5 Ways ComLuv Can Improve Your Blog

29th May, 2011



I was quite wary at first when I heard about ComLuv. For those who do not know what it is, have a look at this article. When I started to use ComLuv and visited their site, it didn't take me long to work out the benefits I would reap from it. Here's what I found.

ComLuv - everyone wins!

More commentators

With ComLuv on your site, your commentators can clearly see that they benefit from commenting on your blog. This encourages more visitors to leave comments because the title of one of their posts appears on your blog under the comment. These titles are totally linkable and do-follow. This means you're giving your friends a legal way to advertise their posts on your blog. But this is a benefit for them. What about the benefits for you?



Link advantages for you on a PR6 site

Many top articles about how to attract traffic to your site will tell you one of the best ways to do so is to build back links. When you join ComLuv you create a profile page. You're allowed a link to your main blog (if you want extra links you have to pay for them with credits you can earn). ComLuv is a PR6 site, this means you get link juice from a site Google has rated highly indeed.



More chances for linking your articles

One of the best ways of getting your articles and links out there is by leaving comments on other blogs. But not just any blog. Links are worth more if they come from blogs in your niche.  Many of us don't have the time to search the web for blogs like these. However, ComLuv enables you to put in a search for any topic. You're then given results of all the listed ComLuv blogs in your niche. When you have the time, you can then leave comments on these blogs and get your do-follow links on them. This opens up new avenues, new visitors and potentially new subscribers. Not to mention additional traffic. Benefit to you and your blog? Betcha!



Guest post

Most big-time bloggers will tell you that guest-posting is the current number one way of building backlinks to your site. Guest post on ComLuv's main site and you're allowed a back-link to your site at the end of the article. Best of all, you get credits for your guest posts. Use your credits to buy extra links for your other sites or featured site spots on their front page. All you need to guest post (the guide) is on the site.





Barcode labels 

What do barcode labels have to do with your blog? Your site is only one in an ocean of other sites. Not everyone on the web is interested in what you write.  If you walked into a big supermarket, you'll find all the items on sale bearing a specific barcode. This is so that the workers can identify the product and the specific price. One of the benefits to commenting on other ComLuv enabled sites is that your blog gets noticed in the right genres and gets placed within the right group. People who're actually interested in what you write about will have a better chance of finding you.



Buy Featured Site spots

Use credits you earn to buy Featured Site spots on the home page of ComLuv's (Google rated -Pr6) for extra traffic to your blogs. This is a great advantage to people who don't have the time to build backlinks.



But I have to sign in...

Many people don't like signing into your blog before leaving a comment. This can be the one disadvantage of ComLuv. The thing is, it only requires the commentator signing in once. This is for their blog's url to be fetched, so that their recent blog title can show up. It's really a tiny price to pay to (legally) get links to your posts out there. 

Visit the ComLuv Site  and start getting your own link juice!

Optimising Pictures On Your Blog Increases Page Views

Most of us use at least one picture on our blog posts. Yet not many of us make use of the vast amount of search engine traffic we could get from just these pictures alone. I have several good friends whose blogs are mostly made up of images. Think of all the thousands of people searching for pictures every day, and you will see the potential of search engine traffic they could be getting. Why miss out on thousands of views, right?

If you include pictures on your blog posts, this article is for you. If you do Google searches to 'borrow' images to suit your articles, this is for you. And if your site is a photography blog, or one made up mainly of original images you've taken, this is for you.

use images with your blog posts

How to optimize your images

1. Name your images

In 'New Post'  mode, look at the right of the box in which you create your posts and you'll see 'Edit HTML' and 'Compose'. Click on 'Edit HTML' and upload an image. You will see the name of that image embedded in the code. This is what the search engine reads when it's looking for an image.



Therefore, Save all your images on your computer with a suitable name. This name should be not more than 5 words and should be given careful thought. It should describe the image in a way that tells a search engine exactly what it shows, and it's about. When you upload this image, whether it's yours or not, search engines won't be given a series of random numbers (which your camera devised for the image) but words that help them identify your photo. When someone searches for (for example) 'Tile Floor' Google can see the saved name of your image, instead of a series of numbers. The search engine will then put your image forward if someone searches for this term. Don't be afraid to add a short description too.

Note: remember to always credit the site from which you take an image.

