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Posts from June 2018

How To Change Your Facebook Profile To A Facebook Page

  Facebook Profile to a Facebook Page

Everyone is on Facebook — family, friends, business, and non-profits. When you started your blog, you may have created a Facebook Profile. A profile is like your personal profile but for your business. This is a big NO-NO for Facebook, and they want you to convert your profile to a Facebook Business Page. They have made it really easy for you to do! We created this great infogragh that goes over the many perks of creating a Facebook Page, what to expect, and how to change! 

Quick Tip: The fastest way to tell if you have a profile or a page is to look how people follow your page. If you have "likes", you have a Facebook Page. If you have "friends", you have a Facebook Profile.  

Facebook Profile

To help, we have included the steps to convert to a Facebook Page below with the clickable link to help you get started!

How To Change To A Facebook Page

Go to Create a Facebook Page Based on Your Profile.

Click Get Started and follow the on-screen instructions.

Your new Page will automatically publish once the conversion process is finished. To change this setting, click to select Off next to Publish Page when done at the top.

If you haven't created any kind of Facebook Page for your blog, what are you waiting for. Get started today!


Featured Blog: GirlyGeekChic

GirlyGeekChic

GirlyGeekChic is about bridging the gap between computers and pretty dresses. Written by Trimid dew Lanns, author of Ella Cerulean, her blog chronicles her life’s adventures and joys. One joy is reviewing vegan restaurants around the Minneapolis area with yummy pictures. She also showcases her jewelry collections from her Etsy store and shares the story behind every piece. Explore her journey today!

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Back to Basics: Integrating social media with your blog

Back to Basics_ Integrating social media with your blog

With the popularity of social networks like Twitter and Facebook these days, integrating social media with your blog is a necessary strategy for helping readers find your content where they are. Whether you're a new blogger, coming back to your blog after some time away, or just want to make sure you're taking best advantage of Typepad's features, this "back to basics" post will help you cover all the bases.

Let readers know where they can find you

The first thing you'll want to do is make sure your social media accounts are prominently linked on your blog. Start at Account > Other Accounts and add all your social media profiles here. You can then add the Other Accounts module to your blog's sidebar by going to the Design > Content page. This module displays whatever accounts are set up at Account > Other Accounts, so as soon as you add a new account there, it will show up on your blog's sidebar (if you're ambitious and comfortable with code, you can even add custom icons). The Nimble Design Lab will also pull from Account > Other Accounts to automatically display social media icons in the blog navigation bar.

Nimble social media icons

Make it easy for readers to share

Let your readers be your best promoters by making it easy for them to share your posts on their own social media accounts. Go to Design > Content and look for the Post Footer module. Click the pencil icon, which will open a pop-up window. Here you can configure the options for your post footer, and add social media sharing buttons. You can offer options to share to Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, and Facebook. Choose the ones you want then click OK in the pop-up window and save your changes on the Content page. How the buttons will look depends on what design theme you're using; the Nimble Design Lab offers an eye-catching colorful set of post footer buttons that you'll see right here on Everything Typepad (so don't forget to share our posts!)

Nimble post footer buttons

Automatically post to Twitter and Facebook

Let Typepad do the work for you! After you've added your Twitter and Facebook accounts at Account > Other Accounts, head on over to the Settings > Sharing page for your blog where you'll be able to choose which of these accounts you want all your posts to be shared automatically to. While you're there, don't forget to enable your Twitter card.

Settings > Sharing

When you're composing a new post, you'll see a Share This Post box along the right side. If you have automatic sharing turned on for one or more social media accounts, these will have checks by their names in the list. Don't want to draw attention to just this one post? Clear the check marks before you publish and it won't be shared. You can also choose not to have automatic sharing on, but still share on a post-by-post basis by checking the accounts you want to share to before you publish any given post. Pro tip: when you're ready to publish, customize the text promoting your link to Twitter and Facebook. Otherwise, the title of the post will be used.

There you have it! Whether you want to promote your social media accounts as a whole, let readers share your posts to their own networks, or automatically post to Twitter and Facebook, Typepad has you covered.

What are your best tips for integrating social media with your blog? Tell us in the comments!


How Can Readers Subscribe To Your Blog?

How Can Readers Subscribe To Your Blog_

When you create a new blog, you will notice a “Subscribe” link appears in your Navigation Bar as a default link. The Subscribe link is your blog’s RSS feed URL. When viewing this link, some readers may see a page displaying HTML code while others may see page displaying links to your blog posts. Don’t worry, there is nothing wrong with your Subscribe link! It only means that your browser does not support viewing a feed directly.  Here are some ways that your readers can utilize your RSS link. 

Blog Readers

Everyone has their own preference on how they wish to follow their favorite blogs, so it’s good to provide options. You already have one by sharing the RSS feed URL directly.  Readers can use this link to add to their favorite blog reader.  A Blog Reader is an online RSS reader where you can collect all of your favorite websites into one place.  Some popular blog readers include: 

The Old Reader

Inoreader

Feedly

Newsreader

Bloglovin

You can group your links into categories to better organize your saved websites. 

Follow By Email Updates

Getting blog posts delivered directly to your inbox is another popular option to offer to your readers. Typepad has Feedblitz integrated into the application and it is really easy to set up an email list to deliver your blog posts.  If you are familiar with Mailchimp for your newsletter needs, they also offer an RSS-to-email campaign.  This way, you can track who on your list is opening your emails to read your post.


Bitly! The Analytical Tool You Didn't Know You Had

Bitly

Bitly is a free service that can shorten the length of your post URL when sharing around social media or online. You can easily add Bitly with your Typepad account to use when you post on social media.

