For your convenience and consideration, I update this post each year so you can get a reminder of the things you need to think about moving forward!

WordPress site owners are safe to assume that there is no standing still or resting on your laurels when it comes to doing business online (That’s when your perceived competitors fly right by you!).

Here are the important issues, in my experience, most WordPress site owners can improve upon. I’ll also pepper each with links to other articles here on my site that cover each item in more detail for your convenience:

9. I will review my e-mail and customer service practices to make sure all communications with customers are grammatically correct, professional in appearance and tone and include the information the customer desires. I will respond to site comments and e-mails as quickly as possible realizing the rabidly competitive environment online will settle for no less — only Extreme Customer Service will do! This includes using my site’s domain name for all business e-mail communications which lends to my credibility and my first responses to inquiries being recognized instead of being misidentified as spam.

8. I will check my site at the beginning of the year, then minimally quarterly, to make sure information is current and updated. This includes updating my “About” page to show the now — not yesterday. I realize by not updating, my site is stale, offers no real value to my site visitors and hinders gaining any relevant rankings with search engines.

7. I will finally embrace the concept that to acquire any relevant organic (free) search engines rankings that I have to change how I view my site. Not as brochureware, but as a living, breathing interactive tool used to acquire, support and keep customers and cater to their needs. If I don’t have a Blog to carry out this task, I will set one up Q1 and commit to posting at least 3 times each week with new useful and relevant information my site visitors will appreciate.

6. Inline with #7 above, I will learn about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) basics and principles, so that I have a solid understanding about how search engines actually work, how they rank sites, and what I need to consider when adding content to my site. Without a solid grasp of this information I am literally handicapped and working at a deficit.

5. While content is King; promotion is Queen. After writing a new article I’ll then submit it to article repository Web sites so that it is available for publishing on other sites and newsletters. I will keep a notebook with me so that when I get an idea to Blog about, create a video or for an article or informative white paper, I’ll write it down and not forget to follow through. Unique helpful information is what makes WordPress Web sites popular and valuable which assists to increase ranking popularity.

4. I will check my WordPress site navigation, tag and category structure to make sure it is intuitive and not duplicative. If my theme doesn’t allow the navigation I need — I’ll get a new premium WordPress theme. I will make a serious concentrated effort to only categorize my information in the most relevant category. Not “categories”, or 5 or 10 or all! Sticking with only one or two categories allows my site information to be tightly organized and focused. Tags are given the same consideration and contributes to a  “user-friendly” experience.

3. I will investigate all the Social Media networking opportunities and set up my site’s feeds wherever possible. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook are just a few of the sites I need to set up profiles on and use to brand and market my business.

2. I will update WordPress and my plugins as needed and not put this important and necessary task off! I will also make sure my site’s visuals and functionality stay current so that my business appears viable.

And the number one resolution that every WordPress site owner needs to embrace to succeed in the year ahead….

Raise your hand and repeat after me…

1. I will pledge to use interactive technology as it is now and whatever it evolves to be in the year ahead to its full potential for my business. From Blogging to Videos, Social Media to creative marketing tactics and everything in between. By not investigating how to best use these applications for my business is simply lost opportunity.I understand this will take some time and a bit of a learning curve to fully use these resources effectively on a daily basis, but I am a smartie and I know if it needs to be done for the health of my enterprise — I’m there!

Those site owners that embrace the interactivity options available to them will be found, will gain new customers and will support more business than those site owners who do not openly welcome these opportunities. If you do not embrace these 10 items in 2012, you can bet your competitors who do will reap the rewards.

With all the doom and gloom being fed to us in anticipation of the year ahead, I’m choosing to take a different stance and that’s why I’ve written this article for you. As one commentator I recently heard said, “Time to man up and make 2012 what you want it to be. Don’t be a passive observer but an active aggressive participant. Man up!”

And that’s exactly what I plan on doing here @ TheIStudio.com! Won’t you join me? Wishing you all the best of success in the year ahead!

At your service,

Your WordPress Consultant

Top 10 WordPress Site New Year’s Resolutions is a post from: WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service...

“There is so much information and so many ‘solutions’ out there… WordPress seems to be “it” now — what if I invest in a new WordPress site and something new is right around the corner? With that in mind, what’s the one piece of advice you would give someone new to the online business world?”

My answer was that besides the obvious of knowing you have a desired product at a competitive price and a realistic budget to begin; find someone you can trust!

Don’t worry about WordPress going away — it’s been gaining steam for 8 years and going strong. Even so, technology changes and that is no reason to not make the important decisions backed with action — today! The longer you wait the more catch-up you have to play.

Know what you want and who you can trust and go for it! If you have someone you can trust on your team to weed through all the information and those “solutions” that many times only have the provider’s interest at heart, you not only don’t waste time making mistakes, but you also save money by not spending it in areas that are not necessary or a waste of time.

That is why it is so important to investigate your potential partners to make sure they are trustworthy, ethical and reliable. You’ve heard the saying “consider the source.” Do just that!

If the source has no longevity or lacks credibility; don’t pay attention. Experience and trust can only be gained after years of walking that walk — it isn’t instantaneous simply because you put up a WordPress Web site. Nor should you blindly trust what you read on a Web site. Heck, in less than an hour I could create a credible site that I discovered the cure for cancer — but that doesn’t make it true!

