Headspace2 was an SEO plugin I found some time ago. As anyone who follows me knows, it’s a plugin I have proclaimed long and loud. I install it on all my client blogs. I teach how to set it up. I encouraged it’s use far and wide.

And now it’s gasping it’s last.

The Handwriting On The Wall For Headspace2

I can’t say it’s a complete surprise to me however. For some time there have been little niggling issues after each update. A quick review at Google for the search term “headspace2 not working” will reveal a series of issues dating back a while.

Things like:

• Headspace2 not working for WP 2.9.2
• Page-specific themes not working
• Excerpt Function Not Working In HeadSpace2
• HeadSpace2 – Problems with WordPress 3 (Post Tags)
• Plugin: HeadSpace2: Google Analytics Module not working

In fact, I have experienced many of these issues and a few not shown on the first page of Google. Of course, I manage, install and maintain more than 100 blogs. So, honestly, I can’t say I didn’t think it might be coming. I was just hoping it wouldn’t come to this.

It’s Time To Move On To A New SEO Plugin

As sad as this is (and more than a little work!), it’s time to move to a new plugin. WordPress just can’t natively do all it needs to do from an SEO standpoint. It needs a little help. So do we bloggers.

I found that help in WordPress SEO by Yoast. While it doesn’t have a couple of features that I really liked in Headspace2 (like page conditional plugins or page specific stylesheets & javascript), it does have a couple of features I really like.

Page Analysis. Snippet Preview. LSI keyword term search. All built in. So, I no longer need to load something like Bloggerhigh SEO, PushButtonSEO, SEOpressor and their like to get hints on what I can do to my content to make it more attractive to the search engines.

And I don’t have to use other plugins and third party tools to help me find related keywords (LSI terms) that I can use within a post to help me make my point clearer to both my readers and the visiting search engines.

SEO and Helping Your Readers Understand Better

WordPress SEO by Yoast offers another feature I found very revealing. It scores your content on the Flesh-Kincaid readability test. In other words, how easy is your content to understand by average readers!

The features available on a per post or per page basis are shown below to give you an idea of the power behind WordPress SEO by Yoast

WordPress SEO by Yoast Makes Installing Easy

Avid user of Headspace2 or All In One SEO? Then you are in luck. You can switch to WordPress SEO by Yoast and import all the meta tags, and descriptions you already have setup.

Allow me to say thanks Joost de Valk — your plugin saved my SEO life.

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A project near and dear to my little geeky heart.

Something I wish had existed back in 2006 when I lost a client data file. The only copy of the file in existence!

This one little snafu almost cost me a 7 year relationship with a client. And frankly, I wouldn’t have blamed them.

I Was Humiliated

That dismal day in the early summer when my computer choked while I was onsite and ate the 2 gig client data file I was there to install, I really could have used a backup regimen to cover my a$$. I sat looking at a blue screen of death as the client sat across from me turning a deep shade of purple. Then blue. Then just white. It was scary to watch.

There was nothing I could do. Lesson learned though.

I spent the next few years building up a arsenal of techniques, hardware, secondary drives and software cron jobs with the single purpose of protecting my digital life. I would never again be caught with my pants down (as it were).

And this has been working for me. I use Acronis to build digital images of my OS. HAS software to force-ably backup my changed files to a secondary drive attached to my PC. Another HAS job run nightly to backup the image of the data files. (Are your eye glazing over yet? I’m a geek and this makes even me wanna fall asleep!)

Well, no more. No more hardware. No more layered software *jobs* running at odd times when I am not using my computer. I found a better way. Actually, more accurate statement would be, I created a better way. For me. For my friends. For my clients. (Okay, to be fair, I had some help from a great guy I meet online, Joe Venturelli)

Unlimited Backup To A Cloud

With the advent of broadband Internet and dedicated data server farms, it was possible to create a system where the average computer user could carve out their little piece of the cloud.

Special software that you load one time and quietly runs in the background, monitoring your changed files. And when it finds something changed, it just as quietly passes it up to the cloud. Your own personal dedicated space in the digital ether where your files are guarded, pampered and held ready.

All this, at an incredible $0.14 a day. $3.95 a month. $39.95 a year (with the annual rate discount applied).

Please Come Check Out NitroBackup

Nitrobackup’s new services, NitroCloud and NitroCloud Sync are the culmination of months of work, website design, price negotiations and more than a little bit of sweat.

We’re pretty proud of the end result and believe you will love this service as much as we do.

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The site needed to be easy to manage and add to, without the need to hire additional web designers.

Theme: Elegant Themes : Chameleon

Customizations:Insertion of new custom logo for header and images for featured content, removal of certain elements and setup featured content pages to really highlight their message. Insertion of additional pages and custom features. Edits to the CSS to change fonts and colors, custom CSS revisions to personalize the look and feel.

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As a web designer or site owner, you owe it to your customers to offer a place on the web they can visit to learn more about you, on the device of their choice. Sites that display only one way are doing to be missing out on a LOT of potential visitors, especially as the smart phones, tablets and iPad’s take center stage in the mobile users world.

So, if you aren’t thinking about it, now is definitely the time.

Mobile Means A Rethink Of Your Web Design

Your site, your brand and your web presence can no longer just be a fixed width site (or blog) that only displays if the device is 960 x 1000 minimum width. That smart phone your savvy customer is using might be the first impression you make. Make it poorly, and you’ve lost them.

Within the web design world, there are a few *buzz words* being tossed around. Liquid Layout. Fluid Design. Responsive Sites. They all mean essentially the same thing. Change the way the content displays, depending on the device doing the viewing.

Responsive, Liquid, Fluid and Elastic Web Design: Understanding The Difference

Liquid or fluid layouts change width based on the user’s unique device viewing size. Elastic layouts change width based on the user’s unique text size. Responsive is just another word for Liquid Design.

Both types of flexible design offer clear benefits to users, who can view sites at sizes that work for their needs, but they can pose challenges to web designers who are used to perfect pixel control. Still, when planned and constructed correctly, flexible layouts can be visually appealing and reasonably easy to build. And the concepts and techniques of flexible web design can benefit fixed-width CSS designs too, as designers learn how to design for the inherent flexibility of the web, instead of the rigid qualities of print media or grid-based layouts.

If you are the do it yourself type (I most certainly am!), you need to start brushing up on the skills necessary to build sites (or blogs) that respond to devices.

Towards that goal, I just purchased Flexible Web Design: Creating Liquid and Elastic Layouts with CSS by Zoe Gillenwater. I read the first 50 pages within a few minutes of downloading it to my Kindle reader on my iPad (yep, I am a mobile consumer as well).

Already I am impressed with her style, ease of explanation and clear thinking. It’s a project based book (my personal preference) because it will allow me to work through real live examples as I learn it. This reenforces the new material, converting it to long term memory (good for us old folks) much faster.

So, watch for some new projects coming out, and probably a conversion of my blog theme. Are you a do it yourselfer? Go get the book and we can chat about the concepts. Looking forward to hearing from you.

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The site needed to be easy to manage and add to, without the need to hire additional web designers.

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Customizations:Insertion of new custom logo for header and images for featured content, removal of certain elements and setup featured content pages to really highlight their message. Insertion of additional pages and custom features. Edits to the CSS to change fonts and colors, custom CSS revisions to personalize the look and feel.

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Success of online business depends to a large extent on search engine ranking and this is why business owners resort to SEO service providers. In last few years, SEO services have become a mandatory part of web design and development for those business looking to get found.

However, a number of websites resorted to cunning use of SEO methods to woo web users to their sites and get high ranking. Google had been trying to crack down on such errant websites for some time and so a few months back it unleashed its Panda algorithm update (the Panda Update 2.5).

First released in February 2011, Panda update is meant for punishing websites that used low quality content and duplicated content and resorted to SEO methodologies to stay at top of online searches.

Since that time, several iterations of the Panda update have been released by Google and results have surpassed expectation of industry veterans. These sites witnessed a sharp decline in traffic and their revenue was hit badly. Web developers and SEO experts have spent months trying to fathom nature of this update and they have tried various measures to survive this algorithm update too. Panda Update (version 2.5), released by end of September the year, has proved to be a significant update.

