Start your blog

5 Free Stock Photography Sites for Bloggers

One of the challenges that most bloggers face is finding good quality stock photos that they can use within their blog posts. Here are my top 5 choices for stock photo resources.

(Please remember to always check terms and condition and licenses. Things can change from when this was published.)

1. Pixabay

This is my first go-to when I need an image. They have a large existing catalog and it keeps growing. In many cases, they will have a series of images so if you are looking to do a collection of posts, you can get matching images without using the exact same one.

2. Stock Snap
Hundreds of high-resolution images added weekly. Free from copyright restrictions. This is a great site for lifestyle bloggers to find free stock photography that will work with their blog.

3. Unsplash
I love that the photography community is looking at using their talents for good and not evil! (LOL) Many photographers have side passion projects that they never expect to sell, but just want to create beautiful images. This is an example of professional photographers sharing their talents for free.

4. Gratisography
Gratisophy has the perfect picture for your personal or business project. Amazing high-resolution pictures are added weekly and all of them are photographed by Ryan McGuire and free of copyright restrictions.

5. Public Domain Archive
Some people go down the rabbit hole of Pinterest, but this is MY guilty pleasure site. I love looking at the amazing photography on this site and it would be the perfect fit for a lifestyle or travel blogger.

BONUS! This is a late addition that I want to make sure you know about!
PikWizard just arrived at my doorstep and I am loving the fact that these images are new and fresh. NONE of these I have seen anywhere else! I would DEFINITELY recommend them as an added resource to your list!

Hey, come and check out our Facebook page and give us a like! We love to know what people are looking to learn in WordPress world! Our group, The Bloggers Bistro is filled with an amazing group of Female Entrepreneurs learning how to blog to promote their business, their passions and their voices!

6 Simple Tips for Writing Any Blog Post

Writing blog posts can be as easy as baking cookies to one person, but much more difficult to the next. Professional writers will tell you that they find blog writing enjoyable. Those who are not great writers may be intimidated by the task, however, and may never want to learn how to write a blog entry. Writing a blog entry does not have to be painful. It can be a lot of fun! If you are interested in blogging but are unsure how to begin, use these six easy steps to writing a blog entry to get started.

Gather Ideas

The most difficult part about writing anything is deciding what you want to write about. Blogs are interesting because you can use them in several ways. You can use them as a personal online journal of sorts if you wish. You can also use them as a place to post your opinions and views. Lastly, you can use them as a place to put short articles of interest for others to read.

If you are choosing to use your blog as a journal, you might not need much planning. You can probably simply begin writing and see where it takes you. If you want to use the blog for your opinions or for articles, however, you will need to gather ideas. Create a list of topic ideas that interest you. Use them to determine what your topic will be. After choosing a topic, make a quick outline of the main points you want to include. This step may seem tedious, but it will make the other steps go much more quickly, so be sure not to skip it.

Choose a Tone

After you have chosen your topic and created your short outline, you will need to choose your tone. The most successful blogs are written in a casual tone, which is a welcoming idea to most non-professional writers. Don’t worry about grammatical rules. Simply choose a tone that is like the one you would use when speaking with your spouse or a great friend. The tone should be friendly and stress-free.

Write Your Post

When you sit down to write your post, remember the tone you chose for your piece. Put your topic idea and outline in front of you and begin writing. You should keep your blog posts pretty short. They should contain your main point within the first sentence or two. Donít ramble on and on or you will risk losing your reader somewhere in the middle. You can strive to keep your posts between 300 and 700 words altogether. This may sound like a lot, but once you start writing, you will see that it will not take a lot of time to get to this point. Don’t forget to write in a casual tone. Write exactly like you would speak. Avoid large words that some people may stumble over. Create interesting, yet simple, posts for everyone to enjoy.

Use a Signature Ending

A signature ending is important for any blogger. You can choose to end each post with a specific quote or phrase. You can add your name to the bottom with a special symbol nearby. It really does not matter how you choose to end your post but be sure to choose a signature ending. A signature ending is a great way for regular readers to see that your post is ending. It can be a comforting sight for many readers as well and make your blog seem more personal.

