#but I’m not gonna try and spend extra time making my writing readable or to do non Cornell notes

[vagarius]

misukazu 21

(if you saw me fuck up the other one no you didnt)

EDIT I THINK THIS ONE GOT A LITTLE FUCKED UP TOO BUT IT’S... READABLE...

questions from this post, and answers originally written for this thread!!

If you had to change the pairing’s very first meeting, how would you change it?    their canon first meeting is already so good SHDGFLJASHG but if i had to choose a different one that's still within the context of mankai... meeting as kids and losing touch and coming back together completely different at mankai

What song fits your pairing the most?    uhhHHhhHHH i don't have a real answer but i do have a partial playlist for one of my misukazu aus and the only two songs in it are furaregai girl by sayuri and champagne's for celebrating by mayday parade and i feel like that says enough sldhgalsdhfalsh

What is your favorite AU/prompt idea/trope for your pairing?     ALL MISUKAZU AUS ARE GOOD but. i really love any au where their first meeting is in the future and both are still kind of lost but they're Older and it's hard to let themselves fall into the easy trust they find in canon. i just think that'd be neat.

Do you prefer canon ideas or do you have your own headcanons for them?     I'VE SAID THIS MANY TIMES BUT CANON MISUKAZU GIVES OFF MADE FOR EACH OTHER VIBES AND USUALLY I DON'T VIBE WITH THAT BUT THEY REALLY ARE WHAT THE OTHER NEEDS... AND I THINK EVEN IF THEY HAD TO PART THEY'D STILL BE ABLE TO BE BETTER PEOPLE BC THEY HAD MET

Favorite canon moment of them?     THERE ARE SO MANY but the one that immediately comes to mind is misumi carrying drunk kazu to bed (latest bday line) because drunk kazu is so soft and it implies that misumi wanted to wish happy birthday to kazu pretty late... what did he want to give him...

Least favorite canon moment of them?     hmm... there's not really one i can think of??? IM SORRY I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY I LOVE ALL THEIR CANON MOMENTS

Favorite headcanon trope/idea? (Your own or someone else’s)    this is somehow both vague and very specific but i think misukazu gives off this vibe: He's beautiful. I can't tell him. or "Kazu is always beautiful~" Don't call me that, Kazu thinks. I'm not. so... insecurities i guess ????? AJSHAJJD

Favorite aspect of them/their relationship dynamics?     THIS IS GOING TO SOUND SO CHEESY but i love how /real/ they allow themselves to be around each other. misukazu at their best is when one thinks "you're you. and i love that you" and the other knows this. i just. THEY VALIDATE THE OTHER SO MUCH CRIES

Least favorite aspect of them/their relationship dynamics? (Can be headcannon)     this isn't a "least fav" so much as "it makes me sad" but if either of them showed any sign of not being interested anymore the other is more likely to give up then push anything. sort of like "it was bound to happen, so i'll enjoy now until they drop me" or EVEN WORSE they think the other would be better off without them and pushes them away. so yeah the fact i can see one of these happening makes me sad.

If they aren’t a canon pairing, how would you get them together?     they give off "everyone knows we're dating but us" energy but at the same time i feel like they'd acknowledge there's something and just not define it bc a) they don't need to (misumi) or b) they're too nervous to (kazu). in other words i think one day they are holding hands and misumi says "kazu? is this dating?" and kazu holds his breath before asking "do you want it to be?"

If you had to take them and plunk them into another fandom, what fandom would that be? Why?     i think theyd be hilarious in any sports animanga (kazu is manager tho bc noodle arms but maybe they bond when misumi walks him through some of his usual training menu one night - ahem. anyway) BUT ALSO horimiya au...

How hard is it write/draw your pairing? Scale of 1-10.     AJDHAJDHSF I REALLY LOVE THEM SO IT COMES PRETTY EASILY... but sometimes you try to put them in tropes and realize they would Just Not Work Like That. idk where i'm going with this. but yeah. anyway 3 for sankaku.

Is there a pairing that you think rivals them?     in terms of what i ship, i tend to ship kazu and misumi individually with a lot of dif charas AJDHAKD. but in terms of like... in-universe "rival" pairings: kazu side: tsuzukazu (maybe, lbr it would take them 273924 yrs to actually get together), kazu x someone from winter (i... have my reasons but they'd take longer than what this answer entails) misumi side: ... surprisingly none that i can think of ahdjahd

Which character of the pairing do you like more? (Would you ever pair yourself with them?)     you know that tweet that's like "sometimes a ship is just your two favs"? yeah that's misukazu for me. but if i had to choose... misumi AJDHAJHDSF I HONESTLY WASNT THAT INTO YUME UNTIL THESE TWO CAME AROUND (NOT COUNTING 707)... but yeah if they wanted to hold me in their arms i wouldn't oppose

Which character of your pairing would be the one to break up with the other? Why?     OOOOOH BOY well. i think it could be either of them. i don't think they'd break up for lack of love but too much love and wanting the other to be happy and thinking that the only way to give them that is to let them go. so i guess the question is which of them would be more likely to be selfish and hold on. thinking this way, i think misumi would be more likely to break-up, bc kazu has lots of friends who are better than him!! and misumi is more ready to leave if he thinks he needs to than kazu is. now im sad.

Are they relatable as characters or as a pairing?     THE NUMBER OF TIMES I'VE BEEN CALLED KAZU KIN... in all seriousness kazu's struggles with speaking out and (shinobi spoilers) his uncertainty over his future hit real close to home... while i don't relate as much as misumi, his struggles always manage to tear my heart into pieces... ((oversharing alert) i guess what really separates me from misumi is his struggle with his desire to connect with family who has treated him poorly... whereas im more "lol fuck you") tldr i relate to kazu slightly more LOL

Did you once/ever dislike one/both of them?     i never disliked them but i was NOT expecting either of them to shoot up so quickly into my favs list ahdjahdjf. also i started shipping them Immediately After reading summer main story so there's that

On an estimate, how many posts have you made about them?    as of september 28th 2020 i make up 11/78 fics on ao3 in the romantic misukazu tag and 2/12 in the platonic one. i may have brainrot.

What made you decide to ship them?     TBH I FINISHED THE MAIN STORY AND WENT "OH MY GOD... THAT'S MY SHIP" but now that i'm here i continue to ship them because they have the potential to bring out both the best and the worst in each other and i'm all about that

Favorite genre for them? (Angst, fluff, etc.)     angst. i just. angst hurt/comfort all the way. im so sorry babies.

lol you thought there would just be 21 ANYWAY EXTRA 1: how do they spend breaks/vacation?    they'd travel a lot when they're older!! kazunari loves to travel and misumi would follow kazunari anywhere (also, new triangles!!) so they go somewhere new whenever they have the time. however i think eventually one or both of their future careers will take them anywhere and everywhere anyway, so their "ideal vacation" might turn into an evening in, cuddling and catching up (as if they didn't already send play-by-play updates over the phone of whatever they did during the day)

EXTRA 2: first date?     i don't they ever have an explicit first date, but if asked they'll cite the time they had a picnic in the park turned triangle hunt turned accidental dip in the duck pond. at least, kazunari will. misumi just tilts his head and wonders what you mean.

EXTRA 3: gifts?     IM FEELING REALLY CHEESY SO I'M MAKING THIS ABOUT ANNIVERSARY GIFTS they both end up getting each other jewelry (although kazu was really really nervous bc he wasn't sure if misumi would wear it). kazu gets misumi a bracelet (with triangles, of course although misumi only wears it sometimes because he doesn't want to lose it) and misumi gets kazu a pair of triangle earrings "so we can match!" and kazunari combusts at the implications

EXTRA 4: sharing clothes     THEY'RE ACTUALLY AROUND THE SAME SIZE (and tend to wear baggier stuff barring kazu's skinny jeans)... but they have completely different Styles so it's still really obvious when steal each other's stuff ahdjajdkaf. as cute as kazu would look in sumi's sweatshirt i think the much more likely scenario is kazu wrapping misumi in his jackets because this boy nEVER BRINGS HIS ANYWHERE anyway just. accidental shared wardrobe misukazu.

EXTRA 5: lake house au    consider: kazunari living in a house on the shore of a lake for a summer for Art Purposes (and a little bit for Dealing With Life purposes but he's not gonna admit that) and meets his lake neighbor misumi who kazu thinks might be a ghost or spirit for a while but he actually just lives further down the lake and misumi unknowingly helps kazu with his Life Issues and maybe they fall in love

[doc-pickles]

wonderstruck

Fun Fact: I had SUCH a hard time picking from Speak Now because I love love love this album. I nearly went with Last Kiss but I ended up switching my playlist around at the last minute. This is also my favorite Taylor song behind YBWM.

Anyways this fic was inspired by a gifset I saw that showed Jolex at the four weddings they’ve attended on the show. I decided to create a fifth wedding for them to attend and reminisce of their past wedding dates. This fic is not the best, I had to write seven fics for this week though so one of them was bound to be bad sorry not sorry. And MAJOR shout out to the group chat for proof reading this while I died today. Y’all are the best, especially Ren who deserves a co writing credit here for making this readable for you guys. Without further ado, here’s a fluffy, wholesome, canon ignoring fic. Enjoy!

-

This night is flawless, don't you let it go

I'm wonder struck, dancing around all alone

I'll spend forever wondering if you knew

I was enchanted to meet you

-

“Weddings are so weird,” Jo muses as she sips her champagne. “I mean have you ever really thought about the concept of modern weddings? The white dress, the bridesmaids, the whole big to-do. It’s odd.”

Alex glances at Jo, his eyes catching the light reflecting off the set of silver rings adorning her left hand. Even three years after the fact, he still can’t get over the fact that the woman sitting next to him agreed to be his wife, had given in to his insistence for a big to-do and eventually married him on a damn ferry boat and again dressed as a zombie bride. He really couldn’t ask for a better woman.

“Well we had a big thing. And I’ve heard zero complaints from you about the other big weddings we’ve been to, including this one,” Alex shrugs, taking a long pull from his beer as Jo laughs at his statement. Rolling his eyes, Alex elaborates “What? It’s true! Though I guess something extra chaotic or unexpected does end up happening… We have a bit of a crazy track record when it comes to weddings.”

“Well we went on a semi blind date to one that was delayed because of a surgery,” Jo recalls as her eyes moved to find Ben and Bailey swaying on the dance floor. “I think that was the most fun I’ve ever had at a wedding, you know the whole stealing a hotel room thing. And you’re fake crying was absolutely hysterical.”

“You’re to blame for that mess,” Alex nudges Jo’s shoulder, pressing a kiss to her forehead as she leans back into his embrace. Enjoying the reminiscing, Alex adds, “Then we went to Kepner’s wedding and that was… interesting. Can’t say I’ve ever been to a wedding where the bride literally ran out the damn door. But her and Avery seem to be happy enough now, took them long enough. And I proposed to you and you didn’t realize it.”

“You literally did not say the words ‘marry me’ or ‘be my wife’ or anything close to that in your super romantic speech,” Jo chuckles, eyes moving from the Warrens to April and Jackson, who were chasing Harriet around the reception. “You didn’t even give me a ring, Alex! How was I supposed to know!”

“That was a weird night. Not as weird as Webber’s wedding though,” Alex mused as Jo let out a chuckle, both thinking back to the slightly chaotic day. “That was a whole day of weirdness and the fact that it ended with a wedding in the hospital was probably the most normal thing to happen.”

Alex thinks back to the aforementioned wedding and Jo bringing him to what would end up being their loft late into the night. In truth, at the time he had zero hope for the crappy space. Hell, he barely had any hope for him and Jo surviving long enough to even try to make it feel like home, but they had made it. Looking at his wife with a smirk, Alex brings up another memory.

“And then there was our wedding. Well our first one anyways,” Alex chuckles as Jo hides her face in his chest, muffling her embarrassed giggles. “Remember when you dragged me off to have sex in a shed and then made us miss our ceremony?”

“You were the one who dragged us off to have sex,” Jo exclaims loudly, earning stares from the next table over. “Don’t try and pin that on me! And besides, we did eventually get legally married. And that was way more fun than the uptight big shindig. I convinced you to recite your vows wearing vampire teeth. That counts as a win in my book.”

Alex pulls Jo up and out of her chair then, gently dragging her towards the dance floor. He twirls her once, watching her shapeless dark blue dress float around her before her before pulling her close to him as another slow song started. The dress silhouette was not very “Jo”. Assuming the selection was out of her control, Alex knew better than to bring it up when he first saw her this morning. After a long day of chaste interactions, he now finds the loose drape of the fabric frustratingly teasing. His wife’s typical wardrobe, with dresses that cling and highlight her gorgeous figure, is something he never tires of admiring. He lets his hands stroke along her back as he leans in to whisper to her.

