5 New Gluten-Free Blogs

Visit these new gluten-free blogs to read some great blog posts. With so many gluten-free blogs, blog names are becoming more creative. My favorite name from this list is Goodbye Goldfish.

Jules Speaks Gluten-Free by Jules Shepard

Dish Towel Diaries by Silvana Nardone

Goodbye Goldfish

Gluten-Free Twenty Something

A Modern Guide to Staying Sane Without Grain

To discover more gluten-free blogs, follow this Twitter list as well as this fantastic new listing of blogs from Simply Gluten-Free: The Gluten-Free Global Community.

My estimate based on Twitter and Karina’s Kitchen is that there are approximately 300 active gluten-free blogs and many more that are no longer active. There are currently 212 members of the Gluten-Free Bloggers Network. For help with your blog, read Top 10 Blogging Tips and join the bloggers group on Gluten-Free Faces.

Gluten-Free Tweeting 101: Follow These Easy Steps

These ten easy steps will help you get started tweeting gluten-free. All information is based on using the New Twitter. If you need convincing to start tweeting, read 10 Reasons to Tweet Gluten-Free. Get ready – you are about to enter the exciting and informative universe of Twitter!



1. Go to Twitter.com and choose a username that is fewer than 15 characters and has gf, celiac, or gfree in it if you want to make it easier to connect with other gf people. Be creative or simply try gf and the name of the city or state you live in or gf and your first name. If you have a gluten-free blog or website, use it in your username.

2. Follow the initial setup prompts. Don’t worry about finding people to follow. You can come back to that later.

3. Click Profile and then click edit your profile or click Settings from the homepage in the top right corner on the drop down menu under your username and then click Profile. Now complete your profile by:

-Uploading a picture (Any picture is better than the Twitter default image of an egg.)

-Linking to your website or blog if you have one

-Adding a location

-Describing yourself in the bio using keywords such as dairy-free, allergen-free, blogger, writer, mom, celiac, and/or gluten sensitive

4. Click Notices (in Settings) to limit the emails you receive. (I recommend not receiving emails when someone follows you, but receiving emails for direct messages.)

5. Click Design (in Settings) to change the appearance of your page.

6. Type your first tweet by saying something like, “I’m new to Twitter and looking to connect with #gf and #foodallergy people.” If you see negative numbers you have exceeded the 140 character limit and must remove some before tweeting. Click tweet to send your tweet.



7. Find gluten-free people to follow by:

-Following these lists as well as the people and companies on them. On the list page, click view all following on the right and then click the box with a plus sign next to each user to follow them. A green check mark will appear when you are following someone.

http://twitter.com/#!/MarylandCeliac/gluten-free-bloggers

http://twitter.com/#!/list/gfsocialmedia/glutenfreeproducts

http://twitter.com/#!/HoldTheGluten/gluten-free-peeps

-Entering a hashtag (#gf, #gfree, #dairyfree, #celiac) in the search box at the very top to find more people to follow.

-From the homepage, clicking Settings and then Find People to search usernames or browse interests.

8. Retweet the tweets you like from the people you are following by using RT @username or simply clicking retweet. When reading tweets, put your cursor over the username and clickable commands will appear at the bottom of the tweet - favorite, retweet, and reply.

9. Use the Twitter glossary for help understanding Twitter lingo and for help with Twitter functions. On Friday, you will see #FF, which means Follow Friday and is helpful in finding more people to follow.

10. Tweet daily and explore messages. Reply to tweets, ask questions, shorten links and share them, and tweet gluten-free products you like.

If you have any questions or experience any difficulties with these steps, tweet me @MarylandCeliac or @gfsocialmedia. You will get a faster response if you use my primary account, @MarylandCeliac or leave a comment here.

Locate Discount Codes in Two Clicks

Before you make a purchase on a website or head to a restaurant, click on the company's Twitter and Facebook pages to check for discounts. You don't have to be a registered user of Twitter or Facebook to see these discounts! 

Twitter profiles for companies and their Facebook pages are public, so anyone can view them. If you can't locate the Twitter and Facebook buttons on a website, which are usually very easy to find, simply Google the name of the company and Twitter or Facebook.

Of course, if you regularly follow a company's updates through Twitter or Facebook, you can ensure you don't miss any discount codes and promotions.  These two clicks can potentially result in substantial savings!

Twitter's New Look: Mini Profiles, Related Content, and an Egg

Over the next few weeks, the new Twitter will rollout as a preview.  Since there are so many changes, the preview will allow you to gradually adapt to the new appearance and revert back to the old appearance.  Yes, change can be hard!

So, what are the changes? Here are some details that were shared on the Twitter blog.

