May 09, 2016

Beautiful Free stock photos for bloggers and business owners

May 09, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

When I first started blogging back in 2010 (6 years ago...eeek!) I used to shamelessly copy and paste images from We Heart It, which was kind of the OG of the visual world before Pinterest came along. I had no idea about copy-write (in fact, I couldn't even really spell that word properly) never mind understand the legal ramifications of using someone else's work without giving them full credit.

It wasn't until 2012 when I came across an article from a blogger who had been sued for a HUGE amount of money after using someones photograph on her blog. The blogger had actually given the photographer credit in her blog post, but she hadn't asked him for permission to re-post his image and so she ended up going to court and was found guilty of intellectual property theft! Can you imagine being charged with a criminal offense for using an image on your blog? Madness!

I was terrified after reading that blog post and promptly set out to learn how to take my own photographs so as not to have to worry about image copy-right ever again! I ended up falling in love with photography, and have since gone onto to freelance and now go under the title 'professional photographer'. I understand that not everyone has the time, or the desire, to pursue photography full time, especially if their interests lie somewhere else, in writing for example or making or drawing or painting. This is where stock photographs come in and this is where I wave a little (pink) flag that says I've got you covered and have FREE STOCK PHOTOGRAPHS JUST FOR YOU!

April 27, 2016

#FromBlog2Biz My journey from Blogger to Business Owner: Let's start at the very beginning

April 27, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

Hi everyone!

In case you're new around these parts and have stumbled across this blog series, I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself.

My name is Roxy and I am the blogger, photographer, planner, crafter, maker, designer and general busy-bee behind CityGirlSearching. I am South African, but have been living in South Korea with my husband and rescue pup (Shadow, who yes, has his own # and Instagram account and FB page because that's what you do these days) for the past 3/technically 4 years.

We are about to wrap up our final contract and will be heading home to South Africa at the end of June...yippeee!

In this series #FromBlog2Biz, I am going to be sharing with you my journey from blogger to business owner. In this post (Part 1) I want to share with you my blogging journey so far (it's been a good number of years) and to set the scene for you for where I am at right now and how I have been making money from my blog and how I plan to monetize moving forward from here.

I do hope you'll join me on this journey as I share with what I've done so far, what has worked and what hasn't. It's going to be an awesome adventure so let's get started right away.

April 22, 2016

#FromBlog2Biz - Come and join My Journey from blogger to business owner as I take you behind the scenes of my business journey

April 22, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

#FromBlog2Biz Journey From Blogger to Creative Business Owner

Dear friend.

I have lots of big changes coming up in the next few months. The first of of those big changes being my move back to South Africa after being here in Korea for a total of 4 years. Farmboy and I are headed back to sunny SA at the end of June with our pup #ShadowTheJindo (in case you were wondering what was going to happen to him).

Our plan, after returning here to Korea after a year living in Daejeon in 2010, was always to spend 3 years traveling as much as we could (click here to see our travel guides for places like Borneo, Vietnam, Bali and so many more!!) saving as much as we could, and just enjoying our first few years of marriage together. It's been an amazing adventure so far and we have loved ever day of the past 3 years.

Throughout this time, and actually going all the way back to 2010, I have been an avid blogger, sharing photographs of our lives, useful information on everything from rescuing a dog in Korea to how to take better photographs for your blog. And so, armed with nearly 6 years of blogging 'wisdom' I am embarking on a new adventure...to turn this blog into a full time business!

You can read the other parts of this journey here:

Blog

#FromBlog2Biz - Come and join My Journey from blogger to business owner as I take you behind the scenes of my business journey

I am going to be using the #FromBlog2Biz hashtag for all social media posts (because who doesn't love a personalised hashtag, right?!) and by doing this I hope to make it easy for you to follow along on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter.

#Blog2Biz journey from blogger to business owner

It's a journey I am equal parts squealing with excitement over and absolutely terrified about. I have had a few smaller businesses over the past 6 years; my stationery store, freelance social media services, a vintage collectables store at the I Heart Market in Durban, South Africa and my photography.

I am still in the beginning stages of this journey and will begin my first post RIGHT back at the start...ie December 2015 and my thoughts and ideas and processes that have led me to be where I am today, and have shaped my ideas going forward. I have been wanting to document this journey in some way, and thought I'd do so here on the blog so that you can follow along.

