As of October 9 of this year, Google will bring street view to mobile browsers. It’s not the most exciting news in the world, but it’s something that will make a difference in the long run for the mobile user as well as Google itself.

Why a Google Street View Matters

This latest update is helping Google Maps stay on top when it comes to mapping software on a mobile phone. For those who are unfamiliar, Apple tried to out-do Google Maps a few weeks ago by coming up with their own mapping software, but failed fairly miserably. In the end, the devices were back to using Google Maps. You can read more about that story here.

A few of the perks that users get with the Google Maps street view include:

• Panoramic level imagery to help you see where you are going and check out places nearby. This will work even when you’re on the move.
• If you save a link to Maps on your iOS device as a bookmark, you can use it on any browser (not just the usual Safari).
• You still have the option of keeping the traditional Maps layout; however there is an option to see both images side by side.

The question then remains: With Google Maps only improving and Apple failing, will they ever find real competition? Are you excited about the new changes, or are you hoping to still see Apple or another company come up with something new? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: trickybloggers.com

Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from keyword density to recovering from Panda and Penguin updates. She writes for Highervisibility, a nationally recognized SEO firm that offers online marketing services to a wide range of companies across the country. 

Many individuals have started blogs about the food industry, and the vast majority of companies have some sort of blog on their company website, yet most restaurant websites skip this step. With blogging becoming a more and more popular choice for readers, restaurants should be asking: Why aren’t we getting involved?

Tips and Tricks to Blogging Successfully in the Restaurant Industry

One of the biggest reasons restaurants probably ignore the blogging phenomenon is because they don’t understand how it can help their business. Although consumers might be initially going to a restaurant’s website for the menu, a blog is a great feature. Below are a few different ways that you can successfully utilize a blog on your website:

• Education – Use your blog to teach your audience about aspects of either the restaurant industry or your restaurant specifically, as well as topics related to your genre of food. Give advice on what you do so that other restaurant owners and future customers can see you as an industry leader.
• Opinion/Newsletter – Use a blog to give your opinions on different menu items or different things going on in your restaurant. If you’re having an event, write a blog post that describes the event and why people should attend.
• Guest Blogging – Guest blogging (having someone outside your company submit articles to your blog) is becoming more and more popular as a way to earn backlinks and share information. Take advantage of this and ask your customers to send in guest blog posts that relate to your blog. People will be excited to recommend your website and your networking will only improve.
• SEO – A blog will ensure that your website has a lot of content. This makes for easier search engine optimization (SEO), or helping your restaurant show up at the top of a Google search engine results page.

The greatest thing about starting a blog is the idea that you don’t have to add content everyday. A blog is simply another way for visitors to connect with your company and learn more about your industry and restaurant. Even if you only update the blog once or twice per month you can still earn the benefits of a blog.

Does your restaurant have a blog on its website? Have you found that the blog has been successful? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: blog.successfulwriting.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a professional blogger that writes on a variety of topics including Memphis restaurants. She writes for Restaurants.com, a leading directory of top restaurants.

What Is a Google Removal Request?

For those who are unfamiliar, a removal request is something that Internet users can submit if they want a page removed from a Google SERP immediately. A removal request can be used if you want to remove content from your own site; however it is most often used when you want to remove content that comes from another site. For example, you may want to remove a page immediately if it holds confidential information such as a credit card number. Copyright holders are also amongst those who take full advantage of Google’s removal request system because more and more websites are offering copyrighted content for the public to read and download.

There are also a few instances where you should not utilize a removal request: If you want to clean up your site and delete pages, remove crawl errors from your Webmaster Tools account, help your site if it’s been hacked, or just start over.

The Removal Request Numbers Google Saw

The month of August came with nearly 6 million removal requests, which is a huge leap in the numbers from last year. According to Search Engine Watch, “requests submitted to the search giant peaked at 1.49 million the week of August 13, compared to 156,708 in the same time period in 2011.” The article went on to say that other weeks in August had significantly different numbers, including a jump last week from 91,985 in 2011 to 1.42 million in 2012.

Google received thousands of requests from major corporations such as Microsoft (681,227 requests) and NBCUniversal (254,527 requests). So what does this mean for Internet marketers? The real answer lies in whether or not Google will listen to all of these requests.

What This Means to Online Marketers

This spike in requests is significant because it proves that copyrighted or confidential information is being used improperly. This means that online marketers need to be on high alert about when their company is mentioned online. You can do this by setting up virus tool such as McAfee and Copyscape, and even creating a Google Alert for your company name to screen for any potential duplicated content.

Whether or not Google is listening and taking action on all 6 million requests is still unknown; however Google did fulfill 97 percent of the requests that were filed last year between July and December.

