This Sunday and every Sunday during May, I’m re-running popular posts on subjects that readers ask for. 

Each year, a significant portion of people who sign up for the WordCount Blogathon are beginning bloggers. They’re taking the challenge to learn more about blogging and what will help take their blogs from startups to superstars.

To help them, and anyone else who’s considering starting a blog, here are some of the most popular posts that I’ve written over the years on the subject:

• Bad beginnings: 10 newbie blogging mistakes & how to fix them - Don’t just write about yourself, and other tips.
• How to pick a topic for a blog - Write about what you know, or what you want to know better.
• The well-dressed blog post - Meta descriptions, keywords and other essential elements that every blog post should have.
• 8 essential reasons to put links in your blog posts – Adding links to posts shows readers you’re part of a bigger conversation, it’s good blogging etiquette, and it saves you from having to explain or define things every time you write about them.
• Dear WordCount: How long should a blog post be? - The sweet spot is…….
• 5 ways to blog every day without freaking out - Plan ahead, and pre-write when you need to.
• Top 10 strategies to drive traffic to your blog - Be timely, funny, sexy – and don’t skirt controversy.
• 6 surefire strategies to get more comments on your blog - Start by reading and commenting on other blogs.
• 10 sure cures for blogging burnout – Jot ideas directly into draft mode on your blog as soon as you have them, and more suggestions.
•  5 reasons you should obsess over blog stats – Monitor page views to see what kinds of topics readers like best.

Don’t worry. I’ve removed some of the pain from the process by doing part of the planning for you.

During the blogathon, you can opt to take part in theme days, a guest post exchange, a haiku day, Wordle day, Twitter chats to open and close the month, a raffle prize drawing and the blogathon Google Group and newsletter.

I’m not introducing any new elements to this year’s contest. I did last year, and based on the results of a blogathon poll that I conducted a couple weeks ago, people are happy with the status quo.

With one exception. During May, I’ll be pinning links to my daily posts onto a Blogathon board I started on Pinterest. I’m still deciding whether to open up that board to anyone in the blogathon. All I’d have to do is input people’s email addresses and they’d be able to “pin” their post for that day to the board. What do you think?

If you haven’t signed up for the blogathon yet, or just heard about it, here’s the registration form. Sign up and you’ll automatically receive a 2012 Blogathon badge for your blog.

Meanwhile, here’s the official Blogathon calendar. Put it in Outlook or iCal. Input it into your WordPress editorial calendar. Commit it to memory. Start finding a partner for the guest post exchange. Whatever you do, get ready, May 1 is almost here.

2012 Blogathon calendar of events

April

April 24 - Read tips from a blogger who’s done previous blogathons on how to post every day without getting burned out.

April 25 - The WordCount Last Wednesday monthly chat is devoted to the blogathon. Worried you can’t come up with blog post ideas? Haven’t ever scheduled posts before and are wondering how? Ask your blogathon questions during this hour-long chat, which starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time. Use#blog2012.

April 30 - See the list of 2102 Blogathon sponsors, and find out what prizes they’ll be giving away in a raffle for bloggers who successfully post 31 days straight.

May

May 1 - The blogathon begins.

May 2 – WordCount publishes a blog roll of participants.

May 5 - This and every Saturday during the blogathon, I recap some of the week’s most interesting posts from participating bloggers.

May 7 - Theme Day #1. Participants are encouraged to write on the same theme: “5 movies that have inspired my blogging.” Theme days don’t fit into everyone’s blogs, so it’s 100 percent up to you whether you play along or not.

May 14 - Guest Post Exchange Day. This blogathon staple encourages writers to trade guest posts with another blogathoner. Past guest post exchanges have led to lasting friendships and regular guest post exchanges throughout the year. The best ways to find a partner: post a message on the Blogathon Google Group or on Twitter, under the blogathon hashtag #blog2012.

May 21 - Haiku Day. Last year’s haiku day was so popular it’s back for an encore. Pick the topic of your choice and write about it in this simple poem form. Find out more about it on this how to write haiku page and read these haiku examples from last year’s blogathon.

May 23 - Theme Post Day #2. Participants are encouraged to write on the same theme: Finish the phrase – “If I started blogging today I would….” If you had it to do over again, what would you do different – use WordPress instead of Blogger.com? Pick a different topic? Share your wisdom to help other bloggers.

