Things that ticked me off this past week

Okay, So we have made it through another week and here we are with another ticked off thursday.
You may be saying to yourself, hmm she gets ticked off a lot. I do, sometimes things just tick me off and I want to tell you about them :)

Things that ticked me off this past week.

I have noticed that my blog growth has slowed down since I have become more active, which makes no sense. When I did post as often, people followed more.

I also have a problem when I film my videos, it really takes alot out of me and I cant film with ease, but who does film with ease?

My editing software keeps crashing as I am doing more intricate stuff with my editing, so I had to switch to a better program, but its the free version and I cant afford the full version yet.

I signed up with gofundme.com to get some help in getting a better camera for videos and a lighting setup, but I chickend out and didn't post it, so it sitting on the website awaiting me to post it.

Now that I have though of these things I am ticked off again!
What has ticked you off this week?


Thanks for Visiting, If you liked this post please Like & Share. Please Leave me a comment it lets me know your there, leave your link behind :) Don't for forget to follow this blog! www.interwebschic.com

How to take photos for your blog!

Hi. everyone! I don't know about you but guys but I love putting up nice pictures with my blog posts and I want them to look as pretty as possible, So I wanted to share one method that I use for taking picture for my blog posts. Enjoy!

This video will show you what I use to achieve this look.

Thanks for Visiting, If you liked this post please Like & Share. Please Leave me a comment it lets me know your there, leave your link behind :) Don't for forget to follow this blog! www.interwebschic.com

free backgrounds for your blog

I love creating images and backgrounds. These are a few I found while going through my laptop.

I made these with Paintshop pro

All the backgrounds are seamless or tiled.

Please help yourself :)

(Right click Save Image As)

Red Swirls

Pink Flowers

Lavender Polka Dots

Purple Diamonds

Teal Swirls

Pink Skin

Vintage Aqua

Black Glitter

Lavender Glitter

Lavender Glitter Swirl

Purple Glitter

Sandy Glitter

Aqua Glitter

Water Bubbles

Gold Bubbles

Thanks for Visiting, If you liked this post please Like & Share. Please Leave me a comment it lets me know your there, leave your link behind :) Don't for forget to follow this blog! www.interwebschic.com

Blog Growth Updates

Hi everyone! today I am going to be sharing with you my social updates and how much my blogs a grown!

First I want to thank every follower for your support. It means so much to me I can hug everyone of you! So if I every see you in person expect a hug!

Twitter.

Twitter is probably the most easy of all social networks to use. I currently stand at 1,709 followers.

Facebook.

I have to admit, Facebook is my least favorite social network. I feel its all about advertising now, but thats just me. I currently have 257 friends on Facebook. I have 1,333 likes on the makeup squid fan page and I have 53 likes on the interwebschic fan page.

Instagram.

I like instagram, but it is kinda hard to keep up with because I have a personal one with family and friends that I am addicted too, I am not going to lie. On the makeup squid instagram I have 622 followers.

Pintrest.

Pintrest is something I use rarely. I know I should get more involved there, but with everything it often gets forgotten, so sad. I have 63 followers on pintrest.

Youtube.

This is my biggest dissapointment as I know if I keep up with it, it will grow. I currently have 206 subscribers on my YouTube channel. I love everyone of my subbies :)

Bloglovin.

Bloglovin is my favorite thing to look at when I am worried about my blog growth, it lets me know my blog is alive! For The Makeup Squid I have 286 followers. The interwebschic has 211 followers.

These are my stats so far. If you have any questions about my social networking please let me know.

Please feel free to follow on any social networks, I always follow back :)

Thanks for Visiting, If you liked this post please Like & Share. Please Leave me a comment it lets me know your there, leave your link behind :) Don't for forget to follow this blog! www.interwebschic.com

Update whats going on with me.

Well, as you know I am absent for a while. I haven't posted or edited a video in a long time, a real post or video that is.

The holidays and the move have taken their toll on me and the stress of starting over again has gotten the best of me. I have the ideas floating in my head but, getting in front of the laptop to actually write is another thing.

Its like I lost that drive I had when I would wake up and just start writing or have that aha! moment when I said I have to write this down before I forget. Where did it go? How do I get it back.

