Recently I had a pleasure of test driving MaxBlogPress Subscribers Magnet wp plugin.

In short, I was satisfied.

The plugin was very easy to use and it allowed me to stick my optin form literally anywhere on my blog. I could even squeeze it nicely into the comments section, which I have never done before…

Download MaxBlogPress Subscribers Magnet WP Plugin here

Here are some of the benefits of the Subscribers Magnet I loved:

• it was extremely easy to use
• seduces your visitors to subscribe by sticking optin forms everywhere on the page
• doubles conversions by pre-populating the form with subscribers information
• dramatically improves optin rates without increase in traffic <- Fast and Free!
• VERY newbie friendly
• easily integrates with every major autoresponder service like aweber, getresponse etc.

However, there is one set back to the plugin – the price.

It’s a bit harsh. Sure, the plugin is worth the money, but to a newbie blogger, this is an astronomical figure. I’d suggest that MaxBlogPress guys take the price down a notch, and add some bonuses to the package to justify the price even more.

Until then, if you’re a struggling newbie blogger list builder with a limited budget, you should think 10 times before purchasing.

First you’ll need to make sure that you have a proper sales funnel set up on your backend to make your money back ASAP. If you have one set up already, then download this plugin right now with no second thoughts-it’s worth it!

During the past few years blogging has become one of the most popular activities on the internet. Whether it’s for fun or for the purpose of making money-you need to know how to optimize your blog for the search engines.

Below are 6 advanced search engine optimization techniques that will dramatically boost your blog’s ranking capabilities.

Permalinks

By changing your permalink structure in the wordpress admin panel to %postname%, removing all the unnecessary characters, you’re “taking out the trash” while creating search engine friendly links rich filled with keywords.

All In One SEO Plugin

Incredibly useful plugin helps you easily optimize nearly every possible SEO aspect of your blog whether you’re a newbie or a pro wordpress user. Simply install and follow the instructions. However, beware not to mess things up. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s better to consult a specialist first.

Related Posts Plugin

Search engines will rank your blog higher if you have a better internal linking structure than other bloggers. To do it, simply install the related posts plugin and it will do the work for you.

Keyword Research

No matter how many plugins you’ll install-it all comes down to choosing the right keywords. It’s important to locate the high quality keywords. Check out this highly recommended resource on how to do keyword research.

Navigation

While Google Bots and Yahoo Spiders are no more than scripts, they are programmed to know how humans think. Therefore, when optimizing your blog for the search engines, it’s highly important to do it as if you’re optimizing for real humans. Thus, navigation becomes a crucial part of the equation. Make your blog easy to navigate and you’ll get better rankings.

Pinging

By default, your WordPress blog comes armed with a set list of pinging locations. Run a search in Google for expanded pinging lists and add the missing websites to your existing list in the options menu. This will give an advantage and get your blog ranked much faster.

Use these 6 search engine optimization secrets to optimize your blog, get higher rankings and get more visitors to your blog. Report back on your results in the comment section or share more seo tricks that I forgot to mention in this post.

Plugins for the WordPress platform are tons of fun and incredibly useful. You’ll find everything you need to turn your blog into something amazing that is every bit as great as you would have imagined. While there are many plugins out there that are worth your while, the five that follow are the cream of the crop.

Akismet

This plugin actually comes standard with your WordPress installation. You will have to get a WordPress.com API key to make it work, but after you do it’s pure bliss. This will help keep spam comments away automatically! Akismet is smart enough to put suspected spam into a separate folder, and it even learns from you as you go. You should always activate this plugin for the best results with your blog. It saves you a ton of time too!

Related Posts

Linking to different pages in your blog from every page is a great search engine optimization tactic. The problem with blogs is that it can be so hard to dig through old posts that are related and manually link them in your new post. Related posts solves that problem! This will automatically insert some relevant posts for your blog. It’s very hands-off and very effective. Both visitors and search engines love this plugin.

All in One SEO Pack

Once again, optimizing your site for the search engines is going to be one of the best ways you can make money with your blog. The higher you rank, the more traffic you recieve. The more traffic you receive, the more money you make! The All In One SEO pack makes your life easier because it allows you to specify the title, description (that will show up in the search engines), and keywords.

WordPress Database Backup

Backing up your blog is crucial if you value your business. You never know what could happen to your server, and it would be awfully devastating to lose everything. You can easily back everything up by pressing a few simple buttons with this effective and very useful plugin.

