Deciduous blog posts leave evergreens for dead

In a social-media world, deciduous blog posts have an enormous advantage of both ever-green and ephemeral content - find out what they are, and how to use them to best advantage.

Introducing deciduous blog posts

In botany and horticulture, deciduous plants

... are those that lose all of their leaves for part of the year. (Wikipedia)

In blogging, deciduous posts are ones that your readers lose all interest in at certain times - eg posts about Christmas carols during January, or winter gardening tips during spring.

Which sounds bad.

Until you realise that deciduous posts are also ones that your readers (both current and new ones) gain renewed interest in at certain times. That means it's quite reasonable for you - and everyone else  - to mention them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ each time that the new "season" starts.   If your posts are good, you might even get more new visits from social media in the subsequent seasons than in the first time around.

When you think about it, it's easy to see that in a social-media world ...

Deciduous blog posts leave evergreens for dead.

What does this mean for bloggers

If getting more visitors through either search or referrals is important for your blog, then you should :

• Be systematic about  how you remember to promote seasonal posts you've already published.   

• Find ways to write posts that will be become popular on a cyclical basis.

• Make strategic decisions about whether to change an existing post vs when to make a new post about a seasonal topic.

• Set up Labels or custom-redirects to send people who end up on a previous-year post to the most recent one.

Remember to promote your seasonal posts

Make a calendar of significant factors that should cause extra traffic for your blog, and send yourself a reminder message in time to review and re-share the relevant posts, according to your blog's social media strategy.

Working out exactly when do these promotions can be tricky. Ideally this is based on studying your visitor statistics (Analytics or whatever tool you use) to see when the posts got popular last time around.

You might think that you know anyway, because the seasons are obvious, but it's easy to miss earlier-than-expected surges in interest. For example, posts about Christmas music might actually be popular with music directors who're choosing their Christmas programs in September. But you do need to be careful about and where how you promote posts like this - because no one else wants to be reminded about Christmas so soon!

Finding seasonal posting reasons in non-seasonal blogs

Some blogs clearly have cyclic patterns: gardens follow the natural world, folk songs follow holidays (eg workers-rights songs for labor day, patriotic songs for national days), gift suggestions follow established human seasons (Christmas, Valentines), homeschoolers generally follow the school year.

But if you look harder, you can find seasonal patterns that apply to lots of other blogs, too. For example, one well-known blogger-helper often does a post towards the end of the American college year reminding people to transfer ownership of their blogs to a non-college Google account.

Ways to do this include:

• Blogging about the similarities (or differences) between your niche and some unrelated by widely-known seasonal event  (eg "Writing poetry is not like Christmas because ...".
• Writing about famous people in your topic who have died - close to their anniversary or birthday.   
• Making up your own seasonal patter  eg   "In March, Crotchet-Blogger celebrates cable-stitch". 

Promotion existing posts vs publishing new ones

A big question for bloggers with deciduous blog topics is whether they should publish a new post each season, or just polish and promote the existing post(s).

The answer depends on the nature of the information each season:

Situation	What do do
Are there changes to the information each season?	Make a new post, link to it from the last season's posts, promote it like you do any other post.
Does exactly the same information apply each year	Review the existing post, and then promote it on social media - and perhaps in the blog itself or in other new posts.

For example, one of my blogs is about public transport news in my city.  This has clear seasonal patterns around public holidays, the tourist season, a major sporting event, and the academic year.   The sporting event causes the biggest peak, with web-traffic up by 600%, week-on-week.  Each year's  information for it is very similar: buses leave at (roughly the same time) from (exactly the same place) for (close to the same fare) as last year. But each year there are changes: slightly different times, different effects on other bus services, one year there was a park-and-ride. So for this blog, I do a new post each year.   And I go back into last year's post and add a line like

"This information is for 2013.   Click here for this year's bus services."

and I make the "here" link to a label search for the topic, so that the most recent post will always come up first in the list.

