Successful Blog

Image App Bonanza: 10 Apps to Spice Up Your Content

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According to ContentPlus UK, articles with images get 94% more views than those without. We have become scanners, racing through online posts and sifting for useful information.

Arresting images stop us in our tracks, and pull us into the surrounding text.

Beautiful butterfly image

This is a roundup of apps that I’ve personally road-tested for image manipulation. With the exception of PicMonkey, they are all installed on my iPhone right now.

Go forth and create fun, interesting photos. Just don’t let me catch you putting a “sunset” filter on your plate of salad. Don’t do that.

1. PicMonkey

Web app, Free with premium features
Handy, easy to use app that is great for banners, overlaying text, and resizing images. It covers much of the territory of Photoshop, without the long learning curve and big expense. My 8 year old kids started playing with PicMonkey and were cranking out great stuff immediately. Check out the “collage” feature.

2. KitCamera

Mobile app, Free with 99cent enhanced version
Successor to KitCam, which was acquired by Yahoo, and it’s the Swiss Army knife of mobile image editing apps. Great for live shooting as well as editing after the fact. This one is complex, but includes tons of pro photographer goodies, including filters, high speed shooting, and live editing. Check out the social sharing tools.

3. Vhoto

Mobile app, Free
Have you ever taken a great video, and wanted to pull a still image out for a thumbnail? Here’s your app. Vhoto will automatically find and suggest the best quality still images from a video clip. Use old videos or shoot a new one. Check out the Vhoto user community.

4. Flickr

Web and mobile app, Free with premium
Yes, I know you thought Flickr was gone. It’s not gone, but it’s been revamped, and looks better than ever. The mobile app is very easy to use, and will automatically sync up your photos if you like. Includes filters, pretty strong editing tools, and sharing. Did you know you can also upload videos?

5. Overgram

Mobile only, free
This app does one thing, but does it beautifully. Instantly add cool text to your Instagram photos. Choose font, size, text, and colors, and then save. Check out the beefier, paid Over app for even more editing tools.

6. Bubbsie

Mobile only, free
I had to include one completely fun one. Bubbsie makes it dead easy to create a “meme” image, by placing a thought or conversation bubble overlay on your images. Take a new photo, or overlay on an existing image from your gallery. Check out the picture frame feature.

7. Pixlromatic

Desktop, web, and mobile, free
The cool thing about this one (which I agree is unpronounceable), is that it’s so cross-platform. Use it almost anywhere. Take a photo with your webcam or device, or upload one from your library, and then enhance it with textures, backgrounds, and frames. Easy to use immediately. Check out the fun overlays (bubbles, fireworks).

8. Colorsplash

Web and mobile (special app for iPad), free
An App Store Hall of Famer, Colorsplash is the easiest way to colorize your photos. Turn your image black and white, and then selectively add color back to certain portions. Your colleagues will wonder how you did it. Check out the customizable brush sizes/shapes.

9. PhotoToaster

Mobile, paid app
Touch up, edit, crop, and highlight portions of your images in one app. Combines some of the best bits of ColorSplash and Pixlromatic, in an easy-to-use interface. Great for beginners, with lots of pre-sets. Check out PhotoMotion, from the same company, which lets you turn photos into videos.

10. PopAGraph

Mobile, free with premium upgrades available
Another cool tool for editing your photos, but it has some unique capabilities, including the ability to have separate filters on the background vs the foreground, multi-frames, and captions. Check out the video creator, with music. Share directly to Vine from within the app.

Have fun!

Note: I have zero affiliation with any of the above apps or companies, and no-one solicited these suggestions.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

How to Create a Healthy, Successful Work Environment

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asuccess blog 71614

There are plenty of factors to consider when it comes to business success: finances, networking, expansion, etc.

However, while these are important matters, there is one matter that is usually overlooked even though it has the ability to make or break the company—your workplace’s atmosphere.

The health of your company is dependent upon the health of your team, for your business will only go as far as your team promotes it.

Here are a few tips to creating an inviting, successful work environment:

1. Organize

Because there often feels like there is too little time in a day to accomplish everything you need to, you often spread yourself and your employees too thin. Instead of focusing 100 percent of your attention on one task at hand, you spread your focus over too many issues, which leads to disorganization and poor business performance.

