Blogging | Forum « Search me? « Social Media Examiner

Search me? (40 posts)

Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Ok, kinda ‘newbie’ to blogging. I’ve blogged for just myself, but now needed to set one up for my employer. I spent copious hours on several days, but finally got it up on tumblr. THEN I read here that it was wrong for the company. So I went to WORDPRESS (everyone says)….omg…ya need a book! And that codex page…..boss came by next and said, “Don’t devote THAT much time inventing the wheel.” So late last night I put it up on the easy peasy site…..blogspot; Google.
Question: Is ANYONE going to find it on Google? No? How do I optimize that (if such a thing is possible there.)
Next question: Would whoever is reading this go here and read it so that at least once in my writer’s life I can see what others think about a piece of my writing? And please….be frank. I’m a big girl now, I can take ‘heat’.
Thanks friends! Barbara
@barbc | # | Top
Devani Anjali Alderson said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@barbc — Keep updating it with good content and use proper keywords (tags) for your nitch market. (not sure what the blog is for) but say I’m a personal trainer (which I’m not really) but for the sake of the example. Say I’d blog about tips on lifting weights properly, then I’d use keywords such as, “weight lifting tips” “How to weight lift” etc.. Also I recommend you use the Google Keyword tool they’ll give you suggestions as well on what to use.

Also, I would set up a YouTube account and post videos on your topic. Google LOVES video.

Hope this helps!
~Devani
@devanianjali | # | Top
Erik Deckers said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@barbc First, if it’s up to me, I put the blog on WordPress.com. If you ever “graduate” to a bigger blog, it’s easier to convert. PLUS, you can purchase your domain name, and then “hide” the WordPress domain for a fee. That is, you can have your blog live at aceacademics.com, rather than aceacademics.wordpress.com.
Second, as far as getting people to find it, start writing about “writing academy,” “writing program,” and “writing school.” Localize those topics too, and write about things like “5 Things to Look for in a California Writing Academy.”
Lastly, start playing around with Schemas. I wrote about them a little bit in last Friday’s blog post. In fact, that whole article is going to help you get found more easily on Google, so check it out if you have a chance. And let me know if you have more questions. I may even turn them into a blog post.
http://problogservice.com/2012/03/09/four-changes-to-make-to-your-blog-after-google-panda-3-3
@erikdeckers | # | Top
Kristi Hines said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@barbc I would probably suggest WordPress.com too as @erikdeckers did. If you can’t make the jump, check out this tutorial on optimizing Blogger blogs for search.
http://blogknowhow.blogspot.com/2009/05/blogger-blogspot-seo-tips-and-tricks.html
@kristi-hines | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@erikdeckers Ok, you seriously cracked me up: a possible blog about my (one’s?) obviously hilarious newbie efforts to start a blog. Too, too ironic. But, wow, thanks for sharing your knowledge about getting ‘found’.
@kristi-hines You SO rock, thx a mil for the link. I’m beginning to think this old dog (me, not the one in photo) CAN learn new tricks. FYI everyone: I opened to eblogger blog at blogspot in 10 min. flat. Sweet. (Had done before, cheat, I know.)
One more question: Know of a source, no, a wordpress for dummies source? Link? Book (I’ll feed Amazon.com), anything. Codex doesn’t count, greek to me at this point, next year, maybe. It was a time thing, don’t have learning time right now.
@barbc | # | Top
Anita Cohen-Williams said
1 year, 3 months ago:
I recommend a self-hosted Wordpress blog. The problem with both Blogger and Wordpress.com is that you do not OWN your content. If they want, they can delete your blog in a matter of seconds. This happened to me on Wordpress.com. I lost 3 years of work.
I do have a blog on Blogger, but it has been there since 2002, and it does fine.
With a self-hosted Wordpress site, you can use different themes, an incredible number of plugins (think apps), and all the search engines LOVE Wordpress. T
The best guide to Wordpress is The Dummies Guide to WP.
@anitacohen-williams | # | Top
E N Brown said
1 year, 3 months ago:
I use both WordPress and Blogger and both have excellent SEO opportunities. You just need to pay attention to the URL and the tags (content too!) – and you’ll be fine.

