Tag Archives: bloggy business

BlogPaws Episode 3: Dynasty, cheesecake & slap bracelets

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I’ve told you about my initial impressions of BlogPaws, and about some of the tough guys I encountered along the way.  I wasn’t quite sure what to tackle next.  When all else fails, I tend to default to chronological order.  So, for argument’s sake, let’s just say that all else failed…

After listening to the Rescue Ink guys, it was time to attend my first actual session.  You know, where I’d go to learn stuff.  I had a hard time deciding what to attend – I ended up choosing one called “Demystifying Search Engine Optimization.”  I didn’t have the foggiest idea what that was, so I figured I could use the demystification.

I’m not going to lie… at the time, I thought I had a basic grasp of SEO.  Looking back at my notes a week later, I’m not so sure.  I scribbled something about keywords, improving my search engine ranking  – and a bunch of technical things that I need to revisit in more detail.  I’m not really qualified to advise any of you on this one!  Luckily, the folks over at BlogPaws recently had a great post about SEO for paw bloggers, so I’ll let them do the heavy lifting.

Paris & John from DogTipper.com

During the break between sessions, I met a few more fun bloggers, including Carrie from All Things Dog Blog; Paris & John from DogTipper.com; and Missy from Dogs for the Paws.

Missy wins the prize for best business card – a slap bracelet!  That thing was awesome – I wore it for the rest of the day, and it’s currently still decorating my camera bag.

Up next, I headed to a session called “Reach. Relevance. Design. Presentation.”  I was excited to hear the presenter, Dino Dogan (the creator of Triberr).  This one was more up my alley (and it was also the session where Tango decided his nose was cold).  I really enjoyed this session.  Some of the choice quotes/concepts I jotted down:

  • On reach: “Attention is the commodity and we only have so much of it.”  Dino described reach as “fishing with dynamite.”
  • On relevance: “There’s no motion without emotion.”  Relevance is like shooting with a laser. Seventy-five percent of writing time should be spent on the headline. In general, short is better than long, and emotional is better than non-emotional.  Think about the person you’re trying to attract and their state of mind. One method is to create a customer avatar – an image of your ideal customer.
  • On design:  The consensus here seems to be that Blogger kind of sucks.  (If I took one lesson away from the weekend – this was it.  It came up in several sessions.)  Many seem to prefer having a self-hosted WordPress site.  Dino also talked about logo design and colors.  Have you ever noticed that many of the major sites – like Facebook and Twitter – use blue?  I’ve definitely been paying more attention to the colors used on various blogs since this session and thinking about what kind of mood they evoke.
  • On presentation: You should aim to become a content presenter instead of focusing on being a content creator.  (Cesar Milan is – unfortunately – a good example here.  I think his methods suck, but I can’t argue that he’s managed to draw people in with his presentation.)  Be a better writer than the next guy – make your reader feel that if he doesn’t click on your headline, he’s going to miss something.  My favorite quote:  to improve your writing, “read like a madman, write like a mental institution escapee.”  Think about visitors who will view your site on their smartphones – do you have mobile browsing enabled?
  • Finally, model yourself on Dynasty… create some cliffhangers!

I could write a lot more about this session – I think it was the kick I needed to start thinking about my own blog in a more analytical way.  I’ll be doing some self-evaluation in the coming months and you may see some changes as a result.  However, first I need to find the time for all of that virtual navel gazing…

Anyway, after that session, it was time for lunch.  I was in for a pleasant surprise – the speakers during lunch were from the rescue group where I adopted Bella!  The group is called Homeless Animals Rescue Team (aka HART), and they operate in the Northern Virginia area.

Also a pleasant surprise? Cheesecake. I love cheesecake.

Anyway, after I inhaled that cheesecake, it was time for my next session.  I chose it based on its delightfully punny name.  I’ll tell you all about it my next installment…

(I told you that recapping BlogPaws would take me a while.  I wasn’t kidding.  When you’re as wordy as I am, these things take time.  Hang in there.)

