Ultimate List of WordPress Plugins for Direct Marketing 2.0

It's a work in process

 The greatest thing about WordPress is that it’s open source, and there’s a huge community built around designing and developing WordPress Websites.       

Used by over 300 of the 10,000 biggest websites on the Internet, WordPress is the most popular blog software in use today.  It has a rich plugin architecture which allows users and developers to extend its functionality beyond the features that come as part of the base install–at last count there are 10,872 different plugins!      

In fact, there’s a plugin for almost every kind of functionality I’ve ever wanted or imagined to add to any of my blogs.  Undoubtedly you have seen blog posts claiming to be the Ultimate List of WordPress Plugins, but here is my very own Ultimate List of WordPress Plugins that I have used or tested, and use regularly in many of my websites.    

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What are the Best Practices in Blogging for SEO?

Google wants to deliver what you're looking for

“If SEO works so well,” many of my clients ask me, “why I’m recommending the use of Blogs to drive traffic to their websites?”

In order to understand why Blogs are not only necessary, but they’re an essential part of driving traffic to your website, and why you’d want to know the Best Practices in Blogging for SEO, it’s  it’s important to take a step back and talk a minute about how Google develops the rules that determine how high our pages rank in the search engines.

The Google PageRank Algorithm

Several years ago,  few people really could imagine the explosion of social media engines like Linked-in, Facebook, and Twitter.

Google did.

“The perfect search engine would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want.” ~ Google co-founder Larry Page 

When Google modified its Pagerank Algorithm to include backlinks, it was the beginning of the Social Media Revolution (or the revolution of user-generated content). Google dictated that it’s not only structure of your code on your pages that determines your page rank, but also how many influential websites link to yours…, in other words, your search engine visibility is determined not only by the quality of the content on your website, but by who is linking to you. 

This is why why Blogging is the new strategy to attain search engine visibility - and why it’s important to know the Best Practices in Blogging for SEO - because Blogging provides a platform to share your ideas, get others to connect with you, and if your ideas are good ones, they can share you ideas with others. So you’ve got one platform that facilitates all three actions of social media: (1) Connect (2) Collect and Share, and (3) Create.

Success breeds success. If your posts are popular and they follow the best practices in blogging for SEO, chances are they’ll also achieve greater search engine visibility.

Here are the Best Practices in Blogging for SEO

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How do you Create a Better Linked-in Profile?

While Linked-in is acknowledged as the premier business-oriented social networking site, many people look at it as a simple online CV or resume.     

But Linked-in is greatly underrated as a place to showcase your talents, grow your capabilities, and develop new business opportunities.  It is certainly worth your time to build a better-Linked-in Profile.   

I know for a fact that many Human Resource Professionals use Linked-in to help find and screen candidates. If you’re a job seeker, your should optimize your Linked-in Profile–just in case someone is looking for someone like you at this very moment.  If you’re a manager or an executive, you should take time to create a Better Linked-in Profile–to put your best foot forward.     

I realize there are many blog posts out there about how to Build a Better Linked-in Profile, but I put together the 5 main things that I do whenever I update someone’s Linked-in Profile. These 5 things will help you (1) connect with others and let them connect with you (2) collect and share information that’s important to you, and (3) to showcase your own content that positions you as the expert, so that when a client or prospect has a need they call you first.     

5 Easy Tips to Create a Better Linked-in Profile

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What is Lean Marketing, exactly?

Improve your marketing

Everyone’s looking for results. 

Is there a sure-way method to find them?  

Yes–if you take the time to measure your results, which many companies are simply too busy to do.  

“You can’t improve what you  can’t measure.” 

Many companies think they’re practicing “Direct Marketing” without taking the time to measure and report the results… they enjoy the results, but they don’t try to figure out how they could do better. 

Like Direct Marketing, Lean Marketing is targeted, personalized, measurable, but most importantly, it’s improveable.  

