Search results for: “how to turn your blog into a business”

  • HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 6 LEARN FROM YOUR FAILURES

    HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 6 LEARN FROM YOUR FAILURES

    Mediamarmalade Tips


     HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 6 LEARNING FROM YOUR FAILURES


    Six weeks have passed and it’s now time for my final instalment of ‘how to turn your blog into a business’. I love writing my tips posts and thought it would be helpful to create a little series for you, something to follow week by week, full of my detailed tips and advice on one specific topic. I hope you’ve enjoyed it, found it helpful, and learnt a little on the way? If you have any requests for future series, i’d love to hear about it?

    In the meantime, here’s a little recap of everything we’ve covered so far, and today is all about learning from your failures, top tips for picking yourself up, and continuing on that journey to success. If anything it’s the most important part …

    Building a Brand | Creating a Business Plan | Learning to NetworkManaging your finances | How to measure success


    Mediamarmalade TipsMediamarmalade Tips


    . HOW TO LEARN FROM YOUR FAILURES .

    #1 ACCEPT

    Number one. Accept that failure is part of the journey, it’s normal, it’s helpful and most importantly it’s needed. Needed because it helps you adjust, grow, develop & progress. Even if you get it right the first time, nothing can last forever, you need to continue adapting to grow and build your blog & business … failures help you on that journey.

    #2 ANALYSE

    Most importantly, aside from accepting that failure is okay, it’s normal, it’s part of the journey, you need to learn from it. And to learn from failure you must analyse, analyse what happened, what went well, what went wrong, what needs to be improved.

    The only negative outcome of failure is to give up, and to not learn, evolve & move on. And understanding and analysing what went wrong is a critical action in helping you build yourself back up and continue to grow. The analyses should be constant (remember my measurement tips), but it’s even more important when you’ve encountered some rocky situations, because it’s analysing your work, your measurement metrics & your delivery that will help you grow.

    #3 ADAPT

    Once you understand what’s working and importantly what’s not. You need to adapt your plan (your business plan, your tactics & probably your goals). As I mentioned back in the business plan tips post, your plan should be ever evolving and adapting based on your achievements, learnings and the market around you.

    Don’t be afraid to make changes, to accept something isn’t working, or to change your focus based on something that is. This is the key to success … the ability to adapt.

    #4 OPTIMISE

    Much like the ability to adapt, the process of optimisation is also key! Optimising your work, your efficiencies, your process, your business set up … part of the learning curve also must be around how you run your business, how well you work, how successful your blog business is. And as I keep saying, learning to adapt, and optimise those things that are working well is key in growing your business, and ensuring continued success!

    Don’t ever stop learning, failing, evolving and optimising.

    #5 EMBRACE

    My final word … embrace. Embrace the journey, embrace your failures and embrace your successes. You’re not super human, you’re human, and with that comes imperfection & mistakes. This is fine. This is normal. This is good. Embrace it … and embrace the incredible journey you’re going on, as an entrepreneur, turning your blog into a business. What an incredible thing to do, to achieve … embrace your failures. And embrace every success!

    The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.


    Mediamarmalade TipsMediamarmalade Tips


    . CATCH UP ON THE PREVIOUS 5 POSTS IN THE SERIES .

    Building a Brand | Creating a Business Plan | Learning to Network |Managing your finances | How to measure success 


    And with that we come to the end of my tips series, all about turning your blog into a business! For those of you on that journey already, congratulations, what an amazing thing to achieve. For those of you working towards that big step, of turning your blog into a business, GOOD LUCK! Be pragmatic, be passionate and be committed. And don’t forget to come back and tell me your successes, your failures and what you’re learning on the way!


    “Wake up early. Drink coffee. Work hard. Be ambitious. Keep your priorities straight. Your mind right and your head up. Do well, live well and dress really well. Do what you love, love what you do. It is time to start living.”

  • HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 5 MEASURING SUCCESS

    HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 5 MEASURING SUCCESS

    Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-8


    . HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: WHAT IS SUCCESS & HOW TO MEASURE IT .


    Can you believe it, today is the penultimate instalment of my 6 part series on how to turn your blog into a business. How time flies when you’re having fun! I’ve always loved sharing blogging tips, careers tips and even photography tips with you all, but creating a little series has been even better. I’ve loved having a plan of what i’ll write, being able to dig a little deeper into each topic and hopefully cover quite a broad topic in details! Have you enjoyed it?

    If you’ve missed parts 1 – 4 then you can check them out here: Building a Brand | Creating a Business Plan | Learning to Network | Managing your finances … and today’s feature Measuring Success!


    Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-18


    . IS IT WORKING? HOW TO MEASURE YOUR BLOG SUCCESS .

    I’ve actually written a couple of posts previously on the very subjective and broad topic of success .. debating what is blog success, how to be a success, and also what makes a blog good or ‘successful’. But today I wanted to focus very specifically on how you measure your blog success, what are the best tools, measurement systems & stats to focus on, and a little touch on what to do when you’re not achieving what you set out to.

    Below are 5 different tools or measurements you should be considering when looking at your blog success … what you’re measuring should link directly and feed from your business plan you created in step 2 (check out my tips on creating a business plan here). Your business plan defined what you wanted to achieve, what you needed to do to get there, and therefore what success looks like (money, page views, social following, content qaulity or quantity etc). So today is all about how you go about monitoring and measuring.

    #1 GOOGLE ANALYTICS

    Google analytics should always be one of your first points of call when you’re looking at measuring your blogs traffic, reach, engagement etc. The tool effectively and efficiently allows you to look at anything from the number of unique people coming to your blog, the number of times they visit & the number of pages they view, to where your traffic is coming from (regionally, audience wise & even from which device), beyond this it allows you to monitor and evaluate engagement with your site … bounce rates, content traction, repeat visits etc.

    You should use google analytics to monitor your growth, your specific goals & also to help you monitor and optimise your content based on what’s gaining you the most traction. It can even help you identify areas to focus your efforts in terms of distributing and sharing your content, where you receive the most content from & where people find you!

    #2 ENGAGEMENT

    It’s really easy to focus solely on the volume of page or unique views you get each month … but whilst monitoring your reach is great (and a really good way of monitoring your success), it has to go beyond just views. There’s minimal value in tons of views, if people are staying for 1 second and you have a bounce rate of 99% …. engagement with your blog, your content & your social channels is a real indicator of your true value and influence to brands, and a really important thing to consider when monitoring your success.

