Just a note to say that I have installed the Disqus commenting system on this blog. It's got so many advantages over the default system for Weebly. Actually, it's almost a social network in itself. And there are just so many sites that have it installed now. 

It has benefits whether you're a blogger or a commenter. If you're a blog commenter, for example, you can keep track of conversations that you're having on other blogs much better because when people reply to your Disqus comments you get notified so you can reply again or just say thanks.

This doesn't happen on many other systems. Unless you keep going back to every blog you've been commenting on, you're bound to miss some replies to your comments. The bloggers in question may end up thinking you've "dropped the ball", so to speak, or that you were just commenting to drop your link.

If you're blogger it's great too because you can keep out the spam. And you can use it to find many other great blogs through your dashboard ... 

So I'm looking forward to getting more discussion around my posts. This new commenting system will help that. It will also encourage me to do more commenting generally. That's something I've neglected for a long while. Basically, I have only had the time and energy to write posts occasionally here. But I know from experience that commenting on other blogs is probably the best way to get some interaction happening on your own. So I really should get into that. 

My only misgiving is that by installing Disqus I've now erased all the previous comments from the posts. (They haven't been deleted entirely, of course. They're just not visible to readers.) There weren't many, but I feel a bit bad about it because people took the time to offer their thoughts. So, sorry to those people. Please be assured that I did appreciate your contributions. 

Any other bloggers using Disqus? If so, what are your thoughts on it? 

We all know that content is king, and that you should be cranking out as many top notch blog posts as possible. Similarly, you should be actively sharing great content -- both your own and that of other people -- on social networks. And when commenting on these sites offering thoughtful, relevant thoughts is always best. 

There's no doubt that this strategy will be more beneficial than any other. Still, it's hard to keep up those high standards indefinitely. Some days you just don't have the energy to come up with an insightful blog post or offer any helpful tips on Twitter. 

Now, if you feel like that you could just have a break. And you should do that from time to time, of course. But you don't want to make a habit of that. It's really important to keep the momentum up if you can. If you can grab a few minutes to be active on social media it's still worth it, even if what you do is pretty perfunctory. 

Now I'm not recommending being slopping or spammy. I'm just pointing out the fact that merely logging in and liking stuff is bringing you some algorithmic "cool points" -- not to mention keeping your profile in front of your followers. 

Take Linkedin. The groups are a great place to learn and get known by other members. Merely liking some of the content being shared means that your profile photo appears in the side bar for a while. Now if it's a really big group with heaps of members, a few likes in a row might get seen by dozens of people. Before too long hundreds will have seen you this way. Sure enough a certain percentage of those will eventually check out your profile, and a few will even send a connection request. 

That's why it's a also good idea to look at the profiles of others in your niche on Linkedin. They'll get a notification that you did. Some will have a look at you. And some of the ones that have will send you a connection request, particularly if they've seen you elsewhere on the site -- in the groups for example!

Then there's Facebook. If you like another page's updates as your page, your handle is visible. And if a user mouses over it, he gets a preview of your page. So, again, lots of liking -- particularly on busy pages -- gets you seen by many people over the long term. Some are sure to like your page. And even if they don't they still know about you, right?

So, every little bit helps, as they say. Try to engage in some social media activity every day, even if it's just minor stuff. It's still worth it in the long run. 

With Facebook pages and other social media accounts it's important to add lots of content that is very specific to what you do. As well as keeping you appearing in your followers' streams, doing this really really helps you build your authority in your niche. To this end, you want to make this shared content good quality, of course. 

But I don't think it's a good idea to focus too relentlessly on the same topic. You can run out of good stuff apart from anything else. And it can make your stream look uniform. If you only ever share content about blogging and traffic generation for example, well, that can get a little boring.

And you do want your personality to come through, remember. It is social media, after all. You want people to get to know you as a person a bit, and consequently warm to you. 

That's why there's much to be said for including other kinds of content from time to time -- ideally with wide appeal. It's not unlike the 80:20 rule which advises that one fifth of what you share be promotional, and the rest be entertaining, useful or informative.

So, of that non-promotional content, most of it should be niche-specific, of course. But more general stuff adds variety. Wisdom quotes from famous writers and thinkers go really well, for example. No one can deny the insights of great minds, which is why people enjoy them so much. You'll see these all through social media.

Then there are those inspirational quotes that keep you motivated and looking on the bright side. Some influencers on Facebook who use these a lot are Kim Garst, Edmund Lee and Adrienne Smith. It's quite remarkable how much of this kind of content they share. And they wouldn't do it unless it worked!

This kind of stuff goes very well with visual depictions, too. Uplifting quotes combined with appealing images of eagles soaring, flowers in bloom and the like give people a small but undeniable lift. So they get shared a lot.

Of course this approach isn't for everyone. If it's not your thing, then you shouldn't do it. Still, there's much to be learned from this tactic. It's definitely worth pondering what kind of content that you enjoy has wide appeal and can also be expressed visually. It might take a while to work out what that is. But when you do you'll be onto something very useful.