Blogging – Dennis J. Smith

#AskDennis: Online Instructor Patricia Martin

August 20, 2016

#AskDennis: Online Instructor Patricia Martin Transcript for my reply to Instructor Patricia Martin: Welcome back for another edition of Ask Dennis and you can find previous episodes at https://dennisjsmith.com/askdennis using the hashtag Ask Dennis and today’s question comes from Tricia who is a Udemy instructor and she says thank you for offering this service for answering our course marketing questions and her question is “What’s the most effective marketing method to get exposure for her course”, she’s tried coupons she’s tried handing out fliers with a course link on those added some lessons on YouTube etc. But she’s still not making a lot of sells what should her next step be thank you and she goes on to give her website and her course link which i will add in the notes on YouTube because they’re just so long that it’s some difficult sometimes for people to understand when you’re giving them out a URL so Thank You Tricia for the question. I’ll make sure that I give you a shout out excuse me. So on one of the first things that I would say and I say this probably a lot is a blog definitely want to have a blog where everything that you do comes together including promoting your courses and then also connecting your social media networks such as Facebook or Instagram of course says that it is the “Street basic power guide to SEO”, so it sounds like they should already have some SEO knowledge I use WordPress for websites and use Yoast SEO as a plug-in to help out with the SEO because SEO is not my forte I know enough about it you know to make sure that I have the right keywords and what not but you definitely want to have a blog and promote your courses on your website and start writing about SEO and give out tips and things like that and become the expert in SEO so that those people who are coming to your website for SEO tips see that you have a course on SEO and hopefully more courses, I haven’t looked to see if you have more unique courses but I would imagine that you’re going to release more courses and you just you know you want to become an expert in that area so that your followers see that I’m just like myself with the stuff that I’ve done on you to me I constantly get questions from people through Facebook who have questions such as yours and that’s because I’ve been doing this kind of stuff for a while now I do WordPress and I do SEO and all of that but my interest is in helping others out with marketing so you said that you tried flyers and things like that that’s interesting because I’ve never done something like that but what about maybe teaching a course at a local community college I’ve done that here i’m in the Boise Idaho area. I’ve gone to community colleges before who have allowed me to use their facilities and I have people come and join me. I haven’t done this in a while and I’ve been wanting to do this again because you kind of want to do this to you know connect with students in real time or or real life or whatever so find some of those community colleges and maybe or find someplace where you can teach a course on SEO and go out to your businesses that are in your local community and let them know that you’re teaching that course and then you can upsell your online course to them so that they can go there for more information and maybe you can you know if SEO is what you do maybe that’s a way that you can find some clients. So I would definitely suggest something like that. Have you thought about writing an e-book a kindle book? It is really easy to write you could write a Kindle book and in front of the book you can put links to your courses i wrote my book Udemy Life and I put links in front of the book because I Amazon will show the first ten percent of the book so that people can decide if they want to buy the book but they can still see those links and possibly click on those and then I have links throughout the book because I interviewed other instructors so maybe you could do something like that to and use that as a way to get people to go to your course. So those are a few tips there that you might want to try out let me know how those work out and others use any of those tips certainly let me know if you’re looking at this video on YouTube comment below if you have a question contact me through DennisJSmith.com if you have a question yourself or if you see this on Facebook or YouTube please leave a comment and let me know if you have any questions or if you enjoyed the information that i gave you. So that’s it for this edition of Ask Dennis thank you very much and thanks again Tricia for your question.

Tumble Into The Fast Growing Tumblr

March 5, 2012

What the heck is Tumblr? Tumbler is a rising star when it comes to social microblogging. The easy to use site allows users to post text, images, video, links and quotes to a short form blog. Nothing difficult here when it comes to setting up your first blog. Share anything! The numbers for this platform are too significant to ignore. 900% growth in the last 12 months 90 million users compared to only 10 million a year ago Addictive and highly engaged audience with 2% of its audience making up 43% of total visits The engagement on Tumblr is only second to Facebook at an average of over 141 minutes per month per user. Tumble on down through other statistics below and feel from to check out my Tumblr here: http://socialmediabook.tumblr.com/ Source: See infographic above for sources.