You can visit the Google Webmaster Tools to submit a removal request to Google.

Are you surprised by the huge jump in numbers from last year to this year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: housingwire.com

Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from keyword density to recovering from Panda and Penguin updates. She writes for Highervisibility, a nationally recognized as a Top SEO Company that offers online marketing services to a wide range of companies across the country. 

How the Olympics Helped Companies Create Great Campaigns and What You Can Learn

Because content and engagement is so important in the world of online marketing, it makes sense to constantly be watching the news and trying to connect a story to something that is occurring in your city (or around the world in this rare case). Below is a list of 5 marketing strategies where different companies took advantage of the 2012 games:

• Create videos that show how your service can connect to the lives of your audience.

Creating video is becoming more and more important for companies because videos can catch a readers attention much faster than a piece of traditional text. After all, YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google, and even Google+ has started incorporating YouTube with the new YouTube app for Google+ hangouts. Most companies create “how to” videos for their businesses to help explain complicated information. It’s important that you have your audience in mind when creating the video and that you have a call to action, or a reason that the content of the video really matters.

Olympic Example: Many different companies tried to incorporate the Olympics into their marketing videos, but the Procter and Gamble “Kids” video was one of my favorites. It helps pull in the audience because it explains how and why the Olympics can relate to your life. It shows that the athletes and the games are real, and someone had to raise them.

• Create interactive content and contests.

Nothing draws in people more than something that is interactive. More and more companies have been creating interactive infographics so that visitors can get a customized message, and even content such as polls can get visitors involved in your website. Contests are also a great way to get people to keep coming back to your site and tell their friends.

Olympic Example: Google decided to create what are called Google Olympic Doodles, or little, interactive games that Google users can play in just a few seconds. You can win gold, silver, or bronze, and it’s easy to compare scores with friends. They’re addicting and most certainly catching the attention of many.

What the Olympics Themselves Can Teach Companies about Marketing

• Controversy isn’t always something to be afraid of.

Many new websites get a little bit nervous when it comes to posting controversial content. While this isn’t appropriate for all businesses, being the best in your industry means tell the truth and giving your honest opinion. If there is an issue in your field that’s getting a lot of press, show that you have an opinion.

Olympic Example: Kim Collins, sprinter from St.Kitts & Nevis, was disqualified from the Olympics because he visited his family, which is breaking the rules. Some thought that this was absolutely absurd while others agree with the Olympics decision. Although the Olympics may not have had a choice when it came to getting this story out to the public, they embraced it with open arms. The rules are the rules, and it’s too bad if you don’t like them.

• Pay attention to your competition and create a strategy accordingly.

It might sound cheesy, but no one understands competition better than Olympians. It’s extremely important to always be aware of your competition and then create your strategy based upon where you can really thrive.

Olympic Example: Cameron van der Burgh, South African swimmer, admitted to cheating at the Olympic games. His reason? “If you’re not doing it, you’ll fall behind.” Now you should never cheat just to get to the top, and we’ve seen plenty of swimmers win the gold while following all the rules, but if this isn’t an example of really knowing your competition and using it to your advantage then I don’t know what is!

Have you seen any companies create a great campaign because of the Olympics? Is there any lesson that you could take from watching the actual games? Let us know in the comments below!

Photo Credit: masterfile.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a graduate of Illinois State University. Although she graduated with an English Education degree, she found herself working as a full-time blogger at Highervisibility, nationally recognized as one of the best seo firms in the country. Connect with HigherVisibility on Twitter to learn more!

Targeting and social media go hand in hand because people are so willing to offer up personal information on social networking sites—Facebook being one of the most tempting. After all, your friends may want to know what your major is in school or where you’re currently working, and we can’t forget about the all important relationship status and birthday. This information doesn’t seem quite as necessary to share with your Twitter followers or your LinkedIn connections, but Facebook makes it easy to share this information. This information has been huge when it comes to advertisements, but what about targeting organic updates and posts?

Unfortunately, Facebook would only allow businesses to target their organic page updates by a user’s location and language. Although this worked OK in the past, adding more advanced targeting options has been a long time coming—and the time is finally here. Just two days ago on July 31^st, Facebook announced that they will soon be rolling out “Page Post Targeting Enhanced.”

How Facebook Enhanced Targeting Works

In the past, business page admins were allow to make specific posts visible to certain people in terms of location and language. While these two filters will still be an option, there are several other new options that are expected to roll out to all business pages over the next few weeks. TechCrunch explained that a few of these enhanced targeting features include:

Page admins will also be able to see just how many fans would be receiving a message based on a specific filter. This will allow a company to better understand who their fans really are and where their messages are going.

