Earlier I mentioned how a famous blogger is having problems switching from her old blog platform  and I’m struggling with more headaches around a similar issue.  When I started way back in 2001, one of the most inexpensive ways to get online was using Yahoo! for a domain name and email.  And it worked fine for several years.  Now, however, I am trying to get the domain name back so I can control it and it has been a huge headache including international phone calls and verifications.

At the time, it seemed like a great idea to save money and get started inexpensively. I had no idea how much trouble it would cause later…but now I wish I had actually used the best tools rather than the cheapest ones.

So I’ve adopted a new money rule… The best tools win over the best price!

How about you? Where is your setpoint for price vs. functionality? How do you decide which to purchase?

Are you looking for the best way to get more search engine traffic? Be sure to jump on the blog bandwagon. Search engines love blogs because they frequently have new content and automatically notify them when a post is made. For example, when I publish this post, Google will get a “ping” that says, “There is a new blog post on YourBlogTeam.com. Come and review it.”

Here are some statistics I gathered recently on how some of our sites rank in Google. These are all sites that have been alive and doing blog posts for at least six months (we set up the optimal system for them and they did the legwork of getting incoming links and posting regularly.) –

WellnessCoach.com (currently #1 for wellness coach)
DrewStevensConsulting.com (currently #2 for drew stevens)
PathwaysforAging.com (currently #1 for pathways for aging)
GreatChristmasBook.com (currently #1 for great christmas book)
MinutestoMoments.com (currently #1 for great mom book)

(Please note: These results may change. The search engines love new content so if these site owners quit posting or the content becomes older, Google may move them down in the rankings.)

Your first step in getting some of this traffic is to set up your blog to be search-engine friendly (we have a proprietary combination of plugins and features we use). Your next step is to determine what phrases are most commonly searched for. Use Wordtracker or the Google Keyword Tool and search your topic area (read more about this at How to Blog: What Should I Blog About? Part 1). Then create a post using the phrase in the title and and a couple times in the post. This will get you started attracting the search engines.

One of the challenges users of Wordpress face is the choice of a Wordpress “theme.”

Wordpress themes determine:
• The fonts used on the site
• The basic layout of the site
• The color scheme
• How the navigation is listed (are there tabs, etc.)

On the one hand, we love Wordpress themes because you can drastically change the look of a site just by choosing a different theme. You can easily incorporate a graphic look without hiring an expensive designer. On the other hand, there are some features that cannot be changed without some re-programming.

Internet marketing guru, Alice Seba, explained what she loves and changes in her Wordpress themes in her post, Is Wordpress REALLY All That? She makes some very valid points about the limitations of the Wordpress site (for example, that what shows up on a standard page of a Wordpress site is the same on nearly every page unless you alter it).

Overall, though, the feeling is that Wordpress can be one of the easiest ways to get your content onto the Internet, especially without having to pay a designer every time you want to add or change something.

One of the most common (and easiest) changes to make to a Wordpress theme is what appears on the home page. Some of our clients choose to have a static home page where they may have a sales letter or a standard introduction for their visitors. Others want their blog posts to appear on the home page. We can set it up either way–you should pick the solution that will lead your visitors to your next step, whether that is to sign up for your newsletter or buy your product or something else!

I came across this great blog post today about the most common flaw in author websites.

Any guess what it might be?

Focus.

Determining what you most want your visitor to do and telling him or her exactly how to do it.

The post also has examples of 5 different sites and what’s good or bad about them. I’d recommend visiting the Exhibit links before you read the commentary to see if you can spot the good or bad parts of each site. This is a great way to see if you have the gene for “good design” (and if not make sure you hire someone to help you design your websites and your book covers)!

You can read the entire post here.

A couple more website challenges I see are

1. not enough info to help me decide if I should buy/if I really want it,
2. bad graphic design (including poor/jagged graphics),
3. too much focus on the author and not enough focus on how the site can help the visitor,
4. too hard to buy,
5. no contact info and
6. no way to subscribe for more info/no reason to subscribe.

What do you think? Anything else I missed?

Every website (including yours!) needs an email newsletter. Why? Because of the bazillion marketing messages your visitors will receive today. Once you go to all the trouble of learning how to get traffic to your blog, then you have to get your visitor to DO something.

