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Wendy Piersall

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Beschreibung

Ready to start your Mom blog or enhance your existing one? This book is for you! The population of mom bloggers is growing at a stunning pace and they boast an audience of more than 23 million women reading, posting, or commenting on blogs every week. This fun and friendly guide targets moms who are looking to become a savvier blogger, build a personal brand, earn free products to review or give away, or make some extra cash through ad revenue. Named by Nielsen as one of the most influential moms online, author Wendy Piersall helps you determine the right business model for your blog and then create a professional, in-demand personal brand. * Serves as a road map for the growing population of moms who are interested in creating a blog or enhancing an existing blog * Explains how to define a business model, understand your reader demographics, and choose the right look and feel for your blog * Addresses delicate issues such as dealing with privacy and family members who don't want to be featured on your blog * Walks you through using social media to extend your personal brand, building traffic with SEO and blog networks, and having a plan and policies in place when big brands and media come calling * Offers a very unintimidating format as well as the usual fun and friendly For Dummies approach This beginner guide presents baby steps for breaking into the often-daunting mom blogging community, with practical advice on how to join and become an accepted member of this exciting world.

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Seitenzahl: 646

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

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Mom Blogging For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/momblogging to view this books’ cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You Don’t Have to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Part I: Discovering the Fun and Advantages of Mom Blogging
Part II: Building Your Blogging Empire
Part III: Working with Advertisers and Brands
Part IV: Expanding Your Blogging Empire
Part V: The Part of Tens
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I: Discovering the Fun and Advantages of Mom Blogging
Chapter 1: Starting a Mom Blog
What Makes Mom Blogs Different From Other Blogs
Exploring the Opportunities Blogging Can Offer
Deciding If Mom Blogging Is Right for You
Telling your story
Connecting with other moms
Making a difference
Building a blogging business
Developing an Influential Online Presence
Creating authenticity and integrity
Building a community
Writing content readers love
Chapter 2: Choosing a Blogging Platform
Understanding the Pros and Cons of WordPress
Understanding the Pros and Cons of Blogger
Setting Up a New WordPress Blog
Installing a WordPress plugin
Installing a WordPress theme
Using WordPress widgets
Setting Up a New Blogger Blog
Signing up with Google Blogger
Setting up your new blog
Installing a Blogger template
Customizing a Blogger template
Adding a Blogger gadget
Chapter 3: Finding Your Voice and Niche
Understanding How Privacy Affects Your Family and Your Blogging Business
Changing a Personal Blog into a Business
Profiting without Selling Out
Choosing Topics That Will Help Your Blog Grow
Identifying Subjects You’re Passionate About
Focusing Your Blog on a Target Audience
Part II: Building Your Blogging Empire
Chapter 4: Determining the Best Business Model for Your Blog
Understanding How Blogs Make Money
Choosing the Best Business Model for Your Blog
Selling your own or others’ products
Promoting yourself as a freelancer or consultant
Earning from advertising and sponsorships
Leveraging your blog into career opportunities
Building a platform as a well-known influencer
Writing a Monetization Plan of Action
Prioritize your action steps
Create a sales funnel
Setting Your Blogging Goals
Chapter 5: Measuring Your Success
Appreciating and Using Statistics
Choosing the Right Measurement Tools
Tools to measure your blog traffic
Tools to measure your readers’ demographics
Making Your Analytics Easy to Understand
Absolute Unique Visitors report
Pages Per Visitor and Average Length of Visit reports
Traffic Sources report
Top Content report
Top Keywords report
Important audience demographics
Highlighting Your Assets No Matter How Much Traffic You Have
Mining your analytics data for insights on your audience
Building your credentials with your social media presence
Chapter 6: Attracting Readers to Your Blog
Setting Yourself Apart with Your Personal Brand and Blog Brand
Crafting an extraordinary personal brand
Creating an appealing brand for your blog
Writing unique blog content
Creating a Blog Design with Curb Appeal
Creating a blog logo
Customizing your Blogger theme
Choosing a WordPress theme
Using photography and images in your blog posts
Getting Readers to Come to You
Networking with other bloggers
Using social media to attract new readers
Setting up a Facebook fan page
Marketing on Twitter
Finding & participating in link parties
Making search engine optimization super-simple
Hosting popular giveaways
Chapter 7: Positioning Yourself as an Expert
Becoming a Resource to the Blogging Community
Understanding that your competition is really “co-opetition”
Teaching what you know
Speaking at Events and Conferences
Applying to speak at events
Choosing which events to attend
Getting Media Coverage
Writing a biography that will impress anyone
Building your press credentials
Approaching your local media
Networking with journalists and radio or TV producers
Creating a press room on your blog
