Blogging with Wordpress

I have to be honest, Twitter has not been good to me over the years. Of all the social media platforms available to us today, i've personally had the most trouble with Twitter. It's been really hard for me to gain followers and to get decent traffic to my blogs and websites using a tweet. With that said, I may be changing my tune soon. I have recently implemented some new strategies that are starting to pay off and I wanted to share them with you. 5 Twitter tips that will set your blog on fire 1) Hashtags - Yes hashtags are important. Your going to get a lot more engagement if your using them. As a matter of fact, you will get twice the engagement when you use hashtags. Just make sure your not using more then two hashtags per tweet. I personally would advise trying to keep it to one hashtag. Make sure your hashtag is relevant to your content as well. 2) Ask for retweets - You want more retweets? Don't we all! If you want more retweets then you're going to have to swallow your pride and ask for them. Your tweets have a 23% higher chance of being retweeted if you ask for it and spell out the word RETWEET. Your tweets are also 86% more likely to be retweeted if you include a link.   3) Use a link shortener - This one is pretty much a no brainer. Shorter links are more attractive then big long links. More attractive links are more likely to get clicked. Not only that, when you use a link shortener service, you can track the success of that particular link. I personally use Bitly when i post a link myself. If I'm scheduling a tweet for later, I'll use the link shortener that comes included in the Hootsuite interface.   4) Include an Image - This is where I have personally been dropping the ball over the last few months. I had never included an image in my tweets until recently. I have seen a dramatic increase in my twitter traffic, since adding an image. Turns out, tweets with image links get twice the engagement as tweets without. You can add an image link very easily, by clicking the camera button at the bottom of your twitter chat box.   5) Tweet at the right times - Some marketers will argue that there is no perfect time to send tweets. They would be wrong. Turns out Twitter engagement for brands increases by 17% on the weekend. This is another opportunity that I personally have greatly missed out on. Now I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend my time tweeting on the weekends. Instead, just schedule your tweets in advance. I use Hootsuite or Buffer to accomplish this. The weekends are not the only great time to schedule your tweets. People are more likely to look at there twitter feed during times of commute. It may be beneficial for you to schedule your most important tweets around 8am - 10am. You will obviously need to test some times to see what works best for your audience. Implement these strategies and see if your Twitter traffic doesn't set your blog on fire! Give these tips a try and make sure your recording your results. You won't know if your strategy is working if your not testing and tweaking. What's working for you? Feel free to share your Twitter tips in the comments below!

There are so many reason to love Wordpress. It's user friendly, It's SEO friendly and just about anyone of any skill set can learn to use it. I would argue though, that what really makes Wordpress so great is the plugins. With Wordpress plugins you ...

