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How to Automate Your Social Media Accounts: https://alexsanfilippo.com/automate-your-social-media-accounts

Automating your social media accounts is not a fix for sharing on social media all the time. Most social media accounts will limit viability from other platforms as I will be mentioning in this post.

4 Tools To Automate Your Social Media Accounts

#1. Jetpack

Jetpack has a feature called Publicize. When enabled, Publicize automatically shares new blog posts from your website directly to your social media profiles. Less than 2 minutes after a new post goes live on your website, it shows up on all enabled social media accounts as well.

#2. Buffer

Buffer automatically submits scheduled posts to your social media accounts on your behalf. You can schedule out hundreds of posts on multiple social media platforms. It's great looking like you're always on social media, even when it's not the case.

#3. Pablo

Pablo by Buffer creates stunning images with text for social networks. You can then schedule these images directly through your buffer account without downloading them. It even schedules for Instagram!

#4. IFTTT

IF This Then That (IFTTT) is a free web-based service that people use to create chains of simple conditional statements, called applets. An applet is triggered by a change on another web services, such as Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. This is the most difficult program to understand but once you set it up (which is easy to do) it's one of the most beneficial.

See the links and learn more at https://alexsanfilippo.com/automate-your-social-media-accounts

For links to all of the plugins I reference in this episode, visit https://alexsanfilippo.com/favorite-wordpress-plugins/

Here are my top 10 favorite WordPress plugins:

#10. User Profile Picture

#9. Gravity Forms

#8. Shield

#7. Easy Digital Downloads

#6. Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress

#5. Disqus Comment System

#4. Jetpack by WordPress.com

#3. Imagify - Visit my website for a 20% discount on Imagify!

#2. WP Rocket

#1. Yoast SEO Premium

There you have it, my top 10 favorite WordPress plugins. If you have any questions about these or any other plugins that I use, feel free to join the conversation about this post.

FULL SHOW NOTES: https://alexsanfilippo.com/favorite-wordpress-plugins/

For full show notes, visit my website: https://alexsanfilippo.com/alex-sanfilippo-featured/

Three I (Alex Sanfilippo) Have Built Successful Side Hustles:

1. Identify your strength areas and focus on them.

This is the fun part. What are you passionate about? What are you good at? If you're not sure, ask other people to tell you what they think you're good at. You may be surprised what you learn about yourself! Once you have learned the answer to these questions, start finding ways to monetize them. Build a business around it.

2. Learn to manage your time very well.

Time management is a lost art. Most people can't even pull themselves away from their phones. You may not notice it, but I'm willing to bet that you check your phone every 10 minutes for 1 minute. People are wasting 6 minutes every hour which comes out to be close to 2 hours per day. If instead of checking our phones so frequently, what if we spent 1 focused hour per day on a side hustle? This will lead to significant impact!

3. Become a self-disciplined person.

This is the most important part. Becoming disciplined to manage your time well, and to force yourself to do things that may not be fun, or even to learn new things. This is what makes the difference. This is how you become successful. Achievement starts with self-discipline.

https://alexsanfilippo.com/alex-sanfilippo-featured/

https://alexsanfilippo.com/reliable-website-hosting

Most people who create their own website do not understanding reliable website hosting. They find the bargain website hosting plan for $2.99/month! Wow! That’s an amazing price. What a steal verses Alex Sanfilippo‘s $15.00/month hosting package.

When I first started blogging in 2012, I signed up for bargain website hosting instead of reliable website hosting. It was cheap, and I didn’t want to over-commit. This ended up becoming a nightmare for me! Not long after I launched my website. I had a lot of visitors and traction. As a result of using bargain website hosting, I received many complaints on slow load times. People also informing me that my website was down. If I could go back, I would have started with reliable website hosting.

There is a dramatic difference between bargain website hosting and reliable website hosting.

I always like to use the example of reliable website hosting being like the foundation of a house. Your website (house) sits on top of your hosting (foundation). If you end up using bargain website hosting, you’ll end up potentially having a website crash. In today’s world, this isn’t super common, but it does still happen.

You must also take into consideration website speeds. Bargain hosting is often on large shared servers. That’s how they get the price so low. But, because you are on a shared server, all the websites on the same server are splitting resources. If multiple websites start gaining traction and experiencing a spike in traffic, performance is going begin lacking for all websites on that same server.

With reliable website hosting you are paying more, but sharing the resources with less websites or even no other website. This ensures that your website is going to run at top performance all the time.

Check out the pros and cons of reliable website hosting on my blog:

https://alexsanfilippo.com/reliable-website-hosting

Read the whole post: https://alexsanfilippo.com/organically-grow-your-brand/

Here are 5 ways that blogging can organically grow your brand:

#1. Blogging brings a different type of shopper to your website.

As mentioned in my example of my wife’s online business; you’ll get more views to your website by having something different/unique on your website. A blog will cause people to come to your website that may not be planning on purchasing anything, but could become customers!

#2. Blogging allows you to share more original content.

What are you passionate about in relation to your product or service? If you, like my example above have a website that sells clothes, your blog can contain posts about fashion, style, makeup, really anything in relation to clothing. This wouldn’t fit anywhere else on your product website, but you do have the outlet of a blog!

#3. Blogging adds value to your product(s) or service(s).

Blogging gives you the opportunity to create content about individual products or services. By doing this, you create credibility toward the products you're selling and the brand behind them. I’ve always found this to be very effective! If you write about your product and keep the focus on explaining something about the product instead of selling the product, you’ll earn more readership.

#4. Blogging keeps your website from becoming static.

