Here are a few tips to help if you do decide to pick up that camcorder and film away!

1. AUDIO, AUDIO, AUDIO! – I can’t stress this enough, but clear audio is soooo important. Have you ever watched a video and heard that awful, annoying buzzing sound in the background, or heard the wind roar up against the mic?  Terrible, right?  Know where the video camera’s microphone is located and be sure to direct your voice there.  If anything, purchase a microphone or wireless mics (you won’t regret it) that you can connect to your camera to hold close to you or the speaker. Also, try not to film if there’s a lot of background noise.  The camera WILL pick it up.  You have been warned!

2. Whoa, steady there mate! – Shaky video is also a no go.  I know there are a lot of blurry, all-over-the-place videos out there like that already (youtube, anyone?)- but why not fix a problem that can EASILY be solved?  Use a tripod! Plus, you’ll get a much clearer image in the end because the camera will be able to focus a lot quicker and easier.  If you’re looking to be professional, or even be able to keep the viewer from clicking away, this is the way to go.

3. Don’t overuse video effects! – Yes, I know speeding up the video is fun, especially if you’re a newbie.  However, if a video effect/filter won’t add to your story, don’t do it!  Sometimes it’s better to just keep a video clean and simple.  Side-effects are for Sci-Fi films, NOT real life.

4. Keep it short. – I recommend you keep your video from 30 sec – 2min long, unless you’re professional.  Any longer and you’re likely to lose the viewer (thanks to our short attention spans again).  I know it sounds short, but it’s actually a pretty good amount of time to tell your story, get to the important part and show some interesting shots.

That’s all for now folks.  Hopefully I’ll be able to show you some of our own video work soon!

P.S. Here’s a cute little video I found done by the Chicago Tribune. Hopefully, it will inspire you and show that making videos can be fun!

In hopes of helping you refrain from neglecting your blog this holiday season, we have gathered a few tips that will help you balance blogging and the holidays:

1. Do the ol’ “Scheduled Post” Trick

I am sure that most of you know that you can schedule when a post is to be published on your blog. Taking some extra time before the holiday rush to write a few extra posts will allow you to schedule them during the holiday madness. This is a great way to keep your posting consistent and your readers coming back throughout the season. If you use WordPress, you will find this option at the top right of the “edit post” page. Click the “edit” link next to the date and set the date and time you would like your post to be published. Take a look:

2. Use Affiliate Programs to Provide Incentive

Many people tend to slack on their blogging efforts during the holiday season because it seems there are always “better” things to do! Why not add a little incentive to keep you blogging? Create a post highlighting different products that can be found on Amazon and sign up for an Amazon Affiliates account. When people click through your affiliate links in your blog and buy ANYTHING on Amazon, you will receive a percentage of the sale from Amazon. This is great way to make a little extra cash during the tight-budgeted holiday season and may entice you to keep blogging religiously.

Take a look at one of our friends’ simple, yet effective, post about her favorite makeup kit, which has made her a good amount of Christmas shopping money:

Courtney’s November “Pick”: Benefit’s “Finding Mr. Bright”

3. Look for Guest Bloggers in Advance and Execute

If you haven’t opened your blog up to a guest blogger yet, we challenge you to try it this holiday season! While it may be scary to make your “baby” vulnerable to another person’s thoughts and blogging style, it may be the refreshing drink of water your blog needs. A guest blogger will not only be something new for you, but will also help with the blogging workload throughout this hectic time of the year.

4. Use Your “Free Time” Wisely 

Contrary to the tips stated above, you may find yourself with more free time than usual during the holiday season (especially if you’re a student or work in the education sector). If this is the case, you may want to focus on taking the time build a “bank” of posts that you can turn to when you become busier after January 1.

What will you do in terms of blogging over the next month? Please tell us in the comments!

Since we are all about BLOGGING here at the LBS, we are counting our blessings in regard to our blog. We are thankful for so many things when it comes to our blog and we wanted to share them with you!

1. We are thankful for all of our loyal followers. You guys have made the LBS what it is today and we surely wouldn’t be here without you. Please know that every comment, shout out and form of participation doesn’t go unnoticed!
2.  We are thankful for sponsors that allow us to host giveaways, which in turn benefit some of our lucky followers.
3. We are thankful for WordPress, which is always working to make our blogging efforts easier and more professional.
4. We are thankful for social media, which keeps our followers informed and makes all of us more of a tight knit community

As you can see, this list can go on forever because without these things – the world of blogging wouldn’t exist…

We encourage you to leave the things you are thankful for (in regards to your blog) in the comments!

