Search results for: “photography”

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. TIPS & TRICKS FOR RUNNING A BLOG .

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After the unexpected success of my last ‘how to’ blog post (‘how to run a blog; keeping organised and inspired‘ in case you missed it), I thought i’d do another on the topic, this time talking about how to juggle a daily blog (or a blog generally) and a full time career. As many of you who’ve read my blog for a while now (or read my abouts’ page) will know, mediamarmalade.com is actually a hobby of mine (I say hobby, but it’s like running a small business) and that I actually have a full time job which is my career and focus.

Whilst I admire and often dream to be one of those bloggers who takes the leap of faith and quits their job to do blogging full time, i’ve been working on my career for a number of years now and have progressed to a level that I never thought I could for my age and years in the industry. To quit my career now wouldn’t be the best choice for me, given my blog in relative terms is extremely small. Having said that, it by no means means that my blog is not a huge part of my life, a real obsession and a huge passion of mine which i’m extremely dedicated to. Far from it. The fact i’ve blogged daily for almost three years now is a proof of my passion and dedication to my little www dot. If anything I like to think i’m juggling two careers at once …

And if that sounds easy. Bloody hell it’s not. As any of you will know, who work and blog, managing your time to deliver on both work and a blog (plus ensure you have time to actually LIVE your life, see family and friends, go on holiday and spend time having real life fun) is actually an extremely difficult task. Even for the best of us multi-taskers.

This exact point (and the fact I frequently get comments asking how I manage to blog daily & have a successful career) is what spurred on today’s blog post. As with my last ‘how to’ post, this is by no means a dictated way of doing things, it’s simply my tips and tricks for running a blog and working full time. After three years I’ve experienced some seriously challenging times, juggling demanding work hours, business travel & extreme levels of stress, but somehow i’ve managed to never let my blog slip. Here’s how I think I’ve done it …

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. MASTER TIME MANAGEMENT .

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Time management, one of the hardest skills i’ve had to develop over the last five years, it’s something that takes practice, dedication and patience to achieve. The amount of times I’ve felt like i’m spinning plates and only just keeping my head above water goes well beyond 10 fingers and 10 toes, and time management is a critical key to success. It’s just a shame it’s so hard to do. But through my job i’ve learnt some great tricks & ways to help manage my time & deliverables, they may sound simple, but combined they work.

First of all, write a to-do list. It’s not just for us anal control freaks, to-do lists help – they help get the huge list of things you have to do out of your brain (leaving it clear to focus) and onto a piece of paper (or computer) where you can start to logically work through what needs to be prioritised and delivered and by when.

Prioritisation is key to being able to fit everything in, not just in work but in your life too. Sometimes work will have to take priority, for example if i’m working on a pitch or doing annual planning for clients I may end up working until 11pm at night for 3-4 weeks at a time, during this period work has to take priority, but so long as i’ve planned for it, it shouldn’t affect my blog going live daily as usual (all should hopefully seem consistent and groovy for you guys, even if i’m burning the candle my end).

Secondly use your calendar or diary to pre plan, make sure you keep a note of events you are attending, big projects that have to be delivered, blog posts you want to get live, weekends away with friends – anything and everything. If you have a clear timing plan for everything you have going on, you’ll have a much better idea on what you need to prioritise getting done & when you can block out time to dedicate to writing some blog posts.

Thirdly, focus on one task at a time. Yes us women (and some men) are great at multi-tasking but that doesn’t literally mean doing 4 things at once. You need to keep your focus on one thing at a time, else you’ll end up doing every job by half. In working hours, dedicate your time to your job, during ‘blogging hours’ focus on writing the posts you need to get live in the coming days. Dedicate time out to do this, even if it’s 30 minutes during your commute to draft some editorial in an email.

. PRE PLAN & SCHEDULE POSTS .

I won’t dwell on this point too much, after all my entire post last saturday was dedicated to just this, pre planning and scheduling features. There are many businesses that have use planning and scheduling to manage a project, I’d like to think that also comes with blogging but on a lesser scale that you would with a business. Quite naturally there will be times when you simply can’t even think about your blog, but so long as you’ve got your plans in place & can prep before hand, this should be no biggy.

I’m forever pre-planning and scheduling features (like I said, i wrote this on Wednesday when I had some time, but its going live today when i’m busy hanging out with my friends) and without this level of organisation I wouldn’t be able to keep blogging. So long as you’re motivated and inspired to develop content, then pre-planning should be no issue.

