One of the many things I love about my career is the amazing people I get to work with each day.   Recently, I have connected with Austin Hines, of DoubleA Pictures, who is a writer and video producer for corporations, television, short films and documentaries. Austin produced the incredible video you see below for one of my clients, Acta Non Verba Zimbabwe.   Austin is based in Fort Worth,  so chances are we won’t be bumping into one another at the water cooler, but I hopefully will come across another client soon who has a need for video and I can outsource to him!

PS -  watch for Austin’s feature film Parallel which will begin filming in Canada next month!

How to Have A Static Piece Of Content As An Introduction To Your WordPress Blog

I have been working on a site (that has yet to be launched) and the client wanted to have a blurb about the blog that remained constant.  As you know, each time you create a new blog post, that one becomes the first one that a reader sees, while older posts move further down the page.  The static piece of content stays put, informing readers of your message (and allows you a line or two of text to maximize your keywords).

I will share my new site soon, but I recently did this same thing for Gilda Joyce using the Small Business Theme by Expand2Web.

How to How to Have A Static Piece Of Content As An Introduction To Your WordPress Blog:

• Log into your site
• Dashboard _> Appearance _> Editor
• Along the right hand side look for List Posts Page Template (posts.php)
• Insert your text in the red box
• If you want a headline use this code<h2> TITLE </h2>

All set! If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will be happy to answer.

How To Put An Image in Your WordPress Sidebar (that is also a link)

This video was created for Eamon (on the left) and I thought I would share it with the rest of you.

Eamon (author of My Grape Escape)  wants to add an image  to his WordPress side bar widgets that will link to another site.

I do this frequently for links to Facebook, Twitter or other sites.

• First, create a new POST.
• Second, upload an image
• Third, in the space that asks for the link this image to, type in the url of the  new site (ie www.mygrapeescape.ie)
• Fourth, move from the visual editor to the to the html view
• Fifth, copy the code and SAVE AS A DRAFT (if you publish it will show up on your blog, if you don’t save, if you have made a mistake you will have to begin again).
• Sixth, go to the widgets (under the appearance tab on your dashboard) and drag a text box over to the sidebar area.
• Seventh, paste the code
• Eight, hit Save
• If you like to see the process, please watch this video.
• Ta Daaa! Well done, any questions I am here to help.

I really enjoy all of my clients, but I am super excited that I have been hired by a real live fictional character!! No lie, Gilda Joyce Psychic Investigator must have had a premonition that I was hoping for a spunky, fashion forward young girl to add to my roster!

The Gilda Joyce mystery series chronicles the adventures of teen writer and sleuth Gilda Joyce, and is the work of a friend from high school, Jennifer Allison.  The blog shares advice for writers, old and young alike.

Gilda/Jennifer was looking to trick out her blog to make it more personal and effective.  We installed fellow classmate Don Campbell’s Expand2Web Small Business WordPress Theme to her site (the site had been built by another talented designer), then did some customizing to maintain her look.  We also linked her social media sites, worked on the seo, and added a favicon.

This is the second site that I have built for a high school friend, and another collaboration with Don.  We have all reconnected via Facebook (an amazing source for fun and business).

Need help with your blog, let me know – eileen@eileenlonergan.com.

If you would like a customized  url for your Facebook page, there are a few very easy steps:

• Go to http://www.facebook.com/username/
• Look for “Set a username for your pages”

• A menu of all the Pages you have created will appear

• You will be prompted to enter the name of the url you would like to have (ie facebook.com/eileen.lonergan)
• Viola!

Here is a video tutorial that I created that walks you through the steps.  Please let me know if you have any questions!

One of my favorite design tools is the old standard,  Color Cop.  I know there are other fun super cool choices out there, but this is so simple and easy to use, I always seem to circle back to it!

This is a free tool that you download onto your computer.  Once open, you simply touch the eyedropper with your cursor and drag it to the color that you like.  Once you have landed on your color you will see the RGB values and the HEX#.  From there you can see gradations of the color if you would prefer a lighter or darker hue.

I would love to hear about your design tools/tips, please leave a comment below!

Last week, out of the blue, I got a call from Laura, the publisher of Mom Technology, asking me a question about my website.  As we chatted we realized that we are both taking an online class taught by my friend Don Campbell of Expand2Web.

Laura’s site has lots of useful information, product reviews, links to a stable of terrific women who offer their skills in technology from a variety of perspectives (ie did you know technology can help with the meal planning and fashion woes?)  plus a thoughtful blog with loads of information for the tech curious:  Flickr Quick Guide To Setting Up Your Account, and Great List of Texting Acronyms (freak out your children with how current you are) are just two of several that I enjoyed.

The most impressive blog posting I am going to repost for you, Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe.   Thank you Laura!

Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe

If you are a Mobile Me client, did you receive an email that has instructions on how to Find Your iPhone and do a Remote wipe if necessary?

Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe. With the new Find My iPhone web app on me.com you can locate your lost iPhone on a map and display a message on its screen to help someone return it. If you think you’ve misplaced your iPhone nearby, have it play a sound even when it is set to silent mode. And if your iPhone cannot be recovered, you can use Remote Wipe to permanently erase its data and protect your privacy.* To learn how to set up your iPhone and use these features, click here.

