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Search Engine Optimi-WHAT?!

Posted on October 16, 2011 Written by Tonya

Tim AKA @sogeshirts is one of the nicest, most supportive people I have met on Twitter. He retweets just about every tweet I post about a new piece I have on Letters For Lucas and owns a clothing shop called Soge Shirts. He is responsible for this awesome tank top I wore during BlogHer ’11:

When Tim asked if he could guest post on my blog on the topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), I was all for it for a couple of reasons: 1). I get very twitchy when it comes to SEO because I don’t really know the first thing about SEO and should and 2). Tim really knows his stuff.

Read and learn, friends….and please ask any questions you may have in the comments section. Tim can surely answer them!

Why going after keywords with low competition can lead to big traffic

Search Engine Optimization is a very competitive industry. If you are lacking traffic to your blog or Website you may be making the mistake of trying to rank for overly competitive keywords which people are paying big money to keep their rankings. Instead it may be better to go after smaller less competitive keywords or phrases that you can rank for fast. If you can rank for many small keywords or phrases with low competition that relate to your blog or Website you can start getting some big traffic. All those small keywords and phrases can add up to even more organic traffic from Google and Bing than the one big keyword you were targeting and not getting results for.

The key to trying the strategy of going after phrases and keywords that have low competition and a decent number of searches is good quality research. Use the Google Adwords keyword tool to do your research. If you have a Google Adwords account you can get 800 related keyword ideas for any term you enter in. You will also be able to check the number of exact monthly searches for the term and the competition for each by hitting the exact checkmark on the left side instead of broad.

Once you find some keywords or phrases that relate to your blog and have decent monthly searches and low to medium competition you can start ranking for those keywords. I advise picking 50 or so keywords or phrases to start targeting so that you get a good idea of how ranking for 50 different keywords can add up to good traffic while at the same time not have to do research for awhile.

One thing to note is that you won’t be able to rank for all these keywords overnight. It will take time. Also I’m not saying to not go after the big keywords with high competition either. I just think it’s best to start getting some organic traffic before going for the big time words that take quite a long time to rank for.

To rank for your small keywords or phrases you can use those keywords and phrases in the titles of your blog post or start building anchor text links for the terms you want on guest posts on other blogs. If you do blog commenting you may notice that some blogs offer keyword love in which you can put the term you want to rank for in the name box while linking back to your site. This will definitely help you move up the rankings for those small keywords or phrases and quite possibly on the front page of Google or Bing. Can you imagine eventually having 50 keywords all delivering 5 to 10 hits a day to your Website or possibly more? That traffic can really add up.

In addition to Soge Shirts, Tim is a social media consultant for Interactive Music Teacher. You can follow him on Twitter at: @sogeshirts

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To My Sister

Posted on October 11, 2011 Written by Tonya

If you don’t know who Jessica of My Time As Mom is, you must be living under a rock.

It truly is as simple as that.

First of all, she has a wonderful blog, is ALWAYS! on Twitter, is a Social Media Specialist for Eli Rose and co-founder of Vlog Talk, a weekly vlog meme. On top of all that, she is a killer Scrabble player ( speaking as the opponent who ass she kicks all the time) and is the kindest and most helpful person I probably have ever encountered.

I am so happy to have Jessica here today sharing a letter to her sister, Victoria.

To My Sister,

We have always been opposites.

From our hair to our shoes to our personalities.

The expressions salt and pepper and night and day have been used to describe us many times.

We have had our ups and downs in life.

We have laughed over stupid jokes and mom’s hair.

We have cried over the loss of family members and other things that I can’t remember.

We went many months without speaking to each other.

But we have always been sisters.

And we will always be sisters.

I know we don’t talk as often as we should and I don’t tell you I love enough.

But I do and my life wouldn’t be the same without you.

Although if I was you, I would recommend that you not listen to me the next time I tell you to shove a sock in your mouth.

Juxtaposition

Posted on September 7, 2011 Written by Tonya

I was tweeting with @mommyofamonster and @projectalicia today about our young children starting preschool and older children going back to school and mommy time and our kids in general and how fast they grow up and then I read Four Plus An Angel’s beautiful post, As You Begin School and as the day wore on I started to feel melancholy and uncertain and really missing my son.

Melancholy because noon could not come soon enough. Three hours a part was three hours too many today. I relished my “me time” and although I was able to get a lot accomplished without Lucas in tow, my thoughts and heart were with him.

