WordPress

The Girlfriend’s Guide to Blogging

Posted in: Blog Management | November 22, 2011
The Girlfriend's Guide to Blogging

This week I received an email  from a longtime girlfriend who is interested in launching a blog.  I was actually surprised by this, because Mary (name has been changed to protect the innocent) has a fulltime job already and it is not marketing related.   She had an idea for a blog and wanted advice on how to get a blog started. My girlfriend is not alone.  I receive dozens of emails each week from people wanting blogs and websites created for their “idea” and I can tell at least 75% have no clue what to do or where to start.  The classic signs of this state of confusion are the Read more

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Good Times at WordCamp Detroit 2011

Posted in: WordPress | November 16, 2011
Name Tags

Another year, another WordCamp here in Detroit.  I was excited for it to arrive and I'm definitely sad to see it go.  I love WordCamp almost as much as I love WordPress.  It brings together my favorite things: WordPress and my fellow like-minded geeks.  This year I was able to bring along my possy, which included my assistant Jen (and long time BFF), my fellow internet marketer Rachel, and our collective friend Megan who is completely new to WordPress.  Good times. This year's WordCamp was hosted at the Detroit RenCen building.  Yes from the image below, you can see the Read more

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Stand Back! The Geeks Are Coming

Posted in: Website Design | November 8, 2011
Web Design Geek

Last night I met with a business partner named Scott.  Scott is an engineer and his engineering brain loves SEO.  I’ve been teaching SEO 101 while we build Scott’s website.  Last night as we moved from SEO 101 to SEO 201, Scott couldn’t understand why I didn’t do this with every client.  The truth be told, 99% of my clients don’t care.  They pay me to make sure their website and SEO are taken care of and they don’t want to worry about it. We All Make Mistakes Very few clients have Scott’s thirst for knowledge.  They don’t understand it, or care, or have the time to Read more

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Why DIY Websites Are Many Times a Horrible Mistake

Posted in: Website Design | September 5, 2011

So you’ve finally made the decision – you need a new website.  If that’s the case, you’re probably trying to figure out if you should hire a professional or try to go it alone.  If you’re a small business or a tech savvy marketer, you’ve considered doing it yourself or maybe even decided to take the DIY website route.   For some, this can be a great decision. For others – aka most – this can be a disaster. The DIY Website Designer Lately I’ve received a lot of emails and calls from people who ventured down the DIY website path only to find themselves going astray.  Read more

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We’re Sponsoring WordCamp Detroit 2011

Posted in: WordPress | August 31, 2011
Wordcamp-Small

WordCamp Detroit is coming! As summer winds down, vacations wrap up, and kids return to school, the geeks begin to circle and prepare for WordCamp Detroit. Since we love everything WordPress and we are also geeks, we’ve decide to help sponsor this year’s event at the RenCen in downtown Detroit. Why Should You Attend a WordCamp? If you love WordPress or want to get involved with WordPress, it’s a great opportunity to learn more about WordPress and interact with the local WordPress community. Many of us don’t leave of our monitors much, so it forces us to get up and explore the world Read more

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Should You Ditch Your Website & Developer?

Posted in: Website Design | August 28, 2011
Dude in Garbage Can

When I first started my business, I thought projects would be clearly defined as web design or SEO. Oh was I wrong.  Projects, like clients, come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. What may start out as a simple SEO project may lead into a full-blown website development. And this migration isn’t because I’m pushing web design on clients, it’s because the client has significant limitations with their existing website. Since I run into this often, I'm sure the average website owner does too.  If you’re trying to decide between updating your existing website or moving towards Read more

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The Case of the Hacked WordPress Website

Posted in: WordPress | July 28, 2011
WordPress Hacking Code

A few months ago I was out of town visiting a client. On my route home my faithful iPhone popped up an email from another client. The client said “something strange” was appearing on their website. Peculiar I thought, because I’m the only one with admin access and I haven’t changed anything. I thought an investigation was in order, but didn’t go much past that initial thought. Following the Clues When I could get my hands on my Mac, I checked out the website. Sure enough, there was bizarre language or code across the header. It referenced the WP e-Commerce plugin. At first I Read more

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The Magic Formula of Great SEO

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization | February 7, 2011
Traffic Source Overview

This weekend I looked back at SEO related statistics for a B2B website I launched in November of 2009. A full year has passed and I wanted to see the progress this company made over a twelve-month period. After launching the new WordPress website, the client retained me to work on their internet marketing efforts. It helped free up time for the client, it gave their internet marketing a cohesiveness it would not have had otherwise, and it gave me time to nurture my new baby. I believe it was a good year for SEO and Google Analytics agrees with me. The Data Doesn’t Lie I decided to Read more

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Migrating a Website Owner Through the Five Stages of Grief

Posted in: WordPress | January 3, 2011
Stages of Grief

In college I was a Psychology major until I realized I’d have to reach a PhD level education to obtain a job with any real earning potential. That meant staying in college and thousands more in student loans. With much sadness I switched career paths and moved into a world of technology. Flash forward twenty years and I now claim to be an Internet marketer who spends many hours as a WordPress designer and an SEO expert. I love what I do, yet still miss my first love of Psychology. Recently my two loves collided as I remembered Swiss-born psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and her book Read more

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Fifteen Questions to Ask Your Future Website Designer

Posted in: Website Design | December 28, 2010
What Should You Ask Your Future Website Designer

Recently my sister decided to launch a website and blog. With my encouragement she selected WordPress as her platform of choice and then set out to locate a WordPress consultant. Why didn’t she come to me you ask? Well honestly, I didn’t want to work with family and I could not begin to meet her list of needs. Sisterhood aside, we both knew we were not an ideal fit for each other. She wanted a cute blog with minimal website functionality and that isn’t my strength. I’m a B2B or B2C girl who likes to work with small businesses and not so much individual bloggers. I wasn’t a Read more

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