Authentic Blogger

2011-05-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of
Authentic Blogger

Did you know that moving ranks in the Top 3 most stressful events that can hit an individual's life? The other two are death and marriage. I, for one, am not a fan of moving. I know many people enjoy it, see it as an adventure and embrace all the nuances of change that come along with the experience. I accept that type of change grudgingly, although with age and time, I have found a way to cope better than I used to.

So, with that being said, imagine a dramatic drumroll as I announce with a flourish (because there simply must be a flourish) that Authentic Blogger has moved its presence on Facebook from the original group format to a new Page format.

Why have we chosen to make this move? Good question. The answer is that Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, recently made the arbitrary decision to do away with the original Facebook group format. They created a new and improved group format a couple months ago and apparently have decided that the common response to that new format has been sufficient to put a kill on the old group format. Those of us who "own" groups in the old format have been advised to either upgrade to the new group format, or allow our group page to eventually be archived by Facebook. We gave it some thought - by "we", I mean that I and the wonderful people who help me at Authentic Blogger, Dave Roy and Anahid Boghosian - and decided to not upgrade to the new group format. We decided, instead, to switch to a Facebook Page format and we published that page to live status on Facebook today. Although many of our members like the new group format, we felt that changing over to a Page format will best serve the goals we have in place for the future of the Authentic Blogger concept.

So, a few things are important to impart. The most important one is that Authentic Blogger hasn't changed in any way except for our "physical" address on Facebook. We are still the same blogging concept that all our members have grown to know and love.

We still advocate authentic interaction with fellow bloggers, suggesting that you take time to truly read content of blogs you follow, and take time to leave thoughtful comments on those posts.
We strongly do NOT encourage the "if you follow me, I'll follow you" mentality that is rampant in the blogging world.
We embrace building relationships with fellow bloggers.
We pledge to continue to provide a community and forum to mentor, support and encourage all bloggers on a worldwide platform.

Being the creature of habit that I am, I resisted this Facebook change for as long as possible. In fact, had Facebook not pushed the issue, I probably would still have happily kept the original group format in place for Authentic Blogger. Change, while perhaps not always comfortable, is obviously a good thing. It forces us out of complacent behavior and bad habits. It opens up new avenues, creates new relationships and experiences and provides fresh, new energy. With that in mind, I should be welcoming this new experience for Authentic Blogger with open arms. Well, don't get me wrong - I do see the value in this new chapter for us. That doesn't mean I'm all happy and chirpy about it.

I'm nervous as all get out, if I'm honest. We founded Authentic Blogger in December of 2009, with big dreams and little idea of what we were doing. To our surprise and delight, the concept caught on and was embraced immediately, and our presence in the blogging world began to grow. We set goals for membership and continued to be thrilled when those goals were not only met, but exceeded regularly. We've gone through many growing pains and changes in the past two years, and we continue to learn as we grow. I recognize that we'll grow in a positive manner from this change also. My own biggest concern is that we don't backslide. At our highest point of membership, our original group page had grown to 793 members. Now we're back to starting from zero with membership of this new page, and that's the part I can't help but focus on. Yes, there's an element of ego involved, I admit this freely. I am justifiably proud of what we have achieved with the Authentic Blogger concept, and it is important to me that we continue to stay at that high level of success.

Should I predicate our success on a membership number? No, I shouldn't. Do I? Yes, to a degree. I can't deny that I loved, and still love, watching our membership increase. The thought of losing all that momentum with membership during this move was not something I was happy about. I can report that as of approximately 8pm, EST, May 7, 2011 when we published the new Authentic Blogger FB Page, our membership has been busily zipping along and increasing at a rapid pace. That response is wonderful to see, and I'm happy to recognize many familiar faces of fellow bloggers hitting our new Page wall. In the coming days, I'm sure we'll continue to grow. I hope we'll be back to, or close to, our middle 700 membership in a couple of weeks. I realize that if we're not, I shouldn't internalize that or take it personally, and I'll do my best to heed my own advice. We've already received a ton of encouragement from the Facebook blogging community at large and that's just heartwarming! I have always looked at all the other Facebook blogging groups as a collaborative effort. There are a few who choose to be exclusionary, but the majority of them are driven by other wonderful bloggers who embrace the concept of helping one another.

For those who are members of our original Facebook group page for Authentic Blogger, you will find when you visit that page in the coming weeks that you can no longer post links on our wall. We disabled that feature and have posted the new link to direct you to our new Facebook Page for Authentic Blogger. We plan to leave the old group page up and running for a couple more weeks so that people who may have missed all the alerts and posts about the move will be able to find us. We also sent out an email to all original Authentic Blogger group members with all the details, explanations and the new Page link to find us. We hope that this move will cause a minimum of fuss and confusion and that all our friends and followers will be able to easily find us, Like our Page and get back to the regular business of posting their links on our wall and interacting with fellow members of our community.

In closing, we hope this minor change will not be a hindrance to the growth of the Authentic Blogger community. We value each and every blogger who has joined us, as you are the people who have helped us continue to grow, learn and succeed. We hope everyone will help us to get the word out about our new Page location on Facebook by sharing the link on your Twitter and Facebook walls. To make that easier for you, our unique username on Facebook is www.facebook.com/AuthenticBlogger. Feel free to grab the link and share with your blogging friends! In the immortal words of Dorothy and Glenda, the Good Witch,

Photo - Bing images

"...there's no place like home....there's no place like home..."

We look forward to welcoming you back to the new home of Authentic Blogger on Facebook. See you there!

Spotlight On....new monthly series!

2011-02-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of
Bing images

When I first began blogging back in 2009, I was literally overwhelmed with all that I had to learn about the blogging process. I dove in and did quite a bit of floundering, but along the way, I connected with a core group of bloggers who have since become dear friends. (The Blogging Class of 2009, Healing Morning, 12/13/2010).

There are many firsts that you experience with your blog. One of them is blogging awards. These are fun, informal awards that different bloggers create, along with an award icon and a set of criteria for each award recipient to follow. I clearly remember the first time I was given one of these awards - I was very happy to learn that other bloggers were reading my work and enjoying it enough to offer a symbol of recognition. The downside of these blog awards is that they become viral in a very short period of time, with many people sending you the same award and overloading your page. I have given this concept a lot of thought over the past two years, and I believe I've come up with my own version that works for me.

Blogging itself is cyclical. You'll find yourself interacting and connecting with your own core group of blogging friends. These are the people who you'll turn to for advice on programming the newest gadgets/widgets and applications on your blog. They're also the ones that you'll trust to give you honest, sincere critiques when you make changes to your formatting. So, obviously, it is very important to build that core group for yourself.

It is equally important to continue to broaden your horizons in the blogging world. Keeping your content fresh and new becomes a bit more challenging the longer that you write. So, you'll want to explore new ways of attracting readership. With that in mind, what I decided to do is take that blogging award concept and spiff it up a bit.

