It's really hard to grow Instagram without using hashtags. It's possible, but unless you're a celebrity, or have all day to work on each post you make for Instagram you're going to need to use hashtags effectively.

I recently learned about this service that curates the best hashtags per topic and so far it seems to work really great. Let me show you.

Ramen Photo

This post, a single image. Using the hashtag suggestions did really well compared to previous posts. The thing to notice is how many impressions came from hashtags.

Impressions are just a small part of the battle to get noticed on Instagram. The next part is to get engagements. On Instagram, the best engagements are shares, bookmarks, comments, likes, and follows, more or less in that order.

Using the right hashtags helps you mostly with impressions, once you have impressions then you can fine-tune your captions, your photo composition, work on your theme and get better at marketing yourself in general.

Seafood Photo

The seafood photo also shows the impact the hashtags had on the reach. About one-half of the impressions came from hashtags.

Hashtags Work

Now, there are some people out there that consider hashtags "thirsty" but are any of those people paying your bills? Are they paying you for sponsored posts? Are they getting you new business? Are you paying THEM to give you advice?

No? So ignore them.

The Trick to Finding Good Hashtags?

Well, you can spend weeks and months looking at analytics and measuring how effective (or not) the hashtags you use are. In the end, this will be futile since you don't have a lot of data to use or compare besides your own account. It will be really hard to determine which Instagram hashtags perform the best.

Or you can use one of those apps in the app store that tell you the "popular Instagram hashtags." They even have Instagram hashtag generators, but I haven't found those to work really well.

What I used to help me with these posts is Juiced Social. Juiced Social makes amazing lists of curated hashtags that provide niche hashtag recipes.

Hashtag Recipes

So far I have bought a couple of hashtag lists, they're only $5.00 each. I purchased the Business Motivation one, and for the food posts, I'm using a combination of two lists, Asian Food Hashtags, and Foodie Hashtags. But they have tons of them for all kinds of topics. I'll probably pick up a couple more soon as I implement a new Instagram theme for 2020.

Some of the most popular categories are Beauty, Business Marketing, Cars, and other vehicles, Quotes and Inspiration, and of course Travel. They even have monthly free lists you can use to complement your posts.

I took the screenshots for these two posts about a week after I posted them. So the reach happened fast, maybe in the first 3 days. This is true for most posts, with or without hashtags.

But there is also something that hashtags do for your post. They keep it relevant. People search and browse hashtags, so if you pick the right hashtags, you'll continue to get traffic over a long period of time.

Sidenote on deleting hashtags.

There is some controversial advice floating around out there that suggests you should delete your hashtags after a week or a month of posting. The reasoning behind this goes in line with what I said earlier about hashtags being thirsty.

It's supposed to give viewers the impression that you received all that activity without hashtags. But I don't think this is true or good practice.

Here is what two Instagram experts have to say on the matter of deleting hashtags when I asked them.

Leave hashtags alone unless they've been banned or blocked. "...for niche tags, you can stay close to the top for weeks, months or longer." - Ciaran Blumenfeld

"Keep them on. They drive so much traffic. - Tanya Kara

One more post example.

This one was the most successful of the short test I've been doing with Juiced Social.

This one worked really well. The impressions are about the best I've gotten in a long while and the number of likes I got for those hashtags is pretty good too. Just shy of 100 likes, with a reach of over 1500 accounts 80% of which were not my followers. Now I just have to work on getting them to comment, like and follow.

Next time you find your Instagram hashtags not working, or just want to boost your posts a little bit without spending money on Instagram ads, give this a try. It could make all the difference.

The post Finding the Best Instagram Hashtags appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I found a few ways to do it and here I have listed them for you.

Option 1. Using Instatray.

This service offers a 3-day free trial. It's $29/month after that. Yeah, I think the pricing is crazy. I mean c'mon guys, $30.00 per month to chat on Instagram? Give me a break. But it may be worth it to you if you have hundreds of direct messages coming in. You can get access to Instatray here.

Sign up,  and after you confirm your email address, you'll need to enter your username and password for Instagram.

When you submit this information, you'll see an error that says "checkpoint required."

This checkpoint alert means that Instagram will check with you via the mobile app to make sure it was you trying to access your account. You'll need to go to your mobile device and authorize this.

