How To Choose The Best Stock & Own Images For Your Blog

This post is collaborative, but all opinions are my own

If you are writing multiple blog posts for your blog, you will probably be keen to ensure they are as good as possible. And one element that is just as important as the writing itself is the images you use. Even if you only use one image per blog post, the right images are key to your blog. Here's a guide to photos and choosing the best images for your blog!

Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

Find Some Good Stock Sites

One of the simplest ways to source good images for your blog posts is to look out for some stock image sites that you might be able to make use of. The sites can vary, and some are better than others. But the truth is that there are lots of good options out there. Some are free and require you to credit the photographer, and some are paid for, usually of slightly better quality.

Royalty-free images are free to use, and you can use the photos as much as you like. Even so, you should always double-check the license. You don't want to have any legal issues. I recommend going through stock sites and creating a library of images you like. That way, when writing a blog post, you can pick out images you already approve of.

Be Patient & Be Ready To Scroll

To find the best images, you’ll often have to look beyond those that appear straight away. These would have become popular for a reason. It might well be that they are attractive and well-made images. However, for that reason, they will very quickly become overused, and ones you want to avoid if possible. The way around this is to make sure that you are patient and ready to scroll through lots of photos before choosing one.

You should look at some of the images on the second, third and fourth pages because that is where you will find many really amazing ones. You will find that having some patience really does pay off hugely in the long run when it comes to your blog posts.

Keep It On-Theme

One of the things you are probably looking out for when you scroll through those pages is images that are suitable for the theme of your blog and the post you are writing. It can help to have some images on the go while writing. That way you can make sure your writing matches the photos. If you do it that way, you’re more likely to end up with a blog post that works well. If you are unsure about a theme, you can opt for some generic images, but be careful not to do this too often or include too many of that type.

Get The Numbers Right

How many images should you include in a blog post? There are many ways to approach this, but most agree that you are looking for balance. Ideally, you don’t want too many because that can easily overshadow the text, but too few are not good either.

Photos can enhance your blog posts and make them more exciting. The right image can ensure you get clicks. People are visual. Whether you use stock images or take the photos yourself, make sure they fit in with your post and look great. What are your favourite stock image websites? I'd love to hear how you go about using stock images and what tips you can share!

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, by Love, Em

Small Business Tips

How To Grow Your Small Business In A Saturated Market

This post is collaborative, but all opinions are my own

Running a small business is hard, especially when there are so many similar products out there. I believe in following your passion, but you might have similar ideas to others. Whatever kind of business you run, you will need to ensure that you can get it out there in the world in the best way possible. It can be hard to find your place in a saturated market. Here's how to get your small business seen, even if you're in a difficult market.

Photo by erica steeves on Unsplash

Position Yourself As An Expert

Something that is going to help people to trust your business is if it seems as though you are truly an expert in your field. So this is something that you are going to want to make sure of, and it’s all about positioning yourself in such a way that you can look like the expert that you want them to see you as. This can be as simple as sharing your thoughts online in the form of social media or a blog, and it’s a great way to show that you are capable of actually thinking beyond the immediate product. This tends to draw people in, and it definitely makes you more visible as a business.

Boost Your Website With SEO

Having a website in place that people can find is really important if you want to be seen and heard, but you’ll also need to make sure that you are actually able to boost the site’s appearance as well, which is not always as easy as you might hope or assume. However, with the use of an SEO agency, you are going to find that this is a lot easier and smoother than you might have thought, and it’s the kind of thing that you are definitely going to want to think about. Good SEO can often be the difference between a successful business and one that flops, so that is something to think about here.

Have A Plan For Social

Small businesses can do really well with social media, and this is definitely the kind of platform that you are going to want to think about if you are trying to ensure that your business can grow and be as visible as possible. Just having a plan for social activities is really important so that you are not doing it willy-nilly but in a really feasible and effective way. This is the kind of thing that can make your business work out a lot better, so it’s a really good idea to do all you can to get your small business to be seen on social media in these ways.

Think Multi-Platform

You need to think about how audiences are going to view you and your brand so that you can effectively create a story that arches over many platforms. As long as you are thinking in this way, it’s going to mean that your small business has a much better chance of succeeding, and you will definitely find that it’s going to make a huge difference to how people perceive the company. Think in terms of multi-platform and you might be surprised by the kinds of results this can bring you.

Use Word Of Mouth

Some kinds of marketing are good for small businesses in particular, and word of mouth is more or less the perfect example of this. If you can use word of mouth, you are going to find that your small business is much more likely to actually be seen and heard, and yet it’s an easy and completely free-of-charge way to market your business. It’s as simple as talking to people about your business and then allowing the word to spread, and it’s something that you are definitely going to want to focus on.

