Hello Happy Site Owners!

Would you rather have a one-on-one session with an expert and focus exclusively on your unique site and audience needs, or would you rather attend a mastermind group that focuses on certain site aspects and gives you pointers that you can apply to your site? The reason I’m asking is because the one-on-one sessions are far more expensive and I think seasoned site owners can benefit from small group meetings that are a little more general, but cost far less. Let me know what you would prefer and what type of program would help you best and I’ll set up an offer for that. Folks who comment get special treats!

Featured

You’ve got great free info on your blog that helps build your authority, but is it helping you convert what you know into sales? This is a nice post by Brad Shorr on Zemanta about How to Keep Your Blog from Being an Information Charity.

Do you enjoy Tips Tuesday? Share it with your friends.
See the handy share buttons at the top and bottom of the post.

WordPress Plugins

Sexy Bookmarks is changing everything. Even their old website links don’t work. Here’s the new one. http://www.shareaholic.com/publishers/get_share_button It looks like they removed the plugin from the repository and have folks registering to download widget code. But that’s not the same code as the one that goes below your posts and pages. They have a link to their plugin, which is what you want, but it goes back to the WordPress.org repository and is not there either. So, they must be updating that as well. I’ll keep on top of it and let everyone know about the latest changes. Thanks to LouAnn for catching this and letting me know!

Fast and Secure Contact Form was recently updated again this week. I believe this makes about ten updates since WP 3.3 came out. It looks like it might all be stable now, but I’ll keep you posted.

WordPress Tips

Does your site have a favicon? This is a nice post on Spotted Koi about Favicons – why Something so Small is Important.

Blog Tips

Want to go from blogger to published author? Here’s how Jeff Goins did it in record time.

Have you ever left a wordy comment on someone else’s blog that gave you an idea for a post? Me too. You’ll enjoy this post from Sarah Arrow on By Bloggers for Bloggers about Blog Posts that Start Life as Something Different.

SEO Tips

What Google’s going after now – You’ve heard pro bloggers advise that the content above the fold (before folks have to scroll down your page) is the most valuable screen real estate on your site. Now Google agrees and is going after sites that fill that space with too much advertising. They want to ensure that the seeker’s experience is finding relative content, not a bunch of ads. Here’s the word from the horse’s mouth on Google’s new Page Layout Alogrithm.

Social Media Tips

SM Peg Fitzpatrick may just tip me toward actually doing this with her guest post on V3 for Maximizing StumbleUpon for Your Content Sharing Strategy.

The Facebook Timeline is about to be mandatory. Here’s a good post from CopyBlogger with easy steps to setup your Facebook Timeline.

Rumor has it that Timeline will start rolling out to business pages by the end of February. Personally, I resent that Facebook requires me to spend so much time and money revamping my profiles to keep up with all of their changes, especially when that platform has been so randomly unstable since last summer. More importantly, none of these changes has resulted in better ROI. In fact, it’s gone down. How do you feel about all of the improvements Facebook has made in the past year? Have any of them helped your business?

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Slow Loads Cost You

When someone clicks a link to your site, the database has to search itself for the information before it can present the page to the viewer. A cluttered database slows down site load time, which is an SEO ranking factor. And, if your site loads too slowly, it can cost you the viewer, who will move on to another source for the info they seek.

Backup Storage Fees Cost You

Most free cloud storage services offer up to 5GB of space for free. Bloated databases cause big file sizes and you could be paying to store useless data if you keep more than one backup at a time before overwrite, which is the minimum you should keep. (Get the free report on How to Backup Your WordPress Site.)

The Causes of Clutter

The biggest contributor to wasted space in your database is something that WordPress auto-generates. Every time you create a post or page, WordPress automatically saves a revision so that if get disconnected, all of your work will not be lost. These revisions build up until you publish the post or page, creating a pile of useless files. The amount of revisions you build up depends on how long it takes you to create the post.

The two other culprits of database clutter are spam and unapproved comments that are sitting there doing nothing but taking up valuable space on your site.

Clean the Clutter

There’s a great little plugin called WP-Cleanup that will help you de-clutter your database. A screenshot is below.

The dark blue is what you want to see. That is useful WordPress data. The next lighter blue are the post revisions. Before I used WP-Cleanup for the first time, that segment was huge! This image is closer to what your database should look like when it’s having a good day. The lightest blue represents your unused MySQL Data, which is useless space taken up on your database.

In addition to the pie chart, the WP-Cleanup plugin also gives you a written percentage chart, shown below.

You can clearly see how much space your post revisions and unused MySQL data are occupying. These numbers are pretty low, but could be improved just a bit, and it’s easy to do.

How to Clean Up Your Database

Once you install the plugin, you’ll find the link for its admin page under Settings in the left sidebar of any of your admin pages. First, check the boxes next to all of the data you want to delete. Start with your post revisions, spam comment, and unapproved comments. Then click the blue Clean Up the Selected Items button at the bottom of the page. Once you do that, the Unused MySQL data percentage will increase by the same amount of data you just deleted. Next, check the box for Unused MySQL data and then click the Clean Up button. Now your database is de-cluttered.

Keep Your Database Clean

I really like the WP-Cleanup plugin, but it doesn’t run automatically, and the best way to keep your sparkling new database clean is to help it not get junked up in the first place. Install another plugin called Revision Control that will allow you to manage how many revisions WordPress saves while you’re creating a post or page. Once installed, the admin page can be found under the Settings link in the sidebar. It will be labled Revisions.

Now, here’s the trick. You can’t control how many revisions WordPress creates, only how many it saves. The screenshot below shows you the suggested configuration settings.

With the above settings, after five revisions have been stored, the next revision WordPress creates will overwrite the oldest revision saved. In other words, you will always have the five freshest revisions available.

The Revision Range setting allows you to select how many revisions you see in the Revisions module that appears below your text editor when you are creating a page or post. (Don’t worry if you don’t recall seeing this module. Most folks put it on ignore.)

The new Post Revisions module you’ll see will look something like the screenshot below (except that you’ll actually be able to read the information).

It will show you the date and time of the auto-save, the author, and allow you to restore to the post to one of the revisions.

Run WP-Cleanup Again

As the Revision Control plugin does its thing, it’s going to build up Unused MySQL Data. So, be sure to run the WP-Cleanup plugin once in a while to keep your database as de-cluttered and at its smallest size possible.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Bait and Hook

You’ve heard about the old sales tactic of bait and switch, where a store ad lures you in to buy something of high value at low cost. But when you arrive at the store they’re all sold out and want to sell you a higher priced model.

Folks who prey on new site owners use a similar tactic called bait and hook that traps you into a bad decision. Here are a few of the lines some folks dangle as bait:

• Build your own site without knowing anything about design or coding.
• Buy this all-in-one package and get domain, hosting, and a great looking theme.
• This site design comes with one hour of training.

What You Don’t Know Will Bite You

Let’s talk about the hooks hidden in these worms. First, let’s look at the idea that you don’t have to know anything to build a site. It’s actually true. There are multiple DIY platforms available that will let you piece together a site and some content in just a few hours.

There are also kit cars and kit houses. Would you drive or live in one that you built? But, you’re happy putting your online business in a DIY theme? Think about that for a moment.

