The Basics: Google Analytics

Oh Google Analytics you confusing little thing you. When I first discovered it I was so hopelessly lost, with all the numbers and graphs, I had no idea what I was looking at. So instead I stuck to the stats provided by my old friend Blogger, and ignored those provided to me by Google Analytics. After years of trying to get on with it, I finally feel like I understand the sheer basics. So I thought I'd write this post especially for those of you that are in the same boat I was, in the sheer hope that it gives you even the slightest clue to what you're looking at. 

Audience Overview // When you first open up Google Analytics this is the first page that loads up. You can recognise which page this is by the fact that it has a big graph and lots of smaller boxes. The smaller boxes tell you various things and you can select a period (and even compare it to a previous one), and it will show you several figures such as the number of users, sessions, page views, and page views per session:  

Sessions // If you don't understand what sessions are, think of them as visits. One session is where one person has visited your blog without closing the tab. If they happen to close your website and then reopen it, you class that as another session, so you would have two (and so on).  

Users // Google Analytics tracks each individual user by their IP address. So each user is a different individual. So if 100 people read your blog, you will have 100 users. 

Page views // This is the total number of pages visited on your website. 

Pages per session // I feel as though this one is pretty self-explanatory. It is the average number of pages someone views when they click onto your website.

Average session duration // Again pretty self-explanatory, but the amount of time someone spends on your blog per visit.

Bounce rate // The rate at which someone clicks on your blog and then 'bounces' back onto the page they were previously viewing. 

New session percentage // The percentage of new visits compared to returning visits. 

Acquisition // Acquisition is basically where all your traffic comes from, or how you 'acquire' it. I find this really useful as it allows you to see which social media platforms you should concentrate on. For example, if you get most of your traffic from Twitter but only tweet once a week, you should start upping your Twitter game. 

All traffic > Source/Medium // This handy little page gives you a list of all that websites that have directed traffic to your blog. It will most likely mention the likes of Bloglovin, organic Google searches, and direct traffic.

Behaviour // Behaviour is useful for getting to know what people are doing whilst they visit your blog. 

Site content > All Pages // This is where you can see what is most popular on your blog. This page displays the most viewed pages on your blog. Usually the homepage (e.g. www.charlottesophiaroberts.co.uk) is displayed first followed by a forward slash ('/').  

Behaviour > Site Speed // Allow not as important as some of the other statistics available on Google Analytics, site speed allows you to see how long it takes to load your website on someone's device. Ideally you are supposed to make sure that your website loads in under 6 seconds. Any slower than this an you may want to consider reducing your image file sizes and getting rid of any unnecessary widgets. 

How do you get on with Google Analytics?

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Making The Most Of Your Time

With the start of the academic year looming, and the horror of being in my third (and final) year of university well on it's way, I thought I better take a look at my schedule to see if I am making the most of my time. Although I am quite good at procrastinating, I try to make sure that I make the best use of my time - creating schedules that allow for plenty of time to binge watch Gilmore Girls on Netflix. 

To do lists // To do lists are one of my favourite ways to make sure I'm being productive enough. I tend to make them most days, but if I have a strict deadline I step them up a notch by adding time limits for each task on the list. By doing this, it helps stop you running behind schedule, so you can move on and come back to less important tasks when you have a bit more time. Adding time guidelines enables you to make full use of your day, so when you have a spare moment you can see whether or not you have the time to complete something of your list. 

Diary // Although not everyone likes to use a physical diary, I couldn't live without mine! I've tried using iCal and Google calendar, but I always end up reverting to my trusty planner. I use the Busy B academic diary (which I have spoken about here), and I wouldn't be without it! 

Set aside time to plan your week // I like to spend my Sunday mornings laying out and planning the upcoming week. It helps me remember appointments and deadlines so I don't end up missing things. As this post goes up, I will most likely be sat in bed with my week planner, my calendar, and my diary seeing what I have to do up to next Sunday! 