    You should look at things like site duration, likes, followers, shares, or comments to help you get a good idea of your engagement levels. Google analytics can help with this, but also consider monitoring your social pages & your bloglovin likes etc too!

    #3 CONTENT

    Surely a key success metric for any blogger is producing content, in fact producing great content. And so while monitoring blog traffic and content engagement is a great way of monitoring what your readers think of your site, you also need to review how YOU as content producer are performing. Are you hitting your target volume of content, is your content of a quality you’re happy with, have you been active on your social channels …

    And how is this content performing! Is it driving traffic & engagement? Is it delivering social traction …

    #4 SOCIAL TRACTION

    Social traction is a complicated way of explaining social engagement. Social engagement is important as it’s the place most people go to find content, engage in conversation & to find and discover new things. Your social pages in many ways are now of the same (if not more in some cases) importance as your blog itself … it’s undeniable how huge and influential instagram is to a blog, it’s business and it’s success.

    Monitoring your social traction – followers, likes, comments, shares, regrams, retweets etc, is another key way of getting a really holisitic view of your blogs success! Not to mention, it’s another element of your business where you can drive financial income, so this is another thing to consider.

    #5 FINANCE

    Finally, and potentially the most obvious way of monitoring your blog success (blog success as a business that is), is the income you’re receiving. Are you earning the money required to sustain your business, do you have a regular clientèle portfolio, have you won any great projects, are you converting through affiliates etc. Ultimately if you’re turning your blog into a business, then financial success and profit does become a hard bottom line success measure to monitor!


    Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-12 Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-6


    My final point on the topic is to say, don’t worry if at first you don’t succeed … success is subjective and definitely a work in progress, that’s why monitoring and optimising your business plan is so important. Tweak as you go, if one thing didn’t work, try another. And most importantly embrace the journey and have some fun along the way.


    Have you found this post successful? I’d love to here the things you measure to monitor your success?

  • HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 4 FINANCE

    HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 4 FINANCE

    Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-21


    . HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: GETTING A GRIP ON FINANCES .


    Turning your blog into a business isn’t quite as simple as just doing what you love for a living, naturally blogging for business also means you have to deal with the business side too, and with that comes finances. Whether it’s setting up your business, managing your accounts or working with partners, there’s definitely a financial side that needs good management if you want to succeed.

    Today I wanted to share 5 financial things you need to consider and some tips on how to manage the commercial and financial side of a business blog.


    Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-20[one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0px”]Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-31[/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”]Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-27[/one_half_last] Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-33


    . 5 FINANCIAL THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN BLOGGING FULL TIME .


    #1 SET UP COSTS

    First of all, whilst most of us bloggers run our blogs as a hobby, there’s no denying there are a lot of costs attributed to running a blog. Whether that’s the finance required to set up your blog from a web design & hosting part of view, or the cost of your kit from a laptop to camera, or even the cost spent on developing the content to write about (clothes, products, etc).

    Before embarking on blogging full time, be sure to consider your regular AND irregular outgoings and set up costs. They probably come to a lot more than you might think.

    #2 SAVINGS

    To that vain, it’s pretty important to have some back up before taking your blog full time, some savings in your back pocket for quiet or slow months, to cover your living costs & rent and to make sure you’re keeping everything balanced cost wise. Blogging full time sometimes can be very fruitful, but as with most freelance & self employed businesses, there can be months where income is very low, if not non existent, so you need to be prepared & have some savings to call on in these moments.

    #3 REGULAR INCOME

    That leads me to my third point, a regular income. Working for yourself means a monthly salary is pretty much non existent, your salary will come from affiliates, client collaborations & advertising, but there’s no guarantee month by month that what you earn will be enough to cover your living. So being proactive in managing your finances, securing regular clientèle (or being fortunate enough to have an agency backing) and ensuring your monitoring your projects and project flow is really key.

    #4 TAXES

    Don’t forget taxes. I’m not going to go into the details of this in too much detail, it probably warrants a whole post on it’s own. But don’t forget to keep track of your income, accommodate taxes in your project rates & be ready for the tax man each year!

    #5 EXPENSES

    And finally, as well as tracking all your income, be sure to keep note of all your business outgoings too, don’t forget that some costs are tax deductible, and therefore should be tracked in your balance sheets too. Income, minus outgoings, equals profit. The profit of your business is what you’ll be taxed on, so make sure you keep track of this. Whether it’s a train ticket to a business meeting, lunch with a client or repairs on your camera, these are all things which contribute to the running of your business and therefore should be deducted from your overall income sheet.


    Mediamarmalade_BLOG_TIPS-36


    The finance side of running your own business is clearly complicated, and I’ve only briefly touched on some key elements to consider here. It’s really worth exploring each of these more thoroughly if you’re thinking about going full time, to ensure you fully understand what’s required of you. You can read a few more of my tips here, all about what to consider before blogging full time.


    Are you finding my blogging for business tips series helpful? I’d love to get your feedback?

  • HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 3 NETWORKING

    HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 3 NETWORKING

    Mediamarmalade Blogging for Business


    . HOW TO TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: NETWORKING 101 .


    So today is part three of my ‘turn your blog into a business’ tips series and part three happens to be the one area that I think these days has such a big importance but it’s also the one that becomes a little more difficult when your juggling work and blog. It’s networking.

    Networking to me is a skill of nature and less nurture, of course you can put best practice into action (and I’ll share my top tips shortly) but in my opinion networking should be natural, never forced and as much as possible an organic relationship building process (no cold calls etc).

    Turning your blog into a business requires a strong network, not only a steady enough network of followers and readers, but also of clients, PR relationships, and of course fellow bloggers. After all it’s these people that will make your business succeed or fail. Successful networking really is a skill, and knowing the best opportunities to network is a big part of that.

    When it comes to networking I think there are 5 key things to consider, work on & focus your efforts on.


    Mediamarmalade Blogging for Business


    . 5 TIPS TO HELP YOU NETWORK .

    #1 PR & CLIENTS

    As I mentioned, when you take your business full time you’re relying on income to keep you afloat, and in the majority of cases that income will come from partnerships with brands and PR’s.

