1) Because you can.

With a Wordpress site and a premium theme ( of course I’m an affiliate) you are the director of “You” Publishing. It’s the ultimate in Bootstrap Marketing.

2) Because it’s fun.

What small business owner doesn’t get ideas in the middle of the night, driving down the road or in the shower. We all do. We care about our baby and even the most boring of us comes up with great ideas to promote his or her baby. Now you have the keys and you’re in control.

3) Because it educates and sells.

Want to get a point across to a prospect. Want to reinforce something to a current customer. Want to show your hand to a competitor. Want to tell your customers and prospects why they should look at your value propositions. Pump out the good relevant content.

4) Because you’ll be one of the first adopters.

No matter how much small businesses are chattering about inbound marketing, social media and blogging- very few are actually doing it. Want to get ahead? Then actually do it and stop just talking about it.

5) Because you’ll learn a lot in the process.

Creating good content for your site and blog is fun yet challenging. It requires you to rethink the way you run your business, the way you market your products and services and the way your community views you. Whether you’re recording videos and screencasts, snapping telling pictures, writing great posts or sharing key links- you’ll be forced to think and learn along the way.

6) Because you’re creating indexable content that can be referenced by you and search engines fo-ever.

Think about the difference between the web and sending a direct mail piece, running a print ad or buying a phone book ad. Print is finite. The web is not as of yet.

7) Because I said so.

I have your best interests at heart. I’m a nice guy and a lot smarter people than me are saying this too.

Here are the top 10 reasons why I use Wordpress … no that’s too Twitter.

Please become a fan of Wordpress on my Facebook page … no that’s too Farmville or whatever that Facebook game is called that everyone sends me and I ignore.

For only $19.99 get all my Wordpress Secrets … too splash page.

Click here to download a free trial of Wordpress … too spammy plus it’s already free.

Pick up the phone and call now and you’ll also get my bonus report “How I’ve made millions in 3 hours per day using Wordpress” … too late night infomercial.

Ok seriously now, the reasons why I use Wordpress are many. This post may just scratch the surface but Wordpress is something I love to use and write about. I’ve also built a business around it. Did I mention [start of shameless self plug] that my wife downloaded a virus on her PC last week for the 2nd time this year. It’s toast this time (I use a Mac and she wants one too but wouldn’t this Netbook really hold her over for another year or so- I think so too) [end shameless self plug] and we could use a new Netbook.

Wordpress has leveled the playing field in two big ways:

1) It has made Web Design way more affordable. You no longer are tied to a webmaster if you don’t need to be. You also don’t have to get a custom CMS (content management system) built. You can launch a website or blog in a matter of hours. With the amazing number of premium themes and plug ins you can focus your attention on creating compelling content and building a community around your product, idea, service or cause. Instead of focusing all your attention on design, functionality and technical stuff, you get to redirect that energy toward the things that truly drive traffic and create bottom line results. Plus it has widgets and you can’t go wrong with widgets.

2) Wordpress has allowed you, me and anyone with a business, passion or hobby to self publish. You no longer have to wait to be published in a magazine, newspaper or journal. You no longer have to pay big bucks to broadcast your message on TV or radio. You hit the publish button everytime you post something in Wordpress. If it’s good they’ll find it through Google. They’ll share it on Twitter. They’ll Digg it or Stumble it. The ball is in your court like it’s never been before. It’s the ultimate bootstrapping tool. It’s homebase. It’s better than the other blogging platforms and open source CMS’s because it has a legion of fans, developers, designers, writers, podcasters, video bloggers, visionaries and entrepreneurs making it better daily. It’s a movement. It’s a community. Did I mention it has widgets and that’s fun to say.

I heart it and it’s high on my list.

Thanks to WP Studio for putting on the contest and to ithemes and webdesign.com for all they do to make Wordpress better.

That brings me to the good news. If you’d done a bad job of keeping tabs on your contacts in the past- you’d have had an uphill battle. Your company would be in for a laborious session using Google, Yellowbook, Whitebook and online directories to find each and every contact. Not anymore.

Here is a strategy I share with all my customers. Get a legal pad and allocate a few hours in several batches throughout a week. Write down those you’ve done business with, networked with and just befriended over the years. Now take said notebook and go to Google. Type in their names one by one. If they’re on the grid, then you’re leveraging the power of six degrees of separation or six pixels if you prefer.

