Tag: blogging tips

Blog Post Ideas

Though I love writing and blogging I often get stuck on what exactly to write about. I’m thinking that I am not alone in this and I hope that this post will be helpful to someone out there that may be stuck on what to write about. So here are some blog post ideas that will inspire you to write a post:

  • Write about your best friend.
  • Write about your favorite meals.
  • Write about your favorite exercises.
  • Write about your favorite TV shows.
  • Write about your favorite vacation and travel tips.
  • Write about your favorite recipe.
  • Write about what you do for self-care.
  • Write lists such as Top 10 recipes
  • Write about your home – what you love about it, show us your garden
  • Write about people that inspire you
  • Write about your favorite tech tips and products
  • Write about something nobody would think about you
  • Write about your favorite things
  • Write about the best things to check out in your city/town/state

You may also like 10 Holiday Blog Post Ideas

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.

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My Favorite WordPress Plugins

Since I use WordPress for all of my websites I thought it would be cool to share some of my favorite WordPress Plugins.

Jetpack

If you want to protect your site from malware and other threats Jetpack is the way to go.

Akismit

Protect you r comments from spam using the Akismit plugin. It cleans up your comments so that you don’t have to go through time-consuming process of doing so yourself.

Broken Link Checker

This plugin scans your site and does at is stated in the title – checks for broken links. Pretty nifty plugin that I have been using for years.

Pretty Link

If you use affiliate links it helps to make your links “pretty” instead of those long links that are created for you. It also tracks clicks to the links as well.

Revive Old Post

Sick of having to go back in and share your own posts over and over on social media? This plugin does it for you! You can spend more time writing posts than sharing them.

Wordfence

This plugin is also a malware scanner and provides security to your website from hacks and malware.

WP to Buffer

If you use Buffer to share your posts this plugin helps you to do so quickly and easily. It automatically adds your posts to your Buffer queue.

WPTouch

This plugin creates a more mobile-friendly version of your website so that mobile users don’t have to waste their time scrolling up and down and back and forth. It enables a clean mobile website without having to add any additional code in the back-end.

What are your favorite WordPress plugins?

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.

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10 Holiday Blog Post Ideas

What you’re thankful for

This should be fairly easy as it can include the smallest of things that you are thankful for. The holiday season is the perfect time to reflect on what you are thankful for.

Travel Guides and Tips

Many people travel during the holidays. Road trip, airline travel, packing tips. Write about your city and what to do there

Favorite traditions or memories

What are your favorite family traditions or memories about the holiday? Share them with your readers so they can not only get to know more about you but also be inspired to perhaps start their own traditions and create memories with their family.

Favorite holiday movies and music

The fun thing about this is that some people may have never heard of a movie or song/artist that you share. You can introduce your readers to something new!

Favorite holiday recipes

This topic you can make into a series and split it up into different dishes so that you have more than one post to share with your readers.

Roundup of favorite memories of the year

Every year I try to make a year end post with updates of things I did every month throughout the year. You can also do a roundup of your favorite memories – it doesn’t have to be listed by month but this can also be split up into different categories and more than one post.

Holiday Gift Guides

You can do this by person, gender, price point and more – also split this up into different posts if you have enough ideas.

Your Wishlist

It is always fun to share what is on your wishlist with others.  Pick maybe 5 things and write about why theses items are your must haves.

What you plan to do for the new year

Call it goals. Call it resolutions. Call it whatever you please but share this with your readers so they can not only learn about you but perhaps get inspired to create a list themselves.

12 things you learned the last 12 months

This is another post that will help your readers learn a bit more about you. You can get as personal as you feel comfortable sharing.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.

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Blogging Tips: The Blogroll

ConsciousRose Blogroll
ConsciousRose Blogroll

I was reading a post on Brown Girl Bloggers titled Blogger Discussion: Is The Blogroll Dead? and it reminded me that I have not added my blogroll back since I revamped this blog. It also got me thinking about how this “trend” has became a thing of the past.

For those of you new to the blogosphere a blogroll is a list of favorite/frequently read blogs. The picture is a screenshot of the blogroll on my other blog.

I am what some folk call an “old school blogger” I have had an online presence since around 1998 and have seen trends come and go. From the types of templates used to the topics that people blog about. Having a blogroll was a way for bloggers to share the blogs they enjoyed reading with their readers. Sometimes it would strictly be their friends but other times they would break it down into categories/topics. A long time ago I had mine separated into categories. For example I would have:
– personal blogs
– webdesigner portfolio’s
– fashion blogs

I commented on the Brown Girl Bloggers post noting how having a blogroll is a norm (to me) and that I noticed it has died off. It is such a norm to me that when I started discovering new blogs in the past couple of years I would search an entire blog and be confused about where their link section was.

I now realize that the idea of a blogroll really was a trend and a lot of bloggers not longer have them on their blogs. What is popular now is link roundups (which I do plan on doing again), guest blogging (not as popular as it originally was) and/or doing spotlights on one or more bloggers at a time.

Part of it makes me think bloggers are afraid that they will lose their readers to other blogs. I understand this and I fear that as well sometimes. However, I also believe that if someone likes your blog they will eventually come back to see what you are working on. Focus on giving your best and doing what brings you joy. The readers will come.

Personally, if I really like a blogger I will come back again and again. I have been a fan of some of my favorite bloggers for years. I have seen them go through career changes, marriage, divorce or build businesses and break down barriers as well as so many other events and circumstances. Them linking to another blog has never changed my adoration for them.

For the bloggers that I really love & inspire me I am always interested in what inspires them and brings them joy. It is sort of like when your favorite person (family member, friend, celebrity) shares who inspires them the most. When a blogger links to another blogger it makes me appreciate them even more. They are giving me something fresh and new to discover.

One of the best things about a blogroll is that it is usually a static page or list on the blog so even if the site has not been updated recently, I can check out some of the links they posted until there is a new blog post on that blog. When someone links to something within a post if you miss the post or it gets archived you have to do some digging but if the link is on a blogroll it is right there for you to visit.

It is up to you as a blogger to decide how you want your blog to look. You can have a short list of your favorite blogs, a long list or no list at all but for me the blogroll is not dead. It is very much alive. Don’t be afraid to try it out and see how it works for you.

I am going to add a list of my favorite blogs somewhere on the site in either a blogroll or on a static links page within the next couple of weeks and I hope y’all discover a new blog to enjoy because of it.

Note: Since posting this the Brown Girls Bloggers website has been closed.

What are your thoughts on having a Blogroll?
Do you have a list of your favorite blogs on your website?

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.

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