It’s not $19.95 per template. It’s $19.95 for access to download all of them and for updates and support for all of them.

For only $19.95, you get access to download all 32 of their current WordPress themes and every theme that they come out with for the next 12 months. They also frequently update their themes so you have access to updates of your theme as well as premium support.

It’s one of my all time favorite theme clubs and if you want to take your blog to the next level then this is the way to do it. They’re work is impressive and at these prices it’s hard not to be a member.

Check out these WordPress themes on display below and I’m absolutely confident that you’ll see the amazing value being offered. These are only a portion of all the themes that you get when you sign up.

He was genuine, a one of a kind person. He might have had a few problems but if you ignore that fact Michael Jackson was a star.  Here are the tips to mimic him. Read closely and apply it your own writing.

1. Find something you love or are good at: Write about something you know about. Do not write half minded about a topic you have no clue about. The more you know about it, the more quality content you can put into it which in turn will make your readers enjoy it more.  Remember Quality = Great Content which leads to Readers = Interaction. Plus if you consider something boring do not write it your readers will feel the same way.
2. Be Full Of Energy: Write with lots of voice and energy. Put lots of exclamation points and adjectives and verbs. Make it like your writing an action book. Make excitement at every turn.
3. Plan: Plan out everything completely. There is no margin for error especially since you have less than 10 seconds to catch your reader’s attention.  Plan out your post completely and do tons of research so you know what your saying is credible.
4. Finish It All Off With A Bang: After you have gotten their attention finish it all of with a bang. More excitement, suspense, a controversial question. Make it full of explosions. Just do not over do it that it gets annoying. Picture seeing an Action/Adventure movie where there is bang, bang every second. It is just mindless slap stick and explosions that gets tiring- and annoying. Put a plot to it.
5. Ignore Hateful Comments: Just like Michael you have to ignore hateful comments. Do not let it ruin your self-esteem or creativity. What ever bad comments there leaving try to fix what they say you’re doing wrong or suggesting. Also there are going to be trolls and haters who just like to make people feel bad and besides not everyone will like your content. Just let it slide.

If you take all these suggestions to heart and try to make each post better than the next you will have a following. After I implemented these tips to my own website I got tons more interaction with you’re my readers and more traffic.  Let your name live long in the inter webs with a nice outlook.

It was also neat to note the shift in perspective that so many of us have clearly made in our ideas of branding. We discovered together that branding isn’t just about logos, slogans, and designs. It’s about the perceptions that potential customers have in their minds when they think of it.

The responses in that post were remarkable. Below you’ll find a sampling of some of the concepts that were shared in the conversation.

Branding isn’t visual…it’s mental.

A brand is something that is not recognized visually but mentally.

~ Mike Stenger from MikeStenger.com

A strong brand draws people in.

A brand to me answers the question “What is the business or individual known for?” It’s a combination of traits that form something valuable that people are drawn to and want to tell their friends about.

~ Tim Zager from Magic Dude Marketing

A brand is the very core of your business.

The fact is however, that branding goes much further. A brand is the very core of your business or organization, from it’s appearance on print and web, to it’s personality and clientele. Every time someone speaks to you on the phone, an impression of your organization is being made, thus branding is in the making.

~ Thomas McGhee from WinePress of Words

A brand sets you above your competitors.

The best part about the whole brand thing is that customers may choose you over competitors (often, even) just because they like the brand image you’ve built, not even due to the quality of your product or whatever.

~ Jason Periera from The University Kid

Group Reflection

Remember that a brand isn’t just about what your promoting. It’s about what people are getting from your promotions.

Toyota has been building a brand around the idea of reliability for the past 10 or 15 years and it’s worked to propel them to the top of the automotive industry. This year, however, that has all changed with their massive negative publicity related to the accelerator sticking on their newer models. It doesn’t matter how reliable they say their vehicles are when the news is running non-stop that the controls don’t work properly.

So what are doing to build your brand? Are you projecting an image to the world of reliability, expertise, and professionalism?

