Cammie Dunaway, who received her MBA from Harvard Business School and currently works for KidZania spoke about how to build a brand.

She started off by saying that a brand is simply a promise (to your consumers) and that it takes focus and discipline to build a great one. Then she shared 13 tips for branding. They are the following:

1. Know what you want to be when you grow up. (Dream big like kids!)

*Write a mission statement.

*Clear articulation of your goals/objectives.  (Put them on paper or share them with someone.)

*Check in frequently.

Apple is a great example.

2. Understand what makes you different (and special). What makes you stand out?

*Avoid the catch-all

*Discover who you are and what you stand for

*Keep it 15 words or less. (What makes your eyes light up?)

"There is no one alive that is you-er than you." - Dr. Seuss

3. Be a BFF.

*Understand their aspirations and desires.

*Connect on an emotional level.

American Girl and Starbucks are great examples.

4. Be a good listener.

*2 way conversation

*Get to know them using social media. (Don't be afraid to engage/answer back.)

Everyone wants to be heard.

5. Develop your own distinctive style.

*Consistent visual identity.

*Apply to everything (logos, tweets, profile picture and business cards)

Target is a great example.

6. Find your voice.

*Identify 3 things you want to be known for.

*Write key message.

*Use a tone that fits brand.

*Use it consistently -- even in your answering message.

Oprah is a great example.

7. Be true to who you are.

*Make a sincere connection.

*Be authentic. (Don't try to be something you aren't.)

Nintendo is a great example.

8. Use all the tools in your tool belt.

*Social media, promotions, partnerships

*Watch trends.

*Reward your audience (for loyalty).

Nintendo is a great example.

9. Use your inside and outside voice.

*Build awareness.

*Stay top of mind. (Network, speak, write guest editorials and do media interviews)

10. Don't be afraid to try something new.

*Keep your brand fresh. (Evolve with the times.)

*Stay one step ahead.

*Be willing to take a risk.

11. Learn and grow.

*Measure your progress.

*Set clear goals.

*Create targets.

*Track them.

(Analyze and access data against goals.)

12. If you fall, get back up.

*Be honest and admit your faults.

*Share your plan to make it better. (No one is perfect.)

13. Play for passion.

*Stay passionate about your mission.

*Be the best around.

Quit when it stops being fun!

This was my first time hearing Lisa Druxman of Stroller Strides speak at a blogging conference. That's not a big surprise, since this was the first social media conference where she has spoken! Anyway, I found her to be especially inspiring. I love how she was able to merge her pre-baby fitness career with motherhood by creating careers that are supportive of mothers. 

After having us take a couple of deep breaths and be still (no tweeting!) for one minute, Lisa shared how important it was to find the story behind your business.  What are you about? Know your story and stay consistent with it. Get it out to traditional media, social media and through strategic partnerships. (Not all partnerships need to be paid. If they expand your reach, consider them. Look for synergy - is there an opportunity to cross-promote in order to grow both brands?

In an exercise geared towards encouraging the audience to live a life without regrets, Lisa had us draw three connecting circles on our paper in a Venn diagram.  She instructed us to write one of the three most important things in our lives in each circle and then asked if our life/schedules were reflective of our top 3. Afterward, she encouraged us to plan out three important things to do each week for each of our circles.

After the presentation, a couple of people asked Lisa how she dealt with competition.  While admitting that there are others who will try to copy your business ideas, Lisa urged the attendees to "just focus on making your business great". Everyone has their own "flavor". She thinks "Anybody can do it, but no one can do it like me."

"You are writing the story of your only life every single minute of every day." - Katherine Center
(one of Lisa's favorite quotes)

After one last question, the session ended. The question was regarding what she does when her "to do" list was too exhausting. Lisa replied that she tries to respect her personal ebb and flow. I thought that was a helpful reminder and I'm going to make more of an effort to keep that in mind!

Rene Sylar is an engaging speaker. I heard her speak earlier this year at the Disney Social Media Moms conference, so I was happy to hear her share a similar, but different presentation. We started off by dancing and then she shared eight lessons that her life has taught her...

1. Fear is not your friend.

2. Life is hard.

3. Surround yourself with the right people.

4. Everything happens for a reason.

5. Good enough is perfect.

6. Not everyone will like you. Let that be their problem.

7. There is no middle third ground.

8. Believe in Happily Ever After...then make it happen.

Rene ended by saying "Don't expect to grow when you're comfortable or be comfortable when you grow."