Bitly Sign inAdd Bitly

To add Bitly to your Typepad account, click on the Settings tab, then click on Add-ons. Scroll down and click on Bitly. You will be asked to start an account or sign into an account you have. 

Once the account is created, you will be asked to authorize Typepad to use, your account. Click on Allow. Now you will be taken back to your Typepad account. Start blogging to create the new Bitly links.

Authorize TypepadView Analytics

Once added, all future posts will have a unique Bitly link that you can share with everyone. To view the link, click on the Blogs tab, then click on the name of the blog. Under Recent Social Media Traffic, click on the Bitly link. Here you will see a list of all your posts and the number of clicks for each post. 

Bilty Overview

Bitly links in Typepad

Bitly offers real time analytics for your unique URL. Click on the URL under Bitly Info to be taken to the analytics page which offers real time data about your unique URL.

You will see an overview of all the Bitlys you have created. You will also see the Total number of clicks, your top referrer, and your top location. When you scroll down you will see the unique URL and a bunch of real time data.

Bitly Analytics GraphNext you will see the total clicks for the post. You can see it spread out over the last few days. This data is updated in real time. 

Bitly Total ClicksNext are the Referrer stats and Location stats. Referrers can be Facebook, Twitter, Email, Direct, and many more. Referrers are where your readers are seeing and clicking your link. You can also see where around the world your readers are.

Referrers and locations

 

This is a great tool to use along with Google Analytics to find out more about your readers and determine any strategic decisions which you can make to increase visitors. Integrate Bitly today to get started.

 


Is Your Twitter Card Enabled?

Twitter Card

With all the changes going on with Social Media, one thing remains - Twitter is still a popular platform to share your blog content.  There are so many eyes scrolling through Twitter, you want to make sure your tweet stands out. Typepad made it easier to automatically share your blog posts using Twitter Cards.   

All you need is your Twitter handle to get started.  Go to Settings > Sharing, scroll to the Twitter Card section. Enter the Site and Creator handles for your Twitter accounts, preceded by the @ symbol (e.g. @typepad). This can be the same handle for both fields if you do not have a separate account for your blog.

Twitter.card2After saving your changes, you can prepare your blog post like usual.  Be mindful of your first uploaded image in your post as this will be the image that will appear in your Twitter card.  The more visually intriguing, the better!

Twitter.card

Here's another tip - Twitter Cards allows your tweet to go beyond 280 characters. The card shows the content’s title and description, so you have room in your tweet to draw people in to check out your post.  

Now that tweets show in search engine results, Twitter Cards provide more meta information which could potentially drive additional traffic to your blog. Twitter Cards are a great way to drive traffic and engagement to your blog and make it easier for followers to share (retweet) your post.  


Featured Blog: Be Stamping

Be Stamping Logo

Be Stamping is all about paper crafting, stamping, and memory keeping. The blog is created by Brenda, an Independent Demonstrator with Stampin' Up for 5 years. She loves to create and stamp projects using paper, she has been doing it for 25 years! She can show you how to use Stampin' Up! products (inks, cardstock, designer series paper, stamps, dyes) to create your simple, but beautiful cards, home decor projects, gifts and scrapbooks. You can purchase the supplies for her colorful projects at her Stamping Up! store.

Follow: Typepad | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube

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Blogger Beware - What You Need to Know about Using Images on Your Blog

Blogger Beware

Images are a great way to draw attention to your blog post and give it some pizzazz! Who doesn’t like to look at pretty pictures? Sometimes we may want to use an image that we may not have in our personal photo folder. It’s so easy to do a Google search and just grab one that’s appealing from the results right? Wrong!  Allow us to help you avoid any potential issues using unauthorized images. 

Did You Get Permission?

Just because an image is uploaded to the internet does not mean it is free for you to use. Giving credit to the photographer with a link back does NOT validate the use.  It also does not matter if you are not making any money from your blog.

The individual who took that image owns the copyright of it and can request the image be removed from a website if it is used without their permission. Unless you received permission from the owner, do not use it. If someone contacts Typepad with a valid DMCA report stating that their image is being used on a Typepad blog without permission, we are required to remove that image.

What If I Am Asked To Take Down an Image? 

You may receive an email from the owner of the image, or an agency representing them, asking to remove the image immediately.  Do not argue or explain why you used the image, just remove the picture from the blog post in question.  You may also need to contact Typepad Support to remove the image from the server.  You can do this by opening a Help Ticket

Where Can I Get Images That Are Free To Use?

Creativecommons

A good place to start is Creative Commons.  Since 2001, Creative Commons has issued CC licenses free of charge and is devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share.  You can use their search tool and they will pull up free license images from all over the internet that you can use without repercussion. 

Unsplash

Another favorite is Unsplash where you will find a collection of beautiful, free images and it is constantly updated.  You can sign up to have new collections sent directly to your inbox. 

Fabio-mangione-236846-unsplash

Pixabay

Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images and videos. All contents are released under Creative Commons CC0, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist - even for commercial purposes.

Strawberries-3431122_1280

There are many more "royalty free" and free stock images available right at your fingertips online that are safe to use without penalty or copyright violations.  Share your favorites with us today!


Featured Blog: Tongue In Cheek

Tongue In Cheek

Tongue In Cheek is a collection of stories from the author who is living in France. Sharing her day to day adventure through photos on her blog. She has been sharing everyday since 2005. Her life in France began the day she met a Frenchman dancing in San Francisco. Now married to the same dancing Frenchmen for 30 years, she spends her day finding and selling antiques. She has the “Brocante Bug” and France is the perfect place to get the cure. She showcases her beautiful antiques for you to purchase through her Online Brocante Shop. Check out her blog today and explore France in a new way.

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