SEO and WordPress Plugins You Need on Your Blog- Part Two

• Category: Blogging, SEO, Social media
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There is little doubt that WordPress blogs are some of the most favored blogs by the search engine spiders. Because of the platform’s popularity, developers are constantly coming up with new plugins to make your WordPress experience better. Last time we looked at some of the most popular plugins used by many bloggers. This post continues that list with a few more of the biggies you don’t want to miss.

If you want your readers to be able to contact you (and hire you!) you need to provide some sort of contact form on your blog. Contact Form 7 is one of the easiest, most flexible content form plugins around. You can manage several contact forms and customize your forms so you get the information you need without overwhelming your reader.

Your blog is all about developing relationships with your readers, so in addition to a contact form, you want to make it easy for them to interact with you. Social media is a great way to carry on the conversation. Add a WPFollowMe plugin so your readers can follow you on Twitter with a mouse click. You can add your tweets to your blog with TweetMyBlog or a number of other plugins and widgets.

If Facebook is your meeting place, there are plugins for that as well. Try WP-Facebook Connect to add Facebook functionality to your blog. Add To Facebook is another plugin that will add your posts to your Facebook account through a footer link. The Facebook Dashboard Widget lets you see all your friends Facebook updates from the Admin page of your blog, so YOU can keep in touch while you’re working without needing to head over to Facebook.

Because your readers love social media too, one of the best plugins you can put on your blog is ShareThis. ShareThis offers your readers a number of social networking and bookmarking sites they can share your posts to with a simple click. Why not boost your traffic through the power of your readers by making it easy for them to share your words of wisdom? Another great sharing plugin for your readers is SexyBookmarks. Don’t let the name scare you off- there’s nothing seedy going on here. This plugin just offers your readers the ability to share your posts in a cute friendly icon sort of way.

Running a blog is all about interacting with your readers in order to build a relationship with them. That relationship is what will lead to bigger sales and business growth for your blog. When you take advantage of some these plugins on your WordPress blog, you make relationship building easier for you and your readers. Combine relationship building techniques with great SEO techniques and you’ll find your blog traffic, readership and subscription lists growing out of sight in no time.

Social Media Is NASCAR- Content Management is the racetrack- Any questions?

• Category: Blogging, Content, Marketing, Social media
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I know you were waiting for part II of WordPress Plugins and Tools but that can wait.  Take a few minutes to read this. We’ll tune you to part II of WordPress Plugins and Tools later on.

Social Media is effectively 3-5 years old (depends who you ask). I can count on my hand how many companies are really using Social Media effectively.    According to a survey conducted by Junta 42, content marketing spending comprises 33% of the total marketing budget (this is up 11% from 2008) Let’s get back to the title analogy here.  Social Media is your typical NASCAR car.  It’s a high performance, suped up, fuel sucking, thrill ride!    It’s ready to go as soon as you shift your business into gear and slam on the gas.  You better get this car on the right track or you’ll have no way of controlling it.  This is where Content Management comes into play.  You’ve got a ton of power behind your new found thrill ride, but you have to have the right content to control this influx of traffic coming your way.   Put your Social Media campaign on the wrong track and you can seriously hurt the passengers and your audience…even kill them.  Ok, maybe you won’t kill anybody with less than stellar content, but you sure as hell will kill any kind of quality traffic being generated from that powerful Social Media campaign.

Social Media Thrill Ride

You have to remember that the content you create needs to be written as if people really care about what you are writing about.  Sure you still have to write for the search engines, but writing for your readers specifically will make sure that you stand out among the usual businesses out there and create a personal connection with your audience.

The great thing about Social Media is that anyone can start a campaign for really very little budget.  It’s simple…create an account, find people to follow, contribute to conversations, give back to those conversations…end up with a ton of followers and create your own twitterverse where you control the message.  Seems simple right?  The crucial part about this simplistic formula is the “give back” part. This is your “track” and this is what you have to do to keep that beast “Social Media” on the right path.

If you don’t have a way to contribute and give authentic information to help your followers, then your hot rod (Social Media) will burn rubber taking to the streets.  You’ll waste your resources on burning up the place but you’ll really get no traction.  Your message won’t get out.  Making sure your resources are focused to the “right track” is the art of Content Marketing.  If you know your message, but aren’t sure how to translate your ideas or thoughts…hire someone to do it.  Here’s three lasting stats to leave with you:

• 6 out of 10 Marketers are going to spend more on their Social Campaigns in 2010
• Smaller companies spend more than 2x that of larger companies on content marketing

• Only 7% of marketers are spending less on content in 2010

Bottomline:  Don’t get behind the wheel of your Social Media campaign without having quality content to direct it to.

SEO and WordPress Plugins You Need on Your Blog- Part One

• Category: Blogging, SEO, Social media
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If you are running your blog on WordPress- and most of the most popular bloggers insist that you should be- then you can take advantage of some terrific plug-ins that will make your job easier and faster, while helping you optimize your blog for the search engines at the same time.

You can find lists of the best WordPress Plug Ins all over the Internet, but when you are trying to decipher which ones to use, it can get a bit murky. Some plugins are used by most bloggers. Akismet is a spam filter plugin that is terrific at preventing spammers from taking over your blog comments. Blog comments are one of the most important parts of your blog, so it is important to make sure they stay protected and on topic.
To encourage your readers to comment more, consider a plugin that helps them do just that. CommentLuv is a great plugin that lets your readers automatically enter their name, email and website info at the comment box, making the process faster and easier. Subscribe to Comments increases commenting by engaging your readers in other people’s comments, bringing them back to continue the conversation.

