Note from WebFadds Chief  Scott Frangos (see:  ScottLinkedIN.com | ScottGooglePlus.info):  I began my career as a writer and editor and did a couple of stints in PR before gravitating to advertising-marketing-web development.  Now, we continue to see a lot of clients who need help creating consistent, well targeted, and professionally published content crafted to increase visibility, SEO, and to lead site visitors to desired business outcome goals.  In a nutshell — content marketing.  So, I’m happy to announce that we now offer three services for professional content creation…

Three Content Marketing Options from WebFadds.com

1. General Blog Posting:  We’ll interview your Marketing Communication group to understand the thrust of your messages and the profile of your target prospects.  Then, we’ll research recent search volume related to your industry to determine topics with you.  After that, we’ll create a minimum of two blog posts per week, crafted to engage website visitors.  We will review and track this campaign with engagement Analytics and custom reporting tied to business outcome goals like leads gathering, and downloading of white-papers which we will determine together.  We’ll tie this in with your Social Media marketing, itself growing in importance for good SEO results.  Generally, this level of content creation runs between $45 – $60 per post.
2. Expert Level Blog Posts:  For this level of content publishing, we will engage proven writers for your industry, plus add expert editing with an editor that will interview you, your prospects, and research the market further in order to produce longer and more insightful articles.  We will review and track this campaign with engagement Analytics and custom reporting tied to business outcome goals like leads gathering, and downloading of white-papers which we will determine together.  We’ll tie this in with your Social Media marketing, itself growing in importance for good SEO results.  Generally, this level of content creation runs between $79 – $120 per post.
3. Multi-Media, “Power of Story” Presentations:  People are moved by stories.  And you need every “emotional handshake” you can get for your business, so we will work with you to create multi-media presentations including video, animation, and flash-like (except we’ll use technology that IS viewable on millions of iPads and iPhones) moving images to get your story across and engage your prospects and customers with your story crafted to result in trackable business outcome goals for maximum ROI on this effort.

Contact Us Today… The bottom line is that Google and other search engines are stepping up how they reward consistent publishing of relevant content, and doing so using proven communication principles along with professional publishing and editing tied social media and with trackable goals is the key in this fast evolving online marketplace.

Below is an official Press Release about the two WordPress workshops (hands-on) I’ll be teaching along with Russell Sparkman next Month at the Langley Center for New Media on Whidbey Island — about 45 minutes NorthWest of Seattle, WA, in the scenic Puget Sound.  This will be a great way to hone your WordPress skills and to relax in a very scenic location — click pics to enlarge them.  Looking forward to seeing you there.

WordPress 201 – Beyond the Basics, Hands on Training Workshops Offered at Langley Center for New Media

Media Contact:  Sherry Jennings – sherryj@whidbey.com

Entrepreneurs, bloggers, and new media students have an opportunity to take their WordPress skills to the next level at their choice of two WordPress 201 workshops available in October on either the 20th or the 21st.

This workshop is for those with some basic familiarity with WordPress, but want to take their skills beyond the basics to understand the stand-alone version of WordPress, related plugins, tactics that address SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and integration with Social Media platforms.

Center Director, Russell Sparkman, explained that the 201 level course comes both in direct response to their beginner WordPress clinic, and the growing popularity of WordPress as a blogging and business website platform.  ”This is a hands-on workshop with a low student to teacher ratio to insure a high degree of learning and knowledge retention,” Sparkman said.  Both workshops are limited to 12 participants. Sparkman has an extensive digital media background dating back to 1992, when he was one of the first photographers in the States to embrace digital photography. He has been a multimedia producer, consultant and trainer since 1999.

Sparkman will co-teach the workshop with Scott Frangos (see ScottLinkedIn.com), a career Advertising and Marketing professional with a specialty in Content Management Website development in WordPress, optimized for SEO and business outcome goals like lead gathering. He has taught Publishing, Photoshop, Programming (for the Web), and WebMaster college level courses in the Portland, Oregon area for over 20 years.

