OVBlogger: Blogging and SEO

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Had a call last night with Nancy Hults. She grilled me about blogging, and I told her tons of great stuff.

I love to do calls because I can interact with people. We don’t often get to do that. We sit in our offices (actually, mine is a corner of my bedroom, which is pretty big, but still… I digress.) and we type away or code away or video away or whatever. And NOBODY is there to connect with.

Anyway, I spilled my guts–again. If you enjoyed the call I did with Erik Stafford last month, this one may be even better. I encourage you to go and listen to the replay:

The replay details…

Bridgeline: 712-432-6190

Passcode: 58643#

recording code: 114#

You won’t regret listening. If you’re interested in ways to make your blog better, in ways to make it profitable, and ways to make it search engine friendly, grab a pen and some paper and dial in.

And enjoy!

There’s a pretty cool offer at the end of the call, too. Worth $100 to you. So… check it out.

Popularity: 9% [?]

If you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you’ll know that I’m an inveterate theme changer.  I can’t help it. I see something new and shiny and I just run for it. Colors and images totally turn me on.

My whole family are artists, so it’s no wonder, eh? It’s on my side and my husband’s side, too, so my daughter lucked out with the best art genes from both sides. I just like pretty shapes and colors. Oooh… Ahhh… Drool.

So, when I see a theme that just grabs me… I grab it.

The one I have now isn’t quite my cup of tea. It’s OK, you know. Businessy and such, but it’s really not me.

And you probably feel the same way about your theme or that ubiquitious Kubrick theme that everyone starts out with. You don’t have to be stuck with that!

There are a couple of three or four ways to change it.

You can go into your Design tab and mess with the header colors. Just making them a little different is good. And if you’re not very techy, this is a way you can go right away with no tech acumen whatsoever. You can also have headers made by a graphic artist and just swap out the header image, too. That’s pretty easy to do.

But finding and uploading a new theme is just as simple, really.

Go to http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ and find a new one that you like and that suits your purpose. You can afford to be a little quirkier with a personal blog, or if your niche is a little quirky. For business blogging, think clean and bright. No black. I know this now, as my friends gave me the smackdown about my last <sigh> really favorite theme.

Once you have the theme, extract the files, and upload it via ftp to your blog’s wp-content/themes folder. Once you have done that, it will appear in your Design area. One really cool feature about WordPress 2.6.x is that it allows you to preview the theme before you actually let it go live.

The only thing about changing your theme that you probably won’t like is that some customizations will have to be re-done. Your widgets should still work, unless you’ve gone from a three-column template to a one-column template, but then, it’s only a matter of rearranging. So, that’s cool.

But if you’ve added any social networking buttons, as I have AddThis, for example, they’ll have to be re-done. Kontera is something else you’ll have to reload into the template. But if you haven’t done any of this stuff… you’re probably good to go.

I know WordPress just keeps making things better and better and they totally rock! But here’s something for my wishlist: When someone chooses a new theme, can’t you magically just make it appear on my blog without having to make all those customizations all over again?

That would be sweet!

Popularity: 19% [?]

Can you tell? I mean, I’m just enthralled with all the cool things you can do, right? You can bookmark, network, Tweet, Tumbl, or blog and if you work them all together, they become a powerful traffic machine!

About three or four months ago, for a hoot, I set up a bunch of sites about cats. I love ‘em. I have two and have always had them around and thought it would be a lot of fun gathering material for them. Well, I was right! It was fun setting the stuff up. And it was like a test. I wanted to see if I could make Web 2.0 work for me in a niche.

I have a hub at HubPages, a Squidoo Lens, a couple of blogs about cats, and even a wiki. All full of fun content and information about the different cat breeds. Check out Captivating Cat Breeds, if you’re curious.

Once in a while I’ll add something, but I really haven’t done much to the sites, as you’ll see. But here’s the cool thing: I just realized that the system is getting traffic! And they’re just sitting there.

I didn’t do much about monetization because that wasn’t really my intent. I just wanted to have fun and so… Duh. I never realized that any of these sites would become popular. I mean, they’re not tearing up the track yet, but if I build them out, I can see that they will.

Next thing on Pat’s agenda: Find cat products that pay. Ha! Are there such things? Yes. I’m thinking a brass kitty bed or an automatic litter box that never smells might do the trick. (Is there such a thing?) LOL I’ll find something.

The point is, don’t rule out Web 2.0 when you’re marketing. If you’re not using it, you’re nuts! You don’t have to do a lot for the content sites like HubPages or Squidoo or any of them. If you don’t want to write articles, get someone to do it for you. I did, and I’m a writer! But who has time for fun like that? Har.

