This is a Guest Post by Anny Solway

One of the best ways to enhance a company’s reputation, develop traffic, and improve search engine performance is to be sure that their website is social media friendly. This is because websites like Facebook and Twitter have really exploded due to one simple fact: people prefer old-fashioned word of mouth more than anything else.

Here’s what we mean: You can see an advertisement on TV for a toothpaste and you might make a mental note to look for it the next time you go shopping. The reality, however, is that you are probably not going to make that big of an effort to do so. If you hear from a friend, however, that the toothpaste really did make their teeth much whiter or that it is a great product, you will definitely seek it out.

Also Read: The Three C’s of Social Media

Because the online world does not work in the same way as a person to person conversation, social media has become the next best thing. People from all over the world now use these sites to recommend things, “talk” about things, and more. This is often done by clicking “Like” buttons or “Share” buttons, re-tweeting, and more on the website. And this is tremendously valuable.

How to Get Social Media Friendly Website

So, is your website social media friendly? In other words, do you make it easier than ever for someone to like or share the content you have available on the website? This is a true key to success, and yet a lot of people and companies are missing the boat, or they just are not using the right tools to ensure that sharing and liking can easily occur.

Search engine optimization can be an extremely difficult endeavor. If you’re using the WordPress platform, you’ll find that many of the free themes out there don’t really have the search engine optimization features built into them that you’ll need. Premium WordPress themes usually include enhancements that are designed for users who need to make certain that the content on their website is as search engine friendly as possible. Here are some of the things they generally include and why you should consider utilizing one of them for any sort of a business site.

When the theme is then partnered with the many social media plugins and widgets, such as the many graphic tags that feature social network icons or functions, it converts a nice blog or website into one that is social media friendly, and optimally functional.

Photo Credit: Rosaura Ochoa via photopin cc

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Are you here because of the headline? Look at the images on the side. Newspapers headlines are the best way to learn the art of grabbing attention

If you are here because of the headline of this article, I consider my job as half done, because it as caught you attention and that is what good headlines should do other than having great content.

And in the other half, I am going to share few links that I feel are some very good articles on writing great headlines. I do see crafting headlines is an art, those articles have covered each bases very all.

Here you go…

Top 5 Posts on Writing Stunning Headlines

Post #1

One of the site I admire a lot is 12Most. It has got some powerful contributors and this post – ‘12 Most Snappy Headline Writing Tips For Your Blog‘ by Jayme Soulati gives some great tips. #8 is spot on as sometimes blogger tend to over do SEO and start writing for search engines rather than readers.

Post #2

How do you guage the importance of headlines??

Well, Brian Clark from Copyblogger has 11 posts dedicated to writing some great headlines. Head over to this amazing series of post starting here – How to Write Magnetic Headlines

And I am sure, at the end of that series, you are going to be a rock star in writing those amazing headlines.

Post #3

Barry Feldman echoes that exactly about being a media star by writing good headlines in this post. And I liked the way this article has been written. The first part about we being in the 1986 era, just blew me away!!

Post #4

On this post - How To: Create an Amazing Headline For Your Blog Post by Taylor Davies are six amazing techniques that will help you write better headlines. The point about using ‘adjectives’ and also using ‘pun’ caught my eyes. They are pretty powerful ways to grab the readers attention.

Post #5

And finally, let me share some easier but an exciting way to write peppier headlines. In this post – 45 Exciting Words to Spice up Your Blog Headlines by Alex you get some great key words. Guess what? I have bookmarked this post and plan to use much of those words going forward

I hope you find all of these links exciting and will help you craft some great headlines for your next post.

Do not miss to bookmark this post and visit all those links, am sure they are pretty helpful.

Your Turn

It’s over to you now. Please let me know your feedback about this post. The comment section is all yours! Let’s engage over -

• Does this post really help you?
• Were you able to write an amazing headline?
• Share your next post?

Also read: 5 Blogging Mistakes to avoid

Photo Credit: DanBrady via photopin cc

The post Top 5 Posts on Writing Stunning Headlines – Week #19 appeared first on Malhar Barai.

“What is the best time to share on social networks??”

“Should I post at 9 am or 9 pm?”

“Will people like my updates?”

Is all of these troubling you? If the answer is YES, check out this infographic which gives us a sneak peek on the best time we should be sharing on social networks.

You might be having the best of the content, but with no audience around, it is difficult to get the attention. With the tons of updates going on social platforms, it is always better to know the best time to share and get some traffic going.

The best part about the infographic is that it gives best time to share and also the worst times on all of the leading platforms  -

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. LinkedIn
4. Google+
5. Pinterest

Your Turn

Am sure that with a global audience, not all of the above might be applicable, but then there are time where you see activity at the peak. According to you, what times have worked the best?

