4 Important Pieces Every Website Needs and Doesn't Have

When you're designing your new website - it's easy to get caught up in how it looks. Everyone focuses on layout, colors, consistency - and don't get me wrong they're important too! But, how pretty is your website if NO ONE can find it??

There are 4 Important Pieces Every Website Needs and Don't Have.

Don't be a statistic - check to see if you have:

1. SEO (search engine optimization)

 Is more important today than ever. If you aren't promoting your own website and blog posts to be seen - who is really seeing them?

You spend all this time writing and perfecting the perfect content, and damn it, you have something VALUABLE to say or sell!

But are you preaching to an empty auditorium?

You say that it's too technical for you to know how to do - and yes, SEO can be complex but that's why we're here to help you, and why most bloggers and websites go unseen.

- Wordpress sites. Basically if you want SEO, Wordpress.ORG (not .COM)  is your go-to blogging platform. They have plugins like "SEO by YOAST" that you can install to help optimize not only your pages, but every single individual blog post! And it's set up by red, yellow, or green to show you how well search engines will find your content. However, note that YOAST is just a check-list tool to make sure your keyword is properly installed throughout your website.

The main component of SEO is making sure you have the CORRECT key word optimized. And for that my friends, the world is not free.

If you're using Google Adwords to search for Key words - that's a rookie mistake. Read this article by Dan the Man to see why you're doing it wrong. Then realize you have to spend money to make money - and you'll have to invest in a SEO tool link like BrainstormTools.com (what I use and recommend!) Market Samuari or WordTracker.


There are no more excuses! Companies and software have made SEO user-friendly, and without it - you don't exist. 

You need at least 50-60 % of your own traffic coming from organic search engine traffic - meaning it's an investment. It will continue to keep sending people to your site day after day long after your website or blog post has gone up!

2. Copyright Stamp

Did you read the previous blog post on stealing copyright images off the Internet? Tisk! Tisk! Well, DON'T let people steal yours either! A simple copyright stamp on your website lets users know that you OWN your stuff - including images. So, if anyone DOES use them, they need to:

1. Ask your permission

2. take them down if you didn't give permission

3. Even pay a royalty if they are using it for profitable use - such as on their OWN website.

Now it may be a lot of work to keep checking to see if ALL your images are being used anywhere else on the web, but if you have a main image or logo or profile photo of yourself, it's not a bad idea to make sure you're not being catfished out there!

How to check for your images being used elsewhere on the web:

1. Save your image on your computer desktop.

2. go to google.com/images and drag the image into the search bar.

3. google will run an image search to see if that exact photo is popping up anywhere else on the web.

Amazing.

3. Privacy Policy

I hardly see people with privacy policies on their websites anymore and this can be dangerous territory if you're not careful. It's just a simple way to protect yourself and let your users know you are not maliciously collecting their information and selling it to marketers for money.

The other really cool thing? There are companies that will make these for you - for FREE! You can join a trial membership with Rocket Lawyer, and have them generate your own privacy policy (along with lots of other really cool business documents you might need).


4. Terms of Use.

Another key component to your website that a lot of other people overlook Terms of Use. The terms of use just defines in detail the purpose of your site, and how you and your visitors interact, and what you may or may not do with that information. Such as - you can dictate how a community board is used and monitored on your site, as well as comments. Or you can discuss third party vendors, and how you may not be responsible for visitors once they leave your site via a link.

You may think it is redundant and boring, however, it is always better to take a few minutes and set it up so you can protect yourself and your content! You'll thank me in the future.

STOP! Know Your Online Photo Copyright Laws Before you Push Publish!

Recently a client of ours got slapped with a very hefty fine for using a copyright image on their website.

We preach until our face is blue NOT to use just any image you come across on the Internet – but sometimes it’s just easy, tempting, and fast.

But, when you get that fine for over $1,000 in the mail – you might change your mind.

So here are a few dos and don’ts we’ve learned (the hard way) along the road of social media.

DON’T:

-          - Use Google Images. Just don’t do it. All images that pop up in the search are from OTHER websites – meaning there is a 99% chance they are copyrighted.

