Blog Tips

  1. Be yourself. The truth is, everyone is fabulous at being themselves, but everyone really stinks at being someone else. I learned this one the tough way.
  2. Blog what you know. If you’re not a rancher, don’t blog about how to start a ranch. Things like that.
  3. Build a community. Don’t discourage readers to email you (therefore, don’t bad mouth email). Interact with readers. Encourage interaction between readers by including a topic-related question or two at the bottom of each post, encourage them to visit each other’s blogs.
  4. Love your readers. Enough said.
  5. Blog often. I know that quite a few people say you should blog every day. Quite honestly, this doesn’t work for me. I do think you should blog 3-4 times per week. Everyone needs to find their own groove, though. For me, it’s about every other day.
  6. Blog about what you love. It will get really old otherwise.
  7. Save more personal things for social media like Facebook and Twitter. Did one of your children or siblings say something hilarious? Tweet or Facebook it because 1) that’s what those sites are made for, 2) people who want to connect with you further will be able to, and 3) you’ll get more response.

What are some of your blogging and social media tips?

How to Identify a Blogger

My friend Dawn blogged earlier about how to identify a blogger. There is just a certain air about a blogger/crafter/writer/creative/photographer/small business owner. Bloggers totally get it.

To get a visual, go hop over to Dawn’s blog post. She has a picture and everything. (Unlike some of us. ahem)

How to Identify a Blogger

  1. If they have a camera (specifically a “big girl” camera like a Nikon or Canon), they are most likely a blogger.
  2. If they have a classy camera strap/cover, yep, that’s a blogger.
  3. Pleated Poppy or Petal Pusher. (Gorgeous, no?)
  4. Unique jewelry like that of The Vintage Pearl, The Rusted Chain, or Lisa Leonard Designs.
  5. A Shootsac or Hipslip (a neat product for your laptop by nice folks at Shootsac).
  6. A tote from a blog conference like Blissdom, BlogHer, or Relevant.
  7. A shirt with a blog name/conference and/or address on it.

How do you identify a blogger?

Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

The title pretty much says it all. I have a lot of things to say (but what else is new) on various topics, so I thought I’d divide everything up into categories.

Home & Garden

Mid-morning my youngest sister, Zoe, decided to take it upon herself to cut the watermelon up. The watermelon juice was literally all over the counter. Can you guess what we had for lunch? :D Yup, we had watermelon and homemade bread with peanut butter and apple butter on it. Strange? Maybe. Excellent lunch on a 90ºF summer day? Definitely.

After lunch, the Boybarians were getting rambunctious and kept being naughty and getting into trouble. So as to prevent further chaos, I quickly donned an apron and we marched out the back door to the backyard. At least once a day, they decide that they need to spray each other with the garden hose. To prevent that, I showed them the little pea pods on the plants [in our garden].  They got a little bored with that, so I marched them over to the tomato plants. They weren’t too impressed and started biting the leaves off. Plan, um… I lost count back a Plan E.

They spied a Ladybug. They asked, “What’s dat?”  I told them that was a type of bug called a Ladybug. They look interested so I went on to tell them that it was a good bug [that helps our garden]. I gave them the run down on good bugs, bad bugs, and the difference. Their eyes lit up. Thank you, God, for bugs that save the sanity of all sisters and mothers of boys.

I noticed the lettuce was going gangbusters on us, so I led them over. Then again, we saw a bug- a worm. I told them that it was a bad bug and showed them how to get it off the lettuce. They were enthralled. Bad worm gone, I showed them how to pick the lettuce and what size to get. I told them that we would get lettuce from our garden instead of the store this year. Josiah promptly asked me, Hannah Lou, why doesn’t ______ have a garden?” to which I replied “Well Sweetie, I guess ______ gets his food from the store.” Josiah then said “That’s so silly!”

We ended up getting one colander full of lettuce!

Casa Braboy

(That’s the name of our house-to-be.)

We are just getting the house listed with our realtor. We are still cleaning and touching up like crazy, though! It’s madness here somedays. Yesterday was one of them.

I believe we have the house plan we are going to use. We aren’t set on it, but the one we have our eyes on is this one. My [oldest of my younger sisters] sister, Alli, have been researching decorations on a budget and the like. We’ve also come up with an idea for closets [instead of normal ones]. See those two bedrooms in the second story? Our idea is to not build the walls or put in the doors for the eave storage and closet spaces. Instead , we would be putting a rod and curtains where the front closet wall is. That space would be used for a closet/studio/school space for both her [Alli] and myself (we share a room). We are thinking we could put cubby holes back there instead of dressers. Also, if more people need to share that room, you could take the rod and curtain out (and possibly make that space smaller or do away with it) and use that for bed space. Just our ideas…

Graphic Design

‘Tis true. I am no longer pursuing graphic design. I really needed to make a choice as to which to pursue: photography or graphic design. I have chosen photography. It fulfills the creative need in me the best; plus, it incorporates a tad of graphic design without the coding. Bleh!

Blogging & Social Media

I have run across some really beneficial articles in the last week! I can’t wait to share them! Some of them are about photography, blogging and social media (some on mommybloggers working for free), and the home (one is a list of books daughters should read). The gals that write this stuff are brilliant! I am so honored to call them my friends!

