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Weekly Links Roundup – Store Locator Plugins, Plugin Roundup, Social Media, Screenshots Tool

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The top website and online marketing links of the week.

If you have multiple brick-and-mortar locations, a really useful feature you can add to your WordPress site is a store locator – a map showing pins for each of your locations. Clicking on a pin opens up address and other info about that location. Here’s a small roundup of 5 top store locator plugins. I’ve used Store Locator on a few sites, pretty easy to use, but these other plugins also look promising.

And speaking of WordPress plugins, here’s a big review of the single best plugin across many categories. While I agree with many of the selected winners, the one I differ with is the best forms plugin. IMO it’s Gravity Forms, and has been for years. Gravity Forms is a commercial plugin currently priced at $59/yr for one site.

If you’re evaluating your social media strategy – or just jumping in with social media for your business – this post on choosing the right social media platform for your business might help. You can’t do everything; this post and infographic can help you decide how to spend your time efficiently. Reviews Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

Finally… here’s a neat tool I was introduced to in a tech support chat this week. Snaggy is a great free tool for creating and sharing screenshots, perfect for chat.

Did you find this information useful? Please share with your friends and colleagues! And comment below with questions or observations.

Weekly Links Roundup – Ashburn VA, Adobe Apps, Forms, Remarketing

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The top website and online marketing links of the week.

Ever noticed, if you’re like most Google Analytics users, how much traffic you get from Ashburn, VA? Turns out Ashburn is a big technology center – 70% of the world’s Internet traffic flows through there; about 2.2 trillion Google searches per day.

Adobe’s app subscriptions are undeniably expensive. Photoshop by itself is $33.99/mo for businesses (right now). The first time I bought Photoshop it was in a box with a bunch of other Creative Suite apps for around $600. But anyway, there are alternatives for everything. Here’s a post on 27 free alternatives to Adobe subscription apps. I can also recommend the Affinity products – not free, but solid photo and illustration tools at a low cost.

Here is an interesting post on how form length affects conversions – and it’s not just form length that can have a negative impact. Sometimes longer forms do better, it all depends on a mix of factors.

You’ve probably heard about remarketing (if you’re not using it already) – but you may not be so sure what it is. This is a great intro – learn how to get started with remarketing using Google Ads and Facebook. Basically, remarketing is like getting a second chance to connect to potential customers who already know who you are, such as people who visited your site but didn’t make a conversion.

Did you find this information useful? Please share with your friends and colleagues! And comment below with questions or observations.

Weekly Links Roundup – Blog Comments, HTTPS Problems, Website Ownership, Social Media Marketing

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The top website and online marketing links of the week.

Everything you ever wanted to know about comments in WordPress – what they are and how to manage them. If you’ve decided not to allow commenting in your blog or are currently on the fence about it, check out this post on allowing blog comments or not which has some actual data behind it. Ultimately it’s your decision about what’s best for your site.

Have you made the big switch to HTTPS – bought or gotten a free SSL certificate, had it installed on your site, and done what you read were the correct steps to follow – and still you can’t get that stupid padlock to show up correctly in the address bar? Frustrating, isn’t it? If you’re the DIY type, here’s a tool for you. Why No Padlock will help you track down what’s causing the mixed content errors on your website so you can finally bring closure to your HTTPS odyssey.

Who owns your website? Careful here: it may not be you. I’ve had a few clients in the past receive a very rude awakening when they decided to move to WordPress. Learn why you should avoid proprietary website platforms (especially for your business) and always have your very own site on your very own hosting account.

And finally… Are you using social media to market your small business? Maybe you have a Facebook business page, or a Twitter account. But do you know really what you’re doing, so you make the most of your time? Here’s a great post from one of my favorite Internet marketing experts on effectively marketing your small business on social media.

Did you find this information useful? Please share with your friends and colleagues! And comment below with questions or observations.

Weekly Links Roundup – Best Pinterest Images, Recycle Old Content, Analytics, Google My Business

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The top website and online marketing links of the week.

Pinterest can be a great marketing platform for your business if your customers are there (same goes for all social media platforms). But do you know how to maximize your efforts? Here’s a post showing what types of Pinterest images get the most engagement.In short: avoid faces, use vibrant colors (especially red) and include lots of detail in your photos.

I’ve written before about reusing your old blog or website content – you spent all that time making it, so why should it not continue to work hard for you long after it’s first published? Learn 5 ways to recycle old content using email.

For those who have yet to use Google Analytics or are brand new to it, it can certainly be overwhelming. Here are some playful suggestions for getting familiar with Analytics.

You’ve likely heard about Local Search. But if you work at home, or do your work at your clients’ locations (think locksmith or carpet cleaner) and don’t have a traditional brick-and-mortar location, can you still get involved? Yes you can! And you should. Learn about setting up a service-area business profile on Google My Business.

On that topic, if you’re not yet using Google My Business, now’s the time to claim and verify your listing, and get to work on your profile. Get expert tips on setting up and optimizing your Google My Business profile.

Did you find this information useful? Please share with your friends and colleagues! And comment below with questions or observations.

 

Weekly Links Roundup – Social Media Auto Posting, SEO Glossary, SEO Challenges, Color

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The top website and marketing links of the week.

Need an easy way to manage the auto-posting of your WordPress blog posts to your various social media sites? Here’s a roundup of 10 plugins for social media auto-posting. I use Revive Old Post for republishing old content, and I’ve also used a plugin not on this list: Social Media Auto Publish. It’s free but limited to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Ever been doing your own SEO (or trying to decipher something your SEO expert sent you) and having to deal with acronyms and terms you don’t recognize? Here’s a comprehensive great big glossary of SEO terms for your small business reference library.

Speaking of SEO – ever tried to do it for a product or service with no (that’s zero) search demand? It’s not an impossible task, you just need to think a bit more creatively.

Finally… this week I’ve been working with a client to refine their logo – and by association, website – color palette. Here’s a guide to using color psychology to increase conversions and interactions on your site.

Did you find this information useful? Please share with your friends and colleagues! And comment below with questions or observations.