Geekalicious

How To Get The Best Out Of Google Plus

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:36:00 PDT

I am really enjoying building my Google Plus audience and a new platform means new connections and new ways of interacting.

Recently, +Marie Mosley of Code It Pretty approached me and asked me to write a guest post for her mini-series about Why Bloggers Love Google Plus.

Part one is from +Elaina Newton who writes the foodie blog The Rising Spoon. She tells us how to keep it real on G+ by using visual media, realising that you don't have a character limit and by taking advantage of the community spirit.
Part two is by yours truly. I talk about taking time to explore the platform, growing an audience organically and I share five top tips to get started.
Part three is by +Marie Mosley herself. She writes a love letter to Google Plus and reminds me where I first discovered her amazing blog and tutorials (via +Lisa Ding's Blogger Hangouts!).

What is great about this three-part mini-series is the fact that completely by coincidence we have all touched on similar features of Google Plus - mainly the growing communities and the fact that we were all early adopters yet still expanding our networks slowly and effectively. If you're just starting out with Google Plus, these three posts are going to be a great source of reference and information.

You can find me on Google Plus as +Nickie O'Hara or on my +Geekalicious page.

What is 'PR'?

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 03:00:00 PDT

Today I bring you a guest post from Amanda Jackson of Tigerfish PR. I met her a few weeks ago when I was co-presenting at Preston FM with Will Buckley. She shared her 'hourglass' analogy whilst explaining about Public Relations (PR) and I was fascinated. I asked Amanda to share her analogy on Geekalicious and here it is. If you have any questions for Amanda please post them in the comments section and I'll direct her over here to respond to them.

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There are two questions I get asked frequently. How on earth do you find time for social media? And 'what IS public relations exactly?'

And usually answer to both of them is helped by... my hourglass. Yes, strange as it sounds, I use my beautiful half-hour device - it looks like an oversized egg timer. Let me tell you about it.

I acquired it a few years ago, in a bid to explain PR. There are many definitions of PR. It is often thought of as press relations, but more accurately it is public relations. But what on earth does that mean?

Image Credit:
Rachel Caitlin, Flickr

Well, imagine my hourglass. The top part of it is what is happening in your own business. All the business wins and challenges. The people coming and going, the funny incidents, the exhibitions you're going to. The 91 year old you might employ, the apprentices you've taken on. The new machinery you've bought, the services you've improved. You know, the 'stuff' that makes up our business world.

The bottom part, is what is happening in your customers' world. Pretty much the same - the challenges and successes. The new people, products and services.

So the middle bit? The neck of the hourglass?? Well, that is where PR fits in. That is the way that you and your customers communicate. That sand flowing though? That's the PR, the public relations. It's small bits of information, delivered slowly, consistently. They might be emails, stuff customers read in the press (via press releases), it might be a newsletter, it might be an exhibition, hey, it might be a conversation. But it's communication.

And the best thing about an hour glass, is that it is two-way. Turn it over. The information flows from customer to you. Who wouldn't want that?

Which leads me onto the social media. Because social media, whether it is Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. are all ways that you can communicate with your customers and potential customers. They are all that 'sand' flowing both ways, between you and your customer. But oh boy, can it eat time.

Which is where my timer comes in again. Mine is a half hour timer. I have it permanently on my desk. So I allow myself half hour 'chunks' of time for social media. I can see when the time's gone. There's no "forgetting" what time I started. I wouldn't be without it.

Finally, I confess, that half hour timer is also perfect for making me focus and crack on with tasks I sometimes put off. Like, er...doing 'PR for me' for example, because I'm like that classic cobblers' child i.e. barefoot.

So for me, a half-hourglass forms part of the answer to many questions. But in in my experience, never the one which starts -'how long does it take to make a 30 minute Jamie Oliver meal?'

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Amanda Jackson is founder of Tigerfish PR, a PR agency which specialises in logistics and manufacturing sectors. Her firm offers down-to-earth communications strategy, PR campaigns and social media training for companies that make stuff or move stuff.

How To Create Great Images For Pinterest

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 03:30:00 PDT

Pinterest is all about images. If a picture catches the eye then the user is more likely to click through to read the article and repin. If you are looking to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your website having fantastic images is an important inclusion in your blog post.

This tutorial shows you how to overlay text onto an image intended to draw people to your blog post.

I switch between PicMonkey and Picasa (desktop version) to create my Pinterest images. They use very similar methods to overlay text onto an image. Here I am using PicMonkey to demonstrate. Both editing programmes are free (although PicMonkey does have a paid upgrade available)

Image

Pick an image that relates to the theme of the post.
Upload your image to PicMonkey using the prompt on the main screen

Text

Overlay your text onto the image and ensure the text is prominent and readable
Save the image to your computer (it will save as a new image instead of replacing the original)

Use

Example using the method
in this post

Insert into your blog post in the upper third.
Ensure you have a Pinterest-friendly blog if you want your images to be pinned
This image style is great for tutorial and recipe posts

If you do not want your images to be shared on Pinterest please have a look at my "Block Pinterest" tutorial

Are you aware of your digital footprint?

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:55:00 PDT

Paris Brown is was the UK's first youth police and crime commissioner. She is 17 years old and already has a number of social media accounts. Since her new role was made public, the British media have made it their mission to delve around in her very short online history and dissect anything they can find. They printed tweets dating back three years which made her appear racist, homophobic and supportive of the drug culture.

source: BBC News
updated source: BBC News

As Ms Brown so rightly says, with hindsight, teenagers have been brought up with digital media all around them and it is second nature to share instant snippets of their lives with their immediate peer network. It's difficult to remember that almost all online activity is cached (saved) and can be found with very little difficulty. Another very good point to recognise is that Ms Brown has done something that not many politicians or celebrities can do; she has stood in front of the British media and answered to her previous actions.

However, does this now open the door for all prospective employees to request access to our social media accounts during the interview process? After all, we are very used to seeing disclaimers such as, "These are my own views and not those of [insert well known organisation]" on many a Twitter bio.

I am constantly engaged in conversations where parents are attempting to protect their children's digital footprint by giving them nicknames online (especially in the Parent Blogger community), hiding their faces in images uploaded to social media accounts or even reserving their Facebook account names and/or domain names for future use. As a parent of older children (now teenagers and young adults) I feel that this is taking away some of their digital responsibility and the excitement of creating their first online account but as a parent, I understand the need to educate my child about 'netiquette'. But are we teaching them correctly?

Each social media platform has its own merits and uses yet prolific online users tend to connect with as many as they can in an attempt to achieve a maximum audience. At the other end of the scale, you will find slightly less techy people sticking to Facebook as they were early adopters and it is an easily accessible platform for users of all ages and ability (plus there are games). However, I feel that we should use each platform differently and you don't need to use all of them all of the time.

Facebook: Great for family and friends. Befriend people you actually know and get into the habit of checking your privacy settings. Use the platform to keep in touch on a 'real life' basis.