Sites that Convert

There are folks who spend years getting degrees and experience in website development, online marketing, writing ad copy, and SEO. And, they built sites for your competitors. Those sites look and convert like pro sites because they were built by pros. How well do you think a DIY site with slap-together copy and all the wrong things in all the wrong places is going to look and convert compared to those? Don’t think for a moment that viewers don’t see those sites side-by-side either.

You don’t Own the Look

Here’s the second hook in DIY. You can’t take it with you. When you build your site on a proprietary format, and then realize that you want a self-hosted WordPress.org site on another host, you may not be able to take much of your existing site with you. If your branding is tied up in that proprietary design, you’ll pay quite a bit to get another theme made in its image.

Beware the All-In-One Package

Most new site owners spend the majority of their time hunting for the perfect theme. After a few weeks of being dazzled then dazed, they’re exhausted and confused enough to pay someone to build a custom site and handle all the details for them.

There are a lot of good designers who supplement their income by reselling hosting. Most are decent, honest folks. But, there are still far too many shady people who will hold your site hostage if you try to leave them.

Here’s the litmus test. Ask your designer for a full site security document with all of the log in information to your hosting and domain accounts. If they don’t agree to provide you with it, run. If you really want to stick with this designer, make arrangements to get your own domain and hosting accounts and then have them simply upload your theme for you with all the plugins and such you’ll need. Their price for the design will likely go up, but trust me, you’re better off in the long run having your own accounts.

Here’s the tragedy. If you do an all-in-one deal, you won’t be able to leave without asking the designer to give you permission and the backup of your full site. If they refuse, they could take your entire site down because legally they own the copyright to it, and to your domain.

Think this won’t happen to you?
Want a list of my clients who thought the same thing about their first designer?

One Hour of Training Isn’t Enough

My Scratch to Published classes include at least six hours of live training. The full Video Tutorial Library has over ten hours of training to extend my client’s knowledge of advanced options and to backup what they learned in the class. My clients know exactly what they are doing and why. And, they are expertly qualified to choose themes that enhance their content instead of competing with it. Plus, the day their site launches, they hit the SEO ground running.

My clients are not just site owners. They are successful site owners because they invested in their success. Kind of blows the bottom out of the one hour training offer, huh?

Do You Have a Year to Waste?

Until this year, the majority of my clients were second site owners. They had already taken the cheap and easy route and wasted a frustrating year of getting nowhere with their sites. They went all over YouTube trying to piece together enough tutorials to manage their site only to find that too much of the information was out of date. They also fell prey to every gimmick they came across about adding a plugin, or changing their style of writing, or putting something in their sidebar that would help them succeed.

One of my site services is doing full Site Evaluation and Reviews and I see the same thing over and over. Poor site security, multiple plugins that are either useless or are fighting with each other to do the same thing or gumming up their site, an inadequate backup solution, non-existent or erratic SEO, lack of focused content, amateur looking layout and formatting, and a theme that competes with their content.

I’ve “rescued” several sites from the clutches of a stingy designer and proprietary formats, but that’s getting harder to do these days, which is why it’s even more important for you to not go the DIY or all-in-one route in the first place.

Get the Book

If you haven’t done so yet, subscribe to BlogAid News and get the free ebook, What Every Site Owner Should Know. It goes into more detail about how you can avoid costly pitfalls with site ownership.

If you’re already a site owner who wants to improve your current site situation, let’s talk. I can help, and I can also keep you from getting ripped off again.

Site Evaluation Special

Are you concerned about the health of your site? Get a 20-point Site Evaluation and Review for only $25. http://www.blogaid.net/site-evaluation-and-review-snapshot It’s a live session and you’ll see everything I’m checking. I’ll tell you what’s okay and what needs attention. At the end of our 30 minute session, you’ll have a master checklist.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Did you see yesterday’s post on the Sexy Bookmarks plugin? There are a lot more videos on the way to show you how to configure WordPress plugins for max results. Some will be on YouTube and the rest will be bonus videos on the BlogAid Training site, including the free videos section. But they’re only available via subscription.

Featured

I love this remark by Sydni Craig-Hart, “Nothing in your business will change unless you start changing the way you think about your business.” Read the rest of her sage advice in her recent post How to Change Your Bad Marketing Habits for Good.

WordPress Plugins

Recently Updated
Polldaddy is made by Automattic (owners of WordPress.com) and is one of the best ways to add polls to your site.

Fast and Secure Contact Formwas recently updated but all of the bugs are still not fixed. It can interfere with your ability to schedule a post and/or create a link if you are using the TinyMCE Advanced text editor. Did you know that BlogAid has a Short Course of videos on all the settings for this plugin and Contact Form 7?

Plugins to Check Out
Want to customize the black admin bar that runs across the top of your site when you’re logged in? The folks at WPMU.org highlight 12 WordPress Admin Bar Plugins to Increase Your Options and Control.

Blog Tips

I don’t believe this. On Social Media Today, Sally Falko reports, “In his keynote speech Robert Kyncl, vice president, global head of content for YouTube, predicts that in a few years video will be 90% of all the traffic online.” This speech was delivered at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. I think Mr Kyncl’s position skews his opinion a bit and that there will always remain a love for the written word, even online. However, that remark should help convince you that video ought to be a part of your marketing mix. I already have several WordPress video tutorials on YouTube now and plan to add a ton more this year. Plus, Santa brought me a webcam and I hope to add more in-person videos and video Skype interviews too. How about you? Is video already in your marketing mix or do you plan to add it this year?

Do you day dream on your day job of becoming a professional blogger someday? You’ll enjoy this post by Stanford on Pushing Social on How to Publish Daily When You Have a 9-5 Job.

Stanford Smith is getting to be one of my fave bloggers on Pushing Social. In this post he tells you One Reason Why Your Blog isn’t Making Money.

Are you guilty of any of these? 7 Little Blog Mistakes that Drive Your Readers Nuts. Be careful about the one on permalinks. Depending on how you’re changing them you might need to do a little redirecting. See the short video tutorial on Permalink Structure in the Videos to Get You Started section.

Marketing Tips

Sydni Craig-Hart is fast becoming one of my favorite bloggers. Here’s another good post from her Smart Simple Marketing blog on How to Find Your Marketing Power Zone. This is essential advice right now with so many gurus talking about the next big band wagon you need to hop on that will actually take you out of your power zone.

This works for MailChimp too! 50 Aweber List Building Ideas for Bloggers.

SEO

Here’s a thoroughly updated post on The 2012 Guide to Google Webmaster Tools – Analytics Integration, +1 Metrics, and More. And who else could write such a super post other than one of my fave bloggers, Kristi Hines. If you are not following her on Kikolani and doing what she suggests, you’re leaving money on the table.

Social Media Tips

Mari Smith is the Queen of Facebook. She got that way by knowing a little something about building community. In his post, How Mari Smith Uses Graphics to Build Lasting Relationships with Readers, John C. Parker tells you how and why Mari is good at what she does in his review of her latest book The New Relationship Marketing: How to Build a Large, Loyal, Profitable networking Using the Social Web.

Can Social Media Actually Make You Money?  The authors of a new book on this topic certainly think it can. Read the review on Social Media Examiner.

One of the best ways to get your content to spread far and wide on the Internet is to make it easy for your readers to share it with their friends. The Sexy Bookmarks plugin by Shareaholic helps you do just that. It adds social sharing buttons and icons to your posts and pages on your WordPress site. There are a lot of great features in this plugin and this video tutorial will help you make the most of them.

