Blogs

I need to make some simple CSS Coding changes to:
https://hearthealthcommunity.com

Does anyone have a recommendation ?
Many thanks

Stephen Page

Creator

Heart Health Community.com

Im feeling a certain way. Anyone terrified by the 3.0 upgrade? I dont feel too confident and it looks like a lot of work. I have 12 yesrs of information on my network.

i want to create a rss feed from the activity 

If you have been on Creators for a while you may remember my post about Survey Earth in a Day back in 2012.  This is a GLOBAL Community event for our Land Surveyor Community.

NING-POWERED PROJECT: Survey Earth in a Day

Well, this year will be our 6th year remeasuring the entire planet as a community, in a single day.

What Is Survey Earth in a Day?

On the day of the solstice June 20, 2017, geospatial professionals around the world and members of Land Surveyors United (a global support network for land surveyors) will be simultaneously recording survey grade GNSS/GPS data from thousands of points around the globe, in order to promote awareness of and a better public understanding of the surveying profession. Measurements made on this day will serve as comparative data from prior events and to expand upon the database of logged points.

This is just an example of what you can do with a Global Community!

Silence is silly. So,i'm gonna try something.  This is the first in a series of posts that I plan to make featuring simple solutions to best ways for how-tos and so on related to managing your Ning network and doing silly things which seem so silly that you feel silly for not thinking of it yourself earlier.  Yes, PDFs make me silly. And so this is how i avoid silliy and get serious with PDFs...

How to Embed a Silly DOC, PDT, eBook, PPT, PPTX, XLS, etc. into a Page or Post on your Network

1st...upload a file using the blog post toolbar, like so

If you wanna embed a PDF file (ebook, doc, ppt, xls, etc.) the best solution i have found (which stands the test of time) is the good old Google Docs Viewer.  The code you want to use is as follows:

<iframe src="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=https://api.ning.com/files/Sry...YOUR...FILE....../09_USVI.pdf&embedded=true" width="100%" height="350" style="border-style:none;" ></iframe>

If you want to give your members a tool to use for showing where their posts and content are geolocated, here is a tool for you.  Use this static map generator tool to create an embed code for adding maps to your posts, pages and groups or virtually any post on Ning 3.0 networks using this tool. Code is below for adding your own to a site.  

Running a webinar is easy and a great way to get member involvement, have fun, and make money thorugh your network. I have attempted several methods of generating revenue through my network and running webinars (Online Seminars) has proven to be one of the most effective. Below are the steps I took to conduct a webinar:

1. What do your members want?
Focusing the webinar on a "hot" topic is key to the success of your webinar. Find out what your members want most by conducting a survey using a service like Survey Monkey (it is free and easy). You can also get ideas from looking at popular forum discussions, or, a special interest group that generates a lot of activity.

2. Find the expert on the subject.
Finding the expert on the subject you choose will get your members excited about the event and give them confidence that it is worth the money. The expert could be a well-known author, a professor, or blogger. They could even be a member of your network!

3. Choose a Webinar Service.
The webinar service is where you schedule and conduct your webinar. Out of all the options, GoToWebinar is the easiest, most reliable and affordable. Two others are Webex and DimDim. Webex was waaayyy too expensive and DimDim did not offer great tech support.

4. Eventbrite.
Collecting payments via Eventbrite is easy and free to setup. They take a minimal % of ticket sales, so they only make money when you make money. Eventbrite also allows you to integrate the ticket forms into your website for a seamless, branded experience.

5. Promote. Promote. Promote.
The success of your webinar hangs on the hinges of how well you promote the event. Just creating an event page on your network is not enough. If you build it, they will not come until you invite them. Share your event with your members on a progressive basis. Start promoting the event at least a month in advance and remind your members at two weeks, then one week, then one day... you get the idea. Send out a press release. Create an affiliate program (again via Eventbrite) and ask people to help spread the word via blogging, facebook, and twitter.

6. Prepare for Game Day.
GoToWebinar has a feature that allows you to practice your webinar before the actual day. It is a good idea to go through a practice run before the actual event.

7. Have Fun!

I hope you find this helpful. Please feel free to share your experiences with conducting webinars in the comments below.

Thanks!

I stumbled upon a very interesting type of content, today. I had a client request a custom design that is similar to thisis50.com. This is not the first time I've received this request, by far. Beats the heck out of me, but a lot of people love the design. I think mostly, they can't see beyond the popularity of this particular site. I think they think, if I have a design like thisis50, I'll get a 1/2 million members, too. But, that's beside the point.

I took a long hard look at thisis50, longer than ever. In fact, I don't know that I've ever stayed on a Social Community Site outside of my own, and technical sites, than I did on thisis50. I simply could not stop reading, or watching videos. Not many sites could get away with their approach - - black, white, not. But, if you're clever enough, you could apply the same principle, with your content type in mind.

Here's one of the reasons the site is so popular, aside from the fact that it is the one and only: "thisis50", and beside the fact that it's filled with sexy male and female members, it's their content - - and the "style" of content that gets the traffic. Notice I used the word "style", not "type". Bottom line: A lot of the content is controversial, and drives "passion".

The team who administrates thisis50.com, obviously, on a daily basis - - do their homework. They post baiting and controversial content. And let me get controversial for a moment, in this blog posting. It's practically a breeding ground for heated discussions. To be politically correct, let's just say, a lot of the content is: "he said", "she said", "not".

Here's how it's done. Videos and Blog topics are posted that start HUGE topics of conversation - - fighting, yaya'ng, back/forth, competition, etc... If you apply the same principle, but with your topic of expertise, you will get more hits, and eventually more new traffic. I don't think the content has to spur "word wars". Just come up with content that is so enticing about your site topic, that your members feel compelled to react - - "react", the critical word, here. Make it the type of content that brings out the passion in your members - - whether it's about politics, activism, favorite authors, etc... Like I mentioned earlier, you're going to need to be clever about this.

Take these lessons, throw in a positive spin, based on this "proven" success story, and add interesting and compelling content!

And here's a fun note: I'll probably get reaction and passionate response to this blog. ;-)