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[Amy Yates Company: Ambit Energy Corporation Contribution Level: 1]

Hey BN community --

I'm trying to get my blog off and running, and I've spent the last couple of days trying to hack out the basics. Would you mind taking a look around and letting me know what you think? I'm very new to all this, so any and all feedback is appreciated!

Here's my blog URL: http://amyyates.com/

And here's a link to my latest entry: http://amyyates.com/learn-from-movies/

(If this isn't the right place for this, please let me know and I'll move it.)

Thank you for your help
~Amy

[Michael Novak Company: Wealth Masters International Contribution Level: 3]

Hey Amy,

I think you have got a great start!

The design is nice and simple. Navigation is easy to find and use. You have a wonderful picture of yourself near the top of the page. And you have excellent placement for your opt-in box.

One thing I would note on the layout / design, is that you need to make the opt-in box draw some attention. Right now it blends in with the page and doesn't draw my eyes towards it when I land on your site.

Also, a great way to start monetizing on your blog, is to put up affiliate banners in your sidebar (the 75x75 pixel ones). That way someone may stop by your page and buy one of those affiliate products.

Now on to your first post

I absolutely LOVE quote #5

Anyways, the topic of your first post is very creative Pop culture w/ marketing lessons. And on top of that, what you said regarding each quote was great content!

I did notice that it wasn't very keyword targeted. That's okay but on future posts, I would try to target specific keyword phrases. This may not always be possible, but try as much as possible. A great tool that integrates with Thesis is called ScribeSEO. Might take a look at that.

One other note is that on your front page, I would just have teasers of the posts with a "Read More" link. Maybe just a paragraph showing on the homepage, and the full post after they click the "Read More" link.

If you do that, one additional thing you can do to get opt-ins is place another opt-in at the end of each article, saying "If you like what you read, make sure to get regular update in your inbox." Or something like that.

So there are some thoughts. Again I think it is an excellent start. Keep it up.

[Sonny Lanorias Company: MyLeadSystemPRO Contribution Level: 4]

Hello Amy,

Congratulations on your new blog. Good start! If you need help in terms of setting up your advance plug ins and advance set up, feel free to contact me. Stay consistent because you're almost there =)

[Amy Yates Company: Ambit Energy Corporation Contribution Level: 1]

@Michael -- As always, thanks for the feedback! I've read in a few places that few people actually click through "read more" on the home page, and so that it wasn't a good idea for most content. I go back and forth on the idea myself. Maybe I'll do some testing and see which works better for my site Scribe is awesome, and I do use it. The movie quote post was meant to be more entertaining, so I didn't worry too much about SEO.

I like the idea of an optin at the end of each article, but was worried I'd overwhelm people. I suppose I need to find the right balance! Changing the color of the subscribe box is a great tip! I'll probably start putting up some banners, soon, too.

@Sonny -- Thanks for the offer!

[Daniel Attard Company: Neways Worldwide Contribution Level: 3]

Good start! Your blog will take shape and form in better ways as you go along don't worry

Daniel Attard

[Michael Novak Company: Wealth Masters International Contribution Level: 3]

I like the idea of an optin at the end of each article, but was worried I'd overwhelm people. I suppose I need to find the right balance! Changing the color of the subscribe box is a great tip! I'll probably start putting up some banners, soon, too.

Good point Amy. I have seen it where instead of putting an opt-in at the bottom every time, one time will be a call to action to share using Twitter or Facebook. The next time the call to action will be to leave a comment. Then another time it will be to fill in an opt-in form. Changing it up will help to not overwhelm people. But, it is always good to have some call to action at the end of a post.

[Tony Denson Company: GVO Hosting Contribution Level: 2]

Hi Amy I posted on your Energy page because I promote that company too. I like the overall clean look for your blog. One point not yet offered is that for the text hyperlinks most of the pro bloggers I am seeing offer a link near the beginning and also at the end of the post. It gives the reader two calls to action and also adds to your keyword density. Hope you take the time to look at the Second Income Coach offer.

[Amy Yates Company: Ambit Energy Corporation Contribution Level: 1]

@Michael -- Mixing it up is a good idea. This time, I closed out the movie entry like this: "Leave a comment and let me know if your favorite movie taught you anything about online marketing. If you liked this, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with others." I haven't gotten around to adding tweet and FB buttons yet -- that's on the list!

(of course, I don't have any comments yet, so I guess nobody else learned anything from the movies )

@Tony -- As I build up more entries, I'll certainly do some internal linking. Thank you for the reminder! I'm a bit swamped right now with my current projects but I'll keep your coach offer in mind.

[Warren Veach Company: State Continuing Education Contribution Level: 4]

Hi Amy,

I enjoyed the way you have built your article around the movie quotes. Very original and very useful information.

I'd love to see what you would get out of the lunch scene from "When Harry Met Sally" at Katz's Delicatessen in Manhattan.

Fake it til you make it? Enthusiasm? Attraction Marketing? Or, the famous line from the movie, "I'll have what she's having".

Good job.

[Amy Yates Company: Ambit Energy Corporation Contribution Level: 1]

@Warren -- Ha! I think "I'll have what she's having" is a great example of attraction marketing. Clearly, Sally was enjoying herself and so others around her wanted to get in on the action (especially the old lady who we could argue was nostalgic for some action!), if you'll excuse my poor humor Thanks for giving me my first idea for 'Learn from Movies v2'