What does a chain and Jerry Seinfeld have to do with resuscitating your blog? Well the short story is that Mr. Seinfeld works on his comedy by working on his jokes and he works on his jokes by writing everyday. He uses a motivational technique to ensure that he writes every day, he calls it “Don’t Break the Chain“. He takes a big wall calendar and puts an x on the days he does write. If he doesn’t write one day, he breaks the chain. The idea is too keep the chain going and don’t break it.

You can do the same for your blog. Get a big wall calendar or use this online version of Don’t Break the Chain. There’s even an option to add it to iGoogle/Google Calendar or display it on your blog. It’s fun and a perfect tool for visual people.

Popularity: 2% [?]

I came across this plugin the other day when I was looking for a plugin to help me find any invalid links on my client’s new blogsite. You see, we transferred over 500 blog posts from TypePad to WordPress and I worried that some of the links in the blog would be invalid because some of the blog posts were over 3 years old. In 3 years websites, articles, blog posts etc may be taken down, deleted completely or moved to another url.

The broken link checker goes through all of your blog Read the full story

Popularity: 6% [?]

If you are confused by the benefits of a blogsite over a website you are not alone. Many people ask me “Sandra, why would I want a blogsite when I already have a website?” Others ask “Sandra, I hear that blogging is a great way to get my name out there but how do I start and should I have a website too?”  These are all good questions but let’s start with the basics.

What is a blogsite?
A blogsite is a blog with all the features of a website and much, much more. On the website side, you’ll have a static menu bar linking to your web pages (e.g. About Us, Contact Us). On the blog side, you’ll be able to publish posts, articles, promotions and tips without a degree in Computer Science. With a blogsite you’ve got the features of a website and the functionality of a blog all in one.

If you use a blogsite you won’t need a separate website or a separate blog. A blogsite is an “all in one” business tool!

What are the advantages of using a blogsite over a website?

Read the full story

Popularity: 61% [?]

Many entrepreneurs ask me how they can create a membership site and how they can sell information on their blogsites. Well now you can. A brand new WordPress plugin makes it all possible.
With the WishList Member plugin you can:

• Protect all or some of your content i.e. pages, categories, parts of posts or pages etc.
• Create as many membership levels as you wish i.e. silver, gold, lifetime, trial etc.
• Create educational modules and give members access to a new module each week. I.E. A new member is given access to module 1 the first week, module 2 the second week, etc. Where older members may already be on module 7.
• Integrate it with 1ShoppingCart or any other shopping cart that allows you to specify a “thank you” page.
• Works with a new or existing WordPress blogsite.

Check it out and see if WishList Member is for you. We can help you integrate it too. Packages coming soon.
Do you want to know more? Join me November 25th at 3pm eastern as I interview Stu McLaren, one of the masterminds behind this awesome resource! Sign up below.

Popularity: 69% [?]

Track your blogsite visits, keywords, visitor locations and more through Google Analytics and this WordPress plugin. Here’s how

1) Create an account on Google Analytics and get your Google “UA” number (you will see this at the end of your account set up)
2) Download and fpt this plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ultimate-google-analytics/ into wordpress.

Read the full story

Popularity: 80% [?]

If you are sick of the thousands of comment spam that comes through your blog, then you’ll love this plugin!

The plugin called “WP-spam free”. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-spamfree/ I started using it a few weeks ago and it stops the comment spam. The installation steps are pretty simple
- download
- unzip
- ftp to your wp-content/plugins/ folder
- activate the plugin “wp-spam free”
- go the configuration page (plugins -> wp-spam free) to ensure it is set up properly and change some of the settings if you wish

and you are done! Spam no more!

Popularity: 73% [?]

If you copy and paste your blog posts from Word, or even your e-mail, into a blog post you may notice that your font is not consistent.  The problem is that Word (and email editors that use Word)  has it’s own code that hides in the background.  When you copy your content from Word into your blog post you not only copy the content but you copy the Word code as well. This means that your blog post now contains all of the Word code (if you want to see it, click the “code” tab when you edit or create the post), so your post may now appear in Times New Roman font or another font.  It may also be a different colour or size that is not consistent with your blog’s font settings. The Word code  conflicts with WordPress code in many other ways as well.

So how do you avoid this?  Do one of the following:

• Type your post right into your WordPress blog account.
•  If you prefer to write your blog in Word first then copy from Word to Notepad, then copy from Notepad to WordPress. Notepad is a basic editor and it does not contain any coding that would conflict with WordPress (or any other blogging software).
• If you prefer to write your blog outside of WordPress and you don’t care what you use, then write your post in Notepad and copy from Notepad to WordPress.

WordPress contains a spell cheker (look for the “ABC” icon in the toolbar) and it contains tools to change the font settings if you wish (click on the right most icon – it looks like a keyboard).

Popularity: 66% [?]

You can change the published date for your post to a date in the past or a date in the future. If you choose to publish your post to a date in the future, your post will not appear on your blog until that day and time.

1) Create your post
2) On the right under “publish status”
3) Click edit beside “published on”
4) Change the date and time (optional)
5) Press save/publish

Popularity: 94% [?]

By default WordPress displays your blog posts on your home page. If you’d prefer your blog posts to be displayed on a page called “blog” and to display a “welcome” page on your home page instead here’s how you do it.

1) Create a page with the title “Home”, press save/publish
2) Create a page with the title “Blog”,press save/publish
3) Go to options/settings
4) Click “reading” in the submenu bar
5) Under “Front Page displays”:

a) Click “a static page”
b) Make your front page “Home”
c) Make your blog page “Blog”

6) Save

Read the full story

Popularity: 100% [?]

So what is a blogsite really? Why should you care?

What difference would it make to your business if you knew what it was?

Would it attract money? clients? speaking gigs? magazine columns? the clients of your dreams?

Would it make you the go to person in your market?

Would it give you the ability to make changes to your site when you want to without knowing any geekese?

Would it attract Google?

Would it allow clients to find you instead of you seeking them?

If you do not care about any of the above, then please don’t keep reading and ask yourself “Why am I in business anyway?”

If you do care and you want to know more then I invite you to attend a free teleclass to learn more and ask your questions. We promise not to use any techie jargon and explain everything in plain English!

The teleclass will take place Wednesday June 4th at 12pm eastern (5pm London, 9am PDT). Sign up below!

Popularity: 79% [?]