Better Your Blog | Using Facebook to Boost Your Blog More Effectively

November 10, 2015 by Angie 107 Comments

Why You Should Promote Your Blog on Facebook

In spite of the misgivings of many people, and all of those friends you have that make a big deal about getting off of Facebook “for good” (yeah right), it’s still one of the leading social media sites in the world. So many businesses have Facebook pages that reach millions of people each day. While some of us creatives have had a hard time with some of the changes to audience over the years, having a Facebook page for your blog is still so very necessary. However, even if you don’t run a page for your blog, you can still use Facebook effectively to promote your blog and individual posts. We’ll get to that.

Creating a Facebook Page For Your Blog

Personally, I really do recommend maintaining a Facebook page for your blog even though reaching your audience through these pages is harder than ever. There are ways to reach them anyway, and it doesn’t take much effort with all of the ways you can now fully automate and schedule your Facebook posts. Plus, let’s face it, you probably spend a good portion of your day on Facebook anyway, am I right?

Creating a Facebook page for your blog is super easy, and it’s free too. Simply go to the Pages section of your Facebook account, which can be found in the left hand menu, and click on Create Page.

You’ll then be prompted to choose what kind of page it is, which can be confusing, however if you choose Artist, Band, or Public Figure you’ll be given the option to select Blogger.

From there it’s just about the same as setting up any your regular Facebook page. You can add a profile pic, cover photo, and input all of the details in your account that you need. Voila, you have a Facebook page for your blog-it’s time to start using it!

Using Your Blog’s Facebook Page Effectively

What did you create this page for? To share your blog posts to Facebook? To engage with your readers and community in another forum? Check and check. So first thing you’ll want to do is start sharing your content to your Facebook page. You can manually update your status with links, pictures, etc. just like you would your regular Facebook page, or you can set up some automated scheduling to make it even simpler.

Many options exist for automated scheduling. Personally, I use CoSchedule which allows me to schedule directly from where I’m creating my blog post using a plugin in WordPress-CoSchedule is not cheap, but it offers a wide variety of other options along with the automated social media options. Other free or inexpensive options are easy to find though! If you have WordPress, the JetPack plugin is free and has a limited amount of sharing options-one of which is Facebook. Otherwise I’d recommend looking into Hootsuite (which I also have a paid subscription for-however it does allow you to create a free account and add up to three different social media accounts to share to.) and Buffer, which also has a free version, but limits the amount of scheduling you can do in advance unless you upgrade to paid.

The most effective daily schedule I’ve seen for posting to Facebook is to share your post when it goes live, post a status that doesn’t link to anything (like a comment, quote, question, etc.) at another time of the day, and share something from your archives at yet another time of day. You’ll also then see how Facebook limits your interaction on different kinds of posts as well.

Getting Interaction on Your Facebook Page

The first kind of interaction you’re going to want to boost is page likes. How do you get page likes? Start by inviting all of your friends and family to like your page. Just remember not to be upset if they don’t, some people like following pages, and some do not. Then invite your readers! Create a blog post or a social media post on one of your other networks talking about your new page and invite them to like it. Don’t forget to put a Facebook follow button on your sidebar so people stopping by can like your page if they want to.

Another great way to get interaction is to log in as your page and visit other pages. Like them, comment on their posts, and start some discussions. You can also pay Facebook to promote your page to certain demographics.

Post interaction is going to be a bit tougher. As you can see from the following photo I have nearly 4k likes on Facebook, but the amount of people who actually see my posts is pretty limited at first. This also differs based on the post. The post I’ve shown on the left is just a photo I uploaded that doesn’t link anywhere, and the post on the right is a link to my blog post where I interviewed Cindy of A Classic Sidewalk.

Why the difference? Well, Facebook wants to make money. So they severely limit your posts in hopes that you’ll pay them to boost the post using that big blue button shown in the image. It’s one of the biggest frustrations for us bloggers that people who liked the page don’t always see the posts. How can we help that?

Ask your readers to double check how they’ve liked your page. If they hover over the “liked” button they can select how they see your posts-it can be set to show the posts first, or just regularly, or not show them.

Boost your posts. I don’t always pay to promote my posts, but I will budget a little bit in every now and then for a really good post-this brings in new readers who will check out that post, and maybe come back and look at other posts. I usually budget about $20 a month for important posts.

Share your page status to your personal page. Something as simple as clicking Share on the page status and sharing to your personal page helps a ton. It allows all of your friends and family to see your post while giving your page credit. Everywhere you share your blog posts is more exposure-and exposure is great!

Join Blog Promotion Facebook Groups

Aside from your page, or if you don’t want to manage a page, you can join Facebook groups to promote your blog. Facebook groups are my new favorite thing, and such a great way to both connect with other bloggers and creatives, as well as promote your blog and social media. I’ve seen such a great spike in both new followers and readers, as well as new friends and blogs I love-all because of Facebook groups.

Here are just a few Facebook Groups I recommend to help boost your blog, I’ll share them in order of how I check them each day:

Grow Your Blog

This Facebook group was created by Lauren of Pink on the Cheek, but it is now being moderated by myself, along with Esther of Local Adventurer, Tausha of Taush.O, Rachel of Love, Rachel, and Katie of Beyond the Clothing.

There are daily threads for just about everything you can think of-comments, pins, tweets, stumbles, etc. as well as daily follow for follow threads to encourage people to follow your Facebook page, Twitter, etc. This group has over 2.7k members and is very active-as well as fun!

Show Your Blog Love

SYBL is another very similar group to Grow Your Blog, but it’s a little smaller and there are different people and threads-though they are daily-so it’s awesome to participate in both. This group is maintained by Jasmine of Classy, Sassy, and a bit Smartassy as well as Sami of Be Mindful, You’re Creative.

Pinterest Rockstars

This is a group I joined a while back that was created by Taylor of Pink Heels Pink Truck. I also help moderate this group, and while it’s been a little dead lately I’m really working to get it back up and running. If you love Pinterest and want to promote your pins, join us and help me get it back up and thriving.

The Blogger Life

This is another group I’ve been a member of for a while. It’s also a little smaller, but it focuses on community and friendship a lot. It’s also run by the amazing Kara of The Knight’s Place, Stephanie of Wife, Mommy, Me, and Emilie of Burke Does.

Non-Parent Blog Promotion Group

This group is just a baby and in the growing stages, but it was created by the fantastic Anna at Anna in Wonderland and she enlisted a few fun blogging friends to help moderate. I’m a moderator (but I don’t do much at the moment, along with a few other fantastic ladies. The idea is for those of us who aren’t mommy bloggers to get together and promote each others’ posts without having to share/pin/tweet things that have to do with children. She’s also good about limiting the religious posts in there which I like.

Blog + Biz BFFs

This is the group started by Melyssa at The Nectar Collective. I haven’t actively participated in it much yet but I’m interested to see where it goes-I just love her blog. She also recently shared a list of Facebook groups that she recommends and you might want to check out.

Design Your Own Blog

This group focuses more on the design elements of blogging. It connects designers and non-designers alike and allows people to give feedback as well as promote and share their blog posts on occasion.

