Once you create a new blog post, what is the next thing you should do? Syndicate! Get the news out there to your feeds such as Facebook and Google Plus (and twitter too if you are there!) I find myself often jumping to blog posts to read that I just would not have found any other way.
Now welcome to Craig's Classroom, let me see if I can teach you something new today!
When you post a link to google plus, it offers a "default thumbnail" graphic as well as a snippet of article text which is approximately a couple of sentences long. Have you noticed however, that the default graphic is NOT the right choice for your post? It shows your avatar in most cases. This is NOT the lead-in graphic that you want for your specific post. The article is not about YOU!!
But don't worry, the solution is extremely easy and was hiding right under your nose!
As you hover over the graphic, notice that there are two arrow buttons that let you scroll through other choices for the thumbnail. It will show you the other graphics from your blog post to choose from. You are using nice graphics in your posts aren't you??
Once you have updated your thumbnail, the next thing you should do is put a little extra bait on your hook (we are fishing for readers!). Write a nice little introductory text to get people to want to click to read more!
Now finally, one last thing as more incentive to you. The google plus app on the smartphones was recently updated to a fantastic new interface. It shows the article thumbnails very large (full screen width) and overlays the intro text on top. Now what do you think this feed looks like if you DO NOT change your thumbanails? Well -- have a look below what I'm seeing now. And it is happening with pretty much ALL MY AR BUDDIES. :) (so you aren't alone)
I'm hoping that after you guys read this, the tide will soon turn!
(PS - Facebook thumbnails for your posts has the same principle to apply - however Facebook and AR aren't playing well together at the moment as far as thumbnails - see my related post "Is Facebook Doing This to Your Posts?" for more information how to work around it)
See you on google plus! I hope you learned something new today.
I'm doing my job if so!
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