Wix vs WordPress SEO

SEO Comparison: Wix vs WordPress

I see people liking Wix everywhere on facebook so I decided to have a look at it myself.

And boy, I was awed by the amazing designs they have on Wix – I almost forgot about SEO. If Wix is really good, is it good for SEO too? Or is it only used by the laymen who don’t know the importance of SEO?

So, I quickly googled and found some write-ups. The one that really solves my question is by Mari Kane. Thank Mari, if you are reading this.

She had gone for a meet-up where Wix, Joomla and WordPress advocates talked about the benefits of each platform.

The conclusion is very reassuring to a WordPress SEO specialist like me:

• WordPress offers greater flexibility for customisation and SEO. Clap clap!
• Joomla requires more technical steps and can be more time consuming. It was actually designed as a CMS to suit large websites.
• Wix is great if you are not interested in appearing top in search results and are just doing some personal site.

 

 

Effective Use of Social Media – Strategy 2013 – 2014

Which social media is effective for brand awareness, which for education, which for making sales? The various options available, gosh, aren’t we spoilt for choices…Read here on what was trending for 2013.

Let’s do some serious thinking now. We want the most effective social media to use for our intention. Owning a business page on social media is not the end of the marketing story.

What do you want viewers to do on the page? How do you get more visitors to that page?

Let’s reflect on what most people are doing: They have a website, and then link that website to their Facebook page, Twitter page and Linkedin page.

Then, visitors will have to choose: predicting what they have on mind,

“I often log into Facebook, so liking the Facebook page is a good idea.

I have a twitter account, but I seldom go through my tweets, because my complete list of friends are on Facebook.

My Linkedin page is for finding a job, or getting a person to fill a job. So I don’t think I will need to look at the company’s Linkedin page.”

Now, the pattern is so clear. That if you have given the 3 options to your audience, they will most probably choose to connect via Facebook first.

Give them a reason why they should click on Twitter or Linkedin, or even Pinterest. Perhaps you have some awesome materials there that your users must see there.

I think Zuckerberg will be smiling at my next sentence:

Facebook is my first choice of social media. It has all the right ingredients for engagement.

Why I Use Facebook?

For sharing useful content – most of the Facebook posts are curated content (someone copied the link/image from somewhere). The most effective strategy is to make your own content. So people will have no choice but to like your page to get future updates of the content.

The Facebook interface seems to have nicely chunked spaces for the posts. So, it kind of have some psychological effect on us via a neat display of content.

For getting quick response on a situation – within 2-3 minutes, someone reads your post and may fire a comment. For sharing of life’s moments – it seems like everyone’s habit to instantly post about something special going on in his or her life, on Facebook.

Twitter will be my second choice. Plainly due to the character limits and the shortlinks. It can be a bit frustrating to see a twit with an attached image, but you can’t see the image directly unless you click on the shortlink. I am not sure if it’s just me, but I guess I am already spoilt by facebook’s feature of attached images already automatically shown in the post.

Why I Use Twitter?

Basically, to spread announcements, as an additional layer on top of facebook. Sometimes, I use it to also discover conversations, using the search hashtags plus keywords. The best thing I really love Twitter for is the fact that I can engage in any conversation without the need to “Request add friend”.

But again, how many genuine relationships can you make with total strangers? That brings me back to my roots, which are my Facebook friends/likes. Basically, because I know why they are my friends, and I know what makes my friends happy. It’s easy to monitor on the Facebook page administrator interface, via the number of likes and comments, what kinds of posts are found to be useful for my friends, and what are not useful.

Wait…a good idea for using Twitter will be for short messages or short advice / words-of-wisdom kind. That basically means, a sentence that makes sense can be seen as a tweet without having the reader to click, unless they want to find out more information about the tweet.

Why I Use LinkedIn?

Linkedin to me is elegance and professionalism. Where all serious topics are discussed in a politically correct tone. No swearing allowed. 🙂 I seriously mean it. And no wacky images and articles please. My time on LinkedIn is precious – it is for a purely business conversation.

