Posts Tagged "blog"

30
Sep 10

FACT: Adirondack Almanack = Awesome

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

Did you know that New York State’s Adirondack Park is the size of the state of Vermont?

I didn’t know that, either… until I spent some time reading the Adirondack Almanack and chatting with its founder, freelancer John Warren (as John put it: “The size of the Adirondacks is incredible. In fact, the Adirondack Park is the largest protected area in the contiguous United States. It’s larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Canyon and Great Smokies combined – and it covers 7 counties and 2 Congressional districts.”).

It turns out that Warren is not only a great local blogger (or, in this case, regional blogger) but he’s also a historian, among other things– so I learned a lot of interesting facts from him. Here are a few of my favorites!

FACT: The Adirondacks are more than just a tourist destination (though they’re that, too).

It’s also a place where people live, year-round. It’s like a microcosm for the country, because there are a lot of issues that are important here that are also national issues: development, the environment, the outdoors. That makes it a unique place and a great location to blog about.

Like any tourist place, the Adirondacks is divided between locals, newcomers and tourists. The newcomers tend to be more environmentally focused. The locals tend to be more interested in hunting and fishing in their backyard. So, the different camps come into contact a lot in terms of development issues.

FACT: Adirondack Almanack was started because Warren felt that local media outlets weren’t covering issues like development well enough.

Development is a big issue here: how do we develop an area that’s supposed to be a park? There are also economic issues involved: the need for industrial and good-paying jobs, for instance. We have traditionally had industries like logging and paper-making here, a lot of forestry products. Mining as well. But those jobs have basically disappeared over the last 50 years, and now ours is a tourist economy. So, affordable housing for locals in a tourist economy is another important issue.

I saw that none of the local papers were covering these important issues. The papers are usually pro-development– to a fault. They’re also usually against the Adirondack Park Agency — it’s been a traditional target for the local media for years. Property rights advocates and local newspapers have really hounded the Adirondack Park Agency for years, as well as the Department of Environmental Conservation. So, we needed another voice in the local conversation [which is why I started the Adirondack Almanack 5 years ago.]

FACT: The Adirondack Almanack is a group effort and a labor of love.

At first [the blog] was really me ranting [about local issues], but over the last 3 years or so it’s really transformed into a regular media outlet. We now have over 20 contributors from all parts of the Adirondack region. They write about different topics, from natural history to outdoor recreation to local politics, commentaries and family events. I write about history. They’re all volunteers I found and approached, and they volunteer for a variety of reasons: some want their voice to be heard, and some want to raise awareness about issues that they care about.

I’ve been really lucky in that I’ve had the ability to gather contributors who are all quality writers. They understand the issues they’re covering in-depth. They really contribute to the community. No one person can do this thing at all – there are over 20 people who make it happen.

FACT: You can also run a locally-oriented site without a small army of volunteers.

New York History is another site I run. I just do it myself – it’s mostly media-release driven. It’s kind of an interesting thing, because it shows how a local site can operate with low energy input. I don’t write all the press releases, I just re-craft the press releases. I edit them, then publish them using no byline, which is what a lot of major media sources do. I think of it as a resource for history, which is important because public history is really suffering. They’re closing historic sites all the time. I’m confident that New York History will help – that it’s going to be an up-and-coming sort of thing.

FACT: Bloggers can add a fresh voice to their local conversations.

We are providing a voice that wasn’t heard before in local media — the voice of the people who support the environment. But it’s not just an environmental blog. We also provide other perspectives: not just from the property rights angle, but also from those who just want to paddle down the river freely, even if it happens to flow through private land.

I also grew up as a hunter and a fisherman, so I understand those issues, too. I remember what it was like to have nothing, not even a movie theater. So, I have a different take on things. We live here in this park, so we have to work here and live here and survive, and we can’t do that without some development. But we’re interested in smart development – it’s the last real wilderness East of the Mississippi, and it’s something that we need to protect. I want to see every town connected by snowmobile trails, but they shouldn’t go through ecologically sensitive areas.

FACT: Your local blog can help you land a book deal (& get other cool gigs).

[Blogging] helps raise recognition of my work, for sure. For instance, the History Press contacted me and asked me to combine some of my essays into a book, which was published last year: Historic Tales from the Adirondack Almanack. So, I got a book deal. I’ve also gotten some research jobs — I do research for documentary films about the Adirondacks. It’s boosted my freelance work, for sure… only now I have less time to do freelance work.

You have to have a bunch of ways to make money [when you live in the Adirondacks]. I work several jobs: I teach media production and new media at Burlington College. I also work at the New York State Writer’s Institute, and I do development work for Maryland Public Television. I also get to go to conferences to speak, to lecture here and there. I recently found out that the Adirondack Mountain Club is going to give me their Communications Award this year. It’s a great honor, because it’s not given out to just anyone.

FACT: Bloggers shouldn’t be afraid to contact local sources for their stories.

Sometimes I’ll contact people who are in the news. In the winter, we had somebody who survived an avalanche. So, I found them on Faceboook and said:

‘Hey, would you mind writing a guest post about your experience’?

No one else did that.  And you know, people are reluctant to talk to the [mainstream] media — but here [was] his opportunity to tell his story in his own words.

FACT: Even if you’re not a “Professional Journalist,” you can still set your own journalistic standards for your blog.

I try to have reasonable journalistic standards on the blog. I teach media, so I know what journalism standards are. We try to present a balanced story – which doesn’t always mean two sides, since there aren’t always two sides of a story. It means we try to have a variety of voices and tell stories that aren’t told. Are we doing straight-up journalistic reporting? No, we’re not. But we try to adhere to good balance, and I think that’s important. We label something as ‘commentary,’ if it’s commentary.

