I’d be really surprised if you’ve never heard of Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.

A lot of people think that it’s the holy grail of web site design. The other side of that equation and equally as important is your website conversion rate. Your website’s conversion rate is nothing much more than a fancy way of saying the percentage of site visitors (website traffic) who take action like a result of their go to. That could be make a buy; sign up for a newsletter; download a report or whatever your call to action may be.

If you’ve thousands of people visiting your site on a daily basis with exactly none of them producing a buy, signing up for the newsletter or whatever your call to action may be, does it really matter which you had all of that traffic? Your website’s conversion rate is nothing much more than a fancy way of saying the percentage of site visitors (website traffic) who take action as a result of their go to. To understand if your web site is truly producing the outcomes you are looking for ask yourself a couple of questions:

If you’ve thousands of individuals visiting your website on a daily basis with exactly none of them producing a purchase, signing up for your newsletter or whatever your call to action may be, does it really matter which you had all of that visitors?

*Do you have the web site visitors statistics to measure the effectiveness of your website traffic?

*What is your web site visitors conversion rate?

*Do you have the website traffic statistics to measure the effectiveness of your website traffic?

Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers to those questions just yet.

Despite the importance of conversion rates, it is one of the least understood measurements amongst small business owners I speak to. Most small business owners start out at least with the impression that just builiding a good looking website will improve their businesses bottom line and then get quickly discouraged by the results.

One of the first places to start would be to sign up for a Google Analytics account. This is free to set up and you can quickly get a handle on all the statistics you need to help you track the performance of your site.

With Google Analytics, you are much more prepared to write better-targeted ads, strengthen your marketing and advertising initiatives and produce a higher converting website. Despite the importance of website conversion, I discovered that it is among the least understood measurements among the small business owners.

One of the initial places that I would recommend starting so that you can get a grasp on your website traffic, your conversion rates and the overall performance of your web site is Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free of charge service that Google provides to its clients to permit them to track, monitor and measure with great accuracy statistics relating to traffic, conversions and page views on your web site. The greatest thing is that having a well style WordPress web site and a simple plugin it is simple to add Google Analytics to your web site. Exactly where many small company owners now have to call up their internet designer to create a simple addition like Google Analytics to their web site, with a WordPress based website you’ve just avoided that challenge.

After creating your Google Analytics account you only need to add the unique code that Google provides in the plugin on your WordPress site.

Other important info which you can obtain may be the profitability of your keywords across various lookup engines and online campaigns. How about being able to identify where your best on the internet customers come from and which target audiences are the most profitable for your particular content? Additionally, Google Analytics comes a large number of predefined reports to assist you with the analysis of your website traffic information. Actually, Google Analytics enables you to track all of your marketing and advertising initiatives. Measure the effectiveness of one’s ads, email newsletters, affiliate campaigns, referrals, paid links, lookup engines, and key phrases, thereby allowing you to compare overall performance across all of your marketing efforts.

The best thing is that having a well style WordPress web site and a basic plugin it is easy to add Google Analytics to your web site. Where numerous small company owners now have to call up their web designer to make a simple addition like Google Analytics to their web site, with a WordPress based web site you’ve just avoided that challenge.

After creating your account, to create Google Analytics work you only need to place the special snippet of code that Google provides you in the Google Analytics plugin for the WordPress web site.

1 of my favorite functions of Google Analytics is the identification of critical pages and bottlenecks exactly where you are likely to lose most of one’s on the internet clients. Funnel Visualization, shows you the bottlenecks inside your conversion and checkout processes which are frequently attributable to such factors as confusing content or confusing navigation. Once identified you can get rid of the issue content material and/or create less confusing navigation and start “funneling” visitors via the steps you would like them to take.

Additionally, Google Analytics comes a big number of predefined reports to assist you with the analysis of one’s website traffic information.

Are you already an advertiser with Google? You are able to immediately log in into Google Analytics and start utilizing these tools right from the start. Google Analytics automatically imports all your existing keyword data from your AdWords account. In this way you are able to see the ROI and other key metrics for every keyword you purchase on AdWords, without any extra setup.

My guess is that by now you’re starting to understand the importance of combining Google Analytics together with your WordPress website. As I bring this to a close I will leave you with a few from the large benefits to combining Google Analytics together with your WordPress Website:

* Zero cost. Take note that the free of charge version is limited to 5 million page views a month. Nevertheless, users with an active Google AdWords account are given unlimited page view tracking.

