BritMums Live - 6 weeks to go!

I'm excited to have been invited to speak at BritMums Live in London and it's only 6 weeks away. There are so many great speakers lined up I feel like I'm in exalted company. Apparently the event has sold out - brilliant work by Jen & Susanna once again in pulling off a great conference.

If you're planning to come, please say hello - I'll be taking part in a panel on the Friday evening and then on Saturday morning talking about blog design in a session alongside an SEO expert. Should be great fun!

In the meantime BritMums have started a Linky for people to introduce themselves beforehand, so here are my answers to the questions everyone's being asked...


Name: Robin

Blog: 1) Blogging for Creatives 2) Poetgal

Twitter ID: @RobinHoughton

Height: 5ft 6"

Hair: Brown, medium length

Eyes: Brown

Is this your first blogging conference? Actually I think it might well be!

Are you attending both days? I think so, if I'm allowed to stick around after I've delivered my speaker slots.

What are you most looking forward to at BritMums Live 2013?
Meeting BritMums bloggers, learning new things, being inspired ...

What are you wearing? Hmm ... probably 'business casual' if I can figure out what that means

What do you hope to gain from BritMums Live 2013?
Ideas, inspiration, new friends!

Tell us one thing about you that not everyone knows
I was a ball girl for Ilie Nastase ...  at the age of 37!

Featured blogger: Liz Ayling

My first featured blogger for a while! I'm thrilled to be introducing you to The Red Bistro, a super scrumptious food blog by my old friend Liz Ayling.

Liz is one of those amazing people who seem to have a huge range of talents, coupled with an exemplary work ethic. She's the editor at Malta Inside Out, a colourful site dedicated to offering tips, experiences, knowledge and insights on living, working, playing and holidaying in Malta or moving there.

The Red Bistro (subtitled 'servings from a Mediterranean kitchen') is just one of Liz's many projects, alongside running a busy family home in a gorgeous stone house in Malta. She not only develops the recipes and writes and promotes the site, but also does all the photography. Just check out the range of recipes and you'll see how fabulous photos can really make a blog.

In answer to the question, "Can blogs become a business?" Liz says "I think so - but not without strategy and clear business goals." Watch out for Liz on the food blogging and photography scene, she's a force for good!

And now in Spanish!

Ooh! Look what just came through my letterbox:

Now in Spanish, how exciting!

Guest blogging opportunities are worth grabbing

A belated Happy New Year! I hope you're feeling motivated for 2013...

The year started off well for me, with an invitation to take part in a panel discussion at the next London Fashion Bloggers Meetup on January 22nd, organised by Diana at trendbridged.com (see screenshot below). I'm really looking forward to meeting the bloggers, the event has already sold out with up to a hundred people expected.

Of course, the most daunting thing will be appearing before all those fashionistas - eek! What the hell am I going to wear? Oh well - I guess I'm supposed to know about blogging, not fashion!

It is striking how fashion blogging has really taken off. Last month the Guardian put out a call for new fashion bloggers to join their roster. Although the deadline has passed, this article is worth a read to find out more about the range and types of bloggers they look for - fashion is a huge subject, after all, and there's plenty of scope for a blog to be unique.

Sometimes a one-off guest post can turn into a regular thing. I've done guest blogging stints in the past for Friday Ad, the Marketing Society and even a costuming site. Getting a regular blogging gig at a national paper, magazine or organisation is a great way to reach a wider audience, gain experience and credibility and grow your reputation as a blogger.

These kinds of opportunities do come up, but it's also worth being proactive and simply asking!

screenshot of Trendbridged.com, a London street style journal

How I'm going to blog better in 2013!

Phew - practically Christmas already. It's been a great year for blogging and my book has been selling well, which is really exciting.

But as you can probably tell from the date of my last post, I haven't been practising all that I preach! Yes folks, I confess it's been a while since my last blog post here. Why is that? And what are the lessons to be learnt?

Stick to your editorial calendar
When I started this blog, my editorial calendar was stuck to the wall in front of my desk and I kept to it pretty well, but then one month I was busy on other things and forgot to update it... and before long I was 'ad-hoc' posting (rather like this) which is ALWAYS more work than devising and sticking to a schedule.

Keep your ambitions sustainable
Three posts a week was fine at first, when the book was launched and was being reviewed I was doing talks and writing posts was relatively easy, blogging was top of my mind. But that frequency wasn't sustainable over the long term.