Even though you may want them to buy on the spot, experts tell us it takes 7-9 exposures before a potential prospect turns into a buyer…. and an email newsletter is a wonderful way to get more exposure.

We set up email newsletter functionality for all our blogsite clients, but you’ll notice there are several different email newsletter software programs we are using. To help you determine which one is the best, here are 10 questions you should ask about each service:

1. Does the email newsletter software offer a free or low-cost trial version, a demo version or a money-back guarantee? You want a chance to experiment with the software to see if you like the way it works or not.

2. Does it offer free newsletter templates? Especially if you are setting up your own newsletter, you want an easy-to-design newsletter that lets you incorporate your business logo or book cover.

3. What does the email newsletter cost, and even more importantly, what does it cost as your list grows? Your goal should be to have 10,000 subscribers, and several of the services, while inexpensive at the beginning, start rising in a hurry once you have 500, 1,000 or just 2,500 subscribers.

4. Can you send unlimited messages? Many of the email newsletter programs will charge you per message sent rather than per user. We never recommend these services because we want you to feel confident sending messages whenever you want to (especially when you want to announce something new).

5. What does the service do to ensure deliverability of your newsletters? It can be difficult to get email delivered. Many of the largest services create relationships with the major internet service providers to help track their deliverability. They also require double opt-in which means that when an email address is entered, a confirmation link is sent to the new subscriber to ensure they did want to subscribe (this stops spammers who use email addresses without permission).

6. Do you have unlimited sequential autoresponder services? An autoresponder is a special kind of email functionality that lets you set up a series of messages (for example, a message a week for the next 52 weeks) and then each time someone subscribes, they will receive the messages in order. It doesn’t matter when they subscribe, they always get the first message and then each one in order.

This can be an easy additional revenue stream if you can reposition your content into a weekly or monthly “course” delivered by email (Want to know more? Check out Membernaire here. I’m a member and it’s a thorough step-by-step course.)

7. Does the newsletter service automatically convert your RSS feeds into newsletters? An RSS feed is the technology that automatically notifies readers of your blog that you have new contents. Some of the services automatically create email newsletters from your RSS feeds.

8. Can you personalize the messages? Most services let you collect your visitors’ names and then let you put the names in the newsletter so you can say, “Hi Julie” at the beginning of each message.

9. How long has the service been around? The real challenge for email newsletter services is staying power. Many of the free services, especially, started out strong but then their policies prevented them from being a long-term solution, and they shut down leaving their publishers without a way to reach their subscribers.

10. Does the service support CAN-SPAM requirements? The CAN-SPAM legislation has some very specific requirements for email newsletter publishers, and many of the services handle the requirements for you.

11. Can you schedule your messages to go out sometime in the future? This feature is really helpful when you plan to go on vacation. You can schedule your newsletter so it will continue to go out without you.

12. Is your newsletter archived for you? One of the best ways to get new subscribers is to share past issues with them. Some of the email newsletter services will set up archives for you.

Another common question is whether instead of paying for a service, can you just use one of the free services, like Yahoo Groups, for your newsletter? Can you? Yes. Should you? No, and here’s why….. most of these services put unrelated advertising in your newsletter. Do you really want to send your visitors to someone else’s site–and not even get paid for the advertising? It’s also a challenge to get yourself off these services because you have to resubscribe everyone to your new service (and lots of people won’t take the time to resubscribe). You don’t want to know how I know this (one of my sites is still using Yahoo Groups because of this!)

My number one piece of advice about email newsletter software is to get started with the right service from the very beginning. Moving around later will cost you subscribers. It’s much better to pay a little more now and have a long-term solution.

Here are my favorite email newsletter software programs:

Aweber - Easy-to-use, good deliverability, flat monthly fee for unlimited messages to 10,000 subscribers (6-22-08 updates: Pricing structure has changed slightly based on the number of subscribers - 500, 2,500, 5,000, 10,000 and 25,000), supports RSS and includes HTML templates. Find out more about aWeber here.

iContact - Easy-to-use, includes over 300 templates, archives, pricing varies with number of subscribers. Get more info on iContact here.