How Your Company Can Take Advantage of Facebook Enhanced Targeting

This is a huge step for online marketers that utilize Facebook. According to Hubspot, “targeted and segmented lead nurturing emails generate an 8% click-through rate compared to general email sends, which generate just a 3% click-through rate.”

Facebook has realized the potential that their network has for businesses as well as users. Not only will businesses benefit from being able to send specific posts to specific groups of people, but users will benefit because their messages will be more relevant. Now that Facebook is on board and users are on board (whether they realize it or not), it’s all up to your company.

Photo Credit: sproutsocial.com

Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from keyword density to recovering from Panda and Penguin updates. She writes for Highervisibility, a nationally recognized SEO Company that offers online marketing services to a wide range of companies across the country. 

A web host is an important aspect of your company because it controls so much of your social media. There are free web hosting companies as well as commercial web hosts. Since web hosting is so important to your company, it is often worth the money to find a good, quality web host. Below lists a few things to look for when choosing a web host:

Top 5 Things to Look for When Choosing a Web Hosting Company

1. Disc Space/Domain Space – This will depend on whether you want to host one website or many, and whether your website will include things such as mp3 files or a collection of videos. If you have just a normal website, 50 MB should work, but if you have large files you should splurge for something with at least 100 MB of space.

2. Uptime – A web host should guarantee an uptime of at least 99%. There are many web hosts that offer refunds if the uptime falls below 99%, so do not settle for less.

3. Bandwidth – According to Christopher Heng, writer of “How to Choose a Web Host,” most new sites use less than 3 GB of bandwidth per month, so this is a good place to start. Once your site gets more popular and drives more traffic, you may need more GBs, so also check to see how much the web host charges you if you need to use more than your allotted bandwidth. It is a good idea to start small first since you never know when your site will become more popular or by how much.

4. Control Panel – This is the place where you add or delete accounts, view visitor statistics, and make any changes to your website. Many times there will be a demonstration you can try before purchasing a web host, so make sure you feel it is easy to use.

5. Phone Support – Most web hosting will offer support, but it is not always a service where you can call and ask a question. If you ever have a problem, it will most likely be with your computer, so having someone you can speak to directly on your mobile phone will be extremely helpful.

Web Hosting Terms to Know

One of the most confusing things about choosing a web host is understanding all of the jargon that goes along with it. Here are a few keywords to help make sure you have all the tools to pick the right web host:

• Uptime – This refers to the time when the web host is functional.
• Bandwidth – Simple put, bandwidth tells you how much information can be transferred over a connection. In other words, how much can be transmitted from your site to visitors.
• In-house hosting – This is the opposite of web hosting. With in-house hosting, the company manages a server to hold all company data in the office.

Web Hosting Quick Tips and Prices

• Many who have gone with web hosts that promoted unlimited bandwidth still end up getting charged. Often times these web hosts think they can offer unlimited bandwidth, but they are the ones paying for the bandwidth. If you happen to go over because your site is so popular, someone has to pay, and it isn’t going to be your web host!
• Most web hosts only cost $4.00 to $12.00 per month. The difference in price occurs because of the different features listed above, so evaluate your company’s website and pick the features that best fit your business.

Have you had a good experience when working with web hosting? Let us know your experiences in the comments!

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to web design. She writes for an online resource that gives advice to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

1.    FreeAuthNet.com

FreeAuthNet.com is an affordable payment processor which is commonly used for retail stores, restaurants and of course Internet businesses. The company offers low rates and dependable service. FreeAuthNet.com works with processing banks to negotiate the best possible rates available. There is no risk to sign up for FreeAuthNet.com, and clients can cancel at any time without any penalty.

Rates: The discount rate is 2.04 percent, and the per-transaction fee is $0.24. These fees are some of the lowest in the industry. The set-up fee, license fee and application fee are free. The annual fee and the check-by-phone fee are also free.

2.    Flagship Merchant Services

Flagship Merchant Services is affordable and reputable. The company has been recognized by numerous authority publications in the industry. Customers are not required to sign a lengthy contract. Most merchants sign up for a month-to-month service. Clients have nothing to lose by trying the service because there is no termination fee associated with the account.

The account can be canceled if the business suffers financial difficulty or if business owners prefer another credit card processor. This particular payment processor does not have a specific mobile application nor can it accept international credit cards.

Rates: Rates start from 0.38 percent.

3.    iTransact

iTransact is one of the most affordable credit payment processors. Business owners can use the Perl-based shopping cart called RediCart. RediCart is designed to accept credit cards, EFT payments and checks.

Only three small PERL scripts are required to install this cheap payment processor on the website. The header and footer HTML pages are included for quick set up. Cart contents can be tracked with the customer’s IP address.

