Integrating Feedburner With Your Squarespace Blog

Not all visitors to your blog are the same. Some readers find you randomly through search engines while others seek you actively each time you post new content. RSS (really simple syndication) subscribers are some of your most loyal readers and are truly the types of relationships that are worth having. I use Feedburner to provide readers with a way to subscribe to Squarespace blog via RSS. Today I'll tell you why you should too and how to integrate Feedburner effectively with your Squarespace blog.

Why Use Feedburner with Squarespace?

You may think, "Why use Feedburner to handle my RSS when Squarespace already has great RSS support?" While I do think Squarespace has done a great job with the RSS feeds, there are a few key advantages to installing Feedburner on your Squarespace blog to compliment Squarespace's existing RSS functionality:

• Subscription Interface - Clicking on the standard Squarespace RSS integration results in a basic XML page which makes users go through the cumbersome process of copying and pasting the feed URL into their RSS reader. The Feedburner subscription process involves a few clicks for seemless integration into Google Reader and other popular RSS readers.
• Feedburner Onboard Tracking - Feedburner features a growing set of tracking and analytics tools that allow you to monitor the growth of your RSS subscribers.
• Feedburner Integrates with Google Analytics - Best of all, Feedburner integrates seemlessly with your Google Analytics data. If you've installed Google Analytics on Squarespace, you can quickly identify your RSS subscribers within your visitors.

Creating a Feedburner Account for Squarespace

To set up Feedburner on your Squarespace blog, you must first create a Feedburner account. The setup process for Feedburner is very simple. To begin, enter your existing RSS feed URL address and existing Google Account information at the Feedburner signup screen. Your existing RSS feed URL should be as follows:

Your domain name + / + Your Blog URL identifier + / + "rss.xml"

For Example:

http://www.bigpictureweb.com/blog/rss.xml

Use this URL in the first step of the Feedburner setup process.

Next, give your RSS feed a title and set your custom Feedburner URL.

Configuring Your RSS Syndicate Squarespace Widget

Your RSS Syndicate widget within Squarespace is the widget that produces a link for people click on to subscribe to your blog via RSS. This is the widget you'll want to integrate with your Feedburner account.

Log in and go to the configuration screen of your blog. Enter your new Feedburner Feed Address into the (optional) Fixed Feed URL field within your blog's configuration screen.

Use your Feedburner RSS feed URL for your RSS Syndicate widget.

The Social RSS Widget and Feedburner

The RSS widget within the Social Widgets tab of the Squarespace widgets menu is different from the RSS Syndicate widget on the main widget tab. The Social Widgets RSS widget displays a list of recent blog posts given an RSS feed URL while the RSS Syndicate widget allows people to subscribe to your blog.

To configure your Social RSS widget, I recommend using the default Squarespace RSS feed URL instead of the Feedburner feed URL because the former helps provide links and search engine optimization (SEO) benefit to the blog posts in your feed.

Use your default RSS feed URL for the Social RSS widget.

By using the Feedburner URL for the RSS Syndicate widget and the default Squarespace RSS URL for the Social RSS widget, you maximize the ability to track your blog's ability to attract new subscribers as well as create an optimal RSS experience for both your readers and search engines.

What are you using to manage your RSS feeds with your Squarespace account? Are you using Feedburner or something different? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

How to Optimize Images for SEO on Squarespace Websites

I'm typically pretty optimistic when it comes to doing search engine optimization (SEO) for Squarespace, my blogging/content management system (CMS) of choice. Most of what you need is available either out-of-the-box or through a few manual tweaks. Optimizing images for SEO on Squarespace are no exception and come with their own little subtleties. Today we'll explore SEO for images on Squarespace and help drive more traffic to your website.

SEO for Images - The Basics

One of my main duties as an online marketer is to increase website traffic from search engines through the process of SEO. When it comes to images, you can increase traffic through SEO in two ways:

1. Increases traffic via image search engines such as Google Images
2. Boost the ability for the page on which the image resides to rank in the search engines

There are quite a few things you can do to optimizes images for search engines, but the basics include using your page's primary keywords within  the file name and alt attribute of the image. Search engines pay special attention to these properties of the of image. Let's take a look how this works.

