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Tuesday 31 March 2015

How To Generate Leads with Linkedin




The LinkedIn world has gone ad crazy. Not just with regular ads, but with a new kind of social media ad that companies are eating up like candy.
With millions upon millions of members, LinkedIn proved to be such an attractive platform that its ad revenues hovered around $550-million by the third quarter of 2014 – a 45% growth over the previous year and all because of a new type of sponsored ads.
If you’re not using this feature, it’s time you should. According to an article in the Digital Journal’s B2B Network, paid ads on social media generate 25% more conversions than organic posts, and for B2B there’s no better platform than LinkedIn.
What’s In It for You
These sponsored ads – or what LinkedIn likes to call Direct Sponsored Content Ads – take paid social media advertising to the next level by dropping your ads into targeted member’s newsfeeds, even if they don’t “follow” your company.
These ads allow you to sponsor your own content, and then target the ad to fit your niche market. That market could be companies in a region of the country, or particular industries. You can also use filters to target (or exclude) CEOs and CFOs, for example.
It’s a beautiful thing. Face it, people like to work with people they know. So if you’re offering a great new service, doesn’t it just make sense to make sure your concentric circles of influence are in the loop?
Buckle Down if You Want Results
Clearly there are thousands of users who have figured out precisely how to take advantage of sponsored ads. But I suspect there are many who still shy away, simply because the process is so painstaking.
Part of the issue is that LinkedIn assumes you have piles of information at your fingertips when you start creating your ad. In truth, you need to go in fully armed if you want a streamlined experience.
How to Generate Leads with LinkedIn
Make sure you take care of these four critical items first, before you get started.
  • Check your administration privileges. Only administrators to create ads. Check with your team to get added. Once that’s done, the option “Advertising” appear in your account settings under your profile icon on the right.
  • Determine a budget for your campaign. You will need this information in Step 5 of creating the ad. You can set a total budget for the entire campaign. Charges are only incurred when people click your ad.
  • Determine what item on your LinkedIn page you want to “sponsor”. If you already have your item visible on LinkedIn, great. If not, you’ll need to create one. The post should link to your website page. It could promote an event, blog post, or news release – something that would attract interest or position you as a thought leader. Don’t forget to include an image.
  • Create a campaign tracking URL. Google URL builder will generate a uniquely identified URL so you can accurately measure success of your ad
Build Your Ad with Context
Direct Sponsored ads are more connected to the personality of your company, rather than the profile of your company. The reason is simple: each of these ads is going to appear above a post that appears on your page. So it’s personal.
These ads won’t appear on your company page, so you don’t have to worry about them looking out of place. But what targeted clients will see is both the URL you want them to link to (which may or may not also be on your LinkedIn page) and your CTA (call to action) – so the two pieces need to work together.
  1. Forget about your logo. This is not the time for you to use your company logo as an image. Save that for the regular ads that are more akin to what used to go into the newspaper. What you want to do is send a signal to your targeted industry that you understand them.
  2. Choose a sensible image. If you’re trying to attract the construction industry, choose an image that lets them know you understand their business. Think: what do they do, rather than what do you do.
  3. Write like you talk. You have 160 characters to work with, so make it meaningful. You want to compel your reader to click, but B2Bs might want to avoid puns. You want to sound like an insider rather than an outsider.
  4. Run, Review, and Repeat. Just because you think you’re ad is great, doesn’t mean anyone else does. After a couple of days, review the performance. Tweak your intro message, your image and even the content of your URL until you get the results you want.
Overcome LinkedIn’s Obtuse Interface
With so much revenue streaming in to LinkedIn, the company clearly isn’t concerned with those who find themselves stumbling around in the dark due to their platform’s utter lack of user transparency.
I say this because I’m one of those old fogies – a member of the generation that didn’t grow up with a keyboard glued to her fingertips (although I’ve been clocked at 89 wpm).
I have no patience to fast forward through nebulous YouTube videos in search of what I need. And as for the training tools on LinkedIn’s own site, they’re frequently masqueraded sales pitches that scurry past salient details.
I feel your pain.
Make Your Media Buy Count
Not so long ago, sales jumped in where marketing feared to tread. Today, social media marketing does much of the heavy lifting, so that your sales team can focus on what it’s truly good at: closing the deal with that perfect client your marketing efforts have brought in.
Figuring out how to conquer marketing tools like LinkedIn will help you expand your reach, and deliver the leads that work precisely for you.
If you find yourself struggling with the finer details, check out this full step-by-step guide to launching your first Direct Sponsored Ad campaign, and feel free to share it with your team.
Before you know it, you’ll have direct sponsored ads working for you, and your “links” will really count for something.

