Hello everyone,

Let’s kick off the year with some blog talk. I get a lot of emails from people asking me about blogging in general and setting up a photoblog, and a number of the Shoot By Design participants have asked for advice, so I thought I’d share some of my blogging tips and ideas. I don’t have the biggest blog on the block but I have been doing it for many years and am happy to share the things I’ve learned along the way.

Write with passion and about things you care about

If you love to photograph, write about photography. If you love design, write about that. There is no point in starting a blog on a topic that you are not totally in love with. Passion is infectious.

Have a clear purpose for your blog

Blogs that work are ones that clearly define what they are about and are consistent. Wishy washy ideas and topics make for a wishy washy blog.

Style is who you are

Find a look, feel and voice that is yours and yours alone. The way to figure that out is by doing some self discovery and being honest about who you really are. You are probably never going to see a “What I’m wearing” post on this blog. I love clothes and fashion but the idea of me being a fashion model makes me break out in the sweats and it’s just not what my blog is about. I’ll leave the fashion blogs to the people who do it well. Find your thing, and do it as only you can do.

Reply to comments

I think this one is a no-brainer. The people who comment on your blog have taken time out of their own busy schedules to not only read but comment, so it’s common courtesy to reply to them when they leave you comments. Obviously, if you are getting 50 plus comments on every post, that will become too much to reply to every single one. I certainly haven’t replied to every comment ever written here but I try to get to the majority of them. I also make an effort to reply to comments where a specific question has been asked. This is just my personal opinion and many bloggers may disagree but I think it comes down to respect, old school manners, and building a community.

Build a community

Decide whether you want your blog to be a place where you just showcase your work or a place where community exists. For Mocking Bird, I enjoy having a community to build around. I love that I have regular blog readers and commenters and building the community comes through being engaged, through asking genuine questions of your readers and asking them to share. I use twitter and facebook as an extension of that community also.

Make things pretty

White backgrounds, easy to read fonts, music free (lots of people complain about websites that have music playing as it can be intrusive) and a nice header or logo will go a long way in making people want to come back for more. If you have the cash, hire a designer to give your blog a makeover but go to them with a clear vision of what you want. Speaking of which, mine is way overdue for an overhaul.

Use photographs

They will make your blog far more visually appealing.

People scan the internet and big wads of text are going to put people off. Breaking it up with images can help. We are all pushed for time and unless you are an amazing writer, people are going to pick and choose what they read and what they scan. Break up the text with images and you will get more interest.

And if you are sharing your own photography, post images that are at least 500 pixels wide. You want the photographs to be the focus, so show them off as best you can!

Be Yourself

I’m sure you read this everywhere, but it’s such an important part of making your blog stand out in a sea of tumblrs, blogspots and inspiration blogs. Those quirks and personality traits that make you different…use them, don’t shy away from them. Find the Bjork* inside you!

*Bjork is the only Bjork on planet earth and that is why she is so freaking cool.

These are just some of my ideas and you may disagree with them but I’ve found they work for me. Do you have any other tips you’d like to share? What works for you?

Related posts:

1. Blogging Awards
2. Blogging Goals
3. A New Year’s Day In The Life

It’s award season in the world of entertainment and it seems that blogging awards are popping up all over the internets too.

Along with Apartment Therapy’s ‘Homies‘ and the now 10 year old Bloggies, two other fabulous award events are taking place this year. Poppytalk is hosting ‘The Poppies‘ and Lovely Clusters have started ‘The Lovelies‘.

The Poppies are all about people and things handmade, while the Lovelies focus on blogs and online shops.

This isn’t the kind of thing I would normally write about however these are the people who do all those creative things we love reading about, whose blogs inspire us to do more with our normal every day. There are quite a few of my favourite blogs and people nominated in both awards, so I know I’ll be nominating some others and voting for a few. The hard part is deciding which ones!

The Poppies have closed nominations and you can now vote in the various categories until January 30th, while Lovely Clusters is still having nominations and voting has also commenced.

