The Issue of Old Content

One of the most upsetting things about seeing slow progress on your website is what happens to your content. You work hard on all the posts you upload to your site. Each time you add something new, it involves research, planning and a lot of time sitting down just writing. Sometimes you’ll feel a little uninspired. Other times you’ll create posts that you’re truly proud of and that you can’t wait for the world to see. You upload them and they get… 10 views.

Then you do it all again. Yes, this is a pretty crushing feeling but there are a few reasons that you shouldn’t feel so bad. And in fact, this can be turned into a strength.

The Power of Old Content

The first thing to recognize is that just because old content isn’t getting read, it is still providing value to you. It is building up your SEO and it’s helping you to gain traction and attract bots. Over time, doing this will help your newer content to actually get seen. What’s more, is that it looks good for viewers. When someone visits a site and finds it completely empty, they’ll often just leave and think it’s amateurish. But if your site is filled with old content, it looks established and important. While some posts won’t get read, if they contribute to your mission statement and they serve an important purpose, they can still add a lot of value that way by establishing your authority.

What to Do With Old Content

One other important thing to consider is if your content is ‘evergreen’ (meaning that it isn’t time-dependent like news). Then you can simply re-share it later on. Just post that old content on Twitter or Facebook again and remind your audience why it’s so good. Once posts are popular, your old content can work wonders for you and gain thousands of views that it never got the first time around!

Better yet, why not frequently update and improve your old posts? If something is somewhat time-dependent, you can then come back to it year after year to improve it and make sure that it’s still relevant. Not only is this good for your site’s accuracy and reliability, but it’s also something that Google loves to see and that can be great for your SEO!

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Creating the Best Landing pages

One of the reasons for creating landing pages is to incentivize people to join your mailing list. To maximize the number of email subscribers, your landing pages need to look professional and convince your visitors that they will receive the benefits they’re looking for. WIIFM? (What’s in it for me?)

Landing Page (also known as Squeeze page) Tools

There are a lot of tools available to help you create professional-looking landing pages. Most of them are drag and drop. This makes them remarkably easy to create great-looking landing pages. If you are a WordPress user, there are some great free plugins you can use to create your landing pages. The two I like best are Elementor and Beaver Builder. Always create the best=looking landing pages for your sales funnel.

Two Choices for Your Visitors

When visitors arrive on your landing page, you want to give them two choices:

Choice #1 – Sign up for your incentive and your email list.

Choice #2 – Leave the page.

Creating a landing page that converts is easier than ever. Use these tips and watch your conversions increase.

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Getting maximum website traffic doesn’t mean you have to completely remake your website. Great content and a winning marketing strategy will only get you so far. A poorly designed website will restrict your success.

Google believes in high-quality website design and function. Their standards ensure its visitors have the best possible experience with their searches. If your website is slow and poorly designed, visitors will leave quickly and Google won’t give you a high ranking.

How do you manage your website so it brings more traffic and ranks higher in the search engine? Here are 5 tips for maximum website traffic:

Compress Images – To lower your website’s load times, compress your images. WordPress websites can use plugins such as Smush and WP Optimize. These plugins will shrink the file sizes of your images which will, in turn, speed up the amount of time it takes for your pages to load.

Remove Unused Plugins – Does your website include plugins that you aren’t currently using? Getting rid of these unused plugins is another way to improve your site’s speed. Unused and plugins that are not updated are a magnet for hackers. Download only the plugins you’ll use and get rid of the rest.

Build Your Brand – Brand your website with your personal or company logo. Use your brand’s colors and font throughout your site. A strong brand helps communicate to your visitors what your website is all about. It also helps Google see that you are a serious business person.

Create Internal Links – Internal links help Google organize your content and improve indexing. Your visitors will stay on your site longer as they smoothly move from one page to another. Internal links have a very positive impact on your SEO.

Lead Your Visitors – Show your visitors what you want them to do next. Visual clues will lead your visitors to the action you want them to take. For example, if you’re working on lead generation, lead your visitors to the “thing of value” that you want them to sign up for.

Using these five tips for maximum website traffic will get you started on the road to more visitors and better search engine ranking.

BONUS ALERT! Get your free 101 Free Website Traffic Ideas. It’s ready for your immediate download!

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Remember the “Content is King!” mantra? In the long-forgotten past, we were encouraged to add copious amounts of content to our website. Later, we were encouraged to scale back for mobile viewing. Content is how we communicate with our viewers. Eliminating too much text can be a big mistake. Content is still king! Here’s why good website content is still so relevant.

