Coffee talk Tuesday with Rhoda from Southern Hospitality
Thank you Rhoda from Southern hospitality for sharing a past post with me, and some new bloggers on some tips and tricks of the trade that you have learned along the way. We appreciate any and all insight from you seasoned bloggers. Rhoda will be coming up on her 4 year Blogging anniversary in February.
Rhoda started blogging on a whim, when one of her longtime online decorating friends started a blog and encouraged her to start one too. That was Kim with Daisy Cottage and they have been online friends for a few years. It took off from there and it's been a fun journey.
Rhoda started blogging on a whim, when one of her longtime online decorating friends started a blog and encouraged her to start one too. That was Kim with Daisy Cottage and they have been online friends for a few years. It took off from there and it's been a fun journey.
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| First grab a cup of coffee, of course from your favorite mug, you can see mine below.... |
Oh and grab a cupcake too....
One of the first things Rhoda talks about is Word verification. Here is what she has to say:
Letter Verification:
This is #1 on my Personal Pet Peeves. If you are a new blogger, I would highly recommend that you TURN OFF the comment with letter verification. Your readers will be SO frustrated constantly having to type in those letters to leave you a comment. And it is totally not necessary to do that. If you feel you need privacy and some form of control over spam or bad comments, then just simply have all comments moderated.
This one, Oh yes, I so agree on. Don't get me wrong, Love me a good tune, however.........
Music:
If you are a serious blogger and want to be taken seriously, turn off your music. Now, there may be some exceptions to this and this is just my opinion, so take it for what it’s worth (about 2 cents 
I know , some who have sort of a theme music going on their blog and that I can see. But, for you to have random music blasting all the time on your blog, it just makes me get off really fast if I go to a blog with blaring music. Chances are, your readers will not have the exact same taste in music that you do.Add your Email:
Encourage interaction with your readers by adding your email address in your Profile or sidebar. Most people just want to be friendly and they may want to just email you a question or comment about your blog. It’s fun to get emails, so don’t be afraid of that. This is a community.
Taking pics for your blog:
One thing I learned early on is to turn off the FLASH! Such an easy solution, but it really makes all the difference. You’ll have to learn h0w to keep very still while you’re shooting so that pics will not be blurry, but my camera works pretty well without the flash and I don’t ever use a tripod. Your pics will look SO much better. And post your pics as large as you can. You can now change the width of your template with the new blogger templates, just play around until you get it to your liking.
Have fun, be friendly, and be yourself:
Have fun with blogging! The best thing I can tell new bloggers is to be patient, get out there and meet a lot of people. Comment, comment, comment all over blogland.
As you can see some of this info becomes apparent time and time again. So get out, do it, take it for what it is worth to you and blogging.
Rhoda goes into more details on her post and you can read about it
HERE Keep in mind, what any and all of us bloggers have to say, is based on our experience and personal opinion.
Thanks Rhoda for sharing with Debbiedoos blogging and blabbing.
I have some more seasoned bloggers coming up with their opinions and thoughts.
Newbie Linky Party January 31st
Newbie Linky Party January 31st
Labels: coffee, Rhoda from Southern Hospitality
posted by Debbiedoos @ 12:48 AM
30 Comments:
Already I know what you mean about the music ,nothing is worse than sitting in the lounge room watching telly with your laptop (yes I am female so I can do more than one thing at a time)and next thing music is blaring!
Also like your new background and pictures :)
~Sharon~
You chose a great gal to interview...I like Rhoda and her blog very much. I agree with her on all points. My recommendation for the music thing is to just keep your volume turned down. I like to hear a little soft music in the background. It get's me humming!
XO,
Jane
Very neat! I really enjoyed hearing a seasoned bloggers perspective. It really helps! Oh, but I like the music. I keep my volume low and just click volume off if it's not to my liking. But I guess I can see how this might be annoying to some. I really get annoyed with headers that take to long to download when pulling up the blog. Unfortunately mine is doing that now and I haven't fixed it yet, but am working on it. Which brings me to your new look! Fantastic! I love it! Please check again and let me know if The Decorative Dreamer is on your blog roll yet. I had others tell me its working fine on theirs. Just checking! Really like the new look!
Great pointers. (this coming from someone who is still desperately deficient at taking photos)
I love this series!
This is right on! I will be reposting this on Facebook and Twitter. ;-)
abby
OH, I completely agree with you about the muzak - it's a deal breaker every time...
This is a really wonderful series you are posting. Don't just think it's for new bloggers....I'm definitely learning some new things too!
Have a great day.
Jane
Hehe, your first commenter must be from England:) We called our living room "the lounge", sounds so fancy.
