Why WordPress is the Best Choice for Small Business Owners

 Why?  Simply because a WordPress website can do everything an old-fashioned website can do, and about 100 times more.

 10 Reasons Why WordPress is the Best

Here are ten excellent reasons why WordPress is the Best platform for web design, blogging, social media — whatever. If you are looking for a website, you should choose a WordPress as your publishing platform, period:

1. Easy to use – If you can operate Microsoft Word, you can probably use WordPress.
2. Flexible – WordPress themes can be easy to modify, and hundreds of plugins and widgets make it easy to customize your website/blog.
3. Full-fledged content management system — although it’s thought of as a blogging platform, it’s really so much more.
4. No software required – Do you have a mini laptop and wireless connection? Blog from the airport in between planes.
5. Design it once and forget it — and you can blog to your heart’s content for years without ever going out of style. 
6. Easily add an e-commerce – it’s easy to accept credit cards via Google Checkout, Paypal, or accept credit cards via Authorize.net
7. Completely customize your site –  start with a theme like Hybrid or Flexibility and modify the theme so it’s uniquely yours.
8. Achieve top search engine visiblity — optimize it for search engines and get your prospects to call you when they have a need. 
9. Get social / learn more about your customers and prospects – because a blog is designed to be more interactive than a static website, and can integrate with Linked-in, Facebook, and Twitter.
10. Trick it out – with Hundreds and hundreds of plugins to customize the functionality of your website/blog so that it fits your unique needs! Plugins are truly one of the reasons Why WordPress is the Best.

These are 10 excellent reasons why WordPress is the best. Probably best of all — it’s cheaper, easier to implement, and easier to maintain.

Ready to make the switch to WordPress?  Contact me today and I’ll show you why WordPress is the best choice for you.

What are the best practices in blogging for SEO (search engine optimization)?

My clients have asked me this question:  “If SEO works so well, why are you recommending the use of Blogs to drive traffic to my website?”

In order to understand why Blogs are not only necessary, but they’re an essential part of driving traffic to your website, and why you’d want to know the Best Practices in Blogging for SEO, it’s important to take a step back and talk a minute about how Google develops the rules that determine how high our pages rank in the search engines.

The Google PageRank Algorithm

Several years ago, few people really could imagine the explosion of social media engines like Linked-in, Facebook, and Twitter.

Google did.

“The perfect search engine would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want.” ~ Google co-founder Larry Page

When Google modified its Pagerank Algorithm to include backlinks, it was the beginning of the Social Media Revolution (or the revolution of user-generated content). Google dictated that it’s not only structure of your code on your pages that determines your page rank, but also how many influential websites link to yours…, in other words, your search engine visibility is determined not only by the quality of the content on your website, but by who is linking to you.

This is why why Blogging is the new strategy to attain search engine visibility – and why it’s important to know the Best Practices in Blogging for SEO – because Blogging provides a platform to share your ideas, get others to connect with you, and if your ideas are good ones, they can share you ideas with others. So you’ve got one platform that facilitates all three actions of social media: (1) Connect (2) Collect and Share, and (3) Create.

Success breeds success. If your posts are popular and they follow the best practices in blogging for SEO, chances are they’ll also achieve greater search engine visibility.

Here are the Best Practices in Blogging for SEO

The page that does the best job with on-page optimization and has the most inbound relevant links will have the highest search ranking. Think of it from Google’s shoes… “Pagerank is based on relevant inbound links.” What does it mean? It means that Blogging combined with an SEO program is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website, and get your phones to ring.

1.Focused Content ~ Create an editorial focus for your website. If your customers are small business owners, write only about things that are of interest to small business owners. Write about sales, marketing, managing people, managing your taxes, building your cadre of trusted advisors, etc.

2.Keyword Research ~ Research keyphrases to incorporate each page and post. And only use one keyphrase per page in the on-page optmization efforts (your title, in your text, and in your hyperlinks). The more specific you are the better. For example: you’ll have a much better chance achieving a top ranking for the search term: ”ISO 9001 Certification Requirements” than you will “ISO 9001″.

