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3 Blogging Legal Nightmares That Actually Happened

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In seven short days, it will be Halloween. But while the the ghosts practice their moaning and the werewolves sharpen their fangs, I’m reminded of an old maxim that nothing is more frightening than a scary story that happens to be true.

Unfortunately for bloggers, there happens to be a great deal to be scared of out there. While there are many reasons you shouldn’t be too scared of being sued, the truth is that nightmare scenarios do happen occasionally and, when they do, they can make things very difficult for a blogger.

So, in honor of the year’s scariest holiday, I’m going to cover three legal nightmares that happened to otherwise unsuspecting bloggers.

While these probably won’t happen to you, it’s important to remember that the legal system can be a scary place at times and, as a blogger, you run the risk of being thrown into it in a major way. [Read more…] about 3 Blogging Legal Nightmares That Actually Happened

5 Mistakes Bloggers are Making With Social Media

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5 Mistakes Bloggers are Making With Social MediaEven though most people would regard bloggers as tech-savvy and the ones to whom they can bring their computer to when it no longer will save any more images to the desktop after the first 500. However, it is possible that bloggers are making the same mistakes many others do when it comes to social media.

Not Connecting at All

Not utilizing social media at all is most likely the worst thing a blogger can do when it comes to maintaining a presence online. Creating a social media account is free and fairly easy to do; what takes the most time and effort is keeping it maintained. Many bloggers may feel that social media takes up too much time– however, considering the missed potential when it comes to exposing their brand, it is worth the while to at least set it up.

Not Responding to Feedback

Once a social media profile is set up for a fairly active and/or highly trafficked blog, then it will mostly likely continue to grow at a fairly fast pace. This is when comments, questions, and responses to items posted as statuses on the page. Bloggers need to answer and respond to these on a timely basis, as nobody likes to be ignored, especially blog readers. Participating in the social media community for the blog can help increase loyalty and readership.

Not Sharing Their Content

One of the easiest things to automate via social media are blog post RSS feeds. Use a service like Twitterfeed.com to set this up, which allows for instant posting on someone’s Twitter or Facebook page. This can ensure that your posts are being shared automatically, without having to think about or remember it.

Not Allowing Others to Share Their Content

This is something that is a onetime set-up, but makes it easy to help blog readers share posts. For WordPress blogs, install social sharing plugins like Sharebar or Sociable.  For other types of blogs that have HTML capabilities, install an embeddable widget like AddToAny to appear at the end of posts.

Not Considering it as a Benefit

This goes back to the first mistake– taking social media for granted. Because blogging is an online writing platform, social media should be something that is easy to integrate into the overall blogging process. Most bloggers have nothing to lose when it comes to social media and should in fact add it as part of their blogging and online marketing strategy.

Blogging and Taxes: Getting your Taxes Done on Time

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Being a freelancer is a serious business on its own and so are the taxes that go with gigs like blogging.

Yes, taxes are not fun, they can snuff the life out of you if they’re all left undone. But really, all you need is to devote a day or even a couple of hours which is enough time to get your tax affairs in order. Even if you have an awesome run these last 11 months working here and there, tax season is bound to sneak up on you before you know it. So you better have your receipts and forms ready and please do yourself a favor never do your taxes at the last minute.

W-2
If you’re a blogger hired by an online magazine and you’re paid regularly like a full-time employee, then you need to fill out this form. This form lists your salary, the taxes withheld, tips, commissions, social security tax and any other form of employee compensation. The IRS will require your employer to send you a W-2 form, since the IRS receives a copy of your W-2, they can compare whether the tax return you filed matches that of what your employer submitted. This form will let the IRS know whether you owe any back taxes or if you’re entitled to a tax refund.

1099
This form is primarily for independent contractors. If your blog income rakes in $600 or more in a year you’ll need to file a 1099. It’s good to keep track of every payment made to you throughout the year, and then check the amounts on all the 1099 forms you receive if they are consistent. There should be no discrepancies; the amounts issued on your 1099s should match up.

