Blog Tips :: Visitors

Looking to get more visitors to your blog? 

Here's some tips how - keep up with them, and they will work!

• Blog Hops - or, link ups: Use them! They are there for your use. Don't just leave your link. Visit at least 2-3 others that are listed - you have to give if you want to receive.

• Social Media: Things like Facebook/Twitter/Google+/BlogLovin can help in getting visitors. Sign up, and use them. With blogger, you can connect your G+ and have your posts sent there when you publish. For Facebook/Twitter, I like having them synced together - whatever I post at Facebook, goes to Twitter. And for my blog posts, I use Networked Blogs to automatically posts my entries to Facebook - so I won't have to go and post it each time myself. Helps save time. Pinterest is a good idea, too.

• Stay Active: Try to keep your blog active with new entries. I'm not saying you have to get on and post everyday, but if you go too long, your visitors might stop coming. Plan some posts for the week, and schedule them for certain days you might be too busy to get online. That way, your blog stays active but you aren't glued to it.

• Use Photos: Visitors more likely to come back if you have photos with your posts. Try to take and use your own photos - that way, you won't get in trouble for using someone else's photo.

• Trade Links: Trade your buttons with others. Ask to do a S4S - Share For Share - on Facebook. A lot of bloggers are more than willing to help out new bloggers.

Links:

Blog hops I use: Blog Hops

Social Media: BlogLovin and Networked Blogs

Blog Tips :: Photos

I had heard of people getting in trouble for using photos on their blogs/sites, but you think when you find it on Google or such, it's ok - right? Wrong. You can still get in trouble and even be sued over it.

"Well on one random post, I grabbed one random picture off of google and then a few weeks later I got contacted by the photographer who owned that photo. He sent me a takedown notice, which I responded to immediately because I felt awful that I had unknowingly used a copyrighted pic. The pic was down within minutes. But that wasn't going to cut it. He wanted compensation for the pic. A significant chunk of money that I couldn't afford. I'm not going to go into the details but know that it was a lot of stress, lawyers had to get involved, and I had to pay money that I didn't have for a use of a photo I didn't need." - Roni

I recently saw a link someone had retweeted on Twitter, to help others learn and be more cautious. I felt so bad for the woman and right away, took the few pictures down off my blog (and on my Facebook - will be doing Pinterest next) that I did not take myself. I even changed my blog header. I had a picture of pandas on it, but even the owner of those pictures could find out and get angry.

A lot of people have their opinions about it. Some think it's insane and ignore it, while others - like the woman who this happened to - would rather be safe than sorry. Well, I'm going the "safe than sorry" road, too.

Her story can be found here, for those interested: roniloren.com. I really recommended all bloggers reading it. There's some good tips on how to keep yourself protected.

"So lesson learned: protect yourself and respect the rights of other artists."

Blog Tips :: Links

• When doing a giveaway and having entry requirements like "follow so and so on Facebook" or "visit so and so's site and…" PLEASE provide a link to those areas that your readers need to visit. It's very annoying when the post says "visit_____ website and tell me another product you would like" but there is NO LINK to this site. Same for twitter, Facebook, and anything else that requires the reader to leave the post.

• Speaking of giveaways, when providing links for your readers in your entries, have them open in a new tab/window when clicked. Even if they are just leaving to like someone on Facebook for your giveaway. We are lazy animals and clicking that back button multiple times tends to annoy us, haha.

• When you put a link into a post, always put the links at the bottom after the content. When you put a link in mid post, you are inviting the reader to leave your site. You should also have these links opening in a new tab/window so if your reader gets distracted and wanders, your post is still open in another tab/window to invite them back.

• While opening links in a new window is a good idea when linking to someplace off of your site and a some other exception, opening ALL links in a new window is a very bad idea. This was mentioned before that was a deal breaker for most. Some blogs have every link opening to a new window including the links in their menu tabs. (The tabs used to navigate the site, like "About Me", "giveaways", "Contact me", etc.) It's too much of a hassle and will make readers leave fast.

Tips from MommyDsKitchen (now closed).

Blog Tips :: Facebook

SIMPLE Facebook tips to help build a community and get traffic. The Common sense way to connect with your readers.

1. The Page itself. You need to sign up for an actual Facebook PAGE. If you are a blog or a business, trying to build a community using a Facebook Profile just isn't a good idea. If your readers have to Request to be friends with your blog or business, you are going to lose out. Besides, a Facebook PAGE has resources and applications that you just can't get on a profile.

2. Keep it simple. I've seen a lot of pages that have all sorts of tabs and applications attached to it. Some are worthwhile, but too much is just going to get lost. In all honesty, most people don't look at the tabs. They read the wall and then move on.

3. Be there. Don't expect that your readers will like your page and stick around to read it if you aren't there posting. You need to interact with your community to have a community.

4. Avoid "ME". When you are posting, try to avoid the ME posts. For example instead of saying, "Thank you for liking MY page", Say "Thank you for joining US." Refer to the page as a we page. This makes your readers feel important and part of a community. Also avoid referring to your readers as "fans" or "likers" or "followers". Refer to them as FRIENDS. This also promotes community.

5. ALWAYS try to post a picture with your blog posts. Some use Networked Blogs for publishing their posts. A picture post gets 80% more clicks then just a link post does.

6. Promote your likers. Do a Facebook Follow Thursday. Readers post their pages for you to like and others to see. If your readers can count on you, you can count on them when you need a little help.

7. Be yourself. When people ask you questions or leave comments, you need to reply. Be yourself. Have fun. If you make it personal, your readers will also. They will be able to form an attachment to you and your page. If they LIKE you, you can count on them to share.

