But there’s something else that I love the Olympics although it doesn’t get nearly as much hype as say, the Super Bowl.

The Commercials.

There’s always a few in the mix that get me. This year’s winner (and it will be hard to top it, so I’m calling it out now) is P&G. I like the whole “Sponsor of Moms” concept but I LOVE the “They’ll Always be Kids” spot. It makes me cry.

Every time.

Congratulations, P&G, you have turned me into my mother. I’m crying at commercials.

My husband and I met through mutual friends in August of 2002 and began a whirlwind courtship in October. By New Year’s Eve, we were engaged and we were planning on a fall wedding in 2003. But my husband was in the United States Army Reserves at the time and with everything brewing in Iraq, we both knew that a deployment could happen at anytime.

So, on February 9th of 2003, I was visiting Eric at his dad’s house (we lived 2 1/2 hours apart at the time) when a phone call came in for my husband: Get ready to go to Minnesota. You’re getting activated for deployment.

Thus began a rather hectic week for us. I drove my husband to the airport the next morning (Monday) and tearfully kissed him goodbye. On the way to the airport, we made a huge decision: Let’s get married this week. (My note: My husband says we decided all of this while he was in Minnesota, but I remember it differently.)

I drove back home where my amazing parents helped me plan a wedding. We decided to keep it small and invite our closest friends and a few members of our family. We planned to get married in my parents’ living room and have a small reception dinner at Burgundy’s, a restaurant I used to work at in college in my hometown. The date (through some discussions with family) was set for February 15.

My husband was in Minnesota from Monday until Wednesday and he told me later that they kept changing the dates of his deployment (at one point, he was supposed to leave February 13) but he never told me of all the changes so I wouldn’t panic (good move).

On Tuesday, I bought my wedding dress: a white prom dress and sheer white jacket that cost a total of $35. We invited our friends and family to attend if they could. Also on Tuesday, I made the second phone call to my best friend from high school and left her another message asking her to call me back and let me know if she could be my maid of honor.

On Wednesday, I picked up my husband from the airport in Cleveland and on Thursday, we headed back to Lima to get our marriage license (which had to be expedited due to the unusual circumstances). We had a talk with a Justice of the Peace (who was actually one of my neighbors growing up) and he agreed to come to my parents’ house on Saturday. Thursday night, my husband headed back to the Cleveland area and my mom and I finished arranging things for the wedding (we got a tiered cake, bought a guest book and I picked up my husband’s wedding ring). After making a third call to my best friend from high school, I called my best friend from college and asked her if she would be willing to be my maid of honor. She said yes.

“What should I wear” she asked.

“Whatever you want,” I replied.

“So a blue flower print dress and combat boots is fine?”

“Sure, why not,” I said.

“And it doesn’t matter that I have pink hair?”

“Nope, no problem.”

So, that was taken care of, or so I thought.

Friday came and everything was still getting finalized. My husband had a bachelor party of sorts at Dave & Buster’s (if you’ve never heard of it, it’s kind of like a high-class Chuck E Cheese for adults) and I spent time with family at home. Yet another thing had taken my attention: a blizzard of sorts was brewing over the Buckeye state. And about half of our guests were from the Cleveland area. So now I had to have a backup for a maid of honor. I chose a mutual friend to both me and my husband, AJ, just in case Lindsay couldn’t make it.

Saturday morning and it’s time to get ready. My wonderful friend Adrian did my hair and my veil was the veil I wore in second grade for my First Communion, handmade by my dear Aunt Bea. The storm was still brewing and Lindsay had called to say she was on the road, but that things were going slow. Did we have our back up ready?

Yes, we have a backup.

Except, about 25 minutes later, I got a call saying AJ wouldn’t be able to attend. Her daughter was ill and they were hesitant to get on the road.

So, now I needed a backup to my backup. I chose my soon-to-be-sister-in-law Amy to stand in if necessary.

But, Lindsay showed up at my house about an hour later. And she wasn’t joking when she said she had pink hair. She still looked beautiful and I was grateful that she had made the trip. I finished getting ready and soon after, my husband arrived with his best man. (Yes, I peeked out the window. I don’t believe in superstitions.)