After you authorize the access from the mobile app, go back to Instatray and try the authentication again. This time it should work, and you will now have an inbox where you can send messages from and receive messages. From here on now, it works pretty much as you would expect.

The downsides?

• There seems to be a slight delay on the incoming messages; it's minimal, but if you're going back and forth quickly with somebody, you might end up  "talking over" the other person.
• You can't seem to be able to click on the icon or profile of the person you're chatting with to look at their IG profile directly.

Instatray is so far, the only reliable method I found, without having to mess around with installing programs or modifying stuff on my computer.

In Quora and a couple of other places, you'll find some guy posting about an Instagram chat enabler. But I checked it out, and it seems sketchy. It's not an app, and it's only available for download as a zip file (for Windows only) from a weird file-sharing website. I recommend you don't use that.

Option 2. Using Bluestacks Player

Bluestacks is an Android device emulator; that means it's a program that makes it seem like you have an Android device on your computer. It works for Windows, and they have recently added a version for OSX.

The reason I said the previous method (using Instatray) was the only reliable method is because installing, configuring and using Bluestacks may be a bit too technical for some people. Nonetheless, it works fine if you roll up your sleeves a little bit and get it all setup.

If you want to give it a try, read on!

You'll need to install Bluestacks on your computer, Bluestacks installs just like another app. Just pick the right version for Windows or Mac.

After you install it, an emulated device will start up. You can then search for the Instagram app as if you were using an Android device. Type in Instagram in the search, then click on "search Play for Instagram."

This action will prompt a "one-time setup" screen to connect your Gmail account and to connect to the Google App store. Click continue to Enable the AppStore the Google play store.

Then you'll be prompted to use an existing account or to create a new one. If you have a Gmail account you want to use to access the Google Play store, use that. Else you can create one.

Most people have a Gmail account, so we'll go with that option and click on Existing. Remember, this is just for the Android device simulator, not for Instagram.

You'll be prompted to sign in to the Gmail/Google account.

If you're familiar with Android devices, the next option should be easy. If you're not sure what to do when you're prompted about "Backup & Restore" maybe you should leave it unchecked.

In my case, I left the Backup and Restore option checked because that way I should be able to restore all my apps into this simulator and have a full Android environment available for me if I use it somewhere else.

This part completes the AppStore enable function and the second part of the one-time setup is to allow App Sync. I want it enabled so I clicked on Continue.

This will prompt another authentication with Google services based on the account you put in earlier.

It may seem like you can't log in at this point because your password could be rejected a few times (even if you are sure it's correct).

Then Gmail may prompt you to send an alert to your existing Android device to authorize this. Of course, you'll need to allow that to happen. Then you'll need to enter the password again, and things should continue as planned.

Then enter the password again, and find out it will take a lifetime to complete the next step.

After all that is set up, you can then search for Instagram again and install it. Don't be weirded out that the Instagram title is cut off or anything; Bluestacks is an emulator, and it probably won't be perfect all the time.

Yes, all this just to be able to send direct messages on Instagram from my computer.

The usual permissions pop-up will come up. Sign away your life, accept that the NSA may be looking at, hearing you and pretty much spying on everything you do by using this app, then click on Accept.

For a brief moment, you'll see the app downloading and installing, and then the Open button will become available; click it. Dammit, click it!

Then marvel as your room fills with heavenly light and sound because you can use Instagram "natively" from your desktop.

Yes, that's Instagram in a window, in Bluestacks in my OSX desktop.

Click on Login with Facebook, or at the bottom to use your username and password; then proceed to login to Instagram. On. Your. Desktop.

The result should be both fascinating, and intriguing, but nonetheless functional and you should have the ability to send direct messages from your desktop.

If you go to try to message somebody on Instagram and the app just sends you back to the homepage in Instagram, you need to go into the Bluestacks settings and change the settings to simulate a tablet.

After you change the settings to reflect Tablet, then you'll be able to send direct messages to other Instagram users from the computer.

The display may be a little wider than you expect but typing with all your fingers on your full-sized keyboard beats typing with just two thumbs in a screen that's only 3 inches wide if you ask me.

Conclusion

As an honorable mention, there is also the Pushbullet app which allows for your mobile notifications to show up in your browser so at least you can tell when someone sent you a DM on Instagram. Maybe that's all you need.

I wish that Instagram would just give us direct messaging options from the web version. If they did that then we wouldn't have to jump through all these hoops just to be able to message our friends and contact each other.