I'm glad the music issue was brought up! These are all great tips, I always turn my flash on cuz I just can't seem to get rid of the blurriness...guess I need to practice!
Great info. I never did add music to my blog and keep my sound turned off. I cannot concentrate on the content I am reading and listen to singing. I guess I just can't have two things going at once for this old brain. I learned about not using flash very quickly. That makes a huge difference in photos. Of course you need lots of light and learn how to let light in when taking pictures, too. Definitely lose the word verification, PLEASE.
Great advice! I would like to add that Music on your blog also makes it 'not possible' for us full time workers to check your blog during breaks and downtime. You get caught... trust me I know! LOL
Great stuff, Debbie, keep it coming!! ~ Coreen xoxoxo
Question about comments. I have the option on my comment section settings to allow for anonymous comments or registered users only. Should I allow for anonymous comments?
Love the new blog look, Debbie!! I'm with Rhoda on all the blog ideas. When you first start out, it is only natural to want to protect yourself but since turning off the verification and putting my email out there, I haven't had any problems. I did turn off anonymous comments as that is the only spam I ever got with blogging.
Thanks, Debbie, for having me over on your blog! Blogging has been such a treat for me & I have loved the community it brings.
Keri, you were asking about Anon. comments. I always allowed them & for the most part you won't have any problem, but if someone decides to be mean, they always do it anonymously. You can turn off Anon. comments if you find you need to.
Hi Keri....I have my setting on all users. Blogger is weeding out Spam pretty well. You may see it in your inbox, but it does not make it on the blog. If it did, you have the option to delete it, there is a little can after our comments. Thanks so much for popping over.
Well, Sheezsh...wouldn't you know? I just added music and thought I was doing myself a big favor...but then I like music. Hmmmm...guess I have to think about that. Great tips though- Diana
You are on a roll!
Thanks for doing this Debbie & also thanks to Rhoda! I have promptly turned off my music. LOL
Good stuff Debbie! I had music on my blog for a little while, but then it started to annoy me!! LOL!
Thanks for sharing.
~Holly
Agree 100% with everything here. I keep my computer on mute so I don't get accidentally blasted out of my chair.
Brenda
Great interview! Thanks for posting--Rhoda is awesome (so are you). I completely agree with the music thing--it's annoying for me because I'm usually listening to itunes & it overlaps--crazy!
Yep, those are the usual good tips for blogging. Thank you for sharing them Rhoda and Debbie.
Your blog design is really pretty. Love it! :)
Debbie this is far the best format of you blog yet...loving the very clean look.....i have mentioned before i only follow and am so glad the music issue was mentioned don't get me wrong i love music but my kind and my volume..lol keep up the good work
Great tips from an experienced blogger and I do agree with all of them. I even had to mute my speakers just so I do not listen to the music. When I visit blogs, I multitask so I open several at the same time. Can you imagine hearing 3 or 4 different music blasting all at the same time? LOL! Christine
Thank you guys so much for the advice! It really helps. I agree with the music most of the time I have my volume up and if I go to someones page it starts blaring. NO good
~Allyson~
Ps I love your new header!!
Good advice. I have already learned this after more then a year of blogging but wish I had found some of this out when I started. Such great info. I have sent a couple of my followers who are newbies over here to read this!! hugs, Linda
My 2 cents worth regarding music: if you want music on your blog fine but please put the gadget toward the top of your blog sidebar so your readers can find it easily and quickly so they can pause it. Sometimes I have several blogs open at the same time and that is really when the music can be extremely obnoxious! I then have to search each blog for the gadget to turn off the music. Sometimes I get so frustrated because of the time it takes to do that I just close them all and move on. As for word verification, I completely agree that it is very frustrating and unnecessary.
Great post Debbie! I look forward to seeing who you have lined up to impart their blogging wisdom! Whether a blogger is new or has been around for a while, this is all great information.
~ Tracy
I agree with everything Rhoda said. I hate leaving comments on blogs with the letter verification! I sometimes just give up if I can't get it to go through the first time!
I'm not a fan of music on blogs either! Most of the larger blogs don't have either of these.
I also agree about using no camera flash. It's amazing how much better your photos will look without it. You can always use a photo editor to lighten dark photos!
About the music- I couldn't agree more! I hate having to turn my volume off, but I prefer REMeMbeRING to do it when I visit the select few who have it for my sanity.
I truly hate word verification, but how do you tactfully tell someone that it is a pain? You don't want to offend! I know darn well I type those darn letters correctly, so why in the heck do I have to do it three times in a row before it takes it? So blasted annoying!!!! All good tips, Deb. I would like to post this on my blog, if you don't mind. Let me know. :-) The more people that see this - the better!
~Sue
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