Ideas for Business

We find that most new clients that have had their site built by another company fail to have their page’s code optimized correctly. The most common issue that we come across is having internal JavaScript code on the page.

You may be wondering why this would be an issue. When search engine spiders crawl your site, the spider will go through all of the page code to understand what the page content is about. Typically spiders will index up to 110K of data before abandoning the page. So if the page is top heavy with irrelevant code like JavaScript or CSS style sheets, spiders will not be able to effectively decide if your page is relevant for a particular topic.

An easy solution is to move the JavaScript code into an external file and then place a JavaScript include file on the page.

Tags: seo, search engine optimization, code optimization, web code optimization, seo, sem, internet marketing, smt

BlogHer07 in Chicago from the Day Two: Breakout #7 Session Business of You: Professional Blogging: Art and Commerce.

The other side of the professional blogging coin is looking at the business ramification of making money with your blogging. This session will cover the things to consider and that you may regret if you wait to long to address: copyright protection, tax ramifications, managing personal vs. paid-for blogging, your site policies, and blogging ethics.

Nina Smith - moderator (who blogs at Queercents and BlogHer)
Kelly Erb (who blogs at TaxGirl over at b5media and Tiny Treasury over at 451Press)
Denise Howell (who blogs at Bag and Baggage)
Liz Gumbinner (who blogs at CoolMomPicks and Mom-101)

Kelly - What are the consequences of people who are beginning to make money from their hobby blog?  (Feel free to email her your questions at TaxGirl.)

The difference between hobby and probloggers. Income matters to the IRS. Deductions for hobbyists - you can only use them up to your income, what you made that you. But if it's your real job, you can take a loss - carry forward your deductions. What is your profit motive? Do you care about the money, then you're pro. If you're just having fun and making some money on the side, then you're a hobbyist.

Must have a profit 3 of 5 years then you are a professional. That's the way the IRS sees it.

Liz - Advertising, ethics and policies
There is a difference between a personal blog and a blog that you're trying to make money on. Are you selling out on your personal blog if you run ads? People are coming for your story, not editorial content on products. On cooking, political, etc. blogs, ads may be a better fit. Think about starting another blog to make money from.

Is the integrity of your voice worth the money (or little bit of money) that you're making? Is it affecting your voice on your personal blog. Does the paid post or advertising fit on your blog? Will it turn off your readers?

Denise - Intellectual property issues, licensing models
Licensing is a two way street. Licensing your work on Creative Commons. WIll you let people use your content for just an attribution and a link? Or should you limit it? Do people need to ask permission and should you care?

Decide how much permission you want to give people to use your content and pictures. Pay attention to the intellectual property considerations around your work. Enforce it.

Commercial use is any blog/website that has ads/Google Adsense, from a small blogger to ABC News.

Question: Copyrighting photos if you don't use a Creative Commons license. Do you need to register with the US Copyrighting Office?

Denise - It's not necessary, but if you do register you can be awarded statutory damages for illegal use.

Question: Should I incorporate if I'm starting to make a little money as a blogger?

Kelly - It depends on your circumstances. For taxes it doesn't help much, but if you incorporate and are self-employed, you can deduct your health insurance at the corporate rate.

Also, an incorporation (if there is more than one of you, like a group of mommy bloggers) health insurance companies will consider you a group and won't have the problem of pre-existing  conditions, won't make you go through a physical, etc.

Publishers and other companies will take you more seriously if you are a LLC or S corporation.

Denise: Incorporation won't give you special liability protection, except if you are selling a product for someone else that goes south, you are protected somewhat.

Comment: Group insurance, PEO (professional employment organizations) will help you set up health insurance for the self-employed.You could also use your local chamber of commerce.

Question: Creative Commons license - what becomes our recourse when I am scraped?

Denise - You could sue the guy, but it's hard to find out who these people are. If you don't know who they are, file the lawsuit as a Doe, and do discovery in the lawsuit - subpeona the ISP, get the info from social media sites that they're a member of, etc.