Seriously, Instagram? #WTF.

But in any case, these two options worked fine for me. Feel free to give them a try if you want and let me know how they worked out for you.

The post Instagram – How to Send and Receive Direct Messages from Your Computer. appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

The InstaWealth Growth System is part of the Wolfmillionaire offering, and as a matter of disclosure, I did not get paid or compensated to do this review in any way. As with all my reviews, these are my thoughts and opinions on this product. You can find the course at Wolfmillionaire.com

The first chapter didn't do a whole lot for me. I've been using Instagram for a while, and I know the ins and outs of the app, settings and all that stuff.

There were a few tips I picked up along the way but nothing earth-shattering yet. You may find that this is the case for you if you're also experienced with Instagram already. However, this is a comprehensive course so it makes sense that Chapter 1 would be a complete overview of all the basics of setting up your Instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BS37gSSheLJ/

Based on this approach, if you're new to Instagram or are ready to dive in seriously, I highly recommend you go through this and take notes.

If you're completely new to Instagram, I would suggest you complete all 12 modules before you do anything on Instagram because some of the modules later in the chapter connect back to some of the first modules.

If you have had an account for a while and have been active, then you should go through Chapter 1 and fill in the gaps as you go to make sure your profile is all tidy and ready for the next sections.

Below are my comments from each module for Chapter 1

Chapter 1 has 12 modules.

Chapter 1 Intro video

Basics, intro, setting up the expectations for the course and quick overview. The introduction covers all the basic stuff from the get-go; this is ideal for anybody that is totally brand new to Instagram or someone that might want to give their profile a "once over" to make sure everything is tidy and ready for growth.

Chapter 1 - module 1

This section covers the differences between the two mobile operating systems: iOS and Android. Good tips that will help power users decide between the two platforms.

Chapter 1 - module 2

Suggests creating a brand new email address to prevent hacking and phishing attacks. Explains why and when you'll need it.

Chapter 1 - module 3 (iOS / Android)

This module covers creating an Instagram account using either iOS or Android. Covers name, username, password and best security practices. Expect a full walkthrough of the account setup process for each platform.

Chapter 1 - module 4

This module covers all the Instagram settings for each version of the app, iOS/Android.

Account verification and configuring all the settings. It's a complete walkthrough of all the fields and options available. It explains why you should use different things for each field. You think you should just use your real name? Think again.
Anthony covers all the icons, menus, notifications, linked accounts, and privacy settings sections.

Simple yet powerful tips for bio design, using the right email address, link and more in your bio. Overall a good chapter to help you get a good foundation for your Instagram account. A good review for existing Instagram users.

Chapter 1 - module 5

I noticed the first "mistake" with a blatant spelling error in the title of this module. Most people would criticize this as being careless or low-quality, but being a content creator myself I can overlook this. So far the content and training videos have been really good, so this doesn’t bother me.

Great chapter to help you protect your account against hackers and thieves. Best practices and tips to help Instagram recover your account for you should you ever have a problem with it. Also, covers how to get in if you lose or forget your password.

Chapter 1 - module 6

This module dives further into the configuration for bio, including picture and details for a better bio. A couple of neat little tricks to make your bio stand out and be more efficient. Some of the differences between using a photo vs. a logo.

Chapter 1 - module 7

This is an interesting module, it’s about 18 minutes of analyzing profiles of over 15 accounts. Covers the good and the bad, and how each profile might be improved upon with small tips and tweaks.

Chapter 1 - module 8

This section covers how to set your link in your bio to maximize its effectiveness. One of the things I disagree with is using a bit.ly link.

I think Bit.ly should be the last option to make a short link. Instead, I would recommend using your blog to create a redirect or use a custom URL shortener with your own short domain using something like Linktrackr.

If you want to link to a social media profile, you can use your own website to create a redirect to make the link look clean like Anthony recommends. I covered that in this blog post before.

Chapter 1 - module 9 & 10 (Android and iOS version)

A module covering some of the apps that Anthony recommends as essential helper apps. The only issue I have with this module is that some of these apps may become popular or die depending on user interaction so they can change with time. I think you can focus on the functionality and maybe find alternatives that you prefer.

The apps are meant to enhance your Instagram experience and to make you more efficient. These apps cover a few things that Instagram lacks and help you with some efficiency and productivity hacks to save you time.

