The main idea of the site was to promote Diamond Del online to people who may not have an idea of what this company does. It is a little unique in that it is a field trip that comes to you. Teachers contact Diamond Del and then a representative works with that teacher to schedule the event. On the event day Diamond Del sets up a trailer on school property and the children simply walk into the trailer and begin learning a ton about gemology.

Here are a few of the site elements that were fun to create for DiamondDel.com:

1. Map

The map was a challenge. I’m not gonna lie to you. Although the great people at Diamond Del had already determined what the purpose of map was going to be there were so many options out there that had to be explored.

We finally settled on a WordPress plugin that allowed you to edit a Google map with different icons. It also allowed me to add an image and specific information (such as links) to the “bubble” that pops up when a location on the map is clicked.

We didn’t want to limit the user’s experience by only having the “location” search so we added the points of contact for each representative of Diamond Del. This also gave us an opportunity to mark what areas they take care of and a link to their specific contact page.

2. Gemstone Chart

Every time Diamond Del visits a school for a field trip they hand out a gemstone chart. This chart allows the students to get to know more about the specific gem they are looking at. They wanted this to appear on the site for future reference for the students and teachers.

Instead of just throwing up a large picture or a bunch of pictures with text we decided to design a layout that closely resembled that of the handout they give to each student. It was also necessary to allow the visitor to easily print off the page.

I accomplished this by adding a CSS framework (no tables) to the page. This resulted in not only a user friendly experience but also a search engine friendly design. Each gem image was optimized for it’s particular information.

3. Franchisee Information

Diamond Del is literally servicing most of the south eastern U.S. and needed a way to interact with their franchisees. This was going to look something like an intranet. The big difference being there was no need to develop an entirely new domain.

We added the WordPress plugin Wishlist Member and then created specific pages to the site that were only viewable by franchisees (members). We also created a blog that allows the owner of Diamond Del to reach out and encourage his franchisees with ease.

5. Store

When Diamond Del does a field trip they take with them several items that the children can purchase as memento. Not only do they get to keep the 12 gem stones but they have this other chance to wear or use the gemstones. It’s a great opportunity for Diamond Del to expand their relationship with the teachers and classes.

They decided that they wanted to incorporate a small online estore that would allow anyone to purchase the items in a very effective and efficient way. We turned to the plugin WP Estore. This allowed the site to have a completely independent integrated web store.

The solution works great with Paypal integration. There was no need to spend hundreds of dollars on an over killed ecommerce solution. This solution not only allows them to have a small estore on their site but it also will enable them to grow in the future if they decide to expand what they offer.

Overall this was a great experience for me and I look forward to seeing some really great results from the website.

If you are a teacher or know of one, Diamond Del would be a great field trip for your school. It comes to you! Check out the site and contact them so that you can see how cool this is first hand.

(site design by Studio Nudge, powered by Standard Theme)

It has been a crazy road so far to get to this point but I believe I’m ready to take this new challenge in my life. I have to say that credit is not do to me or anyone else but my Savior. I would have never made these decisions without Him guiding every step of the way. Sometimes it felt like He was smacking my legs to stay on track while others He seemed to be carrying me on His broad shoulders. Ether way, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that Wingspan Marketing LLC and every project it produces is only done because of a loving and caring God.

That being said, it was still an incredible feeling to walk into the bank today with my 4 year old, Matthew, and sign the paperwork to open up my business account. Proud, would be a good word to describe it.

In 2007, when I was asked by the Pastor to head up the website ministry I would have never dreamed that I would be doing web development full time.

I know many people have had their LLC since they were 3 and this really isn’t that big of a deal to them. That is just it though, it is a big deal to ME and my family. I can see how this will give me a platform to work from.

I feel as if I am wearing spikes for the first time on a wet golf course or cleats on a freshly watered soccer field. The traction that this paperwork seems to give me is just what I needed to take the next step.

Even bigger things are in the works than I had ever previously thought were possible.

Although these are natural areas where the main idea of your page or article would be found there is always some tweaking that can be done to make it more apparent to those reading and search engines who are trying to determine your main idea.

1. At the beginning of the page URL. This is also called the slug or webpage address. It is important to have a URL that is small, simple and keyword rich. That doesn’t mean you should repeat your words over and over again but it does mean to be purposeful with how close you place the keyword(s) you are trying to communicate to the front of the name.

2. In the first 140 characters of your content. If you don’t have a specific plugin or “description generator” then your first 140 characters in your content will determine what shows up in the description under the blog title in SERP (Search Engine Results Page). This will yield better results in the SERPs and also higher click throughs.

