Most people that start a blog would like it to turn profitable at some point, but how does it happen? WebProNews recently spoke with blogging legend Darren Rowse of ProBlogger about what bloggers can do to make money.

First of all, bloggers need to look at their blog long-term.  So often, people think that they can make money instantly, but it could actually take years.

Having a profitable blog also involves finding the right niche.  It needs to be something that you are interested in and have a passion about. In addition, Rowse suggests that you determine how monetizable your niche is. To do this, you could search for your topic in Google and see if it is something advertisers would consider.

To keep visitors coming back to your blog, you must also choose a niche that will keep you writing for a long time. How often should you write? While it depends upon your area of content, Rowse does point out that, “every post you write is a doorway into your site.” For some bloggers, this could mean 365 opportunities if they write a post everyday. However, bloggers should not post for the mere reason of having new content every day. He says the content should always be useful.

On another note, how effective are blogs due to the recent Twitter craze? Although some blogs have shifted to shorter formats, Rowse says there is also a shift that is moving back toward longer content on blogs since people want more than 140 characters.  Emphasizing that blogs and Twitter are valuable tools for each other, he says specifically, “It’s an ideal world for a blogger… people want more and you’re able to give it to them through a viral communication like Twitter.”

espinda.com provides a turn-key blog plan at only $3.5 a month.

espinda.com is celebrating its 8th anniversary in March 2010, as we do every year, we are announcing a new limited offer during March 2010:

888MB space for only 8 cents a day

no setup fee, no hidden costs, rate is limited to annual and biennial contracts.

you can sign-up here.

Fantastico De Luxe 2.10.4 r37 (LATEST and STABLE releases) is now available for free with all our Linux web hosting plans.

New Updates are:

- b2evolution: 3.3.1-stable -> 3.3.3-stable

- Crafty Syntax Live Help: 2.16.3 -> 2.16.8

- Drupal: 6.14 -> 6.15

- LimeSurvey: 1.85+ -> 1.87+

- Moodle: 1.9.6 -> 1.9.7

- Nucleus: 3.50 -> 3.51

- phpBB: 3.0.5 -> 3.0.6

- SMF: 1.1.10 -> 1.1.11

- TikiWiki CMS/Groupware: 3.3 -> 4.1

- WordPress: 2.8.6 -> 2.9.2

This article is for Windows Accounts only..

If you took advantage of our new offer for migrating to a Washington DC server then you’ll need to re-create email accounts on the new server, therefore your old email accounts will be closed, you can backup your existing mail in these mailboxes using Outlook, here’s a brief tutorial on how to do so:

1. Click ‘Account Settings’ from ‘Tools’ menu.

2. Create a new Account (per mailbox).

3. Select the 1st choice.

4. Check the checkbox at the bottom.

5. Select ‘Internet E-mail’.

6. Fill in the form as above then select ‘More Settings’.

7. Click on ‘Outgoing Server’.

8. Click the first checkbox.

9. POP: 110 and SMTP: 225

Then click OK, NEXT and FINISH, then repeat the above steps for each mailbox, finally click ‘Send/Receive button in Outlook to download all mail stored in your existing mailboxes before they got deleted, when you change your DNS you’ll be able to use your new email accounts with new setup that will be given in your new activation email.

Unfortunately, the recent 2.9 release triggered a bug in certain versions of PHP’s curl extension.  With these versions of curl, scheduled posts and pingbacks are not processed correctly.  To fix this problem as well as a handful of other, lesser issues, we are quickly releasing 2.9.1, the first maintenance release of the 2.9 line.  Help us get 2.9.1 ready to go by testing 2.9.1 Beta 1.  The easiest way to test Beta 1 is to install the WordPress Beta Tester plugin, elect to get on the point release development track, and then perform an automatic upgrade via the Tools > Upgrade menu.  You can also download the Beta 1 package and install manually.  Fourteen tickets have been fixed in 2.9.1 Beta 1.  Since the curl problem and a couple of other problems are dependent on specific hosting configurations, any and all testing help is greatly appreciated.

Links in Caffeine

Links are still the key differentiator to move the needle forward once you have some initial traction in the search engine results. Unlike some past algorithmic update shakeups, Caffeine is not targeted to changing the criteria of links and other off-page factors. Rather, the on-page factors of a site are the variables in play.

Successful SEO is still very much the same in the post-Caffeine world. Only more so. In order for links to be most effective, they must be directed towards pages on sites which are quick to load, efficient in their coding, architected to facilitate a flatter crawl structure, and featuring a high percentage of unique target relevant content. To this last point, be assured that if your site has volumes of pages that contain repurposed content or largely redundant templated content, Caffeine will definitely not be your friend.

Too Much Caffeine Got You Nervous?

Caffeine is fundamentally a big change for Google, and invariably you will see fluctuation (positive and negative) in your organic search rankings. This fluctuation will be driven by the extent to which your site is more or less compliant to the aforementioned factors vs. your competitor sites. Understanding why rankings for you and your competition change in the upcoming weeks is the key first step to ensure your reactions and responses are appropriate and effective.

You may have further questions. I have spoken personally with many Text Link Ads clients about auditing their sites for Caffeine optimization, as well as redefining their SEO to adjust to changing factors and emphasis. Our Text Link Ad link specialists are available to answer your questions and can also provide an overview of the benefits of our strategic and technical consulting services.

By now most of you have heard at least some mentions of Google’s upcoming algorithm update. Nicknamed Caffeine, Google has been brewing this update for many months and expects to serve it up late this January. Google engineer and Quality Control Team leader Matt Cutts has described the Caffeine update as being the largest and most fundamental change to the Google system since its Big Daddy update of 2005.

