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Building the Perfectly Optimized Site Using WordPress

By Adam McFarland in Blogs & Podcasts

In the past few years WordPress (www.WordPress.org) has become the standard blog publishing platform because of its ease of use, rich feature set, available plugins, and standards compliance.  Of course, the fact that it’s free and open source hasn’t hurt either.

While developers have flocked to using WordPress as their blogging platform of choice, it’s often overlooked as a content management platform for non-blog sites.  WordPress allows you to create pages that are automatically are added to the sites’ navigation bar and can be customized by a PHP programmer to handle just about any task you’d want to accomplish with a site.  Free themes and plugins can help reduce programming and design costs immensely, and with a little work WordPress can be customized to automate many of the most arduous SEO tasks.  The result is a powerful and easy to use search engine friendly publishing platform that eliminates the majority of both upfront and ongoing SEO work.

Since WordPress is already very standards compliant, you and your programmer don’t need to worry about proper HTML formatting – that’s all taken care of for you.  There are, however, a few simple steps that should be taken to turn your WordPress site into the ultimate search-optimized site:

Create Unique Title Tags

Search Engine Optimization firm SEOmoz recently polled 37 of the best SEO’s about what factors influence Google’s algorithm. The NUMBER ONE factor influencing a high ranking was “Keyword Use in Title Tag”.  For that reason alone you want your Title Tag to include the most relevant keywords related to your post.  Unfortunately WordPress defaults to having your site title as the first thing in your Title Tag.  Ideally you’d have a customizable page title show up first. 

For example, if your company named Cool Designs is located in New York and has a Web Design page, the Title Tag “New York City Web Design – Cool Designs” is more likely to rank high for NYC-related web design queries than a page that has “Cool Designs – Web Design” as the Title Tag.  Fortunately WordPress has a SEO Title Tag plugin that allows you to customize each Title Tag.

Turn on Permalinks

The default WordPress post or page has a permanent link that looks like http://www.yoursite.com/?p=123. This is what’s called a dynamic URL - a URL that uses variables in the URL to determine the page content.  In this case the “p” variable determines what is shown when the page is loaded.  And while dynamic URLs are efficient for programming, they aren’t exactly search engine or user friendly.

Years ago search engines had trouble indexing dynamic URLs.  That’s not necessarily the case anymore (although you might as well remove all doubt), but static URLs like http://www.yoursite.com/keyword-filled-post-title/ still offer several advantages.  The primary advantage is the cleanliness of the URL, which really has nothing at all to do with search rankings.  A URL with real words in it (as opposed to numbers and question marks) is much more enticing for people to click on when search results are returned, and consequently is much easier for them to remember when re-visiting your site.  Having relevant keywords from your post in your URL can also have a slight impact in boosting your rankings for those key words.

This change can be done with URL rewriting.  Normally doing this requires quite a bit of programming effort.  Not with WordPress.  Just go to Options à Permalinks and change your default structure to the date and name based structure.

Create Sitemaps

Both HTML sitemaps (a page that lists links to every other page on your site) and XML sitemaps (a file that lists all of the pages on your site for search engine spiders) can aid immensely in getting every page on your site indexed by all of the search engines.  Automating each type of sitemap usually requires a few hours of programming for most sites.  Of course, WordPress has a HTML sitemap plugin and a XML sitemap plugin that does all of the work for you.  After creating the XML sitemap, be sure to submit it to Google and Yahoo to access extensive crawling information about your site.

Install Analytics

All of the traffic in the world isn’t worth very much if you aren’t converting any of it to sales, leads, newsletter signups, or whatever the goal of your site may be.  Google Analytics has become the premiere analytics software because of its simple and customizable interface, breadth of features, and price (free).  In addition to the normal important analytics metrics – visitors, unique visitors, page views, new/returning visitors, traffic sources, most viewed content, etc   – Google Analytics has goal tracking and e-commerce revenue tracking so you can see exactly where each conversion is coming from.  After signing up for an account, the Google Analytics plugin for WordPress will have you up and running in minutes.

If you also use WordPress for its blogging capabilities, you’ll want to install the Sociable plugin and sign up for a Feedburner account to make sure you get the most out of your blog.  Sociable allows people to submit your posts to social bookmarking sites like Digg, del.icio.us, Furl, Technorati, reddit, and StumbleUpon, which can be VERY effective for promoting extremely viral sites and articles.  Feedburner offers a plethora of advancements to your RSS feed for your posts, but from a SEO standpoint the most important thing is to configure it to automatically ping search engines and blog directories.  This ensures that your posts always get indexed, and usually gets them indexed fast.

There you have it – a perfectly optimized site using WordPress and other free tools in about a hundredth of the time it would take you if you built it from scratch!

Author:  Adam McFarland is the co-founder of Faceup-Sites and the author of the Faceup Web Marketing Book: The Perfect Combination of SEO, SEM, and other tactics to maximize results without breaking the bank.  Faceup-Sites uses WordPress to create professional, highly customizable, and easily maintainable sites at a fraction of the cost of what most developers charge.