Twitter: Real time updates from real time people. Twitter reminds me of the Ferris Bueller quote: Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. Apply this to Twitter (time spent, amount of people you follow, the type of people you follow) and you can't go far wrong.

Google Plus: It's a geek zone. It's going to take time for your Average Joe to migrate over to a new platform. However, if you understand that whatever Google create now is going to be incorporated into its own search engine then you can use that power for your own gain.

Every social media platform is going to be embedded with money-making schemes and spammers. The algorithms built into each platform allow you to be targeted according to your usage. Each platform will capture your information and usage statistics and use it to enhance your time spent on there. This forms part of your digital footprint.

Facebook has introduced Edge Rank, targeted advertising and now payment for messaging strangers. Twitter has promoted tweets - clearly marked and sometimes locked into the top of an app. Google tends to embed their campaigns into their search results and (by choice) on-page advertising using Google Ads but with a little forethought and planning we can control the settings on our accounts, flip everything on its head and enjoy the social media platforms in the way they were intended.

Online life is an important part of now and of the future however, as long as we are aware of what we are sharing (both with our audience and with the platform owners) then we remain in control of our digital footprint. And this is what we need to teach new users from the outset.

Geekalicious Recommends... March 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 05:00:00 PDT

Welcome to "Geekalicious Recommends..." for March 2013. Here are my favourite geek and tech based posts that I have read this month. As we have a long weekend here in the UK to celebrate Easter I have included a few more links than normal

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Twitter

Twitter celebrated its 7th Birthday this month. This Telegraph article was written in 2011 but the numbers are still pretty amazing. Knowing how much Twitter has grown in such a short space of time, watching Tweet Ping has been pretty mesmerising. See tweets from all over the world displayed in realtime on a map with Europe out-tweeting the rest of the world (I'm not even going to try and guess how many of those are mine...)

Here is a very to-the-point (and close to the bone) blog post from by @sharonGOONer detailing some Twitter rules and how to use Twitter. Maybe she should team up with Anton Gartner who is ready to give up Twitter after posting 10,000 tweets and only managing to accumulate 15 followers?

*cough*TheOnion*cough*

On the All Twitter blog, they've been talking about the 25 terrible things you should never include in your Twitter bio. It's genius! I'm hoping that I've made none of those mistakes in my own Twitter bio but I'm a bit afraid to update or change it because I think I surpassed myself with this one.

Did you see the #DancePonyDance campaign run by Three? This Second Sync article explains exactly how they got their viral campaign so right using hashtags, promoted tweets and embedded videos.

Google Plus

This post from Confluent Forms is from last August but still very relevant. It talks about how Google is integrating its products with search engine results but it also champions Blogger as a blogging platform (hooray!)

I was bowled over by a G+ update from +Jens Graikowski who has come up with such a simple, yet effective idea for managing the content that he shares on Google Plus.

And, as you can see, I've also been using the Blogger/G+ integration tool to mention people you're connected with on Google Plus.

I am currently trialing the Friends+Me ~~cross-posting~~ social media update facility. I actually like it very much and will be expanding on it more soon here on Geekalicious. It has helped with interaction on my three main social media platforms (I don't use LinkedIn) and increased the time I'm spending on Google Plus but I am still testing some of the settings to find out what works best for me and my followers. I truly don't want to spam and/or update with unnecessary content.

All The Rest

I had been receiving an increasing number of 'complaints' that my Disqus commenting system wasn't available on mobile devices. I got in contact with Disqus and they informed me that they have now updated their system to include commenting on tablets and phones. You can find out how to implement that by following these instructions but you also need to switch off comments on Blogger. You can do that by following these instructions

As an aside, the @DisqusHelp team on Twitter are fabulous. Give them a shout if you have any Disqus queries.

One of my favourite geek blogs - Social Media Examiner - highlighted some findings from the Technorati Digital Influence report and, surprisingly, blogs outrank social networks for consumer influence. Now, a lot of this is down to clever Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) but also the fact that many brands will send out samples to influential bloggers to reivew. All the more reason for bloggers to retain integrity by posting truthful reviews rather than just positive ones.

This leads nicely into the post from the Cybher team which examines the ripple effect from the Interflora search downgrade (for more about Interflora see this post on the +Geekalicious page). Cybher have gone into great details about the need for nofollow links when paid and the legalities of declaration. If you conduct reviews and/or take sponsored content on your blog, it's important to keep up to date with the need for transparency.

(By the way, did you know that if you have a free Wordpress blog - wordpress.com - you cannot take on any form of paid or recompensed activity on your blog? Read more about that here)

And, to finish, if you are a fellow blogger, I'm sure you will find yourself nodding through the whole of this comic from The Oatmeal. It has also made me consider the value of comments on blogs in general. I occasionally think about turning them off and inviting continued interaction over on Twitter/Facebook/G+ but I do enjoy the on-site feedback and conversation.

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I hope you have enjoyed these recommendations. If you find or write an article that you would like me to include in the next round-up please drop me an email and I'll give it a read through. I am always happy to recommend great blogs and enjoy finding new blogs to read.

Subscribe To Geekalicious

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:38:00 PDT

I am trialing a new way to deliver updates to you from the Geekalicious blog.

The imminent loss of Google Reader has made me a little bit jittery with regards to Feedburner (also owned and powered by Google) so I am going to use Mail Chimp for daily updates with effect from today.

Please sign up for Geekalicious updates using this link or the 'Subscribe' form in the sidebar on the main blog. You will not be spammed and you will only receive one email when I update the blog.

I'd also love to hear your feedback and your recommendations for subscriber lists.

If you follow my personal blog, Typecast, you can get regular email updates using this link.

Geekalicious Recommends... February 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:00:00 PST

Welcome to "Geekalicious Recommends..." for February 2013.

Here are my favourite geek and tech based posts that I have read this month. 'Visual' seems to be a recurring theme.

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Let's start this month with a bit of a funny. One of the High Tea Cast crew pointed me in the direction of the Tumblr account called POHTPOF: Pictures Of Hipsters Taking Pictures Of Food. I hold my hands up here - guilty as charged, m'lud. I even Instagrammed my Costa coffee yesterday because no-one has ever seen a picture of heart-shaped sprinkles before have they...? But it brings it home when you see how daft other people look when photographing food and drink, doesn't it?

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Google Plus Helper have written a great post which shows you how to share links effectively on Google Plus. Using the tools provided on the platform ensures the link you are sharing is displayed effectively and (most importantly) is crawled by Google for use in their search results. It also shares tips on the best way to share using the +1 button displayed on blogs and websites

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The next link was highlighted by Melinda Fargo. Initially, I wasn't too sure if this Google Glass article was a spoof or not but it seems plausible. It reviews a mobile device, developed by Google, that brings technology closer to your senses. In a week where I blogged about going "Off The Grid" it is very ironic that I've also been looking at this concept. I am planted firmly in the centre of the two worlds believing that we should find a happy medium in our digital world. Online life is very much a part of who I am and how I communicate and could never completely remove gadgets from my life but having technology so readily available next to my temple is maybe a step too far, even for me?