I also believe that in journalism we all have a point of view. There’s no such thing as not having a point of view. Be clear about what your intentions are — it’s this foggy middle ground that just uses deceptive wording to send a message — that’s what really gets me. Every person who writes regularly knows that they can change a word or two and add a little phrase here or there that will change the meaning of a story.

13
Sep 10

A Blowhard Blogger Looks at 40: Mike Doyle’s Top Blogging Tips

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

Mike Doyle

  1. “Don’t be a dick.”
  2. Write. Write some more. Keep it up.
  3. Have the courage to write what you really think or feel.
  4. Be gracious about it when you write something controversial or potentially offensive. Think twice. (See #1).
  5. Your blog is not an island. Be grateful for that fact. Celebrate it.
  6. Fear is not an excuse not to write. Just do it. You’ll learn from the doing of it.
  7. Have a viewpoint. Know what you want to say. You wouldn’t write a press release if you didn’t have any news: the same goes for a blog post.
  8. Go into yourself. Know yourself. Figure out what’s motivating you to start your blog, because that’s what’s going to motivate you to keep writing. Figure out what it is you’re trying to share and why.
  9. Your blogging will impact your professional life. Consider that. If you’re constantly critical, no one is going to be brave enough to hire you.
  10. Your blogging will impact your professional life. Consider that: “I’ve gotten about $40k in work over the past 5 years [that I wouldn't have gotten had I not been blogging].  Blogging has brought me a lot of professional and social connections, some of which have been financially rewarding.”
  11. Give yourself more credit. Give others more credit, too.
  12. Don’t pressure yourself to blog every day.
  13. Get over yourself.
  14. “It’s really important to keep the technology of your blog current. If it still looks like 5 years ago, it makes others wonder about how serious you are about building a community on that blog. There are crappy-looking blogs out there that have incredibly large communities and are very influential, but those are rare. If you’re going to blog, put as much love and care into the design of your blog as you do the content. People want your blog to be a fun place to come.”
  15. You don’t have to hit your readers over the head with a 2×4 in order for them to ‘get it.’
23
Aug 10

It Takes a Village (& Other Lessons Hyperlocal Bloggers Teach Us)

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love — View Comments

Last week I spoke with John Hawbaker, the Publisher of Chattarati, the Chattanooga, TN-based news and opinion blog. I found John to be an incredibly impressive, interesting individual, and I was especially impressed by his ability to effectively work with others to build a vibrant, relevant, important hyperlocal blog. Like Tom Bridge and his collaborators at We Love DC, Hawbaker understands that when it comes to comprehensive news coverage, it takes a village to raise a hyperlocal blog. Of course, once you spend some time reading Chattarati, you know that Hawbaker and Chattarati’s entire talented team of volunteers understand a whole lot more than just basic teamwork. Here are just a few of the lessons we learned this week.

The Chattarati crew relaxing at their Happy Birthday Happy Hour. Photo courtesy of Flickr user danielryan.

It Takes a Village

I don’t think it’s possible to do something like this alone. You need a great team. From day one, Chattarati has been a team effort. It’s very collaborative. When we launched we had a crew of 5-6 core people, most of whom still write with us today. – John Hawbaker

It Takes Creativity

Chattarati started as a really small, simple idea. I work [in] downtown [Chattanooga], and it’s been changing a lot. I wanted to start a daily photo blog to capture, visually, how the city is changing. I started thinking about it more and talking to friends, and we realized: ‘Something’s missing from the media scene here – a blog about Chattanooga.’ That’s how we started. We started talking about it in April, 2008 and we launched in July, 2008. – JH

It Takes Humility

As we got into more original [reporting and] writing, we realized how many things we didn’t know. That’s really become a strength: we try to learn as much as we can [about a topic], then we try to explain what we’ve learned to our readers. You have to know what you don’t know – and we’ve started to learn that.  -  JH

It Takes Curiosity

I love it when I get to write a story when I get to learn a lot. I wrote about a local grant program for local food producers, for instance, so I actually got to go and talk to people who are growing the food that we eat. That’s a rewarding experience for me – and then I get to help explain it to the reader so they can learn the same thing. [Since helping to found Chattarati,] I’ve learned a lot more about the area, its history, the people. – JH

It Takes Leadership

Editor-in-Chief David Morton has really led by example, especially when it comes to beat reporting. His coverage of city hall, and the recent budget controversy, is top-notch. He spent hours and hours going through the proposed budget so he could explain it, and its implications, to our readers. He’s also developing a style guide so we can maintain consistent standards throughout the publication.

And there’s a lot more management or facilitation involved than we ever would have imagined. I work a lot with the writers on developing and refining story ideas, and David works with them to edit articles and get them ready for publishing. We work together on planning coverage, and we host a biweekly writers meeting to help keep all our contributors on the same page. – JH

It Takes Resources

We all have full-time jobs. A lot of us work as writers, or in marketing or communications or something like that. I stay really busy, for sure. Any real work that I get done is at night, after my kids go to bed. I can call someone at lunch, but a lot of the time [communication is done] via email, or it’s research online. A lot of the other guys [at Chattarati] have similar arrangements. I spend probably 2-3 hours a night [on Chattarati], so I would say 15 hours a week is a pretty easy estimate. I think one of the biggest challenges is simply time [management] and not having a great deal of financial resources. We’re totally bootstrapped. – JH

It Takes Ingenuity

Our CMS [which we developed] is called PressWorks. It’s built on the Django framework. We started bumping up on some limitations with WordPress, and there were some things we wanted to simplify. The way PressWorks is organized is that it allows us to publish a collection of blogs as one site. Each of the categories on our site [i.e. Metro, Editorial, Culture, Neighborhoods, etc.] is a blog of its own. They have their own editors. Over time, each of those blogs will develop it’s own community feel.  It’s very easy to use. Eventually, we’re going to release PressWorks for other publishers to use. – JH

