This ain’t your average flip!

Investing your hard earned money into a business is something that should never be taken lightly. It’s a decision that takes cash, dedication, determination, and of course some good old fashioned guts. But today, there aren’t many online entrepreneurs all that willing to show you the process from start to finish on a real live online property they the intend to keep… This isn’t blog flipping, where we only care about it for a few weeks or even months. My goal is to build another online property that is as if not more profitable than my others. This my friends, is business building entrepreneurship at it’s best. So, grab a cup of coffee, your laptop, and a notebook… this is one lesson you won’t soon find again.

So PB, what did you buy?

As most of you all know by now my background is in design, development so these two diamonds in the rough are perfect for what I love to do. Keeping that in mind, and without further ado, let me introduce to you, “The Banner Queen” and the “Virtual Graphic Artist“! Go ahead AP… you’ve got 30 seconds for Banner “Queen” jokes…

Okay times up… Now both of these websites are obviously lacking a little PB flair and that’s okay. Remember that I bought them to build the business, not just to ride the wave. That said, I’ve got some thoughts on a redesign and I’ve already taken the steps I need to get whole new system going. (Let’s not lie… the new site is just about done) Now before I start getting e-mails privately asking how much I paid for these puppies… the full financial details of the purchases I made are under tight wraps. I can tell you that it was a sizable investment… sizable enough in fact to warrant plenty of time to think about my options as well as what I was buying. Remember, marketing master Rick Butts didn’t raise a fool!

Cry for a little launching help.

There is going to be pretty big release involving the all new VGA, but I don’t think it’s going to be big enough… at least not without your help. Now I’m not one to randomly e-mail you guys and gals asking for a plug… so I’ll do it publicly and hope that I have some takers as I’m sure I will. Leave me a comment that says something like “Hell Yes PB! Just tell me what to do!”… then when I begin setting up the official launch… I’ll provide you all with everything from banners, buttons, headers, screen shots and even official VGA press releases from Rick and I!

Monday is Launch Day… Maybe!

My goal is to launch the all new VGA on Monday August 4th, 2008! And even though it is an active operating business… it’s new WordPress theme will be ready for a little well deserved dog and pony show… and that my friends is what I aim to give it. So take a moment, clear your Monday post schedule and prepare yourselves.I want to share the experience with each of you just as you would if this were your own… minus the cash to get started of course. So you get all the benefits of learning how to build a successful profitable business without any risks… you can’t beat that can you?

So let’s launch this puppy the right way. You ready? I know I am… it’s going to be a rush! If you would prefer to remain a “secret” and don’t want to put your name up in the comments for all to see… just fill out this quick opt in form instead. I can hardly contain myself!

After a long weekend of reading post after post about Page Rank Improvements and of course lack there of, I decided that it was time for post about how to create a successful blog PB style keeping in mind the top 5 ways bloggers screw up their page rank. So why all of a sudden am I oh so willing to write all of this out? Well… to be honest… some of you guys have been pissing me off with some of these and rather than just put up an “Ugly Stick Beat Down” I decided offering a friendly, informative, “Authority Article” would be more beneficial.

You’re not using a “.htaccess redirect”.

Nothing is more aggravating to people like me who take time to write a thoughtful anchor… then it’s discovered the your domain name is spattered across the web in both “www” and “http://” formats! See, not only does that piss us off… but it weakens the “G-Juice Trickle”. To Google, not using a redirect can appear as if you are referring to two different websites. That said, you not only weaken your own rank, but you weaken the value of the outbound link of the author who wrote a little something about you.

You’ve not Updated Your Ping List Dummy

Yeh, I know someone is going to tell me that they’ve got “ping-o-mattic” and that covers it… ha! Okay… you put all your eggs in one basket why don’t ya! Look people, if you don’t have the notifier list updated in your admin panel, then it could take DAYS for your latest post to be listed in the serps. There is nothing worse than finding links through your referral stats rather than you’re serps feed readers! If the serps aren’t showing the backlink, you’re not getting credit Einstein! Oh, did I forget to mention that I’ve already written a post about the importance of the ping list? Yeh, it includes the latest and greatest services to! NOTE: Being listed in the serps is not the same as being indexed… there is a major difference!