•"New design. The site has a cleaner timeline and a rich details pane that instantly adds more impact to individual Tweets while still maintaining the simplicity of the timeline. And, experience infinite scroll -- you no longer have to click “more” to view additional Tweets.


•Media. Now, it’s easy to see embedded photos and videos directly on Twitter, thanks to partnerships with DailyBooth, deviantART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube.


•Related content. When you click a Tweet, the details pane shows additional information related to the author or subject. Depending on the Tweet’s content, you may see: replies, other Tweets by that user, a map of where a geotagged Tweet was sent from, and more.


•Mini profiles. Click a username to see a mini profile without navigating from the page, which provides quick access to account information, including bio and recent Tweets."

About one minute into this video, you can see what the new Twitter will look like.  It will be fantastic to no longer need to click more to view additional tweets, and the mini profiles will save time and be very handy! For more details, watch the Huffington Post slideshow. Oh, and an egg is now the default profile picture!

Dramatic Increase in Social Networking Among Older Adults

According to a study from Pew Internet, 42% of internet users ages 50 and older now use social networking sites. Between April 2009 and May 2010, this percentage almost doubled. The study also found that 26% of internet users ages 65 and older use social networking sites. Here are two interesting statistics.

“One in five (20%) online adults ages 50-64 say they use social networking sites on a typical day, up from 10% one year ago.


Among adults ages 65 and older, 13% log on to social networking sites on a typical day, compared with just 4% who did so in 2009.”

Hopefully, many older adults are discovering the terrific gluten-free resources on Twitter and Facebook. Make sure your gluten-free tweets and Facebook pages are appealing to adults of all ages!

Guest Blogger Jenna Drew: Do You Know Where Your Website Traffic Comes From?

Over 60% of the traffic to my membership site, Gluten Free Bloggers Network, comes from referring websites. Let me say that again - over half of my website traffic comes from referring websites! It’s hard to believe, but it is true.

Twitter alone is responsible for 25% of my website visits over the past month. Facebook currently accounts for around 5% of my website’s traffic. From these results, you could say that I am a firm believer in social media. No, that’s not because of the hype around social media right now. I believe in social media because of the results I’ve seen.

One of the most important steps to growing your website with social media is simply understanding exactly where visitors find your website. To accomplish this, I personally use Google Analytics to track this data on my website for two reasons:

1.) It’s free (Do I need a better reason?)
2.) It’s easy to use and probably better than a lot of the tracking you would pay for!

Once you gain a basic understanding about where your website traffic is coming from, you can then spend your time more productively by putting more of an emphasis on your most rewarding social media outlets. When I discovered that 25% of my traffic was coming from Twitter, I just spent more time building relationships, interacting, and tweeting.

My favorite thing about Twitter is the ability to find and connect with the people you are looking for and other gluten freebies! From a quick search, you can find everyone on Twitter who is talking about gluten-free! Twitter was simply my “MVP” or “Most Valuable [Social Media] Platform”. You may find that Facebook or Digg are generating the most traffic for your website. Maybe you understand and enjoy using other social media such as Delicious or the new Propeller.

Just find a system that works for you and stick with the media. Remember, social media is all about how you interact with it. If you create a username for every social media outlet available online you will find yourself just trying to stay above water! Find what you enjoy and start connecting with other gluten-free members of the online community!

Jenna Drew, editor of GlutenFreeJenna.com and founder of Gluten Free Bloggers.com, has been eating a strict gluten-free diet since April 2009. As a member of the Celiac Sprue Association, Celiac Disease Foundation, and the Gluten Intolerance Group, Jenna is very active in the celiac community, and she contributes to several dedicated gluten-free blogs and newsletters. Jenna was named a Celiac Awareness All-Star in March by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Contact Jenna at jenna@glutenfreebloggers.com.

Social Media Marketing Tips for Small Companies

When you are a small company trying to navigate the social media world, it can be overwhelming. The easiest option is to hire someone to do your social media marketing. The more time consuming option is to teach yourself. This Mashable article, 10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips, is excellent and a great starting place. The article offers both basic and advanced strategies. Below is an important tip for beginners.

"This means that having a consistent username across the various social networks is very important. At a minimum, if you haven’t registered your company name on the major networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), you should do that today. For many small businesses, their user accounts on social networks will be the highest ranked pages in search results."

Setting up your company on social media sites is only the beginning. Actively and consistently maintaining the sites is an essential key to success.

*Note: For new gluten-free companies who are unfamiliar with gluten-free social media marketing, I highly recommend hiring a freelancer, like myself, who is already active in the gluten-free social media world.

10 Reasons to Tweet Gluten-Free

Buttonshut.com

Whether you are an individual who eats gluten-free, a person with a gluten-free family member, or a company with gluten-free products, here is a list of reasons to join the fabulous gluten-free community on Twitter. On Twitter, #gf is used in tweets to mean gluten-free.