Instead, set a schedule and stick to it. Be organized about what needs to be done, when it needs to be, and how it should be done. Set the precedent for your workplace by being organized and delegating tasks efficiently. Do an online company check to see how other business competitors are managing and learn from their actions.

2. Reduce Stress

Whether your business is a brand new start-up or a well-oiled machine, it is crucial to alleviate employee stress. A chaotic atmosphere is overwhelming, which can lead to severe stress. When you and your team are under duress, you are more susceptible to sickness, to financial errors, and business mistakes, among others. According to a Harvard Medical School study of stress, stress can often harm a person “physically, emotionally, and psychologically.”

Getting a handle on stress is the first step. Find a technique or activity that relaxes you and work that into both your routine and your team’s routine. Even in a high-pressure work environment, make sure you emphasize the importance of taking breaks during the workday and relaxing.

3. Goal Oriented

Establish goals and deadlines for you company. You can easily track your company’s success when you have goals that are measurable. Moreover, goals and deadlines help to keep you and your team focused on the tasks at hand. Begin by establishing (on paper) goals you want to accomplish six months or a year from now. Create incentives for your team to keep them working hard and focused. For example, offer your team a bonus if you reach your financial goal. It will keep both you and your team motivated while furthering your business’s success.

4. Comfortable Environment

An environment conducive to success will motivate you and your team. The workplace should be efficient and comfortable—emotionally and physically. Keep the office space at a comfortable temperature and at a comfortable mood. Stress the importance of being a team, which will hopefully dispel any negativity or competition amongst co-workers. Additionally, try to make the office space relaxing by making it as bright and airy as possible and having a designated area as a break room.

Image Source: www.wgal.com

About the Author: Ted Levin is a freelance journalist covering business topics for a variety of websites. He enjoys writing about startup challenges and company culture. 

The Context of Content

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By Lisa D. Jenkins

It’s not the story, it’s the telling of the story.

Last week, I was in the wilds of Idaho, rafting the Main Salmon River of No Return. I left the online world and was completely disconnected from technology; no smartphone, no laptop. I did allow myself to bring a camera and Flip.

I took images and footage sparingly because a couple of years ago I realized I was losing memories because I was too busy trying to capture them digitally. But I do have a few incredible reminders that will help me remember all the amazing things I saw and experienced.

When The Husband picked me up from my trip, I couldn’t wait to get home and show and tell him everything.

The memories were easy for him to consume: the big bright trout I caught at the mouth of Sheep Creek, the massive bald eagle that flew just over my head,

Oddly, the images and video were more difficult. He looked through them and wasn’t nearly as exuberant as I thought he’d be. Take this image for instance, what do you see?

rushing river

You see a burned out forest. Wildland fire is not uncommon in Idaho and we often see sections of landscape marred like this. While mildly interesting, it’s not uniquely remarkable. Until you know that as we were rowing by, our guide Matt explained that he was rowing through this fire last year – at this very spot.

In the same way that story provides context that informs my image, you need to inform the content you share with context for your readers.

It’s not just the pieces of your story that make it remarkable, it’s how you thread those pieces together that tell a remarkable story.

What does this look like?

Do you have a new product? Outline the real-world problems your product solves to inform a simple demo video. This makes it easy for people to know who the product will help. If it’s not them, they might recognize the struggles of someone they know.

Are you adding a new service? Let your audience in on how you detected a gap in the services you provide, to inform the launch for your latest offering. This builds on established trust and gives your audience a behind the scenes view of how your company works to stay current with their needs.

Have you reached a goal? Use a timeline or infographic to inform a milestone your business is celebrating. This help others understand where you started and how exciting it is for you to mark the occasion. People who’ve been with you from the beginning will appreciate the walk down memory lane and newer readers will appreciate not feeling left out.

Telling your story.

As you execute your content strategy, include contextual elements that weave your disparate content into a cohesive story. Each point of reference you provide helps your readers feel included and invites them to go deeper into the story with you.

