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Instead of affirming and re-affirming and re-re-affirming that it all comes down to the content you publish, let’s move forward and explore another topic. It’s been discussed before, but there’s no real right or wrong answer to it, so it’s important to visit regularly for new insight.

How short is too short?

Would you be willing to read a 4,000 word post?

If I remember correctly, it all comes down to the reader and their current place within the niche. For blogging, some readers enjoy a snappy little post every day while others prefer one or two extensive posts every week. If you’re keen on the latter, I’m afraid my content here might be a disappointment as I’m far too scatterbrained to write a post over several days … I write sporadically and often, but perhaps you’ll find something from the contributors here at Fuel Your Blogging that better suits your particular taste. Still, from what I’ve learned over the past year, the majority of readers tend to enjoy a fair mix of the two … a variety.

Do you know what your readers prefer?

Though I’m guessing many of you are interested in blogging about blogging, I’ve seen a lot of interaction from voices outside of the blogging niche through the feedback series, so I’m sure we can get something out of this question:

What do your own readers prefer?

Please take a moment to jot down what you’ve learned about your readership, what niche you blog in, and the reaction you tend to get when you go against the grain?

• What does your readership prefer?
• What niche do you blog in?
• What reaction do you get when you go against the grain?

Hopefully we’ll be able to learn from each other as we reveal a bit about our own readerships.

If you’re not sure about your readership, let us know if you have a particular day in the week when you get more comments, and furthermore, what type of content you write on that day.

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If you think creating a blog to compete with industry behemoths is a daunting task, consider this: did you know that one blog is created every second? And that’s according to a 7-year-old statistic.

So how in the world are you supposed to get people to read what you write?

Sure you have a couple of “creative” and “unique” ideas… but they are not THAT good. Are they? In fact, are you even sure nobody ever wrote about them? Google it.

Now, before you give up everything and move to a farm, here’s the good news:

Creativity Is a Myth.

Well, not totally a myth, but when it comes to writing blog posts that people care about, it’s pretty darn close.

You see, for every million unique ideas people have, only one will ever get an audience large enough to pay the author enough to buy food.

So while most amateurs look for “creative” and “unique” ideas, pros simply look for what the market already likes and give it to them.

Why reinvent the wheel when you can build a bike on top of it?

Falling In Love and Blogging

To know what the market likes, first you have to define the market.

Amateurs tend to assume that blogging is like falling in love. You stumble around a few creative ideas, hope that you finally found “the one” and finally get lucky.

Pros, on the other hand, have a clear goal of what they want to achieve right from the beginning.

So before you sit down to write that post, really think about who your ideal reader is (yes, one person). This reader of yours…

How old is he… or she?
What does she like to do during her free time?
What’s her day job?
How wealthy is she (the social class she belongs in)?
Does she have children?

You might even want to look for a portrait somewhere on the web that represents what that person would look like in real life. Then print that portrait out and paste it right above your monitor.

Every time you’re about to write something, look up and ask yourself, would this person want to read what I’m about to write?

The more specific you are about who you’re writing to, the more impact your writing will be. The reason it’s going to have more impact, is because it will resonate with your readers.

You’ll be able to use the right metaphors, examples, voice, tone and even curse words.

To illustrate good content that doesn’t resonate, recall how, when you were a teenager, you ignore everything your parents said? Well, that’s exactly how it feels like to read something that doesn’t resonate.

But here’s the caveat: obviously if you go too specific, the market you’ll be writing to will get too small to be profitable. It’s balancing act – and unfortunately, there’s no one “right answer”. The best way to verify is to find at least one other blog who is writing to your target.

If there’s none, it’s probably not worth pursuing.

The Stalking

Once you’ve found who you want to write to, now it’s time to find out what he/she likes to read.

Go to Quora and Yahoo answers and look at what people in your niche are asking.
Go to the various social network groups and look at what people are talking.
Go to at least three popular forums in your niche and dig around at least 6 months’ worth of threads.
Go to the top 10 blogs in your niche and look at their most popular posts. Make a table out of their most shared posts on social media.
Then read the comments on these popular posts. What are people saying? What are their concerns, and questions?

By the end of the exercise, you would have a loooong list of topics proven to excite your target readers.

First things first: develop an editorial calendar out of the long list of potential topics. Editorial calendars allows you to plan the roll out of your content (should content A come before or after content B?) and maximize its impact. But more importantly, it forces you to keep to a schedule – and therefore maintain your consistency.

NOW you can start writing.

If it flops, then it’s probably because of how you execute it. But at least you KNOW where it went wrong. And the solution to that… is all over Fuel Your Blogging.

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Lately, there have been a lot of websites opting for a minimalist design. It is clean, professional looking and easy to maintain, so that isn’t a surprise – especially given the simple matter of creating a template using a grid system or other basic line-centric layouts.

WordPress is the platform of choice for both websites and blogs right now. Thankfully, you don’t have to lose that minimalist design if you go with a WP template. Here are 10 fantastic WP themes that keep that simple look.

