WordPress Video Series

Starting And Maintaining A Blog

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As the online business industry grows and matures, marketers are continually seeking out new sources of internet traffic and the tools to succeed. Blogging was introduced to the web in the late 1990s and it has become a staple of the online marketing industry. Most web site owners now incorporate a blog design solution as a part of their business establishment and utilize it as a tool for obtaining targeted traffic. If you’re new to blogging and/or new to online marketing, this avenue of generating visitors to your web site should be an essential element of your business plan.

Blogging is much easier than you may realize. The first step involves choosing a site to host your blog. WordPress, Blogger, and 360 Blog Yahoo are widely used by the marketing industry and each one is highly recommended in the blogging community. Blogs are simple to use and very easy to maintain. Daily updates generally require no more than a few sentences each day. However, blog topics can be rather lengthy if the occasion dictates a sizable and extensive entry. Make a habit of updating your blog on a daily basis and keep the topics interesting, entertaining, informative, and use some humor when the situation arises.

The physical appearance of your blog should be attractive, yet very neutral. Do not use gaudy colors or templates that make the text difficult to read. A light color for the background is recommended and the text should be darker in color. Additional features such as pictures, video clips, audio clips, and banners need to be strategically placed and easy to access. If your blog is going to include Google Adsense, be sure to follow Google’s suggestions for placement and plan accordingly.

Be sure to allow for comments on your blog. This blogging business tip should not be ignored. Comments are made by visitors and visitors can become paying customers. As the blog gains in popularity, the opportunity to acquire more visitors and customers constantly increases.

As a new blogger, the aforementioned tips can enhance your blog design solution and it will allow for an increase in business and a growing customer base. As the blog grows and flourishes, so will your loyalty from enthusiastic customers.

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Internet marketing can be a useful aid. No really, it can be. In terms of better promoting of your business and gaining more traffic and sales for your products and services is truly useful. To start learning some basics as to how to make this work for you, refer to the tips below.

Because so many people market online nowadays, your job is to be unique. Don’t just have a simple banner with simple text and dull colors. Have something flashy, catchy and unique. Most people online, tune out advertisements simply because they see hundreds of similar ones every day. Make your ad stand out and you’ll likely get a click.

To attract more customers, you should find a great URL. It should be easy to remember and mention the product that you are selling. If you want to use one URL for several products, you can refer to saving money in the name of the URL. Register this URL and change it if you get a better idea.

A key to successful internet marketing is to never limit yourself and believe that goals are unattainable. Success sometimes will happen by chance but more than likely it is from hard work in marketing your business. Setting a goal for having 1000 visitors a week might be excellent in the beginning of your business, but after some time do not forget to increase these goals and always work towards more.

One of the things that you can do to insure that people visit your website is to offer daily or weekly bonuses for them as they visit. This will greatly increase the traffic in your website. For example, you can say things like, “Each week I will be handing out free e-books to regular visitors”. The more visitors you have the higher the chances of making new customers.

One minor but effective internet marketing tip is to always use screen-friendly fonts for your website. If your site is heavy on written content this is especially important. Resist the temptation – either your own or your web designer’s – to use fancy, baroque fonts that are more decorative than informative. Text should be rendered in simple, highly legible fonts.

Turn your advertising into an article to really reach out to your target audiences. People use search engines to pull up “how to” articles every day, so make your website useful and boost your search rankings at the same time. Custom content with your advertising cleverly embedded is a great way to give your website exposure.

Internet marketing starts with having a good website design. Even if your site is only one page, if it is set up well and filled with the right information, your site is going to bring you the business that you are looking for. It is a simple concept: Provide useful information.

So, now do you see why internet marketing is such a useful aid? Creating a plan that helps further market your business and what you offer is indeed very useful. The tips above should have created a good foundation for you to build upon and create a better internet marketing plan.

How To Blog From Your Own Website

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If you know how to blog from your own website then you will have many options open to you in the design and functionality of your blog that are not available on a hosted blog.