Uncertain because Lucas is only two years old and on Day 14 of preschool and I feel as though his father and I keep reminding ourselves why he is there; it’s good for him socially and his vocabulary and retention are vast.

So far, he’s doing great! Drop offs and goodbyes are getting easier (on both of us) and the art projects he proudly hands me at the end of his school day adorn our refrigerator with love.

Part of me is over the moon excited for him to expand his horizons and grow and learn, while the other part is completely torn up inside and worried that I’m losing my baby too soon.

It’s bittersweet, but I know the latter is inevitable.

Backpack as big as he is in one hand and a lovey in the other.

Could this kid be any cuter?

At Lucas' school, they help potty train. How awesome is that?!

These are special days and fleeting and let’s face it, there are only so many firsts we all have.

I hope your ~~babies~~ children have a great semester!

This post was written for Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop, 3.) First day of school pictures…let’s have ’em!

Two Years Old

Posted on August 27, 2011 Written by Tonya

Letters For Lucas is two years old today!

I can’t believe I’ve been at this for two years.

There have been two redesigns, 682 posts, 12 guest posts, two blog conferences, many communities joined, countless photos shared, lots of self promoting tweets, tons of supportive retweets and some of the greatest friends made.

Over the past two years, I’m proud of how my voice has shone through in my writing and my writing has helped me explore my emotions regarding being a mother, sister, parentless parent and softie at heart.

I love my little space on the Internet. I love my readers and all the connections I have made through blogging, but the real reason I do this, aside from maintaining my sanity, is this precious little boy:

Lucas is the inspiration for every single post I write and I hope someday he enjoys reading Letters For Lucas as much as I enjoy writing it. I hope my words give him greater insight to all of his mother’s complexities and offer us hours of conversation.Here’s to another two years and beyond!

A very special thank you to Morgan for these lovely photos of Lucas. She captured him to a tee; all of his sweet, mischievous, wonderful, curious, M&M and dirt loving magic. Thank you!

How To Be The Best Blogger In The World

Posted on August 20, 2011 Written by Tonya

I’ve been blogging for almost two years and in that time I’ve learned a couple of things about how to be a good blogger.

There is a method to this madness, an unspoken etiquette that bloggers follow and some very important dos and don’ts.

For those of you feeling super ambitious, follow these tips and you may be crowned: The Best Blogger in the World! Please try to refrain from eye rolling until the end.

1. Write an informative, insightful, witty, fantastic post every. single. day., complete with links to others and professional photographs to illustrate your points.

2. Publish your fantastic post at midnight on the dot, if you live on the east coast and 9:00 PM, if you live on the west coast.

3. Promote your fantastic post on Twitter (multiple times throughout the day), Facebook, (which includes your blog fan page, your personal Facebook page, the Studio+ 30 and 5 Minutes for Mom pages and any other Facebook pages that will allow you to, Stumble your fantastic post and add a teaser to BlogFrog (or other favorite community site) and join multiple memes/linkies and/or blog hops that apply, even if it’s stretch. It’s called multi-tasking, people. Oh, and driving traffic to your site.

4. Reply to each and every comment your fantastic post receives. Bonus points if you do this within minutes of receiving the comment.

5. Follow every single person that follows you, whether it be on your blog or Twitter and engage. Hourly. Read their posts, comment on them and promote them.

Ugh.

Clearly, I’m kidding! There is NO WAY in hell anyone could do all this. Even with an extra 24 hours in their day. Though the “blogger guidelines” are unspoken, it sometimes feels like you have to be in people’s faces all the time just to keep up. It gets to be too much sometimes, doesn’t it? It does for me.

Truly, my only advice is this: write from the heart, be true to who you are and do your best to encourage, support and learn from others.

That’s it. Simple, right?

Blogging shouldn’t feel like a chore. It shouldn’t cause you angst or pressure of any kind and the minute it’s not fun anymore, you should take a step back and reevaluate why you do it in the first place. Why do you blog? I hope it’s not to be the best blogger in the world.

By the way, I did post this on the Facebook pages mentioned above and will Tweet it in hopes of RTs all day. I will try my best to respond to all of you IF you comment, I’m sorry if I don’t already follow you and I would have included a photo but I couldn’t get my son to cooperate. No, he’s not relevant to the subject matter, but he sure is cute. 🙂

BlogHer ’11: My Recap

Posted on August 9, 2011 Written by Tonya

It wasn’t about the swag, the parties, the sessions, or even the networking.

