We're taking a few weeks off from the Writer's Life series. Since the middle of 2014 is almost here (how is this possible??), I'm using the remaining days to stay inspired.
I'm a big fan of Pinterest. I don't use it for any purpose other than to relax. All the pretty pins, the motivational quotes, the house ideas, the yummy food photos, and funny fails ease my tension. Last night I clicked on my inspiration board--surprise, surprise, it inspired me!
Many of the pins on this board are quotes. Others are art, or cardinals, or even my own photos. The picture above is one I took in Saugatuck, MI last summer. We ate outside at a little seafood joint, and it was wonderful!
Another of my favorite pins? The one below because it led me to Rachel Wojo's fabulous site! She is your go-to gal for Christian inspiration, let me tell you. :)
I often go back to her "30 Inspirational Bible Verses" post. It's just what I need when I'm discouraged or worried.
One of my goals this summer is to spend a few lazy hours on my porch each week. Sipping tea, flipping through a magazine, reading a great book, or just watching the birds. All are good for my soul!
Do you have any inspiration triggers? I'd love to hear them!
Have a terrific day!!
Showing posts with label Pinterest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pinterest. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Overdone Pins in My Pinterest Feed
Lately I haven't been as engaged on Pinterest, and I took forty-seven seconds to figure out why. Is it the layout? No. I like that I can scroll down forever. It's the trends in my feed.
My Pinterest feed has become saturated with DIY project pictures leading back to blogs. Some of these are cool, and I click through. But there can be too much of a good thing. :)
I miss simple pictures. Where did the untouched photographs go? And what if I just want to waste some time and not take on a major project? Pinterest has begun to make me feel inadequate--as if I need more of that in my life! Ha!
a. A fleeting desire to create closet organizers out of PVC piping
b. The urge to find out the Six Tricks to a Flat Stomach
c. A scrunched up nose at How to Make Fondant
d. Annoyance at anything having to do with wooden pallets
e. Guilt that I didn't announce my pregnancies with elaborate, staged photo sessions
f. Despair about the super-cute clothes either completely unaffordable or beyond wrong for my body
g. Dismay at even thinking of painting any piece of my furniture. Apparently this is only to be attempted by master furniture gurus. We're talking high-level security, sirens-will-go-off if you dare consider painting an end-table.
h. Squinty-eyes wondering why anyone would take a beautiful photo and manipulate the colors to such unnatural proportions. What was wrong with it to begin with?
i. The snarky thought: How long will the gluten-free phase last? Six more months? Twelve?
j. Why are we thinking about back-to-school organization in mid-July? I don't like to think of that until two days before school is in session. Or two days after.
I love Pinterest. Still waste plenty of time there. But I will not be making furniture out of pallets, nor will I be attempting homemade fondant or jewelry organizers. I might skim the flat-tummy article, but I will in no way, shape, or form actually do the exercises. Painting furniture? Will a secret security sect strike me dead if I don't follow the proper tips? I'll leave it to the professionals.
Are you on Pinterest? What pins grab you? What would you like to see less of?
Have a fabulous Wednesday!
My Pinterest feed has become saturated with DIY project pictures leading back to blogs. Some of these are cool, and I click through. But there can be too much of a good thing. :)
I miss simple pictures. Where did the untouched photographs go? And what if I just want to waste some time and not take on a major project? Pinterest has begun to make me feel inadequate--as if I need more of that in my life! Ha!
*The trends on MY Pinterest feed aren't the same as the ones on yours because we don't follow the same people.*
My feed is full of pins that trigger the following:
a. A fleeting desire to create closet organizers out of PVC piping
b. The urge to find out the Six Tricks to a Flat Stomach
c. A scrunched up nose at How to Make Fondant
d. Annoyance at anything having to do with wooden pallets
e. Guilt that I didn't announce my pregnancies with elaborate, staged photo sessions
f. Despair about the super-cute clothes either completely unaffordable or beyond wrong for my body
g. Dismay at even thinking of painting any piece of my furniture. Apparently this is only to be attempted by master furniture gurus. We're talking high-level security, sirens-will-go-off if you dare consider painting an end-table.
h. Squinty-eyes wondering why anyone would take a beautiful photo and manipulate the colors to such unnatural proportions. What was wrong with it to begin with?
i. The snarky thought: How long will the gluten-free phase last? Six more months? Twelve?
j. Why are we thinking about back-to-school organization in mid-July? I don't like to think of that until two days before school is in session. Or two days after.
