The BritMums Blog

BritMums Big Sis Mentoring Programme

Take a walk with us. A walk down Memory Lane. Back to the early days of blogging. Back to when you FIRST started blogging and didn't know your SEO from your USP. Back to when you didn't know what Twitter was much less who to follow or re-tweet. Back to when you were blogging to your parents and one or two friends. Remember?

For many of us, those early weeks and months were possibly frustrating and confusing. It would have been really lovely if someone could have taken us by the virtual hand and let us in on a few trade secrets, helped us to see where we could improve, suggested a slightly different blog layout or design and maybe introduced us to a few of their friends along the way.

Wordpress Tutorial: How to create a beautiful blog in 5 minutes

Our resident tech expert, Janis from Really Kid Friendly is sharing her Wordpress knowledge again.

Watch this video tutorial which demonstrates how to install and configure a premium Wordpress Theme and create an elegant, professional website or blog on a budget.

You rock, Janis, thanks!

 

Become a Mum Blogger Video Series Part 3: Links, images and types of posts

The lovely Erica Douglas continues her Become a Mum Blogger video series. This installation, the third in the series, shows you how to create good links (yes, not all links are created equally!), how to insert images and gives a summary of the different types of posts you can create. If you are new or beginning blogger, this series is a MUST. You can see the other videos here.

 

 

Become a Mum Blogger Video Series Part 2: Creating posts and pages

BritMums have joined up with Erica and Antonia from BAM: Become a Mumpreneur to bring you a fabulous video series on How To Become A Mum Blogger. Here's the second video in the series, it's all about how to create posts and pages.

You can check out the first video here, which is all about how to start a blog.

Enjoy!

 

An introduction to video blogging with @geekmummy

So you want to be a video blogger? Ruth from GeekMummy gives us some tips on how to start off...

 

Introducing: Become a Mum Blogger Video Series with @erica

We've joined up with Erica and Antonia from BAM: Become a Mumpreneur to bring you a fabulous video series on how to become a mum blogger. The first video is posted below, check it out. It's all about how to start a blog.

Erica and Antonia are founding BritMums members and have contributed content to the site since the get-go. We are excited to work with them on this project. Enjoy the video!

 

10 tips for writing your memoir

For many people blogging leads naturally to writing a memoir – it’s all about the Me (and we mean that in the best possible way). Sometimes putting your own life into a story is difficult. You have to showcase the drama and find the beginning, the middle, and the end even though your own life, obviously, continues to roll on.

My friend Steve Friedman, a journalist in New York, has always had a talent for writing first-person stories that sound like he’s sitting right next to you, cracking jokes and spinning tales. He’s just published Driving Lessons: A Father, a Son , and the Healing Power of Golf (Rodale) in the US. Kirkus has called it “inspirational” among other things.

In June, he has a second book coming out called Lost on Treasure Island: A Memoir of Longing, Love, and Lousy Choices in New York City (Arcade). One blurb describes him as “hapless, hopeful and utterly hilarious.” (You can read more about his books on www.stevefriedman.net.)

Guest post: What every blogger needs to know about tax

Have you ever wondered if you need to tell the tax man about that massage the lovely PR person gave you as a thank you for participating in their campaign. Or if he should be privy to that vacuum cleaner you reviewed (and kept). Liz Jarvis from The Mum Blog shows us that tax doesn't have to be taxing. 

As many of us have discovered, apart from making friends and the chance to be part of a brilliant community, blogging can provide you with the opportunity to write product reviews, go on days out and holidays, receive vouchers and even payment for posts.

And more and more bloggers are making money from their blogs, and even running them as at home businesses.

Which can make things a little complicated, from the tax point of view.

7 easy tips for pumping up your Twitter account

There are loads of different philosophies on how to grow a Twitter account. Here are some tips I got from a fellow journalist a while back. They may sound a little clinical - there's no mention of "having loads of great conversations and sharing jokes", but they do give a basic roadmap for helping to get your name out there.

