vLog with the 2 nerds, Jennifer Cloake and Dave Jesch…in a segment of Forbidden Love- Tech and Marketing Series.

So what are WordPress Plugins?

Plugins are tools that allow you to change the behavior of WordPress.

What can plugins do?

Plugins are used to make WordPress do what you need it to do and customize it for your business.

Plugins can do anything from adding Google Analytics to your web pages, or adding an entire shopping cart to your WordPress web site.

Still have questions on plugins?  Feel free to ask on Jenn’s Facebook Wall.

DIY Online Solutions- Marketing vLog by Jennifer Cloake

People ask me all the time why I’m so hot on making videos? Believe it or not, I wasn’t always in love with them. I was pretty much camera shy. Gaining 30 lbs didn’t exactly boost my confidence in the camera department either.

Here’s the thing, people want to connect with you. You want to stand out, you have to be visible in some way, shape, and form. Videos don’t have to be the answer for you but it sure is a quick easy way to get your Message out to the public.

1. I love it because I get to post it on Youtube. Youtube gives me some html code (in street talk: jibberish) where I can easily copy and paste it into my blog posts. Super simple!

2. I love it because I get to connect! Truly connect. With technology, not really feasible to have coffee meetings anymore…certainly doesn’t work when it’s on a global scale. Well, videos would be the next best thing. No one wants to read anymore. They want to Feel your vibe!

3. View the video…there are many hints such as modifying and recycle your content, marketing tool for Coaches, riding on others’ SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Efforts. There, enough said on #3…video blogging is way easier and faster for me than typing it all out for you!

Get my point?

Luv, peas & carrots! May the Online Force be with you…

Jennifer Cloake, DIY Marketing Nerd

YouTube vLog: Dave and Jennifer, your 2 Nerds, discuss whether to focus your marketing efforts with SEO or Social Media.

Some say focus on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and some say Social Networking is the way to go.  Well, which is it?

A discussion on where to start — Should you focus on Social Media first, or Search Engine Optimization?

Bottom line is that you should focus on what you WANT to do- followed by what you’re good at.

If you’re more social and feel comfortable doing Social Media, then start with Social Media.

If you’re more technical and like SEO then you should begin your online efforts with SEO.

Doing something that you’re not comfortable with will feel like work. So if you concentrate on what you’re interested in, either Social Media or SEO, then it’ll come more naturally and easier.

If you have questions, send Jenn a Message on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/jennifercloakenerd

YouTube vLog:
Jennifer Cloake, DIY Marketing Nerd, interviews David Tyreman, Branding Identity Specialist with World Famous Co. in DIY Shop Talk Video Series discussing that popular people like to help others.

Even if you’re shy, you can reach out and help others online.  Try reaching out by emailing or messaging people privately.  You do not need to be “public” about it.  Popular people are generally the ones who are willing to reach out and make a difference in people’s lives.  They authentically create an experience where they can help others  feel good about themselves.

Reach out and help someone today!  Even if  it’s saying Hi, smile, or asking how they are doing.

Jennifer Cloake, your DIY Marketing Nerd
You can find Jennifer on Facebook. Click on the link above. =) Jump into conversations!

Dave Jesch, DIY Tech Nerd, and Jennifer Cloake, DIY Marketing Nerd discusses how letting your site sit can help you earn SEO (Search Engine Optimization) points with Google–  Another episode of “Forbidden Love- Tech & Marketing”:

Just setting up your web site without putting up a whole lot of content can actually help you when it comes to SEO.

The age of your domain name is part of what search engines look at when it comes to the importance of your site and how you will rank. So purchasing your domain name and putting up a simple landing page — before you plan out the rest of your site’s content — can help you in ranking better with the search engines.

Jennifer Cloake sees dead peeps in social media.

Alright! You may get mad at me for my “Mass Poke”, as my Facebook friend CrazyJef calls it. But I think it’s time for a dose of Online Awakening (with tons of love of course…LOL). I’m not ashamed to admit I like rocking the boat a bit.

Frankly, I’m tired of seeing business owners who want to gain Publicity yet tries so hard to be Invisible in Social Media. I know, I know…I’ve been beating everyone over the head with “Do Not Sell!” and yet I want you to be more Visible. How? WTF right?

