The 8 Biggest Blogging Mistakes New Bloggers Make

Starting a blog isn’t as simple as having something to write about, writing about it, and clicking “Publish.” A lot more goes into it than that.

The following infographic explains some of the biggest blogging mistakes newbies make when creating their first blog. Some beginning bloggers are too enthusiastic from the get-go, leading to immediate burnout. Others are much too passive, and fail to get their blog noticed by, well…anyone. Still, others don’t do the research and preparation needed to consistently produce epic content day after day.

Anyone who has begun taking their blogging seriously will tell you being a great writer isn’t enough. Yes, it’s a huge piece of the puzzle, but there’s more to it than that. You also need to have a good grasp on graphic design, multimedia, link building, content marketing, and social media.

You have to be a superb planner, and you have to be patient. Your chances of creating one great piece of content and going viral are slim-to-none. And even if you do, you’ll instantly fade away from the public eye if you don’t have more awesome ideas in your bag of tricks. The worst blogging mistake you can make is to dive into the limelight before you have enough evidence to back yourself up. You more than likely won’t get a second chance.

If you’re just getting started on your journey as a blogger, take a look at the infographic below. And make sure you don’t make any of the blogging mistakes others have in the past.

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7 Reasons Why You Want To Have A Guide With You When Visiting A City

When you are visiting a city, you can sightsee landmarks on your own. You can get a map from the hotel and see things listed in the hotel lobby or you can take a guided city tour. Taking a guided tour is the way to go. Here are the reasons why you want to have a guide with you when you visit a city.

History

Guides are taught the history of the city and the special places that make a city special. For example, in New Orleans, you can take a tour that talks about the haunted mansions in and around the city. If visited the city on your own, you would never be told about the places that have ghosts. Also, you can be told history of things you might not know. Guides are given a lot of trivial information that you never learn in history books.

Directions

Guides, like cab drivers, know the city backwards and forwards. You will not get lost if you go on a guided tour. Visiting places on your own when you don’t know the area might cause you to get lost. This can be stressful. You won’t want to do sightseeing if you are lost. You won’t lose directions when with a tour because the guide will know where to go.

Places to Eat

Often, city tours provide famous restaurants or unique places to eat on your tour. This will prevent you from eating in the hotel restaurant or fast food places all the time. You might find a place that the locals support, or you might find a historical building that has been converted into a special place to eat. Regardless of the reason, places to eat on a city tour will add joy to your trip. You might find them on your own, but most likely, you won’t.

Narrow your Choices

Cities have so many sights. If you are going to visit them all, you will not have enough time. City tours have a set route where you get to see a number of the places. You can take more than one tour if you wish to see more sights than what the tour offers. On your own, you will see a few, but you will get to see many more when you go on a city tour.

No Transportation

If you fly into a city and can’t afford a car, you might not have any transportation. Cab drivers will not take you from place to place. Uber drivers will not want to transport you all over town. The city might not have a bus or train system. Therefore, you could take a city tour that will provide its own transportation. You can sign up for a tour, get to see as many places as possible. For example, in St. Augustine, you can use the tour to drop you off at one place for a while and pick you up to take you some place else without having to stay on the tour. It becomes a public transportation system that provides tour-guided information.

Relaxation

When you are on vacation, you want to relax. You don’t want to have to worry about looking at a map, finding sights to see and going there. You want someone else to do all that work for you. Guided tours take the effort from sightseeing. Your tour operator has done all the work. All you have to do is pay the money, hop on the bus, trolley or boat, and go. Then you will see the great things in a city to remember for years to come.

Entertainment

Guided tours are meant to give you joy when you are on your vacation. Doing it on your own, you won’t have as much fun or be as entertained.

When you go on vacation, pick a city where you can take one or more guided tour. You will be surprised how much fun you’ll have. If you ask questions and engage the others on the tour, you’ll have even more fun. Doing it yourself won’t be as entertaining.

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8 Development Mistakes Millennials Can Correct In The Workplace

Developing millennial employees is a growing need for nearly every business. Every size of business, small or big, needs to develop millennials. The future of business is dependent on millennial development within the workplace. However, not all businesses are addressing this issue.

Millennials want to be coached, but each business varies their own level of development and training. Millennials cannot control how their place of work trains or coaches, but they do have control over their development.

