Blogger and Google+ Monopoly

I have been on a mission with my blog concerning comments. I want everyone to be able to comment on my posts not only google+ users. This has been a fight to the finish and alas Google+ has won. For now.

Image source Discus.com

I fought with this widget for 3 hours today, I tell no lies!
I editing code, changed my template, went through blogger and around blogger and still nothing.

Google+ is making it very hard for anyone with a blog through blogger to comment through anything except Google+

What if I hate Google+? What if my readers hate Google+? Are they expecting us to convert people and force them to sign up for a Google+ account?

Now fair! And I will see my way around the monopoly Google has on this commenting system.
I changed my setting in the comments to remove google+ comments and they were all erased, so I had to add it back to get my comments back. What's up with that?

Also I added my site to feed burner, there is life out there beyond Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
I also added my blog to feedly, there is a follow button somewhere on this blog maybe to your right.

I have been excepted on the shespeaks network, it is supposed to be good for bloggers but it doesn't allow you to import your blog to the site like Lucky or Glipho. I Think two blogs is enough.

Disqus.com

Feedburner.google.com

Feedly.com

Shespeaks.com

Luckymag.com

Glipho.com

If you would like info on how to get a feed for your blog let me know and I will do a step by step tutorial.

If you liked this post please like & Share it's free :)

Laurie M.

What happened to the Google join this site button on your blog?

Have you been wondering what happened to the Google join this site button on your blog?

I don't know why they (Google) hid this gadget, when in my opinion this little gadget helps blogs show up in your blogger feed. this gadget is just as important as a Bloglovin button.

Well its still there, just in a different location.

Today I am going to show you where Blogger hid one of our favorite widgets.

1. Head over to your menu in blogger.

2. Go to The layout tab.

3. Go to the More Gadgets tab.

4. Scroll to the bottom of the first page and there she is in all her glory!

Add the gadget where you want her on your blog and your ready to go.



If you like this post let me know, I will create more helpful post like this.
If you are having problems or need a solution let me know, I am always here.

Don't forget to Like and share :)
Laurie, M

Comments, are they important?

As bloggers we all want people to comment on our posts, to let us know they like our content, that we are doing a good job, etc...

Courtesy of Google images

But, do comments really help? If someone visits our blog, reads and writes and comment it ends there.
But, if someone goes to your blog, reads and shares the link to the post with their followers or social circles your post goes a lot further then with just a comment.

This is why I like share buttons on my blogs. Asking for a like or a share is easier then to ask for a comment.

With a comment they have to type what they mean to say and from a phone, which is what most people are using these days. The captcha box is pure evil on any smart device.

So pushing a like or share button is a whole lot easier and gets your blog more noticed rather then a comment.

Comments are more for you then the general public, they help keep the conversation of the post going and it shoes the reader your listening to what they have to say.

Asking for likes or shares is a lot easier to ask for from you reader.

there are many add-ons for blogs out there on the interwebs I will list a few of my favs below :)

www.sharethis.com has sharing widget that goes right above your comment section after every post. It offers all the latest social media devices.

www.addthis.com offers a share button widget but you are not able to customize it to your liking.

share.cunjo.com is the least favorite here hard to configure and doesn't give much room to grow.

Sharethis.com is the winner of the sharing widgets in my book and after you customize it, it will install itself for you! Cannot beat the ease of access and use you this sweet widget.

I have it listed installed below so you can get a peek of what it looks like.

Hope this helps, Please don't forget to like and share this post :)

Laurie M.

How to add your personal domain name to blogger

 Here are step by step instructions for changing to a personal domain name with blogger.
It took me a couple of tries to get it right, but if you take it slow one step at a time it will work.

Now #8 is very important because not every one types in www. before a domain name so be sure enter your A-records. You will have to repeat step 9 four times.

This part is specific to go daddy as it the service I am familiar with.

I hope this helped, if not I am truly sorry. When I get stumped I always call godaddy and they always walk me through it step by step and if you get a really nice person they might even do it for you :)

Good Luck!
Laurie M.

A blog is born

I started my beauty blog www.themakeupsquid.com in august of 2013.

I did not know what I was doing, I did not know where to begin, so I did what I always do.

I jumped right in and went for it.

