The other night I shot what seemed like a million takes for some Ovaleye video tutorials (stay tuned). Note our Chief Decision Maker, Kathy Nelson and Tech Director, Tracy Nelson laughing in the background. Nonetheless, we not only successfully completed the tutorials and trailers, but we also gained some laughs that our Director of Operations, Jennifer Donogh put this together:

Go ahead, laugh, it’s funny. Tell me all about it below

Today I will be hosting another free webinar, brought to you by Ovaleye. “DIY Website Design Tips” will teach you my tricks and techniques that you can apply when working on your own website. All of the tools I will be using and showing you are free to use, and available online to anyone.

The webinar itself is being presented in Ovaleye’s Web Conferencing room, which is made available for free to website hosting members. You too can host your own online meetings! (find out more here)

Today we will cover:

• Making a banner for your website
• Choosing a color scheme
• Making buttons for your site
• Basic photo editing
• Working with fonts
• Creating a website background

I am also going to throw in a very cool bonus trick about making custom Facebook tabs/pages, which is VERY easy and can be done with just one extra click.

Join me today at 11am PST/2pm EST in the Ovaleye Web Conferencing Room or you may RSVP for the webinar.

Jennifer from Ovaleye recently had a blog post, “My Most Popular Blog Posts and Why“, which inspired me to research my own blog posts to see which have been the most popular. After running some analytics reports I’ve come up with the five most visited blog posts, since my blog’s creation date, and why they are the most popular. The “most popular” posts are blog posts with the most unique page views, the number of comments and social media shares were not a factor.

1. Tracking Your Website’s Traffic: this post is classic Evergreen content, it will be read for a long time to come. The content will continue to attract traffic, help readers and not need any tweaking.
2. How to Customize Your Facebook Page’s Featured Likes: This post is popular for a couple reasons, primarily because it is a help post that readers want to learn from. This post also continues to gain traction because Facebook is constantly changing; Every time they make changes the searches become popular again and bring in more traffic.
3. Google+ Tips and Shortcuts: I was fortunate to be included in the pre-launch for Google Plus. This allowed me to write a teaching and “exclusive” content post since not everyone had Google plus access as early as I did. I also think this post is popular because this social network is more inquired upon than used, people are curious, but it stays just that.
4. How to Blog Better: Another post that will stand the test of time, but the content is based on my own experiences, bringing original insight. This post has brought me many thank you emails, which makes all of the hard work worth it!
5. The NEW Microsoft Store: I’m honestly puzzled as to why this post gets so much traffic, I suppose it is from local searches surrounding each Microsoft store. This post is also packed full of Microsoft, tech and gaming keywords which probably has heavy value.

Bonus post: #6: How to Get More Traffic to Your Website: This blog post was one away from the list, it is so good I had to include it. Another post that has sent me much social media and email thanks, and full of information that will continue to be useful for a long time to come.

I am curious what blog posts have brought you much traffic, please share below!

Image courtesy: Maria Reyes-McDavis

Over the past few weeks Ovaleye‘s Chief Decision Maker and I have been interviewing some amazing and successful Entrepreneurs on our weekly Small Businesses Do It Better Show (watch the videos at http://ovaleye.tv). After speaking with these small business owners and hearing about their lessons learned, triumphs, and what has enabled them to grow and flourish, there is one thing they all have in common. Every successful business owner has a strong sense of self.

When you truly know yourself, what you like and don’t like to do, what you’re good at and what is not your strongest asset, you can consciously delegate work and have it done the right way. Take the time to really asses the roles within your business and decide how your personality needs things to be run for you to remain in love with your business for the long haul. After all of these pieces are separated, find the right person for each role, whether or not it is you. It may be hard to give up some of these duties, but you and your business will be okay, will be better.

No one person can do everything well, everyone and every business needs a team behind them. It takes a lot of effort to be honest with yourself about who you really are, but in the end, it pays off and your business will reap the benefits.

Tune in each Tuesday at 7pm PST at ovaleye.tv/live to watch and learn from some amazing small business owners.

Image Courtesy mira66

By now you’ve heard of Google Plus, but you still may not have create a profile…you should. Think about it this way, Google is the most used search engine and they give priority to their services and those who use them. Not to mention, because Google.com is the most visited website, the sites they own (Google+, You Tube, Picasa, etc.) will naturally have higher search results than others.

