I Teach Blogging: Blogging | Wordpress

Today we are going to have a bit of fun with a rant that I titled “Holy Crap! There are so many options!”Now, I wrote this rant a long time ago but it is still true today. My goal with this blog is to share, inspire and teach. In the process of attempting to make a difference for new bloggers out there, I get so incredibly frustrated sometimes. Dang it, there is so much to look at and choose from.iTunes Review: http://apple.co/1dgFZzEhttps://www.amazon.com/shop/iteachblogging

Hi this is Renee’ from I Teach Blogging .com and in today’s podcast I want to a WordPress plugin that I use quite often. This plugin makes my life just a little bit easer each time that I build a blog. So in a moment, we will get down to it but I do want to let you know, at the end of this podcast I will have a tip on a tool that I have been using a lot lately and and seo tip for you bloggers.Let me start by telling you exactly what we are going to talk about today:1. A WordPress plugin called MultiPlugin Installer2. The plugins that I always install first3. A few if / and / or scenarios4. An SEO tip about blog tagline5. A tool called WorkflowyWhew that is a lot so should we get down to it?https://www.amazon.com/shop/iteachblogging

Hi this is Renee’ from I Teach Blogging .com and in today’s podcast I want to discuss a few key takeaways that I had from a conference that I just got back from. The conference was called Podcast Movement and you may be curious how that could relate to blogging, well content is still content no matter the format. So in a moment, we will get down to it but I do want to let you know, at the end of this podcast I will have a tip on a tool that I am loving right now and a social media tip for you bloggers.First, let me tell you exactly what we are going to talk about today.1. Have a point of view2. Be unique3. 100 bad hours4. A tool called Long Tail Keyword Pro5. A tip about tweeting moreiTunes Review Link: http://apple.co/1dgFZzEhttps://www.amazon.com/shop/iteachblogging

Featured images are a fun and easy way to add a touch of flair to your blog.Tip #1: Know your required image size in pixelsTip #2: Resize your image dimensions prior to uploadTip #3: Optimize your imageBlog Post link: http://bit.ly/1KOhiJTMashable: http://mashable.com/Drudge Report: http://www.drudgereport.com/Compression too: https://compressor.io/iTunes Review link: http://apple.co/1dgFZzEJust recently, I was giving a client’s blog a slight facelift. Her blog home page showed the full text of the latest blog post and readers often did not realize that more blog posts were below it.I wanted her readers to see quite a few blog titles above the fold. This is why I changed her front page to more of a magazine style blog. However, the theme does not pick up the in post image by default. She must select a featured image for each post.This is why I made a blog post tutorial about how to do just that. I will link to it in the show notes.In the blog post you will see how the blog looked before and after. Oh and I in

What is a bounce rate?the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.What does that mean? Renee’s explanationA stat about bounce rates:Research shows that the average bounce rate for a blog may be 505 to 70%http://www.quicksprout.com/2014/04/17/how-to-decrease-your-bounce-rate/A story about how I just changed a clients site. I will update you at a later point to let you know how it goes.Story About Susan’s blog ( a client’s blog)Changed blog page to show preview textAdded related post at bottom of each post (suggested post)Tips on decreasing bounce ratePut internal links in your blog postAdd links to your most loved post in your sidebarBe more interestingLower your page load timeYou may want to check out my Post about Leveraging Browser Caching. This is a step that I recently took to speed up my blog. I will link to this in the show notes. http://iteachblogging.com/leverage-browser-caching/https://www.amazon.com/shop/iteachblogging

In this episode we have a special guest, Andi Reis. http://funcitystuff.comWe discuss the perils and joys of working from home. We also discuss my speech at PMx 2015 and how I am nervous. Then we cover the new blog that Andi is starting and her struggles.https://www.amazon.com/shop/iteachblogging

What is a favicon?1.an icon associated with a URL that is variously displayed, as in a browser's address bar or next to the site name in a bookmark list.



