Editor’s Note:  This article is courtesy of Filbert Publishing. Make your writing sparkle, write killer queries, get published. Subscribe to Writing Etc., the free e-mag for freelancers and receive the e-book “Power Queries.”

Ever since I began my “Drive Thru Coaching Program,” (Note: this program has been discontinued), I’ve received a steady flow of freelancers who need just a little nudge in the right direction concerning their career. As I’ve spoken with these incredible folks, I’ve noticed a bit of a trend and thought I’d address the most pressing issues here.

For starters, most questions revolve around websites. To give you a leg up on the competition, here are the answers to the top five questions I’ve received so far:

1. Keep your website “clean.” Eliminate clutter. Create a logical flow to your information. Ditch silly graphics/animations that don’t propel your message forward. Choose readable, dark, fonts on a white or cream background. No red print/black background color scheme. Keep it simple… and profitable.

2. The number one rule in selling is to focus on your customer, not your product. Don’t talk about yourself either. Count the number of time you use the word “we/I” versus the word “you.” If “we/I” outnumbers “you” you’re talking about yourself too much. So, what do you write about? Talk about what you can do for your customer.

3. Next rule: people purchase products for emotional reasons, not logical. This means your writing needs to strike an emotion chord with your reader. Help them imagine a better life because of their affiliation with you. Show them how your product will improve their day. Logic is only used to justify that emotional decision, and your web pages needs to reflect this.

4. Features versus benefits. Here’s an example from a candle-maker site: “Our candles are highly scented and guaranteed to stink up your home in minutes.” This is a feature. It tells me what the candles do. But what’s in it for me, the potential purchaser? Why do I want my house “stunk” up? The candle maker knows the reason for that answer, but I (as a reader) may not know this.

Turn this feature into a benefit. Try this: Our candles are highly scented and guaranteed to stink up your home in minutes. This means that… (fill in blank)… so that… (end sentence).

5. Finally, make sure your website is online. This means you’re using a reliable hosting company. If someone, a prospective customer, heads to your site only to receive an error message, you’ve lost a customer despite the hard work of constructing your site.

Final word: If your site can be interchanged with any other freelancer, then your site will never rise above the teeming crowd. Make it a reflection of you. Go completely overboard doing this and you’ll probably be close to the mark. Remember that the very fact that you are in charge of your business makes it unique. You need to pinpoint that uniqueness and capitalize on it every chance you get.

Oh and all these tips apply to every piece of sales materials you distribute, including labels, brochures, etc.

Hi All!

It has been a while since I have talked about the Thesis Theme, but I wanted to take a moment here to offer my feedback on this Theme again. After all, the Thesis banner is the footer of all my posts!

Pre-Thesis and Post-Thesis

Before I bought the Thesis Theme,  I was simple using the free theme that came with WordPress.  I had done some adjustments, but could not get the blog to look the way I wanted.  I began tweaking my blog to find the right look and it was becoming quite the chore.

After I bought Thesis, life got easier and my blog started looking better.  The best part, was I saw in increase in traffic!  I was amazed at the capabilities, the user-friendly design options, and the great support.  I knew I was happy with my decision, even though I had still made some mistakes with design along the way.

One of the things I really love about Thesis is the support!  Not only the forum, but all over the web.  IF you just type in the keywords to your problem along with the word “Thesis,” so many results are returned.  It seems like there are answers to most of the problems I had.  And if I couldn’t find the answer, I used the forum and got a quick response there.

Additional Blogs and More Designing

I had other ideas as to where my online business would take me outside of freelance writing, so after some time went by, I decided to start creating more blogs.  Since I didn’t have the developer’s version of Thesis (which gives multi-site access), I began looking for FREE themes for my other blogs.  While I did find some great free themes like Atahualpa and applied them to my sites, I wanted more options.

So, one night as I started a new website, I just jumped in and upgraded to the Developer’s Option.  I used it on one of my sites and from this point forward, I will be using it on ALL my new sites. The bottom line is it was just an easier way to design my sites.

