In this article I’ll reveal some of the social media techniques I used to get thousands of people excited enough about my new book Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition that they shared it with friends and peers.

By the way, you don’t need to have a book to benefit from these tactics.

Why Social Media for Books?

Back in the old days, book promotion heavily relied on the traditional press. I remember the challenge of promoting my first book (Writing White Papers) back in 2006. I had to work with journals and print magazines—and their long editorial cycles. I also needed to speak at physical events and perform many other time-consuming tasks.

The success of a book promotion hinged on getting it reviewed by the “right publications.”

This typically meant spending thousands of dollars on PR firms who had established contacts with elite publications and creating press releases that hopefully caught the eyes of editors. Not to mention a lot of prayer.

Today, authors have an amazing advantage. Not only are there millions of bloggers whose collective audience is larger and more engaged than that of the traditional press, there are also millions of consumers who are one click away from sharing your work with their friends on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Power to the people!

If you can make it easy for people to share and get excited about your book, you won’t need to spend big bucks or hope you make the list of some old newspaper that no-one really reads anymore.

Below I’ll share the techniques I used to help my book go viral with social media.

#1: Embed a Retweet button in a free chapter of the book

Everyone loves a free sample. In my case, I gave away the first chapter of my book as an immediately accessible PDF. I included a Retweet button in strategic locations in the chapter. This allowed people who loved what they read to easily share it with friends on Twitter.

I included the above button on the dedication page of the free chapter and the final page of the PDF, enabling people to share the free chapter on Twitter.

When someone clicks on the Retweet button, it populates a precrafted tweet that says: “I’m reading @mike_stelzner‘s new book: Launch! Get the 1st chapter free here: http://bit.ly/kipZZK.”

Within the first two weeks of the launch of my book, more than 27,000 people clicked on that link!

Here's how the link looked on Twitter.

Click here for an article on how to add Retweet buttons to PDFs.

#2: Create a “Spread the Word” page

To help things spread via social media, you need to make it easy for people. I created a special page on our book promo site called “Spread the Word.”

This page contains a short letter from me asking for people’s help. On the page I include some prefabricated tweets that people can share with the click of a button, as well as instructions on how to share the book on Facebook and LinkedIn.

A clearly visible link on my book page encourages people to help get the word out via social channels.

When I sent emails to my list about the book, I always included a P.S. that said something like: “I’d love your help spreading the word about Launch! Click here to find out how you can help.”

#3: Design a Facebook photo contest

There’s nothing like a fun and friendly competition to get people excited about your book. And there’s no better platform than Facebook to get things rolling.

About two weeks before the book launched, we worked with the fine folks at Strutta to develop a photo contest. The premise was simple, yet creative. We called it the Help Me Launch photo contest.

All participants needed to do was take a creative photo with the words “Help Me Launch.”

We had only 50 Facebook fans when we started the promotion, but that quickly grew to more than 1000! More than 70 people submitted creative photos that caused a viral storm.

Here's the grand prize winner, Ken Sehres from http://855donttext.com/.

#4: Organize a Top 50 Bloggers promotion

Bloggers are the new press. Engage them and watch what happens.

I crafted a post called How Bloggers Can Use Book Reviews to Connect With Experts a month prior to my book’s launch.

In the post I made the case why bloggers should do book reviews and included tips on how to do them.

Near the end of the post I asked, “Want a chance to review a new book?” I explained, “I’m inviting up to 50 bloggers to review my new book on their blog and receive an extra copy they can give away to their readers. Here’s how you could win two free copies of my book…” I went on to explain the application process and how I would select the winners.

I created a contest where bloggers applied to be selected to review my book.

More than 120 bloggers applied to do reviews. We selected the 50 winners and mailed two books, along with instructions on how to create the review.

This technique created a lot of exposure because each blogger created multiple posts about the book. They wrote about how they were giving away the extra copy of the book and also wrote book reviews.

We added an extra incentive by mentioning we’d pick one of the 50 bloggers to write a book review column for Social Media Examiner.

This idea came from a discussion with my friend Jay Baer, co-author of The Now Revolution.

