By now you have create a floor layout of your blog with the FREE BLOG Planning Form. You choose a host, have painted the walls by choosing a theme, and you hung up a sign letting folks know that an exciting thing is going to happen in this new home. You also called the Security Company and installed an alarm. The alarm for our WordPress.org Blog is Askismet.
Now it is time to call the Phone Company
The phone company I called was Feedburner. I created an RSS feed there and also a way for folks to subscribe to my blog. All they have to do is key in their email address and a call is placed to their email letting them know I just posted something new on my blog. How cool is that!
I have located a easy to understand video on how to do the subscription. Once again, I could have done it but she did such a great job! Plus, now I have time to go out and hula hoop.
Email subscription using feedburner
Oh, I know I can also call other venders and if you know of any please share. But for now Feedburner, which is owned by Google should do just fine. While you are there browse and look at the other features because it is simply powerful.
I came across this blog post this morning because of my Google Alert on baby boomers. (Hope you set up your alerts also) I clicked on the link and read it with particular interest. But rather than share my insights thought it would be helpful to hear from you.
One thing I will say is that there is NO ABOUT page. This is always one of my biggest issues with blogs. It makes me feel that the blogger is under cover.
This is the final installment of the Top Ten Reasons to Manage Your Own Website and Blog Sites!
Reason 1 – Saving Money on Your Monthly Online Budget
By Toolie
Now we’re down to the number 1 reason to manage your websites and
blogs: money. It’s simply less expensive to learn how to handle most
website and blog tasks than it is to pay someone to do them for you.
The most obvious cost to your business is any ongoing website or blog
maintenance you’re paying to a web designer. I’ve heard from clients
that they’ve spent anywhere from $75 to $600 a month on maintenance.
The difference in pricing is related to the amount of work done in
those contracts.
• A $75 a month charge included 1 major update a month, in this case,
my speakers association chapter adding their monthly meeting to the
site.
• The $600/month charge was for website hosting, maintenance, and
keyword optimization; that’s what my dentist pays to maintain his page
1 Google status in his geographic area.
I hope your webmaster costs are either zero or somewhere between those
two numbers!
What other costs might there be? Well, you remember the true story of
my client whose website was shut down by a disgruntled team member,
yes? She directly lost revenue because her website wasn’t available.
It would have been difficult on short notice for her to replace the
site she had planned, but if she’d had control of her domain, she
could have pointed it to an alternate site until things were resolved.
What about creating opportunities BECAUSE you have HTML and CSS
skills? The Internet likes speed! Being able to come up with a custom
page on your website or blog that specifically addresses a new
opportunity provides a huge advantage over your competitors who can’t
or don’t provide such targeted information.
In fact, imagine being able to send to a prospect in email the URL of
a specially created web page on your website. Wouldn’t you sit up and
take notice if I said I have a message just for you at such-and-such
a page? With a simple tool, I created custom pages with individual
names on them for the folks on my mailing list, using a simple HTML
page and a tool that merges names into those web pages. Like so many
other highly-targeted messages, custom web pages have a big impact.
And this technique is easy and inexpensive to do.
So with basic HTML and CSS skills, you can not only save maintenance
costs, you can create opportunities for new business in targeted,
memorable ways. I hope by now that you’re all out of excuses now for
putting off earning something that can make you money.
It’s time! The product is now available for purchase. There’s no time
like the beginning of a new year to make a difference in your business
by learning HTML and CSS. Head on over to
http://www.ICanFixMyWebsite.com and get all the details of this
program. I look forward to working with you in our coaching sessions,
and getting 2010 off to a great start.
You can choose to have $10 of the product price donated to the Red
Cross for Disaster Relief to Haiti. Just choose Yes on the Order Form
(near the bottom), and I’ll take care of the rest. — Toolie
The “I Can Fix My Website” program is up and running! Get your copy
right now at http://www.ICanFixMyWebsite.com.
Toolie®
HTBB, you may recall from an earlier post this week, is a group I named called Help This Blogging Boomer. I am challenging my self and others to restore life to those neglected blogs.
So, I said I would start by identifying the blogs I have neglected. So, I am going to talk briefly about one of them. The site I am choosing to perk up is Crumbsnatcher.
This is a site that features the character, Crumbsnather(aka Mighty Care) from the storybook DVD, Crumbsnatcher Gets a New Name. I have neglected this site.
So, my next step is to RECALL why I created the site.
The site was created with my husband, artist Ray Horner, to gather comments and share updates about this special bird. You see, we had fun doing this storybook. I created the story and my husband created the pictures.
