Writing Down Your Goals & Defining Your Vision!!

I've heard it said that if you tell people your goals they're actually less likely to happen. There's a science behind it called "social reality" where just by telling someone you feel relieved from the intense desire to accomplish and that relief tricks your brain into thinking that it's already been done. I can get on board that train, I've seen it in my life many times. I'm sure I was always thinking that telling someone will hold me accountable and I could get encouragement from them. But then I never took the first steps in making that dream come true.

What I also know to be true is that writing down your goals increases your odds of achieving them. This blog isn't about HOW or WHY that works. There are plenty of articles and books written on the subject, if you just google "writing down your goals" you will see... this is more about the WHAT. What should you be doing to set goals in your professional and personal life, and then go out and get them!

This kid is going places.

The Life Contract

For several years now I have been starting my year with an annual "life contract" This includes things like 

• "I will buy a more reliable vehicle"

• "I will start/finish three books"

• "I will pass all of my classes with an A"

• "I will get my dream job"

• "I will learn a new skill"

• "I will become pregnant/have a baby" became one when my husband and I struggled to conceive, and I even like to throw in a "I will be healthy and full of energy" for good measure.  

Each year I write my list of things I want to accomplish - real, attainable, life improving goals - and I sign it and tuck it away.  I'm not sure the best theory on what to do with this list. Some people I suppose will put the list in their wallet and look at it regularly. Some may hang it in the bathroom next to the mirror. I choose to keep mine in a notebook and peek at it occasionally - but what I've found is that each time I checked, I would notice that I had reached another goal. And some years I would forget all about it and come across the contract months after the year had ended and always to my amazement I had achieved everything I had intended to. 

The Dream Board / Vision Board

The dream board is a visual manifestation of your goals. Its about what you want from life. I generally look at dream boards as long term goals; where a life contract is one year this may be more of a 10 year projection. (That's only MY interpretation and how I would choose to use it.) Overall, I think a dream board represents what you want your life to LOOK like, in the future. It's the VISION you have for what you want your life to be. Your individual goals should always be bringing you closer to this vision.

My 2016 Dream Board

Get Writing

I just want to give some tips when writing your goals and creating your dream board. I've never created my own dream board but I'm working on it now. It's not finished but it would look something like the one above.

1. Be Positive

Whether you're writing your goals down or taping pictures to a board, this is your life that you're talking about. I think most people, deep down, strive to be HAPPY above most everything else. Even most of our goals can be traced back to the belief that acquiring or achieving this thing will make us happy - so make sure that the language you are using creates a future full of positive. Say "I WILL" rather than "I will not." 

2. Dream Big

Write impossible dreams. Life has a way of making us not dare to want things out of fear of disappointment. Maybe we think that will never happen, we will never be able to afford that, I don't deserve, I'm not capable - but I'm saying if you really want something - be intentional. Write it down,  and then make it happen. To be clear, this isn't magic, this doesn't happen BECAUSE you wrote it down, rather its science/psychology that says you are much more likely. Do you believe it? Are you willing to trust in yourself that you can do it?

3. Where are you going?

"If you don't know where you're going, any road can get you there." Remember that when you live with a clear vision your choices reflect that vision. 

There a lot of tools available to help you with setting a path for business and personal success, but you can start today... with a paper and pen, write down what you will do this week, this year, this life. Write it down!

What are some ways you write down your goals and live your life with intention?

Why you Shouldn't get your Website from a "Rinse-and-Repeat" Company

I've recently been bombarded with "sponsored" posts and ads from a certain company that shows you how to create your own websites to "rent" to customers. He calls these "itsy-bitsy websites" that display basic information about the company, helping to generate leads. He justifies charging companies every month for their site by saying "they're too busy running their business to worry about this 'website stuff'."

See this ad, below.

Now let me tell you whats wrong with this business model. 

Faceless

There is more to a website than uploading your logo and <insert business name here>.
A site that isn't created with the client in mind doesn't think about the message it's sending. It doesn't capture a feeling or a sense of trust for the company, and should your competition use the same service you might as well be saying "Theres nothing special about my company."

Never in my life have I worked for or with a company who felt like they were "nothing special." As business owners you take pride in your work and believe that you are a competitive force to be reckoned with - if not, you wouldn't put in the daily effort it takes to run a successful business.  So be that competitive force! People want to know who YOU are. They also love do business with people they like. Whether its your companies quirky sense of humor or your strict policies on confidentiality, let those qualities come through all aspects of your communication with clients - and that communication starts with your website.

