In Touch Promotions

Blog Posts Made Easy Series: Blog Post Style 4 – List Post

What is fun to write and read all over? The ever popular blog post style: the list post. Most likely to be shared on social networks, bookmarked and get reader’s comments it is no wonder they are blog writers favorite go to style.

List Post
Medium | Use Max times per week 5 | Interaction Index 5 (scale from 1 low-5 high)

Readers love list posts because they provided key information about a subject in an easy to read format.

Headline: Begin with “Top 10…” or “5 Steps…” or “6 Tips…” or “7 Secrets…” then add some drama and hype to catch reader interest “5 Must Take Steps to Successful…”

Intro: Catch the reader’s interest with a bold statement and make the scope of the list clear. Your list should contain at least 5 items. Consider making a series of posts if your list is over 15 items.

Content:

Number each item and be consistent in presentation.
Be sure each item contains real content of value.
Keep each item short. Use a sentence or a short paragraph to cover the point.
Order the list with the strongest items first, second and last.

Conclusion: Encourage readers to add to the list in the comments.

Examples:

Rick’s Tips: 5 Favorite Low Cost or Free Image Sources for WordPress Blog Posts

Rick’s Top Ten Ways to Get Facebook Fans – Likes for Your Page

Resource Links:

Pro Blogger 10 Steps to the Perfect List Post

Website in a Weekend 7 secrets for creating successful list posts

Your well written list post may make it to your sites 10 ten most popular post list in 2012. Tomorrow last but definitely not least in our Blog Posts Made Easy Series – the Regular Feature Post.

Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital | WordPress Specialist and Social Media Solutions

Blog Posts Made Easy Series: Blog Post Style 3 – Series Post

How can you become an authority in your industry and get more reader traffic to come to your blog? One way is to write a series of posts – say, 3-5 different posts – that zero in on a broader topic in your niche. Today in our “Blog Posts Made Easy Series” we’ll address this intriguing blog post style, the “series post.”

You can post one post in the series each day, so you will be seen as an expert on the topic. And, well-written series posts can become popular posts in Google searches. This will drive more traffic to your blog.

Series Post
Skill Level: Medium | Use Max times 7 per week | Interaction Index 4 (scale from 1 low-5 high)

You use a series post to share your expertise, experiences, insider secrets and favorite resources – over time – with your readers. To start, you can break up a “list post” (we’ll review this tomorrow, but for now: it’s a blog post with a bulleted “list” of points). Break down each point in the list into a topic and write a series of posts, each one addressing one point in the list.

Be sure to write all the posts before you announce the series. Here are the components of the series post:

Headline: Use the headline to organize the posts into a set. For example, “When to Make Multifamily Investments: A Series…,” “Facebook Basics: …,” or my current favorite: “Blog Posts Made Easy Series:….”

Intro: Let your readers know that this is part of a series of posts. Successful posts and series address a need people have. Focus on highlighting how this post will fulfill and support the need being addressed in the series.

Content:

Use descriptive subheadings with SEO keywords to organize the content.
Break up the content into short 2-3 sentence paragraphs.
Use keywords to interlink posts and interlink all references to previous posts.

Conclusion: Add a teaser for the next post in the series. List all the posts in the series with links.

Examples:

Facebook Basics – Personalizing Your Profile

When to Make Multifamily Investments – Recovery – Part 2 of a series

Resource Links:

Pro Blogger 10 Steps to Writing a Successful Series on Your Blog

Wizzley Why a Blogger Should Write a Blog Series

Be sure to drop by tomorrow to read about the next blog post style in our Blog Posts Made Easy series, the ever popular “list post.”

Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital | WordPress Specialist and Social Media Solutions

Blog Posts Made Easy Series: Blog Post Style 2 – Contact Post

Want to find ways to make writing your blog posts easier? Follow our “Blog Posts Made Easy Series.” This blog post style is called “Contact Post.” It’s a fun blog post style because you get to interview and highlight someone else in your writing.

You also strengthen and grow your network connections by blogging a contact post. When you feature someone in your blog post, not only have you made your own blog post easy, but you are doing a favor for the featured person in your post. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t appreciate being featured in a post. Make someone’s day; blog a contact post. They will remember you.

Contact Post
Skill Level: EASY | Use Max 2 times per week | Interaction Index 2 (scale from 1 low-5 high)

Build connections with a person, business, or website by writing about them.