(If you have any questions regarding the points, you can reach out to Rene. Her site is Good Enough Mother and her twitter handle is Rene Syler.)

 When we are watching movies, my kids often ask “Who is the good guy?” and “Who is the bad guy?” When they were very little, it was a pretty straightforward answer regarding the two roles because that is how the shows were developed…very simple and clear-cut.  Now, that they are getting older, the answers aren’t as simple.  For instance, we were watching Hoodwinked Too last week. One of the “bad guys” (actually it was a woman) turned out to be misguided but a really good person who helped to rescue several of the heroes of the film at the end.  Sean (my 4 year old) was a bit confused, “So, was she a good guy or a bad guy?” he earnestly asked at the end…trying to make sense of it all in his little head. I explained to him that the character was neither all good nor all bad.  She had done some bad things, but basically she was a good person.  Then, I tried to help him understand it on his 4 year old level by relating it to his life. “You know…it’s kind of like how sometimes you and Michael do bad things to each other, but overall you two are really good brothers to each other.”  After pointing out that Michael does more bad things to him than vice versa, Sean was ready to move on.  He got the point. In real life, people don’t usually slip easily into one box.  People and situations are more complex than that. Why am I writing about this on my “bloggity blog” rather than on my main blog? After an incident that happened in New York this past week, I think that it’s good to remember this truth when it comes to blogger/brand relationships. There is always room to learn and grow…on both sides.

This is basically what happened: A brand invited a group of bloggers to dine at Sotto Terra, an underground restaurant. The bloggers were also able to give away two dinner seats to a reader if they chose to do so. (The second part was optional.)  Here’s what the invite looked like:

There were various dinner dates spanning over several days.  I just so happened to be invited to the first night.  The evening was going along wonderfully. The townhouse that the meal was held in was gorgeous.  George Duran was warm and engaging.  His strawberry-apple sangria was refreshing and the meal that he prepared was delicious.  I love to learn so I was especially drawn to Phil Lempert.  He knows so much about food and shared his knowledge in such a helpful manner that I was scribbling down notes about organics, CSAs, food deserts and more. Equally important, the event managed to do something that is rare – it had complete strangers bonding over food memories.  We were all at a large family-style table and were sharing about our food concerns, favorite foods and favorite childhood food memories. It was great.  Everyone was happy and the plates were being taken away clean because everyone ate up everything.

Now, it is the ending of the night that has set some bloggers off and twitter astir.  At the end, there were a couple of giveaways.  One was George’s book. The last one was the box for Marie Callender’s new lasagna…it turned out that in the midst of the things (sangria, stuffed endives, gazpacho, strawberry arugula salad, herbed cheesy garlic bread and a mojito granita shot) that were actually prepared by George Duran, the main course (lasagna) and dessert (razzleberry pie) were Marie Callender’s frozen goods! You should have seen the reaction (that was privately being taped).  We were all shocked. You could have knocked us over with a feather, because we never saw that coming. Personally, I found it hilarious.  I turned to my friend who came with me and said, “Oh my gosh…I feel like Justin Timberlake on Punk’d!” (I didn’t almost cry/totally lose my street cred for a minute though…but that’s another commentary.) In any event, from what I observed (and I could totally be wrong/people could have went home and had totally different reactions) the group on my night thought that it was a fun way for MC to prove their point that their new lasagna was as good as homemade lasagna. (I couldn’t stop teasing my Italian friend for not knowing the difference though…he grew up on his grandmother’s authentic Italian food!)

Unfortunately, the fun and laughter ended on the second night. From that night on, the mom bloggers (whom I know that went) did not find it funny at all…they were peeved! I get it. I do.  See, my husband doesn’t especially like Italian food, so he didn’t come to the dinner. Rather, I went with a girlfriend. We had a blast.  Now, if it had been a special date (which are hard to come by) and I had paid a babysitter (which is expensive in NYC) and the primary goal of my attendance was to enjoy an exclusive, pop-up restaurant then I probably would have been upset too. It all goes back to the brand knowing their audience. I’ll also add a couple of more things in regards to knowing your audience.  One, in addition to being mom bloggers, these were NYC mom bloggers.  As I tweeted, simply by virtue of living in New York, we are often invited to events where celebrity chefs actually do cook (entire) meals for us. Although I was tickled, it’s easy to see why so many others were not.  Lastly, outside of the whole mom/NYC factors, it just didn’t make logical sense to invite some of the “foodies” that were invited. If a blogger only writes about homemade or high quality restaurant food, then why in the world would you invite them to a frozen food surprise reveal? I don’t get it.

