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Blogging. Are you wondering if Tumblr could help your business? Are you unfamiliar with Tumblr and wondering how to get started? Do you want to let a new set of customers share your brand or product on this social platform? If so, keep reading as I reveal how to use Tumblr for your business. Why Tumblr? Tumblr is a blogging and social platform that houses more than 132 million blogs and is among the top 15 websites in the United States. It’s website explains, “Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. According to Quantcast, Tumblr received over 5.5 billion page views in May 2013 alone. Tumblr is quickly growing in popularity. In this article I’ll show you how to get started using Tumblr in your online marketing strategy.

How to Make Your Blog Mobile-Friendly. Do you want more mobile subscribers and readers? Is your blog suitable for a mobile device? In 2012, mobile users spent 63% more time on their devices accessing mobile websites and apps and this is set to increase. In this article I’ll explore the importance of mobile for your blog and the different options available to support your blog on a mobile device.

Is Mobile Important for Your Blog? Yes! Analytics display details of how many people are accessing your website from a mobile device. Before you make an investment in this area, it’s useful to check your analytics to find out how many people access your blog from a mobile device. Most analytic programs will provide you with this information. If you use Google Analytics, under the Audience section, select Mobile > Overview.

Under Devices, you can see which mobile devices your visitors use. You can drill down to find out what mobile devices people are using to access your website. Do your sharing icons work on the mobile device? Advantages: Blog. Do you want to be a more successful blogger? Are you keeping up with the newest developments in blogging? Whether you are new to blogging or you have been blogging for years, you will find insight in this article. It covers 26 blogging essentials, in an A–Z tour of the blogosphere. Each one has a full explanation, along with a link to further reading in case you want to know more. Note: For simplicity’s sake, I assume you’re using WordPress as your blogging platform.

Many of these essentials, though, apply to other blogging platforms as well. #1: Akismet: Anti-Spam Plugin One problem that every blog faces is spam. Some hapless bloggers spend hours every month deleting a never-ending stream of spam. Akismet monitors millions of blogs and forums, watching the methods and tricks used by spammers in real time. 17 Ways to Grow Your Blog From Top Bloggers. Do you want to grow your blog? Are you looking for new ways to attract and retain more readers? We asked the finalists of our Top 10 Social Media Blogs contest for their best tips on how to grow your list of blog subscribers. Here are their best tips. I think you’ll agree there are some excellent ideas here. #1: Be Active in Other Communities First Here’s what Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation and the blog at Twist Image, recommends: “You’ll have no semblance of community unless you’re an active community member in other spaces.

Top 10 Social Media Blog Nomination: Laurel Mackenzie likes Mitch Joel's Six Pixels of Separation blog because "not only is his written content intelligent and thought-provoking, but his podcasts feature discussions on relevant topics with true industry thought leaders. " #2: Write About What You Love Here’s how Michael Brandvold grows subscribers on his blog: #3: Write Insanely Great Content “Blogging is not my full-time activity.

. #5: Offer Real Value. Top 10 Social Media Blogs: The 2012 Winners! Are you looking for some good blogs to read? Look no further! Our third-annual social media blog contest generated nearly 600 nominations (almost twice as many as last year’s contest). Our panel of social media experts carefully reviewed the nominees and finalists, analyzing the quality of their content, the frequency of posts and reader involvement (among other things). With that in mind, here are ten blogs that need to be at the top of your reading list. #1: Social Mouths Social Mouths, the brainchild of Francisco Rosales, provides deep and honest looks at social media marketing and trends that impact our industry. The site contains detailed posts with real-world examples, and addresses new and difficult topics. #2: ViralBlog ViralBlog provides a daily stream of social media trends and inspiration through case studies and other interesting articles.

The site has excellent content with useful tips and advice. #3: Jeff Bullas The site has excellent content with solid social media insights. 7 Ways to Increase Your Blog Visibility With Social Sharing. Are you looking to drive more traffic to your blog content? Social sharing is critical. But how can you make your content as shareable as possible?

