Ever wonder how TikToks can, as is the case with XXL Scrunchie & Co, one of my new favourites, exponentially grow their business? How can social media sell out an entire line of products in a few hours, less in the case of those with larger platforms? So what is it about these creators and businesses that makes them so relatable to their audiences? According to Austin Kleon, large audience haver himself, it’s about showing your show.
In his series of books, he goes over topics close to the creator’s heart, how to keep going, generate and produce as a creative and share your talents in a natural, authentic way. I bought the books after not one but three YouTube creators I watched referenced them in how they developed their content style and audiences. It’s simple: when you get down to it, you show your work.
I had to know more, so I bought all three books and waited patiently for them to arrive.
Two of the three were in reprint at the time, and I waited a couple of months to receive them. That should tell you something about their popularity. And so, with them finally in my hot little hands, I read them in a solid evening – all three of them. To say they are an easy read is overstating it. I breezed through them, gently folding the tiniest corners of the pages I wanted to return to.
I’ve been a creator on the internet for over a decade. These books shone a light on the habits and practices I got into as a new blogger that served me in the development of my community. I could see ways I built an audience without even considering it a strategy. Things that, while we may come to them instinctively, we may forget along the way.
Things like the entire premise of one of the books, Show Your Work.
Showing your work, or even stealing like an artist, is about documenting and taking joy in the process of creating. Taking that exploration and the discoveries you are making and share them for the world to see. It could be on a blog or YouTube channel, and it might be an Instagram account or a Twitter stream. It’s about sharing and showing the process to engage others who might share your interest or learn to do so.
And no, it’s not just about manipulating the behind-the-scenes content that some businesses put forward; it’s about discovery. The curated BTS content we see nowadays is almost as hard to swallow as the perfectly placed words of an influencer reading from a how-to succeed playbook. There is a reason we, the audience, love when you share your ups AND the downs, the wins AND the losses. We want to be part of it.
You’ve grabbed our interest, and we are coming for the ride with you.
That, my friends, is showing your work. And if you feel like you’re stuck in a rut at the moment, these three little books could be just what you’re looking for. The first book to arrive, the only one not out of print, was Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad. As you know, the last few years that has been my struggle. I was trying to find a spark, keep it burning, and make stuff that I’m proud of and love. This book pushed me to make crappy stuff, try new things, and journal even when it was more complaining than big thoughts.
In many ways, I owe these books for the feeling of renewal I’ve felt as a creator lately. I go back to them and remind myself when I struggle or forget. And I think if you are running a business, a blog or a personal brand, they’ll do the same for you. Something about the happiness and love of creating comes through these books that energise you and will make you smile to yourself as you read. I think there’s a lot to be said for doing things to power you up, and these little books are great at that. It might just be time to reread them.
Available via Booktopia (affiliate links) below, or feel free to support your local bookseller because we love local booksellers around here.
Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad
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Have you read any of the Austin Kleon books? Which would you say is your favourite, and do you find yourself recommending them to friends without even thinking about it?
I’ve displaced myself again. As I mentioned in the email on the weekend, I’m having the floor of my office and the adjoining patio fished with epoxy. So, that meant time to pack it all up again. Which is, I have to say, a pretty smooth process these days. Changing my mind about the layout and inclusions has been a significant part of my procrastination plan for 2020/2021. A method that has seen tremendous success and returned surprising results…
Most surprising of all being that I manage to get anything done at all!
What can I say? I have a gift for procrastination. When everything first shut down in March 2020, things changed for my business. The momentum and trajectory of the business took a hit, and even a year later, it doesn’t feel like we made it back—a frustrating thing for someone like me prone to always looking for more and pushing onwards.
Procrastination is a symptom of that, I believe. It was showing up through moving the office, buying new gear, reading the next book. Not to mention watching entire season’s of shows on Netflix and taking long naps. I’ve tried journaling and colouring in, learning new things or testing my limits. I signed up for Medium to write more and built my profile and gigs on Fiverr to create and photograph more.
In the end, I can’t feel like this time has been wasted. That’s the thing about procrastinating at a pro-level as I do. You’ve got the wiggle out of it skills to avoid the work but still get things done. Sometimes I need reminding that good stuff can and often does come from these periods of ‘waste’. By allowing myself to procrastinate freely and diverge from the plan, I’m giving myself the space to create and discover. To embrace procrastination as a part of my process.
