Posts Tagged ‘blogging’

WordPress announced its new Learn WordPress.com site.

This online tutorial is ideal for beginning and intermediate WordPress.com bloggers and for folks who are migrating over from other blog platforms like Blogger and TypePad.

NOTE: For those of you who are not familiar with the WordPress platform, there are two flavors of WordPress – WordPress.com the free site and WordPress.org blogs which are custom install versions. You can get more information on the differences here.

The Learn WordPress.com tutorial breaks down the blog learning experience into 10 sections and also has an easy-to-print version (66 pages of learning fun). The site is well organized and does an admirable job addressing the gazillion ways in which people can blog.

Screenshot of Learn WordPress.com site

As you may know, I have my own Getting Started With WordPress.com online class as well (launching soon). As far as I’m concerned, the more options to learn blogging, the better. My blog class includes my direct feedback and guidance on blogging topics, for those who need a little bit more than 100% self-serve learning.

I’m honored to have one of my WordPress.com video tutorials as part of the official WordPress.com curriculum. WordPress links to my “Using slideshows on WordPress.com” tutorial on its “Get Flashy” page.

Check out the Learn WordPress.com site and let me know what you think.

Here’s the Using Slideshows on WordPress.com video to get you into the WordPress.com learning mood. Enjoy!

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Photo Credit: @tiabel on Flickr, by special permission.

You don’t have to buy a book and take a seminar or ever buy a fancy blog theme to crank up your blog’s SEO Super Powers.

These top tips will help you zoom up the organic search rankings without breaking a sweat.

1. Use friendly post and page URLs for your new blog.

Quick Note: This tip works best for new blogs. See the BIG NOTE at the end of this item.

When you set up your blog, you will have the option to configure the way your page and blog post URLs are formatted. Search engines love URLs that contain meaningful and related keywords.

Good: http://< mydomain >/awesome-blog-post-title-with-keywords

Bad: http://< mydomain >/?p=45

The standard WordPress.org custom install defaults to the “Bad” URL structure. If you want to drive search traffic to your blog, switch the structure to one that includes the post’s title. In WordPress, you can change the settings from Dashboard > Settings > Permalinks.

In Tumblr, Go to Customize > Advanced, then scroll down and check on the “Use Descriptive URLs” checkbox.

Posterous has an SEO-friendly URL structure by default. This is an example of a Posterous URL: http://jesseluna.posterous.com/curating-tweets-on-flipboard-by-using-twitter. The URL is friendly to read and search engines like that.

Big Note: If you’ve had your blog for any length of time, changing your URL structure can have a huge negative traffic impact. Search engines will have already combed through your blog pages, indexed things and added them to search results. If you’ve had your blog for a while but don’t really care about past “traction” on search engines, go ahead and change the structure.

2. Use targeted keyword terms in your blog post titles.

Try to use one or two target keywords per blog post title. If you have a blog focused on non-profits then “How to talk to small nonprofits: A guide for vendors” is a great title. The title hits on two key terms, “nonprofits” and “vendors.” A Web search over those two terms would likely position that blog post on page one of search results.

An additional tip is adding a combination of not necessarily related keywords together. For example, I did a post on a Tweetdeck’s ability to post to Tumblr and now that post shows up in the number 3 spot for the search term “Tweetdeck Tumblr“, which ranks higher than tumblr.com, second only to Tweetdeck.com.

3. Use “Alt” tags on images.

Every time you use an image on your blog, add meaningful text to the “ALT” tag.

This is the structure of an image tag in HTML:

< img src="my-awesome-image.jpg" alt=”My-awesome-alt-tag-description” />

[Note: in this and other HTML samples in this post, I'm inserting extra spaces at the beginning and end of the text to keep WordPress from rendering the code. Just a warning in case you do any cutting and pasting.]

When search engines parse through your web site, they index image Alt tags. When more of your site is indexed, that means there’s more of a chance your site will show up for related searches.

Alt tags are also very important for accessibility reasons. Meaningful tags give blind and visually challenged readers a description of the picture which can help with context.


In WordPress, you can set the image Alt tag when you select an image:

In Tumblr, the “Caption” field in the Photo Upload tool will be the image’s Alt tag.

Posterous – As far as I can see, there is no way to set the Alt tag on a Posterous blog post image. Bummer.

4. Set “keywords” and “description” meta tags

Meta tags are bits of information that may be added to Web pages to help describe the contents of the page. The contents of the tags aren’t displayed on the page but search engines use the information in the tags to help rank pages and to help display them properly in search results.

I never meta tag I didn’t like. -Old webmaster’s joke

The two main meta tags are the “description” and the “keywords” tags.


Description meta tag
The HTML for the meta tag will look something like:

< meta name="description" content="This is my awesome two to three sentence, keyword-rich, description of this page. This is my second awesome sentence." />


If you want to get crazy with the description, you can use Google’s Webmaster Tools to get feedback on whether you tried to jam too much information into your description meta tag.


