Gina Trapani put together an awesome article regarding tricking out Wordpress, which my blog and most of my web design clients are hosted on. The software cuts development time in half for most websites.
However, I wanted to add three more plugins that I think will help tremendously with your current page.
Tweetmeme – This plugin adds the ‘retweet’ button to your posts, making it easier for users to get your information out there on the web. I don’t know how ‘Project Retweet’ from Twitter will affect this feature, but regardless it’s still awesome
DISQUS Commenting system – This plugin allows visitors to comment with their preferred network (I mainly like the Twitter Connect and Facebook Connect portions of the plugin), so that way you have another avenue to connect with your readers
Lastly Twitter Tools – This plugin will post your blog posts into your Twitter feed, along with configurations to use a url shortener (for Metrics and Analysis). Just set it up and go!
Although I think the greatest advice from Gina that was missing was regardless of the cool features of Wordpress, content is still king, and I tell folks to focus on getting posts out there as opposed to tweaking the bells and whistles. You can always have time to do that after the site gets going and you see the traffic.
The last frontier then also is how to monetize posts, without spamming your friends.
(note: this is an example of what not to do with Social Media)
Stop Me if you’ve heard this one before. .
I’ve got this amazing product that I want to share with you, that’s going to replace your current income with money from the internet and it’s so easy
I thought it was easy too, I have this really sad sob story as to why I developed this product, connect with this story and buy now!
And if you haven’t clicked on the first two links (cause it was so obvious my product was SOOO awesome) here is the third link!
Most of what is taught in these secret Internet Marketing classes follows the method of the letter above, give or take. But I know for a fact that unless the email is solicited (i.e. I was interested in buying what you are selling) that anytime an email has 3 links in it, it’s a bona fide internet marketing sales letter. I also know for a fact that whatever this person is selling I’m DEFINITELY not interested in buying. Especially when 4 or 5 of my friends send me the EXACT SAME SALES LETTER.
In the interest of fairness, yes I did post the Tony Robbins sales letter onto my blog. However, my intention (value proposition) was to help people get discounts to an event I know that some of my friends in my network ALREADY planned on attending. I disclosed everything regarding the proposition in the beginning of the post.
The other pet peeve in the internet marketing realm is the ‘annoying ‘ lead capture page. Mind you, I respect that most blogs have some sort of ‘opt-in’ mailing list. That’s respectable. Some places even go the more ethical route and do a ‘double opt-in’, where a confirmation email is sent to make sure the recipient wanted to sign up in the first place. But it’s considered a ‘lead capture page’ where potential clients qualify themselves to your company in order to business with them.
What’s the difference between a respectable Lead Capture Page / Opt-in letter and an annoying one? I know that again I’m not interested in buying if when I get to said LCP, a video AUTOSTARTS asking for your email in return for some ‘perceived value’. If there is some javascript applet that offers you some more value (or a one time offer) as you navigate away from the page (and I specifically block popups, so there is some kind of counter-programming going on) and the second page is even worse than the first. If it was so awesome why didn’t you offer it the first time? I will inevitably develop a lead capture page for my IT Business. However, it’s not required for my readers. I’d prefer you contact me if you want to, not because I tricked you out of your email address.
Oh, and it gets better, this product I was pitched today was about monetizing your Social Media audiences as a turnkey system. On the premise of being ‘ethical’. Yeah right. That’s already been done before.
Last point, one of the main reasons why I like my business is because I can see building and scaling my business, because it’s something I enjoy and love. Internet Marketers come and go. While they may be selling one product and making millions with it, for some reason that pot of gold runs out. They develop a new product, or they re-package their old information and re-sell it. Their sales cycle is around 6-12 months, and they always need more! They are serial-monogamists in that regard, tied to the next idea that’s going to fool them today. And they assure you that this product, THIS TIME, will be the millionaire jackpot. Thankfully, I think many of the people that are still around and sustainable are not employing these shortcuts and tactics. While these people have more balls than brains and are making more money than I am at the moment, I totally do not envy their position.
At the most recent gathering of Social Media Club Chicago (a great gathering of wonderful people, might I add). Put me smack-dab in front of one of my worst fears.