3.Optimized Pages and Posts ~ Content should be relevant to a site’s core theme, products or services. Each page should be optimized around a specific keyword phrase to achieve a keyword density of at least 1% (meaning if your post is 450 words, you should use your keyword phrase at least 5 times). Make use of the keyword phrases in header tags (h1, h2, h3), use your keyword phrase in the “alt description” of the image on the page.

4.Provide Fresh Content ~ Fresh and updated content shows people there are signs of life on your website, and if you’re continually adding new pages to your website, that creates more new opportunities to gain traction with the search engines.

5.Speed Page Delivery ~ Slow loading websites frustrate visitors. Frustrated visitors look elsewhere for their needs. They will either back click or close the search altogether and then visit your competition. You can get a CDN (Content Delivery Network) or there are plugins for Wordress like WP Super Cache on WordPress that speed page load times.

6.Be Selective About Outbound Links ~ High quality outbound links are links that are relevant to your website’s core theme, product or service. Even then use them selectively. Best Practices in Blogging for SEO means to add “ref=nofollow” to most outbound links.

7.Create Quality inbound links – Avoid ‘link farming’ at all costs. This practice can result in your website being penalized. The most effective and highest rated links are those that are created organically. Organic links are links contained in relevant articles, directories, industry specific websites, news distribution sites, and most importantly, people commenting on your blog posts. If you’re using WordPress for your Blogging Platform, use a plugin like Comment Luv to give your commentors the opportunity to create a relevant back link from your website. Also, you might consider distributing SEO and Social Media enhanced press releases from time to time, for example with PR Log, a free news distribution resource; this is an excellent method of obtaining additional high quality inbound links.

If you follow these 7 Best Practices in Blogging for SEO – you’ll get a lot more quality inbound traffic, and the next things you’ll want to start working on are reducing your bounce rates (people visiting your site and leaving because you aren’t giving them what they want), and increasing your conversion rates (registrations, downloads, requests for more information).

Need help increasing your search engine visibility? Contact me today about blogging for SEO!!

If your WordPress website has been affected by malware recently, you are not alone, particularly if you’re on a shared server (like The Rackspace Cloud, or Godaddy for example).

These attacks are not specific to any particular hosting company or to WordPress. These malware attacks can affect any website running out-dated software hosted by any company.

I have 20+ WordPress websites hosted on The Rackspace Cloud.  And several of my sites, along with innumerable others, were the target of malicious hackers. Rackspace has been great throughout this whole process. And they reminded me ‘why it’s important to implement security measures in the first place‘ and keep my software updated with the most recent patches. An ‘ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure’. But what are you supposed to do if you’ve been hacked?

How to fix a compromised WordPress website

 If you’ve got a compromised WordPress website, the first thing you need to do is to get a snapshot (“Go to .snapshot”) of your WordPress website and restore the last known files that were working to your webserver so you can see the Website and access the Admin. If you’re able to do that, then here’s what you want to do next…, along with two great plugins to make your life much easier:

Upgrade to the latest version of WordPress

1. Update your .htaccess file in the root folder to memory permissions to 128K (‘php_value memory_limit 128M’)
2. Update to the latest version of WordPress
3. Update all your plugins to the latest stable version

Secure your website with .htaccess security (Bulletproof Security)

Protects your website from ALL XSS & SQL Injection hacking attempts. Protects wp-config.php with .htaccess protection. One-click .htaccess security file activation. By Edward Alexander.

1. Install .htaccess security at both the wp-admin folder and the root folder.
2. Protect your wp-config.php file.

Secure your website some more and clean it (WP Cloud Sites WP Scanner)

With this plugin you can easily adjust your file permissions on Rackspace Cloud Sites hosting for a more secure installation. Includes tools to look for and eliminate other common exploits in the cloud, looking for hidden php files, non-core files, modified core files, auto loading options with malicious code, and posts/pages injected with javascript. By Jackson Whelan.

1. Adjust your file permissions correctly on your entire website, and then revert while upgrading.
2. Scan options, tables, and posts for malware and transient feeds.
3. Search for Hidden Files and Modified Core Files

Secure both the website and your MySQL database for maximum protection

1. Change your passwords for both FTP and your MySQL database (you do this in your control panel and in your wp_config.php file)
2. Change the main admin’s user name from admin to something else unique to you (you do this through phpAdmin on the wp_users table).
3. Change the prefix on the tables in the MySQL database from “wp_” to “wpxx_” (you do this through phpAdmin and your config.php file, where xx is a variable you choose) tightens the security on your install immeasurably.  

