Podcasts about digital photography school

“Creativity isn't just art. It's not just fun crafts or photography. Creativity is learning to step outside the box and create in different ways.” –Beryl YoungHow do creativity, productivity, and ADHD come together? What about a job in an accounting focused business and creativity or a job and entrepreneurship? We talk about what creativity really is, getting diagnosed later in life, and flowing between a job and running your own business with creativity coach Beryl Young.Beryl really wants people to see creativity as more than just art, fun crafts, or photography. She manages to infuse creativity into a job in the accounting world. She says creativity is just a way that we solve our problems and we find fulfillment during the day. It's essential self-care. But we often see creativity as extra, and some people find creativity intimidating. Beryl was diagnosed with ADHD when she was 40, after her daughter's diagnosis. I'm seeing more and more women who flew under the radar and are now getting diagnosed. Beryl has found a lot in the creative entrepreneur space, and it's an important piece of the conversation. In addition to creativity and ADHD, we talk about:reinventing yourself, again and again, as a creative actbeing creative with structure — and burnout happening when we are constantly overflowing structureletting go of workaholic tendencies and remembering to be creative how creativity feels extra, what it really is, and how to weave it into your daysletting go of perfectionism and asking what you need creatively on a given dayhow many different ways you can be creativeABOUT BERYLBeryl Young is a creativity coach who supports women in finding greater productivity through sparks of creative self-care. Formally diagnosed at age 40 with ADHD, she realized just how much she's relied on creativity throughout her life to harness her neurodivergent traits and thrive. Using tools like mindful photography, intentional journaling, and conscious doodling helps women cultivate more space in the chaos of daily life and show up with greater courage and confidence. Beryl previously was the creator and founder of the Momtography photography method and her work has been featured on TODAY parents, Huffington Post, PicMonkey, Digital Photography School, & The Shameless Mom Academy.LINKSFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyoungcreativepageOpt-In: https://beyoungcreative.com/sparkstudiosignup/https://beyoungcreative.com/100stepsplansimple/Instagram: @creating.courage OR @100stepsprojectDOABLE CHANGESAt the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Change comes from action. Doable changes are things that you can add into your life, one at a time to make micro shifts and really create a ripple effect that will create a big change over time. Choose one that really piques your interest and roll with it. Here are three Doable Changes from this conversation:10-MINUTE RULE. If you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed, stop what you're doing and take 10 minutes to do something. It could be tidying up a corner of your home that's just for you, setting up your creative space, making a playlist that you love.OWN YOUR CREATIVITY. Do you get intimidated by the idea of creativity because you don't like results or...

In this episode, I finally got to have a chat with my longtime friend and amazing photographer, Simon Bond. For some reason my audio quality is really poor but it is Simon that you really want to be listening to. Here is how you can find more information on Simon:His Website - Creative Photography SchoolHis Book on AmazonHis articles on Digital Photography SchoolInstagramHis Interview with Branding AsiaInterview with the Traveling Image MakersAlso here is the link to his Nat Geo CoverSupport the show

Darlene Hildebrandt is the creator of Digital Photo Mentor. She has been a professional photographer for over 30 years, and as such, she has photographed everything from soup to hay—literally—including doing food photography; weddings; family portraits; corporate events and products.After a forced change of direction (a.k.a. divorce), she left her photography studio behind and moved on to other aspects of photography—including sales, fine art, and travel. She finally landed on teaching and couldn’t be happier. She's written for and has been published on websites and in newspapers around the world, and was also the Managing Editor of Digital Photography School for 5 years, one of the most popular photography sites on the internet.We talked about Venice and its recent 1600th birthday, Canada's wine country, Nova Scotia, and Toronto. We also discussed the growing importance of Artificial Intelligence in the field of photography, what people can use it today for, and where we are headed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In today's episode, we have a discussion with David Johnston, a professional full time landscape photographer, Youtube content creator and podcast host from Nashville Tennessee. He has created many online tutorial-based courses about creating compelling photographs in the field as well as when post processing and hosts workshops and speaking engagements. His work has been featured by the Nature Conservancy, Visual Wilderness, Outdoor Photography Guide, Digital Photography School and Nature First. Follow David Johnston: https://www.davidjohnstonart.com/ https://www.facebook.com/davidjohnstonphoto https://www.instagram.com/davidjohnstonphoto/ https://twitter.com/djohnstonphoto https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidJohnstonPhoto https://www.davidjohnstonart.com/podcast About the Show Welcome to the All Outdoors Photography Podcast! This podcast is about all thing's nature photography, including landscapes, wildlife, and macro. This show features two talented photographers. Henry Doyle and Ryan Taylor who all bring different experiences in photography to the podcast. This show is released weekly every Tuesday at 1pm EST. Follow the Show Email Us: alloutdoorsphotographypodcast@gmail.com Linktree (Links to all Podcast Platforms)- linktr.ee/AllOutdoorsPodcast Instagram- https://bit.ly/3jKBTmU YouTube- https://bit.ly/32WB5FJ Follow the Hosts We would appreciate if you checked us out on our individual social medias. Henry Doyle Instagram- https://bit.ly/3jHhIX0 YouTube- https://bit.ly/2X0XldT Ryan Taylor Instagram- https://bit.ly/32VgPUP YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD2WjwUKYz4dwkZrbOewkmw

This is the FOCUS Points photography podcast where we will talk on how you can start your photography adventure with a budget and have fun doing it You can find us in Instagram @focuspointspodcast and on Twitter @focuspointspod. You can visit www.focuspointspod.com for a list of all our episodes You can find Amaurie Ramirez also on www.amaurierazphoto.com . There you can find all his social media accounts also a large variety of prints for sale. Connect with Robert via his Instagram account @ROBERT3PX If you have any questions about the show or anything related to photography you can always contact us to focuspointspodcast@gmail.com or in any of our social media accounts If want to start a podcast, you have the idea but don't know how do it. You can contact them, they will help you with the editing, audio, voices, you name it. You can send them an email to firepodcastinggroup@gmail.com Finding the right photography resource * Photography Life (specifically their Complete Beginners Guide - https://photographylife.com/photography-basics * A good starting point for beginner photographers. The website includes other learning topics such as Portraiture, Post-Processing, and Advanced Tutorials * Cambridge in Colour - https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/ * Various tutorials covering Concepts & Terminology, Photography Techniques & Styles, Camera Equipment, and more * Exposure Guide - https://www.exposureguide.com/ * I used this site in the beginning. They have various photography tips (such as Nature, Events, Sports, Travel), photography basics for beginners (basics for cameras, lens, accessories, and maintenance) * Digital Photography School - https://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners/ * Comprehensive topics for beginners. dPS offers a free downloadable guide, ebooks, workbooks, and courses for sale * Guide to Film Photography - http://www.guidetofilmphotography.com/ * A great website to use if you want to start with film as opposed to digital. YouTube Channels to check out * Tony and Chelsea Northrup - Photography Educators * Matt Grenger - Photographer, Educator, Portrait Photographer * Omar Gonzalez - Wedding and Portrait Photographer, Youtuber * Peter Mackinnon - Creator, Youtuber, Entrepreneur * Thomas Heaton - Landscape Photographer * Andy Mumford - Landscape Photographer * Elia Locardi - Moments in Time Landscape Photographer * Kevin Mullins - Documentary Wedding Photographer Join a photography group, Go to workshops, Read books about photography We want to give a small project for those first listeners that want to start something and don't know how: * An easy project to start creating — YELLOW color theme. Upload your photo to Instagram with the hashtag #focuspointspodproject * We want to see your work and give you a shout out on our next episode. For our lens art in the logo go to https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/technology --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/focuspointspodcast/support

Our guest for this week’s episode of the podcast is Kav Dadfar.Kav is a professional writer and travel and landscape photographer, based on the outskirts of London, in leafy Surrey.Kav has worked on various assignments as well as for commercial clients. His travel images are represented by various high-end stock agencies such as 4Corners Images and Robert Harding and they have been used by the likes of Condé Nast, National Geographic, Wanderlust travel magazine, Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, American Express, Daily Mail, Sunday Times Travel, Express, The Guardian and many more.He’s also a judge on one of the UK’s biggest photography contests, the Wanderlust Travel Magazine Photography of the Year competition. Over the years he has given talks at camera clubs and events such the Destination Show in London as well as being a regular writer for Digital Photography School (one of the most popular photography sites on the internet), LifePixel and ExpertPhotography websites. Over the years he has written almost 400 articles on photography.Alongside writing and photography, Kav also leads small group photo tours and workshops around the world in a relaxed and fun environment.As an exclusive to our listeners, Kav is offering his Essential Travel Photography Lightroom Preset Pack, which normally retails for £49, for free. Use the coupon code pod2020 at checkout to get it for free! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode I am speaking with food photographer Darina Kopcok. She is also a food photography teacher at Vancouver Institute of Media Arts and contributing writer to PRO EDU and Digital Photography School. When researching stock photography I came across her article “Selling photos how to make money from photography” . It was an inspiring and educational article to me, and so I decided to invite Darina on my podcast. She tells us a lot about stock photography, how to approach it, what is the difference between micro stock and premium stock, what stock companies are out there and more.Inspiration sources for Darina:Lauren CarisTwo Loves StudioThe Bite ShotChristina Peters “Food photography club”,We Eat TogetherAndrew ScavaniDelores Custer Food stylingDarina also offers mentorship, has an e-book about food styling and a lovely blog about food photography. All that you can find on her website Gastrostoria. ———————————Follow me @kamilekave for food photography inspiration

Honestly, I have always had a mixed relationship with creativity.  I have almost always loved it and thought to myself, I want to do that more! And then months, years pass before I actively pursue something creative. Why? My Monger’s message of perfectionism and practicality always gets in the way: “She tries but she has no talent”.  “What are you going to do with it? You are going to have all these art projects and nowhere to put them.” “You have to drag all the art supplies out and spend MORE money on creative. Get real.” I get in my own way.  This is why I wanted to talk to someone who deals with High Functioning Anxiety and is still able to pursue creativity for a living. Today, I am talking with Beryl Young of Momtography. She is a mom, photographer, teacher, and creator of popular classes to support parents in capturing the life they love. A former elementary school teacher by day, she’s taken her experience in education and photography and brought a message of creativity, resilience, connection, and fulfillment for camera lovers young and old. Beryl’s work has been featured on The Huffington Post, PicMonkey, Mpix, and Digital Photography School. She’s taught hundreds of moms around the globe how to use their camera to its fullest potential and connect in deeper ways to the people they love most in the world. Listen to the full episode to hear: When Beryl realized that she had High Functioning Anxiety and how it shows up in her life  How she got around the perfectionism that can get in the way of creativity and gave herself permission to create How creativity helps her manage her anxiety What self-care looks like to her Beryl’s Links: Momtogtraphy Free Capture What Matters Workshop Instagram: @momtographyceo Understanding Girls With AD/HD by Kathleen G. Nadeau Nancy’s Links: Coach in Your Pocket Live Happier Website Instagram: @nancyjane_livehappier --- During the pandemic, I'll be offering a mini version of my Voxer work. Nothing too intense. Nothing too coachy. Just a chance for you to vent, talk about what's most pressing, and have a neutral third party on the phone for right now.  I'm calling it Coach In Your Pocket: Just Checking In Version. Rather than a 3-month commitment to you completely regroup on your anxiety, Coach In Your Pocket: Just Checking In Version is a simple monthly program geared to help you stay sane during this time.  Voxer is an app you can download to your phone for free that allows you to record a message to me and then I can respond to you during my office hours. Helping people with High Functioning Anxiety is a personal mission for me. I have a special place in my heart for this struggle because it’s both something I dealt with unknowingly for years, and because it silently affects so many people who think this is just how it is.   Working with me this way is an incredibly efficient and effective way to deal with your anxiety in the moment--without waiting for your next appointment. I have been doing this work for over 20 years and Coach in Your Pocket is the most effective and most life-changing work I have ever done. My clients are consistently blown away by how these daily check-ins combined with the monthly face-to-face video meetings create slow, lasting changes that reprogram their High Functioning Anxiety tendencies over time. We meet once a month for a face-to-face session via a secure video chat, and then throughout the entire three months, you have access to me anytime you are feeling anxious, having a Monger attack, celebrating a win, or just need to check-in, and I will respond to you during my office hours (Monday through Friday, 9 am - 6 pm EST). Ready to get started? Email me: nancyjane@live-happier.com and we’ll set up a free 30-minute consultation to see if this process is a good fit for you

Scott Wyden is the Chief Community Officer at Imagely, the author of numerous books, and a regular YouTuber. He can be found teaching photographers about photography, WordPress and online marketing on his website, the Imagely website, and other venues like Photofocus and Digital Photography School. In today's episode, Scott and I talk about... How to link your blog posts to your social media accounts and drip out content The one thing you MUST do if you run a FB community Two resources that will tell you exactly what to hashtag on Instagram Did you know Google My Business has a social media component? Yeah, me either. We talk about what it is and how to use it. Resources Mentioned scottwyden.com Imagely Sponsors Photo Plus Expo – Use the promo code “SIXFIGURE” @ checkout to register for free! Freshbooks – Small business accounting software that makes billing easy + painless.

Technology has allowed us to create some truly dynamic photographs over the past decade. However, there are dozens of trick shots being invented regularly that enhance our photograph game. Many people are unaware of some of the more popular shots and how to implement them. These shots can truly help your digital marketing campaign and help you captivate your online audiences. Fortunately, we picked three of the best trick shots that we think will end up grabbing some serious attention. Let’s take a look at some of these shots and how to pull them off. Panoramic View Panoramic view mode is a feature that has been built into most cameras. However, many people are unfamiliar with this model and don’t always end up creating the best panoramic shots. You will need to sequence together with a scene in order to get the best shot possible. According to Digital Photography School, lighting is also an incredibly important factor that will help you create a good shot. Structure your shot and slowly pan your camera along the designated path that you have chosen. This will ensure that you create the best shot possible while using the panoramic mode. Motion Timelapse Motion timelapse shots are incredibly popular. Businesses have used these shots to show the progress of a project being built or how nature can change in such a short amount of time. However, there is a method to the madness in order to get the optimal results. According to Rhino Camera Gear, the first step is to create the composition of your shot which means you need foreground or some sort of blurred object in front of the camera aside from the actual view in order to exaggerate the movement of your view. Make sure to use as many frames as possible to ensure that your shot comes out as smooth as it can be. Illusion Photos This method is incredibly simple and can produce some hilarious results. Illusion photos make it seem like the subject is much larger or much smaller than they actually are. For example, you could stand at an angle that makes it seem like you are the size of the Eiffel Tower. Alternatively, you could stand far away from the Eiffel Tower and at such an angle that it looks like you are holding it in your hands. This kind of photo works really well if you are near some kind of huge landmark but far away enough that it looks a different size. Experiment with this type of photo style and have fun for the best results. Photography is an incredible storytelling tool. It allows us to show our audiences what we envision in our minds. Fortunately, these trick shots will help you tell the story that you have always wanted to tell. Following these tips will make this possible and will make your Instagram feed the envy of your friends.

