Design inspiration at its finest
There can’t be anything more obnoxious than starting a blog post with a giant picture of my face. Sorry friends! Although I’m on a technical break, I wanted to share that Shayla of Designing a Life has kindly featured me on her Why Do I Blog Series. So in case you haven’t visited, today is a great day to start. See you Monday!
Since last month’s Blogging Tips Roundup went over so well, I’ve decided to try to keep this feature for once a month. There were plenty of great tips shared online in the past month so I hope you find them as helpful as I did.
One of the hardest things about consistent blogging is finding the inspiration to blog. Since I blog daily, I’m consistently on the look out for things to blog about or inspiration to create. Nesha does a great job of explaining some things you can do offline and online to jump start your inspiration station.
I’ve been using Feedburner for the past six years, prior to Google acquiring the service, so I found Joy did a great job in explaining Feedburner to new bloggers. With the #RSSApocalypse happening, most bloggers are shying away from using their RSS feeds. I believe taking care of your RSS feed is still extremely important and Feedburner is one of the best ways to do it. Plus, if you’re an analytics junkie, it gives you more stats to look over.
While we’re on the topic of RSS feeds, once you sign up for Feedburner, you may notice you have tons of followers or not many. Why aren’t people subscribing to your blog? Sarah goes over some great tips (including some blog pet peeves of mine) to help you grow your subscription numbers. She even offers advice on how to find your feed URL in case you’ve never heard of such a thing.
This post is a bit WordPress biased but it’s extremely helpful. Victoria shares some great blogging plugins including WWSGD (What Would Seth Godin Do?). I’ve been using it for about two years now and it’s helped generate more feed subscribers. She also talks about the WordPress Editorial Calendar plugin which will be extremely helpful if you check an upcoming article in this list.
If there is anyone who knows anything about blog advertising, it would be definitely be Kat of Rock N Roll Bridge Magazine. Although I don’t advertise on any blogs, Kat gives some amazing tips on how to make sure your advertisement is working in your favor. I really like what she says about making the advert relevant to the blog. There have been many a blog hop where I find an ad that just doesn’t belong. If the blog is geared to minimalism and your ad is cheetah print, things probably won’t be working in your favor.
Before I get into discussing, Milynn is one of the found bloggers I have followed in the past month! She’s one of the only other Florida bloggers I follow so it’s interesting to read about how things are going for someone else here. In case you didn’t know, Pinterest allows you to track who is pinning images from your site. One of the biggest reasons why I love Pinterest is what they give back to blog owners. The new Pinterest is offering a full analytics feature. I had the pleasure of checking out my Pinterest analytics for the first time last night and was surprised at how much traffic pins from my site were generating.
I joined Twitter a year after it’s public release so I know how useful it is when owning a blog. While Twitter isn’t my favorite of social networks, it does help me quickly get in touch with people I need to chat with. It’s a great way to find new blogs or resources. There’s just so much information shared on Twitter that it’s difficult not to follow along. I’ve enjoyed the connections I have made with others in the creative industry via Twitter and how it’s helped me promote my blog.
Rachel created a great list of resources from clip art to blogging books for blog design. I’ve found nearly all of those listed above helpful. I’m actually in the process of creating a huge blogging resources list (HELP) so it’s good to see that I’m not completely insane with some of my choices.
So I’ve covered some of the discussion on the importance of using your RSS feed, Pinterest, Twitter, and blog advertising. The important question is, how do I track all of this? Google Analytics is my go-to analytics tracking tool. GA tracks everything from referrals to your bounce rate. It’s full of statistics goodies. By using Google Analytics, you can figure out what your readers do like and what they don’t like. It’s an important tool to help you fine-tune your blog in understanding what your readers want. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to sign up and start using it. It may seem complicated at first but Allyssa did a great job of explaining what GA can do for you.
Remember that WordPress Editiorial Calendar plugin I was talking about? Hope you kept it in the back of your mind because Celestine offers a great article on why you should be using an editorial calendar. Blogging can be time-consuming. I generally spend anywhere from fifteen to forty-five minutes on each of my blog posts, not including creating images. It doesn’t help if you’re spending twenty minutes just thinking on what to blog about in the first place. Having a schedule of things you are going to blog about definitely helps. While I do write my posts the same day, it has helped me in using features likes Links I Love and This or That in knowing when it’s time to blog about what. It also gives you an excuse to buy a pretty new journal.