-       - Don’t use a photo unless is ABSOLUTELY says it is NOT copyrighted. If you don’t know, don’t      risk it.

-      - Don’t rely on other shared images on social media. Just because one company shared an image doesn’t mean THEY acquired it legally. Make sure to follow to the original source before published and shoot them an email to ask permission. 90% of the time, people wont mind – and you’ll be glad you asked instead of got caught with the other 10%.

-       

DO:

-      -  Use free sites like stock.xchng – that has lots of images that mostly let you use the images if you attribute (link from your site, and/or say their name) them. The only bad thing about free sites is that there is more quantity vs. quality. But, again, it’s free and safe.

     Another is freedigitalphotos.net - you can see how they ask you to add attributions here:

     example: 

     "Image courtesy of [contributor name] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net".

-      - Do browse cheap sites like istockphoto – you can get images for as low as $1. So even if you’re only publishing 1 blog a week, that’s only $48 a year! TRUST ME – that’s a lot less than getting that hefty fine in the mail.

-      - Do use your OWN images – nothing is better for content that your OWN ORIGINAL POSTS – they are unique, and guess what – NO COPYRIGHT ISSUES! YAY!

-       - Add your own images to free sites – like stock.xchang and freedigitalphotos.net – it’s a great way to get links to your site and free exposure/traffic by allowing others to use your work and attribute you on their own sites as well. 

-   - Do keep a link sheet of all used images. Make a document hosting date, image used, link to where you found it, and where you posted it etc. It may seem like a lot of work, but it’s worth it in the end to have the paper trail.

Blogging 101: Getting Started

Blogging. It’s now a requirement more than option. It not only helps your brand by offering quality content for your customers and viewers, it boosts your SEO (search engine optimization) and chances of gaining NEW viewers online!

So, where do you start?

Blogging 101 – Getting Started

 1. You have to purchase and own your own blog/website. 

If you’re serious about it – you need to buy your blog. WordPress and Blogger are free to start, and they make it’s super easy to move/upgrade and buy your URL to your own website/blog. (Make sure to use wordpress.ORG not wordpress.COM so you can install plugins down the road!) You can also use GoDaddy.com to see what's available to purchase, and buy from them. This usually costs $8-20 per year.

- Templates and hosting. If you’re serious about blogging, it’s worth the investment of a one-time template purchase. I have used Elegantthemes.com (Wordpress compatible), which is about $40 to have access to all of their WordPress friendly designs. Another great site to use is Wix.com. They let you build cool, simple websites from scratch for free, and you can upgrade to publish/host for as little as $6 per month. They also have apps to pull in your Blogger or Tumblr blog accounts as well. (So if you already have a blog, you can easily pull the feed in!)

**Remember you have to HOST your blog as well. Wix hosts for free with your package to publish, and Elegant Themes (and other theme sites usually offer) hosting packages with a partner - such as HostGator (who is the BEST as customer service).

 2. Setting Up and Understanding SEO

I think the word SEO (search engine optimization) is scary and confusing to a lot of people, but it doesn’t have to be!  Once you own your WordPress site, you can set up SEO by Yoast! (plugin), which will help get your blog in-front of eyes for free! There is nothing like sending traffic from Google and Bing just by optimizing one key word in each of your blog posts.

- Take advantage of Google. Google is a powerful force, and if you’re blogging using Blogger - everything is already set up and built in for you. It even pulls in your Google+ account and sets up your Google Authorship for you automatically! AMAZE!

***Consider setting up your Google+ account and linking up Google Authorship to connect your name with your blog and show up in the search results! Click here to read a really-great how-to on setting up Google Authorship by Host Gator.

3. Start a social media plan.

Social media is overwhelming, even for us who live it everyday! So I figured I would throw together a quick set-up plan for you to get going on your blog!

1. pick one or two social media sites and hit them hard. It’s impossible to be everywhere at once, so pick the ones you’re most familiar with and stick to them.

