How to Build High Traffic Websites with Google News Rankings

 Google News is one of the best way to get traffic to your blog or website and the reason for this is very less competition. Here is a useful Question & Answer series which can help you in understanding this and getting started with the same.



Q: How much does it cost to submit your site to Google News for approval?

It does not cost anything. Its completely free because you are helping Google in getting useful content for their news readers.


Q: Does Google review each News article before accepting it after your site is approved?

Google News is very closed lip about their review process, but we have tracked their movement via server logs and found that in some cases they look at one or two articles and in other cases as much as a dozen.


Q: Do you recommend we build lots of these News Sites, or just focus on 1 or 2?

I recommend focusing on one site at a time. Once you are approved, you can begin to work on another site or focus your energy on that one site. It is entirely up to you.


Q: Can we use a Wordpress Plugin to add content automatically to these news sites? Is Google going to approve those auto generated News articles?

I do not recommend using any type of automated plugins or software. A few hours worth of work is well worth the reward.


Q: But if thousands of people are doing these News sites, is it going to be too competitive?

Google News only has 50,000 publishers. Even if another 50,000 publishers came online, it would not even be close to being too competitive. Compare these numbers to tens of millions or more publishers that you compete against in the regular search engines and the number of GN publishers is miniscule. These numbers are not completely correct but is an guesstimate.


Q: Will my news article only be found in the News section of Google, or can these articles be found in a normal web search?

Everything that you publish will also be indexed into the regular search engines and not just Google.


Q: Is it possible for us to promote existing websites with this?

It is possible to promote existing websites, client’s websites, whatever. You need to have a proper plan for updating content on these news based websites to ensure they are having fresh and original content

Q: What ways do you monetize these sites?


There are many ways to monetize. You can go through the list of Make Money Online posts which can give you a detailed idea.


Q: Do you put Adsense on all your sites?

Do I? No, I do not put it on all of the sites. Some news monetizes better with other methods. Sometimes its better to promote CPM Ad networks rather than using contextual ads because the CTR is very low in most cases.


Q: How long can you expect an article to stay on the first page of Google?

There are two first pages to speak of. There is the first page of Google and the first page of Google News. Keep in mind that Google News gets 30 million visitors a day! Articles that make the front page of Google can last from a few hours to a few weeks. Articles on the front page of Google News can be there for thirty days. I have had my news articles last for the full month on that front page many times.


Q: How do we Signup with Google News & Submit our Blog?

You need to click here and then select what would you like to submit from the three options ie – site, mobile site & YouTube video channel. Based on this you need to fill in some data and then wait for the News Team to manually review your blog, editors & content and send you a Approval or Rejection email.
Please also note that Google News only includes sites that publish articles reporting on recent events. We currently do not include informational and how-to articles, classified ads, fictitious content, job postings, event announcements, advice columns, and various other non-news content.

21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic

It's easy to build a blog, but hard to build a successful blog with significant traffic. There's an art to increasing a blog's traffic, and given that we seem to have stumbled on some of that knowledge, I felt it compulsory to give back by sharing what we've observed.
NOTE: This post replaces a popular one I wrote on the same topic in 2007. This post is intended to be useful to all forms of bloggers - independent folks, those seeking to monetize, and marketing professionals working an in-house blog from tiny startups to huge companies. Not all of the tactics will work for everyone, but at least some of these should be applicable and useful.

#1 - Target Your Content to an Audience Likely to Share

When strategizing about who you're writing for, consider that audience's ability to help spread the word. Some readers will naturally be more or less active in evangelizing the work you do, but particular communities, topics, writing styles and content types regularly play better than others on the web. For example, great infographics that strike a chord (like this one), beautiful videos that tell a story (like this one) and remarkable collections of facts that challenge common assumptions (like this one) are all targeted at audiences likely to share (geeks with facial hair, those interested in weight loss and those with political thoughts about macroeconomics respectively).

15 Tips to Increase Blog Traffic

he blogosphere is a big and busy world with over 100 million blogs and growing. How do you attract visitors to your blog? Follow these simple tips to drive traffic to your blog.

1. Write Well and Write Often

Frequently updating your blog with useful content is the first step to building your blog's audience. The content you write is what will keep readers coming back for more. Make sure you have something meaningful to say to them and say it often to maintain their interest and keep them loyal.
Furthermore, post frequently to increase the number of chances you have for your blog's content to be noticed by search engines such as Google or Technorati.