I made a video on this plugin about a year ago, but a lot has changed on social networks including the Share and Like buttons on Facebook, the +1 button on Google, and the new up-and-comer Pinterest. The Sexy Bookmarks plugin has kept pace, but the settings and configuration has become a bit more complex too. In this video, I’ll show you all of the tips and tricks you’ll need to make this plugin a vital tool in online marketing strategy.

Did you find this video tutorial helpful?
It’s the same type of info I teach in my one-on-one WordPress Classes and Video Tutorial Courses.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Stop Ripping People Off

The gist of the SOPA/PIPA bills is to stop copyright infringement. I get that. I have music playing in 14 countries and a hard-copy book that sells globally, but has digital excerpts. I want to be paid when my music is played and my book is read. It cost me a lot of money and time to create those products and make them available.

Copyright is a Global Joke

Copyright law is serious business in the U.S. but is practically non-existent in other countries. I know. I deal with international royalty via ASCAP. And, it’s not just music that gets ripped off. Before the days of DVDs, people in India would go to a movie theatre with their film recorder in hand. The next day their pirated copy was available as a video tape or download in segments. Yeah, the bootleg quality was crap, but getting to see it for free, or a small download fee, eased that pain. Now they just stream the copy they ripped straight off the DVD. At least you used to have to be local to get it. Now it’s available to everyone, everywhere, for a small fee of course.

Starving Artists

I used to get irate when I overheard someone talk about a cool tune they downloaded on Napster. It bothered me to no end that those folks never considered me and my buddies in those conversations. You know, the folks who made those cool tunes. But what bothered me even more was that such a rip-off site like Napster could even exist, or other Torrent file sites that routinely made free software available. No wonder so many of my geek buddies just put their open-source programming stuff out there for free. It was going to get ripped off anyway.

Donate

You want to help put a stop to SOPA/PIPA? Support those who make your world a better place. Stop expecting everything to be for free, like the music you listen to in the background, or the app you’re using. When was the first or last time you donated to a plugin developer? But you thought nothing of plopping down $2.99 on Amazon for an ebook that you’ll read and delete. The author makes about a quarter on that purchase, by the way. Amazon is the one getting rich.

Enforce the Law on Yourself

You know that cool YouTube video you just saw and want to share? Don’t spread it around if it has copyrighted material in it, like a song by a famous artist as background music. It’s against the law to publish and distribute such material, and that’s the sort of thing SOPA/PIPA wants to stop. There are already laws for that and you need to stop breaking them too.

It’s not okay. If you think it is, you put $10K and a year of your life into creating something and then watch it show up on YouTube for free and see how you feel. This is what I mean about responsible monitoring. Enforce and follow the laws that we already have. And that book you just shared with your whole family – how many sales did the author miss due to your generosity? Think about it.

International Flow of Info

The Internet has helped create an interactive global society. We don’t just hear about the news in other parts of the world, we can get the word directly from the guy who lives on that street. We can also get those bootleg movies from him too. And that’s another arm of the SOPA bill. It wants to stop the transmission of info from servers that distribute that stuff. Well, pirated material is not all the info they transmit. That’s the problem with SOPA. When you read about Google trying to get into China, SOPA may turn that into Google trying to get info into the U.S. That’s a problem. A big one.

Why I’m Against SOPA/PIPA

I already make a ton of the content I create free. I don’t like having my purchase products stolen and others profiting from the sale. I don’t like my buddies living as starving artists/programmers either. But I don’t like the reach of SOPA/PIPA even more. In fact, I find it appalling. How about we make this a grass roots effort and police ourselves. Peer pressure goes a long way. Look around your life and see what you’re ripping off and expecting to get for cheap or free. Who created that product and how are they paying their bills? Where did the product originate online? Do you know if somebody was ripped off to deliver it to you?

Start with the One in the Mirror

It’s super easy to hate the government these days. In fact, it’s in vogue. The root of the problem is not something SOPA/PIPA can fix. Thanks to everyone who voiced their concern and took action to sign petitions and contact their congressional representation and helped to put a halt on these bills. Yay us! Now take all of that conviction and put a halt to your complacent attitude that allows the producers of digital media to get ripped off by yourself and those you know.

Featured

How to Build a Blog Editorial Calendar Even if You Don’t Know Where to Start is a good post from Stanford on Pushing Social that will help you create this essential blogging tool. I run a rather flexible editorial calendar for BlogAid because I have to be responsive to changes in online technology and platforms. Still, having a calendar helps me develop arcs to build knowledge and promote specials. Plus it helps give me a big picture view of my site and the topics where I need to focus more attention. Do you use an editorial calendar?

WordPress Plugins

Recently Updated
Akismet has updated every few days since its outage a couple of weeks ago. Don’t be annoyed with the frequent udpates. Be grateful it’s still working. You’d really hate to have to go back to moderating your comments again.

There is a long-standing debate on whether you should use tables or CSS for layout on your site. I’m an old coder and create both from scratch. And I prefer tables for most things. Do you use tables on your site or have you tried the WP Table Reloaded plugin? I tried it, and it does do exactly what it advertises, but what I really needed was a comparison chart type table layout. I just purchased WP Tables and you’ll be seeing the results of it soon.

I’d like to hear from you if you’ve used it or similar table plugins.

Plugins to Check Out
Last week in Tips Tuesday I told you about the P3 plugin to check your site for plugins that may be dragging down load time. This week I found a post on the GD Press Tools plugin for Measuring the Impact of Plugins on WordPress Loading.

WPLift has a nice post with several plugins to add Google Maps to your site. A plugin is great if you need to add different maps often, say to your events in various locations. But a plugin is overkill if you need to just add one map. In that case, simply follow the last set of instructions in the post to easily embed a map.

Blog Tips

Excellent reminder from Claire Wagner on her blog Wagner Writes to Start with the Goal not the Tactics.

A top priority of every successful website owner is to generate subscriptions to their email list. On Smart Passive Income, Pat Flynn has a wonderful post on A Detailed Look at His (Non Aggressive) Email List Strategy.

Have you considered creating PowerPoint slides to present your content in more places on the Internet? Don Campbell has a nice series going on his Expand2Web site on this topic. This is post 6 in the series and is about How to Film PowerPoint Slides Using Jing vs Camtasia.

SEO

Want to know how to use Google Analytics? Learn from the creator. See Google Analytics IQ Lessons.

Everybody wants to know how to get their content noticed by Google? Arnie Kuann has an excellent post on Vertical Measures with 6 Ways to Thicken Your Content. If what he’s saying is true, all of that advice about writing short posts may go out the window. Plus, check your spelling and grammar; it counts. The focus of this post is about featuring products, but it’s good advice for any type of content marketing.

Learn All About Anchor Text on this SEOMoz Whiteboard Friday post.

Social Media Tips

I was happy to see this guest post by Srinivas Rao on How to Create a Custom Focus Group on Google+  because I participate in that group and it’s been very helpful to everyone. I’ve also found listening to Srini’s Blogcast.FM  podcast for the last year a great business resource.

