You have friends right? Do you have friends who blog?  Do you have friends who blog in fitness?  If you answered to those questions then did you know your friends and you can help each other out with traffic and backlinks?

This one is so easy yet often not performed.  You should first have a regular schedule for your blog posts, or at least be posting once a week or more.  You should already be leaving comments on other fitness blogs that you read to generate a bit of traffic.

So if you meet the simple above criteria of :

1. You have friends

2. You post regularly to your fitness blog

than you can take advantage of the power of a blog network.  The network power shouldn’t be anything new, you understand the importance of mastermind groups, coaching, and your bootcamp clients interacting with each other.   So why not network and work with a group to blast your blog to the next level?

So lets cut to the details shall we?

How do these blog networks work and how do you set one up?  First you need to contact your friends and ask them if they want to participate.  Let them know the steps you have planned and the expectations of your group.

Something like this should work:

Hey I want to put together a network of fitness bloggers to help increase each others traffic and blog presence. What that means is that we simply comment on each others blog posts and take time to Digg, etc the posts.

If we do this once a week, (I assume if you have a blog, you post on it once a week) we will create nice links, comments on posts, and traffic from social media sites.

Reply if interested.

Once you get responses, which you should, people will have questions and you should give them answers.  Plus everyone should do some tweaking on their blogs to pass link love to each other.

This applies to fitness blogs running on Wordpress, which I hope everyone is using.  When they ask what is next, you can simply direct them as so:

Alright so it basically works like this:

1 day a week we visit each others blogs and leave a comment which has a link back to your own site. Say you do it on Friday or something.

For a backlink to actually happen, you need either to get the DoFollow plugin or CommentLuv. I run both.

In addition to a comment, (your post should have social bookmarking capability) to do a quick Digg on that post also.

Its cool to go to a blog and leave a comment, because you thinking you’re getting a backlink.  However Wordpress comes fresh with no follow to all comment links.  Most people will never change this, but at Easy Fitness Websites we do follow.  So remember to leave a comment after reading any post.

So you see if you want to spread love then you should install these Wordpress plugins onto your blog – Do Follow and CommentLuv.

But the main point you want to make with your blog network is to bookmark your site to Digg, Delicious, Stumble, etc.  To make things easier you can just choose one as the norm and have everyone use the same.  So if you have a network of 8 then your post will have 8 diggs.  Remember to Digg your own posts as well.

So each week you should all visit every person in your networks blog, leave a comment, take 15 seconds to bookmark the post, and move to the next person.  You can also encourage each other to submit to social bookmarking sites at a certain time, say morning rather than midnight.  But remember too many rules and people start to drop off.

So email or IM some of your friends and tell them you want to start a fitness blog network to improve your websites.  (You could even contact me)

As I’m constantly scouring the internetz for web design tips and strategies, traffic generation, and SEO tricks I often come across some pretty damn good articles.  Just like when you write a fat loss or muscle building blog post, you use other sources to help support your argument or give you ideas.

This post is gonna be a summary of one of those great articles.  Courtney Tuttle wrote a great blog post titled – 102 Ways To Make Your Site A Back-Link Superstar

This post is going to focus on some of the easiest, quickest, and most useful for a fitness professional’s website.  You won’t need 102, but you can definitely use a bunch.

1.  Provide more value and content than your competition.

When most people, including fitness trainers, decide they want to start blogging they usually are super excited.  Big plans are thought out how once some articles or posts are published, magically their traffic will somehow be off the charts.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  The initial stages of blogging are tough, noone knows who you are and where to find you.

Most bloggers will throw up 5-10 posts and then when they are hearing crickets, decide to quit and give up.  In addition to no content, your blog better look crisp as well.

2.  Post all the time!

In the beginning you should post as much as possible.  When you first start your blog you will be more pumped and excited about it, ideas about topics will be oozing out of you.  Use that opportunity to get as much content on your site as possible.

You can easily post 3 articles per week and if you write more, than use a post scheduling feature to keep yourself ahead of the game.  Too many times, bloggers fall behind in their posts and infrequent posting leads to unhappy readers.

