Learn the most crucial elements of an engaging blog or magazine website built in WordPress. Covering essential plugins and tactics, writing engaging posts, monetization, organizing content, managing multiple writers and more.

1. Fort Lauderdale
WordPress Development & Consulting
WordPress Consulting
WordPress Training
Website Development
Graphic Design
Social Media
SEO
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2. Essential Components of an
Engaging Blog/Magazine
WordPress Website
Presented by:
BRETT NAPOLI
WordPress Developer & Web Consultant
Founder & CEO of Ambition Insight
Dean of WebsiteSchool.com
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3. Your business can’t be
something to everyone. It needs
to be everything to someone.
- Jon Taffer
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4. Golden Rule of Business:
How to Make Money Anywhere
Solve Problems
Reduce Costs
Create Value
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5. Golden Rule of Blogging
Post Quality, Unique,
Interesting Content
Consistently Over Time
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6. Today’s Lessons
• 10 Most Important Web Design Tips
• What You Need to Get Started
• Concept Development Checklist
• 14 Key Blogging Practices
• Design, Layout & Widget Placement
• 12 Key WordPress Plugins
• 4 Software Add-Ons
• Growing & Increasing Pageviews
• Primary & Secondary Revenue Streams
• Maximizing Display Ad Revenue
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7. Background: Brett Napoli
• Founder/CEO of Ambition Insight, a Fort
Lauderdale WordPress Development &
Consulting Agency started in 2007
• Built 250+ WP sites, worked on 1000+
• Created WebsiteSchool.com, a WordPress
Training Videos & Tutorials Website with over
130 Videos
• First WP blog once reached 880,000 Pageviews
in 24 hrs
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8. Blogging Experience
• Primary Blogs include: thatDROP.com, CollegeCures.com
• 300MM+ pageviews & 500MM+ ad impressions since 2011
Some of our blog advertisers include:
CollegeCures.com
Sony, Microsoft, Adobe, Vonage, Samsonite, Barnes & Noble,
Best Buy, Chegg.com
thatDROP.com
Dr. Pepper, Levi’s, Coca Cola, Pepsi Co., Nike, Calvin Klein,
McDonalds, Live Nation, Taco Bell, Dockers, the United States Marine
Corps, HBO
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9. 10 Most Important Web Design Tips
1. Websites are here to help you.
2. Find the primary income source/message and
make it ridiculously obvious
3. Simplify everything and focus only on key points
4. User experience is paramount
5. Websites are built around content
6. It’s all in the details
7. Photos are not an option
8. Flexibility is Essential
9. Quality Matters
10. The Future
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10. What You Need to Get Started
• A great, memorable .com domain name
• A great idea, solution or purpose
• Quality Web Hosting
• A Premium WordPress Theme
• Premium WordPress Plugins
• Simple Design
• Responsive/Mobile Friendly
• Quality, Unique, Interesting Content
• Consistency
• Social Presence
• Collaboration
• Time
• Money
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11. Concept Development Checklist
• Idea
• Primary Focus  3 Target Keyword/Objectives
• Identify the Market  How/Why Are Others Making Money
• Competitors  Where Successful / Where to Improve
• Differentiation from competition
• Future
• Potential
• Benefits  On site vs. Off Site
• Timeline  Total Investment over 24 Months
• 7-12 month incubation period
• Revenue Streams/Ideal Exposure
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12. 14 Key Blogging Practices
Your blog/magazine site needs:
1. Focused Categories/Sections
2. Clear, concise, informative and captivating post titles
“Tuna Casserole Recipe” vs. “Delicious Tuna Casserole Recipe in 5 Easy Steps”
3. H1, H2 + H3 tags
4. Bold text on key points
5. Avoid long paragraphs
6. Outbound/Inbound links
7. Use Photos - Caption & credit properly
8. Add rich media – infographics, YouTube videos, lists & questionnaires
9. Proofread and view live before posting
10. Post thumbnails
11. Short/no excerpt (depending on post frequency)
