Graphics to Make Your Business Stand Out in 2018!

How do you WOW your audience? How do you grab their attention and have them look at your content amidst all the noise and clutter? 

 

Facebook announced major changes in how they will show your posts!

 

This is a game changer for all of us! Not something we all wanted to hear but most of us knew this would be coming!

 

So what to do?

 

One of the things that will help is to really make your graphics stand out.

You MUST get people to engage with your posts!

 

This works on Facebook, on your blog, on Twitter, on Pinterest, on Instagram… because after all…

A picture speaks 1,000 words.

 

In this workshop I will be sharing with you some tools that are free and nearly free to use to help you make your graphics stand out.

 

I will go over branding, when and where, and how much…

How to get your peeps to engage with your posts!

This is a game changer so you don’t want to miss the webinar.

 

When: Thursday February 8 

Time: 4 p.m. Eastern Time 

Where: click the link below

 

Register now for this webinar and mark your calendar!

https://katerinagasset.com/graphicswebinar2018

 

Use the tactics from this webinar, apply this on your Facebook page and other social media.

 

If you are one of our Get It Done For Me clients – we will be focusing on these graphic changes throughout 2018 and measure the responses, the engagement, etc.

Reminder: Fast & Easy WordPress Webinar is Tonight

Don't forget to register for this FREE webinar where I will be showing you how fast you can create landing pages, add content to your website in wordpress and a lot more.

 

The webinar is tonight at 8 p.m. eastern time. Save your seat now.

 

See you all later Wed 8PM Eastern (New York time)!

 

If you already registered there is nothing you need to do except get on the webinar!

 

If you have not registered for the webinar yet, Click here to register!

 

See you at the top!

IMPORTANT! Graphics Webinar Time Correction!

IMPORTANT: How to create graphics for your blog and social posts super fast

I don't know why I did not notice, so sorry.

The time for the webinar is today at 2 p.m. eastern time,

that will be 11 a.m. pacific time.

If you already registered there is nothing you need to do except get on the webinar at 2.

If you have not registered for the webinar yet, register here:

https://katerinagasset.com/webinar-how-to-create-graphics-for-your-blog-social-fast/

Please share!

Also, if you want to learn what we will be covering in this webinar you can read the post here:

How to Create Graphics Fast & Easy for Social Postings and Blogging!

How to Create Graphics Fast & Easy for Social Postings and Blogging!

Graphics That Rock Your Social Media and Blogs!

Just since 2007 visual content on the internet has increased over 9,900% . There is good reason for that.

Human brains like visual information. Our brains retain visual information better than other kinds of information.

Conversion rates go up to 300% by ONLY adding visuals to your content marketing!

[bctt tweet=”Adding images to your blog increases conversion rates by as much as 300%! “]

That is pretty amazing! I am not surprised. What I am surprised by is how few people marketing on the internet are actually using visuals in their best presentation if any at all.

Everything from the color you choose to the fonts you pick- it all tells a story. It speaks your brand.

It is time to throw out all those silly looking clipart graphics – so old school now that we have so many powerful free and almost free graphic creation and editing tools where you don't need a degree in design to create!

When I see the clipart it screams tacky and when I see stock photos that look like stock photos it feels like the content marketer did not take much thought and then it feels the rest of the content may also not be coming from a point of service or adding value.

There is simply no excuse to use such thoughtless imagery these days.

Remember the saying: “A picture speaks 1000 words”? Studies of the brain show it can process an image in about 13 milliseconds. Our brains will only remember about 10% of the information we absorb through text yet for visual information we can retain about 65%.

Human faces create emotional responses in other humans' brains. People remember images of people. Using people in your graphics is very effective.

Color is another element that triggers emotional responses. Be intentional with your colors you use in your brand, your designs and in all your graphics that you use on your social postings and on your websites and blogs.

[bctt tweet=”Choose your colors wisely when posting visuals. It triggers emotional responses. “]

You also want to have consistency in your color choices. While it is fun to use an array of different colors every time you post- that will not necessarily increase brand awareness. What is the purpose of your using the color? What is the response you wish to achieve through your color choices? These must be taken into consideration.

There is a reason why doctors use blue and not red for their logos, colors and content.

When I first started blogging back in 2006 most people called them weblogs and it was all text. We evolved in 2007 to adding images to blog posts. It was a huge deal!

