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Podcasting Tips for Beginners

He lives under a rock 165 million. People have listened to a podcast at least once Yeah, and around, like 32 % of Americans, are actually Tuned into a monthly podcast, So Nealy are you like One of those 165 million people listening to podcast, I’m actually listening.

To some right now, That’s ridiculous, Anyways Nealey. What podcast are you stoked on tuned into currently Right? I listen to a ton, but probably the most recent is Smart. Passive Income by Patt Flynn talks about all things, just business and smart passive income. All right, you are such a nerd, So I’m listening to a pretty cool podcast, its called Ain’t That Swell its a surfing podcast Get it. I hate it (, both laugh ), No, its great.

They talk to like surfers that are professionals they’re competing. They also just have like Self deprecating jokes: They also talk about just all things surf. So it’s great for me. When I’m not in the water and in between work and commuting, Also another thing that comes to mind access to new audiences, that’s actually one of the main motivation for why I want to do a podcast with Nealey’cause. Like this YouTube thing, you know its doing well its taking off but think about the Audience we could reach The new audience.

She’s been asking me for months With a podcast With a podcast, but it could also help you just better understand. Your target audience and we all like businesses, we all make money right. This could actually help you make money, so maybe you’re thinking About starting a podcast or if you already have one, maybe its time to start Monetizing it right ( money flying ), Because the competition out there for ears is getting fierce, so you’re going to need some best practices.

So let’s go over them right now. So the first step that you wan na take is actually make a plan. And define your goals So, for example, I mentioned, I listened to Ain’t That Swell the reason why I listen to that is’cause I wan na learn. More about surfing, You know, get in on the end, get barreled on the facts, but also, if you’re thinking, About starting a podcast, what is your expertise? What could you share And define that goal? What are you going to give the people Give the people what they want right And, following up with your expertise, you got ta pick a topic and you have to stick with it: People listen to podcast, For a specific reason, That’s a really good point Right.

So whatever your expertise is, keep it along that niche, keep it focused Yeah. So there’s a theme Yeah! Absolutely People want that they want to tune in maybe that monthly podcast that they’re always listening to, because they want to get scared with a spooky murder story So also when thinking about making a plan, its really critical to think about what format do you want this To be in and there’s a few ways, you could do this Think about the podcast.

You listen to the one that comes to mind right away, Obvious one: a monologue, — Right You’ve got to have the Right personality for it, but its just you sharing your expertise, take away the stage, Yeah, sometimes its easier to do, right’cause its just you with your topic, Yeah and your time, So there’s also interviews. Those are great. I find Those to be super engaging more so than the monologue Like, for example, love, Howard Stern.

I think his interview, Capabilities are awesome, got ta, give a little credit To the guest as well, I mean he has on the most fascinating, interesting people that he interviews, But you haven’t been on there yet Aw Nealey, There’s also a third form. Narrative love a good story. It does take a lot more work, but there’s some really Great stories out there that people are tuning into. I know we were talking about one recently Yeah one of my favorites Is Welcome to Night Vale, its just an incredible podcast that follows that narrative style So next step we’re going to talk about Branding your podcast, but first you got ta, come up with a name So important.

I was thinking about doing one for our business called Coffee and Kickflips got the perfect one. You ready, Uh sort of, Let’s go ( Emma laughs, ) Drop in with Emma Okay, not bad. I like it. I like it -You like that Dropped in So its like the skating reference I was kind of like do. I go with the coffee reference or both, but you don’t Wan na keep it too long, Yeah it works. You know I used to have a podcast in the past Seriously Seriously.

What was the name Craft Thinking? We basically drank a Different beer, every episode and talked about business. Ah, that’s so cool! Ah Get it Get it That’s cooler than mine, Okay, cool! So does that mean You had a website, then — Yeah for your podcast. I did Nice. I went the hard route And had a WordPress site, it was a little bit more difficult for those of you that aren’t tech savvy or just don’t want to Spend time managing it, there are tons of podcast hosts out there that are pretty inexpensive, that make it easy.

Just To upload your audio and its live for the world, So next up think about Your equipment right And what goes into choosing The recording equipment Ask yourself a few questions Number one: where are you going to record Yeah Two, How many people are actually going to be on your podcast And then three? What’s your budget Right, these things can get costly or it can be pretty inexpensive. Now, you’re.

Also going to want to think about the mic, you wan na use the two most popular Especially for beginners are the Blue Yeti Mic and the Rode Mics make it super easy to get started and almost anyone can use them All right. So when it Comes to actually producing your podcast there’s some great tips. First off just know. The first time is going To be awkward right But don’t read a script, you don’t wan na sound like a robot Right.

It does help to Have like bullet points of what you’re going to talk about Use those as conversation guides, not as exactly what you’re going to say Totally and also I Do this on my webinars, like no one can actually See me doing my webinars, I don’t do article, but I imagine that my audience can see me And that actually helps me to be more animated and Bring my voice to life and really add extra annunciation, etc, And I move my hands a lot.

So another thing: when thinking About producing a podcast running an interview and my favorite interviews, they’re the ones you can tell the host did their research like their questions are quality. You can always tell when someone has it And those are the most Engaging for me to read so when you do an interview, prep ahead, trust your gut and do your research so that you are asking Very quality questions that are engaging for your Audience to listen to So you’ve got your podcast all recorded, and now you have to edit it.

There are two thought: Processes you can do here, You can either leave as is, and just give the people everything or you can edit And now, if you’re going to be editing, you can use software like Audacity its a free, open source platform –. Oh, I’ve heard of that one Or GarageBand is a Native platform for Macs its what most beginners start to use when they are creating Their first podcast So when it comes to actually Publishing your podcast you’ll wan na submit your Podcast feed over to iTunes for apple users and Stitcher for android, Yeah and Spotify has also been one of the recent ones to let a lot of people onto the platform’cause they’re really trying to promote podcast too Yeah.

I just started to dabble with that. I noticed it recently. I was like oh there’s podcast on here too Right. I love Spotify. Now each of those platforms will have their own requirements and things that you need to do when you’re submitting such as, like your image, Size for your podcast art and then the audio quality itself Also fun fact: you can upload it to YouTube Yeah its just another source to distribute your content for someone that likes to really just read versus listen.

Now your success with your podcast is totally up to you. Yeah podcasting does take some time and effort, but it is totally worth it If you think podcasting Would be a good move for you go for it Comment below. Let us know, Like this article be sure to share it, Subscribe to our blog and ring that bell to see these episodes first. This is The Journey. We’ll see you next time.

 

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Using Direct Response Marketing to Attract More Customers

But how is direct response? Marketing different than that Good question, So direct response marketing is different because direct marketing You’re, just talking directly to the client like an e-mail But direct response, marketing you’re doing something to elicit a specific response from Your potential client, So what are some examples of this Say? For instance, you have a article that you put on Instagram and you’re, telling people about what you’re offering a service a product, and you tell them.

I want you to call now. Yeah They have to take a specific response in order to take part of it. Gotcha So when handled the correct Way it can be very beneficial and bring about some interesting results For one it takes out. All the intermediaries, It’s just between you and your customer – You don’t have to have the middle man. Second, it’s pretty cost effective. You don’t have to have Mass market saturation with traditional marketing methods And then the third, it’s also Measurable and trackable: Okay, You can see your ROI and then also it adheres.

To some good old-school marketing methods – and it doesn’t go with some of these trends that are flighty Gotcha so would an example, be I do an Instagram post Specifically, for let’s say a new backpack that I just came out with and then I have a link and They go and they buy that Exactly so in crafting your Direct response, marketing there’s a couple elements: That you want to have, For instance, the proposal Rather than thinking hey buy my product.

You actually want to go into some details, Especially like trial Period what the person is going to sign up for answering a lot of the questions that a person may have Gotcha so part of this proposal? Is you want to create some urgency? You want to give them all the information and kind of lead them down the funnel. Why is this important What are the details and, at the very end, maybe This is a trial period.

I see this a lot with webinars or different online courses. You know it’s a limited time offer within the next three days. This is introductory price and the price goes up right, so you’re always kind of leading Them down that funnel and giving that sense of Wow this is important. This is what I need and I can’t wait. I need to buy this now. You want that response. You want to make that person feel like they can’t miss out.

So let’s say that I’m An online business coach I’ve just opened up my Online one-on-one coaching and I’m going to let my Subscribers know about this, So one way that I could do This is through a webinar and I’ll. Let everyone know that hey one time only I’m doing this webinar, I’m going to give you five tips on how to crush it in social media. And this is the only day that I’m going to do it so I’r creating that urgency, so people will come they’ll sign up, Hey, I’m not telling These tips anywhere else.

This is the only place You’re going to find them, I’m never going to do a blog post about them. I’r never! You know. I’r Just really creating this, like you got ta, be there moment And for them to register. That would be the response that you want, Then, in the webinar at the end, I’m going to let them know Hey I’ve opened up my online coaching. I only have ten spots and you guys here. Reading this webinar are the first people you’re Going to get the first chance, so if you want to here’s, my Special introductory price, and after that, once I Hit those ten spots done So if my goal was to get ten new clients, this would be a great way.

