Becki King Archives - Page 4 of 4 - The Motherhood | A Social Media Marketing Agency

Starting a blog isn’t much harder than choosing a blog name and a platform, clicking a few buttons, and starting to write. But if you build it, will anyone come? And what will happen when they get there?

Today in The Motherhood, we had a great talk with an exceptional panel of bloggers who enlightened us on everything from the administrative to the creative, and gave guidance to beginning and longtime bloggers alike on building our blog communities.

Vera Sweeney of Lady and the Blog, Melissa Chapman of Married My Sugar Daddy, Nadia Carriere of Child Mode, Audrey McClelland of Mom Generations, Annie Shultz of Mama Dweeb, Victoria Pericon of Veep Veep, Whitney Wingerd of Mommies with Style, and Megan Crume of Sweet Sadie Marie weighed in on the blogging questions you’ve always wanted answered.

If you build it…

First, of course, you have to build the blog. When asked whether it was more important to have a great looking blog or one with great content, the panelists were unanimous: it’s all about the content. Annie of Mama Dweeb noted, “Content is King! That is what they told me in newspaper class and that applies to blogging.” Even an ugly site with great content draws readers back, though an attractive site may keep them there longer.

How to make that site good looking? Nadia of Child Mode and Whitney of Mommies with Style advise that WordPress and TypePad have lots of easy-to-use templates and themes. Vera of Lady and the Blog recommends “adding more images and videos that are engaging for the readers.” She cautions, though, that it’s never okay to grab images from other websites, even if you credit them. If you use others’ images, you should be prepared to pay for them.

Along with good content and good looks, several panelists emphasized that regular posting is critical. Vera said, “You should carve out time each day. Even on the weekends I sneak over to the computer and get at least one post up.”

After you build the blog itself, it’s time to build relationships. Vera summed it up neatly when she said, “Building relationships is key to any successful business. With blogging, there are three types of relationships that need attention:

-Blogger to Blogger: Start linking to like blogs with similar traffic. Do weekly roundups. Post one another’s badges on your sidebars. Tweet one another’s work. There is strength in numbers.

-Blogger to Brand: Become friendly with reps. Attend events. Work on projects and keep the communication line open. Make them remember you.

-Blogger to Reader: Reply back to comments. Offer something special on your newsletter, interact on your Facebook wall. All these things matter.”

To build relationships with other bloggers, consider joining a blogging group (or a few). As far as building Blogger to Brand relationships, the panel was mixed about whether it was easier to build relationships directly with brands or to go through PR agencies.

What to do to get noticed by brands? Again, the panel emphasized content. Megan of Sweet Sadie Marie said to ask yourself who and what you’re passionate about–that will guide you. Melissa of Married My Sugar Daddy added that “when you’ve got really good content, it’s easier to make brands notice you–and you will feel a lot more confident making those introductions when you’ve got the blog content to back it up.” Vera and several panelists also recommended having a media kit, something you can send to PR reps to showcase your brand relationships and past work.

As you build relationships, especially with bloggers and readers, you’ll build audience. Vera recommends increasing SEO by tagging your posts with keywords and repeating those in the post itself; matching your post title to its first paragraph, and using bullets and headers (which search engines love) throughout your post. Annie adds that it’s wise to think about specific terms readers might be searching for, and using those in your post title in lieu of something more generic.

Another way to grow your audience is the use of Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and the like to drive traffic to your site. Whitney says she uses “auto-feeds–everything I post goes straight to my Facebook page and Twitter feed–makes it nice and easy and I get a ton of traffic that way. ” For those who are not seeing success from those methods, Victoria of Veep Veep reminds, “Talk with others. If you write but never reply to e-mails or respond to comments or tweets, then they won’t come back.” In other words: engage your audience. Nadia recommends participating in memes such as Wordless Wednesday as a good way to connect with other bloggers and build audience.

…They will come.

Your hard work will pay off, the panelists agreed, but be patient and persistent. Annie said, “There is no such thing as overnight success with blogging. It takes most bloggers at LEAST six months of hard work before they see a dime.”

Several panelists offered their best tips for getting paid. Vera said, “Don’t be afraid to pitch yourself,” and recommended charging for contests, even if it’s only $25. “Something is better than nothing.” Whitney cautioned, “Do NOT work for free with the promise of a later paid gig! There are so many of these ‘offers’ out there. You are worth more.”

