Welcome to the first TMI of the year. Ya I know I'm getting a late start. But better late than never. So this weeks Question is Dos and Donts for your site!
Dos and Donts for your site!
I have been reviewing for almost 7 years. And I have seen a lot of websites/blogs where the link and the name of the site are not the same. I have to say that it irritates me to no end. When I first started my site. The name of my site was The Guardian of the Crossroads but my .com was CrossroadReviews.com and let me tell you how many emails I got from people trying to put all that guardian stuff into the www.com. Ya it was a nightmare!!!
So shortly after all of that I changed the name to match the .com and well it has worked out for the best. So here is a quick list of things that you should and shouldn't do with your site name and link.
Whats in a name?
1. Make sure that they both match. If you can match your twitter, Facebook, etc links thats even better. This makes it easier for people to find you. It also makes it easier to make business cards etc. Because for me. My twitter, Facebook page, instagram, linked in, and pinterest are all under @Crossroadreview
For the site link this is the best thing to do because if your site name is Miss Book Reviewer people are going to search for that when looking up your site. So if your .com is Ireviewbooks.blogspot but your name is that Miss Book Reviewer which one do you think people are going to look for?
Numbers are Death
2. Dont use numbers in your title or link if you can avoid it. I have had tons of people get links wrong because of this. If your site name is I Review Books 4 You. You are going to be telling people all the time that well its the number 4 not the word four or for etc. So if you can stay away from these its 4 the best....oops I met for the best.
Center and/or Resize your side bar!
3. Ok so nothing catches the eye like pictures being off center or to large for the side bar. There are some really easy ways to fix this. If you are just using the picture you could use the Add Picture via Blogger. Its in the Add A Gadget list. Just click the shrink to size. Now this will only work for the size. there is a 50/50 chance that the picture will be centered. If you have the HTML thats better. Because all you need to do is this.
A. If the Picture Fits in your side bar and you have the HTML code. All you need to do is add
at the start of the code and
at the end. It will center any picture.
B. If the Picture DOESNT Fit in your side bar but you have the HTML code. All you need to do is use something along these lines. You can use this one! Below is the HTML code I use for most of my pictures.
The link highlighted in yellow is the link you want the picture to go to. So when someone clicks on it it will take them there.
The link that is highlighted in green is the link to the picture. If by chance you don't have this link you can right click on the picture and look for something that says open picture in new tab or window. (I'm on a mac so that is what it says) Then you just copy and paste.
The resizing comes in with what is highlighted in orange I try to leave it at 100% but my side bar is not very big. You can play around with the % by changing that 100 to any number. And then just seeing what works for your side bar.
Use the Preview its Your Friend!
4. When you host tours, do posts with pictures, etc. Make sure you use that Preview button on blogger. It is your friend! This way you will know what your post will look like when it posts without releasing it out into the wild. This allows you to make sure that tour banners, covers, etc are well formatted. As a lot of tour banners are BIG! This will give you the chance to fix issues with the post. It looks bad when the tour banner is cut off.
Social Media
5. Ok so you are a reviewer what social media should you use. Personally I think you should as much as you can handle. But the top ones are:
Facebook | Twitter | Linked In | You Tube | Pinterest | Instagram
These are the top 6 places that are everywhere. So these are deff the ones to use in my book! Facebook and Twitter kinda go hand in hand. Most authors are on at least one if not both of these! Twitter is also a great thing to use for your posts. As you can use the authors @TwitterId so when you share the post via Networked Blogs (will auto post for you) it will alert the author and publisher, tour host, etc. That you posted something at them. Or that they were mentioned. They tend to retweet great reviews.
Linked In is something that I would recommend to have. I don't really like it. But I do have one. My posts cross post to it and there are a TON of authors on there. If you do a business page it will feature your site in living color. So its just one more place to get yourself out there.
YouTube is another great place to use. Tons of publishers, authors, and even bloggers are on there. This one kinda goes hand in hand with google+ and blogger. As if you want to do a show like what I have done for my Book Hauls you can do a live google hang out and it will auto upload live to You Tube. Its a great way to share what you get in the mail or buy. As well as your work space, shelves, and even reviews.
Pinterest is now on the rise! If you are like me I don't use goodreads. I use my boards to pin all of the books I have read this year, ebooks I own, buttons I've made ( I need to update that one), Trips via my family and more. Why limit yourself!
Intagram is another place that is on the rise. So many authors and publisher have join it in the past few months. Its just a great way to feature pictures. And with SnapWidget.com you can have a scrolling widget on your side bar.
Well thats weeks question and answer! I hope you loved all the tips! If there is something you want to know the answer to be it personal or not just comment below or use the feedback tab on the left. All questions as long as they are appropriate will be answered!
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3 comments:
This are some good tips. I suck at HTML codes.
Great advice!! :)
You are SO RIGHT that it's important to keep your names consistent across social media. Once I searched and made sure that no one else was using 'The Steadfast Reader' as a blog title I went ahead and locked down the social media names too - I don't really use my Tumblr (yet?) but I feel better knowing that I can keep it consistent.
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