Hello Love!

How are you today!?

So today I wanted to give some insight as to why I’ve changed my Home/Front Page from a standard blog page to what you see now. Also, I will be discussing my blogging essentials and the few tools I use as a blogger, that I hope may help you on your blogging journey or just be some cool info to know!

I think everyone has a different experience when it comes to blogging and I’m just giving mine. I’m not a “Pro” Blogger, I’m just a blogger who’s been doing it for years.

1.Plugins

• Yoast SEO baby! Yes I gotta talk about SEO and I LOVE  it!
  • It’s one of the most recommended SEO plugins out there, I mean the PROS talk about it. I used Ultimate SEO, it was a bit confusing but had a lot of useful info such as your 401 page etc. But Let me tell you SEO is HUGE now-a-days seriously, get familiar my friends. Get familiar!
• JetPack by WordPress.com
  • I’m still deciding if I like it because, it contests what I get from google analytics and it varies. JetPack allows you to see how many visitors landed on your site, what links were clicked on for the day, where your traffic is coming from and allows you to see what days you had more traffic, etc. Can be addicting just FYI.
• Imsanity
  • This is a photo re-sizer. So far it works great for me, but I know this plugin is just temporary, until I find something better! I hear Blog Stomp is really ideal, I’ve tried the free version and it seems like one of the best tools to have as a blogger. Other than that, Imsanity re-sizes all of my photos and I can go back and re-size all photos before I installed it. Make sure you test it out first and read the instructions because, once you Imsanity your photos there’s no going back!
• Disqus
  • Disqus is great because not only does it allow you to filter out the spam, it also allows your site to load faster! Win Win! Not to mention it also looks great!
• LinkWithin
  • So far it’s ok, I’m actually in pursuit of something better, basically it’s those “You might also like” at the bottom of a post.
• Official Mad Mimi Signup Forms
  • I love having a mailing list, and I’ve tried Mail Chimp (a bit confusing but still working out the kinks) but so far I’m in love with how simple Mad Mimi is!
• Pinterest Pin It Button For Images
• WordPress Editorial Calendar
  • So, So, So, So IN LOVE WITH THIS PLUGIN! If you are a blogger or taking blogging serious you either have it, need it and should download it NOW! It’s the bees nees!! Seriously! I don’t know what I’d do without it! It allows you to view all of your posts and upcoming posts in a calendar!! So easy to move around and play with it!! GET IT!

2.Site’s for reference

• Alexa
  • This allows you to see your ranking among other websites out there. Please don’t take this one to heart but it allows you to see if you are growing and allows you to check in on your changes.
• Google Analytics
  • Need I say more?
• Pingdom
  • Allows you to see how fast your site loads. I’m currently looking for ways to optimize my site speed, because not only does it lower your user experience if your site takes too long to load, but it also ranks you lower on SEO/Google! NOooooo. Bummer.
• The Nectar Collective
  • It’s currently one of my new favorite sites! It’s a plethora of AWESOME information on Blogging! Seriously, you’ll spend hours needing to read all the things!

3.Know HTML

It has been a BLESSING, that back in my high-school dayz, I learned how to make websites from scratch, yes from scratch! Good Ol’ Front Page. Are you familiar?

With this, it’s definitely given me the know-how on back-end language, to understand and fix certain problems that arise when you are blogging. Such as an image not centering properly. Something being broken, etc.

Exhibit A.

<p style="text-align: center;"> IMG CODING </p>

This Code is used in the beginning of your image coding. HTML/Coding can be used on any platform. I use WORDPRESS and I’ve actually invested in this template you see my blog on, via Theme Forest and I love it, but I’m seeing a lot of bloggers switching to Square Space. So if you haven’t choosen your platform do a bit of research, write those posts in the meantime and make a wise decision!

4.Equipment

• DSLR Camera
  • I didn’t understand the value of a good camera, until I began wanting to take on Photography as a hobby a few years back. Praise God! I now take pictures for my blog with it. I’m also trying to learn manual settings. I’d recommend a camera that you can also capture great videos with. INVEST in a great camera, it’s totally worth it.

In other News…

I’ve been on one ridiculously cray-cray roller-coaster when it comes to my “platform” and I really wanted to give you an insiders perspective as a blogger and personally!

I WORK really hard on each content I post on this blog. As a creator, I want to do my best and I also want to show case in the best possible way, what I do on this here blog. The best way I can do it, I believe, is by what you currently see. I’m planning to keep it like this for a while (Lord willing), and hopefully the next time I do a dramatic change I’m going to A. work with a designer and B. Give you all a heads up! Before the Change. ♥

I’m a Style + Crafts Blogger, with that there’s A LOT of neat things that I believe would be cool for you all to check out! Love, and what better way than to have my recent posts front and center? Ya dig?

In my research I’ve learned that you don’t only want to appeal to “Potential Readers“, but also potential “Sponsors” You want your audience to get a feel right away for what your “brand” is.

I ‘ve learned, the hard way, that you need to know Your Brand, WHO you are as a blogger, what type of blogger and what type of readers you want to have. In a nut shell, it’s not only about You, blogger, but also about You, giving back, and that my friends is a true Win – Win.

XOXO

Hi! It’s current Linda (January 2019 Linda) and I just wanted to add, that never judge your beginning to someone else’s middle, I am leaving this post and plenty of other original post as “the proof is in the pudding” so to speak.

You want to start that dream business, you want to start that blog, nothing worthwhile happens over night. When I started my journey I was trying to discover what my true calling was and what I was meant to do, I dove into soooo many things and let me tell you, I’m very excited for the future no matter what it brings. Please leave a comment if this encourages you or even helps you. I started sewing, creating handbags I even went out and did a local sewing class and that’s when I knew I did not want to teach others to sew it was horrible! While others love teaching others to sew and even though I made a lil’ profit from it, I did not want to pursue that as part of my business model. Haha. Tooo funny!

Sometimes Love, you just gotta go out there and do the do in order to find out, ‘is this what I truly want to do.” You can’t just sit and dream and not do something about it or believe that if you were doing that so call thing you want to do that you’ll love it. Hey, I thought I would Love to teach sewing and guess what, nooooo, it wasn’t for me but I wouldn’t have found that out if I didn’t put myself out there and just tried!

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28.

Catch you on the flip side! Haha!