The SEO capabilities of your blog are always affected by content, but also by some of the background work you do to the blog. Google XMLSitemaps lets the search engine spiders see the whole layout of your blog, which means increased view of your keywords, if you’ve done things properly.

The All in One SEO Pack plug in is definitely a must have for your WordPress blog. This little plug in sets everything up for you to make sure your most important SEO techniques are in place for every post.

WP SuperCache helps your blog load faster by keeping a cache that loads your blog without needing to load the PHP scripts. Faster loading time means happy readers, so this plugin should increase the readability factor of your blog. PageLinks will make it easier for you to link posts to each other so readers can read more about their favorite topics.

Of course, no post on popular WordPress plugins would be complete without linking to the plugin to install your plugins! With this one, you no longer need to download, upload and unpack your plugins. This little baby does it all for you. While you are at it, be sure to include the automatic upgrade plugin so you can upgrade your WordPress blog with just a few clicks of your mouse.

Obviously, this list barely scratches the surface of WordPress plugins. While these are some of the plugins many bloggers won’t do without, there are hundreds of other plugins to help you create the most effective blog possible. We’ll continue the list in the next post.

SEO is Always Changing- Can You Keep up With It?

• Category: Blogging, Content, SEO
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Search engine optimization algorithms are always changing and what worked last month, or even last week, may not work today in the world of SEO. If you don’t have several hours a week to devote to studying the changes, how can you possibly keep up? Instead of trying to decide where to place your keywords on your webpage or in your article, you may just have better luck by improving your keyword research itself.

Keyword research is all about trying to determine what keywords people are actually using to search for your niche. In order to stay ahead of the competition, you need to dig a little deeper than ordinary keyword research. Think outside the box and get inside your customer’s head. Get away from using the keywords you think they are using and start thinking the way they are thinking.

What is going on in the lives of your customers? This will help you figure out how they are searching for you online. For example, if you are selling pet care products, how do people look for you online? Do they type in “retractable dog leash” or do they type in “self-winding dog leash?” Maybe they look for “dog leash that won’t get tangled” or “long dog leash that winds itself up.” The point is, just because the first words that come into your thinking are “retractable dog leash” it doesn’t mean the parent who has just untied a jumbled dog leash for the 15th time this week is thinking “retractable” when she sits down in frustration at her laptop.

The problem in keyword research is you can be stuck in a mindset of how you think your customers are trying to find you. Then no matter how often you sit down at your keyword tool, you think from that same mindset – and wind up with the same results. When you take the time to look at things differently, you can think from a new viewpoint and start coming up with different keyword ideas- ideas that embody the frustrations or problems your products solve for your customers.

Instead of chasing the SEO algorithms and trying to figure out what the guys and gals at Google are going to do next, try switching up the way you think about keyword research to see if you can come up with some new keywords. When you find the keywords your customers use, you can make much faster gains on your competitors than you ever imagined.

There is a lot more to optimizing your website and articles than how many times you use a keyword or where you place it in a sentence. Knowing how people really think is the real key to your research.

How Twitter Can Flow Into Your Content Marketing Plan

• Category: Content, Marketing, SEO, Social media
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It may not seem like a few words can make a big difference to your traffic but if you are not on board with the latest in social media, you are missing a big opportunity to improve your content marketing strategy.

There are several ways you can integrate Twitter seamlessly into your marketing plans. Here are 3 key moves to make with Twitter and your content marketing strategies:

Develop Short Bits of Valuable Information

If you are a regular user of Twitter, you have likely witnessed how other companies you follow provide small points that still attract attention. Don’t waste time by sending out mundane updates no one really cares about. You should invest the time into creating a flow of communication before posting any content to your Twitter page. Think about the current events happening in the news and how they relate to your company. Post answers to frequently asked questions about your product or service. Highlight an exclusive sale you are planning to host well before the actual sale date and use subsequent posts to keep reminding people of the sale date. There are a number of things you can provide to your target audience in 140 characters or less. The trick is to pre-plan your posts but still be flexible and involved enough to leave room for real-time interaction.

Create Lengthy Content and Links

There are many who use Twitter as a vehicle to drive traffic back to their home site. But if you don’t have valuable resources and information waiting at the end, there is no point in posting random links to your home page. First you need to fill your site with content that is useful and informative to your audience. Whether it be through a blog, articles, or even audio/visual materials, you should produce fresh content and then create your redirected posts on Twitter. Don’t keep point people to the same stale information. Create something new each day to keep interest levels high.

Use Progressive Tactics

Your Twitter audience can be a valuable research tool for your content ideas. If you are posting items or information that do not generate a response, go back to the drawing board and see where their interests lie. If your followers are asking questions or posting relevant points, join in the conversation to find out what they really want to know or where the need is that you can satisfy. There are several vehicles that allow you to pre-post content on your Twitter page. It can be an effective resource for time management but if you only work your account on auto-pilot, you are missing out on key interactions and feedback. Plan to commit at least one hour a day to check in with your audience and make yourself available for one-on-one contact.

Whatever content you are producing, whether it is small social media tidbits or 1,000 word articles, it is essential your content stays fresh, engaging, and valuable to your target audience. Your involvement in the content marketing plans of your business can be your biggest undertaking but also your biggest success.