Personal and Professional Boundaries for Mom Bloggers

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">In an interview, Heather Armstrong of <a href="http://www.dooce.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Dooce.com</a> revealed how she crossed personal and professional boundaries, the result of which was losing her job and hurting her family. Heather Armstrong started<a class="" href="http://m.dummies.com/DummiesArticle/Personal-and-Professional-Boundaries-for-Mom-Bloggers.id-284116.html#glossary-blog" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">blogging</a> as a way to vent her frustrations with her co-workers, and to share her critical opinions on her family's Mormon religion.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Back then, she certainly never thought any of her family members would ever find her blog online. And she never mentioned names, either of her company or her co-workers, feeling that this level of privacy was all she needed to ensure that her writings wouldn't cause any trouble in real life.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Heather learned the hard way that her co-workers did indeed find out about her blog, and she was promptly fired for it. And around the same time, her family found out about it as well, and was devastated to read the hurtful things she had said about them and their religion.</p> <p class="Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Heather's lesson learned is as important now as it was back then — everything that you publish online is <i>permanent.</i> You can't delete a blog post and erase it from the web. Your words don't just reside on your blog — they are spread around the Internet via RSSfeeds, search engines, and webarchives. They get copied on server backups and on any computer of a blog reader.</p>

Personal and Professional Boundaries for Mom Bloggers

In an interview, Heather Armstrong of  Dooce.com  revealed how she crossed personal and professional boundaries, the result of which was l...

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Personal and Professional Boundaries for Mom Bloggers

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">In an interview, Heather Armstrong of <a href="http://www.dooce.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Dooce.com</a> revealed how she crossed personal and professional boundaries, the result of which was losing her job and hurting her family. Heather Armstrong started<a class="" href="http://m.dummies.com/DummiesArticle/Personal-and-Professional-Boundaries-for-Mom-Bloggers.id-284116.html#glossary-blog" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">blogging</a> as a way to vent her frustrations with her co-workers, and to share her critical opinions on her family's Mormon religion.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Back then, she certainly never thought any of her family members would ever find her blog online. And she never mentioned names, either of her company or her co-workers, feeling that this level of privacy was all she needed to ensure that her writings wouldn't cause any trouble in real life.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Heather learned the hard way that her co-workers did indeed find out about her blog, and she was promptly fired for it. And around the same time, her family found out about it as well, and was devastated to read the hurtful things she had said about them and their religion.</p> <p class="Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Heather's lesson learned is as important now as it was back then — everything that you publish online is <i>permanent.</i> You can't delete a blog post and erase it from the web. Your words don't just reside on your blog — they are spread around the Internet via RSSfeeds, search engines, and webarchives. They get copied on server backups and on any computer of a blog reader.</p>

Personal and Professional Boundaries for Mom Bloggers

In an interview, Heather Armstrong of  Dooce.com  revealed how she crossed personal and professional boundaries, the result of which was l...

Read more »

Change a Personal Mom Blog into a Business

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To take your personal blog and turn it into a business, two of the most important things you can do are grow thicker skin and consciously start looking at your blog objectively from an outsider's point of view.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Blogging is a personal business, and your personality is the greatest asset of your business. But you may find that some things are just too important to you to risk making them a part of your professional life.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Successful bloggers pour their hearts and souls into their blogging businesses. Blogs aren't just an online journal of personal events — many times they are an expression of who you are as a person. This can make it difficult to be impartial when your highly subjective content must be analyzed objectively from a business point of view. And it makes it even harder to not take criticism or setbacks personally.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">For many bloggers, that may mean shifting content around into a more user-friendly format and putting up more formal boundaries between personal life and business. It doesn't mean you have to stop being personal — far from it.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">On a larger scale, it's important to pay attention to how exactly you plan on making money off your personal writings. You want to think carefully about what exactly you're selling on your blog. Even if you aren't selling products, you may be selling advertising or your own services.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">How will your personal opinions affect your ability to market yourself? In some cases, a blog with controversial content may have a hard time finding advertisers. Other times, you want to put policies in place to ensure that you aren't giving your readers an impression that your opinions are for sale.</p>

Change a Personal Mom Blog into a Business

To take your personal blog and turn it into a business, two of the most important things you can do are grow thicker skin and consciously ...

