At Paper.li, our mission is to make the discovery of great content as seamless as possible for you. We know you like keeping your fingers on the pulse and unfortunately, time is often of the essence.
We totally understand and don’t want you to miss out, so, we thought it’d be nice to assist you with that.
Starting today, we are adding a new type of roundup to the blog — a curated series of must-read posts from around the web.
I hope you will enjoy my picks!
Embracing a Slow User Experience (Confluent Forms)
These days, brands and marketers are continously told that consumers have very short attention spans and that they must deliver the goods within a few seconds to avoid people from leaving their websites. Their solution is often to plaster pages with pop-ups and other lead-capture tools.
But, what if those tools were responsible for negatively impacting the reader experience and creating shallower user engagement? That is actually what David Kutcher thinks.
Welcome to the Slow Web, a phrase that “describes a feeling we get when we consume certain web-enabled things, be it products or content.” Examples include long-form (deeper) content and pages with limited distraction and optimal presentation.
David sees a Slow Page as a relaxing and annoyance-free experience for a reader — just like what you would find at a restaurant that serves five-course meals. The reward? The full attention of your visitor.
“You want to leave them alone as much as possible to enjoy their meal, and only once they’re done, lead them onward to other pages or calls to action.”
This article is a much-needed invitation to change the way we design websites and write posts. Read it here.
How I Create A Bangin’ Infographic That Gets 1000 Shares (Twelveskip)
Members of the #BizHeroes community often talk about the importance of visual content. Whether it’s videos, graphics, slides, or infographics, it is clear that you have all embraced those formats and are reaping important benefits.
Infographics, in particular, seem to have hit the jackpot. They are everywhere these days because of their huge virality potential.
For virality to happen, though, three concepts must meet and mingle: creativity, entertainment, and good design. In a nutshell, “You need to make sure that [your infographics] don’t suck,” says Pauline Cabrera.
Interested in getting started with infographics or improving your skills? Pauline’s article is a great start. She highlights all the things you need to know to design eye-catching masterpieces.
The tips that resonate the most with me are the following:
- #3: Limit the size of your infographic
- #4: Take advantage of whitespace
- #8: Let your uniqueness shine
There are 12 tips in total, each sprinkled with awesome examples and useful resources.
Read the article here.
A Closer Look at Making Great Pins and Boards (Pinterest)
Pinterest is part of the in-group of major platforms. Its growth has been hailed as phenomenal by many. With 65% of visual learners among consumers, it’s hardly surprising.
With that said, pinning for the sake of pinning alone will never bring you any real success. You have to understand how to make your pins and boards engaging and attractive. You will find the answers in Liz Xiao’s post.
For example, did you know that tall pins look better?
Well, come to think of it, that makes total sense: 75% of all traffic to Pinterest now comes from mobile devices.
Read the post here.
10 Little-Known Strategies to Make Your ‘Most Popular Posts’ Work Even Harder For You (Smart Passive Income)
Last week, the topic of our #BizHeroes chat was content creation on low budget. During the discussion, I linked to an article by Pat Flynn that I feel is worth another mention.
If you have never read anything from the Internet marketer, you should start with this one. It delves in depth into some techniques that will allow you to stretch content as far as possible.
Some, you probably already know and use, like including opt-in forms within content or creating infographics / slideshares / videos out of your posts. But have you ever thought of adding them to a resource page or sharing success stories related to your most popular articles?
Read everything here.
How I helped take a startup from 0 to 40M+ pageviews and got it acquired by Google (The Next Web)
Dmitry Dragilev is a serial entrepreneur. The founder of Criminally Prolific also runs JustReachOut. His claim to fame? Helping Polar, a service that allows users to create visual polls for websites and apps, get acquired by Google…
…by only pitching to the media!
In this article, he shares the step-by-step process he followed to get the attention of big publications. From research tips to pitch examples and useful resources, there are takeaways in every paragraph.
My favorite is this one: “The goal is to pitch to only relevant people who would find your content valuable.”
Read the post here.
Additional reading: What Every Blogger Wishes You Knew About Pitching Them by Mack Collier (MackCollier.com)
Why Introverts Excel At Personal Branding (Forbes)
Maintaining a personal brand is fun and challenging at the same time. Fun, because you get to share your story at your own pace and build direct relationships with your audience. It also takes courage to expose your work to the world, especially if you are an introvert.
However, as William Arruda states in his article, “There is no-one-size-fits-all approach to personal branding. No matter where you are on the introversion/extroversion scale, your success lies at the intersection of what you do best and how you personally like to make things happen.”
Success is not the privilege of a few. With social media, the playing field is levelled. We all have a chance, at an individual level, to make a big splash. So, don’t let your introversion rule the outcome of your career.
How? Read the rest of the article to learn four important reasons.
Our Most Visited Articles in March
- Top 8 Social Media Plugins for Your Blog or Website
- 6 Social Media Campaigns You Can Learn from in 2015
- Start Giving Back to Your Twitter Audience With These Tips
- Brands: This Is What the Millennials Want from You
- Opportunities in Big Data
- Creative Content: Top 10 Stop Motion Videos on YouTube
See you next Monday for a roundup of savvy tips for the #BizHeroes community!
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Personally, I love the infographics way. This is due to people love facts, figures and statistics. Add some compelling images and graphics and voila, you have addictive content that audiences are keen to read.
In a world where online publishing is now visible at the push of a button, infographics can provide global coverage that local print media could never do.