Maintenance

If you're looking to set up a website today and never change anything about your business, ever - then this kind of thing is for you. But that's not the case for most businesses. Sometimes businesses move or new services are added. You may decide that you're getting way too many emails from your website and want to set up an online form to organize the information coming in. I know from the professional experience of my clients (too many to count), companies like this HOOK you with a LINE of bologna, about all of the things this website will do for you and all of the ways they will help you, and then watch you SINK as the site becomes your enemy when you can't get just one person to respond to your requests for change; and the outdated and inconsistent information hurts your rankings.

Speaking of search engine rankings, the standards in SEO change so frequently that creating a website without a plan of regular maintenance is dangerous.  If you aren't updating your websites' coding and SEO to comply with current standards on a regular basis, your website is becoming outdated in a hurry. Unfortunately that is the reality of technology. Almost all of our clients who have come from a 'rinse and repeat' website service like this only had their website for less than a year and what they invested was a total waste.

DIY Websites

These aren't the only website services to be wary of, DIY website services should be used with caution and be a thoughtful decision. DIY websites I can respect.  Certainly I think there is value in doing for yourself, what could otherwise cost you or your company more than you can comfortably afford. But if you CAN afford it, hire the expert. One of our motto's around here is "do what you do best, and let everyone else do the rest!"Because here's the thing: if you can't afford to hire someone to fix your plumbing - can you afford for the damage caused when your own handiwork fails you?

Some of the DIY website services are Wix.com and Weebly.com -- while these sites are good in theory, its not until you get into them that you find they aren't as easy and customizable as they appear to be at first. They end up looking less like your vision of a fresh and modern website design and more like a first grade child's science fair project.

Morally Speaking

What's troubling about this ad most of all is that it's bragging about snagging customers through a simple email, throwing together sites for businesses with little to no thought or care, charging them month-after-month for years and if they decide to leave, its no big deal because they didn't actually invest anything in the website.  But there are real people behind these businesses, who trust their website company to help create their online presence.

Let me be clear, these companies do NOT care about your business. They care about a contract that says you own them $X each month.  But the demand for this type of service will persist as long as people choose not to see the value in the many techniques we implement to provide the best experience and product that we can, keeping with the tech standards of the time.

Or in other words, you get what you pay for... and, in this case, not even that.

6 Tips to Increase Engagement on Social Media and Drive Traffic to Your Website

Increase Engagement & Drive Traffic to Your Website 

Since March of this year, we've taken on a new social media manager and what a difference our clients have seen! Not only can I tell that the engagement has gone up on all of the pages that we manage (based on the obnoxious amount of notifications I get every 15 minutes - all day long) but we can actually prove the effectiveness by comparing past months to current months in their analytical reports.


I was so pleased and excited to report this that I asked Sammy, our social media expert,  for 6 tips on increasing engagement on your social media and driving website traffic using social media, beyond creating engaging comment.

1. Use appropriate networks

You definitely need to be where your customers are and there is nothing we like more than to see people using a social network that is appropriate to their business and target market. One great example is our neighbor and customer Mountain Bay Coffee & Gifts. Two social networks steadily gaining in popularity over the past couple years are Instagram and Snapchat and Mountain Bay has jumped at the opportunity to reach the emerging network's demographic.

Their gift shop offers an excellent opportunity to use Instagram to its full potential by posting captivating images of handmade gifts and crafts.

Handmade boot cuffs sold at Mountain Bay Coffee, featured on Instagram

Snapchat lets you share behind the scenes "fun" with your customers. It's not out there forever, only a max. of 24 hours, but just enough time to peak your customers interest and make them a fan!

Mountain Bay Employee pictured on Snapchat with a Pokemon Go character!

2. Follow trends

Speaking of what Mountain Bay is doing above with Pokemon Go...  I know some of you are sick of hearing about the popular new app/game,  but if you want to be relevant in the cyber world, you need to be following the trending topics.

Not sure how to find what topics are trending right now? Here are some places to check.

• Google Trends -  see the currently most trending searches.
• Twitter - Login to Twitter and you can see what is trending today (on Twitter) including popular hashtags. 
• Buzzsumo - great for finding HOT content on the web. Enter a topic of keyword and it will give you results of the most shared content on the web for that specific topic.

3. Like your own posts

Don't like your own posts as yourself, the business - that looks a little desperate - but definitely change the user on the post and like your posts as yourself, the person! This stirs engagement on your post and makes Facebook think that the post is of value and increases your probability of other Page Followers seeing your post in their news feed. It's not cheating, its encouraging engagement!

Click on the page icon (bottom right side of post) and select your User Profile to like, comment or share as yourself.

