<![CDATA[Plugin Muse

<![CDATA[Plugin Muse - Blog]]>Sun, 03 May 2026 00:54:49 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[Social Media info form]]>Mon, 06 Aug 2018 18:20:47 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/social-media-info-form

]]><![CDATA[Why is your business not online yet?]]>Wed, 13 Jun 2018 15:00:17 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/why-is-your-business-not-online-yetIt’s hard to believe that in 2018, with the web over 25 years old, there are still some businesses that aren’t online or which barely seem to make an effort. Every business has certain key information that is essential to their business.

These key items include their business name, address, phone number. and brand/logo that is visually unique to them. You need to show customers the correct info. How you are connected with others in your industry and geographically online will get your business in Google search results & Maps. In turn, this allows you to be found by new customers. It takes 4 steps to get your business online.

When we generate a feed properly it will allow you to keep up with developments and competition in your industry. All of these things need to be plugged into each and every one of your social media outlets (at least Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) and, of course, your website. This process is called a ‘Plugin’ and this is how to succeed in a digital world.

Your business deserves proper recognition and the business world is faced with a changing landscape where consumers expect constant flexibility and high-quality. It is essential that you are plugged in online to get exposure and more potential clients. To be proactive and get plugged in correctly from the start is paramount. If done wrong, we may need to backtrack and do some “house-cleaning” to ensure benefits. Some examples of what can happen if you’re set up incorrectly are:

No traffic to or from your website.
Your business is not known or found online by any potential clients.
Your service/product is unknown.
Lose-out on 91% potential clients who choose a competitor within first Google search page.

To ensure your potential clients choose you, it’s important to be recognized within the first Google search page. Plugin Muse can help you with that.

Plugin Muse is a Plugin Matter company. We focus on your “Plugin”, the 3rd step in our complete 3-Step Search Engine Marketing Process to optimize online presence. We have SEO & Marketing Experts with over 10 years experience AND constant research. Plugin Muse has a systematic approach to tackle all of your plugin needs.
This process, ‘Plugin’, is what we know. It is what we do as Plugin Muse for you, for your business. When it comes down to it, no matter how quickly and simply explained we can make it, everything takes time. As an entrepreneur, we both know time is money. We do this, as it is our business and you don’t have the time to take care of all these responsibilities as well as your own duties to your place of business. Plugin Muse has got this process and how it all comes together down and will help you set up your business.
Contact us at pluginmuse.com, by email (mel@pluginmuse.com), or by phone at (860) 214-9900. We know what needs to be done and how to accomplish it. To learn more, check us out at our website.

Written by Melien Lavoie

I am on a mission to revolutionize marketing in a way that makes it easy, fun, and understandable for all people of all levels of intelligence. By 2021 I want to be teaching SEO worldwide and especially to 3rd world entrepreneurs. No one should feel trapped to survive in a dead-end job. All humans should have the right to the tools needed to succeed at marketing a profitable business. Being able to support your personal and family needs should start with an idea.... My purpose in this life is to CLOSE THE GAP.

]]><![CDATA[Key elements needed for a business website]]>Wed, 04 Apr 2018 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/key-elements-needed-for-a-business-websiteAnyone can build a website with easy builders and endless DIY tutorials. Building your website is cost effective and can save a lot of money. Unfortunately a good looking site does not necessarily mean that it works.

If you are a small business who proudly builds your business site, it is important that it does its job representing your business in online searches. A functioning website's purpose is to drive online traffic so that your business can grow. If your website is broken, new and prospective clients will be unable to find it.
For the past 10 years SEO researcher Melien Lavoie has been breaking up the parts of what influences internet searches, for easier understanding for everyone. Explaining these difficult SEO concepts in layman’s terms is crucial in revolutionizing the process.
“Sorting” algorithms favor sites built with intent and purpose. By using the parts used by algorithms, your website clients will also be able to find you.
These building blocks include:

Brand - A branded website has one consistent name from the domain to the social media vanities. These are listed with the same name, address, and phone number on third party sites creating NAP consistency over multiple platforms.
Social - Social media sites have the ‘power of many’ and this can help give a very new and small company the push they need for online visibility. Your chance of being found online increases when your website, with its images and widgets such as your google map, link back to your Google+ reviews. .
Content - If you have specific words and sentences that would enable consumers to find your website then you need to have them in your content. The words you use online that are published on your website pages, whether front-end or back-end, are meta words, that count in social posts towards content.
Links - The world wide web (www) is a vast store knowledge linked to each other to create an enormous network. When link products, partners and other things on your website, your site seems bigger and more important online.

