Denisse Marie

Managing Your WordPress Blog or Website

Denisse — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:26:54 +0000

Our blogging series began with 4 Steps to Get Blogging. From there we discussed content with Strategies for Publishing Content On Your Blog. To finish off our blogging series, let’s talk about maintaining your WordPress blog.

Updating WordPress

From time to time, WordPress will release a new version because of new functionality or because of a new security fix. WordPress versions of 2.7 and higher feature an automatic update, so you will see the notification of the update at the top of your dashboard.

Before you update your WordPress, you want to make sure to back up. WordPress gives you instructions to manually back up your data, but I recommend installing a back up plugin like WP-DB Backup.

For instructions on backing up WordPress with this plugin, click here.

Once your WordPress is backed up, it’s time to prepare your file by disabling your plugins. Now this is not required, but I highly recommend it. Plugins are developed by the WordPress community (other developers) and sometimes the plugins have not been updated to work with the latest WordPress version causing problems after upgrading. There have been quite a few times an entire website has gone down after upgrading and it has always been due to a plugin.

To disable your plugins, go to the Manage Plugins page in the Dashboard, select all the plugins, change the “Bulk Actions” pull down menu to “Deactivate” and click “Apply”.

From there you are ready to update! Once the update is complete, re-activate your plugins (you may need to clear your cookies) and you are good to go!

Managing and Updating Plugins

Management of Plugins includes activating, deactivating, updating, editing, and deleting Plugins that are installed.

Like WordPress, from time to time, plugins have to be updated for security, bugs and new features. When Plugins need to be updated, the left navigation menu Plugin option will display a balloon, with a number inside the balloon (1). That number represents the number of Plugins that need to be Updated.

If only one or two plugins need to be updated, you can select, Update Automatically right underneath the plugin name and description (2).

To update multiple plugins, the same steps as disabling plugins apply. Go to the Manage Plugins page in the Dashboard, select all the plugins, change the “Bulk Actions” pull down menu to “Update” and click “Apply”.

To keep your website performance at it’s best, make sure to log-in on a regular basis to perform these updates. If you need to revisit these steps, make sure to bookmark this post to come back for the next update :)

Did you miss the previous posts in the WordPress Blog series?

4 Steps To Get Blogging

Strategies for Publishing Content On Your Blog

Don’t want to worry about updating your WordPress blog? Contact me for more information on my WordPress Management package!

Have You Heard Of SlideShare?

Denisse — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:50:06 +0000

If you haven’t heard of Slideshare, you are going to want to keep reading because it could be a powerful marketing tool for your business!

SlideShare is an online community for sharing presentations. There is no need for downloading or installing software. It’s easy to create professional, creative and visually appealing presentations.

SlideShare Features

Supports documents, PDF’s, PowerPoint presentations, videos (including YouTube), webinars, open office and keynote files.
You can share your presentations publicly or privately
You can embed SlideShare on your website, blog, LinkedIn and Facebook profiles
Display your presentations on LinkedIn
Access SlideShare from your smartphone
Improves your search engine ranking
Make your presentations live with Zipcast for free meetings that include video and chat
Customize your SlideShare channel to your brand
Browse presentations or topics by category

Slideshare offers a Free, Silver, Gold, and Platinum plan. The free plan does have quite a few limitations but it will give you a chance to get familiar with the program and get ideas of how you can put it to use for your business. The first upgrade is Silver for only $19 per month. It includes all the features, including their Capture Leads feature which adds a customizable lead form to your presentations!

You may agree this a pretty cool online tool, but are you still wondering how you could use it? Here are a few ideas:

Ways you could use Slideshare

Impress employers with a visual resume
Employment Presentations/Packages
Welcome Packages/Presentations to new clients
Lead Generation – walk your leads through a sales funnel with a presentation on your business
Service Processes/Brochure

Can you think of other ways you can use Slideshare? Share your ideas!

If you have used Slideshare, how has it worked out for you?

