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.
#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.”
Then click “Update Automatically” under the plugin you want to update.
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.
#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.
#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.
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.
#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.
#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.
#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.
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.
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.
#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.
#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:
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.
#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.
#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.
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.
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.
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.
Novamind is a mindmapping tool with an emphasis on great design. It’s ideal for presenters who want to create first class professional looking mindmaps for use in online or offline presentations. Of course, Novamind can also be used for note taking or brainstorming.
The price ranges from $49 for the most basic version to $249 for the platinum version. To try out the software, just download their 30 day free trial at:
Click on the main topic to select it. Type in the name of the main topic.
Step 2: Learn to Create Topics
When the main topic is selected, just press enter to create your first sub-topic.
When any other topic is selected, press enter to create a topic on the same level. This is called a sibling topic.
Press insert when any topic is selected to create a sub-topic. This is called a child topic.
Step 3: Creating Callout Topics
Callout topics are attention-catching topics that you can use to draw emphasis to specific points.
To create a callout topic, first select the topic you want the callout to be attached to, then click “Callout” along the top bar.
This is what a callout looks like.
Step 4: Creating Floating Topics
Have a second main idea? Put it in a floating topic. Just click on the arrow under “Topic” and select “Floating Topic.”
This is what a floating topic looks like.
Step 5: Learn Your Formatting Options
Novamind offers a wide range of formatting options.
Fill color. This changes the background color of the whole topic.
Outline color. This changes the color of the line connecting to the topic, as well as the line outlining the topic.
To change Fill or Outline colors, click Fill or Outline in the top bar.
Text color. This changes the color of the text.
Text background color. Changes the background behind the text.
To change either of these options, click on the arrow next to the “A” in the top bar.
Bold, Italics and Underline. Click their respective buttons along the top, or use CTRL + B, I or U.
Font. Change the font by selecting the topic and clicking the font box.
Text size. Click the text size box next to the font box to select your text size. Alternatively, click the A^ or Av arrows to go one size up or down.
Here’s an illustration of the different formatting options.
Step 6: Change Your Map Design
Different designs work well for different purposes. If you’re taking notes for yourself, then a simplistic and fast design might work best. If you’re creating a mindmap for a presentation, then you might want a more classy design.
Click on Map Design along the top to access the map design menu.
Select the map design you want. Each design will look significantly different than other designs. Here’s an example of the Presentation design.
To change the colors, fonts or backgrounds in any design, just click one of the drop-down arrows on the right hand side.
Step 7: Presenter Mode
If you’re going to be using your mindmaps to make presentations, Novamind’s presenter mode can help.
To use the presenter mode, just click Presenter along the top.
To build a presentation, first select a topic, then click Create Slide From Selection on the left. Repeat this process for each topic you want to focus on.
Each slide will focus on one topic, zoomed in fully. Move from slide to slide to create a dynamic presentation.
Click on either of the Start Presentation buttons to play your presentation.
Wrap Up
We’ve just covered the most important features to Novamind. You now know how to create sibling and child topics, how to create callouts and floating topics, how to change text, outline and filler colors, how to change map designs and how to structure presentations.
Find your operating system and download the install files. Follow the on-screen instructions to install Freemind.
Step 2: Rename Your Map
Click on the center of your mind map to enter the text edit mode. Enter the name of your mind map or the central idea.
Hit enter to confirm your changes.
Step 3: Create Your First Node
To create your first node, hit enter. A blank node will appear. Fill in the text that you want to appear.
Step 4: Sibling and Child Nodes
A sibling node is a node that’s above or below your current node. To create a child node below your current node, just hit Enter. To create one above, hit Shift + Enter.
A child node is a “child” of the node above it. Its text can be shown or hidden at will. To create a child node, hit Insert.
Step 5: Adding Art
Click on any clip art symbol on the left hand bar to add it to any node.
Step 6: Format Your Nodes
To italicize or bold a node, click on the bold or italics buttons along the top bar. Alternatively, use Ctrl + I or Ctrl + B.
To change the size of your text, hold Control and press either + or -.
To change the font, select the node you want to change then click the font drop down box along the top. You can also change the font size using the box next to the font selection box
For even more formatting options, such as node color, background color, edge width and so on, go to the Format menu.
Step 7: Inserting Links and Images
To add a link or image to your mind map, click on the Insert menu, then select the type of file or link you want to insert.
