Billion Dollar Graphics

"Infographic:  graphic visual representation of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly." (Wikipedia)

www.milliondollargraphics.com

Infographics, or information graphics, such as graphs, charts, tables and maps, can be used by bloggers to enhance their blog.  One website claims that if you give an oral presentation, your audience will retain about 10% of what you presented.  However, if you include visuals and written words in your presentation, that figure rises dramatically to 50%.  To read about the power of visual communication, visit http://www.billiondollargraphics.com/infographics.html.

                

                               

                                     Infographic courtesy www.millerbusinesscenter.org.

While we think of infographics as a recent phenomenon, they have their roots in the early 19th Century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infographic).  Back in 1801, Englishman William Playfair, a political economist, published the first area chart and pie chart in his Statistical Previary.  In 1857, the famous nurse, Florence Nightingale, used inforgraphics to persuade Queen Victoria to improve military hospital conditions during the Crimean War.  In 1861, Charles Minard prepared a complex infographic on Napoleon's disastrous march on Moscow.  

Charles Minard's infographic courtesy en.wikipedia.org.

In 1933, the London Underground was the first to make use of modern maps to sketch out its complicated subway system.  In 2010, an infographic illustrated how buildings have grown over the past several decades, starting with the Empire State Building and finishing with a modern marvel in Dubai (Skyscrapers Through History:  The World is Getting Taller).  Our brains crave infographics as explained by the following infographic http://visual.ly/13-reasons-your-brain-craves-infographics?view=true.  

"The World is Getting Taller" infographic courtesy thumbnails-visually.netdna-ssl.com.

Here is a metro Washington subway map which makes good use of infographics.  

Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are litterered with infographics.  They not only convey information, but they also advertise your brand and generate more traffic to your blog.  Why not add them to your blog posts?  For tips about creating effective infographics, visit the following website at https://www.visioncritical.com/pretty-and-pretty-useful-how-create-awesome-infographics/.

Ten infographics on Pinterest at dailyinfographic.com.

Advertising Your Blog

"The importance of your site is based on how many other sites link to yours and how important those sites are." (Professional Blogging for Dummies)

Now that you have set up your blog, it's time to get the word out.  Start by telling your family, friends and business associates.  Make a business card with your blog address.  My card says "Writer" with a picture of a typewriter in the background.  Send a mass e-mail sharing the details.  Include a link to your blog in your e-mail signature.  Advertise your blog on your website.  If you have a business blog, give a brief description of it in your company boilerplate (a brief description at the end of a news release).

Set up an ego search online which lets you know when your blog is mentioned or linked to other blogs.  Set up a Google Alert search of a topic that you blog about.  You can even do a Google Alert for your own name.  Link to other blogs regularly.  Leave comments on other blogs to identify yourself as part of the blogosphere.  Remember to keep your comments relevant and new, rather than just repeating what other readers have written.  Make sure to mention if you have a personal interest in the topic.  Comment on topics that have no interest to you twice as much as topics that do, thereby showing you have no immediate value in doing so.  Remember to reread your comment for errors and tone before your click Send.

Social media is an excellent way to promote your blog.  As of 2010, Facebook already had five million active viewers.  You can set up a like button on your Facebook page.  Similarly, you can set up a Like button on your blog which can link back to your Facebook page.  Read Facebook for Dummies (http://www.amazon.ca/Facebook-For-Dummies-Carolyn-Abram/dp/1118633121) by Leah Perlman and Carolyn Abram for more information.  You can also share your blog on Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Google Plus as I do when I write a new post.

Try writing a guest blog for someone else.  A one time deal might only drive your traffic up temporarily but if you do it on a regular basis ex. once a month, you'll likely see a lasting increase in your blog hits.

Another way Internet surfers can find your blog is through keywords.  Google analytics can tell you the keywords people use to find your blog based on algorithms, proximity, frequency and page rank. Sometimes, the strangest keywords come up ex. kosher clowns, ghetto chicken head, pregnant man or yellow balloon cake.  It is a good practice to get into to include keywords at the end of your blog. However, remember that people read your blog for its tone, not for its keywords.


For more information, visit http://www.thesitsgirls.com/make-money/30-ways-to-grow-your-blog/.

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The Momentum Principle

"Momentum:  the principle that the linear momentum of a system has constant magnitude and direction if the system is subjected to no external force."  (Law of Physics)

A body in motion tends to stay in motion.  Look at a runner running full tilt.  It is hard for them to stop on a dime.  They tend to keep running for a few yards.  As Brian Tracy says, "Although it may take tremendous energy to overcome inertia, and get started initially, it then takes far less energy to keep going."  Tracy says that the faster you move, the more energy you have.  If you want to achieve your life's goals, become an action-oriented person.

The momentum principle reminds me of the two-horse rule.  Take a horse that weighs 700 pounds.  It can pull 700 pounds.  Take another horse that weighs 800 pounds.  It pulls 800 pounds.  Put the two horses together and how much can they pull?  Simple mathematics says they can pull 1500 pounds.  However, in reality, the two horses can pull 3000 pounds!  You add the weight of the two horses plus their interactive weight, thereby quadrupling their individual power.

There is a mental component to the principle.  Think about humans, for instance.  If your task is to clean the kitchen cupboards and you have to do it on your own.  It's a boring, meticulous task which you are dreading.  It will probably take all morning.  However, your sister joins you to help.  You are making progress much faster than you thought.  You see results.  And you have her company to make the time pass faster.  Within an hour, the task is complete.

