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This week’s mommy blogger is our very own Val Selby, who I’m sure you recognize as a founding member here at Easy Wahm Websites. Before Val and I were helping mommy bloggers and work at home moms find their way on the web we were just beginners ourselves.

Val has had Busy Momma online since 2004. She’s been married to her high school sweetheart for 15 years and it’s been an awesome roller coaster ride with 2 beautiful kids to show for it. She describes her blog as very much a personal blog on her journey of being such a busy momma and wife.

It’s hardcore and not family friendly most of the time, but experience shows that Val’s reader’s appreciate that open honest reality. As the tagline says, “Telling it like it is and not caring if you agree!“. If you a question in real life you will get an answer that is truthful, this blog is purely Val.

1. How did you come to have your “mommy blog”? Was it planned that way or did it just accidentally sort of happen?

My blog was started in early 2004 at least. It was just used as a vent and usually still is. No direction, it was just how things hit me and I added them. People were on blogger so I went over there to check it out. I immediately fell in love with blogging.

2. Do you work outside the home or work from home? What are you currently working on?

I work from home and outside the home, but all of them are my own business. My personal training business takes me to where my clients are of course. But I really love working online even more. Virtual assisting others and working on my sites and affiliate sales.

3. Do you accept advertising and sponsorship on this blog? Why or why not?

You know, my advertising page may be up still honestly, but I don’t push it. It’s just not worth selling advertising on my personal blog. I sell advertising on other sites that the niche brings the traffic. But on my blog it’s all about me, I feel I should make the affiliate sales on things I really enjoy. The only things put up on my blog are things I’ve used and approve of.

4. Do you have a blog publishing schedule or do you just spontaneously blog as the mood strikes you?

Totally spontaneous. I will schedule posts out though at times.

5. Do you consider your blog a business venture or just a mommy outlet for getting thoughts out of your head? Is it both?

I know I have wanted it to make the transition to being business, but I doubt that is ever going to happen. It’s very opinionated and honestly it’s not even close to G rated. It’s not a touchy-feely Mommy blog. It’s not a blog helping you with mommy tips.

But I’m not sure where the difference is actually made for people. I put links up on my site. I put affiliate links up when I do recommend a product. So technically that does make it business because I do hope to make money from that link. BUT I don’t gear my posts to making said money. The links are added to my thoughts and not the other way around.

6. How do you feel about paid blogging and it’s impact on the mommy blogger community?

I see nothing wrong with paid blogging. I see a lot wrong with the fact that just like in the offline world there is too much female jealousy and this has ruined it for everyone. Disclosures and now the new FTC laws just show that it’s gone too far. Too many people tweaked out and now they won’t hope to get in on most the good deals and giveaways.

I feel that these people that complained will now never have a chance because you will need to be an established blog to be able to get the good giveaways for your readers. Those that complained really shot themselves in their foot.

7. Do you talk about your family in any depth of detail on your blog? Do they know about it and do they read your blog?

Yes, I talk about family and friend issues in depth and detail. No names and I do try to put the posts out farther than the event if I can so it’s not as connected. But, yes, again, this is my personal blog and always has been. I do not let local people know about this blog.

8. Do you use real names and include pictures of your children on your blog? What brought you to that decision?

No names, no pictures. Do I need more than pedophiles as an excuse for not posting pictures? I host my own stuff, my name and address are all over the internet. Why do I need pics of my kids out there so they know which one’s to grab?

9. What really inspires you to blog?

Just life. Everything I go through every day gives me good reason. It started out as a venting blog and it’s still there. This is why it’s not a family friendly “mommy” blog.

I’m just not saying it all pretty and fluffy like the picture of a mommy blog I have in my head. I refuse to set a rosy picture all the time. Life is hard and I am who I am, love me or leave me.

10. Has a comment on your blog ever made you cry? Easy, nope!

11. Do you read and comment on other mommy blogs frequently? Do those bloggers visit your blog and comment as well?

I do visit other blogs occasionally and no I don’t get a ton of other comments. BUT I have never set a campaign out to really promote the commenting on this blog. I really do need to focus on that.

12. Name one thing about your lifestyle that blogging has changed or impacted?

Blogging has given me the outlet to vent. I don’t normally. I keep it inside a lot. Blogging gives me that anonymity to just let it off my chest. That can be a huge stress relief at the end of the day when a lot of little things have piled up on you.

It’s always awesome to get some comments that you have helped them because they were in a situation and the post made them feel better.

13. Has blogging led to other things online for you? (such as business ventures, job offers, additional blogs etc….)

Definitely led to more blogs. And those other blogs have led to business ventures, guest blogging for others and some blog awards.

14. What mommy blogger myth or misconception annoys you the most? What do you want to say to those people, even if you bite your tongue?

I’ve never called myself a mommy blogger. I tell people I own websites because that is how I view them. I guess that could also be construed as I’m embarrassed by the term blogger and that could be correct. I’ve never analyzed that.

15. Have you been contacted by media or PR reps because of your blog? Is that something you’re interested in and enjoy, or not so much?

Yes, I was contacted by the handbag company I reviewed and asked to do another review for product. That was fun and I would do it again. People would ask me about my purse and I loved telling them I got it for free and where to get it. That I’d done a review on my site and they gave me the bag to review.

16. Were the technical aspects of getting started a hurdle for you?

Not at all. I started on blogger which is beyond easy, then moved easily to wordpress. I’ve learned more as I’ve gone, but at this time I think of myself as pretty much a wordpress expert.

17. What blogging platform do you use and why did you choose that platform? (WordPress, Typepad, Blogger, etc…)

I used wordpress and that is for control reasons. I never liked the fact that blogger could delete your account and blogs at any time. Yes, I have control issues. lol Plus with fantastico hosting it’s super easy to install and update.

18. What three things do you *need* to have for your blog? (Plugins, tools, etc…)

Goodness, keeping it specifically too this blog it was a hard question. There is nothing I “need” except for the wordpress itself. I love having the spam karma plug in to filter out all the tons of spam the blog gets because it’s been online so long.

I also love the subscribe to comments plug in so that I end up having conversations with some commenters on a post. Comment Luv plugin is awesome because I then also become regular visitors to other blogs. It brings repeat commenters since I also visit their blogs.

19. What is your favorite thing about blogging? Interaction. It’s an ego thing and I’m not afraid to admit it!

20. What advice do you have for someone that wants to break into blogging and has never done anything online before?

Blogging is the best way to get online and get used to being online. Blogging is an easy format to learn and from there you will probably move on to writing products or putting up your own craft sales on etsy or ebay.

Make sure that you put your personality in your posts. If your posts are dull they can read that anywhere, if you toss a little personality in there they will remember you and come back.

Those were my questions for you, but do you have anything to say about the concept and community of mommy blogging that perhaps we did not cover already?

Just a little extra. DO NOT FORGET TO BACK YOUR BLOG UP! I lost many posts because when I started I didn’t back up my site. I just didn’t know how important it was. So my blog has been around for even longer than my posts say and I lost some posts.

When it’s a personal you also lose those memories you blogged about. It was heartbreaking to lose them. So I always like to make sure everyone knows to back up their blog. I haven’t worked in blogger for years, but I know in WordPress it’s just two clicks to save it to your computer once a month or so.

There you have it. You can check out Val’s personal blog at BusyMomma.com and you’ll also find her on Twitter at @busymommaval.

I hope you are enjoying the 20 Questions with Mommy Bloggers series as much as I am. If you’d like be interviewed or recommend your favorite mommy blogger for the series please send an email to retta.oliver@gmail.com and let me know.

Happy Blogging!

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