Just next time, I hope it doesn’t cost me thousands of dollars worth of epoxy.
For now, here are some photos from before the work gets started with all my office loaded into what we use as a side entry that was once a dining room. Why not embrace procrastination a little more with a photo gallery of snaps.
Can I just say that I’m so excited to say goodbye to the orange/red outdoor paint? Well, I am, and not just because when it’s wet it’s treacherous. Later this year we are getting the roof restored and when we do, the trims in a similar colour (you can peep them in the photos before) are going to be painted a charcoal/dark dark grey colour. Old house life, the work is never done. But man I love this house.
I wanted to talk about goal setting and planning your life. But I didn’t want to be one of those people pushing the whole new year/new you bullshit. You should know that from the start. But I’m all about creating my life, and I want that for you guys too. No matter the time of year or your experience of where you are right now it’s a perfect time to set some personal goals for yourself, your life and go for it.
The idea for this came to me as I once again sat on the floor of our living room surrounded by mixed media paper, pens, markers and coloured pencils, scribbling ideas and notes, thoughts and doodles on the pages. Smart goal setting is something we do around here whenever the urge takes us. We sit down and plan whenever the urge takes us to dream big and lay out our hopes for the year.
So, I want you to start there.
We talked about what to do when you feel like you don’t KNOW what you want — when your dreams are small, squashed by the reality of failure. I’ve been there. Don’t get down on yourself for being vague about what you want. Read that post, chip away at that wall you built up between you and your hopes. I promise you it gets better.
But if you’re feeling a little bit jazzed about what this new year has to offer, then grab out whatever inspires you to dream. For some of you, it will be making a collage or a vision board. Others will be like me and want pages of multiple coloured lists and mindmaps. Or maybe you’re into lists (who isn’t!?). Whatever it is, grab a bit of space and empty everything of your head onto the page/whiteboard/notebook.
I highly recommend the coffee table strategy, but a dining room table works too; wherever you’re comfortable and less likely to be sucked into doing something else. And a bonus for those with kids around, I’ve found my nieces and nephews love this activity. Can’t beat them? (School holidays? I know, hang in there). Let them join you.
Of course, you can scribble and doodle your way through this (there’s no right way to enjoy goal setting), but I also included some prompts to think about as you go along;
Completing what’s happened
What am I grateful for?
What’s been my proudest accomplishment/moment?
What did I do this year that I never thought I would?
What surprised me this year? Good/bad/other.
What didn’t go to plan this year? (decade? Haha).
Am I proud of who I was when things went wrong?
Who am I?
How would you describe yourself as a person?
How would others describe you? (the ones that matter, of course).
Would you describe yourself as happy with your life? If yes, why? If not, why not?
How do I feel about my life right now? What feelings come up when you think about your current situation.
Dreaming about what’s next
What am I grateful for?
What matters to you most?
What makes you smile?
What’s important to me right now?
What do I want for myself? (This year?)
What do I want for my family?
What does my ideal day look like? How would I spend it, what would it feel like, where would I be, and who am I with?
Taking the next steps;
If I could change one thing about my life/situation/job, what would it be?
How do I feel about my life imagining it with that change implemented?
What do I need to do to make that change?
Who or what do I need to succeed?
Are there steps to take to get that one thing?
Can I take them now? If not, now, when? What do I need?
I think if you start imagining, writing, drawing, collaging with those things in mind, you’ll be in a pretty good spot. Not just to make a workable plan (let’s talk about that below) but to get excited about what’s to come. I love sitting down and first reflecting, then imagining what could be possible for me, then starting to look forward. Try it; I want to hear all about it. Email me or share it in the Confident You Facebook Group. I often use the group to talk about the newsletter as it comes out – join in.
Now, let’s start goal setting!
Now, it’s time to take those scribbles, mindmaps and lists and turn them into a workable plan. A workable plan is something that inspires you and keeps you on track. Sounds good, right? It’s pretty simple, really. We take the outcome of your last activity and narrow it down into a few focused goals. I would limit your number here. There’s always time to come back and add more when you’ve kicked these in the butt. But how do you do that?