Everyone have a blessed Thanksgiving- full of fun, laughter and great food!

Instead of stuffing content with keywords targeted at search engines, web pages should engage their audience because that is how you build trust in the online world: by repeating consistent messages targeted to the specific needs of your audience. Without trust there will be no leads and no conversion. The purpose of the content is to engage the audience and to help them to make a decision. What you should be aiming at first is to get a point of contact, like a foot in the door. Once the conversation is going, you will need to deliver messages that match what your potential client is looking for.

Do’s

• Do write one web page at a time. That way you can focus on targeting the message to the specific page.
• Do write all essential information first, and add background information or further explanations later on, where you still have some room left.
• Do make sure the content reads coherently when moving from page to page.

Don’ts 

• Don’t be afraid to repeat certain items. Repetition of small items enhances the experience of consistency and clarity for the audience.
• Don’t overload your web pages with too much content. Simplicity is key.
• Don’t keep tinkering with your content. Prioritize your message, write it down clearly, and test your pages to see how they perform.

Simplicity is important. Too many distractions will keep your potential client from finding the right information. Three elements that every web page of a business website should contain are a description of what your product or service is or does, what the product or services will do for the client, and why the client should care about you or your product or service. SEO is important too, but priority must be given to communicating with your audience.

For over a decade, writers from all over the world have come together during the month of November to undertake the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge. This is not a task for the faint of heart or those easily inflicted by writer’s block. In fact, on first glance, writing 50,000 words in 30 days may seem impossible and almost crazy. However, every year, more writers join the NaNoWriMo challenge. Many of these writers accomplish this amazing feat, some even for multiple years in a row. Why do they do it? How does a writer get started?

How to Join NaNoWriMo

Joining NaNoWriMo is easy and free. All you have to do is navigate to NaNoWriMo.org and sign up for a free account. The site offers many features that help you keep your writing on track and encourage you to meet your writing goals. In fact, it’s the NaNoWriMo community that provides the motivation that writers use to tackle the challenge every year.

Your dashboard on the NaNoWriMo website provides a word count tool that allows you to track and display your progress throughout the month. You can upload a sneak preview of your novel and share it from your profile with anyone who is interested in your work. You can also add other writers to your friend’s list and watch their word count progress from your dashboard. This is a great way to stay inspired as you push yourself and your friends to reach a higher word count over time.

NaNoWriMo encourages writers to connect with other writers through regional forums and private messaging. Many writing groups have formed during November as members organize events across the world. This is a great way to meet new writing friends and find the moral support needed to stick to your writing goals.

Throughout the month, NaNoWriMo sends out pep-talk emails, often written by famous and published authors. These messages provide participants with humor, encouragement and insight about the writing process. At the end of the month, those who complete the challenge also receive a printable certificate to announce their triumph.

Benefits of NaNoWriMo

Even if you’re just a casual writer, NaNoWriMo offers an experience that teaches and inspires. You learn how to set daily writing goals and discover self-discipline you may not realize you have. NaNoWriMo teaches you how to consistently write, no matter what level of inspiration you have. This helps to reinforce skills and habits that lead to becoming a more productive writer.

You also learn how to write a rough draft, which requires you to write without self-editing. For the perfection-seeker, this is often one of the hardest aspects of making it through NaNoWriMo. If you are going to meet your daily deadlines, you can’t allow yourself to be bogged down with fixing mistakes or editing during the writing process. You can edit your work once the month is over. During November, the backspace key is off limits.

Final Thoughts about NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is a challenge that teaches writers how to write by pushing them to write. While this may sound stressful, once you overcome the desire to edit your work, writing a free-form rough draft can actually become liberating. You learn important skills such as pacing and goal setting. You learn about your own writing quirks, and often discover things about yourself and your stories that may come as a surprise.

Some authors who finish NaNoWriMo go on to polish their drafts and publish their novels. Connections writers make through the forums and local writing events extend beyond the month of November. Accomplishing the final words of the 50,000 word count goal is like crossing a marathon’s finish line.

