asked in
Social Engagement & Marketing
Updated

With Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+ and others sharing content can feel overwhelming. How do you decide which ones to use?

I prefer using the Facebook but now seen that Google +1 is another active site I shall also choose that. For others yet to decide on them.

Just gone with google and am just getting used to it. Will try others later as I get better at this one.

is there any training material on google+, best ways to post articles, hash tags etc. also how do i check out my posts. ie stats

I chose the what is feel natural and addictive for me to work with.
what work for me is with Pinterest.
I am a more visual type of person the heavy text with too much technical so Pinterest was a natural choice and could pin and repin easily 250+ per day without feeling I'm working at all.
So start with one that it easy and fun for you and master it then after i will work with other platforms.

It takes a while for me just to learn and adjust to each one. I now have google + and I have Facebook. Still learning about Twitter, I have not checked with Pinterest yet.

All 4 and on many more...

I am using all 4 plus just signed up to gentlemint. I put them in order as G+, TW, PiN, FB and GM for my activity. I try to stay active on all although I have taken the foot off FB somewhat in favor of the others but I do keep a presence going. A little every day goes a long, long, way!

thanks Tommo, I have actually just done this.

Hi tommo, when I select a WA link to post, which FB site is it being posted to. Is it my fan page (business site) or friends page. Whenever I see request to socially share, my concern is whether I will be posting to wrong FB site and get into trouble.Appreciate your clarification.
George

You need to select the correct profile either your FB profile or your FB business page. Should be in a drop down list. If not just copy the URL of the link you want and pop it straight into the profile you want to share to.

Let's connect. I'm new to WA but am interested in forming alliances with people here. My google+ is https://plus.google.com/u/0/107850560000917099365/posts

Hi welcome. WA is a great place.

For one, CTR on Google results that have Google Authorship associated with them is much higher than results without. One check in the Google+ Column.

Secondly, Facebook is a frenzy of spam and it connects with people who are not interested in what you have to offer unless you have a business or product page. Sharing something about say "Internet marketing" to your friends on FB has much less impact than sharing to a "Circle" of people who are all interested in Internet marketing on Google+. Another check in the Google+ Column.

However, sharing on all the major social networks is super easy and usually just one button click away. Exposure to your content or your brand does not need to ONLY come from one source, it can come from many.

I personally see the most benefit in Google+ right now. The reason for this is because of authorship and the fact that it allows us to gain credibility in the eyes of Google (if we are not trying to game). This will translate into better rankings.

Plus, authorship is becoming an absolute must for search rankings and it will be leveraged more and more in 2013, I can assure folks of that.

Hey Kyle, I'd love to connect with you on Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/107850560000917099365/posts

I sure hope I am following are the social sites. There are so many though. Which are the best?

Hey Sherion, Are you on Google+. If so, let's connect: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107850560000917099365/posts

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Which social sharing site should you choose?

Which social sharing site should you choose?

asked in
Social Engagement & Marketing
Updated

With Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+ and others sharing content can feel overwhelming. How do you decide which ones to use?

I prefer using the Facebook but now seen that Google +1 is another active site I shall also choose that. For others yet to decide on them.

Just gone with google and am just getting used to it. Will try others later as I get better at this one.

is there any training material on google+, best ways to post articles, hash tags etc. also how do i check out my posts. ie stats

I chose the what is feel natural and addictive for me to work with.
what work for me is with Pinterest.
I am a more visual type of person the heavy text with too much technical so Pinterest was a natural choice and could pin and repin easily 250+ per day without feeling I'm working at all.
So start with one that it easy and fun for you and master it then after i will work with other platforms.

It takes a while for me just to learn and adjust to each one. I now have google + and I have Facebook. Still learning about Twitter, I have not checked with Pinterest yet.

All 4 and on many more...