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This week saw the Oscars award ceremony. The pre-show red carpet programme has evolved into a product placement opportunity starting with the question "Who are you wearing?" but, more noticeably unrelated statements such as, "You could take a great picture of that with your [insert well known camera phone make and model here]. The way in which we watch television now, especially live events, has evolved with many people using their social media platforms to share their opinion. Social Media Today have documented the Oscars trends on the three main social media platforms in infographic format with some interesting statistics included.

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This next infographic is from Visually and attempts to plot all the Vaguely Rude Place Names In The World. It is totally interactive but I'm sure they've missed a few out...

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Finally, I spotted this image scroll past on Twitter. It appears to have been first tweeted by @utterben but has been retweeted and claimed so many times that I am unsure of its actual origin. But whoever created it is spot on!

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Off The Grid

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 04:00:00 PST

Back in June of 2012, Phil Szomszor of The Red Rocket went "cold twerky" for a week. As I gasped with horror at the mere thought of living for a few days without Twitter, Phil explained that he wasn't completely disappearing from social media, but he was going to invest that time into building his Google Plus presence. Albeit slightly dated now (yes, even after only eight months) you can read the results of his experiment here.

I would describe myself as a social media juggler, as mentioned in Phil's post; I manage the three main platforms (Twitter, Google Plus, Facebook) very well and my preference swings from one to the other depending on my mood. So when I heard Joanne Mallon was throwing down a 'no tech' gauntlet I decided to sit on the sidelines and watch (oxymoron intended). Here is Joanne's account of the day:

Three years ago most of us didn't have smartphones – now they’re as precious as members of the family, and we keep them safe like prized jewels.

After my daughter challenged me to a day without technology, my response was to clutch my iPhone to my bosom and hiss You will prize this from my cold dead hands. But then I thought about it, and the fact that children are often criticised for spending too much time in front of a screen when really it’s we adults who can’t face time unplugged.

So I did it, a day without technology. And when I was writing about my day on my blog (as one must) I asked if any other bloggers wanted to try it too. And that’s where it really started to get interesting because for every one person who was prepared to spend a day off grid, there were several more who said they couldn't even live tech free for an hour. And to my mind, they’re the ones who need to try it the most

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a technology fan. I’m part of the generation who has benefited from technological advances in so many areas of life. And it's all so easy now - these days you don’t have to know how stuff works to be able to make it work for you. Thanks to technology I can work very flexibly from home around my family. I can take great pics and share them with far-flung relatives. I can make great friends whom I've never actually met. So yes, tech is good. But not so good that we can’t benefit from stepping back from it occasionally.

For me, the down side of tech toys is that they enable you to be physically present but mentally somewhere else. So you can be in the room with your children or spouse but your attention is anywhere but with them. That’s what technology can take away – the ability to be fully present in the moment and not composing a tweet about that moment in your head. Life is not just one big Instagram opportunity.

Another blogger who took up Joanne's challenge for the day was Lynn Schreiber. Almost as much of a Twitter addict as me, I was interested to hear how Lynn would cope without her beloved i-Products and you can read about her day without technology here. But what is most interesting is the continuation of 'low-tech' that she has implemented since the experiment. Here's what Lynn has to say:

When Joanne asked me to go offline for a day my initial response was 'OMG woman, are you out of your mind?' but after some consideration, I decided to try it out. I wasn't sure that I could do it, so deliberately ran down my iPhone battery so that I wasn't tempted to cheat.

I blogged the day after the experiment about how it felt and now, a couple of weeks further down the line I can report on the long term changes I have put into place.

Before my day without tech, I would sit until midnight on the computer, then take my iPhone or iPad to bed and sometimes faff around on the internet for another hour or so. Now I generally go to bed earlier and often put the gadgets aside to read a book (although I often do that on my Kindle so not quite tech-free). If I do continue to surf, I tend to log out much earlier than previously.

I have cut down on my forum posting and general browsing and am working hard on various projects, some ofwhich should actually enable me to make money. I would say that I am using the computer slightly less and I am using it for more 'worthy' activities rather than watching cat videos and arguing with strangers.

My Twitter addiction won't be that easy to kick though, so don't ask that of me again. The hardest part of the day was not being able to tell everyone how well I was doing on my Day Without Tech.

Even though it is only three years since the first iPad was introduced, I have been using forums and taking part in online activity for the best part of thirteen years now. Digital engagement has become a huge part of my life and is very much a way of life in some respects. I appreciate that we need to step away from the screen occasionally and stop living our lives through phone cameras, reporting back every single moment of our lives, but would removing it completely and going 'off grid' be productive?

Could you go without technology for any length of time? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

#TwitterArchive : have you downloaded yours yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:07:00 PST

In December 2012, Twitter announced that they were opening up their archive and making your past tweets available for download. You can access this by visiting twitter.com > click the cog in the top right hand corner of the screen > select "settings" > scroll down to the bottom of the page > select "Request your archive".

Once your archive is downloaded upzip the file (right click on the file and select "Extract All") and open. Double click on the browser option and your archive will open up in a web page. You can view your tweets month by month, search for specific words or hashtags and usernames. You can also interact with your old tweets just as you can now.

It has been noted by Claire (@BumpWearClaire) that you can only view the archive of your existing @username. If you have changed your name in the past you currently cannot access/download that archive. I'll update this post in the future if that facility becomes available.

I have also spotted some users mentioning or retweeting old tweets. Does this mean we are in danger of creating a Twitter Möbius Band as in much the same way as I mentioned on The Huffington Post when Facebook promoted "on this day in..." notifications?

Will you be downloading your archive? What was your first tweet? How has your twitter use and interaction changed over time? Let me know in the comments.

Here are some soundbites from people currently accessing their Twitter archive:

And I shall end on the type of information that hugely excites the Geek in me... I was the 17,636,207th user to sign up to Twitter.

"Thinking In Geek..."

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:19:00 PST

Thanks to MAGIX for featuring me in their online magazine this month. They are focusing on women in IT/Tech with an emphasis on creativity and covering a wide range of topics.

See all the tweet-sized quotes here.

This post also appears on Typecast

How To Set Up A Custom Domain On Blogger (using 123-reg)

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 04:16:00 PST

If you are wanting a custom domain name for your website or blog and are using Blogger it is very simple (and cheap) to use a 'vanity URL'. Geekalicious is hosted on Blogger and I bought the domain name www.geekalicious.co.uk to give it a more professional and memorable feel.

Here is a comprehensive guide which shows you exactly how to buy your custom domain name from 123-reg.co.uk and how to set up the redirection. Please click the images to enlarge them.