* Great visual maps, stats, reporting and excellent use of efficient info design principles. Navigating information is a strong point.

* Ease of use: Google Analytics is easy to use for novice marketers, yet provides all the capabilities that experienced internet analytics professionals expect.

*AdWords integration. If you’ve an AdWords account, you are able to use Google Analytics directly from the AdWords interface.

The benefits to making use of Google Analytics is much longer than the few advantages I have listed above, but I think you get the picture. Now which you have a clear understanding of how to begin measuring the effectiveness of one’s website I think it’s time that we turn our attention to website visitors conversion. In my next article I’m going to dive further into the challenge of converting your web site visitors to prospect, leads and/or new clients.

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Here are the first seven things I do with any WordPress blog site I set up.

They are all easy to do at the beginning and can make a big difference to your site. Some are harder to put right if you don’t set them up at the beginning. These are presented in no particular order since I make sure all are done before I install plugins or start posting.

1. Update Your User Profile: I say do this one is first because some of the other steps below will require you to log back in, and who can remember that crazy randomly generated bit of rubbish they call a password? Go to Dashboard | Users | Your Profile. Replace the password to something you stand a chance of remembering before you do anything else. Then, when you need to log back in(and you will for some of these settings), you can get back in without referring the email they sent you.

2. Change Your Blog Tagline:You don’t want to be branded as a newbie from the word *go*. By default, WordPress inserts *Just another WordPress Blog* as the tagline. You need to change it.You could use it to ask a question, get people interested- anything but *Just another WordPress Blog*. Dashboard | Settings | General …Be creative, this is one of the first things your visitors see.

3. Permalink Structure: When installed, WordPress will display a link structure something like this for your posts: YourDomain.com/?p=101 which means absolutely nothing to you, your visitors or Google. Get rid of it. Go to Dashboard | Settings | Permalinks I would use a custom structure that let’s me benefit from the category name (as a part of the URL) and the Post Name. It looks like this: /category%/%postname%/. This is much better as you can use keywords in both your category and post title and Google loves them!

4. Activate (Turn On) Akismet:This often ignored step can mean the difference between being overwhelmed by spam messages a day, or not. Akismet is one of the very best *anti-spam* plugins and comes preinstalled with WordPress. Use it. Just be aware though that WordPress requires an API key, something you can only get by registering on the WordPress.com site (profile only, no blogs required). Once you register, they will send an email with your API key. Insert that in the correct place in your Dashboard. (Once you activate Akismet, it will be at the top of every Dashboard page until you activate it).

5. Install Google XML Sitemaps Google XML Sitemaps generates a compliant XML-Sitemap for your site, enabling the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN) to easily index your site. Every time you modify or add a post, the sitemap will modify itself unless you tell it differently (see below).This part is optional, but highly recommended! Go to Google Webmaster Central and log in with your Google Account (you do have a Google Account, right?). On the first page, there will be a link to “Verify” your site. Follow the instructions there. Once that’s done, you can then click the *Add Sitemap* link from the first page and put in the URL to your sitemap, which will be something like this (non-working) link: YouDomain.com/sitemap.xml

6. Install A Database Backup Plugin:WordPress is application that is driven by a database. All your posts, pages and links are stored in the database. If it crashes, your entire *blog* could be lost, so take a minute and install a backup plugin to protect yourself. The one I like best (and make sure is on all my blogs now) is the WP-DBManager Plugin. Once installed and activated, just go to Dashboard | Database (it’s on the bottom) and select DB Options. Select the maximum number of backups to keep on hand (mine is 10) and setup the auto-email feature. This will send a zipped copy of your database backup to your email address.

7. Activate Your Analytics:Keep track of your users and traffic, there’s a lot you can learn from who visits, how they found you and where they go from your place.I recommend Google Analytics, Other good analytic services available include Mint and StatCounter. I would always look for a plugin that automatically links to your chosen analytics site. Ultimate Google Analytics is the one I always use first.

These are the top things I do with each and every wordpress blog I set up and is the minimum.

There are lots of other tips and tricks that are required for some more than other sites.
If you need any help setting up your wordpress blog just give me a call.

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Well maybe not quite yet but that’s the aim of the wonderful Judith Morgan who has launched her new social enterprise call The Million Entrepreneurs. You can see the site at http://www.themillionentrepreneurs.com.
I created a promotional video to help…well promote it!