Prioritise // There are only 1440 minutes in each day, so make sure you prioritise the most time sensitive tasks to make sure you get them done. Take blogging for example, don't write a blog post due next months, when you haven't finished tomorrow's - it's just common sense isn't it really!  

Stay focused // The second you get distracted it the second your day's work will probably grind to a hault. So make an effort to move any unnecessary items out of the way so you aren't tempted to give them your undivided attention. My personal distraction are my phone and the internet. Although some tasks require the use of the internet, I try and make sure that I don't end up scrolling through ASOS for 3 hours at a time by adding internet filters - blocking me from mindlessly checking Facebook and the likes until I turn them off. 

Slow down // Although this may seem counter-intuitive, it is extremely important when doing a major task like an assignment, or an application etc. By slowing down and not rushing, you minimise the chances of making silly little mistakes - which in the grand scheme of things makes tasks quicker as you don't have to spend time correcting a tonne of mistakes!

How do you make the most of your time?

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Making The Most Of Your Phone Camera

I take, and have always taken all of my blog photos on a DSLR camera. But unlike me, there are many bloggers and even non-bloggers out there who don't have the privilege of owning a camera. Few people will probably agree with me here, but it isn't necessary to have a fancy camera or a DSLR to take good quality photographs. Nowadays the majority of people own some sort of smartphone, and most of them come equipped with a decent built in camera. Some of you may argue that photos taken on a phone aren't exactly high quality, but at second glance you can achieve some cracking images! So with this post I hope to show you how to get best use out of the different functions, to create some incredible photos. 

Tap to focus // This one is possible the best and most useful thing to remember when using your phone's camera. It may seem a bit obvious to most of you, but there are some people that don't even know how to use the basic camera settings - heck some people don't even know how to open the camera app! No matter how still you think you can hold your phone, you are always shakier than you think - otherwise we would all be experts at applying winged liner. Simply tap the screen once and everything will come into focus, or tap and hold on a specific area/subject to bring that into focus. 

HDR // HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. This setting takes three different photos at three different exposures, and then merges them together to create a more vibrant image. It is a function that doesn't necessarily work for closeups and portraits, but is great for things like landscapes. 

Timer // Apple have fairly recently brought in a timer function on the iPhone camera. The timer can be extremely helpful when taking images of yourself, or of a subject that requires less camera shake. It is really simple to use, and you can see in the above picture that the third icon in from the left depicts a little clock - this is how you use the timer function. 

Remote // There are many ways of taking images 'hand free' if you will. With the recent selfie stick craze fizzling out, I thought it a good idea to mention an alternative method using the same principles. If you plug in a pair of earphones into an iPhone (it may work with other phones too but I'm not sure) and then open up the camera app, you can use the volume controls to release the camera shutter. 

Exposure // By tapping the screen on an iPhone, it brings up a yellow box with a little sun at the side. By sliding your finger up and down the screen you can adjust the exposure. By sliding your finger up the photo becomes brighter and in some cases, overexposed. By sliding your finger downwards, it darkens the image and underexposes it. 

Editing // Even if your photo isn't exactly how you want it to look, there are various apps on the app store that will enable you to enhance your images. I prefer to use VSCO, even though the recent update has caused uproar amongst the blogging community, I like it because it has the effects that I like the most. 

Have you got any tips?

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How To Get Your Blog Noticed

I have yet another post for all you newbie bloggers and those who are simply looking to up their game and get their blog out there! With new blogs popping up left right and centre, it can be difficult to make sure your's is one of the ones that gets noticed. Every blogger will at some point feel like their blog deserves to get more attention (including me!), but there are certain ways in which you can help yourself by making your blog somewhere that people want to go and visit! So here is my advice for getting your blog noticed!

Photos

This is personally the thing that I feel is most important when it comes to running a blog. Make sure that your photos are as good as they can be. Compose them in interesting ways, edit them to make colours stand out yet look realistic. Photos are key in getting your blog noticed as many people like to simply look at the pictures and if you have dark, grainy photos they are less likely to revisit your blog. If people like your photos, chances are they may even read the content that goes alongside it. If you are new to blogging and are looking at improving your photos - I have written a bunch of tips, even sharing how I take and how I edit my blog post photos.

