Category: Wordpress Articles

There are a lot of people making money online. There are also a lot of people who want to teach other people how to make money. That means a lot of money making products and lessons. These can definitely be valuable, but as someone who has been bombarded by offers I have come to hate a couple widely used terms.

These terms must work because the big names use them. Money is being made by people who use these terms so who am I to hate them? Well, I think there is room for more transparent and honest online marketing. The first step for me is to not use the following terms:

1. Guru – There is already a growing resentment to this word in the online marketing community. I think it comes down to over saturation. Everyone is now a “guru”. Oh they may not have results, and they might be new to the field but hey, they are a Guru so they must be good!

I was contacted by a man who was new to online marketing. he wanted a WordPress website built. One of his specific requests was to have Guru in his header. I did it no problem, but I have to admit that I found it rather hilarious. This guy was new to online marketing, was into like seven MLMs and was making no money. What exactly is he going to teach anyone? Wait a second, who am I to question a Guru! It is in his header after all – must be true.

If someone is claiming to be a Guru do your research – and if you are going to buy something off a “Guru” ask them about their results. There are some truly knowledgeable “Gurus” out there – but be aware that anyone can call themselves a Guru and at the end of the day it means nothing.

2. No Brainer – I hate when someone tells me their service or product is a no brainer. Unless I am handing you $1000 and you instantly hand me back $1500 then I can’t envision any deal being a “no brainer”. It is almost offensive in a way too. Do I look like some rube who is buying snake oil off the back of a van? Do you really expect me to not think about my forthcoming purchase? Oh it is a no brainer? Give me seven!

I am not the type of person who tosses my money at a product without doing research. I would suggest anyone looking at online marketing programs do the same. I have seen a lot of product launches come and go over the years and I can say without a doubt there has never been a “no brainer” product.

3. Newbie – This word is a bit different than the others on the list. It is different because I know it works and is effective. New people love to see this word and it makes them feel like “Hey I’m new I can do this!”. The reason it bothers me is purely saturation. Everyone has their newbie product. Overkill.

I will take it easy on this word because I understand it’s power. But in general – UGH. To me it is a warning sign that someone might be trying to take advantage of people new to the industry.

These words are never going to disappear from internet marketing. They worked at one time and probably still do. Even if they aren’t nearly as effective as they once were, people will still use them because people like to follow. That may seem harsh but anytime something has worked online it is almost always ran into the ground. If you are like me and can’t stand these words you better learn to live with them.

If you are using these words and not making money then maybe you should change it up. Try transparent and honest..I heard that sometimes works.

When you are constantly creating content for your blog it can become a tiresome and mundane task. You have to think of topics everyday and it can get a bit overwhelming at times. Even when you are talking about your passions, the constant need for content can get a bit boring. What about having some fun? Have you ever thought of injecting some controversy into your blog?

The power of controversy can lead to spikes in your traffic. People feel a need to respond to things that aggravate them. Even better than that, these people who respond will want to share your blog post to people who will be equally outraged or also feel the need to respond.

How do you inject controversy into your blog though? First I would suggest not going overboard, outright racist, sexist or homophobic blog posts are indeed controversial, but they can also hurt your personal brand. There are other polarizing issues that can inject curiosity at less of a cost. Politics, religion and sports all fall into this category. You can’t play the fence though you have to take one side of the above issues and go for it.

Basically anything people feel strongly about you can exploit. On my blog my most successful post in terms of views and comments was an album review I did. I took the opposite stance of most other online reviews and it paid off. People were expressing their outrage in droves. My website views went up big time. In fact I noticed a 234% increase in my 30 day totals.

Another bonus of using controversy is that you will find people that agree with you. Regularly, these people might read your blog post and just keep it moving. Now that they see all these comments attacking you – they may feel the need to stick up for their viewpoint, which happens to be yours.

Controversy isn’t a guaranteed traffic spike, but if you are able to promote your controversial blog posts to the right audience, you are sure to get some interaction. This interaction won’t always be positive, but it could lead to viral opportunities. I suggest starting out by sharing some of your own controversial beliefs. Just be yourself, you surely have some opinions that go against the norm. That way you can passionately defend them. If you notice your traffic is at a plateau, break out some controversy and see what it can do for you.

If you are looking to make your WordPRess blog stand out from the pack then you need to consider using widgets that aren’t standard. WordPress comes packed with a ton of useful widgets, but there are many more out there you can add through the use of plugins. Add these widgets below to make your blog more fun and original!

1. About Me 3000: You can easily add an about widget using the standard text widget but this plugin adds an easily customizable about widget. The widget has all the styling included so it will always look good. You simply add your email and it will use your current Gravatar for the pic. It also offers you the ability to add your social networks which are displayed in a neat row of icons under your picture.

2. Most Popular Posts: There are widgets that will rank your posts on page views, but that can be exploited. This widget will rank your posts (any number you set) by comments. This is a great idea because then your posts are ranked by community interaction, which I think is more telling than simple page views. It can also encourage people to comment so they can get their favorite posts ranked.

3. Random Posts Widget: This widget will randomly show any number of posts you set. This is an interesting widget because it exposes your older posts to new visitors. A recent posts widget will show you the most recent posts, while your old ones are buried. This widget will make sure your old posts aren’t forgotten and that people who regularly come to your site won’t see the same old posts always showing up in the sidebar.

4. KB Countdown Widget: This widget will let you add a countdown to your sidebar. You can use this for products launches (My eBook price will be going up in….). You can also sue this for personal countdowns on more personal blogs (Our wedding is in…). If you want to add a countdown on your site, this is an easy and effective way.

These four widgets are a drop in the bucket. You can visit WordPress.org and find a huge list of widgets that you can search as well. If you want your WordPress site to be more user friendly and unique you should consider non standard widgets.