Rates: There are not any per-transaction or usage fees associated with this payment processor. All payments can be processed through a SSL server. The application is available free of charge.

4.    National Bankcard

National Bankcard is another reputable payment processor in the United States. The tool accepts credit and debit cards from customers. The company has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and is known for providing exceptional service. Currently, the company serves retail stores, ecommerce businesses, restaurants and other industries also.

Rates: Rates range from zero percent to $0.25. The services can be obtained without paying a setup fee.

5.    Merchant Express

Merchant Express is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and is one of the top-rated credit card processing companies. This company offers numerous solutions for its customers. Both wireless and phone processing are available. Point-of-sale terminals are also offered by this company. Clients have nothing to lose by trying Merchant Express. The company offers a 30-day risk free trial.

Rates: Merchant Express rates are significantly below industry average. For instance, the retail account rates are 1.69 percent, and the retail transaction fee is $0.19. There is no annual fee, no application fee, no setup fee, no programming fee, no monthly maintenance fee, no Authorize.net transaction fee, no shopping cart fee or no overlimit fee.

Photo Credit: lethoff.com

I thought it would be helpful to compile a list for the blogging community to help those who need to guest post. I have therefore created a list of my top ten favorite blogs to offer up a guest post. I based my decisions on three things:

• Is the editor easy and friendly to work with? I personally feel that this is one of the most important things when it comes to guest blogging because it changes the experience entirely.
• Is the guest post either acknowledged or live in a good amount of time? In my eyes, a good amount of time is within the week. The post does not have to be live within a week, but it’s nice when an editor at least gets back to me and lets me know the status of the article.
• Does the blog get a lot of visitors and activity?

There are also two different kinds of places where many people guest post: Sites where there is direct contact with an editor and sites where there is not. I have split these up into two sections for the guest bloggers who have a preference. And so, in no particular order, a list of some of my favorite guest posting opportunities:

Blogs with Direct Editor Contact

1.Get Busy Media: I feel as though I am part of the team when I guest post for this website. I am looped in on the emails that ask the staff to promote my content and am always given a big thank you. PR 4 site.

2.Tribal blogs: Jen is incredibly quick to respond and always thankful to have a guest post. Although still a PR 3, this site has a great design, great content, and a great editor, so it also has great potential.

3.Brazen Careerist: You always know that the editor Alexis is going to get back to you. Although it will take a while to hear whether or not your post has been approved, I give her a ton of credit for being able to sort through the many posts I know she receives and still taking the time to touch base with each author. PR 5 site.

4.Under30CEO: Jared is extremely easy to talk with and always gets back to me in an appropriate amount of time. His blog is also a PR 6, and it’s rare to find such an authoritative blog with such an easy going guest posting routine.

5.SEM-Group: This blog attracts great writers and will work with you to make sure your post will do well in the social media sphere. Gerald is a real social media guru, so I always know my posts will get tons of promotion. PR 4 site.

6.Who Design Today: While this blog is also only a PR 3, I see tons of potential. It could not be left off the list because Darryl is easy going and attentive.

7.PR Breakfast Club: Nathan (or Peter as I met him!) treats you as though you are a friend. The best part is that Nathan allows you to have full rights to your writing. He doesn’t appear concerned with search engine rankings or making a ton of money, he just loves blogging and loves the site. PR 4 site.

8.Skyje and Social H:  You get one editor for two sites with Ayman. You email him, he reads your article, he sends you the link when it’s live. It’s as simple as that. And oh, did I mention both sites are PR 5? Very hard to find this type of situation.

9.About Public Relations: Steven R. Van Hook is interested in more than just your article. I really feel like he cares about his writers, and his site gets great publicity. PR 5 site.

10.Web Marketing Therapy: Writing for this site does make me feel as though I’m part of a community. Although my articles are not always accepted, I am told exactly what I need to do to fix them by different editors who are all nothing but nice. PR 4 site.

Blogs Without Direct Editor Content

1. Social Media Today: The most tweets I’ve ever received on a post. Need I say more? PR 6 site.

2.Lakeshore Branding: I happen to know that the editor of this site is incredibly friendly and positive about the posts that go through to her site. However, now all you need to do to submit a guest post is just upload it right onto a page for review. PR 4 site.

3. She Writes: This is a community of all women (obviously) and you can publish your article the minute you upload it. Easy, quick, and a PR 5 site.

4.Recruiting Blogs: This site also allows you to upload your article and publish it immediately. A dream for guest bloggers who specialize in recruitment advice. PR 5 site.