Do you have a favorite podcast? Let us know in the comments below.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

What Makes a Sales Page Work

In online marketing terms, a sales page is also called a landing page. It’s where folks land when they click a link to a product or service you offer. A good landing page is very focused on one thing, which is conversion. The point is to have folks take action on whatever offer is presented. This is known as a call to action. Examples of a call to action are:

• Subscribe to email list
• Subscribe to blog posts
• Make a purchase
• Register for a webinar
• Buy an ebook

Focus Counts

Good landing pages have few to no distractions from the call to action. They usually don’t have sidebars and may only have one link. (Some may repeat the same link a few times, depending on the length of the page.) The point is to focus the reader’s attention and make it very clear what you want them to do.

Your Whole Site Sells Something

Every page on your site has a purpose and that is to convey to the reader that they are in the best place to find what they seek.

Even if each page does not contain a direct call to action, you are still selling yourself as an expert and building confidence in the reader for you, your brand, and your products and services.

The Least Visited Page on BlogAid

You may be shocked to know that the least visited page in the main navigation of BlogAid is the About page and I’ll tell you why – because every other page on the site has already sold the client. They don’t need to check my credentials listed on the About page because they have already found what they were seeking elsewhere on the site and were helped by it.

If every site on your page offers a benefit, solves a problem, meets a need, or just presents you as an honest and knowledgeable resource, folks won’t need to check your About page to determine whether you can help them.

What’s in Your Sidebar?

Your sidebar is very valuable site real estate. For one thing, search engines index it on each page. And, it’s something that readers see on most every page of your site. So, make sure it contains only info that deserves that level of prominence on your site. Don’t clutter it up just to fill the space. Make sure that the info it contains is a valuable call to action.

Cut the Clutter

On pages where the sidebar would distract from your call to action in the main content area of the page, leave it out. Most themes come with a one-column page template. That means that it has no sidebar. You’ll find all of the page templates that your theme offers generally in one of two places. When you’re in the page text editor, look in the right column for a module titled Attributes. You’ll find a drop-down for the Page Template. Or, if you’re using a premium theme like StudioPress, you’ll find a module below the text editor with small images representing the page templates that are available.

Check Your Pages

Have a look at the main pages on your site. Here are a few questions to keep in mind as you browse.

• Are all of the pages formatted to properly promote what you offer?
• Are they focused and to-the-point, or do they have a lot of clutter?
• Do all of them have sidebars?
• Would some be better off without a sidebar?
• Do you use a special template for product landing pages?

Let me know if you see new ways to improve your site and what you want to change in the comments. Let’s have a look at your site together.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

The link referenced in the video to Joost’s excellent article is
http://yoast.com/change-wordpress-permalink-structure/

Did you find this video helpful?
It’s the same type of information I teach in my WordPress classes and Video Tutorial Courses.
Find more free videos on the Resources page.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Hello Happy Site Owners!

Also want to let you know that I have bunches of new WordPress video tutorials on the to-do list and you’ll be seeing one later this week on the changes to permalinks since the release of WordPress 3.3. Are there any topics you’d like to see a vid on? Let me know and I’ll put it on my list.

Featured

One of my goals for BlogAid has been to add teleseminars and webinars, but honestly, I just couldn’t make the time for the learning curve and researching resources. I was thrilled when I received a recent newsletter from Dana Lynn Smith, aka The Savvy Book Marketer, where she announced that she was presenting a webinar on this topic to Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars.

I’ve known Dana for years and I’ll tell you a little secret about her. Dana’s info is so stellar that it works for any type marketing, not just for authors. My standing advice is that if Dana creates it, you get it. So, I’m happy to pass along this link to her upcoming event. I’ll be there, join me. Register now. It’s right around the calendar corner.

WordPress Plugins

Recently Updated
Akismet published an update on the 5th, right on the heels of a brief outage. So, if your blog was suddenly full of spam recently, take note of just how hard Akismet is working for you. And,consider paying for it or making a donation to show your gratitude for not having to clean up all that spam every day.

Plugins to Check Out
Want to include testimonials on your site? Me too. I’m checking out the TB-Tesimonials plugin. It supports a separate template file for single testimonial pages and shortcode to insert testimonials in any post or page. It also has an animated Sidebar Widget, built in documentation and code examples.

Is your site running slow? It might be one of your plugins. But before you start disabling them one at a time, try this tip from Sarah Gooding on WPMU.org site. The plugin is called P3 (Performance Plugin Profiler). It checks each plugin on your site to see how it is affecting your page load time.

WordPress Tip

Got a kid at home that you want to help make $80k/yr and help you with your WordPress site now? Send them to a Word Camp. This 10 year old went and then coded up his first plugin.

Blog Tips

This is the same philosophy that BlogAid runs on. How Getting a Massage is Like Building Trust with a Client.

Wondering why you don’t have much engagement on your posts? Maybe you should ask for it. See this post on Blogging Pro for Blogging Interaction – Don’t be Afraid to Ask for User Engagement.

Nice guest post by Jan Bear on The Savvy Book Marketer for 7 Web Writing Strategies to Help Your Reader Stay Instead of Bouncing Away.

SEO

On Web Marketing Today, Brandon Dennis tells you 5 Ways to Identify Shady SEO Agencies.

This post by Amanda DiSilvestro on Blogging Pro really is a simple way to Finding the Right Keywords for Your Blog in 5 Easy Steps.

Easy to understand post from Kristi Hines on What You Can Learn from Bounce Rate and How to Improve It.

Social Media Tips

Engagement is one of the top priorities for Social Media success. Here are 23 Essential Facebook Page Applications to Improve Fan Engagement in 2012  from Social Media Today.

Akismet is a Must Have

The number one plugin for protecting your blog posts from spam is Akismet. It comes preloaded with WordPress, but you need to get an API key to enable it. (And pay the little bit of money they request and/or make a donation. It’s worth every penny and more compared to the time it saves you moderating comments.)

Plus, Akismet integrates with so many other plugins that you’ll use, like contact forms. It helps protect them from spam too.

Akismet catches everything it thinks is spam and sequesters it for you to moderate. But it’s not perfect. It has a few too many false triggers and places good commentors in the questionable pile too.

Adding G.A.S.P. to the Mix

Early last year I was contacted by the creators of G.A.S.P. (Growmap Anti-Spambot Plugin) who also happen to be the creators of CommentLuv. They asked me to give the plugin a try and I did. I deactivated Akismet first, so I could see how G.A.S.P. performed on its own. I had zero spam caught in the filter, which was great. I spent no time sifting through to find false triggers.

About a month into the trial, catastrophe struck. G.A.S.P. let through a comment that appeared on my site which had a word for a male body part in it that any decent spam filter should catch. I turned red with embarrassment and annoyance that such a thing had happened. So, G.A.S.P. alone was certainly not the answer, but I really enjoyed the lack of false triggers.

Kristi Hines to the Rescue

About a month later I read a post by super blogger, Kristi Hines titled WordPress Comment System, Plugins and Moderation. In the comments, she declared that she used Akismet and G.A.S.P. together. I thought it was odd, but gave it a try. That was in March 2011. It’s now January 2012 and I’m delighted to report that I have very few comments to sift through for false triggers and NOTHING inappropriate gets through to the public. Everything that is caught in the filter is supposed to be there and it’s super easy to bulk delete it.

