First, did you hear about the recent survey from the Harvard Business Review magazine that proves a business presence on Facebook; increases sales, loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals?

However as a blogger with a fan page on Facebook, you have the UNIQUE opportunity to grow your audience, gain traffic, score RSS and email subscribers, and more. That’s HUGE! So it’s not just meant for small business, those who run a blog stand to benefit a great deal from smart strategies with the social media giant.

Let’s take a look at Facebook marketing as it relates to bloggers.

Feel free to share the URL to your Facebook Fan Page below in the comment area.

Here’s the Facebook Marketing For Bloggers 25 point checklist.

1. Create a fan page for your blog (learn the value of a FB fan page here)
2. Pick a name that is memorable, relevant and or keyword-rich (be smart, as it can’t be changed later on)
3. Differentiate your page by making custom tabs, with the “Extended Info” app or the “FBML” app
4. Don’t choose your “Wall”, as the default landing page for non-fans
5. Instead choose the custom tab you just created (in step 3 above)
6. Do add a variety of media to your fan page, including video and photos
7. Don’t post too often, or too much as fans will get annoyed and un-fan you
8. Add creative apps to your sidebar, and share relevant high quality items of interest in your niche (your fans will love this)
9. Keep the auto-posting to a minimum, no one wants to follow (or fan) a robot
10. If you must auto post anything, let it be (your blogs RSS feed) via the NOTES box
11. Grab the fan box widget and it to your blog (this is a great way to snag fans quickly)
12. Want to customize your FB fan page? Here are a few tutorials for you to look at
13. Let your Twitter followers know you’re on Facebook, and that they can now fan you
14. Write a blog post letting your readers (and visitors) know that your FB fan page is up and running
15. Send an email to your list (if you have one) about your new social media page
16. If your blog is BIG, submit a press release announcing your new FB destination
17. Heck, even if your blog is NOT big, submit a press release anyway
18. Bookmark Mashable, the leading social media blog and read their Facebook articles
19. Have forum friends? Let them know as well
20. Really spice up your page, make it ORIGINAL, INTERESTING and or ENTERTAINING (don’t forget about using a creative or silly fan page image to grab attention)
21. Have a fan giveaway! Announce it a few days early on your WALL, then have fans “do something” in order to enter to win your awesome prize
22. Here is an example of a fun fan giveaway!
23. Interact with fans – ask questions, respond to comments, invite their feedback, etc
24. Have fun! (your fans will see this and enjoy your page)
25. YOUR TURN: What is your best Facebook marketing tip for bloggers? Tell us in the comment area below.

Want an example? Here’s the Facebook Fan Page I created last Saturday for my personal blog, Groovy Vegetarian. Have a look and tell me if I followed my own checklist or not.

Need help with your FB fan page? Let me know, I would be glad to take a look.

1. Social Media Buttons – this site is dedicated to nothing but buttons and badges for both Twitter and Facebook. They have several sweet buttons to choose from that you can add your Facebook profile ID to and then copy and paste wherever you like. Want a Facebook badge for your blog? Check. A Facebook button for your Myspace? Check. They have a cute collection in various colors and sizes, try this site first.

2. Facebook Widgets – You can also use the official Facebook widgets which allow you to get a badge for either your profile, photo or fan page. These are somewhat customizable, but not much. You have a choice of horizontal or vertical layout and other custom features.

3. My Social Buttons – At My Social Buttons.com you can snag buttons and badges for a variety of social media giants, including LinkedIn, Stumble Upon, Twitter, Technorati, Flickr, Myspace, Facebook and more. Available in numerous colors, sizes and styles.

4. Social Blog – This site has a pretty nice set of Facebook buttons, all with easy copy and paste functionality. Just enter in your ID and you’re good to go.

5. Justin Parks.com – This is the personal blog of social media enthusiast Justin Parks, who has a sweet set of Facebook icons, badges and buttons.

If you know of any more, let us know in the comment area. Feel free to leave a link.

Till next time, Missy

p.s. Need a Facebook Fan Page set up? We now offer this as a low cost service.

First, let me say Congrats! on getting yourself a piece of web history and joining an exciting field. Blogging, social media, online marketing, SEO, is alot of work but it’s also alot of fun.

If this is your very first niche blog site and are not sure where to begin, let’s go over a few basics now.