4. Hashtag

Use hashtags. If you don't know what hashtags are all about then I suggest doing some research. You want to be on this bandwagon. Not only do they have a really useful purpose of connecting conversations throughout networks, but they can be really fun - hence the reason hashtags are such a big part of pop culture.
#UseHashtags #YourTopic #UseTrendingHashtags #HaveFunWithIt

I just love this video of Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake using hashtags in place of regular conversation. 

6. Personalize your tone

Many compliments have come from the personable and friendly "Tone of Voice" we use in our social media posts. People want to be talked to like people; if your posts are too professional or void of personality, your post comes off as cold and inauthentic. Social media is an opportunity to connect with your customers. The best examples of brands and companies on any social network have a real comfortable and relaxed relationship with their followers.

Talking to your followers like friends is a great way to increase engagement.

7. Timing

Use your analytics and reports to see when your followers are online most and then schedule your posts for this time. If you find a spike in activity later in the evening, you wouldn't post in the morning because you may miss an opportunity to reach a majority of your customers.

What time is the right time for you to post?

  

What do you think? What suggestions do you plan to try in your social media efforts? What things have you done with your social media that has made a big difference?

Transferring a website from a shared cPanel account to Plesk control panel, including WordPress.

How to transfer from Shared cPanel to Plesk.

Recently we have taken on the task of transferring all of our websites from A Small Orange (who, disappointingly, took a nosedive in their customer service) to Netsonic, a local hosting company right in our back yard! Well, maybe Pulaski is Green Bay's backyard but you get the point.

With Netsonic we took on the added responsibility of managing each of our clients hosting accounts. Rather than having them all on one, now each client has their own account. It doesn't mean much for the client, but its a better, more organized way of managing the 70+ websites that we now currently have.

Herein lies the challenge, how to transfer a WordPress website, with all of its files and databases, from a Shared Hosting Account to Plesk.

Upgrade to VPS Hosting

First, with your typical shared hosting account you won't have WHM (Web Host Manager) access, and you need this access to tap into your account using the migration tool in Plesk.

Once you upgrade or purchase a VPS hosting plan, have your current host migrate all of your data from shared to VPS. This won't make the websites run off of the VPS server, you actually will have to go in and point your DNS (and if you're transferring to Plesk then its not necessary to point the DNS until you point it TO your Plesk server), but regardless it will migrate the files and databases.

WHM

Next, once the your data has been migrated to WHM, all of your websites will still show up under the ONE account (if you had your websites set up as addon domains under the one, main URL) You will need to extract the websites from here.

You do this by selecting "Transfer" from the WHM menu and then clicking on the box that is labeled "Convert Addon Domain to Account" Inside this menu you will find all of the possible domains to convert.

The result is each website listed as its own account.

Plesk Migration and Transfer Manager

In your Plesk dashboard, open the Migration and Transfer Manager under "Tools & Settings"

Then select "Start New Migration" 

Fill out all of the information necessary to transfer: IP address, username, password, etc. *It may ask you to enter a temporary password that Plesk provides you. In that case copy the temporary password go back to your VPS WHM, click the plus arrow to expand the domain you are migrating and enter the temporary password where it says "Change Password" and back in Plesk continue with the migration.

Congratulations

There will be a few other steps to making your website secure on the new server, but beyond checking the security and making a few minor adjustments, the only other thing you need to do is point the DNS to your new server, wait a few days for propagation, and BAM! You did it!

I'm feeling super accomplished! :D 
If anyone out there has experience doing this, or has done this before and has some tips or suggestions to go along with these steps please comment below! 

Creating Custom Images for your Blog & Website, Makes More Effective and Engaging Social Media Sharing

Custom Images for your Blog

Including images on your blog post and your website is great way to supplement the content. In terms of SEO, the content is, without a doubt, the most important aspect of your blog but what would it be like for the user without pictures? Boring? You bet!

Its great to share photos that relate to the topic, or graphics that illustrate what you're talking about.  I use a lot of screen shots so users can visualize what I am saying.

But let's talk about social media. When you are sharing your website or blog to your favorite social media, almost every network will automatically pull an image from that page as a preview to that post. This is fine, but it's not great.  Let me show you why...

Example: How to Separate Scams From Legitimate Opportunities

The Image

I found this post in my Pinterest account and I'm using it because it has a custom image created for Pinterest. Its a great example because the custom image shows us WHAT the blog/page is all about. What can the user learn or gain by clicking on the link?

TIP: It also includes their logo on it so someone else can't use it and try to pass it off as their own.

The Problem

The problem isn't with this example specifically, but what would this post look like if there wasn't a custom image created to describe what the article/blog was all about? I'll tell you. Here is the Facebook preview:

The image is taken from the heading, and while on the blog it is paired with the title, this image may in some way represent "scams" but it doesn't say that by just looking at the picture. In addition, the supplemental photos work within the blog, but separately would you know either of the following images was an article about 'scams vs. opportunities' ? 