“Mmm and now we’re here. You know, you make a pretty good Best Woman,” Jo lets out a laugh, forehead resting against Alex’s. “Although, this wedding has gone surprisingly well which is unusual for Grey Sloan ceremonies.”

“Oh please, Link tried to run off this morning and I had to talk him off a ledge.”

“And that, Mrs. Karev, is what makes you such a good Best Woman,” Alex presses a kiss to Jo’s forehead as he lets a small laugh escape.

Jo scoffs, eyes flitting up to meet Alex’s with a mischievous glint. “I can make things more interesting though.”

“Oh really? And how’re you gonna do that?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“Oh ha ha, very funny. You know you’re only allowed to make that joke at one wedding,” Alex pulls back from Jo then, eyes scanning over her face and the shit eating grin she’s wearing. “You are kidding, right? Jo are you really pregnant?”

“I haven’t been drinking champagne all day, it’s just ginger ale.”

Alex’s eyes widen momentarily, scanning Jo quickly before pulling her in for a kiss. She begins to laugh as Alex continues to pepper kisses on her cheeks.

“Holy shit, we’re really having a baby?,” Alex asks as Jo nods her head, bringing Alex’s hand to feel the barely there curve of her stomach. “How’d you hide that from me?”

“Yes! How many times do I have to tell you,” Jo giggled as Alex pulled her close, his hand still resting comfortably against the swell of her stomach. “It just kinda… popped up. And we’ve been working opposite schedules, you haven’t really had many chances to see me naked lately… You’re okay with this right? It’s a bit of a happy accident but it’s okay isn’t it?”

Alex stares down at Jo with a grin. Leave it to her to be worried about having a baby, if he’d picked either of them freaking over this it would’ve been him.

“I’ve never been happier in my freaking life Jo.”

[capitainecorbeau]

K you know what I tried to write a steam review but it turned out way too long so here you go ! (the random italics/bold are here for readability, it’s LONG and I know wall of texts can be hard to digest)

I want to like this game, I really do. There was obviously a lot of love poured into it, and there ARE some stuff in it that are pretty cool and made me happy... but overall it just... not very good.

Buckle in, it's gonna be a long one. Also light spoiler warnings, I'll try to stay vague, but I am going to discuss some plot points. Also tw for mentions of mental illness and harmful tropes relating to it.

GAMEPLAY : this is, IMO, the worst part of the game. They tried to spruce up the ol' jRPG/tactical RPG formula, but the result dosn't work.

Reason 1 : The combat is extremly unsatisfying. Like, in every single rpg I've played, even the more lackluster ones, there was always a couple a ways to deal significantly more damage to the enemy. It could be a weakness/resistance system, critical hits, buffs, a gauge that when filled lets you unleash more powerful attacks, grouped attack, etc etc. Inkenfell doesn't really has that.

Ok so, when you time your attacks, there are three results : oops, when you mess up, nice and great. Except that great, the best you can get, feels like what bog-standard attacks do in other rpgs. There is no significant difference between nice and great. I ended up very quickly setting the timing on auto (every signle attack is "great") because it felt like they just added an extra tedious step to the usual menu-based combat. Also despite that, and skipping all fights save for the bosses, it STILL felt long and grueling.

There are attempts at more powerful damage but they all fall flat. Most buffs are single target, which I don't bother with because I could spend that turn attacking rather than applying a buff that most often a)makes little difference or b)wears off too quickly.

There are a couple attacks that deal effective damage against certain enemies but a)the difference is negligible b)one of those is against a type of enemies you barely ever fight against. There's also a "powerful" attack you can only do when your hp is below half ! It's less powerful than the single target spell you get at the very beginning of the game. All in all, it makes every thing long, grindy, and not very exciting.

Reason 2 : The utter lack of variety. Almost every single boss fight is exactly the same. Couple of phases, the boss attacks you and summons minions. SOMETIMES they also have status effects/debuffs. And that's it.The first couple bosses have this trick where their minions explose on death and deal bigger damage. But that quickly disappears. I can't really speak for the other battles because I skipped them but for what little I played it also felt very same-y. As for your characters, you have characters focusing on raw damage and other focusing on utility (healing, buffs, etc).

I basically benched every utility character because the general damage output is already low enough and the utility isn't really useful. Healing is fine, buffs would be fine if it didn't buff enemies caught in the range as well (I usually use them once at the start of the battle and then stop bothering). You can set traps if you want, and then tear your hair out as you watch the enemy repeatedly side-step them (though there are two character who can set traps, maybe you couyld make a strategy out of that). Most likely the trap will expire or you will kill the enemy before they step on it. You can steal items, but you find so many everywhere in game that if you don't use those skills you won't miss them. You can poison your enemies, for an amazing ONE DAMAGE A TURN. Or delay their turn, if you feel like eating two attacks in a row later. Nothing really feels worth it you know ?

It results in this long, drawn-out same-y battles where you just use the same couple of spells against the enemy, over and over until they die. Which, in terms of bosses, can take a very long time. My reaction to new phases was generally "are you kidding meeee ANOTHER one ?" which is not a good sign.

Reason 3 : The lack of juiciness and quality of life. Example : you can freely see enemy hp ! if you specifically go to the menu and hover over the enemy. Otherwise, it's hidden. Why ? Either make their hp easily and quickly visible, or keep it hidden ! When you factor in the fact that every attack has its own, sometimes awkward range, that you cannot walk on occupied tiles (apparently your allies will not deign step aside to let you through), the short walking range of the characters, AND the facts that many enemies love to pepper the battlefield with traps (high damage+lost turn), actually getting in a good position to hit the enemies can be rather tedious. Hitting the enemies doesn't feel satisfying. There aren't little things like shaking their sprites, shaking the screen, cool fx, satisfying sound effects, etc. Just the damage and a little "oops/nice/great". It's a little things, but it makes battles feel even more flat.

TL;DR : the fights are repetitive and unsatisfying, and none of the alternatives to "deal damage to enemy" feel interesting enough to explore.

STORY :  The story is... eh ? Well let's just say there are good things, bad things, and utterly confusing things.

Good : The characters are pretty endearing, for the most part. I'm not gonna be thinking about them for long after finishing the game, but they're nice, there were lots of funny quips and cute moments. That's mostly what kept me around despite the bad gameplay (and other issues I'll get to), I wanted to know what would happen to these people ! Also I loved that there are so many nonbinary characters !! With different presentations and pronouns !! AND who are all humans :D That made me really happy.

Bad : The pacing is bad. My god it's bad. Most of the first half of the game boils down to : we have to do x, but for that we have to go to y, but we can't so we have to ask w in z, and just when you think you can, finally, do x, another obstacle pops up and you have to go on the other side of the map to do something else. It really feels like you're making little to no progress, and it ended up being quite frustrating at times. The second half of the game is better, but sometimes, after an emotiolly intense moment, you would snap right back to "oh we have to go to q but there's a giant rock in the way !". Jarring. Also some scenes left me asking "wait that's it ? You're not gonna discuss things further ?" or "Why aren't the characters reacting to this ?". The story in itself was ok, but the pacing... yikes.

Also, this is more a personal gripe that anything, but... (spoilers warning) I really didn't like how the game handled trauma and ptsd. It fell into the ol' trope of "ptsd/delusions makes people dangerous and violent", and that's not really something I expected from a game that tries to be progressive about this stuff (The inclusion of content warnings is a very good thing !! more games should do that). And I'm not talking like "lashing out at people", no, we're talking kidnapping, assault, murder, potentially triggering the apocalypse. And like, the game deliberately puts these characters through some of the worst things that could happen to them, which made them very violent and dangerous as a result... I don't know, it feels pretty thoughtless and cruel. Not to mention that they then go down the "oh but it's not your fault it's the traumaaaaaa" which, ew, no. No, mental illness, ptsd, trauma etc don't make people inherently violent and dangerous. But when you harm people, it's serious, and you should make amends, regardless of what mental ilness(es) you may or may not have. I dunno, maybe it's just me but that whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth.

Confusing  : There's a character who is handled very weirdly ??? Like, at the beginning of the game they're pretty present, they get an arc, join you and then... barely do anything ???? They almost never interact with the others, or react to what's going on ? There are scene where they went to the trouble to show their sprite (characters who don't contribute to the conversations usually don't appear), but they don't say or do anything ??? At most they make a quip about fighting and stuff but that's it ??? There was a scene when the group argues and a few characters go off on their own, and other follow them and comfort them. I thought, well, since they have a huge crush on the protagonist, they're gonna go and talk to her, right ? They're the only one who hasn't left yet. But nope ! They don't even react ! And yet they're one of the few characters who gets a song ???? I feels like they were added as an afterthought what It's a shame, they're pretty fun.

TL;DR The characters are endearing but one is handled weirdly, the pacing is bad and some plot points felt unsavory.

And finally, some random stuff. In general, the world feel very bare and empty. I'm not just talking about the very low number of npc, there's a plot reason for that, but there is almost no flavor text ?? At first I tried to check out everything, to learn more about this setting and the people in it, but the only things you can interact with are plot important. Makes the whole world rather flat, and that's a shame ! I would've liked to learn more !

One good thing though, is the inclusion of accessibility features like different options for the timing gameplay, displaying content warnings and stuff (though I've seen someone say the game wasn't friendly to photosensitive people , there is an option to reduce flashing lights but I dunno how good it is). That's very nice, and I hope more games will include those features !

So here's my giant wall of text on Ikenfell. I'm sad I didn't end up liking it more, but the game has quite a few issues (ESPECIALLy gameplay-wise). I hope the developers will take that as an opportunity to leanr, because I'm sure they can make good games ! There's some good stuff in there, some good ideas that would've just needed to be imlplemented better !

[vampiric-daydreams]

What Would Never Be

Jasper x Reader

Request: Can I please request a one-shot where you're a normal student at Forks High and you have a crush on Jasper? You don't know he's a vampire or anything and you're studying or something together but then Alice comes over and it hurts to see them together?

Word Count: 1343 

A/N: Thanks for sending me my very first request! It was actually so easy to write, and I hope you liked what I came up with. I’m quite nervous posting this, so I hope it’s alright!

It was another gloomy day at Forks High School. Puddle water soaked through your shoes and into your socks, and the air held a thick scent of mud and rain. Beside you, your best friend was wringing out her wet hair. You supposed you should do the same, but found yourself unmoving as the water dripped from your hair onto your raincoat.

“(Y/N), how the hell did you forget to bring your umbrella today?” She huffed. “I feel gross.” Her mascara smeared, thinly coating the small space beneath her eyes and her hair began to frizz. You didn’t doubt you looked the same. You’d already had an awful morning; this was just another cherry on top of the cupcake for you.

Your schoolbag was slung over one of your shoulders, significantly darker in colour from the heavy rain that soaked right through the material. “Shit!” You spat as you swung it to the ground and unzipped it. “Shit, shit, shit!” Fumbling through its contents, you pulled out a clump of dripping paper. It almost resembled one gigantic spit-ball. You frantically flipped through the pages you were able to separate, cursing at the running ink that now made your homework unintelligible.

“Is that the essay due third period?” Your best friend asked, rummaging through her own backpack before holding up her own perfectly readable essay in a plastic pocket. You felt frustrated. Why did these things always have to happen to you?

“I’m gonna run real quick and see what I can salvage.” You mumbled, defeated, as you began to walk to the library.

“Need me to come with you?” Your best friend asked as she continued patting down the frizz in her hair. “You can look at mine and change some of it.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” You replied, still walking away. “I already wrote a really fresh angle, and I know you already copied most of yours from that Tyler guy.”

Your best friend nodded, walking beside you. “Alright, I’ll leave you to it then. But if you change your mind-”

“It’ll be fine.”

Within a few minutes you were sitting alone in the library, the indoor heating only making your soaking socks feel even more disgusting. You swore you could smell them. You had your books laid out and a folder of paper in front of you. While you couldn’t remember all of what you had written, you still knew which points you wanted to make and listed them in your half-assed plan. As one of the top students of the class, you didn’t want to waste too much time on a plan when you had a whole essay to re-write.

The cold and relentless wind blew through your hair as somebody opened the library door. Paying no mind to it you continued with your work. You didn’t have much time. You considered yourself lucky that at least you were forced to arrive an hour early this morning because of your parent’s schedules. At least I have time to fix this, you thought to yourself.

Suddenly a pair of legs appeared in front of your vision on the other side of the tables and you jumped back in surprise. The owner of those legs offered a light chuckle in response. No way.

“Mind if I join you?” A masculine voice as smooth as honey captured all of your attention. “I’ve been thrown into the same predicament.”

