blog tips

10 Benefits of Blogging

June 12, 2011 · 60 comments

You may be wondering if starting a blog for yourself is a good idea. Perhaps you want to know why all these crazy people are blogging in the first place. Allow me to expand on the top ten most important benefits of blogging so that you can see for yourself why it is we do what we do and why I think you should do it too.

1. People Like You Even If You’re A Little Abnormal!

It’s easy to get people to believe you’re semi normal when you get to choose which best foot you’re putting forward! The best part is when you get attached to people who like you even when they realize you’re not all that normal after all. Bonus? You don’t have to bail on dinner plans or a night out with the girls because those expectations don’t exist with online friends who live all over the map! You can never disappoint them!

2. You’re Not So Strange After All

After some extensive blog reading you begin to realize there are a whole lot of people less normal than you. Woo hoo! Maybe you are normal after all!!

3. A Great Distraction

Look we love our kids, they’re the light of our lives, they bring us great joy and happiness…yada yada yada. I don’t care what anyone says, talking to three year olds all day definitely takes it’s toll. Receiving emails, tweets, and/or Facebook comments from people offering words of encouragement is just the distraction we need sometimes to keep from losin’ it!

4. You’re Smart Now

How awesome does it feel to walk into a conversation with friends who have companies trying to jump on the social media wagon? Authors are being told they need a “following” online. Your uncle’s landscaping business is hoping to digitize their information…and everyone wants to know how YOU did it. (Now sshhh…let them think we’re brilliant…they don’t need to know how easy it is!)

5. You Win Stuff

From IPads and Bloggie Cameras to Vacuums and Purses, there is something for everyone in blogland. All it takes is a comment, a follow, a like, a tweet, an email, your first born child and BAM you’re entered!!

6. People Hear You

Every once in awhile some of us actually have something important to say. Our kids get sick, we need help with depression, we’re getting divorced…whatever the problem is, we have a sounding board that has the potential to rapidly share and exponentially increase the feedback we get. People pour their hearts out to help you and by blogging about your problems you may be helping others in similar circumstances. You just can’t find that kind of support anywhere else.

7. Planning a Party Has Never Been Easier

Between you, me, and the trillions of bloggers out there, we now have enough do it yourself party planning ideas to last at LEAST 83 birthdays. Our kids are set!

8. Beyond Party Planning

Okay let’s be honest, it doesn’t end at the party planning. With so many amazing bloggers out there and all the different niches that make them unique, it has never been easier to collect tips on virtually anything from cooking, knitting, and crafting, to home schooling, photo tips, scrapbooking and more.

9. Best Mom Ever!

How many of us have mothers who documented the things we did or said on a nearly daily basis? How many of us had moms who had the camera ready at all times to capture every special moment we shared together? Not many. But our kids will. Blogging has made it possible for us to create the ultimate baby book for our kids. What better gift could they ask for from their mothers? You know…besides a car.

10. Money Makers

Because social media is the next big thing (or the current big thing), brands are interested in working with bloggers in a way that will benefit both parties. This means some amazing companies are getting great recognition and bloggers are getting paid to give them a hand. I get to make friends, be heard, pick up tips, create a baby book, appear to be normal…AND GET PAID?? Sign. Me. Up.

But be careful…some companies can be tricky with their language. Watch this video and find out what it is the brands do not want you to know:

(See video here.)

Now go forth and blog happily and with purpose and dog gone it I hope you make some money along the way!

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I Blog Therefore I Am??

September 11, 2007 · 0 comments

I recently received a letter from an anonymous blog viewer of mine that I’d like to share with my public:

Dear Blog hog:

Way too many thoughts and captions. You do have a beautiful family but over all, too much boring writing. Hollywood wouldn’t buy it and I won’t either. Maybe you could come up with something scandalous. That’ll sell. For now, is there any way I could log on to your blog and just view pictures? If so, I could absorb the pictures the way I felt necessary thus giving them meaning to me (the viewer). The great thing is that others could do the same. Be honest, this blog isn’t for us, it’s for you. Other then that it was great-Good Job!

