Sunday Coffee With Ana: Here’s What You Missed This Morning

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Oh, my, oh, my…

My first live broadcast turned out to be a huge success!

What I loved about it:

1. You showed up!

2. Had visitors from Ireland, Australia, India, Singapore, Italy, all over the U.S. - goes without saying. Some of you woke up at 7am, some of you never went to bed. :)

3. I learned how to do a live broadcast via Facebook fan page - great way to make your page stand out and interact with your fans.

4. Got a lot of question asked and answered and a lot more to answer in this post. Talk about post ideas!

5. LOVED hanging out with you, introducing you to my daughter, having a cup of coffee, but most of all, LOVED see you network with each other.

Just like I said in the broadcast, the shortest path to online success is networking. This was a great chance for you to network not only with me, but with each other as well. Priceless!

Questions

1. Image sources

Where do you get your post images from?

The question is so good, I wrote a post about it. It’ll be published on Wednesday, I believe.

2. Facebook comments

How do you embed Facebook comments into your blog?

“There’s a plugin for that!” I am sure you guessed that much.

This particular one is very appropriately called “Facebook Comments For WordPress” - it’s in the plugin directory.

Note: I had a lot of trouble initially installing the plugin - it just wouldn’t show up on my blog. Turned out it was conflicting with the Facebook Fan Page widget from my sidebar. As soon as I started using a different Facebook widget, the problem was gone.

3. Thesis Theme Benefits

What are the benefit of Thesis theme over other WordPress themes? (Frieke Karlovits)

There are several reasons I chose and love my Thesis theme:

  • Love the elegant simplicity of the design, as well as the potential for customization.
  • It’s easy to customize. Even I was able to do it when I first started and knew nothing about blogging. Note though that they design you see now was done professionally.
  • Solid error-free coding. That was my biggest problem with all free and some paid themes: too many HTML coding mistakes that make it more difficult for the engine spiders to crawl.
  • SEO ready. If you don’t know much or know a lot about SEO, Thesis makes it simple without any plugins.
  • Very quick. Since site speed is very important for both reader experience and search engine ranking, there are several Thesis features that help you make your site much faster without having to go into the code.

I could go on longer, but the point is: there are many good reasons I chose Thesis over other themes, so if you are serious about blogging and don’t have a good theme on your blog yet, I’d recommend you don’t wait to get it. I’d also appreciate you getting it via my affiliate link: Ana’s Thesis Theme link.

4. Content Writing

How do you manage to write daily for TGC and guest post on other blogs?

This question also made into its own post; will be published on Monday.

5. SEMRush - alternative to keyword research

Whatcha got for us link-building wise that does not include the kw research stuff? (from Dennis Edell)

Dennis asked this question in a comment and here’s what I told him:

“Link building without keyword research?

That’s sort of pointless, Dennis.

You do link building to be ranked on search engines. You want to be ranked on search engines to draw in targeted website traffic and ultimately more customers. The traffic has to be targeted to convert, and in order for it to be targeted you have to focus on specific keywords and that, my friend, requires some keyword research leg work.

However, I do have something up my sleeves for you. :)

You can simply use SEMRush to see what your site is already ranking for and then build links with those keywords as anchor text to strengthen your position.

Alternatively, you can do a search on your competitors and, providing they did their keyword research, you can simply “borrow” their research and use it for your own link building.”

6. Facebook comment tribe

Hi Ana and everyone! I’ve been here awile. I have a ?. Re: FB comment tribe-any advice to avoid pitfalls. What happens when members post, but don’t contribute? Thanks-ur doin’ great, btw! (Linda Esposito)

Linda: keep your tribe small first of all and make the rules clear to everybody. I had to kick some people off in the past when they tried to abuse the tribe. Give them one warning; after that, they are out.

7. Networking is Vital

Ana what has been one of your greatest resources for building your blog? (Robin Marks - sorry, Robin, you weren’t logged in, so I don’t have a link for you).

I found that any kind of networking was the best thing that ever happened to my blog. GET NOTICED is priority, whether you do it through commenting, offering help on social media, connecting on sites like SERPd or Blokube (which I use and recommend) - all these resources were vital for TGC success.

8. Offline Networking

Can networking be offline as well? Yusuf Chowdhury

Definitely, and the best venues for that are your company conferences, bloggers summits, etc.

Yes, they are financially tough, but the pay-off can be tremendous.

With that said, the next Blog Summit I highly recommend for networking is coming up in February and it’s actually online, which is a huge plus.