Content

Create content that you yourself would want to read. Make it interesting, do your research on products and topics, and think of what could be appealing to likeminded people. If you use the Blogger platform, you can even use Google Analytics to see what your readers are interested in so you can tailor your posts to suit your audience. And remember - personality gets you everywhere! So crack jokes, use italics, bold and underlines to convey your tone of voice. It seriously helps your readers connect with you and your blog. 

Check, Check and Check Again!

Always, and I mean always make sure you proof-read your posts before publishing them. There is nothing more embarrassing than finding a mistake after people have read the post and it is too late. Alongside your blog posts, check all the links work in your side bar (or wherever you have them). It is so annoying when you go to click an Instagram/Facebook/Twitter link to get the 'this page does not exist' message.

Get Your Name Out There
Comment on other people's posts, and I don't mean something along the lines of "check out my blog" or "follow for follow"! Leave feedback engaging with their content, constructive criticism, and make sure you leave a link at the end of your comment and people in the comments may pop over and visit your blog! Talk to people on social media, just be yourself and people will start to take notice of you.

Design

If your serious about getting into blogging, it can be worth investing in a template from places like Etsy. Since I took the plunge and purchased one from PipDig in January, my blog has had so many more visitors and I think this was the reason why! The look of your blog is extremely important. It needs to be well laid out with a clear blog title, social media links and a brief description of yourself. You should create pages so its easy for readers to navigate around your site. And most importantly, your blog posts should be easy to see and read - with a comments section so you readers can get in touch and leave nice messages!

Got any tips of your own? Leave them below and share the love!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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Simple Ways To Improve Your Blog

Hello folks! If you couldn't tell, I've been really loving sharing my tips with you lately. So here I am with yet another post, but this time I'm sharing some incredibly simple ways to improve the quality of your blog! I'll try not to ramble too much - I promise! 

Learn how to use your camera properly. A good photo can honestly say a billion words! You could write one of the best blog posts in the world, but without some quality photos to go alongside, you won't engage people visually! I have done quite a few posts (here, here and here at least!) about blog photography, and I have a couple more in the works for the next few months - so stay tuned for more tips! 

Use social media. Use Twitter and other social media to promote your posts and get you blog out there. Pinterest can be a really good website for bloggers. It is not only a great place to share and promote your posts and drive traffic to your blog, but is also a great place to look for inspiration! I think of so many ideas for blog posts when I'm browsing through Pinterest at 3am! I've recently changed over to a business Pinterest account which is recommended for bloggers. 

Filter your posts by category (and have a search bar). Attach labels when writing your posts to help future readers locate specific posts. If someone is wanting to find a review for a moisturiser that you wrote a couple months ago, make sure your posts are tagged with things like 'moisturiser' and 'skincare' so posts are easily located from your archives. 

Display a list of your popular posts. They are your most popular for a reason. Display them somewhere on the main page of your blog, alongside photos so new readers can see things that might be of interest to them. Maybe display them down one side of your blog under your sidebar? If you use the Blogger platform, there is a widget you can install in the 'Layout' section.

Invest in some business cards. If you a dead serious about blogging, why not invest in some business cards? I know, I know - the first time someone told me I needed some I laughed questioning why I would need some as I am by no means a 'professional blogger'. But then I was asked for one whilst out and not having any, I knew I needed to get myself some! If you are going to buy some though, do make sure they have a similar design to your blog as it showcases your brand.

Post regularly and try and stick to a schedule. If you stick to a schedule, readers will know when you have new content going up so they can pop back! It increases your return readership and is such a simple thing to do yourself. Pick a day (or multiple) and stick to it - I post every Wednesday and Sunday and I have it mentioned on my blog.