The ceremony was beautiful. My mom did an amazing job turning a living room into a wedding chapel of sorts. The ceremony was short and soon it was official: I was a wife.

Fast forward a couple of days and my husband dropped me off at my parents’ house and headed home (we didn’t live together nor did we have enough to get a place together). We lived apart from each other for nearly six months until Eric went active in the army and we moved to Upstate New York (but that’s for a whole other post).

For a while afterward, I kept thinking that we would have another wedding. A big, traditional wedding with lots of friends and family and dancing and all the fanfare that comes with it. But later I thought “Why?”

Our wedding was simple and yes, a little rushed.

Our wedding was non-traditional and intimate.

Our wedding wasn’t full of pomp and circumstance or fanfare.

But our wedding was perfect for us. And a wedding should be about the bride and groom. So it suited us perfectly.

I don’t need a big wedding to be married. And to be perfectly honest… knowing everything that happened and how differently my actual wedding was from what I dreamed about as a little girl, and knowing that my husband wouldn’t deploy to Iraq until 2005, I would still do it all over again.

In a heartbeat.

I’m so grateful to be married to the man that I’m with. He is my best friend, my soul mate. And yes, we’re untraditional and yes, we tend to do things quickly.

But it suits us. And seven years later, I can’t imagine anyone else I would want to be with.

So, like I said it isn’t the first time that we’ve felt cold and checked the thermostat to see it about five degrees lower than what it should be. And it also isn’t the first time that I’ve woken up and could just tell that the heat was out without even getting out of bed.

But the kids had been sniffling. And I was preparing to head to Blissdom and certainly didn’t want to increase my chances of catching whatever the kids had. So I made an executive decision and packed the kids up and headed to the closest hotel for the night.

And what was the closest hotel? The illustrious Super 8.

Aw yeah. Bring it on!

But here’s the thing. I was really surprised by how nice it was. We had a huge room (about the size of 2 1/2 “normal” rooms in a Super 8 ) and the whole place was really clean. Not luxurious, mind you, but clean.

And it didn’t smell. Major bonus.

Now, my kids have stayed in a fair amount of hotels over their short lives. They have stayed in some pretty gross places with us (which we picked out of sheer desperation, trust me). Like the time that the major ice storm hit Cleveland and we were stuck on the highway and absolutely had to find a place. That wasn’t the greatest experience ever, but we survived. They’ve also stayed in some amazing places while I’ve travelled for work before like Four Seasons Toronto (a gorgeous luxury hotel if you ever get the opportunity).

So there we were at the Super 8, about 10 minutes from my house.

And they loved it. They’re so easy to please. Their favorite part? The mini-fridge in the room.

I hope they never lose their love of the simple things. I hope they always look for the good in any situation. I guess it’s my job to help them along the way. No, that’s not a guess. It’s a fact. It is part of my job. But I think that part of it is inborn. There’s just something about them that naturally gravitates in that direction. I love it. It makes the days easier sometimes.

But I’m not normal. Something has changed. Something is different.

I can’t put my finger on it. But it’s there.

And it doesn’t seem to be going away.

I’ve read several posts over the past few days about  revolutions and resolve and refocusing. Yes, all those things are happening here too. But there’s something else.

I’ve heard of new friendships formed, new blogs to read and new things to try. Again, yes to all three. And yet…

It’s more than empowerment. It’s more than permission. It’s more than an awakening.

And, there it is.

It’s Freedom.

Freedom to write in my own voice. Freedom to tell you the stories even if you don’t care. Freedom to share and hold back and share some more.

And that freedom was granted to me by 500 blogging women who shared their struggles over lunch, in elevators and while dropping our kids off in the childcare. It was shared over ice cream with a dear friend who just seems to get me. 500 women all “got” me this past weekend.

And I’m so grateful.

I don’t need to write about the sessions; the ones I attended are here in black and white for you to read.

I don’t need to be the top blogger, the wittiest blogger, the funniest blogger.

But I do need to be me.

And I do need to remember the freedom I just got.