Is the Thesis Developer Option Necessary?

For most bloggers, no.

If you have every intention on having only one blog, stick with Thesis single license (although the prices are going up for version 2.0).  Depending on your plans for multiple websites (niches, different topics), you may want to consider upgrading. You will have to decide on the upgrade.  Even if you start off with the single edition, you can upgrade later to the developer edition.

What I want to point out about the Thesis Theme in general is that the framework is sophisticated enough for advanced designers, yet simple enough for a non-designer to customize.  For bloggers who just want to tweak a few of the design options  in Thesis to quickly customize the site’s appearance, Thesis makes that very easy.

You can do as little or as much as you want with this theme.

Lifetime Upgrades and Support

The hefty price tag of the Developer Edition (currently $164) gives you LIFETIME upgrades and support.  This is one of the biggest perks on this Theme.  These upgrades are good on BOTH the single and multiple-site licenses.

One of the biggest reasons for upgrading is not only to save time, but to have consistency with my blogs.  If I see something that works great on one blog, I can quickly jump to another blog and make the same changes by easily duplicating my effort.

In then end, I want to save time and I have discovered that designing my blogs is not the most productive way for me to be efficient.  Taking away some of that extra time gives me more time to focus on the things that I enjoy.

If you are interested in the Thesis Theme, you can click here or find the Thesis Theme banner in the sidebar or footer.

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Gary Kohler.  Please read more about Gary in the post footer.

If you look at your website’s competition you’ll likely see two different types:

1)    The Lazy Webmaster

2)    The Hard Working Webmaster

If you’re lucky, your competition will be made up of mostly lazy developers that don’t put much time or effort into their websites. Spotting niches like this is an art form and can save you a lot of time and energy. Choosing a sub-niche of a popular topic is also a great way to become the top resource on that sub niche.

If you have lazy competition then there are few steps you can take to beat them in no time. The following list explains how.

Be in it for the long haul

A lazy developer will set up a site, promote it for a few weeks, and then go do something else. (Like watch television). You should only be so lucky.

If you keep working hard on your website you’ll overtake your competition in rankings, links, visitors, design, content, and profits! Depending on the niche you’ve decided to take on this could take you a few weeks or it could take you a few years. The key is to be persistent!

Make a website about something you’re interested in

This plays into the previous suggestion in that, if you are interested in a topic, you’ll likely want to write about it and discuss it for a long time.

It will also help because you can become an expert on that topic and surpass your lazy competitor by continually adding great content to your website. They’ll be picking their nose while you pass them by in the rankings.

Spend more money then them

Chances are your lazy competitor is also cheap.

Unless you’re good at everything its probably time to spend some money on your website. Spending a few dollars can save you a lot of time and money and help you build your site faster.

If you’re not the best designer than outsource your design and focus on things that you’re good at. If you’re good at design then focus on that and pay others to do the bulk of the writing.

Some webmasters are notoriously cheap so if you spend a few dollars on the right things, your site can look way better, have better features, and make you a lot more money in the long run. Your lazy competition wont be able to keep up.

Create a lot more content

Searchers and search engines love content:

• If you have a blog then you need to write more than your competitor.
• If you have a video site then you need to post more videos than them.
• If you have a forum then you need to be more active than them on the forum.

It’s that’s simple. Keep learning and working on your site and in no time you’ll be the top site in your niche. Don’t get comfortable at the top because if you’re not putting in the work, then you’ll become the lazy competition to someone else.

If you are overwhelmed with learning all the intricacies of SEO optimization, you may be interested in hiring SEO experts to do the job for you. It is not difficult to find a SEO company on the Internet. In fact, you will find that there are many available. There are actually upwards of 19 million results when searching Google for SEO providers. The difficulty will lie within achieving the search engine optimization company that is right for you.