A few other things were also brought up by my fellow bloggers as points of contention:

1.     -Bait and switch tactics: I normally HATE bait and switch marketing. I have been trying to figure out why this particular instance didn’t bother me. I think that it’s because it wasn’t arbitrary…it was a part of proving their point.  As one of my (non-blogging) guests mentioned, “The brand proved their point. People only got upset after they found out that it was MC. It’s obvious that they would not have given the product a fair shake if they would have known what it was from the start.”

2.     -Taping the dinner without prior consent: Although the video isn’t being used for commercial purposes and diners had the option of not signing the release, I just don’t think that was a great idea.  

3.     -Involving the bloggers’ readers in on the trick with the giveaway: I totally agree with this criticism.  If as bloggers/writers/etc. we decide to go to an event, then that is on us. Offering the opportunity to one of our readers (whose primary motivation would have been to visit the exclusive restaurant) is another. At the end of the day, bloggers are responsible for what we put on our blogs/offer our readers…but it would also be really helpful if brands didn’t put stumbling blocks in our paths.  (This is yet another reason that I’m not as peeved. My giveaway winner got stuck in “earthquake traffic” from NJ to NY, so they were not able to make it to the dinner after all.  I never thought that I would have been happy about earthquake traffic!)

So those are my thoughts on the brand side. After the fact, what can be done? A sincere apology to those who were upset, an offer to reimburse the babysitting fees of those who felt duped and learning from the missteps all come to mind.  (One mom mentioned that her husband would have been happier if they had received some MC gift certificates at the end of the night too.  Obviously, he liked the food/just not the guise.)

Normally, this is where the blogging post from the blogger’s side is supposed to end. Bad, bad brand.  However, I’m not finished. We bloggers have to take responsibility for the part that we played in this drama too. If you look at the original invite, the brand actually did live up to everything that they promised.  Amy (Selfish Mom) wrote a good post about tricking bloggers/bloggers knowing what we are getting into. Did the bloggers who attended the event have a right to be peeved? Absolutely. Was it this whole "big bad brand trying to take advantage of poor little vulnerable bloggers" that some people are making it out to be on twitter and facebook? Personally, I don’t think so.  (There have been instances when I have felt that way about particular brand/blogger relations, but this is definitely not one of them.)

From my point of view, I think that too much thought and effort went into preparing this event to just summarily dismiss it as such. I felt badly for my blogging friends who had a negative experience, but I also felt badly for the pr people who worked so hard on this event.  I read one of their tweets that talked about them feeling low and I immediately thought, “Awww man. I really hope that it’s not related to this Sotto Terra business.”  I think that the brand made several mistakes…but they are not the “bad guys” by any stretch of the imagination. Ultimately, we bloggers are the gatekeepers for our blogs.  If something slips through that we don’t like, then we need to learn from the experience, vent (if desired) and then be more alert as we move forward.

We (bloggers and the brand folks) are all human.  We all make mistakes. I have made many in the past. I’m sure that I will make many more in the future. (Sorry to break it to you, but so will you.) My husband constantly accuses me of being a Pollyanna though, so what do you think? (I admit it...I am a "cup half full" type of person. I get it from my mama...and I like it!) From what you have read, do you think that this was deliberate trickery on the part of the brand, that it was a good idea with some faulty execution or something in the middle? What do you think that brands can learn from this? What do you think that bloggers can learn from this?

In any event, we can all learn and grow from such situations and keep moving forward. Now, I’m going to get ready for some natural drama. "Come on, Irene..."

Post image courtesy of hoodwinkedtoomovie.com

*I changed the word "debacle" to "incident" in the title, because I think that is more accurate. (I don't think that the event was a complete failure or a fiasco. There were too many great aspects to label it as such.)

I'm so bummed that I didn't get a good photo of Carley Roney Cofounder and Editor In Chief, The Knot Inc. (http://www.theknotinc.com).  The sheath dress that she was wearing was gorgeous.  Oh, well...  Below are the notes from her talk during the FairyTale Weddings & Honeymoons Platinum Soiree.

1. Your audience is absolutely everything to you.  Engage with them. Ignite their passion.  Turn your casual observation of what they are doing to your absolute obsession.  What do they want?  What inspires them?  Make it their brand.  Make it their experience.