The momentum principle can also be applied to your mortgage.  When Rob and I first bought our house, it seemed like it would take us forever to pay it off.  Month by month, we only chipped a tiny amount off the principle.  However, after a few years, we noticed the principle decreasing more rapidly, like a snowball effect.  We made a few extra payments.  The final few years, the principle seemed to disappear.  Sixteen years after our purchase (on a 25 year mortgage) we owned the house free and clear.

The same principle can be applied to my blog.  My original intent was to write a weekly blog.  However, once I started, I thought I would build momentum more quickly if I wrote everyday.  I had seen too many blogs start with a weekly post only to have the blog fizzle out within a year.  Here I am four and a half years later, feeling like I still have more to say.

Note:  For more information, read http://www.briantracy.com/blog/leadership-success/the-momentum-principle-of-success/.

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Professional Blogging for Dummies

At Ollie's Discount Store in Niagara Falls, New York, I bought a copy of Professional Blogging for Dummies for only $6.99 (regular $29.99).  While I have had a blog for three and a half years, I thought it was about time I learned how to be a professional blogger, to make money at my blog.

I was happy to learn that I am already doing some things right.  I post regularly and frequently.  If I can't post, then I save the date and catch up later on.  I always include photographs or pictures in my posts.  Another thing I have been doing lately is listing previous posts which connect with a current post, almost like cross references.  I also have my five most popular posts listed on my home page. Recently, I started including tags in my posts to encourage backlinks.

Here are some things I can do to expand my reader audience.  Firstly, I can provide a link to other blogs, called a blogroll.  That way, I will get fellow bloggers aware of my blog and hopefully invite reader comments.  I can become a regular follower of other blogs and make comments on their posts. I can also link to Youtube for a sound bite occasionally.

I like the author's suggestion of categorizing my blogposts.  It makes it more reader friendly.  That way, I increase the likelihood of a reader reading more than just the current post.  

Of course, to make money, I can sign up with Google Adsense which I am in the process of doing. There are also freelance writing opportunities online for bloggers like Hubpages.

The author, Susan Getgood, also mentions how to monitor and measure the success of your blog, called Google analytics or metrics:  how many people read your blog (page views); how engaged they are with your blog ex. read one post, read multiple posts; how people find your site ex. search keywords; which are your most popular posts.  As the author states:

"Understand though that even a little bit of attention to your metrics can reap big rewards.  Just keep the importance of your metrics in perspective.  After all, you're a blogger, not a calculator."

So, look out fellow professional bloggers, here I come!

To read author Susan Getgood's blog "Marketing Roadmaps" visit:
http://getgood.com/roadmaps/

To order a book, visit:
http://www.amazon.ca/Professional-Blogging-Dummies-Susan-Getgood/dp/0470601795

http://www.amazon.ca/Professional-Blogging-Dummies-Susan-Getgood/dp/0470601795

Technologically Challenged

I am a dinosaur.  I don't own a cell phone.  I've never sent a text.  The only reason that I joined Facebook three and a half years ago was so that I could connect with other writers.  However, it's been a great forum for my blog.  Now, I'm looking for more blog followers and hits.  This week, therefore, I decided to become a full fledged member of the social media world.  My teenage son can do these things in his sleep, but for me, it's a monumental task.  But I was bound and determined to do it.

I started out with Twitter.  I signed up and opened an account -- without any tears!  I sent my first tweet, successfully.  Then I went crazy and sent several other tweets.  Next I turned to Pinterest.  I signed up, opened an account and pinned my first photo.  I even tried Google +, but Thomas told me that it was a waste of time, so I gave up on it.

My next task was to sign up for Google Adsense (http://www.google.com/adsense/).  I've been blogging for three and a half years, why not make a bit of money at it?  Once again, I signed up successfully.  Now I just have to wait up to a week to be approved.

I have always wanted to write more articles.  I discovered Hubpages on the Internet.  Why not sign up to write Hubs?  So, I gave them a list of information as well as my Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts and signed on the dotted line.  I wrote my first Hub, "Open Adoption:  Uncharted Territory", which took an hour and a half to complete.  Then I pressed a button -- and it disappeared!  I didn't cry, I didn't throw anything.  I just calmly started to rewrite the article.  This time, however, I saved it in Microsoft Word, just in case.  The second time around I was able to successfully submit the article. I was told it would take 24 hours to proofread before it would be published.  I don't care -- I'm a Hubber!

Besides Social Media, another way I can increase my blog hits is to use tags.  Again, how hard can it be to learn? So, I googled it.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out how simple it was.  Each time I write a new blog post, I have a box to the right of the text with the word Labels at the top.  I click on it, a box opens, and I list the words that I would like highlighted from that particular post.  Then, when I publish my post, voila!  The highlighted words appear in orange at the bottom of my post as "tags".

I thought, I wonder if tags are the same as "hashtags"?  I guess they are.  I was so proud of myself that I bragged to my daughter Jacqueline that I had learned how to use hashtags.  She laughed and explained to me that a hashtag is something you use when you text.  She said:  "Stick to Facebook, Mom.  It's more your speed."  

Nonetheless, I am still pleased that I have navigated through the Social Media world successfully. My next task is to set up an official website which will provide links to my writing (blog, newspaper articles, short stories).  Can I do it?  Will I succeed?  We'll see.  If I'm successful, you'll see me doing a happy dance. Thomas and Jacqueline, however, will not bat an eyelash.  I'm still their "dinosaur" mother.

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