Kelly - Go to the ISP and ask for it to be taken down.

Denise - DMCA - digital millenium communication act - makes the ISP takes it down if you can demonstrate that it's your content.

Creative Commons license, you are permitting other uses. But no matter what US copyright will protect you.

What to do when someone steals your content?  Great post for what to do if you are scraped. Also, make sure if you use Feedburner to apply a Creative Commons license to your feed.

Question: If I excerpt, am I violating copyright?

Denise - There's no steadfast rules on how much content you can use someone else's content. You should be commenting on their content, no replublishing other's content. Make sure it's small amounts, use commentary and education, links, etc.

Fair Use Project

Questions: What should bloggers think about before joining an ad network? What other things are out there besides using ads to monetize your blog?

Liz - the authenticity of your voice - are you going to compromise it? Will you tick off your readers (ask for what they don't like and do like.) Are you running so many ads that it looks like a billboard? How do you feel about it?

Even so, running ads give your blog a professional status especially if you're part of an ad network, like BlogHer's or using BlogAds.com.

Do the ads fit in with your content? Can you turn down an ad if you don't like the advertiser - you need right of refusal.

Kelly - You'll get a 1099 from your ad or blog network when you make more than $600. If it's lower than that, you need to keep track of it - write it down a piece of paper. Only report money you've received (for example, if you haven't met your payout threshold).

Liz - If you're not making that much money from the ads, take them down. You're worth more than that. Don't give away free real estate on your blog.

Question: Opinion vs. defamation

Denise - opinion and satire is not defamation. Stretching the truth will get you in trouble. Disclaimers on your site that it's humor or satire will help. Talk to a first amendment lawyer to have them draft something for you.

Question: Companies hiring bloggers to work as their marketing department. Should they be independent contractors? Should they have liability insurance to cover these workers?

Kelly - Most bloggers will be independent contractors. It's about control. Are you expected to come in at certain times? Are they buying you equipment to use? Then you maybe an employee.

I'm a 1099 blogger on 451Press and b5media. It's the manner in which you do your work - at home, when you can fit it in, in your pajamas, etc.

Denise - Liability insurance - requiring them to blog under contractual obligations - protects their company.

Question: Advertising on personal blogs. What blog topics are ads not acceptable?

Liz - Some people hold mommy bloggers to a higher standard. Some feel our work is supposed to be hidden since we're mothers. If we have ads, some people accuse us of pimping our kids. I don't feel that way at all.

Some people feel that blogs are personal journals and shouldn't make money. Your blog is what you decide it is. If your content is good, people won't care that you have ads in the sidebar.

People assume that blog advertising is always for big companies like McDonalds and Walmart and it upsets them. But with services like Blogads, it's often a way to help the little guy, and give small businesses a voice that they couldn't ordinarily have.

There will always be a group of people who remember the good ol' days before the blogosphere became commercial. Then those folks will form another community. There will always be people who don't like it, but I don't care.

Question: Is the name of your blog protected under copyright law? Should I trademark it? What is the expense.

Denise - It's trademarking for your blog name. There are registered trademarks and there are marks you gain rights to just by using it - service mark. Trademark law is very murky. The person who stole it, was it on purpose to steal your content?

Kelly - Someone took TaxGirl and was using it on message boards for talking about STDs, bands, clubbing, and bongs. Others took it to talk about taxes. Kelly wrote to the tax people and asked them to stop. She also put a page on her site to explain about her trade name, who she is, and about the "other TaxGirl."

Denise - You should consider trademarking your blog name.

Also, find an accountant and lawyer to handle some of these matters. Find how much it will cost, then make an educated decision to do it or not. Get some free info before you get in trouble. Lawyers give out free advice all the time.

Question: Photographs and copyrights - if I'm using a news site's photographs, even when I link to their photos (inline link) and attributing to them, am I violating copyright.

Denise - You have to attribute, link to the photo as it is shown on their server, you should be o.k.

Question: Can you register a blog name on your own? How do you file for copyright?

