Put the “Social” in Your Blog

Blogging Tips for the WAHM

Since I’ve converted to WP some time ago, I’m constantly trying out different WordpPress Plugins that I hear about. If you’re thinking of  switching to WordPress, another compelling reason to use this dynamic blogging platform is its ability to integrate with social media and social bookmarking. Obviously this also equals more traffic and exposure. If you are even the least bit involved in social media and social bookmarking, you understand the value of utilizing a plug-in that will automatically broadcast your content or make it easy for your visitors to share your most recent posts on social networking sites.

From “share this” buttons that display at the top or bottom of your post to plug-ins that automatically tweet when you publish a new blog post, there are plug-ins suitable for all social media and social bookmarking sites. Whether you prefer Facebook and Twitter or you concentrate your efforts on social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Reddit and Digg, there’s a plug-in for you. These plug-ins make it incredibly easy and simple for your readers to share your content and increase your overall exposure.

Here are just a few of the plug-ins that can boost your social media and bookmarking efforts:

TweetMeme – This simple plug-in will automatically tweet the title of your blog post with the web link. Once downloaded and installed, you virtually never have to touch it again.   You can see I have it installed in the upper right-hand corner of this post.

Sociable – This highly popular plug-in gives the user more than 100 social media and social bookmarking sites to choose and the ability to order them according to individual preference. A very simple and easy to use plug-in which will allow your readers to share your content with virtually any site they are active on.

Digg This – Similar to the Tweetmeme button, this button automatically detects incoming links from Digg and updates the Digg button to display how many Diggs your post has received as well as make it easy for your readers to digg your blog post as well. If you’re active on Digg this is a wonderful way to increase your “Diggs” and provide a way for them to easily share your post.

Sexy Bookmarks – This plug-in adds a bar at the bottom of your posts that allows you to choose which social bookmarking and social media sites you want to include.  See the image above for how Sexy Bookmarks will display on your site.

As your visitor’s mouse rolls over each icon it pops-up and readers can click on it and post your content to that site. With more than 30 sites to choose from, this fun and slick plug-in often shows up in favorite plug-in lists across the Internet.

The latest tweak that I’ve installed is the new Facebook “Like” plug-in which you can see at the top and bottom of this post. Once a reader clicks it, your post is mentioned on the reader’s FB page, increasing the probability that you will gain a wider readership.

The easier it is for someone to share your content with the world, the more they will. These social plug-ins are easy to install and easy to use.  They’re a must for all WordPress blogs.

Now show me that you’ve found this information helpful, and Retweet using TweetMeme, Share it across networks using my Sexy Bookmarks plug-in, and please click the Facebook “Like” button! Thanks!

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