I love Pinterest. Still waste plenty of time there. But I will not be making furniture out of pallets, nor will I be attempting homemade fondant or jewelry organizers. I might skim the flat-tummy article, but I will in no way, shape, or form actually do the exercises. Painting furniture? Will a secret security sect strike me dead if I don't follow the proper tips? I'll leave it to the professionals.
Are you on Pinterest? What pins grab you? What would you like to see less of?
Have a fabulous Wednesday!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Blogging: The New Challenge Part 2 Finding Readers
Blogging: The New Challenge Part 2
New Methods of Finding Readers
On Monday, we talked about the current reality of dwindling blogs and the loss of Google Reader. You can read about it in, "Blogging: The New Challenge Part 1." Today we're discussing how the current blog climate is forcing us to use new methods to find readers for our blog.
A few years ago finding readers for your blog was as easy as offering a few subscribing options in your sidebar, following other blogs, and sharing your posts on Twitter or Facebook.
Oh, how the times have changed!
As with all good things, there can be too much of a good thing. The blogosphere became flooded with aspiring authors. Many of them saturated Twitter with promotional links. Although I love sharing other blogs, I completely stopped sharing links on Twitter for several months. It felt like noise. Twitter shouldn't be about shouting, "Buy this! Read that!" at other people. It should be about having a conversation, saying, "hey, you guys might like this post, I sure did."
Also, at one point I had eight different folders in Google Reader and each folder contained 20-30 blogs in it! I couldn't keep up, and I didn't bother trying. Occasionally I would click on a blog from my Facebook feed, but mostly I relied on Google Reader.
My blog reading changed about nine months ago. I no longer went to Google Reader--seeing over 1000 unread posts every time I went intimidated me. Instead, I found myself reading blogs I noticed on Google+, Facebook, and, sometimes, Twitter. I also clicked through pictures on Pinterest that linked to an intriguing blog post.
I can't speak for other blog readers, but here are reasons I read a blog.
1. The author is a friend. I put high priority on my friends' blogs. It's one of the ways I feel connected to them.
2. The title grabbed me.
3. The blog post was right there in front of me on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.
4. It was recommended to me.
How do I find the blogs to read?
1. It's linked on one or all of the social media sites I frequent.
2. Someone I follow shared the blog, and the title interested me.
Since Google Reader was eliminated, I no longer subscribe to a reader (with the exception of Blogger). This means that almost every blog I read, I found through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, or it's written by a friend.
Why is this information useful?
Many bloggers stopped feeding the link to their current blog post on Facebook and Twitter. But by doing this, they're losing me as a blog reader. I read 3-4 blogs every weekday, and I find most of them on social media sites. If your blog post isn't there, I'm not likely to read it.
Google+ confuses many writers, but it only takes a few seconds to share your blog post on the site. I read more blogs shared on Google+ than I expected to when I started using this service. Google+ does an amazing job with sharing. I can see the title, the first few sentences, and the photo for the post. The posts are easy to navigate.
Pinterest is another place to find readers. Edit a stockphoto or personal photo to include a "hook" to lead people back to your blog (see the photo above). If someone "pins" the photo, it's automatically linked back to the post. This is an easy way to tempt new readers.
Staying social online still has benefits. By taking the time to comment on active blogs, you increase your odds of connecting with the author, who in turn will be more likely to support your blog too. I made so many friends through blogging--I can't put enough emphasis on how this has added to my life.
