Maybe a different approach to defining success is in order.

What if you ignored the popular definitions and created one of your own based on what is important to you?

Define success for yourself.

I believe we are each here for a reason, most of us multiple reasons. I believe one of the reasons I am here is reflected in my personal mission statement:

My purpose is to use my experience, strength and hope to support and inspire others to live a life authentically their own, realize their potential and leave their mark on this world in a way that is meaningful to them.

To the extent that I do those things, I consider myself successful. You’ll notice that my statement of purpose does not include being a billionairess. (Smile) But neither does it exclude it.

Given the hangups so many people have surrounding the topic of money, I want to boldly state that I have NO PROBLEM with the idea of making more money than I could possibly ever spend. Why? Because the more money I make, the more I can help others.

Could I fulfill my stated purpose being broke? Yes, I could, but my reach would be severely limited. So, I have NO PROBLEM with the idea of using that money to leave my mark on this world in a way that is meaningful to ME. Isn’t that, after all, what makes one want to jump out of bed each morning excited to see what the day will bring? It is for me.

When you think of the word success, what comes to mind? What is important enough to you that you could see yourself literally springing out of bed each morning to go do it? When was the last time you noticed a contented smile on your own face knowing you had made a difference somewhere to someone?

Success, I believe, has little to do with your bank account balance, and much to do with being who you really are and serving the world at large in the ways only YOU can.

What is YOUR definition of success? (Hint: until you define it, how will you know if you achieve it?)

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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As the days passed, I grew more and more nervous. As I said, I love my About page. I worked hard on it and practiced all that I preach. What could be so wrong that it’s taking this long for her to make her suggestions? I couldn’t take it anymore, so I emailed her about it. Here’s some (the pertinent part) of the reply I got this morning:

“Here was my problem. I loved your about page. But it wasn’t quite right. So I put on my copy editor hat and thought of all the ways I could mix it up to make it work. And it was a horrible pain in my ass and it kept not working and I was being a real bitch to Jamie about it. Bless him, he said, “When you used to do this for [insert name of evil company I used to be a copyeditor for here], didn’t you always say that if it was hard, you were doing it wrong?”

Jamie’s a f****** genius.

So I sat down again and really thought about it and realized the reason I was having such a hard time was because I was making it hard. If we made the changes I was thinking of making in the beginning, it would lose the YOU factor, and that would be stupid. Therefore, having thought of my objections and the blocks in the copy, here’s what you should do:

1. Cut the line at the beginning about “If you got here from Twitter”.
2. After the first bit about you’re the person behind vAS and your Twitter ID, add a sentence that says, IN ONE SENTENCE, what you do for a living. Benefit rich. “I help people like X do Y so that Z.”

Then the rest of the back story is interesting and nobody’s reading through it going, “Huh? When do we get to the pitch?”

After I let out a whoop and a holler in celebration, I cut the line she was talking about in #1. That leaves her second suggestion.

Now any of you who’ve worked with me know that I preach knowing who you are, what you have to offer and to whom until the cows come home. And my About page reflects all that – just not in one sentence as Naomi suggests. And she’s right – you need to be able to describe your business in one sentence. We all need to know our X, Y and Z.

In this case, X is the “to whom” part, Y is the “what I have to offer” part and Z is a 4th, but very important element: the “what’s in it for you” part.

So let’s take mine in pieces, shall we?

X = “to whom” = entrepreneurs like you

Y = “what I have to offer” = create or improve your web presence

Z = “what’s in it for you” = you can use the web to make money doing your thing ? in this lifetime!

Now, let’s put it together:

Hey – how cool is that? It’s 139 characters, including spaces, so I could Tweet it if I wanted to. Extra handy!

Now it’s your turn. Tell me your X, Y and Z and then put it all together in the comments below.

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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#1: WordPress is just a blogging platform.

Granted, WordPress started out as a blogging platform, sure enough. But in the years since, WordPress has become a full-blown content management system able to handle an ever increasing variety of website requirements, all while retaining its strength as a solid blogging tool. Undoubtedly, this is one of the greatest factors in its popularity and growth.

#2: All sites built in WordPress have that “WordPress look” to them.

Again, back in the day, this might have been true. But, certainly no longer! Does this site have that “WordPress look”? Or this one? Or this one? ‘Nough said.

#3: Hosting your own WordPress site is expensive.

