The Write Spot, LLC

Of conference sponsorships and my Bloghero9 session

Only eight days until I leave for BlogHer09 in my GM sponsored Chevy Traverse as part of the BlogHer09 Carpool. On the way, we’ll be staying at Best Western, one of my BlogHer09 Sponsors. When I get to the conference, I’ll be speaking at Room of Your Own 2 Session: Sponsored v. Unsponsored - Blogging for $$ Where Do You Stand? I’m also one of the hostesses at the BowlHer09 Party.

I’ll also be handing out coupons for free pancake syrup from my other sponsor, Log Cabin syrup. Did you know that Log Cabin is no longer are made with HFCS (high fructose corn syrup)? And that they’re selling real maple syrup at selected Sam’s Clubs across the US?

Thank you to my sponsors, now back to our regularly scheduled programming

Conference sponsorships are a new thing among mom bloggers (see Kim Moldofsky’s post at Hormone-colored Days, Marketing to Moms: Announcing my BlogHer sponsor!). While I knew of one mom blogger at BlogHer08 who was paid to work at a booth by a company, I didn’t notice the phenomenon until the WalMart ElevenMoms went to SXSW09. I knew that WalMart had sent them to the conference, but was surprised to learn that several of the moms had additional sponsors - everything from diapers to chocolate.

Then at the last Mile High Mamas’ blogger meet up, a few people asked me, “So, who is your BlogHer sponsor?” To which I replied, “No one.” I hadn’t thought about recruiting a sponsor though the idea of having one intrigued me.

Sponsorships make conferences affordable and accessible

Even when I’ve had a roommate, got a cheap flight, had a free pass because I was a speaker, and took advantage of the free food at parties, most conferences ended up costing me around $300-600. For a freelancer, that’s a lot of dough, especially when you multiply it by the number of conferences you want to go to like SXSW, SOBCon, Chicks Who Click, WordCamp, BlogHer, BlogWorldExpo, and IzeaFest. I’m sure it’s the main reason why so many mom bloggers and other independent bloggers without corporate expense accounts seek sponsors.

In the past, I have been given a stipend or reimbursed for a conference ticket in exchange for reporting back to a client on industry trends and conference goers and events. I don’t consider that a sponsorship as much as consulting work. Semantics aside, having someone help you pay your expenses seemed like a good thing.

Too Busy to Shop

First a word from my fellow SXSW panelist Chris Brogan, who's looking a bit rockabilly biker-ish these days:

Too Busy to Shop: Marketing to "Multi-Minding" Women by Kelley Murray Skoloda shows markers and companies what they need to know and do to attract women buyers. After all, women control 85 percent of all consumer purchases.

Kelley explains that women are multi-tasking, but multi-minding – meaning that we are thinking about home when we’re at work, work when we’re at home, and about everything else of of the darn time.

Download an excerpt or see the reviews.

I highly recommend this book if your company markets to women through traditional media (print, TV, radio, etc.) or through social medial. Not only is it an easy read since Kelly keeps the ideas and examples coming, but she wraps up each chapter with Multi-Minding (or M2) Must-Dos, a list of the lessons learned in each section.

Too Busy to Shop is also full of stats, research, examples and terrific quotes from Stacy DeBroff, the CEO of Mom Central, who knows her stuff. (Stacy’s a colleague of mine. Every time I have a chance to speak with her, I learn so much.)

So if there’s one marketing book you read this summer on vacation – or during your lunch break at the office – it should be Too Busy to Shop: Marketing to "Multi-Minding" Women by Kelley Murray Skoloda.

Dad is the new mom at SXSW '09

Bonin Bough from PepsiCo DM’d me on Twitter that he had put up some video from the Dad is the New Mom panel.

All you can see is me and Chris Brogan, and it’s just a few minutes' worth of what turned out to be a pretty enjoyable and informational panel. Still it’s nice to have a record of the session.

If Senator McCain is twittering*, so can you!

You’ve probably heard that John McCain is using Twitter to let his constituents know about earmark spending. And this from a man who few months ago said that he didn’t know how to send an email!

So what’s Twitter and why should you use it? Twitter.com is a social networking site where you communicate online to a group of friends (your followers*) in 140 characters or less. Like blogging or other forms of social media, it’s all about the conversation. Yes, you can tweet* about mundane things like, “Eating lunch. Boy I like butternut squash soup.” But it’s also a way to connect with like minds, get feedback, and keep up with trending topics.

The basics

Signing up for Twitter is easy. Just go to twitter.com, click on the “Get Started – Join” button and fill in your name. Then pick a user name and a password, and enter your email address. Enter the CAPTCHA words to verify that you’re human, click on the Create My Account button, and you’re done!

Note: Give thought to your user name. You can use your name, your book’s name, or the name of your business or blog. As a professional writer, using your full name is wise. (Mine is amnichols because my full name is a bit long.) But if you’re known by a nom de plume like “GeekWriter” or “FictionFan” then use it. Remember, once you’ve established a username in Twitter, you don’t want to change it.

After setting up your account, go into Profile and download a picture of yourself. (You can also use a logo or book cover artwork.) Then choose a basic background, save and start tweeting and following!

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.

Should you be on Facebook?

This post was originally written for the Northern Colorado Writers newsletter before the recent brouhaha about Facebook. I’ve heard stories of people leaving Facebook, but with the change back to their original terms, I’m happy to stay there.

Just this week, I have “friended” my cousins and an aunt in France via Facebook, where it is the most popular social network. They are relatives I barely know and with the language barrier, I don’t know how else I would get in contact with them except through a series of relatives, email and Air Mail.

Facebook is a wonderful tool for networking and connecting with family and friends. But like most tools, you have to be wise about how you use it. If you do not want your mom, spouse, employer, or law enforcement to know what you are doing, then do not put it on Facebook.

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.

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?

Tech for Obama

I saw this video on Tech for Obama (not affiliated with the Obama campaign). This is the first time I’ve seen any information on what either candidates thinks about when it comes to technology, broad band access, the democratization of technology, and net neutrality.

With the price of gas going up and the economy in the toilet, I can see a lot more people working for home – either for themselves after getting laid off or for their employers to save on energy and office costs. Having affordable, broad band access makes this possible. It’s important that all Americans have it.

See Tech for Obama for more information.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.