Judith’s aim is to have a community of 1 Million Entrepreneurs around the globe supporting each other. How fabulous is that?

Please take a look and join up. It costs nothing and will bring you in to contact with LOTS of like minded individuals.

If you like the video why not ask me to help you produce one for your business or passion (or both!)

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I’m very excited as today I have launched my new survey at www.womeninbusinesssurvey.co.uk.
There is a free prize draw for everyone who completes the survey

First prize: A full review of your current site or business idea. A detailed report with  keyword research, SEO tips and tricks, competitor analysis and up to 3 hours of my time working directly with you to improve your online marketing. This will increase the effectiveness of your online presence – guaranteed!
(Value £500)

10 other prizes: A review of your website or business idea and 1 hour phone consultation. You will get lots of ideas about how you can use the internet more effectively to promote your business.
(Total Value £1000)

Good Luck!

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Talking to some of my prospective clients yesterday I realised something. Most people think about their website in terms of what it will cost them to set up initially. Very few people budget for an effective marketing campaign using their website as the cornerstone of their online activity.

Quite frankly this is madness!

Websites by themselves do not bring hordes of new customers. Sorry if that is a disappointment to you but it’s the bald truth.

And, if your sites isn’t bringing in new customers, it is costing you money.

Of course making sure that your website is optimised for SEO helps but there’s so much more you can do if you approach it in an integrated way.Things change quickly and your site needs to reflect those changes as well as having regular injections of new relevant content.

That’s one of the reasons that WordPress is becoming more and more popular as a way to produce professional looking sites. No longer is it simply a blogging platform but a fully functioning complete site. One of the advantage being that you are in control of the content and can update on a whim if you want. WordPress is also really good with SEO generally and some themes are now particularly well respected for their SEO functionality. The theme of this site (Frugal) is one example but a quick search on Google will reveal many others.

But, I digress. Failing to plan your online marketing is planning to fail.

Need some help with your online marketing strategy? contact me today at  info@justaskjean.co.uk

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Before

The past few days at JAJ towers have been spent spring cleaning or, more accurately, decluttering.
Those of you who follow me on Twitter may remember the mini earthquake that hit the office a few weeks ago.

Well, I have ruthlessly decluttered and tidied and here is the result of two days work:

After

The interesting thing is that all this space around my office seems to have really opened up space in my head. I’ve had so many ideas and a sudden burst of energy which was completely unexpected (although if I’d taken any notice of all the courses I’ve ever been on it shouldn’t have been so much of a surprise!)

How does this apply to your website I hear you ask… Ok, you may not be asking but actually it has also made me rethink my website and marketing and a declutter was necessary.

These are the steps I took and am already bringing in new clients as a direct result.

Firstly I looked at what marketing activities I was already doing. For me the list was quite short as I get the vast majority of my new work from word of mouth referrals and/ or networking both online and offline. There were a couple of other activities that I thought were marketing but when I really analysed where my work came from I realised that they didn’t bring in new work. So the ones that haven’t been working are now abandoned (and I don’t feel guilty because they – hey, didn’t work!).

The activities that have worked for me I decided I could spend more time on, but also, now that I have some time freed up as a result of not doing activities that weren’t working, I can add a couple more activities to my list and monitor how they do.

Then I took a good look at the back end of my website and realised that there were lots of plugins that I had installed but not active or installed but no longer using – again Gone! Result is site loads a lot quicker – result.

The site needs a bit of a spring clean and I’ve got my plans in place to do that when I can fit it in.

All of us business owners need to take a step back occasionally and give our efforts a spring clean. Websites in particular need regular attention to make sure everything is up to date (to make sure our sites are as secure as possible).

If your site or internet marketing strategy could do with a bit of a spring clean, give me a call (0121 288 7384).
I’ll bring my own feather duster

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Is my blog really in danger?

As of March 29, 2009 WordPress was downloaded more than 3,948,363 times. Hackers know that number, too and because of the sheer volume of WordPress users, they know it’s in their best interest to learn how to violate the security of your blog and manipulate it to their advantage.

No one is immune to WordPress security concerns. Former Vice President Al Gore (along with thousands of other individuals) have had their WordPress blogs compromised and even at this very moment someone is discovering that his or her blog has been hacked into and panic is setting in on how to save it.

