7 Steps to Increase Your Blog Traffic with Click-to-Tweet

“The Internet has transformed many parts of our daily lives, touching everything from how we find information to how we go shopping, get directions, and even stay in touch with friends and family.” —Dean Ornish

Tweet! pippalou

“Tweet!”
photo by pippalou

Since I added Tweetables to my blog posts, I’ve seen increases to my visits. Adding at least one Tweetable is easy enough to warrant the time.

Tweetable

  • Tweetables make sharing your content on Twitter easy for your readers. click to tweet

7 Steps to Add Tweetables Using Click-to-Tweet

Step 1. Join Clicktotweet.

Here’s the link: http://clicktotweet.com

Use the free version or get statistics on your Tweetables with the paid version.

Step 2. Create your Tweetable content.

I usually add three principles or suggestions inside each blog post. These are my Tweetables. I personalize my Tweetables by using the words “you” and “your.”

Example: You can glean new uses for the books on your bookshelves.

Click to Tweet Photo by mensatic

Click to Tweet
photo by mensatic

Step 3. Prepare your Tweetables.

In your blog post editor, start with your principles or suggestions (or whatever) and add to them from the options below.

Options:

  • Make them bold.
  • Insert Tweetable as an introduction.
  • At the end enter: “click to tweet” or “tweet this.”
  • Set them off as a bullet point.

 

Examples:

Tweetable

  • You can glean new uses for the books on your bookshelves. click to tweet

Tweetable

  • Put the books in your bookcases to work. click to tweet

Step 4. Obtain a shortened link to your blog post.

At the top of WordPress’s post editor is a “Get Shortlink” button. I click on it and copy the link.

"I use Hootsuite." seenicks

“I use Hootsuite.”
photo by seenicks

To reduce the link further to use less of Twitter’s 140 permitted characters and spaces, you can use Hootsuite’s “add a link” shortener or some other shortener, such as Bitly.

I use the paid version of Clicktotweet. It automatically shortens my blog post link.

Examples:

Original WordPress Link: https://zoemmccarthy.com/writing/10-ways-make-books-earn-shelf-space-bookcase (76 characters)

WordPress Shortlink: http://wp.me/p4RysI-Y0 (22 characters)

Hootsuite: http://ow.ly/Ay06a (18 characters)

ClicktoTweet (paid version only in Step 6): http://ctt.ec/5C8cg+ (20 characters)

Step 5. Create your actual tweets.

You can build your tweets in ClicktoTweet’s message box (one at a time).

  1. Sign in to the ClicktoTweet website.
  2. Copy and paste just the principle or suggestion (or whatever) content from Step 2.
  3. At the end of that, paste in your blog post’s shortened link from Step 4.
  4. Enter your Twitter handle.
  5. Add subject hashtags.

Examples in ClicktoTweet:

For Tweet 1:

You can glean new uses for the books on your bookshelves. http://ow.ly/Ay06a @ZoeMMcCarthy #writing 

For Tweet 2:

Put the books in your bookcases to work. http://ow.ly/Ay06a @ZoeMMcCarthy #writing

Step 6. Still in ClicktoTweet, get theClicktoTweet link.

This is the link that your blog visitors will click on.

  1. Click on Generate New Link button.
  2. Copy that link.
  3. Add that link to the “click to tweet” or “tweet this” in your Tweetable from Step 3.
  4. Repeat Step 5B through Step 6C for each tweet.
"See the tweet on Twitter" photo by cooee

“See the tweet on Twitter”
photo by cooee

Step 7. Preview your post and test your Tweetable.

In preview, click on the “click to tweet” or “tweet this.” A tweet box should open in Twitter with your Tweetable inside and a Tweet button outside. You haven’t published your post yet, so don’t click on the Tweet button.

You’re done. However, once you publish your post:

Tweetable

  • Always click on the click-to-tweet links in your posts to be sure they work. click to tweet

Enter your questions in the comments, and I’ll do my best to answer them.

 

HOW TO KEEP YOUR READERS TURNING THE PAGE

Author Marion Ueckermann is my guest today. Enjoy Marion’s blog tour and tips to keep readers engaged. And note the drawing below for a chance to receive an eBook of Marion’s novel.

Passport to Romance Blog Tour Logo2Helsinki Sunrise, a Passport to Romance, blog tour follows on from yesterday’s stop in Central Alberta, Canada with Marcia Lee Laylock where I posted a book review with a difference.

Today I share with you the magic formula I discovered to keep up the conflict, and thereby keep the reader turning the page.

Helsinki Sunrise was the first manuscript I applied the method to, and I wish I’d known about it earlier. I’ll have to do a lot of rewriting on my previous manuscripts, but I know it will be worth it.

Applying this method from Dwight Swain, I turned critiquers’ comments from “…this is where I’d stop reading,” to “…as a reader I loved the conflict which works because often I was tired and needed to go to bed but I had to see the next sub to know what happened.”

 

SCENE/SEQUEL METHOD

 

Dwight Swain, in his book Techniques of the Selling Writer, identifies two distinct types of scenes. I think of them as major and minor—major is a scene that is made up of a Goal, Conflict, and a Disaster; and the minor scene, called a sequel, is made up of Reaction, Dilemma, and a Decision.

This method forced me to be more of a plotter, because I’m a pantser at heart. I now think about the chapter, plot it out using the Scene/Sequel method, and then write it. I create an Excel worksheet for each chapter. I use a different colored font for each POV character.

Scene Sequel Chart

SCENES are action-packed and have three parts:

  • Goal. What the POV character wants to achieve (and it must be achievable within the Scene).
  • Conflict. The middle part (bulk) of the Scene is filled with conflict. Without conflict the reader becomes bored. Make the hero/heroine struggle.
  • Disaster. A Scene must end with a disaster. Your POV character doesn’t reach his Goal. If characters do reach their goals, there’s no reason for the reader to stay up and turn the page. A disaster is the hook.

But readers cannot be on an adrenaline highs all the time, and Sequels give them time to catch their breath before the next action-packed, conflict-laden Scene.

SEQUELS also have three parts:

  • Reaction. When disaster strikes, your POV character will have a reaction to that disaster. Allow your reader to experience the emotions along with your POV character.
  • Dilemma. This reaction must lead to a dilemma that leaves the POV character with no good options.
  • Decision. Your POV character will then make the best possible decision under the circumstances, and this in turn becomes the goal for the next Scene.

You will eventually end the Scene/Sequel cycle and bring the story to an end, and before your readers know what’s happened, they’ve reached the end of the story, too.

 This Scene/Sequel method of writing has really revolutionized my writing. Click to tweet.

 

HELSINKI SUNRISE

 

HelsinkiSunrise_w11668_680 (2)He needed the island to himself. So did she.

Three weeks alone at a friend’s summer cottage on a Finnish lake to fast and pray. That was Adam Carter’s plan. But sometimes plans go awry.

On an impromptu trip to her family’s secluded summer cottage, the last thing Eveliina Mikkola expected to find was a missionary from the other side of the world—in her sauna.

Determined to stay, Eveliina will do whatever it takes—from shortcrust pastry to shorts—to send the man of God packing. This island’s too small for them both.

Adam Carter, however, is not about to leave.

Will he be able to resist her temptations?

Can she withstand his prayers?

 

NEXT STOP AND A DRAWING

 

Be sure to follow this blog tour tomorrow. There be a double stopover, both at locations in Australia. We’ll take a look at Finland with Narelle Atkins, and at a Finnish wedding with Inspirational Romance hosted by Rita Galieh.

There will be an eBook of Helsinki Sunrise up for grabs today. To be entered into the drawing, please leave a comment with your email address before September 19th.*

Numerous eBooks of Helsinki Sunrise will be given away on the blog tour, so take a journey to each of the stops and leave a comment. Don’t forget to include your email address.

Helsinki Sunrise is available to purchase from Pelican Book Group, Christianbook.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iTunes.

Watch the Helsinki Sunrise book trailer on YouTube.

Watch the Passport to Romance book trailer on YouTube.

Marion Ueckermann1 - SMALLERMarion Ueckermann’s passion for writing was sparked in 2001 when she moved to Ireland with her husband and two sons. Since then she has published devotional articles and stories in Winners, The One Year Devotional of Joy and Laughter (Tyndale House Publishers), and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miraculous Messages from Heaven, and her debut novelette, Helsinki Sunrise (White Rose Publishing, a Pelican Book Group imprint, Passport to Romance series).

Marion blogs for International Christian Fiction Writers and Beauty for Ashes. She belongs to Christian Writers of South Africa and American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives in Pretoria East, South Africa in an empty nest with her husband and their crazy black Scottie, Wally.

Connect with Marion Ueckermann: Website / Amazon / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest

Blogs: A Pebble in my Pocket / Foreign Affaire

* Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

Permission to use images obtained.

How You Can Do a Techie’s Tasks for the Sake of Your Project

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” — Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

 

Techie Image courtesy of iprostocks at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Techie
Image courtesy of iprostocks at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every morning, I ask God to direct the tasks I schedule for the week—and to equip me for each day’s work.

Recently, I received the idea of a countdown clock on my blog. It would tick away the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until my inspirational romance, Calculated Risk, is available.

Then I thought, “You’ve no idea how to add a countdown clock. And adding one might mess up your new website. It’ll have zip return on marketing your book, anyway.”

Image courtesy of luigi diamanti at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of luigi diamanti at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Then an idea slid in: “You prayed for a blog post topic. You could blog about a nifty countdown clock on your sidebar.”

I imagined you scrolling down to my countdown clock. I pictured your mesmerized faces as you watched the seconds tick away.

Had God given me this blog idea, or was He up to something else? I decided to tackle the daunting task.

I asked Google oodles of questions. The answers were over my head. I almost quit, but decided to open another search result.

I downloaded a countdown clock. Since I speak little HTML and was clueless as to what to do with the folders of code, I trashed the download.

Mesmerized Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mesmerized
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I was torn between easier research on a different topic and your mesmerized faces. I decided to try one more Google search result.

Tweetable

When things go awry, picturing a good end result helps to keep you persevering. Click to tweet. 

Then, I received warnings that tasks I was doing were not secure. A giant caterpillar replaced your mesmerized faces. I imagined it chomping its way through my new website.

Maybe God was closing the door on the silly countdown clock.

Then—bling!—I remembered. My new website is self-hosted on WordPress.org. I narrowed my Google inquiries to countdown plugins on WordPress.

The online trail quickly led to Step by Step Guide to Install a WordPress Plugin for Beginners. Beginners! Hurray! Hurray!

I chose the method the author said was “by far the easiest way of installing a WordPress plugin” (if the plugin was in the WordPress plugin directory).

Troll Techie Image courtesy of Victor Habbick at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Troll Techie
Image courtesy of Victor Habbick at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

No nasty troll had written the directions. They were easy! And the directory had countdown plugins!

Soon, a countdown plugin appeared in my Widgets.

During ten setup attempts, no countdown clock appeared on my blog’s sidebar. Maybe I’d believed God’s agreement with the project too soon.

I decided to try one more thing.

Tweetable

Before giving up, try one more thing—a different thing, of course. Click to tweet.

I put a checkmark in a box and—tada—a working countdown clock appeared.

You put your keying hand in,
you put your keying hand out,
you put your keying hand in,
and you shake it all about.

You do the persevering pokey,
and praise the Lord Your God. 

That’s what it’s all about.

Soon, I’ll have marketing tasks I’ve never done. I think God used the frivolous countdown clock to show me I can do these tasks through His strength, if I don’t give up.

What techie’s task have you persevered in and succeeded?

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American Christian Fiction Writers

American Christian Fiction Writers

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