1. Discover gluten-free sales, coupons, and promotions.
2. Receive answers to questions on a variety of topics, including locating gluten-free restaurants when traveling, stores that carry a specific product, and the gluten-free status of items.
3. Find the latest gluten-free news and blog posts.
4. Connect with gluten-free bloggers, companies, organizations, and consumers.
5. Easily share brief reviews of products (140 characters or less).
6. Get help with gluten-free cooking.
7. Learn about gluten-free events.
8. Establish essential gluten-free support - locally, throughout the country, and in other countries.
9. Instantly inform the public about a positive or negative experience at a restaurant and share photos.
10. Educate others about celiac disease through your tweets!

Twitter is very user friendly and easier to use than Facebook. For help getting started with Twitter, read my article, Twitter: Gluten-Free Hashtags, Lists, and Beginner Tips. Follow these companies with gluten-free products and this list of over 140 gluten-free bloggers and Examiners. Are you ready to enter the world of #gf tweets?

Twitter and Facebook on a Cereal Box

I was surprised to see Twitter and Facebook names listed on a new gluten-free Nature's Path cereal box. This is the first time I noticed social media contact information on a product package, and I am sure this won't be the last. If you aren't on Twitter and Facebook, sign up now and a new gluten-free world will be at your fingertips!

Use Twitter to Discover 100 Companies with Gluten-Free Products

I just created this Twitter list of over 100 companies with gluten-free products. Follow the list to discover gluten-free restaurants, new products, magazines, books, and discounts. Thinking about creating a Twitter account for your company? Browse these companies for tips on interacting with the gluten-free community. If you would like your company added to the list, leave a comment here or tweet me @gfsocialmedia.

5 Tips for Twitter Parties

1. If you don’t have a twitter account, Summize is the easiest to use to read the party tweets. Simply enter the party hashtag (example #glutenfreely for the General Mills gluten-free party). A twitter account is required to reply to tweets.
2. Familiarize yourself with TweetGrid before the party. TweetGrid has several advantages over Summize. TweetGrid is faster, the party hashtag is automatically added to tweets, your @replies are displayed, and the grid layout can be customized.
3. Compile a list of some relevant links and tweets ahead of time, so you can quickly copy and paste them during the party.
4. Introduce yourself during the party with information relevant to the topic.
5. To increase your chances of winning a prize, pay attention to tweets during the party and read websites of companies offering prizes. Often, prizes are awarded to the first person to correctly answer a question.

There are two gluten-free twitter parties next week. Click on the links to RSVP.

Glutino: January 11 at 8pm EST #GF

General Mills: January 14 at 7pm EST #glutenfreely

Twitter: Gluten-Free Lists, Hashtags, and Beginner Tips

By TwitterButtons.com

Twitter is one of the best sites to quickly and easily reach many gluten-free people. There has been a significant growth in recent months of people twittering gluten-free. In fact, with the increase of so many gluten-free tweets, it can be difficult to keep up with the information. Fortunately, Twitter recently introduced a new feature called lists. They are a way to locate people to follow and organize followers. Lists make it easier to keep up with the latest gluten-free tweets. There are now many public gluten-free lists on Twitter. Here are three great gluten-free lists. If you are new to Twitter, view these lists to find many gluten-free people to follow.

Hold the Gluten Gluten-Free Peeps

Maryland Celiac Gluten-Free Bloggers

Babitty Happy Gluten-Free

Hashags use the # symbol followed by an abbreviation or word at the end of a tweet, which makes it easy to search for tweets on a certain topic. There has been some confusion over which hashtag is best to use for gluten-free. Some people were using the original hastag, #gfree, while others were using #gf. Now, gluten-free people are retweeting (RT) that it is best to use #gf because it is “shorter & used in real life & mags to mean gluten free”.


Twitter viruses

There are some problems with viruses, especially in direct messages (DM) on Twitter. The most important thing to remember is not to click on links in direct messages, especially when they are about using Twitter to make money. Other times viruses result from clicking the link on an account profile.

Beginner tips

• Watch the Twitter in Plain English video.

• Choose a user name that has gf, celiac, or gluten-free in it. If one of these is not in your user name, then include gluten-free or celiac in your profile description to make it easier to connect with others. People prefer to follow people with a complete profile, so be sure to add a profile photo, location, description, and link to your site if you have one.

• Go to the twitter support site.

• To share links on Twitter, shorten them using bit.ly or tinyURL.

• Read the Twitter blog.

• To find many other people to follow on twitter, including celebrity chefs and foodies, view the Mashable mega lists.

• Select a button for your blog or website from 181 free Twitter buttons and badges.