I feel it has a lot to do with my surroundings. My brushes haven't been cleaned in over a month, My makeup is on top of a makeshift vanity that is really a T.V. stand. My mirrors frame broke in the move and I am afraid to have it in the house, the kids might get hurt.

The new house is pretty old. It was built in 1941 and their are only four grounded outlets, so plugging something in to charge has become an issue and the outlets are prime real estate.

So with that I feel things are on hold. So I have been trying to find away to situate things so that I can get back to doing what I love. I honestly feel empty without my blog and YouTube. I miss everyone and reading what they have all been up to.

I feel like I am failing the makeup squid and I am losing her. I love her, she is my baby. She is me and I am her. I have to save her.

Thanks for visiting! Please like & share this post. Leave me a comment and don't forget to leave your blog links :)

how to take nice blog photos

Okay, So word on the street is that not only do your blog posts have to be good, but also your photos.

I have been struggling for a while now with how to take good photos pf the products I review on my other blog. I have used many items to get the look I wanted, but something didn't feel right to me.

I used a place mat, a bed sheet, a blanket. I even used a fence once. But I wanted something more Fashionable, something more pretty or even beautiful. My daughter knew I was having a hard time with this for a while now, so one day she shows me a picture of a product with a gorgeous background and she told me I could accomplish this with my lap top and my phone. Then I immediately asked her if she took any drugs.

I mean this picture was amazing, I had to try it. So I am going to share with you how I accomplished this photo below.

Now I know it could be better, but it's way better then a bed sheet.  If you are still here then lets move on to the tutorial.

I used my Samsung Galaxy 3 and my laptop to accomplish this photo.

Step 1. 

Find a back ground you like. It can be anything you want, Google images is perfect for this. Save the Image to your hard drive.

Step 2.

Put the image into a software program that will allow you to preview it in full screen mode. This will block out any elements of your desk top giving you a full background.

Step 3.

Get something reflective, but not a mirror. I used a Good sized makeup Palette with a silver leather material.

It allows for reflection of the background, but won't show everything.

Step 4.

Get a lamp with a natural day light bulb and hang it over head. Use a sheet of paper or a white shower cap over the lamp to soften the glare.

Step 5.

Now this is the most important step! Place you item on your shiny surface, wipe it down as a matter of fact wipe everything down, dust can show up in camera too. Once everything is wiped down. Take a few shots with your camera and find the spot where you get the reflection of the surface and the background without seeing any of the lines from the monitor in the background. 

This will take a few shots to find this spot, but you will find it, try not to get to close to the screen as to not pick up your reflection in the background.

I hope this helps with your photos and if not let me know and I will create a more detailed tutorial.

Good Luck!

Being true to myself and my blog

Google Images

I can't do it. I tried and I just can't.

I got my domain name www.interwebschic.com, I changed my banner to reflect my personality and my interests, which I will probably change again since there are some aspects missing.

Interwebs Chic, is it pronounced Chick or sheek? I have no idea but either way I like it.
I woke up with a fire in my soul today and I liked it. I woke with a determination for my blog as I didn't like the direction it was going in. So I decided that no one is going to decide my fate or the direction of my blog.

I was so afraid that if I posted a rant after posting a blog tip people weren't going to like it and drop my blog.
But today that all changed.

I am not writing for you! I am not even thinking about you when I write, so why should I care what you think?

Google Images

I write for me. I write because there are things I want to share with you, things that might make something somewhere easier for you and in order for me to accomplish this I have to be me and I am not single sided, I am every sided.

I cannot have this blog be just about one thing. It has to be about everything I think or care about posting.
I want to help others with their blogs by sharing what ever I learn as I go on my own personal blogging journey, but I also want to share things that tic me off, things that make my day extra special even if its as little as hearing my favorite song at 4 a.m.

Google Images

I want to write about the process of making banners and images for blogs.
I want to write about how to add your comment link after losing it.
I want to write about how my husband makes my blood boil and I have to remind myself that putting a grown man in a closet is a crime somewhere in the world.
I want to write about how my three year old knows how to buy apps on my smart phone.
I want to write about my 16 year old son who won't talk to me.