Here’s what the inserted links or images look like:
These are some of the most important basic features of Freemind. You now know how to rename your nodes, add sibling and child nodes, format your nodes and insert links and graphics.
Illustration of a female presenter office worker businessman teacher writing presenting making presentation writing on white board with complex diagrams and mind maps done in retro woodcut style.
Hand written mindmaps are a powerful and fast way to take notes, brainstorm, get ideas out of your head or enhance creativity.
Unlike computer programs, they offer virtually unlimited room for adjustment. You can draw any kind of line you want, any kind of picture and put your text anywhere.
Drawing a mindmap by hand is a lot faster than doing a mindmap on a computer. If you’re in a classroom or an impromptu meeting, all you need is a pen and a sheet of paper and you can be taking notes mindmap-style.
How do you create a handwritten mindmap?
Start with the Central Concept
Put the most important concept in the middle. This helps you sort out your mindmaps later and also helps your brain categorize and remember the mindmap.
If you’re taking notes on an advertising class, you’d put “Advertising” in the middle.
Branch Off a Main Concept
Then, let’s say the teacher starts talking about a specific topic within advertising. For example, designing a strong brand.
Draw a line, any kind of line, from the main topic to create a new topic. In this case, the new topic is “brand.”
From the branch topic, keep on branching out sub-ideas. Use different kinds of fonts and lines to make it more memorable for you.
Continue Until Finished, Then Start a New Idea
Keep taking notes in this manner until the branch idea is finished. Then start the next branch.
Add Images and Creative Lettering
Your brain tends to remember plain text rather poorly when compared to images or unique lettering.
Add images next to concepts you want to remember. The more unique the image, the more likely you are to remember it weeks, months or even years down the line.
In our example, let’s say the advertising teacher tells the class they can get a 15% discount on any TV ad they buy through what’s called the “agency discount.”
If you want to be sure to remember this concept, make the 15%’s lettering unique and draw a picture of some sort next to it.
Text First, Then Images
At times you’ll have ideas flowing so fast that there just isn’t time for pictures or creative lines and letters. In that case, just jot down your ideas in branches as quickly as possible.
Again, in our advertising example, say the teacher starts talking about online advertising and goes through so many concepts so fast that you can’t afford to slow down.
In that case, just get the main ideas down in text form first.
Then come back in and add the images later. (Upper right.)
Condense Similar Thoughts and Topics
If you have several topics that are very similar, consider either grouping them under one branch or linking the branch through arrows.
In this case, if the teacher is talking about magazines and newspapers together, just create one branch for both instead of a branch for each.
Choose Where Your Eyes Will Go
If there are particularly important concepts to remember, make sure to draw your mind map in such a way that your eyes will automatically be drawn there next time.
For example, if the teacher is talking about the importance of testing in advertising, you might write “TEST” in block letters right above the branch to make sure you see those notes first when you pick up the mindmap.
Recap of the Main Points
To recap:
Start with the main idea in the middle. This helps you organize your mind maps and helps your brain sort different ideas.
Use images to draw attention to different areas of the mindmap. This also helps your brain remember and process concepts.
Add emphasis through size and texture to the most important concepts.
Use different lines and images throughout the mindmap. Again, this helps your mind process concepts.
If you need to take notes or write quickly, leave out the images first then come back and add it in later.
Here’s an example of a completed hand-drawn mindmap.
Mindmapping takes note taking and brainstorming to a whole new level. Most people take notes linearly, one item after another in a sequential order. Unfortunately, that’s not how your brain works.
Your brain works out of order. It has many ideas that are interlinked with other ideas. Ideas have important concepts and sub-concepts, some of them related and some of them not.
Furthermore, your brain also thinks in multiple senses. Most people’s brains think primarily either visually and auditorily, sometimes with a touch of emotion or physical sensation as well.
Linear note taking doesn’t address any of that. Fortunately, mindmapping does.
Mindmapping is an innovative tool that that images, branched ideas, words and idea-linkage to form the ideal note taking and brainstorming tool.
Here’s when to use mindmapping and how to use mindmapping.
When to Use Mindmapping
Mindmapping works great for two primary purposes: Note taking and brainstorming.
You can use mindmaps to take notes in a meeting, in the classroom, while reading a book or while at a business lunch. The multi-idea format of the mindmaps makes it ideal for almost storing information on a wide variety of concepts.