To create that funnel, create that sense of urgency and hopefully be an effective way to Get those new clients. So today we talked about Direct response marketing and how it can bring you more customers. We would love to hear from You in the comments below what other topics would You like us to talk about And, of course, be sure to Like subscribe to our blog and hit that notification bell, so you’re always notified Of our next new article Until next time, this is The Journey

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How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Side Hustle

I’r super excited to be joined with my co-host Justin Nealey, what’s up Justin, What’s up Seems like everybody, These days has some type of side hustle. This is the Side, hustle economy right, Wait! What’s your side hustle, I just hustle ( laughter, ), Fair same oh, my gosh We’re doing the same thing So, what’s kind of the big challenge that someone reaches they’re like “ Yeah, I wan na turn this Into a side, hustle.

”, What’s one of the first things that halts them from getting there, I think the biggest Thing is figuring out what their side hustle’s going to be about, because we have a lot of Different things we do Some people like to Just eat pizza all day, some people like….. What was Your Twitter handle again @ EmmaWantsPizza. I look Forward to your follow First step is drilling Down “, What do I actually want to be known for what Do I actually wan na do?” When I think of something I’r passionate about I just wan na give it all of my time.

I don’t want it to be a side hustle. I wan na give 110 % so How do you balance that I think the biggest thing Is to start small right, We can’t just go full-force on it. Some of us can’t afford To take that full leap and just become a full-fledged entrepreneur, Good point: That’s why we have that side hustle! It’s that great source of income to basically test the Waters and figure things out before we can make that leap and see if it’s a viable option.

Totally Cause we got bills right. Can you really make money with this? Is that something that People get hung up on, or do you think people get distracted with side hustles that are Just full passion projects in hopes that they’ll make money. One day I mean: where does that come in? I think it’s both You can either spend a lot of money towards your side. Hustle And not take it anywhere or you can make it something lucrative.

So another thing that comes to mind, besides, of course, making Money with a side hustle is time resources. What do You have advice about that. So that’s tough right. The biggest thing is You have to prioritize what’s important and set aside time, so you can actually Work on your side, hustle or not. Let your side hustle Control your entire life Cause. I know that I’ve been there I freelanced for a while in the past It caused me to just burn out which is pretty common.

I imagine yeah In the side hustle world, It challenges your balance every day, 100 %, so the biggest Thing you need to do is prioritize what you need to accomplish and set aside specific times. Of when you’re going to do things cause you still have to have a life. You still have to eat that pizza. So what would you say for Me if I had a side hustle and you were going to give me some advice about time, management and planning ahead.

How would I do that, So you can basically Take your content calendar to real life, so on Tuesdays you’re going to work on social media for three hours And then on Friday. You’re going to do whatever You can really just piece: That out, but start small, You don’t wan na overwhelm yourself and you don’t wan na burn out cause. If you go too full-force into this you’ll end up just not Liking what you love to do, and we don’t want that to happen.

How do you decide which platform to use First and foremost, you Have to have a website, That’s basically the first Place that people are going to go to make sure that you’re legitimate And then two go to social Make sure you’re out there promoting your products? Telling people what you do following people in your niche Having those conversations – And I would still do a little bit of in-person in real life right And have those connections – And go to local meetups or go to networking events and find people that are in your potentially Your area, your niche and build up those connections.

I love that. I call that local love All right Like if you’re the Juice bar in Silverlake follow the yoga studio next door, There’s a lot of overlap and similarities between their target audience Right and then, once you get everyone to whatever platform you end up. Choosing your website social in real Life that local love right, You got ta get paid, There’s a lot of cool platforms out there that make it super easy to get paid Like what We all know Square right, The little thing that just the dongle that gets put in your phone And you swipe the credit card right there.

I am so grateful for Square when I go To the farmer’s market, And then we have PayPal and Stripe for online processing, so Lots of easy integrations like WordPress or just any Type of website builder that we have that you can Easily set up and get paid Or Venmo if it’s a local transaction, — Ugh, I love Venmo. I love Venmo, the random Conversations people have, I see, lots of tacos in –. That’s how I pay my landlord In your feed.

That’s how I keep my friends happy. That’s it! Splittin’ those bills: What do you do when it Comes to protecting yourself and the policies that go along with that Right – and this is Something that you might have to go and get advice from a lawyer with, Because you wan na make Sure that you’re protected You’ll, probably wan na File some sort of LLC or register your business in some way, There’s a couple different variations, But do that first and foremost On your website.

If you have one terms of service, is a must. Same with a privacy policy, especially with some of the GDPR stuff that I won’t go into in this episode And then check out, there’s A lot of generators out there for web design contracts, for example, or just random service Contracts, you can use and protect yourself and your audience Okay, so this probably won’t come as a surprise that I’m going to ask this.

But how will you promote this side hustle, You know I’m a little Biased social media You’ve got your love, Got my love for the social media, but how are you going to promote it? The biggest piece of Advice that I can give is have some sort of lead generator on your website, because Leads turn into customers And that lead generator could be an eBook. It could be a article Series, it could be some of your blog content.

It could be coaching could be whatever you want it to be, Just that free piece of Advice or free content that you can give your audience That then turns into leads, and you continue that Conversation with them, Oh absolutely Right and now with social media. What are your top three Social media platforms, If I was to run a side hustle What do you want me on All right? That’s easy! Instagram for yours, Instagram Twitter and Facebook: That’s going to help you to reach A variety of demographics, which last we spoke That was your side hustle.

It wasn’t specific to an age group Also they work better together, So think about this too, and this is what’s really cool about your side. Hustle. Is you have a variety of angles to go? You could post something That’s educational today, but also besides educational, you could just post things: That are just entertaining Also some great ways to Engage on social media to spread more word-of-mouth To promote your business, Ask questions that your target Audience would wan na answer And so you’re mixing up the Types of posts that you’re doing and as a result, you’re getting That real word-of-mouth And, like you say you don’t wan na, go on there and just sell, sell, sell You wan na go on there.

And tell tell tell Yeah Right, It can’t be all about you and say: “ Hey buy this buy this Buy this buy this!” Cause. No one wants to actually follow that and be a part of that they’re. Just going to scroll past you or unfollow you. How do I know that? What I’m doing the promotions, I’m putting together the time, I’m investing it’s getting me a return on investment. For my side, hustle And that’s tough, What a lot of people get Hung up on are subscribers and like counts, which It’s somewhat important, What’s more important, Are your sales right? Are you making an impact? And are they buying from your service or product that you have for your side hustle? So there’s lots of Different tools out there that could potentially They track a lot of that QuickBooks for your sales.

Or online bookkeeping, Facebook has a lot of Really great tracking software, so you can See your engagement, you can see how many People viewed your post, viewed your article liked it shared it — Clicked on the post Same thing with Instagram. You can see how many people viewed It liked it commented — Engagement rate Right So, wherever whatever Platform you’re using there’s something to track that visibility or with your website itself.

You can use Google Analytics to see how people are coming to your site, Good point, How often they’re coming to your site, how they’re staying on there Are they just bouncing? That’s called a bounce Rate they literally just bounced they’re out, But what about paid promotions? This is the part where A lot of people end up spending a lot more into The personal side hustle than it actually pays them I bet It’s really easy today to start putting $ 5 a day $ 10 a day and At the end of the month, you’re like “, Where did my money go? This is supposed to make me money!”.

So what I would say, To that is start small Start with a couple Dollars here and there and kind of figure out what’s Getting you the traffic what’s actually converting to sales, and once you find something That works expand on that There’s. No one size fits all when it comes to paid advertising. — I believe that, But I can say going back: To what we said earlier is making it about how You help your audience and how you can really help them grow All right, that’s a wrap Justin! Thank you.

So much for being here, Thank you for having me And for all of you listening in, be sure to subscribe to our Blog, if you haven’t already More articles and fun and laugh And learn sessions to come

 

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How to Use YouTube for Successful Digital Marketing

What’s that, On average YouTube has over 1 billion mobile views a day and on top of that 300 hours worth of article Uploaded in a minute That is incredible, sounds Like a ton of competition, but you can break through, But let’s talk about why Youtube is so important, starting with why we should use YouTube.

Video content is effective, I mean I’m sure you’ve been on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter Whatever you use you’re scrolling along You’re on YouTube right now On YouTube and you’ve caught a article and you get lost in it right. You spend two three 15. 20 Hours, whatever you’re doing The rabbit hole And you’re reading that content, So you already know article is effective, So what’s also cool about YouTube, it helps you build a community And think about it when it Comes to marketing your brand! If you get a large group behind you, that’s sustainable for more success.

Growing, more word-of-mouth! Growing, your business And another thing to keep In mind about YouTube, they are really all about the Subscribe that is key to growing your community, so, while you’re at it go ahead and subscribe to our blog By publishing quality articles really interacting with your followers, it’s really going to foster that community that you were Talking about and make them eager to Wan na share your articles with people that they know And having a loyal audience provides unlimited opportunities to grow and market your products And Emma you talked about mobile in the very beginning.