Create a whole new set of domains for what you want to do, and then, set up a systematic circle of sites so that you’ll get traffic and visitors. Like, link your Hubs to your blogs and to the wiki, for example. Here’s the thing… Most of the traffic is coming from organic search! I’m not paying a dime and like I said, I’m not really doing a whole lot about these.

Maybe I should huh? I’m on a new mission to be Cat Woman.

What? Someone already did that? Sheesh.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Whoa. Really, really cool stuff going on over at WordPress.org. They’ve released WordPress 2.6 with some totally sweet options.

Here’s a quick rundown:

• Preview past post revisions.
  WP 2.6 lets you see what you’ve done before and even compare revisions to see which is best very easily.
• New Press This! button allows you to post from wherever you are online
  Snatch snippets of other blog posts, pictures, and get them onto your blog. (With proper crediting, of course.)
• See your theme before you actually change it.
  A new preview window allows you to see what a theme will look like with your content before you hit the change button.
• Get your word count!
  This is totally something I can use. Find out how many words are in each post you make.
• Give your pictures captions
  Let people know what your picture is about.

And there are more features that are new, like bulk dealing with plugins and such. Really, really sweet. Check it all out here: http://wordpress.org/development/2008/07/wordpress-26-tyner/

I love WordPress! Don’t you?

Fantastico doesn’t have it yet, though, and I’m lazy. I’ll wait. That way, the bugs might be worked out of the new software before I use it. Love that WordPress.

Popularity: 48% [?]

So, today’s the last day of this awesome conference and I’m totally looking forward to it. First up is Simon Leung, who’s really brilliant. Think we’ll learn something? Hmm… No doubt.

And then, one of the nicest people online and off, Mike Morgan. I finally get to meet him, which was totally cool. I’m so looking forward to the call we’re doing together on June 19 at 8 p.m. EDT. You won’t want to miss that one. He has something very special for my listeners. If you haven’t yet signed up for the teleseminar calls, you can get in under the wire for this one at Blogging4Boomers.com

Anyway, it’s always hard to stop being in conference mode, and get back to the real world, but hey…

I’m looking forward to that, too.

That’s how it is when you love what you do, eh?

Popularity: 25% [?]

Do you know what a very big secret is to getting traffic to your blog on a regular basis?

It’s so simple, you probably haven’t thought about it.

In fact, you may be a pretty casual blogger. You do it when the spirit moves you, right? Or when you have time.

Well…

I’m here to tell you that one HUGE factor in getting traffic to your blog is by posting every single day.

Argh! You think. Easier said than done. What do I write? How will I find the time?

There are two ways you can post to your blog every day and not feel too pinched.

When it comes to the writing of posts, that can be pretty simple. You can read something online and write a post about that. I love to do that. When I find something that’s pretty cool or interesting in my niche, I love to tell people about it. Those are easy posts to make because someone has already given me the material.

Or, you can take a PLR product and break it down into articles that you rewrite. Don’t just slap up the stuff without rewriting first, or it probably won’t do you much good with the search engines. PLR products are sold to tons of customers who may all be using the stuff verbatim. Don’t do it. You’re just tossing out duplicate content.

You can also someone to write blog posts for you. That’s the easiest way yet.

So, let’s say you have content and no time. That’s simple, too.

In WordPress, right in the “Publish Status” box, there’s a phrase that says, “Publish immediately.” And beside it, a link that says, “edit.” When you click that, you can set your post to publish at any time of the day or night on any day of the week, month, or year. It’s really sweet.

So, like you have 5 articles and you have a weekend or a block of time  you’ve scheduled in for blog posting. Post all of the articles at once, and set them to go out whenever you like.

In my mind, that would be 5 days, back to back.

Here are the facts…

In April, I had 50% more visitors to my blog because I posted every day. I decided to slow it down a bit in May to see what would happen.

People forget you. People unsub because you’re not adding new content fast enough. There are all kinds of reasons.

Just keep posting, every day, though, and you’ll see an enormous difference in the traffic to your blog, your opt-in numbers, and even your sales.

Come on… It’s really not that tough. Tomorrow, I’ll give you a few more ideas for posting content…

Stay tuned.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Have you started to notice it? I mean, blogs… web pages… all to the far left of the screen??

It’s making me crazy. Even WordPress has moved their “write post” to the far left, and I feel unbalanced.  Those of you who know me well probably think that already, but hey…

Doesn’t it bother you that you have to turn your head to look left when trying to read something?

I mean, we’ve been indoctrinated with the idea that people like 650 pixels in the middle of the screen. My eyes expect that. Then, some of younz throw a curve ball and thwack! My neck flys west and I’m reading stuff that’s out of kilter.

