One skill in blogging that is forgotten or ignored is the skill of commenting. Making a comment that is eye catching, insightful, and engaging will help you build your community. Yes even going onto a blog that is not your own you can work on your community. Comments are a place that you can get interaction with others and create a following on your social media profiles, blog and more.

To create the perfect comment you need 5 tools. These 5 tools can help you become an expert commenter!

Picture

Not the most important part of your comment but still can make or break a connection with the author or other readers. If you don’t have a good photo or an eye catching photo you may be looked over as a nameless, faceless visitor.

If you use the same photo as with your other media, you may find that others start recognizing you. If they recognize you they will be more inclined to interact with you. You may get even more interaction from an author if you make a point to always comment on their most current post. If you are using the same photo for comments that will make sure they recognize your comments right away.

To make sure your photo will show up on your comments and make it easily updated make sure and have a gravatar account. When you update your social media photos make sure you update gravatar also.

URL

You always, always want to enter your URL correctly on your comments. But remember your URL is there for more than just getting people to hope over to your site. This is a place people can check  out your expertise on the subject you are talking about and to give you credibility!

If you make a really good comment but don’t leave a link why they should listen to you on the subject? You could just be another online troll or just spam. If you are commenting on a post in your niche and if you are really looking for interaction then you need to prove your expertise.

Input (Answer Their Question)

If the blogger you are reading is a good blogger then they have finished their article with a question or a major conversation starter. Make a point and answer their question or to get into their conversation. They are looking for a way to interact with you. With this question or point they have given you the quickest and easiest way to start a conversation.

Now if the blogger didn’t leave off with a question you still want to give your input. If you are leaving a comment this is the most important step in leaving a good comment. What was it about their article that caught your eye and made you want to comment?

Insight

The next step is one that digs deeper than just giving input, give the writer your insight into their post. Share an experience or suggestion with them that shows your experiences with the subject. You want to share something that adds to their post. This could be a quick story, a tip, or maybe a point that they missed

If they missed a point in their post that you think is important don’t wave it in their face as a mistake. Come at it as you want to help or expand what they were already talking about.

Question

One of the largest missed opportunities in making a comment is to ask a question. If you are wanting to truly interact with the writer or other readers then finish your comment with a question. One reason people love comments or commenting is they really are looking to get involved in a conversation. Asking a question will encourage others to comment right back at you.

When you ask a question you need to either make sure you subscribe to the comments or check back so that you can see the answer to your question and hopefully you can continue the conversation.

Time to Try it!

So what are you waiting for, go out and start commenting! Try using these 5 tools and see how they work for you. I promise you will be surprised at the difference good comments can make in your interactions on other blogs, your follows, and on your own blog!

Do you have a system for your comments? Have you ever gotten into a great conversation via comments before?

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

You will find two benefits from a great editorial calendar.

1. When you sit down to blog you have your idea already sitting in front of you. You don’t waste time trying to decide what  to write about.
2. You can schedule your posts so if something unexpected happens you have posts that will already be coming up on your blog.

The Tools

First let’s get the tools you will be needing to set up a calendar. My two favorite WordPress plugins to help me with my calendar are:

• Future Posts Calendar - This is a great tool to see when you have scheduled your posts on your dashboard and from you post. Plus when you are ready to schedule a post just click the date and it will automatically change your publish date.
• Editorial Calendar - This will give you a calendar to add ideas as post drafts, see where you have posts scheduled, and quickly drag and drop to change posting dates for your posts.

Weekly Schedule?

Now is a good time to decide if you want to  have a weekly posting schedule or just post as you go.

What is a weekly schedule? Many bloggers decide on daily themes for their blog. I use this here on Pepper Scraps (though I’m a good example of not having it set in stone).

• Mondays you will find my Project 52 posts.
• Tuesdays I’ve been doing a series on Android Apps.
• Wednesdays are my Weigh In Wednesdays
• Thursday I’m doing a series on Bloggers You Should Follow.
• Fridays is All About Blogging
• Saturday is a Craft a Day

To create this schedule just think about 3-6 subjects you write about on your blog. Now designate one subject for a day of the week. What is nice about this system is if you are stuck about what to write about one day you have at least narrowed down the subject to talk about. This will also give your readers a since of what to expect when.

Don’t feel like you are always stuck posting to your weekly schedule. If you have some exciting news that you want to share right away, feel free and break the routine. Also take some time and review your schedule every few months to make sure you don’t need to rearrange or update your weekly schedule.

Collect your Ideas

Now it’s time to start brainstorming. It is always a good idea to always have a running list of blogging ideas. Keep a notebook (or use your phone or tablet) in your purse to always have available for ideas.

One of my favorite ideas for brainstorming is magazine covers. I find mine at the doctor’s office.

