Transforming Your Life and Work via Blogging

Nina Smith — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 23:48:58 -0600

Hi Deni, I hope to be on the same panel to compare notes about how blogging changed my life. Perhaps, the broader topic for this session is understanding why bloggers blog.

Darren Rowse at ProBlogger provided insights on the topic and they're worth repeating here:

"Each blogger writes for their own unique set of reasons and motivations. Some do so as a hobby, others to express their creativity, many to share their views, some as a therapeutic way of getting things off their chest and a few as a means of income. The combinations of reasons for blogging will be as many as there are bloggers. Some of us, if we're honest, probably even blog because we seek change in ourselves and find the blogging process helps us think through our identity and lives."

Blogging allowed me to reinvent myself in midlife. It's a powerful tool, whether used for tapping into a fan base as demonstrated by Deni or to hone in on a market segment that was underserved by the financial industry like myself. We're at two ends of the spectrum but have found common ground through blogging. I'm sure others have similar stories.

Getting To Know Your Audience!

Deni Bonet — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:07:05 -0600

Hey BlogHers! I am hoping to be a speaker at BlogHer Conference '06. Let's get this party started by me introducing myself.

My name is Deni Bonet and I write a blog called LAST GIRL ON EARTH. I am a singer/songwriter/violinist living in New York City, and have either recorded or performed with many famous names including Cyndi Lauper, Sarah McLachlan, R.E.M., the Indigo Girls, and many others. I am also excited that I just won BEST MUSIC BLOG in the "BEST OF the BLOGS" awards, and I have a steady audience of regular readers. I'm an experienced public speaker, AND entertaining!

I feel like in many ways I have become a role model for many women who want to succeed and follow their dreams. My HEADER on my blog says it all

"The wacky musings of a girly New York musician who is attempting to prove that you don't have to be a 19 year old anorexic model babe to be successful."

I started blogging to help promote my newest CD, "LAST GIRL ON EARTH". I was initially going to only blog about the recording process, and my trials and tribulations during the year I was in the studio recording the CD.

BUT, after I started blogging, I realized that I got swept up in the whole blogging community and my blog grew into something totally different than what I had intended it to be. I've developed a virtual, online support group who I feel is rooting me on to be successful in my quest to get musical recognition. I have met numerous bloggers at my performances around the country, and actually have developed a whole new fanbase for my music that I wouldn't have gotten to know otherwise!

I use a lot of complex technologies on my site, such as audio, video, audioblogging, polls, and the occasional contest, all of which I have learned to do myself. For me, blogging is an extension of what I do for a living. I am an entertainer, and I seek to make my blog an entertaining place to come to again and again.

I've also gotten interested in making videos exclusively for my readers. For example, in one contest, I asked people to leave a comment to tell me what they wanted ME to ask strangers on the streets of New York! I collected their comments and hit the streets with their requests written out on note cards. I found "typical" New York characters to read the cards total strangers who let me digitally film them. Then I made a mini-movie, and posted it on my blog. I can't tell you how excited my readers were to hear their comments in such a context!

My blog is all about fun, but it also is human. Recently, my mother has been ill, and the show of support that I have received had been overwhelming.

You have to WORK at blogging if you want to gain a fan base just like in real life! I have worked hard at it, and I think I could help with many pointers. I believe in the power of blogging, and I also believe that if you know how, you CAN make a difference through the blogging community.

Any questions? Let me know what you think. After all, a girl has got to know her audience!

BlogHer - Getting To Know Your Audience! - Comments

Transforming Your Life and Work via Blogging

Getting To Know Your Audience!