Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Posted: 13 Aug 2014 03:12 AM PDT

We are social media generation, we must confess that. Now every time we promote something, our friends or followers will know and see our promotion. Although we're not a very great businessman but actually social media is one of the luckiest thing we can have where we can make easy promotion strategic without spend any big budgets.

Now, blog is one of the most promising items you can use to promote your product. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and Path can be the greatest ones, but blog is the one you can use effectively to make your brand known by so many people. So how does blog work to promote and build brand awareness to your product?

Make a blog

The first off all, you need to create a blog, obviously. There are many choices of free blog with awesome features; word press, BlogSpot, tumblr and you can name it. It's free to build one, so you don`t need to really worry about money. In this first step you must know what the best idea for your blog is, so it can speak about your product; consider about the reader, make sure your blog is completely interesting and fun when they visit it, pick catchy name that memorable for the reader and make the interface as simple as you can without change the idea of the blog.

Great and Creative Design

Great and creative design will make the blog looks attractive and will make the reader want to know better about your content and your products, too. You can hire a web designer to make the best design for your blog.

Keep writing or hire a content writer

What's the most important thing you must to do when you have a blog? Writing and keep your blog updated with latest news relate to your product, showcase new product on your invisible shelf and of course interact with people who might left thought on your blog. But if you just want to promote your brand product and don't have ability to write a good content, you can hire a content writer to write for you. Consider that the writer can make the best writing but in the same time can promote your brand product.

Promote the site to Social media

It's the last step. Promotion must keep going. When you have blog to promote all information about your product, you just can`t stop here. Keep promoting your blog to social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many more. By doing this, you are not only building bigger and larger audience, but also market the product to wider audience at same time.
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Tags: blog, SEO, social media, web design

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2014 at 5:12 am and is filed under blog, blog hosting . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

How To Promote Your Blog: 5 Kick Ass Ways | Successful Blogging

Posted: 10 Aug 2014 08:14 AM PDT

There was a time when I did not consider social media an important aspect of how to promote your blog. Boy was I wrong.*

21 sweepstakes promotion tips to grow your business

Posted: 27 Sep 2013 08:52 AM PDT

If you're an online merchant, you should consider adding sweepstakes into your marketing mix. They're an effective marketing channel to help grow your business, generate more leads and increase sales.

Sweepstakes are easy and affordable to run, and when done correctly, their benefits are far greater than many other marketing methods. From a single promotion you can get more email subscribers, new customers, a boost in sales, an increase in followers on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest, and greater brand exposure and awareness.

Planning and building

Sweepstakes are a relatively low cost marketing method that can have a very high impact when it comes to growing an audience and building a business. Before you run a sweepstakes though, you need to plan it out so you have a roadmap for success with a set of predetermined goals. Many businesses think that by giving away anything for free they will automatically get a flood of new visitors, email subscribers, Facebook likes and sales. Unfortunately, without a clearly defined goal and a solid marketing plan, this is hardly ever the result.

To begin creating your roadmap for a successful giveaway, you'll want to plan out each step of your promotion, ultimately arriving at the goal that you want to achieve. Once you have a clear roadmap you can start building your sweepstakes.

Marketing

Planning and setting up your sweepstakes is a solid start, but you'll also need a solid marketing plan if you really want to accelerate your sweepstakes and hit your goals.

Here are 21 different ways we've seen sweepstakes promoted which brought real, measurable results:

1. Sweepstakes and contest directories

A great way to drive a ton of traffic to your sweepstakes is by submitting to these websites that will link directly to your promotion.

This can be a great way to get traffic; however, keep in mind that a lot of the people who visit these websites are freebie seekers. If your goal is to get as much exposure as possible, submitting to these sites is one of your best bets. If you're trying to build a targeted audience, then absolutely do not submit to these sites.

Here are the 10 directories we've seen deliver the most traffic:

2. Write a blog post

Writing a blog post about your sweepstakes is a great way to inform people that you're running a promotion. Your post should include a short description about the promotion, how to enter, what the prizes are, and when it ends. Bonus points if you can tie in why winning the sweepstakes can improve the reader's life.

3. Link to your sweepstakes from your homepage using an image

Most people who land on the homepage of your website won't know you have a sweepstakes going on unless you alert them! Create an image that you can place on your homepage that links directly to your giveaway. You can also use a simple service like HelloBar to alert people on your homepage that you have a giveaway going on. It seems simple, but many companies simply forget it's an option!

4. Send an email newsletter

Send out an email to your list announcing your sweepstakes and provide a direct link to the page for people to enter. Although these people are already on your list, you'll still want to promote to them because when they enter, they'll end up sharing the giveaway with their friends and family. Sharing is caring, after all.

5. Post it on Facebook

Write a post on your Facebook timeline promoting your giveaway. Include an image of the prize that will grab people's attention, and write a short description letting people know what they can win. Finally, link directly to the giveaway in your post.

6. Post it on your other social networks

In addition to Facebook, post about your giveaway on Twitter with a tweet that includes information about what people can win as well as a direct link to the giveaway page.

Pin the giveaway to Pinterest, and if you use networks like Google Plus, LinkedIn, and Instagram, share it with those audiences too!

7. Utilize video

With the power of smartphones, creating a video these days is no longer a daunting task. Utilizing Vine, Instragram, or YouTube, you can easily create short video clips to promote your sweepstakes. A good starting point would be to create a short video clip showing people the prizes they can win.

8. Promote Facebook posts

Using Facebook's Boost Post feature, you can now pay a small fee to spread your posts to reach a larger audience. Prices start at $5. Look for a button at the bottom of your Facebook posts that says Boost Post.

9. Promote tweets

Using Twitter's ad platform, you can target the audience you want to reach and you can pay to promote your tweets. As always, start with a small budget to see the kind of response you get and then move on from there.

10. Google AdWords

If you've planned a budget to promote your sweepstakes, then using Google AdWords can be a powerful way to reach your ideal customer. It lets you target specific keywords that people are searching for and have your promotion show up in the search results.

11. Post on Reddit

Reddit is a social news website that has built a community based around thousands of niche topics, which they call sub-reddits. You can search Reddit for a sub-reddit that is closest to your niche, and you can make a post letting people know about your sweepstakes. Reddit's community can be very guarded sometimes, so make sure the prize has a high perceived value.

12. Seek endorsement from someone famous in your industry

Getting someone famous or well known in your industry to endorse your sweepstakes can really help spread the word. Something as simple as tweeting about the promotion can be a great way for you to get some initial exposure. You should seek out these types of influential people before your promotion begins, so you'll have time to provide them with any information that they request and work out a coordinated schedule.

13. Promote the giveaway to customers post checkout

If you sell a product, adding a link to your sweepstakes post checkout can be a great way for you to gather entries. Since these people already bought something from you, they'll most likely be happy to have the chance to win something.

14. Include a message in your packages

If you ship out physical products, a great way to get people to enter your sweepstakes is to toss a little card inside of every package telling them to enter the promotion. Remember, just because these people are already customers does not mean that they won't get their friends and family to become customers too!

15. Submit to StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that allows you to "stumble" the best of the web. You can submit your sweepstakes to StumbleUpon for free and there is a chance that the page gets stumbled enough times that it drives a significant amount of traffic to your promotion.

16. Use StumbleUpon's Paid Discovery

StumbleUpon's paid discovery allows you to get targeted traffic directly to your sweepstakes. Paid discovery is a unique system because there are no ads or links involved; you choose your targeting and they automatically serve your site through the StumbleUpon system. With this type of promotin, you're getting guaranteed visitors.

