Part 3 of a 12 Part Series- Blogging for leveraged web marketing and clever customer relationship management.
The following information is an extract from The ‘120 DAYS TO $120K’Web Entrepreneur Success Program created and presented by Jennie Armato.
Welcome to Part 3. In Part 2 I outlined why you want to use the WordPress Platform to create and build your blog – on your own website. Other platforms do not have the same options and capabilities as a wordpress blog on your own website. From this Part onwwards, all features and benefits pertain to you have a wordpress blog on your own website.
What Key Features Must I Have On My Blog?
- Blog Key Features continued
Following is an essential element of making your blog function effectively and efficiently – creating content and connection with your marketplace. Today we will cover the blog key feature known as Plug-Ins.
Plug-ins (Installed, Configured and Activated) enhance and ‘empower’ your basic wordpress blog shell.
Plugins can extend WordPress to do almost anything you can imagine. In the directory you can find, download, rate, and comment on all the best plugins the WordPress community has to offer. For instance, the ”Share” buttons on this blog post is a plugin. It was installed, configured and activated on the basic wordpress blog that this site started out as.
Watch this video to see HOW to add a plugin to your wordpress blog (note I am installing a plugin listed below that we recommend you have on your blog if you wish to maximize it’s power – effective, efficient and connecting with your marketplace.
Here are some basic plugins that are essential to have on a wordpress blog on your own website.
PLEASE NOTE: Using plug ins is a 3 step process: 1) Installation 2) Activation 3) Configuration. There are five plug-ins in the following list that are not free. There is a very good reason you want to pay for these. They are plug-ins that distinguish your site from others because they include powerful attributes you will not get from the ones that are free.
Key WordPress plug-ins to include and use on your blog, A-K are:
AutoWebBusiness.com(1Shopping Cart)Opt In Form Creator
Designed to simplify the process of adding a mailing list signup form to your blog, from your auto-responder. Easy to install, highly customizable from a simple user setup menu. Make list building a cinch. http://www.autowebbusiness.com
Akismet
Protects your blog from comment and trackback spam. All spam is placed in a spam folder for your preview and either approve or remove. Some people use alternatives but testing to the time of publishing suggests the alternatives produce problems you will not want to contend with – largely because you will not know obviously of the problems the alternatives create.
All in One SEO Pack – Pro Version
Optimize every post and page on your website to build search engine friendliness (SEO) for your blog. Includes fields to add a Title Tags, Meta Description and Meta Keywords to each page and post you create. There is a paid upgrade available after installation – and it is highly recommended.
Action CommentsGo to site link 1st
Build your e-mail opt-in list using blog comments! Funnel people who comment on your blog to your auto-responder list.http://bit.ly/kUTSy8
Adds a breadcrumb navigation showing the visitor’s path to their current location.
Canonical URL’s
Changes ugly code to readable words in your blog urls.
Category Base Killer
Removes the category base from all URL strings
Comment Luv
Shows a link to the last post from a person’s comment on your blog so rewards your readers for commenting – encouraging more comments.
Dagon Design Sitemap Generator
Generates a fully customizable sitemap
DB Cache Reloaded
Cache engine that produces cache of database queries.
Digg
Link to Digg site for easy social sharing of blog post.
Digg Digg
All-in-One social buttons
Do Follow
Removes the no follow attribute and makes site searching and crawling easier.
Event Calendar
Manage future events as an online calendar. Display in a dynamic calendar.
Exclude Pages from Navigation
Provides a checkbox on the editing page to exclude pages from the primary navigation..
Facebook Social Plug ins
Provides Facebook Social Plug ins as widgets and LIKE button in blog posts. You may also want to add the Facebook Social Plug ins Comments box, which is powerful but will exclude non Facebook users from commenting.
Fast Tube
Fast, easy way to insert videos from YouTube into blog posts.
Featured Content Gallery
Creates a customizable rotating image gallery.
FeedBurner FeedSmith
Detects all ways to access your original RSS Feed and redirects them to your Feed Burner feed so you can track every possible subscriber and more.
Google XML Sitemaps
Generates a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog.
Hyper Cache
Improves blog performance (speed) and saves resources.
