Today’s bucket of awesome is a lesson in how social media can take away your customers. I follow a blogger call @hushamanda who has a blog here. A couple of months ago, she started mentioning that she was working with the hosting company twenty70.com (here is Kelly from twenty70 twitter url). I wasn’t looking for a new hosting company, but I am always looking for interesting people to follow, so we started tweeting back and forth. Now, here’s part one of the lesson. Most companies when they get on social media only tweet about products or specials, or whatever. BORRRIINNGG. It’s rare to find a brand that is actually engaging it’s followers like Twenty70 hosting.

One thing my hosting company doesn’t do is allow for domain transfers. And I have domains ALL over the place. Twenty70 offered to consolidate them all, AND on top of all that gave me GREAT deal on hosting per month. So lesson two, be better than your competitors. You don’t have to be a LOT better, just a little, a little tweak to reel in your customers.

Well, I took the bait and I couldn’t be happier. I am now with Twenty70 hosting for ALL my blogs. The transfers went smooth-ish (I, uh, confused her when I was moving something over, so really it’s my fault. Go ahead show me your shocked face.)

For my next Bucket of Awesome I give you Twenty70 Hosting. (and psst….she has an awesome deal for bloggers, see it here)

This line is here because my html <br> aren’t working and I’m too lazy to fix it. Move along, nothing to see here.

So there are these rules in blogging. And bloggers love to write about them and why they are ‘good’ rules to follow. Of course, they aren’t hard and fast rules, the bloggy police don’t come out and hunt you down if break the rules, but nonetheless, they are out there. And I hate EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Not because I am trying to b e obnoxious, but because who needs that kind of pressure?! Here are some of those that really annoy me:

Try to post everyday- OK, I can do that, as long as, I don’t know, have to FEED MY CHILDREN or GO TO WORK. Who has the time for that? I know some people who post every day or mostly every day, but the turth is, I don’t read them all. Even my most favorite bloggers. It’s not that I don’t WANT to, I do (ok, I really don’t) but I don’t have enough patience to read all the posts they put out every damn day. I really admire their dedication and, for some, the ability to being the funny to every post- I just realize that I don’t have that kind of talent. I know that I have two regular categories that post to called “Daily Picture” and “Daily Rant” but if you followed this blog for more than a day than you know that it is rarely, if ever, Daily. And I don’t feel bad about that. (Mainly because renaming to it Whenever-the-hell-I-get-around-to-it-Photo is a pain in the ass).

Next rule, stick to one subject. Yeah….not gonna happen. I like to say that I know just enough to be dangerous. Plus like I say in my About page, I believe you should be blessed with my writings on whatever comes to my mind. Sticking to one subject  is constraining and boring for me. I know some AWESOME SharePoint bloggers, I’ll be happy to direct you to them. I know some badass Mommy Bloggers, just don’t call me a Mommy Blogger. I have links for some GREAT Geek blogs and stores, but I can’t post all my geeky stuff all the time. You get the picture. My tagline proclaims me to be “princess of randomness” and I aim to live up to that title.

Last rule, I like to break- Don’t discuss politics or religion. Why not? Just like  TV, if you don’t like my views you can bounce outta here anytime. But I’d rather discuss, argue even, with you. Why not? Why are we afraid to defend or stick up for our ‘values’ or ‘beliefs’? The best discussions are not with people who think like you, the best discussions are with people who DISAGREE with you.

I’ve seen two blogs alone this week fold. ‘Too time consuming’ is that main reason they cite (both were mothers of children smaller than mine, and I wish them both well). I would like this blog to continue for long time so I have only two rules that I stick to: Post whatever I want, whenever I feel like it.

This is me with my favorite blogger Marymac from Pajamas and Coffee. I LOVE LOVE LOVE her. You should too, but not in the creepy stalkerish way that I do.

Mommy bloggers everywhere are angry (GRR!). And no, this time, it’s not about ME. Since this is a post that I will be posting both on my company blog and my personal blog, I will lay out some details. If you already heard it then skip to the next paragraph. Mommy blogging is the ‘in’ thing to do at the moment, and lots of women have taken to the internet to post on their take on parenting, mommy issues, moral dilemmas, days without showers, and so on. I also blog, but I vehemently eschew the mommy blogger moniker for various reasons. A couple of weeks ago a blogging community PR company held an event called ‘Bloggy Bootcamp’  (YES, someone did make up that AWFUL name) in Baltimore. I signed up to go, and though (in the end) it wasn’t my cup of tea, I enjoyed meeting many women who I have interacted with online, either through blog comment sections or on twitter.