Keywords meta tag
Here’s the HTML for the keywords meta tag:

< meta name="keywords" content="Awesome-keyword-one, Awesome-targeted-keyword-two, Awesome-descriptive-keyword, Awesome4,Awesome5,Awesome6" / >


You will add highly relevant keywords instead of my “awesome” ones above. The keywords should be highly related to that specific web page and to the site. You don’t want to put too many keywords there. I usually keep the list to under 20 unless there are 25 products on the page or something like that in which case I list them all.

If you’re not sure which words best describe your page, you can use an offbeat tool like Wordle.net to visualize the page’s top keywords.

The image below is a Wordle.net keyword visualization of the YouTube Adds New iPad-Friendly HTML5 Video Player blog post. I copied the post’s text, went to the Create tab on Wordle.net then pasted the text into the “Paste in a bunch of text” field and ran it.

The diagram points out that the main page keywords were “player”, “html5″, “YouTube”, “Video”,”iPad”, and “Embed” because they were used the most in the post. Of course, if you have special target keywords that should be associated with the page, you’d want to list those as well in your keywords meta tag.

WordPress.org custom install blogs
In WordPress, to add meta tags you need to add a plugin that allows you to either set the meta tags or “builds” them dynamically based on some criteria. The most popular plugin is the All in One SEO Pack. This plugin is available from the WordPress Plugin Directory. Once you install and activate the plugin, you can set it to build meta tags for each post based on the post’s tags. There are also a ton of other knobs and do-hickeys that you can set but describing them all is beyond the scope of this post.

Tumblr
If you are using a Custom Theme setup, you can set the meta tags but only on a global scale. In other words, you can’t set them on a per post basis. You can set the meta tags by going to Customize > Theme then setting the meta tag somewhere between the opening “< head >” tag and the closing “” tag.

Posterous
Posterous allows for custom meta tags but, like Tumblr, the tags can only be set on a global scale, not per post. You can set the meta tags by going to Settings > Look and Feel > Edit Theme > Advanced. Expand the area and you’ll see a couple of other meta tags. You can add your keywords and description meta tags immediately below those.

Review

We just learned how to use four key SEO tips and tricks to boost your search engine rankings and attract more site visitors. These techniques work with the content, not the other way around. You should never compromise your writing to make things more SEO friendly.

I will be adding more SEO tips in the comments over time (I didn’t want to overload you with this initial post). Feel free to comment and to leave your own tips and questions.

This post was made to be shared with the world. If you like it, set it free and share it.


Additional Resources: Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (PDF, 560KB)


Photo: Purchased via iStockPhoto

By: Susan Young, President, Get in Front Communications, Inc.

Too many bloggers are suffering from an identity crisis. It’s like those dreaded high school years when you awkwardly try to find your way and be comfortable in your own skin. It’s not much fun.

In business, it’s critical to develop your identity, brand, voice and persona for one reason. Revenue. If you don’t have a clear and crisp voice (through your blog), how can you expect anyone to pay attention to it? Would you give your hard-earned money to someone who is unsure of themselves? Of course not.

The key is to connect with your readers and build rapport with them—through your writing. Your goal is to use your blog to develop your own personality and style. There’s no time for an identity crisis. Be clear in your own mind so you can create your unique online voice.

Here are 10 tips:

1. Get real! Be genuine and be yourself. Don’t write to impress, write to express.
2. Weave in your personality. Sure this is business but give people a peek into your own life. Include a quick story, example or anecdote that reveals a challenge you may have overcome. It could involve your partner, child, neighbor or mechanic. It’s called humanity.
3. Speak directly to your reader. Each person reading your post should feel as though you wrote exclusively for them. Make them feel special. Use words like “you” and “we”.
4. Write the way you speak. Use words and phrases that are genuine and “sound like you.” By doing this and expressing yourself in a congenial and engaging style, you will in essence be inviting people into your world.
5. Avoid stuffy business jargon. Write in short, punchy and easy-to-understand sentences.
6. Understand charisma. People with charisma have a special style and allure that draws others to them, like a magnet. They are engaging and light. This applies to writing and blogging too.
7. Make every word count. Forget about word count and “too long or too short.” Convey your message in a clear and compelling way and be done. Your readers are busy. They’ll appreciate your succinct communication.
8. Go for distinct. Consider your brand, expertise and ideal clients. Why do people hire you and enjoy working with you? What makes you different from your competition? What have people written about you in testimonials and reference letters? Separate yourself from others.
9. Be bold. Don’t be afraid to take a position. Use your voice. Readers will come to respect you.
10. Stick with what you know. When you write about topics and issues that you’re passionate about, it will be evident to your audience. Find your niche and dig deep.

