2
The Way I See It #268
“Our prejudices arise from the fear of things we do not understand. If my generation has a single goal, it must be to promote education – education that advances us not only technologically, but also intuitively and emotionally. In today’s fast-paced world, advancing has to mean more than scientific discovery; it is our responsibility to force ourselves beyond our comfort zones and become knowledgeable about the people around us.”
-Jessica Arden Ettinger (Starbucks customer and student at the University of Virginia)
*Found the quote on a Starbucks cup.
24
Sexy Bookmarks?
Wait! It’s not what it sounds like, trust me! This past weekend, I decided to give my site a little face-lift, and as a result, I perused through the WP plugin site. I stumbled upon this new plugin called, “SexyBookmarks.” Now, I’m not going to lie. When I first saw the name of the plugin, I had no idea what to expect. However, it has quickly turned into one of my favorite WordPress plugins! I am on many social media sites, and most of the people who read my blog, are too. “SexyBookmarks” functionality and flow is probably the best out of any plugins that try to accomplish the same purpose. It allows you to put a list of several social networking sites on top of every post, which in turn allows the reader to share the post with his or her social network on any of the several sites listed! The best part, is that it takes just one click, for the reader to share the post. We all know, that people may want to share your post with others, however, you want to make it as simple as possible because if it takes multiple steps, chances are the reader will not end up sharing it. It also allows you to add a background image to hover over the site options, so that you can add a seamlessly little bit of personality to your blog.
Here’s the link to the plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sexybookmarks/
This past weekend, I attended WordCamp Miami. It was the first time I had ever attended a WordCamp, but I can tell you that it won’t be the last time I attend one! I really don’t have anything negative to say about the experience. The sessions were great, the people were friendly, and the amount of information that was spewed was unmatched to anything that I’ve ever seen before. I actually chose to stay on the Social Media Track the entire day, because I felt like that was what applied most to what I do and plan to do in the future. It was a great choice, and I’ve already been able to implement several things that I learned this past weekend. If you ever have the chance to ever make it to a WordCamp, I would HIGHLY recommend that you check it out. You won’t regret, I know I didn’t!
*P.S. If you weren’t able to make it to WordCamp, here are the links to all of my notes from WordCamp Miami:
- Jim Turner’s (From Daddy Blogger to Business Blogger)
- Gary Bacon’s (The Legal Side of Blogging)
- Jess Jurick’s (Finding Your Blogging Voice)
- Brian Breslin’s (How to Make Your Blog Social)
- Angie Moncada’s (Writing For a Professional Blog)
- Tammy Hart’s (Wordpress and Working With Clients)
- Lisa D. Spark’s (The Power of Email Marketing)
- Jim Gilbert’s (Engaging and Driving Traffic With Blogs)
Word Camp Miami – ( @GilbertDirect )
- Business Site: http://gilbertdirectmarketing.wordpress.com/
- Slideshow Presentation Link: http://www.slideshare.net/jimdirect
- Two case studies to present
The 3 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing
- Brand + Time = Revenue
- Brand + Channels = Revenue
- Brand + Time + Channels = Advocates
- New Multichannel marketing model for the 21st century
- Strategy Engagement Circle
- Blog content. FaceBook. Twitter. Email. Website. Youtube. Book marking sites. Blog content.
- Link back content to your blog
- Put a human face to a nameless faceless entity
- Run contests. Great involvement and incentive.
- They reinforce how you feel about your brand
- We live in the age of peer to peer sales
- People love to buy, but hate to be sold
- Social media allows customers to find you
- Contest Examples
- Tell us your worst diet ever (win a free week)
- Tell us your favorite meal
- Tell us why you chose the Fresh Diet
- Track results with bit.ly
- Make sure RSS, blog updates via email, and newsletter sign-ups are prominent.
- Goals of Blog:
- Build credibility
- Build a following
- Generate clients
- Become a better writer (I’m a frustrated writer. I’ve got that great american novel in me somewhere.)
- Still host on Wordpress.com, because it’s easier! He said, ” I have no clue about Wordpress.org. MYSQL (pronounced: my sequel)? I didn’t even know I had an orginal?!” // Line of the day.
