Business, Blogging
Lauren Hooker
40 Ways to Use Adobe Illustrator to Improve ...

Adobe Illustrator is my go-to software for anything and everything design-related. It's the one program I truly couldn't work without.

And while it's easy to assume that the program's primary focus is illustration based on the name, there is so much more to this design software. 

With tools for type, color, photo cropping, image tracing, drawing, and much more, it has innumerable benefits for bloggers and business owners, alike.

To get your creative gears turning, here's a look at 40 ways Adobe Illustrator can take your blog and/or business to the next level.

40 Ways to Use Adobe Illustrator to Improve Your Blog and Business
Blogging, Business, Branding, Design
Lauren Hooker
How to Create Eye-Catching Blog Post Graphics

First impressions are crucial, especially in business.

Potential customers and clients make judgments about your business within the first few seconds of coming into contact with it, whether it’s through your website, your social media accounts, or a simple blog post graphic.

And those initial thoughts - whether they’re spot on or far off from what you want them to be - are within your control. You have the opportunity to make a killer first impression through high-quality, branded visuals.

If your blog is a large part of your business or you’re hoping to drive more traffic back to your site through your blog, you have to have eye-catching blog graphics to not only generate a positive first impression, but to encourage readers to share your posts on sites like Pinterest and be seen by an even wider audience.

So how do you create eye-catching blog post graphics? And better yet, how can you set them apart so they’ll stand out from the rest and be recognized time and time again?

How to Create Eye-Catching Blog Post Graphics
Business, Visual Marketing
Lauren Hooker
40 Easy, Engaging Video Content Ideas for Your ...

“When I discovered YouTube, I didn’t work for 5 days.” - Michael Scott

Video platforms like YouTube (and more recently, Periscope) are easily the world’s greatest time-wasters. We’ve all been guilty of losing track of time on YouTube at least once, because videos are easily consumable, very addicting, and highly entertaining.

As a matter of fact, studies show that a whopping 78% of us watch videos online every week and 55% watch videos online every day.

Which is why Youtube is also the world’s greatest overnight-success-maker. If you’re on the production-side of a video and you’ve come up with a clever idea, you might just have a viral hit on your hands.

Video holds a lot of potential for interaction, engagement, and shares for creative businesses. And for that reason, it’s one of the best visual marketing tools you can use.

But it producing videos can be a little overwhelming, can’t it? Even with helpful video tools out there like Animoto, many of us struggle to come up with simple ideas for video content that would appeal to our audience. 

And that’s where this post comes in. I’ve rounded up 40 easy, engaging video content ideas to help get your creative gears turning. My hope is that you’ll find a few ideas to implement and as a result, bring your business more exposure.

40 Easy, Engaging Video Content Ideas for Your Creative Business
Business, Visual Marketing
Lauren Hooker
Why You Should Be Using Infographics for Your ...

If you’re looking for a good way to kill at least an hour of your time, type in the word “infographic” in the Pinterest search bar.

Thousands of clever graphics will pop up on everything from “how to make a salad taste awesome” to a baby’s first year in a review. There’s even an infographic that answers the pressing question, “Is your dog sleeping a little too much?”

Then, after you’ve admired the genius creativity behind them, take a gander at how many repins and likes each of those infographics receives. Thousands upon thousands.

In fact, infographic volumes have increased by over 800% in 2 years. Publishers who use infographics grow in traffic an average of 12% more than those who don’t. 

What is it about infographics that makes them so appealing? And better yet, how can you come up with some clever infographics for your business so it gains more exposure through likes and shares?

I have all the answers for you in this post.

Why You Should Be Using Infographics for Your Business (And How to Create Them)
Blogging
Lauren Hooker
How to Create Catchy Headlines

Is your headline the first thing you consider when you sit down to write a post?

Probably not, but creating a catchy blog post title is one of the most important aspects of each blog post. It's the gateway to your content; it convinces people to click or scroll right past your latest post'. 

In fact, studies show that 8 out of 10 people will read your headline but only 2 out of 10 will read your entire post. 

Here are a few pointers for drawing in potential readers and a couple "templates" to help you create a catchy headline for your upcoming posts. 

How to Create Catchy Headlines

Blogging

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Setting Up Google Analytics in Squarespace

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Setting Up Google Analytics in Squarespace

If you've been following along with the Elle & Company newsletter, you've probably noticed the large role that website statistics have played in our business.

Although numbers aren't everything, analytics help us set and track goals for this blog by seeing which sites our traffic comes from, which posts receive the greatest amount of interaction, and how long visitors are staying on our site.

While Squarespace provides a great overview of site statistics through their metrics, Google Analytics provides a more in-depth look. Thankfully, Squarespace easily syncs up with Google Analytics, and today Jake's walking you through the set up. 

How to Create High Quality Content

How to Create High Quality Content

If you’ve been following Elle & Company for any length of time, this won’t be the first time you’ve heard me talk about high quality content. I use that term often around here for one primary reason: it has the potential to revolutionize your blog and business.

I’m living proof of this. A year ago I was struggling to find my niche and my voice on the Elle & Company blog. It wasn’t until I had a few revolutionary breakthroughs and started to focus on high quality content that things began to pick up. 

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To Leslie: 3 Reasons Why We Focus More on Site Traffic Than Our Email List

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To Leslie: 3 Reasons Why We Focus More on Site Traffic Than Our Email List

In the past couple weeks, several people have reached out to me with the same question I received from Leslie a couple days ago:

Hi Lauren, You may have addressed this in a post already, but is it your priority to increase the traffic on your site versus building your email list? If you've talked about this before... please point me to it. Love your work and wisdom! - Leslie

First, thank you Leslie! This is a great question, especially since many successful business owners and bloggers are stressing both the importance of increasing web traffic and building an email list. And while both of them are extremely important, you're correct in noticing that for Elle & Company, we put more time and effort into growing our blog audience. Here's 3 reasons why. 

How to Create SEO-Rich Content

How to Create SEO-Rich Content

If you ask 100 people about SEO, you might get 100 different answers. And frankly, it all depends on what you're trying to accomplish through your blog or website. We can relate to the uphill battle of trying to get your content in front of countless people through search engines, so today Jake and I are partnering together to share how you can create content that will rank higher in search engine results. 

25 Things I've Learned from Blogging 5 Days a Week

25 Things I've Learned from Blogging 5 Days a Week

Although I've been blogging for over 3 years now, I've learned the most about blogging over the past 6 months. I've never poured this amount of time and energy into a project, and I spend at least 3 hours each day preparing content for this space. It's been trying, rewarding, and exciting seeing this blog grow over the past several months, and I love sharing what we've learned with other creatives and entrepreneurs. Blogging has become fundamental to our business, and Jake and I can't stress the importance of it enough.

Today I'm sharing 25 of the biggest things we've learned since we took a more serious approach to blogging last November. I hope that these insights might help you with your own blog and save you all of the trial and error that we've had to go through!