Sunday 13 January 2019

My favourite blogging resources

Bloggers (both new and established) need a bit of help sometimes - from writer's block to photography struggles, I've been through it all and I've found a few different resources/apps/posts that I tend to go back to when I need advice about certain things. I thought I'd pop them all into a blog post: as a thank you to the people who put them together, and also so I can share them with other people who might need them, as well as finding them easily myself! Let me know if there's any other blogging resources that you use too.

helpful resources for new bloggers

Writer's block


Sometimes I just can't think of what to write about; I blog in the travel niche a lot, but it's now January and I've not been away since August. It's hard to feel like much of a travel blogger when you're stuck in the same town day in day out, right? But there are loads of things to write about without having to leave the country, really, and there are people who've written handy lists of blog posts for all different niches, should you need a bit of inspiration! I don't always take the post titles word for word and write that exact post, but I do find it often leads me to think of my own (similar) idea. Here are some of the best lists I've found!

50 travel blog post ideas

175+ blog post ideas for beauty bloggers

171 lifestyle blog post ideas that will last an entire year

Another resource you can use when you're stuck for something to write about is Google Trends, where you can see the sort of things people are searching within different topics - it may give you some good ideas and it's likely the posts will be pretty popular if you do it that way!

how to edit blog photos retro
edited with KUNI Cam

Photography


This is something I struggle with a lot - I'm not naturally gifted with it at all, and my house doesn't really have anywhere with good lighting, and I don't get the editing thing. But I am trying with it, and I find it helps to follow people who create nice but attainable photography in a style that you enjoy;  that way you can take inspiration when it comes to taking and editing your own photos. Instagram of course is the place to go to when you're looking for stuff like this - here are some of my favourite (realistic) accounts right now...

Amy @ salt and chic - fashion / life

Maria J - fashion

Kelly Prince Wright - travel / lifestyle

Abigail @ blush and noise - fashion / life / home

Ashton Gibbs - travel / lifestyle

Lily @ pint sized photo - beauty / fashion

For my photos, I shoot on my iPhone (a 7+) and then edit on a free app called Lightroom. I bought my presets on Etsy and they were so easy to install as well as being really affordable. Great if you want all your photos to have a uniform tone and colour scheme!

I also wrote a post about blog photo props if you want to check that out. If you want to see what your new Insta photo will look like on your grid (and also schedule its posting) my pal Lyd recommends the app Preview. Another more recent discovery for me is Unsplash, where you can find amazing stock photos to use for free - I use this for my blog but also my freelance work.

templates for instagram stories
created with StoryArt

Other blogging resources


I schedule my promotional tweets on Hootsuite, just the free version, which I find to be pretty easy to use - you can have up to 30 tweets scheduled at any one time, and I tend to have about 10 promo tweets going out per day so it means I can schedule three days worth of promotion in one go. I mostly don't because you can't even imagine how boring that is, but you know, I could.

To find opportunities (other than pitching to brands myself) I use social media - the #bloggerswanted hashtag has loads, but you need to step around the idiot bloggers who use it to promote their own blog posts. If you're not LOOKING for a BLOGGER, don't use the hashtag. Anyway, that alongside accounts that retweet the opportunities (Bonjour Blogger and Blogger Opps) is a really good way of finding brands who want to work with bloggers - there are few Facebook groups where you can find them also, such as UK Influencer Opportunities and Blogger Opportunities.

In terms of support, social media again is my biggest tip. I have set up a North West Blog Gang page on Facebook to bring local bloggers together, so if you're from the North West come and join us. I know there are loads of similar groups where you can promote your stuff, get your questions answered, and above all make some blogging friends. There are Instagram pods and group chats and all that kind of thing, so never feel like you're alone in the blogging community.

And finally, some random ones; I use Moz to check my DA, brokenlinkcheck.com for, well, checking broken links, the 'Lists To Do' app on my phone for making lists of what I've got to get done, StoryArt (app) for making little graphics to promote my blog posts on Instagram stories, Canva for making logos/sidebar ads/promo graphics, and iCloud for storing excess blog photos. Whew.

I've probably missed off loads of things, but I'm pretty sure this is everything I use when it comes to creating blog posts and social media content - so if you're a blogger needing some tips, I hope this is a little bit helpful.


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2 comments:

  1. I seriously want to improve my blog photography so gonna give these account a look at!

    Really helpful post!

    xoxo
    Jess
    The Crown Wings | UK Travel & Lifestyle Blog

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for sharing these useful resources with us.
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