As time passes, some of your blogging friends may seem to disappear. You might even find that the majority of your "core blog friends" have chosen to spend their time elsewhere. Be open to new blog friends. There are always up and comers out there. A few newer bloggers I enjoy are Lindsay Harrel, Jeanne Takenaka, Susan Tuttle, and the new Married...with Fiction (a group blog written by Jennifer Major, Becky Doughty, and Heather Day Gilbert).
Keep your eyes open to what other successful bloggers are doing to increase their traffic and find readers. Don't be afraid to try their techniques!
The other behind the scenes factor: SEO.
Another way to find a blog is by typing a topic in a search engine. If the search engine determines your blog is a match (through tags, keywords, labels--search engine optimization), your post will pop up in the results.
This is one reason I always recommend typing your author name into the "tag," "label," or "keyword" section. Every post you write will be related to your author name. Regular, frequent blog posts keeps your name and blog relevant with search engines.
When authors get published, they want readers to find their books. Readers might type the author name in a search engine (I do all the time). What does an author hope the reader finds? The author's website/blog, of course! From there, the reader should be able to easily navigate to find out about the author, what books she's written, links to buy the books, and a way to contact the author to tell her she's fabulous.
Type your author name in a few search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing...) and see if links show up leading a reader to you in one way or another. Ideally, you want your website/blog to show up as the number one result.
Blogging in 2013 is challenging. Authors have to get creative and keep an open mind about where a reader might find their blogs. Don't be shy about continuing (or starting) to feed your blog posts into Facebook, Twitter, Google+. You never know who might find your blog this way! And don't get discouraged. If you enjoy writing a blog, stay with it!
Do you have a blog? What challenges are you facing with it?
Thanks so much for stopping by!
New Methods of Finding Readers
On Monday, we talked about the current reality of dwindling blogs and the loss of Google Reader. You can read about it in, "Blogging: The New Challenge Part 1." Today we're discussing how the current blog climate is forcing us to use new methods to find readers for our blog.
A few years ago finding readers for your blog was as easy as offering a few subscribing options in your sidebar, following other blogs, and sharing your posts on Twitter or Facebook.
Oh, how the times have changed!
As with all good things, there can be too much of a good thing. The blogosphere became flooded with aspiring authors. Many of them saturated Twitter with promotional links. Although I love sharing other blogs, I completely stopped sharing links on Twitter for several months. It felt like noise. Twitter shouldn't be about shouting, "Buy this! Read that!" at other people. It should be about having a conversation, saying, "hey, you guys might like this post, I sure did."
Also, at one point I had eight different folders in Google Reader and each folder contained 20-30 blogs in it! I couldn't keep up, and I didn't bother trying. Occasionally I would click on a blog from my Facebook feed, but mostly I relied on Google Reader.
My blog reading changed about nine months ago. I no longer went to Google Reader--seeing over 1000 unread posts every time I went intimidated me. Instead, I found myself reading blogs I noticed on Google+, Facebook, and, sometimes, Twitter. I also clicked through pictures on Pinterest that linked to an intriguing blog post.
I can't speak for other blog readers, but here are reasons I read a blog.
1. The author is a friend. I put high priority on my friends' blogs. It's one of the ways I feel connected to them.
2. The title grabbed me.
3. The blog post was right there in front of me on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.
4. It was recommended to me.
How do I find the blogs to read?
1. It's linked on one or all of the social media sites I frequent.
2. Someone I follow shared the blog, and the title interested me.
Since Google Reader was eliminated, I no longer subscribe to a reader (with the exception of Blogger). This means that almost every blog I read, I found through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, or it's written by a friend.
Why is this information useful?
Many bloggers stopped feeding the link to their current blog post on Facebook and Twitter. But by doing this, they're losing me as a blog reader. I read 3-4 blogs every weekday, and I find most of them on social media sites. If your blog post isn't there, I'm not likely to read it.
