We are not simply complaining about that article. There is a pattern heavily in the New York Times, but also in other major newspapers, of condescending to and insulting mom bloggers. I am here to say that it is time we take a stand against it.

Here are but a few snippets from the latest New York Times article about the Bloggy Bootcamp conference in Baltimore:

ON a brisk Saturday morning this month, a dedicated crew of about 90 women, most in their 30s or thereabouts, arrived at a waterfront hotel here, prepared for a daylong conference that offered to school them in the latest must-have skill set for the minivan crowd.

Teaching your baby to read? Please. How to hide vegetables in your children’s food? Oh, that’s so 2008.

And this is in reference to my friend Tara’s session on SEO (something, incidentally, many companies have budgets for in the thousands annually):

Heed the speaker’s advice, and you, too, might get 28,549 views of your tutu-making tutorial! Whereas so-called mommy blogs were once little more than glorified electronic scrapbooks, a place to share the latest pictures of little Aidan and Ava with Great-Aunt Sylvia in Omaha, they have more recently evolved into a cultural force to be reckoned with.

Why is it so shocking that moms would discuss something besides parenting? How ridiculous. Why was this even in the Style section? If it were a tech conference for men the tone would be entirely different. It would go in business. It would not mention minivans. And I won’t even get into “glorified electronic scrapbooks.” I know many moms who have blogged about topics such as business and social media and politics for years that go well beyond that little dig.

Yes, mom blogging is an industry. It isn’t something cute we adorable widdle mommies do to share diaper stories. Whether we’re making money or not (mostly not), it is an industry. There are plenty of industries in which many workers in it make little or no money, such as writing, fine art and acting.

We get marginalized for a few reasons, including:

• We are women who are, perhaps for one of the first times, far better at something than men in many cases and far better in an industry that is making a major impact. I should explain that I know many, many men who are talented, brilliant bloggers, but that isn’t surprising. For women to stand out in an industry that major corporations are clamoring to get involved with just sits wrong with some people.
• We are excelling in the media landscape, which doesn’t sit well with traditional media.
• We are turning our backs on the mold that has been created for us.
• We are threatening to traditional publishers, mostly old white men who couldn’t write a blog or use Twitter if you put a gun to their heads.
• Newspaper circulation keeps declining, while blog readership and authorship keeps growing.
• Writing snarky articles about mom bloggers encourages mom bloggers to share links and drive readers to the newspaper’s web site. (Here’s a hint, New York Times… we would share positive coverage just as much, if not more).

We are trying to make a living by creating content, and for that we get demeaned, criticized, talked down to, made fun of, and stereotyped as unethical money and swag grabbing whores.

I know of a few other organizations that make their money creating content. Namely, mainstream media.

Mom blogging is a new media revolution.

Many moms blog because we have found the current establishment unacceptable in many cases. How many mom bloggers were once career women? How many have a day job but hope to one day make enough from their blog to leave it? How many found it difficult to balance career and family? How many found it even more difficult to convince their employer to give an inch to make it easier: allow working from home, allow flex time, allow job sharing?

In the midst of this down economy, how many blogging moms kept food on their children’s tables or a roof over their heads?

Mom bias begins in the newsroom.

I left newspapers after 15 years, despite loving my work and being a third-generation journalist raised by two journalists because the field was so family-unfriendly. In fact, another layer of this bias against mom bloggers in media is that the same bias exists in many newsrooms against moms who work there.

Newspapers want employees who place their job above all else in their lives. Moms just won’t do that, and that is a problem. There is this sense that moms, who can’t be on call 24-7 because they have children they need to care for, have it easier than childless reporters. Anyone who thinks being a reporter and a parent is an easily life is a fool.

Women blogging is a revolution, a rejection of the status quo. We have been forced into a box for centuries, and we refuse to accept it. We refuse to be told we have to choose between success and motherhood. We refuse to follow the unbending rules of corporate jobs that in many cases make you prioritize job over family. Most of all, we refuse to accept that mainstream media, with its quality decline and clear bias, should be the only source of information.

It is getting to the point that I am frankly embarrassed for the traditional media. They are making fools of themselves. They are abandoning all of their allegedly dear principles, such as bias, fair reporting and serving readers, in their need to belittle moms and women, in their desperation to remain viable and profitable. They could devote that energy instead to pursuing real journalism, investigative journalism, interacting and hearing their readers, and learning the social media landscape so they could cease the deterioration of their industry.

It amazes me how many commented at Liz’s post that mom bloggers should just be happy to be getting coverage. We don’t need coverage. We are far better masters at building buzz and engaging with readers than newspapers are. Thanks, but no thanks.