I received this information via an email so I looked into it. I went into my Mobile Me account and found this screen.

Find my iPhone can also be found on the Account page of Mobile Me.

Make sure your Mobile Me email account is set up on your iPhone as well as having your iPhone updated to OS 3.0.

So, if you happen to be at several places in one day, and you misplace (lets not say lost) your iPhone then you can simply log into your Mobile Me account and let the map find it for you. If you have misplaced it in your house you can actually let it play a sound to help you find it.

Mapped

This was just the start of the app.  It zoned right to my house! I could even get a satellite view. Very awesome! Even though, I do not want to have the need for this feature I am glad I have taken the few minutes to set this up.

When you look for your iPhone and discover where it is you can send a message, like thanks for finding my iPhone Jessie! Or Please Call…. Don’t forget to check the box to play a sound if you need a little more help locating your iPhone.

Remote Wipe

When is Remote Wipe necessary? I guess everyone has to make that call on their own but keep in mind when you do a remote wipe it will delete all media and data on your iPhone and restore it to factory settings. Again, I do not want to have a need for remote wipe for my iPhone but it is a little piece of mind to have it set up.

If you have any questions or ideas that you would like to share, please reach out via phone, 508-317-7355 or email leave a comment below!

Reviews are an amazing way to boost your rankings, relevance and results.

I suggest you ask your clients to leave a review of your business.  By using the steps in this example I will show you how to leave a review for FlourGirlsBakingCo.com on Google:

• The person writing the review will need a gmail address, if you don’t have a gmail you may either create one (you will be prompted after you write the review) or consult this video to show you how to use your existing email to create a Google account.
• Next, Google Flour Girls Baking Co.
• You should see something that looks like this:

• Click on Review
• You should see something that looks like this:

• Click on Write a Review
• Business owners, remember not all reviews will be five star, it isn’t always about the review, but how you handle it.

My friend Don Campbell has a great video “Small Business Online Reviews Q&A with Don Campbell” which explores this topic further.

I would love to hear how online reviews are working for your business!

Recently, one of my dear friends in Texas asked me to build a site for a charity she is on the board for, Acta Non Verba – Actions Not Words Zimbabwe.

The couple who founded the charity, Kathy and Mark Paukune, had been so moved by the people and the conditions in Zimbabwe after a brief visit in 2009 that upon their return home they began ANVZ with the purpose of providing physical, financial and spiritual support to the Zimbabwean people.

I was lucky, the couple had decided upon a color scheme based on the symbolic colors of Zimbabwe.  We decided that the Four Square theme by Expand2Web was perfect for this project as it divides the homepage into four main feature boxes: a place for a video, most recent blog posts, the Mission and a location map.

In order to spread the good word of this organization and educate friends and family about Zimbabwe and the needs of the people, a social media strategy was also implemented into the site.

I know I always say this, but I loved working on this project.  The clients were awesome and the cause is wonderful, I love my job!

Yesterday my friend Chris Donley, developer of the incredible Message Sherpa, and I went to Boston to hear Seth Godin speak.  I took notes on my iPad (I will stop working that into every conversation very soon, I promise).

Here is a brief list of my notes:

• Ideas that spread win
• People like to do what other people like to do
• The success of his ebook (he gave it away free online and ended up making a boat load of $ from it!)
• If everyone knows your idea everyone wins
• There is a lot of businesses who succeeded by making average stuff for avg people (Dunkin Donuts)
• Avg stuff for avg people doesn’t work any more
• Conversation business (the internet)
• Tribes share vocal point of view and want to stay together
• Keep your tribe loyal
• The dip – where to migrate into the niche
• Be the best at 1 thing not competent at everything
• Some have a mentality of “do this no one will laugh at you” (the safe route – low risk – education examples)
• You don’t have to be safe
• Failure isn’t a problem in this point in time
• When at work comes as close as possible to getting fired every day
• Speak up write reports and be generous
• Someone who makes something happen is indispensable  if you are someone who can make something happen you will be indispensable.
• Don’t be afraid to ship

Much of this is of course my interpretation of what he was saying, I would love to hear your feedback.  If you have read any of books or follow his blog have any of these strategies worked for you?  I’m curious.

Here is a very simple way to align images that are linked to other pages when using Word Press.

Goal: Images side by side on the page, which would all link to seperate pages on another url.

• I edited the images to a size that I wanted before I uploaded them into WordPress.
• I inserted the images separately (forget the “insert gallery” option if you want clickable images).
• In the editing image function I included the link url of where I wanted the image to link to.
• Also in the edit image function I set the alignment to left in each image.

The site is a work in progress, but here is a link to the page http://www.gildajoyce.de/gilda-joyce-bucher

If you need any help let me know.

I had to have the iPad, I really don’t know exactly how I am going to use it, but I couldn’t even imagine not having one.  Typically I am not an early adapter, but this product grabbed my attention in a powerful way.

As I was waiting for the coveted item to arrive I happened to listen to a Podcast by Mitch Joel where he interviews Sally Hogshead, author of Fascinate, Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation.  This got me thinking, What are my fascination triggers and how can I use these strategies to build a more successful business pitch.