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Pay it forward: Pets of the Homeless

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Last weekend at BlogPaws, I attended a great session by Felissa from Two Little Cavaliers and Neil from Life with Dogs.  I’ll be posting a bit more about the session in another post – I have a few more BlogPaws recaps in the queue, after all.

However, at that session we discussed the idea of community – what the word meant and how we as a community could help each other raise awareness and share each other’s causes.  From that discussion came the inspiration for today’s Pay if Forward Blog Hop.  Today, pet bloggers are sharing one (or more) of the causes that they are passionate about and adding it to the blog hop.  Then, those participating in the blog hop or reading through the posts can offer to help out with causes they are interested in or even solicit some guest posts for their blogs.  I will definitely be checking out the other causes, and I may approach a few bloggers about doing some guests posts to share their causes with you.  I’ve included the list for the blog hop at the end of this post – so I hope you’ll also take a moment to see what everyone is talking about today.

Today, I’m sharing a cause I’ve written about before.  I’d like to tell you about a group called Pets of the Homeless.  This nonprofit organization provides pet food and veterinary care to the homeless and less fortunate in local communities across the United States and Canada. For my last birthday, I told all of my friends not to buy me gifts.  If they absolutely felt the need to bring something, I asked that they bring a bag of dog food instead.  I then donated this dog food to Pets of the Homeless.  I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday gift – the chance to make a difference for pets (and their people) in need.

Imagine, if you will, that due to circumstances beyond your control, you find yourself homeless.  What do you do with your pet?  Your pet gets sick.  You can’t afford veterinary care.  Where do you go?  Or, let’s say you are currently homeless and encounter a stray dog who becomes your companion.  The nearest homeless shelter doesn’t allow pets.  Do you go to the shelter and leave your companion to fend for himself? 

These are tough choices.  Choices that I hope none of us ever have to make.  However, many people do have to make these choices on a regular basis.  Pets of the Homeless notes that the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that as many as 3.5 million Americans are homeless.  Between 5 to10 percent of homeless people have dogs or cats – in some areas that number may be as high as 24 percent.

There are many reasons people end up homeless, including foreclosure, poverty, domestic violence, lack of affordable housing, unemployment, and declining public assistance.  The demographics of the homeless population show that anyone can be affected – young, old, and in between.  The homeless population is not just one ethnicity, gender, or age.  Their homes may have been destroyed by a hurricane or a tornado.  They are veterans, victims of domestic violence, the unemployed, families with children… and so many others.

Pets of the Homeless aims to help this population in many ways.  It has established collection sites to accept donated pet food.  This food is distributed through partnerships with homeless shelters, soup
kitchens, and other entities.  The organization also makes two types of grants:
one to veterinarians that go to where the homeless congregate and
provide veterinary care such as vaccines, spay/neuter and other needed
treatments; the other to homeless shelters looking for ways to allow
pets sanctuary with their owners.  

Want to know how you can help? If there is a collection site near you, donate pet food and supplies.  (If there’s no collection site near you, find out how to become one.) Pets of the Homeless also provides a list of other ways that you can donate your time (like volunteering at a distribution site) or money to this worthy cause.  You can also help by spreading the word about Pets of the Homeless to bring awareness to this cause.

If you have tissues handy, I urge you to read some of the success stories and view the touching photos on the Pets of the Homeless website. I hope you’ll check out this great organization as well as some of the others being highlighted in today’s blog hop:

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BlogPaws Episode 2: Say hello to my not-so-little friends

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After the welcome reception on Thursday evening, I was feeling pretty good about returning to BlogPaws on Friday.  I wasn’t disappointed.  The day started out with a pretty great keynote speaker.  Or, more accurately, a duo of speakers:

Meet the men of Rescue Ink.  These are some pretty tough customers from Queens. If you’re looking for peaceful conflict resolution, they may not be your guys.  (Although I have a feeling they’re the type that can solve problems without knocking heads together if the situation allows it.)