Do drop your comments below.

The post Best Time To Share On Social Networks appeared first on Malhar Barai.

I have always been asked about the social media tools that help me manage my activities online. With new tools coming up everyday, it’s not easy to know about all of them. But I stick to few basic tools to help me manage most of my activities on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ et al.

Read: 5 Twitter Tools to Increase Productivity

What I have learnt though is, not one tool will do everything you want. So, I usually end up picking different tools to manage different functions of my activity.

Those repeated inquiries do lead me to reading about the various social media tools getting recommended by some leading personalities and here’s the list of Top 5 Posts that I came across this week.

Top 5 Post on Social Media Tools

1. Google+ remains an enigma for most of the tools makers since they have limited API calls that the tools can make. This post by Aleh Barysevich gives us few social media tools that support Google+. Personally, I use ‘Do Share’ on multiple occasions to manage my activity on Google+

2. Ian Cleary shares a list of 21 social media tools and technology in this post. I would say this list is overwhelming and would cover most of your activities in the social space. And I frequently use Google Analytics, it’s such an amazing tool.

3. If Twitter Hashtags is what you dread of, this post by Saul Fleischman give 6 hash tag tools that can make your life better. I have always found TagDef to be a wonderful tool.

4. Love infographics?? Then you should read this post by Lilach Bullock where she share 15 awesome tools to help you create wow-some infographics. Visual.ly is a personal favorite too.

5. Finally, as marketer, we love managing content and this post by Genia Stevens gives us 4 Social Media tools for content management. My favorite here is the Buffer tool followed by Social Bro.

Your Turn

If you would like to share, this is the place to let me know which social media tools do you use to manage your online activities.

Click here to read – Top 5 Social Media Automation Tools to Streamline Your Web Presence

 Photo Credit: UGArdener via photopin cc

The post Top 5 Post on Social Media Tools – Week #18 appeared first on Malhar Barai.

Time Management plays a key role in success of any blogger. Every minute, enormous amount of content is created but then there are few ideas which do not see the light as well, reason, the blogger had different priorities.

I know you that these bloggers want to write, but for the lack of plan or priorities, the enthusiasm to write a post dies down very fast. So, if you’re someone who is not able to write regularly, inspite of making plans to do it, this time management article is for you.

Here are the set of rules I try to adhere to and ensure that you get a post every single week. It’s more than a 100 post on this blog now and this could not have been possible if I did not stick to a plan. And just to say, this plan has evolved from my own experience over the last one year of writing regularly.

5 Time Management Tips

Time Management Tip #1. Set Aside Time to Write

Well, I am a morning person and prefer to write my posts early. This helps to plan the rest of my day promoting the post and even responding to comments. In this post, I have said, you got to write EVERY SINGLE DAY. Not everything you write will be published. But setting aside time to write everyday will help you set a pattern and the tame the beast called “mind”

Time Management Tip #2. Switch Off all Social Platforms

Earlier, when I used to sit for writing, I had all sort of social platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Google+ open. So everytime someone updated a status or a new tweet came up, I was inclined to look at it. And that led to cascading effect of me either engaging on that update and loosing out my valuable writing time. Somewhere down the lane, I saw that nearly 70% of my time was unproductive and that’s where I decided to switch off all the social platforms when I sit down to write.

Time Management Tip #3. Create Topic Buckets

If you look at the pattern of my articles earlier, may be a year back, they were everywhere. I just used to write whatever came to mind. That is where I was introduced to Creating Topic Buckets in one of the #BlogChat. And ever since, I have tried to set a pattern and created buckets of post ideas on my Editorial Calendar. This helped in ensuring my research follows a proper direction. I also managed to keep my ‘Top 5′ weekly post aggregated under certain buckets.

Time Management Tip #4. Use Tools

Least to say, I am a tools junkie and like to try every single tool out there. But I found it easy to stick myself to Evernote and Instapaper. Evernote has been a big companion and many of my post ideas are logged there. I also like to store the URLs of some of the interesting posts that I read and they qualify to be stored in Instapaper. A small ‘Read Later’ on the brower has been of enormous help.

Time Management Tip #5. Guest Blogging

Not all days are alike, so sometimes even I get bored of seeing or writing my content. That is where I rely on guest posts. I have few bloggers who send me their articles and while I am spending some quality time with family or other work related stuff, the guest blogger come into picture. It always helps to have few articles in your repository from guest bloggers. This ensures that your regular visitors still get their share of information while you’re not at it.

There you go, I shared few tips that have worked for me. As a person with a day-job, every minute of my time is accountable and those time management tips have helped so far to keep me away from boredom and lethargy.