    There’s tons of opportunities to meet PR’s and brands, whether that’s through press days or blog events or even through other projects your working on. The key is to attend as many as possible, to meet as many people as possible and get to know the people around you. This sounds easy of course, but time needs to be on your side here!

    I’m not one for contacting a company first or out of the blue, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t as long as your polite and start things off slowly – perhaps introducing yourself, your blog and sharing any features you’ve previously done featuring the brand. Some brands I’ve met love the concept of proactive bloggers introducing themselves and its a way of broadening your net of potential opportunities.

    I actually wrote a little feature on building relationships and a network which you can read here too.

    #2 COLLABORATIONS

    Collaborations are my favourite way to work with a brand, taking a brief and developing a bespoke editorial for a client. I love the focus on content opposed to simply clicks and if quality content is your niche then there are great opportunities to work with brands in this way.

    Collaborations can come from a variety of places, client direct, advertising agencies through the likes of an agent (I’m signed to the WaR network), PR’s or even other bloggers. Regardless of where the business comes from you must remember that a paid collaboration is work, so manners, timely responses & full delivery on the brief is essential.

    #3 MEDIA PACK

    When it comes to networking, especially online, it’s really helpful to have a media pack readily available to share with brands or businesses who are looking to work with you. It provides them with all the information they need in one professional looking place.

    I’ve been meaning to create my own media pack for ages now, but I know how important it is so its next on my to do list.

    When you’re pulling together your media pack be sure to share the key information a brand would require from you: your manifesto & what you do, previous clients you’ve worked with, your key stats and of course basic rates.

    #4 CONTACT & COLLABORATIONS

    As well as having a chic little media pack in your back pocket, it’s also worth making sure information to contact you is also easily found and that you’re providing potential clients with as much information as possible before they even contact you.

    I have a contact, press and collaborations page on my blog which allows prospect partners to see some of the work I’ve done & the ways in which I work. These pages don’t need to be flash (although I wish I’d collected all my press coverage so I could show that in a pretty way too) but just share some examples of what you do & what a brand might get if they work with you.

    #5 INTEGRITY

    My final tip when it comes to networking, and I’ve eluded to it throughout, is having integrity. Don’t force relationships or conversations, just be yourself and let them build even if that does take time. After all it’s you they’re buying into, so it’s always best to be the true you.

    And that goes for your work too, once you’ve built your network and you’re getting paid work coming in, be sure to keep your integrity with this too. I’m sure it’s tempting to accept every offer made to you for paid collaborations, but if it’s not you, or in keeping with your blog style or tone, your readers will notice and it’ll look disingenuous.

    I’m very selective about who I work with, what I write about and how I create my content. And in my opinion I think that’s really important, a blog is only good when it has integrity, when it’s true to you and your passions, so don’t sacrifice that for the sake of a bit of dollar!!


    Mediamarmalade Blogging for BusinessMediamarmalade Blogging for Business


    So there you have it, part three of my blogging tips series (and halfway through too). If you missed the first two you can check them out here & here, and if you like these types of features then you may want to check out all my tips from photography tutorials to career advice!


    What’s your thoughts on networking? Do you have any other advice I may have missed?

  • TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 2

    TURN YOUR BLOG INTO A BUSINESS: PART 2

    Mediamarmalade Blogging for Business


    . MAKE YOUR BLOG A BUSINESS: PART 2 .


    Last week I kicked off my new blogging tips series, all about turning your blog into a business, and everything you need to know and prepare for on that journey.

    I started off with defining your brand, knowing what your product is, and letting your consumers know in turn. You can check out part 1 in the series here. But today it’s onto the slightly less fluffy task of creating a business plan. To turn your blog into a business you must have a plan … A plan of what you need to achieve and how you will get there. The plan will include big things, like hitting financial goals, to small tactics like networking and sharing your content.

    Today i wanted to share my advice on how to  create your own business plan, and things to be thinking about as part of developing it.


    Mediamarmalade Blogging for BusinessMediamarmalade Blogging for BusinessMediamarmalade Blogging for Business


    . HOW TO CREATE A BUSINESS PLAN FOR YOUR BLOG .

    A business plan shouldn’t be created and left to gather dust, it should be ever evolving and adapting based on the journey your blog is taking. Having a monthly check in and update is a good idea to keep pushing yourself forward … But to get started here’s what you need to do;

    #1 SET OBJECTIVES

    First things first is you need to have something that you’re working toward, what is it that you want to achieve. You may have a few objectives that you’re keen on achieving, but as with anything don’t overload yourself. Your objectives should push you hard, but still be achievable.

    An objective could be anything from giving yourself a financial target to a blog traffic growth figure or even something like content quality and frequency.

    Aim to have around 3 objectives. These should be the big things that you need to deliver on for your business to succeed.

    #2 BREAK IT DOWN INTO GOALS

    Naturally those lofty objectives may feel a little scary and far away, so it’s important that you break them each down into little goals, for example breaking down an annual salary target into a monthly revenue you need to try and hit to sustain living. Or if your objective is about content, perhaps your goals define how many times a week you’ll post, what sort of features you want to write (at a top line level).

    Think of it as the 4 or 5 smaller goals you need to deliver on, to overall help you hit that big end objective.

    #3 CREATE SOME TACTICS

    Taking it one step further, for each objective and each goal you set yourself, you then should set some tactics for what you’ll do to achieve them. These are the more everyday actions that will help you deliver on your goals.

    For example, posting regularly on instagram to build your following, sharing your blog features across X, Y, Z channels each day, sending a PR email each week, creating a media pack, developing a weekly blog schedule, planning shoots etc.

    These are the ‘small’ actions you can act on everyday, or every week to help deliver on your overall ambition & plans … everything should ladder back up to your overall objectives you’ve set!

    #4 DEFINE YOUR SUCCESS MEASURES

    How will you know if you’re succeeding? You must measure your work, your success and your progress. For every objective or goal you set, think SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely), and ensure that every goal has a clear KPI for you to measure against.

    And don’t forget to think outside the box … you can measure anything from income & collaborations, to traffic, bounce rate and shares to sentiment, engagement & comments. Utilise google analytics, your own blog interface and don’t forget to consider your social channels too. These are all part of your overall brand.

    But most importantly, agree up front what you’ll be measuring, how you’ll measure it, when you’ll be reviewing progress & what overall timings you’ll be working to. Be as specific as possible.

