By Melanie Blodgett.
Your submissions for #bingittolife have been oh so inspiring and we want to encourage you to flood our feed with more, more, more. This week we'd love to see some of your favorite sewing projects that made you want to pull the machine out. Ready, go!
By guest contributor by Lexy Ward. Photography by Saipua.
I can’t stress enough the importance of the photography on your site. Along with beautiful graphics, beautiful photos are what make your readers want to come back for more. These last few months I’ve become more aware of the need to not only have great content on your site, but also for that content to be aesthetically pleasing.
We’ve discussed Elements, and how any blogger can benefit from it's photo editing tools. This post will discuss one of your best and easiest free options: PicMonkey! PicMonkey is a wonderful option simply because it is easy to navigate and has a variety of effects available.
Here are the tools that I use each time I edit.
Play with exposure
Bright photos are happy photos. If my photos seem a little dark when viewing them on my camera, they will definitely be dark when viewing on my computer. I usually tweak the exposure anywhere from 5-12 points brighter. You can also tone the exposure down by reducing it a few points. This is helpful if your image is a little too bright. Be careful – if you change the exposure too much, your photo will appear clouded and unclear.
By guest contributor Monica Lee.
Learn strategy for managing multiple blogs on social media with Erin Loechner as she shares tips in this short video chat.
By guest contributor Michelle Edgemont. Photography by Giulio Rojer. Has this ever happened to you? A professional blogger approaches you, a small business owner, to collaborate with them on a post on their blog - but your gut is telling you it’s a bad idea. Maybe you don’t have time with running your business, or the blog in question is just not your cup of tea. A business lesson that I’m still trying to perfect is when to say no to an opportunity. Here are a few examples of when saying no is beneficial: When your brand’s aesthetic and the aesthetic of the other blog don’t jive
Since one of the main reasons to collaborate with bloggers is to get your business in front of the right people, the blogs you chose to work with should be attracting your intended audience. The best business blogger/professional blogger collaboration is one where both are after the same client. A vintage clothing store owner and a blog that features vintage furniture and flea market finds would be a great match. An accountant collaborating with a blog about building a small business is another good example.
By guest contributor PJ Feinstein. Photography by MaidenSydney.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a blog also needs interesting, informative copy to engage readers and build community. Have you ever read a blog post that sounded too formal (read: slightly pretentious) or robotic? The most engaging and fun-to-read blog posts are the ones written in a conversational style. Whether you cover DIY, fashion, lifestyle or home décor, writing conversationally is the easiest way to connect with your readers.
Here are a few dos and don't to help you find your conversational voice:
Do imagine you’re speaking to a specific person
The easiest way to write conversationally is to pretend you’re telling a story, or explaining how to do something, to one specific reader. Read your finished post out loud with them in mind. Does it sound like something you would say to that person if you were chatting face to face in a coffee shop?
Oct 25, 2012