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This post is for those of you that have not put much time and effort into using Instagram for your business. I am also included in that group because sadly I have been neglecting my Instagram feed. 

So first things first, download the FREE app to your phone using either Google Play (Android) or App Store (iPhone). Create your account by entering your business name, photo, and short description of your business. Make sure and put your website link in the description area.

Facebook owns Instagram, so you can share your photos on FB and encourage your audience to follow you on Instagram. You can also share your photos on Flickr and Twitter. Another option is to tag a location on your photo, and then check in using Foursquare. 

Take interesting pictures of your products or services. Use the filters and effect in Instagram to spice up your photos. Make collages of multiple photos. If you don't have a collage builder go to either the Google Play store or App Store and type in free photo collage. You should see a variety of free apps. I myself like to use PhotoShake on my Android phone. I placed a photo of PhotoShake below.

I can't stress enough just how important it is to use #hashtags on your photos. This is how new followers will find you. I found a quick and easy way to copy and paste multiple tags to a photo. Download the app TagsForLikes. It gives you built in categories of hashtags to add to your photos so that you don't have to spend the time typing out each individual hashtag yourself. You can also create your own custom hashtag categories. The maximum amount of tags you can add to your photos is 30. If you try and use more than 30 tags your comment will not post. Please see the picture below.

Start a weekly photo contest on your website, ask your customers take a picture relating to your company and hashtag their photos with your company or brand name. The winning photo will be featured on your website, and the contributor will receive a coupon or gift. If your company is hosting an event or sale, create a custom hashtag name for the event, and ask your followers to use the hashtag to document their photos while attending. 

Like any other social media site, you need to interact. So don't forget to Like photos, leave comments, follow other users, and reply to the comments that people leave you.

You can also use Instagram from your computer. While it is limited to updating your profile, viewing photos, and commenting on your posts, you can use this feature to reply to comments from others if you do not feel like using your phone for this purpose. Unfortunately you can not post photos to Instagram from your computer. I have to admit that I do not use Instagram as much as I should, but my goal for this coming week is to build up my account. I hope you take this opportunity to do the same. If so, feel free to follow me @ CreateYourOnlineBusiness. Happy Instagraming! :-)

 
1) Insert the link to your website/blog. Do not shorten the link. Pinterest will automatically shorten it for you. When your viewer clicks on it, it will still take them to your website/blog.

2) 500 characters are allowed in the description. Be extremely specific when explaining exactly what the picture represents, and how it relates to your business. I use this area to ask the viewer a question to try and engage them. Make sure you insert keywords or keyword phrases in the description to make your pin searchable for both Pinterest and Google. This will also help your Google ranking.

3) Insert a call to action. Tell the reader what you would like them to do, as in the following examples:
click your link, subscribe to your newsletter, download a file, sign up for more information, leave a comment, watch a video, etc.

4) Add #Hashtags to your post. You can place them in the content, but I prefer to place them after the call to action. This is another way your pin can be searched for on Pinterest, so it maximizes the amount of viewers who may see your pin.

The example below is a motivational quote I recently posted. I used it to relate to the online business offer on my website. I asked the viewer a question, gave them a call to action (visit my website), inserted my website link, then gave them two more calls to action on what to do once they are at my website. Finally I inserted my hashtags keywords. 
Please note that I do not constantly post my website link on all of my Pinterest images. You need to make sure it fits in with your image, and follow the 80/20 rule of only promoting yourself 20% of the time. No one wants to hear a person constantly promoting their own business. After all, its Pinterest we are talking about. A place to enjoy some beautiful images. So have fun with it, and I hope this post gives you some useful tips for your future reference. 
 
I have a lot of useful information on my Pinterest Board "Business Blog Tips & How Tos". Go ahead and take a peek, follow and ask to join the board. The more the merrier! 
 
I am rather new to Google+. I was searching Communities about Social Media SEO and came across this great infographic by Stephan Hovnaian. If you are new to Google+ I hope the tips help you as well.


10 Tips for More Visibility on Google+
  1. Understand Your Audience Reach
  2. “Hand out” your hovercard (it shows up more than you think)
  3. Engage in Comments first
  4. Reimagine your content (here are 12 creative ways)
  5. Use Social Listening techniques (here’s a real life example)
  6. Use citations and attribution (it’s like a blog trackback)
  7. Hop into “What’s Hot”
  8. Ask Questions
  9. Be Yourself! Be Genuine! (Jaana Nyström says it best here)
  10. Take time to understand the platform
 
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I began my Pinterest page Create Your Online Business a little under a month ago. At first I was just in awe of all the variety of photos. I created so many different boards. I had a social media board where I was dumping everything into. Then one day I decided to make separate boards for each social media site, blogging, seo, marketing tips, etc. I had a lot of pins in each of my business related boards, but I was struggling to attract more followers. 