When I was a reporter, even covering controversial beats (which is really all I did cover), I always balanced reporting even of cops, courts, politics and business with a mix of positive and negative articles. That, my friends, is lacking bias. You should cover the whole picture, and represent the beat comprehensively.

Liz did a fabulous job of listing the many amazing stories from the mom blogosphere that are being missed, so I won’t try to replicate that. Major newspapers missed the entire story of Jaeli, where mom bloggers joined forces to save the life of a baby. Apparently, that isn’t newsworthy. Most missed the amazing and inspirational story of Anissa Mayhew, a fellow mom blogger whose stroke motivated an entire community of hundreds of bloggers to rally in her support.

If you think this post is about one snarky article, or even just one snarky article by the New York Times, I would like to offer a collective of their so-called fair and balanced reporting of the mom blogosphere. (I use so-called because I find it amusing, considering how many times news articles have referred to us as “so-called mom bloggers,” like it’s some sort of scam).

Here is just a small sampling of mainstream media coverage of mom bloggers. I’ll start with New York Times:

There was Drinking in the Land of Mommy Blogdom (and yes, it’s about what you think it is).

Then there was Approval by a Blogger May Please a Sponsor, which goes so far as to insinuate that moms get kickbacks:

The proliferation of paid sponsorships online has not been without controversy. Some in the online world deride the actions as kickbacks. Others also question the legitimacy of bloggers’ opinions, even when the commercial relationships are clearly outlined to readers.

And the Federal Trade Commission is taking a hard look at such practices and may soon require online media to comply with disclosure rules under its truth-in-advertising guidelines.

A short two months later, the New York Times writes about dad bloggers getting in on this action. You can read the two articles for yourself to compare tones, but this one has but a brief mention of FTC guidelines. Instead, this is mentioned:

Sony emphasizes that the products it is sending daddy bloggers are on loan, not gifts, and bloggers are not being pressured to write positive reviews. “We expect the reviews to be very honest,” said Marcy Cohen, a Sony spokeswoman.

I believe the title of this one speaks for itself: Beauty Blogs Come of Age: Swag Please!

Ah, and he is an oldie but a goodie. Mom’s Mad. And She’s Organized. Noteworthy quote:

A BABY was passed around like the hors d’oeuvres.

Nice. Clearly, this was an article about something cute and trite, right? Not so much. It was about MomsRising, an organization to empower and give political might to moms.

The only nugget of wisdom about moms I found on New York Times has such irony, especially when you consider their coverage of an industry of women bloggers. The Anti-Mommy Bias isn’t specific to mom bloggers (that must be how it slipped past editors), but it sure is enlightening on this topic. Just replace employers with journalists for a snicker.

Employers sometimes assume that women with care responsibilities will be, and should be, less committed to their jobs. Such assumptions and beliefs can influence employment outcomes even when caregivers work just as long and hard as everybody else…

In one experiment, about 200 undergraduates were asked to rate paired applications for an imaginary midlevel managerial job. Both female and male students rated mothers lower on competence and commitment, recommended lower salaries for them, and judged them less worthy of promotion than childless women.

In an even more convincing audit study, fictional résumés and cover letters were sent to employers advertising midlevel marketing and business job openings at a large Northeastern city newspaper. Childless women received 2.1 times as many callbacks as mothers. Fathers, however, were not penalized.

What did I say about bias against moms in the newsroom? Yeah.

To be fair, New York Times is not the only newspaper to show bias against moms who blog. Here is a sampling of some of the oh-so flattering coverage in other major newspapers:

• Paid to Pitch by Wall Street Journal
• Is a Crackdown Looking for Parent Blogs? by Wall Street Journal. Just FYI, WSJ, but the FTC regulations were for bloggers. I’m not sure where parent came from there.
• To Create Buzz, TV Networks Try a Little ‘Blogola’ by Wall Street Journal
• Blogging Moms Wooed by Firms: Food Giants Provide Lavish Goodies, Parents Provide the Buzz. Is it Ethical? by LA Times.

I know this is a long post and I know these are a lot of links. But I have a reason for that. This is not an isolated incident. This isn’t even just one major newspaper. This is a pattern.

I would say that we should boycott newspapers, but are we even reading them? I mean, except when they write this drivel? And we are forced to either ignore it or drive readers their way by criticizing it.

We need to take a stand. So what are we going to do about it?