17. Blogger outreach

Bloggers are constantly looking for great content to share with their audience. Compile a list of 10 or 20 bloggers in your niche, and reach out to each of them with a personalized email about the sweepstakes you're launching, and how you think it would be a great fit for their audience if they would be willing to promote it for you.

18. Partner with another company

Partnering with another company on your giveaway is a great way to offer more prizes and get more exposure. Reach out to businesses that are related to your niche but are not your direct competitors, and see if they would be interested in offering up one of their products as a prize in your giveaway. If they agree, you now have another company that will aid in marketing the giveaway! It's a win/win situation.

19. Write a press release

Write up a press release using a service like PRweb, PitchEngine, or PRNewswire and schedule it to be sent out on the day the promotion goes live.

20. Partner with YouTube channels

Believe it or not, there are some amazingly popular YouTube channels that may be the perfect partner to help promote your giveaway. Search for channels in your niche that have a good amount of subscribers and check to make sure their videos have a decent amount of views. When reaching out, you may need to offer some form of compensation (either monetary or a gift — many of them review products for their audiences) in order to get them to promote your sweepstakes.

21. Provide bonus entries

With a service like ViralSweep, you can reward people with bonus entries for sharing the promotion with their friends. Incentivizing your entrants with additional entries can really help to accelerate the performance of your sweepstakes.

How to Create an Online Store This Weekend

Free guide to launching a wildly successful ecommerce business

Tuesday, 12 August 2014

How to promote your research through blogging | Exchanges

How to promote your research through blogging | Exchanges

How to promote your research through blogging | Exchanges
How to promote your (first) gig - DIY Musician Blog - CD Baby
How To Promote A Blog Post On StumbleUpon - Ghost Blog Writers
Running a Blog to Promote Affiliate Products | Tips and Tricks HQ
Apple TV bundles a $25 iTunes gift card with purchase to promote ...

Posted: 07 Aug 2014 12:00 AM PDT

With around 42.6 million new posts each month on WordPress alone, blogging has become a serious marketing and business tool. But why should you, as a researcher and author, spend time creating and writing a blog?

After all, your time is precious, and setting up a blog, writing regular posts and gaining followers isn't necessarily at the top of your radar. However, with more and more journals incorporating blogs as part of their online presence, and an increasing number of academics blogging regularly, here's why you should too- and how to get the most from your efforts.

Why blog?

First of all, it will help you refine your writing skills. Blogs are more widely read than academic journals and textbooks, so while you could be writing for a broad audience, your posts will still need to hold up to academic scrutiny while being accessible.

Blogging is also a great aid to discoverability. Every time you write a blog post, you are creating content that can be shared via social media, as well as providing a cue to search engines that your website is active. Additionally, non-academics find it a lot easier to access a blog than to find their way around journals and paywalls, so your work has the potential to reach and influence a much wider audience. Not convinced? Over 409 million people view more than 14.4 billion WordPress pages every month- that's a lot of potential readers!

With a blog, you immediately become part of a large network of bloggers with whom you can share thoughts and ideas, and engage in some of the cutting edge debates in your area of interest. Not only can this further enhance your reputation as an expert in your field, it's a great opportunity to hone your communication skills as well as gain valuable feedback on ideas and broaden your professional network. For early career researchers, starting a blog can be beneficial as you network with more experienced academics and pick up tips on how to publish, or refine your CV for example.

With many institutions and research funders placing a growing emphasis on open access and community outreach, a blog can be a great way to reach out to the public and engage in meaningful conversation around your area of expertise. Blogging enables you to share your enthusiasm for your subject with those outside of the narrow world of academia, maybe even inspiring the next generation of researchers along the way.

How to write your blog and promote your work

Setting up a blog is incredibly easy with services such as WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr. Once you've chosen your domain name and a theme, you are pretty much ready to start posting. But what makes a good blog, and how do you go about promoting your work?

1. Find your voice
As you start to blog, you will end up finding your own voice and style of writing. Look at other academic blogs to see the range of styles used, and find what suits you best, whether that is shorter posts or longer, more reflective posts. Make it clear whether or not you are writing on behalf of an institution and, importantly, be yourself! Successful blogs tend to use a conversational tone and speak directly to the reader.

2. Define your audience
Make sure that you know who you are aiming your blog at- whether it be fellow academics and researchers, policy decision makers or even schoolchildren. When you write, you should always have this audience in mind. This will help develop your tone and style and your readers will end up feeling more 'connected' to your writing. Just remember to make your writing accessible to all- overly scientific and technical jargon will alienate some readers, as will posts that constantly stray off topic.

3. Use social media
Make use of your social media accounts to promote your latest blog post. A Facebook post or a Tweet will broaden the scope of your blog's reach and let people know as soon as you've posted something new. And best of all, if you have your social media accounts linked, this will take minimal time and effort.

4. Read other blogs
But don't just read them. Get involved by entering into conversations, posting comments and linking to posts that interest you on your own blog. This will encourage others to link to you and increase your online discoverability. When you comment on other blogs, try to add value by offering useful information and advice. This can be an excellent way of networking with fellow bloggers in your field of expertise.

5. Include keywords
You want your blog to be as visible as possible on search engines, especially Google, as this will generate a lot of the traffic to your site. Think of keywords that best sum up your post and repeat them throughout your text (just don't overdo it!) and in the post title. The trick is to use words that you think people will search for when looking for the type of content you are posting.

6. Guest blog
Writing posts for other, more well-known blogs can be a good way to get your own blog going to begin with. Not only are you networking with other bloggers, you are creating a name for yourself, and your posts will include a link to your own blog. Having your blog linked to a more well-established blog is also great for search engine optimization.

Good luck on your blogging journey!

How to promote your (first) gig - DIY Musician Blog - CD Baby

Posted: 05 Aug 2014 06:17 AM PDT

You've booked a gig. Congrats. Now it's time to make sure your audience will consist of more than just the bartender.

Here's a checklist of simple things you can do to get the most people possible out to your show:

1. Ask the venue what they'll be doing to promote — You don't want to double your efforts. Sometimes venues will take out adds in the local weeklies, advertise on the radio, and even make posters for you. If so, great! If not, at least you know where you stand.

2. Get a media list from the venue — If you're just getting started performing live, you probably don't have an extensive list of contacts in the local press. The venue booker will often have a list ready to send to bands who are touring from out of town, but they can just as easily send that list to you too. It normally contains email and/or phone numbers for local music journalists, editors, bloggers, podcasters, radio show hosts, and more.

3. Contact the press — You want to make sure that your gig is listed in all the local concert calendars, but you also want to see if you can get other kinds of coverage: show previews in the newspaper, interviews on blogs, a spotlight on a locally focused radio show, etc. If you contact them 2-3 months in advance of your show, you'll greatly increase your chances of getting some media attention. You'll also have an easier time getting big exposure in the press by following this simple advice about quality press shots.

For a list of local media people that'd be interested in covering your music, and some tips on how to get in touch with them, check out "How to get the media's attention."

4. Create a concert poster — Yes, concert posters still matter, even in the Internet age. In fact, the Internet has given a second life to the art form. Here's an article about why you should create concert posters, how to create them, and what to do with them once they're made.

Send the poster to the other bands on the bill and to the venue (in case they want to use it in their online of offline promotion). If the file is large, upload it to a cloud-storage site like DropBox and share it from there. Otherwise, just send as an email attachment.

