Tag Archives: blogging

Every Blogger Has That One Place

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This post is tying together two elements of what is important to me: blogging and food.

a black laptop, a black notebook, black sunglasses, and an iced coffee

I think all creatives/bloggers like me have this “place” where they feel the most comfortable in to do their blogging, writing, or etc. As a blogger, it’s important for me to be in a place I know I can concentrate. Unfortunately, sometimes making an effort to blog at home doesn’t seem to get me very far because of distractions.

Lately there’s a coffee house/franchise that I been feeling extremely motivated and inspired whenever I walk through their doors. If you’ve been around the city, you may have noticed a lot of Caffe Bene’s are popping up everywhere, but there are a lot in Queens, New Jersey, and Brooklyn too.

I’ve been coming to the Bensonhurst location on 18th Avenue a lot, at least once or sometimes twice a week. The atmosphere is cozy, comfortable, and has the local, neighborhood vibe to it. There’s always an abundance of seats and tables available and outlets available to charge your electronic devices. Most of the customers at this location are high school student – 50-60+ year old.

Besides enjoying the complimentary WiFi and air conditioning/heat (for the cold seasons), I typically like to come here to get my blogging and Yelp reviews done on the weekdays I don’t have plans. I feel extremely motivated to just write and blog here and the wonderful scent of coffee and tea keeps me up and going. Most of the customers here come with their laptops, iPads, tablets too or to get homework done. It’s also a nice place to do group studying as there are a lot of communal tables. I also like that they play cafe/coffee house music, but I always prefer my Spotify music instead.

a panini and a drink with mint

Caffe Bene has a lot of beverages to choose from, sandwiches, waffles, and sweets. I’ve recently been addicted to their Portabella Sandwich which is super crunchy, delicious and well I love mushrooms. The food and drinks here are a little pricey, but the quality is good.

All in all, I really like coming to Caffe Bene to blog and write my Yelp reviews. I feel I accomplish a lot when I am here because I can trap myself in my music and in front of my laptop. I don’t know anyone here so there’s minimal distraction and I feel my inner creative spirit really comes out on blogging and writing when I am here.

Do you have a “one place” where you feel you do your best blogging/work? If so, why is it your “place”?

Why I fell in love with blogging

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While I’ve only been blogging formally for about 7 months now it didn’t take me long to realize that blogging was something I was extremely passionate about. Before blogging with The Buzz, I had only mediocre experience blogging, only attempting (and failing) at running my own blog while I was pregnant with my daughter and shortly there after. So when I was asked by a professor if I’d be interested in blogging for the school I was skeptical that I had what it took to be a blogger but my friends encouraged me to give it a shot. I sent in my material and hoped for the best and after an interview I was ecstatic that I’d gotten the position.

I quickly found that blogging for an already established medium was a lot easier than setting up my own blog from scratch. The Buzz was already in motion and already had regular bloggers who I’d be joining and peer editing with. The existing foundation and peer support made jumping into blogging an easy transition and it was really helpful having another set of eyes to look over my work before it went live. Having that additional support gave me confidence in my work and I quickly started promoting what I was doing and the amazing atmosphere of The Buzz itself. I did some research on promoting your brand and building an audience and I was amazed at the response I got.

It didn’t take long to fall in love with and look forward to my weekly posts, I often plotted them out weeks in advance when ideas came to me. I loved blogging because I felt that I had a forum to share my story, my wins and losses and share with or support other young women who’d been in my shoes. I felt like my words would have been a comfort to me had I come across them when I was struggling and I hoped that my words offered comfort to a young mom who was struggling or at a low point in her life. I was surprised however when I realized my blogs were reaching more than just moms and young women but that guys and even fathers were reading too!

The single proudest and heartwarming moment for me though was when a classmate sent me an email that he’d read one of my posts and it gave him the clarity he needed to work on his relationship that he’d previously felt he lost. I was stunned and honored that my words were that powerful to help someone and give him or her insight into a personal situation. It was from that evening on that I was sure I would dedicate myself to blogging in some way shape or form; I wanted my words, my experiences and my success to help motivate and inspire people to chase their dreams. I’m so thrilled to be back for the summer and I hope you’ll join me as I sketch out the steps I took in becoming a successful blogger.

