In my daily internet travels I came across what I think is a perfect example of the differences between traditional marketing and the ever growing, every popular social media marketing.
From talking with people who own small businesses, they just are not getting the connection and importance of adding social media to their marketing portfolio. Even though you see Facebook and Twitter just about everywhere you look these days, the idea that it is simply a way for “young people to talk to their friends” or about “people sharing useless information like, I just finished breakfast” seems still very much a reality to so many.
Social media has become so popular that even large companies like Pepsi are choosing to spend their advertising budget on it rather than their typical legendary Superbowl commercials (read article: Pepsi to Skip Super Bowl Ads in Favor of $20M Social Media Campaign), therefore, doesn’t it stand to reason that we should all be looking at moving in this direction?
In this article by Bravemedia, they give an excellent example of how social media works and how it can change the way your business interacts with customers in a very powerful way.
If after this you can see how it will help your business, leave us a comment below and tell us about it!
ps. Very soon, we’ll be launching new services that will show you step-by-step how to create your own social media marketing portfolio and services for those that just don’t have time to do it all themselves…stay tuned!
45 iPhone Applications for Web Designers and Developers
I’m was sitting here tonight just trying to ignore the heat and came across a really cool post for iPhone apps. Even if you’re new to this whole thing (design), you still might find some of these very handy.
There are a few quick reference guides for CSS, HTML and PHP which could prove to be invaluable, especially if you are new or have been away from the “code” side for any length of time.
There’s stuff for organizing and making lists, financial apps and so much more…I think I’ll sit out in the cooler (not really cool) night air and play with my new toys:)
Here’s another tip from my friend Kyle Reddoch on the importance of headings and how best to use them for SEO purposes.
Headings form a part of the logical structure of an HTML document. There are six heading tags <h1> to <h6> each having its ending tag.
To get better ranking in search engines, make sure that the web page headings contain all (or the most important) keywords and key phrases. If the same keywords and key phrases are repeated in the paragraph following the heading, the page will certainly get a boost in ranking.
You should NEVER use headings to increase the size of text. You have at your disposal the tag, and the <small>, <big>tags for that purpose. Furthermore, you can gain a better control over font size and other text properties using Cascading Style Sheets.
Since headings provide a logical structure to the document, another important thing to remember is NEVER to use smaller level headings before the higher. Thus, <h4> should not be used before <h2> (though, HTML does not enforce this).
I decided to list the 6 main reasons why I feel WordPress is the perfect platform for small business beginners. Even if you have some knowledge of web design, as a small business owner you’ll find many other benefits such as how fast you can be up and running with little to no real learning curve, how affordable it is and how it can be expanded easily as your business grows.
6 Reasons Why WordPress is Perfect for Small Business Beginners….
#1 WordPress is Easy on the Budget – Besides the fact that the wordpress platform itself is 100% free, you’ll find that most of the extensions and themes are also free. So the only thing you are really paying for is your hosting and domain name.
#2 WordPress is Easy to Install and Set-up – Within minutes you can have your site set up and ready to go. If your hosting includes “Fantastico”, the installation can all be done automatically with no further knowledge of databases or installation process required on your part.
#3 WordPress is Easy to Customize – Do a quick search for “wordpress themes” and find one that suits your needs and tastes. Then simply install the theme of your choice within seconds . You can further customize it using widgets and plugins if you choose.
#4 WordPress is Easy to Expand – As your business grows and changes, so will your website needs. WordPress is scalable and can easily grow with your business. You may want to grow your own community or start selling your own products. Both (and others) are easily done through plugins.
#5 WordPress is Easy to Maintain – As time goes on, you’ll need to backup and clean-up. It’s so easy with wordpress! There are plugins that will allow you to automatically backup your database (a very important task) right from your admin area. And removing redundant plugins, links or content are a matter of clicking a button. No messy code to muddle through.
#6 WordPress is Easy to Add Content - content can be added in minutes from any computer with internet access, even your phone. It uses a WYSIWYG editor so you can write, edit and create beautiful content as if you were using Microsoft Word. Add images, audio files and videos directly into your posts and pages and create even more appealing content for your readers.
What do you think? Can you think up more reasons? Leave me a comment.
~Toresa
ps. Don’t know what WordPress is? Want a step-by-step guide to setting up your own WordPress website? Take my 7 Day Video eCourse Free…Get Details
Today I was working away behind the scenes when all of a sudden out of no where my site was down! 500 Errors and no access to my wp- admin panel.
There can be a few reasons this happens, but the first thing to do is NOT Panic.
The majority of the time it’s either:
Permissions
Plugins
or your .htaccess file
After checking my .htaccess file and the permissions on my site using my ftp, my last resort was to head over to my phpMyAdmin from my Cpanel and disable all of my plugins.
Disabling Your WordPress Plugins without Admin Access – Method 1
Login to your Cpanel account and find the phpMyAdmin button or link. This should take you to your wordpress database tables.
Look for the table called wp_options
Then look under the option_name column (field) and find the active_plugins row (you may need to go to page 2)
Once you’ve found that row, click on the pencil icon to edit.
Under the option_value field you will see a whole bunch of data which relates to your plugins. Highlight the whole field, then copy and paste to a text document.
Once you’ve copied (backed up) the data, replace the current data with a:0:{}
Hit GO
You should now have complete access to your wordpress admin.
The next step is to re-activate the plugins one by one to see which one might have cause the problem.
Another alternative method is:
Disabling Your WordPress Plugins without Admin Access – Method 2
Here you’ll be creating a dummy folder called Plugins so you can gain access to your wp-admin.
Using either your FTP or your host’s control panel, navigate to the wp-contents folder (directory)
Now, rename the folder “plugins” to “plugins.hold”
create a new folder called “plugins”
You should be able to login to your WordPress administration, so try now
Once you are able to login, either by FTP or your host’s control panel, delete the empty “plugins” you
rename the folder “plugins.hold” back to “plugins”
I just finished watching a video by Tammy Kahn Fennel at the Traffic Rockstars Expo about her new Twitter software “MarketMe Tweet”. From watching her walk through of the software I was blown away by the amazing things you can do to market your business using Twitter.
A few of the features that stood out to me:
Unlimited Twitter Accounts
Unlimited Scheduled Tweets
Unique Branding Ability!
I couldn’t possibly do this software any justice myself simply because I am just learning how it works, so I’m going to let the tour do the job properly.
If you want to get traffic the right way using Twitter, then I suggest you check this out
These days using social media should be a big part of marketing your business. But the time it takes can sometimes be extremely overwhelming. So much so, that many people actually stop it completely. While catching up on my tweets this week, 1 tweet in particular caught my eye and I just had to share it with you.
Robin Broitman of Interactive Insights Group has compiled a very large list of articles that offer great advice, tips and tools to help you be more productive and efficient when using social media.
I recommend bookmarking this post and reading a little bit everyday…after all, being such a comprehensive list, I don’t want you to get overwhelmed just trying to learn how not to be overwhelmed by social media:)
Ps. I found the image for this post linked to a very interesting article by Fred Cavazza entitled, “Social Media Landscape“, that breaks down the actual meaning of “Social Media” …another very interesting read.