I hope this isin’t a trend. What marketing firm made a study and decided that we’re better off with 19 inch uber flat-screen monitors that only have half their space taken up? There’s like all this white stuff on the right.

I know, I know… You’re thinking, but my monitor isn’t that wide.

And this could be making you happy.

If so, I heartily apologize for the rant.

But I have to say that it will be a very long time until I’m used to this looking left fad. It’s making me cranky.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Wow. I always wait a little while when WordPress makes sweeping changes to their software. I don’t care how great the programmers are (and WordPress is totally smokin’ awesome), there are going to be bugs. I like to wait until the bugs are worked out.

But…

I have a membership site about learning to blog and Web 2.0 and all kind of cool stuff about blogging, and decided that so as not to confuse my members, I’d better do the upgrade.

Wow.

My favorite feature thus far?

Automatic plugin updating.

OMG… It’s totally awesome. Plugins aren’t hard to upgrade, of course, but they’re time consuming, especially when you have as many as I do. But the newest version of WordPress has a new feature… the automatic upgrade. You click on the link and it downloads, unzips, installs, and reactivates the plugin for you!

Is that cool or what?

I’m in blogger heaven today. Still haven’t checked out all the cool features, but if the automatic plugin installer was the only thing new, I’d still be tooting WordPress’s horn.

Fan-freakin’-tastic!

I love it!

Popularity: 33% [?]

So, if you’re a fan of Jack Humphrey’s like I am, you’ll be subscribed to his Friday Traffic Report.

If you’re not… What are you waiting for?

Jack has a really cool little piece of software called “Utility Poster” coming out and I’m drooling.

Check out his video:

http://tinyurl.com/6qxbu7

Man. I love riffing off other people’s posts. I mean, I don’t do it every day, but when I read something that’s really cool, I love to let my readers know about it. This is one of those times.

This software finds blog posts around the ‘Net with the keywords you give it. I mean it comes back with hundreds of posts! If you optimize for the keyword in your post, whatever that is, and then, use Utility Poster to do the rest, you’re almost guaranteed top ranking for the keyword in a matter of minutes.

Utility Poster isn’t available just yet, but whoa. I’m in line line like one of those crazy people that camps out for rock concert tickets.

Don’t step on me, dude!

Popularity: 56% [?]

On my call with SEO, Paul Easton, the other night, someone asked that I send out my personal WordPress plugins list for you. Well, heck, that seemed like a pretty good idea. So… If you’re wondering what plugins I use for my blog and why, here they are:

• Akismet: It’s a spam blocker that comes with all WordPress blogs. You need a WordPress API key to validate it, but that’s free and easy to get. Just follow the instructions. Then, you train Akismet. I mean, it knows most spam right off, but when you’re approving comments (and I encourage you to set your blog so you can do so) you train Akismet for some of the less obvious stuff. There are other spam blockers. Akismet just works fine for most purposes.

• All-in-One SEO Pack: This is a must have for search engine optimization purposes. Because spiders find the title tag and description tag so important to any web page, and since each post you make is considered a page, each post should also have its own title and description. Use your keywords, and this will help your posts to rank in the results pages.

• Blog Metrics: I got this one because Shoemoney thought so highly of it, but it’s not really that important to me. It shows how many posts you’ve made, how many trackbacks you’ve gotten, how many words in your posts, etc. I like Popularity Contest better, and I’ll tell you why in a minute. (See below.)

• Daiko’s Text Widget: This allows you to use PHP code in your sidebar. The normal text widgets don’t often work well for that.

• DoFollow: If you’re approving comments anyway, DoFollow makes sense. It’s a link back to the person’s blog who’s doing the commenting. It’s like a reward for making observations, you know? If you want to encourage commenting, this is great. The default for WordPress is “NoFollow,” which means that the spiders stop at your page and don’t follow it to the commenter’s URL. Spammers might think this is very cool, but with Akismet or another spam blocker working, they don’t get any benefit at all.

• FAQ-Tastic: This allows people to ask questions at your blog. You create question categories, insert a snippet of code, and you have an ASK campaign running for whatever topics you choose. Pretty sweet. Just be sure to add a strong message for spammers or you will get spam questions. Mine says: “Unfortunately your question was not accepted because you didn’t provide enough information. Please try again. But… If you’re a spammer, don’t waste your time or mine. Your “questions” will be deleted without being read. Go away and never come back.” Strong enough, you think? I really hate spammer jerks.

• Google Analyticator: You just plug in your Google Analytics ID and the plugin takes care of putting the Analytics code into your blog for you. Just be sure to set up the campaign at Google so you can check stats on your visitors.

• Google Sitemaps: The easiest way for Google to see every page (post) in your blog.