First, make sure you know your niche. Make sure you know which keywords you are after and or targeting through your new blog. See below for more on this.

Second, have a plan of action. What goals do you have for this blog site. Is it to capture leads? Is it Adsense clicks you’re after? Maybe you want to sell an ebook? Affiliate marketing with Amazon or eBay? Whatever it is, decide early on what you want your blog to do for you.

Now let’s move on and discuss easy traffic tips. Because regardless of the blog business model you’re after, traffic is key. Plus this article assumes you’re PAST THE BASICS.

1. Organic Search (a/k/a SEO) – This is perhaps my preferred method of gaining traffic to a new blog. It’s good, because “searchers” as I like to call them are looking for one of three things:

• to research
• to socialize
• to buy

That’s it. That’s why their online and it’s your job as a new blog owner, to figure out which of those three things YOU are going to give them. Once you have this decided, you will need the Google Keyword Tool to check on the (in demand keywords) in your niche, and don’t forget to check on your competition, use the SEO Quake From Firefox free add-on for this. Make sure your onsite SEO is strong and lastly but not definitely not least – add SEO rich content.

After you’ve got some initial ground, it’s VERY important that you focus on:

• content
• and getting good backlinks

You need both. You can’t let either flounder.

2. Twitter – This is my second preferred method of easy blog traffic. Each niche blog that I create comes with a Twitter page as part of the package. Why? Because its great for traffic. The “search” feature on Twitter can’t be beat, because it’s in “real time”. This means, that “as it happens”, it shows up on Twitter. As of last count, there are *18 millions users on the micro network and grows BIGGER by the day. It can’t be discounted. (*source)

Need help with Twitter? Let me know as I provide a low cost Twitter account set up service.

3. Facebook Fan Page – This is web 4.0 at it’s best. It’s gaining in popularity as we speak, because if done right, it works. On social networking site Facebook, you have the ability to create what is called a FAN PAGE. This page is basically for businesses to promote a service, product or brand. As a site owner, you can use it to promote your new blog. You can include quite a bit on a fan page such as the site URL, a logo, RSS feeds, fans, images, articles, tips, polls, videos, giveaways, and so much more. You can also set it up so that it automatically updates, when you update your blog. You don’t have to visit both at the same time. It’s a pretty cool new method to promote online, and it’s 100% free.

Need help? Let me know as I provide a low cost Facebook Fan Page set up service.

4. Forum Marketing – To be a blogger or online marketer you NEED a network. There’s no two ways about it. You can’t succeed on the web without one, plain and simple. You can’t. You won’t. Why do you think Myspace, Facebook and Twitter are so crazy insane HUGE? Because there’s demand and there’s a need. Look for the networks in YOUR NICHE, join up and become acquainted with the other members, provide value, learn, ask questions, etc. Become a community member, this will in turn help you in many many ways – down the line. Some of the better forums for bloggers, include Warrior Forum, Problogger.com, and Digital Point.

As a new blog owner, you will no doubt have questions and run into issues that you will need help with, that’s what your blogger friends are for. Seek them out, and in no time. You will be happily skipping about with glee and joy!

5. Viral Widgets – If you’re lucky enough to be a developer or know one, then a fancy widget such as a Facebook game, an iPhone app, etc would surely net you some sweet traffic. If you aren’t a developer or know one, you can (if within your budget) always outsource the creation. Places like the Warrior Forum and Digital Point have paid developers for hire. Think of something cool, get it done and promote it everywhere.

6. Contests/Giveaways – After you’ve done your quick research on your niche and have some good articles on the blog, have a sweet giveaway to get the word out. Think of something whether in (physical or digital form) that is low cost, but has high value to your readers. This could be a book, unique screen savers, silly bumper stickers, iPhone case, a funny t-shirt, etc. Think INTERESTING, FUNNY, WACKY, or COVETED. Set it for at least two weeks in advance and make sure to post about it in your social networks, the blog itself, and blog contest forums. Remember this could be digital, so get creative and again think of your market and what they would want to win.

Since on a new blog, you’re probably not gonna have too many readers, best bet to promote your contest/giveaway is via Twitter, Facebook, friends, FORUMS, other blogs, guest posts, a press release, and/ or your email list. (If you have one.)