Blogging 101: Eight Mistakes That Are Killing Your Blog

By Tony D. Baker in Blogs & Podcasts

The first year of keeping a blog is always the hardest. You’re just getting into the game and you haven’t quite learned all the ins and outs of playing just yet. While that’s understandable, if you’re making too many mistakes with your blog, you’ll never have a chance to get it off the ground. Here are eight common blogging mistakes, and steps you can take to avoid them.

1) Ignoring reader comments

You don’t have to respond to every single comment (especially if there are several), but if somebody makes an interesting point or asks a question, answer it. Commenting back encourages readers to start a dialogue and lets them know that you’re listening to what they have to say. Ignoring them sends off the statement that you don’t care about your readers’ thoughts on what you’ve written, and they’ll stop reading.

2) Straying off topic

It’s easier than you’d think to start a blog post with one idea in mind, only to drift away from that to a completely different idea by the end. However, while that rambling might work under some conditions, it’s not good for a blog. People aren’t going to want to read a blog post that wanders around eight different topics like a lazy river. Keep your posts simple and to the point, and you’ll keep more readers.

3) No countermeasure for spam

Spam has infested emails, MySpace, Facebook, forums and blog comments, and nothing will bring your blog down faster than looking in the comments to see that they’re all from somebody in Nigeria who needs to move $1.5 million to the U.S. A spam countermeasure is as simple as a verification box, where people enter a series of letters before they post. Or, you could ask a simple question, like “Is fire hot or cold?” Just do something to ensure that the person posting is actually a person.

4) Looking just like everybody else

You’ve got your blog on your site, right? So why does it look exactly like every single blog found on Blogger, Blogspot or Livejournal?

Using the exact same templates that come with every blog is boring. You don’t look special; you look like everybody else. A unique blog design that matches your website will keep brand consistency for your users. Plus, it will showcase your personality and taste, not the taste of the template designers. For a good example, take a look at this blog: http://www.sleepingtiger.org/blog/

For more ideas on how to spice up your blog, check out this excellent article at David Meerman Scott’s blog: http://www.webinknow.com/2006/09/pimp_out_your_b.html

5) Poor grammar and punctuation

You probably don’t worry too much about grammar, spelling and punctuation when you’re chatting online, but those mistakes in a blog can be a death sentence. Blogs with lousy grammar and punctuation and frequent misspellings come across as unprofessional, and that’s not the image that you want for your business. Edit your blogs and check them for grammtical errors before you ever post.

6) Stale or grandiose writing

Blogs are supposed to provide personal, human insight into your company. They shouldn’t read like bland corporate gibberish, nor should you use so many five-dollar words that your readers would have to hit a dictionary just to understand your post. The former makes your stuff boring; the latter makes it condescending, and either way, people won’t want to read it. Keep your writing simple and lively.

7) Personal attacks

Controversial ideas or topics are good for blogs, as they can spark discussion and attract a lot of attention. However, while controversy is good, stooping to personal attacks is not. You’re writing a professional blog, not picking a grade school fight. Personal attacks will reflect badly on both you and your company, so refrain from it.

Long absences

It’s all right if you can’t post every day. However, letting 10 days, two weeks, or even a month pass without updating is a big blogging no-no. A lack of updates indicates that your blog is on its way out, and readers will quit checking back. Even if you just link to an article or a video that you thought was worth sharing, make an effort to post frequently.

By avoiding these common blogging mistakes, you can keep your blog helpful, interesting, insightful and professional. Take steps to correct your mistakes now and you can make sure that your blog and readers will be around for a long time to come.

Author:  President and founder of Xeal Inc., Tony D. Baker is Oklahoma’s leading Internet marketing expert with more than 10 years of Internet marketing experience. You can catch Tony on the Xeal Radio Show on Sunday nights on 1170 KFAQ Tulsa. Sign up for a free 25-point website evaluation and pick up crucial tips at Xeal’s free Thursday webinar at http://www.xeal.com/webinar.

Recording Your First Podcast

By Patrick Schwerdtfeger in Blogs & Podcasts

Podcasting is one of the best ways to build an audience online. Not only do listeners become familiar with your expertise but they are also introduced to your personal style and delivery. Podcasting also falls nicely into the exercise of acquiring expertise and giving it away as a strategy for becoming a recognized expert in your field. All in all, podcasting is a great way to position yourself as an authority and find an audience of people interested in exactly what you have to offer.

In a previous article, I discussed the tools necessary to begin podcasting. You can find that article by visiting my website or viewing my author profile. As a quick summary, you’ll need a microphone with a foam-rubber pop filter, an RSS hosting account and you’ll need some recording software. None of these things cost a lot of money and you can get the basics setup easily within an hour or two.

This article will discuss the steps involved in recording your very first podcast. Keep in mind I went through this entire process in about 13 hours when I first got started. I discovered podcasting on the same day that I recorded and posted my very first one. I say that to assure you it’s just not that hard if you just put your head down and get it done. But with the following tips, you’ll also save some time down the road.

