Blogging

Ideas for Blogging, including websites, information, and tips.

What’s the point? Just drop the BizXPress Plugin

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Brainstorm It is available direct from the site, nor is the documentation, support team, etc. The only thing you don’t get that is included on the wordpress admin menu: a feed to their forum. Just go to their site, and avoid this plugin altogether.

The plugin is unnecessary and useless, unlike the bizXpress tools, which are of good value. However, once your free trial ends, the plugin is without any function whatsoever.

What surprises me though: why there is no ability to login via the WordPress Panel, no API that allows interaction between WordPress & Sitesell directly, and one wonders why (when so many other plugins have some kind of API that pull data etc, directly into wordpress and/or make services available within WordPress… ) BizXpress is unable to do this. Each link you click forces you to open another window, taking you AWAY from your wordpress install.

For BXP to work as SaaS properly, it needs to get over that, and treat wordpress users as an end in themselves, not a means to get more traffic Sitesell’s sites. There are plenty of other plugins that already do this. Provide an API that inputs chosen KW directly into the WordPress SEO plugins, help users with choosing their keyword data, … all those things that Sitesell used to be good at. That’s what would make this a valuable plugin.

As it stands, BXP (as a plugin) is nothing less, nothing more than a collection of links. And whether or not this comment stays here, users will find this out when they try it out. I did.

BTW, Jetpack gets updated and is shown in the WP updates section ANYWAY. That is not a good reason to keep a useless plugin.

Google Traffic: Help! What should I do now?

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The real question is how do you grow your business? Yesterday is gone, today is here. Tomorrow is the opportunity. I do believe that ‘the build content and visitors will come from Google’ days are over. Google is now increasingly ranking existing traffic. In other words, if you’re already popular, expect to get found in Google, but if you’re not… well, you know the story now.

The recent updates haven’t only been about finding Spam & Unnatural links in the index, but if you peel back the layers, you will see that Google is boosting branded sites; authorship is important; following social habits; and gearing up for mobile. This is at the same time as it is coming under pressure in its advertising markets from the likes of Facebook, Microsoft, & Yahoo! Advertisi

Add the list: Build the list

I had nearly 1,000,000 (that’s six zeroes) page views… but because I didn’t follow this mantra, I ended up with 150 subscribers to my mailing list. 150 out of 1 million pvs? What does that tell you?

So I would strongly recommend adding a popover for your newsletter, and push as many of the visitors you get now to sign up for the newsletter as possible. Put your RSS content into the newsletter and make your newsletter a PDF subscription only monthly update newsletter that is ESSENTIAL to have.

You can mirror the content throughout your site…but the convenience of having it once a month far outweighs the inconvenience of searching for all the disparate content on your site. Don’t leave it to late to do that…

Take your power back from Google

One of the dangers of working the SBI system is the power that you hand over to Google without realizing it. And many webmasters are now ruing the day they made that decision …of putting Google in the position to decide the future of their business. My coffee site is a classic example of this, and something that I have not remedied yet.

Essentially, a viable site has to have a diverse and diversifying source of incoming visitors. You cannot, should not ever rely on Google for your mainstream visitors. They are fickle, they are come & go, they don’t stick around, and they don’t often return to your site… too many other options to consider. However, they are loyal to Google, so it doesn’t matter to them whatever happens to your site.

Avoid Endless P&P Reports & Tweaking

Many SEO specialists, gurus and affiliate marketers advise and sell products/services that encourage you to get back into Google’s graces by endlessly tweaking your site’s keywords, URLs, keyword density, Google algo data… whatever particular flavor they are selling that day. But search engine rankings is a game for SEO specialists whose business is SEO.

Is SEO your business? No… Your business is bring the best of your site to your visitors. That is your business. Not endlessly tweaking WordPress, PHP, HTML, GWT, or whatever acronym there is. I’m not saying “neglect these”… but your purpose should be tweaking those for the sole point of satisfying your visitors enough that they will ‘Like’ you, ‘Share’ you, Subscribe, Bookmark or Purchase from your site.

