Posts Tagged ‘How-To’

If you read my post called “Internet Marketing & WordPress: Nancy Andrews Was Right - Forget Social Networking“, then you’ll know that geting indexed in Google is extremely fast if you’re using WordPress or some other blogging tool to get your pages (and site) re-indexed quickly.

And I mean *really* quickly. Those of you that remember, will know that it only takes a couple of minutes and Google go through your site, re-index and you can rank well for your keyword terms (if you’ve written your content properly, that is!)

Well… I now tend to check my site when I’ve done a post as it’s pretty amusing to see how quickly I can get my pages indexed. And I’m loving it when it does it well.

For example, the WordPress Plugin Review on the WordPress LinkSync (aka Blogroll Sync) plugin that I wrote on about an hour ago has already been indexed.

That’s amusing in itself.

But here’s something funnier…

WordPress SEO Results: WP LinkSync plugin keyword dominated »

Yeah, I know… I’ve been away for a really long time. Too long. Don’t expect me to make up excuses and apologise for my absence.

I’m back with a renewed focus. I’ve been working on getting FAQ-Tastic properly released. And some of you may already know there’s a Pro version in the pipeline. Well… It’s nearly here. So sorry for the delay (nuts… I just apologised didn’t I? Damn my Englishness).

Well there’s a snag with the new FAQ-Tastic plugin… Last Saturday saw the release of WordPress 2.5 (a.k.a Brecker - after “an exceptionally talented saxophonist” Michael Brecker. Who knew? Who cares?). Now I got to test with this new version…

Anyway, I’ve only just managed to download WordPress 2.5 and start having a play with it today. This “Brecker” version *is* pretty cool and has some *really* (and I mean *REALLY*) cool features…But one thing troubles me:

HOW THE *&$( DO YOU EDIT THE PAGE SLUGS IN WP2.5?!?!

OMG, do you realise how serious it is for your average Internet Marketer if they’ve taken the slugs away?LOL… okay, don’t worry. They’ve not taken the page slugs away - it’s just not intuitively found. Most bloggers wouldn’t think of changing their page slugs but for anyone serious about Search Engine Optimization, changing the page slugs is ESSENTIAL!

So I’m going to show you how. And cause I’m nice, I’m going to give you pictures too (actually, they’re screenshots for a new ebook I’m doing) WordPress 2.5: Changing the Page Slug (with images)

In this post, I’ll be taking you through the top 7 SEO areas you need to optimize in WordPress in order for your site to rank well in the search engines. Even if you don’t use WordPress, this post may be useful to you.

In Part 2 of this post I’ll be showing you the 1 plugin for SEO that I use on all WordPress sites I build for clients which makes it easy for them (as novices) to take control of their site (without really needing to know the technical aspects of what’s happening!).

If you’re relatively new to search engine optimization you might already know the Top 3 areas that you need to optimize (and if you don’t, then you need to start learning quickly!): 1) Page Title, 2) Meta Keywords and Descriptions and 3) Permalinks.

So… what are the other 4 you need to learn? Well, here’s a quick summary of what we’ll be covering:

1. Page Title
2. Meta Keywords & Description
3. Permalinks
4. First Paragraph
5. More links
6. H1 Site Name
7. H2 Site Description

This post will show you *WHERE* to optimize but won’t go into specific details on *HOW*. While the sites I create rank well, I would not pretend to be an SEO expert. Useful SEO links are provided at the end of this post.
WordPress Search Engine Optimization: Beginners Tips & How To Guide »

I’m going to claim this title now even though there’s no awards ceremony.

Why am I admitting to this now?

Well, to be honest, my copy sucks, is completely untargetted and I’m not sure that people read this stuff anyway. A few comments here and there but mostly people only come to this site for one thing. And it sure isn’t the copy!

How Do I Know My Copy Sucks?

Well, the (ir)regular readers of my blog will know that I’ve been off for several weeks now. Partly as an experiment and partly due to knowing that my efforts in the Internet Marketing game aren’t getting me very far. In fact, checking regularly on my Google Analytics screen I see that my traffic has INCREASED since I STOPPED writing. Go figure! Maybe if I shut up long enough maybe I could get some really decent traffic to my site .

For a lot of you, this might be a great strategy to implement - I’ve seen some awful copywriting (but I really think this 1 reason is enough to prove that I should hold this title!). I might do an ebook called “Easy Ways to Get More Traffic by STFU!”. Who knows… it might do better than I’m currently doing. 7 Copywriting Tips From A Copywriter Who Sucks » Read On »

Okay. I’ll admit it… I completely messed up. Regular readers may know that I recently wrote this pretty excellent guide on how to set up the Semi-Static Wordpress homepage but no-one noticed the *huge* error that I had in the instruction.

No-one noticed *except* from a really amazing Texan Liberty Lady (Carol) who describes herself as *green, green, green* when it comes to WordPress and yet still attempted to take on the Semi-Static homepage. Now that’s really ballsy if you ask me - it’s quite an advanced technique.

Anyway, she emailed me and let me know that she’d followed the instructions and it wasn’t working.

That’s right people. I had a boo boo on my semi (I’ll let you imagination run with that one).

So she kindly let me have access to her site and I had a look around. And you know what? Completely my fault - my “how-to” guide was more of a “how-not-to” guide. DOH! A Homer moment - that’s what happens when you post just before bedtime… (never again!)

Well, guess what? Now that sent her new instructions, she’s successfully implemented it on her Ron Paul website (I was like “Ron Paul Who?“, as I don’t read newspapers and haven’t done for several years now and shy away from any type of political discussion as I find it really messes with my inner wellbeing, man…).

Also - credit where credit’s due - Carol also sent me a tip on updating the code I sent her. Yes, she even spent the time looking up the WordPress Codex to find out more about how to do this. Now, if someone this green spends this much time making sure her website is high quality when it comes to WordPress, then some of you other political bloggers should probably watch out - she’s determined and will probably be spending a lot more time promoting her candidate of choice!

Me… I’m staying out of the fray. I’m all for Democracy and freedom of speech, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah… but the last time Bush got in, so that’s that say about the so-called Democratic system. More of this to come - I’m currently re-writing a blog post that doesn’t make me sound an ideological fascist (cause I’m not! I’m politically apathetic with a tendancy to dislike the masses for their inability to differentiate between what sucks and what doesn’t).

I digress. As usual. Because it’s my blog and I’m tangential…

So… anyone up for a 3rd draft of the Semi for WordPress? Here’s proper instructions this time. An Updated How-To Guide for WordPress Semi-Static Homepages