Hogshead’s fascination points are: mystique, alarm, lust, prestige, power, vice and trust

By hitting the right triggers you can make your product become fascinating.  It feels is risky to be a polarizing force, but middle of the road certainly wouldn’t have gotten me to shell out for a product that I didn’t even understand its full capabilities.

I am working on making things more fascinating, any suggestions or success stories?

Last week I got an email out of the blue from someone I had never heard of, asking me if I would be interested in designing some websites in Thesis.  This got me thinking, why did the sites have to be in Thesis?  The Expand2Web Small Business WordPress theme was the very first theme I used for my very first WordPress site. I choose the theme because it was built by a friend from high school and he said he would help me if I got stuck during the building process (what more could I ask for!).

After building a couple of sites I branched into using Thesis, an enormously popular WordPress theme, I built my site in it, and used it for many clients, I found it versatile enough for both my biggest client and my smallest.  For a while I was a Thesis Queen.   I switched back to the Small Business theme by Expand2Web, in March and have nearly finished my fifth site in a row with the Theme, I thought I would share what I like about both Themes.

Why I like the Small Business Theme:

• The Options Panel is an actual To-Do list of everything I need to do for a client.  The features are heavy on SEO, which is fantastic for all sites!   This includes homepage title tags, meta descriptions, keywords, Google Analytics and webmaster tools.  This list serves not only as a reminder of best practices while I am building, but there are actually links to the specific pages where you create your Google map, analytics and webmaster tools.  With one click I am able to generate the needed code and pop back into the theme to continue work.
• There are five options for design layouts,  some of which allow for the use of video or slideshows on your homepage, along with feature boxes that you customize with content that best represent your business.
• The connection with social media.  I heard Mitch Joel mention in a recent podcast that breaking into the top 10 of search results on Google could become less important if you are successfully using social media.   Facebook, Twitter & YouTube are all excellent, effective tools to spread the message of your business.  The Expand2Web Small Business theme already has the icons built into the sidebar of the  page, all you need to do is customize the links.
• Support.   Don Campbell, President of Expand2Web or one of his two dedicated team members will help you through any and all questions.  Don has a YouTube channel devoted to instructional videos, his blog is loaded with tips and tutorials, and there is even a FAQ page with step by step instructions.  If you are looking for more coaching you can register for one of his online classes or join his Member Forum.
• Customization.  The theme comes with three nice options for colors, which can be changed with one click.  To really tailor your site the background, tabs and nav bar can be easily modified with entry level FTP and Adobe Photoshop skills.
• The theme comes with a Home page, Find Us page, Contact form, Business Hours and built in blog.

Why I like Thesis:

• The design.  It is very clean and simple – you can decide if you want your layout to have one, two or three columns and how wide each should be.
• Customizing the colors and fonts.  It is a one step process to change the background color, the nav bar colors and borders.  For clients that are very visual it is easy to flip around with color schemes so they can see their options.
• The Options panel.  While it isn’t as robust as Expand2Web, you do have a command central which allows you to configure your title pages, drag and drop your navigation menu, and insert your Analytics Code.
• I like the options for setting your blog in Thesis.
• Multi-Media box – you can use images or embed a video into the site quite easily.
• Open Hook – personally I don’t quite understand what Open Hook is all about, but everyone else is raving, so I am obligated to mention it here!

There are loads of WordPress Themes out there, making it hard to choose which is best to build in, but for me, at this moment, I am delighted with the Small Business Theme, I think it is a terrific platform for building a robust website that is seo and user friendly.

PS You may enjoy this article Is Facebook Getting Bigger Than Google.

I am a big fan of books, reading and authors.  I think the process of writing is a huge challenge,  getting your thoughts down, edited, produced, and to ultimately have people around the world moved by your words, is a huge accomplishment that leaves me in awe.

I have a few friends who are authors, Jennifer Alison is the author of the popular book series Gilda Joyce,  Court wrote a movie (Old School) and a children’s book Hugville, my favorite boss of all time Jack Rossin wrote The Pawn Shop Chronicles, all excellent!

Recently I have been working with a few people who are authors and we are trying to chart the best course for using social media to engage their readers.  I came across this article by Chris Brogan, An Author’s Plan for Social Media Efforts.

Brogan offers a check list of awesome ideas for using Social Media to spread the word and engage your audience, which should create great traction for your book.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any additions to this list, or by all means let me know when your book is published, I would be happy to read it!

I have been very lucky to have been working with some awesome new clients. I updated my portfolio of web designs and wanted to share them with you. If you are ready to build a new web site or revamp your existing one, please give me a call and I would love to help, 508-317-7355.

My new MAC tutor Sam, taught me how to create and capture a tutorial video.  This will show you how to create a Facebook fan page for your business or organization.

Integrating Facebook is an excellent way to update your customers about exciting news and events that are happening in your business.   If you need help pulling this together, send me an email or give me a ring, 508.801.0771

I don’t talk about this too much, but I am a ghost writer for a few different blogs.  The reality is, blogging is not easy for everyone and it is always smart to outsource the things that get in the way of you doing what you are really good at.  I believe strongly that the content on your blog is the key to improving your search engine rankings.  I have my own check list of how I approach each blog piece, but I am always on the lookout for tips & trends.  Recently, Chris Brogan, popular blogger and author of Trust Agents,  posted a link to a free online book that Scribe SEO author Brian Clark has recently released.

