Have you ever been in a panic when your computer has caught a virus and you’ve lost all of your files? Ignoring security updates on your computer can be very costly.

The same goes for WordPress powered websites. When websites are left without maintenance, you run the risk of something going wrong.

Just as you should update your computer, accounting software, or Microsoft Office suite to take advantage of the latest features and program code changes, you also need to update your WordPress software. You don’t have to update it for every single version that is released, but it is wise to do so at least once per year.

I had a client contact me in a panic recently about his website disappearing. I later learned that there he had not logged on to his website at all in the last year, which means that he had missed every update message that would have prompted him to run the updates and prevent this problem from happening. Although this is an extreme case, it serves to note the importance of updates.

If you continually use an older version of WordPress, you run the risk of things going wrong.

Here are a few reasons for you to consider why WordPress updates are so important:

1. Security

Security is the number one reason why your WordPress website needs to remain updated, just like any computer system or software. Because WordPress is such a popular software for zillions of businesses and bloggers alike, it is also popular among hackers. A WordPress update is the preventive measure to fix the problem before it even hits you. Ignoring the updates can be very costly, just like ignoring backups of your computer.

2. Features

Keeping your WordPress version updated will also give you access to the latest features available, which will make your website even more useful, while staying protected.

3. Bug Fixes

There’s always a bug somewhere in the software and that’s why update versions are created to fix them. The latest WordPress version will also include any bug fixes to keep your website performing at its best.

4. Usability

WordPress updates are essential not only to keep your website secure, but also to ensure that your website works to its optimum performance on the administrative end as well.

5. User-Friendly

One of the main goals of your website should be to maintain ease of use and provide site visitors a positive experience. WordPress updates also solve these types of problems and that’s why it becomes imperative to remain updated.

PS: A word on backups

Running the update of WordPress may not be that time consuming, however, it is highly recommended that you run a backup of your database files (on the hosting server side) and your website files (WordPress side) prior to running the updates. It makes sense to run the backup process before and after the version updates for extra safety.

Are you too busy to run the website updates yourself, or you simply don’t want to mess with all the technical intricacies involved?

No worries! I can help. Email your request today at Dina@SocialExecs.com and I’ll take care of this for you.

Share and Enjoy

With Facebook going public, you bet your life savers FB will continue to thrive! 

Even with the popularity of other tools like Google+, we all continue to use FB as our preferred social platform.

People love it!

Facebook has 845 million active users and it’s predicted to hit 1 billion users by August this year! If you’ve already have a fan page created, I recommend that you maximize your FB real estate.

Here’s how:

1. Create a gameplan to capitalize on your FB efforts

WHO do you trust/can you hire to monitor your FB page,

WHAT content would be of interest to your audience,

WHERE can I find great content to share, besides my company blog,

WHEN should we post,

WHY do we even care – your WHY is your key (is it customer service, connectedness, etc.)

2. Improve your Facebook image

Create a Welcome tab (I can help with that!).

Check mine out that I finally got a chance to complete because my customers come first! Facebook.com/DinaLimaSpeaker

It’s proven that Welcome tabs/pages help increase your fans by  over 47%!

There are FREE apps that can be used for this, but you need some great graphics/photos to make your info pop.

3. Post and Monitor

Post something of value to your audience at least once per day and monitor the feedback. Keep an eye on what kind of posts are being “Liked” or commented on, and what times seem to get the most results from your specific audience.

To Your Success,

Dina

Share and Enjoy

What business owner doesn’t desire more online traffic that would result in additional business?

When used effectively with your marketing program, your blog can improve your search engine optimization, increase your web traffic, keep your client base engaged, build your brand, and increase sales.

Several concerns that I hear from business owners are:  “I don’t have the time to blog”, “I don’t want to be giving away free information”, “Why is it so important for me to blog anyway?”

These are very valid concerns. However, to thrive in a saturated market, and to stand out from the pack in the online arena, blogging continues to be a proven and efficient way to achieve just that.

Your blog not only sets you apart but also establishes you as an expert in your field and among your sphere of influence.

As a business owner or busy professional you already have so much on your plate!

How can you take full advantage of the benefits of blogging for your business?

Here are a few recommendations for you to consider blogging:

1. Connect with your audience

You already have a great customer base that has done, and continues to do, business with you. Most likely you’ve been collecting their email addresses over the years.  (If you haven’t, it’s not too late to start doing that right away!)

The most efficient and cost-effective way to remain connected with your target market is through your blog. By blogging, you incur no printing or mailing expenses. Plus, it gives you the content that you can easily reference in your email marketing campaign.

Because of this low-cost form of marketing, you have more flexibility to be in touch with them as often as you’d like, set yourself apart as a viable resource, and stay on their radar.

2. Think outside the box

Treat your blog as the resource people go to for the problems you specifically solve.