5. Put up posters around town — To be honest, blanketing the neighborhood in posters won't guarantee a big audience for your show. But it does do two things: gives you a start on visual branding, which will help with name recognition later on; and reinforces in the minds of people who've already considered going to your show that this is an event they won't want to miss. Just be sure to follow any local laws regarding hanging posters/fliers in public places. If you can't put them on telephone polls, ask the staff about bulletin board or window space in coffee shops, music stores, etc.

6. Use your poster online — It's time to put that poster on your website, in a blog post about your upcoming show, in a photo gallery for show posters, and on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or whatever other social media platforms you use.

7. Create a Facebook event — Despite the declining popularity of Facebook amongst musicians, Facebook Events are still one of your best promotion tools. Create an event and use elements of your show poster for the header image; then invite all your Facebook friends that live within an hour or two of the concert venue. Be sure to share admin privileges with the other bands on the bill. Also, a single Facebook Event for the night is always preferable to each band creating their own separate Facebook events; it keeps things simple and helps you build momentum and buzz by cross-promoting to one another's fans.

For more information on how to set up an effective Facebook Event, check out "Use Facebook Events to get more people to your next show."

8. Send out an email — If you're a brand new band, you might not've built your email list yet, but go ahead and have your band members compile a list of all the email contacts for people they know that might want to come to the show. Start there! Send those folks an announcement about the show, tell them how psyched you are, and that you really hope they'll attend.

9. Tell all your family and friends — Despite your best efforts, the majority of your audience for your first show will probably be folks you already know. Instead of getting discouraged, use this to your advantage; get as many people out as you can. Tell them that it's really important to have a good crowd for your first show in order to prove to the other bands and the venue that you're worth working with again in the future.

Start with your close family and friends; but don't forget to talk your show up to co-workers, players on your softball team, church members, etc.

10. Give away a few spots on your guest list — People love contests and prizes. In the weeks leading up to your show, do a handful of social media or email giveaways for free entrance to your show. The winners will be thrilled, and you'll have multiple chances to remind your online network about the show in an exciting way.

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What else are you going to do to promote and get people out to your next show? Let us know in the comments below.

Chris Robley's Author Bio

How To Promote A Blog Post On StumbleUpon - Ghost Blog Writers

Posted: 05 Aug 2014 08:00 AM PDT

How To Promote A Blog Post On StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon Blog Traffic StumbleUpon can be one of the biggest sources of traffic to your blog.

For my personal site, Country Music Life, StumbleUpon is the #2 traffic referrer (after organic search mostly from Google).

CML gets about 1,500 pageviews per day with each visitor averaging just over two views.

It's a pretty good sized blog for being just a person site about country music. But it does well and has lots of sources of traffic. So I think it's very interesting that StumbleUpon is right up there on the referrer list. It's worth paying attention to if you have a blog and even if you have a business blog.

Here are the steps you can take right now to get more traffic to your blog from StumbleUpon.

Step 1. Find Content That Does Well On StumbleUpon

To succeed on StumbleUpon you'll likely need visuals and/or list formats.

It's interesting when I look at the posts that do well from CML on StumbleUpon. Not all posts do well. The ones that seem to do the best are the one that are lists (Saddest Country Songs, Funniest Country Songs, etc.) or posts that mention the bigger country artists like Keith Urban and Tim McGraw.

Lists and big recognizable brands or topics have always been good types of content. They attract mass audiences and since SU is a discovery engine, more people are going to like that type of content.

For your first step, use StumbleUpon. You'll be able to see a variety of pages from around the Internet. They'll be skewed toward your interests, but you'll start seeing trends of the type of posts or pages that SU feels you'll like.

You'll see the trends and it will probably include a lot of lists, images and things like that.

Text posts can do well, but you'll need a really interesting topic with a great title to pull people.

StumbleUpon works by giving users a new page. They'll decide within seconds if they want to look through the entire page. Photos are good. Lists are good (people can scan them) and catchy titles are a must.

Step 2. Find A Common Question Your Reader Has

For every piece of content we create we try to look for common questions that the target reader has. When you start with a question and aim to provide the best answer possible with the content it seems to be the most successful no matter what channel you're using to get traffic.

You probably know some of these questions already. Think about the conversations you've had with your customers. Think about the answers you've provided.

You can also look on industry forums. Look at popular industry websites in the comments sections. Find the most popular articles on the site and see what questions readers are asking in the comments.

From here you'll identify the big questions and from there you can plan to create content that will answer it. This sets you up for successful promotion including promotion on SU.

Step 3. Format Your Blog Post

We've talked about this a little bit already, but it's worth its own point.

Once you answer your question in the blog post, go back to the post. There is formatting to do. Here are the big things to do:

Break up paragraphs into shorter paragraphs. One or two lines are best.
Add headings. It makes it easy for people to read and scan.
Add images. They add visual context and catch attention.

These formatting tips are one of the reasons that lists seem to work well. Look at the posts you see when you're stumbling. You'll see similar formats.

Step 4. Share On SU With Appropriate Category And Tags

Pick one Category and about 3-5 appropriate Tags.

Publish your post and share it on SU. It's called "Add A Page" from your profile on SU.

Categories are big. You want to find the category that best fits the content. SU users setup their preferences so they see certain types of posts. You're looking for your target reader so take some time to find the best category. You can try this out with a few posts and if you're not getting any traffic then see if there is a different category that might work better.

Select 1 Category and 3-5 Tags.

Step 5. Make It Easy For People To Share Your Post On SU

Next, you want to encourage your visitors to share or like your post on StumbleUpon.

Add the SU badge to your blog posts. You could test it for a little while to see how much use it gets. If you're not getting a lot of use then it might be worth taking it down, but if it works it can really send a lot of traffic to your site.

(Optional) Step 6. Use StumbleUpon Paid Advertising

Finally, there is an advertising option with SU called Paid Discovery. I haven't used it for my posts opting for the organic traffic, but I have heard good things about PD and if you really want to drive traffic to a particular post this might be a better advertising option than others like AdWords and Facebook.

Conclusion

StumbleUpon has been a strong driver of traffic for my sites for years. It's consistent and it's proven over those years that things don't really change too much, which is good. You can count on it.

Follow the steps above and you'll be adding a good source of traffic to your blog that can lead to more discovery of your content and brand. In online marketing, that's the first step to signing on new clients.

Running a Blog to Promote Affiliate Products | Tips and Tricks HQ

Posted: 24 Apr 2014 12:00 AM PDT

Warning: the following information is for those that know that hard work generates reward, and for those that intend to provide value in the marketplace. If that's you, there are some nuggets in here for you, dive in!

There are numerous ways to generate traffic to promote affiliate products. In this article I would like discuss a free method which involves getting traffic from search engines (in the organic listings) and directing that traffic to affiliate offers from blog posts, pages, banners, and emails.

This is a follow up to this affiliate marketing intro article that discusses exactly what affiliate marketing is, and many of the best practices for affiliate marketing.

In the article linked above, you can also learn what NOT to do, which will save you a great deal of time by not making the same mistakes many affiliates have made before you. As a prime example, it's important that you don't just sign up and promote a giant selection of affiliate products. It will get very overwhelming and will be less fruitful, even for the more organized among us. Not to say that it can't be done, but I would suggest getting a solid background before attempting to expand your portfolio. My guess is you will actually make MORE money in a shorter time following this suggestion.

If you find a "pocket of people" or "niche" to serve, and you serve them well you can do very well for years to come. Sticking to a topic or niche that you are passionate about can amplify your efforts significantly. I have found though that many that are just entering the online world as an affiliate attempt to sell to that same niche… the "affiliate marketing," or "make money online" niche. That can and does prove valuable for many people but my personal recommendation is to crawl before you walk. If you have time to "test" before you "teach" then I say go for it, but if you intend to just parrot what others are saying and assume it's accurate, you might be doing an injustice to your niche, and yourself.