WHAT IS THE SUMMIT?:

The summit stars 23 blogging pros teaching business owners and marketers how to master business blogging. Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra, Scott Monty (head of social media, Ford), Brian Clark (Copyblogger), Darren Rowse (author, ProBlogger), Debbie Weil (author, The Corporate Blogging Book), Douglas Karr (co-author, Corporate Blogging for Dummies) experts from Sony, McDonald’s, Cisco, Southwest Airlines and Procter & Gamble; Jay Baer (author, The Now Revolution) and Michael Stelzner (Social Media Examiner)-just to name a few.

See https://trafficgenerationcafe.online/blog-summit-2011 to learn more (I’d appreciate if you go through my affiliate link if you decide to attend).

Right now the tickets are half off! The last day for 50% off tickets is Thursday Jan. 20th (at midnight Pacific).

9. Link Building

Do you think you now don’t have to focus on link building as much because other people are doing that? Lisa Drubec

Definitely, Lisa, but it takes a lot of work to get there.

Successful link building is based on quality links from quality blogs (blogs that are in good standing and ranked highly by Google), and those blogs would not be too eager to link to you until you can show them you are worth it.

10. Thesis customization

I just got Thesis and currently editing it. Did you design your own blog and if so, where did you learn from? Brankica

I did hire a professional designer to do the coffee theme you currently see on my blog. I paid him $197, which is dirt cheap compared to what most designers charge for a blog design.

Unfortunately, my designer went MIA and I can’t recommend him any longer.

Options:

1. If you are running or thinking of getting Thesis theme, I would recommend purchasing a custom Thesis skin; here’s a link to my favorite one: Thesis Skin.

A good skin will run you up to $80 - a LOT less than a custom design, which runs on average $2K.

2. Here’s a list of designers suggested by other broadcast attendees - THANK YOU:

Matt Hodder, Alex Fraiser, Naomi Niles @intuitivedesigns, Men with Pens, Rachael @the caffeinated elf, Berchaman

I haven’t used any of them personally, but it might be a good start to found yourself a good blog designer.

11. Traffic sources

1. What should be the limit of post, i.e., lenght of post - how much words? 2. One question, what are the traffic sources of you other than social media? Vivek Parmar

1. I never put a limit on my posts or guest posts I do. They shouldn’t be too short though; about 700 words is as short as I would get.

2. Here’s the breakdown for my top traffic sources for the past month:

traffic generation sources

As you can see, Vivek, most of my traffic comes from direct search, meaning people typing my URL directly.

Search engine traffic is my second largest source, followed by social media traffic.

12. Live Broadcast on Facebook

What tool are you using for this broadcast? Rona MacFarland

Vpype.com is the free application that allows you to hold live broadcasts on your fan page, Rona.

The reason I chose it over tools like UStream is because I wanted to bring traffic to one of MY pages, not an entirely different site. Since there’s no tool to hold broadcasts directly from you blog (as far as I know), FB fan page was my second choice.

13. Can you make money blogging?

My question is: Must one have multiple blogs in order to make an income with affiliate marketing, or is it possible to generate $200 - $500 per week with one or two blogs? (Alan)

I started my broadcast with this question, Alan, and the short answer is - YES. I do recommend sticking with only one blog and making it great, as opposed to spreading yourself too thin with a few mediocre blogs.

14. Social media conferences:

If you are interested in learning more about those, check out this post on social media conferences.

*********

Thanks to all of you who asked questions! My cup of coffee and a DoFollow link go to you. :)

Upcoming Week Post Roundup

Here’s what I have in store for you this week:

I decided to make it a CONTENT WRITING week!

We all know and agree that content is and will always be the true voice behind your blog.

However, HOW do you consistently produce great content that your readers can’t get enough of?

Not that I have all the answers (only most of them), but I did learn a thing or two about how to write the kind of content that draws people in. And this week, I am planning on sharing my knowledge with you.

Monday: How to Successfully Write an Awesome Post Per Day - Every Day

In other words, confessions of a horrible writer. Yes, that’s me. I’ll tell you why and how I became a successful blogger.

Tuesday: How To Turn Popular List Posts Into Traffic Goldmines

Some practical tips on how to use other bloggers’ content to write the kinds of posts your readers will love.

Wednesday: Blog Post Images That Will Rock Your World - And Where to Find Them

Everything you wanted and didn’t want to know about finding some great images to complement your amazing content.

Thursday: The Best Bloggers are Natural Hackers

This is post number 4 in a 4-part series about how to break out of the box and become a personality. Following the “rules” won’t always get you there. This post is about writing the kind of content that will make a difference.

Friday: Blog Audit Friday for TheFriendlyBlogger.com

Lisa’s blog has great content already; I will be there to help her bring the rest of it together and let her blog shine.

