RosalindGardner.com

Learn Blogging & Affiliate Marketing with Rosalind Gardner

Rosalind Gardner

Super affiliate, blogger, and speaker, Rosalind is best known for her affiliate marketing training in the Super Affiliate Handbook: How I made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other Peoples' Stuff Online. You can connect with her on Facebook.

The world’s largest consulting session?

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sign-up-nowI’ve been asked to sit in on what promises to break all records for the largest “group consulting” session ever conducted…and I want to invite you to sit in and benefit – free!

http://www.TheFantastic40.com

It all takes place online, August 12-16. There will be five 2-hour daily sessions featuring eight experts in marketing and business…a total of 40 experts. Every one one of us will be answering live questions from you. Specific questions. Answers designed to get you “unstuck” and on your way to the kind of success you’ve been hoping for in your business.

In addition to answers to your own specific questions, you’ll also benefit from all the answers the panels will be giving to other attendees. They’re also bringing a huge array of exciting free gifts and discounts that will be available to everyone who registers here:

http://www.TheFantastic40.com

I don’t see how you could go wrong registering for this and attending all the sessions you possibly can. I hope to see you there!

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

Your On-Page SEO is Missing a Few Factors

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250-scamsOh boy, here's another example of Internet marketing spam / scam that I received as a blog comment…

Hello Web Admin, I noticed that your On-Page SEO is is missing a few factors, for one you do not use all three H tags in your post, also I notice that you are not using bold or italics properly in your SEO optimization. On-Page SEO means more now than ever since the new Google update: Panda. No longer are backlinks and simply pinging or sending out a RSS feed the key to getting Google PageRank or Alexa Rankings, You now NEED On-Page SEO. So what is good On-Page SEO?First your keyword must appear in the title.Then it must appear in the URL.You have to optimize your keyword and make sure that it has a nice keyword density of 3-5% in your article with relevant LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing). Then you should spread all H1,H2,H3 tags in your article.Your Keyword should appear in your first paragraph and in the last sentence of the page. You should have relevant usage of Bold and italics of your keyword.There should be one internal link to a page on your blog and you should have one image with an alt tag that has your keyword….wait there’s even more Now what if i told you there was a simple WordPress plugin that does all the On-Page SEO, and automatically for you? That’s right AUTOMATICALLY, just watch this 4minute video for more information at. Seo Plugin

Let's dissect this…

  1. Here's the author info:
    • seo plugin
    • 0 approved
    • SeoOptimizationxxx.com/x
    • nhsfkpqf@gmail.com
    • 23.231.7.41

    GREAT name and email address for a ‘professional' SEO service, eh?

    Those are the easiest first clues to to spam blog comments.

  2. Then, this scammer doesn't know how to use a blog comment form to save his (or her) life, or the English language for that matter.Yes, you can read through the text and make sense of what he is saying, but that doesn't negate the fact that the scammer isn't actually an SEO professional… or a professional who is competent in the English language.

  3. The advice is completely bogus, i.e. ‘nice keyword density of 3-5%'. Duh. As always, my advice is to write for humans, not search engines. The search engines ‘get it' when you blog regularly about a consistent theme. They also ‘get it' when you try to write to an algorithm… to the point that you will be penalized for trying to manipulate your rankings.

  4. There is no such thing as a ‘simple WordPress plugin that does all the On-Page SEO, and automatically for you? That’s right AUTOMATICALLY'.

Nope, sorry, I hate to burst your bubble, but there is not such thing as a plugin that does ‘all the on-page SEO.

REAL bloggers do their own on-page SEO by crafting titles, tags, heading tags, image alts, slugs and everything else manually to stay in Google's good graces.

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

Are You Playing Nice with Blog Spammers?

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comment-spamA few months ago, I helped a friend set up his first blog – sending him to Bluehost to arrange for his domain name (for free) and hosting – after which I did the installation with very basic plugins and told him to start writing, which is what he did.

I had access to the WordPress adminstration panel under my own name and set things up so that I would be notified of updates and blog comments.

Then I went offline for awhile.

Upon getting back to work, I noticed that he had made several posts to his blog and had already approved and responded to numerous comments.

Examples of those comments include:

ÔœonÉ—erful work! ThÑ–s Ñ–s the type of info that are supposed to be
ѕhared across the web. Disgrace on Goоgle for noԝ not positioning this post hiɡher!
Come on over and visit my site . Thanks =)

Howԁy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. Thhe text
in your article ѕeеm to Ьe running off tҺe
screen in Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a format
isѕue or something to do with աeb browser
ϲompatіbilitƴ but I thought I’d poѕt to let you know.
The layout look great though! Hope you get thee
problem solved soon. Tɦanκs

My friend responded to those blog comments with…

Thanks for your support.

and…

Thanks for the heads up.

UGH!

I totally understand how someone who is new to blogging doesn't ‘see' beyond a spammer's charm.

But here is the reality.

