Who Uses Google+?

7-communityThe easy answer is that anyone who has a Gmail account is now automatically signed up for Google Plus. But, the truth is, it’s not that easy. Many people who have Google Plus accounts don’t use it, at least yet. There are 425 million Gmail users but only 343 million active Google Plus users. So, even though Google forces you to have a G+ account it doesn’t mean it’s being used.

So probably a better question is: Who Should Use Google+.

And the answer is: Anyone who wants to continue to return a high page rank on Google Search needs to be active with Google +.

In fact, some experts argue that getting in now while it’s not the most popular network is the best way to get started. You’ll have time to learn how to use Google Plus to get the best results before it’s as popular as Facebook. Because, frankly, Google Plus is harder to learn than Facebook. But, it’s only harder to learn because it has so many features and works so well with the multitude of other Google product offerings.

It’s actually set up better than Facebook, especially in terms of use for business owners, because while Facebook is a great social networking tool, it’s not created by and used by Google to help determine search results like Google Plus is. Yes, having a Facebook page helps with search results, but Google naturally places a higher importance on their own products. Anyway, Facebook is just now starting to get into the business aspects of social networking. While Google Plus seems to be a marketer’s dream come true.

By getting active now on Google Plus you’ll have a big opportunity to become a major influencer and force within the Google+ community. You’ll discover that unlike Facebook, you can actually communicate better with customers as your brand. Facebook actually makes it rather difficult to have two way interactions with your customers as your brand, putting a lot of limits on your activity as a business. Google Plus encourages interaction as a brand and as an individual.

 

Getting Started With Google Plus

8-plusIf you use Gmail or any Google products you’re basically already using Google+, but you may not realize it and you may not be using it to its full potential. Sign in to your Gmail account, and look at the black bar above the Google logo, search window, and your name. It has your name in the upper left with the + symbol beside it. Click it. This is your Google + page.

You can now highlight the little house on the left to activate a menu where you can see and edit your profile. You can also click the little down arrow beside your photo if one is showing, (if not, near where your photo will be when you upload one) to bring up a window that allows you to click Account so that you can edit your profile. It’s important that you do edit your profile, filling it out as completely as possible. Also upload a picture of yourself.

You can also add in other email addresses that you want associated with your Google+ account such as your business email address. You can also create links back to your business website, blog and other online real estate that you wish to highlight. Remember, as you create your profile to be aware of keywords, keyword phrases, and to ensure that you are found check your privacy settings. This is also where you will connect any devices, or other products and apps that you use to your Google+ account as well.

 

Managing and Adding People to Circles

Now that you have your account set up the way you want it, with a profile picture, cover page, and your profile filled out as completely as possible, be sure to verify all the email addresses you want associated with the account. Click Home. This is where your stream of content will live as well as where you can add people to your circles and share updates with your circles or the public.

9-add-circlesIf you click on People, you may be surprised to discover that several people may have already added you. You might have a message above some pictures that say “People to add back” this means they’ve added you to their circles and you can choose to add them or not add them. If you hover over Add, you’ll see a few circles that have already been created and a choice to create a new circle. You can add as many circles as you want. Think of circles as a way to segment your audience. You can have as many circles as you want so you can hyper segment your audience.

Go ahead and scroll through the people who have already added you and determine if you want to add them back or not and put them in the appropriate circles. Then look through the suggestions they have provided you. The suggestions are based on your interests as well as with whom you’ve already connected. You can also click on Find coworkers, Find classmates or use one of the Connect services which will enable you to add more people to more circles. You can also type a person’s name in the search window.

 

Participating Effectively

10-participateIt will take time for you to build up your circles but a really important part of building your reputation in any type of social media is to participate effectively. You want to create targeted content that is unique and not the same thing you’re putting everywhere else. Take advantage of the different products that Google offers, such as Google Hangouts and Google Communities.

Don’t just clone what you put on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.com to Google+. Be different and engaging. Keep in mind your circles and how you have segmented them. You don’t want to share all your content with everyone; pick and choose with whom to share information and knowledge based on whether or not you feel they would be interested.

Managing your circles and participating is a good way to get started. You don’t want to put off participating until you have a huge audience, you want to get in the habit of participating now, while your circles are small. Spend some time each day building your audience.

 

Growing Your Contacts

Potential clients and customers will be able to find you better if you are active on Google+. There are many ways to be active with Google+. Even the simple act of writing a blog post and then sharing it with your circles and the public can help you grow your contacts.

11-shareIn fact, anything you do on Google+ and all the related apps can bring your business attention. Watch an enlightening YouTube.com video? +1 it. Read someone else’s instructive blog post? +1 it. The trick is to optimize and enhance all your activity so that your customers can locate you.

 

Here are a few more ways to grow your contacts:

 

  • Interact With Others — Use the features on Google Plus to interact with others. Use Google Hangout, Google Events, Google Communities and other interactive features to communicate directly with others. Via communities you can have discussions with and get feedback from your customers.

 

  • Share Other People’s Content — It’s nice to +1 other people’s content, sharing it with various circles whom you believe will be interested in the content. They’ll do the same for you. People like to feel as if they’re dealing with real people and not robots.

 

  • Give Away Knowledge — Don’t be shy about your expertise. Freely help others when questions come up. You never know when you will help someone who wants to hire your or buy your products. If you establish yourself as an expert they will come to you.

 

  • Promote Your Content — Naturally, you should also promote your own content, but be careful. You don’t want to treat Google+ as another Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.com. You want to change up the content and make it super focused depending on which circles you plan to share it with.

