Smart Marketing Show

This week on WPblab Jen Miller of needsomeonetoblog.com will be discussing how to get started with effectively starting a blog for your business.

• Jason Tucker (@jasontucker)
• Bridget Willard (@YouTooCanBeGuru)
• Jen Miller (@JenBlogs4U)

• GiveWP Channel
• Jen Miller – Need Someone To Blog?
• Be Seen Blogging
• Need Someone To…
• Women in WP
• How can people find you as a business that blogs for others? Jen uses SEO, has a solid website name and people find her based on the type of work she does for others.
• How much should you share on the blog of yourself? Who you are and what you stand for, let people know who are you and what you do. Let yourself stand out. If you are a better fit than the client will go with you.
• Should there be a theme in your blog? Definitely. Bring a common element into the story. Dogs, volunteering. Build common ground with potential clients.
• Hobbies and work can be tied together and can be talked about on the blog
• How do you find themes for clients? Their hobbies and activities they do.
• Not being in front of the computer means brain chills out and idle and have a great idea.
• Do you recommend you follow / stalk clients before helping. No, they won’t have social in place.
• Interviews and judging characters really helps to get ideas for the blog
• How does the small business person sell the one t-shirt? You need a platform. Blogger,
• WordPress, medium. Ideally starting with Facebook Page.
• Own that space
• Custom domain, memorable, keyword filled
• Keywords tools:
  • SpyFu
  • Google Adwords
  • KeywordPlanner
• Tell the backstory on the about page, tell the juicy tips. Tell the story behind the story
  • Dollywood
  • #hiroy
  • HiRoy T-shirt
• Tell the backstory of Rachel Carden setting it up…
• Show how your clients are using your product in unique ways with case studies.
• Some give out the secret sauce on the blog. Clients won’t go through it all
  http://noahelias.net/
• Sells the product by telling a story through the blog
  http://noahfineart.com/blog/life-it-requires-some-assembly/
• How do you get a story? Write a post it note and write up of why the product started, how it started.
• Do website first. Then do twitter, then do facebook then do blog. Build in layers. Need copy!
• The blog needs to match the supporting content that must have been been in a book 40 years ago.
• Update website and revise all copy with keywords
• Analyse support tickets, write about what people have issue with. Write about what people are searching for https://givewp.com/blog/
• Write the blog post in google docs or a shareable medium. Not in WordPress
• Looking for grammatical errors
• More eyes on the words
• Distraction free writing and revisions not really used in WordPress.
• Blog posts need to be shared on social media platforms. Social proof gains value
• Gravity form takes in user-generated content and saves it to draft
• Google Docs are good for collaboration on blog posts
• Google Alerts will keep yourself current
• Podcasts are fuel for blog posts
• How to find if you’ve got original content? Copy paste paragraph into google
• If your content was stolen and the original site is down, then you have the original.
• How long should the post be? As long as it should be to get the point across.
• How often should you publish? Once a week. Posting on friday is actually okay
• Don’t steal content. 70% original for ranking well. Google might hurt you for it.

• Yoast SEO Plugin
• WordPress App
• Postmatic
• Constant Contact
• MailChimp
• Copyscape

Jonathan Perlman – @jpurpleman

The post WPblab EP57 – The Nuts & Bolts of Effective WordPress Business Blogging w/ Jen Miller appeared first on WPwatercooler.

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This week on WPblab Carol Stephen will be joining us to discuss how you can expand your WordPress business on Pinterest.

You can find Carol Stephen on Pinterest and her company Your Social Media Works she also runs the #DigiBlogChat on Tuesdays at 1pm PST.