1. Headline: Relay an honest, enthusiastic testimonial. Write how “Recommended: …” this person is for their expertise or store products, or you can mention their “…Excellence: …,” or simply say “Introducing…” or “Thanks to …”

2. Introduction: Introduce the contact and state the key point ~ why you are writing about them? Have they achieved something great? Did they influence you in some significant way? So you simply love their product or service?

3. Content:

Build on the key point with details about the contact.
Describe how the contact benefits, skills, are of value to you and your readers.
Keep the tone enthusiastic and honest.
Need more info? Connect to your contact and ask for more info for the article you are writing on them.

4. Conclusion: Repeat your key point and the main benefit this contact offers to your readers. Add a call to action: ask your readers to tell you what they think, to mention a person who has influenced them in a similar way, or to ask a question of your featured contact.

Examples:

Introducing FAD: The Official Unofficial Facebook App Directory

Thanks to Share Gilbert & TICOR Title

Multifamily Excellence: Princeton Property Management

So far we have combined our simple 4 step blog formula combined with two popular blogging styles: keep following our Blog Posts Made Easy Series for next 3 posting styles.

Intro Simple 4 Step Blog Post Formula
Repost Post
Series Post
List Post
Regular Feature Post

Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital | WordPress Specialist and Social Media Solutions

Blog Posts Made Easy Series: Blog Post Style 1 – Repost Post

Does your business have a blog? Do you feel like you have “writer’s block” more often than not? Read this series on Blog Posts Made Easy to see how you can make your blog posts easier to write.

This first article in the Blog Posts Made Easy series shows how you can share an article in minutes by using what we call the “Repost Post” blogging style. It’s great for those days when you need a quick post.

Repost Post Blogging Style

Skill Level: EASY | Use Max 2 times per week | Interaction Index 1 (on a scale from 1 low-5 high)

To repost a post, simply republish content from an article you like. The article can come from a Facebook link, Twitter, LinkedIn or even YouTube link, or from e-Newsletters, Magazines, Newspapers, etc., or any blog post you like.

The key to this Blog Posts Made Easy tip: you add additional limited original content. Here’s all you need to write:

1. Headline: Write your own compelling headline for the article rather than copy the article’s original headline.

2. Intro: Introduce your subject and the article you have chosen to support your key points.

3. Content: Follow These Best Practices When Reposting a Post:

Quote interesting portions of the article rather than the whole article
Add your own ideas on the topic
Always include a link to the article and the author
Never paste a photo directly from another website directly into your post editor – besides violating copyright laws, this causes hot-linking which steals the bandwidth from the original post site
Use your own images see Rick’s Tips: 5 Favorite Low Cost or Free Image Sources for WordPress Blog Posts
Rick’s Tip: WordPress Users combine Press This with best practices for lightning fast results.

4. Conclusion: Sum up the benefit of your sharing this valuable information with a “call to action.”

Example:

Keeping residents happy…and apartment profits up!

Move Up in the Google Search Rank

Resource Links:
Social Fresh How to Use Content from Other Blogs without Violating Copyright

Our simple 4 step blog formula combined with popular blogging styles with your creative touch and useful info equals high quality posts for your blog this year. Keep following our Blog Posts Made Easy Series for next 4 posting styles.

Intro Simple 4 Step Blog Post Formula
Contact Post
Series Post
List Post
Regular Feature Post

Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital | WordPress Specialist and Social Media Solutions

Blog Posts Made Easy Series Introduction: Simple 4 Step Blog Post Formula

If writing more blog posts is your New Year’s Resolution it’s easier than you think. Dust off your keyboard and jump start your blog by following our simple 4 step blog post formula. Combined with one of 5 popular blog posting styles we will be featuring in the next five days, you can produce articles that deliver traffic to your site.

Simple 4 Step Blog Post Formula

Remember in school when you learned the formula to write a persuasive essay? You can write a blog post the same way. Our simple blog post formula will help you write a great blog post in just 4 steps:

1. Headline: Hook your reader’s interest with a headline that grabs their attention. PR Leap’s 25 Action Words for Writing a Newsworthy Title and Copy Blogger’s 9 Proven Headline Formulas will get you on track.

2. Introduction: Make your first sentence count. Engage your reader with a question, a brief story, or a strong statement. Then explain the value of the post. State your key point with supporting details. Break this section into 2 paragraphs if it’s longer than 3 sentences.

3. Content: Write your supporting text here: details, tips, examples. Break them up for easy web reading using subheadings to order your ideas. Place items into bullet point lists and keep your paragraphs 2 to 3 sentences in length.

