Your Blog, Images & Branding Tips from Rebekah Radice

Posted on August 5, 2014

It’s time for another Google Plus HoA Review as last Saturday I had the pleasure of co-hosting the Blogging Warfare show with Carolyn Capern as we interviewed Rebekah Radice! If you’ve been online for any time at all then odds are you’ve seen some of Rebekah’s content as she has racked up a staggering 15 million views on Google Plus alone. And, there is a reason why she has been so successful, she does things correctly. Buckle up, press play and find out what you should be doing to get on your path to 15 million views!!

Blog, Images and branding tips from Rebekah Radice – Blogging Warfare HoA Review

1.30: Carolyn – Tell us how you got started blogging?
Rebekah – started blogging in 2005 as a way to express herself and then the bug bit and has been blogging since.

3.30: Carolyn – Your focus is on social media and your own online entities but have you ever blogged about any other topics?
Rebekah – has 19 years experience in real estate and so has a monthly post for Neal Schafer of Maximise Social Business and other online real estate sites but the common thread is that they all have the social media and visual slant.

4.30: Rob –What would you say your break out moment was online or what was the catalyst for your success?
Rebekah – For bloggers there are multiple pivotal points but a lot of them are trial and error. What content really resonates with your audience? 2.5 years ago I stopped trying to speak to everyone but decided to zero in on my target market and also aimed to put out content regularly. The use of visuals and images to give a consistent look and feel has also helped, especially considering the impact shared images have on your social presences.

7.40: Rob – Knowing that people should focus on their customers how can they try get into their minds to better understand them? How do visuals tie in?
Rebekah – Probably the most critical piece that most bloggers miss – who are we talking to? The mom of a toddler for example is very different to the mom of teenager. Who is your target market? Who are you looking to have a conversation with? What might their day look like? What challenges are they dealing with that your product or service can make their life easier? Then, translate that into content that resonates with them. Take your knowledge and experience and put it into a format that your target audience will understand.

11.50: Carolyn – How can a busy business integrate images into what they do and what should be the highest priority for them?
Rebekah – what do you have more or? Time or money and which is more important to you? It could be a situation where graphics are helpful to your business but you might need to delegate if graphics aren’t your think or you’ve no time. Important to have your brand colours, font, style and tone in place so that all graphics can be consistent. Make sure you to know what your brand message is so that you can be consistent with it – especially in a visual format. Consider the feeling and emotion you want people to take away every time they see one of your images.

15.35: Jeff Sieh – How long did it take Rebekah Radice to come up with her own “look and feel”? (and, follow on question, what should people consider when choosing their look and feel?)
Rebekah – It was an evolution to really nail down the look and feel. The colours have been redesigned recently and since orange is one of the main colours on the blog it is one of the main colours for my brand as it represents me. Do some research into colour theory to get an idea of how colours may impact people but colour is a very personal thing. If it feels right for your brand then it’ll probably be right – don’t listen too much to what others says, take their advice but don’t let it drive you crazy. Also have a look at the colours your competition are using – maybe you can learn something from them. Important not to get too fancy with your fonts, keep it basic so that people can read it easily.

20.15: Basic Blogging Tips – How does Rebekah decide when she is going to use Canva vs PhotoShop?
Rebekah – I use PhotoShop for images that go along with blog posts and Canva on a daily basis for doing quick quote graphics or social media tips for sharing. All marketing materials are done using PhotoShop but Canva is the go to tool for social media graphics.

22.30: Carolyn – What are the pros and cons for bloggers using Instagram?
Rebekah – important to find the balance on Instagram as it’s more focused on social and personal share as opposed to business. Let them know about your blog in a conversational way and check out Jenn Hermann for how to use Instagram both personally and professionally. You can’t put links in updates but by having a link in your profile/bio then it’s easy for people to get to your content.

25.15: Tracee Wright – I want to start a blog and I hear the main thing is just to do it for fun and don’t worry about monetizing it right off the bat. Do you think that’s true?
Rebekah – Everyone has a different motivation so that could be true. For a lot of bloggers monetisation is top of their mind and if you want to monetise do it right out of the gate. If you have been giving away stuff for free and decide to monetise later then it might be hard to persuade people to give you money for what they had got for free. If you’re just blogging for fun then just enjoy it.

26.40: Rob – What are the key things that you do for blog monetisation? And what would you recommend people do?
Rebekah – Not much of an AdSense girl but building a list and a quality following has helped generate business. Believer in the fact that it’s more about quality over quantity. Be consistent in the content you’re putting out on your blog as the worst thing is losing steam. Social media allowed exponential growth.

30.30: Kristin Drysdale – Are infographics dead? What are the pros and cons of using infographics?
Rebekah – if you’re a blogger and using blogging to support your business then infographics aren’t dead. There are some infographics that shouldn’t have been created but there are lots of pros: can be informative, a great way to re-purpose content, very sharable, cost effective when you find the right graphic designer. Like everything else use, but don’t overuse.

33.35: Johanne Gagnon – I did a lot of WordPress and I need a change. What is the best blogging platform to use? WordPress or Blogger?
Rebekah – WordPress would be the number one recommendation as it’s so user friendly and now WordPress themes make it easy to get going right out of the box.
Rob – Also, if you use Blogger you don’t own your content outright and should you wish to migrate in the future it could be a lot of hassle.

35.30: Laura B Williams – What is your biggest and best tip you can give on how to keep the time spent on each blog post reasonable?
Rebekah – It’s a tough question as there are so many different pieces to it. It’s key to get an editorial calendar in place and stick to it. Look at the clients existing content and see what you can re-purpose, especially content that is evergreen. The time required is going to be dependent on the length of the piece but if you get into the right location and writing mode it can help you get content created efficiently. Having a timer or using the pomodoro technique (find out more about Pomodoro technique here) can help you stick within time limits and if you’re in a creative rut set it aside and then circle back.