• Learn More/Register for 10/20 Session: http://www.langleynewmedia.com/programs/marketing-pr/workshops/wordpress-201-102011/
• Learn More/Register for 10/21 Session:  http://www.langleynewmedia.com/programs/marketing-pr/workshops/wordpress-201-10-21/
• About LCNM:  The Langley Center for New Media is located in Langley, Washington, on Whidbey Island, just one hour north of Seattle. The Center offers a year-around schedule of workshops and events, including an annual Retreat focused on Content Marketing in January, and more workshops and clinics throughout the year on WordPress, Publishing and Marketing with New Media.

Bob Leonard of acSellerant is a WebFadds associate who I work with regularly. We work together on both WebFadds projects and on other “virtual marketing agency” teams. So I thought it would make sense to interview him… to get his thoughts on current client marketing needs and solutions. Bob is a career marketing services professional with significant experience in the B2B technology marketplace, and a deep skill set in content and online marketing including SEO copywriting and multi-media.

Scott: Bob – What’s your primary focus?

Bob Leonard – Content Marketing Strategist and WebFadds Associate

Bob: We work exclusively with mid-sized B2B technology companies. They typically don’t have the internal resources to consistently develop high quality content. Some have had bad experiences with ‘content farms’ that are low-priced, and deliver poor quality. As a result, many prospects come to us after they’ve suffered significant damage to their brands and reputations. Others have had bad experiences with advertising agencies that focused on branding and paid advertisements. The results there being large fees for the agency, but no increase in revenue for the B2B.

We fill the gap in between those two ends of the spectrum with high quality content that is relevant and useful to our clients’ prospects. Prospects consume the content because they want to, and in the process they learn how our clients’ solutions can help them. It’s a way to nurture leads without being intrusive. The quality reflects well on our clients… positioning them as trusted advisors.

What do you see as the current crucial requirement for B2B Marketers?

A blog post I wrote recently for the Content Marketing Institute titled ‘Crossing the Content Chasm’, struck a nerve. The basic premise, that there’s a significant gap between where most marketers are with their inventory of content and where they need to be, resonated with readers.

Along with the increasing demand for quality content, there’s also a shift away from traditional text-based content toward multi-media. Almost all business content is consumed online today. Busy executives won’t read, for example, a 12-page white paper explaining a complex technological solution. So we need to deliver that same information in a multi-media format that’s quick and easy to consume.

At acSellerant we’ve developed a process that helps us to do that. We call it: Strategy, Story, Storyboard, Sequence, Socialize. You’ll have to interview me some other time so I can go into the details around the process.

What are your thoughts about the new Google+ Social Network?

You know a lot more about it than I do. From my perspective, it looks like a Content Delivery platform. For the B2B marketplace, once Google extends the business aspects of the platform, it should be an effective tool for delivering the right content in the right format to the right people at the right time.

That’s a mouthful! We’ve come to the end of the interview, Bob. Want to leave us with a few B2B marketing tips?

Sure. Getting back to content… what’s relevant and useful to one person is irrelevant and useless to the next. So you need to know exactly who you’re target audience is. You should rework your content to make it appeal to different targets who may influence a buy decision. In other words, if both the VP of Sales and the CFO will have a say regarding whether to buy your solution, make sure you talk about how it will help generate leads (or close deals) when addressing the VP of Sales, and make sure your focus is on the payback and ROI of the solution when focusing on the CFO.

Also keep in mind that prospects will have different questions and objections at different stages in the buy cycle. For example, in the beginning they’ll want to know about your company’s reputation and experience with their industry. Towards the end of the buy cycle, they’ll be more interested in integration issues and terms of the contract.

Download your Google Plus Guide (PDF) – click image.

Most tuned in Content Marketing and WordPress MarCom professionals are aware of the tremendous success Google is having with Google Plus. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about a manual +1 embedding method to get the button on your blog and CMS.  Now, to answer questions about strategies, extensions and plugins, here’s your WebFadds Guide to using Google Plus (complete with PDF — download at right).  We’ll take a look at what I call “Circling Strategies”, plus (pun intended) learn how to integrate Google Plus with other networks and WordPress.