Planning the work.
I find that within my notes, there are usually themes. Ideas and thoughts keep popping up. Maybe you want to move to a new area or house, learn something new or take up a new hobby to get you out more. Whatever it is, as you ponder the year ahead and the prompts I gave you, a few key ideas will pop up. Write those down!
These are your goals; and, funnily enough, will be the foundation for the goal setting to come. Wishes, dreams, or whatever makes you more comfortable, but I’m going to stick with goals for the sake of consistency and not doing my head in. Haha. Sticking with the house idea, I don’t want you to write down ‘MOVE HOUSE’; I want you to really get into it. Something more like “I want to move in THIS SPECIFIC area into a home with lots of natural light, good transport access and a yard for a dog”.
Trust me. The specifics will make this whole process go a little easier. Speaking of making this easier, if you head over to the blog via the link below, I have uploaded some goal setting worksheets there to help you along. The first page is a list of the prompts I gave you last week. The next will help you with this next task. From there, you can work through the pages as I direct you here. Want them now? Grab them on our RESOURCES page anytime or download the pdf goal setting worksheets here.
Whether you have one item on your list or you added something to all eight boxes, it’s time to move on. From there, we work out what you would need to do to GET that one thing. For you to HAVE it. And again, there is a sheet (two in this case) for this.
For demonstration purposes, back to the house example.
Your HOW might look like; I need to make sure my current rental/loan history is good, get two impressive references and know my budget. From there, I might search for a suitable property in the area, speaks to a local agent, loan broker or trusted advisor (etc. etc. etc. etc.). Got it? The HOW are all the things that you can do to get there and make it smooth sailing (the groundwork).
This list may grow and adapt over time. There might be things that you don’t know you don’t know about getting what you want. For example, if you had never baked a cake, you wouldn’t know how important eggs are. Or greasing the pan. These are things you find out along the way, either through mistakes or talking to experts. Add them to the list! But then, I don’t want you to stop at making a list of things to do.
After you’ve done that (or done for now) I want you to add a due date or a deadline to each of them. Be reasonable. You may want to put a week to prepare your references or find an expert. I see it time and time again. Yes, you want to be optimistic, but this isn’t about daydreams. Ground your timeframes in what is actually achievable, and you will have way more success than if you don’t. It’s like having a savings goal of $15,000 when you earn $40,000 a year; it does not compute, you know? Reality bites.
With that said, and you gave free rein to write down some ACTUAL deadlines, go for it. I want you to genuinely consider how long it will take you, goal setting in the real world, to do these things and write that down next to them.
Working the plan.
Now you take all those tasks, those milestone events, and you add them to your planner/calendar or however you manage your life. Don’t have a way to manage your life? Get one. You’re going to need it. Haha. Because none of this happens if it stays a bunch of scribbles on a page. using this time to set goals for yourself is your chance to take it from there to something that lives in your future reality.
For some of you, this is the time to get someone to hold you accountable. Someone that will hold a POSITIVE space for you to go after what you want. But I will also call you on your shit if you’re slacking. I know I work better when I have someone to check in with and have always found Kel to be my biggest champion (and butt-kicker, as required) in this.
For you, it might be a friend, a relative or even us. In theConfident You Facebook group,We will hold that space for you to achieve the goals you are setting for yourself. Whatever you need. And make sure you take me up on that offer if there’s no one else in your life to keep this space for you.
And by the way, that’s not your fault. Sometimes people can’t see where we are going, and we don’t need them to. If they love us, they’ll come around (or not). Please don’t stop your journey or get stuck where you are for someone else or their approval. That will never work out well for YOU. For them, maybe. But not for you. And now, it’s time to move forward with that plan you made. We are going to talk more about what it sometimes takes to work that plan.
That it’s not really what you want.
Are you just box-ticking? I’ve been guilty of this more than once in my life. Sometimes with big stuffand sometimes with small things. If you look at the steps towards making your dream a reality, and it doesn’t do anything for you, that’s okay. You might have gotten caught up too. Spend some more time with the coffee table prompts. Slow down, stop imaging the things you think you SHOULD want and see what shows up AFTER those things.
Missing some steps or weren’t specific enough.