1. My Blog Guest Theme

MBG uses a minimalist design on all of its websites. Its free WP theme is rather old-fashioned, reminding me of the early days of widely available blogs. Blue and white are the primary motif, which is nice if you want to get away from the usual black and white you see with most minimalist layouts.

2. Clear

There aren’t many designs that utilize a basic structure to his level. Even the text that is used on the blog is a dark gray, giving it a smoky and almost transparent look. It is so simple that there isn’t even a complicated formatting, instead going straight down the center of the page and lacking any frills whatsoever. But it is still softer, owing to the typography and coloring used that is not black and white.

3. Carrington

This one reminds me a bit of Clear because of the coloring. But the format is set on the left, and it isn’t quite as sparse as the former. It comes with a darker background, which can be customized somewhat to get the correct look. If you want to try it out, there is a demo version.

4. Aligned

I have always been a big fan of the perfectly even spaces. Even when using different sizes in different portions of a design, the symmetry is an important factor in how attractive a theme appears to me. Aligned was made on a similar principle. The template is separated into even sections, so it all looks clean and symmetrical.

5. Clean Home

You probably already know MidMo Design for its remarkably regular updates on all things technology and web design related. It created a WordPress theme that matches with its own layout for users who want something extremely basic. Lightweight and simple, it has only two images and otherwise is a clean, minimalist design that allows visitors to entirely focus on your content – no distractions, no mess.

6. Sharpfolio

If you are in a creative field and the point of your website is to provide a portfolio for potential clients of customers, Sharpfolio is a nice alternative to the usual blog layout. It is made to showcase your work in a simple way, without the more overdone or complicated design features you often see from designer websites these days. The template is set in two distinct portions: the left larger than the right, which functions as a small sidebar.

7. Pure II

Using a single column design that is placed in the center with wide borders on every side, this isn’t quite minimalist, but still very simple and attractive. There are three color schemes: Clean (Default), Paper and Steel. All are presented with a cross-stitch pattern in the background and using a Sertig font.

8. Textback

This theme was created to capture the pure look of beginning winter. The background is very white and the text a gentle gray. Everything is clean, with wide borders around each widget. The segments are broken down into clear portions, with the widest area being dedicated to the content, along with a thin set of headers and a right sidebar. It is very stylish and modern.

9. Smooth

Gentle colors, wide background and a nice separation for the content, this is one of the more simple templates you can use. But it isn’t as sparse as many of the others, allowing you to have tags, calendars and other elements within the sidebars for easy access. However, this doesn’t detract from the overall “smooth” look of the layout itself.

10. WPCandy

This is almost entirely a content-based theme. The template was made to give a simple format for the posts to be laid out on a plain background, with a very basic header and a sparse sidebar for links to other pages. There are absolutely no frills and nothing to distract from the power of your content.

Conclusion

Making a minimalist WordPress is easy with the right template. These themes are beautiful, simple and easy to use and customize. Check them out today and see why the basics are more popular than the complex.

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Are you new to Social Media?

Then, you will find the information on this page very helpful. To start off the topic, let us find out what it is not…

Easy – This is not to discourage you but to tell you that it requires more than creating several profile pages, posting updates, and uploading photos. You have to comprehend and commit to it, so you can reap great rewards.

Millions of friends – Unless you want to beat Mark Zuckerberg, Lady Gaga, and other social authorities with thousands of followers or friends, you do not need to build a wide network. Instead, you have to make meaningful connections with people who share your passion or interest.

Social networking – It is not simply about being popular in Facebook, Google+, or Twitter. It involves engaging in activities that allow you to promote your beliefs, yourself, or your brand.

And then, there are…

Amazing social media facts

• Facebook has an estimated 845 million active users.
• There are approximately one million links shared on Facebook per twenty minutes.
• There are more than 465 million Twitter accounts.
• Google+ has around 90 million members.
• Pinterest has more than 10 million users and obtains a million visits each day.

Given these details, you are probably thinking of using it for marketing purposes.

That is a good idea. However, do not jump into it right away. What you should do is get the hang of it by applying…

Easy social media tips for new users

1. Create a page on several social networks

Go ahead and build Web presence by signing up in top websites like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. You have to establish a blog too, so you can link your own site to your profile pages.

2. Keep your blog compatible to your profile pages

In connection with the first pointer, make sure that you can handle all your accounts if you become a member on many social networks. If you can, then feel free to incorporate it with social media buttons such “share”, “like”, and “follow”.

By doing this, you can…

3. Make it easy for other users to spot you

When you practice the second strategy, you can direct the readers to your social profiles. And, who knows, they might just add you to their list (that is, if you are not a part of their network yet).

4. Create a fan page

Do you have an e-commerce site or an official company website? If you do, then take note of this tip. This way, you can attract users who are actually interested in your brand.

5. Add RSS feeds

By doing this, your readers can obtain updates whenever you have new content. Additionally, you can receive alerts from other users and websites.

6. Promote your profile page on other social network sites

Yes, this is possible. You can do this on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube.