3. In the last paragraph or 50 words of your content. This naturally happens when you write a good article. It never hurts to carefully consider it when writing an article even though it should be natural. Placing your keyword in the last part of the article/content is naturally done by reviewing the main points of your article.

A good article may automatically do that but it doesn’t intentionally do it. That is where the mistakes come in. Maybe you rabbit trailed and your content became a long dialogue about everything instead of what you had originally intended to write about. This is where a purposeful attempt at placing your keyword in your article will really help your all around SEO.

Having good keyword placement on your website is as important as placing a neon sign on a busy street. It should help direct people to understand your message.

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You may have seen the article over the weekend, or maybe you didn’t. JC Penny was caught in an elaborate black hat SEO link scheme.

The SEO company they were working with used a method called “link scheming” or “link farming” to tweak the results in the search engines in order to gain top rankings. Basically, you collect thousands of domain names and then begin to drop a link in their content to a specific URL. As the number of links grow so does your standing with Google.

My question is not if these tactics are right or wrong but whether or not Google failed on this one. How could they miss such an huge scheme? The company had already been busted three other times for using black hat tactics. The most recent was back in November, 2010.

I submit to you that Google didn’t fail in this situation but just got a whole lot better. There are now thousands of SEO companies scrambling to research the competing websites of their clients to see if there is any sign of black hat SEO tactics.

If they find even the slightest hint of scheming they will report the domain to Google. Google will then research the claim and mark the sites accordingly. It’s a process that will strengthen Google’s ability to catch abusers and promote the best organic results.

I understand SEO companies have reported their client’s competition to Google many times before but this article by the NYTimes has promoted the topic up to the attention of many business owners who are on the phone with their SEO guy making sure he is doing this.

I believe this is a good thing. The heart of a good search on Google is the human aspect of it’s guidelines not the algorithm in it’s computers. I think Google just got a lot better.

How about you? Do you think Google missed the elephant in the room and failed? Will it hurt their standing and promote another search alternative for searchers? Or, do you think this just helped them get better?

Using WordPress or any other open source platform allows for some pretty incredible results as far as design goes. What use to take thousands of dollars to develop properly is now next to nothing.

Keep in mind however, that search engines still have to go by page information as it sees it. For example: a flash or image base navigation system is great on the eyes but not on the bots. There are several key areas to focus on when developing your site.

That is why it is so important to optimize your pages with a specific list of things to focus on. The most important parts of your page are going to be title, text and headings in the body, and image alt and link anchor texts.

I have a program called WebCEO that checks all these parameters and gives you a listed report that will walk you through some of the most important on-page-optimization suggestions.

I am offering this report for FREE to help get you started.
Not only will you get a list of important items to change on your page but I will also add a few of my personal observations about some other things you can do to help improve your pages results in the search engines.

If you are interested in this free personalized Page Keyword Analysis Report simply leave a comment below with your keyword or phrase and the URL of the page your wanting to get the report on.

I will try to get your report done and emailed back to you in a short amount of time.

[if you don't feel comfortable leaving the information in the comment section just jump over to the contact page and leave the information there]

It has been difficult to handle the interaction aspect of several of the pages I manage on facebook.
There are tons of things that could be done already on Facebook Pages that every business’ could do but these new features are going to be great!

Here is what Facebook is saying about the changes:

Facebook pages are getting an updated layout and several new features to help you engage with your fans. Here’s some of what you’ll be getting:

Notifications when fans interact with your page or posts

A place to showcase photos along the top of your page

A news feed for your page

The ability to Like and post on other pages as your page

Preview your page and you’ll be given the option to upgrade early. All pages will automatically be upgraded on March 10.

The “notifications when fans interact with your page or posts” is HUGE! I wonder why it took them so long to do this?

Do you think this will take pages to another level or just increase some of the confusion of how to use Pages?

Most leaders I know have expressed to me the desire to share this information through a blog or an email newsletter. They end up not doing anything because they just can’t seem to pin down what a good article looks like.

In the hopes of encouraging everyone to write, here are 3 key characteristics of good articles. I have noticed these 3 common traits on the most popular blog articles.

1. A Solid Title – Every good article begins with a solid title. By solid I mean one that leads people to read the article not tricks people into it. Be creative but don’t be manipulative.
2. 250-500 Words – I have yet to find anything worse than an article that takes 3,000 words to say 300 words worth of important information. There are some articles that require a long explanation, but overall, blog articles that succeed seem to always be below 500 words.
3. Keep It Simple – The most effective blog articles are written on a very basic vocabulary. We all know you can use big words the right way. It’s impressive, (I mean that) but it usually distracts from your purpose. After finishing your article reread it and try to simplify your wording so that more people can understand what you are saying.
   If you have to use and uncommon word make sure you give a definition. The definition will help the reader understand what you are trying to say.

