DIGITAL SANKALP

Build a Platform as a Well-Known Influencer

<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">One of the five common business models that most successful mombloggers use to earn their revenue is to build a platform as a well-known influencer.  </h1>You need to prove that you have what it takes to draw a large audience that thrives on reading your content. Your most effective content will be entertaining, honest, and real. You need to be a charismatic person that people can relate to — or perhaps instead you may be a polarizing blogger with controversial opinions. In a crowded blogosphere, you really have to be unique to get noticed. This kind of blog can be a compelling personal journey, such as Heather Armstrong's <a href="http://www.dooce.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Dooce</a>blog, or it can be a professional platform such as <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist</a> blog. If you're the kind of blogger who thrives in the spotlight, then your blog should be all about broadcasting your message to the world. You are building a platform from which you can promote yourself and any endeavor you pursue. The platform isn't the end goal — it is the means to an end. From your platform, you can become a book author, be a paid speaker, become a spokesperson for a brand, or sell your products and services. A handful of bloggers have even landed movie deals, the first one being Julie and Julia in 2009. It usually doesn't come without a cost — as bloggers become more influential, they also become larger targets for criticism. Whether or not the criticism is valid, you need to have a thick skin to manage any response on your part with dignity rather than with retaliation. Effective ways to make money off this kind of blog are to combine several direct and indirect methods of monetization. With a popular blog comes traffic, so selling ads or working with an ad network are important. But only in rare cases is it enough to earn a living just on advertising. Additionally, you need to pursue relationships with book publishers, top brands, or event planners, and build up your personal brand and fan base enough that you stand out from the crowd. All the while, you still need to be writing content and maintaining your blog so you continually engage your readers. Should you get a book deal or spokesperson gig, these can instantly double your workload. If you are seeking speaking gigs, plan on traveling frequently — around six to ten times a year. The best way to promote this kind of blog is by word of mouth, so you want to get people talking about you. That means you have to spend a lot of time on social networks and on other blogs, because first you need to go where the audience is. You have to establish a strong personal brand that's unique and compelling, and your blog design has to reflect the level of professionalism you're aiming for. To summarize, here are the recommended ways to be successful with a blog that serves as a platform for fame: <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> Your writing style has to be charismatic, unique, and appealing to a large audience.</li><li>You have to work consistently on getting exposure for yourself while you're also maintaining a rigorous writing schedule. </li><li>Establish a strong personal brand.</li><li> Be able to sell yourself to book publishers, event managers, and large company brands.</li><li>Invest in a professionally designed blog theme. </li></ul>A great example of this kind of blogging success is Karen Walrond of <a href="http://www.chookooloonks.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Chookooloonks</a>. Karen has built up a strong personal brand as a talented photographer, writer, and blogger. She's worked with brands such as Nikon and Procter and Gamble, and authored the best-selling book, The Beauty of Different. <img alt="image0.jpg" height="400" src="http://media.wiley.com/Lux/11/284111.image0.jpg" style="vertical-align: bottom; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); max-width: 100%; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; height: auto !important;" width="533">

Build a Platform as a Well-Known Influencer

One of the five common business models that most successful mombloggers use to earn their revenue is to build a platform as a well-known i...

6:48 pm

Build a Platform as a Well-Known Influencer

Build a Platform as a Well-Known Influencer

One of the five common business models that most successful mombloggers use to earn their revenue is to build a platform as a well-known i...

6:48 pm

Personal Writing Style as a Mom Blogger

<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"> </h1> As a mom blogger, you must balance your need to write for pleasure with the need to give something to your readers in every single post. Even if you're already an established writer, developing your personal writing style as a blogger is something that can only come with time. If you ask established professional bloggers about their first few blog posts, you'll likely notice a hesitation and cringe before they respond. Blogging is different from any other writing medium. Posts need to be relatively short and have a well-defined value proposition for the reader. A value proposition is simply making sure your readers know what they'll get out of taking the time to read your blog post. If readers can't determine "what's in it for me" in a short amount of time, they'll leave your blog. Additionally, as a blogger, you have to enjoy what you're writing, or you won't be writing for long. To be successful at blogging, you really must enjoy writing for the sake of writing. This is why it's vital to choose a topic for your blog that you're extremely passionate about — a topic that you love so much that you'd be willing to write about for free. Because — let's face it — at the beginning, you will be writing for free! On top of all this, the personal nature of blogs makes it next to impossible not to write about the people and things that are a part of your life. It also can make it tricky when you want to make a business out of the parts of your life that are typically shared only privately with friends and family. Some of the harshest criticisms leveled at mom bloggers revolve around the ethics of sharing stories about family members — especially children — who don't (or can't) give explicit permission to appear on your blog.