3.  Create authority posts.

Authority posts are not your average blog post.  A typical blog post shouldn’t really take too long to write, depending on the amount of research you do or time you spend on Facebook.  However authority posts take longer, are more thought out, and are longer themselves.

Think of an authority post as one that other people will want to share with others, its your “best” work.

4.  Create a blog network with friends.

Got friends?  Got friends with blogs?  Then round them all up and do the following:

1. Blog once or twice each week
2. Visit each of the blogs in your network each week. You can spread it out or do it in one shot.
3. Leave a useful comment.
4. Digg the post.
5. They should all do the same for you and everyone else.

Learn more about fitness blog networks

5.  Make your posts easily digg-able.

On your blog you should install social bookmarking plugins that allow readers to bookmark your posts when they like them.  This will give you a backlink and get traffic to your site from sites like Digg, Delicious, and Stumbleupon.  This will also make it easier for your blog network to quickly Digg your newest exercise post for the week.

6. Create list posts.

Posts like “Top 10 Tummy Tuckers”, “7 Stomach Shapers”, and “Great 8 To Drop Weight” are examples of lists posts.  People love lists for some reason, especially for linking back to.

7.  Comment on other blogs in your niche.

Commenting on other blogs is a good way to drive traffic to your blog.  When you are entering your comment on a blog you can enter your website url and you should.  While most blogs on the internet these days have nofollow associated to their blog comments, some search engines will ignore that (remember its not just about Google) and crawl back.

If you have a similar post topic, then enter that direct post url into the comment url section.  When people click on that link on site A and land on your site, they will be happy and warm inside now that they are getting more of the information they were originally looking for.

8.  Respond to comments on your blog.

Especially when you’re getting started you should make it a point to respond to all the comments you receive.  Don’t you like it when you comment on a blog and the author of that post responds to what you say?  Of course.  For an example of someone who responds to a ton of comments, see – Site Sketch 101

9.  Link to other blogs and articles.

If you have your fitness blog network set up, when writing try to link to similar posts on their blogs.  Similarly they should do the same for you.  This will create links back and forth and help everyone’s page rank.

Similarly don’t be afraid to link out to the big bloggers in your fitness niche.  If you’re niche is fat loss, don’t be afraid to link to a post on a site like – Burn the Fat Blog You never know when they might link back (which is good link love).

10. Create a page that offers link exchange.

No one knows what you want unless you tell them.  You should know that from the fitness marketers like Chris McCombs and Steve Hochman.  So why not create a page that tells people that you like to exchange links and if they link to an article of yours, you’ll link back.  Sell them on a link exchange.

11. Guest post for other blogs.

This is where you can benefit not only from your blog network, but other blogs as well.  If you want to guest post for one of the big names, you better make it your best article.  You don’t want to offer to guest blog and then send some crap thats not worth their time posting.

Guest blogging will help them out because it is one less piece of content for them to create.

12. Link into your older posts.

When you write a new post, always think back to an older post you have done that might relate.  Drop a link in your new post to the old one.  This will help people find your older posts and get more information from you.  The more information they get from you, the more they will want to see what else you have to say.

You will notice on every post written on Easy Fitness Websites there are at least 1-2 links to other posts that relate.  I always find a way to link to an older post, and sometimes (rarely) will link to a post I plan to write within 2-3 days after I publish.  Sometimes writing one post will lead to another and I don’t wanna have to come in and edit later.

13. Spell Check

I almost didn’t add this one in here, but then I thought about why I should.  If you can’t spell and it shows in your writing, you’re less likely to get link love from others.  I’m not gonna recommend my readers to head over to a site with tons of misspelled words and grammar errors.  Sorry, just the way it is.

14. Create instructional posts.

Many of the posts here at Easy Fitness Websites are instructional. I give you information in a step by step manner so that you can do something to benefit your fitness blog.  Same thing on your fat loss or muscle building website, not only give people information, but create instructional posts for them as well.  People want to know how to do stuff, and instructions tell them how.