You can use Blogger from blogger.com or WordPress from wordpress.com. Each has its own peculiarities, benefits and disadvantages, such as the lack of trackback and categories on Blogger, and the relatively poor raw html editing facility on WordPress. However, each has its fans and adherents, and those used to one or the other are generally loathe to changing. Neither, however, offers the wide range of options open to those that have chosen to run WordPress or any other blogging software from their own webspace.

Those who use the hosted versions likely do so either because they have no need of the options that the uploaded software offers, and are happy operating a blog using the range of options offered by the blog host. Others might not have a website, and have no intentions of having one because they have no need for their own site. Many bloggers are not involved in internet marketing, and are not using their blogs to make money – not even Adsense revenue.

They enjoy blogging about the political issues of the day, the latest movies and even just their everyday lives. Others, however, use blogs professionally as part of their business, and a blog is a great medium for advertising a business or a product. It is an ideal way of linking several websites that have been designed to sell different products, and even cover different niches. This is not easy to do without a blog, since search engines such as Google frown on adverts on one website for anther site offering information on a totally different topic.

What is regarded as a lack of relevance in a website is diversity in a blog. So how do you go about running your blog from your own website? WordPress.org offers free software that you can upload to your own web space. The best way to do this is by use of an ftp client. This is software that allows you transfer files and folders from your hard drive to your website. It can also be used to transfer files from one website to another.

Upload facilities on websites allow you only to upload files, not folders or directories. Without an ftp client, you would have to create folders identical to those containing the WordPress files. You would then have to upload each file individually, while maintaining the original directory structure. This can take some time to do, and errors are easy to make. Your first steps, then, are to download the blogging software to your hard disk, then ftp it to your website. When doing this, your ftp software will also allow you to change file permissions as detailed in the blog set up instructions. You will also have to use a text editor to change the contents of a few files, but this is fairly simple to do.

You then have to create a MySQL database for your blog. MySQL is a powerful Open Source Software database management system that uses SQL (structured query language) that most normal web hosting services offer free on your web space. The database is easy to set up by following the instructions that will likely be provided by your web host.

After that you are all set. You can use the default page template that comes with WordPress, but you now have complete flexibility in the look and feel of your blog. You can upload any of the thousands of free or paid templates available online, and also any of the plugins that you want to use. You can edit all of the template elements you want to completely customize them, including the stylesheet for the whole page, the header, footer, sidebars and so on. You can add graphics, Adsense blocks, affiliate links and even offer your own products for sale.

Plugins are software elements that provide specific resources to your blog. Examples are calendars, anti-spam filters, RSS feeds, sitemap generators, tag systems and so on. There are thousands of them that can be used to totally customize your blog.

If you have your own website and business, then a blog can be a very dangerous thing. It can become so addictive that you can find yourself neglecting your website and business and spending all your time blogging and trying out various plugins, templates and themes.

Knowing how to blog from your blog from own website can be very useful, but make sure that you budget your time on it. A blog is a great thing, but very addictive.

$60,000 Mugging

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I was referred to a prospective client recently that had their website redesigned. They paid $60,000 for a site that really does nothing for them. It is a simple brochure site that provides visitors nothing and it certainly does nothing to convert traffic into sales. Since all their budget went to design, they have no money left over to properly market the site. Mistake #1, don’t pay $60,000 for a branding exercise.

A corporate website is about supporting the business. The beauty of the Internet is there is no guessing. You can measure pretty much anything. What are you trying to accomplish? Increase traffic? Generate leads? Increase sales? If it is yes to one of these questions, then a $60,000 investment should get you another $600,00 to your bottom-line? Can a brochure site deliver a 80-95% ROI?

Web design is a commodity today. The cost of design should represent about 25% of your total spend. Design costs are competitive today, so spending more than you have to should be the last thing you do. There are excellent open source Content Management Systems (CMS) that give you the power to manage your own content. The cost of the software is $0 to you. We recommend using either Plone or Joomla. Both of these platforms provide you with Web 2.0 compliant back-end at low cost for setup and maintenance.