Even though the swag was nice, the parties a lot of fun (especially Dance Party USA at Sparklecorn), the sessions I attended (Essential Writing and Editing Skills, Essential Blog Content Development Workshop, How to Pitch Freelance Editorial Work and Malcolm Gladwell is Missing the Point: Revolutions are Happening Online) extremely informative and the networking a great step towards furthering my freelance writing career, for me, BlogHer ’11 was more about finally meeting so many amazing women that I have been getting to know on the Internet through their blogs and on Twitter for months.

It was about the connections I have built online with women I had already considered friends, but wanted to hug in person and tell how much they mean to me. It was about surrounding myself with like-minded mothers, seeking their advice, sharing a laugh and a glass or two of wine and maybe even shedding a tear as they worked through an emotional moment.

I did all of the above and in turn, BlogHer ’11 met and exceeded my expectations.

Thumbing through the stack of business/blog cards I collected from everyone I encountered makes me smile. Many of these women I already classified as members of my tribe and a few I had been fortunate enough to meet once or twice before, or talked to on the phone. Being able to spend an entire weekend with them was pure magic. There are also lots of new names in the stack and I’m looking forward to getting to know them and their writing soon.

I met most of the women on my “must meet at BlogHer ’11” list, but didn’t get to spend nearly as much time as I would have liked with anyone.

The weekend moved much too fast and in a lot of ways felt like being back in school, shuffling from one event to the next, saving seats, checking in, wardrobe changes and cute shoes, gossip and laughs. It will surely be a weekend that I won’t soon forget and I’m already missing Natalie, Nichole, Katie, Sherri, Gigi, Morgan, Lori, Poppy, Robin, Yuliya, Galit, Cheryl, Tracy, Jessica … this list could go on and on and on.

All I can say is, thank God for Twitter!

Feeling more inspired and focused about my writing and my little corner of the Internet than ever, I am planning to attend BlogHer ’12 in New York!

I took copious notes during the sessions I sat in and will be sharing a few tips over the coming weeks (although I believe the bulk of the information covered will be available on the BlogHer Web site), but if you’d like to know more about my BlogHer experience or have a specific question, please ask.

Posted on May 13, 2011 Written by Tonya

First it was MySpace, then Facebook, followed by Twitter and now, my new latest obsession is ~ drum roll, please…. Pinterest.

What is Pinterest you ask?

Think of Pinterest as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can create collections of things you love and “follow” collections created by people with great taste.

People use Pinterest to collect and share all sorts of things — wedding inspiration, favorite T-shirts, DJ equipment. You name it, people are pinning it.

We know you have great taste in something. Our mission is to make Pinterest the best place for you to share your taste with the world.

Over the last week I have spent HOURS on this site pinning favorites faces, places, products, pretty things, quotes, gift ideas, and items on my lust after list.

Things like:

Anything goes and the best part is that every image links back to original source/site for more information.

What an awesome idea and a HUGE wonderful waste of time. If you pin, come find me!

What I Love About Being A Mom

Posted on April 27, 2011 Written by Tonya

The top five things I love about being a mom:

1. My kisses make boo boos all better.

2. I get to play, act really silly, sing and dance, color with crayons, blow bubbles, use sidewalk chalk and squish Play-Doh between my fingers.

3. I love hearing “mommy”, even if it’s three o’clock in the morning.

4. I have to listen to my instincts, go with my gut and trust that the decisions I am making are the “right” ones for my son.

5. There’s a little person running around growing, learning, thriving, smiling and being super cute all because of me and my husband.

What do you love about being a mom?