Personal Writing Style as a Mom Blogger

As a mom blogger, you must balance your need to write for pleasure with the need to give something to your readers in every single post. E...

6:46 pm

Personal Writing Style as a Mom Blogger

<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"> </h1> As a mom blogger, you must balance your need to write for pleasure with the need to give something to your readers in every single post. Even if you're already an established writer, developing your personal writing style as a blogger is something that can only come with time. If you ask established professional bloggers about their first few blog posts, you'll likely notice a hesitation and cringe before they respond. Blogging is different from any other writing medium. Posts need to be relatively short and have a well-defined value proposition for the reader. A value proposition is simply making sure your readers know what they'll get out of taking the time to read your blog post. If readers can't determine "what's in it for me" in a short amount of time, they'll leave your blog. Additionally, as a blogger, you have to enjoy what you're writing, or you won't be writing for long. To be successful at blogging, you really must enjoy writing for the sake of writing. This is why it's vital to choose a topic for your blog that you're extremely passionate about — a topic that you love so much that you'd be willing to write about for free. Because — let's face it — at the beginning, you will be writing for free! On top of all this, the personal nature of blogs makes it next to impossible not to write about the people and things that are a part of your life. It also can make it tricky when you want to make a business out of the parts of your life that are typically shared only privately with friends and family. Some of the harshest criticisms leveled at mom bloggers revolve around the ethics of sharing stories about family members — especially children — who don't (or can't) give explicit permission to appear on your blog.

Personal Writing Style as a Mom Blogger

As a mom blogger, you must balance your need to write for pleasure with the need to give something to your readers in every single post. E...

6:46 pm

How Privacy Affects Your Family and Mom Blogging 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"> </h1> Blogging is a balancing act between finding ways to share personal stories while setting boundaries about the things you refuse to share publicly. Even thebloggers who seem to bare it all have certain topics they won't discuss. The permanence of blogging puts a different perspective on cute and funny stories about children as they go through stages such as breastfeeding, potty training, and social struggles with their peers. There's no way of knowing what children will think of these writings when they're 16 years old and in the midst of teenage angst. Or how a spouse will feel about what you wrote about an argument you had. Or how your own parents will feel about how you could blog about a childhood experience that you never had the courage to share with them. There are also safety issues to consider when you start living your life publicly online. It's next to impossible to conceal your home address and home phone number thanks to public records and online phone books. Additionally, newer cameras are equipped with sophisticated geo-tagging technology that can embed detailed location information in photographs you make public. To date, there have not been any incidents in which bloggers or their families have been harmed due to the findability of personal information. But unfortunately, such harm is still in the realm of possibility. Ironically, the simple solution to this problem — being and remaining anonymous — isn't a solution that really works for bloggers. Blog readers typically want to know the person behind the words. They care about not only what the blog says, but who says it. Additionally, it's these very personal stories that seem to resonate most with our readers. In fact, writing about taboo subjects (carefully, of course) can be helpful and healing to both the author and the reader. For example, several mom bloggers have shared their personal struggles with anxiety and depression. While this may be a topic that's difficult for their families to discuss, more good than harm has come from shedding light on this condition that affects many women. And the communities that have been created because of these blogs have become an invaluable support system for thousands of women. Here are some of the questions to ask yourself to help weigh the value of sharing versus the potential consequences: <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> Is this information self-serving, or will my blog visitors get something out of reading thispost? Sometimes you'll need to rewrite sections to change venting into a sharing of lessons learned instead.</li><li> Does this blog post say anything that I wouldn't say directly to the persons involved? If not, then either choose to speak to that person first, or omit the information from your blog post.</li><li> Does this material violate the privacy of the persons I've written about? If you would be afraid to have them find the post, then the answer to this question is probably yes.</li><li> Is there a way I can get my message across effectively without sharing personal details? If so, it's probably in your best interests to do so.</li><li> How would my children feel about this post if they were reading it as adults? The best way to answer this question is to imagine that your own parents wrote this blog entryabout you. If that leaves you with hesitation or uneasiness, there's probably room for revision. </li><li>Can anything in this post get taken out of context in a way that I hadn't intended? And could that misinterpretation cause harm to me or my family? If so, be sure to edit your words or add more information. You don't want to risk being misrepresented in a way that creates problems that aren't there in the first place. </li></ul>Sometimes you just don't know the answers to these questions. Trust your intuition when that little voice says, "don't hit Publish just yet." When that happens, walk away from the content for a few hours or days until you can see the situation objectively. Sometimes you don't know you've crossed the line until the line is already crossed.