Top Commentators

This plugin is greatly effective and it encourages a lot of interaction on your blog. It lists the people who have the most comments within your blog. They love this because they get the extra exposure. You love it because people really get into posting to try and be at the top. It also gives social proof. When people visit a blog for the first time they are more likely to stick around if there are clearly other people there who value your content. The fact that they can see others participating is a great thing.

Head over to WordPress Plugins and download these and many other content wordpress plugins.

Recently I’ve been looking for automated ways to monetize my blogs to increase profits and discovered DHTML.

DHTML=Dynamic HTML. With Dynamic HTML you can create a plethora of tools to help you easily double, triple or even quadruple the amount of sales, signups or clicks you get on your blog. Here’s how.

For example: here’s a DHTML Script called Faveicon generator. With this tool you can create a custom icon which displays next to your blogs Title in the Tab section of the browser.

This way it’s easier for your readers to identify your site and it also helps to find it faster in the bookmarks menu (if they bookmarked your site). Why is it important? I can recall quite a few times when I knew I bookmarked a website but couldn’t find it in my bookmarks folder. I bet it happened to you too…

You can create such fantastic effects for your blog as snow falling down the page, drop down menus, featured image slideshows, hide/display special links where ever you want, custom made pop ups, drop in boxes and more!

There are hundreds of scripts like these that can be found on DynamicDrive which is a real DHTML script goldmine for any webmaster. It’s a free database of DHTML scripts which can be customized on the go to fit your needs even if you’re a total newbie.

Just follow the easy-to-follow instructions on the site and copy/paste the code to the footer, header or body section of your blog (differs from script to script) and you’re all set!

Are you constantly blogging but the numbers you see in your traffic logs are embarrassingly low? It can be maddening to check your stats and realize that no one is actually stopping by. Don’t give up yet, because there are four great ways you can get traffic fast.

Traffic Tip #1: Do Your Keyword Research

Many bloggers make the mistake of thinking they can just throw some posts up there and expect to get traffic. There is a lot more to it than that! You need to make sure you are looking at the keyword data to find terms that are getting a lot of searches. Ideally, you want these terms to have low competition so it’s easier for you to rank. Once you start basing your posts around these kinds of keywords you should find that you’re getting a lot more traffic.

Traffic Tip #2: Write Enticing Articles Off-Site

Submitting to article directories isn’t just a good way to get backlinks to your site, it’s also a great way to get readers! Sites like EzineArticles.com have their own readership of people who are looking for the exact topic you’re blogging about. If you write a compelling article that leads into your resource box, people will be enticed to visit your blog.

Traffic Tip #3: Give People a Reason to Come Back

Getting traffic in the first place is one thing, but what you want to do as a blogger is have them coming back over and over again. The best way to do this is to create special offers or exciting events. For example, you can give away a prize each week to the new people who subscribed to your list or your feed. You can also run a contest for people who leave answers as comments on your blog posts. Make your blog a happening place to be and people will want to visit often and tell their friends.

Traffic Tip #4: Create Linkbait

Linkbait is when you write a blog post that is so exciting or controversial it gets people to come to your blog, comment, and link to the post. You may share some shocking news or offer an opinion you know is bound to stir people’s emotions. You do need to have thick skin when you write linkbait! Don’t expect everyone to agree with your opinion.

An example of linkbait is going the opposite way everyone else goes. For instance, imagine you have an electronics blog and you decide to review the iPhone. After reviewing the product you decide you don’t like it. You then write to tell your readers why. Since this was a product everyone was gaga over when it first came out the chances are good you would have gotten a strong reaction right off the bat.

If you want to get REAL targeted traffic REAL FAST, check out this page where a 26 years old physics geek reveals the secret strategy he stumbled upon to catapult brand new sites on top of google!

One of the most time consuming activities related to blogging is pimping your blog with all sorts of different plugins to suit your blog’s needs.

Below is a list of 15 best wordpress plugins which will make blogging a bit easier for you.

1. Akismet

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/akismet/

Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not and lets you review the spam it catches under your blogs “Comments” admin screen.

2. All In One SEO

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

Optimizes your WordPress blog for Search Engines (Search Engine Optimization).

3. Broken Link Checker

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/broken-link-checker/

This plugin is will monitor your blog looking for broken links and let you know if any are found.

4. WordPress Database Back Up

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/

WP-DB-Backup allows you easily to backup your core WordPress database tables. You may also backup other tables in the same database.