If you have a story brewing in your mind and some time on your hands this November, come join writers across the world as they rise to the NaNoWriMo challenge. Signing up only takes a moment. The accomplishment, friendship and experience can last a lifetime.

This week’s giveaway winner is …….. Marly from Mhar’s Display blog! We are sending you an email to confirm your win and will send the SEARS gift card over shortly! Congrats and thanks for your participation!

• For 1 entry, comment on this post (it’s so easy- who wouldn’t?)!
• Gain 1 additional entry by sending a friend to “Like” our LBS Facebook page.
• Gain 1 additional entry by “Like”-ing the TonsofCouponCodes.com Facebook page and 1 entry for each of your friends you send (You can either tell us the friends that you sent or have them post on our wall….).
• Gain 5 additional entries to the drawing by linking to LBS and TonsOfCouponCodes.com in post on your blog:

Create your own content and link about the Lady Blogger Society, but please use this (the text and the links) for linking to our sponsor’s site:
Save money with Sears Coupon Codes! Visit Tons of Coupon Codes to save money at 1,000′s of stores.

AND THAT’S IT!

We know some of you will win yourself about 10 entries into the drawing and we thank you in advance for that! Best of luck to all of our participants! We are cheering for you- as always!

The contest ends at 12:00 PM (PST) Friday, Nov. 4^th. The winner of the giveaway will be announced on Saturday morning, Nov. 5^th, at 11:00 AM (PST).

Like most forms of media, journalism is in a state of flux. A global recession, failing advertising revenues and the insidious nature of the free online press have meant all sorts of horrendous things for the ever-traditional fourth estate. Many young reporters have probably been told numerous times how the whole industry is falling apart…before they have even left college. In truth, it’s a growing industry with opportunity aplenty. Here are some of the things they don’t tell you in college.

You can get a job without a degree…

Most college students will be told you’ll never get a job without a degree and most of the nationals won’t even look at you without a master’s degree.  As detailed below, once you can read and write someone, somewhere will be willing to take you on. Not because you’re good but because you’re cheap.

Then, once you have actually gained some experience newspapers don’t care about your qualifications, at all. All anyone cares about is your portfolio of work and once you have something published somewhere, someone else – regardless of education, political views or criminal record – will print your work and you can go from there.

You don’t need to be brilliant, at least in print journalism…

Every teacher will tell you that you must work hard, check your facts, meet your deadlines and know how to punctuate a sentence. Real newspapers won’t stand for things like “from” spelled as “form” or writing “there” instead of “their.” You’ll be laughed out of the building. The truth is incompetency is almost cherished in most newsrooms today, simply because no one reads papers anymore, at least physical copies anyway. Companies can’t afford to pay staff big salaries but they can afford to pay clueless interns in peanuts or – more likely – in free tea and stationery.

It’s what is known as a “yellow pack” job, where older journalists are pushed out the door and fresh-faced buttoned nosed youths are ushered in on half the salary. They can do whatever they like and not get fired. Even if they do screw up really badly and have to get the sack they can just as easily be replaced by someone even less qualified, who will probably do an even worse job.

Wikipedia is not the root of all evil…

Everyone knows Wikipedia can be updated by anyone and is therefore factually dubious at the best of times. Students are told time and time again “don’t use Wikipedia. Don’t use Wikipedia. DON’T USE…”, well you get the message.

The reality is Wikipedia is pretty much the single greatest research tool on the planet. Yes, anyone can change it and yes, lots of the entries are filled with lies but if you’re not an idiot and check out the references for each article at the bottom it is potentially the greatest reference tool for any journalist out there.

The Internet has helped journalism…

This is the big one. The formation of the Internet has apparently killed off the whole business. So a few older heads might be able to hang on in there but young reporters, trying to break into the industry, are pretty much screwed.

The thought goes that journalism itself has been killed by bloggers who prize opinion over facts and the only way to survive is to diversify into all forms of writing and associated media. “Know a little about a lot” is the phrase that has been positively pounded into the brains of many students out there with all the subtlety of a jackhammer.

The truth is it has never been easier to get your work published. Never. Experience and opportunity are everywhere precisely because of the Internet. OK, so you mightn’t get paid a lot or even anything for a while, but that’s the way it’s always been.