Fresh Is Better, Easy To Navigate Is Best

As expected, Google continues to give priority to websites with fresh and updated content. However, this new update is focused towards awarding sites with enhanced ease of use.

Webmasters keeping an eye on site traffic on popular media and news websites saw a sharp drop in traffic after roll out of Panda 2.5. Interestingly, some websites that modified their content and SEO strategies after previous versions of Panda updates were also hit by this version, which left some developers baffled. Google appears to reward those websites that stress on improving overall user experience along with content updating.

Other Google Review Factors

Some industry insiders think that Google is also paying attention to site load speed for ranking websites. Besides, content pages that are linked with informative landing pages are likely to be favored.

Google’s newest algorithm update has hit some reputed news sites because they still use keywords that have become less relevant. Google monitors strength of keywords in websites regularly which means it wants webmasters to evaluate their site’s search rankings and change optimization accordingly. It is quite evident that informative content in websites is being preferred by Panda over promotional content.

Some websites have seen a sudden fall in site traffic followed by a rise post Panda 2.5 update. However, a number of sites have suffered and their ranking has taken a downward slope. This indicates that latter category site owners did not equip these sites with suitable SEO measures and content.

Best Practices To Avoid Google Slaps

Web designing experts have said that it is wise to adopt a wait and watch approach to cope with the Panda Update rather than resorting to drastic changes in website SEO strategies. Later versions of Panda may introduce new changes that can render older SEO measures redundant. In last few months, websites that have stressed on updating content and shed replicated content have enjoyed steady ranking by Google.

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Leave it to spammers to take a perfectly good, innocent and well thought out tool and corrupt it.

Trackback Spam verses Legitimate Trackback’s

There is a difference. Trackback spam is the automated crap that crawls the web looking for sites with Page Rank, and one word that matches their needs. Hell, I don’t even think the one word is a requirement. Once found, the bot inserts a “trackback” into your blog by spoofing the blog into believing a post on their blog linked to it.

WordPress’ feature of linking back to the blog that linked to it (a mutually beneficial reciprocal link) triggers and viola, the spammer has a link to their blog. All those links add up. Their page rank increases (until Google figures out how to detect this) and the spammers win again.

It’s Time To Fight Back Against Trackback Spam

I know, as a blogger, you want those precious inbound links so people can find you. You want to be courteous and link back to those that link to you. But really, the spammers are making it really hard to have the legitimate links without sending everything to moderation and manually reviewing them before allowing them to post.

Not anymore.

I found a cool new plugin (what else!?) that will help you in the fight against trackback spam. It’s called Simple Trackback Validation and it works to identify this type of spam and eliminate it. Just want a little help identifying the potential spammers, you can dial it back a little.

When a trackback is received on your blog, this plugin:

• Checks if the IP address of the trackback sender is equal to the IP address of the webserver the trackback URL is referring to.
  This reveals almost every spam trackback (more than 99%) since spammers do usually use bots which are not running on the machine of their customers.
• Retrieves the web page located at the URL included in the trackback. If the page doesn’t link to your blog, the trackback is considered to be spam. Since most trackback spammers do not set up custom web pages linking to the blogs they attack, this simple test will quickly reveal illegitimate trackbacks. Also, bloggers can be stopped abusing trackback by sending trackbacks with their blog software or webservices without having a link to the post.

So, if you are experiencing higher than usual trackback spam thanks to your blog’s growing popularity, take a minute to download and install Simple Trackback Validation to make managing your blog a little easier.

You can thank me later. No really, stop by and and let me know how it works for you! =)

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I know… Me too.

And like you, I started Googling the answer, only to find there were dozens of “solutions” out there to “Fix WordPress Blank Page”, and not one of them helped me. I will, for the sake of consolidating the answers into one convenient place, assemble those other solutions as well, but here is what worked for me.

A little background. PHP is the language WordPress uses to display it’s content to your visitors. It’s software that displays an admin area to you, that allows you to insert posts, pages, links and so on.

How To Fix WordPress Blank Page

Without breaking a sweat.

Solution 1 – Remove Blank Lines

There are a couple of files which are used pretty much by every function in your dashboard, so there is where I wound up. See, PHP has a challenge under certain circumstances. If there is a blank line AFTER the closing PHP tag (which looks like this  ?>), PHP chokes on itself. Stupid huh?

So, when you download the latest greatest version of WordPress, I recommend you do so to your local machine first. Open wp-config.php and wp-settings.php and make SURE there is no blank line after the closing PHP tag. You know, for that matter, it wouldn’t hurt to check all of them.

Yes, the programmers at WordPress know that PHP has this challenge. I think they just get into a little bit of a hurry when it’s time to release a new version. One extra Enter key tapped, and life for us bloggers can get real interesting.

Solution 2 – Disable Plugins

Another potentially stupid exercise that often leads to a solution is to disable your plugins. All of them. In a second tab of your browser, click onto the link that gives you the blank white page. Refresh. Did the page come back? Then it is probably a plugin. Re-enable them one at a time (checking the edit post link – if that is your error page) between each plugin.

One or more of them can cause it to break again. If that is the case, update the plugin, or remove it in favor of one that doesn’t break your admin area.

In my case, I found that three plugins AND the blank line in wp-settings.php were to blame.

Solution 3 – A New Install

Yep, a corrupt file can account for this problem as well, though you will likely see this on the entire admin area, not just one file or link. If that is the case, use a good FTP program and upload the entire folder again.

Solution 4 – Adding a New Define Security Keys

WordPress has evolved over time. Settings that are required now, weren’t even a glimmer in their daddy’s eye in previous versions. The defines that make WordPress more secure is a case in point.

If your blog has a little age on it… you might have been told you need to update the wp-config.php file to include those new define statements. Great. Follow directions but whatever you do, do NOT put them below the /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */ comment.

You don’t have to remember the keys, just make them long and complicated or better yet, use the the online generator. You can change these at any point in time to invalidate all existing cookies, though this does mean that all users will have to login again.

Solution 5 – Blank Admin – Bulk Disable Plugins

Sometimes, it might be necessary to disable ALL the plugins in one throw. For example, after an upgrade, NOTHING is visible in the admin area. No login, no dashboard, nothing. In this case, you can rename the plugins folder (to something like plugins-temp) to disable all plugins at once. Just login via your FTP client and rename. Attempt to log back in.

If a plugin was causing the problem, you should now be able to get in and move around. I wouldn’t bring all the plugins back online at once though. I would do it one at a time, testing dashboard features as you go.

Update: 10/19/2011
A recent client ran into this problem and asked me to correct it. I recorded a quick unscripted video of that process.

If you encounter another, please let me know so I can add to this list.

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So, if Photoshop is on your wish list but not in your tool box you should keep reading. I found an online photo editing and screen capture utility to allow you to grab the images on your computer screen so you can edit them easily. A photo editor you can use online that has many of the features of Photoshop, GIMP and Paint.net but is easier to  use?

Let me introduce you to Pixlr Online Editor. This sweet tool contains featured like Photoshop (layers, text, special effects) and allows you to edit from a URL, your computer, or just create a new image.

In this video, I will show you how to use it, install the Pixlr addon for Firefox that allows for screen captures and photo cropping and adding text to an image.

Come on, take 10 minutes with me and let me show you how adding images to your blog posts just got easier with Pixlr Online Photo Editing.

Video Optimized for Full Screen SizeClick the icon to zoom the video full screen

Transcript of Video on Pixlr Online Photo Editing

Hi there. This is Cenay coming at you with another unscripted video. Today I want to take a look at a new utility I found on the Internet to help you edit images, capture images, crop them, and do really quick image editing without the need to own something like Photoshop or Fireworks.

It’s all online. If you are one of my students, in the past I’ve shown you an online utility called Picnik. Today I want to show you one that’s actually I think a little better. I’m going to go to normal Google. Let’s start at the images here, and I’m going to type in “Pixlr.” That will take you to the Pixlr.com webpage. So go ahead and click there. Now, there are a
couple of different elements to this.

First of all, you can use this without installing anything on your computer. You simply click to go to the Editor, and you tell the editor where to get an image. Do you want to create a new one? Do you want to open one from your computer? Do you want to open one from a URL? Or do you want to open one from your library there on Pixlr, Facebook, or some other library?