5. Exec-Php

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/exec-php/

The Exec-PHP plugin executes PHP code in posts, pages and text widgets.

6. Google XML Sitemaps

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/

This plugin will create a Google sitemaps compliant XML-Sitemap of your WordPress blog.

7. MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/maxblogpress-ping-optimizer/

Save your blog from getting tagged as ping spammer by installing this plugin.

8. MaxBlogPress Favicon

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/maxblogpress-favicon/

Help create brand awareness by displaying a little favourite icon (favicon) in the title of our blog next to the URL.

9. WP-Cache

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-cache/

WP-Cache is an extremely efficient WordPress page caching system to make you site much faster and responsive.

10. Auto Hyperlink URLs

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/auto-hyperlink-urls/

Auto-hyperlink text URLs in post content and comment text to the URL they reference.

11. No Ping Wait

http://onemansblog.com/2007/04/15/no-ping-wait-wordpress-plugin/

The purpose of the No Ping Wait plugin is to prevent WordPress authors from having to wait for all of the update services to respond to new post pings.

12. FD Feedburner Plugin

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedburner-plugin/

Redirects the main feed and optionally the comments feed to FeedBurner.

13. WordPress.com Stats

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stats/

Tracks views, post/page views, referrers, and clicks.

14. What Would Seth Godin Do

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/what-would-seth-godin-do/

Displays a custom welcome message to new visitors and much more.

15. Popularity Contest

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/popularity-contest/

This will enable ranking of your posts by popularity; using the behavior of your visitors to determine each post’s popularity

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Why You Can’t Use WordPress for PPC

The reason why you can’t use wordpress blogs for PPC and CPA is because WordPress blogs are filled with “distractions”. Nearly 90% of the page is filled with links encouraging the user to leave the page.

Now that’s a really bad idea since the very landing page is the “money maker” where the sale and/or the optin is made. So, what’s the point spending money on advertising if 93%-97% of all incoming traffic leaves immediately?

WordPress PPC Theme

Latest Premium WordPress PPC Theme was designed to solve this problem. Using this theme you can create salesletters, CPA landing pages and Google compliant PPC landing pages.

It is reasonably priced at $47 which makes it a tiny investment compared to the money you’re leaving on the table each time someone visits your blog. And the funny thing I noticed is that the actual sales page for this theme was done using WordPress PPC theme. Check it out by clicking on the link below:

WordPress PPC Theme: Create Salesletters, Cpa, PPC Landing Pages

For over a year now I have been using WordPress for internet marketing purposes. I used WordPress to build a community around my marketing, grow my list, promote products and make money using AdSense and Affiliate Marketing.

Lately I’ve noticed that there’s a growing amount of internet marketers doing the same thing, so I decided to post a list of 10 useful WordPress plugins that every internet marketer should use.

Dean’s FCKEditor for WordPress

This plugin Replaces the default WordPress editor with CKeditor 3.0.1.

CKeditor is an open source WYSIWYG text editor ,brings to the web much of the power of desktop editors like MS Word.it’s lightweight and is compatible with most internet browsers which include: IE 5.5+ (Windows), Firefox 1.0+, Mozilla 1.3+ and Netscape 7+.

Download Dean’s FCKEditor here.

WP-Sticky

WP-Sticky is a plugin that allows you to make a post stick to the home page no matter how old it is. It’s perfect for setting up opt in forms to generate leads of your blog’s homepage.

Download WP-Sticky here.

PageEar-Free Peel Away Ad

This plugin allows you to easily insert peel away ads into the top right hand corner of your website. Plugin works perfectly with Firefox and IE. Simple solution for those of you that don’t have the resources to hire a professional coder to create a peel away ad.

Download PageEar here.

WordPress Popup Scheduler

Extremely useful plugin for internet marketers and those who use WordPress sites to build a list. Functions of WP Popup Scheduler:

• Able to schedule a popup to show at all times, when new visitors arrived at your site, when readers revisit your blog for the second, third or fourth time, or for a specify number of days.
• Able to configure it to show only on the home page, visitor landing page or a particular page of your choice.
• Users can customize the look and feel of the popup. Attribute that can be customize include the background color, the popup width, popup headline, font size, font color and insert image.
• Select between animation effect or no effect. If no effect is chosen, the popup can be displayed as a wrap-box before or after the first post. Animation effects include simple popup, drop down and fade in.

