OHMYGOSSIP – Let’s talk blogging etiquette. While we like to say there are no “rules” to blogging, as each person’s blog is unique to their life and voice, there are some unspoken guidelines all bloggers should take into consideration. Most of these seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised how often we see these etiquette guidelines broken!
1. Don’t steal photos.
Simple enough right? Don’t take photos from another bloggers blog, Facebook page or instagram and say they are your own! You shouldn’t take photos from Pinterest and edit them to look like they aren’t from Pinterest. It’s just plain wrong to take another bloggers photos!
2. Don’t steal content.
Often times you will see similar ideas for posts on different blogs. This happens, especially with things like holiday post, recipes and craft ideas – hey there are only so many ideas out there, right? But, to blatantly copy-paste from another blogger’s post? That is just a huge no-no!
3. Post your disclosures.
If you received product or monetary compensation, you must disclose this information in your post. This is more than just etiquette, it is actually an FTC guideline. Be sure to disclose that you received free product or compensation in exchange for your post and use the hashtag #ad when you post about said products on social media. Remember, these are not blogger “perks,” they are considered payment for your services as a writer.
4. Give credit when credit is due.
If you do use someone’s photo, with permission of course, be sure to give credit to that person! The same goes for content ideas- it’s courteous to say you were inspired by so-and-so’s post or recipe or even to link over to them if you are using one of their ideas in your post!
5. Act professional.
If you are making money as a blogger, you are a professional. Even if you aren’t making money you are building a brand around yourself! How do you want others to see you and your brand? Be proud of your work and demand to be treated as a professional by acting like it!
What are you tips for blogging etiquette? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Source: northeastbloggers.com
OHMYGOSSIP – All bloggers sooner or later will experience a drop in visitors numbers. And at some point in you blog life browsing the internet envying ‘more successful’ blogs can demotivate you enormously. You keep wondering what you are doing wrong and how to get more visitors and keep them on you blog. Maybe even subscribe to your blog by email so you know they are more likely to return. First of all: Do not doubt yourself!
If you planned your blog carefully, it is probably just a dip because of the holidays or something like that. But check yourself carefully: did you make any changes? Do you blog on a different subject, a different time maybe or share your blog post in a different way. Are you still following trends? Being your informative self? Following the plan you mapped out for you and your blog? How about your style? Are you blogging about yourself a lot lately? Do you still mix your blog posts and subjects enough or are your blogs just a long bore of self promoting writings?
To write about personal experiences and personal life is a great blog subject. People want to get to know you, but be careful not to make yourself into the main subject of your blog. Make sure there is diversity. Share what you’ve learned from a first-hand perspective,but also share how readers may use it to their own benefits. Your blog should always be a well balanced mix of resource and personal posts.
Here are 20 ideas on how to get more traffic to your blog:
Visit other people’s blogs and leave comments
Tell stories
Write more and shorter posts
Blog regularly
Add sharing buttons
Be the answer to peoples needs
Use h2 and h3 to subhead your posts
Use tags and categories
Promote your blog on social media, and interact with other people on social media
Write less
Contact sites that will help others and exchange links or blog posts
Ask friends and family to share your posts on social media
Embrace the art of paragraphing
Write with a sense of humor
Write about emotions
Print blog business cards and promote your blog on live business events, do some serious networking
Write powerful headlines
Optimise your site for search engines
Make sure your website is mobile friendly
Be yourself!
It happens to all of us: one day you hit the ceiling and you need a breakthrough to go to the next level. We all become afraid that we have lost the magic one day or another. It may cause a lack of inspiration or motivation and you may enter a continues circle of self doubt over this. If so: get this book and write smashing blog posts.
OHMYGOSSIP – Most bloggers know it: the blunt comments often very short-sighted and sometimes even verbally violent that enter your mailbox through the comment section, that stand out in the comments on Facebook and YouTube or that fill up you twitter timeline after posting something and totally ignorant of doing so, stepping on someones toes. Or not even that, it also can come from that one visitor that has an opinion about you, the way you look, write, the topic you write about or anything else that triggers them to be their true friendly self.