7. Enhance your page

Do you know that several social media sites have customization features? Through this, you can tweak and personalize your profile page according to your preferences.

8. Interact and socialize

Write posts, share links, send messages, and comment on other members or bloggers’ page. You can also join their groups, especially if you share their interests.

9. Start conversations

Apart from sharing posts or commenting on articles, you can form discussions on social network sites too. This is possible even if you do not have install forum software.

10. Update regularly

Would you want to connect with a person whom you only see occasionally? This concept is similar online. You will find it easier to connect with more users within your niche if you post blogs or messages frequently.

Again, these are only basic social media tips. Since you are a beginner, you do not have to hop into advanced strategies right away. Instead, get the hang of posting comments or embedding videos on your page.

Once you are familiar with various functions and features, you can start integrating other methods – like search engine optimization. Then again, that is another matter.

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From conferences to seminars, marketers are utilizing social network Twitter to promote all kinds of events. People are also using the platform to find such gatherings, and hashtags are the tool many of them rely on. When someone creates a hashtag, their goal is to create a viral sensation that generates hype and attention for their topic through word of mouth marketing. When it works, using those topics for content ideas becomes a powerful way to capitalize on all the buzz.

Hashtags are extremely popular, but if you talk to a few Twitter users, you will find that they are also a mixed bag of sorts. Some absolutely love them, others find them annoying. The fact of the matter is that they can be an important weapon in your content marketing strategy – if you use them correctly.

Finding the Right Hashtags

Following Twitter hashtags is a savvy way to piggyback on the success of the conferences and seminars taking place in your industry, and turn them into valuable content. Keep in mind, however, that finding the right ones can be a little tricky. Not all hashtags strike gold, so here are some tools that can help you identify those that are worthy to the cause:

Twubs

What we have here is a site that allows active Twitter users to take trending hashtags and build communities around them. Twubs groups them in categories ranging from conferences and movies to books and politics. The site has a nice social element to it, so aside from content ideas, it could also help you make some good connections. Twubs is definitely one of the better hashtag directories out there.

Trendsmap

If you’re a fan of interactive maps, you’ll probably find the Trendsmap useful in your quest. Trendsmap has some pretty slick sophistication behind it as it gives you the ability to find trending hashtags and topics around the world – all in real-time. This tool is actually perfect for tracking down events related to the local area because it allows you to easily find trends by location. Definitely a keeper for the hashtag hunter.

Hashtags.org

This is perhaps the most well known Twitter hashtag directory. It also one of the best. Hashtags.org serves up a user-friendly interface that makes searching for the latest trends a breeze. What we like about this particular site is how it drills down into the performance of the topic at hand. For example, if you’re searching for “#nytechconference”, you can find out the actual times throughout the day, and days during the week that particular hashtag was at its peak popularity. Another valuable tool to have in your arsenal, for sure.

Harnessing the power of hashtags can give your content the type of flair audience members just can’t resist. It can also give you access to a much larger audience. Find the right ones, and you’ll be in good shape with your content marketing program.

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More individuals and businesses are incorporating social networking into their blogging efforts. With Wordpress being one of the most flexible applications around, it is an ideal fit for this type of integration. Here are five of the latest plugins you can use to combine your blogging and social media initiatives.

1. ShareBar

ShareBar is one of the hottest new social media plugins available for the Wordpress platform. What this tool does is provide an easy way to include links and buttons from your favorite social networks on your blog. These links and buttons can be customized to appear in either a vertical bar that is displayed to the left of your posts, or a horizontal bar that is displayed underneath the title of the post. If you have a strong social presence and want your readers to connect, ShareBar can be a big help.

2. Socialize

The socialize plugin gives you two options for adding social sharing buttons to your Wordpress blog. You can either add them inline via CSS, or the call-to-action box located beneath your posts. Socialize supports all the top social networking and bookmarking sites, and the ability to use CSS gives you virtually endless customization possibilities. While there is currently no type of analytics feature available, you can see how many times your post has been shared across the social web.

3. Tweet2Download

If Twitter is your thing, then you definitely want to add this Wordpress plugin to your collection. Tweet2Download allows you to give away free blog content in exchange for a tweet or follow on trendy social networking site Twitter. It is becoming an increasingly popular option for Wordpress blogs that offer content such as music, video, articles, and other highly sought after material. All in all, Tweet2Download is a great tool for serious Twitter marketers.

4. WP Social Toolbar

Many of the newer Wordpress plugins for social media make it easy for readers to share your content. WP Social Toolbar follows the trend, but does so much more. This plugin gives readers the ability to like your Facebook page and share your content on Twitter, while allowing you to showcase your most recent tweets and links to all your social networks. Best of all, WP Social Toolbar is customizable, so you can select from a broad range colors and fonts as well as decide whether the toolbar appears on the homepage of your blog or only certain pages.

5. SocialMetrics

SocialMetrics is another good Wordpress plugin designed to help bloggers take advantage of social media integration. Hence the name, it lets you view how the posts and pages of your blog are performing across the social web. Compatible with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Digg, and a host of other platforms, this tool is capable of providing valuable insights that can be used to fine-tune your strategy for the best results.

