Blog Minx » seo

Pirate Adventures Whilst Promoting Links!

richminx — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:07:20 +0000

Viral linking, the act of passing a list of blog links from site to site to grow everyone’s linkbacks and traffic, doesn’t have to be a dull, copy-and-paste job featuring a list of site names. *cough*

Check out Pirate Links by DCR Blogs (found via yet another check of my Technorati page to see who links to me), who has woven a long list of links into a rollicking pirate narrative. Although it seems to involve people putting their “scurvy hands” on me. Surely if that was going on I’d be making more money?

The moral of the story is that Pirate Links is generating lots of comments and linkbacks because DCR Blogs – if that is indeed his real name – has used his imagination, hoisted the Jolly Roger and done something different with a tired theme. Nice.

Minx, Rich Minx, Talks About Good Taglines

richminx — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:29:02 +0000

A good site tagline (your subheading) can make all the difference. Daily Blog Tips has linked to some of the funniest taglines on the internet. Can you name any others?

The original tagline on RichMinx.com was ‘You had me at high yield’, back when all I talked about was money. As more and more blogging/web posts started creeping in, I changed it to the current, ‘Money, blogging and life talk from a monetizing webmistress.’ I’ve always been fond of the term ‘webmistress’ to describe what I do. Why should I be a webmaster when I’m female? ‘Webmademoiselle’ sounds even more exotic, or ‘Webfraulein’.

Anyway, I’ve been told again and again that a good blog tagline communicates to the new reader exactly what your blog is about, if indeed it is about something, and includes your main keywords. It’s your introduction to the world, like ‘Bond, James Bond’ or ‘Heeeeere’s Johnny!’.

Making it both accurate and funny is hard, but a successful tagline will stick in a reader’s mind, whether it’s funny, powerful or both.

I thought I’d run a few new Rich Minx tagline ideas by you. Which do you prefer, or have you got a better one?

Killing the internet softly with her money and web talk.
Money talks, Rich Minx hires an interpreter.
File under ‘Web’, ‘Money’ and ‘WTF?’.
You are not the contents of your wallet, but you are the contents of your blog.
Looks like somebody’s got a case of the blogging.

Rich Minx Traffic Flash Mob And Long Tail Oddities

richminx — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:50:33 +0000

It’s important to check your site stats – not every hour, but every few days to analyze your traffic and see how people are showing up.

I was pleased just before to see that yesterday there were over 1,000 visitors to Rich Minx. That’s above average and mostly because my 7.5 Reasons I Abandoned You Today post got vigorously Stumbled. The burst of activity is like a sugar high, or a Flash Mob. Some subscribed to my giant orange lozenge RSS feed. Welcome! Tea?

I also like to check the search engine queries that bring people to chez Rich Minx. To do so, I use Google Analytics, click ‘Traffic Sources Overview’ and then ‘View All’ under ‘Keywords’.

Some on the list are expected and some take me rather by surprise. Below is a list of both from recent stats.

Expected keywords used in searches:

Unexpected keywords used in searches:

Astrology, will the NZ dollar keep rising? (I look into my crystal ball and… I bloody hope not!)
Empty your wallet into your head (okaaay)
Nuptial agreement: he wants I don’t ( )
Does Rich Minx find Jessica Alba Hot? (Not really, and that’s the honest truth. She looks so plastic, and seems kind of dull.)

What do people search for to arrive at your site?

Warning: Geeks Ahead

richminx — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:12:50 +0000

Ryan Shamus has added me to the Geek Train. I like its use of labels to describe the bloggers, although I couldn’t possibly be a geek; perhaps he meant ‘Greek’ although I’m not Greek either. Or meek. Okay, this is getting weak.

I am a fan of Ryan because a) He called me a babe and b) He always has fresh ideas for growing his blog(s) and I like to pop over and ~~steal~~ share them. Ryan dreams of abandoning the cubicle and is obviously heading in the right direction with all the growing side projects he’s working on. Go Ryan!

â€”â€”â€”- START COPYING HERE â€”â€”â€”-

Geek Train – All aboard!

1 – Write a short paragraph at the beginning of your post and linkback to the blog(s) that put you on the list in the paragraph. You MUST do this. No-one plans on getting slapped for duplicate content any time soon, do they?