Your 404’s are not Re-Directing Either

Nothing pisses off an author more than discovering that their well thought out anchor text to YOUR blog leads to a big fat 404 error. Do you want to lose some Page Rank? How about some love juice from the big “G”? Or how about that oh so valuable anchor text that you worked so hard to earn? I mean c’mon people, I don’t think that there is an easier way to screw yourself and the people who write about you! LOL… What’s ironic is that people often go back and rename their posts for better SEO… the result is a fatty-fo-fatty 404!

Wanna see it work? http://thepissbiscuit.com/best-blogger-on-planet/ (That page does not exist, but you don’t see no stinking 404 now do ya!) As for the Plugin that can help make it happen? Try the 404 redirect for better SEO!

Comment Chatting Needs to STOP!

Okay number three was the fastest way you can lose rank… but this my friends is the fastest way to lose readers and more importantly… commentators so listen up. If you’ve got the “Subscribe to Comments” plugin installed… I AM TALKING TO YOU! Over the past three days alone, I’ve been notified of about three hundred comments being added to the blogs I post on and subscribe to. Of those three hundred or so comments, 25 or 30 of them were actually something I wanted to be notified about. What I don’t want to read… is comment chatting… useless banter sent within minutes and sometimes seconds of each other.

Tonight on one of the newer blogs that I read, notified me of 19 comments in under 10 minutes which consisted of nothing more that silly fruitless banter like:

“great post”…”Thanks”…”No problem, glad you liked it”…”yeh man your post was great”… “Thanks man, I appreciate it”….”No seriously, it was really great”…” No dude, if only you were a girl”…

I hope that you get my point. Sure, I could go and cancel my subscription… but that requires work, and I’m to busy for that right? What’s easier for me is to either stop subscribing… or stop commenting. Neither option is good for the blog’s author. So what’s the solution? Try holding back your responses a while. When you as the owner, can respond to five or six comments at once… you can reduce the number of “flaky” comments sent out via e-mail by 60% or 70% and give the spiders time to find your fricken post! After your post is crawled… get stupid with comment chatter on occasion. Just remember that your readers should be respected.

You’re not listed in DMOZ

Okay this one is harder than it sounds. DMOZ is the open source directory… the biggie in fact. More so than Google in fact… and while we’re talking about facts… if you’re listed in DMOZ, you’ll likely be auto indexed by Google within days… not listed… indexed! Ya see the DMOZ directory is run by real people. You submit, they review, and if you’re cool enough, you’ll get listed. It’s a cake walk! (Fat joke at myself).

So when should you apply for a DMOZ listing? When you’re blog starts seeing some traffic, comments, and decent posts… it’s probably a good time to submit. Remember that REAL live people edit each submission… you’ve got to impress someone, not just meet some mathematical criterion. Now keep in mind, that this can take a week or it can take 6 months… but because people are involved, you never can tell.

• Don’t want to get “Sandboxed”? DMOZ it.
• Don’t want to lose your PR? DMOZ it.
• Don’t want to be de-indexed? DMOZ it.

Wrapping up my Page Rank Hints

As I mentioned earlier on… I wrote this to not only help you guys and gals… but to point out that good blogging can lead to more than just high PR and Traffic counts. It can lead to a great community, awesome friends, respectful relationships, a useful resource, and a profitable online business. So if all that isn’t reason enough to become a better blogger… go eat a cupcake!Don’t forget to go read my post on “The Best SEO Trick for Bloggers“.

If you like this post, and think it would be a good AUTHORITY article… scratch it… sniff it… lick it… but whatever you do, please Stumble it!