 

  • Create a Business Profile — The first impression of your business on Google+ is your profile. You have a opportunity to create an awesome, optimized and complete profile that will promote your brand through text, images and links back to your site.

 

  • Personalize Your URL — A great way to personalize your Google+ URL is to go to http://gplus.to to create a shorter unique link that you can share with others. Add this link to your Google account profile links by clicking account / edit profile. Use the link elsewhere to get people to connect with you on Google+.

 

  • Mix Up The Content — Use a variety of different types o content on Google+. Try video, blog posts, direct posts, discussions and more. Try adding video to your profile to really up the ante. If you’ve given a presentation, that would be the perfect video to put on your profile.

 

  • Build Your Authority — Use Author Rank and Google Authorship to boost your authority. If you write for more than one blog or website it’s easy to get credit for it. Simply go to plus.google.com/authorship and get your author email addresses verified, then use, make sure you add the sites you contribute to on your Google+ profile and put the proper code into your website or blog as required. If you use WordPress there are a variety of plugins that you can get that will help you with this process.

 

  • Cross Link From Your Google+ Page to All Your Websites and Blogs Every site you have should be linked to and from your Google + 12-linkAccount. In other words, create a link from your Google+ profile to your website, and vice versa.

 

  • Create a Link from Your Sites to Your Google Profile Page — This will enable people to find you on Google Plus and follow you if they want to. They can also add you to their circles and then you will be able to add them to yours.

 

  • Don’t Forget Local Search –– Google is very locally focused due to how they return personalized results based on many factors such as your location and your friends. So, if it’s important to you create a Google Business Page in addition to your Google+ profile and get verified by Google.

 

Building your following on Google+ is a lot like building your following on other social media sites, however, nothing will have more impact on your search engine results page as your combined activities on Google+ and all of Google’s related products.

 

Add The +1 Button To Your Website

13-plus-oneWhether you like it or not, Google Search is still the most used search engine. Over 80 percent of people who search for anything on the web use Google Search. Therefore, if Google creates something that promotes your content, you better use it. Stop what you’re doing right now and add the +1 Buttons to all your websites and blogs.

When your visitors +1’s you, your search engine results page ranking immediately goes up to every one of their friends and their friends. It’s just a fact. Since Google adds people to Google+ the minute they sign up for an email account, that’s a lot of people that could potentially see your online real estate.

Even if they’re only Gmail users, they will still be more likely to return your page in a search. In addition, since that person +1’d you once, it’s likely they’ll like what you have to say later, and Google Search recognizes that, and will return more of your content to the searcher. The +1 button affects SEO dramatically, so you need to include it and use it. If you do nothing else, add the +1 button to your blogs today.

In addition to the tips above it’s important to us all of Google Webmaster Tools to their fullest advantage since everything that Google does is linked together and ultimately a big part of the Google Search results that help people searching for your products and services find you. The more ways you can engage with Google, the more opportunities you’ll have to engage with the people who use Google.

 

While Google + is not the largest social media network, it is growing, and remember — it’s so much more than a social media network. It’s an interconnected network of features that work together in conjunction with social capabilities to help create a coherent overall Internet experience that is personalized for each individual.

Your experience with Google+ plus will be successful and fruitful if you remember that any type of online marketing, or social media marketing is a long-term marketing plan. You will not usually get results over night. But, the work you are doing today will pay off tomorrow and it will pay off in a year or two years, and even longer down the line. The work you do is cumulative. Leveraging Google+ to expand your reach will be so much more powerful in terms of the results you will see than any other online marketing you will do, due to the fact that with Google, it’s all tied together. The more you interact with all of Google’s products the more likely you are to rank higher on search engine results pages.

Make Money Blogging: How to Use Chitika

ads

Chitika is a contextual advertising network. It allows publishers to place ad units on their websites, where both image and text ads will be shown, sometimes at the same time.

Because Chitika often uses images next to text ads on the same page, click through rates and therefore earnings can sometimes be even higher than Google AdSense earnings.

Here’s how to sign up for and use a Chitika account.

 

Step 1: Click Publisher, Apply Now

Click on Publisher along the top. A drop down menu will appear. Click on “Apply now” to begin the application process.

 1-Click-Publisher

Step 2: Complete the Application

Complete the application, which is really just a simple log in form with your email address.

 2-Send-in-Application2

Once you’ve completed your application, you’ll need to confirm your email. Shortly thereafter you’ll receive an email telling you that your account has been approved.

Log in to your Chitika account with your new account to proceed.

 

Step 3: Click Ad Setup

Click ad setup to create your first ad.

 3-Ad-Setup

Step 4: Click Get Code

A preview of what a display unit looks like will appear. Click on Get Code to continue.

 4-Click-Get-Code

Step 5: Customize Your Ad Options

A number of options will appear on the left hand side of your screen, along with a preview on the right hand side of your screen.

5-Customize-Ad-Options

Your channel is an important setting to pay attention to. It’s basically a description. You can sort your channels later by channels, which will allow you to get more advanced reporting from the Chitika system.

Basically, the channel should be a factor you’re trying to test out. For example, “Left Sidebar” channel might be applied to all the ads you put in the left sidebar. Later, you can sort by the “Left Sidebar” channel to see how all the left sidebar ads did as a group.

The format determines the size and display method of the ad. Type rotates between the different types of ads, including mobile ads.

Fallback options are basically what the ad will do in the event that there is no advertiser for the traffic you’re getting. For example, if you’re getting traffic from Zimbabwe and nobody’s bidding on traffic from Zimbabwe, Fallback options will tell the system what to do.