How should you go about choosing the company that is right for you? In order to make a decision you will need a certain amount of knowledge on search engine optimization to better understand the requirements that you are looking for. One of the biggest parts of SEO is keywords. Reference a previous post on some basics on keywords and SEO.

Always choose the company that you are comfortable with.

It is not always enough for a company to be knowledgeable in search engine optimization. The company that you choose must fully understand your business requirements in order for you to achieve your best website results.

Therefore, consider hiring an SEO expert that you actually get along with and can communicate with easily. Good customer service and strong customer relationships can significantly affect your desired results.

Always consider the technical expertise of the company in question.

The expert you hire must be well-informed and experienced with industry-standard Web development technologies in order to make Web promotion easier and quicker. Experts that understand up-to-date methods and techniques are what are needed to get a website effectively optimized for best results.

Furthermore, choosing a company that is technically knowledgeable and able to spot problem areas in your site’s design will save time and money in the long run.

Does the expert you will hire fully understand the data and reports that your business will need?

A search engine expert should be able to compare data and relay it’s to you in a way that makes sense. Data must be tracked in order to analyze possible visitors to your website. A good expert should be able to devise a plan from data that is relevant. Furthermore, they should be able to provide you with reports that fully explain this data and the plan that is developed from it.

A quality search engine optimization expert should also have understanding of good Web design.

Besides the technical aspects of search engine optimization, good design is also needed to create a backbone for search engine optimization techniques and strategies. Quality is needed for both SEO and design as one of these elements can easily weaken the other. A website that is designed well and functions properly is the foundation of good search engine optimization.

Considering all of the above option will help make an informed decision when choosing the proper SEO Company for your site.

I have began creating multiple blogs and it is getting a little bit easier – at least the set up part!  I decided to create a quick checklist for those that are starting in the blog business (or for those that list to have checklists).  It is not going to be detailed, just a quick down and dirty guide so you know where to begin.

1. Keyword Research.

The first thing you need to do is do your keyword research.  There are many tools for this. Find one that works for you.  This step is really important because it will play into Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which gets people to your site on the search engines.

2. Find a Domain.

Once you have your keyword and title of your blog, you will have to see if that domain is available, using the EXACT keyword.  One quick way to do this is going to Instant Domain Search.  This site will turn green as you type if the name is available.  It gives you the availability of .com, .net. or.org sites which I highly recommend using those (in that order).

3. Get a Domain Host.

This is necessary to get your blog to work and go live online.  There are plenty of host sites out there, I recommend  web hosting with Host Monster. Read why here.

4. Register the Domain.

Once you sign up with the host and have an account, register the domain.  You can register with a variety of sites, like GoDaddy.com.  However, to keep them all in one spot, if you have the option to register through the host – do it!  You will still have to pay to buy the domain, but Host Monster allows you to have unlimited registered domains hosted on one site.

5. Assign the Domain.

In your host Control Panel, you will have to assign the domain after you purchase it.  Make sure you do this in order to go on to the next step.

6. Download WordPress Software.

Once again, if you can download the software FROM the hosting site, this will be 100% times easier and only takes a few minutes.  If this is is your first blog, and you can not download from host, here are some instructions on how to download WordPress.

7.  Add a Theme to File via FTP.

Assuming you have already completed researching WordPress Themes, you will have to add it to your host’s file via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).  If you have not researched themes yet, there are plenty of free ones out there.  If you are considering premium themes, I would recommend Thesis Theme or Elegant Themes.

8.  Login in to Your Admin Page.

Once you are setup, log in to your WP Dashboard.  You should see the Theme you uploaded to your file server. Start tweaking the design or create your first post (Delete the “Hello World!” post first.)

You know should have all the basics in place to begin.  Your blog should now be live online.  Have fun!

These words are mostly directed at me, but maybe others can relate.

Stop designing and start writing!

After changing over to the Thesis Theme and creating another blog, Love Musings, I have found myself obsessed with changing the look of each of these blogs.  As a bit of a perfectionist, it almost seems I can not just stop doing it – designing – and get back to the whole reason for having a blog – writing!