Take a look at this screenshot below from when I searched for “social media”. There are four areas on this search that would not appear if you did not have a Google+ profile. The large area on the right is an entirely separate search result, only including content from Google Plus, from people you may or may not be following.

The two lower items on the left side are the natural Google search results, but point out who, from within your Google Plus Circles, has previously +1′d (like Facebook’s “like”) or shared this information. This is essentially an endorsement of this content, that your eye is drawn to, that your friend has already suggested is good content.

The other area to point out is on the very top, which shows you that there are another 80 search results from within your Google+ Circles. Clicking on this will show you only these results.

So, how you ask, does this bring my website more traffic? By having a profile, sharing content, +1′ing content and participating on the network, your profile will appear in these search results. Your profile popping up all over Google’s search results will bring people to your profile, who will see your website address, and thus, clicking on it and bringing you traffic. Add the +1 button to your website (in the upper right corner of this site above the Facebook like) and appear in even more results, getting more traffic.

Create your Google Plus profile
Create a Google Plus Business page
Follow me on Google Plus
Get the +1 button for your website
Related: Google+ Tips and Shortcuts

As you know, Facebook has recently filed documents for their initial public offering, expecting $5 Billion to be raised. The company was created in 2004 and rapidly gained millions after millions of users, and revenue.  The details inside the 197 page prospectus are so remarkable that I wanted to share them. Take a look:

• 2009 revenue was $777 million and soared to $3.7 billion in 2011
• Their earnings grew from $122 million in 2009 to $668 million in 2011
• Number of users went from $608M at the end of 2010 to $845M at the same time in 2011
• Average of 2.7 billion “likes” and comments on a daily basis
• Approximately 483 million users login every day
• 1 billion users expected to be reached in the summer of 2012
• 44% of it’s revenue is generated outside of the U.S.
• 85% of 2011′s revenue was generated from advertising
• Facebook receives 30% of sales from game makers and external applications
• Next year CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s salary will fall from $500,000 to $1
• IPO share price is expected to be in the $35-$40 range, but will vary depending upon demand

What do you think of these numbers – do you plan on purchasing stock in Facebook?

article source: AP  image courtesy: MoneyBlogNewz

Attention all small businesses! The fabulous team at Ovaleye.tv has created a new weekly show just for you! Each week Kathy Nelson, Ovaleye’s Chief Decision Maker, and I will bring you an amazing small business owner who shares their tips, knowledge and insights on how small businesses do it better.
Join us LIVE tonight, and every Tuesday at 7:00pm PST at Ovaleye.tv/live or watch anytime at Ovaleye.tv
Be part of the Small Businesses Do It Better chat on twitter using #sbdib

Social networking is an important small business tool. Use these ideas to display your social media profile for maximum exposure. When used strategically, you can have many different ways for visitors to share your posts and including links to your profiles, all on one page.

Side bar – this is the most common area, if you only want to display your profiles in one area, do it here. You can choose a different format to display so your social media profiles don’t seem redundant. On my own blog I prefer one click widgets for higher conversion (on the right side of this page).

Floating bar – these are great because they are always in view, which makes sharing easy (directly to the left of this post).

Static bar – unlike a floating bar, the static bar disappears when the page is scrolled down. They are useful as they remain in the same spot and are easy to locate (on the top left of this page).

Each page – readers should have the option to share every page, not just blog posts. The sharing of your service, about and contact pages are very important (see the bottom of this page).

Contact page – even though your profiles may be displayed elsewhere on your website, sometimes people forget to put them on the contact page. This page should list all of the ways you are reachable (see contact page).

Social media profiles – cross market yourself on all of the networks you participate in. List your twitter page on your Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, Google Plus profile, etc (see on my Google+ page).

Landing page – if you have a keyword specific landing page targeted towards a specific social network make sure you include a link to the targeted network. If you don’t have a landing page of this nature, perhaps you should.

Newsletter – If they read your newsletter they find your information to be valuable. The reader may not be aware of your social network activity, so list it. Social media is a way for the reader to hear from you more often.

Email signature – believe it or not, people live on their favorite social network and may prefer to contact you through that network rather than via email.

Business card – yes, these still exist. Again, providing your social media information allows potential clients to reach you via they’re preferred method. Make sure to use a vanity URL as opposed to long URL’s.

What way do you tend to click on the most?

