Video: How to change the order of navigation links in your WordPress blog.
Author: WP Training Expert
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Why is SEO So Expensive?
Video: Brad explains why it costs a lot to do search engine optimization.
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How To Create New WordPress Blog Posts
Video: The fundamentals of creating new WordPress blog posts
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Why is SEO So Important?
Video: Brad explains why it is so important to have your website optimized for the search engines.
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Engage Your Blog Audience
Video: Brad discusses how to keep your audience engaged and commenting on your blog.
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How Much Time Do I Spend on My Online Business?
Video: Brad answers the question “How much time do I have to spend on my online business?”
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Can My IT Guy Do My SEO?
Video: Brad discusses why your IT guy isn’t the right person to handle your SEO, marketing or social media.
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Akismet Plugin
All WordPress installations come with 2 plugins already installed (though not activated). They are Akismet and Hello Dolly. I always delete the latter one. Hello Dolly is just a novelty for your admin area. I am sure it is very small, but I don’t use it so I delete it. The other one is Akismet – I suggest you definitely use this. It’s main job is blocking spam comments and although it doesn’t catch them all, it does a great job.
Set up is simple:
Navigate to your plugin menu and activate Akismet. You will get a warning saying you need a WordPress API key to use it. This is also simple to get. You have to start an account at WordPress.Com (free). You don’t have to set up a free blog or anything, just an account. Since I was creating an account I made a quick free blog to drop some backlinks to my site, but that is a story for another article. Anyways, once you have a WordPress.com account, you can find the API key in your profile. You can also request a free API key from Akismet.com if you don’t want to start a WordPress account. Once you have the key you can use it on multiple sites.
After a fairly simple set up process Akismet will instantly go to work. Using a huge database, Akismet will check all incoming comments and automatically mark the comments that match the database as spam. This will save you a lot of time, because you will be receiving spam not long after your site is up and running. I have sites that haven’t even been completed before they were spammed.
Another great feature of Akismet is that it learns, if it is missing spam and you routinely mark those comments as spam it will learn to mark those comments as well. Conversely if it is marking comments as spam, that aren’t you can teach it by marking those comments approved. Although I trust Akismet on my blog, I do check the spam comment area to see if it caught anything it shouldn’t have. If you are wondering about it’s effectiveness – here are the actual numbers from my site since the end of January: 870 Spams caught at an accuracy rating of 99.686%. I am not saying everyone will see those kind of numbers, but that’s how well it is working for me. Quite impressive.
Spam comments are going to aggravate you eventually. If you don’t have this plugin it will happen sooner than you can imagine. WordPress packages this plugin for a reason – it works. Don’t waste your time pouring through spam comments in your email or on your site. Activate Akismet now and thank me later.
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Transform Your Business With Video
It’s been out there, so why don’t you have a video made yet that promotes your business and gets you your share of online video traffic? If it is because you are intimidated by the whole process or are just a little camera shy then I only have one thing to say to you. Get over yourself! If you knew how much business you were losing on a daily basis you would try to build yourself a time machine to go back to the beginning and get a video out there for everyone to see right from the get-go.
A good video can take you from mediocre sales to astronomical sales in very short order. All you need to do is make sure it is professional and that it puts your business in a good light. Everyone with an online business should get a video out there to benefit from all the online video traffic that there is available. The numbers are astounding.
Check out what is out there first thing. You need to see what is selling then make your own version. Try to be creative and as unique as possible. You don’t want someone coming after you because they think you copied their video. You need to know about new techniques and effects that have become popular.
If you still are camera shy then you will need to hire someone to be your spokesperson for the video. Use the good sense that God gave you and pick someone who can represent you and your business accurately. You and your video have to be believable in order for people to come to you to buy your product. If you are not believable your customers will not be your customers, they will be someone elses.
Also, if you do not know anything about shooting a video there are videographers for hire who can help you get the professional quality you need to promote your business and be extremely successful. Professionalism means bigger profits for you. If you put out a rinky-dink video you will probably be laughed off of the internet. Sell yourself and your business to get the traffic you need to be a success.
When your video is complete and ready for posting make sure to get maximum exposure and post it to every video hosting site you can find. Basically, go viral. Getting your video out there for people to see is your main objective as soon as it is finished. Obviously, you will want to look at it first to see if it meets your approval. If it does, do not hesitate, get it out there. Your bottom line depends on it.
And do not forget when you sign up to these video hosting sites to put a link to your website in your profile. Search engines will sprinkle a little love on you and rank you higher in the results pages. This is another source of traffic that goes hand in hand with the online video traffic you have already generated.
Go active as soon as it is finished. Obviously, you will want to look at it first to see if it meets your approval. If it does, do not hesitate, get it out there. Your bottom line depends on it.
