In today’s screencast, I demonstrate a simple process that I use to find and fine-tune long tail keywords for each of my blog posts. I don’t go too crazy with SEO methods each time I have a post, but using Google’s keyword tool is a simple and easy way to make sure that you’re using keywords that are at least getting some decent traffic. You don’t want to limit yourself by focusing on keywords and phrases that aren’t getting any search traffic whatsoever.

What do I mean by long tail keywords?

By “long tail,” I mean keywords that are more specific offspring from broader search terms. For example, instead of focusing on something like “SEO tips,” and long tail keyword/phrase might be “SEO tips for corporate blogs.” I’ll show you how to find these keyword-types in my screencast.

For more on the long tail concept and how it relates to actual products and services, check out this post (from 2005!) on Chris Anderson’s blog. Chris literally wrote the long tail book and it’s as relevant as ever.

I am not an SEO expert but this easy method works

My walk-through is just a simple tip for making sure you’re setting up your blog content in a way that is going to generate some search traffic. There are plenty of other things you can do to really move up in rankings, but for my purposes this easy keyword research method has helped me generate search engine traffic that is consistent and relevant. My web server isn’t melting down from millions of hits, but I’m getting a modest amount of traffic from searches that are related to the topics of my blog posts.

I get asked this question quite a bit: How long before your website design becomes “old”?

If you are craigslist, the answer is never. Or maybe right away. (C’mon craigslist, at least change your fonts and link colors!)

But for the rest of us with a desire to have a fresh design that doesn’t become a popular meme of awfulness, it’s a good question. In the past my answer has always been roughly two years*, but really it depends on a number of factors.

Know your audience

For me as a web designer/developer, launching a new design every year could be beneficial. I need to show that I understand modern trends and concepts. Prior to my re-launch last month, I had the same design for about a year and a half. That really seemed too long as I felt that the 2010 design was incredibly outdated.

For a small business, the site design could easily last for three years without seeming too old. Ultimately it’s going to depend on the visitors of your site and what they expect. If none of your visitors are on iPads, then that big Flash slider on your homepage that was all the rage three years ago is no big deal. But if you do see a number of iOS devices in your analytics, know that none of them will see that big fancy slider (iOS can’t display Flash) so you’d better start thinking about a re-design.

How’s your content?

I also think that being able to keep your content up-to-date can make a difference. Maybe your overall site design is a bit dated but you post to the blog on a regular basis. Visitors to your site will see that at least something on your site is current and it will feel more active to them. For example: Guy Kawasaki’s blog. The design is basic overall but the look and feel is very “Web 2.0″ (circa 2006 or so). He’s using the Trebuchet MS font, a staple of Web 2.0. However, Guy blogs a lot. His content is relevant. It helps me look past the dated-ness of the design (we’ll call it “vintage”) simply because his content is so fresh and compelling.**

Key point: if you’ve got a dated design and a site that never gets updated, you’re in trouble. But if you keep it updated with fresh content you can buy yourself some time.

Be redesign-ready

On a final note, one thing I love about using WordPress for all of the sites I develop is that future redesigns are that much easier. Crafting a new website design can happen without having to re-do the entire collection of site content. The content is all housed in the WordPress database and I simply need to develop a new theme on top. The process becomes so much more streamlined.

How old is YOUR website? Is it dated but relevant? Is it time for a redesign?

Vintage kitchen image by Flickr user SportSuburban

* This is the same answer I give when people ask me about the lifespan of a computer. I buy “new every two” just like the average mobile phone plan.

** Guy, if you’re reading this, I love you. Enchantment was one of the best books that I read in 2011. Let’s get you off of Typepad and onto WordPress.

Are you using Jetpack?

Jetpack is a free WordPress plugin created by Automattic, the company run by WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg. It doesn’t have a specific function but rather a wide assortment of functionality including built-in stats for your site, easy sharing options, shortlinks, instant sharing to search engines, and more. I’ve had it hooked up on this site ever since its release last year, but with my recent re-launch I utilized one feature I hadn’t before: Email subscriptions to my blog posts.