Edited to add: I think we are all at a loss as to what to do about this. I wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times, and I highly recommend you also write one. There are instructions here. I would also recommend emailing the Times’ ombudsman at public@nytimes.com. His name is Clark Hoyt, and this is the paper’s description of his role: “The public editor works outside of the reporting and editing structure of the newspaper and receives and answers questions or comments from readers and the public, principally about articles published in the paper.” We may not be a big corporation, but our voices are our might.

Photo of man with newspaper and woman with laptop, © FaceMePLS on Flickr.

You can find out more at Mom Blog SEO.

P.S. You can also make money promoting my book by joining the affiliate program.

• Provide professional training such as business advice on things like setting up a company, registering for a trademark, etc.
• Have a group health plan to make insurance more affordable and accessible to WAHMs who blog.
• Have sample contracts as well as a lawyer who can review contracts for members (certainly some lawyer would consider doing it pro bono in exchange for massive mom blogger buzz).
• Establish minimum rates for paying bloggers for content, spokesperson roles, advertising, etc. (I am thinking an extensive survey of members could produce great information for that)
• Establish some basic standards and ethics (again, community-driven).
• Have job listings to match bloggers with paying gigs.
• Perhaps some day have a lobbyist in Washington to represent the blogger perspective when issues such as the FTC regulations surface.

I think it’s very important to have people both on the corporate side who work with bloggers as well as bloggers involved. I am even thinking there could be two types of memberships with different benefits for bloggers and companies.

Bottom line: there needs to be a voice for mom bloggers.

Of course, it is very important that the guild be representative of the community and that some of the brightest minds involved in the mom blogosphere help guide the guild. I am forming an advisory board. I have some wonderful inquiries already but want to be sure as many people hear about this as possible before the board is selected. If you are interested, please fill out the form below. Yes, company representatives who work heavily with mom bloggers are welcome to apply (and yes, men too).

_{Graphic of women copyright Hilde Vanstraelen.}

Going also gave me a chance to hang out with some very cool mom bloggers: Stacie from Divine Miss Mommy (the Type-A Mom beauty and fashion editor), my special online chat-friend Allison from Blissfully Domestic, Miss Blondie, Trisha from Momdot, Nicole from Momfuse, Ali from Chip Chick, Niri from MommyNiri, and the totally fabulous Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife.

Also, my longtime bloggy friend (who is now starting a new and exciting PR job with the agency who put this shindig together), Jessica Smith was there. The people with iRobot and Fleischman were also great. (Nancy Smith, their VP of marketing, has a special place in my heart for being almost as loud as me in a restaurant. Kudos, dahhlin’!).

The best part of all is that this getaway, an iNGENUITY expo of sorts, means I will have a chance to offer my readers hear and at Type-A Mom a chance to win a robot (oh yeah, is that cool or what?). Better yet, we will have a chance to win $10,000 to give to Donors Choose.

If you haven’t checked out the site, definitely do. I love the idea. Essentially, you can search for teachers who need funding for projects (you can search locally, by subject/topic, or even by neediest schools). You can donate small amounts or big amounts. It’s just such a clever idea. Keep an eye out on this site and Type-A Mom, and also watch for Twitter posts tagged #thatsingenious.

I also took some pictures while I was there, and learned some interesting things. For example, iRobot doesn’t just make vaccuums like the Roomba. They also make robots that save soldiers’ lives doing tasks like recon work to seek out bombs. You can even fan the PackBot on Facebook (how funny-cool is that?).

Here are some of the shots from my trip. I got a nice one of the plane ride to Boston:

And here is an actual robot that saved a whole bunch of lives in battle. The soldier named the robot Scooby Doo:

And closeup:

Here are the mom bloggers touring iRobot (from left, the foreground moms are Jessica Smith, Trisha of MomDot, Miss Blondie and ChipChick):

And here is a totally creepy baby. It was a prototype, and its face skin peels off. Its eyes also stare into your very soul. (Shudder with me, won’t you? Hahah.)

And of course, any mom seeing robots simply must get a makeover. I mean, duh! Here’s Stacie getting dolled up:

So it was very cool. I got to see robots, hang out with some cool moms, drink some wine (I only spilled a little). And soon, we’ll all be competing to see who gets to donate $10,000.

Beyond that, I think everyone needs to remember that there are no clear answers on all of this. That’s the bottom line.

It’s easy to say bloggers can’t take money for any reason, but don’t moms who put time and effort into their blogs deserve to earn some money for them? Blogging is not traditional journalism. I’ve said it many, many times, but the key here is disclosure. And when I say disclosure, I mean obvious and clear disclosure. And a little soul searching before you accept a check from a company is in order because there is no secret code about when that is appropriate or not.