Thursday 26 March 2015

8 Pinterest SEO Tips


1. Optimize Your Profile

For obvious reasons, make sure your business’ name is in the account name and username of your profile. Write a strong description about your business; include a good number of searchable keywords, but make sure it reads well.

2. Verify Your Website

Verified Pinterest accounts have more authority in Pinterest search. 

3. Install Pin It Buttons

Encouraging users to pin content from your website primes the Pinterest search pump. The more pins you get, the better your authority and the higher your posts will rank.

4. Write Strong Descriptions

Make sure to fill the descriptions with searchable keywords that describe the product or page. But avoid sounding spammy, because the descriptions serve as captions. They are rarely changed by Pinterest users sharing them, but are less likely to be repinned or clicked upon if they aren’t appealing to users. Also avoid using hashtags, which serve no Pinterest purpose. Too many hashtags and, your content might be demoted in Pinterest search.
You should also take the same approach with descriptions in the names of Pinterest boards. And when naming boards stick with straightforward, simple names.

5. Set Up Rich Pins

Rich Pins, are similar to Twitter Cards, They are a way to pull structured data from your site and display it on Pinterest. Depending on the type of Rich Pin, they can show price and availability for a product, ingredients for a recipe or address, phone number and a map for a place. Such content, ranks higher in Pinterest search. It’s also more visible in Pinterest users’ feeds and therefore has a higher click-through rate.

6. Check Your Links

Make sure Pinterest isn’t sending traffic to deleted or expired pages. 404 errors hurt a site’s search ranking and anger users. If you have a product that’s out of stock, add related items to the page.

7. Get More Followers

Add the follow button to your site, on as many pages as possible. Promote your Pinterest account on other social accounts. “The way it works is the more followers you have, the higher authority your profile and your boards will have and the more likely your Pins will rank highly in Pinterest search.

8. Find Your Niches

Although Pinterest is dominated by pins about fashion, travel and cooking, there are opportunities to target other topics. BuzzFeed has had great success with spreading its humor content, for instance. If your topic is competitive, look for niches that have a high volume of searches, but a lower volume of content, such as mother of the bride dresses in the wedding category.

Monday 23 March 2015

SEO STRATEGIES FOR THE MODERN WORLD


In an online world dominated by Pandas, Penguins, and other black-and-white animals, there is one savior that website owners who need a guide to traverse the ever-changing SEO landscape… this blog post about SEO for the modern world of Internet marketing!
Over the past several years, search engine optimization has evolved to meet the expectations of users and search engine developers to provide the best results possible. As website owners, you want your content to be at the top of those results, and the strategies to get your website to rank well for certain keywords have changed a lot since the release of Google’s first anti-link-spam algorithm changes in the early 2000s.
What follows is a list of SEO strategies and tactics that you should rule out, as well as some methods that will help your website’s authority in the search engines of 2015 and beyond!
peng-da
SEO Strategies to Avoid:
  • Anything listed in Google’s Link Schemes post on their webmaster forum. This includes paid links, article syndication, guest posting, automated link-placement tools, comment / forum spam, low quality social bookmarking sites, site-wide / footer links, anchor text manipulation (keyword-specific text), and a few others.
  • Keyword-specific domain names. The exact-match domain update which was launched back in September of 2012 has devalued many keyword-specific domain names that historically ranked well due to their chosen name, which isn’t necessarily the name of their brand. Establishing a distinct brand and product are your best options.
  • Microsites that are used to rank for specific terms / locations. Several years ago, it was commonplace to have several microsites that were created to rank for specific terms which would drive traffic (and new business) to the primary domain. It is much easier for search engines such as Google to determine the value of a site depending on the content provided there. More times than not, a microsite will have very thin content, plus it actually dilutes the authority of your main website. Microsites are also not cost-effective and lead to poor user experience, as the user has to take a few extra steps to navigate to a product page or the actual site that they wish to view. An alternative to microsites could be landing pages which rank well for specific locations and keywords, which will also benefit the primary site.
  • Hidden text & hidden links. It may seem obvious enough, but we still see tons of sites using these extremely outdated strategies to help their site rank well in the SERPs. Using similarly-colored text on a similarly-colored background, hiding links behind images in a small portion of a word (such as a hyphen or space) or completely off-screen, or setting the font size in the link to zero are all examples of hiding content / links to deceive the search engine. This not only leads to low authority in search engines, but all these hidden links / content can lead to poor user experience, which will increase the bounce-rate from your website.
  • Keyword stuffing. In years past, a webmaster could churn out articles that were stuffed to the brim with keywords, search engines would index the content, which in turn would help their site rank higher for those key terms. In today’s SEO landscape, keyword stuffing is easy for Google’s Panda algorithm to detect and devalue. Creation of quality content that can hopefully convert readers into customers is the best option if you want to stay ahead of the competition. Keyword stuffing is not limited to on-site content such as articles and product listings, but also found in title tags, meta descriptions, and other locations on your website that are used primarily by search engines.
  • Messy internal navigation links. Mostly this focuses on haphazard placement of internal links. Using content within your website is an excellent way to help users get to the product / service pages that you want them to visit. If you are creating “circles” with your internal links with no specific strategy in mind, stop now, and develop a distinct internal linking strategy to help guide your users to the pages that will increase your conversions and sales.
Fred Flintstone looking up outdated SEO strategies