I'm going to be sharing with you everything I've done so far, what has worked, what hasn't worked and what I plan to do moving forward. EEEK! I am rather nervous about all of this, blogging about makeup reviews and sharing my photography portfolio is far less scary than sharing what I've had success with and what I've failed at.

If this journey sounds like something you'd like to be a part of/learn from/watch from a distance, please do leave me a comment below. I haven't quite decided on the format for this series yet (I am thinking about doing a mix of videos, live streaming on Periscope, emails and blog posts). This is why I've created the mailing list below for you to join and I would love for you to be a part of this adventure with me.

The #Blog2Biz mail list (which you can join below) is where I'll be letting you know the exact format for this series (whether I'll be creating videos, when/if I'll be on Periscope etc), as well as it being a place that to connect with you all. By joining, you'll also be able to gain access to the #CGScreative Resource library which is filled with loads of blogging resources, printables and what has made my list famous...beautiful stock photographs for you to use to grow your blog.

Simply pop your email in the box below to join us & click the little check box if you aren't already a CGScreative member and want to get access the resource library

If you too have been wanting to make money from your blog, turn your passion into a business or want to read more about all the nitty gritty details of what goes on behind the scenes of a blog turned business, then make sure you enter your email below.

I am SO excited to share in this journey with you! From the wins to the losses, the successes to the failures...Here's to the start of the journey!

x

April 19, 2016

A beginners guide to Blog Photography & Styling - What you need to get started

April 19, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

I've been blogging for about 6 years now, and I do so because I genuinely love providing free, useful content for people. This blog is not a diary showcasing my life but rather I hope that it is a platform for you to learn new things (like my blogging tips, travel guides and posts about owning a dog in Korea) as well as a place to be inspired (by my travel posts, recipes and my photography).

One thing that I have learned from all these years of tapping away at my keyboard is that the images on your blog can make or break your brand.

These days technology has advanced so much, there really is no excuse for anyone to have poor quality images on their blog. This doesn't mean you have to own the fanciest camera on the market, your cellphone/ipad/tablet will work just fine.

In this post I'm going to be sharing with you what I use to style & take photographs for my blog.

April 12, 2016

Introducing the #BeautifyYourBlog Handbook for Bloggers

April 12, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

I recently created and launched #BeautifyYourBlog an easy to follow, free online course for bloggers. Alongside this course, I created a handbook which I'd love to share more of with you today.

Making your blog look it's shiny best can be a difficult process...But it doesn't have to be.

When I first started blogging, I wish I had had someone show me the ins and outs of branding and what it means to build a brand around your blog.

I fumbled my way through the first 4 years of blogging, making so many changes and wasting so much time creating graphics for my blog that really didn't fit my style.

If someone had given me this handbook when I first started blogging, it would have saved me so much frustration, not to mention time.

This Handbook goes through the how's and the why's of branding your blog and most importantly, it shows you how you can do it yourself.

March 30, 2016

The #CGScreative Instagram Photo Challenge - An easy way to grow your Instagram Following!

March 30, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

Has your Instagram feed also been taken over by posts asking you to turn on notifications? I know that a lot of people are rather upset by the latest changes announced by Instagram, but I'm here to tell you today that it's not going to be the end of the world for you.

It's also not a huge surprise that Instagram, which is now owned by Facebook, is implementing these changes.

If you're not sure what the changes mean, here is a easy to digest summary of what has got everyone in a tizz.

Instagram is planning to show us the content it thinks we like, based on our previous actions (ie. our likes and comments). This means that it is now more important than ever to be liking and commenting on those accounts that you really love and want to follow, rather than engaging with accounts that you hope will follow you if you spam their feed enough.

March 28, 2016

My top 15 insanely useful tips for bloggers

March 28, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

I've been thinking of ways to condense all of the useful posts I've written on blogging, and so created this insanely useful list for bloggers of all niches and topics. Whether you've been blogging for years or whether you've just started your journey & are feeling a little overwhelmed, these tips are bound to help you on your way.

1. Read, re-read & update your About page.

When I look at the traffic stats on this site, my About page is one of the most popular pages. And I know that when I visit other blogs, I always click on their about/welcome pages to find out more about who they are as a person. Don't let the thought that is has to be perfect put you off editing yours (or even making one if you don't already have one). I am constently updating and editing mine, adding in or taking out information that is no longer relevant to my blogging journey. Your About page should grow with your blog, as should your profile picture (mentioned above).