New Wordpress plugins are being released all the time. On the social media front, these new plugins are driving the integration efforts of bloggers throughout the web.

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It is rare that you come across a website that doesn’t have a policy anymore. Even blogs, which offer only comments on posts, provide a policy in order to assure their readers that their information will not be misused. Ultimately this is to protect both the user and the site owner, eliminating (or at least reducing in more extreme cases) the risk of lawsuit and sanctions that might be imposed by the FCC. Which is exactly why even small sites in today’s world of more efficient link sharing, even small sites should contain some kind of privacy policy.

But knowing what elements to include in a successful one can be difficult. Here are the five major parts to consider when creating the perfect policy for your site.

1. Customize Your Policy

There are a ton of free, standard privacy policy templates online that you can use. But doing so is usually a mistake. Sure, it covers the basics. But it might not give your users the protection they need, now yourself if a complaint is filed in the future.

Anyone who is using an ecommerce or marketing based site is especially vulnerable in this area, and so should spend more time customizing a workable policy. Unless you are planning to aggressively use the information gathered to benefit the site or partners, you can probably build a good policy on your own. But if you do need something more complex, have an attorney create one for you based on your specifications.

2. Be Understandable

A policy full of legal buzzwords and complicated rhetoric might seem impressive and intimidating. But that isn’t the goal of providing a privacy policy in the first place, and so will not help you. Being as direct and simple in your language as possible will ensure that your site visitors will know what they are agreeing to.

It will also protect you from accusations of being intentionally ambiguous or misleading. Whether or not they choose to read the terms of service is up to them, but at least you and your partners are covered in the case of a misunderstanding, and those who did read it now what they are going to be getting.

3. Tell The What, When and Why

One of the main points to these policies is telling your site visitors what will be done with the information they give. You will want to tell them what your will be taking and keeping, when you will be collecting it and to what purpose. Why and how is their data being used? Who is it being shared with?

If you are connected to another site or affiliate, and they will gain access to information, clearly write that into the policy and explain how the third party will be using the information, as well.

4. Legal Requirements of Disclosure

Legally, most sites are obligated to share information related to content posted on their site. For example, if someone were to post a link to some kind of illegal website in a comment on a blog, that blog might be legally require to release the details of information like the IP address to the police. Make sure you mention that you will share any information with official regulatory or legal departments upon request. This should be an element of your general term of service, as well. Especially as it is relevant to what you will and will not censor.

5. Announce Policy Changes

Finally, let your viewers know that you will be periodically updating or changing your privacy policies at the end of the policy itself. Any time you do change the policy, give users a heads up so they can check out the new regulations and possibly agree to the new ones. Failing to do this is a quick way to welcome potential legal trouble when a web visitor files a complaint as they were not aware that the privacy policy had changed.

Conclusion

Plenty of popular websites have suffered for refusing to correctly provide or follow a privacy policy. For example, Facebook was ruled to have violated user’s privacy rights by not following their own rules and aggressively selling user data. Which has led to an oversight ruling for the next 20 years to make sure they toe the line.

Let that be a lesson on the importance of an accurate, up to date and easily understandable privacy policy for your own website.

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When it comes to writing fresh content, it’s easy to divert your attention to other pressing matters. Yet, content is the most important aspect of your blog. While social sharing, linking and attention to SEO are key to your success, it’s all worthless without a steady flow of new content. To stay productive and avoid your impending procrastination, it’s time you create a writing schedule.

“The point is that great blogs that have great blog content typically have a great blog posting schedule working behind the scenes. This isn’t always the case but more often than not there’s a so-called ‘method to the madness,’ especially for those that consider themselves professional bloggers.”
– Tentblogger.com

Your Availability

Before you set out to write your schedule it’s important that you consider your current availability. If you aren’t realistic here, then it’s likely you’ll ignore your schedule in favor of prior responsibilities. When considering your writing availability, ask yourself these questions:

• What is your schedule currently like?
• When do you enjoy writing now?
• When are you most creative?

Timing

Writing new content and getting it seen is all about timing. When you write your schedule, you want to keep this in mind. According to Eli Rose Social Media, “Monday posts typically see the highest amount of traffic. Even if you are only going to post to your blog once a week, you want to ensure that you have new content up on the first day of the work week.” To get your timing right, take into account a number of factors.

• Adjust your schedule for the days that your blog sees the most traffic.
• Remember: quality over frequency. Posting 2-4 times a week is optimal.

Plan It

Once you’ve found the best schedule, it’s time to put it into action. To do this, you’ll have to decide how far out you want to plan your content goals and posting times.

• Daily: If you find that your other obligations change frequently, making a daily schedule is a smart way to stay on track day to day. Write your schedule first thing in the morning.
• Weekly: Sit down on Sunday night and write out your schedule for the week.
• Monthly: As a professional writer, this may be your best option. Get your editorial calendar set up, and then schedule your writing days around that. Feel free to make modifications as the month rolls on.