I've said it a hundred times and I'll say it again. The most important peace to the puzzle that is your online business, is your audience. Without them, your business doesn't exist. Your number one priority should always be, how can I continue to grow and serve my audience. If you ever loose sight of that, then you will quickly watch your online business disintegrate into nothingness. Your audience is everything. They are the ones who watch your videos, read your post, listen to your podcast and most importantly, assuming your doing a good job, they share your content with their friends and family. My audience means everything to me. They are my customers, my friends, my referrals and my business partners. They are like family and they deserve to be treated as such. Am I getting my point across...? There is nothing more important for your to be concerned about then building a committed audience that is just itching to see what you do next. You know what the greatest part about all this is? It's really not all that hard to build a committed audience as long as you understand these 4 secrets that I'm going to share with you below. 4 Secrets to building a COMMITTED audience that CAN'T WAIT to see what you do next..! #1 Consistency This one seems so obvious, but It's probably the one that's overlooked the most. I know that I am guilty of not being consistent with my content, especially with my nich sites. It's so very important that you be diligently consistent with your content. Your audience has an expectation. They expect great content that improves their lives and they expect it regularly and consistently. You should train your audience to know when and how often to expect your content from the very beginning. Here's the thing, It doesn't matter if you decide to deliver content monday through friday of every week. It doesn't matter if It's every other thursday twice a month. Just make sure your consistent. Human beings are creatures of habit. If your followers don't know when to expect your content, they will quickly loose interest in you and find someone that they can count on. Whatever you do, be consistent. If you can master the importance of this, then building a great audience of committed and dedicated followers will be easy and exciting. If you fail to master this, you will have lot's of ups and downs and a very unpredictable audience. #2 Interaction - Listen and Care This is another no brainer that many people seem to miss. First and for most, if you want a committed audience that takes your recommendations, that shares your content and tells their families and friends about you, then they need to feel connected to you. Just like in real life relationships, these people can tell if you really care about them. They know if your really listening to them or if your just faking it. I'm going to be brutally honest here. If you don't genuinely care about these people who invest their time and money into you and your business, then It's probably best you just go get you a 9 - 5 job. This isn't for you. People can tell when someone is just trying to take advantage of them. You want real success and a predictable, committed audience? Then you need to actually care about them and listen to what they say. Listen to their feedback and find out what they want. Then when you find out what they want, you create it for them. That's how this business is truly done. Don't create products and content and then try and find an audience to serve. Build your audience, interact with them through comments, emails and other conversations. Get to know them. Build real relationships with them. When you do this, you build trust. People buy from those they trust. #3 Deliver Great Content I know what your thinking...  Duhh! Well you would be surprised how many people create a blog, a YouTube channel or a podcast and post total spam and garbage hoping to make money from it. You want an audience? One that's committed,

  Today on Blogging with Wordpress, I talk about the importances of Entrepreneurship and why you must become an entrepreneur now, before It's to late. The reality is that our economy is starting to unravel and will eventually collapse. There is a new economy developing.    Click Here to Listen to the Show

  Today on Blogging with Wordpress you will learn some practical tips to help you stay motivated. It can be very challenging to keep pressing on and moving forward, especially when your seeing very little results. I understand what it feels like to put years worth of work into something, only to yield absolutely zero results. It's so important to stay focused and remember why you're doing what you're doing. Today on Blogging with Wordpress I hope to help you overcome this challenge. Rekindle the fire that is your passion! Also on today's show there will be a special announcement about the "Blogging with Wordpress 101 live training class"! Make sure to listen in to find out more! To support the Blogging with Wordpress podcast, please take a moment and leave some feedback and a star rating in the iTunes store.

Today on the Blogging with Wordpress podcast, I'm going to be speaking to your about how to effectively build an email list. Not only are we going to be covering how to build an email list but how to effectively use your email list to improve the over all success of your online business. I will also be letting you in on all the mistakes that I made in the beginning so that you don't fall into the same trap. This is an episode that you can't afford to miss!   How to add an email opt-in box to your Wordpress blog in less then 10 minutes   Tools & Items shared on the show Aweber - Without a doubt the best email marketing software available. Try it out for only $1 Optinskin - Add gorgeous opt-in forms and social share boxes to your blog in seconds. Fiverr -  Get professionally created images for eBooks, banners and more for only $5. iTunes - Support the show and leave a comment and some feedback in the iTunes store. Subscribe to the show in iTunes and never miss and episode. Social Media Secret Weapon - Take my free training course and download my free ebook. Learn how to drive thousands of visitors for free using LinkedIn   Have a question or comment that you would like answered over the Blogging with Wordpress" podcast? Leave a recorded message or send an email to shawn@easytechsite.com.

  New blog? No list? No audience? No fan base? Need FREE traffic? NO PROBLEM! OK…. That's a HUGE LIE. Would you like some truth about getting traffic to your brand new blog? OK, here it is. IT"S GOING TO BE CHALLENGING…. I know, I know, ...

I started my first blog back in 2009. To be honest, It was a complete JOKE. It was ugly and not very SEO friendly. Truth was, I had no idea what I was doing. I was learning by doing. Needless to say my first few attempts were a HUGE FAIL. I didn't f...