This blog is written not only for the Blogger dealing with it, but also for those who feel triggered to write a comment. The commenter needs to find his or her own personal red button before writing a comment that bursts with criticism, and you reader of the post, feeling what you feel, need to find yours.
Lets take a deeper look into the art of feeling triggered Writing this I’m speaking for my own audience as well. If there is something I’m not good at it is handling criticism. For me it all comes down to self-esteem. Lots of people see me as a self-confident woman ready to travel the world. But I know the little scared and wounded girl deep inside me sitting next to my exclusive red button, hand raised to push it any inconvenient time, when she hears something that triggers her.
In my childhood the message that came across was me being dumb, stupid and bothersome. And i believed them since nobody took time or care to tell me otherwise. I’m working my way out of this for some time now. But still there is this red button .
Do you know the feeling of getting flushed from head to toe your skin prickling?
I do, and I know where it comes from. Very cliché to say: from my childhood, but in my case it does. I call my trigger point ‘the Red Button’ It took me a few years to discover but once I got grip on the how and why, it was a battle convincing the little girl inside me not to push that button immediately and send me into a corner to sulk, but to hand the matter to me, the adult, and cope with it.
Today I will share my coping strategies with you. When you are a blogger you will get negative feedback occasionally and you will need a thicker skin to cope with that. I got an email a few days back from someone telling me I was completely out of my mind because of what I’m about to do. I was totally ignorant to the world around me. It caught me at a bad moment and triggered me from a sunshine day right into self-reflection. I really needed to put that email into perspective.
1. Who is the other person? Separating bullshit from facts. Most people commenting on your writings, acting and person, don’t know you. That is a fact.
They interpret your writings within their own perspective and that might not be a wide, world-friendly frame build on lots of experiences and common sense. That’s another thing: what common sense is to you might be completely out of sense to someone else. There is no such thing as common sense no matter how hard we live to believe it.
People are likely to identify with you, specially those who do return to your blog, they bond, and they get the feeling they have the right to interfere and give their opinion, without any background information. To you as a blogger the art of separating the bullshit from the facts.
Someone judging you while being a complete stranger to you? Just ignore it. Do not excuse yourself or try to explain yourself, you will end up in a meaningless discussion, that can take nasty turns, take it from a pro. No matter how hard your red button is pushed, just say something neutral like: thank you for commenting, stop by again any time you like.
Do take a closer look at your writing, why is it this person is interpreting it the way he does? Do you need to change anything?
I once received a comment on a blog about trying to loose weight, it a blunt reply that I should be careful, before I know I could not wipe my own butt anymore. Being shocked by the comment at first,and not knowing how to reply, I did look back on my last few blogs and they were all about going out for drinks, having fingerfood….I probably created the impression my life was all about wining and dining. A point of improvement.
Preventive: when I’m tired, sad, in a bad mood, easy irritated, if I do not feel strong and self-confident I will not read the comments or handle email from strangers.
Practice: I do not receive any email notifications on comment on the website, I just check in every other day to see if there is anything that needs my attention. Just to make sure it does not hits me in a bad time, when facing a deadline or on my way to an important meeting or something. Same thing for social media.
2. transform criticism into a positive attribution
There are comments that are only posted to hurt, there is no positivity in those. Try to ignore them by handling them the way I describe before. But there is criticism that can add value to your live. Like the one about being to fat to wipe my own butt. I looked at my writings and saw there was no balance, my writing was all about eating and drinking. And by doing so I created an image that was not correct. I see it in travel blogs also: they are always about sunshine, fun, beach and flip-flops. I sometimes feel the urge myself to push someones button by asking if there are never any rainy days.