Author’s Bio: Lisa D. Jenkins is a Public Relations professional specializing in Social and Digital Communications for businesses. She has over a decade of experience and work most often with destination organizations or businesses in the travel and tourism industry in the Pacific Northwest. Connect with her on Google+

Four Content-Rich Blog Posts You Should Be Creating

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By Diana Gomez

These days, it’s not enough to post a picture of what your business has been up to this week.

Gone Viral

Sure, some customers may find interest in which food truck is parked at the office today, but that’s not the kind of thing that will go viral.

To move up the ranks in Google, you need as many eyes on your pages as possible. This means the content must be eye-catching! Think about creating headlines that leave the readers hanging; make them want to click to find out what’s coming next. Let their curiosity lead them further into your website.

As far as the content inside the post, here are a few ideas for you. These types of posts must be in your regular rotation if you want to keep up with the rest of the web in the second half of 2014.

Videos

Photo tutorials are superb, but audiences are really going nuts for comprehensive video tutorials.

Do you have something you can teach your customers? Whether you’re a retail clothing business with advice on sewing buttons or a hairstylist who can teach customers how to create a topknot, a how-to video is a terrific tool to draw some attention to your business.

Videos can also go viral simply from their entertainment value. As long as it’s funny or out-of-the-ordinary, it’s worth talking about. Be sure it’s high-quality and only one or two-minutes long.

It’s rare that a five or ten-minute video goes viral like a short-and-sweet video will. Also, be sure you place keywords into the title and description. Hosting it on YouTube will ensure that your video will be easy to share on social media, because going viral is all about making it easy for users to get to the content.

Top-Ten Lists

Ever hear of a little website called Buzzfeed? This site has blown up over the past year as audiences increasingly latch onto the short-and-sweet visual concept. Lists organize information in a way that makes it easier to absorb, and our brains seem to love clicking on headlines like “Five Foods that are Making You Fat.”

Our noggins naturally want to make sense of any information that’s presented to us, and so when some of the work has already been done, the decision to click is a ‘no-brainer.’ It’s such a phenomenon that the parody site The Onion has just created a new parody site having a laugh at Buzzfeed – cleverly titled Clickhole. One funny headline example is “16 Pictures of Beyoncé Where She’s Not Sinking in Quicksand.” There’s a reason why everyone (ahem, see title of this very blog post) is jumping on the list-making bandwagon, and you should, too.

Competitions

Everyone’s a sucker for free stuff, and that’s why you should be offering your readers incentives for clicking through to your site. Spend ten minutes on Facebook and you’ll likely encounter a slew of contests, all of which require some sort of interaction on social media to win. Examples: someone shares a musician’s Facebook status for a chance to win a record box set. An interior design firm blogs about an author and offers its readers a chance to win the author’s latest book if they “like” the author’s Facebook page and leave a comment below the firm’s blog post (which is a clever double-win for two parties).

By asking users to share and follow you, you’re making yourself visible to entirely new audiences/friends of people who already like you. And when there’s a free offer involved, your posts are all-the-more attractive. Asking a like-minded blog to offer its readers your product will almost always be accepted with open arms. The blog’s readers like it, therefore the blogger loves it, too. It’s a simple concept, but it works, and it’s fun.

High-Quality Images

The success of Instagram and Pinterest prove that what people want is a beautiful photo (or ten) to gaze upon. High-quality cameras can be found on most phones nowadays, which is super fortunate for us amateurs. Filters galore are available now that can turn an ‘OK’ image into something interesting that people will want to like and post elsewhere.

Do you cook? Post your creations to your blog, and make sure your posts have the Pinterest Pin option available. To make a pic extra Pinterest-friendly, post one collaged image that includes something like a four-step (and four-photo) recipe. Again, users are in search of the short-and-sweet and the quick-and-easy stuff.

Are you a mechanic? Post cool photos of vintage cars to your business’ Instagram account. Be sure a link to your blog is obvious on your profile so that users can see what other content you can offer them. Use appropriate hashtags that will help interested users find you, and while you’re at it, go ahead and tap the Twitter icon to simultaneously reach another social media medium. Every little bit helps, right?

What social-media medium works best with your business?

