4 tools to connect blog posts to readers

Every day I read outstanding, inspiring blogs by talented bloggers who leave no easy options to share their posts. Part of the magic of blogging is the ability to share what you read with others in your network. When a post is too hard to share or you didn’t see it come by in Twitter or Facebook, you probably won’t share it.

Tweetmeme

Tweetmeme was the first share tool I used on this blog. See the nice little button? When you press the bottom part, it tweets the post out and if you have already done it, it turns to Tweeted on your computer.

Useful for easy Retweets (RT) of your blog posts on Twitter. A blogger can learn who has retweeted the post and expand your network if you wish.  I like the counting function of many of the RT plug-ins.

Topsy

Topsy

When I saw Topsy on Jim Connolly’s blog, I talked to him to learn how it works. Topsy measures how many times a post is Tweeted like Tweetmeme but it also lets you know when you are reading a Top 1K or Top 5K post.

The analytics are a little more detailed and it rewards bloggers for reaching certain levels of being shared depending on how many other popular posts are shared on the same day. New gadgets intrigue me!

Digg Digg

Digg Digg

I had been even more intrigued by Digg-Digg when I saw it on Danny Brown’s blog. I love the way it floats down the page and gives the reader multiple options to share. I had Kim  Woodbridge add it to my blog. I used Topsy as the tweet sharing option.

You can configure Digg Digg with multiple options. Kim set it up the same as Danny’s blog initially. I traded out Tweetmeme for Topsy later and reconfigured it several times. Since I am concerned about speed, I removed it after a testing period.

Sexy Bookmarks

You can find Sexy Bookmarks here too.

Like Digg-Digg, this interactive plug-in lets you share using many different social media tools. The little icons pop up and down as you select one to share. There are so many options you could configure but giving your readers too many options may confuse them and create clutter.

The Sexy Bookmarks plug-in looks like this:

We have become used to the EASY button and when we have to work too hard, we don’t do it.

If you are thinking about blogging, as a job seeker or professional, one of the first steps is decide how to make it easy for others to share your posts. You pick the gadget you like best. But make sure you make it easy to let others share your writing.

Make it easy!

The fun thing about all of these “gadgets” is that the developers provide them free. Donations are welcome for most plug-ins through their developers but all of these are free to use and try!

If you click on the graphics here, I linked them to the sites that will give you more information. Twitter released its own plug-in for retweeting using Twitter.

Choose what works best for you but use something to make it easy to share.

What do you think?