As consumers, and as business managers, we’ve all seen successful examples of Direct Marketing. You go to your mailbox, open your mail, and there’s a letter that stands out — it comes from a real person directly to you with an offer designed to delight you and make you want to respond.  

As marketers, if you use Direct Marketing regularly, you know that for every $1.00 you spend you can get $20.00 back, or $24.63, or whatever. Predictable return on investment helps you with your budgeting, your cash management, and your profitability.  

Lean Marketing is Continual Improvement applied to Marketing

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Do you have an open mind? Or, are you closed off to new ideas?

Try new things

If you sometimes feel like you’re stuck, or that your key employees are stuck, and that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, then you’d probably be interested in a fascinating piece in the New York Times that was entitled: “Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?”

In the article, it affirms that ”brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.”

Moreover, “rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.”

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What are the Best Practices of Business Blogging?

Blogging is communicating

Blogging can be a great way to leverage social media to  position yourself as an expert–the “go-to” resource whenever someone has a problem you can solve, but to blog effectively you should follow the best practices of business blogging.

I know that a lot has been written on this subject, but I’m putting up what I consider the top 5 Best Practices of Business Blogging for your review–if you feel I’ve missed something or I’m off the mark, please let me know!

The 5 Best Practices of Business Blogging

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This is a “must see” video for everyone…  Check it out.  It’s worth 5 minutes.

It’s kind of mind-boggling, really…

Looking for some marketing ideas to grow sales?

So what's new?

You know the definition of insanity, right? “Doing the same old thing and expecting different results.” 

So why do so many companies keep doing the same old thing, and expect anything different? It’s insanity. 

If you’d like to break out of the same old routine, and produce some real results you need to try something new. 

Here are 12 great marketing ideas to grow sales you can try in the coming months to achieve better results. 

12 Marketing Ideas to Grow Sales Read the rest of this entry

Why do I love Infusionsoft CRM? Let me count the ways…

Direct Marketing 2.0

Infusionsoft CRM is simply the most powerful CRM/Marketing Automation tool for small business. There’s nothing better.

It’s like Salesforce.com + ExactTarget + 1ShoppingCart all-in-one.

And for two seats at $299/month, plus $59/month per additional seat, the price cannot be beat.  

Infusionsoft CRM offers you more

You will not find a better all-in-one CRM/Marketing Automation System.  It includes:  (1) CRM (2) Autoresponders (3) Web forms (4) Order forms (5) Sales force automation (6) Shopping cart (7) Affiliate marketing management, and (8) lots, lots more, and what’s best, you can get it all without spending tens of thousands of dollars, or cobbling together other systems that do parts of what Infusionsoft can do (like Salesforce.com + ExactTarget + 1ShoppingCart, which you’d probably spend 5 figures putting it all together anyway).

If you’re looking for a CRM or Marketing Automation System for your Small Business, but haven’t been able to decide which one is best for you, here are 5 good reasons to get off the fence:

5 Reasons to Get Off the Fence and Choose Infusionsoft CRM

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How do you build a Sustainable Competitive Advantage?

A good moat protects you

When Warren Buffet speaks, people listen.

Recently I happened to catch Warren Buffet on TV talking about how leaders should set business priorities.

Mr. Buffet was saying that, no matter the size of the business, you should operate your business like it’s a family business–one that you are going to hold onto for 100 years, and that the #1 thing you should think about is how to build a Sustainable Competitive Advantage, like building “like a moat around your castle.”

This is a great analogy. If you look back to medieval times, moats were excavated around castles as part of the defensive system–an obstacle immediately outside the walls–and usually they were filled with water.

A good moat made it difficult for your enemy to access your walls with siege weapons, such as towers and battering rams, which needed to be brought up against a wall to work effectively. A water-filled moat made it impossible for your enemy to dig tunnels under your fortifications in order to effect a collapse of the defenses. A good moat protected your castle and everything in it.

The wider your moat, the longer you can protect your profits. The deeper your moat, the more profitable you are.

“Understanding your customers” is key to building a good moat and creating a sustainable competitive advantage

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