Now that you know the building blocks you can test your work. If you have access to the editing of your website, and are able to make changes using a builder that is up to date and has the ability to update and expand, then you have a head start. Try to identify the four different building blocks in your website and then evaluate what needs to be improved. Most of what you do online can be measured using free online tools that help you to determine how well they are implemented. Hubspot’s website grader can give your website an overall score that also shows whether your backend meta content has been added.
To figure out issues with your brand do a basic google search and see if your business has a knowledge graph box on the right or not. Related to this would be your NAP consistency that can be evaluated using Yext’s free tool. If you have social media sites also check your vanities to make sure your name is consistent. Social media pages have to be active for your pages to stay published and visible in searches. The words you use in posts on your website pages should be the words you would like to be found. You can measure your website’s text to code ratio as well as your moz link building using the Sinium SEO app.
If you feel like you might need some TLC after looking at your website, follow the link and I will have a look at it and send you a free test lead score card. We are in the business of empowering fellow brave entrepreneurs. If you choose to partner with Plugin Matter, we work for you, around your needs, and in accordance with your budget, to help you succeed online. We can build your website vehicle from the beginning to end, update and improve an existing website, or slowly work toward improving different parts of your website. When you have a optimal vehicle that works, we also offer fuel plans to help you drive down the road to Google ratings.

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Written by Melien Lavoie

]]><![CDATA[Setup is Key - Social Management]]>Fri, 12 May 2017 10:22:56 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/setup-is-key-social-managementI started my plugin process about 7/8 years ago with my first RelyLocal client after I realized their listings were not working without...

1. Google knowing who they are and 2. leveraging the 'power of many' in Social Media. The principle is a basic and pretty logical one. Most of the clients I work with needing SEO problem solving help not showing in Google results only needed a plugin to fix it.

It is important to understand that having a fully functional website is NOT how one gets Google ratings. We have a 3-Three Part Process with PluginMatter and your plugin is only step one.

It is pretty crazy to think but we have finally reached the benchmark where managing your business on your tablet is quicker and easier than using your desktop! This does however depend on device and I prefer to use Samsung Galaxy Tablets as Apple devices are not entirely there yet with development and sharing functionality needed to implement my process.

I am a social media master and literally live on my device. Most of this comes easy to me but the hard reality is that as 'easy' as it might look most of us are not too 'technically inclined'. Larry Page had a vision with his first Apple tablet to create a device that you did not need a manual for. A device so easy and logical to use that everyone could use it. I do think that this dream is closer than we think and that setup is key.

If you are a beginner tablet operator then please be sure to only have one Google account added under your settings. This will avoid confusion and another account can be added later when you feel more comfortable navigating. Because of this I would suggest having one device for personal use and another for business use. This will help to keep business and personal separate. I would also suggest to NOT allow your children to use the business tablet to play games as most games these days connect with social accounts without your knowledge during setup and crazy pics of your child might feed to your business social accounts. Yes I have seen it it happen.

By keeping a separate device you have more space for photos and movies taken at your place of business and you have them automatically backed up to the business Google account photos versus mixed in with your personal images. Having a business device you could load movies straight from device or push photos to the correct designated flickr account setup on the device. This avoids account confusion and eliminates mistakes that could leave your feeling defeated and overwhelmed. So all in all it comes down to saving time with easy management of your digital business. This one device can also be used got digital phone calls and customer service answering questions via social messaging applications.