4. Conclusion: Close with a statement and a call to action.

Now that you have the basic blog post formula in hand, check back over the next five days to learn how the formula works with 5 popular Blog Posting Styles:

We will be covering more blog post writing and SEO tips. What are your biggest blog post and SEO questions?

The USB Typewriter in the photo is real! Find out how you can get your own cool USB Typewriter at usbtypewriter.com.

Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital | WordPress Specialist and Social Media Solutions

One Minute Tip: Meet the New Facebook Wall ~ Now Check Your Facebook Privacy Settings

The new Facebook wall brings with it new Facebook privacy settings

Have you gotten the new Facebook wall yet? Facebook privacy settings have changed a little with what they now call the new “Facebook Timeline” (that is, the new Facebook Wall). Now might be a good time to check your new Facebook privacy setting. Here’s a One Minute Tip on how to do that without having to go to your Privacy page.

When you’re posting on your new Facebook wall, especially for the first time, make sure the Share setting isn’t on “Public” if you don’t want to share your posts publicly. Whatever is showing on the bottom right of your “What’s on Your Mind?” box will be the default setting until you change it, regardless of your old Facebook privacy settings. This is now where you will set your default privacy setting for your future Facebook posts.

You can also change your default Facebook privacy settings on your Privacy page. And, you can change your Facebook privacy settings for any status update post, as you post it. But remember, if you change your privacy setting as you share a post onto your new Facebook Wall (that is, Timeline), it becomes the default privacy setting going forward, until you change it again.

That’s it! In our next One Minute Tip, we’ll take a look at how to hide all your past Facebook posts from public view.

Happy New Year! from Donna Saliter, In Touch Promotions, One Minute Tips

DonnaSaliter@InTouchPromotions.com

Google+ Business Page: The Edge to Higher Ranking in Google Search Results – Social Media 101 Artizon Digital

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital

Introducing Sue Surdam as a guest author. Sue shares great tips and tutorials on her website Artizon Digital, which has just finished updating In Touch Promotions’ website. Head over to Sue’s site Artizon Digital to get more great tips and ideas for your own website. We look forward to posting more of Sue’s advice like this gem:

Your Google+ business page may give your business the edge to higher ranking in Google search results. Google is now integrating Google+ brand pages updates into organic search results.

This is huge, and it makes a big case for why your brand should create a Google+ business page and start sharing content there ASAP. If you already do, be sure to optimize your status updates. While your updates should be unique, interesting, and have a clear voice reflective of your brand, they should also be search engine optimized. Anum Hussain | HubSpot

Not to be accused of being a parent playing favorites to their children, a Google representative in a statement to CNET stressed that just having a Google+ business page is not enough. Pages will need to share relevant content to rank in the search results. But there are some extra goodies such as content from a page like recent posts that may appear as annotations attached to the Google+ brand page’s associated Web page under the site links as a result of a regular search result.

Here are a couple of examples of how our Social Media 101 Artizon Digital Google+ Page is being seen in Google search results; even though our page is only a few months old and circled by just 63 people.

1. How Google+ brand page updates are appearing in Google search results. Searching Social Media 101 Artizon Digital produced this result:

2. How Personal Google Plus pages mentioning Brand pages or sharing Brand pages posts are showing up in search results.

Create valuable content to share via your Google+ business page that other people will be inclined to share. When a user shares a piece of content straight from a brand page by clicking the ‘share’ button under the post, the original text of that post is transferred over, as well as the commentary the user provides. This means that by creating valuable and optimized content, people who share a status because of its value will unknowingly help your ranking because of the keywords weaved into the original update… Anum Hussain | HubSpot

With Google showing Google+ business pages search engine “love” having a Google Plus Business page that shares valuable and quality content is great way to make your business more accessible to potential clients using Google search. Create yours today and circle our Social Media 101 Artizon Digital Google+ Page. I will be sure to circle you back.

Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital | WordPress Specialist and Social Media Solutions | 503-577-1035

via Google+ Business Page: The Edge to Higher Ranking in Google Search Results – Social Media 101 Artizon Digital.

One Minute Tip: Create a Facebook List for the Pages you “Like”

How many Facebook business fan pages have you “liked?” Are they cluttering up your news feed? You can file them into lists to help you keep in touch with your favorites.

Recently I posted a One Minute Tip to help you create a Facebook “Featured Likes” file where you can follow your favorite Facebook business fan pages.