2 – Next, copy the list of originals below COMPLETELY and add it to your own blog. If youâ€™d like a different keyword for your blog then change it, when you do your post, and it should pass to most blogs with that keyword, provided the train keeps on spreading.

3 – Take the adds from the blog that added you and place them in the â€œOriginalsâ€ list.

4 – Add at least three new favorite blogs of yours to keep the train going, e-mail the blog owners (or comment on one of their posts) and insist that they post.

My Adds:

(The funny grrl) Bloggrrl
(The cracker Welshman) The Gospel According To Rhys
(The rockin’ blogger) Roberta Ferguson

The Originals:

(The super ambitious) OneMansGoal
(The super smart) Courtney Tuttle
(The money babe) Rich Minx
(The deaf guy) Deaf Musician
(The social guy) Alex Ion
(The cool guy) Ryan Shamus
(The kick-ass) Nate Whitehill
(The original) 13-Year Old Blogger
(The money-making) Affiliate Marketing guide
(The overclocker) Shawn Knight
(The incredible) Chris Hooley
(The rhetorical) Michael Kwan
(The talented) Leo Chiang
(The root of all evil) John Chow
(The business dude) Josh Mullineaux
(The brilliant) Shoemoney
(The absurdly loud) Ed Lau
(The mastermind) Jon Waraas
(The yaketty) Stephen Fung
(The wickedly cool) Everton Blair
(The uber blogger) Ms Danielle
(The AdSense magician) Michael Cheney
(The enterprising) Matt Coddington
(The monetizing minded) Daily Web Ideas
(The legendary) Gary Lee
(The nifty) Dosh Dosh
(The ambitious) Jeff Kee
(The crafty two at) TechRave

This link train is the brainchild of David Wilkinson, hyper, money-making kid, and kick-ass blog designer Nate Whitehill.

â€”â€”â€”- END COPYING HERE â€”â€”â€”-

If you didnâ€™t get tug? Donâ€™t worry! Just add yourself onto the list, including the originals by posting on your own site, and start right away!

June 2007 Blog Analysis/Navel Gaze

richminx — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:20:00 +0000

So, bloggers, how was your June?

Mine wasn’t too bad, thanks. I squeezed in a fair amount of blogging.

Money earned = $85 (part ads, part affiliate links)

Rich Minx

Average daily visitors = 200. Thanks to everyone who came by!
Most popular posts =

A Wanderer’s Top 10 Travel Tips (by far, thanks to Stumbles)
How To Make 4c A Week
The 4-Hour Work Week Reviewed
I Was A ProBlogger Meetup Social Networking Bunny

Traffic sources = StumbleUpon.com, direct visits, Google (organic)
Top keywords = 4 hour work week, timothy ferriss, rich minx, mood lifters
Top commentators = Ryan Shamus, Savvy Affiliate, Art of Money, Saving Diva, Richard Callaby. Thanks guys!

Travel Minx and Movie Minx

Travel Minx has only existed for two weeks but has had 2,500 visits so far thanks to article Stumbles, especially How to Get an Upgrade to Business Class and How to Find a Job Overseas.

Movie Minx is only a few days old, so is too young for a school report. But The Princess Bride review has been popular.

This Month I Learned…

1. Having messy code and CSS errors made my site(s) look crap in IE6, which I don’t use. Always check your template in multiple browsers and operating systems!
2. StumbleUpon.com rocks as a way to get traffic! And I found this great article on how to make the most of it.
3. It’s important to have some solid, unique how-to posts, even if the style of your blog is more flippant than the ‘authority’ blogs. People appreciate advice.
4. Referencing song lyrics in post titles will result in irrelevant search traffic.

Feedback?
I always appreciate feedback, so if there’s anything in particular you like, or don’t like, feel free to leave a comment and let me know!

Link Train Sequel: ViralTags

richminx — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 12:08:14 +0000

The Viralink experiment I posted about a few weeks ago has been a success, in some respects. The anchor text ‘*’ for my link didn’t do much for my SEO and it resulted in little additional traffic, but my Technorati authority has improved no end. I think it was 20-something when I added Viralink, and now it’s 111. ‘Nuff said.