    #5 KEEP INNOVATING

    And don’t forget to use your insights & learnings to keep improving things moving forward.

    On a monthly basis, review your progress, monitor the successes and failures and adapt your business plan accordingly. Make changes, learn from mistakes, maximise the tactics that work the hardest for you, continuously pushing & building your progression plan is key.

    The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.


     Mediamarmalade Blogging for BusinessMediamarmalade Blogging for Business


    And one last thought for you: Live less out of habit and more out of intent.


    I’d love to know if you found part 2 helpful? If you like my tips posts then make sure you check out my other blog & career tips here, and my photography tutorials here.

  • HOW TO GIVE YOUR BLOG AN MOT: TIPS & FIXES TO ENSURE YOUR SITE IS OPTIMISED & PERFORMING

    HOW TO GIVE YOUR BLOG AN MOT: TIPS & FIXES TO ENSURE YOUR SITE IS OPTIMISED & PERFORMING


    HOW TO GIVE YOUR BLOG AN MOT

    Making Sure Your Site is Optimised & Running Properly at The Back End


    I’ve preached tirelessly over the years about the importance of having your own platform as a blogger or an influencer, the pace of change that comes with digital and social platforms is so fast these days, that so much of your brand and business can be entirely out of your control.

    Instagram algorithm changes and the impact of the constant updates have been highly discussed on social media, and it’s hard to deny that those changes can be monumentally detrimental to your business if you’ve built it entirely on that platform; Many people have grown businesses off the back of instagram in recent years, and most bloggers have certainly diverted their energy and time into creating content for that platform rather than their blog where perhaps they’ve started, many newcomers don’t even ‘need’ a blog these days as everything sits on the gram, and that in itself is a risk.

    Each to their own, but I for one really believe that having a platform you can truly call your own is so important, especially if blogging or instagram is a business for you. You have control, you dictate the changes and you certainly won’t find people meddling about fraudulently impacting your own growth, exposure and success (fake likes and followers on instagram hugely impact authentic users, and our ability to be discovered, because compared to the vast fake engagement, our accounts are deemed unpopular & effectively dismissed by instagram). Whilst instagram is still the platform of choice right now, i’m confident just like the record & paperbook revival, that blogging will see It’s glory days once more. I for one am still 100% blog first and love having my own designed website, archives of content and an owned platform where I can share my thoughts, photographs and more with you. I still use instagram and have grown to love it more recently, but since I missed the ‘wave’ all those years ago, i’ve never had success there, and that in turn partly pushed me to keep my blog going to the extent it has been.

    But whilst our blogs are ‘owned’ and in large change is at the discretion of our own evolution and amends, there are still times when the tech, data and platforms around it can change and make an impact on your success. Bloglovin changing their platform 3 or so years ago hugely impacted my traffic (they stopped having regional tabs, and moved to ‘global’ pages, meaning the only posts that got featured on the popular page were US blogs), google changing their search algorithms recently impacted SEO traffic, and the bloody wordpress updates are continually changing something on my site. In fact, even the latest apple update has caused issues with my web fonts, meaning my design won’t display properly on safari or iphones. A huge pain in the arse & completely out of my control.

    So despite the fact you ‘own’ your blog and dictate change most the time, there are still the odd things that can impact your site design, your traffic drivers and even things like your organic discover-ability. And your organic discover-ability and SEO is really quite critical. So every now and then you need to do a little MOT on the back end, check in, make sure everything is still working as it should be.

    WHAT, WHY, HOW

    I for one have been on a gradual learning curve over the last couple of months realising more and more how tech changes behind the scenes have been impacting my website and SEO without me knowing. As and when I’ve discovered new things, I’ve ended up spending hours searching for solutions and fixes, and trying to understand what these changes mean for my own business.  It’s stressful, complicated and something of a minefield to be honest (the more you fix, the more you discover), and i’m still working through a whole load of issues caused by things like google changes, plugin amendments and wordpress updates but thought you might benefit from hearing a few of the things I’ve been fixing and checking, and the tools i’m using to help check everything is running tickety boo. Many of these relate to your websites SEO and discover-ability on things like google, and whilst organic traffic might not be your biggest traffic driver, it’s a critical element for your website and has the potential to be a huge contributor to your blogs growth.

    An important caveat is that I am absolutely no tech expert, and you may want to get some support beyond the below to explain further and help you check your site (i for one am seeking it) but below is my own personal tips and attempt at explaining some key tech issues that may be going on behind the scenes for your blog or website too, plus of course some of the things you can do to fix them.


    [one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0″][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”][/one_half_last]


    7 TIPS & FIXES TO HELP ENSURE YOUR BLOG IS RUNNING OPTIMALLY

    IS YOUR RSS FEED RUNNING PROPERLY?

    I thought an RSS feed would just run without any need for tinkering or checking, but believe it or not, for whatever reason mid last year my RSS feed seemed to stop working on mailchimp, which has meant for 5 or so months my newsletter hasn’t been going out (and still isn’t). I believe mailchimp updated their offering, and now require code on your site to validate an RSS feed, I still haven’t worked out how to completely fix this, but it was only through checking through my analytics and doing a little check on all my platforms that I realised there was an issue.

    This of course has also made me check my RSS feed, and i’m not entirely sure if it’s working or not (my content is still feeding through to bloglovin thankfully), but using websites like WC3 validator, and feed validator i’m able to see what works and what is causing issues. It’s worth checking yours is still functioning and running as it should, as your RSS feed could be bringing you traffic from feeds organically.

    IS YOUR SITE BEING INDEXED & OPTIMIZED FOR SEARCH?

    The start of my own blog MOT stemmed from google changing their webmaster tools offering, to google search console. This tool and analysis platform has completely unraveled and disclosed a whole host of small issues to be fixed. The tool itself is great, it allows you to see what pages of your site are indexed, traffic coming from organic search, terms and posts driving you strong SEO traffic, issues with site maps, redirect issues, and so much more. I highly recommend setting yourself up on there if you’re not already, and looking through your data to ensure everything on your back end is as it should be, to be as optimised as possible for SEO.

    The data has helped me to discover a whole load of issues, some of which we will discuss further below.

    One of the things I now do is regularly check which of my pages are indexed and if they’re not, I look to find a solution to fix that if it’s a page I think should be (you can request google crawls the page again to get an index). It also triggered me to ensure my site maps were all operating properly, i had to use a specialist for this, but it’s well worth it to ensure everything is still running as it should.

