Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

WordPress in an Hour

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In this video, I show you the basics of getting a WordPress site installed and customized. We start with a one-click WP installation, then go through the menu items on the dashboard so you know what you need to do first and what options are available for your site, now and in the future.

Some of the things you will learn include where and how to set up your site, changing the theme, what plugins and widgets are (and which ones you should install) and more.

Don’t be afraid of WordPress! You need to have an online presence, and WP is one of the easiest ways to do that.

Sign up for my free IdeaLady Insider to get notified of future trainings. Watch for lots of useful webinars coming soon!

Here are some of the resources mentioned in the video:

Set up your site at http://MyFavoriteWebhost.com/

Recommended plugins:

WordPress SEO by Yoast
Jetpack
WordPress Zero-Spam
BackWPup Free
Google XML Sitemaps (not needed with Yoast SEO)
Google Analytics by Yoast
Contact Form 7
Pretty Link
Digg Digg

Do You Make These 7 Blogging Mistakes?

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From the Latin, meaning, "my bad."
From the Latin, meaning, “my bad.”

Blogging is an effective way to build your web presence, connect with customers and help new customers discover you. But all is not perfect in the land of blogs. Here are 7 common business blogging mistakes that you need to avoid.

1. Bizarre Design and Layout

It won’t matter how good your posts are if your blog is tacky or confusing. Make sure the colors, style and layout fit with your target market. Also watch out for off-putting features such as distracting flashing graphics, pop-ups and loads of ads. Make it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for.

Take a look at websites and blogs in your niche to get ideas. Look at the colors and design features that they employ. Use the type of design that your readers will expect to see. [Read more…]

Keep Your Blog Running Smoothly

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Image by Wikiuser100000 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
By Wikiuser100000 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Your car will run for a while if you don’t change the oil, never get a tune-up and ignore a glowing “check engine” light. But if you go too long without performing at least basic maintenance, your car will eventually stop performing and let you down. The same goes for your blog.

Much like a car, a blog is a complex system. To maintain it, you need to keep the software up to date, regularly add content, interact with your readers and more.

Here are some of the most important things you need to do to keep your blog running smoothly.

#1: Update WordPress

WordPress is frequently updated. Although some of these updates are fairly minor, many of them include critical security features. Hackers may find weaknesses in the code which they can use to hack into your blog and do damage.

Updating your WordPress installation literally takes seconds. Make sure you update it whenever you see WordPress prompting you to do so.

#2: Keep Plugins Up to Date

Along with updating WordPress itself, it is important to keep other components current, too. Though the WordPress core installation can pose a security risk, the reality is that the vast majority of WordPress hacks come from compromised plugins.

Most people don’t realize that a single compromised plugin can not only result in their entire WordPress installation getting hacked, but having every other WordPress installation on their entire server getting hacked as well.

Updating your plugins is easy. Just go to the plugins panel and click on “Update Available.”

Then click “Update Automatically” under the plugin you want to update.

Update your plugins to their newest versions whenever possible.

#3: Backup Your Site Frequently

Backing up your WordPress installation regularly protects you against losing your data. If your site ever gets wiped out, you can simply do a restore. If your hosting company suddenly crashes and loses your data, you can just re-upload everything from scratch. Or if you do something stupid (Did I ever tell you about the day I accidentally deleted my husband’s blog?) it only takes a few minutes to get everything back online.

Backing up your data is made easy by the myriad of different backup plugins available. Pick a backup system that allows you to automate backups so you do not even have to remember to do a backup.

How often should you run a backup? That depends on how often you update your site. If you add content a few times a week, then a weekly backup may be fine. However, if you add content every day, or multiple times a day, you should backup daily. Also, it is a good idea to run a backup after making major changes.

#4: Moderate Your Comments

Comment moderation is important in order to keep spammy comments off of your site and interact with your readers. It is also highly time sensitive.

If you want to maintain a strong relationship between you and your readers, you need to moderate your blog comments quickly. People should never feel like they’re being ignored, especially after spending a lot of time to write out a thoughtful comment.

Try to moderate your comments at least every 24 hours, if not every 3, 8 or 12 hours. Never, ever let real comments sit unmoderated for more than 48 hours, or you’re either going to lose that reader for good, or they’ll stop commenting and become a passive participant.

One possibility is to let a plugin, such as Akismet or Defensio, cull the obvious spam comments, and let all other comments post without moderation. You can then review the posted comments (or have your assistant do so) and delete any spam comments that slipped through. That way legitimate commenters do not have to wait to see their comments appear, but spam doesn’t clutter up your posts.

#5: Get Rid of Broken Links

Checking for broken links is something you should do at least every few months.

Most bloggers include links in their posts as well as having a blogroll or other groups of links on their blogs. The majority of those links will still work even months and years from today. But some of them won’t.

If a page you link to goes down, that reflects badly on you. Users who click on a broken link on your site will instantly view you as less credible. They might also get frustrated, because there was a resource they wanted to access that they couldn’t get to.

To avoid broken link issues, scan your site for broken links every few months. When you find a broken link, try to replace it with a comparable resource. If you can’t find other useful resources, then just unlink that hyperlink.

Source: http://brokenlinkcheck.com

#6: Check Your RSS Feeds

Check to make sure your RSS feeds are working properly. Check on several different clients, including Google Reader and a desktop client. Sometimes feeds can work in one reader but not another. If something in your RSS feeds isn’t working as expected, you want to know sooner rather than later.

Make it easy for people to subscribe to your RSS feed by making the subscribe options obvious.

#7: Check Your Stats

Are you getting more visitors or fewer? Where do your visitors come from? Are there specific pages on your site that people seem to be bouncing out of?