As a self-employed worker you can also deduct expenses related to your blogging work through the 1099 form, deductions can be made on the cost of things such as office equipment, office space, tools, cameras and soft wares.

If the process seems too overwhelming, then hire a tax expert on freelancer returns. Yes, I’m calling YOLO on this, if you’re not up to it then hire an accountant or a freelance tax attorney and get your taxes straightened out.

So a quick recap if you received the following:

  • If you got a W-2 in the mail, it means your taxes are withheld and you are technically an employee. The company that hired you will pay half of your employment tax which is your Social Security, the rest of it you are responsible to pay for out of your own pocket.
  • If you got a 1099 which means no tax withheld, this automatically states you are a freelancer, an independent contractor. You are on your own here; you pay for your Medicare and social security tax.

But just as critical to know which form to file, do know what tax credits and deductibles you qualify for. As a freelancer, you may be at an advantage here since there’s a lot of room to reduce your taxable income and do write-offs. But more importantly, make sure you never miss a tax deadline. Reaping the ire of the IRS will only cost you more in penalties and legal woes. As a freelancer, the tax-related paper works you need to keep are receipts, pay stubs and W-2s because the IRS has six years at least to audit returns. So if you do finish early, take tremendous pride that you’ve done your taxes right, it’s no easy feat, you should feel doubly good about not taking your taxes for granted and getting some much needed tax relief.

Do You Tie in Your Blog With Your Social Media?

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Many businesses may wonder why their Facebook or Twitter profiles don’t seem to be growing like they should. At first, they may seek to blame the employee or consultant that is responsible for updating and maintaining the profiles. However, before putting blame on the social media content provider, it may be time to look at the company’s website, especially the blog, to see what can be done to increase awareness and exposure of the company’s social media website.

In the sidebar, footer, or main page of a company’s website, they should have a Facebook Like Box, as well as a Twitter widget. For the blog, the sidebar is the best place for these engagement boxes. They allow visitors to instantly connect with the brand’s social media profiles without ever having to actually go to the external sites.  This can help drive growth for the social media profiles instantly.

Besides making sure that visitors are aware of the company’s social media profiles, they should also be making their blog content more shareable by adding sharing widgets or plugins to each blog post. If a site is hosted on WordPress, great free sharing plugins include Shareable and Sharebar. For other websites, try AddtoAny.com or AddThis.com. These plugins and widgets are all free, and can greatly increase your company’s social exposure online.

Sharing content socially shouldn’t always be the visitor’s responsibility. The company can set up automatic posting of a new blog post, news piece, or any other content onto the social media profiles when they are posted on a blog or site that has an RSS feed. TwitterFeed.com is a good resource to do this, especially since they allow sharing on Facebook Pages, not just profiles. Be sure that your automatic posts include a photo preview when shared on Facebook– this instantly gives them more visibility and makes the content more eye-catching to the user.

For original or linkbait blog content, be sure to also make sure that posts are shared via social bookmarking sites, which can make them viral in a short amount of time. However, only use social bookmarking for truly original content, such as “The 12 Top Mosh Pit Photos of All Time” instead of “Greg’s Hardware Store Now Open.” Social bookmarking users aren’t interested in self-promotional posts.

Encompassing social media site widgets, sharing plugins, and a social bookmarking strategy into your overall social media strategy can help ensure growth and continued success.

How to Get Your Content Shared Via Social Media

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content sharing via social media

Many companies and bloggers create content with the hopes of it going viral– that is, having it shared with thousands (if not millions) of online users around the country and the world. However, the so-called mystery of how to make content popular on social media sites and otherwise continues to be something to be solved. However, if a writer follows these guidelines, they are much more likely to have their content be shared via social media.

Make it Interesting

Content is successful only when it either answers a question for several users or entertains almost anyone who reads it. There is something to be said for content that is high-quality and content that is just there to fulfill a weekly blog post allotment. Forgo regular “fluffer” content for appealing and engaging content to make your linking ratio much more higher per post.