Blogging and branding take time. The best way to get better is to practice and not worry about the number of readers or RSS subscribers you have. That will come—in time.

Susan Young works with businesses who want to increase their publicity, credibility and revenues with public relations and social media. She’s a news and communication expert and President of Get in Front Communications, Inc. Susan also works with professionals who want to improve their communication, leadership and self-confidence.

Sign up for her free 21-day video series, “Speaking of Communication” at www.getinfrontblogging.com.

Apple released the iPhone IOS4 software update late on June 21, 2010. The update took well over an hour to download and then sync up with the iPhone but it was well worth it.

Among the many new features, the new IOS4 update allows for the iPhone to work with wireless Bluetooth keyboards. I took the new feature for a ride and started blogging.

Did you find any other cool features in the IOS4 update? Drop a Comment below and share.

Have an awesome presentation that you want to share with the world?

If you’ve already posted the presentation (could be a Power Point presentation) to Slideshare.net then you can embed that presentation into your WordPress.com blog. I’ll show you exactly how to do that in this video. This process also works for WordPress.org blogs.

I appreciate and value your Comments and feedback.

One of the best ways to tell your blog visitors about your Facebook presence is by using a Facebook Fan Badge. This allows users to click a button and join your Fan page and to click through to your Facebook account.

Quick note, are you looking for information on the Facebook Fan Widget? If so, click here.

To add the Facebook Fan Badge Widget:

1. Go to the Facebook Fan Badge Widget page. You will need to be logged into Facebook to access this page.

2. The “Select a Page” drop down box will show all of the fan pages you have joined. By default, the Fan Badge Preview section on the right will show the first fan page in your fan page list. Select your fan page and the Fan Badge Preview will update.

3. When you select your fan page, the “Copy the code below and paste it on your website” textbox will update with the correct code. Copy the code. Pro-tip: I like to keep a text file open (like Notepad) so I can paste in and label code. I do this in case I totally forget what I just copied and end up copying something else into my clipboard. It saves time and my sanity. ;)

4. Log into your blog, and add a text widget to your blog, paste in the code, and save your changes. This part of the process will be different depending on your blogging system.

For WordPress.com and WordPress.org (custom install) users
1. Log into WordPress.com
2. From your blog’s dashboard, go to the Appearance> Widgets page
3. Assuming you have at least one sidebar, click + drag a Text widget to your sidebar
4. Set a title. I used “Join My Facebook Fan Page” as the title
5. Paste in the code that we copied from the Facebook Fan Badge page. If it is no longer in your clipboard, you can copy it from your temporary text file mentioned in the Pro-tip above.
6. Save then Close and you’re set.

This is a screenshot of adding the badge to WordPress.com (click to enlarge):

Adding the widget to WordPress.com and WordPress installs is fairly easy but to add them to Tumblr and Posterous take more work and you have to muck around in the HTML. I’ll show you exactly how to do that.

For Tumblr users:
1. Log into your Tumblr account
2. Click on the Customize link button (upper right part of the page with the wrench icon)
3. Click on the “Theme” tab at the top of the page. We’re assuming you have Advanced HTML turned ON for your theme.
4. Navigate to the part of the theme where you want the badge to show up. I put mine right below a FormSpring widget which shows up under the Archive/RSS segment.
5. Click on the Update Preview button to see your changes.
6. After adding the exact code the box was slightly our of whack so you may have to tweak the colors a bit. Once you’ve done that, click on the Save & Close button and you’re set.

This is where I added in the Facebook code (click to enlarge):

For Posterous users (requires Advance Theme view to be turned on):
1. Log into your Posterous account
2. Go to the Settings page by mousing over the upper right section of he page and clicking on “Settings” button
3. Click on the big “Theme and Customize My Site” button
4. Click on the Advanced tab in the upper left hand side of the page
5. Once again, you’ll need to have Custom Theming turned on to proceed. If you do, you’ll see HTML template code in the top window. Expand the window by clicking on the “Expand” link
6. Navigate to where you would like to add your badgeand paste it in. I added my badge right below the “Subscribe via RSS” link

This is what the RSS link template code look like. Paste your badge code right after this section (it ended up being 90% down towards the end of the template page on my theme). Click to enlarge:

So we just learned how to add a Facebook Fan Badge to your blog site. If you desprately need help with doing this with one of the other blogging platforms, leave a comment below and I’ll update this blog post with those instructions. M’Kay?

—

Whoa there big feller, how to I display the fan pictures and my Facebook feed like on some other sites?

Facebook has several types of goodies for sites and one of them is a Facebook Fan Widget (not the same thing as the badge). The Fan Widget uses JavaScript code so some blogging systems do not allow them. WordPress.org blogs do allow them since they are installed on one’s own server but WordPress.com does not allow them because of the JavaScript.