The value in web design is working with companies that can properly market what you do. To properly market the site, you should be spending 10-12x what you should spend in design. So, it is possible to get a Web 2.0 website at an affordable cost. If you are a small company that is spending $4,000-$8,000 on a basic website, you should plan over 12 months to spend an additional $30,000-$80,000 on marketing. The dollars spent on marketing brings the traffic to the site. Simple rule, more traffic through the front door means more business.

Unlike other advertising, you can control your spend and measure your ROI pretty quickly. You can turn your marketing dollars on and off depending on the performance, it is all measurable.

DeFabis Photography is an example of a client that went through the redesign process. We built a Search Engine Friendly website that allows him to manage content on the site. Prior to working with us, his website was not listed in the top 100 on Google for the popular keywords. Since working with us, his visitors and page views have increased. But most important, he has doubled his bookings from this time last year. And, he did not spend $60,000 on his web design.

If you need help in evaluating a prospective vendor, here are some question that may help you understand their knowledge:

1. How do capture visitor traffic off the Internet? Can you track their movement through my site? If so, how?
2. How do manage pay per click advertising dollars to ensure I am maximizing my spend and not wasting money?
3. How do you measure whether my site is friendly to my users?
4. How many page views would you estimate my site would get to determine the right level of hosting?
5. What things will you need to change on my website? What things can I change on my own?
6. If I want to change the look, does it require changes to the backend scripting on the site?
7. What will it take to add a new page to match an ad we are running to the new site? For instance, I want to advertise a special and build a page specific for it, what will it take for us to do this?
8. What do you anticipate the average cost per lead for the website to be?
9. Who owns the source code to the site?

So, think about your objectives. Think about what you want to accomplish and spend your money according to the results you want to achieve. A pretty website just does not generate the type of results you should and can get using the Internet. Don’t get mugged for $60,000. It’s bad for your business.

15 Brand New Free Websites On Building, Running And Advertising A Succesful Internet Business!

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Did you know there are 15 brand new websites that offer over 8,000 free articles on Making a Living Online There is! Check out this new resource on MAKING MONEY ONLINE! Over 8,000 Free Articles! The sites have great cutting edge information by many of the webs top marketers, publishers and experts who share tips, tools and tactics on running profitable Internet Businesses! !

There are many different topics covered including: Internet Marketing

Website Promotion

PPC & Advertising

Website Design Information

Blogging & Rss Feeds

Internet Copywriting

Internet Security

Internet Traffic Building

Affiliate Revenue Information

Writing Articles for the internet

Ezine Publishing Information

Website Hosting Information

Website Development Information

Ezine Marketing Information

Search Engine Optimization Information

To access these sites simply click the Freemarketingarticles.org link below in the footer of this article.

These websites cover all aspects of running a profitable internet business. Everything You need to know from building a Website to Search engine optimization!There is a wesite on on Pay Per Click Advertising, How to generate tons of free website traffic All the different types of Affiliate programs and resources and so much more!

Here is a sample of articles covered on the Web Design article site:

Web Design Information

Making Good Websites that Stand Out

Websites, there’s literally billions of them out there in cyber-space. How many of them do you go to and just think this is boring, bland, or hard to use? It seems like too many to mention.

How To Create A Stunning Drop Capital Effect On Your Web Pages
Drop Capitals are frequently used in many newspapers, books and magazines in the offline world. You will frequently see the large capital letter sinking down into the first paragraph of articles, stories and chapters in the majority of publications you come across.

Graphic Design Using Color

Color is everywhere and conveys a message even if we don’t realize it. While this message can vary by culture it pays to know what colors “say” in your own corner of the universe, and even what color means to your target market.

The Monster Garage of eLearning

Have you seen Jesse James on the Discovery Channel’s Monster Garage? Each week Jesse and his handpicked team create a customized vehicle to dazzle and amaze you. So what does this have to do with eLearning? Read on.

Sales Versus Customer Oriented Websites

Should Generating Revenue From A Website Be The Prime Motivator? A pure sales site has only one purpose..

How To Set Up A Professional Website On Your Own Using Web Templates

To create professional websites is not an easy task by any means. There are many things that you got to take into consideration like easy navigation, strategic links, clean coding, professional layout, easy downloading, scanability, usability and so on.