If you can do all that, your small business is going to be a lot more successful in no time, and the word will well and truly spread about it in the local area and possibly even beyond. That’s a great position to be in.

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, by Love, Em

Productivity & Organisation

How To Increase Your Productivity As A Small Business

This is a collaborative post, but all opinions are my own.

As the holidays approach, you should ensure your business is as productive as possible. A lot is going on, but it is the perfect time to boost your sales and grow your business. Productivity is hard when you set your own schedule, but you need to stay on track and plan your time. Here are some tips for maintaining productivity as a small business, even if you're working from home!

Photo by Aleksander Vlad on Unsplash

Utilise Technology

Technology can be a great asset in times of business difficulty. It can be argued that technology is one of the main reasons businesses can continue operating during tough times. Utilising technology and tools can help you communicate with employees, clients and customers more effectively. It can also help you manage your finances, keep track of your inventory and automate processes.

Encourage Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is essential for any business. When employees feel like they are a part of something larger, they are more likely to be productive. There are many ways to encourage employee engagement, such as promoting team-building activities, offering opportunities for professional development and investing in employee wellness programs. In addition, when employees feel valued and supported, they will be more likely to go above and beyond to help the business succeed. As a small business, you could offer small rewards, go out for lunches or even host a Christmas party. With a small budget, showing appreciation can be hard. But the little things count. Even a small gift or allowing streaming while packaging orders could go a long way.

Streamline Processes

One of the best ways to increase productivity is to streamline processes. This can be done by eliminating unnecessary steps, automating tasks whenever possible and simplifying procedures. When processes are streamlined, you can focus on more important tasks and feel less overwhelmed. This can lead to increased productivity and improved morale. You could batch your jobs, automate things like printing labels or social media, and have dedicated areas for different tasks. Make things easier for yourself!

Related: How to task batch your creative content

Promote a Healthy Work-Life Balance

Another way to increase productivity is to promote a healthy work-life balance. This means creating an environment where people feel like they have enough time for their personal lives. When employees can focus on their outside of work, they can be more productive when they are at work. There are many ways to promote a healthy work-life balance, such as offering flexible work hours and providing child care benefits. As a small business owner, you likely work from home. If possible, keep work separate and have hours where you work. As a small business owner, having an office or shop would be nice, but it's not always possible from the start. You could also practice self-care and take time off when you need it.

Focus on Quality, Not Quantity

In difficult times, it is tempting to try to achieve quantity over quality to save money. However, this is often a mistake. When businesses cut corners and produce inferior products or services, they usually lose customers in the long run. So, instead of quantity, focus on quality. This will help you maintain your reputation and attract new business. In addition, customers are often willing to pay more for quality products and services. As the Christmas rush approaches, don't strain yourself to get 1000 products in your shop. Put out what you can manage, and don't take on anything too strenuous. It's the holidays, you get to relax too! While it's a great tool for making money, your health and family should come first.

Use Low-Cost Marketing Strategies

When budgets are tight, marketing is often one of the first areas to be cut. However, this can be a mistake. Marketing is essential for businesses of all sizes, especially during difficult times. The good news is that many low-cost marketing strategies can be just as effective as more expensive campaigns. For example, social media and email marketing are inexpensive ways to reach a large audience. In addition, word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most powerful marketing tools available. Social media takes a lot of work but can benefit your business. It's free to set up an account on most platforms.

Take Advantage of Outside Resources

Many outside resources can help businesses increase their productivity. These include consultants, business coaches and online tools. Utilising these resources can provide you with fresh ideas, especially if you are in Plumbing services, Maintenance or supplying Gas Monitors. In addition, they can give helpful advice and innovative solutions. In some cases, they can also help you save time and money.

Running your own business is difficult. It can take time to build up a routine. Being productive every day won't happen. But there are ways to ensure any time you spend on your business is meaningful. What are your favourite small business productivity tips? I'd love to hear how you're growing your small business over the holiday season and what works for you!

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, by Love, Em

Blogging

How To Quickly Increase Your Website Traffic

This post is collaborative, but all opinions are my own

One of the first things that bloggers want to know is "how to get traffic to my blog" as seeing growth in your statistics is an amazing feeling. Growing your blog can be hard, especially if you don't know where to start. I have been blogging for over 4 years, and I am still learning new ways of increasing my traffic. Every blog is different, so what works for one blog may not work for the other. Here are some of the ways I have been able to quickly increase my blog traffic.

