May 3, 2014 Hi there! This week, there was lots of news. Guided Search and Custom Categories were launched by Pinterest and Facebook announced a bunc

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May 3, 2014

bathroom-redo

Hi there! This week, there was lots of news. Guided Search and Custom Categories were launched by Pinterest and Facebook announced a bunch of stuff too. As for me, my week was not as productive. I'm in the middle of a minor bathroom redo which should have taken a weekend but has stretched into two weeks. Here's what it looks like as I write. DIY is not my strong suit.

1. How to easily add an event to your calendar via email

I like simple and SuperCalendar is simple. Just send (or forward) an email to SuperCalendar's email address and bam, it's in your calendar. I like it because you can enter something into your calendar without leaving your email (unlike clicking the underlined dates in Gmail which takes you out of Gmail and interrupts your flow, for example). The main thing to know is that the event title goes in the subject and the event date & time in the body. It works with Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple iCloud and more. Check out the FAQ or sign up here. It's free.

2. How to conduct an engaging interview in a podcast, video or blog

I love interview podcasts (this is my latest favorite*) and I'm convinced a host's questions are key to making an interview stellar. One of Kerry Jones's tips in 6 Tips for Hosting an Interview Series on Your Blog is great: make the interview engaging with anecdotes. (Who doesn't like a good story?) How? Ask when questions. For example, "When did you start..." or "What happened when..." etc. Simple but effective.

3. A better way to name categories?

Naming categories is a necessary part of blogging but how many people give a lot of thought to it? David Risley tweaked his categories recently and I think he had a good idea. His take? Don't just name them, highlight their benefit. For example, he changed categories from "Traffic," "Social Media" and "Entrepreneurship" to "Get More Traffic," "Increase Engagement" and "Be More Productive." Subtle difference but a lot more attention-grabbing, no? (And if you're new to blogging, here's how I see the difference between categories and tags.)

4. How to improve SEO

Want to improve your SEO? Of course you should take advantage of author rank (here's how) and you should follow basic SEO tips. But studies show you should also write posts longer than 2000 words every now and then. Check out #7 in 7 Hot SEO Tips and Tricks for Blogs. Ian sums it up like this: "Write long posts – this is one of the best optimization techniques you will come across." (Not sure what SEO is? Read this post.)

5. In case you missed it...

I spent this week blog spring cleaning, so except for a few minor updates to previous posts, I was mostly trying to get organized. I have so many random notes, links and ideas floating around it's nutty. My love was renewed once again for Evernote and Workflowy.

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Have a wonderful weekend,

Amy

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