I had intended to write my next post today (Saturday is usually my creative writing day), but I’ve had to alter my plans (actually it’s Monday now). I’m still writing as we can see, but now I’m writing in acceptance of the Blogger Recognition Award which I was nominated for last night.
⬆️ So obviously this was written at a time that made sense, but now means nothing. So I’m delighted to have received another nomination for the award.
So firstly, I would like to thank Allan for the nomination, he’s doing some great work over at https://photoblographysite.wordpress.com/. This is (was) my first award nomination so I’m chuffed, it’s always nice to see that someone appreciates your efforts. So I’ll raise a glass to Allan later.
I was also nominated by newyorkfamilyadventures.com, withthedavaulls.com, surefootedtravel.com, pearlsinthesea.com lanniesfoodandtravel.com, and most recently MonkeysVentures.com and I would like to thank them so much. I’ll raise a glass to them now too. I’m getting a little drunk now.
The Blogger Recognition Award has the following rules of nomination:
- Write a post to publicize the nomination.
- Express our gratitude to the blog that nominates us and link our post to your website.
- Write about how our blog started.
- Give advice to new bloggers.
- Nominate 15 blogs of which we are followers and to which we want to grant this recognition. We can not include the blog that nominated us.
- Comment on each nominated blog that you have named and provide the link to the post you have created.
My blog carpediemeire was started in February of this year (2018), and is my first voyage into the world of blogging. I’ve been taking photos for many years and I’ve often sought ways to showcase what I’ve taken. So I dabbled with Flickr, Instagram etc but they all seemed a little shallow. Something was missing. My other love in life is travelling, I love reading travel books cover to cover, so when I visit somewhere my knowledge of a place is as full as it can be. So with all that I mind, I looked for a creative outlet to mix all of the above.
Blogging seemed the answer, and I can say six months later (2 years) that it is. It can be hard to find the time to just sit and write as I am now. My work in a hotel is demanding, but I take every opportunity to travel, and squeeze the hours to write about it. I picked my blog title based on this – carpe diem, “seize the moment”, and live life to the fullest. I think its the best advice i can give anyone.
On the subject of advice I’m not sure I’m doing this long enough to give advice to new bloggers. I do know a little about SEO (how google sees your webpage) so maybe I can help there. But here’s a few things I learned.
- Find a good mix of words and good quality photos, either ones you took yourself or from a good source online. Keep your paragraphs relatively short.
- If your photos are too big reduce them in size, each theme has an optimum file size that it works better with, and besides each account is only afforded a certain amount of GB. Mine was fast filling up before I realised this but I’ve since upgraded my subscription.
- If your photos are too large you may have issues with page loading. You can check how accessible your page is at https://testmysite.withgoogle.com/intl/en-gb and how likely you are to lose readers before you even get them.
- Google likes posts that are over 500 words but its important to keep it interesting
- Write about things that come from the heart and try to keep the blog on a certain theme
- Always answer any questions or comments on your blogs as prompt as you can. The blogging community is a welcoming one and are very interactive
- Every new day is a learning experience. I am still learning so much all the time, be it, how to use WordPress more efficiently, how to drive traffic from sites such as Pinterest, so open your mind.
- I’ll paraphrase Stephen King “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others; read a lot and write a lot”.
- Enjoy your writing and others will enjoy reading what you have to say.
- One I have to add in now- SEO, SEO, SEO. Find that middle ground between writing for your readers and writing for google. That’s the golden elixir.
I would like to nominate the following bloggers for the Blogger Recognition Award all of whom do some great work. Don’t know the rules of this but I won’t nominate anyone that Allan has.
