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Have you seen me hanging out on social media a lot more lately? I’m hoping you have because I’ve been putting in a ton of overtime. Yeah, it’s easy to read and retweet and post on Instagram when I’m not working 50+ hour work weeks, but I do have that little cutie to attend to. Luckily, our nursing sessions usually end up in some social media productivity and the effort is showing! I’ve always struggled with scheduling my own content, though. There’s just something about self-promotion that has always made me feel icky. I know that no one is going to know about my blog if I don’t share it, and that’s where CoSchedule comes in. (I know this isn’t a normal post for my blog, but seriously bear with me!)

I’ve been drooling over CoSchedule since my Blogger days. Once I switched to WP, it was still on my dream list. I wasn’t posting enough to make it worthwhile. So as I worked my way back into it all post-baby, I knew that I was going to need to invest in myself.

So I finally took the plunge and spent money on my blog. I know you’ve got to spend money to make money, but I was going about it in all the wrong ways before. As Krystal from Krystal’s Kitsch would say, I was investing my money in others, but not in myself!

CoSchedule has a fantastic 14 day trial which will absolutely get you hooked.

WordPress Integration I think the best part ofCoSchedule is its integration into my WP dashboard. As soon as I finish a post, I just scroll down. I set my SEO and then I set up my posts. It gives you this delightful formula for same day, tomorrow, next week, next month, and a custom time.

As soon as I’m done writing my post I have at least 12 social media posts scheduled at optimum times.

Calendar

Oh and don’t get me started on the calendar aspect! Well, actually let me tell you all about it. I’m a sucker for a great editorial calendar and I’ve struggled with a great online one in the past. I’ve created my own using Google Sheets, but something was always missing.

CoSchedule’s calendar allows you to see all of your posts and social media scheduled. From there, you can drag and drop posts to different days. So if I

want to move posts around, it’s easy as pie – and the pre-scheduled social media posts come with it!

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In addition to moving them around, you can color code and schedule your posts within the calendar.

App Integration I love the way that CoSchedule lets me integrate certain apps. I could write an entire blog post in Google Docs or Ever Note, and it will integrate into CoSchedule, and thus my blog!

My Team + My Activity If you’re a blog or company that has more than one person working on social media and blog posts, you can include the whole team on theCoSchedule calendar. It’s not just for one person, but can be seen by everyone.

My Activity tracks information and engagement for you, so you don’t have to use any outside analytics, though I do like to use Google Analytics for blog posts. I don’t have anything reliable to track my social media, so I enjoy this part a lot.

How Does It Work? Now that you know why I love and am obsessed with CoSchedule, I bet you’re wondering a bit more on how it works. It’s a very simple sign up and set up process using a plug-in. I then have a section in my Dashboard sidebar called Calendar. I can look at the calendar as a whole here. I can schedule within the calendaror within the post. Thanks for hanging out today. I know this post isn’t the norm for Be a Warrior Queen, but I really couldn’t miss the opportunity to share how much I

love CoSchedule. All of my lusting after it paid off! So what are you waiting for?

Sign up!

Raewyn is a world-changing mama who blogs over at Be A Warrior Queen, where women of all ages are encouraged to live their lives to their maximum potential!

You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and more on her website!

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Last week, we got to interact with the founder of one of the blogging world’s most talked-about organizations: FIREWORK PEOPLE. Ashley Beaudin is here with us today to tell us about her endeavors! We are really happy to have gotten this chance, so thank you, Ashley!

We know you're Ashley, and we know you created Firework People, but tell us a little about you! Perhaps some likes/dislikes?

Hi!! I am so excited to be here! Ooo! I love bright colors, meeting new people and sprinkle donuts! I really don't like olives, when people are mean and mice. Ha, real life.

You founded Firework People to encourage women to lift each other up and to find their fire. How have you seen Firework People affect you or others in ways you didn't expect?

That's a great question! I think I have formed so many more friendships than I never imagined I would. I have learned how to be myself audaciously and realizing that is truly where our brilliance is. And watching people get absolutely transformed by an encouraging word has been a powerful experience for me.

Was there a particular instance or interaction with someone that led you to start Firework People?

What led me to start Firework People was a desire to run a Twitter Party, create community among women who are crazy enough to change the world and a piece of poetry I wrote called, "I call them firework people."

What is your favorite thing about running the Firework People blog?

Meeting new people and encouraging them in their fire. Hands down.

How do you come up with such amazing content? Every time I visit the blog, I'm just super excited to see what you've written next!

I sit down and brainstorm ideas. I think about what I would need to be encouraged and inspired in and imagine that there are hundreds of others who feel the same way. I approach all my blog content with conviction, inspiration and general how-to.

Do you have any future plans for Firework People that you can tell us about? Any big projects you're working on?

We launched The Firework Box! That's super exciting! It is a subscription box for women making their dreams happen. Think of us like a high-five in the mail.

You're kind of a celebrity in the blogging world. It's a HUGE honor to have you spend a few minutes with us, so thank you! Is there anything you'd like the readers of Perpetuate know in this moment?