The first thing you should do is write an outline for the first 20 episodes or so. That might seem pretty daunting at first but don’t be intimidated just yet. I’m talking about a title and 3 or 4 bullet points for each episode; nothing fancy. The idea is to get an idea how your expertise will unfold in the series. Each episode should build on previous episodes, allowing your audience to learn in a chronological way. It also encourages them to subscribe to your series, automatically receiving future episodes as they become available. And by the way, I would plan on posting one episode each week if possible.

The second step involves scripting out your first episode. You should already have an outline and this step requires you beef it up enough to begin recording. For some people (including me), I actually write out the entire episode as a Word document. I type pretty quickly and the process allows me to get my thoughts organized and fleshed out. Often, once I’m finished typing it all in, I go back and add paragraphs where additional explanation is necessary. But this may not be required for everyone. You might be able to speak freestyle with only a few notes in front of you.

I actually have the Word document open on my laptop screen with the microphone plugged into the front, allowing me to read along as I make my recording. I also know that I speak at a rate of about 145 words per minute so I know a 2800-word episode will take me about 19 minutes to record. And that’s the average length of my podcasts. You can choose whatever length works best for you but I recommend less than 1 hour per episode unless you have some really captivating content.

Once you’ve made your recording, upload the MP3 file to your RSS hosting account and then register the feed URL with iTunes. Just go into the iTunes Music Store, click on Podcasts and then scroll down. You’ll see the Submit a Podcast option at the bottom left. You’ll need an account to submit your feed but it’ll only take you a minute or two. I would also register the feed with some of the top podcast directories and I’ve included links for the Top 10 on my website under the Links tab.

Podcasting is nice because listeners will find you all on their own. Now, if your content is weak, they’ll abandon your series as quickly as they joined. But if you have good content, you’ll be surprised how quickly you develop an audience. I started my first series in January 2006 and ended up with over 16,000 downloads in 27 countries. Believe me; nobody was more surprised than me. Give it a try and get ready for fascinating journey; a journey that completely changed my career and might change yours as well.

Author:  Tactical Execution with Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a strategic company focused on growth marketing and program implementation across business markets. Visit the website for actionable guidance for revenue generation.

How to Keep Your Blog Traffic - Tips for a Stickier Blog

By Tinu AbayomiPaul in Blogs & Podcasts

So you finally figured out how to get those visitors to your site, huh? Well, partner, it’s not over. Now you’ve got to keep them there if you hope for your blog to be effective.

So, how do you keep your blog traffic? I knew you’d ask that…

Your Audience Is More Important Than Your Search Engine Rankings

Who knows what way the wind will blow in years to come. You may be able to do without traffic from Google one day - just like you’re probably doing without traffic from Hotbot right now.

However, you’ll never be able to do without your clients and prospects. If you could you wouldn’t be in business, would you?

So pay attention to what your audience wants to hear. If you configure your blog correctly in the first place, you won’t have to worry about a good ranking so much.

Don’t Add to the Noise

It’s okay to be silent for short periods if you have nothing interesting to say. In the meantime, while you’re keeping your lips tight, find something *really* interesting to say.

Of course, I believe that there’s never nothing to say. But I’m a writer and not everyone thinks that way.

After the first six to eight weeks, post every day if it suits you and you have words of interest. But after that, if you can sense that your posts aren’t full bodied and home brewed, it really is fine to make us go without for a few. We’ll live. We won’t think so, but trust us, we will.

Just make sure you have something darn near-earth shattering to share when you get back, so we will all sit up and take note… and realize that we missed you.

When You Do Talk, Do It Loud and Proud

Even if you find out later you were Loud and Wrong. It’s considered impolite to behave like a Rock Star when you’re having a business dinner, even if you are one.

But guess what? When you’re blogging, you aren’t at a business dinner. That’s not to say that you must indulge in Rock Star behavior if it doesn’t suit you.

You don’t even have to be *a* star. But you definitely want to be noticed, maybe referenced, and hopefully linked. A great way to do that is to be different. The most unique thing about you is You. Inject your personality in all that you do online.

So if you have news, share it. Heck, if you have gossip share it, just always, always, always, link to your suspicions or sources. On the rare occasion that a high-profile blogger’s information is totally off-base, they print a retraction. So don’t be afraid to suppose. Just let us know whether you are sharing a rumor, hunch, a fact or opinion.

Do Unto the Blogosphere, and Make It Easy for Them to Do Unto You

When I have credible sources, I link to them. Even if I read something from the Google Blog, but know when I first saw it first at Micropersuasion, I’m still linking to Micropersuasion. That’s all there is to it.

And let me tell you, it’s a Huge deal when Steve Rubel links to an article that you wrote even when it’s not posted on your site. Think about that the next time you’re tempted not to link out because “they have enough traffic.

For the majority of people, I realize, that situation may never be in consideration. Most of the people reading this have nothing to do with search engines, public relations, or internet marketing.