Website Content Informs and Educates – The most effortless content is “how-to”, “why”, and other information that teaches your visitors something they may not have know. Teach your readers and provide solutions to their pain points.

Google Juice = Search Engine Optimization – Well-placed keywords attract search engines. Use appropriate search terms within the content to attract your visitors and search engines.

Inbound Links – When you do a good job organizing the content you want your audience to see on your website, other people will find it and link back to it. When you share that content with your social media followers, that also provides a link back to your content. But when you earn inbound links from other sites, especially authoritative sites, your ranking will go up, and so will your traffic because of it.

Content Encourages Engagement – When content is shared, it creates interaction with others as well as another inbound link to your site. You want to not only make the content look attractive, but you also want to ask them to share it. Your contacts get to know and trust you.

Create Potential Customers – Your website content can make money for you. It does this by bringing in traffic and educating your viewers. Persuade your viewers to become customers and join your list. Then, create marketing material directed to them and their specific needs.

Increase Your Authority – Content is a great way to prove your knowledge about a specific topic. When you show your readers that you are educated on a topic and can lead them to success as well as a solution to their problem, it will solidify your expert status to your audience.

Basis of Any Digital Marketing Strategy – All the digital marketing tactics like SEO, offering lead magnets, email marketing, social media marketing, PPC marketing, video marketing, and so forth are all content-based. Think about it. Everything you do to market your business is content-based.

Think about website content as an important marketing tool. Organize your website carefully. Use your content to its fullest potential.

You may also enjoy reading:

• There’s More to Content Marketing Campaigns Than Blogging
• 5 Tips for Choosing and Marketing Digital Content

If you need help with your website content and digital marketing, complete the following form and we’ll set up time to talk!

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Some of you may be wondering what an SSL Certificate is and your website needs one. Yes, it’s a little pricey to have it done. I believe the cost is well worth it.

What is an SSL Certificate?

According to Google:

SSL stands for “secure sockets layer” and is a form of security for sites that handle sensitive information such as visitor’s personal information and credit card numbers. It creates a secure connection between a visitor’s web browser and the server of the company they’re interacting with.

Why Do I Need an SSL Certificate?

Again, according to Google:

The primary reason why SSL is used is to keep sensitive information sent across the Internet encrypted so that only the intended recipient can access it. … When an SSL certificate is used, the information becomes unreadable to everyone except for the server you are sending the information to.

What Does This Mean for You?

Websites without the SSL Certificate are not encrypted and are an easier target for hackers. Google is working to keep our websites secure. Part of that security is the SSL Certificate which adds the encryption needed to keep your site safer.

Visitors to websites without the certificate will see this in the address bar:

Visitors to websites with the certificate will see this in the address bar:

An SSL Certificate Builds Trust and Confidence

Visitors to your website are less likely to complete forms or provide any kind of personal information if they see that your site is “Not Secure“. Some visitors will forego clicking on your pages at all.

With website hacking at an all-time high, it’s important to make sure your site is secure and that your visitors have confidence that the information they provide is safe.

NOTE: As a matter of disclosure, Second Self Virtual Assistance owns Second Self Hosting which provides, among other services, the SSL Certificate. Please feel free to visit that website to learn more or go to your current provider.

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How to Keep Your Website and Blog Content Fresh

Creating blog posts and keeping website content fresh and up-to-date requires a lot of time.  Researching, writing, and planning your content on a regular basis can be overwhelming.   Updating old information doesn’t have to mean getting rid of it altogether, though.  Your “old” information still has value.  Here’s why:

Is your old content not getting read? You may think old content isn’t adding value to you but it is.  It comes in the form of search engine optimization.  Well-optimized and seasoned content is still attracting the bots.

Your visitors benefit, too.  Think about the sites you visit.  Does it have a lot of information or does it look empty and incomplete?  Visitors who find a lot of great information linger longer.  It’s more impressive to have established content.  Even old posts serve an important purpose. They let your authority shines through.

How do you make old content fresh again?  Go to your website and see where you can freshen up your content.  Look for ways to update it with “evergreen” information.  Evergreen means information that is relative for a long time.  In other words, information that isn’t date-sensitive.

Update and improve old blog posts.  Use updated terms and make sure all of your links work.  Make sure the information is still as relevant now as it was when you first wrote it.

