What Inspires You? I Hope I Do

Download this episode! Subscribe in iTunes

What Inspires You to Create Great Content? 

What’s so important about being inspired anyway? Why do we need to be passionate or have passion about the content we create? 

We often get inspired by the feedback we get from our audience. Whether it's from comments on blog posts, or reviews of our podcasts in iTunes. 

My Podcast Reviews

I subscribe to MyPodcastReviews.com which is a service that gathers all of your reviews from the different iTunes stores around the globe and sends you an email digest. I'm glad that Daniel J. Lewis developed this tool because I found reviews that I never knew existed before. I share two of them in this episode and one was from Australia - which means it doesn't appear in the U.S. version of the iTunes store. If it wasn't for the weekly digest from MyPodcastReviews, I would not know it even existed. 

Marketing Podcasts Directory

Jay Baer introduced MarketingPodcasts.com because he realized how difficult it is to search the iTunes store looking for marketing podcasts. Check to see if your show is listed - here's my listing

I really got inspired when I saw the 85.7% approval rating. Thanks everyone!!

Inspirational Quotes

Do you share quotes on social media? Do you get inspired with others share them? I guess it depends on the message. Some quotes lack inspiration but others are full of it. Try to make sure your's are full of it. Here's one I like:

I shared this on Google+ and I got some positive feedback. So I know it hit home with some people. I like to find quotes on Pinterest, where do you get them?

Shout outs and mentions:

Daniel J. Lewis from Audacity to Podcast

Jay Baer author of Youtility

Ann Smarty and Viral Content Buzz

Sarah Koenig and Serial Podcast

Rob Cubbon - Udemy Instructor

Patricial Patton

Black Enterprise Interview

Nikki Purvy and Lidyr Creative Web Design

Nikki's ebook is now available on Amazon: 

10 Things Every Successful Entrepreneur Knows - that the Rest of the World Doesn't

Sign up for my course on Udemy - over 1,200 students are enrolled so far and best of all it's free!

Skillfeed is another site where you can take some of my online courses, for example, my latest course is:

Pinterest Promoted Pins - Getting Targeted Traffic To Your Site From Pinterest

Maybe you'll be inspired to start teaching some online courses. I hope I inspire you!

The Quest for Social Media Nirvana: How to Kick Your Unfollowers to the Curb

Download this episode!

The Quest for Social Media Nirvana: How to Kick Your "Unfollowers" to the Curb

There comes a time when you realize that you’re following way too many people on social media and our streams are getting noisy. It's increasingly difficult to filter through all that noise and find the stuff you really care about. 

In this episode of the Ms. Ileane Speaks Podcast, we take a look at 5 tools that will help you cut down on the noise by purging your following.

• JustUnfollow - clean up your Twitter stream
• Nutshell Mail - find new followers and unfollowers daily
• Circloscope - the ONLY Google+ circle management tool
• Buzzsumo - learn which posts have the most shares
• Iconosquare - manage your Instagram account

Here is a screenshot from JustUnfollow which you can add as a tab inside of HootSuite. Add your Twitter account and see who has been inactive and who isn't following you. You can "whitelist" accounts that you want to keep following even if they don't follow you. The cool thing about Twitter is that you can add people to Twitter lists without following them!  

In this screenshot from NutShell Mail, I show the top portion of the email with the new followers and latest quitters of the day. Lisa Buben wrote an excellent post on Nutshell Mail and you can read it here: Why I use NutShell Mail for Tracking Twitter Quitters and More.

  

This screenshot from is from my dashboard on Circloscope Premium (but you can also start with Circloscope Free). 

This is a where you'll see a simple overview of your account. There are so many tools I can't even list them all but my favorites are:

• Inactive accounts
• Communities - find people that are in your circles or not in circles
• HOA Events - who attended and who was invited but didn't attend

Christine DeGraff and Craig Fifield did a stellar job on making this tool useful and getting it to function properly! Kudos to them. 

Here's the screenshot from Buzzsumo when I did a search for "Instagram Tutorial". 