I don’t currently do much for an e-newsletter (though I should), so people being able to receive my latest blog posts by email is somewhat of an alternative, especially for folks who don’t use RSS aggregators like Google Reader or Flipboard.

I use Feedburner to serve my blog’s RSS feed and it has a built-in subscribe-by-email option, but it’s nothing WordPress-specific. With Jetpack, creating a signup widget in the sidebar was a piece of cake and the emails that it generates are clean, easy to read, and contain the full post information including title, content, images, categories, tags, author info, and even a link to leave a comment. Here’s a screenshot of one of my posts:

Here’s a shot of the email footer:

One minor negative thing about using the Jetpack email subscription widget is the inability to brand the generated emails. They are actually WordPress-branded and you can’t add your logo or color scheme. For my purposes this is not a big deal as I really like the set-it-and-forget-it functionality. I actually subscribe to other blogs that use the Jetpack plugin and honestly, I don’t think twice about the lack of branding. The readability and convenience make up for it.

While much of the overall functionality contained in the Jetpack plugin is somewhat random and I don’t use even half of the options, it works well for what I need it to do. And if you want a super simple way to allow people to subscribe to your blog posts by email, Jetpack will do the trick easily.

A quick side note

Almost as soon as you hit “publish” on your post, that baby is going to get emailed out to your Jetpack subscribers. One benefit of this is you’ll do a better job making sure things are spelled correctly, linked to external sites, etc. However, you still might click the button by accident. I have that tendency, so I installed a basic publish confirmation plugin that double-checks that you actually mean to publish the post.

This post is a little bit outside the world of web design and development, and yet it’s not. More on that in a minute.

When I first made the switch from a regular mobile phone (A fancy Motorola Razr!) to a smartphone (Palm Pre Plus) a few years ago, the feature I loved the most was the built-in WiFi hotspot. This feature was actually included in my Verizon plan at no extra charge and allowed me to easily get online with my MacBook Pro using the Pre’s 3G Internet connection. I thrive on being able to do my job from just about anywhere, and this made that possible. It was also a nice backup in the event of an router failure or internet outage.

My switch to the iPhone

The Pre worked great for a little while, but then it started to have problems. Verizon sent me a replacement and that worked fine for a while longer. Finally, that one died as well so I made the long-awaited leap to the iPhone in early 2011.

Everything about the iPhone was better than the Pre: Better graphics, better speed, better apps. But the one thing that was missing was the WiFi hotspot which was no longer included in my plan. For an extra $20/month I could add this feature onto my plan, but it’s hard to pay extra for something that 1) I use, but not on a regular basis and 2) was once included in my base plan.

So for the past year or so I’ve gone without the WiFi hotspot. Let’s be honest: I’ve survived. But with the prospect of a few family road trips this summer, it might be nice to be able to get some work done in the car. Being able to tether my iPhone and my trusty MacBook Pro would be ideal.

One option for tethering the iPhone in the past has been jailbreaking the phone and installing non-Apple-approved apps. I’m not into jailbreaking, though. I like my iPhone the way it is.

A few months ago, another option appeared: An Apple-approved tethering app in the app store called iTether. The app was released by Tether (fitting name) and if I remember correctly, it was something like $15 or $20. However, the approval of the app may have been an Apple mistake and it was pulled within 24 hours. I’m assuming the likes of Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint complained about the app as it essentially eliminated most of the need for their hotspot add-ons.

The awesomeness of HTML5

Well, Tether didn’t hang their heads and give up. Instead, they got smart and decided to launch a browser-based mobile app built on top of HTML5. That way anybody could use their app – no app store approval needed. I decided to take the leap and purchase a subscription and here is the entire process:

1 – Purchase an annual subscription at Tether.com and create the account. I paid a special rate of $15 for the first year, but the regular rate is $30/year. Still not as good of a price as the included hotspot on my Pre, but much better than an extra $20/month.

2 – Download and install the Tether app on your Mac or PC. This app sets up an ad-hoc network with a name and password. It might seem a little backwards because your computer essentially becomes the WiFi connection, not the phone.