• Pinterest is a visual discovery “search engine”
• Best to keep most popular boards at the top of your account since most people access via mobile
• People on Pinterest are often there to buy or plan future purchases
• Pinterest is ‘very sticky’ which means people tend to spend a lot of time on the site
• Make sure you use very well-written descriptions, utilizing keywords
• Using meta descriptions on images for your website ensures that when photos are pinned to pinterest they have the correct information
• Very important to sign up for a ‘business account’ to get access to analytics
• Pinterest is especially important to focus on if a majority of your audience is women
• Timing is important; 6-7pm is when most people are active – there are apps to help you determine the best time to pin / keywords
• Group boards can be helpful to create or join because they get a lot more traffic/interest
• People want long skinny pins – got it
• You can use a pinterest account to curate work you’ve done as a portfolio
• Very important to click on the pin to follow the link and make sure you find the source – it may not link to what you think it is linking to!
• Make sure if you are commenting on pins, you tag the Pinner … many accounts have thousands of pins and will miss your comment if you don’t tag them
• Use your secret board as a draft or backlog.
• Put the board with your blog posts or where you want to direct your traffic right next to your most popular board.  People may come to look at one and click through to the other!
• Also use some of your Pinterest boards to share your personality and hobbies

• http://www.canva.com – Amazingly Simple Graphic Design Software
• http://www.getstencil.com – Ridiculously simple image creation for social media marketers, bloggers and small businesses.
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/pinterest-pin-it-button/ – Pin-it Button plugin
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/mashsharer/ – Social Media Share Buttons
• https://wordpress.tv/2015/10/10/brianna-privett-rich-pins-twitter-cards-and-facebook-super-charge-your-social-media-strategy-with-wordpress/

Cheryl LaPrade – @YayCheryl
Sherie LaPrade – @HeySherie
Jason Tucker – WPwatercooler @jasontucker
James Tryon – @jamestryon

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This week on WPblab we're joined by Robert Nissenbaum consultant & speaker at Tactical Social Media to discuss how you can create visibility and authority through social media.

• The Power Of A Single Comment – Why You Need To Engage More
• Social Networking: How I Generate Leads Without Content
• Social + Media = Success – Tactical Social Media

• New Give Blog layout – https://givewp.com/blog/
• Remember you are writing for “people” not for search bots – over time your keywords will recur naturally when you are writing what you know
• Authority – an indication of your site’s level of expertise in a given subject, based on quality content
  • https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/links?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wpwatercooler.com&filter=&source=external&target=page&group=0&page=1&sort=page_authority&anchor_id=&anchor_type=&anchor_text=&from_site=
• The primary purposes of using social media are to drive traffic to your website and build relationships with your target audience
• Content is not just what you post on your blog – content is your comments on facebook, others posts, etc – it creates visibility, shows your authority, develops relationships
• If you have 2 hours to go and drive to a networking meeting, you have time in the week to take 10-15 minutes here and there to network online through social media
• You still need to be/act like a human on social media, don’t just schedule messages, interact with people – start conversations, include some personal content
• Relationships trump price and convenience, breeds loyalty
• As much time as you have available you should be spending on social media marketing, building relationships take time
• Utilize twitter lists! Excellent curation tool
• http://nuzzel.com/ News from friends and influencers
• Put on a timer for 15 minutes (you can do anything for 15 mins)! Focus on your social media interactions until the timer is up and then stop, the more you do it, the easier it will get.
• https://www.rescuetime.com/ – big brother that cares
• It’s really important to have a social media presence for your business on every major platform
  • Especially for tracking conversations about your business & to reply to customers
  • Start on the platform where you’re most comfortable and work up from there

These folks helped us out with the show notes

• Cheryl LaPrade – @YayCheryl
• Sherie LaPrade – @HeySherie
• Jason Tucker – WPwatercooler @jasontucker
• James Tryon – @jamestryon

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This week on the WPblab we're going to have our community on the show to talk about and recap the events that occurred at WordCamp US.