Okay, here’s the deal. You’re online in Social Media to brand yourself. Branding means broadcasting your Branding Message- That’s the message to Inspire Others to work with you and no one else. and Broadcasting your Message means you have to be more Visible. It doesn’t mean you need to talk about your Business in conversations 24/7. I sincerely believe there’s more to You than your products and services.

Why are we so ashamed of sharing who we are, what we think, or what we believe in? I’m not asking you to tell the World how often you take a shower (unless you want to), what your deepest darkest secrets are, or even what your checking account balance is. Just a tiny bit about You- toasted or untoasted, dogs vs. cats, maybe just quotes that inspire you, youtubes that make you ROFLMAO.

I can see it now…Objection Alert on my “dead peeps” video! To save you some time, I’ve come up with 7…the rest, go figure it out! hahah hah I trust that you’re brilliant and can come up with creative solutions.

Objection #1: “If I get involved in conversations, then my eMail box will be filled with notices.”
Solution: Get a GMail account set up for social media notifications and junk mail. And know what else is cool? Most (if not all) social media platform like Twitter and Facebook all have options to turn off auto notifications.

Objection #2: “I don’t know what to say.”
Solution: Great! How about a “thumbs up” in Facebook? How about just say “Hey, I really like this…”. The key is to be sincere about it. If there’s nothing you like ever ever ever…then time to seek therapy. =)

Objection #3: “I’d be sitting here tweeting all day. What about work?”
Solution: Schedule your social media time just like you would for marketing and branding time in you business. I find Social Media to be the best trainer on time management skills.

Objection #4: “Such a waste of time.”
Solution: If this is your Objection, then Social Media platform is not your thing. Don’t waste another minute using it as a Marketing tool for you or your business. You MUST be comfortable with what you do otherwise prospects will smell your b.s. from the other side of the globe. You will stink up the whole entire Cyberspace.

Object #5: “I don’t want to share my thoughts and feelings on Facebook…”
Solution: Receiving starts with Giving. And part of Giving is Sharing. Understand you don’t have to share your finances, your Mother’s maiden name. Sharing your thoughts shows who you’re as a person. That’s the fastest and best way to build a relationship online. You will attract people who are attracted to you. So, either you’re embarrassed about who you are (again, seek therapy. LOL) or you’re putting up a wall. Your Online Peeps can feel the invisible wall, whether you notice it or not. Know that you may not click with everyone, but the ones who will click with you will be grateful to see your authenticity and become your biggest fans.

Objection #6: “No one cares what I have to say…”
Solution: I do. And that’s at least 1 person you know of. If you think no one cares what you have to say, then the Universe will give you just that. Further, lets bring it to real life…If you don’t think people care about what you have to say, then why should they care about what you have to say about your Business? Your Products? Your Services? Hire someone else who actually believe in You and your Business to marketing for you. Do not do it yourself.

Objection #7: “This seems like so much work…”
Solutions: Well, like anything else, it does take time and effort to build. The key is build an Efficient system and have it be Automated as much as possible so you don’t have to work so hard in the future. If it’s not fun for you and it seems like work, it may not be the marketing platform for you. Don’t do it just because everyone else is doing it. Definitely don’t do it because your hear it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Social Media will only work as a marketing strategy for your Business if you believe in it and have fun with it.
Understand it’s a marketing strategy, not the answer to your prayers.

Wake up! Don’t be one of those dead peeps I see online. Take baby steps…it’s okay to come out and play on Facebook. Give yourself the permission to Believe in your Business. And that start with Believing in Yourself.

Connect with Jennifer Cloake, DIY Marketing Nerd, on Facebook.
http://www.Facebook.com/JenniferCloake
Or get to know Jennifer on YouTube
http://www.Youtube.com/JenniferCloake

Jennifer Cloake, Founder of DIY Online Solutions, suggests not to wait for Online Business.

Okay, here’s the deal. A lot of things seem like axx backwards Online but the honest truth is it makes tons of sense. It’s the same concepts in Investing and what has help many Entrepreneurs achieve Mega Success.

