WebSite Marketing Strategy

The dust has now settled on the new WordPress 2.5 release and there has been much written about the blog software platforms new release. As with most things that go through change, there are those who absolutely hate it and there are those who love it - there are not many taking the center path.

It is very different and change always takes awhile to get used to. WordPress has been the most popular blog software platform for many years now. It has however had several drawbacks. One of the drawbacks has been the extremely slow admin speed. This has improved marginally as the reliance on Java has been reduced. The reduction in Java has resulted in many of the features undergoing radical changes.

The most notable changes are in the widgets area and in the time stamp functions. The widget re-arrangement just takes a little getting used. It does feel strange when, in this day and age when drag-n-drop is commonplace, that this function has been removed. A little patience and the new setup is manageable. As a blog software platform one of WordPress’ most useful functions for me has always been the time stamp feature. This enable you to change the time and date to create a future post.

The time stamp feature is not so obvious now. It is hidden with a little ‘edit’ link next to the time and date in the write screen. Again, once you find it and get used to it - no problems. Most of the other changes work and work well particularly the easy update of plugins. Any plugin registered through WordPress.com can quickly be updated through a single click in the plugin screen. This is a big time saver for all bloggers using WordPress as their blog software platform.

The bottom line, WordPress 2.5 is marginally faster. The change is so radical that it probably should have been a 3.0 release - WordPress has its own numbering system 0 the rationale known to only a few. As a blog platform it has little in the way of competition and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.

One prime area that can influence your blog SEO is in your comments. This area is often forgotten when it comes to boosting the number of keywords on your page.

The comments sections provides many benefits for blog owners. Its primary function is to provide a communication pathway for your visitors. This communication pathway is two way. Your visitors can leave comments, make observations, leave hints and ask questions. However, I wonder how many blog owners respond to these comments and respond in a manner that boosts their blog SEO.

If you do respond to your comments, do you do so using keywords associated to the page. So long as you do carefully and you don’t look like you are spamming your own comments, dropping the occasional keyword into your comments may make good blog SEO sense.

It must be remembered that comments contain indexable data so why not use them to increase the keyword use in your blog SEO program.

If you rely on Google for your blogging income then you should be relatively happy with the release of the latest Google revenue statistics. They release has certainly brought to light a couple of interesting facts. I guess the major one is that The big G is not on deaths door - at least not yet.

One of the most interesting facts to come out of these statistics is the grown in ‘Text Link’ income. Text Links now account for 33% of Google’s Adwords program. The other news from these figures is the reduction of actual clicks without the reduction of income. Google’s moves to remove poor performing advertisers are paying off with publishers now receiving slightly more with less clicks.

If you like to incorporate Text Links then you may be interested in the new reporting feature that Google has introduced. This enable you to separate Text Links from other data.

[source - Google]As of today, we’ve enhanced your reports so that you can view the performance of link units separately from your other AdSense for content units. Even better, the link unit-specific reports contain more information about your link units.

It seems all is not lost with Google. For now, your blogging income is safe and you can even seriously consider adding Text Links as a viable addition.

There are a lot of blog directories around now and there are several services that can assist you to get blog listed on these directories. Some provide automatic submissions, some allow for semi-automatic and others manual submission. The question I pose today, should use submit your blog using an automatic blog directories submission service?

I will answer this first by providing a brief review of each type of submission.

Manual submission

Manual submission, as the name suggests, are where you submit your blog details one by one. By submitting your blog to individual blog directories, you can ensure it is submitted into the corect category using individual tags related to the site, the category and of course your blog. You are able to submit to all directories, even those with captcha type requirements.

• Upside: accurate category submission
• Downside: slow process as each submission is done one by one

Semi Automatic Submission

When you select a semi-automatic service, you generally select a category and any tags. The service submits the information to a variety of blog directories. You need to either confirm the submission by entering captcha info or by clicking on the final submit button.

• Upside: you have some control of category and it is relatively quick
• Downside: you may find your blog listed in categories that are unsuitable or in directories that spam email back - you often have limited control as to the directories you blog is submitted to

Automatic Submission

Automatic submission does the complete job. Tell it which category and which tags and the service will go and submit your blog to as many blog directories as it can.