Blog Society

This is another promotion group, but they do things a little bit differently and they’re a fun group of bloggers too.

Blogging Boost

This group is HUGE with almost 9k members. They don’t seem to do daily threads, and limit promotion to Mondays, but they provide a great forum for talking with one another and working things out.

Instagram Fabulous

This is a Facebook group devoted to growing and promoting your Instagram account, but they have files where you can add info for your blog.

Here are a few more groups that I’m not as familiar with, but belong to and am starting to check more often:

Rock Your Blog – This group is less about promotion and more about blog building and learning from each other.

Blog Engagement and Promotion Group – Another promotion group with daily and weekly threads.

Bloggers United – A blogger networking and promotion group.

Blogging Tribe – Another promotion group, but I’ve had a lot of fun with the way they do things too.

The Utah Bloggers – This is a group for bloggers just in Utah, but I’ll bet they have a group for your state too.

Yes, it can take me an hour or two to go through and promote to all of the groups I’m actively participating in (I don’t do every group every day, mostly the first few I listed above) but it’s worth it and I’ve seen a great improvement on not only page views and shares, but I’ve gained some fantastic and loyal readers out of it too. Some of those blogging group faces have become fabulous friends who’ve added me on Facebook and who continue to stop by and leave meaningful comments-it’s so worth it!

Do you have any Facebook groups you love?
How do you promote via Facebook?

The Better Your Blog Series is a series of posts written by myself, Angie of My So-Called Chaos, from my own personal experience as a long-time blogger, small-business owner, and as someone who’s worked with technology and customer service for many many years. They are written with the intent of sharing the knowledge I’ve acquired through years of practice and education (both self-taught and school-taught) with others in the blogging community.

In this collection of posts you’ll not only find tips for maintaining your blog, but also for anything that goes along with being a blogger and/or small business owner-like design tips and tutorials, social media, tools, and more.

The posts in this series are constantly being updated to make sure they stay current, and the series is constantly being added to. Please contact me if there’s something you’d like to learn.

Angie

Angie is a coffee-fueled writer, artist-wanna-be, and over-worker who currently resides in a tiny fixer-upper near Salt Lake City with her boyfriend and 70lb rescue pittie. She works full time in Customer Service/Computers, part-time in retail and fashion, goes to school part-time on and off, maintains this and another couple of blogs, as well as volunteers with rescue dogs. In her free time, what little of it there is, she likes to read, play nerd games, craft and create art, and spend time with all of the awesome people in her life.

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

The Weekly Round-Up | Be Better at Social Media

October 11, 2015 by Angie 2 Comments

It’s time for The Weekly Round-Up which is I co-host with the lovely Aubrey from High-Heeled Love. If you don’t know what The Weekly Round-Up is-I’ll tell you! This is a weekly post and linky party where we share posts from other bloggers that we’ve read and liked for the past week. That way I not only share awesome new posts with you loves, but you can join in on the fun and showcase other bloggers as well. It’s nice to showcase other people sometimes.

This week I’m sharing posts that help you with your Social Media accounts. Tips, tricks, and warnings to help you up your Social Media game. You’ve got this. 🙂

“Twitter really is an awesome blogging tool, but here’s the thing: I do not follow indiscriminately. Personally, I unfollow people on a pretty regular basis. If you’re committing any of these errors, I probably unfollowed you. Sorry. It’s nothing personal. I don’t claim to be perfect myself, and I’m sure that some people have unfollowed me throughout my blogging career, and maybe even for these same reasons. But for the most part, I try not to do these things.”

→ Christine from Christine Everyday wrote a great post about why she stopped following you on Twitter. I couldn’t agree more with her reasoning, and I think they’re important to know for those who want to be successful on Twitter.

“Instagram Giveaway Loops are great for showing your Instagram account to a large number of people. If tailored correctly, you’ll find plenty of ‘Grammers who are interested in your niche. For example, if you are all about fashion, it might be good to give away a gift card to a large department store.”

→ Kimi from Kimi Who shared this great information on Instagram Giveaway Loops. I’m a fan of them as long as I can remember to post at the correct time, and as long as the host is organized and reaches out to me more than 48 hours in advance. I even enter them if something strikes my fancy.

“First of all let’s clarify what is a hashtag. A #tag is a metadata tag used on social media and micro-blogging services which makes life easier as you can find specific content much quicker using these little cute #hashtags. They can be inserted anywhere within a sentence, I usually put mine at the end, I think it just looks better this way.”

→ Hashtags can be someone of a confusing topic for a Social Media beginner, but this cute and simple post on How to Use a Hashtag from Betty at Inspire Me Land makes it really simple.

“I didn’t start using StumbleUpon for my blog until about two months after I started blogging. I had used it during college to find funny or interesting articles, but hadn’t thought to use it for my blog. And that was a huge mistake! Once I started using StumbleUpon, I realized what a great traffic source it can be. I’ve experimented with it for almost a year, and have been able to consistently drive traffic for the last four months. These days, it drives nearly as much traffic to my site as Pinterest does! Today I’m sharing my secrets with you and talking about how to drive traffic to your blog with StumbleUpon.”

→ I don’t know that enough of us bloggers use StumbleUpon to it’s full potential. So this post about how to drive traffic to your blog from StumbleUpon from Erin at Very Erin is a good one. She has some simple and very doable tips for using SU to share your posts.

“What if I told you, you don’t have to be on all social media platforms? In fact, it’s better if you’re not. Why? Because ain’t no one got time to be on all of those different sites at once, so what happens? One gets neglected, barely used and it’s a hot mess. Do you really want people to see that hot mess? Would you follow a hot mess? Probably not.”

→ Last but not least, Fran from Free Borboleta has a great list of social media mistakes you are probably making, and she tells you how to fix them. Great tips all around.

Did any of these Social Media tips help you?
What’s your best tip?

→ Follow your hosts My So-Called Chaos & High-Heeled Love
→ Write up a post showcasing your favorite blog posts from other bloggers for the week
→ Add the Weekly Round-Up button (code above) and/or a link back to the link-up to your post
→ Link up below!

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Guest Post | Getting the Most Out of Pinterest + Ad Space Giveaway

September 29, 2015 by Angie 28 Comments

Hello lovely readers! Today I have a FANTASTIC guest post for you from Christine of Christine Everyday. She wants to help you get the most out of your Pinterest account, and make it work really hard for you. So read on, and make sure to leave Christine a little love, and follow her blog too for more posts like this!

When people ask me which social media channel I think is the best from promotion, I used to say Twitter. But recently my answer has changed to a loud and proud “Pinterest”! Pinterest is becoming more and more popular as a means of promotion for many reasons. The biggest reason that Pinterest is becoming so popular is that it works really hard for you even when you’re having nothing to do with it. What I mean is that when you have the time, you can sit down and work on your Pinterest account, and then through re-pins and the nature of the site (because people search for specific topics), your account continues to work for you even when you’re not around.