The report covers:

• Why SEO Copywriting Still Matters
• How Search Engines Work
• Why You Have to Spoon Feed Search Engines
• The 5 Essential Elements of Keyword Research
• How to Create Cornerstone Content That Google Loves
• Five Link Building Strategies That Work
• Five Areas to Focus On for Effective SEO Copywriting
• Why Writing for People Works for Search Engines
• How to Make SEO Copywriting Simple

If you need help with your own blog, or if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me in the comments blow, via email or 508-317-3755.

It isn’t enough to just write a great story and hit publish on your blog and then sit back and wait for the mobs to arrive and recognize your genius.

Imagine you had planned a fantastic party, you found a really hot spot for the event, booked a trendy caterer, hired an excellent band and developed a signature drink – all the elements for a good time.  Then because you are too busy with the planning or think the gig is going to be so great, you don’t bother with invitations.   If you are lucky maybe a few random people will show up.

Each time you write a piece for your blog you mull over content, find images, links, reliable references and proof read, all time consuming and important.   If you don’t spend a few minutes with the “back end” of your post (the part the search engines “see” then they won’t find your post, and neither will many readers.

In order to get the cool crowd at your party (Google, Yahoo! Bing and YouTube):

• Give your post a Custom Title Tag: Eileen Lonergan – Web Designer – Blogger (each blog post should have a custom title – no repeats).
• Then give it an accurate, compelling description for the meta tag and select as many appropriate keywords as possible.
• Think of the tags and categories as fodder for the invitation – wow, she is serving the Pickle Back (I Googled trendy drinks for that one) or Jamie Oliver is cooking!

If this is unclear, or if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me in the comments blow, via email or 508-317-3755.

Three times this week I  have been asked “how do I get people to follow my blog”?  Answer, lots of ways, but for the sake of time let’s start here – make sure you have the infrastructure set up for people to get your feed easily.  If you haven’t yet, go to FeedBurner and follow the very simple steps of entering your blog url and getting a feed in place.  This will enable your followers to choose if they would like your blog delivered to their inbox or sent to a feed reader.

1.  People are then able to look for the universal RSS icon on the blog they wish to follow, on my website it is located in the address bar.

When you put the mouse over the little orange symbol, you will see “subscribe to this page”, click on the icon and you will be asked how you would like to subscribe the to blog.

2.  Add a subscription box on your blog.  Again, on FeedBurner.com, under the Publicize tab, you will see an option (look on the left nav bar) Email Subscriptions.  You will be given a piece of code which you then insert into a visible spot on your blog.

3.  Don’t forget to add the url of your blog or a subscription box into your email signature (visit my previous post on Marketing in Your Email Signature).

If this is unclear, or if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me in the comments blow, via email or 508-317-3755.

This post gets lots of hits, yet I haven’t had any feedback, if you find this answers your question, or leaves you wanting more, please leave a comment so I can modify my post if necessary.  Thank you!

There is a service called Involver that will instantly create a new tab on your Facebook page which has all of your videos!  Click on the Involver link above, then you literally just click through the first three screens, select Free Get Started look through their Application Gallery, select the one that you want (in this example YouTube), select Facebook install, you will be asked which page you want to install the app into, and there you have it.  Done!

Involver

I set this up for Jim Craig, who has lots of cool videos from the 1980 USA Olympic hockey games and the Disney movie Miracle.  As I add new videos to his YouTube channel his Facebook Fan page is automatically updated!

Involver has some other cool features for Fan pages, like pulling in your RSS Feeds and Power Point Presentations, I haven’t explored its full capability, but I will certainly keep you posted.

My friend Don Campbell of Expand2Web, wrote this post the other day which is the same tip that I shared with you just now on adding your YouTube Channel on your Facebook Fan page.  Don is the King of Awesome Tips related to local seo, web tools and WordPress, you may enjoy his blog as well as this one!

If you need help with integrating the internet into your business or setting up a social media strategy, give me a ring, 508-317-3755 or reach out via email.

This is a story of reconnection via Facebook with high school friends that resulted in us all doing business together.

Last year I sent out Facebook Friends requests to a mass mailing of people that I graduated from high school with.  Don Campbell accepted my request, and I began to see posts “lunch at the GooglePlex”, “at SEO Word Camp”, all stuff that was related to my business!  I immediately transitioned from friend into fan/customer/follower of  the theme’s Don’s company, Expand2Web has built for WordPress.

Another classmate who accepted my invitation was Ed Robinson who is living in MI and owns BridgeWater Fertilization Company.  Ed recently asked me to create a website for him, www.BridgeWaterLawn.com.

I of course wanted to show you you my newest designed website, but also share the power of networking and social media.  I started using Facebook as a fun way of reaching out to former classmates.  Through this, three friends, one on the east coast, one smack in the middle of the country, and one out in Silicon Valley have all reconnected and via the web done business together.  I think that is so cool, and I am sure our former technology teacher would be proud of us.

Now, if you live in Michigan, give Ed a call (734.216.085) and get a gorgeous lawn!