I chose a name the makeup squid. How did I pick that name?

I went to a site that helps you pick screen names, I found it through Google.

I typed in my key word Makeup, then a few interests and then nothing, for hours.

I asked people to describe me in one word and all I got back was, straightforward, bitchy and real.

Nothing clicked. So I just started searching Google and while browsing I saw the site Squidoo.com and it happened, I asked my daughter what do you think about themakeupsquid? 

She immediately said yes and I liked it too.

I knew it was different and no one in the world had a name like that for anything beauty related, so I signed up with blogger, twitter, Facebook, instagram, pintrest and tumblr. I know that's a lot of social networks but I wanted to tie up the name.

I got all that down, now I needed a look. My beauty blog has the same layout as this blog.

I like the clean layout, even though my other blog can get pretty cluttered in the side bars, I go in there every so often and clean it up.

I joined bloglovin and themakeupsquid was born.

After a few weeks I wanted a personal domain name, leaving the blogger URL in a signature just looked strange to me and I wanted it to spike curiosity not a eyesore.

Once I got the domain name I hooked it up to blogger and lost every comment I ever got up until that point.

It was a very bittersweet moment for me, happy I got my domain, sad that all my comments were gone.

I wrote a few posts on beauty blogging that got some good attention and some beauty posts.

But I had to choose who I wanted as my main audience, bloggers or people who wanted beauty advice?

This all depends on the type of post you write. If I write a post on 10 best blogging tips, I get other bloggers.

If I write a post on 10 best eye liners, I get people looking for advice.

I love helping people, but I don't want to get stuck there. I want to help my fellow bloggers as well as non bloggers. I learned that your early readers will be other bloggers.

This blog is going to be about my journey as a beauty blogger, I hope you stay and visit often as this will be a behind the scenes look of a beauty blogger.

It wont be flawless or perfect, but it will be genuine.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Laurie M.

Bloglovin!

Bloglovin is a site that allows you to follow your favorite blogs from any device.

However it does have one flaw that I have found.

When you add your blog to Bloglovin you have to paste a code onto your blog to claim it as your blog, which is fine and dandy.

But this is just a way for them to know you are the owner of said blog.

The second step is to add a follow this blog button which is fine and dandy, they do have some cute buttons that will go with any style layout however there is something they don't tell you!

As you can see the top buttons ask you to follow me, which means the persons profile NOT their blog.

This is becoming an issue with people gaining personal followers on bloglovin but not their blog.

It is best to choose an icon button or the blue or pink button for actual blog followers.

When you click on the follow button make sure it is the blog itself you follow and not the Author.

otherwise you will only get notifications of their actions and not of the blog itself.

I have lost over 40+ followers by looking into this, so please be careful with which button you choose!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

BBBB Blogging Advice Tips, Tricks, How to's and Other Valuable Information.

I am collaborating with my friend Shalunya from shalunyaboyet, she handles more of the technical side of blogging using Blogger as the main platform and she has some great information from Layouts to Gadgets.

Here you will find links to posts we have written on starting up a blog or a youtube channel. I feel you will find these posts very helpful in the growth of your blog and youtube channel.

We will both be adding to this list as we go so check back often. We both wish you and your blog great success! 

What's in a review Something every Beauty Blogger should know!

Everything a Beauty Blogger Should Know Part 2

Blog Planning and how it can help

Beauty Blogging Tips and Advice

Starting a YouTube Beauty Channel: Things you Should Know

Understanding Your Beauty Blogger

When Disaster Strikes! Bloggers Survival Guide

Shalunya offers more advice here.

Building a Better Beauty Blog, The Basics

What Exactly Is a Gadget?

Creating a Grabber Button

We Love hearing from you so let either of us know if we have helped in anyway, if you need help in a area we have not covered please feel free to contact either of us.

When Disaster Strikes a Bloggers Survival Tip!

Sometimes life can throw us for a loop, we can be on track one minute then disaster strikes! You got a sick two year old and you feel it coming on yourself or the car beaks down and the whole family's schedule is turned upside down, Last minuet plans need to be made and your in the center of a whirlwind with all eyes on you asking what do we do now? STOP!

Who has time to right a post about a great hair product you found? or that new palette that your just dying to share?

Not me and this got me thinking. LOL you know whats coming right?

