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I highly recommend the WordPress platform not just for blogs, but for any type of website because it’s super quick and easy to get setup and it’s free, so you could literally have a professional site up and ready in an evening.  Once you have your WordPress blog or site going you’ll have access to countless plugins that can help you add all types of functions and features to the site.

One of my favorite plugins is Max Banner Ads because it allows you to easily manage all of your banner ad campaigns without having to know any HTML.  The Max Banner Ads interface helps you to setup any size or type of banner ads, and lets you choose when and where they will show up.  You can plugin any number of banner ads, simply by copying and pasting the URL and link image, and you can have them rotate so visitors don’t get bored with and become blind to the ads displayed on your site.

With the Max Banner Ads plugin you can choose whether to display ads at the top or bottom of a post, only after the last post, or you can even elect to have ads show up within every other post or specifically within posts #2, #5, #9 and so on, all with the touch of a mouse.

The best thing about the plugin though is the ability to track the impressions, clicks and click through rates for every ad on your site, all from one spot within your administration panel (see image above).  You can see at a glance which ads are performing and which aren’t so that you can change them accordingly and increase your site’s advertising income with just a few clicks.  Download your free copy of the Max Banner Ads plugin, or upgrade to the pro version for $47 to remove the developer’s link.

Esther Crawford from ShePosts.com and Jennifer James from Mom Bloggers Club got together and created this fabulous ebook called From Blog to Business.  Don’t let the price fool you – this is one valuable tool if you have a blog or are interested in starting one!  These experienced ladies give you all the information you need to figure out how to monetize your blog, where and how to find sponsors, and how much to charge.  You’ll also find sample forms and marketing materials to help you create a professional media kit that can help you attract sponsors and advertisers.  Head over to FromBlogToBusiness.com to get your copy today!

After the Deadline

I’m amazed at the number of blogs that are filled with misspellings and grammatical errors and unfortunately I often find myself focusing on these issues instead of the content which might be terrific if I weren’t so distracted by misused and incorrect words.  Nobody is perfect and I make these kinds of mistakes too so I rely on After the Deadline to proofread each post before it is published.  Similar to the spelling and grammar checker in Microsoft Word, this plugin underlines questionable words and phrases after you hit the publish button and allows you to update or ignore them.

Akismet

Most WordPress themes come with Akismet already included, but you need an API Key to activate and use it to benefit from the spam protection it provides.  Akismet checks your blog comments to see if they look like spam or not.  Comments that appear to be spam are filtered into a different folder so that you can review them separately and easily delete them in bulk.  This is an invaluable tool that will save you tons of time in dealing with spam comments so be sure to turn it on!

Broken Link Checker

This is a neat little plugin that checks your blog for broken links and missing images and lets you know right on the dashboard if any are found.  You can click to check or repair the links from right there.

Google Analyticator

Google Analytics is an awesome free tool that tracks your web traffic with detailed information that you can view when logged into your account.  Google Analyticator is a plugin that allows you to view a summary of that information right from your WordPress dashboard, including a graph of daily visitors, without having to visit your Google account.

Greg’s Threaded Comment Numbering

Visitors to your blog can see the number of comments on each post, but the comments themselves aren’t numbered, nor are they numbered in the WordPress dashboard.  Greg’s Threaded Comment Numbering numbers each of the comments and allows you to choose whether to use sub levels in your comments, which is especially useful if you have lots of discussion among your visitors.  This plugin is a necessity for me on my shopping blog where I host a lot of giveaways so I don’t have to manually count down through all the comments to locate the giveaway winner.

Post Template

If you use the same structure over and over for different posts then you could save lots of time and effort with this Post Template plugin.  For example, if you post recipes often and use the same format repeatedly, this plugin allows you to make a template of that post that you can select from a drop down box to use over and over.  Create as many post and/or page templates as you’d like.  All of the other plugins in my fave top ten are free, but I paid a little under $9 for this one (price is 7 Euros) and it was DEFINITELY worth the money!