Which posts are most popular? What kinds of headlines seem to catch their attention and get a longer stay? What kind of keywords are people searching for to land on your website?

Your stats, from Google Analytics or a program offered by your hosting company, such as AWStats or Webalizer, can provide answers to these questions and others. Your analytics will help you figure out what your audience likes and doesn’t like, so you can give them more of what they want.

#8: Stay on Message

Review all of your posts over the last few months. Ask yourself if you are still on message and writing about what matters to your audience. Does your blog have a mission statement? (If not, consider writing one.) Are your topics consistent with your mission?

It’s easy to write a post that seems just a little off topic, especially if you’re feeling inspired by the subject or if there are current events that you want to comment on. But one “slightly off topic” post can lead to another and pretty soon you are completely off track.

If you see that you have veered off track, make a conscious effort to get back to your topic. Plan a series that addresses something that matters to your audience and is appropriate to your mission statement.

These tips will help you keep your blog in tip top shape. Use these tips to keep your blog running smoothly and attracting more loyal readers.

What do you think? How do you keep your blog up to date and working at its best?

How to Write an ‘About’ Page

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Your blog or website About page is one of the most important pages on your site. It is what tells your visitors who you are and what your site is about. This is where you brand yourself and your business. You also build your credibility and establish yourself as an authority with the information you present.

Here are some tips for writing an effective About page.

Start with a picture.

Because people like to do business with people they know like and trust, showing what you look like and that you are a real person can go a long way toward helping establish that trust and likability.

Tell people about you and your business.

It’s called an “About” page for a reason. This is where you tell people about you, your business, your products and services, your mission, the history of your business, and why they should consider doing business with you. Don’t make this just a dry statement of facts, though. It should be written in your voice with your personality shining through.

Incorporate social proof.

Your readers will want to know what other people think of you. Include testimonials from your customers and fans that show off the benefits of doing business with you. Other forms of social proof may include a client list with impressive names or large numbers, such as the number of books you have sold, number of clients you have helped, etc.

Brag a little.

Have you won awards? Have you been profiled are featured in major media such as the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times? Mentioning those things on your About page can give you instant credibility.

Where are you?

I am surprised at how many people give no indication of where they are physically located anywhere on their website. Although you don’t have to give details that would violate your privacy, it’s smart to at least give people a general idea of where you are located. If for no other reason, I like to know where someone is so that if I telephone them I call during appropriate business hours in their time zone.

Include contact information.

Include a link to your contact form or include the contact form and other info such as address and telephone number on your About page.

Don’t forget the call to action.

What do you want people to do after they’ve read your About page? You might want them to sign up for your newsletter, contact you for an appointment, connect with you on social media such as Twitter or Facebook, sign up for an introductory teleseminar or webinar, or view your product pages. Don’t make them guess. Whatever you want people to do, make the next action clear and simple for them to do.

Optimize your About page.

Your About page, like any other page on your website, should be properly optimized for the search engines. Be sure to weave your most important keywords through the text.

Your About page is, in many ways, a sales page. It deserves at least as much time and attention as you would give to a product sales page. Once you’ve written a draft of your About page, set it aside and come back to it several hours or a day or two later. Proofread carefully to avoid typos and grammatical errors. Sometimes you will need rewriting services experts, if you can’t edit the content yourself.

Want to see some examples of good About pages? Here are a few I like from a variety of sites:

Andrew Reifman is a web designer who, judging by his About page, has a good sense of humor and doesn’t take himself too seriously (although it is possible that he overestimates his pool playing abilities). His About page shows off his expertise and makes it easy to learn more about him while letting his personality shine through.

Dogs Trust is an animal welfare charity in the UK. Readers learn about what they do and how they can support the organization, as well as having many opportunities to connect with them on social media.

Chris Garrett is a blogger and social media expert. Chris describes his experience and expertise on this page, with links to where readers can hire him or buy his products.

Although this is not technically an About page, my Connect with Cathy site shows people where they can find me online: my websites, social media profiles and more. This one page site (aka a “business card site”) describes my online presence concisely.

Attract Blog Comments

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blog-commentWhen readers comment on your blog it not only gets them more engaged with you and your content, it gives your blog more life and may even help it rank better with the search engines.

Here are a few quick tips to encourage blog comments:

Ask questions. Near the end of your post, ask readers for their opinions or what has worked for them.

Take a contrary position. Go against the conventional wisdom and be a little controversial.

Dofollow comment links. Most blogs use the “nofollow” tag in comments, meaning that the links do not pass search engine juice. Making your comment links “dofollow” means that more people will be interested in commenting. You can even post your blog in dofollow directories to encourage traffic and comments. (Of course, you will also encourage spam comments, so you may need to moderate comments to keep out the junk.) Get the plugin to dofollow comments on your WordPress blog at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sem-dofollow/

Form a blogging alliance. Darren Rowse recently wrote about joining with other bloggers who write blogs in similar niches to support each other. One of the things alliance members do is comment on each other’s blogs.

Interact with commenters. Keep the conversation going. Respond to comments readers leave on your blog. Let them know you are listening. (This applies to your guest posts on other blogs, too. When you guest post, watch the comments and interact with the blogger’s readers.) Respond to a blog comment and you continue a conversation that will keep the commenter coming back to your blog.

Tweet your blog posts and ask your followers to share their opinions. Use other social media (e.g., Facebook, FriendFeed, Plaxo, et al) to spread the word about your latest posts and get people to join in the conversation with a blog comment.

So what have you found works in getting readers to interact with your blog by leaving comments? Leave your comments below. ;o)