by Roz | Feb 6, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Pinterest, small business
Pinterest now has 70 million users, are you one of them? If not, here’s why you should; the Pinterest Pin it button is on more retailer’s sites that than the Facebook Like button. Pinterest is definitely here to stay and a force to be reckoned with and utilized to sell your product, your service, etc. If you think about it, Pinterest IS best for product based businesses. Users look up a product, like a kitchen table, tons of pins come up, they find one they like, the posts might even include a price on it and by clicking on the image it takes them right to the business webpage where they can order it. In fact, pins with price tags included get 36% more likes than those that don’t. More and more users are signing up daily on Pinterest. The average user is female and on average spends about an hour on the website. Let’s get going with some basic tips. 1. Set up a business account. Join as a business if you plan to use it to sell products. If you already have an account that you’ve been using for your business but isn’t defined as a business on Pinterest, you can convert it as well. 2. Determine if your website is pinnable. Do you have any pictures/images to pin? If not, get some. 3. Get the Pinterest Pin-it button on your website, or the a Follow button or Board Widget. One benefit of getting a Board Widget on your website is you can entice people to follow your boards from your website. 4. Get to know your audience. Who are you pinning...
by Roz | Mar 30, 2013 | Blog, How to
al·ter·na·tive – /ôlˈtərnətiv/ Adjective (of one or more things) Available as another possibility. As you may have heard Google is getting rid of it’s much loved, very convenient Reader. This move comes as Google tries to consolidate its services. Google Reader will shut it’s doors on July 1, 2013. Perhaps the petition to keep Google Reader alive will work …but in case it doesn’t, please read on. Everyone is writing about Google Reader Alternatives. I typed in Google Reader and it was the first option that came up. In this post I will give a snapshot of a few alternatives that I’ve chosen: Old Reader, Feedly, Newsblur, Netvibes, and Pulse. In addition to looking at the overall usability of these tools, one of my primary objectives is to see how easy it is to share content from these tools to social networks. So, getting familiar with these alternatives now could be key if you want to avoid a disruption of your daily feed reading. And…if you read your RSS feeds in more than one place (that is, if you want to read them at home, at work, or on different devices), you’ll want to try a web-based or cloud RSS reader, like the ones listed below and similar to what Google Reader is now. Old Reader The Old Reader is a great alternative. Its design is based on Google Reader’s prior design, so it’s a good option to check out if you’re looking for something familiar. Word of caution: there might be a wait time to import your file from Google Takeout into this service when you sign up....
by Roz | Mar 22, 2013 | Blog, How to, Online Resources
“Hearing that Google Reader is shutting down is like hearing that your favorite old bookstore is closing,” writes The New Yorker’s Joshua Rothman. Google is spring cleaning, first on the list is Google Reader which will officially shutter on July 1, 2013. Do you use Google Reader? I do. I am seriously bummed with it’s death. However due to declining usage, Google is putting down the Reader so we’ll need to come to terms with this. Why Use a Reader? In a nutshell, a RSS reader is a tool, a tool for getting information from other people so you don’t have to keep going to their website to get updates. You subscribe and updates are sent to your Feed Reader automatically, allowing you to read it whenever you want all in one place. Google Reader is such a tool, an aggregator or in other words a feed reader, news reader, or RSS reader and if you like all your news in one spot from headlines to your favorite blogs then using an aggregator is a great tool. Many use it to aggregate news and analysis and have used it for years. The good news is that you have until July 1st before it’s officially GONE. Before jumping onto the next reader train, let’s take your feeds from Google Reader and export them into an XML file. By doing this you will then be able to import your feeds into your new RSS reader of choice. It’s easy peasy! How to Export Your RSS Feeds From Google Reader: 1. Login to Google Reader (if you’re not already signed in to...
