Notice I said, “anticipate them” rather than “adapt to them”; important distinction there in how I view my business…the vision, though maybe not all the manifestations, are fluid instead of static. I may rarely succeed on being ahead of the curve on several things but I instinctively feel that doing so needs to always be my goal.

I’m still sorting out the changes, trying a few on for size, and remaining open to possibility. I’m not the only one out there doing the same; here are a few voices I’ve been reading lately. I read them because they are bloggers who value conversational branding, which I think may be the essence of what is going on with relational media these days.

• she’s done it in many posts but this is her most recent record of her Twitter Exploration. Penelope never fails to get me thinking and this is fantastic food for thought: when branding, how important is it to be the same in every compartment?
• Scott, over at Man Vs. Blog, has been exploring his use of Twitter and has a 3 part series worth reading.
• My very favorite blog guru, Darren Rowse, has a brilliant title followed by his typically-excellent content, looking at formats like the one Twitter uses, and just above, shares his exploration of another, Plurk.

My blogging list of things to do seems endless, with all kinds of things near the top vying for space. For instance, I have a great header I had designed for this site, a brand new business site needing launching, and a journal full of article ideas just begging me to find a quiet moment to sit down and seriously write. My client’s sites all have lists and my search for an assistant became so much of it’s own endeavor that I had to either find an assistant to help me find an assistant or cut out the search! When a new internet “exploration” becomes necessary so often, it’s helpful to know other bloggers I’m watching are exploring as well. It’s that synergy that the internet and social media thrives on and no one gets anywhere alone.

I think in “conversational branding” my favorite part is still the conversation. To me, that is the literate beauty of this media-rich tool we all use.

I, TheBlogsultant, am working on growing my business and developing it’s reach. I’m looking to hire a vitual assistant who is interested in training to become a potential partner in Conversational Marketing.

Hours are extremely flexible, will start minimally, and grow from there. The pay is based on my current management framework and will grow as responsibility does.

Skills needed:

• web smart…experienced in social networking sites
• type with speed and accuracy
• editing ability
• familiarity with Wordpress blog format a plus
• html experience, or willingness to learn, along with css, a must.
• fast turn around time and responsiveness; dependability
• comfortable social skills

For more details, inquire with Tia: Tia AT bloggingwithflair DOT com.

One of the best luxuries of high-speed, wireless capability, I’m finding, is that business and communication need not come to a stand-still though the rest of my world may be uncertain and constantly changing. And this, makes it so much less of a luxury and more a necessity in order to accomplish certain tasks. What a blessing my laptop and wireless card have been! I can grab a cup of caffinated-courage and keep up with email, get the news, take care of book-keeping changes and when I’m done, move onto the next deadline or location-to-be. Not as portable as my Blackberry-using friends but a world away from having to “get back to the office”, freaking out that things were going down the proverbial toilet in my absense. As I write today, a daughter is doing school work at the table with me as we uber-multi-task through a day that will no doubt hold many, many redirects. Technology can almost seem like a grace sometimes with the freedom and flexibilty it affords.

And so a new challenge has become part of my travels: finding the free wi-fi. Others who’ve gone before me gave a little list of who’s got it and who doesn’t. And someone pray tell why Starbucks can charge BOTH 4.50 for a latte and 10.00/day for internet, when Krystal next door offers admittedly poor coffee but free wi-fi? This has confounded me on more than one morning, when coffee cravings assault (I get just the brew, not the latte) and drive over to find the free wireless. So much better to be lounging in dusty sunshine amid the boxes of christmas french presses and chocolate covered coffee beans….but I digress.

Anyway, one day this week had me jaunting down to a major city in the south and then back again before nightfall. The chosen rendevoux was an Olive Garden parking lot in what they called, “a shopping area”. And HOW. What it really was, of course, was a vomitous ode to commercialism and gaseous emmissions due to extreme traffic, that could only slightly be blamed on the coming holiday. I decided the best way to handle it was to pick the shopping pod closest to the restaurant, stay on that one side of the gridlock, and ferheavensakes stay out of any stores! And then I remembered I needed to check my email….