When Disaster Strikes!

What to do when you don't have time to post!

Now, I know I touched on the subject of writing posts in advance and you can read that here.

What I am talking about is a bit different, I am talking about a backup plan while you are in motion. Let's say you have to go out of town for a family emergency or you are surrounded by people who don't know or wont understand your blogging. What to do?

Keep things going blog side!

Create at least a weeks worth of Generic posts on hand, Now what I mean by generic is something that has nothing to do with a season or a certain time of year. NOT TAGS! Tags are your fillers between your regular posts and you should do them as soon as you can to be considerate to the person who tagged you.

A hair, manicure or even doing a from the archives post is great! You can also laugh at how silly your first posts were.

Have a guest blogger! Have a Blogging buddy write a post for your blog and send it to you via Email Then up can upload it all from your smart phone. As a blogger Spot light. These are generic timeless posts that are good no matter what time of year it is.

You can write these posts and keep them as drafts with no schedule date on them, so you can post them whenever you need them. Blogger also has an app incase your nowhere near a computer that allows you to post your drafts from your phone so that they look polished and thought out.

This will keep your blog going and keep your followers from wondering what happened to you!

What would be a few generic posts you will have on hand if disaster strikes?

Let me know down below!

Thanks for reading and have a great day :)

Blog planning And how it can help!

My posts have been going the the direction of me sharing my ideas on blogging and what can be done to make blogging easier and efficient. And here we are once again, this time I am going to play a bit off of my last post "Understanding Your Beauty Blogger" which can be found here.

It has been very hard for me to Post as often as I would like. I do feel that at least 3 times a week is about right for any growing blog. This however is not including Tag posts, so 5 posts a week including 2 Tags.

Now any budding blogger knows that Social networking is key to building a blog. And as we have discussed before, it is not easy and can be very time consuming to keep up with. Not only do you have to write and design the post, you also have to let the world know you wrote it and the sooner the better.

When I get inspired, its like a wave of of hot thick chocolate that just carries me away, but I cannot post 7 posts in one day, they will get lost and may never be read. So I have to wait until the following day and the moment is gone. But This doesn't have to remain the problem.

Blogger lets you write posts and release them into the wild when ever you decide to. This can be done manually each time you decide or set a scheduled release.

Lets say you write three posts on a Sunday night when you have peace and quiet, and schedule the first to be released on Monday morning around 6 A.M, for those morning commuters, the second  to be released on Wednesday at 2 P.M for the moms waiting for kids from school and finally the Third to be released on friday at around 5 P.M for those last minute weekend plans that need a little inspiration.

All the while you're behind the scenes boosting your blog with tweets, pins, insta pics, comments and what ever else your doing to boost your blog. You could write great posts all day, but if know one knows about it, then its for naught. I always wanted to say that YAY me!

So one night a week of three posts can give you that extra time you need to do other things for your blog.

This has been difficult for me to accomplish, along with every thing else that can pop up in any given day in my life. So from now on I am going to be devoting 1 day of the week to a certain aspect of my blog. Here's what I have in mind. Note: these are examples and wont be carried out in any particular order, use what you like drop what you don't.

Sunday: Write 3 full posts ( photos, editing ,etc) Set their schedule for release. Remember if your blog is affiliated with another site E.g Lucky Mag, Glipho, etc. You will have to Release them on that day, but its just a click so not to much work.

Monday: Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, Google+ and any other social site.

Tuesday: Blog hopping and commenting on other blogs! Always leave a link behind a thoughtful and meaningful comment.

Wednesday:  Answer all comments made on your blog.

So with just 4 days out of the week you have kept up with everything you needed to do as a active blogger without feeling overwhelmed. This can also be applied to a YouTube channel as well.

Think of a T.V Series, those are filmed months in advance and yet we can't wait for the next episode or the next season to begin.

This is just a thought in my head as to how to make all of this happen without me going nuts.
There are many free blog planners online for download and apps for smart phone that can help with planning future posts.

I hope this helps!
What are your thoughts on creating a plan similar to this?

Personal Stuff:
I am currently trying to find a space in my home to blog and Vlog without having to bounce around the house like a crazy person, I am so scattered :/.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Understanding Your Beauty Blogger

Beauty bloggers try out new makeup and beauty products, write a posts on the products and then sit there and wait for your comments. NOT!!