Buy Your Domain Name

To buy your domain name from 123-reg.co.uk navigate to their home page and search for your preferred URL. This will create a menu of domain names that are available and will also feature the ones that are not available.

Using the drop-down menus onsite select the domain name(s) you want to purchase and the time frame you would like to own that domain name for then head to the checkout screen. Create an account with 123-reg if you are a new customer (or log into your existing account) and use your preferred payment method to pay for domain name(s).

Setting Up The Domain Name

Once you have purchased your domain name log into your control panel, select your domain name from the drop down menu and hit the Manage button. This will take you to the overview page for your domain name where you can see the date you purchased your domain name, the expiry date and edit auto-renewal payment methods. Scroll down slightly to the "Advanced domain settings" section and click on the "Manage DNS" link.

Switch to the Advanced DNS tab and enter the exact commands in the image below (click to enlarge) using the Hostname section and the drop-down menus. Click Add after each input to save.

EDITED TO ADD

An additional line is needed w.e.f. March 2013

Hostname : 4LRXPHK7RRAW

Type : CNAME

Destination : gv-JBV4LVLWX6EUEN.dv.googlehosted.com.

The www 81.21.76.62 command refers to the domain hosting package that 123.reg are providing
The CNAME command specifies that the domain name is an alias of another
The www 216.239.32.21 and the three other similar commands refer to the hosting packaging that Blogger are providing

Setting Up Blogger With Your Domain Name

Open your Blogger dashboard and navigate to Settings > Basic then scroll down to Publishing. Click "add a custom domain" and then "switch to advanced settings". Enter your domain name into the box and SAVE. Your domain name will be displayed with an edit button next to it. The original blog name will be shown underneath with redirects displayed next to it. Hit the edit button and tick the box that says "redirect yourdomainname.com to www.yourdominname.com" (this ensures that when the www. is missed off in the address bar the website/blog is still displayed).

That's it! You've done it!

Your redirection may take up to 48 hours to register but I have experienced it happening a lot quicker recently - sometimes almost immediately. If you have any questions please let me know in the comments.

Hints and Tips

Imagine a custom domain name or vanity URL as a beautiful blanket placed over a tatty duvet. Everything is the same underneath but it looks nicer.
Your archive (all your old blog posts) will be updated with the new domain name.
Links in to the new domain - or internal links - will be automatically redirected but it is good practice to fix update as many as you can. Start with your own internal links and then politely request that friends update their blog roll or any links they have pointing to your blog.
Subscribers that receive updates from services that use your RSS feed (e.g. by email or Google Reader) will continue to receive those updates as your feed remains unchanged using this method.
Your Page Rank will reset to n/a or 0 (zero). Fix your links (see above) and continue to blog, linking in and out naturally, and your Page Rank will upgrade at the next update.
Consider everywhere you promote your blog and where you may be mentioned or ranked. All these will need to be informed of your new URL.
If you have used the rel="canonical" command to prevent Blogger changing the extention (.com) part of your blogspot address to represent the country of the reader (e.g. .co.uk for the UK, .fr for France) you will have to remove this command from your template.
You will receive an email reminder when your domain name is due for renewal but it is good practice to try and remember yourself. If you do not renew the domain name on the renewal date it will be made available for another buyer. Some buyers have alerts set up to purchase domain names that have not been renewed and will attempt to sell them back to you at a much higher price. If you did not renew your domain name your blog would revert back to the original name, e.g. geekaliciousUK.blogspot.com
If you have the budget and the domains are available it is sometimes a good idea to purchase as many forms of your domain as possible, i.e. co.uk, .com, .org. You can redirect all of these into the main URL using the instructions above and visitors are directed to the main website no matter what version of the top level domain they type.

Additional note. This post has not been provided by or sponsored by 123-reg.co.uk but after using a few hosting management services I find that they have the most user-friendly control panel for beginners.

Geekalicious Recommends... January 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:30:00 PST

Welcome to the first "Geekalicious Recommends..." of 2013.

Here are my favourite geek and tech based posts that I have read this month

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I have recently registered with Sharaholic (you may have heard of their social media share buttons) and my blogs are featured in their channels. These channels are a great way to discover new blogs as they are collated in themes. The Sharaholic blog is a great source of information and I've chosen to feature their blog design article, How To Get A Professional Looking Blog. They use the analogy "Don't dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want" which is fabulous advice when thinking about the overall look of your blog.

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I caught some #TwitterTips tweets from @LynnCSchreiber (author of Learn Twitter in 10 Minutes) and one of the recommendations sent me over to the blog of Roger Quimbly. One feature on his blog explains How To Tweet whereas another tells you How To Do Facebook. Valuable advice that we should all adhere too. Let me know if you agree!

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At this time of year (the start of a new year) many blog conferences are announced. With budgets as tight as they are, careful consideration must be made when deciding which to attend - you want value for money, right? This post on Kommein gives you a quick glimpse behind the scenes and tells you 13 Things You May Not Know About Organising A Conference. So let's give those conference organisers a huge pat on the back for all the planning and hard work that goes into giving us what we want and need. Are you planning on going to a conference this year? Let me know which one.

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The New Thing For 2013 is going to be more blogging about blogging. Well, it is on Geekalicious! Chris Garrett has written about the 80:20 rule for content which gives an opinion on when you should write, how often, how long your posts should be and whether you should have a schedule.

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I know we are a month in to the new year already (time flies!!) but I am LOVING the second calender on the Visualising A Year's Worth Of Time feature on the Visually blog.

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I'd just like to mention that the +Geekalicious page on G+ has now been verified which means that the content on the page has been authenticated and is considered trustworthy by the amazing people at Google Plus. If you use Blogger as your platform of choice for blogging and you have your Google Plus account linked (recommende) you can link direct to G+ profiles and pages just by typing a + and the profile/page name. The link is created automatically which I think is a great integrated feature. Give it a try.

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And finally... over on the Six Parallel Lines blog is a feature that lists a number of websites where you can concentrate on killing time - *not* in the Facebook way. There's a few forgotten favourites in there, especially the Uncylopedia recommendation.

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I hope you enjoyed these recommendations. If you have a blog post that you would like me to include in the next round-up please drop me an email and I'll give it a read through. I'm always happy to recommend great blogs and find some new blogs to read.

How, when and why to use the 'rel=nofollow' attribute

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 08:19:00 PST

As far as search engines are concerned, when a link is marked as 'nofollow' a command has been given not to register links on the page for inclusion in their search query results.

Search Engine Results

When you use a search engine to conduct a query or search, it is understood that the website(s) at the top of the search research results page are the most relevant to your query; they hold the most authority. This result is created by the amount of links INTO that website using certain keywords.

On a regular basis, search engines will 'crawl' webpages on the Internet and see which links point to websites using which wording (example below). The websites with the most relevant in-links are considered to have the highest authority, hence being at the top of the search results.