7. Friends – What are friends for, if not to boost you up? Tell them you have a new web property and want them to come on by and visit. Ask for their feedback, or simply let them see what it’s all about. Be sure to tell them to pass it on to their friends as well.

8. Press Releases – Great for exposure in online circles, as many reporters, bloggers and other authors routinely use Google Alerts to scout out for stories, new products, etc. Make sure to at the very least write one good press release. Even if it’s simply announcing the grand opening of your fabulous new blog site, and what it offers. Then let it spread like wildfire. Oftentimes, bloggers think that a “press release” is meant for a product company or an offline company, but in fact press releases can be used by anyone for any newsworthy purpose. Don’t overlook this simple, quick and low cost idea.

9. Blog Carnivals – This is considered old school by many. But it works and its targeted. Blog Carnivals are like chains where bloggers sign up and share their content with one another. There’s an actual site named Blog Carnival. You sign up with them for free, look for blogs in your niche and submit your article to the carnival. Choose an article that you want a backlink to, as this is one of the primary benefits of joining a Blog Carnival. This method is not for gaining barrels of traffic, but it’s good for SEO. So that’s why, i’ve included it in the list.

10. You tell me! What easy traffic tips do YOU have for a new blogger? A tip that maybe is not that well known, but works like a charm. Please share below in the comment area.

BONUS TIP #11. Guest Posts – I had to add this easy traffic method to the list, because it’s all the rage now. I recently wrote about how and where to guest post. Be sure to take a quick look at my article.

Submitting a guest post is one of the BEST methods for good traffic to a blog, new or old.

Let’s take a look and see.

Why would someone buy an established website?

There are many reasons for this, and also keep in mind that there are different types of sites being bought and sold. It’s abit more obvious why someone would buy an established website, because of the built in revenue and traffic. You could then add it to your portfolio of passive income or resell the site (again) at a later date. Makes perfect sense, provided of course, you do your due diligence and snag a good website.

Why would someone buy a new, not yet established website?

But how about a new website, one that was established recently and has no traffic or revenue. Why would someone buy this type of website? There’s a BIG market for this type of website, and let me tell you why.

Not everyone knows how to build a website, yet. Not everyone knows how to set up basic on site SEO, not everyone knows how to create a blog, not everyone knows Wordpress and it’s back end system, etc etc etc.

And make no mistake about it, as Flippa’s numbers prove above, there’s great demand for site creation, as a whole. Be that a company site, a personal blog, a niche product site, a new site, an established site, etc. And buying a ready made site is the way to go!

Below are ten reasons to buy a website today.

1. Buy because virtual property has value, just like real estate property – Score a good domain name in a hot niche and it might become the next business.com success story.
2. Buy because of the established revenue and traffic, it would normally take months or even years to reach this peak on a new website.
3. Buy because on a new website all has been done for you, then you can concentrate entirely on site promotion and marketing. Or adding content. Your choice!
4. Buy because Flippa rocks as THE online marketplace for buying and selling sites.
5. Buy because the site has a snappy design you would have to pay through the nose otherwise to get.
6. Buy because good site sellers are worth their weight in gold. On Flippa, there’s a handy dandy feedback feature and its used on every auction. Look for feedback as you would on eBay, and find the top sellers.
7. Buy because you want a site that has X number of features and you don’t know or don’t have the time to DIY. What such features? Maybe a forum, a job board, an active community, email list, premium Wordpress theme, premium Wordpress plugins.
8. Buy because the price is right.
9. Buy because you want a leg up on the competition. Maybe you need a vertical market and someone is selling the top site in your particular niche. Buy now, laddy!
10. Buy because “fill in the blank” here. Why would YOU buy a website?

via PR Web

I buy premium wordpress themes for several reasons, including:

• my site flips
• and my niche Wordpress blogs creation service

Whenever I create a site flip for Flippa, I tend to use a premium Wordpress theme as this raises the value of the site. And because they’re usually much better crafted. But not to dog on free themes, because there are quite nice free themes out as well. And for my niche blog creation service, I usually always go premium.

Below I share some of my favorite Wordpress designers and their lovely premium (a/k/a fee based) Wordpress themes.