I do receive a lot of mails on my spelling. Since English is not my first language and being dyslexic as well, it is difficult for me to write error free content. The first two emails on that topic, I felt so ashamed, I even turned up the urge to perfectionism beyond normal (is there normal perfectionism?) I was so scared to publish my next post, what would people think of me? I learned to laugh about it, like the blog post I used ‘ass’ instead of ‘as’ and only reader number 200-something took the politeness to email me. We made fun about it. I’m glad when people correct me on that, I have accepted I’m not perfect.
Can you separate the bullshit from facts and than turn critique into something positive?
If you can’t, it is posted by idiots that can’t fight their way out of a paper bag. Vinegar pissing visitors just passing by with nothing meaningful to do in their pity little lives. So, there you go!
3. Find yourself a world-famous role model
Everybody famous out there gets criticized, rejected and bombed with negativity, so you can take it as a compliment when you have lots of annoying, negative comments and email. Living a mediocre live it not the live of a blogger. Mediocrity is safe, shielded from the outside world and fits in almost everything. You as a blogger chose to stand out in the crowd, with your product, opinion and stories. There is nothing mediocre about you and that is why people feel they can put you down. Or that is why people can act jealous.
I received an email from a person that stated that: I was discouraging other people to start a blog because I was afraid there would not be enough money out there for me and since I had such high income already…blablabla……well did she get it all wrong.
She definitely needed a pair of reading glasses and some English lessons.
I immediately though of Mary Robinson, the firs female Irish President, now that’s a woman with a thick skin, an independent politician giving women in Ireland a voice, fighting for rights of those oppressed. She is a strong woman and my role model when it comes to perseverance.
I was elected by the women of Ireland, who instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the system – M. Robinson
You as a blogger can rock the World Wide Web. Let nobody or nothing stand in your way
create blog titles5. Find your own red button
In order to rock the World Wide Web by writing authentic, world-changing content, and to persevere under criticism, you have to find your own red button. What triggers you when you read criticism? What makes you sulk over ‘all your wrong doings’ and what gives you the idea ‘all your works sucks’ and that you are ‘no good at all’?
OHMYGOSSIP – Want to grow visitors numbers on your blog? Get the Blog Tools! A website with lots of interaction is a website found by Google. But how to attract visitors and make their visit worth while. Most business blogger or wannabee bloggers I speak, have great trouble to find subjects and maintain a blog. Read these 7 subjects for self-employed bloggers that have proven to appeal to your visitors!
1. Introduce yourself
Your Blog is your business card. Tell people about your motivation as a business owner, about the things you do in your free time, about your favorite book. What made you decide to become a business owner or self-employed?
What’s your expertise and how do you go about it?
2. Introduce your business.
What services do you offer. Do you have any specialized products that make your service unique among others? Why should people hire you for the job or buy their products with you? What distinguishes your business or services from your colleagues.Why should they choose over you instead?
3. Answer questions
Every costumer asks questions, answer them by writing about it. Lots of websites have frequently asked question sections, each question, or each topic can be an appealing blog post. But also specialized questions that only occur once can be a great opportunity to show your knowledge and processes. People get to know you and the way you go about your business and services by answering questions.
4. Make announcements
You can write about:
business announcements, like upcoming events you will attend to or you are organizing
discount
special offers
seasonal products or services
new products to arrive
Make a planning of upcoming events. For the web shop I used to own, I even wrote about the delivering of stock and the fun of unpacking those boxes full of new products. People loved to read about that. I made a picture of every step of processing the goods and showed them a little of how the shop looked at my end.
5. Ask questions
Organize polls, ask questions in blog posts, involve them in development of new products and services. Answer to each of the comments or even write a blog post about a specific comment. Asking questions can be a source for new blog post as well.
6. Share knowledge
Now I can hear you think: but my knowledge is my product. Yes, but share wisely. People are searching the internet for knowledge. Share it with them. Don’t give away your secret, but pretend you do. I’m sharing my knowledge about blogging with you guys as well, but my insights and the knowledge you really want and need you get in a full blog-advice, which is an actual product. Still you get lots of knowledge about blogging on this website. As you do on other websites about blogging.