For a blogger, this is a revelation. Most social media channels require our constant attention and work from us in order to work for us. Twitter, while it can be scheduled in advance, requires interaction with other people or nobody will want anything to do with you. Instagram can’t really be scheduled in advance and doesn’t really draw people to your page. Of course, it’s extremely important to interact with others and take time to do those things, but Pinterest is an animal of a different color. A little work here and there, and Pinterest does the rest.

So let’s talk about what this work is that you can do to keep your Pinterest working really hard for you, even when you’re not around. That way, your account will be successful and will bring more people to your site whenever you pin anything you’ve posted!

Label Your Images Correctly

This is one thing you can do from your actual blog that will make a big difference in your Pinterest activity. When saving an image for your blog, you need to save it with a title. Don’t just call it “IMAGE006” or something like that. This is important for SEO purposes, but also for Pinterest. When somebody goes to pin that image from your site, the description will populate with the image title on Pinterest, so if it’s not titled correctly and the person who pins it doesn’t fix it, it will give no description of what the post is about. More importantly, it won’t show up in Pinterest searches on that topic, which will be a real shame. So take the time to label your images correctly!

Pin Often

I know this sounds like it contradicts the whole premise of this post, but bear with me. I don’t mean you should be pinning constantly and always on your computer or your phone. What I mean is that you need to pin a few pins every now and then, but consistently. This will keep you showing up in other pinners’ feeds, and make it more likely that you will get repins, likes, and (most importantly) followers on a regular basis. What I like to do is pin while I’m waiting in line at the bank or the post office, in my doctor’s waiting room, and or while I’m just lying around watching TV. 20 minutes here and there makes a world of difference.

Pin from Different Categories

It’s important that you don’t just pin the same types of things all the time, for the same reason that it’s important that you don’t post the same kinds of posts all the time on your blog: you want to appeal to a wide audience. You’ll notice that on my Pinterest account, I even have boards for wedding planning and baby showers, even though I’m already married and don’t plan on having any more kids. I do not this for two reasons: one, because I may need to help somebody plan their events someday, but also because I know that these types of pins are very popular. Pin a lot of different things: fashion, food, kid’s stuff, parties, etc. If you absolutely don’t want to pin things that aren’t interesting to you, of course you don’t have to. But having a wide variety will really help you gain a large number of followers. Everybody is interested in different things!

Pin from the “Popular” Category

This one goes along with the last two, but when you’re pinning, try to pin from the “popular” category on Pinterest. These are the pins that have proven to get interest on Pinterest, and so will get interest on your account, too! They are more likely to get you repins and followers than just random pins (although I encourage those, too). Plus, this is where the really tasty recipes are. And we all know that’s the most important part of Pinterest.

Organize Your Account

Be sure to take the time one weekend to organize your boards into specific and obvious categories. It makes your account more approachable and people will be more likely to follow you if they know that they can find something they’re looking for easily. And take the time to make it pretty – whether you’recreating your own board covers or using something you’ve pinned, make sure the board covers look nice. Everybody knows people like to look at pretty things!

Do you like Pinterest? How do you make it work for you?

Keep up with Kristine by following along here:
Blog | Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Christine is giving two lucky winners free ad space on her blog! One winner will claim her Rockstar Spot for a month-this is her 600×100 in-post spot, and one lucky winner will claim a Wine Ninja spot-which is 300×300-for a month. You can advertise your blog, shop, or product with her! Feel free to head on over to her sponsorship page to learn more about what her ads entail.

To sweeten the deal, I’ll also give one lucky winner an Espresso Shots (400×200) ad spot here on My So-Called Chaos! Want to learn more about my ads or guest post here like Christine did? Awesome-check out my sponsor page for more info.

Giveaway is open worldwide, ends at 12AM on October 7th, and entering below agrees to all terms and conditions within the widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

CoSchedule – What it is & Why You Need it

September 2, 2015 by Angie 37 Comments

Some of you may have noticed that I recently made the big move from Blogger to a hosted WordPress, and while I’ll talk more about that at a later date, one of the greatest things I discovered in this process were so many fun plugins and tools that could be used to help me manage my blogs (’cause you all know I have a few) more easily.

Boy, are there tons of different options and products out there to help, and I have been using a few over the years to manage and schedule out posts and social media. I’ve had several different accounts to log in and use, wouldn’t it have been nice to have it all in once place where I could just do everything at once? Yes, it would-and you can. I can. I do. It’s called CoSchedule.

Bloggers, I’m serious when I say that CoSchedule makes it so super easy to manage my blog. It’s like an editorial calendar and social media manager all in one, and it integrates into my wordpress blog seamlessly so I really only have to log into one place instead of the three or four I was logging into every day before. It’s amazing. It currently only works with self-hosted wordpress blogs, but they are working on other integration soon-but if you have a self-hosted blog and you aren’t using co-schedule you’re probably doing more work than you have to be.

Unfortunately when you’re writing blog posts out and scheduling them ahead, it can sometimes be tricky to keep up with which posts will be posted when. You kind of have to search for the date on the right side, and go into it to see some of the details, and then your page is filled with draft posts and it can be hard to go back and find the current live post or archived posts. Well, probably not difficult, but time consuming at least. Co-Schedule makes it super easy to see all of your planned blog posts and social media in one calendar view-which is so beautifully organized looking. Seriously, anyone who loves organization can totally geek out over this beauty.

I can log into Co-Schedule and see an easy layout of what has been published as well as what will be published, and I can plan my posts on all of my accounts accordingly. It’s crazy easy, and so useful-I can’t believe I’ve been doing it the hard way all along when this beauty exists. Then if I decide I want to add a post, as I did on Sunday, September 6th for The Weekly Round-Up, I just click on that date and it pops up an easy window allowing me to schedule something out in advance.

As you can see, I don’t even have to write the whole post out at that time. I can simply stick a title in there and schedule it, as well as set up the Social Media if I want to. This is useful for if I get a big idea for some posts I want to write out for the next week, or I have posts that need to go up on certain dates, since I can just sit down and schedule them all and then go back and write them later when I have time to. That way when I’m wondering what to post, I can check the calendar and make sure I don’t have something scheduled for that day first. This is super useful, especially when it comes to posts I do each week or month, such as my Monthly Goals and Musical Mondays link-ups. When I’m ready to go ahead and actually write the post, I can simply click the Edit Post in WordPress button and it shoots me over to my WordPress composition page.

What makes CoSchedule even greater is that it integrates fully with WordPress. I don’t even have to log into CoSchedule, I can just access my editorial calendar directly from my WordPress dashboard. It was so easy to install also, I simply went to my Plugins section, then to Add New, searched for CoSchedule and bam-installed, activated, and logged in and it was all ready to go!

The integration doesn’t stop there either. It’s so much further integrated that when I’m editing a post in my regular Posts > Add Post section of WordPress I can simply scroll down below the post and schedule out all of my social media for it. This is what shows directly under this post right this moment as I’m composing:

All I have to do is click on the little + Sign there, and then this screen comes up:

From there, I can pick which Social Media profiles I want at the top (in this case, I’ve chosen Google+, Twitter, and Facebook) and preview how it will look. I can also edit the message or just leave it as the title and link, and I can schedule it to run at the same time as the post, the next day, a week later, a month later, or even set a custom time. It is so easy for me to just write out my post and schedule the bulk of my social media sharing of it right from the post itself, and not have to worry about it since it automatically posts when I’ve told it to.

