I’ve been asked to speak to our enrichment summer school class. Their theme is leadership and they’ve had a variety of guests from the community speak each day about their line of work. Since I was asked to talk about my blog, I decided to answer their questions on a post to show how it works and get your advice too.
How did you get ideas?
I get my ideas everywhere! My classroom is a huge source of inspiration. Topics we’re studying, projects we’re creating, and funny things my students say can all spark an idea.
I also get my ideas from other teachers and bloggers. Social media is huge! I spend time browsing Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and other blogs.
Sometimes inspiration sparks in other places too. I like to snap pictures when I’m out shopping. Every once in a while, an idea sparks in the middle of the night too.
No matter where inspiration hits, I write down my ideas before I forget. I keep a note open on my iPhone full of ideas. =)
What prompted you to go digital?
Digital is definitely where it’s at! It’s much easier to revise and edit digitally. I can write, rewrite, and save my ideas for later in a flash. When I’m ready to publish, I can share my ideas instantly all over the world through the internet. This blog gets the most traffic from the the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, Australia, United Kingdom, Philippines, Turkey, Poland, and New Zealand.
What procedures are there for writing and publishing?
Before I write a post, I get my images ready first. I have to put my pictures into PhotoShop to edit them and add my watermark. After that, I’m ready to write. The writing part is actually really easy for me… I just pretend like I’m talking right to my audience. It’s important for your personality to show in your writing so that your published work SOUNDS like you.
Before I publish, I give my work a quick read through to edit it. Sometimes my fingers fly much faster than my brain so I need to go back and check for mistakes. After that, I publish my post and it’s live on the internet!
Promoting your post is important too. I use my social media {Facebook and Pinterest usually} to help my posts reach a bigger audience.
What did you have to go through?
When you first start Blogging, you’re going to feel like you’re talking to yourself. You won’t have an audience yet and it will take a while for readers to find you. You’ll have to blog away, connect with others, and be consistent to reach a larger audience.
You’ll also need to decide how you want your blog to look. Your brand is important! You want your design to be clean, inviting, and easy to read while standing out at the same time.
What leadership skills do you need to
be successful as a writer?
Here’s another example of something bloggers/writers have to do… research! I had a million ideas here and wanted to narrow them down so I Googled “leadership skills” and looked for a relevant article to see if my ideas were on track. They were!
One of the most important leadership skills for a blogger is communication. If I can’t express my ideas clearly in writing, no one is going to want to read my blog.
Another one is collaboration. Blogging is all about relationship and working together {more on that below}.
Finally, I think passion is important too. You have to love what you do. If you don’t, you’ll lose interest in your project. Others can tell when you aren’t passionate about your work too and won’t be interested in reading your blog.
How have you gotten others involved?
This is probably my favorite part! Blogging is all about connecting with your readers and other bloggers too. I connect with other bloggers by commenting on their blogs and adding my favorite posts to Pinterest or Facebook so others can find them too.
I also connect with my readers and get them involved too. Anyone who reads my blog is able to leave a comment on my posts and start a conversation that way. I also maintain social media accounts that are tied to my blog so we can connect on Facebook and Instagram. It’s important to use these sites wisely because they represent YOU and your brand.
Finally, I have companies who want to advertise on my blog too. This means I get free stuff! Companies send me their product to review honestly on my blog, and I often get to give away their products to my readers too. It’s a pretty sweet deal! 😉
So there you have it! We’re going to try our hand at blogging over on KidBlog.org. Do you have any advice for us?
I'd tell any beginning blogger to write about what they know, and if you want to write about something you don't know very well, research. 🙂 Also, try to be yourself when you blog. People like personality, not robots. 🙂
I was just about to write the same thing as Martha above – be genuine and yourself through & through. People can tell when you are trying too hard. Also, readers respond much better when the topic is something they can relate to. Have fun with it !! 🙂
Kelly
First Grade Fairytales
I would say be organized from the beginning. Decide on your format, tag your posts and keep track of what you've blogged about.
Write what you care about! Write what you are passionate about it. If you really care about your topic, so will your reader.
Plus, I agree about being yourself and letting your personality shine through.
Sally from Elementary Matters
As a blogger baby – thanks so much for sharing the above info!
I'm new to blogging and your post was very informative. Thanks for sharing!