On the one extreme, we have far too many mommy bloggers who don’t see their value at all. On the other extreme, we have bloggers who do nothing but use their blogs to pimp out products and make money. I say to all mommy bloggers: you need to find a place between those two extremes. Where exactly we all belong is the tricky part.

I also would argue that if you call it a review, it can’t be paid to do it. That is highly misleading. On Type-A Mom, for example, the guidelines call for all reviews to have both pros and cons. I want to be sure that we are all fairly testing and writing about the products there. I would recommend any blogger who labels a post a review do the same thing. It’s one thing to get the product to review, which simply makes sense if a company wants items reviewed. It’s another to accept cold cash to do the review.

When it boils down to it, blogging ethics shouldn’t be all that complicated. Like in any medium, the reader should come first. That sounds nice on paper, but even traditional outlets stopped putting the reader or viewer first years ago. So let me break down a few of the angles and considerations here.

Because this discussion about blogging ethics is one that needs to happen, and now. In fact, several months ago I bought the domain BloggerCodeofEthics.com. I think it’s well past time to launch it. This will be a site to develop a basic code of ethics with a strong emphasis on disclosure vs. the traditional media emphasis on avoiding bias (which was never truly realistic anyway). It will not make anyone any money. I would love to have some contributors there on the various topics related to blogging ethics, so if you are interested please comment below and I’ll be in touch.

Bloggers and Ethics

Let’s start with bloggers. Queen of Spain Blog featured a great post, I’m Calling Out the Carpetbagging Mommybloggers. Bloggers, you need to do some soul searching. Why ARE you blogging? If it is just to make a buck, I would suggest blogging isn’t the way to go about it at all.

I would say, however, the idea that advertising and editorial can be separate in blogging like they are in traditional media is just not realistic. First of all, it isn’t entirely separate in traditional media. It is in theory, but not in reality.

I’m here to say that traditional media is NOT the epitome of ethics and standards we’d all like to believe. I always found it rather hilarious that the Journalist’s Code of Ethics stated journalists cannot receive any compensation, gifts, free travel, or items of value on the sources they cover, yet travel writers for years have gotten a pass on that rule by many newspapers and magazines. Why? Because media outlets cannot afford to pay the expenses of the high cost of travel. So basically, it works like this: we will be ethical until it is just too expensive or inconvenient.

I had to laugh to read what Jessica Smith posted. She was quoted in the Wall Street Journal and is taking a ton of heat about it. But she nailed it. The idea that traditional media would slam bloggers about ethics? Laughable!

Here is a snippet from her post, Blogging, Double Standards and Recommendations:

Bloggers are being scrutinized for transparency and disclosure issues but the same “traditional” media that’s reporting on it?  Pot.  Meet.  Kettle.

The other point to note there is that mommy bloggers cannot separate it. A newspaper or TV station has one whole part of the building filled with humans who sell ads, and a whole other part of the building filled with humans who report the news. They rarely cross paths.

A mom blogger is usually writer, editor, administrator, general manager, producer and ad sales rep all rolled into one. There is no true separation. So that makes it all the more important for we bloggers to establish ethics standards and guidelines.

Obvious, Clear Disclosure is the Answer

So I get back to my main point of disclosure. As I said a while back in my post about bias in newspapers, readers don’t seem terribly concerned that bloggers are biased. What is crucial is that readers get informed about those biases. It is a breach of reader trust if you do something for pay and don’t say that is why you are doing it. It’s as simple as that, and that part is not complicated.

I don’t mean with a sidebar or bottom of page button that links to a computer-generated page that generally states you might be paid to write certain posts. That’s not good enough. Any post that was touched by a payment or a personal bias in some way should say so. It doesn’t need to be detailed, but you should share. And if you would feel awkward or embarrassed stating it in the post, you probably are doing something wrong.

The main guide I always used as a newspaper reporter was this: would I be embarrassed if this was reporter in the newspaper? Could I defend myself? I say the same thing applies to bloggers. Whenever you are blogging for pay or any sort of benefit, ask yourself those questions.

I love the ideas that Amy Lupold Bair, a.k.a. Resourcefulmommy, put out there after reading the Wall Street Journal article and the Queen of Spain post. In her post, Resourcefulmommy Changes, she indicates that she will include a button that says “product provided” in reviews where that is the case.

Reality is this: if mommy bloggers have to buy everything they review, there will be very few reviews. A professional blogger can still do a fair review.

Anyone whose opinion can be bought with a free product probably should reconsider blogging or sharing opinions, for that matter. Because blogging is about being personal, interacting with your readers, and being real. If you stop being real, you should stop blogging.