It Takes Vision

We started our company [The PressCore, Inc.] not only to publish Chattarati, but also to develop products that solve common problems facing online publishers. The first is OnLocation, our live blogging app, which is in private beta. OnLocation allows for multiple authors, and the live blog feed can be integrated into any website, so it doesn’t look like a plugin, it looks like you. It’s built on the Tornado framework so it’s fast and scalable. We’ve used it for live blogging recent elections in Tennessee – it also has a mobile admin interface, so we were live blogging from our phones a the victory parties. We feel like we can get our products out there and grow the company. – JH

It Takes Passion

I think you have to have passion, first of all. You have to care about your topic, you have to care about where you live and the people there. Our real goal is to help inform people so they can be engaged and active in civic life, whether that’s involvement in the political process or it’s giving them a good framework about what’s going on culturally. That’s the ultimate goal. – JH

19
Aug 10

Bon Voyage! (Or, Why Taking a Blog Vacay is Awesome)

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / Guest Posts / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

(This is a guest post from blogger extraordinaire Erica Reitman, who does her hyperlocal blogging at F*cked in Park Slope and her design blogging at the aptly-named Design Blahg. She also serves as the Marketing Director at Squarespace. Erica can be reached via Twitter @effedparkslope or @designblahg.)

So, I took a vacation from my blogs for 2 weeks. This vacation didn’t coincide with a real vacation. I wasn’t sitting on a beach or hiking through a rain forest. In fact, I was mostly sitting on my couch, catching up on TV, meeting friends for dinner and on one particularly delicious night, going to bed at 9:30. Like 9:30 p.m., in bed, lights out. And yes: it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

A blog vacay doesn’t have to mean leaving town. If you’re anything like Erica, it can mean spending some QT catching up on your favorite reality TV, like SYTYCD. It’s YOUR blog vacay: do what you want!

I have two blogs now (FIPS and Design Blahg) and I typically post 2-3 times per day on FIPS and at least once a day on DB. I also have a Twitter account for each and a Facebook page for each. Oh, and a full time job. So needless to say, it takes a lot of friggin’ time to manage this all. Like A LOT. Now, no one held a gun to my head and said: YOU MUST WRITE TWO BLOGS OR ELSE, so I take full responsibility for this insanity. But it *is* insanity and I decided that I needed a mental break from it all, and so my blog vacay was born.

Logistically, it was slightly easier for me to organize the vacation as I’m lucky enough to have other writers on both blogs who help me out. My gameplan was to take the entire two weeks, save two Sunday eves where I had to recap a TV show.

Here’s how the first few days went down:

* day one: I caved and did a blog post
* day two: I took some cell phone pics and sent info on a post to my FIPS editor.
* day three: I came up with a new blog idea

SON. OF. A. B.

Ok, so things didn’t go *exactly* as planned. And it was waaaay harder than I thought it would be to just step off. But also, after the first few days, I did swing into a bit of a groove. And if I’m being really honest, there were even a couple of days toward the end that I didn’t even bother going to FIPS to see what stories were posted (or even IF any stories were posted… and, of course, they were). But it felt really nice to just take a step back and enjoy a different view of my life for a couple of weeks.

In the end, I really loved the time off. I think it was worthwhile for me to clear my head and feel like a normal person, without the pressures of “OMG WHAT AM I GONNA POST TOMORROW” swirling around in my head day and night. Yes it was slightly challenging getting my head back in the game after my vacation was up, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

So I say bon voyage… take a blog vacay of your own and try it out.

(ED NOTE: To learn more about Erica’s secrets to blogging, check out the Mediabistro class she’ll be teaching this fall in NYC: Intro to Blogging.)

11
Aug 10

The Cream of the Crop: 10 Top Tips & Quips from Bloggers We Love

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

I’m on vacay, but Bloggers We Love are here for you!

I’m on vacation this week – but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about you guys! That’s right, this week we’ve got the Bloggers We Love clip show post! Please enjoy. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming shortly.

10. Adelle says: “Just Do It.”

One of the biggest benefits of blogging is just starting the blog and acknowledging that creative desire and giving in to it — and then, once you give in to it, it just opens you up to so many other things.

- Blogger We Love Adelle McElveen of Fashionista Lab

9. Jill says: “Start Your Own Meetup.”

In January, we started holding monthly Meetups. We go out into Brooklyn neighborhoods with our cameras and explore them — and invite whoever is interested into the group to come exploring with us. For instance, we went to Gowanus, right after the Gowanus [Canal] was declared a superfund site — more than 35 people walked through Gowanus shooting [photographs]. It was great because I got to meet all these people that I correspond with on the internet.

- Blogger We Love Jill Harrison of For the Love of Brooklyn

8. Tom says: “Focus on Friendraising.”

We’ve done huge things with the Kimpton hotel group. For instance, we did a survey last year just looking at the demographics of our readership [and those that completed the survey had a chance to win a free dinner and hotel stay from Kimpton]. We’re getting ready to plan our second birthday party, and we hope to partner with them again. Another great partnership we’ve started has been with the 9:30 Club. We do concert ticket giveaways each week– it’s fantastic.

- Blogger We Love Tom Bridge of We Love DC, on why partnering with local businesses is a good tactic for local bloggers

7. Caroline says: “Relax.”

Try to write every day — just don’t pressure yourself. I’m able to enjoy [blogging because I don't pressure myself too much]. I used to actually write every day, but then I decided to take the weekends off.

- Blogger We Love Caroline of Caroline on Crack

6. Tasha says: “Diversify, Diversify, Diversify.”

I do make some money off of my blog – but it’s just like writing: your money comes from a lot of little different places. Some of my income comes from local ads, some of it comes from internet ads, and some of it comes from freelance blogging projects: for instance, I contribute to a local TV station that has a mom site. When you’re a writer, you very rarely have one income source—that’s something I always remind bloggers of when they start out: they should diversify. It’s really tough to make it happen any one way—and, as a blogger, you have to straddle the editorial/advertising divide, which are usually separate in traditional media. It’s a full-time job in and of itself to sell ads.