All of those will work right out of the box. Now I also recommend an add-on that you can add to your Firefox installation which will give you a tool over here that you can put either in your sidebar, now I have sidebar widget here, but it could also be right up here. Any toolbar where you want to put it. It’s just an add-on. Let me show you a little bit of how it works before I actually show you how to install it.

Let’s say I want to find an image about a woman and a laptop. I’m making things up here, okay? This is a pretty good image. So I’m going to right click and open that in a new tab. My predominant reason for doing that is here on Google, we’re actually viewing a thumbnail image, not the full size image. Here we are getting the full size image.

Let’s go ahead and try a view image. Oh, it did. Do you see I have a URL here where this image could be found? If I copy that URL, I can inside of Pixlr open that image from a URL and just paste the URL that I copied there. When I click “OK,” it’s going to go capture that image, bring it over, put it inside my editor where I can do things like add text or crop it.

Let’s say for example I don’t really want to show the laptop or the top of her feet. By default, I come in with the crop tool already enabled. If I just click, drag, and release and then press enter, I’m going to get that area of the image that I wanted cropped out. Now at this point I can, of course, save this image back to my computer, or rather, not back to but to
my computer. If I give it a name like “Woman and Laptop in Grass,” I can keep the quality about 80% and then save it to my local computer somewhere.

I’ll go ahead and save it to my desktop. Using Pixlr I was able to grab an image, crop it, save it to my local computer, and it is right here exactly the way I put it together. Let’s go viewer that. There’s the image that I captured. So just really easily I was able to go grab this from a URL.

There’s another feature that I really like and that’s the ability to grab an image interactively. Now let’s go to this webpage, and let’s actually get out of here and look at this website itself. Do you see how it has an image right over here? What if I wanted the image and what they had put here? I can use this new tool. I can click it, and it will give me a crop
window that I can move where I want it, size how I want it, and then when I click Crop,” I have the option to edit it, save it to my desktop, copy it to the clipboard, or share it on one of my libraries.

Now if I click edit, once again it’s going to open that image as a URL and place it right here inside my Editor where I can either save it to my local computer or add something of my own like add some additional text. Let’s grab the text icon, drop it right here, and say, “Click here for more info.” Make it a little bit smaller where it’ll fit. Let’s change the color
to make it red, something like that. Say “‘OK.”

Now if I select the arrow tool, I can touch this and then start moving it. I’m just using my arrow key to move it. Just real easy to use. As you can see, it has some features like Photoshop has. I can add layers. I can step back through my history. I can create a new layer. I can add special effects, and I have all of these built-in tools that I can work with.

If you’ve always wanted Photoshop but couldn’t afford it, or you just wanted a quick way to capture something on your screen, edit it really quickly, save it to your local computer, then Pixlr is the way to go.

Now let’s talk briefly about what it takes to get that add-on into Firefox. To do that, first I’m going to go to Mozilla’s site. Now this is a Firefox add-on. So I’m going to jump over here to the add-ons for Firefox. I’m going to search for an add-on for Pixlr. It’s going to come back with a couple of different options. Now, this is the one we want – the Pixlr
Grabber.

I would just click “Add to Firefox.” If Firefox asks do I want to install it, I’m going to, of course, click “Install Now.” I already have it so it’s already done. Last but not least is “Restart Now” to make Pixlr Grabber available to you. Once you do this, and I mentioned to you that I have a sidebar over here, a custom toolbar that I placed here, but let me show you
how to get it in your normal toolbar right up here where your other items are normally located.

To do that, I would press Alt + V to open up my file menu for toolbars. I’m going to click on “Customize.” No with customize, these are the toolbar options that you have available to you. As you can see, I have an icon of a hand when it’s here. If I bring it back here, this is what it will look like when you first come in. You can just simply grab it and push it
wherever you want. Now this places it in the top toolbar. I actually want it in my side toolbar, right over here.

I’m just grabbing it and putting it wherever I want. Then when I click “Done,” that toolbar is now available to me. With this tool bar, once again, click the Grabber, move my crop window to wherever I want, size it to wherever I want, and then when I click “Crop,” it will grab that image and allow me to edit it.

I hope this video has helped you see one of the really cool features available in Firefox and a new screen capture utility if you’re not looking to pay for one and you just want a quick photo editor. Until next time, this is Cenay signing off saying happy blogging.

Resources Used In Video

• Pixlr Editor
• Pixlr Firefox Add on

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Imagine this scenario: You’ve done everything by protocol. You have a high quality, unique and well written blog post ready to publish — it has all the bells and whistles, including an invigorating/captivating title, strong embedded SEO keywords and you’re posting it at the wee hours of dawn (this way it’s the first thing your loyal readers will see when they wake up). It will be a sure fire hit, right?

Probably not.

You’re missing one major detail that can make or break the success of a post — a photo. While you may not think photos are all the important they really are—it’s the first thing a reader’s eye will be attracted to. While an aesthetically pleasing photo may convince readers to take a sneak peek at the introduction at the very least, no photos on the other hand can make the post seem dull and boring and he or she may skip the post all together. With that said, always include a photo whenever possible. If you struggle finding ways to find royalty-free images however (they must be royalty-free you don’t want to get sued) check out some these different sources to find great photos at no cost.

A Short Run Through

Before anything else is said it’s important that you understand copyright laws regarding photos:

• Assume every image you find is copyrighted, even if it does not explicitly say so. Always looks for a common creative common license to see what the terms of use are and so that you can credit the photographer’s work. If there is no creative common license readily available and no sign of copyright still do not use it. Contact the photographer directly to ask permission to use it first.

• Public Domain images are not copyrighted and can be used without a hassle; these include photos found on official governmental Web sites and photos/art works created before 1923.

• Screen Shots of programs/videogames are ok to use as long as it does not disrupt the sale of the product/service and as long as it’s used as a supplement for a “how-to” article.

• Images of CD covers and films are also ok to use as long as you are not the one to leak it—meaning it’s been out for quite some time and has been traveling in cyberspace for a while.

Where to Look

That said, check out these sources to find some quality, useable and free photos for your blog:

• Wikipedia Commons—Wikipedia’s facts may be a little sketchy when it comes to certain material, but in regards to photos, its spot on. Whenever someone uploads a photo to the popular site to accompany an article they are automatically entering the images into the “public” domain. You still need to abide by the licensing rules that can be found at the bottom of each photo, but with more than 10 million photos of various objects, animals, tech gadgets and historical figures you’re sure to find something to match with your blog post.

• Google “Reuse” Images—Using the advanced image search option is also another easy way to find great photos. All you need to do is filter your results by clicking on the “Only images labeled for reuse” option located underneath the “More Tools” heading. Make sure to scour for a common creative license before you post the image to your blog.

• Flickr—Lastly, you may just be able to find your ideal photo scouring through this site. This photo-sharing service has all kinds of photos taken by amateur and professional photographers. While not all of the images can be used, a good number of them can be. Like with every other image, just make sure to carefully read the licensing agreement.

Photo license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en
Original Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikayama/1114439643/

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Theme: Elegant Themes : eBusiness

Customizations: Insertion of new custom logo for header and new images for featured content. Special customization code to allow display of her testimonials and products. Edits to the CSS to change fonts and colors, custom CSS revisions to personalize the look and feel.

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Customizations: Insertion of new custom logo for header and new images for featured content. Special customization code to allow display of her testimonials and case studies. Edits to the CSS to change fonts and colors, custom CSS revisions to personalize the look and feel.

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Customizations: Insertion of new custom logo for header and new images for featured content, removal of certain elements and setup featured content pages to really highlight their message. Special customization code to allow tracking the Newsletter and making portions of the site available to only paid members. Edits to the CSS to change fonts and colors, custom CSS revisions to personalize the look and feel.

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The recent promotion for Easter was a huge success. A lot of new bloggers got a chance to get their hands on the WordPress Catalyst Theme with a whopping 20% discount off their already great price. And just today (6/30) I got an update on a new coupon code, so I am just recycling this post to showcase the latest discount.

Don’t know what the Catalyst Theme is or why you need it? Let me run it down for you.

Catalyst Offers Features

Catalyst provides the most robust set of features and design controls on any theme on the market today. Color pickers, drop down selections and fill in the blank settings for things like font, colors, borders are just the tip of the iceburg. Custom CSS, custom widget areas and hook boxes allow you to create containers anywhere on your blog, on any page, at any time.