In this episode of the "For the Joy of Photography" podcast, I talk about some resources that can help you with your photography. Including websites, magazines, and a book that should help beginners all the way through to pros. I also talk about some professional organizations a pro may consider joining.Here are the links to the websites I mention in the podcast:Digital Photography School:https://digital-photography-school.com/Picture Correct:https://www.picturecorrect.com/How to Create Stunning Digital Photography:https://amzn.to/2FJHrOE (My Amazon Affiliate Link)DXOMark:https://www.dxomark.com/category/camera-reviews/Good Light Magazine:https://www.goodlightmag.com/Inspired Eye Magazine:https://www.theinspiredeye.net/street-photography-magazine/Aperture Magazine:https://aperture.org/magazine/Black & White Photography Magazine:https://www.bandwmag.com/Photo District News:https://www.pdnonline.com/PDN EDU:https://edublog.pdnonline.com/5 Photography Organizations Worth Joining:https://duggal.com/5-u-s-photography-organizations-worth-joining/National Press Photographers Association:https://www.nppa.org/Professional Photographers of America:https://www.ppa.com/

In this episode of the "For the Joy of Photography" podcast, I talk about some resources that can help you with your photography. Including websites, magazines, and a book that should help beginners all the way through to pros. I also talk about some professional organizations a pro may consider joining.Here are the links to the websites I mention in the podcast:Digital Photography School:https://digital-photography-school.com/Picture Correct:https://www.picturecorrect.com/How to Create Stunning Digital Photography:https://amzn.to/2FJHrOE (My Amazon Affiliate Link)DXOMark:https://www.dxomark.com/category/camera-reviews/Good Light Magazine:https://www.goodlightmag.com/Inspired Eye Magazine:https://www.theinspiredeye.net/street-photography-magazine/Aperture Magazine:https://aperture.org/magazine/Black & White Photography Magazine:https://www.bandwmag.com/Photo District News:https://www.pdnonline.com/PDN EDU:https://edublog.pdnonline.com/5 Photography Organizations Worth Joining:https://duggal.com/5-u-s-photography-organizations-worth-joining/National Press Photographers Association:https://www.nppa.org/Professional Photographers of America:https://www.ppa.com/

How a Blogger Uses Pinterest to Boost His Following Welcome to the final episode of our Blogger Breakthroughs series. Today we share a story from Rowan Sims, Digital Photography School writer and ProBlogger podcast listener.   Rowan's also a landscape and travel photographer who uses his blog to teach readers how to improve their photography, as well as share his photo adventures and location guides. The biggest challenges he faced with blogging were being inconsistent and not attracting the right audience. So he switched his blog's focus from just sharing photography to teaching it as well. He's also written some guest posts. Don’t underestimate the power of guest blogging. It’s about more than just link building. Another breakthrough for Rowan was discovering the power of Pinterest. It’s become Rowan’s largest source of referral traffic. Rowan has used various tools and social media sites to promote his photography, but Pinterest needed a different approach and was a steep learning curve. No matter what your niche is, Rowan has suggestions on how to optimize Pinterest for best results: Set up a Pinterest business account and review your Pinterest insights/analytics to know what’s working and help identify your target audience Create attractive pins Use Tailwind to drip feed pins and create tribes Pinterest is one option, but experiment with different platforms to figure out what works best for you. Rowan’s blogging breakthroughs have not only helped increase his traffic, but has brought him the right traffic. People are genuinely interested in what he has to say and share. Links and Resources for How Rowan Grew His Pinterest Following to More Than 300,000 in Two Months: Rowan Sims Pinterest for Photographers - The Ultimate Guide 2018 Canva Tailwind Pinterest Digital Photography School Podcast Motor Further Listening PB 037: Grow Traffic to Your Blog Through Guest Posting and Creating Content for other Blogs, Forums, Media and Events The Rowse Report Podcast Courses Starting a Blog ProBlogger Pro – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Join our Facebook group Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hey there and welcome to episode 269 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse. I’m the founder of ProBlogger which started out as a blog with lots of blog tips and has become a blog, a podcast, ebooks, courses, and a job board as well to help bloggers to find jobs. There’s a lot on ProBlogger. You can check it all out at problogger.com where we really are about trying to help bloggers to monetize their blogs. Today is the final episode in our blogger breakthrough series. We may do this again in the future because I’ve had a lot of really great feedback on the stories that we’ve been featuring. I’m going to get back to a noble flow of things next week. But today, I want to share with you a story from Rowan Sims. Rowan actually is a writer over on Digital Photography School. I didn’t realize he was also a listener of this podcast. You hear at the end, he worked his way back through all of the archives of the podcast—all 269 episodes. He may be up there as one of the most avid listeners of the podcast. He submitted his story of how he grew his blog. He took his blog from fairly inconsistent blogging, he switched his focus, and he shares two strategies that he used to help grow his traffic particularly Pinterest. He gives some good tips on driving traffic with Pinterest as well. He actually submitted a short 4 ½-minute story and then I asked him to submit a few more tips so you will a bit of a change in the audio—that’s kind of part two coming in halfway along where he gets to be a bit more practical about Pinterest. Before I introduce you or put Rowan onto you,

This week’s episode is a special one. It was recorded on location by Ugo in Penang, Malaysia, where he had the pleasure to meet face-to-face with two great friends and previous guests on the show: Matt Brandon and Pete DeMarco.Matt Brandon is a Malaysia-based assignment photographer; Matt has experience photographing for nonprofits, assignment, and editorial work Matt often collaborates with NGOs to tell their stories and to train their field staff to do the same.Pete DeMarco is an award-winning travel photographer. His passion for helping people transform their photography shows through in the expert advice he shares. His work has been featured in National Geographic Traveler, CNN, and Digital Photography School amongst others.Matt, Pete, and Ugo had a long conversation about Penang and why it is such a great destination for photographers. The capital of the state of Penang, George Town, has a well preserved center that is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and is also situated in a position that makes it easy to reach other great cities like Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, and sites like Angkor in Cambodia.It certainly doesn’t hurt that Penang is rated as one of the bes destination for foodies in all of Asia!They also talked a bit about what it takes to make a living as a travel photographer, Matt’s upcoming workshops, including the one to Varanasi, India.Finally, there was also a bit of gear talk, as Matt was test-driving FujiFilm’s latest camera, the X-T3, together with the new 8-16mm F2.8 super-wide zoom. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The guest for this week’s episode of the podcast is Karthika Gupta, is a lifestyle, wedding, and travel photographer based in the Chicago area.We were intrigued by a series of articles she wrote for Digital Photography School and especially one about being a culturally sensitive photographer, with a series of tips that everyone should pay attention to, when traveling to countries whose cultures and traditions differ from ours.Duration 46m 09s. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Darren Rowse is a globally renowned blogger and speaker. Just as many people know him as the founder of Problogger as for his other business, Digital Photography School. He inspires bloggers every year at the Problogger training event and we grabbed him to pick his brain about writing, routines and being a totes famous introvert. Tune in to learn: How Darren finds the time and inclination to write in his ultra-busy schedule Where he gets his inspiration How he turns negative comments into conversation How an introvert keeps his energy levels topped up after big events How Darren gets through his (enormous) to do list The ONE question you should ask yourself before you start writing.   Share the pod love! If you like what you're hearing on Hot Copy, the best way to support the show is to take just a few seconds to leave a rating and / or comment over on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks!  About Darren Darren Rowse is a blogger, speaker, consultant and founder of several blogs and blog networks, including b5media, ProBlogger.net and digital-photography-school.com. He lives in Melbourne, Australia. Connect with Darren: Problogger Digital Photography School Problogger podcast  

Darren Rowse is a globally renowned blogger and speaker. Just as many people know him as the founder of Problogger as for his other business, Digital Photography School. He inspires bloggers every year at the Problogger training event and we grabbed him to pick his brain about writing, routines and being a totes famous introvert. […] The post E67: [FLASHBACK]: Darren Rowse: From blogger to entrepreneur appeared first on A copywriting podcast for copywriters.

Using the SMART Approach to Set Your Blogging Goals for 2018   It’s that time of year where many of us are reviewing the year gone by and setting our blogging goals for 2018. Goal setting is really important in any venture. Without goals, your actions tend to be aimless and random. By setting something specific to aim at, you'll  be motivated and more focused in your efforts. A lot has been written about goal setting over the years. But one way to set your goals is to use the SMART approach, where SMART is an acronym for characteristics of good goals. Most people say Peter Drucker came up the idea, while others say it was George Doran. In any case, both men were almost certainly contributors. Today I want to work through one version of it (there are a number of subtle variations) and see what we can learn about it as bloggers. Join our Facebook Group Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there, and welcome to Episode 218 of the ProBlogger Podcast. My name is Darren Rowse, and I’m the blogger behind problogger.com, a blog, a podcast, series of ebooks, and a job board all designed to help you as a blogger to grow your blog, to build an income around your blog, and hopefully change the world and make it a better place at the same time. Today in Episode 218, I want to talk about goal setting. It is that time of year where I know many of you are beginning to wind down a little bit. You’re beginning to do some reviews of your blog and you’re starting to think about next year. You’re thinking about what you should be trying to achieve in the year ahead. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably starting to think about some goals or objectives for the year ahead. That’s something that we’re talking about as a team for ProBlogger and Digital Photography School at the moment. I thought I would share some tips on setting some goals. Goals that are going to stretch you, but also goals that would be realistic. Goals that will move your business forward and move you forward, I guess, in many ways as well. I want to give you a bit of a framework for thinking about those goal settings. You can find out a little bit more about what I’m doing today on today’s show notes. There’s a full transcription of today’s show, as well as some further reading as well. Go to problogger.com/podcast/218. There’s also an opportunity for you to sign up for our ProBloggerPLUS newsletter on the show notes. And simply, that is a weekly email that I send out every Thursday, Australian time, on Thursday morning US. That’s just a recap of what we’ve published over the last week. You get a little notification of our new podcast and new blogpost and if I’ve done a Facebook Live as well. Anyway, I want to get on with today’s show. Show notes again at problogger.com/podcast/218. As I said in the intro, it is that time of the year where many bloggers are reviewing the year gone by, beginning to think about goals for 2018. Also, many of us are looking forward to a little bit of a break over the holiday period. Here in Australia of course, we’re going into Summer at the moment. I’m standing here in my shorts and t-shirts which is a welcome relief after a long winter. We’ll be having a warm Christmas and New Year’s period with a bit of a break. That’s what, us, Aussies do. But also, in the midst of all that planning for a break, we’re beginning to think about next year, 2018. I can’t believe it’s almost upon us. Goal setting of course is so important in any part of your life really. If you want to achieve things, it’s much easier to make those achievements if you’ve actually got a specific goal in front of you. Your actions tend to be pretty aimless in life and random if you don’t have something to actually aim for. How do you come up with that thing that you’re going to aim for?

Scott Wyden Kivowitz is the Chief Community Officer at Imagely, a blogger, photographer, father, and educator. Scott is also the author of many eBooks on the topics of long exposures, street photography and panoramic photography. Scott is commonly offering cake smash sessions, family portraits and headshots for his clients, but enjoys traveling and capturing the beauty of the world with his camera.Scott can be found teaching photographers about WordPress on the Imagely website, on Facebook, on his website and other venues like Digital Photography School. He also has the pleasure of working with photographers on their creativity as an Artisan in Residence at The Photo Frontier.Scott believes in sharing his knowledge any way possible and educating without fluff, in a straight to the point easy to understand style.We tested Scott’s extensive knowledge of WordPress and of web content management with questions such as:What exactly is WordPress?Is it really free?What is the difference between wordpress.org and wordpress.com?What benefits does it give to photographers?Do you really need to be a developer to build your site on WordPress?What features should a photographer look for, when selecting a WordPress theme?What’s the most frequent question you get asked as a WordPress expert?What would be the easiest way to keep my website updated and to share pictures while I’m on the go?Needless to say, his answers didn’t disappoint. So, if you are a photographer who is willing to take his website to the next level, we suggest you give this episode a listen.Duration 42m 05s. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We had a great conversation about travel and photography this week with our guest, Peter DeMarco.Peter is an award-winning travel photographer. His passion for helping people transform their photography shows through in the expert advice he shares. His work has been featured in National Geographic Traveler, CNN, and Digital Photography School amongst others.Here are some of the topics we covered during the interview:* Why is Penang, Malaysia, such a great place to live for expats?* Favorite Asian countries.* Why is originality overrated?* What is the Helsinki Bus Station and why it is important for photographers?* What is the best photography project idea ever?* Doing the sh*t you love.* What would the Pete DeMarco of today tell his self of 10 or 20 years ago?Duration 41m 41s. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Pros and Cons of Having More Than One Blog In today’s lesson, I want to talk about having more than one blog on the go at once. Regular listeners of this podcast know I have two main blog - ProBlogger and Digital Photography School. I’m fortunate enough to have been able to build them up so that either one of them could be a full time venture which is great - but having two businesses to focus upon not only comes with some benefits - but some costs. In this episode I want to share: The story of how I built them to the point they’re at today The pros and cons of having more than one blog or business Some tips on juggling two things like this at once Lastly - today’s episode is proudly presented by this year’s ProBlogger events. This year we’re holding three events - one in Brisbane Australia, another in Melbourne Australia and a third in Dallas Texas. These events are designed with very similar goals to this podcast - to help bloggers to grow blogs with world changing content, with lots of readers and which are profitable. All of these events will have some amazing teaching from experienced bloggers (people like Pat Flynn who i speaking at our Australian events) but also have opportunities for masterminds and really drilling into the blog and business that you have to help take it to the next level. If you’re interested in the Aussie events head to problogger.com/events and if you’re interested in the Dallas event head to problogger.com/success but please don’t wait too long as these events are selling quickly and the early bird price ends in the coming weeks. Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there, it’s Darren from ProBlogger here. Welcome to another episode of the ProBlogger podcast, this is episode 188. For those of you who are new to ProBlogger, ProBlogger is all about helping you to start a blog, to grow your audience of your blog, to create content that’s gonna change that audience’s life and hopefully to make some money from your blog as well. You can find out more about ProBlogger and what we do at problogger.com. In today’s lesson, I want to address a question that I’ve been getting quite a bit lately and that is, “How do you juggle two blogs and should you have two blogs?” A lot of regular listeners of this podcast know that I do have two main businesses and they both center around blogs. It’s ProBlogger which you are listening to right now, which is a blog podcast event and numerous other things. And then there’s Digital Photography School, which again is a very similar model in many ways. It’s centered around the blog, and then there’s ebooks and courses and other aspects of that business as well. I’m fortunate enough to have been able to build up these two businesses so that either one of them could really be a full-time venture, which is great. It also presents with some interesting challenges, to say the least. Having two businesses comes with benefits but it also comes at a cost. In this episode, I wanna share with you the story about how I built up these blogs to the point that they’re at today, the pros and cons of having more than one blog and business. And then for those of you who are considering juggling two businesses like I am, some tips on how to do that and how to approach that if you do decide to do that. Lastly, today’s episode is proudly presented by this year’s ProBlogger events. This year, we are holding three events over in Australia; Brisbane, Australia, and Melbourne, Australia and the third event in Dallas, Texas in the United States. These events are designed with very similar goals to this podcast, to help you to grow your blog with world changing content, to grow your readership and to build profit around your blogs. All of these events have some amazing teaching from experienced bloggers like Pat F...

Strategies to Increase Your Blog Earnings In today’s lesson, I want to talk about two things I’ve been doing on my main blog to increase the profitability of the blog - both have been working really well! I’m going to talk about 3 income streams in particular - AdSense Ad network (although this will be relevant to other networks too), Affiliate promotions and selling our own products. So if you want to increase the profitability of your blog - this show is for you. Further Resources on 2 Blog Monetization Strategies that Have Increased My Blogs Earnings by over 40% AdSense New Ad Placement Guidelines Facebook Group UPDATE: it's been a couple of weeks since I made some of the changes mentioned in this episode and we've now completed some of the extra AdSense tweaks to ads shown to those on desktops. The results have been better than expected. While I talk in this episode about 40-50% increases in earnings my AdSense earnings are over 100% higher than last month. In fact here's a graph of my weekly AdSense earnings over the last 12 months. You can see there's natural variation week to week but since making the changes we've seen two great weeks of increased earnings. Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there! It’s Darren from ProBlogger here. Welcome to episode 184 of the Problogger Podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and I’m the blogger behind problogger.com, which is a blog, a podcast, an event, a job board, a series of ebooks and numerous other things all designed to help you as a blogger to start a blog, to create great content that’s going to change the world in some way and make your audience’s lives better and build that audience to the point where you are able to make a profit from your blog. You can learn more about ProBlogger over at Problogger.com. In today’s lesson, I want to get a little bit personal. I want to talk about some other things I’ve been doing over the last month or so to increase my blog’s income. To increase the profitability, particularly of my main blog, Digital Photography School. In particular, I want to share with you two different strategies that I’ve been working on with my team there that have worked well. I am actually going to talk a little bit about three different income streams. One of them is AdSense, the Google’s Advertising Network. Although what I’ll share will probably be relevant for other advertising networks too. I want to talk a little bit about affiliate promotions and also selling our own products. If you monetize your blog in any of those ways, today’s episode will be relevant for you. “What are you doing on your blog this year that you’ve never done before?” That was the question that I asked in the ProBlogger podcast listener’s group on Facebook this week. The responses that you, as a community, shared with me were fascinating. The reason I asked that question is that I’ve become more and more convinced lately that many of us as bloggers fall into patterns and habits as bloggers that can limit what we achieve. One of the things I strongly believe and I’ve always believed this but I need to relearn it again recently, is that if we want success with our blogs, we need to be willing to do new things, to experiment. If we want to increase traffic on our blogs, we need to promote our blogs in new ways. We need to let that evolve. If we want to build income on our blogs, we need to constantly be trying new things in that area too. You’ve probably heard the definition of insanity that often gets attributed to Albert Einstein. He was said to have said the definition of insanity is, “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I’ve heard that quote attributed to numerous people but whoever said it, smart person because there’s truth there. If you want to experience new,

The internet marketing scene is not exactly known for being grounded and humble. It's often as bombastic and self-inflated as a hip-hop rap battle. That’s why it comes as such a surprise to find that Darren Rowse, one of the world’s most successful bloggers, is so … normal. His down-to-earth nature is only the first thing that will surprise you. The second is where he's from—Rowse isn’t from Silicon Valley, or even the United States as many assume. Rather, he hails from from Melbourne in Australia’s southeastern corner. Rowse currently has two active blogs. ProBlogger needs little introduction, as it’s been the internet’s go-to place for everything blog-related for more than a decade now. And his second blog, Digital Photography School, has long been a content darling of photographers worldwide. Both of these blogs boast readerships so large, they put national media outlets to shame. In the words of Ron Burgundy, he’s kind of a big deal. Before every second person decided to set up a space to blog about their special interests, however mundane, there was Darren Rowse. He planted his flag deep into blogging soil before any of us knew it was a thing, and has since grown to become one of the world's leading authorities on blogging. As one of the world’s premiere bloggers, he’s breathing the rarefied air that comes with 5 million-plus monthly readers. In this week's episode you will learn: The secrets behind effective content marketing and how it can improve your business How to understand who your reader is and what kind of content they're looking for Why you need to network and the best way to do it What the best practices for SEO are The key to growing a business beyond yourself & much more!

