Category: Blogging

Articles and Tutorials related to the business of Blogging and Social Media.

Blogging

Instagram Stories: Tips and Tricks

by Nia27 Comments on Instagram Stories: Tips and Tricks

I swore never to become one of those people.  You know, the people who take Instagram seriously. The ones who shudder at the thought of posting a ‘gram that hasn’t had the VSCO nip/tuck treatment first (hell no!), or a snap that just doesn’t fit in with their *groans* “theme”. Pfft. Well whaddya know?  1 year later and I’ve gone over to the dark side. Somehow, I just got sucked in.  Long gone are the days of posting a spontaneous snap of my builder’s brunch with a bit of Valencia filter to bring out the baked beans slurping over the side of the plate. But it’s no secret that Instagram can be tough and disheartening at times. If it’s not the algorithm killing my buzz then it’s those big accounts playing the follow/unfollow game, and now there’s something called shadow blocking – where Instagram itself (the nerve!) selectively blocks use who use too many hashtags without them even knowing it. It’s true to say that I fall out of love with Instagram every day for some reason or another.

Then, Instagram Stories came along and I finally had a place for all those sloppy, spur of the moment snaps.  It’s brought the spontaneity back to Instagram – the no pressure, no filter fun – and it’s the perfect place for those raw snippets of daily life.  Through them I’ve fallen back in love with Instagram.  Like kids and bedtime stories, I tend to flick through them before I go to sleep – just to see what everyone’s been up to in “real life”; where they went, what they ate, what they made, what they wore, what their dog (or cat!) did.

It’s within the last month that I’ve really started having fun with it. I micro-vlog on days out or when I’m cooking (or need to rant about my dog ripping up his puppy pads) and I love playing around with the features. It’s tipped to be the next big thing in social media marketing and blogging over the next year, with more and more users getting involved.  So if you’re just starting out with Instagram Stories or you’re looking for a few tips and tricks to up your game and make things a little more interesting, look no further!

▲ You don’t have to use Instagram to create your stories.  Handy tip numero uno; you don’t have to just use the app to take pictures or videos. With one downward swipe you can actually pull in recent videos and pictures you created using other apps like Snapchat.  By doing this, you’re not confined to using only the features Instagram Stories has to offer.  I’ve used my camera app to film videos and then sped them up or slowed them down (cool  little trick for making driving and road trip stories more interesting).  I’ve also used VSCO for other filters and Snapchat for selfies.  Remember though, you’re limited to using videos created within the past 24 hours (again, you can get around that by resaving or editing the photo/video).

▲ Sick of being cut off after 15 seconds?  If you’re fed up of spilling your heart out to the world and having it annoyingly cut you off every 15 seconds, try this.  Record in your camera app and then snip the video into 15 second segments.  Upload them into Instagram Stories in order, and voila!  Each video should seamlessly run through into the next one.  No mid sentence shut downs! 🙂

▲ Text. Unless you use another photo editing app, there’s only one font to choose from in Instagram Stories itself. You can change the colour of the font using the paint pots at the bottom of the screen, or, if you press the “A” button at the top of the screen you can add a background colour to the text to make it easier to read. Move your text around the screen, resize it using your fingers, or using the slider on the left. Hold down words or letters to change their individual colour.

▲ Pens. Using pens is a fun way of doodling or handwriting on your videos. I’ve got a pen with a stylus on one end which makes handwriting and drawing on my phone screen a bit easier and fits easily in my bag. There are LOADS of colours to choose from; either hold your finger down on a colour pot to tweak, or swipe left for more. If you want to colour-block your screen, or give your selfie a colourful haze then select the marker and a colour then hold your finger down on the screen.

