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Responsive Design Primer For Bloggers

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Pleased today to welcome and She is a most amazing member of this community and our Bloggers Unite! Google+ community, may I say, who has a thirst for learning I rarely see. Please welcome her and her writings with a warm hello in comments with your input and questions.

wordpressSUSAN SILVER SAYS:

, also called mobile design, is a must for anyone with a website or blog. I am on this band wagon and have been slowly teaching myself some skills over the past year. Like many freelancers, the idea of hiring a designer is not in my budget at the moment. That is why I want to share a primer for others wanting to take the DIY approach.

I’ll start by explaining some of the terms you are likely to encounter and then give you some resources for further research.

Responsive Design Vocabulary

HTML5 – HTML is the structural foundation for a website or blog. It is the deeply embedded code that tells a browser how to render a document. HTML5 adds more ways to display content on various devices with native video and audio options.

CSS3 – CSS stands for cascading style sheets. We can make all sorts of changes to the superficial aspects of our website without having to change any of the structure. It’s just like painting the walls of your home. The only thing that changes is what is on the outside. You don’t have to touch the wires or insulation. CSS3 adds new rules for how these sheets behave.

Responsive or Fluid Grids– Responsive grids are generated by CSS code. They are what make responsive design possible. The designer creates rules for how “boxes” on the screen should behave on different devices. When you change the browser window size these boxes will move their position or disappear dynamically.

Jquery Plugin- These plugins are not like WordPress plugins. They have this name because they can be added plug-in-play style to a design. In general, you upload a java script file (.js) into a directory. You then insert a line of code into your designs that calls on that script and runs it.

Icon Font– Icon fonts are very useful for responsive design. This is because they are not image files. To make an image responsive requires a lot of work. With an icon font you can treat what would have been an image the same way as text, which is much easier to manipulate. is a great example of what you can do.

Framework or Boilerplate – There are a slew of these roaming around. They have names like “”, “” and “” (to name the most popular). There are also a few that are only responsive grids like “”. These are skeletons that you can build on that are prepped for responsive design. It takes the hassle out of starting new projects.

Starting with Responsive Design

Well, you probably are not feeling too pleased right now with the idea of doing something yourself. Many of these terms might be new. I won’t lie to you, I was pretty scared myself when I started.

The first thing I did on my journey was to start following the top design blogs. I listened to the discussions that developers were having about using HTML5 and CSS3. In these arguments it became clear what was really important to know and what was over my head.

Use these links to start your journey learning design and development.

  • – Weekly Roundup of Design Resources

 

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Twitter’s Demise Or Ascension?

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twitter fail image

twitter fail image (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a self-professed Twitter-holic since early 2009 in a 24/7 pattern, I know and whine about the changes to my first-love social media channel. When Google+ launched Communities Dec. 12, 2012, Twitter was a veritable graveyard. These days, the stream is littered with retweets of others’ content. Instead, I strive to post personal messages or say good morning to someone missing from my columns on HootSuite. In fact, last week I suggested we’d need to work harder to keep Twitter viable instead of it becoming a re-posting only channel.

What’s your view of whether Twitter can survive other channels’ apparent popularity? According to The Wall Street Journal, Twitter only has 140 million registered users, dwarfing that of other channels (remember Facebook’s news of 1 billion this summer?). Can Twitter survive?

News on December 17, 2012 in The Wall Street Journal suggests a resounding yes! “Now On Twitter: Holiday Shopping Deals,” is all about big-box retailers flocking to Twitter to share Black Friday and holiday gift-giving deals. Among them are Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Radio Shack, and Toys ‘R Us.

Great article about the purchase of sponsored tweets by Best Buy and its use of Twitter “parties,” hour-long Twitter chats about gift ideas for target shoppers like moms and fitness buffs.  Best Buy and its peers did not disclose to reporters how much their collective ad budget was; however, when you read the piece, it’s heartening to see that Twitter is finally getting some respect:

Marketing brand strategists prepped Best Buy retailers in various markets in advance with holiday-marketing planning sessions.

Eight weeks of Twitter attention was launched prior to Thanksgiving and is still going on during this especially zany last-minute shopping week for Best Buy.

A more creative strategy was launched other than just tweeting all day long with an inside-out perspective. Best Buy targeted shopper demographics and held 60 minute Twitter chats (there’s probably a hashtag out there somewhere) to engage peeps about gift giving.

Here’s the coolest thing about what’s happening on Twitter that the Best Buy brand strategist learned from his location-based retailers – tone of voice and authenticity were critical to the success of the campaign.

I absolutely love, love this. We on Twitter, engaging all day long for years, know the power of authentic voice. We know which brands are real, which ones care and which ones are one-way (inside out). For brands to get Twitter, they need to appoint a solid and seasoned team on the frontlines that can engage appropriately and with authenticity. When they invest in that way, the return on investment comes back in spades.

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How To Nurture A Social Media Community

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Credit: Pioneer Outfitters, Alaska

When you nurture social media community, there’s a lot to think about. Communities and moderators collide on social media channels, it’s one person’s style against the other with no hard or fast rules. Nurturing social media community takes gentle enforcement with just enough engagement to attract the lurkers and a welcoming gesture every now and again to keep those a bit shy engaging.

Google+ Communities spawned a fire storm last week when everyone flocked (yes we did, albeit there were a handful of naysayers and bah-humbuggers) to either launch or join a community. (This is your own very special invite to join my Bloggers Unite! Google+ Community.) [Read more…]

Then We All Flocked To Google+ Communities

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Google ?????Google Refrigerator?

Google ?????Google Refrigerator? (Photo credit: Aray Chen)

It’s been a fantabulous 10 hours since I launched my first Google+ Community, Bloggers Unite! in about five minutes yesterday (with 46 members as of 11 p.m. last night).  Didn’t check on a name or worry about what it was going to be for or about…just did it…you know Nike made me do it.

I had to jump in right quick as my peers were inviting me to their communities like crazy, and I saw one already had 150 members…so, there I was not to be left empty handed and voila…another social network, just like all the other holes in my head.

But, it was an exciting engagement sort of day – Google+ was hopping, and Facebook and Twitter were tres dead! Bloggers were posting articles about the new Communities all day, and everyone was joining (after I mistakenly sent an invite to an entire circle and didn’t know it)!

So, what is a Google+ Community?

It’s another place to post and engage and banter or be serious (I’m tired of being serious). Actually, no one really knows. The rules will get made as we go and grow; I’m no longer worried about it. People can ask the serious questions or pose the banter sillies I’m seeing a lot of, too.

I’m loving the feel of these pages much more than Facebook; in fact, it’s cleaner and more fresh.  Someone asked me on Twitter which community I thought looked good to join, and I said, “hang 10.” No one really knows what they’re doing yet and everyone is joining one another’s communities, so the jury is out until the content rolls in. My advice to most is to sit back, watch, listen and enjoy the fun. You can decide in about a week who’s on first.

Is it just another engagement platform?

Perhaps, but I want to see for those moderating a community how much link love and SEO juice they may get being all over the Community with responses and posts. There’s got to be some benefit with all that activity. My sense is that every morning someone can come post their blog link first thing in the community and then get more shares.

A few other folks said they wouldn’t accept my invite because they were feeling overwhelmed and didn’t want to do anything they couldn’t do well. Don’t be too worried about being serious about this until you have to get serious. I’m thinking some good stuff is going to come out of this, and you know why?

Google+ has not been peeps’ first channel of adoption. It’s cleaner without all the cousins, nieces, family members, ex boy friends and childhood voyeurs clogging up the stream. It’s about business, and it’s still new. Google did an amazing job creating this hub-bub, and people fell for it hook, line and sinker.

Still on the fence? Don’t be…flock to Google+ just like we all did within the last 48 hours. See you at Bloggers Unite!  Ask me for an invite; you’re already in!

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Eight Reasons Why Blogs Can’t Go Dormant

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credit: en.blog.wordpress.com

A recent conversation with a small-to-medium business (SMB) included the question, “If my business is booming, then why should I keep blogging?”

Great question because blogging takes a boatload of consistent time and attention. Not only is a blogger responsible for creating and publishing genuine and authoritative content, that blogger needs to nurture a community and comment on others’ blogs, too.

I get it; but, here’s what I said to my peer, friend and colleague:

  • If your blog goes dormant, you can’t walk the talk with clients.
  • When you disappear longer than four weeks with no activity, people stop coming to check in and you’re forgotten.
  • Prospects that want to check out your work expect to see up-to-date product. If a date on the most recent blog post is 60 days prior, then that sends erroneous messages. You may lose a lead if a blog is inactive.
  • To compete, you need to stay inspired. A blog gives SMB brands an opportunity to differentiate from the competition.
  • Becoming an authority is no easy task; keep the insight fresh and trendy, and the brand will benefit.

8 Tips To Get Back On Track

1. Post from the archives — there is content no one has seen in 12 months; select a favorite, add a more current opening paragraph, and voila — a fresh post!

2. Write shorter pieces. Blog posts should average about 500 words, give or take. If you’re trying to get back on track, write 350 words (you can do those in your sleep!).

3. Acknowledge your community with a list of the last 25 commenters and their blog urls. That pingback will bring peeps back to your house in droves to welcome you back.

4. Aim for one post weekly for a few weeks to get your mojo working again. Anyone who has blogged more than 12 months knows how to get back to it; just like riding a bike.

5. Remember that community you built? They’re not gone; just dormant, too. But, if you call them back with consistent posts, you’ll earn the traffic once again.

6. Think about SEO juice — what’s the number-one rule? Fresh, frequent content to boost organic attention.

7. You can’t be a one-channel wonder. Great that you’re on Facebook, but where did you really get your start? Twitter. What happened next? Blogging. Where are your clients, community, employees and prospects hanging online? A little bit of everywhere, so you need to engage equal parts Twitter, Blogging, Facebook and Google+.

8. Feeling down and out? Remember the ‘raderie your blog community inspires. There’s absolutely nothing like a good ‘old #TeamBlogJack to raise the spirits of bloggers who’ve been dormant awhile.

So, what do you say? C’mon back! You’re missed!

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