First of all, “expensive” is a relative term. What is expensive? For the purposes of this discussion, let’s say anything over $100/year is “expensive”. Then…hosting your own WordPress site is not expensive, as you can do so for less (sometimes way less, depending on your host) than $100 all day long and half the night.

WordPress, itself, is free. Yes, you read that correctly: FREE.

All you have to pay for to have a self-hosted WordPress site is a domain name (currently @ $12/year) and a hosting account. (I personally have several hosting accounts. The least expensive of which is only $30/year. The others are still less than $100/year, and yes, they are shared hosting accounts. VPNs and dedicated servers will obviously cost more, but when you’re just starting out, you likely won’t need any of that.)

Getting your site like you want it might require hiring the services of a web developer like myself, depending on what you want and how technically savvy you are, but the actual hosting of your own site is not expensive.

#4: The more plugins you install, the slower your site is.

Technically true, but then again…

The speed of your site depends more on the quality of the code involved than the quantity. I’ve seen creepy-slow sites with less than a dozen plugins installed, and I’ve seen fairly zippy sites with over 40 plugins installed. So, obviously, there are other speed factors at play than simply the number of plugins installed.

Because WordPress is open source software and developers – of all skill levels – all over the world can contribute plugins, there is a wide variance in the quality of the plugins found in the WordPress plugin repository. Yes, they go through a review process before being added to the repository, but there’s still a variance. Some plugins are written efficiently, and others are not, and there’s really no way to tell for sure except to try them out.

One thing that can help you find out where the “slow” parts of your site are is a plugin (developed by GoDaddy, amazingly enough) called P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler). This plugin creates a profile of your WordPress site’s plugins’ performance by measuring their impact on your site’s load time. I’ll warn you, though – the output report this plugin generates is fairly technical in nature. But if you run it once, then deactivate a plugin you suspect may be slowing down your site, then run the P3 report again, you can tell – even without being particularly tech savvy – whether the removal of the plugin in question improved things, or not. (And of course, you can always contact me for help.)

Some good rules regarding plugins are:

• Make each plugin earn its keep. (If it’s no longer needed, remove it.)
• Get your plugins from reputable sources offering support.
• Regularly review the plugins you have installed, and once again, make them earn their keep.

#5: It’s ok to ignore upgrades to WordPress, themes and plugins.

Uhhh…NO! It is most definitely NOT ok to ignore the upgrades available. Especially when you know WHY there are such frequent updates to them: Security fixes!!

Let’s face it, the rate of change on the web is pretty breathless. There’s a vicious circle that exists on the web, and you’re caught in it, whether you know it, or not.

Reputable companies and service providers of all sizes diligently work to make the web a safer place for you and your site. And as soon as someone develops the latest, greatest security measure…some little knothead out there in cyberspace decides to see if they can hack it, break it, or get around it…sometimes with malicious intent, sometimes just to see if they can.

Then, the reputable company/service provider releases an upgrade to close that security hole, and the dance begins again.

So, really, we ought to be jumping for joy every time we see an upgrade available, because most of the time, security is the reason behind it.

Want your site to remain safe and secure? Keep up with your updates, or let me keep your site secure for you.

This falls under the category of preventable disasters, folks.

#6: It’s ok to leave deactivated plugins and unused themes installed.

Adding to #5, it’s not ok to leave deactivated plugins and unused themes installed…unless you’re going to keep them upgraded, that is. Better to just remove them if you’re not using them.

#7: WordPress doesn’t scale.

This one is so untrue, it’s actually funny. Here are some BIG sites running on WordPress:

• TED
• Wall Street Journal
• TechCrunch
• Anderson Cooper 360
• Mashable
• GigaOM
• Official blogs for eBay, Yahoo, Ford

WordPress.com, itself, has over 35 million blogs within it…yeah…35 MILLION. I’d say WordPress scales pretty well, wouldn’t you?

#8: WordPress isn’t the right platform for an e-commerce site.

Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, this might have been true. But not anymore. Today, there are themes specifically designed to make e-commerce easy with all kinds of features (payment gateways, etc.) built right in.

PremiumPress.com offers such themes, for instance. I have used a couple of their themes, and I’m here to tell you – they are powerful! Want to run an Amazon affiliate site? You can literally add hundreds of Amazon products to your site, all coded with your Amazon Associates ID, with just a few clicks. And this is just one example!

There are also great plugins that make e-commerce easy. WP-ecommerce is the most popular free option, but there are others, like ECWID, for example. In the premium plugin category, my favorite with great features, documentation and support, is Cart66.