Google Plus Circling Strategies

One great feature of Google Plus that will empower you to speak directly to and listen (always remember to listen) to targeted groups is called, “Circles.” The concept is simple — drag and drop your important contacts into appropriate and specific circles you create, then you can set your stream to only display messages from a certain circle or circles — the listening part.  You also can send message only to certain circles, plus enable image albums to be only viewable by certain circles.  Let’s consider some “circling strategies”:

• Target Images:  You create a circle for potential clients in your industry, called “prospects.”  Then you create a photo album of helpful images (think screenshots and powerpoint-like slides that explain important concepts), enable it for just that group, and “stream” out a notice and trickle of individual photos just to that circle.
• Phone Stream:  Continue to stream your comments and images to a certain circle using your phone’s built in camera and a Google Plus app on your phone.
• Serve Clients:  Create another circle just for your current clients, and load an album with PDFs and visual examples to frequently asked questions.
• The Schmooze Factor:  People buy from those they feel they know, so you have an opportunity to let your personality shine by gradually allowing clients and prospects to see more of your personal side.
• The International Effect:  Recall that Google earlier intended to add real-time translation for chats into the Google Wave and think about what that means for developing your global circles.

Watch out Mr. Zuckerberg — the circling feature alone (not to mention all the other Google integrations with Gmail, etc.) zooms Google right past the clunky way FaceBook operates.

Integrating Google Plus with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIN

Now that your circles are streaming, it’s time to get efficient.  This is a brand new network with its own learning curve.  Tim O’Reilly was complaining about its complexity on his Google plus stream today… but he does seem to be embracing it.  So, your tactic here is to seek efficient integration using a Chrome extension or two to make it easy to send Google+ stream comments over to Twitter, LinkedIN, and Facebook.  To do this, go and get the Extended Share extension from the Google Chrome Web Store:

Remember to be in Chrome (I’m usually surfing in FireFox), then just click install.  You will find options to select the networks to use under Window ==> Extensions.  Then you’ll see the “Share On” link which will pop-up a box with the network icons you selected.  Click the icons and post to those networks.

Integration on your WordPress CMS and Business Blogs

One of the best things about WordPress as a CMS solution are the thousands of plugins available in the great spirit of the open source community.  I have been looking for one that provides a smooth integration for Twitter, LinkedIN, StumbleUpon (many overlook this, but it is showing recent growth, and Analytics stats prove its worth), and now FaceBook — and it’s here, thanks to Kunal over at SearchTechWord.  You install, then configure it, with the option to have it placed at the top of posts and on the blog index page as you can see here at WebFadds.com, or use it in a side floating option position as you see in the screenshot below:

There ya go — you’re all integrated and on your way with Google Plus… let the circling begin.  Contact us if you need help with any of these integrations.

Docs to WordPress plus Edit Flow Streamling

As the new marketing online morphs into publishing, workflow becomes more important for collaborative teams of MarCom professionals working within one company, and also for distributed teams of writers, editors, and sometimes clients located at different geographic locations.  Here, we’ll review two plugins that help streamline your publishing work with some helpful info-graphics and a video to get you up to speed.  Contact WebFadds.com for a custom installation on your WordPress CMS.

Media Bistro recently reported on a unique web-based publishing workflow used by the Bangor Daily News.  In a nutshell, they use custom WordPress plugins to facilitate their editing flow from Google Docs to WordPress to InDesign.  This means you now have streamlined control of collaborative web based editing in Google Docs, ported quickly to the top open source CMS for content marketing online (WordPress), then pushed back into Adobe InDesign for print publishing.  Pretty slick… and the good news?  You can make it work for you now too, thanks to William Davis of the Bangor Daily News who has released their plugins to the WordPress plugin directory.

I decided to test the “Docs to WP” plugin for this post, and also take a look at another plugin they recommend “Edit Flow” which offers a suite of tools for editorial teams including custom status, email notifications for authors and editors, a visual calendar for scheduled posts, editorial comments in the back end, and more.