    ARE IMAGE URL ATTACHMENTS HARMING YOUR SEO?

    When I updated my blog to be secure (more on that below) I had a huge panic when all my organic traffic on search console dropped away … well I thought it had, but in fact I just needed to update the URL to now reflect https rather than http. Once this was done I started to see all my impressions data increase again, but i also started to see issues with ‘excluded’ pages. The number was so high I had a meltdown, spent hours researching various things and bugged a very talented SEO specialist friend to help.

    Ultimately the issue wasn’t actually that big, but still the various reasons for my pages being excluded, allowed me to tackle a few little issues. One of which was the fact that wordpress had been auto creating pages with unique URL’s for every image I uploaded to my blog. This means that thousands of irrelevant pages were being created by my blog with absolutely no value to any reader, whilst this sounds minor (because ultimately no one would find them) to google this could be deemed as a website producing invaluable content, and that could have in turn impacted my SEO.

    I found a solution using yoast, whereby I simply needed to click YES to disabling ‘media attachment URL’. A simple issue, a simple fix, but one that left unresolved could cause big issues on google.

    DO YOU HAVE BROKEN LINKS OR REDIRECT ISSUES?

    Another thing google search console helped me uncover was a load of broken links and redirect errors, as well as a few pages which went nowhere (e.g. old URL’s from previous blog formats that now no longer exist – they don’t cause a huge issue, but they’re unnecessary and don’t aid your SEO, so worth fixing). Once you spot a broken link or a redirect issue, you can usually very simply fix it using the redirect functionality on your website (if you’re a wordpress user this is really simple).

    IS YOUR SITE TRULY MOBILE FRIENDLY?

    Another great thing about search console (as well as things like Chromes ‘inspect element’ code inspector) is it’s ability to help you see how your site and individual posts and pages perform on mobile, again, another thing google reviews in ranking your site and one that can impact SEO. If your site isn’t mobile friendly, this can really impact your organic performance on google, so it’s definitely worth checking and working with a developer to fix if there are issues.

    It’s also not just about being mobile friendly, as I mentioned above Apples recent changes have caused me to have font issues (still to be resolved once I work out how), something I only realised when I was going through my own blog on different browsers to check everything was loading. The very annoying thing about the internet is that each browser is different, so whilst your blog or website could look ace on chrome, it may load funny on explorer or safari, so it’s worth doing some checks to ensure your website is operating properly and user friendly on all key devices / platforms, not just on mobiles.

    IS YOUR SITE SECURE? DO YOU HAVE AN SSL?

    As I mentioned above, much of what i’ve spent hours working through on my blog all came from updating my website to be secure. Once again Google changed their ‘rules’ and made it even more important to have an SSL (a certificate letting google know your site is secure and safe for users). I only found out I needed one whilst on the phone to godaddy about another issue. I bought the certificate and spent ages struggling to work out how the hell to activate it, in the end I had to lean on a specialist to implement it, but it’s just another one of those things that is worth doing given the implications it can have on SEO. In doing it, I then uncovered a whole host of things I hadn’t realised was going on behind the scenes.

    ARE YOUR OLD POSTS STILL USER FRIENDLY?

    And finally, it’s always interesting to know what posts are performing well and still driving traffic to your site, but you may be surprised that some old posts are still seriously popular. I for one have found that even posts from 2011 are still getting a lot of people visiting, and whilst that’s great, I also realised that those old posts are seriously out of date, and weren’t formatted like my blog is now. It takes a little time, but it’s worth going back just to tidy up popular old posts, and perhaps even linking to some more up to date posts on a similar topic in case the reader wants to read more, whatever you do don’t change the URL as this would mess up all your traffic (silly old me back in 2012 did this to a few posts – DOH). Little things like that can make quite the difference to your overall page views and a readers enjoyment of your site.


    [one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0px”][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”][/one_half_last][one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0px”][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”][/one_half_last]


    Some of these things might seem daunting, and there’s no denying that it is complicated and that’s why their’s a whole SEO industry of trained specialists who work on this stuff for businesses 24/7 and of course web developers who ensure everything is set up right in the first place, and even though i’ve had help coding, the fact I run my blog on my own does mean that unless i stay on top of these checks things can change and impact my site without me realising.

    Using google analytics, your website providers analysis tools, search console and other ‘web checker’ tools is a really useful way of ensuring things are running as they should, and it might help you identify when you need a specialist on board to help implement a few fixes for you.

    In the meantime though, I hope some of these pointers help you and save you some of the issues i’ve been tackling behind the scenes recently. If you want any more of my blogging tips then don’t forget to check out the archives here.

  • WHY I STILL READ BLOGS DAILY (AND BELIEVE HAVING YOUR OWN BLOG PLATFORM IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER)

    WHY I STILL READ BLOGS DAILY (AND BELIEVE HAVING YOUR OWN BLOG PLATFORM IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER)


    A BLOGGER THROUGH & THROUGH

    Why I still blog, read blogs daily & believe the future lies in owning your own platform


    It’s a funny thing blogging, at least blogging in 2018. It seems for many instagram has truly become the main focus of attention and certainly the main focus of revenue and commercial opportunities. I can see it for my clients as much as my own observations as a blogger too. This itself was inevitable and an obvious evolution, one many of us saw coming and capitalised on in turn. I say ‘us’ but the reality for me is that I knew instagram was going to be big, but I didn’t capitalise on it, I was too slow, too loyal to long form, and too focussed on my blog for that. In turn whilst many bloggers who started around the same time as me had similar size blogs back then, they now have hundreds of thousands of instagram followers while I struggle in the early thousands and don’t ever seem to be able to grow.

    Anyway, the point is, instagram is certainly where the money is right now, and in turn where people’s attention, content and energy is focussed. Daily blogging has slowed to almost a holt, even the previously daily bloggers like myself now trickle a post once a week, and others it seems, are so sporadic you wonder whether they’ll ever post again. But despite this slowing of blog content, it is still absolutely where my heart lies. Not just because I love the volume of photography and story telling, I still love a long form articles, whether it’s simple OOTD diary posts, advise articles or just inspirational travel guides. I’m there everyday browsing bloglovin’, gagging for more of my favourite bloggers to push publish so I have something new to read. And it’s not just that, I love a beautifully designed website too, so even the motion of browsing through my favourite blog brings me the satisfaction of flicking through your favourite glossy mag. A little bit of me time, inspiration & entertainment when I have a moment spare in my day. I open bloglovin alongside my email every day, it’s a ritual, a habit and reading blogs to me is much like our dads having their newspaper delivered religious, everyday for 30 years … you won’t stop reading even though print (or perhaps now blogging) is ‘dead’.