- Online Address Book: Plaxo
- Get on Linkedin
- Post new blog post to “News” section. It drove large amounts of traffic to the blog, and only takes about 25 minutes.
- Join direct graphic groups, but also join complimentary groups. It’ll help diversify the pool of potential clients!
Word Camp Miami – ( @LisaDSparks )
- Business Site: www.constantcontact.com
- It takes relationships to build a business
- Advantages of Email Marketing for WP Bloggers
- Develop stronger relationship with your readers
- Emailing monthly digest of top spots
- Measure results of email campaigns (easily)
- Stronger handle on amount of “readers” outside of RSS
- Control communications outside of Feedburner auto-email of posts
- Craft promotions/messages to followers/subscribers
- Create powerful connections and income streams
- Example: www.preemopc.com
- Constant Contact Plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/constant-contact-signup-form-widget/
- Form Generator: www.seodenver.com/constant-contact-forms-generator
- Thought: Create a monthly digest of your posts. Instead of emailing every time you post. It’s more targeted, and more likely to get more comments.
- Email Marketing helps you find FANS within the MASSES:
- 7 Touches before sale occurs
- Use email to continue upsell process
- Retain happy customers for life with your personality. SHARE!
- Email Marketing is:
- Delivering professional email communications to a group of people.
- Boulder Arts and Crafts Gallery
- Problem: Needed to clear out excess inventory
- Solution: Sent 25 % off discount email to list of 1600
- Result: Got $4000 within 10 hours.
- Duck Tours
- Problem: Grow interest in the tours year round
- Solution: Send targeted campaigns to groups such as schools, religious, and community organizations
- Result: 153% increase in revenue over a three year period
- How Tracking Works
- Email. ESP. Tracking Code. Interaction.
- Don’t email too often, you WILL be marked as spam.
- Provide incentives for people giving you their email address.
- New Plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/constant-contact-api/
- Keep a content folder to keep everything organized.
- List of Article/Content Resources
Word Camp Miami – ( @TammyHart )
- Cool Site: http://pasteinteractive.com/
- Personal Site: www.tammyhartdesigns.com
- Slideshow Presentation Link: http://www.slideshare.net/tammyhart/word-press-working-with-clients
- Sales Pitch
- How do I sell WordPress to my clients?
- Wordpress is much cheaper and easier, than writing code from scratch.
- What do they Need?
- Low cost
- Content Management
- Good support
- Room for Growth
- Customizability
- Do it yourself maintenance
- Media tools
- Keep in touch with audience
- Scalability
- What Would WordPress Do?
- It’s free!
- Easy to use admin interface
- Unmatched community
- Add content now and later
- Thousands of themes and plug-ins
- Easy as writing an email
- Built in tools and plugins
- Multiple subscription options
- Caching helps! (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/)
- Ford, Wall Street Journal, People, CNN, and Mozilla all use WordPress.
- Design and Function
- How do we decide what their website will look like and do?
- Don’t be scared to say no, or make demands to a client. Set rules and guidelines.
- Where Do You Start?
- Ask Questions
- Budget
- Timeline Examples and Models
- Current Design Resources
- Start them with a list of functions
- Don’t be afraid to suggest a better way
- Make sure they will have all the essentials
- What Can Wordpress Do?
- Customize a ready theme
- Start from Scratch
- All Your essentials
- Static content
- Blog/News
- Thousands of Widgets
- Contact Forms
- Social Media Integration
- Subscription Integration ( Suma Plugin )
- Flutter ( Example : http://www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org/ )
- Freedom of Speech: http://www.march18.org/
- WordPress Hosting: http://page.ly/
- Content
- Get started off right
- Develop a site map first
- Set and enforce deadlines
- When your’e designing, they should be writing
- Use the right tools
- Set up their Wordpress site before designing
- Jumpchart ( www. jumpchart.com ) (Get 3 free months with code: tammy )
- Use plugins to manage pages
- pageMash > Page Management
- My Page Order
- Walkthrough
- Few Steps:
- De-clutter the dashboard
- Set up their multiple user accounts for them
- Install the essential plugins for them
- Do a live walkthrough
- Advise them of upgrades
- Offer a list of resources
- Remember:
- WordPress is easy!
- Give support after launch!