I am going to do a monthly "column" here at Healing Morning where I shine a spotlight on five blogs that I enjoy. They may be blogs that I've followed for a while, or they may be blogs I've just discovered. My rules for this are going to be simple. In order for me to pick your blog for this Spotlight On monthly column, I will have the following criteria:

1. Be a member of Authentic Blogger Facebook Group & have the Authentic Blogger button posted on your blog page. You will find our button & the code on the home page, on our right hand sidebar, just below the FB and Twitter share buttons.

2. If you are interested in your blog being posted in an upcoming Spotlight On blog post, shoot me an email with your blog link, make sure you have the Authentic Blogger button posted on your blog page, and I'll add you to my list of prospective blogs.

3. Be an actively involved member of the blogging community. By this, I mean that I will have noticed you writing thoughtful comments on various blogs in the AB community. I really do pay attention to what's going on out there among our group!

4. Upon learning that your blog has been chosen for Spotlight On, take a moment to post the link for this blog on your FB wall, and/or your blog page, if you like. Linking back to Healing Morning will ensure that everyone involved receives that much more traffic to their respective blogs.

5. Visit Healing Morning, follow my blog & leave comments occasionally. This is how I find a lot of really wonderful blogs to follow in return, so it's not as self-serving as it sounds at first glance. If you follow me and comment on my work, that keeps you current in my mind, and I'm more likely to visit your blog in return.

That's it! Short and sweet criteria that's easily met. I hope that everyone that I spotlight in this column will enjoy the attention and gain followers for their blog. I was encouraged and helped by many wonderful bloggers when I first ventured into the world of blogging. This is my way of saying Thank You to everyone who spends time at Healing Morning and at Authentic Blogger.

I will post this monthly column at both Healing Morning blog and at the Authentic Blogger sister blog, as well as several other blogging forums. The spotlighted blogs will benefit from this publicity and reach a much wider audience as a result.

So, for the inaugural Spotlight On post, these are the five blogs I have chosen:

Derek's Home and Business Blog, author Derek Jones. Derek and I connected perhaps a month ago, and I have been extremely impressed with his informative content. If you're looking for a blog that gives you the newest updates on blogging tips, SEO and SEM as well as IT information, look no further. Derek is one that you'll want to follow. I subscribe to his email feedburner option so that I receive every new blog that he posts directly to my Inbox.

Living with Food Allergies and Celiac Disease, author Mary Hudak Collins. Mary is a Mom with two children, one of which suffers from food allergies and Celiac disease. I find her content to be very well written and calm in approach. She offers realistic, logical solutions and tips in her blog posts. She's also very good about reciprocating with fellow bloggers, and I enjoy her thoughtful comments that she offers on my own work.

Anna of Alaska, author Anna L. Walls. Anna was one of the first group of members to join Authentic Blogger back in 2010, and she's been a strong member ever since. Anna is a published author as well as writing two successful blogs. She has a quirky, delightful sense of humor and offers a fascinating window into what life is like living in Alaska.

The Widow Lady, author Lisa Brandel. Lisa was also one of our earliest members at Authentic Blogger. Her blog is a valuable resource and forum for people who are dealing with loss of a loved one, or who are dealing with being a caretaker of a loved one. It might sound as though visiting her blog would be a sad experience, but the exact opposite is true. Lisa writes about all manner of topics that are grief related, and they range from funny, to dramatic, to educational, to downright absurd, and they address those topics that many shy away from. Lisa also invites many of her followers to do guest posts on The Widow Lady.

Fireside Moments, author Anahid Boghosian. Anahid is one of our wonderful admins over at Authentic Blogger & was also a very early member of our group. Her blog covers a wide range of topics, from ruminations on current events, to helpful posts that cover a lot of blogging IT tips, to very funny content. Anahid is one of my favorite people in the blogging world & I always enjoy reading her perspective.

I hope you'll all take time to visit these five blogs, read their content, and if you enjoy what you find, follow them. These five blog author fit what I consider to be the epitome of Authentic Bloggers and I am proud to call each of them blogging friends.

~ Dawn
Author, Healing Morning blog
Co-founder, Authentic Blogger FB Group

Authentic Blogger's Monthly Featured Blog Author

2010-08-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

Authentic Blogger (FB group page), in conjunction with our sister blog, The Authentic Blogger is proud to announce this month's recipient of our Monthly Featured Blog Author Award!

**As of late 2010, we decided to take a break from the monthly award process. We will resume this award process in the near future.**

Congratulations to...

**Go to the Authentic Blogger Discussion Board to access the criteria for being chosen as the next recipient of this award.

See our Blog Award Roll below to read the weekly updated list of past recipients:

Duane Scott & Dawn S.
Co-Creators, Authentic Blogger FB group
Duane Scott, Author, Duane Scott blog
Dawn S., Author, Healing Morning blog

Weekly Featured Blog Author

Blog Author                          Award Date               Featured Blog
Mitzi Rice                               8-02-10                     Daily Reflection
Savira Gupta                           7-01-10                     Living Laughing Breathing
Chip Etier                               6-01-2010                 Etier Photography
Mansi Bhatia                           5-01-2010                 First Impressions
Anahid Boghosian                   4-01-2010               Fireside Moments
Lisa Brandel                            3-02-2010                The Widow Lady
David Roy                              2-07-2010                 Dave's Buttoned-Up Mind
Sharon Cohen                         1-30-2010                 By These Fruits
Marie Blackstock Rhoades      1-23-2010                 Sally Lee...by the Sea
Jenn Boyer                              1-15-2010                Heart, Mind and Soul
Bill Bruner                               1-08-2010                Journey to Joy

If you have been chosen as an Authentic Blogger Monthly Featured Blog Author, please grab the button below to post on your blog! Congratulations again!

Twitter for Bloggers

2010-02-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know me, you know how much I hated Twitter. It felt like such a pointless thing. Did I really care what my friends were up to 24/7?
"Bob: I just woke up."
"Bob: I'm eating breakfast."
"Bob: Off to work."
"Bob: The weather is so nice!"

Although the company started out as a way for people to let their friends know what they were up to, Twitter users have taken it into a whole different direction (in a good way of course). You still have those users who think it's important to let everyone know what they're doing all the time, like our friend Bob up there. Then there are other users who use Twitter to relay information (i.e. breaking news stories, marketing, etc.). Being a blogger, I'm going to be focusing on the usefulness of Twitter in the blogging world.

What is Twitter?
The simplest way I can describe Twitter to you is this: Think of it as the status update portion of Facebook. If the only thing you were allowed to do on Facebook was to update your status, and nothing else, you would have Twitter. It is also a means to share and receive information with millions of people across the globe, at the same time. It's a place to connect with people, celebrities, sports players, businesses, and more!

I have NetworkedBlogs, Facebook, RSS Feeds, etc. Do I really need Twitter too?
YES! The number one thing any Blogger needs is an audience. The more platforms of exposure you have for your blog, the better. Twitter is a great way to let people know whenever you have new posts. Your readers can follow you (subscribe) on Twitter and can even choose to get your tweets on their mobile phone. They can also "retweet" your post and share it with their followers, giving you an even bigger audience.