I want to write about what ever I want to write about and if you are here for only one thing, I am sorry.
I am not a one thing person, so this blog will be about me and whatever that entails, the good, the bad and yes I dare say it, the ugly. eww.

Google Images

So I hope you stay, I hope you follow, I hope my insanity makes some type of sense to anyone out there somewhere on the interwebs.


Thanks for Visiting, If you liked this post please Like & Share. Please Leave me a comment it lets me know your there, leave your link behind :) Don't for forget to follow this blog! www.interwebschic.com

The blog changes interviews

We all want our blog to be the best that it can be. Sometimes this can be as easy as a few clicks or as hard as rewiring your blog completely.  Either way the interweb offers us options, lots of options and sometimes, we want to hear it first hand from someone we know what the best way to go as well as what we should stay away from.

I had the pleasure of interviewing three amazing bloggers, from veteran and newbie alike and they have some very good advice to share with you all, So here it is.

The blog changes interviews. 

1. Whats your name? Rebecca B. Bird

2. What is the name of you blog/s? HelloPrettyBird.com

3. How long have you been blogging? On and off for nearly 15 years (whoa), but about 6 months on my current blog

4. What are the changes you have made to your blog recently? (Layout, Commenting system, etc..) I recently switched from the standard Blogger commenting system to Disqus

5. Why have you made these changes? ( if you weren't satisfied with anything please let me know what these were.) I noticed that some of my readers were responding to each other in the comments on my site, so I wanted a commenting system that was more conducive to ongoing discussion. Blogger's standard comments are fine for just leaving a quick note but aren't very interactive.

6. What was the most difficult aspect of your blog/s to change? The transition to Disqus was pretty seamless, but one thing I didn't anticipate was that Disqus imported the old comments by the date they were posted, rather than by what was in reply to what! So if you look at some of my older posts now it's difficult to make sense of who is replying to who.

7. What was the easiest aspect of your blog/s to change? Installing Disqus only took a few clicks and a bit of waiting so it was very easy!

8. What are your most important widgets for your side bar if any. The search widget, though it hasn't been working properly lately so I may have to research alternatives.

9. What aspects are you looking to add to your blog in the future? I hope to add an improved search function at some point, and maybe streamline the navigation a bit. I think I could also be utilizing my footer better, but I haven't decided what changes to make yet.

10. Any advice for your fellow bloggers looking to make changes? Research your options carefully before attempting to implement a change! With commenting systems, for example, there are other choices besides Disqus (i.e. IntenseDebate, Google+ comments etc.) so it's a good idea to find out the strengths and weaknesses of each one before deciding which one will be best for your website. It gets a bit tricky if you're switching back and forth between different ones all the time!

1. Whats your name? Karen Pasto

2. What is the name of you blog/s? Kpsays.com

3. How long have you been blogging? 6 months

4. What are the changes you have made to your blog recently? (Layout, Commenting system, etc..) I am planning to completely do away with comment moderating. I decided to try the free version of Comment Luv to see if I liked it and test it before I completely changed over.

5. Why have you made these changes? ( if you weren't satisfied with anything please let me know what these were.) I like the fact that other bloggers who take the time to comment can leave a link to their most recent posts and maybe get more traffic. I have also found new blogs myself. Win/win!

6. What was the most difficult aspect of your blog/s to change? This was an easy change.

7. What was the easiest aspect of your blog/s to change? I use Word Press, and the plug in was super easy to install.

8. What are your most important widgets for your side bar if any.  I have an Instagram photo carousel and most popular posts plug in on my sidebar.

9. What aspects are you looking to add to your blog in the future? Since I am still new, I plan to hire a blog designer to take my blog to the next level. Also learn more about HTML coding.

