Helping You Rock Out Your Site Like A Rockstar!

The main selling point when it comes to Posterous is the ease at which you can do everything. Nearly all actions on the site can be completed using a simple email. To get started all you have to do is email your first post to post@posterous.com and an account will be instantly setup for you.

Lowering the boundaries to blogging is what Posterous is all about and encourages those would be bloggers who have found the process tedious to easily be able to add images and content via an email. On top of this Posterous also connects to many other social networks and blogging platforms to aid the distribution and visibility of the content you create.

There are also some more advanced features to this blogging platform. For instance you have the ability to select the additional social networks you want your content posted to by changing the Posterous address you send your email to.

The ease of content creation and simplicity by which you can post content to your very own blog has seen Posterous expand at a rapid rate. However there has been another step in the direction of simplicity recently when Posterous launched their iPhone app.

The iPhone app allows anyone, with an iPhone of course, to share images, video, text or voice memo’s directly from their phone. The really is the next step towards blogging on the go and whilst I doubt many of you will be typing up feature length articles from your mobile this is a very interesting addition for those who post a lot of media content. The simplicity of being able to take a picture from your phone and have it live on your blog in a matter of seconds is surely something that a lot of people will find enjoyable.

If there was any doubt previously that Posterous was not the simplest and easiest to use blogging platform with the addition of the iPhone app there really is no arguing.

Have you tried Posterous yet? Do you think being able to blog directly from your phone is a good or a bad thing?

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, setting up a website seemed so confusing. The materials offered were very basic and to a lot of people confusing. Yahoo! Geocities, Tripod, and other free webhosts were a bit difficult for the common Internet user because it meant you had to have a basic understanding of HTML or you ended up having a strange design generated from what the free hosts offered.

Today, it is much easier to set up a website. WordPress.com, Blogger, Typepad, and a few others offer a much friendlier means to have a presence online.

How easy is it to set up a website?

This is the easy part – Establishing a host, a site name or domain are just the very first steps. It is designing, and creating content that is what is a bit more challenging.

First time bloggers may want to start off with a free host as it might be a good base to make sure that they are serious enough and have established a readership.

So, as a summary of how easy it is, here are the general steps:

1. Brainstorm what you want your site to do and who you want to reach.
2. Choose a web host.
3. Come up with a site name or select a suitable domain name for the website.
4. Start creating content.
5. Choose or create a design.

Why did I list creating content before design? Well, you can set up a site in WordPress and start writing right away. This is important as when your site is beginning, it is often that the content is the most difficult part to continue maintaining. If you can jump start your site with a couple posts, you will be able to give visitors a clue to what you want them to get from your website. The design can come second and be a nice surprise. Technically the design will probably change as you grow into your own brand.

I know some would not agree on this, but frankly, your visitors, even if your site has an awesome layout, will find more value in what you have to say. Why not start that first and grow into your brand. A lot of interesting people have grown or are still growing into their sites and brands. Just some examples: Kim Castleberry of Just Ask Kim, Ileane Smith of Basic Blog Tips, Kristi Hines of Kikolani, and Hesham Zebida of Famous Bloggers.

However, once you have a web host in mind, you can choose to install a free theme or pay for a premium theme in the case you are not design savvy. Remember that you control what your site will be. When you put your content together, you are paving the road to your own success.

Also remember that there are a lot of great places out there giving awesome FREE advice to people wanting to become a successful blogger, online business owner, or great webmaster. Use that to your advantage.

Setting up a website is not as difficult as it use to be.

What tips would you like to share to others looking to start their own website?

Fiverr has been a good place for people seeking to pay little for a service or goods. It works well for those willing to do those jobs for little money. One of the worthwhile jobs is using Fiverr for monetizing your Twitter social network stream. In other words – create your own version of Sponsored Tweets.

You can name what you will tweet about and how often. Of course, keep in mind how much you believe your Twitter stream is worth and that you are not going to spam the heck out of them. Putting guidelines down on what type of tweets will allow buyers at Fiverr to know if their content will be of any interest to them. That is what they are looking for – people to click on their link and perhaps purchase their produce.