SEO Strategies to Seek:
  • Responsive website design that works well on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Google has put heavy emphasis since early 2014 that responsive design for websites is going to be a primary ranking factor moving forward. Since then, mobile / tablet usability has come to the forefront of many webmasters’ minds, as more and more people use mobile devices to access websites. One of Google’s leading developers, Pete LePage, created a guide about responsive design, which you should definitely review if you want to integrate a responsive layout into your website.
  • Create new, unique content. Creating content has been blogged about hundreds, even thousands, of times. However, there are still websites out there that rely on stock images and descriptions for their products and/or services. On top of that, without a blog, how are users going to believe you are an authority in your niche? Developing a user-friendly, on-site blog can help bring people to your site and further solidifies your knowledge of your specific product or service.
  • Multimedia content including pictures, videos, and other mediums. The popularity of social websites and apps such as YouTube, SnapChat, and Pinterest has created a need for many online businesses to establish their presence and authority in these areas. These places are great for creating viral content that can reach potential customers that would not know of your website otherwise. Kissmetrics conducted a study on product video conversions that shows the benefits of creating multimedia content for your users, as many of the top search results are videos
  • Link building is NOT dead, it has evolved, and you must adapt with these changes. I don’t want to get into the specifics, but link building is not nearly as “useless” as many people in the search engine space would lead you to believe. Links are still a primary factor in Google’s ranking algorithm. That being said, the SEO strategies of years past are just that, in the past. If your SEO is still focusing on easily replicated linking tactics, fire them. They may be showing some good results in the short-term, but the long-term implications of link spam can land you in Google’s penalty box.
  • Use social media to interact with your users / customers. If you do not understand how to use Facebook, Twitter, or the other social media platforms, then you need to hire someone that can handle that for your website. In the ever-connected world in which we live, social media interaction is a must for any company. Although Google is not using social media signals in their search algorithm (see Matt Cutts’ video for a more detailed explanation), social media is a great place to give a human face to your website and company. Your customers will appreciate the interaction that you provide on social media.
future-of-seo

Did I miss any SEO strategies that webmasters need to integrate or separate from their existing Internet marketing methodology? Let me know your ideas in the comments below

Friday 20 March 2015

10 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT QUOTES TO MOTIVATE YOU!