Word Camp Miami – ( @AngieMoncada )
- Business Site: http://addventures.com/
- Personal Site: http://thevirtualwatercooler.wordpress.com/
- Make sure that your online presence and your real presence is the same thing
- It’s not about how great you are, it’s about what you believe.
- Inform. Inspire. Recruit. Retain.
- How do you do it?
- Step 1: Listen to What People Are Saying
- Step 2: Figure Out What You Have to Contribute
- What’s your passion. What do you bring to the table?
- Make your blog slightly personal, but not too personal. Still keep it professional.
- People will buy stuff from people that they know and trust.
- In order to establish credibility, you need to maintain a little bit of professionalism.
-Step 3: Find People Who Can Do It
- Build a team! You can’t do it alone. You’re going to run out of things to say, or write about, but have a team that can come along side you to help, or even inspire.
- Have a guest blogger once in a while, or maybe interview someone.
- Step 4: Craft a Plan and Process to Get It Done
- You can plan all you like, but you need to actually get it done.
- You usually want to do everything, but then life happens, and takes that away.
- Be honest with yourself, and be honest with your time schedule. Create a plan that suites your life, and stick to it. Be realistic, you’re probably not going to post everyday, because us techies are all over the place doing different things. We’re not the most organized.
- Instead of giving something up for Lent, she decided to do something. She is going to actually blog, every single day, for 40 days.
- Have an accountability partner, if you think life is going to get in the way.
- Step 5: Do It.
- Step 6: Keep Doing It In New Ways
- Step 7: Listen. Respond. Repeat
- Spend one day at the park and take an hour, to write 100 things to talk about on your blog. What perspective do you have, that others don’t? What are 100 things that YOU have to say?
- Keep your blog fresh. Keep it evolving.
- It’s not about you. It’s about them. You’re not writing a blog for yourself, your’e writing a blog to connect with people. It’s about THEM.
- Look back at your blog, a year ago, and see how far you’ve come. You’ll see the evolution of yourself over the past year.
- Keep a couple of editorial calendars, to organize your thoughts and blog.
Word Camp Miami – (@BrianBreslin )
- Personal Site: www.brianbreslin.com
- Founder of REFRESH: Miami
- What does it mean to be social?
- To communicate with other people.
- How do you integrate your social graph (social networks).
- Connect your site to social networks
- Make your blog as sociable as you!
- Social Networks? Build up or build on.
- Build on top of existing social networks. Less friction, already have the following.
- Integrate Facebook Connect (http://www.sociable.es/facebook-connect/)
- Use BuddyPress if you want to build up.
- However, there is some friction involved when using BuddyPress, because people are not going to want to sign up for another social site. Just leverage Facebook, if you have it.
- Putting the social in your social media
- Bookmarking Sites (Delicious, Digg, Reddit)
- Social browsing sites (StumbleUpon)
- Turning your blog viral
- If you simply use your site, you spread it.
- Make reading your blog infectious
- Think of viral, as the flu. You don’t intentionally go out and give your friends the flu. Simply by breathing, and being you, you spread the content.
- Turn your readers into your promoters.
- Best Practices
- Understand the culture of social networks. Don’t force your culture into sites or communities where they don’t belong. Be relevant, it’ll have a higher rate of return. Don’t just blast your content to every site. Be intentional. Be specific.
- Treat the community with respect.
- Don’t think of your blog as a destination site. Most people visit an average of 12 sites a day. To get in that rotation of 12 sites, is freakin hard! You’re going to have to go through social media marketing, not just simply by blogging. Most of the visitors to your blog will stumble onto your blog by Digg or similar sites.
- Engage your community wherever THEY want to.
- Things to Avoid
- Spamming? Seriously. Stop it.
- Treating it as a one way outbound communication. Social media/marketing is a two way street. It’s an open conversation, that’s why there are Trackbacks in Wordpress.
- Diving in without testing things out first.
- Simplifying social
- Plugins to Integrate
- Role of SEO in Social Blogging
- Prepare your content for consumption
- Prepare your content for distribution
- Best SEO Plug-In
- The future of the social blog
- Distributed social networks (DISO)
- Identity Providers (OpenID)
- Activity hubs (activity.streams)
- Useful tips
- Set up a list of goals (more traffic, audience, engagement)
- Focus on your efforts on your niche (where do they hang out)
- It’s all about the content
- Q and A
- Ning is a great way to create your own social site. However, if you build off NING, you hand over all of your info about your users to NING. If you want to move from NING, you’re screwed. All of the info is theirs.
