May's Fashion & Beauty Blog

Blogs, WordPress and GoogleBy Scott Van Achte (c) 2009 It’s no secret that a continually updated website with new content being added regularly stands a good chance of doing well in Google. One of the long standing methods to regularly expand a site’s content is through the use of a blog.While there are numerous platforms to choose from for managing a blog, few can compare with the immense flexibility offered with WordPress, and at a cost of free, the price can’t be beat either.Google likes fresh new content, and setting up a blog on your site, assuming it is updated often with interesting and relevant material, can be one of the best things you can do to help out your search rankings. The beauty behind WordPress is that there is a wide array of totally free plug-ins you can easily install that will make your blog totally search engine friendly. The following are some basic guidelines and essential plug-ins you should consider when you install your WordPress blog.Template DesignThe first configuration you need to do is work on customizing the design template to match your existing site. I suggest finding a template that matches as closely as possible to the look you are going for then work on tweaking its graphics, colors, and other particulars till you achieve the desired appearance.Most of your changes will occur in the header.php, footer.php, index.php, and page.php files in the theme editor, however, the theme you install will dictate which files actually need to be updated. You will also need to make some adjustments to your CSS file. These changes all involve working with code and graphics, and are most likely left to a professional.Once you have your design set up, the rest of the customization is considerably less technical. The following are suggestions that most people can do themselves and you probably will not need an expert to help you here.SettingsPermalinksThe next thing you need to do is customize your URL’s. You do not want the default post URLs (“pageid=#”) as they are simply not search friendly and you want your default names to have some meaning to them. While you can customize your URL’s with various plug-ins, you may not always think to do this, so be sure to have a default you can live with.Under the settings tab in your dashboard, clíck on permalinks. Here I suggest choosing one of the settings that includes the post name. Including the month and year is totally optional as it will have little to no impact on your search rankings, but you definitely do want to include the post name. WWW or no WWWWith WordPress, there is no need to worry about the www vs no www redirects. It is handled for you, but you do need to select which variation you want, and it’s very simple to do. Under “General Settings” you will see two fields; one for “WordPress address” and the other, “Blog address”. Ensure that both these fields include the “www” (or not), whichever you prefer, and that’s it. (I always recommend using the “www” version of your URL as most people linking into your site will use it, and this will help keep a consistency among your site.Required Plug-insThere is an almost endless supply of free plug-ins out there that you can add to your site ranging from photo galleries and spam protection, to social media integrators for Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and others. While many of these others will benefit your blog and search rankings, the XML Sitemap, and SEO plug-ins are truly essential.SEO Plug-inWhen setting up your new installation, the first plug-in you need to install is one that will allow for totally customized title, meta description tags, and page URL’s. There are a number of tools that do this ranging from the widely popular “All in One SEO Pack” to a relative newcomer “HeadSpace2“. While I personally have yet to try HeadSpace2, it is high on my líst, as it has been recommended by many industry professionals as the best WordPress SEO plug-in. For any new blog installation I highly recommend this plug-in be installed right away.XML Sitemap Plug-inTo the best of my knowledge, HeadSpace2 does not have an XML sitemap option, and as such I highly recommend “Google XML Sitemaps” . This plug-in will automatically generate XML sitemaps for you on the fly and submit it to Google every time you add, delete, or update a page or post. This helps ensure that Google has the latest information at all times. It’s a very simple plug-in to install and configure and once setup, you can forget about it and it will do the job for you.A well optimized site loaded with relevant content can do very well in Google if setup correctly. The power of WordPress can make this process incredibly easy so all you have to worry about is writing those great articles and selling your customers. The plug-ins and functionality of WordPress are endless and when installed correctly can make the optimization of your blog considerably easier, increasing your chances for top rankings.About The AuthorScott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing Inc.; based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Scott’s articles and those of the veteran StepForth team at http://news.stepforth.com or contact us at http://www.stepforth.com, Tel –             250-385-1190 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 250-385-1190 end_of_the_skype_highlighting , Toll Free –             877-385-5526 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 877-385-5526 end_of_the_skype_highlighting , Fax – 250-385-1198