May 28 – Wordle Day. Celebrate Memorial Day by using the Wordle word-cloud tool to turn your words into a picture. Then go relax, your blogging work is done. If you’re not sure what Wordle is, read these instructions for using it.

May 30 – My usual last Wednesday of the month chat is rescheduled for June 1 so we can use it for the blogathon wrap party (see below).

May 31 - The Blogathon ends – you did it! Participants who posted all 31 days can collect an “I did it!” badge to display on their blogs.

June

June 1 - The Blogathon wrap party and raffle drawing take place on Twitter at 10 a.m. Pacific time. We’ll share what we liked, what we hated and what we learned from blogging every day in May. The raffle drawing takes place at the end of the hour. Use #blog2012 to participate.

Sign ups are officially available for the 5th annual WordCount Blogathon, which takes place May 1-31, 2012. You’ll find a registration form at the bottom of this post.

The WordCount Blogathon is an annual event that brings together bloggers of all stripes – professionals and amateurs – to improve their blogs and blogging skills by every day in May.

Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive a welcome message with instructions for adding the 2012 WordCount Blogathon participant badge to display on your site – it’s that easy!

If you make it all 31 days, your name will be entered into a drawing for writing-related prizes held on the last day of the blogathon.

Add yourself to the 2012 WordCount Blogathon newsletter mailing list to receive announcements related to the event. You’ll also be automatically added to the WordCount Blogathon Google Group, to exchange questions and answers and other information related to the event.

Don’t forget to sign up for my RSS feed to receive WordCount posts about blogathon activities in your email inbox or blog reader.

If you have questions, email me at wordcountfreelance@gmail.com, or catch me on Twitter, @michellerafter.

You can also follow the 2011 WordCount Blogathon on Twitter using the hashtag #blog2012.

Registration will stay open through 11 p.m. Easter/8 p.m. Pacific time on May 1 – leaving stragglers just enough time to sign up and write their first post. Latecomers can participate unofficially but aren’t eligible for raffle prizes.

Thanks again for visiting, hope to see you in the Blogathon.

[Updated 5/1 @ 8:01 p.m. Pacific time] Registration for the 2012 Blogathon is now closed.

Yes, there will be a WordCount Blogathon in 2012. As in other years, it will take place in May.

If you’re not familiar with the blogathon, it’s a challenge to blog every day in May. In that respect, it’s similar to other community blogging challenges, such as NaBloPoMo (here’s a list of daily blogging challenges I compiled during the 2011 blogathon).

Bloggers – amateur, professional, whoever – who commit to blogging every day of the month are listed on the blogathon blog roll. If they make it the entire month, their names are entered in a drawing for writing and blogging-related prizes, which in years past have included books, tutoring, web design and other writing and blogging-related services.

The 2012 blogathon will include other features that have made past events so successful, including:

• A guest post exchange, a designated day for bloggers to swap posts with another blogger, preferably but not necessarily, another blogathon participant.
• Theme days, which aren’t mandatory but are helpful if you’re stuck for what to write about that day. Last year’s theme days included posts on favorite books and favorite places to write.
• Haiku days, also not mandatory, though the vast majority of bloggers who took part in previous blogathons did them because they’re short, easy to come up with and a week or two or daily blogging offer a much needed break!
• A members-only Google Group where bloggers can share links to their posts, get technical and other blogging questions answered.
• Live Twitter chats to kick off the blogathon, and to celebrate when it’s over.
• A weekly e-newsletter with blogathon updates.
• A blogathon badge to display on your blog.

Watch this space for registration, which will open some time in March.

Got a suggestion for how to make the 2012 blogathon even more wonderful? Leave it in a comment, or let me know at wordcountfreelance@gmail.com.

Time passed. And while I’m no less enthusiastic about blogging, this blog and the annual blogathon, I’ve had to do a reality check.

I adore the blogathon and have met an incredible group of people through it, people who have become some of my biggest fans, and even friends. Some of these people are still faithfully sharing links to their daily blog posts and asking each other questions about blogging on the WordCount blogathon Google Group that was set up for last year’s event.

But the hard, cold truth is that I lose money every time I host a blogathon. Last May, I probably lost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in time I would have otherwise used to take on paid writing or editing work. Not to mention the hours of sleep I lost doing blogathon-related administrative work into the wee hours of the night.

So I had to come to the conclusion that while a mini-blogathon was a great idea, I couldn’t pull it off twice in a calendar year. Not if I wasn’t going to charge people to participate – more on that in a minute.