Blogging Practices: Branding and Promoting Your Blog

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As a blogger,  your main responsibility is to create stellar content for your specific niche, regardless whether you joined the blogosphere in search of a casual hobby or to establish a serious business. Before your market and publicize your content, if you really want to hit it big with traffic or revenue, you have to view your blog and more importantly yourself as your brand.

Here are some tips and practices you can utilize in branding and promoting your blog:

  • Set Google and Twitter alerts for your blog’s name and keywords related to your blog and then join conversations as they happen.
  • Send direct messages to people who follow you on Twitter to strengthen your conversations and relationships with them.
  • Start a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram page or anything related to your niche

Examples:

a Facebook page about food

a Facebook page about food

  • Start guest posting. If you’re looking for an effective way to promote your blog, one of the best things you can do is start guest posting. Guest posting, or writing a blog post that will be featured on a different blog, is one of the best ways to expand your audience and begin to develop authority in an industry like here at The Buzz.
  • Create the top 10 list. Create “The Top Ten list” of brands or blogs that you want to model yourself or blog after. Either because they are a competitor, you share a space with them, or they are in your niche. Make sure that they are successful at what they are doing and someone you want to emulate. Refer back to this list whenever you need inspiration, have to make a decision or want to see how others have done it.
  • Put a link in your e-mail signature.

a business card of a food blogger "Jessica Deng"

  • Creating your own business card is a quick way to add to and strengthen your blog brand. Putting your logo and your colors on print materials will help when you travel, share, connect, and dream. Make sure that when you create your cards that you are comfortable with the information you put on them and keep them connected with you overall brand.
  • Use Pinterest. Believe it or not, I highly recommend using Pinterest because it has endless visuals that are surely going to spark some creativity or inspiration in you and there’s endless content on Pinterest for you to read, use, or emulate.
  • Attend networking events and/or conferences. There are many social media marketing events and blogging conferences available for you to attend where you can hear from influencers, meet other bloggers, and exchange business cards.

Hopefully you’ve found these tips helpful and took some notes. The next post will feature why I started blogging for The Buzz/Openlab.

Do you have any tips or tricks about how to promote a blog? 

Why I Started a Food Blog

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I started blogging at the age of 14 and I’ve been doing it for 14 years. As you already know I am an active Yelper and have been an Elite member since 2011. I started using Yelp mostly because my sister noticed I like to eat a lot and said I should start writing reviews and it’s from that moment on that I started Yelp in July 2010.

A few years ago I started blogging just about life, but then my boyfriend told me that I should start a food blog – a blog about all things related to food and I thought he was crazy because it requires a lot of sweat, time, creativity, and content. Also what could I possibly blog about? I didn’t know anything about starting a food blog until I did my research, read other food blogs, and attended  a few social media marketing conferences.

a screenshot of a blog page

I started food blogging about five years ago, but I didn’t develop my current food blog: Ambitious Eats until June 2013 when I decided to bring my social media marketing, photography, and writing experience together. I love food and I love to write and share my experience with food and restaurants with others. Food makes me happy and it’s my passion. Besides just eating, taking pictures of it and posting it on Instagram – I’ve always wanted to take it a step further and share my experience in words on blogging.

I’m not looking to be a food blogging superstar or to be as famous as The Pioneer Woman, but in five years I hope my food blog will have a domain name, redesign my blog layout, be invited as a guest to restaurants to sample and blog about them, attend more blogging conferences, and just really bring together my social media and blogging skills together. I also would love to include more recipes because I feel I don’t do that enough and I should.

Do you have a blog and what do you like to blog about?

 

What I Learned From Blogging on The Buzz

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Hi everyone! You probably know me best as the crazy, passionate foodie on The Buzz and you were probably looking forward to a blog post about food, well today’s post is going to be a little different. This is my last post with The Buzz as next semester is my last semester and I will need to take care of other obligations. I just want to take the time to reflect on how far I’ve come with food blogging on The Buzz and what I’ve learned.