If you looked at your steps, you were excited, motivated, or any version of inspired, great! But then you feel something else; this could be you. Your goal setting or plan has holes, and you’re falling right through them. Successful goal setting is about covering all the bases; take a little more time to be more thorough.
Maybe you’re someone who needs to know how things go, and you can’t see the path. I have bad news for you, friend; you have to give that KNOWING EVERYTHING thing up. It is an excuse, and it’s holding you back. Life is weird and twisted, ever-changing and surprising. You will NEVER know how it’s all going to work, happen or unfold. But trust me, that’s the exciting part too.
Or maybe you skipped through this part of planning too quickly. Are the little things on your list? Is there something that you can work towards ticking off while the large tasks take time? Give yourself more to do. In my opinion, there is nothing more motivating than giving yourself a checkmark. Find more reasons to do that, as well as steps you may have missed, and you might find yourself moving forward.
Afraid of what might happen if you get what you want.
I put this one third because if you’ve tackled the first two, maybe this is what’s going on. All kinds of things could be going on. These things don’t have to stand in your way. Not forever. Not if you’re brave enough to tackle them head-on.
People say they are scared of success (will it change them or the people and life they love?), afraid of trying and failing (maybe being in the middle isn’t so bad), fearful of looking stupid in front of family and friends (avoid at all costs!). My running commentary aside, it’s time to ask yourself now, what am I afraid of? Too direct? Try thinking about what would happen if you got everything you wanted?
Think about the people around you, your experience with them and strangers, what you have, and how that makes you feel. Is there anything in all of that imagining that makes you feel uncomfortable? Anything that when you think of it doesn’t make you LIGHT UP?
Start by looking there. I think the thing getting in your way is in there somewhere. Be patient with yourself and be kind when you uncover what there is to find. The good news if there is something there, it becomes a whole heap easier to put that CRAP to the side. And putting it to the side is the perfect place to move past it.
Worried your family won’t love you if you make more money than them? Or maybe you’re afraid your partner will leave you if you start demanding more of them? Or a million other things that are personal to you. Some of them pretty crappy.
Maybe you’re right? To be honest, some of them might be true (people can be shitty sometimes). But when it is all said and done, it’s YOU or THEM? Seriously. Are you going to let everything you want for yourself go because it might cost you someone who doesn’t support you anyway?
I know the answer to that, but you need to figure that out for yourself. Draw your line in the sand. Reclaim your dreams for yourself and do it for yourself. Nothing will empower you more to go after what you want than that.
That’s my goal setting 101 guide, phew!
Motivated to get started? Ready? Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start ticking things off your goal setting list. Go back to the start of these planning emails if you need to (link in the top right) and start again. That’s the best part about any plan is that you can scrap it and start again anytime. You can change your mind, direction or intention ANY OLD TIME YOU LIKE. It’s your life. It’s your story. Today, we write it.
After I posted my tips for capturing and editing food photos at home, Michelle mentioned it was nice to see someone who produced a ‘natural’ kind of result. In an overly photoshopped world, I get that; it’s exhausting to look at the perfect image after perfect image. That’s what we’re here for today. My five simple edits for ‘better’ photos.
I use quote marks there to indicate that I know that everyone has their idea of what better looks like. Take what you can use and leave the rest. Even better is that you don’t need Lightroom or Photoshop for these tips, you can find these settings in any editing software whether it’s online, on your desktop or an app on your phone.
The images you see in this post were taken on my DSLR but edited on my phone using the Lightroom app. When you know what you’re doing and start with a decent image, taking it to the next level is easy. Let’s talk about that!
Simple edits for better photos!
Brightness
For most images I come across online making them better would be as simple as changing the brightness. This is especially true of images that include people. Now, I love a dark and moody photo as much as the next person, but for snapshots, pump up the brightness.
Well, except the times when making it darker would be better. Haha. The easiest way to see if your image might be a little over or underexposed is to head into wherever you are editing and slide the brightness up and a down to see where the image looks best. Don’t skip this important step.
Contrast
Think of this as the punch in an image. Adding contrast is a great way to make your image more interesting and give it depth. Everyone will be different in terms of what appeals to them, but I like to add just enough contract that the light and shade are obviously different without pushing either too far. Not sure what I mean? Slide that contrast slider WAY up and you’ll see what I mean.
