Thank you so much to everyone who attended last night’s chat! For those of you who couldn’t make it out, here is a recap of our featured blogettes’ stories and advice on all things blogs!
One thing all three of our fabulous panel of blogettes had in common? The way they started their blogs. Little to no blogging experience, expertise or expectations, but a lot of heart.
How They Got Started:
 Claire Watkins cwidonline.com |
Award winning blogger, interior designer and entrepreneur Claire Watkins started her blog, highglossblue.com knowing absolutely nothing about blogging. Instead of taking it as a set back, she looked at her blogette inexperience as a positive. It enabled her to be unintimidated simply because she did not know any better. Her biggest word of advice is to not worry about it and just go for it.
Currently, she’s thrilled she gets to talk about chairs every single day, recession or not. Join the conversation by visiting highglossblue.blogspot.com or emailing Claire, Claire@CWIDonline.com, for project rates! Claire Watkins is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers. |
 Tami Hardeman tamihardeman.com |
Tami is an Atlanta-based food stylist who has been styling full-time for close to 6 years. When not on set styling, Tami pursues her passions of food, writing and photography on her nationally recognized food and cooking blog, Running With Tweezers, which she started in October 2005. She fumbled her her way on how to write her blog in the beginning, then got a hang of it and almost quit because of the time and attention her popular blog absorbed. After attending BlogHer, a conference in San Fancisco, Running With Tweezers was re-inspired and revamped. She finally found the place where she is able to do it all.
She is also currently in the development stage of her own cookbook, inspired by life and her cooking adventures through her blog. photo credit: Joeff Davis from Creative Loafing |
 Cristi Holcombe charmhomedesign.com |
Cristi Holcombe founded her interior design firm, Charm Home, in 2009 at the age of 28. Her company provides fresh, innovative, and affordable design services to clients in Atlanta. Cristi’s passion for interior design is documented daily on her Charm Home blog where she gives readers a little peek into how she creates her designs and writes about things that inspire her from day to day. Cristi’s blog gained notoriety at the end of 2009 when she was voted Atlanta’s favorite local blogger in the “Best of the Big A” by ajc.com readers just three months after launching her blog.
After accidently stumbling upon an interior design blog while googling a fabric, she fell in love with the idea of interior design blogging and the Charm Home blog was born.
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Question: How do you determine your content and scheduling?
Cristi: Initially I had all day to think of content and write, but now I am very busy, thanks in part to my blog. It is really hard to sit down and write after a 10 hour work day. I have learned to find my inspiration throughout my day.
Claire: I take pictures of everything! Capturing whatever inspires me in that moment is the best way for me to come up with content. I try to write five times per week.
Tami: Since I work for myself doing freelance, I have no set schedule. Since I never know when I am going to be able to write, I started treating days I can work on my blog as a real job. It takes me between six to eight hours to finish a blog.
Question: How do you measure success?
Tami: I used to look at the numbers all time time, but now it doesn’t seem to matter as much. If you obsess about it, you will set goals for the wrong reasons. If you really want a bump in traffic, do a give-away! 
But really, it’s all about your intent and engaging with the community.
Cristi: Every time I get a comment or email, it’s worth it.
Question: How are you getting people to your blog?
Cristi: Facebook Fanpage, blog tags and definitely commenting on others’ blogs. It’s just good blogger ettiquette.
Tami: TWITTER. The re-tweet power of Twitter is amazing. It is also very important to be a genuine blogger in your community.
Question: How do you find a balance between business and personal?
Tami: At first I was scared people were not going to like what I was writing, and that it might cost me a job. You have to find your comfort level of how much you are willing to share. I have made so many amazing friends all over because of my blog. You can instantly tell when someone is not sincere.
Question: How do you deal with tough competition?
Claire: There are really high standards in blog design now, so make sure yours looks nice and isn’t cluttered.
Tami: Be passionate about what you are writing about. If your voice is authentic, it will click somewhere.
Question: Do you ever feel like you need to re-introduce yourself to re-do old posts?
Claire: Link back to older posts when you are referring to something you have written about before in new posts.
Tami: There is so much momentum with new content, it is to hard to go back and redo. I would rather focus on what is coming up.
Cristi: I think it is okay to re-post as long as you are creative about it. Maybe revisit your favorite posts once a year. If you just re-post without explanation, your long time readers might be confused.
Thanks again to our celebrity blogettes and of course, to the fabulous Shelbi Saine of 12th & Midtown for hosting our event!
Thank you to our Sponsor:
2 Responses to “Chat Recap: Learn From Celebrity Blogettes”
Thanks for the recap! Hated to miss it but hopefully can make the next one.
Thanks for posting this recap! I JUST started my blog this week and I can use all the advice I can can get! I am learning as I go, but these are all great tips I can follow!
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