Plugging into the Difference – WordPress .com or .org

As a Social Media Specialist, I have clients who wonder why they should have a blog and the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.  Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress gives a great interview below on the usage of WordPress and offers a great analogy on the difference between the .com and .org options.  Listen in and hear what Matt has to say.

I am not only a big proponent of having a blog, I recommend using your WordPress site as your hub. As many of you probably already know, I collapsed my static website at the end of last year and folded that content into the back pages of my WordPress blog. The reason I did that, was

• to cut down on having to maintain two sites, and more importantly,
• my WordPress site is a great place for me to communicate with my readers, establish great relationships and build community. My readership has gone up considerably and I have many more returning visitors to my site in having done this. Google Analytics tells me so!

A blog is a great way for you to give your community fresh, valuable information on a regular basis.  I did a post on Top 10 Tips on Blogging back in the Fall.   If you would like to read it, you’ll find it here.  The questions is, does one go with .com or .org? I like the analogy that Matt uses here of owning a home vs renting. Personally, I would much rather own my own and be in control of my own destiny. Wouldn’t you?  While the low maintenance aspect of the .com site may seem attractive, what does Matt mean here when he says in the .com version, you have ‘no yard’, and you ‘can’t knock down the walls’?  Here are a few key differences you should be aware of.

1. In the .com version, WordPress has proprietary ownership of all your content. Because you have your material installed on their site, there is the risk of them shutting you down if they don’t like your content.  One should read the terms of service before signing up for a .com site.

2. In the .com version, you must use the templates they have to offer.  You cannot modify the template layout, look and feel and you run the risk of looking like every other .com site out there.

3. You cannot install any of the vast array of plugins that are available to you in the .org version.  There are literally hundreds of developers coming out with new templates and plugins all the time and I install many of them on my clients’ sites – things like the Facebook and Twitter plugins for example,  that allow interconnectivity between all of your social media sites.   So functionality in my opinion, is much lower here than on a .org site.

4. You cannot do affiliate marketing on your .com site.

5. A .com site screams NEWBIE!!

There is a VIP option (not free) that allows you more control.  Matt discusses this in the video but as he says, they turn away many inquiries. This would be for larger organizations with a huge online blog presence.

If you are someone who just wants to publish a personal blog, then the .com site is probably fine.  If you are using your blog for business purposes however, I would recommend the .org version for the reasons stated above.  It is true, there is more maintenance and responsibility in maintaining your own site, but that is where I come in.  Using the services of a Social Media specialist who sets up WordPress blogs will be very helpful  not only in the site design, but in its functionality.  I also make sure all your social media sites interconnect and talk to one another.  It is so important for your community to find you no matter where they hang out online.

What have your experiences been like?  I love getting feedback.  And here on my site, you’ll get commentluv.  For all you bloggers out there, leave a comment, and you can link back to your own blog. How great is that?  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave me a comment, I want to hear from everyone.

While physically located in , Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….

Until next time,

Joanne

‘Cardinal’ Rules of Twitter

As a Social Media Specialist VA, I have new people following me on Twitter all the time.  It is always my choice as to who I will follow back.  It is very important to stay focused on who your target market is and build your relationships in that community.   Having said that, I always check the profiles of anyone who is newly following me.

There are many people out there who have not yet grasped the concept of just how powerful Twitter can be.    The following is an example of a particular profile I reviewed recently.  The entire Twitter stream was made up of the same kind of ‘conversation’.  There was very little interaction.  I will share 5 tweets here  and give you some ideas as to how these tweets might have been done differently.  This individual is in the eco-friendly industry and their profile implied that they were looking for business contacts.  The following tweets are not business related. Here is how they might have showcased their expertise, and shared value-added information to their target audience.  See how you can use these examples and adapt them to your own environment.  Don’t be afraid to standout.  Be colorful.  Be a Cardinal!

Tweets:

1.  Just removed the lint from the dryer, yuck

As an individual in the eco-friendly industry,  while removing lint from the dryer is admittedly not a stimulating chore, it is one that needs doing. So if I were inclined to talk about this, here is a way that this could have been done differently.

Don’t throw out your dryer lint. Place it on branches of trees. Birds will use it to feather their nests. With Spring around the corner, this can be a timely tweet.  Even better..consider writing a blog post on 5 ways to use your dryer lint along the reduce, reuse, recycle approach and tweet a link to the blog post. You’d be surprised how many uses there are!

2. Just had my second cup of coffee from ******* .  Am finally waking up.

Take this opportunity to remind readers about not contributing to landfill.

Took my thermos for a second coffee fillup this a.m. to ****. Finally waking up. Glad I’m not adding more cups to landfill. Even better, consider investigating some organic coffee growers and write a blog post on the benefits. Share this information with your readers. Again, Tweet a link to the post.