I heard the term Brand Ambassador for the first time this week and just love it.  It sounds very official, yet it is so basic and simple – someone representing your brand in a positive way and spreading the message to the rest of the world (or your town, depends on how global you are feeling).

The trick is getting your own team of Ambassadors to help build your business.

• Simple.  Use the resources you already have in place, blogs, social media, LinkedIn, etc  a wonderful base of Brand Ambassadors.
• Ask.  I am amazed at how responsive people are when you simply ask, “if you like my work would you tell your friends”.
• Give people stuff.  Within your target market or group of best clients, give them a reward, t-shirt, water bottle, cookie, whatever will resonate with your core group and get them to talk about “the brand” to their friends.

To begin your journey as a Brand Ambassador, please post this to Facebook, Twitter or anyplace else you think would be helpful, I would love a few new clients!

If you need help with integrating the internet into your business or figuring out how to build your business, give me a ring, 508-317-3755 or send me an email.

You have heard me say it before, get a Facebook Fan Page, and since you are compliant, you did, now what?

Last week I came across a few articles on Facebook fan engagement, my favorite article was on Mashable.com, here are the highlights:

1.  Ask your fans their opinion – Chocolate or Vanilla, Summer or Winter Olympics, Curtains or Blinds?

2.  Test Their Knowledge – a little quiz, people seem to love this.

3.  Pair Promotions with Content – Before the Super Bowl, the NFL ran a How Well Do You Know the NFL? quiz, with one lucky participant selected to receive a $50 gift card to NFLshop.com. Over 10,000 people took the quiz. If you estimate that each participant has 200 friends, that’s a possible two million impressions in the news feed with a relatively small giveaway.

4.  Thank Your Fans – a spontaneous shout out or  unexpected treat will build loyalty.

If you need help with integrating the internet into your business or setting up a social media strategy, give me a ring, 508-317-3755, or send me an email.

I had two calls last week from people asking about Search Engine Optimization.  SEO is an art/industry all its own – but there are three elements that I build into each clients site, which is the best place to begin your SEO efforts.

First, Page Titles: The name at the top of your web page that describes your business: Each title should be different and relevant to each page – keyword research is very helpful to insure you are using the most searched for terms.

Second, Meta Descriptions: the copy that will show up under your Page Title in the search listings.  These need to relate to the text on the web page – each description needs to be different and accurate.

For this example I Googled “Marion MA Specialty Bakery”:

Third, Keywords: these tell the search engines what is on your page:

On my homepage I would use the keywords such as: web designer, internet marketing, social networking, AdWords Specialist, Southeastern MA web specialist

You may want to read the article I wrote on the difference between search engine optimization vs. search engine marketing.

If you need help with search engine optimization or integrating the internet into your business, give me a ring, 508-317-3755, send me an email, or follow me on Twitter.

I have just finished a new website for 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team goalie Jim Craig. Some of you may not know that after the Olympics Jimmy transitioned his gold medal success into an award winning career in sales. Today he travels the country as a motivational speaker sharing his Gold Medal Strategies for Success.

I loved working on this project because we were able to incorporate all areas of the internet.  I, along with the technical support of my friends at Expand2Web designed a new website, set up a Facebook Fan Page, created a YouTube Channel (Jim Craig Channel 30 in honor of his Olympic number) and set up a newsletter strategy (Jim was already Twittering!).

If you need help with website design or integrating the internet into your business, give me a ring, 508-317-3755, send me an email, or follow me on Twitter.

I just finished this article that my friend Nancy (who writes a great blog – KOGIWU) passed along, Are You Fun to Follow on Twitter?

Now everyone’s idea of fun is different of course, but by writing creative, engaging snippets that give your followers a laugh, pause for thought or some value added knowledge is the objective.

If you need help with website design or how to integrate the internet into your business, give me a ring, 508-317-3755, send me an email, or follow me on Twitter.

I just read this article on a blog that I follow, Mashable, The Social Media Guide and found it so compelling I wanted to share it with everyone.

Pope Benedict XVI has a message for priests of the Catholic Church: they must proclaim the gospel by not only having a website, but by blogging and utilizing new web communication tools.

The 265th Pope of the Catholic Church has been an unexpectedly strong proponent of social media. Last year, he launched a YouTube channel, and six months ago, he released Facebook and iPhone apps to spread the Church’s message. It looks like that he hopes Catholic priests will follow his digital example.

In his message, the Pope acknowledges that priests face new challenges due to cultural shifts that have brought the conversation online. Thus, priests must do more than just take the Word of the gospel to the web.

Here’s a small excerpt from the entire message from the Pope:

“The spread of multimedia communications and its rich “menu of options” might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web, or to see it only as a space to be filled. Yet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different “voices” provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”

We have to give the Pope high marks for his push to make the Church more effective in the digital realm. While the Pope is not on Twitter, his Pope2you initiative is definitely a step in the right direction. He clearly knows that reaching young believers requires going to the places where they spend their time and converse. More and more, that is social media.

I am frequently encouraging clients to blog or engage in social networking, I now have the backing of the Pope.

If you need help creating a blog, are looking for a ghost writer or would like to discuss how to connect your website/blog/social media, please give me a ring, 508-317-3755, send me an email, follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook.