Name, URL and IP address information (I've deleted the email address) included with the first comment was:

parka chilliwack canada goose
parka-chilliwack-canada-goose.wintp.com x
142.4.212.217

Name, URL and IP address information included with the 2nd comment was:

belstaff xl 500
belstaff-xl-500.jewdi.com x
142.4.212.217

OTHER spammers that posted to his blog to which he responded included comments from:

  1. top rated gps 2014
  2. nike air max 90
  3. moncler doudoune pas cher
  4. Woolrich Pris
  5. chanel sac
  6. chaussure mercurial
  7. sweat superdry femme
  8. vente chaussure en ligne

LESSON: You need to look at the names, URLs and email addresses of those who post comments to your blog to decide whether they are real people / commenters before you respond to them.

Look for names that appear real, i.e. Mark Smith as opposed to a product name such as ‘nike air max 90'.

If the domain URL coincides with the name, i.e. parka chilliwack canada goose / parka-chilliwack-canada-goose.wintp.com, trust that this is a spammer.

Do NOT approve or respond to their posts.

All they want is a link to their site from your blog, with the hope of increasing their blog's ranking with Google.

However, allowing those links will eventually hurt your Google rankings because you are linking to ‘bad neighborhoods', i.e. spammers.

Do NOT play nice with spammers.

Mark their comments as spam and teach Akismet how to filter comments on your blog.

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

Anti-Spam Legislation for those with Clients in Canada

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Canadian-FlagYou don't have to be IN Canada to be subject to Canada's new anti-spam legislation (Bill C28), which is going into effect one month from now, on July 1, 2014.

The bill includes a “private right of action that will allow Canadian consumers and businesses to take civil action against those who violate the legislation”.[12] The CRTC may levy fines of up to $1 million for an individual or $10 million for a business that contravenes the Act. Each violation will result in a fine.

Here is a FAQ on the Canadian government website that will answer any questions you have regarding how to deal with Canadian clients in the future.

  1. What is spam?
  2. What is the intent of the new law?
  3. What do you mean by “related online threats”?
  4. How big a problem is spam in Canada?
  5. What can individuals and businesses do to protect themselves against spam and related online threats?
  6. How long will it take before Canadians can expect to see a real difference in the amount of spam received?
  7. Will the new law eliminate spam in Canada? If not, by how much will it be reduced?
  8. Has anti-spam law been effective in other countries?
  9. I'm a legitimate business owner who uses bulk email to reach my customers. How will I be affected by these new anti-spam measures?
  10. What about text messages or “cellphone spam”? Is it covered?
  11. What if I buy email lists? How will I be affected by these measures?
  12. Are there exceptions, such as the Do Not Call list for political parties and charities?

Get all answers to those questions here.

Basically, the message is simple – do NOT spam if you care about your online business.

Use a reputable company such as Aweber and have visitors to your website sign-up to an email list with options to opt-out whenever they want.

Remember, anyone who doesn't want to be on your list is not someone you WANT on your list.

7 Ways to Speed Up Your Blog

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Speed Up Your BlogDo you want to speed up your blog? Read this post for 7 easy ways to do just that!

This morning I visited, or rather, tried to visit a blog that loaded so slowly, I was transported back to 1996, when we used 28.8K dial-up modems and almost every site took forever to load in a browser.

Actually, I was so frustrated by the long loads back then, that I remember declaring that the Internet was ‘too big a waste of my time’, pushing the chair back from my roommate’s computer and staying away from it for many months thereafter.

Yes, it’s true! 🙂

But when my roommate took his computer to his new posting, curiosity got the better of me.

With a used IBM laptop, I discovered that the Internet had evolved rather quickly during those months and I was soon hooked on all the Internet had to offer… especially from sites where I could get information FAST!

Nowadays, there is absolutely NO excuse for having a site that loads slowly, especially if you want to make money online.

One of Google’s basic ranking factors is site speed.

According to SearchMetrics.com’s SEO Ranking Factors -Rank Correlation 2013 for Google USA article, “On-page factors (such as site speed) are considered more of a prerequisite for ranking higher in search.” So, even if your site ranks well in a other categories (quality content, social signals, backlinks, etc.), a slow load will detract from your overall ranking.

So, to make Google happy and avoid losing potential customers – implement the following tips to speed up your site.

  1. Resize Graphics and Photos

    Large graphics and photos take a long time to load, and it doesn’t take many images within a blog post to slow down your website..

    If you run banner ads in your sidebar or include photos in your posts, it is worth your time to make those images smaller.

    Use your favorite image editing program (I use an old version of Paint Shop Pro) to change the colors used from 16 million to 256, or the resolution from 300 dpi to 72 dpi.

    For example, I'm currently running an ad for FB Influence in the sidebar of this blog. The merchant's original image is 300 x 250 pixels and 219.7 kilobytes in size.

    FB-Influence

    The following graphic shows how I reduce the color count using Paint Shop Pro.

    image-resize

    The final image has a file size of only 74.2 kilobytes.