By comparison, in another blog, I've published a printable sheet of non-religious Christmas carol words for which copyright has expired.  Over time, it will be possible to add extra carols to this.  But this won't happen each year - and all the existing content will continue to be relevant forever. So I don't republish this in a new post each year.   Instead, I promote it with a gadget on the sidebar, and I share the post on my social media accounts for the blog.

Be aware that if you do decided to make a slight change to an existing seasonal post, rather than write a new one:

• RSS subscribers probably won't see the enhanced post in their feed.
• Follow-by-email subscribers will see it.

Other things to think about

When you thinking about how you can get the more traffic using the deciduous posts in your blog, there are a few other factors to keep in mind:

Look for multi-year cycles

Some events happen once every 2, 3 or more years. For example:

• Some sports events (the Olympics, the Volvo Ocean race, the Commonwealth games) happen every-so-many years. 
•  Leap years happen once every four years.
• In some countries, elections happen every five years.

These multi-year patterns can be even more powerful than the every-year ones, because less people are aware of them, and readers in general are not-so-likely to remember what you wrote four years ago.

Don't forget the Southern Hemisphere

Spring starts in September, not February, if you live in the bottom half of the world. And cars need to be prepared for winter in April, not November.

This may mean that you can re-promote posts based on natural seasons twice a year - or that you should target some seasonal posts by hemisphere.

Some readers have different holidays

It's easy to think that all your readers are just like you, and live with the same seasonal patterns that you do.   But that's not always true:

• People who don't live in America might not even know when Thanksgiving or Black Friday is, much less what it means.

• In many Western countries, Christmas is a holiday even for people who aren't religious. But there are countries where Christmas isn't a holiday at all and most people don't even know it exists.

How have you used seasonal / deciduous topics to get new interest in your blog?

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Mapping out your blog's social media strategy: how your blog works with your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc accounts

5 reasons why SEO doesn't matter for your blog

Using labels to categorise blog posts

Transferring a blog to a new owner

Follow-by-email, an easy way to offer email subscription to your blog

Letting other people send email from your Google account - and checking who can do this already

This article explains how you can control who can send mail on your behalf if you have a gmail account, why you might want to do that, and how to stop people from sending email messages on your behalf.

If you have given other people rights to publish to your blog , then you may also want to let them send emails on your blog's behalf - particularly if you are using an "organisational" email account.   I do this for several blogs - eg the one for the choir that I'm currently doing public relations for.

This is a way to let the the other people use their current email client, ie what looks to them like their "normal email", but still to send official-looking messages from your organisation or blog.

Note that this is not the same as spoofing, which is a way that people with malicious intentions create email messages which appear to come from your account, even though you didn't send them and did give anyone else permission to send them.

• Spoofing, ie sending "on behalf of" without permission is bad.
• Granting "Send as" rights is good - and is a very useful feature that Gmail offers.

How to allow another email account send emails on your behalf

Log into www.gmail.com, using the Google / Blogger account that you want to lets other people send from.

From the Options gear-wheel (top right corner), choose Settings.

Choose the Accounts and Imports tab.

Click the "Add another email address that you own" link in the "Send mail as" section.

Enter the email address you want to give rights to, and the name which you want to be displayed when people receive email sent by this address on your behalf.

Click Next

Enter the other account's password. (This is a first step to stop you from impersonating someone by sending emails on behalf of accounts which you don't own.)

Click Add Account

Wait for the verification email to arrive at the other email address (if you use a web-based system for it, you may need to open it in a different browser).

Open the message and either click the link provided or copy-and-paste the code into the gmail window.

Job done!   The email account that you named should now be able to send messages which look like they came from you.

How another email account can send emails on your behalf

Firstly, you must give the other account permission to send emails which look as though they come from you - as explained in the section above.

Once you have done that, anyone using the other account can enter you (ie your gmail account) as the message-sender, and they will be permitted to send the message like this.

How specifically they do it depends on the email system which they use: In Gmail there is simply a drop-down box beside the From address, while other tools have different approaches.