• Upside: speed. Your blog could be submitted to a hundred or more directories in minutes.
• Downside: you have no control as to which blog directories your blog is submitted to. Many of the top directories are excluded as they use captcha or similar to prevent spamming

The choice is yours. Automatic submission is fast but with speed, you lose quality. Manual submissions enable you to select your directory of choice and fine tune the submission. Manual also enables you to submit your blog to the better quality blog directories. I prefer manual - but then, I am told I am a control freak.

Blogs are the newest tool for businesses to use and benefit from. Publish and Prosper: Blogging For Your Business by DL Byron is a practical book on business blogging and shows how other businesses are successfully using this medium and how you and your company can do the same. It allows the reader to understand how a blog can assist in selling products, speaking directly with potential and existing customers, building up a brand and much more.

The idea of the book is that being able to have a conversation with your targeted market is easier and more meaningful with a business blog. It has a how-to approach and also includes various case studies of major companies such as General Motors, Boeing and even smaller companies that have succeeded. Readers will be informed of the various ways blogs are used, how to convince other members of your team to take part in the blog process, the types of blogs and more.

DL Byron is a business blog expert who has launched and managed Boeing’s blogs as well as several others and has worked on the Blog Business Summit. Steve Broback is the co-founder of the Summit and i3forum conferences and is also the editor of several major blogs online.
The book also explains what a blog is, determining the focus of your blog, how to design it, the various tools that can be used, writing styles within the blog, managing it and other related topics that go beyond just the blogging realm.

The approach is linear, beginning with an explanation of what a blog is, determining the focus of your business blog, the varieties of blog, design, tools for blogging, writing the blog, getting noticed, monitoring and managing and ending chapter on syndication and other fine points they refer to as “beyond blogging”. The book is for people of all different technological levels and isn’t written to overwhelm the reader but to make them feel comfortable and able to understand the content. They explain each point thoroughly and avoid technical language while making it an enjoyable read overall!

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“You say that having a blog can increase traffic to my website but first I have to increase traffic to my blog, right. Cut through all the baloney and give one good blogging tip that will help me increase my traffic on my blog.”

I received this in an email a couple of days ago and it is becoming apparent that many users are turning away from posts that have a lot of tips. Post such as ‘ten blogging tips to …….’ or ‘50 sites to…..’ are too much. It is a sign of the times. People want instant information, they don’t want to wade through long lists to find what they need. In fact it seems they want us to do the job for them. Give me one good blogging tip that I can go and put into place now and I will be happy.

When you get a specific question it is easy to provide the information. Without specifics however, where do you start. Blogging tips are everywhere but for many users, that is all they see: a list. Many blogs do not provide any substance to the list items leaving the reader to wonder what each item is.

If you are going to have a list, say a list of plugins, don’t just list them by name. If necessary, reduce the number of items in the list but include a good review of each item in the list. In this day and age, blogging tips that are made up of simple lists will no longer cut it - readers are after substance - a little depth - but delivered in an easily to scan way.

Oh - and to the answer the opening line - one good blogging tip to increase traffic - provide great content that your readers find valuable and worth talking about to others.

You never know when your going to write a killer post that hits the front page of Digg. Can you imagine all that traffic? Is your server up to it, or your blog software for that matter? WP Super Cache is one of the best blog plugins for protecting your site from that super hit.

WP Super Cache does everything that WP Cache does but it goes that one step further and serves up static HTML files rather than loading the PHP scripts. PHP is memory and server load heavy so if your server is even slightly underpowered, a jump in traffic could cause server issues winding up with your site being suspended for a short period of time.

Loading static HTML files is not server friendly, it is also browser friendly. Pages load much faster, particularly those with graphics. A faster page load creates a much smoother experience for your visitors, this is particularly handy if your page is a little sluggish.

If you are expecting a huge flood of traffic, you can go in and use the ‘lock down’ option which will force all page views to come from the cache and not from running the PHP script.

Whilst WP Super Cache is one of those blog plugins that helps to keep your blog running smoothly, nothing beats having a good reliable web host to start with. This plugin will not prevent a problem if you are using a slow ill-equiped host to manage your web site.