So be honest when putting yourself out on Fiverr because you could get repeat buyers and with each feedback left, it will look good for your reputation.

Please note that if you do live in the United States, you are still required to disclose endorsements. This is even if the buyer’s country is not within the United States. Using the hashmarks #ad or #spon will suffice. Also, “sponsored by” is fine.

Have you tried Fiverr? How have you used it (as a buyer or a service provider)?

Vox, a blogging community that is owned by Six Apart, the same people who use to own LiveJournal decided to close Vox in what is a quick closing, versus Yahoo!’s gradual close of GeoCities in 2009. Vox plans to phase out their services on September 30, 2010.

Vox was known for their free service that offered a variety of modern and clean templates for bloggers to use. Versus other services (even in comparison LiveJournal), it was very limiting. However, it was a community that served its purpose.

Vox is encouraging users of their service to venture to Typepad, but I am encouraging users to sign up at WordPress.com, especially if they are planning to become a serious blogger. Why? More freedom, more flexibility in the service, a friendly community, and a constantly updated software.

It just makes a lot more sense. WordPress 3.0 had well over 10 million downloads on WordPress.org for self-hosted bloggers (meaning they have their own domain and own web hosting account), which does not include the amount of WordPress.com hosted users.

A long time ago I tried out Vox on a whim as it was a curiosity at the time. I never did anything with it as I just did not find the community as put together like LiveJournal. In fact other than a few people here or there telling me that they used Vox was the only way I knew people actually used it. While I may never have been a loyal user, I am sure there were many. It is sad to see a good service go, but I hope that in closing that we can find better opportunities for bloggers out there.

WordPress does have a Vox importer plugin.

However, I would recommend bloggers who have used Vox to not use their suggestion of signing up for Typepad.

Yep, you heard it! The Los Angeles Times published the article Facebook sues start-up for using ‘book’ in its name. The small site Teachbook.com is the target of being sued. This site helps give teachers a leg up with their job by providing valuable resources to manage classes.

Personally I think Facebook just picked the wrong fight. It is not an infringement of their idea as there are sites that have been up far longer than Facebook with ‘book’ in it. Is ‘book’ trademarked? Who knows. I am not about to go through the search to find out. ‘Facebook’ is though… so why waste money suing over something that has no grounds. Makes me want to ask – “Who was smoking the peyote before this decision came up?”

If Facebook has all this time to look after small websites that focus on a niche, particularly on teachers, wonder what sites might be sued for having ‘face’ in it? Would have been better to spend that money on something worthwhile.

Regardless of money involved, trademarking ‘book’ should never be one of them and frankly, in my opinion may have been illegal. If it is too common, it should not be used. I am still a bit iffy on the whole trademark issues and wonder – do all countries have a similar process of trademark?

Who dictates what can be trademarked and how it should be enforced – or does a company just report that they think someone is purposely trying to make money off of them.

I looked into Wikipedia to just get a brief overview of what trademark really is.

Short definition-wise, Wikipedia states:

A trademark or trade mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities.

According to what I read at Wikipedia, there are policies in place that if a company wrongfully accuses another or even threatens another company over trademark issues. Hopefully something can be resolved. In this situation, Facebook needs to just grow up and let it go. If there are 500 million teachers out there, then that is when it might be a problem.

What do you think about this? Do you think Facebook is in the right or just wasting money and time?

I was reading How To Breaks 100K Alexa Rank? on Another Blogger and found these to be a good start for people wanting to get their site rolling on Alexa.

I am going to reveal how you can have an Alexa rank better than 100,000. However, before I go into it, you do not always have to sign up for Alexa. It is nice to do and you can share a nice brag badge. I signed up, but my site was listed long before I even signed up. I do though recommend just in case so you can make sure your site ‘s information is accurate.

Now that I have said that, here is how you can build your site’s rank.

