Right now, the All In One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin has been downloaded over 5,000,000 times and is one of the most popular wordpress plugins. Finding an answer on why it is popular can be found by looking at why we blog. For some, we blog to be more accountable, we blog for recognition, we blog for fun, we blog to help others, we blog for money. Ultimately, we blog to be found. One way to be found is to make sure your wordpress site is optimized for search engine readability by using the All In One SEO plugin. During the session we will discuss:

• Should you even install the All In One SEO plugin? Doesn’t WordPress do SEO for me?
• After activating the All In One SEO plugin, what are the initial settings? Home title, Home Description, Different Title Formats, Noindex

AIOSEO is Installed, Now what should you do for each post? what’s the difference between the Page Title and Post Title? Do I worry about Description and Keywords?

• Next Practical Actions, What should I do now?

Thank you, and I hope you enjoyed the talk.

Watch http://simpleweight.com/blog for new updates to my Weight Management website.

Thanks again for having me at fitbloggin.

First let’s back track and give a little a story.

define:consultant

an expert who gives advice

As a Computer and Business Consultant, that’s my role.  I’m an expert who gives advice. Recently, I’ve been doing more and more consulting around Social Media and Search Engine Optimization. People who are used to traditional marketing must adjust their plans to today’s consumer dominating market.  Here’s an example I like to use:

Imagine you are training for a triathlon.  Your current activity level is getting up out of bed, driving to work, and coming home to go to sleep.  In other words, you don’t exercise.  What would you recommend for this person wanting to train for a triathlon?

• Would you recommend they sign up for a Triathlon tomorrow? -or-
• Would you recommend they train to build the stamina and muscles necessary to complete a triathlon?

Of course, the answer for most people is the second one.  We must crawl before we walk, and we must walk before we run.  Sure, some people say, just jump in the pool and get started. Yet, I have seen people who do that give up very early.  They try to build too many muscles and too many habits at once.

Now, let’s compare that to Blogging and Social Media.  You’ve heard all these great things about twitter, facebook, and blogging, and know you need to get your business or your own personal brand more search engine optimization.  In other words, you want to get more business.  Do you, just start twittering, blogging, and asking everyone to become a fan of yours on facebook?

It seems ludicrous, but that is exactly what some businesses do.  In fact, I have made the mistake myself.  Blogging and Micro-blogging is a muscle.  It takes thought and creativity to generate the content necessary.  If your company culture is not set-up to promote that inner-creativity of content generation, it is going to take time and methodical practice to build those muscles.

The Small Business Blogging Exercise Plan.

To paraphrase Twyla Tharp, Creativity is a habit.  We must take time to build that habit and build the muscle of creativity.  The more we use it the better we get.  It takes time.

So, my suggestion is to pick one thing and do it.  Twitter, Facebook, blogging, email newsletters, or youtube.  It doesn’t matter which one, just take consistent small actions on one of the major social media marketing techniques.

Which one to start?

It is easier to start with twitter or facebook since the quantity of content by their very nature is short and sweet, but you’ll get the greatest Search Engine results from blogging.  Be consistent.  The Same Bat Time, the Same Bat Channel.  In other words, create a plan for yourself. Here is an example workout plan.

• Every Monday brainstorm blog post ideas.
• Every Tuesday write one twitter update.
• Every Wednesday write the draft for your blog post.
• Every Thursday write one facebook update.
• Every Friday revise your draft of your blog post, and include a photo. Schedule your Blog post for the next Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
• Every Saturday find one blog post to comment on and leave value.
• Every Sunday record your progress, meditate on your activities, and rest.

The key here is consistent activity.  For someone who is completely new to social media marketing, this plan above would be too intensive.

If you were a complete new person, your plan might be:

• Monday:  Read Twitter Updates
• Tuesday:  Read Facebook updates
• Wednesday:  Read Google News Updates
• Thursday:  Read Google Blog updates
• Friday:  comment on someone’s blog.
• Saturday and Sunday Rest.

I’ve used this parable in the past, Sparse-ness Where are you?, The cobbler’s children go barefoot.  I’m good at what I do. My clients and students say:  I give great advice, I am excellent trainer, and I can create and execute multiple technical plans.  Writing blog posts is still a weak muscle for me.  One that I too must exercise more often.

What’s your Blogging Exercise plan?

Don’t have one?

Contact me and we can create a custom plan for you.

Here are the Class Resources I promised to post:

—
Social Media Books I recommend
—

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust

The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web

The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation (Theory in Practice)

The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR

Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Revised Edition

One of the questions I get asked all the time is What makes a good class? Is it the trainer? Is it the book? Is it the students?

We’ve all been to class. Some of you may remember looking at the clock in grammar school, counting down the minutes until the day was over. Others may have fond memories of listening to a Professor lecture to 1000 students in a gigantic college lecture hall. Still others are taught at home at the kitchen table, learning science through every day experiments.

What’s related? The objective of knowledge transfer. The idea of transferring knowledge from the teacher to the student. Some modes of learning are more effective for some students than others. Yet, there are still some standard commonalities.

As a facilitator, teacher, trainer, attendee of 100′s, if not 1000′s of classes. I have identified some common traits that all Good Technology Training classes have.  The first of the Traits is:  good books.

Image: 'Belinha has more than good looks' www.flickr.com/photos/65768710@N00/2200198472

Good Classes have Good books.

The book can be one of the most important factors in the class.  Although, I have seen some phenomenal instructors make up for poor courseware. If the book has errors, how do you as a student then trust the material being presented. How do you know what you are learning is factual and applicable to your business situation? You don’t. The Instructor may only know as much as the book. If that is true, then the class book is even more critical.

So, The first item on my Chief Learning Officer’s check list, is does the training we are taking provide a good book both for class exercises now and for knowledge recall later? Does the book have well-thought exercises for lab application and case studies? Does the book have tasks for both the inexperienced learner to follow, but also generic steps for the experienced student to reinforce his or her knowledge? Does the book provide a good reference point to look up key subjects when the time comes to recall information?

So a good class book is:

• Factually correct.
• Clear and Concise.
• Full of real-world exercises, case studies, and next actions.
• Targeted at multiple student levels.
• Covers the target objectives.
• Provides reference materials for future recall beyond class.
• Is readable.

What do you think?  Do good classes require good books?