August 23, 2013

Yowza! We were out of town last week and do you know how it is when you get back from being away and you have PVDI? In my case, that's a recipe for total procrastination and distraction. Which led me to these maps. But they were interesting. Sometimes I make myself feel better by saying interesting = productive, in a learning sort of way.

As always, thanks for subscribing and letting me drop by with some extra tips this week. Enjoy!

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1. Make money with LinkedIn

I think LinkedIn would be a good place for me to spend some of my time. But alas, I don't spend much time (or any) there simply because I can only do what I can do. I know many people who find it very useful though.

Let's face it, of all the social networks, it's the one that's most about business. For that reason, I'm glad Kristi Hines got right down to it and listed 45 ways to make money with LinkedIn. I bookmarked it for future reference.

2. How to write a viral title

I loved tip #8 in Karen X. Cheng's post Dancing YouTube Sensation Karen Cheng's 10 Tips for Making Your Video Go Viral. Want to know the best title for your video? Try this little exercise:

How would you finish this sentence?

Hey, did you see the video of __________?

Fill in the blank. That’s your title.

Go see what she came up for hers. And it did go viral. Clever idea.

3. Want to work with brands?

Ever wonder how bloggers get those sweet opportunities to work with big brands like Disney, Kenmore, Whirlpool and more? I enjoyed watching Susan & Kelli talk about this topic in one of their WAHM Strategy Hour hangouts. It's worth a listen if you're interested in monetizing your blog this way. (Don't have a blog yet? Set it up in 15 minutes.)

Related: good advice for reviewing products on your blog.

Sidenote: I'm looking forward to hanging out with Susan on the next WAHM Strategy Hour next Wednesday, August 28 at 1pm Eastern. Join us! Stay tuned for more info...

4. Cool tool: Wordle

I think I first heard about Wordle from Stephanie Bryant at last year's Allume session about personal branding. Stephanie suggested pasting your blog's URL into the tool to help you identify what you write most about and therefore hone in on your niche. Good idea. But given how popular word art is these days, I bet a lot of you could use Wordle for cool graphics and things too.

5. Why I'm sad about the new theme I love

So I'm a fan of the Genesis theme framework by StudioPress for WordPress. If you use Genesis, you probably know that a huge update came out recently. If you haven't already, you can update by going to your Dashboard and then looking for the "Update now" link in the yellow box at the top of your screen that says "Genesis 2.0.1 is available...". And I'm bummed because I just got a site redesign but now I really, really love the new Sixteen Nine theme and I'm seriously thinking about switching. I have an illness people. :)

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Have a great week!

Amy

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