Image courtesy: ivanpw

These two quick website scans take less than five minutes, yet are vital to your marketing, social media, page speed and how your site is viewed by search engines. The reports will provide you with a grade on where your site stands and give extremely beneficial and detailed suggestions on improving your website.

Type your website address in the boxes at both of these sites:

Marketing.grader.com

I recommend emailing yourself the reports and begin working on this list of suggestions. Use this report as a helpful guide, work on one thing at a time, and gradually complete the list – you can only improve your site from here!

If you have any questions on the process or need help with any of the suggested website changes, feel free to contact me!

Image: rosmary

This post was originally a four part series, I have reworked the series into one post, and have also updated the content with new and more specific points. “How to Blog Better” is meant for anyone who is just starting a blog or anyone who has a blog that needs a little guidance.

B is for blog

Many forget this basic principle;  When you have a blog, you must blog. It is very disappointing when you like a brand, head to their blog and see that it has been months, or even a year since their last blog post.  I’ve also seen blogs with the post date removed so they can “get away” with posting less frequently. From my perspective, no date is equivalent to an old post, but the writer is masking their lack of frequent updates.  If you have a blog or call yourself a blogger, you should regularly post updates.

Regular blog posts also provide more traffic to your site – from both readers and search engines.  Search engines favor websites that are more frequently updated. If you regularly provide new content, search engines will scan your website more often. The more often the bots scan your site, the more content you will have indexed, which can appears in more search results. Also, the more often your site is scanned, the sooner your posts will be indexed and appear in search results earlier. Having more content and content indexed sooner will bring you more traffic from search engines.

You can also obtain more readers by blogging regularly. If you post less often you may be forgotten or ignored. Every blog has a unique audience, find out how often your audience prefers you to post.  Come up with a posting schedule and review your website statistics a day or two after each post to see how often you should post, even which day of the week and time of day. The goal is to post often enough so your readers remember you, yet not annoying by posting too frequently. Many successful bloggers post one to three times a day while consistently maintaining a high level of traffic and generating good income. For my own blog I have found that one post per week is ideal, while two posts per week doesn’t increase traffic enough to bother with a second post. With one exception, I use a second post in one week for newsworthy information, these posts simply cannot wait until the next week.  These posts generate good traffic as long as the post is published quickly.  One thing I have also found is that posting on a Monday or Friday is a waste of a post, much less traffic comes in on those days, so I post on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Weekend posts can go either way – generally speaking, there is less internet usage on weekends, but it will stand out more on social media because there are less updates.

In short, find out how often your audience likes to read your posts and regularly and routinely stick to that schedule.

L is for Listen

Part of providing valuable content is continuing to evolve, this requires continuous research and learning. Here are some of the most important ways you can listen to improve your blog.

Listen to your readers

Your readers will give you insight on the content they like and want. Engage with your readers and you can learn from them. Ask your audience questions in your posts and on social networks. This interaction can inspire ideas for posts, while networking. Read and respond to comments on your posts; Whatever you wrote here was thought provoking enough for the reader to comment. Reply to comments in a timely manner to show that you value their time in commenting. After you have many comments, see which type of posts generated the most comments and write like this more often.

Listen to trending topics

Write about topics that are relevant to your audience. You don’t want to bore them with content that is a month old and has already been read elsewhere. If there is some big news in your industry, be sure to write about it immediately! Here are a few helpers: Google Trends – real time Google search popularity. Google Insights – keyword search popularity tool.

Listen to your website statistics

Website statistics can tell you things about your blog that you never could have imagined. This information can be used differently for blogging than from a typical website, such as:

• Traffic peaks – Web server logs can show such detail as traffic visits broken down per hour in each day. You can use these stats to see which hour of the day and which day of the week to post your blogs to obtain the most visits possible. You can also see the lowest traffic times/days and try to improve upon them.
• Traffic to each post – Posts with the least amount of visits should have the meta-description re-evaluated. Determine the posts keywords and get suggestions using Google Insights. Update the post by using these keywords in the meta-description and re-evaluate that posts traffic in a month or so to see if the changes have generated more traffic.
• Keyword search results – Within your webstats you can see which keywords come up more often in search results. What you need to do is find more keywords that come up often and update posts meta-descriptions with the more popular keywords. Each of your blog posts should generate organic search engine traffic from keywords, not just a few posts. Once you find your rhythm in using effective keywords, every one of your posts will get organic search traffic.

