I first began blogging in 2005 I think it was.  Lost track really.  Blogging for me was the perfect outlet for the frustrated writer inside. I love to write!

I’ve found over the years blogging is a great way to keep fresh content on your site, and to demonstrate your expertise and knowledge in an area.  A marketing guy I was speaking to recently confirmed for me my own thoughts – the importance of keeping a blog to its topic of choice and then start a new one if you have another topic you want to write about, so it can gain its own readership. No point in confusing your readers as to what your blog is about.

Because of my love for blogging and my experience, it means I’m the perfect VA for those who need to set up a blog and need continued assistance.  I’m well positioned to create and set up a blog for a client and then guide them in regular posting and gaining their target audience.

What’s more I can show them what else they can do with their content over time – publish books for example. I have.

So providing support to clients who wish to write a blog for their business, or for their passion, is an ideal niche for VAs who have that knowledge and experience.  What else could you do for a client in helping with their blog?

If you receive this post via email or RSS you might just want to drop by the blog itself as it has a totally new look. The theme is the same as the main website but with some differences and the last 10 posts all on the front page.  To view the full post just click on the title.

I hope you like the new look – it will probably take a little while to get used to.  Although it’s easy to change from one template to another simply by choosing and clicking, it’s another thing when you want to completely modify the template which has been done for this blog and our main website.

In 2007 I wrote a blogpost about 2 years of blogging. I came across it the other day and thought, really?  Funny what you forget you’ve written.

I won’t repeat my journey of how I came to be blogging, you can read the original post linked above.  But I can tell you some of what has occurred since then:

• I’ve published two printed books based on two separate blogs I’ve written. Both are available in bookstores in Australia and through Amazon.com
• I’ve travelled to Canada to speak at a Virtual Assistants Conference because of my speaking about social media and blogging
• I’ve created a few more blogs
• I am currently researching material for another printed book via one of my blogs
• I love to see all the comments from readers here and the amount of comments is nearly 3 times the number of posts here (thank you everyone).

How have I kept it up so long? I network online, always keeping my ears and eyes open for possible topics to write about and I set a routine of writing weekly to publish 2-3 times a week.

I’m amazed by the amount of  ‘VA’ spammers out there, who are desperate to get their comments posted on this blog.  Regular spam is bad enough but VAs doing this? Your flattery and use of big words will not impress me, nor the html coding you leave in the comments either.

However, if you add value to the article and simply leave your name and URL in the relevant fields, your comments will get published and people can visit your site if they wish.

Spamming on a peer’s site is not the way to get yourself good attention. It will just serve to have you added to the spam list managed by Akistmet or any of the other spam filter programs used by bloggers.

WE Magazine for Women’s has a new list of 100 More Women Bloggers to Watch and I’m thrilled to announce that my photo blog is on that list.

I encourage you to visit that list – you’ll see some familiar names but also some blogs you didn’t know about and will find well worth visiting.

Why not go get yourself a cuppa right now, then click on the link below to start viewing 100 blogs written by women?

I haven’t done one of these posts for quite sometime – so I thought I’d show you some of my latest finds on Google Reader!

This one is mine – I write a number of blogs http://soho-life.com/blog/

Democratizing Twitter

My Blogging Journey (well, not mine but that of the author of this post)

Were you April fooled about Conficker?

Increase your changes to be linked at your blog (well, I’m trying to do mine!)

Dare to stand out and be noticed

Top 10 strategies for marketing your business

And something to amuse you (Be prepared for a real belly laugh – good for the soul!)

Last year I wrote about two different situations where the VA community grouped together to help one of its own.  One was when a VA shared on her challenges and others rallied round to help her.  The other was when I, myself, was going through a family tragedy and so many once again, rallied round to support me and let me know they were there in my time of need.

Well, another need has been highlighted by one of my team today and it relates to the Victorian bushfires that most of the world now knows about by now.  There have been so many stories of those directly affected – lost homes, lives, pets, livestock, businesses, crops and so on.  It has been devastating and has swept our nation with grief and shock. And we’ve had firemen flown over from New Zealand and the US (and possibly other areas) to come help fight the biggest natural disaster Australia has ever known.

There is a massive fund raising effort being held currently and many people are donating clothing, food, goods, household items, places to stay and so on to assist those directly affected.

