In: General
27 Nov 2013Well, hello there pallys! This blog hasn’t been updated since 2010, but that’s OK for marketing purposes. No, it’s not really, but I’m not selling you anything.
My last blog post was titled “Happy New Year Dead Blog!” because I hadn’t updated it in a while. I gave some interesting predictions in 2010, off the top of my head, which I still think are kind of interesting now. However, therefore, please do note, since I have aggressively focused on eCommerce for the past three years, I think this blog may start to discuss what I’ve learned after processing thousands of orders (by myself) and what that entails to prospective eCommerce entrepreneurs. (Seems to be all the rage now.) Or you may just find a “Happy New Year Dead Blog Part Tres!” post next year.
Firstly, I’d like to point out for you dorks that I hadn’t updated the WordPress software for this blog in three years. I just now backed up the database (20 MB so at least I did blog a little) and I upgraded, and everything went fine! Although the Pacers told me a couple years ago that my site was blacklisted with their weirdo software, I am hoping you don’t get a virus from reading this right now. (I am not liable for any damage to your computer, software, or brain.)
So back to 2010… Here were my predictions of what would happen in the near future, my commentary about my Amazing Kreskin predictions and what’s happening now:
Stay tuned next month for my 2014 predictions! I’m surely going to be right more than I’m wrong if history repeats itself. (And I just need to make one more phone call to my pally Kreskin.)
In: Business Blogs
28 Sep 2009WordPress is all the rage these days. People have finally figured out that WordPress is not just for blogs, you can actually make a great website with it. WordPress is a CMS, and a good one at that.
Doug Karr recently added a few posts to his blog about website design, WordPress and money. He claims you can easily make a WordPress website yourself that looks good and works great. Don’t spend a bunch of money with a website design firm, just buy or download a free WordPress theme and away you go! You get your web$ite for nothing and the clicks for free . . .
I agree with Doug. Well, I’m biased because I’ve been using WordPress for five years, and I have made nice websites for businesses using WordPress. They look good, do great in search engines and clients can upgrade their website whenever they want (without being charged each time for a simple update.)
But, what is missing from this discussion? The knowledge and effort required to properly set up a web host, domain name, email accounts, WordPress site, training the client how to use it, and continual updates of the WordPress software and plugins. Let’s not forget having to possibly edit the WordPress theme code to make it compatible with the latest WordPress upgrades and internet browser software.
Granted, WordPress makes upgrades a lot easier now with one click updates. But do you feel comfortable backing up your database before the upgrade? If not, you could possibly lose everything. I’ve seen dumb WordPress mistakes from “professional new media agencies” with permalink structure, SEO, category names, URL choices, and bad WordPress themes . . . so even a lot of the “good guys” can’t do it right. And they charge a lot of mullah.
Do you want to do it right? Well, consider saving the hours of time it would take to learn the ins and outs of WordPress and hire someone with WordPress experience. Ask to see their portfolio and find out how many of their sites use WordPress. The more experience they have with WordPress, the more comfortable you will feel with the process and result. Then you can take over your website, have total control and hopefully rule the search engines . . . and get some clicks for free.
Many businesses don’t feel a blog is worthwhile. Maybe because they hear about blogs on Oprah, or their significant other is always wasting time on the ESPN blog, mom blogs or Perez Hilton’s blog. Blogs could seem synonymous with The National Enquirer to some people, others just have no idea what a blog is, or how it could be used for business.
How about we not even call it a blog? Let’s call it a news page, or a news website about your product, services, and people behind the company. It can be much more than just a press release once a month. You can give your potential and current customers a better understanding of your company and why they should do business with you. A blog news page also offers the flexibility to add content to the website that doesn’t easily fit in the site map or main navigation.
Most importantly, you can improve search engine ranking for specific keyword phrases (products or services.) The more news posts or pages you add to your site, the better ranked your website will be in the search engines. Improved search engine ranking is connected to the increased-traffic-bone, which is connected to the higher-conversion-bone, which is connected to the get-more-leads bone, and then it is your job to connect that to the close-more-business-bone. And that’s how we play the blog game with businesses.
In: Blogging
6 Aug 2009It’s called Sexy Bookmarks, or SexyBookmarks, and it is pretty fancy looking. Or sexy, but I didn’t want to go there. It has cool little tabs for each bookmarking or social media site you want to include, and they pop up and down in a slick-like manner to make your website look hot. There’s like, oh my gosh, like 30 different websites to choose from.
Do you want a hot, sexy WordPress blog or website? If you’re reading the homepage, click the “Read the rest of this entry” link to see what the WordPress plugin looks like in action. (Now your blog will look like mine, great.)
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