No worries. Follow these simple steps to publish a new Blog post:

Below the following steps are some screenshots to help guide you along the steps to submitting an article… If you are already familiar with WordPress you probably won’t need this guide…

1. Click on ‘Posts’ (from the left side menu)
2. Click ‘Add New’ (also left side menu). You should now see a page titled “Add New Post”
3. The first box is for the Title of your article.
4. The second box is for the article content. You can either paste your article into this box, or type your article (if it’s not already written). If you are pasting from Microsoft Word choose the “Paste from Word” option . You’ll find that by clicking the ‘Show/Hide Kitchen Sink’ button . There are also options for styling your content.
5. To add an image click the ‘add an image’ icon next to “Upload/Insert”. (If this is your first article submission you won’t yet have the ability to add an image.) You can add an image from your computer or from another URL (another website). It is recommended that you choose the ‘From Computer’ option. If your image comes from somewhere else online, find the image and save it to your computer first. If you are adding an image from your computer click ‘Select Files’ on the ‘From Computer’ tab. A box should come up that allows you to browse your computer to find the image you want to upload. Once you have find the right image, select it and click ‘open’. The image should now be uploaded and you’ll be presented with some options regarding how you want the image displayed within your article (size, aligned to the left, right or center, etc). Click ‘Insert into Post’. You should now see the image within your article. If you want to adjust something click on the image and you’ll see one icon that allows you to adjust the options and another icon to delete the image. After editing image options click ‘update’ to apply the changes.
6. Once you are done with the article content, and any images, add an excerpt into the box labeled ‘Excerpt’. The excerpt is typically one sentence, or paragraph, long and it is the article excerpt or ‘teaser’ that will be displayed on your Blog page along with the article title. (If your blog is designed to show excerpts on the Blog page, rather than the entire article ).
7. You typically won’t need to do anything with the other boxes: trackbacks, custom fields, Discussion, etc.
8. Add “tags” to your article in the ‘Post Tags’ area. Tags are keywords or topics related to your article. If your article is about ‘freedom’ and ‘economics’ using those as tags will help people find your article among other articles of similar topics.
9. Categories: Choose an existing category or add a new category. Simple. The difference between a category and a tag is typically that your category is the main topic of the article, whereas tags are sub-topics and other keywords related to the article subject.
10. Now you’re ready to publish your article. Click ‘Publish’.

Branding for startups, small businesses and Entrepreneurs…

Some “branding experts” are saying that you should spend thousands of dollars on branding. Don’t believe them.

First, I must explain, that there may be a valid reason for some companies to spend thousands, even millions, of dollars on branding, however, these are typically large corporations and other well-established companies – the ones that can afford to spend this kind of money on a brand.

Why would you spend thousands of dollars on branding when you may not even know who your target-market is? Or maybe you haven’t even made any profit yet? If that’s you – you still don’t know if what you’re getting into is going to work. Take things one step at a time.

What should you do now?

It might still be a good idea to spend some money on a logo, a nicely designed website and promotional materials…. but don’t overdo it. You probably won’t need to spend more than $300 on a nice logo and could realistically get a website (with a branded design based on your logo) for less than $1000.

Everyone needs a website, it’s an essential marketing tool for your business… but don’t be fooled into spending thousands of dollars when it’s not necessary. It might be necessary depending on what you want to do with your website, but honestly, most businesses don’t need that much to get a great start. Seriously, you might really never need to spend thousands of dollars on these things – take it step by step and see how things go.

One of the first things you should do, before branding, is BRAND IDENTITY… this is the process of figuring out what your target market is, what you are best at, and where you want to put your focus. Your target market should not be everyone. You should specifically define your target market and focus your business on that. That doesn’t mean all of your clients/customers are going to fit into your definition, but it means you’re more likely to enjoy what you’re doing.

Google loves WordPress. I love Google and I love WordPress (it’s very search engine friendly). It makes Search Engine Optimization easy!

If you can operate Microsoft Word, you can probably use WordPress.

It lowers the bar for what it takes to maintain websites — Although WordPress is a blogging platform, it’s really so much more.

