TechGuruHere

Joomla! is a CMS powerhouse, but the core does not include any social media integration other than RSS feeds. With a free download and easy installation, any Joomla! administrator can quickly integrate with popular social media applications.

In addition to driving traffic to your site, integrating your Joomla! site with social media applications shows your readers you value them and want them to return. It also shows your readers that your content is valuable (or you think it is) and it’s worth sharing. Here are eight of the best social media extensions for Joomla!

1. Joomla! AddThis

This module inserts an AddThis button wherever you want it. You can edit the parameters of the button like your account information. If you are not familiar with the AddThis button, it is a single method of including all the major social media bookmarking and sharing applications such as Stumbleupon , Digg , Twitter, Facebook and Delicious . This is a great option if space is tight, or if you just like the uncluttered look.

2. Ultimate Social Bookmarking Plugin

This plugin adds small, uniform links below your article. If you’re looking for a full-featured plugin to incorporate all the major social media bookmarking and sharing applications, this is it. Take your pick of 60 different applications and styles.

3. DiggIt Plugin

As one of the most popular social bookmarking options, the easily recognized “Digg It” button is a must have. Sometimes the plethora of options isn’t the best if you want to emphasize major services like Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious.

4. Sociable Plugin

If you’re looking for fast, easy, out-of-the-box functionality, the Sociable Plugin is for you. It automatically inserts small social media bookmarking and sharing links at the bottom of the article. All the major social media sites are available and even some obscure ones. You can pick and choose which ones show up and even use your own CSS.

5. Digg Module

Sometimes showing off your popularity is a good thing, and may even increase your conversion rate because it shows first time visitors you offer something valuable. This module integrates with Digg, letting you display your stats like “Most Diggs, Newly Dugg and Oldest Dugg.”

6. Twitter Module

This plugin displays tweets from an account you identify in a module. This is great for anyone who wants to headline their own tweets or perhaps a friend’s. A lot of Tweeters are using Twitter as a mechanism for introducing original content that doesn’t appear on their own website, which may encourage Twitter followers.

7. Twitter Plugin

This plugin sends a preformatted tweet to your Twitter account with each new article. This can be handy when you want to keep your followers updated but don’t have a lot of time. One note: it will not send a tweet if you save a post as unpublished, then publish it later.

8. Article Footer Plugin

Create your own social media plugin! Use the “Add Article Footer” plugin to insert any code in the footer of every article. This way you can pick and choose your favorite social media sites, select your own images and build your own links.

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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum

Perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of putting together a website or social media campaign is the copy. Many people assume that the same words that work for print campaigns or materials can just be copied and pasted for the web, but that’s just not true. The web is an entirely different medium, and copy needs to be treated with the same respect that design and user interface elements get.

Text is a very important part of user experience on the web, so it needs and deserves the same sort of design consideration. You must make your text usable in the same manner that you do the rest of your website or social media campaign materials. In short: text is user interface. Here are five rules for writing better for the web.

1. Know Your Objective

This actually applies to any sort of copywriting. Unless you have a clear picture of the end result, your writing won’t be as clear as it could be. Ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve with each bit of text you write. Once you know the objective, you’ll be able to more clearly articulate what you need to get across to your customers in your copy, and you’ll be able to identify any superfluous text that you can throw out.

2. Know Your Audience

The web is unique as a marketing platform because it can be so hyper-targeted. You can theoretically know exactly who your audience is and target your writing accordingly. Further, depending on where you’re writing, your audience will be different. Any time your audience changes, you may need to make changes in your copy as well. Obviously writing for Twitter is different than writing for your blog, but writing for your blog is different than writing for email, which is different than writing for Facebook, which is different than writing for MySpace , and so on. Before you lay any words down on the page, figure out who you’re speaking to, and write with them in mind.

3. Keep it Short

Studies have found that the more words you add to a web page the less time people spend reading it. Attention spans are shorter on the web, so your writing will be more effective if it is also kept shorter. One study found that users only spend about 4.4 seconds on a page for every 100 words of content. When you factor in average reading speeds, that means users generally only read about 18% of the text on a page (perhaps less — since at least some portion of that 4.4 seconds is probably spent doing things other than reading page copy). That suggests that if you keep your copy as concise as possible, it will be more likely that your website visitors will actually read more of your text. Of course, you can adjust this rule based on your audience — some audiences might be more likely to read long articles than others.

4. Make it Scannable

Because only a portion of your text is actually likely to be read by your audience, it’s also important to write with scannability in mind. That means readers should be able to get the main gist of your copy even if they just scan it. When it comes to scannability, large blocks of text are your enemy. It is nearly impossible to quickly draw out the key points from a long paragraph, so when presented with one, many readers will just skip over it automatically. Make it easier for them to pull out the central topic points by using descriptive headers and sub-headers (like the ones in this article), bulleted lists, highlighting of key points, and images or diagrams, which can both break up the monotony of text and present the same information in a different way.