Make sure you read my post how to run a blog; keeping organised and inspired for more information and tips on this.

. KEEP SOCIAL .

Blogging isn’t just about your daily post on your blog, it’s about chatting with the community on twitter, sharing your day on instagram and posting your favourite things on Facebook. Keeping up your social presence is a key way of keeping your blog ‘out there’. If I have 5 minutes spare whilst walking to a meeting, grabbing a cup of tea or even popping to the loo (I can’t believe i’m admitting that one) then I’ll use it to grab my phone and quickly share my blog feature, instagram a few snaps from my blog or my whereabouts (definitely not the toilet in this instance, i’m talking things like this) or link up a brand or product i’m lusting over on Facebook page. We’re all speedy on our mobiles nowadays, so optimise any free moments in your day to keep yourself social.

. DON’T STRESS, IT’S A HOBBY .

This is probably the most important thing to remember, your blog is a hobby. Something you started because of your passion towards fashion, food, beauty, travel, writing, photography, whatever. Even though sometimes your blog may feel as demanding as a job (trust me, mine frequently does). It’s not. You are your own boss here, it’s your rules and your blog, if you want to skip a week to go on holiday, then do it, if you simply don’t have time, then just don’t worry or if you’re feeling like it’s a chore. Then just take some time out.

If your blog isn’t your full time job, then don’t make it one. It should be fun, enjoyable and you should want to produce content, write features and photograph things, the moment it’s not fun you should just give yourself a break. Take a reality check and come back to it when you’re in a better place.

Well being is of upmost important (you may have already read the feature I wrote about wellbeing here, if not it’s worth checking out), but your happiness, positivity and general wellness should always be priority. Don’t run yourself into the ground trying to juggle too many things, make sure you dedicate time to actually living your life and seeing your loved ones. It’s easy to get wrapped up in work, your blog and for things to become stressful or a worry. But life’s too short for that, I urge you all to keep check off your work-life balance and make sure you’re giving yourself the rest & care you need.

But on this point, work life balance is achievable, your work shouldn’t be left to take over your life (periods of manic-ness is fine, but working until 9pm everyday isn’t healthy) and as long you are keeping this in check, you should always manage to spare an hour in the evening to dedicate to writing something on your wee little www dot.

Today is proof of that, whilst my work schedule and personal life are rather hectic right now, this evening i’ve found a spare hour to dedicate to writing. And look what i’ve achieved in the time that i’d have otherwise spent unenthusiastically biding time watching TV waiting for the cooker to bing & dinner be served. I’ll grab 30 minutes Saturday morning to get my photos & voila. Job done.

So there you go, a second feature in my ‘how to’ series, like I said before, there’s definitely no right or wrong answer, but these 5 little tips are definitely factors which help me manage a full time career & keep up my daily blogging.

I’d love for you to share your tips & tricks for managing a blog and a job? Do you use any of my tips already?

. HOW TO KEEP ORGANISED AND INSPIRED .

First things first, this blog post will absolutely NOT tell you how to run your blog in the literal meaning, that is of course all up to you and the beauty and integrity that comes with creating and running your own little WWW dot. No, this post is more about my tips and tricks for keeping your blog momentum up, keeping organised and most importantly keeping inspired.

. KEEPING INSPIRED .

MAGAZINES . BOOKS . PINTEREST . BLOGS – Use these like they’re running out of fashion. I get endless inspiration and ideas from reading my favourite magazines (editorial style ideas, photography inspiration & just a general buzz for writing), buying beautiful books which document the most perfect photography & fill me with endless inspiration for how to compose my blog photos (plus of course if we’re talking DIY or Cookbooks you can give them a go giving you lots of fab content to then put back on your blog). Pinterest is course every bloggers best friend already, I dare you to even try and go on Pinterest for 10 minutes and not feel inspired or have pinned something on your own boards. Whether it’s just the images or content that gives you a few ideas for things to write yourself, or more simply spurring you on to share your favourite Pinterest accounts, there’s tons of inspiration and ideas to be found lurking in this mass land of imagery. It would be outrageous if I didn’t mention blogs too, of course we all inspire each other on & feed our imagination for possible content ideas. Don’t ever copy another bloggers content (that’s just not cool) but take inspiration from what you see and read. Despite being largely a style blog, I actually read a lot of food and lifestyle blogs too, I really love seeing how other categories / genres do things & getting inspiration from food, interiors or just general photography. I also read a lot of international blogs, in fact I’d probably say most my blog roll is international bloggers.