So feel free to remind me. When I start sounding fake. When I start repeating myself. When I stop blogging regularly.

Remind me how good I feel right now. Remind me how this freedom hit me like a ton of bricks. Remind me that writing has always fueled me in the tough times for as long as I can remember. Remind me how much I love words and how it’s practically torturous not to share them, even with the void.

Remind me. And I promise to thank you for it.

Description: What draws some of us to bare our hearts and live our lives outloud through writing? Sharing is a fine art, and helps us to clarify our thoughts, receive feedback (often hard!) and encouragement to grow, and lets us find support and validation. How do we balance the benefits with the risks of oversharing or affecting our family in ways they didn’t invite? How do we tell our stories in the best possible ways?

What makes a memoir different?

• Length (shorter in both books and blog posts)
• Point of view (first person)
• Expanse (very short; a snippet or short portion of key points in a person’s life)
• Structure and elements (similar to other genres; symbolism, conflict, etc)
• Resolution (there needs to be resolution)
• Honesty (this is key)

Question: What kind of responsibilities do you feel when you are writing memoir pieces?

Michelle: My main responsibility after writing the post is to ask myself “can my reader find themselves in my post?” New bloggers can tend to ramble about their day. If you want to reach people, there has to be something that other can relate to.

Tanis: I’m a little different. I’m thinking about getting my story out and translating it and how it makes me feel. I’m not thinking about you or a product. I write it strictly for the purpose of bringing joy and making people laugh. If at the end, I have a bitter taste in my mouth, then I don’t publish it.

Catherine: This is a difficult question. Most mom bloggers, parent bloggers or personal bloggers are memoir writers to some extent and the follow a story-telling model. Some of my posts are rambling in nature. I try to tell a story in every post. My first responsibility is to the people  I’m writing about. I have some responsibility to my readers but be careful not to get too wrapped up in who is reading your blog. Story telling is about community. My content is about me, my family and what I’m think about. But I wouldn’t be a story teller if I didn’t take the community into account at all. (In answer to not getting comments on personal posts, and should you focus on the posts that so many people got comments on): Posts that people really respond to don’t necessarily make them comment, but I get the most emails from. I’m not writing to start a discussion. When I write, I ask “is there a reason someone would want to read this?” Sometimes I just need to get something out and I’ll close comments on it but the rest of the time I’m considering “How can I, as a writer, draw people to my writing?”

Michelle: If people don’t like what I’m writing they can go somewhere else. (In response to “when you think of the arc of a story are you thinking about a post or a series of posts?”): It’s important to remember that resolution doesn’t mean everything is perfect and happy at the end. Pausing and taking a breath can be a resolution.

Tanis: The length of your post doesn’t matter. It’s the quality of your post and the emotions that you convey that really matter. You have to be clever and good when you write long posts. Don’t be dull, people will click off. But don’t be afraid of the long posts.

Megan: Your posts may be long, but do they “feel” long? I’m okay with the length of my posts. I don’t post frequently and my readers know what to expect.

Question: Do you feel like your blog is really your own?

Catherine: Absolutely and it’s important to me that I feel like I own my blog. With Her Bad Mother I protect it like a Mama Bear. I don’t do giveaways or product reviews; it’s there for me to tell my story.

Tanis: A year ago I would say yes. My hands are tied right now until I get an adoption decree in my hands and then I can take it back. I have to be very careful right now and people won’t like it, but it’s worth it. I don’t care what people say about my blog except for my husband if he ever shared what he thought or read it, but he doesn’t. It’s my space and I don’t want to hear complaints about it. The point is that it’s my space and I’m proud of it and I’m protective of it but to get something better I have had to be careful.

Catherine: When I am not the central character in a story, I ask for permission first before I publish it. That’s one my personal rules.

Megan: We find that we want to write about something that is totally different outside of what you normally blog about that we don’t have the platform for it. Are you owning the platform or is the platform owning you? I deal with jealousy of other people’s writers all the time because they are so good. That’s a shame because it’s the community that makes us all better. Tell yourself “They’re awesome and I’m jealous, but I’ve found a teacher for myself.”

