Welcome to another edition of Sites Weekly.
In this week’s edition, you will find links to articles about the following:
- Content. 3 simple ways to get started with relationship-building webinars
- Design. 9 fundamental UX principles that will boost your conversions
- Technology. How to build a diverse & healthy link profile
- Strategy. 9 things Darren Rowse wishes he knew about blogging (that will accelerate the growth of your blog)
- Bonus. How to improve your data privacy on Facebook
But first …
ALERT: Get the Pro Plus All-Theme Pack for a huge discount this week
In case you missed it, there is a big-time promotion going on over at StudioPress.com. You can currently get the Pro Plus Pack — which includes all themes designed by StudioPress as well as a few generous handfuls of third-party themes.
It’s easily the greatest value in the StudioPress universe.
If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to check out the details. The offer is good until next Monday, May 14 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
Click here to learn more about this week’s big Pro Plus discount.
Last week on Sites
You can waste a lot of time creating amazing content if you don’t invest similarly in writing irresistible headlines. What’s the point of great content if you can’t get anyone to click on it in the first place? In this episode, we walk you through the mindset and techniques you need to write the kind of headlines that will fill your audience funnel with the kind of people you need so that your content can work its long-term magic.
Listen: [55] 3Q for Writing Irresistible Headlines that Will Accelerate Your Audience Growth
Brian Clark has written a lot of headlines. And the vast majority of those headlines have been very effective in achieving their simple goal of getting you to click on a post and read it. In this discussion, we tease out Brian’s best and latest advice on how to write magnetic headlines that readers won’t be able to resist clicking on.
Listen: [56] Brian Clark’s Best Advice on How to Write Better Headlines
Wait, wait — there is a Copyblogger book club now?!
Indeed. I’m very excited about this development. It’s an idea that has been bandied about on editorial calls since I joined the company, but the timing was never quite right. Now it is, and there is no better person to be hosting it than the incomparable Sonia Simone.
Want to find out more about the first book selection? Announcing: The Copyblogger Book Club!
And now, on to this week’s links …
Content: 3 simple ways to get started with relationship-building webinars
I’ve hosted a lot of webinars in my time working for Copyblogger/Rainmaker Digital. And no one has been my partner on more webinars than the esteemed Chris Garrett.
And let me just tell you: There was no greater feeling of confidence and security as a webinar host than knowing I was being flanked by Chris. So I was quite excited when I saw that he published an article on Copyblogger last week about webinars.
Where Chris really excels is in the Q&A section of webinars. And in this blog post, he offers three simple ways to move past any fear you might have about that portion of the presentation.
Design: 9 fundamental UX principles that will boost your conversions
If you are planning to redesign your website at any point in the future, I have two pieces of advice for you:
One, browse the latest themes in the StudioPress Showcase, of course. 🙂
Two, read this blog post from Portent. It will give you some great ideas right now for elements of your website that can be improved. I also recommend bookmarking it where you put especially useful posts that you want quick access to at some point down the line when they are more immediately relevant.
Two of the most important decisions you will make about your WordPress website are your theme and your hosting. Wouldn’t it be great if they worked together to make your website more powerful?
Now they can.
Discover why over 213,675 website owners trust StudioPress.
Technology: How to build a diverse & healthy link profile
We’re talking about SEO this month over at the Site Success podcast, and you can bet this post by Andrew Dennis will feature prominently in the episode we’re going to do about link building.
I knew I was going to recommend this article as soon as I saw this line, in reference to guest posting as a way to drive new links:
“A good rule to remember while guest posting is to ask yourself whether you would contribute to the site if all links were rel=nofollow.”
Chalk up another victory for the best SEO strategy being the one that leads you in the direction of serving your audience as best you can. It also discusses the concepts of broken link building and unlinked mentions in ways I hadn’t thought of them before.
Strategy: 9 things Darren Rowse wishes he knew about blogging (that will accelerate the growth of YOUR blog)
Darren Rowse is one of the legends in the world of blogging and online content. He’s also one of the nicest and most genuinely kind people you could ever hope to interact with.
So it comes as no surprise that the first of Darren’s lessons about blogging that he wishes he knew earlier on is: Understand and engage with your audience. Know your readers’ needs.
Or maybe it is a surprise? It’s easy to assume that someone like Darren always realized this right from the beginning. But it just goes to show that even the greats have faced a learning curve on their paths to success.
That is one of the reason why people like Darren and Brian Clark have always been such great examples to follow. They started earlier than the rest of us — which allowed them to make their mistakes earlier than the rest of us — and they’ve kept at it ever since, showing their work along the way as their experience, expertise, and success have multiplied over time.
This post includes audio and slides from Darren’s presentation at Social Media Marketing World, as well as a full transcript.
Bonus article: How to improve your data privacy on Facebook
If you’re going to stay on Facebook — so far I am, less out of personal choice than professional necessity — then you need to make sure your data is protected. That means updating your privacy settings to be more stringent than they are by default.
This post will help you take some important steps in that direction.
So …
Which of the ideas in these posts will you put to good use immediately?
I’ll be back with a new edition next week.
Keep building.