Streamlined Publishing with Docs to WordPress

After you set-up the Docs to WP plugin (see info-graphic), begin by opening a new Doc in Google Docs.  I like to open Google Docs in a separate browser window, then do initial writing with other sites open for reference in a window underneath — you’ll see that in the first screenshot below.  Then, after you set up the Docs to WP, with correct “collections” (folders in Google Docs) set in your wp-config file, the plugin just pulls your posts and updates directly into place as a draft in WordPress.  The whole process is explained in the second info-graphic below:

The first screenshot at left (click to enlarge) shows Google Doc open in new browser window for editing while surfing the web.  Second, our Info. Graphic  at right, (approved for republishing when you use as is, with no changes) gives the set-up and usage steps at a glance.  Excellent features include capturing links, headings, “cleaning” code problems that sometimes occur when you cut and paste from Google Docs or other word processors.

Once you set it up, the plugin does its quick magic of porting over and updating your docs directly to WordPress quickly… updated every two minutes.  You can wrap your mind a bit more around Docs to WordPress (the part I tested), and WordPress to InDesign for print publishers by watching the following video:

Efficient Management of Your Editing WorkFlow

The Edit Flow”  plugin provides a number of helpful editing flow management tools to your admin. area.  Developed primarily for teams, I liked a number of the enhancements — even for a one-person blog.

[click to enlarge] The plugin places two new overviews on your dashboard — Posts at a Glance, and Posts I’m Following.  For Posts at a Glance, you may set up your own custom post statuses — for a one-person blog, you might like to have one called, “Saved for Later”, etc.

Next, when editing an actual post (this would be done after you are through at Google Docs), you can leave messages and set alerts for coeditors, reporters, the web team, and even the Sales team…

[click to enlarge]  Top shows field to leave notes.  Beneath is where you set alerts. In addition to alerting editors, web and sales team members, you can set it so different users get alerts when a post is updated — powerful reminders to call back both teams, and registered site users to a particular post. The main plugin controls let you set which users are members of the different groups, and you may set up your own custom groups too.  Note you can move these controls to the location you want in the editing area by dragging and dropping into place.

Next, you also enjoy a set of fields for your post controls… at right [click to enlarge], is a screenshot of the meta-data notes fields that also appear in post editing after you activate and configure this plugin.  You may add or subtract “meta data” items for your posts.

All-in-all, an excellent set of custom publishing tools for streamlined workflow to help editors and content marketers.  Note that the media bistro site also lists some other plugins for larger editorial operations and some methods to port wordpress docs back into InDesign for print publishers.  Contact WebFadds.com for a custom installation for your WordPress CMS publishing system.

WebFadds has added some new layout, button, and Google functionality to our Thematic-MAX Themes

Google Plus?

Google has once again innovated in its ongoing quest for the holy grail of social connection, announcing today its new “stitching” of approval ratings into its total search scheme.  What is it and what does it mean for SEO?  Well, the jury is still out and as you know Google has had a series of misfires including “The Wave”  (too complex), and Buzz (a lot of people using it, but Twitter, Facebook still leading) — so, in the end it will depend on your acceptance.  We’ll find out soon.  Until then, the theory of it is that as more people click the 1+ button for your content, it will become elevated in search returns for those in your social network.

You can watch a short video below to catch the strategy.  Will it work?  It will come down to how relevant and helpful it is, and that is the big gamble Google is taking — in their video they claim that you will make a number of decisions, including purchasing, viewing, and recommending, all based on what other people think.  I think it might greatly help with all the “gamed” SEO and search engine spamming, by adding the human review factor back into the mix. And if it goes… it will definitely change your SEO ranking game.

We’re planning to add this functionality into all of our Thematic-MAX themes we use for CMS solutions on the WordPress platform…we’ve just added it here so you can click the button at right. Note that we added it using the advanced Google options at Google’s + 1 Configuration page.

