Archive for the ‘Guides’ Category

Jacob Gube at Mashable offers 7 Best Practices for Improving Your Website’s Usability. This in-depth guide to making your web presence more usable includes a detailed discussion of each topic as well as illustrative screenshots.

• 1. Keep Content as Concise as Possible
• 2. Use Headings to Break Up Long Articles
• 3. Help Readers Scan Your Webpages Quickly
• 4. Use Bulleted Lists and Text Formatting
• 5. Give Text Blocks Sufficient Spacing
• 6. Make Hyperlinked Text User-Friendly
• 7. Use Visuals Strategically

Are you looking for ways to better engage your blog readers? If so, you’ll want to check out Charlene Kingston’s 7 Tips to Increase Your Blog Comments on the Social Media Examiner blog. This detailed article provides screenshots and discusions of the following tips:

• Tip #1: Check your blog comments settings
• Tip #2: Ask for comments
• Tip #3: Write a blog comment policy
• Tip #4: Provide comment instructions
• Tip #5: Respond to comments
• Tip #6: Make people feel good about their comments
• Tip #7: Build community with your replies

Social Media guru Chris Brogan writes a quick guide to how to Start Now on Google Plus. This brief tutorial discusses key areas that will help you get your footing and bolster your presence on this new and popular social network. Here are the subjects discussed:

• Start With Your Profile
• Create New Circle Structures
• Find People to Circle
• Post Interesting Things
• Sharing is Caring
• Comments Are All the Rage
• Try a Hangout

QR or Quick Response barcodes are 2-D tags which can hold information such as URLS, contact information, photos, and more. They are read using a barcode reader and mobile phone’s camera, and they have become an increasingly popular way to do mobile marketing and promotion. Libraries have begun to adopt this new mobile tech and are using it in many innovative ways to put their services and resources in front of the their patrons. Here’s a quick guide to get you started creating your own QR codes for your library or organization.

Why Use QR Codes

Ways Libraries Are Using QR Codes

Best Practices

Christina Warren at Mashable writes about Cloud Computing: The Layperson’s Guide to Distributed Networks. If you’re still in the dark about this latest buzzword, you’ll want to check out this quick article.

“The idea behind cloud computing is that software, services and information can be provided to users over a network connection and through a web browser, rather than running locally on a computer or a local network server.

Popular cloud applications like Google Docs and Salesforce.com offer users robust ways to manage and access content, and the beauty of the cloud is that the content is accessible from any web browser or connected device.”

The folks at Educause have put together a new “7 Things” guide, this time describing 7 Things You Should Know About Gamification. “Gamification is the application of game elements in nongaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior. In business contexts, gamification is used to create an engaging dynamic—such as the points system created by Weight Watchers—and to build brand loyalty.” As usual, the quick reference resource answers the following questions:

1. What is it?
2. How does it work?
3. Who’s doing it?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

Librariantom has put together this excellent brief tutorial for how to create custom QR codes for your library using Mojiq. I can’t wait to make one myself!

Melanie Pinola at Lifehacker has created a A Guide to Google+ Privacy and Information Control. This excellent post has all you need to know to get set up on Google’s new social network:

“This guide will take you through setting up Google+’s circles with an emphasis on how they work from a privacy perspective, how to control what others can see about you on your profile, your options for selectively sharing posts with others, and some miscellaneous settings you’ll want to tweak—like only allowing friends to start Huddles with you.”

Amy Porterfield at the Social Media Examiner writes about 6 Daily Habits for Facebook Marketing Success. “The following list of six daily habits will keep you focused on what really matters when it comes to Facebook marketing: real fan engagement.”

• #1: Become addicted to solving problems
• #2: Talk to individual fans daily
• #3: Track your Facebook activity
• #4: Change what’s not working and move on
• #5: Post fresh content
• #6: Spread the love

Kelli Shaver at Mashable writes about How To: Integrate Google+ Into Your WordPress Site. This brief tutorial provides instructions for integrating Google’s new social network into your WordPress blog or website. A variety of integration options are discussed including:

• Display Your Google+ Profile Information
• Add the +1 Button
• Use a Google+ Inspired Theme

Michael Stelzner at the Social Media Examiner writes about the Top 7 Reasons Blogs Fail and What to Do About It. This excellent post provides insight into why some blogs succeed while others flounder.

• Mistake #1: It’s all about you
• Mistake #2: You’re overselling
• Mistake #3: You’re not embracing outside experts
• Mistake #4: You don’t produce useful information.
• Mistake #5: You haven’t made it easy for people to share
• Mistake #6: You aren’t engaging people
• Mistake #7: You’re not giving people a reason to return

Kiera Parrott, Assistant Head of Children’s Services at the Darien Library, provides 5 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Apps and Ebooks at the ALSC Blog. She makes some solid points in her discussions, here are the five questions she addresses:

1. Does it expand and enhance the traditional reading experience?
2. Does it allow a linear reading experience?
3. Does it engage multiple literacies and learning styles?
4. It is intelligently designed? Is it intuitive, flexible and customizable?
5. Does it have legs (i.e., longevity)?

Melanie Pinola at Lifehacker writes a guide to How to Set Up a File-Syncing Dropbox Clone You Control. Learn how to “roll your own cloud” and sync your files to your own web server or just on your local network with this helpful article. Here are the main sections of the tutorial:

• Why Set Up Your Own Syncing System?
• Why GoodSync?
• How to Set Up Your Dropbox Clone with GoodSync
• Other Options Besides GoodSync

Adam Kleinberg, co-founder and CEO at interactive agency Traction writes for Mashable about How To: Gamify Your Marketing. This quick guide outlines the reasons why incorporating game theory into your marketing efforts could prove effective as well as provides practical examples of successful campaigns. The article is organized into the following sections:

• Who Are Gamers?
• The What and Why of Gamification
• Why Gamification Works
• How Brands Are Gamifying the Customer Experience

Douglas Karr at the Marketing Technology Blog has created a Do-It-Yourself Guide to Infographics. This glossy graphic will walk you through how to create your own marketing infographic.

via Stephen’s Lighthouse