What’s even more beautiful about this in-post integration, is that after it has been published and see the metrics for the social media interactions. Here are the results so far from my Instax Mini Giveaway that’s currently running:

Isn’t that fantastic? I just love it. Not only is it making my life easier when it comes to scheduling and composing, but it’s keeping me updated on what is working and what is useful in my social media. Scheduling reminders for giveaways has never been easier-seriously. It’s fantastic.

Check out this video explaining a little bit more:

So long story short-what is CoSchedule? It’s an all-in-one editorial calendar and social media manager for managed WordPress.

[Tweet “Are you still blogging and promoting the hard way? See how @CoSchedule can help! http://coschedule.com/r/23334”]

Why do you need it? Because it will make your life and blog so much easier and more organized. CoSchedule is perfect for any blogging use, but if you are serious about using your blog for business-whether it’s promoting your shop or making money from your blog-you definitely need CoSchedule. It will be your best friend, and it will help you go so much further in the world of professional blogging.

Don’t just take my word for it-try it yourself! They’ll give you a free two-week trial to try it out without committing to anything. As you can see from some of my screenshots, that’s what I’m currently doing-it’s just about time to upgrade though!

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

The Weekly Round-Up: How to Not Suck at Blogging

August 2, 2015 by Angie Leave a Comment

“Remember that your audience took their precious time to not only read your blog, but to leave a comment on it. Have the courtesy to respond to their comments and foster a desire to continue the conversation. By responding to comments left on your blog in a timely manner, your audience will feel cared about, cherished and therefor interested in returning.”

▶ Kimi from Kimi Who wrote this great post (and we have our title) called How to Not Suck at Blogging. It offers some fairly simple tips you can apply to your blog in order to help your blog not suck. Simple, right?

A Cat-Like Curiosity: Organisation, Facebook & Tumblr for Busy Bloggers

“as you can see, i then get a manageable list of bookmarks for me to view and click on! much easier than having to scroll for ages to find my latest bookmarks. i am trying to be more organised with the things i find online and using this method (and pinterest) i feel like i am on top of all of the cool resources i have found. yay me!”

▶ Sara from A Cat-Like Curiosity shared a great post about organizing Facebook and Tumblr for Busy Bloggers. We’re all busy bloggers, so these are some helpful tips I think we could all benefit from.

Alanna & Company: Don't Forget About August's Instagram Challenge #EverythingAugust

“I will be featuring my favorite instagram photos weekly and the rest of the co-hosts will be checking out any posts with the hashtag #EverythingAugust too.”

▶ Alanna from Alanna & Company is doing an August Instagram Challenge. Instagram is a great way to boost your blog!

Live with Rosie: Inside My Blogging Binder & How to Make One Yourself

“I celebrated a blogiversary this past April. Usually when a blogger reaches that milestone, they do a post celebrating their hard work, their readers and reflect on the happier moments of the year. I didn’t do that. As I sat down to reflect on my year, all I could see were disorganized posts and my inconsistency. Now, I know there were some great moments as well, but I was convicted that because I was disorganized and my readers were paying the price. Back in April, I decided to get better.”

▶ Chelsie from Life with Rosie shared her Blogging Binder and offered tips on how to make one yourself! Useful!

“Here’s the secret: you just need to be WHERE YOUR AUDIENCE IS! That’s it. If they are on Facebook or Bloglovin’ or the good ole IG (Instagram to old people – that includes me) then you should be on those sites promoting your brand. If your audience is not on Google+ (which I hope not, I hate G+), then why are you wasting your valuable time on G+?? Just stop it.”

▶ Lizzy from Stumbling Upon Lizzy shared a fantastic post regarding where you’re spending you’re time promoting your blog. She’s right. You need to be where your audience is, otherwise it’s fruitless.

What are your favorite posts this week?

How this works:

Follow your hosts Miss Angie at My So-Called Chaos and Aubrey at High-Heeled Love.
Write up a blog post sharing some of your favorite posts this week from other bloggers.
Add the Weekly Round-Up Button (code above) and/or a link back to your blog post.
Link-up with our weekly linky party on Sundays.
Visit other party-people to see what posts they liked this week!

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Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

10 Common Blogging Mistakes You Might Be Making

July 9, 2015 by Angie 55 Comments

I posted this a few weeks ago over at Venus Trapped in Mars, but I definitely wanted to share it here with my readers as well. There’s a lot of good information I compiled here that could be very useful!

Mistake Number One: Not Listing Your Email

There is nothing more frustrating than wanting to get a hold of someone but being unable to find their contact information. By not listing a contact email on your blog you are keeping other bloggers, possible new friends, and even companies/possible business arrangements from getting in touch with you.

But what about contact forms? Contact forms just don’t cut it alone. It’s okay to use a contact form, but you should also list your email somewhere nearby as well. Why? Contact forms are not always reliable-someone can submit a contact form and be unclear on whether you’re actually getting it or not. Coming from someone who has used Contact forms both to send and receive, it gets to be frustrating. I’ve personally moved completely away from contact forms.

But what about spammers? Spam email is a legitimate worry for most of us who post our emails on our blogs-and I wont lie-they do make it through; however it’s not nearly as often as you’d think. The majority of spam emails are caught by my email provider’s spam filter, and the rest are easily ignored/reported/deleted. If you’re really worried about it, create a separate email for your blog and personal life. You should have an email address that implies it’s connection with your blog anyway.

Mistake Number 2: Not Responding to Comments

Not taking the time to reply to the comments that people leave you on your blog is a big faux pas in the blogging world. People take the time to leave you a meaningful comment in order to engage with you, and if you never engage back with them they start to feel like you don’t care and they stop commenting… Eventually? They stop reading your blog at all. Whether it’s a direct reply or an email response-you should definitely be letting them know their input is valued.

The best solution? Install a commenting system that allows you to reply directly to their comments in the commenting section, especially one that notifies them of your reply. I personally use Disqus and I love it, but I also like when people use CommentLuv because it also has the ability to show the last blog post from the person commenting-making visiting them back easier,

Mistake Number 3: Ignoring Social Media

In this day and age social media is so much of what you’re doing. If your goal with your blog is to grow and to reach more people, you need social media. You need more ways to connect with your current followers, with future followers, and more ways of contributing to your brand.

Yes, your blog is your brand-and any good brand this day needs at least a Facebook page and a Twitter profile. Other than those two I would highly recommend you also have an Instagram account and a Pinterest profile-but why stop there? There are so many places you can leave your mark, Google+, Tumblr, Stumbleupon, Bloglovin, etc. Those are just my main recommendations. The more places you’re connecting with people and sharing your content, the more views you’re going to get and the bigger/faster you’ll grow.

Want to learn more about Social Media? Check out this post: New Blogger Series: Social Media

Mistake Number 4: Not Making it Easy to Share Your Posts

Allowing your readers to share your posts is a very good idea, because then your posts aren’t only being seen by your followers, but all of theirs as well. Make your posts easy to share. Include an image that can be pinned/add a pin-it button, and add other share options to the post.