What’s old is new again! – As you update content, share it again on social media.  Share it with your contacts.  All this updating not only helps your readers, fresh content is something Google loves.  It will improve your search engine rankings.

Change up your graphics.  Create something unique.  Canva offers a free service with lots of graphics and templates.  Optimize your graphics for SEO and add an appropriate link.  Google gives credit to well-optimized images, too.

Put aside a little time each week. Work on updating your website and blog content.  Promote your updated content on social media.  Email your contacts and direct them to your “new” posts.

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How to Add Promotional Video Content to Your Website and Blog Without Being on Camera

A well-written website and blog provide a great opportunity for good search engine ranking. It also builds confidence and trust in your readers.  Video is more engaging than just writing plain text.

As important as well-written content is, it’s equally important to promote it.  You can write up some teaser text and link back to your post.  Then, add it to your social media networks and send it to your contact list.  This tactic is perfect for building traffic and gaining exposure.  It also keeps you in the forefront of your contacts’ minds.  Get someone’s full attention by creating  video content that promotes your post.  It’s more engaging and may get better results.

What if You’re Camera-Shy Like Me?

They say when you get older, you quit worrying about what other people think.  I wish that were true for me.  Everything my business puts out into the world, I want to be viewed as a professional product.  I’m much too critical of myself on camera to end up with a product I’m satisfied with.  If I wait for everything to look perfect, nothing will get posted.

Creating a PowerPoint presentation was a good solution, but very time-consuming.  I’d have create an outline, find photos for the slide deck and create text for each slide.  I would then upload the finished product into Slideshare.  I’d also format my slideshow into a movie and upload it to YouTube and my social media.

Then, One Day, AI Came Into View

Artificial intelligence has made its way to creating promotional video content!  It’s name is Lumen5.

Lumen5 is a video creation platform designed for brands and businesses to produce social content for driving audience engagements online. The goal of the platform is to allow anyone without training or experience to easily create engaging video content within minutes. Our technology enables marketing teams to focus on the story and narrative while relying on our system to do the heavy lifting.

Here’s how it works.  Using your post’s URL, Lumen5’s AI technology will automatically create points of interest from your post.  Edit the content, use their photos or upload your own, add music (or not) and publish.  They will email you when the video is ready.  Download it to post on social media and YouTube or automatically post to Facebook.

Did I Mention It’s Free?

Lumen5 and I aren’t connected in any way except that we both really like their product.  They have made it so simple to create promotional video content that you can share on social media.

Since watching a video is much more popular than reading plain text, you’ll get more engagement.  Let me know how it works for you!

The post Using Artificial Intelligence to Create Promotional Videos for Your Blog appeared first on Second Self Virtual Assistance.

A website needs to attract visitors.  It’s your curb appeal and their first impression.  With a few tweaks and fundamental changes, you can take your website from dull to dazzling.

Things to do To Attract Website Visitors

Social Media – You’re on social media.  Great!  Put a social media icon on your site and invite your visitors to follow you.  Make sure your social media sites have a link back to your website.  Post information from your website to your social media with a link back to that web page.  Do the same thing when you post to your blog.  Building online relationships is important to getting people to your website.

Clear Messaging – Make sure your website provides a clear message to your visitors.  Years ago, copious amounts of text was added to grab the search engine’s attention.  People were encouraged to add pages of content that strayed away from their main messaging objective.  Be clear about what your visitors will find on your website.  Keep in mind that a majority of your visitors will be viewing your site via a digital device.  Scrolling through tons of text will turn them off.  To get a clear picture of how mobile users see your site,  look at it using your own mobile device.  Make changes as needed.

Separate yourself from every one else by having a USP (unique selling perspective).  Let people know who you are and how you’re different from your competition.  Make it part of your branding and your voice.

Visual Interest – Good design elements create a positive experience for your visitors.  Create a website that is visually pleasing as well as functional.  Design your site for easy navigation.  Spell out what you want them to do.  Keep text to a minimum and include targeted keywords on all pages.

Functionality – Go to Website Grader to see how you can improve your site.  This free tool checks your site for performance, SEO, security and mobile-friendliness.  It then gives you suggestions for improvement.  Check for broken links.  All of these elements are important to attracting and keeping website visitors.

