Here’s a copy of my Creating remarkable copy – one WordPress website at a time presentation. Make sure you leave any questions or comments.

Cross-posted at Go WordPress.

Feedburner is a Google service for bloggers or anyone who publishes content online. Feedburner delivers your new posts and updates to your subscribers via email or via Google Reader (or other readers).  Feedburner provides another way to share your content with your community.

What is an RSS feed?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a way to let your subscribers know that you have fresh content on your blog.RSS feeds can be emailed to your subscribers or delivered to their readers. That way they can enjoy your content their way and in their time. Here’s a great explanation of how RSS feeds work.

How do I burn a feed?

(NOTE: This post was first published on the Go WordPress blog. The feed example for this post related to burning a feed for Go WordPress)
First you need a Google account.  Once you’ve logged in, go to Google Feedburner. At the welcome  page, you’ll be invited to burn a feed.

1. Begin by selecting your Feed’s Title.  We chose GoWP – Toronto WordPress Workshops for our Feed Title.
2. Enter your blog’s address and add the extension /feed -> so that your URL looks like this: http://yourdomain.com/feed
3. You claim your feed by clicking the Next button at the bottom left of the welcome page.
4. You’ll be congratulated for successfully burning a feed and you should see the address of your feed. GoWP’s URL for its feed is:  http://feeds.feedburner.com/gowp
5. Next, you be invited to Optimize (enhance Feedburner services), Publicize, Monetize and Troubleshootize.
6. In the Optimize tab, in the sidebar, make sure that there is a checkmark beside the BrowserFriendly option (ensures readability across all browsers). If it isn’t ticked, click on it and then enable the browser friendly option.
7. In Optimize we also recommend that you subscribe to Smartfeed. Smartfeed consolidates your subscription links into one feed that works in any reader, on the desktop, web, mobile devices and beyond. In the left-hand sidebar, click on Smartfeed. And on the page, click to enable Smartfeed.
8. You can explore monetize, publicize and troubleshootize. These are extra features that you can choose to enable but are not necessary for a successful feed.
9. To verify all your feed details, look below your Feed title and click on edit feed details. This is what you should see:
10. Now add a widget to your website (you have a few options). You can have an RSS icon linked from a social media widget. You could have a follow button for Feedburner or you could use the Feedburner
11. Into one of these options you should insert feeds: feeds.feedburner.com/goWP. Replace goWP with your Feed name.

Now it’s your turn to burn your feed. Questions or comments? Leave me a comment or question.

This post, originally posted on the Go WordPress blog, has been lightly edited here.

What do I mean by keywords?

Keywords are those words and phrases that searchers use to search for your products and services. You want to use these keywords within your site or blog because this is one important way that Google will determine the “match” or “relevancy” of your site content and your searchers’ query.

How does Google determine your site’s content?

Google spiders and other search engine crawlers constantly crawl the web indexing and collecting information about “what’s out on the web.” As spiders crawl your site, they are reading your content looking for signs of what your site is about. Once the search engines have collected this data, they match searches with relevant sites. So the words and phrases that you use – your keywords – and the way that you use them can help provide good signals to search engines. Your website has a better chance of showing up well in search engine results.

Tactics & Tools to uncover your keywords

1. Google Adsense Keyword Tool

With this tool, you can determine search volume at three different levels (broad, phrase and exact), search volumes for your region in particular (to the country level in this tool) and the level of competition for your keywords.

2. Google Suggest

Use your search box to uncover related and new terms as you type into the search function on Google. Let’s say that your search term is management training. As you type in management, Google will generate other possibilities (and I suspect what others are searching). As you type in your second word, Google will return other suggestions.  I’ve listed a Matt Cutts post at the end of this article if you would like to learn more.

3. Google Insights for Search

Google Insights is a tool that helps you identify trends in searches and search volumes. You can also compare search terms with Google Insights. Google Insights also allows you to search at the state or provincial level which is important for a “locally-based” service or product.

4. Ask your existing client base about keywords and phrases

Conduct a straw poll with your existing client base. What terms did they (or would they) use to find the services and products that you offer? Identifying and using the terms that your clients use will result in targeted search results. 

And now?

If you want to enhance your site’s visibility in search, you need to incorporate the words, phrases and terms (we call them keywords) your searcher’s use to find you, throughout your site.

Try testing the tools that I have linked to below. Find the keywords your searchers use. And use them throughout your site.  Don’t expect instant results in Google or any other search engine – this is unrealistic. But over time, keywords are one tactic to improve your search engine results.

And leave a comment if you have other tactics that help in keyword research. Thanks!

Links to Related Posts

• Google Keyword Tool
• Google Insights for Search
• Matt Cutts on Google Suggest

Photo Credit: Stock image courtesy of

Cross-posted today on the Go WordPress blog.