Catalyst Offers Flexibility

Catalyst redefines the boundaries of what you can accomplish with a WordPress Framework Theme. With unlimited flexibility and an insane amount of design control, Catalyst opens the door to a new era of WordPress Site Development.

Catalyst Offers Community

One of the most impressive features of Catalyst in their fantastic user community . Their active support forum, 170+ page Catalyst Cheat Sheet (this stays on my desktop for quick reference), and a wealth of additional resoruces are all in place to help you get started.

PS:

If you are building Adsense site(s), Catalyst makes a great base theme that is customizible. Coupled with WP Twin and the ability to clone any WordPress blog, you can create a series of sites that behave the same, but have a different look and feel with just a few mouse clicks. This is a powerful way to extend your site portfolio in record time.

Catalyst Video From The Creators

Check out this new video they did.

Behold The Power Of Catalyst from Cobalt Apps on Vimeo.

Inside Look at Catalyst

Here’s my take on installing and setting up Catalyst, which will give you an inside look before you buy. I strongly recommend Catalyst for certain bloggers, website owners and adsense guru’s. If you want total design control without having to learn HTML, CSS and PHP, then check out Catalyst.

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A client who has a Cake Decorating site wanted a new look and feel, so we choose the MyCuisine theme. This video shows you the old site, downloading the new theme, exactly what you have to do to install a theme from Elegant Themes, and how to tweak it to get it just right.

Follow along with this video to install any of the Elegant Themes (not just MyCuisine) on your WordPress blog.

Here’s A Tip

Video is best viewed full screen sized. Click on the video once it begins to go full screen. Click again to reduce.

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Today, I wanted to remind you about a research tool I had mentioned previously. In fact, I created a video about this topic. So, just in case you aren’t using this wonderful tool to help you research something you are interested in, or a market you want to enter, let me bring back “Google As Your Research Assistant”.

I want to show you a technique you can use to have Google be your personal research assistant, tell you what it is indexing, and keep you up to date on key terms in your niche or industry.

It’s called Google Alerts, and it’s a free service. I use it to monitor several terms myself. Google email’s me once a day (a setting I chose, I could have also said “as-it-happens” or “once a week” as well) whenever that term shows up. You can have an unlimited number of search terms you are monitoring.

I created a video demonstrating how easy it is to setup, which you can see by clicking the image below.

Enjoy!

The video is a little blurry due to the size. You can see a full-sized version on my video site at http://www.videos.bycenay.com

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In the search engine optimization (SEO) world, the number of backlinks is one indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page. Outside of SEO, the backlinks of a webpage may be of significant personal, cultural or semantic interest: they indicate who is paying attention to that page.

What you want to do, is find strategies and ways to build up the number of sites that backlink to your blog.

Before I go on, let me clear the air a bit, and explain what a backlink is and how it differs from a *traceback* or *pingback* or embedded link.

Backlink

A link, complete with anchor text, that points to your blog from some other site, generally, intentionally left by you.

Traceback

A link from one blog spotlighting a piece of content on your blog. Bloggers can use this in place of content of their own, by simply saying, found a great post, go here to check it out. Great to get!

Pingback

Certain blogging software allows you as the blog owner, to be notified when someone *links* to your content. This notification can trigger (within the blogging software) a notice to reference the site linking back. It’s also good to go comment on their observations about your post, or thank them.

Embedded Link

A site owner (blogger, website, CMS, etc) and include a link from their site to your site on a semi-permanent basis. This can take the form of a blog roll, link partner or direct reference to your site or a more specifical reference to a single post.

Clear as mud?

Now that you have an idea of what a backlink is, let’s talk about strategies for building those up.

Article Directories

One of the most effective strategies is the author resource box on articles you write and submit to article directories.

Now, before you panic, let me explain where you are going to get this *article* from. Quite simply, your blog. If you are blogging correctly, you will frequently have content that qualifies as an *article* that you can send in. I call those pieces *pillar content*.

These are the really killer posts you make that are between 300 and 900 words, aren’t overly self promotional and that people would likely want to know more about. And submitting these articles to the directories has a couple of other *side-benefits*. They spread your name, build credibility, and help with *brand trust*.

Don’t worry about duplicate content. Duplicate content as defined by Google, is the same article appearing more than once on a single domain. Since the articles are on your blog (one domain), and the article directory (another domain), there is no penalty by Google.

Every time you re-purpose your blog content on article directories, you can (and should), include an Author’s resource box. This is a small blurb that talks about you, offers more information on the subject at hand, or suggests a tool or resource that will help. And each one of these, can be a backlink into some portion of your blog.

Did I mention the purpose of the article directories?

To provide free content for any webmaster or blogger to use on their site. Did you hear that? Let me repeat it. Bloggers and webmasters can go to the article directories and find content for their blog, and include your article. And since each article contains a resource box, each one points directly to your blog.

Do you see the power of this?

When a blog in your niche uses yourarticle, that vote is given a little more weight. Use the right keywords (keywords that support your overall blog theme), and as it is used across multiple sites, the votes start racking up.

Here are a few article directories to get you started. Remember, some are specific to niches, so do your own research to find the one’s that will work best for you.

Article directories are also rated by Google, so look for one’s that have Google page rank as an added benefit.

ArticleDashboard.com Google Page Rank (PR) 6
ArticleCity.com  PR: 6
ArticleBiz.com PR: 6
SEOSiteManager.com  PR: 5
EZineArticles.com  PR: 6
ArticleTrader.com  PR: 5

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Most people assume the protection they loaded last year (or last decade), is enough to protect them. They assume wrong.

Hackers, crackers, Trogan writers and Virus makers are constantly evolving their skill, their targets and their ambitions. It’s pretty hard to keep up with everything going on, which is why the anti-virus, anti-trogan, anti-spam folks are making so much money (and no, this isn’t a product promo piece). Their full time job is to monitor, update and improve their protection software.

Yes, they hope to get paid, but many of these companies also offer a scaled down free version. AVAST is just such a company. In fact, the free version of Avast is the one I use. It has 7 separate process monitors and protection levels. Everything from inbound emails to active web page surfing. File usage monitors that scan files as they are opened and instant messaging monitors.

Of course, I am also careful about where I surf, and what I do online. You have to be today. Surfing without an Anti-virus program and active web protection is like having unprotected sex. Yeah, it might feel good in the moment, but dang, that shit can kill you.

Do yourself a favor. Stop and check your virus updates, protection levels and web threat monitors. If it’s not 100% up to date, what are you waiting for?

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I feel your pain.

I keep hearing from all the trainers, coaches and guru’s that it’s simple . And they each list "everything" you should do to be successful.

And guess what? Their lists don’t match!

Each trainer/coach/guru lists 5-9 things you MUST do to be successful online. How do you know which is really the one that you need to do?

Well, frankly, it’s gonna depend on you. I know that wasn’t what you wanted to hear, but dang-it, it’s the truth and I promised you truth above all, right from the beginning. It’s going to depend on your goals, the results you are expecting and the method you choose to give you those results.

But I digress. We are talking about how to avoid information overload.

It’s a matter of mindset, discipline and habits. When you are first starting out with a new "[tag-self]prospecting[/tag-self]" method like using the Internet, you need to do some research, explore your options and then pick one .

Notice I didn’t say buy every book or product out there to teach yourself, nor did I say read only one . You do need an overview of what’s possible. And you need to know who is doing it successfully. But in the end, you need to choose one thing and then master it. Test it. Track it. Apply it. Study it. Don’t move onto the next "method" or "process", until you have the first one "down pat".

Trust me, I know it will be tempting to spend all your time researching, buying books that promise you 3 simple steps to financial freedom or listening to training calls from marketing guru’s morning, noon and night. But do you know why it will be tempting? Because if you are still researching and studying, you aren’t doing .

If you aren’t doing, you aren’t failing. Can you say "comfort zone"?

Listen, the number ONE reason you will succeed in this (or any) business, isn’t the marketing method, or the capture page, or the autoresponder (although these are all important pieces of the puzzle). No, the number one reason you will succeed, is because you took action. Massive action. Focused action. And you can’t do that if you are still chasing the hype.