- Blogger We Love Tasha Ball of Tasha Does Tulsa, on generating revenue

5. Lee says: “Blog What You Love.”

I love nachos. I used to talk about nachos so much that the girl I was dating at the time made me a ‘I <3 Nachos,’ T-shirt. I wasn’t even in New York yet. I was living in China, and I was blogging there about the city I was in. When I came back I wanted to start another blog because I really enjoyed it – and my friend was telling me how it had to be niche, how I had to find something I knew and liked. Nachos was, like, the first thing I could think of – I love nachos.

- Blogger We Love Lee Frank of Nachos NY

4. Liz says: “Do Your Own Thing.”

Take your time and go at your own pace. Don’t compare yourself to other blogs. Do your own thing. If you like to use photos, do that. If you want to make videos with your Flip cam, do that. But don’t feel obligated to do things you’re not interested in.

- Blogger We Love Liz Stambaugh of What’s to Eat, Baltimore?

3. Christy says: “Listen to Your Readership.”

One good piece of advice in terms of local blogging relates to the fact that you often have a lot of people trying to do the same thing, and blogs kind of fade in and out. It’s not so much about how many people are doing those things; it’s more about how you’re doing it a little bit differently and a little bit better – that makes it interesting. Try to pay attention to your readers – tailor your feature content to the things people will like. We do pay attention to our page statistics and we pay attention to our Twitter feed and we engage people and we listen. We always strive to be a resource that’s listening to our community instead of just being an outlet that pushes out information.

– Blogger We Love Christy Frink of Nashvillest

2. Michelle says: “Dream Big.”

I’d love to take a sabbatical from my job for a month and work in a restaurant kitchen — or go work on a farm, that’d be great. Haha, yeah, the chefs would probably be like, ‘who let this YAHOO come in and cook in my kitchen?!’ But I’d love to do it.

- Blogger We Love Michelle Venorsky of Cleveland Foodie

1. Steve says: “Don’t Force It.”

Blogs die for the same reason that any project dies. Something gets someone mad or passionate about that subject, and eventually people move on [to other projects].  If someone has a blog that’s passionate for a while, why is that invalid? I wouldn’t want someone to feel obligatory about something they’re not passionate about anymore.

- Blogger We Love Steve Shanafelt of the Spartanburg Spark on how it’s OK to start a blogging project and, when the time is right, move on

P.S. Local bloggers, don’t forget to register your blog here. It’s quick, simple, and will help drive traffic to your blog.
P.P.S.: If you’d like to be featured in our ‘Bloggers We Love’ series (or you’d like to nominate your favorite local blogger(s) for inclusion), we’d love to hear from you! Simply send an email to esther@outside.in

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28
Jul 10

Cleveland Calling (aka Bloggers We Love: Michelle Venorsky of Cleveland Foodie)

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General — View Comments

BLOGGER: Michelle Venorsky

FEATURED BLOG(S): Cleveland Foodie

TWITTER: @MichelleV

FACEBOOK: Michelle Venorsky

Cleveland Foodie Michelle Venorsky. Photo courtesy ClevelandFoodie.com. Keith Berr Photography.

I love to travel, however I’ve yet to visit Cleveland, Ohio. So, when I started scouting out Cleveland bloggers for our Bloggers We Love series, I really only knew 3 things about Cleveland: 1) it’s home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2) the poet George Bilgere teaches there, and 3) it once boasted the highest concentration of Hungarians in the world outside of Budapest (those last two may seem random, I know, but I’m Hungarian and a poet).

After getting to know Michelle Venorsky of Cleveland Foodie, that’s changed. Michelle taught me a lot about Cleveland’s vibrant food culture. From farm-to-table to family-friendly to fine dining, Cleveland is full of great restaurants— and, according to Michelle, new quality restaurants continue to open: “Even in this down economy,” she says, “people are still eating out constantly, and our food scene continues to shine.”

I was impressed and inspired to find out more, and what I learned was really interesting: for one thing, Cleveland, which was once manufacturing hub, is reshaping itself into a service-based economy. Another thing I found intriguing is that, in response to the foreclosure crisis, the city of Cleveland invested millions of dollars in its Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The program (which some consider controversial) works to clear land occupied by foreclosed homes that have fallen into disrepair. In doing so, they’re creating thousands of acres of vacant land in Cleveland, which the city hopes to revitalize by embracing urban gardening, community gardens and urban farming. They’re even allowing urban beekeeping in Cleveland.

Knowing a bit more about Cleveland helped me put Michelle’s story in context: she’s not just a foodie, she’s Cleveland foodie, which means she’s a foodie living in a locavore’s paradise. I’m happy share part of our conversation (and her story), with you: it’s all about food, blogging, entrepreneurship and of course, Cleveland – a city I just can’t wait to visit.

What prompted you to start Cleveland Foodie, Michelle?

I started Cleveland Foodie about four years ago, really as a means of education. In my day job, I work at an integrated marketing communications agency. About five years ago I started to become really interested in social media, so I went to the partners and said that social media was really going to turn our industry upside down. They [encouraged me to educate myself about social media], so I did that. Almost a year later, I decided I wanted to write a blog, because I really wanted to understand this blogging thing. I knew you had to blog about something you’re passionate about, and I’ve always had a strong interest in food, because I grew up in a big Italian family and cooking was a big part of my upbringing. I absolutely love my city, too, so writing a blog about food in Cleveland was a no-brainer.

How has your blog evolved over the past four years?

When I first started, I didn’t think anyone would read it, except for maybe friends and family – but at the time I started, our daily newspaper was starting to shrink, and one of our alt weeklies went under. So, it was almost pure luck: I came up when all of these other things were going under, so people were looking for local food and dining coverage, and they found my blog.