However, don’t be afraid to share a variety of info, whether it be local news that affects or benefits them directly, tips related to the products or services they’ve bought from you, new products or services that you’re offering, or your favorite holiday recipe.

People like to do business with people they like and trust. And those whose trust you’ve gained, will continue to recommend you to their friends. The lesson: be yourself!

Your clients want to connect with you, a person. Hence, sharing your expertise and a variety of info will help achieve this.

3. Develop a blogging calendar

This is indispensable if you want to maximize your time and have a road map that can help you stay on target.

Based on your type of business and your audience, use your judgment as to how often you should blog. I find that once per week, or every other week is manageable for you and your audience.

Take a calendar and jot down what content you’d like to share. Create a list of titles for your posts. Do this for at least one to two months out. This will make it much easier for you to stay focused, on target, and maximize your time.

A million dollar tip: keep an “ideas” folder or notepad where you can easily store/jot down ideas as you’re going about your day. A quote on a billboard can be an inspiration for a great post!

4. Schedule writing days

Schedule a day or two per month where you can focus on writing what you’d like to share.

A good way to keep things simple is to write the blog posts based on the number of times you want to send your e-newsletter to your target audience.

Consider having someone to EDIT your blogs before making them public. Just a word or phrase change can make things clearer for your readers.

In addition, spell-check your posts!  It is very frustrating for readers to encounter a bunch of misspellings and poor English grammar!

5. Post your blogs on your Facebook fan page

Each time you write a blog, share the title and its link on your Facebook fan page. If you also have a Twitter account, share it there as well.

Better yet, link your Facebook to your Twitter account so that each time you post something on Facebook, it will automatically feed it to your Twitter profile.

6. Mesh your blog and your e-newsletter

Your blog becomes the “meat and potatoes” for your email campaign.

What’s the point of writing these great posts, investing all that time and energy to write, if in the end you don’t even let your audience know?

You do this very easily:

Simply include an excerpt of your blog post with a “read more” link back to that post on your website. Bingo!

There are many great email campaign programs out there. Some of the most popular that I find very user friend include Constant Contact and MailChimp.

PS: Your email contacts list should be kept updated as this is your basis for word-of-mouth advertising, after all you’re the expert!

PPS:  Blogging tools I recommend are content management systems that are Google-friendly and enable you to have a full blown website with an embedded blog. We specialize in WordPress and can get you going right away!

Found this info helpful?  Kindly include your comments below. I’d love to hear from you!

Share and Enjoy

Excerpt from Social Media 911 book

Chapter 5 – Blogging Basics

Business blogging needs to be an integral part of your marketing strategy. Here’s why: Three in four women online actively use blogs, message boards, and social networks daily. People trust the opinions of personal acquaintances and consumers posted online (including blogs) more than they do advertising. According to eMarketer “43% of U.S. companies will be blogging by 2012.” eMarketer.com’s research found that 51% of U.S. internet users (113 million people) were actively reading blogs on a monthly basis in 2010. Their research estimates that by 2014, the percentage of blog readers will increase to 60%, that’s a whopping 150 million people. Smart businesses realize that people are reading blogs and are actively sharing their findings with their family and friends.

Although it is vital to build your network on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you also need a blog that you can control and sets you and your company apart. Your blog will help to establish yourself as an expert, grow your network of loyal followers, generate quality leads, sell your products and services, and improve your search rankings. Search engines love and seek new content continuously, and so do other webmasters. This is very important to encourage external sites to link back to yours. In addition, people who are interested in your product or service will pay attention to the useful tips and expertise you offer through your postings.

Blogs enable you to nurture a more personal connection with your market niche. You can build rapport and trust with your audience by becoming their viable resource. And when they decide to make a purchase or a recommendation, you’ll be their first choice. Remember that people enjoy doing business with those they like and trust, and blogs lend themselves for interaction and for personalizing your business.

SUCCESSFUL BLOGGING

The secret to successful blogging is creating compelling content that is magnetic and encourages engagement. Keep in mind these fundamental principles to ensure your success:

First, be authentic with the information you share and ensure it adds value to your target audience (compelling content).

Second, share information with purpose and intention. Take the opportunity to educate your customers on practical solutions to solve their problems. People are interested in making their lives easier, better and more effective. Draft your web copy in a manner that provides answers and encourages your visitors to take action―to call you or buy your product or service. Your solutions, together with excellence in service, are the elements that help brand you and your company in the minds of your customers. This is what leads to customer loyalty and continued business.

Third, have a clear call to action. You can share excellent information in your content and miss the opportunity to engage your audience.

Share and Enjoy

Most people understand by now that links have a very real influence on rankings in search engines. How it works and in which ways a link can influence your ranking is often unclear though, resulting in many myths. This link building 101 tries to explain the basics of link building and to refute some of the myths around it.

How does a link help your site?