Here are some tips for your About Page.

March 23, 2016

How to create a custom landing page in Squarespace

March 23, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

While creating my recent e -course, I've spent a lot of time researching the best tools and resources to use to ensure a smooth launch. Today I want to share with you how you can use your Squarespace site to create your own, customized landing pages without having to make use of a landing page generator site like Leadpages.

One of the benefits of blogging with Squarespace is the ability to create Cover Pages (just like this one that I made for BeautifyYourBlog.

But

Cover Pages are designed to be super simple landing pages, with just one or two call to actions. If you are looking for something a little heftier to be able to add in more images & your own custom sign up forms (currently if you want to connect Squarespace Cover Pages & their Forms blocks to Convertkit, you need to use a site like Zapier to run an integration) then a custom landing page is what you're after. I've found some super simple tweaks that you can do to a regular Squarespace page to make it look like a fancy landing page.

If, you're like me, and not quite ready to make the jump to LeadPages, then creating your own landing pages on Squarespace is a great workaround, and with just a few coding tweaks you can make it look like an actual landing page, as opposed to the rest of the pages on your Squarespace site which have things like your menu bar & header image. Convertkit (which I just LOVE!) does offer a few options for landing pages, but the customization is very limited, and I like to make my pages look as pretty as can be. That's why I have been playing around with using Squarespace pages as customized landing pages.

March 15, 2016

BeautifyYourBlog - Want to find out more about my new E-course? Join me on Periscope this week!

March 15, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

I have some exciting news everyone! I have been busy behind the scenes creating something very special for all of you. If you're a blogger, or have been thinking about starting a blog, this FREE course is for you!

I've spent the last few weeks creating a simple, easy to follow, 6-part course on blogging and I can't wait to share it with you.

If you've feeling a little bleugh with your online space and are looking for some inspiration, and not to mention loads of helpful tips, then you're going to love my new e-course; BeautifyYourBlog.

In this 6-part email series I'm going to be teaching you:

How to build a beautiful brand around your blog
How to make your blog layout really pop
How to up your blog photo game
How to make your most NB blog pages work hard
How to put your social media bios to work more effectively (especially Instagram!)
How to use branding to create droolworthy Pinalicious photos for Pinterest

To join the course, simply enter your name and email address into the form below.

You can hang out with me and the rest of the course takers over on Twitter & Instagram (@roxyhutton) using the hashtag #BeautifyYourBlog.

Keep your eyes peeled on your inbox! The course will be going live very soon.

In the mean time, I'll be on Periscope every day this week talking all things blog. I'd love it if you joined me over there (the app is FREE to download) and if you miss me live, you can catch the replay for up to 24 hours after each scope.

BeautifyYourBlog Periscope CityGirlSearching

Click here to get the app: http://periscope.tv/roxyhutton. I hope to see you there! You can find me as @roxyhutton.

Here's to creating beautiful things together.

x

March 13, 2016

How to avoid the overwhelm in your creative business + a Helpful Checklist

March 13, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

About 3 months ago I started dipping my toe into the world of online business and passive income, and goodness me, it's a whole other world out there.

The idea of online businesses isn't new, people have been producing online courses and selling information products ever since the internet first began in 1969. What has changed dramatically is the people behind the courses. No longer do you have to have a doctorate in computer programming or some other fancy sounding degree, regular people like you and me are making money selling their social media strategies in the form of webinars, workshops and coaching packages.

Sounds wonderful doesn't it? Being able to make money doing what you love. Isn't that so many people are striving to do? Striving to free themselves from their 9-5's to make more money and have more time to do the things they love?

March 07, 2016

How to Create a Style Guide for your blog + Free Template

March 07, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

I know I know, blogging these days is definitely not for sissies. If you have a blog and want to stand out amongst the masses, you have to up your game & make your blog look as fancy & professional as possible.

That doesn't mean spending a fortune, or betraying you own personal sense of style. There is space enough for all of us (from the pastel pink lovers to those who go nuts for shades of neon yellow & black) and it's your own unique sense of style that you should be portraying through your blog in the first place. You just need to do it in the best way possible to make your blog stand out while still looking polished.

So how do you do that I hear you ask?

Well, apart from hiring a fancy smancy graphic designer to do your branding, you can start by creating your own style guide for your blog. I would still suggest getting a professional to create your logo (although you could definitely create something yourself using a free online design site like Canva).