Many beauty bloggers don't just blog all day. Some have work, families, spouses, partners, pets and a million other things they do besides blogging. 

On average every beauty blogger has at least 8-10 blogs they themselves follow. 

That means 8-10 

posts they read and comment on every other day. 

Tweets that need to be retweeted.

Instagram pics need to be liked.

Facebook statuses need to be updated.

Emails need to be read including junk mail!

YouTube videos need to be watched and commented on.

And If you are associated with another affiliate site them double that!

These things are all needed to stay up to date in the beauty blogging community.

Not including the interruptions while doing all of this, the Kids, Pets, Husbands,Wives, Partners,  Neighbors, Family, Friends, heck even food can be a problem.

So If your beauty blogger doesn't respond right away don't fret! It's probably a sock that got stuck in the washing machine or the baby putting his toys in the heating vent. He or she hasn't forgotten about  you!

Beauty bloggers aren't fashion models with stacks of makeup products laying about. Wow that sounds amazing! Sadly that isn't the case.

They are everyday people just like you, who seem to have a passion for something they love writing about and sharing with you and the world. 

Posts take time to write, taking photos, editing photos, creating a header, deciding on a title, making sure all the links are correct, Trying to figure out how to describe the color green or the feeling of the newest face product.

For example this post has been in my head for over a week now. Going over, how should I word it? What is the message I am trying to send? What do I want it to mean to the reader? And so much more!

Beauty bloggers come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Find one or twelve that you feel connected with.

One who feels the same as you do about certain things. You don't like MAC products? Find a Beauty Blogger who doesn't use MAC. Your a drug store only makeup junkie? find a drug store Beauty Blogger.

You have to understand your beauty blogger. So the Beauty blogger can understand you and your wants, needs and expectations.  

So please be kind, be patient, be understanding to your beauty blogger. We are people too :). 

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

How blogging has changed my life.

A lot has changed in the short time I have been blogging, I see things differently now.

I have made some great friends through blogging, they have given me support and love that I never thought I would receive in such a short amount of time.

With my family, they have learned that Blogging is apart of my daily life.
When I wake up I check my email for updates, comments, mentions or any other kind of interaction with my blogging buddies or any one else. I actually read my emails now instead of just skimming the subject line and mass deleting them.

My Phone is always in use and losing battery life while I keep up with blogs I follow and my girls ( blogging buddies).

My brain is constantly flowing with ideas for posts and videos, but I always check to see if there is someone doing said idea, I don't want to copy anyone's work.

I am looking at other peoples videos in a different light, knowing now how hard it actually is to put up a video, there is a lot of work involved.

My family learned that there is more to me then just cleaning and cooking hehe :)

I get inspired now by things I would have just looked over before and not thought twice about it.

I see cosmetics and beauty products in a different light also. I look for textures, pigments and over all quality of the product, not just what it can do for me.

I also learned not to say things like fuck it, Shit or my favorite fuck'em, because I know people are watching me, so I learned to read what I write before I post. Inside of me is a drunken sailor waiting to get out!

Over all My life has changed through blogging and I love it. I love the fact that I can  express myself about something I feel passionate about.

This can go on for days so I will stop here.

So, how has Blogging changed your Life?

Starting a YouTube Beauty Channel: Things you should know

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. Today I have some pointers for you on starting a YouTube channel. Now I am not a pro and I don't claim to know everything, but I know what I know and I am going to share what I know with you.

I started my channel Aug 14, 2013 and today being Oct 4, 2013 with 51 subscribers, So that's a Subbie a day so far :).  Now, my channel is a beauty channel, on my channel I do reviews, tutorials and Egg tests.

Whats a egg test? I apply certain makeup products to eggs to test their claims if any on covering pores and what not. This is my niche on my channel. 

Whats a Niche? A Niche is your specialty something that makes you different and sets you apart from the countless others doing the same thing on YouTube. If you don't have a niche find one! 

This can be anything, Like me and my egg. 20/30Glam is apart of the beauty community on YouTube, Their Niche? Each other as far as I have seen They are the only Beauty channel that features Two women, So they can get two views of the same product, So you get to different views, two reviews in one video! kinda like a Siskel and Ebert of beauty and if they play on this I feel they will go very far on YouTube.