With that incredible stat YouTube is mobile-friendly. So all those articles look great on mobile And, if you’re not producing Content for that platform, you’re alienating a large population, So I know you’re Asking yourself at home: how do you make money on YouTube? Have you ever heard of the Youtube Partner Program Back in January of 2018 They changed their policy and the policy was all about how you actually can Earn revenue on YouTube Yeah and it’s important to note that you actually have to apply to be a part of this Program and be accepted, So not only is there An application for this, but there’s also a minimum with who is eligible for this as well.

So let’s go through that, Starting with ensuring that you follow the program’s guidelines that you live in a certain country and your blog has over 4,000 public read hours in the last 12 months Also have more than 1,000 subscribers and make sure your account Is linked to Google AdSense, So let’s talk about AdSense and how you can actually Earn money with it So YouTube is a subsidiary of Google and AdSense is a product of Google? That’s how it allows you To make money on YouTube, So these are the ads That pop up on your article, It’s estimated that creators can make anywhere from $ 3 to $ 10 per 1,000 viewer engagements So with some simple math.

If you have 10,000 views on your articles, you can make at least $ 300, Okay, so Nealey. What About YouTube Premium, Because they’re not being shown ads, so if they’re not being shown ads, how is anyone making money Yeah that makes sense? So YouTube actually gives a percentage to those creators based on things like read: Time and viewer engagement, So I would add the Channel Membership feature – and this is a great way to Offer incentives and rewards for people who are tuning In to your blog or becoming a monthly Viewer or subscriber Yeah, it’s just like Patreon.

Basically, So you can also sell products. From your Merchandise Shelf, So if you live in one of The approved countries and have over 10,000 subscribers you can show up to 12 products from your Teespring merch page. Also, I’d recommend enabling The Super Chat function,’cause. What it allows users to do is have their actual Comments pinned to the top, which is pretty cool, Yeah, it’s just like Twitch.

You can also produce sponsored articles Now. What this is is Another brand or company paying you to promote Them on your own article, much like a micro-celebrity Yeah totally and be sure To follow the FTC guidelines and think about your Audience keep them in mind. You don’t wan na just go promotion, crazy,,’cause! Then, if you’re just constantly promoting your content, you’re going to maybe lose That engagement with them So keep them in mind.

They’re Following you for a reason, stick with that, what is it? That they would wan na see What a lot of other Youtubers are doing now on top of all this or, if they don’t even Meet those requirements to join the program, for example, is they’ll, sell their own stuff, They may link off to their own, say, Etsy store or WordPress site or whatever they’re selling Their eCommerce items on and then just promote those So Emma.

If you had your Own YouTube, blog and you were going to sell Something what would that be Jokes, You’re, not getting any money, ( laughs, )! Well, I’m thinking about when you sell on YouTube. I have, for example, a lot of cool vintage pieces, but do you do that on YouTube? Would I showcase the Vintage pieces that I have in a YouTube article and sell it Well for a lot of people, you’re directing them.

Off to another source, Now some people will do That for affiliate marketing – maybe they have affiliates with Amazon and they say “ Cool. Here’s All the equipment I used to create this article,” and link off. Oh, that makes sense. Okay, Or here’s some cool swag of my shirt with my face on it, whatever that looks like For sale, You can use those other revenue, Streams to get that money, So speaking of making money on YouTube, I know I like to think about.

How to make more money so we’re going to talk about Branding marketing and SEO to help you make more money on YouTube Yeah, so getting into Those programs are nice, but you really wan na create a sustainable income and Revenue streams right So let’s talk through a Couple ways to do that: Let’s do it So first off you wan na think about how can you build an engaged following build your audience right And a lot of times I think of first, what’s going to make them unsubscribe just to keep in mind, don’t do That, but also how frequent you should post, I give the same advice with social media.

If you’re only posting Once every three months I’m going to unfollow you There’s nothing there. You got ta, give me something of value. You got ta, keep me tuned in And so think about the frequency and what you’re putting out there when it comes to building your audience, You will also wan na optimize. Your article and your blog, So this is everything From the logo you use that header, you use that trailer, that 30 60 basically ad spot to promote you and your business.

When someone comes to your blog, the titles, you use It’s going to take a lot of research, but it’s definitely worth it because these first impressions last Yeah and it’s so meticulous right. I mean think about how Much time we’ve spent just on the thumbnails, with our articles Too long, Too long I’d also encourage you to think about how to market your brand and your article off of YouTube so cross-promote.

One thing we do is we Take the YouTube articles and we cross-promote them Over to Facebook or Instagram Yeah, we’ll maybe get A condensed version since Instagram takes a minute and says link in the bio Right change the link Links off back to YouTube where they can see the entire article and, if they’re, not a Subscriber they can subscribe, But we would recommend not to put all your eggs in one basket.

So don’t make YouTube your only thing. Remember: MySpace and Vine They’re gone. What happens if YouTube is gone? It’s not likely, but it’s really good to Diversify your attention on all these different Platforms just in case So while these tips Have definitely taught you how to be successful on YouTube. I got ta be honest with you. We have only scratched the surface so be sure to subscribe. To take a deeper dive on YouTube and other platforms, That’s a wrap Like this article.

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How Double Opt-In Emails Help Your Business

Email marketing is so Important for your business, but in order for email marketing to work, you have to get people to sign up or opt-in for your list. We actually just did a article about that which you can check out right. Here, if you’re interested – but there are two types of opt-in ways – that a customer can join your list – Single opt-in and double opt-in, so we’re going to break those down So first off a single opt-in, Is where a customer only has to sign up once So you Can have your opt-in form on your website? All they have to put in is Their name and email address, They click submit Boom they’re on the list, One and done Double.

Opt-In is Basically, what it sounds The customer has to opt in twice, so they fill out that form and then they have to Go back to their email, They’ll get a confirmation. Email just making sure hey. Do you really wan na Be a part of this list and they have to click, submit again Well now, Morgan that Seems like a lot more work than the single opt-in and I know I’ve had to do it in the past. [ Morgan, ] Yeah.

So what are some pros? And cons, maybe of that Yeah. So some of the cons of a double opt-in is that there’s higher barriers to entry right, You’re going to have people who sign up and then they say uh That’s too much work Really not that much work, but you will have people That will fall off because they don’t want to – or maybe they forget or They have too many emails, it just gets lost so you’re, actually, probably Going to have less subscribers in the double opt-in, Versus the single opt-in Now with the single opt-in, You might have a lot of subscribers that you’re Not really interested in A lot of bots A lot of spam because Really anyone can sign up and there’s not a verification.

Process that happens So you’re saying possibly with the double opt-in. You have more relevant subscribers that actually wan na hear from you You’re going to have a More engaged audience It’s going to be smaller, but it’s going to be probably more targeted and people that are Really keenly interested in you and your message, So we’ve talked about the differences between single and double opt-in, but now that we have the double opt-in, how do you make sure that They go through all the steps and actually opt in Yeah, so the first Thing that you can do is on your website when They do that first part of the opt-in.

You can Just have it redirect to a page that says: hey You’re, almost there Hey, go check out your email to finish and do the last step. That will just be a reminder to them that oh yeah, I need To go do that right now, so it doesn’t get buried and lost, And I also see that as Another verification check say, for instance, someone Just throws your email in there, my wife and you Didn’t really wan na sign up for that email list? You Have to go into your email and actually hit that last confirmation, So the next step for the double opt-in after they’ve gone into the email, they’ve clicked submit They’ve done all these steps for you.

They want your stuff. Why don’t you just thank’em? Just have a thank you page Say hey. I know this was a lot of work. Maybe you don’t have to say that directly but just say thank you. This is going to be awesome. We’re on an amazing journey. Here in my email list, A little appreciation goes a long way So with email marketing you Do wan na give your subscribers the option of unsubscribing Oh yes, However, when they Click that unsubscribe take’em to another page and give’em some options.

You can have a one click Unsubscribe, where they just like the one click opt-in, they click and boom. They’re off your list, but you might want to Give them some options, like you said where hey Instead of getting every email, maybe you’re just getting my newsletter or maybe you’re, just getting Highlights once a month, People might actually be More inclined to do that because maybe you’re Sending too many emails – or maybe they just wanted this one thing, so that gives your customers options and keeps more people on your list.

Also, you can look at that data and realize what pieces of Your content are doing better than others and then Know to focus on those All right guys. Now we know the difference. Between a single opt-in and a double opt-in – and you know the pros and cons for both and what to do to Increase your subscribers, Let me know in the comments below what is your favorite to do? Do you like single opt-in, or do you like double opt-in, We’re going to battle it out And after you comment? Make sure you, like the article, Subscribe to our blog and ring the bell, so you know when we have new content comin’ out.

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What Is a CMS? Which One Should You Use for Your Website?