So, what kind of olio has happened on your frontier this week? I’d love to hear about it in a comment, an email, or a blog post (linked in your comment). Really. I love hearing from you guys!

For The Country Bloggers: Making The Best Use of Bandwidth

Most of you know by now we are moving- to the country. (Which makes me an accidental country gal.) If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, I had a little meltdown over bandwidth out there, or lack of it really. After I picked myself back up again I realized, “Hey! I’m probably not the only country blogger out there with bandwidth issues.” So, I thought I’d share some of my ideas with you all and we could bounce ideas back and forth- blogger to blogger. Man on.

  1. Make a day or two once or twice a month to write all the posts and schedule them.
  2. Set up widgets and other things to tweet and Facebook the posts once published. This way, I don’t spend so much time pushing them. (Because you’ve gotta admit: That takes a lot of time, doesn’t it?)
  3. Get something like Akismet set up for spam comments and make it where all the rest go up automatically without approval.
  4. Make a trip into the “big city” for vlogging, uploading mass amounts of photos, etc., etc.
  5. Cut down on Internet time a bit each week or month. Do whatever floats your boat, but you and I both know it’s gotta be done.

Those are some of my ideas. What are some of yours?

4th Blog Anniversary

(Why yes, that is our laundry room and I am doing laundry. :) )

What would you like to see this next year from my blog? Do you want more photography tutorials/lessons, vlogs, blog tips, tricks, and training, some cool resources to use for your photography and/or blogging? Sound off!

Psst! A couple more things before you go… If you are in a reader, click on over to see my vlog. Second of all, don’t forget to subscribe! I wouldn’t want you to miss anything!

Join Me at My Blog Frog Community!

Won’t you join me over at my Blog Frog Community? I’d love to see you there! There will be info and goodies there that won’t be on the blog. Don’t forget the discussion! So, grab your favorite beverage and come join me there!

Pssst… I don’t want you to miss out on anything here. Have you subscribed yet?

Do you love a craft or a hobby? Do you own a business? Do you have a fabulous blog? I’d love to talk with you about placing your ad around here! All you need to do is get the low down on advertising here and email me.

I’m at the HSBA Post!

Join Me at The Homeschool Post!Yippie skippy! I’m at the Post today blogging about two of my favorite subjects: homeschooling and blogging. Won’t you check it out and leave me some comments? How to Use Blogging in Your Homeschool

Ultimate Blog Party 2010 @ 5 Minutes For Mom

Ultimate Blog Party 2010 Have you heard about the Ultimate Blog Party 2010? It is a blog party hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom. The founders, Susan and Janice, are twin sisters! How cool is that?

Our party posts are suppose to be about ourselves. Honestly, bios and things like that aren’t the easiest for me to write. I’m going to try my best and roll cool with it though.

My name is, obviously, Hannah Braboy. I am a Christian daughter and sister, homeschooled high school student, down-home Southern gal, savvy photographer, graphic designer, blogger, and Mexican foodie.

I started this blog in 2006 under a different {blog} name and at a small blog site for homeschoolers. It was there that I discovered my love for design and writing/blogging.

I live in a large(r) family of seven. I have a beautiful mama, an awesome daddy, two sisters- Alli (13) and Zoe (9), and twin brothers- Elias (2) and Josiah (2).

I have been home schooled most of my life and love it! It has given me the opportunity to develop my love for photography, graphic and blog design, and blogging. I love that I can learn about all that I love along side my textbook learning! It has been an amazing experience for me!

Right now, I am interning at Graphically Designing and hope to be offering my own brand of business soon! Yeow! I am so excited!

Twitter and Social Networking Tips

Social networking can be a great tool if used right, but it can also be a waste of time and get you into some trouble if you aren’t careful.

  1. I generally do not friend or follow men unless we have met in person and/or my parents approve.
  2. Go for quality and not quantity. Develop good relationships with your readers, online friends, and followers. Be their friend- don’t just use them as a marketing tool. That’s not cool.
  3. If someone needs help, help ‘em out! Even if you aren’t a frugal/couponing blogger, you might still have some experience, tips, or stories to share.
  4. Put out up to about five Tweets about your newly published blog post the day of, past that it’s old news. However, if someone needs a little help with something and you (or someone else) have a blog post on it, by all means share it with them!
  5. Use hashtags in your tweets. If you have a tweet about, say, The Relevant Conference that says “I am really wanting to go to Relevant this year!”. Instead, include the Relevant hashtag (#Relevant10) and the host(s) like this, “I am really wanting to go to #Relevant10 this year! @SarahMaeBlogs @MutheringHeights @mrsmoneysaver” If you do this, then all Tweets about The Relevant Conference will be organized in one place and the hosts will know you tweeted about their conference!

Do you have a Twitter or social networking tip? Please do share!

Blogging Basics: Making It Easy

It’s a real pain having to hunt around for things on a blog. Make it easy for your readers to:

  1. subscribe
  2. search your blog
  3. grab your button
  4. read more about you
  5. comment

If you don’t make it easy for readers to do those things, they might not come back. Spend some time and make it super easy for them to find those things.

Go make awesome blogs!