Why Twitter Sucks for Bloggers

If you've been following along, you will have already read my post on why social media sucks for bloggers and content producers and read my tips on how to make Instagram fun again and less sucky. But since you're here now, you're probably a Twitter lover like me. Yes, I love Twitter despite the title of this post.

Why Twitter Sucks for Bloggers and Content Producers

If you're like me then Twitter can be a huge time suck, whether you're actually using it productively or you're reading pointless dribble. But let's face it, is anyone really on Twitter anymore just to read other people's tweets or even talk? Hardly. The majority of people on Twitter now are business owners simply playing the social media game and posting crap about their product or they're some kind of content producer, a marketer or blogger, posting about their latest blog. Does anyone get much reach from Twitter anymore? I'm not talking about just retweets and hearts that the slightly more clever Tweeters use so that they're not just spouting on about their own stuff, I'm talking about real engagement.

How To Make Instagram Fun Again For Bloggers

If you've been following along in this series, you will have already read my post on Why Social Media Sucks For Bloggers and Content Producers. It's simply not fun for those of us with an actual purpose besides connecting with our friends. Social media has become a chore and I want that chore no more! In this series I'll be talking about how to make different social media platforms fun again and I'm starting with Instagram because I think it's the easiest.

How to make Instagram fun again

Instagram has always been one of the funnest social media platforms. If you follow the right accounts then it's just pretty pictures all the time, so it's visually appealing and because you are shown everything you've actually subscribed to, it makes marketing your blog a lot more simple. There are of course a few pitfalls with Instagram, like any social network but in comparison I think it's actually one of the best.

Here's how to make Instagram fun again if you're a blogger or content producer

Why social media sucks for bloggers and content producers

Social media can seriously suck if you're a blogger or content producer. Why? Because it's not fun anymore.

Why social media sucks

When you're a blogger or content producer of any kind, social media can really suck. It's work and it's seriously unfun. It's supposed to be fun right? I think it was at one point, before it became a chore. I assume it's fun for the rest of humanity that don't spend their time creating content and curating on social media. Was it ever fun? I'm going to say yes, otherwise why would everyone use it so much? 

9 Reasons You Might be a Marketer

Everyone's a Marketer. I'm a Marketer and you're a Marketer. At the start of the year I wrote a post on the top 25 Social Media Marketing Books to Read in 2015, among the list was Ann Handley's Everybody Writes. I interviewed Ann on How to Create Ridiculously Good Content, but the topic of the book got me thinking about what else we all do, namely marketing. As a Digital Marketer and Writer myself, I don't believe there's any job that has more direct competition, especially since a lot of that competition is happy to work for free!

Top 10 Ways to Make Money at Home Through Online Surveys

It's been a long time since I've had to supplement my income through participating in online surveys thankfully but if you're in a position where you have some free time and want to earn a little something then online survey's are a great way to make a quick buck and earn rewards in either cash or gift card form.

Here are my top 10 sites that will allow you to earn by participating in online marketing surveys and research. The sites you like most will be different depending on what you're looking to get out of it, whether you're after Coles, Woolworths or other grocery store gift cards to help pay for food week to week or gift cards to treat yourself at your favourite clothes shops or of course a little extra cash to help pay the bills. On many of the sites you can also choose to donate your points to charities. I also know many people that use the gift cards they earn at Christmas time to give as presents. Clever!

The Art of Social Media - Interview with Guy Kawasaki

I've just finished up an interview on The Art of Social Media with legendary former Chief Evangelist for Apple, Guy Kawasaki. We talk all things social media, content creation and marketing.

I hope you'll go and have a read. Be sure to tell me what you learnt!

-Kirsty

How to Get 50 New REAL Pinterest Followers Every Day

Before I begin I'd just like to let you all know that this is NOT a sponsored post or an ad. It's just a simple method that I have found to boost your Pinterest following really easily!

For a couple of weeks now I have developed a new approach to Pinterest all in an effort to social media network more effectively in less time and using less effort. If you're a blogger, trying hard to get a good following on all the different social media platforms you'll completely sympathise with just how much time and effort goes in to cultivating all the social media platforms and how FAR too much of our time is spent juggling all the SM channels rather than actually blogging!

Okay, so I actually have a bunch of awesome ways to develop a great and highly active Pinterest following which I plan on sharing with you in the future so make sure to follow along with this blog whichever way best suits you. But this post is all about 1 simple yet highly effective way to boost engagement and grow your following by hundreds in just a couple of weeks. Since I've started this method I have been gaining over 50 new followers per day and that number is growing daily as well.

6 Ways Tech is Changing Our Health for the Better

As a blogger technology is my friend, I've always been loyal to a fault with friends and a glass half full kind of person so when the entire rest of the world continues to use technology to within an inch of its life yet spout on about how it's responsible for all the evils of this world, including all our ever increasing health issues, I'm here to say SHUT UP! I'm standing up for our good pal Tech and asking the media to please stop the tech bashing.