Chapter 8: Selling Your Own Products and Services
Selling Products or Services
Creating a Line of Products or Services
Choosing an Online Marketplace
Deciding where to sell your products or services
Setting up a payment system
Selling downloads
Generating Leads for Your Business
Identifying your typical customer
Designing your blog to maximize sales
Developing a Mailing List
Choosing an easy e-mail marketing provider
Setting up signup forms on your blog
Writing effective e-mail campaigns
Part III: Working with Advertisers and Brands
Chapter 9: Mastering Blogging Ethics
Adapting Journalistic Standards to the Blogging World
Creating separation between sponsored and editorial content
Writing an editorial policy
Understanding Disclosures and the FTC Guidelines
Knowing what you need to disclose
Ensuring that your blog discloses to both readers and search engines
Constructing a disclosure policy
Crafting a privacy policy
Ensuring Your Giveaways and Contests Are Legal
Writing Reviews with Integrity
Deciding whether writing reviews fits your business goals
Preserving honesty while being compensated
Avoiding opportunities that risk harming your business or reputation
Handling the writing of a negative review
Understanding How Tax Laws Affect Bloggers
Chapter 10: Creating Partnerships with Brand Representatives
Making It Easy for Brands to Want to Work with You
Building a PR-friendly blog
Creating specific sponsorship and partnership opportunities
Building Your Media Kit
Getting comfortable with tooting your own horn
Making sure you don’t over-toot your own horn
Crafting your metrics and other assets into an effective pitch
Determining Fair Compensation
Protecting yourself from being taken advantage of
Negotiating a respectable rate for your time and talent
Knowing when blogging for swag is okay
Turning down a pitch without burning a bridge
Chapter 11: Preparing Your Blog for Advertising
Planning Your Advertising Placements
Getting hip to Internet advertising terminology
Choosing the best sizes and placements for your ads
Putting Ads into Your Blog Template
Putting ad HTML in a WordPress widget
Putting ad HTML in a Blogger gadget
Selecting Appropriate Backup Ads
House ads
Charity ads
Ads from other bloggers
Affiliate banner ads
Using Helpful Advertising Tools
Using the Advertising Manager plugin for WordPress
Chapter 12: Finding and Joining an Ad Network
Deciding Whether an Ad Network Is Right for You
Determining whether your blog is ready to be accepted into an ad network
Understanding the pros and cons of ad networks
Applying to join ad networks
Asking Questions before Signing Your Ad Network Deal
Comparing Ad Networks for Parenting Blogs
The BlogHer Publishing Network
Moms Media
Burst Moms Network
IZEA: SocialSpark and SponsoredTweets
Google AdSense
Chapter 13: Selling Your Own Advertising
Understanding Your Options for Selling Ads
Selling Banner and Text Advertising
Delivering value to your advertisers
Finding advertisers for your blog
Determining what rate to charge
Turning down an advertiser or firing a client
Creating Customized Sponsorships for Brands and Advertisers
Epson custom campaign — a case study
Participating in social media marketing campaigns
Chapter 14: The Basics of Affiliate Marketing
Understanding How Affiliate Marketing Is Different than Straight Advertising
Determining whether your blog would be a good candidate for affiliate marketing
Understanding what it takes to be successful at affiliate marketing
Getting Started with Affiliate Marketing
Joining affiliate networks and programs
Understanding the different ways of adding affiliate links to your blog
Tracking your affiliate links to improve your sales
Using affiliate marketing tools to automate your work
Part IV: Expanding Your Blogging Empire
Chapter 15: Planning for the Future Growth of Your Blog
Creating Systems and Routines to Manage Your Time Effectively
Understanding What Scalability Means and Why You Should Care
Planning for success
Forging partnerships with other bloggers
Understanding What an Exit Strategy Is and Why You Need One
Determining how to build your business to match your future goals and plans
Laying a foundation for a range of opportunities
Hiring (and Firing) Writers
Knowing when to hire help
Finding good writers
Determining how your writers will be compensated
Putting contracts in place to protect yourself and your writers
Parting ways with writers without burning bridges
Selling Your Blog
Building a blog that can maintain its value under a new owner
Knowing when it’s time to sell
Evaluating your blog’s assets
Determining the value of your blog
Finding a buyer for your blog
Chapter 16: Exploring the Ways You Can Expand Your Reach
Building a Blog Network
Exploring the benefits of different kinds of blog networks
Finding new topics in your niche
Adding a Forum or Community
Developing Multimedia Content
Amplifying your blog with a podcast
Enhancing your blog with video
Landing a Book Deal
Understanding what publishers are looking for
Developing a book idea as an extension of your blog
Pitching a book idea to a publisher
Getting a Job
Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 17: Ten Blogging Mistakes to Avoid
Not Asking for What You Want
Pursuing Fame for Fame’s Sake
Using Your Blog as a Weapon
Becoming a 24/7 Infomercial
Failing to Focus Your Efforts
Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket
Neglecting the Blogging Basics
Acting Too Entitled
Failing to Plan for Success
Not Taking the Time to Learn the Ropes
Chapter 18: Ten Successful Mom Bloggers
Heather Armstrong
Shellie Goyal
Jennifer James
Michelle Lamar
Gina Luker
Audrey McClelland
Carrie Rocha
Beth Rosen
Renee Ross
Silicon Valley Moms
Cheat Sheet

