You put your heart and soul into your blog.
You write posts with eloquence, humor, irony and insight.
You've spent countless late nights tweaking your colors, your layout, your template and your design.
It's a masterpiece of a blog.
There's only one problem: no one knows it's there.
If you're a passionate, hopeful blogger, there's nothing more frustrating than looking at the traffic stats for your shiny new blog and seeing a flat line that stretches for months and months.
You're thinking--Why aren't more folks visiting my blog? What am I doing wrong? Shouldn't I be getting results by now? Why are other blogs that aren't as nice as mine getting more hits? Why aren't I showing up in Google searches? Why, why, why?!!
Believe me, I feel your pain.
You've put all this work into your blog, and you don't want to spend another day sitting by your lonely self waiting for your customers to magically appear on your blog's doorstep.
Well, it's time to stop worrying, wondering and wallowing.
Luckily, Andy Wibbels is doing a second run of his Keywords Essentials class very soon.
If you want to get a search engine ranking that's worth braggin' about, you should at least come to the preview call.
It's free, and it's on Wednesday, October 4 at 8pm EST. (Click here to register) Really, what have you got to lose?
I was actually one of the lucky folks who participated in the pilot run of Keywords Essentials, so I can give you an insider's view as to what the course was like.
One thing that suprised me--it isn't all that complicated to learn this stuff. I am no SEO (search engine optimization) junkie or tech geek. I'm pretty good on the computer, but I don't know about the techie stuff that goes on behind the scenes with blogs and websites.
But the way Andy taught things actually made sense to me. He's very patient and explains things in humorous, practical ways that make it easy for folks to understand.
If you take the class and experience his demeanor, you won't be suprised to find out that both his parents are elementary school teachers.:-)
So, how hard is it to learn this SEO stuff? Well, it's sort of like when you buy an entertainment center that comes in a bunch of separate pieces, and you spend hours (sometimes days) trying to get the blasted thing put together.
Then at the end you have a bunch of "extra" parts left over, and you wonder if you did it right or if the thing is gonna fall apart as soon as you put your TV on it.
Well, making your blog search-engine-friendly is like putting together that entertainment center.
There are lots of elements that you need to coordinate in order to make it work. When you're trying to do it on your own, it seems impossible, but it's really not. You just need someone to show you how the pieces fit together.
I remember that Andy told us that attracting targeted traffic to our blogs or websites is not magic, and it's not rocket science. "Normal" folks can learn this stuff without breaking their brains.
What's the set-up like? It's a teleseminar (or webinar, or e-class, or whatever you wanna call it), so it's done over the telephone. Andy uses screen sharing for the classes, so you call in with your computer revved up and ready to go, then he gives you a link to click that will hook you up to his computer screen. As he's instructing, you're able to see what he's showing you on his computer. It's pretty cool.
Is there class participation? Oh yeah. He teaches for a bit, then stops regularly to ask if anyone has any questions. People ask questions all the time, so if something pops into your head, just go ahead and ask. Most likely someone else is wondering the same thing.
If you happen to think of more questions in between classes, you can post them on the e-campus. Andy's e-campus is called "The Blogging Gym"--isn't that cute? It's a website/forum where all the class info, notes, questions, handouts, and cheatsheets are housed. When you dial in for the calls, the first thing you do is go to "The Blogging Gym" and get the info for the class. It's the hub for all Andy's courses.
What happens if I miss a class? Don't sweat it. This happened to me when I took the class. I was all set to attend class 2, but then my internet mysteriously went down, and for the life of me, I could not find the darned call-in number in my email. It was not one of my better days. I was pissed about missing the class, but it all turned out fine. Andy records the calls, so if you miss any of them, you can download the call or play it on your computer. So, I listened to the recording of the call, and I was caught up to speed in no time.
Do I get personal attention--you know, personal "Andy-time"? The class sizes are manageable, so it's not like you're lost in a sea of students. You'll get to talk to him on the phone calls, and if you have questions in between phone calls, you just post a question at the Blogging Gym, and he answers pretty quickly. When I took the class, he would ask every week how everyone did on their homework (yes, there's homework!). You can chime in and share your experiences, or feel free to be quiet and listen to other people talk. You get to interact with him personally on the phone calls and through the forum on the Blogging Gym.
There seems to be a buzz around Andy's classes. Are they really fun? The atmosphere of the class was less "dry, instructional teleseminar" and more "let's hang out, have a party and get excited about keywords."
I liked that. Being new to SEO and keywords, I'm so glad I didn't show up and feel like I was in an accounting class or anything.
You can tell he's really excited (borderline obsessed :-)) with this stuff, and his enthusiasm is contagious.
Also, he's kinda irreverant and definitely funny, so you really look forward to the class times and enjoy them while you're there.
Warning: If you like your teachers stuffy, serious, and un-opinionated, then Andy's approach might not jive with you.
Andy's style of teaching is unique and anything but vanilla. Perhaps it's not for everyone, but I sure do enjoy it.
No wonder he seems to have a cult following of eager students.;-)
Isn't this a lot of info to take in over a 4-week period? Yes. The calls are jam packed with info, so what I did was attend the calls, then listen to the recordings of the calls one or two more times.
You have access to the recorded calls for the rest of your life (Andy said he has no plans of ever closing down the audios), and of course you can always download them to listen to anytime, so you can take as long as you like to digest and implement this stuff. No need to bust a synapse trying to take all this in pronto.
What does he teach in the course? Too much to list here. One thing I can tell you is that the name of this class is misleading--this class is not just about keywords and it isn't only the "essentials". Andy actually goes in depth and takes you into metrics (don't get scared), stats tracking and reporting as well as thoroughly covering how to do keyword research and what to do with said reasearch when you've determine what your keywords are.
I've heard other folks who participated in the class say that they felt the class was about creating a comprehensive web promotion strategy and strengthening your online brand.
I agree with them. Keywords are an essential part of the course, but it's definitely not the entire course. Who knows--maybe a course name change is in order.
Probably the most valuable part of the class is getting to ask Andy about your specific issues with your website, blog and your keyword strategy. That boy really knows his stuff.
Your assignment: If you've read this far, then that means you're hungry for some keyword learnin'.
But before you decide you want to take the course, I would suggest you go ahead and sign up for the free 1-hour preview call to learn the specifics about what will be covered in the course and get a feel for Andy's personality and teaching style.
You can decide whether it's your cup of tea once you have all the details.
Oh--I almost forgot. Andy is a gracious guy. He usually gives some sort of party favor (in the form of a sizable discount on the class) for those folks who take time out of their busy day to show up for the preview call.
I don't know what that discount is gonna be--you'll have to go to the call and find out.
Here's that info again:
Keywords Essentials Preview
Wednesday, October 4 at 8pm EST
Register now and get the dial-in info.
Hope to see ya there!
Comments