” All right, so today, We have a special guest Alycia from Sucuri. Thank you so much for coming on today. Yeah thanks, I’m happy to be here Awesome, so we’re Talking about what is a CMS and which one should you Use for your website, Can you tell us a little Bit about what a CMS is So CMS stands for. Content management system and it’s basically an easier way to put pages, live on your Website or blog post manage your image media Library all that kinda stuff Awesome and now, let’s Go over the top three CMSs, I’m going to be a little bit! Biased in this episode, That’s my disclaimer right there, I’m going to start with WordPress WordPress is the most popular Content management system out there today powers Over 1/3 of the internet, It has tons of plug-ins tons of options and it’s pretty resourceful And probably my favorite Reason for why I use WordPress is the community behind it.

They’re such a large community that that just all comes Together, there’s meetups, there’s wordcamps and everyone just helps each other out For sure, and I mean with 40,000 plugins almost like you, have no end to the kind of functionality you can add to your CMS Absolutely. So what are some other CMSs that we can possibly use For sure, yeah,,’cause everybody’s heard of WordPress, so Yeah Drupal is another very popular one.

It’s been described to me as Kinda, like a Swiss cheese, you need to be a bit more Technical to use Drupal, but it does have a lot Of different features compared to WordPress, it has A different user experience and ultimately it’s been Used for a lot of things like government websites, And that kinda thing because of its ability to be a little more secure in some areas: yeah Yeah and it’s definitely One not for like the smaller business type sites as Enterprise or large Corporation type sites right, Yeah, yeah for sure Yeah Joomla – is another really Popular one as well, It’s got a really good.

Community – and it’s got, I think, the second highest Market share after WordPress, Although WordPress is Like 30 % – and I think, like It’s, a giant Joomla’s like 6 %, so just A little bit of a gap there between the top two but Joomla’s, also a really awesome CMS to use You wan na make sure that you’re using the most latest version. If possible, There are two active versions: Available that you can use Yeah, you definitely wan na stay on the most recent branch.

Of any CMS, if possible, Yeah that’s just a best practice there. All right. Let’s talk! About really figuring out, which one should you use right Like what are some of the first Steps we wan na think about. Definitely you wan na Make sure that you know what your requirements Are for your website, So how does it need to Be for your users to use! How are you going to go about? Actually creating posts and what are the processes that you’re going to use as part of that And then once you have all that you can kinda look at each CMS and see what are the extensions and Themes that are available And see if they’ll match the Requirements that you have for your website, That makes sense and It all comes down to figuring out what’s right for you Like, I will stand by WordPress all day, but WordPress may not be Right for your situations, Figuring out those requirements, With those applications are super important, Yeah and usually a Lot of the CMS websites have a great community Because they are open-source, So tell us a little about open-source Yeah for sure.

So all Those top three CMSs they’re open-source they’re, also free, which is very important, Open-source, basically Means that the source code used to build WordPress Or Drupal or Joomal, it’s all open and available, and anybody can contribute to it as well Right on So that just means it’s Constantly being improved by the community and the Community’s also checking to make sure that, what’s Being added is secure All right, so we want our Website to look good right, So is that something to think About when we’re choosing what platform we use and how easy it is to create those sites Totally so different themes will have different attributes like They may have a sidebar on the left or the right, Or they may be all one column in a never-ending scrolling website.

Different themes will Allow you to accomplish, maybe what you need by Having custom backgrounds or custom menus, so you Wan na look at the options for your theme and you also don’t wan na discount like premium themes, A lot of premium themes out, there will add extra functionality, So you’re, essentially Paying for the theme, even though the CMS is free, That’s an awesome option. There’s premium plug-ins as well, Depending on what you Need the default themes that come with it are Sometimes a little restrictive, so you wan na take a look at What the default themes are: Try some different free themes and see what the options are to get your site to look.

The way you want it to Yeah and what was kind Of controversial at first in WordPress and 5.0 remember Gutenberg, Oh yeah, Gutenberg is essentially The new WordPress editor, The whole point is to kinda mirror the printing press of just Blocks and everything else, Yeah, what you see is what you get So as you’re typing — Whizzy, wig, Yeah whizzy wig, Thank you So as you’re typing Yeah, you see exactly what you would see on the website, So that comes default by WordPress.

It has made the experience. Especially for first-time users easier to create, Then there are page Builders like Elementor or Beaver Builder or WPBakery Builder, that makes that user-experience A little bit easier, If you’re going on the WordPress realm and really want something: That’s pretty customizable, you don’t have to be a Web developer or guru to build that website For sure CMSs are having to Make things a little easier, You know, there’s a lot of Different places out there that are creating website builders that are super easy for people to use, and so it’s helpful for These open-source CMSs to make the user-experience a little easier All right.

So another thing we probably have to think about. Is the hosting requirements We’re going to need for our applications? Talk us through a little Bit of what that looks like For sure, so most of These are running on PHP, so you want the most Updated version of PHP, especially if you want The latest features and to make sure that you’re Getting those security updates? Yes, So that’s really important.

A lot of hosting companies will offer one-click Install for most of these major CMS applications, Some hosting companies Especially when I first started creating websites – and I Was on a super budget, but also a very secure host, it took me a long time. It took me like three days to install WordPress and they have a famous 5-minute install You wan na look and see, and maybe talk to your hosting company.

About what the options are for getting this CMS Installed on your server Right,,’cause, taking three Days to get a website going just the beginning is not Something you wan na do There’s a lot of places out there that will do managed hosting Especially with WordPress There’s managed WordPress that has just already automatically installed some extra security features And then what most people End up going with is like a cPanel type Hosting Since it does have that one-click install with Installatron or Softaculous, Whatever they’re, using Totally Couple of clicks of a button and then it’s there, You can start building and Designing, however, you want All right, so the real Reason I brought you on to this.

Episode is really talking about security with CMSs They’re open-source. You Constantly have to update them, so there’s lots of things. That we need to really think about to make sure Our stuff’s protected Totally well with It being open-source not only are all the good People contributing code, but all the bad people can Also, look at that code as well and find vulnerabilities. So that’s something that a lot of people are concerned about.

Especially with WordPress being so popular, it is a large target. The CMS itself is actually quite secure because there’s a great Community checking things out. You wan na make sure that you’re Not installing more plug-ins than you need Trying to make sure that you’re keeping everything up to date. If you have a managed solution, They’ll, do it for you, Which is awesome. Yup, You wan na make sure That you have something some kind of security plug-in That’s monitoring your site, letting you know if there is A problem that they detect There are some that can also Add features for protection like adding Two-Factor Authentication, which is a second password on your phone that you need to enter in Order to get into your website There’s all kinds of Cool security, plug-ins security utilities that You can use with your CMS Yeah, I know with WordPress the top security plug-ins That come to mind, of course, Sucuri has This security plug-in, but there’s also Wordfence And then with having an SSL on your site, super important just to Encrypt that password,’cause, you have to login The beauty with CMSs that You can access them anywhere right, Yup, So you wan na make sure that wherever you’re accessing’em Your password isn’t being sniffed out by someone in the middle Yeah.

You wan na, be careful. You don’t wan na. Maybe do It in like an airport or coffee shop, Wi-Fi Unless you’re using a VPN.’Cause, if you are sitting There on public, Wi-Fi and there’s a hacker sitting next to you, they could sniff your password As you’re typing it in And then the next thing you know, there’s a bunch of spam pages on your site that you need to deal with. So what about firewall? I’ve heard that it should be important.

Should be added to the site, What’s the validity with that? Definitely one of the nice things about a website firewall Is that it will virtually patch your CMS? So if There is a security issue, essentially the firewall’s Taking care of that, It surrounds your website. And if somebody’s trying to exploit a vulnerable Plug-In on your site, the firewall will catch. That attempt and block it They’ll see a blocking page.

Meanwhile, all of your legitimate Visitors are being sped-up because of the global Network of the firewall and content delivery network, So we’ve figured out what Cms we’re wanting to use We’ve got it installed, how Do we go about documentation, learning the program itself? There are some awesome Resources out there, You talked about WordPress WPBeginner has some awesome? Training guides and tutorials There’s an awesome community.

For all of these CMSs, with very active, like support forums, That’s a great way to go about it And then, obviously, if you have a developer, Or something like that, that’s helping you get some customization. They can usually help you. You wan na make sure that You’re documenting everything as part of your website as well, so It’s just going to help you Later on down the line, if you know you have a List of all the users, all the plug-ins and that kind of stuff and you’re keeping that up-to-date Yeah, especially if you Have people on your team that needs to access the site, Giving them documentation on What they should be accessing, what they shouldn’t be, because sometimes the wrong click can Make just chaos happen Totally and good user passwords making sure that you’ve Got the right role levels assigned to your users? Whether they’re just an editor or author or contributor Right Those roles are usually built into the CMS to allow you to make Sure they can only access what they should be allowed to access.

You only wan na grant admin privileges to somebody for as long as they need it, and that kind of thing Now, with this website, I know many of the entrepreneurs or even solopreneurs out there with their stuff, has Many hats to wear right, Sometimes maintaining it, isn’t always something that they have time for Yeah. It may not be top of mind Right. What should we be? Doing with those updates Yeah, definitely I would say that it’s very important to make sure that you always retain Access to your property, your web property, So I’ve seen cases where a developer will leave a client and Leave with the passwords and then you can’t get Into your hosting account, or you can’t into WordPress, It’s not ideal, so make sure you always have access to those things And make sure that you’re just practicing safe security practices.