Denise - You don't have to register your content to be covered by copyright. Also, registering your blog posts at the copyright office, isn't straight forward. You can put a month's batch of posts and register them as a compilation.

Consult with a copyright lawyer. Decide on the most effective thing that makes the most sense to you.

Lawyer for trademarks - you will save time and money using a professional. Trademark registration is fairly low cost to have someone else do it.

Kelly - If you think you know what you're doing, then do it on your own. But you could screw it up and cost yourself more money.

Denise  - Marty Schwimer at SchwimerLegal.com - email him for answers to your questions.

Comment: Organizing yourself - should I have a seperate bank account to keep track of my earnings and expenses?

Denise - "Doing business as" accounts, getting an AMEX card with your blog name, etc.

Liz - Paypal can serve as your blogging account to keep things separate.

Question: Rights on your content - writing for other sites. What are you giving up when you write for other people?

Kelly - You can negotiate your contract on usage rights, so you can reuse your content for a book in perpetuity. What are you comfortable with? Ask, it can't hurt.

Denise - Negotiate to have joint rights.

BlogHer07 in Chicago from the Day Two: Breakout #7 Session Business of You: Professional Blogging: Art and Commerce.

The other side of the professional blogging coin is looking at the business ramification of making money with your blogging. This session will cover the things to consider and that you may regret if you wait to long to address: copyright protection, tax ramifications, managing personal vs. paid-for blogging, your site policies, and blogging ethics.

Nina Smith - moderator (who blogs at Queercents and BlogHer)
Kelly Erb (who blogs at TaxGirl over at b5media and Tiny Treasury over at 451Press)
Denise Howell (who blogs at Bag and Baggage)
Liz Gumbinner (who blogs at CoolMomPicks and Mom-101)

Kelly - What are the consequences of people who are beginning to make money from their hobby blog?  (Feel free to email her your questions at TaxGirl.)

The difference between hobby and probloggers. Income matters to the IRS. Deductions for hobbyists - you can only use them up to your income, what you made that you. But if it's your real job, you can take a loss - carry forward your deductions. What is your profit motive? Do you care about the money, then you're pro. If you're just having fun and making some money on the side, then you're a hobbyist.

Must have a profit 3 of 5 years then you are a professional. That's the way the IRS sees it.

Liz - Advertising, ethics and policies
There is a difference between a personal blog and a blog that you're trying to make money on. Are you selling out on your personal blog if you run ads? People are coming for your story, not editorial content on products. On cooking, political, etc. blogs, ads may be a better fit. Think about starting another blog to make money from.

Is the integrity of your voice worth the money (or little bit of money) that you're making? Is it affecting your voice on your personal blog. Does the paid post or advertising fit on your blog? Will it turn off your readers?

Denise - Intellectual property issues, licensing models
Licensing is a two way street. Licensing your work on Creative Commons. WIll you let people use your content for just an attribution and a link? Or should you limit it? Do people need to ask permission and should you care?

Decide how much permission you want to give people to use your content and pictures. Pay attention to the intellectual property considerations around your work. Enforce it.

Commercial use is any blog/website that has ads/Google Adsense, from a small blogger to ABC News.

Question: Copyrighting photos if you don't use a Creative Commons license. Do you need to register with the US Copyrighting Office?

Denise - It's not necessary, but if you do register you can be awarded statutory damages for illegal use.

Question: Should I incorporate if I'm starting to make a little money as a blogger?

Kelly - It depends on your circumstances. For taxes it doesn't help much, but if you incorporate and are self-employed, you can deduct your health insurance at the corporate rate.

Also, an incorporation (if there is more than one of you, like a group of mommy bloggers) health insurance companies will consider you a group and won't have the problem of pre-existing  conditions, won't make you go through a physical, etc.

Publishers and other companies will take you more seriously if you are a LLC or S corporation.

Denise: Incorporation won't give you special liability protection, except if you are selling a product for someone else that goes south, you are protected somewhat.

Comment: Group insurance, PEO (professional employment organizations) will help you set up health insurance for the self-employed.You could also use your local chamber of commerce.