You glanced at his hands, holding wet homework that, much like yours, was almost unreadable. You nodded, and Jasper Hale took the seat across from yours. Unlike you, Jasper didn’t have a single hair out of place. He never did. He always looked so perfect. His chalky skin was flawless, and his topaz eyes were warm and welcoming.

Jasper continued talking, “I wondered if perhaps we were trying to rewrite for the same subject at all? English Literature?”

You nodded, you almost couldn’t speak. You always lost your words when he was around, let alone speaking to you directly. You had developed a crush on Jasper the minute he moved to Forks, and he was in a few of your classes. Not that it really mattered. Nothing would ever come from it. He pulled out a pen and slowly reached over to pinch a piece of the blank lined paper sitting beside you, his wrist gently brushed your elbow. A bolt of electricity rushed through your body, hitting your chest especially hard. He didn’t lose eye-contact for any of it. Like glorious pots of honey, his eyes stuck to yours throughout the whole exchange. It sent shivers down your spine.

Be cool, (Y/N), you thought to yourself, he’s just a normal person.

You gave him your best smile, hoping to seem sweet and bubbly despite your wet-dog appearance. “Yeah,” you replied to him, taking extra care to even out your tone, “English Literature.”

“Great.” He lowered his gaze from you and began scribbling his own essay. You knew you were under a time limit, but you didn’t want to stop talking to him.

“I’m so mad my essay got destroyed, I had a really different angle on the relationships in the play. It would really have impressed Mr Glenroy.” You weren’t sure if that sounded impressive, or like you were bragging. It didn’t matter. It was out there, now.

“Oh, me too. I thought about what we were told about how loving everything was, but really it’s all an act of manipulation on her part. My points are really prominent in the first few scenes.” He actually replied. Properly. Not with some bored ‘mmm-hmm’, he actually continued the conversation – and on top of that, his angle was identical to yours!

“Me too, like it’s so obvious.” You blurted, overexcited.

“Yeah.” Jasper responded. Crap. You didn’t really give him much to go with that time. This was the longest you’d ever spoken to him and you didn’t want to ruin it. But before you could open your mouth another figure adorned with flawless alabaster skin appeared to Jasper’s left.

Alice’s dark pixie hair, much like Jasper’s, didn’t seem to have been at all affected by the weather. She looked perfectly put together. Wearing a sophisticated-looking ensemble – a patterned long sleeve dress with black tights and a dainty pair of boots, she enthusiastically waved at the two of you before placing a generous kiss on Jasper’s cheekbone.

“Hey darlin’,” Jasper greeted her, an enormous lovestruck grin plastering his porcelain face, “I’m just rewriting my homework for one of my classes.”

“I had a feeling you’d be unfortunate this morning so I made a copy of it for you last night,” after a quick glance in my direction, she added, “just in case.”

Jasper pulled her onto his lap and gave her a quick peck, followed by a short, deep kiss. It hurt to look, but you didn’t want them to figure out you liked him so you kept your head down and pretended to be busy. Clutching your pen tightly with your fingers, you continued to write – pressing down on the paper so hard that it tore. Jasper glanced over, but the two didn’t offer much more of a reaction to it. Why did Alice always have to gravitate around him? Why couldn’t you spend just half an hour with him without being interrupted? It’s not like Alice would have anything to worry about anyway. She was stunning, and you were... soaking, frizzy, and most likely smelling.

Jasper neatly tucked away the backup essay Alice had given him, and gently spun her around before placing her on the ground while he stood up. You wished that could have been you in his arms. But you also knew that it would never happen. Jasper seemed so devoted to his girlfriend – and they didn’t look like they were breaking up anytime soon. All you could do was watch from the sidelines and fantasise about what could, but would never, be. Just like you did every other day.

Here is Part 2

[lamptracker]

FIC: ‘Baby, just say yes’

A companion piece to 'I think i wanna marry you' . Five headcanons in one again. If I write another follow-up it’ll only be four.

FIC: ‘Baby, just say yes’

Summary: How Tom, Harrison, Harry, Sam and Jacob would propose

A/N: Harry’s is a true story but Sam’s is my favorite :)

Proposals from the boys

Tom

We all know that Tom can be Extra™

But

With something as important as this, he wants to keep it a little more low-key

(Not TOO much, though, this is Tom we’re talking about)

So his is something totally cliche yet entirely special

He decides he wants to go to New York for the weekend, because you’ve never been

He gets a room overlooking Times Square

It’s a warm spring night, there’s a slightly cool breeze blowing

You’re out on the balcony after having gone to dinner, just taking in the sights and sounds of the city below

You are completely awestruck by it all

You’re marveling to yourself just how beautiful Times Square is at night when you feel Tom’s arms wrap around your waist

“What’cha lookin’ at, darling?”

“Oh, just the city” you say, sighing contentedly as you lean back to rest your head on his shoulder

“It’s so pretty at night, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Thank you for bringing me here, Tom”

He kisses your cheek softly and says, “I think you’re prettier, though”

“Oh, stop it”

Tom spins you around so you’re facing him

“I mean it, love, you are”

You reach up to kiss him (mostly to hide the fact that you’re blushing)

He gently cups your face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs along your jaw as he kisses you

“I love you, Tom”

“I love you, darling”

Then he all of a sudden drops to one knee and pulls a ring box out of his pocket

You gasp loudly, covering your mouth in surprise

“You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, darling. I love you so much. You make me so happy, and I want to spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy. So, (y/n), will you marry me?”

“Yes, Tom! I will!”

He slides the ring on your finger and you happily kiss him

He doesn’t even close the drapes as you, ahem, “celebrate”

Harrison

Harrison thinks you’re the most perfect being on the planet

So when he proposes to you, it has to be no less than perfect

BUT

Remember that episode of Friends where Mike is trying to propose to Phoebe, and she makes fun of every proposal idea he’s tried to come up with?

It’s like that

He originally wanted to propose at a baseball game on the jumbotron

But then you were telling him about the time you went to a game with your dad and someone proposed on the jumbotron, but the girl said no and dumped a beer on his head

So that was out

(He likes beer, but he doesn’t like to wear it)

Then he thought of a restaurant, the classic “ring in the champagne” thing

But then one night you were out to dinner; someone did that and you snorted and said, “how frickin’ cheesy, get an original idea, geez”

(that girl said yes but STILL)

Frustrated, he'd turned to Tom

Who kindly advised him to “quit fucking overthinking it and just ask her already, come ON”

“Gee, thanks for all your wisdom there, Tom”

So he decides he’s still going to do it over dinner

But at home, over a home cooked meal

Chicken alfredo from scratch with homemade bread

(He may or may not have had Sam help him with all most of it)

You come home from work and it smells amazing

“Hey, Haz, what’s the occasion?”

“No occasion, just wanted to cook for my girl is all”

“How much of this did Sam help you with?”

“What’d you mean, he didn’t-”

“Harrison. You tried to thicken pancake batter by adding milk”

“Fine, he did most of the work but I stirred the sauce!”

And you laugh - “Well, it looks delicious, I’m starving”

You’re sitting there, eating in comfortable silence

Occasionally you talk about your day

After you’re finished with the meal you inquire about dessert

“Oh yeah, there’s chocolate raspberry cake for later, there’s something I need to do first”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

Harrison looks into your eyes, takes your hand from across the table and says:

“Ask you to marry me”

You gasp - “Are you serious right now?!”

“Yep. I love you so much and I can’t imagine spending my life with anybody but you. So, what’d you say? Will you marry me?”

“Yes, oh my God, yes!”

He pulls the ring out of his pocket and hands it to you; you slip it onto your finger, admiring it for a moment before you jump out of your chair and kiss him

“I was so stressed out about this, every idea I had you made fun of”

“Come on though, Harrison, the Jumbotron?”

“Yeah, I guess that does seem stupid”

“I love you, Harrison.”

“And I love you, (y/n)”

Harry

Harry would also freak out about the proposal

But he winds up doing it quite by accident

You had two more months before graduation and you were starting work on a huge term paper

He’d come over to visit you and bring you coffee and snacks

“You should stay the night, Harry, it’s too far a drive to make this late and you know how I worry”

Too tired to argue, Harry agrees

You both climb into bed and settle in - you’re on your side, he’s directly behind you with an arm wrapped around your waist

You’re both there in the dark, chatting about everything and nothing; occasionally, he’ll kiss your head or the back of your neck or you’ll grasp his hand and kiss it

“It stinks that you live so far away, Harry”

“It’s only 45 minutes, love. But I get what you’re saying”

“Only two more months,” you sigh, leaning your head back into his chest

He rubs a hand up and down your arm soothingly

You’re about to fall asleep when he just blurts it out:

“You know, when we get married, we won’t have to drive as much”

“Yeah, I know”

You’re about to fall asleep again when Harry all of a sudden realizes what he’d just said

He sits bolt upright and turns on the bedside lamp

“What’s the matter, Harry?”

“Did...oh, God. Did I just say when we get married?!”

You think about it for a moment

“Huh, I guess you did”

“And...that doesn’t freak you out, does it?”

“Not really”

“Well. Okay then. I...guess….we’re, uh, we’re getting married?”

At this point you’re wide awake and fully aware of what’s happening

“Yeah, we are! I mean, if you want to”

“Of course I do, love, I wouldn’t have mentioned it if I didn’t. You want to too, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

You turn over to face him; he wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you into his chest

“Well, it’s not the way I envisioned being proposed to, but let me tell you something, Holland. It was terribly romantic”

“Oh, thank God”

And he kisses you oh-so-tenderly before turning off the lamp

You’re about to fall asleep for the third time when Harry suddenly decides he owes it to you to give you a proper proposal

So he says:

“Hey.”

“hARRY ROBERT HOLLAND I AM TRYING TO SLEEP”

“I know, and you will, but… okay. I know we just talked about it, and I know I don’t have a ring yet, but...will you marry me?”

And your eyes fill with tears as you whisper out a “yes”

You’re crying, he’s crying, you’re both a weepy, joyful mess

“I’ll buy you a ring tomorrow”

“If you keep waking me up, you won’t live that long”

Harry just laughs as you snuggle back into his chest

“I love you so much, (y/n)”

“I love you, Harry. Now shut up and let me go to sleep, okay?”

And he chuckles again but lets you actually get to sleep this time

(He takes you out the very next day and buys you a ring)

Sam

So this boy - THIS BOY

He always figured he was better with music than with words

And he knows you play piano (especially since the two of you played that duet at the piano shop)

So when he proposes he decides to be slick about it

He spends weeks writing a song just for you

He makes Harry listen to it over and over

“Yep, Sam, sounds like a piano”

“Shut up, you dickhead”

“I’m kidding, bro, it’s beautiful. She’s going to love it when you play it for her”

Sam gets, just, the biggest smile on his face

“Oh, no, I’m not going to play it. She is”

Harry is so confused

He records himself playing it, then transcribes it into sheet music

Sam then sets it aside for a couple of days, then plays it off the sheet music to make sure it’s readable

(He makes a handwritten note at the end)

Then it comes time for the plan to be set into motion

You’re at his parents’ house - you, him, his brothers, and Harrison

Sam says: “Hey, (y/n), I wrote a song the other day”

“Oh, how cool!”

“It doesn’t have a title yet, but I was wondering if you’d like a go at playing it?”

You are flattered, honestly

“Y-yeah, sure”

So you take a seat at the piano and he sets the music in front of you

And you start playing it

Oh my goodness, it’s beautiful

Like the most beautiful song you’ve ever heard

Holy shit, he is SO talented, you think to yourself as you play it

Harry is smiling like an idiot

(You try not to think about that; he’s always smiling like an idiot)

Tom and Harrison are visibly moved by the piece

(Especially Tom, who is smiling tearfully and resting his head on Harrison’s shoulder; Harrison frowns and shoves him off)

Paddy looks a little bored, if we’re being honest

You finally reach the end and are about to play the final notes when you see something scrawled in Sam’s familiar handwriting

Your jaw drops and your hands fly away from the keys and up to your mouth, the last few notes remaining unplayed as you read the note to yourself

(y/n), will you marry me?

You look over to your left to see Sam kneeling with a ring in his hand, looking up at you hopefully

“Yes!” you manage to squeak out

He slides the ring onto your finger and sits on the bench next to you; you grab his face and kiss him deeply

Harry, Tom, and Harrison clap and cheer

But Paddy just sits up and says: “You gonna finish the song or what?”

Jacob

Jacob knew he wanted to do something special

It had to be larger than life

So, Vegas

Specifically, the fountains at the Bellagio

They run shows every 15 minutes in the evening

He uses his Marvel connections to make the 9 pm show finale unforgettable

You are transfixed by it

The water moving in time with the music is just amazing

“Oh, Jacob, this is the most awesome thing I've ever seen”

“Yeah, it's pretty dope, huh?”

