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How To Use HootSuite For Social Media Management

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HootSuite Social Media Tool

When most people think of HootSuite, they think of a revolutionary platform that allowed people to schedule their tweets before most of the other social media post scheduling services were available. HootSuite set the example for others to follow, and now thousands of social media post scheduling tools are on the web. Most people use HootSuite for just that: scheduling tweets and social media posts for other accounts too.

Within the basic, popular capability of scheduling tweets is an entire dashboard that allows you to find the exact content you are looking for and use social media in an effective manner. It wasn’t until I became a HootSuite Ambassador when I finally considered using this dashboard, but if you are not using the dashboard, then you are not getting the full value out of HootSuite. HootSuite is a valuable tool for your social media strategy, but it is also a valuable tool for your productivity.

The well-known advantage of HootSuite is the ability to send and schedule multiple tweets on the same platform. You can schedule a tweet for your Twitter account and send a Facebook post with the same platform. This HootSuite feature encouraged me to create another Twitter account which I am actively growing. The ability to send one tweet from my main account and some tweets for other Twitter accounts that I am building from the ground up on the same platform is game changing. Without HootSuite, I would have to log into each account, send some tweets while logged into Twitter, log out of each account, and repeat the process until I successfully sent some tweets from all of my accounts.

The time I save by scheduling tweets from one platform is nice, but that’s how most people see HootSuite: a time-saving app for scheduling content. Now, I will discuss the dashboard, how you can use it to find the content you want, and how you can save more time on it.

 

Tabs

The tabs on HootSuite work like tabs on an internet browser. Chances are you may have some tabs on your browser as you are reading this blog post. Let’s say that one of those tabs is Twitter. Once you are done reading this blog post and want to move onto something else on the web (my feelings aren’t hurt), you may simply click on the tab you already had opened that leads you to Twitter.

HootSuite’s tabs work just like that. You can have Twitter searches and lists for a specific area show up on one tab. You can have your scheduled tweets, sent tweets, and mentions on another tab. One of your tabs can contain stuff relevant to your social media strategy while another tab can contain a bunch of random facts tweets. My recommendation is to only use tabs related to your niche. I have tabs that show me tweets of articles about blogging, Twitter, and social media in general. Each time I click on one of these tabs, I get to see specific information that I was looking for.

 

Streams

When you add something to a tab—your scheduled tweets, your mentions, a Twitter search for a keyword, your Instagram account, or anything else—those are called streams. Streams fill up your tabs with valuable information that can help inspire your next blog post idea, increase your knowledge in a certain area, or fill you with motivation.

 

Using The Social Networks Without Actually Being On Them

The huge difference between using HootSuite and using a social network on the actual platform is that there are fewer distractions. On Twitter and Facebook, it is easy to get caught up in the trending topics and your friends’ posts. On HootSuite, those two options don’t exist. HootSuite does not show the trending topics, and the only way to see your friends’ posts on HootSuite is if you include a special tab for all of your friends’ posts (not recommended because that can eat up a big chunk of your time).

You can rest assured that all of these streams will get updated with the newest content. HootSuite gives you the option of a manual refresh (not recommended. You must click the refresh button for the refresh to occur) and the option of automatically refreshing all of your streams every 2-30 minutes. The automatic refresh option allows your tabs and streams update in real-time just like social networks do.

 

HootSuite Pro Bulk Scheduler

HootSuite Pro opens you up to new features provided on the platform, and one of the top features is the bulk scheduler. The bulk scheduler allows you to upload a CSV file of prewritten tweets (Numbers for Apple users and Microsoft Excel for other computers) under their easy-to-follow format. The bulk scheduler allows me to save an easy 10 hours per week. Manually scheduling 100 tweets would take me two hours, even with copying and pasting from a document of prewritten tweets (I did this when I manually scheduled tweets). Sending the same number of tweets with the Bulk Scheduler only takes six clicks.