Increasing Your Blog's Traffic

Unfortunately, there is no overnight solution to growing your traffic. It takes time, and bloggers can feel disheartened when they're not popular in a short period of time. Every blog is different, and people will find different things interesting. I used to have a fitness blog, a food blog and a beauty blog before I stuck with Love, Em. I found that my fitness blog required a lot more promotion as people are a little more interested in food & beauty blogs. You may find that with your niche too. In the near year I have been blogging, I have managed to increase my traffic to a very decent point, the highest I've ever achieved in my blogging career. These tips are what I have learn along the way, so may not apply to everyone. Increase traffic is no secret, you just need to keep at it and give it time!

Use SEO Metrics to Understand Digital Reach

If you want to understand more about how your readers find you and how you can improve your rankings, SEO is one of the things you should focus on. There are many different SEO metrics you can use to assess your performance on search engine results pages, and they’ll help you to improve traffic and your digital reach if you make the right changes. SEO can be a hard thing to grasp, but it has helped my blog and business grow. I have some tips for those who are looking to make some changes to their blog and business' website!

Use Social Media

Social media is where a lot of bloggers get their traffic from as it reaches a large audience. There are lots of different social media platform to use, groups to join, and threads to participate in. Each platform is different and will attract different audiences. Instagram users range from 14-29 while Pinterest is typically 18-49, and mostly female. You need to decide who your blog is targeting. You can use multiple social media sites to increase your reach, but make sure your content is relevant to each site.

If you're promoting on Twitter, you can tag blogger retweet accounts in your promotional tweets. They will retweet your posts and increase your reach. You can also join in weekly comment threads if you're willing to comment on other blogger's posts too. There are lots of Facebook support groups where you can help each other out. Find ones for your niche or local area by searching "lifestyle blogger groups" or similar. Social media is an important factor in increasing your traffic fast!

Advertise Your Blog

One of the quickest ways to grow your DA score is by advertising on other blogger's blogs. They will do the promotion work for you, which will divert established blogger's traffic towards your blog. Advertising on other blogs can help increase your traffic as it puts your name out there. Every blogger will offer something different, so look around to see what packages work best for you and your niche. I have seen packages range from £3 up to £20, so research is key!

Most packages will give you a mention in a monthly post and promote your blog on their social media at the very minimum. A lot of bloggers offer them, so you won't have to look too hard if you want to increase your traffic fast. Advertising also increases your DA score, which makes your blog more attractive when working with brands.

Guest Blogging

If you're looking to increase your DA score as well as traffic, writing guest posts for other bloggers is a great way to get your name out. Most bloggers will accept guest posts and will allow you to include backlinks to your blog, posts and social media. It means that their traffic could click through to your blog. It's a good way of establishing yourself and showing readers your style.

You're using another blogger's readers and promotion for your own benefit, all you need to do is write a high-quality post. Make sure you write the post as if you were writing it for yourself. It's not fair if you lack in quality because it isn't going on your website. Some bloggers will have requirements for you to follow before writing for them. This varies between bloggers, so make sure you ask!

Collect Email Subscribers

Collecting email subscribers can be beneficial to your traffic. If you have 1000 subscribers and you send out a promotional email with blog links. They're likely to click them and visit your blog! Entice email subscribers with freebies, and then regularly give exclusive content with links back to your page. Your email subscribers usually are more loyal and engaged, so are likely to click your links. It's an easy way to use subscribers and boost your traffic!

Create Unique & Interesting Content

One of the best ways to boost your blog traffic is to make exciting and unique content. There are millions of bloggers, all trying to increase their traffic. What makes your blog better than there's? Try to pick a niche close to your heart and be genuine with your readers. I recently started to redefine my niche to focus on my current loves and hobbies. Instead of spreading myself thin, I now have around four main topics which I write. Although jumping on a trend can boost your traffic fast, will you still be talked about next week? Creating good content for every occasion is the key to increase your blog traffic and maintain steady growth. If you're stuck for ideas, here are some starting points for every niche!

200+ Blog post ideas for EVERY niche

100+ Fall & Blogtober Blog Post Ideas

100+ Christmas Blog Post Ideas for every niche

Use Blogging Threads

There are daily social media threads that invite you to share your latest posts. It allows you to meet new bloggers, comment on their posts and get comments in return. These threads are great for traffic and engagement as they direct bloggers straight to your post! There are lots of blogger groups that do these daily or weekly threads. If you're on Twitter, I retweet the daily threads for you to join in. Here are some I use:

TRJ For Bloggers
The Clique Bloggers RT
The Cosy Bloggers Chat
Bloggers Tribe
USBlog Retweets

Use the groups and threads that are relevant to your niche as it'll bring in more traffic. If you're going to be doing these threads, make sure you follow the rules. If someone comments on your post, comment back. Make sure your comment is also meaningful. It's not fair if you reply with "good post" as this is spammy and will most likely be deleted. Spam comments also can impact your DA score. I use lots of threads as I have found that it increases my traffic quite quickly. It's a great way of connecting with other bloggers too.