Blogging Ethics and Companies

I also think companies, ad agencies, PR firms all need to be brought into this discussion. Believe it or not, they are not evil people. I have some friends and clients in these realms, and I am here to tell you that many of them are struggling just like the bloggers. I would even say more so, since they don’t have the insider sense of the blogging community.

Just a few months ago, many bloggers would lament that companies don’t take bloggers seriously. Well, hey, we won! They are slowly but surely getting it. Sure, they might have some etiquette blunders, but let’s all cut them some slack.

And there is a reason why issues like paid posts are coming up. We all know that advertising is not terribly effective. Companies are doing what we have been TELLING them to do for years. They are trying to join the conversation. But for them, there aren’t as many natural ways to do that. So they are getting creative.

They are not out to offend bloggers. They want to engage with bloggers. They want to help their clients enter the social sphere. They have staff meetings, they attend webinars, and they go to conferences just to get the slightest hint of how to do that properly. There are not clear answers on how best to do that.

This is really the Wild West, and we should all keep in mind that things were much simpler for these people a year ago. I always feel like no matter what is said or done, I want to encourage marketers who are making an attempt. That is monumental.

But to those marketers, I also want to say this: some bloggers do not have a media background and are not that savvy. You should not take advantage. Blogging ethics are your responsibility, too. You should insist that bloggers disclose. You should be sure the bloggers are comfortable with the arrangement. You should NEVER attempt to buy a blogger’s opinion.

Buy an ad on their blog, and you might see the blogger naturally talks about your company. Even the blogs that don’t mention direct advertising would probably consider it if you make a polite offer. Personally, I think giveaways are a great way to get involved in the conversation since the blogger gets added traffic, the company gets exposure, and the readers love them.

You can insist that they also disclose that the company provided the prizes. Providing prizes for contests is not something remotely new to the blogosphere. But seriously. Contests decades before blogging even existed have had prizes provided by companies, so I doubt many readers think the bloggers themselves are buying all those prizes out of their own pockets.

Navigating the Blogging Ethics Gray Area

This is no simple thing for bloggers. There are no clear cut rules about what’s acceptable or not. I would say go with your gut.

If you don’t want your readers to know your arrangement, and in simple, non euphemistic terms that can confuse, then you should say no. If a company paid you to post, say it very clearly in the text. Tell exactly what was involved. You don’t have to say exact dollars, but if you received a gift card to write about something, say so. If you were paid to post on a certain subject by a company, say that. If you are writing about a company you do consultant work for, say so.

There are some very clever ways you can disclose besides the obvious. You can say so in the post in just a sentence or two near the top of the post. Plus, you can add a button that is high profile and not buried at the bottom that says the post is sponsored. Newspapers, magazines and TV all have had advertorials and paid programming for years (and I would argue some are not so clearly labeled as such). Bloggers are not the first to invent this.

You can have regular posts on your site that feature an icon like Featured Client. There are some fun ways to be clear to readers. If you find this all results in less traffic and interaction on your blog, then you need to think about what’s more important.

Personally, I don’t see how a review can be paid and still be a review, so I would consider using different terms.

But it all boils down to this. As bloggers, we will encounter many occasions to consider doing something for money. Every time, think about what that means.

When you represent a company as a blogger in some fashion, that is not the same as doing other work. You are selling a piece of your personal brand. If the company is a good fit for you, fine. If it’s something you would blog about or spread the word about for free because it is something you like or love or believe in, then great. If it’s something that interests your readers anyway, cool.

If not, walk away. We all need to feed our families, but let’s not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs here.

Each and every time, you have to decide whether the money is really worth it and whether it benefits your readers. Each and every time, you need to examine whether what you are about to do is ethical. Because like it or not, you are part of a community and you will be judged by that community for your actions. Be sure you can defend yourself, both to the community and to yourself.

And never forget: without your readers, none of these opportunities would happen. You owe them.

_{Photo of mommy blogger, © Channah at Sxc.hu}

Since I am rambling, perhaps an example would help. I was honored to speak at BlissDom ’09 (and yes, I am the very last of all 200 people who attended to blog about it. Sorry Alli!). Plenty of people have raved about the class act that conference was (and you can be sure I will be first in line to go next year!).

For me, it really solidified the idea that blogger conferences are a chance to take blogging to the next level. I mean that in more than a professional way. As a mom who blogs and works at home (but worked in an office since I was a preteen until just over a year ago), having the chance to hang with my people is priceless. It goes beyond simple professional development. It’s emotional and personal development.