What new opportunities have presented themselves to you since you’ve started blogging?

As my traffic grew, Cleveland Magazine and Metromix Cleveland took notice and saw that people were turning to my blog for information about local food. So, they [each] reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to freelance. It was a no-brainer. I don’t write for Cleveland Magazine anymore, but I still do 2-3 articles a month for Metromix Cleveland. And, of course, I’ve gotten to know all of the [local] chefs and farmers: I’ve really been able to build relationships with them, since I interview them on a regular basis. I reach out and say: ‘I’d really love to give readers an insight into your life.’ The blog has really allowed me to get to know people and build community in general.

What else has blogging done for you professionally? Are there lessons you’ve learned that can help other marketers?

Blogging has just made me a better marketer. It helps me understand pitching bloggers – I see the do’s and don’ts every day when other marketers try to pitch me. So, I can contribute to that conversation at work and add value ideation in this space because I understand it: [when I pitch bloggers], I treat them the same way as I would treat any journalist. [To my fellow marketers, I'd say that] you can read about the social space all day long, but you need to DO IT [in order to really understand it]. You don’t have to become an addict and do it every day, but you need to do it in order to understand why people are using these tools, too. There will be new tools all the time, and you should at least take the time to play around with them. It’s one thing to read about it, it’s another thing to do it.

What’s the local blogging scene like in Cleveland? How do you see the blogosphere evolving – in Cleveland and in general?

The blogging community here is great. There are hundreds of bloggers, and we’re so supportive of one another. Cleveland bloggers write about food, lifestyle, fashion, entertainment – they’re delivering such great content to Clevelanders. [As far as how I see the space evolving] – somebody just asked me that yesterday! I think [the blogosphere] is going to get bigger. I think that as traditional media continues to shrink, traditional journalists are going to have to find homes within the blogosphere. And, as [the blogosphere] grows, I think people are going to start holding bloggers more accountable, and we’re going to see more FTC-type guidelines being put on bloggers.

What’s one of your biggest challenges as a hyperlocal food blogger?

Food is so subjective. I could go out to dinner to any number of restaurants in Cleveland and have the most amazing dining experience, the most amazing meal– and then someone will comment or send me an angry email to tell me that their experience was terrible. People can be so rude. But I always tell people: I’m not a professional! I have a degree in journalism but that doesn’t make me a professional. You have to learn not to respond to everybody, and my general response has always been: ‘you don’t have to agree with me, and you don’t have to read my blog.’ I’ve never understood the need to be rude to people online. People often feel like they can hide behide their keyboards– animosity and anonymity go hand in hand. I’d hope people wouldn’t act like that in real life. But, the nice thing is that everybody else comes to your defense.

How do you see your blog evolving? Do you have any hopes and dreams for your blog?

I’d love to take a sabbatical from my job for a month and work in a restaurant kitchen – or go work on a farm, that’d be great. Haha, yeah, the chefs would be like, ‘who let this YAHOO come in and cook in my kitchen?!’ But I’d love to do it.

So, I’m going to ask the obvious. Why Cleveland, as a foodie?

I love this city. I absolutely love this city. [In my line of work,] I’ve had the opportunity to leave many times, and for my job I travel a lot to places like New York City and LA and Chicago. Those cities are great, but I’m always happy to come home. I choose to call Cleveland home. Any one of our restaurants could open in New York City tomorrow and kick ass. It’s interesting, I interviewed Kate Krader from Food & Wine magazine recently and we discussed the same thing. Part of it is because it’s so expensive to open up a restaurant in the bigger markets like New York. The chefs will leave home and go get trained in the big city, and then they come back home [to Cleveland]. That’s one reason why Cleveland has such great restaurants, like The Greenhouse Tavern. We’ve also got great local farmers and people who are doing really great farm-to-table food. In this down economy, we continue to open up really great restaurants. People are still eating out constantly, and our food scene continues to shine.

… Now I’m hungry, and I really want to come to Cleveland!

You should come to Cleveland! I will buy you a drink and take you to dinner. Cleveland is just a kick-ass city. Great culture, great people and really, really great food. You should come here and eat, come visit our museums, come explore our city.


P.S. Local bloggers, don’t forget to register your blog here. It’s quick, simple, and will help drive traffic to your blog.
P.P.S.: If you’d like to be featured in our ‘Bloggers We Love’ series (or you’d like to nominate your favorite local blogger(s) for inclusion), we’d love to hear from you! Simply send an email to esther@outside.in

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23
Jul 10

Spartanburg Loses a Blogger We Love: Can You Help?

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General — View Comments

SparkNew2

We were deeply saddened this week when we heard that Spartanburg Spark publisher Steve Shanafelt (a Blogger We Love and, most recently, Outside.in guest blogger) is leaving Spartanburg, SC in the fall to pursue another hyperlocal adventure in another town (we’ll let him tell you about that exciting project himself).

While we’re incredibly excited for Steve and his new endeavor, we’re also worried about what will happen to the Spark after his departure from Spartanburg, an issue he addressed in his ‘Big Idea’ post this week:

Here’s the deal: I’m in town until October, although I’ll increasingly be focusing on non-Spark projects as I get closer to that deadline. While I would love — absolutely love — to hand the project off to the right person or group of people, and to watch it grow, I’d rather end the project completely than hand it off to the wrong group of people. To put it another way, I’d much rather have this be a two-year experiment I can look back and be proud of than to let it become a mockery of itself in the hands of others who don’t understand the mission of the project. Call me the Diogenes of Spartanburg, but I’d rather snuff this lantern’s spark out while it burns true than give it to someone who won’t use the light it gives to illuminate the community. I should also note that money isn’t a factor in this decision, and the Spark isn’t for sale.