A Website Checklist

If you’ve just finished building your new website (or revamping your old one), how can you be sure it’s “ready for prime time”? Or maybe your site’s been around for awhile and you think it may be due for a makeover. Because Web technologies, techniques and standards change so rapidly, even a website that seems “cutting edge” when it’s built can look obsolete a year later.

Ten Steps to a Winning Home Page

There’s no doubt about it – the first page your site visitors see is the most important page of your website. If your home page isn’t appealing, chances are the rest of your pages will never even be seen by your visitors.

Web Design for Dictators

No question about it, web design is an art. Finding the right blend of style and usability is a delicate balance that few, if any, fully master.

Website Basics

The Basics You have a flourishing business – everything is in its place. You just miss one important piece of marketing: an Internet Presence a website.

Building Your Website to Save You Money

Does your website make you any money? Does it SAVE you any money?Websites are more than just marketing tools, out there in Cyber-Land effortlessly promoting you and your products. While that’s great, why not use that same website to save yourself some money?How? Well, while I don’t know your particular situation, I can provide you with some thought-provoking ideas that you can take back to your web designer for more input.

Ten Design Mistakes to Avoid

Avoid these mistakes and your site will be steps ahead of your competition. 1.

Design Matters in our Visual Culture

FIRST IMPRESSIONS. First impressions often leave lasting impressions.

Do-It-Yourself or Hire a Professional Designer

All the Websites are Free! These sites are brought to you by:

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To access these sites simply click the Freemarketingarticles.org link below in the footer of this article. See The footer on the free internet marketin articles site for links to the other 15 free websites!

8,000 Free Articles on Making a Living Online @ freeinternetmarketingarticles.org

Can I Increase Traffic To My Website With RSS?

If you have a website and you are currently selling a product on the Internet, you need to know that rss can increase traffic to your website dramatically.

Since there are million of websites on the Internet today, and you have a lot of competitors, you need to use every technology available to get higher search engine rankings.

Surfers behavior has evolved other the years, and today, email marketing is not the sole holy gray of your Internet business.

He has no fear of being subject to spam, and therefore, the visitor is happy to add your site to his reader. He thinks that he is in control and he can choose to click and visit your website when he wants.

People are usually in hurry and don’t want to waste their time, and prefer scanning instead of reading.

Furthermore, surfers want up to date information, and with the thousands of websites in any given subject, it is really hard for a busy man (or women) to find what he is searching for.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (or Rich Site Summary). RSS will help you to increase traffic to your website because…

You will get better search engine position.

I use an blog with RSS feed enabled to get my sites in the top ten rankings in Google, MSN and Yahoo.

Tip: use wordpress for even better rankings (specially in Google). I don’t really know why, but Google love wordpress more than other blogging platforms like type pad and bloggers itself!

You need to use a blog for this technique to be even more effective. It is common to get first position in the search engines for low competition keywords just because you switched to a blog, or you added RSS to your website.

Another reason to use RSS to increase website traffic is that surfers are fed up with “useless” e-zines.

Today, every person who spend more than one year surfing the Internet knows that most of the email newsletters are in fact… a big sales pitch.

For this reason, they don’t give you their email easily.

Seth Godin said it best: now it’s the area of “permission marketing”, you need to gain the respect and admiration of your visitor.

When he appreciate your work, and see that you are a real expert on the subject, he will be the first in line to buy your products or affiliate product recommendation.

When you are involved in any online business, your content becomes really important. I’m sure you already heard the famous “content is king”.

Without good content (and good products), you readers will only be one time readers, and it is the exact opposite as what you want for the success of your online business.

Now, it’s up to you to add wonderful content, and choose great headlines that will appeal to your niche market.

RSS is a technology that you need to add to your arsenal. Whether you add RSS to your site, or you decide to blog, you will increase your traffic almost overnight.

How to Enhance Web Traffic Conversion Rate?

These days, there is an intense competition online among the Internet marketers to be successful in their endeavors. People are leaving no stone unturned to achieve immense marketing success. Being unable to be patient for time taking website optimization process, people now are actively involved in paid advertisement of their businesses.