It’s all a bit of fun, but it’s also a really nice way to show the people who write creative blogs and who share their work with us, that we appreciate what they do. Go vote!

Related posts:

1. Blogging Goals
2. There’s Something About Portland
3. Length of Love

I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was full of fun and hilarity. The Canadian and I hosted the last ever games night in our apartment as we will be moving out of here in about 3 weeks. Our little group of friends are big board game fans, so we do regular ‘games nights’ on the weekends. Very dorky but lots of fun. Sunday was spent at a friend’s baby shower. I am trying to spend as much time with Sydney friends as possible before we take off for Canada.

On my way home from a great weekend.

Now, it was great to see such a wonderful response to the blogging goals post.

You all talked about having goals like:

needing more time to blog more regularly, what to do after you get readers (how to keep them), keeping notes on blogging ideas, taking better photos, having more people reading your blog, getting more subscribers or followers (blogspot), interacting more with your readers, trying to keep up with emails, redecorating your blog design, making your blog more professional, and to give your posts more direction and purpose.

It was great to read that other bloggers (you) are all experiencing the same sorts of thoughts on your blogging that I am.

I think if blogging is something that you are consciously thinking about, it can be really rewarding. Despite the young age of this blog, I have been blogging for over 6 years now and have tried different types of blogging in that time.

I think the idea of getting readers but then keeping them is something to really work on. I think if you create a friendly, helpful atmosphere on your blog, by talking to your readers and responding to their emails, they will want to come back. I always think about what I think of blogs and their owners when I visit them myself. Think about what keeps you coming back to blogs and what annoys you about them too. I don’t like having to search around a blog for the owner’s email or their about page.

A lot of the goals you talked about are the same goals that I am aiming for. Apart from having Icelandic visitors (Marc from Iceland commented in that post! ) my goals are as follows:

• to blog about things that I enjoy but that are useful and relevant to readers – I mean this is why we blog, right? So people will read it!
• to blog more regularly (I want to get 5 posts a week).
• to find more time to blog during the week.
• to write more how to features on photography.
• to get more subscribers…subscribe here!

I keep these goals on a post it widget on my Macbook dashboard, so I can refer to them easily. It’s a good idea to write your goals down. Thanks for all the great responses to Blogging Goals. Let me know how you’re going on your goals!

Related posts:

1. Blogging Goals

Emiliana Torrini image found on Google Images.

It sounds so geeky, but I love reading blogging blogs. Yes, blogs about blogging. It’s got geekfest written all over it, but I actually find them really interesting to read. One of the big things awesome people like Darren Rowse talk about is setting goals for yourself and what you want to achieve with your blog.

I have a little diary where I write down ideas and inspirations but I also have one ridiculous goal. For my stats I’ve started using the awesome and free Google Analytics. You should check it out if you don’t use it already. It’s got too much information that I don’t need but one cool feature is the Map Overlay. It basically tells you where people reading your blog, are in the world. I have discovered that I have readers in the US, Canada, UK, Sweden, France, The Netherlands, Singapore, Germany, Norway (Hello, Norway!), The Phillipines, Japan, Finland, NZ, Estonia, Ireland, Bulgaria, China and the list goes on and on. One country that is not on my list however is Iceland.

So this is my goal. I want a visitor from Iceland! Maybe I should start talking more about my love for Icelandic princesses and princes. They are in fact my favourite kinds of musicians. I know you know Bjork and she’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do implore you to listen to some Sigur Ros and if that’s even a bit out there for your liking, then try some Emiliana Torrini. She is quite the songstress…then of course, there is Amina and múm.

Watch gorgeous Emiliana’s Jungle Drum! It’s crazy and fun.

Iceland, come find me!!!

Do you have any blogging goals? Even just silly ones like my Icelandic dream? I do have more than having an Icelandic visitor but it’s pretty high on my list.

p.s. Hello to all my visitors from all over the world! Comment and tell me where you are blogging from…I’d love to know which towns you are in.