O is for Optimize

Your blog and/or websites traffic is very dependent on how well your site is optimized. There are many ways to optimize your site for search engines, overall website performance and page load time. All of these points play a very important role for your site, so don’t discount any.

Page Titles

The titles of each page are heavily weighted in searches and are also the title in search engine results. Make sure you also set your permalinks to reflect the page title in the URL (example: CaffeineKeyboard.com/Contact is superior than CaffeineKeyboard.com/page5).

Meta Description

Put a keyword rich description on every page. Search engines use this description to display in search results. This description can set you apart from your competition. Research keywords and key terms to include in this page description and limit the description to 160 characters.

Meta Keywords

Keywords are used less frequently than in the past, descriptions are used more now. Keywords are still important to use and are picked up by websites other than search engines. It’s best to use both meta descriptions (with keywords in the description) and keywords, if you choose to only use one, then use a description.
Search for keywords using Google Insights, Adwords Keyword Search and Word Tracker

Photos

Appropriately name photos and use alt tags on all photos. Image searches display images from all websites, so don’t forget about being found by image searches. Websites are seen in a better light by search engines and website graders when your images have alt tags.

RSS feed

Since you have a blog make sure you also have an RSS feed. I recommend using Feedburner to do so, as you can also track your subscribers and obtain statistics.

Links

• Minimize redirects – redirecting, rather than linking directly, can take longer for the page to load.
• Page errors – make sure all of your pages are working properly and successfully link to one another.
• Outbound links – if you link out to another website, make sure that as long as you have the link listed, it works (sometimes they change).

Load Time

The faster your website loads, the better. Your search engine rankings improve and you won’t test website visitors patience. People leave slow websites before they fully load and you’ll lose traffic before you even have a chance to gain a reader.

• Reduce number of WordPress plugins. Delete inactive plugins.
• Optimize images – shrink the actual image, don’t just resize the image.
• Delete unused files or duplicate files

Test your website’s load time at: Pingdom and Google Page Speed (Pingdom also shows you which files take longer to load).

G is for Goals

Bloggers should establish goals they would like to achieve while blogging. Begin by establishing your starting date, dates you would like to reach milestones by and ultimately, and when and what you want your blog to become at it’s fullest potential.  There are many different avenues a blogger can take to promote and monetize their blog, increase traffic, and gain readers.

Here are a few different ideas on which goals you should set for your blog:

Posting Schedule

Establish and maintain a regular blog posting schedule. Set a schedule that you can stick to and not break, no matter how busy you are. This may start out with one post per month in the beginning, with a goal of several posts per week. You get out what you put in and you may find you can be a full time blogger!

Subscribers

Each blog has its own subscriber list and it is gold. Subscribers are regularly and voluntarily updated with your new posts, without having to go anywhere to read it. First of all make sure you offer a few different subscription options to satisfy everybodys preferences. Set a subscription number that you want to reach and test out methods for reaching your number. A few different methods can be email subscription in your sidebar, within a blog post, or on pages. Don’t discount rss reader subscriptions too!

Guest Posts

Determine if you want your blog to accept guest post submissions; If so then establish a guest post policy. Perhaps you would just like to be a guest poster on other blogs to drive more traffic to your own blog. Both of these can gain readers from other blogs; However, many bloggers avoid accepting and submitting guest posts all together.

Website Traffic

You should know how you would like to obtain the most traffic: referring sites, natural search results, social media posts, or other methods. Once you determine where you want your traffic to come from, do what you need to on the appropriate websites to achieve your traffic goals. No matter where the traffic comes from, you should also establish a specific number of unique visits per week/month/quarter you would like to have. Continuously monitoring this data will help you reach your goal.

Monetizing

Blogs can bring clients in to utilize your business services or you can make money directly from your blog. If you use your blog to bring in clients then determine specifically what you need to write about to bring them in. If you want your blog to make money on it’s own then determine which means would earn the money you are trying to earn; affiliate ads, search ads, donations, advertising, or product sales. Whichever method, or both methods you choose, set a monthly or yearly dollar amount that you want to reach.

Social Media Network

Some bloggers only care about the number of followers and fans they have. For blog promotion, social media network quality is better than quantity. Be amongst those who you can learn from, those who will learn from you and share your knowledge. You can set a goal of how many fans/followers you would like to reach, but I would suggest setting a goal that will help you, such as number of people or number of times one of your posts is shared or republished.

All of these elements go hand in hand to ultimately reach your blogging goals, some cannot be reached without others.