The colors set the color scheme.

 

Step 6: Copy Code and Upload

The code will update in real time as you make changes to the options box. Copy and paste the code into your HTML editor and upload it to have the ad go live.

 6-Copy-and-Paste-Code

Your first ad is up and running! If you want to put more ads up, just repeat this simple process.

 

Step 6: Basic Reporting

Basic reporting is shown in the dashboard of the Reports tab.

7-Basic-Reporting

You’ll see your earnings and traffic stats all in one glance.

 

Step 7: Advanced Reporting

Click on Advanced Reports to access the advanced reporting options.

 8-Click-Advanced-Reports

In this screen, you’ll be able to sort your ads according to the channels that you assigned to them when you setup your ads.

You can also sort by date range and choose to view ads from specific days or time ranges, or even data all the way from the beginning of your account.

 9-Advanced-Reports

Once you’ve selected all your options, hit submit to view your custom report.

There you have it! That’s how to sign up for a Chitika account, setup a Chitika ad, view your statistics in a glance and get more advanced stats.

50 Tips for Marketing Your Website

marketing2 

As amazing as your website may be, it’s not going to market itself. If you want people to come to your website, you have to get the word out there. Once a few thousand people see your website, it can start to pick up steam and spread through reputation. In the beginning however, you have to do the ground work.

Here are 50 tips for marketing your website.

marketing-strategy

1. Add a ton of original content. There is no better way to market your website than having content that people love to spread. This method doesn’t work overnight, but in time is extremely powerful.

2. Pick keywords and put them in your title tag. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find good keywords and put the in your title tag. Note: use only several relevant keywords.

meta-data3. Write a good META description tag. Your META description tag goes under your title tag in the search engines. It helps convince people to click on your ad.

4. Look at your analytics logs and see who’s sending you traffic. Use these traffic sources more readily.

 comments5. Contact people who comment on your blog. See if you can get them to link to you or talk about you in a blog post.

6. Start a YouTube channel. Upload videos that people in your industry would love and want to pass on to their friends.

7. Submit your site to directories. Use DMOZ and Yahoo! Directory for high powered backlinks and smaller industry specific directories for targeted traffic.

 news8. Write for offline newspapers and magazines. Reach out to editors and let them know that you’re an expert on a subject and would like to do an editorial or opinion piece.

 pressrelease9. Write a press release and submit it to online press release services like PR Web. Bloggers and editors will receive this release and potentially write about your company.

10. Get in contact with traditional press editors. Pitch them a story about why your company is unique, or find a way to help them in a story they’re already working on.

11. Submit a high quality piece of content to Reddit. Make sure you submit it to the right sub-reddit to get as many interested people as possible.

12. Submit your content to StumbleUpon. If your content is good, this can send tens of thousands of visitors your way very quickly.

 Facebook

13. Create a Facebook page. Use your website to promote your page. Your page will allow you to stay in touch with your fans, as well as launch new viral campaigns.

14. Use Twitter regularly. Befriend other Twitter influencers and ask them to retweet things when you’re doing a promotion. Likewise, do whatever you can to help others succeed, as eventually they’ll want to reciprocate.

15. Search for people to reply to on Twitter. Search for common questions people in your industry might ask and @reply them directly.

16. Join internet forums and contribute. Find relevant forums in your industry and post high quality content replies.

17. Put your site in your email signature. Anyone who interacts with you should see your content website in your email.

 email mkt118. Create an email newsletter. Use it to follow up with your guests, to build a long term connection and to make regular sales over the guest’s lifetime.

19. Do an online contest. Give away amazing prizes that people would want to fight for. If your prizes are really top notch, people are going to talk about the contest and pass it along to other people.

20. Advertise in other people’s emails. Advertising opportunities start as low as $25.

 affiliate_marketing21. Launch your own affiliate program. Get other people to promote your products for you.

 PPC22. Buy pay-per-click advertising. Buy relevant keywords for products that you’re selling and get traffic from Google and Bing.

 local_business

23. Contact local businesses about joint marketing opportunities. Look into advertising together, doing products together, doing local promotions, etc.

Nicole Munoz Speaking24. Speak at events related to your topic. Ask the event organizer to link back to you. Mention your site when you’re speaking to bring in more traffic.

25. Use Pinterest. It’s one of the hottest social networking sites at the moment. It’s great for attracting a female crowd.

26. Add your business to Google Maps. If you run a local business, it’s essential that you have a well setup Google Places page.

27. Post on newsgroups, Google Groups or Yahoo Groups. Don’t spam, instead look for ways to add value by giving advice and answering questions. Have a small link to your site at the bottom of your messages.

blog28. Comment on other people’s blog posts. Make well thought out, intelligent comments that add to the discussion and get people curious about you and your site.

29. Interview a well known person. Make the interview available for free.

30. Have great guest blog posts. Often times your guests will link to their own article, driving a lot of quality traffic.

RSS feed31. Create an RSS feed. This makes it easy for people with RSS readers to follow your blog.

32. Advertise on Craigslist. If you run a local business, this could bring a lot of targeted traffic.

33. Use My Blog Guest to find opportunities to write for other websites. Write for those sites and include a link back to your site.

review34. Review products and books. Especially try to review products and books while they’re hot.

35. Answer questions on Quora. Not only can you get good traffic from Quora, but you also position yourself in front of a very high powered crowd.

36. Cover a live event. Update frequently, once every hour or so. People who can’t make it to the event can still feel like they’re there by reading your coverage.

37. Post on portfolio sites. Look for places where you can showcase your work or your ideas. If you get good reviews, a lot of people will come to look at your site.

