I have noticed that only a small number of people who visit blogs actually comment so I went searching for some info on the importance and how it can help you in your marketing efforts This blogpost found at http://www.dandelionwebdesign.com says it all!

Enjoy!
Sherry Lynn

“New Media” is changing the way that marketers and advertisers reach their target audiences and it changes the way that we interact online. New Media is “social”: social networking, social bookmarking, social news, blogging, wikis… In this new social age communicating with consumers has suddenly become a two-way street. It’s about people talking; it’s all about conversation.

New media’s use of commenting does something that the traditional media can’t do very well; allow users to provide feedback openly, publicly and in real time. Let’s face it, a letter to the editor just isn’t immediate enough for us any more now that we can post a comment.

There are good reasons why you should start commenting on the blogs you read; here are some of them.

Reasons you should Comment:

1. Links that drive traffic to your site: Commenting on other blogs allows you to post a link back to your site.  This can drive related traffic back to your blog/website.
2. Build Personal/Brand Credibility: You can build credibilty for your name as an industry leader.  People will start to pay attention to your tweets on twitter,  your blog posts, and  the comment you post on blogs as you create a name for yourself, as you become known in your niche area as an expert.
3. Give Feedback: Commenting allows you to give feedback to another blogger. When you find a blog post helpful, thank the author. It’s just a nice thing to do.
4. Join in the conversation.  Add value to what the blogger has said and future post readers will benefit from your comment.

Blogging Comment Protocol:

We’ve looked at the why now let’s look at some widely accepted blogging commenting how to’s.

When writing your own blog posts:

1. When you write a blog post end your post by inviting comments.  Ask a question that will encourage their response.
2. When someone comments, return the favour.  Follow the link back to their site, check out what they have been blogging about and add a comment on a post that interests you.
3. When you write a post acknowledge the inspiration for your post, and link back to the original author.  I read “5 reasons why you should comment on blog posts” when I wrote this.  It is common practice to read other blogger’s posts on the same topic when you are writing your posts, be sure to give credit where it is due. When the original author receives a trackback or a pingback (notification from the blogging system that you have linked to them) they will check you out and hopefully comment thanking you for the link.
4. When someone trackbacks or pings linking to your blog post, check out their post and comment thanking them.
5. You can moderate your visitors’ comments via the Comments menu in the wp-admin backend. When you moderate a comment you can fix typos but be sure not to change the intent of the remarks.
6. You have a number of options that you can set to control Comments appearing on your WordPress blog.  These are adjusted in the wp-admin under > Settings > Discussion.

When commenting on someone else’s blog:

1. Make sure that your comments add value to the post and to join in the discussion in a positive and constructive way.  This will make the blogger more likely to read and comment on your blog in return.  If you make a good point you will give their readers a reason to check out your blog as well.
2. Respect other commenters.  Bloggers don’t want their blog to be hijacked by rude comments and their fallout.
3. Show your face… Get a gravatar so that when you comment on a blog your own image shows beside your comment. Gravatars are great to build your brand presence.

Now the next time you read a blog, try and comment, go ahead, you can start by leaving a comment here for me!

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Micro-Membership is a basic, easy to use WordPress plugin that adds full featured  “membership” functionality to any WordPress blog.  The real benefit of this plugin is that it seamlessly integrates PayPal or ClickBank payment processing into your blog allowing you to charge a membership fee and automatically collect payments from your users.

Micro-Membership fully automates your membership system from the user registration to confirmation of payment and account activation. Micro-Membership integrates with the subscription and notification services of both PayPal and ClickBank to fully automate the subscription billing and payment process.  Micro-Membership generates the required PayPal or ClickBank “Subscribe” buttons on the fly, so you don’t need to add or change any WordPress code.

Micro-Membership installs just like any other WordPress plugin.  You can use use WordPress’s Manual installation process or you can install “the old way” – using FTP to place the plugin in your WordPress plugins directory.

This is the answer I have been waiting for for my membership sites and the best news…right now it is just $6.00!

GET YOURS NOW!

If you need help developing your new membership site I an help!
Tungle Me for a time to chat!

Happy Marketing!
Sherry Lynn

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The Google Analytics for WordPress plugin automatically tracks and segments all outbound links from within posts, comment author links, links within comments, blogroll links and downloads. It also allows you to track AdSense clicks, add extra search engines, track image search queries and it will even work together with Urchin.

If you use AdSense this plugin is for you!

You can download the plugin here!
Enjoy!
Sherry Lynn

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“Share Good Clean Humor With Your Readers!”

The WPJoke plugin will add a funny joke to the end of every blog post you make on complete autopilot.

This puts a smile on your reader’s face with every post you make, and adds character to your blogs. (Especially any blogs you may already have automated posting on or intend on automating!)

There are over 500 jokes in the database, soon to expand! This ensures that your visitors will see new jokes every time!

Every joke in the database has been CAREFULLY screened, and there is NOTHING questionable about ANY of the content. So don’t worry about offending anyone or posting wierd stuff! We’ve got you covered and give you our “Family Friendly” stamp of approval.

Get your copy here!

