Get people talking!
Posts by Peter F.
Should I create a Facebook page, Part II
1824 days
by Peter F.
in Networking tips
Had a conversation with a client today who had this attitude toward Facebook:
“My topics are very different from the personal ‘newsfeed’ that I see on Facebook (which I think is rather idiotic and a waste of time)…”
How many of you business owners feel the same way?… I mean it, raise your hands, I know you’re out there.
Hate to break it to you, but if you’re serious about maintaining and growing your income, you need to rethink your views. If Skittles and FTP Flowers are paying attention to Facebook (in a big way), you should too. Why? Because that’s where the people are!
Why use a Facebook page?
- Familiarity. Just using the name Facebook starts building a relationship of trust. People immediately think ‘I’m on Facebook, too! Add me!’ Some call it namedropping. I call it ‘Borrowing clout’.
- Build your community. You can start building a fan base immediately. Adding fans is as easy as a click of a button. People like popularity. They like community even more. They love to see that their friends are your fans, too.
- Convenience matters. Even if you don’t like Facebook, others do. In the end, that’s what matters. There are certain blog feeds that I wouldn’t follow if they didn’t have their feed on Facebook — simply as a matter of convenience. How many people are you missing out on because you didn’t make it as easy as possible for them to connect with you?
- Networking 24/7. Personally, I don’t care when my friends post that they’ve just entered a McDonald’s. But they care. And in the end, that’s what matters. When you show interest in others, they’re reminded to see what you’re up to. Find the things they post that you can relate to, and comment on it. You can do it anytime. I tend to do mine in the evenings when I’m relaxing in front of the TV.
- Automated, duplicated efforts. Facebook is more for networking than marketing, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do both. Add your blog feed to your page. Remind your friends to become a Fan. Most will gladly do it. Then they’ll see your blog posts as they pop up automatically. Remind them to tell their friends. Many will also do that, and your fan base will grow.
- It’s free. Can’t compete with Skittles’ budget? Facebook levels the playing field for you!
Again, go where the people are. Multi-million dollar corporations are moving away from television, radio and print JUST to focus on Facebook marketing. That means it’s working. It means it’s a better use of their time and money.
Should I create a Facebook page?
0837 days
by Peter F.
in WordPress tips
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! Here’s my philosophy: Anywhere there is to place your blog feed automatically, do it! If you could post your blog articles once and have them automatically post in multiple places on the web, why would you NOT do it?
Here’s a list of sites that allow you to create a profile and post your blog feed automatically. create a facebook fan page
If you know any resources not listed here, be sure to let us know!
LinkedIn create a facebook page
Twitter
Facebook 1
Tumblr
WordPress.com 2
Networked Blogs 3
Blogger.com 4
1 – to create a Facebook fan page, First create a Facebook profile. Next, go to this page and follow the instructions. create a fan page
2 – WordPress.com allows you to simply add an RSS feed to any site of your choosing. Add it to your sidebar, and add about 5 of your best articles as posts and/or pages for content.
3 – Takes a little work to set up, but is a fairly wide network. Requires a Facebook profile.
4 – This one’s not very effective. It only displays 5 of your earliest titles. Wouldn’t waste your time here. create a facebook fan page
New networking feature on Facebook
1847 days
by Peter F.
in Networking tips
You may have seen this fairly new little feature on Facebook. If you’re not networking on Facebook, whether you’re an individual or a multi-million dollar corporation, you probably should be. Facebook networking has been getting more and more attention from businesses, and rightfully so.
This tip is simple, yet powerful. It allows you to link other people’s or business’s pages through a regular status update.
Why should you do this?
Networking is completely different from marketing. Marketing is all about you, you, you. People are only so interested in that. What are they interested in??? THEMSELVES! There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just human nature. If you show interest in others, they like that. Well, what if you are talking about someone (their new book, blog post, or product, whatever) and your friends want to learn more?
Link to them! Make it just that much easier for your friends and colleagues to find each other. It could make the difference between someone being found or not. And guess who’s going to be grateful to you for sending more traffic their way? Your friends and colleagues.