We could all use a little motivation in our lives! Here are 10 powerful personal development quotes to help inspire you into taking more action to get the results that you deserve!
  1. As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.
    James Allen – As a Man Thinketh
    “As a Man Thinketh” was written by James Allen and published all the way back in 1902, yet so many of the principles are still great today! If you get a chance to read this book, you will immediately see the value in the wisdom that is shared, and how these principles have stood the test of time, literally, over a century and counting!
  2. It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.
    Andr̩ Gide РAutumn Leaves
    This quote helps to remind us not to be afraid of failure, or afraid of haters, as we embark upon our journey towards success. Along the way there will be many obstacles and setbacks, and many naysayers who will steal our dreams. But if you are chasing something that you truly love, it’s always worth it in the long run!
  3. So what is the difference between power thinking and positive thinking? The distinction is slight but profound. To me, people use positive thinking to pretend that everything is rosy, when they really believe that it’s not. With power thinking, we understand that everything is neutral, that nothing has meaning except for the meaning we give it, and that we are going to make up a story and give something it’s meaning.
    T Harv Eker – Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
    We have to be careful about the stories that we tell ourselves in our own mind. We can quickly create limiting beliefs that can hold us back from our true potential. Or we can create stories that build our confidence and belief and inspire us into action. What stories are YOU choosing to tell yourself?
  4. We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.
    Epictetus – Enchiridion
    So many people are quick to complain about their situation and their circumstances, as a way to justify their lack of actions to change it. But at the end of the day, WE are the ones that have the choice to respond to these things that happen to us. Are we choosing to view things as negative or positive? Are we choosing to embrace the challenges, or let them hold us back?
  5. Be the change you want to see in this world.
    Gandhi
    This quote is so powerful there is not much that I can say about it. Except to share it with the hope that we all truly step out of our comfort zone, and stop worrying about what others choose to do, and instead focus on the daily actions that we can lead by example with.
  6. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
    Mark Twain
    This quote really resonates with me because we all live with a little bit of hindsight and regret, that we do our best to shake off. The good news is that we are in control over what we choose to spend our time on in the future, so let’s spend it doing things that we will look back and be proud of ourselves and have amazing experiences and memories that we can share with others to inspire them!
  7. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
    Steve Jobs
    It’s so easy to get caught up in what everyone else wants us to do with our lives. But what about OUR passions? What about OUR dreams? What’s most important is trusting ourselves and the direction that we are compelled to go, because our heart and intuition know us best :)
  8. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
    Albert Einstein
    Risk is a major factor that can slow us down along our journey. We are creatures of habit, and we tend to fall into our routines and watch time just slip away from us. Sometimes is good to be spontaneous and try new things and live life to the fullest!
  9. The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.
    Oprah Winfrey
    What if we sat down and REALLY wrote out a list of our dreams and goals and desires, and then got PASSIONATE to spend every waking hour that we could, pursuing those dreams and goals…How amazing would that adventure be? How awesome would life be if there were no limitations to what you could do?
  10. In life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
    Tony Robbins
    I wanted to end with this quote, because reading quotes doesn’t do much for us, except make us feel good and help us with our belief. What we really need is to Take Massive Action and actually get out there and go after our dreams and goals to live life to the fullest. Are you ready to do whatever it takes to have the success that you deserve?

Wednesday 18 March 2015

5 Steps for Networking With Powerful People (It's Easier Than You Think)

Oprah Winfrey? Sheryl Sandberg? Richard Branson? The CEO of that hot new startup? Think about it for a minute: If you could connect with anyone, who would it be?
Fantasy isn’t just for football. As Steve Jobs advised: It’s time to stop dreaming big, and start dreaming bigger. Here are five simple steps you can put in motion today to network with people who can change your career—and maybe even your life.

Step 1: Be Generous

While networking can sound like a dirty business, it isn’t once you realize that it’s not a one-way street of asking for favors. Networking is about a spirit of generosity that you adopt before you expect it in others.
No matter where you are in your career, you have something to offer. So, first things first, make yourself available to people who seek your advice—interns, people trying to break into your field, whoever. (Remember: Your contact may be a high school senior now, but where will he be in five years? Time moves quickly, as do people’s careers.)
Next, connect people you know who may benefit from being in touch. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s just plain nice. People remember “nice,” and in turn, people will remember you. These sorts of emails take less than five minutes to write and kick-start your reputation as a generous connector (which also makes people more likely to facilitate an introduction for you).
And if that isn’t enough, research shows you’ll be happier! According to theJournal of Applied Psychology, networking benefits your salary, your career trajectory, and your feeling of satisfaction.

Step 2: Do Some Digging

You’d be astonished to discover the number of people you know who you don’trealize you know. By six degrees of separation, you probably do know Oprah! As it happens, I know Richard Branson (by two degrees).
It’s all about opening your mind to the possibilities. Your hairdresser, your classmate, or your high school sweetheart could be connected to your ultimate career role model. You don’t know who’s in their networks—and by extension who might be in your network—until you ask. It may even be your doctor or, in my case, a friend who’s a plastic surgeon. It was through him that I was introduced to the high-profile (and often-controversial) lawyer Gloria Allred. Within a month of that introduction, I was sitting in her famous conference room (the scene of many televised press conferences), and she was fantastic.
This approach applies to everyone, no matter who you are or how famous they are. This month’s issue of Vogue features the ultimate BFFs Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss. How did they meet? Makeup artists and hairdressers had been trying to introduce them for years, and finally a mutual friend did. Boom! Their friendship blossomed and marketing opportunities appeared (hello, cover of Vogue!).
So, be bold, look around, and ask—really, you probably know (someone who knows) Oprah. Or someone equally as inspiring and career-building.

Step 3: Set a Meeting

So, your friend agrees to make an introduction. Then what?
First and foremost, know what you want. I can tell you what you don’t want: You don’t want a job or a mentor. Well maybe you do, but not on your “first date.”
Instead, make your initial ask to get together. Acknowledge that you appreciate how crowded this person’s schedule is. Be clear, be specific, and be brief. Brief means realistic—show that you understand that making time to talk to you is not a priority. Lunch? Dinner? Forget it! Typically the best-case scenario is a 10-minute meeting somewhere convenient (perhaps his or her office). A phone call may be suggested, but press for an in-person meeting, because you’ll have a much better chance of making an impact.
If you don’t get a response, don’t take it personally. Remember, inboxes can be flooded with emails. I suggest respectfully chasing people down. To be clear, I don’t encourage stalking influencers, but you can stay on important people’s radar by changing up your approach. If you don’t hear from someone when you reach out directly, try following up with an assistant.
If you have an introduction, don’t give up! You’re already in the door.

Step 4: Be Prepared

Now that you have a meeting set up, your big day awaits—don’t squander it. Arm yourself with two things. First: knowledge. You should go into the meeting knowing everything you can about this person, including his career path, his company, even his family if it helps. It’s a matter of respect (because it would seem kind of strange and, yes, rude, to ask Jill Abramson why she’s not at The New York Timesanymore).
Moreover, you’ll be better equipped to get what you want out of the meeting—i.e., meaningful guidance—because you’ll be able to establish a more genuine connection. Research helps you deduce commonalities. Maybe you went to the same college or share the same interest in surfing. Mentioning these common interests are a way to forge bonds and demonstrate shared values, which makes people like you.
The second thing I always do is bring a gift. Nothing crazy—it shouldn’t come in a robin’s egg colored box. But it should be something appropriate and meaningful. The recipient will think of you when she looks at it (or gives it away—don’t take that personally). Your research can help here, too: Maybe he has a famous sweet tooth or a demonstrated interest in the environment? You could bring handcrafted chocolate from your favorite café or gourmet organic coffee that supports farmers in developing nations.
This sort of thoughtfulness goes a long way, and it’s an investment that’s guaranteed to pay dividends.

Step 5: Have a Goal

You’ve arrived! Once the conversation is underway, remember, you’re there to listen first, talk second. Don’t forget that!
Your meeting isn’t a stage for you to recite your resume and tell this influencer how outstanding you are. She’ll be more impressed if you actively listen. Show her you’re present and engaged and that you’re following along with what she’s saying. Ask questions—after all, you want her opinion.
Also, consider how you can help the person you’re meeting with. For example, I once met with a federal district court judge in her 70s who had broken through enough glass ceilings for a hundred women. But while her intellectual acumen was nothing short of spectacular, keeping up with modern technology was not her forté (no one can be a master of everything). We were discussing her side project, and I realized what she needed was an intern. Blogging? Photoshop? This was something best handled by a Millennial! Voilá, something quick and easy for me to help her with. And just like that, we had a reason to stay in touch and grow our friendship.


You can take actions right now to strengthen your network and increase your chances of being connected with the inspirational and influential. Take five minutes and introduce two friends. Reach out to someone you haven’t spoken to in a while. Get your networking on, and stay committed to it. You never know where it can lead you.

Monday 16 March 2015

Unleash The Power Within



TonyRobbinsThis past weekend, I participated in a four-day Tony Robbins seminar called Unleash the Power Within. It’s an intense, high-energy event focused on the breakthroughs that transform your business, health, and personal life. I participated with my wife Yukari Watanabe Scott.
I was not a speaker at UPW, so I was all in with the program! I’m struck by how well Tony’s ideas apply to those who are still doing the same old things. It’s about momentum. We need a catalyst to change, to do something different and UPW helps you to make lasting change. 
I was exposed to Tony’s ideas because I have the honor of speaking at each of his Business Mastery programs throughout 2014 and 2015. Over four days and four nights, Business Mastery is designed to arm your business with the strategies and psychology for thriving, and not just surviving, in any economy. If you’re interested, Business Mastery is being held in London and Melbourne in June 2015 and in Las Vegas in August 2015.

