You are a journalist, blogger or just someone who wants to share their opinions with the world. Now that you have put content on the World Wide Web and you have a base of loyal readers, there are a few ways to turn your small blog audience into a larger one.
ShareThis’s share button is a great place to start. The easy to use widget can quickly be placed on your blog or near your news article. The small button allows your readers to link your content with their accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious and many more sharing websites.
Perhaps you have already taken the leap. You have our sharing button and you are ready to take the next step toward getting the most out of the widget. First, you need to do your part by supplying your readers with good content. If the content is not interesting, if it is repetitive or if it can easily be found elsewhere, your ideas will not be shared. After making efforts to improve the content you post, you can utilize different features of your share button to change it from a static widget to an eye catching share tool.
Placement of the button and knowledge of your audience are the first considerations. Make sure people can find your button. This means you need to put it somewhere they will expect it. Remember, we are living in a time of instantaneous gratification. If your readers cannot find a simple way to share your content, even the best blog widget in the world will not be able to help you.
It is also important to make sure the button is recognizable as something used to share content. If readers do not know what your cool looking widget does, they may not be inclined to click on it and figure out how to use it. Using an easy to recognize widget quickly takes your reader to their preferred sharing platform.
There are a few options regarding where you can place the button to catch your readers’ attention. The simple and straightforward approach puts the button at the top of an article. It will be clearly located next to other buttons, such as email or quick print. Again, it is imperative to ensure your widget features the ShareThis logo and name to provide a clear call to action to your readers.
Another way to display your sharing button is through a social channel breakout. The first option breaks out individual services – i.e. Facebook, Twitter or Buzz Up – to highlight them. Usually a few common sharing platforms will be displayed near the email button. Try to keep the button near the top of an article, as readers will understand this is where the most important information is generally placed. Custom options are available, but you will have to contact ShareThis for help.
The other social channel breakout features two icons and the ShareThis widget. The two icons will take readers directly to the individual sharing sites and readers can click the easily recognized ShareThis icon for more choices. The icons that are broken out of the ShareThis menu will still be tracked using ShareThis’s unique analytics system.
A rotating button takes some of the static feel away from your blog. The widget rotates through icons for various sharing platforms to highlight the multi-destination nature of the social web.
For brief posts or blogs targeting tech savvy readers, you can place the widget of your choice at the end of the content. When making a short post, your readers should not have to scroll down to see the end of the post or your sharing button. Meanwhile, tech savvy users may have more patience to search for a sharing button and they will know if it is not at the top of an article, they can check the bottom.
Follow these quick tips to help your blog content fly around the web at lightning speed!
Author Resource:
Steve Ragan is the community manager for ShareThis and he’s an active participant in social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.
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