Chances are they will DO something to reciprocate. It’s called a cooperative business structure, rather than being competitive.
How to link to others on Facebook
When you are creating a new status update, type the @ symbol, then start typing the name of the friend or business page. Facebook will automatically start listing possible candidates you can choose from.
That’s it! Simple. Start trying it, you’ll be glad you did, and others will appreciate it.
Mannequin Madness
2859 days
by Peter F.
in Before and After
Mannequin Madness has been a wonderful client for quite a while now, and they are always a pleasure to work with.
This project presented the difficult task of marrying a full-featured shopping cart system (run by AgilIron), with a blogging site that could be edited and maintained by the site owner, Judi Townsend.
We started by freshening up the Mannequin Madness logo a bit, and made it more prominent. Next, we used WordPress for the main site and blog, and customized the shopping cart to look like the main site so they would integrate as seamlessly as possible. We think they both turned out very well, see for yourself!
Congrats on your new site, Judi!
Before
After
How to update WordPress
0904 days
by Peter F.
in WordPress tips
WordPress is a free blogging tool that is used for thousands of websites every day. You can create a blog for anyone to see worldwide, or you can start a private blog that only your friends can view. Periodically, upgrades are required to improve speed and security features.
Instructions
1 Check your computer’s system requirements before starting the WordPress upgrade. Install the latest versions of PHP scripting language and an open source database, such as MySQL. Log in to WordPress to access your blog.
2 Back up your database. This includes all of your pages, links, posts and comments that appear on your blog. Go to “phpMyAdmin” from the MySQL web host, then follow the instructions for selecting the database that you want to save.
3 Save all of your WordPress files that are located in your directory and “.htaccess” file. Use or install an FTP client so that you can download the files from the web host to your computer’s hard drive for backup.
4 Confirm that the backups are usable. Make sure they are visible and accessible from your local computer. The files may be stored in sub folders.
5 Go to the administration panel, then select “Plug-ins.” Then, deactivate all of your plug-ins on your WordPress page.
6 Download the upgraded WordPress package after you’ve completed the steps above. This can be accessed by going to “Download” at the WordPress site. A new “wordpress” folder should appear on your computer.
7 Delete old files in case uploading did not overwrite some existing files. Access the FTP client to complete this process. Then, upload the new files to your server after upgrading to the new version of WordPress. Check WordPress to find out which file names to delete and which ones to update so that you don’t experience computer problems later.
Read more: How to Upgrade WordPress | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2125978_upgrade-wordpress.html#ixzz16X15HTQy
Why is SEO important?
2
A friend and colleague recently asked me why SEO is so important. I sent her to a series of articles I recently wrote that starts with the basics of “What is SEO“.
She read it, and came back asking the same question: “Your article says WHAT Search Engine Optimization is, but… I’m still not sure WHY it’s important, or if I should even bother.”
Now I was the one scratching my head. I thought the answer was obvious. But, maybe you have the same question. So I tried approaching the topic from her perspective, and realized there is more you may need to understand about online marketing.
First, let me say, you may already be using some SEO tactics, and not even know it!
There are 3 (three) main ways to get traffic going to your website. The first is personal contact. You meet someone, hand them your card, and say “Visit my website”. (This is simplified, of course, but the basic gist.)
The second is — you place ads or pay for traffic (paid ads, email marketing, etc.)
The third is SEO.
The problem with the first two is that they work only as long as you are working. As soon as you stop handing out business cards, or stop paying for ads, the traffic to your website stops. That’s why SEO is so golden — when you stop working, the elements you have set in place keep working to attract new traffic to your site. And new traffic means potential income.
Question for you:
Would you rather use marketing techniques that you have to continually work, or techniques that continually work for you? {pensive pause}
Hopefully you choose the second. You are going to market your site anyway, right? Why not market in a way that will actually increase your website traffic, not just maintain the status quo.
Don’t fret, SEO isn’t the big mysterious monster people make it out to be. It’s not just meant for big businesses or internet gurus. You can do it, whatever your budget, whatever your niche. In fact, as I mentioned before, you are probably already employing some SEO on your own.