Links In, Links Out

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of having a blog or website. You want your webpages to be seen in search engine query results. In-links (links in to your blog) are GOOD! Recommending other webpages (links out to other websites) is GOOD! All these links should be natural 'dofollow' links. Three reasons that some links should be tagged as nofollow are:

Untrusted content, such as the possiblity of spam links in comments
Priority on websites where you are required to sign in or register as a member
Paid links such as advertorial content (as an aside, all paid content should be clearly disclosed to comply with UK law and also for transparency and integrity).

Source: Webmaster Tools Help

Search Engine Optimization

The need for paid links to be nofollow is to prevent such links influencing the search engine query results.

For example, when linking to Geekalicious within a post, a blogger would normally use the word Geekalicious and hyperlink it using www.geekalicious.co.uk

If I wanted Geekalicious to be recognised for a specific search term - maybe 'blogging tutorials' - then I would ask (or even pay) a number of people to link www.geekalicious.co.uk to the keywords 'blogging tutorials'. After a short while, every time someone searched for 'blogging tutorials' the link to Geekalicious would appear near the top of the search results if everyone used a dofollow link.

Page Rank

Link Authority is also weighted by Page Rank. All webpages have a Page Rank ranging from 0 to 10 and this is determined by the number of links into a website. The higher the Page Rank, the more trusted the website is considered to be. Blogs generally have a Page Rank (PR) of 2 or 3, some have attained a PR4 and very occasionally a PR5. You can check your Page Rank here.

Websites with a higher Page Rank, or authority, will push a link recommendation further up search engine rankings, i.e. an in-link from a website with a PR4 is considerably better than an inlink from a website with a PR2, although both are valuable.

**How to make a link 'nofollow'**

On Blogger

Using the Compose tab, highlight the text to be linked, hit the "Link" command, insert the full URL that you are linking to and tick the "Add 'rel=nofollow' attribute" box.

On Wordpress

Install a recommended nofollow plugin and then using the Visual tab, highlight the text to be linked, hit the icon that looks like a chain, insert the full URL that you are linking to and tick the "Add 'rel=nofollow' attribute" box.

Using HTML

How each search engine reads the 'nofollow' attribute

Each search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask) excludes links that have the rel=nofollow attribute however the interpretation varies between each search engine. You can read more about this on Wikipedia.

What happens if paid links are marked as 'dofollow'?

Using a dofollow attribution on a paid link isn't against the law but it does contravene search engine guidelines. You may find that search engines downgrade your website in their searches, it is removed entirely or you lose your Page Rank. If this happens, there is a process to follow which involves changing the paid links from dofollow to nofollow (or removing them completely) and resubmitting your website to the search engines for consideration.

An Ideal Layout For Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 03:30:00 PST

There is an ongoing discussion about the ideal layout for a blog. You may have heard of the F-Shaped Pattern which details the "hot spots" that readers automatically navigate to with their eyes when scanning a web page. Using this theory, the obvious advice is too put your most important information in the hot spots. But does using this placement technique detract from the main feature of your blog - the content? Of course you want your reader to enjoy that blog post that you've put an enormous amount of effort into but it is also useful to have an optimum layout that showcases additional information in the best way. Here I have put together a suggested layout.

A header needs to showcase the title of your blog and/or your branding as it is the first thing your reader sees. Static pages and categories are next - this is information that rarely changes and helps the reader to navigate your blog.

Your content, a way to share the content and the comments should be the main feature of your blog.

The sidebar should display contact information, your social media channel links, subscription links (you want the reader to be reminded to return when you post) and the all important search bar which is usually a plug-in or a widget but Google provide a custom search engine that you can easily install in just a couple of minutes. You could also include your archive section here too using a hierarchy display or drop-down menu rather than a flat-list.

All other information and affiliations can be installed further down the sidebar or in the footer. Labels and tags are useful so your reader can find related content and whilst displaying a copyright statement isn't a requirement it is a recommendation.

Here are some additional hints and tips from established bloggers and brand representatives.

Simple and clear with easy access to key info. Absolutely NOT white text on black background or silly fonts ~ Jo Middleton, Inside Scoop

Categories and tags are important to me and I look in the sidebar first. If I can't see them I use the search bar ~ Amanda O'Hara, Flying Start Magazine

Install a search bar ~ Sian To, Cybher

I like to see content. I hate it when half my screen is taken up with header ~ Jax Blunt, Technology Solved

Clear structure and a page that you don't have to scroll too much ~ Ben, Mutterings of a Fool

Most clients like some concrete, number-focused reason why you are advising them to work with a certain blogger so clear contact details and any ranking info like Klout or Tots100 should be offered ~ Liz Mercer, Fleishman-Hillard

Have your contact information easily accessible ~ Tara Cain, Sticky Fingers

I like my blogs how I like my men. Simple to navigate and easy on the eye ~ Super Amazing Mum

What would you add?

What do you like to see on a blog? What makes you switch off immediately?

Let us know in the comments.

London Underground Geekness

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:37:00 PST

Today the London Underground celebrates its 150th anniversary.

The Tube combines all my geek thrills of tube journeys, maps and unusual facts and stats all rolled into one. You can read how I fell in love with the London Underground over on my other blog but first I'd like to share some Tube Geekery with you to mark this auspicious occasion.

If you have a look at the tube map we are all use to looking at - originally styled by Harry Beck in 1931 - we can see how this layout has seen very little change. Beck wanted to simplify and colour-code the original geographical maps because he believed that users of the service weren't interested in the geographical structure but wanted to know how to actually get from one part of the city to another by the quickest route.

Image Credit : TfL

If you compare this with a geographical map (which you can also see overlaid onto a satellite image here) you can see how Beck's idea made complete sense. I wonder if Mark Mason (author of Walk The Lines) got the idea for his adventure from this map?

Image Credit : steveprentice.net - "TfL silly maps"

Whichever way you look at the London Underground, it's an interesting subject - from the history to the now. And it's one that I'm not alone in geeking out about. Have a read of High Tea Cast Sam's recent tour of Aldwych Station and the really interesting website 150 Great Things About The Underground. You can also browse the fantastically eerie London Underground Lover photoblog for unusual images of the modern network, corridors and platforms. The two pictures here are ones that I have submitted - you can click on the images to get a closer look on their relevant page.

To me the London Underground is art in motion. The trains, the sounds, the people who jump on and off at each platform. It is soaked in history and is also history in the making. The LUL photoblog previously mentioned shows that you can find moments of calm within the madness, showing the Tube in its true glory. The stories behind each station and platform, written about many times over, tell a tale that is as complex as the tunnels that connect the network.

What does the London Underground mean to you?

The Benefits Of Guest Posting

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 02:00:00 PST

To link in to a recent guest post by Molly Forbes - How Do You Decide What Your Blog Is Worth - which talked about accepting paid commercial content on your blog it's great to hear from Sam Sparrow of The High Tea Cast talk about guest posting from a different point of view - new audiences and renewed traffic.

