Here are 5 Blogging tips to get you started for 2013:

 1. Make sure you change your copyright to 2013

When you start out this year the first thing to do is to change your copyright to 2013.  This protects you and your work for the year ahead so that nobody can copy your work.

 2. A picture is worth a thousand tweets

Yes it is true what they say, a picture is worth more.  So make sure you include interesting and relevant pictures in your blog.   If they are interesting they may just be picked up by the news media and shown in newspapers or even on Television and that is priceless.  They may even find their way onto social networks and before you know it you will be famous.

3. Make sure you have an editorial calendar for the year ahead

If you are serious about your blog then invest in an editorial calendar and schedule what you will be writing about for the year ahead.  Therefore you will have plenty to write about and not have to worry about what your next topic will be.

 4. Take a new look at your blog

What do I mean by that?  Well take a look at your blog.  Does it look tired or does it load slowly.  Are there too many meaningless items on it?  Well if there are then it is time to trim the fat.  Cut out all items that are too old or serve no benefit.  You will be left with a blog that loads fast and looks great.

5. What do you blog about?

It is important to find your niche.  So whether it is cars or movies or social media, find something you are passionate about.  Become the expert in that niche and soon people will be contacting you asking for help.

Also remember to share your blog on all the social media networks.

 Happy Blogging!

About Author

Fred Felton is a keynote speaker, social media consultant, author business analyst and website designer. Fred is also owner of Falcon’s Cove a digital media agency based in Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa. You can also find Fred on Twitter and Facebook.

So you have read and followed my advice from my first post 4 Steps to Social Media Success BEFORE you start on Social Media:

1) Know what you want to accomplish
2) How much time can you spend on your social media
3) Narrow down the networks you will participate in
4) Plan your content

And now you are ready to get going with the next steps.
I know you are eager to get moving and to start seeing results, but don’t jump over these steps they are very important to reaching that success you so want and deserve. They are the foundation to everything in the future and believe me, it’s easier to do it right the first time than to have to go back and fix it later.

Am I suggesting you will never change these things once you have set them up? Not at all… in fact I recommend you review the previous 4 steps regularly as a way to evaluate the success of what you are doing and to review the upcoming steps often as well.

As your goals grow and change, as the social media world changes and as your business changes, you need to review these items regularly. That’s not the same as skipping steps now to get going and having to go back later to do them because skipping them shorted you on some success. So invest in yourself and go through the steps now!

So what do you do next?

1) Know and follow the rules of the networks you are joining: Most of these social networks are free so it’s their sandbox and you are getting to promote your business for free… the rules are there to make it fair for everyone so take the time to follow those rules so you aren’t penalized for breaking them. This could mean losing access to your accounts to having them shut down completely. It would be a shame to lose all your hard work because of a rule being overlooked.

2) Fill out your account info completely: This is a great opportunity to tell people who you are and what you do and it’s where people will make a judgement about you and your business. So take the time, fill it out completely and then review it at least quarterly to ensure all your details stay accurate.

3) Find the right people to follow to build your network: Use the search option on the network you using, try a variety of terms. Find a leader in your industry and follow them, then follow the people following them as well, these people are looking for your info, you just need to connect. Add your numbers, be selective about who you connect to, send a hello to them, start the conversation and connect.

4) Listen: Spend time on your social networks listening to other people’s conversations, contribute when you have something useful to say (not just “me too”). Use the search field to find conversations relevant to your industry to participate in.

5) Give before you receive: Start sharing and responding to other people’s posts. People notice this and usually then make an effort to do the same back for you. We all want people to engage with us, be the first to go and engage with them. It will be noticed.

6) Add value, be the go-to resource for information in your field to the people in your niche: Find useful information that the people in your niche need to hear and be the one to share it. Don’t worry about being the one to create the content; sharing content is a powerful way to position yourself as the go-to expert.

7) Ask for the action you want: When you post a thoughtful, useful or just fun item and you want people to engage with… don’t be shy to ask for what you want, sometimes people need to be guided. They are sitting at home nodding their head in agreement, but the thumbs up or retweet is the virtual head nod… ask them to do it!

These steps are the basics of any successful social media campaign on any channel. They will guide your interaction with the goal of growing your network, engaging with people in a caring way and building relationships. Don’t short change yourself or your business by not doing these steps; the results won’t be the same without them.

