Guest Blogger :: Kelly Watson
Lessons Learned While Blogging For Business: Six Things I
WISH I Knew
I am honored to introduce Guest blogger Kelly Watson, a marketing consultant who specializes in marketing
to women. Win a free copy of
Kelly’s “Small
Business Blogging Blueprint,”
e-book and tutorial videos (a $29 value). Details are at the bottom of this
post.
This month marks the one-year
anniversary of my business blog, One Woman Marketing. I’ve actually been
blogging on and off since ’99, but this marks the first year I blogged for
business … and let me tell you, it’s a whole new ballgame. If you want to reap
benefits like increased credibility, more brand exposure, and more sales, you
need a specific blogging plan to help leverage your time.
That’s why I created the “Small
Business Blogging Blueprint,” a 68-page e-book that helps beginning and
established bloggers set goals, track progress and get results. It’s filled
with step-by-step instructions for each step of the blogging process, and
troubleshooting tips for common problems like low web traffic and not enough
sales.
I created the e-book because I
wish I had something similar when I started blogging: it would have saved a lot
of time and effort. Here are five
other things I learned along the way:
·
Get a
little help from your friends. Your blog doesn’t exist in a bubble. You
shouldn’t, either. If you see a blogger whose content you like, offer to trade
guest blog posts. You could also ask to do an interview, then transcribe the
answers in a blog post for your readers. (I met Christine when I interviewed
her for a One Woman
Marketing podcast.) This will give your content some variety, and will
expand your reach in the blogosphere.
·
Prepare,
prepare, prepare. Eventually, there will come a time when you just won’t be
able to write a blog post. You’ll be too sick, or too busy, or will have some
other circumstance that will keep you from getting it done. Prepare for these
times by writing a few blog posts in advance, and have them saved in draft form
so you can publish them at the click of a button.
·
Spy on
the competition. By tracking competing blogs through a service such as
Google Reader, you stay on top of current issues and you may even get some
inspiration for future posts. It doesn’t hurt to leave comments, either: that
way bloggers will know you’ve stopped by.
·
Don’t be
afraid to ride rising trends. The next time an interesting topic or event
dominates the headlines, try writing a post that makes it relevant to your
readers. You’ll not only increase the timeliness of your blog content, but
you’ll also catch some of the search traffic surrounding the trend. (I took
advantage of Susan
Boyle’s singing to comment about gender and double standards.)
·
Reveal
your human side. Being professional doesn’t equal being perfect. The posts
that have generated the most interest have been the ones where I’ve admitted
faults and reached out to readers for help and advice. Revealing my human side
has done my business way more good
than pretending I have all the answers, all the time.
What do you wish you knew before
you started blogging? Leave a comment below with your answer, and you’ll be
entered to win a free copy of the “Small Business Blogging
Blueprint.” I’ll pick a winner
at random on Wednesday, October 21, 2009.
If your name is chosen and you’ve
already purchased “Blogging Blueprint,” you’ll receive a full refund of the
purchase price. So if you’re eager to check out the e-book but you still want to enter the
giveaway, go ahead! Even if you don’t win, you’ll still get a 30-day money-back
guarantee.
Blog Give Away Winner: Rachael is the big winner! Rachael, please email Kelly at kelly@womenwisemarketing.com! Congratulations!!
Listening to Rain
[Stormy afternoon in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Taken last weekend.]
I am still catching up on things after a long weekend away in South Carolina, where the main staple was not a specific vegetable or dish, but simply FRIED. And can I say? Fried = good, which means it’s a good thing I don’t have easy access to the fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, hush puppies, fried shrimp and peanut butter pie (not fried, but just as addicting) I indulged in all weekend long.
I had not been in that part of the country in many years, not since I moved from Athens, Georgia after finishing graduate school and moving to Santa Barbara. We flew into Atlanta and drove to Hilton Head for a wedding, and every moment of the weekend was dripping in nostalgia. Not only did I spend three years in Athens, but I also spent three formative years in Jacksonville, North Carolina – 3rd, 4th & 5th grades – where I spent hours and hours on the beach every summer. Everything from the roadside signs for boiled peanuts to the crooked wooden fences along the beach sparked a memory, or if not an intact memory, a feeling that washed through me in an instant, and disappeared just as quickly. It sometimes felt like the scent of french fries at the beach was just beyond my reach, and the quiet of all the nights I spent working late as a grad student were close enough to touch. All these moments brushed past me like shy moths; the minute I’d turn to get a closer look they were off, making me wonder if they were ever really there in the first place.