#5: Broadcast live videos with experts

Our launch date for the book was June 6 (the first day people could order the book on Amazon). I invited three experts to special live broadcasts using TinyChat.com. Mari Smith, Jay Baer and Joe Pulizzi each joined me for one hour live.

I interviewed experts for three hours, sharing their knowledge with viewers.

To promote the event, we wrote a blog post entitled Want to Grow a Loyal Fan Base? Four Experts Tell You How where we revealed how the event would work.

During the interviews, we talked about subjects related to the book, but did not overtly pitch the book. Rather this became a fun and educational activity that was valuable for all attendees.

#6: Add social share buttons

Adding social share buttons to your page is a powerful marketing tool for two reasons. First, these buttons allow people to easily share your page on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Equally important, they also provide powerful social proof to first-time visitors to your page. When someone sees that hundreds of people have shared your book with their peers, it triggers the thought, “maybe I should closely examine what’s here,” in the minds of visitors.

I added social share buttons to the top of my book page as seen here.

The cool news is you can embed these buttons on any page! Click here for the Facebook Like button, here for the TweetMeme Retweet button and here for the LinkedIn Share button.

#7: Add Facebook Comments

Facebook allows you to add a commenting system to any web page! This is very effective because you can make a book page look like a blog.

What’s amazing about the Facebook Comments system is it allows you to change your personality. For example, I could easily reply with my personal identity or my Facebook page brand. I selected to always use my Launch Facebook page to help grow a following there.

The Facebook Comments technology makes it easy for people to leave comments on any page and allows you to reply as your Facebook page.

#8: Leverage photos on Facebook

Photos are more likely to make their way into your Facebook fans’ news feeds. A fun way to get people talking about your book is to take a screen shot of something exciting and share it on Facebook.

For example, when my book became both #1 and #2 on Amazon’s hot new releases in the Sales and Marketing category (due to the print and Kindle versions), I took a screen shot and shared it with our fans on our Facebook page.

This created a great response including both congratulations and glowing endorsements from folks who were reading the book. It also was widely viewed by our fans.

By simply posting an image on our Facebook page, it was widely viewed and commented on.

#9: Create fun videos

There’s no better way to build a connection with people than video. I decided it would be fun to “share a special moment” with my fans.

I located a store in my area that had my book in stock. Then I took a video (with my kids) showing my response to finding the book.

.

This video was fun to create and showed my personal side by getting my family involved. I posted the video on Facebook for my fans to see.

I also signed a copy of the book and shared that there was one autographed book waiting for the first lucky person who got into the store. To my surprise, the person who purchased the book (Stephanie Nivinskus) took a photo and posted it up on Facebook!

A fan shares how she discovered my signed book in a Barnes and Noble.

So there you have it!

With a little bit of creativity, you can do some amazing things with social media. You no longer need to rely on the traditional press to successfully launch a book (or any product).

What do you think? Have you used any similar techniques to promote a book (or other product)? Please share your comments below. I’d love to hear from you.

Image: Flickr

Are you a blogger? Using WordPress?  This article contains a number of powerful plugins that will take your blog to the next level.

Blogging and Social Media?

Where does blogging fit into your social media mix? Many people I encounter still haven’t taken the time to start a blog for their business.  I’ve heard many different reasons for not having a business blog—from not having enough time to insecurity about writing style.

Blogging should be one of the cores of your business. It should be right in the middle of your social media mix—the bulls-eye, the main target.

It’s important to note that your blog is the hub into which all of your social media networks feed for optimal exposure. Some people feel overwhelmed by the notion of starting and maintaining a blog, so below I discuss 11 essential WordPress plugins to get your blog off to a racing start.

Before I share this list, I want to demystify the #1 procrastination of those who haven’t started their business blog: I am NOT a writer!

Yes, it’s important to check your grammar and spelling; however, blogging is about sharing your knowledge. You have specific knowledge in your particular niche that your customers need to know. If you feel insecure about your writing style, be sure to keep your eyes on the top bloggers in your industry. As you read other blogs, learn from their style and don’t be afraid to have your own voice.