2. Listen and follow your audience.  The Knot (wedding themed) led to The Nest (home buying, recipes, etc.) and to The Bump (pregnancy and parenting) as their audience went through various life stages.  Listening was "crowdsourcing at its best".

3. Research to make your product even better.

5. Make sure at the end that you are being outrageous. Be funny. Be different.  Keep the conversation alive.

(You can read the rest of my Disney Social Media Moms Celebration posts over at www.mominthecity.com - my posterous account was down during the conference!)

Speakers: Kelby Carr, David Griner and Deb Ng

Moderator: Heather Solos

Professionalism

Kelby: confusing; varying degree based on backgrounds; finding balance can be challenging

David:not about tone on blog; it's about what it is like to work with each other; mutual respect; process of what it was like working with this person; responsive? timely? knowing how to invoice; etc.

Deb: it's how you conduct yourself; are you a mature, responsible person? do you respond, meet deadlines? do you charge for services - professionals do

Affect on Interaction with brands

Deb: Donlt look to only interact with brands; can't pay mortgage with that; charge for services not products/conference sponsorships

David: Remember that people often work with multiple clients; get to know them; marketers talk amongst themselves, so do marketers and brands; take the long view

Kelby: Don't limit self to just one thing; ebooks, consulting, local social media consulting; reviews and giveaways are dead - stop them; find small stable of bloggers and pay them. Bloggers need to be smarter in what they accept.  Don't work for free or for product. Being paid for reviews - you need to have a pro and con.

Heather: There are other bloggers who will undercut by doing things for free.  (Not just a blogging thing.)

Kelby: Get the idea out, but it's up to the bloggers and companies to change.

Deb: "I'm just starting out" is not a good reason to not charge. Exposure-something you get when kids come home with the flu.  Even entry level workers get paid!

David: It is hard for all writers.  Some companies are scared of bloggers.  Consider getting through as freelance writers for better paying gigs.

Input

Deb: Don't be afraid to set price.  Determine self worth.  Figure in taxes.  Start with number in mind.  You are what you price yourself at.

David: Create case studies with marketers that you have done and show results. "I coordinated this party and it had these results." Know your specialty.Page views and uniques are not everything.

Kelby: Think of what your role is in our community.  We get judged when one blogger attacks another; Keep the mob mentality out. Ignore negative actions and speech.

Blog Conference Speaker Impact

Kelby: Conference organizers are a small community; don't behave like a diva; get over yourself; celebrities - no; don't behave like spoiled brats

Deb: Impacts whether or not you want to work with them again

Questions

Kelby?; Reviews and advertisements are two separate things.

David: Use outreach as an opportunity to create more awareness.  Share where you're at and what you want.

Deb: Do a post warning others.

David: Do what makes you happy on your site.  You can have rules and break them. Respect yourself.

Amy (Resourceful Mommy): Charge what people are willing to pay.

Deb: Will write for self for free. Wrting on someone else's blog is paid. Guest posting is free.

Heather:If blog is a hobby, it's a hobby.

(Audience member) It's okay to say no. It's okay to change rules

Fine line between guidelines and discussions.  It's your business and you determine what you ask for/make exceptions for.

Kelby: Nothing is black and white. Blogger trips - fine, but not if free consulting. Consider other expenses - childcare, travel, etc. Be aware.

(Audience member) Angela England: My prices reflect the level of my training.

Deb: You attract people who want freebies if that's what you're offering.

Kelby: Don't alienate different ypes of bloggers. Shakes itself out.

Question re. going from hobby to career blogging - Deb: advertsing; look at it as a business and take it from there; David - what is my goal here? What do I want to make - how do I want to make it? (For him, no. I would rather get paid for writing.) Build strategy around it.  Don't spread yourself too thin. Deb - think about your area of expertise - so many levels of expertise.; Kelby: experiment and see what works for you

Moderator: Carol Cain

Carol: NY City Mama; be humble; work hard; be professional in order for the practicals to work

Kim Moldofsky: Hormone Colored Days, Mom Impact; started 5 years ago

Jessica Rosenberg: It's My Life; @kikarose; social media for Tiny Prints

Progression

Kim: first client - seo/mom blogging campaign; kept blog going; wanted a pro blogging gig; wrote for babycenter's momformation; led to speaking gig; led to 2 year client; natural flow; *network, network, network; gave tips to Suburu - led to small venture with Suburu; let your blog be you  - intersection of hard work and luck; think what is marketable about you