Throughout all of it Right on and with WordPress and Joomla everything else, we Talked about it earlier, make sure you’re at least going in there every now and then to update It to the next latest version: It’s not only for performance, but it is for security Yeah for sure I mean with some CMSs there might be different branches that are still being actively developed So having a firewall That can virtually patch and make sure if there Are any vulnerabilities you have a little bit of an extra window.

‘Cause whenever there’s a Security update released, the hackers are looking going. “: Okay, here’s the old file; “, here’s the new file; oh look: “! There’s the security flaw!”, So it can be –. Then send all our bots out Totally it can a matter of minutes hours after a security patch is released before there’s active attacks in the wild So definitely update your Sites as soon as possible, Auto-updates are amazing, WordPress has auto-updates on most hosts, Yeah and or you can hire developers like most designers or Developers will have like a website care plan, so you Can them just do it for you, If you’re using WordPress, Godaddy ProSites or ManageWP has the one-click updates.

So you can update all your Plug-Ins and your themes, You even have a safe update option. So what it does is It’ll update your site, take a snapshot of before and after and make sure they’re all the same. And if there’s an issue It’ll retract, back to it It’s a free option for you Yeah, that’s perfect! You hit on a good point, It’s not a set it and forget. It thing with a website: You need to make sure that You’re maintaining it And that it’s part of your business, it’s how your business looks.

So you should definitely Make sure that you have some kind of plan for keeping It up-to-date and maintained All right. The last point that we should really talk about is really your time and investment with the CMS of your choice. Talk us through a little Bit of that about that For sure we’ll you Wan na go in and realize that it’s going to take you Time to setup all the pages that you want Right: It may take you time to find the right plug-ins, so you wan na kinda think through whether You want to hire somebody or get some help with that To find the functionality and the look and feel that you’re after Definitely budget when It comes to free CMSs.

Well, you don’t have to pay for the CMS. So that’s helpful Right! But it’s customization and security and all Those things that you definitely wan na consider as part of the whole package of having a website On-going costs for domain WHOIS privacy, SSL certificates, Right firewall, All that kind of stuff, All that good things Totally yeah, there’s A lot of accessories that go on with having a website, So you wan na figure like I said at the beginning what those requirements are And then make sure you have a plan for how you’re going to budget and the timelines around When you wan na launch Perfect and with Drupal And Joomla they are, they do have that smaller market share, So there’s really specific requirements of when you wan na use those applications.

Those developers that you hire for Drupal or Joomla might cost more than a WordPress designer as well For sure yeah, and you wan na make sure that you’re really looking at the work that the developer has done and make sure that it Matches what you’re, after There’s lots of great Websites out there that you know can tell you more About how to pick a developer depending on what you’re after Well? Thank you so much for Coming out on the show today and helping us figuring Out what a CMS is why we should use one You’ve been awesome Thanks my pleasure.

Well, if you liked this article go ahead and smash that, like button, add a comment below on Something that you’ve learned and subscribe to this blog and ring that bell, if you’d like to see these episodes first, This is “ The Journey.,” we’ll see you next time.

 

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Online Marketing

How to Use Facebook for Your Online Business

What’s up, How are ya Good, No surprise we’re going to Dive into Facebook today The book face But I also ( laughing ) The face book. It is your favorite right, It is my favorite No well, I don’t like To choose favorites So we’re talking about Facebook for your business – Maybe I just have a personal page and I’ve decided – maybe it’s Time to create a business page for my business right, What are kind of the First, steps that I need to really think about Well you’re, already, Off to a great start, You wan na go to a business page And that’s really important.

Because then, you get the ability to track metrics and analytics So absolutely business. Page over personal page And then from there You wan na make sure you set up your profile. Get that profile photo. Usually your logo works great or maybe, if it’s your personal brand use a great headshot of yourself and then take that cover photo to really showcase your Products or your services and then from there make Sure all your information is up to date And that Is really important? Your hours, your website, Your phone number 100 % And make sure that lines up with your Google And your Yelp listings too Right I went into a coffee shop recently I Was in northern California, You drink a lot of coffee, ( laughing ), It’s true And the cashier was looking At me, like I don’t know like, maybe she wanted to rush me and I’m thinking they’re Open for two more hours, what’s the deal, ( laughing ) Sure enough, they were Closing in five minutes I go, but your Facebook says and I wanted to Go into my spiel like this, but I saved it got a quick Coffee to go fortunately, but that’s the whole point.

I left with a customer experience that wasn’t as ideal And then onto probably one of the largest most impactful components: content Right, always preach Quality over quantity Yeah, so you definitely Want to make sure you vary your content, So mix it up. You know you don’t Wan na become predictable; Okay, And you also don’t want to turn into just a business always talking about yourself right. It becomes so salesy.

When it’s always about me, me me So salesy me me me: yeah, Buy this, buy that Yeah sell, sell, sell; Rather you want to Tell tell tell Exactly ( laughing ) Throw something out there. That’s entertaining I mean social media is escapism. Oh yeah, Throw in a good laugh But also educate me, So I always tell my friends: That I follow my dentist on Facebook and they look At me, like I’m crazy, Why right What And it’s because my dentist Shares really educational tips and tricks like how to whiten my teeth without spending hundreds of dollars.

I saw also my yoga studio was just giving a friendly Reminder to stretch how to maintain the zen, which Is really important in life? Absolutely Also, sharing testimonials that you’ve already Received on Yelp and Google and turning it into a Facebook post Right repurpose that content Take that review. Let’s Say it went on about your your ice cream, you’re an ice cream shop, And the review goes on about How you have the best flavors, but the ultimate flavor Is definitely rocky road, Absolutely Yeah, it’s the best Hands down.

So you have that review that the customer went on About your rocky road ice cream and then use Canva or Something and in the background of that review and select A picture of the rocky road on a nice ice cream cone. It really brings it to life. For those of you that don’t know, Canva is a free website that Has all sorts of templates and kits and graphics For literally all things that you could possibly create Like social media templates, Facebook headers all that Good stuff and it’s free – I use it pretty religiously, Also article, So I’m a huge advocate, Of article I love article Just keep it on the shorter Side, attention spans are short Seems like under two minutes: Or so under three minutes Yeah.

Definitely I would even a minute is good and also doing behind the scenes footage. That’s one of my favorite things about following local businesses is like well, I wan na know how This all comes together And showcase your staff And also repurpose anything your customers take User generated content And I think what gets A lot of people hung up on, creating article is, maybe they don’t have a production set like we do right, (, laughing ) And that’s okay.

Our smart phones are Pretty darn good right, Yeah they’re, pretty smart, Take a article with your phone and even it doesn’t have To be the best quality Go behind the scenes. People like that story like to see the other side of things, and it really helps them. Relate to who you are as a business owner You’re, not just some faceless company. So next up we have these groups. Can you tell us a little Bit about what the Facebook groups are and how I can potentially leverage It as a business owner Yeah, so definitely Encourage you to pay attention to other like-minded Businesses, but also groups to piggy back off the Engagement, you already have, I will say, content is Where you wan na spend most of your time, but Groups can be an advantage to getting your business More exposure for sure, So next up we have advertising.

What do we do with the Paid advertising aspect Yeah, so it’s no secret. Facebook has gone on Record to say organic reach is on ( whistling ) the decline Don’t give up on it. Organic content is still Alive and well and breathing, but I think Facebook posts that you boost has a lot of potential and you Can reach a targeted audience, which is one of favorite things about it? You can start off with like five bucks and you can get in front Of a specific demographic age group, zip codes and That way, you know your post is going to reach the right people And with I would kinda Look at the post that maybe have done the best And then boost those and get those that reach out.

That’s a really good point. Thank you for bringing that up. It’s usually ( laughing ) Wait you’re the expert ( laughing ) I dabble So with Facebook. It’s you wan na go ahead and let the post that you’re Doing hang out organically for a little bit, Let it chill see how it Does garner some reach Now once it garners some Reach then boost it, That’s what we found to work best While a lot of people. I Speak to think, there’s no way to track this to ROI.

That’s a total myth. You can actually go ahead and look at it’s called your insights tab and it breaks down everything. You know what your audience is liking engaging with. Are they Clicking on the links, what time of day they’re doing this, and when you look at all of that and really understand it, the insights you can truly be informed about. Where do I go from here right Like? Where do I go from When it comes to which days work best to post, what Time of day works best Does my audience prefer The entertaining posts more than the educational And on which days And from there you can truly Come up with a great strategy, What happens if I’m not Getting maybe the engagement that I want? Are there any like, like Just great pro tips or boosts that I can do to help me.

Just skyrocket and get in front of those people Yes, Contests: Okay, how so So recently, I saw this cafe that had a special music guest coming in and they encouraged their Audience on the Facebook post, which is like promoting the music, Okay, yeah Comment below and tag a friend and then they’re going to do a random drawing, and it’s like two free Tickets to the show That quick little tag, A friend now becomes just free advertisement for you and it’s costing you a couple tickets or maybe a free, drink or free burger.