5.Business2Community: I have a feeling that most people are already aware of Business2Community. The site gives you a login, you upload the article, it is reviewed, and it is published all within the time frame of around 24 hours. Not bad for a PR 5 site.

I will add that these sites are simply those I find most pleasant, not easiest. These sites put out what I classify as excellent content, but they do it without needing constant follow-ups and with nothing but kindness. While I have written for others sites that I greatly respect, they might be a bit more high maintenance, which is not a bad thing by any means. Still, it’s nice to have an easy going guest posting opportunity sometimes that will really give you some great visibility, and these sites always provide that for me.

What are some of your favorite sites to offer a guest post? Let us know in the comments!

Photo Credit: invisibleheartstrings.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to 401k services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including payroll companies to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

Just the other day and editor explained to me that my content could be featured on the blog for $700, and a few weeks earlier an editor wanted to charge me $250. Naturally, both blogs were very authoritative and had a list of reasons why their blog was so wonderful, but I couldn’t help but think to myself: Shouldn’t you be paying me?

The Pros and Cons to Paying for Exposure

It seemed bad enough to blog for exposure and not get paid, as in offer your content for free, but paying for content seems to bring things to an entirely new level. I can see both sides to the issue, which makes this dilemma a bit harder to solve. On the one hand, paying to put your content on an authoritative site can be very beneficial:

• Paying for Exposure Pros: Your content gets put in front of the eyes of thousands. The site that was going to charge me $700 to feature my content would promote that content to 200,000 social media contacts and it will be seen by over 100,000 visitors per month. Naturally I would do a bit of research to see if this were in fact true, but if so then this is a great way to help kick-start my brand. I can let people know that I was published on this very authoritative site, and that would make me look great.

On the other hand, I keep thinking of reasons that I simply do not want to pay that fee.

• Paying for Exposure Cons: There are quite a few very authoritative websites out there that will allow me to publish my content for free including Social Media Today and Kissmetrics. These sites have turned down my writing before, but in general they are open to posting content that is really valuable to readers. When my writing finally made it to the site, I had almost 400 tweets on each article. If you’re a site that asks writers to pay to be on the site, isn’t there a chance that you’re just getting a bunch of content from rich people and not good writers?

As of now, I have never paid to have my writing featured on a site. I want my writing to be placed on a site that really values my writing, and so far I haven’t gotten that feeling from the sites that ask me to pay for the exposure they have to offer. If I was willing to pay, which I’m not opposed to, I’m not sure how much “exposure” is really worth.

If anyone has an answer to this question or an opinion they would like to share, I’d love to hear some more thoughts on this topic!

Photo Credit: stevecozartphotography.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to business credit cards. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including 401k plans to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few things wrong with this picture. Guest blogging is about more than simply getting a backlink. A website should want to guest blog on other websites for several reasons:

• Gain visibility from a new audience.
• Show off your expertise; therefore improving your company’s reputation.
• Educate your target audience.
• Create connections with other editors that are part of your niche.
• You also must worry about the blog where you are posting the article. That blog does not want to be stuck with a stagnant article and an absent author.

In many cases, putting your content and your company name on a new blog in front of a new audience is actually more important than any backlink you could earn. Whether you’re just starting a business or are trying to get involved in the blogging sphere, it is extremely important that an author understands that there are quite a few other advantages that the author should take after a post goes live.

How to Take Advantage of Guest Blogging Benefits after the Post Is Live

More experience bloggers understand that there are author responsibilities after a post goes live, so it’s important understand what you can do right off the bat. Consider some of the ways you can make sure you’re following proper blogger etiquette and taking full advantage of your guest posting opportunity:

Step #1: Promote the article via social media.

When a post goes live, it is very important that the author shares it on all social media accounts. This is a great way to not only promote the article and get more eyes looking at something you wrote, but it’s a great way to offer publicity to the website where the article was published. This will help give you more guest posting opportunities in the future and help your article gain visibility. Try and promote the article on social media networks that are appropriate to the subject of the article. For example, articles about getting a job or recruitment work well for LinkedIn, whereas Twitter is more a place to share things that might be a little out of the box, but you found interesting.

Step #2: Respond to all reader comments on the post.

Some editors get very angry if an author does not respond to reader comments because readers who comment are the ones who usually keep coming back for more. For most blogs, loyal readers are the most important aspect of the business. If someone asks the author a question and the author does not respond, the reader might get upset. Responding to reader comments is also a great way to show all visitors that you know what you’re talking about and that you really do care about teaching something through your articles. You may want to subscribe to reader comments on the site so that you will be notified via email each time someone comments.

            Step #3: Link back to the post internally and externally.