Just the other day I came across a post titled “Top 10 Reasons to Care About Social Media” and here are just a few of the statistics:

• 2/3 of the global internet population uses social networks.
• Social media is the #1 online activity, beating out porn and email.
• If Facebook were a country, it would be larger than the US and the 3rd (yes, 3rd) largest country in the world!

Social media isn’t just some fad…it’s where the internet is shifting and where those who understand it and use it, can make big things happen.

If you’ve been following Nick’s blog, you see that he puts out consistent content to really help you blog better. What I wanted to do was come in and touch on some ways to build your blog through social media and have it be much more of a good traffic source.

Step 1: Make sure people have a clear idea of what you do/write/do videos about and where they can find that content.

I’ll see people all the time who just throw a link up that goes to one of their “social profiles” account and that has a link to their website. Screw that! If you want people to really see your content, put your website up where everyone can see and so that site will be associated you. That way, when they come across your Twitter, Facebook, etc., they’ll be like “Yeah, that’s the guy from robsfriedchickentips.com”.

Step 2: Setup a way of getting your content posted to your social networks (consistently) and at good time intervals.

Like I replied to someone recently about this, “If you throw up a billboard in a small populated area, you’re not going to get nearly as many eyeballs as if you posted it downtown.” You want to make sure your posting your new content at peak traffic times. I myself find the best times to be between 12PM and 6 or 7 PM. Of course this isn’t the same for everybody, just a good gauge that you can start testing with.

Step 3: Make sure your blog is “optimized” for that social media traffic.

The downside of social media traffic is the high-bounce rate. Considering that most of that traffic consists of people wanting something and wanting it NOW (very distracted most of the time too), you’ve got to make a clear focus to the content. A bunch of ads and all these popups will just frustrate the reader and then they’ll get back to what they were doing.

On my blog where I talk about business, success and social media strategies, you’ll see that there is a clear focus on the content. I’m not saying that to brag but it’s very important because that’s what really matters at the end of the day. I found that by de-cluttering my site, I was able to bring my bounce rate down 9%. Not a huge improvement but it helps…

In further optimizing your blog, make sure you have easy ways of sharing that content on AT LEAST Twitter and Facebook. You can support more than that but you want at least the basics because it’s great that people read your content but it’s even greater when they share it with their friends and followers.

Step 4: Always be testing.

You want to always be working on and improving what you do and how you do it. If you sit still and don’t do anything differently, nothing will likely happen. They say the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.” Don’t build your blog through insanity…build it through some good ol’ testing and consistent action, not just in social media but in general.

Discussion

What ways are you capitalizing on social media traffic. Do you have any unique or different ways of getting more eyeballs to your site through social media?

I can now communicate instantly across the internet with my wife, my in-laws, my parents and even my grandparents. I can reach out to new people and make friends and safely connect and engage perfect strangers in conversations.

But as with any good thing, people soon try to figure out how to monetize it even at the expense of it’s quality. People spam their links across Twitter. They market their worthless products. They excessively use auto-tweeters and affiliate links. They don’t engage and connect as real people. They don’t understand what it means to be social.

Even though I say they, I really mean we. We do these things. We spam the people around us thinking that it helps build our online products.

Group Reflection

What ever happened to being social? What ever happened to acting like members of a community? When did we stop having real conversations? When did we stop acting like humans?

When a reader lands on one of our articles, most aren’t going to take the time to read the entire thing. I know that I rarely do. I seldom take the time to read an entire article. I peruse the article for concepts that can help me the most and I read only those paragraphs that interest me the most.

How to Create Content for Casual Readers

Here’s some ways to make your articles easier for your readers to skim.

• Use headlines: Making use of headlines like the one above allows readers to know exactly where one concept ends and another begins. If they’re not interested in your first point, this allows them to skip immediately to the next.
• Use lists: If you have a list of concepts like the ones in this article, then using organized lists are a perfect way to allow people a quick overview of each point.
• Emphasize important information: Don’t be afraid to make text bold, italic, or underlined. If something is important, make it stand out to your readers eyes.
• Break up your paragraphs: On my site, I try to make ever paragraph six lines or fewer. If one extends beyond that, I find a way to break it up into two paragraphs. People aren’t going to dig through a mile long block of text.

