Once you do, you get all kinds of neat facts, statistics and advice on what you can do to improve your website’s score.

Just to give you an example of how this website works – Mitchelaneous got a score of 97 – which I think is pretty darn good.  So what does that mean exactly?

A website grade of 97/100 for www.mitchelaneous.com means that of the millions of websites that have previously been evaluated, our algorithm has calculated that this site scores higher than 97% of them in terms of its marketing effectiveness. The algorithm uses a proprietary blend of over 50 different variables, including search engine data , website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.

Some of the places where it says I need improvement are the fact that I have "too many images" on the website, which I don’t really see as that much of a factor.  Also, I need to apparently renew my domain this year.

Now, like with any automated service – you have to learn how to take the advice you are given.  No website can take the place of learning the ropes when it comes to learning how to really create a fantastic website – however Website Grader can get you pointed in the right direction.

To give it a shot on your own website, be sure to go visit websitegrader.com.

In a nutshell, split testing is a method of marketing where you compare two different versions of the same thing, and then you determine which was more successful at reaching your goal.  For example, I might have two different layouts for this same article, but one looks one way and the other looks another way.  I would split test to see which one people seemed to like more – then do more article layouts like that.

Here are best split test related add-ons I found for WordPress:

SES Theme Split Test

This plugin lets you set up two different templates with differences that you think might increase conversions, serve these different templates up to users, and track their activity using custom segments in Google Analytics.

Headline Split Test

This plug-in allows you to enter an alternate headline for every post on your blog. The headlines are then randomly alternated on your website until a certain number of "headline views" has been reached. At that point, a "winning" headline (as determined by the number of people that have clicked on each headline to date) is determined and that headline is shown going forward.

Ad Injection

Ad Injection injects any kind of advert (e.g. Google AdSense, Amazon Associates, ClickBank, TradeDoubler, etc) into the existing content of your WordPress posts and pages. You can control the number of adverts based on the post length, and it can restrict who sees adverts by post age, visitor referrer and IP address.

Do you know of a great all in one split testing tool for WordPress? If so, hit me up and let me know.  I would love to test it out.

Everyone is a Marketer brings you some of the most popular advice, suggestions and tips I have shared with you in the past year all together in one convenient spot for you to download.  Within the 22 chapters, you will be able to learn really simple marketing techniques that anybody can use.  I do not care if you are starting out on day one of your business or day 141, I have suggestions and help here that can do anybody who reads it some good.

Go learn more about the eBook and download it (in the handy PDF format).

• Get the Free Marketing eBook for Beginners!

I would also love to hear your feedback too.  So if you have any reviews, thoughts or your own marketing tips you would like to pass along – be sure to send them my way.  I might even publish them here for the world to see.  This holiday season, I know we are all looking to save a buck or two – so let me give you this eBook for free.  The only thing I ask in return is you let me know what you thought of it once you’ve unlocked all the marketing secrets that are within the pages.

So this is what I want from you, please feel free to post your feedback (in the comments) about the past month’s articles here!  I would love to hear what you  have to say and what you might like to see more of in the future.

Here are three great services that can help you market to your audience via email:

Campaigner – The Campaigner service really focuses on making email marketing easy.  You can pick from predesign templates for your email messages, get statistics on who is reading your email announcements you send out and save some money too.  While the service is not 100% free, you do get a 30 day free trial and the average cost after that is only $10 per month.

MailChimp – I am a big fan of what MailChimp does, because they seem to be a company that is really staying up to date with all the latest and greatest ways you can reach your customers and they provide you with great tools to do so.  They give you all the same basic email marketing tools Campaigner does, but you can also sign up for a free account.  The free account is limited to 1,000 subscribers a month and 6,000 emails per month – but that should be enough room to help you decide if it is the right tool for you to use in your own business.

RatePoint – The RatePoint service takes the cake when it comes to providing you both free and premium email marketing services.  It does not just stop at email marketing though.  They also give you business review tools, online survey tools, and social marketing tools too.  Using the free service, you can send emails out to 550 contacts and the premium services start at $25 per month.

Which One is the Best E-mail Marketing Tool?

That is a hard call to make, but I think the fight would be between MailChimp and RatePoint.  Where MailChimp gives you more bang for your buck when it comes to the number of people you can contact, RatePoint gives you more tools to use to grow your business. 

Making the right connections in business is a big part of the marketing game.  You don’t need to have a multi-million dollar advertising campaign.  You don’t even have to get a $2 advertising campaign going.  One of the best marketing techniques out there is to simple stick your foot in the door.  Make friends with people in businesses that can help you succeed.

Not to get into some circle of life mumbo-jumbo, but we are all connected. What you need to do is to find people and make friends that can help you out with your own marketing needs. Think of this as old school social network marketing.

As an example – lets say you are an artist.  To broaden your reach and to give yourself chances to get your artwork published or bought elsewhere, you might become friends with the guy who runs the art exhibit at the local museum.  You might become friends with local interior decorators to see if you can get your artwork picked up as something people would like to hang in their homes.  There are so many different professions out there that are interconnected, you really can’t throw a stone without hitting somebody in the back of the head who can help you.  You just have to sometimes think outside of the box.

The power of having a good social network of your own to lean upon  can do wonders for anybody’s marketing needs.  Not only can your friends help you with your business needs, you might also be able to return the favor, as well.