3 – Connect to this newly created network from the WiFi settings menu on your iPhone. Also, set Auto-Lock to “Never” under General settings. Your phone will need to stay active to keep the connection active. Here’s what it looks like when you are properly connected:

4 - Navigate to Tether’s iPhone app using Safari on the iPhone. Enter your credentials and then you are good to go. You should see this on your computer:

I don’t get blazing-fast speeds using this tethering setup, but I get good enough speeds to blog, code websites, etc. Obviously I won’t be using it to stream from Netflix or anything like that. That’s okay.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this does have at least something to do with web design in the sense that this app demonstrates the power of HTML5 which can be used to create app-like functionality on websites. I honestly haven’t even scratched the surface as to my exploration of HTML5, but apps like this intrigue me and I’m excited by the possibilities.

It’s your data

With the recent trend of wireless providers capping the amount of data you can use per month, I’ve wondered why they haven’t just included the WiFi hotspot option at no extra cost. If you have a 5GB cap, does it matter how you use it whether on your phone or as a hotspot? The rise of mobile web apps like Tether could force this eventually.

In the meantime, Tether should do the trick.

Additional reading

• iPhone app announcement on Tether’s blog
• Mashable: Tether For iPhone Returns For $30 a Year
• The Verge: iTether for iOS is back with HTML5 version, no App Store needed

Lead image by Flickr user ijafri

Earlier this week, my family and I took a day off and spent some time at Minnesota’s famous Mall of America. My girls had received some passes to the Nickelodeon Universe amusement park and we decided to break the doldrums of late winter and put them to use. We had a blast riding roller coasters, the merry-go-round, the log chute, and of course the swings.

I’ve been to the mega-mall many times, but this was the first time we’ve ever gone with our kids. It made for an entirely new experience. We didn’t go into many stores, but the ones we did visit were not those that I’d normally browse. Case in point: The American Girl store.

Maybe most of you have been in one of these stores, but I haven’t. My six year-old daughter received an American Girl doll for Christmas this year, so suddenly this store became relevant. Yes, they have dolls in these stores, but they have so much more.

Each doll has a name and personality. My daughter has “Molly.” There are books about Molly, DVDs about Molly, new clothes for Molly, clothes for YOU that match outfits for Molly…it’s almost too much.

But it keeps going.

They actually have a salon with doll-sized chairs where you can spend money to get Molly’s hair done in various braids and other styles. You can even give Molly a spa experience. The upstairs of the store features a bistro where you and Molly can have lunch or dinner together – they even have a seat ready for Molly.

It’s insane. But in a way it’s brilliant. American Girl has found a niche and created new ways to generate sales within that niche. Here are a few things I took away  from my American Girl experience.

Choice is a powerful thing

Not only does the store offer an abundance of accessories specifically for American Girl dolls, but they offer a ton of selection in the dolls themselves. There are hip dolls. There are historical dolls. They have a selection of baby dolls. Girls can even choose a custom doll based on eye color, hair, etc.  Shoppers have many choices that all fall within the American Girl niche.

Offer things nobody would even think of

Spa treatments for dolls? Really? I couldn’t believe it but I guarantee that someone is buying this. I’m not saying that this is a good use of money, but I’ll give credit to American Girl for getting creative. And a fine-dining bistro experience in a doll store is definitely an example of thinking outside the box.

Control quality

I’ll say this: Nothing in the store was “cheap.” An outfit for a doll cost more than most outfits we buy for our kids. With such an abundance of choice, you’d think quality would be lost, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. All of the products appeared to be high quality and the prices reflected this.

Take a niche product or service to an even deeper level

Yes, you can have your doll’s hair styled. And not just basic braids or ponytails, but many different styles. They’ve deepened their niche of selling dolls by doing things like opening a doll salon and expanding to over fifty hairstyle options. I kid you not, you can get your doll’s ears pierced. That’s deep.

Finely craft an overall experience

In a way, my visit to the American Girl store felt like the Apple Store of dolls. The packaging is simple, square, and all the boxes are organized and stacked neatly. Staff were helpful and professional. The store was full of glass displays containing dolls and accessories. Again, the dolls are not cheap but the experience helps create an environment of quality.