Community Reflection

Do you resent the fact that people don’t read your articles all the way through or do you embrace it and cater to it? Do you make it easy for your readers to find information quickly and efficitently?

Most people don’t want to spend 20 minutes at your website. They want to get in, get their information, and get out.

What are you doing to make that easier for your readers? What other ideas are you implementing on your blog?

It’s whatever comes to the minds of the people because that is a direct reflection of what you are promoting. Not necessarily what you are trying to promote or what you think you are promoting.

What others think about you is ultimately what others are getting from your marketing.

Your Brand is What People Think of You

It’s like the name brand cereal versus the generic. Both have logos, maskots, etc. But the name brand has taken the time with commercials and advertising to create a perception that their product is better. Often times those perceptions are true. Their products usually are better.

If you have what you believe to be an awesome logo yet nobody ever thinks of you when they need something in your niche, then you don’t actually have a brand…you simply have a picture at the top of your site. If people think of you and take action then you have a brand.

Brand marketing is everything if it can be done to actually drive people to action.

Group Reflection

This concept is all about the group reflection. I want to hear your opinions about branding. I want to know what you think so here’s a few questions to get the discussion started.

• What exactly is a brand? What all does it entail?
• What brands can you think of that you prefer to buy over their competitors?
• What is it about those type of brands that make them better in your mind?
• What does it take to create an image in people’s minds that drives them to take action?

Spend a little time getting acquainted

I spent a little getting to know other bloggers and many of them were really helpful with giving advice about how to set my blog up and sharing their experiences. I made a point of commenting on the sites I enjoyed and also let people know my site was going to be live soon.

Be passionate about your subject matter

I heard this time and time again, when researching about how to set my blog up. Blog about something you are passionate about because, you will be writing about your subject matter a lot! Luckily I have found my passion and to date, I have enjoyed running my blog immensely, but I can see that this is great advice. Setting up a blog about mortgages just because this is a popular area for example isn’t going to last long if you are not genuinely interested in this area. Think of the bigger picture and whether or not you can see yourself writing about your subject matter in a years time.

Set up your blog

I did a fair bit of research beforehand about how to set my website up. I set it up thought Wordpress and I haven’t looked back since! There are many resources online to help you with this and some bloggers who set up sites for free (usually if you but hosting as an affiliate through them).This is useful too, but personally I have enjoyed learning these skills for myself. See what your priorities are, to decide what is best for you.

Get on Twitter

Twitter a great way to meet fellow bloggers and network and let other people know about your blog. When I first started I was a bit shy, and it took me a little while to get my head around how it worked but I have found using it as a way to chat to people and have fun works really well. Be natural and reach out to people too. Also link to your new posts (you can make the links smaller here.) I might tweet about my own posts a few times a day – don’t do it too often and spam people but share at different times of the day to reach different audiences. Also others that enjoy your posts will retweet them and I also do this for posts I enjoy.

Be genuine

Interacting with people online is different to offline, but being genuine and real as with real life, makes the difference. Help others and don’t be afraid to ask for help. I have been amazed at the support and help other bloggers have given me and try and help others when they ask for it too.

Find your own rhythm

We are all different and have different schedules and commitments. I read a lot of good advice about how to build a successful blog but I am careful to only take what works for me. Some people say to grow a successful site post every day and work till your eyeballs bleed! Others say do it at a sustainable pace and don’t let it become hard work. I think there is probably a bit of truth in all of these posts, but I would say always make sure it works for you. There is no point working 14 hours a day and burning yourself out after a few months, or not doing enough work to get where you want to be on the other hand. Listen to others that have been there but ultimately do what’s right for you and your own situation.