 Podcasting38. Start a podcast. Publish once a week to start. Build a list of fans who listen to you every week.

 website redesign39. Get a custom designed header. It can really make a big difference on how people see your website.

40. Comment on current events. If a major shift is happening in your industry, talk about it and give your opinion. If you have a unique take, it could gain a lot of traction.

41. Give something away for free. Give away a free eBook, a free audio MP3, a free DVD, a free software package, etc. Free stuff always gets a lot of attention, especially if there’s a high perceived value.

42. Break a record. Pick a record in your industry and try to break it. If you do, you’ll get a ton of press and blog coverage, which will all translate into website traffic.

43. Ask your customers what they want. Then give it to them. When you do this, customers will often be so surprised and thrilled that their request was heard that they’ll tell a lot of their friends about you.

44. Do a weekly roundup of your industry. At the end of each week, go through and pick out the best posts in your industry and link to them. You can write a small summary as well. Make your blog a resource for people to go to for good content in your industry, even if you don’t write the content yourself.

questions45. Answer questions on HARO. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a great place to find reporters who need to interview people for their stories.

46. Organize a local meetup. This will bring you a small amount of connections, but get you a ton of valuable connections.

47. Do a free live chat Q&A. Doing these live Q&As regularly will help you build your connection with your audience as well as get a lot of people linking to you.

 content funnels48. Spend as much time growing interest in your content as you do on writing. After all, what good is content if you nobody sees them? Split your time in half: Half on marketing, half on content.

49. Promote your content on Social Buzz Club and Triberr. Submit your blog posts or videos to these two sites to have the chance to be promoted by leaders in your industry.

50. Create infographics. Gather relevant data, create a scenario and ask a graphic designer to give life to the data you have collected. Promote the infographic on all available channels: infographic sharing websites, Pinterest, social media sites, bookmarking sites.

Images and Copyright – How and What is Safe to Publish on Your Blog?

website redesign

Creative Commons License is a group of copyright licenses that allow the use of and alteration of documents in other works, including websites and blogs. These licenses can be used in different combinations, making it possible to different uses for a variety of works.

These licenses were released by Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org) in 1992 and make it easier for you to find free images that you can use on your website or blog.

 

Types of Licenses

When searching for images, you will see combinations of the following four core licenses. They are also often abbreviated and you can see the abbreviation for each license in brackets below.

  • Attribution (by): You can use image, as long as attribution for the work is provided. 
  • Non-commercial (nc): You can use the image for non-commercial purposes only. 
  • No Derivative Works (nd): You cannot create derivative works only. You cannot edit the work. 
  • Share-Alike (sa): You can make derivative works and modify the work, only if you distribute the work under the same license as the original work.

 

Possible License Combinations

There are 6 possible combinations of these licenses:

  1.  Attribution (by): It can be used for commercial purposes, derivative works can be created, but only if proper attribution is provided.
  2.  Attribution AND Non-Commercial (by + nc):  It cannot be used for commercial purposes, but derivative works can be created and proper attribution must be provided.
  3. Attribution AND No Derivatives (by + nd): It can be used for commercial purposes, but derivative works cannot be created and proper attribution must be provided.
  4.  Attribution AND Share Alike (by + sa): It can be used for commercial purposes, derivative works can be created, but only if the derivative work is released under the same license. Attribution must be provided.
  5.  Attribution AND Non-Commercial AND No Derivatives (by + nc + nd): It cannot be used for commercial purposes and no derivatives can be created. Attribution must be provided.
  6.  Attribution AND Non-Commercial AND Share-Alike (by + nc + sa): It cannot be used for commercial purposes and derivatives can be created, as long the derivative work is released under the same license. Attribution must be provided.

Understanding these licenses will make it easier for you to find the images that suit your needs.

 

Graphical Representation of Licenses

While some sites may use different images to indicate certain licenses, you will likely see the images used by the Creative Commons.

You will often see a CC, which stands for Creative Commons and indicates a Creative Commons license:

1-cc

Then the following images, show the 4 possible licenses that can be used in the variety of combinations mentioned earlier.

2-cc-images 

1-     Attribution (by)

2-     Non-Commercial (nc)

3-     Share-Alike (sa)

4-     No Derivatives (nd)

 

Top 10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins for Bloggers

Top 10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins for Bloggers

One of the best things about WordPress is its nearly limitless ability to expand. Whether you’re looking to add images, security, RSS feeds, social media integration or any number of other features, you can do so through plugins.

Installing a plugin takes less than 2 minutes and is completely reversible. That allows you to easily play around with all the different things your website can do while being able to undo any changes you don’t like with the click of a button.

If you’re serious about blogging, you’ll need to have a serious arsenal of plugins. These plugins will allow you to do all the things you need to do to create a truly spectacular browsing experience on your site. It’ll allow you to save time through automation and make your website shine.

Here are ten of the must have plugins that every serious blogger should have.

 

Plugin #1: Askimet

1-Askimet

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/akismet/

Though Askimet comes pre-installed with every WordPress configuration, newbies often make the mistake of not activating it.

Askimet is the #1 anti-spam tool on WordPress. Activating it is pretty simple; all you need to do is register on their site to get your own API key. Enter the key into the plugin on your site and you’re good to go. Askimet will filter out 99% of the spam your blog will receive, drastically cutting down the time needed to review comments.

Plugin #2: All in One Favicon

2-Favicon

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-favicon/

One thing new bloggers often neglect is adding a favicon. The favicon is the little icon in the browser bar, next to the title tag. Having your own favicon adds just that little flare that makes your blog look more professional, more stellar.