Options

When you’ve created your schedule based on workload and good timing, you’ll notice one of two things: You are having success putting pen to paper – fingers to keyboard, or you’re not abiding by your schedule. Your first way to correct the latter is to go back to the first two steps and make corrections in your schedule. Or, you can consider switching in some other options.

• Guest posting: This allows you to take time off from writing, while still getting quality content delivered to the site.
• Pre-scheduled Posting: If there is one day of the week you feel especially creative, take advantage. Write your posts for the week, and then schedule them to go live at various times.
• Change it up: Are you wanting to be productive but just can’t seem to get into the flow? Change up your schedule as frequently as you’d like. Add in guest posts here and there, get posts scheduled out during a busy week, etc.

Creating a writing schedule not only affects how many days you’re strapped to the computer chair. In the end, this will also have an impact on your SEO, traffic and overall reader happiness. Without good content, nothing else holds up on its own.  Get your writing on a schedule and watch the rest fall into place.

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Whether you have a design blog that focuses on home décor or a business blog on restaurant credit card processing solutions, you’ve likely heard about the newest social media site, Pinterest. The virtual pinboard has caught the attention of the general Internet public, in addition to social media marketers, designers, artists, techies and bloggers.

For everyday Internet users, Pinterest is a simple, visually-appealing bookmarking tool for organizing ideas and inspiration – from recipes to home projects to party planning tips. For social media marketers, Pinterest is becoming an effective way to improve brands and promote products, services and lifestyles.

For bloggers, Pinterest can help you improve your site through inspiration, research, increased traffic and networking opportunities.

Inspire

One of the main purposes of Pinterest is to provide users with an easy way to curate inspiration boards with images that link back to the original source. It’s a bookmarking tool, allowing you to dog ear your favorite images, posts, articles and how-to’s across the Web. Many bloggers use Pinterest to help brainstorm new ideas for blog posts, as the cure for writer’s block can sometimes be as simple as a single image. Or a blogger for Chicago Web designers might create a pinboard of interesting website layouts that inspires him to redesign his entire blog. If a certain image gives you a great idea, be sure to write a few notes in the description and you can pin it away for later use.

Research

Not only can you collect your own inspiration, but by following users with shared interests, you can see what’s trending in your niche. If you write an environmental blog, for example, you can use the Pinterest search bar to see what people are pinning related to “sustainable packaging.” If hundreds of people are repinning images of corrugated cardboard designs, you can focus your next post on corrugated materials and potentially increase how much the post is shared across sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

You can also see what people are pinning from your blog by typing pinterest.com/source/yoursite.com in the address bar. This can give you a better idea of the topics that most interest your readers when they visit your site.

Drive Traffic

In February, Pinterest drove more traffic to blogs than Twitter did. Images can have a more powerful effect than headlines and links, with the ability to draw attention and evoke emotion in an instant, while tweets can get hidden among lines of text and are often truncated and poorly written. One way to drive traffic to your site through Pinterest is to create a board for your blog, and pin your own posts. Self-promotion is generally accepted among the Pinterest community, as long as all of your pins are not solely used to promote your blog. Pinning your own images means they should be pin-worthy, as well. With more visually appealing images accompanying each post, you encourage more people to pin from your blog.

Adding a “Pin It” button on your blog makes it even easier for your readers to pin from your site.

Network

At its core, Pinterest is a social site, allowing users to share content with others and providing a great opportunity for bloggers to connect with the blogging community. Follow readers and other bloggers in your niche. Comment on their pins and use the @reply function to mention them in your own pins. Start a contributing board that invites people to share their images on a certain category or topic, and continue the conversation through your blog.

For example, if you write a business blog for a company that provides disposable latex gloves, start a contributing pinboard for Clean Kitchens. Invite fellow bloggers to contribute images of their dream kitchens, and tell your readers to check out the pinboard for inspiration. You’ll engage your readers, connect with other bloggers and build your brand.

Are you on Pinterest? How are you using it to improve your blog?

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Okay, time for another Feedback Friday post.

Saint Patrick’s Day has everyone thinking green, so I thought it might be a good time to expand on what Tom revealed earlier in the week, which was how to use color to bring your blog to life … something a lot of new bloggers tend to ignore as they juggle everything else during the start up of their first blog.

Today, I want to build on that topic by taking a look at your blog and providing you some feedback … if you’re up for it. Submit the URL of your blog and I’ll check it out and post some honest, blogger-to-blogger feedback.

If you want to see a few Feedback Friday posts before ou submit, Check out 10 seconds, reason to revisit, and last week’s about SEO.

How does the color of your blog impact your visitors?

If you’re like me, you’ve thought about how some of the most popular blogs employ a splash of color in order to create a more unique, branded experience for readers. If you’ve spent any time reading about blogging, then you’ve probably noticed that both ProBlogger and Copyblogger employ a darker red, which sends a passionate vibe to many. The awesome thing about this part of blogging is there’s no right or wrong way to go about selecting a color. My friend over at Blog Tyrant uses gold, which I don’t think is used anywhere else. Here at Fuel Your Blogging we use a deep orange, Kiesha over at WeBlogBetter uses green, and over at CreativeBlogger I use teal.

