BrandLove, LLC

Blogging can be tricky. Do you ever wonder if anyone out there is reading your posts, if it’s worth your time or if you’ll ever get advertisers, or sales or comments? The answer is… yes! But, it won’t happen overnight and there are many keys to success. I’ve spent some time scanning the Internet to find some useful tips on how to craft and promote a great blog from several different sources. Read on to gain insights.

1. Short, Catchy Headlines.

You have only a few seconds to help the reader decide whether they want to read your post or not so a headline that compels and teases the visitor to your blog or who sees your headline on a Tweet is a must in driving readership. List posts such as “10 Ways To..” or The 5 Top …” are always effective. These might seem redundant and overused but the fact remains they work.

“Your headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression you make on a prospective reader. Without a compelling promise that turns a browser into a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even exist.” —Copyblogger

2. Add Share Buttons.

Make it easy share your posts by adding share buttons at the top or bottom of the post for the major platforms where your audience is hanging out.

3. Promote Your Blog. 

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are important for bloggers not only in the “B2C” sectors but also for “B2B” industries. Posting your blog headline description and linking to your news feed is vital. The combination of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are where most of the planet is plugged into and making it easy for your ideas to spread is now essential not optional. Integrate your Facebook posts with Twitter by “connecting” both accounts. Your Facebook posts will automatically feed Twitter.  And, if you’re integrated with Twitter, and add #in after your Facebook posts, your posts will automatically post to LinkedIn as well.

4. Add Media.

Mix up your text posts with images, screen shots, graphs and online videos but remember to not make it too cluttered or overdo it.

5. Subscribing by RSS.

Make sure you are pushing your latest content out to those readers by having a “Subsrcibe by RSS” button.

6. Write About Industry News, Trends & Customer Pain Points.

Write about industry News – whats happening today, this week and this month. Read and develop content on industry trends – where is the industry going and what are the emerging hot segments. Finally, write posts that provide solutions for your customers problems

7. Feature Popular Posts.

Featured posts provide a guide for readers to quickly discover what your blog is about and why readers are turning up. It can also provide additional page views as they click through.

8. Make Your Content Scannable. 

Help your readers’ eyes by making your copy stand out. Here are some ways to do that:

• Lists: Lists with bullet points are easy to scan and read. Lists help you break up and organize your thoughts in way that is easy to comprehend. 
• Headings and Sub Headings: Large, bold words act as visual cues, and your eyes travel to them without even thinking about it. 
• Blockquotes: These help make main points stand out on the page. 

“Most people read online by scanning the page for individual words or phrases, headings and other visual cues. Studies have shown that reading from a screen is more tiring and therefore about 25% slower than reading from paper – hence scanning becomes a technique that most employ.” —ProBlogger  

I promise you if you just use some of these tips, you will be surprised by the increase in the traffic and the the interaction and engagement that results. Happy blogging!

If you’re having trouble convincing your executive team that your company needs to invest in social media, here’s a few hard facts to help you make your case more convincing. It’s so much more effective than whining to your boss, “But we really need a social media presence. Everyone else is doing it!”

• There are 2 million companies on LinkedIn. [Source: mediabistro.com]
• Pinterest has over 10.4 million users.  [Source: mediabistro.com]
• Twitter has 140 million active users, who post a total of 340 million tweets every day. (Source: The Next Web) 
• Facebook has over 845 million monthly active users. (Source: Facebook)
• LinkedIn boasts more than 150 million members, including executives from all 2011 Fortune 500 companies. (Source: LinkedIn)
• Google+ has over 100 million users. [Source: http://gigaom.com]
• Google+ accounts for about 0.22% of referral traffic.
• Pinterest is retaining and engaging users 2-3 times better than Twitter was at a similar time in Twitter’s company history.
• YouTube has over 800 million monthly users who upload an hour of video per second. [Source: http://gigaom.com]
• 79% of European and 86% of U.S. online adults engage with social media. (Source: Forrester) 
• 81% of small businesses now use social media — up from 73 percent earlier this year (Source: Constant Contact) 
• 82% of the world’s online population is reached by social networking sites, representing 1.2 billion users around the world. (Source: comScore) 
• Nearly 1 in every 5 minutes spent online around the world is now spent on social networking sites. (Source: ComScore) 

Once you’ve decided that you want to “unfriend” someone on Facebook, here’s a step by step process to remove them from your online life forever.

To unfriend someone:

1. Go to that person’s profile (timeline)
2. Hover over the Friends box at the top of their profile (timeline)
3. Click Unfriend

Note: If you choose to unfriend someone, you will be removed from that person’s friends list as well. If you want to be friends with this person again, you’ll need to send a new friend request.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=172936839431357 

The older version of Facebook Insights did not deliver real-time data, so it could take up to two days to get analytics on a post. With the new Insights, sellers can now track how a post is doing within five to ten minutes after publishing, allowing them to immediately tweak their posts depending on how they are performing. Sellers can then immediately amplify the reach of well-performing posts by turning them into a premium ad or a sponsored story. Some other new or enhanced metrics include:

• People Talking About Engagement:This is the total number of people that have engaged in any way with your page, including users liking your page, commenting on or sharing a post from your page, or answering a question you’ve asked on your page. Sellers can use this to measure engagement with their brand across all Facebook activities and track the success of their programs beyond “likes” and clicks.
• Friends of Fans:This is the total number of friends all your fans have. Sellers can use this to track the growing (or declining) influence of their fan base. As the average goes up, so does the potential reach for a seller’s campaign or promotion.
• Reach:This is the total number of people who have seen content associated with your page. Understanding how far and wide messages are traveling will enable sellers to optimize their content to generate maximum reach.
• Virality:This is the percentage of people who saw a story from your Page as a result of their friend engaging with it or “talking about it”, such as a like or comment. Again, knowing what’s being shared can help sellers assess what is actually of interest to their fans and customers. 

Read the full article on Mashable by Christian Taylor, founder and CEO of Payvment and developer of the number one Facebook e-commerce platform for brands, agencies and merchants, and the world’s only Facebook Shopping Mall.