Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts

19 Dec 2018

#Discussion: 10 Tips for Staying Organized #Project14Lists

19 December 4 Comments
Project 14 Lists, otherwise known as #Project14Lists, is a 2-week blogging activity hosted by That Bookshelf Bitch that will run from December 18th to December 31st. Book bloggers are tasked to come up with creative bookish/blogging list ideas, and on each day, write a list and post it on their respective blogs.

See all the posts I've completed for #Project14Lists

2019 Queer Books | Stay Organized | Apps for Book Bloggers | TBR Layouts for BuJos | Instagram Feeds | Books I Loved | Books I Hated | Comics for Non-Comic Readers | Plot Twists | 5 Surefire Recommendations | Weekly BuJo Layouts | Series I Won't Finish | Instagram Locations | Best New Releases
For today's Project 14 Lists, I am discussing my top ten tips for staying organized (for bloggers)! This can also be applied to any other aspect of your life to help you get a little more organized.

1. Let Colour Handle...Everything

If you colour code everything, you can easily find what you are looking for based on what you need. Try out some different systems to see what works best for you, whether it is a colour for a blog tour, promo product, etc. or based on monthly tasks!

It is much easier if you use colours that are easy to associate with other things too because you can make it a simpler process for yourself in the future.

2. Use a Planner

No matter which type of planner you use, whether bullet journal, Erin Condren, Plum Planner, etc., having a planner is essential to organizing your blog (and your life!). It is important to know what dates and times everything needs to be done on and where you are in the task list.

3. Have a Place for Brainstorming

Whether you have an online spot, a notebook, or a draft on your blog, having a place that you can dump all the posts you want to do in the future (with some thoughts about what could be a part of them), is crucial to staying organized and keeping your creative juices flowing.
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20 Aug 2018

#Discussion: Caption Writing 101 // #Instagram101

20 August 1 Comments
There have been a lot of articles written about the pros and cons of Instagram, how to "hack" the new Instagram algorithm, and anything else you can think of regarding the largest photo sharing social media platform. Whether you're using Instagram for business or personal, here are some tips for creating a feed that everyone wants to follow - and have "post notifications" for.

 We've discussed planning out your feed and your photos! We also focused on determining when and what to post on Instagram. But how do you get people to read the caption? And once you get them to, what do you put into it? That's what today's post is all about!
Read the whole series to upgrade and maintain your Instagram feed by clicking on the different links below!

There are three parts to the caption and I'm going to tell you how I write them to best get engagement. Before we begin, it's important to note, before you rush off to cram your captions with 50 hashtags and your life story, Instagram has a maximum character limits: Instagram caption character limit: 2,200 characters. Instagram hashtag limit: 30 hashtags. Instagram tagging limit: 30 accounts.

Hook

The first thing you should know is that the caption of an Instagram post that appears on a feed is only 75 characters. You have 75 characters to draw people into the caption, so make it sparkle!
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13 Aug 2018

#Discussion: Posting on Instagram // #Instagram101

13 August 0 Comments
There have been a lot of articles written about the pros and cons of Instagram, how to "hack" the new Instagram algorithm, and anything else you can think of regarding the largest photo sharing social media platform. Whether you're using Instagram for business or personal, here are some tips for creating a feed that everyone wants to follow - and have "post notifications" for.

 We've discussed planning out your feed and your photos! Today we are focusing on determining when and what to post on Instagram.
Read the whole series to upgrade and maintain your Instagram feed by clicking on the different links below!

Timing

If you have an Instagram Business Account (as you should since you are an Influencer), you can see the hours your audience is most active on each day. You can try to post during these hours or post consistently at a specific time. I post consistently at the same times every day (9:30am and 2:00pm).

 It's up to you to choose what you want to do! 

Photo


Now that you took the perfect photo, you need to post it! That's key to Instagram. But you could also use a handmade graphic (maybe from Canva) that discusses a new feature, an event that you're going to, or anything else you need words for or that you want your audience to read.

Caption

Sometimes people don't read captions - just see the photo, like it, and move on. But it is important to have the caption for the people (like me!) that read every single caption. Describe the scene, explain whatever the object your featuring is, say where to get it (maybe there is a link in your bio!), and then ask a question to engage your audience. This one is essential - you need to action your audience to interact with them.
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6 Aug 2018

#Discussion: Four Steps To The "Perfect" Pictures // #Instagram101

06 August 0 Comments
There have been a lot of articles written about the pros and cons of Instagram, how to "hack" the new Instagram algorithm, and anything else you can think of regarding the largest photo sharing social media platform. Whether you're using Instagram for business or personal, here are some tips for creating a feed that everyone wants to follow - and have "post notifications" for.