I am using all 4 plus just signed up to gentlemint. I put them in order as G+, TW, PiN, FB and GM for my activity. I try to stay active on all although I have taken the foot off FB somewhat in favor of the others but I do keep a presence going. A little every day goes a long, long, way!

thanks Tommo, I have actually just done this.

Hi tommo, when I select a WA link to post, which FB site is it being posted to. Is it my fan page (business site) or friends page. Whenever I see request to socially share, my concern is whether I will be posting to wrong FB site and get into trouble.Appreciate your clarification.
George

You need to select the correct profile either your FB profile or your FB business page. Should be in a drop down list. If not just copy the URL of the link you want and pop it straight into the profile you want to share to.

Let's connect. I'm new to WA but am interested in forming alliances with people here. My google+ is https://plus.google.com/u/0/107850560000917099365/posts

Hi welcome. WA is a great place.

For one, CTR on Google results that have Google Authorship associated with them is much higher than results without. One check in the Google+ Column.

Secondly, Facebook is a frenzy of spam and it connects with people who are not interested in what you have to offer unless you have a business or product page. Sharing something about say "Internet marketing" to your friends on FB has much less impact than sharing to a "Circle" of people who are all interested in Internet marketing on Google+. Another check in the Google+ Column.

However, sharing on all the major social networks is super easy and usually just one button click away. Exposure to your content or your brand does not need to ONLY come from one source, it can come from many.

I personally see the most benefit in Google+ right now. The reason for this is because of authorship and the fact that it allows us to gain credibility in the eyes of Google (if we are not trying to game). This will translate into better rankings.

Plus, authorship is becoming an absolute must for search rankings and it will be leveraged more and more in 2013, I can assure folks of that.

Hey Kyle, I'd love to connect with you on Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/107850560000917099365/posts

I sure hope I am following are the social sites. There are so many though. Which are the best?

Hey Sherion, Are you on Google+. If so, let's connect: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107850560000917099365/posts

See more comments

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asked in
Authoring & Writing Content
Updated

So many people new to writing articles or blogs worry about whether or not they're good enough. What one tip can you give a new writer?

Just found this blog...
To write more like my personality, a bit more relaxed and fun and not so seriously factual. Some of my blogs need an overhaul (sigh).

Write from the heart
do it often
I have found when I write my articles to try and draw from personal experience or how It would apply to me so I can share with them. They will see through something that you really have no passion for and like Kyle says write it like you're talkin to somebody and people don't always talk with proper punctuation but at the same time you don't want to appear to be an idiot.

Both great points.

Write from the heart, I call it writing from the hip. Speak to people. Tell them what you are thinking and help them out through your words. Think less of it as a "process" and more of it like human interaction and it will become much easier.

Do it often. Couldn't agree more. You only get better by doing something regularly and writing is absolutely one of those things.

My writing advice would be to do two things:

1. Write
2. Write some more

However, when "writing", keep your audience in mind and make sure that the message intended is the one received. Although writing "perfectly" is not as important as some would have it be, if poor grammar and other errors get in the way of your message, then that has to be addressed. Having someone else read your writing is one way to check whether your meaning is clear or not.

Write on...

Joshua

Sound advice Joshua - Thanks for taking the time to comment.

I learned a very important lesson from Jay, magistudios. He was reviewing my website and he told me he was expecting to see one thing on my page but he had found another. What I thought I was writing turned out was related to my page but turned out to be an entirely different thing. What I would suggest would be to write your article first then read it over then write you title. It could save you a lot of grief.

I've read a lot of articles where the heading doesn't match the content. I prefer to do it slightly differently from you in that I like to have a heading in mind. I always start with a minimum of 5, choose one - write my article and then go back and review the headline. I don't think it really matters how you do it but Jay touched on a really important point. Content that doesn't match the headline annoys readers and can stop them visiting your site.

My two cents....when I write content for my site or SA.....I think of who is this going to help, (my audience), and is this article really going to help... make it real....everyday folks I don't think want to read a university grade paper...they want something easy to read that gets the message across....and if I can I do try to add in my product but in a totally natural way....but I try to make them totally useful in someway or another.....I did not always do this....so sometimes I fall into old habits....But I try to put my personality into my writing....