Question: Creative Commons license - what becomes our recourse when I am scraped?

Denise - You could sue the guy, but it's hard to find out who these people are. If you don't know who they are, file the lawsuit as a Doe, and do discovery in the lawsuit - subpeona the ISP, get the info from social media sites that they're a member of, etc.

Kelly - Go to the ISP and ask for it to be taken down.

Denise - DMCA - digital millenium communication act - makes the ISP takes it down if you can demonstrate that it's your content.

Creative Commons license, you are permitting other uses. But no matter what US copyright will protect you.

What to do when someone steals your content?  Great post for what to do if you are scraped. Also, make sure if you use Feedburner to apply a Creative Commons license to your feed.

Question: If I excerpt, am I violating copyright?

Denise - There's no steadfast rules on how much content you can use someone else's content. You should be commenting on their content, no replublishing other's content. Make sure it's small amounts, use commentary and education, links, etc.

Fair Use Project

Questions: What should bloggers think about before joining an ad network? What other things are out there besides using ads to monetize your blog?

Liz - the authenticity of your voice - are you going to compromise it? Will you tick off your readers (ask for what they don't like and do like.) Are you running so many ads that it looks like a billboard? How do you feel about it?

Even so, running ads give your blog a professional status especially if you're part of an ad network, like BlogHer's or using BlogAds.com.

Do the ads fit in with your content? Can you turn down an ad if you don't like the advertiser - you need right of refusal.

Kelly - You'll get a 1099 from your ad or blog network when you make more than $600. If it's lower than that, you need to keep track of it - write it down a piece of paper. Only report money you've received (for example, if you haven't met your payout threshold).

Liz - If you're not making that much money from the ads, take them down. You're worth more than that. Don't give away free real estate on your blog.

Question: Opinion vs. defamation

Denise - opinion and satire is not defamation. Stretching the truth will get you in trouble. Disclaimers on your site that it's humor or satire will help. Talk to a first amendment lawyer to have them draft something for you.

Question: Companies hiring bloggers to work as their marketing department. Should they be independent contractors? Should they have liability insurance to cover these workers?

Kelly - Most bloggers will be independent contractors. It's about control. Are you expected to come in at certain times? Are they buying you equipment to use? Then you maybe an employee.

I'm a 1099 blogger on 451Press and b5media. It's the manner in which you do your work - at home, when you can fit it in, in your pajamas, etc.

Denise - Liability insurance - requiring them to blog under contractual obligations - protects their company.

Question: Advertising on personal blogs. What blog topics are ads not acceptable?

Liz - Some people hold mommy bloggers to a higher standard. Some feel our work is supposed to be hidden since we're mothers. If we have ads, some people accuse us of pimping our kids. I don't feel that way at all.

Some people feel that blogs are personal journals and shouldn't make money. Your blog is what you decide it is. If your content is good, people won't care that you have ads in the sidebar.

People assume that blog advertising is always for big companies like McDonalds and Walmart and it upsets them. But with services like Blogads, it's often a way to help the little guy, and give small businesses a voice that they couldn't ordinarily have.

There will always be a group of people who remember the good ol' days before the blogosphere became commercial. Then those folks will form another community. There will always be people who don't like it, but I don't care.

Question: Is the name of your blog protected under copyright law? Should I trademark it? What is the expense.

Denise - It's trademarking for your blog name. There are registered trademarks and there are marks you gain rights to just by using it - service mark. Trademark law is very murky. The person who stole it, was it on purpose to steal your content?

Kelly - Someone took TaxGirl and was using it on message boards for talking about STDs, bands, clubbing, and bongs. Others took it to talk about taxes. Kelly wrote to the tax people and asked them to stop. She also put a page on her site to explain about her trade name, who she is, and about the "other TaxGirl."

Denise - You should consider trademarking your blog name.

Also, find an accountant and lawyer to handle some of these matters. Find how much it will cost, then make an educated decision to do it or not. Get some free info before you get in trouble. Lawyers give out free advice all the time.

