Hey everyone!
I’m still learning about blogging. It’s a BEAST, isn’t it!? I say that a lot… blogging is a beast. At first you think it’s online journaling then you start learning about SEO and Analytics and Monetizing and your head starts spinning and you’re like AHHH WHAT SHOULD I DO WHERE SHOULD I GO.
Let me give you five tips that you can check off and feel good about this week, okay? Â They’re random, they’re blog-related, and they’re simple.
ONE //
A few weeks ago I realized that when I was looking at where my pins were pinned on Pinterest, some of my pins didn’t link back to the actual blog post, just stephanieorefice.net! I FREAKED OUT! I RAN to The Peony Project and asked for help and I figured I’d share this information with you.
When you pin your images onto Pinterest, if you pin them from your “home” page, it will automatically link it back to your blog’s landing page. In order to have a pin direct people to the post it’s from, you have to pin it directly from the post. That might seem like common knowledge to other people.. but my mind was ABSOLUTELY BLOWN!
TWO //
I hope by now that you’ve heard of Creative Market. It’s a BRILLIANT resource for bloggers who create. They offer fonts, ebook templates, wordpress & blogger themes, fonts, images..
now here’s the tip part of it. EVERY WEEK, they offer FREE THINGS in their Free Goods section. It updates Monday. Last week I got this beautiful Serendipity font. I download anything and everything that might be important for me in the future – photoshop actions, brushes, backgrounds. Fonts that appeal to me in any way. Make sure you add Creative Market to your weekly visit.
THREE //
At the beginning of May, Â I spent the time to make an editorial calendar. blah blah, everyone talks about those. But really. I made one, and at the top of my month view I wrote my daily categories in each week’s column. In case you haven’t caught on, this is what happens here at my blog.
Monday – FAITH
Tuesday – #upperleftusa/adventures
Wednesday – blog/finance
Thursday – wildcard
Friday – 5 on Friday
It has helped me IMMENSELY. Now, when I sit down to write a blog post I don’t feel like I’m trying to sort through eighteen ZILLION thoughts in my head. It gives me clarity and direction and has been so helpful in my recent blogging breakthrough.
Try it for the next two weeks and see what happens.
FOUR //Â
Jessica at The Blogging Brew wrote this great post about establishing a consistent social media presence that I think is worth every blogger’s time to read. Go read it. Pretty sure I’m terrible at this – none of my profile pictures are the same or anything. I don’t always look at my social media platforms as exclusively blog-related so I tend to forget that. How are all of you doing with that? Try at least streamlining all of your profile pictures.
FIVE //Â
Identify + invest in your tribe. A few weeks ago I wrote about making the most of your social media influence. It’s all about building and encouraging and cheering. As you get more and more connected with fellow bloggers, you’ll start to see the ones you really click with. They’ll be the ones constantly commenting on your blog and you’ll find it easy to engage with them on theirs. CLAIM THEM! Don’t worry about their following size, page views or sponsorships. Just figure out who these people are, and then journey together. Ask each other questions, share in your struggles, and encourage each other. Try identifying one member of your tribe and giving them a little extra love this week on your blog.
Try some of them! Any tips/tricks/etc you’ve stumbled upon in the blogging world lately??
Creative Market is so cool! Another one I’ve learned is to take your own stock photography. Take pictures of random things (because they won’t be random later) like a cluttered desk or office, a clean desk or office, your cell phone, a single flower, a sunset, a landscape, city lights, roads, and take a TON of yourself in different poses, different facial expressions, etc. That way you’ll always have unique photography to use instead of relying on stock photos.
ashley – i’m TOTALLY taking you up on the advice to start taking my own stock photography…. although i tend to just take pictures of nature, haha. but i’ve definitely been trying to just take more pictures in general. to help get better at my photography and to have some ready to use for later.
I totally never caught on to how your posts are all themed! Mind = blown. I always seem to learn something from your blog-themed posts…can’t believe I didn’t realize they were once a week on the same day!
hahahaha. i think there’s enough variety in them (and also with some days being dual/choice themes AND a wildcard) that it might not feel super scheduled or themed, but it just helps me on the back end of it!
oh. I never thought about having all my profile pictures being the same! That’s brilliant! I’ll have to read that article tonight when I get home. And I LOVE Creative Market. If a successful blog could be run on reposts from other people I liked, I’d just reblog everything you say. hahaha Too bad that’s not how blogging works!
the profile picture thing is so smart – did you get a chance to check out her post?
&& you do a freaking awesome, amazing, humbling job at constantly linking back to my blog and i am SO APPRECIATIVE of that. also. i need to send you a giant message full of ideas.
The Creative Market is really neat, thanks for sharing! Also, I LOVE the “investing in your tribe” thing!
thanks rachel! i LOVE checking out their free goods every monday, and i bought my current blog theme on there for a fairly decent price. it’s awesome!
Love your points, Stephanie! They were all very helpful. You are doing a GREAT job here!! 🙂
thank you so much, cheryl! and thank you so much for the encouragement!!!
I’m so glad we connected over this blog world! And I’ve been trying to figure out how to do a blog calendar, and seeing your written one really helped!!! Also I pinned this so…..just sayin. #blogfrans
UGH I KNOW I JUST THINK YOU’RE AWESOME!!! how’s the blog calendar thing going?
Hahaha #thefeelingismutual (just to keep using ridiculous hashtags). And I haven’t actually written it down yet, but when I get a free chance (when school ends for the summer?) I absolutely will!!!
These are really helpful! I’ve been thinking of doing a better job organizing posts in a calendar (whether paper or online) and I like how you’ve organized yours.
hey lauren! i’m so glad this was helpful! i’ve been trying to focus more on helping people with blogging stuff – not that i have it figured out AT ALL, but because helping people learn forces me to learn as well 🙂
This was super helpful! I NEVER would have guessed to pin pictures directly from the post, I’m so glad I know that now! And wow, I really need to make a blog calendar!