Need help learning how to use or implement Slideshare? I am just an email away (info@denissemarie.com)! Or start with the Starting Analysis for a free consultation!

5 Rules for Getting Your Press Release Noticed

Denisse — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:00:15 +0000

Editors and reporters receive hundreds of press releases all day long. Every time they look up, another one is in their inbox or on their desk. This means you have a lot of competition. The more press releases that are sent out, the better your story has to be to stand out from the crowd.

So, what can you do to give your press release the best chance of getting noticed? What does it take to get your story picked up? Here are 5 helpful tips to guide you when writing and distributing your next press release.

1. A strong headline – Let’s start at the beginning. The headline is the most important piece of your press release. If your headline sucks, your chances of getting media coverage are flushed down the toilet. The best press release headlines are short, clear, and catchy. They grab the reader’s attention, letting him know what the story is about. Don’t try to be clever. Focus on clarity above all

else, and ditch the gimmicks and sales hype.

2. Send it to media related to the topic – There are many media relations mistakes you can make. One of the biggest is to not know the types of stories reporters and editors are interested in. Don’t bombard every editor and journalist in the country with your press release. Most of them won’t be interested in it. Instead, focus your press release distribution on those who cover stories like yours. This gives your story the best chance of getting noticed, and it keeps you from annoying a lot of editors and reporters with irrelevant pitches.

3. Keep it short – Newspeople are constantly strapped for time. Between the hundreds of press releases they have to sift through to the pressing deadlines, their time is limited. That’s why it’s best to keep your press releases short and to the point. Cut out any extraneous information that doesn’t add to the story. Just stick to the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the story, and edit it down as

much as you can.

4. Be objective – Never forget, this is a press release, not an advertisement for your company. There’s no bigger turnoff to a journalist than a press release that’s filled with sales hype and unsubstantiated claims. You have to be objective when writing your press release. Don’t deviate from the facts, and make sure you always back up your claims (statistics are your friend!). If you’re able to maintain an

objective tone, this alone will set you apart from the majority of the other press releases.

5. Always follow up – Even if your press release is great, a busy reporter can lose track of it during a hectic day. That’s why following up is so important in public relations. This keeps you in the mind of the reporter, so they’re likelier to think of your story when they need something new to cover. But make sure you go about your follow up correctly. Keep it short, and never be a nuisance.

What do you do to make sure your press releases don’t wind up in the trash?

This article previously appeared in PR Fuel, and was written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases, the home of affordable press release distribution. PR Fuel showcases advice and articles on social media, PR, publicity, and online marketing. Download the free 150-page ebook Beginner’s Guide to Writing Powerful Press Releases here.

Have You Heard Of Wibiya?

Denisse — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:10:12 +0000

Ever wonder how some websites added that cool, interactive toolbar at the bottom of their site?

Have you heard of Wibiya?

It’s the coolest, simplest and free tool! It’s so simple, you will start wondering why you didn’t have ages ago!

Wibiya is a powerful tool that integrates top web applications like Facebook, Twitter, Live Chat, Google+, Live Notifications and so much more into your blog or website.They have an easy to use dashboard where you can install the applications of your choice, edit them and it updates your toolbar on your website in real-time.

Other applications you can integrate are:

Translation -give your website visitors the option to translate your website into the language of their choice
You Tube
Contact Forms
Pin It Button
Social Chat
Free Games
RSS Subscription
Scroll Back to Top Button

They add new applications on a regular basis and have a large variety of applications you can add depending on your business and the type of interaction you would like to provide your website visitors.

Wibiya makes your website more interactive, encourages sharing and increases the time visitors spend on your site. Wibiya also offers analytics that provides details on the number clicks and engagement statistics on each application within your toolbar.

It is very easy to install Wibiya. They give you a list of popular platforms and installation instructions. If your web platform is not on the list, they provide a html coding you can paste before the tag of your website.