Follow this process, and consider the following 7 tips. #1: Identify Your Most Popular Posts and Keywords Take stock of your current content. What topics are already popular with your audience? Look at your top content and keywords in Google Analytics. Examine what isn’t getting shared and start to think about how you can replicate the success of the proven winners. You can also discover your top shared content with social sharing plugins such as Shareaholic. #2: Track and Leverage Trends Know what is top-of-mind for readers. This is where all that “listen first” stuff you hear all the time comes into play. Here are some free tools that will make your listening efforts more efficient: LinkedIn Today—this is a great tool, especially for B2B bloggers.

Inserting yourself in the conversation depends on what unique things your company has to offer. Blogging a Top Focus for Marketers and Other Trends Shown in New Research. Do you ever wonder what tactics, tools and strategies other social media marketers are using? Regardless of how long you’ve been involved in social media, chances are you have some questions that you’d like answered. Questions such as, “What are the best social management tools?” Or “What are the best ways to engage my audience with social media?” These and many more questions were answered in the 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, which surveyed over 3000 marketers with the goal of understanding how they use social media to grow and promote their businesses.

Here are some interesting findings from the survey: #1: Marketers Want Most to Learn About Blogging When asked what social media platform they wanted most to master, 62% of marketers said blogging, putting it in first place slightly ahead of Google+. An important trend to consider is that 28% of marketers now have mobile-optimized blogs. Key Consideration: Here are more tips about blogging for business. Your Turn.

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Business Blog. 31 Must-Read Social Media Blog Posts. What were the best social media articles you read in the last 12 months? Did you find any particularly useful for your business? We asked our writers to share their favorite social media blog posts. Here are 31 blog posts worth exploration. #1: The 16 Most Important Social Media Updates of 2012 Kristi Hines This post includes some major updates to the top social media networks this year. Although it doesn’t mention the changes to LinkedIn professional profiles, it covers the main things businesses need to know about changes to their social media.

The 16 Most Important Social Media Updates of 2012. Kristi Hines, freelance writer, professional blogger and social media enthusiast. #2: Content Marketing Manifesto Leo Widrich If there’s any one piece of content that has truly transformed my thinking about blogging in 2012, it’s Rand Fishkin’s Content Marketing Manifesto. After coming across his slideshow, we went ahead and had a company meeting brainstorming it. Leo Widrich, co-founder of BufferApp. Blog Content. Do you want to be a more successful blogger? Are you keeping up with the newest developments in blogging? Whether you are new to blogging or you have been blogging for years, you will find insight in this article.

It covers 26 blogging essentials, in an A–Z tour of the blogosphere. Each one has a full explanation, along with a link to further reading in case you want to know more. Note: For simplicity’s sake, I assume you’re using WordPress as your blogging platform. Many of these essentials, though, apply to other blogging platforms as well. #1: Akismet: Anti-Spam Plugin One problem that every blog faces is spam. Some hapless bloggers spend hours every month deleting a never-ending stream of spam. Akismet monitors millions of blogs and forums, watching the methods and tricks used by spammers in real time. Top 10 Social Media Blogs, The 2013 Winners!

Are you looking for some good blogs to read? Look no further! Our fifth-annual social media blog contest generated over 750 nominations. Our panel of social media experts carefully reviewed the nominees and finalists, analyzing the quality of their content, the frequency of posts and reader involvement (among other things). With that in mind, here are 10 blogs that need to be at the top of your reading list. #1: Social Fresh Social Fresh, the brainchild of Jason Keath, provides quality social media content from a community of bloggers.

Social Fresh is an excellent blog with an engaging editorial calendar. #2: Boom Social Boom Social, where Kim Garst regularly shares useful and practical information that’s easy to read and understand. Boom Social has a vast audience, consistent content and solid information. #3: Jeff Bullas Jeff Bullas consistently provides quality content that generates good conversations on the topic of social media. #4: Danny Brown #5: Heidi Cohen #6: Jon Loomer #8: Razor Social. Blog Post. Does your business have a blog? Is it working for you? If you said “no,” I wouldn’t be surprised. But it doesn’t need to be that way. Keep reading to discover why many blogs fail and what you can do to boost your traffic and brand.