Get rid of the navbar. If using the Blogger platform, get rid of the nasty navbar that comes built in at the top of the screen. It looks soooo unprofessional and tacky. I did this almost a year ago and I am so glad I did! I was a little hesitant at first, I thought I'd hate it but it made my blog look so much more sleek. Plus if you really don't like it, it is really easy to get it back.

Are any of you planning on making any improvements to your blog? Let me know what you plan to do - it's always interesting seeing other peoples plans! 

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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How I Take My Blog Photos

A while ago I shared with you how I edit my blog post photos, and since then I've had a couple of requests to share how I take my photos in the first place! Logically it would have made sense to write them the other way round, but it's good to be different - right? First of all, I use the Nikon D3100 with a standard 18-50mm lens. It's a fairly cheap camera and there are certainly better ones out there (at a much higher cost), but this has served me well and I'm extremely familiar with all the settings and features. I could probably take a photo with my eyes shut! Just so you know, it doesn't really matter which camera body you get as long as you get one with a standard size lens mount so you can get lots of different lenses to build up your camera kit. 

Timing. I tend to take my photos mid-morning or in the afternoon after the midday sun has started to lower in the sky. As I only use natural light for my photos, I've found that these are the best times to get well lit photos with minimal shadows. I never use flash and I urge you never to do so either. It creates glare and can ruin your photos! When taking my photos, I place whatever objects I'm taking in a well lit location onto of a self made backdrop (large sheets of thick paper) to keep my images looking bright and crisp. 

I shoot on manual. I always shoot on manual. I've shot like this for a while, as a professional photographer once advised me to do so and I've never looked back since! Shooting on manual allows you to adjust all of the settings on your camera to suit the lighting conditions at a time! I usually set my ISO to 100 and if the lighting isn't so great I go up to 200 - but never higher than that! If you shoot using high ISOs, you come out with a super grainy photo, so unless you're a concert photographer or are aiming for that effect - stick to a low setting! Shutter speed and aperture are probably the most important settings when it comes to taking any photo. You want to aim to have a shutter speed of around 1/125 to keep your photos completely in focus. This means that the shutter opened and closes pretty quickly, leaving you with lovely crisp images. Adjusting the aperture on your camera, adjusts how sensitive the sensor is to light. A low aperture, lets lots of light into the camera and a high aperture leaves out the light and gives you dark images. It helps to think about it as a 24 hour clock. At 9.00 (e.g low aperture of f/6.3), it is light and bright and at 21:00 (e.g hight aperture of f/22) it is pitch black dark! 

I take my images in a JPEG+Raw file format. Saving a 'Raw' file helps in that if you completely mess up with your camera settings, but have taken a well composed image - you can go into Photoshop (and some other editing programs) and change your camera settings HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! You can essentially go back in time and alter how you shot your photos! MAGIC! 

Manual focus. As well as shooting on a manual setting, it is also important to focus your DSLR manually. Although it takes more time and effort - the results can often be so much better! You can play around with the focus to add depth to your photos, it always looks nice to have some bits out of focus on purpose. 

I hope this post has helped some of you! If there's anything that you feel I haven't covered - please let me know and I'll get back to you or if there's a lot of topics to cover I'll include them in another blog post! Oh and if you have any tips of your own, feel free to share them in the comments to help each other out!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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My Blogging Game and How I'm Upping It

Hi Friends! Until the start of August, I was having a little bit of a blogging slump. We all have them from time to time. We just fall out of love with blogging and it often feels like we are never going to enjoy it again. Now I am by no means an expert, or a 'professional' blogger, but I'd thought I'd share with you the things I'm trying to do to up my blogging game. 

Routine

I have been making quite a few changes to how I run my blog and during August, my stats were through the roof! The thing that I feel has helped the most is that I have started to follow a proper blogging schedule. For the last year or so, I have published once or twice a week but with no set days or times. Since coming up with a schedule and actually sticking to it, people know when to expect new content and will head over when the have a spare moment. Before I didn't see how this would make a difference to my stats, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much it did! 

