 backlinks in 2 days.

More is not better.

Blunder #1: Being shady

Being a shady autoblogger is not cool. Sploggers are shady. Tricking (or gaming) the search engines is not the way to build a long-term business. Shady autobloggers steal (or scrape) content from other blogs or websites.

They also remove any links from third-party articles they post to their blogs (so not cool)... and do a host of other things that are low, dishonest and just.... well, shady! Don’t do it. Google will punish you. I love to keep Google happy, so should you.
Ok. That first one may be an obvious one. Now that we got that one out of the way, let’s get more specific.

Once you’ve installed and configured your first autoblog, some experts tell you to
immediately do something. This “something” will hurt you. Let me explain...