There aren’t many places where I can have an “I’m Way Cooler on Twitter” button and have people get it. Or even take a picture of it with their iPhone.

Networking both online and in person is Social Networking 3.0. It is the logical next step.

The cool part was that we saw the real life/Twitter life potential before we left for the conference. Amy Lupold Bair — one of my Type-A Moms, my fellow Disney World #magicmoms mom last December, my BlissDom roomie and a good Twitterfriend — agreed to host a Site Warming Party for the redesigned Type-A Mom. (And seriously, if you want to generate interest in your web site or blog, I highly recommend it! #typeamom was the number one trend that night, and I’ve yet to attend one of Amy’s parties that didn’t become the most tweeted tag of the evening).

Since it would be soon after BlissDom, we decided to take advantage of the real-life networking at the conference by getting nice old-fashioned print invitations to pass out at the cocktail parties. We found a great company on Twitter, Delightful Invites or @DELIGHTFULinv. They offered to provide invitations that we could use at BlissDom ’09. How perfect were these to pass out at a cocktail party?

Cheri of Delightful Invites was very helpful and I highly recommend her, and the invitations were crazy adorable.

But bottom line: for my fellow moms or bloggers, try to get to a conference or tweetup or any sort of real life connection with a large group of your social networking sisters or brethren. Yes, you can make friends in real life. But you rarely make friends on such a targeted level. I don’t get to be in a room full of people who get me that well that often. Not only did I get a chance to connect with fellow moms who do what I do: sit by the glow of a monitor and scrape away a living for your family plus fellow bloggers who don’t need an explanation of terms like “wordpress” or “twitterati” or “affiliate marketing.”

I won’t even begin to name off all the cool people I met at BlissDom 09 because I will surely leave off several who are amazing, but just know that it was one of the highlights of my year to meet you amazing ladies (and a couple dudes).

It’s a pretty amazing thing, this merging of online and real life social networking.

Morning Agenda

9 a.m. Blogging Panel

10 a.m. IRL Networking

10:30 a.m.: Breakout session #1

11:15 a.m. Breakout session #2

Noon: Break for Lunch

After lunch, the hands-on stuff begins. Find out more on Dave’s blog.

Blogging Panel – 9 a.m.

The day will begin with all speakers hosting a blogging panel, and the general subject will be the blogging revolution. Each speaker will introduce themselves and speak briefly on that subject and how they believe blogging has changed the way we write, communicate and receive information. Then the floor will open to questions from the audience. The idea behind this is to be sure the audience gets a chance to hear and interact with every speaker.

Breakout Session #1 – 10:30 a.m.

You can choose one session below to attend:

Track 1 – Promoting Your Blog Through Social Media

When it comes to promoting your blog, social media can be a highly effective means of increasing your reader base. But, there is a right way and a wrong way to use every service. The right way can grow your traffic and enhance your brand – the wrong way will have people thinking you’re a spammer and dismissing everything you write. In this session, we’ll tackle some of the dos and don’ts of five forms of social media: blogging, microblogging, forums, social networking and social bookmarking.

Speaker’s bio: Bio: Patrick O’Keefe is a writer, web developer, and community administrator. He is the founder and owner of the iFroggy Network and the author of “Managing Online Forums,” a practical guide to managing online forums, communities and social spaces. He writes for multiple blogs, including YanksBlog.com, ManagingCommunities.com, and Bad Boy Blog.com, and maintains a personal blog at patrickokeefe.com.

Track 2 – Finding your Voice, Blogging your Heart

This session will be a discussion (with hand-outs!) on finding and refining your blog voice. Part of our goal will be to examine why we blog, what we want our blog to reflect about us, how to do it well, and how to get what we really want from blogging (once we’ve figured that out). Developing a consistent blogging voice will help you communicate more effectively, gain readership, and win readers over to your point of view.

Speaker’s Bio: Anne Fitten Glenn has been blogging about parenting, beer, politics, books, and other topics at edgymama.com for almost four years. She writes a weekly parenting column, also titled Edgy Mama, for Asheville, N.C.’s alternative newsweekly, Mountain Xpress and a weekly business profile for the Asheville Citizen-Times. As a journalist, photographer, and educator, she has closely watched the media change and evolve during her 22-year career. Glenn spends her free time mothering two kids, one husband, two marmalade cats, and one Dorkie Poo mutt. She rarely gets enough exercise, chocolate, sleep or beer.

Track 3: Creating Online Communities or Your Site is Not a Billboard

Communities are a dynamic asset that can be encouraged with positive interaction and transparency. Cultivating conversation both on and offsite creates interaction and a feeling of investment between the author and audience. Methods and guidelines for developing communities will be discussed.

