Blog Tip Tuesdays ~ Guest Posting

Good morning everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful 3 day weekend!  We went to Santa Monica with family which was fun, but now my boys are sick.  And that is so not fun.  Looks like movies, naps, relaxing, and more movies for us for the next few days!

Well it is time for another Blog Tip Tuesday!  I hope that you all know that I don't at all assume that I am some kind of professional blogger.  I just happen to enjoy it and find that I learn new things every day.  So as I am learning these new things, I would love to try to share them with all of you.  And if you have thoughts or insights into what I post about on a particular day, I would love to hear those too! That is why I started Blog Tip Tuesdays.

So the other day I was thinking about how to market my blog and more specifically my sponsors and I thought about guest posting.  I am not sure there is any specific right or wrong way, I just thought I would share some pointers from my experiences.

We all love to have traffic to our blogs.  Some of us write for personal reasons, business reasons, or just for an outlet,  but most of us write to be read.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  So we, as fellow bloggers, need to think about proper 'etiquette' if you will, when giving and receiving guest posts. 

When Submitting:

~ Think about how your post will relate to the readers of the blog you are writing for.  If you are writing for a craft blog, you might want to think up your craftiest moment and throw it out there.  If you don't know how to work a glue gun, you might want to stick to submitting posts for blogs within your niche.
~  After you post, make sure on that day you are able to mention it on your blog, tweet or Facebook about the post.  You want to help draw readers to the post and to the host blogger, and therefore to yours as well.  Everyone wins!  The better you become at this, the more people will want you to post for them.
~ Do your best to read the comments and reply.  You can reply in the comments section on the host's blog or actually find their blog and answer it there.  This is a great way to meet new people as well. 

When Hosting:

~  Try to find or only accept submissions that are revelvant to the topics that you write about.  The people that come to read your blog are coming for a reason and if the content isn't what is interesting to them, they won't read it.  Simple enough!  
~  Make sure you are able to tweet or facebook the post as well.  Sometimes this just isn't possible if the whole reason you have a guest poster is because you are on vacation, then you can't.  But if at all possible, get it out there.  You will also have more people wanting to do posts if it benefits them somehow.
~  It is considerate to put the post up at the beginning of the day, midnight or 1 in the morning wherever you are and let it be there throughout the day.  If the poster doesn't even get a full 12 hours or so, it might not be that interesting to post for you.

And now just a basic how-to.  Go to your New Post page and write the post just like you were writing for your own blog.  Add links and pictures to the post the same way you would normally.  After you have finished editing your post (make sure you proof read!) You click the Edit HTML tab right next to the compose tab at the top of your post.  

Look, I spelled actually wrong! LOL

Then you click Control+A or Command+A depending if you have a Mac or a PC and then copy it.  Control or Command+C.  You then paste the entire HTML code in the e-mail.  When writing a message to the host, write it above your pasted HTML text.  If it is written after, the host might not see it.  Also make sure that it is clear which text is included in the HTML.

There you have it ladies!!  That is what I have learned so far on writing a guest post.  I hope you all enjoy.

Could you take a second to vote for me on Circle of Moms?  I am looking pretty pathetic there, people who signed up after me are beating me.  And since my husband just won his championship (whooooo hooooo!) I thought I would want to win something as well.  That way he won't be the only champion this summer!

Just click below and click the thumbs up.  Thanks!

Blog Tip Tuesdays ~ Keep the Convo Going!

Good Morning everyone! Hope you are having a good week. I have another Blog Tip Tuesday for ya today! First off, I need to ask you all a question. Are you a no-reply comment blogger? If you are, you might not even know it. But ya need to fix it!

I love getting comments. I am sure you all do too. It shows that people actually attempted to read the post you spend some time in front of the TV creating. And that is one of the best parts of blogging, connecting with people who might be in the same boat as you. Or have been, or just a little ego boost.  (we all need it every once in a while!)