Now, on to 11 WordPress plugins that will get your blog off to a great start:

#1: SEO Friendly Images

SEO Friendly Images is a WordPress optimization plugin which automatically updates all images with proper ALT and TITLE attributes. This plugin improves traffic from search results.  Images are great for your blog and it is so easy to shorten the actual name of the image file as you upload it. I have had 60% more traffic to my blog just by naming my image files with keywords.

#2: Platinum SEO Pack

Platinum SEO plugin is the ultimate WordPress SEO solution.  Platinum SEO plugin offers all the features of All in One SEO plugin plus more. Here are a few key features:

• Optimized Post and Page Titles for search engines
• Generates all SEO-relevant META tags automatically
• Helps you avoid duplicate content

#3: Google XML Sitemaps

Google XML Sitemaps plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog. Additionally, it notifies all major search engines every time you create a post with new content.

#4: Akismet

Akismet is a collaborative effort to make comment and trackback spam a non-issue and restore innocence to blogging, so you never have to worry about spam again.

#5: Contact Form

Contact Form is a great choice if you value simplicity and flexibility. It provides a form on your website as an easy way for your readers to contact you. It allows you to customize the form and mail settings. You can manage multiple contact forms as well.

#6: TweetMeme Retweet Button

TweetMeme Retweet Button is for website and blog publishers who want to encourage their audience to share their content on Twitter. The button shows a live count of the number of times your web page or blog post has been tweeted.

#7: Yet Another Related Post

Yet Another Related Post gives you a list of posts and/or pages related to the current entry based on a unique algorithm for display on your blog and RSS feeds, introducing the reader to other relevant content on your site.

#8: Sexy Bookmarks

Sexy Bookmarks, though the name may be a little “edgy” for some, has proven time and time again to be an extremely useful and successful tool in getting your readers to actually submit your articles to numerous social bookmarking sites.

#9: CommentLuv

CommentLuv is a plugin that gives something back to your community straight away by including a titled link for readers’ last blog post or tweet on the end of their comment. It’s a great way to encourage comments on your blog.

#10: Broken Link Checker

Broken Link Checker checks your posts for broken links and missing images and notifies you on the dashboard if any are found. Obviously you don’t want your readers to be annoyed by clicking a link that leads nowhere.

#11: WordPress Mobile Edition

WordPress Mobile Edition is a plugin that shows an interface designed for visitors who come to your site on a mobile device. Mobile browsers are automatically detected and the list of mobile browsers can be customized on the settings page. More and more people are accessing the Internet via their mobile devices, so you should make sure your blog is mobile-ready.

Other Plug Ins

There are thousands upon thousands of different WordPress plugins, but keep in mind that depending on your theme, certain plugins may not work well with other plugins. It is highly recommended to install plugins one at a time to make sure there are no issues with the presentation of your blog design.

For example, the Disqus Commenting System is another great plugin, but it conflicted with my blog design and didn’t work properly. After adjusting some programming code, this plugin is now working properly on my blog. I love this threaded commenting system that allows me to interact with my readers in a more seamless manner.

For further reading, Top 10 Easy Steps to Start a Business Blog is another great resource here on Social Media Examiner to get you started in the right direction for your business blog. It is vital to know your ideal reader, your core message and your business objectives, among many other things shared in this article.

This is just the start for your WordPress blog. Keep in mind that providing excellent content is the most important factor in the success of your blog.

Which WordPress plugins are you using to help to build community, optimize search engine results and increase viral potential? Let us know in the comments.

After all, without a steady stream of traffic to your blog, there’s little opportunity to engage your audience and convert readers to raving fans.

Methods change and evolve over time. When I wrote my first “how to drive traffic” post about five years ago, the list looked a lot different. There was no Twitter, no Facebook, no social sharing buttons, and no retweet button.

Yet some methods I advocated back in 2005 still work, so think of this as a refresher if you’re already employing all the social tactics for driving traffic.  You would be surprised at how many people don’t actually take the time to implement a variety of tactics. Maybe you can pick up a few new ideas or implement some old ideas you may have overlooked.

This list is in no way complete. I invite you to add your favorite tips in the comment section.