If you were looking forward to a mini-blogging challenge this month, I hope you understand. And I hope you’ll still pick 10 days this month and blog every one of those days like you would have if the mini-blogathon had happened. Or maybe you’ll really go for it and join NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month, which starts tomorrow and is being sponsored by BlogHer.

And don’t worry – there will be a 2012 WordCount Blogathon. As to the matter of losing money, I’ve already got some changes in the works to fix that. For one, I’m getting some help. I’m also contemplating offering two tiers of registration. One would be the usual free entry level with everything that’s been part of the blogathon in the past – the Google Group, weekly newsletter, etc. I may also offer a second, paid registration level that would come with an ebook on blogging and some other extras.

Thanks for your continued support of WordCount, the blogathon and me.

Happy blogging!

Here’s hoping you do, because the 2011 WordCount Blogathon once again includes a raffle drawing of writing-related prizes that anyone who makes it through the entire month could win.

Some of those prizes include free hosting for your blog for a year, blogging classes, resume help, journalist website membership, business cards, e-books and more.
All you need to do be eligible to win is register for the blogathon and post every day in May. You can read more about the blogathon and fill out the registration form here. Read about the guest post exchange and other special events taking place during the blogathon here.

The 2011 WordCount Blogathon prize drawing will take place on June 1 during the WordCount Last Wednesday live chat on Twitter at 10 a.m. Pacific time. Participants don’t need to be participate in the live chat to win.

Here’s the list of prizes so far. I’m still signing up sponsors, so this list could keep growing:

• One hour of resume help, PenPoint Editorial Services, Danielle Buffardi, owner
• 500 business cards, two-sided, two-color, Next Day Flyers
• Online course, Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting, American Writers & Artists, Inc.
• Blogging class, choose from WordPress 101 (4 weeks), Growing Your Blog (4 weeks), Blogging for Passion and Profit (6 weeks), Syndicating Your Blog/Column (TBA), WriteBlogLearn, Jane Boursaw, owner
• Membership, Knowledgewebb tech training for journalists website, Amy Webb, proprietor, Julie Sturgeon, sales manager
• $25 Amazon gift card
• Book, The Literary Ladies Guide to the Writing Life, Nava Atlas
• E-book, Pub Speak: A Writer’s Dictionary of Publishing Terms, Tracy Marchini
• AP Stylebook, your choice of print, online or iPhone edition

Are you interested in becoming a 2011 WordCount Blogathon sponsor? If so, email me at wordcountfreelance@gmail.com.

Winners of more than $1,200 in writing and blogging-related prizes were randomly selected from the names of everyone who blogged all 31 days in May.

As a surprise consolation prize, everyone who blogged 31 days straight will receive a special WordCount Blogathon badge created by writer/web designer Ron S. Doyle that says “I did it!” to post on their site. I’ll be sending out those badges shortly.

Here are the prize winners, what they received and the sponsors who donated all those goodies.

• Blog/Website SEO Review – Custom analysis of your blog or website from Internet marketing specialist Spork Marketing. Spork’s Jason Lancaster will analyze more than 50 aspects of your website or blog’s design and structure to create a report on what’s working, what’s not and suggestions for 10 easy fixes to make it more search engine friendly. The winner must agree to publish a post about the review process, either on their site or on Spork Marketing’s blog. Value: $500 WINNER: Charles Newbery – Pine Tree Paradise
• Blogging Class – One admission to TV and film blogger Jane Boursaw’s popular class, Blogging for Passion and Profit, Premium level. Value: $250. WINNER: Katie Hinderer – Write Beyond the Cubicle
• Coaching – A one-hour “Get Unstuck” laser coaching session with Marla Beck, life coach for writers, good for writers looking to take on more meaningful assignments, overcome writer’s block. Value: $185. WINNER: Jan Udlock – Imperfect Mom
• KnowledgeWebb subscription – 1 year subscription to KnowledgeWebb, online and in-person training for everyone and anyone working in content. Their motto: Don’t sweat the tech! Value: $129. WINNER: Tara Phillips – Two Hands and a Road Map
• Resume help – One hour of resume writing service from Danielle Buffardi of PenPoint Editorial Services to overhaul an old resume or start a new one. Value: $125. WINNER: Thinkingtoohard – Thinking too hard
• Editing services – One hour of writing, editing, freelance business or social media coaching fromWordCount Editorial Services (that’s me). Value: $125. WINNER: Alexandra Grabbe – Chezsven’s Blog
• Task scheduling software – A copy of Simple Task Timer, time tracking software writers can also use to schedule projects, produce productivity reports and generate invoices. Value: $49.95. WINNER: Rachel Vidoni – East Coast Musings
• Online Markets E-book – Hot off the presses, The Urban Muse blogger Susan Johnston’s new e-book, The Urban Muse Guide to Online Writing Markets, with information on 40 online writing markets that buy freelance articles, as well as samples of successful query emails and a glossary of writing and web terms. Value: $15.99 WINNER: Joy Choquette – One Year. 156 Fears. Life Changing.
• Starbucks gift card - Preferred fuel for bloggers! Value: $25. WINNER: Sarah E. Ludwig – Parenting by Trial and Error
• Associated Press Stylebook 2009 – New, paperback edition, shipped directly to you from Amazon.com. Value: $12.89. WINNER: Katie Jett Walls, One per Week