- https://aleaaroundtheworld.com/
- https://rolandomio.blog/
- https://danventuretravels.wordpress.com/
- https://becomingfinnishsite.wordpress.com/
- https://nikkidiscovers.wordpress.com/
- https://georgiemoon2016.wordpress.com/
- https://alittlebitofingrid.com/
- https://theuncorkedlibrarian.com/
- https://mistakesandadventuresblog.com/
- https://bikeandbackpacker.wordpress.com/
- https://travellingdane.org/
- https://wanderessence.com/
- https://misselenka.wordpress.com/
- https://man-walks-into-an-airport.com/
- https://amieinreallife.com/
So again I thank Allan for the award nomination, and thank all who have read, liked and commented on my blogs up to now. I draw support from all of you.
John
24 responses
Wow! Thanks for nominating! 🙂
I’m a little bit inactive right now due to my job, but I will try my best to write a post for this.
Once again, thank you! 🙂
Your welcome. Hard to stay active with work. Trust me I know. Keep up the good work. And I expect that post on cycling Ireland
Ah! You remind me of Ireland and your exciting journey there! I suddenly wanna leave my job. Haha 😀
I just Googled and it’s surprised me that, as an Indonesian, there is no fee applied for visa to Ireland. Now, what left us to concern is the airplane ticket… Gotta work harder and save our money 😀
We like visitors here. It would be hypocritical there are Irish in all corners of the world. Only the hardest part of travel left for you so- collecting the money to travel. 😅
Thanks so much for nominating me. I will keep the ball rolling. Keep up the good work! 🙂
Your welcome. You deserve it.
You are most welcome John. I always enjoy your posts and I raise a glass to you as well. Hope someday, we can raise a glass together. Keep up the good work. Allan
Thank you so much for nominating for me! I knew that we were IG buddies, and now I get to follow along with your blog. I started blogging more seriously in February when you did.
Pinterest is a huge source of traffic for me. It’s definitely an important key to blogging.
Your welcome. I enjoyed following your trip to Dublin.
I’ve only copped on to Pinterest myself about three weeks ago and I’m still trying to make my account more beneficial. If I knew in February what I know now.
I know! I’ve spent so much time going back to fix everything. It’s frustrating but also shows progress. I’ve learned a ton!
In a years time we will be professionals so. Now to turn my hand towards monetisation….
I’m trying so hard with affiliate marketing and picking up lower level freelancing.
Thank you ever so kindly for the nomination, John. It was nice to read about you and your advice for what makes a good blog. I don’t do the blog nomination thing because it’s very time consuming and detracts, I think, from the main purpose of my blog, but I am very flattered that you nominated me! Thanks again. 🙂
It was a departure for me too from my subject but I guess I got caught up in the moment. I’m happy to have nominated you I enjoy what you are doing. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much, John. I used to do those awards in other blogs I used to write, and as you know from doing this one, they are very time consuming. But it is nice to get them, so quite a dilemma! Thank you for your kind words. 🙂
I know full well. I was supposed to publish my next post today but now I’m a day behind with it 😫
Yes, I understand the feeling. I’ll be curious to know if you think it was worth writing it in the end – in the way of increased traffic or new followers. 🙂 Good luck getting your next post written!
Thanks for your appreciation of my deranged scribblings. And for the nomination. I know I have to write an acceptance which I will when I get time. Not sure what else I have to do though or even what the award is. Off to figure that out now.
Had to do the same myself. I guess it’s another blogger saying you do good work and trying to send some recognition your way. What do you win? Nothing. A sticker maybe. And some pride.
Back from a little summer break from blogging so only just noticed this. Thanks so much – what a surprise to see my blog listed there!
It was also interesting to hear a bit more about how you came to start blogging. Have a happy autumn!
I enjoy your blog it’s different from what I usually see. I think that’s what the award is all about, to give recognition to those worthy. Enjoy your little break. When will you back with all matters Finnish?
Well, thank you again! That is lovely to hear.
I just posted something that I started writing back in June but never published and now I’m motivated to get properly back into it again 😀
Amazing advice! I definitely can agree that every day is a learning experience. Can’t wait to see more from you 😊
Thank you. I wrote that months ago and it still rings true today. And probably in 2 and 5 years. Great to connect with wonderful bloggers like yourself.