First, the tried and true:

#1: Publish as frequently as possible

The more frequently you post, the more traffic you get because the search engines are indexing your content more frequently. Of course your content has to be compelling as well, but that goes without saying, right?

#2: Pay attention to the headlines (blog post titles)

Using numbers (see title of this blog post!) usually generates good traffic. Titles with “how to” also attract a lot of traffic.

#3: Send an email broadcast

Send email to your list when you have a great blog post you want to share. Ask for comments to encourage engagement and interaction.

#4: Add a link in your email signature

If you use web-based email like Gmail, add WiseStamp to your email signature so you can include links to your blog. Add your blog’s RSS feed so your recent posts are always featured in your emails. WiseStamp works with web-based email services including Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo mail and AOL.

WiseStamp adds all your links to your email signature and is simple to install and edit.

#5: Include multiple subscription options on your blog

Most blog platforms have RSS feeds built in, but don’t forget to add an email subscription option as well. Email is ubiquitous and if you only offer RSS, you lose a huge opportunity for people to get your content and become regular readers. Email subscription services include Feedburner, Feedblitz and AWeber, to name a few.

Give your readers multiple options for getting your blog updates.

#6: Try article marketing

Article marketing is a powerful way to attract traffic. Post your articles at EzineArticles.com and include a link to your blog in your author resource box. Also set up your author account to automatically send a tweet when you post new articles. That drives traffic to your article which drives traffic back to your blog.

#7: Comment on blogs in your industry

This is all about outreach and boosting your visibility on complementary blogs. Target influential blogs, read them on a regular basis and then contribute to the conversation as appropriate. When you comment, you have the option to include the URL to your blog.

#8. Do some guest posting

Writing on other people’s blogs can introduce you to a new audience and create a surge of new traffic to your blog. You can find more information and a great resource for getting guest posting gigs here.

#9: Conduct surveys and polls

People love to give their opinion. Use Polldaddy or SurveyMonkey to ask your readers what they want or get their opinion. More often than not, those who respond will help spread the word, especially if you ask and/or offer a gift in exchange.

#10: Submit your blog to directories

While it’s debatable how much traffic you’ll get by having your blog in directories, it can’t hurt to be listed. Most definitely I would recommend you add your blog to Technorati, the largest blog directory on the web, and Alltop.com, a popular directory with the best of the best organized by topic.

Now the social media tips:

#11: Make a Google profile

You can’t ignore Google. Set up your profile on Google and include links to your blogs and websites. Whenever someone does a search on your name, a link to your profile will be featured at the bottom of the first page of search results. You can include pictures, links to your blog(s), products, website, and social networks.

Build your profile on Google.com/profiles with links to your blogs.

#12: Syndicate to Twitter

Use a plug-in like Twitter Tools (WordPress) or an application like Twitterfeed.com to syndicate your new posts to your Twitter stream. Hootsuite, the Twitter management tool, also offers this function. TypePad has this option built into the platform as well.

#13: Syndicate to Facebook

Use the Facebook Notes application to pull your blog feed into your profile and/or fan page.

#14: Syndicate to LinkedIn

You can add three URLs (make sure one is your blog!) to your LinkedIn profile, as well as syndicate your content with the Blog Link application.

#15: Use Hootsuite

Use Hootsuite if you have multiple blogs to syndicate your new content to multiple platforms including your Twitter accounts, Facebook profile and fan page, LinkedIn and Ping.fm to broadcast to more sites for even greater reach.

#16: Distribute your video

Distribute your videos on all the video sharing platforms. Include a link back to your blog home page or specific blog posts that are relevant to the content in your video. TubeMogul is a free site where you can upload your video once and it will be published on up to 20 video platforms including YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv, and more.

Distribute your video to many sites with Tubemogul.com

#17: Add the retweet button to your posts

Grab the plug-in or the code from Tweetmeme and make it super simple for your readers to click and share with their networks.

#18: Consider share buttons

There are many plug-ins and add-ons to add buttons to your blog that make it easy for readers to share your content on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc. Find the style that suits you and add it to the footer of your blog posts. The popular plug-in used on this site is Sexy Bookmarks.

