Bloggers and Sponsored posts

Hello, Beautiful!

So this morning I was doing my usual routine drinking my coffee and checking out my social medias. I came across a video from  friend of mine doing a review on a new product and as the video was playing I was skimming through the comments listening to the review when I saw a comment posted on the video stating that this person didn't  trust sponsored reviews.

Well, thats what I want to talk to you about today.

Bloggers and Sponsored posts

First of all when you start out as a blogger everything comes out of your pocket.
Hosting, domain, lighting, camera, even the products you review are being paid for by the blogger.
The time spent writing, reviewing editing is not compensated either. So you are basically doing all this for free. But something Valuable is being established, the bloggers reputation for giving honest and fair reviews.

After a while of doing free reviews on products you pretty much purchased yourself, Companies find you through your blog or other social medias and contact you to review their products, your compensation is getting a free product and building a reputation with the brand to try other future releases of products.

This could go on for months, yes you will build a reputation, but there will still be nothing in it for you besides your blog ads, which when starting out don't amount to anything great.

What is a Sponsored Post.

A Sponsored post is a post written by a blogger who is reviewing the product, but they are being compensated by the parent company or the secondary company who sells or promotes the product. Now this does not mean the company is paying the blogger for a commercial type review, but they are paying them to review the product and give a honest review, just the same as if they purchased the product themselves. The compensation could be the price of the product or other products to giveaway at a later date. Compensation does not always mean money.

Bloggers don't make much in the beginning, but in time it can turn into a career. So if every now and then a blogger posts a sponsored review understand that 

1. It doesnt always mean money.
2. Bloggers need to eat.
3. The review would be the same sponsored or not.

If you don't trust your bloggers review Sponsored or not, find another blogger.

Bloggers are like a hair stylist, if you don't trust their judgement, its time to find a new stylist.

(Some links shown may be affiliated.)  Thanks for visiting! Please like & share this post. Leave me a comment and don't forget to leave your blog links :) Follow this blog with Bloglovin

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.

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.