The bulk scheduler is great for people who send tweets in a cycle. I am totally okay with admitting that I tweet the same thing more than once. In fact, I have probably tweeted about some of the same tweets over 100 times. How do I have so many followers then? The answer is that I space my tweets by several days, and all of the tweets provide the right value for my targeted audience. It is entirely okay to tweet the same things over and over again and still gain hundreds of daily followers. I’m not the only one who sends out repeat tweets. Some of the top experts follow this same approach.

 

More Than Five Social Media Accounts

When you get HootSuite Pro, you can now add more than five social media accounts to your HootSuite account. This makes it easier for you to manage all of your social media accounts, and if you plan on creating numerous Twitter accounts, then this feature will be very beneficial for your strategy. All of your social media platforms in one place. That’s the best way to operate your social media strategy on the busy, noisy web.

 

In Conclusion

HootSuite was voted as the #1 Social Media Tool in 2014 for a reason. Not only does HootSuite make scheduling tweets a breeze, but HootSuite also makes it possible for people to use their social networks in a more productive manner. I love using the tool, and I use it every day for scheduling tweets and staying up to date in my niche.

I may be a HootSuite Ambassador, but I did not come armed with an affiliate link, and this article was not written for any compensation. I viewed HootSuite as a wonderful tool well before I became one of their Ambassadors.

What are your thoughts about HootSuite’s capabilities? Do you have any tips for using HootSuite? Do you use HootSuite teams feature? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

10 Steps To Better Pinning

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Make Your Pins Go Viral

Are you on Pinterest? The question gets asked more often than it did when Pinterest was just starting out, and more people respond to the question with a big YES. As of 2013, Pinterest has over 70 million users and rivals the other social networks. Pins have longer half-lives than other social media posts which means something you pinned a month ago can suddenly go viral as if you pinned it yesterday.

However, pinning the successful pins that go viral is not the most easy thing to do. Many people use Pinterest, but not as many stand out on the platform. Getting your pins to spread, and for you to ultimately become successful on Pinterest, you must know how to effectively pin. Here are 10 steps to better pinning:

 

#1: Schedule Pins

Scheduling your pins in advance allows you to account for all of the timezones of the world. At midnight where you live, people are waking up, eating breakfast, and checking their Pinterest accounts for new pins in some other part of the world.

Scheduling pins in advance also helps brand awareness. When you schedule pins throughout the day, and people see your pins often, they will remember you. As more people remember you and see you more often, they will look at your profile each time they go on Pinterest. These types of followers are the ones who will share your content, subscribe to your blog, and possibly buy your products.

 

#2: Pin Consistently

Scheduling a few pins here and there only does so good. In order to get the long-term growth associated with scheduling pins, you must schedule pins at a consistent rate. On ViralWoot, you can schedule 100 pins per month for free. By just scheduling three pins every day, you can schedule pins for free, and you get to maintain your consistency.

Pinning at consistent times throughout the day will let your followers know when to expect something new from you. If someone always pins at 2 pm every day, that person’s followers can expect a new pin at 2 pm. This expectation will lead to more people directly viewing your profile, going through your boards, locating the new pin, and then going through some of your older pins.

 

#3: Bright, Longer Pictures

On Pinterest, the pictures that spread are the tall, bright colored pictures. When you create a picture on Canva or KeyNote, increase the height of the picture. Increasing the height of a picture makes it more noticeable on someone’s home feed because the picture will take up an entire section. You want a picture to take up a lot of space because pictures that take up a lot of space get attention. If the picture is made to spread, all of the attention the picture gets will lead to numerous repins, and that picture may possibly go viral.

 

#4: Infographics

Infographics are very successful on the web, and on a social network that requires pictures for each post, infographics dominate. Not only do infographics typically perform very well, but many of them are the bright, long pictures that you would want to pin on Pinterest for more exposure. Infographics allow people to learn new things in the most effective manner possible. Why are infographics so effective? The human mind can register an image 60,000 times faster than plain text.

