Lip-Sticking

How Much Do You Love To Write?

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

As an entrepreneur you wake up every morning with an itch to get in front of your computer and start writing, right? You're looking forward to jumping into your social media updates, writing a blog post or two, putting together a proposal or even composing business correspondence. Raise your hand if you love it. Hhhmm I am not seeing too many hands. Do you find writing to be a chore? Just not something that you enjoy because you don't know what to write about, you stress about grammar and punctuation or is it simply the blank screen that makes you freeze?

Regardless of the reason, there are many of you out there who simply don't embrace the task of writing. Thankfully there are tools out there to help you with your writing tasks and there are writers that will work with you to compose daily correspondence, blog posts and even perform your social media for you. 

How Much Are You Worth?

by Yvonne DiVita  Like us on Facebook and share your thoughts, issues and insights: http://www.facebook.com/Lipsticking

Or, more appropriately, how much is your blog worth to an advertiser?

Monetization is a huge topic of interest these days. One of the most often asked questions in my email box is, "How much do I charge for ads on my blog?"

The answer isn't a simple one. First of all, you must look at your blog with an honest eye. That's not easy to do, I know. You spend a lot of time adding good content - two, three, five times a week, or more. You cite your sources and add your opinion without getting mouthy. Unless you're a gossip columnist, I guess. Plus, you've created a design that makes it easy to get around your blog - easy for the reader to access archives and topics of interest and comments. One assumes you occasionally or often share videos, correct? In the end, what you've created is a cross between a magazine and a TV show.

Link to More than Just a Husband—SEO Link Building Explained

Guest post by Amanda DiSilvestro 

I don’t care if you’re a woman or a man, SEO and link tracking is confusing. Most company websites today heavily integrate internal and external links into their webpages, so it is important that your new company jumps on the linking bandwagon as quickly as possible.

These links are critical to any website because they allow for easy navigation and can give you a means to monetize your site. Most importantly, links are imperative when it comes to increasing the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your website. According to SEO Theory, you must “put the indexable content into place first […]. If you’re chasing long-tail traffic you have to create content that is relevant for many obscure expressions.” In other words, webmasters can use strategic linking to increase their SEO efforts by linking to keywords that people type into search engines. This helps page rankings, and ultimately page rankings are what get your site to the top of those search engines.

I'm Great, Just Look What I've Done

by Yvonne DiVita

"I can do it for other people, but not for me."

If I had a dollar for every time a woman said that to me, I'd...have enough to go on a nice vacation. A very nice vacation (and pay the pet sitters nicely, too!)

Women are notorious for being too shy or scared to toot their own horn. Even I have trouble reminding the world how great I am. But, I am great. I was the FIRST voice online showing that women were a force to be reckoned with - that the purse has power. I have been tapped into dozens of times for my expertise on marketing to women, blogging, social media, and business in the 21st century. I partnered with two other powerful people (one of them a grand woman in the pet world, Caroline Golon) and started a venture a lot of people thought was foolhardy (BlogPaws), and I took my entire world - business, home, pets, and all - cross-country to move from NY to CO, with Tom, my 'better' half. (PLUS... I raised three fantastic kids that make me happy and proud every single day!)

I rock!

The Girl Effect - Why It Matters & How To Help

by Yvonne DiVita

I was invited to participate in The Girl Effect Campaign with Tara Mohr (and hundreds of others) a few weeks ago and I jumped at it! How could I not? This isn't just a passing fad or some new fashion statement. It's not a long post whining about the fate of girls in the world today- although that's part of it.

What it is, is a post of enlightenment, of power, of hope, and of inspiration. It's a true glimpse into tomorrow - where the community of all serves the needs of all - beginning with the girls who will be the mothers of the future; mothers who, like most mothers, will determine the fate of society.

When the world really is just you and just me

Just Me and Just You: A post that was written almost three years ago and still holds power today.

A good writer and editor (Robbi Hess, who manages this blog) said recently that repurposing 'old' blog posts was a good idea. When I happened on this post, while looking for something else, I paused and thought, "This is a good post to share, again." Most of you will not have seen it. Some of you will. All of you - and me - might be served by it. Enjoy!

When I was studying literature in college, the classes that challenged me the most were the poetry classes. As a child, poetry was my closest friend. Every afternoon after school, you could find me on the little windowseat at my house on the corner of a small city street reading poems out of a Best of Anthology.

Is it all about the clicks?

From the Editor's Desk: Is it all about SEO and ROI or do you want to build relationships and bring the readers back because you're offering something of value? We opt for the value, how about you? 

Read this post we found on Mashable about Content vs. Community. 

Do you have a social media marketing plan in place?

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

As an entrepreneur, author or freelance writer you know you need to have a marketing plan in place to get your name “out there,” whether to drive book sales, sales of the goods or services you offer or to land writing gigs. You also know that adding social media into the mix of all you have to do on a daily basis can be a daunting task, but it must be done.

If you put together a social media platform, chances are you can keep up with it in less than 15 minutes a day, if you take some time to pre-plan the time you spend on social media. As anyone knows, it is very easy to get bogged down in replying to status updates and to reading the status feeds in your Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and now Google+ accounts.

Of course you don't need social media...

By Blog Manager Robbi Hess

Of course you don't need social media. I mean as long as you're happy toiling away in obscurity while your colleagues -- whether you're a writer, an entrepreneur or a builder of widgets -- are becoming known and talking about what they do. 

Regardless of your area of expertise or in which field you excel, you do need to spread the word if you want to become known for who you are and what you do. Every professional needs a platform, and by that I mean a social media platform in the aspect of what you will say about what you do and to whom you will say it and yes, the physical platforms on which you'll say it, ie Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. It doesn't matter if you're social media phobic and can't possibily understand how social media can work for you, believe me it will and it does. 

How are you building your writer’s portfolio?

By Robbi Hess

 Today when you’re looking to score more writing gigs – or a staff writer position – and the editor asks for clips. What do you do? Are you still writing for print magazines and are they online? Can you send a link to the potential editor? Are you writing for print magazines and they aren’t online? If so, you will likely need to scan your articles and send as a pdf to the editor. Regardless of where you have written and published, you need to being a writing platform and portfolio if you want to score more writing opportunities.

Keep in mind too, whether you want to be a generalist or a specialist. Are you looking to find work in a particular field, ie. Pet writing, small business ownership, etc. If so, you may want to target your writing in a particular market. If you are looking to expand your horizons and write about any- and everything, then seek out opportunities where you can be a generalist. Bear in mind though, that many writers feel they fare better if they specialize because they become a go-to person when an editor is seeking an article on a niche topic.