So, to help everyone remember just how awesome tech is and how tech can help us, I have 6 ways tech is changing out health for the better. Why 6? Because 6 is my favourite number and I'm getting sick of Top 5 and Top 10 posts. Bring on the number 6!

Goodbye Google Friend Connect {An Important Post All Bloggers Should Read!}

By now you’ve probably heard that Google Friend Connect and Google Reader will disappear on 1st July. In my own opinion this sucks! Like me, you may have most of your followers on this service and they’ll be cut off from your blog and it will no longer show up in their feed. Look at this beautiful list of friends. If this is the only way they’ve followed along with my blog, which I know most of them have, then they may be lost forever.
I realise Google is doing this to promote Google+ and get everything over there but a lot of us haven’t yet made the switch and it can hardly be considered an acceptable alternative because they do totally different things. Google+ is just another social network, yes a great one at that but it isn’t a blog reader.
Now I have to convince you all to follow me some other way. The new way I am following all of you is through BlogLovin’. I moved over there a while ago and am absolutely loving it. BUT most of you are yet to join me. Notice the difference in numbers? I have 30 followers to date on BlogLovin’ while I have 683 on Google. That is one hell of a difference!!! What is a girl to do?

Because I don’t want to lose you all, please follow me on BlogLovin’ or on any social networks so you’ll at least be notified when I have a new post for you to read. Of course I think a blog reader is definitely the way to go. If you’re a blogger yourself you’ll be happy to know that unlike Google, BlogLovin’ readers actually increase your page views. This was a huge downfall when it came to Google Friend Connect, as reading blogs in that feed did not give bloggers more page views.

Oh yeah! If you’re thinking of making the switch to BlogLovin’ note that you can import your blog lists making the move super simple and easy! Yay!!!

Today I made this gorgeous Follow Kirsty Girl mapped image to list below each post to encourage my readers to follow along. Especially those wonderfully loyal GFC followers. So come on guys get following!

504 Main, A Delightsome Life, A Diamond in the Stuff, Alderberry Hill, A Night Owl, A Stroll Thru Life, Be Different, Act Normal, Cheerios & Lattes, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Claire Justine oxox, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Cozy Little House, Crafts a La Mode, Create with Joy, Cupcake ‘n’ Bake, DIY by Design, DIY Dreamer, Domesblissity, Ducks ‘n a Row, Elizabeth & Co, Feeding Big, Green Willow Pond, Happy Go Lucky, Hickory Trail, Home Maker on a Dime, Ivy & Elephants, Katherines Corner, Kathe with an E, Lil Luna, Live Laugh Rowe, Liz Marie, Lolly Jane, Mop it Up, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Milk & Cuddles, Mostly Homemade Mom, No Minimalist Here, Our Delightful Home, Petals to Picots, Pursuit of Functional Home, Salt Tree, Say G’Day Saturday, Savvy Southern Style, Serenity Now, Shabby Creek Cottage, Share Your Cup, Sincerely, Paula, Six Sisters Stuff, Someday Crafts, Southern Lovely, Sugar & Dots, The Best Blog Recipes, The Trendy Treehouse, This Gal Cooks, Too Much Time, Weekly Creative, We Like to Learn as We Go, While he was Napping

Focus Photos {and Instagram}

I am so happy with this photo that I decided not to do any touch ups or editing at all, a part of photography that I usually really love and enjoy but sometimes you get a special shot that just doesn’t need it. And for me this is one of them.
My lovely man, Andi, gave me a bit of a lesson in photography the other day. I have been using his camera lately, not one I am used to so I got a bit of a crash course. I needed some help getting the photos right for my new shop, Keepings, in order to get the tiny details to show in the jewellery and charms.
All of these shots are using high sensitivity settings and a manual focus. Which I love, it means you can get really close to the subject and still get the focus where you want it. With automatic you can never get close enough.

For this last shot, I couldn’t even have gotten this without having the sv settings and manual focus. I even tried just to see how good a shot I could get of the spider web using any of the automatic settings. Absolutely nothing, the web didn’t even show up once.

Have you played around with your camera settings recently?
While I have had an Instagram account for ages now, I never really used it. Well I am joining the ranks and posting there now! Please follow along with me, my username of course is kirstygirl, you can find me here at http://instagram.com/kirstygirl I FOLLOW BACK! <3
504 Main, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Cozy Little House, Crafts a La Mode, DIY by Design, DIY Dreamer, Green Willow Pond, Live Laugh Rowe, Lolly Jane, No Minimalist Here, Say G’Day Saturday, Savvy Southern Style, Serenity Now, Shabby Creek Cottage, Share Your Cup, Weekly Creative, Fishtail Cottage, Ginger Snap Crafts, Katie’s Nesting Spot, Sunday Showcase Party, Tatertots & Jello

{How To} Make Money Using Pinterest

 EDIT: THE INFO IN THIS POST IS NO LONGER ACCURATE. VIRALITI HAS SHUT DOWN AND THEY HAVE NOT PAID OUT MY PINS.