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Darren Rowse is a full time blogger. He is also an author and online entrepreneur. He is the editorial manager and originator of Digital Photography School and SnapnDeals. Rowse started blogging in 2002 on a personal blog ‘LivingRoom'. Out of this blog, he launched a Digital Photography Blog in 2003. This quickly became a commercial success ... Read More The post 189. Rebroadcast: The 31 Day Challenge, 10,000 Steps a Day and Intermittent Fasting with Darren Rowse appeared first on Must Amplify.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Darren Rowse is a full time blogger. He is also an author and online entrepreneur. He is the editorial manager and originator of Digital Photography School and SnapnDeals. Rowse started blogging in 2002 on a personal blog ‘LivingRoom’. Out of this blog, he launched a Digital Photography Blog in 2003. This quickly became a commercial success ... Read More The post 189. Rebroadcast: The 31 Day Challenge, 10,000 Steps a Day and Intermittent Fasting with Darren Rowse appeared first on Amplify Agency.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Darren Rowse is a full time blogger. He is also an author and online entrepreneur. He is the editorial manager and originator of Digital Photography School and SnapnDeals. Rowse started blogging in 2002 on a personal blog ‘LivingRoom’. Out of this blog, he launched a Digital Photography Blog in 2003. This quickly became a commercial success ... Read More The post 189. Rebroadcast: The 31 Day Challenge, 10,000 Steps a Day and Intermittent Fasting with Darren Rowse appeared first on Bond Appetit Personal Chef Services.

Do you have a blog? Want to supercharge your content and increase email subscribers? In this episode, I interview Darren Rowse, one of the world's leading experts on blogging. He's the founder of two popular blogs: Digital Photography School and ProBlogger.  Show notes: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/229

How I Doubled My Blogging Income to Achieve the Most Profitable Month In today’s lesson, I want to talk about my blogs monetization strategy that is responsible for our biggest month of profit every year. Back in December 2010, I rather impulsively did something on my photography blog that led to our biggest month of earnings ever. It almost doubled a normal month of earnings on my blogs. It was our very first 12 deals of Christmas campaign. In this episode, I want to walk you through exactly what I did that first year and talk about how we’ve evolved that campaign over the last 6 years and have expanded it to run other campaigns and to start a whole new sister business for Digital Photography School. Listen to this podcast in the player above or here on iTunes. Further Resources on How I Doubled My Blogging Income and Had My Most Profitable Month Ever Check out Digital Photography School where the 12 days campaign is kicking off Here you can see the deals in our first year: 24 Hours Left to Save on our End of Year Photography Deals A podcast in which I talk about my first eBook/product and give tips on how to create your first products too.   Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Welcome to episode 171 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse, and I’m the blogger, founder of ProBlogger.com - a blog, podcast, event, job board and series of eBooks all designed to help you as a blogger grow your audience, to create content that helps that audience, and to make money from that blog – to build a profitable blog. That’s what ProBlogger is all about. You can learn more about it and find all those eBooks and the job board over at ProBlogger.com. In today’s lesson, I want to talk about a part of my blog’s monetization strategy that is responsible for my biggest month of profit every year. Back in December 2010, I rather impulsively did something on my photography blog that led to our biggest month of earnings ever, to that point. In fact, it almost doubled a normal month of earnings on my blogs in two weeks. It was our very first 12 Deals of Christmas campaign. I’ve talked about 12 Deals of Christmas or 12 Days of Christmas numerous times on ProBlogger, but never really gone into the specifics of it. I kinda mentioned it and kinda described it in a sentence or two, but in this episode, I wanted to walk you through exactly what I did on that very first year and talk about how we’ve evolved that campaign over the last six years, have expanded it to run other campaigns during the year, and also how we expanded it to start a whole new sister business for Digital Photography School. As I’ve said, I’ve never talked in this detail about these 12 Days of Christmas campaigns before, so I hope you find it useful to you. I’m going to share the shownotes as well as some further reading and some links to some of what we’ve done over on the shownotes at problogger.com/podcast/171. Okay, let’s get into it. As I said, today I wanna talk to you about 12 Days of Christmas, the campaign that we’ve been running on Digital Photography School. Now the idea for this particular campaign back in 2010 really started quite simply. In the lead up to Christmas that year, I wanted to put some of our eBooks on special on Digital Photography School. Digital Photography School to this point had been running for about three to three-and-a-half years, and we had launched three eBooks in the previous year-and-a-half. I’ve talked a little bit about the first eBook that we launched Portrait Photography eBook in the previous episode, which I will link to in the shownotes today. Really the idea was to find a way to put that eBook and the other two that we launched since on sale the week or so before Christmas because I was thinking it might be something that people might give ...

Transitioning From Single Author Blog to Multi Author Blog In today’s lesson, I want to talk about hiring writers for your blog. In order to do so, I want to share a case study of how I took my own photography blog from a single author blog, publishing 3 posts a week, to a blog that now has around 50 writers, and I don’t write anything. Most bloggers start out blogging as single author blogs and many remain that way. Even so, I’m regularly asked by bloggers how to add new writers to their blog without putting off their readers. So in today’s episode, I want to share a few reasons why a multi-author blog might be worth considering, and I want to share the 3 stages I went through to make the transition from single author blog to having a paid team of regular writers. Listen to this episode in the player above or here on iTunes. Some of the topics discussed today include: How I found my first guest writers Where I currently find new writers How I transitioned from relying upon guest posters to having a writing team How I took readers on that journey So if you’ve ever wondered if you should consider adding new voices to your blog - this is for you. Further Resources on Strategic Blogging Combined with Blogging from the Heart Create 10 Blog Post Ideas for your Blog ProBlogger Job Board Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there and welcome to episode 169 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse, and I’m the blogger behind ProBlogger.com - a blog, podcast, event, job board, and a series of eBooks all designed to help you as a blogger to grow your audience to create great content, to build your readership, and to ultimately make money from your blog, if that is your goal. You can find today’s shownotes over at problogger.com/podcast/169, and you can learn more about ProBlogger, the brand, and all the things that we do at ProBlogger.com. Now in today’s lesson, I want to talk to you about hiring writers for your blog. To do so, I want to share a case study of how I took my own photography blog, Digital Photography School,  from being a single-author blog, where I published three posts a week, to a blog that now has around 50 writers and an editor working for me, in which we now publish 14 posts a week, and I don’t write a single one of them. Most bloggers start out blogging as a single-author blog, and most probably remain that way. That’s totally fine, but I am regularly asked by bloggers if they should add new writers, and if they should, how to actually find those writers, without actually putting off their readers and disillusioning their readers. That’s what I want to talk about in today’s episode. I want to share a few reasons why a multi-author blog might be worth considering, some of the costs of doing it, but I also want to share the three stages I went through to transition from being that single-author blog to having a paid team of writers. I want to talk about how I found my first guest writers and share some techniques in getting some user-generated content, content that you don’t have to pay for, at least not in financial terms. I want to talk a little bit about where I find my new paid writers, and I want to talk a little bit about that transition from single-author blog to multi-author blog and how I took my readers on that journey. So if you’ve been wondering about whether you should add new authors to your blog, this is the episode for you. You can find today’s shownotes, where I will have some further reading, and there’s a full transcript of what I have a feeling might be a slightly lengthy show. There’s a lot of information I want to take you through. You can find those shownotes at problogger.com/podcast/169. Grab a drink perhaps because this is gonna be a meaty episode.

Link Building Tip - Generate Hundreds of Links for Your Blog in 5 Minutes a Day In today’s lesson, you are going to learn a simple technique that has generated 100 new links for my blogs in the last month. This technique is fairly simple, and it only takes me about 5 to 10 minutes to do it. Yet, this technique is quite powerful. Incoming links to your blog are important because they drive traffic to your site from other parts of the web, and they also help you to rank higher in search engines like Google. Higher rankings also lead to more traffic. So, if you want more traffic and a bigger profile in the search engines this episode is for you. Further Resources on How to Generate Hundreds of Links for Your Blog in 5 Minutes a Day The Simple Tip That Gained Us Over 200 Backlinks WPBeginner Find Readers for Your Blog Through Commenting and Relationships 5 Mistakes Bloggers Make with SEO and What To Do About Them Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Welcome to episode 159 of the ProBlogger podcast. I’m your host, Darren Rowse, the founder of problogger.com, a blog, podcast, event, job board, and a series of ebooks all designed to help bloggers to grow their audience and make money from their blogs. If you want to know more about ProBlogger, you can check it out at problogger.com. In today’s lesson, you’re going to learn a simple technique that has generated 100 new links for my blogs in the last month. It only takes me about five to ten minutes a day to do it so it’s fairly simple and yet it’s quite powerful. Incoming links to your blog are important because they drive traffic to your site from other blogs, other parts of the web. They also help you to rank higher in search engines, Google in particular, which again leads to more traffic. If you want more traffic and a bigger profile in the search engines, this episode is for you. Let’s get into the tip for the day. Today’s tip is really quite simple. It’s not rocket science at all yet it’s incredibly effective as I mentioned in my introduction today. I first came across this one from our friends over at BuzzSumo. I’ll link to the blogpost because it is a few weeks old now, actually it’s probably a couple of months old now. They in turn got the idea from Syed Balkhi from WPBeginner. The tip is really simple and in essence it is to look for mentions of your blog or keywords that are relevant to your blog and articles on your blog on other people’s blogs and to reach out to those bloggers to see if there’s an opportunity for them to link to you. As I said, this is not rocket science but it really does work and I want to walk you through the little system that I’ve built, the workflow I guess that I’ve built to do it. This is something that I think many bloggers probably have done once or twice but what I want to suggest to you is that it’s useful to put aside five or ten minutes a day, longer if you’ve got it, to do this because it really is quite effective. I use a tool called BuzzSumo. I use the paid version but there’s a 14-day trial as well so you can see if it suits you. There are other tools around that do similar types of things. For example over at Mars, they also have a tool as well. I think there is this called Link Opportunities. It doesn’t really matter what tool you use, but I use BuzzSumo so that’s what I will refer to in this episode. I’ve got no affiliation with them whatsoever, it’s just a tool I like and it is a tool that has other features as well. What I do with BuzzSumo, they have a little monitoring tab and in that monitoring tab I plug in a few things. I’m monitoring a few different words. Firstly, I’m monitoring my brand names, ProBlogger and Digital Photography School. And then I’m also plugging in some keywords that are relevant to my niche. As I’ve said before,

Profit Streams Revealed: How I Make Money Blogging Today, I’m going to go through exactly how I make money blogging. I’m going to talk you through the income streams that I use to monetize my blogs and build an income for my family. This is something that I have done on the blog, but today I’m going to give you the information on the podcast because some of you don’t read the blog.   Today’s podcast is based off of this article on ProBlogger, “My Blogging Income Breakdown for the First Half of 2016”. This report is for my total business including ProBlogger and Digital Photography School. I will give you a little insight as to what site each income stream I mention is generated from. I will also be talking about profit as opposed to revenue. I will also be talking in percentages because I don’t generally reveal my actual income. In Today’s Episode How I Make Money Blogging - My Profit Streams Revealed Affiliate Income - There aren’t a lot of direct expenses from affiliate income, so it is profitable. On dPS we do two big promotions every year. We have our 12 days of Christmas sale and our mid year/summer sale. In each of these, we have daily deals on photography products. On ProBlogger we have been focusing on affiliate income from some of the tools we use. Plus links to hosting and themes. On dPS we regularly link to Amazon. Products - These are eBooks, lightroom presets, courses, and printables. In 2009, I decided to invest time into creating my first products which were eBooks. AdSense - dPA has a large amount of traffic, so it pays to use AdSense along with other income streams. Sponsorships   On dPS we offer sponsorships to advertisers who want to work directly with our audience. On ProBlogger we have done a handful of sponsorship campaigns with companies like Meet Edgar and 99designs. Job Board On ProBlogger we have had the job board since 2006. At first, it was a trickle, but it has now grown to 6000 ads places. We plan on releasing an update to the job board in the coming weeks. Take a look at the How to Make Money Blogging page on ProBlogger for a good overview. Event This year will be out 7th ProBlogger Event held here in Australia. The event generates a large amount of revenue, but the expenses are huge, so the profit is about 3% of my blogging income. This year there is a virtual ticket available for those people who can’t make it to Australia. This should offer a revenue increase. Other - I have a couple of other small income streams. Speaking Book Royalties Other Royalties/Copyright payments such as when my content is used in schools in Australia. A Word on Expenses Even though our revenue has went up in the past 12 months so has our expenses. In the last 12 months we invested heavily into the development of our sites. Such as with the ProBlogger redesign. I’ve also expanded my team to include: 2 editors (one for each site) 2 business unit managers (one for each site) Admin/customer service team members (one for each site) Marketing (one person for dPS) All team members except for one are part-time. We also have a huge array of contractors who help with product creation, proof reading, podcast editing, etc. We also have to have dependable servers and a number of software subscriptions to keep everything running smoothly. You can find these on our resources page. To make money you have to spend it! Further Resources on How I Make Money Blogging - My Profit Streams Revealed The Ultimate Guide to Making Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program Recommended Blogging Resources & Tools How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps Why You Should Create a Product to Sell On Your Blog (and Tips on How to Do It) Discover Your Camera’s Potential With DPS Resources Digital Photography School Featured Presets Digital Photography School Featured Courses

Do you associate your name with your blog? Today, I am talking about whether you should use your real name when blogging or blog anonymously. Often times, bloggers introduce themselves to me and then say they blog anonymously. There are definite advantages of using your name and definite advantages of blogging anonymously. I am going to talk about some of the different options that are open to you that may be in between each choice. This is one of the decisions that bloggers face when starting a blog. Most at least ponder the question. Many use their real names straight away, but others really grapple with this decision. Note: this episode can be listened to in the player above or on iTunes or Stitcher In Today’s Episode: Using Your Real Name and Other Options Blog under your personal name and promote it prominently on your blog (this is what I’ve done here on ProBlogger). Perhaps the most extreme version of this is when you make your domain name your actual name. Blog under your personal name but don’t really promote yourself (this is what I’ve done on DPS – my name is on the about page and on any articles I wrote but not much more. Blog under an alias or just part of your name and promote that name. Some examples of this - early on on ProBlogger we had a writer who wrote for us called Skellie. Her blog was the same name - but it wasn’t her real name. Aussie blogger Mrs Woog is another good example. She blogged as Mrs Woog at WoogsWorld. An alternative to this might be using a maiden name rather than a married name if you have one - or visa versa - one for personal use and one for professional use. Blog without any name on your blog at all – letting the content speak for itself. This anonymous blogging has been done by many people over the years - for different reasons. So which is the best option? On ProBlogger I’ve always been blogging under my name, including it in the byline of my posts, I have a prominent about page, the blog is written in a personal tone, including personal details of my life and video and pictures of myself. On dPS however I took a different approach from day #1. While I always used my name as bylines on my articles and had it on my about and contact pages. I never really went out of my way to make the blog about me. I guess this was even reflected in the type of name I chose for the site. Digital Photography School communicates a brand that is a center for learning while ProBlogger feels more about a person (whether that is the author or the reader). I guess my point is to say that a variety of approaches can work and the decision is totally yours. There Are a Number of Factors to Consider: The topic - as I’ve already said - some topics probably lend themselves more to being transparent about who you are. The style of content - DPS was never a story telling type blog. It was about the content. The medium of content - if you’re purely producing text content you may run into less issues around your identity than if you’re posting pictures and video. Your long term plans - try to picture a few years forward about what you want to achieve with your blog. While it can be hard to do if you have clear goals this can impact your decision. do you want your blog to be a multi author blog? If so it might be advantageous to not make the blog fully about you if you ever choose to step away from your blog and sell. It can be quite helpful to have a blog that isn’t all about you personally. Monetization methods - some ways of making money blogging might be more suited to a more personal and transparent approach Banner ads, no worries about who you are Consultant, speaker or coach, people need to know who you are Influencer, you need a personal connection Ebook, course, etc. Better to be more open about who you are Anonymous bloggers still may be able to do these things, but it is more challenging

