1. Building a complete profile and online personality helps the community get to know you
2. More users will become fans and follow you when they become interested in who you are as well as your contributions
3. Users will engage with you online more if they see they have things in common with you
4. Helps the Allvoices platform match you with like-minded people

1. Build a complete profile (show your personality and promote yourself)
2. Get your friends, family and colleagues to join Allvoices
3. Encourage people to become your fan and follow you
4. Share your reports (and encourage others to share them)
5. Share your profile page URL/link
6. Encourage people to comment on and contribute to your reports
7. Promote your reports and profile page through viral marketing

You can leverage the Allvoices intelligent platform and profile page features and tabs to host, display and share all your content. The profile page allows you to organize and build a multimedia portfolio. You can also cross-post and add links to your blog or external website.

You can share any report on Allvoices by emailing it to friends or posting it on Digg, Reddit, Facebook and StumbleUpon. On the report page, scroll down below the report text to the Share section then click on the corresponding icon.

The first step is to register for accounts on other sites to promote/share your Allvoices reports. The second step is to browse to become familiar with these sites. Please read the terms and conditions for using these sites.

Under each user report you will find built-in social media tools that enable you to easily promote your content. Click the icons to be directed to the corresponding site

How do I promote on these sites?

Twitter

1. There are two ways to Tweet a report, by integrating your Twitter account with your Allvoices account on your User Profile Page, which automatically Tweets all your reports (or click the blue “Tweet this” button to tweet other user reports), or if you want to Tweet each report manually using the TweetMeme service to connect with Twitter, you will choose the green “tweet” button under the report
2. To automatically connect your Allvoices account with Twitter: Click on your username at top right to access your User Profile Page. Below your profile picture and bio, you will see the Twitter logo and click the link Add Your Twitter Account. Enter your Twitter username and password and click green “Login” button. Your Allvoices account is now connected with Twitter. You only go through this step once and your Twitter account will automatically be connected every time you login to Allvoices and links to your reports will automatically be tweeted each time you post a report
3. 3. To Tweet each report manually, click the green “tweet” button, enter your Twitter username and password, and click “Sign In.” You will be taken to a TweetMeme page, where you can compose your tweet before posting

Facebook

1. Login to your Facebook account (enter username and password and click Login)
2. Post to Profile form will appear that will allow you to post the Allvoices report to your Facebook Wall
3. Add a message in the “What’s on your mind?” box
4. Select the thumbnail image by using right/left arrows or click No Thumbnail checkbox if you don’t wish to post a thumbnail image with the report
5. Click the blue Share button

NOTE: If you registered on Allvoices using the Connect with Facebook option, all of your reports will be automatically posted to Facebook without the need to take the steps outlined above.

Digg

1. Login to Digg (click Login and enter username and password in lightbox)
2. Click Submit New in the upper right
3. Enter the URL of your report page (or report video or image page)
4. Choose the media type
5. Click Continue
6. Enter a title and short description
7. Choose a thumbnail image (if one is available)
8. Choose a topic
9. Preview
10. Enter the captcha image
11. Click Submit Story

Reddit

1. Under search reddit, login by entering your username and password
2. Click login
3. Click Submit a link in the upper right
4. Enter URL and title
5. Choose a category in the drop-down menu: reddit.com (main) or subreddit category
6. Click submit

StumbleUpon

1. Sign in to StumbleUpon
2. Click Add this toolbar in the upper right to download the StumbleUpon toolbar
   Note: Promote news you like from other sites so you're not banned for submitting only content from Allvoices. Also, only promote 1-2 Allvoices reports per day.
3. When you want to promote one of your Allvoices reports, make sure you're signed into the StumbleUpon and see the toolbar
4. Go to your report page
5. Click I like it! on the StumbleUpon toolbar
6. A StumbleUpon window will appear within your browser window
7. The title will be automatically filled in
8. Enter your review (i.e. comment on the news)
9. Click a topic
10. Enter tags (it doesn't allow you to copy and paste tags however)
11. Click No if it's not adult content
12. Click Submit the Site

NOTE: The system will check for similar or duplicate submissions.

The traditional news industry is changing dramatically and more people than ever are reading news and opinion on Allvoices which creates opportunities for writers to build reputation, credibility and make money. However, it is important to optimize your content for search engines if you want your material to be noticed and read because the Internet is cluttered with information.

The following guidelines explain how to write content on Allvoices that will be found on the Internet which will help writers get the most exposure and benefit for their work.

Overview

• The majority of the traffic to your News Story will come from search engines and the Allvoices community.
• If the public can’t find your content online, it won’t get read (no matter how well-written) so you need to help your content get noticed so it doesn’t get lost in cyberspace.
• Apply Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to your content. Write content using SEO methods (e.g. with keywords, tags) so the Allvoices news analysis engine and search engines like Google can determine what your content is about.
• Once a search engine understands what your content is, it can deliver it to the right audience.
• A quality and keyword-rich Headline and News Story is extremely important to achieve a high ranking. Your content needs to appear (i.e. get ranked) on the 1st or 2nd page of search results to get noticed.
• The Internet is constantly evolving so stay up to date.