Optimizing Squarespace Image Files for SEO

 Optimize Squarespace images in a few easy steps:

1. Always be conscious of the size of your image files. In general, try to keep files in a .png or .jpg format under 200kb. The smaller, the better.
2. Use the primary keyword(s) you intend to you use in your page or blog post within the file name of the image when you upload it to Squarespace. Be sure to use a "-" in between words. For example, if Squarespace Image SEO was your keyword phrase, your image filename might be squarespace-image-seo.jpg. Easy, right?(Separate words with a "-" and use your keywords)
3. Next you'll need to change the alt attribute of your image. Switch to Raw HTML within the editing interface of your blog post or Squarespace web page. (Switch to Raw HTML mode to access your alt attributes)
4. Carefully search through the HTML of the pages to locate your images. I find it's easiest to use Ctrl+F and search the page for alt="" to highlight the image alt attributes within the HTML.(Finding the alt attributes is easy even for HTML novices)
5. Using your keywords, enter a brief description of your image that accurately describes the image for those that may not be able to see it.(Enter your keyword-friendly alt attribute within the quotes of the HTML)

Ultimately it's not too hard to optimize your images for SEO on Squarespace. Once your file is optimized, just be sure that the content on the rest of the page supports your primary keywords as well and you should be all set.

The Big (Optimized) Picture

The last and most often overlooked part of SEO for any website, Squarespace or otherwise, is getting links and attention within social media via Likes and Tweets. Getting someone to talk about you on the web is like an endorsement in Google's eyes. You'll be ranking in no time if you can get build links and attention to a well-optimized page with images.

On that note, if you liked this blog post or any other Squarespace tutorial written here on Big Picture Web, be sure to share it on your preferred social network or write a blog post to explore the topic further. And as always, I'm curious to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Google Analytics for Bloggers

Last Friday I had the opportunity to speak on Google Analytics for bloggers, a topic near and dear to my heart. Thanks to organizers Missy Berggren and Arik Hanson, I presented along with Becky Flansburg at the first Minnesota Blogger Conference Mini Event, held at CoCo in downtown St. Paul. As promised, today I've posted a brief recap along with the slides from my presentation: The Blogger's Google Analytics Clinic.

What Kind of Google Analytics Help do Bloggers Need?

A few months back, I asked people what the perfect Google Analytics workshop catered to bloggers would look like. The responses surprised me. Virtually no one needed help with the straight-forward Google Analytics setup. And while there was some interest in advanced topics such as goals and events, the vast majority of bloggers voiced the need for help just getting their bearings. Where should bloggers start off with Google Analytics?

(Bloggers typically don't need help installing GA. They're wondering what to look at.)

Google Analytics for Bloggers: Getting Your Bearings

It's easy to get overwhelmed by Google Analytics' dozens of reports and countless metrics. To avoid getting caught up in web analytics minutia, don't just look at Google Analytics as a source for data and reports. Look to GA to provide insights on how to improve the content of your blog through answering several important questions:

• Who are your readers?
• Where are they coming from?
• What are they reading?
• What are they sharing?

With any web analytics tool, start off with a business goal or question and then look to a report or metrics for the answer.  Otherwise you'll be likely to end up spinning your tires with nothing to show for your web analytics efforts. Read on to see this approach to web analytics for bloggers in action.

Who Are Your Readers?

Finding out some basic information about your readers can help you create content they'll like. The Visitors report section of Google Analytics answers questions about who is visiting (and reading) your blog. The Visitors section gives you a sense for the overall popularity of your blog.

• Visits and Visitors - Understanding visits and visitors is one of several important metrics when measuring the popularity of your blog. Think of this as the raw number of people and eyeballs that laid eyes on your blog for the time period selected. We all want these numbers to grow over time, right?(Visits and visitors are one good benchmark for blog popularity)
• Avg Time on Site - Do people stick around when visiting your blog or do they leave right away? Avg time on Site, along with Average Pageviews and Bounce Rate show you how long people typically hang out when visiting your blog.
• Loyalty - Getting a lot of visitors is one thing, but getting them to come back over and over again is the key to building a community around your blog. Access your Loyalty report in GA. Consider those that visit 1 time only as once-and-done readers, 2-4 times as "flirts" or "casual fans," and those that visit 5 or more times as your hardcore fans. Create content that appeals to your fans.(Improving your visitor loyalty means building your community.)
• Subscribers - If you have a Feedburner account, you have the extra added bonus of having their metrics as well. Subscribers show you how many people have subscribed to your RSS feed while Reach shows on average how many people access your RSS entries on a given day.(Feedburner gives you numbers on subscriptions and the reach of your blog.)