Notice that the Huffpo article has more Facebook shares but my article has more Retweets, Pins and Google+1's :)

I picked up on the tool after hearing Rand Fishkin talk about it in this post: Publish Your Blog Post Without SEO and 1000s of Visitors Will be Lost Forever.

Iconosquare [formerly known as Statigram] is the best web viewer for Instagram. This screenshot shows just a smidgen of the statistics you can find out about your account. I love seeing the new followers all in one place [woohoo, did you see that Andrea Vahl followed me!] Here are a few more interesting stats you can track with Iconosquare

• Geographic location of followers by country
• Number of images with filters
• First Instagram post
• Number of followers gained by month or week

As a special treat, you can watch the Instagram Tutorial video now. Be sure to give the video a thumbs up and FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM! 

Now that you know the tools I like, I want to hear from you.
What is your favorite tool for kicking unfollowers to the curb!

iTunes

Stitcher

Get Active on Google Plus with Hangouts on Air

Download this episode!

Google Plus Hangouts on Air: Social Meets Video

By now I'm sure you are familiar with Google's social layer known as Google + and perhaps you already know about Hangouts on Air. But for those of you who aren't sure, let me explain. 

Hangouts on Air or, as they are sometimes referred to, HOA's are live online videos that are broadcasts to your Google+ page or profile and your YouTube channel at the same time. 

That's basically my definition but here's the official description from Google:

Live streaming. Schedule broadcasts and go live in HD on Google+, YouTube, and your website. It will be recorded and automatically saved on your YouTube channel

Free Live Broadcasts

Many people feel that HOA's are a game-changer for marketers who previously relied on expensive software live Webex or GotoWebinar to conduct live webinars. Google provides this service for free and take it from someone who has watched a ton of presentations on all of those paid platforms, Hangouts are just as good and in some cases even better. The added benefit is that you don't need to upload the video to YouTube when you're done - it's already there for your subscribers to watch without any additional effort on your part.

Ready to get started with HOAs?

My advice to beginners is to simply, start off by watching some popular HOA's in order to see what they are like. You can visit the Hangouts On Air tab on Google+ to watch the events that are happening at any given time.

I highly recommend watching The Mia Connect which is a weekly show hosted by my friend Mia Voss. 

What about hosting your own HOA's? 

Being a Hangout Host requires some additional expertise, and here's a list of resources to help get you started: 

Resources for Hosting Hangouts:

Google+ Hangouts for Business: How to Use Google+ Hangouts to Improve Brand Impact, Build Business and Communicate in Real-Time.

by David Amerland

Ronnie Bincer is known as The Hangout Helper. Be sure to add him to your circles on Google+ and be on the look out for all the incredible tips he shares along with detailed screenshots. Ronnie also offers a course and membership site called Hangout Mastery. 

Shannon Hernandez offers a Free Beginners's Guide to Google+ Hangouts and FAQ's

Hangouts on Facebook!??

The Social Buzz Club, holds weekly webinars each Thursday at 2pm ET.  These webinars are conducted using the same HOA technology we've been talking about but there is an added social element - these HOAs are also broadcast on Facebook!

Laura Rubinstein, co-founder of Social Buzz Club, makes use of a Facebook app called 22social to live stream the same HOAs through a tab on their Facebook page.  With 22social, you can redirect your audience from a custom URL of your choice over to Facebook. I really love the way that Laura is doing this because not only does this app integrate with the Facebook commenting system, she is also using this as a list building tool.

Using HOAs to Build Your List 

This is really one of the most brilliant uses of HOA for marketers or anyone who wants to build an email list. Basically this is how it works, first you promote the webinar in advance and require an email opt-in for those who want to attend. Next, you hold the webinar (and the key here is to deliver an incredible amount of value to your audience) then when the live event is over, make the video unlisted. 

This works so well for Social Buzz Club because they have a seemingly unlimited pool of experts that are featured each week which is a highly unique selling point. 