Five Things
1. How cute are these dolls from Ravenhill? Found them through Lavender & Limes.
2. I love Michele Maule’s illustrations…
3. …and Karen Preston’s dreamy digital collages.
4. Creating Wings is a beautiful new website “about knowing who we are.”
5. And Kate Swoboda has been, as always, a busy bee. Head to Your Courageous Life to learn about her upcoming retreat that aims to help participants answer the question How BIG do you want to live?
100 Books Project :: Sending Out Treasures
[Books #29 - #34, Heading across the globe]
I thought it might be fun to start documenting the journey of the books for the 100 Books Project from start to finish, especially since so many Book Fairies have come forth offering their Book Fairy services. Today I am sending out six books, so if you live in any of the following places, start keeping your eyes peeled in a few weeks.
Book #29 and Book #30 are headed to the Bay Area, where the lovely Kate Swoboda will tuck them in hidden places.
Book #31 is on its way to the Divine Donna Jensen in Western Australia.
Book #32 is journeying to Dublin, and from there Chantal Simon will take it to Glendalough.
Book #33 and Book #34 are off to Canada. Heather Plett is headed on a trip across Western Canada, so who knows where they'll end up! Heather was destined to be a Book Fairy, don't you think?
I will also be taking Book #35 with me to Hilton Head, South Carolina this weekend.
And why not add a few spots on the globe to my 100 Books Project Dream List. Any Book Fairies out there who could leave a book in Iceland, Tibet or Israel? If so, contact me at christine@swirlygirl.com.
This Is Going to be Good
Mark your calendar for a unique and inspiring show organized by the astounding creative force behind Folk & Fable and The Lovers, Dreamers and Me – Anne Carmack. Here are the deets:
Saturday, November 7, 2009
6:00 – 10:00pm
822 Wall Street, 2nd Floor, Downtown Los Angeles
KCRW's Anne Litt will also be on hand to keep the music flowing.
CORE: The Art & Design of the Torso will be a beautiful gallery space filled with the creations of more than a dozen artists. The medium: A mannequin. The meaning: The piece of the body that holds so many of the most important places: the heart, the gut (home of our instincts), the spine. It's us – at our core.
The artists who will be exhibiting their variation on the theme of CORE:
Marisa Haedike
Liz Kalloch
Kelly Barton
Mati McDonough
Pixie Campbell
Sarah Ahearn
Michelle Caplan
Outi Harma
Linda Esterley
Karin Collins
Carla Terwilleger
Jessica Seaton
Alyssa Nicol
Chanin McClurkin
Anne Carmack
Yours Truly!
Invitations
[Candle for L.M.]
I have a friend, and that friend is brave. And she is strong. And she is wise.
And I want to put aside the fact that these words could easily be applied to her battle with cancer, because while this story has to do with that battle, it is really about so much more.
It is about what she is teaching me, and how strange it feels to receive what I need to work through another issue in my life by simply sitting by her side, holding her hand, and listening. I feel like I should be the one giving her the tools and words that
might help her, that I should be the one providing the stepping stones
she needs. I feel like I should be carrying her.
But no. I am learning from her, and trying to follow her example. Trying, as hard as I can, to face a difficulty that feels feeble next to hers with the same kind of grace, integrity and courage I see in her.
This is not the first time cancer has come knocking on my friend's door, only this time it came pounding, crashing through the walls, determined to wreak havoc. After a long and difficult recovery from surgery, my friend explained that she now had to find a way to invite chemotherapy into her life, as she had been dreading it for weeks. She learned the effectiveness of this approach with weekly visits from a nurse, visits that involved pain and discomfort, visits she dreaded. Until the day she decided she needed to look forward to the visits, and find something positive in them, so she did, and a week later no further visits were required. And now again, she must look ahead to chemotherapy, and invite it into her life, into her body, into this journey to recovery.
Those were the words that struck me: "I have to invite this into my life."
I tucked those words into my bag and carried them home with me. I rolled them around in the palm of my hand like marbles and considered what they meant, and how they might help me face an issue I'd been trying to avoid for months. OK, years.
