Archive for the ‘WordPress’ Category

For a while I have wanted to do a post to highlight some of the coolest plugins and widgets out there for WordPress. Time in short supply, I still haven’t gotten round to it, so call it cheating, but I did search for some blog posts that already have done this! So, credit to all of these blog writers, and here are some links to some good information!

This post is all about plugins to help with your different social media profiles:

http://mashable.com/2009/06/16/wordpress-social-media-profile/

This article shows 50 great widgets for your blog:

http://mashable.com/2007/09/06/widgets-2/

30 cool plugins:

http://www.masternewmedia.org/30-cool-wordpress-plugins-for-web-publishers/

10 Cool WordPress plugins to show your ratings:

http://www.geeksucks.com/showcases/10-cool-wordpress-plugins-for-ratings.htm

Plugins designed to get your readers to your blog:

http://mashable.com/2007/08/02/wordpress-readers/

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Be sure to check out all of these great blogs, get some new ideas and have fun! Not sure how to install a plugin or figure out the widgets? Post your questions below and I will help where I can!

So, you have seen all of the guest blog posts this week. Each of the clients I worked with had their own ideas before getting a blog but each of them have found success. If you understand the true power of a blog, you can have control of your own Search Engine Optimization.

We are excited to announce a great competition for the rest of this month! One lucky business will have a WordPress blog added to their website. This gives you the opportunity to keep your own clients informed about any specials or events you have coming up. You can write educational articles giving facts and helping teach others about your craft or field. You can share ideas and opinions easily. WordPress is accessed through an online portal you can log into directly.

So what do you have to do to win?

Creating a blog to fit in with your current website is a pretty big deal. For a small business owner, the cost of web design or site work can be a luxury. So, its not going to be as simple as just submitting your name, or signing up for a newsletter. What we are looking for is a little more creative. Tell us why you want a blog, what you will blog about and how you hope this will improve your own business. Must be at least 100 words, but can be as detailed and entertaining as you wish!

Simply click here to enter our WordPress Blog Contest

Be sure to read the Terms and Conditions of the contest

Guest Blogger – Laura Fields from Baby Steps

The next guest blogger is really two bloggers! Both Melissa Casserly and Laura Fields take it in turn to post regularly on their blog.The  Baby Steps Online Blog is full of great information about babies, nursing, pregnancy and so much more. Below, Laura talks about journey from having blogs in the past to truly embracing the concept and making it work for them.

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We’ve had blogs off and on since we started our business, but we wanted to have a venue to share interesting stories, articles, and editorials more consistently.  My sister (owner of Best Fit Pet Sit) told us that by integrating a blog into our website, we could have the added benefit of increased web traffic.  It was with those two things in mind that we decided to start blogging on a more regular basis.

Our blog has been active for almost 2 months now. We’ve made an effort to add new entries to our blog regularly, and as a result our website has moved up on the search engines.  Depending on the search terms used, we’re often on the first or second page of results, which is extremely high compared to where we ranked before we started using our blog.

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Laura Fields and Melissa Casserly are the owners of Baby Steps, Inc. Baby Steps offers several types of classes to fit your busy schedule, whatever kind of birth you hope to have. They offer classes all over metro Atlanta, on weeknights and weekends. They also offer labor and postpartum doula services.

Blog: www.babystepsonline.net/blog/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Powder-Springs-GA/Baby-Steps

E-mail: babysteps@babystepsonline.net

Guest Blogger – Valerie Pegg from Best Fit Pet Sit

Our guest blogger for today is Valerie Pegg, a pet sitter, dog walker and all around animal lover in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Val has managed to use the blog to her advantage and truly push her site up the search engine rankings. Type ‘Pet Sitter in Gwinnett’ into Google and you will see exactly what I mean!

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I started my pet sitting business in early 2009 after many years of experience working in boarding kennels, doggy daycare and volunteering for various animal related charities. As with most small business owners, I started out with a website and had a few visitors here and there. I wanted to make sure people could find me, and find me on the first page of Google if possible!

Megan has worked with me, one on one, to make sure my site got to the top, and stays at the top. First of all she set me up with WordPress so I could log in and make changes to my site whenever I want to. Second, she gave me a great document that explains how to log in, create a new post, and publish it out using the right keywords, titles and descriptions for search engine optimization. The biggest thing is that I feel I am in control of my own site. If I want to show up for some new keywords, I can just write a new post and keep those keywords in mind. I am at the top of Google at the moment, have more clients, and am very happy with where I am right now.

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Best Fit Pet Sit Services is owned and operated by Valerie Pegg, an experienced, professional, and caring pet sitter.  A lifelong animal lover, Valerie has worked in boarding kennel facilities, doggy daycare and also as an independent professional pet sitter.

Blog: www.bestfitpetsit.com/pet-talk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/BestFitPetSitServices

E-mail: info@bestfitpetsit.com

Guest Blogger – Jerry Moore from Georgia Trolley Services

Yesterday I talked about what a blog is, and what I think the best option is. Today I am excited to introduce our first guest blogger. This starts the first in a series all about the benefits of using a blog in your website. The ability to have a direct affect on your own search engine rankings is pretty darn cool! In the post below, Jerry certainly recognizes the power he has at his fingertips!

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At Georgia Trolley Services we provide a unique antique form of transportation for weddings, proms, parades and other special events.  We started with a plain vanilla style web site which didn’t receive much exposure.  We were ready for a revamp of our web site and wanted a better way of being found on the internet.  Purple Star Consulting gave us some advice on what she could do, but introduced us to adding a blog to our site.  I wasn’t crazy about the idea of a blog at first since it requires you to share thoughts and express ideas.  After all this is your business your talking about.

However blogging has been pretty easy.  We share information that we feel is useful to our customers in general and on occasion share some information about what we will be doing as far as jobs.  I didn’t know how much of an impact blogs would have, but Megan also installed Google Analytics to our web site.  Now I can log into the analytics website and see how many people are visiting my website and what pages they are viewing.  It’s amazing how many people read the blog pages.

Something I’ve recently learned is that the keywords used on the header to your post can be very important.  I now Google search my key words prior to posting to see what other sites might be using those words.  Doing this allows my blogs to generally be at the top of the page.  Thus giving my web site more exposure.  In a little over 5 months I have had over 1,000 hits on my web site.  I would say almost half have come through my blog posts.  Also we have our blog page posted to our Facebook page which gives it more exposure.

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Jerry B. Moore is the President of Georgia Trolley Services. Providing chartered vehicles as a fun, convenient, economical, and easy solution, he is local to the Lawrenceville, GA area. Services can be provided throughout the whole state. With prom season fast approaching, be sure to check him out for more information!

Blog: www.georgiatrolleyservice.com/trolleytalk/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/GeorgiaTrolleyServices

E-mail: thetrolleyguy@msn.com