Aug 31, 2011
We all procrastinate, don’t we? I’ve written a lot about procrastination in the past on my business & personal development website.
So pop on over if you are interested in learning more but if you have less than 2 minutes to spare this brilliant little video clip about procrastination sums it up. I hope you enjoy it. And remember to get your stuff done 
May 26, 2011
If you look closely at your your website or blog traffic figures you will notice that social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, deliver much more loyal, targeted and engaged visitors. That is they spend more time on your site, search deeper and are more likely to comment on your blog or buy from you. I call them ‘sticky’ visitors as they don’t bounce away from your website easily.
For my site and other sites I look after they make up to 25 – 30% of all monthly traffic.
The other aspect is that if you have a presence on social media sites you get an extra tick in the box from the search engines. The search robots recognise that your blog or website is associated with a high ranking site and you get kudos because of that.
Although you may feel that writing yet another online profile is tedious, they do help you to dominate the first few pages of Google when someone searches for your name. There are four other ‘Andy Britnells’ who have a good presence on the web. My website, blog, Twitter and Google account profiles are on the first two pages and I have the majority of entries on the first 6 pages. (Click on the image above and then click again to see first page on Google in more detail)
I will need to work on my Facebook and LinkedIn profile if I want a clean sheet. Not that simple when you have a racing driver and two managing directors of largish companies competing for the space.
How do you rank for your name on Google and what do you do to keep your profile high on the search engines?
May 20, 2011
If you’ve been wondering why it’s taken me so long to do a post it’s because I’ve been heavily involved in helping one of my clients to set up a great travel blog. What with my current clients, new ones engaging my services, and delivering blogging and social media workshops, I haven’t quite found the time.
What inspires and motivates me most is getting a great idea launched for someone and for them to feel the process has been fun, productive and motivational. I could blab on for ages about what I do, but there is nothing better than unsolicited feedback from satisfied clients.
This one is from Guardian reviewer Sally Shalam who is delighted with her new blog Sally Shalam’s Britain, an independent and personal view of some of the best accommodation and tourist destinations in Britain. It’s early days but I reckon this is going to be extremely popular with people who want a fair and objective review from an expert who has a good eye for what’s cool and contemporary and knows what the discerning traveller is looking for. This is what Sally has to say about working with me:
“If only I’d known how much fun setting up my blog was going to be. Andy has taken me through a step-by-step process at a pace which I am comfortable with.
Much of the setting up is down to him, but our sessions are always part-tutorial so I came away feeling empowered and inspired to contribute myself from day one.
Now I can tackle the things I need to do – from blog posts to SEO – with confidence and manage the blog myself but I know he is on hand when I am too busy or get stuck.
Social media is such vital part of any business but I needed someone to de-mystify it for me.
Thanks Andy, for professionalism without geek-speak, patience without being patronising, and exactly the blog I want. Don’t struggle to get your own blog up and running, just go and See A Man About A Blog.”
Feb 9, 2011
One of the first hurdles that I came across in WordPress was how to chose a theme. For WordPress.com hosted blogs this isn’t such a great problem as there are a limited amount of themes available – only about 106!
I have used the following free WordPress.com themes – Titan (The Red Horse Blogs), & Fleshy (Andy Britnell WordPress.com test site) both of which look clean and professional. I am sure you will find a free one that suits your blog and later you can always upgrade to a self-hosted site and find a more professional theme that fits your market and style more closely.
When I decided to have a self-hosted site the possibilities seemed endless. There are many free themes available and you can get snowblinded by all the different colours, layouts and features that each theme has.
Eventually I almost lost the will to live! Another case of too much choice forcing you choose something inappropriate or not making a decision at all. Eventually I had to set up a list of criteria in order to shortlist the themes that were going to work.
These are my guidelines:
2. Flexible layout for every page (not restricted to just 2 or 3 columns) which means you can have static pages with a different layout which can act as landing pages
3. Style to fit market niche – knocks out most photography and magazine type themes for my clients
4. Ability to change fonts, backgrounds, header, colours etc. Allows you to differentiate from other blogs with same theme
5. Easy to link to social media to make your blog the hub of online activity
6. Updated and supported theme that is popular – you don’t want your theme to wither and die
7. Theme that links with content. A personal blog can be more funky than a business blog and a magazine or sport blog can be busier
Having said that once you know the rules you can always break a few to give your blog a design and look with an edge!
What do you look for when you are choosing a theme for your blog?
Nov 6, 2010
After two years of looking after other people’s blogs I have taken action and started this blog. The inspiration for the title came from a client who said that every time she came to see me she would tell her friends that she was going to “see a man about a blog”.
I thought this was so hilarious that I decided to use this as my title rather than a dry and boring one like ‘social media management’. I had thought about using ‘Blogging for the Terrified’ but this is not just a resource for people who are just starting or have a fear about expressing themselves. However when I get faced with a blank theme I can get blocked by the fact that there is so much to do and the thought that no one might be interested in what I have to say.
Fortunately I have read ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield which tackles this thorny issue. He says that the thing we are most frightened of is the very thing we were sent to this planet to do. There are no clever tricks about beginning to write – you just have to start. And once you start you can usually trick your brain into thinking you might actually have something interesting to impart.
So my hope is that I can inspire other people to write blogs and share their unique knowledge with the world – you might even make a bit of money or even a lot of money! Even if it just allows you to explore your creative part then I think it would have been worth the effort.
You are always welcome to ask questions. I like questions – it means you are willing to learn something.
Keep blogging
Andy
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