Webmaster Tool BoxBy Sharon Housley (c) 2009 Here is a collection of what we consider “must have” tools for webmasters. These tools will benefit any webmaster, both novices and experts alike. Arm yourself with these tools in order to achieve a more professional online presence.1. Custom 404 PageUse a custom 404 page, so that if a user incorrectly types a webpage URL, they will still retain navigational options within your site and be provided alternative solutions. When a domain is correctly entered, but a specific webpage’s URL is entered incorrectly, it is possible to display your custom error page to the visitor. By providing users with a navigational bar and further assistance, rather than leaving them with a generic “page not found” error screen, you can often keep prospective customers on your site by providing them with navigation alternatives. 2. UrlTrendsUrlTrends is a service that shows historical trends, so that webmasters can see how their SEO efforts are affecting websites in the search engines. UrlTrends should be used in conjunction with web-logging software.UrlTrends – www.urltrends.com3. FaviconPolish your website by adding a Favorite Icon. When a “favicon” is available on your site, and the site URL is entered in the user’s web browser URL box, the favicon will be displayed beside the URL. This gives the website a more professional and polished look.Favicon HTMLKit – www.htmlkit.com4. Color MatchingMatch the primary web colors with those used in your logo. Simply choose a preferred color using the ColorBlender service below, and a 6-color matching palette and blend will be automatically calculated for you.ColorBlender – www.colorblender.com5. Online WYSIWYG EditingOnline webpage editing allows for collaboration, so that different users can log in and edit web pages.Edit – www.edit.com6. RSS FeedsNo longer considered to be just a nice addition, RSS feeds are now a “must have” for popular websites! Create RSS feeds for newsletters, press releases, educational articles, product tutorials, new product promotions, or just about any other sort of web content. FeedForAll – www.feedforall.com7. MaxEmailMaxEmail’s very affordable Internet fax and voicemail service allows a fax message to be delivered to an email address as a PDF formatted attachment. This allows fax messages to follow you regardless of your location. And, it also eliminates the need for a costly extra telephone line and a dedicated fax machine.MaxEmail – maxemail.com8. Royalty-Free ImagesLocate stock photos to incorporate into your web design. Use royalty-free stock photography to add professional, high-quality images to your website.Photo Wizard – www.photo-wizard.net9. Submit Corner Web Assessment ToolsThese web assessment tools help you use search engines to effectively monitor who links to your website, how many links, and who your competitors are. The tools include search indexing, link tracking, and competitor identification.Submit Corner – www.SubmitCorner.com10. Ranks.nlThis service assesses keyword density and prominence of a domain. The tool parses keywords and assesses the number of times a keyword occurs, and then discerns the density of the keywords.Ranks.nl – ranks.nl/tools/spider.html 11. Webmaster ToolkitThe Webmaster Toolkit is a collection of webmaster tools developed to help webmasters with daily webmaster chores. The suite of free tools and resources included continues to grow, and contains something useful for the beginner and the advanced webmaster alike.Webmaster Toolkit – www.webmaster-toolkit.com12. HTML Web TemplatesMake it clean and professional. Use easy-to-edit HTML web templates for web design.Web Design – www.webmaster-templates.net or www.webdesign-elements.com 13. TrafficZapThis website includes script, page rank checker, link popularity checker, and more.TrafficZap – www.trafficzap.com14. Compete.comWeb Analytics – Stay on top of rivals with site metrics and audience profiles for the top 1,000,000 web domains. Identify rival search marketing strategies to take your SEM and SEO efforts to the next level.SiteAnalytics – siteanalytics.compete.com15. ThumbshotsEasily add thumbshot images to your webpages. Integrate website thumbnails by simply copying and pasting HTML code. Additional software is not needed.Thumbshots – www.thumbshots.orgUse top-notch tools to make web maintenance and management a little easier. About The AuthorSharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll audio recording and editing software.

Ten Ways To Get Web Traffic Fast – And FreeBy James Gladwin (c) 2009 There are several ways to get website traffic fast and free, and I’m going to share ten niche ways with you.Article SubmissionYou don’t need to be an award winning expert on the topic you are writing about – just pick an area that is related to the theme of your website, do a bit of research using a search engine and before you know it you will have more knowledge on that subject than most. Write in a relaxed, straightforward way. And, of course, when you add your details at the end of your article, make certain that you include your web address as well. URL SubmissionThis sounds so obvious, yet so many people overlook it. Website URL submission is about getting more links to your website to help your website get ranked high on major search engines, thus getting more visitor traffic by, well, submittíng your website URL to the major search engines. You can buy or subscribe to software that will do this, but it is quite possible to get a good return by submitting manually.Social BookmarkingSocial bookmarking is a way for internet users to store, classify, share, search and discover Internet resources that they find useful. Since social bookmarks are saved online, users are able to access them from anywhere – at home, at work or while travelling.These lists can be accessible to the public by users of a specific network or website. What you need to do first is register with a social bookmarking site which allows you to store and tag bookmarks. Most social bookmarking services allow users to search for bookmarks which are associated with given “tags”, and rank the resources by the number of users which have bookmarked them. This means that other visitors and members of social bookmarking sites can search for resources by topic, category, keyword, tags, or popularity to see what others have saved. As a user, social bookmarking sites let you find useful, informative resources through pages that have been tagged because others have found them to be valuable sources. Voila – more web traffíc. Free.Forum PostingForum posting is a hands down alternative to paid advertising methods. For just a few hours of work every week, you can capture batches of interested leads everyday. The more forums you contribute to, the more you will