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Sign up now at http://www.blogburst.com

Let me know how you make out!!
Sherry Lynn

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Gvatars are Globally Recognized Avatars. An avatar or gravatar is an icon, or representation, of a user in a shared virtual reality, such as a forum, chat, website, blog or any other form of online community in which the user(s) wish to have something to distinguish themselves from other users. Created by Tom Werner, gravatars make it possible for a person to have one avatar across the entire web. Avatars are usually an 80px by 80px image that the user will create themselves.

A Gravatar is essentially the same thing, but they are all hosted on a single server and are called up by encrypting the users’ email address via the MD5 algorithm. So instead of having one avatar on one forum you visit, and another at a blog you visit, you could have the same avatar at all the sites you visit that have gravatar function.

Using Gravatars

Setting up Gravatars on your site is easy; you don’t even need an account! Plugins are available for leading blog software and content management systems, and our tutorials will have you running Gravatars in no time.

Gravatars can easily be used within WordPress with the Gravatar WordPress Plugin.

As of WordPress 2.5, Gravatars are built-in and require no additional Plugins for basic usage and management. WordPress users can easily control their Gravatar usage in the Settings > Discussion Administration Panel.

If you need it, the Wordpress Plugin can be downloaded here.

Why not go the extra step and give your visitors the chance to sign up for one before they comment on your blog? GET PLUGIN

If you do not have a Gravatar for yourself sign up here!

Need help with finding and installing the right plugins for your blog?
Ask how I can help by booking a time to chat on my online appointment calendar!
Sherry Lynn

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by Alex Stetson
So which are the Best WordPress Plugins for SEO in 2010? Within the past year, a lot of changes have been implemented that have affected how search engine optimization works.   The growth of social media sites, Google’s “Caffeine,” “Real Time Search,” and “Personalized Search,” are a few of the primary catalysts.

Best Wordpress SEO Plugins

I believe the following WordPress plugins are especially relevant and valuable for search engine optimization in 2010.

1. SEO Smart Links – This SEO-friendly plugin can automatically link keywords and phrases to related comments, posts, pages, and categories within your site. This makes less prominent pages or older content more relevant and crawl-able for search engines, and keeps site visitors engaged. It also lets you set “nofollow” tags on URL’s and create custom keyword lists with automated URL hyperlinks for individual terms.
2. I Love Social Bookmarking -  I.L.S.B. is a great way to encourage blog readers to rank your post on popular social media sites.  In the past year, sites like Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Sphinn have become major resources for driving relevant traffic to quality site content.  This plug in inserts an attractive drop-down menu next to your blog posts that allows readers to submit or rank your site content on a number of popular social media sites, without leaving your blog.
3. WP to Twitter —Twitter is an ideal space for (viral) content sharing since users are constantly engaged in niche conversations.  Now that Google’s Social Search indexes tweets at the top of SERP’; more tweets/retweets = more indexing power.  WP to Twitter is a plugin that automatically tweets a tiny URL link to new blog posts or blog edits on your site.   Without any additional effort, your content is distributed to a relevant, willing audience; this can drive relevant traffic and increase your presence in social search results.
4. WP-Super-Cache —This plug in contributes to your site speed and it helps your blog load faster.  The number of pages on your blog that a search engine will index on a daily basis increases with speed.  If indexing each page is a quicker endeavor, more pages will be indexed.  WP-Super-Cache creates static html pages from your Wordpress blog so your server will present this file instead of the much denser PHP script.  This will also help fortify your server when it is receiving a high amount of traffic, which can result from all your other great SEO strategies!  This is because this plug in serves a static html page to 99% of your site visitors.
5. Robots Meta — Robots Meta automatically inserts “nofollow” tags on internal site links that are irrelevant to search crawlers; this keeps search engines from wasting time indexing unimportant pages like results, login, and admin pages, instead directing crawlers to index primary site content.
6. SEO Slug — Blog post titles typically get an h1-h3 heading, which makes them very important in terms of keyword optimization.  SEOSlug optimizes blog post titles to improve search engine visibility by editing keyword strings. It removes conjunctions from titles, (words like “as” and “if”) to allow crawlers to more readily crawl main content keywords as a fluid string.

Guest blogger Alex Stetson works for a Boston-based digital media firm that specializes in web design, web application design, user interface web design, and internet marketing.

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I just had to share about this new Wordpress plugin that rewards the people who comment on your blog with digital gifts. I just installed it on my Blog and am excited about getting some interaction going!

Use it to build up loyalty and trust with you blog readers, and give them a REASON to join your conversation and keep coming back!

The plugin comes pre-loaded with 5 digital products so you can use this technology “out of the box” and have it setup within 5 minutes.

Here are the pre-loaded gifts:
1 Comment – 24 Hour Emergency Traffic Plan
3 Comments – Extreme Seo Training
10 Comments – Press Release Marketing
20 Comments – Social Bookmarking and Web 2.0

If you want to take the time to setup your OWN gifts to give your visitors, that’s fine too, as WP Incentive is FULLY customizable! This  means you can edit the messages and gifts ANY way you want, it’s up to you!

WP Incentive’s price will go up by at LEAST double  on March 17th, so now is the time to take advantage of the dirt cheap pricing: (less than $10!)

Here is the link to purchase!

Happy Blogging!
Sherry Lynn

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