From XSitePro to WordPress and Beyond

April 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I just successfully completed the transition of a static website to a wordpress blog.  That wording sounds kind of awkward so I’ll try again.  I just took one of the sites I originally created in XSitePro and turned it into a WordPress blog, keeping the page urls consistent  in the process.  I’m thrilled.  I’ve been wanting to do this for quite awhile but have felt anxious about it, not wanting to screw the whole thing up in the process.

There are a couple reasons that I wanted to do this. I find wordpress to be much easier to add content to.  With all the plugins, it’s so much easier to get the design and functionality I want.  It’s also much easier to build in participation by the visitors, which really helps keep people on the page and coming back again. WP also  has build in RSS which helps with promotion and link building.  So lots of very good reasons.

Now, I’m not sure my process was the most orderly, but it worked.  I started by installing wordpress in the root directory of the domain.  The index.html file of the website automatically overrides the index.php file of the blog, so the website stays up in its original form while you’re working in the background.  I created the database and all the other stuff that has to happen to get the blog up and going. Then I created the posts with the current articles from the site.  I created the contact and about pages, and got the privacy policy and TOS links on there – all the basics.

By that point I could start deleting the XSitePro pages from the server and the blog was up and running as a blog. Finally I did all the design work of trying out different themes and color schemes, loading the sidebars, and installing adsense and banners.  Ultimately I like what I came up with, although I couldn’t find the theme layout I had in mind.  (I can always keep my eye open for it in the months to come and make a change later on.)

It’s time to start a real promotional blitz.  I have 5 new articles ready to submit to Ezine Articles and other directories.  I woke up this morning composing my press release (and wrote it down quickly before I forgot it!).  I recently purchased a program put together by Kim Roach called the Instant Payday Formula.  She shares a virtual TON of promotional ideas and step by step methods for implementing them.  I’m planning to follow those as well.

A final big promotional effort will be a video.  I’ve not tried to do this before but I’ve heard too many times how vital it is for traffic generation and so I am determined to create some.  Kim includes a segment on video in her product and I have superb information from Kevin Riley of Warrior Forum fame as well.  It will happen.  It will be good.

Oh yeah!  I’ve been slowly building a list over these past months but not started any kind of email marketing campaign with them yet.  That’s also on the to do list.  I’ve been composing the first email in my head as the day has gone on.  I guess I’m excited to get out there and try some new stuff. Article marketing is great for traffic, but there is so much more that I could also be doing. Yes, this will be good.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, SEO Tagged With: , , , , ,

Website Traffic – Tracking and SEO

January 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment

There is a member on the Warrior Forum – sparrow – who appears to have worked in programming and SEO and related fields for awhile. My take is that he knows his stuff and has had some solid success building high ranking on search engines.

I became aware of him when he posted some special offers. The first was for a “secret” technique that would put static websites on a par with blogs in popularity with the SEs. With this he also included a method for getting pages indexed promptly and predictably. I have implemented most of this on my existing sites and look forward to testing the methods on some new sites I am creating. I’ll report back.

Next he offered his tracking software. This is a script that tracks when BOTS and other traffic visit your sites. With the other traffic, you have access to the website they came from. If this was a search engine, you get a clear picture of what keyword was typed in for the search and exactly where your site is listed in the rankings. People really do use long tail keywords.  It’s very fun.

Now, I know there are a bunch of programs that do these types of tracking, but this is the first I have tried. I expect I will learn a ton from watching the results. I plan to use this software in my work with SEO clients as well. Very cool.

Sparrow also promoted a program for Web 2.0 site submissions. I haven’t started working with this yet, but will very soon. My goal is to raise my sites out of obscurity and to build links and links and links. If “Search Engine Myths Exposed” (previous post) emphasizes anything it is the role backlinks play in search engine ranking success.

For a great series of case studies on generating attention and traffic for your sites, visit Steven’s Affiliate Marketing Diary. His blog is a goldmine and he is a very generous spirit. He offers really solid “how to” guides for what to put on your blogs and how to promote them. I can’t say enough about the value he gives away freely.

Finally, it’s time for a face lift on this blog. Expect a new look within a week or so. If you can suggest a great wp theme, please let me know.

That’s it for now. Thanks for visiting!

Filed Under: Progress Updates, SEO

Search Engine Myths Reviewed (Briefly)

January 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I read Jonathan Leger’s latest research report last night — “Search Engine Myths Exposed“. It’s well written, very compelling and makes sense. It’s free, so you might want to check it out.

The part I found most interesting was his explanation about duplicate content and whether or not you can be indexed and ranked if you include it on your site. The key is to get links and links and more links. I know this and have known it for a long time. Why don’t I do a better job of getting links to my sites? (Don’t answer that!)

Another interesting piece is Jonathan’s contention that links do not need to be from similarly themed sites. He give a lot of proof for all he says. I’m sure there are other ways to interpret his interpretations, but he is compelling. I appreciate the report.

Then, I came upon this today. Another freebie if you do just a little work:

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

  • The best blogging techniques.
  • How to get traffic to your blog.
  • How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

That’s all for now. Have a good one!

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, SEO

Backlink Solutions is a Breeze

July 19, 2007 By Leave a Comment

I am loving Backlink Solutions! 

This membership allows you to post to over 100 blogs to create backlinks to your sites. All you have to do is post a snippet of content with an embedded anchor text/destination url and you're good to go. There is supporting software available both to create the snippet with your link, and to post to the blog automatically. You don't have to access the blog itself at all.  You can create backlinks to any of your sites that you want to right from the same interface. Very easy, and I'm already figuring out shortcuts to make the process quicker.

The downside is that Backlink Solutions is a new service and a number of the blogs have not had a lot of time to age and build page rank yet.  You start out with access to blogs with PR 1-4.  Most have PR2 or PR3.  I understand as you stick around, you will have access to blogs with higher PR, and I assume with time and content, the original blogs will grow in rank as well.

This is a great source of links. Combine these with web 2.0 backlinks, some directories, some article sites, a couple of your own blogs and Squidoo lenses, and you could build up a good number of links pointing to your sites.  Maybe not enough to take on the big guys in the real competitive niches, but you sure don't have to go there. Focus on keywords that are less searched with lower competition and you can be very successful with your search engine ranking. 

That's where I'm headed.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Product Reviews, SEO

Slow Indexing

June 9, 2007 By Leave a Comment

I created a new blog about 2 1/2 weeks ago in the natural health niche. I have posted to it almost daily, and I am shocked to find that it is not yet indexed by google. Very interesting.

I have submitted the site to many social networking and bookmarking sites. I have claimed it on Technorati. I made some comments on several PR4-6 blogs. I ping with each post, but it’s still not indexed! What’s going on here?

The most recent websites I created were indexed in about 3 days. The 2 differences I can identify are that those sites have adsense on them, and I used Article Underground’s blog system to announce the pages.

I haven’t done either of those with this site. Actually, I chose to let go of Article Underground because I wasn’t taking advantage of it often enough to make the program worth the subscription cost. Instead I wanted to try out a couple other link building plans instead. (Whether I stick with those or not remains to be seen.) But I’m definitely revisiting my decision to drop AU and just may sign up again.

I also didn’t want adsense on the blog, but I’m going to put a block on there now to see what happens. I can always take it off in a couple weeks.

That’s all for now. Have a good one!

Filed Under: Progress Updates, SEO, Social Bookmarking, Tag and Ping
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