- Also, NING has 3 million users, but the average NING network has 9 people. It might just be easier to leverage Facebook.
- It’s not a perfectly designed blog
- It’s not the right combination of plug-ins
- You can have 30 plug-ins, and your blog can still suck
- It’s not reposting other people’s thoughts as your own
- It’s not “straight-news” style writing
- CNN iReporter’s is a GREAT example!
- There’s nothing wrong with talking about your personal experiences.
- Don’t just write straight facts. Put a spin on it… YOUR spin.
- It’s not a gimmick
- The personality, point of view, and style you use when you write.
- Flickr.com is a great way that shows how people are starting to express themselves and their voice through photography
- Makes you standout
- Gives readers a personal connection.
- Make them think that if they see you on the street, they’d love to have a conversation with you. That is what will keep them coming back!
- Makes your content relevant
- Helps to establish your brand
- Helps keep you motivated
- Don’t blog about something that your’e not passionate about.
- Builds community
- People want to tell their stories. Just make the effort to listen.
- Inspires conversation
- http://www.visitfloridablog.org/?p=310 (Yeah, that campaign is pretty lame… LOL)
- If people comment on your blog, comment back!
- Selling + Story-Telling
- Voice + Loyal Readers = Friends when times are rough.
- Top Tips
- Read a lot
- Use Twitter as your NewsFeed
- Brainstorm often
- Write from different perspectives
- Go out and meet people
- Use social media to actually go out in the real world and be social
- See the world
- Don’t be afraid to share your story
- Fake it until you make it
- Express your voice through titles on your blog posts. It’ll catch the reader’s attention.
- The plug-in is called: Copy Alert.
- It will check out blogs across the internet to check if anyone has taken your content.
- Make sure your blog posts don’t end up on splogs (spam blogs)
- www.copyscape.com
- You can also buy photos from www.istockphoto.com
- If you are going to have original images on your blog, be sure to say somewhere on the site that they are your images.
- In a way, if someone steals your stuff like images, it’s a form of flattery. It means your’e getting big, and your image is getting put out there. However, you don’t want them to repurpose it.
- Even worse, you don’t want them stealing it, and then selling it, as if though it’s your own. Especially if you’re putting out something for free, and they are selling it for profit.
Country Cuban
Ileana Ortiz (a.k.a. Country Cuban) is the Director of Online Communities at Flamingo Road Church. She is a Jesus lover, people lover, and a world changer. Her family has seriously impacted the way she lives her life. She gets her sense of humor and passion for helping others, from her mom. She gets her business sense and realistic expectations from her dad. She wishes she could match the game of her little sister, because her little sister has had more boyfriends in her 7 year life span, than Ileana has ever met, in her 17 years of living. She loves to think of herself as a comedian, and hopes that people are laughing with her, not at her. She is constantly being mistaken for celebrities such as Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz, Jessica Alba, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Angelina Jolie. She also happens to enjoy reading, writing, some good country music, all things tech, and when autumn rolls around.... a frothy Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks! I guess you could just say that she is your average 17 year old.. well.. not really.
Lifestream
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Finally arrived at our hotel, and am watching "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" One of my favorite shows! [#]
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Did a Chinese Fire Drill with the team/teacher and we all got yelled at by the cops. Haha! [#]
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Today is Chuck Norris' birthday. He didn't turn 70, 70 turned Chuck Norris. [#]
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Getting my hair did. (@ Bogy's Hair Salon) [#]
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On top of that, today is accreditation day at my school. Every teacher has to lecture us, and we have to behave perfectly. ::Sigh:: [#]
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Phew. I've been up since 5am getting the final details of my case perfect. [#]
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Packing for Jacksonville. Also preparing my side of the case for the debate competition. Any one got any pros/cons on Universal Healthcare? [#]
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Browsing through bargains. (@ Books-A-Million) [#]
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Dinner with the iDLT! Love this team. (@ P.F. Chang's China Bistro - Sunrise) http://4sq.com/7jgiP2 [#]
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