Well, I’m here to tell you that even if your business is timeshare resales, you should still link to your sources. You never know who is reading and who is going to link back. Especially if you’re in a business niche where twenty visitors eventually means at least one sale, find out what the neighborhood is like in your part of the Blogosphere, look around, and play nice with the other kids.

Blog Like You Talk - But if You Talk “Funny” Get Someone Else to Blog with You

Nothing will scare your visitors away faster than landing in techno-babble by accident. I landed at a friend’s site about search engines, and the first paragraph I saw said something about (a+n) times the square root of pi and I clicked out before I even remembered why I went there.

Don’t get me wrong - if that’s how you talk, keep it real. But if that’s not the language your clients speak, you might want to either have an employee represent your company in the blog, or do a team blog that represents all the prominent voices.

Give Every Subscription Option Under the Sun

Most people paying online are going to use their credit card or debit card, by far. How crazy would you have to be to say, hm, 90% of people use credit cards, but the hell with that. If they want my binoculars, their only choice is to send me a $20 check by snail mail on Tuesday mornings.

In this same way, refusing to turn on your site feed, because most people are currently following you by email, makes absolutely no sense. Refusing to start an email list or offer subscriptions to your blog headlines, summaries or posts via email is equally nuts, particularly now that there are tools in place that will translate feeds to email for you.

Not serving as much of your audience as you can is turning down money, plain and simple.

Hopefully these tips will help keep visitors coming back to your blog. It’s like the old adage said, it’s easier (and cheaper) to keep your present customers than it is to constantly find new ones.

The same thing goes for your blog visitors.

Author:  Tinu AbayomiPaul, http://www.rescueyourblog.com/ blog traffic for more blog tips.

Six Tips for Perfect Podcast Interviews

By Michelle Pierce in Blogs & Podcasts

Interviewing is an art that requires a certain amount of finesse. If you’re planning on hosting a podcast or radio show, jumping in without any experience whatsoever can lead to awkward pauses, fumbling questions, and a generally dull interview.

It comes naturally to some people, but for others, the mere thought of doing an interview makes them break out in hives. If you’re one of the second group, here are a few tips for you to remember when preparing for and conducting an interview.

1) Do your research, and have a list of questions prepared.

Nothing’s worse than getting on the phone or sitting down for an interview and having to fly by the seat of your pants. Some people can work that way, but by and large most of us need some guidelines. Otherwise, you’ll end up looking unprepared and unprofessional, which is not a good way to start off an interview.

Before you interview somebody, do your research on them and formulate a list of questions to ask. You should have about six questions ready to ask, but not too many more or you’ll be more concerned with following your own agenda in the interview. You just need a good starting point. Plus, it’ll be helpful to have a “cheat sheet” there to remind you of what questions you need answered.

2) Always ask open-ended questions.

Open-ended questions are questions that require a certain amount of explanation. “Do you like bunnies?” is not an open-ended question, because your interviewee could easily answer “yes” or “no” without adding anything else. “What do you like about bunnies?” is an open-ended question, because it requires interviewees to detail exactly what they think

By asking open-ended questions, you eliminate the chance of your interviewee giving you a simple one-word answer. Few things are more boring than listening to an interview where one person only says “yes” and “no,” and it stymies the conversation. If you don’t ask an open-ended question, be sure to follow up with “Why?”

3) Follow the conversation.

Although you are trying to get information in an interview, what’s equally important is that you not try to force the interview in a predetermined direction. When that happens, the interview sounds more like a question-and-answer session instead of a dynamic, informative conversation. It can also seem like you’re ignoring your interviewee in favor of your own agenda.

As you conduct the interview, your interviewee might say something that warrants a detour from the topic of conversation you had in mind. It’s okay to steer them back on topic if they’re going far from the direction you need, but follow it up if they say something interesting. The new direction may have a few pearls of wisdom that you’d never find otherwise.

4) Listen and respond.

During an interview, don’t just sit there and think about what you’re going to say or ask next. Listen to the person you’re interviewing and respond to what they’re saying. Tie it in to other points they’ve made or to other points you’ve made. An interview should be dynamic and interactive, almost a conversation (with the focus on your interviewee), especially if you’ve got people listening.

If you just sit there like a lump on a log, or ignore what the other person’s saying, then you’ll not only make your interviewee feel like you don’t listen, but you’ll make the interview downright boring. And if your interviewee feels like you don’t listen to them, chances are they won’t be back for another chat.

5) If you get stumped, try the Eliza approach.

Eliza was a computer program developed in the ’60s that parodied the responses of therapists who answered their clients’ statements by repeating the statement back to them in the form of a question. For example, if someone said, “I feel like I’m a jerk,” the program might say, “Why do you feel like you’re a jerk?” or “Why do you say that?”

If you find yourself grasping for questions, listen to what your interviewee says and either repeat a statement back as a question, or ask them to expound on a point that they’ve made. It’ll give you a little bit of leeway, and your interviewee’s response may give you what you need to get back on track.

6) Always ask “Do you have anything else to add?”