 

#5: Have A Variety Of Boards

On Pinterest, you must keep your professionalism, but also let people know about you outside of the business. You never want to only have a group of boards that only focus on one basic niche. I have plenty of social media boards, but I also have boards about 3D printing, Legos, and some of my other interests. Some people think I am a 3D printer now, but I just like to see the progress the new technology has made. I envision myself being a 3D printer someday, but not yet.

Having a variety of boards will allow you to learn more about your hobbies, passions, and anything that you wish to know about. If you want to learn more about an animal, create a board based on that animals and pin one fact about that animal every day. If you want to learn how to get stronger abs, pin at least one informative article on that board every day, and only pin one of those articles after you read it from start to finish. Pinterest isn’t just a marketing tool. You can use it to learn new things that you never know about before.

 

#6: Add More Pins On Each Board

The best analogy of Pinterest that gets used often is referring to Pinterest as an online magazine. Now let’s think about a successful magazine. It has a bunch of interesting stories on several pages. Someone could spend anywhere from 15-30 minutes reading a good magazine. Do you provide that option on Pinterest? Do all of your boards have enough pins that lead to enough articles where someone can spend 15-30 minutes on your board without getting bored or running out of content to read (pun not intentional. I don’t like the way it sounds, but I needed to convey myself in the most clear manner possible)?

The difference between the two is that on a Pinterest board, you can pin thousands of pins on one board. Some people may spend hours on your boards, and if you get people to spend hours of their time on your boards, you can rest assured these people will come back for more. They will remember you and spread the word.

 

#7: Implement The Secret Board Strategy

It is natural for us to create boards and quickly lose interest in some of the boards that we create. It happens to the best of us. The final outcome is a dull board with under 10 pins that doesn’t keep a visitor’s attention for long. Sure, one solution is to delete the entire board. If you really wanted to, you could move the pins from that board to some of your other boards.

However, why does that problem have to happen in the first place? You can create all of your new boards as secret boards so no one sees them. If you decide you are no longer interested in something after 10 pins, then you can just delete the secret board (or keep it), and your Pinterest profile won’t look any less enchanting than it already looks. Once your secret board reaches 20 pins, make it public. Now when your followers look at your new board, there are options, and you are not pinning dozens of times in a few minutes (which annoys followers). Your followers stick around, engage with your content, repin your content, and come back for more.

 

#8: Implement The Group Board Strategy

Getting your pins to reach out to more people is as simple as joining a popular group board. There are several group boards with tens of thousands of followers eagerly looking for contributors. If you get an invite from one of these group boards, take the group board creator up on the offer. Now, regardless of whether you have 100 followers or 1,000 followers, you are now a part of a group board that allows you to reach tens of thousands of people.

While you join other people’s group boards, consider turning most your boards into group boards. When you turn one of your boards into a group board and get contributors, your group board will get pins added to it without your direct involvement. Better yet, each time someone visits one of your contributors’ profiles and clicks the “Follow All” button, your group board gets an extra followers too.

 

#9: Optimized Descriptions

The description of a pin is almost as important as the picture itself. In your pin’s description, you must include hashtags and keywords so it is easy for people to find you on Pinterest’s search engine. In your optimized description should also be a call-to-action where you encourage your followers to do something (i.e. click on the picture to learn how to become a better blogger).

 

#10: Pin Valuable Content

This may be the most common sense tip of the bunch, but common sense is not always common practice. A valuable pin is one that provides insights or great entertainment directly in the description, the picture itself, and/or the webpage your followers get to see when they click on the picture. Each time you share something on Pinterest, ask yourself how it empowers or entertains the people in your audience. Don’t pin something just for fun. The pin appears on your profile. Only pin something if you believe it is meaningful.

 

In Conclusion

Pinterest is a growing social network. It may not be as large as Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook quite yet, but Pinterest is getting closer. One thing about the users on Pinterest is that they can spend a massive amount of time on the site. If you create valuable boards and provide your followers with hundreds of pins on some of your boards, those followers will stick around for a long period of time. Many of the repins I get are from repeat repinners. Some people will go through some of my boards with hundreds of pins and pin 25% of my pins. That’s a lot of extra exposure for my account, my brand, my blog, and what I stand for.