GET OUT & ABOUT – Not just because when you’re out doing things, you can of course document it and blog it (restaurant reviews, outfit of the day, hot spots in your favourite towns, day out ideas, a day in the life, street style, or simply a post with pictures – the opportunities are endless) but because just being out and taking in the world around you is inspiration enough to spur on your writing mojo.

SHOPPING & BROWSING ONLINE – I put my hands up, I do this a lot. Spending time browsing new collections, checking out the high streets offerings & losing hours browsing my favourite online stores. You don’t even have to buy everything you want or love and do a shopping haul post, you can curate all your favourite items and share them on a wish list or even pull together outfit ideas from imagery.

FRIENDS & FAMILY – Spending time with friends is super fun, but friends and family can also give you some great ideas too. I’m forever having ideas thrown at me from friends, Jase, family or collegues. Whether it’s related to improvements on my blog, content ideas or requests for certain features or praise for posts they loved. Getting feedback and ideas from those around you will really help give you a boost & give you a bit of mojo to get writing. 

. KEEPING ORGANISED .

This is actually where the idea for this post originated from. I wanted to share my tips for keeping organised and keeping my blog running on a daily basis. Running a daily blog but also juggling a full time career is no easy feat, but it’s one that i’ve managed to do with a few little tricks I’ve picked up along the way.

WRITE EVERY IDEA DOWN – Often i’ll find that my commute to work & the moment I get into bed are when all my ideas come flooding through, usually for me these are outfits I want to style up but more recently posts such as this which I feel inspired to write. I don’t want to lose or forget any idea I have and so I always have two things at hand just in case. My little notebook which stays in my handbag at all times, in here I jot down dates for publishing posts I’m working on, collaborations I am working on, a to do list of all things I must do, but most importantly all the ideas I have for future blog posts (and also my blog itself). Secondly is my phone, I have an iPhone5, but what I use is by no means flash, I use notes. In my notes app I have dozens of pages of blog notes ranging from inspiration & ideas to a schedule for upcoming posts as well as notes on invoice dates & collaboration agreements. I find that having things written down, on something that is always accessible, really helpful, not only does it act as a to-do list, but it also makes sure no fantastic ideas are ever forgotten. When I have a little more time on my hands I’ll turn these ideas into a list for future posts for me to develop …

MAKE A LIST OF FUTURE POST – When you have a little time to play with I find making a schedule of your future posts really helpful. Given my time and energy is extremely limited in the week due to work, I do like to try and schedule (or at least have planned) a full weeks worth of blog posts every week. Usually on a weekend or towards the end of the week i’ll start going through my ideas and making a plan for what features I want to post in the coming week. I keep to my 5 outfits & 2 lifestyle features a week mostly and will jot down in my notebook the list of future features, plus what I need to do for each (idea / imagery / editorial / publish date). If I am feeling super organised i’ll even start a post (even if it’s just a title) and schedule the date so I have a clear line up of features on my blogger interface. It helps to keep things organised & clear.

GRAB A MOMENT & START WRITING – Once I have my ideas developed & my ‘future’ posts schedule in mind, I’ll just start writing when I feel inspired or when I have a little time to play with. For example I’m actually sat writing this post on Saturday morning, because I have a little time to play with, a week before today when it actually has gone live. Sometimes your brain is in the mood to write and so when this happens, capitalise on it, start writing even if the images aren’t shot yet or you’re not planning to blog the feature for a while. Don’t lose the writing flow. As with my ideas, my inspiration for words also often comes when i’m travelling or getting into bed, even if I don’t have my laptop on me to write up my thoughts, I’ll grab my phone and write the content in an email, ready to publish at the right time.

KEEP YOUR CAMERA ON YOU. JUST IN CASE – This isn’t the easiest thing to do, especially if your camera like mine is rather big and heavy (I have the Canon 5DIII which is amazing but not the lightest), but having your camera on you for days out etc means you can always capture photos for future posts. I always ensure my camera is charged & ready for action, because any spare moment I have or if the light becomes ‘right’ I’ll try and get pictures for the posts I’ve got lined up. I don’t blog in a linear fashion, so often i’ll gather images, write features and publish the features all at different times. I personally usually start with my photos, then the editorial and then will schedule for live.