With that said, in this article I will bring you through a real world example that caters to the niche of people that are building a business online, just for the sake of learning. I will walk through the promotion of a product here on Tips and Tricks for this demonstration.

Importance of a Tightly Focused Blog Topic

When setting up a blog to promote affiliate products it's a great idea to create a tightly focused blog. Not to say that you can't do well by having a general blog, but in my experience your efforts can be compounded when sticking to a very very tightly focused topic.

When search engines for example, sense an underlying theme about your blog, you will begin to see more traffic for terms that you haven't even targeted only because it is clear what your web site is about. In the example for those that want to generate an income online, or expand their business online, you can discuss general topics and have different categories like SEO, Blogging, Media Buys, Pay Per Click, Traffic Generation, Affiliate Marketing, Membership Sites, and so on. And that can do very well in the long term. Or you can pick one of those topics, drill down even deeper into it and build a site just around that.

Now, once you narrow down on a very tight topic you can start getting very targeted, buying traffic to your blog when done correctly. Search engines will reward you with more traffic that you didn't have to chase, and visitors will turn into customers faster when the site caters to their very specific needs.

Getting Free Organic Traffic From Search Engines

The way in which you get traffic is by paying attention to how you formulate the content that you write. I know there is a lot of chatter right now about "fresh," even "daily" content and I even speak on that myself on occasion. But the truth is that quality is more important than quantity. Now, when you can deliver quality in great quantity, naturally that can be advantageous to you. But spend a week on a post if necessary, you are your own boss after all, so create your own deadlines.

Pay attention to the best practices for search engine optimized content, as well as the behind the scenes factors that affect social sharing. Here is a brief overview of what to consider for each piece of content that you write:

a) Consider the phrases that the people in your niche are typing into the search engines. Make sure to write content that is optimized for one or more of those keyphrases. To keep the process quick and simple I use Google or YouTube Suggest to see what potential longtails are being searched. I pick one main one and sometimes a secondary one and write my content.

I'll use the exact phrase in the title of my post and that's as far as I often go in the "manual" sense. I think that when you write naturally after that you are bound to hit on some key terms and phrases without it seeming faked or shoehorned in. I may use a secondary phrase or two as subheadings as well, but that's generally it.

However, if you follow along with the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress some of the suggestions for SEO is to: have your targeted keyword in the title of the post (which usually places it automatically in the URL and title tag as well), include the phrase in the first paragraph, and include it in the copy as well, perhaps in a subheading. Also, for what it's worth, including it in the meta description can help but often that description isn't used in the SERPS anymore. More often the snippet is derived dynamically by pulling in a section of the content based on the search term used. But the meta description still has a place, sometimes in social sharing.

b) Keep the copy relevant and focused. Since it is a blog, allowing your personality to shine through is often very beneficial. Create lots of whitespace to make the article more easily readable. Sometimes break up the text with relevant images.

Don't pay too much attention to the number of words. I think it's important that the post is as long or as short as it needs to be to provide the answer to the initial query.

c) Consider the underlying HTML. It's important that the title is wrapped in H1 tags. Subheadings should use H2 or H3 tags. Also including the correct Open Graph, Twitter, Meta, and Schema.org markup "behind the scenes" can make a big difference. All of these factors affect how the "snippet" or "summary" of your content appears when shared or displayed on Google, Facebook, Bing, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, etc.

Real World Example of How to Run the Blog

There are a few products in the Tips and Tricks store worth promoting as an affiliate. There is the WP eStore plugin, WP eMember plugin, and WP Affiliate Platform. If I was to build a blog to promote one or more of those products I might consider first catering to a niche that wants to "get started." That would take WP Affiliate Platform off the table, at least for now. That could be suggested to the customers on my list or that are part of my membership site down the road.

Since I am just thinking of this as I write, I am going to make a decision and choose the WP eMember plugin to promote. Therefore my niche will be people that want to launch their own membership site. I might focus more on those that do not already have or may not already know about WordPress. I can still help the others, but I think I will structure my content around those people that know they want to build a membership site, but need the next logical steps.

Now, the first thing I'm going to want to do is buy the WP eMember plugin myself, because frankly, how can I behave congruently if I haven't used it personally? I can't. Also, having a membership site will be part of my strategy. You see, I want to offer a tightly focused web site and only answer questions that my target audience is after before they buy. I can then asnwer all of the questions that they want after their purchase within my membership site.

The content in the membership site might be: how to buy a domain name, how to buy hosting, how to setup WordPress, how to keep WordPress secure, how to make WordPress fast, how to setup WP eMember, and on and on getting very specific eventually on how to use WP eMember. I can record videos for this very easily (as I build my own site) using Screencast-o-matic (less than $20 per year last I checked) and provide the videos in my membership site, separated from my blog, so as not to "dilute" the subject matter of my blog.

At the same time I will have built a very valuable resource for my audience. I can put a yearly price tag of say $97 on it, for those who come "off the street" but offer a free bonus valued at $97 to those who buy through my T&T affiliate link. Picking up what I'm laying down here? Those members are also customers, and are also going to be on my list (because the WP eMember plugin ties in with the API's for 3rd party newsletter companies like AWeber, MailChimp, etc). I can tell them all about WP eStore and/or the WP Affiliate Platform later on.

In This Real World Scenario, What Might I Blog About?

Well, now that my membership site is up and I filled it with content by filming myself as I built it, I now am in posession of a very valuable asset, not to mention real experience with the product that I am promoting. I am already steps ahead of the average affiliate.

And now that I have a blog setup to promote WP eStore, what will I write about? Now, as I stated above I would look to keyword tools and Google/YouTube suggest, but I would also put myself in the shoes of the potential buyer. The first thing that I would do is write a review. And who is more qualified to write a review than the guy or gal who used the product? I know that people like to see comparison reviews but we will focus on what the plugin CAN and WILL do for the user. And if that satisifes their needs, and the fact that they are getting the free training, and great support at T&T, why wouldn't they buy? At that point, competing products are no longer relevant.

Don't forget the Schema.org markup when doing the review to help it stand out in the search engines. Target {Product Name} + Review but also look for a long tail in Google Suggest that doesn't have results in the top 10 where other web pages are using that phrase in their titles.

After brainstorming briefly then going to Google.com and initiating some queries, I found some topics that I can consider writing posts about. Now I didn't go as far to see if the top results have titles with those exact phrases, but here are some examples:

1) Build a membership based website
2) Sell instructional videos online
3) Sell your training courses
4) Create your own paywall
5) I want to teach people how to cook

You get the idea.

Now for a domain I might go with something like: createapaywall.com to keep it generic enough to talk about "membership sites" in general, even though I will talk heavily about WP eMember. With that said, as you start getting search engine traffic you can start focusing posts around WP eMember terms and direct people to your membership site to get some "how to" videos.

Well that's it for now. I hope that you were able to pull something from this and you can apply it to another niche that you are passionate about. Please mention in the comments if this was helpful to you and I will come back to write some follow ups based on your questions.

Apple TV bundles a $25 iTunes gift card with purchase to promote ...

Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:21 AM PDT

Posted by Evan Selleck on Aug 12, 2014 | No Comments »

Apple TV and $25 gift card iTunes Festival

Back in February of this year, the Cupertino-based company ran a quick promotion for anyone who was thinking about buying an Apple TV, sweetening the deal with a bundled $25 iTunes gift card. They're back at it again, this time with an eye towards the iTunes Festival in London.