Mistake Number 5: Being Inconsistent with Your Branding/Design

Human beings are very visually oriented. A good blog should have a consistent design that also carries out across your social ,edia platforms. This means using the same fonts, color scheme, and some basic imagery across the platforms. Make it easily connectable with your brand-you want people to see something come up in their feed from your page and instantly be like “oh that’s this blog!”

The same can be said for social media handles too. Make your usernames for your social media profiles match your blog in some way. Personally, with my blog being My So-Called Chaos, I use the handle mysocalledchaos virtually across all platforms. This makes it easy to associate it with my blog and people know what they are getting.

Mistake Number 6: Making Posts Difficult to Read

This is a big one. The main point of writing blog posts is so that people will read them-but what if they’re hard to read? Well, people will eventually stop even trying… All but those nearest and dearest to you. How can you make your post readability better? Try these simple tips:

Make sure the words pop out from the page. Light/white writing on dark/black backgrounds, or dark/black writing on light/white backgrounds. Boom. Easy to read. Honestly? Don’t ever use Highlighter Yellow for your basic text… It’s awful. I guess any bright neon color should be avoided for main text-use these colors to accentuate certain things if you must, but keep your basic text color simple and easy to read.

Use a simple font. Yes, there are so many cutesy curly curvy fonts available to post in-but don’t. Use those for adding to your graphics or possibly your post titles, but keep your main text a good clean simple font. Reading long blog posts in those fancy fonts can hurt one’s head.

Make your text a decent size. Don’t post everything in super-tiny or super-large fonts. Stay between size 10 and 14 for your main post, and make your title/header larger so it stands out.

Always use proper formatting and paragraphs. Don’t write one massive block of text-in my experience people tend to just skip most of it or give up half way through. Formatting is your friend.

Add an image. Again, people are typically very visually inclined. A great image not only allows someone to pin the post, but it provides something visually appealing to look at-try and make all of your images the same width in your posts, and big and well-fit is best! For more information on sizing/positioning photos check out THIS POST from my new blogger series.

Mistake Number 7: Violating Copyright/Using Other’s Photos without Permission

This is a very common one, especially for new bloggers (I know I’ve done it in the past). You see a photo you like on the internet, on Pinterest, in Google Images-and it just fits so well with the post you’ve just written. Surely it can’t hurt to include it in my post? It can hurt. I’ve heard of bloggers getting sued for using photos that aren’t their own-and they lost lots of money over it.

What if I give credit? That wont always work. The only time I use someone else’s photo is when I’m linking directly to their shop/site/article where the photos is used-and only if I’m specifically talking about them. Otherwise I use original photos or stock photos that from people/sites that have released the rights on them. For example, all the photos in this post come from Unsplash. But there are so many other sites out there with both free and inexpensive stock photos available for your use.

Mistake Number 8: Using Pop Ups that Make Your Blog More Trouble Than It’s Worth

No matter how big and well-read your blog is, if you have constant ads or banners that pop up and make the page unusable until something is done about them, you will lose readers. It’s just the fact of the matter-no one wants to click on a link for your meatloaf recipe and be bombarded with pop ups asking them to subscribe to your newsletter or view the ad. If it happens often enough, they’ll just stop clicking on your links because it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Re-think your strategy there-maybe set up a system where the pop up only comes up once every ten visitors? Or just stick it in your sidebar and let people decide for themselves.

Mistake Number 9: Putting Too Much Stuff in Your Sidebar

This is easy to do, and I’ve been guilty of it so many times… There’s just so much stuff you want to share with people, how do you narrow it down? Unfortunately you have to. If your sidebar is crazy full of junk it makes your blog seem really cluttered and people will most likely discount anything in the sidebar at all.

What can you do instead? Focus on the important stuff. The ways to follow you, your sponsors, popular posts, etc. Figure out the most important things you want people to see and then narrow it down to just those things in your sidebar. If you have to, create a separate page for other things like your favorite links, buttons, etc. and just put a link to it in your sidebar or navigation. That way they see the important stuff, and can go look at all the extra stuff if they really want to.

Mistake Number 10: Not Knowing Your Own Value

This is probably one of the biggest mistakes you can make, and it doesn’t just keep people from reading your blog or finding you like a lot of the others, but it hurts you. Not knowing your own value can cause unnecessary stress and burn out, and the way you value yourself teaches other people how to value you as well.

Knowing your value is 100% necessary if you’re going to be a for-profit blog or accept any kind of money/advertising on your site. You work really hard to build your brand and provide good content that brings in the page views, so don’t take less than you deserve for that hard work. Don’t let companies take advantage of you and don’t de-value yourself by accepting content that doesn’t fit or that you can’t support. This is your space.

If I had a dollar for every time a company contacted me and tried to get me to write about or promote their company for free-I’d have enough to pay for several years of hosting. When a company emails you to say that you could write about their product (without compensation or anything in return) and that in turn it will bring you good publicity-they are full of it. A company with enough publicity to bring you the amount of publicity to make it worth your time can afford to pay you-if they can’t afford to pay you then they obviously don’t have enough publicity to do you any good.

That being said, just because a company offers you compensation to write about them, does not mean you have to accept. If it’s not something in line with your beliefs or something that fits with your blog, turn it down. You don’t want to feel like a sell-out, and you don’t want to flood your readers with products you don’t actually support. So know your worth, both in terms of deserving compensation, and in not having to accept something just because it’s a paying gig. You deserve it!

What common blogging mistakes do you notice?

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Top Tips for Starting a Blog + an Ad Space Giveaway!

June 26, 2015 by Angie 34 Comments

Starting a blog is completely overwhelming. There is SO much to do, so many options to choose from, and so much pressure to get it right. That’s why Helene of Helene in Between and I got together to discuss how to start a blog.

Tips for Starting a Blog

Helene: First, remember this is your online space. You can mold it into whatever you want. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You can get all the details worked out. Have an idea of what your blog is about and why you want to blog. Is it just for fun? Do you want to make money? Do you want to share your life? Whatever the reason (you can change it later) but it’s a good idea to think about it.

Angie: Purchase a domain name. While it’s easy and free to stick with your basic NAME.blogspot.com or NAME.wordpress.com when blogging, I highly recommended that you purchase a domain name. My domain name only costs about $10 a year, and it seems so much more legitimate when people visit www.mysocalledchaos.com. It also looks a lot more professional when it comes to advertisers and companies that want to work with me. Starting right out with a domain name shows that you mean business, and it helps you make sure you can actually purchase the domain name you want, because later down the road you could go to buy one that reflects your blog name and find out that it’s been taken.

Helene: Pick a platform. This can be a tough decision. In my opinion, you have two basic options: Blogger or WordPress. I am not a WordPress user. For me it was confusing and a lot of work. But I have heard some great things about WordPress. Essentially, you own all of your content. I like Blogger, you get free hosting, it’s easy to navigate and it’s simple to change your layout. Check out why I use blogger.

Angie: Stick with a clean design. One mistake a see a lot of newbie bloggers make is their design-both of the main page and the blog posts. If it’s too hard to read, people wont read it. Keep it clean and easy to read and it will encourage people to actually read it.