In episode 32 on #MerryBiz we chat with one of the most generous people we've ever met. He started blogging back in 2002 and is now the world's leader in helping others learn how to monetise their blogs. It was the first website we ever read that taught us about all things blogging and techy and his events literally changed our lives. You would know him from ProBlogger or Digital Photography School... and we are SO excited to welcome the one and only Darren Rowse to #MerryBiz Take a listen! Get ready for inspiration... it's about to hit you! Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or Stitcher and if you LOVE the episode, give us a 5 star rating and write us a merry-filled review!  PLUS learn to Set and Smash Your Goals with our FREE Goal Setting Guide! #MERRYBIZ SHOW NOTES  Some questions we ask...  Tell us about long term strategy vs. short term goals.  How important is to be generous with your content? What are your thoughts on the new social media platforms? How do you go from an idea to actually publishing content? What are the different types of income streams for bloggers? How can you shift your mindset from blog to business? How do you know what content to create? How can you beat your numbers plateauing?  "There's always ways to break through as long as you're adding value, being useful and being meaningful." Some moments of AHA! in this episode... Why it's NEVER too late to start something new.  Why it's important to operate within your goals and values.  How to encourage people to keep coming back to your content.  The best way to develop, start and finish content.  The importance of diversifying your income.  Why you need to understand your reader and what they need.  Why you need to look at your popular content and repurpose it on other platforms. "I follow what energises me." Links to the extra stuff we talked about... The Money Map  ProBlogger Blog Digital Photography School 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Can you really make blogging: the 7 things I know "I'm 10% experimental and 90% do what's working. But if you're just starting out... experiment, experiment, experiment!" You'll probably love... How to Build your Social Media Profile even if Your Starting from Nothing Our Snapchat advice for YOU: why you need to be on there! How to Awaken Your Feminine Energy with Sarah-Jane Perman From school teachers to million dollar business owners How to Create a Business to Suit Your Lifestyle How to Find and Rock Your Personal Style with Nikki Parkinson "Surprise and delight as many people as you can." Music... We want to give a HUGE shout out to the amazing guys of Drawing North for providing the podcast music of #MerryBiz. Yes, they are kinda epic. You gotta check them out! This is our favourite song!  "If you want your blog to be a business... treat it like a business today." What was your biggest AHA!? We wanna hear all about it! Share your moments of AHA! or the action your gonna take after listening to this #MerryBiz episode! "It's the little things we do today that take us to the moments where we throw our hands in the air and yell I JUST ACHIEVED MY DREAM!" See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Darren Rowse is a full time blogger, author and online entrepreneur. He is the editorial manager and originator of Digital Photography School and SnapnDeals. Rowse started blogging in 2002 on a personal blog ‘LivingRoom'. Out of this blog he launched a Digital Photography Blog in 2003. This quickly became a commercial success and the launching pad for many other blogs in the coming years. He writes about photography, blogging and online networking.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Darren Rowse is a full-time blogger, author, and online entrepreneur. He is the editorial manager of Digital Photography School and SnapnDeals. He started blogging in 2002 on a personal money blog “LivingRoom.” Out of this blog, he launched a Digital Photography Blog in 2003. It becomes the launching pad for many other blogs in the coming ... Read More The post 27. Extending from money blog to business podcasts with Problogger genius Darren Rowse appeared first on Must Amplify.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Darren Rowse is a full-time blogger, author, and online entrepreneur. He is the editorial manager of Digital Photography School and SnapnDeals. He started blogging in 2002 on a personal money blog “LivingRoom.” Out of this blog, he launched a Digital Photography Blog in 2003. It becomes the launching pad for many other blogs in the coming ... The post 27. Extending from money blog to business podcasts with Problogger genius Darren Rowse appeared first on We Are Podcast.

Note: this episode is available to listen to in the player above, on iTunes and Stitcher. A Walk-Through of Reasons Why My Recent Top Posts Have Done Well Today I'm going to talk about some posts that have worked for me in the last month on Digital Photography School, my main blog. This episode comes about from a question received by one of our readers, Matthew. He asks if I could walk through a number of posts that have recently done well and why they have worked. We have done this before on the blog and it worked really well, so let's try it for the podcast. In the last month, these four posts have all been in the top 20 on Digital Photography School. I checked Google Analytics for the most read posts, and I tried to pick ones that I haven't talked about in the past. In Today’s Episode 4 of My Most Viewed Blog Posts This Month and Why They Worked 21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should Know Written in 2010. It’s always been a strong performer. Over 100,000 views this month. It’s shareable. It’s a sneeze page - it links to 21 other posts Topic - good big picture overview Generates a load of page views Makes a bit claim Generates curiosity Gets a lot of shares - over a million, people recommend this post to beginners they know Feature image - has been tested and honed, something our readers love about dials works great on social because it signals topic and builds reader anxiety/curiosity This post promotes our course which solves a problem What we could do better - specific opt-in for the post Better formatting - looks a bit tired Replicate this format for specific niches of photography 11 Stages That Every Photographer Goes Through This was written by James Maher a guest writer. I had reservations about this post. It wasn’t a tips post. It was written tongue in cheek a humour story It didn’t have a “hero” image or hit the inspiration angle It worked because it was relatable - I shared on facebook with a question of which stages do you relate to? Touches on a pain point, stage 6 everything sucks Key lesson - you don’t have to always solve a problem, you can create content that shows the reader you know where they are at and can relate to that Everyday Carry – Must-have Tools for Photographers This one surprised Bulk of our articles are tips related This is an accessory or gear article Writer put all of these things in a small tin, which created a strong visual The items were affordable and accessible We claimed must have tools - the word tools works well The post has a hack/DIY perspective EveryDayCarry - is a movement that people are obsessive about, possible share on EveryDayCarry forums How to Make Colors Pop in Your Portraits – Without Using Photoshop I had a feeling this would work well It connects with something people want to make their photos pop It has strong visuals - uses beautiful images with gorgeous kids and color which would be great for sharing The topic - Photoshopped images can be a polarising topic to photographers, some think of using Photoshop as evil, a technique that makes a claim to not use Photoshop will attract readers in that segment Simple but useful techniques Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hey there and welcome to Episode 104 of the ProBlogger Podcast. Today, I want to talk about some posts that have worked for me in the last month on Digital Photography School, my main blog. This episode really comes about from a question that I received via email from one of our readers, Matthew, who asked if I could walk you through a number of posts that have done well for us recently, and talk about why they have worked. We've done this in the past on ProBlogger on the blog.

What New (and Old) Bloggers Need to Know about SEO In today’s episode we talk about search engine optimization, and in particular, the five mistakes bloggers make with SEO and what to do about them. My guest today is Jim Stewart from Stewart Media. Jim has years of experience with SEO and has helped me with my SEO for ProBlogger and Digital Photography School. He is currently helping us with SEO while we move ProBlogger to a new domain, and he is also going to be a speaker at this year’s 2016 ProBlogger event. In This Episode In this episode (which you can listen to above or on iTunes or Stitcher) we discuss the five SEO mistakes bloggers make, and then we move on to some reader questions from our Facebook page. Jim adds that one thing that bloggers are getting right is creating great content. Here are the five mistakes and how to correct them: Understand what Google is crawling on your site, so you can eliminate duplicate content. Type SITE:domain.com in the Google search bar to see what pages are being crawled. The number of pages being indexed should be equivalent to your number of posts. If additional pages are being indexed such as archives, tags, etc., install and configure the Yoast plugin to prevent this. Setup Google Search Console (previously called Google Webmaster Tools) This will tell you everything Google sees on your site. You can use it to find and fix errors and submit sitemaps. Optimize your permalink structure. You want DomainName/PostName. If you change your structure, you have to go back and 301 redirect old posts. Use good post structure. The page title should be in the URL and enclosed in h1 tags. Use descriptive names in images. Interlink your posts using a series of posts or sneeze pages. How to Create a Page That Propels People Deep Within Your Blog Reader SEO Questions Answered What is keyword stuffing and how to avoid it? What is the best beginning blogger SEO tool? What to focus on when using Yoast? What numbers to measure and how to check volume in search console? How many keywords to target on a blog and a blog post? How important are onpage ranking factors, and should I bother focusing on them? How popularity may be replacing linking factors in search results? Is there value in getting links from social media? Should time be invested in getting links from other sites? If a site scrapes your content, should you issue a DMCA notice? What are some tips when moving from Blogger to WordPress? How to look for change of address settings in search console after a 301 redirect? What to expect time-wise when ranking a new domain? Why speed is such an important factor when choosing a host? Tools and Resources Mentioned In This Post Yoast Plugins for SEO Google Search Console Screaming Frog SEO Tool Moz Tools SEMRush Google Keyword Planner Hosting Recommendations Stewart Media BloggersSeo.com ProBlogger Training Event 2016 Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hi there and welcome to episode 94 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and I'm the blogger behind problogger.com; a blog that is designed to help bloggers to achieve everything that they can with their blogs and to build income streams from their blogging. Today, I want to talk about search engine optimization and in particular, examine five mistakes that bloggers make with their SEO and then what to do about those mistakes. My guest today to walk us through this is Jim Stewart from stewartmedia.com.au. Jim is someone who has years of experience with SEO and has helped me with ProBlogger and Digital Photography School. In fact, at the moment, he is working on some SEO stuff with us as we move our blog at ProBlogger over onto a new domain. We're going to walk through these five mistakes t...

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. How to Use Tools to Save Time and Make Your Blog Stronger Today's episode is about the top tools and resources we use on the ProBlogger and Digital Photography School blogs. I share what they are, where you can find them, and how we use them behind the scenes to keep my blogs running smoothly, so you can use them to simplify your blogging life too. In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). In today's episode: Why we use apps and tools to help us run the ProBlogger and Digital Photography School blogs More than 10 tools that I've found useful for my blogs that you can use too Links to all the resources and tools I mention Further Reading and Resources for How to Use Tools to Save Your Time and Make Your Blog Stronger Recommended Blogging Resources & Tools page on the ProBlogger website The previous podcast episode I mention that includes detail on how we use SumoMe - Episode 68: How to Increase the Subscriber Numbers to Your Email List Apps and tools that I use (please note, I am an affiliate for some of these) Email Opt-Ins SumoMe OptinMonster Email Providers Weber Mailchimp ConvertKit Landing Pages LeadPages Communications Slack Trello Organization Evernote Social Edgar - As promised, here's a video of how I use it: (Or if watching videos isn't your thing, here's a blog post I wrote on how I use Edgar.) Editorial and Social CoSchedule Other Essentials Google Analytics Feedblitz Canva and Pic Monkey WordSwag Fantastical - great calendar app for Mac and iOS Mars Edit - desktop blog editor Easy Digital Downloads E-junkie Episodes in my recent miniseries on the important things bloggers/online entrepreneurs should do to find success: Part 1 - The Most Important Thing You Will Ever Do as an Entrepreneur - Podcast Episode 88 Part 2 - The Second Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Do as an Entrepreneur - Podcast Episode 89 Part 3 - 4 Questions to Ask Before Quitting Your Blog or Online Project Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hi there and welcome to episode 91 of the ProBlogger Podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and today, I want to talk about the tools and resources that we use and recommend over on ProBlogger. I get asked this question all the time, “What tool should I use for _____?” Fill in the blank and it's always different. What tool shall I use for SEO? What should I use for my hosting? What blogging platform should I be on? But then also questions around what email provider should I be using? What communications tools do you use? How do you organize yourself? Today, I want to whip through around 10 to 15 tools that we use on ProBlogger and Digital Photography School. There are many options out there and I will give you a few different options for some of these different categories. You can find today’s show notes over at problogger.com/podcast/91 where I’ll link to all of the tools mentioned in this episode, and where I would love to hear the tools that you use as well in the comments of those show notes. Creating great content, finding an audience, building engagement, monetizing your blog, this is ProBlogger. Today, we're talking about tools and resources that you can use to improve your blog. As I mentioned before, there are hundreds of blogging tools out there. There's probably thousands of things, if you add in all the plugins that have been built. I'm not going to so much touch on plugins today, although some of the tools that I will mention do have plugins connected to them for WordPress. I'm going to cover all the categories of tools and reso...

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. How to Create a Schedule for Your Promotions Today's episode is part 10 of the new 'Today, Not Someday' podcast series. The focus is actioning your 'someday' list, the things you've always wanted to do to improve your blog but have struggled to make happen. For details about how the series works, check out episode one here. I've included a full list of episodes below. The focus of today's episode is about how to map out the next year’s promotional or marketing calendar for your blog. If you want to build a profitable and sustainable blog you need to put effort into thinking about how to make your blog profitable, and this is a key part to making it happen. In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). In today's episode: How to evaluate your blog's performance and achievements for the past year Why you're losing income if you don't create a promotional calendar for your blog How to create your blog's promotional calendar 4 key areas of activity to include in your promotional calendar How I use SmartSheets to create promotional calendars for my blogs 5 ways your blog will improve if you take the time to create your promotional calendar today, not someday Further Reading and Resources for How to Create a Schedule for Your Promotions How to Do an End of 2015 Blog Audit: Take Stock of What You’ve Achieved and Where You’re Headed  A screen shot of how I use SmartSheets to create the Digital Photography School blog promotional calendar: Other episodes in the Today, Not Someday Series: Part 1: Introducing New 'Today, Not Someday' Series Part 2: Why You Should Create a Product to Sell On Your Blog (and Tips on How to Do It) Part 3: How to Increase the Subscriber Numbers to Your Email List Part 4: How to Get Readers Excited to Join and Stay on Your Email List Part 5: How to Use Autoresponders to Fast Track Engagement and Profit Part 6: How to Refresh the Design of Your Blog For Maximum Impact Part 7: How to Make Money as an Affiliate With a Best Seller List Part 8: How to Make Your Social Media Strategy More Effective for the New Year Part 9: Grow Your Blog's Traffic and Income by Creating a Resources Page Meet my new friend, Edgar (and a SPECIAL OFFER) I’d like to welcome a new sponsor to the ProBlogger podcast for the duration of this 10 part series, my friend ‘Edgar'. Edgar is a tool I’ve been using since January of this year that does exactly what this series is about. It enables you to make the work you do on social media keep paying off for the long term. You put a little work into Edgar today by adding social media updates highlighting the great content in your blog’s archives and Edgar goes to work to share them to your followers not just once but by queuing your updates to keep delivering to into the future. The team at Edgar have put together a special deal for ProBlogger readers which gives you a free one month trial. Sign up for your free one month trial at meetedgar.com/problogger. Here's a video of how I use Edgar: If watching videos isn't your thing - here's a blog post I wrote on how I use Edgar.   Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there. This is Darren Rowse from ProBlogger and I would like to welcome you to episode 75. Today, we are continuing our series of challenges that you can invest a little time in today and hopefully, they'll pay off for the long term on your blog.  The hashtag we are using over at Twitter is #TodayNotSomeday and the idea is that these are things that you've probably got on your someday list. Things that you have been putting off that you really need to do today because they have a lo...