10. Any advice for your fellow bloggers looking to make changes? It's your blog, so don't be afraid to change it up. If you don't like it, you can undo it :).  Thank you Laurie for including me in this project! Much love, kp

1. Whats your name? Hi, I am Jules, from Lippy Likes

2. What is the name of you blog/s? lippylikes.com

3. How long have you been blogging? Since October 15th so still a real noobie aw x

4. What are the changes you have made to your blog recently? (Layout, Commenting system, etc..) When I started my blog, I had no experience of blogging and was a total technophobe so I just googled free blogs and followed the instructions on Blogger. I quickly realised that there were some things I could do to really improve the look and layout of my blog and the readers enjoyment of it. I added my Blog to Bloglovin' which let me be easily found by potential readers. I set up a profile on Google+ which increases my visibility to search engines. I bought a decent camera to improve the quality of my pictures and found PicMonkey, a free editing site. Using PicMonkey I made a decent header and blog button which I proudly display on my sidebar. I use Google+ for comments which does away with the dreaded Captcha. I added adverts from Adsense and skimlinks to start monetizing my blog. I bought a custom Domain name for my blog

5. Why have you made these changes? ( if you weren't satisfied with anything please let me know what these were.) I bought the Domain name - www.lippylikes.com because I thought it indicated how seriously I take my blog. It cost very little but one day I would like a custom made design which can cost a great deal which was why I decided to start monetizing. I personally hate Captcha and often abandon a comment at that stage when a bogger has it enabled. 

6. What was the most difficult aspect of your blog/s to change? Adding the custom Domain name was something I found ridiculously difficult and I eventually had to seek the help of a friend the lovely Hayley at TeaPartyBeauty,

7. What was the easiest aspect of your blog/s to change? Everything else was really simple and believe me, if I can do it, anyone can,

8. What are your most important widgets for your side bar if any. For me the most important are the follow buttons - for google+, GFC and most importantly Bloglovin'. 

9. What aspects are you looking to add to your blog in the future? As I said, I would love to have a whole blog redesign, something plain and classy but will all of the necessary elements in place. 

10. Any advice for your fellow bloggers looking to make changes? I would advise simply googling anything you want to do. There are some very simple step by step guides out there If you really can't manage to do something then I suggest asking for help on twitter There are some super lovely ladies on there who are really great at all this kind of stuff and I have always been lucky enough to find someone to help. Most of all though remember, whilst everyone wants their blog to look fantastic, what is most important of all is the content. So Keep Calm and Carry On Blogging x

So as you can see its basically all about personal style and how you want you blog to look and feel.
Don't be afraid to make changes especially early on.
Always remember if you get stuck there's always Google :)

widgets Every Blog Should Have

Widgets are a very important part of any blog, they help people share your content, they allow people to follow you on social networks, they can even help people find your older posts without going through your archives.

I have a few favorite widgets that I use and both of my blogs.

Here is a list of widgets every blog should have.

Follow buttons: 

These are very important as they allow your readers to actually connect with you and see you aren't just words on a screen. My favorite sight for a simple follow icon bar like the one on my blogs comes from Addthis.com they have many widgets to choose from which are actually overlays on your blog and can go where ever your reader go as as long as they are on your site.

links:

There is a great widget that places up to 5 previous posts from your blog, they are applied in the perfect place at the end of each post so that your reader can continue reading your great content. Linkwithin.com

Share buttons: 

Now this is the most important of all widgets, the glorious share widget. Sharethis.com has a great and simple to install. This widget can be customized to your liking and is placed at the bottom of every post so that your  readers can share your content from anywhere. Sharing is caring after all.

YouTube:

 If you have a Youtube channel and post your videos on your blog you don't want your readers to leave your blog to subscribe to you, they could get lost in there and you lost your new subbie. The best way to do this is place a place subscribe button in the side bar of your blog. its a little tricky to install but so worth it, I promise :) YouTube Subscribe button scroll down the page to the configure button section then go from there.

Call to action:

 This is the most Important of all and it ain't even a widget! After someone reads your post, comments, shares and likes it. Then what? Place a call to action at the bottom of every post.
Make it personal, make it unique, make it you.

I hope this helps :)
Keep writing. If you write, they will read.

If you liked this post please let me know what you think!
Please like & share and dont forget to follow :) http://www.interwebschic.blogspot.com

Adding Disqus to Blogger the right way and trouble shooting.

If you follow this blog then you know I have been trying to install a different commenting system to my blogs.

I recently went through some changes on both of my blogs, I changed the layouts on both and I wanted a easier way to communicate with my readers and I felt Disqus was the way to go, however this wasn't as easy as the website claims, for me it wasn't anyway.

