Hi everyone,

Today I thought I’d share with you my own Huffington Post story. I will talk to you about how I got published, I will share my posts with you, and what happened after I got published. In the end, I will give you my words of wisdom (aka what I really think).

The beginning

So, I started blogging here about 8 months ago and I joined a few Facebook groups to get a few ideas and figure out how I could become better at more general/ lifestyle-ish blogging. From time to time I would see people in these groups talk about being published on the Huff Post and how great that was. I knew the Huffington Post, I read it from time to time, and thought to myself, ” Hey! I will give this a shot” and I did.

1st attempt

I filled in a bloggers form. This is a page that you can fill in and upload your post. My post was something very dear to me. I thought it was a good post and actually believed if I ever had an opportunity at being shared, it would be with this post. I clicked the submit button.

No response.

I then read that many people were emailing Arianna Huffington herself, so I did.

No response.

A few months went by and I wrote another post. I thought I’d give it one more shot and that’s when I heard back from Arianna.

What happens once you get the OK?

You get an email saying that your post has been accepted and you will be receiving a new email with passwords to set up your blogger profile/page.That happened and then I made my profile. The hardest part for me was choosing a decent picture. Yeap. I know. Vain but, well, don’t wanna look like crap in my Huff Post Profile! I actually asked my friends which one they preferred the most. Most of them agreed on this one pic. I disagreed, and chose a completely different one!!

Then?

Well, once you submit your post it gets published in one or two days.

Tips?

I learnt this the hard way, so I am going to tell you a few secrets.

1. Always choose a picture from the royalty free image section the Huff Post blogger page gives you cause otherwise you end up sharing your post with no picture appearing except for some boxes.
2. Add links to your page cause that way people can come to your website. I actually added the phrase

If you want to read more of my adventures, make sure you check out my blog at http://www.mypinkrambles.com

at the end of my blog post and it got published without any editing.

     3. Make sure you proofread your article and don’t rush to press submit.

Is it worth the fuss?

Well, this depends on why you are sharing your post on the Huffington Post website. It looks good on your media kit. I was happy to see my name on a bigger platform. I enjoyed seeing the ‘likes’ and the comments on Facebook or my other social media.I did get approached by a few websites to write a few blog posts for them though (unpaid) and actually did write one.

BUT my page views did not go up. I only got 20-30 extra page views whenever one of my posts was shared. I did not get blog subscribers from this experience.

And anything else?

Oh yeah! Now the good part. I got plagiarised! 4 times. My blog post, the one I wrote about opening and closing a business in Greece, got copy pasted on websites and two personal blogs. Everything!! Like…. every single word. The irony is that the plagiarists were Americans talking about going to university in Greece and opening a language school in Greece. I mean…. c’mon!!! One of my plagiarists was actually in publishing!!! What did I do? Well, I sent messages and tweets to the websites and asked them to take my post down or at least mention me as the writer. I also contacted the Huffington Post.Nothing has happened though. I will now take harsher measures against these websites. Do keep in mind that some websites can repost a Huff Post article, but this was not the case! 

Will I write again?

Sure! It’s just me sharing something I have already shared here, so why not? It’s not like I have a super-duper popular blog and am missing out on traffic. It’s not like my Huff Post blog posts are reducing my DA numbers.

So, there you have. Now my words of wisdom.

WOF

I say go for it. Try it at least once. So, you don’t get paid. Big woop. Did you start blogging cause you wanted to become a rich blogger?

My posts

You can click here to check out the 5 posts I have published.

Subscribe to my blog if you liked what you read. It does put a smile on my face. Maybe give my Facebook page a ‘like’ so you can get notifications of when I post? Connect with me on Pinterest / Twitter/ Instagram.

Talk soon!

xx

Jo

A few moments later……..

This post is probably the most random post I have written so far. I started off wanting to write about one thing and then I started feeling sorry for myself which lead to a completely irrelevant ending. So, here is today’s post.

I work a lot. Like all day long. Literally. I teach Business English online in the morning and I teach kids English in the afternoon. I also blog. I have two blogs. One is an educational blog and the other one is this one which is, let’s call it lifestyle-ish/ beauty-ish or a Me, Me,Me blog.

My edublog has been there for about 3 years and this one is almost 8 months old. Trying to juggle life, work and blogging is hard. Today, I want to talk a bit about blogging and how I find time for it.

How do you find time for blogging?

I don’t.

I make time for blogging.

That’s the answer. I do not have time to blog. I mean I should be working out or cleaning the house or something but I don’t instead I make time to blog. For me, at the moment, blogging is my creative outlet. I do it for fun. Even if I write about what I bought, it’s fun. It’s like hanging out with the gals and showing stuff.