    But it’s not just my personal love for reading blogs, it’s also my love for creating content for my own blog. Of course it’s not as regular as it once was. I decided not to go full time many moons ago because I loved my career too much (and it’s a decision I truly feel was the right one – despite how sad I can feel when I see other bloggers businesses booming and mine sitting static – I just have to remember how far I’ve travelled in my career with a blog alongside it too), and the reality of this is that blogging daily to the quality I want just isn’t feasible. But regardless of frequency, my blog is still my true love, I still feel super passionate about it and absolutely adore creating content for it. I do of course post to instagram regularly too, but my blog still takes most of my energy because it’s the thing I care most about, and moreover is the thing that I truly believe will stand the test of time …


    [one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0px”][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”][/one_half_last]  


    READ MORE OF MY BLOG TIPS HERE


    I wrote about the importance of your blog in 2016, and the points I made then are still as valid today as they were then, if not more so.

    Yes instagram is proving to be fantastic for influencers businesses now, but ultimately it’s not a platform any of us own, and we’ve all seen the impact and detrimental affect changes instagram and other social platforms make can have on our own pages. From algorithm updates impacting content exposure, to shifting the focus from creativity to followers and likes encouraging a whole generation of fake engagement, every change instagram makes impacts the platform, your account and in turn your livelihood if thats what it’s based on.

    Unlike instagram, your blog is your own, no one can change the design, the algorithm, the content or how users discover your work, it’s entirely yours, and that in itself is a hugely important thing. More so now than two years ago I think. I also think brands will soon re-realise the importance of evergreen links, SEO, brand equity as much as immediate sales and the power of true engagement beyond a simple ‘like’. If I had 500k instagram followers, I know where i’d be sending them.

    And so on that basis, my love for reading blogs, creating my own long form content, sharing my own stories on this website I designed and have built over 7 years, and the fact our blogs are our own platforms, I am still deeply, truly, an unwaveringly  committed blogger. Through and through. 

  • HOW TO SHOOT GREAT PHOTOS ON YOUR PHONE

    HOW TO SHOOT GREAT PHOTOS ON YOUR PHONE


    HOW TO SHOOT ON IPHONE

    My Journey & Tips For Shooting Great Photos On Your Phone


    One things for sure, I didn’t think i’d ever write a post about shooting on a phone, let alone share photos shot on one. The thing is i’ve always had a bit of a mental grapple with the thought of it. I’m a bit particular about my photos, and despite Jase telling me over and over that no one will analyse my photos in the same depth I do (he says blogs are far too transient), I can’t help but spend hours fussing over my visuals. From wanting to shoot in the perfect conditions, to editing multiple times, to spending hours finalising the final post and curation of images, I take a lot of care and obsess a lot over the quality of my photos.

    I love photography, and I just never felt an iPhone photo would be good enough. I know that this is a personal issue and not a reality, firstly Apple themselves have used phone shots in their national advertising campaigns proving first hand the quality of the phone. Secondly many of my favourite bloggers and instagrammers shoot regularly on Iphone and I wouldn’t for a second doubt the beauty or quality of those shots (my sister who is smashing instagram like nobodies business shoots exclusively on iPhone). It’s just when I take photos on my phone, I feel they’re just not comparable to what I could create on my camera and top notch lens. And I end up feeling they’re simply not good enough.

    However my preconceptions got a bit of a shake up recently when a few things happened. Firstly I got the new Iphone and couldn’t believe the step up in camera and photo quality that bought (the new portrait mode is exceptional and in some cases seriously comparable to my 5D and prime lenses – it really forced me to reconsider the power of my little phone in shooting seriously good quality snaps). Secondly on my trip to NYC when I had no one to take photos I realised how handy shooting on Iphone would have been versus trying to teach people how to use a quite tricky DSLR set up. Not just that but also a realisation of how much more I could and would share if I could shoot any time, rather than just when I’ve taken my DSLR out with me (this in itself is something I’ve been keen to do more of). Finally the revival of film photography has really started to shift the ‘trend’ from perfect clarity and depth of field, to more ‘real’ and slightly grainy / out of focus visuals, and the phone itself is quite a fun tool to play with to try and get those shots.

    So with all that in mind, I’ve been practicing and playing with my iPhone non stop the last month or so. I’ve started integrating my iPhone photos back into my instagram feed which must be the first time in absolutely years this has happened. I spent a bit of time going all the way back through my instagram and realised I used to share lots more phone photos back in the day, daily outfits in my bedroom mirror, random shots from days out, but over the years as I focussed more and more on quality and wanting everything to be perfect I faded it out entirely and exclusively shot on manual on my DSLR camera. I’m by absolutely no means any good at phone photos yet, I’m certainly a DSLR photographer by heart, but I have to say the more I play the more I’m learning. I spend a lot of time looking at others photos on pinterest and instagram and feel inspired by how great some of their phone photos are, and how in some instances, they’re even better than what a camera would capture (especially interiors posts where lighting is quite challenging to grasp). Aimee Song’s books are a really great inspiration for this too.

    I’m hoping in time I can improve my phone photo captures and really start to share more good quality ‘everyday’ content shot on my phone (albeit hopefully you won’t notice) with you both on here and my instagram as a result of having a camera on hand at all times (it’s so much easier to capture more of your life with your iPhone than trying to lug a DSLR around at all times). Even in the short amount of time i’ve been playing around I’ve learnt some really key tricks which help the photos look professional and high quality. I’ve shared those tips below with you in case you’re keen to give it a go or improve your phone photography game. I’d also say all the photos and tips I’ve shared in the past stand true for shooting on your phone as much as your camera – like I’ve always said (but never myself practiced) it doesn’t really matter what device you shoot on, it’s all about the creative eye, preparation and editing that takes a photo from being average, to great.


