Using Facebook to Increase Your Traffic

Facebook is a great tool to use to get people reading and sharing your content.                                            


Many people nowadays are on Facebook and it is a way to connect with people all over the world.
There are a few things you can do with Facebook.

Joining Facebook Groups

There are many groups you can join on Facebook that will give you an opportunity to share your work.

Join Writers Groups- these are groups of like-minded people who are trying to make a living through writing. There are quite a few of these groups on Facebook and they offer a community in which you can share your work, meet contacts, get great advice and do some mutual sharing. I am a member of a few of these groups but here are three I really like

• Online Article Writers- You can post links to any of your online writing here except from Bubblews stuff as the owner of the group has had problems with them. It is a great group of writers and good for getting tips and advice
• Post & Share on Pinterest, Twitter or G+- This is a good group for sharing and promoting your work- every time you post your own work you have to share at least one other person's.
• Bubblews This is a place for specifically Bubblews posts. Anyone who links to their work is encouraged to like and share another's.

Join Groups related to your content. If you write Gluten Free Recipes join Gluten free recipe sharing groups etc. You then have the perfect audience for your work. Become an active member of the group and don't just spam it with links to your work all the time- answer questions, give advice and get involved as well.

Make a Facebook Page

If you think you write about something interesting enough to have followers you can make your own page on Facebook for people to follow you. Here you can post all your links to work your and presumably your followers have chosen to follow you so they will be interested. Don't just post links- ask questions, share interesting, related news articles and interact with your followers. You can also advertise your page through Facebook- it will cost you but it is away to gain a larger following. I have never tried paying for advertising on my Facebook page but one day I might consider it. Creating a Facebook page will work well if you write about a certain niche that people will be interested in enough to follow a page on it.

Ensure Your Work Has Facebook Like Buttons

As well as sharing your work yourself on Facebook you want your readers to have the option to share your work if they have enjoyed reading it or found it useful. With the revenue sharing websites this is all taken care of for you. With a Weebly website you can copy HTML codes and embed them into your pages and posts using the "embed code" capsule. In blogger the Facebook like button appears automatically at the bottom of each post, along with other buttons.

Using Pixlr.com to Edit and Create Quality Images for Your Online Writing

Most written content on the internet requires some images to make it look good, capture audiences and hold

people's attentions. Writing without any images can look boring and daunting. Of course it depends what you are writing about- some subjects will fare better than others without writing. For instance high academic stuff can probably get away without pretty images but a recipe is really gonna need some.

If you rely on image-based websites and apps to share and promote your work- think Intsagram and Pinterest- then you will need a relevant image to be able to share it at all. Even Google + and Facebook links look more appealing with an image instead of just a title.

I use a free website called Pixlr.com to edit most of the images I use online. It is a really great resource and so easy to use. I use it for several things. If you want to use it I recommend working in Pixlr express mode as this is really straight forward but with enough editing tools for most people's needs.

What Can I Use Pixlr.com For?

• Creating more professional looking images

You can use all the editing tools to crop, autocorrect and sharpen images. You can then add filters, overlays and borders to create an image that looks a bit more polished than the one you originally took.

• Adding Text to Images

You can add text to your images - in a variety of different fonts, colours and sizes. This can be useful if you want to create a pinable image with a brief desrciption for Pinterest.

• Creating Image Collages

There are loads of different collage layouts to choose from- simply upload the pictures and then you can edit each one individually and then edit the collage as a whole too.

• Creating Banner style Images

Using the collage style layouts you can create banner images for your website or Facebook and Google + page headers. To create a banner image select the collage layout with three or four images in a horizontal row.

• Creating Quote Images 

If you upload a plain background .jpg image you can then add fun overlays and text to create a quote image

• Resizing Images for Instagram and Bubblews

If you want to upload images to Instagram direct from your computer (see how here) then you have to have square images sized 650px by 650 px. I use Pixlr.com to re-size my images. All I do is create and edit my image, save it then I resize it and save it again with*inst added onto the end of the file name.

You will also find Bubblews will only accept images of a maximum size of 600 px. Again you can use the re-size tool on Pixlr to create Bubblews ready images. 

How to Upload Photographs to Instagram Straight from Your Computer

Why Would I Want to Upload Photos from my Computer?

If you use Instagram to share and promote your online writing you need to be using good quality, attractive photographs to catch people's eye. The basic idea of Instagram is that it is a phone app. So you take a picture with your phone and then upload it straight to Instagram from your phone. This is great if you have a good camera on your phone but not great if your phone camera is pants and takes awful photos.
Another problem this creates is what if you want to upload images with text or quotes- they seem to be quite popular on the Fitspo accounts for instance.

Take myself for instance. I have an instagram account to help promote by Baby-Led Weaning Site - that I run for free via Weebly. So I am uploading mainly recipe pictures to Instagram- they have to look good or who would want to see the recipe? My food photography is gradually getting better and I use a DSLR camera to take all my shots, if I used my phone camera they would look shocking. I had to find a way to upload my nice DSLR photos on to my Instagram account and you'll be pleased to know I did.

Uploading Photographs to Instagram From Your Computer Using Gramblr

In order to upload your photographs to Instagram from your computer you need to download the free uploader software called Gramblr. It is really easy to do- just click here . They have a version for PCs and Macs too.