Mom Blogging For Dummies®

by Wendy Piersall

Founder of Woo! Jr. Kids Activities Blog Network

Foreword by Heather B. Armstrong

Founder of dooce.com

Mom Blogging For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930316

ISBN: 978-1-118-03843-7 (pbk); 978-1-118-12824-4 (ebk); 978-1-118-12825-1 (ebk); 978-1-118-12826-8 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Wendy Piersall started blogging in early 2006, thinking quite literally that “Maybe one or two other moms might be interested in hearing about my past experience as an entrepreneur.” Little did she realize what she was getting into as her blog quickly snowballed into a now five-year long career. Thanks to blogging, Wendy has written for Entrepreneur.com, been featured on the Today Show, ABC News, and WGN-TV, and has traveled all over the country to speak on Web 2.0 business topics. She currently earns a living from her Woo! Jr. Kids Activities Blog Network, making more money than she ever was able to in a regular job.

Wendy’s experience as a marketing professional and blogger has allowed her to view the industry from a number of very diverse perspectives. She has worked with ad agencies and corporations and understands the brand and business side of mom blogging. She has also written on a wide variety of blog topics and established over 25 blogs, allowing her to understand the needs of bloggers in many different industries. She has earned a living from blogging in many different ways, so she has direct experience with all the topics covered in this book, knowing firsthand what works and what doesn’t work. Mom Blogging For Dummies is a book she has wanted to write since 2007, and hopes it can serve as a guide for any mom who wants to turn a blog into a career.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my husband Dave and my three children, who always inspire me to be a better woman and mom both personally and professionally. They also put up with a lot of frozen-pizza dinners and dirty laundry while I was writing this book. Additionally, it’s dedicated to my parents, who have always supported me through the really horrible and best times of my life. This book might never been written if it weren’t for my father and his love of technology; he taught me how to crudely code games on our TRS-80 Radio Shack computer before I was 10 years old. He gets all the credit for my geeky ways.

It is also dedicated to the mom-blogging community as a whole, especially to the amazing women who absolutely deserved to be mentioned in this book and weren’t. I couldn’t squeeze all that talent into a ten-thousand-page book, let alone a 384-page book. None of us would be where we are today without the help and support we have given each other over the years. I’m so happy to be able to share all this knowledge with you, and hope we can continue to pay it forward as we welcome more women bloggers into the momosphere.

