Creating An Archive And Why Your Blog Should Have One

Since changing the focus of my blog to marketing and SEO for bloggers and creatives, I decided that I needed a good archive page to make sure my older posts don't get lost forever.

You'll notice on the navigation bar a page called 'Archive' this houses links to all of the labels I've used on my blog over the last few years and also categorises the posts into month and year. It's very similar to the blogger widget that used to grace my sidebar, but a lot nicer to look at. 

Having a blog archive never seemed too important to me until now, but there are a few reasons why you should think about creating your own unique archive page. 

It conveniently groups your posts by their label, allowing for an easy to navigate experience for your readers. Someone may stumble upon your blog and want to read more posts on that particular subject, if you make it easy for them to find it, they'll spend longer on your site, which will improve your sites bounce rate (the average time readers stay on your site). 

An archive can increase views on older posts. Sometimes a post you are really proud of can get lost or not receive the views it deserves. If it is archived correctly and is easy to find, its views could be greatly improved over time. Someone may have read the post when it first went live and wish to find it again to link to it or mention it on their social media, how terrible would it be if it was impossible to find?!

Increases your blogs credibility by showcasing its history. In the world of the internet today, there are blogs and websites popping up all over the place, so which one should you trust? By human nature, people will gravitate to sources with a firm history, if you can show that your blog or website has a long established history, you can gain a degree of credibility. 

Try and make your archives as visually engaging as possible, if your readers are looking for something in particular, their eyeballs want to to see a simple, easy to read archive. That is one of the main reasons why I designed my archive like I did, it's pleasing to the eye but simple to understand and navigate.

Have you given any thought to your blog or website archive? Do you find yourself looking in other sites archives to find relevant content? 

5 Ways To Breakout Of A Creative Drought

Ever since leaving school when I was 16, I have always known I needed to do something creative with my life. Since then, I've gone on to do courses in Audio Production, Media and a degree in Film Production. However, despite always dropping myself into the creative person category, I do have a lot of moments when creativity just isn't flowing like it should. 

It used to rear it's ugly head a lot in college and University, a lecturer would point their finger at me and say 'come up with an idea for...' and I'm sorry, but my brain does not work that fast, it freezes under pressure. One thing is important to remember though, creativity isn't something that just comes to you one day out of nowhere, it's like a river, it is constantly flowing. Your creative juices are there waiting to be released, but sometimes they need a little coaxing.

You may be sat at your computer screens or in front of your tablet or smartphone and not feel creative in the slightest. I'm here to tell you that right this second your brain is being creative, it's always thinking of something, even if you're not conscious of it. 

If you are stuck in a drought and desperate to tap into some of that infinite creativity lurking in the back of your mind, try these 5 ways to turn on your creative tap and get ideas flowing (see what I did there, drought metaphors).

• Create a mood board. Mood boards are a more visual way to brainstorm ideas, they tend to work best for designers, but they can be used for any kind of creativity. It's up to you how you create them, maybe you prefer to do it digitally via tools like PicMonkey or Picasa. Maybe you'd prefer a hard copy, in which case you can get a large sheet of paper and start sticking, or buy a scrap book. 

• Create a Pinterest board. I am forever creating Pinterest boards to inspire me. Not only does Pinterest provide visual inspiration but it's also a great way to find blog posts, a lot of bloggers now post their main post image to Pinterest, so it's definitely worth having a browse and seeing what you can find. 

• Take a trip somewhere new. It doesn't have to be a full on holiday to the Bahamas or Disney Land, it could be something as simple as visiting a new town or landmark. Living in Cheshire, I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by beautiful scenery and in close proximity to loads of landmarks and architecture. I always feel more inspired once I've explored a new location and it get's you out of the house and away from your computer. 

• Watch a visually stunning film. As a Film graduate and lover of beautiful cinematography, I gain a lot of inspiration from movies. It can be anything from Life of Pi (2012) to a more recent discovery The Fall (2006) (thanks to my current Lee Pace obsession). I always get inspired by the vivid colours, wide angles and epic film scores. Put on The Lord of the Rings soundtrack and tell me you don't feel epic.