Fast forward through the internet evolution to where we now have Instagram and Pinterest, two of the most visual content platforms and those two companies are growing. We now have live streaming, heck, back in 2006 YouTube was such a small company and no one really used it then. Now it is not only the third largest search engine, it has billions of views and video. Now we add in live streaming with Periscope and Blab. We are really talking about life changing technologies.

If you have not embraced visual graphics in your content, now is the time to do so. After all, don't you want to have increased chances of people doing business with you?

I am teaching a webinar on December 9, 2015 at 8 p.m. Eastern time where I will show you how you can create effective and engaging graphics in 2 minutes or less. I will also be sharing the list of websites and tools I use to create my graphics fast and easy.

Click here to register for the webinar.

Tips to Create Graphics that will Rock your Social Media postings and blog posts:

1. Take your own photos! Taking your own photos creates original content which of course is good for google spiders to crawl. Original photos that you take are your own creative genius. They don't have to be perfect. You can create your own backgrounds with the photos you take to add your text layers on top of.
2. Break up your content by adding graphics in between your paragraphs to add visual appeal. This keeps the visitors on your page longer. It adds interest to your content. Nothing is more boring than a wall of words.
3. Add text to at least one of your images on each blog post. For most of us, we are not just posting on our blog. After posting to our blog we are then sharing the content across our social media channels.  When you post to Facebook and Pinterest- you will get a lot more interaction if you had text to your images.
4. Use Quotes. People love quotes. People read quotes. And when you have your quote over an image, you will get more interaction and engagement. I will show you a very fast way to do this on the Free Graphics webinar I am hosting on Wednesday December 9,2015.
5. Use Typography to enhance  your textual overlays on your graphics. This adds interest and you can create focus points leading the eye where you want it to go. You don't want to overdo it, so watch your styles and sizes when employing this technique.

I asked permission from copyblogger to use some of their images to show you what effective and engaging graphics look like. Copyblogger gave me permission to exhibit their graphics on my blog.  They have an excellent article about creating graphics for your blog posts.

You will notice in this first image- how the text is set over a background that is not too busy. You don't want your text to compete with the images in your graphic. The man taking the photos is interesting and the detail is intriguing. You want to pay attention to details in your images. This image is watermarked very simply by copyblogger. I also like how the shoulder of the person is over into the red background just a bit. This makes the image flow. Otherwise it can look very amateur.

When you are creating graphics for your blog posts- sometimes you just can't find a good image to match your content or sometimes the post should not have an image. In these cases, you can do some very interesting design on a canvas with text like this one below from copyblogger. Study this graphic to gain some tips into ways you can use typography to arouse interest in what you have to say.

Sometimes you don't want a bunch of people in your graphic but you do want it to be about people. This is a great graphic, again from copyblogger where the handshakes are just enough to get the message across about the importance of having your legal stuff all in order. Again, you see how the transparent overlay of color to hold the text grabs your attention but also looks like it belongs with the image. Taking your background and using your opacity slider in your editor works like magic!

If you are featuring yourself or a guest on your podcast or blog– here is a great way to feature them that is classy and respectful.  Chris Ducker looks great in this image. You want to make sure the image is wide enough for Twitter and Facebook and your blog – so a profile shot of Chris would not work well visually. Copyblogger used the right tonality of color and design to keep your eyes on the image. Human eyes are naturally drawn to other human eyes. You want to draw the audience into the eyes. This graphic does that perfectly.

Creating graphics is easy and fast. There are some very simple and free to low cost tools you can use. The more graphics you create, the faster you get. The best way to save time is to find all your background images first, then pull them all into your editor or software, and then edit them all, then add the text.

I use keynote on my mac to make the fastest images. The images at the top of this blog post- I created in less than 2 minutes each on my mac in keynote. I will be showing you how I do this and more on my webinar:  Create Graphics Fast & Easy to Boost Your Engagement & Rock Your Social Media Posts and Blog Posts. 

If you don't have a mac, don't worry. There are some editing tools you can use online that will also make the process faster.

 

How to Build Your Brand on Facebook without Annoying Your Friends & Family

How to Build Your Brand on Facebook without Annoying Your Friends & Family

This webinar was one of my favorite webinars I attended a few years ago. I am excited to be able to host this webinar training for you.

This webinar is popular and space will fill up fast.

Make sure you register today!

Date:  Wednesday September 2, 2015

Time: 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.  EST

This is a totally FREE webinar. Just bring yourself to a computer near you:).