- Make them personable. people want to follow you because they can relate to you – so give them little peeks into your life. Real photos engage MUCH better than fake ones. Plus, you can’t get in trouble with copyrights for using your own shots!

- Recommendations? Facebook is always a given. Twitter is great for networking and sharing the word if you can commit the time (using scheduling platforms like HootSuite can help!). Google+ is a must for SEO, and Pinterest is GREAT for driving traffic (BUT – you have to pin a really catchy image!)

My traffic? #1 Pinterest. #2 Facebook #3 Google Search Results. (Don't underestimate the power to go viral on Pinterest!)

- Overall best time to post? research shows it’s between 1-5 pm. Photos get the best engagement, so add one to with your link. And don’t forget #hastags! A post should look like this:

BEST PRACTICES ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

FACEBOOK- make a page and invite your friends. (how to).

- schedule to post is advance. (how to)

- post at least 3 x a week.

- photos get the most engagement.

-search for and join local facebook groups or mom/blogger groups. (mom it forward)

-the more ‘likes’ and engagement from them = more exposure.

TWITTER- is great if you can stick with it. you can connect with ANYONE – especially other bloggers and moms.

- tweet to other bloggers personally.

- build lists

- join community twitter parties (@SITSGIRLS are great!)

- tweet 10x a day at least. Retweet other tweets that you like, it will engage that person to tweet you as well.

- set up hootsuite for free to scheudle out tweets of other blog posts. weekly. no one sees all your orignal tweets.

GOOGLE+

-for the techies of the world, but think less ppl = more exposure!

-google ranks your posts in their real time search results with #hashtags!

-the more circles you are in, the  more your info shows up in their google searches.

- join local and mom/blogger communities (help a mom out!)

- plan a hangout for moms!

-get really creative and set up google authorship. on advanced techniwues, contact me.

PINTEREST

- recommend just using your personal account unless you’re already killing it with a brand.

- ‘pin’ your articles.

- create boards of kids stuff that can link back to your blog.

4. Set up an Editorial Calendar. It’s best to write only when you’re feeling creative, forcing posts just because won’t be worthwhile to read. but knowing that you will post once a week, gives you plenty of opportunities to find something to write about in your daily life.

- Then schedule to post on Facebook 3 x a week, and schedule out your tweets. (recommend tweeting about a new post 2x a day for at least two weeks, using new titles of course) Takes 2 hours to do a full weeks work of posting and marketing!

5. Affiliate programs - make $$$!

When you write blogs about certain items (see top 10 baby registry items), link those photos and images to yourAmazon Associate Account. Then, if anyone clicks through to buy them, you get a percentage of the sale! Set up your affiliates account here.

- Amazon/Kindle  also lets you link up your blog posts for Kindle! So anytime a user downloads it to read, you get a percentage of that as well!

- Sponosored tweets. They will contact you to tweet for advertisers, and depending on how many followers you have, you get paid more!

- Google adsense. Setting up ads on your site is a controversial topic, but it can generate some dollars for you – you can also choose what can and cannot advertise on your site.

6. Promotion!

Blogging isn’t just about writing quality content, you have to post it all over the Internet and SIEZE YOUR DESTINY! Bookmarking sites are GREAT for this. Every time you write a new post, be sure to include it on these sites:

- Stumble Upon

-Digg

- Reddit.com

- Delicious

-Technorati.com

7. After you have promoted your posts - consider Syndication.


Syndication means letting others spread your information for you - sort of like a press release site for businesses. Hey - you want people to actually READ your awesome posts right? Then it requires some heavy lifting at the beginning - start here:


- IFITT - you can syndicate to over 50 sites at once.
- Doing Reviews? Use Scribnia.com - this is THE place for reader reviews of bloggers and columnists.
- NetworkedBlogs.com - a great place to start for generating traffic to your site.

Is your anxiety starting to flare up yet? haha – it’s okay – really once you get into a groove, it’s smooth sailing! Set-ups are always the hard work. If you need some help, or someone to hold your hand through it all, feel free to contact me @ stephanie[at]socialmindedmediagroup.com.