Archive for the ‘Blog Marketing’ Category

The next class for the Word Press Blog Building Advanced class is May 25 and 27 (6:30-9:00 pm) Course code: CO-318-1. (Please see below for description.) 

  You can register by calling the school directly if you’d like (Community Education: For Assistance Call: (250) 386-8367) or if you wish register online at http://www.bookking.ca/bkshorelinepub/courses/index.asp. Once on the course index page (http://www.bookking.ca/bkshorelinepub/courses/index.asp), scroll down the left column to computers and click the ‘Courses’ link at the end of the paragraph.  The Word Press courses are near the bottom of the right hand column.  You can both view details about the course or register from this area.

WordPress Advanced Training
May 25 and 27 (6:30-9:00 pm) Course code: CO-318-1

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging tools on the web, making it easy for anybody to post their ideas, pictures, and audio/video. This Advanced Course teaches you how to get to get more from your WordPress Website. You will be covering advanced configurations such as advanced plug-in use and SEO techniques for your website, as well as how to setup a Shopping Cart for E-Commerce. You will also cover how to use your site for photo blogging and/or podcasting. You will learn how to import content from a previous blog system. You will also learn how to set up your site for automatic database backups and more. 

Prerequisites

Strong basic computer and internet skills, having taken WordPress Intro Course or a strong Knowledge of WordPress

Can’t make these classes but are interested in the courses?  Contact John, at dragon@smartbomb.ca or call him directly at 250-885-2888 between 8am and 8pm PST, for other dates he is available. This can be for individuals or a group, all you need is a laptop.

WordCamp Victoria 2010 is excited to announce the final list of 21 exciting speakers and facilitators for WordCamp Victoria on Saturday, May 15th, 2010. John Overall of Firedragon Hosting is one of the speakers for this event.

WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. There is something for everyone here – whether you are a beginner, a business person using WordPress for your website, an avid blogger, a designer, a social media personality (or wannabe social media personality), or a programming wizard. Participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.

The next class for the Word Press Blog Building Intro class is May 18 and 20 (6:30-9:00 pm) Course code: CO-317-2.  (Please see below for description.)

 The next class for the Word Press Blog Building Advanced class is May 25 and 27 (6:30-9:00 pm) Course code: CO-318-1. (Please see below for description.) 

  You can register by calling the school directly if you’d like (Community Education: For Assistance Call: (250) 386-8367) or if you wish register online at http://www.bookking.ca/bkshorelinepub/courses/index.asp. Once on the course index page scroll down the left column to computers and click the ‘Courses’ link at the end of the paragraph.  The Word Press courses are near the bottom of the right hand column.  You can both view details about the course or register from this area.

Can’t make these classes but are interested in the courses?  Contact John, at dragon@smartbomb.ca or call him directly at 250-885-2888 between 8am and 8pm PST, for other dates he is available. This can be for individuals or a group, all you need is a laptop.

Know someone that might be interested in this course, any other sessions or guest speaking that we do, please feel free to forward this information on.

Are you thinking about launching your business blog? You’re not alone. A recent study by GuideWireGroup revealed that approximately 89 percent of businesses polled use blogs as a way to communicate with their customers. In another survey, Burson-Marsteller found that 15% of Fortune 500 companies have blogs. A successful business blog can generate tens of thousands of dollars in revenue each year, with figures for large corporations typically much higher.

So, business blogging is becoming a mainstream marketing tool. That does not mean, however, that blogging comes easily or naturally for many companies, their owners and employees. Blogging, like any form of content, is a commitment of time and resources – namely, you have to know how to write (or have access to good writers) and you have to maintain your blogs with fresh, original and insightful new material on a regular basis. This should not scare you away. It should, though, inspire you to learn the basics of business blogging before you turn your baby loose on the world. Planning out your bogging strategy first is a wise move, because it gives your blog a greater chance of success. Here are 10 tips for launching your business blog:

1. Identify your readers.

Before you start writing anything, make sure you understand who your target market is. This is also known as your “buyer persona”, which marketing guru David Meerman Scott defines as “…a distinct group potential customers, an archetypal person whom you want your marketing to reach.” Basically, you want to tailor your topics to the groups of people who are most interested in your company. Otherwise, you’re missing the mark and losing out on potential leads and sales. To identify these buyer personas, there are 3 questions you should ask yourself–

• Where do your customers come from?
• What type of content will be useful to them?
• Where do your customers hang out online? Read the rest of this entry »

Why would you want to add this to your site? Well the biggest reason is to help your readers share what you have to say with the world by adding either of the plugins discussed here you will be able to add some great interaction to your website and encourage the sharing of information with others.

The two main plugins that I have tested out are Digg Digg and Sociable. Both these plugins work well but take different paths to accomplish similar goals. The biggest difference between the two is that with Digg Digg you will get large icons on your posts and with Sociable you will get a nice row of small icons linking off to the social websites.  See the image below for a comparison of the different icons.

Sample of what social bookmarks look like

Installing them is a breeze if you are on a properly configured web server, as I recently discovered when working on a clients website hosted on a different server. Not all servers are created equal and not all installations of WordPress allow for instant install and updates.

So if you are lucky enough to have instant easy install simply go to the add new link under your plugins menu and do a search for the following plugins “sociable” & “Digg Digg” once you locate them simply install them into your site.

Now you need to configure them to show the buttons you want shown on your WordPress website. With Sociable, you get a choice from 99 different bookmark sites. I do not recommend choosing them all but choose about 5 to 10 of your favorites. They will show on your site as in the image above.

Choice of social bookmark sites with Sociable

With Digg Digg you only get a choice of 11 social bookmark sites but they are the most desired ones available. You make the settings for Digg Digg as shown in the image below. One of the issues with Digg Digg is that you only get a choice of 2 sizes for most not all icons and the larger ones are the best. So if you’re looking for something with smaller icons then sociable is what you want. They will show up on you site as shown in the image above.

Choice of social bookmark sites from Digg Digg

I have opted on this site to use the Digg Digg plug in simply because I like the larger icons and don’t want at this time the extended choices from Sociable. Your mileage may vary experiment with them both on your site to see what you prefer and what your users may like.