So what should I be doing?

So the ultimate question becomes not how can I get my site back in Google but how can I help my exisiting traffic LOVE my site or NEED my site to the extent that they will gladly give up time, money or effort to get it. That is branding. That is what Google is now looking for.

And with only a set number of hours in the day, then you have to ask yourself is it really worth my time hacking all these errors or would the time be better spent writing the content (for the blog or newsletter or Facebook) that my visitors/customers will LOVE? So don’t let the Google errors, the plugin problems, the niggles over CSS/HTML diminish your passion for your site.

Simplify what you need to do to serve your customers better. That’s all you need to. Let Google sweat the details. Because you have a great site, a great brand, great customer loyalty, great content… it is Google that has the troubles, the software issues, the problems… they are Google’s problems.

Don’t let Google ruin your business

Your site is what matters. When you focus on that, you will find the help that your site needs. And you will benefit your customers and visitors. Directly building your own brand & brand loyalty is the best (and perhaps the only real) alternative to letting Google run and ruin your business.

Dead End Blogging: Blog Charlatans vs Blogging Truths

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Introducing the new occasional series called “DEAD END Blogging”… What is DEAD END Blogging? When you’re driving you occasionally will see this street sign …

It clearly indicates that the road ahead ends soon, and that you will have to turn back and take another route to your destination. This series of short posts encourages bloggers (myself included) to avoid the many dead ends on the way to blogging success.

The Blog Charlatans: Do you always buy those claims?

So you bought that the latest PDF book on how to blog, you signed up for the latest traffic/hit generator, or you subscribed to the latest email/twitter course in the hope that they will make you a better blogger, bring you oodles of traffic and fame/wealth/success, or whatever. You eagerly open your browser to read the information, and as you do, you read the words… sign up for my next course/pdf/website to gain further insights into how to blog successfully. Hey, dude, wait a minute! I didn’t even find out anything in this PDF file, and you’re already exhorting me to buy the next course!

Congratulations, you have just found the upsell… in other words, this is a likely BLOG CHARLATAN! In fact, if you browse many of the extensive E-Book repositories or numerous website offering such products, you’ve probably already become blind to the first signs of a blog charlatan – the hype, the promises, and the evocative images on the front. These are carefully chosen to help you make an emotional decision, not an intellectual one!

Keeps you younger looking EVERY DAY!

These sites are basically dishonest (legally not, though) but they play upon the same instincts that you see in TV advertising. Let’s give you an example from TV: a beautiful young lady swears that her moisturizer KS-200 helps her stay young and beautiful much longer. The TV cuts to close ups of the young lady’s skin, enhanced by digital imaging (read: photoshop, premiere), all to convince you that the product is worth the claims made by the manufacturer, and all despite the fact that the young lady has been using the products for only one or two days (the shooting of the commercial!). Her skin looks young because she is young: it’s that simple. It’s manufactured coincidence that the product also makes the same claim to youthfulness.

So here are some claims that you might find suspect:

  1. “Get Targeted Traffic And High Pr Backlinks Automatically“
  2. “How did a social worker earn $2000 per month?”
  3. “Need more traffic to your BLOG? Join ***.com the internet’s largest BLOG traffic generator!”
  4. “Affiliates Makes $19,859 In One Month”
  5. “The Ultimate Guide To Blogging Riches”

While each of them may contain an element of truth, there is very little reason to believe that following the plans will necessarily help you fulfill those claims.

I’m not claiming that I have achieved any of these steps or goals, but I now understand more clearly than ever that they are more important than any of the blogging charlatans out there. If you follow the charlatans, you will end up driving up numerous dead end streets and lanes. Each time you will have to back up, turn your car around, and reorient yourself as seek a new route. I guess this is what this post is doing for me.

For more reading, check out the principles of finding your own voice.