Here’s a short video overview showing Google’s social media strategy for +1:

For a longer set of guidelines on how to use it on your site see Adding the +1 button to your site

New Theme Features for WebFadds Thematic-MAX Themes

We’ve also added some exciting layout features to all of our Thematic-MAX themes starting this month, including Short Codes for buttons and two, three and four column layouts. Our development framework is based on the Thematic theme platform where –the parent theme is maintained and updated regularly to take advantage of new WordPress core features and to keep pace with security updates. Then we build your custom CMS solution on a custom “child” theme with a number of special features (click image at right for larger visual of layouts and buttons):

• New: Easily create two, three and four column layouts (click to enlarge example at right) with short codes (no CSS, no Tables)
• New: Quickly create and use five different colored professional buttons for any important links (we recommend you test colors and placements for important “calls to action)
• Learn about all the Thematic-MAX features, including a built-in Directory, 13 widget-ready areas and more… here

WebFadds is an Agency specializing in CMS Websites and Business Blogs on the market-leading WordPress platform. Plus we optimize your sites for desired business outcome goals like getting more leads and customers via smarter landing pages. Optimize, Connect, Convert… our three word mission for your online business outcome success.

1. Content doesn’t close sales, people do.
2. Social Media is not about being social with Content, it’s about being social with other people.
3. Today online, Marketing = Publishing, and Publishing drives Sales.

Any questions about those conclusions?  Well, there’s a big push for “Content Marketing”, as a tactic these days, and I have been fortunate to work with two of the thought leaders that literally wrote the book on it — Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett (have a good look at their first book:  Get Content, Get Customers).  Content really is your gold, and its “power of story” can help you learn about those you with whom you might like to do business.  But at the end of the day, every business needs sales to survive, and those sales come from something that happens aside from and often after Content Marketing.  Sales come through “authentic connections.”

What’s an “authentic connection”? An authentic connection happens when two people form a regard for each other based on real conversation, during which they feel they know each other a bit and would feel good about doing business together. I have written about this in a post at Content Marketing Institute — the first in a series. Have a look at the comments for that post… they are good examples of “authentic connection”.  That’s how I met Joe and Newt originally.  Note also that I used the word “feel” twice in describing “authentic connection… on purpose — people buy from those they feel they know.  Good advertising professionals know that sales are driven by emotions.

Those are the reasons for Truth #1 — people close sales, not content.  That should also give you some ideas about what you need to do regarding “truth” #2 — Social Media is not about being social with Content, it’s about being social with other people..  Just like you would staff a tradeshow booth with real people, you need to be present in social venues like Twitter, LinkedIN and Facebook.  I’ll write more about this here and at ContentMarketingInsitute.com, but for now here’s a what not to do, followed by a what TO do:

• What Not to do in Social Venues:  Rely only on automatic posting of links back to content at your site.  Why?  People congregate at social venues out of a need to know more about one another… so talk directly to them IN the venue itself.
• What you should do in Social Venues:  Respond quickly to private messages and inbox emails.  Reveal your passion for your profession and industry.  Engage prospects and current clients in meaningful discussion.

Ok.  That covers a bit about “truth” #2.

What about “Marketing = Publishing, and Publishing Drives Sales” — Truth #3? I think, if you are following the Content Marketing Wave, that you understand that since content is publishing, then using publishing online is how you may be successful with a key part of the marketing process.  But you also need to understand that Content Marketing is one part of a larger circle, which I call Connection Cycle Marketing — CCM.  The publishing of content can persuade, inspire and engage — driving prospects toward a sale.  But the cycle is only nurtured and finished by real people.

I’ll be writing more on the sales part of Connection Cycle Marketing — CCM –  and how to optimize for it here, and at ContentMarketingInstitute.com, so for now I welcome your authentic comments and questions.

At WebFadds, we develop your custom CMS solutions on a WordPress theme framework called Thematic.  There are a number of features and advantages to this approach.  Plus, we’ve added more custom functionality — the WebFadds taking it to the “MAX” touch.   This is an overview of the features and benefits of our “Thematic-MAX” themes.  See our Gallery of Recent Sites produced with Thematic-MAX, below.

Recent Sites Built with Thematic-MAX

Links to some recent work: AssociaLiving.com | ContentMarketingInstitute.com | CoffeeNutHut.com  |  SocialTract.com  | BFGL.com  |  MagPub.com  |  Campiello Naples  |  Haisman Wealth Management

Advantage of Parent/Child Theme:

WordPress allows you to develop sites as a “child” (references main theme programming) of a parent theme, so Thematic takes this idea and runs with it building its “parent” theme into a robust framework designed to allow certain strengths for designers and developers of custom child themes.  One big win?  The parent theme is maintained and updated regularly to take advantage of new WordPress core features and to keep pace with security updates.  [Right -- click image to see a full size Guide to features of  the Thematic-MAX theme framework).