So now I ask you whether you have a Pinterest account or not? Do you see potential for Pinterest in your strategy? Is Pinterest already a big part of your strategy? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

When To Take A Break From Blogging

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Blogging break

At some point this year, I took a month off from writing blog posts. My blog still got updated three times each week, and I responded to blog comments and tweets. Basically, it was an invisible, unnoticed absence that did not require me to sacrifice my consistency.

I pulled it off by scheduling numerous blog posts in advance because of my policy of always having one month’s worth of blog posts scheduled in advance. Having this many blog posts scheduled allows me to focus more of my time on writing the content and less time stressing about the deadline. I had over two months to write this blog post, but I still wrote it well before the deadline. If I wrote this blog post on the day before the deadline, I would have stressed, and the quality of my work would have suffered. When I take a break from writing blog posts, I make sure it is possible without the risk of me losing my audience or publishing subpar content.

 

Why I Took My 1 Month Break

The break I took from blogging was used to reassess my strategy and see what I could do differently to reach more people and generate more revenue. Part of the strategy was to take Udemy seriously again. After the first two months of creating my Udemy account, I created two training courses that did well. For some odd reason, I stopped creating training courses and didn’t update my old ones, and I lost a lot of ground.

Now, I update my training courses often, and I have plans for several training courses. I have created a course about productivity and several about social media success. I also devised a plan for publishing books in a more effective manner to get more sales and publish them in bulk. I will publish several books by the end of the year, and I have already published a couple of books in 2015.

I did my research in the same manner I started my research a few years ago to discover how I could get more Twitter followers. I read dozens of articles about getting more Udemy sales and even took several courses where successful Udemy instructors discussed how they got more sales.

Basically, my one month break was not one of those breaks where I avoided my computer and stopped working like an entrepreneur. I put in more work during this month than I put in most of the previous months. This one month break helped me catapult forward when I continued writing blog posts and started to take Udemy seriously again.

 

Was It A Complete Break?

I did not write a blog post for an entire month, but that doesn’t mean I did nothing for my blog. I outlined some of the blog posts that I knew I would write after the month was over. I wrote a list of key points I would write about. That way, I gave myself a foundation for when I wrote blog posts again. Creating an outline for a blog post takes as little as five minutes, but it saves you from a lot of thinking while you are writing the actual blog post.

It takes me anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to write a blog post, so only taking five minutes to create an outline saved me a massive amount of time. I used this extra time to do my research.

 

Would I Ever Take A Break Just For Fun?

I consider writing blog posts a fun activity, so I wouldn’t take a break just for the fun of it. The only two reasons I would take a break form blogging would be if I need to do extensive research on something or if I am on a vacation. When I am on a two week vacation, I like to embrace the vacation, and my productivity dips for obvious reasons. I can’t do any videos since I don’t bring the massive desktop with me (I don’t know the exact dimensions, but it is bigger than my suitcase, and it is fragile) and my microphone equipment is at home. That’s okay, and I don’t mind. I bring my Mac Book Pro with me to interact with people on social media, but that’s just about it. If I am at my house, then I am always doing something for my business.

 

You Never Know When You Need The Break

Some events may pop up, and you may not feel like writing blog posts for an extended period of time. It happens, but you have to be ready. Scheduling blog posts for at least one month in advance will allow you to take those unexpected breaks without sacrificing the consistency of your blogging. You may burn out one day and want to take the week off. Those small burn outs occasionally happen. Having blog posts scheduled in advance will allow you to take a break during the small burn outs without you worrying about your blog getting updated.

 

In Conclusion

There comes a point when writer’s block takes the joy out of blogging and a time when we must shift our attention to other things. We must be prepared at any moment to not write blog posts for an extended period of time. That is why I schedule numerous blog posts in advance. As I mentioned before, I always have over one month’s worth of blog posts scheduled. However, I also have a bunch of blog posts that I already wrote but did not schedule. In some cases, I could have as much as three month’s worth of blog posts scheduled at one time.