Linking back to a guest post in a future post is another great way to increase the visibility of that post. Linking internally will help drive your loyal readers to your other work that isn’t on your blog, and linking externally will help give you even more SEO benefits. It is important to note that whenever linking back to a post is should be relevant and helpful to readers and not just linking just to link.

Step #4: Keep in touch with readers and the editor.

Keeping in touch with those that have read your article is a great way to open up future opportunities. Find those who commented on your post and the website where you posted the article via social networks. This will give everyone yet another avenue to potentially find your work and find your website.

Although many of these steps require extra work by the author, they are a crucial part of the guest posting process. Many experienced bloggers actually find that what happens after a post is live is much more interesting that what happens before. In other words, don’t feel overwhelmed by all the work that goes along with guest blogging—it’s a lot of fun and is well worth it in the end.

Photo Credit: dcincome.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to phone systems. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including workers compensation to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

Users were starting to realize that the Pinterest terms and conditions simply were not safe. Since most people do not read the terms and conditions, this problem went unnoticed by many for quite some time. Nevertheless, the truth came out quick to a large number of people; forcing Pinterest to make a change. Below are some of the terms and conditions that caused the uproar:

• When you pin something, you agree that you own whatever it is you pin or have permission from the original owner.
• Pinterest is allowed to sell anything you pin.
• If any legal fees need to be paid or dealt with, you must pay the legal fees for Pinterest.
• Any risk you may be taking by using the site (copyright issues, ownership disagreements, etc.) is entirely your responsibility.

The word was spread quickly by this graphic written by Jon Contino. This caused many to remove photographs or stop using the site out of fear that something would go wrong and they would be entirely responsible for all fees and blame. Fortunately, Pinterest listened.

The Latest Pinterest Terms and Conditions Changes

This past weekend the Pinterest team sent an email message out to all users to help solve the situation. Pinterest decided that they would be changing their terms and conditions and apologized for any inconvenience the terms may have caused. The terms will not be split into three sections: Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy

Splitting the terms up into three sections should help make the terms easier to understand for all users. However most importantly, the site is going to change some of the “rules” that had so many users up in arms. Below are some of the changes discussed in the email:

• Pinterest will not be selling any content published on the site.
• Pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse will not be tolerated (such as unhealthy diets or bullying).
• There will not be simpler tools for anyone to report any copyright or trademark issues. Every pin will also have the option of a “Report Pin” button to help make this easier.
• New features such as a Pinterest API will be added. This will allow developers and third party services top get involved in the site.

All of these changes will be set into motion on April 6, 2012. Although we still haven’t seen any changes about legal fees or responsibility of the images on the site, this is certainly a set in the right direction.

Will this change the way you use Pinterest?

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to payroll processing. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including merchant services to small businesses and entrepreneurs for Resource Nation.

For the sake of a TV show there was obviously some elaboration, but this led me to wonder: What do people really think about bloggers? According to this TV show, there are a few things that were made clear:

• Some bloggers look like what most people would call a “hipster.” Schrute even decided to have one of their employees dress like a hipster and flirt with the bloggers to make sure that they were interested in the product. She spent her day wearing thick rimmed glasses, a top hat, and talking about Zooey Deschanel.
• Bloggers all love technology. They never go anywhere without their phones or computers, and they know how to work them.
• Bloggers have power when it comes to a young demographic. Young people today love technology and they love blogging. If you can get a blogger to praise your product, you will get more publicity amongst the “social awkward cool” crowd of 20 somethings.
• On that same note, they have power when they’re online, but not so much when they leave their computers. Bloggers typically stay inside and write.

Although one of the employees was spotted by a blogger using a different phone than the one they were selling, the grand opening seemed to go well. The store was closed one episode later, but nonetheless the flashy presentation and hipster eye-candy seemed to work.

NBC’s The Office Gives Insight Regarding Bloggers

The more I analyzed some of the things mentioned in the episode, the more I realized there was a slight clash. There are apparently the hipster bloggers who are cool because they are so-not-mainstream, and then there are the nerdy bloggers who stay inside on their computers all day.

Now you and I know that all bloggers do not fit into one of these categories, and I do believe that The Office was only trying to be funny (and it worked). Nonetheless, it’s interesting to consider what others think when I say I’m a blogger. Do people really buy into these stereotypes? Even worse, am I the one who is missing something because I don’t look like a hipster or act like an Internet-obsessed blob?

You can watch the full episode at NBC.com until April 20, 2012.

Photo Credit: nbc.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to workers compensation. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including business credit cards to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

1. Work as a blogger for a company. The company will pay you to contribute articles to blogs across the Internet. All you need to do is incorporate a link back to the company for SEO purposes.