Sharpness
Sharpening is different to adding clarity (use that guy sparingly), sharpness is something I crave in images after years of desaturated, ‘film-look’ filters and presets. I want sharp, clear images and while most of that is done in the camera, adding some sharpness in editing can do it too. With sharpness, I tend to go a little strong on it, so I add sharpness and will often come back to it at the end and tone it down if need be. I mean, look at Declan’s lashes and hair below… That’s sharp AF.
White Balance
There’s a lot that can be conveyed in an image based on the colour tones. White balance is something we get a little lazy with these days. Modern cameras are getting better and better at capturing true to life images, but that doesn’t mean you should neglect taking control of this section.
I included these photos of the kids at the pool because you can really see the difference adding some warmth to these images made to the overall feel. For this, I added more yellow/warmth to the images, and a little magenta to the tone. There’s a huge difference between the flat images straight out of the camera and the end result. The most noticeable, to me, is that before the scene LOOKS cold. After, it could be the middle of summer. Play around with it.
Vibrance
Just like the sharpness/clarity thing, vibrancy is not the same thing as saturation. Saturation is a beast all of its own. This post goes into it and makes it so easy to understand if you want to know more. But the short version is that saturation is all about how red is the red, or how blue is the blue, and take them all up at the same increments.
While vibrance was actually made up by Adobe (on Snapseed they call it Brilliance) and scales the saturation of colours to bring them more into line with each other. If I increase the Vibrance in an image with lots of colours but the blue has washed out (too bright) then it will lift the saturation of the blues, without adjusting the rest.
ANYWAAAAAY, vibrance is great for balancing the overall image, increasing the saturation without pushing some colours off the charts. Important for giving the image POP and punch without creating a blah, over the top saturated image. Trust me, once you switch to vibrance, you won’t go back. It’s a simple edits for better photos tip you’ll thank me for!
There you have it, kids. The small, simple edits for better photos. The exact ones I take to edit photos quickly. I’m sure you can agree, looking at the before and after, that there is a huge payoff for making those simple edits. You’ll be a pro before you know it. And if you’ve got any questions (they’ll probably be about vibrance! haha) leave them in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer them.
As someone who blogged her way through almost a decade deciding to make videos was new. Something I’d never done. And let me tell you, team, sucking at something was hard. I really struggle with it. Before video, I felt like I had arrived! I’d conquered the online world in my own way. I was sitting pretty on a throne of ‘made it’ and ‘been there, done that’.
But week after week, as I released a new video, I was disappointed with my efforts. They were bad. I’d tried hard, they were the best I could offer, but they were still bad. It was frustrating; I’d taught myself photography, how to write in a conversational tone and even some much-needed grammar and spelling.
Much. Needed.
But here I was back at square one again. Sucking. If it wasn’t the sound, it was the lighting. If it wasn’t the lighting it was my frame rates or shutter speed. I mean, I’ve stuffed every single thing up that I could. Once I even exported a video with a chunk of sound missing. Another with the sound out of whack. I mean. ARGH.
Why couldn’t I just be GOOD at this already? Why was the learning curve so steep and horrible. The struggle made me feel like I knew nothing (because I didn’t) and that I would never get there (but I would, or I will). Video by video, a minute of footage by minute, I was reminded that I suck at this.
You can’t be good at everything!
Yeah!? Who said? Watch me try.
You get the idea, right? You can see right through to my soul in just that one statement. I’m okay with that. Because somewhere along the way, I learnt to embrace sucking at things. I discovered that the world wouldn’t end if I didn’t know how to make it work. Somewhere along the way, I remembered when I used to suck at things.
I’d forgotten the years it had taken me to take better photos, and the years after that spent learning to process those images. Not to mention that there are still days when my photos just plain old suck. I’d forgotten that I’ve been writing since childhood, honing my ‘voice’ and the way I shape words with every book I’ve read and story I’ve told.
These things didn’t just come to me; I earned them.
Through practice and patience, persistence and perseverance I earned them. I keep reminding myself of that as I learn to make videos. As I keep being pushing and challenged past the point where I am comfortable. It’s different, and I’ve never been here before, but I have. I’ often outside of my comfort zone.