Register now: : https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/600054441474036481

I am inviting you to hear REALTOR® Shaun Nilsson, the social media expert behind CityBlast walk us through how he used his time-saving secrets to attract new buyers and sellers while NOT annoying the rest of his social media peeps.

This is a 100% FREE workshop. We will show you how to close more real estate deals using only your Facebook while projecting an image of confidence and a seasoned professional.

You will learn how you can outsource this part of your marketing to others and avoid wasting your valuable time each day searching for great content to share.

You will also learn:

• The secret of Inbound Marketing &  how to use it to make more money.
• How a rookie agent used Facebook to close 24 deals in his first year of business with over $165,000 in income.
• How to 100% systemize your Facebook marketing, so you don't have to spend all your time on it.
• What major factor makes Inbound Marketing especially critical for real estate professionals.
• Live Q & A with the expert!

Reserve your space NOW for Wednesday's Totally FREE workshop and start doing more business through your social media.

Register Now: : https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/600054441474036481

 

 

Google Announces They Dropped Rich Snippet Author Images From SERPS

Google Announces They Dropped Rich Snippet Author Images from SERPS 

If you go to the Google Structured Data Testing Tool and add your sites, you will still see a preview of your profile photo but in the search pages we will no longer see our photos pop up. 

Google also dropped our circle counts. This is not just for real estate agents but for every search except we have seen some news media sources still having their logo showing up. 

John Mueller from Google said they did some “experimenting” and “discovered” there was no difference in CTR. Hmmm, that is not what they said before:). Even in the webmasters tools section Google was promoting everyone to do their authorships stating that you would get better CTR. 

Well, of course, you are going to get more clicks on search results with visual images than just text entries. Google is saying that this is being done to make the mobile search experience appear smoother. But then they have said things before that were not really true, so who knows! 

The chatter in the SEO forums and Google + communities is that all of our author images were distracting people from clicking on the ads, the pay per click ads. Some say big brands are complaining their CTR is dropping because searchers are clicking on images of people in organic listings. That does make a lot of sense although it is speculation. 

Whatever their real reasoning is, it is what it is. 

One more reason to understand that internet marketing is constantly changing and we should not ever rely on any one source for all your traffic, clicks or contacts. 

Posterous is Closing Down- Move Your Blogs Now

Posterous is Closing Down on April 30, 2013

We knew that this most likely was coming since Twitter bought Posterous almost a year ago. Most of the chatter around the internet social circles was speculation about why Twitter would want to buy Posterous. Most agree that one of the reasons was the talent of the design team and especially Sachin Argarwal ( CEO and Founder of Posterous) who is now the production manager for Twitter. And why would the production and design team of Posterous be so attractive to Twitter that they would buy Posterous for an undisclosed amount of money? It is most likely the connections Posterous has with Apple. 

Another reason that has been floating around is for Twitter to be able to test ads on Posterous before they roll them out on Twitter. Interest graph advertising is the future of ads and Twitter wants to dish those up for their users. 

So whatever the reason is will reveal itself over the next couple of years. 

For now, if you want to save any of your posts and photos that you have on Posterous you will need to export them before April 30, 2013 because they are shutting down. Posterous is not accepting any new sign ups. I would suggest to export your blogs and photos and then delete your accounts. 

Posterous has an export feature at the top of the page of your Posterous blog. 

This is yet another reason that I keep saying that you need to have your own web real estate! You can not rely soley on other platforms that you don't own because they get sold, the rules change and the landlords change the locks! 

Of course you need to use many of the web based tools, social media, forums and the rest but don't forget to own your own real estate on the internet! 

 

authored by Katerina Gasset

Katerina Gasset- Speaking at REOMAC Dallas April 9-2013

Katerina Gasset- Speaking at REOMAC Dallas April 9- 2013

I will be speaking at REOMAC in Dallas on Tuesday April 9, 2013 from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. 
The topic I am speaking on is:

Top 5 Secrets to Social Media Success- 

Discover how to leverage, maximize and become effective in your Social Media campaigns. There are SO many social networks out there- Google Plus, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest- which ones should you be engaging on? 

Does it feel like there is too much for you to get done in a day and now you have to add on all this social media networking? Don't miss this session-you will walk away with actual proven steps you can take today to manage your social media engagement and become effective.  

If you are going to the REOMAC conference I hope to see you in my session!