We want to help you refine and expand your efforts, as well as help you understand what you are doing, and why. We will continue writing articles to help you understand SEO better, and show you steps you can take to solidify your presence on the web.
Here are four ways you can follow us to get these upcoming articles:
Fan us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS feed
Use the form on the right to subscribe by email
Here are the first articles in the series. These lay the foundation for SEO:
What is SEO?
SEO: Plan for success
SEO: Building a solid foundation
SEO: Executing your blueprint
SEO: Our Technique – get more traffic, starting today
As always, we’re here to help. Contact us anytime with questions!
Before and After: Steel Coatings
0957 days
by Peter F.
in Before and After
Who: Steel Coatings
Where: steelcoatings.com
What: Total site renovation!
We’ve had the pleasure of working with an awesome group of guys in Salt Lake City, Utah. They had a website from probably the early 90′s. It was a good website back then, but they knew that times have changed, and wanted to take their site to the next level. So, they came to us for some help!
Here’s a snapshot of the original website:
The site was mostly informational, but you can’t get away with having just an informational site anymore. Websites need to engage an audience. So we set them up with a WordPress installation, and gave them an awesome theme from Elegant Themes, and customized some of the features with photos and some new content.
With WordPress, they now have a blog they can use to create articles — both for content marketing, and to convey their message in a personal manner.
Here’s what the site looks like now:
Congrats, guys!
SEO myths
2
This is just a quick little blurb. I encounter a lot of frustrated people in this industry. So let me disclaim some of the disclaimers you might hear about SEO.
There is an increasing number of self-proclaimed SEO guru’s out there trying to sell you their product. They always claim they know how to make thousands, or $100,000′s of dollars, almost over night. Who are these people? Internet marketers. They specialize in selling products — other people’s products.
And, maybe they did make $100,000 using one technique! But the problem is, they’re making more money packaging and selling their products than they did with the trick they’re selling. Why? Usually the trick is a loophole they found and exploited — until Google found out, and shut them down. That spins a lot of SEO myths.
They go something like this: “Content is king, so buy my book on creating content — you’ll get rich!”
Then, “Content doesn’t matter, you need backlinks, so buy my software!”
Then, “Backlinks don’t work anymore, so buy my amazing video secrets course!”
And those statements are all myths, made up to try and sell you products. Each of those techniques DOES matter. But because they can’t be abused anymore, it doesn’t serve those internet marketers’ purposes. So, they package it up and sell it to you — whether it works or not.
The truth is, Google is on your side. You are a legitimate business person, with legitimate goods and services. Google (and the other search engines following their lead) is trying to find the best way to present online users with the most relevant websites on the net.
As legitimate online business people, we need to employ many different techniques for SEO, links, comments, backlinks, etc., because they ALL matter. Don’t get discouraged or overwhelmed. A step at a time is all it takes. And hopefully, we’ll be there to help every step of the way!
SEO friendly URLs
3
We recently wrote a small series on SEO and SEO techniques you can use to build your website on a solid foundation, and write articles that will defeat your competition’s defenses and get you some traffic. (Click here to read the first article of the series.)
Well, the series went so well, we decided to keep the momentum, and keep teaching you the basics of SEO. Now, I want to start off by mentioning SEO experts — don’t listen to the self-proclaimed guru’s. They will tell you that ‘this’ or ‘that’ technique doesn’t work, or that certain SEO things don’t matter anymore.
This is false! Read this article to get the skinny on SEO guru’s.
The truth is, you should probably be doing most of the things you have heard about. Our goal is to educate you how.
So what about SEO friendly URLs?
Yes, URL’s are still important for a solid SEO foundation for your website. Wanna know why? URLs are what the search engines read first. It’s how they map your entire site, telling them where to look to find your high-quality content.
What is a URL?
Put simply, a URL is a web page’s address. It can be displayed many different ways. Technically, it starts with http://, but when you’re telling people your URL, you usually start with www.mywebsite.com. From there, you add pages, and each page on your site has its own address. From there, there are countless combinations, but let’s keep things simple.