But just listing at top of search engine result page by various search engine norms, or getting 100 of clicks daily through paid advertisement do not bring smile on your face until and unless you get satisfying Conversion Rate of web traffic.

Here I am not disowning the power of search engine optimization, neither I am denying the superiority of paid advertisement processes; these are the factors which should be followed undeniably to get instant and guaranteed web presence. But what I intend to highlight right now is that we must not always give priority to enough web traffic or number of clicks rather we need to be focused on quality website design and development.

As your website represents your company and invoice the services that you offer, your website must be fine tuned with complete details on core business elements, key parameters, services that you offer, time taken and cost involved for each service, assurance on quality of deliverables, testimonials from clients, proper and easy contact details.

Your website content must be genuine and highly informative and you must work on it giving space to both web traffic and search engine spiders. No doubt spiders love to see fresh content every time they visit the web page, but stuffing of keywords in content just to satisfy spiders seems fruitless unless the content provides some desirable information to its readers.

Beside, your website design must be done efficiently with images matching your business theme in order to impart positive mindset among visitors. Site must provide constant navigation flow so that one must not get stuck while trying to get connected with desired links. This flawlessness speaks your professionalism.

Since success never comes easy, it demands sincere effort, so be well prepared first to give something better and useful information to your visitors if you really long for fair amount of conversion rate on your marketing approach. Do not stuff your website with irrelevant information and false promises. Just concentrate on your customers, visualize their needs and present your services accordingly and effectively so that they need not have to turn away from your site empty handed.

Remember, people just don’t need false promise makers; they need reliable host to stick and take up well approved services. Hence, your careful approaches on website design and development can make you that dependable host and people’s favorite website Development Company.

Apply This Advice To Your Internet Marketing Business

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The internet allows you to market your products or your website on a massive, global scale. But how can you best take advantage of the worldwide audience that the internet provides? Here are a few tips that will help to guide you, as you try to make the most out of internet marketing.

By taking advantage of the internet for marketing purposes, businesses not only reach their target audiences, but they can track the success of their campaigns since the statistics and success rates of the campaign is so easy to track. This provides a business with solid statistics on whether or not their marketing campaigns are successful or if they need improvement.

Look for ways to make your online presence engaging and interactive for customers. With an Internet marketing strategy, do not focus only on text-based information or advertisements unless it makes sense for your business model. Instead, consider short interactive advertisements, animated pictures and other engaging material to draw your customer’s attention.

Look into research that has been done on how a business’s website design or online marketing techniques influence psychological behavior of consumers. Psychological aspects can immensely affect how someone views your brand, established by the theme, outlay, and color of your website. Understanding these suggestions is critical to optimizing your company’s operations.

If you want to implement the best internet marketing strategy, you should strongly consider using emotional words within your ads. Words such as, “love, freedom, and security” are great ways to entice potential customers to buy your product. Make sure your product descriptions aren’t heartless or cold. Make sure that your customers connect with your products, emotionally.

Build in rewards for good customers. For example, if someone spends a large amount of money, give them a discount on their overall purchase. You could also give them money off of their next purchase as well to encourage them to come back. This will make your customers feel like you care about them and want them to return.

Although you’ve probably read countless tips about title tags and how they relate to Internet marketing, you should also know that these tags will need to be refreshed from time to time. The words and phrases people search change like the weather, so always remember to refresh your title tags every so often.

One thing that you can always be assured of is that history repeats itself. If you are looking to engage in internet marketing, you can gain inspiration for advertising campaigns of the past. Not only does this provide you with instant inspiration, but retro designs and campaigns are hot right now.

Don’t become too attached to your website’s design if you want to succeed at attracting traffic. There is always room for improvement. Take an honest, objective look at your site and work on fixing its flaws. If you can’t see any, ask someone else to take a look and help you see what needs to be fixed.

The internet is a great marketing tool, but it will only be useful to you if you use it right. Thanks to the advice provided in this article, you’re now armed with the knowledge to make your internet marketing a success. You’ll be able to reap the rewards of your marketing in no time.