Keyword Luv
Reward your commentators by separating their name from their keywords, in the link to their website, giving them improved anchor text.
Please let me know if you have any comments or questions below.
In Part 4, Plugins L-Z for your blog will be listed.
Do you have any questions about blogging or do you have some ideas you would like to share too?
We would love to help you and also, if you have ideas, we would LOVE to promote you. Please share your questions, comments and ideas via the comments box below.
Need a cheap yet powerful blog in a hurry? The VERY BEST and Cheapest Self-Start Blog Kitwe have found, that comes to you ‘ready-to-activate’ is under $350. It is incredibly easy and very powerful to get started with your own new break-through blog today!
——————————————————————————————————–
Jennie Armato (affectionately known as The Godmother of the Internet) is Head Coach and Success Mentor at Web Business Academy.
She provides education programs, marketing strategies and systems plus the most powerful tools to manage and accelerate your web success. Jen’s “120 Days to $120K – The Web Entrepreneur Success Program” offers you an extended report plus a one hour complimentary webinar where she reveals the keys to moving forward faster to your best year on the web yet!
“I will reveal the Precise and Proven System I have used to build AND boost my business using blogs – much of it can be automated AND leveraged – meaning I get maximum coverage for minimum effort with real returns (money in the bank) while I sleep – thanks to the little-known secrets of web entrepreneurs success.”CLICK HERE >>
Part 2 of a 12 Part Series- Blogging for leveraged web marketing and clever customer relationship management.
The following information is an extract from The ‘120 DAYS TO $120K’Web Entrepreneur Success Program created and presented by Jennie Armato.
What Key Features Must I Have On My Blog?
- Blog Key Features
Following is a checklist of some of the necessary features you will want to have installed and activated on your blog, so that you gain maximum benefit from the mass exposure of a well structured online marketing plan.
WordPress Platform blog (this has fast become the world favorite). A basic wordpress blog can be added to any site instantly (via cPanel –> Fantastico) and you can do this for free. However, all you get is the ‘shell’ of the site with absolute bare-basic functionality. You can ‘add a theme’ using a template design and/or you can engage a web designer to create a custom theme for you - you will want to do this if you want your blog site design to include specifics about you – like your own photo. In this example, you can see what a standard wordpress blog looks like – upon being ‘born’ and then a theme template is added to it as well as a designer customizing it, to be specific to me. This is the cheapest way to get a custom-built blog designed to be run as a businessto build your business and your brand.
In this example, you see a basic blog transfored in to a theme-based then customized version. This cost me less than $350 to get done. I could get a theme added to a blog – easily and cheaper than that BUT getting a professional business web customization, I got a blog that will work for business. There’s a HUGE difference between a web SITE and a web BUSINESS – and the same applies for blogs too. Many people are fooled by the idea that they can get a cheap (and even free theme) added to a basic blog and that’s it! BUT all they have is a template theme design, not a system for selling, as a web business.
BASIC (Original) WordPress Blog
……..
Theme-added and Customized version
Once you have your design and business presentation sorted out for you, you want to add plug ins to your blog. Web Developers (these are the techno-geek peeps) around the world have created ‘plug-ins’ that are added to the basic blog to further enhance the power of the theme design and customization. Together, the developers and designers improve functionality and also the impact your blog can have as a marketing tool. Some Web Developers have no or very little understanding of design and many web designers have no or very little understanding of web development. And soYOU as the web business owner need to have an understanding of what expectations to have, what person or persons you need to recruit and most importantly, what outcomes you need to achieve. Remember, there is a great big difference between a web site and a web business – and the type of blog you have is as equally important.
Web Developers have created amazing, powerful plugins to make your blog work at its best for you. You will receive our list of recommended web business blog plugins later in this series.
We recommend you set up your own site with a wordpress blogand never host it on a 3rd party site like Blogger or WordPress.org – not only are you limited in functionality and impact, you have absolutely no control over the ‘real estate’. Any decsions and changes they make, can affect you, without recourse. You can use these 3rd party sites as a supplementary tool – in an advanced strategy – after you have built your own foundation.