Google+ confuses many writers, but it only takes a few seconds to share your blog post on the site. I read more blogs shared on Google+ than I expected to when I started using this service. Google+ does an amazing job with sharing. I can see the title, the first few sentences, and the photo for the post. The posts are easy to navigate.
Pinterest is another place to find readers. Edit a stockphoto or personal photo to include a "hook" to lead people back to your blog (see the photo above). If someone "pins" the photo, it's automatically linked back to the post. This is an easy way to tempt new readers.
Staying social online still has benefits. By taking the time to comment on active blogs, you increase your odds of connecting with the author, who in turn will be more likely to support your blog too. I made so many friends through blogging--I can't put enough emphasis on how this has added to my life.
As time passes, some of your blogging friends may seem to disappear. You might even find that the majority of your "core blog friends" have chosen to spend their time elsewhere. Be open to new blog friends. There are always up and comers out there. A few newer bloggers I enjoy are Lindsay Harrel, Jeanne Takenaka, Susan Tuttle, and the new Married...with Fiction (a group blog written by Jennifer Major, Becky Doughty, and Heather Day Gilbert).
Keep your eyes open to what other successful bloggers are doing to increase their traffic and find readers. Don't be afraid to try their techniques!
The other behind the scenes factor: SEO.
Another way to find a blog is by typing a topic in a search engine. If the search engine determines your blog is a match (through tags, keywords, labels--search engine optimization), your post will pop up in the results.
This is one reason I always recommend typing your author name into the "tag," "label," or "keyword" section. Every post you write will be related to your author name. Regular, frequent blog posts keeps your name and blog relevant with search engines.
When authors get published, they want readers to find their books. Readers might type the author name in a search engine (I do all the time). What does an author hope the reader finds? The author's website/blog, of course! From there, the reader should be able to easily navigate to find out about the author, what books she's written, links to buy the books, and a way to contact the author to tell her she's fabulous.
Type your author name in a few search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing...) and see if links show up leading a reader to you in one way or another. Ideally, you want your website/blog to show up as the number one result.
Blogging in 2013 is challenging. Authors have to get creative and keep an open mind about where a reader might find their blogs. Don't be shy about continuing (or starting) to feed your blog posts into Facebook, Twitter, Google+. You never know who might find your blog this way! And don't get discouraged. If you enjoy writing a blog, stay with it!
Do you have a blog? What challenges are you facing with it?
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Great Social Media Sites For Author Platform
I remember when I joined Twitter. I'd already taken the plunge with blogging, and I enjoyed the interaction on Facebook, but here was a new, hot, social media site and I reluctantly decided to at least check it out. For months, I barely used it because I really didn't understand it. But then something clicked, and Twitter quickly became a favorite site.
Shortly after, I kept hearing about Goodreads, so I signed up, telling myself if it became too time consuming or if I just didn't like it, I could quit. Goodreads made sense to me from day one, but I use it less for networking and more as a reader to keep track of the books I've read.
Enter Google+. This site was different from the start because you needed an invitation to join. I kept wanting to try it but couldn't since no one had invited me. Lucky for me one of my local writer friends did have an account and she promptly sent me an invitation. Did I see what all the buzz about Google+ was? Not really. It seemed a mix between Twitter and Facebook to me, but I figured I'd give it a try.
The latest craze to hit social media is Pinterest. I joined a few months ago--again, I needed an invitation to join--and wondered how it would differ from the other sites I already frequented. Pinterest proved unique. It's basically a place to keep virtual bulletin boards. The only things we're sharing there are pictures (or "pins"), boards, and the occasional comment on a pin.
I often get asked which social media sites provide the best bang for an aspiring author trying to build a platform. We all are crunched for time, and we don't want to spend a drop of it on a social media site that we don't "get" or that proves ineffective at getting our name out there.
Personally, I still think Facebook is a great place for authors. If you understand Twitter and are willing to check in once or twice a day, do that too. And there's no question if you are published, you need a Goodreads account right away. But if you're on the fence about Pinterest or Google+, here's my take on them.
