Why? Images not only add substance and visual interest to a piece, but they also increase sharability and draw readers’ attention to different parts of the article (which is especially important nowadays when skimming is so prevalent).

But even if you’re ready to go on the photo hunt, where do you start? Do you pay for a stock photo subscription, or do you track down free images that are available for commercial use? Even when you make this choice, which sites do you use?

All of these factors can add up to one big headache, but with this guide, you’ll know all the ins and outs of content marketing photo usage.

1. Photo Use Glossary
2. Attribution Guide
3. Photo Resources
4. What to Watch Out For

Copyright: Merriam-Webster says copyright is the legal right to sell, distribute, publish, or reproduce something (like images). Just because something isn’t registered with The Copyright Office doesn’t mean it’s unprotected. In fact, once a work is created, it’s copyrighted. (However, people who register works usually do so in order to bring a lawsuit if copyright is infringed.) Please note: You have to be especially careful not to infringe on copyright. If you use an image that’s copyrighted, and your usage isn’t exempt under the law, you can be sued for actual damages or even statutory damages up to $150,000 per infringement.

Creative Commons: Other than being the savior for all content producers, it allows authors to choose another setting other than “all rights reserved” through the use of their copyright licenses. Creative Commons’ mission is to foster creativity and digital sharing within the online realm. It provides a search tool so you can find content and images designated as free to use under certain conditions (depending on the chosen CC license).

Fair use: This concept gets tricky, but basically, some work can be used and manipulated if it’s done for certain purposes, like teaching, comment, criticism, and other reasons. (You can read the explanation here.) Commercial use generally isn’t a great case for fair use, so to be safe, disregard this as a reason to use a photo. (If you disregard my advice to disregard using a potential fair use image, fair use generally means you don’t have to cite the picture.)

Model release: This is generally a document that gives the photographer permission to use a photo and/or sell a photo that includes a person or people. There are different types, but you need to be wary of pictures of people (or even some buildings and other copyrighted or trademarked materials) and whether or not they have commercial releases. According to the New York Institute of Photography, if you’re selling an image for commercial use, a release is necessary.

Public domain: Creative Commons presents a great description of the public domain. Essentially, if someone releases a piece of work as public domain, he or she waives all rights “to the extend allowed by the law.” If you have a public domain picture, you really don’t have to worry much. The only downside to public domain is that it’s sometimes difficult to identify if a picture is truly in the public domain (if it wasn’t designated by the author). Here’s a pretty in-depth breakdown that might help you.

Rights-managed: Unlike royalty-free images, rights-managed stock photos means each use is priced and licensed. Sometimes images with these rights can be offered to you exclusively, which is a benefit that comes with the sacrifice of only being able to use it once unless you want to pay again.

Royalty-free: If you get or purchase a royalty-free stock photo, that means you can use it as many times as you like without having to pay for each use.

Stock photo: People can use stock photography for business purposes or creative purposes instead of taking the pictures themselves, according to Technopedia. This makes stock photography useful for commercial purposes, especially because attribution and model releases generally aren’t a problem. Stock photos usually come with either a rights-managed license or a royalty-free license.

This attribution guide only applies to images that are not eligible for fair use (which doesn’t require attribution) and aren’t stock photos (which usually involves payment and thus doesn’t need to be cited).

CREATIVE COMMONS

If you’re not using a stock photo, proper attribution allows you to credit the original photographer or artist and also increases your transparency as a content producer. Sometimes it’s easy to figure out how to cite a picture, and that’s when there’s a license attached to it.

If it’s all rights reserved, then you’re out of luck. Usually, professional photographers or anything company or brand related will fall into this category, so giving credit won’t help your case. Pull a Beatles and “Let It Be.”

However, there are other licenses that might sound similar, but differ in important albeit small ways. Many of them can be described using Creative Commons licenses, which can be found here.

There are 5 important things to keep in mind when using Creative Commons images:

1.    Every Creative Commons license requires attribution. This means that if you’re not using stock photos, the best way to go is to include a link to the source underneath the picture to its original location.

2.    Every Creative Commons license requires you state the license terms of the work. The easiest way to do that, according to CC, is to simply link to the license page. It’s probably easiest to do this next to your attribution.

3.    Only 2 Creative Commons licenses allow you to use the work commercially. This means that in the realm of content marketing, these are the only licenses that matter. Here is a breakdown of what they are:

            Attribution 3.0 Unported

(Credit: Creative Commons)

This license is your one true nerdy love. It allows you to copy, distribute, transmit, adapt, and make commercial use of the work. Sounds pretty awesome, right? Well, it is.

Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

(Credit: Creative Commons)

This is the stubborn little sister of the first license, and it’s only difference is that it has a share-alike condition attached to it. Basically it just means that if you change the work at all, it still has to be licensed under the original license. Not exactly a deal-breaker, but good to keep in mind.

Note that the pictures above aren’t screen caps of the actual licenses and are actually summaries provided by CC that present the license information in an easy-to-understand way. If you want to view the full license, you’ll have to go here.

4.    Some conditions can be changed if you get express permission from the author. For example, if you ask the author if it’s okay to not include attribution and he or she agrees, this would override the license. Check into each particular license to read the details. (In the summary versions, this information is usually located at the bottom.)

5.   Think before using pictures of people, landmarks, etc. in terms of model releases. Most of the images you come across probably won’t involve model licenses (described in the glossary) if they’re not on stock photo sites. Be careful when selecting images of people, especially ones that are embarrassing or ones you’ll be using in an embarrassing context. If the article is about drugs, failing out of school, or generally being obnoxious, don’t include pictures of real people. To be safe, go with silhouettes or pictures in which the person isn’t identifiable.

OTHER SOURCES

Images that come packaged with Creative Commons licenses make your life easy. But what if you’ve spent 9 hours on Reddit and you come across the most incredible, breathtaking picture of all time that surprisingly isn’t an adorable kitten? What if it would be the perfect fit for a piece of content you’re writing?

This is where things get tricky. Just because something’s out there without a license doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all. Like it says in the glossary, things that are created have some degree of inherent copyright attached to it.

So what do you do? Take these steps:

1. Is this the original source? If you found an image on sites like Reddit, Imgur, Facebook, and other sites where users can upload photos, be wary. The same goes for blogs—just because bloggers post images doesn’t mean it’s theirs, and just because they didn’t attribute properly doesn’t mean you can take the image without credit, too: you’ll become liable. So the important thing is to identify if this is the original or a copy.

2. If it’s not, identify the original source and try to find the license. Finding the original source can be like playing a never-ending game of Where’s Waldo, except the image isn’t sporting a red-and-white striped shirt and you’ll get twice the eye strain. To make your search easier, you can look on Google Images to get some clues or use the nifty reverse-image Google search by clicking here:

(Credit: Google Images)

            When you click the camera, this will pop up…

(Credit: Google Images)

            …and you can search by URL or by uploading. This is a fine example of Internet wizardry.

3. If you find the source, but there’s no license to be found, try to contact the photographer/artist. It’ll be common that you don’t stumble upon a license unless the website says “All Rights Reserved” at the bottom or it’s a site dedicated to providing free images. However, if the person who owns the work provides his or her contact information, it doesn’t hurt to request permission to use it commercially. Ask whether attribution is necessary.

4. If you can’t find definite proof that you can use the image, or you can’t find the original source, use another image. Don’t take the risk. There’s probably a similar image out there somewhere, so play detective and go find it!

HOW TO CITE IMAGES

This is actually the easiest part! Most of the time, it’s not 100% clear what the best way to cite a photo is, but a best practice is to include the citation underneath the photo (which is what I do when I write content). Here’s an example:

(Credit: London looks w/CC License)

If you’re citing from a website like Flickr in which the author will have a username, it’s good to include the username to make the attribution more specific. There’s no hard-and-fast rule, so try to do whatever you would appreciate as the owner of a work. Also, when linking to a page, don’t link to the URL that takes you directly to the image only. It’s better to link to the main site you got it from (as long as the picture is there).

Citing underneath the photo like this will allow the author of the picture to find the citation easily and to see that you care about giving them credit. It also lets other content creators like you find the original location of the image so that they can cite the primary source. See how everything comes full-circle?

There are countless websites out there dedicated to providing content creators with quality images, some of which cost money and others that are available for free. The benefit of using paid stock photo websites is that you usually don’t have to worry about model releases or copyright as you’ve already paid for the image. The quality is usually good, as well.

However, they cost money (which is inherently a con, isn’t it?), so free image sites are pretty attractive. The key is to be careful in your site selections and to read all of the fine print. These breakdowns below will help you figure out the difference between sites and narrow down your choices.