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. How to Get Readers Excited to Join and Stay on Your Email List Today's episode is part 4 of the new 'Today, Not Someday' podcast series. The focus is actioning your 'someday' list, the things you've always wanted to do to improve your blog but have struggled to make happen. For details about how the series works, check out episode one here. Part 2 was about why you should sell a product on your blog (and how to dot it). Part 3 was about how to get people to sign up onto your email list. The focus of today's episode is about how to create the most effective 'opt-in', or 'lead magnet' for your blog, or if you already have one, how to make it even more powerful. An opt-in is a free special offer that you can give to people who join your email list. Having an opt-in is one of the most significant things you can to do to increase your subscriber numbers and grow your business. In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). In today's episode: Why having an opt-in or lead magnet for your email list is so powerful How to create an opt-in for your email list What format your opt-in should use More than 20 ideas of what you can offer as your opt-in gift How to decide what your opt-in gift should be about How I created an opt-in for my Digital Photography School blog this year Why you should update your opt-in Why you should have more than one opt-in How you can give people something that will still make them want to stay on your list, even after they have their gift What your opt-in should look like Tools you can use to help you deliver and promote your opt-in Where you should mention your opt-in Further Reading and Resources for How to Get Readers Excited to Join and Stay on Your Email List Tools you can use to deliver and promote your opt-in These tools are great and I use them for my blogs: SumoMe is the tool I use on dPS to make our new Opt-in Offer. They are offering a special offer for ProBlogger readers, a free month of ‘Welcome Mat Pro', which is pretty amazing! Access the special offer here.  LeadPages is another tool you can use to make your Optin Offers by creating great landing pages for your offer. Here's a post where we make our latest opt-in offer for a Photographing the Holidays Guide over at Digital Photography School. Meet my new friend, Edgar I’d like to welcome a new sponsor to the ProBlogger podcast for the duration of this 10 part series, my friend ‘Edgar'. Edgar is a tool I’ve been using since January of this year that does exactly what this series is about. It enables you to make the work you do on social media keep paying off for the long term. You put a little work into Edgar today by adding social media updates highlighting the great content in your blog’s archives and Edgar goes to work to share them to your followers not just once but by queuing your updates to keep delivering to into the future. The team at Edgar have put together a special deal for ProBlogger readers which gives you a free one month trial. Sign up for it at meetedgar.com/problogger. Other episodes in the Today, Not Someday Series: Part 1: Introducing New 'Today, Not Someday' Series Part 2: Why You Should Create a Product to Sell On Your Blog (and Tips on How to Do It Part 3: How to Increase the Subscriber Numbers to Your Email List Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there! This is Darren Rowse from ProBlogger. Welcome to episode 69 of the ProBlogger podcast where today we’re talking about something that you’ve probably been putting off doing that you really should do today that has potential to bring a lot of life to your blog.

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. How to Decide Whether to Include the Date on Your Blog Posts Today's episode is all about how to decide whether to include the date on your blog posts. I received this question from a listener, who noticed that I use timestamps on one of my blogs, but not on the other. Dates can either add or take away from your blog. I share how I decided what to do with each of my blogs and tips for you to work out what is right for you. In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). In today's episode: Why including the date on your blog posts can be a good or bad thing How to work out if the date is relevant to each blog post Why I don't include dates on my blog posts on the Digital Photography School blog Where to include dates on your blog posts Why it might be useful to include dates on some blog posts but not others Why some bloggers choose to include dates on blog posts for 3-6 months and then remove them Why some bloggers include dates on the front page of their blog but not on each individual blog posts Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Welcome to episode 58 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and today, we're talking about timestamps on blogs. I received this question from Bernadeth who wrote, "I'm in the process of redesigning my blog and was wondering if I should use timestamps on my blog posts. When I look at your blogs, I noticed that one does and one doesn't. Can you tell us why you made that decision?" You can find today's show notes at problogger.com/podcast/58. Bernadeth's question is one that I get quite a bit. A lot of my readers do read both of my blogs, ProBlogger and Digital Photography School, and have realized that on one, the date that the post was written does appear on the blog, that's ProBlogger and over on Digital Photography School, there are no dates as to when the post was written. My theory is that dates can either add to or take away from your blog posts. Let me explain that a little further. When you put a date on your blog post, you signal to your readers when the post was written. There are no record signs there, that's pretty obvious, I know. This is useful to your readers who want to make a judgment on how relevant the post is for them at any point in time. It signals to them that a post is either current, recent, or that it is dated when the year is older and dated. There's a problem here and that is when you have a timeless or evergreen piece of content. By that piece of content, that doesn't really date. The principles that you write about today might still be relevant in 10 years’ time. When you put a date on that type of content, it can act as a distraction to your reader.  When they arrive at a blog post and see it was written in 2007, like many of the posts on Digital Photography School, a little warning bell goes off in their mind that they are reading a post that is not current. I've had comments on this type of post, numerous times, saying, "This post is out of date," or, "This post is old," even when the content in the post is still completely relevant for today. When a reader has this reaction, no matter what information your post contains, it'll seem old to them and they lose engagement with the post.  This may not happen to everyone, I suspect, most of us listening to this going, "No, I'm willing to learn from old stuff," but I reckon it happens to most of us, at least on a subconscious level.  On the flip side of this, time dates can be good on evergreen content when the date is recent. If you arrive at a post and you see that it was written last month, psychologically,

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. How to Keep Growing a Successful Blog When It All Seems Too Hard Today's episode is about how to face the things that you are struggling with on your blog and how to make it successful despite the challenges. There are many hurdles to building a successful blog. Every blogger encounters their own unique combination of challenges. I share 9 of the major hurdles I've faced with my blogging and how I've got over them. In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). In today's episode: How I managed to start a blog without even knowing how to make text bold! Why you need to make peace with the fact that you will never know it all How you can get other people to help you with your blog, even when it's not making any money yet Why being willing to learn new things will help you, even if you decide to pay other people to do the things you can't do How to keep blogging when you're scared of looking stupid How to find a focus for your blog How to get new ideas when you can't think of anything How to keep blogging when you feel burnt out Why taking care of your wellbeing and physical How to deal with personal attacks or criticism How to build your blog readership How to build a profitable blog (how to choose which monetization model is right for you) Why relying too much on advertising can hurt your blog How to find time to blog even when you're working other jobs and have a young family Further Reading and Resources for How to Keep Growing a Successful Blog When It All Seems Too Hard I’m not Technical Enough to Blog [Misconceptions New Bloggers Have #4] How to Blog: How to Choose a Blog Niche [6 Tips] 3 Ways to Define What Your Blog Is About 11 Tips to Breaking Bloggers Block Through Solving Reader Problems Give me 31 Days and I’ll Give You a Dramatically Better Blog… Guaranteed Previous podcasts in this series on the topic of Finding Readers 12 Blogging Income Streams [And the Story of My 10 Year ‘Overnight’ Success] Previous podcasts in this series on the topic of Making Money 'Blog Wise' - our eBook on becoming a more productive blogger that features advice from 9 successful bloggers Episode 38: How One Humiliating Experience Gave Me a Wake Up Call That Helped Me Build a More Profitable Blog Episode 40: 7 Productivity Tips For Bloggers Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there and welcome to episode 57 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse. Today, I want to talk about some of the hurdles that I've faced as a blogger and how I got over them. It strikes me that many bloggers who listen to this podcast are at different stages in their journey. Because we're all at different stages, we're all facing different challenges right now.  Today, I sat down for a good couple of hours and thought back over the last 13 years of my own blogging and some of the major hurdles that I've faced along the way. I want to share them with you today because many times when I talk to people, people see the end result of what I've built and what other bloggers have built. I've got ProBlogger, I've got Digital Photography School, but the reality is that those two blogs, well, ProBlogger started in 2004 and Digital Photography School in 2007. Whilst you see the finished result or the result of 2015 today, you haven't seen the journey along the way. I'm really aware that perhaps it's useful to share some of the challenges that I faced along the way because I know many of them are similar to what you're facing today too. Today, I want to present to you nine hurdles that I've faced as a blogger and how I got over them.

It all started with an email from a friend, mentioning this thing called a "blog." Darren Rowse learned of this new trend taking the internet by storm - and he wanted to try it to build a business. Thirteen years later, Darren Rowse has built two extremely successful blogs - Problogger and Digital Photography School - that amass over 5 million visitors each month.

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. We Answer Your Questions About How to Create Great Blog Content Today's episode is all about answering your questions about how to create great content for your blog. We've had so many questions on this topic that we've had to split the answers into two episodes. This is part 2. You can listen to part 1 here. Don't be shy about asking us questions in the comments below! Your question could be featured next time. Question Mark by Dejan Krsmanovic on 500px In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). Today we answer these listener questions: What are your 3 best blog posts ever and why did they work? What type of content do you find most resonates with your audience? Is video or the written word more important and why? When you first started taking on paid writers, how did you recruit them? How did you include them in your schedule? What are the pros and cons of outsourcing blog content? Is there an optimal length or word count for a blog? Further Reading and Resources for Creating Great Blog Content 5 First Year Posts that Led to Over 6 Million Views ProBlogger Jobs Board Our 3 most popular blog posts ever: How to Hold a Camera 10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits (and the follow-up post: 10 More Tips for Stunning Portrait Photography) Long Exposure Photography: 15 Stunning Examples Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there and welcome to episode 43 of the ProBlogger Podcast. My name is Darren Rowse and today, I want to continue our question and answer on the topic of content creation that I started a couple of episodes ago in episode 41. I got so many questions on the creation of content, I couldn't possibly fit them into a single episode. If you want to go back and listen to that when I do tackle about seven different questions there. Today, I've got another five for you that all center around content creation. You can find today's show notes at problogger.com/podcast/43 where I'll include some further reading and you can also let us know what you think about today's episode. I'd also love to get your feedback on the podcast in general with a review on iTunes, Stitcher, or whatever other medium that you are listening to this on. Those reviews certainly help us to shape this show but also help us to find new listeners which I do appreciate. Let's get into today's questions.  The first question I want to tackle today is a fun one, it's from Samantha who asks, "Tell us about three of your best posts ever and why they worked." This is actually something I've done before on ProBlogger and I'll give you a link in the show notes to a post I wrote almost on the identical topic. In it, I actually talked about five different posts that I wrote in the first year of Digital Photography School, that led to a combination of over six million visitors to those five posts. I'm going to actually three different posts today because I don't want to replicate that. You can go and check out that post. That does give a whole heap of information, but I want to just talk about three and these all do come from Digital Photography School which is my main blog.  The first one is probably a post that I almost didn't publish at all. I thought it was too basic to really be published. It's on the topic of How to Hold a Digital Camera and I will link to all of these posts in today's show notes. As I said, this is a post that I almost didn't publish because it is just so basic; how to hold a camera. I mean, everyone knows how to hold a camera, don't they? Well, the reality is they don't. The reason that I did write this post and hit publish on it was I could tell that among...

Darren Rowse is a globally renowned blogger and speaker. Just as many people know him as the founder of Problogger as for his other business, Digital Photography School. He inspires bloggers every year at the Problogger training event and we grabbed him to pick his brain about writing, routines and being a totes famous introvert. Tune in to learn: How Darren finds the time and inclination to write in his ultra-busy schedule Where he gets his inspiration How he turns negative comments into conversation How an introvert keeps his energy levels topped up after big events How Darren gets through his (enormous) to do list The ONE question you should ask yourself before you start writing.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Darren Rowse is a full time blogger, author and online entrepreneur. He is the editorial manager and originator of Digital Photography School and SnapnDeals. Rowse started blogging in 2002 on a personal blog ‘LivingRoom'. Out of this blog he launched a Digital Photography Blog in 2003. This quickly became a commercial success and the launching pad ... Read More The post 132. The 31 Day Challenge, 10,000 Steps a Day and Intermittent Fasting with Darren Rowse appeared first on Must Amplify.

Joe Pulizzi has been teaching the importance of the content marketing mission statement for a few years now. So obviously, when he finds one that is not only written out, but well implemented, he wants to share it with his audience. In this episode of Content Inc. he discusses how Darren Rowse grew his Digital Photography School by focusing on a content tilt and implementing on a content marketing mission. 

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Darren Rowse is a full time blogger, author and online entrepreneur. He is the editorial manager and originator of Digital Photography School and SnapnDeals. Rowse started blogging in 2002 on a personal blog ‘LivingRoom’. Out of this blog he launched a Digital Photography Blog in 2003. This quickly became a commercial success and the launching pad ... Read More The post 132. The 31 Day Challenge, 10,000 Steps a Day and Intermittent Fasting with Darren Rowse appeared first on Bond Appetit Personal Chef Services.

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. How to Launch a New Product Successfully Today's episode is about how we reached six figures launching a new product. We share what worked and didn't work, and some of our takeaway learnings for future launches. In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). Today we talk about: How partnering with other people can help you launch your product successfully How to identify a potential partner for a product launch How long it takes us to produce our new products How we spread the news about our product launch Where the majority of our product sales come from What we have planned to keep the product selling well into the future Further Reading and Resources for Launching a New Product Successfully What to Do BEFORE You Launch A Product On Your Blog 5 Tips for Launching a Product On Your Blog Without Annoying Your Readers Trial by Fire: a Beginner’s Attempt at a Product Launch The 3 Emails You Must Send During a Launch … and a Fresh Alternative for Bloggers Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi there and welcome to the ProBlogger Podcast episode 42. My name is Darren Rowse. Today, I want to talk to you about our latest product launch on Digital Photography School. It was a new product for us. I want to talk a little bit about how we came up with the idea, how we marketed it, how we developed the product, how we launched it, and also how it actually went. You can find today's show notes where I will link to the product and give you some further reading at problogger.com/podcast/42. Today, I want to talk about a product that we launched four weeks ago on Digital Photography School, which is my main blog. This particular product was a new one for us. It's actually a Lightroom presets pack. For those of you who aren't familiar with presets, Lightroom is a post-production tool for photographers to manipulate their images and to get their images looking great. They have the ability to use presets within that, which—the way I describe it to people—is like on Instagram where you manipulate a photo with a click. You just say, “Here's a filter that I want to put onto this particular photo.” In some ways, it's similar. A preset enables you to say, “I want to treat this photo in this particular way.” It takes a whole process of manipulations to an image and puts them into a single click. You take the whole heap of things that have adjustments and then you can click a link or a button and it will change your photo. This is a tool that's been built into Lightroom. You can actually develop your own presets, but you also can download other people's and install them into Lightroom. We developed this presets pack as 101 presets that enable you to change photos in 101 different ways. We developed them and bundled them together into different areas. There's presets for landscape photos, there's presets for portraits and different types of presets. The idea for this pack came really out of some affiliate promotions that we had previously done. This is actually something I would really encourage you to think about no matter what kind of product you are thinking about developing for your blog. One of the best things that you can do before you develop a product is to test it by promoting someone else's product. This might sound a little strange but you will learn so much by doing an affiliate promotion of someone else. This is something I've done time and time again. Before I developed my first ebook, I promoted someone else's ebook. Before I developed my first course, I promoted someone else's course. There's a number of things you're going to learn by promoting someone else's ...

