I’m putting my stats out here for the world to see. I have always known the importance of blogging but was always “too busy” to actually do it. Now that I have finally started to delegate more I have more time to test out powerful marketing strategies, like blogging, that I KNOW is golden!

Almost everyone I talk to who needs a website says that they were referred to me or found me somewhere, then read my blog. Most of them had horrible experiences with web designers but after reading my blog felt reassured that I could help them. That is PROOF that blogs are personalized and give you credibility. You can show that you actually know what you’re talking about on your topic.

I have only been blogging a couple of months and as a result my sales conversion rate is currently at 100% and as you can see my traffic in the last month has increased by 776%. The ONLY thing I’m doing differently is blogging 3-5 times a week.

It sounds like I’m bragging but I just want to prove the power of blogging. As I said, keep in mind I have only been running my business differently for about 8 weeks so imagine, if you stick with it, the long term benefits of websites like this one.

How I actually make money from my blog:

I use the WebChik blog as my FREE INFO site. I give tools and tips that help people in their business. I do this to build my brand and give credibility. This is usually referred to as TRUST MARKETING. That’s the perfect term because if they know and trust you they’ll buy from you. If not now then at some point. They’ll at least refer to you!

The way I monetize is through creating websites for people. Not just “normal” sites (for lack of a better word), also Blog sites, Membership sites and eShops – all created using Wordpress as a base. Then we add the bells and whistles. Clients can manage their own sites and add as many pages and content as they like. We’ve also streamlined the process to keep out prices super affordable.

Check out that blatant plug. Got a bit carried away and started doing my spiel

Ok so the proof…

Since I have been blogging here is the result on my Big Fish Website Design traffic in the last month:

And here is my biggest referring site:

As you can see nearly 50% of my website traffic comes from my blog site.

Even better… they spend on average 5 minutes looking at my services AND they look at about 8 pages. This means the people coming to my Big Fish site are QUALIFIED leads looking at web design services. I’m sure there are just a few nosey people and competitors checking it out too but that’s cool

And the stats on the blog:

This shows you the gradual increase of the last couple of months of followers of my blog. You can see it’s gradual and not really anything to do somersaults over just yet, BUT its a long term strategy and if done consistently is a MASSIVELY powerful too to increase your street cred

The bounce rate is pretty high which means there will be a lot of “robots” checking the site to see if it’s “real”. I’m cool with that though because it’s so knew I want the search engine robots to be checking me out for ranking purposes. They’re also checking to see how often I post. The more the better!

The average visitor is staying over 3 mins too which means they’re actually READING the posts.

Ok so if that doesn’t show you the value of blogging then nothing will

I’ll keep you posted on other tips and tricks and stats so you can continue to see the power of the blogmonster

Till next time… over and out

Paypal is one of the most commonly used Credit Card payment processing services out there. Probably because its free to set up and you only pay a small % of each sale. I use it myself!

So I wanted to share this video on how to insert a PayPal button to your website.

This video does show you: how to add a DONATE button however when he gets to the merchant page and selects DONATE you can just choose  BUY NOW BUTTON instead… And you can either paste the code he demonstrates into the page, a post or even on the side of your website (that sidebar is called a “widget”).

If it gets confusing just add a comment to this post and I’ll clarify for you

I also created a HOW TO printable PDF on how to set up a BUY NOW button in PayPal also just in case it helps.

You can download that free here >>

SHARE/SAVE Button: You want as many people as possible to share your blog posts with all their buddies and business colleagues, so you need to make it really easy for them to do this.

At the end of every post have a Share/Save button that they can hover over and then its usually just a one click for them to be able to post it to their Facebook, Twitter or email to a friend.

Check out mine at the end of this blog post… I pimped it out 

If your site is in Wordpress the Plug-in can be downloaded here: Wordpress Add To Any Plugin

However.. ANYONE can use this feature on their website by going to www.addtoany.com and following the instructions. Even if your website is just an HTML site. Plug-ins are far easier though and automatically show on every post.

This is what will pop up when your visitors hover over the button:

As always…  if you get stuck add a comment on this blog post on how I can help you, or email me at j@webchik.net Happy to help!

Over and out

Jodz

FEEDBURNER: Feedburner allows you to set up a little form where people can enter their email and then automatically be emailed every time you post. It’s magic and super powerful. Plus once it’s set up you don’t have to do a thing… it just sends them the email and link to your blog post every time.

so… Go get yourself a Feedburner account at www.feedburner.com.

1. Add the your blog URL to the RSS feed box. It’s the first one to come up.
2. There is a tool under the PUBLICIZE tab called EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION.
3. Just click the button to activate it then…
4. Paste the code to where ever you want it on your website.

Its easier than it may sound so just go do it!… If it seems too hard just add a comment to this blog or email me at j@webchik.net and I will do a video on it

Note: Feedburner are now part of Google so when you go the their website www.feedburner.com you will be redirected to the Google log in page. If you already have a google account, then just log in and on the Google Account Manager add Feedburner to your services.

Again…  if you get stuck add a comment on this blog post on how I can help you, or email me at j@webchik.net

Over and out

Jodz

There all sorts of rad little tools out there to automate your online business. Like little robots that just make stuff happen!

When we build websites for our clients we encourage them to automate everything as much as possible so that they can focus on what the LOVE doing i their business and what they are good at.