Are you one of those millennials who wants more coaching and developing, but your workplace is not providing sufficient training? Here is my encouragement, if so: do not wait on your workplace to provide training. Take action on your own personal development. You will skyrocket past the rest waiting to be developed. Do not leave it in anyone else’s hands; take action with your development.

With that said though, I see some common mistakes millennials make with development and this development is about more than just training and coaching. Below are 8 mistakes millennials make and how they can overcome them in regards to development.

1. Millennials waiting for their employer to assign them a mentor.

Being appointed a mentor is much different than obtaining a mentor. Do not wait for your assigned mentor. Actively pursue the right mentor to further your development. Mentorship is such a powerful ingredient to development that you should not wait for your work to assign you a mentor. You don’t want a poor mentor so be active and choose your own.

2. Millennials needing validation before they continue.

A weakness among millennials is the need for validation. While some validation is necessary, take control of your need for total validation. Most daily tasks do not need validation or recognition before moving on to the next task. Finish a task and keep moving. If you wait for validation, you will slow down you development and depend on others to validate your growth. Learn to give yourself praise and validation to keep moving forward. The less dependent you are on validation, the more opportunity you will have to grow.

3. Millennials relying on others to spark their motivation.

There is a reason most job openings seek self-motivated individuals. Self-motivation is not job specific, but a general need for all employees. Take ownership of your motivation and feed the motivation to keep you pressing all day long. If you rely on outside sources for motivation and inspiration, you will be seen as a burden rather than as a productive professional making things happen. Motivate yourself daily and crush it!

4. Millennials assuming their managers are against them.

In opposition to the media’s catchy headlines, conspiracy theories are not common. Do not see anyone leading you as your enemy. People above you want you to succeed more than they want you to fail. If someone leading you is against you, there are probably many ways to rectify that relationship and get back on the same page. When you have a boss in your corner, your development will grow leaps and bounds. Put time into building the relationship with your manager or leader. The return on investment will grow you, your department, and your workplace. Make it a win-win.

5. Millennials expecting training in all areas they lack knowledge in.

Do not expect to know everything. If you are not skilled in one area, ask for help. However, do not expect to be trained on all areas you might be inexperienced or unskilled in. There are many skills you can learn on your own through time and dedication. Embrace the training you do get and work to improve on the other areas you need to improve on.

6. Millennials rejecting unhelpful advice.

Not all advice is beneficial, but all advice is helpful. When others help you or give you advice, receive the information no matter the value. Sometimes building a relationship is more important for your development than just the knowledgeable advice. Creating a healthy relationship with others could be the key to your development. Those rejecting advice will be seen as a know-it-all and will get a bad rap in the workplace. Don’t be that person.

7. Millennials opposing the developmental strategies laid out by their place of work.

You might not agree with everything your company does with development, but commit to it. Development usually has less to do with the strategy or system than it does the person. Your amount of buy-in will dictate the success of the development, rather than the strategy. You might have a better way, but do not worry about that right now. Just commit and give it your all. You will see the reward in the end.

8. Millennials allowing their development to be dependent on their employer.

Now step outside of your business. Your development will strengthened by accessing resources that go beyond just the options available within your company. Being dependent on a business to develop you into a successful young professional will set yourself up for a fall. Diversify your development and leverage many other outside sources to develop your growth. The odds are set against you staying at the same company for the remainder of your career. So get developing outside of your current place of work.

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Videos Deliver A Better Message For Your Business (and can be made by anyone)

The best way for brands to connect with their audience is through videos. Whether it is full-length YouTube videos, Vines, or Instagram videos known as micro-videos, there is no other way about it—the future of marketing is in videos. This article will highlight the ways in which videos are valuable for start-ups, and how great quality videos can be made by anyone.

Why a Video?

Brands’ short videos make people want to purchase more. Audiences love it when a brand makes a video specifically for them. This medium gives brands more paying customers and, many times, it is the effort of the film which makes the customer decide in favor of the business.

Videos make websites SEO friendly. The items associated with the video, such as the name, the meta-data, the tags, and the popularity of the video, all tell search engines that this audiovisual is what the user’s search query should be directed to. This is why it is vital to not only produce videos that are relevant, but to also invest in researching the tags that will bring the most views.

Videos are great for presentations like employee training, pitches, and corporate presentations. They can aid in making a great first impression with possible stakeholders. Many times, a potential investor will listen to a pitch, but to really grab their attention, a memorable video will keep them engaged.