And last week, not 24 hours after I saw my friend, I took my first step towards dealing with this issue as head on as I'm capable of right now, repeating the mantra over and over again: "I have to invite this into my life." And while it is just one step on what I know will be a long journey, it is always those first steps that are the most daunting, so it is a relief to know that step has been taken. I don't yet feel strong or grounded, don't feel wise or evolved or brave. I feel wobbly, frustrated, and still angry that I even need to go through any of this. I have no confidence that I will march through this with my dignity intact every step of the way. I know I will fall, slip, and throw rocks in frustration; I will probably still try to avoid it in strange ways.
I am inviting this into my life, and I have my friend to thank for those seven magic words. Her example and her words have provided me with the key that I thought I would never find, the key I wasn't, quite frankly, necessarily trying that hard to locate.
My apologies for being vague, but the details don't matter. We are all facing our own battles, and these words can light up the sky in anyone's darkness, however that darkness took hold.
For with this light, with my friend's example, this road might be a tough one but it will not consume me as it has in the past. This is but one thread, and today is just one day. I have only taken one step and barely had one week to put this mantra to the test. But it is a beginning, and today, that is enough.
100 Books Project :: Across the Pond
[Book #11 :: Bath, United Kingdom, August 19, 2009]
I am happy to report that I have a lot of catching up to do from various points across the globe on the 100 Books Project. I hereby vow to get this blog fully up-to-date before I send anymore books out into the world. Today I give you the U.K. and Ireland, and a huge thanks to two lovely Book Fairies.
The lovely Susannah Conway took charge of two books this summer, and here are her Book Fairy snippets:
August 20, 1009: Book #11 was set free! Yesterday was a gloriously sunny day, as it has been for the last few days, so i ventured out into Bath with my pal Angie, and we found the perfect spot: The suitably swirly table & chairs outside an Italian restaurant, next door to the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street. The restaurant was closed for the afternoon, so i hope someone lovely found the book. Of course it is just my luck that today it has poured with rain like a freakin monsoon, so i am now PRAYING someone picked the book up yesterday 
[Book #12 :: Bristol, U.K., August 24, 2009]
August 24, 2009: Book #12 has been set free….. in Bristol. i found the perfect spot for her (your book is female) outside a lovely shop in the artsy quarter of the city.
Another Book Fairy – the Lovely Leana May – made a spur of the moment offer to take a book along with her on a journey to Ireland, so I raced to the post office and got it to her just in the nick of time.
[Book #23: Trinity College, Dublin, August 27, 2009]
August 27, 2009: I had so much fun trying to decide where to leave the book! I decided to be traditional and leave it at a well known spot. I picked Trinity College. Due to the rainy weather and constant stream of tourists I tried to leave it in a place that a "local" would be more apt to come across it. At first I thought near the Book of Kells, but decided to leave it near the Conservatory next to a covered pillar.
No word from anyone who stumbled upon these books, but that's OK. These books are meant to have stories that are multi-layered. Connecting with Book Fairies, leaving books in hidden places, wondering what it might be like for someone to find them…there's so much to enjoy here.
The 100 Books Flickr Page is up-to-date, and I've created an entry with a 100 Books Master List. I also had the honor of being interviewed for the What Are You Giving Away? website, just posted today!
Next up: Stories from Squam Art Workshops and Boulder, Colorado!
100 Books Project :: The Master List
[Book #11 :: Bath, UK, Left by Book Fairy Susannah Conway]
This page will be updated every time a new 100 Books Project entry is posted. How fun to watch the list grow! Any listings in bold indicate the work of a Book Fairy.
#1: UCLA Campus
#2: UCLA Campus
#3: UCLA Campus
#4: UCLA Campus - Received a response!
#5: LAX Airport, International Terminal
#6: Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
#7: Given to a jewelry designer I met in Tokyo, Japan – Received a response!
#8: Given to an artist I met in Tokyo, Japan
#9: Given to a woman I met in Tokyo, Japan – Received a response!
#10: Given to a bartender in Tokyo, Japan
#11: Bath, United Kingdom
#12: Bristol, United Kingdom
#13: Stockholm, Sweden – Received a response!
#14: Stockholm, Sweden
#15: Wellington, New Zealand
#16: Lyall Bay, New Zealand
#17: Chicago, Illinois
#18: Chicago, Illinois
#19: Virginia Tech Campus, Blacksburg, Virginia
#20: Virginia Tech Campus, Blacksburg, Virginia
#21: Door County, Wisconsin
#22: Door County Wisconsin
#23: Dublin, Ireland
#24: Boulder, Colorado
#25: The Continental Divide, Colorado
#26: Squam Art Workshops – Received a response!