Sociable

The Sociable plugin makes it easy for your visitors to follow you on a multitude of other social media like Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, and many others.  This row of links, including any of the icons you choose, will show up at the bottom of your posts – check out the options to print, email and create a PDF that we’ve also included in our Sociable bar below at the bottom of this post.

TweetMeme Retweet Button

If your blog has an active Twitter community, or if you’d just like to encourage readers to tweet your posts, then you should really consider adding a TweetMeme button to each of your posts.  You can choose the full sized button like this one or a compact button, and you can even decide whether to put the button at the top or bottom of your posts.  I recommend top for short posts and bottom for long ones.

What Would Seth Godin Do

Named after marketing guru Seth Godin, the What Would Seth Godin Do plugin displays a custom welcome message to new visitors and another to return visitors.  This plugin is useful for showing new visitors how to get around your blog or how to subscribe to it, and/or for giving repeat visitors other useful information.  It displays a box with custom text at the top of any page or post for a defined number of visits – for instance, you can set it to display subscription information and links to your FAQs the first three times a visitor comes to your site.

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

As the name suggests, there are plenty of available plugins that allow you to display links to related posts at the bottom of each of your posts.  I’ve tried a number of different plugins that do the same thing and the reasons I like Yet Another Related Posts plugin best are because it gives you more control over what content is displayed, its caching system is updated as the site is visited so it performs better on the backend, and the related post links also show up in the RSS and Feedburner feeds.

1)  Decide on a domain name.

If you already have a website for your business then you might want to use something like blog.mybusiness.com or mybusiness.com/blog as the web address for your blog.  If you haven’t already purchased a domain name then you’ll need to go ahead and register one, we highly recommend using GoDaddy as the registrar where you’ll pay about $10/year for the domain name.  There are several services that will allow you to start a blog for free without even registering a name, however the drawbacks of going this route  are that it doesn’t look as professional to have a web address like mybusiness.myfreeblogplace.com and you don’t have complete control over your own blog with this method.

2)  Host the blog.

Now that you have a domain name you’ll need to get it hosted – fees for hosting range from free to a couple hundred bucks a month.  When you’re just starting out with your blog and traffic isn’t yet an issue, you can easily get everything you need for less than $5/month.  Hosting through GoDaddy starts at $4.95/month and includes more email addresses than you’ll need and excellent customer service.  In fact, they’ll even setup the blog for you, just click the box to have WordPress installed when you setup your hosting account.

3)  Choose a Theme

There is more than one option when it comes to choosing your blogging software but WordPress is by far the leader in the field.  It is free to use and because it is so prevalent, you’ll find lots of themes, plugins, and online tutorials that will help you to customize and use WordPress.  The most enjoyable part of creating your blog is probably choosing the theme!  Take some time and really think about what you want for your blog, look around at other blogs and make some notes on what you like about them.  Do you want a large header image or no header image?  Do you need a dropdown menu?  Do you want one, two or three sidebars?  Should they be on the left, right or both sides?  Once you have a rough idea of the format you’d like, do a Google search for ‘free WordPress themes’ and start scrolling through them to find ones that most closely match your list.  Keep in mind that it is much easier to change the theme’s colors and images than it is to change its format and overall layout.

4)  Settings and Plugins

Once you’ve picked out a theme and have updated it with your own images and color scheme, you’ll want to take a look at the blog’s settings.  This is where you’ll decide things like what to use for the blog’s title, whether comments will need to approved, and what format to use for links to posts and pages.  Although it is easy to change, you should carefully consider what to use for your blog’s title since it will show up in the title bar for your web pages.  The link format is also an important decision because this is not very easy to change later.  Your options include links formatted with the post number or post title in them.  If you decide to change this format at a later date, it is technically easy to do but any links back to your pages will no longer work so this is not recommended.