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One of the most challenging elements of writing copy is to effectively get your point across with a minimal amount of words.   Wordcounter ranks the most frequently used words in any given body of text.

This completely analytical tool points out what words you overuse or helps you to find keywords from a document.  It is very useful for search engine optimization purposes,  you can check that you have used your keywords enough in a particular article  (BUT not too much).

Give it a go -

If you need help with your website, or using the internet for marketing, please give me a call, 508-317-3755 or send me an email.

My most recent web design project was for Custom Window Products in Mattapoisett, MA.  I was called in to brainstorm on-line marketing options, when we decided that the whole site was ready to be re-upholstered.

I wanted to showcase as much work as I could for the clients, a Hunter Douglas Dealers & Master Installers, who have been doing custom window treatments for Southeastern MA for over 25 years.  This lead to a site that has 28 pages, 19 photo galleries and 15 slide shows.   There is a section on window safety and Hunter Green, an eco-friendly line of window treatments.

We are now ready to move forward with an email campaign, pay per click and working on search engine optimization.

If you need help with your website, or using the internet for marketing, please give me a call, 508-317-3755 or send me an email.

As I have mentioned before, I love a year in review, which is a natural evolution to prepping for the year to come.  One of the people I follow on Twitter posted this article by Chris Brogan, Wiring Yourself for Success.

The gist of the article is to write your three words for the upcoming year.  These words are not resolutions, the are ways to frame what you plan to accomplish over the next year.   The illustration below will give you a visual of the exercise:

So if your goal word: add clients (to your business)

• Path 1 to the goal: build a website
• Path 2 to the goal: direct traffic to my website
• Path 3 to the goal: use social media
• Distractions: too busy with other elements of the business
• Steps to the path: hire qualified web designer & marketing person
• The finish line: website that is open 24/7 selling my message and reaching new consumers

Building this path is logical and organized – eighty percent of people who write down their goals achieve them.

Need help, give me a ring, 508-317-7355 or send me an email.

This is a complete re-post from Google’s Blog – I thought it was interesting.  I have always been a fan of the “Year in Review” and this sums up what was on the Most Watched List.

What you watched and searched for on YouTube in 2009

Posted: 16 Dec 2009 08:12 AM PST

(Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog)

This year has been the biggest yet for online video, and for the first time we’re sharing our official Most Watched lists and some of the fastest-rising search terms on YouTube. Some moments were big (President Obama’s inauguration), some small (a Minnesota wedding party erupts into dance), some expected (“New Moon”), some surprising (Susan Boyle) — but all of them inspired, entertained and connected millions of people around the world via YouTube.

For these lists, we looked at view counts of YouTube’s most popular videos (in some instances we aggregated views across multiple versions of the same video):

Most Watched YouTube videos (Global):
1. Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent (120+ million views)
2. David After Dentist (37+ million views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)
4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+ million views)
5. Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

Most Watched music videos on YouTube (Global)*:
1. Pitbull – I Know You Want Me (82+ million views)
2. Miley Cyrus – The Climb (64+ million views)
3. Miley Cyrus – Party In The U.S.A. (54+ million views)
4. The Lonely Island – I’m On A Boat (48+ million views)
5. Keri Hilson – Knock You Down (35+ million views)

Then, to determine the fastest rising search terms for each month, we examined the billions of queries that people searched for on YouTube (through December 15):

Fastest Rising YouTube search terms by month (Global):
January: inauguration
February: christian bale
March: the climb
April: susan boyle
May: pacquiao vs hatton
June: michael jackson thriller
July: michael jackson
August: usain bolt
September: kanye west
October: paranormal activity
November: bad romance
December: tiger woods

Fastest Rising YouTube search terms by month (U.S.):
January: obama inauguration
February: on a boat
March: watchmen
April: susan boyle
May: pacquiao
June: michael jackson thriller
July: wedding
August: send it on
September: kanye west
October: paranormal activity
November: adam lambert
December: tiger woods

There are a lot of interesting nuggets in here. The fastest rising U.S. search term in July was [wedding], clearly related to JK Wedding Entrance Dance, the third Most Watched YouTube video of the year. And while [michael jackson] was Google’s fastest rising search term in 2009, [michael jackson thriller] was the faster rising search on YouTube. Movie trailers (“New Moon,” “Watchmen,” “Paranormal Activity”) and inspirational moments (Susan Boyle, Usain Bolt) were popular, as were sensational celebrity scandals (Christian Bale, Kanye West, and most recently, Tiger Woods).

We hope to expand these lists in the future, so if there are any “Most Watched” categories you’d like to see in 2010, let us know by leaving a comment on the YouTube Blog.

*Note: Some music videos may be unavailable in your country due to copyright restrictions.

People keep asking me about Twitter.  What is the big deal and why bother?  Well, it is a big deal, as it is another (free) venue for your message.  The people out there who are Twittering are interested, engaged and early adapters, all excellent characteristics in a  potential client. I just read this post from Twitterrati, Five Ways to Attract Twitter Followers.  My favorite tip is that you must provide valuable or interesting content, opinions or ideas.  If you are pasionate about your business then you should have a lot to share – start Twittering!

Need help, give me a ring, 508.317.7355, send me an email or send me a tweet.