So where do you stand?

Submit the URL of your blog in the comments below and find out what a visitor feels from the color you’re using.

If you need help, check out the definitive color wheel over at Fuel Your Creativity.

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Whether blogging is simply an enjoyable past-time that you wish to turn into an income stream or you’re already a well-established (and well-paid) blogger, continued education is the key to being successful with both writing and marketing your blog and products.

In the interest of building stronger and more engaging writing skills, learning how to be an effective marketer and rubbing shoulders with the best and most influential bloggers in the world, here are five blogging conferences that you absolutely have to attend this year!

1. The International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM)

Being savvy with Facebook, Twitter and company is one thing; understanding social media and the way it works on a deeper, more scientific level is a whole other. The International AAAI Conference on Webblogs and Social Media is a huge initiative that offers bloggers and social marketers the opportunity to learn about a whole new and very intimate side of their favorite technologies, learning to better utilize them for business purposes in the process.

If you have an interest in the technical side of the internet, blogging and leveraging social media platforms, the ICWSM conference is for you.

When and Where:

• 4 – 8 June in Dublin, Ireland
• Official “Getting there” information

2. BlogWorld & New Media Expo

With thousands of attendees expected, representing more than 50 countries and offering more than 200 speakers, the BlogWorld & New Media Expo is one of the must-attend events in 2012 for bloggers, social marketers and online networkers.

Boasting a tradeshow alongside the conference, BlogWorld brings the very best of everything to bloggers from around the world, exposing you to inspirational stories, technically invigorating workshops and the absolute best in cutting-edge products and services that can be utilized to further grow and promote your online business endeavors.

When and Where:

• June 5-7, 2012 in New York;
• Hotel Reservations are already available

3. International Food Blogger Conference 2012

Food, wine and blogging – what more could an internet professional ask for? The very unique International Food Blogger Conference of 2012, to be held in Portland, Oregan, from August 24-26, presents an opportunity for bloggers in the food industry to come together in order to share ideas and culinary tastes.

Narrowing its focus to three main categories, this conference offers presentations and workshops covering all aspects of food and drink, the writing talents that present those foods to the world and the technology behind it all. If you’re a food blogger, this is definitely a can’t-miss event!

When and Where:

• August 24 – 26 in Portland, Oregon
• Location and host hotel information can be found here

4. Mesh Conference

Offering a broad and unique view of social media and how it helps to move the world, the Mesh Conference is a Canadian-based event that aims to educate bloggers, businesspeople and internet enthusiasts about some of the deeper aspects of social media.

The 2012 edition of the conference will present speeches and materials exploring the role of social platforms in the 2011 uprising in the Middle East, using that topic as a road into discussion of the general psyche of online users. Leaving attendees with a much more intuitive understanding of why people do what they do and how social media can drive those actions, Mesh is to be held at the Allstream Centre in Toronto, Ontario, on May 23-24, 2012.

When and Where:

• May 23 & 24 in Toronto
• Hotel booking is available at cheaphotels.org

5. Savvy Blogging Summit 2012

Savvy Blogging Summit 2012 aims to help mom bloggers to grow their brand by utilizing social media and other blossoming technologies effectively. Networking opportunities will abound given the expected turnout, allowing all attendees to learn directly from the best and the brightest of their colleagues.

When and Where:

• October 4-6, 2012 in Atlanta, GA
• Hotel Reservation info is available at the official site

Are you attending any events this year? Please share your thoughts!

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Pinterest is currently the hottest ticket in social media, and now officially one of the top 10 social networking sites. The service has become a big hit in such a short amount of time that the business community has had no choice but to take notice. What we are increasingly learning is that Pinterest is so versatile it can support virtually any type of content. Doubt its versatility? Check out some of the content ideas that are proving to work great on Pinterest.

Product Content

If you are a marketer with a product or two to sell, the obvious type content to post to Pinterest is images of the items in your catalog. The cool thing about this new social network is that it allows you to create links, meaning whatever you pin up on your board will lead users directly to the products on your website. Another plus is how Pinterest molds to your creativity, which in this case, means you can showcase your content in variety of ways. For example, instead of just displaying photos of your products, you can share content that explains how they work, or better yet, how people can actually put them to use. This way, you’re tooting your own horn, but still being useful.

Educational Content

Early in the game, we are seeing most businesses and individuals use Pinterest to share photos and other types of images. Be that is it may, this multipurpose platform also happens to be well suited for video, making it an ideal medium for hosting educational content. Pinterest introduced its video pins feature back in August of last year, and to no surprise, the user community has been eating it up every since. So far we have seen the video pins feature be used for everything from how-to’s to interactive cooking lessons. Whether you rely on YouTube or your own site, Pinterest is the perfect place to share your video-based educational content.