Tablet Setup

Secondary Social (Top Right): Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Flickr, Periscope, Snapchat, YouTube, Vimeo, Reddit, StumbleUpon
Primary Social (Middle Left): Facebook, Facebook Pages Manager, Facebook Groups, Twitter, Google Plus, Google My Business, LinkedIn
Website (Middle Middle): Weebly, Google Analytics
Drive Shortcuts (Middle Right): Brand Management (BM) Portfolio and Final Art
Management: Google Gmail, Google Contact, Google Calendar
Chat (Bottom Right): Facebook Messenger, Whatsup, Google Hangouts (Now Duo and Allo)

You will notice that I only use predominantly Google management apps. For Google ratings it is important to start to use Google applications, Google also is the only one of the digital powers (Google, Apple, Microsoft) that has not only cloud space, the software tools to create in the space but also a social media platform to push it out to.

Below you will see that I add my Google Drive, Google PDF Reader, Google Sheets, Google Docs, Google Slides into the same folder.

We focus on free tools for social media management such as Tools Buffer, Tweetdeck, Pocket, Feedly, Trello, and Hootsuite.

A shell plugin would have parts of the above screen setup, a basic plugin would have them propagated and branded in full but only an advanced plugin would get it all done. The middle center block would only be added in step two with your website. For prices and details on different Plugin levels READ MORE

Book A Plugin

Written by Melien Lavoie

]]><![CDATA[Google Graph Factors]]>Thu, 06 Apr 2017 13:50:40 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/google-graph-factorsby Melien Lavoie @melienlavoie

Your Google Knowledge Graph is a box that you earn in searches based on how well you are setup online and the quality of your online presence. It will appear and disappear depending on small changes and can be manipulated to an extend.

1. Search engines use a technical language of code to identify different parts of your website so having your header tags, meta description, author byline and other content in detailed helps Google to identify markers of your site and how to it put together.

2. Optimized Content that is in-depth, quality, not duplicate with a healthy page silo structure of links to many different types of content.

3. Create Wikipedia Pages since they are longer, better researched and more thoroughly cited than most results giving them more credibility online.

4. Create profiles on outside online sites such as 3rd party directory and referral sites. These help to create a spider linking structure of your company that makes you look bigger and more credible.

5. Healthy Social Media accounts that are not only optimized but also used actively. These support evidence of your business as an existing online entity while empty placeholders do less good. Social media can help you score higher with new content pumping life into your online presence.

6. One name with consistency between the name and repetition of characters in your domain and the name of pages and vanities and how you are known online.

7. The speed of your site, whether it is mobile and responsive and most recently we are starting to see a huge shift on AMP (accelerated mobile pages).

8. Do a citation campaign making sure your business is listed in all of the relevant and authoritative local and industry specific sites.

9. Get mentioned in authoritative online news sources

10. Get 100 followers to G+ page making sure some of the followers are authoritative adding value.

11. Get reviews

Sources:
http://searchengineland.com/enhance-google-knowledge-graph-result-case-study-243965
http://www.brafton.com/blog/6-ways-get-content-googles-knowledge-graph-results/
http://localu.org/blog/local-knowledge-panel-doesnt-show-google-can/

]]><![CDATA[Alliance Realty NE]]>Tue, 18 Oct 2016 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/alliance-realty-ne

Secondary Art

Website buttons, footer icons, services image buttons.

Social Media Branding

Website Branding

Website Banner, Logo and favicon

Website

]]><![CDATA[Action Carpet]]>Wed, 05 Oct 2016 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/action-carpet

Problem

Logo Design

Taking very old logo, redrawing in vectors and updating color palette.

Brochure Design

Website Update

]]><![CDATA[One Name Principle]]>Fri, 15 Jan 2016 11:00:12 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/one-name-principleI have been using this principle for years and in all honestly it has been very difficult to exactly prove its existence. The closest you can get to seeing its possible existence is maybe reading about the Exact Match Domain algorithm. If there was a need to create this algorithm then there has to also be a one name principle and it has to be important....

Here are a few factors that I can name to help you understand the important parts.