Oh, of course, Linkedin is the best professional reference to have. Articles found here are from the experts and enthusiasts themselves, hence they are original. Join the professional networks and get started to find out the trends in your industry. There are many entrepeneurs and experts, exchanging thoughts and ideas. Be polite and professional and they will reciprocate with the same too.

For the entrepeneurs, what better way to learn about the trade from the experts? It’s certainly alright to ask for views and opinions. But be careful not to ask a question that already have the answer screaming at you.

For the experts, what better way to use (or showcase) your skills than to help the newbies? This way, you are creating your brand awareness too.

These three social media sites are already saturating my online social time, which I plan to keep to just 2 hours per day.

I would also like to engage in customers offline, and on a more personal level, via personal email or messages. So that means another 0.5 hour to 1 hour. Oh maybe more. That is what social means anyway. You take care of the people around you. Anything you do should be in the spirit of the community.

Hey, don’t forget Quora too. Think opinions. Maybe enjoy some quiet moments over a cuppa to ponder on Quora?

Company Values – Are Customers Interested in Your Company Values?

customers don’t care much about interaction with businesses — instead they feel most engaged (and buy more) when they believe they share values with the company.

Exactly what I need, it came at the right time when I am helping my client in copywriting. Thanks to the timely post by Copyblogger.

Values must be shared for long term success.

Easy Way to Create Facebook App via ShortStack

For the past week, I have been very keen on facebook apps and was viewing some video tutorials on how to create a simple facebook app. Well, there are quite a few steps that have to be completed, before you see the tab on your facebook page e.g. copy and paste URLs, fill up some fields on the developer page, etc.

So, I procrastinated a bit, because I knew that the process would require some time, especially for a developer zero like me, and someone who has to juggle two pre-schoolers and the desire to learn new social media techniques.

Well, today luck is on my side, and has presented itself via Socialbrite’s blog, a good resource for non-profit organisations. I found ShortStack, an easy way to create a facebook app, using the free option. There is a paid option also, if your fan likes are above 2000.

But for starters, I think that free option is satisfying enough. There are several themes to choose from, and the templates are working fine for simple requirements like getting users to download.

Yes, just under 10 minutes, I already have now a new facebook tab. Satisfied and proud. 🙂

Business Writing Tips: Engaging Content Is Not About “We”. It’s About “You”

Thanks to Copyblogger on the reminder to always focus on the reader and how to enlighten the reader. Very essential tips in business writing and proposals. Even in social media, these are true enough!

Often when writing about services that we provide, or writing a marketing proposal, there seem to be a subconscious tendency to use “we” in the text as we describe our strengths and what we can do for the customer.

Try reading what you have written and put yourself in the customers’ shoes. You are not helping the customers understand how your services can solve their challenges. You are just focusing on what you can do, but what can the customer do with your services?

What I mean is paraphrase your text – instead of saying: “We provide SEO services…blah, blah, blah”, you should say: “You can experience more web traffic when you engage our SEO services.”

To hit the strings of your customers/readers:

1. Develop detailed customer personas  – research who they really are

2. Find out their likes and dislikes

3. Find out what stops them from converting/purchasing

4. Remind yourself to always focus on “You” (the customer) and not “We”(the seller). Talk in terms of their interest.

5. Appreciate and encourage the customers, to make them feel important.

6. Personalise your text, and make the reader smile.

7. Remind your customer of the potential of success, and mistakes to avoid.

Why It’s Good to Use Adwords for Small Businesses

Good reasons to use Adwords, value for $!
http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/12/03/why-use-adwords

The Fun of Google+

The Fun of Google+

A Google plusser speaks about the stuff you can do when you start on Google+.

