So what are we blogging for? I guess we all have our reasons. For some of us, its just about getting our thoughts out of our heads and onto virtual paper. For others, its about trying to change the world. Others hope to get in on the internet boom and make their fortunes online. I started blogging so that I wouldn’t explode when my son first went off to war. I needed a place to vent about the war and this turned out to be a good place to do it. I imagine many of my friends and family are glad I did this rather than bending their ears all the time. The problem for me turned out to be that I didn’t want to expose him to more danger by what I wrote, so it turned into a less personal kind of blog.

After a while I found that I needed to make some money for reasons I’d just asoon not say. When that happened I started learning the importance of attracting more website traffic. More traffic translates into more revenue. That is true on a blog and it is also true on websites that are generating income or selling a product.

As important as more website traffic, there are only 2 - 5% of all websites that properly use search engine optimization (SEO). Website optimization is not about some formula to trick the search engines into finding your site. In fact, you don’t want to try any schemes that will only result in you being penalized and removed from the search engines altogether. SEO is about maximizing your visibility. Once your site is optimized you will see an enormous difference in traffic and thereby revenue.

One of the most important steps in optimizing your website or blog is choosing the right keywords or tags. You want to use keywords that accurately and concisely describe your site. Its best to use words that will have less competition with other sites. You should use the same keywords throughout your text in your site as it will optimize the search engines picking up on the words and phrases in relation to your site. The point is that when someone does a search using certain words, you want your site to pop up on the front page of the search.

You are only successful if you think big. Most of us live up to our expectations, whether they are big or small. You might as well think big.