Writing a blog takes dedication and perseverance. Knowing what you want to write about and what your readers like comes with practice. So, as you continue to build a backlog of blog posts you might want to consider repurposing them to extend your reach and grow your audience. Why do you ask? People might not know that your blog exists, but if you can appeal to them through other outlets they may be more inclined to subscribe to your site. By repurposing your content you can breathe new life into your words and showcase them in a variety of formats to give your blog additional exposure.

1. Document Sharing Sites

Using sites like Scribd and DocStoc are where you can repurpose your blog post into a PDF, slideshow or Word document for millions of people to access, download and enjoy. These sites allow you to include images and links in your file, both of which make your content more engaging and SEO-worthy. If you’re interested in cashing in on your repurposed posts you can choose between selling them on DocStoc, as well as giving them away for free. Just remember to include a sentence or two about yourself, your email address and URL so that people know how to get to your blog.

In addition to making it very easy to repurpose your content, Scribd and DocStoc also make it super easy to promote your new document creations with an embedding option. You can use this feature to embed and share your document and also give others the opportunity to pass along to others with the simple click of a button.

2. Newsletters

A newsletter is an excellent way to provide readers with an opportunity to receive exclusive articles, information and tips that aren’t necessarily available through your main blog. You can easily transform older blog posts into modern pieces by updating their content and summarizing key points. This will make your posts easy to digest and it also highlights relevant details that readers will appreciate having in a consolidated format.

3. Squidoo

One of the leading social community sites and Seth Godin’s brainchild, Squidoo in the top 500 most visited and 300 most viewed websites in the United States. Users build custom pages, known as lenses, which are actually much more like single blog posts on a specific subject. You can easily gather a collection of blog posts that have been written on a particular topic and then create a lens from them.

Squidoo is very simple to use and employs a CMS (content management system) that requires little to no knowledge of HTML. This is a bonus for some of us that are technically challenged when it comes to assembling aesthetically pleasing online pieces. Another nice to know is that 5% of Squidoo’s revenue is donated to charity and nearly half of all lensmasters donate their royalties to one of 65 featured charities on Squidoo. Definitely a pay-it-forward kinda place.

4. Article Directories

Probably one of the best ways to whip up some attention for you content is through one of the thousands of online article directories available. The toughest part of your job is trying to determine which article directory to use. Two of the most popular and most reputable are ezinearticle.com and articlesbase.com. Depending on which site you utilize, you’ll want to include a few links and your byline. When you repurpose your blog post on an article site try to keep it less about you and more about your reader. In other words, too much “me-me-me” may delay or prohibit approval of your posting.

What are some other unique ways that you’re leveraging your blog posts? Share below and help everyone learn something new.

As one of the leading social networks, Twitter has become more than just a place for friends to keep in touch with one another. It is also a leading platform that businesses are now using to stay in touch with current customers and expand their reach to new clients. One of the central ways to stand apart from other Twitter users is with a custom background. Not only can you brand your Twitter page, but you can also promote yourself in creative ways via a Twitter background too.

Canned Backgrounds

If you’re feeling creatively challenged, or if you’re strapped for time and looking for a quick fix then visit one of these Twitter background sites and explore patterns, prints and images that can be used to spice up your page.

TwitBacks

Twitrounds

Twitter Background Images

My Tweet Space

Themeleon

Custom Built

Here’s a little secret, you can use PowerPoint and Mac’s Keynote software to design your own fancy Twitter background. There are two main elements to consider before you start to build-out graphic elements, monitor resolution size and final image size.

W3Schools current trends show that more than 76% of computers are using a screen resolution higher than 1024×768. The higher the resolution, the more that a user will see of the Twitter background. Having a grid that shows you how many pixels your background components need to be constructed at will make things much easier to put together.

Depending on what resolution size you decide to design your background for your placement dimensions will vary. Try giving yourself a width of 250 pixels from the left margin for your left hand graphics and at least 85 pixels from the top header bar. Experiment to see what works best for your layout and design. Here’s a sample background template from Smashing Magazine to help illustrate how dimensions can be laid out.

Remember that the final size of your design is important because Twitter caps the size of backgrounds at 800k. Try to use JPGs and lower resolution images to avoid ending up with a file that’s 10MB in size.

When you’re ready to start building a background, open up PowerPoint or Keynote and create a blank slide that’s sized to the resolution of your choosing. Use the rulers and drag and drop guides to help you position your background elements. Once you’re satisfied with your creation do a Save As or Export and process as a JPG, GIF or PNG. Try uploading to your Twitter account to see how it looks.

Sidebar Promotion

Just like tweets are limited to 140 characters or less, Twitter bios must be 59 characters or less. That doesn’t leave a ton of room to promote your brand. That’s where the sidebar area comes in handy. You can use the left hand side of your Twitter background to feature other social media profiles, your blog URL, contact information and even some additional highlights about your brand, product and services.

Stellar Backgrounds

A collection of creative Twitter backgrounds is featured below for inspiration and ideas on to set-up your own. Enjoy!

twitter.com/kriscolvin

twitter.com/coreyweb

twitter.com/ijustine

twitter.com/robingood

twitter.com/elitistsnob

If you’re still hankering for more then check out some of these outstanding links and resources below:

How To: Create Custom Backgrounds for Twitter, YouTube, & MySpace | Mashable

Twitter Background Design How-To and Best Practices | Chris Spooner

A Tutorial On Designing a Twitter Background | SEO MoFo

Not all of us have been friended by our mothers on Facebook, but event if you haven’t you’ll love this hilarious video. Have a fantastic weekend!