Creating a favicon in Photoshop, GIMP or any other image editing program is relatively simple. However, WordPress doesn’t inherently have the ability to add your favicon. So, you’ll need a plugin like All in One Favicon to do the job.

Plugin #3: All in One SEO

3-All-in-One-SEO

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

WordPress out of the box is actually quite poorly configured for SEO. The page title comes after the site name, which is terrible for keywords. Archive and category pages contain a lot of duplicate content. Some links aren’t formatted the same way (some have www, some have http://, others don’t.) Configuring all of WordPress to be SEO-friendly requires doing quite a few different things. Fortunately, plugins like All in One SEO will do most of the work for you. You’ll still have to do a few things, like internal linking, yourself. That said however, you can eliminate the vast majority of the on-page SEO work by getting a good SEO plugin.

Plugin #4: FeedBurner FeedSmith

4-Feedburner-FeedSmith

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedburner-setting/

By default, WordPress does have an RSS feed feature, but it may not be properly configured. Also, you won’t be able to track any statistics on your feeds. If you want to create an RSS feed that can be tracked, you’ll probably want to use Feedburner. Installing a Feedburner feed is simple with WordPress: Just signup for Feedburner, then install the plugin on your blog.

Plugin #5: Google Analytics

5-Google-Analytics

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-google-analytics/

In order for Google Analytics to work, you need to have the Google Analytics code on every page and every post on your website. By default, WordPress doesn’t have this option. You can’t just add a snippet of code to every page on your site. You could do it by editing your templates, but that’s time consuming, difficult to change and even potentially dangerous. Instead, you can simply install a plugin like “Simple Google Analytics.” Just plugin your Google Analytics ID and you’re done.

Plugin #6: PhotoDropper

6-PhotoDropper

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/photo-dropper/

If you like to add photos to your posts, you’ll love PhotoDropper. PhotoDropper allows you to browse a database of Creative Commons photographs and easily add them to your site, along with attributions, all in one click. Gone are the days when you have to browse stock photo sites or scour the internet for free license images. Now you can just pick the images you want from one easy to use gallery and it’ll automatically be dropped into your post.

Plugin #7: WP Super Cache

7-WP-Super-Cache

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/

WP Super Cache is a plugin that can drastically speed up the load time of your WordPress site. Did you know that every time you load a page from a WordPress site, the server has to generate that site from scratch? Unlike a static HTML site, WordPress pages have to be dynamically generated from scratch every time. That takes a lot of processing power and can take a lot of time. What WP Super Cache does is “cache” certain bits of information on the user site, so it doesn’t have to be loaded again with every page load. It can also do other minor things, like combine your CSS and JavaScript files so that your site loads faster. All around, if you want to speed up your site, there’s no better plugin than WP Super Cache.

Plugin #8: Add Link to Facebook

8-Add-Link-to-Facebook

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/add-link-to-facebook/

Add Link to Facebook is an easy to use plugin that allows you to integrate Facebook with your WordPress site. Don’t let the name fool you. It does a whole lot more than just let you add links. You can add like button, share buttons, comments and a whole lot more. With today’s massive social media trend, if you’re not on Facebook, you’re seriously missing out.

Plugin #9: Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

9-YARPP

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) is ironically named, as the plugin is actually the highest rated related post plugin on WordPress. If you’re looking for a plugin that’ll allow you to cross-link your site quickly and in a visually pleasing manner, look no further. This plugin is simple to install and simple to use, but adds a ton of functionality and creates a link box that looks great.

Plugin #10: Better WP Security

10-Better-WP-Security

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/better-wp-security/

WordPress security is something that isn’t discussed often enough. It’s extremely common for WordPress sites to get hacked. It’s not that WordPress isn’t secure, it’s just that WordPress depends on so many outside factors – Plugins, themes, servers, databases – That securing the whole package is extremely difficult. Better WP Security can handle a lot of this for you. It’ll help you secure your database, your PHP files, your .htaccess files and more. It’s not a bulletproof security package, but if you don’t have any security installed this package will be a vast improvement.

 

There you have it. If you’re serious about blogging, you absolutely must have these ten plugins. You’ll rank better, your content will go more viral, your site will be more secure and your blog will look better.

How To Find Images For Your Blog

 

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High quality, professional images will help your blog make a much stronger impression. It’ll help make your blog appear more credible, help you catch attention and help you hold and your reader’s interest. It can also help you hammer a point home.

In some cases, you’ll be able to generate your own images for your blog yourself. For example, you might take your own step-by-step pictures for a DIY homebuilding project you’re doing. Or you might take your own screenshots for a tech demonstration you’re doing.

But in many cases, that won’t be an option. Or you just won’t want to because of how much work it’ll take. In many cases, it just makes sense to find high quality existing images instead of making your own.

When you do, the #1 thing you need to look out for is the image’s license. You need to make sure you find the perfect image for the perfect post, but you also need to make sure you can get the appropriate license to use the image. So where do you find these images? Let’s take a look at some image sources, along with their licenses.

 

Source #1: Morgue File

Morgue File one of the best free stock image sources on the internet. The files on Morgue File can generally be used for any purpose without attribution.

You can reproduce the image, alter the image, use just a part or the whole thing, create derivative works and even redistribute the image. It’s as close to no license as you’re going to get. Note that images might have more stringent licenses. Make sure you check the license for the specific image you plan on using.

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Source #2: Stock.xchng

Stock.xchng is another free stock image website. It also has an enormous selection of images. If you’re looking for free images, try checking both SXC.hu and Morgue File before making your selection.