Thematic Framework (Parent Theme) Features & Benefits

• Robust Community of developers who upgrade the parent theme, “Thematic” regularly and in compliance with WordPress Standards
• 13 widget-ready areas where you can place hundreds of functional components into your theme
• Built-in ability to add custom category descriptions at top of categories
• Footer text editable in backend
• Built in templates including a Blog Archives template for SEO
• Modular CSS components optimized for final styling and build of themes

You can build absolutely any website design on this framework.  Below is a short gallery of some recent sites we’ve built on it, then we’ll conclude with a list of features we build into our themes — the “MAX” part of Thematic-MAX.

Child Theme (Thematic-MAX) Features from WebFadds

• Easily create two, three and four column layouts (click to enlarge example at right) with short codes (no CSS, no Tables)
• Quickly create and use five different colored professional buttons for any important links (we recommend you test colors and placements for important “calls to action)
• Two additional widget ready areas:  above the footer, and the “crown aside” that sits on top of your sidebars
• Three Custom Page Templates:  Landing Page, No Sidebar, and No Title (does not echo page title at top, so you can create a custom headline there) templates
• Installed Custom Function for Google Fonts:  now add over 30 (and growing) Google Fonts to your themes for great looking headlines that are SEO ready (see example in gallery above for ContentMarketingInstitute.com)
• Two additional Custom Functions:  Add Twitter and Facebook details to author profiles, Register second menu for secondary navigation
• NEW in 2011:  In first quarter, we will be adding a built-in “Directory” feature with custom pages in backend, and directory page template for public sites

F.A.Q.

Do you work with other themes? Yes, but we cannot guarantee they will stay current with WordPress standards, nor can we certify the quality of their code.  Often this route is more expensive than working with our Thematic-MAX theme development.

What about paid commercial themes? Some are good, but we always recommend you start with a custom design to meet your desired business outcomes.  This way, you fit your CMS (Content Management System) to your business needs, instead of trying to find a way to get desired business outcomes from a predesigned theme.  Form follows function.

Can I build any Design for my website on Thematic-MAX? Yes.

What is your CMS Development Philosophy? We stay true to the WordPress standards, and avoid extensive external programming. This means that you can expect to watch WordPress videos on best admin. and Content Management techniques and find everything set up to standard in the back-end of your CMS (Content Management System).  We also minimize and cut out expensive external programming that can add to your load time, and upgrade costs.

What do you think of Flash? Drop it.  You can find ways to do pretty much the same thing (see slideshows at sites above) without alienating millions of potential viewers on iPads and iPhones, plus all those who fail to upgrade Flash in their browsers.

What do you offer for Maintenance? We have a an “UpGrade and Service PAK” that includes upgrading the parent theme.  You should note that design changes to your custom Child Theme and related custom programming will be estimated and charged separately.

On the road back from a great “retreat” conference on “content marketing” and “the power of story”, I thought about how important good content is for everyone with a web presence. After a number of good discussions in the quaint island Inn, over lunch, and at dinner, I was also reminded that what really matters happens in the connections you make outside the conference presentation rooms.  So, right now, I want to tell you, how creating great content is your gold… but not your most important goal.

The conference  keynote, given by Joe Pulizzi (a client and colleague — check out his blog and post about 10 reasons your content stinks, and how to fix it) set the tone for an excellent focus on what it takes to create, deliver, and market great content. That’s essential. But as I have written for some time now (see “Why Content is King No More“), people do not buy from content — they buy from people that they feel they know.

“Content is not authentic connection, so recognize what is and optimize your sites for the behaviors that will result in authentic connections as an outcome goal.”