Be consistent

I heard this message from so many bloggers when I started blogging and it really stuck with me. Readers like to know when you will post whether that is every day or once a week. Finding my own pace made a difference to this. I post at least once a week, which is right for me. I realised
I would rather do one good quality post a week than rush to do more just so I was posting more often.

Some popular bloggers like Tina at thinksimplenow post more irregularly but have a huge following, so again this isn’t set in stone. For me consistency has worked, especially when growing my readership, but again do what feels right for you.

Help others

Sharing other people’s posts, offering encouragement and commenting are all ways to get to know and help others. Commenting allows you to leave a link to your own site, which is a good way to drive some traffic to your site. However I would say again, try and be as genuine and real and write well thought out comments because you feel compelled to do so, not because you are looking for exposure yourself. People sense if someone is doing that and it can turn people off. Be real and offer value with all your online interactions.

Write great content

“Content is king” is something you will start to hear when you become a blogger and I would say it is very true. Obviously there are a lot of factors that influence how popular your blog will become. You can have the most amazing content but if you are not letting people know about it, then things won’t progress quickly so great content needs to be accompanied with getting your name out there. However fundamentally, great content goes a long way. Again be yourself, write from the heart and try and be fresh and original and offer value.

But is this really true? Is Google forcing us to choose between their search engine and our audiences?Would that even make sense?

The answer to all three of those questions is a resounding NO.

Google is looking for relevant content that their users will actually enjoy and find useful. They want to provide their searchers with articles and content that is engaging and they’ve worked hard to create a system that allows bloggers and webmasters to communicate the content of their site to Google while at the same time maintaining the compelling edge that draws in real people.

4 SEO Factors that Won’t Harm Your Content

Listed below are four examples of the most powerful SEO factors that bloggers can optimize to rapidly increase their presence in search engines while still maintaining stellar content that readers will keep flocking back to your site to read.

1. The Title Tag: Most experts weigh the title as one of the absolute most important elements for ranking well for keywords. This tag is the piece that appears at the top bar of your browser. It doesn’t actually show on the page. It’s also this title that appears on search engine listings so it’s important to make it catchy and extremely relevant to what your page is about.
2. Inbound Links: Inbound links are like votes that tell Google and other search engines that your website is important. It’s also incredibly helpful to have inbound links that use phrases you’re trying to rank for as the anchor text. For example, as I’m trying to rank Site Sketch 101 for the phrase how to blog, I’m working to build inbound links that use the phrase how to blog as the link text. (Hint. Hint.)
3. The Description: The meta description for a page is invisible to everyone except for the search engines and those who view your listings on them. A description that makes use of a relevant keywords and provides a very clear representation of what your article is about will always attract the most visitors.
4. The Heading Tags: Doesn’t it make sense to use headlines that are relevant and descriptive as to the content of your articles? Your readers should be able to read your headlines and tell exactly what your content is about. Google uses this reasoning to weigh the words in your headlines as more important than the rest of the text. This simply means that you should use your headlines to share important concepts with your readers. That’s a good practice for both SEO and for readability.

Group Reflection

Are you afraid of search engine optimization? Do you view it as a threat to your community or to your content? Stop thinking that way today and start finding ways to marry these two concepts together: SEO and compelling content.

How can you work to infuse these SEO factors into your website? Can you make them a part of your site?

True leadership cannot be handed to someone in a title or assigned to someone as a duty. Real leadership is a result of pure, unbridled influence. The greatest influencers and leaders online aren’t people who were assigned that title. They are men and women who stood up and started making a difference.

This list represents those who have worked to earn that power of influence in our lives. These people are making a difference in the lives of people around the world. The people are influential.

Influential Bloggers #1: Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan is the New York Times bestselling author of Trust Agents and he’s a master of social media. He’s working hard to transform the way people interact and do business online. His philosophy can be summed up by this simple concept: being human from a distance. His unique look at online relationships is attracting huge crowds.

Influential Bloggers #2: Darren Rowse

Darren Rowse is the online authority when it comes to successful blogging. He’s the founder of several hugely popular blogs. Perhaps his most popular, Problogger, is the online authority when it comes to providing bloggers with the resources and information necessary to build powerful blogs.