There are thousands, no – tens of thousands of people on the Internet today, all hawking their "get rich quick" products, books and training courses. Each one promises you that you can quit your day job, fire your boss and retire in 1 year.

Tell me . . . in your heart . . . do you really think that is possible?

Nope, me either.

Success requires work. Anyone who tells you they have a system you just have to join to be massively wealthy overnight is flat out lying to you. But, I digress again. Sorry for the rant.

To Avoid Information Overload

1. (Focus ) Train yourself to look at one thing at a time. For example, if you are building a list using free traffic techniques, focus on that. All your efforts should be on that one thing until you can do it in your sleep.

2. (Consistency ) Train yourself to be consistent. You can’t succeed doing something only when you have extra time , or when everything else "pressing" is done. Allocate [X] minutes/hours per day for that task, and do it. No matter what.

Not doing it is only hurting you.

Don’t let obligations to others short-change you . If you are spending all your time doing something for someone else, who is growing your business? Short Answer? No one .

3. (Action ) Train yourself to be action oriented. If you are lying awake at night and an idea about how to do (better) what you are trying to do flitters across your brain, do it. The very next day. Take action. Even if it’s wrong action, it’s still got value to you, especially if you are tracking and testing like you should be. It is teaching you what doesn’t work .

You should have noticed that all three things I listed involved the word "Train ". That’s not an accident. You control your success or failure. No one else. Do you want it? Then train for it.

Alright, this post turned into a kind of a rant, and I am sorry about that. I just get so frustrated when I start mentoring someone and they come to the "table" with 43 eBooks, 14 DVD’s and 29 CD’s but not one single "action" under their belts.

I blame it on Information Overload.

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  Your Key To Success In Network Marketing

This video walked him through installing the theme (after purchase), and covers a few of the cooler functions available to him. It’s a short video, but I think one that will show off the features of the Catalyst Theme pretty well.

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1. You can build the very best website on the planet, but unless people can find it, you won’t sell a thing.
2. You can get hundreds, even thousands of visitors to your site every day, but unless you are offering what they are looking for, you won’t sell a thing.

Both of these concepts are what search engine optimization is all about. Getting found for exactly the phrase (or product/service) that your potential customer is looking for.

The marriage of search engine optimization and online marketing techniques is what this article hopes to clarify for you. You see, building an effective business utilizing online marketing techniques takes more than just coding web pages.

It takes a plan. It takes a deep understanding of who you are talking to and what language they use. It takes an automated sales funnel. It takes an automated follow up system. And it takes optimizing each page of your website for the keywords they are already using to find a solution their business pain.

Let’s break down the essential elements of a successful online business plan.

Defining Who You Want To Talk To

This step isn’t as simple as it sounds. The knee-jerk answer is “anyone who wants to learn Real Estate Investment Strategies” or “anyone who needs a blue widget”, but that doesn’t really tell you anything about who you are talking to.

It doesn’t tell you their current business or personal pain. It doesn’t tell you why they are online looking for a solution. It doesn’t explain what the solution for them would look like.

You need to spend a little time really getting specific here. You want to define your ideal audience. Your perfect prospect. Your target market.

You need to know exactly what they are looking for and why. You need to know what motivates them, what scares them, and what will inspire them.

Understanding Their Language

If your ideal audience is a real estate professional looking to increase their worth (or bottom line), then you will need to use their “language” in your sales copy, keywords and content. This will include professional terms unique to all real estate professionals (please note, I will be using Real Estate Investing as a sample throughout this document, just replace with whatever term makes sense for your business).

However, if your target market is someone who don’t know anything about real estate investing, but wants to get positioned to profit from an upturn in the housing market, then your “language” can NOT include terms only a broker would know.

This concept translates heavily into what keywords you target. If “John Q Public” with no real estate experience is your target audience, then you can’t optimize for keywords like “short sale buy strategies”, because John Q Public doesn’t know what that means.

He is more likely to be searching for terms like “buying and selling houses quickly” or “profit on flipping houses”. Remember, you are going to have to educate your clients. But first, they have to find you.

Optimizing On The Right Keywords

The obvious keyword choices are often the wrong keyword choices. Remember, you are asking to speak to someone who doesn’t know what you know, yet. He doesn’t even know what to ask at the search engine. He will ask in his “language”, so be sure you are optimizing on the words he is using at the search engines.

Think a little outside the box when doing your keyword research to ensure you are optimizing for words he will be looking for. Be sure to include common derivations. To get a head start on this, ask a friend who doesn’t know anything at all about your business what they would type in the search engines to find “the solution you provide”. Careful you don’t put words in their mouth during this exercise.

Injecting Yourself Into The Conversation

Once you know who your target market is and what “pain” he is trying to resolve, you can inject yourself into the conversation. Remember, there is a sales “process” going on here. Each of your prospects first identifies their pain, starts looking for a solution, compares available options and then purchases.

Your part of the conversation has to make sense to them and match up with where they are in the buying process. Are they still identifying their pain? Do they understand what they need? Are they ready to compare options?

The Sales Funnel System

Each online business should have a sales funnel system in place. Like a kitchen funnel, you pour (a whole lot of) something in the top, and it flows out the smaller opening at the bottom.

The top of the funnel is the ethical bribe. It’s your free offer to everyone that wants or needs it. In other words, it’s what you exchange for their name and email address. It’s the start of your automated sequence. (Note: This part does require an autoresponder. An autoresponder is a service that allows you to insert a series of messages into a “list” or “campaign” that will be delivered on a programmed time table. I suggest and use AWeber myself, but any autoreponder service should work. You can learn more about the concept in an article I did titled Marketing Method: Follow Up.)

The middle of the funnel are the qualifiers, testimonials and other automated techniques used to let those who aren’t looking for what you offer, off the hook. (Remember, if you sell something to someone that didn’t need it, your “return rate” goes way up.)

The smallest part of the funnel represents the actual conversion, the sale.

The Opt In Form

The top of your sales funnel is the “Opt In” form to get a free guide or whitepaper. Free software also works well. An audio or webinar replay might also be something worthwhile. Just remember to be offering value. This is where your automation starts. Until they provide their name and email address so you can follow up with them over time, nothing happens.

Critique and Notes:

• Your ethical bribe should be above the fold and attention grabbing (above the fold means visible without scrolling the web page).
• There should be a stated benefit that resonates with your target market. Explain how they would benefit, why they need it, and what to do to get it.
• Never assume anyone knows how to get the guide. Your form should explain what they need to do in very clear language. The more you direct them, the more they will take the action you want.
• Any graphic of an ebook should shouldn’t be cheesy. Remember, you want to appear professional. Spend a few bucks and get an eCover designed that matches your content if you are offering an ebook (for example). Also, if what you are offering is training which is video driven, a CD version of the image might do better.
• Prepare to test and track what is working.

The Automation Part Of The Sales Funnel

Assuming the first part went well, a prospect has traded their name and email address for your ethical bribe. This is really good news since it means they just gave you permission to market to them. It’s called Permission Based Marketing and is the single most effective way to make money online. Here are some ideas to get you rolling.

Each message in your “list” or marketing campaign will have a specific function. Each will walk your prospect one step closer to the result you want. Some will opt-out which is their way of saying, nope, this wasn’t what I had in mind.

Each message should be short and direct them to take the action you want them to take to follow the designed sequence that represents your ideal “presentation”. In other words, message one should state a benefit and then direct them to read the content at the “Pre-Sell Page”.

Message 2 should be delivered the next day, and should offer another benefit, perhaps a testimonial, and then direct them to read the content at the “Sign up” page.

Message 3 should be delivered 1 to 2 days later and should include another strong testimonial, another call to action and offer a money back guarantee. Show them you are taking the risk out of signing up. Direct them back to the “Sign up” page.

Message 4 should be delivered 1 to 2 days later, and should focus on what is called an apples to oranges comparison. Show the benefits and cost of your program and a much more expensive approach using the school of hard knocks (for example).

Each subsequent message should always include a link to the strongest call to action page in your sales funnel as the link listed under your signature, even if the message is just delivering news, latest posts, or testimonials.

This permission based marketing method accounts for a large portion of your sales. Use this wisely.

The Pre-Sell Page

This page should contain images which break up the text and make the entire page easier to read. Bolding and alternating rows make the bullet points stand out as well. This page’s purpose is to get them ready to see the price. This is especially true when your price tag is high. You really need to avoid that sticker shock with good sales copy, strong bullet points and a detailed set of benefits.