As important as it is to know your worth and to be paid, don’t get hung up on earnings and pageviews. As Audrey of Mom Generations wisely observed, “It will come if you keep with it. As soon as I let that piece of it go and started producing content that I loved and was ultra passionate about, doors began to open.”

You can read the full transcript of the Talk here.

Next up we’ll be posting a second part summary of the Building Your Blog Community: Part Two – Advanced Blogging. Look for that post soon! Thanks!

I once heard a wise saying: Things happen when you get out of the house. It’s simple, but it’s true: You’re a lot more likely to meet your neighbor if you’re in your front yard instead of your kitchen. You won’t meet the love of your life if you hunker down on your couch to watch reruns, but you might if you go to that party you were invited to. If you don’t go downtown, you won’t see the “Help Wanted” sign that leads you to your dream job. If you put yourself out there, you never know what might happen.

In 2005, I had two little kids, and I wasn’t getting out of the house (alone) nearly as much as I wanted to. I loved my kids, but I craved the company of like-minded moms. I had recently seen a link to a blog in one of my favorite magazines. I followed the link. I loved the blog. I started one of my own. As I wrote, I began to read. I played “blogscotch,” finding a blog I liked and then visiting blogs in that blog’s blogroll, and so on and so on. One day I saw a link to a blog called “Been There.” It was even better than I’d hoped—not one, but two women: smart, funny, sympathetic. They really had been where I was; they got it. Then came my “getting out of the house” moment. Instead of just reading, I left a comment.

Through that comment, one of the women, Cooper, found and commented on my blog. That reaching back was the start of an online friendship between me and Cooper and her co-blogger, Emily, too. They were the kind of mom, the kind of friend, that I wanted to be. And they made it feel like it was possible.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, I sent a check to the Red Cross. I sat in my house, wringing my hands, wishing there were more I could do. Cooper and Emily DID something. They started the “Been There Clearinghouse.” If someone who fled New Orleans needed a crib, or clothes, or anything, Cooper and Emily found a way to connect them with people who had those things to give away. If someone had something to offer, Cooper and Emily connected them with someone who needed it. Here I was just trying to get out of the house, for Pete’s sake; they were helping people who no longer had houses to get out of.

One day I got an e-mail from Emily: would I be willing to give her my phone number and actually talk on the phone? Of course, I said, despite my husband’s mutterings about Internet safety and his suspicions that “Cooper and Emily” was really an ex-con in a stained undershirt who lured unsuspecting suburban moms to his paneled basement lair. I gave my number, and soon I was hearing the real voices of these women I already loved and admired (or the surprisingly convincing voices of two women the ex-con had imprisoned in his basement as part of his diabolical plan).

It was really them, though—and they had a very non-diabolical plan of their own: a website for moms, a place to gather, share ideas, learn, talk, laugh, support each other, maybe even change the world. A virtual neighborhood—a Motherhood. It barely seemed possible to me; I mean, I was having a hard enough time getting the laundry done. Run a website? One that would really matter? Well, if anyone could do it, my money would have been on Emily and Cooper. I listened to them, laughing with delight and anticipation as they talked about their plans. Did I want in, to participate in some way? Of course I did. Who wouldn’t?

The Motherhood has been a lot of different things to me, just as “real life” friendships are. I have to put that phrase in quotes, because the friendships I’ve developed with Cooper and Emily and other women through the Motherhood are no less real or substantive than the friendship I have with my neighbor across the street.

Whether I was feeling grateful, fearful or hopeful, the Motherhood gave me a place to share. If I was in a valley and cried out, other voices, kinder ones, echoed back at me. When I decided I wanted to donate diapers to a local clinic for homeless women and their children, the Motherhood encouraged me (and Cooper and Emily were the first to send diapers—big boxes of them!). After almost seven years of being a stay-at-home mom, I decided to start my own family law practice. On the days I doubted I could do it, guess where some of my best encouragement came from? I had a Motherhood behind me, believing in me. So I believed in myself. The practice flourished, so much so that I was too exhausted at night to get online much. When I did make it to The Motherhood, the welcome was always warm. And when I had to close my practice so my husband could take a new job out of state, The Motherhood provided a place to voice my excitement at a new adventure, and the grief of leaving home.

Who would have thought all of that could spring from one little comment on a blog? I stepped outside of my “house,” my comfort zone, that day, and talked to a “stranger,” and things did indeed happen: I found new friends and a place that still feels like home.