Applying lessons from American Girl to different markets

There are two primary ways to generate more revenue: 1) Expand your target market thus increasing overall sales, or 2) increase sales from your existing market. As I look to apply some of the lessons from American Girl to my own business, I’m wondering if there are ways to “accessorize” within my niche of offering front-end WordPress development. Maybe there are custom products I can develop for my clients to help them have a better experience using the WordPress dashboard. How can I craft the experience?

Think hard about some ways you can deepen the experience for your target market. Are there add-on products or services that you could offer? What’s your version of an in-store bistro – a seemingly unrelated offering that might be attractive to your customers? Get creative!

A personal opinion

To be honest, here is something about the whole American Girl thing that bugs me just a little bit. I’m guessing that it’s the personification of an inanimate doll as well as the overly-consumeristic feel to the whole concept. However, I applaud the creativity of the company and that’s the positive that I am taking away from the whole experience.

Also, one of the dolls has a dog named “Yank” (my nickname) – so that’s pretty cool. 

[lead image by terren in Virginia]

I’ve written plenty of blog posts that didn’t have a featured image, but lately I’ve been realizing how important it is to use at least one good photo in each of as many posts that you possibly can.

A few years back, most people were mostly reading your blog posts either 1) on your site itself, 2) in some sort of feed aggregator such as Google Reader, or 3) by email through an RSS email subscription service.

New ways to browse content

While these are all still common means of blog consumption, people are also now getting blog content through sharing on sites like Facebook and Google+. Aggregators of good content are creating their own virtual newspapers with apps like Paper.li. And don’t forget about Pinterest, where it’s all photos, all the time.

In addition to standard web apps, the growth of mobile device usage has brought us apps such as Flipboard which presents content in a magazine-like layout that allows users to “flip” through articles on their iPad or iPhone.

Have you ever enjoyed flipping through a magazine without any pictures? Me neither.

I personally subscribe to quite a few blogs through my Google Reader account and have that feeding into my Flipboard app on the iPad. It’s allowed me to keep up and find interesting articles much easier. And the articles that usually catch my attention are those that have some sort of interesting lead photo.

This is also true as I browse through my networks on Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn. When people share a link to a blog post or article that they like, a gripping image thumbnail next to it is what usually catches my eye first. It bugs the heck out of me when there isn’t an actual photo for the post the share either shows 1) no image or 2) one of the banner ads from the website as the post thumbnail. A simple photo associated with your content is better than nothing. On top of me actually reading the article, I might be inclined to share it across my own networks, thus increasing the reach of your well-written post with the eye-catching photo.

Where to find images for blog posts

Let’s start with the obvious: Take your own pictures. As long as the photo isn’t terrible, using your own creativity to come up with a photograph that fits with the content of your blog post is fun and FREE. This is something I want to do a lot more with my own posts.

If you’re not a photographer but you have a knack for designing, open up Illustrator and create your own artwork.

If you simply want to use existing photos that won’t cost you anything, check out the creative commons archive on Flickr. I use this quite a bit and there are literally millions of photos to choose from. The caveat with creative commons photography is that there are different types of licenses. Some photos can be used in commercial work which some can only be used for personal purposes. Most licenses require some sort of artist attribution to be included as well. I’m okay with giving credit where it’s due, so the commercial, attribution-required pool of photos is where I usually start.

Google Images also has an option to search through creative commons photos if you use their “advanced” search. I actually just found out about this one so will probably use it quite a bit going forward.

Stock.XCHNG has a nice collection of stock photography that you can use for free, but make sure you check the license of each photo. Sometimes they have licenses that limit the ways the photographs can be used.

In the past, I’ve also used the Zemanta plugin for WordPress (also available for Chrome) that helps you find images for your posts directly from the WordPress dashboard. It takes care of all the attribution details as well. It can even help you add related articles and links.

If you don’t mind paying, you can also find affordable images on sites like BigStockPhoto and PhotoDune. Since you’re just using the images in blog posts you won’t need to buy the super high-res (i.e. more expensive) versions.

While this isn’t even close to an exhaustive list of resources, it should get you started. If you already have good resources for images not mentioned here, please share them in the comments.