By using pictures, different textures and different fonts, you store the information in a way that your brain is much more likely to remember. Six months from now, you might not remember the written text on a mindmap, but you will remember the creative doodle you drew to represent the concept.
Brainstorming is another place where mindmaps really shine. The purpose of a brainstorm is to free mental blocks and get creative juices flowing around creating new ideas.
Mindmaps allows this to happen in a way that makes it easy for the brain. The brain doesn’t necessarily brainstorm linearly. You might have three ideas about Topic A, then two ideas about Topic D, then a brilliant idea about Topic B before deciding to change your mind about something in Topic A.
Linear brainstorming in a list makes it very hard to do this. On the other hand, in a mindmap, you can easily jump back and forth.
Mindmaps also make it easy to record graphical ideas and incomplete ideas. Most ideas that come out of brainstorming sessions tend to be half-finished and can be very difficult to write out coherently. On a mindmap however, an incomplete idea is very easy to record and finish later.
In short, whether you’re taking notes or brainstorming for ideas, mindmapping works with your brain rather than against it.
On the flip side, mindmapping doesn’t work so well for things that are designed to be linear. For example, a task list, which is meant to be done from top to bottom, is better in linear form than in a mindmap.
How to Create Effective Mindmaps
Here are a few choice tips for creating effective mindmaps.
Start with a central concept or question. Write it large and clear in the middle. When you visualize this mind map later, the central concept should clearly come up in your mind’s eye.
When in doubt, write it out. Write bad ideas. Write half-baked ideas. Write ideas that might be wrong or stupid. The purpose of mindmapping is to get your brain flowing. Don’t stifle the flow by over-censoring.
Use personal shorthand. If there are words and phrases that only you will understand, don’t hesitate to use them. That’s how your brain talks to itself. The only exception is if your maps need to be shared with others.
Make it messy. Don’t worry about making it look pretty. Again, your brain thinks in a more disorganized manner than you might realize. Let it be messy and your note taking will flow better.
Leave room for later additions. If an idea or concept isn’t complete, then don’t use up all the space around it. Leave room to come back later and add other ideas or details.
Link related ideas. It might seem clear to you now that two concepts are related, but it might not seem so clear to you 6 months from now. Link ideas that are related to one another, so later you’ll clearly be able to see the most important related concepts.
Emphasize important points with images. Your mind uses images as well as words to remember. If an idea is important, draw a picture next to it. This will help your brain represent the concept visually and remember it better in the future.
Use simple words and concepts. Your brain works best with ideas that it can easily grasp. If your brain has to spend a lot of time processing before it can understand a concept, it probably won’t remember it in a few months.
Use different lines, colors and shapes. Again, the more variety, the better your brain will remember the content. Our minds in general don’t do very well with boring, rote or monotonous concepts.
Step away then come back refreshed. If you’re brainstorming, step away once you’ve ran out of ideas and come back later with a fresh mind. The ideas will often flow much more freely than if you tried to force yourself to carry on. The same is true with note taking. Take the important concepts now, then come back later to add the details.
Mindmapping results in more retention, more creativity and more idea-flow than traditional note taking or brainstorming. Try it for 30 days to see for yourself.
Character With Copyboard Blank Signboard For Message Or Presentation
Add Animation to PowerPoint Presentation
To keep your audiences interest, you can add animation to your presentation to catch their eye. There are many options for animating text and images. This demonstration will walk you through the basics.
You will need:
PowerPoint
A presentation previously started
Step 1: Animate Images
If you’d like an image to gradually come onto the screen in your presentation, you simply need to animate the image. To do this, select the image you wish to animate. We’ve chosen to animate the image in slide # 3. You can tell we’ve selected it because the selection box is visible around the image.
Click the animations tab. Here you have several options for how to animate the image. You might want your image to fade in or perhaps you want it to fade out right before the slide changes. Use the scroll bar or click the arrow below the scroll to view all your options.
Click preview to see how each animation will look. Below is a shot of the options if you click the arrow.
Here’s a shot of the animation options available by using the scroll.
We’ve chosen to have our image split where two pieces come together. In the image below, you can see the two sides coming together.
