The Write Spot, LLC

Today Show Digital Mom: it's not all about free stuff, really

This morning the Today Show did a Digital Mom segment on Melissa of the ConsumerQueen.com, followed by Ann Curry interviewing Wendy Piersall of SparkPlugging and Terri Walter of Razorfish.

It’s obvious that Ann Curry understands social media and mom blogging, so kudos to her and the Today Show for doing an excellent segment.

Blogging as work, not a hobby

However, I was a little concerned that they started off positioning mom blogging as a great way to get free stuff. I too get that attitude from friends who tell me, “I want to get freebies like you.” Then Melissa said, “You know what, it’s a lot of work.” And it is.

I tell my friends that they must learn how to set up and market a blog, that they must write frequently (and like to write – most people don’t), and that they have to develop relationships with publicists, marketers and companies. I also tell them that I’ve been blogging for almost five years and am finally at a point where I consider myself a social media professional. A light goes off when they realize that blogging is work – and then they stop asking me about it.

Must haves for your social media blogging tool kit

Just when you thought you knew everything, you go to a conference and learn about a bunch of new social media tools. Since we're all trying to blog in smarter and quicker ways, here are several that you should check out.

Google's Tools

Google now organizes most of their services under one member login. So if you have a Google account for Gmail or Adsense, once you log in at Google.com, you should have access to all your Google tools.

Some Google applications that you should learn to use are:

• Google Analytics – the daddy of all analytics tools. As soon as you set up your blog, you should install the Google Analytics code even if your blogging program comes with its own analytics.
• Feedburner - owned by Google, they’re in the process of moving all Feedburner feeds to feedburner.google.com.
• Google Reader - using Google's feed reader may have future SEO and social networking benefits.
• Google Webmaster Tools - For the technically savvy, installing Webmaster Tools will help with search engine traffic. For more information go to Google Webmaster Central.

Remember, it's Google's world - we just blog in it.

Meet your writing goals with blogging

Have you set any of these goals this year for your writing?

• Write every day
• Interact with my readers
• Get a book deal
• Make money with my writing

I’m sure a few of them are on your 2009 writing goals list. But did you know that starting a blog can help you accomplish your goals.

Write every day

Some writers go the old fashioned route and write in a diary. However, since many of us are used to writing on computers and don’t feel comfortable without spell check and an online thesaurus, why not take it a bit further and write online? The beauty of blogging is that you can log on from anywhere, like the library or work, and write directly to your blog. If you’re shy you can keep it private, too.

Interact with my readers

I know a newspaper columnist who is putting together a blog so her readers can find her online. Not only can they read her blog, but they hold online conversations with her there, too. Not only does she receive immediate feedback, but her blog readers are a valuable source of ideas for future articles and blog posts.

It's a Colorado thing: join me at Rocky Mountain Moms Blog

It’s been awhile since I’ve written “mom stories” i.e. stories about my life as a mom or posts on my family. After writing at the Citizen Mom’s Family Journal for Real Families, Real Fun back in 2006, I got burnt out on it. Since then, I've written mostly reviews, how to’s, about social media, and recipes with the occasional personal story thrown it.

Well, now I’m baaaaack in the mother’hood Colorado style at the Rocky Mountain Moms Blog.

You can see my first post, Holiday purgatory has been declared OVER and catch all my stories on my page.

Blog outsourcing: concentrate on writing your blog and leave the rest to the professionals

As I left for Las Vegas to attend BlogWorld Expo a few months ago, my expectations were that I’d be learning about this year’s hottest blogging trends from the gods of the blogosphere like John Chow of johnchow.com, Darren Rowse of Problogger, and Brian Clark of Copyblogger. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that everyone is going back to old school blogging techniques:

• Write good content and blog often.
• Read other blogs in your niche.
• Leave quality comments on those blogs.
• Network by commenting, guest posting, engaging your audience, and going to conferences.

Like so many things in life, it goes back to what you learned in school – to be successful and popular, follow the Golden Rule and do your best work. This is not to say that all those things that drive new bloggers crazy like analytics, monetization, hosting, design, and so on, aren’t important. They are.

How bloggers get noticed by companies

Friends ask me how I get the opportunities I do, like going to the Quaker Oats Living Proof Event, attending the Sony Mom Blogger event, or getting approached by companies to review their products.

Honestly, it’s a guess. I try to write well and often on my four blogs. I also try to read blogs in my various niches, and leave comments on them. I also get to know other bloggers in my niche by going to conference like BlogHer.

It’s also about giving back. I try to reaching out to newer bloggers with advice and help other bloggers get jobs. I also make sure I’m professional when I deal with publicists and companies, no matter how small they are. After all, you never know who’s bringing your next big blogging gig, cool reviewing opportunity, or big media buy. Having a good LinkedIn profile, being on Twitter, and being known as a good writer helps, too, of course.

However, I believe companies find me because of the blog networks I belong to.

How companies find bloggers

Six Apart’s Blogs.com featured my blog post, How Computers Have Impacted My Family's Life on their Top Ways Technology Impacts Moms page. It even made the front page of Blogs.com.

My post is highlighted in yellow.

Moms Cliq magazine launches

MOMS CLIQ, the official magazine of the Mom Bloggers has just released its first issue.

Yours truly has an article in it – How to Squeeze Blogging into a Very Hectic Schedule.

The rest of the FREE online magazine features everything from the big news happening in the mom blogosphere to mom essays about blogging and ways to attract more blogging success.

Good stuff, check it out!

What ad network should I use to monetize my blog?

You’re interested in monetizing your blog with an blogger ad network. What kind of things should you consider when reading over their contract?

Payout: What do they pay out per thousand page views (CPM)? Is there an ad revenue share? Do they pay CPM only or CPC (cost per click) or CPA (cost per action), too?

(CPM counts the number of times the ad was viewed. CPC measures ad clicks. CPA measures activity, like signing up to purchase a product or membership.)

Remember, some networks don’t tell you what they pay initially, so you’ll have to give them a trial run to see if their numbers work for you. If that’s the case, make sure you can get out of your contract and stop using them at any time.

Ad Placement: Does their ad have to be at the top portion (“above the fold”) of your blog? Do their ad sizes fit on your blog? If not, will they create one for you? How many of their ads will you have to run – just one or two or more?

Using Guest Blogging to Increase Blog Traffic

In last month’s Northern Colorado Writers newsletter column, I wrote about the pros and cons of joining a blog network. I concluded that unless you were hired by a quality network and were receiving a healthy monthly stipend along with the ad revenue share, you were giving away your writing for free.

However there are times when giving away your content is a good thing. One example is guest blogging.

Why should you guest blog?

Guest blogging is when you write a post to be published on someone else’s. When you guest post, your host’s readers will be exposed to your work, maybe for the first time. If they like what you wrote, they will follow the link back to your blog, like what they see, and become regular readers. This way you increase your traffic and recruit new readers.

How to get the gig

You want to get the most out of your guest blogging efforts by posting at blogs that get better traffic and have a higher Google page ranking than your blog. But if you’re a beginner – basically a nobody – how do you get asked to guest post on a popular blog? It’s all about getting their attention.

Let’s say you want to do a guest post on “Joe Cool’s” blog? (Let’s call him Joe for short.) You could contact him, of course, and beg. But he probably gets thousands of emails a day, and many guest posting requests. Instead, you need to find a way to get on Joe’s radar. Well, one way is to send him a big check. All kidding aside, you need to read Joe’s work, comment regularly on his blog, and participate in all the things he offers from free e-book downloads to signing up for his enewsletter.