SCHEDULE – I don’t just mean in your to-do list, actually schedule your posts. If you have features written and ready for live, schedule them to save you worrying about it later. I always schedule my posts for 10am each day, obviously i’m at work at this time so whether I write my post the night before or a few days prior, i’ll always schedule my posts to go live in the coming days, to save me worrying about it on the day. Often I may find i’m in all day meetings and unable to even check my blog, so knowing I have content scheduled and ready for you guys is fab. It’s not something I do often (I used it for the first time whilst on holiday in Crete) but you can also schedule social media links to your blog too. I used buffer and scheduled a few tweets each day to share my current blog posts, you can even include images & hashtags, so it’s engaging content for your twitter feed even though it’s scheduled.

WHEN YOU’VE GOT IT . KEEP GOING – There are days when I don’t feel or have the time to blog at all. There are others when all I want to do is take pictures, edit pictures, write content & dream up ideas. When those moments come, I grab them and try and make the most of the time I have. Even if it’s for a post you’ve planned for 7 days time, if you’ve got the time and the ‘flow’ keep going, write until your hand hurts or until your patient boyfriend drags you away from the screen (yes this happens to me a lot). As I mentioned, this post was written a week ago when I was really inspired to write and had a couple of hours on my hands. It’s brilliant to have features written and scheduled for future dates, it takes off the pressure & means you don’t have to worry on those days.

. BLOGGING ON THE GO .

Leading a busy life often means you need to keep your blog running on the go, whether that be whilst you’re away at weekends, taking time out on holiday or simply busy working 5 days a week. There are a few little gadgets that keep me blogging on the go and a few ideas on how to keep your blog out there when you’re busy & not necessarily sat at the computer.

IPHONE – I find it near impossible to blog on my phone, however what I do use my phone an AWFUL lot for is to keep up the running of my blog & as mentioned organising myself and my blog. Aside from keeping my ideas logged, I will use my phone to check my posts are live and running as they are meant to be (no rogue skew-wiff images or major typo’s I didn’t spot), secondly I use it for sharing my new posts. I’ll save images from my blog to my phone to share on my blog’s Facebook page, my twitter feed & also my instagram. I’ll use my iPhone to keep up to date with the community whilst i’m out and about and also to share my blog across all the other channels people use to keep up to date.

IPAD – Again, whilst I find it near impossible to physically write and post a blog from my iPad (i’ve tried a few apps in the past but never found any that really work for me or allow for the HTML adapts I like to feed into each post), it does come in very handy for the day to day ‘running’ of my blog especially whilst travelling with work or going on holiday. When I don’t want to or am not able to take my laptop with me (e.g. if i’m spending time out with with family or Jase) but want to be able to check everything’s okay & keep the daily communications up – My iPad comes in very handy. If I need to get into  a live or scheduled posts to edit anything I can do, but it’s mostly what I use for sharing my blog across my other channels, but also reading all my favourite blogs too. I have the bloglovin app which I use but also just keep bookmarked my favourite reads.

MACBOOK PRO – My one and only. My most relied upon tool (aside from my camera) is of course my laptop. I personally favour Apple but that’s largely because I’ve been using them since I first went to uni back in 2006 (OUCH). I started with a little white macbook which served me well for a few years, I then upgraded to a 15″ Macbook Pro for my final year at uni and this awesome machine served me up until about two years ago when it quite literally just stopped working (nightmare). This was the moment I realised how important my laptop was to me, the prospect of not being able to work on my blog, access my images or keep connected on the move sent me into a state of despair, so much so that I instantly went out and spent my entire savings on a new one. I couldn’t wait for a replacement so by 10am the next morning I’d nipped out of work to the Apple store in Covent Garden and bought myself my Macbook Pro 13″ (I couldn’t afford the cost of the 15″again). I absolutely love my Macbook and it comes with me basically everywhere, I find it extremely easy to use, it houses all my editing software which I use for my blog & generally is light and mobile. My laptop now is a few years old and I keep thinking about the retina display screen, but for now this laptop is absolutely perfect for my needs. 

NOTE PAD & PEN – I like to keep things real too, it’s not all about gadgets of course. As I mentioned in the inspiration and organisation section, a note pad and pen are two very trusty tools of mine which I wouldn’t be without. It’s less for the ‘live running’ of a blog but more for the behind the scenes mental whirlwind, having a little notebook on hand helps remove all the noise from my head & keep it logged for when I need it. I like to treat myself to nice stationary as i’m a bit of an obsessive, paper chase always have beautiful notepads which I like to use (for my blog but also for work too).