And that’s all this is, a girl, at the end of her comfort zone, hoping that one day soon what she sees in her mind catches up with what she sees on the screen. A girl who is pushed and stretched learns something valuable and important, a skill that will change the way she communicates. And, a girl, who NEEDS to stop talking in the third person, A-SAP.
But you get me, right? You’ve been here before and won? All we need to do to do it again is embrace the sucking. Keep learning and keep growing so that inch by what seems like impossible inch we get better. Then one day, it’ll be like writing a blog post or snapping that photo, it’ll be second nature.
And I’ll be wondering what all the fuss was about.
Find me on YouTube, sucking, at www.youtube.com/c/Sugercoatit. You’re going to love it. Haha. Probably not, but thanks for your support. And in case you missed it, season three of the podcast has been uploaded there too, it’s SO funny to watch us talk it out when we’re used to recording without video. Fun!
Your WordPress questions answered!? Yaaas. Who’s ready for this? It can’t just be me. Gayel here from Made Neat; if there is one topic I love chatting about, it’s WordPress. I can and will take an afternoon out with friends, sipping margaritas, to a conversation about their Google Analytics and websites.
It’s one heck of a party trick.
To suggest I can be a geek at times is a mild statement but it is all for the greater good. And hey, I work for a pretty cool digital agency these days. That makes it all ok. Probably.
What I find interesting about many people who own websites, is that they don’t realise how many elements go into establishing and maintaining a great home on the internet. They overlook tasks and practices that could be implemented to achieve great performance, SEO, traffic and conversions. Things they could be doing themselves, but usually aren’t.
Things that the professionals just do by default.
With that in mind, I thought for my very first post on the new look Suger Coat It, I would touch on these topics. It’s my WordPress Questions Answered, big fat 2018 tip of the day all in one. And maybe down the track, Suger will let me back to expand on them if you have questions. So make sure you leave them in the comments and we’ll go from there.
Your WordPress questions answered.
Using Themes … because they always look pretty straight out of the box.
For many people, choosing to run a theme over a bespoke WordPress website comes back to the budget. There are so many themes on the market it is easy to grab the first one-off the shelf and request your website designer customise it. Careful with this route. It can prove problematic.
Careful consideration needs to be given to using themes, the big one is page speed. Often many plugins are required for the theme to run on your sire which inevitably slows down your page speed. Poor customisation of these themes can also mean that the site lacks branding and a unique look each website deserves.
Work with your designer to find a theme or follow their recommendation for one that they know works. If you’re installing yourself, make sure you read reviews {scroll past the five stars and look for three or four stars to get the real version}. Sometimes it’s best to stick with a theme developer recommended by a friend.
What do you mean page speed? My website loads … eventually.
The speed in which your page loads isn’t just something that provides for great user experience. That said, nobody likes to wait for anything to load these days, keep that in mind. Page speed will impact your Google ranking and score for usability. If your selling products or services via your website, it’s pretty much a death sentence.
There are a few factors that come into play with a websites page speed, the big ones are :
As previously mentioned in page speed, running too many plugins on your site will slow it down and risk problems with incompatibilities. Suger, I’m looking at you and your love of all things plugins here. Keep things really simple for yourself and only run the bare minimum of plugins.
The essential plugins we recommend as a digital agency include :
YOAST SEO
Gravity Forms
WP Fastest Cache
The trick is to only use what you need and delete any that could be running or are redundant. And I mean everything. If you’re not actively using it. Disable it, test it didn’t break anything important by refreshing your webpage and remove it. You can always reinstall it later if you change your mind.
We know that running only necessary plugins on a themed site can be difficult. Often developers will use plugins to deliver items that someone building a Bespoke website will code in. It’s finding that middle ground between what your budget allows, how you want your site to look and the page speed. Walk that line, you’ll find your happy place.
Google Analytics … you mean stalking my site visitors to see where they live right?
Having Google Analytics running on your website is essential. Especially for anyone that needs to maintain excellent Google ranking. Keeping an eye on your Google Analytics ensures your website is running as best as it can be and growth can be tracked. That doesn’t only mean looking at your site demographics, other important indicators include your site’s bounce rate, acquisition and site speed {that guy again}.
Google Analytics tracking code can be easily added by yourself or preferred developer if you don’t already have it on your site. See how you go with this tutorial from Google as a starting point to install on your website. If you pay close attention to what it’s asking you should get through it in no time.