I recommend you pay close attention to the following:

Fonts: Whimsical fonts are okay for your blog title or possibly for headers, but don’t use them for your actual content. They’re hard to read and discourage people from actually reading everything you have to say. Stick with a good classic and clear print font for the actual post.

Colors: Make sure you keep your colors easily contrasted-dark writing on a light background or light writing on a dark background. If you have a pink background and yellow writing it’ll be too hard to read and people generally wont bother.

Formatting: Make sure you format your posts. Split it up into paragraphs (like you’d find in a news article or a book) instead of one giant blog of writing, and add photos where you can to split up the text. It makes everything easier to read and helps keep your reader’s interest.

Sidebar: It’s super easy to get that sidebar jam-packed with everything you want to showcase, but it is also a huge turn-off to readers. Just showcase the important stuff, and if there’s more stick it in another page that you can just link to.

Angie: Think about the direction you want to go in. You don’t have to commit to writing about only one thing for the entire life cycle of your blog, but it’s good to know what direction you’re going in. Is this a lifestyle blog where you’ll write about lots of different things? Is it a family blog where you’re going to talk about your kids? Do you want to share more recipes and cooking than anything? Direction is good. It’s not set in stone, but it definitely helps you stay focused on the theme of your blog.

Angie: Create social media profiles for your blog. Social media is perhaps the best marketing tool there is these days. Make sure you create a Facebook Page, Twitter account, Pinterest account, Instagram, etc. If you already have all of these accounts, consider making your usernames fluid so that they match your blog and are easily associated with it. For example, since my blog is My So-Called Chaos, I use the handle mysocalledchaos on nearly all of my social networks. It’s easy to associate, and easy for me to tell people how to find me.Helene: Sponsor. If you’re interested in getting your blog’s name out there, this is a great way to do it. No, it’s not the only way, but it helps. Sponsoring allows you to have your blog “button” (which is on the right side of my blog and links back to your blog). People will click that link and find you. Other options include sponsoring or advertising with other bloggers: guest posting, giveaways, social media shout outs, etc. Still up in the air? Check out why sponsorship works.

Angie: Start making friends with other bloggers. One of the best things about blogging is the community it builds. Take the time to go out and meet other bloggers so you can start building your community. Comment on their blogs, join linky parties or Facebook groups, etc. The more you interact with other bloggers and their blogs the more likely they are to interact back and come visit your blog. Bloggy BFFs are real, and amazing to have!Helene: Write for you and do whatever you want. It’s your space, you don’t have to follow the rules!

For more tips and tricks on better blogging, check out my New Blogger Series!

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Better Your Blog | Basic HTML for Bloggers

April 7, 2015 by Angie 10 Comments

When I was in high school I took a web design class. Back then, HTML was pretty much the name of the game, so my classmates and I took the time to design websites for ourselves using HTML coding and editing. These days there are so many different types of code that are more commonly used, however my basic HTML skills have been some of the most useful when it comes to updating my blog. So I thought, let’s share some basic HTML for bloggers, why don’t we?

I can edit my design, alter little things in my post, or do so much more with HTML-sometimes I can even use that HTML coding to go around some of the pre-set conditions by blogger. So today I wanted to take the time to share a little bit of my basic HTML knowledge with you so you can use it in your blog posting.

Basic HTML for Bloggers

Common HTML Terms

Before we get started with actual coding, it’s important for you to understand some of the common HTML terms you may need to know. Here are some of the more important things:

Angle Brackets: <code HERE>

In HTML coding, the “greater than” and “less than” signs are actually called angle brackets. You need angle brackets around anything you post. So all of your coding will be put in angle brackets for it to be recognized as code and not just as something you’ve written. Each section of your code will need to start with a less than sign < and end with a greater than sign > to be complete.

Attribute

An attribute is something added to a basic tag/HTML code to give it further description. For example, if you were to have a basic image code, but want to define it further-you could add a size attribute to change the size, or add an alternative text to the photo. The additions to the basic IMG tag are what we would call attributes.

HTML Converter

A software that converts HTML into actual code. Most blogging software automatically does this when you switch between the HTML and Compose tabs. Though, in Blogger at least, you can turn it off in the right hand menu of your post-which I have done for this post so I can show you the HTML.

Closing Tag: </>

Some codes require a closing tag which is usually just a mirror of the start of the opening tag but with a backslash in front of it. For example, if your opening tag is <center> your closing tag is </center>. This tells the HTML code to stop there, so you can move on to something new. Some tags require closing (links, formatting, etc.) and some do not (such as and image).

HTML for Images

Image Code: <img src=”IMG URL HERE”>

Alt Text is the text that shows in place of a photo on your blog/site before the image has fully downloaded. This text provides an alternative description of what the photo is in case the photo stops loading so that someone can see whatALTERNAT there-or for those people who have disabled images entirely in their browser. Without the Alt Attribute it would just show up as a missing photo icon, like this:

But if you have an alt tag and the photo link is broken, it would look like this at least:

This image is supposed to show you the alt attribute

It’s also extremely useful for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as the search engines can pull from your Alt Text when crawling-<a href=” googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com=”” http:=”” src=”www.mysocalledchaos.com” target=”_blank” using-alt-attributes-smartly.html=”” />Google has officially stated
that they use the alt tag for this purpose. This is also useful for someone with a disability such as blindness, as the software they may be using to read your blog can also typically pull from that alt text to tell them what they would be seeing if they could see the image. In Internet Explorer the Alt Text shows up when you hover over the image.

To add an alt tag to a photo you would add the above code to the IMG code. For example:

Title Text/Title Attribute: title=”TITLE OF PHOTO”

This one is pretty self explanatory, it should be a concise title of the image. In browsers such as Firefox or Opera, this is what shows when you hover over an image.

If you add both, your new IMG code would look like this:

Image Sizing: width=”###” height=”###”

If you want to adjust the size of your photos you can add width and height tags to it. The numbers for the sizes is in pixels though, so you’ll want to make sure you understand the width of your blog post in pixels.

Your IMG code would now look like this:

For example, the main photo in this image (at the top) has a code that looks like this:

HTML for Links

Anchor: <a href=”URL”></a>

An anchor tab is for linking. Meaning you are anchoring whatever you want to “link” (a photo, some text, etc.) to a specific location. To anchor/link something you use the code above, and the HREF stands for Hypertext Reference. You must use a closing tag.

If you want to link to an external location with text, the code would look like this:

If you are linking a photo to an external location, the code would look like this:

If you want the photo to link to itself so it simply opens larger when someone clicks on it, simply place the URL for the picture in both the anchor tag and the image tag. For example:

The Style Basics

Most of the time when writing a post your blogging platform or document will allow you to just do this using their toolbars, however the tips are still good to know in case you want to change things on your sidebar or clean up your HTML.

Center: <center> TEXT/IMG </center>

This will center whatever you’re working on. It does need the closing tag or everything after putting in the opening tag will center.