You're watching it, totally awestruck, with Jacob's arms around your waist

“Oh, here comes the finale. (Y/n), you are gonna love this”

The song they're using: “Marry You” by Bruno Mars

You laugh

“Ah, because of all the quickie weddings” you muse

You're so engrossed in the show you don't notice Jacob isn't holding you anymore

Until about halfway through, when you feel him tap your shoulder

You turn to face him

And he immediately drops to his knee and sings along

“Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you”

You can't stop the tears of joy from falling down your cheeks

“What do you say, huh?”

You grin cheekily

“i think I wanna marry you too”

He slips the ring onto your finger and stands up, grabbing you by the waist and spinning you around happily

“Wanna go do it now?” He asks, between kisses

“Sure!”

So you go to the nearest all-night wedding chapel and elope

Tom is a little upset

“Now I don't get to give my awesome best man speech, you dicks”

But who cares

Because you and Jacob are married and you’re the happiest you’ve ever been

(You let Tom give it anyway the next time everyone gets together)

(And it's equal parts sweet, funny, and borderline inappropriate)

(Just like Tom)

[vgblast-blog]

How To Create A Professional Post In WordPress 2018

https://videogameblast.com/?p=413

How To Create A Professional Post With WP

Its Very Simple To Blog With WordPress, But Creating A Professional Post Can Be More Tricky Then Most People Realize. WordPress is by far my favorite tool in my virtual toolbox. It not only made designing a website myself possible, but made it so easy. When I first started I taught myself how to create articles, and they were about as unprofessional as they come. It took me a long time to figure out on my own what I'm gonna be teaching you here. Hopefully this tutorial will help accelerate the learning process, and steer you towards becoming a Professional Blogger. You might be a complete beginner, or you could be a seasoned veteran looking to step your game up. I will assume nothing of your skill level, and try to write this article so it can benefit everyone. I will be sectioning the post with the use of

's (header 3) to help skimming through easier. This is something the search engines look for that I will be teaching you.

What Is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Its one of the most important terms for both WordPress writers and web designers. So why is it so important? Its because the SEO signals you send to the search engines are one of the primary ways that they grade your work. The search engines don't read your post like a human would. Instead they read it like the robots they are, and are programmed through a mathematical science. The better you understand the machine, the better you will be at operating it. There are many search engines out there, but Google and Bing are really on top with much breathing room. I often refer to the Google Bots as the Google Gods. The Google Gods pretty much dictate how the show is ran now. If you appease their desires, they will reward you with bountiful boons and mega boosts. Ignoring the Google Gods can bring famine and pestilence to your post and website. My analogy is a little dramatic, but I'm not kidding. Writers and Webmasters all must please Google if they want to reach an organic audience. Most of use don't have huge ad budgets to afford over $1 a click.  

What Is Yoast?

Yoast is a WP Plugin that is owned by Google. Its purpose is to help us create the most professional articles we possibly can. This plugin is one of the most popular on the market, and has pretty much become a standard for every site to use. I don't know to many WP site owners who don't use it religiously. It really helps that much! When I first started using Yoast it only graded on SEO. Now you will find 2 traffic lights that grade your score as you go. The new grading factor is titled Readability, and I will explain it in more detail as we go. You can find the Yoast Box towards the bottom of new post pages. In the Publish Box on the right it provides 2 color changing boxes for SEO and Readability that update live. A Few Of Yoast's Functions

Improves SEO Scores.

Improves Readability scores.

Adds The Keyword.

Alters The URL.

Alters The Meta Description.

Gives Content Analysis.

Gives Readability Analysis.

Alters Facebook Posts.

Keywords & Tags

Keywords and Tags are very similar, and you've probably used tags before on different platforms. Your Keyword, or Keywords, are like tags on steroids. Its the most important word, or combination of words that describes your article. You always want to plan out your keyword before you start your post because Yoast wants you to use it everywhere. Your Keywords and Tags are what lets the ranking bots know how to categorize your post. These are also the main words that they are going to match to peoples search quires. They also use words from your Title, backlinks, and the words from your post. Keywords n' Tags are mucho important! WP tags are similar to YouTube tags. You want to end them with a comma at the end the same way. On YouTube its good to use as many tags as you can. On WP its recommended to use 3 to 5. THEY say using more can cause all of them to be ignored or penalized. I'm not sure if that is a myth, but I use 3 to 5 as a rule of thumb.

How To Start Your First Professional Post

As previously stated, you want to plan your Keyword ahead of time. Adding the Keyword or Keywords to the Title is a ranking factor. Your also going to have to use it in many other locations. Yoast prefers that you use the Keyword more towards the beginning of the Title. Your Title should be well thought out, and be a good length. Yoast will tell you if your Title is to short or long. Having a catchy title is very important. I've heard writers say that they spend half of the time it takes them to do a post coming up with the title. I think that is a little extreme, but goes to show how important your Title is. In Search its going to be the first thing people see, and greatly determines if your getting clicked or skipped. On Social Media the Featured Image is usually the clickbate, but the Title is nearly as important there also. I recommend taking your time with the Title and Keyword. You can do a search yourself to see how popular the topic is. Pay attention to the search bar when you enter your keyword, as what pops up may help with your Tag selection. You can also use AdWords Keyword Planner to help, or there are several other Tag Generators out there.  

Heading Tags (This Is A

)

Proper use of Heading Tags in WP is something that often gets overlooked. Using Headers the right way is very important to your SEO and Readability scores. Even though Yoast tells us exactly how we're using them wrong, most of us don't pay attention. Not understanding how to use them correctly can put us in the penalty box. You should always start every post with a Header 2

size, and include your Keyword. I think using a second Header with the Keyword looks kind of tacky, but they're 2 ranking factors that are expected. Somewhere else in your post you also are expected to use a Header 3

with the Keyword. It doesn't matter where, but this is another ranking factor to keep in mind.  

Sectioning With Heading 3's

Bounce rate means how fast a viewer exits your post. "Video Killed The Blogging Star!" As videos became more popular, website articles bounce rates increased in velocity. Even the top websites in the world can't help but have a high bounce rate. People have become very picky and lazy due to there being so much variety online. If your article is not easy to read and pretty, most people are hitting back arrow at first glance. Yoast Readability Analysis helps make your post easier to navigate, and helps your grade with the Flesch–Kincaid Readability Tests. You can click that hyperlink to find out more. Unlike writing a book, the object is basically to dumb it down to make it easier to read. A ranking factor to remember: Yoast wants you to section your post off with an

Header at least within every 300 words.

Dumbing It Down

If you took writing classes before you started blogging, you probably gave a WTF to Yoast's Readability at first. You may still be WTF'ing it! Readability is confusing until you fully understand it. You have to understand that the search engines want the opposite of a masterfully written book. Their looking for easy to read and entertaining. Entertainment has become pretty lowbrow, and most writers are at least semi-intellectual. This often clashes with smarty-pants types logic and reason. Gotta dumb it down like that previous sentence, see! This article is a bad example because my paragraphs and sentences are running long. I assure you both lights are still green on the right 1,352 words into this post though. This is more of a recommendation. Try to write shorter paragraphs and sentences. A ranking factor is to keep all sentences under 20 words. Another thing that sounds so stupid to me, but is for real, they want you to use alternative words with less syllables. 2 syllable word are preferred. I try to use shorter paragraphs and sentences either way because it helps with skimming. I also think using to many short sentences looks bad sometimes.

What Is Passive Voice?

Almost everyone is confused at the Passive Voice warning in Yoast's Readability Analysis. To really understand how to avoid Passive Voice, I recommend taking the time to Read This Short Article. Even after you understand how the Passive Voice warning works, its still tricky. Taking the time to improve your sentences as you go, or at the end, improves your grade like a school test. It doesn't have to be perfect to get the green-light, but every bad sentence effects your overall score. If your going for perfection, hit the eye icon in Yoast to highlight the Passive Voice sentences, and fix em'!

What Are Transition Words or Phrases

This is another one that boggles most writers minds. You can click the above image to be transported to Gallaudet's List. Here is an Alternative Transition Word & Phrase List to help you with this challenge. I recommend saving the links to these 2 lists in your bookmarks, and take some time to try to memorize them. You can always refer back to these lists when you need help, but its better to know them off hand.  

Onto SEO

Readability is by far more challenging then the SEO factors. Above I have equipped you with all of the knowledge you need to understand the machine. SEO is more centered around the use of your Keyword, with a few extra factors. The Content Analysis system is strait forward, and much easier to understand then the Readability Analysis. Your Keyword can be more then 1 word, but you don't want it to be to many. Here is a list of places you have to add the Keyword or Keywords.

Towards the beginning of the title.

In a

to start your post.

Towards the beginning of your first paragraph.

In a

anywhere in the post.

Several places within your article. It goes by a percentage going off of word ratio.

In your Images Title and Alt Text Fields.

Towards the beginning of the Meta Description.

In the URL

Google is making bank off of AdWords, so of course Keywords are a big deal. They seriously expect you to use the Keyword in all of those places.

Importance Of Labeling Images

As a rule of thumb you always want to take the time to fill in the Title, Alt Text and Description of every image you upload to your Media Library. Not only is this a SEO ranking factor, but Google Images is like its own separate search engine. Taking the time to fill in the blanks on your images can help bring in extra traffic, along with scoring the site extra backlinks. Skipping this step is probably the most common flaw I've seen in everyone I've taught to blog on WP. Though I always have stressed the importance, I guess this is just a step its common to be lazy with. If your striving to create professional posts, then I recommend you take your time and put your heart into it.

Meta Descriptions & Slugs

The Meta Description is the description of the post you see under the Title when viewing that post in search. Yoast groups the Meta Description, Search Title, and URL into a term called a Snippet. You can find an Edit Snippet button above where you put the Keyword. Under the Edit Snippet button there are 3 useful options.

Change the Title of your post for search.

Alter the URL of the post.

Edit the Meta Description of the post.

#1. The SEO Title sets how the Title will look when found in the Search Engine. You guessed it! It should contain the Keyword towards the beginning. #2. The URL is named the Slug. You want to add your Keyword here also. http//:videogameblast/all-lower-case-letters-n-dashes/ - It should appear like that. You can't use stop word like the, and, or it. Your URL also can't be to long. Shorter is better. #3. Your Meta Description is nearly as important as the Title in Search. It should be well thought out, and contain the keyword towards the beginning. It also has to be the right length.  

Other SEO Ranking Factors

300 words is the minimum word count for a quality post. The green-light will come on for 200, but 300 is the standard. 300 is still considered low. Its better to aim for over 500. As your article gets longer, it gets increasingly tougher to keep the Readability light green. Google loves long evergreen articles like this one. Backlinks are the links you use in your posts from other sites, that link back to them. This has always been one of the biggest ranking factors. Before the wicked Panda Update the quantity of your backlinks is what mattered. Panda came along and switched it up so the sites quality behind the backlinks mattered. This destroyed many online businesses and entertainment sites. Its not known if the quality of the sites backlinks you use in your posts is a ranking factor. Most of us try to only use quality websites links just in case. Its recommended to use 2 to 5 backlinks in every post. I find its okay to use more with longer articles, and most of the time required. Sometimes you gotta take a hit to your score for your work to come out the way you want it to. Internal Links are links from your site. Most people miss this one. You should always include 2 to 5 Internal Links to every post. You can see how I do it at the bottom of this post, but you can add them anywhere, or in whatever fassion you please. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-IuObMhcM

Video Source - Dropship Junkie

Dressing Up Your Professional Post To Be Pretty

Nobody likes a dull article. While SEO and Readability help with your structure, they don't suggest what type of media to use. How you dress up your article is your preference. I recommend taking the time to make it look beautiful. A dull post is a surefire way to increase your bounce rate. Here are some types of Media you can use.

Images or Memes.

YouTube or other types of videos.

Twitter, Instagram and other social networks post embed codes.

Digital Product embed codes.

Free Download embed codes.

Free To Play Browser or Mobile Game embed codes.

Audio files or embed codes.

Gifs

In the above video that lovely lady took the time to teach us how to add embed codes through the Text Editor. I recommend adding a space where you want your media to be before entering the Text Editor. Every website has a different process for how the distribute their embed codes. You can usually find them somewhere in the post, or on the media itself. I like to try to dress my posts with 1 piece of media per 300 to 500 words. This is not a ranking factor, but I find it helps add character to your work.  

Always Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

Fair Use Policies, the Public Domain, Creative Commons Licences, and many other factors make sharing media pretty liberal. I recommend studying it for yourself. Be pre-warned though, you are going to find a bottomless pit of grey areas. Generally I have a rule for myself. If it doesn't clearly say they don't want it reused, its open to the public. Most creators are happy if you share their work, as long as you give them proper credit.. If someone doesn't want their media shared, they are usually clear about it. If its in the Public Domain, they are usually clear about that as well. I usually like to add a hyper backlink directly under the media to give source credit. Sites like Wikipedia add all of their sources at the very bottom of their articles. There is no rule for how to give credit, but giving proper credit for anything you didn't create is unless stated otherwise is a rule. You can see an example of how I give source credit in the video about how to add embed codes above.