Ten years ago the term social media didn’t mean much and it certainly wasn’t a term that dominated search engine results like it does today. Globally, social media has risen in popularity and become the must-have for every marketing plan, kinda like what Starbucks is to coffee and java drinkers. Plain and simple, it’s on every corner and on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Social media has proven to be an incredible way to rally people to take action and join like-minded individuals together who believe in common causes, especially those related to your health.

If you’re wondering how social media can be a health motivator or improve someone’s health, read on.

1. Smoking Cessation

The power of social media has not been lost on city and state government. They understand that by creating a positive online environment to help people quit smoking can reduce healthcare costs, improve their quality of life and give smokers a fighting chance at kicking the habit for good. For instance, New York City Department of Public Health’s Facebook Page, NYC Quits Smoking/I Quit has more than 5,000 fans and Florida Department of Health’s Twitter-based program, Qwitter, is not far behind. Studies indicate that web programs nearly double a patient’s chances of quitting.

2. Weight Loss

Don’t confuse weight loss via social media with any of the spammy ‘get thin quick’ schemes that so many people are pushing. A true model for weight loss supported by social media like the example seen in SparkPeople.com. SparkPeople.com is a free website that ranks as America’s second-largest consumer health website, second to WebMD. The site launched the #1 self-help and weight-loss book earlier this year, The Spark. What makes this social media site so succsfful is that it bring people together who have one thing in common – a strong desire to lose weight, but do it the right way. Let’s face it, shedding a couple pounds is always a healthy improvement.

3. Support Groups

Social media is responsible for connecting people who share commonalities together. There are support groups for cancer, epilepsy, addiction and countless others. Using these groups to find others who are facing similar challenges and engaging in conversations with them lets you know that you’re not alone and it can inspire you to forge ahead.

4. Fitness and Exercise

What better way to take control of your health than through exercise. Sites like Gimme20 and Traineo offer fitness communities that make exercise fun. Set-up group challenges or find local members and create your own running club, there are many possibilities and benefits to social media fitness sites.

When you’re searching for something on the internet you’ll notice that a vast majority of the time the first or second entry on Google’s search engine results page will be a Wikipedia link. To date, Wikipedia boasts an impressive 16 million articles, of which 3.3 million are in English. Currently, it is one of the largest and most popular reference sites available on the net. A large network of Wiki editors review all articles that are submitted and use a group approval system to determine if content will be published, or in some cases, banned.

Because Wikipedia is a wiki, anyone with access to a computer and a Wikipedia account can make edits to posted entries. It’s important to remember that jus because you post an article, you don’t own it and updates and changes can be made by others at large.

Although writing a Wikipedia article seems like an utterly simple task you’ll need to know a few basics in order to prevent your content from being deleted. Before you begin make sure that you’re writing from a neutral point of view (NPOV). The best way to approach a NPOV is to make your entry mirror what it would look like if you were to read it in a traditional encyclopedia. The content that you submit should be unbiased, verifiable, noteworthy and not breach copyright.

Wikipedia is a social community and it takes the content that users submit very seriously. If you’re not able to draft an article that follows Wiki’s protocols it will more than likely be deleted. The other thing to keep in mind is that not every brand, service or product can produce an entry that acceptable by Wiki standards for the simple reason that vanity, promotion and opinion are not looked upon favorably.

Before You Begin

If you’re still feeling optimistic enough to craft a Wiki article you’ll want to do the following first:

• Search Wikipedia to confirm that an article doesn’t already exist.
• Use alternate search terms just in case your article is labeled under a different heading.
• Determine if your article is verifiable and noteworthy before you begin writing it.
• Create a user account if you don’t presently have one.
• Aim for an article that is a minimum of 1500 characters, but no more than 4,000 words.
• Practice entering your article with the Wikipedia Sandbox first.

Actual Writing

Building your first Wiki article does take a bit of planning. You’ll want to structure your article so that it reads in chronological order. Next, make sure to gather your references and credible sources that you can cite to support what you’re saying. As you write, reference other Wiki articles by including links to them. This helps to substantiate your article and it cross-promotes other reference material on Wikipedia.

When you’re ready to submit your article to Wikipedia, you might be surprised to discover that you’ll need to use Wiki-style codes to achieve specific text attributes like boldface, italics and bullet points. Check out the cheat sheet so that you have an understanding of what needs to be input to achieve your desired result on the user end.

Even though Wikipedia sounds like a marketing dream come true you’ll learn that it doesn’t quite work the same way that a brochure or brand website does. Wiki entries are not promotional landing pages for businesses or individuals. Entries are informational and neutral and quite the opposite of a marketing tool. Once you make that connection you’ll be able to assemble a solid piece that meets the criteria set forth by Wikipedia.

Word To The Wise

If you submit a Wiki entry and it gets deleted and then you make edits to the same entry and continue to resubmit in an effort to get it published, you run the risk of being permanently banned and blacklisted from Wikipedia. Instead of repeating the same mistakes read over the guidelines and look at current entries to get a better sense and understanding of what an entry should sound, read and look like.