Step 2: Animate Text
You can animate text in the same way. You can choose to animate the entire page or on a paragraph by paragraph basis. On the animation navigation bar, use the drop down arrow next to Effect Options to select how you want to animate the slide.
We wanted our sentences to zoom in and our bullet points to bounce into place so we chose to sequence by paragraph. Once animation is applied, each paragraph is assigned number. You can click the number to change the animation for that particular paragraph.
You can apply more than one animation to an object. To do this, simply click the Add Animation button just as you did with the first one. Animations will play in the order they were applied.
Step 3: Animation Pane
Another way to view a list of the animations applied to a slide is to click the Animation Pane. The Animation Pane for the slide will open to the right. You can see that each animation effect has an assigned number to the left. You can change the animation effects, the timing and also play the entire animation to see what it will look like.
Step 4: Effect Options
For even greater edititng ability, you can adjust many of the effects available in powerpoint. To see which options are available for an individual effect, simply right-click the effect in the animation page and select effect options. Not all effects will have extra options.
We chose to see what options were available for our 2nd animation effect. Remember, this is a bullet point that we wanted to bounce. With the effects option, we can enhance our animation by adding sound, a dimming feature, set the timing and more.
Simply make your selections and click OK when you’re finished.
Step 5: Animation Timing
By default, the animation is set to play immediately upon the slide opening. To change when the animation starts, select the effect in the animation pane and then using the drop down arrow next to the Start, choose when it should start – upon click, at the same time as the previous animation or after the last animation.
You can edit the duration of the animation as well as set a delay. These are measured in seconds.
In addition, you can change the order in which the animations are applied. Simply click the effect in the animation pane and click the move earlier or later arrow.
That’s it! Creating animated text and images is quite simple and can make your presentations really stand out.
Create PowerPoint Slides
Video presentations continue to grow in popularity. From marketing businesses to keeping in touch with family and friends, everyone is using it. One of the easiest ways to create presentations is with PowerPoint. This demonstration was made with PowerPoint 2010.
You will need:
PowerPoint Installed
An outline of your presentation text
Step 1: Start a New Presentation
When you open PowerPoint, you will be presented with a new title slide. If you are not, you’ll need to click File then click New. This will bring up the first slide in your presentation.
Step 2: Select a Theme
Click the design tab and you should see a screen similar to the one below. This tab allows you to select a theme from several design choices. Using the slider or bottom arrow, you can scroll through the available themes. As you mouse over each theme, you will get a preview on the existing title page. Select the theme based on layout as you can change the colors.
Here’s a shot of some of the themes available.
Step 3: Edit Theme
Once you’ve chosen your theme, it’s time to edit it. You can change the color, fonts and effects by using the drop down arrows as indicated in the design tab image above. Here, we’ve chosen to look at the color options. As you can see, there are many color choices available so try several until you find one that works for your business or personality.
Now that you have your theme and colors, you can change the background if you’d like. On the design tab, using the drop down arrow next to Background Styles, mouse over your options to get a preview of what features each option will give you.
Each theme will come with its own set of background options from plain white, to fades to subtle designs. You can also change the fonts and effects from the design tab as well. Those options are located directly below the colors option.
Step 4: Edit Title Page
Now that you have the presentation design you want, it’s time to start editing the slides and adding more. As indicated in the slide image below, you simply need to click the area in the slide to add text.
Switching back to the home tab will give you editing features as in Word where you can add underlines, bolding, change the font, add bullets and more.
Each slide will have a place at the bottom to add notes.
Step 5: Add Slide # 2
To add another slide, you simply navigate to the home tab and click new slide to bring up a blank slide.
Click the drop down arrow below the New Slide icon to bring up other types of slide options.
As you did with the first slide, simply click the slide and enter your text. Repeat step 5 for each additional slide you wish to add. To move between slides, simply click the slide in the sidebar that you wish to view and/or edit.
Insert Media into Presentation Slides
Adding media to your PowerPoint presentations can give them a more sophisticated style. It will capture the viewer’s attention and help drive home your message.
You will need:
PowerPoint presentation in the works
Images, videos, etc to insert
Step 1: Insert Pictures
There are two ways to insert media into your slides. The first is when a new slide opens, before you add any text, you can click the appropriate icon in the middle of the slide.
The second way is of course, by using the insert tab. Here you have the option of inserting all types of images, shapes, tables, charts, text boxes, video, equations and more into your slides.