"Retweet" my posts? You lost me there!
Anytime you tweet (post) something, anyone who sees your tweet can retweet (repost) what you said. Basically they can share your post with their friends/followers by reposting it. There are two ways to retweet a post: copying and pasting what the person said and putting "RT" before the tweet; or using the retweet button provided by Twitter. I will give an example of the manual (copy/paste) retweeting because the latter is done automatically by Twitter.

Original post: Bob: check out my new blog post on friendship http://bob.com/friendship
Retweeted post: Bill: RT @Bob: check out my new blog post on friendship http://bob.com/friendship

In the above example, Bob shared with his followers that he has a new blog post and he provided the link. Bill, who is following Bob, liked the post so he retweeted what Bob said. Now Bill's followers will see Bob's blog post and if they like it, they in turn will retweet it as well. Do you see the picture here? If you are a blogger and don't have a Twitter account yet, I suggest you take a moment to open up a new browser tab and sign up.

Why am I seeing tweets with the # symbol?
The # symbol, or better known as hashtags, is a way to tag your tweets. Think of it as Labels (if you use Blogger), or Categories (if you use Word Press). It's a way for people to easily find tweets related to a certain topic or a major event that's going on around the world. One of the most common ones you will see every Friday is #FF or #FollowFriday. This is a great thing that started on Twitter where each Friday Twitter users will mention various people they follow and put one of the two follow friday hashtags in their tweet. It can provide exposure to your account and can increase your follower base.

Another great use of hashtags is labeling your posts. Let's take our example from earlier:

Bob: check out my new blog post on friendship http://bob.com/friendship

If Bob wanted to increase exposure, he could add a hashtag to his post which would allow others, who might be searching for that particular topic, come across his tweet. Bob could change his tweet to the following:

Bob: check out my new blog post on friendship http://bob.com/friendship #friendship
or
Bob: check out my new blog post on #friendship http://bob.com/friendship

Now anyone who searches on twitter for #friendship, will come across his tweet. Of course all of this applies to public tweets. There are also specific hashtags, like the follow friday ones, that are used during particular events. For example, during the Presidential Inauguration if your tweet was about the event, the hashtag to use was #inaug09. During the Iranian elections, people were using the hashtag #iranelection. For Authentic Blogger, a wonderful group of bloggers I belong to, we have decided to use the hashtag #ABauthor with our tweets. Be sure to search for the #ABauthor hashtag on Twitter to be kept up to date with new blog posts by Authentic Blogger members.

Public Tweets?
Although Twitter allows users to make their accounts private, I think it should be done away with. All of the above that I said doesn't apply to you if your account is private. By protecting your tweets, especially as a Blogger, you are limiting your audience, and as I mentioned earlier the number one thing we want is exposure. No one will mention your profile on Follow Friday because people aren't going to be able to easily follow you. In fact, most people tend to stay away from private accounts. It become more difficult to retweet your posts because you made your account private. Your followers don't know if it's okay to retweet what you said, even if it's a link to your new blog post, putting them in an awkward place.

When you use hashtags in your tweets, they won't show up when people search because your tweets are private. Twitter is not like Facebook where you want to know who people are before you approve them. You share far more on Facebook than you do on Twitter, so naturally most people make their Facebook accounts private. There's nothing to hide on Twitter, it's just your updates. There are no photo albums, wall posts, etc. It is the most public forum you will ever come across and it's best to make your account public. If you are afraid of spammers following you, it's not that big of a deal. You just look over the list of people following you and when you come across a spammer, just report the account as spam and it will remove and block that person from your profile.

Final Thoughts:
For those of you who are part of the tweeting world, keep on tweeting and sharing your new posts. For those of you who aren't too fond of Twitter, and might even hate it like I once did, I hope this helped to change your perspective by seeing the usefulness of it for your blog. Remember that a blog needs an audience like peanut butter needs jelly!

Anahid Boghosian
Author, Fireside Moments blog
Follow Anahid on Twitter

Blog Award Positivity, Part II

2010-02-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

Hey, we're getting some very cool attention from fellow bloggers! Recently, perhaps in the past three weeks or so, there has been a flurry of fun Blog Awards circulating out in the blog-o-sphere. A few of these nice awards have been bestowed upon Authentic Blogger to recognize our efforts at creating a welcoming, friendly community for all things bloggish. These Blog Awards usually come equipped with a "pay if forward" list of instructions, requesting that the recipient list their Top 5-10 favorite blogs along with the reasons these are their favorites, and then go on to list a Top 10 list of some interesting personal content.

Marty and I are very appreciative and flattered that Authentic Blogger and our sister blog here, The Authentic Blogger are both garnering attention in the blogging world. We do feel, however, that as Authentic Blogger exists to support all bloggers, it wouldn't be fair, or professionally correct for us to single out our Top 10 favorite blogs. Heck, come to think of it, that would be an exercise in torture, because we have hundreds of AB authors in our community - it would be impossible to narrow a list down to a Top 10.

So, here's what we've decided to do: we're going to offer a heartfelt Thank You to everyone who very kindly gave us a nod of recognition with these fun awards. We are then going to embrace the latter of the instructions above and throw out our own fun list of "stuff". Since there are two of us, it's going to be a respective Top 5. Keep reading to see what each of us come up with, because they may be on completely opposite ends of the spectrum!

Dawn's Top Five....Non-Blog Related Things That You Might Not Know

1. I am an Olympics fanatic, it is true. Those who know me well are quite aware of this trait. The Winter Olympics begin on February 12th and last for two weeks. During these two weeks, everyone knows to not invite me to dinner, or call me on the phone in the evenings - I will be occupied watching the Olympics each night. Yes, I'm serious. I'm more patriotic than most, and the Olympics are a special, bright moment for the world. Expect to see an upcoming blog on this topic, no joke!

2. I have an absolute horror of certain non-words and firmly believe that when written or uttered aloud, the person perpetrating this horror and the ones they're communicating with cease to exist for a nanosecond. It forms a Black Void.

3. Similarly, I believe there is some truth to the belief that our car keys, socks in the laundry, cell phones, etc., disappear randomly because there are troops of Elfs that live in our homes. Think about it, peeps, it makes sense! Where DO those missing socks go, and who took them, if not the Sock Elfs? Car Key and Cell Phone Elfs are merely a sub-union - same local Union Hall.

4. Paging through seed catalogs in preparation for spring container planting on my apartment patio is a simple joy. Tomatoes of several varieties, cucumbers and possibly some small melons are on my list this year.

5. It bugs my artistic eye when people wear two shades of black that clash. Yes, it is possible for black to exist in differing shades. Good example was a friend at lunch the other day (whom shall remain nameless) who was wearing a pair of black slacks that had an underlying purple tint to the black, while their sweater was a shade of black w/ green undertones. Of course, I've walked out of the house wearing socks of two different shades - like green and dark brown (not a morning person, so it happens) - so who am I to criticize?!

Marty's Top 5...Non-Blog Related Things That You Might Not Know

1. Haha. This is going to be fun. Some of the things I won't write on my personal blog, I'll write here. Why? Because my family isn't reading. I collect trolls. You know the ones with the long, different colors of hair that are buck-naked? They still make me smile, they are so happy to go commando.