DIV Alignments:
 <div align=”center”> TEXT/IMG </div>

Bold: TEXT/IMG

Italicize: TEXT/IMG

Underline: TEXT/IMG

Strike Through: <strike> TEXT/IMG </strike>

Line Break:

I use this one a lot. Sometimes blogger makes an absolute mess of my posts and simply hitting enter doesn’t fix it. In those cases I can go in and use the br tag to put in my own breaks. Each br tag takes you to a new line, so if you want a line space between instead of it just being on the next line, use two br tags right next to each other.

Horizontal Line: <hr />

Unordered Lists:

The ul tag is for an unordered list-which we may just call bullet points.

List item one.
List item two.
List item three.

<ul> <li>List item one.</li> <li>List item two.</li> <li>List item three.</li> </ul>

Ordered Lists:

The ol tag is for ordered, or numbered, lists.

List item one.
List item two.
List item three.

<ol> <li>List item one.</li> <li>List item two.</li> <li>List item three.</li> </ol>

Start Your Ordered List with a Specific Number:

Sometimes when using an ordered list you want to add something after and then start with the next number, but the code wants to start with 1 again. Never fear, you can change that by adding a “start with” code, like this:

List item eighteen.
List item nineteen.
List item twenty.

<ol start=”18″> <li>List item one.</li> <li>List item two.</li> <li>List item three.</li> </ol>

Block Quote: <blockquote cite=”LINK TO QUOTE”> QUOTE HERE</blockquote>

Sometimes you want a quote to show up in a different format so it’s clear that it’s a quote. Like so:

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

-Steve Jobs

Add a Text Box:<textarea cols=”40″ rows=”1″> YOUR TEXT < /textarea >

Possibly one of the most useful HTML bits of code I’ve used in composing blogs is a text box. I’ve used it a lot through this post-since you can put HTML in a text box without it converting. This is really useful if you want to provide HTML For a button or something other people can grab from your site. You would remove the extra space in the closing tag from my example though, as I had to remove it so my text box wouldn’t close prematurely.

Scrolling Text Box:

It looks like this:

This is a scrolling text box. You can use the slider bar on the right there to scroll up and down and read my code here. You would replace what I’ve written here with the information you want in a scroll box. The more you rattle on in here, the longer your scrolling could be. The sky is the limit!

Are there any HTML tags you use regularly that I missed?

The posts in this series are constantly being updated to make sure they stay current, and the series is constantly being added to. Please contact me if there’s something you’d like to learn.

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Better Your Blog | Sizing & Positioning Photos

February 18, 2015 by Angie 9 Comments

How to Size and Position the photos on your blog for better visuals.

There’s something about a blog that has their photos figured out-something wonderful. When I visit a blog the first thing that draws me in are their photos. If they have large clear photos lined up beautifully in the post I’m much more likely to click their little follow/subscribe button. Even before I read through a lot of posts-it’s just a fact that we live in a very visual society, and I am a visual person. This is why I feel like the sizing & positioning of photos is a very important thing to think about.

I’m not saying I wont read a blog that doesn’t have good photos, there are plenty that I follow, I’m just less likely to check in as often, and I’m less likely to follow new blogs that have bad photos or poorly composed posts.

Understanding Your Post Space

First thing is first, you must understand the space you’re working with. It’s kind of like how you can’t really buy blinds for your window without first knowing how big your window is-what if your blinds are too small or too big? Man that would look funny.

Most blog editors are going to allow you to customize the size of your posts a little by altering the width in your template design. With blogger (unless you’ve purchased your template somewhere else and it’s preconfigured) you can easily alter it by going to Settings > Template > Customize. Once you’re in the Blogger Template Designer you can click on Adjust widths from the left hand menu and adjust your sliders there. The post size is going to be a combination of how large you set the Entire Blog vs. how large you set the sidebar sliders.

How to change your blog widths in Blogger.

If you feel comfortable enough, this can also be adjusted in the actual HTML-which may be the only way if you’re using a pre-configured template. For help doing so, I recommend checking out this post. Warning: Not all templates will be the same-it may be best not to alter this if you aren’t 100% sure what you are doing-and ALWAYS back up your template before altering the HTML. I have a tutorial for that HERE.

If you’re happy with your blog widths, you can play with the size of your photos in your blog posts to see about what sizes happen to work for you, it will probably differ for other people, but the best tip I have for you is fill the space width-wise as best as you can. For example, I currently use a 750px width as my widest photo in order to best utilize the space in my blog posts. I try to make all photos total up to that size so they line up nicely. I’ll show you how to change that in a moment.

Choosing Photos For Your Post

Once you’re aware of what space you’re working with, you’ll want to choose which photos you want to use in your post. Whether they’re photos from your Instagram, higher quality photos you took with a nice camera, something you created, or stock photos; you’ll want to make sure they have the capability to fill the space you’re working with. Most high-quality photos can easily be made to fit any space-but if a photo is too small you may want to consider using something different.

Adding Photos to Your Post

Uploading the photo can easily be done directly through most photo editors by clicking on the photo icon and choosing a method to upload. Once in there you can upload from your from your computer, drag and drop, choose something that was uploaded previously, enter the URL for the photo, etc.

For blogger simply click on the little picture icon in the editor bar along the top of your post:

For WordPress, click on the Add Media button that typically shows between your title and post:

You can also use your HTML to add the photos. Instead of using the tool that is given to you in your editor, you can use some very simple HTML codes. The first thing you’ll want to do is go into your HTML section (instead of the Compose section) and in the spot you want to put your photos in you can use some of these very basic codes:

If you want to insert an image that is not clickable, either to go anywhere or to show larger, use this code:

If you want to insert an image that does not link anywhere, but that opens up full size when someone clicks on it, use the following code. (This basically links the photo to itself.) If you want to link the photo to another page, use the same code but for the first url, put the web address of where you are linking the photo to.

Changing the Size of Your Photos

Some blogging editors have a default sizes in pixels for width on horizontal photos or the height on vertical photos, for example the default sizes for Blogger are as follows:

Extra Large: 640px
Large: 400px
Medium: 320px
Small: 200px

That would mean for horizontal photos setting it to extra large means it would be 640px wide, but a vertical photo would be 640px tall. Same for Large, horizontal would be 400px wide, but vertical would be 400px tall, etc.

To change the photo size, simply click on the photo and from the pop up below it will give you the options to choose from.

Better Your Blog | Sizing & Positioning Photos

Here’s an example of what it looks like. I’ve uploaded this horizontal photo four times. The actual photo is the same size all four times (I made these non-clickable), but using the selection method above I’ve changed it to each different size:

New Blogger Series: Sizing & Positioning Photos

Most of the time the blogger defaults are going to work great for you, and typically the extra large size is going to work great for filling your space. However if your posts are slightly smaller, or slightly larger than the defaults you may need to manually edit the coding. Personally, I upload the photo first, select extra large, then I go in and alter the coding in the HTML section.Here’s the code as it shows normally for my first photo selected at Extra Large:

Since my optimal sizing is 700px wide, I go in and change the width to “750” and adjust the height accordingly. Make sure you change the height too or the photo may look weird and stretched out. I can eyeball it, but sometimes putting it into a photo editor and re-sizing the width there will show you what the height should be, and then you can input the most accurate number. Here’s what my code and photo look like now:

Another great trick, and often a better one if you are concerned with storage space on your photo hosting service is to simply set the photo to the correct size you need before uploading, then tell blogger to just show it at it’s Original Size when selecting the sizing. The only downfall to this is that it wont be able to be seen larger if it’s clicked on.