There are the 3 key tools to automating your blog so that every time you do a post its easy to get the message out to the world… AUTO-MAGICALLY

I’ve split them into 3 blog posts so you’re not overwhelmed. Make sure you subscribe by email in the top right of the blog to get them emailed to you as soon as they’re posted.

Best  blog automation tip #1

PING FM: Got too many social media sites to handle? Seems like a full time job? Ping.fm is a single website where you set up all your social networking sites so you only have to update the ones site (at Ping.fm).  It will automatically post to ALL your social media sites in one go.

You can spread the word to Twitter and Facebook (and whatever other social sites you have set up in Ping.fm) automatically.  Every time you post on your blog ping.fm tell the world – and you don’t have to lift a finger.

Go set yourself up on www.ping.fm, then add to your Wordpress website the ping.fm plug in. You can get the plug in here: Wordpress 2 Ping.FM Both a ping.fm account and the plug in are free and we like free stuff!

We set this up for all our clients and it saves them a bunch of time!

I know there might have been a lot to take in so if you get stuck add a comment on this blog post on how I can help you, or email me at j@webchik.net Happy to help!

Over and out

Jodz

Yo! My Peeps! Guess what!?….

Far out! Your are guna ROCK at this party of THE CENTURY!!!

I’m not going to be posting on the Pimp My Website Group here anymore because I’ve learnt the difference between a Facebook Group and a Facebook Fan Page… and I’ve converted! (see my blog post about how to do the same and why)

So… to say goodbye to the group and HULLLLOOOO to the fan page I’m inviting you to a 48 hours party! (Been a long time since I pulled a bender like this!)

In this time just visit this link below and become a fan of the WEBCHICK and I promise to keep you posted on WICKED free tips and advice on web design, marketing and basically just making money online.

Click here to join my fanpage:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jody-Jelas-The-WebChik/175314154102

See you on the flip side my peeps!

Can’t wait! It’s guna be awesomeness to the expediential of infinity!!!!

Quite often I get asked the same questions so I’ve added a wee function to my site for you to ask me your burning website design questions

I’d love to help you out (it helps me at the same time) so just drop me a line here and I’ll reply or else I’ll blog about it!

Let me know if your question if you want me to reply to you and make sure you include your contact details, otherwise… subscribe to get these blog posts by email in the top right corner of www.webchik.net and you’ll be emailed the answer

ASK AWAY…

Facebook Fan Pages are the best type of page or profile to be using for your business on Facebook. There are many reasons but basically you are not limited to the number of fans you can have and its just more professional. Gary Vaynerchuk even says this in his new book (and he’s the guru! with 80,000 followers).

A Facebook group is just a topic forum really and has a limit of 5,000 members.

Your personal profile is exactly that – personal and also has a limit of 5,000 friends.

So… clients are always asking me what they should link to from thier sites… thier profile or create a Fan Page. The answer is a fan page… so…

Here’s how to set up a Facebook Fan Page in under 3 minutes.

I wanted to share some cool stuff with you that have been spinning me wheels lately The books I’ve been reading and the easiest to use video camera for video blogging EVER!

I have been reading far more than usual lately and so have compiled a series of stuff (including a cool little video tool) that I think are extremely valuable for businesses….

I am nearly finished readying Gary V’s book on how he made it and his lessons in social media. It’s great and I’m learning new things that I had not thought. I’ve been  in this industry 12 years but I’m ALWAYS learning new things. I try to blog about them too so you can benefit.

If you don’t know who Gary V is he is the famous blogger that has over 80,000 blog readers and has been on all the Oprah, Ellen shows etc talking about his success.

He sells wine but more importantly he has a video blog giving straight up no BS opinion on wines he likes and hates. He’s a no mucking round guy and he’s addictive! check him out at www.winelibrary.tv He is my blogging hero and why re invent the wheel when you can follow someone who’s done it!

Anyhoo – his book is a must read so I’ve included it here

Also included the Mino FlipCam Camera. To be honest I have both the HD and the normal and they are much or a muchness PLUS the non HD is way easier to manage the videos when you recorded them. They’re small, good quality and anyone can get their video from camera to Internet super easy. In fact I’ll blog about that one day soon too

Enjoy!

Oh and the Words that Sell and Phrases that sell are the best books (according to blogging legend Denise Wakeman) that help you write awesome headlines and blog titles My copies arrive today! Can’t wait.

Here they are!:

Getting a website is not as daunting as it once was. With better technology and squillions of free tools it’s faster, easier and cheaper than ever. Free tools like this one are so valuable it not funny!

I believe that for something to be REALLY profitable it must be measurable. If you had a sales team you would test and measure their progress to see if they’re doing their job. Same goes for your website.

Knowing where people are spending most their time on your site and for how long is GOLD.

Google Analytics is free and a very good statistics system. It will tell you if you’re site is working for you or costing you.

GO SET UP YOUR GOOGLE ANALYTICS FOR FREE HERE

It’s also easy to install if you have a website built in Wordpress.org. I’ve even inserted a video here from wordpress.tv (THE place online to get cool videos about how to do stuff in wordpress.

SIDE NOTE: wordpress.tv is another reason we (Big Fish / WebChik) build all our websites with a wordpress platform now… becasue its so well supported on the net, with videos like these, that it makes is SUPER easy to update your site yourself.