A link to your site “helps” in four ways:

• It adds value to the “receiving page”, allowing it to improve its visibility in the search engines.
• It adds value to the entire receiving domain, allowing each page on that domain to improve its rank ever so slightly.
• The text of the link is an indication to the search engine of the topic of the website and more specifically the receiving page.
• People click on links, resulting in so called “direct traffic”.

The value of a link for the receiving page is determined in part by the topic of the page the link is on. A link from a page that has the same topic as the receiving page is of far more value than a link from a page about an entirely different topic.

On top of that, a link from within an article is worth way more than a link from a sidebar or a footer. Furthermore the more links there are on a page, the less each individual link is worth.

So what makes a good link?

Imagine, you’re working on a link building campaign and you get to choose where to place a link and what page to point it at…

[Read the whole article...]

Share and Enjoy

Blogging is expected to be an increased activities for businesses both large and small.

Although businesses may be skeptical about blogging and opening up to comments from readers, it’s the trend that is helping businesses stay connected with their audience.

John Podzadsides explains in this video why businesses should blog.

How has blogging helped your business?

Share and Enjoy

“I want to be the best!” were the words of McAllen Coalson of Coalson Real Estate in Fort Worth, Texas.

Realizing the need for today’s businesses to maximize their online presence, Coalson Real Estate wants to be at the leading edge using social media to help get the word out about the farm and ranch properties they represent.

Coalson’s new optimized website will include:

• Easy navigation for consumers to search properties

• Social media integration

• Sub-menu navigation for individual properties to easily delve deeper into the properties details, maps, topo’s, surveys and photo galleries

With the easy navigation system and individual property internal sub-menus, visitors will never feel lost on the site.

Static websites are a thing of the past and no longer meet the needs of today’s savvy online shoppers, nor do they do justice .

Ready to increase your customer engagement?

Contact us today, call Dina Lima directly at 817-601-5655 or email her at Dina@SocialExecs.com.

Share and Enjoy

Maverick Homes is one of the leading builders in the Fort Worth area and has been building quality custom homes since 1987. Their focus is to use high quality materials and tradesmen to provide excellent craftsmanship, while at the same time offering competitive pricing.

SocialExecs.com implemented its Blog component and added the latest social media networking platforms to optimize their online presence and increase customer engagement.

A few highlights for Maverick Homes Blog:

• Maverick’s Blog is a WordPress-powered site

• Social Media integration with Facebook and Twitter

• Newsfeed integration (RSS Feeds) for opt-in subscribers for automatic updates

• Consumer-focused applications such as Mortgage, Loan and US Average Mortgage Rates

• Links back to subdivision development pages on their main site

• Increased “shareability” for visitors to share content in their favorite social bookmarking sites, including sharing the posting on Twitter, Liking the posting on Facebook, and sharing on StumbleUpon, Digg, and others

• Automated processes to feed the Newsfeed to other social networks including Facebook and Twitter

Ready to increase your customer engagement?

Contact us today, call Dina Lima directly at 817-601-5655 or email her at Dina@SocialExecs.com.

Share and Enjoy

Building Savvy Magazine is the eyes and ears of the real estate industry in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

SocialExecs.com implemented its Blog component and added key “shareability” functionality to optimize the website for its users and search engines.

Here are the highlights for Building Savvy Blog:

• Implement Blog component on its WordPress-powered site

• Integrate Social Media by adding Facebook Fans box that displays Facebook fans

• Increased “shareability”, where visitors can easily share the blog content with their friends on various social networking and bookmarking platforms, including sharing the posting on Twitter, Liking the posting on Facebook, and sharing on StumbleUpon, Digg, and others

• Newsfeed integration for opt-in subscribers to receive automatic updates each time a new blog post is published

• Automation processed to feed the Newsfeed to other social networks including Facebook and Twitter

Ready to make your site socially-savvy?

Contact us today, call Dina Lima directly at 817-601-5655 or email her at Dina@SocialExecs.com.

Share and Enjoy

SocialExecs.com is proud to announce the completion of another successful project!

White Rock Crossing is Dallas’ first co-housing community.

Here are the highlights of the new and updated online presence we did for White Rock Crossing:

• WordPress-powered website which allows site owner to make instant and regular updates to their blog

• Social Media integration with Newsfeed and links to Facebook fan page, Twitter page, and YouTube Channel

• Welcome video in Home page

• Embedded Blog with “shareability” built-in, where visitors can easily share the blog content with their friends on various social networking and bookmarking platforms, including sharing the posting on Twitter, Liking the posting on Facebook, and sharing on StumbleUpon, Digg, and others

• Facebook Fans box that displays Facebook fans

• Embedded Events Calendar

• Creation of Branded Twitter page

• Creation of YouTube channel

Ready to make your site socially-savvy?

Contact us today, call Dina Lima directly at 817-601-5655 or email her at Dina@SocialExecs.com.

White Rock Crossing Website and Blog

White Rock Crossing Branded Twitter

Share and Enjoy