Can you really make money from your blog? You can, but you better be prepared to work your TAIL off. In today's episode of "Blogging with Wordpress", I'm going to share a few ways that you can make money from your blog. I want to be real and honest about what's involved. This is NOT a get rich quick podcast. I'm also going to share with you some projects that I'm working on, and how I'm approaching them and intend to make money from my efforts. It's not easy to make money online. If some marketing GURU tries to sell you on the idea that you can click a few buttons, put up a blog and start raking in the cash, then I would stop listening to that person right NOW. It's just simply NOT TRUE. It's hard work. It's time consuming, and being able to stay focused long enough to actually build an audience and start selling them a product is extremely challenging. It can be very discouraging in the beginning. Be prepared for the daily grind of building your following. Can you really make money from your blog? So how do you build an audience. It starts by finding a pain or a need and offering a solution and giving it away for FREE. Giving away lot's of it for FREE. This is how you build trust, this is how you gain real fans, this is how you build an online business. Do away with this idea that you don't need relationships and connections to have a successful business. Take my free training on LinkedIn and start creating business connections now. There are many marketers out there who will tell you, that if you just buy their training product, that you will instantly know everything you need to know to get rich online. They are full of CRAP. Yes their product may be very informative and may even give you some tools and information that you didn't have before. However, you won't be getting rich quick. Before you even mess with setting up a blog and spending several hours a week learning about online marketing, you need to prepare yourself for the fact that you probably won't be making a reasonable income your first year. Maybe not even your first 3 years. It may take you many years of hard work and dedication to start making a great income from your online efforts. I'm not trying to discourage you. I want to be real with you. I want to tell you the truth. I want you to know how challenging this can be before you commit yourself and your time to building an online business. I believe the future is online. I believe that great success can be achieved by anyone, if they are willing to put in the work. Here is a quick tip for you before we get started. This is something I learned the hard way. "If your only reason for starting an online blog or business is to make money, you will fail. In order to be able to stick it out for the long hall, there has to be a more important, more valuable reasons for wanting it." Now that I've given you my disclaimer, here are few ways you can make money from your blog. Make sure to listen to the podcast, as I go into detail how to use each one these programs in an affective way. Google Adsense Amazon Affiliate Create your own digital products ClickBank Affiliate Sales Commision Junction eBooks - (Check out my Podcast Basics interactive eBook) Links discussed on today's show easytechsite.com/itunes (Please leave me a star rating and comment) easytechsite.com/love  (tell your twitter followers that you love "Blogging with Wordpress") Getting started online Free eBook for LinkedIn training LinkedInfluence (recommended LinkedIn training course) Do you have a question that you would like Shawn to answer on the show? Email your question to shawn@easytechsite.com and put (podcast question) in the subject line!

Do you want your online business to flourish? If you thought you could just write a few blog post and suddenly become a famous writer, then you have sadly been misled. There are many other factors that you must master, and having the right tools is defiantly a big part of this. I'm confident that you will find the tools, apps and plugins I have laid out for you below EXTREMELY helpful. If you have the right tools, you can make your life a thousand times easier, especially when it comes to sharing and aggregating content. I plan to release at least one show a month that focuses on nothing else but helpful tools, apps and plugins that I believe will greatly ENHANCE your online business. I would appreciate your engagement on this topic as well. If you know of a great tool, app or plugin then please don't be SHY! Share that information with all of us in the comments below, and together we can make each others life easier and help each other achieve success. Applications and Tools discussed on today's podcast Brandify - Brandify review and rates your website. Click here to read my review article on Brandify. Totem - PressPage creation tool. Check out the EasyTechSite PressPage. Pocket - Pocket is a great read-it-later application that you can use on your mobile device and on your browser. Buffer - Buffer is a great social service that allows you to automate your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn shares. Buffer works as a browser application and a smartphone application. Evernote - Evernote is by far the best note taking service currently available. You can use it on your desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Access, create, and edit your notes from anywhere at anytime. Feedly - Feedly is an amazing reader service that allows you to keep up with all your RSS feeds. To learn more check out my Feedly review. Dropbox - Best FREE cloud storage service. Smart phone Apps Analytics apps - Quicklytics for iPhone  or  Manalytics for Android. Twitter apps - Tweetbot for iPhone or standard Twitter app for Android. Wordpress App - Great app for responding to comments and managing your Wordpress blog on the go. Click here to view "Twelve iPhone apps that no blogger can live without" Plugins discussed on today's podcast Ad Squares Widget Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin Twitter Facebook Social Share WP Exclude From Homepage WordPress SEO by Yoast Links discussed on today's podcast Itunes -  Take a few minutes and leave Blogging with Wordpess a star rating and comment Love -  Do you love Blogging with Wordpress? Tell all your Twitter followers about it. Guest Post - Want to write an article for EasyTechSite?  