Which is where you come in. I’ve had a number of discussions with a variety of people about what should happen to the Spark, and some of those are very much on the table. But none of them are concrete, and most are just as dependent on finding the right person or people to take over the project. But you’re a savvy group of folks, and you know the town. Some of you might be in a place in your lives where you might even be able to take on a project like the Spark, or perhaps you know someone else who is. Maybe you’ve even fantasized about how you’d run the site if you were in charge.

Here is the place to brainstorm about what you’d like to see the Spark become. It’s a non-binding brainstorming session, and while it may influence my decision-making process about the future of the site, ultimately the decision is still mine to make.

The post-Shanafelt future of the Spark certainly is a big idea — and we definitely hope Steve finds someone as awesome as he is to take it over (a tall order, for sure, as Steve is really, truly awesome). Still, knowing how many incredible bloggers there are out there, we know it can be done. We figured the least we could do would be to share this news with you: perhaps you know someone in Spartanburg (or, someone who’d want to move to Spartanburg) who might be interested in helping to shape the future of a vibrant hyperlocal community site?

Please take a few moments to read Steve’s full post, aptly-titled “Big Idea: The Post-Shanafelt Future of the Spartanburg Spark,” and to congratulate Steve and his crew on the Spark’s two-year anniversary, an accomplishment to be celebrated, for sure, regardless of what the future holds.

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15
Jul 10

Caroline’s Secrets of the Blogging Lifestyle (aka Bloggers We Love: Caroline on Crack)

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

BLOGGER: Caroline

FEATURED BLOG(S): Caroline on Crack

TWITTER: @CarolineOnCrack

FACEBOOK: Caroline on Crackheads

FLICKR: Caroline on Crack

YOUTUBE: Caroline on Crack

SERIOUS EATS: Caroline on Crack

FOOD BUZZ: Caroline on Crack

This week our ‘Bloggers We Love,’ series took us (via telephone) to fabulous, sunny Los Angeles, CA, where we spoke to the energetic and LA-savvy blogger Caroline of CarolineOnCrack.com.

A northern California transplant, Caroline is a lifestyle blogger who writes about food, cocktails and fun in and around LA. Having read her blog with some regularity, I was already impressed with her style, but after speaking with her, I was especially taken with her easy-going energy and affable nature. Her personality and blog embody what I imagine Californians to be: relaxed yet energetic, casual yet on-trend.

My conversation with Caroline got me thinking not only about lifestyle blogging but also the blogging lifestyle: is there something unique about lifestyle blogging that enables a blogger to keep it up over the long-term? Or, is there something special about Caroline’s lifestyle that that gives her staying power? What does it mean to really live the ‘blogging lifestyle’ day in and day out? Put simply: what is it that has enabled Caroline to blog nearly every day for five years and counting?

I’ve decided to investigate that question and answer it with some of the secrets of the blogging lifestyle that I learned from Caroline…

CAROLINE SAYS: SEEK THE BLOG/LIFE BALANCE

While Caroline writes about her daily adventures, she’s careful to maintain some modicum of privacy for herself. As a reader, you appreciate this: you feel like you know Caroline, but she doesn’t cross over into TMI territory like some bloggers. She certainly doesn’t make you feel like a voyeur.

“When I first started, I didn’t want everyone to know who I was: I have a day job, and I wanted to keep the blog separate,” Caroline says. “So, I would purposefully leave myself out of my posts. But then [I wrote a few posts of a more personal nature] and I let a little of myself in – and it seemed like people really responded to that.”

It’s a difficult balance to strike – being completely authentic and personable without being overly intimate – and Caroline nails it with remarkable skill and aplomb.

Striking such a balance could be useful for a blogger who’s in it for the long haul.  It allows the blogger to focus on their subject matter, without allowing their personality and personal life to overpower the piece. The post’s tone becomes relatable to a wider variety of readers, potentially garnering a larger audience for the blog.

Moreover, when a blogger keeps aspects of her identity somewhat cloaked, she can be candid about other aspects of her life. For instance, Caroline publishes her calendar of public social events (though personal evenings are marked on the calendar as “busy”). This doesn’t cause the uncomfortable, invasive encounters that one would predict. In fact, when she participates in these events, readers actually prefer to respect her privacy. She once judged a mixology contest and brought a friend along. Fans recognized the friend from photos on Caroline’s blog and asked her to tell Caroline that they’re huge fans but then shied away from meeting Caroline themselves. It’s almost as if fans don’t want to actually know who’s behind the voice they know and love.

CAROLINE SAYS: ‘RELAX’

“Try to write every day – just don’t pressure yourself,” Caroline advises. “I’m able to enjoy [blogging because I don’t pressure myself too much]. I used to actually write every day, but then I decided to take the weekends off.”

Caroline says she still feels strangely guilty if she misses a weekday post  – “It’s like I didn’t shower, or like I’m letting somebody down,” – but she doesn’t ruminate on that feeling:

“I try not to think about [my plans for the blog], because if I do I’ll psych myself out. I think that’s why I’ve been able to keep myself going [because I try not to take everything so seriously].”

“Sometimes I do keep an editorial calendar—especially if I get press release sent to me about an event that’s well into the future,” Caroline says. “I also have a to-do list of posts I want to write, like events that I went to and still need to blog about.”

So, it’s not all laissez-faire. It is useful to maintain some degree of regularity in your blogging. Living the blogging lifestyle means exactly that: integrating blogging into your lifestyle.

CAROLINE SAYS: HAVE A COCKTAIL!

'Birds & Bees,' with cherries, courtesy of Caroline on Crack

'Birds & Bees,' with cherries, photo courtesy of Caroline on Crack

The final secret to living the blogging lifestyle a la Caroline on Crack? Cocktails!

Caroline on Crack has come to be known as a go-to source for information about cocktails and mixology, even though Caroline wasn’t a passionate cocktail lover when she started the blog. It’s a love that’s evolved organically.

“I’m not a cocktail or spirit expert, I just enjoy it. I’ve learned a lot and I’d totally love to go to bartending school,” Caroline says.