Read more »

Change a Personal Mom Blog into a Business

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To take your personal blog and turn it into a business, two of the most important things you can do are grow thicker skin and consciously start looking at your blog objectively from an outsider's point of view.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Blogging is a personal business, and your personality is the greatest asset of your business. But you may find that some things are just too important to you to risk making them a part of your professional life.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Successful bloggers pour their hearts and souls into their blogging businesses. Blogs aren't just an online journal of personal events — many times they are an expression of who you are as a person. This can make it difficult to be impartial when your highly subjective content must be analyzed objectively from a business point of view. And it makes it even harder to not take criticism or setbacks personally.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">For many bloggers, that may mean shifting content around into a more user-friendly format and putting up more formal boundaries between personal life and business. It doesn't mean you have to stop being personal — far from it.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">On a larger scale, it's important to pay attention to how exactly you plan on making money off your personal writings. You want to think carefully about what exactly you're selling on your blog. Even if you aren't selling products, you may be selling advertising or your own services.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">How will your personal opinions affect your ability to market yourself? In some cases, a blog with controversial content may have a hard time finding advertisers. Other times, you want to put policies in place to ensure that you aren't giving your readers an impression that your opinions are for sale.</p>

Change a Personal Mom Blog into a Business

To take your personal blog and turn it into a business, two of the most important things you can do are grow thicker skin and consciously ...

Read more »

How to Profit from Mom Blogging without Selling Out

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><i style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Selling out</i><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">is a term used for compromising your integrity, principles, or morals to gain money or success. The problem is, if everyone had the same principles and definition of integrity, there wouldn't be much need for different political parties or religions.</span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">People can be accused of selling out if they simply do things like broaden their horizons or develop new interests over the course of time. Additionally, you may have certain beliefs in place that seem important now, but become less important as you gain more experience and knowledge.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">A great example of this is the evolution of the very organization that provides standards to bloggerswho work with brands: the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (<a href="http://womma.org/main" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">WOMMA</a>). When WOMMA was first established, its founding members came from a very traditional media background and took old-school journalistic standards and applied them to all marketing in the new world of social media.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">For several years, WOMMA formally said that members were not allowed to pay money to bloggers for writing blog posts, but they could offer products for free. The founding members felt strongly that this led to the perception of buying opinions from bloggers.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Yet as the blogging industry evolved, bloggers began to feel taken advantage of. They didn't want useless free products; they wanted to be compensated for their writing and input. The tables began to turn as WOMMA realized this position was enabling brands to get free or cheap advertising at the expense of bloggers' businesses.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">In a reversal, WOMMA changed its policy (and its board management) to reflect the new needs of social media marketing, and now states that it's absolutely ethical to pay bloggers for writing sponsored content as long as they comply with the FTC guidelines.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Sadly, mom bloggers are sometimes accused of selling out when they get opportunities to work with brands. The importance of this is not that the accusers are right — usually they aren't. They are projecting their own definition of selling out onto other people. And they are usually coming from WOMMA's old-school perspective that is out of tune with the reality of running a blogging business.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Here the crucial issue is that you know what selling out means to<i>you</i><i>,</i><b> </b>because <i>true </i>selling out can only hurt you in the long term if you don't correct your course.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">No matter what you decide is right for you, here are some general topics and guidelines that apply for everyone who wrestles with the idea of what "selling out" means:</p> <ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Unethical advertising:</b> An advertiser that specifically asks you to write something positive about the company is being unethical. All professional bloggers will refuse any opportunity that requires they lead their readers to believe that an opinion expressed is their own when it isn't.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Breaking FTC guidelines:</b> An advertiser that wants to hire you to write something and asks you not to disclose that the content is sponsored is breaking the FTC guidelines. If you do not disclose that the content was compensated, then you're breaking FTC guidelines, too. Both you and the advertiser would be liable for fines or damages that could arise in the future. This is not ethical social media marketing.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Conflicts of interest:</b> A blogger maintains a respected blog and is a trusted voice in social media only by avoiding opportunities that present very clear conflicts of interest. For example, a mom who writes as a breastfeeding advocate shouldn't become a spokesblogger for a baby-formula company. Most opportunities are not this clear-cut, however, which is why it's a must to create an editorial policy for your blog.</p> </li></ul>

How to Profit from Mom Blogging without Selling Out

Selling out   is a term used for compromising your integrity, principles, or morals to gain money or success. The problem is, if everyone ha...