Many will show up in your Google search on Facebook. From there you can find most of their friends. Bet they’re on your list as well. Not on Facebook? No problem. How about LinkedIn? Found someone on LinkedIn, scan their connections. See anyone else on your list? Not on Facebook or LinkedIn, but hey there’s still Twitter. Oh yeah and Flickr, Wordpress, Blogger and a million others. Maybe they show up on a contact or about page of a website. Heck maybe they even own their own business now.

Now you are connected to them and their information is fresh because they updated it themselves. No directory guessed at it. So you can connect with them where they’re at or you can bring their info in to your CRM. Now the hard work starts- building relationships and staying top of mind.

1. Add new links weekly to your link widget and display it in your sidebar.
2. Add an RSS page template and pull in all your favorite feeds to that page.
3. Embed your Google Reader share items in a page or widget.
4. Embed your Delicious bookmarks RSS feed into a widget area.
5. Embed your Google Calendar into a page.
6. Pull in social media badges from Flickr, Youtube or Twitter.
7. Change key widget areas on the home page with simple text widgets.
8. Use a plug in like Billboard to easily update ads, sponsors or promotions.
9. Add to your portfolio, case studies, testimonials or services pages.
10. Blog- sorry for the obvious but it had to make the list.

1) Be genuine and be real. Be authentic and people will want to follow you and develop a relationship with you. Post about yourself, your day, your business and your family. Add some humor, some inspiration, some wisdom, some tips and hints. Then plug away with your business, your blog or your links. It will be natural and we’ll be interested. Reverse this and you’ll be in for a long haul.

2) Use the @ symbol before someone’s user name or handle to reference them in your tweet. This is what I love about Twitter and it’s viral nature. It’s make the world a lot smaller when we connect the dots to who knows who.

3) Linking is a good way to showcase your content, your blog, your website and articles you read which others would be interested in. Shorten the URL if you’re using Twitter.com.

4) Retweeting others is also a great way to reward the good content of others and to share meaningful tweets with your followers. Remember just because you’re following someone doesn’t mean your followers are too.

5) Remember if you want to get retweeted then you must give people a chance. Keep your tweet to 120 characters instead of 140 and then others can easily retweet without having to edit parts of your message.

6) If you’re looking for followers then tweet like Goldielocks. Not too little, not too much but just right. If I see someone’s face for 10 tweets of my past 15 then that person gets unfollowed. If someone just lurks and never says anything, there is a chance they may get unfollowed too.

7) If you, as a new user are still wondering what’s the big deal with Twitter; then check out Search.twitter.com

8 ) If you’re looking for followers right out of the gate, then go back to the person who introduced you to Twitter and scan their following list. Follow those who interest you. They will probably reciprocate.

9) If you’re looking for followers right out of the gate, then follow an entire list created by another user. For instance you keep up with golf and you see someone with a great list of all things golf. You can follow the whole list blindly or you can revert back to step 8.

10) Have fun. Make connections. Build relationships. Then meet the people in person for coffee and you’ll feel like you already know them.

Twitter.com has it’s own resource for new users. Here it is.

This made me really think about how I’m communicating what I do and who I do it for. I hate to be selfish with a good thing. How does this apply to your business? How does this apply to your story? Have you said yes to everyone and no to everything? How about saying no to everyone and yes to everything? “Everything” is relative but it still sounds good.

This quick screencast below shows you how to add an image with padding around that image. Then the image and text would look like the picture on the right. If you think of other simple Wordpress tutorials you’d like to see leave them in the comments section. I love the little ah ha moments. When you think to yourself I always wanted to know how to do that.

Once you begin playing the video below you can click the bottom right monitor button to enlarge it. You can also click this link to go directly to the video Padding around images in wordpress posts/pages.

I know businesses that allocate this amount of their budget just to yellow page ads or business card ads in weekly papers. I know businesses who spend this on lead generation programs annually. Some put this kind of money into radio or TV.

Wouldn’t it be more effective to start blogging about what you do, how you do it and who you can help? Wouldn’t it be more effective to create online spaces to organize your fans and customers. Wouldn’t it be more effective to handle your own PR instead of begging for it, or worse yet paying for it from the old media? If you’re a mid sized firm and your getting mad right now, then realize who I’m speaking to, it’s probably not you.