Every journalist has been trained to ask this at the end of interviews, and if they haven’t been, they should’ve. Asking “Do you have anything else to add?” or “Is there anything else you’d like to add?” inevitably leads to the answer, “No, not really, just that (insert pearl of wisdom here).”

You’ll get the best quotes by asking this question. Ask it at the end of every interview. There are no exceptions. Get in the habit now.

Practice makes perfect. It may seem like a lot to remember, but try to follow these tips in every interview you do. Eventually it’ll get easier, and you may find that interviews are no longer a dreaded chore but a fun and entertaining addition to your podcast.

Author:  Jessica Cox and Michelle Pierce are graduates of the University of Oklahoma’s College of Journalism with a background in Internet marketing and writing for the Web. They currently provide PR services at Xeal Precision Marketing. Sign up for a free 25-point website evaluation and pick up crucial tips at Xeal’s free Thursday webinar at http://www.xeal.com/webinar.

Blogging 101: The Care and Keeping of Your Business Blog

By Tony D. Baker in Blogs & Podcasts

So you’ve got your business blog up and running. Congratulations! But don’t think that your job is done yet. Starting a blog is kind of like keeping a pet. It’s fun and exciting and new at first, but there’s a lot of maintenance that goes into it, and if you don’t take care of it, you’re going to have one heck of a mess on your hands.

Blogs are a major benefit to your business, there’s not doubt about it. But you’ve got to put quite a bit into it in order to really reap the rewards.

Protect your Blog from spam

Many people aware of the power behind blogs will attempt to find programs that allow them to auto post spam to your blog in the form of comments and unless you take the necessary steps may end up with the wrong kind of audience. Most blogs will allow you to require that people create an account on your blog first, which we strongly recommend.

Update frequently

You don’t have to update every day (though it would be nice if you could), but once a month, or even once every two weeks, is not going to cut it. If you let your blog go too long without a post, people will quit reading it. Not only will that hurt your blog, but it will also reflect negatively on your business. People may think that your company is going out of business, or simply old and tired because you don’t put the effort to continue something you started. Pick a schedule, be it daily or twice a week or whatever, and do your best to stick to it.

Don’t talk if there’s not something useful to say

The only thing worse than a blog that never updates, is a blog that updates with posts about nothing. The concept may have worked for “Seinfeld,” but it’s not a good philosophy for your business blog. Posts that don’t say anything are boring, and people aren’t going to read boring posts. Remember your target audience here. Keep a log of topics to write about that they would find interesting, and stay abreast of industry news.

Length isn’t important

No, a post that’s two sentences long is not the way to go, but neither do you have to write a novel of “War and Peace” proportions for every blog post. If you’ve just got a little company blurb that’s 150 words long, don’t worry about stretching it out. What you’re saying is far more important than how many words you use to say it. Interact!

If you’re lucky enough to have people actually responding to your blog posts, rejoice. Now you’ve got to talk back to them. If they ask a question, answer it. If they bring up a good point, mention it and give them your own feedback. If they have something negative to say, give them a polite, professional counterargument. It’s called “social media” for a reason. If you want to take it one step further (and you should), read some of your posters’ blogs and comment on those. You could end up making priceless business relationships.

Track the things that matter

So Google Analytics regularly tells you how many people are looking at your blog. Those metrics are easy to check, but are they really what you want to know? You may assume that the more readers you have, the more customers you’ll get, but that’s not necessarily the case. Don’t focus so much on the analytics numbers. Find out from your readers what works and what doesn’t, and fix your blog accordingly.

Don’t let your blog founder because you weren’t sure how to maintain it. Take care of your blog, and you’ll find that it will benefit your business for a long time to come.

Author:  President and founder of Xeal Inc., Tony D. Baker is Oklahoma’s leading Internet marketing expert with more than 10 years of Internet marketing experience. You can catch Tony on the Xeal Radio Show on Sunday nights on 1170 KFAQ Tulsa. Sign up for a free 25-point website evaluation and pick up crucial tips at Xeal’s free Thursday webinar at http://www.xeal.com/webinar.

5 Steps to Powerful Podcast Marketing

By JD Theis in Blogs & Podcasts

Just about every business owner I know wants to get in on Podcast marketing but does not have a really solid understanding of what this technology has to offer. Most think that it is just a MP3 file that is placed directly on the website, however, podcasts are strategically placed mp3 or audio type files on your site created with an rss feed. The rss feed is then used to mass distribute the audio file to podcasting sites like iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts, Podcast Alley and many more. It is a fairly simple technology that requires some amount of know-how, but it can be a very effective tool for you to attract customers to your website.

The idea of podcasting is simple enough, and as a marketer, you will want to consider podcasting as another means of reaching your customer base. Obviously, the more directions in which you attack the marketing problem, the better. Whether it is television, the radio, or the internet, you will need to be able to reach your target audience from several different outlets. Podcasting offers a new way of reaching the internet market. It is a way to reach your viewers without making them have to read through countless pages of web site material. As of today, podcasting has not fully realized its potential in the business world and most podcasts have been used for only personal purposes. It remains an untapped technology that many business owners may not have yet considered.