We’ve chosen to add a picture to our 3nd slide. To do this, click the picture icon on the insert tab.
This will bring up your pictures library on your computer. If the image you want to use is not located in this folder, simply navigate to the location of the image. Select the image and click the open button as shown below.
This will insert the image into your slide as shown below. If you click the image, you’ll see it brings up a selection box around it.
Drag the side or corner of the selection box to make the image larger or smaller.
Click the image once and hold the left mouse button down to drag and drop the image where you’d like it to be placed in the slide.
Clicking the image will also open a Picture Tools tab where you can edit the image further.
Here we’ve moved our image to the left side and inserted a text box (from the insert tab) so we can make our point to the side of the image.
Step 2: Insert Video
You can insert video into your PowerPoint presentations as well. To do this, navigate to the Insert tab and click Video.
Navigate to the location of the video you want to insert. Select the video and click the Insert button.
Note: If the video is online, use the drop down arrow on the Insert button and select Link to File, then enter the URL of the video file.
Your video will be inserted into the slide. You can move it around as you did the image in step 1.
You can also click the Video Tools tab to edit the video shape, give it a border, add other effects and so forth.
Step 3: Insert Charts
If you have a chart you’d like to add, you can do so by clicking the Insert tab then selecting Charts.
Select the type of chart you’d like to insert and click OK
Once the chart is inserted, you can click it to open the Chart Tools. Here’ you’ll be able to change the chart colors, edit the data and more.
Step 4: Insert Tables
To insert a table, click the Insert tab, and then click Table. Using your mouse, highlight to select how many rows and columns you want the table to include.
Move the table as you did the image and video. To edit the table, simply click each cell and type the data. Clicking the table once will also bring up the Table Tools where you can change the layout, colors, borders, shading and more.
Again, you can add many things to your slides to make them as fancy or sleek as you’d like. Simply follow the steps as outlined above and play around with a few options to see what you like.
PowerPoint Timings, Narration & Publishing
This demonstration was made with PowerPoint 2010 which has the ability to publish a presentation as a movie file. This allows anyone to view it whether they have PowerPoint or not.
Before we publish our presentation, we first want to set the slide timing and add some narration to it. Here’s how.
You will need:
PowerPoint
Pre-created presentation
Microphone
Speakers
Step 1: Set Slide Transition &Timing
PowerPoint will automatically record your slide timings when you add narration. However, you can also manually adjust the timings if you prefer.
To manually set these, when viewing your presentation, you’ll see your slides along the left side of the screen. Click the slide you want to set the transition and timing for.
Click the transitions tab. This will give you options for how you want to transition from one slide to the next. Choose the transition type you want to use from the options on the transition tab.
Under the Advanced Slide section, select the box next to the word After. Set the number of seconds you want the slide to appear on the screen. Here, we want it to show for 6 seconds.
You’ll also notice we’ve selected the “on mouse click” option as well. This means the next slide will appear after 6 seconds or when the mouse is clicked – whichever comes first. You do not have to select the mouse click option; it’s entirely up to you.
If you want these same settings for all the slides, simply click Apply to All. Alternately, you can set each one individually.
You can turn these timings off by going to the Slide Show tab, clicking Set Up Slide Show under the Set Up section. Then click Advance slides and select Manual.
Note: This will NOT delete the timings; it simply turns them off so you have to manually advance the slides.
To turn the timings back on, just navigate back to this area and click “use timings if present”.
Step 2: Add Narration
There are two ways to add narration to your slide show. The first is to record the narration when you create the slide show – before the live event. The second way is to record it during a live presentation. Recording during the live presentation will allow you to include comments from your viewers in the recording. However, you may want to test this out a few times before your live event to ensure you are comfortable with how it works.
For this demonstration, we’ll be narrating when we create the slide show, not at a live event.
PowerPoint will prompt you to record just the slide timings, just the narration or both at the same time. If you are creating a presentation to play automatically on demand, perhaps as a message on your website, you will most likely want to record the narration and set the timing at the same time. This will ensure everything is in sync.
To start recording, on the Slide Show tab. Then click the arrow next to Record Slide Show.
This will give you the option to record from beginning (the first slide) or record from current slide.
Once you make your selection, a dialog box will open. Select the narrations and laser pointer box. If you want it to automatically set the timings, select the slide and animation timings box as well. Otherwise, leave that box empty.