Wibiya’s free plan does add a tab on your toolbar, “Powered by Wibiya” that visitors can click on to learn more about the service. It also has a limited choice of colors and customization. If you prefer to remove their branding or if you would like to customize the toolbar (icons, color etc.), they do offer a paid plan for $9.95 per month which allows for up to 1 toolbar on 1 website or blog.

I highly recommend Wibiya! Check it out and bring life to your website or blog!

Have you tried Wibiya? What do you like about it? What applications to you use?

Will you try adding Wibiya to your website?

Social SEO Strategies That BOOST Your Web Traffic

Denisse — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:00:10 +0000

Once of the major recent changes Google released is Google Social Search, officially called: Search, plus Your World. With these changes by Google and as social becomes increasingly integrated with search, it’s time to add social media as a permanent tool in your SEO (search engine optimization) arsenal.

What is Google’s Search, plus Your World? In simple terms Google is now including Google+ updates and people’s +1s (“+1″ is Google’s version of Facebook’s “like”) in Google search. This means that a website can move from #35 to #2 in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) just because someone in your Google Circle’s shared your link.

Now when you search, you may see a post from someone you know or someone who knows someone you know. This is indicated with a small blue, person icon next to the search result.

Because posts from sites like Facebook and Twitter block Google from searching or indexing people’s public posts, most of the search results are from Google+.

Small Business owners have been a little slow to migrate to Google+, but because of these changes it is important to put priority to having a presence and grow your followers on Google+.

Important Social SEO Tips:

Start posting your articles immediately on your social networks
Focus on content that is shareable and engaging. Getting your links shared by larger communities like The Huffington Post or Newsweek will give you a huge boost in your rankings plus access to their large network.
Put priority on increasing followers and fans and engagement!
Place the Google+ button everywhere that is relevant!
Use keywords that your target audience are using (vs. industry keywords) within your status updates
As I mentioned in previous post, Pinterest generates more traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined. And now Google crawls pins and boards. If you are not ready to join Pinterest, at least make sure to add the Pin It button to your website.

Although, you may not have understood the purpose of joining these social networks, you might want to consider joining them now primarily for SEO purposes. As the #1 search engine, Google is your main source for driving potential clients and customers to your website.

How do you feel about having to join these social networks to build traffic for your website? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

References:

Social Media Examiner, 8 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Site With Google

Search Engine Land, The Social Search Revolution

Want to learn more about how I can help you build your presence on Google+ or Pinterest? Contact me for a free 1 hour consultation!

Strategies For Publishing Content On Your Blog

Denisse — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:56:42 +0000

We discussed setting up a WordPress blog last week so I didn’t want to leave you in the dark about what to do next.

Publishing Consistent Content!

In some instances, this could be the hardest part of maintaining a blog. First let’s review why content is the king of online marketing:

Content builds authority
Content is super viral (within social media)
Content builds links and search engine results
Content expands exposure and brings qualified traffic
Content generates leads and sales

As with any marketing, always start with a plan. To help you create a plan, evaluate your situation with a short assessment:

What is YOUR purpose for distributing content?

What are hot topics in your niche?

Who is your targeted audience?

What keywords will you focus on?

What kind of content are your competitors publishing?

Once you have thought about the answers to these questions, use these strategies to lay out your plan for generating a consistent stream of content for your blog:

Listening to Your Current Clients/Customers

What questions do you get asked on a regular basis? What do you find yourself repeating over and over to clients or prospects? Your blog can become a resource by answering these questions individually and in detail with blog posts.

Listening On Your Social Networks

What are popular discussions on Twitter? What discussions are being posted on LinkedIn or Facebook groups? Make sure to take time to listen. Your social networks can be one of the best sources for content ideas.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts is not only a great tool for managing your online reputation, it could also be a great tool for monitoring a topic or your industry news. Let’s say you are a bookkeeper and you want to be notified of anything related to QuickBooks Tips. You can set this up as a Google Alert. Google will email (daily, weekly or as it happens) anything it finds on the web with this keyword. A lot of the content you find online from Google Alerts, can be used as references or ideas for new blog posts.