What I am referring to is Podcast Marketing. Through Podcast Marketing, the objective is to broadcast your audio file to as many listeners as you can possibly reach. Websites that use podcasting technology have taken off like a rocket over the last few years and they have now become so important that even presidential candidates are using their services to reach out to the internet viewer.

Most of what you find on podcasting and various other open media sites are limited to personal downloads meant only for entertainment, and they have not reached their full potential as advertising venues. For example, many situational comedy shows now offer podcasts that can be played while viewing a live episode. This type of podcast is mainly used to enhance the experience of the viewer, and they are usually played for entertainment purposes only. To find a list of PodCast Marketing sites, try out the following link: List of PodCasts Sites

Before I get into the technical details of podcasting, I would like to note that there are several companies out there that are selling these services without the proper knowledge or expertise to really help you. They do not have a full understanding of how podcast marketing really works, or what it can offer to you, the client. This guide will help you in this regard. You will be able to see that we do have a breadth of knowledge concerning this service, and that our expertise is worthy of your attention. We want to ensure that you have to spend as little time as possible in researching podcasting companies and we are confident that we can offer you a truly valuable product. Simply review our guide and you will see that we can clearly help you.
The 5 steps of Powerful PodCast Marketing:

1. Always have a plan of attack. There are various formats used to create a pod cast and you need to understand exactly what format will benefit you the most. You can post an audio file of an Interview or Commercial to boost your product. In addition, you can just make a recording of yourself as you talk about your particular industry. In any case, make sure your recordings are informative and interesting to listen to. Also be sure to mention your domain name clearly in the podcast so your listeners will know exactly where to find the services that you offer.
2. Have a few of your friends or colleagues listen to your podcast and give you their feedback on their interest level, the clarity of the audio and other factors. Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be an absolutely perfect audio file. So long as your message is clear you will find success.
3. Make sure to have a valid rss / xml feed created on your site and upload your mp3 directly onto the site as well. Be sure to include a title and brief description of the recording to go along with your podcast. If you are not familiar with how to create the rss / xml feed, we can help you with that as well. Simply click this link for more information on rss / xml feed or you can always go with wordpress and have a special podcasting plugin installed. Once such plugin is found here
4. Test your audio file and make sure that it can be heard by other listeners. In addition, you will want to ensure that the rss / xml feed validates. In order to test your feed, we have provided you with the following link
5. Finally submit your rss / xml feed to as many podcast directories as you possibly can. This may be a bit tedious and a time consuming process, but it will be worth it because the end results can be quite remarkable. In many cases, you will be required to choose a category and add some details, but the work should not be that difficult.

Now that your podcast is broadcasted, the marketing effect will really begin to kick in. This is a very effective and powerful way to market your product online. With the rapid advances in technology, it will only be a matter of time when you will be able to access these types of broadcasts on a television set. The more avenues with which you can market your products or services will only be a benefit to you. The recent advances in handheld device technology, iTunes, Hand Held phones, as well as many other devices will help ensure that podcasting will remain a staple for your core marketing needs. Why not give it a try? You have everything to gain for only a minor investment or your time.

Author:  JD Theis – Writer for http://www.the-content-writers.com. A historian first and talented writer for web copy, seo content & print materials, JD has an uncanny way about him that allows him to take any industry and make it sound fantastic!

Top 7 Ways To Use Blogs For Marketing Part 1

By Eric Thom in Blogs & Podcasts

When it comes to using blogs for marketing your business, you can’t afford to waste time and money. You want to make your online presence a success. Therefore, you need to know everything you can about blog marketing. You want to spend as much time as possible in learning the basics about using your blog to bring in profits. You can literally make tons of money on an automatic system once you have it down.

Although, there are thousands of blogs on the Internet, there are common mistakes that beginners make. The difference between knowing these do’s and don’ts can mean the difference between losing business and growing huge profits.

To become an expert on blog marketing, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist. You just have to know some simple yet crucial principles.

1. You need to install your own blog on your own web site. This means having your blog on your business website sub domain. Do not setup a blog on a third party domain. Your blog is your network and belongs with your main site.
2. When you blog, you always want to take time out to link your posts to any related pages on your web site.
3. Many Internet blogs don’t publish under a specific categories. Many people just put up a blog and then start writing. Relevance is everything, You want to use your time wisely and get the maximum benefit out of it. Successful blogs need to be fine tuned. They need to cover every subject matter of the business. This makes them come up as an authority site with Google and Yahoo, MSN, and the  blogosphere as a whole.
4. Don’t just post  on the blog here and there. You want to post on a regular basis. Optimum is if you post at least Monday through Friday. You want to make sure that you have fresh content on the blog. Many people will stop coming to your blog if they think it has been abandoned. Conversely, they will check your blog regularly if they see new and interesting information on a daily basis.
5. Your blog categories and keywords should always match your keywords on the main web site. Make a list of keywords and create articles based on those keywords. They need to be in harmony with the rest of your site.
6. When the meta tags, urls and the content are not in harmony with each other the blog is wasted. It all needs to fit together. Your meta tags need to contain the same keyword as your content.
7. Most important is that you use a blog (publishing) platform that has as much horsepower as possible, if you want the max take a look at what the experts build for business on the web here @ www.rssapplied.com

These are just the basic principles of using blog marketing for profit. Common mistakes in blog marketing can cost you thousand of lost dollars. Therefore, you want to be sure that you use the above six steps in getting the most out of your blogs. In the next article, we’ll talk more about blog marketing and some advanced techniques you can use to help you get the maximum out of your blogs.