What’s Wrong With Blogs? This platform, if done properly, can generate tremendous traffic, leads and sales for your business that you otherwise would not have had. Unfortunately though, most businesses do not blog well. They refuse to tell consumers the answers to the questions they most want answered. I own a swimming pool company, and when the economy crashed in 2008, it was our blog that really saved our business. 5 Creative Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog Posts. Do you want more traffic to your blog? Are you struggling to catch the attention of more readers? Does this sound familiar? You write an amazing piece of content. You made sure to craft an attention-grabbing headline. Then you wait in breathless anticipation for your share count to skyrocket. Never fear, in this article you’ll find fresh ideas to generate buzz and get your posts noticed.

Use a two-pronged approach with a variety of platforms and different types of media to get your post shared. Promote Your Article Across a “Wider” Variety of Platforms Everyone is using Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn to promote their content. However, you get a competitive advantage when you share your content on smaller or less well-known networks. Here are some examples of smaller networks: Quora.com—A question/answer-based website founded by two former Facebook employees. Intel on Empire Avenue. Grab Viewer Interest With Different Types of Media #1: Use Dubbler to Give a Short Audio Introduction. Blogging Trends for 2012: What You Need to Know. 22 Top Blogging Tools Loved by the Pros.

Do you blog? Looking for exciting new tools to simplify the blogging experience? If so, keep reading. We decided to get the scoop on today’s hottest blogging tools. We asked 22 pros to share their favorite new finds. . #1: InboxQ Mitt Ray @MittRay A great blogging tool I discovered a few months ago is InboxQ. InboxQ lets you create campaigns with different keywords. You can work on these questions and come up with better blog topics in your area of specialty. When people type in questions with these keywords, I get an update. Use InboxQ to find the questions people are asking on Twitter.

Mitt Ray, founder of Social Marketing Writing, author. #2: Content Idea Generator Rich Brooks @TheRichBrooks The Content Idea Generator (v2) is a Google Doc that will automatically find news and related stories for your blog from a variety of sources… everything from Google News to Reddit, from tweets to public Facebook updates and more. You can get started here. Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media. #3: Diigo. How to Generate More Leads With Your Blog, 5 Tips. Does your business have a blog? Would you like your blog to bring in more leads for your business? You already know you need to create awesome blog content, but there’s more to business blogging than just that.

You also need to include a few tactics to help you bring in the leads you want. Here are some useful tactics to entice and capture leads used by top marketing business blogs! #1: Place Opt-In Forms Around Your Blog Content There are several areas on your blog that you can use to introduce visitors to calls to action such as free trials, free consultations or a simple mailing list opt-in form. Unbounce, a landing page software creator, encourages people to try their software or sign up for their mailing list in their sidebar and post footers.

Unbounce has lead generating calls to action in their sidebar. KISSmetrics, a web analytics software company, uses their blog footer along with the sidebar and ends of posts to encourage subscriptions and free trial signups. #4: Try Hello Bar. 29 Tools to Enhance Your Business Blog. Are you looking for cool blogging tools to enhance your business blog? The right mix of blogging plugins and widgets can make it easier to blog and also help you achieve your business goals. To help you keep up with the latest and greatest, we asked a group of blogging pros to share the favorite new tools they’ve recently discovered. Here are . Nichole Kelly Arsham Mechanic of Web Mechanix turned me on to Lucky Orange . I’ve been using it to watch fall-off and landing page activity. Lucky Orange tells you who is on your site and what they are doing. I’ve found it very helpful in figuring out how people are really using our site, so you can . Additionally, I love that you can .

How to Measure Social Media: A Step-By-Step Guide to Developing and Assessing Social Media ROI. Lisa Peyton The best new blogging tool I’ve found is Social Crawlytics . You can also across Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Delicious. There are many ways you can use this information. James Wedmore Mitt Ray. 5 Steps to Ensure Your WordPress Blog Is Secure. How to Improve Your Social Media Marketing With Blogging. 7 Tips for Making Your Blog a Content Marketing Magnet. Business Blogging. Nominate Your Favorite Social Media Blog: 4th Annual Top 10 Social Media Blog Contest. Top 10 Social Media Blogs: The 2011 Winners! How to Promote Your Blog With Social Media. Top 10 Social Media Blog Finalists 2013: This Week in Social Media. 21 Business Blogging Tips From the Pros. 26 Essentials for Blogging Success, What You Need to Know.