Words with a Blogger Wednesday

Words with a Blogger Wednesday is here again!

I have interviewed an exciting blogger this week and I just love her blog.

Why, her blog helped me the first day that I found it.

Her blog is called, Sweeties Sweeps.

She has great advice on how to win all sorts of contests including blog giveaways and I won this the first night!

If you don't believe me, check it out here.

Anyways, find out about this blog and the other blogs that Wendy runs!

Please introduce yourself:

Hello to all of the Six Feet Under readers!

Thank you to Tess for contacting me for this week's interview. This is actually my first interview online as well. I have been in newspapers and such, but no interviews online so I'm thrilled to be a part of your blog this week.My name is Wendy but I have been called The Computer Lady since around 1993. I live in Connecticut with my husband and 5 crazy cats. I have 3 grown children, all boys, one granddaughter with one grandchild due in August. I have been happily married for 29 years. It's hard to sum up my life in this paragraph so I will send you off to a page that tells a lot more about me at the end of this article. I have been online since 1993 - it was me and Al Gore - yet right! He forgets to tell you that I invented the Internet so there! I'm pretty much a geek who loves playing with HTML, Photoshop, but also loves entering and winning sweepstakes. I blog but also run a lavender business with my husband. We started that business because of a $25,000 trip to France we won online. This is why you should read that article - too much to write about.When did you start blogging?I started blogging July of 2008. I now have 3 active blogs. The one Tess found me on was Sweeties Sweeps at http://www.sweetiessweeps.com/ but I also own and run the Business Blogging Guide at http://www.businessbloggingguide.com/ (about blogging for business and because of your business), and Shopping Gems at http://www.shopping-gems.com/ (wholesale and retail business resources). I still have my computer website at http://www.thecomputerladyonline.com/ (I was a web designer and instructor), and our online business is at http://wholesale.limaugeboutique.com/Since I am a geek I designed all of my sites as well as the shopping cart for our wholesale business. For the blogs I usually start with a template and tweak the heck out of it and design my own graphics in Photoshop. I used to be a web designer so that helps. I never went to college though and learned HTML when my kid were young from a book I got from the library. I kept it so long they made me buy it! I stayed home with my children for 13 years and learned how to use the computer, the Internet, and most of my skills just by playing on the computer so you don't have to be trained or schooled to be successful. You just need to be passionate about whatever you are doing.

Do you make money from your blog?

Yes, I have to say that I do make money from my blog(s). I make the most from Sweeties Sweeps. In the 5 months that Sweeties has been up (I didn't start it until October 2008) I am now earning a part-time living with it and my other blogs. I would say that I wouldn't be making any money if I hadn't focused each blog on a specific topic (I explain more below). My goal is to earn a full-time living by the end of the year. I also now write for Lifetime TV's blog, Sweeps Hunter, and last week I went to NYC to be taped for the Tyra Banks show for Sweeties Sweeps. Hopefully when that airs I will make more money :)

How frequently do you post?

On Sweeties Sweeps I post 2 to 4 times each day. On the Business Blogging Guide and Shopping Gems I post once a week. I also write for a tech blog, Make Use Of (http://www.makeuseof.com/), Lifetime TV, and create lesson plans occasionally for my computer site.

Do you have a favorite blogger(s) that you just can't live without reading?

Yes, but he probably isn't one you have heard of. His name online is Grizzly and his blog is http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/. Don't let the "butt ugly blog" fool you. He's the real deal. I also read various freebie blogs, my friend Zippy's blog (Champagne Living) at http://www.champagneliving.net/ and believe it or not, I follow the Whitehouse blog daily at http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Have your readers influenced you in any way?

I really don't have that many readers on my blogs except Sweeties Sweeps. On that blog I have helped people win prizes and I really love hearing stories that are sent to me about how winning prizes makes a difference in their lives and how I was a part of that. That is what keeps me posting sweepstakes and teaching people my tricks for winning consistently.

Has blogging changed your life in any way?

I would have to say, definitely yes. I now have a new career path. I didn't realize how much I enjoy writing. I think in school we are taught to write a certain way and it isn't often that easy because most of the time you are trying to write in someone else's style. I love explaining complex things to people in simple terms and did that for years as a software and computer trainer so blogging is just an extension of that. I find that I have a natural flow to my posts and they sound like I talk in "real" life. Find your voice and it will come easy. Don't try to be someone else.

What do you do when you get writer's block?

I read everything I can on the Web to get ideas. You can read other blogs you like that are in your niche or topic and get ideas. You don't go there to copy their work but sometimes just reading what they write about will give you a "light bulb moment" and then you will know what to write about. You can get ideas from magazines too. There have been too many times I "had" to take that magazine home from the doctor's office because it had something in there I had to write about. I'm glad my doctor saw it my way :)

Any other advice you might have for newbie bloggers?

Decide if you want to write for fun or to make money. If you want to write for fun then get on Twitter and comment on other blogs so you can build up your readers and people will know who you are. You can write about anything and everything for fun. You can do that to make money too but the real money comes from people searching for what you are writing about through Google or other search engine. For the searches to bring up your blog you need to write a certain way and have a specific topic for your blog. That is why I have multiple blogs. Each blog is about one specific topic. If I put them all together on one blog some readers would like it, others would not, and the search engines would have a hard time figuring out just what my blog is about and it would take forever for my blog to appear on the search engine and I wouldn't make any money.Wow, well I guess you know I like to talk and write a LOT! That is why I never run out of stuff to say online. Come visit me and read my story at http://sweetiessweeps.com/2008/06/about-wendy-sue-sweetie-sweeps_465.html and please follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/TheComputerLady

Thanks, Wendy!

Do you have a great blog?

Tell me about it and you could be my next blogger victim!