22 Ways–Creating Compelling Blog Content

February 28, 2012

Are you at a loss when it comes to posting new content? I know that sometimes I draw a blank and need some inspiration. Number twenty-two on the list talks about recycling old content and making it fresh again. I hope this list gives you the inspiration to write something great. If you have some ideas of your own feel free to comment below.

Google AdSense Plugins

December 4, 2010

Google AdSense Plugins What is Google AdSense? Google AdSense is a program from Google that pays website and blog owners to display specific ads on their sites. It is free and you can track your earnings with online reports. The ads are usually targeted to match the relevant content on your site. How do I get started? Visit http://www.adsense.com and Newbie Central for new users to get started and for more information about AdSense. If you have an account with Google you are just a few steps away from Google AdSense. If not you just have to enter a little information to get started with creating ads. I highly recommend that you watch the videos provided by Google. There are several books available to learn more about AdSense and there is lots of information online. AdSense Ad Create Your AdSense Code Once you have an account set-up you can start creating the code that will generate your ad or ads. There are different sizes of ads you can generate and it is important think about ad placement in your blog. Placement of your ads is essential in the amount of revenue they generate. Review Newbie Central for more information on the placement of your ads. AdSense Plugins Several plugins are available to choose from when it comes to displaying ads on your WordPress blog. Search for “AdSense” from the Plugin menu of your WordPress dashboard to generate a list of available AdSense plugins. Click on “Details” for more details on each individual plugin and “Install Now” to install the plugin of your choice. There are also several WordPress themes that have settings to display AdSense ads along with other types of ads. Do a search on Google for “AdSense Ready WordPress Themes” for a list of themes ready for AdSense. I suggest you install a few plugins and see what works best for you. Take your code you created above and copy and paste it into your plugin. Each plugin will be different so read the instruction for the plugin you choose. List of some of the many plugins available for AdSense Things to keep in Mind AdSense policy allows for no more than three AdSense ads displaying per page. Encouraging others to click on ads is a violation of AdSense policies. Don’t risk losing what might be a lucrative stream of revenue. Read Newbie Central so you are aware of policies, best practices and have the knowledge of what works best. Have a favorite AdSense plugin you are using? Please feel free to comment below and share your AdSense experience. Need a WordPress Blog? Contact IgniteHost website and WordPress blog hosting and get started for less than $5 a month. More resources: Google AdSense ““ AdSense Website AdSense Official Channel on YouTube ““ AdSense Videos WordPress Themes ““ AdSense Ready WordPress Themes Newbie Central ““ Information for AdSense Newbies AdSense Blog ““ Inside AdSense Blog Content Provided By Dennis J. Smith

Expose your WordPress blog postings with a little Facebook “Like”

September 29, 2010

Now you can get some “Like” on Facebook for your WordPress blog post with a simple plugin. You don’t have to know anything about programming code like HTML. While in your WordPress Dashboard go to Plugins on the left-hand menu. Click the “Add New” button and type in “Facebook Like Button Plugin for WordPress” (current version is 0.4a). There’s also WP FB Like which is easy to setup with a few clicks of the options. Pick whatever one you feel comfortable with but don’t delay on adding this must have plugin. The screenshot above shows you some of the options for one of the FB Like Button plugins. I recommend displaying the button before and after an article for maximum benefit. When a reader “Recommends” or “Likes” your posting a link is posted to their Facebook profile. This is an excellent way to drive traffic from your friends Facebook page to your blog. Do you have a favorite plugin you’d like to recommend to other readers? What do you “Like”? Feel free to comment below and click “Recommend” to recommend this article to your Facebook friends.

