Category: Digital Marketing

Blogging, Digital Marketing, Uncategorized

What’s in a (my) name?

Mandy Webster
July 2013 picture of me wearing explorer hat
My ex-husband’s father’s girlfriend took this picture of me recently. Do I look like an Amanda or a Mandy to you?

When my mom was pregnant with me, she wanted to name me Mandy. I think this was around the time Barry Manilow’s song, Mandy came out. My dad said there was no way he was naming his kid Mandy. So they settled for Amanda, which happens to also be a family name.

Then I was born, and my dad was the first person to call me Mandy rather than Amanda. The nickname stuck, and I have been Mandy my whole life to everyone but my grandmothers, some schoolteachers, and an ex-boyfriend who insisted on calling me Amanda despite the fact that it irritated the hell out of me (only special people get to call me Amanda, and he just wasn’t that special.)

When I set up my online portfolio and blog a couple of years ago, I set it up using the name Mandy because that’s what everyone calls me. Now that I am seriously considering actually getting something published, I think I want to publish under the more formal name, Amanda L. Webster.

Here’s the problem: Continue reading “What’s in a (my) name?” →

Blogging, Digital Marketing, Employment

Check out Fiverr for buying and selling writing services

Mandy Webster
I will tell you how to drive readers to your blog for just $5.
Check out my first gig on Fiverr.

A reader (thanks, Tonette!) recently suggested I check out a website called Fiverr to see if I can find someone to design a book cover for a collection of poems I would like to self-publish. While I haven’t yet found someone to design my book cover, it did occur to me that maybe I should post a few gigs of my own on Fiverr.

My first idea was to offer novel critiques to fellow writers looking to polish their novels before self-publishing. (I also borrowed this idea from another reader.) I posted a gig for this, but after getting to know the website a bit better, I do not think this is quite the right format for advertising this particular service. Continue reading “Check out Fiverr for buying and selling writing services” →

Awards, Blogging, Digital Marketing, Uncategorized

Because my resume could use another award or two…

Mandy Webster

My blog was recently nominated for a Liebster Blog Award. Probably because I personally know the blogger who nominated me, and we’ve been sharing strategies for bumping up our readership. At any rate, it looks like fun, so why not?

liebster blog award

The Liebster Blog Award

The rules for the Liebster Award are very simple: You are required to thank the person who nominated you, answer the 11 question they have asked you, nominate 11 other people and ask them 11 questions in return. According to the guidelines, the Liebster award should be sent to bloggers with less than 200 followers so that new bloggers can see how awesome they are!

By the way, thanks to Punky Coletta at SlimeGreen  for the nomination!

My Questions Continue reading “Because my resume could use another award or two…” →

Digital Marketing, Novel Writing

What do you know about Kickstarter?

Mandy Webster
Kickstarter
Kickstarter (Photo credit: Scott Beale)

I stumbled upon Kickstarter quite some time ago and played around with the idea of launching a Kickstarter project to fund my writing. Unfortunately, I really didn’t have an actual project to work on at the time. It was more of a general wanting to settle into the writing life and write *something.* Not having an actual project to launch, I gave up the idea and moved on. But recently, my professor and fellow writer, Shana Deets, brought up to my class the idea of setting up Kickstarter projects for our current novels. So, I headed over to the website to give it another look. Continue reading “What do you know about Kickstarter?” →

As Found on Pinterest, Blogging, Digital Marketing

Proper Pinning: How not to irritate your followers on Pinterest

Mandy Webster
Pinterest featue in Metro - 27th February 2012
Pinterest featue in Metro – 27th February 2012 (Photo credit: Great British Chefs)

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I kinda love Pinterest. I have tried a ton of new DIY projects and even make my own homemade laundry detergent now on a regular basis. But Pinterest can be as annoying as it is helpful when pinners fail to pin properly. To combat this problem, I have compiled a short quick-list of tips for properly sharing articles on Pinterest to avoid irritating your followers:

1.  Link to the individual blog post, not the blog’s index page.  Continue reading “Proper Pinning: How not to irritate your followers on Pinterest” →

As Found on Pinterest, Blogging, Digital Marketing

4 Tips for writing a “Pinworthy” DIY blog post

Mandy Webster
My latest DIY Pinterest project: Crocheted Handbag by Mandy Webster
This is my latest DIY project: a crocheted handbag recreated from a picture I found on Pinterest.

Has this ever happened to you? You find an interesting recipe or craft project on Pinterest that you want to check out only to click through and find the blog post is missing one or more essential elements required for you to actually be able to bake the goody or make the craft yourself. Or maybe everything is there, but it’s so disorganized, you immediately give up figuring it out and move on. You return to Pinterest without repinning the post. And that blogger just lost an excellent opportunity to see her blog post “go viral.”

If you’re like me, it probably only takes you a few seconds to look over a blog post and decide if you want to repin it. A few minutes ago, I found a blog post on making a “relax bottle” (aka “mind jar“) for counting down a child’s timeout minutes. I love the idea, the pictures are great… but I got to the blog post and couldn’t immediately figure out if the bottles are made using supplies I might already have on hand. And, where are the instructions? There are tons of great pictures, but the how-to part is all over the place. I still wanted to do this project, but I had to go look elsewhere for better instructions. Continue reading “4 Tips for writing a “Pinworthy” DIY blog post” →