Nothing wrong with Blogger, don’t be fooled into thinking you have to switch because you don’t. If this will not turn into a website at some point, keep it within your own comfort zone! Most blogs should accompany a flagship website for business, in that the blog is an enhancement.

@supereb | # | Top
Nelson Ta said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@barbc
Does your company have a website? You should try to convince them to just convert everything over to wordpress. It will be a better website AND it’s easy to manage the blog from there.
Blogger is ok for simple blogging. I never liked it too much because it didnt allow you to customize the look. All the blogger sites pretty much look the same. I am glad you didnt use Tumblr. Tumblr is great for pictures and image heavy items, not so much for businesses.
In short, Wordpress is the way.
@nelsonta | # | Top
Heather Wright-Porto said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc Here are some SEO tips to use regardless of what blogging platform you use http://www.blogsbyheather.com/seo-tips/Here is a summary and links to three articles I wrote summarizing a presentation by Rich Brooks on “how to be found on the web”: http://www.blogsbyheather.com/2011/11/seo-how-do-i-get-people-to-find-me-on-the-web-round-up.html
I have worked with Blogger, TypePad, WordPress.com (free one) and self hosted WordPress blogs and although WordPress has better built-in SEO and SEO plugins, you can still apply good SEO practices to Blogger or any blogging platform.
Happy blogging!!!
P.S. You can do domain mapping in Blogger as well to hide the “<name>.blogspot.com” in the address and just have a “.com”. And later if you want to use WordPress, Blogger is easy to export!
@blogsbyheather | # | Top
Jim Lodico said
1 year, 2 months ago:
I created a handful of videos a while back on using Wordpress that might help. They are on Screencast right now and I don’t have a lot of bandwidth there but as long as they don’t get flooded with hits, they should be available:
http://www.screencast.com/t/OTgzZGNmYz
Hopefully I’ll get those transferred over to YouTube soon.
It took me a few tries but I found your company website. Why don’t you incorporate the blog directly into the website? There are so many opportunities for great content for a company offering tutoring. (Advice to parents, academic skills, homework tips, the list goes on).
By building it directly into the site, it will give people a reason to visit the site (and come back), help the the site move up the search engine rankings, build relationships with the readers and prove your expertise in the subject.
I agree with Nelson Ta. The current website isn’t that complex. Transferring it over to Wordpress would let your company manage/update the site themselves and give the site a nice makeover in the process.
@jim-lodico | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@blogsbyheather A million times thank you! Your ideas totally rock. I’ll be busy this weekend making them work for sure.
@barbc | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@jim-lodico Our owner is completely is charge of the website; in the short time I’ve been here I have learned I am to understand “Hands off….no ideas even.” I was told in Jan. we were getting a fully updated website which would incorporate our blog and automatically post to our fan page (? then who decides which post is automatically linked….owner, no doubt.) Then in Feb. I went to a mtg. with ‘the guy” who’s company was, I thought, making both websites over (we have a ‘sister’ company). Instead, the sister co. who already had an awesome website got their new one first. Our crappy little thing sits there. He won’t even put it “under construction”. I have no idea when (or at this point ‘if’) OUR new one is coming. Promises are made, often no follow-through. Personally, I think the font is too tiny and the way too much paragraph narrative for parents to wade through.
Everyone, please, pretend you are a parent looking for an after school homework center and an ‘anytime writing center’ and look at our site and give me YOUR feedback. ace.academics.net I notice he/owner finally took down our old product “classes” and replaced them with our grand opening (Mon. 19th) new lines of services…..but below the home page fold line. The tutoring business is a side business for him, I think he owns part of the “you wouldn’t believe what a big cahuna” he is in his tech fortune 500 company. But he doesn’t know education like my 34 yrs. in classroom teaching do.
@barbc | # | Top
Jim Lodico said
1 year, 2 months ago:
I hear your frustration Barbara. It doesn’t sound like you really need much in the way of feedback for ace.academics.net. I think you see the problems with the website.
With your expertise, it sounds like he’s missing out on a real opportunity. Think of it as his loss.
The link to your blog above didn’t work.
(I taught H.S. English for many years myself.)
@jim-lodico | # | Top
Jason Wiser said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc this thread suggests that you are a writer, but I don’t see your writing? Am I missing something?
@jasonwiser | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