Where are Your Readers Coming From?

Now that you know how many people are visiting your blog, it's time to figure out where they're coming from. Use the Traffic Sources reports in Google Analytics to identify where your readers are coming from on the web. In general, it's good to identify these traffic sources and to ensure your blogging efforts support them.

• Direct Traffic - These are the people that type in your URL to their Internet browser to get to you. In general, they've heard about you in the past and are seeking your content directly. Your direct traffic grows as your blog grows in recognition.
• Referring Sites - Sites that send traffic to you via a link are considered referring sites, which includes other blogs, websites and social networks. As you network with other bloggers, speak at events and create guest posts for other blogs, pay attention to substantials trickles of traffic that appear when your content resonates with a new audience on the web.
• Search Engines - If you're weaving search-friendly keyword phrases into your content, you probably have search engine traffic coming to your blog. Get a feel for the keywords sending the most traffic to your site, as well as an endless supply of ideas for future blog posts.(Understanding your blog's traffic sources help you focus on the best sources of new readers.)

What Are Your Readers Reading?

Next, get a sense for the popularity of your blog posts by exploring the Google Analytics Content reports. Your Top Content report in Google Analytics organizes your blog posts by pageviews. Which of your blog posts are getting the most eyeballs? What did you do differently that made those blog posts so popular?(Which of your blog posts have the most pageviews? How did that happen?)

What Are Your Readers Sharing?

Pageviews give you a rough feel for the popularity of your blog, but is anyone engaging with your blog via comments or sharing it on social networks? The pinnacle of blog success is to have content that is both popular and compelling. But Google Analytics falls down when it comes to measuring social engagement.

Web analytics isn't about finding one tool to rule them all. It's about using a combination of tools that are all right for the job at hand. Enter PostRank Analytics, the social media measurement tool.  In a nutshell, PostRank measures when people share your blog content on the social web and gives you neat reports to track it all. Use Post Rank together with Google Analytics to identify blog posts that are both popular and compelling.(PostRank Analytics is your blog's new best friend for determining the social media engagement of your blog.)

More Google Analytics for Bloggers

The MN Blogger Conference Mini Event was a great way to quickly explore some of the main questions bloggers should be asking themselves when exploring Google Analytics. If you didn't get a chance to ask your question at the event or if you weren't able to make it, please do leave your questions about Google Analytics and blogging in the comments below. Thanks to all those who attended and especially to Arik and Missy for organizing everything.

Finally, here's the presentation from Friday's event. Feel free to share the presentation or this blog post with any blogger you know that is interested in using Google Analytics to improve their blog.

The Blogger's Google Analytics Clinic

Your 2011 Blogging Strategy Resolutions

New Year's is always a time of renewal and change. That's what resolutions are all about, right? Although sometimes unpleasant, New Year's resolutions help make us better people in the end. And if personal resolutions make us better people, then surely resolutions for what we read as a part of our 2011 blog research process will make us better bloggers, right? Today we'll take a look at two resolutions you can make to improve your blogging strategy in 2011.

Resolving to Organize What You Read

As of August 2010 there were nearly 150 million blogs on the Internet with nearly 60k more being created each day. How do you possibly keep it all organized? Long gone are the days of simply keeping a folder of bookmarks on your Internet browser.

These days we have Twitter, Digg, and Facebook flooding us with articles to read. It's important to organize your favorite sources of information so you don't forget about them in the constant deluge of content facing us as we begin 2011.

Google Reader helps organize blogs you follow.Organizing the blogs most important to generating ideas for your own blog is simple with tools like Google Reader, but can easily become filled with noise if you don't manage your subscriptions from time to time. Take a few minutes early in 2011 to manage the blogs you follow in your RSS reading system.

Also, don't be afraid to try new ways of keeping blogs you follow organized. For example, I recently brought my RSS feeds over to Feedly, a magazine reader-style system for keeping your RSS feeds organized. I'm not sure I'll use it permanently but it's a novel way of consuming content at the moment.

Feedly creates a cool magazine-style start page.

Resolving to Read More

When was the last time you read a good book about your industry. For that matter, when was the last time you read a good book in general? 

Don't get me wrong, blogs are great. In fact, I happen to think the one you're reading right now is excellent. But blog posts are just bite-sized morsels of knowledge. Sometimes you need more than even the most long-winded of blog posts. Sometimes you need the many meaty courses of information that a book provides in order to truly understand the complexities of a particular topic.

