If you fit either of these and you live in or near the Boulder, Colorado area – You’ll want to attend my FREE mini-workshop in Boulder this Saturday morning.  The presentation is called “Using a Blog to Build Your Platform” and  it’s part of the Boulder Writers Meetup Group. The Meetup leader, Lori Rohik Pfeiffer, has very kindly invited me to come in and speak with her group, and I’m delighted to oblige. Here’s a quickie description:

“Literary agents and publishers are telling authors they need a platform in order to get published – but how do you build one?  Beth Hayden will discuss how to use blogging (and social media) to build your platform so you have an excellent marketing base when you’re ready to send out those book proposals! Come with your blogging and social media questions!”

We’ll be meeting at the Paradise Bakery Cafe (back room), 1207 Pearl Street, Boulder, at 9:30 AM on Saturday, May 22nd.

If you’re interested in attending, please RSVP using the Meetup event page (you’ll need to sign up for a free Meetup account, if you don’t already have one). Hope to see you there!

Want to know what I learned that is relevant in the blogging world?  Here are a few highlights:

1. Don’t talk ONLY about yourself, your products or services, or your accomplishments. Answer questions; provide praise, host get-togethers without ulterior motives. Just be around. Meet people and participate in communities (whether online or offline) because you genuinely like people, not because you want to talk about yourself and promote your own stuff.
2. Give stuff away for free. I still give advice away for free on a regular basis when people have questions I can answer over email. When you practice this give-away stuff on a regular basis, it establishes you not only as an expert, but as generous person.  That’s ALWAYS a good thing.
3. Show up on a regular basis. Don’t show your face once a year and expect everyone to remember you. Participate, meet lots of people, make REGULAR contact with the people that you’ve met, and what do you know? All of the sudden, when you walk into a party, everyone’s cheering for you like Norm in that old sitcom Cheers bar. And you WANT fans like that.
4. Treat the members of your community like real people – because they ARE real people. Don’t over-promote yourself, act like a used car salesman, or use people. Follow the Golden Rule as much as possible.

The community I’m part of (that has taught me all these amazing lessons) is a Boulder-based women’s group called Boulder Media Women. The group, which members like to call BMW, is a networking group for professional women who work with words and images. BMW members include writers, editors, photographers, journalists, filmmakers, graphic artists, web designers, TV producers, screenwriters, publishers, agents, PR specialists, and others who work in the media business.

Right now, the Boulder Media Women group has more than 400 members, many of whom actively participate in a very lively Yahoo! email group as well as weekly happy hour gatherings and monthly potluck dinners.

I started my blogging business three years ago by taking the knowledge I had gathered about blogs, community and writing – and declared myself an expert. I did this because I ran my own (personal) blog at the time, and many of my friends and colleagues had started asking questions about blogging and Internet marketing.  They wanted to know if I would teach a class, so I summoned up ALL of my courage (every last ounce) and taught a very small (3-person) class to a couple of friends.

After that first class, I starting holding regular classes on blogging, social media, building traffic on websites, and Internet book promotion techniques. I advertised my classes on a regular basis to the Boulder Media Women email list, and the members – much to my continual surprise – showed up for the classes. I got to meet more and more women face to face. I found out what their needs were and expanded my teaching skills accordingly.   Many of the members wrote glowing testimonials about me and my classes to the BMW list.

But at the same time, I made sure to chime in (regularly and LOUDLY) whenever someone had a question about blogging, Facebook, Linkedin, or Internet marketing.  I gave advice, answered questions, provided resources, and generally tried to become a real resource to people in my area of expertise.  The Boulder Media Women Community rewarded me handsomely for this, and I am forever in their debt.

After three years of being an entrepreneur, I now have a very successful business, a whole file full of testimonials (many from my first clients, who are BMW members). And I still go to potlucks and happy hours, answer questions when I can, listen to people’s needs, and generally get to know these amazing women. I have a reputation for being “The Blogging Guru” in the group, and I thank my lucky stars every night for the continued support and well-wishes and praise that I receive on this local Yahoo! List.  I genuinely like these women, and I will forever be grateful to them for teaching me some incredibly valuable lessons.