Note: you can listen to this episode above or load it up in iTunes. How to Use 2 Types of Content to Find Readers for Your Blog Today's episode is the second part of our series on how to find new readers for your blog. It's the question I get asked most by bloggers, so this is the second of several podcasts on this topic. In part one we looked at two really important questions to ask before you go hunting for readers to read your blog. Today we talk about one other thing you need to consider before you go hunting for readers - the content on your blog. Read Me by Kevin Carden on 500px In This Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). Today we talk about: How to Create a Blog that is Worth Being Found How to Create Great Cornerstone Content The Key to Creating Shareable Content Further Resources For Finding Blog Readers How I came up with ideas for the first 200 posts on my Digital Photography School Blog The successful series of cornerstone content I published on the Digital Photography School blog about exposure: Introductory post - Learning about Exposure – The Exposure Triangle Introduction to Aperture in Digital Photography ISO Settings in Digital Photography Introduction to Shutter Speed in Digital Photography Also relevant to this topic: 5 First Year Blog Posts that Led to Over 6 Million Views The Ultimate Guide to Creating Amazing Content that Draws Readers Into Your Blog Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Hi, this is Darren Rowse from ProBlogger and welcome to episode 34 of the ProBlogger Podcast. Today, we're continuing our series on finding readers for your blog. You can find today's show notes at problogger.com/podcast/34. Now, I would encourage you to listen to the last episode, episode 33 before you listen to today because, in part one of this series, we looked at two really important questions to ask before you go hunting for readers for your blog. Those two questions (briefly) were, who do you want to read your blog and what change are you trying to bring in those readers' lives. These are really important questions, and we're going to build upon them in the next episodes in this series. Today I want to talk about another thing you need to consider before you go hunting for readers. Now you might be really itching to get into some of the techniques that we've got coming up in future episodes. This one is so important and it's going to make promoting your blog so much easier. He says, "I look back on my own journey of finding readers for my blogs, and I've got around five million people reading my blogs every month today. I can see that the techniques and strategies for growing readers,” that I'm going to talk about in a couple episodes' time, “were important, but they weren't as important as the actual content on my blog,” and that's what I want to talk about today is content. Most of the techniques I'm going to talk about in future episodes work so much better if you've got two things happening on your blog. Firstly, you need to have solid useful content on your blog that serves your readers. Secondly, and this probably isn't as essential, but it's certainly useful. You need to have some shareable content that you can use when you're promoting your blog. In today's episode, I want to talk about content. I want to suggest that you need to create these two types of content. I want to share some ideas on how to do that, which will put you in a great position to promote your blog in future episodes. The first thing I want to talk about is building a blog that is worth being found. You can go and promote your blog as much as you like, but unless there's something worthwhile on your blog,

How to Dig Into Your Blog Statistics Today's episode is about how you can dig into your blog statistics to work out patterns in what's working and what's not working for your blog. The numbers might seem daunting at first, but I share how you can understand them and use them to uncover the secrets of how people are using your blog. Personal agenda, graphic charts and cellphone by Cristian Robert Chiribuc on 500px In this Episode You can listen to today's episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also LOVE to get your reviews on those platforms if you have a moment). Today we talk about: What blog statistics really matter How to use Google Analytics to track traffic on your blog How to use Google Analytics to increase traffic on your blog How to use Google Analytics to create killer content 9 questions to ask yourself to improve your site content How to use Google Analytics to measure your blog progress in a meaningful way Screen Shots from Todays Episode As promised in the episode - here's the process I went through to dig into these Google Analytics stats. Note: I refer numerous times to a previously written post on the ProBlogger Blog in which I go into more depth on using Google Analytics. You can read that post at A Powerful Exercise inside Google Analytics to Set You Up for a Successful Year of Blogging. Start by opening Google Analytics and clicking the Audience >> Overview menu item. On the next page you'll see your 'sessions' analytics like this (taken from my last month of blogging on Digital Photography School). To get a 'comparison' of this month to last month go up to the date section and put in the two periods you want to compare. Make sure you check the 'compare to' check box as pictured below and then hit 'apply' and you'll get a chart like this: While you're in this area of Google Analytics you can look at some of these areas of stats. If you click on each one you'll be able to see a larger chart: Also in the audience area there are a whole heap of other ares you can dig into in the sidebar menu. Next we're moving into the Acquisition area. Click Acquisition >> Overview menu item: You'll be given a good overview page but you can drill down further. Go ahead and click the 'all traffic' menu item and then 'channels' to show you the different areas that traffic is coming from for your blog. Click on the different channels to drill down and see more detail in where the traffic came from. For example if you click the 'social' link you'll see it broken down into the traffic coming from different social networks. The last section we'll look at is 'behavior'. Click on Behavior >> Overview for the overview page: Drill down further into the Site Content >> All Pages menu item. Listed there will be 10 most viewed pages on your blog. Click the 'show rows' drop down menu to make it show 100 instead of 10 so you can see more. This is where I'm asking these 9 questions: what posts you might want to reshare on social at some point? - if it did well once it might do well again (see above for an example of this). what types of posts/mediums get shared most? - for example I notice in our most popular posts this year were a number of cheat sheets and infographics. This gives us hints as to what kind of posts might do well in 2015. what topics are hot? - for example I noticed in our top 100 posts for social that we had a lot of posts on camera lenses that did well. This informs what we might do more of in 2015. what headlines did well? - I noticed in our top 100 posts that we saw a number of posts that talked about 'mistakes' that photographers make doing well. While we don't want to do these posts all the time they do do well on social so we'll no doubt do a few more in 2015. what posts could you extend? - some posts that have done well might lend themselves to become a series.

Darren has been blogging since 2002 and you can find his genius in two places: Problogger and Digital Photography School. Darren also recently launched the Problogger podcast, which starts out with 31 days to building a better blog. All of his content can be found in one convenient place: Problogger.com, and you can find him on Twitter @Problogger. In this episode Darren and I chat about the 3 Areas every blogger should focus on when starting out, including detailed examples for how to tackle each area. Post that accompanies this episode: http://eofire.com/episode101 Leave a Rating & Review for Kate's Take

