A DAY IN MY LIFE AS A BLOGGER

My day starts at 4.30am, I get up and shower, then I go for a run, just a couple of miles to shake off the cobwebs as they say, and then back home and showered again, ready to start my working day.

TIME TO START WORK

I have a routine that I follow religiously, am a lover of coffee and I really can’t operate without it, so before I do anything the coffee machine is buzzing away.

Now I don’t know about you, but I write everything down on little notelets, from a post title to phone calls or meetings I have to attend, but I also write down a load of irrelevant stuff, like feeding the dog, turning on the washing machine, or even paying a bill, because I get so immersed in what am doing I tend to forget things, so I use my notelets as a visual reminder, and it really works. Once I have done all that it’s time to start writing and it’s 7.30 in the morning.

LET THE WRITING BEGIN

Now this part of my working day I enjoy the most, but like everyone else there are days were everything goes wrong and I just want to pack it all in, but when that happens I just keep telling myself why am doing this for, and that is, I love to write about things am passionate about, I love the independence that a work from home blogger brings me, I love the interaction with clients (MOST OF THE TIME) but most of all, I am in charge of my own future, and it’s down to my efforts what that future holds for me.

My workload varies, but most of the time I am dealing with between 3/6 clients on a daily basis, and I have contractual deadlines to meet, so what I do is set up a timetable every morning, similar to the ones you have at school, and I set up a word count that needs to be completed in every session, and the word count will vary depending on the size of the project and the deadline time, so it is a bit of a juggling act but if you set your mind and organise yourself properly you will retain control of your workload. Some times you do take on more work than you can handle, although I try really hard not to, but when that does happen I outsource that work to another blogger who you trust can complete it to your clients specs. Once you start dealing with the same client on a regular basis, that client will be more willing to stretch the deadline, so it is important to regularly keep your client updated and form a working bond with your clients.

I always set aside 1/2 hours researching the topics I am writing about, this for me is the most important part of the day, Because to write about a topic you haven’t researched will show in your work, and you will not keep those clients very long, you know yourself that if you are reading a blog post where it is obvious the author has no real knowledge about the topic, it makes for bad reading, so like I said I always make sure I have an acceptable amount of knowledge on the topic, and if I feel that I won’t be able to do it justice, I will not take on the work. My writing starts at 7.30 and I try to finish by 6.00pm

CLOSING THE DAY

Now at the end of each day I always go through everything I have done in case of error, and once I am happy I will either publish the post or let the client know it is ready for them to review, now sometimes I could get the same post back 3/4 times for edits, am afraid that is something you have to accept.

The very last thing I want to tell you about is on the topic of physical and mental health, You must look after yourself, eat regular meals, but I don’t mean eat while you work, take a proper meal break, and when things start to feel they are getting on top of you, STOP, take a break, think things through, relax and only go back to it when you are ready, you are in control, you will be surprised at the results.Take care of yourself and you will be the winner.

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR BLOGGING JOURNEY.

ANDYS BLOGGING NETWORK.(BE PART OF OUR GROWING FAMILY)

https://andys-blogging-network.mn.co/share/MPm1cmsR40U9nmRb?utm_source=manual

Hello!

I’d love for you to join me in andys blogging network, a community where we can meet, message, share ideas, and go deeper with our peers on the topics we care about most.

When you join, you’ll be able to contribute your own stories and experiences. It only takes a minute to sign up. I look forward to connecting with you.
We all want to do well with our blogs and books, we are all passionate about what we do, so the best way to achieve this is to join our community where we can learn, teach, share and grow.
please join us today and be part of our growing family.

ONLINE MARKETING CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOU

The world of business is so competitive due to the advances made in information technology, the world wide web and the countless resources that are available. combined with fluctuating economic markets and the ever-increasing volume of online start-ups it is essential to keep your nose in front of your competitors. This is no easy task, and you have to get it right, so choosing the right marketing tools can make or break any business.

SOCIAL MEDIA

With an audience of over 2 billion social media is undoubtedly the world’s largest customer database and is the most powerful form of media resource that is available, and of course, it’s free. but using social media to benefit your company is a lot harder than most people realize.

