Tag Archives: inspiration

Finding somewhere that makes it easy for you to post

Posted on Thursday 24 January 2013 by Alice • 0 Comments

Blog tuitionNow that I blog more frequently, I need to be able to post whenever I get inspiration, otherwise I forget all sorts of good stuff (must be a sign of getting old). So with the acquisition of a much beloved iPad, I search out places that have free wi-fi and settle down to write.

It amazes me that there are still places that make this difficult or near enough impossible. You’d think fancy hotels would think outside the box and offer free wi-fi to encourage people to meet and drink coffee? Yet it is the smaller establishments that happily supply this service without obligation, like this garden centre I’m blogging in now, a green tea at my elbow.

In fact I’m so impressed I’m thinking of holding a blogging surgery for people who would like to meet me for a cappuccino and quiz me with their blogging queries. With this free wi-fi and my trusty iPad or laptop, this could be a fantastic opportunity where I’d be happy to try solve your posting problems or design delimmas! And if you’ve got kids there’s a soft-play area to stop us being disturbed (too much).

These sorts of places are very good at providing inspiration, as they get you into a different environment and stimulate your thought processes – certainly better than staring at your office’s four walls. It’s the open spaces, excellent light and bright colours that do wonders for me, not too mention the presence of other happy humans enjoying chocolate cake.

If if anybody likes my idea of a blogging surgery, let me know, and I’ll be happy to arrange a suitable date.

Filed Under: blogging encouragement, Blogging help, blogging success

Get a faithful friend to help you post content

Posted on Tuesday 17 April 2012 by Alice • 1 Comment

Walk your dog for inspirationAllow me to introduce Shelley, one of my mother-in-law’s dogs. Sadly she is no longer with us, but we used to love going on long walks in the Lancashire countryside with her, and as long as she didn’t encounter any livestock to chase, or any cowpats to roll in, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

So how does a dog tie in with blogging? Take a look at item 6 in this post http://fairyblogmother.co.uk/6-ways-to-find-inspiration-for-your-blog-posts which suggests taking your dog for a walk to gain inspiration. This has certainly rung true with some people, particularly dog owners, so it is worth highlighting this idea again.

Of course, it needn’t only be walking your dog (though answering to their needs is always a good excuse to down tools and get out for a bit of fresh air). I go running most mornings to try and get a bit fitter and lose some inches, as being a blogger sitting down all day in front of the computer does nothing for my general health.

This is valuable thinking time. It’s not worth forcing yourself to stick to a scheduled thought pattern, as the effort of running up a hill will wipe it clean from your memory. Just let your mind provide its own agenda, and the most amazing things will pop into your head – some good, bad and downright annoying! If you can, find the earliest opportunity to write them down, to prevent the most fantastic idea you’ve ever had from evaporating away.

Of course aerobic exercise will drive oxygen to your brain to help clear it from extraneous material – literally brushing away the cobwebs. “A change of scene is as good as a rest” is a well-known quotation, and sometimes it’s worth putting an idea into your head and then going out to let the subconscious take over. If sleep eludes you because of a good idea, write it down to look at it again in the morning, allowing your brain to rest and work its magic once more.

And the idea of writing draft posts as a dumping ground for your thoughts and observations is another example of clearing the decks to allow your posts to develop and mature away from the computer screen. Not everybody has the ability to ‘just type’, and certainly it has been proven that immediate posting is not always a good idea – notwithstanding spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, but a turn of phrase or a particular word could cause offence or construe to a different meaning.

Hey, you could go running with your dog – good exercise for him too! Let’s hope one day I won’t be regularly disgraced by being passed by two older, fatter ladies happily chatting to each other as they jog along, while I lag behind red faced and puffing…

Filed Under: blogs and blogging, Writing tips

When is the best time to blog?

Posted on Friday 22 April 2011 by Alice • 1 Comment
Fairy Blog Mother: blogging help

Fairy Blog Mother

Everybody has different body clocks, so they choose their own time to write their posts. Some people get their inspiration first thing in the morning, others late at night once they’ve been suitably stimulated by various happenings during the day. Of course you can write your post whenever suits you, only to save it in draft for later editing or, if you’re sure it is ready, schedule it to go out at a more appropriate time.

So when is it a good time to publish? I find this varies quite considerably, according to which particular media I have ‘fed’ my blog post to, so it can be read by the audience that populates it.

It all depends when my readership is more likely to be participating on social media. With Twitter the pace is so fast your post could easily be superseded by other news as soon as it hits the Twitter-stream – unless your followers have set up their own streams which includes you in it. That’s how I keep abreast of the worthwhile Twitters so I can interact with them and follow their blog posts whenever they are published.

You need to work out when is the most favourable time your fellow social networking friends are going to be around to read your posts. Do you catch the early birds, the mid-morning browsers, the lunchtime feeders, the afternoon skivers, or the evening perusers. Ideally you need to schedule your post’s feed so it either catches the most popular time, or multiple entries to get a better chance of being read at another part of the day.

Feeds to other social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn will allow your post to be visible for longer before it is usurped by its successor, and subscription posts that are sent to email inboxes or search engine reader pages will languish there quite happily until they are read.

And a post’s journey is not finished with the subscriber – the practice of sharing posts, through Twitter, social bookmarking sites and natural referral techniques will prolong the life of a post so it can reach another form of readership.

So the answer is to find that ‘optimum’ time that will spark off the chain reaction to send your post on its merry way, as it transverses across the world wide web in pursuit of both new and tried and trusted audiences.

Filed Under: blogs and blogging, Free Wordpress blogs, increasing business visibility, Self-hosted Wordpress blogs, social networking

Where can you find suitable content for your blog?

Posted on Friday 11 March 2011 by Alice • 0 Comments
Fairy Blog Mother: blogging help

Fairy Blog Mother

Finding enough content to write is always a troubling problem for bloggers. I constantly read on forums bloggers asking for inspiration about what to put into their blogs, especially since there is that constant nagging in their minds that they need to be consistent and frequent in their postings. This is particularly prominent if you have advertising and affiliates on your blog, as you rely on a constant stream of visitors to make such applications pay their way.

I suppose it doesn’t help to say the more you post, the easier it becomes. It’s all down to practising, persistence and perseverance. Get into the habit of putting down your thoughts, even if it’s in draft form, to develop later into full-blown posts. Diligent bloggers may have plenty of potential posts in draft, waiting for that final finish.

Look around you for inspiration, there is plenty of ‘post fodder’ about if you know where to look. Look at the emails in your in- and out-box, especially the ones you write in reply. This is an excellent source of your expertise. If you are a prolific writer elsewhere, refer to past articles that you’ve written, and there is no reason why you can’t rewrite old stuff that may have got out of date, may have had more recent developments or needs a more prominent boost.

Refer to the internet for information: subscribe to Google Alerts with certain keywords that interest you or are relevant to your business, and you will get plenty of posts and articles other people have written. Use these not only to learn more about your industry, but rewrite these topics in your own style or in your own point of view, agreeing or disagreeing, adding to the subject matter or explaining a point further. This is not plagarism if you make your work totally different from the original.

Remember things that have been said or you’ve heard somewhere, such as networking events, or even when you are meeting your clients: ask them for ideas, or question them to get their point of view. They may ask for explanations on certain subjects, and their question with your reply could easily be adapted as a post.

It’s all due to you acquiring the right sort of blogging mind-set. This may sound pretentious, but once you do train your brain to start looking for posting material wherever it goes, content will start springing out of the woodwork! Start thinking in that frame of mind, and you might be pleasantly surprised…

Filed Under: blogs and blogging, Writing tips