Having the blog posts scheduled in advance allows you to take a break without sacrificing the consistency of publishing a certain number of blog posts every week. Many dedicated bloggers may view taking a break from writing blog posts as sacrificing the commitment needed to become a successful blogger. However, if you write blog post outlines and make the transition back to a blogger (which is easy if you write blog posts often), then that won’t be a problem for you.

In some cases, the break you take from blogging can be more beneficial than if you were to continue blogging. When I did research to learn more about Udemy, I learned an entirely new method to generate revenue, and now Udemy is emerging as my top revenue source. I learned valuable lessons from taking the small break that I would not have learned if I was blogging at my rapid pace. Sometimes, especially in our busy world, a break every once in a while can be a good thing. With automation, you can take a break, and your audience still gets the content as if you never left.

How To Build An Authority On The Web

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Build Authority On The Web

Ever wonder how to build an authority on the web? I’m talking about the type of authority that allows you to become a credible leader in your niche, generate a full-time income, and help others. When you build an authority on the web, you become a beacon of excellence for others to follow. Building an authority on the web takes time, but a good portion of that time is spent searching for the blueprint. How can you do something if you don’t know how? You can’t solve a Rubik’s Cube unless you know the necessary steps. On the same token, you can’t become an authority on the web unless you know what it takes to become one. No more guessing. I’m showing you the blueprint.

 

#1: Provide Free Value

Providing value is essential for the success of your business and what you stand for. Many people understand this principle. However, some people have a natural tendency to skip over the word “free.” Some people believe they must only provide value in their products and that they can get away with haphazardly putting together the free stuff.

The problem with that approach is that customers nowadays look for the free value before they buy anything you sell. People are not visiting your blog or YouTube channel for the first time, eager to buy your product. They are looking for free value. Many of the people who buy my books read my blog posts first.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1Oja7M0″]Customers nowadays look for the free value before they buy what you sell.[/tweetthis]

The free value you provide is so important because one of the beliefs many customers have is that the paid product is better than the free product. Another belief shared by many customers is that if the free content and videos are duds, then that person’s paid products can’t be that good either. Providing free value in your blog posts and your YouTube videos allows them to spread, reach more people, make your products look better, and ultimately lead to more revenue. Think of the most successful blogger you know, and ask yourself whether that blogger’s free content is valuable or not. I read Seth Godin’s blog posts for a year or two before I decided to buy most of his books and training courses.

 

#2: Build Relationships

Providing free value is critical towards building healthy relationships with the people in your audience, but starting the relationships requires more than just valuable content. Building relationships means emailing people, interacting with people on social media, and responding to comments on your blog. If you look through the comments on my blog, you will notice that I respond to them. I respond to comments to encourage more conversation, build relationships with my readers, and let everyone know that I am a person who responds.

What many successful people tend to do is ignore others. Many people in high positions look at their email and don’t always address the newbie asking a few questions. I make it a point to respond to them. Taking the time to leave a quick response allows you to help others, and the people you help will see you as a role model of excellence. In the first welcome email I send, I let people know that I respond to the emails they send me. Of course, if I see an irrelevant email or comment, I won’t respond, but that rarely happens.

On social media, the relationship starts when you follow someone and that person follows you back. The relationship continues when you both interact with one another. After interacting with each other over a long period of time on social media, these people may email you and have conversations with you one email at a time. As the relationships continue to build, these people may eventually buy your products, but the relationships don’t stop there. They keep building, gaining momentum, and leading to the symbiosis of you and the people you interact with.

 

#3: Create Products

When it comes to building an authority on the web, affiliate marketing only goes so far. Having your own product, being able to call yourself an author, and creating more products along the way will establish yourself as an expert and create a nice revenue for yourself at the same time. I have experimented with numerous revenue generating methods. I have done anything from social media ads to being an eBay affiliate. Creating your own products and effectively marketing them is by far the best and most reliable way to make money on the web.