What does that mean?Think about when you have Google Chrome or Firefox or whatever you browser that you use open and you have a lot of tabs open. It can be a challenge to find a specific website but you recognize that little icon of the site or company, so you know which tab to click on. This is what it is and an example of why you want to have one.Tips on Favicons:The image should be square.In most cases the image needs to a .ico (icon file)The size of the favicon is 16 x 16 pixelsHow to turn a png image into an ico image?There is a free online conversion tool called Convertico: http://www.convertico.com/ The link is in the show notes.There is also a tool that will convert a jpg file that I will link to in the show notes: http://icoconvert.com/How to add a Favicon:Your theme may have a way for you to easily add a Favicon, so look for that first.If that i

So I ran across a tip from a new community that I joined on Facebook. It is called Screw the 9 to 5 and I wanted to share that tip here. This is a tool to help you find good places to leave blog post comments. There is a warning coming though, so be prepared.http://apple.co/1dgFZzEhttp://dropmylink.com/I am not exactly sure what I think of this concept yet but I am looking into it for sure. First, let’s talk about blog post commenting. 1. I think that blog post comments are an important part of the process. If for no other reason than supporting a blog. 2. Can I just rant for a split second? It makes crazy that bloggers are starting to turn off their comments. I get it. I get the theory behind it and the reasoning but it still feels rude. It feel as though these bloggers who have “made it” in air quotes there b/c they have lots of money now, don’t want to hear from us or connect. They sure did when they were starting out but now I find myself visiting their blogs less and less. It just feels bad as the reader

iTunes Review: http://apple.co/1dgFZzEThe Course: http://iteachblogging.com/how-to-start-a-blog/In this podcast I cover why I created the course, who the course is for and what tools that I used to create the course.https://www.amazon.com/shop/iteachblogging

iTunes Review: http://apple.co/1dgFZzEMedia Temple: http://bit.ly/1f492rf1. Didn’t realize it was a hack.2. We just thought that it was a plugin problem.3. Turned out it was noted as being hacked on Google.com4. Decided to roll it back b/c was hosted at Media Temple WordPress hosting.5. Rolled back 1 week.6. Did not have Google Analytics or Webmaster7. Had to confirm with Google that site was no longer hacked.https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/190597?hl=enhttps://www.amazon.com/shop/iteachblogging

Hi guys this is Renee’ and today, I just thought that I would do a check in and talk about a few issues that I have been having lately. One of the things that I promised on this podcast is complete transparency. I said that I would share my successes, my struggles and my failures.Well lately, I have had a few struggles with my blog that I thought we could discuss. This is are not major issues. They are actually fairly minor but they just add up to small pains in the butt.#1: Social Media IconsIt seems that my pinterest button links to Liza Minneli’s Pinterest account. I don’t know why and it is currently still happening. Also, I can’t settle on where my social icons should display. It has been a weird thing but there ya go.#2: My search stopped searching#3: Pop Up MadnessThis has been quite interesting to deal with. 1. One person complained. That is all but it still felt icky.2. I didn’t have it set right for one of the popups and people weren’t getting their download.3. It is a lot of working putting this al

iTunes Review Link: http://apple.co/1dgFZzEBlog Post Link: http://iteachblogging.com/need-blog-post-idea/Hey reader, I hope that this blog post finds you well. Are you having trouble trying to figure out what to blog about next? Maybe you are just starting out and you just don’t quite know where to start. If this is you then this is a quick blog post idea challenge for you. By the end of this challenge, you should have a blog post written and ready to share with the world.Grab your favorite writing device, Evernote and a Keyboard, a white board with a marker, a napkin and pen, whatever you feel most comfortable with at this moment.Got it? Ready? Ok! Let’s get your blog post idea down!Step 1: Write a CategoryAt the top of your space write out a Category that you are going to focus on today.Step 2: Write down the first 10 things that come to mind about that category.Note: This can be phrases, complete sentences, or working blog post titles. Do not write more than a sentence though.Step 3: Scan your your list an

iTunes Review Link: http://apple.co/1dgFZzEBlog Post: http://bit.ly/1CgRsLiWhen I talk with clients about launching their blog it is my recommendation that they launch with 20 blog posts. The idea of this seems a bit daunting and frankly, that is partially the point. However, when people do this they see greater success. Here’s why:#1 Get to writing!Writing 20 blog posts really forces you to figure out if you can do the writing that it takes to be a blogger (or the curation). The first few blog posts are easy to write but by the time people get to blog post #11 some start to wonder if it’s worth the effort. “Is anyone paying attention?” But if you get 20 blog posts out under your chosen categories then you are probably headed in the right direction. If you can do 20 you can do 100 — remember that when you get to #57 and want to give up.https://www.amazon.com/shop/iteachblogging

In this podcast we quickly cover 29 tips on blogging. #1 use WordPress#2 Write 20 blog posts before you launch#3 Proofread your post the next day after you write it.#4 Have someone else proofread your post for you.#5 Editors rule the world.#6 Use Feedburnerhttps://www.amazon.com/shop/iteachblogging