What do you think about these 7 steps for finding more Twitter followers? Too basic? Wonderfully simplistic? What's your best Twitter tip?

1. Make 1,000 friends

2. Post friendly comments introducing blog links "wrote this because..." etc

Guest post from Littlemummy: Monetising your blog

Back again to educate the Mum Blogging community, Erica Douglas offers us some outstanding insight into the world of monetising your blog. If you're looking for some tips as to how to make a bit of income with your blog, look no further!

So you've been blogging for a while and you're loving it! Your blog is looking exactly how you want it (after many a midnight hour spent tinkering!) and your traffic is on the up and up. So what next? Successful bloggers have gone on to do everything from publishing a book to building a business, turned freelance and built niche websites.

The opportunities are endless, do you have goals beyond blogging for fun? I could have written about any of the topics above but Karin suggested monetising your blog as the hot topic of the moment. If you're happily blogging for fun then look away now, we're going to talk about that dirty thing called money.

Blogging for improving bloggers

Erica from Littlemummy.com recently guest-posted with tips for new bloggers. For those ready to move on to the next level, here are suggestions that help you think strategically about your blog, getting more readers coming to it and comments.

Once you've mastered the basics of blogging if you're anything like me you'll become preoccupied with two things; traffic and comments.

Don't worry this phase will pass too so just embrace it! So let's tackle traffic first as without traffic there can be no comments. Traffic generally comes in three types; direct, search engine and referral.

Guest post: 6 tips for turning your blog into a business

Has your blog grown up out of something that you have a passion for? Would you love to be able to earn a living from your blog? In this article Antonia Chitty of www.becomeamumpreneur.com shares her own experiences of building a business from a blog, plus gives you 6 tips so you can do it too. Over to Antonia...

1. Have you got passion? I started blogging about something for which I have a genuine passion. I was really excited when I got a book deal to write Family Friendly Working, a book all about helping mums and dads find flexible ways to work or start their own business, and even after the book was published I was still finding relevant advice and great case studies. The blog was the perfect outlet for all this information.  Where is your passion? Does it show in your writing?

2. Persistence pays off. I added little snippets of news, advice and links to relevant events to the site on a regular basis, often daily, and soon it made sense that the blog should be the first page people would see on the site, rather than just an add-on.  How often do you blog? Whether you write 1,2 or 3 posts a week, as long as you stick to that schedule your readers know when to check in.

Guest post from @mtjam: 8 ways social media changed my life

When Emily Carlisle, aka More than Just a Mother, started blogging in 2008, little did she know it would change her life.  In this post she tells us how social media has opened up all kinds of doors, including finding a literary agent for her  manuscript.

Blogging is just one of the options in your social media toolbox and just like any other piece of kit, it can do whatever you want it to do for you.  This article explains what social media does for me;

1. Social media gives me a platform
I’ve been writing all my life.  I’ve edited charity newsletters, produced articles for the local rag and scrawled the beginnings of a hundred stories across the pages of crisp, clean notebooks.  I’ve always had to search for an outlet; for the right medium to use.  The advent of social media gave me a platform to write exactly what I want, in the way I want, when I want.  Whether you confine your views to 140 characters, use the notes field of Facebook or pontificate across several blog posts, there’s always a forum available for your message.

Guest post: How to increase your #Klout score in 11 easy steps

Want to work with brands? Then you need to raise your Klout score and get on our new British Mum Bloggers have Klout index. Liz Jarvis, who blogs at The Mum Blog, shares her top 11 tips for upping your online influence.

I was very excited to see BMB’s new British Mum Bloggers Have Klout index and not just because I’m on it *cough*.

In my day job, and as a blogger, I work with a lot of big brands who use social media campaigns. When they’re trying to decide which blogs to work with, they rely on different independently-sourced criteria to establish reach, including wikio, but Klout is becoming increasingly important as a measure of online influence, including Twitter and Facebook.