Click Start Recording
To pause during narration, click Pause and then to resume, click Resume Recording.
When you’re finished with the narration, right-click the slide and choose End Show.
Your recording and timings will automatically be saved and the slide show will be visible in the slide sorter view with the timings listed below each slide.
To preview your new recording, click the From Beginning play button at the top left of the navigation bar as indicated above. Alternately, you can press F5 on your keyboard.
As you’re previewing, in the bottom left corner of the show, you’ll have some navigation buttons and other buttons to edit the slides with.
Step 3: Publish
When you are satisfied with your presentation it’s time to publish it.
Click the File tab, then Info. Here you can set your permissions, optimize the video and more. These are optional, so you can skip this if you’d like, but here are the options you have.
Optimize Media Compatibility: Because we’ve included a video in our slide show, PowerPoint needs to embed the video. You can view the link and change the link location if necessary to have it linked to a file you already have stored online.
Media Size and Performance: This allows you to set the quality of your video. You can choose presentation quality, internet quality or low quality which would compress your files to save disk space, though as the name suggests would lower the quality of the video.
Permissions: If this file is meant only to be viewed by one person or a special group of people, you can set up permissions so that only those with the right information can access the video.
Prepare for Sharing: This will check for any issues with your video. It also gives you the ability to change the properties on your presentation and notes as well as adjust it for those with disabilities so that they too can view the information.
Once you’ve made your selections, choose Save and Send. Click Create Video.
To the right, you’ll have some options for setting the video displays. Use the drop down to make your selections.
Here are the options when you open the drop downs.
How it will be displayed:
By default, the quality is set to Computer & HD Displays which creates a movie at a 960×720 resolution and meant for viewing on a computer or burning to a DVD.
If you set the quality to Internet & DVD, it will be of medium quality with a resolution of 640×480.
The Portable Devices option is the lowest quality and has a 320×240 resolution.
Confirming the Timings:
This is a last minute option to change the timings on the video. Most of the time you would choose to use timings and narration you have already set up.
If you haven’t set the timings up or want to make changes to the ones you have set up, turn this option off and enter the number of seconds you want to spend on each slide.
Once you’ve made your selections, click the Create Video button and the save as dialog will pop up where you can name and save your video.
The video will be saved as a windows media video (WMV) – a format that can be viewed by most people without needing PowerPoint.
Now that your video is ready to go, you simply need to upload it to your website, YouTube, Facebook or wherever you want it displayed.
If you need the video in another format, you will need a video converter. There are several free ones online, just do a quick search of Google to find them.
Continually coming up with ideas on what to send to a mailing list can get very tough, especially after you’ve been mailing for some time.
This is a comprehensive list of some of the things you could mail to your readers.
Whether you’re in a teaching mood, an interactive mood, a spontaneous mood or an analytical mood, you’ll find something in this list that you can use.
Here are 50 ideas on what you can send to your mailing list.
1) Recommend an Article You Loved. You can also include your own ideas, your own analysis or share why you loved it.
2) Send out a survey. Ask about your products, your service or about what they want to see next in your product line.
3) Analyze a trend. Is everyone buying yellow shoes this year? Talk about why that’s the case and how it goes with other clothing.
4) Recap the last year or quarter. What were the most important changes in your industry?
5) Create a contest.
6) Announce a Fan Page, Twitter account or Twitter hashtag. Announce a new social media initiative. You can also announce a new conversation on a Twitter hashtag.
7) Recommend a product. Is there another product that really impressed you? Give it a shout out in your mailing list. You can also make it an affiliate product.
8) Announce your most popular posts or pages. Look at your website’s analytics and figure out which posts have been the most popular on your site. Let your audience know which articles those are.
9) Give away a short eBook, report or whitepaper. Pick a topic and give away a non-promotional eBook.
10) Promote and host a webinar. Get people excited about an online class you’re going to teach.
11) Send a copy of a recorded webinar. After your webinar is finished, send a recording to your list. Limit the download time to create a sense of urgency.
12) Video content. Film yourself on camera talking about a certain topic.
13) Video interview. Interview another expert or prominent figure in your business.
14) Audio interview. Audio sometimes does a lot better than video. People like being able to consume content on their iPhones.
15)Conference review. If you went to a conference, talk about what you liked and didn’t like about it.