1) Repetition of Characters
I have seen with bigger structures like a Chamber of Commerce and my old RelyLocal database, that when there are small fluctuations in the one name of a business, like an added LLC or Inc to the end of a name or changes in the use of characters, that it is not being picked up in search results. Search engines cannot read and only sees a repetition of characters. So, take note of the characters used in your name.

2) Inconsistencies
Yext.com is a company that exists to pick up and fix such inconsistencies. So if this was not important and if it did not make a huge difference, this company would not be important. Follow the link and search your company name to see all the listings. With this info, you would need to update manually when considering to change your name.

3) Age of Domain Name
When thinking about changing your business name also keep in consideration the 'age' of your domain. The older a domain becomes the more weight it it has. It is almost like an old bottle of wine. If say your competitor is new and has a newer domain it would take alot of work and time before they would be able to 'compete' with you online. Check your Whois information for free, online, to see how old your domain is.

Google Places is the one listing that literally plugs into Google's brain. This listing, when claimed, becomes your Google Plus business page and is also the info people find when searching Google Maps. To claim this listing, you'll need to first create a google account.

4) Inbound Links
Third Party links can also create havoc on a name change in online searches. So, if you have signed up for an online deal or if someone has written an article or blog about your business in the past 3ish years, then those results will come up in searches. Marketing Grader can check your inbound links under the SEO section and give you an idea of the linking companies. Having an updated blog or something on those sites will help to sway the results.

5) Google Knowledge Graph
Two years ago the above would have been enough, but today we have bigger problems. We recently started talking about Google Knowledge Graph. This is the new box you see on the side bar when searching for something. This info is pulled from all over the internet and, specifically, Wikipedia it seems. You cannot program it manually and need to fix yourself online before your Google Graphs get generated automatically. So, no more slacking or thinking this is not important.

If you need help fixing an inconsistent name or multiple names online, I can help you. Link-building and referral traffic is one of the Marketing Wheels driving your vehicle down the road. This is also, unfortunately, a big job to fix so time and patience is the key. Contact Me when you are ready.

]]><![CDATA[Why Weebly Websites?]]>Thu, 31 Dec 2015 18:36:35 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/why-weebly-websitesAs an entrepreneur and teacher with a passion for DIY, I try to make sure my clients know about free online platforms that can help them cut their marketing budgets. Having access to your website is KEY so you can change and update content for Social Media marketing. Weebly is the ONLY platform I have found so far with all the pieces you need to effectively market your business in a digital mobile age.

1) Weebly is FREE
Saving you money and cutting your marketing budget. Yes the newer version has a more prominent ad for Weebly in the footer, but so far you can still build a great website that works for free if you forward your purchased domain to your free Weebly domain.

2) Blog on Website
Weebly has an embedded blog function for pages, meaning you blog on your own website and not an external blogging site. Adding new content and fresh words to your own site helps you with SEO and organic search to your website.

3) Easy enough
This website builder is definitely by far the easiest of them all! Normal people of average intelligence with limited skills can build a website with Weebly! You can even build a site on your phone! No other builder can do this at this time.

4) No Hosting
Detailed sites can be built without hosting, using social hosting by adding images via URL's and embedding posts or movies from social media sites. This can drastically cut your hosting budget, help your site to load faster, and give you an interactive site.

5) Professional looking
Other builders might look prettier but this is where pretty and functional are not the same. Weebly has responsive design meaning your website look and feel changes depending on the device you use (mobile, tablet, desktop). You can change between templates at any time, change fonts, colors etc. Advanced users can make changes to the CSS Html's 5 parts. They have a wide variety of elements as well as designs. The html is also easily adjusted to help you 'fit' it into a template or make it your own.

6) 'Good' Limits
From a design perspective, Weebly limits you in a good way. Under Design elements you have to choose ONE header typeface with ONE body-copy typeface, making sure those of us who do not understand branding or elements of design can't make too many changes. There is nothing worse than a website with 10 typefaces and colors to match! Way too spammy.