Once you have your logo, it's all downhill from there! You can then work on the rest of your branding yourself and take your blog from drab to fab. Having a style guide as a reference for your branding will make your life so much easier, and will help you to keep your blogs look & feel cohesive.

March 01, 2016

Racoon Cafe in Seoul, South Korea - Blind Alley Cafe

March 01, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

If you're from the US, chances are you're not a big fan of these furry creatures. You probably have visions of your rubbish being riffled through and your pets being harassed. But to us South Africans, this funny little creature is a complete novelty.

We don't have racoons in South Africa, the only thing we can compare to the US 'racoon' in terms of how much havoc they wreck around your house is the vermit monkey. Most South Africans (at least those from Kwazulu-Natal) have at least 1 story of a monkey (or even a troop of monkeys) breaking into their house, causing complete chaos with the dogs and cats and stealing any food they can get their hands on.

I'm not a big fan of monkeys, so I can understand some of my American friends and their aversion to these so-called 'pests' but I was quite taken with these two racoons that we spent time with at Blind Alley Cafe near Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul. Obviously, these racoons are pets and so tame, I wouldn't advise anyone running up to a wild racoon and try and give it an affectionate scratch (ouch...you'll be in for a nasty surprise).

These two racoons were very entertaining (especially the white one who was the braver of the pair).

February 22, 2016

Creating a Media Kit for your Blog - Designing the perfect Media Kit + FREE Template

February 22, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

Media kits.

Those scary things that only the big & successful bloggers have.

Those intricate pieces of design that must have cost a fortune for a graphic designer to whip up.

Are these the things that come to mind when you think of the term 'Media Kit'? Some might view media kits in this way, but I try and view a media kit as a simple 'CV' for your blog.

If you have no idea what a Media kit is or why you need one, then click here for a great post by Glamorous Glitter

No matter whether you are a newbie blogger with only 5 fans on Facebook, or someone who has been around for a while and has thousands of followers, you need a Media Kit.. You might be a mix of the two, having been blogging for years but struggling to grow your readership & social media following. No matter where you are in the blogging game, having a media kit shows you take your blog seriously, that you are professional, and that you mean business (even with your 5 Facebook likes!).

February 17, 2016

Borneo Malaysia Travel Guide: Batang Ai Lake & the Hilton Longhouse Resort

February 17, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

Welcome to Part 2 of my Borneo Travel Guide. My husband and I spent two weeks exploring Malaysian Borneo.

We spent the first part of our holiday in Kuching (2 days), moving onto Bantang Ai lake (3 days), then Kota Kinabalu (2 days) and then onto Semporna (1 day) & Mabul Island (4 days). As there is so much to say about our trip I am breaking up these posts into different parts. In this part I will be talking about Bantang Ai Lake; Part 3 I will be talking about Kota Kinabalu and finally in Part 4 I will write about Semporna & the scuba diving we did on Mabul Island.

February 15, 2016

Great Coffee shops in Korea: Florida Cafe, Gwangju South Korea

February 15, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

To celebrate the start of 2016, Farmboy and I headed to Gwangju with some friends. We spent New Years eve having dinner at the popular First Alleyway (good burgers and board games!), and then headed for a few drinks and festivities at Speakeasy.

We spent New Years day relaxing and recovering from a full night of dancing (why I insisted on wearing heels, I'll never know) and then found the most AMAZING authentic burger place (one of the only places was open on New Years day!) called Burger Bridge (blog post to come soon).

We then spent New Years day evening at Florida Cafe. I can't wait to share with you the photographs of this beautiful, modern cafe in downtown Gwangju.

February 13, 2016

The #CGSCreative Community: FREE stock Photos & SO much more awaits

February 13, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

I've been throwing around the #CGScreative hashtag on Instagram & Facebook for a little while now, and I think it's time I told you what it's all about.

If you're already a part of my special mailing list, you will already know all about it (and you would have already received your Love Inspired photo pack..yay!).

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about but like the idea of getting beautiful FREE stock photographs to use on your blog/Facebook Page/Instagram etc. then please do read on.

February 05, 2016

How to easily make photo collages for your blog and Facebook: A Blogstomp Tutorial

February 05, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

In order to build a cohesive brand, it's important to make sure the images & graphics you share are aligned with the look and feel of your business. An easy way to do this is to share groups of images (collages) that tell a story.