Read more »

How to Profit from Mom Blogging without Selling Out

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><i style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Selling out</i><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">is a term used for compromising your integrity, principles, or morals to gain money or success. The problem is, if everyone had the same principles and definition of integrity, there wouldn't be much need for different political parties or religions.</span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">People can be accused of selling out if they simply do things like broaden their horizons or develop new interests over the course of time. Additionally, you may have certain beliefs in place that seem important now, but become less important as you gain more experience and knowledge.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">A great example of this is the evolution of the very organization that provides standards to bloggerswho work with brands: the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (<a href="http://womma.org/main" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">WOMMA</a>). When WOMMA was first established, its founding members came from a very traditional media background and took old-school journalistic standards and applied them to all marketing in the new world of social media.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">For several years, WOMMA formally said that members were not allowed to pay money to bloggers for writing blog posts, but they could offer products for free. The founding members felt strongly that this led to the perception of buying opinions from bloggers.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Yet as the blogging industry evolved, bloggers began to feel taken advantage of. They didn't want useless free products; they wanted to be compensated for their writing and input. The tables began to turn as WOMMA realized this position was enabling brands to get free or cheap advertising at the expense of bloggers' businesses.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">In a reversal, WOMMA changed its policy (and its board management) to reflect the new needs of social media marketing, and now states that it's absolutely ethical to pay bloggers for writing sponsored content as long as they comply with the FTC guidelines.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Sadly, mom bloggers are sometimes accused of selling out when they get opportunities to work with brands. The importance of this is not that the accusers are right — usually they aren't. They are projecting their own definition of selling out onto other people. And they are usually coming from WOMMA's old-school perspective that is out of tune with the reality of running a blogging business.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Here the crucial issue is that you know what selling out means to<i>you</i><i>,</i><b> </b>because <i>true </i>selling out can only hurt you in the long term if you don't correct your course.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">No matter what you decide is right for you, here are some general topics and guidelines that apply for everyone who wrestles with the idea of what "selling out" means:</p> <ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Unethical advertising:</b> An advertiser that specifically asks you to write something positive about the company is being unethical. All professional bloggers will refuse any opportunity that requires they lead their readers to believe that an opinion expressed is their own when it isn't.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Breaking FTC guidelines:</b> An advertiser that wants to hire you to write something and asks you not to disclose that the content is sponsored is breaking the FTC guidelines. If you do not disclose that the content was compensated, then you're breaking FTC guidelines, too. Both you and the advertiser would be liable for fines or damages that could arise in the future. This is not ethical social media marketing.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Conflicts of interest:</b> A blogger maintains a respected blog and is a trusted voice in social media only by avoiding opportunities that present very clear conflicts of interest. For example, a mom who writes as a breastfeeding advocate shouldn't become a spokesblogger for a baby-formula company. Most opportunities are not this clear-cut, however, which is why it's a must to create an editorial policy for your blog.</p> </li></ul>

How to Profit from Mom Blogging without Selling Out

Selling out   is a term used for compromising your integrity, principles, or morals to gain money or success. The problem is, if everyone ha...

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Identify Mom Blogging Topics You’re Passionate About

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To determine your passion, you have to love a topic enough to be willing to write about it for free. While it's a nearly exact science to determine how many people are interested in a given topic, identifying your blogging passion is anything but an exact science.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The most successful blogs have only one thing in common: Their writers have chosen a topic so close to their hearts that they are doing what they were truly put on this earth to do.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Sometimes their blogs represent that end result. For example, Darren Rowse of <a href="http://problogger.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">ProBlogger</a> doesn't write about making money online just for the sake of earning money. He has empowered thousands of <a class="" href="http://m.dummies.com/DummiesArticle/Identify-Mom-Blogging-Topics-You-re-Passionate-About.id-284119.html#glossary-blogger" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">bloggers</a>to earn a living doing something they love.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">And Heather Armstrong of <a href="http://dooce.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Dooce</a>doesn't blog just for the advertising revenue and page views. Her honest and raw account of dealing with postpartum depression has helped thousands of people come to terms with their own mental-health issues or those of family members.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Other times, the blog is a step toward a greater end goal. Michelle Lamar started blogging many years ago as the <i>White Trash Mom</i><i>.</i> While it landed her a book deal and popularity among her peers, she found that it ultimately didn't really represent her talents as a marketing executive with 15 years' experience in the industry.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">She ended up taking her blog down in 2010 in order to enhance her professional profile as an experienced social media marketer. Yet it was her experience as a mom blogger that landed her a dream job with the V3 Integrated Marketing agency as the VP of Integrated Marketing.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">So how do you figure out what you're passionate about? You have to love the topic enough to be willing to write about it for free. Beyond that, what do your friends and family always come to you for? Creative ideas? Political analysis? Fashion advice? What are you known for?</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Because as you get more established as a blogger, you want to become that go-to person for that same area of expertise.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Dawn Sandomeno is a blogger who absolutely loves party planning, and started a party-planning blog with her friend Elizabeth Mascali in 2007. As their blog grew, their reputation as <i>the</i> party-planning expert bloggers grew as well. A conversation on Twitter with a publisher led to a book deal in 2010.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Now they are regulars on national television shows like the <i>Today Show</i> and <i>Good Morning America</i>when producers need someone who can talk about subjects such as Super Bowl parties and holiday celebrations.</p>

Identify Mom Blogging Topics You’re Passionate About

To determine your passion, you have to love a topic enough to be willing to write about it for free. While it's a nearly exact science...