Now that you have considered what makes you different from all other beauty channels lets talk Brand.

Whats a Brand? You are your Brand. What you say, how you say it and how you look while you say it is apart of your brand. Don't try to be like every one else use your quirks, the things that make you, You.

Have a southern drawl? use it! Have a cute accent? Don't hide it! Use what you got. 

Now, not everyone is going to fall in love with you, but that's okay too. Haters will come and haters will go, but like Madonna said "Any publicity is good publicity". Example Mirandasings08 from YouTube her channel has many haters, but people watch just to see her madness and see what the haters have to say to her in the comments section of her videos and she responds to them through her videos, she basically used her haters to get ahead and it worked flawlessly.

Lighting! Even if you have a cheap camera or webcam your lighting can make it look so much better.

I use clamp lights from the hardware store and GE reveal light bulbs. I cover them with a white shower cap as a light softener.

 I do not point the lights directly at me because it will make me too bright. Point them at the ceiling, light the area your filming in not just your face.

I use the Logitech C615 webcam that I picked up at Walmart for around $60 dollars. It is a good camera and I like what I get from it for now. Sure everyone wants a great camera to film with but sometimes it doesn't work out that way, so just use the best you can afford.

I have made my background using a poster board from Walmart and wrapping paper from Walgreen's, taped it to a old mop duster stick. I did this because I have a 2 year old, so I have to film when I can and not when I want. And this helps me set up whenever I need it and I don't have to worry about the mess in the background.

Time! Time is a very important factor. If you are a new channel no one wants to see 15 minuets of you blending out your eye shadow or hear about how you love the Naked2 palette. Keep your videos around or under 10 minuets. Once you gain an audience then you can do longer videos because people have subscribe and are obviously interested in what you have to say. 

When it comes to eye tutorials, this I have learned from my own experience if you are doing a whole look do only 1 eye and cut to to finished look. Be sure to record your intro after you have completed your look so they can get an idea of the finished look before the tutorial portion starts so you can get a good intro to your video.

Think of it this way, in every movie blockbuster there are at least 5 trailer scenes. This means there are 5 attention grabbing scenes in every movie, this sells the film so people will buy tickets. ever wonder why the trailer is better then the movie as a whole? But instead of an hour and a half you get 5 to 15 minuets to sell your brand e.g YOU!


So catch your audience within the first 20 seconds then go from there every so often drop a trailer spot, this could be doing something different in the look your doing or showing them a different product, if your doing a review. So don't linger. Remember you have a video bar next to your face screaming watch me instead. So do your thing to keep the viewers eyes on you! :)

Edit your videos and edit them again. Get rid of all those ums. I little trick I am working on is to say everything 3 times and space out my phrases, like this. "this is the new beauty product of the month". Then stop. Don't say "this is the new beauty product and i love um what it does um for my skin". This will be harder to edit. Think of it as a commercial, make your statements and phrases as clear as possible.

When doing a voice over there is no need to keep talking all the way through. Say what is needed and nothing more, if it is funny or pertaining to the video then its alright. Add music to the video for the times you aren't talking, this will help move the video along, make sure its copyright free or YouTube will hate you and spit on your video!

Don't save your video as MyMovie.file.  Name it! YouTube uses this file name as a guide for what your video is about so name it the same way you want it to appear on YouTube itself. 

Don't Yell in your video most people watch YouTube with head phones on and a screaming voice is a sure way to get a video closed before you get to your subject matter.

Do add tags to your video, relevant to your video. YouTube Currently only allows I think 400 or 500 characters for tags, so use them wisely.

Do add big Beauty channels to your tags I currently use Michelle Phan and Kandee Johnson in my tags to show up on the side of their videos. 

Do add your channel name to your tags, this will help your other videos show up on the side while someone is watching your current video.

Do use annotations to ask your views for likes, subscriptions and comments, engage your audience.

Always ask for Likes, comments and subscriptions at the end of every video. Kandee Johnson always mentions a hug after her videos, GossmakeupArtist Always winks at the end of his videos. I haven't found my sign off signal yet, but I will one day! So find yours :)

Most Important! Look into the camera! Not the view finder, Not the computer screen. Talk to the camera like you are talking to your friends or family. 