I use collages here on my blog when I want to share a lot of images, but I don't want to slow down my site loading speed.

Using full sized images in a blog post means lots and lots and lots of scrolling for your readers. Creating beautiful collages is an easy way to make your blog posts look better, and it helps the back end of your site by making it faster to load.

In today's blog post I'm sharing with you how I create collages for my blog and Facebook page using Blogstomp.

February 03, 2016

Dog Friendly Accomodation in Gwangju, South Korea. Hertz Guesthouse

February 03, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

Owning a dog in Korea is so much harder than people realise. Korea is not very pet friendly, and although this is improving, small dogs (or rather teeny, tiny handbag size pooches) are far more accepted and approved of than big dogs.

I own a 'big' dog, although he would be termed medium size in any other country.

Shadow, my 1.5 year old Korean Jindo, is a rescue dog whom we found on the side of the road in September 2013...you can read more about him by clicking here.

But, after lots of trial and error, I have found some great places that allow 'big' dogs that don't cost an arm and a leg and are near the popular areas of each city. It's no fun having to stay miles and miles away from where you want to be, as having a dog shouldn't be a huge hinderance.

This post is about Hertz Guesthouse, an awesome place to stay right in the heart of downtown Gwangju.

January 07, 2016

Motivational Quotes & Stock Photo Freebies

January 07, 2016/ Roxy Hutton

It's the beginning of the year and to celebrate the newness and freshness that comes with the month of January I would like to offer you a set of FREE inspiring quote graphics & images for you to use wherever you'd like!

I created these graphics using my own photographs and overlaying text with the Studio App.

I'm giving them away for you to use on your blog, on your Facebook page or on Instagram etc to help spread inspiration.

I would love to see how you use them so tag me in your post so I can follow along.

December 29, 2015

Help people find & connect with you on Disqus: Why you should update your Disqus profile

December 29, 2015/ Roxy Hutton

Are you a Disqus user? Do you use Disqus as your comment managing system on your blog or website? I've been using Disqus to manage my comments for the past 4 years and just LOVE the interface (and the fact that its FREE!) as well as how easy it is to leave comments on other peoples blogs. I also love how easy it is to track and reply to comments left my own blog. Before Disqus I was using the standard Blogger commenting system which was terrible at dealing with spam, and was just terrible with 'loosing' my comments. Disqus has made my life so much easier, and worked flawlessly when I was on Blogger and works perfectly with SquareSpace.

Apart from being a great system for storing and managing the comments on your blog, Disqus is a fabulous place to find and connect with other bloggers & readers. I haven't spent too much time delving into their voting system (you can recommend commetn discussions as well as 'upvote' comments) but what I do often is go through the comments on my site and click through to find the bloggers and lovely people who have taken the time to leave me a comment.

This is where I start pulling my hair out.

I can't tell you the number of times I've been left frustrated with people who make it so difficult for me to find and connect with them. Basically, if you don't update your Disqus profile and include links to your website & social media platforms, you are basically closing the door on future connections and possible business. And it's so easy to fix!

If you're a blogger or business owner, you know how important it is to have all your links (website/facebook/twitter/instagram) in an easy to find place so that people can connect with you and ultimately contact you if they like what you are all about. If you don't provide them with your details how are they supposed to find you? The amount of time I have wasted copying and pasting Disqus usernames into Google, only to have to sift through hundreds of search results leaves me stone cold and ultimately I click away and forget about them. Not out of choice but out of frustration.

So why not make it easy for people to find you. Disqus allows you to include your Facebook Account (at this stage only personal profiles can be connected), Twitter & Google accounts, as well as your website. Not only does this increase your chances of connecting with other like minded people, but it's great for SEO! The more your brand name and blog/business accounts are online, the more exposure your brand gets. It's basically free advertising.

So what are you waiting for?

Pop on over to your Disqus dashboard and get to customizing your profile. Change your name, avatar (the little picture that shows up when you leave a comment) & try to keep it consistent with your brand. Add in your links (under the 'Account' tab on the left hand side of your dashboard), write a quick blurb (biography) about who you are and what you do and then you're good to go! Drop a comment below once you've done so as I'd love to pop over to your site and leave you some social media love too.

Here's to helping you connect with more people, and to making your site easier to find for others.

Happy blogging!

#CGScreative free stock photographs for bloggers

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