Do You Have To Be A Prize Winning Author To Be A Professional Blogger?

Since the Search Engines want you to dumb down your content, the answer is no. Nearly anybody with a basic understanding of their language can be a Professional Blogger. The use of proper grammar is semi-important. Many who don't speak English natively do not make good bloggers. Most just can't get down the way we phrase our sentences, and their work reflects it. Lets face it, most of the people from English speaking countries are a bit snobbish. We demand a Professional Post, or we will bounce out fast. While your writing doesn't have to be perfect, grammar does matter. Even if you've taken writing classes your grammar probably isn't going to start off perfect. This is something you improve on with practice. As you edit your own work, try to pretend that you are the reader. Be the snob that is looking for mistakes, and be your own harshest critic.  

Take Your Time

As you can see, there are many steps to creating a professional post with Yoast (that rhymed). Many bloggers try to develop a skill for speed posting. Sure they have the SEO and Readability process down packed like I do. Its usually obvious in the quality when they don't take their time though. Writing a Professional Post is time consuming. Many sites have an daily article quota. To reach their goals their writers pound out several posts a day. The big sites don't have to strive for perfection because they have massive budgets. The quality of most big sites articles are crap. The little guys are writing the better content, but the big guys can afford to position theirs on top. It usually takes a website consistently doing quality posts for 3 to 6 months for a SEO strategy to take effect. When it finally does the site sees many rewards. Traffic picks up, your world ranking skyrockets to the top, and your stats start increasing fast. SEO is a major term in the industry for a reason. I don't really even need Yoast anymore, but it is has been one of my best teachers.

Gif Source - Giphy

Closing Notes

Even the worse writers who doesn't natively speak the language can create Professional Posts. Most peoples problem is that they simply don't take their time. They don't take the time to fully understand how the mechanic function, nor take their time on articles. If you have Yoast available, it virtually holds your hand as you create your professional grade content. Most fail Readability because they don't understand it. If you took your time studying this comprehensive tutorial, then you should now understand the Google Machine. The best teachers are experience and repetition. Once you comprehend what the Search Engines are looking for, you are on your way. It took me a long time to figure much of this stuff out through trail by fire. Hopefully my contribution to writing class society here will help speed up your personal growth. Blogging is something you get better with as you go. If you don't use it, you lose it. I recommend you learn by experience. You now understand how to write a Professional Post. With a little practice you can start a career freelancing, get a good job, or create your own professional site. You can create a free website on wordpress.com! You can find many step by step tutorials on YouTube on how to create a free website with WP.  

Ya'll Come Back Now!

I've always trained new writers personally. Its been very time consuming, and most ended up quitting anyway. Being a writer of any kind takes follow through. Obviously that is a quality that not all modern day humanoids possess. So I tried to make this tutorial as thorough as possible. Did this article help you out? Please come back and drop a comment if it did. If you'd like to learn by doing a guest post on this site, don't be afraid to reach out. If I missed anything, please let me know so I can update. Thanks for visiting VGB, and I hope you found this walkthrough fruitful!

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[neilmillerne]

Fitness Infographics Crush On Instagram. Here’s How To Make A Great One.

You’ve seen it everywhere.

Your friends are doing it.

Your fitness colleagues are doing it.

You might even be doing it, but wanna get better.

Well, you came to the right place because today we’re gonna talk about …

…FITNESS INFOGRAPHICS!

I’m gonna teach you how to create fitness infographics for Instagram to make more money for your business.

Sound good? Good. Let’s just dive right in.

WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT

The great Mark Twain once said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

I love Mr. Clemens, but he never had an Instagram.

Plain n’ simple, infographics on Instagram work.

If done correctly, they are:

Easily discovered on the Explore page (attention-grabbing)

Simple to make after some practice

Digested quickly by your audience

SHAREABLE between other influencers (and followers)

VALUABLE to your audience

Yes, there are many people doing them (and many people NOT doing them), but most are really shitty.

Since you’re reading this article, your infographics may look shitty too, but that’s fine because everyone successful at making them had to go through that stage at some point.

As an example, I will use myself. On April 26, 2017, I had 1,319 followers.

74 likes, 18 saves, and 5 comments.

This was my first ever infographic on May 17th, 2017. Not terrible, but definitely not good.

The background needs to be white. Black background is harder to read (think newspapers – white with black letters).

My green checks are crooked.

My header letters are not big enough to grab your attention while scrolling through the Explore page/your feed.

Lots of writing; could be simplified and more concise.

Needs to be neater and more organized.

Like I said, not terrible. But we can make some improvements.

Let’s jump ahead a little over a year later and see what I’ve done differently.

1,039 likes. 1,300 saves. 15 comments.

2,114 likes. 1,400 saves. 158 comments.

A touch better, yeah?

Do all posts perform this well? Hell no. But it’s an improvement, for sure.

And as of writing this, I’m currently at 12K followers.

I haven’t gained as quickly as some others, but I’ve made progress and I’m happy with the audience I am creating.

I like to put my following in perspective by imagining if all 12,000 of those people were listening to me speak on a stage. That usually does the trick when I feel the need to compare myself to others.

And, let’s be honest, your follower count doesn’t mean dick if those followers aren’t buying shit.

The point is NOT to get more likes or followers.

The point is to make such a large impact on your audience that they are guilted into buying from you.

Again, to use my own clients and pure objective data, these are the stats pulled from all my client analysis forms:

Sure, I put more effort into Instagram than my other social media platforms, but the data is still ridiculous.

It shows you can convert followers into buyers if you market yourself well enough.

Which brings me to the meat and potatoes of this article: the 6 steps to infographic mastery. 

STEP 1: Find a creation platform.

You have a few different options here.

If you’re super basic and have minimal graphic design skills, I’d highly recommend using Canva.

It will feel slightly overwhelming at first, but if you watch through the tutorials on the website and play around a little bit, you’ll get the hang of it. I’d also add that I prefer to make the graphics on my laptop. The app works fine, but fat fingers can make it difficult to create with precision.

Aadam Ali just gets it.

If you wanna get fancy or have more tech skillz than I, feel free to use Adobe Photoshop. I’ve never used it, but plenty others have and they love it.

Check out Aadam Ali’s Instagram (@physiqonomics) to see a master at work. I would honestly be doing him a disservice if I called his illustrations “infographics”. They are by far the best drawings on fitness on the Internet.

There is no wrong answer here, just pick one that best suits you and move to step 2.

STEP 2: Idea Creation – What’s the purpose of the infographic?

Alright, let’s not overthink this one.

Don’t get me wrong, you want to spend some time on this, but it can cause paralysis by analysis trying to figure out the PERFECT title for your infographic.

Some questions to ask yourself to overcome this:

What has worked for people similar to your brand/niche? Is there a way you can put a spin on it?

Do you wanna be a contrarian and go the opposite route of what most people say?

Do you want it to be funny? Entertaining? Informative?

Do you want to create a list?

To quote my man crush, Nate Green, before every post ask yourself, “What exactly am I trying to say?” Then at the end of the post, “Did I say what I wanted to?”

If yes, you’re good to go.

The main takeaway with this step: just get started.

Have a rough sketch and start creating. You’ll mold it to your liking as you keep working and, sometimes, you’ll take it in a completely different direction than you intended.

Follow that muse.

STEP 3: Content Creation

There’s only so much I can say in this section. This is where you have to showcase your creative talents and bleed the infographic with your personal brand.

Meaning if you’re primarily targeting women who want to look and feel better, your infographics may look similar to Marci Nevin’s or Leslie Hooper’s:

I actually reached out to Leslie and Marci to give some tips on their success.

Here’s what they had to say:

Leslie Hooper (@hooper.fit) – “Keep it simple. The fewer the words the better. You have three seconds to grab the attention of your audience while competing with thousands of other posts. This may be the first time someone has read anything on your topic, so make sure it’s so basic a third grader could understand it. Bonus points if it elicits an emotional reaction using wit, depth, irony, etc. And please, for the love of god, make sure the text and images are spaced out and centered appropriately. Perhaps Sweet Brown said it best, when the infographic isn’t aesthetically pleasing, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” It doesn’t matter how mind-blowing the content is. If it’s an eyesore, no one’s paying attention.”

Marci Nevin (@marcinevin) – “My best advice is to keep the graphic as clear and simple as possible. You want it to be eye-catching, but also readable so that it keeps someone’s attention and is easy to digest. For example, “Great Foods For Fat Loss.” I find that lots of white space helps with that. Use a white background, simple graphics and only one or two different colors for the text. Make sure that the text isn’t too small and has enough space between lines. Also, concise lists seem to be really popular.”

But if you’re like me–I target younger men and women who are intermediate/advanced lifters; men are typically more drawn to my personality/brand/interests–you’re going to make infographics like this:

Despite the subtle differences between our content, you’ll notice some similarities:

Each infographic is visually appealing and grabs your attention immediately by pictures or text (BIG CATCHY TITLES) or both.

They are concise. There aren’t long paragraphs of texts. Each one mimics easy-to-read lists.

The images are clear (no borders around the images! Google .png files if possible) and relatable to what the infographic is trying to portray.

The words used are relative to the audience, i.e., most women don’t want to know how to “get big”.

I used green checks in mine, but green checks and red X’s can be useful to quickly distinguish between right and wrong.

Notice the amount of white space. It is even throughout and the infographic is designed efficiently.

This part will take a while to figure out how you want to structure your infographics, but it will develop over time.

Test and learn, test and learn, test and learn.

Step 4 – Refinement

This is where you have to bring out your inner neurotic OCD housewife (think Monica, from Friends).

People are going to give you about 2 seconds to grab their attention on Instagram. Even if the content is amazing, they are going to keep scrolling if you have poor spacing issues, grammar errors, and bland colors.

You’ll wanna match your font and colors to your own personal brand to make your feed aesthetically pleasing.

Make sure to add your watermark to each infographic (people WILL steal them if they’re popular). A good rule of thumb is placing one at the bottom and one in the middle (in case they cut the bottom one off).

These small details can often go overlooked because this is one of the last things you have to do before you’re done, but it is worth the extra time to take your infographic from good to great.

Step 5 – Captions: Where The Magic Happens

If you get anything right, it needs to be this part. This is where you need to be the most YOU possible.

People who absolutely CRUSH this part are Carter Good (@cartergood) and Jordan Syatt (@syattfitness).

If you put 10 captions in front of me from 10 different people, I could easily pick which one was written by Jordan or Carter.

With over 400K followers each, I think it’s a good idea to listen to what they have to say.

I asked them both what advice they would give to making better infographics and they were (not surprisingly) aligned:

Jordan & Carter – “You need to be able to look at the picture and not need to look at the caption to derive the value from the post. Keep the picture simple and use the caption to explain the nitty-gritty. Don’t be afraid to max out the captions. For metrics, look at saves over likes.”

You’ve gotta align your tone of the infographic in your caption: witty, intelligent, snarky, angry, kind, vulnerable, etc.

Always recall, “What am I trying to say? … Did I say it?”

And as I mentioned earlier, people literally spend less than 2 seconds on your IG post before they determine if they wanna keep going.

With that being said, which part of the caption do you think is mega important?

The very first line.

Think about something that would cause you to keep reading. 

As for the rest: I challenge you to write a long, compelling caption. You want to prove you’re a good writer? This is the way to do it.

The caption is where people become invested in you and your personality. Not everybody will read to the end and that’s okay, because the ones who do are more likely to buy from you. That’s the goal, remember? The goal isn’t to appease to your childhood friends who are frustrated with your captions that “no one reads.”

Speaking of the goal, you need to write the caption from your perspective as a COACH.

I’m sometimes bad at this, but when I do it right it can be a huge push towards gaining leads. Mention how this infographic applied to a client, how you implement this technique as a coach, etc. It can be easy to just write about the infographic and elaborate what’s in the picture, but always remember the purpose of the post.

Some other tips for captions include:

Don’t write huge blocks of text. Break up each paragraph by only using a few sentences (notice how I’m writing this article).

Use periods or dashes to separate paragraphs in the caption. Quick tip on this: you cannot have any spaces between lines when you try to line break into a new paragraph.

Determine your emoji preference. Some people like to sprinkle in emojis here and there and some people (like me) rarely use emojis. This is your preference and will depend on your tone for the post.

Limit exclamation points. The overlord of this site has written adamantly about this topic. 