Speaker’s Bio: Heather Solos is co-author of Home-Ec101.com and recently launched LowcountryBloggers.com with the help of Daniel Tennant. LowcountryBloggers.com is a site dedicated to promoting community and interaction between Charleston area bloggers.

Breakout Session #2 – 11:15 a.m.

Choose one of the following tracks:

Track 1: Seo for Bloggers

No, SEO isn’t a dirty word. Yes, you really do need to know at least a little about if you want to find success in the blogosphere. Guess what? It isn’t that scary or even that hard. Get a crash course in the basics of driving search engine traffic to your web site, from simple tactics while you write to basic plugins that can make a huge difference in your traffic. Best of all, you can still write for people while appeasing the Google gods.

Speaker bio: Kelby Carr is a freelance writer, SEO expert, foodie, social networking chick, travel junkie and former biz-cops-political-investigative newspaper journalist turned hardcore mommy blogger. She is the publisher of a network of parenting web sites. She’s been geeking it out on computers since the age of 10 (and you had to use an audio tape to run software), and web publishing and networking since the early 1990s (when she had to create pages from code in Notepad). She is also the host of the morning session.

Track 2: Hyper-Local Reporting with Multimedia

Jared Smith will demonstrate how he makes Charleston Weather, a live and interactive weather show for Charleston, SC residents during times of severe weather, a reality using little more than ustream.tv, a webcam, and a couple free or low-cost tools.  The techniques Jared uses aren’t just limited to weather broadcasts, either — any genre of webcast can benefit from his techniques and ideas.  All you need to bring is an appetite for multimedia and your own creativity to pull it all together.

Speaker’s Bio: Jared Smith is a 20-something web developer and weather nut in Charleston, SC.  Jared has been blogging since 2000 (age 15) on a variety of topics, but he is most recently known for his efforts in blogging and reporting tropical and other severe weather that affects the Charleston area, beginning with a live blog of Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2006 as it took aim on the Lowcountry, and continuing into 2008, when Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna posed a threat to the region.  In times of severe weather, Jared hosts Charleston Weather, an interactive weather show complete with real-time chat and live radar.  He is in the process of launching a standalone weather blog to compliment the show at charlestonwx.com, which is scheduled to go live full-time in 2009.

Track 3: Speaker Selected, but Still Finalizing Session Theme

Rest of the Day’s Conference

After we break for lunch, the day is far from over. Get down to real nuts and bolts learning with Dave Slusher’s hands-on sessions.

How to Attend

So if you are interested in going, you can either RSVP at the Facebook event page or comment below. We look forward to seeing you there! Also be sure to attend the ConvergeSouth conference the day before at the same location (and I am a speaker, so stop by and say hello!), and be sure to register for that separately.

Get Your Conference Badge

OK, so I threw these together. They suck. Hey, I’m pressed on time and I don’t have Photoshop that I’m used to. But if you’d like to have a badge, feel free. Also feel free to create your own less sucky badge and use it instead.

Get the code:

<a href="http://kelbycarr.com/independent-blogger-conference-greensboro"><img src="http://kelbycarr.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/greensboro-speaker.jpg" alt="" /></a>

Get the code:

<a href="http://kelbycarr.com/independent-blogger-conference-greensboro"><img src="http://kelbycarr.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/greensboro-attendee.jpg" alt="" /></a>

I have to say, though, I was quite pleased when I read this incredibly nice post about me by Tina Williams at New Old Moms Club. But when she updated it with this video today, I was blown away. The idea that she not only said flattering things about me, but also took the time to peruse all my sites (no easy task for anyone, even incredibly bored) and took the time to create a rather lengthy video… well, it’s nothing short of amazing.

So everyone, please visit the New Old Moms Club. It’s a cool blog anyway (geared at new moms age 40 and over). But maybe you can get lucky enough to be one of her Friday Friends. (And can I just say, it’s also just so nice to see someone else who believes my philosophy that the blogosphere is a place for giving and contributing to the blog community the way she is with her Friends Club). I’m definitely glad to be one!

This is what she said:

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom full-time since February due to some health issues our 5-year old son had been having, and then my husband was unexpectedly laid off from his job on 6/30 due to “reduction in workforce”, and while he’s been pretty fortunate as far as interviews and leads go, he hasn’t had any offers yet and we don’t know how long it’ll be before he is working again.  As such, I don’t know if I can afford to spend the kind of money I’d have to in order to attend the BlogHer Outreach Tour in two short months. I wanted to let you know in case you wanted to hold another contest to give away the ticket to someone else.

