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Taking a Moment to Analyze Sixrevisions.com

Analyzing Financial DataOur lastest endeavor in the 31 Day Blog Challenge is to go to a website in our niche and analyze.  Unknowingly to them, I have chosen sixrevisions.com. I will break it down into 4 major categories and briefly describe my thoughts within them.

The Design:

They rock a simple two-column layout and color scene that represents wisdom. They do a great job displaying what they do best. Awesome, knowledgable content that has to do with web design.  Each one of the images links to the blog post and they include a nice teaser to pull you in.

The Content:

I walk away from the major of their posts feeling and knowing that I have learned something new.  They stick true to their tag line “Useful Information for Web Developers & Designers. Learning is an important part of growing and resources like this help nurture this.

Reader Connection

Six Revisions interacts by displaying great tutorials for web developers and designers.  Tutorials use education and the exchange of ideas to grow relationships with the readers.

Traffic and & SEO

Hopped over to Website Grader by HubSpot so see how I compared to Six Revisions. (This could be ugly…)

Drum roll…..

Copied directly the WebsiteGrader:

A. Traffic Rank: Top 0.01 %

Alexa is an online service that measures traffic for millions of sites on the Internet in a similar way to Nielsen television show ratings.

Alexa rank of 2,024 which is in the top 0.01 % of all websites.

B. Competing Websites
Site Website Grade Moz Rank Google Indexed Pages Traffic Rank Blog Grade Linking Domains
sixrevisions.com 99 7 2,260 2,024 99 12,713
www.nextlevelinnovation.com 90 4 140 1,580,055 89 23
C. Score Summary
Section sixrevisions.com
Website Grade 99
Moz Rank 7
Indexed Pages 2,260
Traffic Rank 2,024
Blog Grade 99
Linking Domains 12,713

The great content they provide is why they have achieved such an awesome.  I have my work cut out for me.

Take some time to analyze someone in your market and see how you compare.

Filed Under: 31DBC, Digital Presence, Innovation, Journey

5 Ways To Get More Done With WordPress

SuccessPowerful, and limitless. Two words that best describe WordPress in my opinion.  WordPress gives me the ability to create, update, and innovate. It simply lets the user get more done.  Here are five ways to get more done with WordPress.

  1. Plugins. If you need your WordPress site to function in way that isn’t initially offered right out of the box, just hop over to the plugin directory and start searching.  You will find what you need.
  2. Widgets. Drag and drop at its finest. Change an offer on the homepage. Feature a new page. Add a contact form. If something isn’t working out as planned, change it.  You dont have to know code to add a new look to your site.
  3. Internal Linking. Awesome feature that simplifies creating internal links. Give your viewers new pathways to read more about your blog or business.
  4. Full Screen Editor. Great new feature in WordPress 3.2 that will eliminate that countless distractions and result in getting more done. I started using this feature immediately.
  5. Custom Frameworks. Having a solid foundation to built on is extremely important if you want to focus on getting more done on your blog or with your business. Frameworks alleviate the stress of coding and add the assistance of a solid community.
What did I miss? I know there a more things about WordPress that help you get more done. Lets hear them.
Filed Under: 31DBC, Business, Digital Presence, Genesis, Innovation, Journey, WordPress Design Tagged With: , , , , ,

What is Next Level Innovation?

Journey - First StepWeb Solutions.

I’m here to help you with your digital presences. As technology continues to grow at an exponential it is important that you keep up. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be on the bleeding edge.

NLI blog was created as a resource to reflect and understand the importance of having a solid digital foundation. Everyday we are surrounded by a wealth of good and bad information.  I want you to be able to sit down and think about where you stand in the vast internet frontier.  This is a place to share ideas and walk away thinking you have learned something new.

Now lets innovate.

For the next 31 days, I will be embarking on my own journey with blogging.  I joined a 31 day blogging challenge being run by Ricardo Bueno. Amazing what you find on Twitter when you follow the right community.  If you would like to join me, that be great. Also please provide feedback, because this journey will not be successful unless you can walk away from here saying you have learned something.

 

Filed Under: Digital Presence, Innovation, Journey

Seven Words

Challenge.

Engage.

Interact.

Innovate.

Live.

Learn.

Connect.

Filed Under: Business Model Innovation, Digital Presence, Innovation, Journey, Weekly Innovation

Create a Website Base and Set Up Your Outposts

Devín Castle Outpost
Why do you have Facebook or Twitter?  To engage and interact with your audience.  Lets look at a model of engagement that is very similar to the one used by our military in various parts of the world.  This post will avoid the political aspects of our foreign policy.  It is only meant to compare your digital strategy with the one used by the finest military in the world.

