Comparing a Static Website and WordPress Blog

By Angela Wills

Trying to make a decision between using a static website vs. WordPress blog for your small business?

Here is a comparison of both so you can make an informed decision!

Static Website

A website made with HTML is commonly known as a static website. When a website is made in HTML it can be done all by hand (which is the long, outdated way and is rarely used) or it can be made with some sort of website design program such as Microsoft Expressions, Adobe Dreamweaver or a host of others.

Pros:
•    Quickly Created – For someone who knows what they are doing a simple one or two page static website is a quick process to create. These are sometimes very useful for single salespages, email opt-in sites or anything that requires just a few pages.

Cons:
•    Expensive – An HTML website can be expensive both to create and to maintain. You need to make sure you have a designer who knows the software your website was built in and that’s not always easy.
•    Organization is Difficult – Like I mentioned, static is great if you just need a page or two but some sites have hundreds of pages. Organization can be difficult and messy with a static website and pages can become out-date or missed without realization.

WordPress Website

WordPress was originally created as a blogging software but it has grown into so much more than that. Yes, you can make wonderful blogs on WordPress but you can also build entire sites on this open source (free) piece of software.

Pros:
•    Huge Selection of Themes – There are some amazing theme designers out there for WordPress who are constantly striving to create better themes for users. They span a wide range of colors, looks, niche topics and layouts.
•    Updating is Easy – Unlike the static website you can find people who know how to use WordPress very easily. There are hundreds of Virtual Assistants who provide the service of updates for your site built into this program. They’ll do this work for you at very reasonable prices as well.

Cons:
•    Regular Upgrades – Because the software is open source one major disadvantage is the frequent updates required to keep away spammers and website hijackers.
•    Customization – Not all WordPress themes will be to your liking so you may need to do some customization. While this is a disadvantage to the newbie, if you find an experienced person to help you, this will be no problem at all.

Making the choice on which way to go will depend on your needs, your own experience, your range of information and how quickly you want to get set up. Just make sure you do your research before making the decision, saving yourself some time and hassle in the long run.

Want to make your own WordPress Website? Join me as I teach you through my online video, webinar and email coaching program how to create your own WordPress blog or website.

Keyword Placement- How to Use it Correctly

By Tom Denton

Your SEO efforts may prove futile without the strategy of correct keyword placement. Basically you need to have a good grip on this practice to be successful in your climb up the search engine ladder. After all it’s only through your keyword or keyword phrase that potential customers find your products and services. So you want to make sure you’re placing them in a way that they are most effective.

Arguably keyword placement can be confusing. But once you know the basics, you don’t have to be an SEO expert to figure it out.

Consider keyword density

In practicing keyword placement, one of the first things you want to consider is keyword density. That is, how much keyword you use in a particular piece of content.  So how do you decide? Well that’s dependent on who you’re writing for, whether you’re writing for your audience or for the search engines. Arguably if you’re building a relationship with your audience, don’t worry about it, just write. But if you’re just offering information you need to pay special attention to the amount used.

Content should sound natural

Correct keyword placement should allow the content to sound natural. It should flow logically and make sense. You should respect your audience and the search engine bots enough not to give them gibberish to read. Your audience should be able to read your content and the search engine spiders should find pleasure in crawling it.

How much is too much?

But if you choose to write for just for the search engines bear in mind that the accepted keyword density is between 1-3% of the content. Meaning if you have a 400 word article, your keyword should be used at least 4 times but no more than 12 times. More than that and you can be accused of keyword stuffing.

When is keyword placement most effective?

Keyword placement is most effective in the title of the content, in the first paragraph, throughout the body, and in the ending paragraph. Try to avoid placing keywords more than once in each paragraph. Keyword stuffing your content can send you back down the rungs of the search engine ladder as fast as you climbed up.

That’s it basically. Hopefully these suggestions will help somewhat in clearing up your confusion about correct keyword placement and you’ll realize that it’s nothing to be scared of. Like I said before, you don’t have to be an SEO expert to figure it out. Do enjoy your climb to position one in the search engines.

Tom Denton invites you to check out seo-ninja.net – where you’ll get more solutions to your SEO problems, delivered in an easy step-by-step action guide.

How to Make Money Blogging Online

By Angela Wills

Over the past few years, blogs have risen from an almost unknown “computer geek” secret to the “it” thing on the internet. It seems that almost everyone, from celebrities to your local junior high students has a blog.

While it is very common to find blogs as personal diaries, people that own service based businesses can definitely profit from having a blog. First and foremost, a business blog helps to build your web presence. In today’s society, having a strong web presence is a key factor in your business success.