Writing copy for your website is different than writing copy for other forms of media, not only do you need to please your reader, you need to please the search engines.  You could hire Dan Brown himself to weave a tale of mystery and intrigue, but if the right keywords are featured, Google, Yahoo! and Bing will never find it and you won’t land on the coveted first page of search results.   On the same note, if I wrote web design and internet marketing fifty times in a row on my home page I am one click away from landing in the discard heap.

Some things to keep in mind:

• write for your customer – people want to know what you can do for them – we have every size and color of every widget ever made and we express ship- bingo
• remember keyword relevance – widgets need to be mentioned not only in the copy but in your title pages and your url.
• Your website can have as many pages as you would like.  It is a good practice when writing your design outline to  determine the keyword focus for each page and write your copy to focus on those terms.

Need help?  Ring, 508-317-7355 or send me an email.

There is a simple way to see if Google is finding your site in the search engines.  In the Google search bar type site:yoursitename.com.

This is an important test for a few reasons:

1. Is your site getting crawled?  If not then you will never move up in the organic ranks ie – none of your potential customers will be able to find you.  Your site not getting crawled is worse than setting up shop on a back road without an address – you really don’t stand a chance.
2. Make sure all of your pages are being read.  Not only do you want Google to find your homepage, you want to make sure each page is being seen.  A site full of rich content will help you in the organic ranks.
3. Check to see what the page description says.  Do you feel that what Google is pulling up accurately represents the message of the page?

There are many ways to help your site if Google (and the other search engines) aren’t finding you.

Need help?  Ring, 508-317-7355 or send me an email.

I will be the first to admit that while at work, at home and on the road I have searched and had many a laugh with You Tube videos.

Recently I have begun to turn to You Tube for step by step instructions on help with finer points of programming.  I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of content and really helpful  tutorials that I found.

Then I was totally shocked to read on the Expand2Web blog that You Tube is the #2 search engine on the web.  I know! Crazy, it beats out Yahoo! and Bing – what does this mean?  Get going on your You Tube video strategy.

Need help?  Ring, 508-317-7355 or send me an email?

I just finished designing a website for Under the Tree Foundation, which is an organization that provides teen members of the Dorchester Boys and Girls Club with gifts at the holidays.

UTTF was founded by Duxbury teen, Jonathan Woods, so I wanted to make sure that the site was youthful, masculine and acknowledged Christmas, yet not be too seasonal.  The foundation has a lovely logo which was the inspiration for the color scheme and I connected the site to Facebook and Twitter to reach the teen supporters of the foundation.

This site, which started with the intention of being a few pages became a 17 page website, it is connected to social networking via Facebook and Twitter, has contact forms and three sideshows.  Check it out, I think you will like it.

Need help getting your site off the ground, ring 508-317-7355 or email.

I just finished an article in the Investors Business Daily (IBD), entitled A Knack For Stirring Startups On The Web, which stuck a few cords with me that I would like to share.

• The article focuses on two women who started an online bakery, which I love because I have created a website for Flour Girls Baking Co. com.  Jill, the owner, hasn’t gone into online sales; however she doesn’t have a traditional brick and mortar establishment, so her website is her storefront.
• Launching a business online can is significantly less expensive than setting up shop with a physical address.
• Web traffic and sales are easier to track than a traditional retail establishment.
• The article mentions the power of social networking, Facebook & Twitter, to spread the word starting with family and friends.  We began this right away with Flour Girls and are  seeing the fan base grow along with visitors t land on the site via Facebook is growing each month.
• Just because you built a great website does not mean that people will visit – you need to continue to direct traffic to the site, remind people you are out there.

Need help?  Ring, 508-317-7355 or email.

This past Monday Google replaced the familiar local map that appears at the top of organic search results with 7 listings instead of 10.  The prestigious 10 pack that so many had worked diligently to break into is now even more exclusive, quickly coined the Lucky 7.

My friend Don Campbell of Expand2Web wrote an excellent article, Natural Rankings in Search Just Got More Important, which explains the changes in the listings and why your natural organic rank can never be ignored.

Google does not charge businesses to “claim their business”, which allows you to add pictures, list hours of operation, add maps and directions, and that categories that your business covers.  If you haven’t done this yet, give me a call and I will set this up for you.

What is SEO?

• Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the ranking of a website within the search engines via a natural (unpaid) process.
  • It is attractive for websites to have a higher organic (unpaid) ranking with a search engine (ie Google, Yahoo! and Bing), as the higher your website appears in the search results, the more visitors your site is likely to receive.

My suggestion is that you make SEO a priority before you build a web site, there are many important elements that happen in the coding and writing of a site that ensure you will have success in climbing the ranks of organic listings.

Need help or a more detailed explanation, reach out via email or give me a ring

Recently my friend Don Campbell of Expand2Web mentioned in his blog that he was reading the book Made to Stick.  The book takes on the question, why do some ideas thrive while others die and how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? “Made to Stick is a book that will transform the way you communicate ideas. It’s a fast-paced tour of idea success stories (and failures)—the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of the Mother Teresa Effect; the elementary-school teacher’s simulation that actually prevented prejudice . Provocative, eye-opening, and funny, Made to Stick shows us the principles of successful ideas at work—and how we can apply these rules to making our own messages “stick.”

