|
|
| Volume: 3 Issue: #10
|
June/2010
|
|
|
|
A special welcome to all my new subscribers. It's great to have you! I hope you always find a helpful "scoop" of social media here.
|
Greetings! Ugh! This is my first day back from a great week at the beach. I would show you a picture of me on the beach...but that would be just too scary!!! :) So instead here's a picture of Jim and I on the private exotic island of the Jungle Queen, where we took a a cruise along the InterCoastal Waterway. We really enjoyed getting away for some rest and time together. But now it's time to get back to business and back to helping you build an outrageously successful online business! This issue of The Social Media Scoop will focus on blogs, so get ready for some great information. To Your Online Business Success!  Oh, and while we were on vacation, we picked out a little toy that we'll add to our "dream" board. :) |
| Blogs, Blogs, Blogs
| Blogs have become one of the more critical components of online business success. They rate right up there with your website and a presence on Facebook and Twitter. But which platform is best for you? Blogger, Typepad, WordPress?
The simplest one is Blogger. It's very easy to set up a blog using Blogger and you can have your blog set up and posting in just a few hours.
You can also use Typepad or Wordpress.org. Both of these are similar to Blogger with just a few more features.
However, these are controlled by the platform and have restricted capabilities. My recommendation and what is in my opinion the best platform, is a self hosted Wordpress blog. What that means is that you have a hosting account (through GoDaddy or BlueHost*) where your website is hosted, which offers many more opportunities to add features into your blog that you wouldn't have if it was hosted by Wordpress.
Wordpress.org hosted blogs do not allow you to add plug-ins to your blog, which are fantastic features that make your blog have functions to increase search engine optimization, capture statistics, add video, audio, spam protection and much more. Also by self-hosting your blog you can add different themes and templates to customize your blog.
These and much more will be discussed during my Social Media "T" Room teleseminar this Thursday, June 3rd at 7 pm eastern. My guest, Kim Doyal, The WordPress Chick will be sharing everything you need to know to get started blogging or if you already have a blog, Kim will give you some ideas to keep your blog fresh and increase traffic.
Click here - Social Media "T" Room for more information and to register. And it would be great if you shared this link with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. :)
*Affiliate Link
|
|
| Things You Might Be Interested In
| Planning is not something that comes naturally and neither is coming up with a ton of blog posts. Which is why, despite the resistance, it is even more important to at least have a rough idea what you will write about ahead of time. When you have something laid out, you don't have to worry about having a blog that is stale and more importantly, you can see clearly where you slip in a promotion to market your blog, a spot to promote your own products or affiliate products. This small action is the beginnings of a profitable blog or an even more profitable blog than you have now.
When are YOU going to plan your 2010 blog posts? How about right now? Here's a great blogging calendar;* to help you with that. It's a calendar that you can also use as a planner and it includes some pretty strange, funny and interesting holidays and events. This is a big help to work out all your posts through the year. Download; it, print it, stick it in a binder and start planning. You could literally come up with months of blogging material by the end of the day.
 *Affiliate Link
|
| From the Social Media Blog
| Keep It Relevant Will Bring People Back
Gone are the days when
posting a blog was
considered new and different. It seems like any idiot with a keyboard
is now writing a daily blog about his love of Britney Spears or the
consistency of his bowel movements. With all the noise on the internet,
it's certainly difficult not only to create a blog that is new and
interesting, but to bring in the readership that will allow you to
market yourself effectively to advertisers looking to invest. So how
can you get the traffic you want on your site and keep them coming back
for more? Simple...keep it relevant.
Now,
this is a fairly vague notion. You're probably asking yourself what,
exactly, this marketing buzzword means and how it applies to you. In
laymen's terms, you want to create a blog that encompasses a topic that
is interesting not only to you, but to a large audience. Maybe you can
write a new article every day about the fascinating life of the African
Dung Beetle you keep in a jar by your bed, but who will read it? So
relevancy means, first and foremost, writing about a topic that is
current and widespread. I hate to say it, but the more mainstream your
blog is, the better. Take for example the current trend towards
websites that focus on celebrities sightings. In tough economic times,
it's not uncommon for people to seek escape by going to the movies or to
find comfort in the consumption of stories that outline the woes of
others (namely, down-trodden celebrities). So these blogs are both
entertaining and timely.
Secondly, keeping it
relevant means mixing it up. To do this - read the rest at my Social Media Blog.
Top 5 Essential WordPress Plugins Do You Know Why, Search Engines Love WordPress? Keeping Eyeballs Glued to your Site: Tips to Reduce your Bounce Rate
While your visiting my blog, it would be great if you left a comment or shared my blog link on
Twitter and Facebook. Just click on the little icons below each blog post to share. Thanks! 
|
A Tasty Morsel
| I thought I would add a fun little area to my newsletter and share a few of my favorite recipes with you since my whole new theme is all about tasting, bytes and scoops!
Barbecued
Beef for Sandwiches
1 beef roast, 2 1/2 to 3 pounds, top round, chuck, etc.
1 cup barbecue sauce, your favorite or homemade
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoon light brown sugar, packed
1 medium onion, sliced
Trim beef roast and cut into 4 uniform pieces. Place roast in slow cooker.
Combine remaining ingredients and pour over roast. Cover and cook on LOW for 8
hours, or until beef is tender. Slice beef then return to juices in cooker.
Cover and cook for 20 minutes longer.
Serve this barbecued beef on warm split buns with coleslaw, or serve with hot
cooked rice and a salad.
from
Diana Rattray
If you have A Tasty Morsel recipe that you would like to share, email me at Recipes. Include your name and website and a picture of the finished recipe, if you have one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
More about Terri
|
|
Terri Brooks is the President of Tasting
The Internet, One Byte at a Time, an online business management and training company
providing entrepreneurs, start-up and small business owners the tools and resources
to build an amazingly successful online business.
Terri's an Online Branding and Social Media Trainer and
Consultant with certifications in Internet Marketing and Social Media Marketing. She is also a speaker and author of "The
Start Here, Now Do This" social media guide, a step-by-step manual
for understanding and developing your social media profiles.
She is a member of eWomenNetwork - Knoxville Chapter
Leadership Team and the developer and administrator of the Official
eWomenNetwork National Facebook Fan Page.
She's also a member of Big Fish Nation, and SelfGrowth.com's - Social
Media University Faculty.
Terri's easy approach to training and her strong desire to
help new entrepreneur's with social media and developing their online marketing
make her a highly sought after consultant.
|
|
|
Keep Up with the Social Media Scoop!