When a potential client is thinking about hiring you, there is a good chance that they will do a little investigation of you online. The potential client may go to Google and do a search on your name, just to see what comes up. If they find a lot of links, including blog posts that include helpful information, they will feel more secure in hiring you.

Using your blog to showcase your knowledge in your chosen field will help you establish yourself as an expert. When people see you as an expert, they will automatically think of you when they need your product or service, and they will also refer others to you.

You can communicate your knowledge in a variety of different ways. Of course, keeping your blog current and full of information your target market would appreciate is the main goal, but you can find ways to make it fun. A life coach, for instance could hold a series on reducing stress, and each Monday they could post a relaxation technique. You can also include audio and video messages. This is a growing trend, as more and more people are getting video iPods.

In addition to using your blog as a way to build relationships and gain publicity, there are various ways to make money blogging online. One of the most popular is by displaying contextual ads, such as Google AdSense.

When you sign up (at http://www.google.com/adsense), you will be given a small amount of HTML code to add to your blog; Google will read your blog content and display text ads your reader may find interesting. For example, a blog about golf may display ads for golf clubs. When one of your readers clicks on these ads, you will be paid a commission.

Another option is to join affiliate programs for products and services your target market would enjoy. When you join as an affiliate, you will be given special links that you can use on your blog; when one of your readers clicks on these links and purchases the product or service being advertised, you will earn a commission.

There are also companies that will pay you to write about their products and services. The payment will vary depending on the company and how popular your blog is. There are several websites dedicated to bringing companies willing to pay bloggers to post and bloggers together. A popular choice is http://www.payperpost.com.

Your business blog can benefit you in many ways. It can help you earn income by raising the public’s awareness of your business and cementing yourself as an expert, and by applying the above suggestions, you can also begin to make money blogging online. This will give you an additional income stream, and more than likely, it will also help you create additional buzz around your business.

If you are ready to start your own business blog then join me as I teach you through my online video, webinar and email coaching program how to create a great business blog with WordPress.

Tips on How to Use the Power of YouTube to Build Traffic

By Tom Denton

If you’ve been on the internet for any length of time or even if you’re a complete newbie you should know the importance of traffic to your business. You may also know that it’s not the wisest thing to “buy” traffic, because once the money runs out, so will the traffic. So how do you get traffic that is so integral to your business? Traffic that’s continuous and best of all free? YouTube can help you with this.

YouTube offers many opportunities for promotion and getting traffic to your site as it has the power to increase your rankings considerably. Just take a look at any Google page and you’ll notice that most times the videos are usually ranked at the top of the page.  Here’s why. One, YouTube is owned by Google and they work together. Two, YouTube is the second largest search engine next only to Google. That should be enough motivation to make you want go and create your own YouTube channel and upload videos to it.

But don’t go rushing off to create just yet. Let’s make sure you’re doing this the right way first so you don’t waste your time. Take note of these tips:

Make your profile interesting

YouTube is just like any other social site. So you want to create an interesting profile for networking purposes. People will want to know more about you if they like your videos. This can help build trust among your audience, thus giving you greater traffic. Try to make your profile interesting enough to get across to everyone. Professionally it shouldn’t be too boring or too stuffy. But informally it shouldn’t be too hyped either.

Promote your videos

You won’t get much traffic without viewers. You can’t just post your videos and expect that viewers will automatically find them no matter how good you think they are. You have to promote them. You can put them on your blog or on any of your other social sites.

Use your keyword in the title of your videos

People find your videos when they do searches via the search engines and on Youtube so you should make it as easy as possible for them to find you. I mean you do want to get traffic right? Okay, you should include your major keyword or keyword phrase in the title and in the description. Don’t just put it there though, it should feel natural and make sense.  And don’t forget to put them in the tags either.

 Know when to post your videos

On the internet timing is everything, you need to know when to do what. So with YouTube it’s no different, it has its peak and off-peak times for traffic. Thursday mornings or early afternoons US time is considered the best day and time to post a video of general interest. Wednesdays is said to be another good day. You need to pay attention to the loading times of your videos as well. Start early for those with internet connectivity issues and for large videos if you want them uploaded in the prime time slots.

There’s approximately an hour of video being uploaded to YouTube every second.  This makes it a valuable resource to drive traffic to your site and promote it. However despite the obvious competition, if you consistently produce quality videos with time you’ll reap the benefits of your effort which is to build traffic.

Tom Denton invites you to check out http://seo-ninja.net/ – where you’ll get more solutions to your SEO problems, delivered in an easy step-by-step action guide.