Thanks again to the 2010 WordCount Blogathon sponsors for donating some fantastic prizes. Sponsors will be contacting prize winners shortly. Winners, if you don’t hear from them within the next week, please let me know.

A lot of people ended up not blogging every day, but came close to it, were faithful about leaving comments on other people’s blogs, or just had fantastic attitudes. To reward them, I added a surprise prize drawing for anyone who signed up for the blogathon but didn’t blog all 31 days. The prize: a $25 Amazon gift card. WINNER: Heather Frendo – Thrifty Knee Socks.

That’s all blogging every day amounts to, a couple hundred extra words added to whatever else you do for a living or for fun.

But oh, how hard those words can be.

The words themselves are simple. As professional writers, we’re good with words. It’s planning what to write, doing the research, scheduling the time to write, making it look good and promoting our efforts that takes all the extra work. Do it every day and blogging can quickly turn from a passion to a pain.

So today, as we head into June and the yearly experiment that is the WordCount Blogathon ebbs into the past like a receding tsunami, we’re taking the time to celebrate surfing on the crest of the wave – or in some cases, just dog paddling to stay out of the undertow.

All this is happening at the real-time wrap party on Twitter for the 2010 WordCount Blogathon at 8:30 a.m. PT. You can follow along at #Blog2010.

The order of events is as follows:

No introductions – Normally a real-time Twitter party or live chat would start with introductions, but since we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well over the past month, we’ll skip that part – it’ll also help us end within 60 minutes. If you’ve been playing along but haven’t introduced yourself yet, feel free to do that on our Google Group, which will remain up and running even after the Blogathon is over.

Questions – We’ll kick off the party with questions. If you haven’t attended a Twitter live chat before, here’s how it works:

1. As the host, I’ll post a question - I’ll leave a set amount of time for people to answer – probably close to 10 minutes – then we’ll move onto the next question.
2. If you want respond – Preface your answer with the number of the question. For example, for the first question I’ll write “Q1: What was your favorite part of the blogathon? #Blog2010″ Your response would look something like: “Q1: Making friends with bloggers from different countries #Blog2010,” or “Q1: Figuring out how to add photos to blog posts. #Blog2010″
3. Make sure to add #Blog2010 – to the end of your reponse, which lets people follow the conversation.

Here are the questions:

• Q1 – What did you like best about this year’s blogathon?
• Q2 – What was the hardest part?
• Q3 – What would you do differently next time?
• Q4 – What blogging tip or trick did you learn?
• Q5 – What would you like to see added to the 2011 WordCount Blogathon?

Prize drawing – Anyone who made it through 31 straight days of blogging is eligible for prizes.* In advance of the wrap party, I’ll use a random drawing service to pick names of the winners. Winners will be announced at the end of the question and answer period, at approximately 9:20 a.m. PT. I will also announce them on Twitter, the Google Group, the Freelance Success message board and on this blog tomorrow. You don’t need to attend the wrap party to be a winner. Winners who aren’t at the wrap party will be contacted within 24 hours.

*If you did not blog every day, please let me know so I can remove your name from the random drawing service (which will make my life a whole lot easier). You can notify me via email, by leaving a comment here or by leaving a comment in the appropriate thread on the Google Group.