ADVERTISING

Promoting your business through ADVERTISING is important because unless you shout out loud nobody will know you are their

web content

To me, the single important factor in any marketing campaign, without this your business will not succeed. With content you must ensure that it is well researched, fresh and current, you must have the right image, video and audio placements at the correct sequences, too many or not using the right ones will destroy any content no matter how well it is written.

The content must engage the reader and encourage them to come back. Your search engine optimization and keywords must be used correctly. Make sure that your brand or services are highlighted, and made the main focus of the reader without detracting from the content.

I have only touched on the very basics of using web content to market your brand or services, and it can be very complicated so using the right writer is very important.

I HAVE BEEN WRITING FOR MANY YEARS AND AM STILL LEARNING, BUT IF YOU GET IT RIGHT YOU ARE A WINNER

CHEERS….. ANDY THOMSON(THE BLOGGER

THE WAY FORWARD

Digital marketing is what we do nowadays, whether it be for personal gain, or for business reasons.We even market ourselves, so for example, we want to get a message across on social media to as many people as possible, so we write that message in such a way that it has an ultimate impact, and we all do it without thinking, so in today’s age we are all digital marketers in life, if not in business.

Marketing a brand or service can be a huge burden for the poor guy or girl who takes responsibility for it, you will either end up crying in your coffee, or you will be doing the highland fling around the office in celebration. What I don’t want to do is scare people into thinking that a job in marketing is a big no-no, because, in fact, it can be the most satisfying job in the world, not to mention very profitable. Am not writing this article in a technical format at all, it’s not about how we market our brands and services, or even ourselves, but it’s about how we approach digital marketing.

Marketing can be as diverse as anything that we do, and the project that you are working on now will be completely different from the previous one, for example, your target audience will be different, costing will be different, packaging, supply, manufacturing, transportation, everything will be different. The key here is research, to blindly go and try to market something that you know nothing about, is a fools game, you have to know everything about what you are marketing as if you owned it yourself, and if you did own it yourself you wouldn’t stand for attitudes like “maybe that will work” “WE WILL TRY THIS” “IF IT GOES WRONG, WE CAN START AGAIN”.I wouldn’t be happy with that attitude, in fact, am sure no good marketing agency would.

This has just been a very brief and basic article about how important it is to lay the groundwork before you start any marketing project. the key words to understand are…PREPARATION..RESEARCH.. CORRECT TARGETED AUDIENCE, ATTENTION TO DETAIL, AND THEN ASK YOURSELF,”BEFORE I PROCEED TO THE NEXT STEP, IS EVERYTHING I HAVE DONE SO FAR CORRECT. We all make mistakes, but it is so wrong not to try and minimize those mistakes as much as humanly possible

Cheers… the blogger

NEW TO BLOGGING(HOW TO SET UP YOUR BLOG

There are millions of bloggers out there, and its popularity has been increasing every year. This article is going to show you how to set up and successfully run your own blog. A blog can be used for personal use, or for a business, whether or not you just want to relay information, or you want to sell a product or service, or even just tell a story, the format for setting up your blog is the same.

CHOOSE A DOMAIN NAME

A domain name is your web address, a place people will go to visit your blog, no matter where you live in the world your domain name is where your blog lives, for example, my own blog lives at www.THEBLOGGINGSTATION.COM

Your domain name can be anything you want as long as it isn’t being used by anyone else. Choose a domain name that is short but memorable. You would usually be able to purchase your domain name from the company that your blog will be hosted on. Some hosting companies offer the domain name for free as long as you purchase a hosting plan from them, but be careful not to jump straight in there, as choosing the right host is very important.

CHOOSE A HOSTING COMPANY

A hosting company is the people who enable your blog to be visible on the internet, and they allow people access to your blog via your domain name.

A lot of hosting companies offer a free hosting plan, but with that, you don’t get a domain name, they give you what is known as a sub-domain, for example,http://www.thewordswesharenow.wordpress.com  and the features they offer for your blog can be very limited. Using a free host is brilliant for experimenting with idea’s for your blog, and of course, it doesn’t cost you anything, but your main blog should be on a paid plan to take advantage of the features that the hosting company offers, and give your blog every chance of success.