7. Share some good practices
Or even bad ones for that matter. Who cares? They care! They want to know how you solve things, they want to know you are human. You and your business should appeal to costumers over the business of your colleagues and what better way to show how you handles mistakes, solve processing problems and correct flaws? It only makes you human and authentic and that is what people love.
Final tip for more interaction on your blog: When people respond in the comment section or the contact form: always reply!
OHMYGOSSIP – Helena-Reet Ennet, who is one of the most known bloggers and business woman in Scandinavia told Iltamakasiini.fi exclusively that because of her super busy life schedule, she had no time to celebrate OHMYGOSSIP´s birthday.
– Ohmygossip is now 7 years old, but unfortunately I had no time to celebrate. We opened our first OHMYGOSSIP site exactly 7 years ago and today we have our OHMYGOSSIP -sites in many languages and we are the biggest in social media with over 5 million followers and nearly 100 000 daily regular readers.
– Many people may think that it was now a huge party, but to be honest, the time is always so limited that we didn´t make any party. Not even a cake and champagne! And to be even more honest … I kind of do not love parties. I always think that it is a huge waste of time. Sometimes it makes me sad as well. Sometimes I feel that I work work work, but have never enjoyed what I have earned and never relax. Ok, “never” is not a good word, but “almost never” is correct. I should take some time off as well and enjoy my life more.
– I always push myself to the maximum, I often work 17 hours a day. I lose friends around me, because I only have my work and not too much time for friends. I guess my last rest with close friends was last summer, when Tuija Järvinen and Kristiina Bellanova Raudsepp was here in my home. And even then half time we worked — together! We took Ohmygossip Couture galleries and made business plans how to launch new PR campaign in Brazil. I seriously should take some time off!
The article was first published by Jari Kupiainen in Finland´s Iltamakasiini. Read it in Finnish:
Iltamakasiini.fi: Helena-Reet Ennet: Ohmygossip on nyt 7-vuotias
Helena-Reet Ennet, joka on yksi tunnetuimmista bloggaajista ja liikenaisista Skandinaviassa kertoi Iltamakasiinille, että hänen superkiireinen elämänsä aiheuttaa sen, että hänellä ei ole aikaa juhlia OHMYGOSSIPin syntymäpäiviä.
– Ohmygosip on nyt 7-vuotias, mutta valitettavasti minulla ei ole aikaa juhlia. Avasimme ensimmäisen Ohmygossip-sivuston tasan seitsemän vuotta sitten ja tänään meillä on sivusto monella kielellä ja olemme suurin sosiaalinen media yli 5 miljoonalla seuraajalla ja lähes 100 000 päivittäisellä lukijalla.
– Monet saattavat ajatella, että nyt on suuret juhlat, mutta aika on niin kiireistä, että emme järjestäneet juhlia. Emme edesä kakku- ja shampanjatarjoilua. Ja rehellisesti sanottuna, en rakasta juhlimista. Ajattelen, että se on vain ajanhukkaa. Joskus se tekee minut myös surulliseksi. Joskus tuntuu, että teen vain töitä, mutta en koskaan nauti mitä olen saanut aikaiseksi, enkä rentoudu. Okei, en koskaan ei ole hyvä sanonta, mutta tuskin koskaan on oikeampi. Pitäisi joskus ottaa aikaa ja nauttia elämästään.
– Painan koko ajan täysillä, ja usein työskentelen 17 tuntia päivässä. Menetän ympärillä olevia ystäviäni, koska minulla on vain työni eikä aikaa ystäville. Luulen, että viimeksi rentouduin ystävieni parissa viime kesänä, kun Tuija Järvinen ja Kristiina Bellanova Raudsepp olivat täällä kotonani. (Lue Iltamakasiinissa ollut artikkeli tästä LINKISTÄ). Ja silloinkin puolet ajasta työskentelimme yhdessä. Teimme Ohmygossip Couture –gallerioita ja bisnessuunnitelmia kuinka lanseeraamme uuden pr-kampanjan Brasiliaan. Minun todellakin pitäisi ottaa aikaa rentoutumiseen.