My .02

It may sound odd to do, but it works. Using Akismet and G.A.S.P. together is a great way to stop comment spam and lighten your load on moderation time. I’ve also decided to close comments on posts that are over a month old. You can find that option in Settings > Discussion. Some say to leave them open forever, and that strategy probably works better for content that is evergreen. But, with techie type content, like the kind on BlogAid, things change rapidly and the info in some posts ages quickly, like every time there is an update to a platform such as WordPress, YouTube, or social media sites.

Your .02

What’s working for you to block comment spam?

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

If you missed the extended hours last week, no worries. You can still get your site reviewed, and still for $25. Visit the Services page for details.

Featured

One of the reasons that I enjoy Sydni Craig-Hart’s blog, Smart Simple Marketing, is because she often includes a specific outline, plan, or worksheet to actually accomplish what she is advising you to do. True to form, you’ll find a plan you can work in her post on How to Market Your Business Consistently to Grow Your Income.

Do you enjoy Tips Tuesday and find it helpful? Share it with your friends!

WordPress Plugins

Would you like to have special sidebars on certain pages? Me too. I’m checking out the Custom Sidebars plugin and will let you know how well it works. It allows you to customize a sidebar from within the post/page editor.

Get this plugins to Show Business Hours in your sidebar.

WordPress Tips

It’s time to update the copyright notice on your site. If you want to add a little code to automate it, check out this how-to on WPMods to Update Copyright Automatically on WordPress.

Jake Rocheleau looks into his crystal ball to tell you the WordPress Design Trends in 2012. I think #1 will be #1. The rest, I don’t know. What do you think?

Blog Tips

This is just too ironic not to share. In his Op-Ed on CrazyEgg titled Does Web Design Matter, Joseph Putnam lists about ten or so reasons folks gave for not liking a website. The ironic part is, the site this post appears on has most of those design elements.

Telling stories is a lost art. Bloggers are bringing it back, and it’s paying them dividends. Check out this post by Judy Dunn on Best Blogging Tips Online for the Most Powerful vut Underused Blogging Strategy is Sticky Storytelling.

ProBlogger, Darren Rowse answers the question When Should You Launch Your New Blog – Complete or On The Go?

This will help get you and your blog started off right in the new year. Three Productvity Tips for Your Blog.

Ready to bring video into your marketing mix? Then you’ll definitely want to catch this interview on Easy Online Video Tips with James Webmore who created the Video Traffic Academy course.

Be sure to read the last paragragh in this post by Jeff Goins on why it’s true of life and your business too on why Writers Can’t Edit Their Own Wrok (and no, that’s not a typo on my part).

Wonderful post by Stanford Smith on Pushing Social about the Surprising Truth About Blogging Every Day.

SEO

Nice post by Sinead on Red Fly Marketing on The Easy Way to Use Google Analytics to Improve Your Website and Conversion. It deals a lot with In-Page analytics, which is something I’ve been wanting to delve into more. This really helped me understand it.

Super post from Kristi Hines on 12 Great Ways to Use Your Business Blog’s RSS Feed. One of my goals this year is to read every post she publishes. Be sure to subscribe to her main site, Kikolani and catch her weekly tips post, Fetching Friday, as well as her monthly post with links to all that she has published that month called Writing Around the Web.

Are you using the rel author code on your site so that Google picks up your avatar in search results? I’ve seen mixed results reported like the ones in this post by Matt McGee on Small Business Search Marketing titled Adding a New Site to Google’s Relauthor Markup Faster Than Expected.

There are a lot of theories out there about the best way to build backlinks. This post from Marcus Sheridan is more along the lines of how I do it. How to Build Links to Your Site Without Selling Your Soul to the Devil.

Social Media Tips

If you use NetworkedBlogs to post to Facebook, folks probably aren’t seeing it anymore. Thanks to Teresa at Social Butterfly Solutions for this nice post. Facebook doesn’t Like NetworkedBlogs. 

Webinars and online workshops are something I’m developing for BlogAid, so I found this post by Daphne Bousquet on Event Stragey Solutions very helpful. It’s the Top 5 Benefits of Social Media for Seminar Marketing.

Are you using Pintrest yet? I’m seeing more and more posts on it. Here’s one from ProBlogger, Darren Rowse about How He Overlooked a 1000 Visitor a Day Source of Traffic and What He Did to Grow it to 3000 Visits a Day.

Jay Baer has some nice InfoGraphics to show you 9 Surprising New Facts About Social Media in America. It also confirms to me why I don’t bother with Twitter.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Database and Site Management

BackupBuddy – entire site backup, malware scanner, and repair tool.

Site Auto Backup – cPanel backup of entire site.

WP Cleanup – to tidy up your database.

Revision Control – to keep post revisions from building up again.

WP Optimize – like WP Cleaner.

Broken Link Checker – crawls site and reports broken links via email.

Theme Authentication Checker (TAC) – Checks for malicious code in theme.

Login Lockdown – Protects against brute force attacks on login page.

Formatting and Layout

TinyMCE Advanced – Advanced rich text editor that is fully customizable.

Ultimate TinyMCE – Advanced rich text editor, but not as customizable.

Pricing Table – Create multiple pricing tables.

Price Table – Create multiple pricing tables.

Contact Forms

Fast and Secure Contact Form – up to four contact forms. Easy to set up and use.

Contact Form 7 – multiple contact forms that can be fully customized.

Gravity Forms – extremely versatile and configurable contact form with PayPal integration.

Social Sharing

SexyBookmarks – add multiple share menu including Twitter, Facebook, Google, Plus One, and a host of other share sites like StumbleUpon and Digg.

Twitter, Facebook, Google, Plus One Share – add multiple share buttons with one plugin.

Social Toolbar – adds toolbar with multiple icons to top of site. Choose colors and icons.

Comments

Akismet – controls comment spam.

Growmap Anti Spambot (GASP) – controls comment spam.

Highlight Comments – differentiates the blog author’s comments in the stream.

CommentLuv – Places a link to your commenters last blog post at the end of their comment and threads comments by reply.

SEO

WordPress SEO – by Yoast – complete SEO for entire site, including XML site map.

All in One SEO Pack – complete SEO for entire site.

Analytics

Google Analyticator – installs correct code for Google Analytics on your site and includes analytics snapshot module in the WordPress Dashboard.

Google Analytics – by Yoast – installs correct code for Google Analytics on your site and includes tracking for ecommerce.

XML Sitemap

Google XML Sitemap – auto-generates an XML map of your site.

Google XML Sitemap for Videos – generates an XML map for all videos on your site.

File Manager

WP Download Manager – allows you to upload files and the pro version allows you to sell them too.

WordPress Downloads Monitor – upload and manage downloads, tracking download hits, and displaying link.

Redirects

Redirection – 301 redirects.

Under Construction

Under Construction – displays special page to non-logged in viewers while site is being worked on.

Custom Coming Soon Page – displays special page to non-logged in viewers while site is being worked on.

Events

EventBrite – extensive tools to manage, promote, and sell your event.

Events Manager – event registration management. Will be integrating PayPal soon.

Ajax Event Calendar – localized community calendar that allows authorized users to manage events in custom categories.

All in One Event Calendar – event calendar system with month, week, agenda views, upcoming events widget, color-coded categories, recurrence, and import/export of .ics feeds.

Google Calendar Events – Parses Google Calendar feeds and displays the events as a calendar grid or list on a page, post or widget.

Stout Google Calendar – Customizable calendar that allows you to embed Google Calendar events on your site.