2. Do freelance writing/blogging. Many websites will offer payment for quality content.

3. Own and manage your own blog. By owning and managing your own blog you are setting yourself up for a platform for advertisers. However, this takes a great deal of time, money, and work to create a profitable blog.

Now starting a business and creating a profitable blog is a long and sometimes frustrating process. In other words, most bloggers begin their careers as one of those first two options. I am one of the lucky bloggers because I blog for a company who pays me full-time. No matter how many articles I get placed and no matter where they get placed, I know I’m getting paid. Unfortunately, most bloggers aren’t quite so lucky and they have to jump from blog to blog to try and find websites that will pay for content.

However, I can’t help but notice that more and more blogs are beginning to offer links back to a website as opposed to payment. There are, of course, many blogs that still pay for quality content, but slowly more and more are moving away from this idea. This led me to wonder: Is it a good idea to offer content to a blog who doesn’t offer payment?

Top 3 Things to Consider before You Blog for Exposure

This has actually been a huge controversy for quite some time. Many websites and blogs used to make promises to writers about payment and never follow through, so many writers have spoken out about how wrong it is to not pay a writer for great content. I have to say, regardless of the fact that I am a writer, I couldn’t agree more with these arguments.

However, now that many businesses are catching onto the fact that they can get great content for nothing but a link in exchange, finding places to publish your content is becoming increasingly difficult. Even if you do find a website that will pay for your content, you need something to show for it. For this reason, many bloggers are working simply to gain exposure in the hopes of landing a job with a company or build a portfolio. There are a few things I would keep in mind if you’re going to blog to gain exposure:

1. Metrics – If you’re going to blog for exposure, you want to make sure it is for a site that will really deliver. In other words, check the Google PageRank of the site, the social media efforts of the site, and ask the editor questions. See how many unique visitors the site gains per month and ask them what they will do to promote your article and help it rank well on a Google search engine page.

2. Time Limit – You should definitely stop yourself from blogging for free after a certain amount of time. Tell yourself that you will try it for one month, and then if you don’t see any paid opportunities popping up then quite blogging for free. If you really are gaining good exposure then keep it up, but don’t continually extend the time you’re going to “give blogging for free a try.”

3. Savings – It may sound obvious, but you will want to really analyze your finances before singing up to blog for free. Although exposure may lead to a paying job, you must be able to afford getting there.

In general, I would say that I find more authoritative blogs who do not pay for content as opposed to those that do pay for content. I would also say that I have gained a ton of exposure through blogging and it absolutely has opened the door to many well-paying writing gigs. Nonetheless, it took me a long time to gain this exposure. I would not have been able to get to where I am today by blogging for free. It would have been impossible for me to live five months without getting paid.

My advice: blog for free only occasionally. Do not make it a habit. Your writing and your time is valuable, and it deserves compensation. In most cases, no one would ask any other profession to work for free; writers should not accept this kind of treatment unless they know they are getting something (great exposure) out of it.

Do you ever blog for free? Has your experience been positive or negative?

Photo Credit: anatomyofadinnerparty.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to credit card processing. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including 401k limits to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

I would like to preface this list by saying a few things: First, I do not write for most of the editors that I have quoted below, so no use looking up my articles and trying to figure out which editors said what (I know you have a lot of time to do that). Second, the majority of these quotes were not taken out of context; in most cases, this was the only thing written in the email. Third, this is all completely true and was in no way exaggerated or made up (I couldn’t make this up if I tried).

So, without further ado, I give to you the top ten craziest things I’ve heard from editors:

1. (Automated Message) Thank you for emailing *name of blog.* If you sent an article to this address, I will be sitting here wondering why you felt you were too good to read the guidelines.
2. I don’t edit on Fridays.
3. Thanks. I probably won’t email you back because this is a busy time of year for me.
4. In response to the picture you will find on my Twitter and gravatar: Can you send another picture? You look like you may have been drinking in the one you sent us because it looks like you were at a party.
5. You are the f#$%ing s*#%@ !!!
6. Oh…looks like you didn’t see the note at the bottom of the page. I no longer accept guest posts honey. But it’s okay it happens to everyone!
7. After explaining some of the revisions necessary: Anyways, do you want to get coffee sometime?
8. Wow your article is so great! Can you write a few for us every day?
9. Despite the fact that the blog had guidelines for guest posting: You want to post an article on our site? I guess we can take a look…
10. This is really only funny to me because I had no idea what it meant upon first reading. I’m a sheltered American I suppose: If you could do one like that say once a fortnight I would be happy :)

Now I would love to have a little bit of fun with this article. What are some of the craziest things you have ever heard from some of your editors?

Photo Credit: vibranthealthworld.com layoutsparks.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to credit card processing. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including document software to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business information directory, Business.com.

