Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Support

What I love about blogging is that there is a whole community out there ready to support and uplift each other.  There are all kinds of people out there who write blogs, update Instagram feeds, have rockin’ Twitter accounts.  The best thing about blogging is that is allows you to meet friends from around the country.  And what is a blog if you can’t support each other?

Best kept blogging secret: supporting others

I know sometimes it feels like the market is saturated and you’re struggling to figure out what sets you apart.  Guess what – it’s okay.  The world needs your story and your perspective.  Just like Sam Bennett said in her No BS Lab podcast, we need your stories to uplift us, ground us, make us feel not so alone.

So all I want to know today is how can I support you this month while we’re all working how to #BeABetterBlogger?Is there a post you want to promote more?  Is there a question you have about social media, blogging, marketing in general that you’re dying to ask?  Do you need someone to hold you accountable for you to achieve your goal?

I’m all about helping people make connections, find their place, and be generally better, happier, more creative people.  Let me know how I can help you.  If you don’t want to leave it in the comments, you can always email me!Here are some goals that I have for the month.  Hold me to them, okay?

  • Write and post every day
  • Use Twitter more to promote myself and spread great posts from other bloggers
  • Create a blog-specific Instagram account
  • Plan out posts in advance more effectively
  • Comment more on other bloggers’ posts. Gotta get that community going!

Wanna find your tribe?  Marissa at Ampersand Creative has some great tips.  If you’re debating starting a blog, she has some words of wisdom there, too.

Need a hand?  Have an idea for a collaboration?  Let’s talk!  How can we support each other?

Be a Better Blogger is a weekly link up dedicated to helping you be a more intentional blogger. Want to be a better blogger but don’t know where to start? Head over to the Be a Better Blogger page for daily prompts and a weekly linkup to help get the creative juices flowing! Oh, and use #beabetterblogger on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook to keep the fun going even after you hit Publish!

Fleetwood Mac Sex Pants

I’m in a band in high school.  It was huge and we rocked out every Friday night and sometimes on Saturday, too.  Yeah, I was a band nerd.  I think I’m a pretty good car singer, but I doubt I can front a band.  I know I could pick out a pretty good band name, though.  Like, Andy Dwyer good.

http://nbctv.tumblr.com/post/42692452964/everyone-needs-a-pair-of-fleetwood-mac-sex

My band would be called I Sound Tall on the Phone.  I would totally be a really cool rocker chick and always have the coolest accessories to go with my endless supply of destroyed denim jeans and impossibly comfortable yet totally hot shoes.

The personality of the band is just as important as the name itself.  I can’t decide whether I’d be sassy, classy, and a bit smart assy or if I would be punny and awkwardly adorable.  I think either would be true to me.

I would love to have all girls in the band (girl power and whatnot) but I’m afraid that it would get catty.  Does anyone remember the episode of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch when Sabrina, Amber from Clueless, and Soleil Moon Frye made a way autotuned girl group for a talent TV show and then they ended up hating each other?  Yeah, I don’t want that to happen.

I’d also have a signature lipstick.  Always bold, bright red.  Sometimes and orange-red.  Always perfectly applied.  The nail polish would change just about every single day (are you shocked after yesterday’s ode to polish?)

What’s your band name? What would the band be like?

Be a Better Blogger is a weekly link up dedicated to helping you be a more intentional blogger. Want to be a better blogger but don’t know where to start? Head over to the Be a Better Blogger page for daily prompts and a weekly linkup to help get the creative juices flowing! Oh, and use #beabetterblogger on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook to keep the fun going even after you hit Publish!

What I Learned from Blogging Every Day

Guys, I’m so excited today.  I wanted to keep writing every day and Katy and Meghan are so fantastic, that they were like, “Hell yeah, we’ll keep going too!”  So we’re launching a weekly link up dedicated to helping you Be a Better Blogger.

If you know anything about me, you know that I want to bring people together and make connections.  I love that this is encouraging and elevating other bloggers.  Part of that support is sharing what we’re learning.

Blogging every day is a huge undertaking but it is possible to do well. After a month of every day blogging, I'm sharing what I learned in the process.

Planning is your friend

I know that I should have an editorial calendar and a list of posts that I’m committed to at the beginning of the month.  The closest I’ve gotten to that is having certain themes for the days that I posted.  It helps so much when you have a plan.  Using Katy’s prompts in May was so helpful because it allowed me to focus my thoughts when I was writing.

Ride the creative wave

For me, much of blogging means spending time figuring out what to write about and then actually writing it.  There are times when I didn’t have a post written for the next day and I’d be sitting here at my computer saying, “Okay, brain, what’s it gonna be…wanna give me something good now?”

When you get the creative spark to write, do it.  And write as much as you can to get yourself ahead of the game.  Even if you end up using a different post (I’ve had 3 different posts written for today), at least you have some writing that you can pull from later.

Batch posts

This is another thing that I know is necessary but never really did.  Write everything, then work on figuring out what photos you want to take, then go in and edit them all, and finally add the correct tags and information to them.

This helps so much when you can just open up Photoshop, load in a few post’s worth of photos, and plug them into the post.  Then schedule away.

Schedule your social media

When I get busy, the first thing that goes is updating social media.  That’s why scheduling is indispensable for me as a blogger.  I can write my posts and then as I’m scheduling them, I’ll queue ’em up for Tweetdeck.  That way I know that I’m taking the necessary steps to have a successful blog without stressing too much during the day when I should be focusing on work.

Comment, share, and support other bloggers

I’ve always tried to comment as much as I can, but blogging every day takes away some of the time to read other blogs.  This is something I want to work on more for the following month.

It’s also so valuable to have a network you can turn to for support and inspiration.  If you’re out there supporting other bloggers, you’re racking up good karma points.  It doesn’t go unnoticed!

Most importantly, keep learning, it’s okay to make mistakes, your job is never “done”

There are so many things that I learned from blogging every day for a month.  It taught me a lot about time management, having a clear plan, and that batching posts is your friend.

What tips do you have for being a better blogger?

 

Be a Better Blogger is a weekly link up dedicated to helping you be a more intentional blogger. The linkups will happen on a weekly level over on the BBB page. Link as many of your posts as you’d like! Join us as we support each other to be better bloggers!

Let’s Play

           

People Really Dug These

We Belong in the Garden Together