Pinterest

Custom images are most important when using Pinterest, a visual bookmarking tool. Keyword: VISUAL. Pinterest is all about sharing images and users may read the description if an image peaks their interest, but a majority of users scroll through reading and looking at the pictures. If you aren't telling the users what the post is all about, they are passing you by, and they are certainly not "pinning" your post to their boards.

This is the norm, and everyone is doing it because it works!

You can do it!

Start creating custom images for your blog and website today. There are many tools that anyone can use to create these. Picfont is an online tool that doesn't require a download. You can upload your image and simply save the new image when you are done.  

I've also included this really nice blog post from The Next Web, below, that outlines some great apps that will do the same. 

• 9 Outstanding Apps for Adding Text to Your Pictures

Using an htaccess file

What I learned this week...

I had a basic understanding of what this was used for before, but it wasn't until Google came out with its new "Hostname Redundancy Warning" on Google Analytics, and I looked into it a little more that I really found out how many cool things we can do with the .htaccess file.

Definition

The definition below is shared from here at godaddy.com. Because, why try to improve upon something that is already so well defined. 

What is .htaccess?

Using .htaccess files lets you control the behavior of your site or a specific directory on your site. For example, if you place an .htaccess file in your root directory, it will affect your entire site (www.coolexample.com). If you place it in a /content directory, it will only affect that directory (www.coolexample.com/content).
.htaccess works on our Linux servers.

Using an .htaccess file, you can:

• Customize the Error pages for your site.

• Protect your site with a password.

• Enable server-side includes.

• Deny access to your site based on IP.

• Change your default directory page (index.html).

• Redirect visitors to another page.

• Prevent directory listing.

• Add MIME types.

For specifics on how to  resolve the new "Hostname Redundancy Warning" mentioned above - check out this great post : How To Solve the "Redundant Hostname" Warning in Google Analytics

.htaccess Generator

My favorite thing about all of this, is the very simple (new-to-me) .htaccess Generator found at http://www.htaccessredirect.net/  To be fair, most or all of this can be done within the cPanel but I like how this breaks down. 

This is where  you would go to redirect your www.yourdomain.com to yourdomain.com. This solves the double hostname issue, I mentioned before, several times.

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Custom Error Pages, in my opinion, make your site look a million times more professional. Now when your site/page won't display - for whatever reason - you can explain to your visitors exactly what is happening and reassure them that they are on the correct website.

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We include blocking bots in all of our Google Analytics accounts, but this is a great way to stop them at the source.

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Easily change your default directory page. If you want your products or pricing page to be the first page your visitors are directed to - this is where you would specify that.

There are several other options from blocking IP addresses, to creating password protection to the site or files. For more information visit htaccessredirect.net and click on the blue links for more information. Of course, once you generate the file you need to save it into your root folder.


I'm excited to use this new tool! What is one way that you can use this tool to make your website better?

Save A Post on Facebook

What I learned this week…

I wanted to post something simple and useful for all you Facebookers! Facebook is now the number two search engine. You can literally find anything on Facebook and if you haven’t tried the search bar, I recommend it! I often go on Facebook to search recipes for dinner - with AMAZING results, including those really simple videos with the movie magic that chops a whole carrot faster than you can snap your fingers.

When you come across a post that you like, whether you want to save it because it’s interesting or you just want to read it later - there’s another option than sharing it to your page. While it may be detrimental to our business, (because of course we want you to share our posts!), Facebook can sometimes get bogged down with “oversharing.” That may just be my opinion, but I’ve heard it come out of the mouths of so many people I know. Maybe if we start saving the posts we like, and sharing the posts we genuinely love and want everyone else to love too, we can make a difference in our overall Facebook experience.

So here it is… How to save posts in Facebook.

Step 1 : Click the caret

Whether you are viewing Facebook on your desktop or mobile, all posts have a down caret icon in the top right corner, if you click or press this icon you will be given a list of options that you can do with the post. Depending on the “type” of post, you will find the option to “save post” or “save product”  or “save link”

Step 2: Choose “Save Post”

That’s it, that’s literally it.

But wait, how do you access your saved posts? That is just as easy.

On the desktop…

Look under your favorites on the left sidebar, under your name, for the blue icon with the ribbon that says “Saved”

On the phone…

Click the “More” icon in the bottom right corner and look for the blue icon with the ribbon that says “Saved”

There you will find all of your saved posts. The desktop version of this will also let you filter out your saved posts based on the type, which will really come in handy once you have a lot of posts too look through and you want to find something you saved a while ago.

How do you think you will use this? What types of posts do you want to save? Comment below.