WOW, so there you go. Most likely my longest ever blog feature, but what can I say, I got into the flow and ended up expanding this post from pure organisation to inspiration and managing a blog on the go too.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this is absolutely not a dictation on how a blog should be run, it’s just my way of doing it & it kinda works for me :)

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post and of course your tips and tricks too. Make sure you leave a comment and let me know.

. BLOGGING .

The sun has come out and my mood seems to have totally rocketed, it’s amazing what a little sun does to your mood and general well being. On the wellbeing point, it’s something i’ve been thinking about more and more lately, particularly following a series of inspirational talks at work yesterday from the Huffington Post & Arianna Huffington herself. As a very ambitious and career focussed female, it’s great to hear from other successful women but also be reminded of how important it is to maintain your well being on the road to success. After all the more physically and mentally ‘on form’ we are, the better we perform. So i’ve vowed to spend a little more time looking after myself, getting an extra hour sleep at night, praising myself for my achievements, looking after my tummy & cutting out the things I know makes it worse, spending time with my loved ones & generally focussing on the happy things in life (Thanks to Susie Pearls talk, i’m now already feeling bubbly & more consciously happy).

Happiness is infectious too, so if we all spend a little more time being grateful for the little things in our lives that make us happy & spend more time celebrating happy moments and channeling positive thoughts, rather than dwelling on the few things that really piss us off we’ll all be more positive … and healthy with that too. As you can tell, yesterdays inspiration talks seriously rubbed off on me and actually it was a really pertinent time for this to happen. There’s been lots of ‘chat’ amongst the blogosphere about the way our ‘industry’ (yes we’re now an industry!) is progressing and whilst the opportunities are endless right now, it does seem this new ‘business’ mode can give us a whole world of contradicting emotions – happiness, excitement, pride, the feeling of being overwhelmed, tired, and sadly self depreciating. This emotional rollercoaster can take it’s toll on us bloggers who maybe don’t do this full time or haven’t rocketed to the same success us others, and whilst we’re nothing but delighted for the success of others, there’s no point denying it does become a new benchmark for us to compare ourselves to, and if you’re anything like me (ambitious and constantly striving for perfection and success) then this new benchmark can make us a little self deprecating and in my case really hard on myself.

But in light of my new ‘mindfulness’ i’m changing my attitude to this, I work so so hard on my blog, and I juggle my full time career, family, friends and boyfriend with it all, and sometimes that’s nothing short of a miracle. So rather than spending my hours woe-ing that I wasn’t featured in X magazine article or involved in X collaboration or that I don’t have 27,000 followers and 100k subscribers to my instagram, i’m going to spend more time celebrating how bloody hard i’ve worked, all the fabulous brands I do get to work with, the incredible magazine features I have been included in, the events i’m invited to and every single one of you readers that do tune in, leave me comments, like my posts, as well as the fab people i’ve met and the great hobbies i’ve developed throughout my 2.5 years blogging (photography & journalism). If I was to ask my family, friends and colleagues about my blog, they’d do nothing but rave of all that i’ve achieved. So it’s about time I, and you, do the same.

I’ve read and heard a lot on this topic, and I think it gives us a good moment to take check of what we’ve achieved, where we’ve come from but most importantly WHY we blog. It’s a time to go back to the roots of why we even started our own blogs, for me it was a place to talk about my uncontrollable shopping addiction, love of clothes and my space to share how I like to style my looks with people that actually cared (clearly this was just me for a long while). Any ‘perks’ were exactly that, a perk, and definitely not the reason I started mediamarmalade.com. One of the best things about blogging is the fact that we’re a like minded bunch of people who share similar passions and hobbies, and in my mind that’s what it’s all about, and it’s important we all remember it and stop being so hard on ourselves if we don’t quite ‘match’ one another. We didn’t start for commercial success and there’s no point setting benchmarks based on other people, if there’s one thing to keep in mind it’s that integrity is what makes a blog, there’s no point trying to conform to how others do it, because that just defeats the entire purpose, plus it doesn’t debut the real ‘you’ which is what we all tune in for isn’t it? It’s absolutely easier said than done, but from here on in, we all need to spend more time congratulating ourselves than beating ourselves up. Success in the blogging world is subjective and undefined, so there’s no point chasing an intangible measure. Instead get back to your roots, blog what you love and write what you feel . A blog is about you, whatever you may be!!

I have to say I didn’t intend to write all this (this was originally a Friday outfit post …) but there you go, it’s what a blogs for, and it’s what I felt like ;)