gain traffic. If you are an active forum poster, you will also get a good feel about the kind of products that are hot on the market. Please don’t overlook the forum signature or commonly called resource box – it’s a powerful free advertising tool for you. What you must do is edit your forum signature. Basically, a curiosity inducing one-liner and a link to your website is great. Once you have edited and saved your signature, it will appear at the bottom of all your comments in the forum discussions. That means, the more you participate in the discussions in the forums, the more people see your semi-ad written on your signature. I promise, this will encourage people to visit your website, and hopefully buy from you.Affiliate MarketingAffiliate Marketing is one of the best ways to get the word out about your website and can be done with very little technical expertise and therefore is easy to start up. If you have a product or service you believe in, visit a site such as Clickbank and open an account. Follow the simple instructions to gain affiliates – and traffic.Press ReleasesIt’s a fact that a well-written Press Release can dramatically improve your sales, expose your company to the masses, and greatly enhance the image of your business or products. Publicity is the most cost-effective web traffic building marketing tool there is, and, surprisingly, web traffíc can be generated by ink and paper! Classified AdsAgain, it’s easy to associate Classified Ads with yesterday’s technology, but they are extremely cheap and a one line product or service description, together with your website, will pay dividends.Blog CommentsIf you are an avid blog follower, you have to include Blog Commenting in your web traffíc arsenal. You will almost always find a “comments” link at the end of each post. Good blog commenters add to the discussion and are known as knowledgeable, informative, friendly and engaged. Join them!FaceBookDon’t forget that you can use Facebook to its full potential to attract more visitors to your website. You can get away from just interacting with your school or college friends and start interacting with people within your industry or other industries that you want to get into.An easy way to do this is to join groups that interest you as well as make friends with people that you want to get to know. Fill out your profile (fully) – the best profile on Facebook is a complete one.VideosFinally, why not make a video and post to video sites too! This is not a Warner Bros. effort! Your PC or Mac may well have a webcam, or you can borrow a camcorder or Flip. Write a brief script – lights- camera – action – and upload to YouTube. (Just remember to be sure to link it back to you.)Well – there you are. Not all of the ten suggestions I’ve outlined may appeal, but if you select three or four, stick with them, and implement them on a regular basis, you will see your web traffíc grow significantly. My best to you. About The AuthorDid you find these suggestions helpful? Is your website making you money? Go to UltraSimpleWebTraffic.com to find out more and claim your free visitor traffic mini course by James Gladwin.  

7 Words That Will Make Your Website Worth ViewingBy Jerry Bader (c) 2009Seven. It’s just a number like any other, but it does seem to come up on a fairly regular basis. There’s the Seven Wonders of the World, The Seven Deadly Sins, and the Seven Dwarfs: Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Doc, Dopey, and my personal favorite, Grumpy.Phone numbers are seven digits, and they say the optimum brand name should be no more than seven letters long. Seven it seems is a magical number, as the average human brain can only grasp seven things at a time. Interesting, my wife says I’ve got trouble with two, never mind seven, but that’s another story.So I’ve been thinking, what are the seven most important words associated with Web-marketing. I’ll give you a hint: Search, Engine, and Optimization don’t make the cut.So what words do make the líst? What are the seven words that will make your website worth viewing?Words Can Move YouBy someone’s count there are 171,476 entries in the Oxford English Dictionary, plus another 47,156 words that have fallen out of favor. This of course doesn’t count the 9,500 additional permutations, that don’t deserve their own special attention.Fifty percent of these words are nouns, twenty-five percent are adjectives, and 14.285% are verbs, with the rest made up of all those other things, the purpose of which most of us have long since forgotten.Others may find fault with these numbers, but no matter what the total, it’s a lot of words. Of the several hundred thousand words to choose from, the average person recognizes less than ten percent, while the average teenager seems to only be able to handle about half that amount; of course that doesn’t count slang, instant messaging jargon, or the ever-popular four-letter variety.Why the heck are there so many words if we all refuse to use them. I mean why waste all those perfectly good words on English teachers and college professors. By the way, they say swearing is the refuge of the feeble-minded, people who can’t express themselves in a more articulate manner, but to be honest, I really don’t give a damn.Here’s the thing, words have meaning and impact, and they provide the emotional context of our communications, to which we can add subtlety and nuance through their delivery by means of tone, cadence, and gesture.So as important as words are, the way they are delivered is even more important.What Website Design Is Really AboutThe other day I was listening to a local all-news radio station. It is mostly rip-and-read wire service stuff that they repeat over-and-over like some kind of psychological torture, but they do provide traffic reports on a nauseatingly regular basis. You only have to wait ten minutes until they repeat everything, so if you want to hear what traffic snafus to avoid just wait a few minutes; but here’s the problem: the announcers talk so fast that no matter how hard you concentrate, you can’t quite get the particular information you need; and if you’re driving, you have other things