Google+ has a more uppity feel to it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's full of snobs! It simply doesn't have the comfort level Facebook does. Maybe it should encourage conversations, but for some reason, it doesn't. It feels more intimidating, less "friend"ly, if you know what I mean. And Google+ lacks the punchy feel of Twitter. I like Google+ enough to stay on it, but I'm not raving about it to my friends.
Pinterest, on the other hand, is perfect for writers. We can create inspiration boards for our current projects, hobby boards to appeal to fellow hobbyists, and any other type of board we feel like. Since Pinterest can be linked through our Facebook or Twitter accounts, it makes it easy to connect with contacts we already know on other sites. I haven't connected my Pinterest account to either, but I always follow back when someone follows me.
What I like the most about Pinterest is how non-threatening it is. We don't have to think up something witty to say. We don't have to worry about linking our blog to it. We can just pick pretty pictures out and put them on one of our boards. And other people get a good idea of what we're all about when they view our boards. Since so much of author platform is getting our name out in a variety of places, this is a great way to get our name out without much trauma.
If you'd like to see my boards, head to http://pinterest.com/jillkemerer/. If you haven't joined Pinterest and would like an invitation, put your e-mail into the comments section, and I'll invite you!
What social media sites do you like best?
Have a fabulous weekend!
Shortly after, I kept hearing about Goodreads, so I signed up, telling myself if it became too time consuming or if I just didn't like it, I could quit. Goodreads made sense to me from day one, but I use it less for networking and more as a reader to keep track of the books I've read.
Enter Google+. This site was different from the start because you needed an invitation to join. I kept wanting to try it but couldn't since no one had invited me. Lucky for me one of my local writer friends did have an account and she promptly sent me an invitation. Did I see what all the buzz about Google+ was? Not really. It seemed a mix between Twitter and Facebook to me, but I figured I'd give it a try.
The latest craze to hit social media is Pinterest. I joined a few months ago--again, I needed an invitation to join--and wondered how it would differ from the other sites I already frequented. Pinterest proved unique. It's basically a place to keep virtual bulletin boards. The only things we're sharing there are pictures (or "pins"), boards, and the occasional comment on a pin.
I often get asked which social media sites provide the best bang for an aspiring author trying to build a platform. We all are crunched for time, and we don't want to spend a drop of it on a social media site that we don't "get" or that proves ineffective at getting our name out there.
Personally, I still think Facebook is a great place for authors. If you understand Twitter and are willing to check in once or twice a day, do that too. And there's no question if you are published, you need a Goodreads account right away. But if you're on the fence about Pinterest or Google+, here's my take on them.
Google+ has a more uppity feel to it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's full of snobs! It simply doesn't have the comfort level Facebook does. Maybe it should encourage conversations, but for some reason, it doesn't. It feels more intimidating, less "friend"ly, if you know what I mean. And Google+ lacks the punchy feel of Twitter. I like Google+ enough to stay on it, but I'm not raving about it to my friends.
Pinterest, on the other hand, is perfect for writers. We can create inspiration boards for our current projects, hobby boards to appeal to fellow hobbyists, and any other type of board we feel like. Since Pinterest can be linked through our Facebook or Twitter accounts, it makes it easy to connect with contacts we already know on other sites. I haven't connected my Pinterest account to either, but I always follow back when someone follows me.
What I like the most about Pinterest is how non-threatening it is. We don't have to think up something witty to say. We don't have to worry about linking our blog to it. We can just pick pretty pictures out and put them on one of our boards. And other people get a good idea of what we're all about when they view our boards. Since so much of author platform is getting our name out in a variety of places, this is a great way to get our name out without much trauma.
If you'd like to see my boards, head to http://pinterest.com/jillkemerer/. If you haven't joined Pinterest and would like an invitation, put your e-mail into the comments section, and I'll invite you!
What social media sites do you like best?
Have a fabulous weekend!
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