Question: Photographs and copyrights - if I'm using a news site's photographs, even when I link to their photos (inline link) and attributing to them, am I violating copyright.

Denise - You have to attribute, link to the photo as it is shown on their server, you should be o.k.

Question: Can you register a blog name on your own? How do you file for copyright?

Denise - You don't have to register your content to be covered by copyright. Also, registering your blog posts at the copyright office, isn't straight forward. You can put a month's batch of posts and register them as a compilation.

Consult with a copyright lawyer. Decide on the most effective thing that makes the most sense to you.

Lawyer for trademarks - you will save time and money using a professional. Trademark registration is fairly low cost to have someone else do it.

Kelly - If you think you know what you're doing, then do it on your own. But you could screw it up and cost yourself more money.

Denise  - Marty Schwimer at SchwimerLegal.com - email him for answers to your questions.

Comment: Organizing yourself - should I have a seperate bank account to keep track of my earnings and expenses?

Denise - "Doing business as" accounts, getting an AMEX card with your blog name, etc.

Liz - Paypal can serve as your blogging account to keep things separate.

Question: Rights on your content - writing for other sites. What are you giving up when you write for other people?

Kelly - You can negotiate your contract on usage rights, so you can reuse your content for a book in perpetuity. What are you comfortable with? Ask, it can't hurt.

Denise - Negotiate to have joint rights.

BlogHer07 in Chicago - Day One: Breakout #4 Session Technical: Blogging Workflow Tools and Tricks.

Are you inundated and overwhelmed? Do the words Information Overload particularly resonate? Did you know there are tools to facilitate working with feeds, hyperlinking, adding and resizing images, creating captioned cartoons, posting to multiple blogs simultaneously, creating those daily link posts and more? Improve your blogging efficiency processes with a handy look at these tools…most of which are free or open source.

Barb Dybwad (who blogs at Weblogs, Inc. at AOL, Joystiq, geeked., and Engadget)
Gina Trapani (who blogs at Lifehacker)

1. Backend tools
2. Content creation tools
3. Handling info overload - handling RSS readers, etc.

Back end tools

Typing same text over and over again - TextExpander or Texter, AutoCopy for Firefox, and CoLT for Firefox.

Automate repetitive work - Link roundup maker and ImageReady to process (resize, crop and sharpen) images

Markdown - Converts text to HTML

Browser-based image tools - Resizr and Picnik (filters, resize, crop, correct colors, red-eye fix - all online, eliminating need for Photoshop)

Blogging from Firefox - Scribefire

FTP - SmartFTP , Transmit, FireFTP

Desktop blogging client - Ecto

Q: Do these tools help you see what you're writing before you post?
A: Not really.

Q: Can you publish in a draft format before you go live?
A: Yes.

Q: Transferring stuff from Word - ends up with weird formatting and symbols.
A: Use a text editor or TextWrangler instead of writing into Word. Use NotePad or WordPad in Windows.

Q: Planning a vacation or when you're sick and cannot blog. What do you do besides preposting, especially when you cover current events.

A: Don't feel too guilty if it's a personal blog. Figure out a way to do short posts. Find guest bloggers and co-editors to cover you. Future post. Evergreen content that you can post whenever.

Content Creation Tools

• Post your del.icio.us links and set it up to post daily
• Mobilize your blog
• Multi-bookmark submission tools - add submit buttons to your post and multi-submit posts for promotion (Onlywire.com)
• Fun stuff - make your own lolcats, church sign generator, warning label generator
• Blog widgets and badges

Sources for republishable content

• everystockphoto
• Creative commons tabbed search tool
• Yahoo Creative Commons search
• Flickr Creatice Commons search

Information Overload

• Mark Hurst's Bit Literacy
• Stop getting hung up on not reading all your feeds. Try to use a daily and a sometimes folder. Be ruthless about your time and attention.
• Foxmarks to bookmark in FireFox.
• Don't look at everything. Set up keyword filters to get only what you need at that time.
• Use Zaptxt for critical IM and/or SMS notification.