Author’s Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible if it weren’t for some truly amazing people that I am proud to call colleagues and friends. Thanks so much to Ellen Gerstein, whom I met at BlogHer many years ago, and has gently (finally!) coaxed this book out of me with much patience and skill. Thanks also to Amy Fandrei, Jean Nelson, and the rest of the Wiley team for helping me to turn my thoughts and knowledge into a book that turned out better than I thought possible. And hugs to WordPress For Dummies writer Lisa Sabin-Wilson for helping to show this new book author the ropes in the publishing world.

There are far too many bloggers and social media professionals who have taught me so much over the years, and I wish I had the room to thank all of them. But there are a few who can take some real credit for where I am today, and those people are Darren Rowse, Liz Strauss, Rick Calvert, Kelly McCausey, Marla Tabaka, Ted Murphy, and Char Polanosky. There were a few professionals who made themselves more available than necessary to help with the research for this book, especially lawyers Evan Brown and Christopher Borders from Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, whose combination of legal smarts and web savvy made their help indispensable.

I absolutely must give a shout out to the team at my West Chicago Starbucks, who provided me with unbelievable support and encouragement while I spent many, many hours in their café. Thank you Brandi, Nick, Josh, Whitney, and Judd, for making me feel so at home — and for the lattes that literally helped make this book possible.

Lastly, I want to thank all of the true pioneers of the mom-blogging industry, especially the BlogHer team and Heather Armstrong. These women opened doors that had never been opened before, and paved the way for so many of us to build this thriving mom-blogging community that is far larger and more influential than the sum of its parts. You ladies rock my world.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Jean Nelson

Acquisitions Editor: Amy Fandrei

Senior Copy Editor: Barry Childs-Helton

Technical Editor: Melanie Nelson

Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner

Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister

Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher

Media Development Associate Producers: Josh Frank, Marilyn Hummel, Douglas Kuhn, Shawn Patrick

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker

Layout and Graphics: Nikki Gately, Corrie Socolovitch

Proofreader: Penny L. Stuart

Indexer: Valerie Haynes Perry

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Foreword

In the early months of 2001 while I was working as a web designer in Los Angeles, I bought a domain name, signed up to pay $13 a month to a hosting provider, and published a poem about milk on the Internet. You could say that my life was dazzling.

I coded that website by hand, uploaded files to a server in Michigan, and continued to write about life as a single woman living in California, all because I wanted a way to keep a dozen or so of my friends around the country up to date on my life. I never thought that anyone other than those dozen people would read it.

That website now supports my family (a husband and two daughters) and two full-time employees. I still write about my life, but now I’m a wife, a mother, and a dog owner. I no longer detail the many live concerts I’ve attended or apple martinis I’ve drunk in a single week. My content is now determined primarily by my toddler’s sleep schedule and whether or not she has bitten a dead animal.

I’m what many refer to as a mommy blogger. It’s a bit of a mouthful, that word, and depending on who you speak to, it’s also pretty loaded. Some women who do what I do reject this label altogether because they consider the term mommy to be belittling. I understand this complaint, but I’m quite proud to be a member of this movement, this revolution of women determining their own destinies. That sounds dramatic because, well, it is.

If you ask me what I do I will gladly tell you that I am a mommy blogger. I write about life as a mother and wife, what it’s like to live in suburban middle America, how I sometimes wish I could get in the car, drive to Montana, and assume a new identity because I can’t take one more episode of Barney.

I’ve also written candidly about the postpartum depression I experienced after the birth of my first child, and in doing so I discovered a community of women who had survived that kind of pain. Their support during that time saved my life. That’s dramatic.

A giant group of women have started their own websites to chronicle their experiences as mothers, and yes, this often includes entire pages about our children. That practice receives a lot of criticism, and I myself have been the target of some of the most vitriolic judgment capable in a human being. Our children will surely resent us one day, and if it’s not about our writing then it will be because we’re still in our pajamas when their dates show up (HAVE WE NO DECENCY?!).