In my company someone else does the writing. She hates ANYthing to do with the internet and so my marching orders are “she writes—you put it up.”
@jasonwiser
@barbc | # | Top
Kirsten Lambertsen said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc I tried to visit your BlogSpot blog – but it appears to be deleted…?
Judging from what you’ve said here, I think you have two good options:
1) Decide to become a bit of a WordPress wiz, get a couple of great books (like WordPress for Dummies), and maybe even take a class. Set up the blog as a hosted one (not on WordPress.com), which just means getting approval for a cheap hosting option like HostGator or similar. (Most WordPress books/classes cover what you need to know about going the self-hosting route – you might even be able to do it right in class and get help where you get stuck.) You could also join a local WordPress user group (MeetUp.com).
Benefits: total control over look/feel, newly gained expertise, and *job security*. I say that last part with just a little wink. But seriously: you’ll be the in-house WordPress guru, and I think it won’t be long before you find that to be of great value. And if this job gets on your nerves as quickly as it sounds like it might, you’ll have a very marketable skill to take out into the world.
2) Decide that you don’t really have the time/energy to master WordPress and go with either BlogSpot or WordPress.com. Don’t stress about the possible drawbacks. It sounds like your situation at work is such that they won’t be trying to export the blog to something else any time soon, and even if they do, it’s really not that hard to accomplish. There are good plug-ins that do it for both services, and it’s also pretty cheap to hire a techie firm to do it (try ODesk when the time comes)
I *totally* understand how overwhelming learning WordPress (self-hosted) can be. If you seriously don’t have the time for that, and need to be focusing on the *content* that will be on the blog, just go with choice (2), stop worrying and learn to love the bomb
There are some quite popular successful blogs out there that are still hosted on blogspot.com and wordpress.com domains right now. Don’t get too wrapped up in all that. You don’t need to worry about the finer points of brain surgery when all you’re trying to do is remove a splinter, if you’ll pardon the metaphor. The important thing is the content that you’re going to put in that blog. If it gets SO popular that the owner decides it MUST be self-hosted, believe me, there will be a way to do it (I’ve done it more than once).
And yes, that web site needs an overhaul. If a company is presenting itself as teaching people how to be effective writers, then it really should have a website that communicates effectively.
@mspseudolus | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
TO ALL MY SEM MENTORS: The reason you can’t find my blog on the urls provided above is because while the owner told me a long time ago to “make this happen” when I did and my director (proudly) told him that it was linked to our fanpage and website his reply was, “No way. It is very complex to do that, how did she do that?” Director replied, “You’re asking ME, how would I know. I told you before, “if Barbara doesn’t know it she learns it. She’s insatiable.” He stated, “Well, take her to take it down. I’m the only one who has control over the website and everything that comes to it and leaves from it it.
So I did…..sort of I took the company name out of the url, gave it my dog’s name, gave her an anonymous profile and made her OWN blog. She will write, I will post. She will glow and her relatives and friends will sign up. However, I left all the labels academic hahahahaha.
I did this because I sensed my director, the writer for the blog, was quietly disappointed. While she does hate the social media part of the internet, she had enjoyed the immediate high stats her one & only writing had elicited. So, I simply changed the url. I mean, this amazing woman has an MBA and an MLA in Creative Writing! She deserved a platform, right!    So with only one (but fabulous article) post…..if you’re interested: http://rusty-writer.blogspot.com/
@mspseudolus Kristen, I am just overwhelmed with the gift of your time. I know it took a lot to give me all of those ideas of possibility. You are absolutely right. I let word press frustration overwhelm me and just walked away after 2 wks. But that’s NOT me.   I did what the owner wanted, got “something” up.
But now, on my own time my new goal is to absolutely begin the wordpress learning ‘whiz kid’ effort! I’m a teacher, for Pete’s sake, after all! I teach, “Self-discipline is just…remembering what you want.” And I want this baaaad.   I opened a word doc with your name and @mspseudolu at the top and copy/pasted your email here into it. This way you (& the others here) can inspire me AND I can come back to thank you and announce the url of a wordpress blog I’m proud to show off. Then I went to amazon and ordered the ‘dummies’ book and a video for learning wordpress. And that website…OMG….I have taken it OFF my personal email because it’s so embarrassing. The host is Infusion, but owner won’t use the expertise he’s paying for monthly. Incredible, huh? But, hey, I’m a retired teacher lucky enough to get a FT job at 60 that still let’s me teach and now learn SM and SEO, etc. I consider this position a launching pad. I learned to put up with quite a bit in those 34 years:)