In any event, they’re tough customers who care about animal welfare, as the dedication on their website makes clear.  They’re extremely committed to stopping animal abuse – you could really feel the emotion behind their words and their passion for this cause was evident.  That commitment was inspiring.

Rescue Ink is an international animal welfare organization dedicated to defending the defenseless.  (They joked that their lawyers wouldn’t let them go into too much detail about how they actually do that.)  Our two speakers are actually two of the founding members of the group.

Joe Panz (bio)
Big Ant (bio)

Rather than give you an exhaustive recap of their speech, I just wanted to share a few of the quotes I jotted down during the keynote:

  • “A rescue isn’t a rescue until you take it out of a bad situation and find it a better home.”
  • “You don’t send Boy Scouts to get rid of bad guys.  You’re gonna run out of Boy Scouts real quick.”
  • “They say that animals don’t have a voice.  We don’t mind speaking for them.”
  • “It takes 5 puppy mill puppies for one to survive long enough to make it to the pet store.”
  • “Money shouldn’t get between you and your animal.  Your animal is family.”
  • “We defend those that can’t defend themselves.”

You can learn more about the guys from Rescue Ink at their website, including some of their success stories.  I also recommend checking out this post at Kahuna’s K9s – Eryka did a great interview with them after their speech.  This recap at the Pet Health Care Gazette is also fantastic and perfectly describes how I felt listening to these two.  Finally, here’s a video of the interview that Miah from Start the Change did with Joe and Big Ant.

A shot of their logo on the big screen at BlogPaws

Up next: the sessions begin, I learn some stuff, more friends are made, and a puppy movie is screened.  In short… good times.

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The only kind of camping I’m willing to do

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Drum roll, please… it’s announcement time!  PhotobucketYou’re actually finding out about this big announcement before Bella, so consider yourself in the inner circle.

Do you (or your dog) need to get moving?  Has couch time (or in Bella’s case, cave time) increased while play time has decreased?  Then this is the post for you… read on, dear friend!

Kol’s Notes and Peggy’s Pet Place have come up with a brilliant idea.  It’s called Koly & Kelly’s K9 Kamp, and it’ll be happening from September 8 through October 13.  It’s a great opportunity to get fit while spending time with your pup.  I’m going to be one of the featured bloggers – so I’ll be participating in the challenges and sharing my experiences with you.  Stop by here or here to find out how you can participate.  Hope you’ll join us!

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It’s okay to sleep in class if you’re adorable

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One of the (many) fun things about BlogPaws was the mix of human and animal attendees at the sessions.  Sometimes a well-timed bark would make everyone laugh.  Other times, it was just fun to look around and see a cute pup.  I’ve always said that school would be so much better with puppies.  I stand by it.

I love this photo of Tango (who attended BlogPaws with Laurie from Smart Dog).  This photo op occurred during one of our sessions.  Note the well-covered nose… it could get cold in the rooms, so I think Tango had the right idea.

Happy Wednesday!

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BlogPaws Episode 1: The Adventure Begins

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Last week was a busy one.  However, I was on top of my game on Thursday.  I finished my work early so that I wouldn’t be stuck late.  Although I was a tad nervous about meeting new people, this sweet post by Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes made me smile and gave me a shot of courage.  By mid-afternoon, I was itching for the workday to end so that I could slide out the door Flintstones style and head over to BlogPaws.  There were no sessions on Thursday night, just an opening cocktail reception.  I’m not one to pass up cocktails and conversation…


However, as is so often the case… a work “crisis” occurred.  (Please let those quotation marks convey my extreme sarcasm.)  Fortunately, I managed to leave the office only slightly later than planned, but then I encountered massive traffic.  It’s the norm in the D.C. area, but Thursday was even worse than usual.