SETTING UP YOUR BLOG

How you set up your blog is very important, you have to decide what you want your blog for and how you want your visitors to use your blog, For example, is your blog there to market a service? if that is the case then do you need to add a booking page, or maybe some form of live chat. There are thousands of apps out there that you can use to make your blog run smoother, but the important thing is that you have a plan of what you want your blog to look like and behave like before you start building your blog. It’s very important not to clutter your blog with a load of stuff that you or your visitor will ever use, not only does it look unprofessional it will put people off visiting your blog. The layout and design of your blog is the one thing you need to think about most of all, as that can either make your blog a success or a failure.

The content you place on your blog is extremely important, you must have a niche topic that you are very knowledgeable in, the articles must be interesting and useful to the reader, use your own work and do not copy others, as you could be breaking some form of copyright law, and most importantly of all, post consistently. If you follow what I advise above, people will want to return to your blog, your visitor numbers will grow, and your blog will become successful.

At the end of it all guys, if your blog gets one visitor or a hundred if you are happy with what you get then your blog is already a success.

Happy Blogging

Andy

YOUR WEBSITE IS YOUR SHOP WINDOW

When you are walking down your local high street and you are looking in the shop window all you see is a fantastic display designed to grab your attention and encourage you to come into the shop, well your website works in exactly the same way, and that is why your content is so important, and I would like to explain why.

WHAT IS YOUR BLOG ABOUT

The best blogs on the planet are the niche blogs, ones that dedicate themselves to one topic, post regularly, and are experts in what they are writing about, what this does is build up trust in the reader and encourages them to come back to the site. So to recap, fresh, relevant content on a regular basis is an absolute must.

Now remember you are catering to a targeted audience because yours ia a niche and not a general site, so it’s very important that you get the promotion and marketing right, and of course social media has a big part to play in this, so you have got to know who your audience is, what interests them, were are your biggest audience, what age group are you aiming at, raven down to what books they read, the point am making is the more you know about them the more you know what to write and what will interest them. Now a marketing professional will use demographics, info-graphics geographical analytic data and much more, but all you need to do is get to know your reader and what interests them and write from the heart.

You don’t expect a shop window to look bad so don’t let your website look bad.

IF YOU WANT HELP AND ADVICE WITH YOUR BLOG THEN email me at benkingblogger@gmail.com EVERYONE WELCOME.

Andy

THE DOMINO EFFECT

Wednesday, October 02, 2019

As the CEO / manager of a business or group you are charged with the responsibility of leading them on the path to success, how you do this, and the decisions you make can have irreversible consequences that can affect the lives of the people involved. Does this sound dramatic? – well the answer is yes, but it is also a fact.

Making decisions is what we all do every day, from when to make a cup of tea, to what newspaper you are going to buy, and in general this will affect you and your immediate circle, for example, your family, and the consequences of those decisions can be limited to your immediate circle, but once you start making decisions/choices outside of that circle for r example in a business or group on behalf of others the consequences can change dramatically, because it now starts to affect the business and individual outside of your immediate circle, and controlling the effect those decagons have become much harder, and your responsibility becomes far greater.

You are the boss; you have to be right.

As a boss / leader you are expected to make the right decisions, but life doesn’t always work like that, and sometimes you get it wrong, and you learn from that mistake, become better because of it and not despite it, but remember the dominoes are already falling because of that decision , and as each domino falls there is a different consequence, so as a leader you must act, not react, you must change the course of the domino so that the consequence becomes better, this is known as damage limitation, and is an everyday scenario in business.

As a boss, your remit is to do the very best you can for your business and the welfare of its employees, but you are not perfect and mistakes will happen, but the test of a true leader is how he acts on those mistakes, and he does not react with a knee jerk reaction. You must have a lot of self-belief in your capabilities in having an effect in a decision that has gone wrong

Always keep an eye on the domino