Apple has begun running a limited time promotion for the Apple TV, beginning today, August 12, until September 30, that will net anyone who buys an Apple TV a $25 iTunes gift card. With the card, you'll be able to buy anything within Apple's digital marketplace, including movies, music, and apps. However, you can't use the $25 to lower the price of any physical goods.

While the promotion in February was apparently just a way to get more eyeballs on the Apple TV in general, this time around Apple's geared the promotion towards the 2014 iTunes Festival, which is taking place in London starting on September 1, and going until September 30. It will have bands such as Maroon 5, 5 Seconds of Summer and Beck, among many others. With Apple TV, you'll be able to watch the Festival for free.

While many believed that Apple TV would be getting an upgrade at the end of 2014, it turns out that partner hesitation may be causing the set-top box revamp to be on hold until next year. In the meantime, though, set-top box owners can expect to see a tweaked user interface in the coming months, with thinner front and redesigned icons.

You can find a link to the Apple TV and gift card combo below. Do you plan on taking advantage of the deal?

[via Apple]

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Wednesday, 6 August 2014

The West should rethink its approach for promoting gay ... - LSE Blogs

The West should rethink its approach for promoting gay ... - LSE Blogs

The West should rethink its approach for promoting gay ... - LSE Blogs
How Fundamentalists Promote Atheism
How can publishers promote subscriber loyalty? | Econsultancy

The West should rethink its approach for promoting gay ... - LSE Blogs

Posted: 04 Aug 2014 11:30 PM PDT

How should Europe and the United States seek to promote gay rights across the world? Omar G. Encarnación writes that while the West has tended to adopt a model which seeks to 'shame' states that discriminate against homosexuals, in many cases this may be self-defeating and could even increase the prevalence of discrimination within the target country. Reasoning that strong democratic foundations are a prerequisite for gay rights, he argues that a better approach would be to focus on promoting democracy, civil society and the rule of law.

Given the many recent legal and political gay rights victories in the United States and across the European Union, most notably with respect to same-sex marriage, it is hardly surprising that promoting gay rights has emerged as a foreign policy objective for Western nations and a key programmatic priority for multilateral organisations such as the United Nations and the World Bank.

Credit: Guillaume Paumier (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

At least two compelling questions arise from this global push for gay rights by the West: what approaches are being designed in Washington and Europe's leading capitals for the global promotion of gay rights; and how are Western efforts to promote gay rights faring, especially in those places where the lives of homosexuals are most at risk? Both questions echo the prospect for unintended consequences arising from the concern that pushing onto the global stage the issue of homosexuality, an issue that remains the source of controversy even in Western societies, might in the end do more harm than good.

Thus far, the West's playbook of strategies for promoting gay rights looks quite familiar, since it mirrors past efforts by Western nations to promote the rights of other oppressed groups, such as women, throughout the developing world. First and foremost among these strategies is persuasion. At the heart of this effort is an attempt to "socialise" non-Western countries into how civilised nations behave, by encouraging them to embrace gay rights as a component of the international human rights regime. An exceptional opportunity for socialising the world about gay rights was presented by the signing of the 2011 United Nations Human Rights Commission Gay Rights Declaration, a landmark document that calls for the decriminalisation of homosexual behaviour around the world.

In a moving speech intended to rally the world community around the issue of gay rights, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton intoned: "Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights… no practice or tradition trumps the human rights that belong to all of us. And this holds true for inflicting violence against LGBT people, criminalising their status or behaviour, expelling them from their families and communities, or tacitly or explicitly accepting their killing." The speech pointedly echoed Clinton's widely praised 1995 Beijing speech at the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women, in which she famously argued that "women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights."

Persuasion has been accompanied by shaming and, ultimately, pressuring. Undoubtedly, the best example of this is the West's response to an anti-gay law enacted by Uganda last year, which criminalised homosexuality with tough jail sentences. The law stemmed from the infamous "kill-the-gays-bill," an odious piece of legislation debated by the Ugandan parliament in 2009 that called for the death penalty for anyone engaged in homosexual behaviour, and for jail sentences for people who failed to report to the police their gay friends and relatives.

U.S. President Barack Obama denounced the law as "a serious setback for anyone committed to freedom, justice, and human rights." British Prime Minister David Cameron threatened to cut-off all foreign aid to Uganda, a step already taken by Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and The Netherlands. The World Bank has put on hold all loans to Uganda pending a review of the country's gay rights record, while the European parliament has voted to deny visas to Ugandan politicians, and has recommended tough economic sanctions from the European Union that would put in jeopardy some 460 million euros channelled to Uganda every year.

What impact the West's push for gay rights is having is decidedly less clear. Some positive outcomes have come from the efforts made by Spain in Latin America, one of the first forays by any country into promoting gay rights as part of its diplomatic mission. On the footsteps of the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Spain in 2005 (the first for a Catholic-majority nation), Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (acting through Spanish NGOs active in Latin America) began to provide financial and tactical assistance to Latin American gay rights organisations, especially those fighting for "marriage equality." The campaign paid-off handsomely, especially in Argentina, which in 2010 became the first Latin American country to recognise same-sex marriage. Tellingly, Argentina's gay marriage bill is a copy of Spain's own gay marriage bill, and the same slogan anchored the successful campaign for marriage equality in both countries: "The same rights with the same name."

But the Spanish experience in Latin America is the exception rather than the rule, which is not altogether surprising. As I have argued elsewhere, the success of gay rights in Latin America owes more to internal conditions favouring the development of gay rights than to any external assistance received from the Spaniards. After adopting the Napoleonic Penal Code in the 19^th century, most Latin American nations decriminalised homosexuality, more than a century ahead of the U.S. and Britain. In recent years, the trend toward gay rights in Latin America has been intensified by the consolidation of democracy, the growing autonomy of the judicial branch, which has boldly ruled in favour of gay rights, especially in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia, a rising wave of secularism in what historically has been an overwhelmingly Catholic region, a thriving human rights culture, and the maturity of the local gay rights movement.

Indeed, the evidence from other parts of the developing world is downright disheartening. Across Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, where homosexuality remains a crime, in some cases punishable by death, local politicians have been quick to denounce the West's association between gay rights and human rights as "fictitious," by contending that the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not make any reference to the issue of sexual orientation. Hence they argue that in promoting the view of gay rights as human rights the West is actually "inventing" a new human rights norm. Citing this argument, Russia, China, the Vatican, and virtually the entire Muslim world opposed the UN's 2011 gay rights declaration.

Shaming and pressuring by the West is also proving to be counter-productive. "We would rather die of poverty than accept homosexuality," said Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity when addressing the threat of losing Western foreign aid. African leaders have also not been shy about calling out Western leaders, including Obama, for a perceived hypocrisy in the West's push for gay rights. During a 2013 trip to Senegal, Obama was reminded that he had only recently "evolved" on the issue of homosexuality, by coming around to embrace same-sex marriage, a point that directly questioned the American president's moral authority to lead the world on the issue of gay rights.

More worrisome yet, numerous media reports have linked the rise of homophobic legislation and anti-gay violence in Uganda, Malawi, and Nigeria, among other African countries, to the very attempt by the West to promote gay rights in those countries. For some African politicians, enacting harsh anti-gay legislation is the most effective way to thwart what they perceive as a new form of Western imperialism. Less apparent is the rich anecdotal evidence suggesting that the West's push for gay rights – especially in Africa – has harmed gay people by having destroyed, perhaps irreparably, a social environment that, while lacking in civil rights protections for gays, allowed them to exist without fearing for their lives and their livelihood.