HTTPS … Do I really need a security certificate?
If ranking in Google is important to you, then ensuring that you have an SSL certificate running is essential. I’ve said that before, but there are a few key things Google views as important and this is one of them. Google now gives preference to sites that are https {secure} over those that aren’t. It’s about the user experience, they want to make sure the users they are sending to your site are safe there. Contact your host for an SSL Certificate. They should also be able to assist you in getting it up and running on your website.
Gutenberg … Excuse me, say what now?
Over the coming months, WordPress will release its own version of a page builder called Gutenberg. In the WordPress development community, we are waiting with excitement to find out exactly how this will change the environment we work in. For the everyday WordPress user, this means no longer needing to use a page builder plugin that can be tricky and heavy on page speeds.
Suger uses Divi on her blog {editor: plug} and it uses a thing called Page Builder. But this WordPress native development meant that you can get that ease of use without having to be on a certain theme from a certain developer for it to work efficiently. Watch this space, this is exciting news for those who DIY their website.
Gutenberg, or a Page Builder, will mean having more control over how your website pages look. This could be a great thing for you or it could just be one more section of WordPress that makes no sense. It all depends on how good you are at design and user experience. Which in the end, as experts, is why people will always need Developers like us. Job security, phew.
And lastly… my top tip for 2018 – A Great Digital Content Strategy
I’m hoping that this post has helped get your burning WordPress questions answered. It can be daunting to someone new to get started. I hope I’ve helped! But the final tip I wanted to share is about creating a great digital content strategy. Sure, you can pay to get to the top of Google, but that isn’t necessary. When you have a great digital content strategy you can place your business website there in an authentic and organic way.
Utilising content as an SEO strategy is by far my top tip for 2018. Honestly, it is one of the easiest ones to deploy on a WordPress site. Create great content by being helpful, solving problems with evergreen content. Make a list now of the questions your customers or clients always ask and start answering them.
Alongside that incorporate updates in your industry, the clients you are working with through profiles and/or links and happenings in your business. This style of content {the personal, getting to know you stuff} will always win you results. People like you to be a person on the internet. Especially on social media. And personally, I think is a far better way, way more fun, easy to generate week after week way to outrank your competitors than coughing up the dollars.
{editors note: Want to hear more about this? I have a BUMPER post coming talking about creating a digital content or social media plan for your business. Watch this space}.
And that’s it! Phew. Your WordPress questions answered over and out. Got more? Leave them in the comments and between Suger and I and we’ll get back to you. After all interactions like that are good for your linked website and this one. Did you know that?
If there’s one thing I’m obsessed with at the moment it’s how to take better pictures. For business, but also for pleasure. I watch YouTube tutorials, I’ve read books and PDF downloads. All on how to take better photos. When I want to know something, I go all out for it. OB-SESSED. Improving my skills is where it has been at, for me because I love capturing a moment, and for my business.
This post isn’t about the humble brag of finding a new branch of my business. It’s about what I’ve learned in the process of getting better. And I’m a long way from great, good even, but I’m learning. So, are you ready to grab some tips to improve your photography today? Easy tips that you can put into action right now and see a change.
Ready to take better photos?
For me, the biggest factor in taking better photos is WANTING the photo. Whether you’re taking it or being in it, you really have to want to be there capturing that moment. That is what you’re doing after all. Whether it be a product to be sold or a family Christmas, these are moments to be captured.
Are you the person to do it?
For a long time, I stopped taking my camera with me to places. It stayed home and there was no chance of every capturing anything. I wasn’t that into it. Then, all of a sudden, I started bringing it along again. My camera, although often left unused, at least it was there. From there, it was a case of just taking more photos, practising and slowly but surely get better. One day it just happened, I was able to take better photos.
Practice makes perfect.
I could pretty much leave this one here and call it a day. For a while, I almost did. One of THE most effective and immediate ways to improve the photos you take is to take more of them. Try it. Take your camera on an outing or set up a flat lay. Instead of snapping a handful of photos, take hundreds. Approach it as an exercise in seeing things differently. Just make sure you take lots.
You might just be surprised at what you have in there.