Why I Hate Giving Out My Blog Contacts

• It takes a long time to find a quality website that allows guest posts. It’s hard work, and I don’t think I would appreciate these sites quite as much if someone just handed the contact over.
• It is difficult to get your article posted on a blog, so why would I want even more competition? You never know if someone else is writing about something similar and there may be a select number of guest posts allowed per month.
• Finding a great editor isn’t easy. I have worked with some wonderful editors, and some editors who were not so wonderful. This had made me appreciate my relationship with each and every one of them for what it is. In fact, this is one of my favorite parts about the job. I think going through these experiences is important for a blogger.

So when someone comes to me and says, “I’m starting a small business. What are some good websites that will allow guest posts?” I have a hard time giving up all of my information. I know how many links my contacts allow, how long it will take them to publish my article, and what specific details they like in an article, but it is only because I went through a back and forth with them.

When it comes to the sites that have all of their guidelines explicitly listed on their webpage, I really get irritated. I usually will just point people to that page, but part of being a blogger is being resourceful. If you want to know what sites I contribute to, visit my Google+ page. If you want to know how to submit a guest post, visit the website’s requirements page.

However, after all of the hesitancy and negativity is over, I realize that giving away some of your contacts may not be the worst thing in the world for a few different reasons:

Why Giving Out My Blog Contacts Is for the Best

• The more people you know on a site, the better. If you have a personal relationship with other writers on a website, you can certainly help each other out with comments and social sharing. This will not only help you look good in the eyes of the editor, but it will help ensure that your content gets out to more people. It’s a “the more the merrier” attitude.
• If you give out your contacts to someone, they should be willing to do the same. Once they get more familiar with the process, they will be able to find quality sites on their own. In the end, both people could benefit greatly.
• When I look back to when I was a new blogger, I remember it being somewhat overwhelming. It truly is tough to even know where to begin. I was grateful that I had someone to help get me going, and there is no reason I shouldn’t help others

It may seem a little bit immature to have such a debate about something so simple, but who doesn’t have those moments in their career? It’s easy to fall into this selfish pattern and mindset, so it’s good to take a second and consider whether or not it’s really worth it. What are your thoughts on blog contacts?

Photo Credit: writetodone.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to employee background checks. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including blogging advice to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

I continued to write my own blog posts and as time went on, I found that I was beginning to sound cheesy. I wanted something original, so I would force some extended metaphor onto the article. It started to seem as though this type of language was the mark of a good blog, so I began to adopt this tone. This led me to wonder: Have all the other bloggers done the same? Does anyone really like a cheesy sounding blog post, or is that just expected?

I decided to weigh the pros and the cons of the issue to see if the annoyance is actually beneficial:

“Gotta’ Love the Cheese” Pros

• Grabs Attention – If someone sees a picture of a cute dog, they are much more likely to stop and read the article than if they saw a picture of a bar graph. Getting the attention of readers is the hardest part, so although the article may have nothing to do with a cute dog, the cheesiness makes sense.

• Creative – It can be very difficult to come up with a clever metaphor for a topic that is typically boring. Even though you may sound cheesy, your article will be more creative than the rest. This will help your article stand out and get extra publicity.

• Entertainment – If you want to write an informative article about postage meters, for example, chances are the material will be somewhat boring. A little joke to lighten up the article might help keep readers on the page and have them coming back for more.

“I Can’t Stand It” Cons:

• Audience – If you’re writing about something serious, your target audience is most likely serious. For this reason, trying to spice up something straight forward may actually annoy those who actually want to read the article. They will see it as filler and a waste of time. You should be focusing on your target audience, not capturing the attention of any reader on the Internet.

• Credibility – If you spend most of your article discussing a cheesy metaphor and only a little bit of the article discussing real information, you will lose credibility. If you have nothing to say about a topic, you should probably be writing about something else.

• Confusing – It’s much more difficult to write a cohesive article if you’re worrying about being creative with different examples and comparisons. Sometimes words make sense to the writer, but the reader cannot follow. If this happens, then you will lose your readers entirely—and they probably won’t come back.

Whether or not you want your blog to be cheesy is entirely up to you. There have not been any studies about whether or not this creative tactic works or does not work for the majority of readers, so it’s tough to say which is “better.” I personally think that cheesy lines and metaphors are a waste of my time, but then again I just wrote “Gotta’ Love the Cheese” Pros. When you blog as often as I do, it’s hard to turn it off.

Do you like it when blogs use cheesy titles and metaphors?

Photo Credit: blog.fooducate.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to document scanning. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including document software to small businesses and entrepreneurs for Resource Nation.