Tanis: I write about whatever I want and my readers read it. My numbers don’t drop because I deviate from my main topic. As long as you stay true to yourself, your readers who love you will keep coming back.

Catherine: There is something about a memoir that keeps people engaged and keeps them coming back. Writers want to be read. You want people to hear what you have to say and I want to hear what other people have to say.

Question: The perception is that if you have a niche, the money will show up. Is that the case?

Sommer: Yes, you can make money if you want to. If she had to do it all over again, she would have been more strategic about her branding.

Rachel: She has been the spokesperson for several companies but she’s not supporting her family with her earnings. If you want to make a lot of money, be extremely strategic about setting up your blog.

When you have a specific category that you are writing about, it can be a lot easier for PR people to reach out to you. Partnerships are a lot easier to make.

Question: Are other niche blogs competition?

Sommer: Absolutely not. When you make friends with other niche bloggers, you can help each other out. If you are reading other blogs that are in your niche, you can draw inspiration from them and it can help you. You don’t know who your competitors know

Audrey: There is power in numbers. We get too wrapped up in numbers. When you can come together with other bloggers and create a plan and then approach a company, you can make a stronger case.

Rachel: There is power in your community. Find your niche community and get together with other bloggers to drive traffic to each other. It will ultimately come back to you. Help others and support them. Other bloggers are not your enemies.

Jennifer: Losing the competitive edge in the blogs can send everyone to the next level. We all look at each other in that competitive mode. There is that niche for everyone out there.

Question: Sometimes your community views you differently than you would want them to. How do you address it and define your niche?

Jennifer: You may not always know how you really want to be branded at the end of the day. You have to focus on what you need to be known for and you can do that in your About page. Be specific with your readers.

Rachel: Your tagline is powerful. Your tagline can tell everything about you in a moment. Make sure your tagline defines your blog and your brand. You can rebrand yourself at any time, but know why you’re doing it.

Question: Do you think rebranding yourself will make you lose readership?

Rachel: Don’t write for other people, write what you are passionate about. Readers are going to come and go no matter what. You need your blog to be you. When they meet you, it should be reflected in your writing.

Audrey: You want people to keep coming back because you have content that they want to read. You have people tuning in to see what’s happening and the people who go away are the ones you don’t want anyway.

Question: You can be seen as an authority on a niche. Do you think you’re an authority in your niche?

Sommer: You have to be careful in that some niches are extremely specific. Make sure what you are posting is accurate so you can keep and attain authority in your niche. When you’re an authority it can be scary depending on your niche. Connect your readers to other authority resources in your niche to back up your statements or when you don’t know the answer.

Jennifer: Your authority is made up of your voice. It depends on what kind of voice you want to share.

Audrey: Don’t be afraid to give your opinions even if it contradicts what other “experts” are saying. Be clear that it is your opinion when you’re writing on your topic.

Nester: When you write something you’re passionate about, that comes out in your writing and your authority can be driven by that. Your passion can contribute to your authority.

Sommer: Always learn along the way. Admit your mistakes.

Jennifer: Is community part of your goals? If you come across as a complete authority, it can prohibit people from wanting to comment. Admitting your mistakes can make you more human and encourage community.

Question: How do you vary it up so your niche isn’t boring?

Audrey: Create an editorial calendar so you can cover as many aspects as possible. Also consider who you are writing for and ensure your content is addressing as many different groups as possible.

Rachel: I write when I have something to write about. Don’t force it. If I don’t want to write it, you won’t want to read it.

Nester: Is it a blessing or a curse? Watch other niche bloggers and how they create content. Use their concepts and see how you can apply it to your blog. Look at it as an opportunity to get creative.

Jennifer: It’s a lot of work to be a niche blogger. There are pros and cons with it.

Question: When you are being viewed as niche expert, how do you deal with some of the issues that come along with it like liabilities?

Sommer: Get an LLC and a lawyer and insurance. Make sure you’re covered. Double check what you wrote and edit and revise it.

Jennifer: Any time you are getting advice, you have to be very cautious. Err on the side of caution. Don’t give advice when you’re not sure to protect yourself.

Question: How do you overcome outside perceptions of what your niche is and when you get dismissed by companies?