New media pioneer and entrepreneur Darren Rowse — creator of both Digital Photography School and ProBlogger — joined me to chat about the opportunities that 13 years of blogging have provided, his new podcast, and the importance of having the right mindset as a writer.   Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By   Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. Start getting more from your site today! This sage blogging veteran and educator has blazed an inspiring path for enterprising online publishers. His step-by-step blog series — 31 Days to Build a Better Blog — went from zero to viable business in no time, and now it’s a podcast every content creator can listen to … for free. In this file Darren Rowse and I discuss: Why You Should Write Like You Talk How a Book Deal Was Born from a Blog Series How Writing Offline Can Boost Your Word Count The 3 Types of Writer’s Block All Bloggers Eventually Face How Public Accountability Can Light a Fire Under Your Ass Why You Need a Balance Between Dreaming and Doing How to Get the Maximum Impact From Your Writing Listen to The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience below ... Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes The Show Notes ProBlogger.com Digital Photography School Darren Rowse Speaking at WDS Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Problogger Podcast Problogger on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter The Transcript How ProBlogger s Darren Rowse Writes Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, the digital marketing podcast network. It’s built on the Rainmaker Platform, which empowers you to build your own digital marketing and sales platform. Start your free 14-day trial at RainmakerPlatform.com. Kelton Reid: These are the Writer Files, a tour of the habits, habitats, and brains of working writers, from online content creators to fictionists, journalists, entrepreneurs, and beyond. I’m your host, Kelton Reid: writer, podcaster, and mediaphile. Each week, we’ll find out how great writers keep the ink flowing, the cursor moving, and avoid writer s block. New media pioneer and entrepreneur Darren Rowse, creator of both Digital Photography School and ProBlogger joined me to chat about the opportunities that 13 years of blogging have provided, his new podcast, and the importance of having the right mindset as a writer. The sage blogging veteran and educator has blazed an inspiring path for enterprising online publishers. His step-by-step series, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, went from zero to viable business in no time, and now it’s a podcast every content creator can listen to for free. In this File, Darren Rowse and I discuss why you should write like you talk, how a book deal was born from a blog series, how writing offline can boost your word count, the three types of writer’s block all bloggers eventually face, and why you need a balance between dreaming and doing. If you enjoy The Writer Files podcast, please do us a favor and leave a rating or a review in iTunes to help other writers find us. Thanks for listening. Darren, thank you so much for joining me on The Writer Files. I really appreciate you stopping by. Darren Rowse: You’re welcome. Kelton Reid: For listeners who may not be familiar with your incredibly inspiring story, who are you, and what is your area of expertise as a writer? Darren Rowse: Yes. I’m Darren. I live in Melbourne, Australia. I’m a dad — that’s probably the number-one thing in my life at the moment. That’s one of my major defining parts of me, I guess. In terms of the writing side of things, 13 years ago, I wasn’t a writer at all. I would have said I was a communicator. I did some public speaking, but had never really written before. I stumbled upon blogging after a friend shot me a link to a blog and just fell in love with the medium. That was November 2002, and within 10 minutes, I knew I needed to have a blog even though I had no idea what one really was. I muddled my way through setting one up, and so that became my journey of writing. I discovered that my love of communication extended into that written field. Why You Should Write Like You Talk Darren Rowse: But I came to it with no experience and no real expertise in anything, I would say. That first blog was a personal blog. I wrote about anything and everything and just gradually over time found my voice. I don’t really know what my voice is, but I found it and began to realize that people were responding to me writing like I talked — in a very conversational tone — and I also discovered that I love to teach people and help people to learn and to find their potential in different areas. That personal blog began to transition into me writing tutorials on anything and everything and on a whole heap of different niches. Gradually, over time, I grew an audience. For one reason or another, people seemed to connect with what I was doing and began to break out those topics onto separate blogs. I’ve been blogging for about 13 years, but it transitioned into a number of blogs, two of which remain today. One’s ProBlogger, which is a blog about blogging, which is sad, but it turns out a lot of people wanted to learn about that. Then the other one’s on photography, so Digital Photography School. It really started out as me teaching my friends how to take better photos with these great cameras that they had that they never switched out of automatic mode. I just began writing really simple tips and tutorials on how to hold cameras and what aperture is and what shutter speed is. I’ve really focused my writing on how-to content and in those two fields. Although, I’ve transitioned those two blogs into me really being more of a publisher than a writer because I feature a lot of writers now on those blogs, too. Kelton Reid: Yes, as well-known as those sites are — and I’ll point, obviously, to both in the show notes — I’ve heard you speak at Authority Intensive with Copyblogger, and just your starting, as a mindset, it’s truly inspiring I think for writers. Writers should always seek out those sites. ProBlogger, obviously, has been a pioneering voice clearly. It speaks for itself. But also, I think your speaking should be sought out as well. I found some of your replays, which I will also post in the show notes, from some of your speaking engagements, and I think for writers, those are also a true inspiration. I’ll skip on as I’m hoarding the mic here. Where else can we find your writing in addition to ProBlogger and Digital Photography? How a Book Deal Was Born from a Blog Series Darren Rowse: Yeah, so they’re kind of my home bases, but out of those two blogging experiences, other opportunities have come to write, and I never would have expected some of the things that came along. The biggest one, and one of the earliest ones, was an opportunity to write a book. I got an email one day from a guy who claimed to be at Wiley in the US, and he said, We’d love to publish a book with you. I really thought it was a joke, because I’d never had book writing on my radar at all, but that was true, and it was real. It felt a little bit big and hard for me to write a book, so I coerced Chris Garrett, who is now at Copyblogger as well, to write it with me, and so we co-authored the ProBlogger book. That’s probably where you’d find the biggest chunk of my writing in one place, although Chris wrote half of it as well. I didn’t really enjoy writing it, but it was a great experience, and it’s now had three editions, so it seems to have connected well. Then the other places that I’ve written would be in ebooks, and this is the other opportunity that came out of both sites was to initially update and collate a lot of the content that I’d created into one volume in an ebook on ProBlogger called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, which really emerged out of a series of blog posts. Then on Digital Photography School, I also wrote a portrait ebook, which is no longer on the market. I got actual photographers to write our new portrait books, but that was I guess my first foray into ebooks on that site. To this day, we’ve published about 30 ebooks as well, but most of them have been written by other authors who have expertise in particular topics. Kelton Reid: That’s cool. I know that the story behind 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is a pretty amazing one, which will kind of dovetail into the next question, which is what are you presently working on? Darren Rowse: It did emerge from a series of posts that I wrote in 2007, and it really led to a lot of life for the blog. I repeated it in 2009, I think it was. My readers started to basically say, We want you to put it into a book for us, because we love this series of posts, but we want to keep going over it again and again. I designed it as a very practical here’s something to learn, but here’s something you can do today, and it was really about developing habits of blogging and good blogging. I put it into that ebook, and I was really dubious about whether anyone would buy it because it was all on the blog for free. I updated it a little and added a little content, but it sold thousands of copies every day for the first week that I launched it. It really opened my eyes to this new way of communicating through ebooks. That was back in 2010, I think. So that ebook, we updated it in 2012. And more recently, I’ve turned it into a podcast series, so that’s probably the main thing that I’m working on this month. There’s a whole heap of other things that are always on the go for us. We run an event here in Australia as well, so that’s six weeks away now, for 700 bloggers this year. That’s kind of on my mind as well. I’ve always got these little preliminary stages of thinking for books and other projects as well, so I’m not writing a whole heap this month, but there’s dreams and thoughts there to write again on a larger scale. Kelton Reid: Very cool, and the podcast itself is fantastic, I will say. Congrats on the early success of that. I have checked out the first week or so of it, and it’s inspiring, so writers should also seek that out. Darren Rowse: There’s some good writing challenges in there for people. Kelton Reid: Absolutely, and anyone who wants to take their blogging game to the next level. Let’s talk a little bit about your productivity. As a truly prolific blogger and online publisher, how much time per day would you say you are reading or doing research? Darren Rowse: I would say at the start of this year, that was an area that had been suffering. For me, I’d become so busy that I wasn’t really filling my cup and staying in touch with the industries that I was kind of working in because I was producing so much, and it started to impact my output, and also my health as well. I was so busy. So I made a concerted effort to change the daily structure that I had, and that included putting a walk right into the middle of my day for at least half an hour, sometimes as much as an hour. That’s an area where I’ve filled up with listening to podcasts and audiobooks, and that’s really new for me. I hadn’t listened to a book ever before those walks, and podcasts, I’d only ever listened to a few. That’s probably where I’m getting most of my research and input at the moment. I do read quite a bit during the day of blogs, but not so much in terms of books. If I’m doing a new project, or if I’m preparing for a presentation or a new ebook, that’s when I do a lot of my research. I tend to batch my research. I don’t tend to be someone who’s just researching for the sake of keeping up with things. I tend to be someone who needs a purpose for that research. I need a problem that I’m trying to solve, and that’s where I go into research mode. I quite enjoy it, but not just for the sake of doing it. There needs to be a reason. Kelton Reid: Before you actually sit down to write, do you have any pregame rituals or practices that help you get into the flow? Darren Rowse: Coffee is a big part of that, but that’s just to do anything, really. I don’t have a whole heap. I would say I probably like to have a clean desk, so that’s one thing that I tend to … It’s not clean at the moment, so I obviously don’t have a big project. But a clean desk, a clean white board, and a new notebook probably are the three things that I like to have. I do tend to procrastinate until those things are done. I have also been known to faff around a little bit and look at what tools and apps are out there and chop and change those a bit before I start writing. But I don’t really have any rituals as such. Kelton Reid: I think I know the answer to this next question, but I’m going to ask anyway. Do you write every day? Darren Rowse: I would say I probably don’t write every day anymore, and that’s something I have some regrets around. I tend to be someone who writes, most days, something, whether it be short blog posts or articles. I do tend to batch my writing. So Monday mornings are a time where I write quite a bit, and I try and write multiple blog posts for the week. If I’m writing a larger, like a book or an ebook, I tend to put aside a week to write it and clear everything else out, and that’s what I do with the podcasts. I set aside a week to record 31 episodes. I have a fairly short attention span, so I find if I’m writing for a year, I lose interest too quick. So I need to really chunk out a lot of stuff quickly. I do write something every day — emails — but yeah, it’s not on those projects. I tend to chunk it a bit more. Kelton Reid: I see. So do you commit to a certain amount of time, then, excluding that social media stuff, which I know you’re in kind of constant contact with that stuff, but … ? How Writing Offline Can Boost Your Word Count Darren Rowse: Yeah. I tend to write offline when I can. So I do go to a café quite a bit to write if I need to do that, and they don’t have Wi-Fi. I could get on with my phone, but I tend to avoid doing that unless I have to. I find that once I get in the zone of writing, I can go anywhere from an hour to four hours without any problem and almost get lost in it. I love that space. I love being in that zone and just firing. It does get a little awkward when you’re not drinking coffee in the café. Typically during the day, I’ll work in 50- to 60-minute bursts, but I go with the flow if it’s firing. Kelton Reid: Nice. Are you a morning person, or do you like to write at night? Darren Rowse: Creativity-wise, I’m very much a writing in the morning person. However, I have noticed around 4:30 in the afternoon, about half an hour before I’m supposed to get back with the family and stop working, that’s often a time that I get inspiration bombs. I don’t whether it’s because there’s that looming deadline — and I do work well with deadlines — but that’s often another time that I just need to put aside a little time to just vomit out anything that’s in my head that I need to get out. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Do you like to listen to music at all while you’re writing, or do you prefer the silence? Darren Rowse: I enjoy music, but not while I’m writing. I love white noise, so the cafe’s a place that it just flows for me a bit more. They do have music there, but I don’t notice it at all. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Darren Rowse: It’s just in the background. It’s just there. Kelton Reid: There’s something about that coffee shop noise that seems to work very well for writers. Darren Rowse: Yeah. I think it’s also being around people — and I’m not looking at the people — but just being aware that there are other people, for me, makes me aware that there are people that are going to read what I’m writing as well. There s something about that social environment without actually talking to anyone. As an introvert, I kind of enjoy that connection without being intensely connected, and I think that infects my writing in some ways as well. A lot of people reflect back that they feel like I’m talking to them, and sometimes I do look at the people around me and pretend that they’re the person I’m writing to. There s something about that I haven’t quite defined yet, but it’s really important for my writing I think. Kelton Reid: Do you believe in writer’s block, Darren? The 3 Types of Writer s Block All Bloggers Eventually Face Darren Rowse: I would say that I’ve suffered from something maybe like writer’s block, but as I’ve thought about it over the years, I’d say there’s three types for me. I’d say I get ideas block, which is where I can’t work out what to write about. I think many bloggers who’ve been blogging for a year or two feel, one, I’ve written it all before, I’ve got nothing left to say, What could I write fresh today? or Everyone else has already written about it. I haven’t got anything unique to say. So that blockage of finding a unique angle and a freshness to your topic, I think, is one thing I’ve suffered. The second type for me is writing block, and that’s where the words just aren’t flowing. You’ve got the idea, and you know the topic you want to write about, but you just can’t make it come out in a sensible way. Then, for me, the third one is completion block, and that’s where the first draft’s done, but I’m just so distracted or on the next thing that I’m really into, or I’m too tired, or I’ve lost the passion or interest for what I’m writing about to complete it. That’s probably the area I’ve struggled with the most over the years is that lack of revision and editing, so that’s why I hired an editor to basically oversee that and crack the whip for me in that. I think for me — writer’s block — I don’t know what that is, but for me there’s those three things. For me, the key is to work at which one of those three things I’m suffering right now and then to make appointments with myself to put extra time and energy and to get help in those areas. Ideas block I had probably two years into my blogging, so I just built into my week time to brainstorm ahead of time when I wasn’t supposed to be writing. So I have now got a bank of ideas sitting there, and I also involve my team in that brainstorming time. I haven’t had ideas block for quite some time because I’ve built that into my week. The writing block, again, regularity of writing helps with that as well. Making appointments on Monday mornings when I do a lot of my blog post writing, that sort of helped to unlock that. Then the completion block, I have times in my week, usually in the afternoons, where I set aside time to edit and revise because I don’t need to be quite so creative there, but I need to be a little bit more analytical. Kelton Reid: Wow. Let’s talk about your workflow a little bit. What hardware or typewriter model are you presently using? Darren Rowse: There’s not been a typewriter in my life for many years, but I just use a MacBook Pro when I’m out and about and an iMac on my desktop. I just love the fact that they talk to each other now with iCloud and Dropbox and all those wonderful tools that connect them. Kelton Reid: Yeah. I’m a huge fan myself. Do you have some favorite software that you use for writing? Darren Rowse: I try to keep things pretty simple. I’ve tried a lot of the writing tools. I can’t even remember the names of most of them, but these days I tend to write a lot of my stuff in Evernote. If it’s a larger project, I’ll set up a notebook for that and then break it down into sections or chapters in different notes and then have other notes for outlines and to-do lists and all that kind of stuff. I find it’s pretty simple to use, and a lot of the other tools, it got too complicated for me. Evernote seems to work quite well, and I like that I can share it with my team as well to be involved in that process. For blogging I use a little tool called MarsEdit as well, which is kind of like a document creator that you can put your images into and format everything in the app, and then you can upload it to your blog and don’t have to edit it in the blog. Kelton Reid: Interesting. I’ll have to get that link from you. Do you have any organizational hacks? Darren Rowse: Evernote has kind of changed things for me on that front. I tend to whiteboard in the early stages of a project. I like to be able to visualize it. I occasionally will mind-map using a little tool called MindNode. I also have been known to use Post-It notes spread out all over my floor, so whatever it takes to visualize how things fit together. I think in terms of the organization of my writing, I had some training 20 years ago in public speaking, and it was all based around breaking your talk down into two-minute modules and to really creating modules that chop and change and take people through different phases of what you want to present. I think that’s flowed into my writing. I tend to write in very small, short, sharp sections, and a module might be a metaphor or a story or a teaching point and then sort of chopping and changing those. I tend to visualize my writing in that sort of style. They’re probably the tools I use the most. I would say I also use Wunderlist as an organizational tool as well, so I’m very big on lists and setting myself to-do lists to check off during the day. Kelton Reid: Procrastination, the beast of procrastination — do you find yourself leaning into that or do you have some other kind of best practices? How Public Accountability Can Light a Fire under Your Ass Darren Rowse: I find I do procrastinate, but it’s not just a lazy kind of, Eh, I ll get it done. It s more of a prioritization and listening to my energy levels as well. I tend to work best when I’m excited about something, so I tend to listen to that more than I used to and go to the places where I’ve got energy. But I also work very well to deadlines. It stresses me out when something’s looming, but I know that that’s when I’ll do my best work, so that’s important. The other thing I’d say with procrastination, for me, and getting things done, is that accountability is a big thing. I respond really well when other people have an expectation of me. It’s not just an internal expectation of myself. I don’t really respond well to that at all. I respond if other people are waiting for something. So if I really need to get something done, I publicly announce when it will be ready, and I’ve done that quite a few times. I Tweeted with the podcast that I just launched. I publicly announced that it was coming on the first of July before I had recorded an episode, and that motivates me a lot, because I don’t like to be seen missing a deadline. Kelton Reid: That’s right. How do you unplug at the end of a long day there? Darren Rowse: I have to stop working at 5pm. That’s just a family rule, and so that helps as well, and I find the shenanigans of family life pretty much force me out of work mode at that time. I do work once the kids go back to bed, and our kids are fairly young, so I can get back to work at sort of 7:30. But I tend not to do creative stuff at that time because I find if I allow myself to try and get creative at night, I don’t sleep. If I do more admin logistical stuff in the evenings, social media scheduling and all that kind of stuff, I find that almost puts me to sleep. I also always try and give myself at least half an hour between the last work I do and bed just to decompress a little, and that usually involves TV. Kelton Reid: Just a quick pause to mention that The Writer Files is brought to you by the Rainmaker Platform, the complete website solution for content marketers and online entrepreneurs. Find out more and take a free 14-day test drive at Rainmaker.FM/platform. Let’s talk about creativity some. I know you just mentioned creativity, inspiration, finding your passion and your energy. How do you define creativity? Why You Need a Balance Between Dreaming and Doing Darren Rowse: I think creativity for me is the process of turning a new, imaginative idea into reality, so for me, it’s got two parts. It’s about thinking and doing. The problem I see many people falling into the trap of is that they focus on one or the other. I think we all probably have a tendency to focus on one or the other, but we need to work on the other one. So for me, creative thinking and idea generation is what I love to do. I could sit there all day brainstorming, coming up with ideas, and dreaming of what could be, but for a while there, it didn’t really translate into doing a whole heap. So that’s the area that I have to work on. For me, it’s about completion. Again, that theme that came up earlier. I can think of ideas all day. I can start them, but not complete them, so that’s the area that I need to work on. For other people, I think they’re doers, and they don’t give enough time to the thinking and the dreaming and the imagining of what could be, so they end up doing and creating things that perhaps aren’t as imaginative as they could be. For me, creativity’s about finding the sweet spot between creative thinking and actual implementation and doing. Kelton Reid: Yeah. It’s interesting. You brought up before that you have a team that helps you get to that completion phase, but not everybody has both spheres, do they? Darren Rowse: No, and for me, until three years ago, I didn’t really have a team at all. One or two people I occasionally outsourced stuff to, but that was a big tension. Now I guess the tensions are that I ve got to manage people, and that’s not a skill that I really have and I need to grow as well. It really came down to just forcing myself to be organized and making appointments with myself to do those things I needed to do, which didn’t come naturally for me as a creative, airy-fairy kind of guy. Kelton Reid: We may have covered this already, but when do you feel most creative? Darren Rowse: I think there’s a number of things. Conversations with people often stimulate a creative moment for me, whether that be me having conversation with a friend, but also online, I find any sort of social media discussion stimulates ideas and creativity. Often when I do a webinar or even a podcast like this, I find, even preparing for this podcast. I had ideas and that creative thinking. I found myself going off on tangents in my thinking, so I think conversations are a big part of it for me. Getting input from podcasts and blogs and that type of thing. I also find that it’s when I’m not thinking about my work that I’m getting the creative ideas as well. So the shower — I know a lot of people say they get their best ideas in the shower. That’s me, but what I found is I was having my showers sandwiched by kid time. My kids would be there, and then I’d have a shower, and I’d get an idea, and the kids would be there. So I’ve started having showers later in the day so that I can then go and take those ideas that I have and implement them straightaway. I think the other part for me is just being healthy. This year I’ve really worked on my health a lot, and I’ve found myself being much more productive, but also much more creative. So I think all those factors play into when I’m most creative. Kelton Reid: Would you say that’s your creative muse at the moment? How to Get the Maximum Impact from Your Writing Darren Rowse: Yeah, I think so. I tend to get into little obsessions with things. So at times it’s photography, and at times, it’s health and walking, or those types of things. I think I need to keep mixing up that thing that I’m into, and when I do have a thing that I’m obsessed by, that often sparks and brings … I guess it just makes me feel alive. And when I feel alive, I’m more creative. It’s not that I do those things to make creativity come. It just is a byproduct. Kelton Reid: Just going back to the procrastination piece, Austin Kleon talks about productive procrastination and having multiple projects going all at once so that when you’re procrastinating on one project, you’re really being productive on another project. It kind of melds in with that thinking. You’ve seen so much writing, so much online writing and online publishing. What, in your mind, makes a truly great writer? Darren Rowse: I guess it depends on the medium and the style, but for me, I really respond to writers who are taking me on a journey, and I feel like they have thoughtfully taken me from one place to another. In my writing, what I am always trying to think about as I sit down to write is, What change am I trying to bring about in my reader? Whether that be a change in the way they feel, they think, whether it be giving them a new skill, giving them a sense of not feeling like they’re the only one, or a sense of belonging, or some new insight. I don’t want my readers to come away from the things that I write in the same state that they were when they started reading it, because that’s just wasting their time and mine. But if they go from point A to point B, that, to me, is success for my writing. I guess I’d translate that into most formats of writing, whether it be fiction or non-fiction. If I’ve changed as a result of reading a great book, then that’s great. That’s success. The same goes to how-to content that I focus on or other mediums. You want to be changing people, take them on a journey. Kelton Reid: Yeah. Do you have some favorite authors right now? Darren Rowse: To be honest, at the moment, I’ve not been doing as much reading as I should because I’ve been focusing more on podcasts. But I guess those audio books that I ve started to listen to, it’s been an interesting journey. I’m still not sure whether I enjoy the audio format or not, but I’ve reading — or listening to — Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, and I’m enjoying that. I’m still towards the beginning, so I’m not ready to talk about it yet. Another book that I’ve been listening to is Tom Rath’s Fully Charged, which is all about having a full charge for your life, and that’s been interesting. This year I’ve also gone back. I’ve tried to make this year a year where I go back to books I’ve read before that have had some impact upon me. So I’ve gone back to Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point, which started the journey for me, I guess, in some of my thinking. Then also, a book by an Aussie author, Gregory David Roberts, called Shantaram, which is sort of a fictional biography of his journeys as an escapee from a prison and went to India and had all these adventures, and no one really knows how much of the story’s true and how much of it’s not. It’s a whopping, massive book. It’s huge, but I just can’t wait for him to bring out a sequel. Although it’s been 20 years now, so maybe it’s not coming. Kelton Reid: You pull some really, really great quotes for your speaking engagements. Do you have a best-loved quote at the moment? Darren Rowse: Yeah, probably the one from the last year for me that I just keep coming back to and do use quite a bit in my speaking is John Schaar’s, The future is not someplace we’re going, but one we’re creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. The activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination. I’ve been using that quite a bit to encourage people to not just let their future happen to them, but to chase their dreams and take steps towards making their dreams and their futures a reality — the futures that they want rather than just falling into a future that maybe isn’t what they want. Kelton Reid: All right. Let’s do a couple fun ones. You may have already answered this. Do you have a favorite literary character? Darren Rowse: I’m not sure I would call my favorite literary character’s great works literature, but the ones that came to mind were all children’s characters. I don’t know if you ever came across the series called Biggles. It was a series of books that I read when I was probably eight or nine, and he was a pilot flying Sopwith Camels in World War I and World War II. There must have been heaps of these books, but he was always on an adventure. For me, that was probably my first experience of reading that just fired my imagination. Tintin — I don’t know if you ever came across Tintin? Kelton Reid: Oh yeah. Darren Rowse: Those were sort of graphic novels, I guess, in some ways, those comics are. My son has just started reading Tintin, and he is obsessed with it. I think Spielberg made the movie. So they’re probably two characters that come to mind because they bring out memories in me, but I can now also see the same thing happening in my children as they begin to read those books. Kelton Reid: If you could choose one author from any era for an all-expense-paid dinner to your favorite restaurant, who would you choose? Darren Rowse: Gosh. This is the third time this week I’ve been asked to have dinner with someone that I’ve wanted to meet. I always struggled with this question, but probably the one that comes to mind is one that I suspect you’ve not heard of, but another Aussie called Anh Do who wrote a great book called The Happiest Refugee. He’s a comedian, an Aussie comedian, one of the best-known Australian comedians. He comes from Vietnam originally and came to Australia as a refugee. I think he’d be pretty funny to have dinner with. He’s also just written this powerful story of overcoming challenges and doing some really amazing things. He’s also written a children’s book of the same topic, and my kids have really been impacted by that book. I’d love to sit with him and spend some time with him and hear his story from his mouth, and I guess, more so feedback the impact that he’s had on my kids learning about some really important lessons of life. Kelton Reid: Nice. Where would you take him? Darren Rowse: He’s got a Vietnamese background, so I do enjoy that food, so I’d let him choose some nice Vietnamese restaurant. Kelton Reid: Let me ask you, who or what has been your greatest teacher? Darren Rowse: I’d say my dad, probably. Dad was a pastor of a church, and so he spoke every week, and I saw him get up in front of people and communicate. He really didn’t have any agenda in self-promotion or anything other than really trying to serve people and make their lives better. I think that’s probably come across. I’ve picked that up in a lot of what I do. I’m perhaps not quite as humble as him, at times, and it’s hard to be in the social media environment where it’s me, me, me and promote yourself, promote yourself. I certainly didn’t see any of that in my father at all, and so that is a nice reminder to be a bit more grounded, perhaps. I try to live that. His heart for trying to help people and make people better through his communication is something that I try and live out as well in both my speaking but also writing. Kelton Reid: Nice. I skipped a question, which I’ll circle back to. Do you have a writer’s fetish at all? Darren Rowse: I don’t know that I really do. Most of my fetishes are probably more camera-related than writing. I like the look of all those typewriters that people have, but for me, I don’t have room on my shelves because I’ve got cameras everywhere. Kelton Reid: Got you. Can you offer any advice to fellow scribes on how to keep the ink flowing and the cursor moving? Darren Rowse: Yeah. I think for me, it’s about practice. You improve so much when you do. The rhythm of writing regularly — as much as I’m not in a daily rhythm at the moment, I think having certain times in the week where I write and edit and come up with ideas certainly is important for my writing and output. Write something meaningful to you that you know has the potential to change someone’s life. For me, that’s as much about being an effective communicator, but also it comes into the writing process as well. If I know that what I’m writing has the potential to really help someone, then I’m bringing much more energy and creativity to that process. Then fill your cup. If you’ve just got to keep giving input if you want to produce and so don’t let yourself get dry. Find the inspiration that you need in all areas of your life. I think the better your life is going, the better your output. Unless you want to be a poet or write angsty stuff. Maybe you need a bad life to do that. I don’t know. Kelton Reid: Where can fellow writers connect with you out there? Darren Rowse: I think probably the best place is ProBlogger, on Twitter @ProBlogger and then ProBlogger.com has all the different aspects of the ProBlogger brand, so it’s kind of a portal into the rest of the podcast and the blog and the ebooks and the different aspects of what I do. Kelton Reid: I do encourage writers to find the podcast, and it is available on iTunes and other reputable podcast publishing platforms. Darren Rowse: That’s right. Kelton Reid: Very good. Darren, thank you so much. You’re a huge inspiration to me and I know to lots of other writers both online and off, so thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me and do your Writer File. Darren Rowse: Thanks. Nice to chat with you. Kelton Reid: Thanks for tuning into The Writer Files. Now, go turn some of those crazy dreams into something that we can read. For more episodes of The Writer Files and all of the show notes, or to leave us a comment or a question, drop by WriterFiles.FM. You can always chat with me on Twitter @KeltonReid. Cheers. See you out there.

