Last night I was on a panel with 3 of my favorite Indianapolis men; Douglas Karr, Patric Welch, and Erik Deckers. There were approximately 15 students and professionals in the audience at STC-Indiana that wanted to learn more about blogging. Out of the group, only 2 had active blogs. This put into perspective for me, that not everyone knows what blogging is, what it can do for you, who should be blogging, and why.
A woman in the audience presented the following question: I had to write a blog for my class, and I sucked at writing it. How do I know that anyone wants to hear what I have to say?
I didn't address her question last night, but want to let her know if she is reading this; even though you may not think anyone is listening, someone always is. I thought the very same thing when I started. I am a very unique person with a very unique personality. It took me getting active on Smaller Indiana before my audience recognized me, which is why I say use a mixture of not just blogs, but social networks as well.
Since you are in Indiana, check out www.smallerindiana.com. It's great for getting your feet wet, generating new ideas, and building your network. I don't go a week now without someone emailing me saying "Nicki I've been watching you for a while, and I wanted to reach out and see how our businesses can work together or that they'd like to meet me". It's pretty flattering!
Some tips for post generation;
~During your day, recognize the things that make you say "Aha!" Others want to know about those too, and will be searching for them. If that topic has made them go Aha!, and they read your post, you have just gained a fan.
~Set up Google Alerts for subjects that interest you by going to www.google.com/alerts. For instance, if you are blogging about Corvettes, set up an alert for Corvettes! You'll receive information that comes out as it hits search engines, and you'll be ahead of the curve! I have alerts set up for social media, web 2.0, web 3.0, Nicki Laycoax, Blogs, Indianapolis Web...
~Participate in social networking sites and forums. This will help keep your mind sharp and thinking about your next post.
~Watch the news or read websites geared toward your subject. If you blog about food or cooking, watch the food channel and write about what you learn!
If you've got time grab a notepad and a cup of coffee and listen to the conference via Talkshoe!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
So, Why Should I Blog?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Blog Action Day 2008-My Plan To Help Change The Path Of Poverty
I feel that to make a change, you should start with the most primary subjects available to us-our children. Children will live what they learn,
as the old poem by Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph. D. goes:
If children live with hostility,
they learn to fight.
If children live with ridicule,
they learn to be shy.
If children live with tolerance,
they learn to be patient.
If children live with encouragement,
they learn confidence.
If children live with praise,
they learn to appreciate.
If children live with fairness,
they learn justice.
If children live with security,
they learn faith.
If children live with approval,
they learn to like themselves.
If children live with acceptance, and friendship,
they learn to find love in the world.
If we teach our children to be aware of their surroundings, and to be held accountable for their own actions, as well as what they can do with very little
effort, or maybe a lot of effort, things will change.
For instance; I just became a Girl Scout Leader. My girls are 2nd & 3rd graders. The first day that we met, we learned about the Girl Scout Law
what it means and how to apply it to our lives. In our second meeting, we talked about service projects. Each girl gave a suggestion of what we could do to either raise money, or donate items to those in need.
Some suggestions were:
Food Drive
Toy Drive
Car wash
Girl Scout benefit concert to raise money (each girl either plays an instrument, sings, or dances)
The could donate their bikes
Garage Sale and donate earnings
Hot Chocolate or Lemonade Stand
Recycle cans and donate earnings
To summarize, I feel that making all of our children aware that they can make a difference will begin an outbreak of philanthropy. It starts with us to
start that movement. Please check out your local United Way, Boys & Girls Club, Big Sister or Big Brother, Kiwanis, etc... You can make a difference!!
p.s. I contacted one of the area elementary schools and asked if they would ask their students to write a brief statement about what they think poverty is, and what they can do to help. Here are the responses from one 2nd grade class:
Poverty maens to me that they have no muney. Brooke, 7
Poverty means that people are pore. Brayden, 7
Poverty mens or pore. U mite not have ane tals. Ashely, 7
Poverty means to me that evry shoud have homes. Poverty means to me that you have no familys. Kaitlyn, 7
Poverty means to me is sad. If I could hellp I would but I do not know were thay liv. I feel very sad I do not know eny. One that is Poverty if I did I would do any thang for them. I can find a way to if I could. Brooklyn 8
Poverty means to me that you are por and have only one pair of shoes and one shirt and one pair of pants. How I can fix it is by doneateing money and toys and clothes. Katelyn, 7
Poverty means to me that they are very very pore. Poverty means to me that every thing is not what it seems. I will fix it by telling the king. Audrey 8
Poverty is wen famelys have very little money. One of my sister friens went throo that. I felt bad. I am going to save money and send it to people that need it. That is why I go to church school every Sunday I go. Sarah, 8
Poverty means to me that people have no money people that don’t have money. I can try to donate money. Gabriel, 7
What poverty means to me is very impornt. Poverty is horuble. I can chaing poverty by donateing money. Poverty means homeless. Evan, 7
Poverty means to me that people need help. Poverty means to me that kids dads moms need help to. I could fix it by sending in food. I could fix it by sending in money. Olivia, 7
I think poverty is bad! I whis I could have the nolig to think what to do about it. Can you help? Jackson, 8
Poverty means that people have no close. Poverty is ware people are fortunateless. I can help people by donating close and money. Elexis, 7
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Twitterfeed
Just a brief info tidbit:
Twitterfeed informs your Tweeps that you have written a new blog post!
www.twitterfeed.com
Blogging For A Cause-Blog Action Day
October 15 marks the 2nd annual Blog Action Day. This year's topic: Poverty.
I feel that this topic came at a perfect time with the U.S. economy in the state that it is in. Please, register your blog on the website www.blogactionday.org, and dedicate one blog post to poverty on October 15 to change the topic of conversation, for at least one day. This will make yourself and everyone around you aware that poverty is alive and probably closer to you than you think it is. Please help make a difference.
Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.
How to Use Twitter for Marketing & PR -Thanks HubSpot!
I attended this webinar yesterday, Friday, October 10. It is approximately 50 minutes long, so if you want to learn more about Twitter, open your notebook, grab a snack, and enjoy all the useful information that HubSpot has put together.
Please feel free to contact me via email with any questions or if you would like me to help you put Twitter to work for your organization. nicki at squishdesigns dot com
Thursday, October 9, 2008
How Many Women Bloggers Are Out There?
I took these stats directly from the Social Media Buzz blog:
The research from BlogHer and Compass Partners showed some interesting statistics:
35% of women aged 18 to 75 participate in the blogosphere weekly.
Of women online 53% read blogs, 37% post comments to blogs and 28% write or update blogs.
Of women bloggers 58% post entries at least weekly, and of those who actively read blogs, 80% do so at least once per week.
Why women blog?
65% do it for fun
60% to express themselves
46% to get information
41% to stay up to date on family and friends
40% to connect with others
34% as a diary
28% participate in the blogosphere in order to connect with others.
Here's a place where Mom Bloggers go:
With such a large percentage of women bloggers and blog readers, shouldn't your business be blogging-especially if your target market is women?