1. Update frequently. I try to update once a day, sometimes even twice a day. Other days I may skip every so often.
2. Return comments. CommentLuv is a great plugin to install and give you an idea through comments what your visitors are talking about. You never know when you might blog and give them credit for prompting you to continue the conversation on your own site.
3. Encourage readers to subscribe to your newsletters and RSS feed.
4. Promote your site on social networks and social bookmark sites.
5. Make sure you strategically put the important parts of your site that you want people to view in a manner that catches their eye. It does not matter if it is half way down your page when scrolling… if it looks interesting, people will at least click.
6. Focus on developing parts of your site that Alexa says people are searching for by keyword.
7. Write great content! No one is interested in the same exact thing that maybe a couple hundred sites have said. Think outside the box and write a new angle that will deliver unique, interesting, and valuable information.

While you may think this is really easy, it is not. It does take work. While there are other ways people monitor their traffic and site’s progress, Alexa is indeed a great tool – and it is free too!

In the end, the point is to bring attention to your site, particularly what you want them to see first.

While there are plenty of normal tips for budding website owners to read about, there are still a lot of mistakes happening. Putting a website together is a learning experience that requires careful attention. There are people who will just slap anything up for a quick buck, but in the end, it bites them in the ass.

Here are some tips to avoid when creating a website for the first time:

Your Brand

Do not put any old name and logo together. Be creative, but remember this is something you are putting together that may become something people will remember you by. Even if you do not know what you want right away, at least use something simple and tasteful. You can later change your brand as your business grows.

Your Design

Avoid choosing the easiest route for your site’s design. Even if it is free or really cheap… it might not work for you later on when you are needing to make changes and… 1, you are not able to make those changes, or 2, you do not want to spend money to pay someone to make those changes. Find something you can use, but will aesthetically pleasing for your brand.

Do not design with one browser in mind. Even if you might prefer one browser versus another, your visitors may be using something else. Be accessible.

Do not clutter up your site. While you do not want things looking like they are floating miles apart, you definitely do not want to blast people with content so smashed together that it is hard to discern where one thing ends and another begins.

Avoid using a font that is either too tiny to read or a font that is hard to read because of its design. A lot of 12 pixels tall will suffice for normal reading. Anything smaller may have vision impaired visitors squinting or giving up on your site.

Your Content

Do not write like you are trying to write for a newspaper. It is silly and may not even encourage people to leave feedback.

Do not forget to have some type of contact form. Leaving your email address is risky. A nice and secure contact form is great to bring in potential leads.

If you are selling a product, keep the copy clear and concise – avoid unnecessary words. People want to get to the point quickly. If you cannot convince people in less than 500 words to buy your product, you need to tweak your pitch.

These are just a few tips.

What tips do you recommend people to avoid if they are putting together a website for the first time?

LinkedIn is a great tool in itself that has become a way for professionals to connect. You can use it to reel in traffic.

In a way, LinkedIn has become a social network for mature users, rather than convoluted with game apps and other things like Facebook and MySpace. By the way, I do love Facebook, but sometimes there are things I really did not want to see and remind me of my old MySpace days.

You do not have to be “friends” to connect. Some people take the word “friend” to heart. LinkedIn is where you can try to establish any type of connection… though I am sure for a lot of you, a professional connection is ideal.

Here are just a few methods I use in bringing traffic to any of my websites from LinkedIn:

1. Install the WordPress applications for LinkedIn on my profile. When people visit, they will see what you write about. If you are someone who blogs about your career field, this could be an added bonus especially when finding a job.
2. Join groups and participate. There are a load of people who are looking to connect with other professionals in their niche. With the hundreds of groups available, you cannot go wrong.
3. Share your articles on your LinkedIn social stream. You can connect your LinkedIn account to other social networks or manually enter your update.
4. Submit your articles to group news. This is a nice addition, especially if the group has a lot of members. It might be a bit tedious, but you could bring in traffic and even feedback that you would not have found anywhere else… and you know what… it would be with people who are actually interested in what you have to say.

If you used LinkedIn, what other methods do you use to promote your site in order to bring in traffic?