2. Submit Your Blog to Search Engines

Get on the radar screen for the popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo! by submitting your blog's URL to them. Most search engines provide a 'Submit' link (or something similar) to notify the search engine of your new blog, so those search engines will crawl it and include your pages in their results.
It's important to understand that simply submitting your blog to search engines doesn't mean your pages will appear at the top of a Google search results screen, but at least your blog will be included and will have the chance of being picked up by a search engine.

3. Use and Update Your Blogroll

By adding links to sites you like in your blogroll, the owners of those blogs will find your blog and will be likely to add a reciprocal link in their blogrolls. It's an easy way to get the link to your blog in front of many readers on other blogs. The hope is that some of those readers will click on the link to your blog on the other blogs' blogrolls and find your content interesting and enjoyable turning them into loyal readers.

4. Harness the Power of Comments

Commenting is a simple and essential tool to increase your blog's traffic. First, respond to comments left on your blog to show your readers that you value their opinions and draw them into a two-way conversation. This will increase reader loyalty.
Second, leave comments on other blogs to drive new traffic. Make sure you leave your blog's URL in your comment, so you create a link back to your own blog. Many people will read the comments left on a blog post. If they read a particularly interesting comment, they are highly likely to click on the link to visit the commentor's website. It's important to make sure you leave meaningful comments that are likely to invite people to click on your link to read more.

5. Syndicate Your Blog's Content with an RSS Feed

Setting up an RSS feed button on your blog makes it easy for your loyal readers to not just read your blog but also know when you publish new content.

6. Use Links and Trackbacks

Links are one of the most powerful parts of your blog. Not only are links noticed by search engines, but they also act as a tap on the shoulder to other bloggers who can easily identify who is linking to their sites. Linking helps to get you noticed by other bloggers who are likely to investigate the sites that are linking to them. This may lead them to become new readers of your blog or to add links to your blog from theirs.
You can take links to other blogs a step further by leaving a trackback on the other blog to let them know you've linked to them. Blogs that allow trackbacks will include a link back to your blog in the comments section of the post that you originally linked to. People do click on trackback links!

7. Tag Your Posts

It takes a few extra seconds to add tags to each of your blog posts, but it's worth the time in terms of the additional traffic tags can drive to your blog. Tags (like links) are easily noticed by search engines. They're also key to helping readers find your blog when they perform searches on popular blog search engines such as Technorati.

8. Submit Your Posts to Social Bookmarking Sites

Taking the time to submit your best posts to social bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and more can be a simple way to quickly boost traffic to your blog.

9. Remember Search Engine Optimization

When you write your blog posts and pages, remember to optimize your pages for search engines to find them. Include relevant keywords and links but don't overload your posts with too many relevant keywords or completely irrelevant keywords. Doing so can be considered spamming and could have negative results such as your blog being removed from Google's search entirely.

10. Don't Forget Images

Images don't just make your blog look pretty, they also help people find you in search engine listings. People often use the image search options offered by Google, Yahoo! and other search engines, and naming your images with search engine optimization in mind can easily boost your traffic.

11. Consider Guest Blogging

Guest blogging can be done when you write a guest post on another blogger's blog or when another blogger writes a guest post on your blog. Both methods are likely to increase traffic as your blog will be exposed to the other blogger's audience. Many of the other blogger's readers will visit your blog to see what you have to say.

12. Join Forums, Web Rings or Online Groups

Find online forums, web rings, groups or social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn where you can share ideas and ask questions of like-minded individuals. Add a link to your blog in your signature line or profile, so each time you post on a forum or participate in another online network, you're indirectly promoting your blog. Chances are many people will click on that link to learn more about you.

13. Promote Outside Your Blog

Promoting your blog shouldn't stop when you step outside the blogosphere. Add your blog's URL to your email signature and business cards. Talk about it in offline conversations. It's important to get your name and your blog's URL noticed offline, too.

14. Nominate Yourself and Other Blogs for Blog Awards

There are a number of blog awards given out throughout the year. Nominating yourself and other blogs and bloggers can draw attention to your blog and drive traffic to it.

15. Don't Be Shy

The most important part of the blogosphere is its community and much of your success as a blogger will be tied to your willingness to network with that community. Don't be afraid to ask questions, join conversations or just say hi and introduce yourself. Don't sit back and hope the online world will find you. Speak out and get yourself noticed. Let the blogosphere know you've arrived and have something to say!