A very dear friend of ours, Kevin Thompson, is the voice of Crumbsnatcher. Now, believe it or not, just sharing this with you is perking me up to post something. But what will it be? Will Crumbsnatcher offer some insights on diversity? Will he reflect on how he got his name?
So the next step should be, how do you decide on what to post on a site you have neglected? What help can you give to blogging boomers who have neglected their sites.
Facebook makes it real simple to add your Facebook Fan page to your blog. After all your Facebook Fan page gives you an opportunity to showcase your business, niche, causes and other areas of interest. There just might be others that share the same interest or need your service.
I have presented the steps in screen shots below.
1. Sign into your Facebook Page and click on the Wall Tab then click on the fourth link on the left under your logo.
2. Select the Facebook Page you want to promote by clicking on the drop down options. Also, complete the other options.
When was the last time you checked your links and opt-in boxes on your blogs. Do they still work?
This evening I was chatting with a friend and sent her to, what I thought, was a working opt-in box. Well, it worked but took us to the wrong THANK YOU PAGE for the wrong free item. BOOMER ME.
I wanted to fire the secretary but realized that I was the secretary who made the mistake. Well, I am glad it happened. It was a reminder to go back and check the links and all your opt-ins to make sure they are working.
Do you have an interest in anything you want to share with others? Are you learning something new that you want to document? Are you excited about this new interest and want to keep the thrill alive?
This year I got interested in coin collecting? How? Well I had promised someone for two years I would learn more about coin collecting so I could help her sell her coins. I knew that she could just take them to a dealer but I also knew that it helps if you know a little before you go. Why? Because not all dealers are the same. I did not want her to take a rare coin to a shop and have someone devalue it.
Well, to make a long story short, I started reading books on coin collecting. Then I found a dealer who actually started to teach me about coin collecting. ( I have spoken to several dealers but he has been the best and most patient.) This baby boomer is hooked. I am more hooked on error coins.For me the idea of finding one is better than the lottery.
So what does this mean for you? You can start now to reflect on an interest that you have. What are you reading? What are you learning?What are your learning goals?
Tip#1 If you are reading books on your topics you can share information about those books as an affiliate link in your blog!
Tip#2 If you want to create an ebook or special report you can after several posts by clearing defining your categories and create a pdf document from your posts.
Tip #3 If you are in any social network you can join groups related to your blog interest and send traffic to your site.
So after you read this please reflect on your interests. Remember the more you are learning about that area of interest the more blogging you will do that will reinforce what you learn. Who knows, you just might become an expert.
What motivates you to keep blogging? Personally I have several things that pull me up when I am dragging. One of them is reconnecting to the reasons why I set up each and every blog I have. It sometimes means sitting and looking at that blank space where a title is waiting to be written and saying to myself, “Why am I writing this post? Who do I want to read it?’ “What action do I hope will take place.?
Well, that sounds all well and good but sometimes I don’t even click on the “Add New” tab to bring up the blank post. I don’t even have it down as a task on my blogging task list. I don’t even want to look at my computer. I mean honestly folks has this ever happened to you? What kicks you in the pants and keep you movin, movin?
Hi, I am in space now at Google Labs. Today I am exploring Google Trends.
I thought that Wikepedia did a great job providing a summary of this application. Call it my Spock consult which says:
Google Trends shows how often a particular search term is entered relative the total search volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages. The horizontal axis of the main graph represents time (starting from some time in 2004), and the vertical is how often a term is searched for relative to the total number of searches, globally.[1] Below the main graph, popularity is broken down by region, city and language. It is possible to refine the main graph by region and time period.
Google Trends also allows the user to compare the volume of searches between two or more terms. An additional feature of Google Trends is in its ability to show news related to the search term overlaid on the chart showing how new events affect search popularity.
How Did I Use It?
I just started a new site called Baby Boomer Pocket Change. I am learning about coin collection and decided to post information as I learn. So I went to Google Trends to see what has been in the news since 2004. Also, to see which state had more searches for the term.
I posted an article, from on of the citations, on the site on determining the value of the coins. I will return to because I find this to be an invaluable resource for marketing and content research. So, I can’t wait to search for other trends. Give it a try. Key in your niche term or interest and see what happens.
If you don’t have a free google account please get one. Then you will have access to the google labs. If anyone needs a video on this or want me to walk you through in give a shout out.
In addition, someone reading this has been there and done that so please share.
Blog links are very important. But do you know the links that are linking to you? Why not check out a FREE service to see WHO IS LINKING TO YOU on MSN, Google and Yahoo.
But don’t stop there. Be sure to read the tutorial and review the excellent LINK TOOLS.
