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Give A Little Love; Get A Little (Link Love)

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Summer is a time for most moms to scream for help. You’ll see my hashtag frequently: #MomInSummer and others are already on board to feel my pain. There are some moms who love summer; perhaps they don’t run their own business or try to blog three times weekly plus be a mom taxi back and forth to camp.

Because I’m already affected by a serious strain on my time for my blog, I decided to give a little love to my community by compiling a categorical description of bloggers with various bloggers LISTED in each category. That became a spur-of-the-moment blog post,

My goal was pure; my naiveté embarrassing! I knew that recently I had neglected my community as well as visits to bloggers’ houses to comment. I thought this a good way to accomplish several purposes — give a little, get a little.

Alas. Lists are a no-no for bloggers. In comments, Shonali of and Shelly Kramer of each mentioned that lists are a tad offensive due to various and sundry reasons. I didn’t know. The good news is the way I presented the bloggers in the lists was different than just weakly attempting to earn attention; it was a more thoughtful approach oriented to types of writing.

Get A Little

At the same time, when you do put a blog post together with outbound link love, you get some wonderful support in return. In fact, it’s awesome. I was surprised with the number of folks who did, in fact, come on over to share thoughts and ask which category they should be in. That was way cool and felt good because I have been neglectful.

I have to call out here, too. She suggested a new category of bloggers as curators, and I gave her a triple hmmm on that one. What say you? Is curating blogging? I really want to know!

So, here is my take on lists, based on feedback from doing one this week:

1. Do not just list every blogger you know in a blog post. It comes across smarmy and offensive.

2. If you are going to list a bunch of bloggers in a post, ensure there’s a creative way to do that.

3. Understand that people will see right through you if you are only out to get attention.

4. Meanwhile, if the mood strikes you, test it out!

Yes, no, maybe?

 

Six Types of Blogging

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What type of blogger are you? What do you write about the majority of the time? Here’s what I’ve noticed in the circles I’m in; perhaps you comfortably conform or you’re more of a mashup writer, like me.

  •  Blogger Teaches Blogger. This person continually tries to help other bloggers out of the conundrum that is blogging. It’s not always a conundrum, but it takes a lot of work. We who have been at it more than a  year know and often try to teach new bloggers the ins and outs. You can often find teachings at these blogs and ; #ThatIsAll.
  • Current Events With Twist.   I know that I can find twists and angles at about current events relating to social marketing, media and PR. At , and you can get some goods, too.
  • Family, life and happenstance. To always write about these topics the majority of the time means opening yourself up for peer commentary, feedback, support, ah-hah, and opinion. You can find this style of writing at , , , and houses.
  • Industry specific meanderings. Good bets on high-end industry news are via , with Carolyn Nicander Mohr, PR news with and , plus with some great tech news. One can always count on for copywriting lore Love these bloggers. does a grand job about inbound marketing (and, woah, that man shakes the house when he speaks — like a revival ceremony!)
  • Tips and Counsel. has been morphing his blog the entire time I have read him. Today, he’s back to tips and counsel with some solid experience as proof points.  is oriented to business and entrepreneurship. and shares highly relevant topics every day on just about anything relating to social marketing.
  • Mash Up. Well, I’m putting myself in this category. What strikes me in the moment (typically with a current events twist) is usually what you get. News of the day often gets me all axed up to write, especially when I have an opinion to expound. Then, I sprinkle in a little of this and a little of that. Not the most focused solution, but it works for me!

The big question is not what are you going to write about, but who is it for? Are you attracting folks to your blog you know you need? Is your writing matching up to the goals for your blog? Uhmm, do you have goals?

Who did I miss above? Add your blog here and the category you typically write under!