Joining us on the show: Sherie LaPrade, Cheryl LaPrade, Jonathan Perlman, Josh Pollock, James Tryon, Paul Oyler, Justine Pretorious, Jen Miller, Jon Brown, and your hosts Bridget Willard & Jason Tucker

再アップ #wcus pic.twitter.com/g0hpuMXTxi

— 高橋文樹@文フリ東京D-1 (@takahashifumiki) December 4, 2016

• San Diego Comic-Con
• WordPress Growth Council
• Plugin Directory – Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress.
• WordPress Plugins
• Get Involved-WordPress
• Matt Mullenweg:State Of The Word 2016
• Pantheon’s $100K WordCamp US Sponsorship Revoked the Night Before the Event – WordPress Tavern
• The Value of Sponsoring a WordCamp from a Business’ Perspective – WordPress Tavern

The post EP54 – WordCamp US Recap Show – WPblab appeared first on WPwatercooler.

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This week on WPblab we'll be talking with Russell Aaron about the good and bad of building your WordPress website using only info you find from google searches.

https://russellenvy.com/google-built-my-website/

• How to google for answers for WordPress questions
• Googling will get you a lot of different answers, but the benefit is that you’ll learn many ways to accomplish a WordPress task or to answer a WP question
• WordPress.tv – great resource for answers / tutorials
• https://codex.wordpress.org/
• Google Search Operators (for advanced searching)
• Russell – “Most everything on my blog, I learned from Googling, so Google built my website.”
• Oftentimes when you Google search a WordPress feature, the Codex will be your first result
• WordPress TV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpJf6LGZ0a4n9Lj4aVt9spg
• As developers, we sometimes forget that not everything is as easy as we think it is
• When Google using error messages remove your domain and file directories from the error message for better results.
• Bridget – “part of our problem is we can be impatient with the learning process”… sometimes we are tempted to think we can go to a single meetup and have all our problems solved
• Russell – the reason I know about “changelogs” is because I googled it … because of all my google searching I’ve learned a lot about how to build my WordPress sites … I didn’t go to college for what I know
• https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/getting-started/
• Russell – if you want to learn, read!  Start with 1 new article a day, then 2, then 3 … never stop learning – by the end of a month you’ll know a whole lot more than what you started with
• Searching for things and learning how to search for things is a necessary skill
• Russell – good developers know how to ask (and Google!)
  • Being specific with your searches can help shorten the time it takes to solve your problem

• Cheryl LaPrade – @YayCheryl
• Sherie LaPrade – @HeySherie
• Manny Costa – @emanweb

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This week on WPblab we're talking with James Tryon of Wapuus who provides a Field Guide and Trading Post for Wapuus which can be found at http://wapu.us. We'll be talking with James on how he came up with the idea of indexing all things Wapuu and what tools he used to make his website.

• Planning a website using Google Docs
  • CPT
  • Taxonomies
• Building a budget using Google Sheets
• Building a “wiki” like interface for how the site will work
• Brain dump / research before starting to build the site
  • Pre-planning structure and format
• Set up to take github submissions and submissions through website form
• WPblab’s Wapuu https://wapu.us/wapuu/wpblab-wapuu/
• ThePrintful – printing/shipping fulfillment of shirt designs https://www.theprintful.com/
• Rafflecopter for site giveaways https://www.rafflecopter.com
• Poststatus https://poststatus.com/
• Wapuu Challenge Coins: http://marktimemedia.com/project/wapuu-challenge-coins-2/
• Everyone in the community can get involved via the website

Thank you all!

Show notes contributors:

• Cheryl LaPrade – @YayCheryl
• Sherie LaPrade – @HeySherie
• Jason Tucker – WPwatercooler @jasontucker

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This week we speak with Marc Benzakein and Gregg Franklin of ServerPress the makers of DesktopServer about why you should develop your WordPress powered website locally using DesktopServer.

Show airs November 3 at 7:30pm PT / 10:30 ET / 2am UTC

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This week on WPblab we'll be discussing how you can customize the WordPress Media Library to work better for you and for your clients. We'll be talking with Rachelle Wise on how she's going to be customizing the WordPress Media Library to make it easier for her clients to use and manage their media files. The show starts at 7:30pm Pacific.