Is it Good or Bad?

When algorithms change, rankings change. It’s as simple as that. But it’s not necessarily a bad thing: search engine optimization is a zero sum game…there are exactly ten results that will always show up in the top ten. So, one site’s loss is another site’s gain. What can you do to make sure you are on the beneficiary side of this update? First and foremost, you must understand the essential elements of Caffeine.

What is Caffeine?

What is Caffeine? How will it affect search results? How does link building fit into the mix? What can you do to prepare for Caffeine? While we are not sitting in the Google kitchen, we have been shown a preview of what is cooking.

First and foremost, the name provides significant insight. Why Caffeine? The new update focuses on speed and sharper focus. Fewer search results served up faster. To do this, Google is completely rewriting their indexing system to crawl faster, index more efficiently, and serve up fewer results much more quickly. Content freshness will (finally) start to play the more important role it deserves; old outdated and stale content will be more readily expunged. Our explorations into Caffeine results here at Text Link Ads have shown a reduction in the result set of anywhere from 30-70%!

Fantastico De Luxe 2.10.4 r35 (LATEST and STABLE releases) is now available for free with all our Linux web hosting plans.

New Updates are:

- Crafty Syntax Live Help: 2.15.0 -> 2.16.3

- Joomla 1.5: 1.5.14 -> 1.5.15

- Moodle: 1.9.4 -> 1.9.6

- Open-Realty: 2.5.7 -> 2.5.8

- TikiWiki: 3.2 -> 3.3

- TYPO3: 4.2.8 -> 4.2.10

- WordPress: 2.8.4 -> 2.8.5

43 per cent of UK companies admit that they have no quantifiable method of measuring whether their website is effective, according to research released today Fasthosts Internet Ltd. The study of 430 UK firms found that whilst the average business has published a website for 3-4 years, a huge number of businesses have no numerical grasp on how well their website is performing, or whether it is leading to sales. 1 in 4 owners do not believe their website has potential as a sales channel. A remarkable 77 per cent of firms fail to measure any type of return on investment’ for their websites, and 1 in 3 owners (34 per cent) admit that they have never considered checking the popularity or effectiveness of their website. The research suggests that many companies are failing to analyse and optimise online as diligently as they do other areas of their operation.

Whilst studies show that the majority of business owners today realise the importance of having a presence on the Internet, it appears that a great many do no more than publish their website. The survey of 430 small local businesses using a website, found that over 40 per cent currently do not use data to assess whether their website is working to support their business goals. During the first half of 2009, the vast majority of SMEs (83 per cent) have not analysed their websites performance against their business plan.

Despite half of businesses feeling happy with their websites and 43 per cent viewing these as integral to their marketing efforts, it would appear that a great many firms simply do not know whether their website is making the right impact. Only 57 per cent of firms do monitor their website performance by checking an overall traffic volume statistic for their homepage. However, only 40 per cent currently analyse where their website visitors are being referred from, an essential element of effective online marketing. Furthermore, only 33 per cent of owners that measure their website look at the click-through rates to individual sections of the website. This exercise can be invaluable in enabling a business to see where consumer interest lies and whether visits are being converted into sales.

In today’s difficult economic climate, the web has never been more relevant for every type of UK enterprise. However, a huge number of firms continue to invest blindly in a web presence without checking whether it is earning its keep. Irrespective of the scale of web project, every business will benefit from using simple statistics to monitor efficiencies and ensure that every visitor is being capitalised upon.

It is perhaps unsurprising over three quarters of businesses questioned (77 per cent) make no assessment of ‘return on investment’ for their websites. Only 11 per cent of those surveyed, judged the effectiveness of their website in terms of ‘clicks vs sales’ or ‘web cost per order’. Worryingly, the research would suggest that for a significant number of companies, expectations for their website are rather low. 1 in 4 owners (23 per cent) still do not believe their website has potential to be a sales channel. Since setting up their website, the majority of companies surveyed (62 per cent) have not taken any external advice about the effectiveness of their website.

However, nowadays easy-to-use tools are available for any business owner to evaluate the effectiveness of their website themselves. For example, espinda.com LLC provides its hosting customers with a MatrixStats tool, a graphical web statistics tool that provides an instant snapshot of how well websites and domains are performing. Within a few clicks, business users can view their website in a range of useful ways – traffic by geographic location, referrer URLs, search engine keyword referrals, page popularity and visitor session lengths. Day-to-day, such tools can be a valuable asset for swiftly identifying problems with web design or navigation.

By taking note of their website statistics and making necessary changes, many companies we work with enjoy a real fiscal impact. With increased visibility and sales from a successful website, a business owner will grow faith in online markets and the role they can play in achieving a business plan.

Fantastico De Luxe 2.10.4 r33 (LATEST and STABLE releases) is now available for free with all our Linux web hosting plans.

New Updates are:

- 4Images Gallery: 1.7.6 -> 1.7.7

- b2evolution: 2.4.5 -> 3.3.1-stable

- Drupal: 6.13 -> 6.14

- Nucleus: 3.32 -> 3.50

- phpBB: 3.0.4 -> 3.0.5

- phpCOIN: 1.4.4 -> 1.6.4

- phpESP: 1.8.2 -> 2.1.1

- phpWCMS: 1.4.2 r327 -> 1.4.2 r345

- phpWebSite: 0.10.2 -> 1.6.3

- TikiWiki: 3.1 -> 3.2

- Xoops: 2.3.1 -> 2.3.3b