Audrey: Publish your demographics, but they should do their research.

Question: What are the options when you don’t want to blog about your niche?

Sommer: Guest post on other blogs. Post on forum or Ning sites like MomBloggersClub.

Rachel: Reach out and ask if you can post on other people. We love that.

Jennifer: Brand yourself any way you want and you can do things in platforms like Wordpress where you can have “other things that I love” and display your versatility.

Nester: It depends on what you’re doing with your blog. It’s your blog but figure out if that’s what you really want to do.

Question: What advice do you have for people who want to define their niche?

Nester: Ask yourself -

• What posts make you nervous when you hit publish?
• What are your favorite posts that you have published?
• Do you still love what you write about?
• What posts have gotten the most comments?

Jennifer: Think long term, be strategic. Do you see yourself doing this in two, three years?

Sommer: Look at what you talk about when you’re not writing.

Final Comments

Nester: We are the luckiest bloggers because we can write about what we love to write about all the time. There are people who love to write and therefore blog and write, but there are those who blog about what they love. We need to talk about what we’re passionate about.

Jennifer: I love to encourage people to live life to the fullest and when the blogging door opened up, it was perfect to reach more women.

Sommer: This is all about your passion. Regardless of what you blog about, it really boils down to it being about what you like and when you grow out of it, you can change it at any time. Evaluate why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Rachel: I love food. No doubt about it. I’m so passionate about this and I write what I love. The day it becomes work is the day I’m done. Write because you want to share with others and because you love it and it will show.

Audrey: Ask yourself “what do you want people to walk away with from your blog?” Being in a niche and deciding on my voice allows it to delve deeper for me; we want to touch people, communicate and engage and when you find a combination of that, it’s not “work.” It’s the beauty of doing something you want to do everyday and you love it.

Description: Travel the path to becoming a top-notch professional step-by-step by learning how to promote yourself, how to develop your brand and how to demonstrate what you can do for companies. Learn how new blogs can start offering earned media in order to eventually gain paid opportunities, how to professionalize your interactions, and insider tips on how to rise to the top by making strategic promotional choices. Our panel includes thought leaders and powerful pros working in blogging, consulting, public relations and marketing.

There is a difference between paid advertising and earned media.

Paid advertising: you’re given the direction and tone of what you need to write about. If you stray from that, companies will not work for you.

Earned Media: You are free to give your own opinion on a product or service that a company provides for you. It’s a great way to develop relationships with companies.

Barbara: Be professional and keep your own voice. You’re more likely to get repeat business this way. A good attitude is also important to have. For paid media, you are giving up some things in exchange for payment. It’s advertorial.

Question: On the paid media topic, what are the different revenue areas that can come from paid media?

Alli: Ad networks can limit you in terms of conflicting ads running on your site. It doesn’t make you a “real writer” to have it.

Kim: Affiliate links (which need to be disclosed) are one way. Bloggers are getting opportunity to be spokespeople for brands and products. Real life networking is going to also happen more frequently (and these types of meet ups that are focused on a brand will be sponsored). There will be more connections offered between companies and brands where they will ask for feedback on campaigns and products. Look for opportunities in your community to teach social media classes at Chambers of Commerce and local colleges and it may open up consulting opportunities.

Question: How do you determine your value/worth and when is the right time to ask for a paid opportunity.

Alli: The wrong time is when you get an email to take part in an earned campaign and you reply to ask for compensation. Budgets have been established for a while so it’s not going to happen.

Nancy: Be prepared. Companies are going to want to know the ROI and what they’re getting from working with you. There are also other valuable ROI metrics like influence, reach and conversations that happen around your work. These are all very important things to show companies when looking for paid media opportunities. Companies will ask you to help them help you. If you have a great idea, companies don’t know until you tell them about it.

Barbara: Create case studies around your work. What was the problem? What was the solution? What was the result? In everything you do, attach trackable metrics to it. The beauty of social media is that so many elements are trackable.

Kim: Show how big your footprint is in the space overall. You do more than write, show people what else you do. When you are reaching out to companies, make your pitch specific. It’s a turn off when you show an example blog post and it doesn’t mention the brand and it’s all over the place.