All sorts of plugins are available, most for free, that add different functions to your blog.  For example, you can add plugins that will check your traffic, add contact forms, pull in YouTube videos, follow tweets on Twitter and much, much more.  There are plugins that will display your eBay listings  or Etsy listings in the sidebar, and some that will work with PayPal and other payment processors to add a shopping cart directly to your blog.

5)  Start Blogging

You should post on your blog regularly – this can be daily, weekly, monthly, whatever you decide – just be sure to keep up pretty much the same schedule so your readers will know what to expect from you.  Start out with a welcome post that thanks your readers for visiting with you, then just keep it going with other news and information about your business, your products, any press or media attention, and don’t forget to announce your sales and specials as well as any charitable events or causes that you might participate in.  If you plan to blog daily then consider writing up an editorial calendar that lists your planned topics for each day of the week so you don’t find yourself scrounging for topics.  For example, you might decide to announce new weekly specials on Mondays, list some tips on Tuesday, on Wednesdays answer reader questions, link to tutorials on Thursdays, and so forth. 

6)  Let the world know!

Now all you need to do is get the word out!  Start by putting the web address to your blog on your business cards or in any ads or print materials you produce for your business.  Visit forums and other blogs or websites in your industry where you have something to offer to the conversation and start joining in, making sure to leave a link to your blog in your comments of course.  Use a signature file in all of your outgoing emails that includes a link to your blog.  By using these methods and providing valuable content, you’ll be able to build links, traffic AND more sales for your business!

1)  Build Your Reputation

This is especially important for small businesses - you likely can’t afford big splashy television ads or radio announcements, so what better way to get your message out to the masses than through the creation of a blog.  Post your success stories, talk about charitable causes you support, and demonstrate how your products will solve problems for your customers, all of these will help to build your brand image and reputation.

2)  Create Relationships

Do you know who your customers really are?  The more you know about them and their likes and dislikes, the easier it will be for you to find more customers like them.  A business blog is a wonderful opportunity to learn from and interact with your customers and potential customers and can be an invaluable market research tool.

3)  Customer Loyalty

The closer your customers feel to you and the more they know about you, the more loyal they will become.  When your customers feel like they’re being heard and appreciated they will keep coming back to you.

4)  Customer Service

As a small business owner myself I have probably struggled the most with customer service.  It is one of the easiest things to let slide when a business is taking off and your attention is demanded elsewhere.  A blog provides you with an easy way to both give and receive customer feedback.

5)  Increase Traffic

If you already have a website for your business, adding a blog that is updated regularly (weekly, bi-weekly, or whatever, it doesn’t have to be updated daily) will increase both traffic and page rank for your site.  Because websites tend to stay the same for long periods of time they’re not spidered by search engines as often as blogs are and since your blog will provide keyword rich content about your business to the search engines, your site will benefit in more ways than one!

6)  Cheap Marketing Tool

You can start a business blog for as little as $5 a month, where else can you get the opportunity for exposure and a wide open stage for your products and services for only $5 a month?  The possibilities to display your products and increase visibility for your business through news, announcements, giveaways and other promotional activities are endless.

7)  It’s Easy (and Fun!)

You don’t have to be a computer geek or a technical wizard to run a blog!  Your blog can be up and running overnight even if you don’t have a clue about how to setup or design a website, and updating a blog is easy to do from any place you’ve got web access – just login to the blog, type up your post, add a hyperlink or an image by hitting those buttons then click publish. 

Check back Thursday for a post on “How to Setup and Run a Blog for Your Business” that will describe all the steps needed to get your blog started!

Business2Blogger is a service designed to help connect businesses and bloggers for FREE.  Businesses are looking for bloggers to review and help spread the word about their products and services. This is where Business2Blogger comes in to connect the two to present their needs/offers. “Big blogs & small, they want you all.”

Partnering with bloggers is an inexpensive way for businesses to run grassroots marketing campaigns since bloggers can quickly and easily deliver their message to consumers with credible and positive voices.  If you have a blog you can sign up for Business2Blogger for free and whether your blog is big or small you’ll gain access to paid writing opportunities that have traditionally been grabbed before most bloggers even knew they were available!