#27: Squam Art Workshops – Received a response!
#28: Squam Art Workshops – Received a response!
#29: San Francisco – Received a response!
#30: San Francisco
#31: Dublin, Ireland
#32: Western Australia
#33: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
#34: Banff, Alberta, Canada
#35: Locust Grove, GA
#36: The Algarve Portgual
#37: Copenhagen, Denmark
#38: Blue Lakes, Iceland
#39: Madrid, Spain
#40: Madrid, Spain
#41: Madrid, Spain
#42: Ridgewood, New Jersey – Received a response!
#43: Edinburgh, Scotland
#44: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
#45: Brazil
#46: Kapadokia, Turkey
#47: New York City
#48: Jensen Beach, Florida
#49: Sedona, Arizona – Received a response!
#50: Silverlake, Los Angeles
#51: Brentwood, Los Angeles
#52: Amman, Jordan – This story is featured in the July/August 2010 issue of Somerset Studio
#53: Port Moody, BC, Canada
#54: Cincinnati, Ohio – Received a response!
#55: Madison, Wisconsin
#56: Auckland, New Zealand – Received a response!
#57: San Rafael, California
#58: San Francisco, California
#59: Lake Tahoe, California
#60: Sacramento, California – by a very special Supa-Star Book Fairy!
#61: Mexico City, Mexico – Received a response!
#62: Zug, Switzerland
#63: Budapest, Hungary
#64: Boston, Massachusetts – received a response!
#65: This will be left by another Supa-Star Book Fairy
#66: Sedona, Arizona – This Book Fairy found Book #49
#67: Salt Lake City, Utah
#68: Montgomery, Alabama
#69: Nekoosha, Wisconsin
#70: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
#71: Mumbai, India
#72: Seoul, South Korea
#73: Namibia, Africa
#74: Peru
#75: Santa Monica, CA – received a response!
#76: Santa Monica, CA
#77: Brentwood, CA
#78: Santa Monica, CA
#79: Santa Monica, CA
#80: Venice, CA
#81: Sierra Madre, CA – received a response!
#82: United Kingdom
#83: New Mexcio
#84: Vienna, Austria
#85: Ames, Iowa
#86: New South Wales, Australia
#87: Raleigh, NC
#88: Colorado Springs, CO
#89: Minnesota
#90: Paris, France
#91: Ireland
#92: Washington, DC
#93: Pisa, Italy
#94: Uganda
#95: Kenya
See more at the 100 Books Project Flickr Gallery.
Five Things
1. I love Mitzi Trachtenberg's layered work, shown above.
2. Here's the latest from The Beckoning of Lovely.
3. See what's new with Groovy Yogi (that retreat to Goa – ooh-la-la!)
4. Antler Magazine needs YOU!
5. I'd like to spend some time at the Petaluma Art House.
>>>Yesterday's Give Away winner is the Joyful Jenica. Email me, sista!
Thanks to everyone for all of the thoughtful, thought-provoking comments this week. I've loved these "conversations".
Squam Art Workshops :: On Impressions
[Flowers from Squam Art Workshops June 2009, all unique and one-of-a-kind]
I’m just going to dive right in,
and begin this entry with something someone said to me in one of the few quiet
conversations I had at SAW. In a
discussion about blogging, marketing and the blogging community, my companion said that she had the impression that certain members of the
blogging community – myself included – were part of an exclusive circle of BFFs
who all knew, loved and supported each other. I am paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it. Her motivation for wanting to talk
about this and learn more about our circle was to learn how we connect with one
another and how we market and support our own and each other’s work through
these connections.
Her comment stayed with me, and the
thoughts I’ve been having about it since then are twofold. One, it is disheartening that this is
the impression someone has and I was happy to dispel the myth, and two, as much
as I don’t want that to be the impression anyone
has, I’m not at all comfortable with the idea of having to “prove” to the
world that this isn’t the case.
Not to mention the fact that no matter what I say or do, people are
going to believe whatever they want to believe. This is something I have learned the hard way, that I cannot
control what anyone else says, does or thinks, a truth that has taken months of focused attention to fully
embrace with an open heart. So
while a year ago I might have wanted to write a post saying, “No, no, no…we’re
not exclusive and we’re not all super-connected, and let me give you examples
to prove my point…” right now I am instead wanting to write a post that
expresses how important it is for each and every one of us in this community –
which includes those of us who attend SAW – to be aware of what stories we
choose to cling to.