Critique and Notes:

• Add more sub-headings so those that “scan” a webpage to see if it’s applicable to them, will be able to grasp the jist. These sub-headings need to tell the “story” in miniature. If the sub-headings connect with the reader, they will read the parts in between.
• Your bullet points should be benefits, not features. A benefit connects with the reader, a feature doesn’t. As an example… you might list “No Down Payment” as a benefit. However, that’s a feature. A benefit OF no down payment is “not having to take money out of your wallet to get started”… which your reader can relate to better.
• Add more social proof and testimonials. You should have at least three (more is better) on the page. Insert specific testimonials near the text that highlights what they are happist about
• If you use a table that compares other products/services/programs to your own, a little visual “que” might be in order. For example, where the two items are comparable, add a graphic of a “dash”. Where theirs is less or worse, add a red “X” in their column and a green “check” in your column. These visual que’s reinforce the message subconsciously.
• Make your call to action strong. People will respond if you tell them what to do. Tell them to click the “Join Now” button and complete the form on the next page (for example). If you don’t ask for what you want, they won’t do it.

The Join Now or Sign Up Page

The next web segment of your sales funnel is the Sign Up page, and represents the action you wanted them to take all along. As such, this page needs to really “close the deal”. You can’t afford to back down or do this page second rate. The content on this page will account for 21% of the lost sales, of those that won’t commit.

Although this is an action page, you still have to remind them why they thought it was a good idea. Be prepared to recap each of your strongest selling points.

Critique and Notes:

• For some of you, this the first time they see the “price” so there might be some sticker shock. To reduce that, recap the money they will spend in real world dollars if they attempt to do this on their own.
• Your bullet points should not be single line entries that do not “connect the dots” for readers. For example, an entry that says “Forms/Documents For You” – doesn’t tell the reader what those forms are, why they are important, what it would cost to have them done and what the benefit is having your company provide them. You should recap in bold the main point, but provide the details that those that aren’t scanning require.
• Make sure you don’t tell them to take 20% off the price, but not why. This is an opportunity for you to create a little scarcity. Tell them if they commit in the next 24 hours, you will discount it 20%, otherwise, they pay full price. You can structure the offer to reward the fast action takes, those that make quick decisions because that represents the type of person you are looking to work with. (Please note: The scarcity must be real. If you say the price only lasts 24 hours, take it DOWN in 24 hours. If they come back the next day (or later) and the note is still there, you have lost all credibility with them. It’s over.)
• Throughout your text content (prior to the payment buttons), provide links that will jump them to the payment buttons. Two or three should do it. Use your primary keywords in the link… something like “Get Started With Your Real Estate Mentor Today” or “Let’s Partner Up Right Now” or “I’m Ready To Partner With A Real Estate Mentor Now”. These links also serve to tell Google what you content is about through the hyperlinks (anchor text). This helps.

Conclusions

Your target market should drive the keywords you use and optimize for. What are THEY looking for. Yes, it’s cool to have a keyword that gets a gazillion searches a day, but if everyone that clicks the link is looking for something else, it’s pointless, drives any PPC campaigns into the dirt and frustrates both you and the readers.

To clarify with an example. Let’s say you sell golf clubs. You could optimize for the word “Golf”, but you would be getting visitors who were looking for golf-swing videos, golf shoes and golf balls. You could optimize for the keyword “golf clubs”, and your focus would be more narrow. This means less searches, but better targeting. It might only yield a hand full of people per day, but each one would be looking for exactly what you are offering, and that is worth it’s weight in gold.

Now, supposed you optimize for the keyword “left handed golf clubs”. This long tail keyword wouldn’t have as many searches, but those that were looking, would be looking for exactly what you offer. This increases the likelihood the reader gets what he wants, and you get what you want.

Be specific. Add additional content that focuses on those long tail keywords and use the sidebar opt in form to get them into your sales funnel.

Until you define exactly who your target prospect is and exactly how they search for information, you can’t nail down the keywords though.

Let me stress the importance of defining your target audience before moving on with this keyword research step. (And when I say defining who your ideal prospect is, I don’t mean something like “a new comer to real estate investing”. I mean who is he, what is his education, does he have kids at home, does his wife work, are they in danger of losing assets because of financial burdens, are the kids at home, are they young, and how much time does he have to devote to his education? Be specific!).

Once you are crystal clear on who you are talking to, you can use language he/she understands and will relate to. You can craft a Unique Selling Point that he/she connects with. You can build a sales letter that makes sense to him/her and addresses his/her specific fears, concerns and hopes.

When you know exactly who you are speaking to, it will be apparent in the words you use. Just address your marketing funnel to that one ideal prospect specifically.

I hope this articles helps define your overall process a little better. If you need help getting it all done, I am here for you. Branding, blogging, setting up sales funnels… I can help with any of it.

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Theme: Elegant Themes : Modest

Customizations: Custom images for header and featured content, removal of certain elements and setup featured content pages to really highlight their message. Edits to theme to allow editing posts and pages without the need to go to the dashboard first, edits to the CSS to change fonts and colors, custom CSS revisions to personalize the look and feel.

Visit the live site St Alegis

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Theme: Elegant Themes : Cold Stone

Customizations: Custom image for headers and featured products, and changes to the navigation menu, tabbed areas, edits to the CSS to change fonts and colors.

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I found this little tidbit in a number of places across the web when I went looking for a solution, but will credit the original author and his site. You can click the link in the source box below the article to see any updates he might have posted.

Now, this is by no means a REAL fix for the Firefox memory leak, but it certainly does appear to help it quite a bit. This little fix will move Firefox to your hard drive when you minimize it, and as a result it will take up less than 10MB of memory while minimized. So far, from my experiences with using this today, when you maximize Firefox it will obviously increase the memory usage. However, it does not seem to go back up to the insane amount that it was at before minimizing it. For example, Firefox was at 180MB of memory usage and then I minimized it and after a few seconds I maximized it. After maximizing it and continuing on my routine business it appeared to only have gone up to 60MB. This seems to be a good solution for me right now since I frequently maximize and minimize Firefox anyways.

Now I know many people will say that Firefox will take longer to maximize since it will be located on the hard drive, but I haven’t noticed ANY delays. It is able to redraw itself just as quickly as if it was located in the ram (in my experience). Okay, now here are the few simple steps:

• Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter.
• Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
• In the box that pops up enter config.trim_on_minimize. Press Enter.
• Now select True and then press Enter.
• Restart Firefox.

See how quick and painless that was? At any rate you can always go back and delete the same setting that you just created if you start to experience any issues.

I have also set the browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers value to 0 because that will prevent Firefox from caching pages for the back button. This is also supposed to free up some memory that gets stolen.

Source: CyberNet: This May Help Your Firefox Memory Leak

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Post Preparation Checklist

• Gather Your Intel.

  In this step, I gather up the research I am performing, material I want to quote, related sites, links or resources I want to include. I gather all that into once place. I use notepad or Dreamweaver for this, since a post’s resources will grow as I build it. Remember that to benefit a reader, it needs to offer them exactly what they are looking for.

  If you reference a cool piece of software or a great online tool, be sure to include the link!

• Find/Create a Photo.

  Since I tend to select themes that are thumbnail driven or that look good with images added to each post, I spend a little time on this step. A photo or image can engage your reader, connect with them emotionally or set the tone for the content piece.

  In fact, while I am creating a post, I have both my image editor (either Fireworks or Photoshop) open and a browser window with Google Images open.

  I am careful to optimize the images (see 3 Ways To A Faster Page Load for more info). I am careful to only select images where I won’t be violating owner copyright or to create my own.

• Create A Clickable Headline.

  Do not scrimp on this step. Remember, Google serves your headline to the searcher. This means your potential visitors evaluate this before deciding to come visit or not. A lousy headline will turn off your visitor before they ever had a chance to see your photo or content.

  I recommend writing 5-10 headlines AFTER your post content has been written to find the best one. Still having trouble? Here’s a tool I use from time to time to Create Eye-Catching Headlines in 32.4 Seconds.