Chapter 1 - module 11

Covers direct messaging, the ins and outs. - This might be the least useful module from chapter 1. At least it was for me, but if you’ve never used Instagram before, you should go through it to understand how the internal Instagram messaging system works.

Chapter 1 - module 12

An overview of the various places where you can find new content, explore, search, places and hashtags. A good overview of these Instagram features. This may be useful if you’ve been using Instagram but never actually ventured into these areas, but a must for anybody new to Instagram.

Covers how to find accounts, content, how to determine which accounts are verified and legitimate, also ties back to picking your name and understanding how your choices affect your discoverability.

Also, covers some of the ideas behind what niches work and how people are making money on Instagram; seems like a good segue to the next sections.

In conclusion to chapter 1, these are my thoughts.

This is a great introductory chapter to the Instagram world. It's good whether you're looking to extend your reach or make money from Instagram. I haven't gotten to the "make money" so when I get to it, I'll let you know what I think.  And you should go through it whether you've been on Instagram for a while or are just about to get started. It is especially important if you're going to really put effort into growing your Instagram following because if you don't have the basics right, not even

You should go through this chapter whether you've been on Instagram for a while or are just about to get started. It is especially important if you're going to really put effort into growing your Instagram following because if you don't have the basics right, not even Social Runner can help you.

For those of you that have gone through this, let me know what you thought about it in the comments, do you agree with my assessment? Chapter 2 is next and I'll probably give you the rundown of that section in a few days. Stay tuned!

The post Instagram Course Review. Wolfmillionaire’s InstaWealth Growth System Chapter 1 appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

I want to integrate Instagram into my blogging and monetization strategy, so I need to grow the numbers. That's just how social media works. Numbers and engagement rule the social media world. When I started this new experiment, 11 days ago, I had 890 followers. Today I just broke past 1300. THANK YOU, everyone, that has joined me so far!

That's approximately 36 new followers per day, so that's pretty good I think. I'm sure it could be better, but I don't have boobs, fancy supercars, and I don't travel to exotic destinations every other day. My Instagram account is about my experiences as an entrepreneur, blogger, and vlogger. I teach how to use WordPress, how to do affiliate marketing, how to monetize your blog and all the stuff that comes with it so I'll post about that from time to time.

I'm learning to post better photos, to use hashtags and to create more engagement through engagement with other accounts. I knew what to do, but doing it consistently and effectively is totally different.

I have some ideas of what I need to do, and I've seen how other people do what I'm trying to accomplish. I like some of the techniques that people suggest and I loathe some of the other methods that some people use. The worst technique of all is when a "big account" follows you and you get excited, you like their posts, leave some comments and then follow back, just for them to immediately unfollow you.

This is a shitty trick and I'm already sick of it and I'm only 11 days into my growth spurt. I guess it's part of the game, but it's still a total asshole move #sorrynotsorry. Yeah if you do that, I'm calling you out. You're not a celebrity, you don't have to keep your following number at 71 and doing so deliberately just makes you look like a douche, not to mention that you ruin the experience for other accounts trying to grow and trying to engage with you. And I'm not the only one that feels this way.

I follow people whose content I like regardless of the niche they're in because I have many interests. The only reason I unfollow you is if you post a ton of pictures back to back and clutter my feed, or if your posts turn out to be really low quality. This rarely happens because I spend time looking at the accounts before I decide to follow so I know that I will most likely be interested in future content.

With that said, I'm using a number of tools to help me achieve the goal of 5000 followers. At this pace, I might reach that goal in 4 - 5 months, but as with most social media, I think that once I build more momentum the numbers may accelerate. Or I might crash and burn, We'll see.

The Tools & Resources

Here's a quick list of the tools and resources I'm using. I will be doing a review of some of these on their own blog post.

FotoJet (link)- Image creation app to help with quotes, photo editing and stuff like that. I normally use Photoshop and I know it well, but sometimes it's overkill. Fotojet so far seems like a great alternative.

FollowCop (link)- App for Android, helps me find out who is doing that ass*hole move I mentioned above, and also tells me who are the most engaged followers, who is leaving me comments, liking my stuff, and all that stuff so that I can stay on top of it. Instagram only shows about 24 hours of activity history so it's easy to miss some interaction; this helps a lot so my followers and new followers don't feel neglected. Don't worry, I'll get back to you sooner than later!