Brittany goes over some quick ways to add pizzazz to your blog. While you may not have a ton of design knowledge, it’s important to see what things separate the well-designed blogs from the bland ones. It’s the tiny attentions to details. A webfont and a different color palette can go a long way in the world of design.
I hope you found some of these useful! Thank you to the bloggers for sharing such great posts.
There have been so many great blogging resources and articles posted within the past few weeks. I have been collecting all of the ones that I found extremely helpful in hopes of sharing them in a large roundup here for you! I have a few friends are starting out with blogging or are interested in blogging so I figured now is as good as time as any. I would like to post more about blogging here as I have been blogging for the past eight years here (I have deleted the entire contents of this blog like twice!) and other places. Now that I have found my steady pace in blogging, I would like to feature more helpful blogging tips and articles by other bloggers who inspire me. Consider this the first of the new “Blogging 101″ feature.
So you want to start a blog? Great! What do you want to blog about? Breanna wrote a great article on finding your niche. With the world of blogging continuing to ever expand, it’s important to know what your main focus is. She also rounds up a great list of resources to help you find out what you want to do with your blog.
One of the reasons I’ve restarted this blog twice over the past eight years is not having a focus and not having any balance. I knew I always wanted a design blog but personal blogs were so much more popular at the time. I had a mixture of personal opinions posted within design resources and it wasn’t what I wanted to do. Shauna does an amazing job of explaining how to find a balance between your posts. She also goes into deeper explanation regarding having regular features on your blog. I’ve found my features like: Links I Love, Artist Showcase, and This or That have helped me maintain a balance of what I want to post.
The things I’ve learned about blogging have not only been through my personal experiences, but the experiences of other bloggers. The things I’ve learned about image crediting, blog design, and user readability have all been years of reading the blogs of great bloggers. I love when bloggers like Amanda share their personal experiences on what has worked and what hasn’t worked. In this post, she spills on everything from naming your blog to planning content.
This post is visually stunning (much like Bright Bazaar itself) thanks to the work of Amanda Jane Jones. It’s also extremely informative! This guide is a must-have for any blogger, especially those who are beginning. If I had this when I started out, I would have printed it out and put it in my bedroom. I love the focus on the power of partnerships and being a creator. While posting other content is great, it’s important to have your own original content. Showcase your talents!
This year I am working to promote a lot of my print work. Reading about how to take better photographs has definitely increased the quality of the photos I post here. One of the great things about having your own blog is that you can post images that are your own. You want them to be the best they can be. When bloggers like Holly share their photography secrets, you want to soak up as much as possible. I hope one day I can get my shoots to be as great as Holly’s. If you’re looking for a DSLR or tools to take photos for your blog, this post is a must-read.
There can never be enough photography tips! Bri opens up on her new How To Run A Blog column about DIY shoots (which can be applied to any type of shoot for your blog!). If you have ever visited Designlovefest, you will know that all of Bri’s photographs are extremely well done. Reading the article explains why. The amount of planning required and the resources used are important details in shooting your DIY projects, products, or even yourself. If there’s anything these bloggers have mentioned in all of the articles, it’s to plan ahead!
How To Add A Pin It Button To Your Images in WordPress – Lisa of JoycreationIf you think Pinterest is not important to your blog, think again. In the past year alone, Pinterest has become the second most popular source of traffic to my blog. Now that you know how to shoot images for your blog and you’re posting your own content, it’s time to make it easy to share. Lisa has posted a great tutorial to adding a pin it button to your images in your post. As a front-end developer, it’s usually a no-brainer on how to find out things to add to my blog. However, for someone who is completely new to blogging or the web itself, tutorials like these make it so easy to do things on your own. Maintaining your blog and keeping it up to date with current social media trends is vital.
You’ve created your blog, you’re posting, and you’re creating your own content. How do you sustain your blog? How to you turn your blog into your business? What tools will make it easier? Alicia has created a list of ten awesome online tools for creative business owners. It’s a great time to be a blogger when there are so many great resources available for free. Most of the tools Alicia listed also have mobile apps so you maintain your blog on the go.
I think the more resources a blogger has on her side, the better. This list by Allison of The Influence Network goes into a little deeper detail into what has helped her in her experiences as a designer and blogger. I love the detail she puts into discussing accounting options (which has been my weakness). There are also tools for communication, productivity, and organization. The Influence Network has become one of my favorite blogs this week so I would recommend checking them out.