Chris Brogan: Be there for people before the sale

My take: Be willing to reach out and help someone solve a problem. Don’t focus on what you have to offer. Get to know someone, their story, their problem and then try to solve it for them. This may not end up with you selling a product or a service.  But you’ve helped someone find what they need. You’ve made their day and my bet is that they’ll remember you for it.

Peter Shankman: Take responsibility for your actions

My take: If you screw up – admit it. Don’t try to hide – don’t try a cover up. Your motive for admitting a mistake is not to clear your path for future success. But there is an unintended consequence for doing so. Admitting a mistake demonstrates that while you may not be perfect, you may still be a trustworthy person.

Amber Naslund: “We are wayfarers. It’s not the era of experts…

It’s the era of inquisitors. It’s the era of the curious.”

My take: We’re at a pivotal moment in time. Social media and technology are giving us opportunities to do business, life and relationships in a new way. Let’s not only capture the wonder of where we are but also question everything we do and how we do it. Out of our questions, let’s create a new way of doing and being in business.

Darren Rowse: Be Useful and Make Life Better

My take: With social media, we have an opportunity to touch many more lives than we did a few years ago. Let’s use it for good. Help people – and make life better – for everyone.

Doug Anweiler: Don’t be a drive-by-social-media-ite

My take: Okay this isn’t exactly verbatim. Doug was actually talking about Twitter but it was such a great metaphor. Being a drive-by-er means being there to post your comment/s and then disappearing from the social media landscape. A drive-by-social-media-ite is like a fair weather friend. There for the minute and gone when you need them. Be available for people.  Stay, engage and be part of an ongoing conversation.

Did you attend BlogWorldLA? If so, what were some of your favourite truisms for social media?

And if you didn’t attend, what advice would you add?

Let’s talk … leave a comment below.

Why don’t we do that? Seth Godin says fear and I agree.  I am afraid to say it like it is.  Often.   And sometimes I don’t have an opinion but I still want to say something.   There’s a lesson in that.

However, I think there is more.  But you be the judge.

Greek or Latin?

Writing naked is hard

It’s hard work to pare down to the naked message. It’s easier to meander through flowery language and leave it there.  Writing naked requires severe editing.

We love our writing

Writing naked means that we have to slash our beloved words.  Writing naked means no pontificating.

Writing naked requires that we know what we want to say

Sometimes we write bunches of text because we don’t know our point. If we knew, we could be to the point.

Writing Naked can upset your client

I write content for clients. My clients expect a certain amount of text.  Here is where quality trumps quantity.  I often eliminate site text that does not add information.

One last reflection on writing naked: sometimes writing naked can shut down feedback.  And if it is feedback that you want – watch your naked writing.

So do you think fear is the only reason. Or do I make a point?

For a front-end, gaining-in- knowledge WordPress convert, I learned a lot at WordCamp. I appreciated Jeremy Wright’s keynote address about social media.  Jeremy talked about some of the “failures” of social media – but really he was pointing out how we have cheapened social media.  He mentioned

Jeremy Wright Keynote WCTO2010 flickr.com/photos/blucier

• SPAM problems – spamming is counter to SOCIAL media
• people having a mob mentality (we’re too influenced by who is saying what)
• the rise in Twitter Interns and how this changes social media from SOCIAL media to social MEDIA – we put the emphasis on the wrong idea
• An entitlement mentality – sometimes we’re just looking for the next handout
• Twitter Followership – we are still working for numbers – we’ve forgotten about the social part

Jeremy suggested some ways that we can filter all the noise so that we can focus on social media basics.

1. If someone is talking all the time, they aren’t listening.
2. Social media is all about  ‘how can I help’
3. Listen first, then get involved when it makes sense (then exchange business cards)

Then he gave some great SOCIAL media reminders:

1. Listen more than you talk – don’t expect to get until you give
2. No boasting – don’t paint the old as new
3. Don’t steal – give credit to people (whether it is photos, text, ideas… anything)

I may have missed some of his other really important points.  But I have to say that I didn’t miss his main point.  I can’t stop other people from cheapening social media and turning it into “what can I get from it”.  But I can look at my own social behaviour and ask myself  “Am I making social media into social MEDIA or am I keeping it as SOCIAL media?”

On a more personal note, Jeremy and several other speakers made a similar important point for me.  For WP newbies (and I kind of consider myself one of them), he stressed that we should just get started blogging … don’t step back and develop some big strategy – find something you enjoy – figure out what you want to say and then start saying it – work on strategy later.

I heard this so many times this weekend that I couldn’t help but think of the adage that when the student is ready, the teacher shows up (or something like that).  So I am going to relax, blog about what jazzes me instead of trying to write blogs about what I think I should be writing about.

Thanks Jeremy for bringing me (us) back to SOCIAL media basics and thanks for speaking to me directly (even though we didn’t even meet f2f!).