Kelly Moore Bags

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

I got my first Kelly Moore bag last Christmas. I get so many compliments on it and I love it!

I’ve never been one to get the standard items in life so when I was looking for a camera bag I was bent on finding something more than just the practical black camera bag. I found a few companies but ultimately liked the designs and quality of Kelly Moore the best.

This year my little bro got me a purse. It’s my very first “grown up” purse! I had specifically hoped for this bag because of my a Photo a Day posts. This bag allows me to carry my camera with me every where, so I don’t have to result to my iPhone anymore, while keeping it handy and protected.

My criteria in choosing…

roomy enough for my camera and an extra lens or my flash
pockets for all my goodies (I have been a pocket fanatic since I was a wee little one)
camel color (because it goes with everything)
not so big that my back would break

I chose the 2 Sues Bag because it filled all of my criteria, it’s snazzy, and has all sorts of great perks – the built in wallet, the iPad sleeve, and all the glorious pockets… to name a few.

BOOK REVIEW | Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

I read Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business over the weekend and have already jumped on practicing their recommendations and tips.

When I committed to keeping a blog as a means of sharing all of my passions in one place. So, the first step I always do is jumping in head first. Although it can be a risky method to start something by sticking your neck out first rather than researching before hand, I find that I learn best by starting then implementing new tools as I go. Last week I was feeling up for learning some new tricks so I hit up the library and grabbed Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business and How to Start a Home-Based Blogging Business. This review is about Publish and Prosper, I’m sure the other book with appear as a review soon.

NOTEWORTHY AUTHORS

Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business

By: DL Byron & Steve Broback

DL Byron works on Boeing’s blogs and works on the Blog Business Summit by rolling out a network of sponsored blogs.

Steve Broback is the co-founder of the Blog Business Summit and the i3forum conferences. He manages the editorial blogs for Avondale’s marketing strategy: rawformat.com and pixelupdate.com.

SUMMARY

According to Publish and Prosper, blogs have a “naturally ‘Google-friendly’ architecture.” They state that the major benefits to blogging for your business are that you seriously increase your visibility and traffic at a minimal cost. They state four key points on how blogs can help companies further themselves; through a blog they can research new products, sell their wares, extend their brands, and engage with customers. With that in mind the authors then address how to go about optimizing your blogging efforts.

REVIEW

First off, I was pleased to have found all the information I was looking for in Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business. I was also impressed with the amount of content and tips they had available.

I was rather unimpressed by the structure. I found the chapter layout to be confusing; they constantly referenced pointed the reader to other points in the book rather than finishing an idea when they first planted it. They also tended to repeat the exact same point/s in different chapters of the book, only under a different title or main header. And, even though I found a little bit of everything I needed, I found the section on blogging for profit fairly empty of any real substance. This was the biggest let down for me because that was one of my primary goals in researching blogging. But, in the end, this book was geared more towards businesses that use blogs to further their business not small business owners looking to earn a little extra cash from a favored hobby.

CONCLUSION

If you want to learn how to appeal your blog to Google and other search engines and/or utilize yet another free way of marketing your business this book is a great way to go.

And, if you keep a blog, regardless of whether you are seeking to pull in some income from it or seeking to expand your business marketing or simply blog out of personal pleasure, I HIGHLY recommend Publish and Prosper. If you are keeping a blog I have to assume you want people to read it… well, you WILL get a higher draw by following their recommendations. Still not convinced? Yesterday I implemented a handful of new ideas I gleaned from the book and my views tripled, I got 4 new subscribers, and a few new followers on twitter. It is worth it!

5 helpful key points within my application:

1. Successful blogs build on communication by…

fostering interaction with other bloggers
being easy to use
lending great content

2. Having your blog hosted under your website domain will draw more natural traffic to your standard website.
3. To get AD buyers you must have…

lots of visitors and readers
lots of inbound links

4. 10 TIPS TO WRITING YOUR BLOG
5. 5 STEPS TO SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHING YOUR BLOG AND GETTING NOTICED

5 STEPS TO SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHING YOUR BLOG AND GETTING NOTICED

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

5 STEPS TO SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHING YOUR BLOG AND GETTING NOTICED

DAY 1: Have several posts ready and ask for feedback.
Get recognition from other bloggers by carefully selecting who you want to connect with, make your request personal, and then comment or link back to their material.
Get involved in commenting on other blogs.
Encourage comments and trackbacks with provocative posts, by asking for input, and by making the process generally easy (no cumbersome forms), inviting (not letting discussion turn sour), and rewarding (respond personally to your commenters and trackbacks).
Maintain a presence by commenting like crazy on posts that others write, using Google groups to raise awareness about your blog, linking to other blogs, and getting your blog address out there by attaching it to all emails and adding it to your marketing materials.

SOURCES… real life experience and Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business

FACT: it’s a Friday with FOTOSTRAP

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

For Christmas my mom gave me a beautiful yellow FOTOSTRAP. All of my cameras come with a generic and, although useful, pretty ugly camera strap. Since I am doing “a Photo a Day” (check out this weeks post) I wanted to give myself just a little more incentive to carry my camera everywhere and better showcase my personality by wearing my favorite color with my camera 🙂

So, I decided to showcase my new lovely FOTOSTRAP because I love it and they represent a VERY exciting mission. And, while I photographed, Sam pounced on me every moment I was still so he made it into the pictures as well. For a set of photographs he actually lay propped on my calf, as shown below, just staring curiously all the while 🙂

The Product

FOTO is dedicated to using only quality materials in their straps. They are environmentally friendly and use 100% genuine leather and organic cotton duck fabric. Each strap is also equipped with a strong webbing fiber and durable brass hardware. And all straps are made in the USA and nothing is imported or exported for their production.

The Mission

One of my favorite aspects of FOTOSTRAP is that the owner, Katie Norris, actually started as a professional photographer for a giving based business called Fotolanthropy. Her dream was to better finance the giving projects she was doing my donating a portion of every FOTOSTRAP sale to the photography business.

Giving Back

Fotolanthropy is a giving based business that shares real stories about real people. Fotolanthropy connects with photographers around the country to use the art as a gift. When a truly inspiring story is found Fotolanthropy backs a photographer in financing a free photo shoot and covers the expenses of the products offered (disc, album, etc) for that family or individual. That family’s story is then stared on Fotolanthropy’s blog.

If you have a story or someone in mind that would love this gift either let me know or go to Fotolanthropy and nominate their story.