Today take some time and make a list of 30 ideas, this will help you on the next step in creating your awesome editorial calendar. If you created a weekly posting schedule create an even number of post for each category. Example: if you have 5 subject per week you schedule you will want to come up with 6 post ideas for each category.

Enter your Ideas into your Calendar

Open up your calendar either your Google Calendar or  Editorial Calendar or even a written calendar if you prefer pencil.

First enter all your time sensitive posts (holiday posts, sponsored posts, etc) into your calendar.

Now divide your ideas into your categories if you are posting on a weekly schedule.

Look through your ideas. Are you really inspired by an idea or do you have a post already all planned in the back of your head? Post these next in the upcoming week or the first week of the month.

Now start entering your post ideas. Don’t worry about what date you have them once you have your posts in the calendar you can rearrange them by drag and drop (or eraser). Just make sure they are  in the slots for your weekly schedule.

You now have an amazing editorial calendar now what?

Try to stay ahead of the game. Sit down and try to write 2 posts a day for a week, then after that you should be able to write one week ahead. Or spend a day to go through your month and create the outline for each post.

Do you currently have an editorial calendar for your blog? If yes, what is your tip today? If no, I’d love to hear why not?

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

How do you make your image draw a visitor in? By making sure you use a high quality and relevent photo. But where do you get these photos and how do you place them correctly.

Use your own photos!

Get your camera out and learn a few good tricks about photography. Find a book or ebook, take a class, or follow a beginner photography blog. But make sure that you only choose high quality photos.

Creative Commons Licensed Photos

By quacktaculous

Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works – Wikipedia

If you want to learn more about Creative Common Licenses Lynda from Daily Window gives the best description and instruction I have read!

The best collection of creative commons photography can be found on Flickr’s Creative Commons.

One of the most important things to be aware of with creative commons is that you need to make sure and give credit for the photo. This is very important and if you do not do this you are stealing the original photographers artwork.

Find Royalty Free Photos

found here

Some photographers and designers are happy to share their work and offer it royalty free with no credit necessary. The only warning with these sites is that you want to make sure that the site you are using is legitimate! Make sure and read their terms of service.

One of my favorite sites that is free to find photos is stock.xchg. This site is easy to use, has great images, and the fine print is easy to find and understand. (The ones you can use with out linking back state: Standard restrictions apply.)

Word of Warning

Word of warning do not use google images as a source for your photos. It may seem an easy option to find photos through Google Images, but very few of the images are free for you to download and use even with credit.

Also never ever hotlink an image from another domain. Flickr does give you the code to insert the image so this is allowed. But any other site you are not allowed to take the URL of the image and paste it into your post. Or just copy the image and paste it in the image straight into your post. This is called a hotlink and you are stealing bandwidth from someone else.

5 Tips to Perfect Photo Placement:

1. Know the size of your post area on your blog (400px, 600px, etc)
2. Place your first photo in the same place on all posts (top center, aligned to the left or aligned to the right)
3. Don’t use small images (try to make your top photo always the same size)*
4. Don’t ever re-size your image larger! (You can make it smaller though)
5. Do not let any photos hang over the edge of your post area

*How to Resize your Image

How to change the size of your image with a little html so that your photo fits. Remember don’t ever re-size your image larger always make it smaller or else you will lose the quality of your photo!

Your image is placed in your post with a small html tag (if you are using WordPress click the HTML tab to see this tag). Here is an example:

<img src=”http://YourDomain.com/YourImage.jpg” alt=”" width=”500″ height=”303″ />

To make your image fit inside your post area and not hang over you have to know the size of your post area (mine is around 450px). Change the width of the photo to be smaller than your posting area and take out the height all together. If you do not take out the height your image will get a warped look to it. Here is what your example would look like after being changed:

<img src=”http://YourDomain.com/YourImage.jpg” alt=”" width=”425″ />

Conclusion

I hope this helped you learn more about photos and your posts. Photos are a really important part of blogging. Make sure you get comfortable with using photos and using your tools to find them!

Where is your favorite place to get photos for your posts?

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

A magazine can be filled with 100s of ideas for you and your blog, even if it’s on a completely different subject. You can use magazines to find great color schemes, learn more about layouts, find out about what people are wanting to learn, and best of all find great headlines and post ideas!

If you have never tried using a magazine for inspiration. Grab a magazine, a pen and paper or I like me your phone or tablet. (Don’t have a magazine check out magazine covers on Amazon.com.)

You are going to start creating headline formulas and build a list of post ideas.

Use Eye Catching Keywords

Original Headline: Have a Stress Free Summer (Good Housekeeping)

Basically Stress Free is your keywords here. So your formula will be Have a Stress Free ________. When I write my ideas down on my tablet if I don’t have an idea instantly I will leave blanks.