Credits

Special thanks to Brian Gardner, Pippin Williamson, Amber Turner, Joan Safford, and Jim Denham for their input on photography resources fo this blog post. Top image by Savara.

Let me also just mention this: I LOVE FLIPBOARD. It’s my favorite iPad app, hands down. In addition to the iOS app, I’d love to see them release a Mac OS X desktop version.

As a response to my previous post about sprinkling some personal tidbits into your professional online spaces, I also want to mention that bringing my work into my personal network from time to time has also paid dividends.

By “personal network” I mean things like my personal Facebook profile (as opposed to my Lift Development page), my family blog, and even just my day to day conversations with friends.

By “time to time” I mean not constantly pushing work-related news, advice, and pitches through to my personal network. Instead, my approach is to occasionally share some news about my business, whether it’s the launch of my own website or the launch of a client site that I’m really proud of. Maybe it’s a really good article about something web-related.

I expect the same from others. If they’ve recently gotten a job promotion or helped out with a noteworthy project, I want to hear about it.

The benefit of sharing noteworthy tidbits

I’ll go back to the launch of the 2010 version of LiftDevelopment.com as an example. Once I had the site finished up and launched, I posted a quick status update on Facebook to let folks know that it was live. Within a day or two I already had several inquiries from folks in my network who needed a good web developer. These were college friends, past clients from previous employment, etc.

This is also my approach in actual one on one conversations as well. If I’ve recently worked on a project that is relevant to the person I’m talking to, I might bring it up casually in a conversation. For example, if I know the person I’m talking to is a golf fanatic, I might mention the work I’ve done for Iconic Sport and some of the awesome golf shows that Leslie (Iconic owner) gets to attend. And I NEVER end that conversation with a pitch. Whatsoever.

The reason I do this is just to remind folks that I’m a web developer. That’s it. If in the future they happen to need a web developer, maybe I’ll pop into their mind. But they are a friend first, and that’s what is important to me.

The problem with sharing too much

There’s a Proverb that says “He who restrains his words has knowledge” (Proverbs 17:27). Let’s substitute “words” with “tweets”, “statuses”, or whatever else you can think of. Sometimes it seems like talking about your field as much as possible demonstrates expertise, but I don’t think it does. I think making sure you’re sharing the good stuff helps. I think being helpful does more to help.

Here’s my main reason for keeping a handle on how much I talk about work: I want my friends and family to feel like friends and family. I don’t want them to feel like a mass pool of prospective clients. Now, if the majority of the folks that you’re connected with on Facebook ARE prospective clients, then by all means talk shop all you’d like. But for me, I tend to connect with family, friends from high school and college, and the occasional client. I can honestly say I’ve never added someone because I considered them to be a prospect.

Also, talking about work doesn’t mean tooting my own horn or sucking up to people. I’m not going to tell you to go check something out just because it’s for one of my clients. Instead, I should be telling you what exactly I’ve been helping them with and ask for honest feedback.

On a larger scale

My experience and methods for sharing to my personal network are mostly relevant to smaller businesses. However, I have several friends that work for bigger agencies and corporations who share occasional stories and pictures from their jobs. I love this because it gives good insight into the culture of their companies.

One friend works for an advertising agency whose office is located directly behind the left-field wall of Target Field. They often have work parties on the roof of their building during Twins games. Usually pictures are shared and I am jealous every single time. As the employer, this is an awesome way to spread the word about the sweet aspects of working at the company. Encourage your employees to share and give them an experience worthy of sharing.

Which of your networks and social profiles are you using for work, and which are personal? How do YOU share?

 Image by lovelornpoets

I’m a big Minnesota Timberwolves fan and have been since their inaugural season in 1989. However, in 1989 we didn’t have things like Twitter to keep up with players. Maybe that was a good thing in regards to some athletes and their bad habits, but these days I enjoy following my favorite players like Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio.