And that is doing some kind of Video blog. Or posting Videos of myself on the internet.
I believe my fear is something similar to being afraid tripping the rift and the ‘unintended audience’. As a matter of fact, my question that I posed to the panelists about Video was in response to the “If You’re Applying for a Job, Censor Your Facebook Page” article on Fast Company, not to mention people younger than I am shying away from Social Media (or at least my theory, the mainstream has ruined the fun and it’s no longer a safe place to hide shenanigans from your ‘unitnended audience’)
Either way, while I was asking the question to the panelists in hopes of spurring a conversation, Tim Jahn from Beyond the Pedway recorded my ‘akward silence’ for a few seconds.
I didn’t know he was recording me, and had I known, I probably wouldn’t have been so stiff. I guess the other issue would be being my worst critic. Writing about my experiences seems to be a safe harbor for myself, although as the panelists explained, video does the same thing, and more because it shows more vunerability due to connecting with your facial features and vocal tonality.
As Kelly Olexa (one of the queens of video blogging) mentioned to me ‘just be yourself’. I’m really good at that!!
Darren Williger, my partner in crime mentioned how his spymaster rant broke down some barriers during a interview with a top company. .
Believe it or not, I always had a dream of doing some kind of television show. I actually wanted to do the news and/or the weather when I was younger. I distinctly remember freezing up at the CNN HQ when I had the chance during a tour when I was younger.
Since then, I’ve gotten over my fear of the stage, have done comedy stand-up routines, emcee’d in front of large audiences (if one day I could EVER get proof I would be soo enthralled), But if you take all those things away, it’s just me and whatever medium, I can’t do it. . . until now. .
Full Disclosure: I’m offering this to you as an affiliate program, meaning I would get a commission, and potentially get a free ticket to attending the seminar. You don’t owe me a thing, nor am I asking you to buy. However, I’m just passing this along to anyone who may have an interest in attending the seminar at a discounted rate. I have enjoyed Tony’s work and I feel this would be of value to my network.
Below is the email from Mike Mataraza, my contact at Tony Robbins.
Gang this is an incredible opportunity! Tony is doing his fire-walk seminar (Unleash the Power Within) here in Chicago and we have half price tickets available for your group! These tickets are available at a HUGE discount.
The dates for the seminar are Thursday Oct. 22nd thru Sunday Oct. 25th in Schaumberg Il just outside of Chicago. Tony will be there LIVE taking you through an incredibly powerful experience.
I have included a day by day description of what is covered at the seminar at the end of this email but a better way to get an idea is to click on this link to a video of the seminar showing you how it works.
=> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdhNZllSLMo
HERE’S THE BEST NEWS—–TICKETS FOR YOU ARE AVAILABLE AT A HUGE DISCOUNT!!!! (Just call Mike at 949-278-3436 and mention my name)
There are two levels of seating:
VIP —- which sits just behind the Diamond section (Diamond is the first 8 rows and is not discounted) so it is close to the stage and includes at no extra cost both a $250 phone coaching session after the event with one of our coaches in San Diego AND a $300 40 page personality profile.
Normally VIP is $1595 but for you it is only $995!! That’s $500 off.
General Admission—which sits in the back includes simply the event itself but does include the entire seminar! The fire-walk on Thursday the health day on Sunday–all of it!
Normally General Admission is $995 but for you it is only $595!! That’s $400 off!
Both levels include a 12 week e-coaching course from Tony normally valued at $300 for FREE! (So every week for 3 months you will get a video, audio or book chapter from Tony.)
We also have a 100% money back guarantee. You can come to the seminar and sit through the entire first half —stay all day Thursday and do the fire-walk, come back Friday and take notes right up until lunch at 2pm and if by then you don’t think this is changing your life Tony’s company will give you a 100% refund!
I can tell you the reason Mike works with Tony now is that this seminar changed his life personally.
The year after he went he tripled his sales and broke 100k in income and he doubled his income the year after that. He is also far healthier (lost 40 lbs on the health program) and he says that his personal relationships are deeper and more enjoyable than ever.
