Writing
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Are you a morning person or a night person?
This is day 22 of 30-day blog challenge. Read day 21: “Why I love HootSuite” I’ve been thinking more and more that I’m a morning person, but I’m by no means a cheerful person in the morning. In fact, I’ve asked my husband not to speak to me in the mornings before I’ve had coffee. I just feel like when I get up early enough to wake up slowly, exercise and breathe fresh air, I feel better. I am more productive. My recent thoughts started a few weeks ago, when I read an article about “What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast”. Now, I am not…
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5 Pet peeves of poor web design
This is day 19 of 30-day blog challenge. Read day 18: “One quick tip for Facebook for business” I think it’s safe to say that every business is online. Every musician, artist, cookie vendor and craftsperson has a website. If they don’t, they really should. Some people blog or sell items from third party websites like Facebook or Etsy. I don’t recommend making your home on someone else’s property for a few reasons that you can read about in my post “Tips on starting a free blog.” 1. Websites that automatically play music or video This should be self-explanatory, but when I think of making a list…
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Keyword research for blog writing
Day 17 of 30-day blog challenge. Read day 16: “The shape of a heart” One thing that I think makes me particularly tuned-in to keyword research as it applies to blog writing is the fact that I earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. More than just having taken (and passed) the classes, the reason I even enjoyed psychology as a discipline involved wanting to know what makes people do the things they do. Though I decided not to pursue an advanced degree in psychology, my love for understanding human nature has switched to applying it to consumer behavior. Sort of. What is keyword research? I don’t presume to…
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The shape of a heart
This is day 16 of 30-day blog challenge. Read day 15: “Dedicated hashtags on Twitter” So, my heart is swelling quite a bit because I’ve been unable or unwilling to write poetry much over the last handful of years. I can admit that purging the negative feelings and pain felt much easier in poems. My happiness felt too big to let out; I feared sounding cheesy or trite. My pain I knew well. It fueled my creativity and allowed me to express the things I needed to get out. But, I’ve been carrying this poem around for a few weeks. Lines emerging here and there. And I wanted to…
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Inspirations to keep going
This is day 14 of 30-day blog challenge. Read day 13 “Social media strategy” We all have those days where our heads ache, we’re overwhelmed and just plain tired. Being stuck inside and trying to focus with the entire family around is difficult. Humans are creatures of habit, and cabin fever affects me as much as not being able to stick to my routines. When moments, days and weeks where I have trouble focusing come around I often resort to a few classics to re-inspire myself. I’ll post them in no particular order so I can keep plowing through this 30-day blog challenge, despite having a headache and…
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Controlling creativity: 5 tips for managing inspiration
Day 10 of 30-day blog challenge. Read day 9 “Social Media Limit” We makers know that when inspiration strikes we might be dead asleep or butt-naked in the shower. Actually, I think the connecting theme for those two situations is the idea of relaxation. The mind reels when the body relaxes. But, in an industry where freelancers and independent makers (from writers to photographers and anyone who creates something) struggle to constantly create and improve, how can we slow down enough to manage creativity? I’m sure I’m not alone in having lists of great ideas for novels, plays and songs. I have half-written grocery lists and incomplete…
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10 ways to improve your social media marketing overnight
This is day 7 of my 30-day blog challenge. Read day 6: “Abandoned Addiction” Your business needs more than a Facebook Page to be active in social media marketing, and it certainly needs someone more experienced with setting up marketing strategy than your Millennial neighbor. Just as you need a plan for your business, you need a strategy for reaching your potential clients and consumers. Marketing for the sake of marketing accomplishes little, so if you don’t know where to begin with setting up social media, here are a few tips that you can put into action immediately: 1. Have a plan and set S.M.A.R.T.…
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Abandoned Addiction: thoughts on finding Hoffman dead with a needle in his arm
Day 6 of my 30-day blog challenge. Read day 5 “The benefits of a blog calendar” George Willis Jr. grew up and became the mighty Lester Bangs before dying from a heroin overdose, with a needle still sticking out of his left arm. I didn’t want to write about Philip Seymour Hoffman. My heart has just been so heavy. I want to share my thought process in discovering this loss, and why I am writing about it. I have a hard time ( it’s pathetic really) distinguishing people’s faces. I often joke about it, but my husband worries if something is wrong my ability to perceive. …
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The benefits of blog calendar
This is day 4 of my 30-day blog challenge. Read yesterday’s “Why we don’t even own a microwave” I thought yesterday about the topics I might choose to blog about today. I considered blogging about my pet peeves when it comes to blogging (some of which include numbers in headlines and poor grammar that comes from typing a blog directly into a post–like I am doing now). I didn’t plan when I woke up this morning to write a stream-of-consciousness post, but as I checked email and social media from my phone this morning I did read Sara Crawford’s blog of the day from yesterday. Apparently,…
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Tips on starting a free blog for your business
Day 2 of my 30-day blog challenge, read day one: 30-day blog challenge Tips on starting a free blog for your business A friend of mine asked me Friday about what it costs to start a blog. The short answer is that it’s free, but not really. I’ve previously tackled the question of “How long does it take to build a business?”, but if you’re starting out your blog by thinking about where you can save money and cut costs for your business, you should take a second to examine your goals. Why do you need a blog? Of course I think EVERY business…