The image license on Stock.xchng is quite similar to Morgue File, but a little more stringent. You can use the image in whole or in part and you can alter the image. You can create derivative works. You cannot give redistribution rights and you need to ask permission before using the images for print media.

Again, check the specific license for the image you’re using.

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Source #3: iStockPhoto

iStockPhoto is one of the most well known stock photo sites on the internet. They have millions of extremely high quality images to choose from.

Stock photos you get on paid sites are almost always far higher quality than photos you’d find on free stock photo sites. Often time’s you’ll only be able to find a good photo on a paid stock photo site.

Generally these sites work on a sliding scale, depending on the resolution you need. The higher the resolution of the photo, the more you pay. Instead of using cash, iStockPhoto uses a credit system. You buy credits, then spend them on images.

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Source #4: Dreamstime

Dreamstime is another major paid stock image website. Much like iStockPhoto, Dreamstime uses a credit system. They are generally less expensive than iStockPhoto, but the quality of the images also seems to be lower.

Dreamstime allows you to buy different kinds of licenses for your images. Two common licenses are their “Royalty Free” license and their “Extended License” license.

The Royalty Free license allows you to use the image on the internet, on advertising material, CD covers, presentations and other kinds of single-use media. The Extended License allows you to redistribute the image in web templates, in screensavers, on T-Shirts and other kinds of redistribution media.

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Source #5: Open Clipart

Clipart is a very different kind of art. Clipart is generally made from vector graphics. It’s created graphics rather than photographed graphics.

Clipart generally isn’t used as the primary graphic. Instead, it’s used to supplement other images. For example, you might look for thought bubbles or “light bulb over the head” kind of graphics on a clipart site.

You could also use it to find arrows, checkmarks and other formatting related images.

Open Clipart is one of the biggest free clipart sites on the net. From the home page of this site, they say the images in the public domain, meaning you can use it without attribution in any way you want.

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Source #6: Flickr Creative Commons

A lot of people on Flickr choose to license their images with creative commons. There are a variety of types of creative commons licenses that Flickr supports. Note that almost all the licenses on Flickr require attribution. Some of them allow you to alter the image, while others don’t. Some allow you to print the image, but you should read the license specifics. Some allow you to redistribute the image, others don’t.

Fortunately, Flickr sorts all the different kinds of licenses out for you. Just click below, then select the type of images you want to see:

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Once you’re in one license category, you can browse all of those images by hand, or search for what you’re looking for.

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Source #7: Google Advanced Image Search

Another great place to look is Google’s advanced image search. Google allows you to search for images based on image license. To access the advanced search menu, click the “Settings” button on the right hand side of Google Image Search:

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To select the license type to search, scroll all the way to the bottom.

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Enter your keywords and any other specifications, such as size or geographic region, then hit “Advanced Search.” Only images of the license type you selected will be displayed.

Note that Google may not be 100% accurate, so make sure you double-check the license before you use it.

 

Source #8: Using Photo Dropper

Photo Dropper is a WordPress plugin that searches Creative Commons and licensable images for you, then drops it directly into your WordPress post. It’s very easy to use. Instead of having to go to an outside site to get an image, you can do it all within your WordPress interface.

Once you have Photo Dropper installed, just go to your post or page screens to use it. Click the Photo Dropper button to bring up the plugin.

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Type in a search term. A number of search results will be displayed. Click the one that appeals to you most, but double check the appropriate license as the plugin is not foolproof.

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Hit “Insert into Post” and the image will be added into your post. You’ll be given the option to edit the image, just as you would with any other kind of image insertion. You can change the size of the image, add alt text, add a link, change alignment or add CSS styles.

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These are eight images different places you can find images for your blog on the internet. Again, make sure that you double-check the licenses for each image you use, as different images can be licensed differently, even on the same site.

 

 

Blog Maintenance Checklist

 

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Running a blog is a bit like running a car. Every so often, you need to put some time and energy into maintaining it. If you don’t, will it still run? Sure, it’ll run just fine – For a time. But if you go too long without changing your oil, or go too long without replacing your brakes, you put strain on the system. Eventually, the whole thing could fall apart. The same goes for running a blog.

Much like a car, a blog is quite a complex system. Maintenance encompasses a wide array of issues, from interactions with readers to interactions with other websites to website security issues.

Here are some of the most important things you need to maintain to keep a blog running smoothly.

 

#1: Update Your WordPress Installation

Updating your WordPress installation is arguably the most important task on this list. If you’re running an old version of WordPress, there’s a good chance you’re running a version of WordPress that has known security vulnerabilities.

If so, it’s not difficult at all for hackers to find your site through Google, then easily compromise your blog. Updating your WordPress installation literally takes seconds. Make sure you update it whenever you see WordPress prompting you to do an update.

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#2: Update Your Plugins

The second most important thing on your checklist is updating your themes. Though the WordPress core installation can pose a security risk, the reality is that the vast majority of WordPress hacks come from compromised plugins.

Most people don’t realize that a single compromised plugin can not only result in their entire WordPress installation getting hacked, but having every other WordPress installation on their entire server getting hacked as well.

Updating your plugins is easy. Just go to the plugins panel and click on “Update Available.”

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Then click “Update Automatically” under the plugin you want to update.

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Update your plugins to their newest versions whenever possible.

#3: Backup Your Site Periodically

Backing up your WordPress installation regularly, say every 2 weeks or so, helps prevent avoidable disasters. If your site ever gets wiped out, you can simply do a restore. If your hosting company suddenly crashes and loses your data, you can just re-upload everything from scratch.

