How to Design Your Blog Yourself

It turns out that you can design your blog yourself without needing to have any expertise in blog design whatsoever. After paying to design this blog, I was faced with the challenge of having two other blogs with no way to formally pay to design them also; so I decided to do the job myself.  Let me just say I had no formal training or expertise in this area. However, I was able to transform these two blogs into a space that was uniquely what I wanted to present to my readers. 



Here are some tools that I use to help me:

Free Templates

It was important to me to have my blog design looking visually appealing. I found that there are blog designers that actually gave away free templates that were first rate quality. You can find great free templates on these sites:

• Blogger Candy
• Wordpress Templates
• Blogger Themes
• Free Templates

I have used Blogger Candy and I have found they offer a number of templates that are well designed and easy to change to suit my preferences. 

How to Install Templates in Blogger

Here’s how to install a Blogger template you’ve downloaded from another site:

1. Log in to Blogger, and on your Blogger Dashboard, click the Design link.

2. Click the Edit HTML tab.

3. Click the Download Full Template link and save it to your computer.

4. Make a note of the file name and where you saved it in case you need it later!

5. Unzip the template file you downloaded from another site.

6. Back on the Edit HTML page, click the Choose File button.

7. Navigate to where you saved the unzipped files on your computer, and double-click the one that ends in .xml.

8. Click the Upload button.

Creating Specialized Headers

Sometimes you find a great free blog design or a design on blogger that you love but you want to personalize it with your own unique blog header.  Canva is one of the websites I used to create my headers. I find that the website tools are easy to understand and very user friendly. Plus, I do not need to know anything about design to use it. I can upload my images/logos to the site and use them. You will however need to know the dimensions for your header so that you can have the right size and you will need to save the header you have created in Canva as a picture (jpeg/png format) .

How to Install a Header in Blogger

Go to the LAYOUT window and click on “EDIT” in the header widget (little blue link). The following pop-up will open:

Browse for the header image file on your computer and make sure you select “Instead of title and description” (also, do not select ‘shrink to fit’).

SAVE! ALL DONE!


 Sources:

 http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-install-a-google-blogger-template.html

http://www.bloggercandy.com/faqs-how-to/how-to-install-a-header-image/

How to Review a Poorly Written Book

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You are excited because you have just received your first book to review. You quickly start reading the book with bated breath because you can barely contain your excited. Ten pages into the book you find that you are struggling to move on to the next page. With each page you become more disappointed with the writer's craft. You shake your head at the poorly written plot and the conflict that you are waiting to see develop but seems nonexistent.  Finally, at page 100 you give up. You just cannot keep going. You have 100 pages left and it is too painful to continue reading. Then, you remember that you have a write a review on the book. 

What then? 

How do you review a book that is poorly written? 

That is a dilemma that a number of bloggers face. Today I want to address that issue. Here are some tips on how to review a poorly written book:

 

Your Audience

 Always remember that your loyalty is to your audience; it is not any company, author, friend, etc. Bloggers tend to develop a relationship with their core followers; while your core followers depend on your honest points of view on the products, services that you review on your blog. So, your loyalty is to your audience. You must always remember that you should always the true to your readers.

Integrity

In business and in blogging integrity is everything. It is important that you state before accepting any product (book) or service to review that you will give your honest opinion (no matter what). By doing this, you are making it known that you will not write a great review of a book that is sub-standard because you are being paid or you are requested to do so.

Decline

After reading the book you can decline to review it. This is easier if the book was given to you by the author.  You should contact the author and explain your experience and decline to write the review or explain the type of review that you plan to write. I find that the author will understand because he/she does not want a bad review to be published.

Be Unbiased

 You can also publish the review with your honest opinion. You can state to your readers that although this is your experience it might not be the same for them. If the book is from an author they are familiar with you can suggests that they can read the book and share their own experiences. 

Tips for Managing Multiple Blogs

Here are some tips on how I manage my multiple blogs:

Use One Blogging Platform

I find it more manageable to have all my blogs on one blogging platform (Blogger). My blogger dashboard has where I can see all my blogs at a glance and I find this very handy and useful.
So I suggest have all you blogs on one blogging platform that way you can see all your blogs and you can better track your blogs that way. I find that blogger helps me to do that.

Never Post Substandard Content:

 When you have multiple blogs you might feel like you have to post to keep your readers coming back; however, if you post content that is below your standards you will find that your loyal readers will lose interest and stop reading your blog. It is better not to post than to post content that is not in line with your blog just  because you feel like you have to post something.

