IF YOU ARE READING THIS FROM GOOGLE READER OR AN APP THAT USES GOOGLE READER THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!

Google has just announce that they will be retiring the Google Reader service. Which has had many blog lovers and bloggers in a scramble! What do we do now to keep in touch with our favorite blogs?

I wanted to share with you a few ways you can keep track of your favorite blogs and of course Pepper Scraps. Because I don’t want to lose you as a reader! I love all of you!

Feedly

Feedly is a browser app, tablet app, and phone app that you can use to read any of the blogs you have subscribed to. It is probably the closest thing I have found to using Google Reader.

Feedly knew that Google Reader was going to be retired at some point so they created a game plan for when it happened! They decided to make it the easiest transition possible for people to be able to switch to their system.

Basically you sign up and they will save all your blog/RSS subscriptions from Google Reader.

Here is a great article explaining how quickly and easily you can save your subscriptions: Tips for Google Reader Users Migrating to Feedly

Pros:

• You can automatically save your subscriptions straight from Google Reader. Just sign up.
• Available on almost all platforms (Android, iOS, Firefox, Chrome)
• They will be offering a way for you to use them with other apps you may have on your phone that you like better than their app
• Feedly is the closest experience to Google Reader I have found
• Organize your subscriptions/blogs into categories
• You can quickly share to your favorite social media sites

Cons:

• App is a touch slow (but this may be due to 500,000 people migrating to them in 48 hours)
• No offline option on phone or tablet

Facebook

You can easily subscribe to blogs on Facebook. Basically find the blogs Facebook Page and Like them. You will now see their posts from their page in your Facebook feed. The only problem with this though is that Facebook determines (by their special algorithm) what you get to see in your feed and when you see it.

To help this you can just see only the pages you have liked by clicking the link on the left that says Pages Feed. But if you are really interested in reading their blog posts this may be hard as you will see everything from their Facebook Page. That could be great because they may be posting other great information or they could be sharing just blah information and you may have to sift through it to find what your are looking for.

Pros:

• You’re always on Facebook
• You should be able to find most blogs on Facebook
• Quick and easy to share in Facebook

Cons:

• Facebook dictates what you get to see when
• The blogger may not post all their posts on Facebook
• You will get more info in your feed than just their posts (this could be a pro or a con depending on the content)
• Have to click to the blog so you could loose where you were in your feed
• Don’t have a way to mark posts read

Networked Blogs

Networked Blogs is a website that is closely tied into Facebook. Many bloggers use them to post their blog posts straight to Facebook.

Pros:

• You can find a good amount of bloggers on here
• You can set up 1 email to send you a daily digest of the blogs you are following
• You can easily share the posts to your favorite social media networks

Cons:

• Can’t organize blogs, just a long list
• You have to go to the site to read the blogs, no phone or tablet apps available
• Site is busy looking and can be overwhelming

Email Subscription

Another option is just to subscribe to blogs that you love via email. This is great for some people if they only read a few blogs and keep your inbox pretty clean.

But if you are like me I don’t read the blogs I follow everyday – just when I have the time. I also get so many emails I would quickly lose the posts I want to read. If it’s one of my top ten blogs I will subscribe via email, but I have found that Google Reader was easier for me to get to read what I want to read.

Pros:

• Get it right away
• Very easy to sign up

Cons:

• May get overwhelmed with how many emails you get.
• May miss it in the pile of emails
• You will have to re-follow all your current subscriptions

BlogLovin

I was invited to BlogLovin by a friend years ago and I found it interesting way to connect to other bloggers, but I never fell in love with them. Their style just isn’t my style. I also found it cumbersome to always

Pros:

• Lots of people are switching to BlogLovin
• You can categorize the blogs you follow
• (UPDATE)Their is a tutorial on how to transfer your Google Reader Subscriptions to BlogLovin

Cons:

• Blog has to be signed up for BlogLovin’ to follow them
• Android blog has pretty bad reviews
• You will mostly find women’s blogs (this could be a pro or con depending on what you like to read)

What are you using to stay connected to your favorite blogs?

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

As I’ve been teaching myself to cook, I have also been teaching myself how to create my own recipes. In the video above you can learn how I develop my own recipes.

If you are curious about the recipe I created in the video here it is!

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

Are you trying to gain some traffic from Pinterest to your blog? Earlier I had written about How To Get Your Blog Post Pinned! One of the most important tips I could give you is to make sure you create a Pinterest Perfect Picture for your blog post.

4 Quick Reasons to Create a Pinterest Perfect Picture

• Encourage your readers to pin your post
• Remind the original pinner why they pinned your post
• Let others know why they should click through to your post
• Encourage repins!