Nancy: Word of mouth referrals are very effective. When great bloggers work with companies, those companies’ employees network with others and can pass on a referral to others.

Audrey: Display your Social Media footprint like a blogging resume. We forget how important all these items are when trying to show companies how we can add value to a social media campaign.

Kim: Don’t forget your real-life connections as well. Those are also important.

Barbara: When you see a campaign starting and it’s relevant to you. If you bring a good idea, there’s always money for good ideas. But it needs to be integrated. How will the whole campaign play out? Make it easier for everyone to get on board.

Alli: Don’t get hung up on traffic. Where does your talent lie? Are you better on camera? Do you have amazing networking skills?

Nancy: From the corporate side, two things are looked for: Celebrity and Passion. What you lack in traffic you can make up for passion and excitement about a topic, brand or product.

Description: Creating a blog and other social media tools can be the foundation for promoting a business of any type, or it can open new doors for increased sales, influence and buzz. Our panelist are outstanding examples of how blogging and social media can leverage key relationships, draw viral attention and forge personal connections with your customers.

Five Things You can do With Social Media:

1. Build the Buzz – get the hype going.

2. Be Yourself – Don’t worry about things being perfect.

3. Be Specific – If you want people to sign up for a newsletter, ask them.

4. Bring on the Bookmarks – Social Bookmark your posts and content

5. Be appreciative – Show gratitude and appreciation for others who things for you.

Question: What social media tools are most important to your business and why?

Kris: Social media survey services like SurveyMonkey.com give you a better feel for what types of social media tools your readers are using. Ask specific questions to find out the information that will be most helpful for you. Also, survey bloggers that you collaborate with to find out what they want to do.

Question: How do you manage social media? Do your outsource or do it yourself? How big of a role does Social Media play in your business?

Lisa: Does all the social media herself because she wants to be genuine and wants to give a piece of herself to her users. Social Media has been the driving force for Lisa’s business and without it the site may have just stayed there. Build relationships for the sake of building relationships, not just to sell products.

Question: How much time is the right amount of time to invest in Social Media?

Kimba: Her blog is her business, so it’s skewed for her. Be careful not to let it overtake your life and neglect other avenues of your business.

Kate: Kate is the Social Media manager for Mabel’s Labels so it’s full-time job. Find tools that make your life easier. Be sure to thank people who retweet you.

Question: What has been your most successful Social Media campaign?

Amy: It depends because different niches have different audiences. She recently did a “name the creatures” campaign that gave her a lot of responses and engagement. Sometimes high profile blogs will drive you major business in a short period of time. Let people fall in love with you and your story, then they’ll fall in love with your business.

Question: What lessons have you learned with Social Media?

Kate: Address negative things in the public space – don’t delete it and take it private. Make a note about how things are being changed and document it publicly. It displays who you truly are and how you handle situations. Focus on building relationships.

Lisa: There is no one campaign that’s going to take you the next level and keep you there forever. Your expectations may not meet up. Network up and down but definitely network.

Kate: You never know who people are connected to that you meet and network with.

Question: How do you find your voice and do you have any rules?

Amy: Breaks all her own rules. She takes her entire brand into account. “I sell baby toys. I can’t be drunk on Twitter.” She tries not to get involved with politics but she wants her personal Twitter stream to really reflect her.

Question: How do you balance your time being social and being focused on business?

Kris: Use the 80/20 rule: 80% of the time be yourself, 20% of the time talk about your business.

Amy: Being inspirational is not cheesy. Uses Tumblr to share things she likes from other sites with her readers.

Kate: Know your readers, know your customers. Their Facebook fans are very different from their Twitter followers.

Question: What do you use to monitor your brand and your competition?

Amy: We use Google Alerts, but it can be exhausting. Focus on your brand, not competitors.

Lisa: Her readers let her know what others are doing. But it can sap your energy. Invest your energy into being creative.

Description: Focusing on one topic in a defined niche is an art and an exciting blogging model. We’ve gathered leaders from various niches to share their successful experiences to help you define your focus, monetize or increase readership for a niche topic, or have a niche section within your personal blog.