BlogHer07 in Chicago - Day One: Breakout #3 Session Art of Life: Art of Writing Reviews.

Many, many bloggers write reviews for fun and for money. Some traditional journalists think the art of criticism is dying, and deplore its demise, but studies show that people put as much stock in what their neighbors think of a product, service or piece of entertainment as they do in what a "professional" thinks. Whether just-the-facts-ma'am new product reviews or more subjective and artful entertainment reviews, bloggers are telling you what they think.

Maria Niles - moderator (who blogs at Fizz from Consumer Pop)
Barb Dybwad (who blogs at Weblogs, Inc. at AOL, Joystiq, geeked., and Engadget)
Claire Zulkey (who blogs at Zukley.com and is a L.A. Times TV reviewer/blogger at Show Tracker)
Eugenia Williamson (who blogs at Literago - Literate Chicago and writes at Time Out Chicago)

If you attended the session and want to provide a link to your review blog, please do so in the comments below.

Q: What makes a review? Do you have to be a pro or trained? Can bloggers be reviewers? Is there a standard for legit criticism?

Barb - At Engadget, we give "opinions as a friend" but do have standards as to what is covered and how it's formatted. We're not afraid to tell it like it is.

Eugenia - She writes professionally as a reviewer, but on Literago - Literate Chicago they do reviews of literary events which is kind of different.

Claire: LA Times editors didn't want to do recaps, but a little more - a "piece" and a review. She tries to take it seriously and wants to report more than just the facts.

Metromix.com - reviewers are readers, reader driven content. Good place for practice. Sharing your opinion in an articulate, non-inflammatory way.

Q: (Audience - Heidi O'Connor) What else are you injecting into your reviews to make it more personal?

Claire - Interviews with the contestants, comparisions between similar shows, adding little stories from the show to add to opinion. The LA Times wants to make the content interesting even to people who don't watch the show.

Barb - Engadget compares their review products to similar products, subjective analysis, how the device fits into her life, then zoom out and show how the product would be used in other situations that make it more general.

Q: (Liz Rizzo - Everyday Goddess - she is trying book reviews and tv shows. However, she feels like a poseur because of a need to summarize the book/show. It seems boring and too much work. How should she handle this?

Eugenia - Plot summaries are boring, keep them short, read big reviewers and see how they handle this, don't give away the plot, no spoilers, good writing

Claire - in TV you have to summarize and give spoilers. Imagine how you would tell your friend about this show and write it that way.

Maria - Television without Pity - recaps/summaries and TV Squad - reviews - look at what other's are doing.

Commentary - Reviewer from Literary Mama - either make the review personal or political. Take the theme and take it to a personal level and relate it to you. Tell your story or make a political/societal point.

Claire - Take it personal.

Eugenia - Look at who you are writing for.

Q: How to handle negative reviews?

Barb - You can shill a product you don't believe in. Our readers know we're not afraid of giving negative reviews.

Claire - You don't want to mean, but you don't want to be condescending. When I cover something negatively - ER last season - a certain level of snark is o.k., too much is terrible. You wanted something to be good, but it wasn't, you are disappointed, and how it could be better.

Eugenia - Our goal is to foster community, so we don't want to publish negative reviews of literary readings. Instead we want people to be interested in Chicago about readings. If it wasn't good, we probably won't publish it.

Claire - Instant publication like blogs - sleep on it and read it over and rewrite. Believe what you say so you don't have to say, "I didn't mean it that way."

Barb - Constructive criticism and point out flaws. It should have been done this way to make it better like gadget X.

Eugenia - Do some of the companies get offended by a negative review?

Barb - Yes, but we won't change the post. We stand by what we write even if a company freak out. Now the companies feel that there is no bad PR, they're still talking about their product, especially since it is increasing brand awareness. Getting a negative review isn't the end of the world.

Q: Maria: The citizen reviews at TravelAdvisor.com, Amazon.com - word of mouth reviews are more trustworthy than professional reviews. What are the elements of a good review and what are the subjective areas of a review?