Influential Bloggers #3: Brian Clark

Brian Clark is the driving force behind CopyBlogger where he educates people on how to write compelling content to vastly improve online marketing. He focus on teaching people how to get traffic, attract links, gain subscribers and sell stuff. His sites can be summarized by these two simple concepts: content strategies

Influential Bloggers #4: Matt Cutts

Matt Cutts is our link into the world of Google. He serves as the head of their spam prevention department and as such he has an intimate knowledge of what Google favors and what they frown upon. He shares blog posts, videos and interviews educating bloggers and webmasters as to the best ways to build great content that Google pays attention to.

Influential Bloggers #5: Rand Fishkin

Rand Fishkin is the founder and mastermind behind SEOmoz. Since it’s inception, SEOmoz has developed into one of the most visible online websites dedicated to search marketing. Rand has built SEOmoz as the go-to resource for all things related to Search Engines and the tactics necessary to get your site noticed.

Influential Bloggers #6: Seth Godin

Seth Godin has authored 10 bestselling books that have changed the way that people view marketing and work. His no-holds-barred style of writing at his blog has drawn an international following. Godin is working to persuade people to reinvent the way that they relate with the people around them.

Influential Bloggers #7: Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferris is grabbing some attention with his ‘experiments in lifestyle design’ blog and his runaway bestseller The 4-Hour Work Week. It has been said that Tim is the Indiana Jones for the digital age. He’s a bestselling author, a world record holder, a speaker of 5 languages, a public speaker, and much more.

Influential Bloggers #8: Yaro Starak

Yaro Starak is an entrepreneur from Australia. Yaro has built and sold several online businesses and now teaches people how to make a full-time living from blogging part time through his highly successful Blog Mastermind Program. He draws from his own experience and is passionate about helping others achieve the same successes.

Influential Bloggers #9: David Risley

David Risley’s blog is aptly subtitled Confessions of a Six-Figure Blogger. David Risley averages 18,000 per month through his online income ventures. His most popular website, PCMech, brings in around 250,000 visitors each month.

Influential Bloggers #10: Gary Vaynerchuck

Gary Vaynerchuck has became famous for his Wine Library TV where he offers a daily video with an unorthodox approach to a historically stuffy subject. His slogan has been changing the wine world and he really has been doing just that.

Influential Bloggers #11: Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki is a man on a mission. His blog is aptly titled How to Change the World. He’s a business mogul who’s determined to make an impact on the world. He has been described as a living legend to which he replied with the following quote:

“What you should do is create a great product or service…the goal is to change the world…if you do that, maybe you’ll be a legend.”

Influential Bloggers #12: John Chow

John Chow is, as he likes to himself, a media mogul. He’s an online entrepreneur, blogger, founder of an online advertising company, and an instructor to authors. He has often quipped that he makes money online by teaching others how to make money online.

Influential Bloggers #13: Daniel Scocco

Daniel Scocco is famous for his small ‘Daily’ blogs like Daily Blog Tips and Daily Writing Tips. Although his blogs may appear small, he’s built a massive following and has rallied a community around his sites.

Influential Bloggers #14: Nicholas Cardot

Nicholas Cardot is a full-time Infantryman in the United States Army and he’s the founder and author of Site Sketch 101. His military background has shaped his philosophical emphasis on building and sustaining a community.

Although he may not be the most influential blogger right now, he’s quickly growing his online presence, developing his relationships, and working to impact and empower as many people as he can. His online aspirations cannot be measured or described. He’s reaching for the stars as should every blogger.

Influential Bloggers #15: You

You are the one that is truly revolutionizing the way blogging is done. You’re the one reaching out to the online community in your topic. You’re the one that is blogging with real passion. You’re the one working hard to build relationships, to share information, and to build your community. You are the one who inspires and influences me.

Group Reflection

So who do you think should be added to the list and why? And who do you think should be removed? I want to know which bloggers have influenced you the most.