Now that our marketing month here on Mitchelaneous is close to an end, I bet you are wondering, "How am I suppose to remember when to do all of this stuff?".  Well, I think the best route you should take is to create yourself a marketing to-do list calendar – so that this way you can always know what to do today to improve your blog, your brand or your business.

Now first, we have to find you a calendar.  You could use a traditional paper calendar, and just jot your notes down on it.  Then again, we live in a digital age, so let us turn towards some of the online calendar services.

Online Calendar Suggestions

Here are two of my personal favorites:

• Google Calendar
• 30 Boxes

Both of these great online applications will let you setup reminders and notes for yourself, so that you know what to do on each day of the month. Now, how do you break down the things you need to do? You can get as complex as needed, but here are a few guidelines to help you get started.

Daily Marketing Goals

Look at simple things you can do to help improve the big picture.  This might be as simple as contacting a new partner to see if you can get a deal going, or maybe spell checking one page a day.

Weekly Marketing Goals

For your weekly goals, look at tasks that might take longer to get done.  Mark down events that could take two or three days, such as a new website launch or a possible landing page redesign.  Set a goal for yourself here, but remember to keep it as flexible as you need.

Monthly Marketing Goals

Your monthly goals should be more in sync with "big picture" goals.  Did you sell more or less things that you did the month before?  What about comparing your stats this month to your stats a year ago to see how you stack up.  Give yourself a big monthly goal to work towards – that can be made up of your daily and weekly goals.

It might take a few months to work out, but once you find the right marketing schedule for yourself – you will find you are becoming more productive because you have that list of things to check off for the day, the week and the month ahead. 

The most important thing you can do is set yourself apart for the crowd.  You might still do the same thing, however doing it in your own way. For example, there are a lot of different ways you can climb a mountain.  Just because 99.9% of the population wants to use hiking boots and rope doesn’t mean you should toss out your idea of creating the world’s biggest ladder.  Your still climbing that mountain – you just found a way to do it that will draw a little more attention than the rest.

Now, since we all will not be climbing a mountain today – lets bring my example down to size.  Everybody is getting an account on Twitter these days to post about news, their thoughts on life, and more.  Now, truth be told – you need to stay "with the times" and get yourself on Twitter.  You might handle your Twitter account a little differently though, that will bring you more attention.

You could for example:

• Handle the Twitter account in the persona of your company mascot
• Repost positive feedback your company has gotten, to share with the world
• Post fun facts about your genre of business

I could go on and on. As discussing as it might sound – there are several different ways to skin this cat, and it is up to you to find the most creative way.

So remember, don’t be afraid to do things differently.  You are not really taking a different path – you are just finding a new and different way to go through the path, to draw more attention to yourself.

If you have been working in any online capacity these days, you have more than likely run into a few social media douchebags.  Now, not saying that everybody trying to earn a buck helping companies find their way in the social networking landscape are this way – but many are, and it is comically annoying.

At a former job, I was told that one of my replacements being brought in was somebody who had a degree in social marketing.  The thought of this gave me a chuckle, because for one thing – that sounds like a degree you would get out of a Cracker Jacks box.  The other thing that was slightly annoying about the thought was that this person was probably going to get more attention because of it – even though, I probably knew just as much about Twitter and Facebook as they did. 

One great website that pokes fun at the idea of being a social media douchebag is socialmediadouchebag.net.  I would highly encourage everybody to check it out, to get a good idea at how crazy the world of social media experts is these days. 

Anybody who knows me knows I am a big believer in teaching yourself, and there are enough resources to learn from out there that nobody really needs to hire somebody that has "social media expert" on their business card. 

You tell me though, are social media marketing experts this generation’s version of a search engine optimization snake oil salesmen or do you think it is a real business?

The reason it is held up to such a high standard is because we trust our friends and family members to give us better advice than some advertisement would.

What is Word of Mouth Marketing?

Word of mouth advertising can actually be traced back to the mid 1980′s. Since then, it has taken a life of its own and has even broadened its own definition as time moves on.  To have word of mouth advertising, you no longer have to have two people in the same room suggesting things to each other.  The same credible advice can come from phone calls, from blogs, for social networking pages and more.  As our forms of communication have increased, so has the way that we suggest things to our friends and family to use.

Some of the word of mouth sub categories include:

buzz marketing – This is when you can make a product, service or experience generate more conversation-worthy buzz in  a natural way. For example, if I gave you a toaster that did your laundry, you would be telling everybody about that – wouldn’t you?

viral marketing – When something "goes viral" it means that more people than you expected have seen it.  This is kind of a hard one to recreate, even though many people have tried to do so.

grassroots marketing – The idea behind grassroots marketing is to make something popular, because it has gained a fan base with a certain community in the world. To help humanize this a ‘bit more, you could also call this fanboy-ism.

This should help you at least wrap your mind around what word of mouth marketing or advertising is all about. It is unpaid advertisements of products from the users, simply because your product is the best.

How do You Create Word of Mouth Advertising?

I really do not mean to sound too much like a hippy with my next statement.  I don’t think word of mouth advertisement is something you can create, because that alone would take away the effectiveness of it.  It means more to use to have our friend tell us to use Product A than some 30 second commercial.  So the next best thing a company can do is to setup the environment so people can share their experiences, feedback and more.  Set up forums where people can post testimonials.  Setup social buttons, so people can share your content with their friends.  You have to keep tweaking your presentation, services and more – watching the trends of the world we live in, to really be able to create a product that people want to share on their own.