#19: Use social bookmarking

Use sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicious to share your content. When you have a particularly great post, ask your readers to help you out with bookmarking. Don’t overdo it, but if you think your post deserves some additional attention, don’t be afraid to ask.

OK, your turn. Are you using any of these tips with success? I know there are at least 100 more ways to drive traffic to your blog.  Please add your tips to the list by commenting below.

Did you know you can add retweet buttons inside your PDF files?  The benefit: readers can effortlessly share your great work with their Twitter followers—just by clicking a button in your PDF file.

Below I lay out how to do this in six simple steps.  By the way, if you like this article, please click the retweet button you see above.

How it Works

If you have white papers, ebooks or reports, then you’ll want to add embedded retweet buttons inside your PDF files.  As readers discover your valuable PDF document, they simply click a retweet button within the PDF file.  The result: a message is sent to their Twitter followers pointing them to your document (can you say viral marketing?).

The retweet button allows any reader to easily post a tweet into his or her Twitter account.  And it’s not just any tweet, but one that’s prefabricated by you and links back to the original landing page where your document resides.

Here’s an example:

Note that I precrafted the above tweet.  The only steps readers need to take are clicking the retweet button in the PDF file and then clicking the update button in Twitter (see above image).  If a reader is not logged into Twitter, it still works.  The reader simply is prompted to login and then your tweet is populated into the “What are you doing” field as shown above.

Why You Should Create Retweet Buttons in PDF Files

Because of their portable nature, PDFs are often downloaded to readers’ desktops. In addition, PDF files can be easily emailed to people, or posted in forums or on other websites.

Because a PDF file can float around, the promotional options typically found on your landing page (like a retweet button) are not available to someone who only has the file.  So it’s important to provide your readers a simple way to share your great document with their fans. And that’s precisely where the PDF retweet button comes in handy.

A few benefits of having a retweet button in your PDF file include:

• Empowers readers to easily share your PDF with their fans
• Allows readers to show their appreciation of your work by simply clicking a button
• Provides steady streams of traffic to your PDF file (because as people discover the file, they will retweet it if they like the content)
• Allows you to know precisely who is sharing your document (for marketing engagement)

And I’m sure there are tons of other benefits.

6 Steps to Creating a Retweet Button in Your PDF File

Step 1: Create a Retweet Graphic and Put it in Your Document

You will need to create a little graphic you can place in your original document.  If you have access to a designer, you’ll want to create something really simple that says “Retweet this.”  I might suggest you place a blue bird on the graphic to give a visual signal to Twitter users.

Or, you can just swipe the one my designer created (see below):

You’ll need to place this image in your original source file.  So if you’ve created your document in Microsoft Word, you’ll want to pick some strategic locations to place the image.  I suggest placing the retweet image in more than one location.

In my Social Media Marketing Industry Report, I placed the retweet image in three locations: pages 2, 5 and 25.

Step 2: Create a Tracking URL That Links to the Document Landing Page

You need a permanent home for your PDF file—one where Twitter fans can go to locate the document.  For example, http://www.whitepapersource.com/socialmediamarketing/report/ is the resting place for my Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

I recommend it be a landing page that links to the actual PDF file, NOT a link that sends people directly to the PDF file.  A real landing page (like the link you see above) provides you the benefit of explaining what the document is all about.  In addition, you can add videos, comments and other features to that landing page which will encourage people to engage.

So once you have the actual URL for the landing page, the next step is to use a URL shortener.  These services will take your long URL and create a short one.  Look for one that also does marketing tracking.

Two I suggest are http://bit.ly and http://cli.gs.  I am a fan of bit.ly because it provides real-time click data, is able to tell what parts of the world people are clicking from and also tracks social media conversations tied to your bit.ly URL (see image below).

This image shows some of the intelligence bit.ly provides based on click-through data.

