Hi friends! I’m back with another “The Good Things” list! This week I’m linking up with Natalie over at Natalie the Explorer and her weekly Weekend Coffee Share. I have some favorite things that I’m either using or that is happening here on the homestead and I am excited to share those with you!
Treat Yourself
- Every once-in-a-while you’ve got to treat yourself. And I did just that. If you’ve read this post and this post, you’ll see I’ve alluded to something special that I bought myself. And friends, the wait is over. I bought myself a new-to-me camera! I started with a Nikon d3100 and then upgraded to the Mister’s Nikon d300s. And I wanted to buy myself a new lens but when we were discussing it, a new camera came up for discussion. The camera is used and I bought it through Adorama, one of the more well known camera shops in New York City. Anyway, I bought myself the Nikon d610 and what a great camera it is! It’s full frame and I’m loving it.
Having Fun
2. I’ve been having fun with that camera and my vintage scrabble tiles. My engagement has been super low over on social media so I thought I would just throw caution to the wind and start having a little bit of fun making these scrabble tile ‘flat lays’. I’m not sure if that’s what you would call it or not, since I’m not up on the lingo, but I try to come up with a cute saying and then find things around the house to style along with the tiles. I’m having fun and loving it, even if Instagram is not. These styled photos are not something that comes naturally to me but I’m enjoying the process and how it is stretching me creatively.
Which brings me to another topic that I want to discuss very quickly. I think I’ve been focusing on the wrong part of my online presence. I think I say this a lot, but I really want the focus to be here on the website so I’m going to start shifting everything to the blog and website. I have a few more updates to make and some posts that I want to do so look for those items in the next few weeks. I think it will be fun. Do you concentrate more on your blog or your social media? I know social media can drive traffic to your website, but I don’t think that happens as often as ‘they say it does’. At least for me. If you have tips and tricks, I’m all ears!
Book Discussion
3. Speaking of adding things to the website, if you read my last post you’ll know that I added the book discussion to the website. I don’t know why I didn’t think to do that before! I even gave it a cute name (or at least I think it’s a cute name!). We’ll still meet via zoom and I’ll still advertise over on social media, but the info will be housed here on the website. I’m looking forward to seeing where the discussion goes. We had a great discussion last week for our February meeting. I hope you’ll join me!
Photo Project
4. And finally, you might recall me mentioning that I’ve been working on a photo project for my friend’s rental apartment and how hard of a time I was having. Then I borrowed an external flash and that did the trick. I wanted to share two of my favorite photos that I took. I’ll share more with you later. I still have to get the photos to my friend (she’s seen these two so I’m not showing anything that she hasn’t already seen).
I think that’s it for this week friends. I’m really looking forward to the future of my website and my business. I have a lot of things that I’m working on and I hope a few of those things work out! Tell me what you’ve been up to recently and if there’s anything on your ‘good things’ list that I need to know about.
’til next time
-k
xoxo
Tracy
Hi Kristin – personally I LOVE your Instagram posts! But I agree: build your kingdom on your own real estate (your website) and not in a rental (social media). I mean, yes, social media IS an excellent form of marketing and introducing yourself to new people, but I think the goal should be to always bring people back into your site. (My two cents.) By the way, if you have Google Analytics installed (it’s free), you can track how much traffic is coming from your social media channels. I highly recommend installing it! Here’s a sample from my last week’s traffic to GCER:
Traffic Channels (All users, new and returning):
Organic Search: 72.73%
Social: 12.99%
Direct: 11.69%
Referral: 2.60%
Social traffic source breakdown:
Facebook: 84% of social traffic (avg session duration is really good, with multiple pages!)
YouTube: 12% of social traffic
Pinterest: 4% of social traffic
So, IG isn’t even coming up for me… but I love IG, so I will stay there. FB I’m not the biggest fan of, but clearly it’s my main source of social traffic AND people who come from FB are on average visiting multiple pages: excellent for showing worth to search engines like Google.
Links to use? (We use StudioPress, so our set-up is different.) But these might be helpful. There is a free version of MonsterInsights plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/
and then there is:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-install-google-analytics-in-wordpress/
Hopefully those will help!