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The Benefits Of Guest Posting

Whether you blog alone, with friends or as part of a collective, you may have accepted, or been approached about guest posting. You may have even submitted guest posts yourself just as I have here on Geekalicious. Guest posting is great - it allows you to write for other blogs and introduce yourself to a whole new audience (and hopefully new traffic for your own website), and on the flip side, it can score you some great new content in areas that you perhaps don't have expertise. If you want to take your blog to the next level and don't have the time and resources to write fantastic posts all by yourself, opening up your blog for guest posts like we did on The High Tea Cast can be a great way to find new blogging friends, writing partners and increased traffic. It isn't always easy though, so here is how we manage it.

Source new guest posts

A great way of starting off with a guest post on your blog is to approach bloggers directly with a post idea you'd like them to write. Perhaps you run a fashion blog, but there is a particular post on beauty you'd like to include. Or you have read a post from a blogger you've really enjoyed and you think a follow up with them would work really well on your own site. Most bloggers would be really happy to write a post for you, particularly if you include promotion of their post via social media and a link back to their own site or original post. You can also make it known that you are looking for guest posters for more generally. We've put a note on our Contact Us page, and we use social media to advertise for new guest posts. Sometimes we even ask around people we know to help get the word out. This is a great way to find new bloggers that perhaps you don't know yet, but that may be a perfect fit for your audience.

Make your expectations clear

Even if you have openly advertised for guest posters, it is important to make your expectations clear at the outset with what you want. Here are some things you may want to communicate with the guest blogger right from that first agreement to provide a post -

Set a deadline - this is really important! As a blogger yourself, you'll know how busy you are and how it is easy to forget things. Set a deadline a little before you'd like the post to go live so you have time to edit, and negotiate this deadline with the blogger so that it works for both of you.
Be upfront with your style guidelines. If you have a word count minimum or maximum, or image sizes that you use, make sure you tell them - they aren't psychic! Any formatting rules you use for your blog will help the guest blogger, and of course help you when you come to schedule and edit.
Make the topic area distinct - or you could end up with something that doesn't work for you. This is especially true if you are approaching someone directly, so again, help the guest poster by giving clear guidance on what you'd like to write.
Let them know you may edit. It is common courtesy to let any guest poster that you reserve the right to edit their posts to make sure it fits with your blog style and format.

Edit and schedule

Once you have received the guest post from your new blogger, you'll want to edit the post in your own blogging platform, and the schedule it. You may have agreed a time to schedule the post in advance, but if not choose a time to post it and set it up. If it this stage you think the post isn't working and can't be fixed by small edits from yourself, contact the blogger as soon as possible - don't ignore it! You know how much time it takes to compose a new post, and you do not want to waste anyone's time. Be honest and open, and try and give some clear guidance on what might need to change. This shouldn't happen if you set the expectations properly, but it still does - and it is best to deal with it head on. If you are sent a finished post out of the blue from someone and it really won't work, contact the blogger and thank them. Explain why it isn't right for your blog, but suggest some others they may like to submit to!

Promote and thank

When your blog is set to be published, thank the blogger - alot! Let them know when the blog will go live, and give them the appropriate link (short link or otherwise) to use so they can shout about it from the rooftops. Check their own social media profiles and give your own to them, and then explain where and when you will promote them and the post. If the guest post gets a lot of comments or sparks discussion, you may want to let the guest poster know so that they can join in! When the whole process is over, make sure you keep in touch. You now have a great new relationship with a blogger - you could offer to guest post for them, or let them know you'd be happy for the to write more if that is the case. Guest posting is great fun - but like anything in both online and offline worlds it requires good communication and a dash of etiquette. Will you be more inclined to accept guest posts now?

Sam Sparrow is the editor of The High Tea Cast, a daily digital magazine and podcast featuring girl about town adventure, sex and relationships, music, fashion, food and careers advice.

If you have a non-commercial guest post that you'd like to publish on this blog please get in touch.

Silent Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 01:30:00 PST

Geekalicious Recommends... Barnes & Noble Nook HD

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 03:06:00 PST

Recently I have been having a play with the Barnes and Noble Nook HD. The Nook is brand new to the UK and bridges the gap between an e-reader and a tablet but with full-colour 7-inch HD screen, leaning heavily on the fact that it is an idea unit for reading magazines and newspapers on.

But it's so much more than that.

The Nook HD is a very tactile tablet. It's light - about the same size and weight as a standard sized paperback book - with numerous features. Straight out of the box you find that it has a plastic screen surround, a rubber-feel backing with two speakers built in and boot-up from complete shut-down takes around 68 seconds. The screen resolution is gobsmackingly sharp!

The main feature of the Nook HD is that it allows numerous profiles so it immediately feels like a family-friendly unit. There's also no risk of any of the kids buying anything from the Barnes & Noble shop as the children's profiles only have access to their own personal library and pre-downloaded apps.

First things first

Your Nook profile opens up at your home screen where you can create shortcuts to your favourite books, magazines and apps and there are permanent links to your Nook library of books, your downloaded apps, a web browser, email and the Barnes & Noble shop.

The Barnes & Noble Shop

Barnes & Noble have a huge online catalogue of books, apps and subscriptions tailored to the UK market and this is still in development however the quality of the downloads is second to none! I have found that some of the books seem quite expensive when compared to pricing on Amazon (one example was a new release - £20.87 on Barnes & Noble, £6.29 on Amazon) however many of the best sellers are almost the same price - just a few pence difference. I hope that Barnes & Noble address this pricing issue for digital downloads because I feel that users will simply migrate back to Kindle for their book reading. On the positive side, I have found that the interactive children's books are really engaging with fantastic graphics, unique inclusive options such as a "read and record" feature and many touchscreen surprises.

When a purchase is made from the shop you can assign it to as many profiles as you like. This ensures that individual profile material is age-appropriate and parents can assign child-friendly apps and books direct to an individual child's profile. This in itself is an ingenious feature simply because it means that adults don't have to scroll through a child's 'recently used' selection and that children of different ages can have books and games appropriate to their age. I can create a user-specific profile for the grandchildren (both under the age of 5) and one for my teenager (aged 13).

Newspaper and magazine subscriptions

As previously mentioned, I feel that Barnes & Noble are focusing heavily on their newspaper and magazine subscription feature and once you see the quality of the downloads you can see why. The subscriptions are a similar price to paper and digital version but the interactivity feels like you are getting so much more for your money. It is easier to demonstrate this and here I show you how a magazine download looks and how you can 'tear out' a page from a magazine to keep - something that I always do with paper magazines and I constantly feel was missing from digital downloads. Please excuse the shaky camera work...