The dreams inside of you are in there with purpose. Don't let them stay desires. Make movement.

Maybe, if we ask really nicely, she’ll share that poem she wrote a long time ago with us some day.

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Over the years people have thrown away the old fashioned camera gear and entered the era of digital. We                                     all understand its perks. How convenient and easy it makes for bloggers to always have fresh photos to                                   show to their readers. And we know how big a part of blogging visual materials are. 

If I told you that digital has never grown on me and I would rather wait a couple of days or even a week to be                                                   able to finish a post (when in the reality the demand for posts is much bigger), you would think that I am                                           probably missing a lot. That is why in this short article, I will not try to make you go full time analogue, but                                             rather show you that old cameras carry much more thought and heart in them, hoping that you might want to                                       go and try them out one day! 

Analogue photography relies on old negative film, which was still pretty popular when I was a young girl.                                   Now it is mostly a niche for young artists and those wanting to try alternative ways of photography. All you                                       need is a film camera (go to your grandparents' house and I am sure they will have something like that                                       stored in their attic or basement), a roll of film ­ the most used format is 35mm, sometimes a battery (so the                                           light meter can work) and at first lots of patience! With analog you are the very maker of the photo.                                       Everything can be set up manually. You can try to make that dreamy blurred background that you always                                   hoped for. 

My first rolls were honestly failures. At this point I have been shooting analog for over two years and I am                                         still trying to grow in that field. I would say that among the people who read my blog, at least one third comes                                             to see or learn something about analog photography. It is really tempting to try it, once you realise its                                     potential and how charming and much more unique those photos turn out.  

Since film is not widely used anymore, you might have problems with getting or developing it in your city. It is                                         something that a lot of people come across and what might potentially be a turn off. I come from Poland                                       where developing is still not that expensive, but I still prefer to buy my films online as there are always so                                         many to choose from. 

Each film is unique and can be used in different lighting conditions. Colors are something you can never                                   actually rely on. It is all a matter of trying and experimenting. You can always check analog photos in the                                       #35mm or #analog hashtags on Instagram. I am sure you will love it! 

Tag me (@cadds) under your results on Instagram, I would love to see your works! 

Film is not dead. 

Kasia | dippedinrococo.blogspot.com

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I’m quickly coming up on my 6 month blogiversary here at Life with Rosie and as I’ve been making some plans to celebrate (think giveaways, freebies and a new look) I’ve also been reflecting on how far I’ve come since starting to blog seriously. In six months, I’ve read more articles about blogging then I can count, especially the “tips and tricks” to being a good blogger. It’s been trial and error, and there has been some great advice out there that has really helped me! However, there is some blogging advice that I have come across that I wish I hadn’t taken because they were mistakes I could have avoided. Here are some pieces of blogging advice to ignore if you are just starting out (or even if you have been blogging for a little bit)!

Have a presence on every social media platform. False. If you blog even just a little, you know how much time goes into drafting a post, taking and editing photos and properly SEOing your post. Having multiple social media accounts, growing them and managing them just adds to that madness and it can be overwhelming and too much to handle if you try to do them all. After blogging for almost 6 months, I’ve learned that it’s important to focus on the Power Four (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest) for a while. I have spent the last 6 months growing those social media platforms and finding a routine to keep them managed and now can start adding a few more in (like Snapchat and Youtube).

What to focus on instead: Only worry about 2-3 social media networks when you first start out (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) and then add on as you get settled into your blogging routine. It looks way better to companies/brands to have a few social media accounts that you are rocking then 10 that you can’t manage.

SEO isn’t a big deal – This was one of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started blogging. The term “SEO” was petrifying and so every time I read something about it, I was like: “Eh, thanks but no thanks, I don’t want to deal with that” and I would close the article. Truth time: I was a dingbat for doing that. First of all, SEO isn’t nearly as complicated if you use the SEO by Yoast plugin on WordPress, which basically is a “fill in the blank” type box that helps you SEO your post properly. Second of all, after going back and SEOing some of my older posts, I noticed a dramatic increase in page views because they were being clicked on in organic searches.

What to focus on instead: SEO can be overwhelming, but don’t let it get you down. Install the Yoast Plugin (it will do most of the work for you) and make sure all of your images are named after your post and have alt text that refer to the content of your post. These simple steps will definitely improve your SEO without taking your life over.

It’s okay to leave a link back to your site in the comments section – This is kind of a controversial topic in blog etiquette: leaving your blog url when you comment on someone else’s blog. For the longest time, I read that it was okay to leave a link to your blog if you left a meaningful comment on the blog. However, after doing some research and reading a couple articles, I learned that leaving a direct url link in someone else’s comments section can hurt that blogger and you! First, having excessive links in the comments section can appear spammy and hurt the blogger’s rankings in search engines. Second, leaving your URL/link every time you leave a comment can hurt your blog’s rankings in search engines (particularly Google). Links to your blog show Google that other people love your site and that raises your rankings, but when Google notices excessive links to your site, it will raise red flags and consider it to be part of a link scheme, which will hurt your rankings! It’s a fine line to walk, but you want all links back to your blog to be as organic as possible!