How Privacy Affects Your Family and Mom Blogging Business

Blogging is a balancing act between finding ways to share personal stories while setting boundaries about the things you refuse to share p...

6:45 pm

How Privacy Affects Your Family and Mom Blogging 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"> </h1> Blogging is a balancing act between finding ways to share personal stories while setting boundaries about the things you refuse to share publicly. Even thebloggers who seem to bare it all have certain topics they won't discuss. The permanence of blogging puts a different perspective on cute and funny stories about children as they go through stages such as breastfeeding, potty training, and social struggles with their peers. There's no way of knowing what children will think of these writings when they're 16 years old and in the midst of teenage angst. Or how a spouse will feel about what you wrote about an argument you had. Or how your own parents will feel about how you could blog about a childhood experience that you never had the courage to share with them. There are also safety issues to consider when you start living your life publicly online. It's next to impossible to conceal your home address and home phone number thanks to public records and online phone books. Additionally, newer cameras are equipped with sophisticated geo-tagging technology that can embed detailed location information in photographs you make public. To date, there have not been any incidents in which bloggers or their families have been harmed due to the findability of personal information. But unfortunately, such harm is still in the realm of possibility. Ironically, the simple solution to this problem — being and remaining anonymous — isn't a solution that really works for bloggers. Blog readers typically want to know the person behind the words. They care about not only what the blog says, but who says it. Additionally, it's these very personal stories that seem to resonate most with our readers. In fact, writing about taboo subjects (carefully, of course) can be helpful and healing to both the author and the reader. For example, several mom bloggers have shared their personal struggles with anxiety and depression. While this may be a topic that's difficult for their families to discuss, more good than harm has come from shedding light on this condition that affects many women. And the communities that have been created because of these blogs have become an invaluable support system for thousands of women. Here are some of the questions to ask yourself to help weigh the value of sharing versus the potential consequences: <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> Is this information self-serving, or will my blog visitors get something out of reading thispost? Sometimes you'll need to rewrite sections to change venting into a sharing of lessons learned instead.</li><li> Does this blog post say anything that I wouldn't say directly to the persons involved? If not, then either choose to speak to that person first, or omit the information from your blog post.</li><li> Does this material violate the privacy of the persons I've written about? If you would be afraid to have them find the post, then the answer to this question is probably yes.</li><li> Is there a way I can get my message across effectively without sharing personal details? If so, it's probably in your best interests to do so.</li><li> How would my children feel about this post if they were reading it as adults? The best way to answer this question is to imagine that your own parents wrote this blog entryabout you. If that leaves you with hesitation or uneasiness, there's probably room for revision. </li><li>Can anything in this post get taken out of context in a way that I hadn't intended? And could that misinterpretation cause harm to me or my family? If so, be sure to edit your words or add more information. You don't want to risk being misrepresented in a way that creates problems that aren't there in the first place. </li></ul>Sometimes you just don't know the answers to these questions. Trust your intuition when that little voice says, "don't hit Publish just yet." When that happens, walk away from the content for a few hours or days until you can see the situation objectively. Sometimes you don't know you've crossed the line until the line is already crossed.

How Privacy Affects Your Family and Mom Blogging Business

Blogging is a balancing act between finding ways to share personal stories while setting boundaries about the things you refuse to share p...

6:45 pm

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"> </h1> 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. 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. 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. Heather's lesson learned is as important now as it was back then — everything that you publish online is permanent. 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.

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...

6:44 pm

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"> </h1> 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. 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. 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. Heather's lesson learned is as important now as it was back then — everything that you publish online is permanent. 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.

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...

6:44 pm

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"> </h1> 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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 ...

6:42 pm

DIGITAL SANKALP

Build a Platform as a Well-Known Influencer

Build a Platform as a Well-Known Influencer

Personal Writing Style as a Mom Blogger

Personal Writing Style as a Mom Blogger

How Privacy Affects Your Family and Mom Blogging Business

How Privacy Affects Your Family and Mom Blogging Business

Personal and Professional Boundaries for Mom Bloggers

Personal and Professional Boundaries for Mom Bloggers

Change a Personal Mom Blog into a Business

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