Ok so hopefully by doing this you’ll be able to restore your website, secure it, and clean it so it’s the way it was prior to the attack. If not, if you were unable to restore it, then the last resort is to perform a clean WordPress re-install to your backed up MySQL database.

Many thanks to Jackson Whelan, Edward Alexander, and particularly Josh Prewitt from The Rackspace Cloud crew so I can now move on to other projects.

Have questions or need additional information?  Contact me. 

Facebook is, quite simply, social networking at its finest. Not only can you use the platform to interact with family and friends, but from a commercial point of view, it’s great for marketing as well.

Facebook is a Marketer’s dream.  You can connect with more than 500 million potential customers, you can choose your audience by location, age and interests, all with easy-to-target, self-reported demographics that are up-to-date and accurate.

If you own a business, or are responsible for marketing one, you’re right to think about creating a Facebook Page (formerly a Fan Page) and build community around your business. And you’re right to think about using a drawing, contest, or sweepstakes to grow your Fan base.

Be aware of the rules and regulations

Facebook has grown so much so quickly there’s still confusion about what you can and cannot do.  For example, it is against Facebook’s promotional guidelines to post this offer on the wall of your fan page:

“Like us and Win a $250 Shopping Spree (or some other prize)”

 Potential problems with this offer:

• You can not administer a promotion on your wall (without an approved 3rd party application)
• You need to get Facebook’s approval prior to running a promotion on your wall
• You can’t use Facebook to communicate with the winner

The big distinction that Facebook makes in their promotional guidelines is between publicizing and administering a promotion on Facebook (this applies to contests & sweepstakes only):

• Publicizing a promotion means that you promote, advertise or reference a promotion in Facebook, but you do not collect entries or draw or notify winners in Facebook.
• Administering a promotion means you both publicize it and collect entries in Facebook.

These guidelines have been a boon to 3rd party applications like Wildfire, Involver, FanBase that help Marketers administer promotions through Facebook, but on the 3rd party-application page (which is technically outside Facebook). These applications require users “Like you” as a condition of entry, and then have a an entry form that’s not “on” Facebook, so it conforms to all the rules. But many of these solutions can be expensive — a minimum of $750-$1,000/month and up–making it cost-prohibitive to many small businesses.

The Solution? Use Facebook to promote, not administer, your drawing, contest, or sweepstakes

Publicizing  your promotion does not need Facebook approval, and does not need an approved 3rd-party application to run it.

You can use Facebook freely to promote, advertise or reference your promotion, but you don’t collect entries or notify winners in Facebook. 

Need help with promoting your business with a Facebook ad or sweepstakes?  Mommy Fuel can do it for you!  Call us at (216) 956-2123 today!!!

Next Post: “5 Easy Ways to Build your Fan Base for your Facebook Page“

“Blogging and Social Media… Why bother?”

I”m glad you asked…

Why Blog? Blogging is not to show everyone how smart or cute you are. If it’s going to be a part of an effective business strategy, you need to provide value, to help your customers solve problems, and establish yourself as a thought leader.

Why Social Media? It’s to connect with real people: friends, associates, affiliates, prospects, customers, and share your collection of great ideas (yours and others in your particular niche). If you are using social media, you get to build your own channel, and you are literally the Editorial Board, Editor in Chief, Writer/Anchor, and Ombudsman all in one person.

Why Blogging and Social Media? Quite simply, it’s a radical new opportunity to put yourself “out there” in front of your clients and prospects, to help them solve problems,and position yourself as a potential solution provider, so that when they have a problem they contact you to help them.

Don’t forget that Social Media is “Social”

One of the mistakes I see most often is when people confuse social media with broadcast media.

You should be working to genuinely connect with people because you genuinely care about connecting with people (**not to connect with them just so you can sell something**).

If you’re at a cocktail party, you are boorish  if all you do is talk about yourself.  Blah, blah, blah.