If you enjoyed this podcast please provide an iTunes review using this link: http://apple.co/1dgFZzEHere is a link to the post: http://iteachblogging.com/summarize-rss-feed-summarize/There is a great debate in the blogging world and that is “Should I summarize my blog rss feed or should I share the entire post?”First let’s discuss what an rss feed is how it works:RSS; originally RDF Site Summary; often dubbed Really Simple Syndication, uses a family of standard web feed formats to publish frequently updated information: blog entries, news headlines, audio, video. …http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_feedSo now that we have the official wiki definition let’s try a bit more simple of an explanation of why you care. If someone subscribes to your blog they are saying that they want to know when you release another blog post. If they fill out the subscribe information and “opt in” they will receive an email of your latest blog post.At this point it is up to you as to what they receive. They can receive a summary of u

Quest: http://www.susanmarymalone.com/your-quest-matters/Jeff Goins:  http://amzn.to/1G9cpmNToday, I wanted to share a story about a new writer that I met at a conference. Recently, I was invited to speak at a Writer’s Conference in North East Texas. This was awesome on many levels: a) I get to talk about bloggingb) I got to talk about blogging in a small town where I spent part of my youth3) I invited each attendee to spend 20 minutes with me one on one and many of them did.It was a long two days but it was awesome. One of the attendees was there to learn everything that he could about writing. He has a desire to write and a passion for life but he has not started the process yet. This guy is full of life and quite a character. I was immediately drawn to him because he just seems like someone who could be quite interesting to read.We had a one on one and I explained to him what blogging is. He had never heard of it and had no idea. At first he was like “nope, I don’t wanna do that.” Then the next day he hunt

Do you know what your competitors are doing online?It is not that you want to become a spy but you do want to spend some time spying around. You need to know what your competitors are doing online. This will help you understand the scope of your blogging business, gain new ideas and make sure that you are actually competing. As a blogger we are super focused on creating content or we should be. Sometimes we are just obsessing about it or is that just me? It is important to take a step back and see what others are doing, figure out what we could improve upon and make sure that we are in line and on track. I did this recently and I realized that I am missing the boat a bit by not providing great downloads. I should be creating give-aways for the readers and creating check lists. Now, I am working on that and will be creating some to accompany my post popular posts. That was my big take away from this exercise, what will be yours?You are going to want to set aside about two hours for this task but I do believe i

I personally believe that the gap between and website is quickly fading but it sure isn’t completely gone. A blog shows a list of the latest post usually in chronological order. I say usually because if you are running a magazine style blog, the order may be shifted around based upon category.A blog usually has a feed associated to it so that readers can subscribe to it and get the latest post delivered in their email. A blog is focused on providing content over time vs a website that is often launched with pages and pages of content at once.About websitesWebsites are focused on static content. Static content is essentially content that stays in place. Imagine a website nav bar such as my friend’s site Aladdin Rentals and Events.com It has a home, event hall, linens, contact us etc. This site is focused on provided people with information about their services and their event hall. The primary purpose is for people see what they offer and then contact them. This is different than a blog when the primary purpos

Starting a Podcast. Growing Your Audience. Without Google, Social Media or Paid Traffic. 15 Experts Show How http://bit.ly/1IhfXaAPodcasting is by far my favorite medium for sharing all that I have learned and all that I know about blogging. However, when I launched my show I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. One Sunday afternoon I grabbed a laptop, opened up Garage Band and just started recording on a whim. I did not have a special microphone. I did not worry about background noises. I just started recording. If you are thinking about starting a podcast, here is a list of a few things that you should consider.1. Have a plan.The only difference between podcasting and blogging is the medium. In my blogging course, I always teach to have a set of categories and blog post titles before you launch. The same is true with podcasting. To be successful with podcasting you need to provide your audience with a steady stream of content on a reliable schedule and planning is the best way to do that.2. Sound qualit

A popular question that all of us bloggers tend to explore at some point is “How can I make money with this?” At a recent conference people were asking this question. The go to answer that I see a lot of people lean towards is making money with Google AdSense or something other ad service. There is nothing wrong with this answer. As a matter of fact, it is a perfectly fine answer. There are other options that may actually be a better answer for most bloggers. Now before I get into the other options, I want to share with you a formula. Just the other day, I released a tutorial how-to blog post about how to create a Google AdSense ad and how to place it in your WordPress sidebar. In that post, I also shared an article that someone wrote about how to make money with AdSense. The breakdown of the formula is this: You can theoretically make $380 bucks a day with AdSense but to do that you will need around 40,000 page views per day. If you are listening and are making that or more on just a few hundred a day, then