Sponsors – Thanks again to the 2010 WordCount Blogathon sponsors for donating some fantastic prizes. If you are one of the lucky winners, the sponsor of the prize you won will make arrangements for getting it to you directly. If you don’t hear from them within the next week, please let me know.

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic blogathon experience – we’ll see you next year!

Since this is the last Saturday of the month – and of the blogathon – I thought I’d switch things up a bit. I asked all 110+ blogathoners to share the one post they’re proudest of having written during May. This was a last-minute venture, so this isn’t a complete list – not all of the bloggers had time to respond (or maybe they were already out of town for the long weekend).

Here they are:

• Anjuli - bhulbhulaiyan – Chinese tea ceremony
• Christa Avampato - Christa in New York – A job you like
• Joan Lambert Bailey - PopcornHomestead – Sidewalk as eden, gardens of Yanaka
• Karen Bannan – Natural as possible mom – Throwaway society
• t.a. barnhart - Left Coast Foodie – Guest post: Karen Bannan
• Jane Boursaw* - Film Gecko – Tom Hanks talks Toy Story 3, Pixar and Mr. Potato Head
• Alisa Bowman - Project Happily Ever After – You get what you ask for
• Carson Brackney - Carson Brackney – Freelance writers, it’s your thing
• Danielle Buffardi* - Horrible Sanity – 5 tips for writers when speaking publicly
• Beverly Burmeier - Going on Adventures - Swimming with dolphins
• Fiona Chan - Candy Prison – My very first haiku
• Joy Choquette - One Year. 156 Fears. Life Changing – The gratefulness project
• Caroline Clemmons - A Writer’s Life – Writing is a great job
• Sue Dickman – Life Divided – Dehli Metro love revisited
• Jackie Dishner – Bike with Jackie – Inspiration schinsperation
• Tracy Doerr – Tracy Doerr – William Shatner…..we need to talk/Procrastination they name is William Shatner
• Ron S. Doyle* – Blog Salad – The digital privacy paradox
• Dana DuGan – Chick with a View – Modern Art{i}ishly played
• Cindy Elsberry - Doodle9 – I can drive!
• Heather Faesy – Blame it on the Full Moon – Run for the roses
• Jennifer Fink – Blogging Bout Boys – All boys?
• Barb Freda - Babette Feasts – 6 rules I routinely break in the kitchen
• Adina Genn – adinagenn’s blog – Be relentless
• Alexandra Grabbe – Chezsven’s Blog – Confessions of an addicted woman
• Elyse Grau – My Garden to Table – Hot preserves
• Katie Hinderer – Write Beyond the Cubicle – Changing your niche
• Amanda Hirsch – Tastee Pudding – Trust your gut
• Lisa Jaffe Hubbell – Eat, Read and Be Harried – Don’t tell me I can handle it
• Nancy Mann Jackson – Growing Food and Kids – Boys and gardens
• Robert Janelle – Without an Apostrophe – On subscription options
• Elizabeth King Humphrey – The Write Elizabeth – My circuitous South African roots
• B.J. Keeton – Professor Beej – Lost series finale review: The End
• Sara Lancaster – No.2PenBlog – Uptown Soap Co.: Expert soap making, expert mar/com pros
• Bill Lascher – Lascher at Large – The freelancedom to investigate
• Pooja Lohana – Brown-eyed Mystic – But what will the others think?
• Jenny Lynes – Welcome to the Good Life – Lessons from grammy
• Su-sieee! Mac – This and That. Here and There. Now, Sometimes Then. – What Daddy told me
• Harry Marks – Curious Rat – A letter to open source Apple bashers
• Joanne Mason – English Idioms - Big shoes to fill
• Andrea Genevieve Michnik – Andrea Genevieve - A home-made Mother’s Day present
• Kathy Murray – Out and Employed – The perils of winning one for the gipper
• Charles Newbery – Pine Tree Paradise – The giant
• Andrew Nielsen - A Green Mushroom – Innovation trumps graphics
• Eric Novinson – Costing a Green Future – Major organic farming initiative in Madhya Pradesh
• Andrea Parker – Autism Fundraising Guide – Why parents should not try to get children with autism to talk
• Tara Phillips – Two Hands and a Road Map – Around the town and a little beyond
• Jennie Phipps – WalletPop – How to make sure your complaints won’t be ignored
• Ed Pilolla – Ed Pilolla – Good morning
• Michelle Rafter, WordCount - What Yahoo’s deal for Associated Content means for writers
• Meredith Resnick – The Writer’s [Inner] Journey – A muse will not get you published, but writing even when you don’t feel like it will
• Rebecca Robinson – Rebecca Robinson – Maybe I’m just old, or maybe you’re just right: reflections on judging the Bruce Baer awards
• Joe Romano - Blogging Perspectives Daily – The Internet experience and blogging behind the Great Firewall - On the day it appeared, this post made it onto Freshly Pressed, WordPress.com’s daily list of featured posts, not bad for a guy who’s only been blogging a month – congrats Joe!
• Lisa Samalonis – Single Parent Savings – Don’t miss it
• Ovetta Sampson - Musings of a Writing Princess – Take 37 seconds for Haiti
• Lilian Schaer – Food and Farming Canada – First Ontario asparagus of the season
• Kristie Sloan – mkBeautyZone – The beauty of variety
• Stephanie Suesan Smith – Stephanie Suesan Smith PhD, Information Central – Natural is not necessarily safe
• Margarita Tartakovsky – Self-ish – When saying ‘I’m sorry’ is unhealthy, and how to stop
• Thinkingtoohard – Thinking too hard – Blessing no. 1 – time
• Jan Udlock - Imperfect Mom – Embracing the journey
• Brandi-Ann Uyemura – Brandi-Ann Uyemura – Be the super hero in your own comic book life
• Beth VanHoose – Writing in Sand – Blogs I visit frequently
• Rachel Vidoni – East Coast Musings – Cupcake conundrum
• Sarah Webb – Webb of Science – Blogathon haiku day
• Susan Weiner – -Investment Writing - Tips for how to connect with your workshop attendees
• Jennifer Willis – Jennifer Willis – Lech Lecha and building bridges