Positioning Photos

Now you’ve got the sizing down, it’s time to look into positioning photos. The first thing is your alignment. Clicking on the photo (see the example above in changing the size) will also give you the alignment options such as Left, Center, and Right. I typically think that left-aligned text with centered photos look best, but that’s just my personal opinion.

You can also set the alignment with HTML too by using simple Center tags like this:

Or a more complex tag like this:

There are so many ways to position your photos, and it’s super easy to do with wide photos when you just want them to fill the space, but then when it comes to vertical/square photos and putting them next to each other, it can get a bit tricky as you try to keep the widths lined up properly.

For example, when it comes to vertical photos do you want the width to fill like the wide ones do? Or do you want two vertical photos to show side by side? If you want it to fill, both the simple upload method and the HTML upload method work great-all you have to do is go in and alter the width of the vertical photo to match in the coding.

For example, if you simply upload it and set it to extra large it’s not going to fill properly and may look kind of weird like this:

Here’s how it looks when I take an extra couple of minutes to go in and adjust my sizing and alignment:

Here’s what that code looks like:

If you want to put two photos side by side then typically the simple uploader is not going to allow them to sit right next to each other. But you can use that uploader and then grab the code from what it uploads to put into your own code, or host the photos somewhere else and just use the code. In this case, you’ll want to break it down by sizing and whether your photos have spaces or not.

For this blog I don’t have any spaces in between photos (my template doesn’t even allow it) so I can simply take my 750px and divide to see how wide my photos need to be. For example, I know two photos next to each other have to be 375px wide each, or three next to each other have to be roughly 250px each to fit right. If you have spacing you’ll want to accommodate your sizing to include those spaces. You can play with widths too-maybe one photo needs to be 370px and the next 380px just on how it fits, as long as they total up to match it’s great!

Here’s an example of what mine looks like with two next to each other:

Here’s the code for that:

You can always play with sizing and setting things next to each other too. Sometimes I want a tall photo next to a short photo (tricky, but possible) like this:

So in this case, my code looks like this:

Are you on your way to better looking photos?

The posts in this series are constantly being updated to make sure they stay current, and the series is constantly being added to. Please contact me if there’s something you’d like to learn.

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

5 Tips for Running a Good Blog

November 25, 2014 by Angie 1 Comment

These days a good blog is essential for any small business, but if you dive in head first without a plan of attack you’ll simply be wasting time. Don’t write for writing’s sake, but put some thought into each post and you’ll increase both traffic and conversion rates thanks to the personal touch a blog provides.

Here are five tips to think about while running your personal or business blog:

Update Regularly

It’s important to ensure you update your blog on a regular basis – once a week is a good minimum. Don’t post anything just to keep it ticking over, but find something interesting about your industry, or something in the world of current affairs that you can comment on, and you’ll be on the right track. A neglected blog makes it look like you don’t care about your website, and therefore that you don’t care about your website visitors.

Break Up the Text Into Chunks

This one is a simple writing recommendation but one that is often ignored. Blog posts should always be a minimum of 300 words, and ideally they should be longer. But write all of that interesting content in one large paragraph and nobody will read it, which can increase your bounce rate and have a negative SEO impact on your website. Short paragraphs with subheadings are much more pleasing to the eye, and much easier for readers to process, giving your post more impact.

Use Strong Imagery

In a similar vein to the point above, images help to break up your blog post and can support your writing. If you’re looking to have your post shared among your social networks and industry peers, you’ll certainly need to make sure you have good quality images to help make it more appealing to readers. If you can, use your own images of your business where appropriate, but free image libraries are available online if you need them.

Use URL slugs

A URL slug is the part of your web address that directs people to the blog post. Use them correctly with the keywords of your blog and you’ll see a marked improvement in SEO performance, as it is easier for visitors and search engines to understand what the page is about. Are you more likely to click on www.blog.com/post/5-tips-for-a-good-blog, or www.blog.com/post/1232981?

Anti-Virus Software

You should protect yourself and start using the best anti-virus software you can find, both on your PC and, if required, as part of your blog hosting software. Hackers are always looking to exploit weaknesses in websites, regardless of the size or scale of your business, so install and use anti-virus software to ensure your computer and website are protected and your work is safe.

What is your best tip for running a good blog?

Angie

http://www.mysocalledchaos.com

Creating a Facebook Page For Your Blog

Using Your Blog’s Facebook Page Effectively

Getting Interaction on Your Facebook Page

Join Blog Promotion Facebook Groups

Do you have any Facebook groups you love? How do you promote via Facebook?

Label Your Images Correctly

Pin Often

Pin from Different Categories

Pin from the “Popular” Category

Organize Your Account

Do you like Pinterest? How do you make it work for you?

What are your favorite posts this week?

How this works:

Mistake Number One: Not Listing Your Email

Mistake Number 2: Not Responding to Comments

Mistake Number 3: Ignoring Social Media

Mistake Number 4: Not Making it Easy to Share Your Posts

Mistake Number 5: Being Inconsistent with Your Branding/Design

Mistake Number 6: Making Posts Difficult to Read

Mistake Number 7: Violating Copyright/Using Other’s Photos without Permission

Mistake Number 8: Using Pop Ups that Make Your Blog More Trouble Than It’s Worth

Mistake Number 9: Putting Too Much Stuff in Your Sidebar

Mistake Number 10: Not Knowing Your Own Value

What common blogging mistakes do you notice?

Tips for Starting a Blog

Basic HTML for Bloggers

Common HTML Terms

Angle Brackets: <code HERE>

Attribute

HTML Converter

Closing Tag: </>

HTML for Images

Image Code: <img src=”IMG URL HERE”>

Title Text/Title Attribute: title=”TITLE OF PHOTO”

Image Sizing: width=”###” height=”###”

HTML for Links

The Style Basics

Center: <center><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> TEXT/IMG </center><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

DIV Alignments: <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <div align=”center”><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> TEXT/IMG </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>

Horizontal Line:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <hr /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>

Unordered Lists:

Ordered Lists:

Start Your Ordered List with a Specific Number:

Block Quote: <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <blockquote cite=”LINK TO QUOTE”><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> QUOTE HERE</p></blockquote><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>

Add a Text Box:<textarea cols=”40″ rows=”1″> YOUR TEXT < /textarea >

Scrolling Text Box:

Understanding Your Post Space

Choosing Photos For Your Post

Adding Photos to Your Post

Changing the Size of Your Photos

Positioning Photos

Are you on your way to better looking photos?

Update Regularly

Break Up the Text Into Chunks

Use Strong Imagery

Use URL slugs

Anti-Virus Software

What is your best tip for running a good blog?

Do you have any Facebook groups you love?
How do you promote via Facebook?

DIV Alignments:
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <div align=”center”><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> TEXT/IMG </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>