No software needed – Have a laptop and wireless connection? Go to the nearest wi-fi hotspot if you want and blog about your cats or your business.

WordPress Kills Spam. That’s right, you won’t have to worry about a flood of spam comments.

Not just a blog. WordPress.com has a feature called “pages” which allows you to easily create web pages. For example, you could add an “about me” page with your biography. You can even create an entire web site using pages in WordPress, with a custom home page and your blog as one of the sub-pages.

Widgets for Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and more. You can add “widgets” to your sidebar and rearrange them without touching any HTML code or messing up your blog. Just drag and drop the sidebar widgets around, and instantly you can have fun stuff in your sidebar.

Customizable. You can make WordPress do just about anything by simply finding the right plugin.

You can set up Wordpress to automatically ping all the RSS and blog feed directories every time you make a post. This is a very powerful feature if you want your blog to get a lot of traffic right away. On top of that, you′ll be quickly developing backlinks to your blog almost automatically.

Right about now you might be asking yourself “What do I need a Web Designer for if WordPress will do all of this for me?” Your Web Designer will be there to setup WordPress and give it a look customized to your brand. Your Web Designer can also setup and customize features and plugins for you to ensure that your site is all ready to go, ready for you to take over, and ready for business!

Choosing a WordPress-based website leaves you in control.

Most bloggers gain their traffic from 3 sources, inbound links (other websites linking to yours), search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) and social media (Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, Digg, etc.).

Take your content to where the traffic is (Facebook, YouTube, etc.) and use your Blog/Website to bring it all together for those find you on the social networks.

Link Building

Link building allows your website to be more easily found by others. The more websites that are linking to you, the more potential you have for getting higher rankings by the search engines.  It’s not just quantity that is important, but the quality of the links coming in to you.

Content is King

Great content is an important key component of search engine optimization. After-all, you want people to look up to you as the expert. With lots of original, valuable, entertaining, and inspiring content you can dominate your market.

Keywords and Key Phrases

Something to consider… What keywords and key phrases are people going to search for to find a website/company like yours?  Once you have answered that question you can optimize your site and content to those words/phrases.  Use them throughout the content of your website, but don’t over-do-it.  Be wise.

Contact Brian @ Weblife LLC today to use our services for your project.

There are mutliple things to consider when going about this.  Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself:

• Who is my target audience?
• What am I offering?
• What is the end result or action I want my website visitors to take?
• What do I have to offer for free?
• What do I have to offer for sale?
• What compelling offer should I make on the front page of my website?

Now that you’ve gone through these simple questions it’s time to determine what to do next.  You may want to make one offer, or multiple.  Perhaps you’ll compel people to sign up for your newsletter by providing their name and email address in exchange for a free article or other download with valuable information.  By signing them up for your newsletter you now have an opportunity to market your services to them on an ongoing basis (just don’t forget to provide something of value in each newsletter).

If your purpose is to sell a membership or a product, make that clear on the front page.  Many online visitors don’t look any further than the front page.  The front page is your most important page, use it wisely.

Keep these 4 steps in mind for how to effectively engage your visitors:

INTERUPT – ENGAGE – EDUCATE – OFFER… more on those later.

It’s another great way to promote your Blog, Website or News Article.

When you Digg a Blog post, not only does the Google Search Engine pick it up faster, it increases the chances that others will visit your website and read it.

The basic concept behind Digg is that it’s a place where indivudals, you and me, can decide what the best news stories and information are, rather than someone else deciding for us. The more people that “Digg” your article, the more popular it becomes and the more traffic you’ll get at your website. I once wrote about Ron Paul on my political blog and it got Dugg, this brought my website traffic up 560% that day. The power of Digg!

If you haven’t already it might be a good idea to create an account on http://www.digg.com. Also, let your friends, family and associates know about it. Ask them to Digg your stuff, as you Digg theirs!

There are many ways to market a business product or service. Business Networking has proved to be very effective and is an essential skill for most business people, especially entrepreneurs. People are assets; many customers will make a choice over one business or the other because of the person representing that business. This requires that a business owner develop and maintain business relationships. Here are some tools and resources to take your business to the next level using networking.