My main goals within Pinterest are: 
1) provide informational items on social media topics
2) promote my business board
3) have fun with all the additional items outside of the business arena

The first two goals are hard to achieve when you don’t have many followers. Then I happened to come across a woman that had an amazing amount of followers, like in the 100,000s. I looked at her page, and she only had about 10 boards. That is when the light bulb in my head went off...all of her boards were GROUP boards! 

Now group boards take more effort than your own regular boards because you have to take the time and invite people to the board, and the more people that follow you the more confusing it gets when it comes time to invite. You chose to edit the board and type in the name of the person you want to invite. For example you can type in “A” and it will show you all the people with “A” in their name that you can invite, but it doesn’t show you who you already invited. So basically you have to go down the list all over again, unless you have an amazing memory and can remember who you already invited. I don’t have a memory like that. Once the first person you invite accepts, you will see an icon on the top right of the board with three little people. Now your board is classified as a group board. You must be invited to a group board, but you can always leave a comment on a pin and ask the page owner to add you.

Anyhow, I changed most of my business related boards to group boards, and all of a sudden I am getting
more and more followers everyday without me even having to go look for them. They follow my group boards, I follow them back, and invite them to the board they followed. Each time someone accepts the invitation, your group board will show up on their page. So all of their followers have the potential to see your board. I now have over 200 followers, which is still a small number compared to the page that had over 100,000. But the fact is I had about 40 followers when I started adding the group boards, and in the last week I have added almost another 160 people that have all come looking for my page. I encourage you to try this technique. I hope it helps you as well. 

 
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Hi everyone :) I saw this article and thought I would pass along the useful information. 
2 Reasons to Claim Google Authorship for Your Blog Posts:
http://www.5gbfree.com/blog/2013/05/17/2-reasons-to-claim-google-authorship-for-your-blog-posts/
 
 
I am sure we have all been there...worked for a boss or company where we were not appreciated. You do the daily 8hr grind, busting your ass to try and get ahead only there comes a point where you realize you will never be getting ahead in this company. So you start to look for another job, and daydream of the day you can quit. Well in today's tough economy it may not be so easy to find another job so you have to stay at a job you hate. Well this woman didn't and she made one of the best "I Quit" exits I have ever seen. If you are stuck in this situation, you don't have to be. Check out my opportunity to work from home. Please read the info on my main page and watch the video that follows on how to sign up for Instant Payday Network . Hopefully I can make someone's daydream a reality today :)

 
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So a lot of people have asked me, Is Instant Payday Network a Scam? Well lets start by looking up the definition of scam.  
The Merriam-webster dictionary states the following:
Scam: to deceive and take money from (someone)
Scam: to get (something, such as money) by deceiving someone

So that being said, Instant Payday Network only GIVES people the chance to earn money through affiliate marketing of product trials from Fortune 500 companies. If you sign up with any affiliate marketing company and they ask to you pay them money....do not sign up..run for the hills!  Affiliate marketing companies should never ask you for money.

This programs is 100% FREE. You pay nothing to join IPDN, pay no fees once you are a member, and are NEVER I repeat NEVER asked for any money by anyone who works with IPDN.

You are given a 100% FREE marketing system to promote your affiliate marketing on various social media sites on the Internet. You can even join a Facebook group with other IPDN members who help you learn the tools of the trade, and encourage you to promote and succeed in your business.

The only requirement is you must sign up for the same product trials you are promoting. I mean how are you going to promote something you have no idea about. As in any business, you need to know your product or service. So as an example, lets say you sign up for GameFly, which is like Netflix for video games. You do the 30 day trial, and you cancel before the end of the trial so you pay absolutely NOTHING. But of course if you like the product you can keep it. You can go to the regular GameFly website and sign up for the exact same trial, or you can sign up through the affiliate website, and then be able to earn money for the rest of your life for any referrals you send their way.

You see Fortune 500 companies know people are watching more and more Netflix, Redbox, Yotube, or internet TV. These types of entertainment don’t have commercials, so they need another way to promote their products. This is where I come in, and this is where you could come in too.

Based on the different product trials, you can earn from $25 - $58 per referral. So lets say you had one person sign up each day of the week for a whole month, at the minimum of $25. That is an extra $750 dollars in your pocket a month, all for just posting ads on the Internet. Obviously everyone would like to make more than $750 a month, but just the fact that you have the potential to create money based off a 100% FREE affiliate marketing system just blows my mind. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of this opportunity? By the way, you are paid directly to your Paypal account on a daily basis, direct deposit, or you could request a check once a month.

So is this what you would consider a SCAM? If so, maybe it is time the definition of SCAM be changed to this: Social Community Acquiring Money. Because that is what Instant Payday Network does for you...it only GIVES to you, it NEVER TAKES.