Hi Tim
I agree you certainly don't need a university grade paper. And yes it's very easy to fall into my bad writing habits. Mine are sentences which are far too long!

Solid advice. I always tell people not to write a "book report." I like to keep my writing style conversationally.

As always, know your audience and write accordingly.

You hit a very important point here. English majors will frown upon a lot of the writing that is out there, but the way that someone with perfect grammar and sentence structure would write is often times not what your particular audience is looking for.


Write for your users and engage them based on what they are interested in and they will love your content. It doesn't have to be perfect, in fact perfection does not exist.

It would take me hours to even to try and write a paper with perfect grammar if I could...I do not even try...I for the better part write very much the same way I talk...more or less...:)

Same here, I usually write once...review it once...then publish. Yes, there are spelling issues sometimes and yes they are not perfect, but working in this way allows me to produce WAY more content than fearing my content not being perfect.

1. Don't write for a search engine. Write for a person.

Good advice as always Steve!

This reminds me of something a very wise man once said.

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/authoring-writing-content/why-i-stopped-writing-for-google-completely

Write often. There is one way to get better at anything in life and that is to practice. As you write, you naturally get better and as you have people reading your content, you will naturally get a lot of feedback (which will help you then improve even more).

Hi Kyle
One definitely needs to write often because it's easy to become rusty and yes the more one writes the easier it becomes.

And one other thing I forget to mention is READ often as well. The more your read about your niche, the easier it is to come up with ideas as you are writing. Your brain seems to be good at pulling ideas out of thin air if you read often.

Couldn't agree more. I often hear people say they don't have time to read. My reply is that you don't have the time not to. It's so important.

Well said Beverley. Doesn't it sound ridiculous when someone says this. It is essentially saying, I don't have time to advance my knowledge. What are you here for if you are not constantly attempting to know more?

When I first started this I didn't realize you need to read what your planning on writing about first. I thought that many things I would write about, I could wing it. And this simply isn't true. After I tried winging it... I realized you do have to read and research what you're writing more than a bit, even if you do have some knowledge already. When you read first, you not only increase your knowledge but you also find different angles of approach that you would never realize without taking the time to first read up. I could write 5 articles not researching at all but I could read up on the subject and write just one article that outperforms all 5 I wrote without reading. And I also realize after you do a good amount of reading you will also save time writing in the long run.

Excellent points Jeff. I share the same thoughts. Writing becomes easy and effortless the more you know about a niche...also topics to write about and your ability to interact within comments becomes much more effortless.

Not the greatest writer here but as a reader I think an article that grabs the readers attention in the first sentence is very important.

Couldn't agree more Jeff. When people land on a webpage, they quickly scan the page for relevant information and in many cases do a quick scan of the first couple sentences. They will look for a relevant title too. If you can engage your readers within the first 5-10 seconds, then they will likely stay on the page to read further.

A lot of great writers out there are avid readers and they write keeping in mind what they would like to read themselves.

Hi Jeff
Although I would agree with you that the first sentence is important, as a writer I would advise new writers it's the headline or title that is even more important, because it's that which will lead readers to move onto the body of the text. Too often writers come up with one headline and then leave it at that, which in my view is a mistake.

Beverley

Hey Beverley,

I have two tips that I would give people who are just starting out with writing.

1 - Write with the AUDIENCE in mind. Too many people focus on writing with a sales pitch in mind and this is not what you want to do at all.

Write with the intention to inform your audience. Help them, give them info that they are after, help them learn something.

2 - Write naturally and don't worry about being perfect. Anyone who can write an email to a friend, can be highly successful with Internet marketing. When your audience finds your content online, the last thing they want is to be bored reading. Write as you would write to a friend, and do not be afraid to use your own voice. Introduce yourself, tell people your story, and write freely. The best writers out there make their content fun to read where the audience is engaged and interested.

