WordPress 2.5 Tip: The Text Editor

Go check out the video below I made for you to help you get the most out of the WP 2.5 text editor …

I complained enough about the new WordPress 2.5 text editor in my blog post about the pesky little bullets not lining up, but I was ready to have to do a 30 part series on this text editor because of all the things it didn’t do or because it just felt buggy.

Now, I know that the users of the standard WordPress theme probably thought this was the best addition to WP 2.5, but for those of us using the Semiologic theme, this was a definate relegation.

Anyway, some searching around and I found the link to a plugin that is used in conjunction to the text editor and since I’ve uploaded and activated the plugin, I have to say … I’m happy!!

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Should You Blog Corporate?

Not very good English I know, but the question is, should you write like a “corporate” if you’re a business blogger whose main clients are corporations?

Well, I do have an opinion but I will preface it with this …

“You have to feel comfortable with your writing style or else, the fake you will show up somewhere in your dealings with your corporate clients.”

My attitude is very much that the very reason large organisations like IBM, Microsoft etc jumped onto the blogging bandwagon was because they wanted to humanise their interactions with their potential customers.

Now, I appreciate that they are dealing with people on a business to consumer level, so many will argue that there is good reason for them not using long protracted sentences, but my arguement is that “individuals” in organisations are reading your blog posts, NOT the corporation.

When clients who are working on a business to business level ask me about their writing style, I usually send them over to Tom Peter’s blog so they can take a look at the topics he writes about, how he writes and, to check out some of the photos he has on his site.  At the time of writing this blog post, he has some ”groovy” pictures in the header.

Recently when I directed one of my clients to Tom Peters site to check out his writing style, their immediate response was “he’s Tom Peters for goodness sakes!”

But in my view, that’s the whole point … his blog is readable, executives can go muse his blog posts without feeling they’re preparing for their 5-year plan review meeting and, he gets booked.

I mentioned the success of one of my clients blog in a previous post and he doesn’t use corporate speak in his blog posts, but still he gets booked.

And, I know from personal experience that if the executives at the company I was employed some years ago were to receive some of the blog posts I see some business bloggers publishing, it would end up in the bin and I’m talking about the largest UK car insurer at the time … no small company.

I’m not suggesting you exclude elegance in your blog posts, but the truth is (and I pray none of the executive from my previous company are reading this right now), if you give your blog post to a 12 year old and they struggle to understand what on earth you’re talking about, your blog posts will go over the heads of 50% plus of those in the boardroom.

Oops!  There, I’ve said it! 

It’s not that they’re thick but not all of them had the privilege of attending Oxford or Cambridge University or, fell in love with the dictionary.  Most of them were promoted because they got results and it doesn’t require a literary degree to do that.

So, this is my two pennies worth but hey, I’d love to hear from you if you were rejected by a corporate company for not writing intellectually enough, in your blogs.

Why the Visual Appearance of Your Blog is More Important Than Ever

I’ve just received an email from James Maduke about a new Visual Search Engine, Search Me, and I felt it was absolutely necessary to tell you about it … it might make you think twice about putting up some ugly template blog with splog content thinking that ”if you build it, they will come …”

I’m going to give you the link to watch the video he created at the end of this post so ensure you read it to the end.

You see, the Internet is on the change … again, and this time it isn’t about algorithms or keywords, it’s about the way people search the Internet for information …

Welcome Visual Search Engines

Now, rather than just bringing up text each time you search for information online, “Search Me” will actually show up text, images and video in their search results.

Now, this may not seem that important, but according to Person Education Inc, 65% of the population are visual learners meaning that they are more comfortable with either being shown or seeing pictures to help them learn and for you the blogger or website author, it means that 65% of the population when given a choice, will “check you out” (or your site :-)), based on looks.

Whilst I maintain that you can still make good money with an ugly blog, you really have to consider that given a choice many people will choose to visit your blog to get to the important information in it, based on “what catches their eye.”

My husband is always laughing at me because I rarely watch the news or read the newspaper … I’m happy with the headlines and, I certainly don’t want my mind and my day to be filled with the prevailing bad news transmitted by the media.

Anyway, after we take our daughter to School, we sometimes go for coffee at our local supermarket coffee shop and, they have a newspaper stand with all of the days newspapers and, as I go by I skim the newspapers front page.  And guess which ones always get my attention … yep, the ones with the picture that tells the story with a clear headline telling me what the story is about.

This is why my husband laughs because even before I read the first two lines or the story, from the picture alone, I’ll ask him “is this the story about xyz?”  