Backing up your data is made easy by the myriad of different backup plugins you can choose from. Pick a backup system that allows you to automate backups and learn it inside and out.

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#4: Moderate Your Comments

Comment moderation is not only an important part of maintain your blog, but a highly time sensitive one.

If you want to maintain a strong relationship between you and your bloggers, you need to moderate your blog comments quickly. People should never feel like they’re being ignored, especially after spending a lot of time to write out a thoughtful comment.

Try to moderate your comments at least every 24 hours, if not every 3, 8 or 12 hours. Never, ever let real comments sit unmoderated for more than 48 hours, or you’re either going to lose that reader for good, or they’ll stop commenting and become a passive participant.

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#5: Check for Broken Links

Checking for broken links is something you should do about every three months.

When you’re blogging actively, chances are you’re going to be sending quite a few links out to cyberspace. The majority of those links will still work even months and years from today. But some of them won’t.

If a page you link to goes down, that reflects very badly on you. Users who click on a broken link on your site will instantly view you as less credible. They might also get frustrated, because there was a resource they wanted to access that they couldn’t get to.

To avoid broken link issues, scan your site for broken links every few months. Whenever possible, replace your old links with new resources. If there aren’t any comparable resources, then just unlink that hyperlink.

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Source: http://brokenlinkcheck.com

 

 

#6: Check Your AdSense Ads

Every once in a while, check what ads are showing up on your site. Check your ads for individual posts as well. Sometimes AdSense will misread your site and post non-relevant ads. Also, sometimes you might be getting ads for competing services. In fact, competitors might sometimes specifically target your site to have their ads displayed there.

One of the best ways to check your AdSense ads is to use the AdSense sandbox: http://ctrlq.org/sandbox/

This allows you to see your ads, minus any retargeting. If you just visited your site, you’ll see a lot of ads that are targeted towards you specifically because of retargeting cookies. The sandbox allows you to see just the ads that are showing up organically on your AdSense ads.

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#7: Check Your RSS Feeds

Get in the habit of checking your RSS feeds every 3 months or so.

Check to make sure your RSS feeds are working properly. Check on several different clients, including Google Reader and a desktop client. Sometimes feeds can work in one reader but not another. If something isn’t quite working with your RSS feeds, you want to know sooner rather than later.

Make sure that people can find your RSS feed by typing your site’s URL into their RSS reader. Don’t make people scour your site for a specific RSS link in order to subscribe.

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#8: Check Your Analytics

Is your traffic going up or down? Are there specific pages on your site that people seem to be bouncing out of?

What kinds of topics does your audience seem to like? What kinds of headlines seem to catch their attention and get a longer stay? What kind of keywords are people typing in to land on your website.

Your analytics can help answer all these questions and more. Your analytics will help you figure out what your audience likes and doesn’t like, so you can give them more of what they want. It’ll also help you catch red flags early on. If your search traffic suddenly takes a plunge for example, you want to investigate why.

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#9: Are You Still on Message?

Finally, re-examine all your posts over the last few months. Ask yourself: Are you still on message? Are you still covering the things you ought to cover? Or have you veered off course?

It’s easy to write a post that seems just a little off topic, especially if you’re feeling inspired by the subject or if there are current events that you want to comment on. But one “slightly off topic” post can lead to another and sooner than you know it, you’re completely off track.

It’s not a big problem. All you need to do is realize when you’re off track by re-reading posts from your past few months. Then re-center your message in your upcoming posts.

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These tips will help you keep your blog in tip top shape. Use these tips to help your blog stay secure, to help make sure everything works, to maintain a good relationship with your readers and to stay on message.

 

 

How to Come Up With Blog Topics

 

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Once you’ve had your blog for a time, coming up with new topics can be a challenge. After all, once you’ve written 50, 100, 200 posts or more, how on earth do you come out and say something new?

This challenge isn’t limited to long time bloggers either. New bloggers also struggle with coming up with topics that people want to read about.

So how do you do it? Just us one of these eight brainstorming tools below. These tools will help you come up with new ideas consistently, whether you’re just starting out or if you’ve been blogging for years.

 

#1: Scan RSS Feeds

Download an RSS feed client on your computer or in your smartphone. Then go on a subscribing spree. Subscribe to every blog feed you can find in your industry. Subscribe to at least ten different blogs.

Now anytime you run out of ideas, all you need to do is whip out your RSS reader. Read through some of the things other people are talking about and use it as inspiration.

Of course you should never directly copy someone else’s title. But feel free to use other people’s ideas as stepping stones. You can even steal an idea, as long as you don’t copy the actual words. Just make sure to add your own spin and link to the original source.

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#2: Use Google Instant

Use Google’s Instant search tool to come up with ideas for what other people might be interested in. You can learn more about the tool here: http://www.google.com/instant

For example, let’s say you’re in the cooking niche. You could do something like:

Just change out different words and different wordings to come up with a variety of different potential keywords to target.

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#3: Use Linkbait Generator

Linkbait Generator (http://linkbaitgenerator.com) is a unique online tool that allows you to create very creative and attention catching titles at the click of a button.

Note that some of these titles probably won’t make sense right out of the gate. Instead, use the ideas and words generated by linkbait generator to source your own title

For instance, typing in “find a job” might land you a headline something like this:

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While you might not be able to use this headline on its own, you might instead turn it into something like: 7 Bizarre Ways Looking for a Job Can Get You Fired Instantly.