SocialRunner (link) - A service that helps you find engaged users in your niche. I would recommend you check it out if you want to try what I'm doing. They have a 3-day trial, 1-month or 3-month plan. If you want to save 15%, use this coupon: OSCAR20. You fill out an extensive questionnaire, they'll get in touch with you and then they help you find users and help you grow the account. I like this because they don't follow others on my behalf; I want to do that myself. A full review of this coming in the next week or two.

Buffer  (link)- I use this to schedule posts in advance for Instagram. Also, I'm using the term "schedule" loosely because, with Instagram, you can't really schedule posts automatically like you can do for Twitter or Facebook; heck Facebook lets you schedule posts within their own service! For Instagram, Buffer takes the photos and your caption and then sends you a notification on your mobile device when it's time to post. Buffer adds the photo to Instagram and copies the caption to your clipboard so you can finish up the Instagram post before publishing.

InstaWealth Growth System by @Wolfmillionaire (link) - An extensive course to help you use an Instagram account to make money. Walks you through everything you need to accomplish this; I've just finished reviewing Chapter 1; it has 12 modules, and it's pretty good. I'll share my thoughts in a post within a couple days.

Notegraphy (link)- An app to help you create stylish quotes which you can then repost on Instagram. I'm not thrilled with this one but I've used it a couple times with various results. Android version linked, not sure if they have iOS.

Quoter (link) - Another app to help with quotes, this one comes with a database of quotes you can use. I've only used it to make my own, but unfortunately, I'm not thrilled with the results either. Android version linked, not sure if they have iOS.

Grow Your Blog FB Group (link) - A great group of bloggers that help each other with growth and engagement. Use sparingly and follow the rules, or you'll get banned.

And of course, I use the Instagram app a lot. I do most of my commenting, liking and following from the app on my phone or from the Instagram website on my desktop. I also have an IFTTT recipe that posts my Instagram photos to Twitter, but I'm thinking that's not the best strategy if I want to grow my IG account. The way I have that setup right now makes it so I post the actual photo to Twitter, so then people that see it on Twitter don't really need to go to Instagram to see it. This is a double-edged sword; on one hand, I'm giving the content to my Twitter followers exactly where they are, right then and now; on the other hand, they have no reason to follow through with the link to go to my Instagram account. I'll have to decide on that one.

Talk soon!

The post Instagram Growth Journey, Thoughts Tips & Resources. appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

This allows you to switch between two or more Instagram accounts without having to logout of one and login to the other one. If you need to manage multiple Instagram accounts, this is how you do it.

How to use multiple accounts with Instagram

Here is how you activate the feature if you want to take advantage of it, the screenshots are based on Android, but the iOS version of Instagram is almost identical

1 Make sure you have the latest version of the Instagram app installed. This works for iOS and Android.

2 Login to one of your Instagram accounts and go to the Options menu.

3 Scroll all the way to the bottom of the options and look for the "Add Account" option

This will prompt a new login window.

4 Enter the username and password for the second account you want to use.

5 If all went well, you now have a small icon on the bottom right corner of your screens. This is how you switch accounts.

To switch accounts, you long-press the icon representing the account you're currently using and this will bring up a menu where you can pick the other account.

That's it, pretty simple and easy to do!

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So I went to check up on that feature and see if my followers had changed and that's when I found about the new name for Statigram. Iconosquare is an interesting name.

Their blogpost calls for a growth in features and service focus as the reason for the new name. I am not totally in love with the name, but I hope they continue to give us amazing tools.

Update: Later on I found out that Instagram changed their TOS for their API and developers and apps apparently aren't allowed to use "gram" in their name. This makes sense and explains why Statigram and other Instagram apps have changed their name.

Finding out where your Instgram followers come from is one of the things that helps to see if you're attracting the right crowd. At least for business, it is important to try to target the right followers geographically.

Another thing I noticed about Iconosquare in one of their newsletters was this:

I am definitely looking forward to testing out the connection with Hootsuite to see what is available to help manage accounts on Instagram. Currently I only manage 3 accounts but I'm starting to get more and more inquiries about doing Instagram account management. We'll see how that goes.

Besides giving you an idea of where your Instagram followers come from, Iconosquare gives you "snapshots" which are tiny infographics that give you stats about your account.