12. Schedule posts
13. React/Comment/Link to content on other sites
14. Use keyword rich permalinks that show blog title
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13. Layout, Widget & Design Guide
Important Layout/Design Guides
2 column layout
Keep logo/header small & simple
Big, easy to read Titles
Bright link color
Include Post Date
Use Post Thumbnails
Clean + Uncluttered
Suggested Pages/Sections
Advertise
Join the Team
Best Of
Submit
Contact
About
Privacy Policy
Key sidebar placements
Mailing List
Calendar
Recent Posts
Graphics Highlighting Key Pages/Areas
Search Area
Browse by Category
Archives
Tag Cloud
Keep “lightweight”/limited sidebar
Key footer placements
Logo Thumbnail
Tagline
Focal Points/Site Description
Social Media Links
Less Important sections (Join the Team,
Privacy Policy, Contact)
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14. 12 Key WordPress Plugins
Use 5-15 Plugins, as few as possible
1. Members / Roles
2. WordPress SEO by
Yoast
3. Special Recent
Posts
4. MailChimp
5. Batcache
6. Disqus
7. Gravity Forms
8. Pippity or
OptInMonster
9. WP PageNavi
10. WP Touch Pro
11. AddThis
12. s2Member
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15. Great Add Ons
• CloudFlare
Caching/Traffic Filtering
• YesWare
Email Templates
• ManageWP
Manage multiple sites
• Tynt
Content attribution
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16. Grow & Increase Pageviews
• Post Multiple Page Posts
<!--nextpage-->
Link to next page by linking to article title + page #
http://www.yourblog.com/blog-post/2
• Analyze Key Metrics over time w/ Google Analytics
– Site Entrances
– Traffic Sources
– Time on site/page
– Popular content/posts/pages
– Popular categories
– Mobile performance
• Make layout adjustments & troubleshoot regularly (weekly)
– Rearrange widgets, menu, plugins
• Order navigation menu by top performing
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17. Primary Revenue Streams
• Display Advertising
– eCPM, CPC, Banner,
Leaderboard, Popunder,
Corner Tear, Pushover, High-
Impact, Background
Takeover
– Lijit (sovrn.com), Google
AdSense, AdMedia.com,
Advertising.com,
Chitika.com, Admedia.com,
SpecificMedia.com,
Sonobi.com
– Partner with an Ad Network
• Branded Content
• Advertorial & Press
Release
• Video Preroll
• Reviews & Giveaways
• Related Posts
– Content.ad, Gravity.com,
Taboola.com, nrelate.com
• Text link units/plugins
– Media.net, Disqus.com
• Affiliate Ads & CPA
– Amazon Affiliates, CJ.com,
LinkShare.com
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18. Secondary Revenue Streams
• Mobile Ads
• Social Media Posts &
Sponsorship
• Email Blasts & Newsletters,
Build a Database
• Google Custom Search
(Search Results)
• Message Board or Forum
• Directory / Classifieds
• Sell Products
• Sub-Domain Affiliates
• Job Board
• Merchandise
• Membership Site – Access
to info product, Resources,
Recurring Billing, Per-Page
or Per-Post Access
• Music or Digital Delivery
Goods – eBooks, Webinars,
Interviews
• Lead Generation
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19. Maximize Display Ad Revenue
• Limit display ads to 2 per page
• Use Premium ad agency/network for your vertical
• Integrate Video – Video eCPMs ~ 2-3X
• Prominently display high impact ads
• Place primary ATF ad before any design/layout
components. Just below <head> tags
• “Creative Ads” are probably worth more money
• Intrinsic value of Freebies and other offerings comes
first
• Understand ATF and BTF ad inventory
• Be Creative with Advertisers
• Use Ads/Sponsorships to Create Value for Brands
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20. Questions?
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21. We can help with:
WordPress Consulting
WordPress Training
Website Development
Graphic Design
Social Media
SEO
…and much more
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22. Contact Ambition Insight
Brett Napoli
203-233-1686
AmbitionInsight.com
brett@ambitioninsight.com
Also visit WebsiteSchool.com
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23. Sometimes the questions are
complicated and the answers
are simple.
- Dr. Seuss
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