Here’s a quick tip you can implement in just a couple of minutes time that will help you get more of your readers to share your blog posts on social media websites and send more traffic your way…
Your Turn!
What are your favorite plugins or services for adding sharing buttons to your website?
Do you find yourself more likely to share when you see those little buttons visually reminding you to share, and making it easy?
Spread the Love
Denys Kelley says
Keep it simple! YES! Love it when a blog has made it easy for me to share their stuff! Whooo woo!
Michelle Shaeffer says
Me too, Denys! :)
Melissa Miller Young says
Love this! I had never thought of the sidebar share option, downloading and installing now!
Michelle Shaeffer says
Cool. Enjoy the new plugin, Melissa.
Adalia John says
It’s all about making it easy for your visitors to do “stuff.” From sharing to commenting and anything else you want them to do. I had the side bar and I disabled it because it wasn’t visible. I even hired a developer to edit the code to make it visible and he couldn’t do anything with it. I observed that your sidebar doesn’t follow the visitor (thank you very much) and it moves towards the right when you put the mouse on it. Your sidebar makes it easy for your visitors to share without being annoying. Did you edit the code?
Michelle Shaeffer says
Hey Adalia, nope I didn’t edit the code but I did have to try a few to find one I liked. Digg Digg, Sharebar, Get Social are three options to look at.
I haven’t seen it moving right so it might be a browser specific thing. :)
Alex Navas says
Great stuff Michelle. I love your great ideas on getting comments. That’s been one of the biggest challenges about blogging for me.
Love the helpful tips.
Michelle Shaeffer says
Thanks, Alex. Glad they were helpful. :)
Alyssa says
I’d like to know the FOR SURE name of that sidebar plugin, pretty please?
Michelle Shaeffer says
LOL It’s Get Social. I was running Sharebar and it works really well, too, as does Digg Digg. I’ve just been playing with the different floating plugins.
Amy Putkonen says
That is great. The KISS method works! Every time!
Michelle Shaeffer says
Sometimes simplicity really IS the key to success. :)
Alexis says
My good friend Laura Hill just recommended your site on FB – probably used one of your handy sharing buttons to do so ;)
I haven’t found my readers sharing much because, I believe, they aren’t using a lot of these tools (twitter, stumble, etc.) in general. For example I also use CommentLuv premium and almost none of my commenters are bloggers. But I’m totally going to steal your “pin this” button idea because lots of my Mom readers are avid Pinterest users and I had never considered explicitly telling them to pin stuff. Thanks for the tip!
Michelle Shaeffer says
Hey Alexis, glad you stopped by! :)
That’s definitely worth noticing — you’ve got to know where your ideal readers are hanging out online and where your existing readers are on social networks. That’s one reason I’ve got choices for sharing here limited to just a few networks.
This is the Pinterest plugin I’ve been using: http://pinbuttonattraction.com/
Deanie Humphrys-Dunne says
Thank you for all the helpful hints, Michelle. I can’ t use all of them yet because I don’t have a website, but I”m featured on many author websites, since I’ve written 4 children;s books.
Michelle Shaeffer says
Time to get your website online, Deanie! A simple WordPress website would be a great way to feature your books and link to the places that have featured you. :)
Robbie Schlosser says
Thanks, Michelle.
Simple — great advice!
• Make it worth sharing!
• Make sharing easy!
• Ask for the SHARE!
One more comment: With “DiggDigg” floating on the left, it’s wise to create a left margin, so the plugin won’t obscure some of your text. Right?
Sara says
Thank you for this! I wondered how to implement sharing buttons, bars, etc., and now I can go get some for my blog!
Peace,
Sara
Carolyn says
Hi Michelle, Great video! I agree, sharing is caring and the easier you can make sharing, the better for you and for your readers.
I have just started using Share Juice as my sharing plugin and really like the functionality of it. You can do both a sharing sidebar and buttons on the bottom and top from one plugin.
Off to share this post!
Debra Seiling says
Dear Michelle,
I was really impressed with your tip about how to get more people to share our blogs. I’m going to see if I can find buttons that aren’t too technical to add to my blogs. Thanks so much, Debra Seiling
Suzanne says
Keeping things simple is the key to getting things done. If we over complicate or make things too difficult we can confuse readers so much that they do nothing. I added “Add this” to my blog- what I love about it is that it shows the number of shares and it emails analytics weekly.
Debra Seiling says
Thanks for the tips. I’ve incorporated a couple of them, but wanted to re-watch the video to see if I need to do something additional. Debbie Seiling