Download WordPress Popup Scheduler here.

AdSense Now!

AdSense Now! is the simplest possible way to generate revenue from your blog using Google AdSense. Aiming at simplicity, AdSense Now! does only one thing: it puts your AdSense code in up to three spots in your posts and pages (both existing ones and those yet to be written).

Download AdSense Now! here.

WP-Banner Ads

This is a banner ad management plugin for WordPress. Now you can manage banners of your own or from your favorite affiliate programs.

Download WP-Banner Ads here.

EasyPayPal

EasyPayPal is a WordPress plugin that allows you to make money from your WordPress site by collecting a payment from your users.

Download EasyPayPal here.

WPAffiliate-WordPress Affiliate ClickBank Plugin

The plugin automatically inserts a list of “Related Products” after and/or before each post on your blog, which are relevant to the content of your blog post.

Detailed review and download link here.

LinkHopper

This plugin allows you to configure a hop name, and a hop destination.  When you link to yoursite.com/hop/TAG/, the visitor will be redirected to your chosen destination. Now you can easily mask your affiliate links and never get robbed out of affiliate commissions ever again!

Download LinkHopper here.

WP Testimonials

WP-Testimonials is a plugin for WordPress that lets you display your customer/client/product testimonials on your blog. You may add, edit or remove testimonials through the “Manage” navigation tab in the admin area. The plugin includes the option to display a random testimonial in your sidebar using PHP code for older templates or using a widget for newer themes. The widget is built-in with the plugin, so you have no additional files to worry about.

Download WP Testimonials here.

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In blogging, similar to copywriting, it’s important to know what’s important to your reader.

It’s a mistake to consider blogging as a personal journal. Quite in contrary, blogging is a conversation between you and your reader. If you want to write a diary for your own personal use- do it offline. As long as you’re writing in public-it’s a dialog.

As you start to write a post for you blog, picture your audience in your mind and write for them. Babbling or writing about stuff that only you find interesting will not attract more readers and you will quickly lose the ones you have. Think about the type of people who are reading your blog and write for them. Focusing on your audience will always help you to have a successful blog. Street Directory.

I’ve started this blog when Twitter has just begun evolving as a marketing mechanism. I quickly realized that Twitter was of great interest to my audience and as a result I started writing more posts on Twitter which resulted in higher traffic, more comments and low bounce rates.

How To Determine What Is Important To Your Reader

1. Survey-use wp-polls plugin to run a survey, asking your readers what that want to read about. It’s better to use open answers instead of pre-determined ones, so they use their own words to describe how they feel.

2. Analyze Content-use Google Analytics and myriad of other tracking tools to determine which articles have low bounce rates, high on page times and high incoming traffic.

3. Popularity Contest-another plugin to use to determine leading topics is Popularity Contest. Using pre-determined criteria such as comments, unique views, time on page and others popularity contest will come up with a list of most popular articles on your blog. And to play it safe, you can create a widget listing all the articles on your sidebar.

4. Keyword Research-use Google Keyword Tool to determine which key phrases are the most popular and try to create more content focusing around those keywords. It worked for me when I used Twitter as a leading content magnet for my blog.

5. Forums-visit forums, groups and message boards to see what your readers are talking about. See what bugs them these days and blog about it.

6. Blogosphere-visit blogs and websites your audience visits and see what is the most popular topic, what the blogosphere is talking about.

7. Discover Early Trends-use Google Trends to see which trends are evolving and try to predict a trend early on. For example: Joseph Wood spotted an iPhone trend and predicted an iPhone apps trend early on. He created a business around it and now he’s enjoying himself.

In blogging-communication is key. Use everything you can to find out as much as possible about your readers and create a reader avatar which should have the following parameters:

• Name
• Age
• Sex
• Occupation
• Income level
• Interests, hobbies
• Avg. time a day spent online
• Which web publications he/she reads
• Goals/Dreams
• Desired outcome out of reading your blog

It’s important to communicate with your reader as if you’re sitting across the table. Don’t make the mistake of addressing your audience in plural-your reader wants person-to-person communication and it’s your job to deliver.

It’s friday and it’s time for the Weekly Friday Roundup. Enjoy the read and Merry Christmas!

Post your comments regarding anything that happened last week here. Use this opportunity to ask questions, suggest new topics and categories and just wish me a Merry Christmas!

note: since it is the first ever friday roundup, I made it a monthly roundup. shhh…