Like anything worth having, blogging and social media successfully requires some of your time and attention–not all of it but some of it. Follow others you look up to, see what they’re doing, follow the conversation, add value when you have value to add.

And one thing is for sure, if you don’t put anything into it, you can’t realistically expect to get anything out of it.

If you are building a website that’s geared towards business or e-commerce, you should design it with an eye towards achieving top search engine rankings.

If you are spending or have spent a significant amount of money to develop the “Look and Feel” of your website but no-one can find you, then you’re leaving money on the table. SEO campaigns have a much higher return on investment than other traditional internet marketing techniques, and they integrate well with “Inbound Marketing” (where ready buyers contact you when they have a need).

SEO/Inbound Marketing is “The New Yellow Pages”

It’s no longer good enough to just build a website and do some magical on-page SEO. The new trend is towards “Inbound Marketing”–the combination of (1) developing great content (2) optimizing your website for greater search engine visibility, and (3) engaging in social media–it really represents the new way for you to achieve visibility and to get your prospects to call you.

One of the essential components of an Inbound Marketing program is search engine optimization (SEO), the benefits of which are:

• It’s a free source of targeted inbound traffic
• It works around the clock for you
• It positions you as “the authority”–Being #1 for your specific niche, whatever that is… is key to establishing yourself as the authority.

SEO, Pay-per-click, Blogging, Social Media Marketing. It all works together in a powerful combination to position YOU as the expert at what you do — so that when your prospects have a need, you’re already top-of-mind, and they call you first.

And they other ready buyers to you as the ”go-to resource.”

The yellow pages don’t work like they used to.

They’re expensive, plus you’re tied to the phone company.

Introducing Universal Business Listing

With a UBL, you can list once,  and be found everywhere, and you don’t even need a land-line. If you use your cell phone for your business–you can use that. And it’s only $30 bucks/year.

UBL distributes your batch client listings to all the major Search and Directory outlets – hundreds in total. These include:

• Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN
• Online Yellow Pages such as Superpages, Yellowpages.com
• Portals and Guides such as AOL, CitySearch
• Databases like infoUSA and Acxiom
• Cell Phones and Mobile devices such as BlackBerry and iPhone
• 411 Directory Assistance
• In-Car GPS Navigation
• Telematics such as OnStar

You can also customize it with special tags that will increase your search engine visibility if you have a website.

If you don’t have much money, and you’d like to start getting some visibility for your business–even if you don’t have a web presence yet. You should get a Universal Business Listing — apply here. If you’d like me to help you set this up, just contact me here.

Social media is a powerful way to communicate because like all real communication, it’s a two-way street, an opportunity to engage and build relationships with people.

You shouldn’t invest in social media for a quick return. If you’re going to invest in social media for your business, you should view it as a process to build relationships potential customers, and strengthen relationships with existing customers.

It’s easy to get caught up in all the different channels and tactics: Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter, Forums, Blogs, Podcasts, and Videos.  New channels spring up daily, it seems.

What ultimately matters is the value that others place on your communications and the relationships that you are building.

But be warned.  Too many business owners try Social Media and expect a quick return. They’re comparing Social Media to sending out an email blast, or dropping a bunch of sales letters or post cards to make the phones ring.

Acknowledging others is the greatest thing you can do.

If you are actively listening to someone, its customary to acknowledge or confirm what they’re saying to show them you understand what they’re saying.

It’s not only polite, it’s good business.

If you’re blogging, you should be thinking more like a publisher than a sales or marketing executive. Publishers are thinking about the issues and trends that matter most to their readers and they develop editorial direction based on those issues and trends.

If you’re social networking, you should actively engage others by acknowledging them and show them you’re listening by commenting on their blog posts (be sure to add value to the conversation), retweeting and replying to their tweets, “liking” and commenting on their Facebook entries.

Instead of a return, what you should aim for–and expect–is feedback. Do people agree with you? Do they disagree? Do they have something to add? Do they “like” what you’re saying? Do they ignore it?

Like any process, it’s an opportunity to learn. And based on what  you learn, you’ll find new opportunities to serve.

And if you’re really good, you’ll some lead and sales, too.

Results. Everyone’s looking for them, and a savvy few get them.