Solo HOAs

There one last tip I want to share with you for how you can use Hangouts. You can do a solo Hangout like the one I did here:

TRIBERR INTENSE TRAINING

 

Social + YouTube + Email List = Trifecta!


Doing a solo hangout is another way to hone your skills and the only way you are going to get better at doing HOAs is to get started!

Have you tried HOAs yet? I'd love to hear about your experience. Please let me know what you think in the comments below.

Optimize Your Blog: A WordPress Theme and Plugin Wish List

WordPress bloggers often get asked the question: What plugins do you use? Two of my blogging buddies asked me that question recently and compiled the responses from dozens of other top bloggers into their own blog posts. 

Ian Cleary from Razor Social

Ian was the first blogger who asked me to share a list of my favorite plugins. You can find his post here Best WordPress Plugins: 54 Professionals Share Amazing Plugins To Inspire You. This is the first group blog post that I contributed to in 2014. A partial list of a few of the other contributing bloggers featured include:

• Jay Bear
• Rebekah Radice
• Dino Dogan
• Ann Smarty

Devesh Sharma from WpKube

Devesh's post is called Best WordPress Plugins: 40 Experts Share Their Favorite WordPress Plugins. Devesh pulled together a completely different cast of characters for his group post. 

Recommended: WordPress Plugins: Backing Up Your Site 

I find it interesting that this group mentioned some completely different plugins from those mentioned in Ian's post. Here are some of the key people that contributed to Devesh's post.

• Ana Hoffman
• Adrienne Smith
• Dino Dogan
• Nile Flores
• Ivana Zuber
• Kristie Hines
• Neil Patel
• Syed Balkhi
• Ian Cleary

Here are the top 5 plugins that I mentioned on Devesh's post:

"This question comes at a really good time because I switched themes recently which caused me to take an even closer look at the plugins I use on Basic Blog Tips. Before I give you my five favs, I want to start off by saying how important it is to have a great theme with basic features built-in. 

This will make a huge difference in performance and greatly reduce the number of plugins you need to install. 

My current theme is Genesis and I use a child theme from Appendipity called Showcase. So right out the gate I don’t need to install any social sharing or following plugins because they are integrated within Showcase. With all that said, it’s still challenging to pick 5 plugins but I’ll give it a shot. 

1. Anti-spam – is the newest one I’m testing to cut down on the time I spend moderating comments. I almost don’t want to give that little secret away because somehow whenever a plugin like this gets popular, the spammers figure out a way to work around it. But it’s so good I have to share it with you guys. 

2. AuthorSure – is a plugin that takes all the fuss out of setting up Google Authorship, which is essential for any blog with multiple authors and for bloggers who don’t want to mess around with code. It adds a nice looking author bio box and a lot of other options as well. 

3. Pretty-link Pro – is another must have for anyone doing affiliate marketing. It makes your links easier to remember and it’s also great for YouTubers and Podcasters who want to share links on their shows. 

4. WP-Optimize – is a great one to have around. If you haven’t used this one before, the first time you run it, you will most certainly notice that your blog loads faster. 

5. P3 Plugin Performance Profiler – will come in handy when you see that your blog is loading slowly. This one will tell you which plugin is causing the issue and give you a complete rundown of the time it takes for each one to load. When you see the load times, I know it will be hard but just un-install the one with the longest load time and you’ll be thankful you did!"

My WordPress Theme And Plugin Wish List!

Layout, Sidebars and Comment Form 

Responsive

Navigation (including bread crumbs)

Social Networking (Sharing and follow buttons and social proof)

List building/Contact form

Speed/Security

Backups

Basic SEO/Tracking

Monetization (Affiliates, eCommerce, Digital product delivery)

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT STUDIO PRESS THEMES

Get inspired! Head over to iTunes or Stitcher and leave this podcast a rating or review. Click the logos below to get started. 

iTunes

Stitcher

How To Start Winning The Social Media Game

Download this episode

Start Winning with Social Media

With the glut of social media networks available for us to choose from, how can we decide where to focus our efforts? 

Take two or three networks at a time so that you don't get overwhelmed. That way you can monitor your progress to see where your traffic is coming from. Let me help you start to narrow down or hone in on which social network you're going to get started with. 

First, here is a list of the 5 major networks you need to consider:

• Twitter
• Google+
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest

Next, use the process of elimination to remove two or three based on your own personal likes and dislikes - or perhaps you're pretty sure your niche will or won't do well on.

For example, my daughter Nikki has a fashion blog called Chic Renegade, so in her case, she doesn't try to force her content to fit over on LinkedIn where most of her blog posts aren't appropriate for the demographic of users. However, Nikki also has a Marketing business where she does custom WordPress set-ups and event promotion and curation. This one is called Lidyr Creative Marketing Agency. This type of site is a perfect fit for LinkedIn. 

Should You Start With Google+ or Facebook?  

Here's my recommendation - if you don't have an established network on Facebook already, at this time, I would not suggest you get started with Facebook. The exception to this is if you are ready or able to invest in hiring a professional Facebook strategist to manage your promotion, don't go it alone. Keep up with your family and friends as you have done in the past but there is just too much noise over there and the only way to make an impact with your content is through strategically placed advertising. 

I would focus on Google+ instead. Find a good, spam free, community on Google+ and plant your flag over there. You are going to get more bang for your buck and more visibility in search on Google + than can can on Facebook at the moment.

What about Pinterest?

Pinterest is not just for women! Check out the Manly Pinterest Tips Show hosted by Jeff Sieh and featuring:

• Wade Harman (Wade interviewed me in a previous episode of this podcast)
• Mike Allton
• Les Dossey
• Stephan Hovnanian

So don't limit yourself as far as Pinterest is concerned. You might be surprised to learn that Pinterest is now branding itself as a search engine in it's own right. And speaking of search, you'll also find that Pinterest boards and profiles rank high in Google search. 

I use the example of my podcasting board on Pinterest. If you search Google for "Podcasting on Pinterest", the board is currently in the top spot - and it has been for weeks. :)

I also share how I made some great connections working at my day job in niche industries like Additive Manufacturing (aka 3D printing), Transportation, and Medical Devices just to name a few. 

Rules of Engagement

Regardless of which social networks you decide to master, be sure to have profiles established on each one of the sites I listed above. If you want to take things a bit further, use a site like Know.em to claim your profile names across multiple networks. That way when someone searches for your name, you'll dominate the search results.

You might think this tip goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway - don't be a spammer! Don't just share your own content. Share more of other people's content and you'll find as time goes by, that other people end up reciprocating and sharing your content as well. 

Here are five communities you can join to find great content to share and the other members will give you a head start with winning the social media game:

• Triberr (watch my tutorial here and here)
• Viral Content Buzz
• Blog Engage 
• Social Buzz Club affiliate link
• BizSugar

Next episode, we'll take a closer look at a few of these and explore additional tools and resources like TailWindApp and Pinwoot, to help you save time and cross the finish line a lot sooner. 

iTunes Reviews

There are a few reviews of the podcast in iTunes and I'd love to share them with you. 

Hopefully you will be inspired to leave a rating or review for this podcast over in iTunes or Stitcher. Click the logos below to get started. 

iTunes

Stitcher

Introducing the Content CREAM Machine

What Is The C.R.E.A.M. Machine?

C is for Create

Create the kind of content that attracts a loyal following and moves you closer to your online goals. Your starting point is my Blogging Tips 101: The Basic Blogging Tips That Will Take Your Blog to the Next Level and 12 Steps You Must Take To Quickly Become a Successful Blogger.

R is for Re-Purpose

Re-purpose your content for distribution across a variety of platforms so that if one traffic source turns sour the others will take up the slack.
Harness the power of video marketing on YouTube and use audio podcasts to breathe life into your content and connect more deeply with your audience. 