Learn just enough to know who has your best interests at heart or discover those who are just giving you a pitch. Your gut will tell you the difference. Here are some tips:

• Talk to them on the phone to get a feel for their genuineness and personality.
• E-mail to see if you get a prompt and courteous response.
• Look up their domain name at domain registrar WHOIS lookup to see how long they have been in business.
• Google their name and their company name to see what is out there about the person you are looking to trust your online business with.
• Check with the local Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been lodged.
• Contact some of their clients from their online portfolio and ask them about their experience.

Just taking the time to cover the above can help you find the right person to work with — that you can trust. If you cannot get a warm fuzzy based on the above, move on…

Every day, I see the “big name” companies and fly-by-nights alike take advantage of what their customers don’t know. Who is at fault here? Both sides.

• The big name companies for relying on what their customers don’t know as part of their business model and the fly-by-nights by being only interested in getting into your pocketbook and then they’re done with you.
• And their customers, who are unwilling to learn enough to know they are not getting what they need to succeed or what they thought they paid for.

Once you find partners you can trust; from hosting to graphics to development and post-launch support, you then are freed up to do what you do best because your back is covered — running and growing your business. Pretty liberating feeling, isn’t it?

At your service,
Judith
Your WordPress Consultant

After 16 Years, What’s Still My #1 Piece of Advice? is a post from: WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service...

Increasing numbers of newbie “Bloggers” who think their Blog will produce “additional income” — not based on any reality; just because they think so — are now popping up like “Web designers” did in the 1990s. Very few had skills or had any solid knowledge — some software, a “solution” or “system” and easy schmeasy — all the way to the bank! Not.

What I find amazing is these folks are intent on making their riches based on what they are willing to do, spend and learn. They’ll only make the effort on their terms — and they expect to reap the rewards similar to the rare Bloggers who work at their craft 12 hours a day for years to make the big bucks.

What’s up with that?

So how do you know if your Blog sucks?

• You have nothing unique to offer over the thousands of sites already active on your subject of choice.
  

  unique adjective:
  having no like or equal; unparalleled; incomparable

  Unless you have a plan, an angle, a different USP (unique selling proposition) than the hundreds of thousands of sites already covering your topic; your Blog sucks.

• You think by putting affiliate links and AdSense everywhere, and I mean everywhere, visitors to your sucky site will click on them and you’ll get that four-figure paycheck so you don’t have to work for the man. Guess what? The majority of folks have “ad blindness” and find too much advertising annoying. If you are not prepared to write reviews and “how tos” about the stuff you are promoting — your Blog sucks.
• If you are using other author’s articles or scraping content feeds from other skilled and hardworking site owners — oh yeah, your Blog sucks.
• If you don’t have a great looking non-generic WordPress theme that you’ve worked hard to make your own, that you’ve learned how to use to best display your content in a visually appealing manner — your Blog sucks.
• If you don’t have clear and intuitive navigation — navigation that should be all about site visitors (not purely in existence to keyword stuff) — yep, your Blog sucks.
• If you find yourself thinking “I don’t like to write”, “I can’t write”, “I don’t have time to post” without a doubt — sorry, your Blog sucks.

I know… this isn’t very “musey” of me. But you know what? I’m am growing weary of being expected to help folks who don’t want to help themselves. I really don’t like being paid to be ignored — something about that is just wrong.

Advice and direction is provided only to be told, that “my way” takes too much work (or cost, or time, <insert excuse here >) to make the necessary efforts to reach our stated goals. So we ignore what is the reality of what is required and still think our Blog is the best thing since sliced bread. And that we will make boat-loads of money.

Yeah, the economy sucks — so everyone is running to “easy” income online. Hey, where is that? I’ve just celebrated my 16th year in business and haven’t found that area on the Web yet. What the H. E. double-toothpicks am I doing still working 10 hour days, 6 days a week??!!

Stop it! There is no easy income!

Those who surmise I sit on my couch eating bon-bons with my laptop in my hoodie-footie P.J.s want my life. (Yes, a recent contact stated that was their goal — “just like you…”) Be careful what you ask for!

I don’t like bon-bons, I don’t have hoodie-footie P.J.s (although with the cold weather in Mississippi this week — that sounds tempting) and my laptop is on the great room table for me to work until 10p at night so I don’t have to be locked up in my office and can have some semblance of a home life.

That’s what it takes to live off the Internet! But guess what? For me, this comes easy because I was raised with a work ethic. A Father who taught me I could have anything I wanted — if I was willing to work at it!

Those who work on their niche, different, exclusive, individual, lone, one, one and only, onliest, only, particular, rare, separate, single, solitary, solo, sui generis, uncommon, unexampled Blogs to make them great looking, filled with useful information, that is updated regularly — are those that stand a chance over time of producing some level of residual income. Yeah, some level — over time.

So if anyone wants a Blog that doesn’t suck, ask these questions…

1. Have you researched your topic to find an angle no one else has tapped into and is your Blog niche something that you know well and are passionate about?
2. Are you willing to work at aggressively improving your writing skills, being active on Social Media and answering site e-mail and comments for as many hours a day are necessary to reach your goals?
3. Do you understand that this is an ongoing learning process that never ends?

If you don’t answer the above questions with a resounding “YES!” your Blog sucks — go work on your resume.

At your service,
Judith

You Know Your Blog Sucks if… is a post from: WordPress Consultant: Judith Kallos, At Your Service...