This week is the fifth anniversary of the very first blog I ever wrote. I started blogging because the Internet Wizards said that blogging is the easiest ways to keep fresh content posting to your website. Fresh content = happy Google. Happy Google = total world domination (OK, slight overstatement. It means higher Google rankings and more internet traffic, which is basically the same thing).
Five years ago, my only experience with blogging was that Julie and Julia movie where she blogs Julia Child’s recipes for a year. A blog about cooking is obviously going to be fun. Who doesn’t like to eat? But making HVAC fun? That’s kind of a different story. So I’ve blogged about everything from seagulls attacking technicians, to the best bra to wear when working with electricity, to practical stuff like how to clean your own AC condenser. The highlights for me were starting the Confessions of an HVAC Chick series and getting asked to write an article for a magazine! I’m still doing a happy dance about that. It’s been fun and it’s taught me a LOT.
As you can probably tell by my using the word “wizardry” in association with the internet, I’m not particularly technologically inclined, but WordPress and J.S. Web Solutions (our website wizards), made it pretty easy. Still, it seems every year brings more technological challenges that need mastering. We’ve done our best to keep pace. We’re online, we’re mobile, we’re social – we tweet, +1, and Pin in addition to Facebooking and LinkingIn regularly. If you’re already hanging out with us – thank you! – you make my day when you comment, like and share. If you’re not, come visit! Our goal is to make you laugh and/or teach you something. Feel free to ask questions or just say hello!
Our latest adventure is dipping our toes into the world of Google advertising and SEO. If you ever want to feel overwhelmed and confused, discuss the finer points of internet advertising and search engine optimization. It’s a special form of wizardry that I simply do not yet understand. Some of it actually freaks me out. Specifically the stalker that lives inside my computer. You know, the one that follows me around from webpage to webpage regurgitating advertisements for all the items I decided not to buy the last time I was bored and Googling. I’m both awed and terrified by it. I respect the technology but also feel that it’s the sort of thing that makes people want to live off-grid. Since I have mixed feelings, I have not yet unleashed an Advance Air stalker on the world yet.
I’d love to hear your experiences, tips and advice on the wonderful world of internet wizardry, aka marketing through Google, internet stalker advertising, pay-per-click and SEO. Please comment below or via any social media source. (And please, I’d like to hear from USERS of internet wizardry, not the wizards themselves. Thanks!)