But practice isn’t just about firing off a million and one pictures. It’s about looking at what you did take and seeing how you could have done it better. Did you crop off someone at a wide spot or miss focus point? Great. Now you know how to do it better. Try again. Something distracting in the background or the picture is weirdly framed? No problem, work out how to avoid that next time. Learn to see it before you hit the shutter button.
Get to know your camera.
The main thing you can do to take better photos is to take some time to get to know your camera {or device}. As soon as I got my new camera, I started hunting for tutorials on YouTube to walk me through the different settings and buttons and modes. All the things. If you’re shooting with your phone, don’t stress, there is plenty out there for you too.
The more you know, the more you can do and the faster you can get. For me, at the moment, changing back from the Fujifilm to Nikon is tricky. Even though I learnt how to use a Nikon originally, I’ve been using my Fujifilm camera for a couple of years now and it’s become second nature. That’s what you’re going for. Make those settings and buttons familiar.
Focus + Angles.
While you’re taking those million and one practice photos, take the time to try different points of focus and angles. Make your photos more interesting by looking at the subject differently. Practice using your focus points to choose what to put in and out of focus. Try standing above or below something. Trying something outside the ordinary will immediately make your photos better.
Can I say, there are more ways to take a photo than you would think.
It could be about moving around so that the lighting is better from the other side. It could be that all of a sudden that plate of food looks more interesting from above or from level to the table. Consider everything, it’s the digital age there’s no such thing as wasting film {was there ever though, really?}. Keeping moving, keep shooting and remember to keep looking. Before long, you’ll be taking better photos too.
An idea or concept.
Before you snap that picture, do you know what it is you want in it? Do you have any idea what you want it to say? That might seem like a weird idea or suggestion, but taking a moment to take better photos by knowing WHY you’re taking a photo. And sure, making memories might be part of it, but why this moment? Why right now? If you know what you’re capturing, and a little bit about the why. Trust me, it will help you see the story in the image.
In the end, the images you are taking are the story. It’s up to you to find a way to convey it to those who see them. What’s happening? Who ARE these people? What matters in this moment and why did you think it was worth saving? Start to answer those questions for yourself. Start to see the moments you capture through that and you’ll take better photos. Why? Because they’ll mean something.
Pin for later?
There you go, team. My hot tips for taking better photos. Now get out there and practice, because like I said, practice is really what makes all the difference here. I’d love to see what you come up with, feel free to tag @sugercoatit on Instagram. Happy snapping!
Look at that. It’s Tuesday already and I’ve spent the last few nights {and one day} trying to edit a video with no success. Less than no success. I was probably 80% complete when the program insisted on crashing constantly and ended up corrupting the file.
Excellent. This is exactly what I pay you a billion dollars a month for Adobe. Thanks so much.
Do you ever have days like that? I know I do. With this video making business, they seem to come more frequently. Have a mentioned before there’s SO much to learn? I did. Awesome. YouTube, you’re killing me here!
And as good as it would be awesome to flip off my laptop and pout on the couch, I won’t. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this lifetime, it’s that you can’t help such things. You can’t help it and you may as well do something anyway. Create, if you wanted to create.
So, instead, I’m writing this little post.
Because being a creator of things is hard, sometimes. It can feel like you’re all alone in the world. Especially when things aren’t working. It can feel like you’re the only one that shitty things happen to. The only one who loses hours of work, hits refresh instead of saving, delete instead of close or clears a memory card before saving.
Good news? It’s not just you. It’s something that we creators have in common. Whether we write, blog, take photographs, attempt to make YouTube videos or paint, we are alike in our shared experiences. The highs and lows of making something for the world to consume. Sometimes, creating is a lonely thing but it doesn’t have to be.
Just open that browser, uncap that pen or wheel out the easel {is that a thing? I don’t know} and share what it is you’re doing. Creators and appreciators will show up. The community will make itself know to you and share in your challenge or your success. They’ll drag you back from the customer support line for Adobe too, if you ask them.
Do you need me to do that for you?
It’s fine, I’m fine. iMovie has ridden in on it’s very slow, kind of glitchy white horse to save the day. I’ll get this video made one day. So, I’ve got some time for you. What do you need right now as a creator? How can I help you get there? Clear the air, share your success, whatever it is. I’d love to hear.