You don't have to be all dolled up for a video, but you should look decent.

I am currently looking for new subscribers!
Please Subscribe if you like and if you have a beauty channel I will subscribe back :)

So that's all my brain can handle for today.

I will be Adding to this series as I go, so Please follow my blog if you like with bloglovin or google+

YouTube Channels I have mentioned above :)
TheMakeupSquid
20/30Glam
Mirandasings
Kandee Johnson
GossMakeupArtist

All Items mentioned above were purchased with my own money at Walmart.

Thanks for readings and have a great day :)

Beauty Battle Blog Vs. Vlog It's on!

Okay, So I Have decided to do a little experiment Using my blog and my YouTube channel which I guess is called a Vlog. I post to both of them often and put as much effort into both equally. So What I want to find out if which of the two get more of a  response/feedback/comments/follows/subscriptions. I post the results daily up on my personal Vlog. The reason why I am posting it here is to get you guys involved. I want to let you guys know what I am doing and also letting you know that any new followers/subscribers I gain will be mentioned on the personal Vlog as well as like/shares and what not. If there is anything I am leaving out of this experiment Please let me know.

My YouTube Beauty Channel is here
My Youtube Vlog Channel is here

I am including the intro video to the experiment and the 2nd day follow up.
I feel like a mad scientist Muhaha ;)  Enjoy!

Beauty Blogging, Tips and advice.

Okay, we all know that this is a picture of a beauty aisle. It can be located at our local drugstore or a super market. I know that when ever I am in one of these places I am going down that aisle no matter how big of a rush I may be in, I always make time for this aisle no matter what.

Now, I do always go For my favorites first, pick up what I am running low on or checking to see if there is a sale on any of my regular items.

But what if a new product calls out to me through the corner of my eye? What if it been something I wanted to look at before but never got the chance to give it a look/see?  Is it the way they have it displayed that is drawing me closer? Is it next to a product I already love? Is it yelling at me I can fix, Enhance or Make things easier on your beauty routine?


If you haven't figured it out by now, I am talking about blog posts. Earlier today as I was tweeting a fellow blogger Kellie at beautyeverafter.net was in a conversation about how often to post to a blog.

Now, if we see the beauty blogging community as a beauty aisle this will help to decide how often to post.
People will go for their favorites automatically, but maybe, just maybe,  you can catch there eye and get them to visit just like the new product in the beauty aisle I mentioned above.

Keep your posts coming, someone, somewhere out there, needs to hear what you have to say.
You ever noticed when picking up a product they put all the good information and key points upfront where you can see them quickly, turn it over and you have information that is even more important on the back, but lets face it the key words on the front brought me to the back of the product.

If you aren't getting feed back or views right away don't panic. Ask yourself this question. How many times do you have to see a product before you pick it up to look into it? For me this is about three to four times before I say okay let me see what this stuff is all about.

The look of the product is also important. Now I am not saying hire someone to redo your blog. But I am saying make it pleasant to look at, easy to read and most importantly only say what needs to be said.
We live in a  140 character society, so keep it short, simple and sweet :)

We read first with our eyes good photos that go along with your post draw people in. On blogger, bloglovin etc.. they show a large picture and a small caption about your post, so the pictures you use should be clear and relevant to your post, give them a reason to click through to your blog.

Oh, la lift, Watts up are great examples of a post title. Think about nail polish I can remember "I am not just a waitress" by O.P.I better then I can remember any other red colored polish. Why because I thought it was an awesome name for this red nail polish! yes, I say awesome, because its awesome :)

Make your post stand out instead of "Smokey Eye" why not "Seductive smokey eye that will drop his pants"
Silly but it made you think didn't it?

Think about beauty/fashion magazines their captions make us laugh, but we are turning the pages to find the article. I could go on but I won't. I have to practice what I preach. Wink, wink.

So to wrap this long winded post up, I am saying keep going, find ways to stand out. Your audience will find you. Hell, you found me and that means something :)

I hope this helps.
Thanks for reading :)
Have a great day!

P.S If I offended you with the word "Hell". I said it again ;)

Everything a BBlogger should know part: 2

So you picked out a name for your blog. You got your layout and color scheme just right. But how do you get people to visit your blog and hear what you have to say about that amazing palette you just bought?