It is possible for videos to bring in money for a company. If it is naturally share-worthy, it is possible to recover costs through AdSense. Appropriate marketing strategies, decent production quality, innovative concepts, and an aggressive marketing strategy are all that is needed for videos to be watched on a large scale.

Videos Measure Success

Videos give a measurement for true engagement. They can acquire views, shares, and likes, as well as subscriptions and comments, and are also the only media in which it is possible for the viewers to point at the exact moment in which they feel most engaged. This can tell not only that the campaign is successful, but why it has succeeded. Viewers often comment on videos using social media, tagging other social media users and commenting on the specific parts at which they felt the most emotion.

How to Make a Great Video

The script should incorporate a story with a smooth flow and a call to action that will catch viewers. Never pass up the moment to ask the audience to subscribe, like, and share at the end of the presentation. The script can be either a voiceover script or an actual script that has scenes, dialogue, and shots. It is important to note that a single page in script is usually a minute worth of footage.

Actors should be cast (if there will be any), and if there is a product in the video, it should be packaged in a way that the viewer will see it. Location should be neat, quiet, and beautiful.

To record in the best attainable quality, buy or borrow a DSLR camera or hire someone that uses one. Use the appropriate lenses to record, and if there will be any dialogue on location, get a wireless lapel microphone that is used to catch the speech.

If it is not possible to shoot in the daylight, higher basic lighting. Three-point lighting is the best and easiest option for lighting an area for recording a video. Shooting in the evening and early mornings are the best times, since the light is even and won’t cast harsh shadows, especially outside.

Post-Recording

Once all the footage has been shot, continue on to editing. iMovie and Moviemaker are simple options for editing software. For the more advanced user, Adobe Premiere Pro is a great choice. All the software is easy to learn and the licenses are pretty cheap for a monthly rate. It may only take a day or so to learn any new video editing software.

After the editing of the video portions, the voiceover should be added to the sequence timeline. To ensure great quality, you might try to find a voiceover artist at a dubbing studio to record the voiceover. A more affordable option is to download an app on a tablet or smartphone and sequester yourself in a quiet room to record the voiceover, then add it to the video.

Adding fonts, transitions between shots, and music will be the last things you layer on. Everything that is used should be done so lawfully, and this includes obtaining any licenses or purchasing agreements to use commercial fonts or music. To avoid this, look for items that are royalty free—meaning that they can be used freely. After this is finished, export the video and you’re golden.

Last but not least, if you’re not a wiz or simply find it hard to execute the entire production phase on your own, you can always use sites like fiverr to outsource some of the production tasks. The video and animations category has different options to choose from, starting at pre-production, post-production, all the way to a complete production of your videos.

Other Types of Videos

One popular style of videos are animated explainer videos. The market is a bit saturated with them currently, so the chances of your video being extremely unique are small. Stop-motion video animations are quite unique and will shine in a crowd of dull videos. Long tutorials are a thing of the past, as 30-second quick-cut and hyperlapsed videos have taken over.

Small companies actually have the advantage of creating their first videos in-house, allowing them to gain the basic knowledge of making videos that will create a profit, and contributing to the decision on whether or not it’s worthwhile to invest in having videos made professionally. One type of video doesn’t suit every type of business, so it is up to each one to discover what fits them best.

When deciding on who to include in the process, keep a small crew of people who will be genuinely excited to take on this adventure. And don’t forget to have fun while you’re doing it. Content, quality, and distribution are all key factors in determining the success that a video will have, and whether or not it will bring the right type of traffic.

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Which Pet Should Your Family Adopt: Cat or Dog?

Adopting a pet is a milestone for many families across America. In fact, almost 80 million households in the country own some type of pet, including a cat or dog. For many people, bringing an animal into the home is one of the most incredible moments of a lifetime.

But adopting a pet is not something that should be done on a whim. Bringing a living, breathing animal into your home is a huge responsibility. Be sure you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into before you make a decision that could negatively affect the rest of your new pet’s life.

For the purpose of this article, let’s take a look at what you’ll have to look forward to when adopting either of the two most popular pets in the US: dogs and cats.

Dogs

Our canine buddies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but one thing is for sure: They really are man’s best friend. In fact, over 56 million households own at least one dog, making them the most common pet in America. And it’s no surprise why.