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What you should do instead: It’s totally okay to let the blogger know who you are and where they can find you, just don’t leave an actual link. I always sign off my comments with “xo, Chelsie @ Life with Rosie.” This is my way of telling others where I’m at and how to find me (they can google LWR or click through on my diquis profile), but it won’t spam their site and it won’t hurt my site either.

Blog Every Day – I think one of the biggest tips I read when I was just starting blogging was how important it was to write a post every day. Don’t let this tip get you down! When I started blogging, I was still working part time and substituting on my days off, so coming up with creative and new content that was actually worth sharing every day was impossible, which lead to me slapping together meal plan posts just so I had something to share. (Don’t get me wrong, I love me a good meal plan post, but I wasn’t doing them any justice). If you can blog every day and produce amazing content and posts, then that’s great! But if you can’t, please don’t beat yourself up about it! I’ve had weeks where I’ve only produced two posts because I would rather put out two posts I’m proud of instead of five crummy ones that I threw together the last minute.

What you should focus on instead: Blog consistently (so at least once a week) but don’t worry about blogging every day if you can’t keep up with that. It’s okay! If you write killer posts once a week, as a reader, I will still come back to read!

All in all, there are tons of blogging tips and tricks out there, but you gotta get down in the trenches to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. And hey, it’s okay to change things up if there is something not working for you! I’m always changing things up here as I learn and grow. But, the tips I mentioned above did not work for me, to hopefully prevent someone else from investing time into these tips that might not work out in the end!

Find Chelsie on Facebook & Instagram, or visit her on her blog website.

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A year ago, my sidebar didn’t get any attention. I thought nothing of it. So what? It’s a place to put links. Or random thoughts. Or maybe a little progress bar that shows how much I’ve worked out lately. These were all very random things that had nothing to do with my blog, and little did I know, it was hurting my traffic.

I can honestly say that when a sidebar is disorienting to me, I will click off the page. It hurts your chances of being read when you aren’t organized and your design doesn’t flow correctly. So how can a sidebar be disorienting?

There are images of different sizes. This is a big one. Most people, and I’ve especially noticed this on Blogger, don’t pay attention to how big an image is when they plop it in the sidebar. 312x100? That’s fine. But the next photo under that is 300x100, so it’s a tiny bit smaller. Not to mention, I’ve been witness to pictures that got squeezed down to one size so the image is all skewed, or perhaps even though you specified on Passionfruit what size your sidebar ads should be, someone didn’t listen, so you have a really awkward flattened image under your swappers. In order to create a seamless sidebar, all your images must be the same size. (One exception being if you have some square swapper space and they’re tiny - like 100x100. That’s typically fine, as long as it doesn’t interrupt the flow.)

Your swappers take me away from your blog. This means that when you click on a link, rather than opening in a new tab (ideal), they’re simply navigating you away from your blog. You want to maintain as much traffic and readership as possible, so providing links that aren’t blank can really mess with your presence. Also, I know for

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sure that when I find a blog I like, I want to see who’s swapping with them or sponsoring them! To have to click back two or three times to find your blog is very inconvenient and half the time, I won’t do it. Having successful traffic is all about making it easy on the reader to connect with your blog and remain on your page.

There are broken images. Ugh this one drives me NUTS! If there is a broken image in your sidebar, simply take it out. If it’s a swapper’s photo, or a sponsor’s, just make sure you contact them to inform them that their image was removed, or ask for a new one. A lot of the time, if you go through Photobucket, images will show up with Photobucket’s logo instead and that’s another one that drives me crazy. I’ll click off if there are a bunch of those photos in a row.

You have six different fonts. This can really disrupt everything and create a lot of chaos. When you’re branding your blog, you should choose no more than two fonts, ideally, POTENTIALLY three at most. I use two, and refuse to use any other fonts (besides my body text font). This initiates that seamless look you want.

You have pops of color that don’t belong. If your blog color is pink, and you throw a lot of orange color on the sidebar that really clashes with the pale atmosphere of the blog, it can be jarring to a reader. Me & Orla (www.meandorla.co.uk) is a really great example of sidebar greatness.

You have 10,000 links and they’re all disorganized. Try to keep your sidebar to a minimum when it comes to links. Your socials are a necessity, but other than that, you should have categories and your swappers. Perhaps some “top hits” or “favorite posts.” I like to alternate text and photos so that it isn’t 100% solid or 100% text. Make sure you keep all your categorical items under categories, and all your about me under you about section, etc. Simple enough, right?

To break it down in points, here is what you want:

1. Make sure all your images are the same size and that none of them are broken. They should all lead to the right places and they should all take you into another tab, not away from your blog.

2. All of your fonts should be condensed to two or three of your favorites. 3. Your images, links, header, and content images should all have the same feel. Similar to

your Instagram, you shouldn’t use a different Photoshop filter (or PicMonkey filter) every time you create an image. Streamline, streamline, streamline.

So there you have it! Three ways to make your sidebar work FOR you, not AGAINST you.

You can read more blogging tips & tricks at Down Rainy Lane.

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