Once you have downloaded Gramblr an icon like the Instagram icon will appear on your desktop. When you need to upload a photograph to Instagram just click on the Gramblr Desktop Icon and follow these simple steps:

1. Log in on the Gramblr pop up using your Instagram username and password
2. Choose a file from your computer- a picture file obviously
3. Upload the file by clicking on the upload button
4. Write a caption when directed to- this will appear on Instagram alongside your photograph so don't forget to include any relevant hashtags. The actual display is small so you cannot easily see what you have typed. If you are likely to make typos it might be an idea to have already written your caption in Word and then cut and paste it into the Gramblr caption box.
5. That is it- your image and caption will be uploaded to Instagram straight from your computer

There is only one thing you will need to fiddle around with and that is the size and dimensions of your photograph to upload. Instagram only takes square images of 650px by 650px. I use Pixlr.com to resize my images. Again Pixlr is another great free resource and I have written about it, and how to use it for Instagram here.

A Guide to Sharing and Promoting Your Writing

As  I mentioned in my Guide to Making Money by Writing Online you should be spending the same amount of time sharing and promoting your work as you do actually writing it in the first place. Many writers do not exactly relish this aspect of the work but it must be done if you want to drive traffic to your writing- and traffic means money.

This is my guide to promoting and sharing your writing. It is based on what I do and what I have had success with. It is not exhaustive but it is enough to keep you going with I am sure.

Places to Share Your Work

Facebook

Share all your writing through your Facebook account. If you don't want to bore family and friends you could open up a separate Facebook account . Join writing groups, blogger groups and other groups where you can share your writing, tips and expertise with other online writers.

If you have a particular interest or expertise you could start a page- having a page to go alongside your website is a good idea. Then you can post links to all your online content to the page and your followers will see it. You can also pay money to have Facebook advertise your page.

Twitter

If you haven't got a twitter account you really need to get one- get one twitter account for every area of expertise you write about then use choose a username that gives people an idea what you write about- this means like minded people will follow you. You can then tweet links to all your online writing. To get followers on twitter follow people with similar interests and tweet could interesting stuff- not just links to your own work. Try to participate in the twitter community by commenting and re-tweeting every now and again. Use # to index your tweets. So if I am tweeting a link to an article I wrote about Islam I would use the following hashtags- #Islam, #religion and so on. If your link is very long it won't leave you much space in your tweet to say anything else- If this is the case go to Bitly and shorten your url. It's free and you can log straight in via facebook. 

Pinterest

Pinterest is great if your written content has good pictures in it- Pinterest works on images and a good image is more likely to be repinned than a crappy mobile upload. Pinterest is more suited to certain areas like crafts, fashion or food but you can use it for anything so give it a go. To get followers on Pinterest pin good content regularly and not just your own stuff. Pin from around the web on to well named, well organised boards. Pin about stuff that is linked to your writing areas so when you also pin your own stuff it wont look spammy or out of place.

Stumbleupon

Stumbleupon is a bit like Pinterest but instead of showing users thumbnails linked to a webpage it shows the actual webpage. Adding a page to Stumbleupon is a bit more complex than simply pressing a Pin It Button if there isn't a stumble upon button on your writing. Again as before add your work to Stumbleupon and use the stumble tool on the actual website to stumble through other pages. When you see something you like you can give it a thumbs up and if you really like it you can add it to one of your collections. Follow lots of people and regularly update your stumbles to gain followers yourself. Because Stumbleupon shows the whole page and not just an it is good for people who write about things that aren't necessarily eye-catching like fashion and baking etc. I  like using Stumbleupon to find good writing advice.

Instagram

Instagram is a phone app that lets you upload and share images with your followers. It is good for anyone writing about health, fitness and food especially. You will have to upload good images or inspirational or funny quotes seem to do quite well as well. If your phone camera is not very good there is a way to add photos straight from your computer. See here for directions. Again get followers by following like-minded people. You can search for # or usernames to help you find kindred spirits. When you add a picture you can add a comment and hash-tags. Unfortunately you cannot put direct links to your work but it can still help you brand yourself and get yourself known.

Use a Ping Service

Once you have written content, either for your blog or for a revenue sharing website you can ping your work to all the search engines. I use MyPageRank. It is quick and simple, and of course free, to use. Simply paste your url, write the title and enter the code and there you go- all the search engines know about your work.

Redgage*

Redgage allows you to create an account and add links to all your online content. You can make friends and get subscribers who will see everything you put up. You can easily create groups to organise your content. The added bonus? You actually get paid by Redgage when people look at your content. It's not a great deal and you have to reach a certain amount before you get paid but considering it's driving traffic to your writing then you can't complain.

* Redgage are currently trying to sort a few things on their website out so at present they are not accepting new users.

Google Plus

You can also share your writing with your circles on Google Plus. This is usually as simply as clicking the G+ Button. You can also join like-minded communities on Google Plus and post links to your content their. So if you write about health you can join the Health communities and link your work. Be careful- some communities stipulate that you are not allowed to post links to your own sites but most will let you if it is relevant. Again though- keep it to one or two a day- you don't want to spam the board or you'll start to annoy people.

So as you can see there are plenty of free places online that you can share your content.