Up Your Insta Food Photo Game

Up Your Insta Food Photo Game

The best camera you have is the one that you use the most. And while it might seem that Instagram is heaving with professional photos taken with a top-of-the-line DSLR – most of them aren’t. Your mobile phone, in most cases, can produce stunning food photos.  Here are some quick tips to take your food photos from a blurry mess to a beautiful dish.  Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash Grid setting Your phone has a grid setting, and this setting will help you to use the rule of thirds. You can use it to make sure your lines are straight, that you have equal spacing. For an Android/Galaxy you can check the settings in your photos, an iPhone has the grid on a toggle. …

How to Create a Related Posts Table for WordPress Without a Plugin

How to Create a Related Posts Table for WordPress Without a Plugin

I’ve been reading a lot about how plugins increase your load time. And with Google constantly changing and making updates to their algorithm, this is important to understand as a blogger. Now, let’s also be real here: sometimes trying to understand the Google updates is like trying to read a foreign language. Unless you understand all of that tech talk? Well, it can be downright confusing. So instead of trying to figure it out from Google, I look for other places that can explain it to me. Websites like Moz, Neil Patel, and SEMrush. Much easier to understand and process. And in turn, I can apply that better. With page load time, in particular on mobile, becoming increasingly more important; I want to reduce the…

How This Blogging Mom is Protecting Her Eyes

How This Blogging Mom is Protecting Her Eyes

“This sponsored post is a part of the campaign “Protecting America’s Eyes” by Reticare in order to inform U.S. citizens about the importance of eye protection from device screens. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.” As a blogger, I spend quite a bit of time in front of a screen. It’s almost unavoidable. And though I try to limit my time on the computer, there are times that I will go longer stretches. I like to work in batches whenever possible because it helps me to save time in the long run. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. But I also know that by spending longer periods of time in front of the computer, it’s more time that my…

How to Write a Killer List Post for Your Blog
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How to Write a Killer List Post for Your Blog

In blogging, as we’re all aware, there are many types of posts. Some are certainly more effective than others when it comes to getting a point across or sharing a fabulous recipe. Some posts may require more pictures and some posts may be more word heavy. Then there are the heart tugging posts or the emotionally laden posts that touch us to the very core. Or rile up our anger and desk chair protester. Writing is at the heart of blogging, there’s really no way of getting around that. In order to do what we do as bloggers, we must write. What we write about depends on our niche and our interests, of course. And that may even affect how we write. One of the…

Practical Ways to Grow Your Blog with Google Analytics

Practical Ways to Grow Your Blog with Google Analytics

Sometimes blogging feels like a roller coaster. Some days it may make you feel like a dog chasing it’s own tail. Blogging can be so incredibly rewarding in ways that don’t show up in numbers. But there’s also something substantial, something tangible, something to go by when we have the numbers in front of us. For me, numbers and stats are just one measurement of my success as a blogger. Google analytics is the industry standard as far as measuring stats. But there’s so much more that you can use it for than just figuring out your stats. It really does beyond that if you take the time to just poke around and explore. Really, Google analytics can help you devise a long-term blogging strategy….

My Monthly Blogging Goals for May

My Monthly Blogging Goals for May

I’m working on my income report for April so I figured I should get it together and post my goals for May. Not just my blogging goals, of course, but also my personal goals. I haven’t posted these in awhile though I do try to set monthly goals because it helps to keep me on track. And right now, I really need that and some motivation to keep on going. I really do have such love/hate relationship with blogging. Though maybe hate is too strong of a word because I haven’t quite gotten to that point. Blogging, for me, is something beyond just being a hobby- this is the backbone of my business plan. And when it’s not going quite as successfully as I would…