NOW, to the fun stuff! Gorgeous photos! Congrats on your new-to-you camera! They are beautiful pics. You are really growing in your expertise! 🙂
chickenlibrarian
My stats look something like that too Tracy! I get most of my social media traffic from Facebook. But even FB traffic has slowed down recently. I think I was shadow banned on IG and I wonder if it affects FB too? So it’s actually been good for me because I get all caught up in those darn numbers on IG and having things slow way down (45 likes out of 1300+ followers) has helped me realize that I expend a lot of energy on social media and that I could be using that energy for other things, like my website. And yes, I totally agree that those other outlets should all be pointing back here to the website. So that’s where I’m at. Spend my time here, then do a shout out over on social to point people back here. And if it works, great. If not, no harm done. I like my little scrabble tile styled shots so I’mma gonna keep doing it! haha.
I’ll look into the links you shared! I guess sometimes I don’t really know what to do with those stats. I should really start paying attention to them and figuring out what all those numbers mean.
Interestingly enough, I just looked at my social acquisition from 2/1-2/20 and 98% is from Facebook. The other 2% is from Pinterest! Nothing from Instagram. Why am I still so bothered by Instagram when NONE of my traffic is from there. Sheesh! That is a real eye opener for me. I’m going to sit with that information for a minute.
PS The spam machine ate your posts. That’s why you didn’t see them. They ate one of Steph’s a couple of weeks ago and I just found it. I’ll keep my eye on that pesky spam folder. Although it does save me a LOT of trouble since I get a LOT of spam comments.
Tracy
Sorry for the double commenting posts! (Those pesky spam folders, yes?)
You know what? Something just occurred to me… I Googled: “does instagram show up as facebook traffic in google analytics” and apparently there’s a lot of info out there. (It hit me with FB owning IG, maybe there was a reason IG never showed.) I’m not going to wade through it today – or even anytime soon. BUT, food for thought, eh?
Also, I’m using linktr.ee on IG now, so I wonder if that’s a referral vs a social delivery? *shrugs*
Okay, off to go create a video! LOL! 😀
chickenlibrarian
That is some good food for thought. It’s interesting that I have IG stats from January but not February. I wonder if something did change and it’s now lumped in with FB or with linktree. I also use linktree, but I do sometimes get Google Analytics from instagram (but not linktree. I don’t think?).
Anyway, I’m not sure I’m going to waste any more time thinking about it. Honestly I just want to be here on the website and teaching my classes. I’ll rethink how I use my social media (as in look more locally rather than broadly. I think this has been a huge issue…looking too far beyond my immediate area. But that’s a discussion for a different day).
Thank you for your ‘food for thought’! I always enjoy ‘chewing’ on a topic and seeing where it takes us!
Tracy
(Either this is going to be submitted twice, or the interwebz just ate my comment. Luckily, I saved a copy. Ha! Here it is and maybe again. If the latter, sorry!)
Hi Kristin – personally I LOVE your Instagram posts! But I agree: build your kingdom on your own real estate (your website) and not in a rental (social media). I mean, yes, social media IS an excellent form of marketing and introducing yourself to new people, but I think the goal should be to always bring people back into your site. (My two cents.) By the way, if you have Google Analytics installed (it’s free), you can track how much traffic is coming from your social media channels. I highly recommend installing it! Here’s a sample from my last week’s traffic to GCER:
Traffic Channels (All users, new and returning):
Organic Search: 72.73%
Social: 12.99%
Direct: 11.69%
Referral: 2.60%
Social traffic source breakdown:
Facebook: 84% of social traffic (avg session duration is really good, with multiple pages!)
YouTube: 12% of social traffic
Pinterest: 4% of social traffic
So, IG isn’t even coming up for me… but I love IG, so I will stay there. FB I’m not the biggest fan of, but clearly it’s my main source of social traffic AND people who come from FB are on average visiting multiple pages: excellent for showing worth to search engines like Google.
Links to use? (We use StudioPress, so our set-up is different.) But these might be helpful. There is a free version of MonsterInsights plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/
and then there is:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-install-google-analytics-in-wordpress/
Hopefully those will help!