Be sure to have a VERY SECURE password for the wp-admin – login to your blog dashboard. Make it as complicated as possible as hacking and hijacking is a constant pursuit of the underground on the inter-webs.
Comments box: This is critical, as mentioned previously. Make it as easy and quick as possible for people to leave comments on your blog. Avoid security checks as this can ‘kill the party’. Experienced bloggers will use “gravatars” (explained later) so be sure to include these fields in your comments section: “Name”, “Email” (not published), “Website”, “Comments”, “Submit”. Ensure your comment box is at least 12 lines in height and at least 1/2 the width of your posts.
RSS Feed:
This should come standard with your blog, be sure it is activated as it is key to building your influence via many of the social media sites. We recommend you add “Feedburner” to your RSS Feed set up. More information about this will come in Part 6 of the series.
Social Engine icons(placed above the scroll on your blog).
Add links to your social sites via image buttons (icons) on the side menu of your blog. Ensure they appear ‘above the scroll’ – that means that they are visible upon loading a page on your blog, without scrolling. You can do this quickly and easily by adding a social media links ‘widget’ to your blog side bar. The widget we are using on this site is called ”Social Media Widget”. You install it then add links to your different social profiles and channels and your links go to the relevant social site via its icon. (Scroll back up the page to see ours if you missed it.)
You add a widget via the plugin section of your wordpress blog dashboard (wp-admin) Dashboard –>Appearance –> Plugins –> New. When installed and activated, go to –> Widgets and activate it then customize it.
This video explains what a Widget is and how to manage them:
Do you have any questions about blogging or do you have some ideas you would like to share too?
We would love to help you and also, if you have ideas, we would LOVE to promote you. Please share your questions, comments and ideas via the comments box below.
Need a cheap yet powerful blog in a hurry? The VERY BEST and Cheapest Self-Start Blog Kitwe have found, that comes to you ‘ready-to-activate’ is under $350. It is incredibly easy and very powerful to get started with your own new break-through blog today!
——————————————————————————————————–
Jennie Armato (affectionately known as The Godmother of the Internet) is Head Coach and Success Mentor at Web Business Academy.
She provides education programs, marketing strategies and systems plus the most powerful tools to manage and accelerate your web success. Jen’s “120 Days to $120K – The Web Entrepreneur Success Program” offers you an extended report plus a one hour complimentary webinar where she reveals the keys to moving forward faster to your best year on the web yet!
“I will reveal the Precise and Proven System I have used to build AND boost my business using blogs – much of it can be automated AND leveraged – meaning I get maximum coverage for minimum effort with real returns (money in the bank) while I sleep – thanks to the little-known secrets of web entrepreneurs success.”CLICK HERE >>
“HOW Prepared Are You to Boost Your Online Lead Generation?
Unlock the TRUE POWER And Enjoy REAL RETURNS on The Social
Engines – Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, LinkedIn and More”
You are probably like most other business and website owners - frustrated that your web marketing efforts seem to be going nowhere. You are not getting the results you expected from all your online promotional and marketing work. It’s not just the operational costs either, it’s all the time invested too. And as the web evolves, it seems more and more time is being taken up trying to sift and sort and filter and connect up with the right leads.
Unless you have been living in the center of the Sahara desert, you would have heard all the buzz about ‘Social Media’ and how it has revolutionalised the way we communicate and how we do now do business online. Maybe, like many of us, you have tried to get your head around it and maybe you have already (unsuccesfully) invested heavily in it. And what you have out of it right now, as a return, is very little more than feeling completely overwhelmed and probably even, already over it.
I know how you feel and I’m SO glad you have connected with this post today!
The Single Biggest Revolution Since the Invention of the Internet Is Happening Right Now!
Yes, this is the single biggest revolution that forever changes how we communicate, how we do business and how we spend our professional and private time. Let me get straight to the heart of it- the single biggest revolution is the phenomenon of open, bias conversations on Social Engines and it’s here to stay! Why? Because it includes websites that people are ‘crazy‘ about going to. So ‘crazy‘ that it’s like an addiction and it’s definitely a social habit. And there’s no signs of it stopping any time soon.