Oh yah, the introduction (or hook)leads me to believe you’re some kind of super-hero. Come to find out you can’t fly or lift large buildings. You’re a mom with kids that has a job like most other Moms, which is great and commendable, but come on!

Sincerely,

Better Bloggers assoc.

I’d like to take a moment to respond to the aforementioned writer:

Dear “BBA”, or what have you,

It is true, what you say, about this blog being for me. I do it all for the attention. I have no shame. I’ve sent blog invites to my entire list of email contacts not once…but twice…and still their are plenty who have not taken the bait and joined my small group of readers. It hurts “BBA”. You know why…because I’m a closet attention seeker. I don’t care for overt attention…it can be downright embarrassing. But if I can put a smile on someone’s face. If they can walk away from a blog entry shaking their head while chuckling, “that Kathy…at it again…” then I feel I’ve accomplished something.

Do I think I’m funny…entertaining?? Well sure. But who am I kidding, it takes me hours to come up with some of this shit. Call it “middle child syndrome” call it “attention seeking”, call it what you will…but in the end, it’s just me. It’s just me being me wanting people such as yourself to find humor in my world just as I do. Do I feel like Doogie Howser?? Sometimes. But the blog doesn’t MAKE me, kind sir. I AM. Therefore I blog.

And good day.

ps I WOULD put more pictures up, but one of my other viewers (you’re in law) kindly suggested I stray from the old picture/caption routine and tell some stories. I suppose what they say is true…you can’t please them all.

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Loo Loo’s Out There

September 3, 2007 · 0 comments

Am I crazy?? I started searching through other blogs recently to become more familiar with how this website works. Turns out all I have to do is type in things that interest me in the “interests” column of my profile account. For example, I might type in the words “pizza, reading, dogs, photography, daycare) etc. Each of those words becomes high lighted and when you or I go to view my profile we can click on any of these words and lists and lists of other people who blog with that same common interest show up. I can then go through and view each of their pages and read all about their lives and what they’ve been up to.

So after going through a few different blogs I started feeling like I was invading on people’s privacy. They have no idea who I am or that I’m even looking at their pages and their families…learning all about their lives. I started wondering how difficult it might be to track someone down. Take my blog for example…the original title of my blog had my first AND last name in it. My profile does not show the city I live in, but one of my blogs references the city I was in when I took the girls to the parade. All of my children’s names are listed.

Could some random person put all that information together and locate me?? And what kind of weirdos are out there that could actually do that??So I typed in the words “little girls” in my interest section today and was ASTOUNDED at what I found. Tons of blogs have those words listed in their interests section. Some were just silly people who also listed things like “puppies” “ice cream” and “unicorns”, but some were older men who also listed things like “role play”, “pre-teen panties”, “pedophilia”, etc. I didn’t even click on their profiles to learn more, not just because I didn’t want to read what they had to say, but also because I was afraid they’d find some way to track me back to my page. CREEPY!!! And as the mother of three…COMPLETELY TERRIFYING!!

I’ve made some changes to my profile…it is no longer open to public view, which means other bloggers browsing through, will not have the option of viewing my blog. I changed the title of my blog and I will try harder not to reference specific cities or other identifiable locations and people. Part of me wants to browse more blogs to find other mothers like me and see if I can come up with a phone number. How creepy would it be to get a phone call from someone across the country telling you they just finished reading your blog and knew the names of your husband and kids!?! I could make it my daily mission to encourage these people to make their accounts private to protect their families. Ok, so maybe I’m taking it a bit far…but that would be a great follow up blog wouldn’t it?? Wouldn’t you like to read about a phone call I made to some Mom out in Georgia?? :) What do you all think?? Am I just a psycho pedophile hater who’s digging too deep and taking things too far…or do I have something legitimate to be concerned about here??

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