How to Create an Index Post Easily and Quickly

I tend to write things in series. I wrote a series about Location-Based marketing. I wrote another which has come to be known as "The Twitter BadAss Chronicles." Lori Boxer suggested I combine them for an easier read. That would be one long post.

This post is my attempt to create a type of index post using the tools at our disposal.

It's more an experiment than anything else. Let's see how/if it works. 

Here's what I did.

I added the header image for each post in the series. Bear with me, there are 7 of them.

I then reduced the header to 50% size. I also set the text to flow around  the right side. Just click on the image and options pop up.

It's the same process I use to add my sign-off image and links at the end of a post.

I used a part of the actual post as a tickler. It wraps around the reduced header so its provenance is clear.

Next, I clicked on the image and added the link to the post. Now the images are clickable links.

I also played around with the image size just to keep the text together in one block. That's easy too. Just click on the image and drag the corner squares until the text sits properly. Or don't bother. I did it both ways. You can decide which you prefer.

Are you wondering about those periods floating around for no apparent purpose? They do have a purpose. Did you even notice them?

The beBee publishing platform likes to strip out "superfluous" blank lines. I like to use blank lines as design elements. No worries. If the platform doesn't like blank lines, they won't be blank. Hence the periods.

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How to be a Twitter Bad Ass: #1 The Basics

A while ago I wrote, “This is Not a Post, It's a Social Experiment.” The number of commenters that were inactive on Twitter surprised me. Scratch that. I wasn’t surprised. I was shocked.

Combining the two is best for those who publish. "Best used by" does not mean "only used by." If you update, post, or do anything at all on LinkedIn and/or beBee, adding Twitter to the mix will boost your efforts. 

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How to be a Twitter Bad Ass: #2 The Following

The end goal is to create a following to promote your stuff to. You want active followers who have an interest in that stuff.

This post is about what I did. I brought my Twitter following to over 2,000 in the first month. Then, I let it ride on autopilot. At this moment, I have 7832 followers. I started last summer.

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How to be a Twitter Bad Ass: #3 Promotion and Scheduling

Some describe the Twitter feed as "noise." Others describe it as "complete chaos." At least one other calls it "mindless vomit looking for a toilet." No, I didn't make any of those up, not even the colorful "mindless vomit" one. 

The truth is, Twitter can be all those things. It doesn't have to be. But, whichever way you look at it, Twitter will always be noisy.

So what? Noise can be good....

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How to be a Twitter Bad Ass: #3 .5 Click to Tweet with Image

This post is not a standalone post. After I wrote part 3 of the Bad Ass series, I started playing with the way Twitter's Tweet Web Intent worked. It bugged me that I couldn't include an image.

If you don't know, Tweets with images get something like a gazillion more retweets. That's only a slight exaggeration. Suffice it to say that the difference is extreme...

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How to be a Twitter Bad Ass: #4 Targeting

You've built up to about 4,000 followers. Things are going great! Then...BAAAM!...

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How to be a Twitter Bad Ass #5: Data Mining?

Jim Murray, Mike Spencer, Jeffrey Summers, and Regina Costa inspired this post. They all took exception at my method for Twitter engagement. Jim later said he didn't so much "take exception" as "question" it. Potayto, potahto... Same thing Big Jim.

The guys thought I was just embracing vanity metrics since I couldn't provide an accurate ROI for all this stuff. 

I don't agree with either view, but they are from people whose opinion I value. Whether I agree or not, I must take their points seriously....

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Being a BadAss on Twitter #6: Denouement

My search for a good way to measure ROI on the Twittersphere led me astray. Heck, it darned close became an obsession.

There's some good news. I got to put my coder's hat on for a while. I dusted off some long-neglected programming skills.

Last we spoke, I started data mining the Twitter feed. The idea was to find a pattern that I could use to quantify ROI. It morphed into automating the tasks as much as Twitter will allow. The automation idea came up because getting an accurate per-tweet ROI just isn't possible.

Trust me on this one, I tried. I tried hard. I tried very hard...

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There You Have It

An entire series, and a freaking long one at that, on one post without being 8000 words long. It didn't take me very long. I used parts that already existed. All in all, it took me a half hour to do this. That counts time wasted running down dead ends.

I think this works well. What do you think? Does this make things easier?

I just might use this method to collate different types of posts. Hummmmm...

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