@jim-lodico Until amazon arrives, I’m going to your videos this morning, thx guy!
@erikdeckers – I’m graduating, guy! You better start that blog on me, because I’m going to document my efforts in bullet points so I can teach someone else someday:)
@barbc | # | Top
Jason Wiser said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc I admit I am confused. That article was excellent! You wrote that or someone from your school? Love the Cordon Bleu metaphor. Are you looking to have a blog of your own, or are you writing for the school.
@jasonwiser | # | Top
Jason Wiser said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc I admit I am confused. That article was excellent! You wrote that or someone from your school? Love the Cordon Bleu metaphor. Are you looking to have a blog of your own, or are you writing for the school.
@jasonwiser | # | Top
Jim Lodico said
1 year, 2 months ago:
I love the comment about the complexity of creating a link. In a day where back links play such an important role in SEO, here is the one guy tying NOT to get them.
@jim-lodico | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
Glad to have helped start your Saturday morning with a chuckle, Jim. I thought it more than humorous, also. As I said, as a “Sr. Marketing” person at one of the Silicon Valley’s most huge “we make the plumbing” tech companies, there’s a little ego going on there. When my director, later ask me out of curiosity, if I could maybe “about how many steps there were” that made it ‘complex’ I replied, “Uh,well, I don’t know how HE would do it, but that would be 1…..I typed our website address into a box.” She was ROTF.
@barbc | # | Top
Jim Lodico said
1 year, 2 months ago:
Make sure you charge a hefty consulting fee for that info.
@jim-lodico | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@jasonwiser Thanks, Jim, I’ll pass the compliment on to my anonymous director….she wrote that one. It generated incredibly high stats in 24 hrs. and then the boss said take it down. She was, well, crushed. I, too, write, so our plan is to alternate. It’s just for our enjoyment now.
Actually, Jim, others, no one’s ever posted a comment yet…..it would be her day if anyone would do that at the blog site. She doesn’t check, but I would, and make sure she saw them. She’s still so let down, she didn’t even write this week’s post. Comments would assure her that peeps ARE reading and go a long way to encourage her talents getting out there. I really believe in her.
@barbc | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@jim-lodico hahahha, thx, Jim, clearly I’ve a lot to learn. I’ve been in education so much I tend to think of myself as only able to charge for helping new teachers as a consultant. I’ve got to get out of that box!
@barbc | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@jim-lodico Jim, no, the original link to the blog doesn’t work because the boss told my director to tell me to shut it down. The new (personal) blog is at
rusty-writer.blogspot.com
@barbc | # | Top
Kirsten Lambertsen said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc rusty-writer looks great Cheers to you both! I really really love that picture of the young man writing so intently on the floor. Captivating.
My hat’s off to you, Barbara, for more reasons that I have room to list here :0)
Go, Barbara, go!
@mspseudolus | # | Top
Jason Wiser said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc you should really be encouraged. if you write a blog a week like the one on rusty-writer, and especially if you know other writers like your friend, and if you write as well as she does, you should have no trouble getting a really great site going. I would build it for you for free just to see more content. You really have my curiosity going now. !! What will rusty write next?!
@jasonwiser | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@devanianjali @erikdeckers @kristi-hines @anitacohen-williams @supereb @nelsonta @blogsbyheather @jim-lodico @jasonwiser @mspseudolus
@jasonwiser
I really feel certain you would all have a more productive writing day as well as ROTFL when you read what I posted for my director this morning on the blog at rusty-writer.blogspot.com. And yes, YES! Jason, I would be so honored to let you create a more effective blog for Anne and I on wordpress, of which we could be even more proud. Since the owner doesn’t want our writings yet, we’ve decided to make this our hobby, with thoughts of (when we have a regular audience) adding teacher-type ads and perhaps a website with resource links to help pay for Rusty’s food and a new bed in every room (he’s MY pooch btw, but much loved by Anne as well.)
And, remember when you each started out, how very much comments meant to you especially then, because they affirmed someone, somewhere was actually reading your writing……well, Anne would get SUCH a big kick if you’d all try to take a teeny moment out of your busy day to comment/share today’s writing. Negative or positive, just something. She loves when she’s critiqued by her writing peers.