Speed is an important website design element.  Photos, graphics and videos can slow a site down.  WordPress has plugins to cache content and smush large files.  People will not wait any longer than 3 -5 seconds for your site to load.  Make sure you’ve done everything you can to speed it up.

Provide your visitors with an opportunity to subscribe to your RSS feed.  As subscribers, they will automatically be notified when you’ve written a new post or added new content.

These are just a few of things you can do to take your website from dull to dazzling.  I’ve created a full list of 50 things your website needs to attract more clients.   I encourage you to download this free list and use it to make improvements to your site.

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Building your website traffic doesn’t take a lot of money; but it does take some time.  It’s the only way you’re going to get people to see what you have to offer.  It also establishes credibility and trust.

I’ve written several post about ways to increase your website traffic.  Here’s three of them.

• How to Increase Website Rankings 
• Get Better Website Traffic Using Social Media 
• How to Use Your Blog to Drive More Traffic to Your Website

Here’s five more things you can do to increase traffic to your website that won’t cost you anything but time.

Get out There!  Find and join social media groups where your target market hangs out.  Start your own group and invite targeted people to join.  Make it open to the public;a place where you will share blog posts, ask and answer questions and encourage your members to participate.

Have You Heard? – The acronym, HARO, stands for  Help a Reporter Out.  This is a great place to help you find or become a source for journalists and others in the media.  Guest blog for market-related websites.  Your post could be picked up through syndication and could go viral.  I wrote a post for a company who provides services to Realtors® and it was picked up by an international online magazine.

Keep it Simple – Take advantage of the signature line on your email, newsletters, marketing materials and business cards.  Sounds simple enough, but it’s often overlooked as a valuable resource for building website traffic.  Your signature should include name, email address, phone number, social media links and your web address.  When possible, link the text and icons.

Don’t be Afraid of Your Competition – I know that sounds counter intuitive, but your competition can be a great resource for building your website traffic.  Invite them to like your social media pages.  This gives you access to their followers through your posts.  Their followers will then be able to like and share your posts and page.

Is Your Website Ready for Prime Time? – Check your website for broken links and misspelled words.  Optimize your site for search engines. It should take no more than 3 -4 seconds to load.  Slow loading sites are seen by far fewer visitors than ones that load quickly.  Create an introduction video for your homepage.  Add videos throughout your site.  Videos increase interest and lowers your bounce rate.  This is good for SEO.

These five tips will help you build traffic to your website.  Having a great website with information targeted for your market will keep them interested and engaged.

Want more tips to increase website traffic?  Complete the form below and I will email it to you right away.

The post Put Some Time – Not Money – Into Your Building Your Website Traffic appeared first on Second Self Virtual Assistance.

Choosing the perfect domain name for your website can be challenging.  Is your choice is already taken?  How long should your name be?  Should you hyphenate it or choose a different extension; .net, .info, .org?

Here’s four tips to consider when choosing the perfect domain name for your website

Website Name and Domain Name

When possible, your website name and your domain name should be the same.  It will make finding your website easier.  For instance, find a domain name that matches your target market area.  You can see if that domain is available by going to a hosting company and typing your choice into the search box.

Length of Domain Name

Your domain name can be just about as long or short as you like.  Shorter domain names are easier to remember, but longer domain names have more opportunity for keyword usage.  Longer domain names also give you more opportunity to include your target market.

Unless you are known worldwide, it’s best to use your market’s keywords in the title instead of your name.  You can purchase additional domain names that include your name or other targeted areas and point them to one main domain.  For the best search engine optimization, have your main domain name reflect your target keywords.

Hyphenated Domain Names

There are advantages and some disadvantages in using a hyphen in a domain name.  It’s easier for search engines to “see” keywords that are separated by hyphen.  Hyphenated domain names are more likely to be available than a non-hyphenated name.  The flip side is that it’s more difficult for visitors to remember to add the hyphens.  I once used the domain, real-estate-support.com and found it tedious to always have to repeat it as, “real dash estate dash support dash.com”.  Consider what will happen when someone forgets or misplaces a hyphen.  They will end up on someone else’s website.

Choosing a Domain Extension

I checked GoDaddy to see how many domain extensions there are.  Turns out, there’s quite a few.  We are creatures of habit.  Therefore, I’d recommend that you stick to the most familiar domain extension.  If you’re concerned about your competition purchasing the same domain as yours with a different extension, you can always purchase .net, .info, .org.

Keep these four tips in mind when choosing a domain name for your website.

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