I thank Boulder Media Women on a regular basis for continually teaching, encouraging, and supporting me in my journey as an entrepreneur – and I’m particularly grateful for them teaching me everything I know about how to be a productive and community-minded member of the blogging community!

Lesson to be learned here? You don’t need to spend all of your time on the computer in order to develop a fabulous community, both online and offline.  Get out of the house and join a networking group in your area of interest!  Boulder Media Women was a good fit for me, and it has taught me SO much, and you can find a group that will suit your interests by asking your friends and contacts for suggestions AND utilizing resources like Meetup.com.   Shut off that laptop and get out into the real world – you’ll be astounded at what you learn and the people you meet!  And then of course, blog about it.

We’re going to cover:

• The reasons why blogging is a great marketing technique for your business
• Some quick blogging terminology (and why it’s important to know what a permalink is and what RSS stands for)
• Best practices and recommendations for getting started
• Beginning tips on how to build traffic for your blog

…and anything else I can fit into a hour and a half class! We’ll try to wrap up around 7:30 PM.  To register (I recommend you register in advance so I have enough handouts) – call the Library registration line at 303-658-2603. The College Hill Library is at 3705 West 112th Avenue, Westminster,  80031 (right next to the Front Range Community College Campus).

The library has free wifi access, so you can follow along with my examples as I’m teaching.  But you don’t HAVE to bring a laptop – you can just sit back, enjoy the presentation, and bring home all the handouts!

And the class is FREE!

Email me if you have questions!

Here’s my question – since the beginning of my business, I’ve used the tagline “Blogging and Social Consulting” under the big “Blogging with Beth” lettering in my logo. I’d like to start using something with a little more pep.  Something that fits my Unique Selling Proposition (USP) a little better.

Most of my work is in the realm of blogging. I do a little social media consulting, but it’s mostly blogging and Wordpress work. I build blogs for my clients, then train them on Wordpress so that they feel comfortable blogging and getting their message out on their website. I also do one-on-one consulting on blogging and social media. What separates me from other consultants and technology experts is that I am easy-to-understand, patients, able to work with people are scared of technology, and I’m a great teacher.

Here’s another thing to consider – The way it’s been working out for the last few years, the vast majority of my clients are women. That’s who I seem to attract, and I enjoy working with women. I certainly won’t turn men away if they need help, though.

So I’d love to hear ideas from you about what my tagline should be. Here are some possibilities I’m kicking around:

• Blogging with Beth – Giving People a Voice through Blogging
• – Fun, easy-to-understand blogging and consulting advice
• – I Love the Internet, and I Can Help You Love it, Too!

Okay, that last one is a bit of a stretch, but you get the idea. I’d love to hear from you! What do you think the tagline for my blog (and my business) should be? If you come up with the idea I use, I’ll send you a $10 Starbucks gift certificate!

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about why you should get a blogging buddy. Today I’ll talk about the qualities that I think a buddy should have… this is by no means a complete list, but it’s a good start.

1. Your potential buddy needs to have her own blog.  This may seem really obvious, but you need to resist the urge to buddy up with another writer friend who doesn’t blog in the hopes that it will work because she understands the writing part. It won’t work. Pick someone who’s got their own blog already – even if it’s someone just starting out, and they just launched their blog last week. If you pair up with another blogger, you know for certain that she’ll understand your language, your challenges, your triumphs and failures. You can work together for mutual blogging successes. It will be all symbiotic and stuff.

2.  Your buddy needs to be willing to communicate with you. If you pick someone who can’t or won’t discuss things with you, the relationship won’t work.

3.  You need a true buddy who will be honest with you. If you haven’t posted in three weeks, she’s the one who’s going to nudge you and say, “Look, blogging buddy, you’ll going to lose all your awesome traffic if you don’t give your readers something new soon” or “That blog post idea may be a little too much for your readers all in one shot – maybe you can break it up into a series?”