If you are having problems installing Disqus to your Blogger hosted blog please keep reading.

These are the steps you need for a successful installation of Disqus.

First blogger configurations.

Turn off Google+ commenting
Allow anyone to comment
No captcha
Comments Embedded.

Disqus Configurations.

1. Sign up for the service you can do that by going here www.Disqus.com.

2. Go to add Disqus to your site in your admin panel and add all the required fields.

3. Go to the setting tab while in the Admins section, a drop box will appear with a list of the blogs you have added.

4. Click the blog you would like to ad disqus to.

5. Click the install tab and choose your platform, for this tutorial we are going to go with blogger.

6. You will see that the second option is to import your comments. This is something you will want to do at this point. So import them to Disqus now by clicking the import link, this will take you through a few screens asking for permission to import your blogs comments say yes to both. One will be for taking the comments and the other will be for giving the comments. Disqus and blogger have to know each other before they can dance together. Once imported move on to the next step.

7. Click on the 1st option Add (blog name) to blogger site.

8. This will take you to a screen where you will add the widget to your blog follow the steps and voila!
Disqus is now apart of your blog, but you may not see it right away. Why? Lets read on.

Trouble shooting

Here are a few issues nobody tells you about for installing Disqus to blogger.

Disqus takes your comments very seriously and wants them protected, so they need to trust blogger and how does Disqus trust blogger? You tell them to trust blogger. How do you do that?

Go back to your settings tabs in Disqus.
Click the Advanced tab
In the third section of options you will see a trusted domains text box.
Type your domain without the http://www.
So you will type it like this YOURSITE.COM or YOURSITE.BLOGSPOT.COM if you have a custom domain with hosting from blogger add both of them.

Another thing to do is make sure your website name is spelled the same way on your blog.
If your site is (My Fancy Website) it cannot be (my fancy website) on Disqus, both have to match exactly.

Once you do all these things do steps 2 through 8 again.

I also have noticed that it takes Disqus a few minuets to appear on a newly published post so don't freak out yet. Check you older posts to see if it is there.

I hope this helps installing Disqus to your Blog.
If you have any trouble please let me know.


If you liked this post please let me know what you think!
Please like & share and dont forget to follow :) http://www.interwebschic.blogspot.com

Get your own newsletter for free

Want to update your followers on interesting articles, videos and things you found online?
Clicking the share button on everything can get annoying. Good thing I have found a one stop site for everything you would like to share in a site newsletter type format.

Paper.li  allows you to do that for free.

When you sign up you create a paper and decide when you want it published, Daily, morning and evening editions or weekly.

You can link it to your YouTube account, Twitter, Facebook and Blog Through a RSS feed. You can even choose Keywords.

It will showcase your likes, comments and shares into cute little articles so your followers can see what you have been up to. There is even a little widget that goes into your bookmarks bar that allows you to share anything you find interesting and want featured on your paper.

I like this format because it allows me to feature blogs and videos of my fellow bloggers and YouTube videos that I love.

Is also allows you to customize the look of your paper, but this is limited in the free edition. The full editable version is $9 a month. I currently don't have any followers for it to be worth that, But if Its grows I will gladly pay the fee for a good looking newsletter.

As you can see here is features my latest post and a posts from a two friend of mine that I commented on.

This allows me to give myself a boost as well as a fellow bloggers.

I think this idea is great, as subscriptions grow your followers can keep up with you.

Right now I am on daily edition, but as I grow I will probably go up to weekly.

It also offers you a widget for your blog, so people can follow or view your newsletter from anywhere you place the code online.

Would you try paper.li?

Here is a link to my paper

Interwebs Chic Edition

Subscribe and I will subscribe back, I look forward to reading your newsletter.

If you liked this post please let me know what you think!
Please like & share and dont forget to follow :) http://www.interwebschic.blogspot.com

Blogs are like shopping

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 whenever 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 who was in a conversation about how often to post to a blog.

Now, if we see the blogging community as a shopping 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 shopping 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.

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 :)

Remember blogs are like shopping we are always looking for something new and improved.