Now that you’ve gotten the basics of what to do and not to do with your blog, you’re probably wondering about the content. When it comes to blog marketing, a lot of people are simply writing things that pop into their head. Still, others are writing nothing but sales pitches into their blogs.

Blogs should not be about sales. They should be about information. Your aim is to connect with your market on a more personal level. Of course you don’t write personal information about your life story into the blog, but you do get personal in the sense that you give vital information to the reader.

What kind of information should you write to better market your blog and business? That is a good question. The best way to find out is to ask your market what it is that it is looking for. This may include doing keyword research with different keyword software programs such as WordTracker or Nichebot. You can also set up Ask Campaigns. This is where you email your list and ask them what their three most important questions are about your service or product.

From those responses, you will see certain questions being asked over and over again. Keep a list of those questions and that is what you begin to answer in your blogs. If you have an FAQ on your website, you can elaborate on those questions in your blog. Then, by finding out the most popular keywords in your industry, you weave those keywords into the blog posts.

This is often easier said than done, and in the end you want to balance search engine optimization with human and reader friendly blog posts. Research and collect marketing information. Keep your eye out on trends and public buzz in the industry. Study your competition. Notice any problems or questions that they fail to answer and then turn around and address those problems in your blog. Study the lingo or the language your market uses. For example, in the self-improvement industry a lot of people use the term “prosperity” or “wealthy” instead of “loaded”. Use the same kind of lingo that your readers are used to in order to make a connection with them.

Stay away from trying to sell anything in your blog. If you do sell something, make it very subtle so as not to come across as an advertisement. Another thing you want to do when it come to an effective blog marketing strategy is to write content on key business topics. Also, let your readers interact. Answer comments. This makes your blog more real to them and gets them involved. The fact that you are making people get involved with your blogs is an outstanding blog marketing strategy, because it keeps people coming back. Now they have invested something personal into it.

You also want to make your blog attractive. Pictures and banners can help, but don’t make your blog marketing strategy focus on just graphics. Words are power. Keep a good balance between the two, and if you have to choose one over the other, then words always win. In the end, you want to make your blog authentic. People are smarter than you think, and they can sense if a blog is just there to make money or if it is also there to help them. Make authenticity part of your overall blog marketing strategy and you will definitely be profitable.

Author:  Eric Thom, offering blog marketing services with proven results. Use RSS Applied services for building powerful blogs and proper training to incredibel results.

How Any Blogger Can Beat Wikipedia

By Gobala Krishnan in Blogs & Podcasts

How do you beat Wikipedia, the world’s number one free online encyclopedia, managed by thousands of passionate (and unpaid) editors, and a darling of Google?

In case you didn’t realize, Wikipedia already ranks top 10 for almost all popular search engine queries and keywords. Wikipedia’s main page has a PR (PageRank) of 8 and the English home page has a PR of 9.

Almost every topic and keyword imaginable has been covered (or will soon be covered) by this digital encyclopedia of sorts. The fact is they have more in-depth and complete content compared to your website or blog, and the people writing this content don’t ask for payment. Tying to match Wikipedia in terms of content integrity and completeness is suicide.

So how do you beat a giant like this?

The answer is to NOT become another Wikipedia yourself.

Look at it this way - how many people actually read an encyclopedia?

Are you telling me that just because encyclopedias exist, no one sells a book? Not in the real world. In the real world people put encyclopedias in a dusty bookshelf and use them only a handful of times in a year. But they read magazines, they buy books, they attend events and they most certainly read blogs.

The only time you should be looking at an encyclopedia is when you need a point of reference when writing a serious publication or thesis. Encyclopedias are boring, and so is Wikipedia.

So here’s Gobala Krishnan’s 5-step process to beating Wikipedia:

1. Improve your writing style
   You must improve your writing. If your writing is similar to the boring (although concise) Wikipedia text, you’re doomed. Inject your personality and develop your own style of writing. My style of writing is very plain, direct and personal. Some people choose to write in a more poetic / scholarly way. Some people inject humor or use harsh words. Whatever it is, improve your writing because it will set you apart and create a loyal readership base.
2. Become more opinionated
   People sitting on the fence sooner or later fall over. You either like something or hate it. If you’re neutral, you’re Wikipedia. Don’t become the best encyclopedia around; become the most dramatic blogger or writer.