The lesson? Be open to the ways your own interests may evolve and what that might mean for the evolution of your blog. And don’t forget to take the time to kick back and enjoy yourself with a well-deserved beverage of your choice. Try a Pegu Club with Bols Genever instead of gin – one of Caroline’s favorites.

P.S. Local bloggers, don’t forget to register your blog here. It’s quick, simple, and will help drive traffic to your blog.
P.P.S.: If you’d like to be featured in our ‘Bloggers We Love’ series (or you’d like to nominate your favorite local blogger(s) for inclusion), we’d love to hear from you! Simply send an email to esther@outside.in

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16
Jun 10

Bloggers We Love: Adelle McElveen

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

BLOGGER: Adelle McElveen

FEATURED BLOG(S): Fashionista Lab

TWITTER: @FashionistaLab

FACEBOOK: Fashionista Lab

Full disclosure: I’ve known Adelle McElveen, the woman behind the San Francisco-based blog ‘Fashionista Lab,’ for well over a decade now. In fact, it was actually Adelle who suggested I apply for the open Community Manager position at Outside.in, a job I am now lucky enough to call my own (good call, Adelle!).

Still, those are not the only reasons Adelle is a ‘Blogger We Love.’ What I find most inspiring about Adelle and her blog (besides the drool-worthy fashion photos she posts, obviously!) is that her blog exemplifies the idea that a local blog can take many different forms. By spotlighting her, I hope to diversify our ideas about what a local blog could or should be – and just maybe inspire a person or two out there to join the conversation by launching a ‘local’ blog of their own.

So, without further ado, I give you…

The Top 10 Things I Learned from Fashionista Lab

1. Trust Your Instincts

“I had a personal blog for years – and basically it functioned as a travel blog. Then one day I blogged about tank tops and how much I loved them – and I thought to myself: maybe it’s time I just blogged about fashion, because I realized I had a lot more to to say about fashion. I knew I wanted a different audience, so I started the fashion blog.”

2. Give in to Your Creative Impulse

“One of the biggest benefits of blogging is just starting the blog and acknowledging that creative desire and giving in to it — and then, once you give in to it, it just opens you up to so many other things.”

3. Don’t Sweat the Blog Stuff (‘Cause It’s All Small Stuff)

“There’s always this tension [between work and blogging], because I [blog] for fun, but it’s really what I love — and I’ve networked with a number of other fashion bloggers who do it and do it well and have big audiences… and I want that, too. But then it’s like, OK, they’re students, and they have all this free time – or they work in the fashion industry and it’s part of their job. My job takes up most of my time — but sometimes I feel myself naturally competing and trying to achieve what they’re achieving, and sometimes it gets stressful and I have to realize: OK, this isn’t my job. My job is my job. This is my hobby – I should do it and do it well, but at the same time, I can’t let myself get stressed out about it.”

4. You Don’t Have to Be an SEO Guru to Get Started

“Oh, um… I don’t know how to optimize.”

5. Blog What You Know

“The original Fashionista Lab [was a blog] run by a friend of mine and I when I lived in Tokyo. It was called Fashionista Lab because it was for ideas. We decided: we don’t want to tell you what’s ‘HOT’ or what’s ‘NEW,’ or to compete with that area because it’s already saturated. [Instead, we're] going to tell you our unique perspective on Tokyo fashion: this is what we see, living in Tokyo. I just kept the name because [the blog's purpose is the same] in San Francisco. It’s a lab – it’s for ideas.”

6. You Can Start with a Simple Blog Design or Platform

“I use WordPress.com. I’m slowly building it. Like: I have my own domain now. Eventually, I want to have my own custom WordPress.org blog so I can change themes and add widgets and stuff – those are all things I want to do. I have so many aspirations for the blog – but my time-line is just a lot slower.”

7. You Have to Be Your Own Biggest Fan

“I was featured a month and a half ago on this site called Independent Fashion Bloggers. It’s a really great fashion blogger resource – they did a conference during Fashion Week in New York, for example – and every week they have something called ‘Links à la Mode,’ which is like 10-15 of the best fashion blog posts from the world’s fashion blogger community that past week. I look at their links every week, and I’ve submitted blog posts for consideration like three times, and finally, the fourth time, they chose one of my posts – and that was really exciting.”

8. Shorter = Better

“I volunteered at a benefit fashion show in San Francisco recently – part of it was this silent auction and live auction. The live auction was really exhilarating and really crazy, and I wrote this really long post and I thought it was really engaging, and then one of my friends read it and talked to me about it, and I realized she hadn’t finished it. It was just too long. Short things are better. That was a post I could have easily broken down into two parts.”

9. To Be a Good Blogger, You Have to Be a Good Reader

“Once I started the blog and realized how much I had to say, I really started to pay more attention to other people who were saying things, and seeing what they were doing and where they were going and where they were getting their information – and that was just the beginning [of the evolution of my blog and blogger network].”

10. San Francisco is Home to Unique, Edgy Fashion

“It is really creative. As I was telling a friend in New York: New York women are really chic, especially in Manhattan, but I’ve noticed that San Francisco is a little bit rougher, you know? It’s not as put-together, per se – but there’s just lots of creativity and lots of different outfits that you see. It’s not just ‘hipsters,’ either. It’s temperate all year round, so you can play more with jackets and layering tops and leggings. I never understood the appeal of those open-toe booties, but then I got a pedicure in January and I was like: this is perfect! I can cover my foot and have my toes showing!”

There you have it: you don’t have to only write ‘hard news’ to be a ‘local’ blogger, nor do you have to make your blog into your life’s work (though both of those things are totally awesome things to do!). As it turns out, a local blog can also be comprised of fashion-related musings (some of them locally-oriented, some of them not).