Why does your blog suck? That's a question I have asked myself a million times over the years. It's not an easy question to answer. It takes time, effort and experience to build a blog that doesn't suck. Does your blog suck...? More importantly, It requires understanding your audience and understanding how to deliver your message, while also delivering a great presentation. Today on Blogging with Wordpress, I'm going to be talking to you about the importance of your PRESENTATION, your Wordpress theme and your writing. You would think that as long as your content is amazing, that your theme and presentation would be at the bottom of the list of importance. That's very incorrect. Content is king, but if your presentation is horrible and your writing is horrible, then you are wasting your time and setting yourself up for failure. TRUST me. I know from experience. I have created more blogs that suck then anyone else on the planet. My goal in this episode is to equip you with the tools and knowledge that you need, to not only create great content, but to present it in a way that wins. Notes from BWW 005 Recommended Themes Thesis - Great theme for beginners. One of the most popular, easy to customize, and use themes available. Genesis - This is the theme that EasyTechSite is currently using. I love this theme. It's very easy to use and very simple. More importantly It's completely optimized for mobile. The version that EasyTechSite is specifically using is Genesis Framework with the Genesis Sample child theme active. There are several themes that are offered. Optimizepress - Amazing theme for creating great looking sales pages. Make sure to check my training post on how to use Optimizepress to create a great looking sales page. If your goal is to create, and sell digital training products, services or incorporate a membership site. Then Optimizepress is by far the best option. Other Discuessed Links Editing tips - Great article from CopyBlogger iTunes - I would appreciate it, if you would take a few minutes and leave this podcast a star rating and comment. Blogging with Wordpress has been recently added to the "New and Noteworthy" section on iTunes! Love - Show this show some love.  The professional writer says, ‘It is almost certain that most of what I write will not resonate with most people who read it, but over time, I will gain an audience who trusts me to, at the very least, be interesting.’ ~ Seth Godin

Today on Blogging with Wordpress, I get into why Podcasting is so important, why you should podcast, what to do and what NOT to do! A Podcast is an amazingly effective way to not only reach a large amount of people but also build trust with them. There are millions upon millions of blogs out there, but did you know there is only around 250 thousand podcast? There is still a lot of room to grow and lot's of opportunity for you to get in and start driving business using your voice, passion and message! I've been podcasting for over three years now and it has by far beent he most beneficial method of reaching my audience that I have ever used. I've been lucky enough to interview incredibly successful bloggers like Pat Flynn and I have been interviewed myself by companies like Libsyn. Podcasting is by far my favorite media outlet. Want to reach ten of thousands of people with your message? Want t0 build lasting relationships and create true dedicated fans? Then you are going to want to listen in and take some notes because this episode might just change the direction of your entire business! Important Links discussed on todays show Audio Jungle (Royalty free music tracks) Yeti Microphone  Pop filter eCamm Call recorder ( Mac Skype Recorder )  Pamela (Windows Skype Recorder )  Libsyn (Podcast Hosting )  Audacity (Free podcasting software) Blogging with Wordpress on iTunes (Leave the show some feedback on iTunes)  I love blogging with Wordpress (Tell your friends on Twitter that you enjoy the show)   