Woo Themes – I have several, including Gazette and Busy Bee. I love Woo because of their stellar design qualities and ease of use. Each one of their premium themes has a full “admin options” area, great for newbies and or those who are scared of code. (like me!) But really, I love Woo because they have fancy designs and make any site look good.

Thematic – They recently changed their name, you might know them as PremiumThemes.net, I have several themes from Thematic, including Snippet, Product Folio, iProduct, and Store.

]]> http://www.g34media.com/2010/01/22/want-to-see-my-private-collection-of-premium-wordpress-themes/feed/ 0 http://www.g34media.com/2010/01/21/ten-free-wordpress-themes-how-to-rebrand-your-feedburner-page-and-a-very-cool-email-capture-wordpress-plugin/ http://www.g34media.com/2010/01/21/ten-free-wordpress-themes-how-to-rebrand-your-feedburner-page-and-a-very-cool-email-capture-wordpress-plugin/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:45:15 +0000 Missy http://www.g34media.com/?p=634 I have a few solid resources for you on important blogging and or Wordpress related issues. These are all from savvy bloggers who know their niche and have come up with the goods. If you have a minute, do give these good articles a read.

First up? Is Erica.

How To Brand Your Feedburner Page, from Erica Mueller of Erica Says.com

Great mini guide on how to take your bland boring Feedburner subscribe page and spice it up abit. Erica gives you a step-by-step on how to brand and format this most important page.

Adam Baker Interview, from the popular Man VS Debt Blog

Young Tanner who runs a lifestyle blog has a neat interview with Adam Baker who runs the hugely successful get rid of debt blog, Man Vs. Debt. Good stuff in the interview, be sure to pay Tanner a visit.

10 Free Awesome Wordpress Themes from Ninja Blog Set Up site

Looking for a nicely designed, but free Wordpress theme for that NEXT site of yours? Have a look at the collection gathered by Shawn from Blog Ninja Set Up. Several high quality themes are showcased, including Amazing Grace and Swift.

Wordpress Email Capture Plugin from the self-titled Rhys Wynne blog

This is a revelation! The email capture Wordpress plugin works as named. Essentially it allows you to collect email addresses from site or blog visitors, and either add them to your list or send them a digital goodie. Or both!

It’s easy, fast and 100% free. Read more and download it, via the link to Rhys blog above.

Cheers!

Till next time.

What is this method, you ask?

Submitting a guest post. Yes! that’s it in a nut shell. It’s simple, free, trusted, quantifiable, manageable and it best of all…it works! It’s not really a novel or new idea, in fact I wrote about the practice of submitting a guest post back in August of 2008, and it holds true till today. Maybe more so! But it’s gained alot of traction as of late. Everyone is talking about it.

Why? Because a link from a similar niche, high PR (anything above PR2 is good) blog site is GOLD. Yes, my friend pure gold. So, treat a guest post opportunity as such. Think about it, for a second? When you submit a guest post, you essentially eat all the ingredients necessary for a smacking good Google meal – relevancy, pagerank, dofollow, naturalness, etc. See? It’s near perfection.

Keep the following rules (I mean guidelines) in mind when submitting a guest post on any blog site:

• find a relevant niche
• the receiving site, should have pagerank (any at all, is good)
• keep the guest post on topic
• ask first
• submit second
• write a killer article and submit only GREAT content
• thank the receiving blog site
• promote the heck out of the guest post

The great thing about guest posting is that you LITERALLY can control what site your “killer article” goes on, because you CHOOSE the blog. Yes! not all blogs will approve or even accept a guest post, but many will.

Ready to try?

Ann Smarty a well known blogger and SEO chick has recently created a fantastic website dedicated to this very topic. It’s free to join and participate. Simply sign-up, then look for guest opps in your specific niche. Remember to recip and also write some, don’t just accept them. This is bad form.

Then there’s Google and Twitter. Each one of these two sites, has great SEARCH features which will facilitate you finding solid opps. You just have to know where and how to search. Below is the where and how.

My Blog Guest.com – a site dedicated to guest post opportunities. Very nice community here as well, since the site also has a forum.

Twitter Search -Perform a simple search for guest post, and watch the madness unfold. In real time, of course. Nice!

Google Alerts – Type in your “niche plus the word guest post” and find blogs that will gladly accept your article.