• Max Blog Press: I have four plugins from there. If you look at the top of my blog, you’ll see a “Stripe Ad,” that you can customize any way you see fit. You can rotate three different text ads, and even weight them so come are shown more than others, if you choose.You can also color them to fit in with the theme of your blog.

The second Max Blog Press plugin is “Unblockable Popup.” If you’re new to my blog, this popup darkens the page and an optin box will slide in. That only happens the first three times someone visits, but you can customize it to work any way you like.

The next plugin from Max Blog Press is “Ping Optimizer.” WordPress blogs automatically ping Ping-o-Matic each time you make a blog post, and that’s from the minute you install it. You don’t have to do anything else. But… if you edit a post, add a picture, or change your post in any way, it will keep pinging the service. If you do it too much, it could be construed as ping spamming and you don’t want that. Ping Optimizer only allows your blog to ping once.

The last Max Blog Press plugin is “Psychic Search.” It gives you some pretty cool information about how people searched to find your blog and other stuff that’s quite useful when planning posts and using the right keywords.

• My Blog Log Widget: You have to be a member of My Blog Log! It gives you some sweet stats, and it’s a pretty cool community of other bloggers. Check it out. And notice the widget on my blog. It shows who’s reading. You can get yours from clicking “Grab This!” on my widget.

• Popularity Contest: Of all the stats plugins, this is my fave. It ranks your posts in order of popularity. It shows you how many trackbacks, pingbacks, and comments your posts have plus a whole bunch of other cool information. See what posts people enjoy, figure out why, and do more of that posting. Know how people are taking in what you write. Pretty awesome.

• Text Link Ads Widget: Hmm… I won’t recommend this for anyone who’s working to get Page Rank. You see, Google hates paid linking. I think it’s a bunch of crap, and won’t take my widget down, even though Google bounced me from a PR5 to a PR2, just for having it. I get paid a little bit for each link, and it’s not the money… it’s the principle. I don’t like it that Google wants to tell me what I can and can’t have on a blog that I own. So, don’t expect to see me with a high PR blog. PR doesn’t mean doodly squat anyway. What matters the most to me are my readers. Plus, I feel pretty loyal to an advertiser who’s been on my blog for more than a year.

• What Would Seth Godin Do?: This plugin tells new visitors to subscribe to your feed, right at the top of your feed and your regular blog posting. It appears as many or as few times as you’d like it to.

• WordPress Database Backup: Uber important. I found that out when some jerk highjacked my blog last year and wiped out EVERY single post I’d made over a 2 year period. It hurt, but not much. I’m on a totally different path now than I was way back then, so my posts are now reflecting that. But… I won’t be caught unawares again because this plugin sends me a backup file once a week. Pffft!!! Take that hacking jerk. I should have been doing this all along, but it’s one of those things you think about and then, never seem to get around to doing. Don’t learn the hard way like I did.

• WP Plug IM: This is the little widget you see at the top of every post in my blog. Plug IM is a social bookmarking site just for Internet marketers. I really like it when it’s working properly, which is sketchy. I have to say that the widget wasn’t developed by PlugIM, and that’s undoubtedly part of the problem, but like, PlugIM dudes… I hope you’re working on this.

That’s it! Whew! I hope this has been helpful. With the exception of MaxBlogPress plugins, you can get the others at http://WordPress.org/extend

The other thing I was asked to provide from the call the other night were URLs that Paul had given out. If you’re a member of Blogging4Boomers (you only need to optin to the calls in this case, not become a member of the site, though I wish you would. I think there’s way more value than the price there, and if you’re into Internet marketing, I’m cutting many of the corners for you.), you get a page with the replays of ALL the calls I’ve done with the teleseminar participants and also the Q&A sessions I do with my members twice a month.

Tons and tons of value–no charge.

So, if you haven’t opted in and want to hear these calls… go to http://Blogging4Boomers.com . I know you probably don’t want to give your name & email address to ONE MORE PERSON, but hey… you will see that this time, it’s worth it.

But here are those URLs we talked about on the call, too:

http://xml-sitemaps.com for building sitemaps for your website.

http://domainsbot.com for looking up domains and getting cooler suggestions.

GTrends.com for learning about marketing trends. (This is a plugin to be used with WordTracker, the paid keyword discovery tool.)

And we talked about surveys. Pauls’ had just gone offline, but here are a couple I use:

Survey Gizmo at http://surveygizmo.com

Survey Monkey at http://surveymonkey.com

ASK Database at http://askdatabase.com

The first two are free, the third is a paid service, but all are great for knowing what your customers what.

Hope this is helpful. If you have comments, suggestions for other plugins not listed here… GREAT! Tell me what they are and why. I’m listening!

Popularity: 60% [?]