I threw this question out on Twitter the other night and here are some of the touching and humorous responses I got (names have been withheld to protect the innocent, sentimental and exhausted), in the order in which they were received:

Bedtime 😉
Earlier today my kiddos and I were hanging out on my bed goofing around. I like those moments best.
I love feeling needed. And I love how proud I am of my son. Every day.
Not a mom but I crave the chance to relive the wonder of life thru the eyes of an innocent child. To see reactions at tastes and the feeling of sand on their toes the first time they realize it feels different. Reactions to music.
I love that they are mine.
The unconditional love you get in return. Kisses & hugs & laughs & funny conversations. & the pride when they succeed/excel.
What do I love about being a mom? Right now I really love bedtime.
Little stuff: my kiddo holding my hand, knowing how to make him laugh, comfort him. Big stuff: watching a person I created learn and explore. Passing on my values. Seeing a person emerge.
I love being there for everything, from small scrapes to huge milestones. I love every second of their lives.
I love morning bed snuggles and kisses from my 4 yr old who says *I Love You Mama!!*
I love that I get to nurture and take care of my little ones’ needs.
I love being called “mama”.
I love the snuggles. little I love you’s at random times of the day. The idea of a piece of me in them. Seeing myself in them.
I love pressing my cheek against their little cheeks.
Coming home from even just the grocery store, and opening the door to huge eyes full of excitement while they are all jumping up and down chanting “mama! mama!”…and Tater says “I missed you so much mom!”

This post was featured on Natalie’s blog, Mommy of a Monster, in her weekly feature, Monster Likes #16 on April 30, 2011.

Bloggy Boot Camp

Posted on March 18, 2011 Written by Tonya

Normally quiet, shy and reserved until you get to know me and more than happy to hide behind my laptop, I went out on a limb thinking no one else I knew would be attending (except Mommy of a Monster, who is now not able to attend after all) and bought a ticket for my first blogging conference.

I don’t know what I was thinking… I’m not overly comfortable in large groups, especially when I don’t know anyone, but that was more than seven months ago. Now, I have so many friends via Twitter, Letters For Lucas and the mommy blogging community in general that are going to be at Bloggy Boot Camp tomorrow that I am peeing in my pants excited!!

Bloggy Boot Camp is a blogging conference hosted by the SITS (The Secret to Success is Support) community. There are six events this year around the country and this one just happens to be in my back yard.

The event is limited to 125 attendees, so where I once was afraid, I am now looking forward to the intimate setting and because I still consider myself a relatively new blogger, I can’t wait to network and learn what the pros recommend.

The speaker line-up sounds amazing too. I am particularly excited about seeing/hearing/meeting Mama Mary of The Mama Mary Show, whom I have had fun on Twitter with and Kathy, aka Mama Kat, the blogger behind Mama’s Losin’ It. Each week I participate in her nearly world famous, Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop.

I’m sure I’ll walk away mind boggled and inspired.

Check back next week when I share highlights and be sure to let me know if you ‘re planning to be there too.

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Goodwill Among Moms

Posted on March 14, 2011 Written by Tonya

It was either Facebook or Twitter where I first learned about The Mom Pledge. Either way, I am all about it and I hope you will be too.

Being a mom is the hardest job I have ever had and I need all the support I can get and I don’t care where it comes from, as long as it’s honest. Let’s whine, complain, cry on each other’s shoulders, offer advice and then tell one another to put on our big girl pants and get over it.

For the most part I have had nothing but positive interactions, made meaningful connections with other moms and truly value the relationships I’m building through Letters For Lucas and other social media outlets.

I have been the victim of negative anonymous comments on my blog and it was very disheartening.

It’s easy to let our words get the best of us, but life is too short to try and keep up with the Joneses, put each other down or hide behind our computer screens.

The Mom Pledge is about bloggers standing up, speaking out, and coming together to eradicate online bullying of moms by other moms. The time has come for us to take the power back and own this issue.

The Mom Pledge

I am a proud Mommy Blogger. I will conduct myself with integrity in all my blogging activities. I can lead by example.

I pledge to treat my fellow moms with respect. I will acknowledge that there is no one, “right” way to be a good Mom. Each woman makes the choices best for her family.

I believe a healthy dialogue on important issues is a good thing. I will welcome differing opinions when offered in a respectful, non-judgmental manner. And will treat those who do so in kind.

I stand up against online bullying. My blog is my space. I will not tolerate comments that are rude, condescending or disrespectful.

I refuse to give those who attack a platform. I will remove their remarks from my blog with no mention or response. I can take control.

I want to see moms work together to build one another up, not tear each other down. Words can be used as weapons. I will not engage in that behavior.

I affirm that we are a community. As a member, I will strive to foster goodwill among moms. Together, we can make a difference.

I have committed to the principles of The Mom Pledge because I believe that it is important to be supportive and respectful to each other. If you do too, please visit: http://www.efloraross.com/

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What I Write About