Exactly Or whatever you do, You could also ask a question: What is your “ go, to” order when You come into our restaurant Or, what’s you favorite thing on the menu and your favorite person to dine with, And so it’s your customers Spreading word of mouth about what’s great to eat So on Twitter and Instagram Hashtags are super relevant, but I don’t always see It as often on Facebook Are they a thing.

Absolutely I mean here’s the thing when it comes to using hashtags Whether it’s on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, Or if you’re just posting either way you got ta monitor it, because it’s going to be Different for each business, It doesn’t hurt to use Them just be mindful and use relevant, hashtags Perfect and probably only one or two Don’t go overboard. Just a few Yeah, you don’t need to go overboard.

This has been The Journey. Thank you. So much for reading Make sure to like and comment. Below subscribe to know when our next articles are coming atcha and we are signing off

 

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Online Marketing

The 5 Most Popular Domain Extensions

” Today we are going to play a little game and we’re going to discover the top five domain extensions. So when looking for a domain, Name for your business there’s a few things you wan na consider Starting off with something That’s easy to remember, And on top of having a domain name, that’s easier to remember. You also want to make sure Don’t have any numbers in there or hyphens or Any misspelled words Also be sure to consider a name that actually reflects your brand.

So maybe that’s the name of your business or keywords like coffeeandkickflips.Com And last but not least, consider Which TLD makes most sense for your business, which extension So maybe.Org or.Net or.Com? And since we’re talking about extensions, let’s get into our game Now, let’s welcome our first contestant coming all the way from Arizona, Justin, Nealey ( crowd, cheers ). Oh my god. I’r ready to play, let’s go.

He is confident folks, So without further ado, let’s jump into these TLDs. Let’s do it All right now, the moment You’ve all been waiting for, especially you Nealey, Oh yeah, We’re going to dive into the five most popular Domain name extensions Here: are the rules You’re feeling good, I’m feeling great? Let’s go. You came in pretty confident. I came in hot Coming in hot, Alright, so here’s the deal You get up to two strikes, but only two Okay, I don’t need them, I’m getting them all right, He’s so confident.

I love this Well the moment. I’ve Been waiting for someone to win this game, What’s the prize, A new car Just kidding You get like a trip. Somewhere in the local area, How’s that a trip Well, I’m still going to win It’s for the glory, It’s for the glory, So the first one is going to be easy Right..Com.Com is King. It’s the domain. Name extension. You always wan na get. How confident do you feel about this one So confident, Let’s see Told you Ting ting ting.

I got this All right, fantastic, So zero strikes, keep going. Alright, You got four more to Get right by the way, All right there is a time factor. I’r feeling like this is a trap, cause you’re all about pizza. Oh, he must have gone online to do a research, A little stalking. I Mean research, research,.Net,.Net, Feeling good about this one Feeling great. Let’s see, Let’s see What do we have? Oh, my gosh two for two.

He is confident See I got this. You only got to get three more right And you still have two strikes. I bet the viewers at home are on the edge of their seat. Oh yeah, So I mean dance is a universal language right We’re going to go for.Dance.Dance.Dance.Dance, I’m Feeling pretty good about it. Oh you can dance your little sorrows away on that one Nealey. So that’s strike one. Remember the rules. You Got one more strike, I get three more right right Right.

Correct So you strike out on this you’re out of the game, We’re going to bring Up our next contestant, So I think it’s going to be dot dot, Dot dot. No! No! No! I think we heard dot. No, Let’s check, though ( laughs, ) Strike. Two, This game is rigged. ( argues ) Bye. Thank you Security. Well, I know it’s sad to see Nealey go. I really felt good about him on the show He came in with confidence. He started off getting a few correct, But he’s gone So, let’s introduce our Next, contestant, all the way from Austin Texas, Alex ( crowd, cheers ).

How are you feeling Good, I’m feeling great. I, like the confidence, Have you been on a game show before Can’t say I have no. This is my first one, Hey first time charm. Let’s go So you know the rules, you saw what happened. Nealey was coming in naming the most popular domain name extensions. We have three more to go Yup. What are they? You have two strikes. Remember, Let’s see here Pizza, I’m a little distracted by that, but we’re not picking them.

I’r distracted by that too. I’r going to go with the.Org. I feel like.Org, there’s A lot of organizations.Org Those nonprofits Wow We’re off to a good start. You only have to get two more right And you get to bring home the grand prize. So, what’s it going to be, Let’s see I’m going to go with.Co, it’s like.Com, Maybe just a lot of People forgot a letter on the end: It’s not missing anything. Is it Only one away from taking it all home? Nealey is probably sitting in the back Just shaking his head “.

I knew that!”. This is what a winner looks like. Those are fighting words. Alright, go ahead, No pressure, but you have one move away from winning or striking I’m going to pick.Us because greatest country Out there is the US: Let’s go with it. Yes, She got it. Stop Congratulations, Wow America for the win. Alright, That’s the end of our game. I had a lot of fun. I hope you did at home as well as you Alex, And you just learned the five most popular Domain name, extensions, Be sure to comment below and like this article Also subscribe and ring that bell so that you can find out when we have more great articles.

This is “ The Journey.” Thanks for reading, I’m the champion.

 

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Online Marketing

SEO for Beginners – How to Rank in Search

And the most trusted for searches related to Your products or business, So those two things, Relevance and trust – is What Google’s looking for to determine? Which which Websites, it should rank on the first page, And so when I say Google, just so you know, I’m going to be using that interchangeably for all search engines. Because 167 billion searches happen on Google a month. That’s a ton. Most searches happen on Google right Right, so I’m just going to Use, Google interchangeably, I mean it is the 167 billion Pound gorilla in the room, so we’re just going to go with it.

I’r scared All right so SEO, like Why why is it important? Why should we invest our time? Energy and money into it So search engines, they’re The new Yellow Pages: This is where people go to find answers Billions upon billions of Searches are happening each month and many of those are for Your products and services, So, if you’re not showing up On the search results, page you’re missing out on a Huge untapped potential of all these customers, Who, literally, are typing your products into the search? Bar wanting to purchase 88 % of people, research Before they buy and they’re-, where do they research [ Nealey ], That’s huge Google, so you need to just- It’s just plain and simple: You need to be there So, instead of me telling You, let me just show you, Let’s go check out a Search result right now, Cool: let’s do it All right, so we’re going to Break down the different pieces of SEO by going to the Search results page itself: Okay, So, let’s dive into it, So let’s go to Google.

Com and What’s an example business that we should look into [ Nealey, ] Um: let’s try, lawyers [, Morgan, ], Laywers, ahh, That business of yours is getting big time: huh [ Nealey ], Something like that. [ Morgan, ], Yeah, Phoenix Arizona, you need a lawyer now So lawyer, Phoenix Arizona. So what I just typed into The search bar is known as the search query and this Is a phrase or a question that you are looking for answers for This can contain your Keywords, for example, lawyer, is a keyword and Phoenix Arizona is probably a keyword.

So now, let’s look at the Three different pieces of the search engine results, page Also known as the SERP Okay, so these first two sections Right here these are the ads paid ads and normally You can tell because they have a little ad flag right there. So you can see there are two ads here and then, if we scroll down to The next section this is the local map listing sections, So these are local businesses.

Only so if you serve a national audience or you Don’t have a physical location that you serve, then you Aren’t going to show here The way that you appear Here is you have to have great SEO on your website? And you also have to have an optimized Google, My Business profile, And you can see that only a Few businesses appear here so there’s usually three. This is known as the local three pack And then occasionally there’d be an ad, So this is an example of Someone who’s paying to appear in the local listings and Then these three below it are the ones that are naturally Organically showing up here, which Google has deemed For Phoenix Arizona, these are the best three.

You can click on more places. And that’s going to bring you a wider map of all the Different local lawyers, So you can see quite a few And then you can dig into their Google My Business profile from there, So here’s an example of one So the next and last piece at the bottom. These are the organic results. This is where you want to be Because, unlike the paid ads, you have to pay to play for those.

So once your ad budget is Out poof you’re gone you’re no longer there, But with these you prove to Google over time that you’re the most relevant and The most trusted answer and then you’re going to stay Here, for a long long time, as long as you continue To show Google that you’re better than your competition And people love these A lot of people while ads are affective, we’re kind of trained to Just skip over the ads and go straight down: To the organic results, and so so many people will Just hop down right here and they’ll click and find their lawyer, So I wan na go back to the Top and I wan na talk about keywords and keyword.

Competitiveness because keywords are things which We’ll be talking about, you need to put all across your website. It’s these search terms. That people are looking for, and so you need to make Sure that you have that on your website as well Um, however, some are much More competitive than others, So if you look at lawyer, Phoenix Arizona, there’s about 32 million results, It’s pretty broad Phoenix is a pretty big city.

If we change it to something. That’s less competitive, let’s say a dog grooming- Dog groomer Phoenix Arizona, only 2.3 million results So clearly less competitive business. So there’s not as much competition there, which is great if you’re a Dog groomer cause. That means you have a- if you’re Doing the right SEO it’s going to be easier to Appear on the first page for that search term, Unlike lawyers, where They put a lot of money into advertising.

It’s a very Very very competitive space. There are people, always Fighting for those top spots, Should we only put short keywords: Is there anything else we can use So initially, no With Google. You need to start Small with they’re called long-tail keywords, so They’re they’re keywords with three four: five: Six words altogether um, because you need to prove your authority in the small, less competitive Spaces before Google is going to realize that you Should be ranking for these more broad terms, So for this example, If I’m a dog groomer, let’s say I specialize in poodle grooming, So we’re going to change It to poodle, groomer, Phoenix Arizona And you can see the Competitiveness there’s only 300 thousand search.

Results, so this is great because there’s not as many People who put poodle grooming on their websites, and so for me this is a great opportunity. For me to start building that authority with Google, So remember if I’m a dog Groomer and you go to my website and there’s absolutely Nothing about dog grooming, it’s just my name. My phone Number and maybe a photo Google’s going to look at that and think this doesn’t talk anything about It’s not relevant Yeah.

It’s not relevant. So this person must not be great for this keyword: They’re, probably not a dog groomer at all, So our job is to go and make Sure that all the content on our website is relevant, To those keywords, All right, so you’re Telling me all I need to do is update just a little bit. Of content on my website, Not exactly so remember, That we’re doing this not only for our users, So they have information, but for Google, Okay, So and Google wants our Websites to be structured in a very particular way right.

Ultimately, it’s a robot That’s scanning the backend of our website, so the Backend data of the website, Google wants to make sure that We have it formatted in a way that it can easily read and Know what our website is about, So these are things like Our H1 tag, our meta data meta descriptions which I’r going to go into right now to show you where this is [: Nealey ] Awesome. Let’s see it [ Morgan ]! So for Since we’re here on this poodle grooming website, Let’s go to this one Puff and Fluff Grooming and Pet Sitting: [ Nealey ], I’m all about rhyming, [, Morgan ]! It’s a nice! Looking Website it has great colors great branding, but the problem is Google doesn’t see any of that.

This is what they see Boom. [ Nealey ]. That’s gross [, Morgan ]! That’s not that pretty And end users, your customers, If this was your way that your website was presented, they would get nothing from this However, this is exactly what Google looks at when they’re Wanting to rank a website All right, so you’re Telling me that I have to know how to code to do that. Not necessarily because Modern day website builders already have this built in here.

You can see with this website. They’re actually using a plugin for WordPress Called “ All in One SEO”, Where you just put it in and It just makes it super easy for you, as a non-technical. User to update all of these SEO elements, which is awesome So as part of this, you need To have your meta title, so this is basically the title: Of each part of your website that when you go back to the Search engine results page you, this is what will show up So for this example.

They set their meta title for Puff and Fluff Grooming and Pet Sitting And then you can also see right, Here the meta description they get to choose what that is All right. So that’s the basics of SEO. The search engine results page Everything on your website. We just talked about everything on-site that you need to do to your Website so now, let’s talk about the things off-site. Okay, That shows Google that you’re The most trusted answer for search results.

All right so explain trust A little bit more for us Yeah, so I have an analogy. So let’s say that you get a call one day and it’s from a fifth grader And the fifth grader says: “: Hey Morgan is the best basketball player in the entire world..”. Are you going to believe him? Probably not. I think you paid him Right all right now. What If Kobe Bryant LeBron James and Michael Jordan, called you up and said, “ Hey, I’ve got the scoop.

On this new player, Morgan She’s, the best basketball Player in the entire world.”. What would you say to that? Would you believe them? Oh absolutely Yeah They have authority, They have authority, so you will trust their opinion. And it’s the same thing with Google: The way that Google can Tell if your website, if it should trust your Website cause again, we could toot our own horn all day long, And we see this all the time.

People say: “ best dog, groomer, In Phoenix Arizona,,” right, Like people love to toot their own horn, but with Google [ Nealey ] Self-proclaimed. It needs that authority. From other people and that’s where backlinks come in And so backlinks are Links on other websites that point back to your Website and Google uses this as an indicator to see Oh okay, this is actually a really good website. Other people are talking about it Now with backlinks.

It’s Quality over quantity, You don’t just want to go on. The internet and go put your you know, go on every comment. Every YouTube comment, like just put your website everywhere, cause that’s going to look spammy Google’s not going to like that. It wants really high quality. The Michael Jordan’s, if you will, What is one thing they can do right now, The biggest thing that you Can do that will give you so much bang for your buck is to put content on your website.

Especially content that has your keywords To determine those keywords: You should probably… What are the products and Services that you offer or what are the products And services that you want your customers to know about, For example, using the dog Groomer in Phoenix Arizona – maybe is there certain types, Of grooming that you do that you’re really well known for Let’s say you’re the best Darn toy poodle groomer this side of the Mississippi, ( laughs, ).

Okay, You should have a separate Page with content on it about that specific Service that you offer So that’s what I recommend Go make sure your page Just has tons of content so that way, when users and Ultimately, Google look at it, they know exactly what You’re about and then Google will start ranking you All right guys. I hope you Found this beginner’s guide to SEO helpful and that These are actionable things that you can start doing now.

So that way, your customers can start finding your business online If you’re going to get started. And you found this helpful, let us know in the comments: Below the number one thing you learned about SEO today Awesome and make sure You like this article, subscribe to the blog And if you wan na see these articles first ring that bell, But this has been The Journey Signing off.

 

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Online Marketing

What Is a CMS? Which One Should You Use for Your Website?

” All right, so today, We have a special guest Alycia from Sucuri. Thank you so much for coming on today. Yeah thanks, I’m happy to be here Awesome, so we’re Talking about what is a CMS and which one should you Use for your website, Can you tell us a little Bit about what a CMS is So CMS stands for. Content management system and it’s basically an easier way to put pages, live on your Website or blog post manage your image media Library all that kinda stuff Awesome and now, let’s Go over the top three CMSs, I’m going to be a little bit! Biased in this episode, That’s my disclaimer right there, I’m going to start with WordPress WordPress is the most popular Content management system out there today powers Over 1/3 of the internet, It has tons of plug-ins tons of options and it’s pretty resourceful And probably my favorite Reason for why I use WordPress is the community behind it.

They’re such a large community that that just all comes Together, there’s meetups, there’s wordcamps and everyone just helps each other out For sure, and I mean with 40,000 plugins almost like you, have no end to the kind of functionality you can add to your CMS Absolutely. So what are some other CMSs that we can possibly use For sure, yeah,,’cause everybody’s heard of WordPress, so Yeah Drupal is another very popular one.

It’s been described to me as Kinda, like a Swiss cheese, you need to be a bit more Technical to use Drupal, but it does have a lot Of different features compared to WordPress, it has A different user experience and ultimately it’s been Used for a lot of things like government websites, And that kinda thing because of its ability to be a little more secure in some areas: yeah Yeah and it’s definitely One not for like the smaller business type sites as Enterprise or large Corporation type sites right, Yeah, yeah for sure Yeah Joomla – is another really Popular one as well, It’s got a really good.

Community – and it’s got, I think, the second highest Market share after WordPress, Although WordPress is Like 30 % – and I think, like It’s, a giant Joomla’s like 6 %, so just A little bit of a gap there between the top two but Joomla’s, also a really awesome CMS to use You wan na make sure that you’re using the most latest version. If possible, There are two active versions: Available that you can use Yeah, you definitely wan na stay on the most recent branch.

Of any CMS, if possible, Yeah that’s just a best practice there. All right. Let’s talk! About really figuring out, which one should you use right Like what are some of the first Steps we wan na think about. Definitely you wan na Make sure that you know what your requirements Are for your website, So how does it need to Be for your users to use! How are you going to go about? Actually creating posts and what are the processes that you’re going to use as part of that And then once you have all that you can kinda look at each CMS and see what are the extensions and Themes that are available And see if they’ll match the Requirements that you have for your website, That makes sense and It all comes down to figuring out what’s right for you Like, I will stand by WordPress all day, but WordPress may not be Right for your situations, Figuring out those requirements, With those applications are super important, Yeah and usually a Lot of the CMS websites have a great community Because they are open-source, So tell us a little about open-source Yeah for sure.

So all Those top three CMSs they’re open-source they’re, also free, which is very important, Open-source, basically Means that the source code used to build WordPress Or Drupal or Joomal, it’s all open and available, and anybody can contribute to it as well Right on So that just means it’s Constantly being improved by the community and the Community’s also checking to make sure that, what’s Being added is secure All right, so we want our Website to look good right, So is that something to think About when we’re choosing what platform we use and how easy it is to create those sites Totally so different themes will have different attributes like They may have a sidebar on the left or the right, Or they may be all one column in a never-ending scrolling website.