Claire - Spelling, punctuation, proper writing (no ALL CAPS), seeming like a reasonable writer and not getting off on writing a negative review for the heck of it. Being polite and not screaming and being rude.

Barb - Grammar, punctuation, devices get a scientific analysis: does the product work? Is it a usable device?  What are its features? Photos are important. Historical analysis - how does it rank against other devices in its class. Good and feel of the product is subjective.

Eugenia -  Axe grinding reviews are entertaining reads. If the writer is knowledgeable about the subject historically, part of the conversation, then the review is good. It's important to have taste and know what you like.

Question: Do you write reviews of one topic or more (to the audience)? Audience says multiple things. How do remain focused if you're writing about lots of things?

Claire - If you are comfortable and good at writing reviews, you could write about lots of things as long as you're knowledgeable about that subject. Know what you can and can't write about it. Practice writing reviews about things you're interested/knowledgeable in. Know what you're good at.

Maria - I write reviews about things going on my life - movies, TV shows, etc. - but puts her personal spin on it "Is it worth your time/money?"

Audience comment: It doesn't matter what you're expert at. Instead, you are reviewing from your perspective as a mom blogger, etc. based on your criteria.

Audience comment : I work for a PR agency. We reach out and want your honest opinion. She hopes the product is relevant to their blog.

Question: I'm a publicist. We're concerned about inaccuracies. How do I approach bloggers to correct their posts?

Barb - We will update the post and point out our error.

Claire - My editors catch my errors (misspellings, etc.). Since the posts are open to comments, I make sure that the info is correct.

Maria - Within reason - if it's a factual error, it should be immediately corrected. But others have contacted me because they didn't like the tone. So within reason.

Audience: (Amy, who has a baby/kid product review blog.) I feel that I'm getting too wordy. Will readers stick around for all that information and my personal experience with the product. Can you be too wordy?

Barb - Look at your comments. Are they sticking around to read and make comments? Reviews have two formats - summary review and full review.

Claire - Link to background info. Go with your gut. Would you want to read it? Have someone else give you feedback. Start sparing and fill in later as you write.

Question: (Person is from a company that is trying to build relationships with bloggers) What is the difference between review and advertorial?

Barb - We stay away from advertorial content. We stay away from that and position ourselves against that. Authenticity is important in the blogosphere. Readers appreciate honest info/reviews of products. Companies should permit this, and be open to negative feedback.

Claire - Does author interviews on her personal blog, so she gets a lot of books to review. She doesn't do book reviews and tells publicists that. She's sent books anyway and publicists want to know where the reviews are.

Maria - Be transparent for your readers. Be authentic and clear that you were sent a product to review.

Comment from Audience :Julie Marsh, The Parents Bloggers Network - Formed it to work with PR professionals who want to work with parent bloggers. They have 70+ bloggers on their site who write reviews. PR professionals don't waste time with bloggers who don't want to review their product.

Question: (Gail who has a book blog and does reviews.) She had an author act inappropriately to a review, personally emailing him and being threatening-ish about it. How should should have she handled it?

Eugenia - Had a similar experience. Scary feeling when the person you wrote about came after her and felt offended by her review and attacked her personally via email. Eugenia says to keep it professional.

Claire - Why write a review if you only say good thing? Critique but don't be evil. Don't even engage the author, keep it professional. It's HIS problem, not yours. Don't be discouraged when authors act like a baby.

Barb - Having a personal relationship with a company, publicist, author, etc. doesn't mean a good review.

Question to audience from Maria: What do you write about?

Answer: Kim - Scrambled Cake, restaurant reviews; Props and Pans - group of reviewers on everything from kids products to customer service. Personality rather than review style. Non-traditional career choices. Adult toys and websites.

Comment from publicist in the audience - Deal with publicists not the artist. Don't develop a personal relationship with the artist. They're volative. Publicists will protect from that.

Elise from BlogHer: Power of voice, tell them what you think and don't worry about it.