These are only three basic characteristics of good articles that I have witnessed. Of course, there are many exceptions to these but overall they really do describe the fundamental aspects of a good article.

Have you been waiting to write article for you business or personally? Give it a shot. Pick a good title, keep under 500 words, and keep it simple.

If you follow these three principles you’ll be well on your way to being an encouragement and influence to many people online.

What are some of the exceptions to these three characteristics?

We immediately loaded WordPress on his server and installed The Standard Theme. Using the WordPress platform and the Standard Theme framework we were able to go live in a short amount of time.

After a bit of brainstorming, a lot of strategy talking, and a ton of funny conversations we came up with an effective plan. It involved MailChimp and his monthly devotional series called Biblical Living.

We chose MailChimp because they offer a free plan that no one else in the email marketing industry can touch. We created the PDF from his paper devotionals and uploaded it to the media library of his WordPress blog.

Next we asked the nice monkey to send out a link to the PDF after someone signed up for the list. He was happy to do it. (It’s fun to talk about MailChimp as a real monkey, try it.) We then added a subscribe page to the site and BOOM!, done and done.

The next part of our strategy was all on Reuben Ewert.  He had to learn how to use Facebook and reconnect with the thousands of people he usually saw every year. Within 30 days his numbers went from 75 friends to 1200+. I still remember the conversation I had with him about not getting discouraged. I said “now listen, adding friends to a social network is not easy, it takes time. Don’t be discouraged if you only have 25 people added each month.” HA! He just smiled and nodded and went to work.

When we began sharing the news about the devotional it was slow going but as soon as January 1st hit the subscribers just continually rose. We saw an increas of 75 people in the first 30 days. Our original goal was 25 subscribers in 3 months. Again, he just took on the project like nobody’s business.

He and Mrs. Ewert recently moved to North Carolina so the activity on the blog has been down while he adjusts to the new home and church but I know he is chomping at the bit to get back on the site and start pumping out some great articles again.

This is just one example of using the right tools, good strategy, and hard work to grow a community online. I’m looking forward to seeing how this property grows and encourages thousands around the world.

Got a question about using MailChimp? Leave it in the comment section below.

Maybe you’d like to get something like this going?�� Let me know, I’d love to talk about it.

He contacted me through a mutual friend and wanted to know if I could help him. We talked over breakfast one morning a Denny’s (I’m not lying about that) and got to work.

DivineCrosses.com was one of the very first clients I took on in my SEO career, outside of Burgess Road Baptist. It was interesting to talk with Brad and find the incredible passion he had for his work and the desire to promote his business online.

Our keywords were based on quality results not just traffic numbers. We generated a list of keywords like “custom handmade crosses”, “handmade wooden crosses”, and “custom wooden crosses”. This list translated into quality traffic on the site. It took a little over 6 months to start seeing solid results but after that it just took off.

We first saw traffic results from the images that he had placed on the site. When I optimized the site I made sure to make the “alt” tags very keyword rich so that Google and Bing would be able to easily index the images on the site.

#1 out of 12.5 million

The next results we are seeing is found in Google search. It has taken over a year, (strictly on-site optimization, link building would have helped speed things up but we were dealing with a budget) but we now see DivineCrosses.com popping up all over the web. Google has taken to the site like a long lost friend. We now site in 25 top 5 rankings on the major search engines.

If you would like results like this let me know. I would love to work with your business website to get it visible online.

There are many reasons a company would not get involved in social media or web marketing but the excuse of “It just changes too fast” shouldn’t be one of the them. In fact, this reason should compel you to jump on board.

In a rapidly changing environment it doesn’t take long for things to shift. All of the sudden the newbie is the authority. So many people are starting to jump on with social media and web marketing that if you consider yourself a “late comer” you will soon find yourself assuming the “veteran” status.

There are a few exceptions to this process. Just because you have an account with any or all of the social networks, doesn’t mean you are going to be successful.

Here are three things to keep in mind when stepping on board the SS Internet Marketing (Get it? It’s like a boat name. Crafty.)

• Learn the environment - Take some time when you first jump on to learn what type of environment the network is. For example, Facebook and Twitter have drastically different communication systems. Most, if not all, of the social networks have an online guide to help you learn how to communicate more effectively.

• Stay active - As with any online or offline community, people come and go on a regular basis. If you are really interested in communicating your message to others make sure you set a goal to have regular updates.

• Promote others – Any online community dislikes an arrogant, pushy, salesman as much as an offline one does. Use your platform to speak much like you would if you were hosting an awards ceremony. Promote those around you and you will find that you will be much more effective.

When you have experience in something online you obtain a certain level of “authority” which makes your voice louder than anyone else around.