PAID STOCK PHOTOS

Dozens of stock photo sites roam the expanse of the Internet, so it would be impossible to explain them all in detail. However, here is a look at some of the main stock photo sites, what kind of licenses they offer, and what kind of payment options they offer.

TIP: When searching through stock photo sites, look to see if it’s been automatically set to a “popular” filter. If it is, change it to a “relevant” filter so that you’re not using the same pictures everyone else is using.

ANOTHER TIP: Stock photo sites often have an “editorial only” tag. See if the site you’re using is one of them, and if an image is labeled as being for editorial use only, that means that commercial use is off-limits.

FREE PHOTOS

Now it’s time for the free options. These sites aren’t as clear-cut, and because of this, don’t quote me on everything in this graph. I did my best to determine what the site offered, but I recommend you do the same if you’re thinking about using the site. (Always, always, always read the terms of use!)

Most of the sites in the graph were posted on this Wikipedia page on free image resources, but because that page is full of sites, I tried to act as a filter, and the chart shows the ones I think might be the most useful.

Please note that in terms of model releases, if there isn’t a checkmark, that doesn’t necessary mean they do provide model releases, but it just means they didn’t say for sure that they don’t.

Also, these three promising websites, http://www.sxc.hu/, http://compfight.com/, and http://www.freestockphotos.biz/, weren’t included because their attribution rules vary. Still check them out, though.

As you can probably already tell by this post, finding images is a tricky business (especially when you’re looking for free pictures). Sometimes another factor can be thrown into the mix that will totally throw you off. Don’t panic! Use your investigative skills to figure out the problem, and don’t use any images if you’re unsure about their rights.

One recent mix-up involves the sudden appearance of a new Getty-related offer below the Creative Commons rights listed on a Flickr picture, as seen below.

(Credit: loop_oh’s Flickr)

What does that even mean? Do you have to request to license it via Getty images, or is it just an option? Seeing a Creative Commons license and the word “Getty” mere centimeters apart is a little disorienting, but instead of just winging it or assuming you can’t use it, always investigate the terms of use or help pages.

In this case, there’s a whole page dedicated to this issue on the Flickr site, were you can find this:

(Credit: Flickr)

Ah, so that tricky little sentence is really for people browsing the images who may want to license the photo instead of just use it once for free and be on their way (while understanding that other people can use this image in the future, too). Crisis averted!

Every time you encounter a situation like this, always look for an explanation. Usually, if you’re confused about something, someone else is probably just as confused and has posted about it. Gotta love the Internet.

Conclusion

This is definitely a lot of information to absorb. Searching for usable images can take a lot out of you, especially when you’ve been researching and writing all day. I’ve found that after some practice, you’ll start to find the best places to locate pictures and you’ll get the hang of the whole process.

Familiarize yourself with the lingo, the best photo sources, and the proper ways to attribute, and you’ll be well on your way to aesthetic success.

*Please note, I am not a lawyer (thanks John Andrews for the IANAL reminder) so if you’re unclear about the specific rights of an image, it’s always best to check with a legal professional or the copyright owner* 

The platform for your content will also play a role in your ability to be successful. Your platform should make content aesthetically pleasing, easily consumable, and simple to share.

Blog Layout

In order to make your content easy to consume and simple to share, you must start with the blog layout.

Social Buttons
As I mentioned in my previous article, do not use every share button under the sun. You should be using your analytical data to help determine which sites are sending you visitors, and then you should be catering to those users. For example, if you see traffic from Facebook.com, you should include a Facebook button to allow those users to easily share your content.

One thing site owners tend to overlook is the ability to control the way your content is shared on sites like Facebook and Twitter. You have the ability to craft shares and tweets that will stand out in a user’s stream.

Facebook

You should be using open graph tags to sculpt your Facebook shares. Open graph allows you to provide a custom title, image, url, and even object type (ex. activity, group, book, etc.). This allows users sharing your content to easily entice their circle of social media users into clicking on your content.

Example code:

<meta property=”og:image” content=”http://www.website.com/img/logo.png”/>
<meta property=”og:title” content=”anchor text/title of links”/>
<meta property=”og:url” content=”http:// www.website.com/my-content-page”/>
<meta property:og:description” content=”The description here should be short and make users want to click through and read this article! .” />
<meta property=”og:type” content=”book”/>

There are even more open graph protocols; check them out at Facebook.com. Note: Facebook tends to change their Open Graph protocols pretty frequently making it hard to keep up with. If you would like to save yourself time, we recommend using the WP Facebook Open Graph  plugin.

Twitter

The same can be done with your tweets. Don’t just install a tweet button that shares the meta title and the long URL of your page. You should include a custom title, user attribution, and a hashtag (when applicable). A custom title will help your content stand out while author/site attribution will help your Twitter following grow.

data-url=”http://www.domain.com/content/” data-via=”twitter-user”

Including hash tags will allow users to share your content into related topic streams, increasing your chance of content exposure on Twitter.

data-hashtags=”hashtag”

By using the “related” field in the tweet button, you can recommend users follow your account.

data-related=”account-name:description of the account”

Google Plus

One button I would recommend including is the Google +1 button. As I mentioned in my post on Google Plus, social circle recommendations will soon play a larger factor in search results. While being above the fold on the first page garners a majority of clicks, social circle recommendations will start to change that distribution.

Social share buttons should act as a tool for users, not a distraction. There are a couple of common configurations for social button displays. An easy way to add social buttons without interfering with your site theme is to use a plugin like social share bar. Another configuration is a horizontal bar of buttons (similar to ones you see above and below this post). Both of these methods provide the user with the ability to share the content without being obtrusive.

Overall, you should make sure the title of your article or content will attract users on any social network.  You should also be including eye-catching images that can be used as site thumbnails. This will help you ensure that when users share your content, they will attract clicks from their social circles.

Leveraging Your Columns

The right column of your blog should be used to help you increase page views and grow your social media assets.

Build Your Social Assets

One of the first things you should display is a simple way for your users to connect via social networking. You should make a clear and simple section that allows users to follow your Facebook fan page, Twitter account, Google Plus page, and RSS feed. Staying connected with your users will help you increase the chance of a return visit to your site and increase the chance of social sharing. You should also include an email sign-up option for users who want to stick to traditional email delivery.

Displaying a Facebook fan page widget will help you increase the chance that users subscribe to your site’s updates via Facebook. This widget allows the users to simply click the Like button without being taken off your site.

For Twitter, some sites are using the Twitter API to display mentions and recent tweets. I only recommend using this widget if you are active on Twitter. This is a great way to encourage site users to interact with your site content and help build your following.

Keep Users on Your Site

One of the biggest downsides of social media traffic is the very low time spent on the site. A social user only comes to read the piece of content they are looking for, and in most cases immediately backs out. We’ve found that displaying popular posts and related content tends to increase the number of page views and time on site.

One of my favorite parts of the Genesis Framework is the built-in popular posts widget. This widget gives a few options when it comes to displaying content, but it makes it very easy to display your best posts in the right column of your site. The best part of the widget is the ability to include a thumbnail in your post. A user is more likely to click on an article link if there is a thumbnail image — especially an eye-catching image.

Another simple way to increase the chances of a user staying on your site is to display your related posts. This should be displayed at the end of the article and should include a thumbnail image. Because users have already clicked through to read the original content, they are already interested in the topic, so why not make it simple for them to read more?

(image credit)

Make Commenting Easy

Blog comments are a hassle to manage, even with the use of plugins like Askimet. You still run into the issues of comment spamming and legitimate comments getting stuck in spam. In most cases it becomes a hassle for a user to comment, especially for comment sections that require registration.

(image credit)

An easy fix to this problem is the use of Facebook comments. It helps reduce the number of spam comments and useless comments, and it increases the overall quality of comments on the page, allowing for an increased value from those comments. It will also increase your exposure and traffic from Facebook.com. You can also make the FB comments SEO-friendly.

(image credit)

Content Layout

Articles

One of my biggest pet peeves is poorly laid-out articles. I can’t stand when I land on an article and the author has decided to write continuously without header breaks, images, or even proper line spacing.

Headings
When you build your content platform, you should always style your H-tags. This will not only provide you with SEO value but also with the ability to break up your content so users can easily digest it.

• H2 Tag – this should be your largest font below the h1 (which should be used once in your title on your post page). It should be bold and should include a link break or some sort of formatting to help it break up the page.
• H3 Tag – this should be your sub-section heading and should be the third largest font in bold. Consider making this a lighter color and not including a page break.