Now I’m not suggesting that your blog is covered with pictures but there are elements of the design that you need to consider including:

• the professional look of the header and other graphics
• the layout of your blog
• the navigation of your blog which should be clear and make your blog easy to navigate
• some indication, above the fold that will tell the reader what the blog is about

In addtion to all of this, the reader can now see a snippet of the content on your site and if it’s filled with links, and looks like you’re desperate to sell them something, you’ll more than likely “turn them off.”

I think you’ll understand more about why these are important when you watch the video on Visual Search Engines at http://www.mysmallbizu.com/content/view/1554/328/

And, if you’re looking for a professionally designed blog, take a look at some of the client blogs I’ve built which, always get big compliments from their readers.  You may find fancier looking blogs elsewhere, but these are professional looking, they are easy to navigate and, I encourage my clients to focus on giving the BEST information in their blogs!

Best,

How Do I Start Blogging?

If you’re new to blogging and you’re anything like I was when I was a beginner, you have an idea about what a blog is and why have one, but you don’t know how to get started.

Your research gives you too many options … use Blogger.com or a WordPress.com to set up a free blog hosting account, use MySpace or one of the other social networking sites to set up your blog or, create your own blog using your own hosting account and domain name.

I’ve created several blog posts on those options and, I’ve created a quickstart guide to help you start blogging today and, you can download your free copy here.

In terms of which platform to use, I personally advise against using free hosted solutions such as blogger.com or WordPress.com if you are building a business blog because there is nothing like “owning your blog.“  Do something that violates the terms and services of these hosted sites, and they’ll delete your blog leaving you with no chance of reinstatement … all your effort and hard work gone.

My personal preference for starting a blog is to use WordPress because it’s the most popular, is used by many of the top Internet Marketers and has a myriad of plugins you can use to give your blog more functionality.

If you want to get started with your blog today though, my suggestion is that you download the Jumpstart Blogging free guide which gives you step-by-step instructions on how to set up a WordPress blog and, you’ll get some tips on how to market and promote your blog too.

In the long-term, you’ll be pleased you chose to own your blog at the outset because moving from one blog platform to another can be done, but it’s not always plain sailing and no one wants to build up traffic and credibility and then have to start again on another blog platform.

My motto is “start right and it will save you fixing later.”

Leave me a comment if you get stuck and could do with a little help!

To Your Online Success,

May Your Keywords RIP?

Are keywords really dead? And, should you be thinking about keywords when building your blogs or writing blog posts?

In short, the answer is “YES, YES and YES!”

There seems to be a myth going around right now amongst some webmasters that keywords are dead and using them on your webpage could hurt your ranking. But, I want to set the record straight …

If you don’t use keywords in your title tag, description and on page, you’re going to find those “clicks” harder to get.

What is deemed dead with regards to keywords are meta keywords which, we bloggers don’t have to concern ourselves with since meta keywords are not a standard aspect of the blog architecture.

Basically, the meta keyword tag for those that may not be familiar with the term is a way to insert text into HTML pages making the text invisible when the page is viewed with a browser. Some search engines read the content of the tag and associates the words contained within the tag with the web page’s body copy.

From my own research, the saga about their validity has stretched back as far as 1998 … maybe earlier.

But, my point about webmasters making generalistic views about keywords being dead is that there are a few aspects that need to considered when trying to rank high in the search engines and in my view, comments such as “meta keywords could hurt your ranking” has to be taken into consideration with a whole host of other issues that could hurt your ranking more …

• It’s my understanding that some of the other search engines besides Google still rely on meta keywords to index pages and so my advice is to use no more than three keywords on each of your html pages.
• Don’t keyword stuff, either in your title, meta keywords (if building html pages) or, in the body of your web page. If anything, this is what will get you penalized by the search engines. At this point, I also suggest you go check out Google’s Webmaster Guidelines as well as their page on keyword stuffing.
• Do theme the content on your site. I think this has a major impact on your overall ranking and so, the “flea market” sites are out the window! Flea market meaning that you promote and talk about every and anything on your site! You need to give it a theme such as “dog breeding” or, “hair braiding.”
• Whether you are a blogger or using html pages to build your site, ensure your title isn’t the name of your blog unless it has the keyword in it. The title is the very first thing the spiders see when they come to visit your site so make it easy for them! So, ensure you have the relevant keywords in the title of your site. No one who doesn’t know you online are looking for FredsGraphic.com but, they are looking for a “web designer” or “website developer.
• If you are a blogger, do make use of tags in your blog posts. Tags are a way to categorize your blog posts and certainly helps you get found by those browsing and searching online.

In essence, when writing the content of both your web pages and your blogs, always ask yourself how the way you have constructed the page is going to help searchers find you online.

The search engines want to provide searchers with pages that are most relevant to the terms they typed in search box and naturally, you want your page to be in the top 10 or top 20 search listings.

Use your keywords wisely and there will be no reason to be penalized by any of the search engines.

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