All of the above should give pause to governments in the U.S. and Europe. While the cause of gay rights is a laudable one for Western nations to embrace, the prevailing strategies are in dire need of reconsideration. In my own work, I have called for an approach that privileges strengthening democracy, anchored on boosting the rule of law and the institutions of civil society, over promoting gay rights per se – whether by pushing countries into decriminalising homosexuality and enacting "gay" civil rights, such as laws banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and state recognition of same-sex relationships, or by punishing them for the absence of these rights.

My thinking is rooted in what we already know about the development of gay rights in the West. Gay rights cannot be divorced from the maturity of democracy itself. In fact, a strong democracy, one that embraces diversity in all of its forms, appears to be a prerequisite for the rise and persistence of gay rights. While gay rights are not found in every democracy, they are virtually non-existent in countries where democracy is either missing or is under attack. Fortunately for the West, it already has decades of experience in promoting democracy abroad.

Oddly enough, a glimpse of what strengthened democratic institutions might mean for the protection of gays from discrimination came just this week in Uganda, where a court invalidated the harsh anti-gay law enacted in 2013. While the court ruled on a technicality rather than on the merits of the case (it found that there was no parliamentary quorum to pass the law), the ruling nonetheless emboldened local gay and human rights activists and gave them a reason to oppose the law that had little to do with external pressure. Of course, this did not deter supporters of the law from attacking the court as a puppet of Western influence. "This ruling has nothing to do with the will of the people", said a prominent local cleric who had led marches in support of the law. "It has everything to do with pressure from Barack Obama and the homosexuals of Europe."

Please read our comments policy before commenting.

Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics. Feature image credit: Guillaume Paumier (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

Shortened URL for this post: http://bit.ly/UXvlod

_________________________________

About the author

Omar G. Encarnación – Bard College
Omar G. Encarnación is Professor of Political Studies at Bard College, New York, where he teaches comparative politics and Iberian and Latin American studies. He is the author of Latin America's Gay Rights Revolution, forthcoming from Oxford University Press.

How Fundamentalists Promote Atheism

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 06:23 AM PDT

The image below is a composite of a Christian response to the Ken Ham/Bill Nye debate, plus the scientific explanation of sunsets. It is frustrating that there are people who consider themselves Christians and yet seem to be making every effort to promote atheism. Why on Earth would anyone feel the need to choose between belief in God and belief that science can help us understand sunsets? Contrast this with John Farrell's recent piece for Forbes about medieval Christians who pioneered the quest to understand natural causes. Modern American fundamentalism is so far removed from historic Christianity, and yet it has duped many into believing the opposite, that it is its sole faithful representative.

See also Jonny Scaramanga's recent interview on how his Christian education caused him to lose his faith.

How can publishers promote subscriber loyalty? | Econsultancy

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 02:46 AM PDT

Running a profitable publishing business online is no easy task, and success has a lot to do with retaining subscribers.

One way of achieving this is through loyalty programmes, which provide extra value for subscribers, and can even make them valuable advocates for the brand.

I've been asking Nina Gilbert, Account Director at Clock, about the strategies publishers can use to keep customers loyal and reduce subscriber churn...

Can you tell me a little about Clock and your typical clients?

We work with a number of top publishing organisations and have been responsible for helping some of them establish and grow their loyalty presence.

In the last year we were involved in developing major publisher loyalty schemes for News UK, with the Sun Perks loyalty programme which was created to support the new Sun online paywall, as well as a complete redesign on the Times+ subscriber loyalty platform which we originally built in 2008.

We've seen loyalty programmes used with some success by retailers, but how can this be applied to media brands?

In much the same way as retailers want to hold on to their valuable customers, media brands realise that customer defection is a huge risk to their future success.

Given the 'always on' nature of the web: product information, reviews, and access to competitors are all just a click away from a customer's fingertips, so it's more vital than ever for publishers to hang on to their valuable audience.

Additionally, persistent defection means that former customers, people convinced the company offers inferior value, will eventually outnumber the company's loyal advocates and dominate the collective voice of the marketplace, which is then extremely difficult to turn back to their advantage.

Therefore integrating a loyalty rewards programme into the customer experience can be a powerful counterforce to the challenges publishers are facing today.

Publishers are actually very well placed to blend value and experience, to create or enhance audience loyalty and build a sustainable long-term community around their brands and through their various channels.

With so much free media online, how do you persuade customers to subscribe? Is it necessary to find a particular niche as with FT.com, or even Econsultancy?

The incredible explosion in media brands, delivery platforms and competing information sources, and channels through which to consume information, means it is easier than ever for customers to move freely off to competitors to find other content.

This has had a clear impact on media brand relationships with their audience, and it's where they have seen a decline in customer loyalty.

If they find a niche in the market then publishers should work hard to reinforce value with your subscribers.

Customer loyalty is about motivation and behaviour, not just marketing, finance or product development. It is about human values and principles so work out what will help ensure your customers' retention and apply it.

Is it necessary to offer something above and beyond the usual content to attract subscribers?

Times+ can be a powerful tool to attract subscribers and the acquisition rates have certainly increased dramatically, almost quadrupling since the loyalty platform was created.

However, it is as a retention tool that Times+ is so successful. Some research shows it can cost six to seven times more to acquire a new customer than keep an old one.

Therefore, outpacing your competition depends upon retaining loyalty amongst the customers you have worked hard to acquire.

The incentives that have really added value were those that used the brand's key assets: trusted journalism, exclusive access to money can't buy events, and quality, thought-provoking content.

Ultimately, the combination of carefully selected offers, tailored promotions and exclusive experiences are designed to make the loyalty platform a habitual and indispensable part of users' daily lives.

How successful has Times+ been at retaining subscribers?

By generating an exceptional customer experience, not only through great journalism, but also through carefully tailored offers to suit the audience needs, The Times has really understood the value of its subscribers, which has meant it has become extremely successful in retaining them.

Times+ has a positive effect on churn rate of subscribers and its users are also twice as likely to recommend The Times and The Sunday Times.

How does user experience affect customer loyalty?

User experience is key to a successful loyalty programme. Loyalty elements within the media experience must become an integral part of the consumer's experience of the brand.

Access must be enjoyable and in keeping with the brand experience but content must be relevant and targeted to the audience demographic. Interaction with promotions and offers should become a seamless part of their daily lives.

The design flow of publishing loyalty programmes is also vital to success. It must be a believable extension of the brand and integrate naturally but it should have a distinct brand identity of its own, a re-interpretation of the core brand.

The language and tone of voice has to reflect editorial values and finally, the editorial team should (when appropriate) buy into and participate with the loyalty brand.

What are the best strategies for reducing subscriber churn?

Know who your customers are, what they want and how they feel.

Doing business with people you trust and understand is predictable and efficient, which in turn makes them more profitable, than doing business with those you don't know.Understand what is likely to make them churn and what are the barriers to exit, and then try to change this behaviour by offering them more of what they do want.

Some key areas to optimise the performance of loyalty programmes in publishing include data management, creating a community, user experience, design and content.

Ultimately, humans are complex beings, their buying behaviour can be hard to pin down and with the concept of loyalty being so tied to emotion, we need to understand its complexities to better understand our businesses.

Publishers must try to manage an effective cycle of loyalty, learning and value creation. Since the only way a business can retain customer loyalty is by delivering superior value, high loyalty is a sure sign of solid value creation.