What’s in it for you? 

Companies that are looking for bloggers to help spread the word about their products and services are willing to pay you to promote for them, or compensate you by giving you free products to review and/or to giveaway on your blog. You only choose the opportunities that are suitable for your blog and it’s a win-win situation for everyone!

How does it work? 

After you sign up you’ll receive up to one email a day notifying you of the latest blogging opportunities. If you decide it’s a fit for you and your blog, you can submit your interest in doing the work. Then, if the business thinks you’re a fit for their request, they will contact you directly.

How can this work for my business? 

You don’t have to be a blogger for this to work for you!  If you have a business or an Etsy store, or something you’d like to promote, you can also get in on the action.  For example, if you sell handmade tote bags in an Etsy store, you can contact Business2Blogger and tell them you’d like to have 20 bloggers write about your beautiful handmade bags. You could offer them each their choice of bags from your store as payment to do the work, and then they write wonderful glowing posts talking about how much they love your bags, their readers click your links and you get lots of search engine love.  Not only is it more economical for you to pay bloggers in product than to pay for Google Adwords or other pay-per-click ads, your audience is already “warm” when they get to you, and you just can’t beat word of mouth advertising!

See how easy it is? 

Whether you’re a blogger, a business owner, or both you should head on over to Business2Blogger and sign up today for a free account.

Although I’ve only been blogging about it for a couple of years, I have enjoyed designing patterns and teaching others for over twenty years!  Now that my oldest is in kindergarten and my quadruplets will be starting pre-k this fall (YAY!) I decided that this would be a great year for me to attend the BlogHer Conference this August in New York City.  Unfortunately, between the time that tickets went on sale and I was able to get childcare straightened out and hubby on board, they sold completely out of tickets (for the sixth consecutive year).  This would be my first blogging convention and I was truly looking forward to the opportunity to hone my blogging skills and network with others interested in doing the same!

Well Cindi at Moomette’s Magnificents has the opposite problem, she bought her ticket early and now cannot attend, so she’s holding a giveaway on her site and one lucky winner will receive a 2-Day Conference Pass to BlogHer ‘10 in NYC, that’s a $298 value for the 2-day pass!  I’m definitely going to enter but wanted to pass the information along to any of you who might have a blog and be interested in attending.  Check out Cindi’s site for more info and while you’re there, be sure to read her blogging resource tips.

This Sewing Business blog was started on a different platform and later switched over to WordPress. Although the transition was a bit of a pain, it was a great business decision and now we wonder why we didn’t make the move sooner! WordPress is one of the most robust and customizable blog platforms available and now there is a terrific new book out called Digging Into WordPress that shows you how to tap all of the potential of WordPress and take your blog to a whole new level.

This 400+ page PDF book is written for both beginners and experienced WordPress users and focuses on teaching you how to improve your site using many different techniques, tips, and tricks. Each technique is fully self-contained and provides complete instructions and clear explanations to make implementation a breeze.  As you learn how to maximize, optimize and streamline your site, you’ll also get tons of bonus information including “pop-out” boxes and side notes with insider information, and many more awesome techniques to improve your WordPress-powered site.

The PDF version of the book is only $27, however you can also pre-order the print version and get the PDF too for $67.  Frankly, I prefer the PDF version since you can easily search for what you need and you’re able to copy and paste any code you might like to use.  Click here for more information and a preview of what’s inside the book.

9) Sewing Baby Projects

8 ) Is Fear Of Failure Holding Your Business Back?

7) Have You Seen A Pillow Case Dress?

6) 5 Ways to Promote Your Sewing Business

5) Six Success Tips for Sewing Businesses

4) 4 Reasons You Need a Blog For Your Business

3) Top 6 Reasons Why Websites Don’t Perform

2) How To Make Jean Purses

1) Enter to Win a Gorgeous Pair of Collectible Gingher Scissors

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