Skip to main content

Once a Week Newsletter #19 – SEO, Neuroscience, a Blogging Checklist, and more!

Once a Week Newsletter (OWN) Number 19
SEO, blogging, creativity, Excel, customer acquisition

Welcome to another edition of the Once a Week Newsletter! This is Number 19, in case you're keeping track. LOL

As I write this, it's Wednesday, February 10, 2021. It's freezing cold up here in the Pacific Northwest! It's likely not to get above freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0 degrees Celsius) for another week. For this California boy, that's C-O-L-D!

Oh, and it's going to snow the next few days.

So we may be snowed in. While our cars are AWD, they don't plow the streets up here because it snows so infrequently. They do lay down some sort of chemical early in the Fall to mitigate icing over, but it's not very effective. We always laugh at the ONE snowplow the city has that never moves when we drive by where the city keeps it.

(Side hustle idea: Get a snowplow.)

Planning for another Snowmageddon…what is on your Top Ten list of things to have on hand during a prolonged isolation period?

(I know, we've all kind of been there for the past year with COVID.)

Mine are:

  1. Milk
  2. Rice
  3. Beans
  4. Bread
  5. Cereal
  6. Eggs
  7. Cheese
  8. Ice (ironic in snow)
  9. Crackers
  10. Water (from the tap and hope the pipes don't freeze)

Of course, there's the flashlights and batteries, candles, lanterns, TP (!), matches. What am I missing?

Alright, onto this week's newsletter…

The Ultimate Guide for an SEO-Friendly URL Structure
See what Google thinks about how URLs are crafted and learn how to create URL structure SEO guidelines for your brand or publication.

Bottom line: URLs matter. They may not matter much from an SEO perspective (or do they? Read the article!), but they do have some sway on whether your stuff gets read.

The Neuroscience of Creativity – A Short Guide
The neuroscience of creativity is very complex, and we're only scratching the surface here, so there's much more work that's needed.

Bottom line: What is creativity? Better yet, how do you beckon it when needed?

(Ad) Freedym
Ryan Lee's FREE membership site with concise, to-the-point, no fluff training. Most training videos are less than 20 minutes. Immediately actionable info.

The Meticulous Writer's 12-Step Blogging Checklist – Copyblogger
Blogging checklist with 12 important steps meticulous writers consistently follow when they produce high-quality content.

Bottom line: At heart, I'm a blogger. I love checklists and step-by-step guides. This one is worth reading!

Let me know in the comments if you're enjoying these weekly newsletters. And if you're not subscribed, you can sign up here.

Want New Customers Faster? Avoid This Rookie Habit – Copyblogger
How do you get new customers faster? Many new marketers invest time in a type of writing that doesn’t speak to the right people.

Bottom line: We all want to get more new customers. But how? Read the above to find out what not to do.

(Ad) Emerging Tech
I love emerging tech and that's why I subscribe to the Emerging Tech newsletter. Brought to you by the folks at Morning Brew (another great newsletter), ET gets you smart on new technology.

How to Remove the Background From a Picture in Excel
Removing a distracting background from an image allows your audience to focus on the subject matter. Though it's not known for its image editing suite, you can do this using Microsoft Excel. Here's how it's done.

Bottom line: Wow! I had no idea you could remove an image's background with Excel, but you can. You most likely have other tools that do a better job…but in a pinch, you can use Excel.

That's it for this week, folks. Wish me luck. I hope you're safe and warm, too.

Make it a great day!

Bill


The article was originally published here!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nine Ways to Stay Inspired and Avoid Blogger Burnout

This post is based on episode 170  of the ProBlogger podcast. Most bloggers start off with a huge burst of energy and excitement. But then at some point (often in their first year or two of blogging) they come up against their first bout of “blogger burnout”. Why Does Blogger Burnout Happen? Blogger burnout can materialise in different forms and for different reasons. You may have run out of topic ideas, and feel you’ve said everything there is to say. You may have become disillusioned with your topic, your niche, or blogging in general. Despite working really hard on your blog, you may not think it’s paying off. You may not be reaching the goals you set for yourself. You may feel overworked and worn out. Your blog may no longer align with the reason you started it. For example, you may have wanted to be creative at first, but now you’re focused on making money. You may be overwhelmed by everything you need to do to keep your blog running. Whatever the caus...
Post a Comment
Read more

Put All Your Eggs in One Basket!

But not just ANY basket. You may have noticed that Facebook was down for a L – O – N – G time today. So was Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp (all Facebook apps, or “crapps,” as I call them – LOL). To most of the world, this would bother them. It certainly bothered some heavy FB advertising folks. I suspect the real loss today was in the billions. FB stock lost about $50 billion in market cap. OUCH. But the real question is this: Did it affect you? Did it affect your business? If it did, is there anything you can do to mitigate future losses? The answer is a resounding “YES!”  I've harped on this and at you for over a DECADE now – OWN your own real estate. Don't be a sharecropper. When you run your business on another company's platform, their demise could be yours as well. Plus, they can kick you off their platform at any time for any reason. Just ask former President Trump. (Not to be political, but FB and YouTube kicked him off their plat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Advertising - Get Real

Advertising and marketing are creative disciplines. That's one reason I love being a part of the marketing industry. Finding creative solutions to help clients sell their products and services is a fun way to make a living. Having said that, I must also say that too often I see marketers going too far. In my opinion it is certainly possible to be too creative for your own good. What exactly do I mean by that? Let me share a very public example to explain. My example comes from the reality television show, "The Apprentice." Okay, so I admit it, I LOVE that show. I'm not much of a reality TV fan, but there's something about watching these teams compete on business challenges week in and week out that intrigues and entertains me. Quite often they are given marketing-related tasks on the show. Let's face it, marketing is one of THE most important jobs you'll ever have in business. If you can do it well, your business will more than likely do well. If y...
Post a Comment
Read more