Cross Promotional Content

Some of the best content you can pin to your Pinterest board is material from other channels. Depending what you have going on, this could include your website, blog, email campaigns, or even social networks like Facebook or Twitter. And while Pinterest has some rather strict rules in regards to marketing content, there are still ways to effectively cross promote your stuff without violating the terms and conditions. For instance, you can share newsletters, coupons, and even the QR codes you are using in elsewhere to bolster your efforts on Pinterest.

An Exclusive Club

As it stands now, Pinterest is accepting new members on an invitation-only basis. No one knows when or if this will change. Throwing the exclusivity aspect to the side for a second, Pinterest is clearly a social tool with loads of potential, one that could work wonders for your content marketing efforts if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on it.

IMAGE CREDIT

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Most living creatures respond to color. Using it as a cue from nature to help them survive, they might recognize certain colors as signifying food and others as danger. We are much the same way, evolutionary traits within our minds causing us to react to different colors and shades.

This is an element that is used in everything from fashion design to home decor and is a popular element of creating marketing tools like logos and advertisements. Often we are influenced by these colors without even realizing it, and color therapy is applied to more crucial roles such as the colors of hospital rooms.

When it comes to choosing a color theme for your blog, it is more than just selecting something you think looks pretty. Certain colors can actually have an effect on the viewer’s reaction to the blog: whether or not they revisit and even whether they subscribe. That is why you should be careful when making your choice.

Here are four things you should keep an eye on when selecting a color scheme for your blog.

1. Make Your Own Palette

There are a lot of premade color palettes out there for designers to use, some with credit and most without any necessary. But you won’t get everything exactly the way you want it using someone else’s palette. That is why you are better off creating your own, and there are many different tools out there to help you do it. The most popular are probably Adobe Kuler, which is an excellent generator and theme-sharing website, and ColourLovers, which has a large community of color enthusiasts, an easily navigable directory and a large number of tools for making your palette. For something a little more simple and straightforward, there is Color Scheme Designer, which is an excellent way of using a wheel to find intermediate shades and creating a great palette.

2. Know Where to Look for Inspiration

Color comes from more than just swatches. Limiting yourself to such methods of seeking out a palette will hurt more than help, and you will miss out on the inspiration that comes from sources in the real world. For example, nature is the perfect place to look. Vibrant and in their truest form, gorgeous color patterns and combinations are found where you might not have considered before. You can also find it in things like paintings, clothing, house decorations, the tones of bricks in buildings, etc. Knowing where to look means knowing to look practically everywhere!

3. Be Aware of the Different Color Types

Knowing the different colors isn’t enough. You should also be aware of the different color categories, and no, I don’t mean summer versus winter. You have six main styles: analogues, triad, monochromatic, compound, shades and complementary. An analogue color scheme is one that uses adjacent hues within the same color, such as red, light red, orange red, magenta and lilac. A triad is when you create a theme based on three triangular points on the color wheel, like yellow, red and blue, through differing tones. Monochromatic is a single color that has been split into different hues, like red, pink, crimson, etc. Compound is a complex combination of colors from different hues that have been selected more randomly, for a more dynamic look. Shades are slight variations on the original color. Finally, complementary is opposing colors that complement one another.

4. Use Photos to Bring It Together

Perhaps my favorite method of choosing a blog’s color scheme is through the use of photographs. Creating a nice blend of realism and base color, you can build the hues around the image itself. This gives you more to work with as far as design is concerned while also creating a foundation for your color choices.

Conclusion

Coming up with the perfect color scheme is completely possible. Just use the tips above and keep in mind the end result. See how simple it can be?

Image Credits: 1, 2, 3.

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Much change has accompanied the Facebook timeline, including a new feature called “suggested guests”, which was recently introduced for its Events component. As the name implies, the feature serves up a list of people a user might want to consider inviting to their event. The driving algorithm delivers these recommendations based on relevance to the event at hand and the people who are attending. For example, if you are an author trying to drum up attendance for your next book signing, the feature might suggest friends who have recently reviewed a book in the “I’m Reading” app, or a liked another author’s page.

Advantages to Social Marketers

The reason social marketers should take advantage of suggested guests is because of its surprising accuracy. According to early reviews, the feature does a great job of recommending potential guests you might have overlooked for one reason or another. If you are promoting an event, you may just see a list of suggested guests accompanied by an “invite” button to the right of the page. The suggestions are delivered in threes, and you can keep refreshing the three options until you have exhausted all the people on your friends list who are not attending. It really is a simple, yet effective way to maximize your event marketing efforts on Facebook.

From the looks of it, the new suggested guests feature is a nice addition that active social marketers can benefit from. If Facebook receives positive feedback, it could eventually become a tool that helps promoters increase awareness and as a result, increase the attendance for their events. Despite being extremely useful already, there is still room for improvement with suggested guests. As it stand now, the feature does not offer up names with any sort of context. If it was to say, remind you that you should invite John because he expressed interest in your new book on Facebook, or Jane because she mentioned one of your previous books in a recent update, it could be made even better.