These two writing tips will really help make the content fun to read, and highly valuable to the intended audience.

Carson

Hi Carson

I agree with both your points -you should write with your audience in mind and you shouldn't worry about being perfect. However, I would probably add two small caveats to the second point

1) No one has to write 'perfectly' but if you have problems with literacy or language and that interferes with the understanding of your writing- it's a problem and one that you should address.

2) Using your own voice is really important but there are times when that could actually come into conflict with 'write with your audience in mind'.

I write as I speak in very long sentences with a lot of less well known vocabulary. That is my 'authentic voice' and yet I have had to temper that in order to ensure that I don't put off my readers and make my content easier to skim read. So although I would always say to new writers use your own voice - I'd also add you may have to tweak it slightly.




See more comments

One Writing Tip - What would it be?

One Writing Tip - What would it be?

asked in
Authoring & Writing Content
Updated

So many people new to writing articles or blogs worry about whether or not they're good enough. What one tip can you give a new writer?

Just found this blog...
To write more like my personality, a bit more relaxed and fun and not so seriously factual. Some of my blogs need an overhaul (sigh).

Write from the heart
do it often
I have found when I write my articles to try and draw from personal experience or how It would apply to me so I can share with them. They will see through something that you really have no passion for and like Kyle says write it like you're talkin to somebody and people don't always talk with proper punctuation but at the same time you don't want to appear to be an idiot.

Both great points.

Write from the heart, I call it writing from the hip. Speak to people. Tell them what you are thinking and help them out through your words. Think less of it as a "process" and more of it like human interaction and it will become much easier.

Do it often. Couldn't agree more. You only get better by doing something regularly and writing is absolutely one of those things.

My writing advice would be to do two things:

1. Write
2. Write some more

However, when "writing", keep your audience in mind and make sure that the message intended is the one received. Although writing "perfectly" is not as important as some would have it be, if poor grammar and other errors get in the way of your message, then that has to be addressed. Having someone else read your writing is one way to check whether your meaning is clear or not.

Write on...

Joshua

Sound advice Joshua - Thanks for taking the time to comment.

I learned a very important lesson from Jay, magistudios. He was reviewing my website and he told me he was expecting to see one thing on my page but he had found another. What I thought I was writing turned out was related to my page but turned out to be an entirely different thing. What I would suggest would be to write your article first then read it over then write you title. It could save you a lot of grief.

I've read a lot of articles where the heading doesn't match the content. I prefer to do it slightly differently from you in that I like to have a heading in mind. I always start with a minimum of 5, choose one - write my article and then go back and review the headline. I don't think it really matters how you do it but Jay touched on a really important point. Content that doesn't match the headline annoys readers and can stop them visiting your site.

My two cents....when I write content for my site or SA.....I think of who is this going to help, (my audience), and is this article really going to help... make it real....everyday folks I don't think want to read a university grade paper...they want something easy to read that gets the message across....and if I can I do try to add in my product but in a totally natural way....but I try to make them totally useful in someway or another.....I did not always do this....so sometimes I fall into old habits....But I try to put my personality into my writing....

Hi Tim
I agree you certainly don't need a university grade paper. And yes it's very easy to fall into my bad writing habits. Mine are sentences which are far too long!

Solid advice. I always tell people not to write a "book report." I like to keep my writing style conversationally.

As always, know your audience and write accordingly.

You hit a very important point here. English majors will frown upon a lot of the writing that is out there, but the way that someone with perfect grammar and sentence structure would write is often times not what your particular audience is looking for.


Write for your users and engage them based on what they are interested in and they will love your content. It doesn't have to be perfect, in fact perfection does not exist.

It would take me hours to even to try and write a paper with perfect grammar if I could...I do not even try...I for the better part write very much the same way I talk...more or less...:)

Same here, I usually write once...review it once...then publish. Yes, there are spelling issues sometimes and yes they are not perfect, but working in this way allows me to produce WAY more content than fearing my content not being perfect.