I think it is easy to see what we
want to see in any given situation, and as humans with egos we are going to
gravitate towards the stories that place us in the best light possible. I don’t say this from a place of
judgment but of observation. I do
it, you do it, my husband does it; I bet even from time to time the Dalai Lama
does it. I can also state from
experience that in many instances I have found the path to my truest self by
observing others and seeing things I know I do not want to be. For
most of my life I saw myself in these situations as better than the other
person, as in, “I’ll never do that or
be like that.” That’s right – judgmental, egotistic,
arrogant. What I have been
challenging myself to do in recent years is to instead observe my own reactions
to someone else’s behavior and look at why that reaction is happening, and from
there, if I come to see that their behavior is something I do not want to
replicate, I say “Thank you for the lesson,” and move on. This is sometimes easier said than
done, as I’m clearly not the Dalai Lama, but I have to say that the more I see
my “adversaries” – or anyone who does things differently than I do – as my teachers, the better I feel. For me, it is all about living my life
in a way that is meaningful, and letting
everyone around me do the same in their own way. I can learn all kinds of things from observing the behavior
of others, but I need to be careful about clinging to and creating stories that
only serve to boost my ego.
How does all of this relate to
SAW? I think it is worth sharing in
this series of SAW posts because I am well aware of the impressions, fears, and
anxieties some people have of the group dynamics of this gathering. And I’m not here to try to prove to
anyone that they don’t exist, I’m wanting to express how important it is I
think anyone attending SAW do four things:
* Keep expectations to a minimum.
*
Come as you are and be as
you are. Nothing more, nothing
less.
*
Remember that no one knows
everything there is to know about another human being. We all go to New Hampshire with our own
mixed bag of desires, needs and energy levels, and impressions don’t =
truth. They’re just impressions.
*
Ask for what you want. This, I know, is not always easy, but
it was the only piece of advice I gave my companion that I think was truly
helpful. I explained to her that
anyone I know (or know of) who has organized shows, retreats, and events,
written books, and created close connections with fellow bloggers has done so
by simply putting it out in the world and asking our community for help (or a
coffee date). There isn’t any “exclusive
club”; we’re all just trying to live our lives and do something meaningful, and
we are all driven by a desire to
encourage others to do the same.
We’ve all created what we want in our lives by asking for what we want
in a number of different ways. In
fact, this is exactly how SAW got started – Elizabeth asked teachers to teach,
asked Rockywold-Deephaven Campground to host, asked people to come. It’s just that simple.
I will share one more tiny
snippet which I hope will help dispel any fears potential SAW attendees have
that start with, “What will people think of me?” I, too, came to SAW this year concerned about how certain
people would see me and treat me.
(Long story). Over the
course of the weekend, my fears were completely dispelled, and I walked away
from this realizing that just as I had feared some would judge me, I had judged
them, projecting my anxieties onto them before we'd even met, all as a way
to “defend” myself against any potential hurt. When I was sharing this story with Marisa, she looked at me
and said, “Well here’s something for you to chew on – maybe they haven’t been
thinking about you as much as you think they have, if at all!” As soon as she said this I burst out
laughing, immediately seeing I had forgotten one other fundamental truth: Other people probably have better and
more interesting things to think about than me. And this is true for everyone – with so
much in our hearts and minds when we come to SAW I think it is safe to say
there aren’t many of us who have enough brain space to take a look around the
cafeteria, analyze everyone’s behavior, and contemplate whether or not we like
it. And this is where Elizabeth’s
focused, passionate intention comes into play: SAW does not attract that kind of energy, so even if it
manages to sneak in under the radar, it is quickly extinguished because it has
nothing to feed on.
We all come to SAW wanting the same
things: To be creative, to meet
and see friends, to enjoy the environment, to feel safe, to let go of worrying
about cooking and cleaning, to miss our families, to feel good. How these needs
get met is going to look different for each and every one of us, and that is
what makes SAW beautiful. There
are no requirements to be anything other than who you are and this, I believe,
is SAW’s greatest gift.
>>>>>THURSDAY GIVE AWAY: A 6×8 wall art plaque from The Christine Mason Miller Collection, shown below. Enter a comment to enter the drawing!
Yesterday's winner is the Enchanting Tara! Send me an email Tara to claim your goodies!