Creating value for customers is the foundation of every successful business system, and value in effect builds loyalty, and loyalty in turn builds growth, profit, and more value.

Monday, 4 August 2014

The 5 Best Ways to Promote Your Forms on Social ... - Formstack Blog

The 5 Best Ways to Promote Your Forms on Social ... - Formstack Blog

The 5 Best Ways to Promote Your Forms on Social ... - Formstack Blog
How To Promote Your Blog And Make Money Blogging With Sverve ...
Ros-Lehtinen: USAID programs promote democracy ... - Babalu Blog
Group Blog: Book Review: Katie Davis' How to Promote Your ...
Burning Blog » Blog Archive » Promote Your Theme Camp and ...
3 Steps to Promote Your Blog on Pinterest and Facebook | Social ...

The 5 Best Ways to Promote Your Forms on Social ... - Formstack Blog

Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:02 PM PDT

Of course you're promoting your forms on social media. But after you share the link on Facebook and Twitter, do you find yourself just waiting for the onslaught of responses?

If you're in the mood to amp up your form promotion, here are some tips and tricks to dazzle on social media:

Share at the perfect moment
First of all, make sure you're promoting your form at the opportune time. Across form types, 1 o'clock is the most popular hour for form submissions. Engagement on Facebook is up on Thursdays and Fridays. Check out our Form Conversion Report for more detailed promotion times based on form type and social channel.

Embed your form on Facebook
Don't babysit your form. Posts on social media quickly lose visibility in the crowded online space. Formstack offers the ability to embed your form on your company's page. Keep your form prominent and visible to anyone who visits your page, and increase your likelihood of converting Facebook fans. They won't even need to leave Facebook to fill out your forms!

Rock the Twittersphere
Leverage our Twitter Integration to link tweets to form submissions. Automatically send a tweet to interact with your followers. Request a Twitter handle, and you can tag respondents to generate social proof for completing your form. Once they receive a notification, you can get extended reach if they retweet or share.

Begin with sharing in mind
Rather than just reposting the same form over and over on social media, think creatively. Perhaps on an event registration form, include a question asking how far attendees will travel. You can share notable responses as a fun way to promote your form the next time.

Or add a file upload field to an order form for cat products. Let customers upload photos of their feline friends. Post these on Instagram or Facebook next time you share your form. However, always let users know you may share their responses or photos on social media.

Ask your followers to share
Posts with phrases like "Please RT" and "Please Help" receive higher than average sharing rates (Source). If it makes sense with your campaign, consider asking your audience to help you promote your form. After all, the worst they can say is 'no'!

Take your form promotion to the next level on social media. Have you tried any of these tips? What has worked for you? Let us know in the comments!

About the Author

Eva (@evachristine09) is the public relations specialist at Formstack. She loves her Anderson University Ravens and the Public Relations Society of America. When she's not bragging about the awesome ways to use Formstack, you can find her taking too many pictures of her cat or trying to avoid cooking.

How To Promote Your Blog And Make Money Blogging With Sverve ...

Posted: 02 Aug 2014 01:49 AM PDT

Sverve is a nice website where bloggers can promote their blog posts, connect with like minded people and also make money online by paid blogging.

How bloggers can get started promoting their blog posts on Sverve?

Becoming a member is easy and you can become one even if your blog is relatively new. If you are a blogger looking to get visitors to his blog and make money you should sign up as "influencer". To sign up you will need a valid email address or you can simply sign up through Facebook or Twitter.

Next step is to create your profile and provide details about your blog and social media following. You will also need to add areas of influence which you can add maximum of five. If your blog is about blogging, making money online, affiliate marketing than you should add those or any other five that may apply to your blog.

Each of the areas of influence that you have listed will have a score attached to it. The score of each of these areas of influence can change over time by either rising of decreasing and the thing that can contribute to their rise or fall are the endorsements you receive from other members. If let's say other members endorse your expertise on certain area you write about then your score for that particular area will go up. Sverve influence along with social and blog influence will determine the total score of your profile. Since higher score is better you should make effort other members to endorse you.

When you join Sverve your score in the beginning will be low. You can however increase your score by being active member. You can improve your score by following and endorsing other members. They will then in return endorse you and gradually that way you will increase your score.

Another tip on how to increase your score is to always share your new posts on Sverve. Sharing your blog posts is easy and you can share it with just a click once you publish it. If you have images in your post they will be shown on Sverve feed which can increase the click through rate on your links. Your score will increase when other members comment your posts or favorite them. Because of this you should share all your posts.

Making money on Sverve

Sverve also offer bloggers a way to make money. Bloggers can apply to Sverve campaigns that are posted by advertisers and earn reward for completing it. Bloggers aside from financial reward can get free products or other incentives from advertisers. To complete a campaign bloggers usually are required to review a product after which they will be get their reward. There are always many campaigns available that bloggers can apply to. To see a list of campaigns all that is necessary is to click on a "Campaigns" tab and apply to those who interest them. Advertisers will review all applicants and select those that meet their requirements.

Ros-Lehtinen: USAID programs promote democracy ... - Babalu Blog

Posted: 04 Aug 2014 05:56 AM PDT

From the offices of U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL):

Ros-Lehtinen

USAID Programs Seek to Promote Democracy in Cuba While Castro Regime Continues to Deny Cuban People Basic Human Rights, Says Ros-Lehtinen

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, made the following statement regarding recent news reports of USAID programs designed to promote democracy in Cuba.

Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

"The fact that USAID is using measures to promote democracy in Cuba is no secret. We must continue to pressure the Castro regime and support the Cuban people, who are oppressed on a daily basis. I wish the press would dedicate more of their time to reporting the rampant human rights abuses in Cuba perpetrated by the Castro regime instead of manipulating the coverage of programs promoting freedom of expression and justice on the island."

Group Blog: Book Review: Katie Davis' How to Promote Your ...

Posted: 24 Jul 2014 10:30 PM PDT

How to Promote Your Children's Book: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets to Create a Bestseller

by Katie Davis

A Book Review by Tina Cho

This book is a must-read for every pre-published and published author. Katie doesn't leave one stone unturned. She covers it all, very up-to-date on marketing your book and getting yourself out there in a non-selfish way. I feel like I just took a children's book marketing 101 class and can't wait to implement it all.

According to Katie, as soon as your manuscript leaves your hands into an editor's hands, you should begin planning how you'll promote your book. Katie discusses all sorts of creative options from a live book launch party to a virtual one of blogs.

She also explains how to use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other sites to get your book's presence out there. I learned so much about SEO (search engine optimization) and how to use key words to drive people to my site. She discusses web site design and how to work with a designer, why you should send out e-newsletters, make videos, book trailers, and teacher guides. She discusses school visits, Skype visits, and book festivals.

Each chapter is full of instruction, recent examples of successful authors, and Internet links to help understand all the ways to promote your book. I like how the end of each chapter has a "take action" page with a list of things to try.

So if you'll excuse me, I need to go plan on how to market my upcoming book!

Children's author/illustrator Katie Davis has published nine books and appears monthly on Good Morning, Connecticut, recommending great books for kids. She produces Brain Burps About Books, a podcast about kidlit, a blog and regular newsletter.

Burning Blog » Blog Archive » Promote Your Theme Camp and ...

Posted: 29 Jul 2014 12:58 PM PDT

Posted by Burning Man

BMIR, people!

BMIR, Burning Man Information Radio (94.5FM on the playa and on the internet), is the best way to let the citizens of Black Rock City know about your theme camp, art installation or events. Now that you know your playa address it's the perfect time to create a promo telling every one all about it. BMIR would LOVE to have them in hand before they leave for the playa so they can start running them on the air ASAP.

