I Don’t Want To Blog – Is There Still Hope?!

Online Marketing

I find that many people have heard that they ‘should’ have a blog, but worry that they are just not the blogging type, or don’t think they will have anything to say.

Is there still hope without a blog?

I would say ‘yes’. After all, a blog only works if you actually post to it and actively promote it. It’s no silver bullet and it does take time and commitment, and honestly, it’s not for everybody.

One of the main benefits to having a blog is that with well-written and targeted content it can attract search engine traffic quite easily. This is the main benefit you will miss out on by not having a typical, text-based blog. But search engines are not the only source of traffic. So while there are many benefits to having a blog, let’s consider some alternatives.

1) Re-think what a ‘blog’ means

The typical idea of a blog is a text-based site that you update at least once per week and ideally more frequently, with posts of several hundred words. But here are some variations on what a blog can be:

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Email Marketing Lessons from Firestone and Bath & Body Works

This past week these two major companies have provided a mini-study in a few do’s and don’ts of email marketing.

I hate to call people out, but, you know,  a huge national company should really know better.

I signed up with Firestone to receive their email coupons (I’m way overdue for an oil change…..).
This is how their conformation email appeared in my inbox:

Firestone - email marketing

Well, actually it was in my junk mail folder. Fortunately I’m smart enough to check there ;)
But, yes folks “DO-NOT-REPLY” in all caps is really how they set up their “from” email address and “Confirm Sign Up” is really their subject line. If I hadn’t checked my email right away, and had seen this a few hours or a day later, I may well have not remembered that I signed up, or would have simply discounted this message along with the many other spam emails I receive every day since there was nothing about it that signified legitimacy.

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How To Use The WordPress Gallery Shortcode

WordPress

WordPress has an in-built image gallery feature which does not yet seem to be common knowledge even though it’s incredibly simple to use.

So let’s say you are writing a post that you want to include an image gallery in.

1)   Using the usual upload/insert image button, upload any images you want to include in the gallery BUT make sure to just click “Save All Changes” instead of “Insert Into Post.”

2)   If you want your gallery to have captions, make sure to fill in the Caption field when uploading your images.

3)   To display the images you just uploaded, simply use the shortcode:



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Free Webinar – Introduction to WordPress





WordPress








			

			
			

				
My online workshop series is launching July 14th with a free introduction to WordPress. If you’ve been shy to get WordPress set up on your site, this is your chance to have a guided tour to installation, plugins, themes, widgets, publishing content and more. Or perhaps you’ve been considering WordPress for your site and want … 


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WordPress 3.0 New Features – ‘Twenty Ten’ New Default Theme





WordPress








			

			
			

				
WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious” has now been officially released (as you may have noticed from the upgrade prompt at the top of your WP dashboard).


I’ll be doing a couple of posts about the new features – in this one I’ll be discussing the brand new default theme that you’ll find if you upgrade.


New Default Theme – Twenty Ten


WordPress - Twenty Ten Theme thumbnailTwenty Ten is the new default theme and it’s infinitely better than tired ole’ Kubrick. Twenty Ten serves as a demonstration of many of the new WP 3.0 features, making it much more functional and customizable right out of the box, but also making it a great framework on which to build child themes. Some of the new WordPress features aren’t obvious to the non-developer because they require adding some code in order to activate the features – Twenty Ten makes many of them visible to the ordinary user and provides a nice guideline for theme developers to understand and expand upon what’s now possible.  See the theme in action.


Here are some of the main new features that Twenty Ten demonstrates:


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Should You Worry About Your Bounce Rate?





Online Marketing








			

			
			

				
Should You Worry About Your Bounce Rate?

A low bounce rate is often cited as a hallmark of a good website – 40% or lower is typically heralded as the goal. But does it really matter that much? The answer is “yes” and “no” depending on your goals and your site.


What does bounce rate mean?

“Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page” – from Google’s Analytics help pages.


When does bounce rate matter?


– If you have a sales or conversion process which requires the user to follow through multiple pages on your site


– If exploration of your site is important to you


– If you are trying to turn new visitors into loyal readers or customers


– If yours is a retail site and want people to shop around and make purchases


– If your homepage is not inducing further clicks, particularly if it contains blog excerpts or other ‘teaser’ content


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