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

If you liked this post please let me know what you think!
Please like & share and dont forget to follow :) http://www.interwebschic.blogspot.com

Removing time and date from your blog posts

When I am reading a blog and I see the date it was written it takes away the value of the information given.
I mean if I am searching for something and a post is dated 3 years ago I will skip it, but if it is current within a year or so I will read through.

You can make all your post timeless, by doing a little work in your blog settings.

The Blogger version is pretty simple.

Go into your settings menu, then click on language and formatting.

Date header: is where you can choose your option to only show the day of the week the post was published instead of the day/month/year format.

Timestamp Format: Is where you adjust the time the post was written, rather than 12:89pm date/month/year format.

The comment section is important also, I always read the date when a comment was posted so do the same for then too.

Comment Timestamp Format: Make sure you set the time to the same and the timestamp format above in the last step.

Click save settings and your posts are timeless :)

This is not a good format for blogs about things pertaining to time and dates.



If you liked this post please like & Share. It Makes me happy :) Laurie M.

Finding your Blog name

Finding blog name is important if you want to stick around for a while.

This blog was called Makeup, beauty and me.
When I realized I was posting more on blogging advice
rather then makeup beauty or me, I knew it was time for a change. The name I had chosen didn't have anything to do with what I was saying. I know some people probably got confused because of the change, but it's better it happened now rather then later.

 Finding a universal name can be very hard if you want an online presence, everything will need to match in some way. the "MakeupSquid" wasn't very hard because no one is named the "MakeupSquid besides me.

But interwebschic was a bit of a hassle. I wanted a blog name that had something to do with the "Net" and at the same time have a female voice.

 I don't want a different twitter identity, But you should have one main twitter account to represent you online. This name should match somewhat across all platforms of social media.

 If you are a new blog and aren't happy with your blog name, change it now before while no one is noticing. Make it something that represents you, your personal style and give the readers a general idea of what your writing about.

There is a website called spinxo.com that helped me find both of my blog names. They ask for info like your hobbies, likes,etc.. and a keyword and they generate hundreds of names for you to chose from. Through this site you can see if your chosen name is available on all social media platforms.

This site really makes finding your online identity very simple and I like simple.

 If you liked this post please like & Share. It Makes me happy :) Laurie M.

How to create a favicon

makeupbeautyandme.blogspot.com

Whats a favicon?

A Favicon is the little graphic on your page tabs on your favorite browser, they are also listed right next to the names of the links in your favorites.

This is a good form of branding, Look at my favicon on my page tab, its that little pink bow :).

every brand needs a favicon, I mean we all the the blogger icon right? That orange B, or that blue G from the Google home page. Well you want one too right?

I am going to show you how to make one of those awesome little icons for your own blog or website.

First you need an image this image can be anything you want it to be, but it must be a even square.

500x500, 1000x1000, as long as it is even it will work.

You can make one yourself if you like but it isn't necessary. You can take your blog button and turn it into a favicon or your face if you like.

I went through a google images and did a search for royalty free png. graphics and found my bow.

png. is the best file format as it is a transparent graphic.

once you have found your image go to 

http://www.favicon.cc/ 

1. click import image

2. choose your file

3. click the shrink to square icon option

4. Click upload

Now you are going to see a bad pixelated version of your image, don't panic.

Click the download button and save the ico file to your machine.

Now log into your blogger account and go to your layout page. and on the top left corner

you will see a favicon widget thingy. Click it and upload your file!

This will take a few minuets to show up on your page, but its there I promise.

I added my blog to my favorites and i shows my favicon right next to my page name I love it!!

I hope this help! if you need any more help please let me know, Good Luck!

If you liked this post please like & Share. It Makes me happy :) Laurie M.

Whats a Niche? Do I need one?

If you are blogging you have probably heard the phrase "your niche" floating around.

makeupbeautyandme.blogspot.com

Well today I am going to explain what a niche is, as well as if you need a niche to blog.

I Personally don't feel you need a niche, but the blogging Gods say that you do.

You can expand your niche, I have a beauty blog that I used to add blogging tips and tricks to.
And actually those were my most responded and viewed posts.

But I did not like that  I was writing more about blogging tips than beauty.
So I created a second blog that focus more on blogging advice and the whole makeup of my beauty blog.