16)Product review. If there’s a popular product on the market, purchase it and give it a review.
17) Product recommendations. Make recommendations for products for specific issues your users may be facing.
18)Summary of a product or workshop. Summarize all the most important lessons for people who don’t have the time or inclination to consume the product or attend the seminar.
19) Book review or recommendation. Read the popular books in your market. Summarize it, then tell people if you recommend it.
20) Announce an event.
21) Give a special discount. Make sure the discount is one time only and that it expires in a set time window.
22) Give a one time bonus. Tell customers that for a limited time, if they buy now they get a bonus. For example, anyone who orders in the next 72 hours gets a free email consultation with you.
23) Have an employee or executive do a post. Have someone else from your company write a post. It can be a great way to give an inside perspective.
24) Send a guest post. Have another expert in your industry write an email for you. Again, this is a great way to offer a different perspective.
25) Analyze new ideas or tactics. Are there new ideas or approaches floating around in your market? Do an in depth analysis of the pros and cons of the new approaches.
26) Find a problem and offer a solution. Go on forums and locate problems that people are frequently having. Solve those problems.
27) Rant about something. Pick a topic you’re passionate about and just go on a rant. Be unrestrained.
28) Give advice. Instead of taking on an “expert” or professional tone, try taking on a “from a father to a son” kind of tone.
29) Write something humorous or satirical. Make fun of a popular idea, a popular line of thought or a public figure.
30) Dispel a myth. Are there things people commonly think that just aren’t true?
31) Talk about common mistakes. What trips up your audience frequently?
32) Give X Top Tips. For example, “55 Tips for Better Web Design.”
33) Give tips for specific locations. For example: Fishing in salt lakes, shopping in local markets, making money in Asia, etc.
34) Do an in depth case study. Take an example of something you or someone else has done and use it as an in depth example.
35) Talk about news stories. Was there something significant on the news that may influence your industry? Talk about it.
36) Do a multi-part series. Pick a complicated topic and explain it in detail.
37) Give away simple software. Go to eLance or oDesk and have someone code up a simple piece of software for you. Give it away for free.
38) Help people establish a plan. Guide people through the process of creating a step by step plan.
39) Ask a question. Have them answer you by email, Twitter or Facebook.
40) Offer a chance to correspond with you. If you have some free time and want to deepen your connection with your market, try giving away some one on one time.
41) Do a mailbag. Have all your customers mail in their questions, then answer those questions in your email list.
42) Split test. Test different kinds of emails and see which ones generate the highest open and click through rates.
43) Try out a new design. Email out a website with a new design template. See how people respond.
44) Ask them to be a part of a co-created video. Ask members of your audience to send in short videos. Compile them all together into one completed video project.
45) Make a confession.
46)Share your mission or vision. For your business, for the world or for your customers.
47) Offer to help someone on their project. For example, if you run a business newsletter, offer to help someone write their business plan. Make sure you record the process so everyone can learn from it.
48) Start a cause or movement, or contribute to one. People love being part of something that makes an impact.
49) Do an FAQ post. What are the most frequently asked questions in your industry?
50) Recap the most interesting blog posts of the week. Look through all the blogs in your industry, then recap the most interesting posts.
One of the easiest ways to automate your social media is to take an RSS feed and plug it into your Twitter and/or Facebook profiles. RSS feeds can be made from just about any kind of dynamic content: From blogs to news sources to video channels.
This technique can save a lot of time, but should also be used with a bit of caution. Avoid spamming your feed with RSS content. If you want to build a real audience, it helps to mix in a bit of automated content with hand-written content.
Start by identifying the feed(s) that you want to push to your social media accounts. You can use your own feed, or you can use any feed from anywhere on the internet. Make sure that if you’re using someone else’s feed, you check your Tweets regularly to make sure that you really feel good about what’s going out in your name.
Here are four of the best services to use for RSS to social media automation.
Twitterfeed
Twitterfeed is one of the original RSS to social media services on the web. They support Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
To get started, create an account, then click
Fill in the details about the RSS feed you want to add.
Click “Advanced Settings” to specify more details about how you want Twitterfeed to use your RSS feed.
Select which social network you want to post your RSS feed to.
Then authenticate the account you want to post to.
It’s that easy! Twitterfeed is 100% free, so just about anyone can use it to automate their RSS to social media postings.