Guest post: English Mum's 10 tips for fabulous food blogging

English Mum has a gorgeous food-oriented blog where she writes everything from easy fresh baked bread and pies to farmhouse breakfasts that make your mouth water. She was also a Make a Difference Winner at the BMB’s Brilliance in Blogging Awards!

Here are her tips for writing about food, whether your favourite recipes or cooking with the kids, to get your readers – and other bloggers - eating up your content. Over to English Mum:

1.  Start with a bit of background. Has the recipe been in your family for years? Did you try it in a restaurant and then recreate it at home? Why do you love it? When do you make it? Is it easy or does it require a bit of work? The more information you give, the better.

5 essential Facebook tools for bloggers

Do you have a Facebook fan page? You should! Facebook fan pages are among the most effective ways of connecting with your audience, and of gaining new readers for your blog. Janis Curry, founder of Really Kid Friendly has put together these practical tips on how to use Facebook fan page tools for bloggers, brands and businesses.

 1. Automatically post blog updates to your Fan Page wall

RSS Graffitiis a popular and easy to use application which allows you to automatically post your latest blog updates on your Facebook Fan Page wall. This is an excellent way of gaining new readers from outside the blogosphere and outside of Twitter. One of the best aspects of RSS Graffiti that you don’t see with similar applications is that you can update your wall with content from multiplesources for free. That means you can promote content from your partners or sponsors, your favourite blogs, or other RSS feeds that you feel will strike a chord with your audience.

Guest post: How to write reviews on your blog: a beginners guide

Helen writes reviews about everything from bathroom toy holders to coffee makers on her blog www.petitmom.co.uk and she also blogs at petiteladies.blogspot.com. Here, she shares her tips for getting in to the reviewing game.

Do you think you have a unique viewpoint and knowledge to write reviews, whether for products, services or entertainment? Have you seen other blogs and wondered how to start reviewing? Here are some tips and advice to help you begin.

Twitter
This was invaluable to me when I started out. You can find many companies on Twitter who are very friendly and some will even be more than happy to send you some of their products to review. If you want to ask over Twitter you should ask in a polite manner. Don’t just say “Got any stuff for me to review?” That makes you sound like a blagger, not a blogger. An example would be this tweet to Tommee Tippee, where I merely ask them if they were looking for reviews from mummy blogger (our kitchen is full of their products) and I got a response fairly quickly asking if we can speak over email.

How to raise your ranking on the Wikio parent blog index

Blog indexes are a great way to raise your profile. But if you are the newbie on the block, how do you raise your score on their popular Parent Blog Index? Paul Coggins, MD of Wikio, give us some suggestions.

What is Wikio?
Wikio is a news portal that lists recent, up-to-the-minute articles from media news sites and  blogs. But why do certain sources appear above others, even though their time of posting might be earlier? It's no ordinary timeline; it's because of Wikio's ranking algorithm.

Seven easy ways to improve your blog photography

Ever wonder how to make a blog look good enough to eat? Photography is a great way to inject some much needed energy into a site. Jay aka Mocha Beanie Mummy is a professional photographer in "real life". Here she gives us 7 suggestions for improving photography on your blog.

There are so many ways to do it, and how much effort you make dictates how fast you will improve. But if you’re not sure where to start, then hopefully this will give you a shove in the right direction!

1. Take part in blog memes for fun - it’s good practice whether it’s working on photos that have meaning to you, specific themes, areas you want to improve - it all helps. Put yourself out there! There’s a world of support at your fingertips. Why not come and try out Silent Sunday? One photo which you took in the last week and NO WORDS in the post - easy! Use the linky and the badge to be connected to plenty more blogs doing the same thing, peruse lots of photos at your pleasure.

How to publish your blog to Kindle

Have you ever wondered how to publish your blog to Kindle? Nickie from Typecast has recently listed hers and shares some tips.

Amazon have recently allowed blogs to be self-published on their Kindle store.  This facility allows you to upload your blog for sale to all Kindle users.  Once you have completed this process your blog will be reviewed by Amazon and available for download within 48-72 hours.