Controlling who can send emails on your behalf - how to stop people sending emails from you

If you manage an email account which regularly gives other people the right to send on your behalf, then it is a good idea to regularly review the list, and revoke the access of anyone who doesn't need to send any more. To do this:

Log into www.gmail.com

Choose Settings from the Options gear-wheel (top right corner).

Choose the Accounts and Imports tab.

The list of email addresses beside Send Mail As is all the people who have been authorized to write emails that are sent as though they come from the current account.

Beside every entry on this list, there are options to:

• Make it the sending default for your account
• Edit the sending information (mainly the display name)
• Delete its rights to send on your behalf.

If you see an email address which shoudn't be sending any more, then delete it, by clicking the Delete link.

It's a good idea to check this, also, if someone has just given you a Google account instead of using the full procedure to transfer ownership of a blog to you.

Questions / Troubleshooting

Does this only work for Gmail accounts?

No. These instructions show you how to set up your gmail account so that other email accounts can send email "from" your account. But the other acccount does not need to be a Gmail account or a Google account - provided it has a feature to let the user say what account to use as the sender.

Where is the Sent-Mail copy of the message kept?

When you send a message from Gmail with a different account selected as the sender, then the "send mail" copy of the message is put into the send-mail folder of the account that you are logged into.

If you would like the nominated account to also get a copy of the message, then the person who is writing it needs to put that nominated account is as a carbon copy (CC) or blind-carbon-copy (BCC) recipient, as well as selecting it as the From address.

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Related Articles:

Letting other people post on your blog

Understanding Google accounts

Transferring blog-ownership to a different account

Nokia Lumia 830: Top 5 Pros and Cons

 

Yesteryear’s mobile king Nokia has again brought in another new member to its very popular Lumia family, the new Lumia 830. The Finnish mobile major is really indebted to this highly successful range for resurfacing in the intense international mobile war. Though Nokia has quite recently entered the Android smartphone market, it still depends on its prowess in offering superb Microsoft Windows based phones.

The new Nokia Lumia 830 aims at reducing the price gap between the mid-ranged and high-end phones. Though its price is more on the midrange, the Lumia 830 comes with a premium look and good quality camera. It is successor to the Lumia 820, but is a big upgrade when various features and form factors are concerned.

The Nokia Lumia 830 is also the first phone to come preloaded with the company’s latest Denim software update.

While the Lumia 830 is a great new phone from Nokia, it has both good and not so good factors. Check out the top 5 Pros and Cons of this new smartphone:

Pros of Nokia Lumia 830:

• Nokia Lumia 830 runs on the latest Microsoft Windows Phone 8.1 Operating System that comes with many advantages.
• Lumia 830 packs in a great attractive 5.0 inch IPS LCD high capacitive touchscreen display with multiple touch capability, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection and a Clear Black display that is really remarkable.
• It offers fast and smooth performance with its good hardware specs comprising of a Quad-core Cortex-A7 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz of speed, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset. The smartphone comes with 16 GB internal storage and microSD card support for memory expansion of up to 128 GB.
• It comes with a great 10 MP primary camera at the back which is highly efficient and dependable.
• It offers premium looks with a highly stylish and sleek body, not to mention Nokia’s patent sturdy built quality. The handset is also available in the attractive color options such as orange, green, black and white.

Cons of Nokia Lumia 830:

• Though its screen looks great, the phone offers only average screen resolution and pixel density.
  While the smartphone’s primary camera is really great and efficient, the handset comes with real puny 0.9 MP front facing camera which would not convince or impress the modern age selfie lovers.
• The smartphone also comes with a rather inefficient 2200 mAh battery pack which is really not enough to support the large 5.0 inch display of the handset. Thus, do not expect the battery to offer great backup, though daily average usage should be handled effortlessly.
• The phone offers pretty good hardware specs, but its average 1GB RAM is really not impressive as most mid-ranged phones come with 2 GB RAM.
• Though the latest Windows 8.1 Operating System is great, the Windows OS based smartphones do have their own limitations and still has some way to go in order to be able to achieve the great capabilities of the quality Android phones.

Now, let us consider the new Nokia Lumia 830 and look into its various important aspects.

Build and Design

The Nokia Lumia 830 is a patent Nokia mobile phone which boasts of great design and sturdy quality. The handset’s design is very stylish and offer a premium feel. One of the primary highlights of the Nokia Lumia 830 is its quality metal frame and very sturdy, solid built. Though the Nokia Lumia 830 is not the first Lumia model sporting a metal frame, the model takes the charm to the next level. The phone looks and feels as tough as a tanker, but is trendy and sleek to look at.

The handset comes with a removable back panel made with polycarbonate with slight curved edges for great grip. Nokia Lumia 830 is not only a good looking smartphone that also rock solid and durable. Moreover, even with its big 5 inch screen it is quite pocket-able.

Display

Nokia Lumia 830 packs in a good 5 inch IPS LCD display with 720x1280p screen resolution. Nokia's Clear Black technology is really cool and the deep black display is very impressive making the Windows Phone's dark theme really stunning. The Lumia 830's display is very bright and vivid with crisp images and texts. Though offering low resolution compared to even mid-range phones, it offers very good quality display with unnoticeable pixilation. The display is quite nicely visible even under strong sunlight and offers great viewing angles.

Software

Lumia 830 runs on the Lumia Denim which is actually the latest version Windows Phone 8.1 along with Update 1, and it also includes some of the great Nokia exclusive features. Windows Phone 8.1 is simply a notch above the previous version. It has rectified all inconsistencies of the past and is now an able contender of the smartphone platform giants like Android and iOS. Though it still might not impress the heavy smartphone users, the casual users will be fully satisfied with its performance.

Camera

The Nokia Lumia 830’s primary camera at the rear is an impressive one featuring 10MP 1/ 3.4-inch sensor, f/2.2 aperture, Zeiss lens and PureView technology. Camera offers great optical image stabilization. The camera module also packs in 6-lens optics, a true 16:9 sensor and Backside-illuminated image sensor, all of which together make of superb pictures with high detailing and great clarity. Its meager 0.9 MP front facing secondary camera will not impress the selfie fanatics, but it does the job of basic selfies and video chats.

Performance

The Nokia Lumia 830 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz supported by 1GB RAM, which are more mid-ranged, but does pretty good job. The phone has a great 16GB memory, expandable to up to 128GB with the help of a microSD card.

Conclusion

The Nokia Lumia 830 with its great style, built quality, display, camera and many other plus points is definitely worth a buy, especially as it is more affordably priced at Rs. 28,799. If you are looking for a premium phone but don’t wish to burn a big hole in your pocket, then the Nokia Lumia 830 is surely a good choice.

Blogging Via Instagram

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and they are probably correct when you look at how the popular Instagram is. You can resist it all you want but visual blogging is the new blogging. Maybe you are a bit old school and like to express your opinions through words, as it is easier for you to get your point across. That however, doesn’t mean you should cut out Instagram completely from your blogging toolbox. It doesn’t mean you have to change your blogging style altogether. It simply is just another opportunity where you can build an online presence and lead new viewers to your blog. Below are some tips to help grow your blog through Instagram.

Make Sure You’re Easy To Find

People have a tendency to be lazy. So if you make it hard to navigate back to your blog they most likely won’t ever find you. Make sure all your information, including a direct link to your blog, is easy to find in your Instagram bio.

Keep It Professional

With social media being an extension of our every day life it is easy to blur the line between work and play. If you are using Instagram to push your work remember to keep it professional and not to have too many personal pictures. Unless that is what your blog is about otherwise you might consider having two accounts to keep things organized.

Don’t Overuse Hash Tags

Many people tend to overuse hash tags because they think it will make them more visible online. That may be true but it also makes you look unprofessional, a novice and desperate. Get creative with your hash tags and come up with relevant and unique ones to describe your images. This will help with encouraging like-minded people to view your blog.

Create A Hash Tag Challenge

We’ve all witnessed a host of Facebook challenges that have gone viral on our newsfeed. Instagram has been known to have more new users sign ups then Facebook and has the potential of reaching a larger amount of people. You can use this platform to generate engagement and get viewers to your blog. An example of a hash tag experiment that gained lots of attention is the #HungerChallenge which encouraged people to post photos of them living off less then five dollars a day to promote awareness for people who often go hungry. Collaborating with people helps build your presence online as well as connect you with similar minded people. This is a great way to get attention to your blog.

Don’t Buy Instagram Likes

It’s not a secret that you can now buy like and followers on all social media platforms. However I would advise against this as it is obvious, it turns real users off and it’s a waste of money. If you work hard at building your brand you will organically build loyal followers who care about what you have to offer. Buying likes for an Instagram photo from a dodgy site does nothing for you other then increase a number. In the long run it is not helpful with gaining you real viewers.

Above are just some suggestions on how to promote your blog through Instagram. It is important that you try and experiment to see what works for your viewers, as all industries are different and require different techniques. Happy snapping!

Creating Online Business Profiles

Business profiles are all about identity but in this case, it is the digital identity since it is online. Business profiles define what potential employers are going to have as their first impression of you. Getting this information right strongly impacts the likeliness of winning a job or completing a sale as compared to someone who appears as a ‘joker’ in the eyes of the employer. Depending on your achievements, the client should view all the aspects indicating you are the right organization for the job.

You may have two business profiles so that each has achievements that are related to its own specific job-line. The other profile could have the achievements for another job-line. This helps in separating your various capabilities and not to appear as a jack-of-all-trades in the eyes of the potential employer or client.

Factors to consider when creating a business profile:

Several factors have to be considered in creating that professional look online.

• First and foremost, your name describes you. This goes hand in hand with the job you are applying for. You should aim to provide a title that is hand in hand with the job or at a lower level.
• Only present truthful information on your business profile. Clients are known to often take random sections of information, or claims of your achievements and countercheck them. Having wrong information or unverifiable information on your business profile may not help you in such a case.
• You should also include a referee or two who are well aware of your achievements and your technical experience. It is good to have such referees coming from your field of operations or expertise. It defeats the purpose if you are in the construction business nad you have a referee in the medical field.
• A client has to have a means of direct contact. It is therefore wise to add your phone number in the profile. Clients may want to talk directly to those applying for a job so as to determine who is available. Social media can also be incorporated. Not all social media sites are advisable. Limit yourself to the professional oriented sites such as LinkedIn. This helps identify how well connected you are. It also helps the client to contact you in a more private manner unlike the ‘noisy’ social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
• Pages like Facebook and Twitter are not advisable to be included since they don’t reflect much on your professional life. However, customers may want to snoop around on your business life as it defines character. Facebook is one of the most common social site used and with its service of timeline, a potential employer can have a look at your postings and picture updates from as early as when you started using the social site. You may have to restrict access to content or even better. Ensure that postings that are not relevant to your business are deleted. A bad impression can be made by such postings and cost you a potential client.

Finally, you should get people to access your online business profile as it increases the chance of a potential client accessing your work. Get a digital signature and link it with your postings on social media sites for people going through your postings to have access on reading your profile.

What you see is what you get. This is one the most outstanding thing that will be reflected from your online profile. Profile pictures should be captured right in sober mood and in the right attire. Avatars should strictly be a disregarded too as they tend to reflect you’re hiding something. You can also include a few professional photos of yourself or the business premises. Have a photographer take the photos and avoid making edits to the photos.



Author Bio:
As a business advisor and marketing manager for online businesses, the author has extensive experience and writes as a freelancer on essaypro.com where her essays have earned her top writers’ awards severally