• Create a calming playlist. Music is another medium that has the power to control mood and really tap into your subconscious. My love of discovering new music has allowed me to find some truly amazing songs and artists over the last few years. I love heading to Spotify to browse through the genre playlists and just listen to whatever pops up. Creating a calming playlist and just sitting and listening helps you to relax and when you are relaxed, your brain is relaxed and things flow more smoothly. 

The worst thing you can do when creativity just isn't flowing, is to force it and get yourself frustrated. By taking some time to yourself and time away from a project, you will find that things start to become a lot clearer. 

How do you get your creativity flowing? Are you guilty of getting frustrated when creativity just isn't playing ball? 

5 Ways to Stay Creative

I've always been a very creative person with a very creative family (my grandfather was a watercolour artist) so I find myself craving creative projects to work on. It can be hard, especially if you have a full time job, to find time to really express your creativity. It's all about 'making time', if you find yourself yearning for that creative outlet but have no time, make a space at some point in the day to sit down and do something creative. You could even trick yourself by making everyday tasks a bit more creative. 

Cooking - Get creative with your culinary skills, add in a few ingredients the recipe doesn't call for or spend a bit more time with the final displaying of your meal. Getting creative with food is one of my favourite things to do and it can also be a great way to start eating healthier. 

Instagram - If you're like me and love photography but rarely find time to actually get outside with your camera, get on Instagram and photograph your daily life. Get creative with your filters, you can even download an extra photo editing app like Afterlight or VSCOcam, to really experiment with different looks. 

Doodle - Something that we always unconsciously do, but never really give our full attention. There's been so many times in school, college, University and work that I've found myself doodling on small bits of paper. Maybe you're waiting for something to load, bored in a lecture or on the train to work, pay a tiny bit more attention to what you're doodling and really get creative with it. You could even keep the little doodles you draw and create a scrap book if you're feeling especially creative. 

Vlog - This isn't for everyone, but vlogging really is a great way to stay creative. You don't have to upload your vlogs, you could keep them all tucked away in a folder for your own viewing pleasure. I personally love editing video footage so vlogging is the ultimate form of creativity for me. 

Discover new music - Music always inspires my creativity, a lot of the time the most creative videos have been inspired by a piece of music I've heard. There's nothing like finding a brand new song that you fall in love with straight away and it always spurs the creative inside of me when I do. 

What gets you into the creative mood?

Blog Inspiration

Like many, I go through stages of creative nothingness, my brain refuses to do its job and becomes incredibly lazy. That is when I crack out the inspirational material, sometimes it's a good old fashioned hard copy magazine, sometimes it's a beautiful Tumblr page.

I'm more of a visually creative person, I learn best through visuals and I take in more information visually. I can read article after article to try and gain inspiration but that eureka moment will never strike. Let me let you in on a little secret of mine, I start with the photography. If I can take a picture that I'm really really happy with and is visually interesting then the blog content usually comes like an oncoming train. 

That's why I prefer Tumblr pages, not just other peoples Tumblr blogs but also my own. I tend to look at images a fair amount whilst I'm surfing the web, this leads to me adding a mountain of inspirational photography to both of my Tumblr blogs, perfect for referring back to later. I don't know wether it's a bit narcissistic to say I inspire myself (it probably is) but it's true! Past me has a lot of great inspiration to pick from. 

This of course, is just my own personal way to kick start my creative brain. I don't know wether you guys did this in school, but we used to study these things called thinking hats, they were basically tests to find out how best your brain takes in information. These tests would tell you if you were more numerical, visual, practical or something like that, I don't really remember all too well. It may be an idea to have a google though and do some tests to find out how best your brain takes in information, it doesn't just refer to learning stuff, it can be used to get creative as well! 

If like me you tend to get your inspiration visually, check out Tumblr and We Heart It, find photography in the style that fits your blog style and see where it takes you. Also check out bi-annual magazines like Love and Lula and more expensive bi-monthly mags like Wonderland. I always find the pricier they are, the more intriguing the photography. 

Good luck with your quest for inspiration! Let me know in the comments where you get the most inspo from.