Operating system and apps

The operating system that Barnes & Noble are using is Android based. The browser is super quick and email is easily incorporated. And because I have chosen to link my own Google account I can also access my Google calender and other Google features. They have also taken many of their apps from the Google Play store but whilst you have to use what is provided, be assured that they are the best of the best. It's reassuring that Barnes & Noble have done this research because, as a dedicated android user, finding the official or best apps in the Google Play store can be a bit of a minefield at times. My new discovery is the Flipboard app. It has collated my social media channels, Google Reader, news, and photography favourites and presented them in one handy feature. Find it and use it.

Edited to add: With effect from 3rd May 2013, the Google Play store has been integrated into the software for the Nook HD and the Nook HD+.

Television and film

In the Barnes & Noble store you can also download film and television features. Watching films on a tablet is not something that I had experienced before but, as you can see here, the HD screen ensures that you enjoy a clear, crisp viewing.

Conclusion

I feel that the Barnes & Noble Nook HD is a fantastic bridge between an e-reader and a tablet. I have been using an Android tablet for over six months now and I haven't picked it up since using the Nook HD. Any social media channels that are missing from the app market (namely Facebook and Google Plus at the time of this review) can be accessed via the browser and even over the few days that I have been using the Nook HD I have seen new features added, new additions to the libraries and shop and I am constantly finding new ways to interact with the downloads.

On a personal level I think I'll still use my Kindle for reading books as the special offers and freebies are much more wide ranging (edit: using the Kindle app from the Google Play store bridges this gap now). If the Barnes & Noble shop catches up with this, I may migrate completely. I'm enjoying the magazine/newspaper experience and the speed of the apps and browser doesn't need to be any faster for personal use.

Edited to add: As mentioned above, the integration of the Google Play store is a very clever move. I believe that Barnes & Noble may lose out on some book and app sales but this will generate more Nook HD unit sales because this has just made it the best Android tablet on the market in 2013.

For more information, stockists and prices visit http://uk.nook.com/

This Nook HD and access to the Barnes & Noble shop was provided for the purpose of this review.

Please see my disclosure policy for more details.

Social Petworking

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 02:00:00 PST

Occasionally a daft idea transposes into a great business opportunity. A while back I was being amused by the updates on Text From Dog and now some previously unseen text conversations have been pulled together into a book. At one time my old dog had a Twitter account but the pressure to be funny or original, when you're up against humorous updates from Text From Dog is just too much so now I prefer to take cute pictures of my new puppy and upload them to Instagram instead.
Does your pet have a social media account? According to the research completed by SPANA - the international animal welfare charity - 1 in 10 pets have a social media profile and they have pulled this infographic together to show you the best of the best!

How To Generate Sales By Offering Freebies

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 02:00:00 PST

As a keen reader I often scout Amazon for free downloads for my Kindle. These offers give me the chance to discover new authors which very probably leads to the purchase of their other titles. Confirming this in a blog post last week was book editors Bubblecow with their post, The Secret of Giving Your Book Away For Free which concludes that by offering a well-written book for free generates good reviews which translate into future sales. I believe this is a method that can work across many business models. After all, how many times do we purchase something because of a seemingly tantalising special offer?

By coincidence, an author friend of mine was planning to offer one of her erotica books for free as an experimental promotion. The book would be available for free for 48 hours only - the 5th and 6th of December 2012. Here is Indigo Moore's experience.

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I had no idea whether offering a free title on Kindle would work as a promotional tool - after all, people are always tempted by a freebie, regardless of whether the item is something that they really want. So I didn't hold out much hope of it translating into a realistic amount of publicity.

I didn't help myself by forgetting to prime any of the promotional websites - those pages that advertise upcoming Kindle freebies. Real life got in the way and it was only when I received a rather disappointed-sounding email from my publisher bemoaning the lack of downloads at the beginning of the free period that I realised what I (hadn't) done. I did then send a slightly panicky message to the managers of the Free Digital Reads website and they very kindly put my details out at short notice, but that was the only third party promotional site that I used.

I decided that the best method at this point would be use the contacts I've got on Twitter and Facebook. I posted a link for the promo on my personal accounts as well as the Indigo Moore ones, asking people to share wherever they felt possible (erotica not necessarily being as 'shareable' as, say, children's books).

A quick note on promotion vs. anonymity seems relevant here. Although I write erotica under a pseudonym, I have never gone out of my way to hide that it's actually 'me' under the pen name. This makes it much easier for me to push my own stories, as I can use my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as my author ones. I can also bribe / bully / cajole my friends and online acquaintances to share my commercial links through their own networks.

If I was writing anonymously I think it would have been much harder, as it immediately cuts out many of the potential media outlets.

Given my rather slapdash methods, I wasn't expecting great results. However…

My story hit the #1 spot on the UK free erotica charts within 24 hours. By the end of the free period it was at #9 in the States. Amazingly, it also got to #28 across all free Kindle categories in the UK. There are currently 43,138 free titles on that list, which makes my final placing pretty goddamn awesome by anyone's standards.

But still, I did wonder whether it would have any impact on 'actual' sales, or whether it'd turn out to be a flash in the pan (albeit one which now permits me to say 'I made number one once, you know' to anyone who'll listen).

It's only a day after the promotion closed, so possibly too soon to tell really. But the other five (paid) titles that I currently have available on Amazon all took a jump up the charts in the 24 hours after the promo closed and social interactions (via Twitter, Facebook and my website) have increased noticeably. I've had enthusiastic comments (and promises of telling friends about me) from people I've never met, both here and in the States.

And publicity is the crux of the matter - the absolute fuel to a writer's commercial survival. Readers are much more likely to take a punt on one of your paid titles if they're already familiar with your work and confident that they'll like it. Content is everything - the more work you put out there, the more likely people are to find you. I had six titles available before we decided to run a free promotion - much less than that and it wouldn't be worth doing, as I wouldn't have enough in my catalogue for people to buy even if they wanted to.

At the end of the period my story had been downloaded over two and a half thousand times

Maybe I was lucky, maybe people genuinely like my writing, or maybe I just know a lot of brilliantly active people on social media - either way, it's been a very positive experience.

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If you want to find out more about Indigo Moore you can delve into these links:

Website : http://indigomoore.com
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/indigorosemoore
Twitter : https://twitter.com/IndigoRoseMoore
Amazon : http://tinyurl.com/indigomooreamazon

Geekalicious Recommends... November 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 04:00:00 PST

Welcome to November's "Geekalicious Recommends..."
Here are the geek and tech links that have caught my eye this month.

Firstly, Leila at Gamaroff Digital is talking about the quality of the Facebook 'Like' button for brands in her post entitled, "You'll Find My Fans Chilling In The Like Graveyard". Her major point, executed by using the 'Win an iPad by liking our page' theory is expressed brilliantly when she says "...wouldn't it be better if you had a thousand Likes from people who were liking, sharing and commenting on your wall posts, than a hundred thousand from people who wanted an iPad but now hate your guts. Focus on making Facebook a nicer experience for your fans and you'll squeeze more out of the little buggers." But, as we all know, Edge Rank is making it far more difficult to experience visibility on Facebook without paying for it. Between you and me, if I'm being truthful, as soon as I see the word 'Sponsored' under a brand link I make a point of not clicking on it to help them understand the 'promoted' feature better.