NOW, to the fun stuff! Gorgeous photos! Congrats on your new-to-you camera! They are beautiful pics. You are really growing in your expertise! 🙂
Susanne
I absolutely put most focus on my website(s), and only use Twitter to share my blog posts, and for connections and chats. Twitter is the only social media site I really use. I hate Instagram and I’m there only on an account I share with my husband, and I recently closed my Pinterest account because I didn’t use it. I use Facebook for certain groups only, and for certain friends and family. Social media changes all the time, while I’m the only person who makes decisions over my website. I used to like Instagram ok but now they’ve made it so cluttered and every second post is an ad… so no.
External flashes ROCK for photography! I just learned last spring that the super tiny flash that came with my camera can be used as a trigger for my other flash, and that has sort of revolutionised my photography, although I haven’t used it much lately. Perhaps I should start experimenting with it again!
chickenlibrarian
Ah! Thank you for this Susanne! I needed to hear other people’s opinions on social media and their blogs/websites. I say this all the time, but I want to spend more time here on my website but then put all my efforts into social media and forget to tell people about my website. It’s a vicious circle. haha. Chicken Librarian is a business so I think I need to use social media, but I have to find a better way to use it so I’m not neglecting this space. I love this space! Every time I sit down to write a post or respond to comments or just do some ‘behind the scenes’ work, I just feel at peace. Not the same with social media!
Anyway, photography! The external flash is such a dream to use. And my new-to-me camera is so, so nice. I literally can’t put my camera down! I can’t imagine what random shots will show up on here now! haha.
Thanks for stopping by!
Susanne
Ah. Business. I’m fully aware it’s needed, and also that later on I can’t escape from social media anymore because I’m studying graphic design and want to freelance with it. Maybe it’s enough with a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a good word from local people. Well, we’ll see.
Whatever you do with social media, always point everything back to your website. Use social media to connect with clients and potential clients, but all content should point back to your website. Just my two cents as a social media hater, lol!
Enjoy your flash and new camera! I’m waiting for a new lens, and was very upset when I received the news that the shop (that is in Dublin) had to order it from the UK so now I have no idea when I’ll have it. But I sure will enjoy it to the fullest when it arrives.
chickenlibrarian
Yes! That makes total sense…point everything back here. And focus on the more local aspect of it. I just have to remember to do that! I’m pretty much a social media hater too. I’m actually taking a little bit of a break from it at the moment. I think I got shadow banned on Instagram because of how I use it. They must think I’m a bot so they shadow ban you and then your engagement goes down. That, or people just don’t like what I’m putting out there. And that’s okay too. So, I will try to keep this in mind as I move forward-point back to the website!
I hope your lens comes sooner rather than later! I can’t wait to see the pics! What camera do you use? And what lens are you waiting on? Your photography is so beautiful!! That picture from Cork was just perfect!
Susanne
I use an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, when I first bought mirrorless I just bought the cheapest prime lens that existed because I wanted a lens with good low light capabilities, but I didn’t know what length I needed, so I just took what was cheap and that was a 25 mm (equivalent to 50 mm on a full frame camera) and it’s a very good lens but lately I’ve realised I need a shorter lens as a walk-around lens. I have a 12 mm wide angle too but that’s often too short and it’s very heavy and expensive, so I want to use it primarily for special events, so now I’ve bought a Panasonic/Leica 15mm f1.7, it’s super tiny and will probably suit most things I do and it will be perfect for street photography and everyday things. I wanted to do a photos series of Irish pubs and this lens will be perfect for that. Post-pandemic, that is.
chickenlibrarian
Ah! Well, I don’t know much about photography and cameras but I’ve heard mirrorless is all the rage. I feel like I live under a rock with just upgrading to a full frame. But it really has been a gamechanger! I love exploring how it works. I do need to have a good sit down with a couple of tutorials online and really figure out what all it does. I’ve gotten the basics down (where’s the white balance controls, ISO, modes, etc. etc). I’ve been using my 50mm, 1.8f and that’s been working really well. I wanted a different lens that would do most things but decided to put that off until I see how the new camera works for me with the lens we already own. I used the wide angle lens to shot the pictures for my friends apartment and that was fun! I hope you get to shot the pubs one day. That sounds like a really fun project!!