I felt so badly hearing that! I asked if there was anything I could do, and she mentioned spreading the word if I knew someone with an opening for a high-level marketing person to let her know.

Shoot, she couldn’t even use her pity party prize. I thought it was very sweet of her to return the prize, but it troubled me that she couldn’t win even after winning the contest! So next thought led to another, and that’s when it struck me: blog contests are for promotion. Who says I have to promote me? I already got a chance to do that once with this contest. So this do-over is just for Amy and her family.

I asked her to be sure she didn’t feel uncomfortable about everything. She did say they aren’t in a dire situation, and they do have money to live off of for a period. She didn’t want to over-dramatize the situation. But the fact of the matter is these are hard times, and Amy’s story isn’t that odd.

We can’t help every family with someone laid off from a job. Maybe, just maybe, we can help her. We can help give a boost to her new mommy blog. Who knows, maybe just the right person could read your blog and Dan could land a great new job! How cool would that be?

So here are the prizes:

One BlogHer Reach Out Tour registration. I will be presenting at BlogHer Greensboro (and hey, let me know if you will be there!). There are also several other locations for those of us who missed the big San Fran par-tay earlier this summer.

One set of 100 totally cute and funky-cool Moo Minicards, donated by Bitchy Betty. If you have not checked out Bitchy Betty yet, please do so now! They are a perfect sponsor for this contest because their motto is “bitching for change.” Plus, you’ve just got to love a site that actually encourages you to complain!

And contact me right away if you’d like to toss another prize into the pot to help this cause!

Here’s how to enter (COMMENT below for it to count as entries):

• One entry: Link to Average Everyday Super Woman in a post on your own blog. It can be to her site in general, or to a specific post. You can do this for any occasion, such as a write-up about her blog, a link in a post you’re writing about something related, or even a regular link round-up on your site.
• One entry: Write a post encouraging anyone looking for a high-level marketing professional to check out Dan Giampetroni’s LinkedIn profile.
• Five entries: Add Average Everyday Super Woman to your site’s blogroll (which must be on at least your blog’s home page).
• Ten entries: Blog about this contest, and include both a link to Average Everyday Super Woman and a link to Dan Giampetroni’s LinkedIn profile.

The deadline is September 15th at 11:59 p.m. EST because, well, you’ll want time to pack for your trip to a BlogHer Reach Out Tour stop. You can choose any combination of entries. Just be sure you comment with a link here because this is where I will look when I choose a winner (via random.org).

If you have a suggestion for a theme next week, let me know. I’m up for ideas. I would like it to be somewhat general so it can be inclusive of a lot of different bloggers. Maybe something like rants, or sweet memories. Or do you guys like the randomness? Let me know in comments.

Instead of rambling, I’ll just get to it. Can you feel the love?

• Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and  the Stress Factor – This one from the amazing Sharon McMillan brings up some great points. And I thought I was a multi-tasking, type-A mom.
• Twitter for Businesses – Lately, the question of how businesses should delve into Twitter has come up quite frequently. In fact, I was already thinking about blogging about the subject. I probably still will, but this post from Michelle Riggen-Ransom is a must-read before a business jumps in.
• Letters from the Heart 9 – Enjoy the engaging writing of CA Copeland, who is a dad and a blogger (all good!)
• Happy Birthday to You, Mom! – I was cracking up reading this. Don’t worry if you’re older and you read this. Over at The Daily Digress, she understands how easily old people startle. It’s cool, I mean groovy.
• Hope and Change for the Future – This is a wonderful post about a mom’s experience volunteering at the Democratic National Convention.
• How to Earn the Meanest Mom in the World Title in 5 Simple Words – This completely cracks me up! Can you guys what five words would make a tween mom too totally mean? Check the New Old Moms Club blog to find out.
• Taube Matilda Schoenfeld 1915-2008 – OK, what the hell? Does someone have to make me all emotional every week? I mean, I know this is only the second week, but still? OK, I am just kidding. This is an extremely moving (see previous sentences) post about the loss of her grandmother at Pecked by Ducks. It’s quite wonderful. This part gets me: “I love you Grandma, I am going to miss you so much I’m not sure how to wrap my head around it right now.” So sorry!

I hope you guys enjoy this week’s wandering about the blogosphere as much as I did. And definitely let me know what you’d like to see next hump day. (And yes, I think I did subconsciously pick Wednesday so I would have a weekly excuse to type the word “hump.” Sue me.)

_{Photo of link love heart chain, copyright Teerapong Boongird}