2. I am entirely hopelessly lost without my phone. I use it for my alarm clock, email, FB, Twitter, GPS, Blogging on the go, Throttlecopter game, Bible, Dictionary... well, you name it, I have it. Check it out here! And yes, I have this stand for beside my bed.

3. I dislike Walmart. I only use it when I'm depressed about myself and my situation. I go there and look at the flustergasted parents with screaming kids, the couples that are trying to decide which cheap, flat bed pillows to buy, or the poor people buying that fall-apart furniture. I immediately feel better about my life.

4. I clip my toenails only when they start poking holes in my socks. I'm perfectly clean and manicured otherwise. I know, it's awful, but I'm always running late after I take a shower and toenails can be hidden by socks. :)

5. I can hardly ever remember which cables go where when jump-starting a car. I'm so embarrassed to admit this, but at one point, I googled it.... on my phone.

Dawn S.
Author, Healing Morning blog

Marty D.
Author, Coffee with Marty blog

Co-creators, Authentic Blogger Facebook Group
Co-authors, The Authentic Blogger Blog

News Clippings

2010-01-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

News Clippings

We (Marty & Dawn) are very happy to report that our Authentic Blogger Facebook group page, and our sister blog here, The Authentic Blogger, have now reached enough of a level of saturation in the blogging world that we are beginning to get some very kind mentions in other blogs, various blog sites and groups.

Because we're thrilled to know our efforts are appreciated, and also because we want to mark those important milestones in our history, we have created this new Header on the AB blog page, called News Clippings. We will, with the consent of the authors of any blogs mentioning us, post links here to share when we are mentioned in blogs, articles or anything else in the blogging world.

If you happen to run across anything of this nature, please contact us at authenticblogger@gmail.com and let us know! We'll make sure to investigate and post a link! This will garner attention and publicity for us, sure, but also for the authors of the blog posts/articles.

Lastly, a very warm thank you to all of the people who have written about us, and a thank you in advance to those who may do so in the future. We both work very hard to make this community the best one out there in the blogging world, and appreciate that our efforts are garnering some attention.

Marty & Dawn
Co-creators, Authentic Blogger FB group, The Authentic Blogger

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An Amazing Discovery Calming Reflections blog, author, Bernadine Barela

Swampige is the topic

2010-01-20T22:25:00.000-08:00

What the heck is swampige?! You're asking that right this instant, aren't you? Well, my friends, "swampige" is a handy term that my partner, Marty D. (Coffee with Marty) coined for all the endless buttons, links, gadgets, widgets...and...swampige that clutter up people's blog pages! We were discussing the whole phenomenon several weeks ago and he ended up posting a comment on a discussion board thread with the word swampige being the crowning effective end to the statement. I thought it was a perfect slang term for this visual overload that exists rampantly in blog page format.

I'm sure you know of which I speak - you've probably clicked to pull up someone's blog page for the first time and found yourself visually assaulted by the equivalent of screaming neon signs in gadget/widget/button format. I know I've experienced it. As with my opinion about posting blog articles every single day, I'm also not a fan of cramming buttons, widgets....SWAMPIGE....into every last little available square inch of your blog page. The fact is, I'm not there to bounce elsewhere continually on a widget induced frenzy - I'm there to read your blog content. Yes, peeps, I do read content, and if I like said content, I will probably want to follow your blog. UNLESS there's so much swampige in the way that I can't find the follow option!

Case in point, earlier today I read a blog that I sincerely enjoyed, so much so that I wanted to follow that blog immediately. This particular blog is in Word Press format, and I have to say that I find swampige to be more prevalent in WP blogs. This is just an observation, not a written in stone fact. At any rate, this blog had so much swampige cluttering the whole danged page that after scrolling up, down and sideways all over the page four different times, I still couldn't find the follow option. Needless to say, after that much energy wasted, I gave up the ghost and moved on to other things. I am the first to admit that I'm not the strongest IT literate blogger out there, but seriously, if the swampige gets in the way that much, you have a problem! It was like the proverbial Town Crier was on the church steps, screeching his lungs out about everything but the blog content and following option. This is my personal dislike for swampige - it just gets in my way of accomplishing what I visited the page to do.

I also prefer for the design of my personal blog, Healing Morning, to reflect the overall personality of my content. It doesn't make sense for me to have a lot of visual distraction going on all over the sidebars when my focus is on communicating and discussing topics regarding peace, healing, spirituality and holistic issues. Your blog may be about technical content, computer-related issues, or something that does suit the visual presence of every bit of flashy, snazzy swampige you can wrangle onto your page. The good old Theory of Relativity kicks in and rules the day on this topic. It is an individual choice.

I am not saying that I think gadgets, widgets and buttons should cease to exist. To the contrary, there are many of them that serve a valuable service. I will also say that as I learn more about the useful little creatures, I grow in my appreciation of them. I do, however, think quite seriously about which ones to incorporate into my blog format. I do not want a blog page that is so visually chaotic to the viewer that they cannot concentrate on the actual blog posts. I am willing to bet that people who do embrace the "more is better" principle with this find that they have slower traffic to their blog page, and much shorter time spent per visit. Think about it - if you're being bombarded by endless bells, whistles, buttons....swampige...on a given blog page, is it easy for you to concentrate on the blog content?

I could be wrong on this - maybe I'm one of the few who does experience sensory overload and who finds it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand...reading content....if the page is crammed with swampige. You may feel just the opposite and find all that visual activity enlivens your blog page, gives it movement, personality and excitement. My personal taste runs to the calmer, more quiet, visually clean type of marketing. There's a reason why my personal blog title is Healing Morning, after all!

So, weigh in on this topic! Post a comment and tell us what you think and feel about the reality of swampige. It is a phenomenon that is here to stay, I can say this with absolute certainty. How do you choose to design your blog page format - with a select few judiciously placed buttons and widgets? Or do you like the busy feel of visual activity created by swampige? As always, there are no right or wrong answers. I just thought it was the next logical progression of conversation on the heels of Blog Frequency. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on swampige!

Dawn S.
Author, The Authentic Blogger blog
Author, Healing Morning blog
Co-Creator, Authentic Blogger FB group page

Gain Readers for your Blog: Blogging Communities

2010-01-19T15:27:00.000-08:00

Blogging is a conversation. It's all about people publishing their ideas, and other people interacting with those ideas. But what happens when no one reads what you're publishing? Well... nothing. Nothing happens. You continue to project your ideas, and you have a one-sided conversation with the air. No one wants that. But so many of us are just broadcasting our blog feeds out into the internet, hoping that people will find them.

How do we find people who want to read and interact with our ideas? One good way is to join some blogging communities.