OHMYGOSSIP – Helena-Reet Ennet, who is one of the most known Facebook and Twitter celebrities in Scandinavia, with over 5 million social media followers in her OHMYGOSSIP-sites, tells to Iltamakasiini, that she plans to take part in a Vampire movie. The social media star tells, that she has told “NO” to too many films, but now she is ready to live her life perfectly.
– I have been at home with kids many years and I do not regret it. I have said “no” to very many opportunities, but today I feel, that it is time to start to tell “yes” to my opportunities again. I love my daughters Estella Elisheva (10) and Ivanka Shoshana (8) a lot! I have had a lot of offers but I have said “no” to all of these in the past years. Today I feel, that I´m ready to open a new door(s) and start to take part of a new exciting project(s) again!
– I got an offer from Hollywood A-list producer to take part from an exciting vampire movie. I guess it is time to say “yes”! I have not talked about it with my family yet, but I feel that there are opportunities which may not come back forever. I want to use my opportunities as long as I have them, I am very glad that I have these contacts in media and film industry and that my “American dream” may come true 🙂
– There are a lot of things which keep me in Scandinavia just now, I am not sure, if I am able to leave for a month or two, but let´s see. I would very much like to take part of this movie, but my family is always #1 priority to me. I will see, how I can tie it with my family life.
The article was first published by Jari Kupiainen in Finland´s Iltamakasiini. Read it in Finnish:
Helena-Reet Ennet suunnittelee vampyyri-elokuvaa Hollywoodiin
Iltamakasiini.fi: Helena-Reet Ennnet on yksi tunnetuimmista Facebook- ja Twitter-kuuluisuuksista Skandinaviassa. Hänellä on yli 5 miljoonaa sosiaalisen median seuraajaa hänen OHMYGOSSIP-sivustoillaan. Hän kertoo Iltamakasiinille aikovansa osallistua vampyyri-elokuvan tekemiseen.
Sosiaalisen median tähti kertoo kieltäytyneensä monista elokuvatarjouksista, mutta nyt hän on valmis elämään elämäänsä täydellisesti.
– Olen ollut kotona lasten kanssa monta vuotta, enkä kadu sitä. Olen sanonut ”ei” hyvin monille tarjouksille, mutta nyt tunnen, että on aika sanoa ”kyllä” uusille mahdollisuuksille.
– Rakastan tyttäriäni Estella Elishevaa (10) ja Ivanka Shoshanaa (8) paljon. Olen saanut paljon tarjouksia, mutta olen sanonut ”ei” kaikkiin näihin viime vuosina. Tänään minusta tuntuu, että olen valmis avaamaan uusia ovia ja ottamaan jälleen vastaan uusia mielenkiintoisia projekteja.
– Sain tarjouksen Hollywoodissa toimivalta A-listan tuottajalta osallistua jännittävään vampyyri-elokuvaan. Luulen, että on aika sanoa ”kyllä”. En ole puhunut siitä vielä perheelleni, mutta uskon, että on olemassa mahdollisuuksia, joita ei tule takaisin ikuisesti. Haluan käyttää mahdollisuuksiani niin kauan kuin minulla niitä on. Olen hyvin iloinen, että minulla on näitä yhteyksiä media- ja elokuva-alaan, ja että minun ”amerikkalainen unelmani” saattaa toteutua.
– On olemassa paljon asioita, jotka pitävät minut Skandinaviassa juuri tällä hetkellä. En ole varma pystynkö juuri nyt lähtemään kuukaudeksi tai kahdeksi, mutta se nähdään. Haluaisin todella kovasti osallistua tähän elokuvaprojektiin, mutta perheeni on aina ykkösprioriteetti minulle. Haluan katsoa miten voin mukauttaa nämä asiat perhe-elämäni kanssa.