So, would-be ‘local bloggers,’ please know: as far as we’re concerned, blogging more casually doesn’t make the contributions you do make to the local content pool any less valuable than the contributions of a more ‘professional,’ blogger. It’s OK to blog without an agenda.

P. S. Local bloggers, don’t forget to register your blog here. It’s quick, simple, and will help drive traffic to your blog.

P.P. S.: If you’d like to be featured in our ‘Bloggers We Love’ series (or you’d like to nominate your favorite local blogger(s) for inclusion), we’d love to hear from you! Simply send an email to esther@outside.in

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8
Jun 10

Bloggers We Love: Natasha ‘Tasha’ Ball (Part 2 of 2)

Posted by Esther Brown in Bloggers We Love / General / Tips & Tricks — View Comments

BLOGGER: Natasha ‘Tasha’ Ball

FEATURED BLOG(S): Tasha Does Tulsa

TWITTER: @TashaDoesTulsa (Tasha Does Twitter)

FACEBOOK: Tasha Does Facebook

FLICKR: Tasha Does Tulsa on Flickr

TASHA’S TOP TIPS FOR BLOGGERS

Last week we introduced you to another local Blogger We Love, Tasha Ball of Tasha Does Tulsa. This week, we’re bringing you her top tips for local bloggers!

1. FOCUS GROUPS.

“My advice would be: before setting up a blog of any kind, spend a couple of weeks writing, thinking and talking about your blog idea. Talk to people who would care about what you’d be writing about and ask them: ‘what do people want to know’? You can get an idea about what your site should look like that way.”

2. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

“As I was starting out, I read The Pioneer Woman a lot. Her site is pretty and I admire her, really—the way she’s so lighthearted. If you visit her blog, it’s guaranteed that you’re probably going to smile, at least a little bit. In the middle of a lonely day,  you can go to The Pioneer Woman and get that goofy, funny thing. I’ve enjoyed watching her photography improve and I aspire to that myself. I like to think I’m teaching myself photography, like Ree Drummond. I do a lot of reading of Oklahoma blogs—that’s something I’m passionate about.”

3. LOOKING TO GO PRO? DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY.

“I do make some money off of my blog – but it’s just like writing: your money comes from a lot of little different places. Some of my income comes from local ads, some of it comes from internet ads, and some of it comes from freelance blogging projects: for instance, I contribute to a local TV station that has a mom site. When you’re a writer, you very rarely have one income source—that’s something I always remind bloggers of when they start out: they should diversify.

It’s really tough to make it happen any one way—and, as a blogger, you have to straddle the editorial/advertising divide, which are usually separate in traditional media. It’s a full-time job in and of itself to sell ads.”

4. ESTABLISH A ROUTINE.

“I think it’s pretty important to post something every day, or at least to establish a consistent posting schedule so readers can rely on that and know when to check back on your blog.”

5. OFFER INSIDER TIPS.

“If you’re a local blogger, you want your readers to be that guy at the water cooler who knows everything that’s going on in town– especially the underground stuff—because he read it on your blog.”

6. LISTEN TO YOUR READERSHIP (& DON’T FORGET THE ‘BURBS!)

“I use Twitter and Facebook to connect with my audience, but I see a lot of people who don’t use them as an interactive tool but rather for SOAPBOXING, which doesn’t work. Oh my gosh, I don’t think I would have gotten to meet half of the interesting people I’ve met through blogging if it weren’t for Twitter. I love to ask all kinds of questions, like: ‘what’s the best make-out spot in Tulsa?’

(It turns out Woodward Park is a top spot for romance in Tulsa)

I also have a lot of readers in Tulsa’s suburbs [and I'm careful not to neglect them]. I figure if an area is in the metropolitan statistical area, they deserve coverage. There are really cool, unique, independent businesses in the 6-7 surrounding counties.”

7. TRY NEW THINGS.

“I just want to be able to continue to offer readers inside information into what makes this city interesting. And whatever enables me to do that— whether it’s reader submitted content, an events calendar, an exclusive calendar, different types of media such as a podcast or video—I’m looking into all of those things.”

8. GIVE YOUR READERS A TASTE OF THE REAL THING.

“Make your local blog a one-stop shop for your town or city. Tell your readers the best place to eat – just don’t tell me it’s Ruby Tuesday or Red Robin! Give them the night life, a true taste of your city and what makes it special. Write about it and publicize it not just for visitors, but also for locals that live there, too.”

9.  BE PREPARED FOR SKEPTICS & STRIVE TO ENROLL THEM.

“I still get the ‘what is a blog?’ question here in Tulsa. I STILL get that question! Or, ‘What’s Facebook? What’s Twitter?’ People will say ‘I don’t do those things.’ The internet freaks them out. I tell people I run a website and they look at me kinda like I have leprosy or something. I have this challenge to not only tell these people about the technology but I also have to say ‘Did you know that Tulsa is this really cool place and you should let me tell you about it? Oh, and I post 4-5 times a day!” Those two things are kind of tough.

10. VISIT TULSA!

“I do think we’re the greatest city in the world! For instance, in what other city…
- Could you find an art and food scene to make the snooty snoots take notice?
- Find two world-class museums (one of them has the largest collection of Western American Art IN THE WORLD)?
- Find one of the largest collections of Art Deco buildings in the world?
- Visit ‘America’s Favorite Zoo,’ (and hang out with a rhino and his keeper on Rhino Awareness Day)?
- Go to one of the largest BBQs in the state?
- Go to a gunshow and a rodeo IN THE SAME WEEKEND?”

Like we said last week: Tulsa, OK is, well, kind of a big deal — and so is Tasha Ball.

P. S. Local bloggers, don’t forget to register your blog here. It’s quick, simple, and will help drive traffic to your blog.

P.P. S.: If you’d like to be featured in our ‘Bloggers We Love’ series (or you’d like to nominate your favorite local blogger(s) for inclusion), we’d love to hear from you! Simply send an email to esther@outside.in

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