I certainly agree that small businesses, busy professionals, non profits and ministries can’t afford to bring someone on staff for $50-$60 K to handle this task. I’m betting you’re already stretched thin, so delegating this to staff may be out of the question as well. So what other options are there.

We’ve created plans for those who want to outsource storytelling. We’ll be your PR department and Content Managers. We’ll update the content on your site, your Flickr photo feed or your Youtube video channel. We’ll coach you on creating compelling content. We’ll write educational marketing posts for your blog. We’ll handle blog updates on your latest endeavors, fundraisers, events or milestones. We’ll coach you to disseminate information and engage appropriately on Twitter and Facebook. We’ll organize your contacts with email newsletters. We’ll get people talking about your story and if your story isn’t worth talking about, we’ll help recreate it with you.  This is what we mean by creating and sharing your story online. They used to call this marketing and advertising. If you want to delegate you or someone on your team to handle this at least check back soon for the launch of our coaching programs and webinars. If you’re interested in our services they range from $499 per month up to $999 per month. We’re only looking to do this for a select number of clients. We’re already handling this for some.

The last 3 months were great. I learned a tremendous amount and hopefully the team at WD.com did as well. We made several sales, worked out some processes, tested different price points and a whole lot more. Hindsight is always 20/20 and everyone is the best Monday morning quarterback but I believe all parties involved had wins in the arrangement.

In the market things cannot be conceived in the mind and implemented without realizing they have to be tested and refined. If we operated in an environment where things stopped and you could walk into the paused picture, then business would be so much simpler. With the way things change so rapidly today you have to adjust quickly. It reminds me of Seth Godin’s book The Dip. You really do have to quit the things that don’t look to work out and to focus on being the best in your endeavor. There is little room left for mediocrity. I think both parties saw this change made since and thankfully we realized it at the same time.

Take a spin around the site.

I’ve jazzed it up a bit and hopefully made it much more clear how I can help you. I admit it was extremely vague over the past few years.

We help you create your story and share it online. We use tools like Wordpress and Twitter.

For the last two years, I’ve planned and built, tweaked and refined, sold and invoiced, collected and accounted. I’ve marketed and branded and promoted. I’ve written and blogged and spoke and taught. I’ve coached and consulted. I’ve laughed, cried and learned a whole lot along the way.

I don’t regret starting Simplified Solutions, LLC two years ago. It has been the single best business learning experience I have ever had. I made so many mistakes. Too many to list here. I definitely failed forward at times. The best part was that this last two years was a training ground. A preparation if you will for the greatest business opportunity in my life thus far.

As my business has started to succeed the last several months, it’s been in large part due to a company called ithemes- and a open source platform called Wordpress. I owe a lot to Wordpress and to the team at ithemes. Wordpress gave me, and more importantly small businesses, non profits and ministries; an affordable, effective, and attractive way to gain an online presence. Ithemes created some amazing themes powered by Wordpress. That made the rest pretty easy for me.

A few months back my relationship with this amazing company grew a little closer. I always wondered how employable I was after being in sales most of my life and then running a small freelance business. Deep down though I knew I could follow a great leader and be a contributor on an amazing team. Well I’ve found both. The great leaders are Cory Miller and James Dalman. The great team is the team at ithemes and now WebDesign.com.

About a month ago, we started a serious dialogue about me joining a new venture that ithemes was launching. Time passed, many chats and conference calls lined out the details and I flew to Dallas this past weekend to meet the team and join this new venture – WebDesign.com

I am joining a thriving team at ithemes and have become their first sales consultant with WebDesign.com. To say I’m thrilled would be the understatement of the year.

We have a rockin team and we are ready to show the world an amazing model for web design and the customer service that comes with it.

You can follow all the details here at http://webdesign.com

You can also follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/webdesigncom

My new email address is bryce@webdesign.com and the cell phone is still the same.

I have already spoken to most current customers and this transition will be very seamless. I’m just joining the company that I promoted and sold before accept now I have a team of programmers, project managers, coders, designers, graphic designers, tech interns, owners and partners behind me. Way cool!

Simplified Solutions, LLC will still be an accounting entry in Quickbooks. Some things will trickle in and trickle out but I’m putting my 100% focus on making WebDesign.com the best in the world.