    [one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0px”][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”][/one_half_last][one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0px”][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”][/one_half_last]


    MY TIPS FOR SHOOTING GREAT PHOTOS ON YOUR PHONE

    COMPOSITION HAS NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT

    A phone photo, just like a professionally shot photo, can be made or broken by the angles and  composition of the photo. It’s easy to think you can just point and shoot and get a good photo, but as with any good image it takes consideration and an artistic eye to capture something beautiful. So whilst your phone is the easy option, don’t neglect the preparation you might do if you were to shoot with a camera or more professionally. Consider your location, your angles, your composition, your props – these things all considerably impact how your photo will turn out and how beautiful it looks.

    PLAY WITH LIGHT & ADJUST YOUR EXPOSURE

    One thing I’ve noticed is how easily your phone can capture and adapt to light. Whether it’s contrasting shadows and light, the gorgeous glow of golden hour or shooting into direct sunlight, your phone is really easily able to capture the image as you planned without risk of ‘blow out’ or under exposure; you can adapt the light in real time by touching your screen and you can even dial up and down your exposure using the on screen adjustment tool. This is one thing I particularly like about the iPhone camera, and think it’s a great tool for capturing golden hour glow photos, just look at the volume of direct sunshine golden hour selfies on instagram if you need proof of this – trying to capture that on a DSLR is not an easy task.

    EDIT IN LIGHTROOM

    Once again it’s easy to assume iPhone photos are shot and posted without all the fuss of a normal DSLR process, and of course they can be, but those gorgeous photos you admire that have been shot on a phone have still undergone a rigorous editing process as well as lots of prep and thought in order to get the photo in the first place. One thing I’ve noticed about the phone is that the colours are very vibrant, not really the tones I would choose and usually over exposed versus my own preference, as such the post shoot edit is really important to keep the visuals in line with my normal standards and editing style. There are a TON of photo editing apps out there, but as I use lightroom for my camera photos I personally prefer to stick with it for the phone photos too. That helps me keep a consistent tone and style regardless of the device it’s been shot on. The other great thing about lightroom is that I can edit on my mobile as well as desktop, so for any photos I want to get out in proper real time, i really can do it now shooting & editing on my phone.

    PORTRAIT MODE

    Portrait mode is a game changer. That thing is bonkers. Whilst I wish I could choose my aperture setting pre shooting like I do on my camera when shooting manual, the post shooting editing mode on the iPhone is still pretty impressive. If you shoot on portrait mode on the newest range (X / XS) you can edit your aperture post shoot all the way to F1.8. It’s really impressive. Of course the focus and clarity isn’t always as spot on as my canon 1.2 or 1.4 lenses, but I mean for an iPhone camera it’s pretty good. If you’re wanting DSLR worthy visuals without the price tag, the iPhone portrait mode really is compelling, especially for things like instagram where you’re not blowing the shots up large and requiring huge amounts of pixels and clarity. It’s also a great counter to the iPhone’s usually VERY crisp image, which is a giveaway for a phone photo versus a DSLR shot. The portrait mode allows you to truly push the boundaries and create some good soft focus versus crisp focus contrast in your visuals – something I really like.

    On some of the pics above the phone didn’t quite get the full focus area (me) perfectly like my camera would, but it did a pretty sterling job, worthy of getting on my grid and I got to share it in real time which makes all the difference. I highly recommend shooting in this mode and testing the boundaries of the format – distance is a factor, but the more you play the more you learn about where your subject versus photographer needs to be. Despite the distance barriers the wide angle camera lens means you can still get a full outfit shot in portrait mode – pretty good.

    MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR WIDE ANGLE

    Which leads me to my next point. Wide angle! Unless you shoot on a 35mm or 23mm lens, you won’t get the luxury of the wide angles like the phone can offer anywhere else. I particularly love this about the phone. I mostly shoot on a 50mm 1.2 or 85mm 1.2 on my Canon as I love the depth of field, but these focal lengths of course have their challenges and getting the ‘full picture’ is definitely one of them. This is particularly challenging for interiors shots (something I’m personally doing more of) and shots where your subject is super close up (e.g. sat opposite you at a table, a flat-lay of your food or a subject below you etc). The phone camera is excellent for these types of shots and the 23mm focal length is a strength to be played with. The one time I truly do think the phone out does my camera, is on my interiors photos, despite shooting with a pro 35mm 1.2 lens, the camera just seems to capture everything with total clarity and exposure.


    [one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0px”][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”][/one_half_last]


    READ ALL MY PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS HERE


    Whilst I’m no pro-phone-photographer, and if anything, am newly learning to shoot on this device myself, I hope my learning’s and tips are helpful to you. As I mentioned already, I really think the principles of a great photo are the same regardless of the device you’re shooting on, and just because the phone is easy and always on you, a good photo will still take a creative eye, some careful planning, smart composition and some pro editing post shoot.

    But one thing’s for sure, if you can master shooting on your phone it certainly broadens your opportunities to create content at every and any moment, beyond the ‘planned’ shoot which might only happen once a week or month dependent on your schedule if you’re a blogger. And for those non-bloggers who just want to take great photos, I hope my tips inspire you to have a play and improve the shots you’re taking in your life.

    There’s a huge opportunity to take beautiful photos without any fancy kit or expensive set ups. I’m proving that to myself and really aiming to capture more on my phone now and mix that in with my camera shots – to hopefully share more, more often and a bit more ‘reality’ with you.

  • TRAVELLING WITH WORK: 5 TIPS TO MAXIMISE YOUR TRIP

    TRAVELLING WITH WORK: 5 TIPS TO MAXIMISE YOUR TRIP


    TRAVELLING WITH WORK

    5 Tips To Maximise Your Trip


    I absolutely love to travel, I’m sure by now you know that, whether it’s a city break, a long haul adventure, a relaxing beach holiday, or simply a working trip somewhere outside my usual location. Any opportunity to see another culture or place to me is a good thing, and so whenever I have the opportunity to travel with work I jump straight in.

    But having done a whole host of work travel in the past, I know that some trips are a serious whirlwind and based on what you see of the country you’re in, you may as well be in your own office back home. I’ve done plenty of trips to Paris where I’ve seen little more than the Eurostar, a taxi, the office and at most a hotel. Those trips are such a shame, and over the years I’ve worked hard to plan my trips so that those office / airport / taxi tours alone are avoided.