Please join us for an experience that can change your life. Call Mike, mention my name, Will English IV, and he will get you your discounted ticket. Or send me an email -> will@dlwconsultants.com
Mike’s #
949-278-3436
ONCE AGAIN HERE IS THE VIDEO LINK => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdhNZllSLMo
AND HERE IS A DAY BY DAY DESCRIPTION OF THE SEMINAR:
Day One—Transforming Fear into Power
Those who create an extraordinary life and achieve their highest vision share one fundamental power: the capacity to harness their fear and feelings of being overwhelmed and limited and turn them into a drive for focused, clear and positive action. In this session, you will learn these fundamentals & actively use them to create the unstoppable momentum that produces massive results.
- Move through limitations to the resourcefulness that great leaders, entrepreneurs & top athletes tap into.
- Find the psychological strength & overcome barriers that block professional & personal success.
- Instantly place yourself in peak emotional, mental and physical states.
- Achieve tremendous gains in facing and conquering barriers and fears.
- Test your newfound resources by walking barefoot across a bed of hot coals. (You don’t have to, but you’ll want to!)*
Days Two & Three—-The Power of Success Conditioning
Clarity is power. Leaders have it; followers are constantly looking for it. You’ll leave with a clear understanding of what it is you truly want most in your life-in your career, your business, your finances, your body, or your relationships. Discover how to tap into your greatest passions. Make fundamental decisions, build a plan and begin to act upon it while creating strategies for sustained momentum.
- Create a life of your design by using breakthrough technologies such as the Science of Momentum and the 3 Steps to Lasting Change.
- Learn how to build massive rapport and connect with anyone in your personal and professional life.
- Develop strategies to better understand and influence people.
- Identify and replace limiting beliefs to gain sustainable results.
Day Four The Power of Pure Energy
- Dramatically increased energy and vitality!
- Significant and lasting weight loss.
- A stronger system and improved overall health.
CALL MIKE FOR DISCOUNTED TICKETS: 949-278-3436 (Make sure you mention my name, Will English IV so you can get the discount!)
author’s note: this is a repost cause I accidentally deleted my blog! Thank goodness for backups!
The other side of the ethics debate is the issue of censorship. Or even more close to home is self-censorship. What can you and can’t you say online these days? We assume that whatever we talk about online, photos we share, etc are part of our small social circle, and thusly invisible to say ‘the unintended audience’ member. Social Media has changed the game as to the idea of ‘communication’.
Where it would be easier to shape opinion and categorically deny any wrongdoing with communication really being in a vacuum and traditional media having a monopoly on the message, politics has changed drastically due to the ability to look through archives and records of people’s communication online. There is only a perceived layer of security from the ‘unintended audience’ of your communications online. I covered in one part of my presentation “The Art of the Conversation” that there are some things that you shouldn’t talk about online. The reasoning is not because you don’t have the freedom to talk about what you want. However, most people aren’t prepared for the consequences that responsibility holds.
Something very chilling to me was reading the initial report about someone getting sued over a tweet. It was pretty high profile. Regardless, I do have a few cardinal rules, a personal code for myself and my online communications. The big one is not to make personal attacks or vindictive statements about entities. There are always exceptions to the rule, and bigger brands usually fall into that exception (I doubt AT&T will sue everyone who has had something negative to say about the company, since it has become a trending topic on twitter quite often lately) However, the idea is that there is a tangible liability to the information that you post. Libelous information, even in electronic form, can land you in court. (Later on, it was revealed that the suit was a counter-suit to an original problem. However, I believe the damage has already been dealt, regardless of the well-intentioned.)
Taking legal action against social media counterparts however usually doesn’t bode well for the brand making the suit. The RIAA is a perfect example of this. Even worse, denying your imperfections after the fact leads ‘patriots’ to dig up even dirtier laundry about the company. Very simple transactions can turn into MAJOR PR nightmares. Some brands have decided not to go that route, and actively search for and silence all critics by resolving their needs quickly. They know the value of communicating that their brand takes care of issues and problems quickly as soon as they come to light.
Of course, this can be taken advantage of, which is always the danger. But the benefit of resolving issues online in the Social Media space, despite the opportunity for a brand to resolve the issue legally is to broadcast your good name in front of the respective complainer’s audience. This is better than any marketing platform, or message controlling campaign you could put together. It’s called word of mouth marketing.