Guys, don’t underestimate the POWER of this method for traffic and backlinks. There’s a reason all the A list bloggers and net marketers are all touting the benefits right now.

It works!

Below are my top five SEO tips for Wordpress bloggers.

1. Install an SEO plugin on your blog - such as the powerful All-in-One Seo or the newer more robust Platinum SEO. These two take care of alot of the basic onsite search engine optimization you need on your blog posts and pages. (this mostly applies to Wordpress bloggers)

2. Get Backlinks – it doesn’t matter if your blog is a day old or 3 months old, you can never start too early to hunt down for link opportunities. Start with relevant directories.

3. Link To Yourself – Well not exactly. What I mean is make sure you regularly link to other articles, pages and blog posts you’ve written. This creates a spider web effect that search engines know and rely on.

4. Install a Sitemap – Sitemaps are literally maps to the content on your blog, and Google loves them. My favorite way to add a sitemap to my blogs is with the Dagon Design sitemap plugin. Fast, easy and free.

5. Use a Related Posts Plugin – this action produces similar results as installing a sitemap. It lets Google know of the content on your site and how it relates to the overall topic of your blog.

These are basic but powerful ideas, don’t underestimate any of these tips. If you haven’t yet added or practiced these SEO tips, now is a great time.

You’ll rise to the top in no time.

Next Article!

Our next article will touch on the topic of: traffic generation.

What is the most sought after gadget this Christmas season? If you guessed ebook readers, then you would be correct.

If you guessed rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you would be incorrect.

Ever since Amazon came out with its glorious Kindle, all heck broke loose in the ebook industry. And this was in 2007. Since then we have the Sony Reader, several models of the Kindle including Kindle 2 and Kindle DX. And just recently to spice things up Barnes And Noble threw plans for a color ebook reader called (Athena NOOK) into the foray, followed by the electrifying announcement of a solar powered ebook reader from LG.

Yes, the ebook reader industry is mega red hot!!!

I created a new blog entitled ebookreaderguide.com to chronicle the happenings of the awesome ebook reader industry and to provide a guide to the various ebook readers on the market. As I mentioned earlier, lots of people want an e-reader this Christmas but are confused as to which one to buy. This is the primary function of my new blog – to provide tips and information to consumers on which ebook reader is best for them.

The blog is powered by Wordpress (of course) and it features a gorgeous Wordpress theme with a lot of social networking apps built-in, plus a very cool back end (admin options) area.

Want to follow the ebook reader industry?

Go now to EbookReaderGuide.com

Are you in need of a domain registrar? One that is reliable, easy to use and affordable. How about one that has a groovy affiliate program.

Then you will be happy to hear about Namecheap. This is my registrar of choice and has been for about 2 years now. I have all but one domain name registered through Namecheap, so that would be almost 15. Why do I choose Namecheap over others more well known (and marketed) such as craptastic Go Daddy?

Well for one thing they DO NOT bombard me with a bazillion ads and offers when I try to quickly register a domain name. They DO NOT send me a gagoolian emails asking me to sign-up for this whatchamacallit and that whoneedsitcrap.

But what I really digg about Namecheap is their super easy-no fuss interface. It’s all laid out real simple and makes for a nice experience, plus they have several cool features built-into their registration process. Whenever you register a domain name, you can set it up so that it AUTOMATICALLY sets up DNS from your server a/k/a webhost. This makes it nice and quick to register and set up a new domain name for that quickie blog you want to create. (and maybe sell)

Here are some more cool features from Namecheap:

• Easy login
• Easy account set-up
• Easy domain search
• Discount on transfers from another registrar (like craptastic Go Daddy or Yahoo)
• A marketplace which allows you to quickly sell and push domain to another NC user
• Twitter integration (not sure I like this but its available)
• Affiliate program – 15% commission on referred customers
• Monthly discount promo codes on new registrations
• Free Who Is Guard (contact info privacy)
• Quick registrations
• Payment via Paypal is accepted
• Live Support
• Forums
• They have a Facebook fan page and Twitter account
• Cheap domains (less than $9 with coupon code)
• All TLD extensions (including the new .ME)
• Free email/URL forwarding
• Easy as pie control panel

If you’re a blogger, internet marketer or site flipper then you know you NEED a domain registrar you can count on and one that is easy, quick and affordable.

Namecheap is my choice.