* These awesome participants are also WordCount Blogathon 2010 sponsors.

146 – Percent increase in number of writers and bloggers in this year’s Blogathon. Last year, 45 people signed up. This year 111 signed up by the May 1 cut off to be eligible for giveaways. As of May 2, registrations continued to trick in even though people who sign up now aren’t eligible for prizes.

91 – People participating in the WordCount Blogathon for the first time. For the math challenged, that’s 82 percent.

15 – People participating for the second time.

5 – People participating for the third time. Blogging every day is hard work, but these veterans have figured out it out. All of them – Jane Boursaw, Jackie Dishner, Susan Weiner, Jennifer Willis and me – are full-time professional writers who make their living from some type of writing, blogging included.

18 - Number of guys participating, a Blogathon record. (I owe Bill Lascher cookies from bringing in one of them.)

7 - People using the challenge to start a blog. 

25 - People using the challenge to jumpstart a blog they created and abandonned somewhere along the line or as motivation to post more often.

23  - People whose No. 1 goal for the blogathon is to make it to May 31 without collapsing.

6 - People whose No. 1 goal is “to have fun!” including Meredith Resnick, of of The Writer’s [Inner] Journey.

2 - People whose Blogathon goal is increasing their blogging revenue by posting as often as possible, including more than once a day. Film Gecko‘s Jane Boursaw is shooting for three posts a day. Jennie Phipps, a long-time freelance writer and editor, and owner of Freelance Success, started writing for AOL’s WalletPop blog in 2009 and was pleasantly surprised by how much she made. “I’ve decided to make it a bigger (and recognized) part of my income stream,” Phipps wrote when she signed up for this year’s event. “I’ve set a goal and I need the encouragement offered by the blogathon.” Bloggers such as Boursaw and Phipps make a set fee per post from an online publisher, or earn money from click-through advertising shares from either a website they write for or their own site. The more they write, the more they make. As these pros show, it’s possible to make money blogging, but it takes work.

9 - People using blogs to promote a small businesses. Entrepreneurs have figured out blogs are a good way to connect with customers, be part of the community or show they’re an expert by discussing what’s happening in their industry. During the Blogathon, Sheena Brockington is using Greenhouse Advertising to share ideas with prospective small businss customers. Danielle Carter is using Live and Love Life VA to explain the mundane business tasks entrepreneurs can outsource to outside service providers. Romance novelist Carolyn Smith, who writes under the pen name Caroline Clemmons, is using A Writer’s Life to promote her books.

6 – People whose primary goal for the blogathon is boosting traffic to their blogs, including Teresa Mears, who runs MiamiOntheCheap, and Jodi Torpey, who runs Western Gardeners.