▲ Stickers. Stickers are great for adding a little something-something and are constantly being switched and updated. Click the smiley sticker in the upper right hand corner and you can access location, time and temperature tags, emojis, photo booth props and stickers related to the day of the week. 🙂

▲Stamp your location for a better chance of being discovered by others.  A more recent update to stories is the ability to watch “City Stories”, a collection of stories from users in one area (you can search for these stories using the search by location function).  If you stamp a location to your story (even if you make it really, really small!) it has a higher chance of being added to the collective story for your home town or city/place you’re currently visiting – meaning higher views and – you never know! – followers.  If that’s what your end goal is, of course…

▲ Face Filters.  Another recent feature is the ability to play around with facial filters (sounds familiar… *ahem* Snapchat *ahem*).  Press the little face next to the camera button at the bottom of the screen and change up your usual selfie for something different.

▲ Get social, or not! Mention or tag other users in your stories by using the text feature and typing “@” followed by the person’s user name. Restrict who sees your story by pressing the little star in the upper left hand corner.

What do you love/hate about Instagram and Stories?

Blogging

Five Questions to ask yourself when you lose the will to Blog

by Nia16 Comments on Five Questions to ask yourself when you lose the will to Blog

A couple of Sundays ago I was curled up on the sofa catching up on a bit of Mr Robot with the hubs when I realised that – for pretty much the first time since I started this whole blogging malarkey – I didn’t have a post scheduled for Monday morning. I’ve strictly stuck to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule since November, always making sure I was scheduled a week ahead, and up until a couple of weeks ago I hadn’t found it that difficult. But bam! Out of nowhere I found myself lagging behind. Funnily enough, I think Sunny was more stressed about it than I was (he’s more into page views and numbers than I am – weird), “What are you going to write about?” he asked, and despite having a whole stock of ideas for just such an emergency, I just shrugged.

Friday came and went. Nothing went up. The likelihood is that nobody really noticed. But I did, and it bothered me.

Let’s be clear. This is not writer’s block… it’s more like I’ve suddenly run out of steam.  I’m all out of motivation not just to blog, but to keep up with the promotional side that’s all part and parcel of the whole blogging game. Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a blast. Blogging is great fun, albeit a lot of hard work. But, I think every blogger reaches that point – probably in the first year – where they suddenly get fed up and question what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and how their little corner of the online world fits into the ever growing blogging “community”…or not.

So these are the questions banging around in my head as I try to get my blogging mojo back.

1. Why did I start Blogging?

You know what it’s like; there’s that initial spark – that rush of excitement – when you first start blogging. Setting up your blog is a lot like decorating your first apartment, and those first comments, likes and follows give you that buzz and the validation to power on and keep doing your thing. Then, a few months down the line you’re exhausted. You’re buffering posts like crazy and scheduling your dinner around Twitter chats and have completely forgotten why you even started in the first place. Asking why you became a blogger should help realign your focus to what matters most and work out what your blogging “reason d’etre” is.

2. What do I want to get out of this?

Definitely linked to question one; asking yourself what you’re hoping to get out of blogging might help create some goals to work towards.

3. What kind of Blogger am I?

As soon as you start blogging it’s easy to feel like you’re a very small fish in a very big pond. It’s er… a bit crowded, let’s be honest. You start comparing yourself to other bloggers and then you might even start adjusting what you write about to suit what everyone else is writing. I recently came to the honest conclusion that when it comes to blogging, I’m a square peg in a round hole (not that’s a bad thing..!). I’m a thirty year old with split ends who cares far more about that little avocado seed sprouting on her windowsill and history books about dead people than about rose gold sunglasses and NARS sheer glow.  #Luxelife I most definitely am not. I’m just not that kind of blogger and if I tried to be, I wouldn’t enjoy it. When I started out I unknowingly branded myself as a mud-loving, welly-wearing writer, and that’s who I need to stay true to. It’s 100% likely there will be people of there who don’t want to read about that, and would probably rather read about rose gold sunglasses than my muddy walk. Oh well. You can’t win ’em all. The lesson? Write as if no one’s reading. 🙂

4. Do I need to make a change?

There’s nothing wrong with feeling you need to change something. Maybe there’s something that’s just not working. Maybe you’ve been sticking to a three day schedule and just can’t keep up. Maybe you’ve started a series that just isn’t working out how you thought it would and you’re sooo ready to ditch it. Maybe you’re bored of your layout, your photography. Maybe you’re fed up of WordPress and want to move over to Blogger, or vice versa. Change is good.