But I believe (and I know most of us believe) that one day our children will look at the thousands upon thousands of pages we have written to them, the love letters, the detailed descriptions of what it felt like to watch them walk into their first classroom, and they are going to be so proud that we were brave enough to do this. Because we’ve declared that this is important work, hard and sometimes frustrating work, and we didn’t wait around for permission from someone else to say so.

We’ve also rebuilt our village. We’ve helped each other feel less alone. And many of us have turned this into a way to help support our families. Many of us make money off of our writing to help pay for food, for utilities, for the preschool that will eventually end up as a casual mention in a blog post.

I’m one of the very lucky ones who makes enough money to support my family. But I’ve been in this space for over a decade and have honed my voice to a very distinctive note. My husband also works as my business manager and handles the relationship we have with our ad partners. And despite what the perception may be, we rarely sit around in our pajamas feeding each other popcorn.

I work harder at this job than I have at any other in my life. The hours are long, and I don’t get to go on vacation. I always pack a laptop when I travel, and I travel for several days at a time at least every other month. As a business, I have to keep up with a never-ending flow of e-mail, Twitter responses, Facebook requests, and whether or not a pitch from an advertiser works with my brand.

We mommy bloggers are constantly asking ourselves if what we’re doing feels right. Is this post written well enough to publish? Should we work with a certain advertiser? How do we handle bad press? What is off limits concerning our children? And where do we go from here?

Sometimes I like to refer to myself as The Cautionary Tale because a lot of the mistakes one should avoid when deciding to start a blog were all made by me at some point. I alienated myself from my family. I lost my job. I angered a whole political party. But I’ve learned a lot and have redrawn my boundaries over and over again along the way.

This book is going to show you how to do what we do, whether you want to go big or are aiming for something a little less intense. You’ll find everything from the basics, like how to get started and how to find your voice, to more complicated issues like ethics and ad networks. This book also mentions those pesky little mistakes you should avoid, like, say, DON’T WRITE ABOUT YOUR BOSS.

Jump in and get started. We can’t wait for you to join our conversation.

— Heather B. Armstrong, founder of dooce.com

Introduction

Back in 2007, when I first met Ellen Gerstein (who has written many books for Wiley) at a BlogHer conference, I started to think about ideas for when I might want to write a book someday. The first idea that came to me was a Mom Blogging For Dummies book. Back then, I’m not sure that either I or the rest of the world would have been ready for that book to be published. People were barely getting to know what a blog was; I was still struggling to find a winning combination of content and revenue as a blogger myself. Mom bloggers had a few amazing success stories in 2007, but they were few and far between.

By the end of 2010, only three short years later, mom bloggers not only numbered in the millions, but we had become a force to be reckoned with. Every week I was seeing a colleague on the news or national television shows. Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com landed a gig with HGTV. Ree Drummond of ThePioneerWoman.com had an instant bestselling book called The Pioneer Woman Cooks and had sold the movie rights to her next book before it was even finished. Wiley and I agreed that the time had come to put out a book just for us mom bloggers.

This isn’t just a repackaged book of regular blogging advice with a different title and cover. Moms and mom bloggers have a unique position in the blogosphere. Many mom bloggers, even now, set out just to have fun — never thinking that their blogs will become businesses. Hey, fun is fine — and it can be very challenging to turn a personal blog into a revenue-generating business. Additionally, mom bloggers are 21 percent more likely than the general blogging population to be approached by a brand. That’s true even though only 13 percent of moms who blog write about family or parenting topics. Most mom bloggers aren’t stereotypical “mommy bloggers” writing only about their kids; instead, they write about everything from home renovation to religion and politics.

This book is the handbook I wish I’d had five years ago when I started a hobby blog that accidentally turned into a blogging business. Throughout the book, I cover all the mom-specific issues I just mentioned — plus give you the soundest blogging advice I can share, based on five years’ worth of big failures and even bigger successes. I cover a lot of the basics regarding blog setup, topic choices, and the written and unwritten blogging rules. But for those of you who may have a few months’ or years’ experience under your belt, I cover some very advanced marketing and business topics too. Things like selling your own advertising, getting media coverage, expanding your blog into a larger Web magazine, and how to use your blog to open the doors to amazing career opportunities.

About This Book

If you’re very new to blogging, you may want to read this book from front to back. But you don’t have to. Each chapter can also stand on its own and act as a reference guide. So feel free to jump into the book anywhere and read about whatever topic is most interesting to you. If I need to reference information in another chapter, I let you know where to find that information in another section or chapter in this book.

The For Dummies format makes it easy to find the information you need at any time. If I ever have to get geeky or technical on you, I make sure I explain it all in plain language so you don’t have to wade through a bunch of jargon. This is good, because in real life, I use way too much jargon and I think it ticks people off sometimes.

Conventions Used in This Book

I am not the kind of person who deals with repetition or structure very well, but sometimes consistency can be a good thing. For openers, it makes stuff easier to understand. In this book, those consistent elements are conventions. I always use italics to identify and define new terms. Kind of the way I just did.

Whenever you have to type something, I put the stuff you need to type in bold type so it’s easy to see.

When I type URLs (Web addresses) within a paragraph, they look like this: www.dummies.com.

What You Don’t Have to Read

I use sidebars to contain helpful information, but they aren’t really necessary to read to understand the chapter. I’m a big-picture kind of gal, so for those of you who also like the big picture, these sidebars may be helpful to you.

Foolish Assumptions

Because it’s not very practical to include every single bit of information that was ever published on blogging in this book, I had to make a few assumptions about things you already know:

You already know what a blog is, have read blogs, and may have even started a blog yourself.

You know enough about blogs and blogging to know that some people make a living at it — and that running a business comes with the added responsibilities of keeping track of expenses, claiming your income on your tax returns, and handling potential legal liability (as is the case with any business).

You’re familiar with surfing the Internet and are comfortable communicating online, including using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

You have an interest in learning at least a little bit about the technical side of Web publishing, including basic HTML and search engine optimization.

You have a love of the written word, because blogging entails a lot of writing. (Technically, that could also be a love of the spoken word, in case you’re more interested in videoblogging or podcasting. But you’ll still have to do a lot of writing.)

How This Book Is Organized

I divided this book into parts, which I organized from beginner to more advanced topics. You can skim the table of contents or index and simply jump in wherever you want to know more about a specific topic.

By design, this book enables you to get as much (or as little) information as you need at any particular moment. You can look up quick info as you work, or sit down with a cup of joe and read chunks at a time.

That said, there are two chapters I really hope you’ll read:

Chapter 4 talks about five specific blogging business models, and explains what it takes to succeed with each one. If you aren’t sure what you really need to know and what doesn’t apply to you, this chapter shows you exactly what your particular blog or idea needs if it’s going to succeed.

Chapter 9 covers some pretty important industry-specific information — and some of the legal matters you need to know about blogging. These include the FTC guidelines and contest and sweepstakes laws.

Part I: Discovering the Fun and Advantages of Mom Blogging

This part covers the real blogging basics; I talk about the bare-essentials information needed to get a blog up and running. I even cover a few technical tips for getting set up on WordPress or Blogger. I also talk about the special circumstances that many mom blogs need to take into consideration — especially family privacy issues.

Part II: Building Your Blogging Empire

Here I talk about what you need to know about when you’ve moved past blogging as a hobby and want to begin blogging for profit. Turning a blog into a business requires that you approach blogging in a much different way.

This part is where I give you all the tips of the trade so you can get started on the right foot and don’t have to make a lot of course corrections later. Specifically, I help you understand how blogs make money and get traffic, how to promote yourself, how to measure your success, and how to really know what your readers want from you.

Part III: Working with Advertisers and Brands

This part is the real meat of the book, and is where I get to show you the money. Even some really successful bloggers have privately taken me aside and asked me about some of the information in this part. Advertisers and brands live in a very different online world from the one bloggers inhabit. They speak an almost entirely different language. In these chapters, I show you how to take what you know and what you’ve accomplished as a blogger and translate it into brand-speak so you can really show off all you have to offer. I also explain why advertisers are so hung up on such details as how many readers or Facebook friends you have.