Sunday: See you back here again for another round of Espresso shots and a pep talk.

As always, don’t forget to comment, start discussions, network, teach and learn - all here, at Traffic Generation Cafe.

ana hoffman yournetbiz

traffic generation cafe comment below

Google+ Comments

33 Comments (click here to leave a comment)

  1. Hi Ana! Thanks again for that wonderful webinar-it was fun and informative.

    I’m frankly blown away by your passion, commitment, and knowledge-and your a mom (to a well-behaved kid, no less ;))!

    I appreciate you answering my ? re: FB comment tribe. So far, it’s been going real well, and nobody has abused the opportunity. Fingers crossed, and thanks for such an awesome idea for building traffic and social proof-it’s working-Yay!

    Can’t wait to connect more with you and your awesome readers.
    ~Linda

    • I am so glad to hear you are taking some of my advice and running with it, Linda - that’s awesome!

      Really love that fact that you are so dedicated to your biz; look forward to seeing it grow…

      Ana

  2. Mike Sherratt

    Hey Ana, I really think your post was amazing..I got some good info from it thank you for sharing this with us all and I hope you have a good day.

    Mike

  3. Ana,

    I’m so excited to have found the time this morning to listen to your whole broadcast. It was fantastic. I think my biggest take away is your tip to not read your emails or read a blog post until you have time to take action. While I try to act on things quickly, I have found that I’m still having to go back and follow up on implementing some of the things for a later date. The thing I’ve done different this year, than in years past is that I’ll go to my outlook calendar and schedule a reminder for it as an actual event for a day when I know I’ll have time to act on it. That helps me to keep moving through my day, but not let the little things float around in my mind and make me feel overwhelmed.

    I could write a book, based on what all I learned from your broadcast. I would have loved to have joined you on Sunday, but I’ve been trying to unplug for the weekend in order to regroup and spend more time with my husband and kids.

    Thanks for posting the reply here so I could watch it with my coffee this morning! :)

    Heather

    • Family always comes first, Heather!

      I love your idea of reminders of sorts - Outlook works great for that. If you set such reminders, you mind would be freed up from all the clutter - theoretically speaking, at least. :)

      Thanks so much for taking your time to listen to the broadcast!

  4. Hi Ana,

    Nice post and sorry for being to late to the party.

    I love the way how you’re answering all the questions and putting the awesome stuff together.

    Creating a custom thesis isn’t a hard task. It just take some time and hard work.
    I’m using thesis many of my blogs and have to say thesis is one of the best theme out there.

    Anyways, Thanks for sharing this awesome report. You’re really ROCK.

    • So glad you stopped by, Dev - always such a pleasure to see you around!

      And what a party it was! :)

      I do love Thesis as well; it’s a great theme with solid coding and easy customization.

  5. Paul Kamphuis

    Hi Ana,

    Sorry I missed out the live event last sunday. I just watched the video and enjoyed it. Sitting back and basically listen to a couple of blog posts is really nice. :-)

    I just searched for a Joomla component that can do the facebook commenting to see if it has a benefit for my site. FBca looks like the candidate to try.

    Cheers,
    Paul

    PS: looking into a color change for my site as well. If I only could find a color match for how it looks on my laptop right now. Turns out my laptop is about the only monitor where it looks nice. :-)

    • Glad you found time to listen to it, Paul - maybe next Sunday?

      I think you are thinking too much about your color. :) Just pick a shade of green and you should be good to go. Green is a good converting color, so as long as it’s not limey… you should be good to go.

      Let me know when you change it; would love to see the end result!

      Ana

  6. Great broadcast. Enjoyed it so much and taking away a lot of valuable stuff, as always Ana.

    I am actually thrilled about your posts for the upcoming week. I am looking forward to them. Most of them are on topics I always hunt for.

    I have two small questions for you, may be you already spoke about it elsewhere! What software do you use (or) how do you record broadcast videos for YouTube. And how does YouTube traffic work for you?

    Thanks,
    Jane.

    • Thanks, Jane!

      To answer your questions: for this specific broadcast, I used Vpype simply because I wanted to do it on my Facebook fan page.

      Normally, I would use ScreenFlow to record all my YouTube videos; it has great options, but is still simple to use. Sometimes, I would also use Jing, which is free, but it only allows under 4 minute recordings.

      I used to be on YouTube all the time and did get quite a bit of traffic through it. Now I just use it for an occasion video and link building, since both of my YouTube profiles have high PR.

      Hope this answers your questions, Jane!

