resources

Resources for Bloggers

05/26/2014 by Jennifer 2 Comments

Today I want to share more resources that I have been very thankful for. These are geared towards bloggers, but I think they’re applicable to all different types of creatives.

Mandi’s lighting tutorial on Making Nice in the Midwest is gold! I love when bloggers share their best secrets, especially ones that can completely make or break a business. This post makes me want to go all out and buy all of the listed lighting equipment. I’m going to wait until I move, but I’ll definitely keep it bookmarked.

Grown Up Shoes provides so many valuable resources for bloggers, designers, and stylists. I’m really loving these short and sweet “tools of the trade” posts. The first shares the difference between Blogger/Wordpress.com and WordPress.org (self-hosted). This stuff is really important to know especially if you are just starting a blog. Choosing the right platform for you in the beginning will save you a lot less hassle in the end. If you’re a long-time blogger and want to make the switch to WordPress.org, there is a do-it-yourself method and it’s time consuming but very rewarding. I’ll share more about that next time.

The second post is about using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to your advantage. I usually cross my fingers that people will find my posts via Pinterest or Instagram, but hello! Don’t we all use Google like every single day? I’m learning that search engines are a blogger’s best friends. This blog post shares how to format your posts and photographs to make them more findable on the web.

Are you guys on the Blog Life bandwagon yet? This e-course is filled to the brim with tips, techniques, and stories to create a strong, lovable blog and turn it into a career. I’ve taken a lot of blog e-courses and this is my very favorite so far. Looking at highly successful blogs can be overwhelming sometimes because it’s hard to know how to get from where you are to where they are. I feel that way often, but this e-course is helping me chill out a little. It’s so resourceful and detailed but more importantly, really down to earth. I think the ABM team does a great job of narrowing the gap between us and them.

Hope you find these helpful! Enjoy this last week of May!

To see more blogging resources, click here or visit my directory.

resources for bloggers

05/12/2014 by Jennifer 5 Comments

In the same way that I’m addicted to blogging/design e-courses, I also never stop searching for tutorials, freebies, and advice-related posts. I love when bloggers and other creatives share what has worked for them and what hasn’t. It’s always so helpful and encouraging.

Here are a few fun posts from some talented people who definitely know what they’re doing. :)

1. The Fresh Exchange has some very valuable tips for using Pinterest to help out your business. Pinterest is often thought of as a black hole of pretty, sourceless images and a big distraction to productivity. But it can just as easily be a helpful aid to productivity. Take your pick. :)

2. I love, love, love seeing handwriting on photographs and blog elements. This short video on Laite (by Corina from Cocorinna) taught me so many different new techniques that I tried out right away. I currently use a Wacom tablet, but it’s unfortunately nearing the end of its life. Anybody have a favorite drawing tablet?

3. This article on The Inspired Room shares “the secret successes of bloggers” and it’s SO good. Melissa has a ton of great advice on creating an identity and learning how to stand out in a sea of bloggers. Always

4. Also, I’m loving this roundup of free fonts over on Sycamore Street Press.

This morning I am on my way to Portland to look for an apartment! All I can think about are white walls, hardwood floors, and giant windows. But with a tiny budget, I’m kind of setting myself up for failure. Hopefully I’ll find a cute, well-priced place this week.

I’m leaving my laptop at home, but I’ll be instagramming it up @earlgreyjenn. Talk to you soon!

How to Find Image Sources

03/16/2014 by Jennifer 6 Comments

For the past year, I have been keeping a list of things I’ve learned as a blogger. Or I guess I should say, “things I am learning.” Everything about blogging is a work in progress, but maybe the best hobbies in life are those that continue to challenge us. I’m hesitant to start posting blog tips because I never want it to sound like I think I have lots of wisdom. These are definitely things I am trying to teach myself too. :) Today I want to share my biggest pet peeve about blogging: not citing sources! This is important not only because artists deserve to be credited for their work, but also because you can get into some real legal problems! That’s what the “Or else…” is for in this post title. Nobody wants legal problems. If a source is so far removed from the original photographer that you really can’t find it, I think it’s decent to say “source unknown” and leave a little note or disclaimer to let readers know that they can correct you. Before that though, there are a few ways you can go about finding the source of the photo. This is my favorite method: 1. Find an image that you love and see where the link takes you. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and it will lead to a blog post with the original source. But most of the time, it will just be a photo url ending in “.jpg”.

2. Command-click (or right click) the image and copy the image url.

3. Open up Google Images and click the camera icon in the corner of the search box. Paste the url you copied and press enter.

4. You will probably end up with a few pages of links to Tumblrs and Pinterest boards. Keep scrolling! Among those urls, there will hopefully be a gem that will lead you to the original source. I thought this last url looked most promising since it’s of a blog rather than simply an inspiration board. (BTW, Ses & Jen Stylefiles is the prettiest blog!)

5. Find and follow the source urls that will lead you to the photographer.

See? Piece of cake. A few other tips: Read this article about the real possibility of being sued for using photos that are copyrighted. It is painful to read as it states that we are in no way legally allowed to use images that are copyrighted unless we have written permission from the photographer. Even sourcing the images doesn’t even make it technically legal. Sharing images by others is a very blurry line since many of us love when our images are blogged or pinned (when linked back to our page!).

– Google is your best friend, always. Think of some keywords to find the source of the photo you love.

– Citing our sources also applies to recipes or ideas for DIY projects. If your DIY project was inspired by your favorite blog or a product from a store, share that source with your readers! It’s a wonderful thing to be inspired by others.

– Put yourself in the shoes of the photographer. When I was in high school, I had a friend with cotton candy pink hair. She got an adorable kitten and I came over and we took a bunch of artsy pictures. One day, out of curiosity, I looked up one of the photos on a reverse-image-search website, similar to Google images. Someone had edited the photo all crazy and was using it as a Livejournal avatar. It was super creepy.

– Try to avoid blogging photos from places like Tumblr and WeHeartIt unless you can successful find the sources. Pinterest seems to be a little better at keeping sources with photographs.

– Also, try to pin images from the specific blog post pages. For example, instead of pinning from http://www.earlgreyblog.com, you would pin from http://www.earlgreyblog.com/2014/03/recipe-box-earl-grey-ice-cream.html. It makes it easier to find the source of an image especially if it’s a source within a source. If it sounds like too much busy work, try thinking of it as a challenge! Or read that article again. ;) Who knows, you might discover some new favorite blogs while you’re researching sources.