E: marion@ReadySteadyBlog.com
You know how sometimes it's hard to find your way around the blog technology? Or your creative muse has deserted you and you need some inspiration and blog writing tips quick? Or you're really hoping to make some money from your blog? My name's Marion Ryan of Ready Steady Blog and what I do best is help you get your blog up and running, looking good and getting read. Keep reading.
Buying a new laptop can be pretty daunting. Whether it's your first purchase of a laptop or your old one is about to breathe its last, the chances are you're out of touch with what's the latest, the best or the most reasonably priced laptop out there.
It's tempting (for some of us anyway) to just go for the laptop that looks the shiniest or the sleekest or comes with a nice pink casing. But I, and I'm sure many of you reading, use my laptop all day and regularly seven days a week. Many of us use our laptops and the internet as our primary source of income, entertainment and information acquisition. And buying a new laptop therefore becomes a purchasing decision on a par with buying a new car.
How to buy the right laptop though when they kind of all look the same? How to know what is an overpriced heap of junk and what is the bargain of the year?
The first thing is to understand the specification. Do you picture fields of sheep when the description talks about 3Gb RAM? How many cores do you need and is it just something dreamed up by Apple? What's an optical drive if it's not a trip to the optician? It's all gobbledygook and the reason why some of us race for the nearest shiny machine and get our credit card out.
If however you would like to understand even a bit more than you do right now about buying the right computer for you, then MakeUseOf.com have come up with a very reasonable guide called "The Essential Guide to Buying a Laptop". It's a short 20 pages which covers not just the explanations of what those specifications mean but also takes you through the most popular makes and models.
It's been written by Laptopical who also have a useful website full of reviews, updates and opinions so well worth taking a look there too.
Download The Essential Guide to Buying a Laptop here.
As for me, I've not yet made my final decision but the main contenders for my needs and price range are the Dell Inspiron 15 series and the Sony Vaio. I am looking for two new machines right now so am very focussed on value for money while needing a strong specification. Right now, I am thinking I might end up buying one of each and seeing how they compare.
I'm very open to hearing your own best laptop purchases, views and opinions on what the best laptops are so do feel free to leave a comment.
I have been offering personalised Twitter designs for a little while now as just one of Ready Steady Blog's many services and here is one I just completed for Jeni Purdie, the executive coach and internationally published author formerly known as Jen Mumford.
Jeni has her fingers in several business pies and her Twitter page is the ideal place to bring those offerings together.
For the record they are Reach For Happiness, Reach for Starfish and Living Right Now, this latter project being her joint venture with the lovely and talented Marie Taylor.
Branding your Twitter page is a "nice-to-have" if you are using it just to stay in touch with your mates. It enables you to be a bit creative and have some fun. You could simply create a background of some of your favourite pictures and "tile" your design so it covers the entire background of your Twitter page. Or you could find some Twitter wallpaper, there are free sites out there where you can download wallpapers for free.
Of course, if you are a business owner, whether tiny or global, making big big bucks or just monetising a hobby, it is more than "nice-to-have", it's essential. Branding your Twitter page then has real benefits - from displaying your website URL(s) to listing your social media profiles to promoting one or several of your products.
Bear in mind, though, that you have quite a limited space on your Twitter page so rather than tell people everything you do, be circumspect about what you include. A brilliant picture and URL could be more effective than lists of all your many ventures.
This isn't one of my designs but I love this design of Problogger, Darren Rowse. It tells you a lot more about him than this:
If you would like your own personalised branded Twitter design to show off your business and attract new followers, thus exposing your expertise and business to a greater and greater audience, check out my Twitter design service here.
And if you're not following Jeni Purdie you can do so at http://twitter.com/jenipurdie
Oh yes. You can follow me too at http://twitter.com/marionryan
Are you looking to purchase a new domain for your next business adventure? This week, Godaddy are taking a whopping 30% off all available domain purchases for .com, .org, .biz and .net.
Don't delay with this one as the Godaddy sale is ending on Thursday at midnight (Pacific time).
All you need do is use the promotional code, gdr0607c when you are at the checkout, and you will immediately receive 30% off your order of domain names.
I use Godaddy for all my domain purchases because they:
One potential problem with the dynamic content we provide on our blogs is that a first-time visitor can land there, feeling like they've arrived in the middle of a party and don't know a soul. A blog might look interesting but sometimes it feels like you have to read a dozen posts before you can work out who it belongs to.
For this reason, I rather like to see a static initial post that complements the banner information and tells me what I might expect to see, and who I might meet, on this blog.
I've created a short 4 minute post that shows you how to create a static welcome post on Typepad. Click the screen below to watch it.