So when those lovely bloggers leave me a comment, I want them to know that I appreciate it! I want you to know that I read that little comment that you so preciously took time to write. Sure I could go check your blog, and often I do, but if at that moment I didn't have time or availability, you will never know that I care.  And that makes me sad!  So if you are a no-reply comment blogger, keep reading. And if you aren't sure, keep reading, you just might be. And if you are sure, just keep reading, cuz, you know, I like it and all.

Here is how easy it is. Log into Blogger and go to the settings tab, then the comments tab. Scroll down to the bottom. On the way down, you can change some things like word verification #justsayin, you can also personalize you comment message. The last one on there 'comment modification e-mail', just put your e-mail there. Yep, that's it. Now when you leave a comment on someone's blog they can respond in an e-mail! I hate when I go to reply and the e-mail is no-reply comment blogger! ugh! I want to tell you guys thanks!!

Here it is in pictures for all you visual learners.

From blogger home to settings

Then to the comments tab

Did I have word verification on?? Yikes, how embarrassing.  Enter e-mail and save!  Super easy!

And yes, mom, I already changed it for you.  You're welcome.

I hope this is a helpful tip!  Make sure to stay tuned, tomorrow is going to be my giveaway!!  Can't wait!

Have a good day!

Tuesday Blog Tips!

Good Morning everyone!  

I am going to start a new series.  Tuesday Blog Tips!  I know that it has been done before, and that you can probably Google a lot of it, but I thought I would put it all in one place for ya!  Granted, I am not a pro, but I enjoy doing it and thought I would share some things I have learned along the way!  Today I am going to touch on some overall, simple tips for making your blog more desirable to read.  Today is more about aesthetics of your blog than content, I will touch on that another time.  So here we go!

~ Big pictures!!  People want to get a good view of that awesome craft you just finished or that super yummy recipe.  If they overflow your blog content section, think about widening it.  If you don’t know how, Google it or ask a fellow blogger who looks like they have done it.  People like to see the pictures!

~ Good quality pictures!!  Guess what, you don’t need a Nikon or Canon to take beautiful pictures.  They most certainly help, but if you just can’t drop the dough for something like that, dust off that point and shoot and give it a whirl!  Try natural light and use a free editing software like Picnik.  With a click of a button people will never know you didn’t have Ree’s camera.

~ Post consistently.  This might be hard and depending on what type of goals you have for your blog, this could look different for many of us.  If you have sponsors, you might want to make a promise to them that you will never go longer than two days without a post.  This maintains good traffic for them.  If you can’t post everyday, not a prob!  Post 3 times a week or two times.  Choose what works for you and stick to it.  Consistency is the key, however that looks for you.

~ Make your blog pretty.  Like I mentioned, if you don’t know how to do it yourself, hire someone.  If you can’t afford it, there are plenty of bloggers out there with great information who would probably be totally willing to help.  And you can Google everything!!  It’s all out there somewhere, just gotta look it up!  Just remember, clean and simple is the most appealing.  You don't want your readers to get caught up in too many advertisements or colors that make it hard to read.  Think more about what is more appealing to a wider audience than just what you might think is pretty.  Easy on the eyes!

~ Keep posts easy to read.  Honestly, if a post is super, super long without pictures, I’m skipping it.  If you have a zillion and one pictures of your weekend, I don’t want to see every one.  I don’t know your friends and I don’t care about every.little.detail of what you did.  What I might care about is a funny story to go with the pictures.  Make it interesting for the readers, because let’s face it, we’re lazy.  Make it relate-able.  If you are writing about your kids, try to tie in a story that will help other moms, or a funny story other moms will crack up at because they have been there!  Think about your audience and what they can relate to.  If you are writing to your family, then a million pictures of your kids is a great thing!  If you have a bigger audience, you might want to consider less pictures and more relate-able stories.  Just a thought!

 Have any tips to add?  I would love to hear them, and I am sure others would do!  Write them in the comments!  Do you have a subject you would like covered?  I would love to hear it, either leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail.  Have a great day!!