Dogs are incredibly loyal, and become emotionally attached to their owners. Though dogs understand humans are, in fact, not canines, they do think of their owners as members of their family. They’ll be just as excited to see you after a long day of work as any kid would be to see their mother or father.

They’re also incredibly intelligent (despite some of the ridiculous situations they get themselves into). With time and effort, you can teach them to obey commands, and, of course, to do all sorts of fun tricks.

However, dogs are incredibly high maintenance animals in many different ways.

Dogs get used to a certain schedule, and they stick to it. Of course, this schedule is their own, and might not exactly jibe with your human timetable. If they’re used to going out to relieve themselves at a certain time, you better be able to let them out—or they won’t hesitate to leave a mess on your rug.

Speaking of messes, have you ever seen a dog wipe his feet after coming inside from the rain? They don’t. So, again, you need to be there with a towel to clean your buddy off before he tracks paw prints all over the house.

Most importantly, dogs require a lot of attention. I mentioned they are emotionally intelligent, which is a bonus when you need a friend to pal around with. But they can also be pretty needy (and nosy), especially during times when you might want to be left alone.

Basically, owning a dog is like having a toddler—for twelve to fifteen years. I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing, but you should definitely know what you’re in for if you’re thinking of adopting a puppy.

Cats

Cats come second in popularity, with over 45 million households owning at least one feline friend. Not surprisingly, however, many of these households own more than one cat, since over 95 million belong to specific homes.

Many people tend to think a cat is a cat is a cat, but that’s simply not true. Much like their canine counterparts, cats differ greatly among breeds.

While each breed has its quirks, cats in general all come with similar pros and cons to be considered before bringing one home.

Unlike dogs, cats are pretty low maintenance animals. As long as they have food, water, and a place to do their business, they can be left alone all day—or even longer if need be.

Well-nurtured cats are usually very affectionate and playful. Even when their claws come out during play, they likely won’t go into full attack mode unless they feel overtly threatened.

Amazingly, recent studies have shown cats’ purrs to be therapeutically beneficial to other animals around them. They may seem like lone wolf-type animals, but it seems cats do care about their owners in some way!

Of course, owning a cat isn’t all rainbows and cuddle sessions.

Though cats are playful, as mentioned, if they feel threatened, they can immediately get aggressive if they feel the need. This could lead to you or your children getting bit or scratched with fairly little warning.

Cats also shed constantly. Whether accommodating to fluctuating temperatures, or simply ridding their bodies of dead hair, cats seemingly never stop leaving clumps of fur around the house. They also don’t make it brushing them an easy process, either.

And, of course, there’s the litterbox. If you have an indoor cat, be prepared to clean out their box at least once every two days—and even multiple times in a single day. If you neglect to do so, your little furry friend won’t think twice about using a different surface as their personal bathroom.

At any rate, cats are a great pet for those who don’t have the time for a dog, but still want an affectionate, individualistic pal to keep them company. Just remember: if you bring a cat into a home, the home belongs to them now.

Making a Decision

Clearly, a lot more goes into adopting a dog or cat than simply wanting one around. Adopting a pet can be a rewarding experience, but it can easily turn into a nightmare if you’re not careful. Think long and hard about what you really want out of a pet-owner relationship before you take on a responsibility you’re not ready for.

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If You Have A Weird Sister, Never Leave Her Alone

Let us begin on the note here: “I am a sister. I have no shame to say that I am a weird sister.” Why am I so proud of saying this fact? Well, I know that my weirdness makes me real, genuine, and it creates an atmosphere unlike any other for those around me. I act on my own will, sometimes strangely, especially around those I love. My father and mother are some people who I can act completely crazy around. Half the time I do not even make sense, but I try to “not make sense” because I know that my family will laugh at my little quirks. Sometimes, I do it on purpose, guilty as charged, but I do this to make my family happy, smiling, and in a jovial mood a majority of the time.

Common misconceptions regarding us weird sisters are long: weird sisters are awfully hard to communicate and live with, they are super annoying, they don’t have a life, and they have what we say “serious problems.” Let us mention some of the greatest advantages of having a weird sister, even though you may feel that you are unlucky to have one. You my friend, are extremely lucky! Hold on to your weird sister! A weird sister is for keeps!

1. We can sense as soon as you are sad, mad, or angry

When my brother is not as happy or jovial as he usually is, you will be surprised that I can tell that something is going wrong. Even if my mom or dad think that he is alright or just tired, I know that there is something going on that is upsetting him. I know all those weird sisters out there can completely agree with me and this is our plus point.