Many business owners think if they load up their products and services Online, people will flock to their website. Well, no! The truth: No one cares! I’m not trying to be a downer here but Buyers are very savvy. It’s a fact that with globalization and the convenience of online purchases, chances are very slim you are the only one with your specialty, products, and/ or services.
So, stay away from the mindset that “if you build it they will come…”.

So, that leaves us desperately looking for business. We knock on doors and make friends we don’t necessarily want to talk to on Facebook, Twitter, and God knows where else Online. Some might be interested in buying but there’s little to none when it comes to loyalty. And really, there are tons of salesperson knocking on the same doors selling the same things. This leaves us business owners extremely frustrated. When do we take a break for vacation? When we get back, there’s no business. No business means no money. And we all know no money means no food…boy, we sure are creating a lot of unnecessary stress for ourselves, aren’t we?

Here’s what I’m suggesting: If you need income right now, get a job. While you build your business (which I always advocate), you work- even if it’s a part time job. The fact is you need to be in the mental space where you aren’t desperate for money. Needing money will cause a business owner make decisions they wouldn’t otherwise make. Often times, it will come back and bite you in the axx.

Now, give…give…and give. It doesn’t mean you give everything away. It means you give your time, your passion, and your expertise. I love making people laugh so I spend a lot of time making silly videos. One, great for my Soul. I enjoy doing it. Two, I’m known as the Funny one that takes Action. You need to spend time not selling but marketing your Brand so you stand out Online. Once you establish a consistent Brand, business will pour in Effortlessly. Yes, it takes a little longer. Yes, it’s not the easiest thing. But this is how you can achieve Personal and Financial Freedom sooner than later. Think of it as Efficiency! =)

For more Online Solutions, visit us at our Facebook Group http://www.IneedMyNerd.com Dave and I would be happy to answer questions for you.

Jenn

When describing meta tags, most people’s eyes sort of glaze over. They don’t really know what they are and yet they are an important part of SEO- Search Engine Optimization. So I thought I’d give a little bit of detail on them.

What are Meta Tags?

Meta tags are HTML. They’re found in the <head> section at the top of your page. Meta tags take the following form:

  <meta name="{type}" content="{contents}" />

So that’s what meta tags are — that’s great. But what do they do?

How Are Meta Tags Used

Meta tags are used by search engines to help determine what your web site is about. They give information on the contents of the page, how the page should be indexed and the preferred URL to use when referring to the page.

Types of Meta Tags

There are four basic meta tags types that are in common use. There are actually dozens of them, some not important and some obsolete. They are:

• Description – Describe page; 250 characters.
  This tag is used to fill in the description that is listed in the search engine’s results page. The description tags is not required. If you do not declare one, then the search engines will create a description from the contents of your page. So if you want to be able to specify exactly what your page’s content is about, then you should use one.
  Example: <meta name=”description” content=”This is my description.” />
• Keywords – Declare keywords; 25 words or phrases.
  This tag is used to help describe the keywords that you are targeting for your page. Most web crawlers (the programs that scour the Internet for content to add to search engine indexes.) now ignore this tag, so it is considered of lesser importance. This is because most search engines today look at the contents of your page in order to find the keywords.
  Example: <meta name=”keywords” content=”comma,separated,keywords.” />
• Canonical – Specify Canonical URL
  This tag is used to describe the recommended URL to use for the current page. This tag is used when you are displaying content in multiple ways, such as an archive page of blog posts, and the individual blog posts. Why is this important? It helps to guide the search engines to a single URL as the source of the content — otherwise the search engines would see the same content in multiple places and think that you’re repeating yourself. The Canonical meta tag can also be used to tell the search engines what your preferred domain is, as in domain.com or www.domain.com.
  Example: <meta name=”canonical” content=”http://www.mydomain.com” />
• Robots – Declare Search Engine indexing behavior
  This tag is used by the search engines to determine what actions should be taken with the current page’s content. Some of the values that can be put in the content area are “follow” and “index.” If you want search engines to index your page, use the “index” directive. If you don’t want the page to be indexed, you can use “noindex.” The “follow” directive tells search engines to follow the links on this page in order to find more pages to include in their indexes. The default values are “index, follow” — so if that’s what you want, you don’t need to specify a robots meta tag.
  Example: <meta name=”robots” content=”index,nofollow” />

As mentioned before, there are other meta tags and their names can be almost anything. Most of these other tags are used for very specialized search engines. An example of this would be the “abstract” tag, which was originally intended to indicate the abstract, or short description of a professional paper or thesis. It’s not wrong to use these other meta tags but they should be used when actually necessary. Otherwise, they will only cause your web pages to increase in size but provide very little value.