Don’t overuse ALL CAPS. Again, this can get annoying and sound like you’re CONSTANTLY YELLING AT YOUR AUDIENCE. If it gets repetitive, you take away the emphasis from using a strategically placed all caps word/phrase when it matters.

Call to action. The algorithm changes all the time, but it almost always awards engagement. Asking your audience a question or encouraging a comment can improve impressions on your post. Every once in a while, sneak in a right hook and directly ask your audience to DM you about becoming a client or clicking a link in your bio.

Do your research on popular hashtags to your audience and play around with different amounts. The limit is 30 per post. Put them as your first comment to keep the caption cleaner.

Post to your Instagram Story. This is the icing on the cake. Instagram stories have been booming lately and this is where a large majority will discover your post. Just click the paper airplane icon under your picture (next to comment bubble icon) and click “Add post to your story.”

Do not underestimate the power of a compelling caption. Don’t purposefully try to make the caption long or short, just focus on making it fucking amazing.

Step 6 – Determine Your Frequency

People love to argue about quality or quantity and the answer is always both.

Posting three shitty posts will have shitty engagement. Posting one amazing post will be better than 3 shitty posts. I would recommend putting out as many posts as you can while keeping quality as high as possible.

At the end of the day, it’s gonna come down to how talented you are and prioritizing what your time is worth.

Let’s bring this shit home with another list because everyone likes a good list.

1x, 2x, 3x+ per day. This is going to be individual and you’ve gotta determine what your time is worth. Re-read above.

Leverage others. The great perk of infographics is their shareability. If you wanna post three times a day, try posting two of your own and one of somebody else’s. This also increases the likelihood they will repost yours (but don’t expect them to).

When inspiration and creativity are low, you can repost your old content that has performed well. If you’ve been doing it for a while, you should have a big bank saved up. You can also make tweaks and make them look better than the last time you posted.

Consistency is key. This is cliche, but I don’t care. This is the foundation of making these work.

Figuring the right frequency for you will take some time, but as long as you remain consistent you will find your groove.

The Part Where We Wrap This Up

Look, you don’t HAVE to do infographics.

Many people have great success on Instagram without using infographics.

But can they work for you and put more money in your pocket?

Absolutely.

It’s not going to be a shortcut to success or any shit like that, but if you follow these six steps and truly CARE about the audience you’re helping, it definitely won’t hurt.

Oh yeah, and before we go. Follow me and send me a DM if this helped you. 

The post Fitness Infographics Crush On Instagram. Here’s How To Make A Great One. appeared first on Roman Fitness Systems.

https://ift.tt/2NoQAzA

[joshuabradleyn]

Fitness Infographics Crush On Instagram. Here’s How To Make A Great One.

You’ve seen it everywhere.

Your friends are doing it.

Your fitness colleagues are doing it.

You might even be doing it, but wanna get better.

Well, you came to the right place because today we’re gonna talk about …

…FITNESS INFOGRAPHICS!

I’m gonna teach you how to create fitness infographics for Instagram to make more money for your business.

Sound good? Good. Let’s just dive right in.

WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT

The great Mark Twain once said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

I love Mr. Clemens, but he never had an Instagram.

Plain n’ simple, infographics on Instagram work.

If done correctly, they are:

Easily discovered on the Explore page (attention-grabbing)

Simple to make after some practice

Digested quickly by your audience

SHAREABLE between other influencers (and followers)

VALUABLE to your audience

Yes, there are many people doing them (and many people NOT doing them), but most are really shitty.

Since you’re reading this article, your infographics may look shitty too, but that’s fine because everyone successful at making them had to go through that stage at some point.

As an example, I will use myself. On April 26, 2017, I had 1,319 followers.

74 likes, 18 saves, and 5 comments.

This was my first ever infographic on May 17th, 2017. Not terrible, but definitely not good.

The background needs to be white. Black background is harder to read (think newspapers – white with black letters).

My green checks are crooked.

My header letters are not big enough to grab your attention while scrolling through the Explore page/your feed.

Lots of writing; could be simplified and more concise.

Needs to be neater and more organized.

Like I said, not terrible. But we can make some improvements.

Let’s jump ahead a little over a year later and see what I’ve done differently.

1,039 likes. 1,300 saves. 15 comments.

2,114 likes. 1,400 saves. 158 comments.

A touch better, yeah?

Do all posts perform this well? Hell no. But it’s an improvement, for sure.

And as of writing this, I’m currently at 12K followers.

I haven’t gained as quickly as some others, but I’ve made progress and I’m happy with the audience I am creating.

I like to put my following in perspective by imagining if all 12,000 of those people were listening to me speak on a stage. That usually does the trick when I feel the need to compare myself to others.

And, let’s be honest, your follower count doesn’t mean dick if those followers aren’t buying shit.

The point is NOT to get more likes or followers.

The point is to make such a large impact on your audience that they are guilted into buying from you.

Again, to use my own clients and pure objective data, these are the stats pulled from all my client analysis forms:

Sure, I put more effort into Instagram than my other social media platforms, but the data is still ridiculous.

It shows you can convert followers into buyers if you market yourself well enough.

Which brings me to the meat and potatoes of this article: the 6 steps to infographic mastery. 

STEP 1: Find a creation platform.

You have a few different options here.

If you’re super basic and have minimal graphic design skills, I’d highly recommend using Canva.

It will feel slightly overwhelming at first, but if you watch through the tutorials on the website and play around a little bit, you’ll get the hang of it. I’d also add that I prefer to make the graphics on my laptop. The app works fine, but fat fingers can make it difficult to create with precision.

Aadam Ali just gets it.

If you wanna get fancy or have more tech skillz than I, feel free to use Adobe Photoshop. I’ve never used it, but plenty others have and they love it.

Check out Aadam Ali’s Instagram (@physiqonomics) to see a master at work. I would honestly be doing him a disservice if I called his illustrations “infographics”. They are by far the best drawings on fitness on the Internet.

There is no wrong answer here, just pick one that best suits you and move to step 2.

STEP 2: Idea Creation – What’s the purpose of the infographic?

Alright, let’s not overthink this one.

Don’t get me wrong, you want to spend some time on this, but it can cause paralysis by analysis trying to figure out the PERFECT title for your infographic.

Some questions to ask yourself to overcome this:

What has worked for people similar to your brand/niche? Is there a way you can put a spin on it?

Do you wanna be a contrarian and go the opposite route of what most people say?

Do you want it to be funny? Entertaining? Informative?

Do you want to create a list?

To quote my man crush, Nate Green, before every post ask yourself, “What exactly am I trying to say?” Then at the end of the post, “Did I say what I wanted to?”

If yes, you’re good to go.

The main takeaway with this step: just get started.

Have a rough sketch and start creating. You’ll mold it to your liking as you keep working and, sometimes, you’ll take it in a completely different direction than you intended.

Follow that muse.

STEP 3: Content Creation

There’s only so much I can say in this section. This is where you have to showcase your creative talents and bleed the infographic with your personal brand.

Meaning if you’re primarily targeting women who want to look and feel better, your infographics may look similar to Marci Nevin’s or Leslie Hooper’s:

I actually reached out to Leslie and Marci to give some tips on their success.

Here’s what they had to say:

Leslie Hooper (@hooper.fit) – “Keep it simple. The fewer the words the better. You have three seconds to grab the attention of your audience while competing with thousands of other posts. This may be the first time someone has read anything on your topic, so make sure it’s so basic a third grader could understand it. Bonus points if it elicits an emotional reaction using wit, depth, irony, etc. And please, for the love of god, make sure the text and images are spaced out and centered appropriately. Perhaps Sweet Brown said it best, when the infographic isn’t aesthetically pleasing, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” It doesn’t matter how mind-blowing the content is. If it’s an eyesore, no one’s paying attention.”

Marci Nevin (@marcinevin) – “My best advice is to keep the graphic as clear and simple as possible. You want it to be eye-catching, but also readable so that it keeps someone’s attention and is easy to digest. For example, “Great Foods For Fat Loss.” I find that lots of white space helps with that. Use a white background, simple graphics and only one or two different colors for the text. Make sure that the text isn’t too small and has enough space between lines. Also, concise lists seem to be really popular.”

But if you’re like me–I target younger men and women who are intermediate/advanced lifters; men are typically more drawn to my personality/brand/interests–you’re going to make infographics like this:

Despite the subtle differences between our content, you’ll notice some similarities:

Each infographic is visually appealing and grabs your attention immediately by pictures or text (BIG CATCHY TITLES) or both.

They are concise. There aren’t long paragraphs of texts. Each one mimics easy-to-read lists.

The images are clear (no borders around the images! Google .png files if possible) and relatable to what the infographic is trying to portray.

The words used are relative to the audience, i.e., most women don’t want to know how to “get big”.

I used green checks in mine, but green checks and red X’s can be useful to quickly distinguish between right and wrong.

Notice the amount of white space. It is even throughout and the infographic is designed efficiently.

This part will take a while to figure out how you want to structure your infographics, but it will develop over time.

Test and learn, test and learn, test and learn.

Step 4 – Refinement

This is where you have to bring out your inner neurotic OCD housewife (think Monica, from Friends).

People are going to give you about 2 seconds to grab their attention on Instagram. Even if the content is amazing, they are going to keep scrolling if you have poor spacing issues, grammar errors, and bland colors.

You’ll wanna match your font and colors to your own personal brand to make your feed aesthetically pleasing.

Make sure to add your watermark to each infographic (people WILL steal them if they’re popular). A good rule of thumb is placing one at the bottom and one in the middle (in case they cut the bottom one off).

These small details can often go overlooked because this is one of the last things you have to do before you’re done, but it is worth the extra time to take your infographic from good to great.

Step 5 – Captions: Where The Magic Happens

If you get anything right, it needs to be this part. This is where you need to be the most YOU possible.

People who absolutely CRUSH this part are Carter Good (@cartergood) and Jordan Syatt (@syattfitness).

If you put 10 captions in front of me from 10 different people, I could easily pick which one was written by Jordan or Carter.

With over 400K followers each, I think it’s a good idea to listen to what they have to say.

I asked them both what advice they would give to making better infographics and they were (not surprisingly) aligned:

Jordan & Carter – “You need to be able to look at the picture and not need to look at the caption to derive the value from the post. Keep the picture simple and use the caption to explain the nitty-gritty. Don’t be afraid to max out the captions. For metrics, look at saves over likes.”

You’ve gotta align your tone of the infographic in your caption: witty, intelligent, snarky, angry, kind, vulnerable, etc.

Always recall, “What am I trying to say? … Did I say it?”

And as I mentioned earlier, people literally spend less than 2 seconds on your IG post before they determine if they wanna keep going.

With that being said, which part of the caption do you think is mega important?

The very first line.

Think about something that would cause you to keep reading. 

As for the rest: I challenge you to write a long, compelling caption. You want to prove you’re a good writer? This is the way to do it.

The caption is where people become invested in you and your personality. Not everybody will read to the end and that’s okay, because the ones who do are more likely to buy from you. That’s the goal, remember? The goal isn’t to appease to your childhood friends who are frustrated with your captions that “no one reads.”

Speaking of the goal, you need to write the caption from your perspective as a COACH.

I’m sometimes bad at this, but when I do it right it can be a huge push towards gaining leads. Mention how this infographic applied to a client, how you implement this technique as a coach, etc. It can be easy to just write about the infographic and elaborate what’s in the picture, but always remember the purpose of the post.

Some other tips for captions include:

Don’t write huge blocks of text. Break up each paragraph by only using a few sentences (notice how I’m writing this article).

Use periods or dashes to separate paragraphs in the caption. Quick tip on this: you cannot have any spaces between lines when you try to line break into a new paragraph.

Determine your emoji preference. Some people like to sprinkle in emojis here and there and some people (like me) rarely use emojis. This is your preference and will depend on your tone for the post.

Limit exclamation points. The overlord of this site has written adamantly about this topic. 

Don’t overuse ALL CAPS. Again, this can get annoying and sound like you’re CONSTANTLY YELLING AT YOUR AUDIENCE. If it gets repetitive, you take away the emphasis from using a strategically placed all caps word/phrase when it matters.

Call to action. The algorithm changes all the time, but it almost always awards engagement. Asking your audience a question or encouraging a comment can improve impressions on your post. Every once in a while, sneak in a right hook and directly ask your audience to DM you about becoming a client or clicking a link in your bio.

Do your research on popular hashtags to your audience and play around with different amounts. The limit is 30 per post. Put them as your first comment to keep the caption cleaner.

Post to your Instagram Story. This is the icing on the cake. Instagram stories have been booming lately and this is where a large majority will discover your post. Just click the paper airplane icon under your picture (next to comment bubble icon) and click “Add post to your story.”

Do not underestimate the power of a compelling caption. Don’t purposefully try to make the caption long or short, just focus on making it fucking amazing.