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• Introduction of guest Scott Buscemi – WordCamp Speaker, WooCommerce Ninja, avid drone pilot (unofficial creator of the Dronie (drone selfie!))
• Luminary | eCommerce Consulting Partners in Los Angeles
• Don't use OS Commerce
• Installing WooCommerce and it’s extensions won’t magically bring you sales / success
• You need to market yourself / your business / your site – create relationships
• EDD Enhanced eCommerce Tracking
• stripe.com
• Dealing with Abandoned Carts on WordPress e-Commerce Sites
• WooCommerce Google Analytics Pro
• TaxJar-Sales Tax Automation for WooCommerce
• WooConf:Learn. Develop. Sell.
• It doesn’t matter what platform you are on, or how beautiful your site is – it’s about smart marketing – understanding who your customers are, what they want
• ZMOT
• You need to use SSL – doesn’t matter what kind of site (even if your site is small – helps build your reputation/trustworthiness)  – LetsEncrypt is a great option
• Let's Encrypt
• Should you use a CDN (content delivery network)? Yes, speed matters. Amazon found that even a delay of a tenth of second in their speed decreased the number of orders.
• Cloudflare-The Web Performance & Security Company
• Bouncehelp – Increase Sales Calls by 20-30%
• Square – Create Your Free Online Store
• Once you have data where you can start understanding how people interact with your business, then it’s more appropriate to move to a more sophisticated platform such as WooCommerce
• If you leave a marketplace (like Etsy) to create your own shop on WordPress with WooCommerce (or similar) to save money, you have to ask yourself – what does that actually cost me?  How will I market my site if I’m on my own – what will marketing / migration cost me?
• Cost of plugins / extensions doesn’t just cover the code, it covers the support as well as updates
• What are some methods/plugins to streamline the cart process and avoid abandoned carts?
  • Consider at all times what the user is expected to do next
  • There are extensions available to help manage abandoned cards (emails customers)
    • CartHook for WooCommerce
    • Jilt for WooCommerce

Jason Tucker – @jasontucker – http://www.jasontucker.us
Emanuel “Manny” Costa – @emanweb – https://blog.emanuelcosta.com
Sherie LaPrade – @HeySherie
Cheryl LaPrade – @YayCheryl

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This week on WPblab we'll be talking with Natalie MacLees and Alex Vasquez of Website Weekend.LA a non-profit hackathon that pairs digital creatives with local non-profits.

• vegasgivecamp.org
• GiveCamp.org | Coding for Charity
• www.seattlegivecamp.org
• Website Weekend LA – A Non-Profit Hackathon in Los Angeles
• Girl Develop It
• Los Angeles – Girl Develop It
• Giving Back | Branding & Digital Marketing Agency
• 48in48.org
• do_action – Using WordPress for good
• Volunteer Wait List – A Non-Profit Hackathon in Los Angeles
• Soylent.com – Healthy, convenient, affordable food
• Sponsors – A Non-Profit Hackathon in Los Angeles

Training and Empowering the client to do their own updates
Projects get a project manager and prep work happens before the event
Teams include volunteers with a range of skills (writers, content creators, UX, etc)
Non-profits provide content as well to save time
Issue is often lack of storytelling – people connect with stories (content is important)
Some clients want whole new sites, others want refresh
Dreamhost offers free hosting for 5013C organizations
GiveWP offered licenses
Sponsors help (food, etc.)
Important to take momentum from these events and do something positive with it
Find a local non-profit that you can partner with and can benefit from funds raised
It helps to be a prolific networker – knowing what organizations / people to connect with
Need to convince non-profits that a quality site can be built well, in just a weekend
Everyone can contribute, it’s not just about coding – need writers, designers, developers, etc.

Show notes generated in part by:
Jason Tucker – http://www.jasontucker.us
Tara Claeys – http://designtlc.com
Cheryl LaPrade – http://twitter.com/yaycheryl
Sherie LaPrade – http://twitter.com/heysherie

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