URL hierarchy
Let’s talk about using keywords. You want to use keywords everywhere on your site, especially in the URL. The sooner you use a keyword or key phrase in the URL, the higher that keyword will be ranked by the search engines. Examine the diagram below:
How to create SEO friendly URLs
You may ask, “I’m not a technical person, how do I create URLs on my blog?”
1. in the diagram above would give you the highest ranking with search engines, so start by choosing a domain name that contains your top keyword or key phrase.
2. Categories. You should have 5 – 10 categories on your site. Choose ones with high ranking keywords (more details here).
3. Tags. You can see that they aren’t quite as important as categories, so you can use more freedom. But still choose as high-ranking keywords as you can.
4. Your article name shows up in your URL (if you’re using WordPress and are using the right settings). So choose a title that uses some good keywords.
- Some tips:
- If you already have a website, but it doesn’t have your keywords in it, consider transferring your site to a new domain
- If you don’t want to do that, get a second website that links to your main site
- Make sure your categories are showing on your site — usually on your sidebar
- Make sure to use tags (This article will teach you how to get the most out of your tags)
- Under Settings>Permalinks, choose an option that uses your article name in the URL. A. is good if you’re not technically minded. If you’re an advanced user, you can copy the settings in option B.*
Have questions? Contact us, we’re here to help!
* – (NOTE: we are not responsible for any settings you may change, or the results. Be careful, as everyone’s installation is unique)
tags: what is a url, wordpress categories, seo friendly urls
What is SEO? Finding Good Keywords
0This post is the final one of the series. It contains the most pivotal element of the technique I’ve developed. I will first explain ‘What’ we’re doing, then teach you ‘How’ to do it.
What we are doing is finding keywords and key phrases that are:
- directly related to your industry or the theme of your blog, and
- not being used by competing websites
The previous blog posts have helped you find the main keywords and phrases. But you should know that your competitors are using them too. So,
- use them frequently, because they will tell the search engines what your site is about, and establish ‘relevance’ (read the article about relevance)
- know that at first they may not bring you much (or any) traffic, but
- as your site achieves a higher Google rank, you will get more search engine traffic, and increasingly relevant web traffic
You should use the tools below to refine and expand your Level 1 and Level 2 words and phrases. Learn about the three levels of keywords and key phrases here)
How to find more search engine traffic
Step 1.The tool we’re going to use now is the Google keyword tool. (Click here to go to it)
Step 2. Pull out your list of Level 3 keywords and key phrases you wrote down. You got these from the Google wonder wheel. Click here to learn how to use the Google wonder wheel, or if you haven’t made your list yet.
Step 3. Choose a phrase from your list, and type it into the text box:
Hit ‘Search’ to get your search results.
Step 4. Very important: Under Match Types on the left, UNcheck the box next to ‘Broad’, and check the box next to [Exact]. (Left image) Your results should redisplay in brackets. (Right image)
Then, under ‘Keyword ideas’ click ‘Competition’. The first time you click, it will sort by most popular. Click it again to sort by LEAST popular.
Step 5. Rate your results. What you want to do is find search words or phrases that you can use on the left, then find the ones with:
- the highest ‘Global Monthly Searches’ or ‘Local Monthly Searches’, and
- the lowest ‘Competition’
In this example, I would choose to use “What is SEO” because it has many monthly searches and medium-low competition. Another example would be the slogan I used at the beginning of this series: “No news is bad news.” Using the keyword tool you get these results:
You can see that there were 110 searches last month. It may not seem like a lot, but there appears to be relatively few websites competing for that exact phrase. By using that phrase correctly (read this article to learn how), I am increasing my chances of being found by web surfers.
This technique is an art, so be creative. A personal guide I use is to choose phrases that have 100+ searches, and Medium or lower competition.
We can do a full evaluation of SEO in relation to your site, to see which keywords you should be using, and which ones will help you get some traffic to your site. Contact us to learn more.
We make no guarantee for results, but we have used it to great success.