Author’s Bio: Diana Gomez is the Marketing Coordinator at Lyoness America, where she is instrumental in the implementation of marketing and social media strategies for USA and Canada. Lyoness is an international shopping community and loyalty rewards program, where businesses and consumers benefit with free membership and money back with every purchase. Check out Lyoness on Facebook.

Image licensed via Shutterstock

Leadership Lesson: Accepting Help Gratefully and Gracefully

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We’ve all met her.

She’s neck-deep in work commitments, taking care of a family, trying to stay in shape, and writing a novel in her spare time.

She looks like Wonder Woman from the outside, but if you look closer, the costume is frayed. If anyone says, “hey, let me take care of that project for you,” she grits her teeth and says, “no, I’ve got it.”

Wonder Woman lego

Pew! She responds within seconds to an email.
Pew! She figures out how to fix the dryer from a YouTube video.
Pew! She cranks out a presentation deck for a new customer.

Maybe she fears exposing that she’s not invulnerable. Maybe she is terrified of anyone finding out she doesn’t know everything.

Hey, guess what? Cat’s out of the bag.

You can’t do everything yourself.
You don’t know everything.
You haven’t experienced everything.

I just returned from a fantastic event, the GeniusShared retreat in Chicago, where a group of less than 30 smart, connected people gathered to help each other work on their dreams/businesses/passion projects.

The key to success for the retreat was the willingness of every person in the room to publicly share. All were willing to accept input, ideas, and perspectives from the others in the room.

Unless you’re willing to reveal your vulnerabilities to someone else, you will never be able to progress toward your goals. It’s the first step toward being a leader as well. Effective leaders always seek out those who are smarter, stronger, more experienced than they are.

Leaders accept help from others with grace and gratitude. They offer help to others freely.

When someone looks you in the eye and says, “how can I help you,” do you have a good answer ready? Can you accept with an open heart?

When was the last time you asked someone else, “how can I help you?”

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Photo Credit: levork via Compfight cc

Lock in Best Rates on a Business Credit Card

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credit

What are some of the key challenges for business owners in 2014?

If you ask that question of such people, they’re likely to tell you attaining and retaining customers can be one of the trickier tasks when running a business.

Face it, many consumers in today’s economic climate have to make tough choices about where they’re going to shop, when they can afford to shop, and of course how much money they can afford to spend.

As a business owner, you can encourage consumers to come deal with you by making the shopping experience as friendly and easy as possible.

Credit Cards and Customers

One way to make the shopping trip easier for customers is by having the right credit card provider available to them to charge purchases.

Whether they make a charge in your place of business, over the phone or through online avenues, a simple and effective credit card option will help keep shoppers coming back.

“More shoppers want a quick and easy shopping experience, especially when online,” said Chris Mettler of CompareCards.com. “Having the right credit card options for them makes things better for everyone involved in the sales process.”

According to a report from Javelin Strategy & Research, in just three years, it is expected that less than 25 percent of all point-of-sales acquisitions will be made with cash. The translation – more than 75 percent of all purchases by consumers will be made via credit and debit cards.

As a business owner, it behooves you to make sure that your credit card or cards of choice offer you affordable rates and quality customer service. When that happens, you will open the door to more consumers shopping with you via credit cards.

Finding the Right Card or Cards

Many business owners will offer a number of credit card options to their customers, with Visa, MasterCard and Discover Card the typical choices.

In order for the business owner who is either setting up shop for the first time or going from just accepting cash and perhaps checks to credit card purchases to locate the best cards, it is important for them to do some research.

Take the time to visit different card provider websites, seeing which offer the best rates and customer service.

If you’re looking to move away from a high balance that you might have accrued over time, you can look at which providers offer the best savings when it comes to interest payments when transferring a high interest balance over to a 0% interest credit card.

Lastly, take the time when selecting a card provider as if you are a consumer, because in fact, you are.

Put the offers side-by-side to see which provider gives you the most rewards, best interest rate, and cost savings.

When you align your business with the right credit card provider, take credit for making a wise choice.

Photo credit: qbservices.net

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers small business, social media and SEO topics for a variety of websites.