to consider, like the idiot in the Hummer who just cut you off.None of these guys ever uses a period, let alone a semicolon or comma. Either they have very small bladders and are under pressure to finish quickly, or they’re late for their afternoon pilates class. They seem so intent on rushing to the commercials that they don’t ever deliver the content in an appropriate manner. And your website just might have the same problem.Too much information is as bad as not enough. Information overkill leads to information anxiety, buyer’s remorse, reduced satisfaction, unattainable expectations, and purchase-decision paralysis.Website owners have been told that visitors won’t wait for anything, that they are impatient, and you’ve got to get to the point fast, make the pitch and close the deal; well that just isn’t going to work with any sophisticated product or service.Your website presentation needs to slow people down so they hear what you have to say, and you have to say something worth hearing.Website design is about more than layout, markup language, and technical wizardry. Website design is about communication, it’s about turning advertising into content, and content into an experience that viewers will remember.Seven Words To Remember1. CommunicationPeople are always asking us what’s wrong with their websites, and the answer in the vast majority of cases can be summed-up in a quote from the movie, “Cool Hand Luke” (1967): “what we have here is a failure to communicate.” Communication is the key to success, and that doesn’t just apply to your website, it applies to almost everything you do both inside and outside your business-life.If your website isn’t communicating on both a rational and emotional level, if it doesn’t provide the psychological and emotional context of your marketing message, then exactly what is it doing?2. AudienceI can’t think of too many people who actually like being sold. In fact, sometimes customers get so irritated by sales tactics that they end up not buying the thing they came specifically to your website to purchase.Solving the problem is merely a question of altering your perspective; the average buyer is predisposed to dismiss and ignore high-pressure tactics, and meaningless sales pitches. So instead of treating customers like customers, try treating them like an audience. Audiences want to be engaged, enlightened, and entertained. And that is the most effective way to make a sales impact.3. FocusAll too often websites inundate their Web audiences with facts, figures, statistics, and an endless líst of features, benefits, options, and whatever else the sales department can think of throwing in. All that stuff just confuses people.Focus your message on the most important elements of what you have to say. If your website can embed that singular idea in an audience’s mind, then it has done its job.4. LanguageThe words used, and how they are put together provides meaning; they inform personality; they provide mental sound bites; and they make whatever you are saying, worth remembering.Language is one of the critical elements of ‘voice’, the ability to convey personality; and writing without a ‘voice’ is instantly forgettable.5. PerformanceEven the most articulate prose can be lost in a befuddled delivery. Communication is more than words; it’s a combination of language, style, personality, and performance.Things are rarely what they seem. Even our memories are a stylized version of what we’ve actually experienced. Creating a memorable impression is about managing the viewer experience, and providing the right verbal and non-verbal cues that make what is being said memorable.6. PersonalityEvery business has a personality. The first problem is, few medium-sized companies ever attempt to manage that persona, and as a consequence, the buying public forms its own opinion. And that opinion is often not the way you want to be regarded.The second problem is companies either don’t have a firm grasp of who they really are, or they know, and they are afraid to promote it. If your company’s identity isn’t worth promoting, it is time to think why that is, and change it. The bottom line is, a company without a personality is a company without an image, and that makes you instantly forgettable.7. PsychologyThe most important feature you can provide your audience is psychological fulfillment, not deep discounts, fast service, or more bells and whistles.The real reason people buy stuff is that it makes them feel something. Cosmetics make women feel attractive or sexy, while cars make men feel they’ve achieved some level of status. Even services make people feel important, as in “I’ve got a guy, who does that for me.” Finding the psychological hot spot in your marketing, and promoting the hell out of it consistently and continually should be your primary marketing goal. All those features and benefits are merely the excuse for a purchase, not the reason.The Web Is Fast Becoming A Video EnvironmentWebsites are not just marketing collateral; they are not just digital brochures. They are a new presentation medium that requires specialized communication skills, and knowledge of how best to use the medium.You may be a great salesperson, and nobody knows your business like you do. You may even be skilled at delivering speeches at conventions and seminars, but performing effectively in front of a camera is a whole different ball game, and for most people, it’s way out of their comfort zone, let alone their skill level.The same old methods that used to work won’t work any more. You’re no longer competing with just the company down the street; you’re competing with the entire world.Web-businesses may not ever actually meet their customers face-to-face, or even talk to them on the phone, so it is imperative that they use marketing presentation methods that deliver an experience worth remembering.About The AuthorJerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit MRPwebmedia.com, 136Words.com and SonicPersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone             (905) 764-1246 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (905) 764-1246 end_of_the_skype_highlighting