Creating a product also gives you more respect in your niche. If you write a 100 page book or create a five hour training course, your audience will look at those products and realize that you knew enough about your niche to create those lengthy products. At this point, the products just have to be packed with value, and you must continue learning more about your niche. The products you create reflect how much you knew at the time, but learning more will allow you to create better, more successful products in the future. Better yet, you can update your products to reflect the new things you learn about your niche. Updating your products allows you to over-deliver to your current customers and provide a better experience for your new customers.

 

#4: Grow Your Audience 

Once you implement the first three methods, all you have to do now is get more people to know about you. When you grow your audience, you can build relationships with more people that eventually lead to customers and opportunities for more growth.

The most effective tool on the web to grow your audience is social media. Whether you use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or another social network, you must use social media. If you want to grow a massive social media audience, then you must take on one social network at a time. Imagine trying to learn five different languages at the same time. That’s what we do when we try to master Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+ at the same time. I recognized this trap and committed all of my time to Twitter. Once I mastered Twitter, I started to master other social networks.

One thing to know about social media mastery is that all social networks follow similar patterns. If you master Twitter, it becomes easier for you to master Pinterest. If you master Pinterest, it becomes easier for you to master Instagram. Each time you master one social network, it is easier for you to master all of the others. If you master five social networks and have tens of thousands of followers on each of them, then mastering a 6th social network would be simple.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1Oja7M0″]The more social networks you master, the easier it is to master others. However, master one social network at a time.[/tweetthis]

Growing your social media audience is an effective way to build an authority on the web, but where you lead your social media audience is just as important. You must lead your social media audience to your blog, and in particular, your landing page. You want as many people to subscribe to your email list as possible because that’s where the money is. I make more money sending emails to my email list than through any other method because communicating with the people on your email list and occasionally promoting products works very well.

 

In Conclusion

Building an authority on the web is only as difficult as we think it is. What initially looks impossible at first glance is quite possible, and the more work you put in, the easier it will become. If you want to view building an authority on the web as an easy endeavor, then you must take rapid action. Many things look scary because we don’t take immediate action. There are many things in life that don’t look as scary once we do them. Take the time to build your authority on the web, stick with it, and who knows, you may become the next success story others aspire to become.

How do you view building an authority on the web? Do you have any other tips for us? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

Will YouTube Still Be Top Dog After My College Graduation?

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YouTube VS Meerkat VS Periscope VS Facebook

When YouTube made its debut, it was uncontested. If you wanted to upload a video, you went to YouTube. No questions asked. Over 1 billion users later, YouTube is still popular, but unlike in the past, YouTube now faces competition. Vimeo was the first competitor, and YouTube dominated. Twitter’s acquisition of Vine and Instagram’s 15 second videos to compete with Vine provided social media users with new ways to watch and upload videos that had nothing to do with YouTube. Sure, YouTube still thrived after Vine and Instagram, but what about now?

Meerkat and Periscope are now on the scene for real-time videos. Facebook is now an option for people who want to upload their videos to the web. Expect Pinterest to roll something out in the next year or two for video uploads.

I would graduate college in 2020, and a lot has changed on social media ever since high school started (I can only wonder what adults think about the changing world). One of those changes is social networks trying to copy each other while trying to be unique. Facebook now uses hashtags. YouTube now uses cards. Twitter’s update resembled Facebook’s update. More social networks are looking at YouTube’s empire and wondering, “Where are our videos? Why do we have to rely on YouTube?”

If you built your entire presence on YouTube, then you don’t have to worry just yet. YouTube’s saving grace is its age and Google power. It is already known that Google favors YouTube videos in its search engine. Moreover, the most popular videos on the web are on YouTube. If everything remained as is, YouTube would survive for my college graduation. It would still be a cool social network that people would visit for many years to come.