The 5 sites that are represented on this panel are:

• Five Minutes for Mom
• Today’s Mama
• Manic Mommies
• Mom Bloggers Club
• Girlfriendology

Question: How did you decide to turn your site into a community?

Jennifer: MBC started out as a community and it’s really the members who make it a thriving community.

Erin: Things took off with the podcasts so fast that they couldn’t keep up with the correspondence and they realized that people didn’t want to just talk to them, but they wanted to talk to each other. So they founded the community to satisfy that need. They wanted to take the communication off her team’s plate and let users meet each other.

Rachael: Had the same situation as Manic Mommies and really wanted a platform to connect with their users and readers. They integrated a number of  functional components for users of all skill levels so no one is alienated and can access the content.

Janice: We are constantly looking for ways to empower our community and it has always been about helping mom bloggers find each other and their sites and stores. The community is happening on all the sites that they connect to.

Question: I want my readers to have a community with each other. What is the one thing that a blogger can do or consider if they want to take the site to a community level?

Debba: Get to know who your community is and ask them what they need. Really listen to the answers. The answers drove the direction of Girlfriendology and what content needed to be generated on the site.

Erin: Collect data on your users and then focus on the data. Who is visiting your site? What level of social media savviness do they have? Use that information to drive your content and direction of your community. Get an email list started even if you are not planning on sending out newsletters for a while. Use survey tools like Survey Monkey to collect information.

Janice: Do you ever feel like you’re not getting everything done that you want to do? Take this advice and do it. But don’t do everything unless you can’t do it well. Use guest bloggers and guest writers to generate even more buzz around your site.

Jennifer: Use your blog to drive traffic to a community. Use platforms like Ning, free plug ins from Wordpress and analytics to promote both features (content and community). Communities can build themselves by commenting on each other’s sites and interacting with each other.

Erin: Think about what your goals are for the community and decide whether or not it makes sense to build a community.

Question: If you are in the process of building your community, are there tactics for how to drive awareness to a community (as opposed to a blog)?

Rachael: Your marketing messages and PR efforts go hand in hand. All your messaging should reinforce each other. When it comes to promoting and spreading awareness, don’t negate the local opportunities. Local publications, sites and media present options to gain ground locally.

Janice: There are a lot of similar methods like Twitter and Facebook that we use for blogs.

Question: How do you manage your communities?

Jennifer: There are Ambassadors who are volunteers who go through and help moderate the community. MBC is a typically a drama-free zone. Things happen. Members bring things to the moderators’ attention that need to be addressed.

Debba: When you’re making decisions, think it all the way through. “What do we do when….” and set up policies. Watch others to see how they handle situations.

Erin: Private communities like this thrive because users feel safe to share certain things that they can’t do on other sites. So the community largely polices itself because they are very protective of this privilege.

Question: How do you monetize your communities?

Janice: Manages their own advertising network and ad campaigns. It is a lot of extra work. Before they were large enough to go after large sponsorships, advertising happened at low budgets because it made sense. The revenue will grow, but you have to have it make sense.

Rachael: Started with an actual product so the monetization process was already built in. Local advertising is another large opportunity for you. There is strength in numbers. It might not make the most sense to go it alone; are there others out there that you can join with to really make an impact?

Erin: Check your data to ensure that it makes sense and you can really present a solid case to monetize your community. Work with sponsorships, but know it’s not easy and it’s something you have to cultivate the relationship. Without data, a marketing plan and the full package, it’s going to be hard to justify the monetization. Be wary of ad networks. It can be like giving away real estate.

Jennifer: If you are going to make an impact, it’s going to take time. There’s going to be ebbs and flows. If you love it and you really want to make money with it, keep with it. It will come. You have to keep the wheels turning and stay creative. Get ready for sleepless nights.

Debba: Try things for the sake of trying them. Jump in and do it. Maybe it will fail, but it will help you learn what other people are doing and what does and doesn’t work for you and for your site.