 Last week we discussed planning out your feed, so today I am going to teach you how to plan your pictures! I know that you had to come up with some ideas last week for the overall aesthetic of your feed, but each individual picture deserves some TLC to make it the best possible picture.
Read the whole series to upgrade and maintain your Instagram feed by clicking on the different links below!

Plan

Now that you know what your feed is going to look like, you can plan your locations to take pictures. I take a lot of my pictures outside (because I have terrible natural light opportunities in my apartment) so I scope out locations, take some pictures from different angles ahead of when I plan to actually go to my location, and try out different edits as well.

 You have to think like a photographer - even though I definitely don't have any experience being a photographer. The pictures below show the process of me figuring out what locations I wanted to do my most recent Instagram pictures from while I was driving along the coast of Lake Erie.

 It took me about three hours to take what would become 10 photos for Instagram. I drove for about 45 minutes to a few different locations, then did the "loop" again to hit the places I thought would work for my photo shoot. After that I set up different options for every book, took multiple photos, and then went to the next location to do the same.

Photograph

Taking the actual picture is probably the hardest part. I have about 1000 photos on my phone right now of potential Instagram posts (I should probably edit them [see next step]) and I will only use about 20 of them.
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30 Jul 2018

#Discussion: Planning Your Instagram Feed // #Instagram101

30 July 0 Comments
There have been a lot of articles written about the pros and cons of Instagram, how to "hack" the new Instagram algorithm, and anything else you can think of regarding the largest photo sharing social media platform. Whether you're using Instagram for business or personal, here are some tips for creating a feed that everyone wants to follow - and have "post notifications" for.

Today's post is about how to plan your feed, which includes a bit of foresight into how you want to take your pictures.

Read the whole series to upgrade and maintain your Instagram feed by clicking on the different links below!

I'm no expert in growing your audience because I have just over 1600 followers on Instagram but I have a good ratio of interaction and am growing consistently considering I haven't been as active on Instagram of late as I should be. However, here are what people like when perusing Instagram.

Inspiration Searching

All artists use some sort of inspiration for their creative works and taking photos is no different. It’s important to look to other accounts for inspiration but do not just copy their feed –and especially do not steal other people’s photos.

I run a book blog, so I look at other "bookstagram" accounts, but I also like to look to other niche blogging accounts like beauty accounts, DIY accounts, and home renovation accounts. These let me see how other people use space, lighting, and highlight their chosen topic in a way that isn't "typical" for books.

Find a few people who you like their entire feed – not just one photo. Then determine what it is about those photos you like and try to recreate it using your own personal touch. 

Remember that this is about personal branding. If you look like you are just strictly copying someone else, your engagement will not be very high – and you could make someone very angry.

Consistency

If you want to (and have the time), you can post once, twice, three times a day. Or you can only post on specific days. As long as your followers know when they can expect your photos, that's what is most important. I try to post around 9:30am EDT and 2:00pm EDT every day. That means I need to plan at least 14 photos on Sunday so that I know I have something for the entire week.
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25 Jul 2016

Discussion: Easy Organization!

25 July 3 Comments
I post across three blogs, so organization is KEY for me. I have o know when things are being post, on which blog, and in what time zone (those GMT-ers kill me). Being organized is the reason I have been so successful with everything I have done in my life, including blogging. And while I may have been using agendas at a young age, I'm going to give you guys some tips to staying organized even if you have never ever been organized before. There are two sections here: organizing your BLOG and organizing your READING SCHEDULE.


Organizing Your Blog

Try Out Lots of Different Systems

One thing I have found is that different systems work for different tasks. Don't be afraid to try out colour coding, bullet journaling, Google calendar, EVERYTHING!

 If you are co-blogging, a good service to use is Team Up, which allows you to put up to 10 different calendars in one spot for free. This way you can see what you are posting across your blog and never double up! (Or at least not intentionally.) Team Up is also great for group projects in school so you can see when people are free and available for team meetings! I used it a lot in both university and my college courses and will for sure be using it again in my graduate studies.

It takes 28 days to break a habit, but only 30 seconds to make one. Set an alarm for a time every day you KNOW you can work on your scheduling/organizing and do it then. It will help keep you organized -- even if you only do it for 5 minutes before bed.