Jessica: discovered knitting blogs while husband was in law school; became pregnant -found group of pregnancy bloggers; started blogging herself; decided to make blogging a freelance career - make a series of blog clips; wrote for Type-A mom; pitched to local parenting newspaper; offered managing editor job at the newspaper- blog was her resume; blog was "voice"; did reviews on review blogs; tinyprints - gratitude blogger; wrote wanting to work for Tiny Prints on last blog post; Tiny Prints asked ideal job - they made it work; been with them for 11 months; *decide what you want your blog to be - source of revenue or platform of revenue for future sources of revenue; use pitches as opening to conversations; put contact information on blog; let people know what you're interested in and capable of! Don't underestimate yourself.  Don't be afraid to reach out to the companies that you're interested in.

Carol: blog is portfolio/resume; paid work comes from off her blog; seize opportunities (initiate conversations; have own idea of what you want); pitch self for unique business experiences; approach it as a freelancer; she has a media kit

Jessica: Has online resume sharing what she wants/is available to do.

Personality

Kim: Connector; if shy, try something new outside of blogging (i.e. taking bold risks); saying and seeing "no" are not the worst things; don't understimate the importance of the fiscal year (not necessarily as flexible at certain times of the year)

Jessica: Shy, but pretended that she wasn't until became more comfortable; don't stop being yourself though; be true to yourself; if opportunity is not a good fit, recommend someone else; don't take rejection personally - you can ask why

Mistakes

Carol: What is your blog about - be focused about your pitch

Jessica: not as focused "elevator pitch" (depends on the blog); not learning to ask what the expectations were (i.e. if you have separate review blog); don't assume

Kim: kind of a blog prostitute - took most products/trips/etc. offered; more selective now; figure out what you want - don't have to take everything offered

Questions/Comments

-Brand conversations - what should you do if your hear nothing back? You can follow up (email/phone)/reach out again; polite persistence pays. 

*Comment: be honest with PR/page views/etc.

*Comments: Jennifer James and Esther Crawford put out a free e-book that is excellent (http://www.fromblogtobusiness.com/).

*Comments: send companies case studies to show relevance

-Be clear on where you're pitching (twitter/facebook/blog/etc.)

-Pricing: Kim - Start no lower than $65 - $300/hour (consulting); $50-$75/hour for writing; remember that 1/3 goes to the government;  Jessica - double the rate that you want to work for per hour (because they are not paying any benefits)

$550/bi-weekly for leaderboard ad- Carol charges for her site with average of 7000 unique visits/months. It seems high if you are thinking CPM, but she is a travel blogger - her content is expensive (babysitters/hours/etc.). 

Moderator: Danielle Smith

Photography

Casey: use to enhance posts; add pictures to review; can charge more when pictures are used; use photos as inspiration

To get better: look at photos that make you feel; take pictures of everyday moments

Chris: Start posts with pictures; at the end of each post, use flickr gallery - so can see all; She sets a thumbnail photo for each post; google "free clip art"; flickr also has great photos that you can use with attribution; don't use photos that don't have "share this"; tag photos in flickr (people can find it when they search by term/you want people to be able to find them); clker.com has free clip art

Video

Why?

Maria: can watch/listen while doing something else; put face in front of camera to gain exposure; where the next horizon is going; age of self broadcasters

Use HD webcam; 3 minutes is perfect

Chris: webcam; video functions on camera; (imove on Mac; moviemaker on Windows); please put steps in text/outline what cover in video

Maria: need to differentiate self; video does that; you are a solution to corporate production problem.

Chris: twins used in actual commercial - taking forever; doing video yourself is faster

Audio/Podcasting

Maria: great way to talk to moms - they can take it anywhere; great way to extend brand; lexycasts - next big thing (twitter on audio); less than 2 minutes - soundbites of thoughts.  Distribution is king.  Think about how to expand your brand. Blogtalkradio - expanded reach when she got past her doubts.

Q&A

How to set picture use settings: Casey: All rights reserved - for hanging quality photos; Open - conferences/want to share broadly; there are various settings (i.e. friends and family)

How to do live webcasting - Maria uses Logitech camera for MomTV (ustream, stickam); Chris: you can even do from phone!