7) Mobile App
Weebly and Wordpress are the only two website builders I know of with mobile apps where you can blog straight from your phone. Weebly also gives you the ability to make changes to your website or build a WHOLE website straight from your phone. Revolutionary!

And there you have it. I have been using Weebly for 6 years now and I swear by it! If you need help creating a website, I am flexible. I can work with clients, teaching them how to DIY doing only minimal HTML parts. I can do parts, while you do parts as homework, or I can do it all! So depending on your budget, I can help you build a website that works! Contact me to schedule a phone meeting to get going.

]]><![CDATA[Multi-Source Event Marketing]]>Wed, 30 Dec 2015 04:27:13 GMThttps://www.pluginmuse.com/blog/multi-source-event-marketingMarketing an upcoming event for your business can be problematic and confusing with multiple online outlets and platforms. The most important thing to remember is that if you are going to spend time and effort you need to be able to measure your results as well. Your website Google Analytics can tell you exactly where traffic came from, helping you to understand what worked and what did not work as well. So that means that your website should also be your starting point for any event marketing.

Your Blog:
1. Create a page/blog on your website about the event. If you have a series of annual events that keep on repeating themselves, these can be easily structured and built on separate blog entries to be recycled and re-dated as your event gets closer. This approach saves a lot of time and would only need a few minor updates before you can publish and promote.
2. It is useful to create a neat link to your blog using a link shortener such a Bitly to include in event tabs. Bitly also measures the ‘clicks’; you can compare with your Google Analytic results. All other sites such as your Social Media, Third Party Directories, Online News sites, and related industry sites should be used in a manner to drive traffic back to the original page/blog. This means that when you create an event tab, only include a few words in the event description with a “Read More” and your Bitly link.

Social Media:
3. On Social Media Sites such as Facebook, Google Plus, and Linkedin use your personal profile, business page, and groups, all to help you market your event.
4. Create Event Tabs on your public business page and invite your personal profile friends to the event.
5. Share the event to your personal profile timeline, business page, and local/related groups.
6. Schedule at least 10 postings on your business page to the event blog on your website. Each business page posting should be about different features of the event such as menu, music, discounts, etc.
7. Space the postings out over at least a 20 day period before the event depending on the size and audience. As your scheduled posts publish, try to re-share them immediately to related groups as a human. For Example: menu posting to local groups, bands posting to music groups, discounts to target related groups, etc.
8. Message business pages that are industry related networks/hubs with bigger audiences and ask them to kindly also re-share your event to their following.
9. If you are feeding your Facebook page to Twitter, remember to include your #hashtags for additional leads in #Geo #Brand #Related social searches.

Third Party Sites:
10. On Third Party sites such as Chamber of Commerce directory listings, Yelp and Angie's List (review sites) add local events if they allow it. If you have industry related online networks/hubpages that you could utilize, do so! Local news outlets also allow you to post events or submit press releases online. Follow up on these and when published live, make sure you share and schedule these events to your social media pages including @tags and spacing out postings.

Email Marketing:
11. If you have a Newsletter that you send out you can include all of the above. If not then remember that a few of the above options also sends out emails such as Social Media Groups, Third Party sites, and News outlets.

Traditional Marketing:
12. Banners and all images used to market your business event inbound online should also be used in your outbound marketing efforts in displayed banners/stands and printed flyers/postcards that you distribute.

When your event is past you can look at your Google Analytics. As all marketing efforts drove traffic back to your website you should see a spike or increase in activity to your website. The words and the sentences in your blog posting to your website helped with organic search results, sorting your website into related queries. Your social traffic makes up most of your social media efforts, while your referral traffic generally comes from third party events, press releases, and emails. Banners, flyers, and all other traditional print marketing contributes to your branding and direct traffic.

And there you have it! The cherry on the cake is that every ‘click’ you generated back to your website counted towards SEO or Search Engine Optimization. That is the thing that sets you apart from your competitors…

Here is my Multi-Source Event Marketing “Roadmap”.

If you need help navigating it, I look forward to assisting! To book a Skype Session for guidance in my virtual classroom, Contact Me.

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