Four Reasons to Join Blogging Communities

Free publicity. On most blogging communities, your content can be featured on your own profile and on your connections' dashboards, allowing people to see your stuff as you publish it. Some blogging communities will even feature good content on their home pages, allowing even people you haven't met yet to find your blog.
Free organic traffic. Some blogging communities have databases in which all their members' blogs are organized by type or by category. This is very useful for people who are looking for blogs with specific content within a specific community. Who wouldn't want to cash in on that potential traffic?
Ease of subscription. Not everyone chooses to follow blogs in the same way. Some choose to follow through their blogging community's feed reader. By having your blog registered on your readers' blogging communities of choice, you make it easier for more people to follow you. The last thing anyone wants is to lose a subscriber simply because they didn't have a blogging profile on the right community.
Statistical probability. The more links to your blog that exist on the internet, the higher the likelihood that someone will click on one of them. It's a lame reason, but it's a reason.

A Better Reason to Join Blogging Communities: Building Relationships

Blogging is a conversation, and conversations happen most easily when we have a relationship with someone. There really are people out there who want to read your content; you just need to find them, and you need to befriend them. Blogging communities can help with that.

Blogging communities allow us to easily connect with people we've never met before. It takes a lot of diligence and patience to begin and maintain relationships through these communities, but in the end it's worth it. You won't become fast friends with everyone you meet on a blogging community, and that's perfectly okay. But I think you'll be surprised to find that there are some quality people out there who are looking for the same thing you are: a supportive friendship and a loyal reader. Some of the people with whom I converse the most are bloggers - people I've never met in person, but with whom I have strong relationships.

Participating and contributing to a blogging community can be a very rewarding experience. If people there see that you are a quality person, they will notice you, befriend you, and recognize you for it. Last week, for instance, I received my very first blogging award from the Authentic Blogger community because I participate in the community's discussions and because I publish quality content there. Since receiving that award, the number of daily page views on Heart, Soul, and Mind has doubled! This is just one example of how blogging communities can help you find both friends and readers.

Some Blogging Communities You Might Like

These are some communities that I have joined, in order of personal preference, and I think you might like them too. Please feel free to send me a friend request on any of them.

Authentic Blogger: the blog and the Facebook group
Blog Catalog
BlogHer
NetworkedBlogs on Facebook
Blogged

Jenn B.
Author, Learning How blog
Author, Heart, Soul, and Mind blog
Creator, Learning How Facebook Fan Page

Authentic Blogger Note: From time to time, we (Marty & Dawn) may invite a fellow blogger to contribute blog articles that we feel suit the personality of our format. Jenn Boyer's Learning How post is a wonderful blog to give helpful tips on the community aspect of the blogging world.

Blog Frequency

2010-01-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

That title up there could mean several things - it could mean the "tone" or "voice" of your blog. It could also intimate the "frequency" or "energy" of the overall personality of your blog. That's the wonderful thing about words and writing...a word, a title, a statement can all be read and interpreted differently by different people.

The application here is using the word, frequency, per Webster's definition: 1. the fact or condition of occurring frequently.

My focus here today is actually to talk about frequency of posts, as in, how often do you post? What is too much, too little, are there rules, and should there really BE a definitive school of thought regarding this topic?

I have my own blog, Healing Morning, and I tend to write and post less often than most. I have weeks where I may write and post blogs several days in a row, but that is a bit unusual - the "norm" for me is to post, roughly, about once a week. I also am a co-author for this blog, The Authentic Blogger, and a co-creator of its sister FB group page, Authentic Blogger. Outside of all of that, I am a freelance technical writer with clients and meetings and writing that demand a big chunk of my attention. So, my whole world, professional and personal, is focused a great deal of the day, on writing. Because of that, I prefer to write blogs for Healing Morning when something strongly grabs my heart, or makes me pause and ponder deeply. That might not happen every single day, and I am not a fan of posting an "empty" blog daily just for the sake of being able to say I post daily. I'd much rather hear that people look forward to my posts, than hear they feel overwhelmed by too many posts to give their attention to on a regular basis.

There are several opinions on this topic. Type in "getting started with blogging" into your search window and you'll get thousands of hits, ranging in advice, rules and examples. Many websites, blogs and How To's will suggest blogging daily, sometimes multiple times daily, in order to get yourself established in the blogging world. Much of your personal decision on this practice will hinge on the personality and purpose of your specific blog. Are you writing a blog for yourself, or are you writing for a business? If your blog is your own, are you writing it to monetize it, i.e., to make money? Blogs that are focused on promoting a business will obviously require more frequent blog posts.

Blogs that are of a more personal, non-monetized nature will be open to personal preference regarding how often to write and post. My personal preference is to write and post less often. My blog posts on Healing Morning are a bit longer than a promotional/business blog post, and as such, I feel that it fits my overall concept better to post 1-2 times a week rather than daily. I write on topics of a spiritual, healing, holistic, thoughtful nature that require the reader to ponder along with me (if they choose). I like to give myself, and my readers, time to absorb the most recent post, think about it for a few days, take time to post comments, reply to the resulting discussion thread and then move forward to the next post. This works for me. My AB group partner, Marty D., posts more frequently on his Coffee with Marty blog and that works for him.

I will also say that because I am so heavily involved in the blogging world for both work and personal application, I am not a fan of the posting daily concept. Those that post daily, I admit that I don't always have time to read every single daily post. I might have time to pull up one post weekly on the blogs and authors that I follow. For me, too much posting tends to lessen the impact of that author's writing for me. It becomes a surfeit of riches, so to speak, and I become less enthused when I am barraged with daily posts. Again, this is personal preference - I recognize that I'm probably in the minority on this. I'm positive that many of you reading this are of the opposite school of thought and truly enjoy writing and posting daily, as well as enjoy reading other authors' daily posts. There are no hard and fast rules, as far as I'm concerned, on any of this. Individuality reigns in the world of blogdom, and that's something to celebrate!

Bottom line on this one is, each blog author will have to experiment with their posting activity and discover what works best for them. If you're writing blogs for a client, that client will state clearly to you the frequency of posts they expect, along with providing guidelines for length and content of blog posts. Those are the easy ones! The more challenging ones are your personal blogs. Try different things. Do some research online, talk with fellow bloggers, find online blogging groups such as Authentic Blogger that will give you a community forum to ask questions and engage in discussions. It's a continual learning process, and one that gives us as blog authors the freedom to grow, learn new skills and try new methods as often as we choose. Growing, learning and embracing all these possibilities are some of the most entertaining parts of blogging!

As always, feedback and discussion in the Comments section are welcome. What are your thoughts and suggestions on this topic? Comment away!

Dawn S.
Author, The Authentic Blogger blog
Author, Healing Morning blog
Co-Creator, Authentic Blogger FB group page

Authentic Blogger's Weekly Featured Blog Author

2010-01-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

From the beginning of the Authentic Blogger (AB) Group Page concept, Marty and I agreed that our main focus would be to promote fellow bloggers, provide a community forum for this wonderful writing genre and also encourage bloggers worldwide to keep growing, dreaming and learning about the blogging process.

To that end, we will be choosing a Weekly Featured Blog Author from our AB members. We have a short list of criteria that we will use to choose each new Featured Blogger. They are as follows:

1. Be an active member of the Authentic Blogger Facebook Group Page.

2. Be actively posting Blog post links on Authentic Blogger wall.

3. Be actively interacting with fellow AB members, and taking enough interest in other blog posts to post comments on a regular basis.