2. Use bold or headings with your images

Another way to point search engine traffic to your images is to use bold text to describe them. If appropriate, also use headings which are bigger than the rest of the text on your page. You can divide your post into sections/paragraphs like this one and label each section with a large heading near to the image you're using to illustrate your point. How to use larger headings: In 'Compose' mode, you should have a tool bar at the top of your 'New Post' page. Click on the 'tT' section, and change your heading into a slightly larger text. Don't use one that's too big. The next size up from your normal text is adequate. Search engines pay attention to headings and text in bold print. 

3. Use caption with your images

It is possible to use captions with your images on Blogger. This is a perfect way for Google to read the description of your picture. How to use caption: 

Upload an image in the normal way. 

Click on the image you've uploaded. (It will be highlighted). 

A toolbar appears, giving you options to resize or reposition the image. There are also options to remove or 'add caption' to the image. These last two are on the far right. 

Click 'add caption'. Type in your caption and that's it. If you need to remove the caption, click on the image again and 'remove caption'. Simple!

4. Allow others to use your images

This one is especially useful for people who upload a lot of original pictures on their blogs. Place a short message on your site, allowing other bloggers to use your images in exchange for a link to your blog. I know some people will still abuse this - you can't get everyone to behave as they should. However, the majority will link back to your site if they know that's your condition for using your original work. It's a small price to pay! 

5. Go back and fix all your old images

This is the hardest part, I know. I will do this too because I've been very careless with my images in the past. It may take me the rest of the year, but I'll do a small bit at a time. Hopefully, you can find more time than I could to properly optimise all of your old images. It's worth making those images work hard for you. After all, they take up the majority of space on your blog. It's the least they could do. Isn't it?

Do you have any further advice on optimising images on your blog? What do you do to get your images seen on search engines? Please share this post if you find it helpful. Thank you.

Has Anyone Used ComLuv

I've just signed up to ComLuv. It's a network that enables you to reward your commentators by showing their last post on your blog when they leave a comment. It's also a blog directory that allows you to submit one link to your blog's home page.

You can submit subsequent blogs (if you have multiple sites) but this will cost you. I first thought that ComLuv only worked with Word Press blogs, which is why I never attempted to add the plugin on any of my sites. Apparently, intensedebate.com shows you how to install ComLuv on your Blogger blog quite easily. Since this change only works with new posts, I'll only find out after this article goes live!

ComLuv is a PR6 rated site which allows you to guest post as many times as you wish. This means that for every post you write, you can get one back-link to your blog. You don't get paid, but at least you benefit from a back-link and more exposure to your site - not something to pass up in my book.

Have you used ComLuv before? I'll let you know how I get on. If the ComLuv works here on Blogger, then your last post will show up in a link when you leave me a comment. Here goes!



UPDATE: I installed Intense Debate, but did not activate the ComLuv. You've got to remember to do that one last step. It should work now. Leave your comment and see! BTW, you only have to fill out your details once.

Sign up here if you like the sound of it.

Book Tour. Emotional Health: The Secret For Freedom From Drama, Trauma And Pain

Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 1 of the Virtual Blog Tour of author Michael David Lawrience, whose book Emotional Health: The Secret for Freedom from Drama, Trauma, & Pain comes to Amazon as a softcover mid-June.

Michael David Lawrience is a certified Residential Coach III with over 13 years’ experience teaching teen’s self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-reliance. He has over 35 years’ experience as a holistic health practitioner with a B.A in Sacred Healing and has been a certified Bowenwork Practitioner since 2005. His niche is emotional health with extensive personal experience related to codependency recovery, strengthening self-esteem, healing the inner child, stress management, and meditation which he has practiced for over 40 years.

Today, I'd like to share with you a recent interview I had with Michael when I got to ask him about the topic of recognizing self-sabotage, the causes of self-sabotage, and overcoming the roots of self-sabotage . I hope you enjoy it.

Anne: How Can We Recognize Our Self-Sabotaging Behaviors?

Michael: We all have our ways of perceiving the world from our core beliefs, conscious and unconscious. We create our experiences to confirm the truth of our perceptions. We may have a core belief that we will never succeed at anything we do. So we set up our outcomes to prove that we will never succeed and thereby sabotage any possibility of success and we keep creating obstacles to our success on an unconscious level.

If for example we start a new relationship, expecting it to fail like all our previous ones than it probably will and we get to be right. Rather than continuing to create a false paradigm, we could choose to look at our core beliefs and “truths” to assess their degree of truth.