I wonder if others have been this obsessed overly zealous when they started a new website.  At what point do you say, okay it is good enough, and get back to the real business of writing?

Well, when I found myself searching for code to change a very small, trivial design on my blog, and spent a very large amount of time doing this, I realized I needed to stop designing, and start writing.  I have to accept that my blogs will never be perfect (at least not without more fine tuning).

The point is content keeps people coming back, not font size or the padding between the blog title and the post.  Now, design is important, yes.  It is the professional look of your page. Do not neglect this and portray a poor image.  However, once your blog has a pretty good design, it is time move on!

It is All About Balance

Everyone’s time is valuable, whether you are a part-time blogger, or it is your full-time gig.  Being productive is essential. When you find yourself spending valuable time making minor design changes to a blog so you don’t have to time to post, it is time to stop.  Even just for a couple days.  People will not stop looking at your blog if the color in the header does not quite match the exact hex code in the post title.  Seriously! Right?  Sometimes, there may not even be a fix for the exact, perfect design look you are going for.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
~ John Wooden

Tweaking your design here and there is a good thing especially if you have many site errors. However, don’t spend so much time on the design that you lose your writing inspiration. It is all about balance.  There’s that word again. Balance.

So, find that happy medium on your design, and step away from the CSS and HTML settings on your blog. Yes, I know. Firebug can be addictive when looking at yours (or others) blogs! Give up being a perfectionist and get back to the main reason for having a blog – writing!

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Phyllis Zimbler Miller.  Phyllis has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing.  Her company now has a collaboration with Doron Orenstein of Magnetic Webworks who builds WordPress websites for clients and Miller Mosaic provides social media coaching for those clients.

Grateful for WordPress

When I first started Internet marketing I hired a web person to create four different sites for me.  And with each site, although there was some content management, I was very frustrated that I had to wait for – and pay – the web person for minor changes.

That’s when I first heard about WordPress websites.  Of course, when I first heard about these I didn’t know the difference between the hosted ones at WordPress.com and the self-hosted ones using WordPress.org (usually referred to as just WordPress).

But when my younger daughter Yael K. Miller joined with me to create the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing, I told Yael we had to learn about having WordPress websites that we could control ourselves.

Yael dove into this project, including choosing Thesis for our sites’ theme, and soon she could build our own sites.  At that point I walked away from the four sites I had paid a great deal for and never looked back.

Building WordPress Sites for Others

And then we started building WordPress websites for clients because we wanted others to enjoy the power of controlling one’s own sites the way we did.

Now the truth is that, unless you are a techie person, it is probably a very good idea to have someone else build out your WordPress site.  There are many backend steps that are very important for search engine optimization and other purposes.

Plus, before you have a WordPress site built for you, it’s important to have decided on your Unique Selling Proposition – your USP – your brand.  In other words, how you want to position what you are offering on your site/blog.  This is especially important in choosing the domain name for your site.

For example, Yael and I worked with nonfiction authors who we encouraged not to use the book’s title for their website URL.  Instead we worked with these authors to come up with domain names that included the “promise” of what the book offered readers.

Now we do remind our clients that it is important to update their WordPress websites – and this means both updating WordPress as well as updating Thesis.  This is a task that can get overlooked but should be carried out.

I have to admit that, every time I make a change on one of our websites, I still get a thrill at being able to do things myself without being a techie.  I love being in control of my own destiny.

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

The initial process of making any significant changes to your website design can be daunting and a tad overwhelming.  This is especially true when your knowledge of code is at an elementary (or preschool) level.

After moving my blog from Blogger to WordPress, the next step was to set up a new theme on my site.   After looking into DIYthemes website, I realized the Thesis Theme was a pretty awesome theme.  It is more of a community than just a theme, with tons of resources on how to get started and maintain your blog.

Although the road to setting up my theme was paved and marked pretty well, it was not easy, flat, or straight.  The process was challenging for someone (like myself) who is not a web design guru, or even a novice for that matter. BUT, it can be done!