SO, MY QUESTION FOR YOU – WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT ADDING YOU, YOUR BRAND AND YOUR PRODUCTS TO THE SOCIAL CONVERSATION?
AND, DO YOU HAVE A STRATEGIC PLAN OR ARE YOU JUST MODELLING WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING?
The early-adopters, as usual, are enjoying measurable results from their strategic positioning and acceptance in the social engine landscape. Don’t take my word for it, watch this video for some startling facts and bottom-line RESULTS :
People are flocking, in their multi-millions, every day, to spend hour-after-hour on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, Friendfeed and more. Collectively, these sites are some of the busiest sites, buzzing with eager people, every second of the day, even while YOU sleep. There are literally thousands more sites that make up the landscape of the online social engine world. And that is why business can do so well - there’s a never-ending supply of people and it never closes either.
The key and the difference is HOW you approach and position yourself, how your develop your profile and how you build your presence. Are you just doing what everyone else is doing or have you got a clear, concise, measurable plan?
What have you got in place to lead people off these sites and in to your business funnel? Are you leaving it to chance, leaving it to previous customers, rumor or hear-say? OR, are you planning and being strategic like these companies that have an overall strategic marketing plan are, with tracking and measuring mechanisms in place an active yet leveraged profile and presence that’s specifically designed to move your business forward?
You have to understand, decisions to buy are being made online – particularly on these social websites. You want to influence those decisions and have the business flow through to you. Maximum result for minimum effort.
My final thoughts to warn, support, encourage and remind you:
People Make Buying Decisions Because Of What They ‘Hear’
From Others Just Like Them On Social Engines
Are The YES Decisions Including OR Excluding You?
Would You Like These Decisions To Positively Impact Your Bank Too?
Here’s what you can do right away to align your social engine efforts with a plan for a real return:
1) Facebook – get a Page set up asap and ensure you complete ALL the information tabs, including a person who ‘owns/operates it’. Search for Groups and other Pages you can make a positive, helpful contribution to. Read the history in these groups and on these pages, paying particular attention to the potential for positive references to influence buying behaviour. Network in a friendly, helpful manner. People embrace good behavior quickly and banish bad behavior equally quickly.
2) Twitter – search for other users via topic (hashtag) and connect with them. Don’t look at Twitter like a digital advertising billboard. Take a genuine interest in striking up meaningful conversations and exchanging ideas and/or ooffering help – even to a perceived competitor. In the early stages, make time to understand leaders on topics and in niches. Make some notes on hot and trending topics that are relevant to you. Write a blog about it/them.
3) LinkedIn - complete your Profile to 100%. Connect with suppliers/vendors, customers, colleagues that already know you. Ask those that know you well to make a recommendation for you. Add your blog feed and list any events you have coming up. Search and join two groups on a topic directly related towhat you do.
4) You Tube – create your own channel (url should be consistent with your business brand). Use keywords to search for videos relevant to what you do. View and select the top 5 and leave a video message comment on them. Also, make a notation (file) of keywords that your top 5 use for their channel and individual videos. Subscribe to your favorite channels and send a message to introduce yourself.
These tips are basic strategic moves to help position you for maximum success with minimal effort. Consider this a new beginning. It is time to stop wasting your precious money and resources on the Social Engines and instead – invest the next 30 days developing a strategic plan that is leveraged, built to last and delivers bucks directly in to your bank! It is time, to make THAT promise to yourself!
Do you have some other strategic tips you would like to share too?
We would LOVE to promote you. Please share them via the comments box below.
——————————————————————————————————–
Jennie Armato (affectionately known as The Godmother of the Internet) is Head Coach and Success Mentor at Web Business Academy.
She provides education programs, marketing strategies and systems plus the most powerful tools to manage and accelerate your web success.
Jen’s “Social Engine Success Blueprint” offers you an extended report plus a one hour complimentary webinar where she reveals the keys to moving forward faster to your best year on the web yet!