Read more »

Identify Mom Blogging Topics You’re Passionate About

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To determine your passion, you have to love a topic enough to be willing to write about it for free. While it's a nearly exact science to determine how many people are interested in a given topic, identifying your blogging passion is anything but an exact science.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The most successful blogs have only one thing in common: Their writers have chosen a topic so close to their hearts that they are doing what they were truly put on this earth to do.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Sometimes their blogs represent that end result. For example, Darren Rowse of <a href="http://problogger.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">ProBlogger</a> doesn't write about making money online just for the sake of earning money. He has empowered thousands of <a class="" href="http://m.dummies.com/DummiesArticle/Identify-Mom-Blogging-Topics-You-re-Passionate-About.id-284119.html#glossary-blogger" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">bloggers</a>to earn a living doing something they love.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">And Heather Armstrong of <a href="http://dooce.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Dooce</a>doesn't blog just for the advertising revenue and page views. Her honest and raw account of dealing with postpartum depression has helped thousands of people come to terms with their own mental-health issues or those of family members.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Other times, the blog is a step toward a greater end goal. Michelle Lamar started blogging many years ago as the <i>White Trash Mom</i><i>.</i> While it landed her a book deal and popularity among her peers, she found that it ultimately didn't really represent her talents as a marketing executive with 15 years' experience in the industry.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">She ended up taking her blog down in 2010 in order to enhance her professional profile as an experienced social media marketer. Yet it was her experience as a mom blogger that landed her a dream job with the V3 Integrated Marketing agency as the VP of Integrated Marketing.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">So how do you figure out what you're passionate about? You have to love the topic enough to be willing to write about it for free. Beyond that, what do your friends and family always come to you for? Creative ideas? Political analysis? Fashion advice? What are you known for?</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Because as you get more established as a blogger, you want to become that go-to person for that same area of expertise.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Dawn Sandomeno is a blogger who absolutely loves party planning, and started a party-planning blog with her friend Elizabeth Mascali in 2007. As their blog grew, their reputation as <i>the</i> party-planning expert bloggers grew as well. A conversation on Twitter with a publisher led to a book deal in 2010.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Now they are regulars on national television shows like the <i>Today Show</i> and <i>Good Morning America</i>when producers need someone who can talk about subjects such as Super Bowl parties and holiday celebrations.</p>

Identify Mom Blogging Topics You’re Passionate About

To determine your passion, you have to love a topic enough to be willing to write about it for free. While it's a nearly exact science...

Read more »

Encourage Your Blog Visitors to Digg Your Content

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.digg.com/" style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px;color:rgb(1,69,138)">Digg</a><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">is a Web service dedicated to user-powered content. </span><br> </h1><p class="Byline" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Digg specializes in user community rating and voting, which allow users to submit and vote on what content,<a class="" href="http://m.dummies.com/DummiesArticle/Encourage-Your-Blog-Visitors-to-Digg-Your-Content.id-124091.html#glossary-comment" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">comments</a>, videos, or images are important and what are not.</p> <p class="Tip" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Digg is a great tool for keeping tabs on what is popular and interesting online, especially in blogs, but the ultimate goal is to have your ownposting featured on the front page, and benefiting from the flood of traffic and visitors that then comes your way. This is called being <i>dugg</i><i>.</i></p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Think of a newspaper that's created by what you and your friends think is interesting and important. In theory, Digg users select the most interesting content found on the Internet — hopefully, content that's worth paying attention to.</p> <p class="Warning" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Getting dugg is a blogger's dream come true and worst nightmare rolled into a single moment. Getting a blog post dugg on the Web attracts attention and traffic, and your blog gets lots of visits from people who might never have come to your blog otherwise. But nothing is ever free: All that extra traffic can put a real load on your Web server.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Web sites have been known to crash, taking the site offline. Even if that doesn't happen, your Web hostmight have to charge you extra bandwidth costs for the additional pages of your blog that get served.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To encourage people to Digg your site, customize your blog softwareto include a Digg This icon. Blog visitors can simply click the Digg icon and blast your blog to the front page of Digg.com!</p>

Encourage Your Blog Visitors to Digg Your Content

Digg   is a Web service dedicated to user-powered content.  Digg specializes in user community rating and voting, which allow users to sub...

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