Edit Your Work

After all of the writing is said and done, you should always edit your work. Editing is not always a fun thing to do, but if you want your blog to be taken seriously, you should go back over your work. Look for misspelled words and other common mistakes. Although you are not worrying about perfect grammar, you should not misspell words. When you are certain your text is mistake-free, you can move on to the last step.

Submit Your Update

The final step to creating a blog post is to submit it to your blog. This is typically done via the blogging software. There is a spot where you can paste your text and click on the submit button. The software should do the rest. After submitting, visit your blog as a reader and check out your new update.

Are you looking to make your blog more interesting?

Check out these simple ways to make your blog more interesting to your readers!

A blog, which can be defined as an online journal, is a place where someone can post exactly what is on their mind. While some bloggers could care less if their posts are read, others actively try to gain more readers. Some advertisers are offering money to blogs that get high traffic amounts, so learning to blog better can be an important task. If you are interested in learning more about better blogging, check out these six helpful tips…

Use a Casual Tone The most interesting blogs are not written using formal grammar rules. Frankly, the formal tone can be a little boring and web surfers don’t want to read through a bunch of hoity-toity text. If you want your blog to be popular and a success overall, consider writing in a more casual tone. Think of the writing as being a conversation you are having with a friend. Write exactly the way you would talk, not the way you are supposed to talk. Using slang and other words that may not be considered proper is a great way for your blog to reach a wide variety of viewers. Using humor and other personality characteristics in your writing will make people want to keep coming back to read your newest entries.

Don’t Overdo It. Keeping your blog posts short will help you retain any interested viewers. People don’t want to spend massive amounts of time reading text on the web. If they wanted to read a novel, they would do just that. Try to stick to your point and keep it nice and short. A blog post that is way more than 1000 words is just too much. If you need to carry on with the topic, consider creating another post that finishes your point. Although this is basically creating one long blog, the break in the text will be welcoming and readers will be less likely to get bored.

Never Advertise Improperly Often people use blogs as a space to advertise their services or their products. This can be a cheap way to get your work out there. It is noted, however, that blog readers can get annoyed quickly at advertisements filling blogs. If you must advertise on your blog, consider doing so in a more subtle manner. Write a short post about your product and put a link to your website. Don’t take up your entire blog space with the advertisement. Although it may seem like a great idea, you will essentially be scaring people away from your blog altogether.

Check Your Spelling Although the tone of your blog should be kept casual, you should still edit your work. There is a way to be casual without being sloppy. You should always check your spelling before you submit your post. If your posts are sloppy and full of misspelled words, people will think that you are not educated and probably won’t take anything you say seriously. Some blogging software comes with a spell check feature, while others don’t. If your blogging software does not come with any spell check features, look at other options. One of my favorite tools is a plugin for chrome called Grammarly, which is highly recommended.

Be Versatile If you want to reach the largest amount of people, you do not need to advertise endlessly. You simply must be versatile with your post topics. Those blogs that cover only one type of thing may be popular with one specific targeted group of people. That is fine if it is what you want. If you want to reach everyone, however, you need to post on everything. Consider posting on current affairs, music, books, and other hot issues. This will draw people in. When you post about popular things in the news, it will draw people to your site when they do a search on the web.

Post Often People who become fans of your blog will likely be looking for a new post every few days. Some will only look once a week. If you want to keep your blog fresh and interesting, you should post often. Posting often is something that takes very little time, since your entries should stay short and sweet. It is a great way, however, to keep things new and exciting for your biggest fans. They will be waiting for your new posts and will continue logging on as long as you provide them with new information.

Blog Optimization for Great Search Engine Results – A Must!

Here are 5 tips for GREAT blog optimization for amazing SEO results!

If you are interested in trying to make money from your blog, you probably want to know how you can best optimize your blog for great search engine results. After all, most people stumble upon blogs when doing a search for something. If you use these optimization tips effectively, it could be YOUR blog people are directed to. So, check these tips out and experiment with your own blog. Note what has the best results and stay with it. Change the other things around a bit until you get the results out of them that you want.

Simple Content

Many experts say that the best way to optimize your blog is to keep everything very simple. You can choose one quality content topic and make it your base. From there, you can use variations of the topic in order to keep everything going. This may seem like a broad and useless tip, but once you get into blogging more and more, you understand how important it is.