At the conference there were some things said that just struck me as all wrong. One- being a mom is hip and trendy right now. Yeah, cause that’s why I have kids- to be trendy. Two- Know your worth. If you are a Stay at home mom, your worth to your family is truly immeasurable, but to companies, mommy bloggers are a dime a dozen. And so on. Again, not my cup of tea, but hey, I get what they are trying to say.

The other portion of this story is that there was a freelance writer doing a piece on mommy blogging for the New York Times. The conference organizer and speakers were understandably excited, press is a good thing, especially at an event costing anywhere between 80-100 bucks per person.The writer spent the day at the conference interviewing bloggers and taking pictures. Then the article came out. The tone of the piece was snarky and condescending, and while a good portion of the ire online is aimed at the writer, women online are in a Battle Royale over the meaning of this article.

I tend to side with the article writer (DESPITE HER AWFUL SHOES) for one reason and one reason only, the amount of giveaways that companies sponsor on the blogs. When you take money for a company to blog about their product, don’t come and complain when you have lost credibility with your readers or your fellow bloggers. One commenter said it was fashionable to beat up on mommy bloggers; maybe it is, and maybe some of it is deserved.

I write four blogs, but the one that I represent when I go to gatherings like these, is my personal blog. And while the talk on the SEO optimization was great, advice on how to get money and promotions out of company made me feel like I was in a gathering of Tupperware reps. I don’t engage with these companies for several reasons 1) As a government contractor, you never know what is a conflict of interest, so it’s best just steer clear altogether, 2) I won’t have my opinion held hostage by a contractual obligation. Example, say I take product to give away but later find that the company I took money from is polluting a river in a small town in Indiana. I want to be able to write really terrible things about that company without having to worry about what it will do to a ‘business’ relationship, and 3) I want to be taken serious as a blogger, having a blog full of giveaways doesn’t allow this (serious BITCH, that is).

So it’s at this point that I would like to put in my requisite disclaimer. I have met some wonderful writers, who just happen to be moms, through these events. I have even met some great mommy bloggers who run event services on the side. Make no mistake that these women are rock stars, and I enjoy being in their group. This is not about them, per se. It’s about all bloggers, and at what point do you stop being a sincere writer and start being a unpaid corporate shill?

One last caveat, I know a couple of bloggers that run review sites. They take products from companies and then post reviews about those products. What makes this different, that is the intent of the blog, to write reviews about products (similar to one of my favorite blogs- Engadget), so again not really in this category.

I am not trying to say that mommy blogging is not credible or that you shouldn’t have sponsors (SHOULD FERRARI WANT TO SPONSOR ME, I AM AVAILABLE). One of my favorite bloggers has a sponsor and does hilarious posts about their products (looking at you marymac). All I am saying, is that you should call a spade a spade, and whether you are trying to sell me Tupperware or Pampered Chef or whether you are blogging about a product for Kraft foods, you are a salesman- not a blogger.

Update: Another one of my favoritest twitter people of all time @pixielation figured out that this is called the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse- information here. It STILL DOES NOT make up for that fact that she has beaten about 10 times in the “Words With Friends” app.

I looked online for at least 5 minutes to figure out what this building is, but I couldn’t find it. If you know, please tell me in the comments. Nonetheless, I took this from Pier 5 hotel balcony at bloggy bootcamp last week. This looks out over part of Baltimore’s famed Inner Harbor, more information found here.

Dear Blog Conference Organizer,

Your blog ‘bling’ is silly. I am not putting it on my blog to give you free advertising and take up prime space for that could be spent on ME. I make a PROFESSIONAL looking events page where I tell any interested parties what conferences I will be at, plus I will promote your conference on twitter. For those that want to use it, great- but DO NOT ask me why I am not using it. Keep your pink and blue scrolly thingy, thank you very much.

Last night I went to a dinner for the Baltimore Bloggy Boot Camp. A GREAT time was had by all! Here are a couple of shots from dinner (more photos can be found here)-