But your visitors do. Let’s face it. When it comes to blog design, the search engines couldn’t care less what it looks like. In fact, apart from black text on black backgrounds, search engines like Google are only interested in a text versions of web site.

What about graphics, video and audio I hear someone say? Again, search engines are only interested in text versions (that is why your alt tags are so important). Search engines don’t listen to an audio file (yet - just wait - it wont be long), nor do they watch a video (ditto), the contents of these files could be garbage, the search engine doesn’t care. They do want the alt tags in your blog design though.

Getting a little more serious, search engines are not interested in blog design - your visitors most definitely are. It is pointless undertaking a strong SEO campaign that brings in plenty of visitors only to have them run just as quickly because they have been confronted by an eye-sore. There is no need for it either.

You can very easily incorporate user friendly features along with visually appealing looks into your blog design whilst still implementing strong SEO strategies. The two need not infringe on each other, in fact serving two masters can help to keep you sharper and more on the ball.

Blog design may not be important to search engines, but they are highly important to me along with every other visitor to your site. Don’t sacrifice good design in the name of SEO - they can both live harmoniously together.

… and maybe, just maybe you will be hitting home runs in no time.

I agreed to review this ebook back in late 2007; and I just finished it last night. Sorry it took me so long (Darren & Julie); but life has sure been hectic transitioning to a new job, computers crashing, etc. It literally took me a few hours to get through the entire book. It was an extremely easy read and Darren and Julie did an excellent job articulating the basics of social media.

The target audience for this book is just about anyone who dabbles with social media in any capacity (internal marketers, agencies, consultants, small business owners). It is filled with tips, tricks, strategies, tactical elements, and case studies.  By reading this book, you will:

1. Understand the landscape of social media
2. Learn how to launch a social media relations campaign
3. Learn how to optimize your web site for social media (SMO)
4. Discover new ideas and inspiration for social media
5. Understand the risks/challenges of social media

Most of the ebook is focused on the acquisition side of social media; and less with the conversational element.  This led me to reach out to Darren via Facebook and inquire about this.  I asked him if he had any plans on writing a follow up book about using social media as channel to engage and foster conversations.  Here was his response:

I think it’s fair to say that the ebook does focus on starting the conversation–getting to that first date, as it were. To rephrase your question, how does one manage the second date, and all the ones thereafter?

Just like the dates, I do think the process gets easier. That said, we’re expanding our ebook–doubling its size, actually–for offline publication. That’s definitely something we could include as a section in the expanded book.

It turns out that their ebook will be published as a hard copy, in Darren’s words “ into a full-on dead-tree edition”, published by No Starch Press. More details here. A big congratulations to Darren and Julie for this awesome achievement.

Getting to First Base: A Social Media Marketing Playbook.

Tags: social media, Darren Barefoot, Julie Szabo, getting to first base, a social media marketing playbook

“Blog Marketing” by Jeremy Wright is an informative read on how companies can use blogs to their advantage by raising their online visibility and creating influence within their industry.

It seems everyone has a blog these days and more business are seeing the importance of such tool as it is almost vital to the success of each business that currently has an online presence.

This book emphasizes the power to reach customers directly and influence them through their business blogs. It talks about blog marketing is the most cost effective form of online marketing and leading to great things for you and your business. It changes the average view that blogging is just an online diary for individuals and enhances the idea and notion that blogging can be one of the most powerful tools for businesses this year, next year and years to follow!
In Blog Marketing, the reader will find exclusive looks at massive companies taking advantage of blogs such as Google, Disney, GM and more. Jeremy Wright provides an easy read on business blogging and essential tips on the development of your blog as well as case studies to help assist you. With these real-world examples, it covers the topics of how to brand your company through blogging, obtain real feedback about your products and services, impact the bottom line and transform how your company does business as a whole.
Additionally, “Blog Marketing” contains a collection of useful resources that will assist any blog owner to advertise their blog through different online communities and programs. So not only does it cover the creation of a blog and what it takes to maintain it but also ways to maximize your efforts. It is a crowded blog marketplace and this is one book that helps you stand out above the rest and be far more knowledgeable than ever before on the subject of blog marketing.

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