You should link together your blog and social media marketing accounts. You want to create a network of resources that brings together your various marketing efforts. Linking your blog to your social media accounts is essential.

1) Blog Postings on Facebook and Twitter

You can set up your social media accounts including Facebook and Twitter so that they automatically show a link to your blog postings. This automated technique makes it easy to update your Facebook pages and Twitter account with your new blog postings.

One of the goals of all social media marketing plans is to keep content updated and fresh. If you update your blog frequently you will be automatically updating your Facebook and Twitter account as well.

Make sure the titles of your blog posting are eye-catching and you can drive traffic from the social media sites onto your blog. A short, catchy title will capture the attention of someone you are friends with on Facebook or who is following you on Twitter.

2) Add Social Media Links to Your Blog

People who find your blog may not know that you also have social media accounts and pages. Make sure that your blog prominently displays an invitation for them to become a fan on Facebook and a follower on Twitter.

As a blogger you want to give people a ample opportunity to learn more from you and about you. Linking your social media accounts to your blog creates these opportunities.

Web 2.0 is all about users participating on websites and networks. A blogger needs to think about inviting participation on their blog and beyond their blog in order to create an overall user experience that builds loyalty.

3) Off Blog Feeds

When you set up your blog you will have the option to arrange a blog feed that other people can pick up and add to their site. Basically your blog postings will be displayed on any site that adds the feed to it.

A blog feed can open up new traffic sources and revenue streams with no additional effort on your part. You should also add your blog feeds to directories and other resources that people search in order to add fresh content to their site.

Remember, fresh content is a key to success online. Your blog can become a source for content for other websites which means your blog and their website wins. Link your blog to your social media accounts and blog feed resources for maximum impact.

4) Blog Set-Up – Plug-Ins

When you are setting up your blog you will have the option to add plug-ins. There are many add-ons or plug-ins to choose from. Some of them can be quite useful and some of them can be quite useless.

Since WordPress is the most popular blog choice we will focus our examination on plug-ins with WordPress blogs.

5) Blog Plug-In: Akismet

SPAM is a serious issue on the web including on blogs. Akismet is a plug-in option for WordPress blogs that helps eliminate SPAM before it can appear on your blog. This free plug-in is essential and is considered by many bloggers to be their most important weapon against SPAM.

One of the first plug-ins you should add to your blog is Akismet. Make sure it is up to date and properly installed on your blog.

6) Blog Plug-In: Add to Any

Social media marketing has transformed the Internet. The vast majority of bloggers also have social media accounts. Bloggers are typically quite actively engaged in social media sites and social bookmarking. Add to Any is a plug-in for social media marketing.

Adding this plug-in to your blog makes it easy to add blog postings to your social media sites as well as to bookmark your postings.

7) Blog Plug-In: All in one SEO Pack

The all-in-one SEO pack for WordPress blogs is an important plug-in. This SEO pack incorporates the essential SEO elements needed to help your blog appear in search results for relevant keyword terms.

Many search engine optimization experts add the SEO Pack to every blog they manage.

8) Blog Plug-In: Backup WordPress

WordPress offers a backup plug-in that automatically backs up your database for security purposes. This feature is an important safety feature that will protect you if your blog loses data or that data gets corrupted. Hackers often target blogs so having the right security in place is important.

9) Blog Plug-In: Super Cache

The Super Cache plug-in helps your blog postings get indexed quickly in the search engines. Indexation is important because it helps people find your website. This plug-in is often considered part of the list of SEO plug-ins but it is not part of the All in One SEO Pack described above.

When setting up your blog, make sure you install the five essential plug-ins outlined in this article. There may be other plug-ins that interest you as well but these are the five most important WordPress plug-ins.

Author Bio: Learn how to make money blogging today. Visit Brian’s website, http://www.HomebasedBlogging.com and learn how you can make money online from blogging and receive free blogging help.

Category: Writing
Keywords: blogging, work at home, make money online, freelance writing, social media, blogger