As I wrote about in my last post, something was awry in my sidebar widget with my categories. When I clicked on any of my category links, I received the "404 Page Not Found" error. I racked my brain trying to figure out a solution. I posted my issue for Laura in the Skip The Scams Student Forum. Laura asked me if I had chosen a category for each post before I published it and I replied back to her that I did.
She then went to my site and noticed when she hovered over the category and looked at the bottom of the browser, it showed up as: http://fightthecellulite.com/ /cellulite-causes/. She pointed out to me that there was an extra slash or a space that was somehow inserted. Oh my gosh! - I never thought to look down at the bottom of my browser to see if there was an issue. This is one of the reasons she is "the teacher" and I'm "her student." Laura then asked me if I wouldn't mind letting her into my admin panel so she could further investigate. I was like - um - heck yes - please do!
So here's the scoop - she told me the problem was in my permalinks settings. Apparently underneath the "Common" settings where it said "Optional," there was a space smack dab in the "Category base" box. I can't believe I missed this; I was inside there too many times to count! Laura told me she wouldn't have noticed it except she clicked in the box because she happens to be an "overactive clicker." Thank goodness for that!
She went on to explain to me that WordPress surmised I wanted to have a "space between the blog title and the category page, and inserted the slashes on each side of it as if it had been a real directory." Now how's that for an explanation! I was in awe of her! She went ahead and removed it for me and everything worked perfectly - a really cool side benefit of being her mentee not to mention being a student at her forum!
So, when you buy her Affiliate Marketing Schoolbook course (which you're going to do, right!) there's also the added plus of having access to her private forum! Laura doesn't leave you hanging - it's not "okay, thanks newbie for buying my course, good luck and have a nice life." She provides you with ongoing support through her forum.
Now that my little problem was taken care of, I was able to move on to Lesson 41 and some more off-site SEO methods with article marketing through article directories. Laura says it can be a useful tool if it's done in the right way. EzineArticles.com was one of the directories she spoke about. Perhaps I was a bit naive about this, but I've always thought Ezine was sort of a cheesy thing. First of all, the site at first glance is unappealing (yes I know, it's what is on the inside that counts hahaha). I guess I really never took the time to understand the concept and perhaps dismissed too easily articles that came from there when researching on the Internet. I do feel that the site is over-saturated.
To be honest, I'm not quite sure if I'll end up utilizing Ezine, but you never know. However, I am digging Laura's suggestion of using Qondio which she says she likes to use for backlinks. The concept is kind of cool in that it separates the garbage content from the quality content by ratings and rewards given to the best contributors. A small side benefit being it's a revenue-sharing site as well. I signed up for it today as a matter of fact.
Lesson 42 had two more methods of off-site SEO about commenting on blogs and forums as well as guest posting on other blogs, as a terrific way for your site to get backlinks and traffic. Laura says understanding the concepts involved and doing it correctly are a must in order for these methods to work for you; she provides a detailed outline on how to go about it. I'm still in the process of researching forums and blogs related to my niche to belong to and register - I'm having a slightly difficult time for some reason in finding one. It's my hope I will find what I want by my next post!
Until next time......
Kelli
Laura's comments:
I agree that the Ezine Articles site isn't much to look at and "cheesy" probably isn't far off the mark! But it is well respected, and their guidelines are fairly strict. However, you're right; that doesn't mean you can rely on the information 100%. The articles are still written by anybody and their cousin, some of whom don't know what they're talking about. It's not as though Ezine fact-checks all the articles.
If you submit high quality, accurate articles, though, over time you will develop a reputation as someone who does know what they're talking about, and you will get more click-throughs to your site, as well as reap the benefits of having those extra backlinks for ranking purposes.
As Kelli indicated, articles submitted to Qondio are user-rated rather than editor-approved. No doubt some users, unconcerned with fulfilling the intent of the guidelines, give meaningless ratings just to earn more points (you get rewarded for screening other people's submissions as well as for submitting your own). But for the most part, the cream rises to the top.
Guest posting is really big these days. It's something that I have only recently begun to do but I'm thoroughly convinced it's one of the most effective ways to increase traffic to your site. I've gotten more site subscribers and visitors each time I've done it so far. It may be beneficial to set aside a whole day each week to research other blogs that accept guest posts and then write and submit those posts.
And by the way, you're making me blush, enough with the awe! (People are going to start thinking I write your article for you, LOL.) I'm glad we got the category thing figured out. I guess my itchy clicky finger comes in handy sometimes. 
Okay, I'm off to read more on Kelli's site about how to banish cellulite—not that I have any, mind you...just researching, for my...friend...yeah, that's it...
I LOVE my “job.” Affiliate marketing takes work, but it doesn’t feel like work.
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