4.  You potential buddy should be available. Don’t pick the person who works three jobs and doesn’t sleep more than 3 hours a night. Pick a person who’s willing to get together every now and then over coffee to talk about challenges and brainstorm ideas. Choose someone who will answer your email. Don’t pick the one who says, “I’d love to be your buddy – I can fit you into my calendar seven weeks from this Tuesday – does that work for you?”

5. Pick a person who’s fun.  Whether your buddy is a man or a woman doesn’t really matter, but pick someone you really like and enjoy spending time with. A great sense of humor and the ability to laugh is a BIG plus.

Any other good qualities in a buddy that you think should be on this list?

Want to follow the story on blogs and social media? Read on!  Here’s a short list of some bloggers who are writing during these Olympic Games:

• Rings – the Official New York Times Blog about the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games (also includes upcoming schedules and results)
• Fourth-Place Medal – The Yahoo Sports Olympics blog.
• Olympics Blog – The LA Times Vancouver Games blog.

And this is a fun one – here’s a list (from NBC) of Olympic athletes on Twitter. You can either follow the whole list, or follow individual athletes.  My favorites include Short Track speedskater Apolo Ohno, women’s hockey player Angela Ruggiero, and Curler Chris Plys.

And of course you can also follow the conversation about the Olympics by doing a Twitter search for #olympics.  Twitter search is a fun way to find other people who are interested in the same things you are.  Make sure to bookmark that search page, it’s really useful.

Want to follow the Olympics on Facebook?  Check out the Olympics Fan Page! You’ll find contests, photos, and uploaded fan photos from the event, and even find links to photo streams uploaded from athletes.  You’ll likely have to be logged into Facebook in order to see the fan pages or that photo stream page.

Any other online resources for Olympics fans? Feel free to share them here!

Happy watching!

1.  The Eight Principles of Fun.  Are you having enough fun in your life and work??  Visit this great little video from the folks over at Box of Crayons. Isn’t that the greatest name for a blog, EVER?  Their little video will make you want to jump off the couch, put that computer down and do something amazing!

2.  The Whuffie Factor.  Tara’s Hunt terrific book about the power of social media is the book I’m going to recommend to all of my clients in 2010.  She has a fun writing style – very readable -  and the whole book is filled with stories and case studies of how to use social media for good (and not evil).  Excellent reading for anyone wanting to get into using social media for marketing…or if you’ve already using social media, you can use it to make your efforts more effective.

3.  Meetways.  Have a friend who lives in another city (or heck, another state!) that you want to meet for coffee?  Use this awesome service to find a halfway point.  You just enter your address, your friend’s (or client’s) address, and whether you’d like to meet a pizza place, coffee shop, or some other fun place, and it will spit out a list of potential meeting spots!  It even gives you a map!  I love the Internet!

What cool tools, sites, services or books are you enjoying in February?  Leave me a comment below and let me know your current favorites…

And the answer is – absolutely, positively YES.  In fact, I think it’s a terrific idea to do just that – especially if you don’t currently have a website and want to build a web presence!  There are many examples of sites that look like “traditional” HTML sites, but are in fact built using blog software.

I recently built a Web site for financial coach Whitney Wogan using Wordpress, a popular blogging tool. Here’s a screenshot of the finished site:

Looks like a regular website, doesn’t it?

Instead of using the regular “reverse chronological” format that blogs usually follow, Whitney used static content for most of the pages of her site (she turns off the built-in timestamp mechanism for these pages).  The reader can then navigate through her easy-to-follow website, and her readers wouldn’t necessarily know they were looking at a Wordpress site.  She also added a traditional blog (you can find a link to the blog in her navigation bar, right under the banner).  To take a look at the the full “Women with Money Moxie” Web site, click here.

Blog software and content management systems are very sophisticated these days, and many of them allow you to create both traditional blog posts AND regular, static “Pages”.  I used Wordpress pages to create all the main sections of Whitney’s site as well as the navigation, then created a blog section so she could update her site with regular postings.

Please note that not ALL Web sites are perfectly suited to the blog software format.  If you need your site to be available to people to book hotel reservations, or if your site requires some other kind of heavy database functionality, blogging tools may not be the choice for you!