8. Share posts from other blogs. This is a great way to give your readers interesting content, and to promote your page. If you share a post with your reader from another blog, that blogger may well return the favor! Just make sure the post you share is in line with the subject of your page. If you are a food blogger and you share a post about breast feeding, it isn't going to get much notice.

9. Market yourself. In order to build a good community around your Facebook page, you need to market your page just like you do your blog. Find other pages similar to your's. Like them and participate in their community. You can also find Facebook Hops to help promote your page.

10. DON’T SPAM. If you post your link on other pages walls just out of the blue with no reason, it will just be deleted. When you like a page absolutely post, "New Fan from (your page). I love your page and your blog! Drop by and say hi sometime." DON’T be demanding, "Liked you from (….) would appreciate a like back." That will not get you many friends.

If you would like to post something like a link on someone else's wall ,why not ask them first? 9 times out of 10 they will say yes. If you post without asking, 9 times out of 10 it will be deleted. And please, don't post on peoples pages asking for votes! Very annoying!

Tips from MommyDsKitchen (now closed).

Blog Tips :: Facebook

So with Facebook's new page layout, there are some great options you should know about. There are also some NOT so great things that you NEED to know about. If you have any New Facebook Tips or info, please leave a comment and let me know!

• Page's can now comment on other pages as themselves! This is a very cool feature that a lot of us have been waiting for. You can choose between using FB as your personal Profile or your Page. Love this feature.

• The layout is neat. I personally like the new layout with the menu in the sidebar. I find it much easier on the eyes.

• The photo's. Now when you click on photo's, a lightbox pops up instead of taking you to the photo's page. I don't like this. 

• You can only LIKE up to 500 pages using your PAGE. So be aware of that when you click that like button!

• If you LIKE a page with your page, it doesn't count. FB ONLY counts likes from personal profiles.

• The new default setting for your feed is to only show updates from pages/friends who you have recently interacted with. This means you are only seeing updates from a few people. This also means that your posts aren't being seen either! To fix this:

• Click on the "Recent" option on the top of your feed page. Choose edit options, then choose "see updates from all pages/friends". Other pages and friends will need to do this too, so make sure you pass this on. You may need to do this for your personal feed AND your pages feed.

• The spam filter is now hidden under your ADMIN VIEW. Under your Wall link in your left sidebar, you will see "admin view". Click that. Now you are seeing your wall thru your admin view. Click "Hidden Posts" on the top of your wall. This is where FB send posts that it says are spam. Check this often as FB doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to which posts get hidden. To unhide, click the X in the corner of the post and choose UnHide.

• You need to RESET your Pages information. It's likely that your Category settings defaulted to the first in the list and you are listed under Appliances. Go to Edit page and click on "basic information" setting. Choose your new category and sub category. Also make sure all your other settings are correct.

• The new Featured options are really cool. You can now choose which of your LIKED pages (these have to be from your PAGES LIKES, not your personal profile) you want to show up on your pages sidebar. Go to edit page and choose "Featured". From there you can choose which pages you would like to be visible on your sidebar (only 5).

Tips from MommyDsKitchen (now closed).

Blog Tips :: Spam

I’m not going to address actual email SPAM as that is pretty much common sense.

1. Blog Spam

Leaving commercials for your page on OTHER people's blog comments. This one should be common sense, but apparently it's not. Now, there are simple exceptions. If you're leaving a comment and are directing the BLOGGER to something, that’s OK. If you are on a linky page and would like to leave a link to your linky, that is SOMETIMES okay. (Just depends on the blogger.) Things like this are acceptable.

Things that ARE NOT acceptable are leaving comments addressing the other readers of that blog and directing them to your content.

2. Twitter Spam

Twitter Spam! DM's on twitter are 90% Spam. Most everyone knows this and therefore they don't pay attention to DM's anyway. Sending the usual Spam DM after you are followed is annoying and spamy, but people don't seem to notice it anymore. Sending MORE THEN ONE will get you reported and blocked.

It is the same with Spam tweets. If you send tweets out of the blue trying to sell something, most usually block you. Sometimes, will also report you.

3. Facebook Spam

Facebook Spam. This is one that REALLY annoys. When friends post things on your wall, if they are readers and you have interacted with them before, most don't mind at all. BUT if you come to a FB page and leave a post that addresses their friends leaving a link to your content, this is spamy! Most ALWAYS remove that post. If you do it again, most will block you.

Another SPAMY thing on FB. Leaving a link to your content in the comments of another post on a wall that has nothing to do with that post. EXAMPLE: "My mother recently passed away", and then someone posts a link to a giveaway in the comment to that post. Not only spamy, but disrespectful.

If someone posts a blog post on someone's wall, PLEASE don't post a link in the comments directing readers to your content.

If you post something like: "I made some homemade bread last night. The recipe is on my blog. LINK" (All in all, a little spammy depending on where it was posted, but overlookable until the link is clicked and it goes to a giveaway). That's spamy.

So how do you get your content out on FB without being Spamish?
Be nice! If you would like to address someone's readers, ask them first! 9/10 times they will say yes.

If you want to post something on someone's wall, address the person whom the page belongs to. It’s VERY rude to ignore them and go over their heads.

Example:
NO: "Giveaway going on NOW at BLAH BLAH BLAH. Lots to win so hurry over. (LINK)"
YES: "Hey. I am doing a giveaway and I thought you and your readers would enjoy some of the prizes. Come join us at :LINK"


So ARE YOU Spamy?

Tips from MommyDsKitchen (now closed).