Facebook’s suggested guests feature is an extension of numerous enhancements that have recently been made to its events component. Back in November of 2011, the social giant introduced a new and improved user interface to simplify the event creation and management process. In December, it rolled out “suggested events”. This particular feature delivers recommendations for events a user might want to attend based on their activity on the company’s Open Graph platform, in addition to pages they have liked, and events people on their friends list are attending.

Summary

Some have called the new suggested guests feature creepy due to the personalization element, but if you are a social marketer who frequently promotes events on Facebook, we think you will find it very useful. The function is currently being tested with select users, but if all goes well, it could be released to the entire community in the very near future. This is one we could see going live much sooner than later.

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It’s a dirty business going viral and the secrets of success are just that: secret. Everyone pretends that their content went viral by accident because it was just awesome.

Secret number one

There’s no such thing as an accident these days. Most successful viral marketing campaigns owe more to marketing than they do to virality. Forty eight hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. The chances of someone stumbling on your clever Star Wars meets Minecraft parody by accident are limited!

Secret number two

It doesn’t matter what your content is if it isn’t easy to share. Certainly you need content worth sharing, but it’s not just about the clever, sexy, funny videos these days. Your videos need to be short – around the length of a traditional spot ad. Three minutes is too long. Thirty seconds is okay. Fifteen seconds is perfect. For real shareability, make your viral content something that is remixable – a short snatch of video, an animation, a meme or a jingle all work brilliantly.

Your content needs to be stand-out – it needn’t be unique but it absolutely has to be unusual. Tutorials and how-to articles are great link-bait, as are lists of the “Top N” anything. Some sort of free offer or promotion will get people sharing – see @teapigs for instance for their daily giveaways. Anything tied to a current event that’s captured people’s imagination is an excellent shareability bet. No one needs to see another skateboarding dog.

Ah go on then: maybe just the one more…

Secret number three

You’re going to need a huge army of Typhoid Marys to help get the word out. Target relevant blogs and forums but don’t spam indiscriminately – haters gonna hate anyway so don’t give them ammunition! Find your target demographic and share something with them that they’ll love. Anything else is a recipe for disaster.

Cultivate strong social networks of people who’ll share. There are two types of sharers: the low volume faithful and the once in a lifetime big hitters. If you have an army of twitter followers who love your content, chances are they’ll share it with the few hundred or thousand people they know on Facebook and Twitter on a fairly regular basis. That’s the beef in your burger. But the tasty, tasty cheese slice would be a re-tweet from a celebrity account with millions of followers.

Those tweeters get literally hundreds of “please RT” requests a day so don’t spam unless you want to earn a righteous blocking. Pick your one, best shot: a piece of content that you think that person will find relevant to their interests and that’s good enough that they’ll want to share it. And always say “please” – re-tweet requests with a “please” in them are over two times more likely to be picked up than those without!

Secret number four

It’s all about…wait for it, wait for it…Timing. There are times when you’re guaranteed to sink without a trace – launching anything non-Superbowl themed on Superbowl Sunday has failure built right in. But if you pick your day right you can predict the likely trending topics, and the sorts of themes that people will be blogging all over. From National Hairball Awareness Day on the 27th of April to Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work Day on the 10th of October there’s bound to be something you can tie your brand to. And if there isn’t – invent a day!

The day of the week and the time of day matter too – by far the most re-tweets are sent between 9am and 6pm in most time zones. This is because Twitter is the procrastinator’s best friend. Facebook shares tend to happen at lunchtime and in the early evening as people are less likely to check Facebook for long periods at work. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are peak days for re-tweets and there’s a marked drop off overt the week. People are likely to share funny things on Mondays to cheer themselves up after the weekend. Weekend events promoted on Facebook tend to get the most sign-ups on Tuesdays through Thursdays. Plan in advance: don’t just create and release!

And don’t be tempted to release your content in drips and drabs. Build a series of related items, and maybe even a few remixes of your own (think of the recent Muppet Movie trailers) and launch them all at the same time. You may think it’s better to have a content schedule but people just won’t come back to your site for a scheduled release. But they will keep clicking through if they like your content – and every click is another investment in your brand from that potential customer.

The fifth secret

Your content will sink without trace if it doesn’t instantly grab people’s attention. Pick a short, intriguing, tweet-friendly headline or title. Use words that you think will be trending topics (or that already are). If you have an article, ensure it has plenty of “made for quoting” slugs of text in it. It really helps bloggers to sell your content if you’ve given them a teaser or a summary that they can easily share. If you have a video choose the thumbnail carefully so it stands out on a page of search results. A picture of a monkey waving a lightsaber is more likely to get hits than an out of focus close up of the back of the monkey’s head… Choose wisely, padwan.

Be sure to measure everything (shares, click-throughs, likes, comments) when marketing. Use content-appropriate metric tools like Vidmetrix or TubeMogul to keep a close eye on the success (or otherwise) of your virals. It’s hard to go viral and getting harder all the time, but now you know the secrets you can play the big boys and girls at their own game. Go forth and infect!

IMAGE BY JEFFEATON