1. Don't write for a search engine. Write for a person.

Good advice as always Steve!

This reminds me of something a very wise man once said.

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/authoring-writing-content/why-i-stopped-writing-for-google-completely

Write often. There is one way to get better at anything in life and that is to practice. As you write, you naturally get better and as you have people reading your content, you will naturally get a lot of feedback (which will help you then improve even more).

Hi Kyle
One definitely needs to write often because it's easy to become rusty and yes the more one writes the easier it becomes.

And one other thing I forget to mention is READ often as well. The more your read about your niche, the easier it is to come up with ideas as you are writing. Your brain seems to be good at pulling ideas out of thin air if you read often.

Couldn't agree more. I often hear people say they don't have time to read. My reply is that you don't have the time not to. It's so important.

Well said Beverley. Doesn't it sound ridiculous when someone says this. It is essentially saying, I don't have time to advance my knowledge. What are you here for if you are not constantly attempting to know more?

When I first started this I didn't realize you need to read what your planning on writing about first. I thought that many things I would write about, I could wing it. And this simply isn't true. After I tried winging it... I realized you do have to read and research what you're writing more than a bit, even if you do have some knowledge already. When you read first, you not only increase your knowledge but you also find different angles of approach that you would never realize without taking the time to first read up. I could write 5 articles not researching at all but I could read up on the subject and write just one article that outperforms all 5 I wrote without reading. And I also realize after you do a good amount of reading you will also save time writing in the long run.

Excellent points Jeff. I share the same thoughts. Writing becomes easy and effortless the more you know about a niche...also topics to write about and your ability to interact within comments becomes much more effortless.

Not the greatest writer here but as a reader I think an article that grabs the readers attention in the first sentence is very important.

Couldn't agree more Jeff. When people land on a webpage, they quickly scan the page for relevant information and in many cases do a quick scan of the first couple sentences. They will look for a relevant title too. If you can engage your readers within the first 5-10 seconds, then they will likely stay on the page to read further.

A lot of great writers out there are avid readers and they write keeping in mind what they would like to read themselves.

Hi Jeff
Although I would agree with you that the first sentence is important, as a writer I would advise new writers it's the headline or title that is even more important, because it's that which will lead readers to move onto the body of the text. Too often writers come up with one headline and then leave it at that, which in my view is a mistake.

Beverley

Hey Beverley,

I have two tips that I would give people who are just starting out with writing.

1 - Write with the AUDIENCE in mind. Too many people focus on writing with a sales pitch in mind and this is not what you want to do at all.

Write with the intention to inform your audience. Help them, give them info that they are after, help them learn something.

2 - Write naturally and don't worry about being perfect. Anyone who can write an email to a friend, can be highly successful with Internet marketing. When your audience finds your content online, the last thing they want is to be bored reading. Write as you would write to a friend, and do not be afraid to use your own voice. Introduce yourself, tell people your story, and write freely. The best writers out there make their content fun to read where the audience is engaged and interested.

These two writing tips will really help make the content fun to read, and highly valuable to the intended audience.

Carson

Hi Carson

I agree with both your points -you should write with your audience in mind and you shouldn't worry about being perfect. However, I would probably add two small caveats to the second point

1) No one has to write 'perfectly' but if you have problems with literacy or language and that interferes with the understanding of your writing- it's a problem and one that you should address.

2) Using your own voice is really important but there are times when that could actually come into conflict with 'write with your audience in mind'.

I write as I speak in very long sentences with a lot of less well known vocabulary. That is my 'authentic voice' and yet I have had to temper that in order to ensure that I don't put off my readers and make my content easier to skim read. So although I would always say to new writers use your own voice - I'd also add you may have to tweak it slightly.




See more comments

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
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4-Steps to Success Class
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