Archive for the ‘Simple Marketing’ Category
February 26th, 2010 | Author: Tiffany
Writing for article directories is a great way to get one way links back to your website and has the potential of getting you noticed in places on the internet that you might not have even thought about.
You see when you write an article and submit it to a directory, you will include a byline with a link to your website. These articles are free for anyone to take from the directory and post on their website as long as your byline is included. Many bloggers and website owners look for quality articles on these sites to fill their site with content.
I’ve been asked too many times to count ‘Why would I just give my work away for free?’ Honestly though you aren’t just giving it away you are building links and possibly future relationships with other websites and blogs. It will be of benefit to you in the end.
The most important thing to remember is to write a quality article. You’ll want to put your best out there. Make sure you proofread your article. Many of the article directories have editors and will reject your article if it’s something you just threw together. Besides the better the article the more chance it will be used on other sites in turn bringing you more back links and potential visitors.
Here are a few places for you to get started with:
The other plus side to these sites is that you can get content for your website or blog there as well. This is great not only to build content and pages for you but if you are having one of those days when that blinking cursor is just laughing telling you are you have no idea what to write about you can go grab a quick article knowing that you are helping someone else out with their internet quest as well. 
Posted in Simple Marketing, building back links | 
Tags: article submission, back links | 
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January 23rd, 2010 | Author: Tiffany
In our last post we talked about Follow vs. Feedburner. Now we are going to discuss how to add Follow or Google Friend Connect to a Word Press blog. This of course serves as just one more way to add reader retention to your blog. Once you finish this you can also get more Google Member tools to add more interaction to your blog it can be done the same way as this tutorial it’s just a different gadget.
*Before you start this process though I must warn you that this only works on Word Press blogs that you are hosting yourself. This does not work on Word Press blogs that are hosted free at Word Press.
1. You’ll want to go to http://www.google.com/friendconnect/home/ This link opens in a new window so you can go back and forth. 
If you don’t already have some type of Google account you are going to need to get one. So, on this page you either Sign Up or Sign In.
2. After you get signed in you’ll want click Add new site. On that page you will fill in the name of your site and the URL.
3. If you did the last step properly you’ll be taken to a page that says Congratulations you added…. Click the Add the Members gadget box.
4. Here is where you will choose the size of your gadget and colors. Then click generate code. Easy enough!
5. Now you’ll want to log in to the dashboard of your Word Press blog. Go to appearance and then to widgets. For this choose a Text widget and drag and drop it in to where you’d like your Follow box to be on the side bar. Click the arrow to open up the ‘editor’ on the text tab. Copy the code from the Google Friend Connect generator to this open box. Click save at the bottom of that box when you are done. Adding a title to the text box is optional.
6. Visit your site, you should see your new Follow box.
January 18th, 2010 | Author: Tiffany
A Facebook fan page is a great way to stay in touch with your blog followers or clients. It’s another way were you can really keep your website in front of people. You have to remember you are competing with over 50 million websites and people have so many things going on that unless you keep up your “appearances” you could be quickly forgotten.
So here is a step by step of how to make a Facebook fan page and how to get people to join it.
Go to www.facebook.com If you are logged in log out. On the homepage you’ll see under the sign up area Create a Page do NOT fill in the sign up area just click the create a page.
Once you click Create a Page you’ll be prompted to answer several questions and give the page a name. If you are already a Facebook user at the end you will choose the option I already have an account and log in. You will then be taken to your new fan page. Be sure to click that button at the top of the page that says Become a Fan.
Now let’s fancy up your page a bit.
Add a picture by mousing over the picture area and clicking the pencil.
Add a short description of your website or blog, in the box provided below the picture area, remember to include your URL and don’t forget the http:// so that it will automatically be made into a clickable link for anyone visiting the page.
At this time you might want to complete filling out some information on your info page. Do this by clicking on the info tab at the top of the wall.
It’s time to start to invite people to your new space! Under the main picture for your fan page it will say suggest to friends. Click that to begin to invite your friends.
Easy enough!
Posting to your fan page
You’ll want to post updates on your fan page as to what your business and/or blog is doing. This will be seen by all of your fans on their home page wall.
Posting links is important too. This will remind them not just about your fan page, it will remind them of your site. Posting links here will also help the search engines find your website.
Finally you’ll need to get people outside of your circle of Facebook friends. Add a Facebook banner on your blog or website and link it to your new fan page.
*A question I’ve received in the past is how do I find my fan page?
Good question because after you close out it would seem it would be lost. You can either bookmark your fan page or go to your main profile page go to the info tab and scroll all the way to the bottom where it shows your fan pages.
I hoped this helped you. For some this is easy stuff and for others not so much so if you have questions leave a comment and I will try to answer asap.
*** Another update! Facebook has made it easier to find your fan page. On the left hand side bar you’ll see where it says ads and pages click it and you’ll be able to get your list of pages… or just the one. Since I have several websites I have several fan pages.