Step 6 – Determine Your Frequency

People love to argue about quality or quantity and the answer is always both.

Posting three shitty posts will have shitty engagement. Posting one amazing post will be better than 3 shitty posts. I would recommend putting out as many posts as you can while keeping quality as high as possible.

At the end of the day, it’s gonna come down to how talented you are and prioritizing what your time is worth.

Let’s bring this shit home with another list because everyone likes a good list.

1x, 2x, 3x+ per day. This is going to be individual and you’ve gotta determine what your time is worth. Re-read above.

Leverage others. The great perk of infographics is their shareability. If you wanna post three times a day, try posting two of your own and one of somebody else’s. This also increases the likelihood they will repost yours (but don’t expect them to).

When inspiration and creativity are low, you can repost your old content that has performed well. If you’ve been doing it for a while, you should have a big bank saved up. You can also make tweaks and make them look better than the last time you posted.

Consistency is key. This is cliche, but I don’t care. This is the foundation of making these work.

Figuring the right frequency for you will take some time, but as long as you remain consistent you will find your groove.

The Part Where We Wrap This Up

Look, you don’t HAVE to do infographics.

Many people have great success on Instagram without using infographics.

But can they work for you and put more money in your pocket?

Absolutely.

It’s not going to be a shortcut to success or any shit like that, but if you follow these six steps and truly CARE about the audience you’re helping, it definitely won’t hurt.

Oh yeah, and before we go. Follow me and send me a DM if this helped you. 

The post Fitness Infographics Crush On Instagram. Here’s How To Make A Great One. appeared first on Roman Fitness Systems.

https://ift.tt/2NoQAzA

[almajonesnjna]

Fitness Infographics Crush On Instagram. Here’s How To Make A Great One.

You’ve seen it everywhere.

Your friends are doing it.

Your fitness colleagues are doing it.

You might even be doing it, but wanna get better.

Well, you came to the right place because today we’re gonna talk about …

…FITNESS INFOGRAPHICS!

I’m gonna teach you how to create fitness infographics for Instagram to make more money for your business.

Sound good? Good. Let’s just dive right in.

WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT

The great Mark Twain once said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

I love Mr. Clemens, but he never had an Instagram.

Plain n’ simple, infographics on Instagram work.

If done correctly, they are:

Easily discovered on the Explore page (attention-grabbing)

Simple to make after some practice

Digested quickly by your audience

SHAREABLE between other influencers (and followers)

VALUABLE to your audience

Yes, there are many people doing them (and many people NOT doing them), but most are really shitty.

Since you’re reading this article, your infographics may look shitty too, but that’s fine because everyone successful at making them had to go through that stage at some point.

As an example, I will use myself. On April 26, 2017, I had 1,319 followers.

74 likes, 18 saves, and 5 comments.

This was my first ever infographic on May 17th, 2017. Not terrible, but definitely not good.

The background needs to be white. Black background is harder to read (think newspapers – white with black letters).

My green checks are crooked.

My header letters are not big enough to grab your attention while scrolling through the Explore page/your feed.

Lots of writing; could be simplified and more concise.

Needs to be neater and more organized.

Like I said, not terrible. But we can make some improvements.

Let’s jump ahead a little over a year later and see what I’ve done differently.

1,039 likes. 1,300 saves. 15 comments.

2,114 likes. 1,400 saves. 158 comments.

A touch better, yeah?

Do all posts perform this well? Hell no. But it’s an improvement, for sure.

And as of writing this, I’m currently at 12K followers.

I haven’t gained as quickly as some others, but I’ve made progress and I’m happy with the audience I am creating.

I like to put my following in perspective by imagining if all 12,000 of those people were listening to me speak on a stage. That usually does the trick when I feel the need to compare myself to others.

And, let’s be honest, your follower count doesn’t mean dick if those followers aren’t buying shit.

The point is NOT to get more likes or followers.

The point is to make such a large impact on your audience that they are guilted into buying from you.

Again, to use my own clients and pure objective data, these are the stats pulled from all my client analysis forms:

Sure, I put more effort into Instagram than my other social media platforms, but the data is still ridiculous.

It shows you can convert followers into buyers if you market yourself well enough.

Which brings me to the meat and potatoes of this article: the 6 steps to infographic mastery. 

STEP 1: Find a creation platform.

You have a few different options here.

If you’re super basic and have minimal graphic design skills, I’d highly recommend using Canva.

It will feel slightly overwhelming at first, but if you watch through the tutorials on the website and play around a little bit, you’ll get the hang of it. I’d also add that I prefer to make the graphics on my laptop. The app works fine, but fat fingers can make it difficult to create with precision.

Aadam Ali just gets it.

If you wanna get fancy or have more tech skillz than I, feel free to use Adobe Photoshop. I’ve never used it, but plenty others have and they love it.

Check out Aadam Ali’s Instagram (@physiqonomics) to see a master at work. I would honestly be doing him a disservice if I called his illustrations “infographics”. They are by far the best drawings on fitness on the Internet.

There is no wrong answer here, just pick one that best suits you and move to step 2.

STEP 2: Idea Creation – What’s the purpose of the infographic?

Alright, let’s not overthink this one.

Don’t get me wrong, you want to spend some time on this, but it can cause paralysis by analysis trying to figure out the PERFECT title for your infographic.

Some questions to ask yourself to overcome this:

What has worked for people similar to your brand/niche? Is there a way you can put a spin on it?

Do you wanna be a contrarian and go the opposite route of what most people say?

Do you want it to be funny? Entertaining? Informative?

Do you want to create a list?

To quote my man crush, Nate Green, before every post ask yourself, “What exactly am I trying to say?” Then at the end of the post, “Did I say what I wanted to?”

If yes, you’re good to go.

The main takeaway with this step: just get started.

Have a rough sketch and start creating. You’ll mold it to your liking as you keep working and, sometimes, you’ll take it in a completely different direction than you intended.

Follow that muse.

STEP 3: Content Creation

There’s only so much I can say in this section. This is where you have to showcase your creative talents and bleed the infographic with your personal brand.

Meaning if you’re primarily targeting women who want to look and feel better, your infographics may look similar to Marci Nevin’s or Leslie Hooper’s:

I actually reached out to Leslie and Marci to give some tips on their success.

Here’s what they had to say:

Leslie Hooper (@hooper.fit) – “Keep it simple. The fewer the words the better. You have three seconds to grab the attention of your audience while competing with thousands of other posts. This may be the first time someone has read anything on your topic, so make sure it’s so basic a third grader could understand it. Bonus points if it elicits an emotional reaction using wit, depth, irony, etc. And please, for the love of god, make sure the text and images are spaced out and centered appropriately. Perhaps Sweet Brown said it best, when the infographic isn’t aesthetically pleasing, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” It doesn’t matter how mind-blowing the content is. If it’s an eyesore, no one’s paying attention.”

Marci Nevin (@marcinevin) – “My best advice is to keep the graphic as clear and simple as possible. You want it to be eye-catching, but also readable so that it keeps someone’s attention and is easy to digest. For example, “Great Foods For Fat Loss.” I find that lots of white space helps with that. Use a white background, simple graphics and only one or two different colors for the text. Make sure that the text isn’t too small and has enough space between lines. Also, concise lists seem to be really popular.”

But if you’re like me–I target younger men and women who are intermediate/advanced lifters; men are typically more drawn to my personality/brand/interests–you’re going to make infographics like this:

Despite the subtle differences between our content, you’ll notice some similarities:

Each infographic is visually appealing and grabs your attention immediately by pictures or text (BIG CATCHY TITLES) or both.

They are concise. There aren’t long paragraphs of texts. Each one mimics easy-to-read lists.

The images are clear (no borders around the images! Google .png files if possible) and relatable to what the infographic is trying to portray.

The words used are relative to the audience, i.e., most women don’t want to know how to “get big”.

I used green checks in mine, but green checks and red X’s can be useful to quickly distinguish between right and wrong.

Notice the amount of white space. It is even throughout and the infographic is designed efficiently.

This part will take a while to figure out how you want to structure your infographics, but it will develop over time.

Test and learn, test and learn, test and learn.

Step 4 – Refinement

This is where you have to bring out your inner neurotic OCD housewife (think Monica, from Friends).

People are going to give you about 2 seconds to grab their attention on Instagram. Even if the content is amazing, they are going to keep scrolling if you have poor spacing issues, grammar errors, and bland colors.

You’ll wanna match your font and colors to your own personal brand to make your feed aesthetically pleasing.

Make sure to add your watermark to each infographic (people WILL steal them if they’re popular). A good rule of thumb is placing one at the bottom and one in the middle (in case they cut the bottom one off).

These small details can often go overlooked because this is one of the last things you have to do before you’re done, but it is worth the extra time to take your infographic from good to great.

Step 5 – Captions: Where The Magic Happens

If you get anything right, it needs to be this part. This is where you need to be the most YOU possible.

People who absolutely CRUSH this part are Carter Good (@cartergood) and Jordan Syatt (@syattfitness).

If you put 10 captions in front of me from 10 different people, I could easily pick which one was written by Jordan or Carter.

With over 400K followers each, I think it’s a good idea to listen to what they have to say.

I asked them both what advice they would give to making better infographics and they were (not surprisingly) aligned:

Jordan & Carter – “You need to be able to look at the picture and not need to look at the caption to derive the value from the post. Keep the picture simple and use the caption to explain the nitty-gritty. Don’t be afraid to max out the captions. For metrics, look at saves over likes.”

You’ve gotta align your tone of the infographic in your caption: witty, intelligent, snarky, angry, kind, vulnerable, etc.

Always recall, “What am I trying to say? … Did I say it?”

And as I mentioned earlier, people literally spend less than 2 seconds on your IG post before they determine if they wanna keep going.

With that being said, which part of the caption do you think is mega important?

The very first line.

Think about something that would cause you to keep reading. 

As for the rest: I challenge you to write a long, compelling caption. You want to prove you’re a good writer? This is the way to do it.

The caption is where people become invested in you and your personality. Not everybody will read to the end and that’s okay, because the ones who do are more likely to buy from you. That’s the goal, remember? The goal isn’t to appease to your childhood friends who are frustrated with your captions that “no one reads.”

Speaking of the goal, you need to write the caption from your perspective as a COACH.

I’m sometimes bad at this, but when I do it right it can be a huge push towards gaining leads. Mention how this infographic applied to a client, how you implement this technique as a coach, etc. It can be easy to just write about the infographic and elaborate what’s in the picture, but always remember the purpose of the post.

Some other tips for captions include:

Don’t write huge blocks of text. Break up each paragraph by only using a few sentences (notice how I’m writing this article).

Use periods or dashes to separate paragraphs in the caption. Quick tip on this: you cannot have any spaces between lines when you try to line break into a new paragraph.

Determine your emoji preference. Some people like to sprinkle in emojis here and there and some people (like me) rarely use emojis. This is your preference and will depend on your tone for the post.

Limit exclamation points. The overlord of this site has written adamantly about this topic. 

Don’t overuse ALL CAPS. Again, this can get annoying and sound like you’re CONSTANTLY YELLING AT YOUR AUDIENCE. If it gets repetitive, you take away the emphasis from using a strategically placed all caps word/phrase when it matters.

Call to action. The algorithm changes all the time, but it almost always awards engagement. Asking your audience a question or encouraging a comment can improve impressions on your post. Every once in a while, sneak in a right hook and directly ask your audience to DM you about becoming a client or clicking a link in your bio.

Do your research on popular hashtags to your audience and play around with different amounts. The limit is 30 per post. Put them as your first comment to keep the caption cleaner.

Post to your Instagram Story. This is the icing on the cake. Instagram stories have been booming lately and this is where a large majority will discover your post. Just click the paper airplane icon under your picture (next to comment bubble icon) and click “Add post to your story.”

Do not underestimate the power of a compelling caption. Don’t purposefully try to make the caption long or short, just focus on making it fucking amazing.

Step 6 – Determine Your Frequency

People love to argue about quality or quantity and the answer is always both.

Posting three shitty posts will have shitty engagement. Posting one amazing post will be better than 3 shitty posts. I would recommend putting out as many posts as you can while keeping quality as high as possible.

At the end of the day, it’s gonna come down to how talented you are and prioritizing what your time is worth.

Let’s bring this shit home with another list because everyone likes a good list.

1x, 2x, 3x+ per day. This is going to be individual and you’ve gotta determine what your time is worth. Re-read above.

Leverage others. The great perk of infographics is their shareability. If you wanna post three times a day, try posting two of your own and one of somebody else’s. This also increases the likelihood they will repost yours (but don’t expect them to).