Networking! Building up a network is a great way to get your blog off and running.

Here are a few tips to help get you going.

Join bloglovin Its a good way to network with other bloggers and they can easily find you as well.

Google has a follow this blog widget that is also similar to bloglovin this will also help build an audience.

Twitter,Facebook,Tumblr, Pintrest and Instagram  are all a must. Now if you feel these are too many social networks for you to handle, I have good news! They all have a way for you to link them all together so that what you post on one shows on the other the trick is to know which one will affect all of them.

Twitter and Facebook connect to each other easily.

Pintrest connects to Facebook.

Instagram connects to Facebook,Twitter and Tumblr.

Pretty much any social network can be linked to another in some way or another. Yes you will have to keep up with them if you want to build a audience.

Add a Grab it button to you site. This way you can exchange links with other blogs. The more links you have out there the more Google Gods like you :).

When you leave a comment on another blog as a signature leave a link to your blog. When you get attached to another bloggers site you wont have to do this all the time, because now you are friends and they know where your blog lives. Good etiquette is two links max on any blog, that is for me anyway. You don't want the other blogger to feel your using them for link only purposes.

Don't be a social advertiser and spam your blog, This can become annoying and you will lose followers.
I know I hate seeing spam about someones post. Post it two times a day max along with an eye catching title
And the Hashtag  #BBloggers  has become very popular USE IT!

Now this is just me, but I don't like following blogs by email. As you go your inbox will become over loaded with other things as a beauty blogger and you might miss the blog your following during a mass deletion of emails. But this is your option.

Please know that most of your first followers and subbies will be other bloggers so don't do anything you wouldn't like done to yourself.

Add Google Analytics to your blog. This is  your real site counter. This will help you see who is visiting as well as what site brought them to your blog. You can sign up for that Here. This tool will tell you how many visits you actually have.

Now this is very important! You may see your visit count go very high right of the bat, But this traffic is not real traffic. There is a site called vampire stat that keeps hitting blogs especially blogs through blogger.
these do count as views, but its a bot and not your biggest fan! Do not click on this link, I repeat DO NOT CLICK IT. Just leave it be, it will go away once you start getting real traffic.

So, I think these tips will help you get on the right track with social networking for blogging purposes.

If you need help in any way I am here.

I also do graphic design so if your looking for a logo, banner, buttons, custom follow buttons, backgrounds email me or Facebook message me on my Facebook page!

O.k I am done!

This post was inspired by CiaoBella :).

Have a Great Day!





 

What's in a review? Something every BB should know!

Well, People my Muse at Ciao Bella Inspired me once again!

What's in a review? When I am looking through blogs I see many reviews and they are all great. But how many of the reviews we see are we going to act on? What Drives me to take the advice of this person writing this review?

Trust is one. I feel I have to know this person in some way, if not I feel like I am watching or reading an Ad.




Reality is the second. Is this a real person? Do they do the same things I do in my daily life?

Quality is the third. Is this just a passing phase? Or is this a normal part of their routine?

Image is the fourth. I'm not saying you have to be a size 0 and have perfect skin. What I am saying is, are you a all around person? or do you stick to one type of beauty look? (e.g Glam,Natural,etc..).

Layout is the fifth. Is your content and instruction if any easy to understand?

Communication is the sixth: I like the idea that I can ask a question and not just say, hey great post! or your so pretty!

I have made friends through my blog, some really smart and beautiful people and I am liking it. I really listen to what they have to say as opposed to Just running through it glancing at the pictures on my way down, just to get my link in the comments section.

What I am saying is, don't lose sight of why we are here. To share our thoughts, ideas and passion for beauty. Don't turn your passion into work, you will just end up hating it. If it brings in a few bucks awesome!
But even after that, Why make beauty ugly? Remember where you started and don't forget your foundation! (pun intended).

Okay, so there are just a few and as I go on with this I will add more so follow my blog to keep up with any updates I make. Please leave me some suggestions and I will give you full credit for the suggestion when I post it.

All I know is, this is how I personally feel about reviews I have seen or read.
Let me know what you guys think and if you would like to see more posts like this.

Thanks for reading!