4. Be a respectful member of the AB community.

We will post an announcement of each week's Featured Blog Author on the AB wall, along with posting that person's name and blog link in the Admin Box on the sidebar of the AB wall beneath the AB logo image.

We will also have a running list on The Authentic Blogger blog page of every Featured Blog Author that is chosen, with their name and blog link listed. We hope you will all perceive this as the honor we intend it to be; we will take the process of awarding each weekly recipient just as seriously.

Sincerely,

Dawn S. & Marty D. ~ Co-Creators, Authentic Blogger FB group page
Co-Authors, The Authentic Blogger blog
Dawn S., Author, Healing Morning blog
Marty D. Author, Coffee with Marty blog

Blogging Tips 101: Blogger Comment Problems

2010-01-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

This is going to be short and sweet. We all love blogger. That said, we all have had issues with the comments disappearing. I know in the past, I have written the longest comments, only to hit that submit button and everything disappear. Also, people tried comment on my blog, but their comments also poofed into blogosphere somewhere. Ouch. After many forum discussions, this seems to be the general helpful tip out there to prevent this from happening.

1. In blogger, click settings.

2. Click on comments.

3. Scroll down to Comment Form Placement.

4. Select Pop-up Window.

5. Scroll to bottom of page and save.

This seems to be the best method to ensure the safety of those special comments we all love receiving. To see an example of how this new comment box will look, try leaving a comment on this post! :)

Marty Duane

Author, Coffee With Marty blog

Author, Authentic Blogger blog

Co-Creator, Authentic Blogger Group

Embracing criticism & change

2010-01-03T02:44:00.000-08:00

Does that title up there make you grimace or shudder in distaste? I'd say very few of us relish the idea of listening to criticism, particulary when it comes to something as personal as our writing on our blogs. The plain truth is that constructive criticism, offered with a kind heart and good intentions, should be something we all welcome with equal good will. Constructive is the key word here, my friends! Criticism, just by nature of definition, can get easily out of hand and quickly can shift from helpful advice into a monster of epic proportions. Obviously no one is going to embrace that type of verbal attack, nor should they.

The point I am making here is that none of us are perfect. We can all benefit from change, but it is a common occurrence for all of us that we get so caught up in life that we lose sight of the fact that we might be stagnating in some fashion. If we're fortunate, there are people around us...friends...colleagues...who care enough to offer helpful, constructive criticism. How we choose to accept those comments is that which defines who we are as people.

If you're like me, perhaps you ventured into the blogging world with very little idea of the sheer enormity of the concept. I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into when I began my blog in September of 2009. Healing Morning began as a desire for me to learn about the blogging process and add another skill to my resume'. To my surprise, it very quickly morphed into something I never expected and I admit that I'm still adjusting and scrambling a bit to keep the tip of my nose above the blogging waters.

Through the blogging world, I met my Authentic Blogger (AB) partner, Marty (Coffee with Marty). Not too long ago, we were discussing some point about the AB group that I can't remember and Marty told me, rather bluntly, that I needed to think about revamping my blog page. It wasn't a rude comment - it was just blunt. I admit that I was very resistant and kind of brushed his suggestions to the side, saying that I would give it some thought. I LIKED my blog design, after all, and I had put effort into creating a presence that I felt portrayed who I am and what I wanted Healing Morning to convey to readers.

I did give it thought as I had promised, but felt for a good while that I didn't need to make big changes. Then we created the Authentic Blogger group page on Facebook and both of us were dumped right slap into the middle of this vast ocean of new experiences. We were exposed to a whole slew of fascinating blogs and we both were forced to engage in a lot of research. Slowly, because I rarely embrace change quickly or enthusiastically, I began to see that, yes, perhaps Marty's comments were valid. My Healing Morning blog is in need of a facelift.

I'll begin that process in the next few weeks, in between all the other projects that are surrounding me. Through the AB community, I'm being exposed to really sharp marketing and design concepts for blog pages, so I'm ruminating on the style and format that will best suit my needs and will accurately represent my vision of Healing Morning. I am quite confident that by the end of this revamping process, I'll be very pleased with the new version of my blog. I am also willing to predict with a fair amount of certainty that by being open to this constructive criticism, and embracing change, my "new and improved" blog will most likely capture more attention and garner more followers, more quickly than the old design. I won't know this for sure until the new design is finished and goes live, but I just have a feeling it will increase traffic.

While I might not have jumped instantly to accept Marty's comments, I did slowly come around, in my own fashion and see the veracity of his words. Change, and criticism, although at face value they may sound like the voices of doom, are both tools that are meant to sharpen our skills, hone our abilities and, I daresay, refine our character. We are simply not capable of perfection in this world, but if we are open to listening to the insightful opinions of those we trust the most, we can achieve a much better, brighter version of any given facet of ourselves than we might have accomplished all alone. It's simply my thought for the day. You may feel differently and that's entirely acceptable. We all choose different methods and approaches.

For this moment in my life, I'm tossing my ego aside and sliding my arms into a new coat of sorts....one that shows my willingness to entertain some new concepts and experiences. Stay tuned for the sparkling new version of Healing Morning, coming to you in an AB wall post soon!!

Dawn S.
Author, The Authentic Blogger blog
Author, Healing Morning blog
Co-Creator, Authentic Blogger FB group page

Post Your Blog

2010-01-01T16:02:00.000-08:00

If you are interested in posting your blog URL with Authentic Blogging / The Authentic Blogger concept, please send a request by emailing authenticblogger@gmail.com

Please provide the URL link to your blog, browse through the Community Categories list and tell us which ONE category you feel best fits the focus of your blog. If you fail to list a preference, we will place you in the category that we feel best matches the content of your blog.

Important Note!!! Please make sure to copyright protect your blog content before you ask us to post your link in our Blog Categories. We now have My Free Copyright protection on all our original content, with the button posted clearly at the top of our page. My Free Copyright is a very simple, quick 3-step process that will give you a free electronic "thumb print ID" stamp on each of your blog posts. As of today's date, 1/24/10, we will ask that all bloggers implement some form of copyright protection for their blogs before we will post your link to our Blog Categories. This is for your protection as well as ours.

**Blog links that have been posted prior to 1/24/10 in our Blog Categories that do not have copyright protection, please take a moment to add copyright protection to your blog page. Send us an email to let us know, with your updated blog link and we will remove and re-post your link to ensure that you have primary copyright ownership.**

MANDATORY: In order to list your blog on this site in our Categories Lists, we require that you grab our button below and put it on your site. We will check you URL link to make sure that the Authentic Blogger button has been posted to your blog, then we will list your link in the requested Category. Thank you!

Blogging Tips 101: Maximizing copy

2009-12-30T20:04:00.000-08:00

So, fellow bloggers, Marty and I are slowly getting things pulled together now that the holidays are drawing to a close. Both of us have discussed, many times in the past 10 days, what in the world possessed us to decide to launch Authentic Blogger prior to Christmas. As Marty recently commented, [paraphrased]

"We knew it would take off, but we weren't expecting it to fly!"