This is in no way a paid for or sponsored post. I’m just letting my readers in on a new way to make money using Pinterest. How awesome is that!? Viraliti is a new site that provides you with ads (OF YOUR CHOICE) to pin. And just like Google AdWords it’s paid per click. Each ad has it’s own price attached, which you can see and unlike Google AdWords, you choose which ads you pin. Personally, I only pin those that I actually like, that are relevant to my posts and pin boards and that I think my followers will enjoy. That is probably the most important aspect of Viraliti, the fact that you only pin the ads you want.




At the moment, just like how Pinterest started, Viraliti is invite only. But I AM INVITING YOU! If you’d like to join, click here. It’s easy easy to get started and fun! Start now.

Top 5 Reasons to Follow me on Pinterest + Kirsty & Friends Linky Party

Everyone else posts blogs about their finds on Pinterest so I’m going to as well! Here are the top 5 reasons you should be following me on Pinterest:

1. I Pin Super Cute Stuff

2. I Pin Super Funny Stuff

3. I Pin Pretty Places and Super Spaces

4. I Pin Super Ideas

5. I Pin Love!

It’s Party Time! Please grab my button and add your favourite post of the week!

<a href="http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kirsty Girl" src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc69/kirstygirl7/kirstygirlbutton.jpg" /></a>

{How To} Blog Buttons

If you’re like me, then you’re slow to get around to making a blog button for yourself. Well, I finally got around to it yesterday and I am proud to introduce the Kirsty Girl blog button! *cheers*

 

<a href="http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kirsty Girl" src="http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4386/picture358blogbutton.jpg" /></a>

 

So last night as I was trolling the internet trying to find an easy solution to my “Blog without a blog button” dilemma, I came across many, many posts about how to make your own blog button. Of course I already know how to write “Kirsty Girl” over a picture and to make my picture little enough, what I was having trouble with was the little “grab it” scrolly box underneath. All of the blogs I came across with the relevant tutorials were very long-winded and confusing. So I am going to show you how to make one, easily and simply.

• First of all you need to make a picture 125 pixels by 125 pixels. Okay, so mine was actually 125 by 126… so if you’re a little off, don’t worry.
• Secondly you need to upload your picture to somewhere you can get the URL for it, such as photobucket or imageshack (which is what I use).
• Then you go to “Design” in your Blogger Dashboard, click on “Add a Gadget” in your sidebar or wherever you want to show your pretty little button and find the “Configure HTML/Javascript” gadget.
• Now it’s time to copy and paste my code:

<div align="center"> <a href="http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kirsty Girl" src="http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4386/picture358blogbutton.jpg" /></a>  </div> <div align="center"> <form><textarea rows="6" cols="20"><a href="http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kirsty Girl" src="http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4386/picture358blogbutton.jpg" /></a></textarea></form>  </div>

• Now each time it says “http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com” I want you to erase and put in your own page address.
• And where it says “http://img148.imageshack.us…” you need to put in your own pictures URL from the host that you uploaded your picture to.
• Where it says “Kirsty Girl” you can type in the name of your own blog or alternatively something like Grab My Button. It really doesn’t matter.
• Now simply type in the Title of your choice above and click Save, and of course “Save” again when you’re in the Page Elements window.
• And there you have it. Your very own Blog Button!

I hope this helps some of you, or you are inspired to create your own blog button if you haven’t already done so! Please feel free if you have any problems doing so to comment and I will get back to you. 

If you’re so inclined, please grab my blog button yourself. I’d be ever so grateful! 

linking up with:
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Serenity Now
and the awesome LambAround
 

Contact Tab and Networking

I have just made a new tab! My very first one... see him up there!!! ^^^
It’s called "Contact".. aren't you all just so excited? I know I am.

I have been toying with the idea of adding some tabs for a while now and I have finally done it. In my contacts tab you will find my contact details... OMG SHOCK! I bet you weren't expecting that! I have tried to make it a bit more interesting than the standard contact section where bloggers give you their email address... and well... that's about all.

I  have added (as well as my email for you lovely people) links to my facebook page, flickr account(which I suggest you should all check out! I uploaded lots of photos today which I adore!), my Twitter account, socialvibe page(come on over and help me raise money for PETA) and my new Blog Frog community!
And just to entice you all to come on over and have a browse through my flickr photos I thought I’d share a couple of photographs that I recently uploaded!

Chicken as Little Red Riding Hood

In other news I have just downloaded Windows Live Writer and it is FANTASTIC! I don’t know how well it works when using other blog platforms but I do know that if you use Blogger then this is something you will want to get! And of course it’s free otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned it… because I’m cheap.

You have probably also noticed that I have changed my profile picture. It was taken by my lovely man, Andi, who is an amazing photographer in my very biased opinion. You can view his blog and other photo’s here. Or you can have a look at his stuff on flickr.

Stay tuned this week for another new tab called “About Me” which will be about…. (you guessed it)…. me! I hope you all have a fabulous time perusing through my other networks. Feel free to add me, comment or leave me messages!

I’d also love to hear what you have to say on my new tab and any ideas for other tabs or how to improve my blog!

Cookie as a Piggy