Gathering digital knowledge sometimes feels like I’m in a self-taught college class. I spend a lot of time, energy, money, and angst learning about the online world, and trying to make sense of everything I’ve absorbed about blogging, self-publishing, podcasting, webinars, and all things technical. I do a lot of reading and a lot of listening. It’s a slo000w thing, making a place in the internet world.
One thing I’m always hungry for is sound advice. What’s the best option for each situation? What’s worth paying for? Who has the best approach for creating an online platform? Growing an audience?
In the online world, you have two broad areas of focus: you produce material that requires creativity: original posts, books, images, videos, services, and all sorts of physical items that have a digital presence. You also need a wealth of digital knowledge…the technical know-how and expertise (or sometimes just the bravery) to set up blogs, websites, digital services, produce audio, video, e-books, and other good things the online world brings to our doorsteps.
Of course you can also pay someone else to do the technical work for you, and sometimes that’s the way to go. I’ve done that at times, and I also try to do what I can without paying for help. Doing as much as I can takes longer since I’m often learning, and then doing, and then repairing my mistakes. But I also get more out of the process when I have to understand the technical steps from start to finish.
I thought I’d share some of the resources and wisdom I’ve found. Maybe this will help someone else looking to build their fund of digital knowledge. I don’t claim to be an expert on any of this. I’m just trying to learn what I can, pass on what I like, and what’s worked well for me.
Going forward, I’ll add short posts sharing something I’m using or learning about. Since I transitioned to a WordPress.org site, I feel like I’m really in the grown up world of blogging. There are tools, plugins, and helps available to me now that I hadn’t used with my .com site. One of the drawbacks to the .com version of WordPress is that it’s much less customizable.
I’m also learning about other elements of an online brand and business, and I’ll include info on those topics too.
These posts may seem random as I tend to mix up what I’m working on…keeps things interesting when I move from blogging to working on an online course, to sharpening my Pinterest skills or learning about Facebook ads.
Today’s tip:
Yoast SEO for WordPress plugin.
I’ve been reading about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for years. This is how search engines find information posted online, and it’s a key factor in online visibility.
I’ve understood a little bit about the subject, but haven’t really focused on it. Now I have a plugin installed on this site that analyzes my posts and lets me know what I can improve to make my post more SEO friendly.
Ah…I love it when something complicated is simplified!
There’s a free version and a paid version. Right now I’m using the free option.
If you’re trying to establish or improve an online presence, see if Yoast is something that could make your life easier. I can’t say I’ve looked further, but if there’s a program like this for WordPress, there’s probably something similar for other online platforms. Good hunting out there!
~ Sheila
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