  8. William Attewell

    Really this is true for every website but also shown this video this video is fantastic and very attractive for my business,… so thanks for the sharing this information about the targeted web traffic…

  9. Hi Ana,

    The webinar was great, I know some people would charge for the information you’ve just given for free. I’m kicking myself for not asking a question in the webinar, I would have seen my question in this post.

    Thanks for the Facebook comments tip, now I understand why it wasn’t working on my blog when I first install it, it was the FB Share plugin more specifically.

    Now I have Facebook comment on my blog.

    Ben Wan

    • I would love for you to ask your question for the next Sunday Coffee with Ana, Ben!

      By the way, thanks so much for making the effort to be their!

      Too many exclamation marks…. :)

  10. Ding Neng

    Hi Ana,
    Really had a great session with you, and thanks for taking the time to answer our questions on the broadcast.(hope my question is not too long:P). Probably I’m your only Singapore fan that day.

    I also had initial problems installing Facebook comments on my blog. The problem is that the ‘comment box’ doesn’t show up. I remove it entirely on my blog. Now I see that you had fix it, I think I should try fixing it back again.

    Thanks for the time Ana. See you next Sunday!

    • I was so pleased to see you during the broadcast, Ding, and yes, you were my only Singapore listener - made it even more special!

      That’s exactly the problem I had initially with Facebook comments, took me a while to figure out what the problem was. But I think it was worth the effort; I am getting a lot more FB traffic now.

      See ya!

  11. WOW!

    I never knew this was going on?!?!

    Impressive Ms Ana, very impressive.Makes my bloody glad I got out of the make money blogging niche!
    How on earth can I keep up with that?
    Phew, I dont have to

    • I didn’t realize I was in the make money blogging niche. :)

      This was a lot of fun; glad I tried it. Now need to figure out where to take it next. Membership site? The sky is the limit…

      • Oh Ana, you are a Niche unto yourself. :)

        I will have to settle down and watch it later when I get a chance, but I definitely think you need to leverage what you are building (and of course what you already have!) into a membership site at the very least!

        Enjoying watching you set new benchmarks in the blogosphere Ana :)

  12. Ana, I’m not sure how I missed the session this morning but I was reading Lisa’s post over at Technshare which lead me to your YouTube Channel. I ended up watching the whole chat. Well I should say listening to it because the audio and video were really out of sync but I still enjoyed the content very much. I’m going to try to catch up with you next Sunday. Talk to you soon!

    • Glad you caught up with it, Ileane! I did have trouble saving it form some reason, will have to play with it more to see what I did wrong this time around.

      Thanks for submitting it to SERPd!

      Ana

  13. Hi Ana, I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to put together our live meeting this morning even though I had to drag my poor body to the screen at 7am after a couple of wines last night!! It was worth it… I don’t get out much! I am so pleased to have attended and so appreciate your ‘minutes’ of the meeting above. I can feel it in my bones that so many of us will benefit by following your lead. I am not ‘kissing bottom’ as Lisa spoke about in one of her posts last week… its just that you are truly a role model and I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. I know we all agree on that point. Thanks so much - can’t wait for the next one! ~Jayne~

    • Jayne: I truly appreciate all the support you give me on a constant basis, and you don’t even know it.

      I really see myself in you so much, and I wish I could tell you what made a difference in my business to turn it from a lot of work and no results to building up TGC so quickly and successfully.

      However, I know you have the drive to figure it out for yourself and your business, and I would love to help you every way I can. I mean it.

      Ana

      • Ana, I found your reply touching actually. I am so glad if I do feed your power - but I truly mean what I say.

        With regards to figuring things out… well I suppose a few things have fallen into place however I am painfully aware I have pieces of the puzzle missing.

        I might, if it’s ok ask a few questions via email for when/if you have time to respond - although I know how busy you are and the last thing I would want to do is get in the way of your powerhouse progress!

        You have rather large shoes to fill and I am most impressed by them.

        I myself am just sensing there is a penny or two that hasn’t dropped in a couple of areas… and it’s not knowing what I don’t know that is keeping me penned up.

        Thanks for all you do… and so much for your response. It lifted me up.

        Best regards

        Jayne

        • Ask away, Jayne, anytime - see if we can figure out together what it is that’s creating a bottle neck in your business.

    • Had to come back after watching your video. It is great! and filled with outstanding information. Thanks again Ana. No wonder the big sites are wanting to connect with you. I am excited for you.

      • Thank you so much, Sheila - wow, that was a long broadcast looking back at it! :)

        I did love it though, and I think it will be great for my blog.

        I really appreciate all your support through commenting, Sheila - always!

        Ana

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