Photos

I'm very much a visual person, so photography is one of the most important things. One of the main reasons I click on a blog post is because of its photography. I've always received such lovely feedback from you all when it comes to my photography. But I was beginning to feel a bit bored of my usual flat lays. So I've been mixing it up lately and varying my shots with different angles and compositions. And as far as I can tell you're liking it!

Social media

Over the last month, I have been spending a lot more time promoting my blog posts on social media. When I first starting blogging I was terrified of sharing my blog posts incase friends found out and made fun of me. But, now I've got to the point where don't care who knows! I've recently made a Facebook page and I've got into sharing my blogs images on Pinterest. This has really helped me share my posts with so many more people and another thing that I think has had a big impact on my stats. 

Forward planning

I'm a big one for planning and organisation. And when it comes to my blog I am no different. I like to plan my blog posts well in advance. The lovely Rhianna of Robowecop recently shared how she keeps organised with blogging and she noted that she uses a spreadsheet to keep track of her posts. I'd never thought of doing this and since starting, I have found it so much easier to know what I have to do to get a post out. 

Using my stats

Using my stats to find which posts work best has helped me understand which of my posts are most popular with my readers. Since doing this I have had 4 (I know, I can't believe it either!) consecutive posts on the Bloglovin popular page under the beauty category and they were all up their for over a week!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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How To Gain Blog Followers and Page Views

Hi Friends! First things first, I'd like to apologise for the irrelevant photo (I like flowers ok?), and the slightly misleading title - I'm not going to reel off a list of things that will be a given way to drive up followers. But I am going to give a few suggestions on how you may be able to say hello to a few new (and hopefully returning) faces. 

Get yourself out there
This is a phrase I like to use an awful lot on my blog, and it seems only fitting to include it here. How are you supposed to attract new readers when you don't put yourself out there! Try sending emails to other bloggers asking if you could guest post on their blog. If they agree, it will put your content out to a whole other audience and some of them may really like your style!

Followers are real people too
They want engaging content, fresh ideas and something that makes your blog worth reading. So before you worry about building up the follower count, start focusing on putting out some kick-ass content. Usually, bringing in fresh new content attracts new readers! I recently read somewhere, that blog posts should be at least 300 words long in order to stimulate readers and optimise results on search engines such as Google. 

Create a brand for yourself
Try and make your social media handles the same as your blog title so readers can easily find follow you across multiple platforms. For example my Instagram handle is @charlottesophiaroberts which is clearly the same as the title of my blog. Totally not a plug ;) If only Twitter allowed a couple for characters so my Twitter handle could be the same!!

Be social
If you haven't already, go create yourself an account on pretty much every social media platform you can think of. Every time you publish a new blog post, share a link with an interesting caption instead of the cliché "NEW POST…". Give other bloggers feedback on their posts and interact with your followers. It gives a more personal touch, which a lot of people like! If you really want to make an effort, take part in the various Twitter chats (such as #bbloggers or #bdib) throughout the week. You meet so many likeminded people, and sometimes they even become readers!

Analyse
Something I have been really trying to work on recently, is using Google Analytics to keep an eye on the interests of my readers. As far as I know it only works on the Blogger platform; but it is able to tell you exactly who reads your blog, what their interests are and how many return regularly. I must stress that occasionally looking at your stats isn't enough, you need to take into account what they tell you! If the majority of your readers want beauty, post more beauty related content! 

Read
Why would people read your blog if you aren't willing to read blogs yourself? Read others' posts and take inspiration! You never know where an idea for a post could come from! As well as simply reading posts, you can show further support for others' blogs by leaving nice comments. As well as making someone's day, you may even get a few page views from other commenters!

Links
Leave your links everywhere! Within reason of course! Don't go around Twitter sending random people your link, but DO make sure you have a link in all of your description boxes. When it comes to your actual blog, make sure to include links at the bottom of each post (I've had a big increase in Bloglovin' followers since I started to do this!) - as well as being dotted around all over your site.

Thats all from me for now, but if you have any tips of your own - make sure you leave them below!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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