Make it Linkbait

This is similar to the guideline above, but there are certain types and formats of content that are much more successful online. These include top 10 lists, infographics, cartoons, tie-ins to current internet memes, mixed media posts, free widgets, and more. However, it is important to note that even though linkbait is content that is created solely for the purpose of going viral, it definitely still needs to be high quality and not something that is forced.

Make it Shareable

Offer several opportunities to share content for the readers. Include easy sharing buttons at the top and bottom or scrolling side of the content and check them regularly to ensure that they are always working (occasionally free social sharing plugins tend to be buggy at times). Besides offering sharing links to the top social networking sites like Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, including buttons to print and email the content also offers additional opportunities for sharing.

Make it Graphic Heavy

Content that is broken up with photos, clip art, illustrations, or infographics further supporting or describing the text can help keep a reader’s interest. It makes the content more visually appealing overall without relying on the content alone. Additionally, graphics make content easier to share on social media sites like Pinterest and Facebook that offer an image preview of the posted links.

Getting your content shared on social media takes more than luck. It takes preparation, great writing, and an interest in sharing information rather than focusing on traffic. Making the quality of the content a higher priority than getting traffic usually achieves both traffic and loyal readers.


Four Steps to an Effective Marketing Campaign

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Marketing can be extremely complex, confusing and daunting all at the same time. The burden of launching a good marketing campaign doubles when you juggle this responsibility with several other tasks. This is the exact predicament which dentists find themselves in. They are not just the ones who supervise hygienists and other members of the staff, attend to patients and manage everything that happens in the clinic; they are also the brains behind any practice’s marketing strategy.

In a bid to try to simplify things, dentists should understand that there are really just four elements in any successful marketing campaign – audience, timing, offer and message. [Read more…] about Four Steps to an Effective Marketing Campaign

Back Up Your WordPress Blog with BackupBuddy

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Some time ago, Jonathan wrote about a blogging pitfall: the failure to back up your blog. He made a very strong case for taking the time and effort to regularly back up your blog. Along the same lines, I share with you a very useful back up tool: BackupBuddy.

In a nutshell, BackupBuddy is more than a backup tool. In addition to backing up, it also offers restore and migration options. The service has been around for a while now, but the recent addition of the ability to back up to Amazon’s S3 data center service makes this an even more viable option because you can store your files off site. In the event that your hard drive or server crashes, your files will be safe in another location – S3. You still have the option to back up all your blog’s data – including media and themes – locally and via FTP, but this additional option does offer more advantages. More so, you can schedule your back ups in advance in case you have memory issues and do not remember to back up regularly!

As for the restore option, you can easily do this within minutes. You do not have to worry about having your site down for hours on end and losing out on potential revenue. If you find yourself facing the need to migrate, you can work on development in one server and then launch on a different server – within minutes as well.

If you want to know more about what BackupBuddy can do for you and how to use it, watch the videos below.

BackupBuddy Overview from WebDesign.com on Vimeo.

This is how you back up your WordPress blog without breaking a sweat.

How to Backup WordPress from WebDesign.com on Vimeo.

Blogging Pitfalls: How to Avoid Lazy Writing and Editing

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At the end of the day, the most basic activity a blogger must do is write.

While it is true that bloggers are, with good reason, expanding more and more into video and audio, at some point every blogger is going to have to write something. It might be a description, a bio or even just an advertisement but, at some point, a every blogger is going to have to put words onto paper.

But not every writer has the heart of a poet or the writing skills of a hard-hitting journalists. Bloggers come from all different backgrounds and styles and many have had little training or experience with writing prior to starting up their blog.

The good news is that you don’t need to be the next Shakespeare to be an effective and popular blogger, in many ways it helps not to be, but you do have to be able to write clearly and in a way that is engaging to your reader. It may not require a Ph.D in literature, but it does require that you work on honing your craft and make your writing as good as possible.

Failure to do so can sink an otherwise great blog and make your previous hard work a complete waste of time.

[Read more…] about Blogging Pitfalls: How to Avoid Lazy Writing and Editing