Movie pins now include ratings, cast members, and reviews to help pinners learn about new flicks. Awesome.

Recipe pins now include ingredients, cooking times, and serving info to get Pinterest cooks excited to hit the kitchen. Say what????

As a food blogger this did not make me happy. I already work very hard to keep people from posting my full recipes on Facebook and Pinterest. Why would I want to set up my site to make this standard practice?

I read the Pinterest blog, and the developer blog, and a few other articles and couldn’t figure out why this would be good for my small business until I came across this article. While you can set up your site to show the recipe’s ingredients, cooking times, and serving info the directions are not shown on these pins. At the bottom of the pin there is a button that directs people to your site to actually make the recipe.

Will pinterest users click over to the website to make the recipe? Pinterest feels like this is a great thing for food bloggers and even references them in their post. I think I agree. With this rich pin format recipes that are pinned will link directly back to your site. Not to a site with a roundup that links to a site with a roundup that links to a google image making it nearly impossible for people to find your post from your photo.

It will also send the “right” traffic to your site. If readers look at a pin and realize they have all the ingredients in a recipe they are probably more likely to click over to your site and stay on your site, giving you a lower bounce rate.

But, this also means people might not need to click over to your site for more basic recipes. It also makes it easier for all those folks who cut and paste from your site and put on pinterest to only need to copy the directions since ingredients are already shown in the pin.

If you want to get these rich pins on your site you’ll need to make some modifications to your site, you can read more about how to do that here, and then apply to Pinterest. It is fairly technical so you might need your developer to set it up for you.

This feature is not automatic, (right now) so if you don’t want this for your website, you don’t have to do anything.

What do you think of rich pins? Will it help or hurt bloggers?

Some people can write a book in just a few hours (short information book), publish it and wonder why they are not getting hits and downloads. The truth is that the information market is highly saturated and you have to accept that you are not the only one trying to make a money with Kindle Publishing. Therefore, there is a need for advanced marketing techniques, attracting reviewers and getting the word out there about your new publication.

Link to Your Published Book from Your Blog

Getting links to the new book will help it rank high for the keywords. Don’t forget that you have to use the anchor text that relates to your book tags. Make sure that the description of the book is keyword-rich and you are sharing the direct link wherever it is relevant. Alternatively, you can put the image link into your sidebar; this will do two things. First of all it will promote the book on every post, secondly it increases your authority in the niche.

Sign Up for KDP Select

Even though you do not earn revenue share while you are enrolled to KDP select, the ranking of your book goes up, as you get free downloads. It certainly gives your book a good exposure and backlinks, as many people will feature it in lists of “free Kindle Books” on various sites.

Contact Top Reviewers

If you struggle to get the first review and are confident that your Kindle book is up to the standards, you can contact top Amazon reviewers and ask them to write a critique during the free download period. This also helps getting the ranking higher.

Social Marketing

Sharing the link on various social bookmarking sites is essential if you want your Kindle eBook to be popular. You might choose to create a Facebook page, Google+ account just for the title and see how you are getting more traffic and buyers, consequently more profits from your Kindle publishing.

What are some of your tips for promoting and getting more exposure for your book? See also, How to publish your blog to kindle.

Laura Wolf is an online blogger, writer and publisher. She discusses making money online, ClickBank and affiliate marketing, as well as Kindle publishing.

This post contains affiliate links. 

With the 2013 Savvy Blogging Summit looming ahead next month, many of you are focused on confirming travel plans, planning your attire, or just trying to make sure the family will survive while you are away.

But sometime in the next 30 days, amidst the mayhem, it would be prudent to set yourself some goals for the event. But what goals should you set? As with any event, it’s important to understand your purpose for attending.

1. Decide what your overall goals are.

• Are you going to learn how to make more money?
• Do you want to learn how to become a better writer?
• Do you want to understand things like Google Analytics and SEO?
• Are you going to make specific connections with brands and/or bloggers?

These questions need to be answered before you can set your priorities.

2. Decide who you plan to meet at the event, and reach out ahead of time via social media or email to introduce yourself. That way you have already made contact prior to face-to-face interaction.

3. Look at the schedule/list of speakers, and decide which ones are most important for you to attend based off of your goals. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed and exhausted at events, and deciding which sessions/speakers take priority will help you focus.

4. Decide on three things you will accomplish with your business by the end of the weekend. Notice how I say “will.” There is never a better time to get help with your business, than when you are amongst super smart people that are willing to help! This is especially true at the Savvy Blogging Summit.

One of the things I love best about this event is that no matter who it is – speaker, partner, attendee – everyone is willing to take time to help each other during the event! Be ready for that – help those that you can help and get the help you know you need because we are here for you!

5. Set a goal to be well-rested and have some downtime during the event. Avoiding staying out too late one night so that you can check a goal off of your list the next day may not be as fun, but it is definitely the key to growing your business and heading home with goals met!

With the Summit coming up so quickly, I’m interested to hear what some of your goals are. What is your purpose in attending, and how can we help you reach your goals this year?

Photo courtesy of Hoptocopter.com. 

The final deadly sin in the canon is gluttony. We imagine gluttons as continuously seeking to fill themselves up – on food, obviously, but as the saying has it, for punishment too. Gluttons can’t get enough of what they inflict on themselves, doing themselves harm in the first place.

Sin #7: Gluttony

That can often happen when you see the benefits of consistent content and email marketing kick in. You want more! More subscribers; more traffic; more action. Like a junkie looking for the next fix, what starts out as a little harmless optimization effort becomes an addiction.

You may be an email marketing glutton if you have more than three subscription forms on your page.

You might be guilty of subscriber gluttony if your popup form appears before the visitor has had the chance to even read the page your SEO or ad attracted them to.

If your pages are trying so hard to collect a new subscriber they’re blinged out like a tacky Las Vegas casino, it’s time to step back from the all-you-can-email buffet and put the mailing list down.

You might be a glutton if you’re not using dual opt-in to confirm subscriptions, because all you care about is more!

And if you’re even considering buying an email list, you’re definitely a glutton.

You see, just as in real life, gluttony – and its extreme form, addiction – is not attractive. Quite the reverse: It’s off-putting. Pitiable, even. Gluttony isn’t about subscriber abuse, unlike other deadly email sins like lust; it’s about visitor abuse – searching for that next fix of the new subscriber.

Virtue #7: Temperance

But you want to grow your list, right? You want new subscribers to join your subscriber base. Again, the message here is about quality. Temperance is the corresponding virtue for gluttony, and toning things down is the perfect way to get yourself a quality list quickly.

By all means have more than one call to subscribe per page, but don’t overdo it. Test which locations, incentives and calls to action work best. Delay popups – which, as I’ve mentioned before, can be spectacularly successful – until the second or third page view in the session. Let the visitor grow to trust you before you ask for the subscription, because when you do, they’ll be ready to deal.

Build your list organically, too. The quick fix of buying a list may feel like a jump start, but in reality it’s a shortcut to spam traps, blacklisting and the junk folder. Like a true glutton, you’re only hurting yourself. After the initial hit, the recovery is long and painful. Don’t do it.

Likewise, dual opt-in is essential. Without it you can’t verify intent, the address, and soon your prized list is looking like the very worst in processed food: Mostly junk and filler, and next to nothing that’s good.

Temperance and respect. Relevance and timeliness. Permission and kindness.

Treat your visitors the way you want to be treated online, and your email marketing, along with your content, will become the foundation of your success. And perhaps, the inspiration for a teeny bit of envy from your peers.

Phil Hollows is the Founder and CEO of FeedBlitz, the email and social media marketing automation service and premium FeedBurner alternative. Phil is also a regular partner and sponsor for SavvyBlogging.net and The Savvy Blogging Summit. 

Posts in this series:

• The seven deadly sins of list building: Introduction
• The seven deadly sins of list building: Wrath
• The seven deadly sins of list building: Greed
• The seven deadly sins of list building: Sloth
• The seven deadly sins of list building: Pride
• The seven deadly sins of list building: Lust
• The seven deadly sins of list building: Envy
• The seven deadly sins of list building: Gluttony

Photo courtesy of Nick Pape. 

POSTPONED until Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 9pm ET. 

What are the best ways to make money online with your blog? This week’s Savvy Chat will be an affiliate marketing discussion. Making money online – what are the best affiliate programs, who are the best advertisers, and what are the best ways to make money with a blog? Let’s discuss it all!

Date: May 20, 2013 at 9:00-9:30pm ET

Topic: Affiliate Marketing – making money online!!

Hosts:  @SavvyBlogging, @CrystalECollins, @5DollarDinners,
@SavingLifestyle, @HappyHousewife

Join the chat: Follow along with the #SavvyBlogging hash tag on Twitter, or use our exclusive Tweet Chat.

Video is the hottest form of media on the Internet today. It can be used for many different things for your business. You can use it to generate leads by sending viewers to a squeeze page. You can use it to get traffic or search engine rankings. You can use it to get sales. You can even use it to brand your name.

The trouble is, many bloggers struggle with the technical aspects of creating high quality videos. They aren’t sure what programs to use, how to edit videos, how to enhance the quality, or even how to create scripts or motions that guide viewers from one frame to another, retaining their attention every step of the way.

The great news is that even if you have absolutely no experience creating videos, there are tools and resources you can use to develop high quality, interactive videos in a matter of a few short hours.

For starters, the majority of new computers come bundled with video production software already (iMovie for Mac users & Movie Maker for Windows), but if you really want to ramp up the quality of your videos however, you’ll want to consider purchasing an industry grade program, such as Sony Vegas (PC) or Screenflow (Mac).

These programs will help to add functionality to your videos, while making it easy for you to integrate sound (audio narratives, music, etc), as well as highlight important notes, and of course, they provide you with added flexibility with editing video content.

When it comes to actually shooting the video, you do not have to worry about burning a huge hole in your pocket. Here are the top 3 factors and tools you should think about to help you get started:

1. Pay attention to your audio. Unless you’re filming in the bowels of a library, no room is silent. (And, frankly, no library is entirely silent either). You can shoot an awesome video, but if the sound is horrible, your viewers will flee instantly. 

You need to be aware of the sounds in the room you’re filming in. If the background is nothing but chatter and construction noises and thunderstorms, your viewers are going to have a very hard time understanding what you say. 

Spending a few minutes to figure out where the optimal, silent area of the house (or wherever you’re shooting) is located can be the difference between thousands of viewers and none. On this note, be sure not to play overbearing background music over your words.

Investing in a lavalier microphone will help you solve the background noise problem and they are simply small mics that you can clip onto your shirt.

2. Lights Please! You need to make sure that your audience can see you. You also don’t need to spend a fortune on custom lighting if you don’t want, or can’t do so: many people get excellent results by using a tall lamp with a shade, and simply adjusting the shade to control the angle of the light. Utilizing natural sunlight is also great and you can receive the best results if you film during dawn or dusk, and on cloudy days.

However, if you find yourself filming a lot inside and your lamp shades do not quite get the job done, invest in a 3-point soft box lighting kit.

3. Fancy Camera? 
You don’t need to purchase the most expensive camera on the market to set up an effective video blog, and, in fact, many people are successful with the built-in cameras that come with most modern laptops. Each year, smartphones & tablets improve the quality of their video capabilities and they all record in high-definition. If you are not comfortable with storing video files on your phone, you can also look to invest in high-definition pocket cameras such as the Kodak Zi8 or Playsport. The only requirement that a camera should have before you decide to purchase it, is having an audio input so that you can hook up a microphone to it.

Again, the kind of camera you use to create your blog posts should be dictated more by your budget and personal wants than by any pressing need to have the latest and greatest

Once you have a series of hot videos in your arsenal, it’s time to distribute them to the world! The best platform to help you do this is YouTube.

Video blogging is an excellent way of getting the information regarding your product, services, or opinions out on the Internet. Do not let the fancy technical equipment stop you from getting started today.

Monique Johnson hosts regular webinars on Video Marketing and using YouTube, as well as marketing for business topics. She also hosts a 30 Videos in 30 Days Challenge that includes weekly webinars where she helps people to get over their fear of the camera and get started with video marketing.

There’s a lot when it comes to writing an ebook. First thing you gotta write it, then market and sell it. What do you write about? Will it be a benefit to your long-term business goals?

So many questions when it comes to Ebooks, and that’s why we’re going to chat about it! Join us!

Date: May 13, 2013 at 9:00-9:30pm ET

Topic: Ebooks!

Hosts:  @SavvyBlogging, @CrystalECollins, @5DollarDinners,
@SavingLifestyle, @HappyHousewife

Join the chat: Follow along with the #SavvyBlogging hash tag on Twitter, or use our exclusive Tweet Chat.

Does your blog need to go on a diet? Probably. In fact, most blogs have some form of bloat that they are needing to trim.

What Is Bloat?

In online terms, bloat is the existence of excess pages on a website. Significant bloat can be damaging to a site because it impedes the ability for the search engines to find important information in your site and index it efficiently. This can lead to much slower growth in rankings, and in some cases, a poor user experience.

How To Find It

To start on your way to getting rid of bloat, you’ll need to look for the common causes. For blogs, this is often going to come in the form of “tag” and “category” sections. These will usually be directly labeled in the URL address, so the next step would be to run your site through what’s called a crawler to get a look at all the pages of your website. This can be done easily with free tools such as Screaming Frog or Xenu.

Cutting Back

Once you have a list of all the pages on your site, look specifically at the Tag and Category sections to see if they make up a substantial amount of your pages. There’s no exact number, but a good rule to follow is – if it isn’t often used by your visitors (do your visitors really use those tags?) then you probably don’t need that page.  This is exactly why most tags and categories can be considered bloat – they’re not used, nor are they usually that important. In most cases this is going to be how the search engines see these pages as well.

Start scaling back by deleting or redirecting the pages that you don’t need. This will put you well on your way to more important parts of your blog being seen by the search engines, and better overall health of your blog.

Jared Carrizales is an entrepreneur with an ever-growing resume in the search marketing field. He specializes in content development and structuring link building campaigns. When not working, he enjoys a good beer and watching the 49ers rock the NFC.

Photo courtesy of Mike Pirnat.

This week at Bundle of the Week, you can get 5 blogging eBooks for just $7.40. In this bundle you’ll get good info on income earning, organization and more.

With your purchase, you’ll get all five of the following ebooks:

• Blogger Behave by Laura Booz
• Pinteresting by Tabitha Philen
• Blog-at-Home Mom by Christin Slade
• 25 Simple Ways to Make Money Blogging by Tara Ziegmont
• 30 Days to Make and Sell a Fabulous Ebook by Angela England

Grab this deal here. Yep, that’s an affiliate link, thanks for the support!

Have you read any of these eBooks before? What do you think?

Ok, so you’ve put it off long enough. You want to go to the Savvy Blogging Summit in June, but you put off getting your ticket, right? Well now’s your chance! Here’s a coupon code just for you:

Get $25 off your ticket price with coupon code PROCRASTINATE. But hurry and use it…don’t put it off until tomorrow, cause it may not stay around long!

Purchase Your Ticket