So the Gods are correct a niche is needed.

A niche covers your subject matter, Makeup, fashion, family, food. Pretty much what ever your passionate about is your niche.

Do you need to be an expert? Nope.
As long as you love it, you can write about it.

You can expand your niche from "makeup" to "nail colors" and so on, but it should stay within your boundaries. Don't write and Makeup and Fishing, unless your write about wearing makeup while fishing.

If you liked this post please like & Share. It Makes me happy :) Laurie M.

Your Keywords and how to use them

Content is the biggest draw to your blog so, write, write and write some more. Just make sure your content focus is on your keywords or keyword phrase.

makeupbeautyandme

Keyword "makeup" Keywords phrase " how to apply makeup".

Make sure your content is useful within your niche.
Bring your content to your page on a regular basis or somewhat regular basis. this will help your rankings as new content refreshes your standing with search engines.

Links should use your key keyword phrase. If your target in the link is "pink blush" then your link should be "pink blush" instead of a "click here" link.

Place keyword phrases appropriately in text links, image ALT attributes and even your domain name.

People always ask about their labels for their blog posts. There is just one problem here.
Labels "keywords" in blogger are only for your blog itself and has nothing to do with search engines, they help the reader navigate your blog.

The top keywords for beauty bloggers niche.
Makeup, Beauty, Makeup Tips, Cosmetics, Make Up, Beauty Products.


If you liked this post please like & Share. It Makes me happy :) Laurie M.

Get your blog buzz going

Here are a few tips from the interwebs I found that may help you get the buzz going on your blog.

1. Your aim should be to create content that people want to read and share.
2. Be true to the goals you set out for your blog: Are you providing valuable information?  Are you provoking conversation?  Are you commenting on trending topics?
3. Use target keywords, use these key words in your title and blog post.
4. Share your link on all social media

Here are some tips to grow your social media presence.

Facebook:

1. Find and like 5 new pages in your niche.
2. Post about 2 interesting topics related to your niche.
3. Update your Facebook page daily if you have one.
4. Ask people to comment, like and share your posts.

Twitter:

1. Send at least 3 new tweets daily. Make them fun and interesting.
2. Re-tweet 2 interesting tweets daily
3. Follow 10 new people per week.

Google+:

1. Add 5 new people to your circle each week.
2. Share blog posts at least twice a day ( make sure you share to public)

Pintrest:

1. Post images from your blog as pins leading back to you blog.
2. Add 1 new board that contains 6 new pins each week.
4. Always use keywords pin description and board titles.
5. Follow 5 new pin boards each week in your niche.

Youtube:

1. Subscribe to 3 new channels in your niche each week.
2. Find 3 new videos each week to share on Twitter, Facebook and Google+


I hope this helps, wishing you the best of luck.
Laurie M.

3 reasons your not getting comments

You write a post and expect some comments even if they aren't good, something is better then nothing!

And then it happens absolutely nothing, the crickets are louder then your comments.

Don't think it's your post! Don't think it isn't worthy of a comment! 99% of the time is it, except they cannot leave you that comment because they don't want to be signed up to another social media thingy.

I don't blame them. How many of us blogger owners has a wordpress account? be honest! 

I know I don't or maybe I do but I promise you I forgot the password.

This is a list of things that throw off comments from good blog post. 

Registered Users Only Allowed to Comment

WTF? We are on the interwebs people!! We are not supposed to be in little boxes. 

Allowing people to tell us who can and who cannot comment on your blog posts.

Only allow people with Blogger or Google accounts to comment

I want to reach a broader audience! Not just my Google+ followers. And I don't want me sharing my post to be my first comment! No body wants to comment on their own blog post unless its a reply!!

Comment Moderation

What happened to freedom of speech? Your going to shut me up before I say anything? I understand people want to keep the vulgarities and the bashing to a minimum, But lets be honest if you can't take a good bashing, Why do you blog? Why are you out there for the world to see? Comment Moderation should be used after the offence is committed not before.

Captcha boxes

I just don't like it.

I disabled google+ comments, anyone is free to comment.

How to you feel about the Commenting System, Captcha boxes, Comment Moderation?

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.