One question I often field is how to encourage more visitors to comment on your blog. In particular it seems, many of the people I've spoken to seem demotivated because "...nobody ever sends feed back... there's no response..." Does this sound like you? If so, the following six tips are just for you. 1) Ask for Comments. I can't make the statement any simpler. I'll say it again, if you want something, ask for it. In my opinion, the best place to ask is right at the end of you post. If your visitor has read this far (if the content is good quality, they will), you're more likely to garner a response. Most importantly, indicate that you respect their opinions, make sure you respond. This is commonly referred to as a "Call to Action". Once you're blog post is finished, empower your readers to add to or improve the content. Empower them to ask questions. Also, enable them to easily follow up by using the Subscribe To Comments Wordpress plugin. This plugin allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry. 2) Remove the Barriers. Nothing is more annoying then spending extra time writing a quality comment, and ...

I'm often asked what plugins are the best for Wordpress, or if I know of a plugin that provides some specific functionality. A reader commented in one of my earlier posts, asking "...if there were some plugins that would work well with marketing and other stuff..." (10 Steps to Effective eNewsletter Marketing). Some of the benefits of the plugin list below include: Enhanced blog visitor experience. Increased traffic and blog promotion. Improved security and blog performance. Simplified blog management and productivity. Better visitor communication. More effective search engine optimization. Greater integration with popular Internet communities and services. In my post "Why Every Business Can Benefit From a Blog", I discussed some of the tangible benefits inherent to businesses and people who maintain a blog. How blogs can improve your business growth. These plugins further enhance the effectiveness and usability of your blog. All these plugins work with Wordpress 2.6.3. Without further ado, below is my top 25, most beneficial plugins list (in alphabetical order). 1) Admin Management Xtended Extends admin functionality by introducing: toggling post/page visibility inline, changing page order with drag and drop, inline category management, inline tag management, changing publication date inline, changing post slug inline, toggling comment status open/closed, hide draft posts, change media order, change media description inline, ...

Most business owners are well aware of the role SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plays in promoting their web site. That's actually the number one issue raised by every single client I've ever had. They all want to rank high in Google. Some are so focused on SEO, to the exclusion of more effective site promotion tools, that they actually do their site harm! But they all want traffic... Given the lure of increasing traffic to your web site and the inherent increase in revenue that traffic can bring, it's no wonder how this seems the priority focus when attempting to increase traffic (and revenue leads). SEO is but one aspect that can benefit any business, there are incredible tools to this effect, one of the most beneficial is to use a blog. Side note: Don't know what a blog is? Then, you might be interested in my earlier post "What is Blogging? What's a Blog". That post also has a short video showing how a blog performs. In another earlier post on this blog (Quality Content is Not "the" Key to a Blog Success), I suggested focusing on the intangible elements to help further increase traffic. It may logically follow therefore, that one ...

I received an email message from a client asking me if I had any solutions for an eNewsletter system that could be run under their own domain name. Some of the feature suggested were: Automated subscription management (subscribe/unsubscribe). Statistics/Click through rate. Ability to send in both text and html (at the same time). No installation of software on their PC. Automated server transmission of email. Automated server management of bounced email addresses. And the list goes on... Suffice to say, it did make me think about some of the aspects I've experienced in emailed newsletter subscriptions, good and bad. In many cases I've observed individuals launch a newsletter - full of excitement! Only, later to find that they did not garner their anticipated results. Inevitably, after review, it became evident that the root causes of an unsuccessful newsletter system was in poor planing. In every public seminar I present, I almost always touch on the importance of solid planning (and sticking to the plan!). It does not matter how small or large the project is, it always needs a plan. Which brings to mind the old adage... "If you want some exercise walk around, if you want to get somewhere, plan your route!" Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting ...

Last week I was presenting a seminar to the local business centre. The seminar explored the use of quality content to improve and increase search engine traffic. For years I’ve always espoused that one key element is content, content, content! That it’s a primary must to ensure that a web site (or blog) always ensures that the content is of high quality, that it’s in-demand, remains current, and fills a specific niche (preferably one with less competition, if possible). I’m taking a couple months reprieve from the seminar track as I’ve a fair bit of work to catch up on. Doing so also presents me with the time to develop my seminar track for the next year “Blogging to Grow Your Business”. While developing the content (and bouncing ideas off some of my seminar regulars) on of them challenged a chapter I working on. In particular was the issue that the success of a blog (for that matter a web site too), was NOT incumbent solely on quality, in-demand content. Several others also voiced similar issues, and it occurred to me that we’re comparing apples and oranges. Most would ...