In the last two years, many video-focused social networks came into existence, and well-known social networks provided the option to their users. Vine now has millions of users while Meerkat and Periscope went viral days after they were released (I personally believe Periscope will be the superior of the two). Instagram and Facebook combined have over 1.25 billion users. Again, if everything remained the same, YouTube would definitely survive, but in this day in age, rapid innovations happen fast and often. In 2016, there will probably be another social network based on uploading videos. Twitter and Facebook both own multiple social networks capable of uploading videos without relying on YouTube. These social networks make it easy for users to upload videos via mobile. On YouTube, that’s a little complicated.

It is quite common for teens to migrate from social networks with parents to other social networks with fewer parents. That’s one reason why millions of teens migrated from Facebook to Instagram. YouTube is a place where parents go. My dad watches a YouTube video every day, and there is a zero percent chance that my dad is the only parent who watches at least one YouTube video every day. Teens already migrated to Vine. As Meerkat and Periscope get better, they may go over to those platforms and spend less time on YouTube. Let’s not forget that at one point, MySpace was the largest social network around.

For now, YouTube is safe. However, with innovation constantly on the horizon, YouTube must make changes so it can remain the top dog. YouTube must come up with an easier way for people to record and upload videos through their mobile devices. One of the annoying parts about YouTube is that you have to upload the video through something like iMovie, your computer’s camera, or ScreenFlow, and then upload that video to YouTube. On the latest social networks that specialize in videos, you can record a video right on the social network and then publish the video right form the social network. The entire process saves you a few steps.

YouTube allows live streaming, but the live streaming needs to be easily accessible to any YouTuber. My suggestion would be the ability to create videos within YouTube and a button that allows you to decide whether to do a live stream or not. YouTube needs to change in some way, and in particular, mobile optimization. More people nowadays use their mobile devices than their laptops.

I think the chances of YouTube surviving and thriving after my graduation and beyond are high, but the danger exists. By responding to the danger now while it is still far ahead in the game, YouTube should have a strong future. What are your thoughts on YouTube’ status? Do you believe apps like Meerkat and Periscope are the real deal or fluff? Please share your thoughts below.

7 Tips For Using WordPress More Effectively

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WordPress Tips And Tricks

What started as an idea before 2003 is now a tool that allows people to create their own blogs. WordPress is also the top dog in the area, and if you browse through a few blogs, you’re bound to spot a blog powered by WordPress. Finding a blog powered by WordPress nowadays is just as easy as finding a fast food restaurant in New York City.

Despite the popularity of WordPress and how often we come in contact with it every day, WordPress provides many features that we are not fully utilizing. Some of these features are harder to find while other ones are right in front of us. In order to use WordPress more effectively and utilize its features well, follow these seven tips:

 

#1: Check Your Stats

Did I really have to say anything about this one? The answer is yes because some people don’t know how to check their stats (it’s in the dashboard, and for WordPress.org, your stats are in JetPack). Furthermore, some people glance at their statistics but then don’t do anything afterward. The key to checking your stats in an effective manner is to see where your blog gets its traffic, how long people are sticking around, and then using that knowledge to create an actionable plan to get more blog traffic.

Looking at my stats allowed me to realize that when I increase my tweeting frequency, I also get more blog traffic from Twitter. When I increase my pinning frequency, I get more traffic from Pinterest. With this information, I know what I can do to get more blog traffic. When you experiment with new methods to get more blog traffic, look at your stats to see if those new methods are helping. Looking at my stats allowed me to quickly realize that growing an email list and communicating with that email list led to a significant increase in blog traffic.

 

#2: Schedule Your Blog Posts

WordPress allows its users to schedule blog posts in advance. This is a powerful capability that few people utilize. Scheduling blog posts gives you the reassurance that no matter what time you wake up or when you start writing, a blog post will get published at the right time. Scheduling blog posts gives you the ability to schedule blog posts at the right time of day to reach the most people. Most people check their inboxes in the morning, and social media engagement is also at its peak in the morning (6-10 am eastern time). That’s why I schedule all of my blog posts to get published at 9 am.