So now that you’ve started blogging, you want to read other blogs, right? Moorea posted a great list (by category) of blogs she recommends for other bloggers to read. I read a lot of blogs (it’s horrible) so I’ve been compiling a list of my own for quite some time. Most of my favorite bloggers are on Moorea’s list as well as some new favorites. Check out other blogs, comment, and get in touch with bloggers you like! When someone tweets me or e-mails me and lets me know that I’m doing a good job, it encourages me to keep moving! I also like letting other bloggers know that I enjoy their content.
There are tons of pop-up shops, workshops, and social meetups all being ran by bloggers. How? Megan goes into great detail about planning offline events from a person whose job is to share things online. How do you translate your blog to a live audience? This is extremely helpful for me as I am in the early stages of planning a small (but big deal) event collaborating with another blogger friend of mine. I love how Megan talks about casting the vision. The vision of my event is so clear but I need to make it work! Megan’s blog is such a daily inspiration of mine and I hope to share inspiration in the way that she does.
I hope you’ve found this somewhat helpful? Do you have any additional tips/tricks to share? Are you a blogger who wants to guest post here on your blogging experiences? Feel free to drop me a line or write in the comments below. Happy Hump Day blog buddies!
It’s Tuesday! I am still suffering from the dreaded pulled quad muscle. It would probably help if I could spend a day in bed not doing anything but I’m gearing up for a crazy month and I need to get as much done as possible. I will see how the day goes and perhaps I might have to make a small sacrifice.
Today’s post comes from the work of illustrator Susan Parada. Susan is a talented artist who lives in Connecticut and sells prints on her Etsy shop, Parada Creations. Her illustrations feature a great variation of muted colors which I enjoy the most. Which one is your favorite?
Sources: Dream Catcher Print | Blog Print | Books Print | Camera Print | Shoes Print
Welcome back! I know I’ve been absent from the blog. I’ve missed weeks of updates. I never would have thought in a million years I’d be too busy for my blog! Doesn’t that happen to people who have lives? I know I’ve lost readers with my inconsistency; however, I’ve organized my time to include blogging. I don’t know how I’m going to manage when I’m a full-time student. However, I’ve still been active online and subscribing/reading blogs regularly. I know many of you haven’t received a comment from me in months, but trust me, I’m up to date on everyone’s blog.
Have you ever wondered why other people subscribe to your blog? I know I wonder! At the moment, I currently have forty-five subscribers, at one point I had over eighty. I constantly asked myself why people were regularly reading my site’s updates. I certainly don’t feel that interesting. I didn’t know my posts appealed to the general public. I know it’s not “a lot” on web standards. Most blogs have thousands and thousands of regular readers. However, I know those blog owners wondered at one point, “Why are people reading this?”
According to my Google Dashboard, I’m subscribed to 669 RSS feeds. Of those 669, over seventy are personal blogs that I’ve raved over a few here and here in the past. So for those wondering how I acquired 669 RSS feeds in my Google Reader, here are a few reasons why I have subscribed to your blog:
Let’s all give credit to those people who have grammatically correct blog posts. Honestly, I can’t subscribe to a blog that I struggle to read. English is a difficult language and I’m a bit more lenient to those bloggers who originate from other countries. However, for those bloggers who love to use StIcKy CaPs. ALL CAPS, Random!Punct.uation, bad formatting, horrible grammar, and terrible spelling, I just can’t take their blogs seriously. We all make errors when writing. Nobody’s perfect. However, when an effort isn’t made, I just can’t hit the subscribe button. It’s not the size of the blog that matters either. I’ve redirected my browser away from quite a few “popular” blogs due to terrible grammar. If you have an idea that you can’t get out correctly, there are plenty of freelance writers seeking employment.
Angel Y. is a freelance graphic designer and web developer living in Orlando, FL. She owns a web design studio, Sevenality, with her husband. Angel is also an avid lover of all things inspirational and enjoys sharing inspiration through her blog.
Blog Feature: Designing A Life
Blog Break
Links I Love: 5.10.13
Artist Showcase: Aline Yamada
Inspiration: Patterned Pencil Skirt Color Palette
Latrina: Yay! Congratulations, Angel. :) It's no surprise ...
Milynn: Hooray! I'm so excited for Sunshine Bloggers! If ...
Latrina: Wow, busy woman. I love it! Do enjoy your break, I...
Liz: I hope the blog vacation treats you well! I take o...
Sarah Hearts: Thanks so much for including my flower branches! L...
Feel free to subscribe to our RSS feed!