We might also examine our negative self-talk and our tendency to view life through the paradigm of a negative lens. As our perceptions shift, so may our outcomes.

Anne: What are the Causes of Self-Sabotage?

Michael: When we want to improve our lives we set an intention of what we would like and then we look for results. We may have visualized the result and taken some actions. Why do our intentions fall short of our desired results? Maybe it’s “counter intention.” 

Counter Intention is a belief we hold in direct opposition to our conscious intention buried in our unconscious mind. We may for example have intent to weigh less. In the unconscious we may have a belief if we look good and attract more partners than we will have to be more intimate, yet we fear 

intimacy.

So which intent will win? Our unconscious or counter intention always wins because it has the greater power.

The conflict sets up an energy block within us and since our unconscious has the greater power we end up getting the opposite of our conscious intent. The energy system within our body changes polarity - a Psychological Reversal. All self-sabotage results from Psychological Reversal.

We can compare Psychological Reversal to positive and negative batteries in a flashlight. They need to be properly installed for the flashlight to work. Polarity change means the positive and negative energy systems in our body have been switched and we get the opposite of our conscious choices.

Psychological Reversal occurs when our unconscious mind believes it is better for us to keep our chronic pain, extra weight, or bad habit rather than change.

The following explains in brief detail how our inner child, Shadow, or victim consciousness may sabotage our success.

Cathryn Taylor a counselor and author of The Inner Child Workbook explains how our inner child can sabotage us. Our inner child sabotages our efforts to succeed in an attempt to protect us from failure . . . it fears our success! It fears our being too powerful. It is frightened we will get hurt.

Our Shadow sabotages us when we deny it and push feelings and behaviors we dislike down into our subconscious. As Carl Jung said the Shadow is, The negative side of the personality, the sum of all those unpleasant qualities we like to hide, together with the insufficiently developed functions. For example, intense reactions to others may indicate the same qualities within ourselves we refuse to face.

Finally, our victim mentality sabotages us through unconscious thoughts of being unworthy and powerless. Victims fail to recognize themselves as victims to their own critical thoughts and beliefs.

Anne: How Do We Overcome the Roots of Self-Sabotage?

Michael: We can start to become aware of our unconscious beliefs through reprogramming methods such as the one explained in Carolyn Ball’s book, Claiming Your Self-Esteem.

We can also use ways to dissolve and release these beliefs once we become aware of them. One way is Byron Katie’s, The Work, which has 4 questions for releasing beliefs which no longer serve us.

The Emotional Freedom Technique – EFT – also has a method for dealing with subconscious objections or yes-buts that may arise to sabotage the positive affirmations used as part of the EFT. Gary Craig, the founder of EFT, calls the yes-buts “tail enders.”

EFT combines tapping certain acupressure points on the body while repeating a specific choice statement to release physical or emotional issues. The method would include the original statement and an antidote to the tail ender. For example, the original choice: “I choose to be successful in my business.” The tail ender: But if I am successful other people will ridicule me the way my father used to.” The antidote: I choose to feel respected even when I am successful.” The final statement:  I choose to feel respected even when I am successful in my business.”

 

Self-sabotage has its roots at a cellular level in our DNA. Many of our beliefs, images, and memories remain unconscious at this level. They may come from the DNA of our parents or from painful or traumatic events we experienced as children.  

How can we access and dissolve these sabotaging patterns at the level of the DNA?

Lyn O’Hara, a radiatory healer, radiates energy from the divine through her heart chakra into the auric field and body of the client. She then asks permission to enter the clients DNA into held patterns of trauma. The trauma then releases without any pain. Lyn further assists by asking questions for the client to gain realizations.

Another way is through the self-healing positions described in The Healing Code by Loyd and Johnson.

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Michael and that you’ll check out his book when it is ready at Amazon mid-June and 0rder other versions here now at http://ow.ly/4AmJz Please feel free to share your comments.

Be sure to follow Michael tomorrow when the next stop on the Virtual Blog Tour is Roy Martina who will be interviewing Michael on his approach to heal past negative emotions, the role of meditation in emotional healing, and common misconceptions about emotional healing. To visit that "stop" on the tour, go to http://emotionalbalance.com/?p=177

Improve your emotional health, ease pain, & heal physical & emotional abuse.

Read FREE 1^st 50-pages my book The Secret for Freedom from Drama, Trauma, & Pain http://ow.ly/4AmJz