Why PicMonkey?

Ready to Create your Picture?

Step 1 Go to PicMonkey.com

Step 2 Upload your Image

Step 3 Click “Auto Adjust” to brighten and clean up your picture

Step 4 Click the little beaker (second icon from the top) on the far left to get the Adjustments Menu

Step 5 Click “Exposure” and then “Auto Adjust”. For the example picture I brightened it even more and added more highlight and shadows. Brighter picture will more likely catch someone’s eye on a board full of pins.

Step 6 Click “Color” and then either click “Auto Adjust” or Click “Neutral Picker” and click on a white section of your picture.

Step 7 Click the icon on the left that looks like a frame around a box.

Step 8 Select a frame for your picture. This is an optional step. I used it because the composition of the picture I was using was a little boring and the Polaroid frame made it pop more.

Step 9 Add your text:

1. Click the P icon on the far left
2. Choose your font
3. Enter the title of your post (or what your post is about), click apply
4. Adjust the size and angle of the text
5. Adjust the color, alignment, and blend mode of your text

Step 10 Save at the highest quality (10)

Before and After:

Which would you be more likely to repin?

3 Quick Tips on your Picture & Pinterest

• Take lots of pictures for your post. Then when you are ready to edit you have a few options for the perfect one.
• Lots and lots of light. Direct light is not good, but it’s better than low light. Sit your items next to a window or outside on a cloudy day to get better lighting.
• Ask your blogging buddies to pin your blog post and offer to do the same for them.

I would love to hear if you try creating a Pinterest Perfect Picture and what your results were.

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 get great hits from Pinterest? How do you make your blog posts more pinnable?

These are just a sample of questions that I have received in the last couple weeks from fellow bloggers. This has been a big question for a lot of companies and bloggers as they are watching Pinterest become more and more popular.

Pin-Worthy Content

First make sure your blog post content is pin-worthy.

Start learning what posts on your blog may be popular on Pinterest. Research popular categories and subjects on Pinterest. What Pinners are looking for, what  is being pinned, and what is popular.

Now take a look at your blog. What are you posting about that matches what is being pinned and what is popular on Pinterest. Do you have categories on your blog that match categories on Pinterest?

Examples of Great Popular Posts: Recipes, Crafts, Tutorials, Inspiring Quotes, Fashion … and more.

Have a Pin Button

Make sure you have a Pin Button on your blog posts to make Pinning even easier for your readers. If you give it to them, they will use it!

4 WordPress Plugins I recommend:

Sharebar - This is the my favorite social media toolbar and you can see a great example of it on the right of this blog post! I did have to install the Pin button myself, but I  promise it is easy!

Sexy Bookmarks - This is the plugin that I used before Sharebar and I really like the options in buttons and it is one of the easiest tools to use.

Pin it on Pinterest - What I like about this plugin is that it adds a section in your post editor that you can control the picture that will be pinned and suggest what to say in the pin. But you can’t control the button on your post.

Pin It Button – One of the easiest plugins to install and you have control over where the button shows up, how it looks, and what pages it will be on.

Make Pin Perfect Pictures

The most important things you can do to make your post more pinnable is to create a “Pin Perfect Picture”!

I realized how much bloggers are missing out on this when I saw this great post by Bernita about how to care for your stamps! This post had great content, is a great example of a good how to post and fits perfectly under the crafting category on Pinterest! But when I pinned it I knew that most people would miss out on how great of a pin it was because the picture really didn’t say much.

Notice on her post all you can really pin is a picture of stamping products. As the blogger you have to hope the person pinning gives the perfect description for others to be interested and you have to hope others read the description.

To make a Pin Perfect Picture you really only need a picture, a good description and either Photoshop or a tool like PicMonkey. For the examples below I used PicMonkey just to show you don’t need to go out and buy Photoshop to do this.

Before and After:

Which would you be more likely to repin?

Subscribe to Pepper Scraps because I will be showing you exactly how I made the image above in PicMonkey! You don’t want to miss it!

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

Yes a late night post to welcome this years parties. Last year I was very sad to only get a few visitors from the party, but as I see my friends #UBP12 posts go up I decided I can’t miss out! I have been doing the party 3 years now!

Welcome to Pepper Scraps I hope you will enjoy your stay!

I recommend starting at my About Page where you can learn more about me and what you can find here at Pepper Scraps.

Learning about Food & Health

2012 is a big year for me as I have shifted gears in my life and have started to eat healthier, exercise, lose weight, and had weight loss surgery to help maintain my weight loss. I’m up to 75 pounds lost.

With that change you will see a change in my blog as well as I talk more about food, share recipes, and share my struggles as I learn a new way of life.