 Set scheduled posts

 I am bad at this. But I have found that it is great when you stagger your posts if you have multiple blogs. This is especially good if all of your readers are from one Google + profile. This way you won’t overwhelm your readers. Pretend that you are a reader and you see four different posts from someone you follow from four different blogs on the same day.  I am sure you do a double take and become so confused. In short, don’t overwhelm your readers (Google +).

Find Your Niche

You need to have a clear purpose for your blog that way you will definitely know your niche and you will target that niche. When I first started blogging I had no purpose for my blog, Lioness Rebirth. I just wrote about things that interest me. However, over time I realized that my readers gravitated to posts that provided information that they found useful. So, I then focused my blog on that niche.

Network Based on your Blogs

It is good to join different communities on Google + based your different blogs. This helps because you can share with members of that community so that they can read posts that interest them from your blog. Remember to get involve. Do not make it a one way street. That way you can get a discussion going on your blog and in the community itself.

I hope these tips were helpful. Please let me know if there are any posts you will like me to share.

How to Write a Blog Post

So I have been blogging now for about four years on and off. It is something I enjoy doing and it is purely my hobby. However, over my four year journey I have learned a few tips and tricks that have helped me when writing my blog post. 

 Getting Started

• Sometimes it is hard to get started on writing your blog post especially if what you want to say is not actually what you are typing on the page. You find that you type and delete continuously; before you know it, you are at square one. So what to do?

Brainstorm Ideas

•  It is good to have an idea of what you want to write before you begin writing. Basically, brainstorming is writing down your ideas and organizing them before you start writing.

•  I find that brainstorming saves you a lot of time and energy. It also prevents you from having writers block in the middle of writing your post.

•  Brainstorming helps you to focus your topic, eliminate ideas that are not in line with what you want to write about and also to find an innovative way to present your topic.

 Creating Your Title

•  You can start writing your blog post by creating the title of your blog post. It is important that you ensure that your title concise but it most also convey what you blog post is about.

• A good title is one that is also search engine friendly meaning it could be similar to a search query that someone would type to find information on the topic you are writing about. 

•   When you create the title first; it also helps to frame the content. Creating the title first is also very helpful because you can always refer to your title when writing content to ensure that you do not include unnecessary information.

After Starting

•  Once you start writing make sure your language is simple and easy to follow. It is important that you write in a way that your readers can understand exactly what you are trying to say. 

Creating your content

• There is no hard or fast rule that says you have to begin writing your blog post by creating your title first. Sometimes when it comes to a title you can be blank. Therefore, you can write your content. Depending on your blog, you can decide to write your content based on any topic. After you have written your content you can examine what you have written and create the most suitable title for your blog post.

Do your research

• If it is an informative post you are writing it is good to ensure that you have the most current and relevant information on the topic. Therefore, please ensure that you do adequate research.

Edit! Edit! Edit!

• Editing your blog post is essential. I type my posts in blogger then sometimes I copy it and paste what I have typed into Microsoft Word. That way I can see not only the spelling errors but also the sentence structure errors. I them proofread my post in Microsoft Word and paste it back to blogger.

• I know it sounds tedious but I find that when I type in Microsoft Word and paste it in to blogger that my margins are off and then I have to go back to word and do more aligning to get it to align properly on my blog. 

Preview

• After this I preview my blog post clicking the button on the top right hand corner of blogger that says preview. This allows me to see what my post will look like when I post it. I can adjust the paragraphs and check grammar again. I try to check my grammar as much as possible because this is my weakest area. 

Visual Appeal

• I find that adding pictures add to the visual appeal of the post. Ensure that the size and the colour of the words on your blog post makes it reader friendly. If you have written a long post you can include subheading to break up the paragraphs and to grab the reader’s attention.

Do It Yourself Money Tips- How to Get Paid Blogging

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Although money is paper we all have some need for it. We need it to pay the bills, to buy important items that are needed and the list goes on. In short, money is helpful to function on a day to day basis. However, what do we do when the little money we have is not sufficient? What then?

Some of us would love to live in a mansion with hired help but the reality is our merger salary just cannot support the lifestyle. Do we (A) change and adapt to our situation or (B) create more debt while trying to keep up with the Jones?

 If we examine nature, we realize that the natural environment adjust itself to each season. Animals hibernate, trees lose their leaves and birds migrate to survive winter. They all adapt themselves knowing that a different season must come. That although it is challenging now, tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will be better if when life changes; we function more effectively in our new environment of change. In adjusting we will develop skills that will ensure our survival like the animals in nature. 

