Is your blog connected to social media?

Happy New Year! Let’s start off 2014 by talking about your blog’s connection to social media.

Social Media Today released a blog recently that really got my attention and I wanted to create a mini series discussing the tips. Today let’s discuss their first two tips from their 101 Blogging Tips:

• #1 Get connected on social media
• #2 Invest in a domain name

The first tip assumes that you have a blog already, so if your blog is not social then this could have a positive impact on your blogging success. A great way to connect your blog to social media is WordPress plugins. So here are a few that I suggest using right away:

Google +1 button automator

This plugin will make it easier for people to share it on their Google Plus account. It is small enough as to not draw too much attention but I believe having it at the the top without other options makes it an easy click.

Shareaholic | share buttons, analytics, related content

See my icons at the bottom of this blog post? These make it easier for visitors to share what they like. You can make a lot of choices as to what the options are and what social platforms suit your blog best.  There are other such plugins for this but Shareaholic is my favorite. Not only are they a great company but their customer service is wonderful too.

Your social icons

While it is important to make it easy for visitors to spread the word, it is also important to make it easy for people to connect with you on other social media platforms. Everyone has their favorite and maybe they don’t want to visit your blog as often as they want to interact with you on Facebook. This is why you should make sure that links to your social media accounts are easily found on your blog. My social icons are in my header, footer and under my name on each blog post. Subtle, but present.

Go beyond the blog

A social blog should overreach itself, in other words, to extend a helping hand by providing value. Provide good information no matter where you are. My blog is about blogging so I try and make sure that my @iteachblogging account is about blogging or things related to blogging 90% of the time. If you are fortunate enough to get followers from your blog, give them a reason to stay connected and to keep coming back.

About Domain Names

The second tip is something that I am extremely passionate about: OWN YOUR DOMAIN NAME. I have written three blog posts about this topic already and if I write a thousand blog posts over the span of this blog at least 100 of them will likely be dedicated to this topic.

10 reasons why you should own your domain name for your blog

You should own your domain name: Part 2

You should own your domain name: Part 3

You should read the entire post by Social Media Today if you have not already, you should add them to your book marks or feedly account.

There are lots of ways to make your blog social and I have just covered the bare minimum here. What ideas would you offer to make a blog more social? What has worked for you?

I build blogs for a living and if you need help with your blog setup or design please contact me and let’s talk:  [email protected]