OrganizedCart.com - Useful if you will be selling downloadable items or doing teleseminars/webinars where you would like your buyers added to an email list once they buy. Bit more complex to use, and may be more than you need. We typically set up the system for our clients, and then train them on the pieces they need to use. Try the trial version here.

Feedburner.com or Feedblitz.com - These two solutions are specifically for bloggers and will notify your subscribers automatically each timen you’ve made a new post.

With a little time spent experimenting, you can find the perfect email newsletter service for you.

In my last post on how to blog, we discussed how to find search-engine friendly phrases to blog about.

Here is another quick and easy way to find something to blog about: comment on current news in your topic area and add your own spin on it.

For example, I typed “what’s new in blogging” into Google. Then I clicked on the News tab to see an article that mentions how libraries are using blogging to increase circulation here. Here is the post I could do about it:

Even Libraries See the Power of Blogging

Libraries are jumping on the blogging bandwagon and are using the medium to increase circulation. The Williamsburg Regional Library in Virginia has recently launched Blogging for a Good Book, and noticed how this new medium has attracted readers of not only the latest titles, but also older titles. As LibraryJournal.com reported in their book survey article, all of the titles being blogged about are circulating, even older ones.

Since blogging is such an interactive experience, libraries can use this medium to connect with their patrons. The commenting feature of blogs could even be used to facilitate online book discussion groups. Libraries and blogs are definitely a good mix, and an area for growth for both librarians and readers.

A couple features for you to note:

• These types of posts can be quick and easy-to-write,
• They provide interesting topics for your readers,
• Include links to the original news article so your readers can find out more,
• Be sure to expand on the topic with your own original spin,

and

• Definitely use the online news sources to find the latest and greatest news on your topic.

Just a little surfing can provide a quick and easy way to blog!

You know how when we want to start a new project or tackle a new “thing,” we always ask our friends for advice? Well sometimes that advice can get you into trouble….

See what happened to Technorati Top 100 blogger, Gala Darling as part of her guest post at ProBlogger

7. Before you start blogging, give serious thought to what your likely future plans may be.

When I started, the blogging platform I installed was chosen because it was something my friend was using. Now that I want to do grand things, I’ve realised that Textpattern (which has served me very well) is really not powerful enough. Thus, my geeky genius (*coughbeloved boyfriend *cough*) & I are faced with the daunting task of converting everything to Drupal — something it appears no one has ever done before, & to say we’re dreading it is the understatement of the century.

Yikes! Let’s all get started on a robust blogging software so you don’t have to do any of these conversions, OK?

So they set one up and then…Every time they want to add a thought or send a newsletter, they have to pay their web designer and then wait until it’s ready?

Well what if you could publish your thoughts INSTANTLY with no waiting and no designers?

It’s as easy as using a word processor

And Google loves these sites!

What’s our secret? A Blog. In fact it’s a special custom blog created just for you.

Your Blog Team.com can help you set up an easy-to-publish website so that it’s simple to reach your customers!

_________________

What Can You Do with a Blog?

So just why would you want a blog anyway?

Here are some of the reasons why you should use a blog:

• A blog gives you an easy way to publish your content without a web designer. It’s as simple as typing into a “dashboard” that works like Microsoft Word. Then you hit the Publish button and guess what? You’re a blogger!

• You can even add new pages quickly and easily.

• Blogs are an easy (and useful!) way to communicate with your target market. Your visitors can interact with you by leaving comments on your blog.

• Reporters commonly use blogs to research and find experts.

The blogs at YourBlogTeam.com™ also have some special features built-in:

• Your blog is specially designed to attract the search engines. We include some special features that the search engines love. We can’t guarantee you any rankings, but this is one of the best ways to attract search engine traffic (one of our blogs was receiving traffic from Google in just four days. Many sites wait 4 to 6 months before they start getting Google traffic).

• We use Web 2.0 and social bookmarking features to find new visitors for you.

• We will even set up your blog so your visitors get an email when you publish new content.

• Your blog is set up on your own domain name so you have an easy way to share your new site (you also aren’t tied to one of the commercial blogging services out there).

• We add in a special program to prevent spammers from abusing the comments on your blog.

• You will also be able to create polls for your users.

Ready to get started? Let’s Go!

_________________

We have two packages... one for the entrepreneur who wants someone to do it for them and one for the do-it-yourself-er who has more time than money!