Your Turn

1. How do you handle your Blog Schedules?

2. Do you follow a certain routine? How does it help you?

It would be great to hear back from you. Share your feedback and comments below.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons

The post 5 Time Management Tips for Bloggers appeared first on Malhar Barai.

Facebook Image size guide is particularly useful for creation of an effective content strategy for any pages. Before any post I have constantly felt the need of having a image size and dimension chart that would effectively depict how content should be shared.

Since, Facebook is one of the most important platform for brands, it’s imperative that they share content that is likely to be clicked, shared further. This sizing guide will ensure that help close by and you can print the infographic or pin it and design your content accordingly.

Facebook Image Size Guide Highlights:

1. Cover Photo: 851×315 px
2. Profile Picture: 160×160 px
3. Timeline Image Preview: 403×403 px
4. Highlighted Post: 843×403 px
5. Video: 403×226 px

The following infographic by TechWyse addresses the exact challenge represents exactly how it would look on the page.

Facebook Image Size Guide

[ Source TechWyse Internet Marketing ]

Your Turn

Tell us if you liked the infographic about Facebook Image?

The post Facebook Image Size Guide [Infographic] appeared first on Malhar Barai.

Facebook Contest is one important element of a Brand’s Marketing Strategy and when done right, it has the power to increase the brand’s visibility enormously.

This week was dedicated to find some awesome Facebook Contest, but before that I was also seeking information on what are the right and wrong ways brands can go about doing the contest.

Top 5 Posts on Facebook Contest

1. Did you know there are about 5 types of Facebook contest? In this post by Aaron Lee shares information on the different kind of contests that brands can launch. And I love the ‘Video Contest’ part.

2. If you’re looking forward to create a Facebook Contest that stands out from the rest, this post by Rachel Sprung gives 4 ideas. They should help you create some stunning Contests that your visitor will love. The point on using location-based services has been explored by very few so far. That could be your ‘jackpot’ strategy.

3. How to get more participants? If that is a question that has been nagging you after the launch of Facebook Contest, this 5-Tips post by Julie Foley can help you. The tips are spot on and can help you drive better engagement on the contest. And ‘being visual’ always helps to stay better on Facebook Edgerank, so hit that design button.

4. A post on perfect Facebook Contest cannot be far away, but how about an Infographic. And I found one by ShortStack on this post by Jeremy Taylor. The infographic explores different elements to create a perfect contest for the brand. Well, I always love infographic, great way to depict the information.

5. Finally, what not to do in a Facebook Contest. Read this post by Jim Belosic on how not to commit some basic mistakes and get your contest taken down. Foremost, always read the Facebook guidelines before you hit the ‘publish’ button.

Having read through, go design and run a great contest!!

Your Turn

• Have you run Facebook Contest for your brand(s)?
• What have you learnt?

Share your answers over the comments below and will be glad to engage.

Photo Credit: marfis75 via photopin cc

The post Top 5 Posts on Facebook Contest – Week #17 appeared first on Malhar Barai.

WhistleTalk – A Social Hiring Platform recently launched it’s enterprise solution that would help businesses to leverage social media for referrals. With plethora of job portals around who compete majorly around the number of subscriptions, I always wondered how can there by any disruptive solution to that madness.

And came WhisteTalk, I reviewed their job-seeker version earlier and found it very interesting since they leveraged the power of social network of individuals to proliferate and recommend jobs. The enterprise version could not have been far away I had thought.

So, when Ammulu came calling about the launch of SaaS-based WhistleTalk enterprise solution, I was not surprised and readily agreed to see a demo. It was worth the hour spent, as Vinoo explained the thoughts and workflow of the entire WhistleTalk Enterprise Solution.

What is WhistleTalk Enterprise Solution

It was not without a reason that Hyderabad Angels – a network of angel investors have put their bet on WhistleTalk and funded the project. The Enterprise Solution gives wings to any businesses referral program since they leverage the power of their employees social network.

As Vinoo explained during the course of the demo, primary reason to leverage social network was – as an individual, our group constitutes of like-minded friends and the same happens on social platforms. This increases the chances of a business hiring the right candidate, when a job is proliferated over social networks. In their pre-launch studies, it was found that it’s easy, cheaper and quicker to get an employee via the referral program compared to the traditional methods. Also, the key advantage for business is, the referred employee tend to stay longer in the company.

The deal-clincher as I found it was the ease with which any business can launch their referral program. It takes less than 15 minutes for any business to register and share their first job. 

As you see from the Workflow below, it is equally easy for business and it’s employees to share a job and similarly, for a job seeker, it’s always good to see a relevant job in their inbox.

For employees of the company, it’s a breeze to refer their friends for jobs in their company. It’s simple as 1-2-3, as they have to just login to their account, view open jobs and refer friends. It can’t get easier that this.