Earlier this week, Ricky tweeted out the above picture of a sleeping Michael Beasley which was taken during the team’s flight to Denver. It made me laugh but it also made me relate to these players a little bit. This is exactly something I’d do to one of my brothers or one of my friends. It helped me realize that yeah, these guys have millions of dollars and a huge amount of athletic talent, but they also like to do things that I enjoy. This might give me something to help start a conversation with Ricky should I ever run into him. Hey, it could happen! (Ricky if you need some help with a new website just let me know)

I bring this up because this demonstrates something you can incorporate into your blogging or social media approach: Don’t be afraid to get a little personal with your network. No, don’t post anything inappropriate or gross, but maybe use stories about your childhood, hobbies, or family to demonstrate a point. It helps people relate to you and can help you create a connection that might not have been made otherwise. It’s much easier to strike up a conversation with someone we relate to. That can help you establish a solid foundation with potential and existing customers.

As for me personally, I share photos of my family on my Lift Development Facebook page once in a while. I’ll tweet and blog about books I’m reading or share photos of side projects. I do mix work and play quite a bit but I think that gives people a sense of who I am and what my priorities are. It helps us relate to one another as I also like to hear personal stories from my clients.

Don’t go overboard and leave out professionalism, but tidbits about you on a personal level can go a long way. Bloggers like Michael Hyatt and Chris Brogan do an excellent job of mixing in a bit of personal stories in with their posts.

Oh, and go Timberwolves!

Ladies and gentlemen, after months of trying to fit in time to develop and launch the next version my own site on the side of client projects…I have finally succeeded.

Well, it’s not entirely complete yet. I’m still missing the video content that I promised myself I’d put together with this release. I’m still working on most of the project descriptions for the Work page. I’m sure that I’ve got some bugs in older versions of Internet Explorer.

But I’ve got the two main pieces in place that have been long in need of updating: Recent client quotes about my work and an updated gallery of recent projects.

As I outlined in my previous post…long ago…my plan was to release v3 of the site on the Genesis Framework (it is), make the design cleaner and more open (I think it is), make the layout responsive (it is – check it on your iPhone or iPad), and make it easier for me to update (it is times 100 – custom post types FTW!). Again, the video piece will be coming sooner than later, but I’m digging the upgrades. I’m also excited that it’s going to be a lot easier for me to completely change design elements from time to time.

Maybe I’ll even update the blog once in a while.

Cat image by Sister72

I’m currently working on another re-launch of LiftDevelopment.com. The first launch was in early 2008 when I first went full-time with the venture, version two was released August 2010, and this will be version three.

It’s crazy how after just 12 months I feel like the current site is completely out-dated and my capabilities as a web developer have improved immensely. I think a big part of it is just the evolution of WordPress (my platform of choice) and my switch to doing 99.9% of new website projects on the Genesis framework. Genesis really allows me to add in a lot of useful options into a new client website right from the start.

Oh yeah, and the current version of my own website is NOT running on Genesis. I almost don’t know what to do without all the options that Genesis provides. That being said, version three WILL run on my framework-of-choice.

Overall, I have a few goals for the new site:

• A cleaner, more simple design and layout. I’d like my portfolio to do the talking and I don’t want to distract from that. In fact, I’m going to make it so the newest additions to my portfolio are featured on the home page. I think that’s what potential clients really care about seeing.
• Less of the “we”, more of the “me.” I realize that the current version of LiftDevelopment.com uses a lot of third-person lingo when talking about the services I provide. Let’s get real: This is a one-man business. Yes, I team up with other folks on a regular basis but Lift Development is my company. I’d like this site to seem more personal since clients are working directly with me throughout the process.
• A responsive layout. I’d like this website to look great on your desktop PC. I’d like it to look great on your iPhone. I’d like it to look great on your iPad. Not only that, I’d like it to be easy to navigate and read on any device you can dream up. The next version of the site will respond to the context in which it is viewed and adapt accordingly without creating a bunch of separate versions. Read more about responsive web design.
• Even easier to update. When I launched version two of the site on WordPress, it was already easier to update than the first version. However, with features in WordPress like custom post types, posting the latest project that I’ve completed or the newest client testimonial should only become easier. And the quicker it is to post, the more I’ll do it (based on past experience).
• More video. I’m a firm believer in the power of video to build trust and reputation with your target clients. I’d like to get back to using more video with my business in the same way that I do on my other blog and video podcast.