Have you ever noticed that WordPress has a ton of updates on a regular basis? It seems you just get settled with one update and another one has come out. One of the reasons for this is because of hackers manipulating the system, finding holes in the software and modifying blogs as they see fit. And then it happened!

But there is an answer…

Click here to find out more

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Over the past few months I’ve been having fun creating new sites using various automated products. Here’s my post about my first attempts at affiliate marketing where I made 16p with two hours work! I created the site www.pushhands.co.uk and left it running. It currently gets more hits per month than this site does, probably because it is a much more niched area of interest and the high level of keyword rich content means it ranks well for a number of Tai Chi related keywords.

Since then I have been investigating the best of automated products and processes to monetize WP sites. I have just completed a site for Judith Morgan on one of her previously unused domains. Take a look at www.TickItOffToday.com.

I can now easily create these sites in less than 3 hours and then leave them running. With Clickbank, Amazon and Adsense ads creating a small (as yet) passive income.

If you have any unused domains, you may be interested in how I do this and to this end I have started to create an info product which will be an e-book and a series of step by step videos so you can do exactly the same thing. If you are interested in knowing about this please sign up for my newsletter as my subscribers will be the first to know (and will get a nice discount )

But as a sneak preview of what’s to come I wanted to share one of my ‘secret weapons’ Market Samurai. The link will take you to the free trial page which will allow you to use the keyword tool forever. This is great although I chose to buy the full version as there are lots of cool tools whihc allow you to quickly and easily monetize your site.

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WordPress is a great way to build and manage a website. Like any online software though, there are steps you should take to secure your WordPress installation and keep it safe from hackers. Some are common sense for any website (secure website hosting and choosing a secure password) and others are specific to WordPress (such as the plugins recommended below). Here are seven steps to secure your WordPress website.

1) Pick a Good, Reliable, Secure Website Host

Where you choose to host your WordPress website can make a difference in your security. Two important things to look for are server security and backups for restore.

Choose a host who offers you php5 and runs it in suEXEC mode. With suEXEC you are able to lockdown your files more tightly. You can find more technical (very technical) details in Wikipedia.

Also look for a host who offers a reliable backup system and will restore your site for you free in the event of being hacked. Most hosts offer weekly and monthly backups at a minimum. Some hosts also do nightly backups and incremental hourly backups. I'm hosted on a server with monthly, weekly, nightly, and incremental backups. This means that if my site were to be hacked I could easily roll back to what it looked like 3 or 4 hours ago. I wouldn't loose much, if any, of my content or other files.

2) Use Fantastico to Install Your Blog (or Change Your Admin Username)

If you install yourself with FTP and cPanel, you'll have a default username of “admin” which is very easy to guess. By using Fantastico, you will be given the choice to pick a username and password that are unique. Plus, it's easier than an install with FTP and cPanel. Either way, don't use “admin” for the admin username. And don't EVER use “password” for your password.

3) Use a Secure Password

Hackers and bad people are constantly attempting to crack into our online accounts and access everything from our email to our online banking records. How can you stop them from easily accessing your accounts? One important step is to use SECURE passwords that aren't easily guessed or cracked by their software.

Here are tips on how to create secure passwords:

o Don't use names, dates, phone numbers, or addresses

o Don't use common words from the dictionary

o Mix up letters and numbers

o Make it at least 8 characters long (longer is better)

o Change it often (for online banking or hosting accounts)

You may also want to use an online random password generator.

4) Stay on Top of WordPress News

Subscribe to the updates at the WordPress website so you'll know immediately when the developers release an update or patch for any security issues.

5) Keep Your WordPress Installation Up to Date

It's critical to your security to keep WordPress up to date. The new versions of the script make that very easy and you can update in just a couple of clicks. It's under “Tools” then “Upgrade” on the menu on the left of your admin pages.

6) Keep Your Plugins Up to Date

Anytime a plugin is updated, be sure to update the version on your site. You'll know an update is available because when you login to your admin area, there will be a number in bright orange-red circle next to the “Plugins” link on the left. Click “Plugins” and it will show you which have an update available. You can follow the steps to automatically upgrade your plugin(s) as needed (backup your site before you upgrade anything, including plugins).

7) Install Security Plugins

Here are two security plugins I run on my WordPress websites and recommend installing:

o WP Security Scan: wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-security-scan/

o Secure WordPress: wordpress.org/extend/plugins/secure-wordpress/

With these seven steps you'll have a more secure installation of WordPress.

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WordPress for Dummies

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