In any event, I finally made it to the hotel.  I parked next to a sign informing me that walking of dogs on the property was prohibited.  For a moment, I wondered if I was in the right place.  However, I did see some dogs (and their people) walking towards the entrance, so I headed towards the lobby.  All doubts were erased when I saw these:

I’m guessing the hotel wasn’t enforcing that whole no dog walking thing this weekend.  Assured of my location, I wandered through the crowd of people to the registration table.  Once there, I signed in and received the largest swag bag I’d ever seen.  Seriously – that thing was epic.

In addition to the swag bag, I received a raffle ticket (spoiler alert: per usual, I did not win anything all weekend) and two drink tickets.  Feeling a little overwhelmed by the crowd (and the fact that I didn’t know anyone in real life, just from their blogs), I headed to the bar and redeemed my first ticket for a glass of wine.  Armed with my glass of liquid courage, I headed into the main room to explore.

I won’t lie – to start with, I felt very overwhelmed and I wasn’t sure what to do.  There were tons of exhibitors, so I browsed and made small talk for a while.  However, I still felt a bit out of sorts – rudderless, if you will.  It felt sort of like the first day at a new school.

Fortunately, my feeling of isolation didn’t last long.  I met some fantastic people – Laurie from Smart Dog and Eryka from Kahuna’s K9s.  These two are locals like me, and we hit it off immediately.  I knew instantly I’d found some new friends – they were fun, clever, and each had an adorable dog with them.  Even cooler, they are both dog trainers who use positive reinforcement.  I can only hope I soaked up some of their knowledge throughout the weekend.

After making these first two connections, I loosened up a bit and the chatter seemed to come more easily.  I met a few other people, including Caren from Cat Chat and Kim from This One Wild Life.  I encountered the lovely Pamela from Something Wagging This Way Comes (and got to meet her husband and Honey the pup).  As a bonus, I saw some absolutely adorable ferrets.  However, the presence of these two confirmed my decision to leave Bella at home – I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have been able to control her prey drive:

Laurie and Eryka eventually had to head home with their pups.  I considered hitting the road as well after losing my two awesome wingwomen (wingbloggers?), but I decided to head back in for a little while longer (after dropping off that giant swag bag in my car, of course).  I’m glad I did – one of the things I learned this weekend is that I need to embrace my extroverted side at this sort of thing.  (Perhaps I can apply this lesson to work conferences as well, but there are never any cute animals at those.)

Anyway, I headed back inside and ended up meeting a ton of people in the lobby area.  In addition to Caren, I met up with several other bloggers.  Many of them were cat bloggers.  (Among them? The bloggers from The Conscious Cat; The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey; Coffee, Cats ‘n Yarn; Catladyland; and Mr. R.W. Emerson.  I’m sure I’m missing a few people – it was quite the gathering.  Introductions and business cards were flying like Bella after a squirrel.)  Some were new to me, but others were familiar, such as the lovely Teri from Curlz and Swirlz (pictured at right).

In any event, I have to thank those cat bloggers for letting a dog blogger into their midst for a while.  (Perhaps they sensed that I have a soft spot for the felines.)  What a fun group!

I capped my night off with some quality chat time with Caren (who better?) and Felissa from Two Little Cavaliers.  I had a fantastic time talking to these two.  Honestly, it felt like we’d known each other for ages.

When it was finally time to go, I reluctantly said good night and headed home.  After just a few short hours, I knew I’d made the right decision to attend BlogPaws.  I had met some amazing people and couldn’t wait to come back on Friday! 

Stay tuned for more BlogPaws updates… I have lots to share, so I’m not sure how many posts will be in this series.  If you’re not really interested in hearing about BlogPaws (which seems odd, but to each his own), never fear.  I’ll be mixing some other posts in there too.  I’m such a people pleaser…

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Check out my BlogPaws swag…

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Can you believe what I got in my swag bag at BlogPaws?