15. Create timeless posts.

These are the types of posts that no matter when you read them, they are still relevant.  Examples of this for fitness and health websites could be: how to articles, recipes, and workouts.  The best type is the first, how to articles (see #14).  Imagine if whenever someone wanted to know how to squat, deadlift, or do a handstand pushup you had a page on your blog with the instructions.

That page would get you tons of traffic and search engine results forever, because it never changes.  You could go a step further and have written instructions plus a video.  Every day tons of people want to know how to do a certain exercise, so get started right away!  Here are some tips on timeless content – Timeless Content on Your Blog

16. Do giveaways.

Give something away for people to link to you.  This could be something similar to those contests on Twitter that you see people talking about, where they enter to win an iPod by retweeting about the contest.  If you run a blog to your local boot camp or studio market, offer them a free month by posting it up on Facebook or  having a referral newsletter subscriber program.

17. Write to beginners.

Remember that most people are confused about what they should and should not be doing in terms of their fitness goals. Don’t assume they know, otherwise you wouldn’t have any business in your studio and no readers online.  They wouldn’t need to search out how to do anything.

18. Write and submit articles to article directories.

Get started with writing articles and submit them to different article directories like Ezine, Article City, and Go Articles.  Write short articles on a single topic and submit them to gain back links and authority.  For a list of the top article sites – The Top 50 Article Directories

19. Do product reviews.

Most people are tired of getting scammed by weight loss products, pills, and gadgets that have them swinging upside down by just their big toes.  If you can get your hands on a product, write an honest review about it.  If its good tell them why, if its a piece of junk tell them why.  You will become an honest and trusted source in doing so.

20. Do reviews of those same products on other sites.

Everywhere you look now, you can review a product.  So take a moment to write up reviews on sites like Amazon, Epinions, and Viewpoints.  Establish yourself as an expert and even link back to a more in-depth review on your site.

21. Submit press releases often.

With online press release services, you can submit press releases for almost anything.  There are tons of free ones out there that you can submit to.  Write a press release about a new time at your studio, a recent success story, new location, new special price, etc.  Write up one and then change it up with alternate keywords to submit to multiple sites.  Some paid and free are – PRWeb, Prlog, 24-7 Press Release, and Free Press Release.

22. Interview other fitness professionals.

This is probably the easiest way to do a blog post, and a way to get a link from someone.  Either within your blog network or out, shoot an email over to someone you want to interview and ask them if they would be willing.  Send them your proposed questions and see what happens.  If its a big name, then when you post it, they will also want to share so they can link to your post.

23. Answer questions on Yahoo Answers.

Even though the links are nofollow you can still get some traffic to your site by answering questions.

24. Submit your blog to blog directories.

There are plenty of blog directories out there that you can submit your site to. For a huge list see – Best Blog Directories

25. Write controversial content.

Controversial content gets people talking and sparks emotion. People linking to your site because they are angry isn’t half bad…

26. Write about celebrities.

How often are people talking about the newest celebrity diet or fitness plan?  Why not piggy back that and use it to gain some traffic.  Brad Campbell does a good job of this on his blog.  How nice is it if people are searching a celebrity diet or nutrition plan and your site comes up.  Or it receives tons of Diggs because it outlines said celebrity’s routine.

27. Place ads on Craigslist.

This one is simple and you’re probably already doing. If not, create some ads and exchange bootcamp or training sessions for someone to post your ads.

28. Create a dummy blog and exchange services with clients or hire writers.

Put up a blog on your site and have article writers feed it with tons of content and keywords.  It doesn’t have to be good, just needs to have tons of keywords and posts to drive traffic to your site.  Zach Hunt is killing this method with his blog for Spokane Washington.  It doesn’t matter if someone is searching for Spokane fitness or Spokane fire department, they will find Zach’s business.

Best of all he doesn’t create any of the content for that site.  He has taught some of his bootcamp clients how and they just do it for him.