This has been my favorite business book that I have read this year.  My number one take away, when writing, each word counts, clear and simple wins the day.  Have a read, I am curious to know what you think.

Twice this week I have been in two conversations where people were unclear of the differences between SEO and SEM.  Search Engine Marketing (SEM) refers to the paid ads that you see on websites, commercials, banner ads, or the ads at the very top of the page, or along the right hand side of a search engine query.

Example, if I Google myself, the number one result that appears in the blue box, Are you Eileen Lonergan, is a paid ad (commonly known as pay per click).  Search engine marketing – uses a search engine to match your business or product with what consumers are trying to find.  If there is a lot of competition in your product/service category and you want to insure that your business is noticed, search engine marketing is an awesome tool.

The first result in the white area of the page is called your organic rank, which is achieved by Search Engine Optimization.  This is achieved by building a website that is useful to a user and well written or coded by the web master.

This is a basic overview, for more information and details on how you can you utilize either or both to help you business, please contact me at 508.801.0771 or via email.

One of the blogs I regularly read is Marketing Charts, recently I came across this post, 10 Branding Trends for 2010: Value is the New Black.  Of course I was motivated to read, simply because of the title; however the point of view and information is very compelling.

A simple, straightforward marketing opportunity is to utilize the signature box on your email correspondence to direct people to your website.   This practice serves two purposes, it allows your clients to click straight from an email onto your website and it provides exposure of your business to your anyone that you email.  I even added a “Sign Up for my Newsletter” onto one clients email signature box, guess what, IT WORKS!

PS Don’t forget to add your phone number and a jpg of your logo.

Need help setting this up?  Call me, 508.801.0771 or send me an email.

Having a website gives credibility to your business, if consumers can’t find your business then the process of building a site and the expenses incurred are simply a waste.  This 15 second video shows you what a local search is.

Give me a ring, or send me an email, and I will help you get your business listed with Google, Yahoo!, Bing and Yelp.

Recently I began working with a new client on her company newsletter. This led me to analyze the email newsletter strategies for one of my existing clients the Anne Cain Golf Academy in Amelia Island Florida.

I wanted to share with you some tips for email communications that I feel contribute to Anne’s success:

• Strong writing – Anne is a clear communicator.
• Anne doesn’t limit herself to simply providing her clients with golf tips, she shares her opinions on players and how popular culture translates into the game.
• Visuals – she uses photos or video in her emails to explain herself.
• Personality – you can feel Anne in the newsletter, which should be an objective for everyone – if someone has elected to receive your correspondence they want to hear what YOU have to say.
• Anne archives content from her newsletters on her website.   Over time Anne has built up an impressive library of golf tips on her site that made their debut in a newsletter.  We include links in the current newsletter to the Tip Library, hence driving traffic to her site and reminding her students that her site is a resource – not just an online brochure trolling for new clients.

Send me an email or ring, 508-801.0771 to learn more strategies for using newsletters in your online marketing mix.

As you may have figured out from my website design, I appreciate a clean, uncluttered look (the exact opposite of my teen age bedroom aestic), which is why I love Tiny it! It takes your long url string and creates a tiny little url, which looks so much cleaner and more professional in an email, newsletter, posts and blogs.  Give it a try or give me a ring and I can help you, 508.801.0771.

Things to think about when building or redoing your website:

• Is your site for existing customers or would you like to use the site to build your customer base?
• Is it search engine friendly?
• If your business had a voice or a personality what would it sound like/look like?
• Will you have the ability to make changes once it is published?
• Do you have photographs?
• Do you have an email list, or would you like to build one with an email capture program?
• How does Social Networking fit in?
• Can you integrate video?

Need some help or guidance?  Give me a ring, 508.801.0771.

I found this article today by Alison Driscoll, an interative copywriter and social media consultant who specializes in Facebook, she authors a blog at alisondriscoll.com and thought that it was worthy of a re-post.

The Facebook Notes Application

“The notes app was originally a Facebook feature that they then converted into an application; as such, it is sponsored and maintained by Facebook and less likely to break or be abandoned. Set this application up to pull in the RSS feed from your blog or other content source and it will automatically bring everything into Facebook and show all of your friends that you’ve posted a new Note.

This notification system is important for staying on their radar and is more visible than an RSS Reader, or mini-blog as I like to call it, but lacks many formatting capabilities; it’s best to think of Notes and an RSS Reader as working hand in hand. Start here to get content coming into your Page, then move on to the RSS Reader.”

A blog is an excellent way to keep updating your fans about exciting news and events that are happening in your business.  This application will allow you to streamline efforts between your blog and your Facebook account.  If you need help pulling this together, send me an email or give me a ring, 508.801.0771

I read this post on Google’s blog and I think that it is a very simple explanation of  a browser and what that means to you as a user of the internet.

What is a browser?

I’ve been trying to explain to my mom for months what a web browser is, with little luck. After a few rounds of failed attempts, I grew curious about people’s general understanding of web browsers. So I decided to conduct a highly-scientific (read: not scientific at all) survey of my friends and got the following results >Click here to finish reading the post or click on the image to watch the video.