2. We spend the greatest amount of time with you or the ones we love

I love my brother with all my heart. He is two years older than me, and he has been there with me, grown up with me, and has been there with me in my toughest, hardest, and most gruelling times. So, my love for him boils down to the time I spend with him.

3. We will find a way to make you laugh, smile, or cry

Sitting while watching television, trying to make food in the kitchen, or just doing nothing, turns into something laughter filled and extremely interesting. My brother knows this as I can turn the most blatant situations to be more happy and relaxing. I’ll say something stupid or I’ll just change my voice to be a character from a cartoon or film. I’ll do something to break the ice.

4. We hold on to your hand (especially you brothers out there) to show that we care

I know my brother hates this. He isn’t one to show emotions, but I will hold on to his hand to show that I care for him. My brother screams, “Don’t touch me” but let me tell you this, I bet this relaxes them. They might just be thanking you from the inside.

5. We love our weirdness as we know you do too deep down inside

Brothers, like my brother, show that they have the world’s most annoying sister alive, but they love their sister for who she is because she is so different from the rest of the people in the universe. She makes you laugh, smile, and makes you forget all your life’s problems. You love that because she lets you be just you.

6. We don’t want to fit into the crowd, but we want to be our own little selves to show that we are real and proud to be real

As a  weird sister, I’d like to end on this note. Don’t try to conform us to other sisters, because we will be heart-broken. Let us be our true selves. We want to be who we are. We do not want to change just because you say to change or someone else says to change ourselves. We love our uniqueness and unusualness. That makes us, us!

Featured photo credit: Hayley Adminston via punchbowlsocial.com

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Determining How Much Bandwidth Your Website Needs to Function Efficiently

One thing to consider when hosting a website is how much bandwidth will be needed. When one starts to compare plans available for hosting, bandwidth as well as storage space are quite important. The storage space can be controlled easily either by deleting or by arranging content as needed, but bandwidth requires calculation and flexibility. Paying for more than is needed is silly, but not having enough will turn customers away when the website is down or being penalized for going over the amount purchased. So how much bandwidth is needed exactly? All it takes is a bit of time and some calculation to figure it out to balance the budget with the bandwidth.

Determining the Numbers

When launching a new website, calculating the bandwidth is sort of a hit or miss. The best course of action is to track the site’s activity monthly for the first couple of months after it goes live so that the actual monthly usage can be seen. For a website that is a bit more established, it is easy to calculate the estimated bandwidth. To do this:

• In kilobytes, estimate the average page size of the site. If this is unknown, a load time test on a few pages can give the information to find the average.
• This value should then be multiplied by the monthly average number of visitors. The result of that should be multiplied by the average number of page views per visitor.

Do remember that these calculations should be inclusive of every site that is hosted on the server. For example, if 10 domains are run on the same account, add up the size of the pages, the visitors, and the page views. These calculations give a pretty accurate idea of the amount of bandwidth a website needs, but it does require just a bit of math. These numbers don’t give the whole picture so it is important to factor in other challenges that are present.

Factors to Consider

Many websites do not use much bandwidth if they are not hosting large media files or streaming, and can get away with under 10GB a month. As an example, a decently popular blog with about 1,000 daily visitors, an average page size of 100 KB, and an average of 2 page views per visitor will only need around 8.5 GB per month of bandwidth. This is just an estimate, and the numbers stand true at this point in time. This is the reason to take into account having room to grow to avoid changing hosts or plans every time that the website data shifts.

Bandwidth consuming levels can change with many things like changes in a layout, growth of traffic, growth room, and spikes in traffic. When changing the layout of a site, it is possible to unknowingly increase the size of the page, which will use more bandwidth to load. Just one social news site mention may cause a traffic spike, possibly catching you off guard and causing the bandwidth to double or triple.

Many website owners look at bandwidth the same way that they look at firewood, when the general rule is to gather as much as you need, and then triple it. Bandwidth needs will want to be multiplied up to tenfold. It is possible that the website will never use more than just a fraction of the bandwidth paid for, but it does spare the user from the overage charges of unexpected heavy traffic. Extra bandwidth is affordable when contained in a service plan, and it ensures a peace of mind to know that the website will be prepared for any future expansion or heavy traffic.

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