   Express your feelings for a certain product or service you’ve tried, even if it means you may lose some affiliate commissions from your honesty. It’s ok if some people hate the way you completely flamed a product or service. In the long run people will still prefer to read what you have to say then read a neutral page on Wikipedia.

3. Stay current and relevant
   Read up on your industry, and put yourself in a position where you understand not only the past, but also the present and future of certain topics in your market. Wikipedia can’t beat you if you can (based on your established position of an expert in a focused market) foretell the future and influence others to accept your views.

   As valuable as history is, people care mostly about today and tomorrow. If you are ahead of the market, or at least up-to-date with the latest developments, write about it and let people know.

4. Perfect your personal brand
   Make everything you write, everything you sell, your sites and your design smell, taste and feel like YOU. If it’s consistent enough, the moment someone looks at a site they would know it’s yours before they even read a line of text. Don’t brand yourself as a know-it-all; brand yourself as an expert in one specific field and people will love you for it.

   Wikipedia goes a mile wide and an inch deep. You need to go an inch deep and a mile wide.

   You are a brand. Market that brand, and your online business will take a turn for the better. Common marketing wisdom has already proven the power of unique branding.

5. Don’t put all your eggs in SEO
   Search engine optimization is great and all, but it only takes another 9 more Wikipedia type of sites to completely dominate the first page of Google. There’s absolutely no way you’re going to beat sites like that in terms of pure SEO.

   Focus more on social networking, making friends, finding new business partners, and creating more non-SEO-dependent sites. There are other ways to get traffic to your blogs than just search engines, so get creative. If you’re stuck with the idea of “Write great content and the traffic will come”, you’re in for a big surprise.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that you cannot beat Wikipedia (or any other big content site for that matter) at it’s own game. But if you change your game, as far as your online business is concerned, you’ll always win.

Author:  Gobala Krishnan is a blogging enthusiast and direct marketing expert. Subscribe to his blog at http://www.gobalakrishnan.com for marketing information that will transform the way you look at your online business forever. If you’re new to blogging, download 2 chapters of his beginners guide to Wordpress at http://www.easywordpress.com

Why Web Video Is Crucial For Blogs

By Peter Johnson in Blogs & Podcasts

The popularity of web video on blogs has soared over the past year, and there is good reason why. Some may ask why web video is so popular on blogs, and there are many answers to that question. Firstly, the purpose of a blog is to share information with one’s self or others. The majority of computer users are usually literate; however this is not always the case. Web video will provide an opportunity to hook their attention and give them a grasp of the concept without having to understand a word. Secondly, there are a lot of internet users who are simply to busy to read a website’s information- web video creates the opportunity to hook their attention which may have otherwise been lost on your wording of the blog/website.

For many people reading blogs or websites is something they do while doing something else- take the example of an office worker who is working but flicking back and forward between your blog. Whether the individual is just doing other things on the computer, or they are actually away from the computer but watching the video as if it were the television, the individual that is doing the viewing is able to multi-task in a way that they would be unable to do without the video on the blog. This simply helps to smooth out a person’s life so that they can do other things at the same time, should the individual be in a hurry or want to multi-task. You are creating opportunity to reach more potential viewers and customers!

Not everyone who is reading your blog will have the attention span to absorb the information you want them too, nor be able to absorb it in a timeframe that they want to. When an individual is not able to read something quickly, they may not be as inclined to work on reading a blog that they may otherwise be interested in reading. In order to make up for this, many people will post web videos on their blog sites in order to capture the attention of an individual that may be either viewing the videos on the blog or reading the blog itself. If a person sees a web video that they are interested in, they may be more likely to read the blog or website that coincides with it, even if they struggle with reading- all because they enjoyed your video content. A Blog without web video would be neglecting such potential viewers/customers.

Now that you have decided to incorporate web video into your blog, the next logical step is to submit your video to Youtube.com as well. This will drive traffic and interest to your Blog based solely on the video you are displaying on your blog. The way it works is that when you submit your video to Youtube you include a list of tags- which is the same thing as keywords. When users type in these keywords depending on the relevance your video will show up. This means that you have a captive audience interested in the material in your web video, which if they choose to visit your blog or website will more likely result in a sale or positive traffic flow. So, join Youtube today and follow the steps to upload the video you are displaying on your Blog.

The next step is to drive search engine traffic directly to your Youtube video. I believe the best way to do this is via social bookmarking. Join www.onlywire.com and submit the address of your Youtube video to all the popular social bookmarking directories. Again you can include tags which will drive traffic to your video based on the key search terms in relation your Blog web video. This will essentially cast a ‘web’ of links on social bookmarking directories to your video. Onlywire is a fantastic website that will allow you to drive free traffic to all your Blogs and Websites.

In this instance the viewer may skim or completely ignore the blog in question. We live in a fast paced lifestyle, and people expect to be entertained and engaged immediately. Utilizing web video software on your blog will only increase your chances of attention and potential sales if that is what you seek to achieve via your blog.

Author:  Peter Johnson, Provider of easier ways to put Web Video on your Blog or Websites