A few weeks back, I read a great article on MOM LOGIC by author, business woman, and mom, Shari Storm. I normally do not get wowed with lists of things to do that will make my life better — I know I need to recycle, to work out, to eat green leafy veggies, etc etc. But I really really liked this article. In a large part to the fact that Shari is a mom to three beautiful girls and a head-honcho at a credit union and a published author (see MOTHERHOOD IS THE NEW MBA). So, she kept it really real. I love that. I also love that when I requested to borrow her article, she sent it right along to me. So, be sure to comment and let her know that her article is a good one, cuz it is!
——————————-
30 Habits That Will Change Your Life by Shari Storm
Today I read, with great interest, Oscar Del Ben’s post, “30 Habits That Will Change Your Life.” I nodded my head at each and every one of them. Then I slammed my laptop shut in frustration: Clearly, it was written by a man with no kids.
NO WAY can a mother even attempt to achieve any of those things. I mean, when would I feed the kids, take them to their dance lessons or, oh, I don’t know … talk with them?
But the article sat on my mind and sat on my mind.
Maybe I could, if I just ….
So I’m taking his 30 habits and making them mom-friendly.
§ April 30th, 2010 § Filed under Blogging Tips § Tagged Blogging, Goals Comments Off
Okay, so if you have been following along, hopefully by now you have done some research about the oh, I don’t know, bazillion things to look at on the bazillion blogs out there.
Good. Next step.
Time to think about what to call your blog. Naming your blog may feel akin to naming your children. Because, in reality, your blog is going to feel like a child, or more like an infant for a long time as you nuture it, dress it up in different outfits, put it in timeout, and so on. So, for me, it took a while to find the right name. Here is what I took into consideration:
First, I did not want my own personal parent-given name to be a part of the title. Other people may think differently about this, especially people who may be running their own business and want their names “out there” and everywhere. I felt a bit more protective of my name. I wanted a “handle” or nickname or pseudonym, both for fun and for a tad bit more privacy. Of course, if I make it big, the privacy part is gone no matter what the blog is called.
Also, I thought about the topic of my blog — motherhood stuff — and wanted that to somehow be represented in the title. But in a way that said “me.”
I thought about search engines. What would my readers be searching for? And how would the name of my blog lead them to my articles.
After I thought about those things, I googled my name ideas to see what came up. You should do this, because one time I googled “Freckle Face Boy” to show Ty that boys can, indeed, have freckles and PORN came up. I clicked off of the results as soon as I could. Ty asked, “Mommy, were there pictures on that page that bothered you?” Uh, ya think?
So, all of that to say, google your ideas and be sure you are not inadvertently leading your potential readers into some sort of bold sin.
Then, “cross your fingers and hope to die and stick 1000 needles in your eye” that NO ONE out there was as clever as you and picked your name already. After you confirm that you can “own” your name, then BUY IT. I do so recommend purchasing your URL and owning it. It feels more official, it’s cheap, you don’t have to have “wordpress” or “blogspot” before the .com in your address. This, of course, is all about your own persnoal preferences, but I say, DO IT.
That goes hand in hand with the idea of hosting your blog. Now, I am not talking about serving it beer and nachos during the big saturday college football game (Go Cougs!). I am talking about having a service that you PAY to maintain and “host” your blog — rather than a free blog site. I admit it, though, that I turned to el-husband for this one. He knows all about this stuff and researched it. So, we do host our blog with a fantastic service called GO DADDY. They are available 24/7 for questions, set up, trouble shooting, and so forth. They walked me through (I should say, DAVE, because he set this up for me… ) getting my URL to magically transform before my eyes into a WORPRESS blog and they also waved their wands and I got email through my blog that comes into my outlook inbox. They are miracle workers, they are.
There are a lot of good hosts out there. And it is worth the small fees you pay to have the person on the phone to call when you cannot figure out how to make something work. Unless you love to cry. Then, go with the free service.
Next Steps: Design — Free or not that Free and What Do You Put in Your Sidebar?
I am loving all this Spring weather around here. Bring on the Global Warming, if it means more sun! All this sun — even in patches — has gotten me in the mood for a vacation. So, my question for you all today is: What is your dream vacation? or if that is too much to wrap your mind around, how about this: Where would you just love to go for Spring break?
For me, I will take anywhere that is not my house. I’m thinking like down the street in someone else’s house while they are away would probably re-charge me. But, to be true to my own question, I will say that my dream vacation is a toss up between Italy and Greece. I’ve never been to either, but I have wanted to go to Greece ever since a college buddy told me about his adventures in Greece one of which involved another friend winding up in the back of some local’s truck and driving off into the darkness after … well… indulging in the local greek beers a tad too much. Of course, that isn’t why I want to go there. He also described the beaches and the food. And Italy… oh please just get me to Florence where I can feed he English -Teacher-Nerd-Esque part of me by walking where Dante walked. That and the gelato. And the art. And the countryside. I will stop now.
How about you?
Breathe
Renewal
Listen
Faith
Openness
Today
Blossom
Live
Empathy
Gentleness
Home
Release
Cherish
Enjoy
Clarity
Worship
Here are the words that came to some of us this past week. Thank you all for journeying with me to find our ONE LITTLE WORD. A double thank you to those who posted a comment revealing your word to me, to everyone. If you think about the idea that people out there are putting these words in front of themselves this year, then I think we can all have a sense of HOPE for 2010. I know that I do.
P.S. I will be checking back our journey with our one little word later this year.