3. Looking forward to dinner – chicken cordon bleu  YUM!

It’s ok to share some personal tweets from time to time.  Try to focus 80% of your tweets on business related information.  However, this doesn’t mean that when you post something personal, that you can’t add value.  This might have been better..

Looking forward to dinner – chicken cordon bleu. Love this dish. Here’s the recipe. Tell me what you think! Add a link to the recipe. Even better, provide a picture using  a product like Flickr. You can attach the pic to your tweet.

4. Good morning from ******. It’s sunny and beautiful here today. Hope it keeps up.

Again, there is an opportunity here to share some environmental news with your readership. Try this.

Good morning from ****. Weather is beautiful here today. Check this Farmers Almanac prediction for 2010. Provide a link to farmersalmanac.com.  Even better, Encourage people to start thinking about planting their own organic vegetable gardens this year.

5. Time to paint the kids’ bedrooms.  **** wants her room painted pink.

You might consider educating readers that there are low VOC (volatile organic compounds) available today.  VOCs are key to the ozone…so consider a tweet like this..

Time to paint the kids rooms. So glad there are paints with low VOCs now and in such great colors too! Even better, consider writing a blog post on 10 ways to decorate a room using eco-friendly products. Again, tweet about it and provide a link to your blog post or your website if you sell some of these products. Add pictures to your blog post to make it more interesting and include one in your tweet.

These alternatives share industry related information to your target market and showcase your expertise/understanding of the issues in the eco-friendly space.  By adding value, your readers are more likely to return, eager for more content.  In this way, you begin to develop relationships and build intimacy and trust.  Twitter is a great tool to drive traffic to your blog or your website.   But as I have said before, stay away from heavy marketing tactics where you are doing nothing more than selling wares.  The social media space is all about adding value and creating relationships.

Take a look at your industry and see how you can begin to adapt your tweets in this way. Let me know how it’s going. I love getting feedback.  As a Social Media Specialist, I am here to help you grow your business.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all you bloggers out there. Leave a comment and you can leave a link back to your own blog!  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from all of you.

Happy Tweeting!

Joanne

While physically located in , Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….

Putting My $$ Where My Mouth Is

Well, I did it! My static website has now been incorporated into my WordPress site. It took a little doing to make sure all my links stayed intact but I’m here.

As a Social Media Specialist VA, I coach my clients to use their blog site as their hub so it was time to put my money where my mouth is.    It’s so much easier for me now to maintain everything pertaining to my business here on my WordPress site than on my blog and my static website.  More importantly, it’s easy to communicate with my prospects and client base right here with the comment section so I am looking forward to lots of interaction!  It is already reinforcing the discipline to be in the moment – present and authentic.   A blog site is an ideal place for you to build intimacy, trust and loyalty with your followers.

You’ll notice that a ‘Services’ page has been added here along with a ‘Need Help?’ page so everything you need to know about me and my services is easily accessible.  I have all my links to my Social Media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter so you can communicate with me where-ever you are most comfortable hanging out online.

I still use my LinkedIn profile as my “About Me” page because I keep it up to date with all the current information and that is where my testimonials are housed.   To me, showcasing  testimonials on LinkedIn rather than a traditional website is more ‘authentic’ because they are generated by the recommender themselves.

It can be a bit of a challenge keeping up to date with this rapidly changing Social Media environment, but I am confident that with this transition, I will be able to keep my readers abreast of what’s happening with my business and be able to share fresh, relevant information all in one place.

I am keen to get some feedback!  How many of you have made this transition?

For all you bloggers out there, you’ll love commentluv here on my blog. Leave a comment and you can leave a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave me your comments! I want to hear from all of you!

While physically located in Newmarket Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….

Joanne

Here a Blog, There a Blog, Everywhere a Blog Blog….

Whether you agree with it or not, the internet world is buzzing with blogs.  WordPress.com alone reports over 7 million blogs registered on its .com site and over 2 million new blogs between January and May 2009.  Why? Because blogs are an ideal way for business owners to regularly share fresh content on the web and build a relationship with their prospects and customers.  Many are now using a blog site as their website. There are several blog platforms to choose from but  I suggest WordPress.  However, as a Social Media Specialist Virtual Assistant, I counsel clients not to use WordPress.com. I suggest going to WordPress.org and having a self-hosted site. This gives you total ownership of your files and their content.  You will also have a wealth of plugins that you can use to optimize your site which would not be available to you on the .com site.  If you don’t have the skills to get going on your own, some Social Media VAs like myself can help you.

Here are my top 10 ways to successfully customize your WordPress.org site to maximize its effectiveness.

1.     Customize the Header

Search for a template that allows you to customize the header.   Not every template will allow you to do this.  WordPress.org has a library of templates that you can choose from. Use the advanced search capability to find one that allows you to customize features including the header.  You can also do a search on Google to find the right template for you. You may have to pay for the one you want and many are very reasonably priced, but there are plenty of free templates available too.