Google Keyword Tool

The Google Keyword Tool is another great tool (one that I cannot live without) to use for finding content to publish. A lot of times you will find long-tail keywords that will give you ideas. For example, if I search for the keyword blog or blogging I will get related results like How To Start A Blog. With this information, I know that a great blog post to write can be titled How To Start A Blog. I can use my expertise to answer a question that is widely searched on Google.

Google Reader

Google Reader is a great place to organize blogs and websites that you find interesting or helpful. You can organize blogs by category or topic and refer to these blogs for ideas. I subscribe to a lot of social media and internet marketing blogs and refer to new posts on a regular basis for knowledge on recent happenings and ideas of what I could write about. Maybe there is a lot of buzz on one topic and I can write about it using a different angle. Or maybe I want to write a post on the latest buzz to inform own connections and email subscribers. Google Reader is a great place to organize a lot of information in one place.

Thought Leaders

Every industry has it’s leaders. Facebook has Mari Smith. Marketing has Seth Godin and so on. I make sure and follow these industry leaders to help me stay up-to-date not only to provide better service to my clients but also to provide the latest information on my own blog and become a resource for others. If you are not sure who your industry thought leaders are,use your social networks as mentioned above.

Repurposing Content

The best strategy you can use is repurpose your content! Let’s say you start with a hot topic:

How can you turn that topic into a blog series?

From that series, how can you extend it to create a free report or Ebook to generate email subscribers?

Then use that same information to build traffic by creating a Squidoo page.

Can you break up the series into short tips to post on your Facebook page or Twitter profile?

Once you know the strategies you will use, create a content schedule. Maybe use one topic per month to repurpose plus 3 regular blog posts per week. Lay out a plan for up to 3 months or more.

(Don’t forget to setup Google Analytics to track the traffic and results from your content marketing!)

Want to learn more on how to leverage content marketing for your blog? Need help creating a content strategy or schedule? Contact me for a free 1 hour consultation!

Have You Heard Of: Buffer?

Denisse — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:37:00 +0000

While there are many social media management tools out there, Buffer has definately built it’s reputation and increased in popularity.

Buffer is a unique social media dashboard that really helps you manage your social media posts to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. You an easily “drop in” your posts and Buffer schedules them for you at optimal times and well spaced-out throughout the day. The times that posts are scheduled are pre-set but you can still go in to edit the times to your liking.

The dashboard is easy and straightforward. This is a great tool for newbies to social media that are not sure when to schedule their posts or even regular social networkers that need a quick solution to manage their social media.

Some neat features include:

If you run out of what to post to fill in your day you can click on Suggest A Tweet or Suggest A Post and it will give you a related quote to post on your networks.

Apps & Extras: Buffer has partnered with other applications to enhance their dashboard. Some include Tweriod, Shareaholic, Iftt, Social Bro, Android and others. The integration with Tweriod is especially helpful because you can go to Tweriod to get analytics on the best time to schedule posts based on when your connections are online and then input those times into your Buffer settings.

Browser Extension: the browser extension works with Chrome, Safari and Firefox. The browser extension alone does a few things:

If you find a webpage you want to share, you can click on the Buffer icon within the browser and add it to your buffer.
You can highlight text you would like to quote within a page or blog and then click the Buffer icon to add to your buffer.
If you use Google Reader (and like me hate having to leave it to share something), Buffer let’s you share an interesting article and stay in Google Reader!
When you add the extension, you will see new options in Twitter. Want to retweet a post but schedule it later? Click on Buffer right within Twitter and it gets added to your buffer.

Analytics: Know how popular your posts are by using the analytics feature. Know how many clicks, retweets and our reach. Buffer also integrates with Bit.ly to shorten your links so you can access the same analytics from Bit.ly.