Description: Your blog and social media presences are a digital representation of you, so make sure you are putting your best foot (or most gorgeous shoe) forward whenever you are leaving a social media footprint. Focus on building a stellar personal brand for yourself, your blog and your career and how to most successfully promote yourself with social media.

We start off with the obligatory introductions although these women hardly really need them. Alli says that one of the best things about planning her own conference is that you can put yourself in a panel and surround yourself with people who are way smarter than you.

When you think about branding, there are two things to keep in mind:

• “Who” do people THINK we are?
• Who are we REALLY

This session is very interactive and conversation-based. When we are talking about brand, there is a huge chasm between the two bullet points above. Liz talks about the evolution of relationships and how her life went from a very reciprocal-based relationship (she knew people and they knew her in real life) and has moved into a state where people know her and (to coin someone else’s phrase) “revere” her, but she doesn’t know them.

The floor opens up to questions for people who are struggling with the whole concept and process of branding. The question arose about “what or who do you lean on for inspiration on defining who you are?”

Alli: Does her best to adhere to the philosophy of “do the most good for the most people.” She says she tries to be very transparent and admits when she is wrong.

Liz: Says she tries to remember the phrase “The whole world didn’t get together to decide that I don’t belong here.”

Shelly: Recommends using Twitter to find people that you respect and model your path after theirs.

Question: I want to start blogging more about certain topics of my life but it doesn’t fit the current theme of my blog. Should I start a new one or do I risk alienating readers by interjecting things into my blog?

Alli: Talked about her personal experiences and highlighted that if you’re not happy or passionate, then you shouldn’t be doing it.

Liz: Questioned on whether or not “alienate” was the right word. She said “I’d rather be me, because then I know for sure that people who like me, really like me.”

Alli: (Jumping back in) If you are truly blogging about yourself, it’s going to change and evolve just like you do.

Shelly: She says that she has a very transparent personality that has some rough edges. Shelly struggled with her blogging voice because she didn’t want to offend people or lose potential clients. But then she realized that if people didn’t like her blog, they’re probably not going to like her in real life so they shouldn’t be working together anyway.

Liz: Being who you are doesn’t mean saying everything you think. Be consistently who you are. (Liz then goes on to discuss her personal branding story.) In the early days, things were happening where Liz felt she needed to brand herself. She had made a huge mistake and her community rallied around her. She had been signing blog posts and emails with “Liz, The Nice One.” This is the line her community used to defend her. But she found she wanted to be branded as intelligent too (not just nice) and she had to push to make that happen.

Shelly: There are things that you love to write about and things you hate to write about. So figure out what fits into your brand and go from there. Don’t just rely on what you like or don’t like.

Liz: What is your differentiator? What is your message? Are you the nice one? Decide what your message is. You can change it later, but you should have one because then people know what to say about you. Our lives are getting more and more seamless. We’re meeting more online friends in offline situations and we’re seeing our offline friends get online. Stay out of the pedestal mentality because then others are defining you.

Question: How do you insert yourself as an expert in an industry?

Alli: Tell people. Be everywhere, help other people and watch things happen.

Liz: Reminds us how much Madonna’s image has changed and how her brand has evolved. If you put yourself in the center of the Universe, it will be unbalanced. Make your Universe about the people around you. Know where you want to go  because that is irresistibly attractive to people because everyone wants to know where they are going.

Question: How do I get more comments without sounding like I’m begging.

Alli: Admits that she is building a new blog and won’t allow comments; she will ask people to talk to her on Twitter. We’re all needy at heart and comments can mess with a blogger.

Liz: Don’t write things that are so beautifully written that all I can say is “gosh, that was beautiful.” If you have a list of 10 points, only write about 5 of them and ask for more. Don’t write “what do you think?” That’s too big of a question. Ask additional questions in the comments rather than just saying thank you.

Shelly: There are great resources available on blog comments, how to get them, and what to do with them. Comments are an art and every blogger struggles with that.

Other highlights:

Liz: I’m not the same person on Twitter that I am on my blog. On Twitter I go wide, on my blog I go deep. Use Twitter to peak curiosity to drive traffic to my blog.

Alli: Twitter killed my blog. I’m lazy and love Twitter but it really killed my blog.