I find that many websites end up becoming unintentionally static. This can happen for many reasons, one of the main reasons being, the product/service don’t change often; so, the website always looks the same. By implementing a blog, you then have additional content to share on your home page.

#5. Blogging enables you to get feedback from your customers and potential customers.

From the analytics alone, you can tell if people liked your blog post. Here are some specifics to look at:

A. How many additional visits did you have to your website?

B. How many people shared the blog post?

C. How many people clicked on an additional page after reading the post?

D. How many people left comments on social and on the actual post and what are the comments saying?

Learn More: https://alexsanfilippo.com/organically-grow-your-brand/

https://alexsanfilippo.com/getting-more-visitors-to-your-blog/

The 3 steps I've listed below will help you drive additional traffic to your website because it will help you write what people want to read from you.

3 Steps for Getting More Visitors to Your Blog:

Step #1 Defining the What and Why of Your Blog

Set aside time to determine what you will write about and why. The WHAT is important, but the WHY is what keeps you going when things get tough. Ask yourself these questions on this topic:

Section A: “The WHAT”

Section B: “The WHY”

Step #2 Create Categories and Subcategories

Once you have determined what you’re writing about, and why, it’s time to build categories around that. I recommend that you take a lot of time to do this. Sit down with a pen and paper, write down what you desire your blog categories/posts to look like.

Recommendations:

A. Figure out your niche. Don’t try to cover too much. Only have the categories that you need.

B. Review your category structure. Make sure they are relevant. Adjust as needed.

Step #3 Refine Based on Feedback

Now that you’ve set up your blog structure, it’s time to get other people involved. I do not mean to directly ask people what they think of your blog, although that is useful information if you do choose to ask people. Feedback from others can be determined through these few outlets.

Social Media – Shares and Likes

Website – Traffic and Comments

Once you have determined what you’re going to write about, then put guidelines (categories) in place to keep you on track and you have refined based on feedback; you’re done! I recommend reviewing each of these 3 steps on a quarterly basis. As you discover your writing voice and continuously grow in your writing skills, you will have changes along the way. Therefore, I recommend a regular review – keep the vision going and growing!

I believe that when you write within your area of influence, you'll begin getting more visitors to your blog in no time!

See the rest of the notes on https://alexsanfilippo.com/getting-more-visitors-to-your-blog/

See the full notes at: https://alexsanfilippo.com/facebook-hacks

Here are some creative Facebook hacks:

#1. "Hide" External Links

If you share a post on Facebook that has an external link, from your blog, Facebook automatically restricts the post so less people see it. Why? Because Facebook doesn’t want people to leave Facebook. A very simple fix for this is to create your Facebook post with no link then share the link in a comment on your actual post. You can even say something like "See link in comment!" in your post.

#2. Utilize New Facebook Features

When Facebook releases new features, they modify their algorithm to allow more people to see the new features activity. An example of this would be the new feature called "Explore Feed". If you share something that is in the explore feed to your wall, more people will see it then if you just go find the same article yourself and share it straight from the web.

#3. "Sell" Something

When the marketplace was first open on Facebook, I posted something in it. More friends (in person) commented on the fact that they saw what I was selling. HOW? It was new, so Facebook wanted other people to see it and use it - it would cause quicker traction.

#4. Share Videos / Images Directly from Facebook

Don't share your videos from YouTube, or your website, upload hem directly to Facebook.

Continue reading at https://alexsanfilippo.com/facebook-hacks.

Read the full blog post: https://alexsanfilippo.com/effectively-manage-a-blog

4 ways I effectively manage a blog even with my busy schedule:

#1. Use the built-in scheduling feature for your blog posts.

#2. Keep a journal or notepad of ideas, always be writing then move them to your drafts folders.

#3. Get guest posts on your blog. Find professionals on the topics you cover.

#4. Scheduling time weekly to focus on writing is key building a successful blog.

Focusing on what really matters in your life is key. If you say a blog is important for you to do, treat it like it is!

This is how I effectively manage a blog with my busy schedule. We’re all busy people, but I firmly believe that if we can work on these four points above, we can begin to build a blog that will stand out and gain a large following!

Visit AlexSanfilippo.com to learn more.

Before I share my answer to "Should you start a blog", I want to share a stat from wordpress.com/activity. Did you know that on WordPress.com alone there are over 2000 blog posts per minute? That is a lot of content and a lot of noise!

Now on to my three answers to the question, "Should you start a blog?"

#1. If you already have a blog but wanted to hear what I have to say:

Some listeners to this will probably already have a blog. If you just wanted to hear my response, then great! If you're feeling discouraged or are experiencing lack of motivation. I encourage you to press on and continue moving forward with your blog! Most blogs do not receive much traction within the first year, and the majority of them do not last longer than that. But if you continue pressing on, in time, you will see traction.

#2. If you're an individual wanting to start a personal blog:

My initial response is NO. Not what you expected from a blogger, right? There are so many blogs out there. Before just starting another blog, see if you can collaborate with someone else first. See if you can join a multi author blog that is focused on the same topic you want to cover.

#3. If you have a company, product or brand and are considering creating a blog:

If you have a product, service or simply an item for sale, the answer is 100% YES. You need a blog. First off, having a blog will bring additional traffic to your website; people who won't just go straight to your product. Also, it lets you share your passion and that expands your creativity. Let people see that with the posts you develop! Be sure to have a strong call to action that leads people to purchase your product.

Closing Thoughts:

Set some goals for your blog - How many posts per week or month? How many subscribers by the end of the year?

Write your mission and vision for the blog - Keep this in front of you! Review it regularly to keep yourself motivated.