How to Come Up with Hundreds of Blog Post Ideas for Your Blog Day 11 is one of my favourite days and one that is going to pay off over the next few days and weeks of blogging. It's all about answering that question 'what should I blog about today???' that may bloggers struggle a lot with each day when they sit down to blog. The idea today is to spend some time ahead of time answering that question so that next time you sit down to blog you can get straight into creating some great content. You can listen to todays episode above or in iTunes or Stitcher (where we'd also love to get your reviews). In todays Episode A trap that many bloggers face when it comes to coming up with ideas for their blog Two reasons why brainstorming ahead of time what to write about is so important A process I used on Digital Photography School to come up with hundreds of blog post ideas (enough for my first couple of years of blogging) A variety of other techniques and suggestions for coming up with blog post ideas - some which are based upon some of the previous episodes in this podcast series including setting up alerts and subscriptions you set up yesterday, emailing a reader, heading to the forum or group you've joined, social media accounts etc How to tap into your own problems, questions and challenges to get content ideas The challenge to set up an ideas collection system (I mention I use Evernote) A couple of visuals from the exercise I suggest today: 1. describe the change you want to take your blog readers through: 2. break down that change that you wish to bring: Your Challenge Today Brainstorm at least 10 blog post ideas that you could use in the days and weeks ahead. If you can come up with more - please keep going while they're flowing but do capture them! Don't get into writing the posts yet - just brainstorm. Tomorrow we'll take the ideas to do something with them so tune back in then with your ideas ready. Further Reading on Todays Challenge How to Consistently Come up With Great Content Ideas for Your Blog How to Build a Blog that Has Lasting Impact Upon Its Readers 5 Sources of Ideas for My Blog Posts Discover Hundreds of Post Ideas for Your Blog with Mind Mapping 27 Killer Strategies for Brainstorming Blog Post Ideas - JeffBullas.com Brainstorming: Generating Many Radical, Creative Ideas - MindTools.com Video: 6 Creative Ways to Brainstorm Ideas 7 Quick Ways to Brainstorm for Blog Post Topics - Random Little Faves And Sarah Schultz even has a free printable and great post at Why Brainstorming is Essential to Blogging. Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Welcome to the ProBlogger podcast, episode 11 and day 11 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Today, your challenge is to come up with at least 10 blog post ideas for future posts on your blog. In today's episode, I'm going to share with you one technique that I used to come up with hundreds of ideas for the first couple of years of my blog at Digital Photography School. I'll also share some alternative techniques that you might like to use to get some inspiration. Today's topic is so important. Many bloggers get stuck at this idea stage of creating content, so hopefully, it will give you a head start on that. Today's show notes, with some further reading and the tools mentioned in the show, are at problogger.com/podcast/11. There's also an opportunity on those show notes to connect with what others are doing in the challenge.  Before we get into it, a couple of answers to questions I've had over the last few days. One is around how frequently should you be doing these challenges. I know some of you are doing them on a daily basis as I'm publishing them. But if you don't have time, don't feel that you have to do them daily. I know some of you are doing them every second ...

How to Get Your Blog Mobile Friendly Welcome to day 6 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge where today we're going to talk about making your blog mobile friendly. While to get your blog completely mobile friendly will take you longer than a single day today you can come up with a plan to do so if you've not already. This task is VERY important. We're getting to the point where half of your blog's readers are probably viewing your blog on mobile devices and if your design isn't good you could be losing them and also running the risk of falling in Google's search rankings! If you're already mobile friendly - todays a great day to review your design not that front. In This Episode Why a mobile friendly design is so important for you to have in place Questions to ask when reviewing your blog design on mobile 2 Tools from Google to help you assess how your blog is performing on mobile devices My Confession with Mobile Friendly Blogs 3 Suggested ways forward if your blog is not mobile friendly - plugins, responsive themes and custom design Some suggestions for those of you who already have mobile friendly blogs Tools and Resources Test Your Blog Google's Make Your Website Work Across Multiple Devices Site (see the 'tool' on the right sidebar where you can add your URL to test your site. Google's Mobile-Friendly Test WordPress Plugins WP-Touch WP Mobile Pack Jetpack Responsive Themes I've used Studio Press who offer fully responsive designs. Need Technical Support? If you're feeling overwhelmed by the idea of installing and getting plugins set up or installing themes talk to the team at WPCurve who offer WordPress support and do small jobs. You can either sign up for a monthly plan to get ongoing support or hire them to do a one off job. Note: I am an affiliate for StudioPress and WPCurve. I've also been a user of both services and recommend them genuinely fro that experience and from knowing the teams behind them well. Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Welcome to the ProBlogger Podcast episode 6 on day 6 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Today, your challenge is to make your blog mobile-friendly. It's a challenge that will probably take you more than today, but you can do some great groundwork to get you well underway. Today's show notes are at problogger.com/podcast/6 First, a quick word from our sponsor, 99designs, the best place for new businesses to build their brand. 99designs makes it easy to get your next project off the ground with quality, affordable design. To get you a logo, business card, mobile app, blog template or more, visit 99designs.com/problogger and get a $99 upgrade for free. Hi, this is Darren from ProBlogger. Welcome to day 6 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, where we're teaching you 31 different things that you can do to improve your blog, and then challenging you to go away and do it. Really, the doing part is the most important part of this 31-day challenge, so I hope you are taking action. Today's challenge is a big one. Yesterday's was pretty small in many ways, but it had a big impact, but today's is a bigger challenge, and it may actually take you longer than one day to implement, but I want you to make some decisions today that you can go away and implement. Today's challenge is to make your blog mobile-friendly. I know some of you have already done this and I've got some things for you to do as well, but it's a really important challenge. We're approaching a time where more people will read blogs on their mobile devices than desktops. In fact, for many blogs, it's already happened. I know on my blogs, I checked this morning on Digital Photography School, half of my readers exactly 50% are now viewing the blog on mobile. On ProBlogger,

Darren Rowse has been blogging for over 10 years; his two blogs - Digital Photography School and Problogger - collectively attract some five million unique readers a month, so you could say Darren knows a thing or two about this blogging caper. Oh, and he also publishes books, produces a podcast, runs conferences and events and is a speaker and author.  In this chat with Trevor Young, Darren discusses the power of blogging with heart and purpose, and how to use a blog effectively to tell the story of your business and get more people to know, like and trust you as an individual and a brand.

"Red circles?!" I could barely disguise my confusion and skepticism. "Yeah... I want to photograph red circles," she replied confidently. We were working on our Abstracts in Adams Photo Tour, and I'd asked our attendees to come up with a theme or project they could shoot for the day.  Most attendees usually pick things like bicycles, a color, texture or even graffiti. But I wasn't prepared for the ultra-specific answer, red circles. "How many red circles is she going to find in Adams Morgan. I don't want her to disappointed," I thought as I searched for a way to gently redirect her to a more 'attainable' goal." Nope. Red circles. The decision had been made. I learned a thing or two about selecting photo projects. that day The process need not be complicated nor the subject obvious. You just need something for which you can be passionate and dedicated.  WHY IS THIS EVEN IMPORTANT? "A Personal Photography project is a way for a photographer to showcase their passion for something," writes Neha Singh, of ShutterMonks.com in Digital Photography School. "Or it can just be a way to bring structure to one’s photography hobby. It can be a great way to challenge the limits of one’s skills. Or it can be a great way to bring focus to one’s photography efforts. "A Personal Photography project is just a commitment to self." Now that we have great weather and maybe some free time, this summer might be a good time to launch your own personal photo project. Here are 51 other ideas to consider shooting. Listen to the podcast and find the show notes at bit.ly/shutterbuglife026

Do you have a blog for your business? Are you ready to take your blogging to the next level? In this episode, I interview Darren Rowse, the world's leading authority on blogging. He authored the book ProBlogger and founded two popular blogs: Digital Photography School and ProBlogger.  Show notes: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/112

Please subscribe and leave a review of the podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/out-chicago-photography-podcast/id881281935?mt=2)   Night Photography Subjects If you missed our last two episodes, go back to hear about night photography equipment (http://outofchicago.com/episode3/) and night photography camera settings (http://outofchicago.com/episode4/) . Night photography in the city leads to subjects that wouldn’t be interesting during the day. Here are some of my favorites. Long exposures without ND filters: fountains, the lake, people, car trails (bus and train trails too!) See my article 5 Advanced Tips for Light Trail Photography (http://digital-photography-school.com/5-advanced-tips-light-trail-photography/) on Digital Photography School. Reflections in water/rainy nights Cityscapes, light pollution The lights of the city (starbursts) Silhouettes An Interview with Max Wilson Max Wilson is a timelapse photographer that shoots mostly Chicago timelapses. I joined him this week for one of his rooftop shoots and was able to interview him from the roof! http://www.photoalbumarchives.com/ Chicago Timelapse Project (http://vimeo.com/76293321) Announcements Art Wolfe in Chicago (http://outofchicago.com/art-wolfe-in-chicago-2014/) The Out of Chicago Conference (http://outofchicago.com/conference) Photographing Chicago from North Avenue Beach North Avenue Beach is one of the best spots to photograph the Chicago Skyline. It’s different than shooting from Adler Planetarium where you can see the entire skyline, but it gives an opportunity to see more interesting views of the city. It’s a great location at night, sunrise, or sunset. Along the water’s edge Out on the breakwater Walk to Fullerton Beach, Lincoln Park, Downtown Pick of the week Lenskirt (http://www.lenskirt.com/) : A great tool for shooting through glass. I was going to recommend it to Max Wilson until I saw that he has about 4 of them. The post Night Photography Subjects, Max Wilson, North Avenue Beach: OOC Episode 5 (https://www.outofchicago.com/2014/06/09/episode5/) appeared first on Out of Chicago Photography (https://www.outofchicago.com) .

Please subscribe and leave a review of the podcast on iTunes. Thanks! (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/out-chicago-photography-podcast/id881281935?mt=2) I am going to get a podcast out for the beginning of each week. Every Monday morning there will be a new podcast waiting for you in your podcast player. Tony Reynes and Anne Belmont have been leading a lot of photowalks on the weekends for the Garden Photographic Society. That’s a fancy term for the Chicago Botanic Garden Camera Club. They have invited followers of the Out of Chicago site to join them on these walks. Stay tuned to Out of Chicago for future walks. This week on the Out of Chicago site I was on Digital Photography School! Read my 5 Advanced Tips for Light Trail Photography (http://digital-photography-school.com/5-advanced-tips-light-trail-photography/) Mike McCawley wrote about Street Photography Do’s and Don’ts in Chicago (http://outofchicago.com/chicago-street-photography-dos-and-donts/) Wendy Bright highlighted another speaker for the Out of Chicago conference, Marie Laigneau (http://outofchicago.com/marie-laigneau-bridges-and-street-photography-storytelling/) Keith French on Photographing the Shawnee National Forest (http://outofchicago.com/photographing-shawnee-national-forest/) Camera settings for night photography Exposure settings: I shoot RAW I typically shoot at ISO 400 at night Manual exposure Choose aperture and change shutter speed to set exposure I use Live View to set my exposure-metering modes White balance-I choose cloudy or auto! Manual focus-always! Image stabilization/Vibration Reduction off 2-second delay Interview with Levi Sim http://www.levisim.com/ http://www.sdesignsphotography.com/ Levi on Photofocus: http://photofocus.com/author/levicsim/ Levi on Twitter: @PhotoLevi (https://twitter.com/PhotoLevi) Chicago Photographer’s Adventure Club: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChicagoPAC/ Photographing Buckingham Fountain Buckingham Fountain is one of my favorite places to shoot in the summer There are light shows on the hour every hour from 9am until 10pm with one last show at 10:35. Details at the Chicago Park District site for Buckingham Fountain (http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/clarence-f-buckingham-memorial-fountain/#.U4qtoC9LiUE) Pick of the week The new Flickr app (http://appstore.com/flickr) for the iPhone and Android The post Night Photography Camera Settings, Interview with Levi Sim, Buckingham Fountain: OOC Episode 4 (https://www.outofchicago.com/2014/06/02/episode4/) appeared first on Out of Chicago Photography (https://www.outofchicago.com) .

Episode 1 of the Out of Chicago Podcast   Please leave a review of the podcast on iTunes. Thanks! (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/out-chicago-photography-podcast/id881281935?mt=2) 1. An introduction to the Out of Chicago podcast I started the Out of Chicago podcast for the same reason that I started the Out of Chicago site, wrote The Photographer’s Guide to Chicago (http://www.amzn.com/B00F08993Q) eBook, that I’m making the Photographer’s Guide to Chicago App with Craig Ellis, or that I’m running the Out of Chicago Conference (http://outofchicago.com/conference) this summer. I was disappointed that these things did not already exist. Podcasts are one of my favorite ways to keep up with the photography community because I can listen to them in the car when I can’t do much else. Sorry to the Disney Podcast guys! It’s ISO5571 (http://www.iso5571.com/) , not whatever number I said. If you’re a photographer and you’re headed to a Disney park, I highly recommend the podcast. I just don’t really get the name. 2. An interview with Valerie Jardin I am extremely fortunate to have made so many amazing friends in photography, and Valerie Jardin is one of my most recent new friends. Valerie writes for Digital Photography School, is a frequent guest and sometimes even hosts the This Week in Photo Podcast, and runs street photography workshops all over the world. Learn more about her and her upcoming workshops at www.ValerieJardinPhotography.com (http://www.valeriejardinphotography.com) 3. Shooting from Navy Pier There are five places that I recommend and describe in the podcast The Ferris Wheel The Navy Pier Parking Garage Pier Park Olive Park Navy Pier walkways The Pick of the Week: www.CameraSize.com (http://www.camerasize.com) If you’re thinking about buying a mirrorless camera, go to CameraSize.com to see images of your choice of camera and lens combination next to images of any other camera and lens combinations. It’s a great way to see how much bigger your current DSLR is. Here is a comparison of my Canon 6D with 70-300L lens and my new Olympus E-M10 with 40-150mm lens (http://camerasize.com/compact/#380.10,521.95,ha,t) . The post The Out of Chicago Podcast, Valerie Jardin, and Chicago’s Biggest Tourist Trap: OOC Episode 1 (https://www.outofchicago.com/2014/05/25/episode1/) appeared first on Out of Chicago Photography (https://www.outofchicago.com) .

If you have a services-based business, you probably know the challenges of running a small business. On the one hand, you have to bring in business. At the same time, you need to serve those existing clients or customers. And while you're doing that, you have to be thinking about bringing in new business. It's a difficult juggling act. Darlene Hildebrandt is a working photographer, teacher and trainer, based out of Edmonton, Canada and I asked her to come on the podcast because she has done a tremendous job of building a successful photography business. Rather than relying on just one area (such as shooting weddings or portraits), she has learned to diversify her photography business by: creating in-person trainings and workshops writing content for Digital Photography School, one of the largest photography education sites on the web. leading travel photography groups to interesting destinations such as Cuba. In this episode, Darlene shares some of the strategies she has used to keep her business going and thriving. Even if you are not a photographer, I think you will get some good ideas from this interview. Enjoy!

Valerie Jardin is a versatile photographer who shoots interiors and architecture where the details tell the story. She also photographs food and loves working with culinary artists on location. Portraiture work gives her the opportunity to photograph people in their environment and capture their true personality. She also has a passion for street photography, writing and educating other photographers. Her articles appear regularly in the Digital Photography School online magazine and she teaches workshops including a street photography through the street of Paris.  www.thecandidframe.com info@thecandidframe.com

In this episode Adam and Thomas talk about photography education. Click here to download the episode. Links Mentioned: “Hot Spring Monkeys” Digital Photography School Strobist

This week on the show we discuss perfection, destruction, over compensation, and a few other things for your consideration. The News5 Reasons NOT to buy the 3G iPhoneStaples to stock Flexplay self destructing DVDsMain TopicDigital Photography ReviewThis Week in PhotographyDigital Photography SchoolCNET's Digital Photography HubCanon Digital Learning CenterDell Photo Learning CenterNikon Digital Learning CenterMy ThingLifehackerChumbyShow LinksThe Blog: True Tech LifeRSS Feed: HereiTunes Link: HereShow TwitterMike's TwitterNancy's TwitterMike's PlurkNancy's PlurkE-mail: truetechlife "at" gmail "dot" comThanks for listening!