Google stories have been around for some time now but I don’t see a lot of people doing them.  I think they are a fun way to showcase the things you want people to know about you.

If you are a freelance writer you can draw attention to your site, the places you can be found online, searches that people can use to find you, and more.  I even used this one to draw attention to one of my testimonials that I think is very impressive.

Make your own Google story by going to http://youtube.com/searchstories and see how easy and fun it is!

Have You Created Your Google Story Yet? is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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If you’re on WordPress for blogging you likely know how great plug ins can be.  They can really make your blogging life easier and they can make it more functional as well.  I especially find them handy for comments.

So, here are some plug ins that I love:

1. Comment Luv – As far as I’m concerned, this is a must if you want to have commenters.  Ok, people will comment if you don’t have it and have great content but when I see a blog with Comment Luv, I am much more likely to take the time to share my thoughts.  Oh, and subscribe to the blog feeds by email because Andy often sends out good stuff.
2. Do Follow – WordPress automatically makes blog comment links nofollow but this plugin will make them dofollow – just a way to thank your commenters.
3. Keyword Luv – want to give commenters even more love?  Let them improve their anchor text for their links without being spammy.  By adding @ behind their name and then their keywords they can include a link that uses anchors that are better for search engines than just their name.
4. Subscribe to Comments – I hate it when I make a comment on a blog and part of that comment is a question but there is no option to subscribe to the comments.  Or when the comments are just as great as the blog post.  I don’t like to bookmark a single blog post.  I’d rather subscribe.  So add this plug in ok?
5. Twitter Link – let’s commenters add their twitter account.  A great way to find new people to follow.

So, do you have any favorite plug ins for comments?  Share in … well, in the comments of course!

5 WordPress Comment Plug Ins I Love is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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Have you been blogging for awhile but find that you’re not getting results? Seems like no one is reading? No one is commenting? You’ve got no subscribers?

People forget that blogging takes work and effort. Internet Marketers tell you all the time that you can easily make money online if you just start a blog and put some ads up on it. But it isn’t that easy is it? I struggled for years to figure out how to make a success of my blogs and I still work at it every day.

I have learned a few things along the road though. And one of the things I’ve learned is that if you want your readers to do something you have to tell them what you want. Ask for it!

Don’t Act Like You Actually Want Comments

And Lord forbid you actually ask for them. No one wants to come off as desperate. But the thing is that people often don’t know what to do after they have read your blog post. So, if comments are what you want, then ask for them. A request at the end of your post or arrows pointing to the comments section can get some good results.

Here are phrases you can use to encourage people to comment:

I’ve just given you a few ideas so leave your suggestions in the comments.

Tell me in the comments what works for you?

Leave a comment to share you experience in this matter.

And when you make a request, don’t forget to say “Please!”

So, what are you waiting for? Leave a comment and tell me what common blogging mistakes you’ve learned to avoid – please?

Don’t Forget to Say Please is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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I have three blogs that I manage. This one, one for a client (The Admin Professional), and my niche blog (Time Management Tips) and as I start this niche blog I realize that I am going to have to get a lot more organized with this whole blogging thing if I want to keep up to date on everything. So, I’ve been thinking about doing editorial calendars.

And it makes sense doesn’t it. If you want to make money with something you need to treat it like a business and if you were working a day job you’d have to plan things out so that you could get everything done. The editorial calendar is my first step to treating my writing more like a business. Wait – my second step. The first step was getting Chrometa set up with a permanent license!

I started searching around a little to see if I could get some ideas on how other people do editorial calendars. Do they do them online or do they have paper calendars? I have a hard time deciding which one works best for me. I like the feel of putting pen to paper but I also like to have access to my calendar whenever I want it and having it online is good for that.

As I was looking around I found out that there is a WordPress plugin that will give you an editorial calendar for you blog! And it is pretty cool! It won’t work for The Admin Professional (not WordPress hosted) but it will be great for this blog and for my Time Management Tips blog. So I plugged it in here. Easy to install. And now I need to do some posts to start filling it up. I’ll likely work on the Time Management Tips blog first though.

If you want a preview of it you should check out Chris Garret‘s YouTube tutorial video. Which reminds me that I need to go and subscribe to his feeds because he’s got a lot of great stuff and while I’ve read some in the past I’ve somehow forgotten to add him to my feed reader!

Editorial Calendars – Do You Use Them? is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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