Follow your passion
Although blogging about blogging is still on my agenda, my interest in poetry has really blossomed this year and as a consequence much of my blogging has been over at Poetgal. If you find yourself blogging more about Topic A than Topic B, the signs are trying to tell you something. It's REALLY hard to blog about a subject if there's something ELSE you're burning to blog about!

So what am I going to do about it? Well, this blog isn't my only neglected blog at the moment - robinhoughton.com has also seen less action lately! So rather than beat myself up about not blogging equally often across all sites, here's my plan for 2013:

1. Create a sustainable editorial calendar for my bloggingforcreatives blog, based on, say, two posts a month, for the next 6 months. These can be based on chapters from the book, tips and ideas from expert bloggers and other 'timeless' but useful information.
2. Create an outline editorial calendar for my robinhoughton.com blog, again based on two posts a month - but if I'm not inspired to write I won't give myself a ticking off. It's my main business blog and most items there are 'thought pieces' brought on by topical issues or events, and I do think that if I don't have anything specific to say which adds value to the debate, it's best not to post.
3. Continue to blog at Poetgal, when inspired to do so, and not feel guilty about it!

Wish me luck! What are your blogging goals for 2013? What went wrong in 2012 and what worked for you? Let me know!

(Image credit: Origami Penguin as featured on How About Orange)

Some useful blogging resources I've come across lately

I know, I know - I'm not blogging as often as I used to here - my apologies! Various real-life things have got in the way of my editorial calendar - in fact I think I need to go back and read my own book to remind myself!

On the subject of the book, I've had a few enquiries lately from folks being told they had to wait a couple of months for it - obviously I'm really pleased the first print run has sold out, but it's no fun to have to wait. Anyway, the publishers tell me that new stock is on its way and may even already have arrived. (If you're trying to order it online, the Book Depository still has copies I think.) So thanks for your patience, and a huge thank you to those who have reviewed and rated the book and generally helped support sales. You are stars!

Anyway - I thought I'd share a few links to some useful resources I've come across lately that I think you'll find interesting.

If you have a Facebook page, here are '7 little known tricks to make your Facebook page stand out' - little things like repositioning photos, highlighting fan posts and sometimes scheduling in advance. Useful stuff.

Ten Top Pinterest Boards - Jeff Bullas shows us how top Pinterest-ers do it - it's a visual treat, whether or not you are concerned with 'driving sales, leads and traffic' to your blog.

Are you confused about Google+? Then take the free, online Google+ Masterclass from the Britmums blogging community and get up to speed in no time. This is just one example of the great resources available at Britmums.

And finally for now, a most relevant piece on Why you need to keep on blogging by Sam McArthur at Savvy Marketers. It's true! If you need reminding of why it's worth working through those times when you're feeling uninspired or overwhelmed with other things,  then this is for you (and me!)

Image credit: Modern Life blogs

Some of my favourite writers & poetry blogs

Just for a change I thought I would give a shout out to some of my favourite writers' and poets' blogs.

Should a poet have a blog? Hmmm ... well there is a school of thought that says NO - better to preserve a sense of mystery - less is more!

But I admit I enjoy writing my own poetry-themed blog which is kind of a diary/work in progress / confessional type of thing. Maybe if I ever make it big as a poet I might regret having exposed so much of myself, warts and all, but for now it's a lot of fun to connect with others in a similar situation and share my success, failures and everything in between.

Anyway, here are three of my favourite writer-bloggers...

Josephine Corcoran, aka @CorkyCorks on Twitter: Josephine is an experienced writer and teacher of creative writing, and her blog is a wonderful source of ideas and inspiration including reviews, comments and questions about the writing process. She also has a companion blog for poems, And Other Poems, which is growing into a rich anthology.

Abegail Morley, The Poetry Shed: Abegail posts reviews, featured poems & poets, news of competitions and events, listings of poetry books and magazines, and some useful tips from magazine editors about what they look for.

Sarah Salway as well as being the current 'Canterbury Laureate' is a prolific blogger, the subtitle of her blog being 'Handmade stories and seeds of inspiration' - yes there is a teeny bit of gardening stuff in there but LOTS of interesting, quirky posts about writing and writers. I like the way she mixes up the media - plenty of photos & video, and generous (copious) references to other writers.