ConvertSocial
ConvertSocial is a social media integration, automation and management suite with a wide range of different features. They have a 30 day free trial account, after which you’ll have to pick one of their paid plans.
To get started with automating your social media posting, create an account, then click “Add/Edit Services.”
Go to the RSS tab, then click “Add” next to “RSS Auto Poster.”
You’ll then be able to adjust your feed settings. Note that automating your social media is a paid feature. You won’t be able to access the settings screen until you’ve subscribed.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is one of the largest social media integration sites on the web. They also have a special feature that allows you to post an RSS feed to your social media sites.
To add an RSS feed, log into your Hootsuite account. Then go the launch menu on the left, click the Settings icon and then RSS/Atom.
Click the “+” button next to your RSS feed screen.
Then specify how you want your feed to be setup. You can add the feed URL, specify the account to post to, specify how often to check for update, specify how many posts to post at each time and pre-append text to the tweets.
If social media integration is important to you, using Hootsuite for both your automation and your integration will make managing your whole social media strategy much easier.
Dlvr.it
Dlvr.it is a very basic service that allows you to quickly and easily post your RSS feed to Twitter and Facebook. There aren’t a whole lot of advanced features. You get the social media automation, quickly, no more and no less.
Start by creating an account. It’s a simple process: Just enter your email and password.
Then type in the URL of the feed you want to add.
Choose which social media site you want to add your feed to.
Then authorize Dlvr.it to post to that website.
Social media automation allows you to constantly update the content of your website, without always having to put in many hours of work.
Make sure you create a coherent strategy that’ll allow you to keep your users engaged, while mixing in a bit of automated content that your readers will still love.
One of the challenges small business owners have when beginning a content marketing campaign, is that they try to separate it out from their normal business activities.
Strategy #1 Recruit Customer Service
Your customer service is your greatest asset when developing content. Take a day and answer the phone and by the end you will have heard the same questions asked over and over again. If you surveyed your customer service reps what the top ten questions are that they hear you will find that there is a tremendous amount of crossover. Nobody wants more work, and your under appreciated, over worked customer service staff is one of them. To get your customer service staff on board try these simple tweaks.
Change their title from customer service to Client Care Specialist or Director of Excellence, or Director of Client Relations. Make a big deal out of the title change. Change the title on the door. Throw a party.
Begin a monthly contest to see which Client Care Specialist can keep track of the most questions from customers. We are not talking about questions specific to a customer, but questions that could be formatted into blog posts. Give a gift certificate to everyone that turns in one question the first month, the top 10 people the next, the top 5 the next, and then the top 3 from then on. If you have a small staff adjust your numbers.
Take the questions the Client Care Specialists provided and have a monthly meeting. Have the questions written out and room for three main points to answer each question. Brainstorm with the staff and develop the outlines of the content that will be written.
Send the writing off to either your in house blogging staff or your outsourced copywriters.
Have the articles written or shoot short videos to answer the questions and then upload them to your FAQ area of your site or use as blog posts.
Strategy #2 Recruit Your Customers
Pictures are worth a thousand words. With SEO and online marketing, pictures and videos are essential. User generated content is a fast way to not only get new content for your site, but to help that content go viral. To get your customers to start submitting new content to you try these simple tips.
Create a monthly contest. The funniest picture, video with the most views, or the picture that got the most pins gets the reward.
Ask for picture submissions or create unique photos yourself. Have a contest with Pinterest. Ask everyone to pin the pictures to Pinterest.
Strategy #3 Create a Content Marketing Calendar
Content marketing calendars are essential to a successful content marketing campaign. The easy way to start is to map out all of the holidays over the year. The next step is to think about a special promotion you could have for each of the holidays. If you can create weekly promotions even better.
After you have your promotions mapped out, see if the promotions can line up with specific product or market segments. For example if your promotion is a camping tent at 40% off, then your content marketing for that week could be all about camping tents.
To learn about how to plan your 2013 Content Marketing Calendar, join me this February on a live webinar. Sign up now at webinars.nicolemunoz.com!
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Mindmapping takes note taking and brainstorming to a whole new level. Most people take notes linearly, one item after another in a sequential order. Unfortunately, that’s not how your brain works.
Here are a few choice tips for creating effective mindmaps.
Strategy #1 Recruit Customer Service