Engage With Other Bloggers

Bloggers will be some of the first traffic you'll ever receive. If you engage with them, reply to their tweets and comment on their blog posts, they will do the same. If you're leaving comments, make sure you read the post and give a heartfelt message as I mentioned before. By engaging with other bloggers, I have gained around 25 followers per day!

Engaging with other bloggers is a good way to meet new people and learn tips. If you put yourself out there, you may be invited to join blogging groups which will also help your traffic. You could also be recommended by other bloggers, where their traffic will be directed to your blog! Engaging is so easy to do. It's easy to forget the people who helped you in the first place, but it is important to engage with them.

Optimise Your Blog & Content

If you're looking for organic traffic, you will need to optimise your SEO. SEO means Search Engine Optimisation. There are lots of things that determine how SEO friendly your blog is. The better your SEO is, the higher you will rank on Google. If someone searches a topic you have on your blog, your page will show up higher than others, making it more likely that someone will click on it. You can use the Yoast Plugin to help you. There are lots of ways you can optimise your SEO. For every blog post, make sure you check the following:

Research and include keywords specific to your post
Have an SEO approved title for your post
Use headings throughout the post
Add a meta description to your post
Include alt text on any images you've used
Use an SEO friendly URL
Disclosed if your blog post is sponsored or gifted

Run A Giveaway

If you're looking for a quick boost for traffic, hosting a giveaway can be beneficial. You could give away something you're reviewing or an item you genuinely love using. I'd recommend collaborating with a brand, for example reviewing the item and giving one lucky reader the chance to try it out too. When hosting a giveaway, make sure you follow all the rules and will genuinely send out the item, even if the brand falls through. However, the flaw with giveaways is that some people will follow you for the chance to win. These extra followers may look great on your profile, but they won't engage with you, may not come back to your site and could even unfollow you once the giveaway is over. Giveaways shouldn't be your sole resource when trying to boost blog traffic, as it's not a long term solution!

Be Consistent & Take Your Time

Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to boost your traffic overnight. While all of these ideas will help dramatically, your traffic will still take time to grow. Make sure your blog and social media stay consistent. Post content weekly, if not on a fortnightly basis if you can. Keeping your content up to date and updating old posts can boost your traffic as people look for relevant information. You also shouldn't rush your blog posts and growth. Take your time to write your blog posts and make sure it's SEO worthy with no mistakes. Growth can take years, but you don't want to grow too fast to handle. It's better to take it slow than jump to 10k of unengaged readers!

These are just a few ways to increase your blog's traffic. Don't feel disheartened if you don't become famous overnight. Blogs take a lot of hard work, time and effort. Growth doesn't happen overnight, and you need to be patient. If you rush these things, your blog may lack quality, meaning readers won't return. Every niche is different, so these methods won't work as well for some blogs, but it is all about trial and error. How have you been increasing your blog traffic? Let me know in the comments what works best for you.

Looking for more helpful blogging tips?

The legal side to blogging - what you NEED to know

How to create gorgeous printables & freebies for your blog

How to manage a blog with a full-time job

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, by Love, Em

Love, Em

How To Choose The Best Stock & Own Images For Your Blog

Find Some Good Stock Sites

Be Patient & Be Ready To Scroll

Keep It On-Theme

Get The Numbers Right

How To Grow Your Small Business In A Saturated Market

Position Yourself As An Expert

Boost Your Website With SEO

Have A Plan For Social

Think Multi-Platform

Use Word Of Mouth

How To Increase Your Productivity As A Small Business

Utilise Technology

Encourage Employee Engagement

Streamline Processes

Related: How to task batch your creative content

Promote a Healthy Work-Life Balance

Focus on Quality, Not Quantity

Use Low-Cost Marketing Strategies

Take Advantage of Outside Resources

How To Quickly Increase Your Website Traffic

Increasing Your Blog's Traffic

Use SEO Metrics to Understand Digital Reach

Use Social Media

Advertise Your Blog

Guest Blogging

Collect Email Subscribers

Create Unique & Interesting Content

Use Blogging Threads

Engage With Other Bloggers

Optimise Your Blog & Content

Run A Giveaway

Be Consistent & Take Your Time

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