E-commerce sites in WordPress can be visually appealing, too, just in case you thought you had to trade looks for functionality. Check out this site, and this site. (Both done by moi, of course.)

#9: WordPress has little to no documentation.

Yeah, right. Anyone telling you this has been living under a rock, I assure you. If the WordPress Codex and support forums aren’t enough for you, wade through these book options or videos.

#10: There’s only so much SEO you can do on a WordPress site without diving into code.

This one probably comes from web developers who know diddly squat about WordPress, to be quite frank. Most often, SEO on WordPress sites is accomplished through the use of a plugin, but in the last couple of years, I’ve seen an increase in the number of premium themes with SEO capabilities built-in.

I do SEO on WordPress sites all the time and have not had to dive into code yet. For anyone who wants to tell you your SEO is limited because you’re on WordPress, send ‘em to Yoast.com to be schooled in WordPress SEO.

So, there you have ‘em – my top 10 common misconceptions about websites in WordPress. Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments below.

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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She believes (and I agree) that we should all be asking more questions of ourselves and others. The kind of burning questions that challenge us, make us think, or – better yet – make us act. So, here’s this week’s question…and I’d love to hear your answers in the comments below.

“When you cop to your shortcomings a number of wonderful things can happen. You become more accessible to the people around you, you invite other people to step up and shine, and you create space for support to come into your life — you actually don’t have to be awesome at everything. Go figure. Mostly, when you approve of your weaknesses, you give yourself permission to pursue your genius.

The point of this exercise is to notice where you have tension around being lame at something. The things on your “I suck at…” list are the things that have bothered you frequently or deeply for a long time. You have fought against them, felt less than because of them, and tried to cover up for them.

When we put our weaknesses in plain language and clear view, we can see where we need to become more conscious, and how our so called “shortcomings” point to our true strengths.”

So what do you suck at?

I suck at:

Preparing meals every day. I suck so bad (or well, maybe) that I’ve all but given it up. This includes all the related activities like grocery shopping, meal planning, leftover management, and timing it right so the whole meal is on the table at the same time. If I moved my coffee pot into my office along with a little dorm-size refrigerator, the kitchen could completely fall off the back of the house and I would not notice. (The upside, of course, is my children have all become proficient in the kitchen at an early age. They’ll thank me one day, I’m sure.)

Checking my voice mail. If I thought I could get away with it, I would cancel my voice mail service altogether. Prior to partnering with my fabulous Virtual Assistant, Sharon, voice mails were largely ignored around here. This was a huge problem, as you might imagine…a problem that cost me business and made me look less-than-professional in the eyes of anyone who dared leave one. (Now, Sharon gets them and makes sure I handle them in a timely manner. Bless her.)

Keeping a tidy office and desktop. Despite the fact that I LOVE. SO. MUCH. a tidy office and desktop, I rarely enjoy either. Except for the first couple days after I snap and clean it all up nice and pretty. (For this vicious cycle, I blame my extreme tuning-out powers which serve me so well in other ways.)

Mailing anything. Despite the fact that a mailman shows up on my front porch 6 days a week, I am functionally incapable of licking a stamp, affixing it to an addressed envelope and getting it into the mailbox in time. (If it’s a package that has to go out…well, you can imagine…it’s a full-blown project.)

Delegating. My to-do lists are always impossibly long. To make matters worse, asking for help is still usually an afterthought. (Once again, Sharon to the rescue. She’s teaching me the joys of delegation…one baby step at a time.)

There are a bazillion other things I suck at, I assure you, but now it’s your turn. What do you suck at? Tell me in the comments below.

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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In Content Curation: What Is It and Is It For You? we learned about content curation as it relates to our WordPress blogs and learned why we might want to consider incorporating content curation into our overall content marketing strategy. As promised, I’m back with some content curation tips for you to make getting started a little easier.

Keep It Simple

The first thing to remember is content curation does not have to be a complex activity. It’s just a simple matter of sharing great content on a particular topic along with your own contextual view, opinion and/or perspective on that same topic. You and your input are the value add here.

You may not realize it, but you’ve probably “curated” content many times. The last time you “shared” an image you saw in your Facebook news feed, added a description to it before you clicked share…you curated content.

You’ve probably even written blog posts where you quoted someone else and gave a link to their post so your readers could go read the whole post, if they wanted to. You “curated” their content…in the simplest form.

Title – Intro – Curated Content – Conclusion

The simplest format is to take a piece of content – be it another post by someone else, an image or a video – introduce it (tell why you’re sharing it), then share it (with attribution and a link to the original piece), then share your thoughts/conclusions about it. Write an awesome, attention grabbing post title and publish!

Just as it’s sometimes easier to edit a document than write one from scratch, it is sometimes easier to share a piece of content your audience will find relevant, adding your own context and point of view in the process, than it is to create unique content from scratch.

Expand and Build

Once you get the hang of it, you can use content curation to create all kinds of interesting posts and articles for your readers. You can share multiple pieces of content along with your thoughts and views on each (or all as a whole.) You can choose an issue and present curated content supporting one point of view, then switch up and play Devil’s Advocate and present curated content supporting an opposing view.

You can curate content around a topic (parenting tips,) a time frame (the best posts you’ve read this week,) or an issue facing your readers (how to market their business online.) The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!

Whichever direction you choose to go, just remember – keep it simple and build as you go!

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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Image by cambodia4kidsorg via Flickr

Content curation – to me – is simply an online expression of what we do throughout our lives on an everyday basis: we filter through huge amounts of information and choose what we share with those we know based on our knowledge of their likes and interests in an effort to further build or cement our relationship with them.

Each and every day, we are exposed to vast amounts of information. Some of it we absorb and file away as referential information. Much is ignored as it crosses our consciousness. But there are bits and pieces we mentally “tag” as being something we want to share with someone we know who is interested in that topic. That, to me, is the essence of content curation, and we humans have been doing it since the dawn of time.

What is content curation in the context of your blog or website?

According to C.C. Chapman and Ann Handley, in their book, “Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series)” [affiliate link]:

“[Content curation is] the act of continually identifying, selecting and sharing the best and most relevant online content and other online resources on a specific subject to match the needs of a specific audience.”

Excellent definition. But what's implied here, not overtly stated, is that YOU are both the filter through which the best and most relevant online content is determined, as well as the provider of authoritative context. 

That is an important point not to be overlooked, because without it, you are just regurgitating information you've found on the web. Content curation is much more than that:

It seems that the key to curation, at least as I currently understand it, is all about distilling down a wealth of information about a specific topic into its most useful components AND adding context to that information in a way that saves readers time AND makes the final information more valuable as a result of the distillation process.

I would also suggest that adding in “your” personality and experience both in the distillation process and your unique added content will determine the group of followers you will ultimately attract….More at Content Curation | What it is and What it Isn't – Curate Content

Is content curation for you?

If your aim is to become the “go to” person for your target market, to build authority on your topic and provide value for your readers, then I would say your answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

Stay tuned and we’ll discuss simple ways to get started curating content.

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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Lolita C. Baldor of the Huffington Post published an article on July 5, 2012 giving additional information and links to this situation.

You may also go on the FBI page which gives all the details. However, this is the direct link to the cleaner which will let you know if your computer was infected or not.

You may also click here to read the report issued by Janice Fedarcyk of New York who was the Assistant FBI Director who handled this situation.

The people responsible for this criminal act have been arrested.

Please forward this information to family and friends….More at FBI warns of DNS Malware; and offers a solution only until July 9, 2012 – Examiner.com

The FBI DNS malware warning may only apply to less than 50,000 computers here in the US. While less than 50,000 computers being affected is a very small number compared to how many computers there are connected to the Internet, it would be a VERY BIG DEAL if your computer was one of those affected! So, please, save yourself a major headache and check your computer today so you can take corrective action BEFORE you've got a major problem on your hands tomorrow. Remember, better safe than sorry!

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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• Update the look, feel and functionality of your site
• Manage your content yourself
• Add blogging/RSS capabilities to your site
• Gain SEO benefits and make implementing SEO easier

Before

Scot Brazelton had all these reasons in mind when he contacted me to convert his static HTML site to WordPress. He had it built several years ago, and for a good long while it served him in good stead. But he was not able to make changes to its content himself, and he needed that capability. It also lacked a blog, something he really wanted. Here is his static site:

After

The first thing Scot and I discussed was how his business had evolved since he’d had his site built. He wanted more specific focus on the product lines he offers, as well as a much more visually pleasing look and feel. He also wanted to add blogging capabilities to the site, as well as social sharing mechanisms.

We also reviewed his existing copy and updated it to reflect the growth of his business and clientele. Last but very much NOT least, we added a mailing list optin so he can build his mailing list and stay in touch with his “right” people. Here is his new WordPress site:

This is a Builder site (my favorite kind!) and I used a slightly customized version of the Expansion child theme. On his Our Partners page, we replaced a 3-column text list with a 3-column list of logos that click through to the various companies’ websites – an important feature to Scot – he wants his customers and clients to be able to easily research the various companies he partners with to provide insurance solutions. Each of the 4 main categories (Auto, Home, Business, Life/Health) across the top of each page click through to a customized form where visitors can request a quote. Finally, we added the blog and he’s already posted 3 times – go Scot!!

Brazelton Insurance Group now has an up-to-date web presence which reflects Scot’s professional, yet personal, style.

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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I Wasn’t Going to Confess This…

I didn’t plan on running a contest or giving away a premium plugin (an unlimited, developer license, at that!) this month. I was going to just keep my head down, keep working and complete the pile of projects on my to-do list and totally try to ignore my birthday this year. When I was a kid, I loved it when my birthday fell on Father’s Day because I’m an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, but as a single mom, it kinda sucks. So, when it happens now, I admit, I get kinda snarky about it.

But my little plan was foiled by my enthusiasm for addiction to WordPress plugins. Last month, a really cool plugin was released (Contest Domination) and I snapped it up. Then I took a long weekend trip over Memorial Day (and my daughter’s 13th birthday) and completely unplugged for 4 days (what a concept!) Apparently, I didn’t bring all of my brain back with me, or it took a few days to get back in the business groove…something, because the first day back I got an email promoting a really cool plugin and I bought it. But it was the SAME cool plugin (Contest Domination) I bought before I left!

Oy vey. My enthusiasm for addiction to WordPress plugins is not severe enough to just say, “Oh well” over money spent needlessly. I was looking up how to request a refund, when a brilliant idea struck…

Why Not Test Contest Domination by…Holding a Contest?!!

Yeah! That’s the ticket! Instead of requesting a refund, I asked for permission to use the plugin to give away my extra copy. Travis Ketchum, the plugin author, was completely cool with my request.

So, that’s exactly what I’m doing. And my birthday is the day I’ll announce the winner and give my extra copy to…maybe you! Then YOU can run contests at YOUR site…without losing your natural mind, or getting so frustrated trying to figure out how to accomplish all the details that you just give up and skip it altogether.

Why You Want to Win

Contest Domination is truly the simplest way to run a contest on a WordPress site. Literally, the most difficult part was coming up with all the legalese stuff for my contest rules! (I ended up using RocketLawyer.com for free.) Here are a few more reasons you’ll love it like I already do:

• No need to dig into code and setup a database or monkey with embed codes
• Reward your users for sharing, they get additional entries when their referrals register
• Built-in logic to pick the winner(s) for you, no more paper in a hat!
• Integration for frictionless sharing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)
• Quickly connect your contests to MailChimp and Aweber, or paste in any 3rd party email form, too

Congratulations! We have a winner!

Congratulations, Bob Dunn! You are the lucky winner of this awesome plugin! Can’t wait to see what contests you run with it!

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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• Update the look, feel and functionality of your site
• Manage your content yourself
• Add blogging/RSS capabilities to your site
• Gain SEO benefits and make implementing SEO easier

Before

Julia Simpson had all these reasons in mind when she contacted me to convert her static HTML site to WordPress. She had built it using a template system provided by her hosting company and had taken it about as far as it could go, given the tools available to her. It also lacked a blog, something she really wanted.  Here is her static site:

After

The first thing Julia and I did was have a conversation about how her business had evolved since she’d built her site. Her focus had become more specific, so we did some keyword research to find the best keyword phrases to optimize her site right from the start. (Not only did we use the results of that research to build her site, she’s now armed with several dozen phrases to write blog posts around! Sweet!)

Then we discussed look and feel…how color, white space, images and fonts all work together to evoke a feeling when you look at a site. Next, we combined the keyword research information with the look and feel we were after and…voila! Here is her new WordPress site:

We used the Chameleon theme from Elegant Themes and made a few tweaks to it here and there to get it exactly right. Her home page highlights who she is, what she does and for whom, just like it should. Her About and Testimonials pages feature expandable text blocks which allowed us to put a LOT of content on the page, but still keep visitors from scrolling forever. We chose a set of keyword phrases and created categories from them to maximize her SEO on the blog and as I mentioned before, she’s got a list of related keyword phrases to use to create blog posts going forward.

ClearMessage.co.uk‘s message is now…very clear! Well done, Julia!

Published at Websites in WordPress - Effective WordPress websites and support for your business. by Suzanne

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