Blogging About Blogging

Yes I’m one of those bloggers. I blog about blogging, but I share more from the perspective of a mom blogger, a legacy blogger (blogging since 1998), and as a graphic designer. So if you are looking for someone to help you learn more about blogging and how to make your blog more appealing then this is the right place to be.

Oh also I love vlogging, so if you like to watch vlogs then this is the place to be. I also encourage you to try vlogging, because it is awesome!

Make sure and subscribe via RSS or via Email so you can get my latest and greatest ramblings!

And because I hate those “hi I’m from the party” comments here is 5 questions for you to answer. You can either answer one or all five!

1. What is your favorite color?
2. When & why do you blog?
3. What do you find most interesting about my blog: learning about blogging, learn about getting healthier or recipes?
4. What is your biggest goal this year?
5. What is your favorite thing about the #UBP12?

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

One thing that can make or break your navigation is you categories. When you first create your blog you should draw out a road map for your categories. If you do this they will not get out of hand. But even if you didn’t start out with a category map you can still tame your categories.

How many Categories?

You should try and have between 5 to 10 top categories for your blog. More than this and they become too overwhelming for your reader. You want to use this great tool to help your readers navigate your site. If you give them too many choices they will get overwhelmed.

Limiting your categories will also help make sure you are keeping within your niche. If you don’t have a category that fits your post are you writing off topic. Though you know my feelings about niche blogging. If you are a niche-less blogger, limiting your categories will help make sure your readers can navigate to what they are most interested in reading about.

You can have sub categories also. I don’t expect if you are writing a food blog to not want break down so your readers can read by meal of the day, ingredients, season.  But make sure you create a tiered road map for your readers.

Examples:

Craft Blog: Paper Crafts, Crocheting & Knitting, Sewing, Home Crafts, Kid Crafts

Food Blog: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Sides, Desserts, Snacks, Beverages, Holiday (create subcategories)

Parenting Blog: Pregnancy, Baby, Toddler, Preschooler, Grade School, Middle School, High School

Beauty Blog: Fashion, Accessories, Makeup, Hair, Trends

Tag or Category or Subcategory?

As you are creating your road map for your blog now is the time to start thinking about the differences between categories, sub categories, and tags.

A category is a main theme that you share throughout your blog. You may post a article in a category about once a week or more. (Food Blog Example: Holiday)

A subcategory is related to it’s parent category but is a bit more specific. You may write an article in a sub category about once a month. (Food Blog Example: Holiday>Christmas)

A tag is a word that if someone was searching for something very specific. You may write about it once in a while, very rarely. (Food Blog Example: Cranberries)

Make your Categories Make Sense

It used to be popular on blogs to make your categories cute and fun names like Made with Love. But “Made with Love” could be anything and it will not help your new readers to know what they are going to read under this category. Make sure that if someone is new to your blog they would be able to instantly recognize what they could read under each category.

Great Examples of Category Use

The Pioneer Woman not only a great example of how to use your categories well, but also a great example of a Niche-less blog.

Mashable is a great example of how to map out your categories and how to use subcategories.

1st Web Designer shares how you can create a visual category menu to help guide your readers where they want to go.

Your Homework & Free Printable PDF

Now it is time for you to site back and brainstorm your blogs categories and sub categories. If you are just starting your blog now is the time to really plan out your blog.

If you have a preexisting blog it will be a little harder and take a little work to move some things around, but I promise the end result will be worth it!

Download Category Taming Worksheet

Are your categories organized? How do you feel about the navigation of your blog?

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

Pepper Scraps is looking for bloggers who want to share scraps of their lives.

Pepper Scraps is about health, family, parenting, blogging and sharing scraps of life. Blog posts for Pepper Scraps should have a personal voice to them. Share something in your life that you have learned and want to help others learn.

Why should you write for Pepper Scraps?

• Become part of a community
• Share your voice, your experiences and your story to help others
• Connect with a new audience and gain exposure
• Promote your own site and social media in your profile
• Connect with Pepper a veteran blogger who has blogged for more than 13 years

Qualifications & Skills

• WordPress knowledge
• Proper grammar
• Social Media experience
• Experience in your topic

What can you write about?

• Health
• Weight Loss
• Family
• Parenting
• Crafting
• Blogging
• Social Media

How write for Pepper Scraps?

• Read the Guest Blogging Agreement
• Write your article and find your photo(s)
• Submit your post for review

Want to write more than one article? Feel free and email me 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

Oh and the article by Leo from ZenHabits is Shattering the Myth of Niche Blogs: How to Grow a Huge Readership if you would like to read it.

What does being a successful blogger mean to you?

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

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