    FB-Influence-2

    When you compare the two, you can see a TINY loss of quality… but not enough that your visitors are ever likely to notice or think your site is cheesy by result.

    If you don’t have Paint Shop PRO or Adobe Photoshop, you can use a free graphics editor such as GIMP to resize and save your images.

  2. Take out the Trash

    wp-optimizeSimply deleting unwanted comments and spam comments does not get rid of them forever. Rather than mucking about in your WordPress database using phpMyAdmin, you can remove post revisions, comments in the spam queue, and all those unapproved comments using WP-Optimize plugin. Here's what the plugin found on RosalindGardner.com.

  3. Delete Unused Plugins

    So, OK… apparently I don't always practice what I teach.I found 15 unused plugins on my personal blog as I was doing research for this article.

    Bad me… but they are gone now.

    Seriously, I installed Flickr Photo Album and Flickr RSS on my blog many moons ago, used them for a little while and didn't delete them when I stopped using them.

    Unused plugins are a drain on the system, even when you are NOT using them.

  4. Avoid Broken Links

    Broken links are bad! They bog your blog loads, cheese off your readers, and negatively impact your Google ranking, so just get rid of them!

    I use the Broken Link Checker plugin

    Word of warning – activate the Broken Link Checker plugin only when you want to check your links and then deactivate as soon as you are finished.

  5. Get a Great Hosting Service

    If you have one blog, having your hosting service on a shared server such as BlueHost will most likely suit your needs splendidly.

    However, if you run numerous blogs, plan to start a membership site or any other type of site that you know (hope) will consume copious bandwidth, you really should get set up on a VPS – virtual private server.

    I have been absolutely thrilled with my hosting service since moving to them earlier in the year. After they handled the complete transition of numerous sites with a vast cornucopia of plugins and other software, I noticed an increase in site speed and an increase in site speed immediately.

    My sites are hosted now with WebSiteManagers.net – thank goodness! 🙂

  6. Use a Cache Plugin

    A cache plugin generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your webserver serves that file instead of processing the comparatively heavier WordPress PHP scripts.I use W3 Total Cache.

  7. Use a CDN

    Have you ever come across a SUPER-speedy blog that you know is really busy?

    They probably use a CDN.

    CDN is the acronym for ‘Content Delivery Network' which typically uses multiple data centers to serve content with high performance… in a word… ‘fast'. Cloudlare and Stackpath (formerly MAX CDN) are two popular content delivery networks.

I've made a LOT of changes to speed up this website (and my other blogs) in the last few months and they are definitely working.

The latest test at Pingdom showed…

pingdom speed test

Faster than 83% of websites tested works for me… especially since I tested some really famous bloggers' sites and they come in at the 60% range.

Ya… can you hear me saying ‘na na na NA na'. LOL!

So there you have it, seven easy ways to speed up your WordPress blog. 🙂

Did you find this post informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please leave a comment below!

Cheers,
sig-ros

Your Affiliate Program is WAY too Much Work

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overworkedSo, I get an invitation to join an affiliate program related to my dating site at https://101date.com

I look at the site and it does indeed satisfy the interests of my audience. Not only that, but it should be a significant contribution to that specific niche, which currently has only 1 offering.

On clicking the link to join their program, I see that they have numerous niche dating sites with affiliate programs, including:

  • STD Dating
  • Millionaire Dating
  • Biker Dating
  • Senior Dating
  • BBW Dating
  • Bisexual Dating
  • Nudist Dating
  • Age Gap Dating
  • and many more…

“Cool”, I think until I notice that instead of having to sign up for just one program to join them ALL — I have to sign up for each individually.

UGH… you're kidding me, right?

Seriously, we have the technology. If some merchant wants you to sign up for each of 20+ programs which supposedly reside under one banner (business)… just say “NO!”.

BIG Favor to Ask of Super Affiliate Handbook Readers

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SAH-300The Super Affiliate Handbook was published almost 11 years ago, in June 2003.

Since then, tens of thousands of folks have read it and either become a Super Affiliate or started an online business of their own WITH an affiliate program.

I have thousands of wonderful testimonials from all over the world about how my book has helped them.

These are folks in the Internet and Affiliate marketing industry that YOU have heard of making millions after reading my book… i.e. Allan Gardyne (associateprograms.com), Allen Says (warriorforum.com), Amit Mehta (PPC expert) and more.

So here is my request.

You LIKED the Super Affiliate Handbook, right?

Awesome!!

Please do me a favor and leave a review on Amazon – where apparently MOSTLY ‘haters' bother to respond… even those who admittedly NEVER bought the book are allowed to give voice, whereas the thousands of happy customers that I've responded to via email and posted their testimonials on my site count for little.

Please, make YOUR voice count.

Please tell Amazon what you thought about my book — I'm about to release it's 11th anniversary edition and NEED all the help I can get.

Thanks… from the bottom of my heart!!

Those who DO leave a review WILL be recognized when the new Kindle edition is released in June.

Thanks!!!!

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

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