Don't get me wrong, we're thrilled with the level of success, we just weren't quite prepared to keep up with all the demands on our time, imagination and skills. We're finding balance. One of the list of points we discussed as part of our Mission Statement right from the get-go was to produce helpful tips, share insights, and just be available in general to the blogging community. After all, we were all novice bloggers at one time, and it can be overwhelming and confusing if you're starting the whole process alone.

My focus for this blog is one that I have known for quite some time about maximizing copy in blog format, but I had forgotten it in the midst of holiday and birthing of AB insanity. The concept of which I speak is to format your content in such a manner that makes it easily scannable for key, "hot" or tag words. This makes SEO, or Search Engine Optimization much easier and creates a document that is more easily categorized out there in cyberland.

The process is easy. As you read this blog post, notice the words I have highlighted. They are the ones that will be considered as "hot" or key words to any search engine. In addition to this valuable formatting, highlighting key words also gives more movement and visual appeal, balance and excitement to your content. Imagine this blog post without the highlighted key words. It would read the same and have the same content value. However, with key words highlighted, there is more visual recognition and the reader's eye will take in the copy in smaller "bites" ensuring less visual exhaustion, per se.

I'm sure you've started out reading a blog that went on for what felt like centuries, to the point that eventually, you grew so tired of waiting for the author to make their point and come to final conclusion that you just deleted the page and moved on. Right? I know I have done that. Heck, let's be honest - I'm personally guilty of writing that very type of endless blog. Sometimes it takes reading endless, involved blogs to remind us, as writers, that brevity is valuable in blogging format. This isn't written in stone, of course, but it is an important rule of thumb to keep in mind.

From a reader's perspective, keeping each paragraph succinct, clear in message and visually appealing guarantees that you will hold people's attention. Breaking text, or content up with highlighting key words, keeping each paragraph relatively short and staying withing a reasonable length will guarantee that your readers will enjoy their time on your blog page. They'll be more inclined to keep pulling up your blog to read new posts and will be more likely to suggest your blog to other people to read and follow. That is your ultimate goal, to gain a solid readership.

Now, in the theme of brevity, I will close and hope that this new series of Blogging Tips 101 proves to be of value to you, our readers. Please feel free to write comments and suggest future topics for our Blogging Tips series. We're always open to working on anything that provides encouragement and education to the blogging community at large.

Dawn S.
Author, Healing Morning blog
Author, The Authentic Blogger blog
Co-Creator, Authentic Blogger group

Blogging Tips 101

2009-12-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

You haven’t heard much from me yet. I’m a co-creator of Authentic Blogger with Dawn, and I’ve been handling the IT end of this site. But today, I’d like to discuss one of the main purposes of Authentic Blogger and give a few geeky details.

To gain more readers to your specific blog content, we encourage you to post your link to the Authentic Blogger facebook wall. I know to some of you, this will be far too many details, but please bear with me. I'll get to more intense things on my next post. These are the instructions to copy and paste:

1.    Go to your personal blog address (www.myblogexample.blogspot.com.)

2.    Select the specific post you want to share on AB wall. Do this by clicking on the Title of your specific post. (Otherwise, you'll wind up posting to the full page of your blog that shows every post you've published.)

3.    On the top of your screen, you will find an address starting with "http://" or “www” and very likely ending in “.html” if you are using blogger. Highlight the entire address. (An optional way is hitting “Ctrl + A” on windows, or “Command + A on Mac)

4.    After highlighting, press “Ctrl + C” on windows, or “Command + C” on Mac. This copies the address.

5.    In a new window, go to the Authentic Blogger wall.

6.    In the box where it says, “Write Something,” tell us a little bit about that particular blog post. Explain in just a few words what inspired you to write it or what it is about.

7.    Next, look directly below the "Write Something" text window where you put your personal comments and find where it says Attach. Next to Attach, you will see a series of icons, with the first being a piece of paper with a push pin. This is the icon for posting Links. Click on it and this will produce a new text box window with "http://" showing. Put your cursor here, right click and "http://" will disappear. Now, insert your blog link by hitting “Ctrl + V” on windows, or “Command + V” on Mac.

8.    After you see your blog link appear, click the blue “Share” button.

9.    If it didn’t work, you can practice on this website.

10.    If it did work, Congratulations!

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to comment on this post. I promise to answer! Or if you prefer, you can send an email to authenticblogger@live.com. Thanks for listening and for making Authentic Blogger a success. I look forward to seeing your latest post on the wall!

We will also post these helpful How To Hints on the Discussion Board on the AB wall. That Discussion Board topic, entitled Blogging Tips 101 will be a “living document” that we pledge to continue adding tips and suggestions to and will always be accessible for you to pull up, copy and download to your personal files.

Finally, a very important request!!! Please remember to take a moment while you’re here to follow our The Authentic Blogger blog page! We sometimes forget to sufficiently bring attention to our sister (to the AB group page on FB) blog, and we do want to grow our readership and followers here. Please also take a moment to tell your friends about The Authentic Blogger blog page so they can visit!

Marty Duane
Author, Coffee With Marty blog
Author, Authentic Blogger blog
Co-Creator, Authentic Blogger Group

The power of comments

2009-12-29T12:29:00.000-08:00

want to talk for a minute about posting comments on the blogs you follow. Do you take time to do this very important action? If you're like many, you follow a whole slew of blogs and you might not take time to read any of them. That was one of the basic reasons that the Authentic Blogger Facebook group was created - to form a community of bloggers who actually DO want to connect to one another in a sincere, authentic manner. The next logical part of that premise, beyond connecting and following other blogs is to read the content. Okay, yes, sometimes you can't read every single, individual blog post that pops up on your FB wall, or pops into your Inbox. I realize that the hours are filled with endless responsibilities for all of us and that it takes time and commitment to read more than a handful of various blog posts each day.

That being said, I still want to emphasize that just following and just reading isn't enough! For a blog author, and from my personal perspective, the most valuable aspect of the blogging world is getting feedback from my readers. Let me digress a moment and say that there are some nifty tracking websites out there that you can sign up for free service to give you daily and weekly reports on the traffic your blog receives. The one that I use is called StatCounter.com. Take a moment to pull up their page, register and get this tool for your blog - it shows you, daily, how many hits you get on your blog, how many new, repeat and unique visitors you receive. It will give you charts and graphs to delight the heart of any analytical or graphic arts inclined blogger out there! There is even a navigation button to click on that produces a map of the world, with push pins indicating the location of each visitor to your site. Until I got this set up for my blog, I had no way of knowing if people ever visited unless they posted a comment. Now, I have StatCounter set up to send me a weekly report and it's a very valuable tool that I highly recommend.

Important plug for Authentic Blogger (AB) group on Facebook - until Marty and I created AB, I was building a slow, steady following of my personal blog, Healing Morning. That is the way I prefer it, as it indicates people following (I hope!) who truly enjoy my posts. My StatCounter weekly reports, however, exploded exponentially with this first week of AB being live on Facebook - this means that the AB group is succeeding in its mission goal, to provide exposure to all the talented blog authors out there!