Buffer has three plans: Free, Pro and Premium. The free account allows up to 1 profile for each social network (1 LinkedIn, 1 Facebook and 1 Twitter) and up to only 10 posts in your buffer. The Pro is only $1o per month and allows up to 50 posts in your buffer, two team members, up to 6 social accounts, and advanced scheduling features. Not bad for $10 per month!

Have you used Buffer? What do you think about it?

What interests you the most about what Buffer offers?

Let me know in the comments!

Disclaimer: The Have You Heard of Series is for your benefit and for information purposes only. Denisse Marie does not have an affiliation with all tools mentioned in the Have You Heard of Series.

Buffer

4 Steps To Get Blogging! (On a Budget)

Denisse — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:02:52 +0000

Since you are now aware of how important content is, you may be thinking about joining the blog community. However, you may still be concerned that starting a blog will be another time and money investment on top of a heavy workload. Consider this:

Blogs not only add fresh content to a static website and help you come up higher on Google, it also helps you:

Reach out and engage with a targeted audience.
Share your expertise and knowledge within your audience
Adds credibility to your business
Helps you stand out as a leader in your business

Starting a blog only takes a few easy, budget-friendly steps. Maintaining it is not as overwhelming as you might think. You might be surprised at how much information you have to share and how much you will enjoy sharing it. (We’ll talk more about the maintenance later!)

WordPress is one of the top used website software today. It’s free, it’s affordable, it’s easy and you can have a $2500 looking website for your small business in 4 steps. Why wouldn’t it be the top choice?

Where to start:

There are two types of WordPress blogs

1. Self-Hosted (WordPress.org)

2. Free Hosted (WordPress.com)

Although the self-hosted option requires an investment in website hosting, the costs are still minimal. If you decide to start with the free hosted blog, it still provides you the opportunity to grow since later you can import your data into a self-hosted blog.

Both options offer a wide selection of themes that can be customized to look visually appealing and to match your brand. You can alter headers, background, add widgets and menus as well as optimize for mobile. The self-hosted option has a wider selection and more customization ability. If you are looking to combine your blog and website by migrating your entire website to WordPress, I would recommend the self-hosted WordPress option so can customize your theme to match your company brand.

The Name

The free hosted option provides a URL like the following:

http://denissemarie.wordpress.com

You can purchase another domain related to your business and forward it to the domain provided by WordPress. With the self-hosted option, you have to purchase a domain and add the website hosting under that domain.

If your main reason to start blogging is for SEO purposes, I recommend the self-hosted WordPress option so your website and blog are integrated in one and you can reap the benefits from publishing content on a regular basis. If you still prefer the free option but would like SEO benefits, make sure to add additional pages to your blog that include your services, about your company and a link back to your original website. Very often I find a blog that is not integrated with the company website but they failed to link back to their official website so the visitor could learn more about them.

The Theme

As mentioned above, there are hundreds of themes to choose both free and premium. Here are some places you can find high quality themes.

Free Theme Directory (great for both free hosted and self-hosted option)

WordPress.Org

Premium Themes (Compatible with self-hosted option)

StudioPress

ThemeForest

Woo Themes

Customizing The Theme

If you are on a budget and would rather setup everything yourself, I would suggest choosing a premium theme that is already designed to match your company brand. From there you can upload your logo, add content, upload plugins, add widgets and you are good to go. If you like a specific theme but need to have some tweaks made to match your brand, there are hundreds of professional WordPress designers that will customize your theme.

From there you’ve officially gotten your blog setup and you can start publishing content!

Now, what are you going to publish? Stay tuned for tips….

I Liked, I Tweeted, I +1, Now I Gotta Pin?

Denisse — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:00:27 +0000

Pinterest was recently named the #3 social network in the U.S and the recent purchase of Instagram by Facebook (more on this later) somehow made things with Pinterest and photo sharing get serious.