Find the Best Network Group(s) for You

It’s best to visit as many business networking groups as possible. There are usually a lot of options out there. Take note of which ones spark your interest. Notice the tone and attitude of the group. Is there quality leadership? Do the people seem supportive of one another? Some groups are free and many will allow you to visit multiple times before joining. I recommend that you join as many network groups as is feasible for you and your business. Choose the ones in which you have the most to offer as well as receive.

In my experience I’ve found that one networking groups stands above the rest, CEO Space. They have a cooperative networking model. You’ll find that most members are genuinely interested in your success and doing what they can to help you find what you are looking for. CEO Space specializes in income acceleration, entrepreneurial training, and super networking to grow businesses exponentially. As a member you will be taught Free Enterprise Skills not taught in conventional educational programs.

More info: www.ceospaceutah.net

What You Give Will Come Back to You

Business networking isn’t all about what you can get, it’s actually about what you can give. The more you open yourself up to giving and assisting others, the more you are making yourself available to receive. Also, it’s about quality not quantity. When you are giving information and referrals keep in mind that you sincerely want the person to succeed and give with such a mindset.

Have you belonged to networking groups in which you felt you weren’t getting enough leads? Perhaps it’s because you haven’t been giving enough? Or perhaps people you haven’t been there long enough or created enough relationships with people to make them comfortable to give you leads. Give it a try: forget yourself and focus on creating success for others then watch the same happen for you.

Follow Up

How much business have you potentially missed out on because you didn’t follow up? If you receive a referral from someone be sure to follow up with that contact, you may be missing out on a great opportunity. Also, whenever you give a referral to someone else follow up with them. Find out if they were able to get a hold of the person and what the result of the referral was. You might even want to keep a written record of the referrals you given and received. A great strategy when giving a referral is to call up the person you are referring right away and hand your phone to your business associate. Get them connected right away for better results!

Set Goals

Before going to your networking meetings set some goals. Are you there for clients? knowledge? or an other reason? Decide what it is you are looking for and ask for that specifically. What do you want to accomplish? Make a list of intentions and as you fulfill each one add more items to the list. Remember to also help others accomplish their goals.

Business Cards

Don’t forget your business cards, how else will people follow up with you? Put enough information on your card so that people will have multiple ways to contact you (i.e. work phone, cell, email, address, IM, etc.), you never know what each persons preferred method of communication is. Be generous in giving out your business cards. Give cards out to everyone, including family and friends. Give out multiple cards to some people; they may end up referring your services.

Create a business card that stands out. What is it that makes you different from everyone else? Why should people choose you? Be sure to make that statement on your business card. Putting your picture on your business card will help people connect a person to the business. Insert your card in all mailings and find every opportunity you can to give them out. You never know what opportunities you might be missing out on by not giving out enough business cards. Your business card is one of the most simple and effective marketing tools.

Weblife LLC was hired to redesign the Utah CEO Space website.  The site is now live at www.CEOSpaceUtah.net .  It’s been great working with Dr. Robert and Carol Pope on creating this site.  It’s also been great learning more about the value CEO Space can create for any business.

It’s easy to create a great looking website, but what’s the use if there’s no one looking at it? ‘How do I get more people to look at my website’, you ask.

Online Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Online marketing and SEO can be just as important to your business as local marketing.

The amount of marketing you’ll want to do depends entirely upon what results you want. For some people it is enough to simply include their website address on their business cards and use their website as a way of validating that it is a real business. Some use their websites as a place for people to learn more about that business. Others have their websites work for them!

Your Website Can Work for You!

Online marketing generally consists of having advertisements and links on other websites that bring people to your website. This could be done using services such as Google’s AdWords, Whitepages, Yellowpages, and etc. You can market your website using blogs, forums, directories and articles. Also, you could even choose to target your marketing towards a certain geographical location or towards people with sepcific interests, the possibilities are endless.

If you want your website to work for you, contact Weblife LLC today and we’ll help you get started.