blogging

  1. New Facebook WordPress Plugin

    By now, you are well aware of Facebook and its plethora of cohorts like Twitter, Google and other social media sites. And, if you are an avid user of Facebook, you also know that Facebook is always changing or adding features-some of these are loved, and others, maybe not so much. 😉 But recently Facebook has released a plugin that, as a business owner you will want to take advantage of – the Facebook Plugin for WordPress.

  2. 3 Tips for Video Blogging

     

     

    Hi – I’m Alex with Your Local Studio. I read Page Progressive’s blog posts, just like you do ‘cause Daniel Trimpey is one of my trusted resources for staying current with WordPress, SEO and internet marketing.

    Have you read his post about bullet-proofing your wordpress site?  I recommend taking a look at that one…  In another blog post Daniel wrote in May, he listed 6 basic terms in web design.  One of them was blogging.  He said to “Keep in mind that a blog needs to have new content added at least once a month.”

    Do you have a blog on your website? Are you adding new content every month?

    What about adding a video post?

  3. Link Building: What Websites and Cities Have in Common

    Every city is different.  Some have multiple
    opportunities for adventure, others are known for a certain culture,
    and some are known for particular types of commerce, but they all have
    one commonality – numerous streets, highways and interstates bringing
    traffic in and out of them. A well-marketed website has a lot of similarities
    with a city. The roads leading into and out of the city are comparable
    to links on a website. And just as having more roads facilitates more
    traffic for a city, the more links to your website, the greater the
    traffic as well, resulting in greater revenue for you.

    Implementing Link Building

    A web link is a connection from one web
    site to another, or even another place in the same website. Link building
    is the process of building a large quantity of incoming links. "Incoming"
    means that another website links to your website, and not the other
    way around. Effective link building is best done by using the following
    approach:

    1. Set aside a regular block
      of time to dedicate to link building.
      Although link building is
      not tremendously complicated, it does take time. In addition, it is
      critical to consistently review your link building and actively seek
      more links on a regular basis. Unfortunately, link building is never
      "done" as there are always more things you can do to build
      links, so setting up a regular time devoted to link building will enable
      you to avoid getting complacent with your link building efforts.
    2. Evaluate link building
      partners. 
      Use tools like the Google Toolbar (with page rank enabled) which identifies what
      search engines think of a sites quality/reputation. The higher the page
      ranks (from 0-10) the more a link from that site to yours is worth in
      boosting your search engine ranking. Just like a positive referral from
      a previous employer would be more valuable to your resume than a referral
      from your mom, websites also have varying levels of value.

      Find potential link building partners
      by searching for phrases that you would like to rank for. You want to
      look for reputable sites, such as professional organizations that offer
      articles and news posts on their site. Then write an article and submit
      it to them to use. If they approve your article, they will most likely
      be happy to credit you at the bottom with a link back to your website.

    1. Use directory services
      such as the
      DMOZ Open Directory Project and the Yahoo Directory. These sites feed thousands of other
      directories, so being listed in them will result in building a mountain
      of incoming links to your site over time.
    2. Set up a blog. This
      is one of the best ways to build traffic to your site. It is done by
      creating a lot of good content that other people would want to link
      to. A blog is a great way to informally build pages of content to your
      site over time. Make sure to have your web developer install the blog
      locally on your site if possible (i.e. website.com/blog), rather
      than using a free external blog to get maximum results.
    3. Post articles and press
      releases.
      A great way to build links is by writing articles and
      press releases then posting them on numerous article syndication or
      press release websites.
    4. Use social media. Social
      media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn all can be used
      to build more traffic to your site. Experiment with a few social media
      sites, find one that you like and dive in. Become an active participant
      – read posts, answer people’s questions, actively look for opportunities
      to link to other people and for opportunities to promote your blog or
      other articles. However, be careful not to come across as only caring
      about promoting yourself as nothing will turn people off faster than
      that.
    5. Be patient!
      Link building is an ongoing process and it can take time to reap the
      benefits of your hard work, but rest assured that if you keep at it
      you will find significant boosting for your site on search engines.
      And the best part is that most of these things don’t cost you a penny.

    Forms of Link Building:

    There are several forms of link
    building to consider.

    • Contextual links– These are links that are found within large blocks of content. These types of links have high value to search engines.
    • Cross linking – When 2 or more websites simply exchange links, but the sites do not have any relevance
      to one another and is done only for the sake of building links;
      although this used to be a valid and commonly used link building
      practice year ago, this is not highly recommended anymore as the links
      often cancel each other out as far as page rank is concerned.
    • Deep linking– Deep links are links that go to a subpage within a site rather than the site’s home page. These are very valuable when link building.
    • External links– External links simply mean they are linking to a website other than your own.
    • Link bait- Targeting,
      creating, and formatting content to encourage others to direct links to
      that specific page. Often this is done with polls, contests, really
      good content or other materials that other pople find valuable.

    When you take the time to implement link
    building, the roads into your city can become numerous. Yes, link building can be time consuming, but link building is one of
    the keys to high page rankings. The key is to get started, jump in and manage your time wisely!

  4. Blogging on Blogging

    Well, I’m sitting in a workshop on blogging this morning. Although I’ve been blogging for years, I figured it’s always a good idea to keep learning and it never fails to surprise me how much there is to know, even on a topic that you consider yourself an expert in. I figured I’d take the opportunity to blog about it 🙂 The speaker for this event was Denise Tawwab and you can check out her website here: http://ncconnected.org

    The bad news – In the pre "Web 2.0" world, when customers or
    clients were disgruntled, they would typically call your support number
    and let you know…and perhaps, at worst, tell a few of their friends.
    But with the current online social media phenomena, if you make a
    client unhappy, they are only a few clicks away from telling the whole
    world about it. And posts on the internet never go away.

    The good news
    – Because of the accessibility, you can wield the power to promote your
    company in a very large arena with a very small budget. All it takes is
    your time.

    Types of Blogs:

    1. CEO Blog – this is when the owner of a company blogs, usually for promoting the business or industries related to the business
    2. Executive Blog – Just like #1, but involves a group of people
    3. Group Blog – When any group of people share a blog
    4. Company – supported Blog – When employees are encouraged to blog internally to the company
    5. Topical Blog – Blogging on a particular topic (duh!)
    6. Promotional Blog – Blogging for the purpose of promoting something
    7. Advocacy Blog – Blogging for the purpose of raising awareness about something

    Links:
    http://www.technorati.com
    http://blogsearch.google.com
    http://blogpulse.com
    http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com

    For 50 Power Tips for Blogging, view Denise’s blog here: http://denisetawwab.wordpress.com