Flickr is free to set up an account, giving you 2 videos and 200 MB of photos per month  and the ability to set up 3 albums (called ‘Sets’ on Flickr). However you’ll see quickly that it’s worth paying the $25/year to have access to the full features. You’ll get unlimited photo uploads and storage as well as ability to create additional ‘Sets’.

With just a few short steps, over time you will build up a strong force of data and links pointing back at your own site.

7 Ways to Maximize Your Flickr Account

1. Upload every image you place in your blog.
2. Link back to your specific blog post in the description of the photo.
3. USE THE TAGGING. Think of every detail about the photo. Not just the obvious. E.g. If it’s a kid—What is he/she wearing? Name the colors in the photo. Smiling? Teeth? Blue eyes? Older kid? Younger kid? You should have at least ten tags on each photo. Remember this is how people search Flickr images.
4. Be boring about your photo titles. Seems like you should be creative, but avoid the temptation. The titles of the images are also searchable. So if it’s a baby with a cell phone, the title should be: Baby With A Cell Phone. Write something creative in the description if you want!
5. Find Flickr groups to join. Search the groups tab for a group you can share your image with. If it’s a landscape photo, search for landscapes. If it’s a child, search for groups about children. Don’t forget MomItForward has a Flickr group as well! Adding images to groups extends the exposure the photo will receive. (therefore the possible exposure back to your site).
6. Connect your Flickr account with Twitter. The instructions to add your Twitter account to Flickr are simple. And every so often send images you particularly like to Twitter with a simple: ‘Hey my new favorite photo of my kid’.
7. Set up your ‘Sets’ thoughtfully. Create a set for your blogging photos. And another for family photos. Possibly one for blog conferences and another for a family vacation. You can choose which images are public and which are private.

The Question of Creative Commons

Should you or shouldn’t you? For those of us who call ourselves ‘amateur’ photographers we likely aren’t in it to sell our images or worry about copyright issues. I suggest you happily allow your images to be used by others, especially other bloggers. Label your images with Creative Commons.  I realize that might seem counter to your interests.

However, when other bloggers pick up your Flickr images and place them on their own blogs they will link back to your photostream, and once again you’ll gain more exposure for your site and brand, albeit roundabout.

Think about it. We all win when there are quality images on Flickr in the Creative Commons, giving us ideas and resources to use and share. As a blogger be sure to link back to the person’s photo. Likely they will stop by and tell a few friends! Note: only use images from Flickr from the Creative Commons area, and even then asking permission via leaving a comment on the photographer’s image is considered polite. This is the quickest way to search Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/by-2.0/

Flickr as a Social Media Tool

No one will argue Flickr is the best Social Media tool out there, but it’s still worth connecting with other bloggers and friends in the online sphere. Adding contacts and then leaving a few comments on other streams is helpful to their photos’ popularity, and if an image gets placed on the Flickr Explore page likely the click throughs to their blog will skyrocket (thanks to you). Also there is a ‘favorite’ feature. Use it when you really like something.

There are many other Flickr tools available. Some I like include: curating a ‘collection’, using Picnik to edit images, creating a slideshow of a group of images (and embedding it into a blog post), sending images to Facebook, and a really amazing organizer built in.

If you are already maximizing your Flickr use, I’d love to hear about it! How do you use your Flickr account? How have you used Flickr to maximize exposure?

In a former life, Carissa Rogers was a molecular biologist. In her current life, she is the chief researcher of bloggy karma, parenting dos (and some don’ts), new recipes, and for spice she pretends to be a photographer. She started blogging in February of 2008 and publishes her good & crazy thoughts on GoodNCrazy.com. Also find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Check out Carissa’s Indoor Portrait Lighting Tips.

Enter to win this week’s giveaway here by reading the rules for entry below. You can also enter at these terrific parenting blogs: Make and Takes and I Never Grew Up.

Giveaway Prizes

Four lucky winners from this site will be randomly selected to win a gift package, including:

• A popcorn bowl
• Three boxes of Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn
• Kathy Peel’s most recent book, The Busy Mom’s Guide to a Happy, Organized Home

Entry Requirements

To enter to win, you are required to do the following four things:

1. Take this week’s SOS Challenge to Focus on Family by completing one of the post’s 10 suggestions or by performing one random act of kindness that fits within this week’s theme.
2. Share your experience by leaving a comment on that post.
3. Tweet about this giveaway sponsored by Orville Redenbacher, including this link: http://momitforward.com/giveaway%E2%80%94win-a-popcorn-gift-pack-for-the-perfect-family-night-in.
4. Leave a comment on this post by Sunday, June 14 at midnight EDT, including your e-mail address and information about your extra entries, if applicable.

To receive extra entries (for a total of five extra entries):

• Click here to join the Mom It Forward Facebook group.
• Post about this giveaway on your Facebook wall.
• (For 3 extra entries!) Join and post a picture of your favorite family activity to the Mom It Forward Flickr group.

In the event that you do not win a giveaway, Orville Redenbacher’s would still like you to enjoy family fun with a big bowl of popcorn. Click here to download this coupon for a box of Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn.
The Fine Print
You may enter in all giveaways, but you may only win once. No purchase necessary to enter this giveaway. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. ConAgra employees and Mom It Forward, Make and Takes, and I Never Grew Up family members are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Sunday, June 14 at midnight EDT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered.

Twitter

Chat anytime all day everyday in bite-sized comments (140 characters or less) on Twitter. You can follow Mom It Forward by clicking here.

Also, check out our new group over on Today’s Mama, where women and moms can tweet to their heart’s content!

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Girl’s Night Out (#GNO) Tuesdays on Tweetgrid

Chat with other Mom It Forward gals during our weekly #gno Twitter party every Tuesday from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. eastern time. Stay for as long as you’d like and enjoy our weekly themes and our virtual panelists. We create a custom TweetGrid each week with our panelists Twitter IDs, so click here to RSVP as well to learn the who and the where for each week’s party.

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Facebook Group and Page

Keep apprised of weekly and special Mom It Forward events on our Facebook Group. While there, feel free to upload photos, videos, or links and start or participate in discussions. While this is a spam-free zone, it is a great place to introduce community members to your blogs and/or online businesses.

Also, we love our Mom It Forward fans, so please click here to become part of the club.

LinkedIn Group

Share job-related information and opportunities and start or participate in Mom It Forward discussions on our LinkedIn group. This is a great place to share your resume, blog, websites, and on or offline businesses.

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Flickr Group

As Mom It Forward starts more and more chapters around the world, Flickr is a great way to see what other women in the community are doing to Mom It Forward. So far, our Flickr Group has pictures of us singing at an assisted living facility, preparing lunch at the Nashville Rescue Mission, enjoying an uplifting workshop luncheon at The Melting Pot, serving side by side with our children at a center for absued children, and partying while raising funds and awareness for Yehu Microfinance, Basa Body, and Coast Coconut Farms. Not able to attend an event, feel like you’re part of the action by viewing the pictures. Served in your community or with your family, please upload and share what you did or are doing to Mom It Forward.

YouTube Community

YouTube has been a great way to capture not only the heartfelt, but the fun side of our community. Where else can you see @JessicaKnows doing her famous “super star” right after singing a song created especially for #gno during the Blissdom party skit? Or, where can you see Larry Possum of the famous @soulpossum come out of his trailer twice, once to sing a ballad for the Blissdom Party, and a second time to sing for the New York City Tweet Up for Charity? Get in on the action by clicking to view one of these fun videos or by uploading your own.