Put More Out There

If you are trying to get more of a presence on search engines, be sure that you have something to show. The more content you have, the more likely you are to show up on a search engine. Bigger sites always do better than smaller sites. It is simply a numbers game. Search engines will see your site in a different manner, depending on how much content you have. The more content you have, the more there is a chance that someone will stumble onto your site.

Ask Search Engines for Help

Few people know that you can actually submit your site to search engines. Submit your site’s URL and ask to be put into the index. This can take a while, but if they do list you in the index, you will see a larger increase in traffic. Beware, however, of a service that asks for money in exchange for getting your site into search engines. These can be a little misleading at times. There are ways to do this without needing to pay anyone at all.

Keyword Pay

A great idea for optimization is to identify and use the most popular keywords. By doing this, you are essentially targeting the keywords that people most often search for. When you do this, you have an edge over the competition. When you know exactly what the people are looking for, you can give them just that. Simply create articles that use these keywords once you have a list. By creating these articles, you are putting yourself out there to be found. Your blog just might pop up on their screen when someone does a search for those keywords. Be careful not to use the keyword so much that your article does not make sense, however.

Daily Updates

If you really want the best optimization, you should update your blog daily. The more you update it, the more often search engines will index your blog. Therefore, you will want to be sure your blog is always fresh. Adding new information is the best way to update your blog. The more new information you have, the better off you will be! Just be sure that when you do update, it is for a good reason. You should always remember that content can have a purpose, but it should always be quality content. If you compromise content, you are only allowing yourself to strip the creativity from your project. If you are happy with doing that, by all means, go ahead. However, as a writer, you have a certain responsibility to web surfers. Unless you want everything on the web to be useless, do your part!

Use these tips to help optimize your blog and get the most from search engines. The more you post and use these tips, the more results you will see. If you earn your living from the number of clicks your blog or your ads get, this will essentially mean more money for you. Experiment with them to see what works best for you and your blog. Put these tips to use today and watch your results rise!

Beginner’s Guide To Blogging: Get Started on the Right Foot!

Here is a basic beginner’s guide to blogging, terms, and uses. Maybe it is time for YOU to start a blog!

What is a blog?

A blog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the creator. Many blogging sites offer built-in features such as a hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites even allow you to put video and mp3’s on your blog.

Instead of writing text, some bloggers choose to make their blogs more audio-friendly by using spoken word entries. This is called audio blogging. You may have also heard of video blogging, or vlogging.

Basically, a blog post contains these features:

title- which allows you to label your post
body- this is the content of your post
trackback- other sites can be linked back to your blog
permanent link- every article that you write has its own unique URL
comments- this allow readers to post comments on your blog.

How do I get started?

One of the advantages of blogging is that it is made of only a few templates, unlike other websites that are made up of numerous individual pages. This makes it easier for bloggers to create new pages because it already has a fixed setting that includes designated slots for title, a body of the post, category, etc. This is especially useful for first-time users. They can choose from a number of templates that blogging websites provide and get started right away.

Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they’ve become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members’ blogs.

Why start a blog?

Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a ton of blogs that follow a theme such as sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs shed light on currents issues, events, news, and information. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

Nowadays in education, blogs also play an important part. Professors use blogging to document the lessons they discussed and taught. This way, students who have missed classes can easily catch up with their assignments.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs. With millions and millions of people logging onto the net every day, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online. Others profit through running advertisements on their site.

By far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first-time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinions, personal victories, etc find that blogging offers them a medium through which to express themselves.

The Blogging Community

Bloggers usually communicate amongst themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.

Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, can be found in blog directories. First-time users who want to get an idea of what the blogging world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these directories. This way they can get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.

Blogging is popular all over the world. ‘Blog’ is short for the term weblog. There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves however way they want, and the best thing about blogging is that most blogging sites are free!

Search any blogging directory and you’ll find a listing of different blogging sites that are available on the net. It’s easy to search a blogging directory because it is organized according to the category. This way you can get exactly what you are looking for. Blogging is really for everyone. It is fun, simple and easy.

Start your blog

Footer

All you need is love. And tea. Must have tea.