Image Gallery

NextGen – allows you to create multiple slideshows on your site.

Photo Space – adds any image attached to a post or a page to the gallery.

AnythingSlider – combines features found in several jQuery sliders into a single package.

Video Playlist and Image Gallery – Post video players, slideshow albums, photo galleries and music / podcast playlist.

Multiple Galleries – Create multiple galleries on a single page.

Premium Featured Posts Slider – multiple post types and layouts.

Video

CaptionBox – Allows you to add a scrolling transcript below your video.

TubePress – Versatile and customizable video gallery.

Viper’s Video Quicktags – Embed videos from multiple sources.

Vimeo Shortcode – Embeds videos from Vimeo.

StudioPress

StudioPress Plugins – Plugins that are made specifically to run on the Genesis framework.

Misc

WP Touch – Creates a mobile-friendly version of your blog. Also has Pro version.

Post Type Column Editor – Control the type of columns in post or page list.

Microkid’s Related Posts – searchable related posts that are reciprocal.

Yet Another Related Post Plugin – Display a list of related entries on your site and feeds based on a unique algorithm.

WP E-commerce – Customizable shopping cart plugin to sell items and digital media from your site.

What’s Your Favorite?

Is your favorite plugin on this list? If not, let us know what it is and why.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

The SOPA Saga

SOPA stands for the Stop Online Piracy Act that is currently making its way through the U.S. Congress. While on the surface it sounds like a great way to protect online copyright, some folks are very concerned about how much power the government will have to censor what the public can view online.

For a brief time, GoDaddy jumped on board in support of SOPA and called for all others in the online industry to do the same. When the public outcry reached their corporate ears, they quickly withdrew their support and reversed their stance. It was too little, too late and they are suffering the consequences in loss of business.

GoDaddy and Web Hosting

I removed GoDaddy from my preferred vendor list of WordPress hosting providers for one simple reason. My clients usually call me first for support when anything happens to their site. I got too many calls for sites on GoDaddy.

Plus, they don’t allow some of the security features I manually install, which is another reason for me to drop them from my preferred list.

GoDaddy Tonight

I constantly warn off new site owners from using DIY templates, including GoDaddy’s Website Tonight platform. Everything about it is proprietary and you have to jump through some hoops when you want to move to WordPress and/or to another host.

Shady SEO Practices

Another reason to get off the Website Tonight platform is because GoDaddy is using it to bump their own rankings with shady SEO practices. Check this post on Yoast.com about GoDaddy’s Link Building practices.

Email Running Late

Unlike the postal service who delivers in any weather, GoDaddy has a nasty reputation for delivering emails late – by days at times. If you run a business, you can’t afford to miss your emails like that.

GoDaddy for Domains

Even though I don’t care for their hosting service, GoDaddy is good for domains. I have several registered with them and don’t intend to move them just yet. But, my site files are located elsewhere. So, it is perfectly possible to have your domain registered in one place, and your site hosting account somewhere else.

Ready to Go Yet?

If your WordPress site is hosted on GoDaddy, I can help you move it in a quick and painless manner. If you’re on the Website Tonight platform, you’ll have to jump through a few more hoops, but I can help you out of that situation too. Contact me directly and I’ll tell you how to get your site with a better hosting company.

If you also want a little WordPress training or a site consultation to go with your move, have a look at these specials too. New Site Owner Specials. The same rates apply to existing site owners moving to a new host.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Hello Happy Site Owners!

Plus, if you’re thinking of changing themes, get the 2-hour consultation and we’ll cover SEO and content, plus your theme layout and see what needs to be changed to help you go BIG in 2012.

Featured

This post title by Marco Saric on his How to Make My Blog site speaks for itself. It’s 12 Tips to Make 2012 Your Best Blog Year Yet.

WordPress Plugins

Plugins to Check Out

The Download Manager plugin that allows you to upload files and the pro version allows you to sell them too.

Do you run events? You may be interested in this Event Calendar plugin. It will soon be integrated with PayPal too.

WordPress Tips

Do you have a lot of images on your site that would look great in a gallery? Tired of hard-to-use plugins for it? Here’s how to add an image gallery without a plugin.

Free incentives are a great way to get more subscribers to your email list. Here’s a nice post by Rob Cubbon on How to Place an Aweber Sign Up Form with Bbook Incentive in Your Sidebar.

Blog Tips

This is a blogging technique that I use and it works well for creating posts that lead to a more consistent message and/or lead up to a special that you’re offering. James Dunaway on Blogging Pro tells you Why Creating an Editorial Calendar Should be a Priority.

I know it’s not a popular topic, but your online business is subject to the same taxes as having a job working for someone else. But now, you’re taking all the liability risks. See this guest post on ProBlogger for How to Avoid Legal Trouble and Income Tax Fines and Penalties as a Blogger.

This daily tip from WPMU.org on how to Go from 30 Views to 22,000 with this Simple Action got my attention. It’s about using SlideShare. So, I dug around and found a few other links to help me get started including the Slideshare plugin from Yoast and this post on Pushing Social for 7 Ways to Use SlideShare to Get More Blog Traffic.

Are you making things easier or better for your clients? In his post on Smashimg Magazine, Paul Scrivens says Easier is Better than Better and I believe him.

How would you like to write books and never have to pitch or sell yourself again? Then read this post by Jeff Goins with Every Writer’s Dream and an ebook that will help you make it reality.

Social Media Tips

Is your audience visually driven? We all know that including images in your posts on Facebook is more eye-catching. But look what happened when Problogger Darren Rowse tweaked how the image displayed in his post. Read How I got 18 Times More Likes on a Facebook Update.

Twitter has been redesigned to look more like Facebook. What Does the Huge Twitter Redesign Mean for Brands and Business?

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

One Main Product

Pears are the cornerstone product of the Harry and David offerings. To that they have added things that compliment pears, such as nuts, gourmet sweets, preserves, and ham.

Take away: Focus on becoming known for being the best at one thing. Make it the cornerstone of your business. Add complimentary products and services as you go, but always remember to “dance with the one that brought you there.”

Package Combos

The Harry and David catalogue may make you think they offer a lot of different things. What they really offer are a lot of different packages of a limited number of things.

Take away: Create a limited number of products and package them in multiple ways to fit your client’s needs. Make an entry level, a mid level, and a whole shebang level. You can have multiple packages at each level too, just like Harry and David have in their catalogue. You’ll find multiple packages of different items all in the same price range.

Give a Taste

Have you ever visited a Harry and David store? If you do, I bet they’d be happy to give you a sample of their tasty treats.

Take away: Use your blog to give a taste of your products or services to your audience. Create delectable content. Your readers will crave more and they’ll bring their friends for a taste too. You can also make free products or information available to download. When you do, be sure to include a link to your site on it and encourage folks to share it.

Wrap It Up, I’ll Take It

Promotion is about packaging your products or services and putting pretty bows on them in ways that entice clients to contact you. If you follow the Harry and David approach, you can find multiple ways to combine your resources into valuable bundles that meet each client’s needs and price range.

What I’ve Seen on Every Site

I’ve been booked up to my eyeballs helping folks get their site on a solid foundation prior to updating to WordPress 3.3. Here’s what I’ve seen on every single site:

• Security that could be a hacker’s playground.
• Plugins that are fighting with each other to do the same job.
• Inadequate backup, or one that’s stored where any hacker could find it.