Learning how to do things differently

As I wrote on Friday: How's that working for you?, the reality is most people get stuck doing the same things again and again even when they stop being effective.
As Tony says, “All progress is about breaking patterns.”
It’s about understanding that fear is controlling you. When you are reluctant, instead of not starting at all or quitting before you give it a chance, manage your fear. Analyze your hesitancy. Why are you fearful?
To truly achieve greatness in the form of personal fulfillment, you must act. That might mean you are a pioneer, a rebel, an instigator. You may need to challenge the status quo and make a difference in the world.

Walking on fire to show you can move beyond your fears

Late at night on the first day of Unleash the Power within, after Tony’s been on stage for some ten hours without a break(!), participants can choose to walk on fire. My wife and I both did it and it was a remarkable experience we will remember forever.
Humans are not supposed to touch fire and here we all were, many thousands of us, screaming as we participated in this seemingly insane activity. It’s difficult to get your mind around walking on fire. Yet it is a remarkable way to teach that we can do anything if we overcome our fears and embrace something new.
"We are trained, almost innately, to be scared of fire and to keep away from it,” Tony says“That is why walking through a pathway of fire is a powerful expression of moving beyond one's fears. Walking over any hot surface does encompass some risks, but it has been done safely for centuries, and when administered properly can have enormous value as a reminder of what we are truly capable of. And again, it's not some magical mind-over-matter process. As I tell people in our events... anyone can walk on fire! Anyone can also be up at 5 a.m. excited about their life! Anyone can start their day with a killer workout! Anyone can find a way to master a craft and find meaning in their work! Anyone can have a passionate and loving relationship! Anyone can, but... few people do! What people can do is amazing... what they will do is too often disappointing.
My role, and the role of these seminars is to teach people for four days the tools and strategies for improving their bodies, relationships, finances, career and their life. The fire walk is just one portion of one evening where they get to apply their tools of overcoming fear and taking the first step."
Tony's ideas have helped me and my business and I thank him for that. I love my time with the community at his events and I always return home energised, refreshed, and ready to do more!
Your job is to overcome your fears, to challenge your beliefs, and to try something new. There’s no question you can achieve amazing things such as walking barefoot over 1,200 degree coals.

Thursday 12 March 2015

8 Ways to Improve Social Shares for Your Blog


Do you want more shares for your blog content?
Are you looking for tools to optimize blog posts for sharing?
When website visitors share your content, you get more views which leads to more visibility and engagement.
In this article I’ll share eight ways to optimize your blog content for sharing and tools to help you.
improve social shares for your blog
Discover 8 ways to improve social shares for your blog.

#1: Add Meta Data

Make things as easy as possible for those who want to share your blog content. Provide meta details as part of your post. Then, when someone shares your content to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+, it will be displayed in the best possible way on each channel.
Know.em has a tool for checking to see if pages on your site are optimized correctly for sharing on social media.
Enter in the website address of your blog post and it will give you a rating out of 100% for each of the social networks.
knowem app
Input your blog URL on Know.em to check if it’s optimized for all social networks. The goal is to get a 100% rating across all platforms.
Optimize your blog posts for SEO and social, so they show up properly when shared.

#2: Make Image Sharing Easy

Create engaging images for your posts and then encourage your website visitors to share them.
Among other functionalities, SumoMe allows you to put social sharing icons on images. Therefore, when someone hovers over an image in your blog post, they will see an option to share on Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter.
sumome sharable image
Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter sharing icons are displayed on the image, courtesy of SumoMe.
Click on any of the buttons, and the post is ready to share.
sumome post preview
Add SumoMe buttons to make images and their content easy to share.
This functionality makes it easy for others to share images to their social platforms.

#3: Optimize for Mobile

If you check your analytics, you’ll probably find that at least 20% of your traffic comes from a mobile device.
Optimize for mobile sharing, so your fans can share on the go.
SumoMe’s share bar allows people to post your content across many channels. When a visitor browses your blog content on a mobile device, a share bar appears across the bottom of the screen. This makes it very obvious and easy to share.
sumome content share
SumoMe makes it simple to share content on a mobile device.
Access your site on your mobile device to see how easy or difficult it is to share content. Then make adjustments so your mobile sharing is more user-friendly.