Windows Live Writer makes blogging a breeze

August 9, 2010

Are you thinking about starting your own blog but scared off by technology? It might not be as hard as you think when it comes to starting a blog. If you know Microsoft Office you’re already halfway there. If you don’t its still easy when you have tools that simplify the process. Windows Live Writer from Microsoft is one of those must have tools for bloggers. Windows Live Writer lets you manage your blog regardless of where its hosted or the format you are using. I use it to update all my WordPress blogs and an older blog I have on Blogger. But it can be used with LiveJournal, TypePad, Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint and others. Plug-ins are available that give Live Writer even more functionality. Visit the Live Gallery to find out what’s available and to install plug-ins you find beneficial. The toolbar across the top of Windows Live Writer lets you control aspects of the font, text alignment, adding images, tables and inserting other items into your post. You can also cut, paste and undo changes if you aren’t satisfied. The side bar to the right duplicates editing tools such as current drafts, recently posted articles and inserts into your article. It’s really easy to get around the application to create the perfect blog post. The edit mode tab allows you to create your article much like you would create a Word document(add images, hyperlinks, tables and more). Preview mode loads the theme of your blog and gives you a sneak preview of what your readers will see. It might not display a perfect rendition since it depends on the theme you use. The bottom area of the application lets you assign categories, tags, the author, future publish date and more. Those who have a little more knowledge of HTML can click on the Source tab and use HTML code to customize a post before going live. Here’s a great resource for those interested in learning more about HTML. If you have a blog have you used Windows Live Writer? Another blogging tool? Give it and try and see what you think and share some of the articles you’ve written with Windows Live Writer. Please feel free to leave your comments below. Download Windows Live Writer Windows Live Writer Plugin Gallery By Dennis J. Smith

Blog your way to success using WordPress.com

July 7, 2010

Blogging is an important component of any businesses social media plan. This blog is a WordPress blog and using one of many free themes available. WordPress is the number one choice for bloggers around the world and open source. It’s possible to find free services for blogging like Blogger.com and WordPress.com. Both work just fine if you are just starting out and on a tight marketing budget. Before Facebook and Twitter, a blog was one of the first ways a business could interact with its customers. It allows 2-way discussion and communication with your customers. It is also an easy way for someone not familiar with website coding to get online. WordPress.com Blog – socialmarket.wordpress.com If you want to keep your cost down the free version of WordPress is the route to take. Create your free account by filling out some basic information so you can keep the account protected and secure. With the free version your blog address will be yourblogname.wordpress.com and you are limited in storage space. However you can upgrade to premium features if needed at a later date. You are forced to stay with WordPress and if you change your mind you can always import your blog postings into another blog service. If you want more control over your blog, better search engine optimization, better selection of themes and plug-ins then regular WordPress is the best option. You can get your own domain name (typically $10 a year) for your blog and monthly hosting is inexpensive. When done with the registration process you can start posting right away. There are a few other things to set-up like categories and tags but that can be done as you go. By setting up categories and tags you will help your readers find postings they are interested in. I suggest that you take a few moments and think about the goal of your blog and your target audience. Write out the categories that best fit with your blogs focus. If you were going to write about fashion your categories might be hats, shirts, pants, accessories and shoes. The tags you might use would be bonnets, derby hats, t-shirts, polo shirts, jewelry, watches, jeans and tennis shoes. WordPress starts you out with the default theme which you can choose to use or you can search through hundreds of free themes or find specially customized theme for purchase from many different sources. If you are a real estate agent you can find a theme geared towards the housing market or whatever line of business you might be in. If you are a hobbyist you can find lots of themes to showcase and blog about your favorite hobby. If you don’t like a theme all you have to do is find another that you like and install that theme. Anything you’ve already posted takes on the look of the new theme. Just keep in mind that with the free version of WordPress you are limited in your choices of themes. But there’s something for everyone and more are being added all the time. Check out more WordPress themes here: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ I’ll talk more about themes, plug-ins and widgets in a future post to give you time to get familiar with the free WordPress. Plus I’ll cover the differences between the free version and hosting a WordPress blog.

Blog Talk Radio adds talk radio to the social media mix

July 5, 2010

From the Book – Promote Your Business or Cause using Social Media by Dennis J. Smith

Tag: Blogging