When inspiration and creativity are low, you can repost your old content that has performed well. If you’ve been doing it for a while, you should have a big bank saved up. You can also make tweaks and make them look better than the last time you posted.

Consistency is key. This is cliche, but I don’t care. This is the foundation of making these work.

Figuring the right frequency for you will take some time, but as long as you remain consistent you will find your groove.

The Part Where We Wrap This Up

Look, you don’t HAVE to do infographics.

Many people have great success on Instagram without using infographics.

But can they work for you and put more money in your pocket?

Absolutely.

It’s not going to be a shortcut to success or any shit like that, but if you follow these six steps and truly CARE about the audience you’re helping, it definitely won’t hurt.

Oh yeah, and before we go. Follow me and send me a DM if this helped you. 

The post Fitness Infographics Crush On Instagram. Here’s How To Make A Great One. appeared first on Roman Fitness Systems.

https://ift.tt/2NoQAzA

[johnclapperne]

Fitness Infographics Crush On Instagram. Here’s How To Make A Great One.

You’ve seen it everywhere.

Your friends are doing it.

Your fitness colleagues are doing it.

You might even be doing it, but wanna get better.

Well, you came to the right place because today we’re gonna talk about …

…FITNESS INFOGRAPHICS!

I’m gonna teach you how to create fitness infographics for Instagram to make more money for your business.

Sound good? Good. Let’s just dive right in.

WHY YOU SHOULD DO IT

The great Mark Twain once said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

I love Mr. Clemens, but he never had an Instagram.

Plain n’ simple, infographics on Instagram work.

If done correctly, they are:

Easily discovered on the Explore page (attention-grabbing)

Simple to make after some practice

Digested quickly by your audience

SHAREABLE between other influencers (and followers)

VALUABLE to your audience

Yes, there are many people doing them (and many people NOT doing them), but most are really shitty.

Since you’re reading this article, your infographics may look shitty too, but that’s fine because everyone successful at making them had to go through that stage at some point.

As an example, I will use myself. On April 26, 2017, I had 1,319 followers.

74 likes, 18 saves, and 5 comments.

This was my first ever infographic on May 17th, 2017. Not terrible, but definitely not good.

The background needs to be white. Black background is harder to read (think newspapers – white with black letters).

My green checks are crooked.

My header letters are not big enough to grab your attention while scrolling through the Explore page/your feed.

Lots of writing; could be simplified and more concise.

Needs to be neater and more organized.

Like I said, not terrible. But we can make some improvements.

Let’s jump ahead a little over a year later and see what I’ve done differently.

1,039 likes. 1,300 saves. 15 comments.

2,114 likes. 1,400 saves. 158 comments.

A touch better, yeah?

Do all posts perform this well? Hell no. But it’s an improvement, for sure.

And as of writing this, I’m currently at 12K followers.

I haven’t gained as quickly as some others, but I’ve made progress and I’m happy with the audience I am creating.

I like to put my following in perspective by imagining if all 12,000 of those people were listening to me speak on a stage. That usually does the trick when I feel the need to compare myself to others.

And, let’s be honest, your follower count doesn’t mean dick if those followers aren’t buying shit.

The point is NOT to get more likes or followers.

The point is to make such a large impact on your audience that they are guilted into buying from you.

Again, to use my own clients and pure objective data, these are the stats pulled from all my client analysis forms:

Sure, I put more effort into Instagram than my other social media platforms, but the data is still ridiculous.

It shows you can convert followers into buyers if you market yourself well enough.

Which brings me to the meat and potatoes of this article: the 6 steps to infographic mastery. 

STEP 1: Find a creation platform.

You have a few different options here.

If you’re super basic and have minimal graphic design skills, I’d highly recommend using Canva.

It will feel slightly overwhelming at first, but if you watch through the tutorials on the website and play around a little bit, you’ll get the hang of it. I’d also add that I prefer to make the graphics on my laptop. The app works fine, but fat fingers can make it difficult to create with precision.

Aadam Ali just gets it.

If you wanna get fancy or have more tech skillz than I, feel free to use Adobe Photoshop. I’ve never used it, but plenty others have and they love it.

Check out Aadam Ali’s Instagram (@physiqonomics) to see a master at work. I would honestly be doing him a disservice if I called his illustrations “infographics”. They are by far the best drawings on fitness on the Internet.

There is no wrong answer here, just pick one that best suits you and move to step 2.

STEP 2: Idea Creation – What’s the purpose of the infographic?

Alright, let’s not overthink this one.

Don’t get me wrong, you want to spend some time on this, but it can cause paralysis by analysis trying to figure out the PERFECT title for your infographic.

Some questions to ask yourself to overcome this:

What has worked for people similar to your brand/niche? Is there a way you can put a spin on it?

Do you wanna be a contrarian and go the opposite route of what most people say?

Do you want it to be funny? Entertaining? Informative?

Do you want to create a list?

To quote my man crush, Nate Green, before every post ask yourself, “What exactly am I trying to say?” Then at the end of the post, “Did I say what I wanted to?”

If yes, you’re good to go.

The main takeaway with this step: just get started.

Have a rough sketch and start creating. You’ll mold it to your liking as you keep working and, sometimes, you’ll take it in a completely different direction than you intended.

Follow that muse.

STEP 3: Content Creation

There’s only so much I can say in this section. This is where you have to showcase your creative talents and bleed the infographic with your personal brand.

Meaning if you’re primarily targeting women who want to look and feel better, your infographics may look similar to Marci Nevin’s or Leslie Hooper’s:

I actually reached out to Leslie and Marci to give some tips on their success.

Here’s what they had to say:

Leslie Hooper (@hooper.fit) – “Keep it simple. The fewer the words the better. You have three seconds to grab the attention of your audience while competing with thousands of other posts. This may be the first time someone has read anything on your topic, so make sure it’s so basic a third grader could understand it. Bonus points if it elicits an emotional reaction using wit, depth, irony, etc. And please, for the love of god, make sure the text and images are spaced out and centered appropriately. Perhaps Sweet Brown said it best, when the infographic isn’t aesthetically pleasing, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” It doesn’t matter how mind-blowing the content is. If it’s an eyesore, no one’s paying attention.”

Marci Nevin (@marcinevin) – “My best advice is to keep the graphic as clear and simple as possible. You want it to be eye-catching, but also readable so that it keeps someone’s attention and is easy to digest. For example, “Great Foods For Fat Loss.” I find that lots of white space helps with that. Use a white background, simple graphics and only one or two different colors for the text. Make sure that the text isn’t too small and has enough space between lines. Also, concise lists seem to be really popular.”

But if you’re like me–I target younger men and women who are intermediate/advanced lifters; men are typically more drawn to my personality/brand/interests–you’re going to make infographics like this:

Despite the subtle differences between our content, you’ll notice some similarities:

Each infographic is visually appealing and grabs your attention immediately by pictures or text (BIG CATCHY TITLES) or both.

They are concise. There aren’t long paragraphs of texts. Each one mimics easy-to-read lists.

The images are clear (no borders around the images! Google .png files if possible) and relatable to what the infographic is trying to portray.

The words used are relative to the audience, i.e., most women don’t want to know how to “get big”.

I used green checks in mine, but green checks and red X’s can be useful to quickly distinguish between right and wrong.

Notice the amount of white space. It is even throughout and the infographic is designed efficiently.

This part will take a while to figure out how you want to structure your infographics, but it will develop over time.

Test and learn, test and learn, test and learn.

Step 4 – Refinement

This is where you have to bring out your inner neurotic OCD housewife (think Monica, from Friends).

People are going to give you about 2 seconds to grab their attention on Instagram. Even if the content is amazing, they are going to keep scrolling if you have poor spacing issues, grammar errors, and bland colors.

You’ll wanna match your font and colors to your own personal brand to make your feed aesthetically pleasing.

Make sure to add your watermark to each infographic (people WILL steal them if they’re popular). A good rule of thumb is placing one at the bottom and one in the middle (in case they cut the bottom one off).

These small details can often go overlooked because this is one of the last things you have to do before you’re done, but it is worth the extra time to take your infographic from good to great.

Step 5 – Captions: Where The Magic Happens

If you get anything right, it needs to be this part. This is where you need to be the most YOU possible.

People who absolutely CRUSH this part are Carter Good (@cartergood) and Jordan Syatt (@syattfitness).

If you put 10 captions in front of me from 10 different people, I could easily pick which one was written by Jordan or Carter.

With over 400K followers each, I think it’s a good idea to listen to what they have to say.

I asked them both what advice they would give to making better infographics and they were (not surprisingly) aligned:

Jordan & Carter – “You need to be able to look at the picture and not need to look at the caption to derive the value from the post. Keep the picture simple and use the caption to explain the nitty-gritty. Don’t be afraid to max out the captions. For metrics, look at saves over likes.”

You’ve gotta align your tone of the infographic in your caption: witty, intelligent, snarky, angry, kind, vulnerable, etc.

Always recall, “What am I trying to say? … Did I say it?”

And as I mentioned earlier, people literally spend less than 2 seconds on your IG post before they determine if they wanna keep going.

With that being said, which part of the caption do you think is mega important?

The very first line.

Think about something that would cause you to keep reading. 

As for the rest: I challenge you to write a long, compelling caption. You want to prove you’re a good writer? This is the way to do it.

The caption is where people become invested in you and your personality. Not everybody will read to the end and that’s okay, because the ones who do are more likely to buy from you. That’s the goal, remember? The goal isn’t to appease to your childhood friends who are frustrated with your captions that “no one reads.”

Speaking of the goal, you need to write the caption from your perspective as a COACH.

I’m sometimes bad at this, but when I do it right it can be a huge push towards gaining leads. Mention how this infographic applied to a client, how you implement this technique as a coach, etc. It can be easy to just write about the infographic and elaborate what’s in the picture, but always remember the purpose of the post.

Some other tips for captions include:

Don’t write huge blocks of text. Break up each paragraph by only using a few sentences (notice how I’m writing this article).

Use periods or dashes to separate paragraphs in the caption. Quick tip on this: you cannot have any spaces between lines when you try to line break into a new paragraph.

Determine your emoji preference. Some people like to sprinkle in emojis here and there and some people (like me) rarely use emojis. This is your preference and will depend on your tone for the post.

Limit exclamation points. The overlord of this site has written adamantly about this topic. 

Don’t overuse ALL CAPS. Again, this can get annoying and sound like you’re CONSTANTLY YELLING AT YOUR AUDIENCE. If it gets repetitive, you take away the emphasis from using a strategically placed all caps word/phrase when it matters.

Call to action. The algorithm changes all the time, but it almost always awards engagement. Asking your audience a question or encouraging a comment can improve impressions on your post. Every once in a while, sneak in a right hook and directly ask your audience to DM you about becoming a client or clicking a link in your bio.

Do your research on popular hashtags to your audience and play around with different amounts. The limit is 30 per post. Put them as your first comment to keep the caption cleaner.

Post to your Instagram Story. This is the icing on the cake. Instagram stories have been booming lately and this is where a large majority will discover your post. Just click the paper airplane icon under your picture (next to comment bubble icon) and click “Add post to your story.”

Do not underestimate the power of a compelling caption. Don’t purposefully try to make the caption long or short, just focus on making it fucking amazing.

Step 6 – Determine Your Frequency

People love to argue about quality or quantity and the answer is always both.

Posting three shitty posts will have shitty engagement. Posting one amazing post will be better than 3 shitty posts. I would recommend putting out as many posts as you can while keeping quality as high as possible.

At the end of the day, it’s gonna come down to how talented you are and prioritizing what your time is worth.

Let’s bring this shit home with another list because everyone likes a good list.

1x, 2x, 3x+ per day. This is going to be individual and you’ve gotta determine what your time is worth. Re-read above.

Leverage others. The great perk of infographics is their shareability. If you wanna post three times a day, try posting two of your own and one of somebody else’s. This also increases the likelihood they will repost yours (but don’t expect them to).

When inspiration and creativity are low, you can repost your old content that has performed well. If you’ve been doing it for a while, you should have a big bank saved up. You can also make tweaks and make them look better than the last time you posted.

Consistency is key. This is cliche, but I don’t care. This is the foundation of making these work.

Figuring the right frequency for you will take some time, but as long as you remain consistent you will find your groove.

The Part Where We Wrap This Up

Look, you don’t HAVE to do infographics.

Many people have great success on Instagram without using infographics.

But can they work for you and put more money in your pocket?

Absolutely.

It’s not going to be a shortcut to success or any shit like that, but if you follow these six steps and truly CARE about the audience you’re helping, it definitely won’t hurt.

Oh yeah, and before we go. Follow me and send me a DM if this helped you. 

The post Fitness Infographics Crush On Instagram. Here’s How To Make A Great One. appeared first on Roman Fitness Systems.

https://ift.tt/2NoQAzA