Helpful tip:  When changing the header, make sure whatever you put in there is consistent with your brand. Also make sure your name appears somewhere on the page, if not in your header and don’t forget your tag line!

2.     About Me Page

Make sure you fill in the ‘About Me‘ page. Many readers will check you out before/after reading your post.  Make it personal and interesting. You can add as many pages as you like to your Blog site. This is another reason many business owners are choosing a blog site as their website.  Also, a blog site can be updated easily and regularly without having to know a programming language.

Helpful tip:  Always write in the first person and write as it you are talking to the person you would like to do business with.

3.     Subscriptions

Make sure your readers can subscribe to your blog… Most blogs include an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed, but most users still prefer email subscriptions.  Feedburner.com (a free Google tool) is one way for you to allow your readers to get notification of your new blog posts.  You can install this on your blog site using the ‘text widget’ feature on WordPress.

Helpful tip:  If you are using Feedburner, make sure you customize the notifications on your Google account to include text that is engaging to your readers.

4.     Links

You will want to make sure that you post links from your blog to your other sites.  My blog site provides links to my website, my LinkedIn profile, My Facebook page and My Twitter page.  In this way, all my sites are connected and followers of my blog can easily access the information they are interested in.  But it’s on my blog, that readers will find my newest content and where I get to develop my ideas.  I am not hampered by 140 characters!

Helpful tip:  It’s not enough just to have your blog link to your other Social Media sites. Those sites should also provide a link back to your blog.  In cases like  LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo and FriendFeed for example, you can have your blog feed right into those applications.

5.     Plug-Ins

There is an incredible list of plug-ins available for WordPress.org sites.  Research the ones that would best benefit your business.  I suggest as a minimum, applications like Google Analytics (another free tool) so you can measure your results and a plug-in (like Add to Any) that allows you to push your blog content out to places like the Social Bookmarking sites like Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon.  This plug-in also allows your readers to share your content as well.

Helpful tip: Consider a Plug-in like ‘Comment-luv‘. It allows readers to provide a link back to their own site after they comment on yours. Great for Google juice!

6.     Tags/Categories

It’s important to choose relevant tags and categories for your blog posts.  These are very important for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and help you get found out there in the blogosphere.

Helpful Tip:  There is no need to go crazy with 30 tags and 20 categories.  There is some discussion as to how many are too many, but use your discretion. I would generally suggest not more than 2-3 categories per post.

7.     Cataloging

It’s important for your blog to be cataloged out there on the web. Registering your blog on sites like ‘Blog Catalog‘ and ‘Technorati‘ will help your blog get some visibility.

Helpful tip:  You can set it up to have these sites ‘ping’ your blog. This helps ensure that these sites stay current with your most recent entries. You will find these options on the Technorati and Blog Catalog sites.

8.     Frequency of Posts

It’s important to get into a pattern when you are blogging.  Blog readers like fresh content and they are looking for it on a regular basis.  How often to post?  The recommendation is 2-3 times a week.  If you can’t blog that often, then make it at least once a week and try to post on the same day each week.  Consider using a guest blogger for those weeks where you might be too busy or are struggling for the words. But don’t overdo that. Your readers want to get to know who you are as a person and as a business entity.

Helpful tip:  Posting blogs on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursdays are the most popular days to post and tend to get the most readers.

9.     Title

The title that you choose for each blog post should be chosen with care.  The title and the first paragraph of your blog post are the primary things that Google crawls for SEO.  You shouldn’t exceed 10 words in your title and make sure it’s relevant to the content of the post. Modifying the permalink is another way to enhance SEO.

Helpful tip: Using a number in your title (Like I have here with Top Ten Tips) can increase readership from 2-8x!

10.   Objectives and Content

Finally and most importantly, understanding your objectives and focusing on your content are key.   Once you understand what you are trying to achieve and who your target audience is, the easier it is to tailor your content to that market. If you aren’t a great writer but have a great message, consider getting help.  As a Social Media Specialist, I review my clients’ content before I publish it and tailor it to the audience.  The best way to know how to deliver content is to read some great blogs and there are some great ones out there. Remember, the purpose of blogging is to build a great relationship with your prospects and your clients.  Add value, be conversational, welcome feedback and have fun!

Helpful tip: I also recommend reading and commenting on 5-10 other blog sites in your industry to become known in the blogosphere and encourage others to visit your own site.

Those are my top ten. I am sure you have other great tips too and I’d love to hear them. Click on the comment button below and share your ideas with me! I love getting feedback!

As a bonus, I offer comment luv here on my blog…By leaving a comment, you will be able to link back to your own site…great for SEO Look forward to hearing from you!

While physically located in Newmarket, Ontario where Joanne lives with her family, as a VA, she is virtually yours anywhere….