Yes, I work all day, but I do have free time and when I have free time instead of say watch TV, I blog.

What do you mean by ” make time”?

Well, in the mornings I am a freelance online Business English teacher (yes, that does sound fancy). What that means though is that I am home in front of my pc from 9-3 teaching. I do not have a set timetable though, and I may have gaps between lessons. That’s when I write.

I also blog late at night instead of reading a book (I feel a bit guilty about that one).

I do not always have time to finish a blog post. I have lots of posts that are in draft form which I continue writing whenever I have ten or fifteen minutes, here and there. That helps me have content.

The hardest thing

I don’t know about you guys, but the hardest thing about blogging for me isn’t making time to blog, but making time to share my posts. Dedicating time for all the social media. Yes, I have Buffer and I schedule posts. I use Pinterest and have a Facebook page for my blog, but sharing takes more time and it sometimes feels like it is not worth it. I often see that my page views are from an ‘unknown source’. Whatever that means! I am still baffled as far as Instagram is concerned. I am amazed by how up and downsy my twitter following is.

I am “spoilt”

In terms of my edublog. I do not have these problems. Finding time, sharing and trying to help the blog grow. I do nothing and people read my posts. It just sits there and gets page views. I think it’s because I have had it for a longer time and because I share material which teachers can download and use in class.

This random blog (yeah, I am talking about this one. The one you are reading now. If you are actually bravce enough and have reached this part!) does not have content that will make the reader come back. Actually scratch that, there are some planner printables which make readers (new readers) visit my page but that’s it. They do not follow or subscribe. They get what they need and go.

Other thoughts

I had to give this section a title cause it doesn’t make sense and has nothing to do with finding/making time to blog. I often get discouraged. You see, while I do tell myself that I blog because it’s fun and I like writing (I actually think I am quite good at it. Yeap. Me getting a big head). I am not happy with my page views. That for me is a reality check. I am lying to myself when I say I write because it’s fun opr maybe I should say, I half lie. I do have fun, but I also want people to read what I write and enjoy it as well. Find it interesting and on some days my page views are like close to 0.

That is discouraging which makes me realise that I am not just writing for fun. I am writing because I want something to come out of all this writing. I do not know what though.

Isn’t that funny? Why write when you have no clear goals? Or do I have goals that I am scared to word?

Dunno fellow blogger. This blog post feels like a whole lot of nothing, but anyways, I am sharing some thoughts with you guys and waiting for words of wisdom from you guys. How do you keep going. Why do you keep going? Why do you make time?

That’s all for today.

Oh! Yeah! Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog (follow me somewhere or add me to your Bloglovin thingy).

Thanks for sticking around. If you actually stuck around.

I was so happy yesterday because 2 of my posts got shared on the Huffington Post. A much bigger platform than my blog featured my writing. Nothing changed for my blog. I mean, I didn’t get a ton of page views or followers, but I got to tell my story. I shared my thoughts and I was so happy and then everything changed!

My post was plagiarised by 4people who copied my article. 4 websites have copy pasted my post onto their platforms and my name is nowhere. I mean, I am OK with people sharing my stuff. Reblogging and mentioning me doesn’t bother me. I wanted it though to have been attributed to me. I was the writer, not X.

I am a teacher and I teach academic English.Helping students to avoid plagiarism is one of the things I do. One of the reasons people plagiarise is because they don’t know how to rephrase and I get that. Another reason is because they do not realise they are plagiarising. In some cultures, according to research copying the source shows respect (yup).But copy pasting every single word and not saying anything?

Fellow bloggers, who know hard it is to come up with ideas, to write properly, to find time to write, end up copying every single word I wrote and passing it off as their own? That sucks!

What did I do?

I have left comments on the websites that plagiarised my articles, but they are awaiting moderation. My colleagues (teachers) have also showed their support and left comments (which are also awaiting moderation). I have also emailed the Huff Post to see what can be done. My next move will be going to WordPress.

These people stole my happy feelings from being published and they also stole my words, my thoughts.

These were  my original posts. My name is clearly mentioned at the top of the articles. The Huff Post is great with the attributions.Other people aren’t:

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I have been posting every day in April and using the Hashtag #beda. Please do subscribe to my blog if you like what you read. Check out the sidebar for more of my posts. Maybe give my Facebook page a ‘like’ so you can get notifications of when I post? Connect with me on Pinterest / Twitter/ Instagram (cause as you can see, my pics are fantastic! So fantastic, they get plagiarised 😦 ).

Thanks for stopping by.

xx