A call to a local provided a tip to find a McDonald’s….yessirree, McD’s also offeres free Wi-fi, and I found them…BUT they do not have a single power cord in the entire dining room! This was after I bought their fake-food, promising myself that it could be my one-annual McD’s “meal”. That was also after watching 10 minutes of the most profound inefficiency possible, in an empty restaurant utterly overstaffed with clueless teenagers and an even more clueless manager, who could not understand why I’d ask for a power outlet. If you have to ask then…..

A sympathetic listener directed me to a panera in the mall. Malls are kinda devil-playgrounds in my pov but I steered my car in that direction and we circled twice, not finding any such bread company. What WAS there was, you probably guessed it, a sunny, warm, Starbucks with a brick patio and smart people all about. With resignation, I parked.

45 mintues, one tech call, and one intelligent and helpful student nearby later, I was on. Thankfully that day pass is good for 24 hours and I used it three other times in other locations before it expired. What’s more is that I was soon back in familiar territory, where panera has it for free AND good coffee to boot. Oh, and they are neither overstaffed, nor under, and quite efficient from the looks of things.

And so I offer my plain-coffee-one-cream in salute to panera bread company…you get it right. Thanks a bunch.

The truth is, a blog only provides a slice of a view of a person’s life, yet like any powerful image tool, can sway one’s reputation amongst their peers or audience.  Care must be taken, yet in a relational economy, honesty matters. In my case, so does the ability to have a certain level of transparency and the freedom to write through my creative process.  When a site has aged and a loyal following of readers has developed, the relationship between writer and reader becomes entangled and opinions emerge. It has proven to be difficult to navigate.

From a tech-standpoint, this post of Stephen’s was an easily scannable, bulleted reminder of what concerns to keep in mind in a time such as this. It’s a good example of a layout well done. Many thanks to both writer and editor.

Mumdinger is unfortunately, not something I can give any more time to. Maybe later when they are bigger. Right now, I’ve seen so little change on the site that I must cut it from my daily intinerary.

But last week I set out to vamp up my weekly newsletter a bit. It had a long way to go; until then I was just sending out a group, plain text email! I started with FeedBlitz, having heard good things about it on recommendation. But after two frustrating hours I gave up and went to my second choice, which ironically should have been my first! Aweber.

Set up was easy. Within a half hour I had my first newsletter created and distributed in graphics that complimented my theme. Two days later I got a phone call…knock me over with a feather! It was someone from the company welcoming me and wondering if I had any questions; I was so bummed that I was driving and had to let voicemail get it! But wonders of wonders, the next day I got a letter in the snail mailbox…more welcome, more offers of help should I have any questions!

Now mail-outs and phone calls can be intrusive and I usually view them that way. This time though, I felt like they actually cared to have my business. I felt that there genuinely offering their assistance and that it matters to them if I’m satisfied or not. Today I need to create another newsletter and I’m actually a little giddy looking forward to it! I am totally relaxed about something I’d been procrastinating on, knowing that if I run into any problems, they are approachable for help. Wow!

Hats of to you Aweber! I’m proud to be using your service! Thanks for making me feel valued as one of your customers.

Mumdinger is showing itself to be tiny and slow. There is little new content and what is there is added and ranked at a snail’s pace. The stories I submitted didn’t receive many votes…but neither do their “top” stories so it seems to be of little consequence. Maybe this is a matter of “more time will tell”, which I’m willing to allow for. But they ought to come with some ways to drive some traffic their way; a site like that NEEDS the participation of many in order to succeed.

BlogRush….I have over 1700 impressions…to 2 click throughs. They say the click thru rate is artificially low due to some abuses of the system that should be cleared up shortly. Last week I had over a thousand “credits” but today I have a negative number….not sure I understand that, nor is a burning issue on my hot plate today.

The jury is still out on both traffic services.