 

Just kidding! This little guy, although adorable and riding in a bag, was not part of my swag. He was an adorable pup at the event looking for a forever home.  It took all of my willpower not to smuggle him home and surprise Bella and the hub with a new addition.  All in good time…

(You can check this pup – and many other animals needing a home in the D.C. metro area – out over at Lucky Dog Animal Rescue.)

Don’t get me wrong – although it (rightfully) didn’t include a puppy, the swag bags were pretty darn sweet:

In case you were wondering, I had an absolutely amazing time at BlogPaws.  I got the chance to meet (and spend time with) some of my favorite bloggers, discover new bloggers, learn a bunch, and have a ton of fun.  You can expect a plethora of posts in the future – I intend to recap the weekend, share some of the tips I’ve learned, and tell you all about it!  Stay tuned…

Hope everyone affected by Irene came through the storm okay.  We lost power around 2:30 this morning, but it came back this morning, so I can’t complain.  What a weekend!

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Friday I’m in love (with BlogPaws)

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Today, I’m at BlogPaws!  However, I couldn’t just leave you hanging on No Frown Friday.  It just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t send you into the weekend as usual… so let’s get to it!

  1. As always, we begin with a pun… Tina Spay.  (I’m obviously in 30 Rock withdrawal.)
  2. Speaking of wordplay… if I ever need a Cat Scan, I hope I get this type.  Way better than the traditional kind.
  3. Speaking of Cat Scans… if all goes according to plan, I’ve met some of my favorite bloggers by now.  (If you’re there… say hi!)  Maybe I will ask those who are vets if this cartoon actually depicts a teaching animal hospital.  I have a feeling that it does not.
  4. Next, I give you cats with mustaches.  No wordplay or brilliant segue needed.
  5. Apparently the MTV Video Music Awards are this weekend.  (Kind of funny, considering that I can’t remember the last time I saw a video on MTV.)  Anyway, I would be much more likely to watch the VMAs if they really did have puppies on hand to impersonate the various presenters and winners.
  6. Finally, what happens if your toddler decides the dog needs a new ‘do?  Hilarity, that’s what.

No video today – it’s been a crazy week!  However, if you aren’t at BlogPaws, but want to keep up with the action, you can follow me on Twitter.  (I’m not sophisticated enough to blog from the event itself, but Twitter I can handle.)  I’ll be using the hashtag #Blogpaws.  Stay tuned for a full blog recap next week.  Happy weekend!

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Prepare for a stampede of cuteness!

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This time next week, I’ll be at BlogPaws. So exciting! Must… focus… on… present….

  1. Weekly punny goodness: Pablo Picatso and Salvador Doggie.
  2. To follow up on last week’s post, I implore you to enjoy more cats in hats.
  3. Dear Internet: You are awesome. The Adventures of Milo & Otis totally needed a remix involving Jay-Z.  I humbly request you come up with a similarly entertaining remix for Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, The Fox and the Hound and/or Oliver & Company.  Thanks!
  4. Speaking of dogs named Otis… check out this skydiving dog!
  5. Have you ever wondered why your dog sometimes wants to snuggle, but other times would prefer to be alone?  This handy chart breaks it down for you.
  6. You know Bella’s an art lover (sometimes to a fault).  You know we love The Bloggess.  So I’m sure you’ll understand why this ad over there cracked me up.
  7. Maybe this little guy could be an artist.  Is there a market for mud paintings?
  8. This next link reminded me of the brilliant series “Pet Adoption Videos that Don’t Make Me Want to Kill Myself” over at Will My Dog Hate Me. It’s an adorable video promoting pet adoption… accompanied by a catchy tune and a bonus pup in PJs!  Fantastic.

My favorite part of today’s video might be the guy in the background
saying “puppy puppy puppy puppy.”  Seriously.  It reminds me of that
addictive Puppy Woof Woof video for some reason.  Good times.



(via Jezebel)

That’s all for today, folks.  Have a fantastic weekend, and don’t forget to swing by and Like our new Facebook page!  Bella approves.

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