Step 3: Write Your Tweet

Now that you have a shortened tracking URL, go ahead and craft a compelling tweet for your PDF document.  Here are a few tips:

• Keep it simple. Try to keep the total length to 120 characters or fewer (ideally 100).  This allows Twitter folks to add comments or content to the tweet.
• Consider using a hashtag for tracking purposes.  You can simply go to http://search.twitter.com and search for “#yourtag” (where you replace ‘yourtag’ with a series of unique letters).  For example, we used “#smreport” for the Social Media Marketing Industry Report.  This allowed us to easily track the number of retweets by simply searching Twitter with the hashtag.
• Use your Twitter ID: If you want to grow your following, consider using your Twitter ID in your tweet.  I used @Mike_Stelzner in my example, to help grow a following.  A few conventions here include adding ‘via @YourName’ to the end of the tweet or ‘RT: @YourName’ to the front of the tweet.

Step 4: Create the PDF File

You should now have your retweet graphic in a few key locations inside your PDF file.  Go ahead and generate the PDF file.  If you use a PC and do not have the ability to make PDF files, you can go here to learn how to do that: https://createpdf.adobe.com/.

If you are on a Mac, all you need to do is select the PDF option in the print menu (see image below).

Step 5: Create the Special URL

So here’s where the magic comes in.  It’s really very straightforward.  You’ll need to create a special URL that will tell Twitter everything it needs to know to make this all work.

Part one: Copy this text: http://twitter.com/?status=

Part two: Add your tweet from Step 3 above.  For example: http://twitter.com/?status=RT: @mike_stelzner Social Media Marketing Industry Report (Free, must read) http://cli.gs/QYEpY2 #smreport.

http://twitter.com/?status=RT: @mike_stelzner Social Media Marketing Industry Report %28Free, must read%29 http://cli.gs/QYEpY2 %23smreport

A note about hashtags.  If you have a hashtag (the # symbol) in your tweet, you need to replace it with the following text: %23.  For example, #mydoc becomes %23mydoc in your special URL.  Note that I have seen some situations where # works and others where it does not, so play it safe.

Now test the link.  If you paste it into your browser, it should show up in your Twitter status window.  Make sure your hashtag is showing up.

Step 6: Hotlink the Retweet Graphic Inside Your PDF File

This next step is going to require Adobe Acrobat Pro.  If you do not have Acrobat Pro, try to find someone who does.  Acrobat Pro will allow you to create hotlinks inside your PDF file.

In Acrobat, locate the retweet buttons you added into your file and simply create a clickable link for each retweet graphic.   Use the special URL you created in Step 5 above.

Here’s what you need to do.  When in Acrobat Professional, you want to use the Link Tool.  In Acrobat Professional 8, this is found under the Tools menu and then under the Advanced Editing submenu.

Once you have selected the Link Tool, you can simply take your mouse and drag a rectangle over the retweet graphic.  Up will pop a box called ‘Create Link’ (see below).  You want to keep the link type invisible, highlight style to ‘None’ and select ‘Open a web page’ as the link action.

Then hit the ‘Next’ button.  You’ll be prompted to enter your special URL.  Just paste it in.

Now repeat the process for all the retweet buttons you have in your PDF file.  Save it and you’re done.  Your last step is to get the file up on your landing page.

Now you can sit back and watch the magic happen as people retweet your PDF document.  I like creating a saved search query in my Twitter profile so I can see with a single click how often the document is retweeted.

So what do you think? Is this something that could benefit your business?  Let me know your experience.

Want to make it easy for readers to share your great content with their tribes? If so, keep reading as I share six social media add-ons you can effortlessly integrate into your blog today. Your immediate result: much better engagement with your readers. And by the way, I’ve used them all—many on this very site.

An aside… The key to encouraging social activity is making it easy for people to act. The less friction there is between desire and action the more likely people will share your content or reach out to you. Fortunately these six excellent tools make encouraging activity easy—and dare I say, fun!

#1 TweetMeme—The Ultimate in Social Proof

In times past it was said that comments were the currency of bloggers. But far too often outstanding content only attracts a comment or two. What if there was a better way to determine if people like your posts (while also driving traffic to your blog)? Well now there is. Introducing TweetMeme’s Retweet Button.

TweetMeme’s button provides readers an effortless way to share your post on Twitter (and much more). Readers simply push a button and your post shows up on their Twitter feeds—driving more traffic to your page! But the real power is in the number it displays on your page. Every time anyone tweets about your article, TweetMeme tracks and displays a number on the page (whether they used the button or not).