My Examples:

• Blogging twist: Have a Stress Free Editorial Calendar
• Kids twist: Have a Stress Free Play Date
• Weight loss twist: Have a Stress Free Date Night on a Diet

Create a List Formula

Original Headling: 285 No-Fail Ideas to Scrapbook (Creative Keepsakes)

Quickly create your formula: # No-Fail Ideas to ________. I don’t actually add the numbers until I start brainstorming and come up with how many items I will have in my list.

My Examples:

• Blogging twist: 10 No-Fail Ideas to Blog Posts
• Weight loss twist: 5 No-Fail Ideas to Get Your Exercise
• Social media twist: 8 No-Fail Ways to get Followers

Great Phrases

See how quickly and easily you can start building ideas and creating great eye catching headlines? The best part of this is you can do this in a few minutes or for a half an hour. It’s quick to pick up and put down.

What’s your favorite way to find blogging inspiration? Have you used a magazine for inspiration before?

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

Today I’m going to share with you how to choose your icons, where to find great icons, and how to add the icons to your blog.

How to choose the right icons for you.

Tip 1 – Keep in mind the style of your site. If you have a really clean and simple layout pick out clean simple icons. Icons that are hand drawn or “messy” will be distracting or look out of place. If you have a dark layout you want to make sure that your icons aren’t too dark and blend into the background and get lost. But you don’t want to pick out icons that are too light and stick out like they don’t belong there.Try to match the feel of your site. Try out a few different sets of icons.

Tip 2 – Find a set that has all the icons you need. Consistency is key here. If you choose all your icons from the same set you are going to make it easier for your readers. The group of icons will catch their eye and they will easily be able to identify this is where they can connect with you and your website! If you have one icon that isn’t from the set it will look like it was an after thought and ruin the feel of the rest of the icons.

Tip 3 - If you make money on your blog make sure that you choose an icon set that is okay for commercial sites. Usually the designer will mention this on their site or have it with the file.

Where to Find Amazing Icon Sets

I use a few different resources to find icons for me and my clients. One of the first places I go is Iconfinder.com, this is a searchable bank of icons where designers can get together and share their artwork! There are other icon search engines, but so far I like this one the best. They have a slide bar so you can select the sizes you want to look at. They also have a drop down menu for showing only commercial friendly icons. Also you can see what the icons would look like on a light background or a dark or if you have a patterned background or bright color you can use the grey button to make sure they have a transparent background.

Another tool I use to find icons is Google’s Image Search. Search terms you can use are “social media icons” or “social icons”.  You will be able to find the sets because most designers use an image of all the icons together.  When you see an image like that of icons that you like. Click on it. You should be then taken to the image in a window. Click out of the box and you will see the designers post about the icons. Or you may be taken to a design site that is talking about that specific set of icons or has a list of great icons. Have fun searching, designers are constantly adding more and better icons so I’m sure you will find something amazing!

How to Add Icons to your Site

Now that you have found a set that you like. Download the set and then pick out the icons you need (twitter, facebook, rss, etc). Upload your icons to your site or where you keep your images for your blog. Grab the URL of each icon.

Are you ready to quickly learn some basic HTML? I’m using twitter as an example but you will use this for each of your icons.

Step 1: Start with the url of your image:

http://www.you.com/yourimage.png

Step 2: Adding the image code:

<img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png" alt="Follow Me">

Note the alt tag. This is good html practice and SEO friendly.

Step 3: Adding your link:

<a href="http://www.twitter.com/YOU" title="Follow me"><img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png"></a>

Note the title tag. This is also good html practice and SEO friendly.

Step 4: Repeat for each of your social networks. And your code should look similar to this example:

<a href="http://www.twitter.com/YOU" title="Follow me"><img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png"></a>
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/YOU" title="Like me"><img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png"></a>
<a href="http://www.YOURURL.com/YOURRSS" title="Subscribe to"><img src="http://www.you.com/yourimage.png"></a>

Now that you have your html code how do you add it to your site? If you are on WP you go into your widgets and add a text widget to your sidebar and enter your text. Blogger same idea only you use an html gadget on your sidebar.

I hope this was helpful to you and that you find some great, amazing and beautiful social icons for your site. If you were curious the set I use on my personal blog is from Productive Dreams and is called Page Peel. If you try this out I would love to see it on your site so add your link to a comment! Or if you found an icon set that you really love share it with me, I’d love to see it!

Photo by webtreats

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

By mccheek

Free Prefab Theme

Just like a mobile home you can find a Free Theme where the colors and style may not match you and your style. Plus hundreds of the exact same home are out there due to it being pre-constructed. But you can live in it for a time until you run out of room and you are tired of that one cupboard that just won’t stay closed. Especially since it was offered to you free from a relative.