Part IV: Expanding Your Blogging Empire

In this part, I talk about the “Now What?” phase of blogging, as in, “I’ve had some success, now what do I do next to take it to the next level?” This part is where I get to show you how to use your blog to open doors to opportunities and create real, lifelong careers. Topics include how to hire writers and develop an online magazine, create a thriving Internet community, land a book deal, get a dream job, or even sell your blog someday. This part is where I get to show you how to think like a real entrepreneur and turn your blog into a business that creates reliable, long-term income for you and your family.

Part V: The Part of Tens

The Part of Tens is where I get to share with you some of the best mom blogging success stories around. I chose ten financially successful mom bloggers, each of whom makes a living in a different way. Some sell a lot of advertising, some write books, others work with Fortune 500 brands, and some are freelancers, artisans, and consultants. A couple of them have used their blogs simply as steppingstones to get where they wanted to go — and created amazing careers for themselves along the way.

I also get to share with you some of the biggest blogging blunders — some of mine, and some from fellow bloggers. These gaffes aren’t just annoying — they could actually put you out of business. Don’t worry; I show you what we did wrong and what we did right. That way, if you find yourself making these mistakes, you know what to do to get yourself out of the mess!

Icons Used in This Book

To make your experience with the book easier, I use various icons in the margins of the book to indicate particular points of interest.

These icons show where I throw in my advice based on things I’ve learned — usually the hard way. I try to use these Tips only when I know the information is relevant to pretty much anyone reading that section of the book.

This icon is where I throw in friendly reminders of important information you may not always think about. Usually I include them because I’ve forgotten them myself at some point — and later kicked myself in the butt for having forgotten.

Take these Warning icons seriously, as if I was annoyingly typing in ALL CAPS. If you see this icon, pay attention to it. A Warning lets you know about a potential pitfall, mistake, or problem. Most of these problems can be fixed or avoided, so I also provide that information in a Warning paragraph.

This icon means my inner geek needed a chance to express herself. Sometimes my inner geek is very helpful. Sometimes she’ll make your eyes glaze over. Just sayin’.

Where to Go from Here

Jump into this book wherever you want. Go ahead and read the last chapter first if you want to be a real rebel.

Seriously, this book is my five years of experience squeezed into 360 pages. But there’s always more to learn. So feel free to hunt me up on the Web or in real life, because I really, really love to talk about business and blogging. I also have a Facebook page set up just for the readers of this book. That’s where I can answer questions, provide specific information, or address new issues and trends affecting blogging and social media marketing. Here’s where I spend the most time online:

www.WendyPiersall.com

www.twitter.com/eMom

www.facebook.com/wendy.piersall

www.facebook.com/MomBloggingForDummies

Tweet about Mom Blogging For Dummies using the #mbfd hashtag.

Please note that some special symbols used in this eBook may not display properly on all eReader devices. If you have trouble determining any symbol, please call Wiley Product Technical Support at 800-762-2974. Outside of the United States, please call 317-572-3993. You can also contact Wiley Product Technical Support at www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Part I

Discovering the Fun and Advantages of Mom Blogging

In this part . . .

Part I covers all the blogging basics that will help you build a strong foundation for your blogging business. I talk about what it takes to be a professional blogger from a business perspective and a technical perspective so you can determine whether mom blogging is right for you.

I also discuss generating writing topics that will help you kick-start your blog. And — most importantly for mom bloggers — I share some helpful insights on how to share personal information without infringing on the privacy of your family and children.

Chapter 1

Starting a Mom Blog

In This Chapter

Understanding what makes mom blogs different

Exploring the range of opportunities you can develop with your blog

Avoiding some of the easiest mistakes to make

Getting to know some of the blog-writing basics

Two big questions I was frequently asked while I was writing this book were: “Why a book just for mom bloggers? How is that different from any other kind of blog?” These are actually fantastic questions — in fact, we purposely named the book “Mom Blogging” rather than “Mommy Blogging” because there are tens of thousands of moms who blog, but don’t happen to make their family lives and motherhood a big part of the content of their blogs. Mommy blogging is a genre — whereas mom blogging is for any mom who blogs.

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!