Archive for Google

Google Analytics

Video Tutorial: Integrate with Google Analytics

Posted by Cat 
· Friday, September 9th, 2016 
· 1 Comment

Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics gives you in-depth statistics that allow you to track detailed user behaviors on your website. Follow the guidance in this video tutorial to learn how to integrate your website with Google Analytics:

Login to your Google Analytics account here:
https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/

Check out Cat’s Level 3 self-hosted WordPress E-Course and learn how to:

  • install and use the Style Manager plugin, which will give you an easy way to modify some of the styles on your site.
  • add custom styles to your child theme stylesheet using CSS
  • optimize your home page for search engine optimization (SEO)
  • schedule your posts and create a blog broadcast with AWeber
  • install and setup WooCommerce with your existing paypal account

use coupon code 20%off to receive 20% off the price of Level 3!

This tutorial is part of a series of e-courses created by Cat Scholz to empower you with using the self-hosted version of WordPress to achieve your internet marketing goals. Get more information and/or sign up:

Checkout Level 1 (free)
Checkout Level 2 (on sale)
Checkout Level 3 (on sale)

1 Comment
Categories : Analytics, General How-To, Google, learn wordpress, Video Tutorials, Wordpress
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Wordpress

Why use WordPress (self-hosted)?

Posted by Cat 
· Thursday, February 25th, 2010 
· 4 Comments

There are many great reasons to use a self-hosted version of WordPress for developing your website and blog.  Here are my top 10:

  1. Google loves WordPress (and blogs in general) because search engines favor sites that have regularly created fresh content.  See my post on SEO.
  2. WordPress is interactive.  Visitors can comment on pages and posts.  You can create a community around your business with your site.
  3. You can organize content with categories and visitors can view or subscribe to the categories they want to.
  4. You can automatically sync your content to social websites such as Facebook with the RSS feed.
  5. WordPress sites can be translatable into many languages.
  6. WordPress sites are easy to update (far easier than reglular html or Joomla).
  7. Multiple authors and editors can contribute to writing content and posting photos or video (you can DELEGATE!)
  8. You can add PayPal buttons or a shopping cart to monetize your site (you can MAKE MONEY!)
  9. You can embed video from YouTube easily (YouTube is second to Google as a search engine now!)
  10. WordPress is open-source and is constantly evolving (it’s always getting better!)
  11. OK one more: WordPress is easy to learn!

There are more advanced reasons that concern templates, tags and permalinks, but the 10 reasons listed above should satisfy most folks who need a fast and easy way to get their business website up and running.

Here is a screenshot of what WordPress looks like from the back-end:

Live in Nevada County and want to learn more about WordPress in person?  Come to my free class.

4 Comments
Categories : General How-To, Google, learn wordpress, PayPal, RSS Feed Optimization, SEO, YouTube
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Comparing WordPress to Joomla

Posted by Cat 
· Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 
· No Comments

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Although most of my experience building websites has been with WordPress, I have also used Joomla and I have a few things to say about my experience with it that convinced me that I strongly prefer WordPress.

1) Ease of use

I started working with computers at a pretty young age – copying code out of PC Magazine and writing programs on our family’s Commodore-64.  Navigating the Joomla system was counter-intuitive.  I had to consult with a developer in the Netherlands to learn how to use it.  With WordPress, I figured it out on my own.

2) Visual/HTML editor

The greatest beauty of WordPress (and deep gratitude to all the PHP developers across the world who collaborated to develop the software) is that users don’t need to know html – not a wink of it.  Of course, it can be helpful in certain situations, but it is not needed.  You can copy html code into WordPress’s html editor window and then go into the visual editor to see what it will look like where you can align and adjust.  This is the golden jewel of WordPress.  Though I do know basic html, many of the people I serve have no interest in learning it.

3) WordPress can be just a website or a website with blog

WordPress does not have to be used for blogging – it can be a stand-alone website.  Blogging just happens to be a great tool for internet marketing, so using the blog component of your WordPress site is a huge bonus.

4) Google-friendly

Google finds WordPress sites much faster than regular websites due to the way the permalinks are structured.  Google loves WordPress sites.

What has your experience been with Joomla compared with WordPress?  Leave me a comment.