Pros:

• Free
• A free theme is better than a default theme
• You can find lots of free themes to choose from
• If you look long and hard enough you can find some free professional themes

Cons:

• Doesn’t really represent you and your brand
• You will not have as many options for customization
• Attempting to customize the theme yourself may make it look cheezy
• Your images and style may end up feeling mismatched and disjointed
• You may see other’s using the same theme
• The theme may not fit your needs exactly (ei. menus don’t fit, colors don’t match, etc)
• You can feel overwhelmed sifting through all the themes out there

Conclusion: A Free Theme doesn’t represent you and your brand but you can live with it.

ByMartin Pettitt

Premium Prefab Theme

Just like a manufactured home you can find a Premium Theme that is very inexpensive and you can choose the siding, the carpet and counter tops, but once you get it into the mobile home court you realize your home looks just like some of the neighbors homes. But you at least you have a home that has new appliances and keeps you dry. This may work for a time until you realize that you are tired of your friends getting lost every time they try and find your house and it becomes time to upgrade your fridge.

Pros:

• Very Low Cost
• You will find more features than a free theme
• Premium themes tend to have a more professional look
• You will have more options for customization

Cons:

• Doesn’t represent you and your brand
• You still may have troubles with customizing the theme beyond the basics
• Attempting to customize the theme yourself may make it loose it’s professionalism
• You may still run into other’s using the same theme
• You can still feel limited by the options

Conclusion: A Premium Theme doesn’t represent you and your brand but it functions.

My favorite company to purchase themes from is Woothemes. I am affiliated with them, but that is only because I love them. There themes are amazing and the control panels for their themes are easy to work with and well made.

By LancerE

Customized Prefab Theme

Just like a modern stick built home you can have a Customized Theme built for you.  A builder will give you multiple floor plans to choose from to create your new home. Then you get to pick the flooring, the wall color, the counter tops and the appliances. You get to have a home that really showcases your style and gives you some special functions you have been really wanting.

Even though you live in a house that may be the same floor plan as your neighbors your friends will still know which house is your house. Plus now you will not be embarrassed to invite your boss over for dinner.

Pros:

• Low Cost
• No one else will have the exact same design
• Represents you and your brand
• Professional customization makes your brand more recognizable
• A Professional does the customization so the images fit and coordinates
• Brands and readers can see that you have invested in your blog or site
• Professional help cleaning up your layout and making it easier for your readers to navigate
• You will have more options and functions that a professional can install

Cons:

• More of an investment
• You may have to wait on a waiting list for your design
• Still may feel cookie cutter as you see the same layouts at other sites
• May take some time to find a professional that you feel matches you and your style

Conclusion: A Customized Theme starts building brand recognition and makes your site more professional.

By Omaha Homes For Sale

Custom Design

Just like a custom built home you can invest in a Custom Design. Your imagination is the limit. You can have any flooring, walling, appliance, and more that you could possibly want. You can change the floor plan to fit better with your needs and wants. You could even have a swimming pool built into your dinning room for swim-dining!

You can create a place that is all about you and your style. Your friends will know your home instantly even on the first visit and you will be inviting you boss over for monthly dinners just so you can show off your beautiful home and brag.

Pros:

• The Design is all yours, you will not see anyone with the same design or layout
• It is obvious you are invested in your blog or site, so users and brands will invest in you
• You will find you will have unlimited customization and options
• Everything coordinates and functions just as you wish

Cons:

• Large investment
• Have to do some homework to find the right designer that fits your style
• Takes some time to create

Conclusion: A Complete Custom Design represents you with a unique layout and images and functioning.

I hope this gave you some things to consider as you are choosing the level of investment you want to make into your blog.

More Questions?

I’m always happy to help with questions so feel free and ask here in the comments or email me at (unicornbeauty (@) gmail.com)

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook

I have talked about my love for Google Calendar in the past in post My Place & Yours: Google Calendar. I shared all the different things I use my calendars for including menu planning, as an editorial calendar, family calendar, work schedules and more. Today I want to share with you the basics of adding your events to your calendar.

If you currently don’t have Google Calendar and want to try it out you can visit Google Calendar. If you currently have a google account or a gmail account you will be able to just add Google Calendar to your account. If you happen to not have a google account you can sign up for an account just for the calendar.

You may notice this is a bit of a long video, but I hope you will stick with me on it because you are going to learn some good stuff here!

Pepper Ferguson

Healthy Mom = Healthy Family - That is my life motto and I hope to encourage it to be yours too. January 2011 I made the decision to lose weight and lost 80+ pounds. I saw my boys start getting active with me and I realized I wasn't only changing my life but also my boys.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook