Blog & Free Advice
How to Run a Successful Online Contest
Photo courtesy of Antavo Promotion Builder Online contests are an excellent way to increase fan engagement and build up your existing fan base. They’re also great for encouraging word of mouth marketing among your fans’ and their friends—especially if you provide an incentive for sharing, such as bonus entries. Running an online contest involves a lot of initial planning and setup so that, once live, the contest runs smoothly and...
Social Media Image Sizing Chart by Luna Metrics
Hooray for Luna Metrics. Their handy cheat sheet for Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest shows the ideal sizes for profile pics and other images used in these social networks. Because each site resizes images dynamically based on what you have uploaded, the end image is of better quality when you know the ideal start size. For example ... Pinterest Image Sizes The Profile Picture appears as 49 x 49 pixels, but it’s actually best when resized...
Yes We Had a Fire
There was a fire in our building last Thursday night and our beautiful space is ruined. We know that roofers were doing renovations all week and that the fire started Thursday night at 8 pm, but we don’t know yet if the roof work was related to the fire. Nobody was in the building at the time, which is very lucky, and Crissy and I both had our computers and monitors at home. The...
Facebook Mobile Advertising
Mobile-targeted ads are becoming increasingly important for advertisers, as people spend more and more time on their smartphones. This infographic from MBAOnline.com gives numbers and information related to Facebook mobile ads, including how long people spend on Facebook on a smartphone vs a personal computer and how often Facebook mobile ads are clicked on vs desktop ads. Do you have a mobile advertising strategy? Source: OnlineMBA.com
How to Manage Social Media When You’d Rather Be at the Beach
Photo by Christopher Porter It’s summer. It’s hot. Most of us want to spend less time at work and more time enjoying the weather with family and friends. Managing social media can take up a lot of time in your day—but it doesn’t have to. Here’s how to manage social media in 35 minutes a day. How to Manage Social Media in 35 Minutes a Day Morning: 25...
Google Shares Some SEO Tips for Startups
Maile Ohye from Google shares 10-minutes worth of SEO tips for startups in this video. The caveat here is that Ohye is defining a startup as a site with less than 50 pages and one that only wants to rank for a handful of related terms. The good thing is that most companies started out small, and basic SEO is always worth revisiting, even if you have a huge ecommerce site and thousands of products and...
Summer Workshops on SEO, HTML5, eBooks and WordPress
SFU’s Summer Publishing Workshops are offering several 1-day workshops this summer on digital media. The workshops are an excellent opportunity to learn from industry professionals in an informative, discussion-based format. If you’re interested in learning more about digital media this August, below are the workshops we recommend. Note: All the workshops listed below cost $225. E-Books in a Day August 9th, 9:00am - 5:00pm This workshop will teach you how to convert...
4 Awesome Author Websites
An author website should be your #1 priority when setting up an online author platform. A website is where you direct fans and followers from your social networks, where you send your email subscribers once they open your email and where you direct media and bloggers to find resources to review your book. An author website should include everything someone needs to find out more information about you, your book and how to buy your...