As of March 2008 Technorati was tracking 184 million blogs. Every one of which can earn the writer money by selling ads on their site, yes the quality varies but hasn’t it always in any publication? It takes work to establish anything online and for those not willing to put in the hours marketing your writing there’s millions more online magazines dying for writers to fill out their site every single day.

The Internet has made it possible for anyone to work in journalism, without a qualification or much experience. An abundance of opportunity is not all good, of course, but that doesn’t mean it’s harder to actually get a job. Good jobs in print journalism are scarcer, yes, but gaining the necessary experience required to get your foot in the door is only a mouse click away, well, and some typing.

We have drawn our giveaway winner (“winners” in this case) at random and are excited to announce that the $50 Amazon gift card and one month of free advertising on LBS goes to……. (drum roll please)…. MinDog (Amina Robinson) and Metch (Maechi Aharanwa)! These two lovely ladies are the proud owners of their Shitty Fabulous Lives blog- which has entertained us for hours since finding it!

We contacted them with the news and this is what they had to say:

Once we found LBS we couldn’t stop visiting. The dedication to lady bloggers, the information that has helped us improve/grow our blog, the networking opportunities and the tea parties where we’ve found other blogging women to fall in love with are some of the reasons we became hooked on LBS. We don’t get hooked easily. Well, when things are good we get hooked.

We are MinDog (Amina Robinson) and Metch (Maechi Aharanwa). We’ve been best friends for what seems like an eternity and we blog together. We love to announce the fact that we hold the self created heavy weight title for being the oldest-youngest kids alive! Try to take our belt if you dare.

We are on a “living out front journey,” stop by our blog Shitty Fabulous Lives and join us. You can be the one to win our first giveaway, watch our original webseries, visit the soon to open Shitty Fab Shop and read posts about dating, acting, feelings, marriage, motherhood, womanhood, men, family, bodies, friendship, news, our commitment to creativity… LIFE! We can’t wait for you to visit.

Please keep your eyes open for our next great LBS giveaway!

Let’s take a few steps back…. What is sticky content? In most of our cases, sticky content is a blog post that grabs the reader and yanks them into your blog, causing them to jump from post to post and explore your site. In other words, sticky content decreases your bounce rate and increases your number of loyal readers, comments and overall participation within your blog.

Now we have to ask, “How do we effectively create sticky content?” Just as most other things, there are numerous answers to that question. Take a look at our list of the top 3 ways to create “stickier” content!

#1 Create a Series of Posts

What makes you tune in to the latest episode of your favorite television show? Of course it was the cliff hanger that was left in the last 30 seconds of the previous episode, right? Think of a blog post series as a series of television shows. You want people to come back and look for the next episode (or click through a link that directs them to the previous episode).

Create a series of blog posts by first writing an overly long post on something that you are passionate about or that would be of value to your readers. Once you have written it, find two places to break it up. Make sure the information after each break is exciting, valuable or important enough to keep your reader wanting more. At the end of your first two posts, insert a teaser that shares a few highlights from the upcoming post and when it will be published!

Viola! Follow these easy steps and you will instantly have readers coming back for more!

#2 Internal Linking is Key

Another simple, but rather sneaky way, to make people “stick” to your blog is to create a ton of internal links. An internal link is a link in a blog post that links to another one of YOUR blog posts.

For example, if your post is titled “How to Build a Simple Blog” and you suggest to your readers that they should use WordPress, the word “WordPress” should be linked to one of your previous posts relating to “How to Use WordPress”.
The more internal links you insert into your posts, the more opportunities your readers have to click through them and read another one of your interesting posts!

#3 Balance “Stock” Content and “Flow” Content

There are many different types of content you can use to create blog posts, but the two most important types (we think) are stock content and flow content. Stock content is content written by you that is informational, valuable and acts as the “beef” of your blog. Stock content is why people love your blog. On the other hand, flow content is more of an informational collage articulated by you. An example of a flow piece would be something like a list of sites to find the latest fashions. Stock content is usually full of internal links that link to previous stock content you have written and flow content is always full of links to other sites and resources.

It is important to balance these two types of content when creating blog posts because it’s refreshing for visitors. They can read about your thoughts, knowledge, etc. through your meaty posts and then also take a look at valuable information that you’ve aggregated from around the web into one useful post- decreasing their search time! Trust us – this works!

Do you try to create “sticky” content when writing new blog posts? What has worked (or hasn’t) for you? We want to know!