I’d love to hear how you are doing on your social journey!

About Author

Sherri-Lee Pressman is Your Social Media Minder, helping business owners use Facebook and Twitter to grow their businesses. She is a Social Media strategist, educator, speaker and coach. She lives near Vancouver BC, Canada with her two kids, one crazy cat and an even crazier puppy. You can visit Sherri’s site here.

Starting a blog or website has many learning curves. Unless you are extremely web savvy, the lessons can become very costly.

Here are 5  tips to help you avoid your website becoming a money pit:

1. Become familiar with some basic html code. You don’t have to know much anymore as most websites and blogs have great editors. There are times that you will need it and you can simply copy and save the ones you will use most in a text file on your desktop for easy access.
2. If you are going to be posting content on your blog on a consistent basis, hiring someone to create your graphics can become rather costly. Learn to do some of your own images. You don’t have to be a graphic designer as there are free banner maker sites such as Bannernow as well as inexpensive ones like Flashadcreator.
3. When hiring someone to work on your site, make sure you  are clear as to the service they are providing and the quality of their work! . Don’t rely on an oratory of their workmanship, you need to visually see what they can do for you! Then, you must make sure you have the details of the service in writing. This ensures that neither of you has misunderstood the nature of the service! A simple email is sufficient to map out what you both have agreed to.
4. Google and Youtube should be among your best friends! Most of the questions you have when working on your website can be found in one of those 2 sites. When I cannot find what I am looking for on Google, I seek out tutorials on Youtube!!
5. Avoid a lot of flashy features that you feel are going to attract people to your website.  Although it is true that people are visual and your site must be appealing to the eye, what is going to drive repeated traffic to your website is CONTENT!! Whether you are selling products that people want or your website provides people with great information that is relevant to them, it is all about CONTENT! For bloggers, it is truly about giving your readers consistent, great content that will keep them coming back.

Are there any tips that you would add to my list to help someone’s website from becoming a money pit?

1. Start with a simple blog

When you start out blogging use one of the easier blog formats. I would suggest you use tumblr to begin with. It is easy to use and great for photographers and writers.
It is also perfect for those starting out. It is a great way to learn the format.

2. Your title

Think about this carefully. Your title is how you will be known. So decide if you want a catchy title for the blog or if you want to use your name and establish a brand for yourself.

3. What do you blog about?

Many of my clients ask me this. How do you find something to blog about? Well here are some tips to get you started. Write about good service at a shop. Write about bad service. Scan Twitter and see what most people are talking about. Write about that. Solve problems, help others. If you are an expert in a certain niche, share your expertise with your followers. Interview someone famous. Interview someone in your field of work.

4. Share your work

When you feel comfortable with your writing skills start to share your blog with people.
Share it all over on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and other social media networks. Share it on Blogging Networks like Triberr.

5. Add sharing buttons

Add social sharing buttons onto your blog so that your readers can share your work with their friends, family and business associates. Make sure those sharing buttons are at the top of your blog so people can see them easily enough.

6. Add widgets

Once you are blogging away look at adding some widgets. Widgets are small programs or little ways that you can add different items to your blog. So you can add such things as, pictures, lists, subscription forms, bloggers you recommend, the weather, the news and so much more. You will find many such widgets on blogs such as Blogger or WordPress or Posterous

7. Work on the design of your blog

Take a look at your blog regularly. Does it jump out at you? Would people want to read this? Look at it and make sure all the links work correctly. Does it take long to load? If so change it. Work on the design.

8. Work on the headline

Each blog post you write should have a headline that grabs your eye. So work on that headline. Make it interesting. Would someone want to read that blog?

9. Learn to guest blog

A powerful tool for a blogger is to guest blog. What that means is you write a blog post for another blogger. So find other bloggers out there. There are many that are dying for a guest blog. Also look for big bloggers and email them, ask if you can guest blog. The impact will be huge for your blog. So get out there and start writing your blog.
Happy Blogging!

Do you have any tips about Blogging?

About Author

Fred Felton is a keynote speaker, social media consultant, author business analyst and website designer. Fred is also owner of Falcon’s Cove a digital media agency based in Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa. You can also find Fred on Twitter and Facebook.