The ideal organization system is one that
  • Makes sense to you
  • You WANT to use
  • Isn't too complicated

Try this easy starter system for your blog:

  • Monday: Book Review
  • Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday
  • Wednesday: Waiting on Wednesday
  • Thursday: Discussion Post
  • Friday: Blog Tour/Freebie
  • Saturday: Fun Feature or Empty Day
  • Sunday: Stacking The Shelves
It doesn't matter what you do on those days, but make sure you make a system and stick to it! You can still be flexible, but to get organized, this is a quick and easy system that will get you started on your way to high organization!

Keep Everything in One Spot

You want to make sure that your schedule and ideas are in one location. You don't want to be searching all over to see if you wrote something in one place but saved it in another! My best advice is to save everything in Google Drive or another cloud-based system that you can access across multiple devices in multiple locations. That way, if you have inspiration or an idea, you can jot it down AND save it in the right spot.

If you are like me and always carry around a journal or a notebook, have a specific spot for blog post ideas or your scheduling ideas for the future. This is what I love (and dislike) about bullet journaling!

But try to choose ONE method. Of course, try out different ones to see what you stick to and what works best for you, but don't have too many places for your ideas or you will eventually lose them or double post (both have happened to me and I don't want you to make the same mistake!)

Don't Feel Guilty About Those Last Minute Posts

We all have them. We realize 30 minutes before they are supposed to go up that we actually haven't writen anything yet and scramble to do them. It has happened to all of us and will continue to happen even with the most perfect of organization systems.

 The point of being organized is so that EVERY post doesn't feel like a last minute post. Even if 4 out of 5 posts for the week are last minute, at least you have that ONE you had finished a while ago!

Organizing Your Reading Schedule

This is where it gets to be a bit more ricky because reading is a hard thing to keep up on and is a very personal thing to me. Everyone reads differently and has different reading paces. So here are some things I recommend doing so that your ARCs don't pile up and you aren't scrambling to read everything in a short amount of time.

Prioritize Your TBR

If you are like me, you don't like making lists because then you NEVER READ THOSE BOOKS, but sometimes you have to finish a book by a certain date whether it is for the releases date or a blog tour. Those come first; however, don't FORCE yourself to read anything. Take breaks to read other books you may want to read first! This really helps me get into the groove for reading, espeically if I receive a highly anticipated release early or want to binge and entire series.

 That doesn't mean you shouldn't be responsible, however. If you are committed to a blog tour spot, make sure you follow through. Remember that most of these are promotional tours, so it's a good idea to read these ASAP in case you don't like the book and need to arrange something different with the host. It is ideal to give them at least a week's notice, but do not do less than 48 hours.

Try Participating In Some Reading Challenges!

Have some books you want to finish but aren't sure how to squeeze them in? Participate in reading challenges for the year! This will help you feel as though you are accomplishing something by reading! There are some great ones that allow you some flexibility to read pretty much whatever you want and knock off challenge prompts.

Reorganize Your Shelves

I know we don't all necessarily have time to do so, but I find that when I reorganize my shelves, I find book I may have forgotten about that I then read sooner than I would have if I hadn't touched my shelves.

TBR Jars

I personally don't use tese, but I know lots of people who do and are successful with them! Put your immediate TBR pile into the jar and pull them at random to spice up your reading! Alternatively, use this to have a bit of a break from the books you feel pressured to read but don't necessarily want to read right now. 

Reading Goals!

Jacquelyn (@jacquelynreads) has a method of creating Reading Goals that she wants to achieve (typically in a day but you could modify it to fit your reading schedule. She reads like a champ!) where you state how many pages in a book you want to get to in what you are currently reading. I find this super helpful and have included a couple of her photos below so you can see the types of goals she sets.

Change Reading Locations

Sometimes we get into a bit of a slump because our scenery doesn't change, so scope out a new place to read and go read there! New coffee shop, cafe, the library, antyhing! Just change your environment to help you continue to read.

But Life Can Get In The Way

Your life and your mental health are way more important than anything else, so if you are having a hard time reading or getting things done, take a break! Binge watch a series on Netflix, catch up with friends, etc... Just make sure you do what is best for you!
And that's it! These are just some tips to create a foundation for your organization, but they will getyou started so you can make your organization your own. Try different things, google organization methods, and make it work for YOU. Don't use someone else's system if you are having a hard time understanding what it means or having trouble keeping up with it. Take all these with a grain of salt and don't forget that it is YOUR blog and you should do what you like the best with it! I just hope that some of these help!

Which of these tips are you going to adapt? 

Is there anything different you do that might help others?

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