As you'll see, there are a couple of things to be careful of when creating a welcome post that sits at the top of your blog. If your blog posts are dated, then it can give the impression that the last time you blogged was in 2007! For this reason it's a good idea, just occasionally, to change the date to today's date.
Equally, don't make your welcome post so long that it's the only post visible when people land on your blog. A welcome post should either be two very short paragraphs or, as Chris has done, be continued on a secondary page.
I also believe that you shouldn't enable comments on a welcome post. In my view, it's your chance to tell people something about yourself and your work - if it's a business blog - and it's not the place for other people to add their thoughts.
This however, is not a welcome post and I always enjoy reading your comments so if you have any views on welcome posts and whether you like them or not, just drop a comment in the box below.
Lynda C asks:
I feel that I still don't "get "blogging? It appears that people must spend all their time tapping away at the computer. What benefit does blogging bring to you and your business that a website doesn't?
Thanks for asking this question, Lynda. I take blogging so much for granted as a business tool that it's a long time since I even stopped to consider what the benefits are. So your question has made me sit back and remind myself of some of the top benefits of blogging.
1. Positions you as an expert
Writing a blog enables you to regularly share your views, opinions and tips in your niche business area. You know how much experience and expertise you have in your field but you cannot always easily get that across in a regular website. Blogging enables you to demonstrate what you know.
2. Builds the know, like and trust factor
Your blog, even when it is business-focussed, is a more informal internet presence than a conventional website. It gives your readers a regular, ongoing insight into the way you work and the way your organisation or practice operates. Familiarity breeds new business.
3. Improves search engine optimisation
While the workings of the search engines are not always clear, we do know that sites which are updated regularly - like blogs - are ranked higher than those that aren't. When someone searches on a keyword or keyphrase the search engines want to show the most relevant content; it can therefore be easier for your blog to rank more highly, more quickly, than your website whose content is more static.
4. Attracts more visitors
Well, which are your favourite sites - conventional websites with the same old content, month in, month out, or the blogs where you can see new information, nuggets of wisdom, recommendations and news? So you will visit your favourite sites more often, you will recommend them, talk about them, tweet them and blog about them (once you get the benefits of blogging of course). We all want as many visitors as possible but what do we want them to do once they come visit?
5. Creates business and money-making opportunities
The more people who visit your site regularly and get to know, like and trust you, the more opportunities you have to make money. Whether it's promoting your latest programme or an affiliate recommendation or even Google Adsense, it is rather easier to make money from a blog than from a website. Your website is more likely to be focussed inward - on your target market, your services and everything a visitor needs to know about your business - while your blog will have external foci like your review of a product of which you are an affiliate.
6. Opens up a dialogue between you and your visitors
A regular characteristic of a blog is the ability for your site visitors to leave comments on your blog posts. This is an easy free way for your target market to interact with you and allows you both to start building a relationship or what we've referred to already as the know, like and trust factor. Once you have developed rapport you will find it easier to sell and promote your business.
7. Creates niche content and strengthens your writing muscle
That sounds pretty obvious, I know, but regular blogging gives you regular practice at writing and what you practise, improves. So the more you write, the easier it gets. As you build a repository of niche content, you can re-purpose your blog posts. They can form the basis of a series of articles that you upload to an article directory like EzineArticles.com, you can use them in your newsletter or you can even use them as fodder for an ebook or proper print book. You wouldn't be the first blogger to bag themselves a book deal if you did that. Just look at these successful well-publicised books that both started life as a blog:
Getting back to your question, Lynda,you wondered if being a blogger meant tapping away constantly on the computer. No, it certainly doesn't have to - though some of us are already stuck on our laptops till hard drive crash us do part.
How often should a person blog? Blogging twice a week would be a respectable output for most business bloggers though a good number blog a lot more (or a lot less!) than this. So that could mean as little as two hours per week on a marketing strategy that can make so much difference to the health and success of your business. I've written before about the easy ways to create good blog content
And lest my words lead you to believe I don't like websites, nothing could be further from the truth. A blog and a website usually go hand in glove though some of the sites I'm designing these days could be described as hybrids.
I hope this article has helped clarify some of the main benefits for you. If YOU are already a business blogger, what benefits does blogging bring you? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Are you a dedicated Twitterer who would like your latest tweets to appear in your sidebar?
Typepad makes it really easy to add your tweets to your sidebar and you can decide how many you want to appear there - just the last two or three or the last 20!
In the short 4 minute video below I show you how to add the Twitter widget to your sidebar. Just click the pic to view:
As to how many tweets you opt to show in your sidebar, my question is this:
What's the purpose in showing your tweets?