The infographics that Iconosquare gives you these infographics or snapshots:

Infographic for Profile Stuff

• The most liked picture in your account
• Your most used, or presumably your favorite filter
• The percentage of pictures and video you post with filters
• Total media posted
• How many likes you have given out
• How many followers you have

The Location infographic shows where most of your followers come from and a breakdown of the next four spots along with a map that shows hot-spots. There is one iconographic that shows your favorite Igers and a count of how many likes you've given them.

The last three aim at the achievements part of your Instagram experience by showing you the first post you made on instagram, one graphic that shows your three "firsts": The first post you made, the first Iger that you followed, and the first Iger that followed you. Then there is your most liked post.

Overall, Statigram, er Iconosquare continues to be one of my favorite Instagram app and you should check it out if you want to manage your Instagram account better.

The post Statigram is now Iconosquare appeared first on Digital Marketing Through Content & Influence.

By the way, recently Youtube changed their "Watch Later" playlist and removed the "removed watched" button. I was pretty irritated with that change because it is such a critical function for the whole thing. BUT... I am happy to announce that they brought it back. There's a removed watched button back on the Watch later Youtube playlist! Yeay! -- Okay back to our normal programming.

I thought I'd share with you some of the tips and tricks I use to help me keep my digital life somewhat in order. Each year I do quite a bit of this cleaning up and I try to keep it up during the year, but you know what Sweet Brown says.

Email Cleanup

First, email. I use Thunderbird to backup my email and as a side effect I get the benefit of sorting email quickly by date, or sender or even subject line. All I have to do is click on one of the columns and the email instantly sorts that way.

The benefit of this arrangement I've just described is that I can sort my email by sender and scroll down just looking for "big senders," these are easy to spot. You can't quite do that using the web interface of Gmail (or any other web client).

Some of these bulk messages are social media alerts, or software updates and newsletters. So as I scan down the list I'll notice sometimes more than a screen's worth of email messages so then I click on the first email, then scroll down to find the last one on the list.

Once I find the last email on the list I press the SHIFT key and then click on that last message and this combination selects all the messages in that block. Then I just press DELETE and the messages will get deleted. Even though I am doing this on Thunderbird, the changes get synchronized up to Gmail automatically.

You could also do this on the web based version of your Gmail, but you'll need to do searches instead of just scrolling through. Some people might actually like that approach better, but I'm not going to cover that today.

After a quick pass looking for big senders, I then sort the email by subject line. This gives me a view that helps me find alert notifications, newsletters and other repetitive emails that get sent out daily or multiple-times per day. Facebook email notifications for example, or Twitter alerts, Google Alerts and other similar ones.

Some of my big senders were: Google Alerts, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Empire Avenue, Youtube, Zendesk, Instagram, Hubspot and a few others. They'll probably different for you.

As I scroll down the list sorted by subject, it is pretty easy to spot the bulk of the emails that I'm looking for and I can then delete them just like the ones before when I sorted by sender.

Then I just do another quick scroll up and down looking for any other big blocks of patterns. I'm looking for blocks of 100 or more emails at a time so I'm looking for senders, or subjects or anything that stands out and even maybe a few of these searches:

• "mentioned you on Twitter"
• "is now following you on Twitter!"

Once you do a major round of cleanup you'll see why I like using Thunderbird for this. Outlook would work as well, or any other visual email client like these two I've just mentioned. All you have to do is make sure the bulk of your email is downloaded locally to your computer using IMAP. If you don't use IMAP then the changes won't be saved on the cloud (generally).

After all that I've mentioned above, I take a look at the drafts folder and delete as many as possible. Really, if it's not something you started in the past 2 days and needs to go out today or tomorrow, it shouldn't be in there. I'm guilty of keeping over a hundred drafts in there. I usually get rid of them indiscriminately.

If I feel a draft is worth saving then I copy and save it into an Evernote for more incubation. Clearly the draft wasn't ready to be an email to anybody if I didn't send it  yet. So back to the drawing board for a few messages, but for the rest of the drafts emails. Just delete them.

At last I move down through the folder or tag list whatever you want to call them, and some of them get emptied completely but the folder remains. Some of the folders get deleted themselves along with the contents.

This is the last round of cleanup I do through my inbox and I do this all throught Thunderbird. Why? Because Thunderbird helps me sort emails quickly, lets me do background searches and I can look at all my accounts in one location without having to login to one, then log out. Login to the next, then logout. This way I can do it all at once!