Here to help you make your finest dreams come true,

-Catherine

Related Articles:

http://dukecarico.com/index.php/Technology/Joomla-Vs.-WordPress.html

http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/wordpress-vs-joomla-a-handy-guide

http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/technology-technical-skills/3915-wordpress-joomla-desicion.html

http://www.miracletutorials.com/wordpress-vs-joomla-review/

No Comments
Categories : General Information, Google, learn wordpress, SEO
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Manage Your Reputation

Posted by Cat 
· Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 
· No Comments

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You can help people find you on the internet by managing your Google profile.  It’s kind of fun, actually – you can add photos from a photo sharing service you use, add your Google voice phone number (or any phone number), your website/s, your superpowers and details about where you grew up and where you have lived.  With this tool you can also make sure people have the information (as little or as much) about you that you want them to have.

Here to help you make your finest dreams come true,

–Catherine

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Categories : Google
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Google Local Business Center

Posted by Cat 
· Thursday, October 29th, 2009 
· No Comments

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Here is another way you can increase your visibility on Google – register your business at Google’s Local Business Center.  It will put you on Google Maps for your business and help people locate you.  If you work from home or just want some privacy about your actual location, use a PO Box as your address so folks can at least see where your city is located in your country.

Also, see Coryon Redd’s article in the Union about this topic.

Here to help you make your finest dreams come true,

-Catherine

No Comments
Categories : General How-To, Google, learn wordpress
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The art of SEO: basic concepts for WordPress users

Posted by Cat 
· Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 
· No Comments

You’ve probably already heard that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a very important part of your total website marketing plan. Here are the basics concepts as an introduction to SEO:

1) SEO is all about discovering the right keywords people use to search for your products and services on Google.com – Google being the top search engine on the internet.

2) If you want to maximize traffic to your website, your first task is to find the best keywords that relate most accurately to what you do or sell (assuming you are good and people need what you have).  Think about this from the perspective of the user.  Suppose you sell vintage jewelry.  Is your customer going to type in, “vintage jewelry” or “1960’s Victorian diamond wedding ring?” and how many people are interested in that particular product?

3) Once you have discovered the best keywords using certain tools, your next task is to use those keywords on your site in the most effective ways to draw visitors to your site using an SEO plugin and tags.

4) Then your next step is to convert your website visits into sales (which is another important marketing topic).

Why spend time on SEO?  If you can get in the top 5 search results in Google, your chances of making a sale go up dramatically.  However, keep in mind that SEO takes time and effort.  According to some experts, doing SEO right takes a minimum of 5 dedicated hours per week.

How does all of this apply to WordPress?  Well, WordPress is naturally SEO-friendly due simply to its permalink structure and the fact that blogs tend to have fresh content, and Google loves fresh content.  And once you’ve done your keyword research and chosen your target keywords, there are certain plugins and themes for WordPress that help with SEO.  Then there are additional SEO techniques for how you use your keywords when you title your pages, write your content, create internal links & external links, who you link to and who links to you.  You can also increase your “link juice” with link brokers and by using trackbacks and pingbacks.  It’s a form of art and science unto itself.  Even the number of characters you use matters.

Those are the basic concepts of SEO.  There is a lot to learn, but if you are serious about optimizing your business with the internet, it would be wise to invest in learning more about SEO.

Fortunately for those of us who have limited time to spend on SEO, there is a free plugin that makes optimizing your posts and pages easy. Watch this video tutorial to learn how to optimize your home page using the free Yoast SEO plugin:

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Categories : Google, learn wordpress, Plugins, SEO
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Google Voice

Posted by Cat 
· Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 
· 2 Comments

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Google has a new service that is handy for folks who have multiple contact phone numbers such as home, cell and office.  You can set up Google voice so that when your customers call, 1, 2, or all of your numbers will ring.   Make yourself as accessible, or as inaccessible, as you want through the scheduling feature.  Create custom messages for certain people or groups of people.  Receive transcripts of messages by email.  Conference calls…

Learn more.

2 Comments
Categories : Google
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Measure your site’s effectiveness with Google Analyticator

Posted by Cat 
· Monday, September 21st, 2009 
· No Comments

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This free WordPress plugin makes it super easy to install the necessary Google code so you can access the valuable information provided by Google Analytics.  First, install the plugin through your WordPress plugin installer.  Next, create a Google Analytics account.  Then, go into the Google Analytics settings:

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Enable the plugin and copy and paste your Google Analytics ID (looks like UA-XXXXXX-X) into the plugin settings.

Now you are good to go!  You can access your stats by logging into Analytics and/or by generating a report.

For more free WordPress tips by email, subscribe to my e-newsletter:

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Categories : Analytics, learn wordpress, Plugins
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