E is for Engage

Engage with other bloggers by joining communities. As time goes on, you’ll be able to hone in on your brand advocates and reward them as you build your own tribe of dedicated  fans and followers. Spend the time it takes to get to know who your message resonates with and find out how you can help them.

A is for Amplify

Amplify your message on social media using the tools and tactics that I’ve shared with you on my blog. Seek out influencers and connect with them so they will discover and re-share your content on social platforms. Sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor and you'll watch your content being re-shared virally on social platforms like you've never seen before. 

M is for Monitor

Monitor  your progress and identify your core content. Discover what resonates with your audience and what doesn't. Use Analytics and Webmaster tools to help uncover those hidden gems and shine the spotlight on your blog's premium content. Easily evaluate each strategy you implement with a system for testing and tracking to help you clearly identify the winners and losers every step of the way.

Start using the C.R.E.A.M. machine to create the best content ever. 

C.R.E.A.M. your content and you’ll convert casual readers into subscribers and eventually customers. Transform your blog into a profitable online business that earns while you sleep.

Get in touch if you have questions!

TRANSCRIPT:

This transcription was prepared by Rev.com

I want to share a story with you. I know that sometimes when you're in the midst of blogging and coming up with content ideas and trying to really polish up your content, that sometimes you get discouraged because like I said, it can be a little challenging. But I spoke to someone today via email and this person said to me, “I’m a blind computer user,” and I thought “Wow!” I know that there’s lots of folks who are visually impaired that are still on the Internet. In fact, one of my best friends is visually impaired and she doesn’t really get on the Internet that much but she got a smart phone recently and so she’s exploring. I think that sometimes we make so many excuses for things that we can’t do, and here this young man who contacted me, he’s blind. 

Guess what he also wanted to share with me? His YouTube video. Yes, he has a YouTube channel and it’s pretty darn good too. A lot of times you don’t realize that there are ways to overcome your stumbling blocks. There’s always someone who’s a little bit further behind the eight-ball than you are. On other times you just need to reach out to someone and like when I spoke to this young man and I told him that I have a friend who’s visually impaired as well, and the topic that he was asking me about, it just so happens that I know someone else who’s very knowledgeable. She has a lot of expertise in that topic, and that person is a university professor, and she happens to be deaf. 

So whenever you start to get down and you feel like no, you can’t do it or the world is against you and things just aren’t going your way, just keep pushing on. Just keep pushing on and I just introduced you to the C.R.E.A.M. Machine. One of the reasons why I introduced that to everyone is I’ve been hearing a lot of conversation about the difference between strategy and tactics. Well, I think there’s some validity in making that distinction but in the end, not really. They’re all stuff we have to do. Some people say, okay, what is your strategy? Your strategy is more like the bigger picture. 

Do you have a strategy of what you want to achieve online with your blog or with this social platform or that social platform? What’s your strategy? Then you use all those tips and tactics to hopefully help you fulfill the goals that you wanted to reach with your strategy. Like I said, and to me, this is my opinion. There’s all stuff that’s on the to-do list. May be you could put some stuff up higher and some stuff lower. I mean the strategy … having a strategy is great but if you don’t have the tips, the tools, and the tactics to get that strategy done, it doesn’t matter. It’s almost like strategy, having a strategy is better and I realized that a lot of people don’t have a strategy, which is the reason why I started off with my Blogging 101, and if you go back to the very first episode of this podcast, you’ll get the first of the series of Blogging 101. 

It talks about what is your goal. What’s your mission statement? What is it that you want to achieve with your blog? Because I do believe that as bloggers we can change the world. We can. We’re the modern day journalists. They call podcasting and web TV and all that stuff, they call it new media. That’s why they have the New Media Expo. It’s not really new. I guess it’s new when you think about old media, which was writing books by hand, I guess that was what? The 1500s to 1800s? I can’t remember my history. I used to know all that stuff. I can’t keep all those facts in my head anymore. Gutenberg, you know. My background is in printing. You guys know. My day job, I went to school for all of that stuff, but I don’t remember it anymore. Anyhow. 

I guess when you compare what we’re doing today, because we’re online and it’s digital and all that, that makes it seem new. But it ain’t really new, but it makes people feel better. The same way to me with strategies and tactics. It makes people feel like they are thinking on a higher plane or a higher level, and if that works for you, go for it. I probably need to take that medicine myself. What is it that I want to achieve? But see, I’m kind of already past that. You know what? Because what I want to do is help people. I want to able to connect with people. My tag line from my first blog was “I’m here to learn, to teach, and to connect.” That’s my strategy, that’s my goal. So I’m already doing my thing. Are you doing yours? You might need help. You may have questions. You might be unsure. That’s okay, and guess what? 

Sometimes you have a strategy, and then you change it. That’s cool, too. Sometimes you start using a tactic or a tip, and you find out “Hey, that tip ain’t working for me!” That’s why we’re in the C.R.E.A.M. Machine, because whenever … the reason I put together the C.R.E.A.M. Machine is so that you always have something to go back to. It’s more than a checklist. Whenever you're doing something and if you're not really sure you should be going down that path, go back to the C.R.E.A.M. Machine and see where it fits. It’s almost like a timeline. It’s almost like a set of folders, and if something doesn’t fit into one of those folders, then maybe you need to give it a second thought. Well that’s what I have for you today, guys. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you find the C.R.E.A.M. Machine interesting, because now that makes you part of the C.R.E.A.M. Team. 

I’m glad you’re joining me on this ride. I really appreciate you guys for tuning in to the show today, and I will definitely talk to you soon, and I do mean soon, like the real word soon. Okay. Those of you who listen to the podcast, you know exactly what I mean. This is Ileane from the Ms. Ileane Speaks podcast, signing off. 

Peace.
Stay subscribed to this podcast in iTunes or Stitcher.

iTunes

Stitcher

Rocking Your Blog and Social Media with Visual Marketing

This is a special episode where I sit down for a chat in a Google + HOA with my friend and fellow blogger Wade Harman. 

The topic for the HOA is The Psychology of Images in Social Media - Visual Marketing and we talk in detail about using images in your posts on Google+ and other social media platforms as well as your blog.

Let me Introduce You to Wade Harman

Wade is one of the frequent guest authors featured on my primary blog Basic Blog Tips. Here is Wade's bio:

Hi, my name is Wade Harman. I'm a full time blogger at the Social Media Marketing blog, with a degree in Psychology. I show you how to spark an emotional reaction, get people's attention, and encourage them to take action! Let me help you drive targeted traffic through social media strategies that I have researched and use myself! Let me coach you and see how my strategies in social media can help YOU drive targeted traffic!

Wade is growing his social presence on platforms like Google+ by networking and providing valuable content that gets attention and makes him stand out among the crowd. His latest guest post on the blog currently has over 200 +1 on Google and Wade is no stranger to getting those kinds of results. 

You will here us talking about an image that got a lot of engagement and the post from Google + is embedded below.

During the HOA event, we responded to quite a few questions that came in from some other "plussers" like

• Les Dossey
• Andy Nathan (Andy is also a guest author on Basic Blog Tips)
• Jeff Sieh
• Jimmie Lanley

One of the questions that come up is about creating a Call To Action on a Google+ post. Wade shared one strategy he uses which is to add a "Pin it for later" link next to a link to the image on Pinterest. I think this is a good strategy to test to see if it resonates with your audience. I recently recorded a video about TailwindApp, and it's a fantastic tool you can use to see what kind of results you get by adding "Pin it" as your call to action. If you want to go into more details about using Pinterest, in a future episode, please let me know in the comments below.

Another tool that Wade and I both use for our visual marketing campaigns is PicMonkey.

PicMonkey makes it very easy for you to customize images by adding text, borders, overlays, backgrounds and themes that will really make your images pop! I use PicMonkey to customize just about every image that I post on my blog.

Here are a few additional resources mentioned:

Light Shot Extension for Chrome
Canva (currently in beta)
Pixlr extension for Chrome
Video Blocks