I just found out another coolly way to file your Facebook pages, thanks to colleague Sue Surdam at Social Media 101: Artizon Digital.

You’re not limited to putting “friends” into lists. You can file business pages into lists, too. First you have to create a Facebook list. Just how do you create a list in Facebook, anyway? Glad you asked. 🙂

First, go to your personal profile. Unfortunately, you can’t do this yet from your business fan pages (in the immortal words of Chris Berman, “C’mon, Man!”).

Get to your news feed (otherwise known as “Home.” You can see the link for “Home” on the top right of your page).

On the left side of your news feed, you’ll see categories: Pages, Apps, Lists etc. Hover your mouse over the word “Lists,” and you’ll see “More” to the right of “Lists.” Click on “More.”

Click on the “Create List” button on the top right of the lists.

Type the name of the list you want to create on Facebook into the box that pops up.

Click on “Add Friends.”

Now to create a list on Facebook that contains business pages instead of friends, click on the down arrow in the upper left corner where you see “Friends.”

Choose “Pages.”

Check the business pages you want to put into your list. Hit “Done” and you’re done!

Now anytime you’re on your Facebook Home page (also known as your news feed), you can choose that list from the left side of your Home page and you will see the posts of the fan pages you put into that list.

I never knew you could do this, did you?

Donna Saliter, In Touch Promotions, One Minute Tips

DonnaSaliter@InTouchPromotions.com

One Minute Tip: Get More Engagement on Your Facebook Page

My Facebook business page, In Touch Promotions, has been tagged in other Facebook biz pages’ posts before, but it wasn’t until the other day when I read WagnerWrites’ post that it dawned on me. You can get more engagement on your Facebook fan page by proactively asking other Facebook business pages to comment on your business page.

Tag FB biz pages in your post and get lots of comments — Claire Wagner of WagnerWrites invites us to respond to her post.

So if you want to increase engagement on your Facebook fan page, tag other pages in a post. To tag a page in your post, type the “@” symbol, then begin typing the name of the page you want to tag in the post. Facebook should autopopulate a list of suggestions.

When the page you want to tag is highlighted, hit “Enter” and the business page name should show up in your post in blue. (Note: sometimes it doesn’t work when Facebook’s being quirky.)

The other pages will be notified that you tagged them in your post. Naturally, they’ll click on the post to see what you said about them. Make sure your post is inviting enough for them to respond.

Think about the content and write a post that they will want to respond to. Ask their opinion on something; tag them as an expert on a subject; somehow invite them as a specialist in their field to comment on your post.

Don’t forget to invite all your fans to respond too. And, don’t forget to comment on these pages’ posts on a regular basis. This should help you increase your Facebook page engagement and get more comments on your posts.

I’ll be testing this theory on my Facebook business page so come on over and visit and tell me what you think! Many thanks to Claire Wagner of WagnerWrites for this great idea.

Donna Saliter, In Touch Promotions, One Minute Tips

One Minute Tip: Check All Your Google+ Circle Notifications

Recently I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting circled on Google Plus a lot. I also noticed that if I’m not on G+ every day, I miss some of those notifications. I think the reason I’m not seeing all the notifications is that when new circle notifications come up, the old ones disappear in favor of the new ones.

G+ Circles Notifications - in Gmail but not in Google+? — I saw these two Google Plus Circles Notifications in my Gmail (on the left in screenshot), but not in my G+ notifications (on the right in screenshot).

If you don’t want to miss any Google+ circle notifications, here’s a one minute tip for you to help make sure you check all your Google+ circle notifications.

First, go to your G+ notifications and click “Added you on Google+.”

G+ Circles notifications are listed in G+ Notifications — G+ Circles notifications are typically shown in Notifications - but not all Circles notifications are at the top.

At the bottom of the list, click “View all circle notifications.”

After clicking “View all notifications,” click “More” at the bottom. You may be surprised how many notifications you missed.

Google+ Circles notifications continue if you click "More" — Google+ Circles notifications continue past the first page; if you click "More" you will see more circles notifications.

G+ Circles notifications go beyond the first page. I hit "More" three times before finding these notifications that I had originally seen in my Gmail inbox just today.

As you can see, there are a LOT of folks I need to circle back!

You can also check your email notifications. They won’t disappear and it ensures you’ll receive all your Google+ Circle notifications. That’s how I first discovered I was missing Circle notifications.

Do you have any questions, or any tips to share? We’d love to hear from you!

Donna Saliter, In Touch Promotions