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If you use Instagram you may have noticed that web profiles are being rolled out. This means that you can socially link to your Instagram pictures via a weblink and share them with anyone online, rather than just those who use Instagram. Social Media Examiner showcases this well .

Also, I found this post from Geek Is New Chic from last December which tells you How To Save Your Instagram Photos. A great little tip if you're a fan of IG but want to use the filtered images for blog posts rather than push them to your IG stream.

Instagram have also issued official badges. You can use their design or create your own. Use these on your 'About Me' section or 'Connect With Me' section. This tip was originally seen on the Cybher Facebook page.

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Marie from Code It Pretty has been showing us how to create Pinterest widgets. Her instructions are really easy to follow. I've tested this out in the sidebar here for my Unique Geek Speak community board and it works perfectly. If you want to be invited as a contributor to this board just let me know in the comments. I'll need your Pinterest ID so that I can add you.

Also, did you notice the mention for Pinterest secret boards in the Social Media Examiner link? If not, click again and have a look!

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Do you fancy being able to download a full archive of your tweets? Tech Crunch have summarised Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo's promise that this facility will be available by the end of the year although it does seem like a job that the engineers behind Twitter aren't happy about considering the (growing) popularity of Twitter. Would you download your archive? If so, what would you do with it?

(link via Rob Shoesmith)

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And finally, I shall finish with this FANTASTIC video from Martin Shervington which demonstrates the best way to get started on Google Plus. If you're interested in extending your profile on G+ it really is worth following Martin's tips.

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I hope you enjoy these recommendations. Also, if you have a blog post that you'd like me to include in the next round-up send me a link by email and I'll give it a read through. I'm always looking for new blogs to read and recommend.

Google Authorship : Get It Right!

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:00:00 PST

Google Authorship is important if you want your content attributed to your Google profile in Google searches.

I shared a freebie Google Plus hot tip on my Facebook page this week which expressed the importance of claiming Google Authorship for your content I also mentioned it on my recent post about using SEO effectively. Since then, I have received a few queries about which code to use. I have broken it down for you here:

rel='author' is for G+ personal profiles
rel='publisher' is for G+ pages

The first step you should take is to link the correct 'rel' command to your public Google+ link from your blog. If you link to your personal profile (as I do) then use the 'author' command. If you link to your page then use the 'publisher' command.

<a href="[profile url here]?rel=author">Find me on Google+</a>

<a href="[page url here]?rel=publisher">Find me on Google+</a>

Now you have to link your Google+ Profile to your blog so visit your Contributor To section on Google+ and add in your blog link. Do this for each blog you write or contribute to.

Connecting your information in this way is registered almost immediately and you can see which information is publicly available using the Google structured data tool. Anything that requires changing can be amended by selecting Edit profile from your own Google+ profile.

I hope you find this useful. Let me know how you get on.

The Importance Of Being First With The News

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 02:00:00 PST

Having social media, news channels and digital communication at our fingertips means that content can go viral very quickly. It is important to be on the ball with "What's Hot" and sharing it with your audience.

An episode of a Radio 4 comedy show (I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue) was championed on the Radio 2 breakfast show on Monday 26th November. I had already heard the clip that was being discussed and had a post in draft ready to share with my audience as a 'space filler' on my personal blog. However, I knew that after it had been shared with a wide audience they would be searching for it online so why not direct them to it?

(click to enlarge)

With a bit of simple SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) I tidied up the post and published as soon as I got into work. Within an hour, my post - entitled "Tony Hawks, Gangnam Style" - was top of the Google search results (Google Chrome incognito search used so not to skew results). After another couple of hours it had dropped to third but was backed up by curated RSS feeds. Over the next 24 hours it shifted up and down between first and third result.

SEO is a bit of a minefield if you want to dig deep enough but there are a few pointers that any blogger can follow to help hone your post:

Use a keyword in the title (also using the permalink facility to have a good URL but user-friendly title)
Use your keyword in the first paragraph
Use your keyword in the <alt> and <title> attributes of your image and give your image an appropriate file name
Use labels effectively
Use bold and italics to help highlight keywords
Complete your search description
Ensure that you have applied for Google Authorship i.e. link your content to your Google profile/page so you are acknowledged in search results.

Do you have any SEO hot tips? Have you ever had any posts that have gone viral? Let me know in the comments.

Additional Tip: Permalink and Search Description is available in both Blogger and Wordpress.

Geekalicious Hot Tip : G+ Word Clouds

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 04:00:00 PST

Because Google Plus is such a new platform it is hard to know what everyone is talking about. How do you know if you have people in the right circles? I have found a nifty little word cloud tool that draws in from any profile's posts and highlights their most used words. Here is my word cloud:

You can view it larger here and the easiest way to create your own is to grab your own G+ profile ID code (the numbers in the address bar) and replace the numbers from my word cloud URL with the numbers from your G+ profile or page. You can do this with anyone's G+ profile ID - just visit their profile page, copy the numbers and generate their word cloud. Have a look at which words stand out the most and see if this helps you to organise your circles.

Leave me your word cloud links in the comments so I can have a look through them.

(PS. to save your word cloud to use in a blog post hit the "save" option then right click and select 'save image as...' to save as a picture file on your computer)

Geekalicious Recommends... Seagate Backup Plus

noreply@blogger.com (Nickie O'Hara) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:50:00 PST

Geekalicious Recommends... is branching out and incorporating products that I have tried and loved.

I was recently sent a Seagate Backup Plus (500GB) to try as an external hard drive and backup facility and literally had to wrestle it out of my husband's hands. Seagate have been the leader in technology for over thirty years and with digital home entertainment on the increase we have a large amount of technology at home including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

What's different about the Seagate Backup Plus is that whilst using it as a traditional external hard drive, you can also sync it to your social media channels such as Facebook and Flickr so that you can save images uploaded on the move. The set-up process is very easy and comes with four video tutorials that are no longer than a couple minutes in length each. Once the set-up process is complete, you can share images from the device to the integrated social media channels and create an album with one click.

My current set up is synced to my laptop and I have created folders for work and for personal use. If you keep the hard drive connected to your main computer you can set the sync to specific intervals (daily, weekly, etc). However, I have created folders for each member in our house and, subsequently, each of their devices. This allows us all to be able to backup our data and to save our own photographs from Facebook. With this external hard drive you are also provided with one year's free 'cloud' storage which can be extended and/or increased at any time.

I'm loving this back-up process as it's so easy to use but what I would like to see in further models is Instagram and Google (Picasa) album integration as these are the image channels I use currently.

What sort of back-up device do you use? Do you have a portable back-up system or something else? Let me know in the comments.