There were some excellent conference presenters who spoke of video content, and telling personal stories — excellent ways to help people to feel they know you. The point was made that journalists can and should have a role in creating compelling content. But it was conference organizer, Russell Sparkman’s presentation that brought two key concepts into focus for me. First, he used the analogy of content as Gold. It’s valuable, and also “conductive”. Second, he has suggested a great content creation calendar (see Sparkman’s post about the 1-7-30-4-2-1 strategy) that involves systematic creation of posts, tweets, newsletters, white papers and studies. Creating content requires discipline (so does making connections). If content is gold for you, and I believe good content always is, then you have to keep building it up in your storerooms.

But content does not equal authentic connection — that is, a real live “handshake” with another business person. And simply auto-sending links to content in social venues doesn’t make those connections either. Being social means connecting with other people, not connecting with content.

Content is Gold, Authentic Connection is the End Goal

So, here are some key take-aways after a review of the conference:

• Content is gold, cultivate and manage it wisely (all presenters stressed this)
• Content is a “promise” (Pulizzi), so schedule it and have discipline in regular creation (ie Sparkman’s Calendar)
• Content is not authentic connection (Frangos), so recognize what is, and optimize your sites for the behaviors that will result in authentic connection as an outcome goal
• I encourage my colleagues and clients to add authentic connection tactics (real-time conversation at LinkedIN and Twitter, visitor behavior optimizations, and landing page optimization tests, for example) to their calendar and list of tactics for connection cycle marketing. Check some posts we already have about optimization, and  I’ll blog more about that here.

And now you see why I place Content as the King’s gold — not the King. But then who’s the King? It’s you. You yourself are the King, and content is your gold. That gold you create is a valuable commodity that people want — great if you’re selling content. But if you are using content to sell a product or service then the end result you want is Connection. Spend your gold wisely to cultivate Connection.

How many leads has your content produced for you on average over the past six months? Puzzle on that. Then, I encourage you to contact me direct, so we can connect and find some answers.

As of September of this year, if you insist on using flash based slideshows and presentations at your websites — 7.5 million viewers will not be able to see them. It’s November already, so make that closer to 9 million who cannot see any flash at your sites.  And that’s just iPads — add 73 million iPhone users who cannot see your flash presentations.

Fortunately there are a number of solutions for display on iPads for those with WordPress based CMS and blogs. First a quick comparison… I just bought an iPad (most fun I’ve had since the first computer I bought in 1985), and took this photo (using an Android phone of course — what a geek) of the homepage of WebFadds:

Above photo of our home page shows one slideshow in plain view at top, and another at lower left not working on the popular iPad (NextGEN Gallery plugin — removed now)

You’ll notice that the large slide show at top is indeed working — it’s not made with Flash, but the slideshow at bottom created with a popular WordPress plugin called “NextGEN Gallery” is not working because it uses Flash.  Now I know some people rave about Flash, but I have never liked it for a number of reasons including that it’s difficult to track visitor behavior in Analytics, and it requires everyone to get the latest Flash viewer, and all your prospects can’t be bothered with that.  Now, Mr. Jobs, at Apple, has wisely said no to Flash in favor of emerging HTML5 technologies that will do the same thing — and be open source.  Still another reason cited to avoid the Adobe made proprietary Flash is that it is security hole prone.  This is why Jobs said famously, that Adobe is “lazy.”

You can rail about the irony of Apple’s “closed garden” policy as it embraces new Open Source presentation and video technologies, but the basic fact is that you’re missing millions of potential eyes on your site if you insist on Flash galleries.

What to do?  Here are three solutions:

1. Use the Built in WordPress gallery to display your photos and portfolios when you need a simple solution. A lot of people don’t realize that WordPress has had a great little gallery built in since version 2.5.  At bottom of this post is a video to help you learn about the WordPress built in Gallery.  To show you an example, I decided to make a quick gallery here of some sites we built recently using the next solution detailed below:

   
   
   

2. Use a non-flash slide rotator like the “Easing Slider” plugin we used at above sites — it offers linking of slides to featured contents.  To see the sites in action go to:  CoffeeNutHut.com | ZSquaredMedia.com | IgnitionMSP.com
3. Consider placing your images in Flickr or Picassa Gallery — then embedding them in your site. This tactic gives you an additional “marketplace” for visibility on your

Short Video About Using WordPress Gallery…