    Of course some times a simple day trip or a quick stopover is all the business wants you to do, but other times there’s opportunity to maximize your work trip so that you get a little time to explore the city you’re in and enjoy yourself too. My recent trips to Amsterdam, NYC & Denver being prime examples. Today i’m sharing my tips on how to optimise your work trip away & make the most of your travels.


    [one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0″][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”][/one_half_last]


    5 WAY TO MAXIMISE YOUR WORK TRAVEL

    OPTIMISE YOUR TRAVEL TIMES

    Travel times can make a huge difference to your travel, not just the jet lag factor but also optimizing your time at your end destination and / or time working before hand. Depending on your mindset to work travel, you have a huge opportunity if you enjoy it and enjoy travelling, to plan your trip to maximise your time, and importantly personal time at your end destination.

    Take my trip to Denver (i’ll be sharing this on my blog soon I promise). To fly on a Friday evening was £2k cheaper than flying Sunday. My meetings were Monday and Tuesday, and the price of a hotel for the weekend was a tiny drop in the ocean compared to the flight savings. It made far more sense financially, but also personally for me, to have a couple of days in the city before the meetings begun – to adjust to the timezone, prepare for my meetings, and also settle in and spend some of my weekend exploring the place I was travelling too. You can work your travel times, to not only maximise your personal travel time, but also the best cost for the business.

    Where you can, think about your weekends and plan your work for the start or end of the week if it’s a short trip, even if you have to pay for an accommodation extension yourself, with a return ticket booked sometimes it’s worth footing a hotel bill to stay and actually explore your destination. I’ve done this before with Paris and stayed out for the weekend post my meetings and even had a friend come out and join me for the weekend. I’ve spent so much time in Scandinavia and I only wish I took my own advise on those trips and extended my work trip for a personal stay at the end. While you’re there, you may as well make the most of it.

    And a final note on travel times … don’t forget to take into account time differences, jet lag, and your working hours before and after you travel. The red eye into work, no matter what class you travel, is a killer. Trust me.

    RESEARCH YOUR OWN ACCOMMODATION

    It’s quite common for businesses to have ‘chosen’ hotels for you to stay in. My client and my company certainly do. But despite the huge global network and i’m sure volume of business we bring, the rates are still pretty high, and the hotels are those huge, 5* corporate and conference hotels …. 1000 rooms with little charm.

    I for one actively avoid these luxe global hotel chains, in preference for something smaller, more boutique and more often than not actually cheaper yet far more beautiful than the big corporate chains. Despite the fact i’ll be travelling for work, I will research my location and accommodation a lot, I want to stay somewhere safe, comfortable and somewhere I can enjoy my stay and not feel like i’m in a corporate hotel prison. I’m quite the fuss pot with hotels at all times, and I don’t let this slip on my work travels. What this doesn’t mean is I spend a fortune, every company has a budget, but I do my research, I look beyond the obvious and I find lovely little places to try.

    Air BNB is also another fine option if you’re visiting a city with lots of quality air bnb’s available, more often than not they’re far cheaper than a nightly stay in the big 5* corporate prisons, but so much more lovely to stay in. No matter how busy I am, I always take accommodation into my own hands and spend time choosing the right place.

    LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION

    More often than not, the office you’re visiting won’t be in the heart of the city. Take my trip to New York for example, yes I was travelling to New York State, but the office I was to spend two days in wasn’t in New York City. I made a real conscious effort to therefore choose a hotel in the heart of Manhattan and research my route via train to the office north of Manhattan everyday. It may have meant an earlier start, but it saved me from being stranded somewhere for 4 days with nothing around me (which was really important to me, as I was traveling alone for 4 days). The same goes for my stay in Denver. The reality is if I didn’t choose accommodation where I did (in Manhattan and Downtown Denver), I would have been stuck in the middle of nowhere, without much choice of places to eat and see, and little to do after work other than sit in my hotel room. In my opinion when you’re travelling with work, it has to be comfortable and to the standards of you’re everyday life, and this means being able to take a stroll in the evening, enjoy a nice restaurant for dinner and not be stuck in your hotel for 5 days at a time.

    MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR EVENINGS

    It’s so easy when you’re travelling with work to leave the office, head back to your hotel, and simply stay put. I’ve been there and done it, dinners in the hotel restaurant, evenings spent in your room working, and barely a single minute spent outside a taxi, your hotel or the office you’re visiting. But it’s just such a waste of a trip, no matter how many times you’ve been to the destination, or how small the city or place you’re visiting, there’s always something new to explore and see, a new restaurant to try, show to see or even area to stroll along. Your evenings truly are your personal time and whilst I appreciate on some trips (like new business pitches for me) you simply don’t get out the office until 10pm, you really should when you could be forcing yourself to leave at a good time and actually spend your evening enjoying yourself and unwinding from work. I managed to see so much of New York just by leaving work at 530pm and simply exploring until I went to bed at 1030pm ish.

    I mentioned in my New York post and my recent travel photography post how there are so many places I’ve visited which I haven’t documented on the blog. I feel sad I didn’t take this advise on those trips, and maximise my time more so that I could spend an evening strolling and shooting photos for my blog, and even have a weekend to myself while I was out there.

    GET LOCAL RECOMMENDATIONS

    Whenever I travel to a new place, or even return somewhere I’ve been before (like NYC), I always reach out to my counterparts in those markets and ask for their recommendations. Places to eat, stay, visit for coffee, cool things to do in the evening. Equally when people visit London they often email me before they come to ask for a few new spots to try out.

    Travel is always best when you live it like a local would. Trying the more under the radar restaurants, staying in the slightly up and coming part of town (like I did in Denver), seeing a new neighborhood after work. The hotel restaurant isn’t always authentic, and so while you have a little time post work each day, go and see what the locals get up to, spend an evening how they would. It’s such a wonderful feeling to explore a new city and discover some of the hidden favourites that the big travel sites might not tell you about.


    [one_half padding=”0 5px 0 0px”][/one_half][one_half_last padding=”0 0px 0 5px”][/one_half_last]


    I know first hand how little spare time there can be on some work trips, especially those flying visits with too much to pack in to too little time in the first instance. But when you can, it’s always worth trying to maximise your time in the location you’ve traveled to, explore the city in your free time and when possible extend your stay into your weekends so you can truly get to experience where you are. Sometimes it doesn’t just benefit you, it can save the business money too.