The 20-Point Inspection

In this live 30 minute consultation with you, I’ll check your:

• Site security
• Plugins
• Database health
• Best backup solution

Via secure desktop screen sharing, you’ll see everything I’m checking and I’ll make a master list as we go of what’s okay on your site and what needs attention and then send you the list immediately.

You won’t need to share any passwords or login information.

Schedule Now

You can book any time between now and the end of the year. I’m running extended hours during the week between the holidays to accommodate folks from around the globe. I’ve already made this available to the BlogAid News subscribers, and slots are filling up fast. So, you’ll want to jump on this right away to ensure you get the time that is most convenient for you. (International calls via Skype.)

Schedule Your Site Inspection Now!

Don’t Keep Putting it Off

Tending to what’s under the hood of your site is a chore most folks put off like cleaning the hall closet. It’s something they’ll get around to someday. Well, here’s your chance to take the chore and the scary out of it. Get a geek buddy to help you.

More Options

Some folks like taking the full DIY approach to their site, and some like to have the more techie aspects handled by a geek. That’s why I also regularly offer a 2-hour Site Evaluation and Review consultation for $95 that includes the 20-point inspection plus SEO. We’ll have time to fix many of the issues right on the spot and you can decide what you want to do or have me do to finish putting your site on a firm foundation.

When you schedule for the Site Review, you’ll have the opportunity to select either. Just be sure to use the drop-down above the calendar for either the default 30 minute consultation, or select 2 hours.

Peach of Mind

The one thing I keep hearing from my clients is a sigh of relief when they know their site is on a solid foundation. And they know how to keep it that way. That’s why I’m here – to help you become a confident and successful site owner.

Here’s what Claire, of Wagner Writes has to say about her site review:

Although my blog worked well when it was originally built, my backup and security options had become almost inoperable over time. And the relationships between my theme and several key plug-ins had deteriorated to the point that they were no longer speaking! I had no idea that this is actually a common occurrence. It left my blog vulnerable and I was completely at a loss about how to fix it because, like most bloggers, I’m a writer, not a coder.

MaAnna meticulously researched each plug-in, including all of the backup options that were no longer functional, and untangled the relationships. She made an inventory and showed me how to deactivate, test, and then delete what was not needed. She also found the best backup and security options. Thanks to her, I’m not going to lose years of good writing and good will with my audience. I can’t thank her enough! Go get some BlogAid for your site today!

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Hello Happy Site Owners!

Do you enjoy Tips Tuesday? Share it with your friends!

Featured

We’re coming to year’s end and that’s a good time to review how you’ve done online. I really appreciate this post from Sydni Craig-Hart on her Smart Simple Marketing blog on Evaluating your End of Year Success. It has links to several worksheets you can download that will help you get a fair and balanced picture of your successes and how you got there, plus ways to learn from what could use a bit of tweaking.

WordPress Plugins

Included recently updated and plugins to check out, plus news on the plugins I’m trying.

Recently Updated
The new text editor can be accessed by anything now, so expect to see plugins with widgets making more use of it.

Shortly after the release of WordPress 3.3, bunches of plugins were updated, including TinyMCE Advanced.

And the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin was updated too. It is one of my faves. IMHO it’s far better than the All in One SEO plugin. If you want to switch, there’s an easy way to import your AIO settings. But honestly, this plugin offers so much more, you’ll want to review all the settings to take full advantage of the features. It really has made a difference to my SEO.

Plugins to Check Out
In last week’s Tips Tuesday I told you about a revision plugin that had a whale fail the first time I tried it, so I went back to my tried and true WP-Cleaner plugin. I recently found the Revision Control plugin and I’m going to give it a try. Will let you know how it works.

Media File Manager allows you to easily make subfolders for your images, which is great for SEO if the images tell the story on your site, like photography site. However, this is overkill for typical site users. There are recent reports of this plugin not working on older versions of PHP, which WordPress is no longer supporting anyway, so no worries.

WordPress Tips

I use Amazon Simple Storage Service, or AS3 as it’s known, to store the WordPress Video tutorials for the BlogAid video courses. If you have ever wondered what cloud computing is, in particular AS3, then you’ll want to read integrating Amazon S3 with WordPress by Sameer Borate on Smashing Magazine. It’s a great article, but I still don’t understand the pricing structure.

Blog Tips

Super post by Vail Joy on Web Designer Depot on how to Optimize Your Blog RSS Feed. And, she cites two of my fave tools, which are Feedburner and the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast.

Need to increase your site conversions? Then you’ll enjoy Todd Follansbee’s post on 6 Quick Ways to Increase Conversions. Be sure to read #4 to see what 47% of visitors measure to make decisions about site credibility.

Verticle Measures has a nice post on Link Building – The First 90 Days. I haven’t really tried article marketing and press releases for BlogAid, although I’ve had good experience with them on other sites, but that was pre-Panda. Do you use either of those tactics with success?

I’m delighted to say that I can answer yes to this question asked by Pat Flynn on his Smart Passive Income blog. Are You Giving Instant Results? You Should, and Here’s Why. One way I do it is through quick WordPress video tutorials. How do you give instant results on your site?

Not sure Gerald Weber’s post on Social Media Today is titled correctly as Is Blogging a Waste of Content? because it’s the blog posts that are creating the content for the thing he’s advocating, which are more Resource Pages.

SEO

Seo Here are 10 Affordable Search Engine Optimization Tips from Lisa Mavridis on List Eruption. They are in the order that works best. The problem is, most folks don’t do the very first one.

According to Yoast, sites don’t rank, pages do. His advice is Using Cornerstone Content to make your Site Rank. By the way, ProBlogger, Darren Rowse calls this “pillar content” and tells you how to create it in his First Week of Blogging book.

Social Media Tips

Facebook has a new Subscribe button for your website. The problem is that it has nothing to do with your Facebook business page or your website. It let’s folks subscribe to your personal profile, and only if you’re already friends. Not seeing the point in this and won’t be using it.

Facebook is also running a trial on private messaging for biz pages. Personal profiles already have this. I’m hoping they release it. I see it as another call-to-action button. When folks see something I post and want to contact me for a service, they can without having to look for any other contact link. However, I’m wondering if this will be abused by spammers and/or make it tough on page owners to keep up with threads, like they can do when someone emails them through their site.

If you’re confused about the difference in a Follow and Share button, you’re not alone. Getting the right social media buttons on your site is essential. Here’s a nice overview from the folks at HubSpot with The Ultimate cheat Sheet for Creating Social Media Buttons.

Now that you have the new Facebook Timeline, here’s how to optimize it. See the Facebook Timeline Guide from Mashable.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Mistake 1: I need to pick a theme first.

You need to choose a theme last, after you have developed your content and have some understanding of how WordPress works. Otherwise you’ll spend hours, days, and weeks going from dazzled to dazed because you’re choosing based on looks alone and out of context to the shape and style that will most enhance your content and appeal to your target audience.

Developing your content first serves two purposes. One, it helps you gain clarity on the message you want to promote online. And two, it gives you an idea of the shape of your content, which is critically important in choosing a compatible theme.

Developing content is the top stumbling block most new site owners experience that holds up the entire process of them getting a site published online.

Once you have your content created and learn how to use WordPress to format and place it for max SEO and conversion, you’ll be expertly qualified to choose an appropriate theme.