@barbc | # | Top
Jim Lodico said
1 year, 2 months ago:
How about…
Instead of looking to sell ads, you blog about your area of expertise, education, and use the blog to sell your own tutoring services.
Either that or build the blog and sell the link to your boss.
@jim-lodico | # | Top
E N Brown said
1 year, 2 months ago:
Be careful with Wordpress though – if you use their free hosting you can’t really sell anything – you’d need a separate website for actual sales.
@jim-lodico – Good idea!
@barbc – You’ll need to have some good PR with Google to sell links to your employer however, it doesn’t sound like he’d even be aware of PR in the first place. Huh.
@supereb | # | Top
Jim Lodico said
1 year, 2 months ago:
Also, I tried to leave a comment but got hung up on the sign in. See if you can open it up so that it only needs name and email address.
@jim-lodico | # | Top
Jason Wiser said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc accept my friend request, PM me, let’s talk.
“…a shirt with a passenger!” are you serious? this is hysterical!
@jasonwiser | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
Oh, great. You make me admit on a national platform that I can’t figure out how to PM on social examiner. A lesson please.
@barbc | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
And I DID accept your friend request….
@barbc | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@jim-lodico Ooh, I’ll go recheck my settings, thanks, Jim!
@barbc | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@supereb Oh, we have a (crummy, embarrassing website for the company for our services. And in Jan. owner said he was having a new one made, it will be hosted by infusion, not wordpress. And he knows some kind of marketing because his title at the Silicon Valley Fortune 500 “everyone-has-heard-of-this-huge-company” is……Senior Marketer. But I guess just for their products (pc parts). Sigh…..is frustrating fer sher. But, I’m retired from teaching, he’s a good guy, and I need the paycheck.
@barbc | # | Top
Cherelle Leong said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc Love the reads on your blog. My mother was a grade one teacher for 42 years and had so many similar tales to tell. Some funny, some inspiring, the point is we loved hearing them, so keep writing, you’re doing a great job!
@cherelleleong | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@Jim Lodico Settings are ok for blog comments at rusty-writer.blogspot.com , Jim. Others have left them. Don’t know what else to do. Sorry:(
@barbc | # | Top
E N Brown said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@barbc
You want to be very careful about um, you employer finding your thread here. Do not link to that website (or even mention the name either) as when someone clicks on the link it can be followed back here quite easily from the websites logs.
I’d be curious to look at that website but not through a public thread!
.02
@supereb | # | Top
Barbara F. Capps said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@supereb Awwww, thanks for your concern, E N . Haven’t mentioned it here yet and never intend to mention it anywhere on the internet..
@barbc | # | Top

Add your voice to the discussion

Existing members: login here. If you do not have a SME account, sign up for one now.

Sign Up / via