 

#4: Browse Old Magazines

If you’re in an industry that’s large enough to have magazines, subscribe to as many of the magazines in your field as you can. In a few months, you should have a big stack of magazines that you can use as idea fodder.

Also, many public libraries keep archived copies of newspapers and magazines. You can literally browse magazines from months or even years ago for free at many major libraries.

Go through these old magazines and look for ideas. Look for things they covered that nobody on the internet is covering.

Print articles often involve a lot more research to write than online content. Print content requires sources, quotes, statistics, verification, etc that online content just doesn’t need. The print world and the internet world are quite different. That’s why it often pays to look in the offline world for inspiration for your online content.

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#5: Google Alerts

Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts)  is a free online system that will alert you by email whenever certain keywords or phrases appear in blogs or news articles. You can use Google Alerts to come up with topics in one or two ways.

First, you can use it as a constant stream of ideas. Just put relatively broad ideas in Google Alerts and set it to email you once a day. Every day, browse through the articles and see what ideas you come up with.

Another way to use Google Alerts is to use it to write cutting edge, timely articles. Use it to monitor your industry. Anytime something changes, anytime breaking news hits the net, anytime something controversial happens, you want to publish a piece of content within hours.

Often time’s the first person to publish content about something is the one who gets all the traffic.

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#6: Invite Questions

If you’re having trouble coming up with new ideas, why not have your audience do it for you instead?

A lot of authors find that their best blog posts actually come from their audience rather than from their own minds. After all, if you’re trying to create content that your audience loves, who better to guide you than your audience?

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you know what your audience wants without asking. Also don’t make the mistake of thinking that what you want to express is always what your audience wants to know about.

Ask. Ask for questions and make blog posts out of them.

For example, Bryan of Panthers.com does this quite well. In addition to asking for questions, he actually outlines the kinds of questions he doesn’t want to receive (“can you get me an autograph?”) and helps guide his audience towards asking useful questions instead.

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You can see more about this method: http://www.panthers.com/news/ask-bryan

 

#7: Critique an Idea, Business, Website, Video or Trend

Look for something outside of you site that you can give your opinion on. For example, you could critique a trend of thinking in your industry. You could critique a video that’s making the rounds. You could also ask your audience to send in their work for critique.

For example, Writerly Rejects creates a lot of content out of having writers send in their pitches for critique. They dissect the pros and cons of the writer’s pitch and use real world pitches to illustrate important lessons on their blog.

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You can see this example in action at: http://www.writerlyrejects.blogspot.com/2012/07/pitch-critique-3-4.html

#8: Use Your Subconscious Mind

Your subconscious mind is far, far more powerful than your conscious mind. Your subconscious mind is the part of your mind that can read the thousands of different muscles on someone’s face to determine what they’re feeling. Your subconscious mind retains a copy of every experience you’ve ever had in your life. Your subconscious mind handles “intuition” by parsing data and ideas behind the scenes, working hard on problems without you ever knowing it.

One of the best ways to come up with new blog ideas is to harness the power of your subconscious mind. How do you do that? By thinking intensely about a subject, then completely letting it go.

Spend a bit of time thinking about your blog. Then, go for a walk. Or hit the gym. Or take a nice long bath. Relax and let your subconscious mind work on it. Then, when you come back to it, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that ideas flow much more quickly. Alternatively, ideas might just hit you out of the blue as you’re relaxing.

Make sure you carry a notepad with you at all times so you can jot down these ideas. Ideas that aren’t written down are very frequently lost. Don’t overestimate your ability to remember an idea.

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Armed with these eight idea-boosting tools, you’ll never have to worry about running out of ideas again. Find one or two tactics that work for you, then return to this list from time to time if you ever get stuck.

 

 

Get Started With Facebook Comments For WordPress

 

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Facebook comments for WordPress allows you to put a Facebook comment box and a Facebook like box directly on your blog. Setting it up involves creating an app developer account, which can seem a little daunting at first, but really isn’t all that complicated.

Here’s how to setup Facebook Comments for WordPress.

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

 

Search for the plugin under “Add New” in the “Plugins” tab. Install the plugin.

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Activate the plugin.

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Step 2: Creating a Facebook Developer Account

 

Click on “set your application ID and secret now” in the link that appears after activating the plugin.

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Click on “Create a Facebook App.”

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You’ll be prompted by Facebook to allow it to access your account. Click “Allow.”

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Step 3: Creating a New App

 

Once signed into Facebook Developer, click “Create New App.”

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Give your app a name. The public won’t actually see this, so it doesn’t matter all that much.

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Click on “Web” in the left hand side navigation.

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Enter the URL of the website you want your Facebook comments to show up on.

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Upon hitting save changes, your Application ID and Application Secret will be displayed. Copy these.

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Step 4: Entering Your Application ID

 

Go back into the settings for Facebook Comments. Paste your Application ID and Application Secret into their appropriate fields.

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If you hit “Update” now, Facebook Comments for WordPress will go live.

Here are a few more important things to set before finishing up the installation.

 

Step 5: Basic Settings

 

Setup your basic settings, such as whether you want to display comments on blog posts (as opposed to just “Like,”) whether you want to count WordPress comments and Facebook comments together and such.

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Step 6: Like Button Settings

 

Setup how the “Like” button on your site should look.

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Step 7: Comments Box Settings

 

Under “Comments Box Settings” there are a few more settings you can set, such as how long the box is and whether to show only on pages, posts or both.

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Once you’ve setup everything the way you want it, click “Update” and check your website to see how it looks. Congratulations! You’ve setup Facebook Comments for WordPress, which allows you to “Like” and “Comment” with Facebook’s system integrated into your blog.