29. Write testimonials for products that help you.

This is different from 19 because this is products that you use for business building, equipment you buy, or even legal services.  Any time you buy something and it kicks butt, write to that person and tell them.

There you have it.  29 ways to boost your websites traffic and backlinks.  Courtney Tuttle might have had 102, but not all of them apply.  I’m sure focusing on these 29 will take your website to a whole new level.

If they do, leave me a comment and let me know (remember 29).  Got anything I missed, let me know below as well.

When it comes to blogging, or websites in general, everyone wants to know the ultimate ways to improve their Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  SEO tips and tricks have become so sought after that most new bloggers and fitness professionals are are forgetting one important thing: content will trump all these tactics.  So if you’ve recently started a new blog or site and want traffic, then put up some content.

After you’ve put yourself on a regularly updated schedule for content creation, then you should proceed to more detailed SEO strategies.  In fact, in the tips I outline below, you should do before or doing content creation.  Some of these do because it has to do with permalink structure and changing this later would actually be detremental to your page rank with the search engines.  Lets get started shall we?

Structure Your Permalinks Properly

Do this step as soon as you set up your blog, before making a single post.  The standard Wordpress permalink looks like this: mysite.com/p?=2 and everytime you create a new post, the number changes.  The number is just the post number.  How can you tell someone to go to that url?  Its ugly right?

Well thats where the term “pretty” permalinks comes in.  Go to settings -> permalinks in your Wordpress dashboard.  Easy Fitness Websites blog uses only the %postname% in the custom section.  However you can also add some popular items like %year% and %month% if you like to help separate your posts.  Before Wordpress version 2.8.6 using only post name wasn’t recommended because of loading time.  However they state it is now ok, and if you’ve just installed Wordpress than you probably have version 2.9 or higher.

Optimize Your Post Titles For Keywords

This tactic should be done as you create content. When writing new posts or pages that you want to get traffic for, than think of possible ways to include keywords into your titles.  You can see in this post title what I am hoping to get traffic from: fitness professionals searching how to increase their SEO on their sites.  Simple enough?

Use An SEO Plugin

When it comes to SEO plugins, you really only have two options. The All In One SEO Pack or Platinum SEO Pack.  Make this a step before you start adding content.  The All In One SEO pack might be the most popular SEO plugin for Wordpress, but I’ve recently switched over to the Platinum SEO pack and favor it at the moment.  Just go into your Wordpress dashboard, go to plugins -> add new -> and search for either of the listed plugins.

Link Within Your Site

Whenever you write a post that relates to another post you’ve written, include a link to that post as well.  In fact include as many links as you can to pages within your site.  Here are a few reasons this is beneficial:

1. You are giving your readers more content to read on your site.  Readers who are curious about a topic will typically want to see what else you’ve written if they like your initial article.
2. Search engine spiders can crawl your post or page and find their way back to your other pages and index them as well.

So do this often and all the time.

Use a Google Sitemap Plugin

Speaking of spiders and little critters crawling around on your site, lets make it easier for them to do this.  A sitemap is bascially “is a list of pages of a web site accessible to crawlers or users. It can be either a document in any form used as a planning tool for web design, or a web page that lists the pages on a web site, typically organized in hierarchical fashion. This helps visitors and search engine bots find pages on the site.” (from Wikipedia)  An easy way to do that is with the Google Sitemap plugin.  Again you can find this in the Wordpress plugin directory.

Optimize Your Image Names

A very simple strategy for generating traffic is by sucking the SEO out of every possible area of the web and your site.  If you use images in your post, which you should, then give them titles that include your keywords.  So instead of naming an image of a woman exercising “Woman Exercising” give it a keyword title like “Denver Colorado Personal Training Woman.”  When someone searches in google, your images could pull traffic to your site.  Actually they will pull traffic.  Thats an easy strategy that you can start implementing now.

Thats a good 6 tips to get you started with your Wordpress blog and SEO strategies.  In addition you should look at which social bookmarking plugins will be good for your blog as well in this post I did recently: Social Bookmarking Plugins For Wordpress