In this case I was able to delete about 15,000 emails or more which gave me about 1GB of space back in my main Gmail account!  So that works for me!

Notes Evernote

You know how I told you before Evernote is my second brain? It's like my extended memory. But it also needs some TLC from time to time. This one is a little bit simpler than email I think.

I do a couple of things for Evernote:

• I search for "Untitled note" - This will usually bring up a bunch of blank notes that had potential but just weren't meant to be. Nuke em!
• Switch to all notes view and sort by date. Go to the oldest and scroll up for a bit. This does two things, highlights any notes that may just need to be deleted and reminds you of possibly forgotten projects.
• Check folders from automation system and other apps. For example, I use Skitch a lot, skitch creates its own notebook so I go in there and clean that up. Do the same for any apps you use in conjunction with Evernote, like IFTTT, or Docusign, Zapier or even other Evernote apps.

A quick note in practicality. Evernote, like Gmail encourages you to save everything and just file stuff away without deleting stuff. For the most part that has worked out for Gmail quite well, and it works okay with Evernote but I still think it's good to do some housekeeping once in a while. Sometimes I just want to get rid of things, so this is how I do it on Evernote.

I think that's good for now, I will show you a little bit about files and a few other places where cleanup is needed on a regular basis, and at least for spring cleaning. It's funny how fast you can write 1,000 words about something you like. So if you liked this, let me know in the comments!

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Tinga is a really good dish when done right; it's also hard to find around here. So I ordered it and it was pretty good, but not the traditional flavor. It was missing the classic pickled onions. Can't have Tinga without the pickled onions. The salad burying all the tacos you see there was also over the top. All in all, the dish was well done and seasoned right and all that stuff, but just by the title, it was a bit deceptive. #justsayin

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Quiet. Big. Old.
 

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If you go to statigram, you can visit the promote tab and allow it to create a Facebook cover photo based on your latest instagram photos.

It's a pretty cool little feature that Statigram offers, and just like the app itself, it is free. Every month or so I switch out my cover on Facebook and I use one of the covers created using Statigram.

This is my latest one:

The one thing I did was change the branding from statigram to my own website, the part that says "notagrouch.com" But the rest of it was all done automatically for me and it takes just a few seconds to create.

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But as I hit over 1000 followers, I know that not all of them come from Orange County. But I can guess that they are mostly from the US. Lucky for me, one of my favorite apps has this information.

Here's a little info graphic that Statigram sent me to show me where my Instagram followers come from. As I suspected, most of my followers come from within the United States. The app doesn't tell me exactly what area but it's still fun to see where they come from.

Statigram is free and it has been one of my favorite Instagram apps since I discovered it. You can easily manage your followers, see your posts and the posts of those that you follow, you can also like them, comment and sometimes they even have contests. Check it out at http://statigr.am/

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Some tweets and commentary from Wordcamp Orange County

I got to attend Wordcamp Orange County, and here are some of the highlights in forms of tweets and commentary. I tried to do this earlier this rmorning but the wifi at #wcoc wasn't working.

Ross Teasley - @RossTeasley
At #wcoc @notagrouch is plugged in, literally n figuratively. http://t.co/n67W0O98

Jeremy Lehman - @jeremylehman
Looks like all the cool people are in the end-user awareness session #wcoc #imnotcool

Jason Tucker - @jasontucker
Playing around with some query and some instagram libs: #WCOC Instagram wall http://t.co/SFbjKONn

Jason put together a nice streaming wall of instagram photos from #WCOC. check it out, definitely cool stuff.

alex vasquez - @alexjvasquez
I like hearing people say my name. #wcoc preso @zengy

Steve Zenghut from Zeek saved the day and presented on WP-Multisite and Alex became the example for the user, sites and stuff. Alex liked this. :p

Oscar Gonzalez - @notagrouch
This broken wifi business is starting to suck at #wcoc

The WiFi system was unavailable for a long time, just around 2:00 @thefrosty seems to have fixed it. Woot... live blogging and curation with @dashter is now live!

Kathy Burckhardt - @kmburck
RT @perezbox: My WordCamp Orange County 2012 – WordPress Security Presentation http://t.co/rKq5DsUX #wcoc #wordpress #security

Recap in case you missed the security session at #WCOC "End-user Awareness"

This post was generated by Dashter

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