An interview with Pat Flynn Earlier this Spring I had an opportunity to record an awesome  interview with Pat Flynn for my finding freedom podcast. The interview was so good and so inspiring that I thought it only fitting to republish it on my Blogging with Wordpress podcast and move the interview over here to www.Easytechsite.com. This was a very exciting time for me and it was great to chat with someone who has seen such great success online. If you have already heard this interview, then I would encourage you to listen to it again! There is a lot of great insight and information shared in this interview that you may have missed the first time around. I will warn you that this was my first time ever interviewing someone. So it's possible that I may sound a little nervous and not quite myself. The reason for that is that I actually was nervous! None the less, this was a great interview. If there is another blogger that you would like me to interview for this podcast then please let me know in the comments below! I would also like to hear what you thought about the interview itself. So please leave your thoughts in the comments. Below is a short blog post I wrote up as the show notes for the original finding freedom podcast. Enjoy!   Original show notes from April 2012 Pat is one of the few people on the web that I follow very closely. He has a great story and always delivers amazing content. Week after week, I find my online business improving because of the information that he freely gives out. You can check out Pat's blog at www.smartpassiveincome.com. Last fall I emailed Pat asking if I could conduct an interview with him. I honestly didn't know if I would even get a reply. I have emailed other big time bloggers who never responded, or I received a response from their secretary telling me they did not have time for interviews. Within a day or so I had a response from Pat directly. He thanked me, but told me because of several projects he was currently working on he did not have any spare time at the moment, but to touch base with him in the spring and he would try to schedule something. On the first day of spring, I followed up with Pat. He replied back the same day and agreed to let me interview him. This interview is a ripper and I think you will find Pat extremely informative and inspirational. In this episode, Pat talks about how he began his online business and how he ended up building an awesome income. He also explains how he continues to receive blog comments and Facebook followers in such large numbers! You will also hear Pat give some very informative tips on how he uses his email list to make money and expand his online business. Please leave your feedback below Did you like this interview? Want to see more like this? Who would you like me to interview?  Please leave me some feedback in the comments below and let me know your thoughts!    

My favorite thing about Wordpress is the endless amount of amazing plugins to improve my online business and overall functionality of my blog.  Today I am going to share 15 Wordpress plugins that I think every blogger should have! These plugins will change your life and make your blog much more likely to be successful. I hope you find these plugins useful and I would love for you to comment below on any great plugins that you are aware of that I might have missed! So please feel free to comment at the end of the post. Please also note that there is no reason for the particular order that this plugin list is in.   15 Wordpress plugins that will change a bloggers life   1) Pretty Link:  This plugin is a must have if your are an affiliate marketer. I don't know about you but there is no way in the world I can even begin to remember those long and ugly affiliate links. Pretty Link is a free plugin that lets you take those ugly long links and make them pretty and easy to remember. Here is a quick video on how to use Pretty Links 2) OptinSkin :   This plugin has been a huge benefit to my business!! This plugin let's you create and customize awesome looking opt-in boxes to increase your chances of capturing an email address. My conversions went up significantly after installing this plugin. Unlike all the other plugins on this list, Optinskin is NOT a free plugin, but it is more then worth the investment if your serious about building your email list.   3) Better Author Bio:  This plugin is great for branding yourself and building up your social media following. Better Author Bio will place a bio box at the end of every post letting the readers know who you are and what your about. You can also include your social media links at the bottom of your bio which will help you gain more followers. Very useful and easy to use and install.   4) Podpress or Blubrry PowerPress:  If you wanting to include a podcast show on your blog then you defiantly should get one of these two plugins. They allow you to track your podcast statistics  and easily embed a audio player with in your post. They also help you deliver your feed and information to iTunes. Blubrry is the most current and most recommended of the two. I still use Podpress simply because I always have.   5) CommentLuv:  This plugin is really neat because it will automatically place a link to the commenters last blog post. This really encourages people to leave comments and join your community. I would encourage you to leave a comment at the end of this post and then you will see a link to your last blog post and so will everyone else who comes to this page! It's a win win!! Here is an example below of a comment I left on Lynn Terry's blog. 6) Facebook Members - This plugin let's you add a Facebook widget to your sidebar. It's very easy to instal and set up and will greatly increase your chances of gaining Facebook followers. 7) Sharebar:  I only wish I had installed this plugin sooner!!  This is a nonnegotiable in my opinion. Having Sharebar will increase everything to do with your blog. When people can easily share your content with their friends, family or their own audience, they will! You do have to make it easy for them and that's what Sharebar does. Make sure you get this plugin installed or one like it, immediately!! 8) Wordpress Poll:  Now I wouldn't say this is a must have plugin but it is a fun plugin. Wordpress Poll let's you add a poll to your side bar. I like it because it's just another way for me to get some engagement out of my audience. I try to change up the poll about once a month. You can set time limits and get full statistically results. It's a great way to find a lot out about the people who visit your blog. I highly recommend it. 9) All in one SEO:    All in one Seo is a no brainer and a must have. This plugin let's you put in titles,