Spacing
Don’t crush your content together. It should be spaced out so users can easily skim your content. Try some of the following steps to help space out your content:

• Include top and bottom spacing around your header tags.
• Increase line spacing in your paragraphs.
• Include spacing around images, videos, and quotes.

Images
I have mentioned this is in few of my previous posts, but I feel this is a very important aspect. Including images in your article can help drive home your article points, break up the monotony of written content, and improve the overall aesthetics of your content. Making simple changes — like making images that are all the same width or including images that fit the entire body section — can help add a new dynamic to your content.

Infographics

When setting up an infographic (IG), I like to follow a couple of simple procedures to make sure the content is easy to share and view.

Introducing Your IG
You should always include a short 1 to 2 sentence introduction paragraph that doesn’t give away the IG content but makes the user want to view it. In most cases, when a user shares the IG, he or she will use the introduction sentence, so you should make it count.

Written Infographic Content
We’ve been experimenting with rewriting infographics’ textual content below the IG, and it’s showing great results. Search engine spiders cannot determine exactly what is written inside of an infographic. We can make its job simpler by rewriting that content below the infographic to make it crawlable.

Use a Lightbox!
I cannot stress this enough: use a lightbox to display your infographic. Do not just link to the image. When a site just links to the image, you tend to split the links you build via content promotion. In most cases, people will link directly to the image because that is the last page they see. With a lightbox setup, you keep the user on the page (where the share buttons are), and they will more likely link to the page. You easily leverage inbound links to the page compared to an image file.

Resources:

• Lightbox 2 For WordPress
• jquery Lightbox Plugin
• Shadowbox

IG Embed Box
Content should be easily shareable and shouldn’t only be applied to social media buttons. A simple HTML embed box allows you to choose the anchor and alt text you would like to have other bloggers use. It allows a blogger or site owner to quickly copy and share your infographic with attribution. Below I have an example embed box:

<strong>Use the HTML below to embed this graphic</strong>
<textarea rows=”4″ cols=”78″><a href=”URL-OF-POST”><img alt=”INFOGRAPHIC-TITLE” src=”URL-OF-IMAGE” width=”400″ height=”2035″ /><br>Source:<a href=”URL-OF-POST”>ANCHOR TEXT</a></textarea>

URL-OF-POST: This should be replaced with url of the post.
INFOGRAPHIC-TITLE: This should be replaced with the title of the post.
URL-OF-IMAGE: This should be replaced with the url of the image.
ANCHOR TEXT: This should be replaced with the title of the post.
HEIGHT: You want to make the dimensions proportional using an image calculator.

I tend to leave the image in the embed box smaller to encourage users to click through to the original content source page. This also gives bloggers the option to make the infographic easily fit on their pages.

Conclusion

These are just a few changes you can make to your content platform to ensure your content is easy to read and simple to share. By making these small changes, you can increase the chances of social success.

Do you have any tips or tricks that have helped you improve your content promotion performance?  Please share them in the comments below.

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This blog post details all of the different types of content used online and how they can each benefit you. Because it’s rather long, remember: ctrl+F is your friend.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Click on each title below to navigate to that section…

I. Content Glossary

II. Motivations for Creating Content

I. Content Glossary

LISTS and LISTICLES

(Source)

Definition

For the sake of consistency, I’ll offer a brief definition of the word “list.” A list is a series of items, either ordered or unordered. A more useful definition is the one for “listicle,” which is the subtype of list generally used in marketing and content production. The word formed out of a combination of “list” and “article” simply because a listicle includes additional, explanatory text but uses a list as its focal point.

Origin

In a modern sense, the most popular lists created for entertainment purposes are top 10 lists, which have also thrived in the world of linkbait. Listicles started gaining popularity in the mid-1980s when articles in People magazine and skits on Late Night with David Letterman began incorporating Top Ten themes.

When to Use Them

If you want your content to be easily digestible for readers, lists are the way to go. They’re very skimmable and easy to reference. Plus, like this post in Persephone Magazine says, people like knowing what they’re getting into. If you’re going to have blocks of text with no breaks, you might as well post it on your Friendster account — no one’s going to read it anyway.

Usage Tips

If your subject lends itself to having several items or methods in the list, try to make the article extremely comprehensive. Even though top 10s are the most popular, creating a top 50 or top 100 will offer more to your readers and give them a reason to check your article over others containing similar (but less) information. Using a less-expected number, like 23 instead of 20, also helps a listicle stand out..

ARTICLES

(Source)

Definition

Articles are usually in reference to news pieces that communicate factual, unbiased information. They can be used in a more general sense, and that definition would encompass linkbait and other types of content consisting of text, but in its purest form, “article” has an objective and authoritative connotation.

Origin

The first presence of recognized news content started when The Columbus Dispatch went online on July 1, 1980. Poynter details this evolution, also stating that The Washington Post, The New York Times, and other newspapers went online via CompuServe dial-up service back in 1980.

When to Use Them

You obviously can’t just change the name of your website and become the St. Petersburg Times, but you can produce content based strictly on attributed facts, interviews, and research. Linkbait can be journalistic in this sense, but it can also be more opinionated and light-hearted. If your goal is to become an authority on a subject or to communicate to the audience that you have extensive knowledge about a certain topic, writing an article is the best way to go.

Usage Tips

If your goal is to take a journalistic approach, use attribution liberally, as citing all of the facts and opinions will add credibility. Also, remain objective throughout the piece because a lack of bias is a major component of news content. To set your content apart, especially if it’s about a common topic, try to take a different angle to present a fresh look.

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PHOTOS

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Definition

Outside of its literal definition, a photo is a pause. It slows down the frantic world around us and illustrates everything in a simple, easily digestible way. A video or even descriptive text can seem chaotic when describing a busy, active topic, but taking photographs is a method that can do all of the same work with much less movement. Whether it’s a stock photo or a photo you took with a clunky, school-bus-yellow disposable camera, any picture can communicate.

Origin

Photobucket started in 2003 and was one of the first major photo sharing websites. Flickr has taken over the popularity, and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have integrated image sharing, as well. Nowadays, Imgur is all the rage, and it’s hard to even capture the attention of Redditors without using it.

When to Use Them

The simple answer? Often. It’s rare that a photo won’t enhance your content. Articles, linkbait, infographics, cinemagraphs — so much content relies on pictures to reach their full potential (or to even exist in the first place). Wanting to add context to your work, make it more relatable, capture the readers’ attention, or simply add visual interest are all great reasons to use photos.

Usage Tips

If you have a photo with impact, publish it to make a statement. While photos are often used to accompany other content, they can also stand on their own and communicate information if the picture is strong and engaging enough.  If you’re choosing photos to add to content, make sure you’re choosing ones that aren’t protecting by copyright. Try Creative Commons or Stock.xchng.

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CINEMAGRAPHS

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Definition

Cinemagraphs are just as their name implies — a new combination of film and photography. They’re created by taking a video and isolating only one motion while the rest of the image remains still. Apparently they’re not too tough to make, either, as there are several tutorials online. Consider them the classier version of the animated .gif.

Origin

Cinemagraphs are one of the most recently developed forms of content. Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg started creating them and posting them on the blog From Me To You (you can find some examples here). They published their first piece on Feb. 13, 2011, and since then have created cinemagraphs for brands like Juicy Couture. If you’re interested to learn more about the history, you can find a full rundown on Mashable.

When to Use Them

An image might depict a person, event, scene, or idea, but a cinemagraph captures a moment. By making this single point in time stand out in the viewer’s mind, you’re calling attention to the action or item in motion. Any time you want to attract the audience’s eye to one specific thing and leave a strong impression, cinemagraphs are the perfect way to do it. They’re the equivalent of doing this with text!!! except that they’re elegant and not nearly as alarming.

Usage Tips

Don’t make the cinemagraph too long or too involved. Keep the image and movement simple, as this will probably be the most eye-catching. To stand out, try to call the attention to an unexpected movement. For example, the cinemagraph shown above draws your eye not to the bustling crowd but to the man reading the newspaper, thus introducing a feeling of time slowing down.

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INFOGRAPHICS

(Source)

Definition

Infographics display facts and figures in a pictorially interesting and vivid way. This general definition can encompass everything from hieroglyphics to Prince’s “name,” but in terms of online content, infographics generally try to communicate data using pictures, graphs, charts, and other easy-to-digest images.

Origin

FlowingData broke down the history of infographics and found that while the first popular infographic posted to Digg was on Aug. 21, 2006, the beginning of 2009 showed the first major spike in general popularity, and it’s more or less continued increasing since.

When to Use Them

The best time to use infographics as opposed to general articles is when you either have a lot of statistics to work with or you think the piece is explanatory and would be more easily communicated (and come across as more interest) through the use of pictures. For example, if you want to show readers a timeline of when different social media sites were most popular, an infographic would probably be best. But if you want to explain why they’re popular, an article or listicle would do a better job.

Usage Tips

Getting too flashy to make your infographic stand out isn’t the way to go. Choose a few colors and decide what mood you want your infographic to convey. In the example above, the infographic is clean, organized, and careful to include a lot of straight tlines and icons to make it feel more techy and Internet-related. It also doesn’t overload you with blocks of content. Try breaking things down into graphs like it does and using images to indirectly label different stats.

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INTERACTIVE INFOGRAPHICS

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Definition

An interactive infographic is exactly what it sounds like — it’s an infographic that allows for more user control and animation. It achieves this through the use of HTML 5/CSS 3, Flash, or through similar means. Viewers can click on parts of the graphic to activate certain elements or reveal certain information and also watch as content flashes and moves throughout the page.

Origin

The website counterparts of newspapers and magazines gave interactive infographics one of their first homes. For the last few years, news sources have been posting these graphics to communicate information in a clearer, more interesting way. You can find a good compilation of sources with this type of infographic here.

When to Use Them

Interactive infographics add another dimension to acquiring information textually and pictorially. Instead of just watching a normal infographic or video infographic, readers can click on the images to uncover facts and feel more immersed in the content. If one of your primary goals is to engage your readers and give them a sense of participation and curiosity, give interactive infographics a try.

Usage Tips

Don’t bling them out with too much animation or fun graphic tricks. The key is to use the interactive elements in the right place. In the example provided, the interactive parts are used to organize information and only reveal certain data at a time so that the graphic isn’t cluttered. When you make these decisions, have an actual reason to incorporate interactivity. Also make sure that the cursor changes shape when the reader rolls over something he or she can click so that it doesn’t get too confusing.

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VIDEO     

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Definition

If you really don’t know what a video is, check this one out and don’t keep reading until you do. If you were brave enough to click the link, my apologies — I couldn’t help but take the opportunity to evoke a classic meme. This was a throwaway definition, but seeing as though YouTube gets 3 billion views a day, I doubt you’ve gone very long on the Internet without crossing a video’s path.

Origin

YouTube currently dominates, even though it started several years ago. According to Mashable, the first video posted to YouTube was on April 23, 2005, and featured a zoo founder discussing elephant trunks. Fascinating...

When to Use It

Certain types of content are better communicated via video because they receive credibility from being able to see who’s talking or what’s going on. They also add visual interest that’s either needed to make the topic interesting or inherent in the subject (and should thus be taken advantage of). Instructional videos, event footage, and interviews general work best through a video medium.

Usage Tips

The video embedded above is a great example of how you can use a video to teach something but also connect to your potential clients/customers/readers and show people what you’re knowledgeable about. If you’re making a tutorial-esque video like this one, using narration is a great tactic because it feels like you’re speaking right to the audience. Regardless of the reason you choose to make the video, having your company or brand’s presence is very important.

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VIDEO INFOGRAPHICS

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Definition

Video infographics are infographics that gulped down a gallon of coffee and are in a hurry to tell you something. They have the same qualities of infographics except that they use animation to help the reader consume the information even faster, as Ryan Sammy explains in his blog post “7 Alternatives to Top 10 Lists.”

Origin

Well, when an infographic and a video love each other … okay, that’s not where this should be going, but because video infographics are currently on the cusp of popularity, we’re sitting in the middle of the origin.

When to Use Them

Because video infographics take the lead in directing your attention, they are super informative in a short amount of time. They’re also better for longer amounts of data, as you don’t want your readers to have to scroll for 78 minutes before they reach the bottom of a traditional infographic. By keeping it all in one screen, video infographics are great for focused, constant attention and for delivering a lot of information clearly.

Usage Tips

Don’t forget to incorporate pictorial elements, graphs, etc. like you would in a normal infographic. For example, at the beginning of the video embedded above, highlighting the one person in red and then showing 1,300 people instead of just writing it is much more powerful, especially with the intense music and the zooming-in text. Always take advantage of these design elements, and add sounds and/or music to the background — silence might make the video boring after a while.

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KINETIC TYPOGRAPHY

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Definition

Kinetic typography typically involves animated words appearing on screen as they’re being narrated. It’s almost as if a book is not only reading itself to you, but also making the words pop out in an eye-catching way. Once you’ve seen an example, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. In a broad sense, it doesn’t have to just involve narrated text, but that seems to be the recent trend.

Origin

One of the first movies made solely using kinetic typography was called Amore Baciami and was created in 1988. Since then, kinetic typography has been used in advertising and by fans to create fun clips involving narration from movies or lyrics from songs. A Designer Daily post showcases Amore Baciami and 49 other examples of kinetic typography and how it’s been used, so it certainly wasn’t a technique born on the Internet.

When to Use It

As Lauren Rabaino from MediaBistro points out, there’s something exceptionally engaging about kinetic typography. It almost forces you to watch the whole way through because you’re so intrigued. If you have a reasonably small amount of text that you want to communicate, and you want readers to notice every word because of its importance, this is the perfect technique. (Warning: Using the text, “Buy my product. It is awesome. I am awesome,” won’t work. Be sure that the text is interesting, too.)

Usage Tips

While some examples of kinetic typography include every word spoken, this has the potential to get a little too hectic and cluttered. For calmer but equally engaging presentations, use the same technique the video above implements — include key words so that readers follow along but aren’t drowning in word soup.

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GRAPHS

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Definition

According to Merriam-Webster, a graph is a diagram that represents the variation of a variable in comparison with that of one or more other variables. Sorry — I may as well have slipped you an Ambien. Simply put, graphs set out to display data in a way that makes sense visually and compares different elements.

Origin

This is probably the most difficult type of content of which to identify the beginnings. While you may recognize graphs from social studies or algebra II class, they’re prominent now accompanying articles and being incorporated into infographics.

When to Use Them

They’re often used in infographics because they make it much easier to understand boring percentages and stats, so definitely include them if you’re making a graphic of this kind. Anytime information lends itself to visuals, go ahead and throw it into a pie chart or line graph. Instead of saying 98% of people love watching Jersey Shore (don’t worry — this is baseless), fill in 98% of a circle so the readers get a sense of space and portion quicker.

Usage Tips

If you’re trying to think of data to graph, some of the best types of information to use are topics that have drastic contrasts. The graph shown above is the perfect example — because the gap between years is so dramatic, it makes a poignant graph that couldn’t be as powerful in any other form. Keep this sort of visual comparison in mind when considering what to graph.

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QUIZZES

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Definition

A quiz is a series of questions asked to test your general knowledge, your knowledge about a certain topic, or to get a sense of your personality and traits. Two types of quizzes are common on the Internet: the first is the straightforward quiz we’re used to from school consisting of straightforward questions based on fact that are meant to measure how much you know; the second is more of a fun approach in that the questions don’t necessarily have a right answer but do point to a certain result.

Origin

Because they’re such an engrained part of the school system, quizzes seem all but new to us. But in a social way, a large surge in quiz popularity probably came during the Quizilla era back in 2002. The site’s original purpose was to allow people to create their own, fun quizzes others could take, like “Which Saved by the Bell Character Are You?” Good times.

When to Use Them

It’s worth mentioning that quizzes shouldn’t be mistaken for polls, which are usually used to collect the opinions of readers and aren’t very conducive to social sharing. Quizzes generally have an entertainment value, so if you want someone to feel involved with your site or blog, feel a commonality with your site’s main subject matter, and then feel compelled to share this content with other like-minded individuals, a quiz can do the trick.

Usage Tips

The InfoWorld quiz is a great example of a more “serious” quiz (in that it’s not meant to assess which Twilight character you should be). It focuses on a certain niche, which attracts the site’s audience, so it’s a good strategy to have. Also, even though there are correct answers, the quiz’s designer made sure to include a funny response for every question, which increases the entertainment value. Give this a shot if you decide to draft a quiz of your own.

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PODCASTS

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Definition

I defer to Wikipedia (I never thought I’d type that) because it has a solid definition: “A series of digital media files … that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.” They usually take the form of audio files, and they’ve been made very popular ever since the creation and popularity of iTunes.

Origin

Adam Curry came up with the idea to automate the synching of audio files to portable players, according to the How to Podcast post by Jason Van Orden. This made taking audio files on the go much easier and reduced the need to constantly check back for updates.

When to Use Them

If the content you’re planning on delivering lends itself to being a series, try starting a podcast, especially if you want to add a touch of familiarity and connectedness to the communication of the information. When podcasting, it’s as though you’re directly addressing each listener, which is a truly great technique if you want to form bonds with listeners/readers.

Usage Tips

Try not to make podcasts too long, especially at first. People tend to listen to podcasts on the go, and if your podcast is an hour-long analysis of basket weaving, no one’s going to use your droning voice as the soundtrack to their commute. Also, try to release your podcasts on a schedule so that your audience knows when to expect them, as mentioned in this article posted on Mashable.

II. Motivation for Creating Content

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LINKBAITING

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Definition

Linkbait is a piece of content designed to capture the interest of online users, gain popularity, and be shared. But when you think about it, isn’t the point of all content to be well-received? Linkbait has a conscious mission to be liked (and thus linked to). Basically, linkbait is that one super-nice friend who’s always worried about what we think of him or her, and any of the above types of content can be this friend.

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Origin 

According to a Copyblogger post, the SEO industry can be credited for putting the words “link” and “bait” together. While it’s unclear whether the first person to use the term was Nick Wilson or Aaron Wall, it’s unclear when linkbait “started,” as its definition is so encompassing.

When to Do It

Linkbait can be any kind of content meant to get attention and be shared, so if you want your content to be noticed, linkbaiting is a technique you’ll be using, even if subconsciously. It’s great for marketing purposes, like the Elf Yourself example shown above. A silly Internet activity turned into a phenomenon and remarkable attention-grabber. If one of your overall goals is to attract attention and links, do so by offering up useful information or quality entertainment by using one of the forms of content described above.

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WORKING WITH MEMES

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Definition

The most encompassing definition is probably Merriam-Webster’s: “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.” Pretty vague, right?  Generally, memes are a stylistic use of images or text to communicate humor and continue reworking the joke. They’re inside jokes between online users, and so many of them exist that there’s an entire website devoted to sorting them out!

Origin

It’s difficult to pinpoint the first Internet meme, though the Hampsterdance is arguably one of the earliest. More recently recognizable memes include Rick Rolling LOLcats, and rage faces. No matter what the meme, they typically start the same way and go through similar life cycles, as described by Cracked in a facetious but eerily accurate way.

When to Do It

Attempting to start a meme is both difficult and risky as they’re generally formed organically; even if you successfully start a meme, if it fizzles out, it could negatively impact your brand. Instead, focus on creating quality content, which is most likely to go viral (especially if it’s humorous). Because generating memes is nearly impossible, try playing off already-established memes. Memes don’t exactly communicate a lot of information, but they’re excellent if you’re looking to instantly relate and connect to a wide audience.

CONCLUSION

Whew. That’s a lot of content! It just goes to show you how diverse all of the information on the Internet is and how it can be communicated in so many different forms. The key is to know which form works best not only for your content but also for your motivations. Carefully consider what you’re trying to accomplish and see which medium will best serve your goals. Good luck!

How do you then sort the casual writer, who can spin a clever line every 1,000 words from the intense savant who feels out the topic, does peripheral study from a place of passion, and provides quality prose nearly every time?

There are several ways to sift through applicants, and then even more methods to sort through people once you have the opportunity to meet in person. This article will cover a few foolproof methods to find writers who understand English grammar, as well as social networks and web humor.

WEEDING OUT RESUMES

Sort the stack of resumes you’ve received into two piles: those who clearly are not suitable for the position (for example, if they have zero experience and three typos), and those who have potential. Proof the pile that has potential, marking in red any mistakes (even very minor ones); unless a candidate is extraordinarily suited for the position, one red mark should be a disqualifier.

Why? A serious applicant would peruse his or her resume hundreds of times, have a friend look it over, then check it once more before sending it each time. Any mistake is a clue that this person isn’t serious, or that he or she is sloppy: neither quality is appropriate for a web writer who will represent clients and possibly your own company.

After the proofing stage, you should be down to 10% of the original pool. This is when it’s crucial to carefully read resumes and pass them around the group that would be involved with the hire.  The other people may lend valuable insights, or perhaps may even know the applicants.

REVIEW

• File away those who are definitely out
• Proof applications and resumes, and discard those with issues
• Review applicants with the future team of the writer to find a good fit

NARROWING FINAL APPLICANTS

When you’ve selected about five people to interview, check their references and social network profiles before contacting them. Catching people off-guard is the best way to learn what they’re really like, and what their references would say without being coached. If they fabricated parts of their resume, their references likely haven’t been coached to say the “right thing” before an interview.

When you’ve ensured that each applicant is legitimate, and not an insane person on Facebook with cult memberships and a Bono shrine, then it’s time to send out invitations to take a written test. This test should be a typical description & set of resources. Try to send the writer exactly what you would send any hired writer, with about three great examples from your repertoire.

After reviewing the writing samples, you may find yourself down to three applicants.

REVIEW

• Check references without warning applicants
• Send writing tests with examples to each finalist

AT THE INTERVIEW

Pop quiz! This is the best time to surprise writers or editors with a surprise grammar quiz. There’s no better way to identify those who had a professional editor going over their resume, and who can naturally self-edit. Honestly, if you tell applicants while scheduling the interview that there will be a grammar quiz, they’ll likely score the same but panic less.

When you’ve read the results of the pop quiz, and considered how you felt about each applicant at the interviews, you’ll likely know who your future writer will be. Unfortunately, that’s not where the evaluation ends…

REVIEW

• Test their grammar skills in person
• Reflect on their in-person presentation

WEEKLY REVIEWS

For the first few months, and randomly thereafter, your promotions team really should discuss successes and failures with the writer responsible for each piece. If a piece does exceptionally well, don’t just write a case study and list it as a ‘win’ for clients: make sure that writer is praised and informed what’s working. Similarly, with articles that totally flop, the writer should know and be able to adjust his or her style and focus.

REVIEW

• Provide continual feedback; share wins and inform of failures
• Encourage continued interest in your company’s success

CONCLUSION

A diligent content manager will find him or herself with lots of talented writers, and with a folder of great second-string applicants to reconsider in a crunch. In order to have great talent, though, a manager must invest time and effort into the pre-screening as well as the ongoing training.

So, share your favorite linkbaits with the writers, and encourage them to read Reddit, Digg, and Fark or other social networks each day so that they’re aware what’s trending. Taking accountability for one’s team is the key to success.

But that’s not enough.

I know what you’re thinking — you wrote something useful and almost as entertaining as keyboard cat, and its value won’t even be tainted by any misspelled words. So what could be wrong?

Well, you’re missing out on the perfect opportunity to extend your branding.

Branding and Consistency

Even if you stamp the company logo to the top of the page, there’s no real branding without a consistent style that runs throughout all of your created content.

People like to know what’s coming, but when you switch up your style, they’ll get distracted and disinterested. They’ll close out of the document and open up Facebook instead.

All grammar and spelling rules seem to be a matter of right and wrong, but in reality there are hundreds of rules that are constantly debated. Is it “advisor” or “adviser”? Should you put “twenty-seven” or “27”?

Regardless of which style you choose, what matters is that it’s all consistent.

To get an idea of what sort of decisions you should be making, let’s examine a few rules from two very common style guides and compare their preferences.

AP Style

The Associated Press created a style guide for the use of all newspaper reporters. Journalists love to be concise, and their guide definitely reflects this value. (And no, I don’t mean they condone the use of BRB and LMAO. They don’t like brevity that much.)

• Serial Commas: Forget ’em. They just take up too much space.
• Composition Titles: Movies, books, TV shows, whatever — they go in quotes.
• Percentages: For whatever reason, the format is 50 percent. No percent signs.
• Numerals: Spell out numbers less than 10, but use numerals for anything greater than 10.

Chicago Style

This style belongs to the book publishing world, and they don’t necessarily care about keeping everything short and sweet. You know how those writers are — taking up 10 pages to describe a tree root. But wow, that tree root is suddenly amazingly interesting.

• Serial Commas: Love them. All they do is add clarity anyway.
• Composition Titles: Quotes aren’t aesthetic. Try italics.
• Percentages: Counterintuitively, we use the typical % and don’t opt to spell it out.
• Numerals: Go ahead and generally spell numbers out.

So what should YOU do?

Just because there are already established style guides in existence doesn’t mean you have to choose one and stick to it. In fact, many of the companies that are supposed to follow these style guides choose to ignore the rules. For example, The New York Times uses courtesy titles when AP says they’re a no-no.

Again, the important thing is that you make a decision and stay consistent. Don’t choose arbitrarily, though. There are ways to determine which option is best.

Consider your writing goals

• Where will this content be displayed?
• What mood do you want the piece to have?
• Which audience are you trying to reach?

Believe it or not, your stylistic choices do make this much of a difference. Here are some examples of things to consider:

If you want to sound authoritative –> Use AP style (to have a news-like feel)

If you want to appeal to online readers –> Incorporate numerals and italics, which are eye-popping and found quickly when skimming content

If you want to sound Internet savvy –> Make sure to use consistent and updated styles for online terms like website, Internet, email, etc.

Don’t Forget Formatting

Your choices won’t be limited to diction and spelling. Formatting needs consistency and purpose, as well.

Formatting encompasses a variety of structural decisions: whether to indent or put spaces between paragraphs, font size/type, where to insert pictures, etc.

It’s all right if you want to make some choices based simply on aesthetics. Odds are if you think it looks good and a few other people at your company agree, a lot of people will feel the same way.

I don’t mean to sound like an overzealous English teacher by saying everything has a meaning — “That dropcap symbolizes the company’s desire to make a strong first impression!” — but I just want to make it clear that little choices can make a big difference in audience perception.

Conclusion

Once you’ve got your style guide all figured out, inform everyone who writes or edits at your company that you’ll be following this set of guidelines. Also ensure that the guide will be easily accessible. Most people won’t memorize a set of style rules unless they’re grammar nerds like I am (and if they are, include them in the decision-making!).

If you’re stuck in the formation process, read some content online and see what you like. Try to read into what those authors are going for.

Beginner’s tip: never use Comic Sans, unless your content is about daycare or font-mocking.

Maybe it wasn’t ‘hard’ to draw the rage guy, but you get the point.

Users aren’t clear on whether they still own the copyright to their rage comics, original memes, and other UGC once it’s been published to social sites like Reddit, Digg, or Fark. And sometimes, networks are defenseless against other parties re-posting and recycling their network’s goods.

Wait . . . isn’t that the goal of social networks (sharing, social diffusion, etc.)? It’s clear why this topic is so tricky. Let’s go network by network, and review the Terms of Service and all of those boxes you click accept to without reading, to find out if your content is free game.

TOS

Except as expressly provided otherwise in the Privacy Policy, you agree that by posting messages, uploading files, inputting data, or engaging in any other form of communication with or through the Website, you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, enhance, transmit, distribute, publicly perform, display, or sublicense any such communication in any medium (now in existence or hereinafter developed) and for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and to authorize others to do so.

LAYMAN’S TERMS

You are sharing with the world. Though you retain a copyright, the content becomes public.

TOS

You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed).

LAYMAN’S TERMS

You maintain copyright, but agree to unreservedly share the content with Twitter.

TOS

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through yourprivacy and application settings.

For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

LAYMAN’S TERMS

You maintain ownership of content, but grant unreserved rights to Facebook, and accept that other users will maintain the content even if you delete it on your end.

TOS

For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your Content. However, by submitting Content to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content in connection with the Service and YouTube’s (and its successors’ and affiliates’) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the Service a non-exclusive license to access your Content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such Content as permitted through the functionality of the Service and under these Terms of Service.

LAYMAN’S TERMS

You maintain copyright, but agree to unreservedly share the content with YouTube and users until you delete the content.

TOS

By creating and posting content to Digg, you warrant that you own all rights to the content, agree that the content will be dedicated to the public domain under the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication, available at http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ and that you will not object to the use of the content by Digg in any context. To clarify, the above does not apply to the content on external sites linked to by the original submission.

LAYMAN’S TERMS

You maintain copyright, but agree to share it with Digg.

TOS

You agree that you are solely responsible for your own Submissions and affirm, represent, and/or warrant that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to use and authorize Fark.com to use all patent trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights in and to any and all Submissions to enable inclusion and use of the Submissions in the manner contemplated by Fark.com. You retain all ownership rights in your Submissions. However, by submitting the Submissions to Fark.com, you hereby grant Fark.com a non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Submissions in connection with Fark.com and Fark.com’s business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of Fark.com (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels/outlets.

LAYMAN’S TERMS

You maintain copyright, but agree to unreservedly share the content with Fark.

TOS

We do not claim ownership in any “Content” (which means any and all postings, e-mails, messages, recommendations, comments, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, works of authorship, feedback, bug reports, or other materials) that you post on, deliver to, or otherwise make available to the Services, but to be able to legally provide you with and promote the Services, we have to have certain rights to use such Content in connection with the Services, as set forth below. In return, we also grant you certain use rights to the Content that we (or our licensors) own and use to provide the Services to you and other Users, as set forth below.

By posting any Content on the Services, you hereby grant to us an unrestricted, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, perform, display, create derivative works of, and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution method (now known or later developed) throughout the world. Additionally, by posting any Content on the Services and making your Content available to others (“Third Parties”) via RSS distribution, you hereby grant to all Third Parties an unrestricted, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to copy, display, and distribute such Content in any and all media (now known or later developed) throughout the world. No compensation will be paid with respect to the Content that you submit, upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available through the Services.

LAYMAN’S TERMS

You maintain copyright, but agree to unreservedly share the content with StumbleUpon.

TOS

Your Member Content is yours; AVOS does not claim any ownership rights in your Member Content. By posting, submitting or transmitting any Member Content on or through the Service, you grant us and our third party service providers and partners a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, adapt, modify, distribute, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, broadcast, access, view and otherwise exploit such Member Content in any and all media or distribution channels (now known or hereafter created).  For example, this license allows us to make your public “bookmarks” and comments available anywhere and everywhere in the spirit of the Service i.e., for use by other Members, our partners and via other media platforms.  No compensation will be paid to you with respect to your Member Content as a result of your posting, submitting or transmitting Member Content through the Service.

LAYMAN’S TERM

You maintain copyright, but agree to unreservedly share the content with Delicious.

CONCLUSION

Regardless of the forum or the TOS agreement signed, if you are lawyered-up, there’s still a chance that your UGC can be protected. For example, if a third party wrongfully posts your original content, then the TOS have been violated and are nullified in many cases (think stolen sex tapes).

However, under ordinary circumstances, a good rule of thumb is that if you posted it for free, it is free for general use. Also, under most TOS above and elsewhere, you grant explicit rights to the social network to use the content any which way they please.

This panel features Jon Henshaw, Co-founder and Director of Product Innovation at Raven, and Marty Weintraub, the president of AimClear. Loren Baker will moderate.

Jon Henshaw is up first.

If you have content that’s not in a good place, then it’s not going to thrive. You have to give it the right environment to grow.

Whoa, animated PowerPoint backgrounds. Cool.

There are two main things that he focuses on. One of them is keyword research. Based on that, you’ll have what you need to structure your website. Information Architecture is extremely important.

Once you figure out your site, you have to figure out how to code it. Living standard HTML gives us the ability to have semantic elements, meaning you can specify to a search engine or bot that this is your navigation, this is an article, etc. It not longer matters where you put things as long as they’re inside of the semantic elements.

Site speed is important to search engines, so he said to focus on caching, CDN, image compression and good hosting.

Once you’ve made your speed changes, there are tools to test how fast it is. GTmetrix, for example, will give you two different speed grades. If you have a site that’s been around for a while, use Google webmaster tools.

Structured data has been around for several years in the form of microformats and RDFa. The new kid in town is microdata, but it’s missing one thing — you have to know the schema. You can use schema-creator.org, which will help you get started.

Social Meta Data needs to be considered. Open Graph protocal is one of the smartest things you can do with your HTML. It helps you control what people are going to share.

There are a lot of little things you can do in your code that can go a long way.

Social sharing — buttons and comments — can make a difference. He’s not a big fan of the left bar full of icons that scrolls with you, but it works, so you might want to test it. Choose the services that relate to the people visiting your site. Do the things that are simple, quick and actionable.

His blog uses Facebook comments because there’s generally a spam issue, which makes it a pain to monitor comments. Facebook comments provide better content and they’re inside the Facebook experience, so comments show up on their walls/timelines. He finds this brilliant. Since they added it, their traffic increased 250% and they had a 99% decrease in “crapulence.”

+1 is here. You need to have it.

In regard to images:

• include the URL on images
• use keywords in the file name
• always use ALT text
• treat infographics like videos (include text)

He also mentioned Slideshare, which he said is a nice strategy to put targeted presentations on with links. StumbleUpon Paid Discovery is also useful because even if a small percentage of people thoroughly enjoys the content, they’ll share it.

And, “Bam! Done!” as Jon put it on his final slide.

Now it’s Marty Weintraub’s turn, and he’ll be talking about the ever-crucial blog headlines.

There are so many reasons why blog headlines are important. Aside from being a vital word tool for attracting attention, your CMS echoes post titles via internal linking.

And I’m not sure what just happened, but Marty’s doing a gerbil impression saying the gerbil is a “beady little freaking rodent.” Awesomely random.

“What you say about your content in the SERPs is everything,” he said.

There are three steps to writing headlines. His headline theory essentially involves these steps:

Write a literal, straightforward headlineàResearch the keywordsàJazz it up

Once you’ve tested availability, log the related keywords you saw in the research and tell everyone to use them when they tweet. Make sure to include words that are appealing.

Then look at the SERPs and study the publications that are in the SERPs.

Refine and decorate your headline theory. Move important words to the left. Generally don’t put brand names in the front.

He just called cuddly bunnies boring! There are lots of fuzzy animals in this presentation.

Note the semantic cluster. Communicate with the rest of your company. Tell PR and anyone else working with and posting the content to use different, provided keywords and not just the title.

You don’t always have to come up with hyperbolic things to put in blog posts. It doesn’t have to be complicated every single time. Sometimes you just have to solve a problem and give them a resource, and it doesn’t have to be flashy.

“if you invest a little time and figure this stuff out, you’re golden,” Marty said.

It can be really difficult to move the important words to the left of your blog title for many reasons, and that’s why he uses his Snappy Phrase Theory, which, as mentioned before, involves moving the KW to the left.

The trick to this theory is the following formula:

KEYWORD (colon) Explanation/snappy phrase with hyperbole.

It’s a great idea to crowd-source snappy phrases. For the second part of the formula, using questions can be good tactic because they ask people to do things. You can also use questions that are really answers. For example, “When SEO Works.” Other strategies include touting benefits and explaining negative consequences. (There’s lots of data that says the negative sort of pitches work.)

Also, leverage the power of clichés; they work! Everyone already knows them and there’s an element of humor. Utilize memorable phonetics like alliteration when possible, too.

I wish I had captured more of Marty’s presentation, but I could hardly keep up. He ended by saying how he’s met lifelong friends at BlueGlass conferences.

“I think you are one of the coolest audiences in the world,” Marty said.

Session 4 is coming soon!

This is a back-and-forth form of panel, so bear with me: I’ll bold the names when the speaker changes.

Loren’s discussing how he got his start with Search Engine Journal and his interest in how professional bloggers get their start, so here’s some mini background about our guest speakers.

Brian Clark started a blog six years ago about copywriting and creating online content as part of a marketing strategy. Now that blog is a centerpiece of CopyBlogger Media, which is a software company.

Jeremy Schoemaker started his site as GoogleNinja.com, and after receiving a cease and desist from Google, he ran with his nickname from high school: Shoe Money. He started writing about anything, from meeting Paris Hilton to pay-per click. He’s going on eight years of blogging, and he blogs at least once a day.

In 2007, Jeremy had crossed the six-figure mark per year, which was really moving the needle for his company. He started getting calls from the Wall Street Journal and realized he was considered an expert. He launched many companies from the blog, and he never had to spend money on advertising.

People ask him, how do you get people to read your blog? So he’ll look at their blogs and realize that they’re just rehashing what everyone else says “with lots of keywords like synergy and crap like that.”

“Be polarizing but just be yourself more than anything,” Jeremy said. You don’t have to come off as a news source.

Brian said that you definitely want to have that human speech — no one wants to read something that sounds corporate. “Think like a media producer,” he said. There’s a whole bunch of different ways to approach it, but you’re producing media one way or another. Whether you want to do it on a more personal way or a more tutorial-driven way, they’ll both work.

Jeremy talks about Brian’s blog and how it’s great content that’s polished but works differently than Jeremy’s blog.  They discuss a dare that involved Jeremy posting a blog entry called, “George Bush: Great President or Greatest President Ever?” I’m going to have to look this up when the session is over.

Brian says the first step is to make an authentic connection and tell people a story they want to hear. Don’t just pander to them; sometimes people don’t know what they want. You have to have a personal and resonant relationship with the audience.

“Half the things you try, you’re going to fail. But you just have to keep trying,” Brian said. “You’ve got to be creative and experiment to get attention.”

He said writing creative, engaging headlines is half the battle.

Jeremy doesn’t put that much thought in his headline writing and mentions how including something like “NSFW” can attract a lot of traffic.

“I continuously mess with the SEO community because they’re easy to bait. They’ll spread your content like crazy,” Jeremy said.

Brian always paid attention to what people were saying on the blog. He knew the best way for bloggers to start making money was to create premium content that was actual online education. They were really the first blog to sell an informational product, and the market was dying for it, so it was a huge success. They paid attention to what people wanted and they were right; this led to more evolution.

Also, a brief pause to reflect on a speech blunder Brian almost made and his follow-up: “Fitter and Twacebook. Wow. I need a drink.”

He talked about how if he needs something, the typical user probably needs it, and that’s how most of the Copyblogger products are developed. They haven’t been wrong yet.

For Jeremy, his company builds services they want to use. It’s so much easier to sell and talk about because it’s a need they share with the audience. There are three ways they analyze an idea:

• Is it something they’re going to use every day?
• Will it go viral on its own?
• Can it make money?

If it doesn’t meet these criteria, they jump ship.

Brian said that the industries that aren’t saturated include small business blogs. That’s really where things are going; it’s the small businesses out there that have money.

Jeremy completely agrees. He added that if you’re not really into what you’re doing, then just forget about it. If you’re only doing it to make money, hang it up.

If you look at readership of their sites, it’s probably way more than the distribution of the newspaper. He gets hit up every day to be in books, etc., because they know he’ll write about it.

Brian continues by saying you should watch those TV shows that are informational and entertaining (like shows on Food Network) because that’s how you should be thinking about content.

Brian said, “I can barely bring myself to write most of the stuff on Copyblogger anymore.” It was one of the first blogs to take on guest bloggers and make it a regular feature. Some people have built entire businesses out of posting for them. That’s a benefit of building an audience.

Jeremy has a few guest writers, but 99% of the content is from him. He’s never had a problem writing. He has like 30 or 40 posts done and ready to post. He takes a lot of notes and has a whole list of topics to go back to. “It’s more just about me and what I do.”

Brian’s blog is more topic specific, so he can’t just write about anything.

He says you can get inspiration all over the place because you start seeing intersections between marketing, literature, film, etc.

In regard to getting bloggers to cover people, he suggests going around to blogs and asking to write for them. It creates exposure and you’ll be able to mention your product. The key with bloggers is that they really respond to the offer to help instead of the offer to give stuff. But there are all sorts of other ways.

Jeremy has a very specific criteria for guest posts: he wants opinionated articles. He said when your stuff is on someone else’s property, it’s so much more powerful than if it were on your own.

It really is about giving value. He’s been transparent, and people give value to that. If you have strong opinions about stuff, let them fly.

Well it’s time for a short cookie-and-coffee break, and I’ll be back for session4.

Below I have listed the various social networks to consider when putting together a content promotion strategy.

Popular Social Networks

The sites below are the top social networks with the most active users and highest traffic. Theses networks accept more general content. They can generate thousands of views and hundreds of links to your content.

Digg

What’s my audience?

Mostly a male audience between the ages of 18-49. This network was one of the most popular social news aggregates. Many top social media influencers and bloggers monitor this site for stories and content to share. Even though the site is no longer what it used to be, don’t count Digg out.

What types of content do well?

• Infographics
• Lists
• News Stories
• Comics

Reddit

What’s my audience?

This network has become the largest social news aggregate. The audience is typically male between the ages of 18-49. A majority of the site is very tech savvy and very aware of social content promotion. The site is monitored by many top social media users, bloggers, and news sites. The best past of Reddit are the sub-reddits that allow you to target your content based on the subject. Using sites like RedditList.com and MetaReddit.com,you can easily determine the best locations to place your content.

What types of content do well?

• Images
• Comics
• Controversial or thought-provoking articles
• GIFs
• Memes
• Videos

StumbleUpon

What’s my audience?

There is a mix of female and male users, between the ages of 13-60. The user on this network are not very tech savvy but activity on this network is very high. You will find a wide array of users on this network. One of the best features of this network is tagging your content. If you tag your content correctly, you easily place it front of the demographic that is interested in your niche topic.

What types of content do well?

• Evergreen
• Resources
• Videos
• Comics
• Art
• Lists
• GIFs

Delicious

What’s my audience?

This site has a mixed audience of males and females. The demographic is a little older that other networks. This audience is mostly looking for resource posts. The popular RSS feed from this network is used by many popular twitter and social site aggregates (JimmyR.com, PopURL, etc.). So you many not see a lot of direct traffic from this network, but you will see referrals from sites that aggregate their feed.

What types of content do well?

• Evergreen
• Videos
• Guides
• Lists

Moderated Social Networks

These type of social networks are based on user-submitted content, and editors/moderators judging and then approving that content. These sites tend to have much higher quality content since a human/community has to review it. You can see great results if you are able to have your site included on one of these sites.

FARK

Fark is a social network where you submit news stories with catchy titles. They love puns in titles and have a very active front page. All content is judged by editors and if it meets their standards it’s posted to the homepage.

What types of content do well?

• Mainly news related content

Drudge Report

Drudge Report is run by one person that posts links to top news stories, breaking stories, and very controversial stories. You can anonymously submit content and he will decides if he will include it. Placement on this site can send 100,000 visits in hours.

What types of content do well?

• Political Content
• News Stories

Ebaumsworld

Ebaumsworld has been around for a very long time and has gone through a lot of changes througout the years. The site won’t send you a massive amount of traffic but a front page will bring you anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 views. The site is also used by other humor sites for content discovery.

What types of content do well?

• Humorous Content
• Shocking Content

Topix

These are local forums where you can share local news and breaking stories. This site is moderated and makes it easy to target specific geo-locations. This is great site to get discussions going around your content.

What types of content do well?

• Geo-specific new stories or content

Niche Social Networks

These social networks won’t send you 100,000 views but they offer the benefit of a targeted niche audience. For example, the investing social network Tipd.com only has a few thousand member, but a few hundred of those people are some of the top financial bloggers on the internet. You could see better results from just focusing your efforts on this network than going after all of the top networks.  Remember, you have to experiment to figure out which sites are really worth your time.

Business

Tip’d – Finance

Feed The Bull – Investing

Motley Fool Caps – Small Cap Investing

Pfbuzz – Personal Finance

Sphinn – Internet Marketing

Killer Startups – New Biz

YCombinator – Startup News

Products & Commerce

Dealspl.us – Deals

SlickDeals.net – Deals

Dealigg – Deals

Leisure/ Entertainment

ArmchairGM – General Sports

Yardbarker – General Sports

AutoSpies – Auto

N4G – Gaming News

WeHeartGossip – Celeb News

Chictini – Woman’s Style

Stylehive – Style Bookmarking

Eco-Friendly/ Wellness

Care2 – Better World

Mind Body Green – Green Living/Yoga

Art & Design

Design Float – Design

Design Bump – Design

Programming

Stackoverflow – Programming

DZone – Programming

dotNet Kicks – .NET Programming

Tweako – Computing

Conclusion

With experimentation you can discover the right niche networks for your content. If these networks don’t match your niche, consider looking through this master list of Social Bookmarking networks. Please share the hidden gems you have found in the comments below.

Trusting your social experts is the key to success (if you’ve hired the right team, that is); but, how do you know that they’re right and not just opining blindly? Here is a simple guide to help you understand which content type is right for the topic or idea that’s been selected.

INFOGRAPHICS OR “IGs”

I love a good infographic. While ‘good’ might be subjective in most artistic areas, infographics can intuitively and logically be categorized as ‘good’ or not good at all.

Here are some empirical clues that it’s not working:

• It is asymmetrical, either because objects are not on an invisible grid, or the balance is off. This can be fixed by pre-screening IGs with Feng Gui, and by using grid lines to align text and objects to invisible columns. Trust me, if your text is even two pixels off its target, I’m going to notice and hate it. As you can see in the below IG, the designer did not use grids, so a post-design review shows that many separate grid lines are created accidentally where one would do (the red dots show which item is attached to which invisible line).

http://tumblr.davecurry.net/post/335386201/videogame-statistics-infographic-ugly-yet-informative

• There’s no visualized data. If there’s no info to make graphic, please refrain from infographics. If you have a great topic and research that does not lend itself to visualizations (like statistics or facts would), then do a different type of content. Otherwise, you might just be creating a pretty article in a lightbox.

http://www.prmarketing.com/blog/why-are-infographics-so-popular/attachment/bad-example/

• If the colors are unrelated to the topic or client and induce seizures, you’re doing something wrong. Also, if you’re using pink on something neither bridal nor for Laura Ashley, you’re also failing your audience. Use the right colors for the theme and client’s style, or you’re confusing the reader.

http://theflavor.com/2009/07/20/hilariously-bad-infographic/

• It doesn’t make sense. No matter how many times you read it, it’s not going to make sense, either. Even one incorrect “fact” or typo in a pie chart can make an entire infographic seem incredible.

http://www.vizworld.com/tag/bad/page/3/

Here are some intuitive clues that an IG is sub-par:

• If the IG leaves you pondering how it relates to the client, or the site where it’s hosted, then there’s an issue. The bait could hook criticism and seem suspicious and inorganic to social users.
• If at the end of the infographic you’re left wondering “So what?” then the IG is failing. There needs to be a story, interesting findings, or something gained by committing even ten seconds to the infographic.

When one or more of these issues is present in your content, it might be time to consider a different form for your content. If you don’t have the statistics to visualize, go for a text-based piece like an article. If you and your client are having issues with branding and colors, then it might be easier to use blogs for social promotion.

Lastly, here are some pragmatic reasons to choose infographics:

• They are visually stunning. Even if the topic is boring, a gorgeous infographic can make it seem engaging. For example, check out this customer service IG that’s somehow wonderful.
• IGs build brand awareness quickly, as they can ‘wear’ logos and brand styles, such as colors and fonts.
• Infographics are very trendy. Some people consider them a status symbol, and want them regardless of their function.

Do what makes sense, instead of forcing an idea into the wrong box, and you’ll do better.

LINKBAIT ARTICLES

Listicles and other linkbait articles are a lot of fun to read when they’re well researched and executed with the intent to inform or entertain. However, if the writer is clearly just plodding through, that’s evident in every sentence.

Make sure that your source for these pieces is talented, socially aware, and invested in your success (like a long-term internet marketing company would be, opposed to an anonymous writer from a content farm).

Topic selection for linkbait articles is crucial for success, because everything has been done ten times or more. You must consider the writer’s strengths—whether comedy or research—and order something he or she can produce better than anyone else, ever. Or, move on; choose something easier to produce, like a blog post. Linkbait is not for the disinterested writer.

When you have a talented writer and an original topic, here are some empirical things to keep in mind:

• If there are many statistics, then the article might make for a better infographic, or might need the collaboration of a graphic designer who can create visuals of pie charts and bar graphs rather than using stock photos.

• If the topic has been done 100 times or more, then your writer needs something new—either an angle or a new fact—to break apart from the crowd. Don’t expect a great writer to out-write 100 people who have already ranked for the same topic: provide some magic beans, or move to more fertile ground (like a less processed topic).

• Like Playboy, people come for the great writing; right? People click your links just to read the text, regardless of the imagery? Well, you might want to consider a monthly subscription to a stock photo site, because that isn’t really true.

Even if the content is great and the topic sells itself, you still need great imagery to break up the sections and add another sense to the piece (try using all five senses if possible). Crisp, relevant pictures aren’t enough—try to incorporate unexpected and clever images that keep the reader entertained on several levels of awareness.

Here are some intuitive clues your linkbait is lame:

• You don’t want to finish reading it. Why would you want to make others read it?
• The images are blurry or irrelevant, which degrades the entire piece.
• The writing seems fluffy, or insincere, like a person quickly wrote without considering the topic or researching it.

Lastly, here are some pragmatic reasons you might produce linkbait articles:

• They are less expensive than infographics.
• They require fewer people to be involved in production.
• They require fewer revisions.
• Because they require fewer revisions and people’s involvement, they take much less time to produce.
• When done right, nothing is funnier than a listicle.

TL;DR

Often, content type can boil down to things that should be non-issues, like branding or price. If you have a strict budget, you may be forced to do linkbait where infographics would perform better. If your branding is very restrictive, you may also be forced into articles. However, if you have the ability to choose your content type based on the topic, there are ways to forecast which content types are best for each idea. Choose wisely, and you’ll likely succeed socially.