This is one of the most powerful social barometers I have ever seen. The bigger the TweetMeme number, the more others feel compelled to read your content and share it.

You can add the TweetMeme badge anywhere on any page (blog or not). I like to display it at the top of the page. The higher the number, the more likely it broadcasts to readers, “Others think this is important, so you need to read this too!”

I really like the WordPress plugin (note that other platforms are also supported) because you can substitute your own Bit.ly account (a URL tracking service) and include your own Twitter ID in any retweets.

Here’s an added bonus. If one of your readers has a TweetMeme account (not required to use), when he or she clicks the “retweet” button, TweetMeme publishes the page to their Twitter account without leaving the page, a really powerful feature.

#2 DISQUS Comment System—The Ultimate in User Engagement

DISQUS is a VERY powerful comment system that takes over your existing blog’s comment functions and adds very powerful features. For example, with DISQUS readers can add video comments or leave comments using their Twitter or Facebook ID, and you can have multiple individuals moderate your comments.

I was a bit critical of DISQUS when I first reviewed it.  However, the service has since increased its features.

A few of my favorite capabilities include an indented comment stream (see image below) and the ability to add and display new comments without the page reloading. The experience is so user-friendly that I found people leaving a lot more comments after I installed DISQUS.

Also, if you have a free account with DISQUS, it recognizes you whenever you visit a site that uses the service. This means no need to type in your name and email, simply leave a comment.

A few pointers: As a commenter, you should register yourself with DISQUS. When you do, set up your name and website address so it will display properly when you leave a comment (under Profile | My Settings). So instead of non-identifiable ID I was assigned (like MikeS22) I can customize it to say “Michael Stelzner” and link to my site. If you do not do this, your name appears abbreviated and will not link back to your site, making it hard for folks to discover more about you based on your brilliant comments. While you’re in there, add an avatar or link to one from your Twitter account.

#3 Gravatar.com—Faces Make Comments Come to Life

Gravatar is a universal platform that displays a reader’s picture based on the email address he or she enters into a blog’s comment form. Thus, when you visit a blog and leave a comment, your email address is matched against the Gravatar database and your picture displays (see sample below). This only works if you have registered your email address with Gravatar and added a picture.

I’m pretty sure the latest versions of WordPress work automatically with Gravatar. However, if you are hosting an older WordPress blog, you’ll want to install WP-Gravatar for Gravatar support.

A few tips.  If you have multiple email accounts, set them all up under your Gravatar account to ensure your mug shot always appears, regardless of which email address you use.

#4 Sexy Bookmarks Plugin—The Easy Way to Share Great Content

There are a number of tools that allow your readers to share your post on different social networks, but none come close to Sexy Bookmarks.

This WordPress plugin allows you to display the social sites of your choosing and is visually appealing.  When a user “mouses over” an icon, it animates on the screen.  And yes, you change the “Sharing is sexy!” text.

The backend of this WordPress plugin is exceptionally sophisticated. For example, you can enter in your Bit.ly API code and the plugin will use your account to create tracing URLs.

#5 Twitter Follow Badge—The Simple Way to Grow Twitter Followers

Twitter Follow Badge creates a nifty little button that always remains on the page as users scroll through your content, making it easy for them to follow you on Twitter. You also can customize it to match the color scheme of your site and determine where you want it to live on the page.

The main benefit of this little widget is folks can easily follow you on Twitter.

#6 Meebo Me—Adding Live Chat to Your Page

Ever been to a website that said, “Click here to speak to a live agent”? How would you like something like that for your blog (or any web page for that matter)? You can with Meebo Me, a simple embedded chat system you can place on any page (or all pages) of your site.

This free service allows anyone to chat with you immediately. What’s cool about this is it integrates into all your other chat accounts. So now you can have them all in one interface AND still answer live questions from your readers.

This chat capability is very powerful and should also be used on your product landing pages.

So what do you think? Do you use any of these tools with success? Do you have others to share? I’d like to hear from you. Just type in your message below.