When it comes to blogging and creating your own online business the best platform by far is Wordpress. In today's post we are going to be talking about why you should choose Wordpress and why it's important to also choose the right host. There are several reasons why I recommend Wordpress over all other platforms. Customization and Plugins Wordpress allows the best customization of any other platform. Because of the overwhelming amount of people and developers using Wordpress there are endless amounts of plugins, themes and tools that you can use and install to make your site look and do just about anything you can dream up. For example if you want to be able to host a podcast on your site, there is a plugin for that. If you want to add an email opt in box to your site, there is a plugin for that. If you want have a poll on your sidebar, there is a plugin for that, if you want a banner slider on your site to show off all your newest post or products, there is a plugin for that. Not only is there an endless amount of plugins but there is also an endless amount of themes! Maybe your site is about weddings and wedding planning. Then you will have no trouble finding a theme that matches that particular niche. Same goes for a tech site or just about any niche that you can dream up. Wordpress also gives you the ability to go into the back in and edit the code to make the site look exactly how you would prefer but don't worry you don't have to know anything about html to create a great looking site because of all the great plugins and themes that are available to you. Most of the time you can find these plugins and themes for free as well! There is no doubt in my mind that Wordpress is by far the best option for creating your blog or your business website.   SEO Friendly Another very important reason to choose Wordpress is because it's so SEO friendly. Especially when you add one the many SEO plugins that tells Google exactly what keywords your are trying to win. When I first started out on line I actually used iWeb to create my blog. The reason I did this is because iWeb is so easy to use but I quickly found its limitations. One of it's greatest limitations was SEO. After posting about 15 articles and seeing that there was absolutely no search engine traffic, I then knew that something was wrong. The problem was that there were no good SEO tools for iWeb. After moving that blog over to Wordpress and adding my tags, categories and installing and SEO tool I nearly imminently starting see results! Wordpress makes it very easy and simple to let the search engines know exactly what keywords your trying for.   Hosting Now for you to enjoy the power of Wordpess you have to self host your Wordpress blog. Now I know that can sound very scary but I assure you that I am going to give you some cheap and easy recommendations for doing this and I am even including a video that walks you through exactly how to make this happen. Althought I love Wordpress I do NOT recommend that you start a blog at Wordpress.com and use there platform. You need to install Wordpress on your own host.  The reason for this is simply. When you host it yourself you have complete control and power over your site. If you have a blog hosted at Wordpress.com that really limits your abilities and especially your ability to monetize  For example you cant add Google adds or Amazon affiliate products to your site. This can really limit your ability to make money from your blog. You need to host it on your own host. Now I use Amazon cloud to host my site. Amazon has a great hosting service with great load times and it's affordable. The downside to Amazon is you need to know how to completely manage your host and your server. I don't know how to do that by the way. I have  a professional manage that for me, there for I don't recommend you do that to get started unless you are host and sever guru.