Google Buzz is the latest hot topic in social media. Whether it will ultimately be a hit or a flop, many blogs are already incorporating the button into each post, just like Tweetmeme’s retweet button and Facebook’s sharecount button.

There are several plugins and methods you can use to add the Google Buzz button to your Wordpress blog, at least until Google comes out with an official button. Here are the best methods I’ve found for adding Google Buzz as a share count button, a sidebar widget, and a social share chicklet:

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Social icons are important for both encouraging users to share your content and promoting your presence on social networks. So here is a large selection of social icons in different colors to fit the color scheme or your website or blog:

They are available in 20×20, 40×40, and 60×60. Right click and save each icon individually, or click on an icon to download the entire icon pack (.zip file). If you have any color or size requests, leave a comment and I will add them as soon as I can.

If you use one of these images, donations or links back to this site are much appreciated! Read the rest of this entry

Obtaining a high page rank isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes time, effort, and patience. You may have read advice that tells you to comment on other relevant blogs, build relationships with dofollow bloggers, participate in forums, and guest blog. And while that’s all good advice (great advice, actually), some of us don’t have as much time as others. And these things are very time consuming. Read the rest of this entry

Disqus is a commenting system and moderation tool for your site or blog. It’s pretty amazing; I use it here at U Stand Out. It’s super easy to use and is packed with neat features including social network integration, powerful moderation/spam filter tools, and connection to an entire discussion community. Disqus V3 is being launched today, and now offers a management system for the commenters themselves. Read the rest of this entry

Want to encourage your visitors to follow you on Twitter? Here is a large selection of Twitter badges to choose from, with a variety of colors, styles, and sizes. Just save the image of your choice, add it to your website or blog, and link it to your Twitter profile. If you have any suggestions, or requests for color or a different Twitter badge size, please comment below and I will add them as soon as I can. You can also find “Follow Us” Twitter badges here. Read the rest of this entry

Getting back to reality after a vacation in Disney World is no easy feat. I returned from the “happiest place on Earth” last week to a dreary and snowy Boston. I can’t even count the times I’ve been to Disney World/Land on my fingers anymore, but even as an adult it’s as magical as ever.

It’s not just an amusement park with overpriced food and even more overpriced merchandise (though it has both). If anything, I don’t mind laying down  $40 for a t-shirt I’ll never wear outside the parks. The environment they’ve created makes me forget about my worries from the real world. It’s not just about Space Mountain. Young or old, the Disney brand makes you start to believe that fairy tales could be real, and dreams can come true.

This perception really got me thinking. Even in a suffering economy, Disney remains packed with people willing to fork over hard-earned cash for tickets to wait in long lines. They’re doing something incredibly right. So what Disney traits can anyone (CEO’s, entrepreneurs, bloggers, etc.) use to make their products more successful?

Here’s a breakdown of what I think makes up the Disney magic, and how I will aspire to apply these characteristics to my blog in 2009. Read the rest of this entry

Branding can make or break your website, whether it’s a business or a blog. Your readers should connect with the theme of your site with they see your logo elsewhere. One way to increase your brand’s visibility is by creating a FavIcon. FavIcon is short for “favorite icon,” and is the small icon that appears in the URL browser bar. They’ve been around for a long time now, and it surprises me how many popular blogs and sites out there still don’t have a favicon.

FavIcons also appear on certain browser’s navigation tabs and on a reader’s bookmark list if he has bookmarked your site, so having a unique FavIcon can help readers easily remember your site. Try to use your site’s logo, initials of your website, or some prominent image that appears on your homepage. Having a FavIcon will also make your site look more professional; all the big sites are doing it. Read the rest of this entry

If you’re not familiar, LinkedIn is like Facebook for professionals. You display your professional experience, connect with current and past coworkers, and even meet new connections. It’s a great online networking opportunity. If you’re a professional blogger and want to boost your credibility as an expert in your field, you should consider putting your blog on your LinkedIn profile.

In the spirit of research, I put U Stand Out on my Wordpress page, which you can see on my LinkedIn profile page. Here’s how to do it: Read the rest of this entry

This article was originally written as a guest post on The Internet Marketing Blog for Today. Thanks to the blog owner Erwin Tan for hosting!

Starting a niche blog is both exciting and overwhelming. Once you post a few articles, that “if you build it, they will come” mentality sets in, and you start checking your stats every 5 minutes. And then you realize that maybe “if you build it AND promote it, they will come.” So you spend hours submitting your articles to social media sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, BlogCatalog, commenting on blogs, replying in forums, and so on. Now you’re checking your stats every 30 seconds.

There are some bloggers out there screaming, “This is how I did it! Just follow these steps, and you’ll get a thousand visitors a day!” But for most bloggers, this is not how it works. It takes dedication, passion, and time. But most of all, it takes content that’s going to get people’s attention enough for them to stick around, bookmark it, and tell a few people about it. Here are some tips to creating quality content worthy of social media marketing. Read the rest of this entry

Why is it so important to encourage commenting? This problogger article discussed a study revealing that 90% of people online are lurkers (read or observe content without contributing), 9% of people contributing a “little,” and only 1% of people actively participate online. This is referred to as the 1% rule, and it’s your job to figure out how to break that rule on your blog.

There are so many Wordpress plugins for comments, and sifting through them to find the best ones can be overwhelming. So here are four simple Wordpress plugins I recommend to encourage readers to comment on your blog.

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Bloggers often think that posting daily is the key to getting regular traffic. They scramble to fill their blog with content every day, even multiple times a day. If you’re a full-time blogger or have a ton of free time on your hands, you might be able to post quality content every day and be successful.

But if your time is limited, posting just to fill the space isn’t as effective as posting high quality content every few days. So if you have a full-time job or other obligations that keep you from being a full-time blogger, here are some reasons why it might not be best to publish every day:

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Since starting this blog, I’ve joined several social networking sites. Some for bloggers, some for bookmarking, and some for “twittering.” Most of these sites allow you to upload an avatar, usually a 90×90 image you can use to represent yourself.

I used to be really paranoid about putting my picture anywhere online, except for Facebook where I have complete control over privacy settings. I always used a little blonde Simpsons-style avatar. But now I’m attaching my real name to my blog, and I want to establish my web presence across all the different social media sites. So I uploaded a real picture of me taken last week to all the different sites. It also appears on U Stand Out whenever I make a comment. Read the rest of this entry

Social Marker looks like an awesome tool at first. It’s a website which makes the process of social bookmarking faster. Instead of having to visit each individual bookmarking site, you can scroll though 47 different submission pages within one iframe. Social Marker claims that this process will make search engines notice you a lot more since so many websites would be pointing to your website.

There’s also plenty of software out there to automate social bookmarking; all you have to do is enter the URL you’d like to bookmark. What a time-saver, right? Wrong. While sites like Social Marker are useful in theory, this is also known as spamming. But this isn’t just an ethical issue.

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