My first panel of the day was moderated by BlogHer co-founder Jory Des Jardines, who has been blogging personally for over four years before beginning a company, which changed her whole blog mojo.

The Panelists:

Candelaria Silva Collins was arts administrator in Boston for a number of years and considers herself to be a highly public figure. She blogs to place her ideas and opinions and into the world and values the validation that she receives from the blogging community.

Susan Getgood has been working in the online arena since 1993, when she began a personal webpage for her relatives. In 2004, Susan began Marketing Roadmaps, a consulting company and business blog. She maintains her personal blog, Snapshot Chronicles, which highlights her experiences and opinions on politics, traveling and life.

Christine Koh is a self-described “recovering academic,” with post-graduate degrees from Harvard and MIT. When she became a parent, she began Posh Peacock, a design business, along with her parenting blog BostonMamas.

Q: For beginning bloggers, how do you foster your own sense of community?

Susan: Always likes to have more comments on her blogs than posts. She wants to hear from the people who are reading and enjoys the interaction. No one wants to be “talking in a vacuum.”

Candelaria: Leaves a lot of comments on other blogs.. When people visit hers, she immediately looks up their blog and leaves a comment. Leaving comments on other blogs builds a lot of traffic to your own site and helps you build relationships with other bloggers.

Q: We all have a thought about how we want to be perceived. What do you wish you had thought through when you started blogging?

Christine: Has a tendency to jump into projects “all body parts first” and hadn’t thought explicitly about her blog identity before she began. She wanted to maintain professional standards with clear, tight writing, and keeping an authentic voice.

Susan: When she began her work online she already had a professional identity so she’s always maintained that boundary between personal life and professionalism. She does not write about personal details that could cause her son distress later in life. She also does not try to guard her identity since she was a public person when she began blogging. different last name.

Christine: Regarding identity protection, you can be found anywhere. If you want to protect your identity online you can set up a personal password and onlu distribute it to those who you’d like to read your blog..

Candelaria: Is a public blogger. She tries to build, and not tear down when she’s blogging. She wants her voice to be positive and does not blog anything that she isn’t prepared to defend.

Q: How do you maintain identity and authenticity when moving from personal to professional blogging?

Susan: Thinks it’s important to maintain a strong boundary and to decide what your boundaries are before you begin blogging. Her personal boundary is strong and she feels it important to put forward the online persona that you want people to know. Sharing deeply personal information can be fine if that is the brand you want to offer to your readers.

Candelaria: As someone who held a fairly public position for a number of years, she is always conscious about how she walks in the world and who she is.

Christine: Boston Mamas is more resource-oriented rather than personal and she uses Twitter as a resource to share personal anecdotes and thoughts.

Susan: If you are in the job market, you have to make a choice when you sit down to blog. If you want to be extraordinarily personal, you have the option to blog anonymously, providing that you are clear about your anonymity. You have to write for somebody. When you’re starting a blog, choose someone who you are writing for. Susan began her blog for her mother, because she knew that her mom would read it every day.

Q: How do you measure the success of your blog when you’re considering monetization?

Candelaria: Her goal is to get a publisher because she thinks of herself as a passionate writer. She thrives on reading the comments and feedback from other women and hearing her thoughts validated by others.

Christine: Seldom checks her metrics; monitors them to field sponsor inquiries. She mentioned that everybody hears about celebrity bloggers like Dooce, but that kind of blogging success only happens to a precious few.

Susan: Suggests deciding if you’re seeking popularity or influence. She has become influential through speaking engagements that arose as a result of her blog.

Candelaria: Is interested in viewing which of her posts have been most popular. She likes the feedback and knowing what entries her readers are enjoying the most.

Some resources for site metrics: Sitemeter, Feedburner, Google Analytics, StatCounter.
ProBlogger.net

Q: How do you feel about monetizing your blog?

Christine: Posted her first 500 entries independently and now she welcomes contributing writers, but does not pay them. She gives them swag instead so their efforts are not unrecognized. Subsequently, she does not believe in advertorial or paid editorial.

Susan: Writes freelance as well as her blogs; she receives compensation for writing articles, brochures, websites and sometimes views writing as a value exchange. She defines value based on whether the exposure will be significant enough to do it without compensation. Iif the value is all to the outlet providing the opportunity, she expects to be paid, as it is how she makes a living.

Candelaria: Considers anything beyond a 10 minute business conversation a consultancy. She considers working without compensation to be a personal choice, but does not subscribe to the notion that writers or artists should work for free because it’s their passion

Susan: Dislikes pay-per-post opportunities, because words have value and by putting a price on the, we’re cheapening them. She believes that paid reviews is journalism to some degree as long as you’re clear that you were paid to decide whether a product is credible or not. It is important to be honest about what you’re doing.

Susan: We hear a lot about Mom blogs that are doing well are doing well because it’s good writing, which does well no matter what the topic.

Q: How do you find your niche in the blogosphere?

Christine: Found one of the most difficult parts to be choosing a domain name.

Candelaria: Has committed to posting every other or every 3-4 days. She feels it is important to find your own voice despite society’s mixed messaging on age, sex, race gender. Blogging has helped her identify with community.

Susan: Began her blog after 20 years of corporate America. As a consultant she has less personal interaction and her blog is a way for to “get it out there” and has even helped build her business.

Christine: Is passionate about the topics she writes about. Many people want to blog as a means of income, but you have to blog because you have something that you’re really passionate about discussing and that will fuel the rest.

Susan – Blogging helps you find your village. We are limited to who we can meet in the physical world but blogging allows you to meet people with your own interests and you can move some of these relationships into the real world. Expanded her horizons. Has been a great moment to make friends that she’ll have for the rest of her life.

Q: What do you do when you’re faced with a blog crisis? When you get to a height and find yourself suddenly knocked down, how do you pick back up?

Susan: Grew tired of talking about social marketing and finds it helpful to have 2 blogs because she can spend more time vacillating between different topics if she hits a slump.

Christine: Was posting multiple times daily when she began, but this schedule became overwhelming so she learned that posting on weekdays and taking the occasional blog vacation worked best for her lifestyle.

Candelaria: Keeps a folder with ideas and inspiration for her blog so that she will consistently have inspiration about what to write. She also keeps consistent lunch dates with friends and colleagues from conferences that she’s worked; takes long walks with women in her community and takes a 30-60 minute break from the computer before turning in for the night.

Q: How do bloggers find the time to get their blog done?

Candelaria: When something is important to you, you find time to do. She cuts down in other areas, like watching less TV. Lives by the saying “if you want something done, ask a busy person.”

Susan: Each week, she plans what she’ll write about.

Christine: Has a self-imposed rule that she’ll get off the computer by 10 PM. Believes that everything will get done, or the important stuff will rise to the top to be finished.

Q: For new bloggers, what are things that annoy you about reading blogs?

Susan: Bloggers who write in a vacuum. Linking back and commenting on other blogs is part of what will keep your own blog going.

Christine: Grammar and spelling errors. If you don’t care enough to read your own posts, why should other people read them?

Candelaria: Long posts. Also will not read bloggers who are constantly angry and complaining.