However, most content-based sites would be quite suitable for this type of set-up.  And best of all, everything you build with blog software is easy to manage and update without having to use HTML.  That’s a BIG bonus in tight economic times like these, when no business owner wants to be paying a high-priced designer or developer every time she wants to make a change to her web presence.

For more information about building your website using blogging tools like Typepad and Wordpress, contact me for a free consultation!  Blogging with Beth now offers custom Wordpress site development and training packages.

I really wanted to cook a fabulous soup.  I love soup.  So I did a quick search on one of my all-time favorite blogs, Gluten-Free Girl, to see if she had any soup recipes.  And I found this post about cream of asparagus soup cooked up by her husband the chef.  You simply MUST click on the link simply because the picture is so fabulous.  It will make your mouth water.  I mean, what soup have you ever eaten that's been THAT COLOR?  Go ahead, go look. 

The Gluten-Free Girl didn't offer a recipe for that particular dish – she usually does, by the way, and every single one of the recipes I've tried from her site and her book have been INCREDIBLE – so I found one in a book and fired up the stove.  And I created a big batch of the most gorgeous, luscious green soup you ever did see.   I peeled and chopped and seasoned and simmered.  And it was only when I was peering into the pot of finished soup, checking out the fabulous color I had created, that I paused and thought, "You know….I don't even know if I like cream of asparagus soup."  I had never tasted it before.  It just sounded and looked so good on Shauna's website that I had to try.  But I had no idea if I'd even like it.  "Well," I thought, "There's only one way to find out."  And I grabbed a spooned, dipped it in green, and slurped down a big spoonful. 

And my goodness, do I ever like cream of asparagus soup.  There was an explosion of asparagus flavor right at the front, followed by layer after layer of cream, spices (nutmeg), a touch of garlic, and more asparagus.  The flavor actually shifted in my mouth the longer I lingered.  Good god, was that delicious.   

So try something new today, whether in your online life or your "real" one.   And don't be afraid to buy all the ingredients and do all the chopping and simmering and blending and stirring before you know what the end result will be.

Because you never know what you're gonna LOVE. 

I really love books.  I plowed through this one in about two days, feeling very satisfied with the ending (the young woman managed to escape the neighborhood, went to college, and started working with an organization to end gang violence).  I closed the book, breathed a mental “Ahhhhh” at the satisfaction I’d received from reading it, and then reached for Google.  I wanted to look the author up, see if she had a blog, and find out more about what she’d been up to in the past year or so since the book was published.

I Googled her name and immediately found a string of articles about her:

Author Admits “Gang-Life” Memoir was All Fiction

Gang Memoir, Turning Page, is Pure Fiction

Memoir “Love and Consequences” Revealed as Fiction

I was absolutely stunned.  This was a fantastic story – well told, great characters, completelely believable as far as I was concerned.  Granted, I grew up with cornfields in my backyard, not crackhouses, so what did I know?  Nonetheless, I sat there, completely bummed and feeling betrayed by the author I’d just followed through her meaningful, powerful “journey”.  How could she?

But what it made me think about was the fact that the truth eventually does come to light.  This author was about to start her book tour when HER OWN SISTER called the publisher and let them know the whole thing was made up.  Someone will always know the truth, and it does catch up to you.

So when you’re writing blog posts, make sure you’re being authentic. If you’re a company, don’t write a fake blog authored by a gung-ho Walmart family that is meant strictly as a promotional tool.

If you’re an individual, don’t write as if you’re the prime minister of India, like this guy.  Yes, I realize this a pardody.  It still bugs me.

Either way – if you’re a business or an individual, follow common sense.  Check your facts.  Be yourself.  For heaven’s sake, don’t lie consciously.  When you find errors after you’ve already published something, print a correction (and an apology, if it’s appropriate). 

In the blog world, as in the print world, you won’t be able to get away with being inauthentic for long.  Someone will find you out and shut you down.  And there will be a disappointed reader, sitting in her living room, looking unhappily at Google results that leave her feeling foolish and sad.