#4: Create Tweetable Snippets

Add ClickToTweet links to your site, so your visitors can effortlessly share your content via Twitter.
Sign in, authorize the app and create a simple tweet: a title, quote, stat or question in the text, along with the article link. Then add the ClickToTweet link to text (or link with Twitter image) to the post. Then when someone is reading the article and is inspired to send it to his or her network, they’ll click to share your pre-populated tweet.
For example, in a recent article, Post Planner listed 50 SEO experts with a ClickToTweet link under each expert’s details.
post planner click to tweet link
Post Planner inserted a customized Click to Tweet clickable link underneath each SEO expert in an article.
Each tweet had customized text and a link to the article.
clicktotweet tweet generated
Select the ClickToTweet link, and a pre-populated tweet automatically appears.
Pre-populate tweets to make it easy for website visitors to share content from your blog post via Twitter.

#5: Experiment With Titles

The titles of your blog posts have a huge bearing on the number of shares they get.
To write compelling titles that will strongly encourage people to click on your post, here are some tools worth trying:
  • Emotional Headline Analyzer helps evaluate if your title is going to appeal to the emotions of your website visitors. Enter your proposed title and it will give you a rating out of 100%. Tweak the title until you get a higher score.
emv score of a headline
Use Emotional Headline Analyzer to see how effective your title is. Alter it until you get a higher percentage.
  • Social Warfare allows you specify the text that’s shared (different than the article title), when a visitor clicks the Tweet button. The title you use in your post may not be the perfect title for Twitter.
  • BuzzSumo is a content research tool. Enter the name of your (or your competitor’s) website to find out which content has the most shares. This will give you good insight into the type of posts/titles that get the most attention.
When someone shares your content on any of the social media channels, the title is one of the key things that will entice them to click on it and read more. Make it good.

#6: Reshare Content

After you create a new piece of content, come up with a schedule to share it several times, so more of your audience sees it.
It’s highly unlikely that 100% of your audience is online when you share a blog post, especially on a platform like Twitter, so the majority of your followers probably won’t see it.
Buffer features a scheduler, which allows you to specify when you want to send out your content and on what channels. For example, share your blog post to Twitter when it goes live, then again in 8 hours, a day, a week and some custom time in the future. Also, vary your timing when you share posts to other channels.
buffer scheduling
Share your posts more than once on multiple channels. It’s easy to do when you use tools like Buffer’s scheduler.
To optimize the visibility of your content, come up with a strategy that takes into account sharing the post on multiple channels at a variety of times.

#7: Find the Right Posting Times

The best time to post content depends on multiple factors: the industry, the type of people you’re targeting, the type of content and more.
A lot of it comes down to trial and error. Use tools such as Buffer to schedule content for a variety of times. Then look at the analytics to see which times got the best engagement and activity.
Another option is SocialBro, which shows you the times of the day your audience is on Twitter. Note: you may not want to target your audience when most of them could be online, as it could be the busiest and most competitive time to share content.
socialbro follower report
SocialBro shows when your Twitter followers are online, so you know when it’s the best time to tweet. Beware though—your competitors will think it’s the best time to tweet, too.
Also, review social network analytics such as Facebook Insights. This will show you what you post, when you post and the Facebook reach/interaction on all of them.
There are so many variables to consider when determining when to post, which is why it’s so difficult to get a definitive answer. Test different days and times to see what works best for your business.

#8: Post to Online Communities

After you post content, reach out to other online communities that may be interested in what you have to say. This could generate traffic, which will lead to shares.
For example, Scoop.it is a content curation platform where people create boards of content and other people can follow those boards. If you’re an active member of Scoop.it, people will start following your boards and will share your content to different social channels. This will lead to greater visibility and potentially more shares.
Don’t just join a bunch of communities and share content. You need to be an active member. Just pick out the most relevant communities and interact with others in an organic way.
Summary
When you have great content, you want the most visibility.
Encourage your website visitors to share your content. This leads to more website visitors, which leads to more sharing. Use these strategies to get to your audience and give them the tools to make sharing as easy as possible.
What do you think? What strategies do you use to increase social sharing? What tools or apps do you implement? Do you have any tips for optimizing blog content sharing? Please let us know your recommendations in the comments.