Erica/Erika
Nice to meet you Kristen, I have been browsing your fun and interesting blog site. I have also followed you on Instagram now. I have always wondered about first hand experiences with used cameras. Like you say, it is a great camera. Your photos are wonderful! I have heard about using an external flash. Thank you for sharing a fun post. 🙂 Erica
chickenlibrarian
Thank you Erica! My husband was always the photographer until I picked it up a few years ago. He has bought several used cameras online. Mostly from the ‘big’ camera stores in New York City: adorama, B&H. They usually have great reputations on doing a great resale business. There is a limited warranty (for 30 days) so I will be putting the camera through its paces for the next few weeks. And I highly recommend the external flash if you are shooting in low light situations, such as my friend’s rental apartment. It really did the trick! Thanks for stopping by!
Natalie
Good to see you having fun with your newly acquired camera and book discussion. I focus on my blog which is ad-free and award-free. I don’t blog to generate an income. #WeekendCoffeeShare
chickenlibrarian
I’m of the mindset to keep my blog/website ad free as well. Chicken Librarian is my business so I do want to generate an income, just not from ads and such. I guess I struggle with if social media is necessary to drive people to the website. According to those google stats, it doesn’t always seem necessary. Anyway, I guess it’s just one of life’s great mystery questions!
Nicole
Congrats on the new camera! I’ve been eyeing a new lens for quite a while but it’s pretty pricey so I’ve been putting it off. I definitely focus more on my blog (mostly because it takes me more time to put together posts and stuff) I try to post pictures from my blog to my Instagram but I don’t post as often as I probably should. I’ll post to my stories more often, but I try to keep my Instagram feed more for ‘nice’ pictures. Your scrabble tile flat lays are so fun! I don’t have very many followers on my blog or Instagram, but I know my blog has driven more traffic to my Instagram than Instagram has driven to my blog.
chickenlibrarian
This sounds a lot like what I’m experiencing as well. I’ve been really thinking about how to structure everything and I think I’ve come up with a solid plan. I’ll give an update on that soon. Oh, I also think using IG stories is the ‘thing’ to do nowadays. And I totally agree that the website is the place to be.
I’m really enjoying the new camera! I think I might get outside today and see how it does with the snow (as in taking pictures of the snow). I’m really excited though. Let me know if you decide to get the new lens. What camera do you use? I’m always curious what other people use and how it works for them!
Daenel T.
Congratulations on your camera. Your photography has really take off. The images from your friend’s rental space is beautiful. I can’t wait to see the rest.
Honestly, I want to take a social media break but since I run the school’s social media, I can’t. I guess I could just stop using mine…
chickenlibrarian
Aww! Thank you Dani! You are so sweet. I really feel like the new camera has taken me to the next step. This is the first time I really want to get to know my camera. I had started getting to know the d300s recently and that was helping (who knew that you could change the flash settings, the white balance settings, and all kinds of other things. LOL).
I think taking social media breaks are important. I’m taking a little one this week to regroup. I’ve come up with a new plan and will work on implementing it soon. I think part of me feels guilty for trying to sell my brand and push people to my website. But I’m quickly realizing that I have to get over that and just do it.
Anyway, thanks for your words of encouragement. I do hope you get to take a break, at least from your personal accounts and refresh/recharge. It’s so important!
Steph - Elder Oaks Farm
I genuinely appreciate your shift to a more website-based approach strictly for my own selfish reasons haha. It has been really nice to still feel like I’m able to fully keep up with what you’ve got going on despite having gotten rid of my social media accounts. It was easy for me to get rid of social media because I don’t depend on it for a business. If I had a business that I was trying to promote I think things would be much different, but I think that the folks who have commented above have made really good points about directing everything back to your website. Proud of you!!
chickenlibrarian
Thank you Steph! I really appreciate you saying that. Sometimes I equate how ‘successful’ I am to how many people are commenting on my blog or social media. So it’s nice to know that someone really does like being in this space too. And I am grateful for that because I am really enjoying being here. I’m really enjoying this new found ‘freedom’ since I’ve let go of social media and using it in a more productive way. And I agree with you on the sound advice from everyone on this post! xoxo