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July 29, 2006
Live from BlogHer (Part 1)
Is the Next Martha Stewart a Blogger?: Using blogs to help commercial ventures
This weekend, some of the Barflies are at BlogHer, a women's blogging conference. Miss Jen is speaking, and Tink, Wanda and Lauren are here, as well as Erika and Megan.
Here are some notes from the panels.
Maggie Mason - moderator (editor, Readymade.com, writer Mightygirl.com)
Pim Techamuanvivit - Chez Pim (food blog)
Marnie MacLean - knitting
Andrea Scher - Superherodesigns.com - jewelry, photography, life
Gayla Trail - gardening
Experiences with big corporate entities?
Marnie - the difference is that if you want to publish a recipe, a pattern, you have to pitch it and wait for approval. But with your own online journal, you can publish immediately and that is such a boon.
Gayla - when you write for other people, they own you and your words. And people are not used to that. I wanted to get paid fairly, but I also wanted to retain my rights. They wanted to own the idea as well as the words forever. And I resisted that. If you give up your rights, someone else can make money off you forever. Raad the cotnract and be tough. Stand up for yourself. And it's not just money, it's also about their vision, which is important.
Pim - don't worry about whether or not you're going to syndicate or make money from advertising.Just get it out there and build your brand.
Maggie - but don't blog for free, especially for big sites like Yahoo! etc. One of the best things you can do is to list yourself as a freelance writer on your resume, because you are, even if you don't know it yet. If you are blogging, you are a writer.
Talking about building your brand:
Andrea - Fun and easy are core values. If they don't meet that, it won't last for me.
Marnie - In terms of the craft blogs, you need to offer people something, free patterns, a reason to come back and link to you, and forward you, and you'll be surprised at how it snowballs after that.
Pim - your brand comes when you know your voice. That sounds new agey, but when you know yourself and what your blog is about, really know your reader and what they come back to see and what they want to read. It really is important, when you write, think about how you sound, and who the people are that are out there. And the more you do this, the more you realize it's not just what you say, but how you say it. And that becomes your brand, a definition that someone can give. It's important that if you are trying to build a brand, that you have something with a catch.
Maggie - the best thing you can do is be yourself. People can smell fake a mile away online,
Anyone here gotten paid for blogging? And how much should you ask for?
A couple of people, but usually in the context of other companies (mainstream media jobs that want bloggers internally), or projects that companies want to push.
How far are you willing to push the limit with sponsorship from companies that want to reach your audience?
Gayla: Part of the reason I started this is to cut through that crap. I consider it a sell-out. I am open to sponsorship though, only in the blogging section, it's not hugely profitable, but up to know, I've been paying for the site.
Pim: I can only speak from my own position today. In two years, I might be selling out completely, but right now, the way I look at it is I haven't gone out to seek sponsorship, but the way I look at it, is I would take sponsorship from something I can stand behind, something I would use. Dannon was recruiting bloggers for their site, and they paid pretty good, but I don't eat that yogurt with growth hormones, so I couldn't in good conscience talk about that. I write about eating locally, eating responsibly, eating organically.
Does anyone have a concern about being perceived as "domestic" or "crafty"?
Marnie: Apparently knitting is very "domestic". Who knew? I was unpopular when I knit as a child, but I don't care about being unpopular now. This is a good chance to discuss with poeple how these activities were traditionally done by men, but have only become women's activities lateley.
Gayla: I used to have a problem with it, when I was younger. I just like to make things with my hands but I had a real problem with it because all my friends were really tech-y and I do still experience an undermining of that in business, but I've come around. It doesn't bother me anymore. I'm sort of the worst offender in some ways, because my site is called "You Grow Girl" and perhaps that's exclusionary, it has a female connotation.
Andrea: I wanted to be a painter, but hustling your painting sucks! Beading is, well, how cheesy is that? But it's fun and easy!
Pim: I think you can care about shoes and still be a very strong woman. I'm not worried about it. (applause) I'm not trying to temper my voice so that I speak more to men or women; I just talk.
Maggie: Martha Stewart is one of my idols, and Oprah on top of that. I mean, look at some of the eye rolls you get about Oprah, even from some advanced men. But if you can take the concept of "women's work" and make money off it, you can really blindside everyone. I mean, look at the dollar signs that are out there!
Posted by DJWanda at July 29, 2006 11:14 AM