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With all of this in mind, for this summer we at Lioness Rebirth will embark on a new project entitled, Do It Yourself Money Tips. This will be a weekly post that will explain to you how to make money online, how to save money and how to find great deals. All of these will be simply and easy ways in which you can create additional income for yourself, while saving. At the bottom of this post we will give you a brief preview of this weekly post.

Do it Yourself Money Tip # 1-How to Get Paid Blogging

When I first started blogging I did not have any idea that I could get paid to blog. For me blogging was a great hobby that I loved. It was and still is a joy to sit and create for others to enjoy. However, then I discovered that once you have great content and you have honed your skills as a writer you can be paid to do what you love.

Content is KING

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I shared my experience above because I wanted to highlight two things about paid blogging that is important. The first is great content. In blogging content is KING. If you are not a celebrity no one wants to really know the inner details about your life. Don’t get me wrong, it is good to share details about yourself to your core audience to build a rapport but it is better to provide information to your readers that they can use in their daily lives. Great content is what will drive readers to your blog and increase your blog stats. High blog stats is one of the things that will help you to gain paid blogging opportunities. Therefore, think about a niche for yourself and develop great content for the readers in your niche. This way you will be successful.

Honing Your Skills

 The second important thing I want to highlight is honing your skills as a writer. There are a number of excellent bloggers out there who have worked tirelessly to develop their blogs and their skills and in doing so they are reaping the rewards of their hard work (paid opportunities). In honing your skills you can develop an eye for good content by reading other blogs, books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Basically, immerse yourself in the written word; in doing so you can examine various writing styles and develop your own. It is important to note that in writing your posts; you should aim to keep your language simple and to the point. This way your readers will not be confused by highfalutin terms. 

My dictionary is right at my finger tips.

Most importantly, always proofread and edit your blog. If your spelling is poor make your dictionary your friend. If you don’t have a dictionary get one. No one wants to read a post that is loaded with grammatical errors. What I find helps me is that I type my posts in Microsoft Word and then paste them in Blogger. This helps me to edit my posts better. After I have published my posts, I also read my posts to see if I missed any errors while I was editing. Even if you only have one reader always try to produce the best final product.

Paid Opportunities

Once you have done the above you can start looking for paid blogging opportunities. One website that I found that is simple and easy to get paid blogging jobs is Bloggingpro.com. Bloggingpro.com is a website that helps bloggers by providing help tips on how to improve your blog. What I absolutely love about the site is its online job board. Their job board is designed in a way where you the blogger, writer, editor can apply for various blogging jobs from real companies. In doing so you don’t necessarily have to go through a middle man like with a company like SocialSpark.

For additional information on How to Get Paid Blogging you can also read this post: Five Websites You can Use to Monetize Your Blog 

How to Host a Successful Blog Hop- D.I.Y. Sundays

What is a Blog Hop?


Simply put,  a blog hop is when bloggers enter thier url, blog name or their name and often email address in a linky. This information comes up as a list.


Bloggers then click and follow other members on the list. You should leave a comment on the person's blog and he or she will follow you back.

Joining a blog hop enables bloggers to meet fellow bloggers, increase their reader base and their blog following. It also helps bloggers to find blogs that they might not necessarily find.

How to Create a Blog Hop

A blogger can host a blog hop with anyone of the following linky. Here are two popular ones:

• Linky Tools
• InLinkz

You can sign up for free and then create your hop and cut and paste the html code in html format when you are creating post. You can then click back to compose and look at it in preview. Then you can publish your blog hop.

How to Gain Blog Hop Participants

Gaining blog hop participants is very simple- ADVERTISE. Advertising your blog hop is the key to having a successful blog hop. No, I don't mean paying to get the word out there. Here are some simple steps that have worked well for me.

• Post bulletins at the various blogging networks. This will allow fellow bloggers to know there is an event occurring at your blog. Also, it can attract new followers.

• Send a Newsletter. Inform your readers  that you will be hosting a blog hop by sending a newsletter. Depending on the response of your readers, you can send a reminder. Remember, no one likes to be spammed.

• Visit your blog friends/followers and personally invite them. I usually visit my blog friends and personally invite. I think that the fact that you take the time to do this says something about you as a blogger. 

• Use your comment list. I also scan my list of comments and go to the blog of my commenter and invite then also. If someone takes the time to comment on your blog then there is a strong possiblity that they will come back.

• Most important is to take the time to follow back. You need to engage your blog hop participants by following them back or just going to their blog and say thank you.

Remember that blog hops is not only about gaining followers and building stats. It is also a way of exploring the blogs in our community and sharing ideas.

Please stop by tomorrow for the Online Friends Blog Hop. I will be Guest Hosting.