Except Viralink is so last week. We now have Viralink II: The Revenge, aka ViralTags, which is the same idea but with relevant anchor text. I figure there’s no harm done if I intersperse these traffic-boosters with my usual Pulitzer-style posts.

================Copy and Paste below this line==============

Instructions:

1.) Copy and paste the matrix of â€œViralTagsâ€ below courtesy of Founders Cafe.

2.) Substitute the Host Tag and one of the â€œViral Tagsâ€ in the matrix with your anchor text of choice with your blogâ€™s URL. Please keep anchor text to a max of 3 words to keep the matrix size manageable.

3.) When you get a ping back from someone that has your link in one of their â€œViral Tagsâ€, practice good karma by copying his/her Host Tagâ€™s anchor text (automatically the associated link will also be copied) and paste it over one of your â€œViral Tagsâ€ below.

4.) Encourage and invite your readers to do the same and soon this can grow virally.

Host Tag: Rich Minx

Important: Once I get a ping back from you, I will add your anchor text and the associated link you designate as â€œHost Tagâ€ here, replacing one of the â€œViralTagsâ€ from the matrix above. As more and more bloggers copy and paste this matrix, the more backlinks you will have with your anchor text. If everybody who copy and paste from your blog does the same, pretty soon this will spread and go viral. So, the sooner you participate, the more links with anchor text you will receive.
=============== Copy and Paste from Above this line============

How to Get a Donation From Someone Rich

richminx — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 13:23:40 +0000

How on earth would I know how to get a donation from a rich person? Well, people think I do know. More and more people are searching for that phrase and similar in Google and then they click on my site in the results. They must be disappointed when they arrive. I am no expert on the topic and I wouldn’t really want to be. But I’m doing a study of some of my long-tail searches and will be posting some examples of the unexpected traffic sites get.

Search: “How to Get a Donation From Someone Rich” (or similar, “rich people giving money away” etc)
Results: 1,300,000
Ads that appear in Google: How to Donate and How to Get Rich ads.
My position: Page 2 of the organic results. My homepage is linked to, not a landing page.

I looked at the other results and couldn’t find much of use to a person looking to get money from rich people, apart from this page from HiMoney which is a free financial advice site. It seems to automatically browse the internet for answers and post what they think is relevant. The system seemed pretty disgusted by the question but offered a range of possibilities, including:

Just ask
Marry them
Invent a charity and ask them to donate
Please slap yourself
Do something for them
Dunno but please tell me when you find out

Those spidered answers seem to get the point across. I hope that helps my visitors who arrive here by searching for something so lame. Now get out!

Optimizing Tips From An SEO Expert

richminx — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:08:52 +0000

I headed to an SEO seminar (Search Engine Optimization, making your site appear higher in search results) last night feeling confident that my site’s SEO was pretty awesome thanks to previous experience and all the how-to blogs I read. I know, alarmingly ridiculous right? I’m only about six weeks old!

Anyway, the seminar here in New York was called: Google Made Billions With Search Engines, So Can You! hosted by Mike Moran, who’s an IBM Distinguished Engineer (yup, that’s his title; I am now rebranding myself Distinguished Blogger) and SEO expert.

The room we were in for the 3.5 hour talk was unbearably stuffy and one woman actually took a little nap. I think some people may have been a bit thrown by all the jargon and one woman was near tears because she’d paid a fortune for her Flash site which search engine spiders weren’t picking up, but the others seemed fired up and eager to learn.

An awful lot was covered in a short time, but here’s what I found most useful:

1. Never stop trying to optimize your site. Google results change. Your competitors change. Your users change. You need to change too.

2. Keywords are everything. Choose your site’s keywords very, very carefully. Don’t go for the same ones the big sites are using as you’re unlikely to beat them. Go for those niche keywords that fit you exactly. What can your site offer that the others can’t? (But also be wary of going for the unpopular keywords no one is searching for.) Make sure your keywords are prominent on relevant pages.

3. Consider your primary keywords and secondary keywords. For example, ‘rich minx’ might be considered my primary keyword but until people have heard of me it’s useless. So I look at secondary keywords like ‘money blog’ and ‘blog writing’. All keywords have subtle differences. Consider your demographic.