For me, it's a) to give your site visitors a flavour of who you are and b) to show the search engines your content is being updated regularly. Showing 3 - 5 tweets allows your blog visitors to see what you're up to and gives them a link to your Twitter page where they can see all your other tweets.
More than five tweets in your sidebar and I think it becomes a distraction and makes your blog look unnecessarily cluttered.
Client Dawn Dowsett asks:
In this lovely weather it would be great to be able to work outside. However, can't see a thing on my laptop because of reflections. It doesn't matter where I sit. Have you found any solution to this?
You see, even the freedom to work from home on probably the sunniest day of the year with no boss demanding where that piece of work is - has its problems.
It's a great question, Dawn, and you are not the first to have this problem because yes, there are at least two solutions and one of them is free!
First of all, let me introduce the professional version which is the i-Visor laptop shade, available from from Compushade as seen here or from Amazon as shown below.
It's not terribly aesthetic but seems to solve the problem for people who just want to sit in the sunshine and get on with their work. The visor also seems to be collapsible so is easy to carry round if you want to go and sit outside the pub with a cold shandy or two.
The Compushade visor comes in at just under $30 but Dawn, shipping to the UK will add on a further $13. Still cheaper than the Amazon visor though will take a bit longer to get to you.
The other solution I've come across which won't cost you a penny, is to get a cardboard box and cut it so it fits over your laptop in much the same way those professional versions do. Use some double-sided tape to attach it to the lid of your laptop and Bob's your uncle.
It aint pretty and you certainly wouldn't want to sit outside the pub with your laptop stuck in a cardboard box but at home, for a quick solution before the sunny weather fades - and with only Hazel and Daisy having a laugh at your expense, it might do the trick!
Have you been thinking of purchasing a domain for your new business idea? Or some hosting?
Godaddy are having one of their sales and this time there is no minimum purchase - they are simply offering 15% off any purchase you make between now and 3rd May.
Just choose your purchases and before paying, make sure you add in your discount code: gdr0442h
Just click below to go straight to the GoDaddy site:
Well, how wonderful is that - ReadySteadyBlog has won an award for one of its website designs! The EveryWoman Network award for best website home page.
Marie Taylor and Jeni Purdie are the brains behind LivingRightNow.co.uk which offers inspiration and practical support to women "wishing to embrace a personal journey of self-discovery and transformation". And none better to deliver this in my view, than Marie and Jeni, who are experienced coaches, consultants, trainers and master NLP practitioners. Ex-company directors and published authors too!
I know Living Right Now is a project very dear to their hearts so was delighted to be asked to create the site for them. I particularly like clients who have a business-like approach when we work together. That is, they understand what the purpose of their site is and therefore what they want it to do. They want it to look wonderful but know that doesn't necessitate hours debating whether this shade of pink works better than that one. They have a deadline so they are motivated to provide me with the information I need and let me get on with it.
Living Right Now is a business that continues to evolve and the website and blog will continue to grow as they release new products. Why not sign up for their excellent free coaching programme which gives you a great flavour for what they are about.
So thanks, Jeni and Marie, for giving me this opportunity to work with you and thanks, Every Woman, for awarding the site with "best home page design"
Clare asks:
"I want to create a series of pillar articles and want them to be highlighted in some way in the sidebar of my blog. What's the best way to do this and can you give me simple instructions please?"
Pillar articles are, as the name suggests, the content on your blog that is key to your readers' understanding of your area of expertise. As Clare knows, pillar articles shouldn't get lost in the bowels of your blog, these are the posts that should stay easily visible and available on your blog regardless of when you wrote them.
Types of pillar articles could be:
if you're interested in discovering more about pillar articles from the guy who taught me, do make sure to download Yaro Starak's Blog Profits Blueprint - completely free - by clicking the graphic in the sidebar.
So back to Clare's question, how to put the links in her sidebar?
Continue reading "How to Create and Add a Links Typelist to your Blog for your Pillar Articles" »
Wouldn't it be great to know you were making money while you slept?
Wouldn't it be amazing if the money in question was $750,000 per year?
And imagine if you could now learn how to do it too, over two whole days, and all for a £25 donation to a truly wonderful charity?
Fact is, Australian internet guru Brett McFall really does make $750,000 a year working (and sleeping) from home and now he promises to spend two whole days sharing his money-making secrets with the rest of us.
In fact, this is such a fantastic offer that I'm jumping on a plane to go spend two days with him. No, I'm not heading for Australia, worse luck, I only have to go as far as London where on Saturday and Sunday 20th and 21st September 2008, Brett McFall - in association with the Money Gym - will be spilling the beans about how anyone, even internet newbies can make money online - in seven easy steps!
JUST CLICK THIS BANNER LINK TO GET ALL THE DETAILS AND DISCOVER HOW YOUR FRIEND COMES ALONG FOR FREE!