But it wasn’t till today that I’d given thought to those indirectly affected and this is also something that needs to be highlighted.  The businesses and communities that will suffer loss – extreme loss, if nothing is done – due to the drop in tourism because people are either scared or incorrectly assumed other towns have been wiped out.  One of those is Beechworth and because a member of my VA team lives and works there, it is something I want to highlight here.  I have blogged and twittered about this situation but I want to encourage you too, to write about it.  Perhaps even adopt a town you know of in Victoria, that needs that kind of attention and support.  And if you do, why not leave a comment here with a direct link to the post you’ve made and the town you are supporting.

Thank you for your help on behalf of all in Victoria who have a need of this kind.

Victorian bushfires, fires in Victoria, Beechworth, Australia, tourism

Over the past few weeks I’ve had the privilege of playing with, and testing, an Intel Centrino 2 powered notebook.  It has a great easy to view widescreen, is very compact, slim and lightweight, and easy to use. This one has Windows Vista installed on it and OpenOffice suite.  It also has 4gig ram.

I wasn’t able to carry out my normal daily activities on it as it didn’t have the software I use every day (MS Office 2003, ACT!, Quickbooks, Dreamweaver) for my regular client activity and it would have taken a few hours to load and then add my data. However, the issue of putting client work on someone else’s computer isn’t a good idea as I would need to be confident that it was all totally wiped back off again.

But I did get to use it for web browsing, blogging, participating in chat forums, and tried out the OpenOffice which I’d never used before.

I was impressed with the long battery life and the speed with which it opened programs and seemed to download quicker although it had the same internet connection that the rest of the computers in my office had.

If you are shopping for a new laptop and wanted something that is lightweight, easy to travel with and could literally put inside a large handbag (I’m talking the ladies here) then this one is for you.

The website can direct you to a choice of different vendor notebooks for your needs so if you want performance and style, or long lasting battery life and performance, or all of the above, you can simply pick and choose. The site helps you to understand what you are after i.e a Toshiba or Dell before you go and make your purchase. The site also leads to online reviews, etc to understand the differences.  I consider myself lucky to be asked to try one out and give my thoughts.

Intel Centrino has a fantastic promotion on right now and some lucky people will get to win a notebook each or an entertainment system.  And if you click on the Great Prizes logo and then click on the link for the Centrino 2 room you’ll see others who have had the opportunity to test out this great little notebook.

You can find out more about this great notebook at http://www.centrino2room.com.au/

Intel Centrino 2 powered notebook, computer test, long lasting battery

My favourite RSS feed reader is Google Reader and I have it saved as one of my home pages in my browser.

It allows me to read blog updates at times that suit me (like over breakfast for example) although I never fully keep up with them these days. I’ve subscribed to a lot and some have more than a few updates weekly – some several a day.

The RSS feed is also useful for some of the chat forums I belong to as I can see what’s been discussed without logging in and then I can choose to respond to posts if and when I have time.

Below is a small list of interesting reads I’ve comes across this week:

Aussie Bloggers Forum also has a blog and encourages its members to contribute.  I’m an active member there and invite you to come check us out!  Planning Queen wrote the post I’ve linked to, about great dining on the Great Ocean Road (Vic).

There’s an interesting post at Copyblogger about why should anyone read your blog?

Chris Garrett has been doing a test on pop up email subscriptions for his blog (wonder if I should try that?) with mixed feelings.

At ebooksandreviews, there’s a post about reading and eyesight, worth looking into.  I had to succumb to wearing glasses a few years ago and being able to both read and write in comfort is important to me.

Yaro writes about a JV Partner Invitation at his blog Entrepreneur’s Journey.   If you’re on the hunt for such partners, might be worth investigating!

If you have a blog you think I should be subscribed to on my reader, please leave a comment here and I’ll take a visit and consider it!

Blogs are a great way for sharing information and encouraging interactive discussion with your audience but many new VAs find the concept daunting and see it as just one extra thing in a long list of things they need to learn and get up to speed with.

I’ve recently written a book called “Blogging Basics” and it is exactly that – the basics of how to blog and why you would want to blog.  I’ve made it available at my SOHO-Life blog for all subscribers.

If you pop over there you can read the table of contents to see if this is something you’d like to download and read.

I wrote this simple book to help answer the questions I am often asked about blogging, both by clients and by VAs so here’s a quick simple answer to the most basic and often asked questions in an easy download PDF format.

learning to blog, blog basics, WordPress, Blogger, benefits of blogging