  My headline must contain my primary keyword for the post. That keyword (or keyword phrase) should be as close to the beginning of the title as possible (for maximum search engine benefit). Google weights the first 65 characters of the title as more important than the rest (some even say Google does count anything after 65 character). So, important up front!

• Create A Clickable Description.

  Like the step before, I know that the description is the “ad” for my post. I know that directly under the headline, they are going to read a description of the post that will decide them on whether they make the click or not.

  What is the implicit or explicit benefit to the reader? What will they get out of it? Does it solve a pain? Answer a question? Then I need to clearly state it. The primary keyword I have determined is applicable to this post also needs to appear in my description. Be consistent.

• Determine Your Top 3 Related Keywords.

  Semantics. Something to avoid in normal conversation if you don’t want to upset your conversational partner, but Google isn’t just anyone.

  May the computer gods forgive me saying this, but Google is stupid. Well, okay, not stupid, but software none-the-less. And software — as a rule — is stupid. It can only do what it was programmed to do, and we humans lack the necessary skills to even approximate human decision making.

  So, we have to teach Google what we mean, what we intend and what’s important to us (and likely to our visitors). We do this with clear and defined keywords, and semantically related words. As humans, by the age of 3, we understand that car and automobile mean the same thing. Google has to be taught. And it takes a lot of repetition. It takes a lot of validation. Google compares your site about RC models to other sites about RC models to see what words you each think are important.

  So, a little research into common phrases and semantically related keywords is a necessary step in producing content Google will serve to your intended target audience. You should use those related keywords within the body of your content to help teach Google when to serve your content.

Part 1 of 2 on Creating posts that engage your readers, attract the search engines and invite comments. Stay tuned for Part 2 of creating posts that engage your readers, attract the search engines and invite comments shortly. In the meantime, start putting into practice your checklist. Like baking a cake, following a recipe can help ensure success.

Are there things you do to get ready for a post that I didn’t list? I would love to hear your ideas

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Theme: Elegant Themes : eStore

Customizations: Custom images for header and featured content, removal of certain elements and setup featured content pages to really highlight their message. Edits to theme to allow editing posts and pages without the need to go to the dashboard first, edits to the CSS to change fonts and colors, custom CSS revisions to personalize the look and feel.

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I found one more reason to crow about the virtues of Firefox. It’s an addon for Firefox that allows you to check your site and give you a grade based on selected criteria.

It shows you what your competition is doing right, and what they are doing wrong. You can use Sen SEO as a checklist on your own blog. Go through this process after each new post, and you can stay in Google’s good SEO graces.

This video will discuss what Sen SEO shows you when evaluating your site, how to use it to spy on your competition, and how to stay ahead of the curve. We also discuss some of the elements that Sen SEO evaluates and why you should care about it.

• Updating your theme to meet Google’s requirements
• Posting techniques to get your primary keyword on your homepage
• How to use Headspace to get a meta-description on your home page
• How to correct some of what Sen SEO reports is wrong

Once the video starts playing, click on the video to expand it full size. Press Escape to return to normal size

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This guest post is brought to you by Captain Matt. If you would like to be featured on this blog, please visit the Guest Post Guidelines page to learn more. Thanks Captain Matt for your valuable insights.

Choosing the right WordPress plugins to help manage a marketing platform is like rolling dice – you have to roll the dice to see what happens. Adding plugins is an easy enough task, but it’s always encouraging to find a resource that gives a full review and even video demonstrations of what to expect from the performance of every helpful little add-on to your WordPress platform.

You’re visiting one of those sites.

There’s an old Rolling Stones rock music favorite called Tumbling Dice; I favor the Linda Ronstadt version. Nicely done.

There’s a lyric in that song that says ‘…there’s fever in the bunk house (or funk house) now‘. As I continue learning how to build my business on the internet, every new friend connection reinforces the idea that we all enter this Internet Marketers bunk house and catch the fever there.

When I was first attracted to the Internet Marketing challenge I entered into the bunk house completely disarmed – but the fun seemed innocent and I had a couple of credit cards. It wouldn’t be long, I reasoned, before I figure all of this out and Clickbank products will become my income salvation. How could things have gone so strange? After the first two years I came to a dead stop in the mud.

Now, one of the things you learn as you take a bite out of the Microsoft Apple is that new software innovations appear at an alarming rate. New programs – same dance step. And the same old song and dance goes on.

What will work best and what will not?

Even new tools need to be tested – and WordPress plugins have a history of continuous updates for improving their compatibility with the ever-improving WordPress platform.

In January 2010 I decided the smart choice would be to create an affiliate platform and offer memberships. I also wanted to somehow simplify my affiliate products presentation. After some research (you see I’m getting wiser) I began learning how cumbersome and expensive it could be to add membership site software. I began to notice there are WordPress plugins that might be the answer. But, because of all my past experience, I was hesitant. WordPress eMember

Research is the key.

The most valuable thing I’m able to pass along to my associates is to understand how big is that little browser search window. You type in a few specific thoughtful keywords and global results totaling millions of related searches instantly appears for your consideration. But don’t stop at one attempt. Search again and again and you may discover many other possibilities for accomplishing what you’re after.

So it was, my search results uncovered further interests. As always, my further diligent research revealed there are several other related plugins – one for creating an instant eStore to offer my products and an affiliate platform, easy to configure and simple to install, that is compatible with the eStore.

There is plugin compatibility as well to a WP Member plugin – what a trio of gold nuggets I had found! Now I would be able to offer a product, sign people up and give them an affiliate link and protect my product offer within a membership site. But would they work alright? Would I be able to figure out how to set them up?

They now reside nicely on my WordPress dashboard.

They include comprehensive support and feature video tutorials for installing and configuring each plugin. They are ready for any product or affiliate members management improvements or changes I need to make. These well-designed and easy to install plugins have streamlined my new September 6th Labor Day product launch and allowed me to spend valuable time on my product offer rather than installing, configuring, tweaking and hair pulling.

You’ll find these three plugins offered here on this website. WordPress eStore, WordPress Member and WordPress Affiliate Platform.

And you can see an example of how they work if you join me and take the Early Discount advantage of my newly-created project I call Captain Matt’s Treasure Map. It’s my 2nd attempt at creating my own product on the internet – and I’m rolling the dice.

There’s fever in the bunk house now!

Captain Matt’s Treasure Map is a new video tutorial series for learning how to set up a start-to-finish sales project on your computer. Learn more at http://webtecmarketing.com/.

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I am one of the resident experts featured in Julie’s Blog Support Room – Q&A Weds 6pm EDT. This Skype chat room allows visitors who have questions about blogging, to ask them online and get an answer specific to their situation. It’s been a pretty good system so far.

I just created http://www.blogtalkradio.com/caribbeanradioshowlondon where can I get the code for a Paypal donation button/cookie jar?

This is my answer…

Login to your PayPal account and select Merchant Services tab from the top navigation bar. In the Create Buttons section there is a link marked with Donate. From the drop down on the next page, select either Donations or Gift Certificate, complete the fields and PayPal will provide you with code.

You can also embed your own link using something like I use (shown below). I actually have this link tied to BOTH the anchor text shown below, and an image of a mason jar stuffed with cash. You can see a sample on the right sidebar, about half way down.

In the code below, replace business=cenay@thesoftwareanswer.com with your PayPal email address, and the item_name= with the text you want to include on the line item they see when they get to the PayPal page. Do not include spaces in the sentence. Use + instead.

Sample *Buy me a coffee or send me a tip* donation link

Text Link:

<a href=”https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&amp;business=cenay@thesoftwareanswer.com&amp;currency_code=USD&amp;amount=&amp;return=&amp;item_name=Cenay%27s+Tip+Jar—Saying+Thanks+For+The+Help”>buy me a coffee or send me a tip</a>

Image link:

<a href=”https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&amp;business=cenay@thesoftwareanswer.com&amp;currency_code=USD&amp;amount=&amp;return=&amp;item_name=Cenay%27s+Tip+Jar—Saying+Thanks+For+The+Help”><img width=”129″ border=”0″ src=”/images/tip-jar.jpg”></a>

The Plugin Solution for WordPress Blogs

There are also several WordPress plugins (of course) that will allow you to insert a shortcode to add a donation button. One in particular stands out since it features things like selecting your button, your PayPal email address, and sending follow up messages to your benefactors. The Donate Plus plugin also features the ability to create a “Donator Wall” so you can publically recognize those who send donations.

