Page rank used to be a big thing a few years back.  Not sure about it now.  When selling links was not yet frowned upon, a high PR meant easy money.  Now that the major search engines have taken an active stance against selling links, especially Google, the value of a high PR has almost disappeared.  I’m not an SEO guru, but I have observed over the years that PR is simply a grade that Google gives to a web page.  People that overly worry about PR remind me of those students that worry about their grades and, by so worrying, spend more time vegetating than actually doing something to ensure their grades actually improve.  Really, we have no control over PR.  Google decides what PR each site gets, so why bother?  The value of a website is strongly dependent on its traffic.  Instead of worrying about PR, I worry now about traffic.  It’s something more within my control and this way, I no longer spend hours scouring the Web for high PR pages to seek links from… like if I’d get any!  The “experts” selling SEO services may emphasize PR, but as a webmaster, I’ve grown over it.

A slow website or blog can drive traffic, the lifeblood of any online venture, away.  How to know what causes the site to load slowly?  The cause may not be obvious.  For instance, you might have a Wordpress blog and, in your rush to improve it, might have added a few plugins.  One morning, you realize that your blog loads slower than usual.  As you visit your site day in and day out, the speed starts to bother you.  You wonder whether it’s one of the plugins that makes your blog so slow.  You arbitrarily deactivate some plugins that you think are the cause for the loading delay, but your blog remains slow.  What do you do?

If you have searched the Web before landing on this page, you might have encountered a few bloggers suggesting that you deactivate all your plugins and start fresh to know what caused the problem.  That is a drastic measure that need not be resorted to unnecessarily.

Luckily, there is a free tool that can test the speed of your site and point to the object(s) on your site that are causing the slow loading time.  Try this before doing anything else.

Two more tips:

• If you have a Wordpress blog, there are many plugins available that can improve the speed of your blog.
• Be methodical as you make changes to your site.  This way, if your site slows down, you will be able to know what caused it.

It does not hurt to submit your website to directories.  Actually, there are many services on the Web that offer to make those submissions for a small fee.  The directories to which your website will be submitted to will, most probably, be free directories.  Few tips:

• Make sure to only go with reputable services.  Many people will offer to submit your website to 1,000 or more directories for, let’s say $20.  That doesn’t sound right.  They will probably not live up to their representations.
• Make sure to choose your link title, keywords and site description carefully.
• Make sure that the people that you hire do not submit your website to DMOZ.org.  You should submit your site to DMOZ yourself.

In terms of paid directories, you should only submit your site to the ones that have been established for a long time, are reputable, charge a one-time fee and limit their listings to credible sites (i.e. screen the sites before admitting them – you don’t want your site to be listed alongside spammy sites).

I regularly receive link exchange requests from various people.  Truth be told, I respond to 1/10th or less of the emails that are addressed to me in this regard.  Why?  Because I’m too busy wasting my time.

Few things that especially bother me:

• Lack of professionalism in requesting the link: If you are initiating the request, at least try to be professional.  Requests that contain over 3 requirements are simply too much trouble to bother.  Requirements?  Let me explain: The link has to be on a page that is “PR +2″, or has to be on a page linked directly to the home page, etc.
• Link requests that are patently unfair.  Asking for a link on a reputable site and offering a link on a newly set-up site is to imply that the other person is stupid.  Sorry, but I don’t belong to that category.
• Asking for a link exchange without specifying any requirements, but when the link is added, asking for the link to be moved to another page.  So I just added your link and now you want me to move the link to another page??  If you had requirements, why didn’t you state them upfront??
• Asking for a link exchange and, after I added the link, failing to add a reciprocal link back to my site in a timely manner or at all.
• Offering a “three-way” link exchange with me linking to your main site and you linking to my site from an unknown site, specifically maintained for link “exchanges.”  This relates to the comment already made above: When asking for a link exchange, try at least to be fair about it.
• Failing to read instructions on my site as to how to enter into a link exchange.  Yes, many sites will have specific pages with instructions on what to do if interested in exchanging links.  If you cannot do that, then don’t even bother.

It is a major mistake to subcontract link development to people that do not have the proper etiquette.  That will reflect bad on your site and will not lead to any good exchanges in any event.  Exchanging links with another site is part of online networking.  Many things you wouldn’t do when networking in the real world.  Why would you find those things to be acceptable online?

One good practice that I really appreciate is that when someone emails me for a link exchange, that person has already added my link to his or her site.  That is much appreciated.  Btw, now, when people request link exchanges with any of my sites, I unequivocally ask that the link to my site be added first before I do anything.

The above might sound like a lot, but who said that promoting a site online was easy?

One common mistake that many people new to blogging make is to jump ahead of themselves and purchase a theme.  Why is it a mistake?  Because you don’t know what you want.  Trust me, you DON’T know what you want.  You may think that you know, but you don’t.

It takes time to develop yourself into a good blogger.  The essence of blogging is the substance of what you want to share with the rest of the world.  It takes time to develop the right approach and fine-tune the topic of your blog.  Until you work that out, you don’t need to purchase a WordPress theme.  It usually takes 6 months to a year of regular blogging to have a sense of direction and purpose in blogging.  During this time frame, you will develop your blogging style and familiarize yourself with the various features that WordPress has to offer.  As a blogger, you will pay closer attention to other blogs and notice the design elements in the other blogs that you like or dislike.

As you go through this learning process, bookmark the blogs which designs you enjoy and note down the features you would like to have in your blog.  When the time is ripe, you will be ready to purchase your first WordPress theme.  The good thing about waiting a little before purchasing a theme is that when you install it, it won’t be to an empty blog.