That being said...let's get back to posting comments. Feedback matters, people! You, as a blog author author, know the devotion, care, time and effort that you put into each of your blog posts. I'm sure that you're pleased and gratified when someone takes a minute to post a comment about a given blog entry of yours, right? I would also be willing to bet that you look forward to those comments and hope for more of the same with each new entry posted. Why then, would you deny another blog author that same simple courtesy? It takes mere minutes to scroll down to the bottom of their blog post, click on Post Comments and write something genuine and thoughtful. I realize that there are trials and tribulations with Posting Comments for us all - I have days that it seems every blog I attempt to post a comment on is holding a personal grudge against me and refuses to accept my comment. I don't claim to have IT answers for why it is sometimes difficult or impossible to get your comment to successfully post. I know it's aggravating and annoying, but you CAN keep trying.

I find that with my own attempts, and my blog is with Blogspot, sometimes I have to click as many as three times on Post Comment for it to succeed. It will tell me my attempt was not successful, please try another time. I ignore that and click on Post Comment again, and again, and usually by the third click, it works and attaches my Healing Morning blog stamp to the comment. Other times, it will be really aggravating and "poof" my comment out of existence. I've learned to take the precaution of copying my comment prior to clicking to post so that if it poofs, I can go back in and try one more time.

My point here is that Posting Comments is a vital, important part of the blogging process. It gives us all important feedback. It lets us know that yes, we were successful in communicating our message and thought, or it lets us know that no, we weren't quite on the mark as sharply as we had intended. Comments are the only way we're going to know these things, and they help us all to grow as writers, hone our skills and stretch our personal boundaries and horizons. Plus, let's all be honest, it is just plain fun to know people liked your blog post enough to write a comment!!! It tickles that secret place inside that we have that really, truly wants recognition for our writing efforts.

So, in closing, I encourage you all to embrace the practice of always, 100% of the time, posting a comment when you read someone's blog. If you fail to post on their actual blog page after multiple tries, then go the next step of posting on their Facebook page where most of the time, you can access a link to their most recent blog post. It is a small action, but huge in the impact it plays out for the blog author.

Dawn S.
Author, Healing Morning blog
Author, Authentic Blogger blog
Co-Creator, Authentic Blogger Group

Personal touch

2009-12-22T12:38:00.000-08:00

"I really appreciate how much you and Marty have been reaching out to your blogging community with such a personal touch." ~ Jenn Boyer, author, See My Heart Soul and Mind blog

The above quote was copied, verbatim, from a post made to the Facebook Authentic Blogger group page today. Authentic Blogger (aka AB) was born last night, December 21st around 9 pm, EST, the brainchild of myself and my partner in crime, Marty. We are fellow bloggers who met when we both started our respective blogs back in September 2009. Over the course of the past several months, we have visited via FB posts, emails, blog comment posts and phone calls, sharing our enjoyment and frustrations with the blogging world. I think everyone sits back and has those "I'd do it this way instead" type of thoughts about any given activity in which they've become involved. Marty and I were no different and we began discussing more and more, our wishes and wants for the blogging world. This culminated in an impromptu suggestion from one of us...not sure who suggested it first....to create our own community on Facebook.

Somehow, we've stumbled upon this unique and ideal partnership where the two of us are very complementary in our respective skillsets. Marty is much more IT savvy and I'm strong with marketing copy, taglines, design, etc. To be fair, we're both pretty good at several of those, and we're both strong writers. Everything has meshed into this beautiful partnership and we've created Authentic Blogger for all the other bloggers out there in the world who have been looking for such a community. I think I can speak for Marty as well when I say that we're both very happy we've struck such a strong, common chord for everyone. We're looking forward to the growth of our group and seeing how it will impact our group members and friends.

Jenn Boyer is the group member who wrote the above very kind, encouraging comment, so thanks Jenn! We appreciate the positive feedback and hope other members will take a moment here and there to post ideas, suggestions, tips and more encouragement. Marty and I knew we had a solid concept with this group page idea, but I must admit, neither of us were quite prepared for the enthusiastic response we've been getting. We LOVE it and hope it continues and compounds daily! Our immediate goal is to reach 100 members before we hit the 12 hour mark of existence, which is 9 pm, EST today, December 22, 2009. As I write this post, we are currently 69 group members strong! Absolutely, incredibly wonderful! We cordially invite you all to tell your blogging friends about Authentic Blogger. Don't forget to post your most recent blog entries on our wall each time you visit - this will guarantee that you get more exposure to your specific blog site and the upshot is, you'll gain followers and increase traffic and readership to your site. We want everyone to benefit from being a part of the Authentic Blogger community. Keep the posts coming!!!

**Note: in my rush and whirl of activity today dealing with AB issues, I overlooked creating a hyperlink to Jenn Boyer's blog. Jenn kindly pointed out this oversight, so I am re-posting both here and on the AB group page. Jenn, my apologies for the oversight and my thanks for your gracious understanding!

Dawn S.
Author, Healing Morning blog
Author, Authentic Blogger blog
Co-Creator, Authentic Blogger Group

Authentic Blogger - birth of an idea

2009-12-21T22:43:00.000-08:00

I am happy to report that a close friend and I have just created a new Facebook group called Authentic Blogger. This is a community we have established for all bloggers, worldwide, to have an open forum for discussion, sharing information and tips on promotion, marketing and building awareness of each individul blog site.

In order to create continuity and duplicate our concept in the blogging world, we have created this blog site by the same name. We will stay true to the personality of our Facebook group by creating blog posts that offer helpful blogging tips, promotional ideas, expound on topics that we both embrace, with the goal of creating a complementary loop of information.

Our Mission Statement is simple - we want our name, Authentic Blogger, to say it all. Write, create and promote topics in your blog that resonate strongly with you. Follow blogs that speak to you personally and interest you. Do not cave in to the mindless "if you follow me, I'll follow you" concept that is rampant in the blogging world. Support your fellow bloggers/writers/artists by posting sincere, thoughtful comments on their blog site when a specific post truly captures your attention and imagination.

We hope to grow our community to a global level with lively, exciting interaction taking place on our Facebook wall and discussion boards. We anticipate that we will grow and change over time, and we look forward to that growth process. We welcome suggestions from all our future readers and hope that our group will provide you with hours of enjoyment. Please take a moment to visit our group page. If you're a blogger, please join our group and then post your site's URL on our wall. We hope you will also take time to tell all your blogger friends about us. Helping us to grow awareness and membership with our group will also help every member to garner attention and interest for their unique blog site.

This is an exciting new venture for us and we believe that there are no boundaries or limits with this concept. Both Marty (my partner and fellow officer) and I will work hard to make this a unique, worthwhile group for all bloggers, writers, artists and creative people in general to participate in. We hope to see you there!

Poetry

2009-12-01T23:09:00.000-08:00

Muse, Verse n' You

Transportation

2009-12-01T22:58:00.000-08:00