To help others, I want to point out some important lessons I learned along this journey.

Always Backup Your Site!!

This is so critical. I learned this lesson about day three into the change.  Back it up DAILY! I messed up badly and could not figure out how to fix it.  I asked around the forums, did web searches, and everything.  So, I figured I would just go back to my last update.  Except my last update was the first day I changed over to WordPress – BEFORE I downloaded Thesis!  Yuck!  So, essentially I had to start over.  Luckily, I still had the files on my computer, so it was just a matter of transferring them back to the host via FTP.  But, still!

You can do this with the WP-DBManager plugin and customize your settings. This can be a life saver.  Your hosting site may only do a backup once a week. In the initial stages of the design changes, you may want to backup every hour with all the changes you will be making.

Use the Forums

The forums in WordPress are a great resource filled with web developer expert advice.  In addition to the forums in WordPress, DIYThemes forums are also helpful. These forums offers topics on installation, WordPress or Thesis tips, troubleshooting, design, or a variety of topics you may have questions about.  I forgot about this resource until I realized it was a viable information for help and information. You will have to sign in using your WordPress.org login or your DIY Themes login.

Download a Local Copy of WordPress

I mentioned this in my post about moving from Blogger to WordPress. The video tutorials mentioned there are helpful.  This is a mistake I learned early on.  It is better to mess with your local copy than the site live online.  When you are aware that no one can see your website due to the screw-ups you made, you stress just a little.  For minor changes, it is probably okay.  But, once you start messing with the code or getting deep into the weeds, use the local version of WordPress!

Consider Hiring a Web Design Expert

I got to a point where I was spending WAY too much time customizing my theme, so I decided to look for web designers (cheap!) that could possibly just fix it for me. You know – hire a professional when you can’t do the job yourself.  I could not afford thousands of dollars either, so I was not sure if this was even an option.  But, if you want just some basic coding done to set up a nice foundation, it is worth spending a couple hundred bucks.

I went back to the DIYThemes forums and perused the Classified section. There is a great deal of information there.  Consider soliciting your need for help there.  If you are an “expert” yourself, this is another way to drum up business. Another great resource is the Top 100 Graphic Designers listed on Sociable Blog.

Bookmark Great Tutorials or Websites

There is nothing worse than finding a great resource and then have no idea where to look for it later when you need it.  Bookmark tutorials and useful websites or blogs when you need to go back.  I found this helpful when I knew I could jump on YouTube and look under my ‘Favorites’ to find the information I was looking for.

There is so much information out there on the Thesis Theme. These lessons learned were from my initial design experience.  I am sure I will have more lessons learned as I continue on this road.  I know web design and switching to Thesis can be intimidating for some, but in the long run, it is worth it. Trust me, if my non-programming self can do it, anyone can.

Please share your tips and lesson learned in the comment section!

You may have noticed that I have drastically changed the look of my blog and decided to take it to the next level. I have been considering moving over from Blogger to WordPress for some time now. I decided to do this switch almost completely due to  the Thesis Theme for WordPress. The reason I have been putting it off for so long is I knew what a time-consuming process the switch would entail.

So, I took the plunge.  I was right, it took a lot of work to switch over.

Everyone will have a different experience in this transition. For some javascript-CSS-knowledgeable-geeky-technical-savants this may be a walk in the park. I did not have a clue.

My Migration Situation

Some bloggers may use a blogspot extension and others may have their own domain.  I had my own domain already and was switching from a hosted blog, like Blogspot.com or WordPress.com to a self-hosted blog like WordPress.org.  In addition, I decided to run my blog under the Thesis Theme. Lots of work and time!

Valuable Steps and Lessons Learned

Get a host for your “self-hosted” blog

This is a good first step once you decided to take the plunge.  Since you will no long have a built in host like Blogger, you will need to get your own host to utilize WordPress.  There is a monthly fee for this service. Yes, you are now crossing over to serious blogging.  The kind that costs money.

