Adding photos to your blog posts can be a great way to visually convey your written message as well as bring an added entertainment element.

I’ve just come across a great WordPress Plugin called Photo Dropper that’ll save you time and energy when it comes to adding photos to your [...]]]>
photo credit: audreyjm529

Adding photos to your blog posts can be a great way to visually convey your written message as well as bring an added entertainment element.

I’ve just come across a great WordPress Plugin called Photo Dropper that’ll save you time and energy when it comes to adding photos to your posts.

This plugin searched for Creative Commons licensed photos-images that are licensed for shared use-and lets you drop them into your posts right from the WordPress visual editor.

Once you install and activate the plugin a new icon will show in the “Upload/Insert” area of your post editor.  Simply place your cursor where you want the photo to be inserted and click the PhotoDropper icon and search for images related to your keywords.

After you find an image you like, you can select from a small, medium or large version of that picture and the image and the photo credits will be added to your post.

Let me know how using this plugin works for you by leaving a comment below.

With the Linkedin Firefox Toolbar or Linkedin Internet Explorer Toolbar you can!

With the Linkedin Toolbar you can:

If we’d stop and take [...]]]> If you find yourself not getting the response or engagement you would like from your current social media efforts then maybe you should take a look at the ‘story’ you are telling.  The stories we often come up with ourselves are very ego driven and less than memorable.

If we’d stop and take a look at what’s being said about you, then you might be able to tap into a very entertaining and engaging world of stories to share. Take a look at the conversations to see:

• How are you described or recommended by friends and customers?
• What words do others use to describe you when recommending your products or services?
• What stories do others tell their friends about your talents and skills?
• What do others brag about you on your behalf?

Looking at what others find memorable enough to remember and repeat can help you identify your most powerful strengths and the stories you should be sharing with your social network to further speed your social media marketing success.

Here are 4 metrics you should keep on your dashboard to [...]]]> It’s very easy to lose track of time on social networking sites like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  It’s easy to feel as if sometimes you’re doing all this ‘work’ for nothing.  How do you properly measure return from your social networking activities?

Here are 4 metrics you should keep on your dashboard to help you measure return from your social media marketing:

1. Web Traffic-Make sure Google Analytics is installed on your blog or landing page so that you can easily see if any of the traffic to your site is coming from the social networks you participate in.  For me and my clients, I can easily see that Facebook and Twitter are in the top 5 traffic sources.
2. New Links-One of the main benefits of social media marketing is its effects on organic search engine optimization. Check out sites like BackLinkWatcher.com to see how many sites link to your and watch the quality of those links.
3. Opt-in List Growth-Are you getting new subscribers to your Pink Spoon or Squeeze Page? In addition to content status updates and notifications you should be including some catchy updates that promote your latest freebie offering.
4. Google Alerts-I use Google Alerts for my Twitter username, my name, my company and product names to just keep an eye out on what’s been said and watch for spikes in activity.

Keep an eye regularly on these 4 and you’ll start feeling a lot better about the time you spend on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

So now you’re thinking but where do I ask? How do I ask?

First, on every page of your blog make sure you have an area where someone can subscribe via RSS or email. Give them the option to subscribe to updates. I also include the ability [...]]]> Ask…Ask Often…Make it easy to say YES!

So now you’re thinking but where do I ask? How do I ask?

First, on every page of your blog make sure you have an area where someone can subscribe via RSS or email. Give them the option to subscribe to updates. I also include the ability to subscribe via Networked Blogs because I use that application on my Facebook Fan Page to tie my blog posts automatically into my Facebook Status updates.

Second, bribe people.  We’re talking about an ethical bribe here, like a Pink Spoon or a free report or audio.

Third, create a dedicated subscription landing page that you drive paid traffic to.

Next, post a link to your blog in your digital signature like you use at the bottom of your emails, when you engage on forums, and your social network profiles.

Finally, get listed in the major blog directories.

So what do I do now with the other 240-440 words of this post?

How about if I tell you why I believe 250-450 words is the ideal length for a blog post?

Here’s an idea to help you quickly and painlessly get 10 blogs (possibly more). Are you [...]]]> Do you feel like you should be blogging but just don’t know what to start writing about? Do you already have a blog but make posts occasionally because you haven’t figured out a real ‘method to the madness?’

Here’s an idea to help you quickly and painlessly get 10 blogs (possibly more). Are you interested?

Imagine you are having a conversation with a prospect, what are the questions you get asked over and over again by almost every prospect you talk to?  Can you write down the 10 most frequently asked questions (FAQs) that prospects would ask you about your business, product or service.

I just went through this process myself to come up with the next 10 blog posts I’m writing for you on blogging.  Here are the FAQs that I used to write my future posts from:

1. What is a blog?
2. What is the difference between a blog post and an article?
3. What is the best blogging software to use?
   
4. Why should I blog?
5. How often should I blog?
6. What if I’m not a good writer? Should I still blog?
7. How much should I write in a blog post?
8. How does blogging help with search engine optimization?
9. Can I use the content from my blog for other things?
10. How do I get people to read my blog?

I hope this helps get you started with at least 10 blog posts to start with.  As you read through this series I’ll help you out a bit more. Remember from my previous post, it’s just a muscle that you have to develop.