“I will reveal the Precise and Proven System I have used to build my own online fame AND boost my profile and presence globally to create more flows of income that are both automated AND leveraged – meaning I get maximum coverage for minimum effort with real returns (money in the bank) while I sleep – thanks to the little-known secrets of social engine success.”CLICK HERE >>
Today Facebook and Skype officially announced a new partnership which includes the complete integration of the Facebook newsfeed into Skype as well as the phonebook which lists all of a Skype user’s Facebook friends. This is another major partnership for Facebook who has announced numerous partnerships in recent weeks, including yesterday’s announcement with Bing.
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UPDATE: This feature is now Live and ready for you to use. Click the image to head over to Facebook and try it out now or read on for more info.
Microsoft, the owner of Search Engine “Bing” and Facebook have strengthened their connection (and corporate friendship) with the announcement this week of the integration of Facebook user preferences into search results.
(Clever, FREE Web App Builds YOU Another PASSIVE Income Stream)
A MAXIMUM of 12 entrepreneurs who want to be placed in key positions to lead large teams are sought immediately to bring this amazing, time and money saving app to the consumer market. If you like the idea of earning a ‘commission’ for clicks (like how adsense on your own site works), then this FREE DOWNLOAD APP called “My Shopping Genie” allows consumers to shop and find the cheapest suppliers online.
“A Vision for the Future of Marketplace Leadership – Entrepreneurs”
Through her innovative concept of “Collaboration Circles”, Jen reveals how independant entrepreneurs can lead in this new economy. This is your greatest opportunity to be supported without needing to belong to a large corporate structure, which was necessary in the old economy. Now, thanks to Technology and Collaboration Circles, you can lead and influence an entire global marketplace, even if you’re a solo entrepreneur working from home.
WEB SUCCESS WEEKLY NEWS FROM JENNIE ARMATO FOR FOCUSED, COMMITTED WEB BUSINESS OWNERS WANTING TO BUILD A BETTER WEB BUSINESS FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS AND YOUR OWN GREATER SUCCESS
I hope your week has taken off with a terrific start. I find that setting intentions for the week ahead that will achieve steps to your greater success helps to keep your productive time committed to outcomes that give you and your clients a greater level of success.
For me, this past weekend was all about relaxing, disconnecting, reflecting and rebuilding. It’s winter here in Melbourne (and it was damn cold on Saturday). I spent the day in my PJs, snuggled up on the lounge watching a few movies, reading a few good books and napping on and off. Oh, enjoyed some yummy toasties and teas as well.
The Entrepreneurial Spirit is ALIVE and THRIVING in Perth, Australia.
Last week, Head Coach of Web Business Academy Jennie Armato presented the Academy’s Web Success Financial and Marketing Blueprint at our one day “Web Success Workshop” – Perth, also being held in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne soon too.
During the free one day web success workshop, Jennie revealed the blueprint for maximum web coverage for your online marketing as well as how to develop and diversify your income streams using the most popular web sites, with millions of people visiting them every week, to provide your traffic for you. She revealed the future of business and the successful business people of the future – “The New Economy Business and Entrepreneur“.
Here’s the underlying framework of what Jennie teaches at the Web Success Workshop – don’t be alarmed if you do not understand, that is what this free web business workshop is all about – enlightening and inspiring you to greater heights of web success.
This amazing free gift of one entire day of FREE internet marketing coaching and web business success mentoring was met with gratitude and excitement by the people of Perth. Here’s a moment during the day when Jen captured on film their entrepreneurial spirit and excitement about what was just revealed:
The remaining capital cities of Australia, already scheduled in are Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. A limited number of seats remain at each of these events. To claim your own FREE Internet Marketing Coaching and Web Business Success Mentoring from Australia’s leading internet marketing specialist, who runs the best coaching program available today for anyone wanted to get started on the internet but has no business or website and for any existing business owners who want to increase your results 3 or 4 times over your current success on the web.
Claim Your AMAZING FREE GIFT from the Academy right now! Here’s how:
PLEASE NOTE: THESE ARE ONE TIME ONLY EVENTS, SECURE YOUR TICKET TODAY!
We apologise in advance if FREE tickets are not available when you attempt to book. The full ticket price of $247 will be charged instead. Click the Ticket to claim you free gift right now.
WEB SUCCESS WEEKLY NEWS FROM JENNIE ARMATO 