Not only is it important to schedule blog posts at the right time of day, but it is also important to schedule numerous blog posts in advance. If I really wanted to, I could avoid all computers, tablets, and smartphones for an entire month—and my blog would still get updated at a consistent rate. I always have blog posts scheduled at least one month in advance and occasionally three months in advance. I don’t want to have more than three months of content scheduled at one time because I am fearful of too many things changing within that time, but scheduling blog posts in advance allows me to comfortably write long blog posts like this one without worrying about publishing it the next day. If I had the stress of writing a blog post “the night before,” I would rush the blog post, not proofread it at all, and then risk publishing subpar content. Since I schedule blog posts months in advance, I never worry about that problem.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1zqHal4″]Scheduling #blog posts in advance allows you to focus more time on writing and less time worrying about deadlines.[/tweetthis]

#3: Create Pages

When you create a page on your blog, that page typically appears on your menu, but the important thing is that it doesn’t necessarily show up on your blog’s homepage. You can have a homepage filled with all of your blog posts and self-promotion pages that can be found through other methods. Pages are great for self-promotion, but they don’t ruin anyone’s experience on your blog. Since pages exist in the menu, the only way a visitor will get to a page on your blog is by voluntarily clicking the link to your page. These are the visitors who want to learn more about you or about what a particular page offers. You can also create pages with various functions (i.e. landing pages, sales pages, about me page, etc) to give your visitors more options and bring in more revenue for you.

 

#4: Download More Plugins

On WordPress.org, you have the ability to download plugins to enhance your blog. I use a variety of plugins for this blog and talked about some of them here. If you have a few plugins on your blog, I encourage you to look for more. There are plugins that help with SEO, social shares, blog speed, and more. However, do not download and activate too many plugins because they will slow your blog down. Only activate the plugins that are necessary and will have an impact on your blog.

 

#5: Use Categories

Using categories for your blog posts allows you to organize your content in a way that makes it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for. My visitors who exclusively want articles focused around Twitter can go to the Twitter category of this blog to only see articles about Twitter. My visitors who exclusively want articles about blogging can go to the blogging category and only see articles about blogging.

You can create categories and label your blog posts under individual categories by accessing the dashboard we use to edit an older blog post or write a new one. It is important to only use a few categories on your blog because they only have SEO value if they can consistently get updated. If you choose to create a category, ask yourself if you can write many blog posts that get put under this category or if the category is a one-time deal. It is better to have 10 highly focused categories than it is to have 100 categories with little to no content.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1zqHal4″]It is better to have 10 highly focused blog categories than it is to have 100 categories with little to no content.[/tweetthis]

#6: Look At A Commenter’s Info

When a commenter leaves a comment, you get to see that person’s name, email address, and website URL. The name is important because when you respond to someone’s comment, it is good to reference them by name. The website provides you with a place to learn more about the person.

I intentionally mentioned the email address last and gave the email address its own paragraph. The email address a commenter provides is meant as a way for you to interact with that commenter if you choose, and never send a nasty email to someone who writes a negative comment. Remember to keep the email address private and to not subscribe anyone to your email list without that person’s permission. The email address is meant as a way for you to contact the person if you desire, strengthen the relationship, and then that relationship may lead to a sale, a returning customer, and/or a big opportunity.

 

#7: Create A Custom Menu

Having a menu display all of the pages on your blog is a mistake. There are some pages that should show up on your menu, but there are other pages that don’t belong at all. For instance, I have a page that welcomes all of the people who subscribe to this blog. I wouldn’t want that page to appear on my blog’s menu because people could then see the page regardless of whether they subscribed or not.

Not only does a custom menu help you hide pages that you don’t want to see, but a custom menu also allows you to create drag-downs. When you drag your mouse on some of the links in my blog’s menu, you get to see a drag down that reveals additional options. Creating a custom menu and choosing which pages go on it can be done by going to [Appearance —> Menus] and then creating the right menu for your blog.

 

In Conclusion

WordPress is filled with so many great features that it is easy to overlook some of the critical features or miss some of the cool ones. Utilizing these seven features will allow you to use WordPress in a more effective manner. Do you use WordPress? What other tips help you to effectively use WordPress? Please share your thoughts and advice below.