THIS post though, isn’t about BlogRush…it’s about Mumdinger, which is like Digg for Women. One of my hesitations with Digg is that some of my sites aren’t a good fit for it’s niches and “womens issues” and “mommy blog fodder” definitely fit into that category! One of my blogs is about *my* life, which includes children and a working-from-home-mother, and safety recalls, and headlice. It’s “global” in a whole ‘nuther way. Mumdinger looks like a fantastic service; I’ve registered and submitted a few posts. I’ll let ya know how it goes!

So far, I’m a little conflicted over the look of the widgit. It’s very appropriate on some sites; not so much on the other, and there is no flexibility in appearance. The stories in some of the categories vary widely in quality. For instance: my sixredheads.com was first listed under “lifestyle” but the stories linked in the widget were mostly gross and cheesy so I changed it to “parenting/family” because that is where the majority of my traffic resides, though my content really applies to more than just “mommy bloggers”. If I had to guess, the best content probably lies in the male-dominated categories because they are the predominant ones out there learning about new tech options at an uneven ratio.

We’ll see. Not unlike blogs themselves, I think traffic-generating sites MUST have great content and a lot of it. Highest on my list of priorities from services like Blog Rush is getting links with other *quality* sites; incoming traffic or not, I’ll pull the widgits if the linked stories detract from the environment I’ve worked hard to create. Only time is going to tell on that one and time is what I’m giving BlogRush.

I needed the time off. I’ve worked nearly every single day for months. Early on I started unplugging on Sundays but I’ve only pulled that off a time or two. Most of the time it’s meant, “I unplug for most everyone…unless if something ‘important’ comes up”…which it nearly always did. But this Friday, tired and frazzled, I wrapped up my “to do” list, shut off the computer, and called the week “done”.

I work at home which is nothing new. I work at home *for money*, which is new to us, and my family is all working on adjusting. My “office”, until we decide if we are either moving or adding on, is half of my closet and has no door. If I had to guess what the most important boundary to set is while working from a home office, I’d guess a DOOR. My task load is getting more intense, which actually seems to be making it easier to fit within a M-F work week, though I appreciate the flex of being able to swap out a late night or Saturday if I have an event during the week that makes work impossible to get to that day. Today I blog with a little boy on my lap and sunshine streaming in from a nearby window, so indeed the environment has it’s touchy-feely moments!

Taking the weekend off was ironically highly productive! I feel refreshed and the jumble of tasks I had now seem easier to organize and tackle in a rational manner, which is ultimately going to help me accomplish a lot more than if I’d worked the weekend through.

As this is still relatively new to me, I often feel like I’m winging it, and I’d welcome suggestions from those who’ve been at it longer. If you have a suggestion, send me an email at Tia AT bloggingwithflair DOT com, along with your blog link, post, or strategy for setting work/home boundaries and I’ll compile a list of them here.

Tia Graham, blogsultant, builds, manages, and empowers business blogs that can help you generate income, improve publicity, and interact with your audience. See bloggingwithflair.com for more information.

See that little blue line at the bottom? That’s Thoof’s traffic compared to the older, bigger guys out there in my contest. And yet, it placed second in the contest and nearly leads in overall traffic generation for my blog.

My thoughts right now are filled with “niche” marketing and all that I’ve read recently about how powerful it can be. I think, as a first reaction today anyway, that one reason why the bigger, older, more well-trafficked sites have little benefit to me currently is that they are simply too large and too broad to have a focused impact. I’m a new, small site seeing great benefit from a fellow new, and relatively-small site. Screams “niche” to me and many-is-the-niche that’s been hugely successful by not being too broad, dilute, and unwieldly. Certain resources for certain applications……food for thought.

Want more? Here’s the post that was the content of the contest. Here’s the introduction to the contest. And here are the results. Still want more? Subscribe to my feed!

Tia Graham, blogsultant, builds, manages, and empowers business blogs that can help you generate income, improve publicity, and interact with your audience. See bloggingwithflair.com for more information.