The meta tags used for the Facebook Like WordPress plugin are only used by Facebook to get additional information about the page in order to add that information to someone Facebook News Feeds. If your pages are not using the Facebook Like Plugin, there is no reason to include these tags. If you’re curious about what these tags look like you can read Facebook’s Documentation on the Social Graph, which is what they call their Like button feature.

How to Add Meta Tags to Your Blog

There are numerous WordPress plugins that you can use that give you control over the meta tags for your site. The one I feel that works best is the All in One SEO Pack. This plugin allows you to fill in keywords and descriptions as well as specify any additional meta tags that may be required by your site.

Conclusion

Meta tags are not difficult to use. With the proper WordPress plugin, you can have control over the contents of your meta tags and be able to describe your pages and content to the search engines to work for your SEO strategy.

http://www.DIYOnlineSolutions.com

Jennifer Cloake, Founder of DIY Online Solutions.com, shares a marketing secret online- The Power of $1

Hey, you might be spending $5 on a cup of coffee these days but don’t discount The Power of $1 online.

99 Cent Store rakes in millions on this principle. When was the last time you bought only 1 item at the 99 Cent Store? Me- NEVER! I always end up with shopping carts full of stuff.

Now, with automated email delivery systems online, you literally can come up with tutorials- videos or .PDF’s, charge $1 each, rinse, and repeat! =) It takes you a little bit of initial efforts but with ongoing marketing and the benefits of a WordPress Blog, you can really automate much of your efforts.

More details in the video, you’ll know what I mean. You can set up monthly memberships to generate residual income. You can choose to pump out 100 of this mini-tutorials, make a series out of them. Sky is the limit and there’s no stopping when it comes to creativity.

I hope you enjoy this post. Feel free to share this with your friends. =)

Facebook Group http://www.Ineedmynerd.com to answer landing page, seo, social media, blogging questions.

www.DIYOnlineSolutions.com

Jennifer Cloake, Founder of DIY Online Solutions.com, shares where to get started with Online Marketing as a Business. Social Media, WordPress Blog, or SEO efforts?

Well, Social Media Gurus are going to tell you that you need to take action NOW in Social Media because it’s the hottest thing in town. SEO Experts will tell you it’s important to rank very high in Google Search Engine. I, the WordPress Advocate, will tell you to start with a blog first because it’s Social Media and SEO friendly. On top of that, you get to set up limitless landing pages with our DIY Landing Page Plugin (Yes, my one shameless plug a day…it keeps the doctor away…hah haa) Confused yet?

Here’s the deal…

It doesn’t freaking matter where you get started first. Forget what we all tell you. You need to make this decision yourself.

What I’d suggest is picking between Social Media and a WordPress Blog first. Forget about SEO for now. SEO efforts will be automatically achieved with a self-hosted Blog with some simple DIY strategies and keyword placement.

Take action now. When I started DIY Online Solutions, I had a one-page landing page set up with an opt-in box asking for email addresses so I can notify people when DIY launches. I had some keywords on the page and by having the page sit there while I figure out marketing strategies, I’m already being indexed by Google. The longer your site is indexed, the more points you receive. Of course, there are many other variables. We’ll talk about that on a different day.

I don’t care what anyone tells you, you cannot build an online presence over night. So, one little task a night. Don’t get overwhelmed. Just make a point of doing something online each day. If you feel like setting up a landing page, great! If you want to chat in Facebook to build relationships, wonderful! Just do something…anything.

Please visit us in our Facebook group. www.IneedMyNerd.com. Dave and I are happy to answer your questions on SEO, Social Media, Blogging, Landing Pages…and of course, Marketing Solutions. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Jennifer