Posted on by Caroline · 29 Comments

I’ve been nominated for the Versatile Blogging Award (I can’t believe it!)

the-versatile-blogger-award

Thank you so much to Christine.B for nominating me. Check out her blog here – you won’t regret it! Her musings are passionate, funny, inspiring and quirky and you might even catch a glimpse of her gorgeoussss dog in a photo or two!

So! What’s this versatile blogging malarkey all about? Telling you seven things about myself of course – what? Wasn’t it obvious? (It really wasn’t…)

So here are seven things about me you probably didn’t know (and if you did you must be psychic or a mindreading stalker – ooo a mindreading stalker that’s a scary thought!)

Just for the hell of it I’m gonna number each one in spanish (don’t ask me why…)

Numero Uno – I love to run! I run 4 miles at least three times a week! It’s my favourite exercise because I can get up into the hills, run off road through the fields and just be completely alone with my thoughts. It’s a fantastic way to work out kinks in my book and also time to just escape from the world for a while. #bliss

Dos – I was brought up as a vegetarian and have never eaten meat! I bet that one made you pause haha. I get a lot of questions about this one because many people simply can’t believe I’ve gone my whole life without tasting the meatyness of meat but oh well! Doesn’t bother me XD

Tres – I live in the most quaint, quintessentially English town you could ever imagine! It’s famous for being the home of Winston Churchill and tourists flock here all year round! The town hosts all kinds of old fashioned events on the green from wartime fairs with a real life warhorse descendent called Hercules who pulls his own carriage (including bringing santa to town at christmas!)

The view from my window
The view from my window

Cuatro – I’m an adventurer and thrill seeker at heart. Every year I jet set off on my own to a foreign land and pack as much sightseeing, hiking, and adrenalin activities in as I physically can. I aim to see the world one holiday at a time!

So far I’ve trekked the great wall of china, skydived, scuba dived, bungy jumped and rode an elephant bareback in Thailand, crossed the southern states of the USA from LA to New York camping all the along the way from winning in Vegas, trying my hand at a shooting range in Texas (apparently I’m a natural!), riding in a helicopter over the Grand Canyon, horse riding on a ranch in Utah, dining with the native americans in Monument Valley, lived it up in New Orleans, cycling around Washington DC in a desperate plight to visit every museum, white house and monument in town, running up the Rocky steps in Philadelphia and sightseeing in New York. This year I’m flying to Australia where I will be travelling alll the way round woohooo! Adventure is in my soul! And that’s why I love to write it too!

Me on the Great Wall of China
Me on the Great Wall of China

Cinco – I drive a Mini Cooper (I know, I know I’m the most english person that ever lived right?) I love driving and have actually been congratulated on my parallel parking by several onlookers on various occassions! ( If you saw where I have to park every day and seen the pubload of afternoon drinkers in front of me while I do it, I think you’d agree I cope pretty damn well under pressure!)

Seis – I’ve been single for four solid years! *gasp* – No, seriously! And I’ve loved every minute of it! I’ve learnt to become independent, live on my own, travel alone and be comfortable with just being alone. One of my favourite quotes that sums up a period of singledom is this:

“Appreciate being single because that’s when you grow the most. And with that growth, you come to know what you’re looking for.”  – Daniel Goddard

This just says it all...
This just says it all…

Siete – And last but not least I’m a bit of a zombie fantatic! I often have intense dreams (nightmares???)  about surviving a zombie apocalypse! My favourite tv show is The Walking Dead and I recently bought tickets to the first ever walkerstalker convention coming to London and the cast are all gonna be there! (For fans of TWD – Norman Reedus just signed up and I’m peeing my pants with excitement!) and to give you an idea of how crazy I and those I’m going with are….we are dressing up – oh yes! I have literally seen every zombie film and tv show ever made and like to think I have a pretty good idea of what to do if zombies come to town…

So there you are! I may have put you off me for life or (hopefully) given you a bit of reasonably interesting info about me that momentarily distracted you from that paint drying on the wall!

Thanks for reading!

Here are my seven nominees:

1) Phantomwriter

2) Candice

3) S.W.Lothian

4) Jacobmet

5) Tasha

6) DileepSankhla

7) Miss Benison

Posted on by Caroline · 24 Comments

How to Gain Interest in Your Blog

I’ve been asked to do a blog post on this to provide a little advice on how to get followers for your blog (I’m very flattered don’t you know!)

So here goes!

I think there are five main really important strategies to help gain interest in your blog and you need to be doing all of them to stand a real chance of getting lots of followers:

1) Engaging with the Blogging Community 

One of the best ways to gain interest in your blog is to be interested in other blogs! Search through blogs that are tagged with subjects that you’re interested in and which you personally blog about yourself. One of my personal favourites is the YA tag. It’s a broad subject and there are loads of blog posts relevant to me! So spend time following other blogs, as well as liking and commenting on them to start conversations with your fellow bloggers. The more time you spend looking at other blog posts and engaging with them, the more you’ll see people taking the time to look at your own blog!

2) Writing Interesting Blog Posts 

It seems obvious but your blog posts have to be a great read otherwise why would anyone read it? (I mean, would you spend your time reading about watching paint dry? Maybe you would……maybe that’s what you’re into!)

Spend time thinking up things you could blog about but also use techniques such as lists, bullet points and pictures to grab people’s attention.

3) Tagging Your Posts Correctly 

Don’t tag every word you can think of that might vaguely relate to your blog. Be specific and tag only appropriate words. A good rule is to never tag more than ten words then you will be reaching a more specific demographic of people who will want to read your posts in the future.

4) Blogging Regularly 

You don’t need to blog every day but you should aim to write one or two a week minimum to keep interest in your blog. Consistency is key!

5) Having Fun 

Enjoy blogging! Have fun with your posts – experiment and see what works! I’ve found some of my quirkier posts to gain a lot of interest so I try to use that style regularly because I know they work. 
Tip – don’t link your blog website when you comment on other people’s post. If you’re truly interested in what they have to say then comment honestly on their writing and they may decide to look at your blog and follow you back. If not, don’t sweat it! There’s plenty more bloggers in the blogging sea!