I had no idea which hosting company to use.  I have seen BlueHost, iPage, HostGator, and many others on various blogs. To see a side by side comparison of host sites, check out  WebHostingSearch, Hosting Review Center, and WebHostingGeeks. These get updated quite often, so ultimately, the choice is yours.

After reviewing the reviews, I decided that Host Monster would be the best choice!  It has worked out great for me. They offer professional web hosting for only $6.95. Many times they will run specials for even cheaper! Can’t go wrong!

What the heck is a FTP and why do I need it?

This is a new concept that is also not a requirement for hosted sites.  But, the good news is you can find one to download for FREE.  Bottom line is if you have your own host, there has to be way to get files from your computer to the host and vice-versa. This is where File Transfer Protocol (FTP) comes in. It is essentially a network protocol used to get files from one host to another over the Internet. You WILL need this if your site is self-hosted. There are a variety of options to choose from here as well. I use Filezilla.

Download WordPress

Once you have a host and a FTP solution in place, it is time to get the WordPress software. You can download this directly from their website, WordPress.org. This is a pretty easy process, just follow the steps. After you download WordPress, you are ready to go.

Note: If you have your own domain and want to keep it, change your own domain on Blogger to Blogspot domain BEFORE you transfer anything.

After you are set up with WordPress, you will have a basic theme on the site you can customize.  It is up to you whether you want to set your blog up using the Thesis Theme.  If you do, you can click on it in the sidebar of my blog and ENJOY!!

Resources for Moving From Blogger to WordPress

MamaBlogga maintains the Ultimate Guide for migrating from Blogger to WordPress. Lots of information here and she will respond to any comments you may post. This is old, so be sure you are aware of any updates Blogger or WordPress may have.

SEO Chat has good info on Moving from Blogger to WordPress using your own domain.

Clazh – Move from Blogger to WordPress and Maintain Permalinks and Traffic – This has a step-by-step guide, specifically by having a local version of WordPress (which I highly recommend!).

More great information in a three-part series from iBlog Zone.

Blog Bloke gives a Complete Guide on how to move over to WordPress!

Video Tutorials

Chris Arthur had a good tutorial on how to download WordPress locally or for Mac users, here is another option.  Having a local version allows you to mess with the code without messing up your live blog.

Lisa from 2CreateaWebsite has AWESOME tutorials on youTube, including creating a local copy of WordPress and a Filezilla FTP tutorial.

Sherple also has Thesis 101 tutorials for those that get Thesis.

Hopefully, loaded with this information you will not feel COMPLETELY overwhelmed like I did when considering this transition.  Good luck and look for future tips on WordPress and Thesis!

I recently got a comment on my Teaching Blog that I have not written in for over a year!  I put this Today.com blog on the backburner, since a) I am not currently teaching and b) I got busy with different writing ventures, including updating my Inspired to Write blog, and c) Today.com just wasn’t very lucrative, nor did it get a lot of traffic.

Well, I followed the comment and realized it was no longer a “today.com” site.  After looking further, I discovered

Today.com has moved to Blogdog.com.

This new blog site is based on the WordPress platform.  That is a good thing.

After I logged in, I realized all my posts and comments were seamlessly transferred over Update: As of July 25, 2010 they are no longer there!

The big difference with this new format is how you get paid.  You will get paid with the ads via Google AdSense.  Therefore, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT POST on this blog anymore, I would highly recommend you add your Google Adsense code in order to make some money from this site.  Depending on the articles, you may get increased traffic, now that it is a WordPress theme. Note: Currently (as of June 28, 2010), you can not add your Google Adsense code.

Now, since Blogdog is hosting your website, you can not do too much modification.  However, you can edit your links and the pages sections. No longer true! The site is still under construction, so there will probably be more changes.

This may be something worth looking into if that blog is inactive.

For those that have stayed active and maintain a blog on BlogDog, I would love comments on how the changes have affected your traffic and/or earnings!!