BMIR is going to start running theme camp and event promo announcements as soon as you can get them to us. You can tune in to BMIR via the internet and hear about what the playa has in store for you. Many people now stream BMIR on their smartphones during their drive to the playa. We'll be live from the playa sometime on Wednesday 8/20 — listen in to find out about the weather, late breaking news you need to know, and info on how the city is coming together.

If someone in your camp is an audio whiz they can send us your promos at any time. Not sure how to record something ahead of time? No worries! J Kanizzle, BMIR's Co-Station Manager, has put together this handy tutorial that shows you how to download and configure Audacity, a free audio recording program. The tutorial then takes you through the basics of creating your very own announcement.

Once you have something recorded, or if you have any questions, please email BMIR at BMIR here: BMIR (at) Burningman.com before August 20.

Remember to let people know the basics: what, where and when. Please keep announcements under 60 seconds and send them to us in .mp3 format at 320kbps. Please don't send us 10 announcements for all of your individual events. Most camps send one announcement.

Can't make the August 20 deadline? You can also put your announcements on a CD or flash drive and hand deliver them to BMIR on the playa. BMIR is located in Center Camp, 1:15 and Rod's Road, right between Ranger HQ and The Earth Guardians.

Now if you just can't pull this off, no worries. The BMIR Production Studio will be open every day from 12N to 4PM during the event. You can come in and we will help you record an announcement right on the playa.

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3 Steps to Promote Your Blog on Pinterest and Facebook | Social ...

Posted: 19 May 2014 02:00 AM PDT

By Beth Hayden
Published May 19, 2014

Would you like to drive more traffic to your blog from Facebook or Pinterest?

Are you optimizing your blog posts for social shares?

Using your blog, Pinterest and Facebook together can amplify your social media signal tenfold.

In this article I'll show you how pin-worthy images and an enhanced Facebook update can increase your repins and blog traffic.

Getting the Formula Right

If you want to bump up your shares and repins, you need four things: useful content; a headline that grabs people's attention; an attractive, pinnable image; and a cross-posting plan.

In the Facebook update below, Peg Fitzpatrick uses this formula. She wrote an enhanced Facebook update that included an excerpt of her blog post, a pinnable image (including her headline) and links to both the post and the pin.

A combination of good content, a pinnable image and cross-linking can get you more repins.

With just one Facebook post, Peg is driving visitors to her blog post, pulling in more Pinterest followers and encouraging repins. Below you'll see how you can recreate this success for your own content.

Just a quick note about this article: There are multiple articles on writing a good post and crafting catchy headlines so I won't cover that here. Instead I'm going to help you create a cross-posting strategy that delivers traffic, repins and followers. Let's get started!

#1: Create Pinnable Images

Much of your cross-posting success relies on the image you share.

Your goal is to entice people to click through and read your post when they see this image, so make it attractive and interesting.

It should include an eye-catching picture or graphic and the headline of your post in a large, easy-to-read font. You can also add a small watermark with your business name (or domain name).

You can create a pinnable image with easy-to-use online photo editors like PicMonkey, iPiccy and Canva. Make your new image at least 400 pixels wide.

Make your shareable image eye-catching.

When you insert your new image into your blog post, place it in the upper half of the post so visitors see it right away—the closer to the top, the better.

#2: Start the Repinning Process

The first place you want to share your post is Pinterest. To make it easier to pin your content (and others' too) add the Pinterest "Pin It" bookmarklet to your browser's toolbar.

By sharing your article on Pinterest first, you can get your new post in front of your Pinterest followers and start the repinning process.

When you pin your article, choose the board that's the best fit—or has the most followers or repins—and pin your post's image (making sure it links back to the original blog post, of course).

Each pin on Pinterest has its own URL. When you've pinned your blog article, go ahead and copy the URL of your new pin. You're going to need it in a minute when you cross-post to Facebook.

Copy your pin's unique URL.

Pinning has a domino effect: As your pin is repinned by your fans, their Pinterest followers see it and may repin it as well. That can result in a lot of traffic back to your blog where visitors can read more content, sign up for your email list or buy a product you're selling.

#3: Create an Enhanced Facebook Post

Cross-posting both your blog post and pin URLs on Facebook is your secret weapon. Of course, you can't just post the links—no one would pay attention to that.

To get attention, repins, followers and traffic, you have to create an update with your pinnable image, a carefully chosen excerpt from your blog post and, of course, your post and pin URLs.

Your blog post excerpt makes up the main part of your update, so it should be compelling and interesting.

The goal here is to leave people wanting more so they'll click over to read your post or repin it to read later. You can use an excerpt, a quote or the opening lines of your blog post; whatever works for you and your audience.

Keep in mind that Facebook is finicky about carriage returns in their status updates. If you cut and paste text from your blog or WordPress, the spacing may be off in Facebook, making your update look sloppy.

To avoid that, copy your excerpt into Word or a text editor (or better yet, just write your post in Word or your text editor). Then copy the excerpt from your editor and paste it into your Facebook update.

At the bottom of your Facebook post text, add Read it now: on its own line and paste the URL of your original blog post (you can see how Peg did it in #1 of the image below).

Go to the next line and type Pin it for later: and paste the URL of your Pinterest pin (see #2 in the image below).

call to action links on facebook image post

Strong calls to action and links encourage repins and traffic.

When you're ready, click Post to make your enhanced update live on Facebook. You're done!

Conclusion

Looking for ways to promote your blog? Cross-posting your content on Pinterest and Facebook works because you're making it easy for your users. When you have a strong call to action (read it or pin it) and an easy way to complete the action (providing the links), people are more likely to follow through.

Include a pinnable image with a compelling description to make your social updates even more eye-catching, both on Pinterest and Facebook. That same image draws your established readers into your blog post.

You'll end up with more Pinterest followers and some awesome traffic for your blog.

What do you think? Have you used Facebook and Pinterest together to market your business? Do you have any advice to share? Share your thoughts and comments below.

Tags: beth hayden, blog image, blogging, facebook marketing, facebook update, image editor, pinnable image, pinterest content, pinterest marketing, pinterest tactic, social media tactic, visual content, visual content marketing, visual content strategy

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Planning and building

Marketing

Tuesday, 12 August 2014

Here's a checklist of simple things you can do to get the most people possible out to your show:

How To Promote A Blog Post On StumbleUpon

Step 1. Find Content That Does Well On StumbleUpon

Step 2. Find A Common Question Your Reader Has

Step 3. Format Your Blog Post

Step 4. Share On SU With Appropriate Category And Tags

Step 5. Make It Easy For People To Share Your Post On SU

(Optional) Step 6. Use StumbleUpon Paid Advertising

Conclusion

Importance of a Tightly Focused Blog Topic

Getting Free Organic Traffic From Search Engines

Real World Example of How to Run the Blog

In This Real World Scenario, What Might I Blog About?

Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Related

Can you tell me a little about Clock and your typical clients?

We've seen loyalty programmes used with some success by retailers, but how can this be applied to media brands?

With so much free media online, how do you persuade customers to subscribe? Is it necessary to find a particular niche as with FT.com, or even Econsultancy?

Is it necessary to offer something above and beyond the usual content to attract subscribers?

How successful has Times+ been at retaining subscribers?

How does user experience affect customer loyalty?

What are the best strategies for reducing subscriber churn?

Monday, 4 August 2014

About the Author

Getting the Formula Right

#1: Create Pinnable Images

#2: Start the Repinning Process

#3: Create an Enhanced Facebook Post