Editing software suggestions: Chris: Pinnacle software; Danielle (imovie/finalcut express)

Photo comments: Wordpress plugin: Photodropper plugin - inserts correct attribution; Casey: 72dpi - good size of photos; Chris: mihov image sizer - shrink bulk photos; Watermark photos - Chris: lightroom has a feature; so does picnik.com and picasa.com; Casey doesn't watermark them;

Video comments: AVI is standard format if you are uploading directly to your site; Danielle: tubemogul.com syndicates; youtube, vimeo, blip ,etc. are other ways to post video; Casey: keeps video for self not just for readers - remember who you and your kids are.

Livestreaming: Maria: moms thrive on connection; video opens a door to another aspect of connection/diminishing isolation; focus on connection

How to make coherent/incorporate all of it? Maria: checklist; there's a Wordpress plugin - post here on each post; Chris: keep everything in one place and link from one place; keep username, watermark, etc. the same

Speakers: Debbie Bookstaber and Angela England

Moderator: Kim Moldofsky

Goal: Help to use blogs for freelance writing assignments; ebooks; and increase affiliate sales

Angela - Untrained Houswives; mom of four; editor-in-chief at Blissfully Domestic; Type-A Mom editior

Angela: "Yes, it's possible to do something for money on the Internet without taking your clothes off".

Debbie: Mamanista, Bloganthropy

Advice for freelance writing assignments:

-Angela Englund: 5 years of experience; started out online.

When contributing to other sites: find out rights; make sure that you are well compensated if giving away all rights; web/print rights differ; sometimes you can pitch to other outlets; they can see body of work and quality of work (i.e. she sent out 6 queries; sold 4 articles and received 1 additional offer)

-Debbie: online marketer before blogger; freelance writer/search engine copywriter - content syndicated out

Guest posts usually code word for free!

Search engine copywriting - paid; come in with clips; use blogging skills; 10 - 50/word for online writing; $50 = $150 per online article; don't start with mom blogs; problogger.com; copyblogger.com; idealaunch.com; lifetips.com; and local seo companies are great assignment resources; reach out to them; consider that in addition to parent-oriented writing

For parenting writing - get in touch with people in charge of hiring; LinkedIn - list freelance writer in your profile; use networks/agencies/firms/etc.  Let people know rate - be clear (share range); if you make "free" an option, they will take it! perhaps one free post.

-Angie: byline and link back to site; bases her range on needed amount of research/charges less if she gets a byline; more if ghostwritten; minimum - $50/post

It is easier to break into niche or trade market magazines; use popular posts; share ways that you can enhance; note that parenting segment is over-saturated

Debbie: You can increase rate if including photos with posts; different companies have different budgets; $250/piece; additional $50 - $100 for photos

 for major companies; seed.com is a good starting point - pay $50/post

Angie: Use prior mom life experience as area of expertise; life experience; career; etc. - use for angles

Affiliate Marketing

Debbie: CPM (cost per thousand) type of advertising; CPC (cost per click); CPA (cost per acquisition)  is affiliate marketing- great way to break into advertising work for company; You can use banners but text links within posts are actually best performers.  When a purchase is made, you get a percentage of the sale. Genuinely mention products.  It leads to evergreen content - constantly paid whenever its' used.

Keep in mind re. FTC: Not giving consideration in advance, so don't need to identify as affiliate links.  (I.e. retail me not/shop at home; Shefinds; etc. use them)

Amazon Associates - Colorado residents can't join; AA also pays a lot less than other programs

When considering affiliate companies to partner with think: strength of brand; is it something that you want anyway? cj.com, linkshare.com, shareasale.com; and google has an affiliate network)

Conversion rate - number of sales divided by number of clicks. 100 hits/2 sales = 2% conversion sale

oldnavy and gap work well for mamanista; dvds and books/things that people actually buy on the web are good sellers (i.e. itune mixes-links)

Angie: doing readers a service if you link to something that gives readers a service; reader service; natural

Men are doing it without feeling badly; one guy made half a million sellion the instyler last year (?!)

Ebooks

Angie: Way to repurpose content - Compile into e-books; First - compilation of posts; Already writing content; why not write it for sale? Some will buy to save time and energy.  Doing service for those who are willing to spend money to save time.

She uses Open Office - format everything as Word document; print to file; save as pdf; save links intact (affiliate programs; etc.); Goal ebook library for moms - 2011

Etc:

- Good Housekeeping - column where republish blog posts (pays $500); Email at egolden@hearst.com

-Selling text links - google doesn't want sites to do so; but there are still firms that do it; if you are going to sell them, get 100% of the value

-Angie - uses Ejunkie and affiliates for her main ebook at $25; Others, she sells on her site - she bundles a discount for her consulting services with the ebook sales.