Bloggers/friends Arik Hanson and Patrick Garmoe tend to agree with me. Based on an idea by Julien Smith, we're setting the goal of reading 26 books during 2011 take on some complex topics and stay fresh for our blogs.

Audio books by Audible make reading easy.Join Arik, Patrick and me in resolving to read 26 books in 2011 and improve your source of blogging inspiration and content. Not sure how to make it happen? Personally, I'm going to give audio books by Audible a shot. Each day I spend about an hour in the car. And with each audio book running about 10 hours, the math works out to about a book every other week or, 26 books.

An hour a day or 20 pages a day. It doesn't sound like that much when I put it that way, does it?

Make 2011 a Great Year for Blogging

Even if you don't take either of these suggestions, it's a good idea to do something to shake things up and improve your blog. What types of resolutions have you made for your 2011 blogging strategy? Leave a comment or write a blog response post about what you plant to do differently in 2011. Also, don't be afraid to suggest a great marketing book that you've read or want to read.

What Can 2010 Do For Your 2011 Content Strategy?

I set a goal for myself at the beginning of 2010: write at least one helpful online marketing blog post per week, no exceptions. And wouldn't you know, I ended up with over fifty published blog posts on Big Picture Web this year. While not every post was a success, I learned a lot as a result of my prolific 2010 content strategy. I want to share these lessons with you and fuel your 2011 content strategy by sharing the top ten Big Picture Web blog posts of 2010.

Big Picture Web's Top 2010 Blog Posts

1. Squarespace Vs. Wordpress: Both Sides of the Story - In this blog post, co-author and Wordpress user Andy Brudtkuhl and I compared the two blogging platforms. Lesson: People don't want to be sold on something. They want to compare, contrast and make their own decision.
2. My Squarespace Review: 3 Pro's and 1 Con - I wrote this blog post two months after moving my website to Squarespace. People often tell me they sign up for Squarespace after reading my review. Lesson: People are likely to make a purchase even after having read a less-than-perfect review because they appreciate the realism that comes with a few flaws.
3. Squarespace Vs. the World - This blog post covered some industry news from Squarespace competitors. Lesson: Speculation by those close to a product or service can be of great interest to those within the niche and a great addition to any content strategy
4. The Squarespace Twitter / Facebook Button Tutorial Post - This post came out the week after Squarespace released HTML widgets that enable users to embed Twitter and Facebook buttons within their blog. Lesson: People appreciate tutorials with plenty of screenshots when it comes to new features.
5. A Blog Measurement Guide: Learn to Track Blog Comments - In this post I demonstrated how to configure Google Analytics to track when readers commented on a blog post. Lesson: Write about the useful things you know and people will read it.
6. 7 Examples of Good Web Design Layout - This article featured a well-named image: examples-of-good-web-design.png. As a result, I received the most visits to this blog post from users of Google Images. Lesson: Put images in your blog posts and be sure to optimize them for search engines.
7. Squarespace SEO Secrets You Should Know - I leveraged my role as an online marketing manager in charge of search engine optimization (SEO) to write these types about Squarespace and SEO. Lesson: Something you may think is simple is complicated for those that haven't mastered it. What can you share about your trade or craft? 
8. Using Google Analytics to Measure Your Contact Form - Web analytics expert and blogger Avinash Kaushik tweeted a link to this blog post after I published it, sending a flood of his Twitter followers my way. Lesson: Influencers in social media are an incredible source of website traffic.
9. Squarespace Design Resources for Outstanding Blogs or Websites - This post was a simple listing of external web design resources for Squarespacers. Lesson: Curation can be just as successful as creation within your content strategy.
10. The Complete Google Analytics iPhone App Guide - Being a Google Analytics junkie, I couldn't help by write a full review of all the apps on the iPhone market made especially for Google Analytics. Lesson: People appreciate comprehensive resources that span a niche or topic.

Share Your 2010 Blogging Success

How was your 2010? As a blogger, it can be tempting to crank out blog post after blog post without looking back. But never taking the time to pause an assess your blog's performance can leave important lessons and significant opportunities on the table as you move forward in your content strategy. 

What was your most successful blog post in 2010? Why do you think it was so successful? Big Picture Web readers love each other's insights, small or large. Leave a link to your post and your thoughts in the comments below to help us all use our 2010 successes to better inform our 2011 content strategy.