It would be brilliant to meet you there too. Do come up and say hello. And don't forget your pyjamas!
Lynne asks:
How do I get rid of the "comments" option at the end of a post? I've created a new page and I don't want people leaving comments at the end of my sales copy!
While most of the time we welcome people commenting on our blogs, there are times when it's not appropriate, either because like Lynne, you've created a web page where you're talking about your new product or because you've had some offensive remarks left there. You shouldn't worry about people disagreeing with you - controversy can make for a good conversation - but you certainly don't want someone being openly rude.
Typepad gives you three options when it comes to comment configuration and Lynne had simply chosen the wrong one. Here are the options:
Continue reading "How to Get Rid of "Comments" at the end of your Blog Post" »
Are you a serial blogger? I am. Apart from Rockin'Bloggin', I have a personal blog called Wry Vita which like to think no-one bothers reading though I know they do because Feedblitz tells me each time someone signs up. I've also written and co-authored other blogs along the way because I am in love with the whole idea of blogging, both for business and personal ends.
I know plenty of others do it too: Nicola Cairncross, Judith Morgan, Marie Taylor, Jeni Purdie... And beautifully too.
So how can you promote a new blog? How can you build reader numbers for a newer blog when you (or someone who loves you) have a more established blog?
I want to bring to your attention a very easy and automatic way to publicise posts from other blogs - whether your own or someone else's - in the sidebar of your blog. Each time that other blog is updated with a fresh post, your blog will automatically show the new post.
For example, if you look at my website, Ready Steady Blog, you'll see that in the sidebar I show the titles of the five most recent posts from this blog so anyone visiting there and debating whether to use my services, can easily see what I'm blogging about here and click on any of the titles to read the individual post.
You might want to cross-refer your readers to other blogs you're writing or refer them to other bloggers who write on similar subjects to your own. So here's what you do - and it's really very easy.
Continue reading "Serial Bloggers - Showing Recent Posts from Other Blogs in Your Sidebar" »
I admit it. I have a funny relationship with Amazon ever since they sent my commission payment to a closed bank account when I'd specifically asked to be paid in vouchers. Their willingness to lose a customer's good will over 15 spots took me by surpise. My own preparedness to argue over this tiddly amount didn't.
I've forgiven them though a) because life's too short to hold grudges and b) because adding book recommendations to your sidebars and blog posts gives you interesting content for your readers and has the potential to make you some spare cash.
The Amazon site can be difficult to navigate though because it's so bloody enormous and having to go to the affiliate centre, log in and wade through the many options just to grab the affiliate code for one book can be offputting.
So here's a way to quickly find an Amazon affiliate text link for that book recommendation you want to include in your blog post..
Continue reading "Amazon Affiliate Links - How to find Yours Quickly" »
It is a fact universally acknowledged that however learned, inspiring or funny your blog is, it is always improved by the addition of a few nice pictures. Unless of course you're Judith O'Reilly, better known as Wife in the North who started a blog in late 2006 spectacularly devoid of pictures and pretty designs and just a few short months later had bagged herself a book deal worth around £70,000 I seem to recall.
Said deal has just come to fruition with the publication of her book which must make moving to the wild North of England not such a bad decision after all.
Still apart from Judith's, blogs generally benefit from a bit of visual interest on the screen not to mention that pictures often speak more eloquently than our words.
I'm a big fan of Istockphoto as I've mentioned here at Rockin' Bloggin' before. Huge selection and cheap too. If you use photos regularly on your blog you might be interested in this discount code.
If your order is at least $50 you can try using the discount code - lynda303 - for a whopping 20% off. I purchased 50 credits yesterday which buys 50 extra small pictures, the perfect size for illustrating your blog. When prompted on the order page I added in lynda303 and my order dropped from €50 to €40.
Can't guarantee it will work for ever but if you use Istockphoto you might want to try this.
Thank you Lynda wherever you are.
If you have a website and you want more people to find you - come and join us on the How To Get More Visitors To Your Website teleseminar on June 9th.
Lynne Lee, the author of SEO Is Simple, is going to spill the beans on what you need to know to optimize your website so the search engines will show YOUR site high up in the rankings when someone searches online for what you do best.
Click here to sign up now:
How To Get More Visitors To Your website
You will be able to listen to the call live on the phone or via the webcast (ie on your computer) AND the call will be recorded so you or any of you who can't attend live, will be able to listen again after the event.
We are also giving away a great 16 page report of Really Useful Free Traffic Tips for everyone who joins us on the call.
How To Get More Visitors To Your website
Look forward to having you join us next Monday 9th June at 8pm BST.
All for Free. Claim yours now:
