The Hello Bar is a simple web toolbar that engages users and communicates a call to action.

Wordpress blog workshop

I  just read a great post called Why Redesign Your Website? by HubSpot which is a SEO marketing Company that is pretty darn on target. I really liked what they said. One of the main points is that sure you have to have a well done site that is polished and put together, but…. the point is getting more visitors and leads, So you do a redesign if you are not on a Content Management Site (CMS) platform, not because you are bored with the design or because your CEO wants a new logo design.

Marketing guru, Seth Godin says,

“I’m going to go out on a limb and beg you not to create an original design. There are more than a billion pages on the web. Surely there’s one that you can start with? …Your car isn’t unique, and your house might not be either”.

The founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweig once said to me ( I love that he actually, in person,  said this to me)

“I wonder why any developer would build a theme from scratch for a client when there are over 5000 themes to customize and save them time and money”

Great content is a most important activity on your website and adding the content on a regular basis drives people to your site. Which is most easily done with a Content Management Site such as WordPress and they should absolutely include a blog, RSS and landing pages.

Any website built today should include these basics.  They are not expensive, and they work.  A blog is a great way to create content on an ongoing basis, and to start to converse with your customers and prospects and RSS allows some content from your website to be automatically pushed out to other websites and people, increasing the reach of your content.

So take these words to heart and when you find yourself spending too much time with what the banner should look like. Yes, it should look sharp, but it really matters more that you get your content out there with the right technology, the right navigation, and a way to start and keep adding more content on a regular basis.

I am talking to a woman today who had her site redesigned over a year ago and it still has not gone live because she was paralyzed over the design the technology choices and her wording. I agree, for someone new to all of this it can be daunting. And there is a lot of competing information out there. There is a lot of OLD school information out there. Like selling people SEO services around key words and metatags, or people still building static, non-owner friendly sites that the site owner has to pay the developer every time they want it updated! At New Tricks, we really try and make it easy for you. Yes, of course we believe in good design, but it is important not to let your obsession on perfection stop you from doing it now.

New Tricks was busy marketing this week on the premise that if we do our networking, and workshops in November then our December will be as busy as we want it to be. We had a great time at the Ga. Coaches Association round table meeting and the North Fulton Express Network Luncheon of the American Business Women’s Association. Good to see old friends and make some new contacts as well.

Here are our slides from both Dene’s and Judi’s presentations. The Coaches didn’t get to see Dene’s talk on Googling Yourself and other Online Marketing Tips. But both of the talks are on this Slideshare.

For those attending the workshop we are offering a free consultation on your on-line presence. We can do this by phone or in person so drop us a line or give us a call and we will get you on our schedule. We are limiting this offer to the first twenty people to respond.

asherpr_screenshot

Project Highlights :

Susan Asher of Asher PR obtains publicity locally and nationally in newspapers, magazines, trades, online media, and on radio and TV. Susan has been able to get her clients on “The Tonight Show,” “ABC News Now,” on CNN and the FOX News Network. Having worked in newspaper and radio and written for numerous publications, Susan Asher knows how to tell a story to make the news. When Susan came to us she had a website and a blog. She was brave enough to… [click to continue…]

On May 19th, from 9 am – noon, New Tricks is putting on our first workshop. At the end of three hours you’ll have had a boatload of fun and leave with your very own blog. Yes, we did say free. Please let us know if you would like to attend since space is limited.

WordPress is a Open Source program that allows one to use their software platform to have a blog, to build themes and templates and to basically have free access to build onto and around it. In this “Get Yourself a Free, WordPress.com Blog” workshop you do not have to have your own domain name. You will end up with a blog that will have an address like: www.whatevernameyouchoose/wordpress.com. So not only is the workshop free, but the blog is free and you do not have to pay for hosting or a domain name.

If you have your own domain name, this workshop still may be helpful to you, we will just have to meet with you separately to show you how to get yourself set up with what is called Self-hosted WordPress. In this case your blog/site url will be: www.whatevernameyouhave.com.

Be sure to bring your laptop since we will be working hands on. If you have art, graphics or photos please have them with you, already scanned in and accessible on your computer. We will have coffee and goodies while we get everyone set up on the wireless network so please be on time so we can all start together.

If you want to get a bit of a head start and drool over the possibilities of the self-hosted WordPress, go to www.wordpress.org/showcase and look at the many cool WordPress websites that they have out for show and tell.

Sign Up here to reserve your space today!