5. Do I need a break?

Sometimes you just need to take a step back. For me, I was sick of the promotion side of blogging and felt like I needed a break from it. Twitter chats had begun to infuriate me because I started to feel like I was just answering the same question over and over again. The whole point was to “connect” with other bloggers but for me it had suddenly felt like I was just regurgitating the same answers to the same questions and getting the same “YES THIS” response over and over again. I actually turned my phone off (for real, the actual off button) when one chat asked what I’d do if my Instagram account got deleted. Umm… I’d live? I was ready to type out 100 characters of full on snark. That was my wake up call. I was  bored and fed up and needed a break.

What do you do when you lose the will to blog? 🙂

Blogging

Blog Photography 101

by NiaLeave a Comment on Blog Photography 101


You have no idea how much I hate admitting this – as a writer it’s almost like swearing against some blood-written code – but, dammit, the “pretty pictures” are always what first attracts me to a blog.  I feel truly filthy admitting that, but there you go. Of course everyone’s got their own taste and words for me are still an important close second place. I follow a lot of international blogs and because I can’t speak Swedish or Japanese I’ve become reliant on the pictures to tell a story.  It’s those bright, smiling snaps that illustrate the words perfectly are what’s going to bring me clicking back time and time again.

When I first started blogging it felt like the only way to mimic that bright standard of blog photography was with an equally aesthetically pleasing (and expensive) Olympus Pen swinging around my neck like some blogger medal of honour.  Pfft!  The truth is that expensive tools are useless if you don’t know how to use them; I’m still not sure what all the buttons on my Nikon are for, we’re still very much getting to know each other!  You really, honestly don’t need a fancy DSLR, or Light Boxes or even be a dab hand at Photoshop to take great pictures.  Really.  These days even a mobile phone is capable of taking beautiful photography and that’s exactly what I used when I first started.  The truth is that the trick to taking blog-worthy snaps is all about practice and learning how to play around with the elements that go in to making a pinnable snap. 🙂

Light

As soon as you pick up a camera you quickly realise that light can be both your friend and enemy.  Bright sunny days can bleach out colour, create annoying shadows and unflattering facial expressions, while grey clouds work like giant soft boxes to even things out.  Dull days make taking pictures indoors near impossible (Welsh weather is very unhelpful sometimes!).  Pictures taken at dawn and dusk are truly magical. 🙂

  • Personally I steer clear of the flash unless it’s the middle of the night!  It tends to reflect off of objects and “flattens” the picture.  Natural light is much, much softer (and kinder!) and creates depth… but then that’s just me.  So far I’ve coped without light boxes.
  • Everyone has a “sunny spot” in their home – a window that brings in the most light or a sunny corner.  Mine is in the kitchen next to the patio doors and I take the majority of my indoor pictures there.
  • To make sure the subject is bright and in focus, you’re going to want to try and point your camera in the same direction that the light is travelling to catch it bouncing off of the subject (remember all those light line drawings from physics lessons and follow the same rule!).
  • I don’t tend to take photographs for my blog at night.  Indoor lighting can cause a yellow tinge – yuck!
  • Sometimes if the light isn’t quite right then you can fix it when you come to editing.  There are so, so many great photo editors online these days that a subscription to Photoshop seems a little pointless (and expensive!). I’ve been using Pixlr exclusively for years to cheer up any dull pictures lurking in the pack 🙂

Background, Colour and Composition

Once you’ve got the light sorted, then it’s time to “compose”.

  • Keep in mind what you’re taking a picture of – what’s the subject?  Whether it’s a pet, a beauty product, a cake or even you then this needs to be star of the shot and therefore clear, bright and in focus – but remember that it doesn’t necessarily have to be slap bang in the middle of the picture.  Sometimes – particularly with portraits of people – having the subject off-centre looks great.
  • To make sure that your subject is the centre of attention, background is very important!  A busy background will pull attention away from the subject, but that doesn’t mean it has to be completely plain.  I’ve got whitewashed floorboards in my kitchen that work as quite a nice simple, neutral background for flatlays.  A white bed duvet works well too.  Sometimes you can have fun with backgrounds; like did you know that you can order wallpaper samples online for free?  I used a fish themed one to create the background for my lobster cookies shot, but I’ve got loads more to play around with stored up waiting for their moment 🙂
  • Colour is great, but make sure you’re using colours that compliment the subject and not too many.  If you’re unsure what this means then take a look at the Colour Wheel.  Colours that are opposite one another complement each other.


  • Angles can change everything and ultimately depend on the subject.  If you’re taking pictures of people then avoid standing lower than the subject to avoid unflattering “up the nostril” shots.  If you’re taking snaps of beauty products then you’ll want to choose an angle that ensures the label is visible and in focus.

Props

Sometimes it’s nice to add a few background items or relevant props around the subject if it’s looking a bit bored and lonely on its own. 😉

  • Choose props based on colour and whether they add anything relevant to the subject.
  • Flowers and plants always make for popular props, and I’ve also used books before (I used the Jungle Book to make my picture of Monkey Bread look a a bit more colourful and interesting).

Planning

Sometimes blog posts are planned around photographs, sometimes it’s the other way around.  Since the majority of my posts are all about my adventures in and around my home town it’s usually the photos that create the post, not the other way around.  But sometimes I write a tutorial, a “what I learned” or a recipe post which means that a little bit of planning needs to go in to choose exactly how I want to perfectly illustrate what I’m going to write about.  Once I’ve written the post I’ll create a list of photographs I think will be needed.  Sometimes this will be very vague, sometimes it’ll be more detailed if I have a good idea of what props, backgrounds etc I want to use.  A little planning is always helpful!

You



Photography is a very personal thing, and as soon as you pick up a camera you start to build a personal style 🙂  When it comes to blogging your photography style is part of your brand, it’s what sets you apart from everyone else. So that being said it’s definitely important to throw a little bit of your individual quirks into each photograph.  This can be through your use of props, the colours you tend to stick to, or even the type of photos you take and the subjects you like to snap.  This isn’t an overnight thing, it takes time and practice to figure out what best represents you.  Since starting I seem to gravitate to blue and green over other colours when I’m out and about (figures, I go on a lot muddy walks!), and when I’m indoors I seem to favour casual, non posy shots.  Hands and feet!  Is this my “style”?  Who knows!

Have you got any blog photography tips or tricks you’ve picked up?

Blogging

Six Things I Learned in Six Months of Blogging

by Nia19 Comments on Six Things I Learned in Six Months of Blogging

It’s been six whole months since I moved into this lil’ corner of the internet, something that just happened to coincide with a real life move into a real life house.  And as it turns out the whole “moving in” thing is actually a tidy little metaphor for anyone who decides on a whim to stake their claim in that particular neighbourhood of the internet.

Starting a blog is daunting at first.  It takes a while to figure how everything’s going to look and where it’s all going to go.  Formatting layouts is like the flat-pack furniture of the online world and you tear your hair out as you try over and over again to figure it all out.  Then, when you’re all moved in you peek over the fence and get a little bit jealous when you find that the neighbours have done something altogether brave and brilliant with their own patch and then stress over what they’ll think about you and yours.

Okay, I’ve only been a resident of the blogosphere for six months (not a huge amount of time, yes…), but they’ve been a great six months.  I went to my first event, turns out the neighbours are some of the loveliest peeps you’re ever going to meet, and I even got a mention as part of Blogosphere Magazine’s #InTheSpotlight for issue 9 (What! How?!).  I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve learned a lot too.

So here’s Six Things I Learned in the first Six Months of Blogging…

Continue reading “Six Things I Learned in Six Months of Blogging” →