Different themes will Allow you to accomplish, maybe what you need by Having custom backgrounds or custom menus, so you Wan na look at the options for your theme and you also don’t wan na discount like premium themes, A lot of premium themes out, there will add extra functionality, So you’re, essentially Paying for the theme, even though the CMS is free, That’s an awesome option. There’s premium plug-ins as well, Depending on what you Need the default themes that come with it are Sometimes a little restrictive, so you wan na take a look at What the default themes are: Try some different free themes and see what the options are to get your site to look.

The way you want it to Yeah and what was kind Of controversial at first in WordPress and 5.0 remember Gutenberg, Oh yeah, Gutenberg is essentially The new WordPress editor, The whole point is to kinda mirror the printing press of just Blocks and everything else, Yeah, what you see is what you get So as you’re typing — Whizzy, wig, Yeah whizzy wig, Thank you So as you’re typing Yeah, you see exactly what you would see on the website, So that comes default by WordPress.

It has made the experience. Especially for first-time users easier to create, Then there are page Builders like Elementor or Beaver Builder or WPBakery Builder, that makes that user-experience A little bit easier, If you’re going on the WordPress realm and really want something: That’s pretty customizable, you don’t have to be a Web developer or guru to build that website For sure CMSs are having to Make things a little easier, You know, there’s a lot of Different places out there that are creating website builders that are super easy for people to use, and so it’s helpful for These open-source CMSs to make the user-experience a little easier All right.

So another thing we probably have to think about. Is the hosting requirements We’re going to need for our applications? Talk us through a little Bit of what that looks like For sure, so most of These are running on PHP, so you want the most Updated version of PHP, especially if you want The latest features and to make sure that you’re Getting those security updates? Yes, So that’s really important.

A lot of hosting companies will offer one-click Install for most of these major CMS applications, Some hosting companies Especially when I first started creating websites – and I Was on a super budget, but also a very secure host, it took me a long time. It took me like three days to install WordPress and they have a famous 5-minute install You wan na look and see, and maybe talk to your hosting company.

About what the options are for getting this CMS Installed on your server Right,,’cause, taking three Days to get a website going just the beginning is not Something you wan na do There’s a lot of places out there that will do managed hosting Especially with WordPress There’s managed WordPress that has just already automatically installed some extra security features And then what most people End up going with is like a cPanel type Hosting Since it does have that one-click install with Installatron or Softaculous, Whatever they’re, using Totally Couple of clicks of a button and then it’s there, You can start building and Designing, however, you want All right, so the real Reason I brought you on to this.

Episode is really talking about security with CMSs They’re open-source. You Constantly have to update them, so there’s lots of things. That we need to really think about to make sure Our stuff’s protected Totally well with It being open-source not only are all the good People contributing code, but all the bad people can Also, look at that code as well and find vulnerabilities. So that’s something that a lot of people are concerned about.

Especially with WordPress being so popular, it is a large target. The CMS itself is actually quite secure because there’s a great Community checking things out. You wan na make sure that you’re Not installing more plug-ins than you need Trying to make sure that you’re keeping everything up to date. If you have a managed solution, They’ll, do it for you, Which is awesome. Yup, You wan na make sure That you have something some kind of security plug-in That’s monitoring your site, letting you know if there is A problem that they detect There are some that can also Add features for protection like adding Two-Factor Authentication, which is a second password on your phone that you need to enter in Order to get into your website There’s all kinds of Cool security, plug-ins security utilities that You can use with your CMS Yeah, I know with WordPress the top security plug-ins That come to mind, of course, Sucuri has This security plug-in, but there’s also Wordfence And then with having an SSL on your site, super important just to Encrypt that password,’cause, you have to login The beauty with CMSs that You can access them anywhere right, Yup, So you wan na make sure that wherever you’re accessing’em Your password isn’t being sniffed out by someone in the middle Yeah.

You wan na, be careful. You don’t wan na. Maybe do It in like an airport or coffee shop, Wi-Fi Unless you’re using a VPN.’Cause, if you are sitting There on public, Wi-Fi and there’s a hacker sitting next to you, they could sniff your password As you’re typing it in And then the next thing you know, there’s a bunch of spam pages on your site that you need to deal with. So what about firewall? I’ve heard that it should be important.

Should be added to the site, What’s the validity with that? Definitely one of the nice things about a website firewall Is that it will virtually patch your CMS? So if There is a security issue, essentially the firewall’s Taking care of that, It surrounds your website. And if somebody’s trying to exploit a vulnerable Plug-In on your site, the firewall will catch. That attempt and block it They’ll see a blocking page.

Meanwhile, all of your legitimate Visitors are being sped-up because of the global Network of the firewall and content delivery network, So we’ve figured out what Cms we’re wanting to use We’ve got it installed, how Do we go about documentation, learning the program itself? There are some awesome Resources out there, You talked about WordPress WPBeginner has some awesome? Training guides and tutorials There’s an awesome community.

For all of these CMSs, with very active, like support forums, That’s a great way to go about it And then, obviously, if you have a developer, Or something like that, that’s helping you get some customization. They can usually help you. You wan na make sure that You’re documenting everything as part of your website as well, so It’s just going to help you Later on down the line, if you know you have a List of all the users, all the plug-ins and that kind of stuff and you’re keeping that up-to-date Yeah, especially if you Have people on your team that needs to access the site, Giving them documentation on What they should be accessing, what they shouldn’t be, because sometimes the wrong click can Make just chaos happen Totally and good user passwords making sure that you’ve Got the right role levels assigned to your users? Whether they’re just an editor or author or contributor Right Those roles are usually built into the CMS to allow you to make Sure they can only access what they should be allowed to access.

You only wan na grant admin privileges to somebody for as long as they need it, and that kind of thing Now, with this website, I know many of the entrepreneurs or even solopreneurs out there with their stuff, has Many hats to wear right, Sometimes maintaining it, isn’t always something that they have time for Yeah. It may not be top of mind Right. What should we be? Doing with those updates Yeah, definitely I would say that it’s very important to make sure that you always retain Access to your property, your web property, So I’ve seen cases where a developer will leave a client and Leave with the passwords and then you can’t get Into your hosting account, or you can’t into WordPress, It’s not ideal, so make sure you always have access to those things And make sure that you’re just practicing safe security practices.

Throughout all of it Right on and with WordPress and Joomla everything else, we Talked about it earlier, make sure you’re at least going in there every now and then to update It to the next latest version: It’s not only for performance, but it is for security Yeah for sure I mean with some CMSs there might be different branches that are still being actively developed So having a firewall That can virtually patch and make sure if there Are any vulnerabilities you have a little bit of an extra window.

‘Cause whenever there’s a Security update released, the hackers are looking going. “: Okay, here’s the old file; “, here’s the new file; oh look: “! There’s the security flaw!”, So it can be –. Then send all our bots out Totally it can a matter of minutes hours after a security patch is released before there’s active attacks in the wild So definitely update your Sites as soon as possible, Auto-updates are amazing, WordPress has auto-updates on most hosts, Yeah and or you can hire developers like most designers or Developers will have like a website care plan, so you Can them just do it for you, If you’re using WordPress, Godaddy ProSites or ManageWP has the one-click updates.

So you can update all your Plug-Ins and your themes, You even have a safe update option. So what it does is It’ll update your site, take a snapshot of before and after and make sure they’re all the same. And if there’s an issue It’ll retract, back to it It’s a free option for you Yeah, that’s perfect! You hit on a good point, It’s not a set it and forget. It thing with a website: You need to make sure that You’re maintaining it And that it’s part of your business, it’s how your business looks.

So you should definitely Make sure that you have some kind of plan for keeping It up-to-date and maintained All right. The last point that we should really talk about is really your time and investment with the CMS of your choice. Talk us through a little Bit of that about that For sure we’ll you Wan na go in and realize that it’s going to take you Time to setup all the pages that you want Right: It may take you time to find the right plug-ins, so you wan na kinda think through whether You want to hire somebody or get some help with that To find the functionality and the look and feel that you’re after Definitely budget when It comes to free CMSs.

Well, you don’t have to pay for the CMS. So that’s helpful Right! But it’s customization and security and all Those things that you definitely wan na consider as part of the whole package of having a website On-going costs for domain WHOIS privacy, SSL certificates, Right firewall, All that kind of stuff, All that good things Totally yeah, there’s A lot of accessories that go on with having a website, So you wan na figure like I said at the beginning what those requirements are And then make sure you have a plan for how you’re going to budget and the timelines around When you wan na launch Perfect and with Drupal And Joomla they are, they do have that smaller market share, So there’s really specific requirements of when you wan na use those applications.

Those developers that you hire for Drupal or Joomla might cost more than a WordPress designer as well For sure yeah, and you wan na make sure that you’re really looking at the work that the developer has done and make sure that it Matches what you’re, after There’s lots of great Websites out there that you know can tell you more About how to pick a developer depending on what you’re after Well? Thank you so much for Coming out on the show today and helping us figuring Out what a CMS is why we should use one You’ve been awesome Thanks my pleasure.

Well, if you liked this article go ahead and smash that, like button, add a comment below on Something that you’ve learned and subscribe to this blog and ring that bell, if you’d like to see these episodes first, This is “ The Journey.,” we’ll see you next time.