4. It’s about conversions, not ratings. Your conversions are the ‘results’ you want from your site, be it a purchase or a newsletter sign-up. What are your conversion goals? My main goal is to increase my RSS readers. They are my valued readers who come back to see what I’m up to. A click on an ad is a conversion too, and is certainly welcomed, but my readers are more valuable right now as I really want to grow my traffic and make people feel like this site is theirs too.

5. Sometimes your visitors aren’t sure what they need. Try and capture people at the ‘learn’ stage and offer information. This is something I need to work on. I think I have many useful how-to articles in me. Watch this space.

6. To appear higher in Google’s organic search results: remove spider traps, like long urls, too much JavaScript, Flash or other rich media on your pages and improper url redirects. Make sure your site is clearly mapped out for Google and friends (Yahoo!, Ask etc) to index easily. Use content lists, like Categories or a sitemap.

7. Check and analyze your stats. I think I do too much checking and too little analyzing. Check referral links, search queries to your site from Google, search queries within your site, conversions, entry and exit pages. Check all your pages have a good page title, article title and keywords in the text with relevant links. If you’re not already, use Google Analytics which is a free stats tool with a hell of a lot of information about how people use your site. Don’t make assumptions about your users.

8. Make yourself a link magnet by supplying useful content which people can learn from. Offer some kind of unique tool that people will link to.

9. It’s not just about short-term profit it’s about Lifetime Value. Will your customer/visitor return? Aim for repeat business.

Anyway, I’ve got a few new things to think about and the rest was good reinforcement.

Mike asked me to mention the seminar in case anyone happens to be in NY. Normally tickets for his appearances cost hundreds of dollars and last night cost me $45. So I highly recommend going if you can. He’s a very dynamic speaker. Check out his site for information, as well as some free advice and tools.

Was this useful to you? Any questions? Let me know.

How Did You Choose Your Site Name?

richminx — Tue, 29 May 2007 21:05:45 +0000

What’s in a name? I look around the blogosphere and some names are catchier than others. A blog called Make Money Blogging might communicate its intentions but it doesn’t scream excitement to me. Names like Boing Boing sound silly but are memorable. Lazy Man and Money intrigues me; why is he lazy? Is he making money despite his laziness? So I’ll go visit. Some people use their real names as their brand: John Chow, or John Smith. That means they’re either famous already or they’re proud to put their name to their product, which makes me trust them.

How did you choose your site name? Is it your real name, is it catchy, are your keywords in there? I chose Rich Minx because a) I want to be rich and this blog’s about money, and b) ‘minx’ is a female cat term and has a slight cheeky/naughty connotation which is how I aim to be most of the time. And I like cats. The branding seems to be working; I’m getting more traffic from ‘rich minx’ searches in Google than any other keyword so far.

But I decided it’s time to use my real name too, and provide a bit more information about myself. Yes, I’ve come out of the closet! No ‘cat out of the bag’ jokes, please. If you care, you can read my updated About Me page. Otherwise you can just keep calling me Rich or Minx or even both, I don’t mind, but I won’t respond to Catwoman.

PS. This post was inspired by a thought-provoking LifeHack.org article found via Savvy Affiliate.

I Heart Viralink

richminx — Tue, 29 May 2007 01:07:15 +0000

This is a shameless attempt to get more links, I know. I’m a Link Schlampe. But I’m throwing my caution to the wind! Linkage -> Traffic -> Monetizing, not that I’m all about that, of course. It will also give me something to watch as I check my Technorati ranking for the fifty millionth time.

Instructions below. It originates from Andy Coates. Thanks Andy.

â€”â€”â€”copy and paste the Viralink and instructions below this lineâ€”â€”â€”

Below is a matrix of 120 stars, I have already added a link to my blog onto one of the stars, all you need to do is copy and paste the grid into your blog and add your own link to one of the other spare stars, and tell others to do the same!

Viralink

********************
********************
********************
********************
********************
********************

New Addition: When I receive a ping back once you have added the Viralink to your site I will add your link to this grid, and each person who copies the grid from here will also link to your site!

Rules
No Porn Sites
Only 1 link per person (i.e donâ€™t hog the viralink!)
Please donâ€™t tamper with other peoples urlâ€™s
Enjoy!

â€”â€”â€”copy and paste the Viralink and instructions above this lineâ€”â€”â€”