Integrated with the referral is the unique award scheme. Business tend to award it’s employees for every successful referral and it was good to see that integrated within this solution. This helps the employee to know exactly what they tend to gain for every candidate that joins through their referral.

As I saw, each of the features were very well thought through and presented in a simple, easy-to-use form.

Incredible feat would be too less to say for this Social Hiring Platform since they are looking forward to a market potential of about US $100 billion. So if you’re a business and looking for some great employees, this is one platform that you need to get on NOW!

Good luck Vinoo & the WhistleTalk team!!

The post Review: WhistleTalk Enterprise Solution appeared first on Malhar Barai.

Content Marketing is one of the most important step for the success of any brand strategy. With plethora of social platforms available, it’s a big challenge to capture the readers attention. Brands have been increasingly looking at ways to create effective content marketing strategies to ensure they enjoy a recall value amongst the visitors.

How many times have you written the content and published and waited for people to  +1, Like, Tweet or share your content. Everytime!!

The various content marketing strategies have been covered in the following infographic.

Content Marketing Infographic

The kind of bigger, better engagement, sharing of the content is only possible when you get a holistic view of the content marketing techniques. And this infographic from Sekari gives us exactly that – the highlight of various content types and optimization strategies to get your brands the kind of mention you always want.

Did you know that 92% of SEO Managers say that content creation is vital to any successful SEO efforts?

And the reason they want you to be active on Google+ is because it has the power of Google behind it and they have started giving more importance to your presence on Google+. Leverage the platform – follow some great individuals, join Google+ Communities and engage!

With 27 billion piece of online content being shared over social platforms, it is imperative that you make your content easily shareable on social platforms. Social signals forms the core for analytics of any content marketing campaign.

Undoubtedly, Facebook still leads the pack in the popularity meter followed closely by Twitter. But with power of Google behind Google+, it should also be part of your content marketing plans.

Read the infographic for more such interesting piece of information.

Your Turn

What kind of content marketing strategy would you say is the best for brands?

In your experience, what has worked and what doesn’t?

Share your thoughts over the comments below.

The post Content Marketing: What You Need To Do [Infographic] appeared first on Malhar Barai.

Guest Blogging

Guest Blogging is indeed a great way to increase your audience. And if you’re looking at it from traffic generation and SEO perspective, the search engines do give more points for guest posting.

But recently, there has been lot of noise around the growing importance of Guest Blogging and the various reasons you should not be doing it. With the Google Panda and Penguin updates and increasing use of AuthorRank, the noise has only increased. Not to be bogged down by the naysayers, I went on to read few posts that could help you in better Guest Blogging.

PS: If you’re interested in Guest Blogging here, take a look at the guidelines and drop me a mail.

Top 5 Posts on Guest Blogging

1. On this post, Gini Dietrich gives 7 great tips for Guest Blogging. I liked the first point, where you see the ranking of the target blog in order to ensure that you’re writing at better places. That has its own merit in the eyes of search engines. Also #6 is good and read that tip carefully so that you do not get penalized for duplicate content.

2. I know you can write some awesome post but do you follow these Guest Blogging Etiquette suggested by Renee DeCoskey? Liked the point on ‘tailoring the pitch’. I know how it feels to receive a ‘dead’ email saying I want to guest post (I get many). You indeed have to tell the site owner, why you feel the need to guest post on their site. A little praise can go a long way!

3. And if you’re worrying about AuthorRank, this post by Andras Deak on B2C is an eye-opener when it comes to the importance of Guest Blogging and it’s effect on AuthorRank. Like I wrote in the first point, the place where you are writing is very important in the eyes of search engines. The warning bells on this post are pretty good, do not write guest blogs just for the heck of it, always write better content and make yourself heard.

4. You can’t leave out Neil Patel when you’re talking about SEO benefits. This post has a great explanation on how Penguin 2.0 will effect Guest Blogging. Awesome first point on the importance of Social Signals and how the lack of it can effect your ranking. Read the post for some great suggestions on how you should improve your guest blogging efforts.

5. Finally, the opportunities! Rae Hoffman has some great tricks to find Guest Blogging opportunities and he has shared them on this post. But wait!! Who uses Bing? . But his tricks are indeed innovative, something I have never tried and look forward to doing it.

Personally though, I am a big fan of myblogguest.com and it has give me some great articles and infographics to share on my blog. The site gives multiple opportunities to offer your posts, explore it! Am sure it will not be disappointing.

Your Turn

So if you have reached here, let me know what is your take on guest blogging? If you are someone who does it, share us your experience and even your latest post. We will be glad to take a look and share my thoughts.

Do not forget to share your comments below! Have a great week ahead!

Photo Credit: Olivander via photopin cc

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