5. Embrace Constraints

Every platform has its own set of constraints when it comes to writing copy. The most obvious example right now is Twitter , which enforces a 140 character limit on every message you send, but every platform has limitations (for example, messages on Facebook can only have very limited formatting). These limits can be seen as a burden, or they can force you to think creatively about your content. If you only have 140 characters to work with, for example, you have to work extra hard to pack as much information as you can into each tweet while maintaining a voice consistent with your brand’s other copy.

You May Also Like : To 5 Blogging Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Business blogging can be exceptionally rewarding. When done correctly, a successful blog can bring attention to your business, can attract new customers, and can turn your current customer base into the type of fans that companies like Apple, Netflix, and Ben and Jerry’s have: people who will not only buy your product or service, but evangelize it to their peers. Of course, like anything, there is a right way to go about starting a business blog and a wrong way.

Creating a blog for your small business isn’t easy; it requires hard work and the ability to think creatively about your work. But if you avoid the five big mistakes laid out in this post, your chances of building a successful business blog will be much better.

Mistake #1: Treating Your Blog Like a Press Center

The number one mistake that business bloggers make is to treat their blog as an extension of their current press center. Repeat after me: Your blog is not the place for press releases. Blogging is a conversation and it offers a way for your customers to connect with your business on a completely new level. Press releases, on the other hand, are the exact opposite. They’re impersonal, they’re self promotional, and most readers don’t trust them. If you use your blog to republish press releases your customers will have no reason to keep reading and they’ll also likely not trust your content.

How to Avoid: First, don’t ever put out a press release on your blog. You can use your blog to make product or other business announcements, but do so with original writing and in a more casual voice. Second, do use your blog to write about things other than your core business. Share your thoughts on your industry, share insights into the day-to-day work life and processes at your company, and provide tips and tricks you have learned during your time in business.

Mistake #2: Not Blogging Regularly

Think about the blogs you read on a regular basis — how many of them publish only sporadically? Most successful blogs put out new content at least a couple of times per week and try to stick to a regular schedule. Consistently putting out quality content will keep readers returning and over time it will help you build a community and turn your customers into fans.

How to Avoid: Blogging regularly isn’t easy, so to avoid burning out, brainstorm editorial ideas ahead of time. If you plan to put out new posts every Tuesday and Friday, for example, try not to start writing Tuesday’s post on Tuesday morning. Get other people at your company involved so that one person isn’t shouldering the entire blogging load, and even consider sourcing content from your customers. Remember that anything can provide fodder for a good blog post, so pay attention to the things you read or see on other blogs, newspapers, magazines, or television.

Mistake #3: Not Enabling Conversation

As I already said, blogging is a conversation, and not allowing it to occur on your blog is a mistake. It’s true that blog comments can open you up to criticism, but blogging is an unparalleled opportunity to connect with your customers. You’ll get a lot more out of blogging if you enable — and even encourage — your customers to respond to what you write.

How to Avoid: Obviously the first thing you need to do is enable commenting on your business blog. But beyond that, you need to remember that the conversation is two-way. Get in there and respond to the comments readers leave on your blog and you’ll be more likely to develop a community around your writing that can help turn your customers into fans who will evangelize your products and services and provide you with quality feedback. You should also participate in the conversation on other blogs in your industry by leaving comments on posts elsewhere around the blogosphere. That will help you to establish your “blogging brand” and bring new readers your way.

Mistake #4: Making New Content Hard to Discover

Your blog won’t be very helpful to readers if they aren’t able to easily find new content. You need to make your blog discoverable and you need to make sure that when you add new content, your regular readers will be able to find it.

How to Avoid: There are a few ways to make sure your blog content is more easily discovered.

- Make your blog easy to find by linking to it prominently from your company’s web site and including your blog’s URL in your email signature, on your business cards, and in sales and marketing collateral.

- Use a full RSS feed (because the goal with most business blogs should be to get read, not boost page views) and make it easy for your readers to find and subscribe to.

- Embrace social media technologies like Twitter and Facebook as a way to notify your fans and followers of new blog content, and make it easy for your readers to share content with each other through social media channels and via email.

- Optimize for search engines by putting relevant keywords in post titles and URL slugs and write about the things that your customers are most likely to be searching for — but avoid sounding artificial simply so you can stuff some more keywords into a post.

Mistake #5: Expecting Too Much, Too Soon

Blogging isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. Your blog won’t be an overnight success, and for the first few months it might feel like you’re writing for no one. It can take time to build up your readership and have a regular community of people who participate on your blog. Don’t expect immediate returns from your blog and do expect to put in a lot of hard work.

How to Avoid: Set attainable goals and realize that you’re in it for the long haul. Don’t cancel your blogging efforts after three months — give it at least a year of regularly putting out quality, original content. And make sure that your blog is easy to find, and that your readers are able to easily comment and share posts with others.

You can Read this also : Top 10 wordpress Plugin to promote you Social Media profiles

There’s no escaping social media — whether it’s for the promotion of your product, service or blog, or even just for fun, it is impossible to deny the staying power of this fairly new medium. Because WordPress is such a popular blogging platform and content management system, and has such a healthy developer ecosystem, it should come as no surprise that there are countless plugins available to help integrate your social networking efforts with your WordPress driven site.

While it’s important promote your blog posts with social bookmarking, it is equally important to promote and link to your actual profiles, as well. The following WordPress plugins are just a few of the options available to help you accomplish this. If we haven’t covered your favorite WordPress social media plugins, please leave links to them in the comments.

Your Social Profiles

The most basic way to promote your social media profiles is through the use of simple text or image links pointing to your most frequently used social networks. Of course, you can do this manually with some basic HTML, but there are many plugins that will help automate the process for you, and more easily keep things up-to-date if you add, remove, or change profile information.

1. DandyID Services – With approximately 330 social networks supported, the DandyID Services plugin is one of the most extensive available. If you’re a social butterfly, you can bet that you’ll find just about any social network imaginable available through the plugin. You’ll first need to create a free account with DandyID, then configure the sidebar widget which gives you several options, such as whether to display favicons only, text links only, or a combination of both.

2. Social Media Page – Rather than just including all your social media links in the sidebar by default, the Social Media Page plugin, which supports approximately 140 social networks, allows you to include your social profiles on any page or post with a simple line of code. This is ideal if you want to link out to your profiles, without cluttering up your sidebar with lots of icons.

3. Social Profilr – With only 14 social networks to choose from, the Social Profilr plugin is far from all inclusive, however it has a nice twist. Most of these plugins only allow for the actual profile links. Social Profilr steps it up a notch by also letting you include a line of text (with or without HTML) as a brief introduction. In essence, you can turn this into a brief “About Me” or “About the Blog blurb with a link to your full WordPress “About” page. This appears above your social profile icons, which can be displayed in either vertical, horizontal or dropdown format.

Your Lifestream

Lifestreaming takes the basic social media profile links a step further by displaying your social activity right on your web site. The plugins below all have about the same total number of available social networks to choose from – approximately 60, give or take a few – so your best bet would be to look at the specific services offered to be sure your favorites are included.

4. FriendFeed Activity Widget – FriendFeed is perhaps the most popular lifestreaming service around today, which makes their plugin a convenient one to use! All you need is a FriendFeed account in order to use this sidebar widget, which is set up by simply entering in your login information and selecting the number of events to display. What’s particularly nice about this plugin is that you are given the option to hide Twitter @replies, which can be confusing when seen out of context. This plugin also offers the most minimalistic design, which is a benefit, considering the amount of information being streamed onto your sidebar.

5. Lifestream – More independent than the other options listed here, the Lifestream plugin doesn’t require a third party account in order to stream your social activity. Although out of the box, this plugin doesn’t have the best design (it’s more cluttered than the other two), its biggest benefit is that it gives you the option of being utilized as either a sidebar widget, or on a separate page/post of its own. Like the FriendFeed widget, it gives you the option of hiding Twitter @replies from your stream, too.

6. Lifestream.fm – Of the plugins listed here, Lifestream.fm currently offers the largest number of social networking services that you can stream onto your site. It does require an account with Lifestream.fm, but once you’ve signed up, setting up the sidebar widget is a simple task. The design is nicer than that of the Lifestream plugin, but the downside to this one is that it displays all of your Tweets, including @replies.

Your Commenters

And let’s not forget your blog commenters. While you obviously want to promote your own social profiles, you can share the love by helping your commenters promote their profiles, as well. Of course, you’ll also receive the benefits when you respond to comments on your blog, too.

7. Retaggr – With more than 180 social networks to choose from, Retaggr is another great option for promoting your social profiles. This particular plugin is somewhat limiting, in that commenters need to have a Retaggr account in order for them to receive the extra link love from your site. But if they do, the plugin places a tiny icon next to their comment. Rolling your mouse over the icon pops up their profile information including their name and social media links.

8. Social Profiles – The Social Profiles plugin is ideal for sites with registered users and/or multi-authored blogs. It serves as an incentive for people to register or write for your blog, by promoting their social profiles along with their comments. This plugin adds fields for users to enter their usernames for up to 10 social networks. If you happen to know your way around PHP , you can add additional networks to the list, as well. When registered users comment on your blog, it displays links to their profiles as either text or image links, helping their comments to stand out from those of non-registered commenters.

9. WP Twitip ID – The WP Twitip ID is a Twitter specific plugin, but with the service’s popularity, this is likely the most universal plugin to include with your comment form. It doesn’t require anything from your commenters, other than an existing Twitter account. With an extra line of code in your comments template file, this plugin adds a field for users to enter their Twitter username, which is automatically linked to their Twitter URL, alongside their name and comment.

Dual Purpose

While most social networking plugins either help you promote your blog posts OR your social media profiles, the following plugin does both.

10. Tweetmeme – Similar to the Digg style “vote” buttons, the Tweetmeme plugin creates a button that lets readers easily retweet your blog posts. By default, it begins tweets with “RT @tweetmeme …” along with your post title and URL. However, you can update the settings to list your Twitter username, changing the tweet to “RT @YourTwitterIDHere … (via @tweetmeme)” – letting people on Twitter not only view your post, but see your Twitter ID, as well. Additional options for this plugin let you select the position and size of the button, as well as giving you the ability to display it on your RSS feed.