You can Google “WordPress plugin paypal donation” to see a whole slew of others.

Hope this clarifies things for you.

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So, in the spirit of trying to stay just as busy this year, I am kicking off the year with a promotion that saves you money, and gets me busy. So, how about $100 off? Pick any product (over $200) in my Ala Cart menu, and use the coupon code aQuick100 to reduce the price by $100.

And for my Warrior Forum friends, I created another coupon to apply to bundles and save even more. Use coupon code WF020 to knock 20% off the total when you purchase two or more services.

Please note, coupons can not be mixed and matched. Select the coupon code that gives you the most discount.

$100 Off Coupon Code: aQuick100
Save 20% Coupon Code: WF020

Offer expires February 1st, 2011

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So, without further ado, here is my latest video: Add Google Maps To Your WordPress Blog.

If you are using WordPress to brand and promote your small brick and mortar business (and you should be!), then you might need to provide interactive maps for your customer to find you.

This is especially true if your customers are mobile and finding you on their smart phones!

Google Maps provides a way to bring clickable, zoomable and scrollable maps to your WordPress blog post or page. This video will show you two methods to add a Google Map. One with plugins, and one without.

Follow along and add Google Maps to your WordPress blog today. Please rate, comment or share this video to help others find it. Thanks!

Resources Used In Video

• Google Maps API Signup
• WordPress Google Maps Plugin

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“How Can I Find More Keywords My Target Market Is Looking For?”

This is a question I get very often from my clients, readers on the blog and frankly, anyone who learns what I do for a living. I have a list of videos I want to make to answer the frequently asked SEO Keyword Research and Internet Marketing questions I get. This one has been on my list a while now.

I drag out my list of video suggestions, requests and ideas I have every so often, and look it over. Is it still relevant? Is the desire to make it still there? Will it be well received within my community?

Sometimes the answers are no.

And sometimes, the information is so timeless, or timely, that a video really should be made.

This video is one of those. Sadly, I didn’t make this one. After watching Guru Bob’s video, there wasn’t too much I could add, so I decided to republish the video here. If you are reading this in an email, the video won’t show up. You’ll have to come to the blog to watch it. I promise it will be worth the time.

In this video, Guru Bob shows how to find additional keywords using Market Samurai and Google Analytics for The Challenge in 2010

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Understanding The Trends For Effective ROI

I came across this video on YouTube (where else would you come across a video this amazing?) and it got me thinking…

Naturally, we all wonder if we can weather the social storm or find a way to make it work for us. Some businesses have done more than that. They have riden a wave that is washing over business’ who haven’t joined the social revolution.

Social Media ROI: Socialnomics is by Socialnomics author Erik Qualman. This video showcases several Social Media ROI examples along with other effective Social Media Strategies. Music is by Bob Sinclair (“Tennessee”)

I just needed to share this. Are you joining the social revolution? What’s YOUR favorite social site and why? How are you using it to promote your business or services?

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What Are Shortcodes?

Shortcodes are cool little “codes” you can insert to add features to your blog without needing to know any coding. You can add little ditties like icon boxes or closeable content areas. A couple of my favorites are the image sliders and info boxes.

The Shortcode is a little snippet of “code” that looks something like this:
[ box type="info" ]This text is inside the box with an information icon and a colored background [ /box ]

Which, when done on the HTML tab, yields something like this:

You can type this in both visual or HTML mode on your post editor since it uses brackets ( [ ] )instead of normal HTML tag angle brackets (<>). They even come with their own “dialog” boxes so you can just run the “wizard”, and it inserts the “code”. In this figure, you can see the additional options added to the visual toolbar in your post editor.

Pretty cool, huh?

How To Add Them To Your Theme

A qualifier first. I haven’t tried to add shortcodes to a non-Elegant Theme. These instructions are for your Elegant Theme that uses the ePanel to setup the theme selections and options.

Step 1: Get the Shortcodes folder setup

Download one of the newer themes such as The Style, Glider or TheProfessional (I used The Professional myself). Extract to your computer so you can see into the folders and locate the shortcodes folder (it’s inside the epanel folder).

Step 2: Give your older theme access to shortcodes

Upload the shortcodes folder to the epanel folder on your domain. Please note, do NOT upload the entire epanel folder or replace the one already there. I tried this with really interesting results. I wound up removing it and starting over with the older ePanel.

Step 3: Tell your older theme it can access the shortcodes

This final step will grant the older theme access to the cool new features available with shortcodes. And although it requires you to edit your theme, please don’t panic. No, really.. don’t panic.

Visit the Dashboard | Appearance | Editor page and select the custom_functions.php file from the right hand list of links. Add these two lines of code to the top of the file (just under the opening PHP tag).

/* activate shortcodes */

require_once(TEMPLATEPATH . '/epanel/shortcodes/shortcodes.php'); 

Save your file by clicking the Update File button below the content area. That’s it!

You can now use the dialogs while editing a post, or code a solution directly into the HTML tab. And to help with all the fun things you can do, Nick created a document online that shows how to use them all.

Visit the Shortcodes Documentation page to view samples and code.

I would love to hear your experiences with retrofitting your Elegant Theme, comments on the content here, or any suggested topics you might be wishing were here…

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Theme: Elegant Themes : Pure Type

Customizations: Custom image for header, edits to theme to allow editing posts and pages without the need to go to the dashboard first, sizing of the thumbnails, edits to the CSS to change fonts and colors. New page formats for displaying her eBooks in a sales page type format and addition of thumbnails on the inner pages.

Visit the live site Ann Barr’s Blog

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Oh wait… I don’t have a dog. I guess it’s all on me then.

My newsletter subscribers will recognize that when I publish new content to my blog, it get’s sent to them as well. In fact, when I publish a new video on my *I Can Do It Myself* site, that ALSO gets sent to them.

Normally, this isn’t a challenge. Normally, I only post once or twice a week. This week wasn’t normal.

I did a 5 part video over the course of two days, and published to my video blog. It was , one master video of all 5 parts titled “More *Must Load* WordPress Plugins”. I had inserted a new video (on a schedule three days earlier) called “How To Determine Keyword Relevancy”.

And, I am assuming that three posts on my main blog felt lonely, and decided for no reason I can fathom, to republish themselves so they could be sent out over the ether to join their brothers and sisters.

So, if you were one of the few hundred that got FIVE email’s from me in one day (and another the very next day (this message)), then you have my profound apologies. My heart felt contrition and shame. Oh, and my embarrassment.

I’m a geek, and I still can’t figure out why three posts written weeks ago decided to leap off the blog and send themselves out. It’s a mystery to me. If you have ANY experience with this yourself, and you resolved it, I would love to hear from you.

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It’s a short video, but if you are struggling with installing a new theme, then this video will really help.

Resources used in video

• Elegant Themes
• Install and use Filezilla

Update: Shortcodes Now Available On Older Themes

I love the shortcodes so much, I wanted to know how to add them to the older themes from Elegant that I am using. I found the answer and it’s pretty simple. I even created a post to show you exactly how. Check out Retrofit Your Elegant Theme With Shortcodes

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This compilation video is a series of amazing people doing incredible things. It’s set to some very upbeat music (“Mecha Love” by Hadouken) which got my toes tapping and my fingers snapping.

I promise you, you will be holding your breath for a few of these stunts. This video left me breathless! Enjoy.

Thanks Carol, this is one amazing and awesome video.

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It feels good to be proven right.

I have tried to “teach him” the Internet, web surfing and shopping online. He refused to learn. Now, if you don’t know how to surf and search online, you are going to be left behind. Maybe not today, but real soon.

Check out the Did You Know 4.0 video below. Then, I would LOVE to hear from you.

I would LOVE to hear if you saw it coming and what were your clues? Please leave a comment below.

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In this video, they did something a little different (for them) and added in some of those “Law of Attraction” style message.

As someone who is suffering a little IM burnout this month, I found new motivation in the message. I am hoping you do as well. And remember… it doesn’t happen overnight, but each day, you must take a single step forward.

After watching the video I realized I haven’t even hit my full stride. In fact, I am still taking baby steps because I am worried someone (Who that someone is I am not sure) will judge me. Sheeesh. Talk about motivation killing.

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