OHMYGOSSIP – It has recently caught my eye that many leading Estonian tabloids publish entirely unverified press reports, don´t always check up the facts coming from sort of unreliable sources, and last but not least, have been ridiculed by the artists themselves.
It´s almost funny to read every other day how even a novice artist plays games with the largest Estonian tabloids: someone “has got his wife pregnant”, someone “moved to another town”, someone “has sex with several men at a time”, someone “has died” because he hasn´t answered the phone for some time, someone “has released a crazy video on YouTube”, while he was drinking. And so on… Similarly, there are invented press releases sent out to the media which are most kindly being published without ever checking up the background. I find it unbelievable and totally irresponsible to present false facts as a truth. Both editors and journalists have a huge responsibility in front of the readers.
Abroad, in America for example, such “mistakes” never occur. I´m not talking about someones´s blog, I mean newspapers and magazines. You never come across a news that has been casually released without verifying the facts. This applies to all kinds of media, both serious publications and the “yellow” ones, as well as online editions. The reason being partly that americans go to court for in principle just anything and “I will sue you” is a common menace. A news doesn´t concern only the person in question, each news also affects the actual person´s relatives, friends and even acquaintances. Let´s say that someone has been exposed as a pedophile – it immediately affects the people close to him. And it´s extremely dumb when it was some kind of a joke. Secondly, journalists abroad have much better education and higher ethical values. Students and trainees working for nationwide publications are not entitled to publish or upload news either in printed or online media. Editorial boards have both strict hierarchy and internal rules.
In Estonia it sticks out like a sore thumb that the tabloids wish to give the impression that the yellow media may do as it pleases. No, it may not. A tabloid may not produce false information – it´s purpose is to produce entertainment. It can´t make up stories without investigating the background. Tabloids also have to do interviews, abstract only the sources they completely trust and especially in case of news with negative undertone comments from both parties are necessary.
Another quite an unpleasant trend is that the story is created out of the context. I don´t have to look far away for an example. When I started gossip.ee, several publications asked me questions like “Are you planning to cause us trouble? (“Are you going to be a pain in the ass?)” and “Why do you think you are going to survive when top.top was just beeing closed?”, “What was the biggest mistake Ingrid Tähismaa made (today she´s called Veidenberg)? “What is your strategy?” etc. When I answered that I was going to invest more of my labour than my family´s funds in the new project, an article was published, titled as “Ingrid Tähismaa should have worked harder.” I had made it clear that I didn´t necessarily need an office in the old town and ten employees. As well as that there was a great difference in running an online magazine in comparison with a published one and that I had much more experience with a website. I made three phone calls and wrote numerous e-mails but the story never came out the way I wished – because it sold! Of course it sold, in Estonia media is willing to sell off even friends and beloved ones, and the point is … eventually it is going to sell off itself. Because ultimately – the reader is not stupid… and an empty bubble is inevitably going to burst sooner or later… and after getting tired of the circus you probably would like to have a bite of bread.
Believe it or not but good and honest news also DO sell. And very much so!
OHMYGOSSIP — Famous Scandinavian blogger Helena-Reet Ennet who has over 5 million Twitter followers on her Ohmygossip-sites, thinks women aren’t supportive enough of one another. The A-list entertainment journalist, an Ohmygossip Couture brand developer and mother of two daughters Estella Elisheva (9) and Ivanka Shoshana (7) can’t understand why women have to be so competitive and hates the way people are judged on the way they look.
OHMYGOSSIP — “I love the idea to open Ohmygossip Couture stores in America — especially in Los Angeles, Houston, Las Vegas and Miami,” the Ohmygossip Couture fashion brand designer and internationally famous entertainment journalist who have over 5 milj Twitter followers tells exclusively to Finnish Metropoli.
OHMYGOSSIP — Scandinavian top blogger Helena-Reet Ennet (36), who was lately named world’s second best blogger after Perez Hilton, told exclusively to Iltamakasiini that she would love to do a collaboration with high street brands like H&M and Lindex.