Mistake 2: I need to get a domain and hosting right away.

You can get a domain anytime and park it without getting hosting. Putting all of your online ducks in a row and making a site ready to publish can take anywhere from one to six months. There’s no point in paying for hosting until you’re ready to publish your site. (Read How You Hurt Your SEO by Getting Hosting and Domain Too Soon)

Mistake 3: It’s better to get domain and hosting from my theme designer and let them handle all of the techie stuff.

This is one of the most costly mistakes I see new site owners make. First, you won’t have any of the security info to access your domain and hosting directly.

Second, if you need support and the designer is on vacation, who are you going to call?

Third, unless it’s written in the contract, you don’t own the copyright to your site or your domain, the designer does. What do you think will happen when you want to move? Most designers are good folk, but I’ve seen too many clients who lost everything, site and domain, when they informed their designer they were ready to move the site to another host.

Mistake 4: I can install WordPress myself.

Yes, you can, using the handy 1-click installation so many hosts offer. Unfortunately, your site will have multiple security holes that almost any hacker can slip through. (See my post on why the WordPress 1-Click Installation is Not Secure.)

And, that’s the same type of installation you get when the host does it for you too!

Get a real geek to set it up right the first time. It’s a lot cheaper and easier than redoing it later, especially after you’ve been hacked. (See how you can get secure, turnkey WordPress installation free. If you already have a site, get a 20-point Site Evaluation and Review to ensure that it passes muster.)

Mistake 5: I can figure out how to use WordPress on my own for free.

Yes, you can. And, you can waste hours and days running all over YouTube looking for free videos that could be out of date or make you learn things out of order.

WordPress is a powerful content management system. Making pages and blog posts are only the tip of the iceberg to getting your content online, read, and acted upon.

There are four elements in the text editor alone that folks either don’t use or abuse that radically impact their SEO and how long viewers stay on their site. If you don’t know what they are, you’re not harnessing the full power of WordPress or best SEO practices.

Avoid Costly Mistakes

I help folks become confident, successful site owners and avoid costly pitfalls that lead to wasting a year of their time and a whole lot of money. Have a look at the Portfolio page. You’ll find several second time site owners who wish they had found BlogAid at the get-go, and bunches of first time site owners who are glad they did.

Then have a look at the WordPress Training classes page and the Video Tutorial courses and see how inexpensively you can get the training you need to become a confident, successful site owner.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

Hello Happy Site Owners!

Do you enjoy Tips Tuesday? Share it with your friends!

Featured

The end of the year is quickly approaching and that’s great for your site. Check out this nice post by Marco Saric on How to Make My Blog for How to Use the Year End to Grow Your Blog Traffic and Subscribers.

WordPress Plugins

Recently Updated

The TinyMCE Advanced plugin has been recently updated and this is one of my fave must-have plugins. It’s an advanced text editor that gives you so many more formatting options than the default editor that comes with WordPress. If you want to know how to properly set this plugin up and get the most out of it, see the Short Course video tutorial.

Fast and Secure Contact Form has been recently updated. If you need help setting this form up, see the Short Course video tutorial.

I’ve been using the Broken Link Checker plugin on BlogAid for about a month. It places a notification on your Dashboard and a circle with a number in it in your Tools sublink. It is a great little plugin and even sends you an email to let you know when it has found something.

Plugins to Check Out

Want to add an Events calendar to your site? Here are two plugins you should check out. Ajax Event Calendar and the All In One Event Calendar.

WP Cleanup plugin

Last week in Tips Tuesday I told you that I would be checking out the Revision Cleaner plugin. Well, scratch it off the list. Gave me an error the first time I used it. Not to mention that setting the interval is a bit of a guessing game. For now I’ll be sticking with the WP-Cleanup plugin. To the left is a screenshot of it.

I know it’s hard to see the table below, but it includes details on what all of the colors in the pie chart show. The darkest blue is good data. The next big chunk represents all of the revisions I allowed to pile up so I could test the new plugin. The table below also allows you to select exactly the files that you want to clean up. There is only one thing I don’t like about this plugin. There is no way to automate it so that revisions don’t pile up in the first place that you have to remember to manually delete. If you’re using a revisions plugin that works well, leave a comment here and let us know.

Blog Tips

Practicing this for so many years has made me a better writer, speaker, and teacher. Blogging like you Speak vs Blogging Conversationally.

You’ve heard the axiom, “Know thyself.” in online marketing success, it’s, “Know thy audience” as attested to in Pawel Reszka’s guest post on Successful and Outstanding Bloggers about Motivational Triggers: Ninja Secrets to Increasing Conversions.

This is good, but I’m not sure the title is correct. Yes, it tells how to avoid duplicate content penalties, but be sure to see the lower half for a list of ways to get tons of extra mileage from the very same article. Dealing with Google’s Duplicate Content Penalties Without Doubling Your Workload.

Interesting post on Why You Shouldn’t Strive to Become Another Viral YouTube Partner. They also cite a case couple of real-world case studies to back it up and the difference in a brand going video vs an individual.

Do you have an email newsletter? BlogAid does and I always give subscribers first dibs and sneak peeks on all specials and new stuff like video tutorials. This is a good post from John Jantsch on his Duct Tape Marketing blog with 5 Ways to Make an Email Newsletter Your Best Sales Tool.

SEO

If you’re a visually oriented person, you’ll enjoy this post on Vertical Measures with plenty of screenshots on the new Flow Visualization of Visitor and Conversion Reports in Google Analytics.

Right now you can elect to use either the old or new version of Google Analytics. But the old version of will turn off in January. Racheal Gerson has a nice post on Mashable Tech with lots of screenshots to help you get familiar with Google Analytics New Features and she urges that you go ahead and switch.

Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion, has a post you should do, not just read. It’s The Most Common Business Blogging and SEO Mistake in the World.  Pay attention to one thing in particular. Under the examples, Marcus shows you the rank of the long-tail keyword. It helps to know that first and then tailor your post to what folks are searching for in the first place.

If you’re just getting started with SEO, you’ll really appreciate this nice video from Don Campbell on Expand2Web on WordPress SEO for Beginners.

Social Media Tips

Run a non-profit? Shelly Kramer has a very nice post on V3 Integrated Marketing on How to Use Google+ for Your Nonprofit.

Have you seen folks with a Facebook biz page ask what seems like a silly question that is totally unrelated to their product, like what color shirt are you wearing? They get massive engagement on questions like that and it drives up their rankings. Here’s a post on Social Media Today titled The Question is the Answer: Social Media Content Defined that bears out why this strategy works.

The evidence is mounting and more folks are telling Why You Should Boycott Klout Now. And if that’s not enough to convince you, read Klout – My story of Why Opting Out was My Only Choice from Liz Strauss. And this one from Social Media Today to Delete Your Klout Profile Now.

Tech Tips

John J has an additional 5 Ways to Make the Incredibly Useful Dropbox Even More Useful in his Ducttape Marketing post.

Speaking of DropBox, I’ve updated the free report on How to Backup Your WordPress Site with details on limitations of using DropBox for your backup.

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and mashes up her background in both the techie and artsy worlds to teach non-geeks, small businesses, solopreneurs, authors, artists, and other creative folks the ways of WordPress.

 

Chat with MaAnna on Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn