Recently, my role at my job has changed. I was asked to take over some of the social media accounts for 3 different charities. It’s a task I could handle, but because I don’t work weekends, I need a solution to automate as much of the social media marketing as I could. My first focus is Instagram because each charity has great images. I also have a word document containing hashtag and topic ideas. I needed an Instagram Marketing Automation tool ASAP! SO after taking a day or two to create a game plan, I had to decide which tool I could use to help me manage this content and schedule and automate posts. Today I’m going to share 2 tools I found that could be used to automate your Instagram posts.
The first tool is Tailwind. I use Tailwind to create posts for each Instagram account ( 2 different accounts) as well as 3 Pinterest accounts.
I use the publisher to upload multiple images. I also use the chrome extension when I need to bulk upload blog posts from each site. It saves me time! I no longer have to download the image from each post and log in. It also has suggested time slots and a super cool calendar view.
I’m very visual, so I love that Planoly has a calendar view and that I can see my previous posts and stats and easily reschedule them or quickly view my plan for the week or month.
I hope that you get a chance to utilize one of these tools for your business. The important thing to remember is that none of these tools can do the planning for you. It’s on you to make sure that you have great content and a game plan.
If you have any questions or you need any assistance with getting set up, do . not hesitate to reach out.
Today I want to get a little more specific and introduce a tool that I use to help me decide the best hashtags to use. For the past month or so, I’ve been using Tailwind to post to my Instagram account as well as my Pinterest account. It’s the perfect tool to use to bulk upload images, plan posts and join tribes/communities of users that have a shared interest. One way to utilize Tailwind is to install the Google Chrome extension and click it when you land on a page that you want to pin or post to Instagram. You have the option of posting immediately or scheduling future posts. Getting set up is easy. Use my link here which is an affiliate link and connect your Pinterest and Instagram accounts. My favorite tool within Tailwind is the hashtag finder. Check out a demo video of the hashtag finder here:
What tools do you currently use to post to Pinterest or Instagram? Post your tools below.
Last night I fell in love with a totally different web host. I’ve been working with Bluehost for years, and recently I’ve been also working with Flywheel. There are times when I’m working with a client who doesn’t use either of these and prefer to stick with their current host …. cool beans.
Well, I was in the process of doing a website cleaning and optimization for a client when some things went a little wonky. Not simple wonky…but what in the WordPress wonky. Normally I can handle these situations, but nothing I did would work. I was 100% out of solutions. I do not like asking for help. I’m a problem solver and as you know I believe there’s a solution for everything. So after vowing to never touch another WordPress site, laptop, or anything website related, I decided to seek some assistance. I reached out to SiteGround support and explained the issue. Lucky for me they have 24/7 chat support! The Customer Service rep not only resolved the error but they didn’t quit until the problem was solved.
Moral of the story … it’s ok to ask for help. Support is there! Use it.
According to CodeinWP, there are 50,000+ WordPress plugins in the official directory. Yes, you read that right… 50,000 and counting. So how do you know which ones you should use for your site? I work with a wide range of client, but there are a few WordPress plugins I use for every project.
This plug-in gives you the ability to easily share your pages and posts to various social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, WhatsApp and many more.
This plugin is an email opt-in plugin that works by adding email opt-in forms to your website, each of which can connect to your email newsletter software( MailChimp etc.). When someone signs up using the Bloom opt-in form, they get added to your email list. With Bloom, you can create different types of opt-in forms( pop-ups, fly-ins, etc).
I use this to you manage my WordPress websites from one place. I use this mostly for my clients that are subscribed to a WordPress Monthly Care package. Care packages include updates, backups, performance reports and more.
I use this to create an e-commerce solution for my clients. Woo-commerce can be used to sell digital products as well as custom branded physical products.
Problem: You’ve decided to self-host your WordPress site, but you’re not sure of how to do your own maintenance for your new site.
The following is a list of things that you need to do to properly care your WordPress Site. Some of these things should be done daily, and others don’t need to be done as often.
Uptime. Visit your site to make sure everything is working.
Backup. Do a daily offsite backup of the WordPress files and database. This can be automated by using a plugin, but some hosting providers like FlyWheel perform daily backups of your site, so you don’t have to do it manually.
Comment moderation. Approve any comments in your queue, and check your spam list valid comments. If you get a lot of comments, you should do this daily.
Updates. Update WordPress along with your plugins and themes if new versions are available. FlyWheel performs updates automatically for all clients, to make sure they have the latest version.
Malware scan. Scan for any infected files or malware. Again, your host can be of extra help here if they perform automated daily malware scans like FlyWheel does.
Inspect your site Visually inspect your website and check for problems with layout or formatting. Check in different web browsers. Also, check your website from a mobile device to make sure it looks good and is responsive.
Analytics. Log into Google Analytics and review trends and referrals.
Change passwords. Change your password, and have other users change theirs too. Don’t make it easy for hackers—use a strong password.
Minimize admin users. Delete unnecessary admin users (and delete the default admin username). Hacked admin accounts can do the most damage to your site, so minimize the number.
Delete unused plugins and themes. Deactivate and delete all unnecessary plugins and themes, though never remove the latest default WordPress theme. Unnecessary plugins increase your website’s overhead and the risk of vulnerabilities.
Delete unnecessary files Website clutter can hide vulnerabilities. Check for unnecessary files in your wp-content folder and browse through your Media Library to remove any images, videos and audio files you no longer require.
Fix dead links. You don’t want your visitors receiving a “Page Not Found” error when clicking on a link. Find any dead links by using a link checking tools like Broken Link Checker or Link Checker.
Verify your contact form. Send yourself a message using your website’s contact form, and make sure you get it.
Optimize your database. Delete any draft posts you’ll never finish, and empty your comment spam. Then optimize your database by using ManageWP.
Speed audit. Run a performance test by using ManageWP to see how fast your site loads. If it takes more than five seconds, consider implementing caching and other measures to speed up your site. Slow sites lose visitors and search rankings.
Review your About page. Check your About page for anything that needs to be updated: your contact details, profile picture, mission statement, testimonials.
Review your theme and plugins. Check for new plugins that outperform those you’re currently using. Check for new themes that appeal to you and are suitable for your needs.
Solution: Create a WordPress Maintenance plan. Make it a point to use the above items to create a checklist. For amazing WordPress hosting, we recommend FlyWheel. Flywheel handles many WordPress maintenance tasks for you, including automated core and plugin updates, daily backups, and SSL certificates for free in every plan. Need someone to take care of your WordPress site? Check out our WordPress Care Services.