  1. It’s been an honor to be a part of a team at City Tech particularly for blogging because I am passionate about blogging and I always love to meet other bloggers no matter age, sex, niche, major, and etc. Although I haven’t had much opportunity to meet the other bloggers because I go to school and work part-time, I still felt a connection.
  2. It was nice to show another side of me in front of City Tech, besides as a Hospitality student. I was able to share my love and passion for food and restaurants through The Buzz, something I haven’t been able to do too much of in my degree/department.
  3. I learned how to remain determined and motivated to stick to a blogging schedule and even though at times I had hundreds of topics I can blog about, it always came down to – what do I think everyone else would be interested in or what haven’t I blogged about yet?.
  4. I learned a lot from other students just by reading their blog posts and looking through their pictures they post. I really felt everyone’s creative juices coming together.
  5. One last item I am very fortunate about is to be able to build up my blogging/writing portfolio and I will have the opportunity to show it to future companies of the work I’ve done and how far I’ve come.

If your interested in keeping up with me and my food adventures, you can always read my food blog – Ambitious Eats or keep up with my Yelp reviews.  Thanks to everyone that has helped me and supported me while I was on The Buzz! It’s been a great pleasure to blog for this community.

For Future Openlab bloggers: If you ever need advice on starting a blog or blogging itself, you can contact me through school e-mail and etc. Most importantly when you blog for The Buzz, be yourself

Summer is FALLing into its Place

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a young woman with the words "Straight Outta Summer"

Model Amoni B, Photographer: Heaven Sent Photography, Overlay: straightouttasomewhere.com

 Welcome back students, faculty, staff and visitors. My name is Amoni B and its an honor to be blogging with City Tech for another semester. I hope all of my readers are enjoying their summer, whether you were traveling, learning in school, giving back to your community, splashing in water themed parks, visiting galas and museums, enjoying sport events like the US Open, dancing at the Labor Day parade, and even working. I must also shine light on the #BLACKLIVESMATTER movement. Although the years of damnation and recent events in the US and Dominican Republic aren’t much to smile about, I am happy that there is more awareness and even more self-embracing being spread.

Gallery above : Images of how me and my readers spent their Summer. 1. Stacey Brown celebrated her award with a meal 2. Lawrence Brown Paint-balled 3. Leona Brown-Straus is loved 4. Sam James worked construction 5. Leslie Brown posed in New Orleans on vacation 6. Steph Dashian attended a wedding 7. Genesis & Derek stayed cool 8. Amoni B takes flight 9. Stacey Brown went to the pool 10. Omari plays in the pool 11. Robin Pugh and Derek in the yard 12. The grill

Today I am spreading love. I love you all and hope you will enjoy my post to come. You can check out my past post here: Amoni B on The Buzz. In the future I will be covering events from fashion to being social responsible. I will also show some awesome DIY done in the past and future, because what’s better than being self-sufficient and awesome. And my readers can feel even more awesome when they give  back.

an illustration of a black hand and a white hand forming a heart shape

Heart Hands by TakeEverythingBack

Amoni, What is giving back?

Well, giving back is like paying it forward, a term used when one person helps another so that in return they help 3 others. Ways to pay it forward include helping others, donating your time, and building your neighborhood whither physically or by giving knowledge.  It helps your social growth, helps to spend your time wisely, and it makes you feel all warm inside. During the summer I traveled and participated and promotions and events. I also gave back by donating my time, donating my material and technology, helping people with their ideas and business forming, and participating in non-profit organizations, like Habitat for Humanity. On my downtime, and  if someone hasn’t already came to seek my help, I look for open opportunities to volunteer. Such opportunities can be found on volunteer.org, idealist.org, at your local schools and community center, or by looking up your favorite organizations. Hopefully this upcoming fall you can find time to spread the love as well.

Disclaimer: All information is solely my opinion and I am not being paid to promote organizations and companies mentioned in this post.

QUESTIONS FOR THE READERS: How did you spend your summer? | Do you volunteer? | What are some ways you give back/pay it forward? | What topics would you like to see me discuss? | What events would you like me to cover?