First thing that needs to be established is the main base, i.e. your website.  Its main purpose is to supply content and establish a presence in the digital world.  Contains EVERYTHING that is important to your digital presence.

Next focus is getting your content to the population.  Set up your outpost in the various social media worlds.  Get your valuable content out to your audience.

Now that you have gotten your content out there, you need to listen. Use the feedback to rework and perfect your content.  What is the point of having an outpost if your not going to listen?

Think about this strategy and IMPLEMENT IT.

Filed Under: Digital Presence, Innovation, Journey, Weekly Innovation, WordPress Design

Big Step in Life

sold-signMy wife and I recently decided to make a big step forward in our life and purchase a townhouse.  The days of renting have come to an abrupt end. No longer dealing with the landlord, but I have been lucky to have some good landlords.  These are exciting times and it make it better that my I am experiencing it with her.

A few things I am looking forward the most to:

  1. Painting. Now I normally despise painting and will never truly enjoy it, but this is our new place and I want it to be created with our own elbow grease and sweat.
  2. Replacing an electrical socket. Strange I know.
  3. Setting up my home office.  Finally have the chance to create a quiet working space.
  4. Being able to build, add and remove anything for my wife. Tagging along with dad in the younger years might finally pay off.  Still might need a phone call or two.

Slightly off topic from my usual rambles but I felt I need to write about it.  Also please share your advice of success and failures in the world of home ownership.  I will be great to hear it.

 

Filed Under: Journey Tagged With:

Try Many Things

“The galleries are full of critics. They play no ball. They fight
no fight. They make no mistakes because they attempt
nothing. Down in the arena are the doers. They make
mistakes because they try many things. The man who makes no
mistakes lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure. He is the
one who never tries anything. He is the brake on the wheel of
progress. And yet it cannot be truly said he makes no mistakes,
because his biggest mistake is the very fact that he tries
nothing, does nothing, except criticize those who do things.”

David M. Shoup
General
United States Marine Corps

Filed Under: Innovation, Journey

Your Website Needs The Human Factor

Every website needs an identity that your visitors can relate to you and interact with. Social networks may put your face and thoughts everywhere, but does it give your website the “human factor”.  Some might ask, what is the human factor and why is this important?  The digital world has left the world of static websites in the dust.  Dynamic platforms, like WordPress, have created a new way to interact with your visitors.

What is the human factor?

Your website has the ability to passively and proactively interact with the visitor.

  • Passive: Information that explains your purpose and digital presence.
  • Proactive: Dynamic content that creates and nurtures thought. (The blog)

Why is it important?

A dynamic, interactive experience helps create repeat visitors.  Investing time into thoughtful content produces a fertile environment for comments and questions.

WordPress gives you the tools needed for a “human” website.  Take advantage of the blog and constantly look for new tools that allow you to proactively interact with your viewers.

I am currently investing more time in understanding BuddyPress in combination with GenesisConnect (affiliate link).  Instead of relying solely on others to create a social platform you can embed one into your website.

 

Filed Under: Business, Business Model Innovation, Genesis, Innovation, Journey, WordPress Design Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Feedback On My Mission Statement

I received an email today that made me sit back a evaluate my mission statement.

“NLI will take your idea and create a beautiful, innovative website”

Does that explain how my services will help your business? It doesn’t.  A beautiful, innovative site needs to be secondary to functionality.  The MAIN purpose of your website is to attract more customers and convert the leads to business.  Who cares if you have the fanciest slider and the brightest colors.  You need to sell your widget and convert the visitors to a customer.

Round 2:

“NLI will create a fully functional website with the purpose of improving your business’s digital presence and performance.”

Filed Under: Innovation, Journey, Weekly Innovation, WordPress Design

The Beginning of Your Small Business’s Digital Presence

stepping forward
You always have to start somewhere.  An Idea.

What is your next step?

Start off asking yourself this question, “How do you describe your organization/business/client in one sentence?”.  Seriously, one sentence.  Not as easy as it may seem.  You need a confident, solid answer.  This is the foundation of your idea and business.

“NLI will take your idea and create a beautiful, innovative website”  The goal and purpose of Next Level Innovation is stated in one sentence.  What is your single sentence?

If you are having trouble creating your sentence, lets take a step back and ask ourselves the following three questions.

What three words describe your organization/business/client?

What makes you unique?

What makes your company stand out in the crowd?

When you find an answer to each, describing your business in a single sentence will be easier than you first thought.

Filed Under: Business, Innovation, Journey, WordPress Design Tagged With: , , , , , , ,