Why Work-at-Home Policy Will Benefit Working Moms in the Long Run

There was a furor when Marissa Mayer decided to ban work-at-home policy at Yahoo. Right when the government in Singapore is planning more flexible work arrangement for the working mothers with young children and a few other perks for mothers to return to the workplace.

According to Mashable today, the reason for Marissa’s action is due to less productive employees working at home and those “over” productive (employees who actually form startups while still being on Yahoo’s payroll). These are valid concerns, but what about those not falling in these two groups of employees. The serious workers who work at home, in fact some perhaps even work better at home and have established a good routine between work and family.

Think About This: Why Work-at-Home Will Benefit Both Employers and Employees in the Long Run

1. No travelling time, no morning hour rush = Work can start earlier in the day. Contribute less to greenhouse gases. The travelling time can also be replaced with morning yoga in your garden or the nearest park.

Benefit to employer: More work done, and no time wasted due to traffic jams. If we were to quantify say this as an hour. What is an hour times 22 working days per month? 22 hours extra for your employee. If an employee does morning exercise, for the employer it means staff are more fit as they take care of their health. Less cases of flu.

2. Nutritious home-made lunch = Healthy and cheap,  no need to queue, “choppe” (Singapore slang for “reserve”) seats (using tissue packets or umbrella) or rush for lunch at all. Food is prepared by your own hands and ensured hygienic.

Benefit to employer: Employees will be less likely to suffer from food poisoning (fewer sick leave) and won’t waste time on queuing for food, or be stuck in a traffic jam or heavy rain (if the employees have to take lunch far from the office.) Thus, again: More work can be accomplished by the employees.

3. A mother’s presence at home = Nanny, helper, baby sitter/au pair will be looking after your young child with real-time monitoring. No fear of child abuse or maid leaving the house to socialise. No need surveillance camera. More control on parenting as you will meet your children more frequently.

Benefit to employer: Happier working mothers who can continue to contribute to the organisation. Fewer cases of urgent/childcare leave where mothers have to be home in cases where the child is ill or when the helper flees from their job and the poor mothers have to take leave or time-off from work to search and train a new helper.

How do you see this as beneficial for the society? Leave your comments.

When Social Media Gets Bullsh**ty

Laugh…

Ok, let me start the discussion on this very sensitive topic. For a newbie like me, I am not in a position to discuss this. But I think I can say just a little something.

Yesterday, I was reading up a post on Google+ and found an article on why social media is bullsh**.

The author said that social media success stories are fabricated and are not accurate, because these are always backed by a lot of investments, or endorsements by celebrities who already have a ready audience.

For the ordinary people, it is tough to make it big on social media except for a few rare content creations.

I do agree with the part on huge investments behind social media. And I do agree that marketing gurus are sharing tips actually to make money. They have a right to earn a living too. But whatever that they have preached must be true and effective. As a strong value that I have emphasized at the introduction of this blog, every teacher is responsible for whatever they have taught.

It is a reckless act to share something which you picked from somewhere on the Internet, without making sure the accuracy or facts in it.

Huge social media agencies should not let money get in the way of delivering useful and true content. Newbies like me look up to such organisations as experts in the field and would most likely adopt whatever tips recommended by them. We don’t even know if a piece of content is fabricated and is done basically to get some media hype.

So, what I’ve learnt from the Social Media is Bullsh** article is that to be successful online, we should not blindly follow gurus. We have to make our own judgement as to what will work for us, and execute our plan.

Online age (how long you have been registered on a site) will not be a relevant factor. So do social status, or how big or small your organisation is. It is you and your goals – your pure intentions and your realistic goals (short term and long term).

By the way, it’s Social Media Week Singapore! Great events to liven up the week coming up.

Guy Kawasaki’s Tips On Social Media for Authors

Guy Kawasaki’s Tips On Social Media for Authors

I am a fan of Guy Kawasaki since I watched his video in 2011. And he was the first I added to my Google+ circles, without knowing his popularity at all. 

Now, this Guy is even doing more good things and I have more reasons to read his articles.