Sharing images within Facebook status updates tend to have a 200% higher engagement rate. Pinterest creators found a way to capitalize on this and created Pinterest.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a pin-style photo sharing social network. It allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections. In my own words, it’s an online scrapbook.

What Are People Doing On Pinterest?

Expressing themselves through pictures and images relevant to their lives
“Pinning” reminders or things to revisit they want to do or buy
Sharing and recommending things they think others should know about
Searching for new things to do, buy, look at or read

Interesting Facts About Pinterest

Pinterest hit 10 million U.S monthly unique visitors faster than any independent site in history
There is nearly 12 million unique visitors monthly
97% of Facebook Fans are women (just shows how powerful we can be!)
Pinterest is driving more referral traffic to websites than YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn COMBINED! (You can now track the traffic and monitor analytics with a new startup, Pinerly, started just for Pinterest users.

It’s a recommendation engine and a source of widespread awareness and sales
In just 17 months, Pinterest was named one of the top 50 websites by Time Magazine
A recent study showed that home, arts and crafts, style/fashion and food are the most popular categories on Pinterest. The food category is the fastest growing segment of Pinterest. (I get hungry or start craving sweets every time I am on Pinterest)

How Can You Use Pinterest?

Pinterest is an invite only social network, so you will have to request an invite from a Pinterest member.
Pair every product, page or piece of content you want to draw attention to and add a catchy, relevant image
Add a Pinterest share tab on your images to encourage pinning
Add the Pinterest icon to your website
Share your brand, share your story …with imagery.

I realize you may have a heavy workload as it is and all these social media networks may be overwhelming. You have probably kept up with liking and tweeting; have you even dabbled on Google+? Pinterest may be a great fit for your business and it may not.

As with any social media network, I always recommend to do your research first. You will find hundreds of tweets and posts on why you should be using Pinterest and it may be great for some brands but doesn’t mean it will be the greatest investment for yours. First, determine what your purpose for using it will be, if it’s right for your business and if you are willing to consistently dedicate time to maintaining it to reap it’s full benefits.

Just keep in mind that our web is becoming more and more image-powered and although you may not be ready to replace content with images, your audience may be.

Need help in deciding whether this is the right channel for your business? Interested in learning more? Don’t hesitate to contact me!

Source: Mashable

Google Proves Content Is King

Denisse — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:01:23 +0000

Google makes hundreds of changes to their algorithm every year. The recent changes are most likely just the start for this year. It’s important to stay up-to-date on these changes so you are knowledgeable in how they affect your web presence.

The following are a few of the most recent changes. Two changes in particularly prove how important content is on your website.

Spending more time optimizing your page content will bring better results on the search results for your website because Google is now more likely to pick text from your page instead of the header and menu.
A major task SEO professionals perform is using anchor text within inbound links for link building campaigns. But now Google has begun depreciating the value of this anchor text. So instead of focusing on using anchor text focus on using relevant keywords within strong call to actions.
Google has “new signals” to indicate which page is original or not. With these new signals, we can expect to see less duplicate content in search results.
Host-crowding is when too many results show up from one site. Google has made changes to ensure that we will not see this within our search results. So we can now expect to see a more balanced search results page.
Google has improved it’s date-based search results and it’s blog search index is now more comprehensive so it will feature fresher results. Important: If you haven’t placed priority to publishing fresh content, now is the time.
A few other changes include modifications for a better image freshness in results, offering up more auto-complete predictions and made layout changes for better usability on tablet devices.

Content continues to be king of your online marketing efforts as Google rolls out these changes.

Think About This:

Have you started a blog?
Will you consider starting to blog based on these SEO changes?
Have you performed a review of your website content to make sure it’s fresh and up-to-date?

Let us know your thoughts in the Speak Your Mind Section below!

Interested in getting help with your website or blog? Complete a Starting Analysis for a free 1 hour consultation to learn more on how I can help you get your website up-to-date with fresh content to improve your search engine results!

Source: Inside The Black Box, Website Magazine; February 2012