Key Principles for Writing on Allvoices

1. Write Quality Content

• You will enhance your reputation and credibility by writing quality News Stories that include solid research and adequate information that is clearly presented for readers to easily understand.
• Reader will follow writers they like and subjects that interest them. If you have a good reputation and solid credibility, your momentum and fans will increase (i.e. more of your content will be read and fans might sign up for your RSS feed to be notified about your latest News Stories).
• If you write quality content, other writers or editors (inside or outside the Allvoices community) looking for details related to a topic might link to your News Story which will increase the exposure, page views and earnings for your work.

2. Use Straightforward and Keyword-Rich Headlines

• Using search-friendly Headlines is critical to writing on Allvoices and for the Internet.
• It is essential that your Headline clearly states what the article is about and aligns directly with your content. The more exact and literal your Headline is (i.e. not splashy or vague), the more readers will appreciate being directed to the desired info.
• Create a Headline that reflects exactly what a person would enter into a search field. Search engines will rank a Headline higher if it matches the search phrase.
• People use search fields and Internet search engines to find specific information. If your Headline doesn’t contain that information (i.e. the search terms), it won’t be found.
• The words that people type into a search field determine the choices that appear in the results. Readers will click on Headlines that closely resemble what they searched for.
• For example, if you write about reducing your carbon footprint, it is extremely important to include “reducing carbon footprint” in your Headline and in the first paragraph of your News Story. News Stories with these terms will appear in the search results, but News Stories that contain the words/phrase the most will rank the highest.

Example of a Headline that doesn’t contain keywords or align with the New Story:

Example of a good Headline for this New Story:

3. Use Keyword Phrases Often & Effectively

• Choose strong keywords before you start to write.
• The keyword terms from your Headline should appear within the first 250 words (i.e. in the first or second sentence of your article).
• A 3-keyword phrase is ideal. Using just one keyword is rarely effective.
• For example, if you write about the human genome project, use the entire 3-word phrase often. People interested in reading about this topic will likely type “human genome project” into the Allvoices search field or in a search engine to find information on it.
• Use the keyword terms from your Headline throughout your News Story, links, and tags.v
• Without sacrificing grammar or quality, use keywords several times in a sentence or paragraph to enhance the keyword density.
• For example, "There is growing scientific evidence proving blueberries are an important part of a healthy diet because blueberries contain high levels of antioxidants which are thought to help protect the body against the damaging effects of free radicals and the aging process.”
• The more you use the keyword phrase(s), the more search engines will recognize your content as they crawl the web and will consider your article more relevant to the top which results in a higher ranking.
• Strive to use 5-7 keywords and/or keyword phrases per 100 words of text.
• Use keywords intelligently, no abusively. Repetitive keywords without substance might be considered spam, and a search engine might penalize your content for this (i.e. it will get ranked very low).
• Use synonyms to expand search matches. For example, if your topic is humor, use alternative words for humor such as laughter, wit or satire.

Keyword Examples (used in the first paragraph):

4. Always Add Tags

• Always add tags to a News Story, image, video and related news.
• Use the keywords from your Headline and in your News Story and add them as tags to your News Story (i.e. use the same/consistent keywords).
• Use the keywords from your Headline and in News Story and add them as tags to your image(s), video(s) and related news.

5. Using Trending Keywords

• Try to use the least competitive terms that are relevant to your topic but that command the most traffic.
• Google Insights for Search is a free and useful tool to find out how strong your keywords are. Type in your chosen keywords, and you can filter them by date to see the trend to see which keywords are causing the biggest increases in traffic volume.
• Google Insights for Search can also show you category trends (filtered by date or region) and show top & rising search terms in those categories.
• If you’re looking for a topic, Google Trends shows “Hot Topics” and “Hot Searches” (i.e. what the public is currently searching for the most).
• Write about topics you know something about. If you have expertise on a hot topic or search, then share it and use the words the crowds are using to discuss the story.
• Avoid writing about unfamiliar subjects even if they’re hot topics/searches.
• Check out trends on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
• See how your topic is being described on social media sites (i.e. what words, Headlines, etc. are people using on the topic).

6. Link Content to Related News Stories

• Link related news stories to a certain topic together so readers will click to find your News Story. This will increase your page views and earnings as well as enhance readers’ interactive experience and give them access to related material.
• Embed links (hyperlinks) into words or phrases within a sentence, Headlines, or at the end of your News Story.
• Link to your New Story or other articles with keyword anchor text rather than exposed URLs. Anchor text is the visible hyperlinked text on the page.